A bit of a question...

[JMarshFox]

What exactly IS a 'Nerve Stapling', and what does it do? o.O

I know it suppresses Drone riots in AC, but I was wondering what it would actually be...

[Jamski]

Well, someone will come along in a minute and feed you a load of crap from Michael Ely.

But it involves either making people docile so they can be controled - like a lobotomy, or it is something that "punishes" the Drones if they try to misbehave, perhaps with a shock directly into thier nerves.

Either way, its completly safe with no permanant effects

-Jam

[Jerh9e1k5]

I believe that there is a rather severe penalty for nerve stapling your citizen's but I'm not sure what it is, can anyone else help?

[Corellion]

Sanctions, loss of all talents at that base, and less effective nerve stapling in the future.

[Sarxis]

Basically- useless.

[Chaos Theory]

Quite useful in the very early game on Transcend. If you have a base that grows to size 2 before it can produce a colony pod, say, because of a nutrient bonus, why feed a doctor or keep a garrison when you can nerve staple everyone, lose all commerce for 10 turns (as if you had any), and reap superior production for those 10 turns, by which time the base should be back to size 1? Free market of course nixes this, but you can nerve staple right before going to free market.

[UnityScoutChopper]

Why keep a garrison? Umm... because of mind worms?

Still, it's true that sometimes you just can't keep up in garrisoning, at least not without sacrificing e.g. pod-popping. Sounds like a cool idea, think I'll try it... (evil grin)

USC

[Mongoose]

Be wary of indiscriminate stapling! Stapling is a minor atrocity. Sanctions increase in severity for repeat offenses and Planet remembers!

[Straybow]

"Either way, its completly safe with no permanant effects "

Errr, yeah… at least thats what the Minister of Information said.

It sounds icky. The graphic shows a big X-shaped scar on the forehead. Looks like some sort of lobotomy.

[Chaos Theory]

Oh yeah, even early game nerve-stapling reduces your clean mins limit by one, but that's an indirect boon. It makes it easier to get that first pop before you want to build Tree Farms, at which point losing a couple of free mins becomes trivial.

[SynthetGod8]

Nerve Stapling

I do believe that a nerve stapling is when a little box is surgically affixed to the base of the skull (where your brain meets your spinal cord). The box, I assume, contains an AI or some kind of remote control. The nerve staple then acts as a shunt between your nervous system and your brain. This enables the controller to determine what you feel. It can turn off pain, create intense pain, control moods, and otherwise create a docile human being. From the novels, Hive nerve staples are bulky, painful and disfiguring.
This, of course, can be used for both good an evil purposes. Medical applications would be a temporary nerve staple to remove pain or anxiety and to combat psychological problems, which is also the same application for the military. Understandably, most people would have a problem having this done to them and, in the case of the game, nerve stapling are force upon the entire poplation of the base in order to combat crime and ensure obediance. This is why Talents are removed along with drones. No one's happy to have a Nerve Staple, but everyone must comply with what the Nerve Staple tells you to do. This is also why sanctions are imposed against any faction who uses Nerve Staples; it's a breach of human freedoms and rights. Lal, being Mister UN Human Rights, slaps those sanctions on that faction. I might guess that the psychic trauma of a large population being Stapled would aggrevate the neural net of Planet (which is why atrocities cause extra polution). I hope this answers your question more completely.

[gwillybj]

It's faster to just slam a nail-gun on the back of their head and pull the trigger

[Lazerus]

Everybody repeat after me :

"Nerve staples are good. They ensure productivity and obediance. I love my nerve staple as if it were my heart."


*shadowy men in the background begin moving forward

[Ancyrean]

I consider nerve stapling counter-productive as a sustained strategy (sanctions, loss of talent, and diminishing utility as you use it repeatedly in the same city, if I remember correctly)...It's certainly not good in middle stages of the game...Plus, I feel a revulsion toward nerve stapling in general anyway (call it a prejudice if you will)...

There might be exceptional situations where you can talk about a relative gain in factors of production (maybe within the context of what Chaos Theory expressed above) but I'm yet to be convinced about the merits of nerve stapling in general...Btw, I don't remember whether sanctions are imposed on you or whether your reputation suffers when you haven't contacted anyone yet at the time of stapling, maybe in that case you can make a case for it within exceptional circumstances, and that's just maybe...

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Agreed nerve stapling early is a benefical gambit. Consider also nerve stapling early if you are an early game Free Marketeer. Staple just prior to making the switch to Free Market and ride the 10 free turns of drone free issues, thus allowing plenty of time for rush buy of rec commons or completion of HGP or VW without need for 'doctoring'.

As for sanctions as earlier stated "what trade income at that stage?"

As for reputation. Reputation shmeputation I say.

Great bit of advice on the lowering the clean mineral limit. (which is exactly what you want to force as early a pop as possible.)

OTOH, mid and late game stapling is a bit of a problem.

Early game though you just can't beat having 4 formers out there pronto clearing the way for new pod placement, foresting, farming etc.