Point 1 in my defense: effort level
While baddies are capable of giving a strong effort, one has to consider the context of the game. This thing has been a pretty slow mover compared to other heists and games of comparable size, still sitting at less than 700 posts at end game. A slow and analytically deprived game thread is the most basic advantage that a mafia team can ever enjoy, and when I am mafia the last thing I care to do is change that dynamic. In this game I have really tried to do that, and the best thing going for Alpha was that they did the same thing. I have engaged conversations with every player, or at least attempted to, and I've done that despite time restrictions during a holiday season keeping me away from my laptop longer than usual.
Point 2 in my defense: methods
This game comes stock with mechanics that inherently favor the mafia team. The ratios are unfavorable in an eleven player game given the size of the mafia team. Without flips it's made even worse, as the primary analytic tool that civilians tend to work with is unavailable. For this reason I can understand why some players were disheartened earlier in the game and felt that the civs' chances weren't very good. I felt that way myself, and yet I have still done everything in my power to alleviate the disadvantage. I have analyzed the game both deterministically and probabilistically for every possible combination of mafia members there is. I have tried to fill the role of leadership to keep the civilians engaged and motivated. I have badly wanted to overcome the difficulties of this setup and find a way to win, because it would really be an awesome achievement. My post history should bear that out.
I acknowledge that there is some selfishness in it. I am a player who is proud of their civilian game and has earned some reputation for it. It's a reputation that I seek to live up to and to strengthen, and winning this game would mean a lot. I want that stupid best civilian socky award. I want that stupid heist MVP award. I want that glory. And I have played this game with those pursuits close to heart. To know that we are so close to see this through and yet still on course to lose the game is really disappointing right now.
Point 3 in my defense: Echo and the India kill
Echo's role claim of the oracle was bizarre, and I treated it that way. Indeed, the two players who were most interrogative in Echo's direction for that maneuver were India and I, the former having likely been the oracle himself. Indeed, it was apparent to me that, like Alpha said at one point I believe, if Echo wasn't really the oracle then the most likely alternative would be India (the guy most severely protesting the claim). If I'm mafia and teamed with Echo, I don't kill the guy most likely to be the oracle who is sure to identify the other guy who claimed oracle. That's nonsense. That it actually happened suggests to me that the bad guys were not paying adequate attention to the details. Nobody has been paying closer attention to the details in this game than I was.
Moreover, when Echo was revealed as the disguiser and there was an opportunity in the thread to consider the possibility that it was India instead and the oracle/disguiser mechanics were confusing the two, I did not stand for that:
Bravo wrote: ↑Fri Dec 15, 2017 11:17 pm Poll doesn't work on my phone. Voting Echo whenever it lets me.
This provides a great solving opportunity. Echo is the disguiser and his teammates may be identifiable in his posts (including or not including Kilo) It'll be muddier than usual perhaps given the no flip dynamic. I'll take a look a bit later.
And considering India's dead post, I think it's a good thing I didn't.
Point 4 in my defense: Juliet
For this one there are a couple of premises to consider:
1 - Juliets was bad.
2 - In a game with no flips, distancing and bussing are not very useful to a mafia team.
If you accept those premises, and I do, then you ought to be led to a sound inductive conclusion:
Bravo is not bad.
As soon as Echo was revealed as the disguiser, I began investigating the connections. Recall the Juliet interactive read. The two players that I felt were most connected to Echo were Juliet and Foxtrot. Numerous other players also voiced suspicion of Juliet, some citing the connections I drew. It is clear to me that I played a prominent role in getting Juliet lynched. Then the following night, Foxtrot was killed. So consider:
I had two primary suspects. One of them was killed. The other was Juliet, who was promptly lynched. Why the bloody fuck would I do that to my teammate in a game with no flips?. It makes zero sense. There is no rationale for that. To assert that I am mafia now requires that I did that, unless you're going to tell me that Juliet was a civilian who literally just fucked off at the first sign of trouble. There is legitimate tinfoil and there is nonsense. This represents the latter.
[-Mass Effect Mafia banner-]
More general frustration and unfamiliar strategies.
