The Syndicate

It definitely hurts more to lose after a long civilian life than to lose after a quick out.

I would agree that people don't fit cleanly into any single "position" (not even the examples I provided). Everything is muddy. I wouldn't know how to label myself on that team. The dynamic also has to adapt as a town team shrinks, because people gon' die -- that relates to Epi's thought. I think the core of my thought is that civilian teams tend to be best served when there are multiple different approaches happening together that can be integrated into a full team effort.

This thread might make no sense. I just thought of it a moment ago and decided what the hell.

Imagine a civilian team in a Mafia game can be categorized into "positions", like you might see on a sports team. In soccer there are forwards, defenders and goalies. In basketball there are fowards, guards, and centers, etc. Consider a civilian team (and if you like a mafia team too, why not), and what those "positions" might be, and how you think they should ideally be arranged to form an optimal civilian roster.

I'll consider a few, using only general position groups (of course specificity can be added). Assume the civilian faction has 10 players, to make it simple.

1x Motivator -- token "leader", not necessarily (though plausibly) in terms of generating reads to be followed, but in terms of keeping the civilian team activated and engaged. More than one or two of these dampens their motivational impact collectively. Typically high post count. Example: MovingPictures07

2x Facilitator -- main function is to interact frequently and constantly with everyone else to create interactive content usable for large-scale analysis. May or may not be as focused on hammering home specific reads, at least not early. More than two of these can crowd the thread and make it difficult to follow. Typically high post count. Example: Sloonei

1x Provoker -- incites strong emotional reactions (within the rules and spirit of Mafia) with pointed, fearless accusation. More than one or two of these can create an environment of paranoia. Typically moderate post count. Example: MacDougall

2x Detached analyst -- attentive and engaged, but less inclined to play a part in every dialogue. Assembles thoughts internally before eventually providing thorough case work. Too many of these can limit the available data to analyze. Typically moderate post count. Example: Epignosis

2x Intuiter -- attentive and engaged, but less inclined to operate with compiled thread data. Allows instinctive and intuited reads to hold sway, and provides perspective sometimes lost in the thicket of analysis. Too many of these can result in a more arbitrary lynch sequence. Post count is highly variable. Example: S~V~S

1x Hard data analyst -- focused specifically on the objective data available, namely voting history and any known night actions. They eschew the psychological speculation and try to make hay with what they know. Too many of these can make the thread environment low-pressure for other factions. Typically low-to-moderate in post count. Example: G-Man

1x Goofball -- often civilian factions can genuinely benefit from having someone screwing around a bit (so long as they still attempt to play the game productively). They create a unique and challenging environment for those who already know them to be innocent. More than just one of these though amounts to a significantly less informative thread. Typically low-to-moderate in post count. Example: DrWilgy

This is just how I felt on a whim, as I typed this. I could wait an hour, do it again, and perhaps feel differently. Who cares though, it's a thread. Whaddya think? Do you think anything? Should I get a life?