I completed the Emotions run!!! :D It was very very successful, even if not in anything plot related: Zorana got 20 electoral votes, her highest number yet! She also got a new tattoo: Tngr bs Urnira. Abg fhcre fher jung vg zrnaf sbe guvf Mbenan? Ohg vg'f pbby gb frr! I also still got the 'Zorana doesn't trust outsiders' card, and I'm still not entirely sure what's causing that. But I really loved her ending with Pharae!! It's seriously so cool that we get these insights into not just their wedding but their married life as well, and they're actually really genuinely romantic (of the ones I've seen so far)! Oh, plus: for this run I finally got to see Chapadoc's alternate quest, which my Media- and Emotion-savvy Zorana totally blasted :D Even if her Arts were too low to get the achievement n.n; (I also got to see Jade's quest, and... seriously: vf rirelbar ba Ureh VI n znffvir sernx (be Evccyvat Rgreavgl)??? :'QQ ubyl fuvg. Zl yvggyr Zranpr-fxvyyrq Mbenan jnf ernyyl gelvat gb xrrc guvatf vagb cbyvgvpny greevgbel, naq gura Wnqr fgnegf jvgu gur juvccvat be fpernzvat... :'Q
Though, and this is a weird complaint to make, but: V npghnyyl sbhaq gur Fpvrapr bcgvba sbe Wnqr'f erdhrfg n ovg gbb fvzcyr...? Yvxr, sbe fgnegref, Fpvrapr vf fbzrguvat V rkcrpg gb unir va *rirel* frevbhf cynlguebhtu hayrff zl Fpvrapr bssvpre gevrq gb xvyy zr (be, hu, V'z znxvat fbzr dhrfgvbavat ebhgvat qrpvfvbaf yvxr va gur arkg eha...), naq vg whfg frrzf n ovg... qvffngvfslvat gb whfg gnxr ure gb n ebbz naq vawrpg ure jvgu fbzr frehz sbe n fcyvg. V nyzbfg arire fnj Punva pbzr hc nf n erdhverzrag, naq V jbhyq irel eneryl rkcrpg gb unir be arrq vg urer. Abg gung V guvax bhe haqrentr cebgntbavfg fubhyq npghnyyl ratntr va OQFZ, ohg, hu... a.a;; Ubcrshyyl guvf znxrf frafr?
Now: next runs. Like I said, I'd started a run intending on doing better with the Crystal Nova plotline, and I had in mind to do Vahker and Krovos' quests (Gur svefg gvzr V qvq Xebibf' V qenax gur zhfuebbz whvpr naq whfg qvrq??? V jnf fb fubpxrq jura V fnj nabgure crefba'f cynlguebhtu naq. gurl fgnlrq nyvir yznb. Snibenovyvgl jvgu uvz, V thrff?) and *also* I wanted to see if I could win the High Pontifex's favor without having to play Starfall... but, yeah, getting all those stats up in time was just not working. (Oh, also, I had to go back and not appoint Mireille as a logothete, because otherwise Vahter would like Zorana too much to give her a quest :'D)
So, I tried again with Zorana 7, with the thought of taking my good time to come to Myrrka so I could get my stats nice and high for all those quests. Remembering that there were some good minister candidates around Heru (especially Grojdana), for the first time I tried heading there first! That... did NOT go very well at all :'DD Firstly, there are just soooo many electors there in quick succession, and not many of them had quick and easy ways to win them over, so I got really caught up trying to raise So Many Stats that I never even got the chance to raise the ones I was trying to pump! I totally forgot that some of my Science logothete candidates refuse to join the cabinet at all (I presume that with high enough stats or favour Zorana might be able to convince them but this one certainly couldn't), which left me with two sitting at 45 in the stat - which is Not high enough to get fast palace movement. In all that I didn't even manage to get scouting good enough to complete One Bite's quest, even though I also needed it for Vahter's, and to top it all off, by the time I got back to Myrrka 1, Krovos had put in his vote for Tsirkony (because of Course this was the one run I got the orphanage option and decided to pick it on a whim :'D) and Vahter agreed to vote for me immediately!!!!!
After that I just went 'fuck it' and maxed out Spirituality because why not? But I didn't see any major consequences of that this time. I thought at least it's win Exethae over to me, but nope: she didn't want Zorana at the ritual!!! Truly uncertain what even caused her to dislike Zorana so much this time given that it took ages for her to see any assassination attempts because she wasn't achieving enough to upset anyone lmao. (Was it because Zorana took so long to go there? And was ignoring the Myrrkan areas in general?) I did get to pump up Empathy before the 'secret rendezvous' which gave me some interesting hints (Vf ur nsenvq bs Mbenan orpnhfr vs fur gbhpurq gur pelfgny fur jbhyq or vaperqvoyl cbjreshy?) and I confirmed that following up on the dream requires Intergalactic Relations which makes sense, but uhhh when it came to the Jubilee... she died. :'D And changing up the order doesn't seem to stop it, and this Zorana has basically nothing in the combat/control/condition skills, sooo I sadly decided to put this Zorana to rest.
Next plan: try *another* Crystal Novan run, but focus early on the Emotion stats and nab Sola. That seems to be the easiest way to maximise election success with minimal stat pressure, leaving me free to build up Galactic Relations and Spirituality. (Speaking of, even while pawing through the electors' internal stats with maxed Media from the last run, I found very few with an even decent Galactic Relations score? Ironically, Sola is one of those, buuut...)
(Also, va gung ynfg eha V unq gb pna Xkravn orpnhfr fur jnf znxvat vg uneqre sbe Mbenan gb yrnea Tnynpgvp Eryngvbaf... juvpu vf fb fnq!!!! Va beqre gb qvfpbire gur gehgu bs Mbenan'f pelfgny zntvpny tvey cbgragvny, fur (cebonoyl) unf gb qvgpu gur crefba jub'q or zbfg rkpvgrq nobhg vg??? Cbbe Xkravn: fur jbhyq ybir n zntvpny tvey jvsr... 🥺)
Future ideas: I really haven't experimented much with Military at all. The option to send Yakau to a particular sector if you have his approval is Fascinating... and based on the achivements, there's gotta be a way to fnir rirelbar sebz gur Tevo pbybal zrff, right? I also need to go back and see if my max Intrigue run changes at all if Korundi defects, and I reaaaally need to get Galactic Relations high enough to finally make that snow globe check gift check early on...
Sorry for the walls of text, hahah n.n;; I really only know two modes: this, or silence. :') Hopefully this is all interesting/entertaining for somebody!! (That or it's just a cool record of my runs for future me :) )