The Syndicate

NANOOKTHEGREATANDFEARSOME wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 7:47 am Welcome to It's a Mysterious Universe Mafia! A couple Four players start the game out of the thread. They are players in the game and there is a mechanic for them to join the thread. They may not vote or be voted for until they are in the thread. They cannot be targeted by normal means until they are in the thread.

I'm lost. What does "out of the thread" mean? Are they not allowed to read the thread, or just not allowed to post/vote? (I assume the latter because it's much easier to enforce.) Are they in the playerlist or a separate category? Because if they're in the playerlist we should just have everyone check in to see who's missing and out of the thread.

I like LC jumping on a perceived slip. It's not a real slip, but being attentive to scumslips is townie (mafia know exactly who the mafia are most of the time and don't care) and the way he handled it doesn't look like scum trying to drum up suspicion based on a poor choice of wording.

I routinely lie and manipulate as town. It's just optimal play.

Poison has told me that she often feels very uncomfortable as mafia and gets found out very quickly, and that she's generally bad at playing mafia. But in this game she feels very comfortable and fluid. I understand that a game where she is mafia has just ended; what was she like in that game?

Long Con wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 1:40 pm
Sloonei wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 1:27 pm People have squinted at me for saying that I have "genuine" reads in the past, as if every read I share as town is supposed to be genuine.

So with that in mind, here's a read of unknown sincerity:

Vulgard is mafia.
I can see it. Pre-slank excuse, mech chatter, and bland greetings.

I could see Vulgard being scum but mostly because their posting looks kinda carefully controlled to be as inoffensive and trigger people's scumdars as little as possible. I had a confused reaction to that mechanic as well so I don't blame them for the mech chatter, and I think pre-slank excuses are NAI. There are very few people (in general, but especially on the Syndicate) who roll scum and then go "alright! I'm going to go and give an excuse so I can coast through D1!" Not only is this just uncommon behavior, it's also suboptimal - you allow yourself to engage in some anti-town behavior, but in exchange you lose a lot of ability to gain trust and manipulate the town. Syndicate is not a site that is afraid to exe slankers and you will win a lot more games by powerwolfing than coasting.

Long Con wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 1:42 pm
Alison wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 1:40 pm I routinely lie and manipulate as town. It's just optimal play.

Poison has told me that she often feels very uncomfortable as mafia and gets found out very quickly, and that she's generally bad at playing mafia. But in this game she feels very comfortable and fluid. I understand that a game where she is mafia has just ended; what was she like in that game?
Perfectly towny. She and her surviving teammate were lauded all game long for their locktowniness.

Alright.

I'm going to do a host read here and say they'll rejoin us after N1 at the very latest. Having people sign up for your game and then be unable to do anything is pretty lame.

Syn's description of themselves as "agitating" is bothering me and I can't put my finger on why. I just think it's a little weird for someone to describe themselves/their mafia play that way. I also can't explain why that's mafia indicative though. (My best theory is that it's setting up an excuse for awkwardness/discomfort by implying that his posts always rub people the wrong way? But I don't really believe that even as I write it and it feels like a rationalization of a gut read more than anything.)

I like this entrance from FG. The energy reminds me a lot of town tutuu.

[VOTE: Syn] aubergine

I want to push here right now. His post bothered me and he responded to it with a beetlejuice.

Syn do you have any opinion at all on the way the game has opened/the stuff that has happened so far?

Vulgard wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 3:04 pm I don't like Alison's thin read on Long Con, I don't think it's reasonable to townread him for such a thing this early.

I like Sloonei, though. I like how he's already hardcore solving, and he's doing that in a way which doesn't come across as forced.
To answer his question -- I'm honestly not sure how to answer it at this point, because my playstyle tends to be pretty fluid. I usually try to find mafia and/or town through macro reads, and when I want to push a mafia, I case them, like I did last game. This means that I am invariably stumbling around blind on day 1 and only later developing the ability to find people's alignments with higher confidence.

TL;DR Focus on macro reads, gets better as the game goes on, usually.

Sloonei's posts don't strike me as "hardcore solving". Walk me through what about Sloonei's posts struck you as being particularly high effort.

Syn wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 3:08 pm
Alison wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 2:58 pm [VOTE: Syn] aubergine

I want to push here right now. His post bothered me and he responded to it with a beetlejuice.

Syn do you have any opinion at all on the way the game has opened/the stuff that has happened so far?
What does "a beetlejuice" mean? I saw the movie once like a decade ago.

We're 7 hours in to D1, so not really. Sloonei and LC have Good Vibes.

I'm curious about the four who can't be in the thread, and if any of them are wolves or guaranteed town. Being able to establish an immediate towncore would be rad. But I doubt Nanook would make it that easy for us.

What about Vulgard? There was a back and forth earlier about Vulgard being possibly mafia, and he's given some game-related content.

Re: the four that aren't in the thread, the previous game that had out-of-thread players had them all share the same alignment, which was technically third-party but which played out in benign/townsided ways, or so I am told. I think it's too much to assume they're all townsiding this time, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were all the same alignment again, or share other key similarities.

Vulgard wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 3:09 pm [VOTE: Syn] aubergine

I checked again and they have done nothing within their five posts. These posts were all spent on talking about themselves, their first post was a comment about the OP (which is not really game-related and is unlikely to out you as mafia when you talk about it as mafia), and they come across as trying to seem relaxed in the thread. Which is probably why they are spending so much time on "settling in."

I liked nutella's start, but I have some respect for their wolfgame, so I'm not going to pull an Alison and make a weakly supported solid townread on her out of nowhere.

I actually really dislike the highlighted section. I think my read was fine and I didn't pretend it was stronger than it is. I just said I liked him doing that and he looked good off it - but this is framed as though my read is overblown and feels like it's trying to discredit the way I was reading LC. This is particularly egregious because it's in service of justifying a waffle on nutella.

Alison wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 5:01 pm
Vulgard wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 3:09 pm [VOTE: Syn] aubergine

I checked again and they have done nothing within their five posts. These posts were all spent on talking about themselves, their first post was a comment about the OP (which is not really game-related and is unlikely to out you as mafia when you talk about it as mafia), and they come across as trying to seem relaxed in the thread. Which is probably why they are spending so much time on "settling in."

I liked nutella's start, but I have some respect for their wolfgame, so I'm not going to pull an Alison and make a weakly supported solid townread on her out of nowhere.
I actually really dislike the highlighted section. I think my read was fine and I didn't pretend it was stronger than it is. I just said I liked him doing that and he looked good off it - but this is framed as though my read is overblown and feels like it's trying to discredit the way I was reading LC. This is particularly egregious because it's in service of justifying a waffle on nutella.

I should add to this: part of the reason I hated Vulgard trying to discredit my first post read so much, other than the baseline "I think it's bad when people discredit my posts" motivation, is that it is very common for mafia, especially mafia who have never played with me, to try to undermine my first post reads by framing it as being underjustified or based on little or no reasoning.

Vulgard wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 3:12 pm
Funnygurl555 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 3:07 pm
Sloonei wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 2:43 pm
Funnygurl555 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 2:27 pm i'm bummed 'cause both mikey and thesunfan rejected me and didn't join this game so i'm alone and that eerily resembles my real life but like it's fine though

we shall WIN THE GAME
You’re not alone, we’ll solve this game together fgal!

What’s nutella’s alignment?
she seems nice and is a mod so i'ma say lawful good

anyways we're polar opposites so i'ma deliver the hot™ take that no one thought they needed and say you're a WOLF
got 'em
I mean, posts like this one. This just looks like a really forced joke, and I'm not sure why it exists. "Haha, I'm so random?" Or "Haha, look, I'm relaxed and harmless!"
I'm leaning toward the second.

This is 100% within FG's general personality and town range.

Sloonei wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 5:00 pm
Alison wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 4:53 pm
Vulgard wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 3:04 pm I don't like Alison's thin read on Long Con, I don't think it's reasonable to townread him for such a thing this early.

I like Sloonei, though. I like how he's already hardcore solving, and he's doing that in a way which doesn't come across as forced.
To answer his question -- I'm honestly not sure how to answer it at this point, because my playstyle tends to be pretty fluid. I usually try to find mafia and/or town through macro reads, and when I want to push a mafia, I case them, like I did last game. This means that I am invariably stumbling around blind on day 1 and only later developing the ability to find people's alignments with higher confidence.

TL;DR Focus on macro reads, gets better as the game goes on, usually.
Sloonei's posts don't strike me as "hardcore solving". Walk me through what about Sloonei's posts struck you as being particularly high effort.
How would you describe my posts?

I think you're in the "toss ideas around, see what strikes a chord or sparks discussion" stage. You're not really at the point where you're really digging deep into people's alignments and trying to form POEs or build towncores. On a separate note, I think it is really weird to try to volume/effort clear someone who has just been crowned MU Champ.

Is everyone in the thread scumreading Vulgard now? That's probably a good sign, since there's like 7 people who dislike Vulgard's posts for one reason or another and all of them are excellent players and they can't all be mafia.

Alright, I'm caught up. Lots of people seem to dislike Vulgard's posts/reads/reasoning, but only Sloonei is voting him. Mac is doing his own thing which I respect, but a no vote is a wasted vote. I like the Vulgard push.

[VOTE: Vulgard] aubergine

nutella wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 5:32 pm He was town in all three of his champs games so his crown has zero reflection of how his scum meta measures up

My point is that you'd expect someone competent enough to be the MU Champ to be someone trivially able to fake solving regardless of alignment, and at any rate I don't really think it was as hardcore as Vulgard made it out to be anyway.

I think it's a pretty ugly look that Vulgard's "throat has been thoroughly jumped down" but nobody seems to want to actually vote him. I think there is a good chance he is scum and his teammates bussed for early distance but are afraid to commit the vote because they were scared by the apparent steam his wagon was building and didn't want to lose a member so rapidly.

Sloonei wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 6:03 pm
Alison wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 6:01 pm I think it's a pretty ugly look that Vulgard's "throat has been thoroughly jumped down" but nobody seems to want to actually vote him. I think there is a good chance he is scum and his teammates bussed for early distance but are afraid to commit the vote because they were scared by the apparent steam his wagon was building and didn't want to lose a member so rapidly.
We have nearly 48 hours left in Day 1. I don’t think it behooves us to pile votes on one person immediately.

I mean, I'm not saying hammer him right now, but like when I read through a thread of various people all attacking Vulgard and then I check the poll and I'm the literal only person on it, I get suspicious.

Long Con wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 6:05 pm
Alison wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 6:01 pm I think it's a pretty ugly look that Vulgard's "throat has been thoroughly jumped down" but nobody seems to want to actually vote him. I think there is a good chance he is scum and his teammates bussed for early distance but are afraid to commit the vote because they were scared by the apparent steam his wagon was building and didn't want to lose a member so rapidly.
I don't think that he and Sloonei are wolves together. If Sloonei is a wolf, I have less suspicion of Vulgard. I still like your take on him, and could easily vote that way. I am not a teammate.

He doesn't have 6 teammates so I'm not saying that everyone who doesn't vote Vulgard is a teammate. I think many of the reasons that Sloonei raised for not voting Vulgard - give him space, there's still time, pursue other suspects, etc. - are valid. If Vulgard is in fact scum, then the townies not voting him would be doing so for those reasons, and his teammates would probably be blending in amongst them and pretending they also have that reason.

Sloonei wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 6:14 pm
Alison wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 6:13 pm
Sloonei wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 6:03 pm
Alison wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 6:01 pm I think it's a pretty ugly look that Vulgard's "throat has been thoroughly jumped down" but nobody seems to want to actually vote him. I think there is a good chance he is scum and his teammates bussed for early distance but are afraid to commit the vote because they were scared by the apparent steam his wagon was building and didn't want to lose a member so rapidly.
We have nearly 48 hours left in Day 1. I don’t think it behooves us to pile votes on one person immediately.
I mean, I'm not saying hammer him right now, but like when I read through a thread of various people all attacking Vulgard and then I check the poll and I'm the literal only person on it, I get suspicious.
I unvoted him a moment after you voted for him. I don’t like runaway polls early in phases.

It's fine to be cautious since this is a game with majority vote, but at the time you unvoted there were 2 people on him. That is not a runaway poll. :P

Enrique wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 6:15 pm I think Vulgard is playing day 1 in much the way that other people play day 1. means nothing.

What do you think about the people who piled on Vulgard then? Which of them look like opportunistic scum trying to throw shade to you, and which of them look like townies with legit suspicions?

I get where Sloonei is coming from and I want to hear Vulgard's defense myself as well. I'm just saying that I don't think the pressure is particularly high right now.

Enrique wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 6:40 pm
Alison wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 6:16 pm
Enrique wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 6:15 pm I think Vulgard is playing day 1 in much the way that other people play day 1. means nothing.
What do you think about the people who piled on Vulgard then? Which of them look like opportunistic scum trying to throw shade to you, and which of them look like townies with legit suspicions?
1. I don’t agree with them (you).
2. funnygurl
3. I wouldn’t say anybody *looks* like that. I could buy most of them (you) individually. But I wouldn’t go as far as to say I’m getting a good vibe from anyone in this group.

What parts of FG's progression felt off to you?

It looks pretty good for Enrique actually.

What the fuck is going on here

Sloonei/nutella is a pretty odd difference check to be pushing. I don't see the connection between the two of them. nutella looks pretty normal to me.

nutella wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 9:15 pm Vulgard: eggs that are like three weeks old but still totally fine because eggs last a while
Alison: chicken breast
Sloonei: bell pepper (closest thing to paprika that would be in a fridge. or I guess maybe leftover paprikash or goulash)
Long Con: maple syrup
nutella: doesn't belong in the fridge. but could also be ice cream in the freezer
MacDougall: haha vegemite haha i'm being real unoriginal. or maybe sausage
Funnygurl555: well she used to be baby carrots but i think shes like a spicy chipotle hummus to go with the carrots
Marmot: Oregon marionberry jam
Syn: dried out day old tim hortons donut
TonyStarkPrime: honey mustard
Poison: chocolate milk
Enrique: scallions

And the ppl not in the thread are not in the fridge but in the cupboard
Hyena: caramel popcorn
Quin: cinnamon
Trustworthy Liberal: seaweed snacks
Turnip Head: well...duh

Chicken breast? Why?

I think soda would fit me best, I'm sort of addicted to it.

Poison wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 9:21 pm
Sloonei wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 1:27 pm People have squinted at me for saying that I have "genuine" reads in the past, as if every read I share as town is supposed to be genuine.

So with that in mind, here's a read of unknown sincerity:

Vulgard is mafia.
After encounterimg your God reads in g9, I want to believe in it right away, if you are not a mafia yourself that is.

This post kinda pings me.

Poison wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 9:29 pm
Alison wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 9:23 pm
Poison wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 9:21 pm
Sloonei wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 1:27 pm People have squinted at me for saying that I have "genuine" reads in the past, as if every read I share as town is supposed to be genuine.

So with that in mind, here's a read of unknown sincerity:

Vulgard is mafia.
After encounterimg your God reads in g9, I want to believe in it right away, if you are not a mafia yourself that is.
This post kinda pings me.
Why exactly?

Because you're setting up an excuse to sheep Sloonei while putting the responsibility of the exe on his shoulders and implying that if he is wrong he is mafia.

I don't see the FG pocket, where is it?

Funnygurl555 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 9:39 pm
Alison wrote: ↑Fri Oct 23, 2020 9:22 pm I think soda would fit me best, I'm sort of addicted to it.
what's your favorite soda and please don't say dr pepper

also enrique im not buttering up alison at all u just gotta player with her and see HER WAYS

Coke.

TSP's reads are so off kilter that I suspect he's trying to replicate his "crazy stream of consciousness" town playstyle. I'm not feeling the townread on him and I think "everyone is scum" is a pretty lazy way of looking at this gamestate tbh.

I always feel like TSP's logic is hard to follow and I've incorrectly suspected him for it in the past. But his logic in town games feels he's reaching out and trying together to piece together an explanation of the gamestate, even if it's bizarre and conspiracy theory-esque, and TSP here feels more passive, like he's already decided what view he wants to take and is just justifying it. There's a lack of dynamicism, "hmm actually" and "what if ?!" that I've come to expect from his town play. I guess he did do something similar in his read on FG but I don't think it changed his overall view. Which goes back to the problem really.

Poison is blatant naked mafia.

[VOTE: Poison] aubergine

1) If you think I am distancing from Poison, then help me bus her.

2) The interactions between Poison and TSP these past few pages are super teammate indicative.

3) I am suspicious of Vulgard pocketing me.

nutella wrote: ↑Sat Oct 24, 2020 2:21 pm if I haven't said so already let me put it on the record that TSP is 100000000% town

I really don't agree, he's in my top three POE and I'm trying to decide if he's my 2nd or 3rd highest suspect.

Poison wrote: ↑Sat Oct 24, 2020 2:27 pm Alison, you were more of a let's-form-the-town-core person right? Tell me about your sudden shift.

I'm not. If I get a bunch of townreads early on I try to form a towncore. If I get a bunch of scumreads early on I try to murder them. If I don't understand what's happening or have nullreads on everyone I try to find one read I'm confident in and stick with it (sheeping them if it's a townread or hard pushing them if it's a scumread). I believe in tailoring my strategy to the game at hand.

nutella wrote: ↑Sat Oct 24, 2020 2:31 pm
Alison wrote: ↑Sat Oct 24, 2020 2:25 pm 2) The interactions between Poison and TSP these past few pages are super teammate indicative.

hard disagree. pocket indicative. and tsp was already lock town

Can we talk about this read? Like I think there's a huge gap between the way we see TSP here and I want to understand why you think he is lock town.

I'm dealing with stuff IRL, should be cleared up in less than 24 hours. So posts are going to be brief for the next while. Mac, Sloonei, nutella, TSP, Enrique town off the flip.

I want to go Poison -> Vulgard. Not sure about Syn.

Marmot is probably just town.

I'm thinking of switching to Vulgard. I'm confident the wagon on Vulgard is pure (Mac, Sloonei, nutella are all confident townreads of mine), and there are two players in the POE voting Poison, Vulgard and Syn. Mafia cannot afford to lose another member after an early dayvig and really need a misexe right now, so it's not out of the question that a Vulgard/Syn team just piles onto Poison and tries to force it through.

In a vacuum I suspect Poison more than Vulgard. But when we compare wagon purities I think Vulgard's wagon looks a lot better. In Radiohead Mafia D1 I voted my 2nd or 3rd strongest suspect instead of my 1st strongest suspect, purely because I had a lot of very confident townreads, and all my townreads were screaming for her head. I was confident the wagon there was pure so I voted her and she flipped mafia.

I'm in a similar situation now.

[VOTE: Vulgard] aubergine

Poison: Here's your five points.

1) Your reads haven't made sense to me this game.

2) The way you flooded the thread with a bunch of meaningless posts is a scumtell.

3) The way you handled the "I have TMI on TSP too" stuff with nutella was awkward and bad, and now that TSP has been spewed green it looks a lot like you really did have TMI on him and were trying to pass it off as a joke.

4) LC's flip hasn't changed your read on me at all, indicating that you are not interested in having good reads and are looking to push a narrative.

5) LC has made a lot of people look good except you. That means there are very few candidates who can be mafia, which means the probability of any individual player in the list being mafia is higher. Combined with the above 4 points, that makes your scum equity pretty high.

[mention]Marmot[/mention] [mention]Funnygurl555[/mention]

With the wagons this close, it is important to me that you make a clear and unambiguous decision whether you want Vulgard or Poison to die today. There is a chance that Poison and Vulgard are W/V, and if that's the case then mafia has a really tough decision to make between letting another mafia die and looking terrible off making the deciding vote on someone who flips town. So I want you to make a stand and not dodge the decision.

I gave you 5 reasons why you were scum that had nothing to do with post count.

I think Mac is town either way. That interaction with LC looked very good for him.

I think they can easily be both mafia. Poison delayed the self-pres on Vulgard (which I would've thought would be nearly automatic here if Poison is town) until it became very clear that the exe was either Poison or Vulgard today. I think that might be because she was holding out hope on swinging the wagon onto someone else at the last minute.

It's still important that Marmot/FG vote though because they can be W/V too.

Search found 335 matches