Kadara - leadership choices

Shouldn't this thread be in the spoilers section? CrutchCricket? SofaJockey?

The Natural selection bit is the situation that Sloane has found herself in,  which is that she is isolated, with no one she can trust.  If she was a great leader, the Charlatan would not have been able to undermine her to such a degree that she had to turn to Ryder, and she would not have been so stupid to go and meet the Charlatan in a cave.  The duel has little to do with it,  although deciding leadership by a fight is not exactly a smart move.  Brains won out over brawn.

Sloane really is the one who uses you more. Lots of thoughts here about Reyes backstabbing, using, etc but he never backstabs. He merely doesn't tell you he is the charlatan. He is very upfront with Ryder about what he wants Ryder to do. Find the murderer. (He suspected Roekaar which seems to be something we should get right on dealing with and he wants to). Frankly, in the end, he helps us more than we help him and Sloane uses us twice (to cover her back and to get rid of the kett while treating us like garbage for it). By comparison, Reyes asks for our help with the murders (which sloane doesn't care about) then asks for our help with a personal matter which he would have split the profit nearly 50/50 with us. So he has actually helped make Kadara better while sloane has just covered her ass. Both ask us to help them as it suits them and both are equally upfront about it. Perhaps it can be seen that Reyes uses you because he doesn't pay you for helping with the roekaar, but if that were a random quest we would have probably done it anyway. We are there to set up an outpost, his goals align with ours. Same could be said for Sloane wanting the kett gone, but she keeps that quiet, so I don't see how that is straight forward or honest when it's basically a lie to all the people she 'protects' that the kett are gone for good. You end up being an accomplice in that even if you don't want to. So now you are part of her little cover up lie to the people of kadara. How is that not shady? Or is it okay because you know even if nobody else does? Is the lie okay when you are part of it from the start? If Reyes told you he was the charlatan outright would that have been better? Or was it his charm? Using charm is bad? Or was it the wink? Did that feel shady? If he was a macho dick that insulted would that have been better? I wonder if it's that people want blunt over finesse?

It's like Drack said: He fooled everyone. Hard to trust a guy like that - but then, I don't have to.

Everyone has an agenda. Sloane. Ryder. Tann. Addison. kesh. Peebee. Liam. Drack. Cora. Vetra. Ect. Everyone has an agenda. To think anyone doesn't is to be naive. As I said, his wants align with ours. Sloane's don't unless we want to have to pay fees for protection, probably have more scandals like drug trade, and someone who hates the nexus because what if Ryder isn't around to deal with her? He had no idea about Zia.  He thought it was a deal. It was a trap. We killed them because they attacked us. In the game, he wants the deal. They all show up to kill him. He did not set out to kill them. He set out for a deal. They set out to kill him because he is good  at what he  does. Also, wouldn't really be too concerned about getting rid of smugglers who set up someone to kill them because they don't like competition. 

Really, the extent to which people go to defend sloane who was a filthy drug trader that wanted people to be addicted and who thinks beatings and exile are appropriate for people struggling to pay extortion fees as well as thinking sticking a traitors head on a spike is better than letting the resistance deal with him, well I don't see how any of that is better because it's not. She also used you. She's scummy trash who maybe had good intentions once upon a time but now needs to be kicked out of kadara with her outlaw trash. There is no logic in saying she is better because she is straight forward. It's insane logic driven by either fearing that Reyes could become worse or because of some principle about good criminals vs bad criminals. Both are criminals. Clearly. One does  it with finesse. The other looks you in the eye and tells you they are going to use you then stick it too you (with some added insults along the way). But she does have drug trade where she  wants to addict people. And she does drag you into he coverup of the kett. Reyes does nothing of that caliber. After, he helps fund the clinic among other things. And he doesn't charge us to be there. He knows the trade will be good. He has actual business sense. Probably why Zia and her thugs wanted him dead.

In the end being able to really trust Reyes isn't all that important so long as he's generally cooperative when it comes to day to day operations on Kadara. As the planet's viability increases and our own settlement grows larger, his relevance is diminished in the process.

I wouldn't say the reasons Reyes gives Ryder are a lie of commission, but a lie of omission. He tells us half-truths, but leaves some things out. 
Now it would be interesting to see if he put the Roekaar up to it. After all most people think his codename Sheva is an angaran, so he could have contacted them and encouraged that cell to do what they do and then when Ryder came along a more powerful ally showed up so he threw the Roekaar away. Now I know that less than half the targets were Outcasts, but that could have been done to hide a connection. It's interesting to note none of the victims were members of the Collective. This is just speculation in what could have been an interesting twist. 
That quote you provided does support what I was saying. Just because it wasn't Reyes who said it doesn't mean Reyes didn't think it. Sure monopoly may not be entirely accurate, but I just said that to illustrate a point in that he has a much larger piece of the pie now. 
I'm glad you think so. It's nice to have good conversations about this whole plotline because it is one of the best in the entire game. Courtney Woods definitely proved herself with writing Kadara, Reyes, and Lexi.