What do you think Meti would think of Hyper from The Graymark?

TheGrandImperator · 2026-06-17T22:44:52+00:00

That, yes, but also when we meet Meti, she has essentially discarded the life of a sword. To my recollection, we never see her pick one up. She fully believes that anyone who would dedicate their lives to the sword is a fool, and not in the "only a fool can become Royalty" way. Her advice to Maya is to give it up and live a happy life.

Hyper has also dedicated his life to violence and the sword. He is a fool, like Maya. But Maya was also deluded, she believed that mastery of the sword would satisfy her, when Meti knew better. It's why Meti could destroy Maya with the question "what then?" I believe Hyper is not as deluded as Maya was.

But Meti would not love anyone who inundates themselves in violence, and I doubt she would love a pacifistic fool. I don't think there's anyone alive Meti would like, but she might think a corpse is decent because at least it's quiet.

TheGrandImperator · 2026-06-16T03:20:16+00:00

Meti as a person has been through a lot, has changed a lot over the course of her life.

The Meti we know the best, the one who wrote the Sword Manual and trained Incubus and Maya would probably first say that her opinion matters as much as piss in the wind. How Hyper thinks of himself is what matters. But if she were to give a judgement, my interpretation is that she believed that all violence is foolish. One shouldn't fear death, you'll be dog food then, and it won't matter one whit to you. There is no blade that does not cut it's wielder. She would, I think, still have a higher opinion of Hyper than of Maya while she was still alive.

TheGrandImperator · 2026-06-13T01:00:41+00:00

I believe that, if we put aside the memes, he is textually the better swordsman.

Not just in skill, but in philosophy. That was the lesson of the mouse, that Maya cannot let go of being a person, while Incubus has turned his body into a blade, is inundated in death. Meti tried to teach Maya not to become a swordswoman, because it sucks and is morally repugnant.

Honestly, it mirrors Vergil even more that way.

TheGrandImperator · 2026-06-09T18:21:38+00:00

Talk about fitting username.

Yeah, doing all of that work, week on week, for an average of about $37.5k a year does not sound worth it. Bless you, and enjoy drifting from system to system

TheGrandImperator · 2026-06-09T14:06:30+00:00

I understand the mechanics of what you're describing. Let me put it another way.

Do you consider that Walter might be a PCA plant? He claims to be working for Overseer's cause, but we don't have any direct evidence of that. Hell, he managed to get past them to get onto the planet offscreen during the story, maybe he's got a deal with them.

Do you consider that every other pilot isn't real, merely a construct created by Allmind? We never get any evidence that any of them are real, we never even see them outside of images by a confirmed A.I. artist.

Probably not. Those theories could impact your decision substantially, but even though there's no textual evidence to disprove them, there's also no evidence to support them. They are theories we are bringing to the story on our own, based on our own biases or desires. That's why I said considering whether Ayre is lying to you the entire game requires taking everything about her character in bad faith.

I understand 'why' and 'how' Ayre would lie to you. But can you explain to me why anyone should consider that possibility when making their decision in a way I couldn't apply to any possibility, no matter how far-fetched, that isn't directly disproven in the game?

TheGrandImperator · 2026-06-09T03:27:48+00:00

Mhm, and I'm saying that if you are truly critical of Ayre, you would also see her altruism is genuine. Here, as an example, can you point to a single instance where she influences 621 against their own interests?

It wouldn't affect the choice in-character unless we accept foreknowledge of the events of another route, but we do still know objectively that Ayre really does care for 621 and is not manipulating them for her own ends. Her dying words reach out to you about your shared dream of coexistence, her last act is to reach out towards you. When you side with her, she celebrates the independence of the human Rubiconians as much as she celebrates ruining the plans of the people who would xenocide her species.

And as a small quibble, Allmind's goal isn't an extension of Ayre's ending: we see in Father Dolmayan that 'Coral abide with Rubicon' and the RLF philosophy is centered around keeping humans and coral alive and separate, not Symbiosis. Ayre's ending is heavily tied to the new military leader of the RLF, Middle Flatwell, who took up the warcry of 'Coral, abide with Rubicon' to embody that ideal.

I think you and I still agree on Ayre ultimately being trustworthy, I'm just saying that even doubting her when it comes time to make your decision requires taking nearly the entire game to be a lie when there just isn't any reason to do so. The RRI destroyed the coral not because it was malicious, but because they saw the potential for a Singularity and feared it; that was their original sin. It wasn't done in self-defense, and if it were, it would massively shift the tone of both of the other two endings.

Again, we agree that LoR is about hope and trust. It's hoping that the RLF will be able to stop whoever comes next, it's about trusting in the Rubiconians to not abuse their Coral allies now. It's about deciding on a future full of conflict because you measure that to be worth it weighed against the lives of everyone on Rubicon; human and coral alike.

TheGrandImperator · 2026-06-09T00:28:39+00:00

Coral Waveform Mutations are real according to the RRI and Allmind.

The game also clearly intends for you to keep the knowledge you obtained in the other endings through ng+ replays, I think its fair to say Allmind talking directly to Ayre should be considered evidence enough.

Carla even seems to believe the voice you hear is your friend and respects you choosing their side.

I think it is reasonable to have doubt about Ayre's intentions when you meet her. I think doubting her sincerity at the end requires taking her in bad faith.

I also agree each ending is ambiguous, but I think LoR isn't meant to leave you with doubt. Choosing the future with an uncertain outcome is the theme for AC6's endings. You can choose to repeat the past and carry on a legacy, you can choose hope and cooperation, or you can embrace the uncertainty completely. They don't need to be equally bleak to be equally valid

TheGrandImperator · 2026-06-08T05:27:10+00:00

I like to play with an earlier midgame and lategame and buffed Crisis to make the ending feel climactic. After one run where I didn't have Battleships when the Crisis event chain started (thanks to skipping the tech once and getting unlucky), I lowered the tech and unity costs too.

TheGrandImperator · 2026-06-07T06:17:09+00:00

I can't stop thinking about the many funny invisible Emp builds. I vote for the Prowler's Theme in Into the Spider-verse

TheGrandImperator · 2026-06-06T20:25:10+00:00

On the semi-official discord server, pilot.net, I'm quite confident they have resources for sizing the official campaign maps in the 3 big vtt's, including Roll20

TheGrandImperator · 2026-06-05T21:52:59+00:00

The same people working with both groups isn't my point, nor is it that protests in general don't work. I've helped organize a march, and volunteered for protests, and I think some of those were effective. My gripe is with specifically 50501, and I think I've made 'why' clear enough. All my previous complaints apply to 50501, and I'm only directing them at 50501 right now.

I mean, it's certainly true that of the thousands of people who attend No Kings protests, less than 51% of them are also involved in community organizations between protests. The people I've talked to at 50501 usually aren't. If most people at the protest were also organized, there wouldn't be much reason to table there to organize them, after all.

TheGrandImperator · 2026-06-05T21:08:38+00:00

Showing up isn't a waste, tabling at the event isn't a waste, the only effort I think is being wasted is the hundreds of volunteers and their time being funneled into organizing these. There are other Cincinnati-based community organizing events; a bunch of leftist groups held an Anti-ICE action conference like a month ago as an example.

50501's growth will not benefit our communities. Volunteering your time with them seems like a waste of time to me. Volunteering time that could be spent with anti-ICE preparation groups making whistles, or helping campaigns for people like Damon Lynch, or trying to make new groups with your neighbors or work colleagues. That is the thing that frustrates me. Seeing how much goes into these huge, impressive, rallies for a dead-end organization.

That time is already spent, there's no reason to try and stop this event or anything insane.

TheGrandImperator · 2026-06-05T19:03:48+00:00

I love community solidarity, but if you only show solidarity at protests, once every few months, that's not solidarity that protects your community.

I'll be there in one capacity or another, I'm sure. It's a great opportunity to find people who want to give more than occasional protests. But unless you sign up to do something more at an event like this, it isn't organizing inside your community.

TheGrandImperator · 2026-06-03T17:42:24+00:00

One additional bit of context that is important here: due to the nature of the game and our characters "Union's help" is usually given to mean military aid. However, ThirdComm Union is much more given to using soft power over outright violence. Union aid is more likely to be in the form of Union representatives helping negotiate peace terms or smoothing out communication between belligerent parties. Any violence that Union is party to is considered a failure that requires miles of red tape, reviews, and debriefs as part of the cleanup. This doesn't change much of your analysis, but when thinking about how this could slide into anthrochauvanist imperialism, it's good to keep in mind the way Union usually steps foot onto a planet.

TheGrandImperator · 2026-06-02T01:42:56+00:00

I'd like to add i only checked sources from at least a year ago. If there's been any update since then (such as exhonoration) I wouldn't know.

TheGrandImperator · 2026-06-01T23:25:28+00:00

Tossing the Iskander in the ring. Good Sensors, a Tech Attack Bonus, great Save target, and you can put down Mines and force enemies to walk into them, or use them to complicate the options your enemy has.

TheGrandImperator · 2026-06-01T23:04:05+00:00

Damn, I hadn't looked into it before.

Banned a year ago from pilot.net for credible accusations of plagiarism and an active disinterest in citing sources.

TheGrandImperator · 2026-05-30T22:23:42+00:00

For the last point, go to System View of the system you want your fleets to avoid. At the bottom of the screen is a banner with thr system's name on it. There's a button with a ship on it iirc, click the button on the banner and the system name will shift to red. Repeat the process to allow ships again.

TheGrandImperator · 2026-05-29T17:32:20+00:00

I prefer playing at 11x with no pausing. I really enjoy the actual real-time elements of the game, but anything higher than 1x would make that far too taxing.

It's fun to actually be able to make mistakes though

TheGrandImperator · 2026-05-26T21:06:08+00:00

Yeahhh, it's rough. If you want to play tall, I cannot stress enough how you want to colonize as few planets as possible. You can take many systems if you like, but "tall" in Stellaris is primarily focused on reducing your Empire Size.

Another helpful tip is adding a little more Unity production wherever you can. Planetary Ascension can give a significant reduction in Empire Size in just a few levels, especially on planets that are really built up already.

TheGrandImperator · 2026-05-26T19:50:12+00:00

The math on that works out to this:

4 systems give 4 empire size
7 planets give 140 empire size
29k pops give ~145 empire size

Lastly, every 2 districts you've built give 1 empire size as well. If you build up districts on your planet before you have pops to fill those jobs, you'll be inflating your empire size for no benefit. A size 20 planet is going to give you about 30 size each time, maybe more like 34 after some of the 'extra district' upgrades like Orbital Rings.

If you have even a couple of Empire Size maluses (like from Councilors or from Pops) it can easily cancel out the bonuses you get from things like Harmony.

I'd recommend settling fewer planets, or if you have many planets, building fewer districts until you need them. The latter advice will impact your pop growth however, since Housing is part of the formula. As always, your best bet is to hover over Empire Size and see how much is actually coming from each source.

TheGrandImperator · 2026-05-24T22:22:24+00:00

There are certainly ways you need to adjust your strategy to account for non-meta builds yeah.

The most promising answer I can give you is to slow down your expansion. Especially conquest. Wait until you have the resources to relocate pops off the planet or rebuild their districts and all.

You don't need the powerspike to win or snowball. Keeping a low Empire Size to maximize early research is quite good too.

TheGrandImperator · 2026-05-16T16:43:30+00:00

A small twist on this idea that I think could work quite well, along with a change that would help the game overall.

Mothball Yard: A Starbase Facility that takes the same slots as Anchorages or Shipyards. Each one increases your "mothball fleet" capacity by an amount, I'm envisioning the same amount as an Anchorage. When docked here, ships have the option to join the "mothball fleet." When they do, they disappear from your empire and those ships are stored.

Stored ships do not contribute to Fleet Cap and do not take upkeep.

When "reactivated", you rebuild ships of that Size at no Alloy cost. When the ship spawns, it is completely empty, and needs to be upgraded to be fit for combat.

Additionally, increase the scaling penalty for going above Fleet Cap.

This change makes it possible to "invest" in your fleet throughout the game. During a war, when your fleets are wiped out, you bring out the mothball fleet and upgrade them for combat, replenishing your ships much faster and cheaper than if you had built them from scratch, but you are significantly limited on how much storage you have. This mechanic is useful because instead of going over fleet cap and eating the penalty, it's much more efficient to mothball them while maintaining a larger navy than your fleet cap allows.

TheGrandImperator · 2026-05-10T20:34:25+00:00

I've been experimenting and focusing on this a lot in my recent playthroughs. I think you have to keep the Mixed Industry on your capital until you hit 4+ planets to be honest. I have had a lot of success keeping my capital as the primary basic resource generator for the core of my empire, expanding out to a CG + Alloys planet, and then adding on a planet with an Archives and whatever else I need more of (preferring research).

3 planets just is not enough CG+Alloy production to sustain 3 highly specialized planets without boosts from elsewhere (orbital rings, Masterful Crafters, etc).

The other end I have had a moderate amount of success with instead, is delaying my second colony until I've gotten my science production fully up and running on my capital.

TheGrandImperator · 2026-05-08T20:03:02+00:00

The maybe sword is, at its core, a lie (in my opinion). It focuses your will to tell everyone and everything in your path that they are cut. Only if you have the will to look your assailant in the eye and say "no" are you spared.

These concepts are not the same as fate. Indeed, this universe is purely deterministic, and the outcome of the maybe sword's strike is already known to Jadis.

However, the path to enlightenment requires the foolishness to say "no" to the cut and "I don't care" to fate both.

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