Squirtlestory 6: SquirtKILL!

[Squirtle]

Damnit I saw the signs too. Dedede not being direct about who the target was, Falco going back to sleep, even Wario saying I was least likely to get targeted - though I can't know for sure if he knew Squirtle's name was on the block. And I spent all my time this last scramblehour trying to get somebody onside to get the attack sandbage, only to lowball it myself just in case... because Falco's assurances and Captain's trust in Kazuya's assurances really did make me feel it would end up as wario vs robin in the ringduel. Damn.

Will be checking in periodically here with callouts, so wanted to make the thread early. Messages can wait at this point. I also have no intention of trying the duel any time soon. I have an awful track record with clutch challenges, from my first FIC in PNG to the 7am tiebreaker in Legoland at the back of an allnighter... and yet somehow I've had less sleep this last week than before that one.

[Sandbag]

Y'all need some of that Dream Well water.

also Squirtlestory 6*?

[Squirtle]

Mar 2, 2022 20:03:24 GMT 10 Sandbag said:

Y'all need some of that Dream Well water.

also Squirtlestory 6*?

Sandbaggedsmashostsee? Isbe squirtleselfexhausted.

Pleasepleaseplease make edit?

[Master Hand]

NINETY SIXTY

[Squirtle]

Lostforwords! LOSTFORWORD!


Squirtleselfe LOST. FOR. WORDS.

Isbe squirtleself OWN PUN. OWN CHALLENGE. Toptwopick ifbe squirtleself hadhold attacksandbag.

LOST FOR WORDS!


(Isbe also doublyfunnyfun ifbe redrobin ID who squirtleself squirtlesuspect isbe redrobin ID )

[Squirtle]

The other hilarious aspect to all this is that I'm still shockingly well set up if I do make it back in. Chance at three near-locked sandbag bids with only four voting rounds to go. Could be the easy vote this next round if I come in too late but would have earned a badge and a reputation for having undone the teethplantweedkiller at a stage of their own choosing.

Still all this is very much getting ahead of myself. Part of me wants to just focus on the duel only, but I also know that all the time I spend messaging anyone else at this point is useless except in the even that I stay, so I need to be setting that up too even though it's the duel that determines which future will eventuate.

[Squirtle]

Awwwwwwww guuuuyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyssss Captainfriend wants to make me an example of the challenge to try as practice

....And for ID reasons I can't tell him that I already have access to all examples of this challenge ever made for the two games it's appeared in before Having hosted and helped develop and redevelop the first. And having made the second myself. Not to mention knowing how some of the hosts here approached creating the previous versions. Whelp I'd really better win this, and I'm not really super confident tbh.

Happy to cop some blame for the cruelty of it myself, as I do think I'll be in a better spot should I return if I've downplayed my abilities here and made it a squirtleshockwin! Captain's the only one I'm even telling that I'm at all happy with the selection.

Even if this ends here I'm super glad I've been able to work with a true rideordie for the first real time. Still hope we get back together and own them all, but it's been really fun to actually mutually have somebody's back for a change.

[Squirtle]

[Insert series of overtired ramblingss before/after the ringduel from that thread. ]

[Squirtle]

Damnit I was very much at peace with losting and putt more strategy into which messages I could get away with never replying to, rather than what things I should be saying for if/when I return

[Squirtle]

Just had to go check who had the safetysandbag rofl



Squirtlefacepalm.

[Squirtle]

Okay darebesay atnow... Squirtle KILLINGit!

Ifbe forrealforreal makethrough thisnight evenifwithoutuse attackcards atall... virtually makebe guarantee squirtleself choiceofsandbag lastthreevoterounds.

[Squirtle]

And yes I say that knowing in full likelihood it'll be captain's dueltest tonight. Could be me again but hoping I've amassed a small detertent in the form of squirtlesecretchallengebeast!

Two major decisions here. Choose between Kazuya's plan to split wario/yoshi, or yoshi's plan to split dededede/kazuya. Fairly clear decision for me to run with the latter, even if it means another round for warioman (seriously my one regret if I'd lost the duel would have been going out before warioman). Dededede is far too dangerous a player to sneak through even as long as they already have, and things get much simpler with kazuya out of the picture even if he is actually on captains's side for now. But that agenda aside, I think the logic I gave the captain still holds true. Want to repost that here because it's a pretty good assessment of where I'd like to be headed, presuming the captain survives.

Mar 3, 2022 18:07:51 GMT 10 Squirtle said:

Squirlteback! Squirtle BACK!

Squritlespeculations. Makesense forto losewarioman assquirtlespeak squirtlebestracerfriend. Strangedinofriend squirtleself thinkis needbe keepsaslong ascan. Threereason.

One solong asbe squirtlebestracerfriends bothin smashgame squirlteself squirtlesee zerochance nobe needgo ringduel eacheveryround. Isbe tighttwo cleangames worthywinners. Couldmay bebe kazuyafriend stayby onside notherround nothertwo notbeenough. Warioman flipplityflip firstchance avoidtarget. Even withhave fouroffinalsix bestcase isbe twotwotwo tietierocks wherebe makemore squirtlesense anyonegoflippityflip against squirtlebestracerfriends even kazuyafriend. Ifbealso strangedinofriend ingame makebe threetargetspossible. Squirtlesense nomake difference ifbe cancontrol ortwovotes orthreevotes forjoinedthreatlevel. Andbut ifthree chanceof strangedinofriend takeget ringduelloss whenwould otherwise beor squirtleself orbe squirtlebestracerfriend.

Two ifbeneed winduels allrounds needget attacksandbagmonopoly. Keepselect ringduelstage canback squirtleselves ifwhen needto, makeavoid luckybreak likeredrobin otherside happengopick goodstage for squirtlebestracerfriends. Strangedinofriend stillhave oneset goodcards, couldbe makedifference ifcangetwin onemore outfrom fourattacksandbagsleft lastfour voterounds.

Three isbe finalfourround. Squirtleself playabout withfor numbers, findbe onlyone squirtlesolution bothsquirtleracerfriends canbe makeavoid ringduel! Ifbekeep strangedinofriend allway bethen goodchance strangedinofriend makevolunteer ringduel. Withcontrol eggvote canbemkae twovotes foron fourthsmasher, onevote strangedinofriend. Nomatter wherevote fourthsmasher canbe revote makesquirtain ringduel isbe strangedinofriend fourthsmasher.

Tothisnight evenifdo gosquirtlespeak dedededede falcoexfriend offermakedeal votestrangedino votewario nosquirtlesense in trustbelieve offrom squirtlebestracerfriends. Canbe betbig falcoexfriend isbealready bemake newgroupchat falcoexfriend dededede warioman evenmaybe kazuyaman makeinsist mustbe nolosechance makevote orsquirtlebestracerfriends orstrangedinofriend. Onlybe makeeasier endlose ringduel ifnot makepickvote besttargetopponent for squirtlebestracerfriends.

Mar 3, 2022 18:39:23 GMT 10 Squirtle said:

Isbe upto squirtlefriend.

Ifgokeep strangedinosplit. Realchance let dededede kazuyaman ringduel now. Likely squirtlebestracerfriend nexttime unlessget shieldsandbag butstillbe needduel momentlose shieldsandbag. Orifget anyway ringduel, getpick dededede asfor opponent endall nobadgetalkrisk.

Ifgokeep kazuyadededeplan. Loseringduel orstrangedino orwarioman. Stillbe squirltebestracerfriends obvioustarget for dededede falco andnocan splitvotes asbespeak strangedino, realchance warioman flippityflip.

Maybebe just upforto squirtlebestracerfriend makepick timing opponent whenberingduel whoberingduel.

The final four thing is a big deal. Odds are we don't all three make it intact through all the duels, but it's a checkpoint that shouldn't be so easily overcome and if we have a chance I'll take it. Though I'm also pretty high on the odds of any from the three of us taking two out of three challenges whatever they are - maybe Yoshi least of all actually if he uses up his math/logic ones before then. But for the most part the bans make it seem like my nightmare challenge of avatarscramble and my pleasepleaseno challenge of fourcolourtheorem suck for everybody equally.

Captain's decisionpoint was ostensibly the slim chance that if we follow yoshi's split and one of kazuya/dededede happens to follow the kazuyaplan, he'd be spared a duel. I don't think either is the kind of player who would fall for that though, and it would have required better coordination in both captain and I messaging both of them the same things at the right times all through the scramble. Which we didn't, because when I clearly couldn't go back to sleep after THAT news I spent my extra 'offline' time thinking through and writing up the above.


Second decision was whether to make a bid. In the end I hedged that captain's attack bid will be high enough to pick a duel, or that he'll stand a good enough chance at winning anything against dedede (as untested as dededede is). Whether he survives or not the advantage to highcardhoarding with only three rounds left is a huge potential gain to weigh up. And it could mean that there's no more risk from this point on of a duel selection working against the player I want to win the duel - so if there needs to be one that's up in the air I'd rather get it out of the way sooner and know exactly what/who I'm working with, even if the captain loses.

[Squirtle]

Squirtle knows better than to quote back dedede's message of sosorryletdown.

Squirtle knows better than to quote back dedede's message of sosorryletdown.

Squirtle knows better than to quote back dedede's message of sosorryletdown.

Squirtle did it anyway.

Pettysquirtle!

[Squirtle]

Ohjoy squirtlesuicide. Just replied to a message from Captain without realising it was in the chat with wario and yoshi too.

Could have been soooooooo much worse. But still includes mocking wario for badmouthing him to me.

Squirtlewooooooooooooooooooops.

Really should have slept more.

[Squirtle]

You'd think that stupidly naming all of your one-one-one chat threads SQUIRTLE! would at least have the silver lining of preventing this? But no. Have tried my best at damage control. Sorry to have stirred extra drama but it was kind of fun.

Other thing I've been up to is writing a load of crap for Falco. I put off messaging him yesterday because I could. Just gave a brief not-angry-just-disappointed gut reaction and for added pettiness pointed out that I'd messaged him and only him immediately when Robin tipped me off I was the vote. (This was petty because I legitimately though I'd sent that message to Captain Falcon, not Falco who now still thinks I found out when Kazuya did and spilled to us both, but when I realised the error I though I might as well through it into Falco's undeserving face.) Thereafter I was happy to let him sit and stir, wondering whether he'd still have a shot at my jury vote or at my cooperation, should I return. And didn't have the energy (mental, physical or emotional) to talk through his betrayal with a view to moving beyond it when it could just be wasted effort on all fronts. But it meant I had to deal with it today. I send him a brief 'to be continued but for now how are you voting' before the round but he was offline so didn't respond in time.

And so now I had to basically lay out the most awful of guilt trips. Using as many of his own words against him as I could. Tying in his desire to see the captain ringduel, and explaining how I understand the strategic need but also would never do that to an ally, like I would never have done that to him, like he did to me. Blaming myself for thinking we had a friendship exceeding the bonds of pure strategic impulses, and promising to still be allies even if he'd ruined our friendship forever etc etc etc (fine, in nicer terms but still essentially all that). I held back the card of Robin not actually liking him all that much and certainly never intending to harm her own game for him even though I would have been willing to do so, to an extent. And I didn't mention the strategic idiocy of not fighting to avoid sacrificing one of Robin/Squirlte inevitably, or not prioritising Squirlte's more honest allyship if/when a choice was needed. Both of those are things which could be useful come jury time, whatever side of things we're on. But even so it was all super awful and bleak....

... and completely the opposite of how I usually actually feel about this personal/strategic friend/ally lines messiness. My impulse when I have an ally I fear can beat me in the end is absolutely to turn against them - and it's absolutely the correct impulse. I definitely would have cut Falco to go to the end with weaker players (had he not done a good job already of weakening his own game beyond the point that it'd be a real issue for us ) and as a potential juror would certainly judge him terribly for never considering it himself - had he not got the timing and execution oh so horribly wrong. I don't play based on friendship, I never considered that we had a particularly sturdy friendship or even allyship since the tietierocks fiasco, as much as I try to blame it on only Richterrip. And making sure we can still work together if it helps my game and/or my FTC is far far far more important to me than becoming/staying friends when all is said and done. (If you're reading this - would still love to be friends outside the game obviously! But afterwards - when I'm playing an ORG I'm in it for me alone.)

However. Getting to play as Squirtle and falling into the position I've managed to find has opened up a strange new world for me, where it helps my game (I think) to be emphasising friendship. Squirlte didn't run around making deals which couldn't all be kept, they just kept coming which left Squirtle hoping that they'd be broken up by outside forces as the other side of the mergeteam voted them into the ring (ideally ahead of Squirtle!) Because part of what got Squirtle into trouble pre-merge was the perception that Squirtle is meant to be cute and cuddly and friendshipy and loyal rather than the devious calculating strategy-focused player behind the rep.

And based on that mask, Squirlte was able to build relationships that did offer alliances and friendships, including a true rideordie for the first time in the Captain - who for purely strategic reasons Squirtle very nearly cut loose in round three. When Squirtle had to pick sides on blue/yellow and make enemies (because everyone wanted to be a squirltefriend! and possibly interpreted that part of the shtick as more of a promise than the simple pronoun it was intended to be) those enemies felt a kind of personal betrayal which went beyond the strategic annoyance of having been flipped on - and so the Captain didn't cop nearly as much flack when Wario refued to die, because 'I did it for strategic reasons' is a fair enough excuse when the bond never went any deeper.

And so had Squirtle needed to do a heelturn and pick between allies running into and through the endgame, there would have been an awful lot of hurt to deal with from the jury on top of all the mess. But if Squirtle can build a consistent case for a game played along whatever lines of loyalty and friendship Squirtle chose to self-impose, that's a game that the jury will be more likely to reward from the Squirtle they all met before things went to shit. Squirtle just had to kind of presume that most of falco/yoshi/captain/wario/kingcruel(/robin had things kept moving as I'd hoped) would be picked off before Squirltle had to do the picking, so that Squirtle could continue to play a loyal game toward the remaining Squirltefriends all the way to the end, with a game strong enough to back without having to one-up others with more blindsides in the final rounds.

And as much as it was awful to get blindsided by Falco... it makes my endgame so much cleaner on the friendship front. He struck first, and missed. And now not only have I got a badge to cut out talk of 'everyone needs to duel, vote Squirtle' and a duel result to strike fear of 'I can't duel Squirtlesecretchallengebeast' - I also have a pretext to cut falco out of my circle of loyalty. He can't be a bitter juror on the grounds of friendship any longer, like he was bitter after the tietierocks and the pyramythra vote. I mean, he can still be bitter if he wants to be, but would be visibly quite hypocritical to do so and would be less likely to influence other jurors with that bitter narrative. And I can vote him out now without worrying about any backlash about squirtlebestfriendship - instead weaponising the concept even further on the way to the FTC. I came into the game ready to switch personal ethos if I needed to become a challengebeast and make the case that I deserve a win on those grounds (yuck), so it's been a pleasant surprise to have picked up the 'loyalty to closest friends' one instead. But I think I can run with it and make it work - certainly I'm a step closer today that I was yesterday. (You know, on top of being back in the game, which I'll concede probably helps too.)