Shadowrun
Shadowrun General => The Secret History => Topic started by: Wakshaani on <09-11-15/1814:53>
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In case you didn't know, fallout from the Shadowrun: Boston Lockdown video game includes the fact than one Megacorp will be no more. The choice of WHICH corp that gets snuffed is entirely in the hands of the playerbase and it can be any of the Big Ten. Yes, even that one. EVERY Triple-A's head is on the chopping block.
So now it's time to see who everyone thinks it'll be. Let's meet the candidates!
Ares Macrotechnology
Aztechnology
Evo
Horizon
Mitsuhama Computer Technologies
NeoNET
Renraku
Saeder-Krupp
Shiawase
Wuxing
While each of them is trying to pin the Lockdown on one another, or otherwise sabotage someone's reputation, several hungry Double-A corps are also snapping up the chain, hoping to crawl into the Triple-A ranks over the corpse of a failed Mega, and will happily work with anyone to try and take someone out. You have some astounding spin machines in the mix who could pin the tail on anyone, and, once again, the writers don't get to decide who flames out ... the PLAYERS do.
So, here's a nice place to discuss it. Who do you *think* is going down? Not who you'd want, or who should, but who do you think *does* get the axe?
I don't know when the official answer comes down, but for now, speculate away. Is Aztechnology finally gonna eat that Omega Order? Will NeoNET survive the loss of their HQ? Will yet another security failing be the thing that pushes Ares into falling apart? Will Horizon show it can play with teh bigboys by pinninng the whole thing on Shiawase? Will MCT collapse as people reject technology? So many choices!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDDdeHtrxfA
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Weirdly enough I get the feeling NeoNet is going to catch it in the neck on this one, though I suspect one of the Villiers family will come out ahead on this.
Can't explain it as there are definitely better choices to pick for this, but just a gut feeling.
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By what means is the Corp to be selected? Is it a simple vote by the player base? Do the players have to accomplish certain missions?
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I feel like NeoNET is the likely candidate due to all the Boston, CFD stuff going on, but I really hope it's one of the others. Preferably one that's been around a while longer, just to shake things up again.
And I hope it isn't EVO. I know the universe is supposed to be one of suspicion, betrayal, backroom dealings and dark undertones, but I like EVO simply because they've been flavored as the not-quite-as-dark-grey mega of the Big 10. Kind of nice to have one that isn't as intent on screwing the little guys (at least on the surface) as the others.
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I vote Neonet as they got a huge win over the rest of the Megacorps with the new Matrix and it's more or less assumed they run GOD behind the scenes. This Lockdown business is a perfect excuse for the other Big Ten to knock them down a peg and in all fairness it is kinda their fault, it's not hard to frame someone when they are actually guilty.
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S-K. Lofwyr's been top dog (top snake?) long enough. Enough people have been trying to knock him down a peg for such a long time -- Mina Beloit, Johnny Spinrad, Aden, Nachtmeister -- that someone needs to score a big win eventually.
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S-K. Lofwyr's been top dog (top snake?) long enough. Enough people have been trying to knock him down a peg for such a long time -- Mina Beloit, Johnny Spinrad, Aden, Nachtmeister -- that someone needs to score a big win eventually.
I disagree, while yes he's top dog currently he was also made Loremaster by the Big D which makes him the technical leader of the Great Dragons. Great Dragons tend to be big on tradition and he already smacked down a few attempts at someone else taking possession of that position. Lofwyr and Seader Kruppe has a reputation for hitting hard and hitting fast so most Megacorps would be hesitant to try to take down Lofwyr when there are easier targets out there like Neonet, heck even Aztechnology is an easier target than Sader-Kruppe and that's saying something.
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Personally I hope it will be one of the old powers or even Wuxing.
Would be interesting to see what would happen if Aztechnology or Ares had to bite the bullet
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To be perfectly honest, Mitsuhama should be the one to fall. Out of them all, they've had the most sheltered existence thus far, and so they need to be the ones to feel the pinch this time.
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Lofwyr is no longer Loremaster; he surrendered the position to Celedyr, who's involved in NeoNET and was directly involved with the events leading up to the Lockdown. While I agree that NeoNET is the most likely, I'd honestly personally prefer Aztechnology - because there ain't nothin' like makin' the street level dirty, darker, and more dangerous.
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Lofwyr is no longer Loremaster; he surrendered the position to Celedyr, who's involved in NeoNET and was directly involved with the events leading up to the Lockdown. While I agree that NeoNET is the most likely, I'd honestly personally prefer Aztechnology - because there ain't nothin' like makin' the street level dirty, darker, and more dangerous.
I did not know that, I missed that. I still say Sader-Kruppe is an unlikely choice when there are easier targets with his reputation for playing hardball.
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While I expect it will be NeoNET, the Villiers curse continues, I want it to be Aztechnology. The resultant Aztlan civil war, Amazonias attempt to retake Bogata and the Texas invasion, after re-seceeding from the CAS, would make excelent shadowrun material.
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See, I'd peronsally rank NeoNET as the least likely... their home city went into Lockdown and they're looking to figure out who's responsible and will shout to teh WORLD that corporation X attacked them. Whomever they pin that rap on will be in for a bruisin'.
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See, I'd peronsally rank NeoNET as the least likely... their home city went into Lockdown and they're looking to figure out who's responsible and will shout to teh WORLD that corporation X attacked them. Whomever they pin that rap on will be in for a bruisin'.
That's only IF they can spin it enough, otherwise because they are the home team people will actually be more likely to vent on them because of the proximity of their HQ.
While they may moan about the faceless corps, a true pitchfork and torch mob is more likely to take it out on the HQ right down the road than a mere branch office of Lofwyr's.
And I would not call it the Villier's curse, because they usually still come through like the proverbial phoenix from their ashes.
The big target there will be the JRJ International chunk that holds control of their AAA status thanks to the CC clause covering the original 7.
While talking about the Villiers, if Mr. V should take a fall down an elevator shaft or more amusingly gets falsely accused and 'diagnosed' as a headcase , who gets possession of his controlling shares?
His ex-wife Samantha? Their daughter Caroline?
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Again I ask, by what means is that decision being made? Someone made this assertion that one of the AAA corps was going down but I don't know the source. Is it a rumor or was it stated in so many words that one of the AAA corps would fall? Citation needed.
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If you look back in the original post Wak mentions how in the Boston Lockdown Video game it was implied that one of the Megas was going down as a result of the fallout, though I gathered from the text I saw it was more about the runners vowing vengeance, but that could be one step along the way since this is just Chapter 1.
I have not played that one so can not confirm, but there was a thread here (http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=20787.0) on a walkthrough of the game and the ending of chapter 1.
We could be wrong , but it sounds like the Powers That Be may be taking player feedback from the game, maybe based on player actions (again have not played so don't know how much decisions you get) which may well decide which Corp takes the fall for this.
So maybe as the chapters progress if a majority the players from Lockdown happen to have ganged up on Renraku at the end, making all the evidence point the finger at them while thinking about J Edgar Hoover, J. Edgar Hoover will show up and destroy Renraku (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EbY0vuNt-Q). :P
Again, this is just speculation until Wak drops some more tidbits.
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Again I ask, by what means is that decision being made? Someone made this assertion that one of the AAA corps was going down but I don't know the source. Is it a rumor or was it stated in so many words that one of the AAA corps would fall? Citation needed.
Also keep in mind that this thread was also started in good fun, let's not take the statements made in this thread too seriously. I for one am willing to take the statements made here at face value as part of a fun little thought experiment and game of what if.
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Again I ask, by what means is that decision being made? Someone made this assertion that one of the AAA corps was going down but I don't know the source. Is it a rumor or was it stated in so many words that one of the AAA corps would fall? Citation needed.
... that's so unlike you!! I'm so proud of you right now. *sniff*
However, as Sendaz says, it was part of the SR:Chronicles and Lockdown stuff, along with the entire 'things that happen during SR:C will affect the main game' - heavily implied, at the very least.
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Yeah, it's official, but I don't know where as I'm not on that team at all and haven't had anything to do with it other than work out trap doors once I heard about it. The Kickstarte rmaybe? Let's look!
And the best part is: In Shadowrun Online the collective actions of players will not only determine the fate of the online game world, but our unique player-driven plotline will enable you to determine the future of the whole Shadowrun Universe! Events players trigger will also cross over into the pen and paper storyline - so you can shape the future of the Shadowrun Universe!
Hrm. That tells us that *something* will happen but not *what*.
Man.
I need to figure out where that stuff was promoted. Hrm!
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Yea, I saw the crossover stuff but not anything mentioning a AAA going down. I figured that what they meant was the whole CFD thing. Your actions will dictate if CFD gets out into the wild or if it is held to a single city.
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In the Lockdown book, if you follow the script the player characters will uncover very sensitive info, and will have a number of choices on what to do with it. The book asks people to submit which choice their group made. It does say that feedback (computer game and P&P) will determine what happens. But there is no promise of a AAA going down--although some of the choices could certainly be extremely damaging to one corp or another.
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I somehow don't think NeoNET is going down. With the runs to find a new home, I think they'll move or join Johnny.
Aztechnology might really be up to their necks in this one. They've got enough enemies and plenty dirt on their hands on this one to be a good target. I would peg them as my first choice.
Ares might also bight the bullet. They got enough trouble that one more pointed at them wouldn't be a big loss in the other corporation's eyes.
EVO might doom themselves but I don't think it will be this time.
S-K I don't think is going to lose it's AAA but it might slip from #1 finally.
Besides AZT, I think the other one might be Renraku. Think about it, they released the first big baddie and Deus might be back. I can see them getting the knife in the back on this one.
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NeoNET seems the obvious choice (especially since they hold a large portion of guilt in the buildup to the lockdown), but it seems a little too obvious. They're going to be fighting to recover from losing their HQ and head RnD guy (along with the Great Dragons wanting to know what happened with their Loremaster) and should easily be able to spin themselves as a victim.
Renraku on the other hand has been rather famously involved in another lockdown while dealing with a rouge AI that they tried their damnedest to keep secret from the world so they could continue to abuse and benefit from him. I'd guess a lot of people would be willing to lay blame at their feet and turn public opinion aginst them.
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I'm hoping it will NeoNet. I think it would make sense from an in-game perspective, with them being the driving force behind CFD and them losing their home base. Yes, they're a megacrop and they're used to spinning shit, but the deck seems really stacked against them on this one, and it would take a monumental feat of PR maneuvering to not go down in flames.
On top of that, NeoNet, to me at least, seems to lack a lot of the flavor of the other megas. It may just be because I'm not as familiar with the lore as many of the other people on these forums, but I've never looked at NeoNet and thought "Man, I really want to involve them in my game," and they're probably the only one of the Big Ten that I've never felt that way about. I'm hoping we can get a AA with a more interesting niche than "Internet" to step up and fill the ranks.
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So long as Neo-Net controls JRJ, are they not guaranteed a spot on the Corporate Court, and hence AAA status? So I’d think that the only way for them to go down was to be so damaged that JRJ moved to another company.
Of course, the controlling interest is Mr. Villiers, and he’s done some pretty crazy corporate manoeuvres previously, so it wouldn’t totally shock me to see Neo-Net as a AAA disappear, but for Villiers to take JRJ and bring it into some other company. However that would seem likely to effectively be cutting Celedyr lose to take the fall, which seems like it might be … unwise.
There are some indirect consequences of the lockdown which could hit a couple of corps, which could keep things interesting. Evo is the company associated with weird evolution of meta-humanity stuff, and in the popular imagination CFD could come to be associated with those sorts of dangerous experiments, which could really poison the well for them. Then again, one of the corps (I forget which one) has an insurance division which provides a of lot of insurance in the Boston area, which could get destroyed by the post-lockdown claims, which could hurt the parent not just financially but reputation-wise too. Either of them could end up suffering, even if they didn’t really do anything particularly wrong (by AAA standards, of course—I’m sure they’ve done plenty wrong by most other standards)
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So long as Neo-Net controls JRJ, are they not guaranteed a spot on the Corporate Court, and hence AAA status? So I’d think that the only way for them to go down was to be so damaged that JRJ moved to another company.
But if the CC finds NeoNet responsible for the Lockdown and imposes such ruinous fines and penalties on it, it would effectively cripple the company which could in turn force a change of hands if the assets have to be sold off to pay for it all.
Of course, the controlling interest is Mr. Villiers, and he’s done some pretty crazy corporate manoeuvres previously, so it wouldn’t totally shock me to see Neo-Net as a AAA disappear, but for Villiers to take JRJ and bring it into some other company. However that would seem likely to effectively be cutting Celedyr lose to take the fall, which seems like it might be … unwise.
Depends on how involved Villiers was with Celedyr's planning revolving around the whole mess.
Back when he was with Fuchi, it was basically three factions within the company and there were often operations going on that some of the other factions were not made fully aware of (see also Technobabel)
Or even if he was involved, he could now distance himself from Crazy Dragon to let that part of the company sink, though as you pointed out, not great for one's health potentially, but might be his only option if all fingers point back to Neo-Net.
Edit: But yeah, I bet Renraku is going through their own departments just making sure there is nothing leading back to them since they could easily be scapegoated for this.
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Here's one for you.
"Today, Richard Villers has taken a ride up to the Zurich Orbital in person. It seems that he has evidence to present to the court about the corporation who attacked Boston and devastated NeoNET finances. Corporate watchers are assuming that he'll be asking for a transfer of assets from the corporation equal to what he has lost and, in addition, will ask for a proper level of punitive damages to be applied as well. Could we be watching the first steps of a true Omega Order? We'll be covering this around the clock for the next 72 hours!"
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As long as Aries is fine, I'm happy. All the people in MI, including myself, need a win....
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Here's one for you.
"Today, Richard Villers has taken a ride up to the Zurich Orbital in person. It seems that he has evidence to present to the court about the corporation who attacked Boston and devastated NeoNET finances. Corporate watchers are assuming that he'll be asking for a transfer of assets from the corporation equal to what he has lost and, in addition, will ask for a proper level of punitive damages to be applied as well. Could we be watching the first steps of a true Omega Order? We'll be covering this around the clock for the next 72 hours!"
Don't have Storm Front near me right now. But didn't it say the Villers might be infected? Maybe he's going to deliver something more than just evidence ;D
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To me, the logical answers are NEOnet, EVO and Aztechnology in roughly that order of most to least likely. All three of them are tied up in the Boston disaster and are as guilty as all get out, but it's a question of who they can realistically pin the blame on and how much evidence exists. NN and EVO are probably the most damned by that, with the Big A possibly able to claim a "we had no idea just what was going on" angle. On the other hand, the Big A is also about as popular as a dose of the Clap, especially with other members of the Corporate Court.
Personally, I'd prefer to see one of the three Japanocorps go down. The three of them have long suffered from being too samey and a bit of a block, and definitely more then a bit legacy eighties future. They're not as bad as they used to be (I mean, there used to be five of the,m...) but at the same time, you could kill one of them and have the other two actually become more interesting and distinct for it.
if it were up to me, I'd pick MCT as they tend to have a "Well, they're there... and don't do much..." thing going.
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Here's one for you.
"Today, Richard Villers has taken a ride up to the Zurich Orbital in person. It seems that he has evidence to present to the court about the corporation who attacked Boston and devastated NeoNET finances. Corporate watchers are assuming that he'll be asking for a transfer of assets from the corporation equal to what he has lost and, in addition, will ask for a proper level of punitive damages to be applied as well. Could we be watching the first steps of a true Omega Order? We'll be covering this around the clock for the next 72 hours!"
Is that off a twitter or somewhere else? I admit it can be tricky following all the updates...
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Not quite, Deadborder. Of the three Japanacorps, Renraku is the one that has been quiet for the longest time. Which scares the drek out of some of us, since Renraku being quiet means trouble's coming.
As far as what the three corps do, they're all into a little bit of everything, like all megas, but in their main focus, it ends up being like this.
Renraku - Big in computers, mid range in half a dozen fields, concentrating on making digital infrastructure (i.e. everything that uses the Matrix). Not putting themselves out there (any more) like NeoNET does, but that's why no one's gone crazy on them in the last decade.
Shiawase - Support services. Serious bank to be made in hauling trash, being the fire department, and so on. This is one of the things Shiawase is best known for, especially in North America.
Mitsuhama - Computers, natch. And they aren't shy about doing the research of questionable ethics. Otherwise, they're one of SK's biggest competitors when it comes to heavy industry, and go toe to toe with the big A on the magic front (with less blood magic, though).
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Here's one for you.
"Today, Richard Villers has taken a ride up to the Zurich Orbital in person. It seems that he has evidence to present to the court about the corporation who attacked Boston and devastated NeoNET finances. Corporate watchers are assuming that he'll be asking for a transfer of assets from the corporation equal to what he has lost and, in addition, will ask for a proper level of punitive damages to be applied as well. Could we be watching the first steps of a true Omega Order? We'll be covering this around the clock for the next 72 hours!"
Is that off a twitter or somewhere else? I admit it can be tricky following all the updates...
Oh No, no, just a supposition. Everyone saying that NeoNET's on teh hook, without thinking about how they could turn being the victim into a huge weapon.