Your pod drifts through nothingness. A bubble of space out from within the nebula in which your pod drifts from a long dissipated super nova. The walls of gas surround your distant, drifting pod on all sides, whispering with the reflected radiation and the subtle crackling of the nebula itself. The bubble, the system, although there is no longer any star, is silent and uninteresting. Your pod watches as the rare traffic moves to and from one of the small backwater colonies carved into the chunks of drifting stone and poorly held together derelict hulls drifting through space. It is a system of rejects, outlaws, and pirates. The only place of any interest, however fleeting, is the singular dwarf planet. A tiny world, slowly drifting through the absent void so appropriately named by the locals as Nowhere, devoid of starlight, with only the cold hum of sparse and secretive hideouts hardly large enough to be called settlements only slightly glow against the freezing backdrop of absolute zero.
Something grabs your pod's attention. A sudden, growing noise slowly, gradually building up from nothing to a distinct mental cry. Your pod moves closser, its cloaked form drifting over the dark world, and you can make out the distinct but meaningless noise of some psionic disturbance, like a grating of metal against metal making you shudder and recoil from the unnatural sensation. Before long, your pod begins to detect gravitational disturbances as well, focused, and highly localized but tremendous in strength.
Welcome back to Hive Queen Quest!
>Archives http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Hive%20Queen%20Quest
>Twitter https://twitter.com/HiveQueenQuest
>Various pasta http://pastebin.com/u/QuestDrone
>FAQ ask.fm/QuestDrone
>Discussion page http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Quest_talk:Hive_Queen_Quest
>>48213906
What is the location of this system?
>>48213906
>Current resource reserves
Nutrients: 23,617,705N
Metals: 23,807,679M
Credits: ₡2,226
Credits in Lyle’s account: ₡1,175,000
Active trade routes
Leeland – Lanway: HMS Orphan, Captain John Spreckels
>Construction underway
[Citadel Hive ship] – 90%
[Fast Assault Fleet] x5
>Formed fleets and orders
Small Heavy Defense Fleet [Patrolling Leeland space]
10 Heavy Battle Fleet [Awaiting orders]
5 Missile Ambush Fleet [Awaiting orders]
25 Light Fleets [Awaiting orders]
20 Light Fleets [Under construction]
Clone upkeep/special projects and expenses
25 Human captives of the USV Hope – 750
[Gemini]
3 Taidaren Hybrids (105)
4 Human flash clone upkeep – 120
18 Human hybrid clone upkeep – 540
Specializations:
>Tech
>Engineer
>Brawler
[Hive space]
100 Human Hybrids – 3,000
Lyle Rogers – 57
Jackob Eisner – 56
Dillon Reager – 30
Clone/project upkeep – 3,908N
>Income
Metals: 2,950,500
Nutrients: 7,636,000
Net:
Total upkeep
Nutrient costs: 6,294,510
(Nutrient stat + structures) * 1k * dev score + modifiers = Nutrient income total
(Metal stat + structures) * dev score + modifiers = Metal income total
>>48213937
Hive Territory
[G-426]
*Leeland (capital)
N 60+40
M 45
Development 50
Income:
4.886MN
162.5KM
Defensive structures
>Surface to Orbit Missile System: Uses long range missiles to attack enemy ships in the system (1KN, Additional costs per launch)
>Anti-orbital batteries: Directly attacks enemy ships in orbit (8KN)
Military structures
>Hangar facilities: Deploys atmospheric and orbital drones to intercept attackers, uses aerodynamic and fighter drone designs (4KN)
>Psionic Shroud: Conceals hive activity from psionic senses (1KN)
Industrial structures
>Docking Pylon: (2000) (100KN)
[Empty docks: 8000/8000]
Economic Structures
>Smart Mines active: Calculates development stat twice for metal income
>Algae Farm: +25N
>Film harvester dock: +15N
Asteroid mining base: 50KM per day added to nearest planet.
[M-662]
Raligha
N 90+20
M 10
Development 25
Income:
2.75MN
0M
Defensive structures
>Surface to Orbit Missile System (1KN)
>Anti-orbital batteries: 35/35 (8KNN)
Economic structures
>Bloodroot collectors: Pipes running from Bloodroot trees extract nutrient rich sap +20N
>Greystalk farms: [under construction]
>Greenwall pit: Genetically engineered plant efficiently recycles waste material, Extra N income x2
>Temple alter: A place for the Ralighan locals to worship and bring offerings to your hive, built in the likeness of your local fake queen, +500N per day
[M-323]
>Orbital docking pylon: Space for docking and construction of 4 sub capitals or 1 capital ship, (50N)
[Empty docks: 0/4]
>Mining corvette salvage operations +2,688,000M per day (+8000M per corvette)
[Farcast]
Derelict Sensor array
Glassed Hive world
N 0
M 100
D 10
Income:
0N
100KM
>Smart mine mantle excavation: Calculates development stat 3 times for metal income
Deep space waystation
>100 docking pylons (10KN)
[Empty docks 400/400]
>>48213927
It's NowhereIn Valen space, no star. Looks like a rogue planet with some cosmic debris
>>48213927
>appropriately named by the locals as Nowhere
It's literally been on the starmap since before the hiatus anon. Geez notice the capital letter.>>48213937
Odd. Valen space. What did they get ahold of that's psionic. Crystals don't cry, they whisper.
>>48213966
That implies it's either Skyl or Hive.
>>48213906Does this mean we'll see any of the other systems we scouted
>>Construction underway
>[Citadel Hive ship] – 90%
GET HYPE
So guys, I was thinking about agent Devon and how we can best use him assuming he is eventually released from Valen custody.
At this point, he has been the nominal leader of two tremendous fiasco’s: the destruction of the psionics lab on Gemini, and diplomatic fuckup at Tannhauser. He is in very real danger of losing his, (and by extension our) connection to Killinger and the Union council. To keep from being shit-canned as an incompetent he has to deliver results. That is why I propose we allow Devon to “discover” the hive. The Union is in an all out war with the Commonwealth and are at risk of losing their Valen allies; they will not attack us. Furthermore, Devon has ample evidence the Leeland hive is not what it appears. All he needs to do (with our help) is connect the dots:
Old evidence:
When our first speaker was injured on Leeland, he did not explode. All bugs “captured” at the lab did. Why were these bugs rigged to explode?
When our workers escaped containment in the lab, the power failed almost instantly. This suggests the attack was carried out by a unified, organized, intelligence.
Lyle was late and not communicating even before the Union deployed a Smith. His agent said Lyle is never late.
After dropping off the bugs, Lyle was immediately pinned by Feds as looking for Lee, a person their intelligence had determined was of little importance.
The attack on Devon’s Gemini research facility stole not just research, but Ryan Lee as well. It’s possible Lee was the primary target. If the attack was funded by the Commonwealth, why would they have such interest in Lee?
Besides Lee, the other two individuals most connected to the hive (Commander Grey and Dr. Steiner) are dead. Of the two, Steiner was outright killed by the hive. Grey, who reported finding technological debris on Leeland that disappeared on further searches, was killed in a suspicious nuclear explosion aboard a stealth ship with no nuclear weapons.
cont
>>48213983
Don't get too passive aggressive now, anon
>>48214007
New evidence:
Before the jump to Tannhauser, unknown alien ships were seen firing in the vicinity of Devon’s ship.
The alien ships appeared organic in design. The hive has already proved to be able to translate a language rapidly, engineer a translator, and send encrypted radio data through intense interference with biological processes. Is it impossible they built a ship?
Upon arrival at Tannhauser, Lyle immediately fired on the Union spy ship. How did he know of the ship? Maybe he had a description of it from the alien contact the ship had before warp?
Lyle and Co had state of the art, never before seen, military equipment. They must have a major government as their backer. However, it seems improbable that any Valen or Commenwealth agent with the authority to dispense next-gen tech would entrust it with a wild card like Lyle.
And finally:
On Gemini and Tannhauser Lyle was loud, aggressive, and flamboyant. On Tannhauser he fought a Smith and drop-trooper for at least six hours and destroyed several ruins in the process. On Leeland a Smith and drop-trooper disappeared without a trace or any communication. There was no six hour battle visible from orbit. This suggests the Smith and trooper were immediately overpowered and killed discreetly, something Lyle is not keen on and may not be capable of. The hive admitted to Lee outright they killed the Smith. If they were telling the truth they are much more capable, and dangerous, than anticipated.
The hive will be revealing itself to the Union soon with a high-degree of certainty. When it does, all these connections between events will fall into place. If Devon makes this connection now, before anyone else, he may not only remain in the inner circle of government, he becomes an extremely strong candidate for DIRECTOR of counter-intelligence against hive operations. I don’t think we can let the prospect of an espionage coup like this just slip by.
Arnt we supposed to be building space elevators?
>>48214004
We need to make some additions to the citadel before we actually finish it. Some solar nutrient collectors would help it serve as the heart of a massive fleet, and artificial gravity plating in case we ever bring any guests aboard for negotiations.
>>48213949
Finished Research
>Rip Drive
A powerful, and accurate drive system, it does not move the equipped ship, but allows the ship to rip open a hole in spacetime, creating something akin to an artificial wormhole that bridges the ship's current location with a location of its choosing within its range. This allows not only the ship to move through the rupture, but also allows it to open ruptures for other craft, allowing for the deployment of sub-light craft over vast interstellar distances.
[New Ship Module Available]
Micro-rip drive – With some modifications to make the drive more compact in order to fit aboard an otherwise unmodified ship, the micro-rip drive is capable of being installed in the spinal mount of a ship. While still quite large of a device, the micro-rip drive is compact enough to only require a single spinal mounting, and can project a tear in spacetime capable of transporting any ship smaller than itself although the reduction in size prevents it from being used to transport itself or ships of equal size. Range has also suffered slightly due to the reduction in size compared to a ship using it as its main drive, allowing a ship to target its spacetime tear to any location within five light years, roughly half that of a full sized drive. The rip drive is capable of reliably targeting a location within a light day, although it can project a tear within the same system as its target with far greater accuracy, bringing it down to a mere light minute or less. (500N 1000M per 50 meters of ship hull length)Regarding the map data, my computer decided to shove windows 10 in my face on night of the 4th, which caused everything to break since my drivers are, for the most part, just old enough to not work with it. I rolled it back to 7, but got a blue screen in the process. This ended up costing a day's worth of work, and I had to spend even longer fixing it after it deleted by driver for my router and my keyboard.
>>48214049
Current Research
>Hive-dusting
Fast
Alternative methods of hive creep spore dispersal is investigated, using a mixture of the semi-automated hive expansion methods already in use and altering the genetic composition to be more autonomous in nature, allowing spores to be deployed from non-stationary sources such as aerial dispersal from drones or spacecraft, as well as air-burst spore bombs launched from orbit, allowing for hive creep to be deployed in a more aggressive manner, effectively weaponizing the self-replicating infrastructure. The process is slower and more localized than the work of a Capillary Tower, however with no need for a tower to be present, the process can be undertaken more readily in the presence of hostile forces.
>Psionic Spores
Slow
While normally the hive spores used to spread infrastructure are little more than genetically engineered nanomachines, replicating and performing their function alone until their built structure is complex enough to receive mental signals, your mixture of psionic research and advancements in spore related genetic programming has made the idea of a psionically sensitive spore seem not nearly as far fetched as it once did. With a mixture of distributed networking and complex cellular reconstruction methods, it could be possible to create a spore strain that would respond to mental signals.
>>48214004
>>48214049
>Finished Research
>>Rip Drive
AT LAST!
>>48214049
Looks good for bringing captured ships and material back to our space. Maybe we should replace one of the spinal mounts on the pirate cruiser design with one.
>>48214049
>Replaces a spinal mount of a ship
Well fuck, guess we can't put it on the citadel without taking out the spinal hangar. Actually, that's okay, there is more than enough room for docking bays elsewhere.
>>48214049
Rip drives would be great for our joint invasion with the commonwealth, might need to put it on a hive ship or battleship.
>>48214007
>>48214023
I like it.
>>48214067
>Complex organ splicing
Medium
While it is easy to pull a string of genetic data from most carbon based life and infuse it into the hive, making the inefficient genetic structure of other life accept the more efficient and deliberately programmed hive genetic data is far more challenging. In an ironic way, much of the solution seems to involve the utilization of controlled flaws, rendering the mutations deliberately inefficient in order to be more compatible with the host life so as to avoid dominating the host's genetic structure in the same way as the Hive hybrids and chimeras. Such subtle alterations could offer better, more difficult methods of infiltrating or manipulating non-hive life.
>Psionic sensors
Slow
This is a strange project indeed, and a concept that should not work at first assumption. It utilizes a basic concept of quantum mechanics, that being that the future of a particle effects it present state, and applies it to a mass scale. The hypothesis is a sensor that does not sense a target, but predicts it. The project is still in its infancy, however, and there is hardly any work finished beyond some basic mathematics and theories. As your thinkers attempt to put these theories into practice, however, the first prototypes seems to indicate that said prototypes never existed, causing a bout of confusion among the hive with how to proceed. The project has since gotten back on track, and shows great promise.
>Advanced Psionic Imprinting
Slow
With the application of psionic imprinting you are able to influence and alter the state of matter using only focused and precise mental signals. Your thinkers believe this can be taken further, using more accurate signals and more precise manipulation methods to imprint more complex thoughts and ideas more quickly and easily, and at a greater range.
>>48214049
Okay we have a RANGE for the Rip Drive, and a precision level.
But what's its cooldown time, and what does it use for fuel? How fast can it travel in hops, and how many hops can it make?
>>48214023
Great idea but i don't feel comfortable revealing the hive.
>>48214155
>Tachyonic insulators
Medium
You did not find any thinker alive that was working on this strange project, with all of them nearby fossilized long ago. You did, however, find a small sample of prototype material which seems to absorb tachyonic particles and then disperse them in random directions, scrambling psionic signals and making them appear as universal background noise. The efficiency with which this material does this has proven to make researching it rather difficult, as your drones nearly lost the sample for several days until an enterprising Quantum Thinker had a worker team scour the hive for the elusive substance. The testing has resumed, and is running ahead of schedule after the short delay.
>Psionic Cloaking
Medium
A complex practice naturally accomplished by the Phantoms under the care of the Barren Queen, you have been instructed in the basics, and now all that is left is practice and application. In theory it is simple, using carefully woven mental signals to broadcast a sense of non-existence. While this process is most effective against being sensitive to tachyonic radiation, it can be used against virtually any organic being. A psionic race may find entire patches of planet voided from their minds like a mass-induced psychosis, while less attuned or mentally blind species find details of the cloaked unit impossible to remember or describe, or may simply not notice the unit unless it is alone and obvious in appearance. Simply turning around or standing among a small crowd is enough to become virtually invisible. Unfortunately, this invisibility comes at a cost, as it is omnidirectional, and any unit enveloped in such a shroud would be unable to mentally communicate with others, effectively cutting itself off from any hive network. This ability requires at least a moderate relay or implant to accomplish, although no drone would do so willingly and cut itself off from the Queen without a direct command to do so.
>>48214184
>Psionic Telekinesis
Very Slow
With the development of psionic imprinting it is now clear to the hive that tachyons can effect real matter in a very real way. While normally so minuscule in nature the forces of tachyonic radiation offers no force whatsoever, a focused, maintained wave of psionics could, in theory, impart a real and measurable physical force. The success of Psionic Imprinting seems to offer prove of the concept in theory, and the only limiting factor now is how efficiently the imparted force from tachyonic particles scales up from the molecular level.
>Photonic armor
Medium
While it is not nearly as robust as what your thinkers promise from the miniaturization of shield technology, these small plates of massive photons are solid enough to deflect weapons fire and absorb energy for a brief period of time. Less a portable defensive shield and more of a temporary deployable cover, this technology, in theory, would offer drones or agents a way to quickly protect themselves during a momentary lack of cover before the photons dissipate.
>Personal shielding
Slow
By further shrinking the emitters, your thinkers believe they may be able to eventually make them small enough to be equipped to the carapace of a drone, or to the surface of an armored suit. At this time it is mostly speculation and an eagerness to please mother beyond all reason, and you cannot be sure what the limitations may be, but the thinkers are sure they can do it.
>>48214209
>Shield dome
Slow
The opposite way of thinking as personal shielding, by scaling the shield emitters up further to a size that would be impossible to hold and power on a ship, your thinkers suspect they should be able to construct a defensive perimeter around a hive center protected by a powerful defensive shield. The thinkers that have proposed the idea seem to be certain in the failure of the other project, as they are of this one, and you have had to separate the quantum thinkers as they attempted to disprove each others’ theories more than develop their own.
>Advanced Psionic Reading
Slow
With your new abilities growing, you continue to hone and develop more advanced methods of using your psionic network. Your thinkers believe that with more practice they should be able to delve deeper into the minds of non-hive life, digging past surface thoughts and emotions and into more detailed pieces of information without resorting to invasive neural interfaces.
>Atmospheric static generator
Medium (is done, but working on how it adjusts the Tower's cost in the new system)
By utilizing the natural friction of a sufficiently dense atmosphere against the surface of a capillary tower, the tower can be made to generate energy to feed itself and reduce its upkeep cost.
>Deep Core Mining
Slow
Taking planetary mining to the logical extreme, your thinkers believe that your hive infrastructure, if spread across the surface of a world and given enough time, would be able to consume the ferrous metal core of a planet itself.
>>48214007
>>48214023
I like where you're going with this, but the links between the bug people of G-426 and the shadowy power directing Lyle to strike at Union black ops is still very circumstantial. I'd be okay with Devon trying to identify Lyle's backers and putting some of the pieces together, but not him revealing that it is actually the Hive.
>>48214234
>Gravity thrusters
Slow
Similar in function to your Skid drive, the Gravity thrusters essentially surf along pre-existing gravity fields, increasing their performance when in close proximity to major sources of gravitational pull, be it a large celestial body, a star, a planet, an exceptionally large structure or group of structures, or the core of a gravity drive. While in deep space it becomes less effective, the law of universal gravitation means it never becomes totally useless, and when in close proximity to a powerful gravity source it should outperform most other thruster designs with ease.
Available research options
>Psionic Cannon prototype
Very slow/Very dangerous
Detailed accounts of several experiments show the slow progress of Project Godsplitter. The cannon itself is highly volatile, and even the smallest miscalculation often results in the destruction of the ship, as well as any nearby craft. It can only be equipped to a Hive ship's spinal mount, and requires a functional Void Shard as ammunition. At least a dozen testing sizes were atomized in testing the weapon, and in the end it appears The Gardener never quite perfected it.
Hey, QD. I'd like to suggest you just drop all of these first ten posts or so into a pastebin or something. It's kind of silly.
>>48214184
>The efficiency with which this material does this has proven to make researching it rather difficult, as your drones nearly lost the sample for several days until an enterprising Quantum Thinker had a worker team scour the hive for the elusive substance.
Ha! Nice to see the quantum thinkers proving their worth.
>>48214264
It's tradition! And also it allows players to filter in over time.
>>48214264
Hey, screw you, it's tradition. How else will we get HYPE about our impending technological breakthroughs?
>>48214292
By reading the pastebin. Durr.
>>48214245
Okay. That may work. My concern is that unless Devon actually succeeds at something big he won't be put in a position to learn anything important for us.
>>48214181
I'm fine with not revealing the Hive at this time. However, I think that if we DO decide to reveal the hive, having Devon do so is the way that would best benefit us. Since the OQ is already scouting the Union we may want to make introductions soon - which is why I proposed my idea now.
>>48214023
>The alien ships appeared organic in design.
The Cortez actually did not make out such details, did they. Nobody knows this.
Also, they already knew Lee was the primary target of Lyle's mission. The Council talked about it. It was in Dillon's report.
And implicating the hive in the Mirage's destruction would just be silly.
Also we have left no witnesses to what equipment was used on Aral except for Mauser. The Smith is dead and Calhoun is in custody.
> The hive admitted to Lee outright they killed the Smith.
The Hive was rather vague on that point, and anyway, Lee doesn't appear to have TOLD the Union that. Because in their conversation with Devon, they implicate Lyle in the destruction of the Smith, because Lyle was on the bugger planet when it died, and he's killed one before.
>>39861689
Devon also doesn't really have specific knowledge of a lot of this evidence, like the Seiner lab things.
>>48214327
I feel you. Given the fact that Devon was actually present on the bridge of the ship when it was attacked by the OQ, he's in a really good position to connect the dots and come up with that conclusion. Hell, we might even be able to blame all this on the OQ instead of us in the long run.
>>48214155
>As your thinkers attempt to put these theories into practice, however, the first prototypes seems to indicate that said prototypes never existed, causing a bout of confusion among the hive with how to proceed. The project has since gotten back on track, and shows great promise.
>>48214184
>The testing has resumed, and is running ahead of schedule after the short delay.
M E T A
E
T
A
Also, shouldn't the notes Gilliam was given accelerate Tachyonic insulators by... a lot? How can Gilliam study containment if he isn't informed of all of its principles?
TIME FOR QUEENY
>>48214049
>Micro-rip drive
Can this target missiles or small suicide ships?
I guess what i am asking is if this can target either and incoming missile or outgoing missile and teleport it directly into the enemy.
At least we should be able to build a small ship filled only with explosives and teleport it directly into the enemy.
I suggest that before citadel hive ship is finished we retrofit its drive into rip drive, now that research is finished.
>>48214347
Fair enough. I largely included evidence Devon may not have directly had, but could gather if we could tell him where to look.
> The hive admitted to Lee outright they killed the Smith
My thinking here is the Union just thought of us bugs are far too stupid to be capable of killing a Smith and a Drop-trooper so easily and discarded Lee's report by assuming Lyle did it. With this other circumstantial evidence Devon may be able to get the analysts to question their initial assessment.
>>48214438
Yeah, I agree. The "cool" factor, and the ability to quickly make effective allied strikes, is a major bonus. The Hive ship may be less combat effective, but is probably overall worth the alteration.
>>48214459
Actually it feels like QM did not specify whether it needs a spinal mount, or if it can be used as a regular drive.
>>48214438
We really don't need it. If you could present an actual reason for the rip drive then maybe. But for now the hangar is fine.
>>48214459
A specialized ship would be better.
>>48214459
>>48214438
Wait should we put the microripdrive or a full blown rip drive like the one Heretic uses?
>>48214347
>Also we have left no witnesses to what equipment was used on Aral except for Mauser. The Smith is dead and Calhoun is in custody.
Not necessarily true. The ship was monitoring the fight from orbit. There may have also been feeds from cameras the Smith or even from Mauser broadcasting back to the Union ship. We have no idea what kind of data, or lack thereof, may be in its black boxes.
>>48214260
The patrols of Leeland send their attention to a burst of radiation in the distance as a corvette emerges from warp. A moment later the minds of your drones rejoin you as the Orphan begins its approach. Your clone crew and captain have taken it upon themselves to open a tab, using the first wave of funds to help refurbish the hull of the ship. The short amount of time spent in dock has left the craft looking far less conspicuous, in addition to a rather interesting set of decorations. The shield cap has been smoothed over to a shining, reflective sheen. Its name has been painted around the rim, with a new hull number lifted from one of Deep Song's many less legitimate services indicating the Orphan to be a privately owned freighter under the direction of the company FormOther to any legal authority that may pass it by. On the spine, near the back of the shield cap in smaller, greenish lettering "Mother's Favorite" surrounded by decorative designs, all using the station's offered half-off opportunity.
The ship begins to drift into the atmosphere of Leeland, touching down and docking with one of the many spires reaching up above the surface. There is some level of distress within, and your clones request a number of fire spray equipped warriors to the airlock. Concerned, you provide the forces, and prepare for the worst. As the doors to the cargo bays open, your fire teams are nearly buried under an astounding flood of fur and flesh, cooing softly as the carpet of tribbles tumble out and across the floor of the hive. The clone crew make their way to the hive's docking bay, each holding at least a dozen of the small vermin in hand. They feel your mind upon them, and the captain looks down to his feet with guilt. He holds out a tribble, the original tribble, to your waiting speaker.
"It, uh, got out of the cage." He says. A worker quickly takes the small creature from his hands and scurries off with it towards the nutrient vats.
cont.
>>48214430
Probably not since calculating FTL takes time.
However, I'm thinking opening a portal in front of a fleet/planet and have our ships on the other side shoot spinal railguns, sending slugs to bombard our target without endangering ships may be possible.
>>48214459
>may be less combat effective
Anon is suggesting to replace the blink drive, which would not impact combat abilities at all.
But it would cost its ability to travel with any accuracy at all. It could come out literally anywhere in the target system.
Which, we're probably not going to throw the citadel into the frontlines, so maybe?
We could probably build a second hive ship that has a dedicated Rip Drive and no blink drive instead.
>>48214489
My intention was full blown.
No point wasting a spinal mount when you can use it as a regular drive for the ship.
>>48214518
>The ship was monitoring the fight from orbit.
Its sensors were busted. Only Calhoun was reporting anything about the battle, they had no idea what was going on except through his reports indicating the Smith was in trouble.
If there were wireless feeds we could have heard them.
>>48214438
Not worth swapping out the six kilometer railgun for it though.
>>48214525
It is time for weaponized tribbles.
>>48214525
>depart Lanway in 53.6
>arrive at Leeland in 57
How did it take 4 days to travel 32 lightyears at 2 lightyears per hour?
>>48214525
I WARNED YOU ABOUT TRIBBLES BRO
I WARNED YOU
>>48214585
Maybe they had to refuel? I seem to recall inferior human ships had to do that in an earlier post.
>>48214622
FTL doesn't require fuel, Canderon isn't used up. And they have a literally infinite amount of energy from the damn power tap.
>>48214576
See:
>>48214568
It's surprising that people don't read what I wrote, I've mentioned drive, not spinal mount.
>>48214585
They stumbled upun some problems along the way....
Lots of little problems...
Furry little problems...
Literally
>>48214536
Read between the lines. The micro rip drive takes up one full spinal weapons slot, and our hive ships have only two spinal weapon mounts. So in the case of the citadel we'd have to swap out either the spinal hangar or the colossal railgun it has, which is currently the single most powerful gun in our entire armada.
Concerning the rip drive, maybe it would be better to make a hive ship focused on diplomacy and combat to make joint attacks with any of our allies, have it blink into the allied fleet's system, open a wormhole to the enemy target, then leave when all the ships have gone through.
>>48214688
Does mother really need a big and impressive but ultimately pointless penis symbol? I mean, she's a mother.
>>48214706
That's a good idea, but who would we use it with? Theseus? Maybe it's more of an idea for the future.
>>48214525
>New firepet arrives
At last. Awesome.
Will our clones finish dragging that holo-printer from thread 54 back to the sewer hive this thread too?
>>48214688
>micro
Who's talking about the micro version?
I wonder if we can somehow harness these rapidly selfreproducing tribbles into a replenishing food supply? Like we could just keep them in a giant vat tossing in scraps and other junk they could eat
>>48214637
You're right. I tried to find the thread I thought I remembered and found I was wrong. Sorry about that.
It sounds like the Orphan got a major overhaul, so that may have been where the time went instead.
>>48214730
Commonwealth actually, since we're gonna invade the slavs with them, although we could use it with Theseus when heretic doesn't have enough rip driven ships.
>>48214750
we dont pruduce any junk
>>48214750
Our existing vats already do that. It would be pointless unless the tribbles have some way of accessing a food source that we don't yet, like some exotic radiation or something.
>>48214771
But the commonwealth are slavic
Should we open up a joint research endevour with Theseus/Heretic to speed up some of our research?
>>48214791
I think we should start mining minerals and producing food so we can build things
>>48214750
We already have the Greenwall which does the same thing
>>48214712
>pointless
You do realize the power of the railgun increases exponentially with the length, right? And that this gun is three times longer than the next biggest comparable weapon we can field? The slugs hit with the force of a multi mega ton nuclear warhead.
>>48214730
Commonwealth, pending our negotiations with them.
>>48214745
I don't think we have the access to the full size version yet.
>>48214712
>>48214688
A better idea would be to make an artillery battleship with 4 spinal railguns and as many missiles as will fit. Then we just fire everything through the rip from lightdays away.
Is anywhere worried about the consequences of ordering the commonwealth to hand over the crystal in the mirage over to us?
I mean we just alerted them to the fact we have an intelligence gathering reach to know the name of the union black op ship and also what it contained?
I mean they can not afford to have us help them against the scavs but their going to be on the guard even more now
>>48214791
We already maximize research speed, our Thinker count is now so large we don't even track a number anymore.
Also Theseus is still Jewing us on his spacefold drive, so the more tech we research on our own, the more we can trade to him for research he developed on his own. Independence is necessary for trade.
Research is a currency, not just an end in itself. A currency to trade for more research that would otherwise be beyond our reach.
>>48214777
I misspelled, meant scavs.
>>48214815
You realize that's still just a big pointless gun, right? We don't have any situation where such a thing is necessary, because we can deal with anything by sending enough smaller and more practical ships at it.
>>48214830
Yeah, I think we showed too much of our hand here. They'll definitely be wondering how the hell we knew that. At the same time, though, we really have them over the barrel. They can either fight a two front war with a powerful ally, or a three front war with no allies. Of the two, only one option exists that allows the Commonwealth to continue to exist as an entity.
I suspect they'll give us the crystal if they can recover it, but that they'll be more cautious and probably more demanding if their internal situation ever stabilizes.
>>48214851
On that point my opinion is standard national procedure:
Better have a fuckhuge gun and not need it than need it and not have it.
>>48214791
We definitely need both of their help whenever we start producing the Psionic Canon. Theseus has the computing power while Heretic helped the Gardener with her Canon.
>>48214885
You can say the same about a giant fleet-mover.
>>48214791
I think we should offer to trade some of our tech with Theseus. I really want to acquire those EMP limpets he used to down the Clarke, they'd make our harpoons so much more effective. While we're at it, there are a bunch of things we need to discuss with him, I made a list.
-Possibility of forming a formal alliance and notifying other factions of this.
-Opening diplomatic/economic links with the Commonwealth, recognition of Unity's sovereignty
-More open technology trades, we've been hesitant because we don't know what he can offer
-Increased co-operation between our respective intelligence gathering operations.
>>48214830
Yes, very. Although the way QD handled that vote gives me the impression he isn't planning on fucking us over because of it.
>>48214777
The commonwealth is everything and everyone that existed on Earth. They basically just exported every culture and nation onto their own private planets.
>>48214830
It means they'll probably expect us to have spooky-good spying techniques.
Which is why we should be prepared to lie about how we detected it. Preferably by saying our 'special sensors no you cant have any,' detected it, and Union/Commonwealth media filled us in on the rest.
Also, a thought for everyone:
We know where the Scavenger rally point is.
We can make a ton of pods with bombs in them.
They won't be expecting us to pull the same shit we pulled on the Obsidian/Black Queen, as they haven't seen it happen.
So why not nuke their asses back to the stone age? If we haven't already, that is.
>>48214902
>-Possibility of forming a formal alliance and notifying other factions of this.
>-Opening diplomatic/economic links with the Commonwealth, recognition of Unity's sovereignty
>-More open technology trades, we've been hesitant because we don't know what he can offer
>-Increased co-operation between our respective intelligence gathering operations.
Agreed on all points
>>48214851
>We don't have any situation where such a thing is necessary
Firing on the Scavenger command point like Theseus did to the lab. We could even get Theseus to help us with the calculations.
>>48214851
I'd say you are as thick as pig shit. The entire point of a gun is to be destructive, and this particular gun is many magnitudes more destructive than anything else we have. For god's sakes, the battlecruiser sized railgun used by the Commonwealth in the battle for Iserholn was capable of breaking up continents.
>>48214904
The kamikaze pods idea would be great to do right before invading with the commonwealth.
>>48214932
We don't have a need for such a gun. It can't do anything that we can't manage without it.
>>48214525
As your warriors clear the loading bay, filling the air with distressed squawking and the smell of burnt hair, workers swarm over to a large, heavily dented metal crate. Muffled roars escape from within as the workers haul it into the grip of several loading cranes and begin hauling it into the cargo bay of the hive. A number of heavy warriors stand ready, and a colossus waits patiently with its head emerging from a large tunnel leading deeper into the hive proper.
As the drones gather around, the crate opens, and the beast within emerges. The so called Red spotted Carnotar is certainly quite the sight. A massive, bipedal beast lumbers forth with rather frightening speed and grace. Its long, muscular arms scrape at the floor despite its almost fully erect posture, feeling the ground for anything of interest. It quickly finds something, grabbing hold of a warrior and picking it up like a toy. Your drone stabs its hand with its blades, forcing it to drop the drone as it lets out an enraged roar, and slaps it across the hangar like a rag doll. It leans forward into a run as it grinds its massive teeth in anger, and charges, slapping several heavy warriors out of its way before tackling the colossus. The large drone leans back from the impact, and slowly pushes forward as the creature claws at its face, and it grips the beast's neck in its mandibles as warriors begin to swarm over it. You feel the minds of several of your drones wink out as it crushes them in its grip, biting them in half or tossing them away like refuse before it eventually falls before your drones and your colossus throws it to the ground.
cont.
When will we finally make the scavs pay for not trading comfortable seating with us
>>48214955
Yet.
>>48214974
Therefore it's a waste of resources currently.
>>48214955
You are wrong. Not even our missiles are as destructive as that gun, while being next to impossible to dodge and being free to shoot. It's a far more effective weapon platform than anything else we've got.
>>48215004
No, you aren't hearing what I'm saying. I'm not saying that we have something else that's as powerful as that gun. What I'm saying is we don't have a conceivable situation in front of us where we need a singular gun of that power.
>>48215019
What about bombarding OQ strong points for a planetary invasion? It may be one of the few weapons strong enough to actually penetrate deep into her hives while "conventional" nukes only impact the surface. It's also "cheap" to fire lots of rail gun rounds compared with our other tech.
>>48215019
Are you kidding? There are bombardment scenarios, naval duels with other capitol ships, ambushes using the rip drives, I can think of dozens of scenarios where a fuckhuge gun like that would be invaluable. Just look at how the Unity uses their 20 kilometer guns if you need an example.
Just a thought... During a large fleet space battle is it possible to use the ripdrive tactically? Say, open up a huge rift in front of our fleet yet have the exit come up BEHIND the enemy fleet, only for us to bombard everything through to hit them from the back where their shields might (possibly) be weaker?
Alternatively we could spawn the rip yet have them shoot themselves with its use. Or is that impractical?
>>48214932
>the battlecruiser sized railgun used by the Commonwealth in the battle for Iserholn
The what.
Oh you mean Iserlohn.
>>48214933
As we've seen from the OQ, 'kamikaze pods' is a trick you can only pull off once, and then they'll be prepared for it.
Also, the longer the Scavs are a threat, the more useful we are to the Commonwealth. If we maintain a defensive position, we can Jew them out of more Canderon the longer we patrol their borders.
If the Scavs were actually exterminated, they wouldn't need us anymore. We don't want to be TOO effective. We just want to keep human technology out of Scav claws.
...Although on that note we may want to at least attack and destroy that human ship they captured.
>>48215058
Also known as the 'Quit-hitting-yourself-drive'
>>48214966
The creature has two, massive tree trunk sized arms usually held resting on the ground with its knuckles in the dirt. It has two rather short, but tremendously thick legs perched atop a set of plantigrade feet lined with stabilizing claws that rip into whatever surface it walks across. Its face is boney and devoid of flesh, almost like a skeleton, with deep, four deep, sunken eyes staring out of sockets that seem too large. Its bald, bone covered head is covered in curling horns that swirl around its head like a crown, and its back is covered in red splotches of thin skin that seem to secrete an odd ooze after death, with a number of eggs held beneath that quickly begin to hatch, the resulting young already the size of a small vehicle each overwhelm several warriors as they swarm out of the carcase before being put down by your own swarm.
Your drones carry the all-too dangerous young into the hive and dump them into the vats as workers begin dissecting the larger beast, if only to have it easily fit into your labs.
[New Research Added]
>Tribble dissection
Very Fast
These small creatures are more like a fist-sized bacteria than any kind of typical multi-cellular life form. They seem to be capable of reproduction moments after birth, and are capable of asexual reproduction. In a word, they are born pregnant, and the astounding speed with which they can infest a starship gives your thinkers dastardly ideas of their own.
>Carnotar dissection
Very Fast
This massive beast is a terrifying example of the powers of evolution to overcome physical limitations. It is astoundingly sure footed for such a large beast, and a careful examination of its biological architecture should be quite revealing in that regard.
>Add Tribble dissection
>Add Carnotar dissection
>Add neither
>Add both
>>48215058
Well it could work the the real question is is a rip drive a one way street if the enemy can use the opening it becomes pretty useless
>>48214966
We really ought to develop a new standard heavy drone design. The Colossus is good and all but outdated by this point.
>>48215044
>What about bombarding OQ strong points for a planetary invasion?
No. We can do that with regular penetrators or we can't do it at all. Simply because our giant gun can't be in thousands of places at once to cover an entire planet-hive, which would be what you're suggesting here.
>It's also "cheap" to fire lots of rail gun rounds compared with our other tech.
[citation needed]
>>48215050
>naval duels
This is a great example of what we shouldn't be doing. There's no reason to fight a fucking duel, we're a hive. We swarm.
>ambushes using the rip drives
This is a good point for getting rid of the gun, since we'd be much better at it.
>>48215095
>Add both
What else would we ever choose?
>>48215070
Nah, I want a total space war, no survivors. Crush the scav scum, who's main fleets haven't yet been exposed to our space mines, and still keep their fleets in tightly knitted formations connected to one another. An easier target for a kamikaze pod, I could not think of.
>>48215095
Both, do you need to ask? All the research.
>>48215095
>>Add both
>>48215095
>>Add both
>>48215117
Okay, you clearly have no idea how space combat is run and calculated in this quest. Try reading the archives and the ask pages if you want to get a bearing on it.
>>48215095
>>Add both
>>48215156
Read the archives and followed the entire quest, thanks.
>>48215070
>As we've seen from the OQ, 'kamikaze pods' is a trick you can only pull off once, and then they'll be prepared for it.
But with the Micro rip drive we can teleport the kamikaze pods directly into the enemy!
>>48215117
>It's also "cheap" to fire lots of rail gun rounds compared with our other tech.
It's common sense. A railgun round is just a big slab of tungsten. It's not a bunch of nanites or a nuke. It's just a big slab of rock. Ammo ain't much cheaper than that.
I think the biggest benefit of a big fuckoff gun is not in it's utility but in its deterrent effect. Just like having the hive ship look intimidating but be less combat effective than equivalent expenditure in battleships, having a giant gun that can destroy mountains (and demonstrating that) could make it less likely other entities attack us at all.
>>48215095
>>Add both
Tribble Camotars!
>>48215095
>These small creatures are more like a fist-sized bacteria than any kind of typical multi-cellular life form. They seem to be capable of reproduction moments after birth, and are capable of asexual reproduction. In a word, they are born pregnant, and the astounding speed with which they can infest a starship gives your thinkers dastardly ideas of their own.
Space aphids.
>>48215167
>Not opening a wormhole right behind them and shoot railguns slugs through it.
>>48215058
>*teleports behind you*
>*unsheathes plasma lance*
>nothing personnel...auntie.....
Seriously though. What the hell does 'behind' somebody mean for a SPACESHIP? You know their back is just as protected as their front, and they have sensors pointing in all directions, right?
>where their shields might (possibly) be weaker?
That would be ridiculous. They're not weaker.
QD's devised the rip drive so that it's basically useless tactically. It's good for getting into a system and that's it.
>>48215167
No it can't. It has, at best, light-minute accuracy. That is a fucking massive range to miss by, far larger than the largest ship, which is 6 kilometers.
>>48215162
Missiles cost nutrients/metals, but railgun ammo does not subtract from resources, I think anon is alluding to.
>>48215095
Add both
Mother does ALL the research!
>>48215190
>Big stick diplomacy
>>48215190
No, really, I know it works like that in the real world, I picked up your argument immediately, that's why I asked for a citation. What I'm asking you is why you think the other weapon systems we use in the quest are worse off than a railgun? They're energy weapons. They cost basically the same thing or even less - a little bit of matter, a big batch of power, and that's about it.
>>48215208
I was under the impression that the wormhole opened around a target for a very short time and not opening in front of them and holding it open while they go through it.
>>48215210
Actually, I believe Union ships are much less protected in their rear that in the front where the shield-cap is. Even though makes sense for fighting humans the most, it seems like most ships generally have most of their guns facing a single direction. The OQ's hive ship, for example, couldn't even bring its main railgun around to fire until we had already destroyed almost its entire escort.
>>48215240
you are thinking of theseus' singularity drive
>>48215244
>The OQ's hive ship
Battleship anon. We've yet to see her hive ship.
>>48215210
>No it can't. It has, at best, light-minute accuracy. That is a fucking massive range to miss by, far larger than the largest ship, which is 6 kilometers.
Awwwww :(
>>48215235
QD has stated at multiple times that energy weapons are hopless at planetary bombardment, and that railguns are the best weapon for that job hands down. Just let it go man.
>>48215286
m8 we already have plenty of railguns, this is not an argument for or against the big gun either way. I was just wondering where you were coming from on that separate tangent.
>>48215244
Well duh, spinal weapons are oriented, but moving out of the range of spinal weapons doesn't require teleporting behind you.
>>48215235
Energy weapons can't glass continents. They're efficient, but they don't scale like matter does. They're too easy to accelerate to lightspeed, and correspondingly too easy to get scattered by the atmosphere.
>>48215301
The big railgun won't be able to glass continents either, unless we build a few hundred more hiveships with them.
>>48215319
>>48214932
>>40319255
>In orbit, you see the largest of the Commonwealth ships, the dreadnought Wormwood, release a projectile from its spinal mount. It attracts your attention as you see it move, trailing a wake of twisted light behind it like a gravity drive. It impacts the ground and begins to burrow into the crust, uprooting buildings and capsizing mountains. The blast quickly spreads across a sizable portion of a continent, and you can see the ship maneuvering to a new location, as if to fire again when a Scavenger cruiser snaps in half as it tries to crack through the Wormwood's shields.
That was a human battleship. 2 kilometers long, not even 6 kilometers.
>>48215267
We did fight a hive ship, actually, in the battle for the relay over refuge. Here's QD's description of OQ's forces at the start of the battle:
"Your pod counts the enemy forces. While you cannot make a full count of the patrolling craft drifting through the entire system, blinking in and out with supplies periodically, the bulk of the defensive fleet itself consists of a single Hive ship, flanked by four cruiser and sixteen frigates, with fifty or more corvettes and an untold number of swarm drones.
(1) Obsidian Hive ship
(4) Cruisers
(16) Frigates
(>50) Corvettes"
Source:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/42346621/
>>48215353
Yeah, I'd really like us to have a railgun a few orders of magnitude more powerful than this.
I do feel like all this arguing is getting us nowhere and is just eating into the bump limit now, though.
>>48215353
Obviously just being poetic. A single blast strong enough to literally destroy continents through sheer kinetic energy is not physically feasible for a ship that small to fire without breaking apart or at least not being flung out of the system it's in. The difference in scale doesn't permit it.
You also wouldn't see mountains uprooted if it was continent-scale destruction, they'd just disintegrate as a too small to be seen afterthought.
Like someone else said, we're dealing with megaton-scale detonations here, not teraton ones like you seem to think.
>>48215418
>>48215353
That was clearly a Canderon infused gravity weapon, not your standard railgun, jfc
>>48215418
>That gun isn't doing what is explicitly written in the post!
>It's just a poetic metaphor!
>R-really guys
Anon just give it up, you're not convincing anyone and just pushing the thread further to the bump limit.
>>48215445
Anon, if you can't tell the difference between literal descriptions and stylistic ones, then you're probably legit autistic.
Someone else gave a better explanation here though >>48215438, and that makes a lot more sense
>>48215445
And there's no second thread tonight
>>48215095
>Add both
Gilliam stands at his workstation as he examines the readouts of the latest test with fascination. You find the process as tedious as watching the team of humans bash rocks together as they struggle to unravel the rather basic fundamentals of psionics. A soft tone plays from the ceiling and a technician calls for Gilliam's attention in his office. He groans, and makes his way out of the lab. In his office the face of Secretary Windsor is already on the screen of his terminal.
"Sir? Did you need something?" Gilliam says.
"You remember when I asked you to look over the work of Dr. Emmerich?" He asks. Gilliam tenses.
"Yes. I still can't exactly consider him a reliable source, given what I know about him from the files you sent."
"Well we agree. Me and the council elected to put the project on hold, at least until all the research data could be gone over by another team. We figured that, given their situation, they could have made a mistake under stress." Windsor says sternly. "I'm trying my best not to assume the worst here, but you know full well that's not easy for me."
"So you wanted me to look over the data again?" Gilliam asks, confused. Windsor leans back in his seat.
"Something like that. You're already brought into the know on the project, so you're already the first pick to ask, and you also have excellent credentials. I'd like to know what your theory is on what, if anything, could disable a quantum communications link that could be related to your research." Gilliam scratches his head as he takes a seat.
cont.
>>48215445
You act as though bump limit ever stops QD.
>>48215465
Not with that attitude.
>>48215465
>>48215480
Meant to say
>And what if there's no second thread tonight
>>48215473
"You mean the artifacts. From what I can tell, they emanate some form of radiation that we're as yet unable to detect, although I've had mixed results in training humans to detect them, and a number of other life forms have shown varying degrees of sensitivity. So far the artifacts have been able to emit these signals, and likely can detect them, but until I can figure out a way to make a machine detect and measure these signals I can't know much more in detail. You're asking if they could disrupt quantum tunneling?" He says. "May I ask why, exactly?" Windsor breaths deeply as he looks over a file.
"Well, the facility was planning on a test of a new design intended to improve containment through application of gravitic fields to augment the containment field. After the incident before, I ordered it postponed until further notice, however... I'm not entire sure if the message got through. All communications with the base have been disrupted, and it looks like the test is already commencing its first stage. I have already cleared a team to go there in person and figure this out, but I wanted to run it by you to get any issues you think could arise out of the way first."
He clicks a button, and several simple looking schematics appear on the screen, most consisting of slightly modified power taps. One schematic catches your eye, for a device referred to as a Tartarus Reactor, holding a small object designated as the containment device for "Artifact Signi", with five of the modified power taps arranged around it at regular intervals, all held in some manner of additional containment.
>Speak with Windsor (write in)
>Ask for additional information (Specify)
>Other
>>48215669
FFFFFFFFFFFF-
HE'S GOING ROUGE AND GOING AHEAD WITH THE TEST
>Ask for additional information (Specify)
What's the nature of the Tartarus Reactor? Could it be giving off radiation that's scrambling your communications with the base? If it is, the staff are likely being exposed to it, you better be careful who you send in, but I'd send in plenty of men.
>>48215669
Oh fuck.
>"Well, the facility was planning on a test of a new design intended to improve containment through application of gravitic fields to augment the containment field. After the incident before, I ordered it postponed until further notice, however... I'm not entire sure if the message got through. All communications with the base have been disrupted, and it looks like the test is already commencing its first stage.
I guess we know what's going on at Nowhere
>Ask for additional information (Ask about previous and ongoing containment procedures).
>>48215669
>Speak with Windsor
Ask to go to the site personally.
>>48215669
>Tartarus Reactor, holding a small object designated as the containment device for "Artifact Signi", with five of the modified power taps arranged around it at regular intervals, all held in some manner of additional containment
Tooooootally not a doomsday weapon
>>48215732
>I guess we know what's going on at Nowhere
GODDAMNIT
When Gillian first asked where Emmerich's lab was Killinger dismissively said "Nowhere"
HOW DID NONE OF US CATCH THAT?!
>>48215669
>Other
From what I have seen of these notes, the project may have very dangerous, perhaps cataclysmic side effects. If you have any doubts about being able to stop the test in time, I strongly encourage you to eliminate the station.
>>48215669
Is there already another team heading to the lab in person with a second quantum comm to see if their communication works?I assume this is at Nowhere in Valen space.
>>48215740
This.
>>48215669
What kind of effects has Artifact Signi been observed to have so far?
What's a Tartarus Reactor?
>>48215802
What cataclysmic effects? There is no evidence of that. Don't be silly.
He's already got a team going there to SHUT IT DOWN. He doesn't need us to recommend that.
>>48215758
>GODDAMNIT
>When Gillian first asked where Emmerich's lab was Killinger dismissively said "Nowhere"
>HOW DID NONE OF US CATCH THAT?!
We are bad Thinkers
>>48215848
>What's a Tartarus Reactor?
Tartarus, as in the deepest part of the antique Roman/Greek underworld or Hell, so it's meant to contain "hell". Stupid monkeys stop poking the gates of hell with your science sticks!
>>48215872
We really should be recycled for nutrients.
>>48215758
>When Gillian first asked where Emmerich's lab was Killinger dismissively said "Nowhere"
What.
Gilliam never asked where Emmerich's lab was, and he never spoke to Killinger. Only Secretary Windsor. Are you dreaming? Or can you link a post?
>>48215669
So, if there isn't a technical issue that can theoretically explain the lack of response... you suspect Emmerich's eccentricities are responsible?
>>48215915
Time for Lyle to become the Void Slayer
>>48214049
We could use the microship drive on defense stations scattered around a system to port fighters into confrontations en mass, letting us distribute our forces in a fashion difficult to alpha strike efficiently.
>>48215965
That seems like the best best, using it to deploy fighters and small craft from a hangar rapidly, possibly sending in swarms of suicidal fighters/swarmers into an enemy system without fear of losing the larger ship
>>48215965
The hive, due to our ability to move our big ships almost instantly, is almost impossible to take out with an alpha strike*
*With one exception. The queen is a gigantic hole in our entire defensive strategy. If she dies (or is corrupted) it's game over. It's our one weakness.
>>48215669
Why does it need five power taps?
How exactly do we know that the test is already commencing its first stage if the communications are disrupted?
And how close is your team to arrival? Can I get them on quantum comms when they arrive?
We should turn Elizabeth into a Queen.
>>48216020
No.
>>48215438
>That was clearly a Canderon infused gravity weapon
Do relativistic projectiles not always leave a wake of twisted light behind them caused by their speed.
Hey guys: With the new rip drive, we could design it alongside something like a shotgun spinal mount and just teleport the ordinance over. Might not work over system, but itd be a hell of a way to deliver swarm missiles faster than any PD can keep up with.
>>48216062
I only assume it was because of the comment about
>trailing a wake of twisted light behind it like a gravity drive
and the pure cataclysmic damage of it. It was like a weaker Immolator warhead
>>48215669
First stage? Just how many stages are there? Is it dangerous?
>>48216061
Yes
>>48213906
>Your pod drifts through nothingness. A bubble of space out from within the nebula in which your pod drifts from a long dissipated super nova. The walls of gas surround your distant, drifting pod on all sides, whispering with the reflected radiation and the subtle crackling of the nebula itself. The bubble, the system, although there is no longer any star, is silent and uninteresting. Your pod watches as the rare traffic moves to and from one of the small backwater colonies carved into the chunks of drifting stone and poorly held together derelict hulls drifting through space. It is a system of rejects, outlaws, and pirates. The only place of any interest, however fleeting, is the singular dwarf planet. A tiny world, slowly drifting through the absent void so appropriately named by the locals as Nowhere, devoid of starlight, with only the cold hum of sparse and secretive hideouts hardly large enough to be called settlements only slightly glow against the freezing backdrop of absolute zero.
>Something grabs your pod's attention. A sudden, growing noise slowly, gradually building up from nothing to a distinct mental cry. Your pod moves closser, its cloaked form drifting over the dark world, and you can make out the distinct but meaningless noise of some psionic disturbance, like a grating of metal against metal making you shudder and recoil from the unnatural sensation. Before long, your pod begins to detect gravitational disturbances as well, focused, and highly localized but tremendous in strength.
>Send our fleet here
I'm thinking that this is the location of the experiment.
>>48216092
You can't fucking aim more precise than a light-minute, pay attention, we talked about this higher up. You will miss, with something like five 9s of certainty.
>>48216016
Five power taps, arranged in regular intervals...
Goddamn it it's a fucking pentagram. Motherfuckers don't you recognize something that's obviously evil!
>>48216149
Maybe I shouldn't have suggested to QD that he should play the new DOOM, oops
>>48215669
Who the hell named something the Tartarus reactor.
>>48216149
>>48216175
>Project is basically named Hell
>project head is already coocoo from thinking psychic powers exist
>void crystal demons
>black hole pentagrams
How deep does the rabbit hole go
>>48215669
"These schematics don't make much sense. What exactly is the intended purpose of this reactor?" Gilliam asks as he thumbs through the notes.
"The artifact has, according to Emmerich, shown similar, but far more potent capabilities as your own artifacts. The differences, however, are rather stark. Firstly, the artifact seems to be self-contained. It requires no power sources, although it does seem to be capable of augmenting and amplifying other power sources. The math doesn't add up on that, but we've ran enough tests to be sure about it. It also seems to have some kind of spacetime altering properties, similar to canderon. It is Emmerich's belief that the artifact is the key element in the slip drive, and possibly the power source of the Ceph ships themselves. From our readings, it could even power their weapons." The secretary says. "Now after we ordered the test delayed, I never received any confirmation. The comms indicated the facility was powering up the reactor when the quantum comm link was severed."
"And you think it was the reactor?" Gilliam asks. Windsor seems distracted for a moment before he answers.
"I hope it was. I wanted to ask if you had any good explanations for how that could happen."
"I should inspect the facility myself, if you're so interested in my opinion of it." Gilliam says. Windsor raises an eyebrow in contemplation.
"No, no the ship already departed. It's not exactly in a good part of town, so I've got a marine detachment moving in to secure the facility and assist in any repairs that may be needed, in addition to installing a new Q-comm."
Your pod continues to study the dark surface of the bleak, sunless world, examining the strange mental signal emanating from within. Not far away, a small corvette begins to close in on the planet, breaking off from the sparse traffic of shuttles and worn looking starships.
cont.>>48216175
Ironically, the reactor was in early production before the hiatus.
>All this demonology.
I am tempted on voting for berating Windsor.
>>48216195
Having a twisted sense of humoir seems to be a hireing requirement for these black ops.
>>48216228
>Your pod continues to study the dark surface of the bleak, sunless world, examining the strange mental signal emanating from within. Not far away, a small corvette begins to close in on the planet, breaking off from the sparse traffic of shuttles and worn looking starships.
>Send the fleet!
Send the Fleet now.
>>48216216
It goes down to the point another dimension is breached and even the void gods are going "wtf are you doing?"
>>48216228
>marines
Oh god, they're gonna reenact Alien and Doom, WITHOUT us.
>>48216228
>>48216246
Send in kamekaze pods and have them wait until the marines fail.
>>48216246
No you dumbass. It's not worth it. We've already got the Sulaco closing in. It will get there before we do, the marines can take down everyone who's a problem.
And in the worst case scenario, some humans get eaten by the void and learn to never tamper with these again. Touching a hot stove and all.
>>48216263
Let's tell Lee, Elizabeth and Lyle that the union is summoning demons.
>>48216020
This isn't Starcraft faggot.
>>48216282
No man, worst case is a permanent breach.
And at that point we'll wish we'd have a BIGGER gun.
>>48216289
Yes.
We shall use obscure earth knowledge sources and act like we actually believe it. For 2 whole minutes.
>>48216228
>It requires no power sources, although it does seem to be capable of augmenting and amplifying other power sources. The math doesn't add up on that, but we've ran enough tests to be sure about it.
"So, it sounds like it must be drawing power from somewhere else. The same way an FTLComm draws information through its quantum string..."
>>48216228
Ask Theseus if he can take out the station for us.
>>48216356
>destroying the containment field
>all that keeps what's within at bay
>>48216367
Or hack into it, whatever. I'd rather have someone stop this shit from happening that isn't us.
>>48216367
We don't even know whats happening inside, and blinking in an infiltration team is gonna be a clusterfuck since the marines are gonna be on the lookout for anything weird.
>>48216246
Send in the fleet.
We can claim we heard the psionic signal from a far off region of space and realized the humans were doing some extinction-level stupidity and came there to bail out their ass. We can maintain plausible deniability with regards to Leeland if that's really what anons want. We need to shut down the dumb as hell (heh) Union experiments NOW!
>>48216400
There is pretty much no way we can stop this except via the human marines already on the way. No one else can arrive in time, and outright damaging the facility just makes it worse.
Theseus arriving in the system would make the marines flee or attack him, delaying the interference we need.
>>48216400
Or we could send in pods, wait for shit to go down then kamikaze whatever deamon was summoned.
Plus such a catastrophe would spook windsor on not fucking with the crystals.
>>48216400
These are machine components specifically designed to monitor the void god. The very last thing we want is to risk Theseus becoming corrupted.
So, we get to watch a DOOM event happen.
Someone get the synth popcorn and a seat for our humans. We can also send down help for the one true DOOM Marine who comes out of it as a new recruit into Mothers family.
>>48216430
No. You're overreacting. People always overreact. Interference makes it worse, not better.
Like who thought making a terrorist attack against a Parliament voting for national security measures would make the bill LESS likely to pass?
>>48216504
Noone, It was a false flag
>>48216453
See, I'm worried that Windsor, Killinger, or someone somewhere on the Union council is the correct mix of stupid, ambitious, and greedy to see something powerful and think to themselves: "What if I could control that." Remember how they wanted to make the Hive slaves? The Union will have no idea that the "powerful thing" they are messing with could not only remove them from power, but erase their species altogether.
And as an engineered bio-weapon designed to fight the void-gods, the humans would, indeed, be condemned to extinction if found.
>>48216480
I like how you think, compadre
I always imagined nutrient paste looking like finely pureed guacamole
>>48216538
Going to be a fun time when we announce to their entier species that our mother made them the way they are.
>>48216534
Not talking about that, slowpoke.
The vast majority of players thought a new terrorist attack would be a good idea to stop the consolidation bill somehow, and were only dissuaded when one person pointed out that that they were being coaxed into a snafu.
>>48216504
Why is it an over-reaction?
We have to reveal ourselves to the Union soon anyway, we are much stronger than them militarily, we have infiltrated the inner circle of their political and military establishment, and if they keep messing with this, or if the marines are completely in over their heads and fuck things up further, it could start a doomsday clock.
They need to know if they pursue this research any further we will end them. While they will obviously continue the research clandestinely, it could take years for them to ensure the facilities are secure against our observation.
>>48216228
Your pod examines the planet, quickly surveying the surface as your hive pulls what it can from the Union's public networks. The system, if you can technically apply the term, is formed from the remains of a long faded super nova, blasting a bubble of open space within the nebula in valen space. The region itself was settled by the humans who fought in the valen first contact war, and was largely populated by refugees and desperate militia fighters. To this day, it is held by the same stubborn group of humans who refuse to recognize any other government in any official form, and they are in turn, not recognized by any government.
Tenebris, the small dwarf planet your pod orbits, hardly a quarter of the size of earth, is a small world bathed in perpetual darkness. With no local star, the only light is the radiant glow of the surrounding nebula. The planet is barren, but to your great surprise, not lifeless. Eyeless, silicon based lithovores tunnel beneath the surface, and scour the barren landscape above, feeding on the scattered mineral deposits, and on each other.
You detect more than the one facility, although none of them advertise their position. Each is a small fortress, hidden beneath thick layers of rock and bunker facilities. From what you can determine, each use a series of sonic fences to keep the massive lithovores at bay.
Near a jagged, black mountain stands a single building. A docking facility is built into the upper levels of the large, pyramidal structure. It is the only source of visible light for hundreds of kilometers, casting vast shadows that stretch out to the hills and twisted crags around it.
>Ask Windsor for more information (write in)
>Warn him that the facility is dangerous (write in)
>Speak with Windsor (write in)
>Other
>>48216609
>Ask Windsor for more information (write in)
What does he think is the worst-case scenario for this.
>>48216593
The Union already wants to stop the research! Windsor sent a team to SHUT IT DOWN.
Interfering now would only potentially destroy the containment field and fuck it up further.
The marines are the only ones in a position to stop things safely. Blinking in ships and blowing things up does not help.
>>48216609
>Other
Wait to see which facility the ship docks at, then send in the fleet.
>>48216609
>Eyeless, silicon based lithovores tunnel beneath the surface, and scour the barren landscape above, feeding on the scattered mineral deposits, and on each other.
I kind of want to snatch a few before the planet goes tits up
>>48216609
Do we have a direct line to the team of marines? Can we observe remotely on video feed?
What's the second stage of testing?
>>48216609
>Ask Windsor for more information (write in)
Ask him about what, if any, consequences he foresees from a containment breach.
>other
Blink in a cloaked fleet. Do the blink in opposite the main facilities and move our ships into position for when things go fubar.
>>48216589
Anon, if those things get into our universe right now, we are FUCKED, you do realize that, right? We haven't even put a dent in OQ's forces, the humans are practically at each other's throats, and when we inevitably have to show ourselves to fight the void, everyone and their mother is going to flip shit when they figure out we got to where we are in a month.
You know, if the union succeeds in summoning the void god we can have our commonwealth diplomat freak out and ramble about the "Union having angered the dark god"
If they ask how we know we can just say "We know because the dark god knows" then we have both a reason for telling them about the danger of crystals, wanting the wreckage of the mirage and justification for invading the union.
>>48216609
>Warn him that the facility is dangerous (write in)
You described the artifact as... 'Hostile'.
If the containment is as flawed as I suspect, and if it acts as a multiplier to energy proportional to what goes in.
I don't want to imagine what it could accomplish if it drew on and multiplied the enormous power of five quantum power taps.
And it draws its excess energy from where? You think this is a Ceph artifact? If it's drawing energy from elsewhere, is it also drawing orders and information from the same source? Or sending information back?What if we're giving Ceph knowledge of the quantum power tap.
>>48216609
>Other
Fleet in the system, preferably cloaked. Best be prepared.
>>48216786
As stated here,
>>48216754
We are boned if the void get into our plane of existence.
Anon, the real question we should be asking is: Can we rit drive an entire dwarf planet into a black hole?
>>48216813
It's a void crystal, the cephs are least of our problems with that.
>>48216754
>>48216830
That isn't how it works.
That's not how any of this works.
Just because there are five power taps doesn't mean it's summoning it. God is constrained in what they can do. They can only attack by being attacked first. They can only see what sees them first.
>>48216860
Humans can't infer that.
>>48216841
We don't have a rift drive emplacement big enough to do that.
>>48216609
>Ask Windsor for more information (write in)
Worst case cenario.
>Other.
Send in clacked ships and kamikaze pods.
>>48216879
So what is this machine going to do when it's activated?
>>48216889
Yet is the missing word. We could eventually build one to teleport entire fleets around.
>>48216691
>>48216720
>>48216818
If we blink in a cloaked fleet (I hope we do), please make sure there's lots of ghost-beetles with their quantum minds that can detach from the main hive. I don't want to let the void god have a direct line to queenie.
>>48216786
This is smart. If we have to intervene our diplomat should probably mention something to the Commonwealth regardless. I really hope they don't let the dark god out though.
>>48216609
What's the projected energy output of this reactor if it's successful?
>>48216609
>>48216813
This. Under no circumstances blink in a fleet at this point.
>>48216919
It will swallow the planet and facility and everything in it.
What does a slip drive do? It transports things into No Space and to elsewhere.
He is feeding it enough power to encompass the entire planet. He's going to meet God, and give Him a power source He has never seen before, that will give the enemy unimaginable amounts of energy from nothingness.
>>48216786
We must also inform Theseus of this and tell him about our possible invasion of the union, invite him to join.
Could we offer to help resettle earth to the commonwealth?
>>48216609
Gilliam quickly flips through the notes on his screen.
"And what about the marines? I assume you have a connection with them now?"
"I will be monitoring their progress personally. If there was an attack on the facility we can't allow them to damage the artifacts, if they can be damaged by conventional means. Of course, at the very least the reactor itself involves multiple power taps in its function. If they were damaged or destabilized in an attack, we could lose everything." Windsor says. Gilliam rubs his chin as he reads through the data slack jawed.
"And that's the worst you think could happen?"
"Well the device itself is designed to be a more powerful source of the energy emitted by your artifacts. Emmerich believes that if it can be made to function with our technology we may be able to use it to detect and measure this radiation, as well as unlocking the secrets of the ceph slip drive. We still understand so little about how they function, how they navigate space, or what strange functions of spacetime allow for this slipspace to exist in the first place."
"Forgive me if I'm not cleared to know this, but you didn't answer my question." Gilliam says, his voice increasingly urgent.
"The Tartarus reactor is designed to use gravitics to manipulate the artifact instead of the radiation it seems to normally use to function. With the right amount, the theory is we'll be able to open our own slipspace rift, and possibly enter it. The original plan was to open a rift and take readings, then send a prope through if it's stable." Gilliam's hand goes through the holographic screen as he flips through the files and sends the pages flipping madly as he tries to find his place again.
"Sir, this is something that has been described as 'hostile' during its study. It has already shown itself to be incredibly difficult to contain, to disastrous results!"
"That is why we were postponing the test." Windsor says calmly.
cont.
>48216609
>Warn him that the facility is dangerous (write in)
So it's, theoretically, a supercharged Slip Drive, if it's the core component of the drive.
Normal void cutters seem limited in the size of their wings to around five hundred kilometers. How much more gigantic could this one extend, given the more powerful source of energy we can provide with the power taps?
>>48216979
So we still need to stop this thing at all costs, right? Or am I missing something?
>>48216979
I don't think Quantum Power Taps are going to do jack shit to them. They can already manipulate space-time very easily and their power rivals that of power taps just from observing the Ceph raiders.
>>48217039
Yep. And I sure as hell don't trust a bunch of dumb marine grunts to do that safely. At best they may decide to blow everything up, which could doom us all.
>>48217030
>Normal void cutters seem limited in the size of their wings to around five hundred kilometers.
Did you mean to say five hundred meters?
If the Ceph void cutters can be five hundred KILOmeters in size they're much larger than I thought...
>>48217109
That's what their power is WITHOUT a power tap.
WITH a power tap, there's a multiplier effect. Something even further beyond.
>>48217136
pure speculation, as well as them getting out if a large enough rift is opened.
Still very bad if corrrect.
>>48217136
>WITH a power tap, there's a multiplier effect. Something even further beyond.
pure speculation. Literally nothing in the quest has even hinted at that.
>>48217200
>it does seem to be capable of augmenting and amplifying other power sources. The math doesn't add up on that, but we've ran enough tests to be sure about it.
It amplifies.
Currently, a slip drive needs a small amount of energy to activate, multiplying that small amount.
With a larger more powerful power source as a base instead of the current system, that can be multiplied further.
>>48217020
Sending a probe through a portal in a pentagram in a project literally called hell to study a hostile and powerful entity.
What could go wrong.
>>48217200
>It requires no power sources, although it does seem to be capable of augmenting and amplifying other power sources.
Anon, with all due respect, you are full of it.
>>48217020
"I'm just saying that I think the dangers-"
"Of course it's dangerous. The damn thing's covered in power taps. Why do you think we built the facility in the single most isolated location in known space?" Gilliam's pencil breaks in his grip.
"I'm not talking about the power taps. If the containment for the artifact fails again, we have no way of knowing what could happen!"
"Based on Emmerich and his team, it should open a rift to slipspace without the need to communicate with the device using the unknown signals it seems to function on. More or less kicking the door open, instead of using the key."
"Exactly, a doorway. Sir, what if something comes through from the other side?" Gilliam asks. Windsor contemplates it for a moment.
"What, more ceph? The marines should be able to handle it. They're not exactly experts in close combat." Windsor seems to think on the matter. "If you'd like, you can sit in and observe. If something does come up, it certainly wouldn't hurt to have someone with your credentials on hand to advise. They should be landing in a few hours." He says. Gilliam nervously leans on his elbows over his desk.
"And how long will it take for the test to finish?"
"The power taps are modified to suit the design, so they'll be brought online slowly. According to our schedule the team should arrive with hours to spare." Windsor says. Gilliam is unconvinced.
>Observe the marines, but do not interfere
>Send in a force and deploy to the planet (write in)
>Other (write in)
>>48217311
>Other (write in)
Send in a stealthed fleet but do not interfere yet.
>>48217311
>>Observe the marines, but do not interfere
We can't afford to fuck this up.
>>48217311
Other
Send in a stealth fleet but don't interfere.
>>48217334
>Other (write in)
Send in a stealthed fleet but do not interfere yet.
>>48217334
We gunna be sneaky now mother fuckers.
>>48217311
>>Observe the marines, but do not interfere
>>48217334
There is no nearby star, what can we hide a fleet behind when it blinks in. There is some traffic here. Rare, but present, over these backwater colonies.
>>48217311
>>Send in a force and deploy to the planet (write in)
20 space pods, 10 patrol corvettes and 5 vanguard frigates, but keep them all under stealth for the time being and simply observe the marines.
>>48217311
>Observe and bring a a stealth fleet in.
I really want to say just nuke it from orbit but we can let it finish and then nuke it from orbit.
What's the strongest weapon we have? I want to send that with the stealth fleet
I feel like we should not be in the system at all, Humans are kind of blind to the Tachyon stuff, and the gods need to be seen to see, so maybe if we don't look, they don't see the rift?
On the other hand not seeing wats going on could be fatal.
>>48217311
>>Observe the marines, but do not interfere
>>48217311
>>Other (write in)
Still. Can we send in a backup team now in case they're needed? Murphy's law suggests the first team might not be sufficient.
>>48217311
>Send in a force and deploy to the planet (write in)
Stealthed fleet
>>48217438
By mega-tonnage, I'd say our self destructing space pods are actually the most powerful weapon we've got.
>>48217440
Perhaps add psyonic stealth all the ships with orders to self destruct if they are seen by the dark god.
>>48217311
>Other (write in)
Send a stealthed fleet and move in orbit to be ready to deploy drop pods and forces quickly if necessary.
Be sure to ONLY use drones capable of severing their connection to the queen if necessary during the deployment if we do land troops. Either equip them with self-destruct glands or quantum brains: possibly both. Do not give the void god a direct connection to the queen at all costs.
