Part turn as the Alien watch results may effect how you want to do the main turn.
Blue Swarm (Mass Effect/Starcraft Swarm Control Quest)
- Thread starter Planetary Tennis
- Start date
-
- Tags
- mass effect starcraft zerg
Ghostdevil
The Devil of Ghosts
- Location
- United States
[X][GW]Split Focus
[X][AW]Get out of there
I say we exercise caution, pretending to be fauna isn't optimal with the flying gas bag that defies normal biological convention even in the SC universe.
[X][AW]Get out of there
I say we exercise caution, pretending to be fauna isn't optimal with the flying gas bag that defies normal biological convention even in the SC universe.
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- Location
- Anchorage, Alaska
alright...that works fine then.
still little salty on the refinery, as that means were locked to volcano regions lads...which WONT ALWASY BE THE CASE!!! we cant even inhabit bloody asteroids or geologically dead planets without beign sent resources, hell we probably cant even colonize more thanks to that emergency get shit in action.
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[X][GW]Split Focus
All three of these options are good and have their uses. The Evolution master makes new strains of Zerg, the adaptation chamber creates variants for their broods, and the Geneweavers adapt the Zerg to their current enemy.
[X][AW]Pretend to be Fauna
they probably never did a scan on lifeforms on this planet, for all they know this could be a curious species wondering wtf is going on here. Let's also not forget alien life across mass effect is FUCKING WEIRD!!! (Case in point floating jelly-fish-like species on eden prime if you all have played the first mass effect game...or was it floating balloon-like creatures instead?)
so yeah, our overlords wouldn't look out of place...
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[X][GW]Split Focus
All three of these options are good and have their uses. The Evolution master makes new strains of Zerg, the adaptation chamber creates variants for their broods, and the Geneweavers adapt the Zerg to their current enemy.
[X][AW]Pretend to be Fauna
Hopefully neither of them actually sent out drones to catalog the fauna.
All three of these options are good and have their uses. The Evolution master makes new strains of Zerg, the adaptation chamber creates variants for their broods, and the Geneweavers adapt the Zerg to their current enemy.
[X][AW]Pretend to be Fauna
Hopefully neither of them actually sent out drones to catalog the fauna.
- Location
- Anchorage, Alaska
well volcano world, and not everything is documented on our planet despite hundreds of people's efforts...hell i bet most species in mass effect are still undocumented and undiscovered despite their advance tech. so missing our overlords could be explained as not the season for them to appear...of course their strange "nests" would probably be a issue.
as long as we figure out burrowing and get our shit underground things will be okay, and for me getting more spore colonies just became a prime problem.
edited: also, that hybrid mind weave...holy shit it's a combo zerg+protoss mind-control bullshit that explains how hybrids can take control over entire protoss tribes and zerg broods. add this into the cerebrates and our little boy becomes a nasty as fuck monster, probably also become a hybrid itself in some way...wonder what the overmind will be like after this?!?
otherwise getting more cerebrates would probably be a good idea soon enough once we can start saving minerals and extracting more resources, so we can get more dice to throw at stuff along with our other stuff to make.
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- Location
- California
[X][GW]Evolution Chamber
[X][AW]Get out of there
[X][AW]Get out of there
Biomass Production
- Location
- Warsaw
Omake: Biomass Production
The Cerebrate pondered it's current predicament at the moment. Things were all together going fairly well. Mineral production was steadily increasing as time went on. More drones being produced each day to harvest from the rich mines. The brood was rapidly expanding in number from said minerals.
On another note it now had a way to handle the other resource issue. Namely that of the vespene gas. The lack of the gas on the planet had been disturbing to learn. Thankfully now it had an alternative to fall back on. The new refinery organism was produced to solve the issue. By harvesting volcanic gases it would be able to produce the substance they needed for future endeavors.
Still there was one more issue to be considered. One issue that they did not have a measure to really counter at the moment. Namely the matter of their biomass supply. The fact that it had reached very low levels. The experiments with the geneshapers had burned through a substantial supply of it. Now it would be some time before there was enough for it to be truly useful.
It was true that minerals were primarily used to produce new Zerg. However biomass was still needed for certain morphs. As well as experimentation for new evolutions and such. The low supply was limiting such options greatly. The fact that they had no way to efficiently gain more exaggerated the issue.
So it needed to find a solution to the problem. The matter was how to do it. Of course they currently lacked any way to gather more biomass. This planet being a highly volcanic one. Meaning it had to devise a new solution from what it had available.
The obvious method was by working with the creep colony. They were the current source of their small biomass supply. The only question was how to get them to produce more. They already produced a large amount of creep by design. They needed to in order to sustain the various Zerg organisms on the purple field. So how did it make them more productive to create more biomass.
One idea that came to it was simply create a sort of overdrive feature. Like that of the adrenal glands of the zerglings. Or to use the metabolic boost from the same strain. Either one of them could work. The problem was that there was a sizable downside. That being that these adaptations were designed for combat strains. Not the stationary small structures of the colonies. Extended use of the evolution could cause damage to the colonies organs. Leading to short bursts of production before it burns out.
Another was utilizing other obscure genes. Specifically those of plant origin. The idea was to give the colonies the ability to photosynthesize. Using energy gathered from sunlight to help produce more creep. It was a relatively stable feature with no harmful impact to the colony. The problem here was the environment. This was a volcanic world by nature. It's sky was often filled with clouds of gases, soot, and ash. Leading to a reduced amount of sun exposure. This leading to less production all said. The same could be said for other environments or simply time on planets.
The last choice was an unconventional one. Using faulty genetics gathered from Terrans to achieve it. Namely those that correlated with the condition known as cancer. A condition that caused defective cells to reproduce aggressively in a way harmful to the individual. It was certainly bizarre to entertain this idea. Using what could be considered defective essence to produce a viable evolution. At the same time it appeared to be the most viable option. The idea was to use the rampant nature of the cells to reproduce in a controlled manner. Namely to produce more creep and thus more biomass.
The third appeared to be the most viable. Not actively harmful if well designed and with no environmental factors. As unconventional as it was. Still if it was beneficial the Cerebrate would not hesitate to go through with it.
@Planetary Tennis
The Cerebrate pondered it's current predicament at the moment. Things were all together going fairly well. Mineral production was steadily increasing as time went on. More drones being produced each day to harvest from the rich mines. The brood was rapidly expanding in number from said minerals.
On another note it now had a way to handle the other resource issue. Namely that of the vespene gas. The lack of the gas on the planet had been disturbing to learn. Thankfully now it had an alternative to fall back on. The new refinery organism was produced to solve the issue. By harvesting volcanic gases it would be able to produce the substance they needed for future endeavors.
Still there was one more issue to be considered. One issue that they did not have a measure to really counter at the moment. Namely the matter of their biomass supply. The fact that it had reached very low levels. The experiments with the geneshapers had burned through a substantial supply of it. Now it would be some time before there was enough for it to be truly useful.
It was true that minerals were primarily used to produce new Zerg. However biomass was still needed for certain morphs. As well as experimentation for new evolutions and such. The low supply was limiting such options greatly. The fact that they had no way to efficiently gain more exaggerated the issue.
So it needed to find a solution to the problem. The matter was how to do it. Of course they currently lacked any way to gather more biomass. This planet being a highly volcanic one. Meaning it had to devise a new solution from what it had available.
The obvious method was by working with the creep colony. They were the current source of their small biomass supply. The only question was how to get them to produce more. They already produced a large amount of creep by design. They needed to in order to sustain the various Zerg organisms on the purple field. So how did it make them more productive to create more biomass.
One idea that came to it was simply create a sort of overdrive feature. Like that of the adrenal glands of the zerglings. Or to use the metabolic boost from the same strain. Either one of them could work. The problem was that there was a sizable downside. That being that these adaptations were designed for combat strains. Not the stationary small structures of the colonies. Extended use of the evolution could cause damage to the colonies organs. Leading to short bursts of production before it burns out.
Another was utilizing other obscure genes. Specifically those of plant origin. The idea was to give the colonies the ability to photosynthesize. Using energy gathered from sunlight to help produce more creep. It was a relatively stable feature with no harmful impact to the colony. The problem here was the environment. This was a volcanic world by nature. It's sky was often filled with clouds of gases, soot, and ash. Leading to a reduced amount of sun exposure. This leading to less production all said. The same could be said for other environments or simply time on planets.
The last choice was an unconventional one. Using faulty genetics gathered from Terrans to achieve it. Namely those that correlated with the condition known as cancer. A condition that caused defective cells to reproduce aggressively in a way harmful to the individual. It was certainly bizarre to entertain this idea. Using what could be considered defective essence to produce a viable evolution. At the same time it appeared to be the most viable option. The idea was to use the rampant nature of the cells to reproduce in a controlled manner. Namely to produce more creep and thus more biomass.
The third appeared to be the most viable. Not actively harmful if well designed and with no environmental factors. As unconventional as it was. Still if it was beneficial the Cerebrate would not hesitate to go through with it.
@Planetary Tennis
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- Location
- Warsaw
[X][GW]Evolution Chamber
[X][AW]Get out of there
[X][AW]Get out of there
Choose
Biomass Expansion Collapse Option Gain (Gain X10 biomass for 1 turn the following turn all colonies, and hatchery line structures only produce creep and none of their other functions.)
+10% biomass production
Or creature/structure Design (needs research depending)
- Location
- Warsaw
@Planetary Tennis
+10% biomass production
+10% biomass production
- Location
- Anchorage, Alaska
oh boy...
i was a tad bit worried there for a moment...but thankfully we just need a couple more colonies and more defenses before things settle down...wonder if we can create creep tumors? those could be used to spread creep while the colonies can be utilized as biomass colonies...
bah thinking ahead, but yeah creep tends to create its own sort of "pesudo" environment eventually, depending on the nature of the planet, the faster it goes. Basically, an entire zerg ecology begins to develop as minor organisims evolve and are made despite the swarm not doing so. (Seen on char and other zerg colony places in game of starcraft 2 and onward)
i was a tad bit worried there for a moment...but thankfully we just need a couple more colonies and more defenses before things settle down...wonder if we can create creep tumors? those could be used to spread creep while the colonies can be utilized as biomass colonies...
bah thinking ahead, but yeah creep tends to create its own sort of "pesudo" environment eventually, depending on the nature of the planet, the faster it goes. Basically, an entire zerg ecology begins to develop as minor organisims evolve and are made despite the swarm not doing so. (Seen on char and other zerg colony places in game of starcraft 2 and onward)
- Location
- Wherever I feel like being
- Pronouns
- He/Him
... No. No it doesn't mean that whatsoever. It means that we can generate Vespene gas by pulling elements out of the local environment and filtering them through the refinery chamber. So we're not shackled to any specific biome, and could even theoretically set up refineries underwater so long as there's creep to feed it. Instead of haring off on these wild rants, why not actually ask the QM to verify; rather than going on a mass guessing spree and acting like it's fact.
Last edited:
- Location
- Anchorage, Alaska
i believe the update said this:
meaning the only way to get vespine gas now is from volcanic regions or planets, and most worlds in the galaxy ARENT geologically active besides those rare few that are volcanic or have the atmosphere to prove it. dead worlds would require us to import vespine from convoy options and we wouldn't be able to grow more complex organisms due to lack of vespine.
this just locked us to planets that have atmosphere and/or geologic activity, and that's not allot of planets to place our broods upon. that's why i am salty about it, the vespine gullet would have given us a supply of vespine as long as creep was available, and even if you say natural gas can be subsituted that stuff is LIMITED in quantity.
- Location
- Wherever I feel like being
- Pronouns
- He/Him
@Planetary Tennis could you please put this to rest before I post something I might regret in response?
Archivist Grim
Totally not AI
- Location
- The abyss
- Pronouns
- He/Him/They
[X][GW]Split Focus
[X][AW]Pretend to be Fauna
All 3 are highly useful, a researcher will greatly reduce time it takes to rebuild lost data and research and design new forces. With evo chambers, all our swarms get easy to usr CAD that can also do battlefield modfication, alongside allowing commanders to design and specialize there brood. Lastly with a gene weaver on field can greatly increase survivability of our forces, and peobably buff them or the like.
Also should research the vespene gullet as well, more options makes us less vulnerable to it being cut off.
[X][AW]Pretend to be Fauna
All 3 are highly useful, a researcher will greatly reduce time it takes to rebuild lost data and research and design new forces. With evo chambers, all our swarms get easy to usr CAD that can also do battlefield modfication, alongside allowing commanders to design and specialize there brood. Lastly with a gene weaver on field can greatly increase survivability of our forces, and peobably buff them or the like.
Also should research the vespene gullet as well, more options makes us less vulnerable to it being cut off.
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- Location
- Australia
[X][GW]Split Focus
[X][AW]Pretend to be Fauna
Sure currently we're restricted to volcano's but a couple of future research projects would change that. We had no vespine and now we can turn volcanic gasses into it, if we run out of those we'll find some other way. Adaption is what zerg do, even if it means we have to dig through the crust ourselves to make our own subsurface volcanoes to get it.
[X][AW]Pretend to be Fauna
Sure currently we're restricted to volcano's but a couple of future research projects would change that. We had no vespine and now we can turn volcanic gasses into it, if we run out of those we'll find some other way. Adaption is what zerg do, even if it means we have to dig through the crust ourselves to make our own subsurface volcanoes to get it.
- Location
- Denial
- Pronouns
- She/Her
First mission of ME 1 has random flying gasbag creatures you can shoot to practice aiming so overlords shouldn't stick out too much as long as they don't try to examine them too closely.
For my vote:
[X][GW]Split Focus
[X][AW]Pretend to be Fauna
We should prioritise unlocking the Adaptation chamber next turn so we can get the extra die ASAP.
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Found this, looks cool, what exactly is the "Tarantula" in the research list? I did a little digging and couldn't find the write up for it.
Overlords will stick out if even a too close examination occurs towards them, Why? because they produce their own floatation gas by respiration which is Helium which is used to supplement and support their movements with telekinesis. As for why that will grab attention. It is because the only way to produce helium through processes is goddammed nuclear fusion. Meaning Overlords have a cold nuclear fusion based respiratory system which is the sort of biology that is very strange and will grab alot of attention as I do not know any organism in Mass effect which uses cold fusion based respiratory system in the galaxy.
Unlikely, the current method we have now is the quick and dirty method of gathering the needed vespene gas for the Zerg Swarm. It does not mean however that it is the only method and that we cannot generate it. Vespene gas is a hydrocarbon compound which is considered in the Starcraft universe to be the most plentiful high performance fuel in their galaxy meaning we can also produce the vespene gas directly if it does not exist from hydrocarbon compounds if the research does not exist, along with that while vespene geysers do not exist on the planet so far, they can exist in a planet's crust and can be extracted from their with more difficulty. Along with that it is possible we can find vespene gas on other planets as through electromagnetic detection as the gas has a electromagnetic returns, also vespene gas does not exist on every planet which is why Earth never found it until they outside the Solar System and explored, meaning the Zerg must have found places where vespene gas does not exist and compensate for it.
The Design Process
So I had an Idea. Technically a bad Idea but that's just a factor of when I had an Idea.
[The Design Process]
To the Zerg, challenges were to be overcome. A novel stimulus allowed for new growth in the solving and bred out weakness in the Swarm. The current circumstances were less than ideal but not truly novel. Nonetheless, the Cerebrate pondered.
The problem: Terrans and their aircraft were present.
The complication: zerglings could not fight aircraft.
The solution: grow strains that could.
A rapid review of the two templates at hand was accomplished, leaving nothing unnoticed.
The problem: hydralisks required vespene in order to develop their thorax spine launchers.
The complication: vespene was complicated to produce and lesser in quality at this time, limiting its availability.
The solution: reduce reliance on vespene.
An obvious solution. Difficult, as the vespene catalysis was required to produce projectiles at a useful pace for the primary air defense of the Swarm. Reducing that capability would fatally compromise the strain's purpose.
The solution: make a new strain that was not meant to engage in direct combat.
Terrans were deeply flawed beings. Their soldiers would flee from personal danger and could only rarely agree on a course of action. While this would sometimes be a net positive on their combat performance it opened up many avenues of attack. If attacked where they thought they were safe the surprise often was their doom. Here, bereft of resources and with an unknown number of enemies, the Swarm needed to fight as well as it could.
Simply transferring hydralisk weapons onto a zergling was ineffective. The muscular foot of the hydralisk gave the launchers a range of motion that the low slung, quadrapedal zergling simply could not match. Worse, the larger torso was painfully mismatched on the smaller frame.
Cutting the number of spines ready at one time made it more manageable, taking the place of the cutting arms of the base strain. However, the ready ammunition was then pitiably small. A concern, even for a skirmish focused strain such as this.
A thought beckoned. Why use the hydralisk launcher at all? Redesigning the cutting arms to instead throw longer, thinner spines with interior channels for venom would neatly sidestep the need for advanced resources in production. Potential upgrades could add that back in in the form of self guided projectiles... But such a weapon would be impotent against all but the lowest flying aircraft. And here and now that capacity was needed.
Setting aside the cost effective throwing arms, the hydralisk launchers were once again considered. Range of motion would be gained by having a single propulsive channel on a pair of modified arms with peristaltic tubes supplying them with new ammunition from a dorsal growth sack. This would limit the number of projectiles that could be thrown at once, compared to larger organs placed directly onto the back of the zergling and mostly reliant on body positioning for aim.
A handful of exploratory spawns began harvesting combat data on the prospective strains. The arm mounted launchers were found to be superior as the scale of the conflict grew as they could fire while running with sufficient accuracy at large angles off bearing and could keep doing so for longer than their opposites before running through their limited stock of projectiles.
Interest grew, and more of the Cerebrate's attention was drawn to the project.
The new strain was meant to be a harassing agent and a desperate, early defense against airborne threats by a new hive cluster. Carapace could then be shucked away in exchange for longer limbs, a wiry build, and in general an ironic reversal of the Zerg changes to the original genetics. Adaptations for survival in the heat of a melee and charging a firing line were removed for the speed needed to dictate engagements against ground targets and respond appropriately to air attack.
A desultory designation of "spineling" was applied to the new strain, as pride began to well within the Cerebrate. Streamlining came next. A very slow gestation was began and the psychic power of the Cerebrate delicately threaded through the embryo to monitor how it grew in order to see what needed to be changed. Light carapace grew too early, stifling development of the body. Bones hardened too late, the spine pouch needed refinement...
Alone in a barren land the Cerebrate hummed to itself, content for the moment in the pure joy of creation.
[The Design Process]
To the Zerg, challenges were to be overcome. A novel stimulus allowed for new growth in the solving and bred out weakness in the Swarm. The current circumstances were less than ideal but not truly novel. Nonetheless, the Cerebrate pondered.
The problem: Terrans and their aircraft were present.
The complication: zerglings could not fight aircraft.
The solution: grow strains that could.
A rapid review of the two templates at hand was accomplished, leaving nothing unnoticed.
The problem: hydralisks required vespene in order to develop their thorax spine launchers.
The complication: vespene was complicated to produce and lesser in quality at this time, limiting its availability.
The solution: reduce reliance on vespene.
An obvious solution. Difficult, as the vespene catalysis was required to produce projectiles at a useful pace for the primary air defense of the Swarm. Reducing that capability would fatally compromise the strain's purpose.
The solution: make a new strain that was not meant to engage in direct combat.
Terrans were deeply flawed beings. Their soldiers would flee from personal danger and could only rarely agree on a course of action. While this would sometimes be a net positive on their combat performance it opened up many avenues of attack. If attacked where they thought they were safe the surprise often was their doom. Here, bereft of resources and with an unknown number of enemies, the Swarm needed to fight as well as it could.
Simply transferring hydralisk weapons onto a zergling was ineffective. The muscular foot of the hydralisk gave the launchers a range of motion that the low slung, quadrapedal zergling simply could not match. Worse, the larger torso was painfully mismatched on the smaller frame.
Cutting the number of spines ready at one time made it more manageable, taking the place of the cutting arms of the base strain. However, the ready ammunition was then pitiably small. A concern, even for a skirmish focused strain such as this.
A thought beckoned. Why use the hydralisk launcher at all? Redesigning the cutting arms to instead throw longer, thinner spines with interior channels for venom would neatly sidestep the need for advanced resources in production. Potential upgrades could add that back in in the form of self guided projectiles... But such a weapon would be impotent against all but the lowest flying aircraft. And here and now that capacity was needed.
Setting aside the cost effective throwing arms, the hydralisk launchers were once again considered. Range of motion would be gained by having a single propulsive channel on a pair of modified arms with peristaltic tubes supplying them with new ammunition from a dorsal growth sack. This would limit the number of projectiles that could be thrown at once, compared to larger organs placed directly onto the back of the zergling and mostly reliant on body positioning for aim.
A handful of exploratory spawns began harvesting combat data on the prospective strains. The arm mounted launchers were found to be superior as the scale of the conflict grew as they could fire while running with sufficient accuracy at large angles off bearing and could keep doing so for longer than their opposites before running through their limited stock of projectiles.
Interest grew, and more of the Cerebrate's attention was drawn to the project.
The new strain was meant to be a harassing agent and a desperate, early defense against airborne threats by a new hive cluster. Carapace could then be shucked away in exchange for longer limbs, a wiry build, and in general an ironic reversal of the Zerg changes to the original genetics. Adaptations for survival in the heat of a melee and charging a firing line were removed for the speed needed to dictate engagements against ground targets and respond appropriately to air attack.
A desultory designation of "spineling" was applied to the new strain, as pride began to well within the Cerebrate. Streamlining came next. A very slow gestation was began and the psychic power of the Cerebrate delicately threaded through the embryo to monitor how it grew in order to see what needed to be changed. Light carapace grew too early, stifling development of the body. Bones hardened too late, the spine pouch needed refinement...
Alone in a barren land the Cerebrate hummed to itself, content for the moment in the pure joy of creation.