Survivor: Wes Anderson
Confessionals => M. Gustave => Topic started by: Wes Anderson on September 02, 2021, 06:56:54 am
-
Welcome to the game!
This is your confessional, a private space for you to share your thoughts with the mods and spectators. Please use it liberally and answer any questions you receive truthfully. You will also cast your votes in your confessional.
Please make a post in this thread to confirm you are ready to play.
-
hello, i'm here and ready to start the game, exciting!
-
note to all spectators: in previous games i was almost completely truthful about any rl stuff i said to people. that's not gonna be the case this time, i will be making up grandiose stories as i see fit. the best counter to having a boring life is pretending you have an exciting one
-
relatable.
-
so far, oracle and i have hit it off super well, they're like me from another life. richie and the young writer (who i may have called the young author a few times) i have, or inevitably will, disappoint with my lack of wes anderson knowledge. anthony's been cool, we talk mostly about magic the gathering so far; everyone else has had 2 or less messages to this point.
-
SNOOPY WOULD LIKE UPDATES ON PM LENGTHS AND THOUGHTS ON PEOPLE BESIDES ANTHONY
-
i will be making a thread for my opinions of people, fear not my good canine friend.
-
attention mods: i can't see any challenge stuff (assuming it's in its own forum), check my permissions pretty please.
-
https://www.mafiascum.net/social-games/wes-anderson/index.php?topic=125.0
Permission denied to this? I’ll dig into the account settings. It looked fine from my first glance but lemme dig a bit.
-
It’s actually a public forum too, even guests and logged out users can see it.
Edit: if you see it now, you’re not crazy, I did just tick a new box for you!
-
now i can see it, thank you good sir.
-
Great! Sorry about that.
-
Congratulations on completing the first 24 hours of Survivor: A Wes Anderson Production! In recognition of this momentous milestone, I have come to provide stimulation in the form of SPECTATOR ENGAGEMENT. As a note, please do be informed that these questions are being posted to every confessional in identical form. These are not individualized at all - please do not read any intent to guide or influence you, as this would most certainly breach some form of journalistic integrity that I surely hold dear as... I think my character is a journalist? Okay, I'm doing the thing where I type out all my thoughts and I've lost the plot. HERE COME THE QUESTIONS--------
1. With nothing to do but network with your tribe, you will hopefully have learned something about those who you will live with, fight alongside, and ultimately cut loose. What is the most interesting, funniest, or just plain weird thing that you now know about one of your tribemates?
2. Your first challenge has brought with it an interesting conundrum in the form of competing goals to vie for. What do you most hope to achieve when the Flea Market closes? What do you believe your tribemates will reach for?
3. As a hypothetical, consider the following:
"Someone is targeting you to be the next vote-out should your tribe to go Tribal Council. Who is it? Why do they want you gone? Who will you rely on to stay in the game? How worried are you that such a situation might arise?"
Thank you dear, and do remember to have fun!
-
1. i know that oracle likes so many of the same things as me it's awesome. it's not like i said it first and they're just going with it, they introduced these topics.
2. i certainly wouldn't mind having some kind of (weaker) item. tribal immunity i can take or leave, if i'm somehow in trouble already then i'm completely blind and deserve to lose. i don't want a really strong item like an idol, because it will be publicly known and that will make me a target for sure later on (or even early on).
3. hmm... if anybody wants me gone, i would guess it would have to be the young writer? i've felt the least warmth from them of anybody here. i've offered to give kylie guidance in the game, so i doubt she would immediately want me out; maybe she's actually hardcore cutthroat though. i'd be surprised and disappointed if richie, anthony, or oracle wanted me gone, and the rest (sam, suzie, herman) all probably are ambivalent on me rather than rating me highly or poorly.
-
i suspect that these confessional prompts have a chance of being referenced in a late-game challenge, so i'm going to log all of them in here. and also answer them, because people took the time to write them and i actually like having these things to answer.
"CONFESSIONAL PROMPT 2: Is there an obvious target in your tribe? If so, who? If not, will that impact how you play this challenge?"
There is a pretty obvious target: the newbie kylie. inexperienced and a bit overwhelmed. i've decided to give her some tips and i hope she gets to find her feet, and i would hate to purposefully go greedy in the challenge safe in the knowledge that she'd go before me... and yet, i might still do that. i also just realized that in my last post i forgot duke existed; he could honestly be a target too because his activity really hasn't been great so far. if it isn't one of them, then i guess it would be sam? he seems to have had a little trouble opening up to people.
-
re: this challenge, i decided to bid on nothing. i don't think an item that everybody suspects you have is really worth it, and i'd like to give kylie a chance to play rather than contributing to her instant demise. i'll still probably vote for her if we lose, but i'll feel less guilty if i at least tried my best to win immunity.
-
shockingly, some people didn't do what they said they would do in a survivor game. but we won, so i'm not worried about it. the only questions are: who was sneaky, what did they get, and why did they get sneaky urges?
it had to be either a) someone who felt like they were in danger and needed an advantage or b) someone secure who felt a little greedy. not sure which is more likely here, and we could have multiple sneaks so both could be true... you know, the thought just occurred to me that with this plan in place, somebody could have easily gone minimum+1 on every item and gotten every single one. i don't think that adds up to the whole discrepancy though.
-
WHO DOES M. GUSTAVE THINK WAS SNEAKY AND WHO WAS HONEST AS CAN BE?
-
that's a good question, snoopy. richie and oracle tell me it's not them, and i believe them; haven't heard from anthony yet. i doubt it was kylie, she seemed genuinely surprised. duke's reaction of 'oh yay exactly what was planned happened' when no, exactly what wasn't planned happened could be real, but feels fishy to me. i think the young writer is the one to come up with the 'everyone bid the minimum' plan, so maybe he proposed it just to subvert it?
something important to note though, is that more than 1000 was spent beyond what was claimed. since each player only had 500, that means a minimum of three players are being dishonest. that's a big chunk of the tribe. i feel there's a pretty decent chance that some of the less-prominent people (sam, suzie, duke, writer) went for some loot, but i obviously have zero means to prove it, and i'm not going to go interrogation mode on them and ruin relationships.
-
CONFESSIONAL PROMPT 3: Do these challenge results impact your strategy moving forward? Are you beginning to trust some of your fellow players more or less than others?
people having said one thing and done another has, without a doubt, made the tribe more paranoid and on-edge than before. everybody is wondering, publicly or privately, who did it and what stuff they got - unless it was a conspiracy, in which case, those devious few know everything.
as for how it affects me and my strategy? in the short term, it takes a target off of me if one existed. in the longer term, someone could well use it to earn my trust, and i could keep it under my hat to get trust back, or use it against them if i need to.
in terms of trust, oracle is at the top, followed by richie and anthony as fellow horsemen, and then kylie - she trusts me a ton. if she ends up stabbing me this game, i'll be equal parts surprised and impressed at her confidence. after that it's more murky - there isn't anybody that i outright distrust, but i'd want to hear some second opinions before accepting what they say as absolute truth.
-
WOULD M GUSTAVE FIGHT FOR ORACLE, RICHIE, ANTHONY, OR KYLIE IF THEY WERE TARGETTED AT A TRIBAL? ANSWER INDIVIDUALLY.
-
oracle: definitely
richie: yes
anthony: yes
kylie: depends on whether i think she has a chance of surviving; if her activity improves enough that people stop seeing her as the easy first vote, then certainly. but if she's doomed to be a near-unanimous vote, trying to save her would only sink my game by going against the flow.
-
WHAT ABOUT THE REVERSE? WOULD THEY FIGHT FOR M GUSTAVE?
-
i think that they would, and i'd be disappointed if they didn't. especially if oracle didn't stick up for me, i'd be heartbroken.
-
CONFESSIONAL PROMPT 4: How do you feel about Rat's elimination?
i have... no real feelings here, because i saw like one post from them in a public forum. it is nice that the replacement player didn't go home immediately though.
sorry for discussing the challenge too early, i will stop immediately and won't do it again.
-
CONFESSIONAL PROMPT 5: After a close challenge, how are you feeling about your tribe's cohesion and unity? Is there a weak link?
still salty over losing by 1. i feel like the tribe is fairly unified, as everyone i've asked largely feels the same way about people as me. a lot of people mention liking oracle a lot, which doesn't surprise me; the only question is whether they've been told that they're his favorite like i have. anthony and richie seem pretty popular too, but it's not as unanimous. suzy seems to be a little polarizing, some people love her and others have no attachment at all. multiple people had expressed some concerns about kylie even before she went rogue on the challenge, so she would qualify as the weakest link and most obvious target. few people seem attached to herman or sam from what i can tell, nobody seems to dislike them but they're in the 'meh' zone for everyone. duke i'm a little confused on, i've heard a few say they like him and have heard he's popular, others say he's just ok and that nobody has said they like him; strange.
-
CONFESSIONAL PROMPT 6: Who in your tribe is being overlooked, either as an under the radar threat, or as a potential ally to pick up?
i think that duke has been pretty low profile so far, but if his activity picks up like he said it would then i could see him become a strong force. he's very likeable, and each of his posts has a good amount of content. just add volume and you have a player i would love to have on my side.
in other news, no swap. i'm pretty happy with that, i get to hang out with my peeps for longer. this next challenge seems like it could be the fun kind of stressful, or just stressful; we'll see how it pans out.
-
so i literally had just responded to a post from sam where he asked if i thought the bolded miss by peter in the challenge meant anything, when i see the young writer's post about intentional misfires granting an advantage! spooky coincidence. maybe sam was on to something after all. then again, the schematics had to come from somewhere, and maybe sam had them and so knew about it to begin with. hell, for all i know the writer didn't even get the schematics and is just leading us on a wild goose chase for reasons unknown.
-
that was a madcap challenge, but i think it ended up on the fun side; i enjoyed doing it, and it was exciting to do it in real time. the only annoying thing was the warning that new posts were made, but that's just built-in to the software so i can't complain. once again, our planning made a big difference.
oracle has shared with me some information that's potentially big: the person who told duke that he'd be receiving votes last tribal was anthony. and since kylie self-voted (she wasn't online at all during the tc), that means duke got voted by someone still alive. either a) anthony voted duke, but warned him and only him about it; b) a third player said they'd vote duke, and anthony warned duke; or c) duke is a diabolical madman who self-voted and made up a story to make anthony seem suspicious. option c would be amazing and i would love duke forever if he was bold enough to try that, but i think you'd have to be a little nuts to consider it the most likely scenario. i've yet to decide whether i think it's a or b, but either one makes me trust anthony less with sensitive information.
-
ANY UPDATE ON THE ANTHONY SITUATION?
-
so oracle did some analysis, with a lot of number crunching, but i noticed an unfortunate flaw in that he was assuming everyone bid either their minimum or everything, not accounting for the many ways in which people could have spent some value in between. as such, all his work was wasted and that's heartbreaking :(. as for anthony himself, i do still trust him in the short to medium term, but i do believe that he's playing all sides to some extent and so is the horseman i'd be most comfortable losing when the time comes to break the alliance.
right now though, i'd most prefer herman or sam to go; neither offer me a whole lot, i haven't liked my convo with sam (sorry sam), and herman just isn't around like ever. at best in a swap, they eat one tribal for me as 'easier' targets, and at worst i think they get rightly worried about their position and flip to sell me/my allies out.
-
> check back in for just the second time today
> "hey guys sorry for disappearing today, shouldn't happen again. i'll get to my messages now"
> has zero unread messages
no question where people's brain power has been going today. hint: it's not messaging
-
i realize i missed prompt 7, sorry for forgetting to answer that one.
Confessional Prompt 8: How well do you know your current tribe at this point? Does anyone still surprise you?
i feel like oracle and i are on the same page with basically everything, it's awesome and i hope we can get really far. i haven't mentioned to anybody that he's basically the same person as me, so ideally we won't get singled out as a pair. anthony is a lot of fun to talk to and is fairly open to talking game, but i'm a little leery of his true motivations (see #28 and #30). richie is great at balancing serious talk with chatting, and i'd say i trust him second best of this tribe. i like duke these days, our convo flows well and he's very open to talking to me. i do note that he hasn't mentioned the anthony thing to me yet, so i'm clearly below oracle in his pecking order (assuming it's real and oracle didn't make it up. if he made it up, i'll be so sad). the young writer, despite a shaky start between us, i would consider to be a good ally; we freely share info about not only theory, but concrete things like what players we're close to and which we want out. then there's suzy, who's more borderline; she's fun, but there's a lot i don't know about her and what she wants to do.
that leaves the two people that i don't know too well and can't say i trust a whole lot. every time i've tried to get to know sam better, it gets pretty much shot down. he's pretty much only interested in talking game, but i don't feel good about doing that without having gotten a feel for them first - how can i know he wouldn't just sell me out at the first opportunity? now, there are a lot of players who can just dive in headfirst, and i'm sure they would have a great time playing with sam. he's not doing anything 'wrong' exactly, it's more that our styles just clash. as for herman, the guy's just barely around sadly. he's actually willing to chat, but things move at glacial speed because of his schedule. i actually like what i've seen from him, but it doesn't outweigh the fact that his activity is really low, or change the fact that nobody here is particularly close to him.
-
Confessional Prompt 9: What's your reaction to this challenge outcome?
first is that holy shit we got a ridiculously good solve and still only won by 1 guess! the other tribe has got to be feeling like they just can't win. that said, i'm not sure that losing would have been that bad for me, because the most likely boots are people that i have little to no connection with. whoever goes on the other tribe will forever be an enigma to me, someone whose posts i was never able to receive. apparently, this win has made me wax poetic.
-
Confessional Prompt 10: How will this twist allowing you to communicate with the other tribe impact your game?
i like it! granted, having 15 people to message at once is... a lot, but i've been dying to learn about the other tribe and this is my first opportunity to. i don't think too many people will blab about their dynamics just yet, but planting seeds of future alliances never hurts.
speaking of messaging, i haven't heard from herman for about a week now. that's not fantastic. apparently sam has heard from him pretty regularly though, which is interesting.
-
quick correction: it's been four days, not a week since i heard from herman. not a whole lot better, mind you!
-
Time flies when you're on a winning streak.
-
Confessional Prompt 11: What is your plan for navigating this twist? Would being the stooge be a blessing or a curse for your game?
so, mutiny twist. didn't expect it! also could be good for herman or sam to get away from us for a while; sure, they could get pagonged, but for herman in particular, is it really much worse than where he is now? and maybe he could present himself as a vote for hire. sam is less likely to volunteer, because i don't think he realizes that he's in trouble, whereas herman definitely has to know.
being a stooge would be more likely a curse than a blessing, i think. the upside is that i could get to know rushmore better, and maybe earn some trust/gratitude with one faction. but the downside is i could easily end up a compromise vote if they call a ceasefire, and i have no items to save myself if they decide to do that. i wouldn't write myself off if i get kidnapped, but i would prefer to stay and so i'm not going to mutiny.
-
i had a eureka moment a little earlier re: peter's misfire power. idk if i said so here or not, but madame d confirmed that peter had misfired, and said that he had a pellet in his arm. this confirmed to me that writer was telling the truth about misfiring giving an advantage. but i couldn't figure out what the advantage was... until i phrased a response about someone mutinying as them leaving. suddenly it clicked - a safety without power! the flavor would be him going to the hospital for an operation, making much more sense than any other commonly seen item.
i'm sure that this was very obvious and that i'm one of the last to figure this out, but let me pat myself on the back for a little while before i get let down. i'm not too good at guessing game design stuff yet.
-
so, my spectator friends, things are happening now. to put it bluntly, all sorts of shit is happening!
word is being spread (by herman and/or anthony) that i supposedly want writer gone. this is completely not real. they claim to have heard it from sam, but the last time i even mentioned writer to him was the 7th, and it was to say that i liked him. so all three of them are people who i absolutely can't trust, but it's good to know that with some time to react.
i'm not sure why i became the target; do they think i'm stupid enough that targeting a guy with a known idol would be in character? or do they just think i'd be easier than the others? either way, it's annoying and i don't like it. on the bright side, assuming i plead my case well enough for people to not believe their lies, we should still have numbers on our side, even in a scenario where we lose one vote to the kidnap. i solidly believe that {writer, oracle, richie, duke} will believe me and stick with me on this vote, and feel somewhat less confident but still over 50% on suzy. happily, that's six, so even if we're down to 5 temporarily we're still good. we would need a trifecta of bad to happen for me to have no chance; fingers crossed.
-
so, some corrections to last post, now that i have a calmer head before bed. there are two scenarios i consider plausible: the first, more likely one, which is that sam and herman are smearing me, and anthony isn't actually involved. it would make sense, if sam thought he had more support than he really does, to try to take heat off herman by smearing someone else, namely me. if anthony were with them, he had no reason to tell me about the lie, especially with so much time left.
scenario two is less likely, but i can't ignore it completely. in this one, sam and herman are innocent, and anthony is lying to smear them. it would be completely unnecessary, since those two were on the block already and anthony was totally fine. but anthony has literally mentioned to me that he 1) likes crazy moves, 2) gets bored easily, and 3) wanted to cause some mischief. painting a target on people already in trouble for no reason other than amusement sounds like mischief to me! if anthony really is the type who just likes to see the world burn, then it could be real. he might be chaotic neutral, but i don't know if he's 'chaotic stupid' as they say. (note: i don't think anthony is stupid in any case.)
-
Do you want to be kidnapped and taken to Rushmore? Regardless, someone from your tribe is going to be taken away by the pirates. If you don’t want it to be yourself, do you have a plan to make sure it’s not?
-
i do not want to be kidnapped, i believe that the situation over here is under control and trading that for a tribe of strangers and danger sounds bad. for keeping it from being me, well, perhaps sam or herman volunteered now that their apparent plan has been exposed. failing that, i could try to force someone to volunteer, but that just feels ethically wrong and would hurt my soul; not going to do that, especially for a game. if i end up taken, i'll go in with a positive attitude and fight for my spot - worst case scenario, i get knocked out and get to see the spec forums (unless the jury starts really early this game).
-
Confessional Prompt 12: How do you plan to work with your tribe post-kidnapping?
mostly the same i guess? i still would rather see sam, herman, and now anthony gone before any of the others go out. peter will add a new wrinkle, and it would be silly to just get rid of him instantly when he could end up being a key ally.
sam is getting the most votes tonight, i feel very confident. i've taken the brave/stupid move of telling peter this. i'm banking on the fact that, while he could sell me out, he has no particular incentive to do so. and if he really likes sam 'no chatting' shakusky better than me after a couple days, then so be it.
another potentially bold but very potentially stupid is me telling herman that i'm voting sam. was this an attempt at preemptive jury management, or was it to try to keep him onside? neither, it was because my spirit animal is a doormat.
i hate the feeling of people being angry or disappointed in me, it's just a facet of my personality. you might say that maybe this game isn't for me, but you'd be wrong. i love playing this game, strategizing, doing challenges, and getting to hang out with cool people. but when i have to vote out somebody that i had been on good, or even just decent terms with, it feels so bad. i'm learning to cope with it as i play more games, but sometimes, i take a risk and just speak honestly. will that hurt me in some games? absolutely. do i want to win? definitely. but i play for fun first and winning second, and winning by being someone people are legit angry with afterwards is nowhere near worth it to me.
-
today has been hectic, so here's a quick rundown.
turns out peter has an extra vote, which was activated by writer of all people giving him his knife. why did he do that, ugh.
vote's been on sam, but i feared a tie so brought up maybe voting peter.
herman it turns out doesn't even like sam, and in fact wants to be in with me/suzy/oracle/writer. that's awesome, and i'm not even sure why i assumed he liked sam. stupid.
peter and anthony are trying to recruit people to 'shake things up' but neither herman nor duke feel like it. they claim duke is on the bottom, when... he isn't really.
oh, and peter put my name out there even though i'd been pretty open with him, so that's fun. not overly scared at this point though.
-
oh god now sam is pleading with me not to vote him, aaaahhh the guilt
i'm not gonna switch but damn it a.t.e. hits me so hard... he claims he trusts me the most but there's no way that's true, he barely ever shared his plans with me, it's just desperation.
-
mods, you don't even know how much that tiebreaker timer scared me, i thought it was for us. thankfully, everything worked out over here at least in the immediate short term.
i'm sorry sam.
-
so peter claims that sam was the one who wanted me out. if that's true, then i'm guilt-free re: sam's pleas. that's the reality that makes me happiest, so i'll assume it's true. still doesn't change that peter voted against me though, and actions > words.
-
this just in: richie tenenbaum exposed doing double-duty as mod and player; audiences and critics react. more at 11
so now i'm on trash island, and i'm overall happy with how it's gone for me. i've got oracle, i've got suzy, i've got herman... the only member of herman's proposed group not here is writer, who may have been a source of friction to begin with. anthony being here is a little awkward, he seems very sheepish but i've just been honest with him: i do like him but i don't really trust him, understandably. madame d seemed cool so it's nice to have her around, and now i'll get the opportunity to meet margot, since i didn't get around to messaging her during the shipwreck (bad me).
sadly, this means that there are still a whole lot of players that i haven't really met ahead of a merge. richie and writer being the lone original ivanhoes over there is scary for them, and indirectly me because both were working with me. hopefully they don't just pagong them, i don't necessarily plan on pagonging the rushmores after all.
-
i guess the above was my answer to:
Confessional Prompt 13: How do you think you fared in the tribe swap?
written for posterity.
-
How do you feel about the number of votes for you at that tribal? Is it concerning?
-
yes and no. getting four votes doesn't feel good, obviously, but at the same time we have to remember that one was an extra vote, and that 5 people voted with me. by the end i had been able to piece together exactly who was voting where, so the vote count wasn't a surprise really.
-
HOW IS GUSTAVE ADJUSTING TO NEW TRIBES? SNOOPY IS A BIT LATE BECAUSE SNOOPY WAS BUSY.
-
this tribe is great! all the people here are good. herman is still quiet, but that's life; suzy and oracle remain awesome. anthony is probably going home but he's a very fun guy to talk to and i wish him better luck next time - i just hope he thinks his decisions through more! as for the other two, they're both very solid players. they've made great impressions; madame is more under-the-radar seeming, while margot feels very much like a power player and i'm a bit intimidated by her. not because she's scary to talk to, but rather because she's someone i could see running the game hardcore if she gets far. i don't want to let that happen, but on the other hand, i think her being dangerous is very apparent to everyone, so i don't think she'll be an impossible boot later on.
speaking of later on, it's all about merge planning now. oracle and i have been bouncing ideas off of each other of what we should do and how we can avoid our group of 4 from being pegged as the big threat. keeping margot around can help with that, and if foxy survives we may be able to take advantage of their grudge against madame. i think if we were to just pagong then duke, oracle, and i would start getting picked off around the last 8, which is no bueno. so i want to work with some rushmores, but not too many because i think there's an underdog narrative for a lot of them that i don't want to face if i somehow make it to the ftc.
-
Confessional Prompt 14: Who are your ideal next few boots?
ideally anthony goes tonight, and someone not named duke goes simultaneously. then i go into merge and have to do some feeling-out to see who would work with me and for how long... once some of those bonds are established, i can start trimming the cast of people that i don't really trust. if foxy is gone then starting with peter could be nice; otherwise the foxy/madame hostilities can be exploited to get out a middle-of-the-road player like royal perhaps, or herman. i think the writer/suzy/richie trio is real and that they have to be broken up sooner than later, the hard part is that they need to be broken in a way that doesn't just let them flip and kill me... duke not living pushes the critical time forward. 7 is clearly too risky so it has to be before that even if we do have duke still. doing it at 9 or so wouldn't suck i think? i really hope duke lives because 3 >>>>>> 2.
another possibility is that we go for writer early and leave suzy/richie for later. writer can clearly win some challenges, and i'm almost certain that suzy and richie both like each other more than writer. he could be a vote that everyone comes together on... so many possibilities for the future.
-
it's that 'lovely' time again, where i'm being appealed to by the presumed vote and i can't help but feel really bad for voting them out. strangely, despite liking anthony more than i liked sam, i feel less upset about these appeals than i did about sam's?? maybe i'm getting used to it, a scary thought.
-
ok, some news re: the game. margot told me and suzy that we were being targeted by peter and writer. she says that peter thinks the two of us are a pair; that's not the case, at least not on my end, but the truth doesn't matter. why peter is so fixated on me is a mystery and an annoying one at that.
and after hearing speculation that maybe writer and peter got the rings, a lot of stuff clicked for me. writer got all the things (duh), so nobody mysteriously passed him items. he and peter have been talking all game, which is how they not only trusted each other so much, but also why peter was so eager to get over here (and writer reluctant to leave - he knew what peter was planning). writer using the knife on the bullet in his arm no longer can be seen as a naive move but rather one that makes a lot of sense - peter probably shouldn't have mentioned that writer used the knife to activate it! if not for him we'd have never known.
but anyway, i'm very possibly the target tonight, but i'm cautiously optimistic. unless i've been played like a fiddle, oracle and duke should be with me for this, along with suzy, richie, and herman. that makes 6 out of 7 votes already, and if margot wanted to get us out, she could have simply left us in the dark. add to that madame, who i think likes us but i'm not sure, and it's a matter of not letting our side get persuaded to flip.
as for who to vote, i feel like writer would be the better of the two to remove. he's been amazing at every challenge, and only barely lost this time. plus, he's just better than peter in most areas imo (not to call peter bad; i'm far from an arbiter of quality play).
-
oh, and quick answer to prompt 16: i would say not, but maybe i should try it after all to reduce the chances that peter/writer win it? aagh. if i wasn't on the block and could afford to split or w/e i wouldn't consider it... public idols suck and this isn't much better than one.
-
oracle tells me it's likely that he'll be entering a group chat with margot, madame, and duke. that's cool with me, because that will help avoid us being seen as a pair. of course, it helps him more than me, because it doesn't address people randomly thinking i'm a pair with suzy. and this confirms my suspicion that margot and madame are close; probably a 'no shit' observation but neither have explicitly said so. my instincts to say nothing negative about one to the other were correct, and i'm glad i listened to them.
getting forward in the game is going to be hard for as long as i'm tagged as being a pair with somebody, and that's annoying. even if we do have a majority this round and we get out peter/writer, i need the support of the people who are currently neutral between me and the people voting me: madame, margot, buckley. buckley barely messages me ever so he's tough to rely on, and while i like both of the ladies they're bound to trust each other more than me in the end, and won't hesitate to slit my throat when it's opportune.
i don't want to be defeatist - certainly i believe that there's a way for my slot to get to the end and even win. but i worry that it's close to an unwinnable state already, and i'll hate it when i see my chances go to zero. on the one hand i have to trust in my ability to play the game, but at the same time i can't afford to overestimate how much people like me or how persuasive i am. my current goal is to surpass my previous best finish while continuing to have fun, and that at least is in reach.
-
completely off topic, but i was just notified that somebody mentioned me on wiktionary as "a user (now inactive)... who did [work] well." and here i thought nobody noticed my template cleanup work. senpai noticed me!
-
peter has switched from pushing me and suzy and is now targeting herman. incredibly, peter approached me to ask if i would vote herman with him. that's some serious balls. i told him i respect him for his honesty, which i do, and that i'd be willing to vote herman, which i am... later. tonight, it will be all peter, all the time.
there's been a lot of discussion wondering whether we can/should split the vote. i would hate to get idoled out, but splitting runs the risk of alienating people like richie, who doesn't want big threats gone yet (because he needs shields). i don't think i can afford to lose richie on this, and i think the overall vibe of my peeps is one of caution, so i'm going to just vote peter. if i'm idoled out, that will be my first time being on the receiving end, and that will be that.
-
first reaction: thank god no idol
second reaction: who voted buckley??? and why did they do this. oh maybe it was a self vote, that might be the thing that makes the most sense actually.
-
ohohoho, an art challenge! ohohoho no... my art skills are lackluster to say the least. i will try to give better than a shitty mspaint drawing though. zero guess who will win immunity.
-
"Confessional Prompt 17: After a hectic merge vote, numbers seemed to coalesce around one target. Was that target good for you?"
i believe it was! peter going gets me one step further forward while still leaving higher-priority targets than me around. and despite our overtures towards peace, i don't think either of us could ever have really trusted the other so i couldn't count on him being a vote on my side.
i'm under no illusions that this is 'my' move or that this helps only me. but i'm far from sad that this happened and do believe that i'm one of the people to benefit from it.
-
best wishes, buckley. i barely got to know you, but you're making the right choice by putting life ahead of this game, so don't feel any guilt.
-
oh my god... i think... i think i see a real path to the end. holy god, it's an incredible feeling. if i don't fuck up horribly, i'm set for my highest ever finish.
i see {me, duke, oracle, suzy} as my cohesive group, with herman and richie at least cooperating for now. the fact that nobody knows duke is super tight with us is massive, because they'll miscalculate our size. anyway, the big threats that i see are margot, richie, and writer in no particular order, and then madame as well. that's 3 or 4 threats to remove with 7 tribals to do it. now, there's the possibility that i'll have to cut oracle at final 5, which would break my heart. i seriously love oracle, he's awesome. but we've played really similar games and have similar friends, and he's probably done a bit better than me overall. losing to him wouldn't suck and i'd be happy for him, but i would like to maximize my own chances too.
-
doing my drawing. i'd heard hands were hard but good god, what a nightmare
-
"Confessional Prompt 18: How does Buckley's quit impact your game?"
i think it was a big slice of luck for me. we skip a tribal where i was honestly very worried that i or one of my close allies would be going out, and now we're at a point where our tight five can't even be outvoted. buckley leaving could actually turn out to be a game-changer if the people not in my tight group were thinking of voting against me at 11.
-
"Confessional Prompt 19: Idol speculation time. Who's got one? Are you at risk of being at the receiving end of a played idol?"
most likely candidates are margot and writer because of general challenge strength. if writer has it i'm definitely one of the people who could get idoled out, which would again be a first for me.
and why do i think i'd get idoled out? because i just heard from oracle that writer is gunning for me and duke, and also that there was a big ol' chat from original ivanhoe that i wasn't a part of. this happens to me pretty often and it's kind of sad, i guess i really don't impress people much at first glance.
so now knowing that, the anxiety is building. however, i still have some faith that my side outnumbers theirs, and that i'm more useful to my allies alive than dead. as always, if you don't win immunity you have no choice but to trust people, and i hope my trust isn't misplaced.
side note: while definitely writer, richie, margot, and madame have all got to go, i think people are sleeping on just how good suzy's position is. nobody wants her out, but everyone tells her stuff and she has a lot of pull. she could prove to be a dark horse winner if we can't challenge the perception of her as 'not a threat.'
-
writer is asking me right now about whether i've been pushing his name. talk about awkward. he also argues that he's not a high-priority threat, because he's socially on the outside, which is... not actually incorrect to my knowledge? at most i see royal and richie being on his side, and i'm not even positive that he has them. unfortunately, word is now out that i've been 'pushing names' which is not great. it's also pretty much exactly what got me in trouble in my last game... i've taken this class before, and it's not any more fun the second time. if it's not me this time, i'll have to play a lot more passively in the next few rounds to avoid being targeted... but then i'll have nearly no power to get the game to a place where i can win. aaahhh, can't even complain, because this is entirely my own fault.
-
current plan that i've heard is to split on writer/royal. even richie has told me that he wants to vote writer. let it be known that lying to and misleading writer and royal doesn't make me happy. in fact, it makes me feel pretty terrible. they won't see this until postgame, if ever, but i want it to be on record somewhere.
-
"Confessional Prompt 20: Did you think a tie vote was possible, and what does this mean for you?"
i did, but not a 5-5 tie! this was a complete surprise to me. from what i gather, suzy and herman were very unhappy about the split plan (whether it's because of who was being voted or because it was a split is unclear), and oracle acquiesced to their demands to keep them onside. that's oracle's side of the story; it'll be interesting to see how the others frame it. and ok, so that happened, and yes, i was being stubborn about trying to force a split through. but getting left out of the loop here doesn't feel too good. so while i'm not going home unless we go to rocks, this tie makes me feel uneasy.
-
me: ok i'm going to try to take charge of the game
others: mmmmmmm no *smack*
so, there's an alliance of at minimum oracle, suzy, richie, and herman. all of these people had the option to tell me about the split and they didn't. even oracle didn't, which hurts my soul a little. they got some help this round from writer, and it could be argued that 'oh, gustave, they'll just kick him in a round or two and you'll be right back in the top five!' haha, no. if they don't think they can tell me about this vote, then they obviously don't trust me a ton, which means i'm expendable. if i am kept around, it'll be as a chained-up vote. but if we go to rocks, i have a chance to change things and maybe be more than a compromise vote or pocket goat. i may go home to rocks, or i may end up voted out the very next round for 'going nuts.' but will they really want to go into f8 with all of margot, oracle, suzy, richie, writer, and madame still alive? probably not, though it would make a very exciting ftc.
ultimately, i feel like the stress has kind of suddenly melted off of me, despite me having seriously fucked up my position in the game. it feels almost freeing to know that i might have no tomorrow but i'll at least go out swinging. and ultimately, i've had fun, and i did as well as i could, so i can have no complaints.
-
Thanks for the insight!
Based on what you know, do you think all of the other votes will be there to force the rock draw, or is it possible that someone else (either a Writer voter or a Madame voter) might flip to avoid it?
-
well great, here comes the second-guessing. say madame goes. i could go join a new group of {me, writer, royal, margot, duke} and maybe have numbers, but i know writer has little reason to trust me. if writer goes, then the group would instead be {me, madame, margot, duke, royal} and that seems at least a little better, though royal might find me sketchy. aaugh, am i even really at the bottom of {oracle, me, suzy, richie, duke, herman}? clearly if it gets down to just those five i'm in trouble because i can't beat oracle, suzy, or richie. that means i'd need to flip before that point. who can i even beat? maybe duke, herman, royal are the people that wouldn't just get all the votes against me, meaning i have to keep at least 2 of those three alive to the end. yeesh.
with that in mind, do i think that splitting is still good? it could well take out duke or royal, who i need because herman is def. not closer to me than suzy. to have a chance of winning i need to band together with those three, plus one more... unless we can pick off threats long enough for the underdogs to rise up in revolt... god damn. i know richie is very conscious of said possibility, so he would be careful to avoid it happening. should i just led madame go? surely not... something like {her, me, duke, margot, royal} is way preferable to a group with her replaced by anyone else. yes, margot has her own agenda, and royal knows the ladies better than he knows me. but he must see that duke and i would be way more beatable at the end than either of them. so madame must live, thus i must not vote her, thus i must risk rocks.
-
@brendan: it's all too possible that people could flip. i know duke is down for rocks because he brought it up to me before i could suggest it to him, but the jury is out on royal and margot... margot is immune so she wouldn't even be at risk, but idk if she sees her chances as being better with one of {not writer/madame} gone than with madame gone.
there's also the chance that instead, a madame voter flips onto writer. this wouldn't suck too much but i don't expect it to happen.
-
amazing pagetop. also, i hope that whatever spectators are around are having some popcorn and enjoy watching me lose my mind!
-
all sorts of developments! the short story is that i no longer want rocks, and instead just want writer out followed by richie.
this split was entirely orchestrated by richie, for richie. he gets to keep writer, who is loyal only to him, while sowing distrust among everybody else. it only failed because royal voted writer instead of me/herman. but now, having tied and given us a chance to talk, we've been able to piece together what happened. richie claimed margot wanted suzy gone, which brought suzy on board. and herman was loyal to richie/writer already, so oracle joined to avoid alienating both of them. does that excuse them leaving me and duke out of it? not entirely, but they both do seem legitimately sorry and so i've forgiven them.
so richie is seriously frickin' good at this game. i knew he was good, but i didn't know he was that good. but now everyone sees it, and has him high on their lists. current plan is to form a four of me/oracle/duke/suzy, get rid of richie / herman next time, and then run things from there. can i necessarily beat oracle or suzy? no, but i'll try my best if i make ftc and losing to either of them (or duke) wouldn't break my heart. oracle and suzy are both seemingly down to flip and take out writer.
-
phew, so success was had. now just the small matter of not having the next two votes go horribly.
-
ideal next 2 votes?
-
ok, looking at the teams for the challenge, i'm mainly thinking "don't let the live-action team win." maybe madame will throw her section? that would help, but i don't know if she'd be super down to do that and asking her to throw feels icky and possibly against the rules to not discuss the challenge, so i won't.
considering that me, suzy, and royal are some of the weaker challenge performers in this game, i don't expect to be immune, but i hope that margot, oracle, and duke can go beast mode to compensate. if richie and herman were to be immune, that would be pretty awful because that increases the odds that my four is targeted by a ton.
pedit: if i were to just select two players to smite from existence no questions asked, they would be richie and margot. they're both people i can't beat ever, and i don't trust them to vote with me for even the near future. i think richie will be gettable this time if he isn't immune, but margot may be trickier - depends on where herman really is at. he's such an enigma, and if there weren't so many players harder to beat than him still around i wouldn't mind getting rid of him so everyone left is somebody that i understand.
-
"Confessional Prompt 21: How does the outcome of this past vote transform the game?"
well, writer being gone removes a richie loyalist and a challenge threat. it also has caused all sorts of confusion to the point that i'm tight with duke and oracle but most people don't realize this. richie is strong but everyone sees him as a threat now; margot and madame are seen as dangerous as well. royal has ties with them but knows he can't beat them, and the same with me/duke/herman vs oracle and perhaps suzy. i think my win condition is to reach final 3 with two of herman, royal, and duke. if margot, madame, or richie make the end i'm not beating them ever and i'll be sad i couldn't stop them. if suzy or oracle get to the end then my work will be cut out for me but i won't be too upset, because they have been great allies pretty much the whole game, and in particular during the merge.
-
"Confessional Prompt 22: Was the challenge team you landed in awkward, or rife with potential? Will the group chat stay active after this?"
the challenge team wasn't bad at all! i like suzy a lot, and royal is someone i could see myself working with in the not-so-distant future. how the other two feel about each other is more fuzzy, so i'm not sure if the group chat will be used, but i intend to use both of those relationships no matter what.
as for this vote, margot is immune (again) so my main considerations are whether to vote richie or madame. both are good players, i like talking to them, and both could have an idol. i also lose to both of them, so picking which to vote is complicated. i think that, if i were in madame's place, to get killed by someone who just saved you would feel extremely bad; i'd rather avoid that, both for jury vote reasons and because i don't want to be an asshole. she will have to go before long, but i don't want it to be this round.
-
pet plan that i've come up with for this vote: make it seem like richie's the target, by 'accidentally' letting the wrong person know, and then actually vote out royal. if richie has an idol, he probably plays it; if not, nothing really lost because there's not really any trust between us anyway. and royal is definitely not being honest with me, because he's acting like he voted writer in the revote when he clearly didn't.
if it works, i could actually maybe take credit for doing something in this game, which is nice because so far i haven't done much. the downside is we'd be taking out royal, who isn't a huge threat compared to the other options, but he's clearly got more going on than i had realized before, and everyone fears the idol. of course it's been not even a day since i said he's someone i could beat at the end, but if i can actually get a resume i might not be forced to face off with just the lower-tier people to have a chance.
-
current plan is an adaptation of my pet plan. the vote will, afaik, be on herman with richie and royal voting elsewhere and richie hopefully playing his idol. royal has been told that it's richie, and i'm pretty sure he's where richie gets all of his information. why herman instead of royal? answer: madame really wants herman out. as such i'm good to let her lead the charge to lower my own profile. like royal, herman would be beatable, but i don't control his vote and perhaps i should aim a little higher than aiming for such a meh ftc.
next round though has to be a big-name threat, though. richie, margot, madame - all must go. especially margot "challenge god" tenenbaum. if she has an idol, we'll need to take every opportunity to gank her that we can.
-
strike what i said about voting herman, the more i think about it the more stupid it seems. suzy has suggested madame, and i'm down for it. then our 5 can run the rest of the game, and herman can't even meaningfully flip on us unless he really just wants to rock and roll. this weakens margot and can still flush an idol from richie if he has one.
-
FUCK
SUZY LEAKED EVERYTHING
-
so basically, me duke and oracle are tremendously dead. like, incredibly. credit to suzy for making a great play, i didn't expect it at all and i don't think the others did either. i'm now cut out from basically everyone and talking to people will feel very awkward. this will still be my highest ever placement, and i can live with going out this way. i felt like i was a factor in this game rather than just making up numbers, which is better than my previous tries. i don't know who's going tonight but there's a good chance it's me or oracle.
-
"Confessional Prompt 23: We're down to F8 now. With end game in sight, what is your current primary concern?"
short answer: not dying
longer answer: finding out why suzy comes to me asking "want to do madame?" then decides to tell everyone that we're going after madame. like what? was this some kind of trap? at least the idol's gone now. any dream of having an easy majority is shattered, but if i can just keep making it one more vote, who knows what will happen?
-
now things are getting really confusing. suzy says she didn't leak info. i'd believe it, because this whole mess doesn't really benefit her from what i can tell and just makes no sense for her to do. but then how did royal and richie know shit? granted i may have accidentally tipped richie off (that'll teach me to respond to messages instead of just ghosting people...), but it's still weird that they knew exactly who we were going for... i don't see this benefiting either duke or oracle, and obviously it didn't help herman. so wtf, are there some psychic powers afoot or just a good guess?
-
yeah, great. the more i think about it the only thing that makes sense is that i accidentally my entire alliance. fuck me.
-
absolutely dying of embarrassment. cannot bear to open richie's pms rn. that will wait until tomorrow when hopefully the shame will be less burning. so much fun, i've successfully created my worst fear: making a fool of myself in front of my peers. ughhh
-
Can you fill us in on what went down near the end of the vote, and why you’re feeling shame?
-
the simple version: i was talking to richie about how i promise that i was thinking through my options, and i'd let him know if it was likely to be him. i then told him with about 40 minutes left that it was him, which he instantly saw through, thus shooting the plan to vote madame into bits. i feel less bad about it now, having slept on it, but still a big misplay. by the end of the game i'm sure i'll be able to laugh about it, but not just yet.
-
mercifully, nobody is publicly ridiculing me. even madame has been super chill, considering i tried to get her out. things are never as bad as my brain tells me they'll be, i just wish i could control my fears better.
oracle is, at least to me, sticking by me, and suzy feels worse than i do. duke said he was... not happy with me, but was willing to move on. hopefully that's real. but oh, that final tribal. rehashing this misplay again for the jury will be... annoying. but that's a bridge to cross if i get there, not now.
i found 10 letters in the maze, and made an 8-letter submission that i know works. i doubt my 9-letter one counts, but we'll see. if somebody made a 10 letter word, then damn. i'm pretty sure i went down every path and found every colored room. it doesn't especially matter who wins this one, though it being one of my side would help for rock odds.
-
omfg i found chastens but didn't see chasteness, incredible.
-
so the plan is: see if there's support to vote margot. if not, then vote royal so that margot and madame are vulnerable to rocks should we force them. i don't know how many people would go to rocks for royal, but he's surprised me many times already so i won't be shocked if they do. i so wish richie hadn't won, but at least we can try to take out margot, maybe.
-
ah and i guess the above is an answer to "Confessional Prompt 24: Who do you want to go home this TC?"
-
good feelings: i heard from oracle that richie wants margot out, which is very helpful.
bad feelings: oracle and richie's conversations are apparently getting very heated and unfriendly.
paranoid feelings: if richie is actually on board for a margot vote this seems just way too easy... would they really just give over a majority like this? i'd assume they're looking for a crack in our 4vanhoe, but i haven't been approached by anyone... which means that if there are approaches, then they're about cutting me. that's hopefully not the case. also possible that there's another idol out there which would make me scream.
-
yeah, no way is richie actually down to vote margot, surely. and my suspicion was confirmed, in that it appears margot has been trying to get 4vanhoe people to vote me here. can't blame her at all for that, and i'm glad that my game instincts were actually right this time. i'm voting royal, so that margot and madame are both rockable. hopefully this goes alright, but if i go out now i'll be able to accept it.
-
oh god suzy is so wavering. i could totally be dead if we tie. if she flips i'd need both margot and madame to switch. can't blame her but aagh, we're all so close.
also royal just sent me a pm for the first time today. considering i'm completely not saying anything to richie anymore i absolutely can't complain, lol. said pm consisted of the words "good afternoon." that's it. yes. i agree, it is a good afternoon.
-
"Confessional Prompt 25: Why is there another tie? Are the sides the same as last tie? Do you all like rocks?"
there's another tie because both sides see that 4vanhoe is a thing; neither wants to willingly give up the majority because it make the endgame very bleak. it's not at all the same sides as last time, previously it was {me, duke, rushmores} vs {suzy, oracle, richie, writer, herman} and this time it's a much simpler {ivanhoe - richie} vs {rushmore + richie}. neither side trusts the other, and unfortunately their side has rock odds of 3:2.
i can't speak for the others but i do like rocks. there was an awesome museum that i took a field trip to when i was in grade school; it had all kinds of cool geodes and even some petrified wood. i looked it up a while ago and it's still around thankfully, and one day i'd like to visit it again. my favorites tend to be metamorphic rocks, especially if they have bands of other colors in them.
-
goddamn arsenal.
-
well this day was pretty shitty. not only did my soccer team lose horribly, but now duke's rl situation sucks and he had to pull out. there's nothing i can do to help duke, but knowing that it's my misplay that cost us our 5-4 edge is... pretty awful. i feel like the only way i can get even with my conscience before this game ends would be to sacrifice myself to save oracle or suzy, it's the least i could do after taking what should have been an easy ride to final 5 and completely blowing it.
-
i'm definitely not going to ask to be voted out because i think that would be poor sportsmanship, but i would actually prefer to be eliminated than make it to the end at this point. not because i'm losing, no, i can live with that. but i've seen people who played way better than i have be absolutely eviscerated by the jury, and... i really dread that. to emphasize, i will give all effort to the challenges and voting strategy, but forgive me if i seem a little checked-out. and seriously, i hope duke is ok.
-
just for clarity, my depression has been setting in pretty hard over the last few days. i'm really sorry to everyone i put off messaging, especially richie. i couldn't muster the mental strength to respond to what i figured might be a difficult conversation; not an excuse but an explanation. i'm going to respond to everyone now and at least get that off my plate. and then do the challenge.
-
"Confessional Prompt 27: If the game ended now, who would you vote for at Final Tribal Council?"
assuming i had the option of voting any of the people left besides me, i'd say: oracle > suzy > everyone remaining. oracle and suzy have been great allies and friends and i'd be very happy to see them win, they wouldn't be undeserving either. but the others have solid to strong cases as well, and if both of my favorites get voted out i'll have to evaluate the rest and decide who deserves the win most. it's a tough call right now, and will probably be decided based on who plays a big role in the last few rounds, plus their ftc performances.
-
so oracle has come up with a scheme here: assuming that {richie, madame, margot} all vote royal, then {me, oracle, suzy} can vote madame or richie and make it 3-3-1 (or 3-4 if royal self-votes). in the revote, it would thus be us three against just 2 opposition. but if they aren't all voting royal, then the tie would not work out for us. plus, i'm not too keen on getting rid of someone who's still active and leaving the literally absent royal in the game, it just seems unfair.
-
oracle is worried/paranoid that he's going out this tribal. hopefully he's wrong, because talking to him is great. but it wouldn't be a bad move from the rushmores + richie to knock us down to 2, so i won't be surprised if he's gone (or me/suzy for that matter).
-
i'm thankfully feeling a whole lot better now than i was a few days ago; everybody here was so nice and understanding which helped. the cast of this game has been great, and the mods as well. that's why it's such a shame that so many people had to quit.
i need food but then, challenge.
-
I’m happy to hear you’re feeling better. Good luck in the challenge!
-
"Confessional Prompt 28: We’re at an even number of players again. Should we expect another tie?"
it's a possibility. i know i have zero plan of voting out oracle or suzy, and i believe they feel the same way about me; so that leaves richie/margot/madame to either splinter or stand as three and force rocks. if margot doesn't win i'm hoping that richie or madame will join me on her. haha, 'if' she doesn't win immunity. of course she'll win, she can solve 3 big mazes in 8 minutes (ok more like 2 since the fox is a freebie). she probably had every thread on this forum open in a tab before she even started the challenge, to remove all loading times.
-
oh, or she could come dead last. didn't see that one coming, lol.
-
"Confessional Prompt 29: Who would you like to sit next to at F3?"
suzy and oracle. do i beat them? probably not, but maybe i'd have a better shot vs them than any of the others (acting like i would get votes for this game, lol. not beating myself up, just saying it wasn't anything special or great).
for this vote, oracle and i are locked on margot while margot and richie are seemingly locked on me. suzy is nominally voting margot and i'd be surprised if she wasn't; so fmpov the outcome will either be rocks (madame vs suzy/oracle) or margot being voted out.
-
so it would appear that suzy is likely going to flip to avoid rocks. if that happens, i'm out; somehow i don't even feel betrayed. the three of us are known to be so solid that obviously the others would never flip because they'd just be picked off and they know it; so rocks are inevitable, unless one of our side flips. but our side is not guaranteed to be picked off in a minority, because margot/madame/richie are only working together so closely to counter us. while them going down to 2 would be the kiss of death, us going to 2 is still fine.
it's surprising how not-upset i am about my impending death. the last few times i lost felt pretty bad, but this time i feel totally at peace. suzy flipping would make complete rational sense and i don't blame her for it at all; hopefully she and oracle can make the end, or at least one of them can.
-
omfg madame is voting margot. what.
like this is awesome news for my survival but damn; she must really be in good with suzy or smth to be considering this, or else have a lot of faith in winning the last couple challenges. either way i'll take final 5 gladly.
-
so. oracle and richie are both just arguing in bad faith with each other, like they have been for the last several rounds. kind of a shame, because i feel like mayyyybe we could have taken richie to the end if there was anything resembling trust. i'm not positive that the jury really likes him and his scheming too much, let's see... on second thought, that does look like a lot of his friends. scratch that idea then.
suzy is just... good. she's so approachable and human that it's easy to underestimate her, but my feeling rn is that she'll win this game unless madame wins the final challenge and we get her out. issue is if we take her out this time, i don't think i beat either madame or richie; but i don't beat suzy either, so probably i'm just playing kingmaker (or queenmaker, as the case may be). possibly i'm selling myself short, but at least with the non-suzies i know most of the jury would prefer them over me just by their relationship during the game itself. losing to suzy wouldn't feel too bad, she's a great friend i've made; and i don't see a path that gives me a better win chance at this point. i wasn't beating margot either... royal is a maybe but i was so mentally drained then that i was never going to shift the status quo on that one. so like, for me to fix this timeline i'd have to go back to around the duke quit or the herman vote fiasco. well, errors were made and i'll learn from them for next time; maybe some ridiculous brouhaha happens or jury votes get split, and i somehow pull off a bizarre win.
-
richie is clearly disappointed that i see him as a jury threat and is likely posting about it in his confessional, much as i'm doing here. a little emotional manipulation is attempted as well, which you know, is part of the game, but i'm not letting it get me this time. call me stubborn/bullheaded/whatever, but you expect me to believe that a jury full of people who worked with you through the merge won't like you? peter and writer are super likely to, royal is possible with him not being impressed by me/oracle, herman/buckley are up in the air, and margot is tough to call because she voted with you for quite a while but was also saying she wanted you out for quite a while... not sure which is the bluff. but add in madame and suzy or something, and i have like votes from suzy and duke and that's probably it vs a lot of people likely to be on his side. i'm not infallible, and the specs are likely tearing their hair out because of my errors in perception; this is my first time making it this deep, so mistakes have to be made so i can learn. some people are naturals who can make the ftc and win handily on their first tries, but i'm not one of them.
-
" Confessional prompt 30: How does Margot’s exit affect your path to the end?"
it should make it a lot easier, as i know oracle isn't voting me out. decent chance that i'm not the biggest fish to fry at this point for other people either. if madame was wrong about her relationship w suzy, then this next vote should be super easy; if not it could get hairy if richie wins immunity, or even if he doesn't and suzy decides to take out oracle or me. but in any case, margot being gone doesn't hurt me afaict.
-
richie winning again is inconvenient. now, if suzy and madame have some deal in place, they could enlist richie and vote me out; i think that's a strong possibility because madame doesn't flip on margot just to hope that we're merciful. yet again, suzy is pivotal, and likely untouchable unless richie decides to work with me and oracle on this vote. and like i said before, there's basically zero trust there, so... magic 8 ball says "don't count on it."
i don't think oracle is involved in any madame deals either, but if he is then i'm pretty screwed here. such a betrayal would hurt a bit, but i'd get over it and still be his friend.
-
so. i just learned several things. one is that richie and madame used the rings on each other and so richie can't vote madame. second is that almost certainly there's a final 3 deal in place between oracle, suzy, and madame, meaning i am supremely dead. just in case oracle isn't actually in it, i'll vote suzy and hope richie joins in too; but for real this time, i'm most likely dead. it'll be interesting to check confessionals and see how long this had been a thing, and then see how i could have noticed this before it was too late.
-
oh ok wow, so this is happening. richie has an idol and is going to use it on me, to get revenge for two people he trusted most (madame and suzy) leaving him out of the margot vote. in exchange, i have agreed to vote with him and get him to the firemaking challenge, with the added bonus of getting his jury vote should he be eliminated.
this is great news, because madame i think is not going to flip to vote suzy and oracle feels stranded like he can't make a good choice. ah, the tangled webs we weave...
-
so i'm not dead! but suzy is, which is mixed feelings; sad because she's great, but good because she'd beat me every time at the end.
basically now there are two scenarios: madame wins and i have a hard choice between breaking my deal with richie or voting out my best friend; or madame doesn't win immunity and it's a super easy vote. i'd much prefer the latter. in the meantime, i'll be thinking up a movie premise and writing my torchwalks. i've been pretty honest with my opinions of people in this game i feel, but it'll be good to restate them in an easy-to-find place all the same.
-
and ftr, i do see that richie's move was entirely to make himself look good. we literally could have just voted suzy with oracle if he had told the truth, but then he wouldn't get to impress the jury with an idol play, nor would he have leverage on me. he's much better at seeing opportunities to get ahead than i am, though that's probably logical - i have a feeling he's played a lot more survivor than i have.
making an ftc speech is a little daunting to say the least! i'll do my best and be happy with whatever votes i get. i feel pretty bad about how i treated writer and peter in particular before their exits, so i don't expect a warm reception there; others are a question mark, but i can handle criticism of my play much better than criticism of my personality, and i think the former is a lot more likely to come from them. not that i expect peter or writer to be assholes by any means, i just don't like feeling the scorn of people.
-
ok... looking at madame and richie, i feel like madame has played a really good game but richie has played a great game. despite having made a deal with him, it's getting very hard to argue against voting him out anyway - he'll be pissed for sure, which will suck for his jury questioning, and zero chance of getting his vote. but i feel very much like i won't be getting a whole lot of votes if he's sitting next to me anyway, so while madame is a tough opponent she might just be a little more beatable.
-
the challenge was... annoying. i actually liked the game itself, but it was brought down by glitchiness. when the ball has to be returned in a corner, it's a crapshoot as to whether it will work properly or just decide you lost. and even if it does work, occasionally the ball gets stuck bouncing flat from side to side, never going up or down, forcing a restart. it's the only challenge this game that i've really felt frustrated with; a shame for the final challenge to be that way, but 14 out of 15 challenges not being frustrating is excellent!
overall i think the challenge design this game was great. the flea market being the first challenge was a great way to get intrigue and suspicion going even for the tribe that won. the shooting challenge i still think was a little weird, because it mainly tests for reliable internet over any skill or amount of persistence, but it's very far from being a black mark imo.
-
congratulations to richie on winning the final challenge and with it, probably the game! he played great throughout and will deserve his votes. i'm happy to have made it this far with my great friend oracle, and i'll take what i learned this game and use it in the future. don't think i'm throwing in the towel - i'll put full effort into my ftc speech and whatever votes i get i'll be celebrating.
oracle and i are both voting madame, and i think richie has zero reason to keep her around, so we're probably locked in.
-
Is there much conversation in the PMs about where this vote should go?
-
not a ton, really. at least not that i've heard. possible that madame is trying to peel a vote onto me or oracle to force firemaking, and by possible i mean likely.
i think oracle and i both feel that richie is overwhelmingly likely to win based on pre-ftc stuff; fmpov at least madame is still hard to beat but not as bad as richie, while oracle is someone i'm at least on par with, so madame is the only thing making sense. maybe oracle feels like madame being around will split votes a bit but eh... not sure if he's really feeling that. and keeping madame would almost certainly be dumb for richie because of how many ex-rushmore friends are on the jury.
-
so i'm natalie white, edna, and fabio. nice people who were loyal, perhaps to a fault; two had surprise wins and the other was cut by their supposed alliance. probably about right tbh.
-
"Confessional Prompt 33: Are you ready for what comes next?"
uh... not feeling too ready tbh. i'll do my best though.
-
I think I felt more and more confident the more of my speech I wrote up. There's some actual belief that I could pull off a win here now, but I won't be getting ahead of myself by any means. I think it's kind of nice to not have the other finalists' speeches to worry about, being sequestered like this makes it more about 'me' than 'me vs them.'
-
Early days but FTC seems to be going alright so far. I think that F6-F5 pair of votes could prove to be the deciding factor on who gets more credit from the jury; I have to do what I can to keep them from seeing it as "Richie brought me to the end" which really isn't the case but could well be the line he's pushing in his subforum.
Also Mods: shortening the closing speech deadline to 24 hours is good with me.
-
Ah... Writer is very not happy. I shouldn't be surprised, and this is all the more reason to kick my habit of lying to avoid confrontations. His was the only one I've really felt uncomfortable to read so far, and I gave an honest answer. I'd be shocked if I got his vote, if I were him I wouldn't vote for me either. Like hell am I going to defend the way I treated him, I don't care if it might increase my odds of winning, I don't like being a shithead.
Other questions have been alright so far. Peter doing his vote by randomizer is... interesting, but kind of makes sense for someone who was knocked out at the very beginning of merge. Nice that I at least have a chance at his vote, too.
Jurors and their leanings imo:
Peter: literally random
Writer: not me
Buckley: ?
Herman: me or Oracle
Duke: me or Oracle
Royal: probably Richie based on his public post
Margot: ?
Suzy: hopefully me, but possibly anyone
Madame: ?
Really up in the air. No idea how things will end up, still plenty of questioning to go. Hope that the spectator(s) are entertained, or at least still following this game - September was a hard month it seems.
-
Still feeling like I have a reasonable chance, but it's a real three-horse race from what I can tell.
-
Still feeling like I have a reasonable chance, but it's a real three-horse race from what I can tell.
three horseman race
-
lol, yes
-
Little less positive feedback today, but still not a no-hoper. Wherever I finish I've learned a lot for next time and I've had fun, so mission accomplished.
Is there a feedback form for this game, by the way?
-
Little less positive feedback today, but still not a no-hoper. Wherever I finish I've learned a lot for next time and I've had fun, so mission accomplished.
Is there a feedback form for this game, by the way?
Not at this time but that's a good idea that could be useful!
-
Of the challenges that I did, I would say I enjoyed all of them bar the shooting challenge and the final paddle one. Even those two I wouldn't say I disliked too strongly; the shooting one my complaint is that it really tested how reliable your tribe's internet is, which isn't something that I think needs to be a thing. And the paddle challenge was almost fun, but the glitchiness frustrated me to no end. That said, 2 'meh' challenges out of what, 15 is a pretty great ratio, and the mod team deserves props for that.
The flea market was a great thing to start the game with, so that there was some intrigue even for the winning side. I also liked that, for a few challenges, you included something of a trick to them in the descriptions - the skiing one had the fast-forward thing, and the simon challenge made me laugh when I saw the scores and realized what 'anything but a bot' really meant. The jaguar shark hunt and the Eli Cash challenge were memorable, as well.
Structure wise, nothing felt like it was BS or unreasonable. There wasn't an abundance of items but it wasn't totally vanilla either, so it meets the expectations of the category. The rings didn't appear to make a huge impact fmpov this time, but from an insider perspective it probably actually did a lot to shape the factions if that makes sense. Kidnap twist was actually pretty cool, as was leaving a swap so late.
tl;dr is good job mods, would play again.
-
Hi gustave, if you would like to reply to the jurors directly in their threads we will allow you to do so
If you would RATHER include the answers in your closing that’s okay too
We will still be opening visibility of all the subforums at 7:30 but you can reply after...
edit: Since I see you've logged off I switched your forum to read only. Let me know if you would like replies turned back on
-
also thank you for your thoughts! in response to your inquiry i've developed a feedback form that we'll unleash on Sunday :3
-
I'm good with answering them in my closing speech, no problem.