Kadara - leadership choices

Not meta-gaming either, I'd rather pick "better the devil you know" option. Reyes seems just way too unpredictable when compared to Sloane.

Reyes, always Reyes. The romance is just too good to pass up. Did save Sloane once, saw no real benefit of it. Reyes, though, that's a roamcne I had been waiting for forever. Shadow Lord + Pathfinder from Nexus, mmgh, great stuff, a power couple, finally, even if it doesn't work out, far better than the endless string of underlings and has-beens!

Predictable in that she did say she would raze your outpost to the ground. At some point she might. She already said it.

I find it really interesting that people are all the devil you know with the assumption reyes is going to betray you. But in his dealings with you the only thing he did was get your help to solve murders and not tell you outright he was the charlatan because he didn't trust that you would not side against him on sight which when not choosing him is pretty much what you do. Sure he shot her in the back but lets be fair, how the heck else was he supposed to get rid of her. We can't even get rid of her. There is no way to remove her for a guy like him unless he uses some creative and sure less honorable tactics. But he did it in the exact way a rogue would do it. Smoke and mirrors, misdirection. Was he really supposed to get into a gun fight with her? She's a military person, trained to kill. How would that be a fair fight. Instead he uses cunning which is his skill. She suspected cunning and knew she was screwed so she drags you there after threatening to raze your outpost to the ground, treating you like shit, calling you a dog, insulting you, and then extorting you. How is any of that better? You know what you get? Well you know what you got. She was rude, insulting, changed her tune as it suited her to get what she needed from you but when she believed she needed nothing from you, you were the garbage at her feet. Kaitus has to tell her to knock off being a bitch to you. That's telling too. She needs people to keep her in check? Seriously? That is a poor leader. But we know she's a monster and a bitch so that's better than the guy who is never rude to you. Who asks for your help without blackmail but pointing out people are dying and he can't do it alone (humility is actually a good trait), who didn't even want to kill Zia and will not even leave her body there because that doesn't feel right to him despite she just betrayed and tried to kill him with her mini mob because he was doing too well at what he does.

As far as I can see, he is a renaissance man and sloane is the dark ages. Under his watch he has a meal wagon for people, helps with the clinic, wants to build the trade because that is where his money will come from and not even extortion level because people still do well for themselves. He stopped murders (which sloane gave no shits about) with your help. He puts an angara as the face of Kadara and actually listens to her. Sloane was into selling drugs and getting people addicted, extorting them and throwing them into badlands if they couldn't pay. She has no business sense. No sense of diplomacy. No sense of humility. No sense of how to treat people to keep things running smoothly. But because she is straight forward in her shit treatment of you and some players prefer that. They choose the known bad which is worse than what we have seen from reyes over the *possible* unknown reyes. A choice out of fear of the unknown because he didn't tell you right off he was the charlatan (which why should he?). It's so fascinating to me. Predictable awful is the preferred choice to improvement that is uncertain. And he didn't really even use you. He asked for your help to stop murders. He asked for your help on a job and was willing to pay. He never betrayed you. He just didn't tell you he was the charlatan. She might have had cause to leave nexus, but she has no cause to extort people, to get them addicted to drugs and even to threaten to raze any outpost to the ground. You are now the representative. She doesn't even give you a chance. She clumps you in with them and calls you names. That's an us or them attitude. She might change her tune with you but what about everyone else? You won't be babysitting everything. She has to be able to get along with others or she will probably want war again. She already takes money from the outpost whereas Reyes is protecting the outpost through seen and unseen patrols and all he wants is for the trade to grow because he makes his money through the trade like taxes. Protection fees that sloane charges are not taxes. They are extortion especially when the protection is also from them beating you if you don't pay.

To me it's kind of like staying  with the abusive partner because you know that it is abuse and the kinds of abuse you get over the person who offers to help you because you don't know them. That person who offers to help you could indeed be worse than the one you are with, but you already know the one you are with threatened to kill you, has beat you, whatever. Fascinating topic indeed.

Also, sloane only took the duel challenge because she was sure she would win. What do you think she would have done if it were someone she didn't think she could win against? Expect you to save her ass. That's why she brought you. Remember, she dragged you along to save her ass. She knew she was dead but she stupidly expected someone  who  had undermined her at every turn to play straight where she could win. So really, she assumed she was  the winner with you there to cover her and with her own gun skills. But he planned ahead knowing she would think like that. And he knew he would not win in a gun fight because guns aren't his thing. Technically she was hoping to have the odds in her favor like people think he did. But really, he had the odds in his favor because he was smarter than her. Save her and you kind of do prove you are a lapdog and that she probably will use you again as it suits her. She is no better than him. So far she used you to keep her ass alive, to get a deal that does her better than you (paying for a shitty outpost on that hellhole is insane) and she used you to cover up the kett. Nobody even mentions. They didn't want to send their own people so they send you. For a fee. Well wonderful.

I went with Reyes, but only reluctantly. Don't trust him at all.

And Sloane? You know, I had no problem with Sloane for a long time, being a ruthless warlord didn't faze me, but then I found out about the drug production.

I went through a number of reloads when I first played through this part, saving Sloane, shooting Reyes, not shooting Reyes, letting Sloane get killed, different reactions after each iteration of the event...Ultimately, I let Sloane die, then let Reyes know how I felt, and he called me a dick later on, which made me laugh out loud. I didn't really care either way; I think I picked Reyes the first time because his voice actor is Nicholas Boulton (Hawke, from DA2 and DAI, among other roles, including a bit part on Game of Thrones)--I'm a fan.

In my second playthrough, I'm saving Sloane, just to be different. I also like the antagonism she's got towards Ryder and the Initiative. Makes it a kind of interesting contrast to my nice-guy Ryder and the full on diplomacy I was trying with that playthrough. I also bitched out Liam after his loyalty mission this time, too, made it a LOT more fun. Plus it was hard to see Kaetus so heartbroken.

Oh, and Indira Varma also voices Sloane (in addition to the Moshae, and also Vivienne from DAI, and also a role on Game of Thrones, among others). I'm a fan of hers, too.

Now I just wish it were possible to overthrow Nakmor Morda on Elaaden... The resolution to that silly questline always ends the same way:

[Angry grunts.]

I think it would be ideal if we could not put an outpost there and not have any of the game be less for it. I think it would be great at the end if we could just choose to walk away. Or to support one and tell them to clean things up and we'll recommend it or something like that. The idea that we need all these outposts even when they are in god awful places is terrible. Kadara is a criminal wasteland that literally stinks. Sure we can use some resources from it but how worth it is it when we are so uncertain of everything there and when it is a criminal wasteland where our people might not be safe.

I do think that once again this is where the writing comes off rather childlike. We don't really have to put an outpost there. We can blow off the krogan but bringing them back actually seems like a good plan. Most of the krogan seem pretty progressive and rather harmless if not outright nice in general. Morda is no prize but she never outright threatens you. That was a lie. So if we need an outpost, that one is better than kadara where you get shot at everywhere you drive. Also, I dislike that they send sloane to fight with you if you just skip it. Who would even contact her to invite her to the battle? That was a little weird to me.

Both are entirely in it for themselves but I think Reyes is genuinely less unpleasant, less inclined to squeeze everyone for whatever they can be squeezed for and make life generally bad for all but the toughest. But he's also more likely to turn on you in an instant if he thinks it's in his interest to do so, a lot more untrustworthy. Life in Kadara is better with him than Sloane, and might help fix some of the **** ups Kadara has caused in relations with the angara - for now.

Kadara is a more promising world than Eos or Eladeen or Voeld. The temperature range is more temperate, the soils with all that implied volcanic activity should be more productive than sands, let alone ice, and water is easily treated even without the Vault. It is no coincidence that Kadara is the planet with an established human outpost. establishing an outpost on Kadara after shaking hands with Reyes is actually the most enjoyable piece of romantic RP for me, because going to bed with him is more than picking whatever boy or girl on your crew looks the prettiest. It's politically motivated, and we'll see about dynasty building potential. It is also a way out for Ryder who will want to disentangle from Nexus and Initiative eventually, carving out his or her own realm.

Childlike to me because it's once again forcing you into a no win situation. Whether it's lesser of two evils or working with Tim they tend to like to box the player into scenarios that in real life different options might exist. Working with Tim you have no way to tell others your side of the story with any kind of clarity. That you may be using him as much as he is using you. That you don't really want to be there at all but colonists are going missing. Here, you are boxed in to working with one or the other, neither really are ideal. Lesser of two evils. Perhaps trying to stabilize it would be better but doing that at a different time seems like the better choice than getting involved in the mess that exists there now. As a player, I don't really see the logic of even bothering with Kadara at this point in time. It's a shady place filled with shady people. Sure there are some good ones there, but for now, does it make sense to get into bed with either of these two? Realistically, distancing the nexus from them as much as possible would seem the wiser choice.

The minute you step foot on kadara, you as the pathfinder have associated yourself with them and  they are viewed rather poorly with the allies you want to build a better relationships with. From my perspective, being involved with kadara at all is a risky proposition. They are viewed as the violent savages of AI. Kadara is never going to get itself together enough to be any kind of force to be reckoned with because it is currently led by thugs and if you help even if you pick sloane. Organizing and band  of witless thugs is always a bad idea. Doing anything to help either side is unwise. If you don't show up, odds are nothing much progresses there because you are instrumental in the shifts that happen. The wiser plan would be to go in and  take over then give it back to angarans or the resistance to do as they want with it after you have taken it from the criminals, and you do that when you have enough troops awake. Meanwhile, let them keep killing each other thinning the herd before you get there. It should be a last priority after all else is handled and then you do it to put down both sides not to make a deal with one or the other.

as for sloane helping in the battle, no she would not help. She would raze your post to the ground. She doesn't give one fuck about the AI. She left it and hates it. She would not help. And whomever is in contact with her to invite her is probably someone to get rid of. If you skip kadara, nobody from there should join. They break their own rules because of how they painted her against the AI. The attack on the archon is an AI endeavor getting allies involved. If we don't get some allies for some choices, then not bothering with her should not cause her to help you then because she doesn't really help you when you are on kadara. It's not really in character for someone who threatens to raze your post to the ground if you put one there to run off and fight with you. Sure you can say she hates the kett. But she also hates the AI. She's really going to join up for a fight with people she hates when her hate is pretty much her main character trait the whole time you meet her. You are scum because you are with the AI from her perspective.

"Childlike" isn't the right word for it but there appears to be an assumption that every choice must be like that, to the point where they've become predictable. And a genuine no-win choice means you may as well toss a coin instead of deciding. You can't always win, and sometimes no-win choices happen. Sometimes you can though. If I choose poorly, and the information / tasks were there that mean I should've been able to do better instead of getting unlucky, and things go to hell as a result - bring it on! Give me the chance to screw up!