Regarding the "Cult War", Validing of Cult and when it is allowed

[Keppler]

My post concerns the stage at which cult has halos, but is not summoning, the time between when they get halos and when they summon, vary drasticly, but many rounds with halos end with a war of some kind. The rules do not allow a "war" between crew and halo cult, especially not lethally, unless the cult is summoning. The rules state this specifically in rule 8, with a very clear exception "This doesn't count against blobs, slaughter demons, nuke ops, wizards, terror spiders, xenos, swarmers, and cultists summoning their god. It's expected the whole crew fights these!", summoning cults. This remains from old cult, without halos. The halo message itself says nothing making it clear that crew are free to fight the cult by any means, or that they are free to seek it and fight it. Rules suggest otherwise.

As such, I would ask for an update on the rules, a clarification on what the rules really are on halo cult, or a change to enforcement of it. The games I have seen with such a "war" pretty much all means are used, with cult being killed while they may be miles from summoning. If this is in fact in spite of laws, it happens in too big numbers to properly enforce, or is not enforced at the moment (From how it seems to happen often).

I am on the side that I would not fight such a cult unless i am certain I am allowed, but I have seen many willingly fight it with lethal means, even as they are not summoning (Assistants, command even engis). All I ask is that what the rules actually mean in this stage of cult be clarified, or it be made clear in some other way.

Edited February 25, 2021 by Keppler

[Carthusia]

Ofton times ive noticed that some time before a summon is attempted, the cult is already over running a few areas, or most of the station, and thus people in a panic to escape, attack halo'd people while on their way to find a way out, not so much in a "Im going hunting" sense but more "Their in my way, and i need past, BANG, now that their dead, have run off, or are simply to wounded to fight, i keep moving"

 

Example: A group of 5-6 people a few days ago with me in my kitchen all trying to make our way to EVA to grab a suit and bail into space, we make it there fine, but after we arrive full blown halo cultists start swarming the area, and shots begin to fly on all sides.

By that point, your going to shoot first the moment they start creeping around the room, because you know if you DONT, they could very well get you. For us, if they poked their heads up, we'd just fire a shot down the hall at them to keep them away while we made our escape. Not long after 5-6 more cultists swarmed in and got 4-5 of us.

I feel the reason why the halo'd aspect was added, was specifically so you couldnt hide a cult anymore, by that point, your in control of i think 30% of the total crew? With 10-15% just being glowy, but hidable red eyes.

Lets say it is 20-30%, That's possibly 20-30 out of 100 people or even more at high pop by time you reach the "You cant hide" phase, that is an army, an army who is armed to the teeth, who can kill anyone they see should they so desire. They have magic, summonable weapons, the ability to raise the dead to serve them, and armors that give them extreme bonuses.

They cannot be negotiated with, they cannot be bribed, they cannot be pleaded with. By this point a cult is kind of in the Station Ender category, along with blobs, terrors and xenos. The summoning aspect is just the final "If you dont fight, you die", alert at least in my opinion

 

I see cults get stomped before and after this phase mind you, but most cult rounds ive seen reach the "war" phase, its not a straight up stomping that I see but an open conflict for the station that sometimes, very, VERY quickly snowballs in the cults favor if they are organized.  Stun, restrain, drag, convert, repeat.

 

Overall, In my opinion, i haven't seen the "war" phase really be an issue or how people react to it, but thats just from what ive seen

Edited February 25, 2021 by BlackDog