How much pull does Captain Steele actually have?

[Couch]

This thought occurred to me in another thread, I feel like it deserves its own.


The core conceit of the game is that Captain Steele is on a quest to claim ownership of Steele Tech.  The quest is an excuse to bang all sorts of hot aliens, of course, but allegedly the goal is to reach the end of the probe chain and get promoted.  That said, we have a few areas in this game where it seems to be assumed that Captain Steele already has a certain amount of pull within the company even before claiming ownership.  The resolution of the gray goo, for instance, has Steele more or less unilaterally offer the Nova crew the company's assistance, and Anno doesn't particularly raise any objection to this.  Similarly, upon completing the Orange Pill quest Steele sends a note to Steele Tech's administration with a nudge towards increasing biomedical funding, with the implicit assumption that this nudge carries some significant amount of weight.


This of course raises the question of how far this influence is intended to extend, and what can be done to earn or enhance it.  It seems to me as though making decisions that benefit Steele Tech, such as giving them the new legal rights to the gray microbots or uncovering some particularly lucrative mining opportunity, ought to gain Steele some amount of political capital with the company that, while limited in how far it will go, helps give them the authority to make decisions like the promise to Taivra of alien technology, without it just being that Steele is in fact the head in all but name.  I don't know if a formalized system is necessary, but something like that might be useful for codifying how much Steele is actually able to do.

 

[Etis]

I personally always thought that there are no actual authority, but Steele should defenitely know most top managers, and some of them close enough to make some unofficial offers, which, if are reasonable, would be processed with high priority. So, as long as profit is possible, Steele Tech would very likely take part. This is answer for "how much" question for me.

 

[Enigmatic D]

I personally always thought that there are no actual authority, but Steele should defenitely know most top managers, and some of them close enough to make some unofficial offers, which, if are reasonable, would be processed with high priority. So, as long as profit is possible, Steele Tech would very likely take part. This is answer for "how much" question for me.

Would that include being able to mine the various gems in the caves of Myrellion?

 

[Klaptrap]

Would that include being able to mine the various gems in the caves of Myrellion?

If the player can pass on mineral locations on Mhen'ga, then I don't see why the same can't be done on Myrellion.

 

[Number13]

If the player can pass on mineral locations on Mhen'ga, then I don't see why the same can't be done on Myrellion.

Steele tech can get mining rights because no company has dominance to the rights on Mhen'ga. Xenogen might operate there, but it only has a scientific base. The planet is do far unexplored for minerals.


Xenogen has near full dominance on what happens on Myrellion however, so it's much more difficult for Captain Steele to do anything on the planet, particularly have any mining rights. You could probably pass mineral locations, but nothing will likely happen.


On another note, did Xenogen know there was a pirate base on the planet?

 

[Woider]

Enough to move the story forward.

 

[Savin]

Xenogen has near full dominance on what happens on Myrellion however, so it's much more difficult for Captain Steele to do anything on the planet, particularly have any mining rights. You could probably pass mineral locations, but nothing will likely happen.

Xenogen has no inherent claim on any natural resources. Remember, unlike Mhen'ga where the place is pretty much uncivilized beyond tribal zil/vanae, there are actually sprawling local governments on Myrellion that megacorps have to deal with. Xenogen dropping a giant mining team into the middle of Federal land would be a very good way to get their engineers imprisoned.


If you bump in Kaede on Myrellion, she'll actually discuss the issue in some depth, IIRC. Basically, while the Golds have hopped thoroughly in bed with Xenogen, the Federation (which controls most of the territory on the planet) has been desperately clawing at other mega corps (specifically a Steele subsidiary, RhenWorld) to try and get some of the same protection... by selling off mining rights and mineral supplies within their conquered territory. So that's something the PC could definitely leverage, trying to negotiate better trade agreements between the Federation and Steele Tech and it's minion corps. 


The problem with anywhere the PC might go and find mineral deposits themselves is that the land you actually travel in is disputed and dangerous. Probably not a super great place to do mining.


On the other hand, the Deep Caves are more or less controlled by Taivra, and haven't been exploited for their mineral wealth by any faction yet. The most profitable deal you could make on the planet in terms of mining would probably be setting something up with her, and it wouldn't necessarily alter the state of play in No Myr's Land above, either.

On another note, did Xenogen know there was a pirate base on the planet?

Good question.

 

[Number13]

Thanks for mentioning this Savin. Didn't know about that.


.....Never even knew of the existence of RhenWorld for that matter.

 

[SorenMageofMareth]

Xenogen has no inherent claim on any natural resources. Remember, unlike Mhen'ga where the place is pretty much uncivilized beyond tribal zil/vanae, there are actually sprawling local governments on Myrellion that megacorps have to deal with. Xenogen dropping a giant mining team into the middle of Federal land would be a very good way to get their engineers imprisoned.


If you bump in Kaede on Myrellion, she'll actually discuss the issue in some depth, IIRC. Basically, while the Golds have hopped thoroughly in bed with Xenogen, the Federation (which controls most of the territory on the planet) has been desperately clawing at other mega corps (specifically a Steele subsidiary, RhenWorld) to try and get some of the same protection... by selling off mining rights and mineral supplies within their conquered territory. So that's something the PC could definitely leverage, trying to negotiate better trade agreements between the Federation and Steele Tech and it's minion corps. 


The problem with anywhere the PC might go and find mineral deposits themselves is that the land you actually travel in is disputed and dangerous. Probably not a super great place to do mining.


On the other hand, the Deep Caves are more or less controlled by Taivra, and haven't been exploited for their mineral wealth by any faction yet. The most profitable deal you could make on the planet in terms of mining would probably be setting something up with her, and it wouldn't necessarily alter the state of play in No Myr's Land above, either.


Good question.

The void probably has some backdoor reasearch deals with them..  No wait they probably don't.  if they did red pills would already be a thing.  The Void had red Myr Slaves and could have tossed a vial to to the dude by having one of their not yet made members pass it along. 

This thought occurred to me in another thread, I feel like it deserves its own.


The core conceit of the game is that Captain Steele is on a quest to claim ownership of Steele Tech.  The quest is an excuse to bang all sorts of hot aliens, of course, but allegedly the goal is to reach the end of the probe chain and get promoted.  That said, we have a few areas in this game where it seems to be assumed that Captain Steele already has a certain amount of pull within the company even before claiming ownership.  The resolution of the gray goo, for instance, has Steele more or less unilaterally offer the Nova crew the company's assistance, and Anno doesn't particularly raise any objection to this.  Similarly, upon completing the Orange Pill quest Steele sends a note to Steele Tech's administration with a nudge towards increasing biomedical funding, with the implicit assumption that this nudge carries some significant amount of weight.


This of course raises the question of how far this influence is intended to extend, and what can be done to earn or enhance it.  It seems to me as though making decisions that benefit Steele Tech, such as giving them the new legal rights to the gray microbots or uncovering some particularly lucrative mining opportunity, ought to gain Steele some amount of political capital with the company that, while limited in how far it will go, helps give them the authority to make decisions like the promise to Taivra of alien technology, without it just being that Steele is in fact the head in all but name.  I don't know if a formalized system is necessary, but something like that might be useful for codifying how much Steele is actually able to do.

I'm guessing that you actually did some work with or for Steele  while a kids as what ever job class you have.   Maybe Mercs did some body guard work for the subsidiaries and what military arm Steele tech has, the Smugglers could have worked with their runners, and the Techies could have worked int anno's department but not near Anno or the Dr. 

Xenogen has no inherent claim on any natural resources. Remember, unlike Mhen'ga where the place is pretty much uncivilized beyond tribal zil/vanae, there are actually sprawling local governments on Myrellion that megacorps have to deal with. Xenogen dropping a giant mining team into the middle of Federal land would be a very good way to get their engineers imprisoned.


If you bump in Kaede on Myrellion, she'll actually discuss the issue in some depth, IIRC. Basically, while the Golds have hopped thoroughly in bed with Xenogen, the Federation (which controls most of the territory on the planet) has been desperately clawing at other mega corps (specifically a Steele subsidiary, RhenWorld) to try and get some of the same protection... by selling off mining rights and mineral supplies within their conquered territory. So that's something the PC could definitely leverage, trying to negotiate better trade agreements between the Federation and Steele Tech and it's minion corps. 


The problem with anywhere the PC might go and find mineral deposits themselves is that the land you actually travel in is disputed and dangerous. Probably not a super great place to do mining.


On the other hand, the Deep Caves are more or less controlled by Taivra, and haven't been exploited for their mineral wealth by any faction yet. The most profitable deal you could make on the planet in terms of mining would probably be setting something up with her, and it wouldn't necessarily alter the state of play in No Myr's Land above, either.


Good question.

Also this is cool.  It also might run into some issues with Pro Gold or at least anti red steele going yeah no and picking up other  mining sites in the caves and pulling up Taivra into a gold aligned thing. 

 

[Couch]

The void probably has some backdoor reasearch deals with them..  No wait they probably don't.  if they did red pills would already be a thing.  The Void had red Myr Slaves and could have tossed a vial to to the dude by having one of their not yet made members pass it along.

Parallel construction is a thing, it's plausible that Steele is used to acquire red blood through more legitimate channels to justify releasing a product that's already been designed.  There is, however, no real evidence of this.

Also this is cool.  It also might run into some issues with Pro Gold or at least anti red steele going yeah no and picking up other  mining sites in the caves and pulling up Taivra into a gold aligned thing. 

Actually having Taivra support a myr side would be a drastically different outcome from just securing mining rights.  It does, however, provide a potential out for players who want to stake a claim on Myrellion but have an aversion to the red myr.

 

[SorenMageofMareth]

Parallel construction is a thing, it's plausible that Steele is used to acquire red blood through more legitimate channels to justify releasing a product that's already been designed.  There is, however, no real evidence of this.


Actually having Taivra support a myr side would be a drastically different outcome from just securing mining rights.  It does, however, provide a potential out for players who want to stake a claim on Myrellion but have an aversion to the red myr.

You could also use this and the we have you over the barrel thing to do some dickery with Red internal politics. Like supporting the Good Doctors aim on refining the concept of citizenship to not essentially  forward  military rule by making it so that only the people who's gone through military indoctrination can actually vote.   Which is really worrisome if their tac on performance enhancing drugs continues and gets to microsurgeon dickery on the scale of the treatment. 


It might end up like that one Kink meme I read about a leftist couple with liberal politics running into money problems and the wife having to join the milatary and signing on to a modification programs to 'deal with the rigors of being  a soldier' that essentially turned her into a rough and tumble military yes girl. 


I meant more in the you get your company to withdraw support from the reds due to undercutting what they are offering with other sources way. 

 

[Xeivous]

Actually having Taivra support a myr side would be a drastically different outcome from just securing mining rights.  It does, however, provide a potential out for players who want to stake a claim on Myrellion but have an aversion to the red myr.

What about the players who only like Taivra and her people and are adverse to the ants in a general sense? 

 

[EmperorG]

Thanks for mentioning this Savin. Didn't know about that.


.....Never even knew of the existence of RhenWorld for that matter.

RhenWorld hasn't really been met yet, you'll meet them on Uveto, IIRC they are a primarily Leithan corporation that is under Steele control

 

[Enigmatic D]

RhenWorld hasn't really been met yet, you'll meet them on Uveto, IIRC they are a primarily Leithan corporation that is under Steele control

Isn't that something that goes hand in hand with a mission with an armored Liethan?

 

[Nik_van_Rijn]

  U.G.C.'s regulations and procedures seem to be almost as big of a mess as 40k Administratum. What determines which bodies of government they deem important enough to acknowledge as rightful owners of the land/resources? Taivra leads a small-ish tribe even by nyrea's standards and inhabits what will probably end up as Republic's or Federation's territory. Wouldn't any deals made with her be considered a naked contract by the U.G.C.?


@Couch


 It may be a nitpick, but only in the second example you provided we have PC trying to effect Steele Tech's decisions by themselves. During the Deck13 quest, it's Anno who suggests to help the crew by providing cyber bodies and if the player chooses that option, she uses her own channels and connections to achieve it.


In any case, I'm mostly with Etis on this one. In addition to that, our #Best Dad might have left some unofficial instructions to the company nobs, so they would always at least consider Steele Junior's business propositions and follow through if those ventures are profitable.

 

[EmperorG]

Isn't that something that goes hand in hand with a mission with an armored Liethan?

I know the mission you're referring to, but I'm not sure if that is related to RhenWorld, I do know it has to do with Steele Tech though.

 

[ShadowLurker]

My take on the whole, "How much pull does Steele have?" is that he has quite a bit actually.  Yes, Steele Tech is currently being run by the Division Heads and Management, but it seems like it is generally understood that the PC is eventually going to take the reigns.  Remember, Jack/Jill wasn't invited to "The Reading" and only found out because they suspected and bugged the PC.

 

[Fenoxo]

Savin always plays up the PCs daddy connections so much more than me. >.>


That said, he's probably not that far off base. Even if the PC doesn't have specific ins with high-ranking NPCs, the leaders of SteeleTech would know the PC is likely going to take command and would not want to make an enemy of a potential new boss. Still, they would be unlikely to let Steele Jr. badger them into doing something bad for the company.

 

[atar]

I always assumed there was a lot of the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition being used, specifically number 33, "It's never too early to suck up to the boss."


It's also possible that a manager might take your initial deal and then decide that reprogramming a bunch of grey goo into something else without letting you know is a good plan...

 

[EmperorG]

I always assumed there was a lot of the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition being used, specifically number 33, "It's never too early to suck up to the boss."

That reminds me of when Brunt tried sucking up to Quark when he was the heir apparent to the Grand Negus. Would not surprise me at all that plenty of managers would take Steele Jr's propositions to improve the company serious, the punishment for screwing over the new boss would be disastrous.

 

[PalletTown]

I visualized Captain Steele pull as that of a crown prince. You are expected to succeed your father and it is wise for the board members to listen to what you have to say, but you don't have any de jure power and some of the board members have their own plans for the top position that may or may not include you.

 

[Xeivous]

I visualized Captain Steele pull as that of a crown prince. You are expected to succeed your father and it is wise for the board members to listen to what you have to say, but you don't have any de jure power and some of the board members have their own plans for the top position that may or may not include you.

Which makes me wonder if one of the other board members or some other investor is behind the mercs who kidnap bess/ben should you romance her instead of uncle dearest as I'd originally imagined.

 

[argenten]

I always got the impression that as long as Steele doesn't try to nuke company profits and infrastructure (figuratively or literally), his suggestions would have a lot of pull due to close acquaintance with sub-head honchos, the previously stated rule 33, and a certain amount of "on the ground POV.", and enlightened self-interest. I know the whole scavenger hunt is a device for 'travel the galaxy and boink all before you.' but to me part of 'prove yourself worthy of the company.' is finding profits and benefits for said company and ignoring suggestions and ideas from Steele would counter that on the part of the board. 

I have no clue what the cousin has done, if anything, to help the company on par with finding the Nova or even that deposit in M'henga, but it seems to me that Steele and Cousin's track records would be matched as well as how many probes they found.

 

[EmperorG]

I have no clue what the cousin has done, if anything, to help the company on par with finding the Nova or even that deposit in M'henga, but it seems to me that Steele and Cousin's track records would be matched as well as how many probes they found.

But Steele has 2 probes to Cousin's 1, unless you're too poor to buy the probe on Tarkus (which seeing as the quest to unlock said probe gives you an item to insta buy the probe for free...)

 

[MESeele]

Only the last probe matters, since that's the one that hands over the inheritance (twist ending not withstanding). Tallying score on probes up until the last is pointless. As is helping the company under the assumption that they have enough say in the matter to favour you. Cause if the board did, I'd expect them to instead spend the duration of the inheritance race coming up with a way to take the company for themselves.


And hypothetically, if your cousin trashed the first probe and left you without a second location, you'd be screwed. Unlike your uncle-powered cousin, I doubt Steele even has the influence needed to track her down.

 

[Nik_van_Rijn]

I have no clue what the cousin has done, if anything, to help the company on par with finding the Nova or even that deposit in M'henga, but it seems to me that Steele and Cousin's track records would be matched as well as how many probes they found.

Uncle Maximilian has his own sad little company, without sexy dog-lady scientists and orgy-ready gene-mod labs. Our dear cousin doesn't need to earn his own cash or be of any use to his dad beside acquiring Steele Tech, and right now he is written to come across as good-for-nothing pampered brat. So he likely spends his free time twiddling various things with his thumbs.


I would be glad to see some scenes or hear recollections of Jack's events that would have him display competency and business sense.

 

[Xeivous]

Uncle Maximilian has his own sad little company, without sexy dog-lady scientists and orgy-ready gene-mod labs. Our dear cousin doesn't need to earn his own cash or be of any use to his dad beside acquiring Steele Tech, and right now he is written to come across as good-for-nothing pampered brat. So he likely spends his free time twiddling various things with his thumbs.


I would be glad to see some scenes or hear recollections of Jack's events that would have him display competency and business sense.

I want scenes about any childhood interactions between Jack/Jill and our PC. I bet they were the sort to pull on the tails of the hybrids who had them.