In post 9807, callforjudgement wrote:In either case, though, where are the unclaimed kills coming from? Is there a killing faction separate from Maxous?
It could be a Serial Killer. I'm not sure I buy the "Scum group" theory anymore.
As for the my theory of how Max picked his targets, it is not that hard to balance. If you have a cult that cannot kill (the normal cult) with a Scum group OR a Serial Killer, it is fairly balanced, and the longer the Cult Leader lives the greater their chance is of winning. Right? Now if the leader got lynched at any point the recruitment ability is lost. Agreed?
This IS the dame thing. He recruits more people the longer he lives. When he dies the recruitment stops. The only difference is If they were instantaneously recruited they'd stand for each other. In this case they didn't because they were Town and did not change alignments until he was lynched, so that WEAKENS the cult.
Let's say he recruited A, B, C & D on the 4 nights he was alive. If they all are still alive then we have a 4-member cult; just the way it would have been if they were instantaneously culted. However, there IS a chance that A was -say- Zakk, who got NK'd by the SK on the same night (N1), thus flipped a Townie and Maxous ended up with nobody in his faction. Let's say Shiro was B, and he got lynched before Maxous. This means Shiro died as a Townie, and we only have a 2-member group left. This is a weaker version of the cult concept. It could be that we're looking for just ONE culted player + the SK and that's it.
I'm not saying this MUST be the case, but it's one to consider. Letting Max choose upon his death gives him a MUCH stronger position, since many have already claimed and reads were fully developed. However one pick per night keeps him in the dark. For instance, he wouldn't know whom to recruit on N1 because it was a mess and he couldn't predict who the PRs are nor could he know for sure who would be lynched on D2, D3 and so forth.
Also the SK would/should keep the recruitment process limited because he works on his own and is aiming to kill everyone regardless. A Serial Killer is usually unrecruitable by cult, so he is a menace to them as much as he is to the Town.
Just keep that thought at the back of your mind for now. IF this is correct, then Cakez is clear (of being culted) because he didn't lose his ability to give out stuff, but can still be the SK. Nahdia, on the other hand, is a prime suspect for being culted in that scenario.
P-edit:
Just let the day end, mate. If it's a cult + SK then JR becomes DEATHPROOF. The SK won't shoot him and lose his killing power. Ank won't shoot him and lose his Vig ability, and there are no other killing roles. He can't e lynched either because he has been prove both Vanilla and Town (the latter mattes most since it came after Maxous died).