Shepard Quest Mk VI, Technological Revolution
- Thread starter Hoyr
- Start date
Depends on what you mean by "match". Right now it's still a fight, since we need to slip into range of a Cruiser/Dreadnought's MAC weapons to take them down.
After we pick up UV Lasers and either high-GW lasers or Miniaturized Energy Weapons? Our five frigates could outrange, outfly, and outfight the entire Turian Navy. Cue everyone panicking.
- Location
- United States
No. It's ugly.
Aranfan
Team Plasma Grunt
I will fight you.
azoicennead
Overly-Affectionate Zombie Squad
- Pronouns
- He/They
The Millenium Falcon is ugly. Even Han Solo agrees.
But it also allows us to play Han(na?) Solo, and try talking our potential new girlfriend into playing Princess Leia. With incredibly elaborate props.
(Gaven Dor is obviously Chewie, not that we'll tell him, or ask "Chewie" to cut his "vacation" short.)
Chargone
Invisable operator
- Location
- New Zealand
Well, it kinda is, really.
The Falcon's iconic, sure, and not aweful, but...
It's not sleek, it's not balanced, it has that dish on it, it apparently has rusty bits...
On balance, it's "pleasingly functional" at best.
On the outside.
The inside is cluttered and rusty and horrible, from memory.
Even ignoring all that though, I'm fairly sure it's an utterly aweful design for a ME based starship. Or, well... anything. All that wasted volume...
The Falcon's iconic, sure, and not aweful, but...
It's not sleek, it's not balanced, it has that dish on it, it apparently has rusty bits...
On balance, it's "pleasingly functional" at best.
On the outside.
The inside is cluttered and rusty and horrible, from memory.
Even ignoring all that though, I'm fairly sure it's an utterly aweful design for a ME based starship. Or, well... anything. All that wasted volume...
- Location
- Somewhere
Well, if we go by canon's stupidity, we're already considered a match for the Turian's Navy and a "Sleeping Giant".
Thoughh things likely aren't like that in this.
Admittedly I could see a Humanity having an absolutely sizeable fleet that could match the Turians in size at this point in time, cos god damn Humanity are suspicious bastards, and we have that lovely asteroid belt just sat there with ALL those resources.
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You have a background in laser or plasma physics?
HanEmpire
Delicious
Yeah I've never understood how Humanity, a newly spacefaring race, has the potential to match the Turians, a super-militaristic race that has been spacefaring since out medieval(?) times. I mean wtf.
It's just as stupid as the space-carriers concept, in a universe that has the GUARDIAN system.
It's just as stupid as the space-carriers concept, in a universe that has the GUARDIAN system.
- Location
- United States
Eh, they have rather limited range due to diffraction, and in space you can accelerate your torpedoes to some ridiculous speeds - plus standard GUARDIANs lack power.
I'm a physics PHD, although I work on theoretical high-energy physics, not optics and plasma.
Nice to see more professionals here.
That would be true, except for the part where Sol system is, per canon, almost devoid of eezo. Humanity's big eezo bootstrapping came from the Mars Archive, where there was apparently a large stash of refined eezo (maybe in derelict starship cores?) "left behind by the Protheans." With what we know about the Reapers' MO, it's more likely that the Mars Archive, along with all its research, was left behind when the Reapers purged the Prothean race, in order to lure humanity to the mass effect tech tree, the relays, and then the Citadel.
Or, for that matter, the Batarians, who have been a spacefaring civilization for over 2,000 years. The core conceit is that humanity alone seems to have hit upon a good balance between a group mentality and rugged individualism, while every other sapient species in the galaxy seem to have fallen too far to one side or the other.
The Asari and Krogan, on one hand, fall too far on the individualist side, so much so that they are unable to present a united front when threatened. The Salarians, Turians, and Batarians, on the other hand, fall too far on the groupthink side, such that the Salarians are unable to stop themselves from making poor policy decisions, just because one of their ancestors made the same mistake once upon a time (see their continual efforts to uplift other species), the Turians are all so locked into a military mindset that they need a client race to manage their economy, and the Batarians are still a slaver race despite being in space nearly as long as the Salarians.
As for carriers, it's possible that in canon the whole carrier concept is an elaborate smokescreen. It was shown to work in a single campaign: the First Contact War, where an overly arrogant Turian admiral got ahead of himself by invading what he thought was humanity's home planet, over-extended himself by trying to occupy a world where the occupation force had to import all its food, and was smacked around when he was blindsided by the Alliance Second fleet. That's the big battle where the mettle of the carrier was proven against a Turian dreadnought, and as best as I can tell is the only time a carrier ever fought an engagement against a dreadnought outside of simulation.
Here's where things get interesting. Carriers fight by having their fighters shoot disrupter torpedoes at enemy capital ships in large numbers. Disrupter torpedoes have payloads of refined eezo. That means, win or lose, every time a carrier fights it's extremely expensive. Compare this to a dreadnought, whose only expense is the energy to throw its cheap iron slugs around. Frankly it seems to me that the SA got lucky that the Salarians and Asari got gun-shy and sued for peace, otherwise the Turians would have spent humanity into the ground extremely quickly.
Fast forward to post First Contact War, where humanity dodged one bullet only to find out that the Council races, by treaty, out-number the Alliance eleven to one. The Alliance suspects that this peaceful interlude won't last, a thought encouraged by the fact that the Council has decided to maneuver them into a conflict with the Batarians. So, what to do? Well, the SA already has this high-profile win by a ruinously expensive carrier concept, which would be great but for the fact that the bullets it fires are refined eezo. I think what really happened is that the Alliance decided to make a whole bunch of "carriers" that could easily be "retrofitted" with 1,000m dreadnought-scale MACs, should the Turians decide to re-fight the First Contact War.
(Edit): Just had an additional thought here: this actually dovetails well with the galaxy viewing humanity as crazy and overly aggressive. Think about it: the SA is presenting itself as so desperate to fight a war that they will build torpedoes out of the most expensive material in the universe, causing a ruinous strain on their economy, in order to implement an absurdly dangerous, risky, and unproven war strategy. The rest of the galaxy must view the SA's Carrier program like the West views Iran's nuclear program: dangerously unstable, small chance of success, and sub-optimal in favor of just being normal and non-crazy.
And then Revy comes alone with Repulsors, Arc Reactors, and anti-starship missiles, and single-handedly revives the Carrier as a viable concept... until she then makes the entire idea of large ships obsolete next quarter with 18 GW, UV-frequency laser 100m frigates that can out-fly and out-fight every other starship in the galaxy. I imagine that military strategists across the galaxy read the latest intel reports from Paragon Industries with gallon-jugs of Maalox in their other hand. "Oh holy crap; now our dreadnoughts are obsolete!" *chugs*
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- Location
- Queensland, Australia
One thing that you missed about the Carriers is the fact that once you've stripped most of the escorts from a dreadnought, using another dreadnought or a fleet of lesser ships may just be more expensive due to all the mass effect cores destroyed along with the ships killed by the dreadnought, whereas the carrier sends in waves of fighters armed with torpedoes which are equal in price to say... half a dreadnought core all together.
Even if you are able to salvage 80% of destroyed ships cores after a battle, it still might be cheaper to use carriers to kill dreadnoughts under certain circumstances. Namely, when the point defence systems are saturated such that the fighters can get up close and personal with their targets, fire off the torpedoes and bring down the barriers allowing other ships to kill the target, or when the enemy has few enough ships the point defence won't be able to kill enough fighters and torpedoes to save the target.
Disrupter torpedoes big effect is the fact they are able to greatly weaken or strip the barriers from their target, allowing ships which would otherwise have no chance of getting through the barrier without massive casualties to instead start hurting the enemy before those casualties start piling up.
Even if you are able to salvage 80% of destroyed ships cores after a battle, it still might be cheaper to use carriers to kill dreadnoughts under certain circumstances. Namely, when the point defence systems are saturated such that the fighters can get up close and personal with their targets, fire off the torpedoes and bring down the barriers allowing other ships to kill the target, or when the enemy has few enough ships the point defence won't be able to kill enough fighters and torpedoes to save the target.
Disrupter torpedoes big effect is the fact they are able to greatly weaken or strip the barriers from their target, allowing ships which would otherwise have no chance of getting through the barrier without massive casualties to instead start hurting the enemy before those casualties start piling up.
Amberion
Mighty #9
I gotta point out that the SA were in no way up to taking on the full might of the Turian Hierarchy. They had a 'fleet' of what amounted to commercial vessels with military weapons strapped on, and used that to retake Shanxi, and then the Asari stepped in after a couple months of hit and run fights, because at that point the Turians were just about ready to field their full fleet and the Asari didn't want the Turians to annex another client race.
We don't need to patent the Gen II since it's flawlessly blackboxed and since it is, as I understand it, basically a superior Gen I it should share the same critical components as the Gen I and hence effectively be covered under the Gen I's patent.
The real question is if we can substitute Gen II Arc Reactors for Gen I Arc Reactors with regards to the Citadel mandated minimums. Because as you can see on the new spreadsheet a 5GW Gen II costs 30% what a Gen I does and requires 25% the production.
So if we could swap them out, while keeping the same sales price, we'd go from 5,000,000 Arc Reactors per quarter consuming 1,500,000pr and earning 1,000,000,000,000cr in profit to 5,000,000 Arc Reactors per quarter consuming 375,000pr and earning 1,175,000,000,000cr in profit.
While the extra 175 billion per quarter is nice the real gain would be the extra 1,125,000pr since that represents a lot of internal manufacturing (18 Pynda's per quarter), a fairly large increase in profit (292,500,000,000cr/quarter), or some combination of the two.
Personally for the Sagitta I'd record them as 100 round reloads since most orders note worth orders are going to be in the thousands range anyway and it brings their production up high enough to actually appear within the 3 decimal places the products tab currently goes to for production.
Text! Update real soon if nothing goes wrong.
Well if 100% of lost energy (1MJ, 50% of 0.01s 200MW pulse) becomes radiated in the same times span as the pulse, which is probably and over estimation, and the target is 13,000m away (those graphics were for light traveling that far yes? or at least effectively that far in 1 atmosphere*), we can vaguely simulate the radiating area of the energy as a cone from the lens to the target, which google tells me has an area of 20421.14m2, which leads to 0.0049 J/cm2. We are aiming for 1e-4 to 1e-5 J/cm2 or less, as the inverse square law still applies we'd best be at least 10m away from the laser's path of fire. Also use flash protection helmets/visors. Seriously, no reason not to have them on the modern (space-future) battlefield.
Anyway have looked at the absorption issue. While it may prohibit fire over a given range (like ~20km assuming attenuation is linear and the 50% factor was for a 13km distance, complete beam extinction will occur at 26km, the lighter 20MW version tops out at ~10km) the focusing loss of even going to 2,000nm is so bad that it's better to not. The near IR of ~700nm is the best as it's just in the visible light window and has good long range focusing characteristics.
I am under the vague impression that those issues kicked in for higher powered lasers than the ones we have been discussing, the article noted terawatt lasers though I recall reading about gigawatt lasers suffering plasma issues and experiencing filamentation. However, I am aware of this it's one of the reasons that Variable wavelength lasers will be need for higher powered in atmosphere lasers (so that lasers can be chirped easily) and after a point you'll need to use higher wavelength because the raw power means you'll be firing though a plasma, not air.
The profit was calculated based on the value of deployed and used units at the time, ships where not used (as they were being built), it was a profit until maintenance for new units was tossed on. I'd be perfectly fine if upkeep was delayed until next quarter as it was the first time you got to use the unit normally. *Shrugs* ask @UberJJK I guess, he's the one that entered the formula like that.
The GAO report I found indicated an upkeep cost of 7-10% annually for aircraft carriers of the models studied. I'm willing to trust their numbers as it kinda their job. That said taking out the cost of fuel and personnel out gives me, 3.5-5%.
I was originally planning on having the upkeep be 10% annually then knocked off some due to repulsors and arc-reactors and other stuff. You have also taken out personnel so... meh, might drop that more. However ME2 showed that raw fuel is cheap (or that's a game play artifact...). You probably got your anti-matter from Cerberus (at least I hope you did) or one doesn't need to get more often. So eliminating that maybe minimal.
That said it a relative ratio, PI have massively dropped the cost of the ship's production so any aspect PI didn't eliminate is either going to maintain the same or go up in relative cost, some upkeep values won't down scale with reduced cost after all. Space is harsh after all.
Yeah I'm pretty happy with a lazy flat 1.75% with the possibility of reducing it via some techs. One may be able to argue me down a bit, but... not really seeing a reason to go down though. As a game factor it's a pretty clear statement that your military assets may not exceed 14.3 times your annual net profit not including maintenance.
Mostly was asking from the perspective of other players, some people like their one page or less excutive summary charts.
Only via conservation of characters or Omake.
Most of that is abstracted into the cost of the buildings... so if you wanted to offer a general pay raise the cost of building upkeep should go up.
That was one idea I had. It would work as a stacking effect, so [Base Cost]*1.5^[Quarters off]... at a very basic analysis I'm okay with that. I'm all ears for better ideas though.
Cerberus is still an SA black group/project/thingy, so they have access to all the fun toys.
Cool. Hmm... I think if you cat the two ifs you can get both warnings to show up or not... yep:
=CONCATENATE(IF(F10<0, "ERROR: PRODUCTION",""),IF(AND(F18<0, F10<0), ", ", ""),IF(F18<0, "ERROR: CASH", ""))
Okay yeah that was silly spreadsheet programming nitpicking, moving on.
The rule of thumb was ~50% of possible production IIRC. Your pretty close to the point were the Citadel will stop regulating as long as you produce in good faith.
It may also be going up to a maximum I mentioned at some point. Though the only one I recal was the you don't get profit higher than a few quadrillion credits.
Same as a small space factory... 300m long by 60m wide? I think. Note that size is a space magic number for determining patrols and stuff I'll let you stuff in space stations. I really wanted to stop thinking about it.
You can choose to not patent any new bits and relay on your BB levels, but yes if you choose to deploy them (which you should tell me so I know, you know?)
I'm still up for comments discussion.
Also minor problem for using Hydra as long range attack missiles after they've split, which you got at earlier when we were talking about the missiles drive system. I'm pretty sure without a repulsor and arc-reactor that Sagitta just don't have the range/thrust. This works fine in space where you get to use your launcher's high speed, but in air this would be a problem for long range use.
Note that fighter launched torpedoes aren't a novel idea, Dreadnoughts have fighter bays and Cruisers carry them too. Disruptor torps and fighters aren't new they've been a healthy part of a balanced space fleet for ages.
What's novel is the idea that a ship can fight only with fighters and their torpedoes. Which considering the lost rate and the "ammunition" cost is kind of an odd idea.
If you are willing to sell them.
Well if 100% of lost energy (1MJ, 50% of 0.01s 200MW pulse) becomes radiated in the same times span as the pulse, which is probably and over estimation, and the target is 13,000m away (those graphics were for light traveling that far yes? or at least effectively that far in 1 atmosphere*), we can vaguely simulate the radiating area of the energy as a cone from the lens to the target, which google tells me has an area of 20421.14m2, which leads to 0.0049 J/cm2. We are aiming for 1e-4 to 1e-5 J/cm2 or less, as the inverse square law still applies we'd best be at least 10m away from the laser's path of fire. Also use flash protection helmets/visors. Seriously, no reason not to have them on the modern (space-future) battlefield.
Anyway have looked at the absorption issue. While it may prohibit fire over a given range (like ~20km assuming attenuation is linear and the 50% factor was for a 13km distance, complete beam extinction will occur at 26km, the lighter 20MW version tops out at ~10km) the focusing loss of even going to 2,000nm is so bad that it's better to not. The near IR of ~700nm is the best as it's just in the visible light window and has good long range focusing characteristics.
I am under the vague impression that those issues kicked in for higher powered lasers than the ones we have been discussing, the article noted terawatt lasers though I recall reading about gigawatt lasers suffering plasma issues and experiencing filamentation. However, I am aware of this it's one of the reasons that Variable wavelength lasers will be need for higher powered in atmosphere lasers (so that lasers can be chirped easily) and after a point you'll need to use higher wavelength because the raw power means you'll be firing though a plasma, not air.
The profit was calculated based on the value of deployed and used units at the time, ships where not used (as they were being built), it was a profit until maintenance for new units was tossed on. I'd be perfectly fine if upkeep was delayed until next quarter as it was the first time you got to use the unit normally. *Shrugs* ask @UberJJK I guess, he's the one that entered the formula like that.
The GAO report I found indicated an upkeep cost of 7-10% annually for aircraft carriers of the models studied. I'm willing to trust their numbers as it kinda their job. That said taking out the cost of fuel and personnel out gives me, 3.5-5%.
I was originally planning on having the upkeep be 10% annually then knocked off some due to repulsors and arc-reactors and other stuff. You have also taken out personnel so... meh, might drop that more. However ME2 showed that raw fuel is cheap (or that's a game play artifact...). You probably got your anti-matter from Cerberus (at least I hope you did) or one doesn't need to get more often. So eliminating that maybe minimal.
That said it a relative ratio, PI have massively dropped the cost of the ship's production so any aspect PI didn't eliminate is either going to maintain the same or go up in relative cost, some upkeep values won't down scale with reduced cost after all. Space is harsh after all.
Yeah I'm pretty happy with a lazy flat 1.75% with the possibility of reducing it via some techs. One may be able to argue me down a bit, but... not really seeing a reason to go down though. As a game factor it's a pretty clear statement that your military assets may not exceed 14.3 times your annual net profit not including maintenance.
Mostly was asking from the perspective of other players, some people like their one page or less excutive summary charts.
Only via conservation of characters or Omake.
Most of that is abstracted into the cost of the buildings... so if you wanted to offer a general pay raise the cost of building upkeep should go up.
That was one idea I had. It would work as a stacking effect, so [Base Cost]*1.5^[Quarters off]... at a very basic analysis I'm okay with that. I'm all ears for better ideas though.
Cerberus is still an SA black group/project/thingy, so they have access to all the fun toys.
Cool. Hmm... I think if you cat the two ifs you can get both warnings to show up or not... yep:
=CONCATENATE(IF(F10<0, "ERROR: PRODUCTION",""),IF(AND(F18<0, F10<0), ", ", ""),IF(F18<0, "ERROR: CASH", ""))
Okay yeah that was silly spreadsheet programming nitpicking, moving on.
The rule of thumb was ~50% of possible production IIRC. Your pretty close to the point were the Citadel will stop regulating as long as you produce in good faith.
It may also be going up to a maximum I mentioned at some point. Though the only one I recal was the you don't get profit higher than a few quadrillion credits.
Same as a small space factory... 300m long by 60m wide? I think. Note that size is a space magic number for determining patrols and stuff I'll let you stuff in space stations. I really wanted to stop thinking about it.
You can choose to not patent any new bits and relay on your BB levels, but yes if you choose to deploy them (which you should tell me so I know, you know?)
I'm still up for comments discussion.
Also minor problem for using Hydra as long range attack missiles after they've split, which you got at earlier when we were talking about the missiles drive system. I'm pretty sure without a repulsor and arc-reactor that Sagitta just don't have the range/thrust. This works fine in space where you get to use your launcher's high speed, but in air this would be a problem for long range use.
Note that fighter launched torpedoes aren't a novel idea, Dreadnoughts have fighter bays and Cruisers carry them too. Disruptor torps and fighters aren't new they've been a healthy part of a balanced space fleet for ages.
What's novel is the idea that a ship can fight only with fighters and their torpedoes. Which considering the lost rate and the "ammunition" cost is kind of an odd idea.
If you are willing to sell them.
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I think it's gigawatt range where you start having those issues. It depends on if the laser is pulsed (and, if so, the length of the pulse and such) or steady state. I could ask a friend who is doing a Ph.D. in laser physics.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
*sees OP posted with 1.1k words*
*hopes for update*
*not an update*
edit: *update posted a minute later*
*hopes for update*
*not an update*
edit: *update posted a minute later*
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Landfall (Spare Time And Events Results)
Landfall (Spare Time And Events Results)
2174-Q2
Spare Time (pick two):
[X] Continue Peak Human Treatment (Full Captain America Upgrade, Part 2/5 Done), maybe chosen twice
-[X] Ghost in the machine! You can have lots of fun with admin access to all the nice holographic screens and projectors. You may even be able to catch Kasumi!
Kasumi manages to evade you for the time being. She is clever enough to avoid your electronic eyes and be well hidden when the cloak runs out of time.
A memorable incident over these last few months was running into Gaver Dor and Jack at one of the weapon test ranges.
"Okay try that again." Gaver says looking at a screen.
Jack move her hand in a swift arc, from it comes a ripple of biotic power which flies at a target. The ripple cuts a deep grove in the material.
"Isn't that the new armor we were working on?" you ask, "Further more please tell me your not teaching Jack to throw DES blades."
"Yep, new armor stuff. Also I'm not teaching her to throw DES blades," Gaver grins, "I'm teaching her to fire them! Which may or may not lead to some practical project in the future. Stable complex fine field effects aren't my thing... maybe some one else can do something with it..." He shrugs.
"Gaver has such wonderful ideas. I do like him." Indigo chimes in, "Being able to claw things at a distance will be very nice."
"Right looks, like you'll have to lag the off set field based on range if you want full effect... so most just practicing." Gaver says.
Jack nods. Well you did say Jack could use the room to practice if no one else was... and having more positive social interaction is good. Not much you can do about Gaver offering suggestion on how to user her biotics better in his off time either. Still Jack really doesn't need to be any more deadly.
[X] Continue Peak Human Treatment (Full Captain America Upgrade, Part 2/5 Done), maybe chosen twice
-[X] Study Diplomacy/Etiquette/Negotiation
Nothing like learning while doing! And you are pretty good at talking to people when you try, with CASIE's help of course.
Regardless you spend you time working with your marking team convincing people to give PI their money. You'd say you did pretty well and have learned a great deal from the folks on the marketing team.
Negotiation +1
What will your response be?
[X] "...'Courting' wasn't the idea there; I value you too much, both your friendship and your expertise, to want to pressure you like that. If you want to catch a movie, or whatever people like us would do, that might be fun though."
"...'Courting wasn't the idea there;" you continue, " I value you too much, both your friendship and your expertise, to want to pressure you like that. If you want to catch a movie, or whatever people like us would do, that might be fun though."
"Ah... good," Liara offers a small smile, her motions calming, "If you were, you were doing it wrong. Unless humans had their own similar formal interaction. After we first met I did wonder, with the Governor's ball and all and I thought, 'well maybe?' Especially if you had heard a bit of cultural trivia and went with it. People do that, Asari schools actually caution children way from doing that."
"Really?" you ask curious, "That's in mandatory schooling for kids?"
"Yes Asari are almost worse about it, we love integrating bits of other cultures, borrowing ideas we like. Of course culture is a big deal. Do it wrong and people get offended. Social dynamics, cultural pluralism, all important things to teach children." Liara pauses, "I wasn't that good at it save the theory. Humans don't?"
Huh, you consider, that would have made school different. "Well, no I hear that college's liberal arts cores cover a little bit of that. I may have started a business instead of going. And I'm side tracking us. So...?"
Liara thinks for a moment, "I...am open to the idea of spending time with you more..." she slowly returns to her more flustered state, "socially, romantically... whatever the word is? Though, I honestly can say it don't know what 'people like us" do. I'm not really a people person."
"Well apparently we sit around and discuss comparative schooling practices." you joke, which gets a small smile, "though I have to confess to actually finding the subject interesting."
"I can't disagree with that." Liara responds as you share amused smiles.
Will you go?
[X] Sure
The trip to the convention is uneventful. You bring a long a several examples of technologies you've developed that fit in with the convention's stated goals.
The convention is a great deal of fun. While you are a scientist, you are also an engineer and that's fundamentally what this thing is about. Engineering solutions to problems and applying technology to it's best benefit.
The arc-reactor is quickly trivializing power even more so than fusion did and you've got new stuff to show off, mobile per-fabricated housing for one, even the peak-human treatment and your partnership with Sirta are inline with the Society's goals. Sirta even gives a brief talk about their deployment methodology. Applying the technology to everyone would be the next, logical, step, further spreading highly effective health care at reasonable economic cost.
You sit on a panel discussing the effects of hyper-modularity on resource needs, which offers an interesting perspective on how the tech allows for a person to get by on owning far less stuff.
Your are mildly surprised to see a fair number of Quarians. Apparently their long history of doing a lot with a little is valued here and the solutions they have found useful to advancing the Society's goals.
The captain of the Dahja, one of the Quarian's secondary food production ships, expresses an interest in the mobile housing; however for the Quarians it would be great if the housing could be towed while deployed. A massive amount of Quarian defense strategy revolves around them all living on ships and using that to run away.
Adding a small mass reduction system and an inertial dampener would make that possible for smaller combined sections at least.
Regardless, you feel that this was time well spent, both personally and PR wise The effect on product ordering agree with you.
+1 billion credits more per quarter from general fabrication licenses
More publicity about how PI is doing awesome things to help people and making cool stuff!
Well that's a not good sign, if an enemy is coming you don't have long. What sort of preparations will you make?
[X] Some of the city shielding working would be better than none. (-200 million credits)
-[X] Coordinate with the Alliance and City Government to make sure the Civilians know which sections of the city are covered by shields and can evacuate to those locations.
It's been a while since you've played mechanic as opposed to researcher. With some hard work and creative solutions you estimate that the shield is 40% operational.
[X] Call a Tactical Alert for security forces and ParSec (2 12-hour shifts on 24-hour rotation, A/B watches, allocate up to 100 million in overtime pay)
-[X] Coordinate with the City Government, distribute drones in squads of 12 Accipiters/6 Tribulus throughout the cities to act as a fast reaction force (50 squads--600 Accipiters and 300 Tribulus drones each--for S. Carthage and La Morte, 100 squads--1,200 Accipiters and 600 Tribulus drones--for Landing), have ParSec coordinate drones.
As most of your particularly talented commanders are an Anhur at the moment, your local commanders (both security and ParSec) have chosen to subordinate their commands to the local SA forces to improve coordination. Since effectively all of them are ex-SA soldiers this is not a real issue.
The SA commanders agree that as these drones do not need to R&R as others do pre-deploying them in case of raiders is a good plan.
-[X] In the first 12 hours, build 1,000 Sagittarius drones, 1,000 Aspidai drones, and 10 Standard Anti-ship missiles (1,395 million, 6,000 production). Distribute 600 of those drones to the various fast-reaction forces (3 each per squad).
-[X] In the second 12 hours, build 20 Tigers, 10 Standard Anti-ship missiles, 100 Hydras, 192 Legionaries, and 1,000 Piliums (1,314.4 million, 4566 Production)
-[X] In hours 24-48 (ish), build 10 Gladius Type Cs (2,583.9 million, 9,290 Production)
-[X] Total spent over 48 hours: 5,293.3 million credits, 19,856 Production
You manage to get though 24 hours of build cycles, before...
"Light wakes detected, 35 signatures," Cortana informs you as she receives an alert from the warships orbiting Mindoir.
You stop trying to figure out how to get any more of the shields working, times up. A thought brings up a 3D view of local space.
Incoming at Mindoir you can see the light wakes of 35 unknown ships represented as mere lines, on the displayed scale. Details are added as the ships close, decelerating from their in-system FTL transit. One assumed dreadnought, six assumed cruisers, twenty-eight frigate escorts, no SA or other friendly IFF signals.
The joint SA and ParSec Fleet moves to intercept and as the unknown fleet flips to bring its guns to bear combat is joined. Your view of the battle becomes less accurate the space above Mindoir turns into a chaotic mess, for good or ill Landing is rotated away from the battle and your space factories as well.
A few moments in you notice something odd, the dreadnought sized vessel hasn't slowed down any were near as much as its fellows, having blown past the defending ships. Hopefully taking a few hits in the process. In fact it's... on an orbital insertion course? Who the hell is insane enough to land a dreadnought? Ah... when it's not a dreadnought; you'd do it when it's a carrier, obviously. Still landing one implies either an expensive vessel or technological ability beyond what most Citadel races have as no one builds land-able ships larger than a frigate, it costs to damn much.
One of the Gladii squadrons pursued and managed to get a few missiles in as the ship hit atmosphere, before being forced to break off.
You look outside and can see the descending pseudo-meteor, its blazing drive slowing it from orbital speed to ones more suited to Mindoir's atmosphere. Even with the Mk I eyeball (aided by you ANI of course!) you can tell its landing point will be close.
The commander of the local forces is already orienting the SA artillery to bombard the landing site, a clear field not 30km from the city's edge. With luck the impact won't be totally controlled and the shields will be down allowing a few hits.
The ship lands and as it lithobraking the last few meters per second of its speed away it it greeted by a hail of fire. All too quickly the shields snap back on blocking out the rounds as bays open on the ship's sides.
Well there's an invasion going on so obviously you're your Legionary. But what is the thing mounting? You've got four arm mounts two on each and four shoulder slots two to a side. The Legionary can carry a heavy weapon in its arms and it's got space for one armor mod.
[ ] Loadout
-[ ] Arm 1 Right: (???)
-[ ] Arm 1 Left: (???)
-[ ] Arm 2 Right: (???)
-[ ] Arm 2 Left: (???)
-[ ] Shoulder 1 Right: (???)
-[ ] Shoulder 1 Left: (???)
-[ ] Shoulder 2 Right: (???)
-[ ] Shoulder 2 Left: (???)
-[ ] Carried Weapon: (???)
-[ ] Armor Mod: (???)
Stuff that can go in these spots (None is also valid):
Right so landed carrier, will you join in attacking it? Or will you stay back and do something else?
[ ] Join in the attack, they could use another person in armor.
[ ] You'd be far more helpful in the back, not getting shot at.
-----
GM's Note finals done, life taken care off... moving on than. I wish that I had more ideas for the PSS convention., but my brain is blanking, there wouldn't be much player choice so I hit all the highlights I could think off. Had a long mental debate about how to present the last event, was tempted to jump to Commodore Robert's perspective for a bit... may still do so in the next update.
There maybe valid items I'm not thinking of for the Legionary... ask if if you think I've missed one.
Well have any other questions ask away as well. If the fine art of gearing up isn't your thing, you can as always feel free to not vote that part.
2174-Q2
Spare Time (pick two):
[X] Continue Peak Human Treatment (Full Captain America Upgrade, Part 2/5 Done), maybe chosen twice
-[X] Ghost in the machine! You can have lots of fun with admin access to all the nice holographic screens and projectors. You may even be able to catch Kasumi!
Kasumi manages to evade you for the time being. She is clever enough to avoid your electronic eyes and be well hidden when the cloak runs out of time.
A memorable incident over these last few months was running into Gaver Dor and Jack at one of the weapon test ranges.
"Okay try that again." Gaver says looking at a screen.
Jack move her hand in a swift arc, from it comes a ripple of biotic power which flies at a target. The ripple cuts a deep grove in the material.
"Isn't that the new armor we were working on?" you ask, "Further more please tell me your not teaching Jack to throw DES blades."
"Yep, new armor stuff. Also I'm not teaching her to throw DES blades," Gaver grins, "I'm teaching her to fire them! Which may or may not lead to some practical project in the future. Stable complex fine field effects aren't my thing... maybe some one else can do something with it..." He shrugs.
"Gaver has such wonderful ideas. I do like him." Indigo chimes in, "Being able to claw things at a distance will be very nice."
"Right looks, like you'll have to lag the off set field based on range if you want full effect... so most just practicing." Gaver says.
Jack nods. Well you did say Jack could use the room to practice if no one else was... and having more positive social interaction is good. Not much you can do about Gaver offering suggestion on how to user her biotics better in his off time either. Still Jack really doesn't need to be any more deadly.
[X] Continue Peak Human Treatment (Full Captain America Upgrade, Part 2/5 Done), maybe chosen twice
-[X] Study Diplomacy/Etiquette/Negotiation
Nothing like learning while doing! And you are pretty good at talking to people when you try, with CASIE's help of course.
Regardless you spend you time working with your marking team convincing people to give PI their money. You'd say you did pretty well and have learned a great deal from the folks on the marketing team.
Negotiation +1
What will your response be?
[X] "...'Courting' wasn't the idea there; I value you too much, both your friendship and your expertise, to want to pressure you like that. If you want to catch a movie, or whatever people like us would do, that might be fun though."
"...'Courting wasn't the idea there;" you continue, " I value you too much, both your friendship and your expertise, to want to pressure you like that. If you want to catch a movie, or whatever people like us would do, that might be fun though."
"Ah... good," Liara offers a small smile, her motions calming, "If you were, you were doing it wrong. Unless humans had their own similar formal interaction. After we first met I did wonder, with the Governor's ball and all and I thought, 'well maybe?' Especially if you had heard a bit of cultural trivia and went with it. People do that, Asari schools actually caution children way from doing that."
"Really?" you ask curious, "That's in mandatory schooling for kids?"
"Yes Asari are almost worse about it, we love integrating bits of other cultures, borrowing ideas we like. Of course culture is a big deal. Do it wrong and people get offended. Social dynamics, cultural pluralism, all important things to teach children." Liara pauses, "I wasn't that good at it save the theory. Humans don't?"
Huh, you consider, that would have made school different. "Well, no I hear that college's liberal arts cores cover a little bit of that. I may have started a business instead of going. And I'm side tracking us. So...?"
Liara thinks for a moment, "I...am open to the idea of spending time with you more..." she slowly returns to her more flustered state, "socially, romantically... whatever the word is? Though, I honestly can say it don't know what 'people like us" do. I'm not really a people person."
"Well apparently we sit around and discuss comparative schooling practices." you joke, which gets a small smile, "though I have to confess to actually finding the subject interesting."
"I can't disagree with that." Liara responds as you share amused smiles.
Will you go?
[X] Sure
The trip to the convention is uneventful. You bring a long a several examples of technologies you've developed that fit in with the convention's stated goals.
The convention is a great deal of fun. While you are a scientist, you are also an engineer and that's fundamentally what this thing is about. Engineering solutions to problems and applying technology to it's best benefit.
The arc-reactor is quickly trivializing power even more so than fusion did and you've got new stuff to show off, mobile per-fabricated housing for one, even the peak-human treatment and your partnership with Sirta are inline with the Society's goals. Sirta even gives a brief talk about their deployment methodology. Applying the technology to everyone would be the next, logical, step, further spreading highly effective health care at reasonable economic cost.
You sit on a panel discussing the effects of hyper-modularity on resource needs, which offers an interesting perspective on how the tech allows for a person to get by on owning far less stuff.
Your are mildly surprised to see a fair number of Quarians. Apparently their long history of doing a lot with a little is valued here and the solutions they have found useful to advancing the Society's goals.
The captain of the Dahja, one of the Quarian's secondary food production ships, expresses an interest in the mobile housing; however for the Quarians it would be great if the housing could be towed while deployed. A massive amount of Quarian defense strategy revolves around them all living on ships and using that to run away.
Adding a small mass reduction system and an inertial dampener would make that possible for smaller combined sections at least.
Regardless, you feel that this was time well spent, both personally and PR wise The effect on product ordering agree with you.
+1 billion credits more per quarter from general fabrication licenses
More publicity about how PI is doing awesome things to help people and making cool stuff!
Well that's a not good sign, if an enemy is coming you don't have long. What sort of preparations will you make?
[X] Some of the city shielding working would be better than none. (-200 million credits)
-[X] Coordinate with the Alliance and City Government to make sure the Civilians know which sections of the city are covered by shields and can evacuate to those locations.
It's been a while since you've played mechanic as opposed to researcher. With some hard work and creative solutions you estimate that the shield is 40% operational.
[X] Call a Tactical Alert for security forces and ParSec (2 12-hour shifts on 24-hour rotation, A/B watches, allocate up to 100 million in overtime pay)
-[X] Coordinate with the City Government, distribute drones in squads of 12 Accipiters/6 Tribulus throughout the cities to act as a fast reaction force (50 squads--600 Accipiters and 300 Tribulus drones each--for S. Carthage and La Morte, 100 squads--1,200 Accipiters and 600 Tribulus drones--for Landing), have ParSec coordinate drones.
As most of your particularly talented commanders are an Anhur at the moment, your local commanders (both security and ParSec) have chosen to subordinate their commands to the local SA forces to improve coordination. Since effectively all of them are ex-SA soldiers this is not a real issue.
The SA commanders agree that as these drones do not need to R&R as others do pre-deploying them in case of raiders is a good plan.
-[X] In the first 12 hours, build 1,000 Sagittarius drones, 1,000 Aspidai drones, and 10 Standard Anti-ship missiles (1,395 million, 6,000 production). Distribute 600 of those drones to the various fast-reaction forces (3 each per squad).
-[X] In the second 12 hours, build 20 Tigers, 10 Standard Anti-ship missiles, 100 Hydras, 192 Legionaries, and 1,000 Piliums (1,314.4 million, 4566 Production)
-[X] Total spent over 48 hours: 5,293.3 million credits, 19,856 Production
You manage to get though 24 hours of build cycles, before...
"Light wakes detected, 35 signatures," Cortana informs you as she receives an alert from the warships orbiting Mindoir.
You stop trying to figure out how to get any more of the shields working, times up. A thought brings up a 3D view of local space.
Incoming at Mindoir you can see the light wakes of 35 unknown ships represented as mere lines, on the displayed scale. Details are added as the ships close, decelerating from their in-system FTL transit. One assumed dreadnought, six assumed cruisers, twenty-eight frigate escorts, no SA or other friendly IFF signals.
The joint SA and ParSec Fleet moves to intercept and as the unknown fleet flips to bring its guns to bear combat is joined. Your view of the battle becomes less accurate the space above Mindoir turns into a chaotic mess, for good or ill Landing is rotated away from the battle and your space factories as well.
A few moments in you notice something odd, the dreadnought sized vessel hasn't slowed down any were near as much as its fellows, having blown past the defending ships. Hopefully taking a few hits in the process. In fact it's... on an orbital insertion course? Who the hell is insane enough to land a dreadnought? Ah... when it's not a dreadnought; you'd do it when it's a carrier, obviously. Still landing one implies either an expensive vessel or technological ability beyond what most Citadel races have as no one builds land-able ships larger than a frigate, it costs to damn much.
One of the Gladii squadrons pursued and managed to get a few missiles in as the ship hit atmosphere, before being forced to break off.
You look outside and can see the descending pseudo-meteor, its blazing drive slowing it from orbital speed to ones more suited to Mindoir's atmosphere. Even with the Mk I eyeball (aided by you ANI of course!) you can tell its landing point will be close.
The commander of the local forces is already orienting the SA artillery to bombard the landing site, a clear field not 30km from the city's edge. With luck the impact won't be totally controlled and the shields will be down allowing a few hits.
The ship lands and as it lithobraking the last few meters per second of its speed away it it greeted by a hail of fire. All too quickly the shields snap back on blocking out the rounds as bays open on the ship's sides.
Well there's an invasion going on so obviously you're your Legionary. But what is the thing mounting? You've got four arm mounts two on each and four shoulder slots two to a side. The Legionary can carry a heavy weapon in its arms and it's got space for one armor mod.
[ ] Loadout
-[ ] Arm 1 Right: (???)
-[ ] Arm 1 Left: (???)
-[ ] Arm 2 Right: (???)
-[ ] Arm 2 Left: (???)
-[ ] Shoulder 1 Right: (???)
-[ ] Shoulder 1 Left: (???)
-[ ] Shoulder 2 Right: (???)
-[ ] Shoulder 2 Left: (???)
-[ ] Carried Weapon: (???)
-[ ] Armor Mod: (???)
Stuff that can go in these spots (None is also valid):
Mount Options:
Hasta-S (30cm)
Hasta-L (60cm)
Pilum Launcher (3 Rounds)
Micro Missile VLS Strip (Around few hundred shots)
SMG AMS Turret (Shoulder Mounts Only)
Repulsor Turret (Shoulders)/Blaster (Arms)
Guardian Angel Shield Projector (Shoulder Mounts Only, uses one on each side)
Non-Lethal Take Down Package (Sonic, Electrotaser, Etc)
20 mm Grenade Launcher
Omni-tool/Omni-Blade
Flamer
Heavy Weapons (Carried):
Plasma Ball Gun
Electro-Laser Cannon
Proton Cannon
HEAP Autocannon
Mass Accelerator Cannon
Hasta-R
Micro Missile Cannon
Repulsor Cannon
Hand Held Pilum Launcher
Armor Mods:
Stealth Mod
Warp Barriers Mod
Any ME Canon Mod (Don't worry about grade)
Hasta-S (30cm)
Hasta-L (60cm)
Pilum Launcher (3 Rounds)
Micro Missile VLS Strip (Around few hundred shots)
SMG AMS Turret (Shoulder Mounts Only)
Repulsor Turret (Shoulders)/Blaster (Arms)
Guardian Angel Shield Projector (Shoulder Mounts Only, uses one on each side)
Non-Lethal Take Down Package (Sonic, Electrotaser, Etc)
20 mm Grenade Launcher
Omni-tool/Omni-Blade
Flamer
Heavy Weapons (Carried):
Plasma Ball Gun
Electro-Laser Cannon
Proton Cannon
HEAP Autocannon
Mass Accelerator Cannon
Hasta-R
Micro Missile Cannon
Repulsor Cannon
Hand Held Pilum Launcher
Armor Mods:
Stealth Mod
Warp Barriers Mod
Any ME Canon Mod (Don't worry about grade)
- Hasta-X: Basically an autocannon. A MAC weapon with high rates of fire and decent per shot power. Size S (30cm), L (60cm), R (~90cm) affects firepower.
- Pilum Launcher: Powerful anti-tank weapon, currently on Mark II. Has shield bypass ability, but will fail against stronger shields (Stronger than a pre-PI MBT's shields mind). Most launchers carry three rounds.
- Micro Missile VLS Strip: One hit one kill vs most unarmored or lightly armored infantry. Medium and stronger hard-suits provide reasonable defense. Contains hundreds of shots.
- SMG AMS Turret: While the 30cm Hasta-S can work as a reasonable AMS weapon this device is optimized to provide maximum AMS ability.
- Repulsor Weapons: Eats power (14% of max power each) and has short range but is quite effective. The Legionary can usually fire 6 at once, but flying reduces that to 1-2 depending on level of flight use.
- Guardian Angle Shield Projector: Increases shields to 250% of normal and allows projection of shields. Uses two shoulder mounts one on each side.
- Non-Lethal Take Down Package: Bunch of non-lethal weapons, not effective against most armored infantry.
- 20 mm Grenade Launcher: Grenade Launcher, uses PI improved warheads and has Smart Detonation abilities.
- Omni-tool/Omni-Blade: More of an excretion for the wearer's omni-tool as the suit would normally get in the way.
- Flamer: Comes in both plasma flame and jelly forms.
- Plasma Ball Gun: Fires balls of plasma much like the ME2 omni-tool power Incinerate, just stronger. Short range, great for anti-armor work, poor against shields. Also good vs Krogan and Vorcha.
- Electrolaser Cannon: Uses a laser to Ionize a path and then fires a high powered bolt of lightning down the ionized path. Best for in atmosphere use. Long range, good anti-shield functionality, mediocre power.
- Proton Cannon: Fires bolts of Protons. Decent range, good power, good anti-shield functionality.
- HEAP Autocannon: Fires High Explosive Armor Penetrating shells from a MAC. Rapid fire, good vs armor, high damage, ammunition limited. Low quality ammunition may be made with omni-gel and an omni-tool, though not fast enough to sustain fire. Usually has a few hundred rounds
- Mass Accelerator Cannon: Large MAC weapon usually high caliber with low fire rate.
- Micro Missile Cannon: Fires a micro-missile from a MAC. Ammunition limited, usually has a few hundred or more rounds.
- Hand Held Pilum Launcher: Larger launcher for pilum missiles has acceleration coils to increase launch speed.
- Warp Barriers Mod: A modification to an armor's barriers to create warp effects. Provides anti-missile and melee bonuses.
- Stealth Mod: A modification to an armor giving it a layer of adaptive camouflage and other stealth effects. Bonuses to hiding and evasion.
Right so landed carrier, will you join in attacking it? Or will you stay back and do something else?
[ ] Join in the attack, they could use another person in armor.
[ ] You'd be far more helpful in the back, not getting shot at.
-----
GM's Note finals done, life taken care off... moving on than. I wish that I had more ideas for the PSS convention., but my brain is blanking, there wouldn't be much player choice so I hit all the highlights I could think off. Had a long mental debate about how to present the last event, was tempted to jump to Commodore Robert's perspective for a bit... may still do so in the next update.
There maybe valid items I'm not thinking of for the Legionary... ask if if you think I've missed one.
Well have any other questions ask away as well. If the fine art of gearing up isn't your thing, you can as always feel free to not vote that part.
Well there's an invasion going on so obviously you're your Legionary. But what is the thing mounting? You've got four arm mounts two on each and four shoulder slots two to a side. The Legionary can carry a heavy weapon in its arms and it's got space for one armor mod.
[ ] Loadout
-[ ] Arm 1 Right: (???)
-[ ] Arm 1 Left: (???)
-[ ] Arm 2 Right: (???)
-[ ] Arm 2 Left: (???)
-[ ] Shoulder 1 Right: (???)
-[ ] Shoulder 1 Left: (???)
-[ ] Shoulder 2 Right: (???)
-[ ] Shoulder 2 Left: (???)
-[ ] Carried Weapon: (???)
-[ ] Armor Mod: (???)
Right so landed carrier, will you join in attacking it? Or will you stay back and do something else?
[ ] Join in the attack, they could use another person in armor.
[ ] You'd be far more helpful in the back, not getting shot at.
[ ] Loadout
-[ ] Arm 1 Right: (???)
-[ ] Arm 1 Left: (???)
-[ ] Arm 2 Right: (???)
-[ ] Arm 2 Left: (???)
-[ ] Shoulder 1 Right: (???)
-[ ] Shoulder 1 Left: (???)
-[ ] Shoulder 2 Right: (???)
-[ ] Shoulder 2 Left: (???)
-[ ] Carried Weapon: (???)
-[ ] Armor Mod: (???)
Right so landed carrier, will you join in attacking it? Or will you stay back and do something else?
[ ] Join in the attack, they could use another person in armor.
[ ] You'd be far more helpful in the back, not getting shot at.
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I delayed posting any of that 'till the update was basically done, so have an update! Happy now?
- Location
- the Netherworld Dood
Oh, Reaper... crap
Darik29
Verified Delicious
Hey now, it doesn't Have to be a Reaper!
I mean, I can't honestly think of any Dreadnought sized craft that can land on a planet without breaking apart, but that doesn't mean it Has to be a Reaper!
Dark Ness
Rises Where Silence Dies
- Location
- The Primordial Soup
*Update is posted a minute later**sees OP posted with 1.1k words*
*hopes for update*
*not an update*
You would think that Hoyr updating more regularly would make people stop complaining, but I guess there is no pleasing some people.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Impeccable timing, and excellent use of dramatic irony. *applauds*
edit: Also, sorry if it seemed like I was complaining, I was actually poking fun at how Hoyr's long responses make me hopeful of an update before crushing my hopes and dreams with economic and technical data.
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You may stop panicking as much... It's too short, I'd have called it a super-dreadnought and called out it's abnormally large size if it was a proper capital Reaper. Also you have a vague idea of what Reapers look like after getting that Prothean Memory thingy..
It's an otherwise normal looking dreadnought sized carrier. That is built to land on planets, something fishy is up, but it's not a 2km long cuttlefish in the sky.
(This of course technically doesn't mean that Reapers couldn't be involved or something but that's being paranoid and you know what they say about that!)
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