In post 268, Aeronaut wrote:Pine is not trying to help you win, don't you think Pine would intentionally do some non-pine things so that you'd blatantly defend his scum partners?
Funny story that.
I know Pine doesn't take mastina countermeasures.
It seems weird, I know. I know him better than any other player. Yet in the recentish times that he was scum where I was town, he did nothing to stop me even though I basically was a one-woman wrecking crew in Duck Tales among others. (Look
at his iso. What in there was an attempt to counter me? Point it out.)
Taking mastina countermeasures is ridiculously hard for Pine to do, for a few reasons.
One, I am a wildcard. A very, very, very strong wildcard. The only thing Pine can predict about me is that I am unpredictable.
Two, even if he takes a countermeasure to a me from a certain time, the very way I think will serve to overcome the countermeasure eventually because I shift my thinking. I continue to change how I go about things, for better or worse, so by laying a countermeasure for me, he leaves himself open to a future-me overcoming him easier.
Three, I am a single player. Pine might know that I am a strong voice who knows him better than the others here...but he knows that to some extent, protecting his scumteam from me leaves himself vulnerable to the REST of the town. Because I think in unusual ways, because I use unorthodox methods, the countermeasures to these would be unusual and unorthodox moves which would be awkward and disjointed...allowing the town to rip his team to shreds.
Four, beyond that: as I have mentioned, Pine has largely stagnated as a player. Sure he's capable of adjusting a little bit to changes in site meta. Sure, he's capable of playing a strong game. But the Pine of now is almost identical to the Pine of six years ago in terms of playing the game. Whereas me? Me, I've continued to change with that time. So Pine attempting to deploy countermeasures to me might entirely miss the mark: he'd end up countering things the past-me would think of, but the current-me would never dream of ever thinking.
The ONLY countermeasures available to Pine that would make him not be vulnerable?
Recruiting me (which I know he didn't)...
...Or an entirely random.org distribution, which...would leave him at a disadvantage, because his three choices (being random) would allow the town to have its strong players, and leave him with only random chance in terms of synchronization. While it's not impossible he would do this, it would be incredibly improbable and time itself would help to demonstrate this.