OOTS #1063 - The Discussion Thread

[Shining Wrath]

I think we're heading for a mountainside crash at this point. Elan's Mending fizzling and the navigator announcing there's a mountain in front of them suggest things aren't going to go well. As for Andi, she maybe might have considered that the reason the frost giants are all along the mainline of the pass is because it's the only way through, and they're not stupid?

There's one path marked on the map. The Frost Giants, who live there, lined that path. Either everyone has missed a perfectly acceptable secondary path, or Andi's screwed the proverbial pooch.

Said "maintenance" also involved repairs from extensive damage involving being caught directly in a nasty storm and fixing up the ship with an utterly inadequate supply of spare parts. There's absolutely no reason to think that Andi is anything but competent at her job, other than people disliking the character and extrapolating ineptitude that wasn't there from the dislike.

I think Andi has been clearly portrayed as being good at fixing the ship.

Objectively, we can say Bandana's leadership has not been good because it led to her getting hit in the head with a wrench.

I mean, I don't know if she could've done it any better or if any changes would've improved the situation. But the ideal outcome of her leadership would probably include not getting wrenched in the head.

Maybe she could've been less insulting at that last point - try to keep her cool and her tongue when dealing with an annoying subordinate. Long-term, she could've tried to address Andi's obvious bitterness - ignoring a person's resentment towards you is a good idea in most relationships, but not when dealing with an employee. "Brushing off haters" is tough when said haters work for you and their performance is vital to your efforts. That's an important management lesson for us all - never ignore an employee's grievances. You don't have to give in to those grievances, but you do need to address them, because otherwise you're just ignoring a problem that will only grow bigger and bring down the whole team.

But c'mon - it's Bandana's first management position. She'll learn ... unless there's permanent brain damage from the aforementioned head-wrenching. But now we learn the important function that Human Resources provide. This could have all been potentially avoided with a proper HR department on-board the Mechane to hear out Andi's grievances, to mediate a discussion with Bandana, and to provide Andi with workshops on Anger Management and Constructive Criticism.

So really, this is ultimately Julio Scoundrel's fault for putting together a faulty corporate structure and a management system based primarily on Charisma checks.

I don't know if you've ever read any of H. Beam Piper's alternative reality stuff, but imagine that every time any sentient being makes a decision, a new set of universes are spawned, one for each of the possible choices they could have made. Some decisions are insignificant, and those choices don't spawn too many children; some important with lots and lots of repercussions.

I'm going to argue that almost all of the universes spawned by Julio's decisions to leave Bandana in charge of the Mechane, with Andi still on board, and Julio not telling Andi in no uncertain terms that Bandana was in charge, Andi winds up trying to usurp Bandana's authority in some fashion. That's not Bandana's fault. And most of the other universes wind up with the world destroyed by failure of the Order's mission, which is not a good goal for Bandana to aim for.

Bandana's alive! Yay!

Looks like the team is trying to handle this like a family rather than a crew, and not everyone is onboard with Andi's action. Regardless, the ship needs one CO at the moment rather than a committee.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

Which is another way that Andi's panic has negative consequences - no one can be sure who's in charge at a moment of crisis.

Correct.
In a universe dominated by Millenials, or a 'verse dreamed up by dancrilis.

Seriously, the apologia for negligence, picking the wrong time to air a grievance (during combat on the bridge of the ship), direct insubordination, and mutiny ... is both lame and uninformed. (Note for dancrilis: in Crimson Tide, Gene Hackman's Captain was the one violating the book, hence the grudging support for the XO from from C.O.B! Not so in Bandana's case. Andi is violating multiple duties and rules).

Mateo's frustration is well earned, since Andi (senior officer present with the Captain incapacitated for any reason) has ordered a course deviation from the charted course into shoal water. Uncharted waters ... usually a sign of trouble.

Thought:

Based on a previous post about Wis, Int, and Cha, it occurs to me that Andi's dump stat is as likely to be Wis as Cha. Her competence as a mechanic/engineer is already established, so I'll guess here Int is solid. Plenty of smart people lack sense/common sense/judgment. Her lack of judgment argues for Wis being low.

for Keltest:
So long as it's in the Nick of Time, Elan's following his calling as a bard and the mentorship of Julio will be confirmed.

No need to insult millennials. They are in large part living in a world they didn't make.
Anyway, heading into uncharted waters at 2/3 full with no clear officer in charge and under fire from enemy forces sounds like panic to me.

Indeed. Some pirates even had laws governing the compensation for injuries sustained during the course of their activities.

I'm starting to rethink my characterization of pirates as chaotic, come to think of it.

Lawful evil or Lawful neutral sounds right to me. They lived by rules, but THEIR rules, not society's.

I think she gets unduly hard on people when captaining. How she treats Andi has the same general scope as how Andi treats her, so that could be just be the baseline for their relationship; but how she talks to Roy?

She was brusque but not insulting. And it was a moment of crisis.

When I get old, I want to live in a home where I can take it over by conquest.

Q

Live by yourself with only a dog, then. Dogs submit easily. If you get a cat, you're screwed.