The Networks ⬩ who came out on top?

[Farren]

/in.

First-time player; requesting no advanced variant.

[Farren]

Network name:

Test Pattern

(We believe that people don't want surprises in their entertainment.)

[Farren]

I'll

Land an Ad

, taking the ad for

Blast Radius Pure Sugar Cereal.

[Farren]

(oh, and my callsign is TPN.)

[Farren]

Good evening, and welcome to Test Pattern Network.

Here at TPN, we pride ourselves on our predictability. When you tune in, you can expect to know exactly what's going to happen. No surprises, no gimmicks - just good, clean family entertainment. That's our promise to you.

With that said, we've been getting viewer complaints about

Litter Training Weekly

. Some of the cats weren't quite picking up the ins and outs of the litter box, and no one could figure out which ones! We even had one host start showing people how to spread garbage around! So we're giving them the ax and sending the host off to sell kitty litter. But you can still enjoy the show on re-runs - and remember, when you're watching a re-run, you know exactly what's going to happen.

With the parting of an old show comes the dawn of a new show. Welcome, everyone, to

Awesome Industrial Accidents!

Where you know exactly what happens when someone forgets to drop the safety guard on the bandsaw! It'll be airing daily at

9:00 PM

.

(This show is sponsored by

Blast Radius Pure Sugar Cereal

. There's an explosion of flavor in every bite, just like there's always an explosion of awesome every time someone ignores a 'No Smoking' sign next to the cabinet where the flammables are stored!)

---

(

Develop a Show

: Awesome Industrial Accidents, 9:00 PM, with the Ad for Blast Radius Pure Sugar Cereal attached.)

[Farren]

TPN has been receiving numerous complaints about our current 8:00 show.
'Pockets should have wallets, keys, and cellphones! Not lost jewelry, random produce, and harbingers of the apocalypse!'
'I can't tell if contestants are going to guess right or not!'

And you know what? They have a point.

What's in My Pockets

has become too chaotic, so we're throwing it in our pockets and looking for something else.

We'll be replacing it with

Old Folks Complaining

. Have you ever heard old folks complaining? It's always the same thing, over and over and OVER again. It gets to the point where you can recite their litany for them. And that's just what we want to see! Predictability.

This show will be sponsored by

Shaggy's Rugs and Carpeting

. They supply all the rugs and carpets liberally strewn around the studio we've dedicated for this show, to make it feel more like home - or to give our stars something else to complain about. Thanks, Shaggy!

---

(

Develop a Show

: Old Folks Complaining, 8:00 PM, with the Ad for Shaggy's Rugs and Carpeting attached.)

[Farren]

Behind the scenes at TPN ...

"Lower Colon's played out. Too much variability in colons these days. Dad-dratted kids and their fancy new diets..."
"There's only one show left on the market, though.

Chainmail Bikini Warrior.

How do we make that line up with our mission statement?"
"Eh, it'll be fine. Those shows are pretty formulaic! Introduce the heroine, have her thrash the villains every week. It's perfect late night fodder."
"But we don't have a heroine. We have Tony Donaldson. You know, the guy who ran for Mayor last year on the campaign that the other side wasn't being corrupt enough? The one that lost by 72 points?"
"So we make him the villain. He's used to losing, and everyone will expect it. Done. Mission statement complied with."
"But no one will expect the star to be the villain! They'll expect the star to be the one in the chainmail bikini! Not to mention that we'll lose points with women in all age brackets under ... what, 65? ... for starring a man in what should be a show about empowering women!"
"We run

Old People Complaining

and

Awesome Industrial Accidents

. How many women under 65 do we have watching our network anyway?"

... (silence) ...

"Do it. Maybe we can find a more appropriate star in Season 2. And then we can axe Donaldson. The audience will expect that too."
"Can we axe him literally?"
"Ask me again next season."

---

(Develop a Show

: Chainmail Bikini Warrior, 10:00 PM, starring the Failed Mayoral Candidate.)

[Farren]

When we can't prevent the unexpected, we can at least help mitigate its effects.

Land an Ad

: Emergency Trousers, Ltd.

[Farren]

One expectation everyone has: food!

I'll

Sign a Star

- the Celebrity Chef.

[Farren]

"What do you mean, F*ckin' Lovely Shows just got free viewers? How'd they do that?

Competency? Consistency?! That's our schtick!

"

I'll take the Network card: "Viewers."

[Farren]

Well then.

I'd be crazy not to take the freebies, so we do that. The one question is with the network card - is it worth spending $5 million for an extra 7 viewers right now? Let's hold off on that until we get a better picture of our financial situation.

Taking the ads brings us to $15 million.

I don't think replacing any of my shows is a good idea. The most replaceable show I have is in the 8pm slot, and none of those shows play nice with 8pm. Plus I'm losing ad revenue - unless I replace with the Baccalaureate, which results in the biggest possible loss of viewers. (Or Person of Disinterest - I could keep ad revenue stable that way, but I'd still be losing more money and viewers this round over what's there now.)

Taking two stars will cost us $4 million if we go for the cheapest two. That drops us to $11 million. D&B adds $2 million, income adds $1 million ... yeah, I don't think I want to spend any more. Need to leave some cash for shows for Season 3.

Land Ads

: Yeti Yachts, Luxury Spacecraft

Sign Stars

: Soap Opera Star, Satirical News Anchor.

Take Network Card

: Advertising Push. Take the three viewers.

Drop & Budget

[Farren]

Develop a Show

: Cringe, starring the Celebrity Chef; sponsored by Emergency Trousers, Ltd. 10:00 PM broadcast time.

[Farren]

Develop a Show

: Communist-y, running at 9:00 PM. Starring the Satirical News Anchor, with an ad for Yeti Yachts (no conditional).

[Farren]

Network card

: Syndication.

[Farren]

Develop a Show

: You Reek, Augh. 8:00 PM time slot. Starring the ill-suited Soap Opera Star, with the ill-fitted Ad by Luxury Spacecraft.*

(seriously, how is an ad for spacecraft not suited to a sci-fi show? come on, now.)

Genre bonus: Ads.

[Farren]

Drop & Budget

. Take the money.
Using

Syndication

when scoring re-runs this round.

[Farren]

I'll grab the

Showrunner

.

[Farren]

I'll grab the

Audition

.

[Farren]

Drop and Budget

. Take the Money.

Use the Showrunner on

Cringe

.

[Farren]

I'll take the

Promo C.

[Farren]

Develop a Show.

Take Monday Night Foosball. Put it in the 9PM slot, replacing Communist-y.
Attach the Promo C. Pay the money to activate it.
Leave the optional slot open.

[Farren]

Develop a Show.

Taking the Ultimate Fainting Championship. Put it in the 10 PM slot, replacing Cringe.

Attach the Ad for Clem's Clearance Firearms. Leave the second slot open.

Claim the Genre Bonus for Sports. Take Ads.

[Farren]

Sign a Star: the Cheeky Friend.

[Farren]

child hoister

(I already submitted to vincentw via PM as a conditional, but I'll put this out here for transparency's sake.)

Sign a Star

- the Reality TV Judge.

[Farren]

Replace Reality Show Vote Collector with Cable Series Star

Take a Network Card

- take Spin-off.

[Farren]

(oh, and happy scumday, Sirius!)

[Farren]

Note - to speed things up, here are the rest of my moves for the season after 215; I don't think Sirius can affect any of them at this point, beyond the conditional in S5E10. (And I'm not entirely sure he has enough moves to get to that point, but just in case ...)

Sirius plays, then: S5E08:

Develop a Show

: Flee. Assign to 8:00 PM slot. Attach the Cheeky Friend and the Krakatoa Instant Coffee Ad; leave the last slot open. 31 Paper goes to re-runs;

use the Spin-off to save Medical Drama Mainstay

.

(Sirius doesn't have any Ads, so he can't beat me to the punch and take the show.)

Sirius plays (?), then: S5E09:

Attach a Star

: Medical Drama Mainstay to Flee (in its open slot).
Sirius plays (?), then: S5E10: Conditional: if Sirius9121 has not yet dropped out,

D&B

; take the Viewers. If Sirius9121 has dropped out,

Attach an Ad

: Conspicuous Watches to Ultimate Fainting Championship (in the open slot).
S5E11:

D&B

.

[Farren]

Awesome game!

With regards to the game itself - the turn order penalty and the allocation of funds for starting turn order feel very fair. Most games like this tend to have pretty minor bonuses for people who don't get lucky enough to get the first turn; this one avoided that issue. Good game flow overall, and it seems like a good length of game.

With regards to the modding of the game - spot-on, as usual. Formatting was excellent. Game moved at a good pace.

AutoPlay's always a tricky balance to figure out exactly how smart to make it - it just feels wrong when AutoPlay misses something "obvious", but human players can miss "obvious" things too. At least in my opinion, AutoPlay shouldn't be an unstoppable juggernaut; it should have flaws, and the more turns it takes, the more likely some of those flaws should become apparent.

I assume you're planning to run it again, given the AutoPlay revamp?