What If? You become Emperor of the Space Western Roman Empire

[King Arts]

Now then. I saw this CYOA and I thought the setting looked cool. Reminds me of Dune and 40k and history from the late western roman empire. So what do you do to try and save humanities empire from collapsing?

 

[King Arts]

Thanks for the likes guys. But it'd be great for you to respond lol. You don't have to make a build or whatever because this isn't an RP and I'm not a GM, but I'm curious on what you would think, which factions would you try to ally together, and which would you try to marginalize.

 

[ATP]

Smarter IoM with cute girls.I like it.
But - since you would be emperor,you could get one major waifu and other as minor ones.

 

[Captain X]

 

[King Arts]

Smarter IoM with cute girls.I like it.
But - since you would be emperor,you could get one major waifu and other as minor ones.

Well if you think about it, eventually in all Imperial harems there will be one major waifu since you won't live forever, the CYOA said nothing about life extension, but even if it exists and you can live for thousands of years you could die in war, accident, "accident", etc. So one of your kids will eventually inherit. And unless you want a succession crisis and possible civil war, you will want to pick one of your children as designated heir. Which wife would you pick?

So I take it you will favor the Legions. Good so would I, you need to purge the auxiliary barbarians.

 

[ATP]

Well if you think about it, eventually in all Imperial harems there will be one major waifu since you won't live forever, the CYOA said nothing about life extension, but even if it exists and you can live for thousands of years you could die in war, accident, "accident", etc. So one of your kids will eventually inherit. And unless you want a succession crisis and possible civil war, you will want to pick one of your children as designated heir. Which wife would you pick?


So I take it you will favor the Legions. Good so would I, you need to purge the auxiliary barbarians.

Bassalia for technology or Voudica for psychic powers.In long term it would be most important,not factions with military,religious or political support.
Of course,you need to survive first.

 

[Captain X]

So I take it you will favor the Legions. Good so would I, you need to purge the auxiliary barbarians.

I'm just going off of the thread title mainly.

 

[Bear Ribs]

Wrong forum, and we have a thread for CYOAs.

Quest - General CYOA Thread

A index so Things can be more organized.

www.the-sietch.com

For the CYOA itself, the Orions are a lost cause. Starting from 0 loyalty, even if you min-max every possible selection to get their loyalty up I can't see a way to get them above 5, and the opportunity cost would be massive so they're in for a purge, just can't have somebody that disloyal around.
The Futurist front is similarly not only highly disloyal, but their candidate costs me far more loyalty than she brings to the table and while I can make them into a loyal faction, I have to burn half the rest of the empire to do it so I'm afraid they're in for a purging as well.

Skills
4 Personal Combat
3 Patrician Politics
2 Plebian Politics
3 Strategy

Patrician Politics 3 is the most important skill. Something like three quarters of the brides want that skill at that level (a couple at 4). Personal combat is the second most desired, tied with Plebian Politics, however only Friiya wants Plebian Politics above 2. Nobody except the Auxilios give a rat's ass about tactics, it's the least desired skill.

The Crucibii and Unseen Blade brides both use the same skillset which means taking them together is a ntural move. They unfortunately hate each other which would be a problem if I didn't have the solution at hand, as we'll see. The Syntetica princess uniquely doesn't require any skills so you can add her to any mix, and she gives you more loyalty than she costs so that's all to the good.

Christina's a freaking poison pill. She brings a ton of hate from major factions that massively outweighs the small levels of loyalty she brings, she's a complete albatross. Barbare also brings your scores way down and additionally requires a skill nobody else wants so the opportunity cost of taking her is hideously high.

Leonita is a solid choice normally but for this specific strategy, strangely enough she needs to be passed over. She brings in a lot of loyalty, but also disloyalty... and the ones who she brings disloyalty for are more useful to me while I'm able to build loyalty to an obscene degree in her faction even without her.

Alivia's a treasure who brings in more love than hate but sadly a point of her love is from the Orions which reduces her utility slightly. She's still well ahead of almost every other princess.

Friiya is painfully costly in skills, wanting stuff nobody else does, her faction will never be loyal, she costs more loyalty than she brings, and she's a communist. Sorry, gotta pass on that.

Venhalia's the most complicated character since you have the option to choose and betray her but betraying her costs far more than you get unless you're trying to absolutely minmax house Renon, which isn't worth it. More significantly most of her penalties become pluses if you take her in conjunction with another princess, especially the Unseen Blades and Crucibii who's negatives then are canceled out. Paired up with enough other girls she brings in more net loyalty than everybody else combined, theoretically you can make a Venhalia build that is only pluses and gives you 0 disloyalty. She's not getting all that because I'm not taking the ones that are highly disloyal but she still basically pairs well with everybody you decide to take and will cause disloyalty only in groups you aren't taking. Venhalia should be at the center of every single strategy, I can't emphasize that enough. She must be the freakin' most sunshiney person in the universe. Either that or the hottest and every other princess just wants a threesome with Venhalia.

This build lets me take the following Brides:
Telia of the Boundless Flame
Ken-Eytore of the Unseen Blades
Kalkani of the Crucibii
Voudica of the Xernite Frontier
Venhalia of House Renon
Alivia of the Solar Lords
Bassalia of the Syntetica

I could also take Leonita but won't. I don't care about the Waifu part, only the politics, I hate harems anyway. These are political marriages to hold the Empire together and they and their fetishes can suck it up and put up with this loveless marriage for sake of preventing wars that will kill trillions of their own people.

This ends my faction scores as follows:

7 Boundless Flame
Highly loyal though they won't die for me.

0 Cosmech Faithful
Utter rebellion. Sad since they start out well, but their Waifu is shit and most of the other brides bring on the hate for them. Nobody seems to like the Cosmech Faithful except Venhalia and even then only if you take their bride with her.

12 Crucibii
Beyond loyal, willing to die to (wo)man for me which is nice since they appear to be basically the Catachans.

7 Xernite
Loyal though not unto death, I can live with that.

9 Legion Auxilios
Quite honestly this is amazing considering I didn't take their bride. Solid outcome here.

16 Legion Qomani
Holy smokes. I'm pretty sure I'm their god-emperor which is great since they have the space fleet. It's really easy to max them out, this is absurd given I passed on their bride.

3 House Renon
Everybody hates them so this is really the best I could pull off without betraying Venhalia, which is a dick move and also makes everybody else hate you for minor gains with House Renon. They'd be in the "workably loyal" area if I took Leonita but I'd lose the Legion Auxilios doing that, so no House Renon for me.

10 Unseen Blades
The Assassins will die for me.

1 Orion Empire
Bet you saw this one coming given my opinion on them, and the fact I was actively channeling hate into their faction.

2 Futurist Front
See Above. The Space-Communists will not support my Empire. So Sad, Never Mind.

11 Solar Lords
I did not see this coming but although it's not easy to boost them, they also aren't hated by anybody much so they steadily rose in small bits.

7 Syntetica
The tech-priests will follow though not to the death, workable.

Basically have to purge the Orions, the Cosmech, and the Futurist Front. House Renon is probably going to go too.
Everybody else is at least willing to work with me. Every faction that's got any combat ability at all will charge into the gates of Hell itself on my word so the Barbarians (and Orions) are in for a rough time. I also have a solid handle on the mineral wealth and the churches will work with me politically (aside from the Cosmech who are not going to make it). It's possible to build with all the factions somewhat loyal but I think a strongly united empire that had to purge those Orion and Futurist asshats is going to be more solid than one with twelve factions that will kinda sorta work with the Emperor as long as they're getting something out of it.

 

[King Arts]

The futurist front aren't communists well not all of them. They have had worlds that are free market places, also it's hard to find the CYOA forum it's in a place in an out of the way place.

Anyway your build works, but you are going to have to deal with tons of rebellions and be one of the most hated Emerors in future times. You are going to be oppressing space Christianity and the lower classes all to hold up the space pagans. You'll basically be space Diocleation. Also I'm surprised you are not trying to purge the legios auxillios? I mean letting in barbarians into the Empire will fuck it up in the future, thats what happened to Rome after all. For me Barbare would be one I want purged, and the others I could work with. Both religions are useful to prevent religious civil war, the Crucibii are elite soldiers so they are useful, the Xernites are loyal to the death, and abandoning Britain was a mistake the Romans should not have done, the Legions are needed as the backbone of a loyal army instead of relying on foreign alien mercenaries, Venhalia has a lot of options and let's you placate the nobility, the hidden blades will keep your ass from having an accident I'd say they are one of the most important institutions along with the syntetica and Legions. The orion Empire is disloyal the only good a marriage with Eudora will do is make reincorporating them easier without requiring an expensive war that you are not sure to win. Remember you are the Western Roman Empire they are the Eastern Roman Empire, they are near peers. Friyya and the futurists well they are there because they can help sooth the common man, thats why I think kicking both the cosmech faithful and them out isn't a good idea, one of them can replace the other. Also they do look out for the interests of common man like unions instead of rich assholes, so morality they can be considered good. Alvia and the solar lords are a decent investment, a rich part of the Empire that currently isn't having any problems and can help pay for other things, also they have earth. The syntetica is the most important group, and can't be pissed off, the assassins can kill you, the syntetica can kill the empire. They provide the space ships and weapons the empire needs without them, you are doomed.

 

[Bear Ribs]

The futurist front aren't communists well not all of them. They have had worlds that are free market places, also it's hard to find the CYOA forum it's in a place in an out of the way place.

Anyway your build works, but you are going to have to deal with tons of rebellions and be one of the most hated Emerors in future times. You are going to be oppressing space Christianity and the lower classes all to hold up the space pagans. You'll basically be space Diocleation. Also I'm surprised you are not trying to purge the legios auxillios? I mean letting in barbarians into the Empire will fuck it up in the future, thats what happened to Rome after all. For me Barbare would be one I want purged, and the others I could work with. Both religions are useful to prevent religious civil war, the Crucibii are elite soldiers so they are useful, the Xernites are loyal to the death, and abandoning Britain was a mistake the Romans should not have done, the Legions are needed as the backbone of a loyal army instead of relying on foreign alien mercenaries, Venhalia has a lot of options and let's you placate the nobility, the hidden blades will keep your ass from having an accident I'd say they are one of the most important institutions along with the syntetica and Legions. The orion Empire is disloyal the only good a marriage with Eudora will do is make reincorporating them easier without requiring an expensive war that you are not sure to win. Remember you are the Western Roman Empire they are the Eastern Roman Empire, they are near peers. Friyya and the futurists well they are there because they can help sooth the common man, thats why I think kicking both the cosmech faithful and them out isn't a good idea, one of them can replace the other. Also they do look out for the interests of common man like unions instead of rich assholes, so morality they can be considered good. Alvia and the solar lords are a decent investment, a rich part of the Empire that currently isn't having any problems and can help pay for other things, also they have earth. The syntetica is the most important group, and can't be pissed off, the assassins can kill you, the syntetica can kill the empire. They provide the space ships and weapons the empire needs without them, you are doomed.

Dunno what to tell you, I literally built a complex spreadsheet to compare the numbers and spent half an hour crunching options. There's a reason nobody else tried to play this one, the numbers are extremely wonky and unworkable and this CYOA takes a ridiculous amount of math for the payoff.

It's quite difficult to not let in the Auxilios, I left their bride at the curb but they build so much loyalty through other factions that you have to actively work at it to make them disloyal (Same with the Legion Qumoni, they wound up beyond the bounds of worship even with me ignoring them completely). The only way to really make the military factions rebel is to court Cosmech, which will guarantee a military rebellion.

Meanwhile the only brides that give you anything with the Cosmech are Christina, Friiya, and Alivia, and Christina and Friiya both hose you for other factions. Their bonuses are also fairly small, only +2s. Meanwhile the Cosmech gets the largest penalties in the CYOA, -2s and -3s, for nearly every other Bride so unless you entire build is based around keeping Cosmech in your corner by not taking any other brides, they're going to rebel, and keeping them will cost you all your military forces, the Xernites, the Boundless Flame, and the Syntetica. Especially the Syntetica who are crucial to the empire, but every single bride who brings a bonus to Cosmech brings a penalty to the Syntetitca, and most of the brides (Eodora is an exception but brings more baggage than an airport claim check) who brings a bonus to Syntetica gives you twice as much hate from Cosmech. You cannot keep the Cosmech if you want to keep the Syntetica. I tried repeatedly.

If the space Christians didn't want to be purged they should have hated everybody else a bit less. Bassalia's advice that you pair Christina with a warrior caste pretty much establishes that Bassilia's a moron, as all of them hate Christina's ass and their big penalties to Cosmech loyalty are larger than the small bonus you get from Christina. Even Venhalia can't get the Cosmech to approve of you.

Best build numerically is close to what I made. Second best is not taking any brides since most of them carry more penalties than bonuses unless you synergize them with Vanhalia, and since Vanhalia's bonuses are contingent on taking other brides you pretty much have to either shoot for maximum harem size or go celibate.

Edit: Should add that bringing in the Auxilios has decent odds of negating the threat from the Orions, they're powerful because they've been directing the aliens at the empire as a distraction, with said aliens now loyal to me personally unto death, and all the other military factions similarly loyal, I don't see that Orion will be as big a threat in this scenario.

 

[King Arts]

Dunno what to tell you, I literally built a complex spreadsheet to compare the numbers and spent half an hour crunching options. There's a reason nobody else tried to play this one, the numbers are extremely wonky and unworkable and this CYOA takes a ridiculous amount of math for the payoff.

It's quite difficult to not let in the Auxilios, I left their bride at the curb but they build so much loyalty through other factions that you have to actively work at it to make them disloyal (Same with the Legion Qumoni, they wound up beyond the bounds of worship even with me ignoring them completely). The only way to really make the military factions rebel is to court Cosmech, which will guarantee a military rebellion.

Meanwhile the only brides that give you anything with the Cosmech are Christina, Friiya, and Alivia, and Christina and Friiya both hose you for other factions. Their bonuses are also fairly small, only +2s. Meanwhile the Cosmech gets the largest penalties in the CYOA, -2s and -3s, for nearly every other Bride so unless you entire build is based around keeping Cosmech in your corner by not taking any other brides, they're going to rebel, and keeping them will cost you all your military forces, the Xernites, the Boundless Flame, and the Syntetica. Especially the Syntetica who are crucial to the empire, but every single bride who brings a bonus to Cosmech brings a penalty to the Syntetitca, and most of the brides (Eodora is an exception but brings more baggage than an airport claim check) who brings a bonus to Syntetica gives you twice as much hate from Cosmech. You cannot keep the Cosmech if you want to keep the Syntetica. I tried repeatedly.

If the space Christians didn't want to be purged they should have hated everybody else a bit less. Bassalia's advice that you pair Christina with a warrior caste pretty much establishes that Bassilia's a moron, as all of them hate Christina's ass and their big penalties to Cosmech loyalty are larger than the small bonus you get from Christina. Even Venhalia can't get the Cosmech to approve of you.

Best build numerically is close to what I made. Second best is not taking any brides since most of them carry more penalties than bonuses unless you synergize them with Vanhalia, and since Vanhalia's bonuses are contingent on taking other brides you pretty much have to either shoot for maximum harem size or go celibate.

Yeah I did not make the CYOA. But I do have to give you mad props for actually going through the numbers I suck at numbers, I just read the text for the lore and then use that to see what I think works. Also Bassallia did not talk until it got to her section. It was Nahrator your chief assassin and spy master who suggested that if you pick Christina you pick one of the warrior factions to balance out the empire. Since while Christian tolerance of peace, forgiveness, and turning the other cheek are nice. Sometimes you need to fight. And wait, am I reading it wrong? if you pick the cosmech faithful the only ones that lose 2 points are the alien auxillaries, and the crucibii, the boundless flame loses 3 points. The regular legions lose one point but that is easily made up.
I think it makes more sense to think of the numbers as starting values, since it said in the text(but it doesen't represent in the numbers) that Alvia like Venhallia has two routes you can take you can either civilize earth, or you can allow the tribal way of living there and not bring in high technology. But maybe doing something like make half the solar dominions civilized, and keep the other half as tribal lands and ask the Crucibii to help make the tribal lands wild to make strong warriors? I don't know but it seems like doing some things like that would bump up or reduce the numbers.
Yeah, I'm looking at it and holy fuck the numbers bounce around like a roller coaster, especially when you also have to take into account training requirements that just is too much. Wow, but you know the funny thing, my next CYOA that I'm gonna dump is even more complicated. You ever see the time of troubles CYOA? It's basically takes place in Medieval Russia, and you are a noble.

 

[King Arts]

Actually sorry to disappoint Bear, I'm having trouble since that one has alot of pages, I'll make a smaller CYOA on the CYOA thread instead.

 

[Bear Ribs]

Yeah, I tried to make my Drow CYOA simplified as possible to make the math easier and the game more fun to play through. It can be done without doing any math by rolling dice if you want to skip points, though you can use points to fudge the dice rolls.

And wait, am I reading it wrong? if you pick the cosmech faithful the only ones that lose 2 points are the alien auxillaries, and the crucibii, the boundless flame loses 3 points. The regular legions lose one point but that is easily made up.

Christina by herself nets you -2 Crucibii, -3 Boundless Flame, -2 Auxilios, -1 Syntetica, and -1 Qomani.

That puts the Crucibii and Boundless Flame at only 4 so they're actively trying to sabotage the empire from within and the Auxilios at 2 so in open rebellion. Qomani will only be at 7 so tolerable still and Syntetica at 6 so those two are not particularly loyal but not actively trying to destroy the Empire like the flame, Axilios, and Crucibii.

If you try to shore up your military weakness at that point things get ugly. Voudica and Barbare both have -2s to Cosmech so you wind up back where you started with them while only offsetting their penalties. Leonita won't cost you Cosmech but will ruin your chances with Futurist Front. Kalkani has a smaller penalty to Cosmech and a larger bonus to her own faction (Crucibii) so she's the least-worst military group to pair with Christina. If you take that path and combine them with Bassilia to shore up Syntetica you wind up with

4 Boundless Flame
7 Cosmech
7 Crucibii
9 Xernite
4 Legion Auxilia
9 Legion Qomari
3 House Rennon
5 Unseen Blades
0 Orion Empire
5 Futurist Front
7 Solar Lords
7 Syntetica

Not what I'd consider solid. As before, at war with Orion because it's effectively impossible to not be at war with Orion unless you burn every single other bridge to court them and even then they'll be actively undermining you, and now they have the aliens on their side. Qomari still wind up wildly loyal because it's almost impossible not to have Qomari wildly loyal to you, and the Xernites start super-loyal so unless you try to hose them you'll keep them. The rest are mostly ambivalent and I don't see this as a very stable Empire with so many angry factions, unless you're a genius at playing one off the other.

You can try to get the church more loyal by bringing in Friiya and Alivia which can get a loyal-unto-death Cosmech but yields a lot more factions in open rebellion and you lose Syntetica, and drop Xernites to 5.

Edit: It's probably worth nothing most of the brides carry a net penalty to loyalty. Christina is the worst with a net -3 to your numbers, and Friyya is second worse with -2 (The fact that they are two of the Cosmech girls is one of the reasons Cosmech is so hard, they carry the biggest penalties). Barbare, Ken-Eytor, and Leonita are net -1s, Telia, Eodora, and Bassilina are net +1, Kalkani is +2, and Alivia is Best Girl at +3 net. That is, unless you build a harem around Vanhelia because she can go all the way up to +10 if you build the way I did.