There isn't any one stat that should be more important. Every action requires a popular face, a monetary backer and a well connected facilitator. The problem is that nopony can be all three, and nopony has very much of two.

A bright young naval captain is not ver rich and doesn't know very many ponies who matter, but she (or he) can easily rally popular support by making it look good.

A rich business owner has money and knows where workers can be found, but they are almost never popular, and most important socialites distrust new money.

A well connected socialite is almost never well known outside of rumor rags, and whatever they own was probably inherited, but they know ponies who know ponies, and more importantly, they are better at making all red tape makers take a break.

Any plan lacking in more than one department is sure to fail, and a plan without one of the three is just asking for a dozen snags.

The same goes for making a plan fail, you need to be able to make it unpopular, create financial issues, and magic up more red tape for it to trip on.

Almost no plan works on its own, and there is always backlash. The best ponies get other ponies to work while they move strings from the shadows, moving their agenda forward, but not being dirtied by the splash back.

1849915
Well, no plan ever succeeds, regardless of what it may be, by only one face and one alone. If someone wishes to succeed, then they'll pretty much be forced to work with others in another department, create a game plan, none of which necessarily needs to be legal, and is most certainly encouraged to go under the table. There is never only one shadow puppeteer, while one may think they hold all the strings, there's always someone else waiting, just behind their back, someone they might never suspect, a shiv aimed clearly for their back.

1850166 exactly this is what this roleplay is all about!

1850188

So, what was the actual purpose of this thread? To show people they need to work together, even if it's only temporary?

1850217 yes! and to illustrate better what this rp is about.