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From JeffreyRaze: For both of them I'd like to ask them what their views are on the balance of challenges and political maneuvering in this game
Answer: To me, Survivor is 70% political, 30% physical. Pre merge, it is important to perform above average in challenges, but not well enough to be the best on your team. As long as you're in the loop, and contributing in challenges, you can sail to the merge. It's when you hit the merge that the social game really kicks in, and politics become essential. By doing well enough in challenges pre merge, I was able to avoid becoming the primary threat to the blue team, while still gaining enough respect from contributing to the red tribe to be able to start an alliance. From then up until the final 4 or so I laid low in challenges, as I didn't have to do well, I knew my politics would take me to the end. Challenges only became important again in the final 4 when I had to ensure that Stan or I won immunity.
From Justin_Crossing: What steps did you take to coerce cody?
Answer: Persuading Cody to join us was quite easy, all I had to do is do what no other Red member was willing to do, give him a chance. I knew that if we simply got rid all of the blues, we'd come down to 8 red members, likely resulting in a 4v4 tie. Rather than risk going down in numbers from a tie breaker, I decided to win Cody's trust. Without revealing who else was in my alliance (Which could have put them at risk), I would tell Cody who to vote for, and when he proved that he had done so, I'd reveal a bit more information to him to keep him happy. To ensure that Cody was still around to be the swing vote at the final 9, I was sure to keep his name out of deliberations. I told Cody to lay low, so it was easy to convince everyone to vote for the other blue members instead.
From ff6man: Why did you choose the game you did to turn on Valentine and the rest of red team? She had lost challenges previously and I know I, for example, didn't even start trying in challenges until I felt I needed to. I felt Valentine could have easily been knocked out when the time came, do you feel it was entirely necessary to get rid of her when we had a strong alliance, backed by her to thank for round after round of immunity?
Answer: Valentine had to go eventually, only due to her performances in challenges. If we let her reach the jury stage, she could easily blow everyone else out of the water all the way to the finals. We couldn't vote her out when she lost to Caelus (Will elaborate in Justin's 2nd question), but when she lost again, the numbers were right. Upon voting out Valentine, all that remained was my alliance of 5, 3 other red members, and 2 other blue members. Worst case scenario would be that in the next vote there would be a 5-5 tie. This would only happen if information of who was in our alliance leaked (I hadn't told Cody any names yet, so it couldn't have been through him), and the red members on the outside joined with the other blue members. In the end, the plan worked, and we got Valentine out without risking our spots in the final 5.
Continued next post...
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Formally Ikon.
Indie Gaming Board: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/293-indie-gaming