The basic Scout sloop we have is -1 DP, we can have up to 8 DP available, I've already provided a design for what that looks like last turn. Here's an "Elite" Scout Sloop that costs a Destroyer slot to build, so twice as much, but can be slotted into Automation.
Seventeen points to spend, only highlighting the cost of new stuff that costs DP more than the basic one, this would be the absurd high-end one with elite crews ready and able to go on long-range patrols far behind enemy lines with... not much in the way of weaponry.
This is my version of the automation scout:
Made it a bit bigger so the Tiny On-Board Manufactory can fit inside, gave it the protection against stellar phenomena and the option to leave from anywhere in a system.
[] [Destroyer] Class Name
-[] Sketch (Purely Optional)
-[] Length - 1.300 Meters +3
-[] Width - 300 Meters +2
-[] Acceleration - 8 Gravities
-[] Armor - Thin Double Hull
-[] Shields - One Array
-[] Weapons - 2x Light Missile Batteries(2)
-[] Equipment
--[] Missile-Swarms - Triples all missiles fired by a missile weapon.(1)
--[] Superior Gravimetric Engine Calculations - Like a leaf through the wind, a tear within the rain.(1)
--[] Emergency Maneuver Engines - Inertia is a force not rapidly brought to heel. Yet, needs must, and a ship that survives damage is a ship that can be repaired instead of salvaged after being struck by enemy fire it couldn't evade.(1)
--[] Anti-Radiation Hardening - A minor alteration to our ships armors to proof them against radiation-based weaponry or stellar phenomena.(2)
--[] Luxurious Crew Amenities - Morale is a far different beast within the void than it is on the ground. If a crew gets angry, there isn't a place to run to when the place itself can move around. Ensuring the crews can blow off steam with all manner of games, learning, vice, and art will pay off, especially on long-term missions.(3)
--[] Tiny On-Board Manufactory - Creating supply parts while en route or on patrol can greatly enhance the length of fleet operations away from friendly ports or allied outposts.(3)
--[] Emergency Transition Warp Breakers - Rather than relying on the need to reach a system's edge, these Warp Breakers allow a ship to enter the Warp from any position within a system. However, doing so is quite rough on the ship and the Gellar Field, and has a chance that both simply break under the stress if used too often. Yet, such will be quite useful if a retreat within battle is required for ships too important to risk.(5)
--[] Ship Shrines - Shrines dedicated to the Machine Spirit of the ship, the crew lost in battles and operations past, and to bolster the faith of all aboard.(1)
In general I'm in favor of this, but again not sure why the Heresy stuff is there. The Adherents of the Divine Lines would have difficulty causing problems for us given the lack of engagement for the Lamenters. I would almost prefer do do the research academy write-in, or the first action of the Orrery instead.
Also generally, I think that leaving the Heresies to rot is a problem. And... there's not a lack of engagement? We haven't spent an action on them in a while because it's all been automatic, but we fought together with them against Chaos for a good few decades not that long ago!
So it is! No idea what to add! Honestly, I think what'll happen at this rate is that when we have the Celestial Orrery we'll add it to the 8-DP version to get a better but less elite Super-Scout that would them obsolete my Elite Crew version.
...it'll be like the hardened whalers getting phased out by automation and better technology.
It'll inspire at least three movies and a half-dozen novels about the passing of a way of life.
The basic Scout sloop we have is -1 DP, we can have up to 8 DP available, I've already provided a design for what that looks like last turn. Here's an "Elite" Scout Sloop that costs a Destroyer slot to build, so twice as much, but can be slotted into Automation.
Seventeen points to spend, only highlighting the cost of new stuff that costs DP more than the basic one, this would be the absurd high-end one with elite crews ready and able to go on long-range patrols far behind enemy lines with... not much in the way of weaponry.
Nice, I do think this is a better design given automation. Only suggestion is to drop missile swarms and maybe one missile launcher in favor or luxurious quarters and more stealth? Not sure about the stealth.
Also generally, I think that leaving the Heresies to rot is a problem. And... there's not a lack of engagement? We haven't spent an action on them in a while because it's all been automatic, but we fought together with them against Chaos for a good few decades not that long ago!
Nice, I do think this is a better design given automation. Only suggestion is to drop missile swarms and maybe one missile launcher in favor or luxurious quarters and more stealth? Not sure about the stealth.
I meant lack of engagement of the lamenters with the divine lines.
Quarters are definitely the way to go if we do that, we can't get more Stealth without spending either 6 or 10 (or was it 11) DP. I got them both of the low-hanging Stealth DP options.
Version sans one Light Missile Battery but with nicer Crew Quarters for our hardened elite Scout Ship People. If we're getting rid of Missile Swarms, it should be for Tuned Shields, what do people think?
The latest innovation in Scouting technology, as a result of the Scouting Scandal of 701, in the wake of the almost entirely controversy free Cosntitutional Convention, wherein minor adjustments to tax law regulations and other such minutae were key... but one particular controversy did stick, and that was when the military had to actively caution Constitutional Delegates arguing for and against expanded minimum requirements for SDF and SAG contributions that their Scouting had an efficency of "20%" even to next-door systems, other than Voxx Primus, let alone far off systems.
This led to a shakeup and the death of several promising careers, and the introduction of a new design. Eschewing the "lowest bidder" standards of the previous Scout Sloop, and advertising only for the very best crew capable and willing of enduring great boredom punctuated by moments of extreme danger, it is an innovation across several fields.
First, its Tuned Shields as well as Destroyer-Standard Shield Array make it remarkably tough to damage despite its small size and weak armor, and the Supply Generation and Manufactory elements are well-rated and staffed, as everything else is, by experienced crew. Its use of some of the most reliable stealth technology available on a Destroyer-grade ship, combined with both the presence of shrines for the faithful and larger crew quarters considering that missions typically last months to years at minimum, sometimes with only occasional supply checkins, make it a ship that has captured the public imagination to an extent, the bold men, women, and those who do not fit the binary who reveal the galaxy to the planners of the Federation, such that the light of the Star Child might spread.
When asked why, in light of the reduction of its armaments and missile equipment, the Pyxis-Class has any missiles at all, "special situations" was cited as well as research and evidence that the ability to fire back in desperate moments of escape or fleeing can improve crew morale by quantifiable amounts.
[] Plan: Building Up A Fleet And Lining It UP--Mx. Automatic Version -[ ] [Military] Design New Voidship Classes -
--[] Libra Q --[] Pyxis-Class --[] Lupus-Secondus --[] Saggitarius-S ---[] [Free] Send the new Libra Q, Lupus-Secndus and Saggitarius-S straight to Ultima Sigritta as soon as they are completed and shaken down. -[] The Adherents of the Divine Lines
-[] [General] Research:
--[] Shipyard Automatization II (0/2)(1 and a Free Research)
Here's an updated plan vote, not quite done but closer to complete. I'll be gone when the vote opens, so trying to get some of this done now.
[] Plan: Make way for the next Generation
-[ ] [Military] Design New Voidship Classes
--[] Libra-Quartus (Libra-Q) Light Carrier --[]Sagittarius-Secundus (Sagittarius-S) Lance Frigate --[] Lupus-Secundus (Lupus-S) Torpedo Destroyer --[] Pyxis-Class High-Grade Scout Sloop -[] [General] Research:
--[] Shipyard Automatization II
-[] [Glimmering Research Academies] The Academic Initiatives are flourishing, facilitating improvements to the efficiency of research and production. But those involved all agree that there are more opportunities that lie fallow. A collection of proposals have been made to improve the research capabilities of the Glimmering Federation by establishing Research Academies throughout the Federation. These institutes would be dedicated to pursuing knowledge under the aegis of the Star Child, and would gather the most gifted technologists and scientists of the federation to encourage communication, collaboration and standardize the funding process for scientific advances. However, the efficiency gains from these changes are not the only purpose of the Academy, for they will also serve as the training ground for the next generations of researchers. A new test is to be implemented across the Federation, administered in parallel to the Psyker test that determines if one is fit for admission to the Choirs. This 'genius' test seeks to find those with unparalleled intellect and intuitive understanding for the natural world, then offer them the choice to join the Academies, where they will be provided with the best teachers the federation has to offer.
There's the draft of a plan. I think the third action can be a lot of things, including Heresy management or making Templars by militarizing our school. I'm also down with the research action being mind-machine interface, but I'd prefer it not be autoloader standardization because I don't think the payoff is worth it.
[] Plan: Make way for the next Generation
-[ ] [Military] Design New Voidship Classes
--[] Libra-Quartus (Libra-Q) Light Carrier --[]Sagittarius-Secundus (Sagittarius-S) Lance Frigate --[] Lupus-Secundus (Lupus-S) Torpedo Destroyer --[] Pyxis-Class High-Grade Scout Sloop -[] [General] Research:
--[] Shipyard Automatization II
-[] [Glimmering Research Academies] The Academic Initiatives are flourishing, facilitating improvements to the efficiency of research and production. But those involved all agree that there are more opportunities that lie fallow. A collection of proposals have been made to improve the research capabilities of the Glimmering Federation by establishing Research Academies throughout the Federation. These institutes would be dedicated to pursuing knowledge under the aegis of the Star Child, and would gather the most gifted technologists and scientists of the federation to encourage communication, collaboration and standardize the funding process for scientific advances. However, the efficiency gains from these changes are not the only purpose of the Academy, for they will also serve as the training ground for the next generations of researchers. A new test is to be implemented across the Federation, administered in parallel to the Psyker test that determines if one is fit for admission to the Choirs. This 'genius' test seeks to find those with unparalleled intellect and intuitive understanding for the natural world, then offer them the choice to join the Academies, where they will be provided with the best teachers the federation has to offer.
There's the draft of a plan. I think the third action can be a lot of things, including Heresy management or making Templars by militarizing our school. I'm also down with the research action being mind-machine interface, but I'd prefer it not be autoloader standardization because I don't think the payoff is worth it.
I'm a little bit skeptical of, like, some of the stuff in the Research Academies? I feel like there might be some very typical and obvious downsides to a "Genius Test."
The Genius Test does seem a bit odd, but I'm fine with all the rest.
It's hard to go wrong with more education, especially with the boons of higher education, as long as it's equal opportunity and doesn't immediately form a culture of exclusivity and elitism.
[] Plan: Building Up A Fleet And Lining It UP--Mx. Automatic Version -[ ] [Military] Design New Voidship Classes -
--[] Libra Q --[] Pyxis-Class --[] Lupus-Secondus --[] Saggitarius-S ---[] [Free] Send the new Libra Q, Lupus-Secndus and Saggitarius-S straight to Ultima Sigritta as soon as they are completed and shaken down. -[] The Adherents of the Divine Lines
-[] [General] Research:
--[] Shipyard Automatization II (0/2)(1 and a Free Research)
And there, the complete version. I won't be able to vote for it immediately, because I'll be at a play when the vote opens.
Yes, the point is that it will take advantage of the Destroyer Automation.
The Destroyer Automation provides 1 (soon two) Destroyers a turn without checking if they're Scouts or not, or what their DP costs are. So a "maxed out" Scout that would take 2 FP still just takes 1 Destroyer Slot while providing more use.
700 is supposed to be the Constitutional Convention, but there's (comparatively) little to talk about. The biggest debate of the whole meeting was about either moderately lowering or moderately increasing the percentage of their budget each planet should be required to invest in SDFs and SAGs.
Alarmists point to the Scouting maps as signs of incoming attacks, fearing these and demanding that each system that provides 1 SAG provide 2 instead, and increase its SDF budget by at least 10%.
Anti-Militarist Skeptics point to the SAME Scouting Maps as proof that things are fine, and we should reduce the SDF and SAG budget requirements by 5-10%, and let the systems decide if they want to keep up the same level or instead spend that on social spending/civilian aid/etc.
An embarrassed Navy Rep has to point out that for such long-term planning purposes, the Scouting Maps might as well be toilet paper and shouldn't be relied on either way, and everyone starts yelling.
Hyperactive 'Yeen Queen- Though the military forces of the Federation do their best to encourage and foster teamplay amongst its soldiers, some are simply not made to be part of a team. At least, not a large team. But one other? This Yeeni can do one other in their hunts as they set out with their Anansi as scouts and harriers, eagerly chomping at the bit to get dropped in the upcoming fight and show them Duchians what a Yeeni woman is made out of!
(Focus: Human-Yeeni interaction. Takes place shortly before the Voxxian Liberation starts.)
Yearn For War- Rouse the crew, let the heartbeat of unborn stars thrum deep within, and sing the cants of forgotten wars. The Kil'drabi fly for war once again, their ancient behemoths at the front, never one step behind.
(Focus: A Kil'drabi Battlecolony of your choices slips its moors to fly for war.)
Of Pork And Perseverance- A trader's life is rarely pleasant, and the life of one of their crew is even worse, yet the long voyages do have some advantages. You won't get put into jail if you can get back to the ship before the consequences of shore leave catch up. Booze On The Dirtsiders, Boys!
(Focus: A Freighter Crew plying the Warp Lanes of the Free Duchy make a stop with shore leave.)
They Shall Have A Queen - Marian Anne Taylor Nightingale Septimus the 34th. Queen Marian Anne Taylor Nightingale Septimus the 34th. It has a ring to it, doesn't it? Yes, a name and title worthy of the Black Ash Clan...but not for her. Those words mean nothing to her. The throne is hers by iron might, and it will, in time, be conquered by iron might again. But she will not let that happen. The legacy of her family, and the futures of her children, guide and force her hand. If she has to burn a thousand more foolish women and girls to make this a nation in more than name, then so be it. She will crush their skulls herself if need be.
(Focus: A new reign begins for the Black Ash Clan...and it begins with the bending of knees.)
Where Our Homes Used To Be - Life upon Where Iron Screams, Where Gods Die, and Where Dreams Bloom is not easy. The deserts claim more and more with every year, and soon, nothing will be left of their people. Bees are already extinct, and candles slowly vanish. Faith will quickly follow. Yet, the roads are still free, their vehicles still run, and the portals that connect their planets are still open. Time to make themselves a new home.
(Focus: A clan upon one of the three planets mentioned above establishes a new home for themselves amidst dying worlds.)
Buisness Is Boomin'! - Why worry when money is being made hand over fist by fighting for the Hegemony against their foes? Why care about the civil wars of the Clan if they burn their money on them doing nothing at all besides stand around and look pretty? Let them spend what they want; their coffers are open, and their home can offer a hundred pleasures and ways to spend that hard-earned money.
(Focus: A Black Cat Company detachment deployment for one of the mentioned nations.)
One Must Imagine A Cog Happy- For a cog knows its place. Knows its purpose. Knows that it has a duty that shall be fulfilled and when it will no longer have to do said duty. But they are not a cog. Not anymore. They are something else. They. Are. Sand. A bit thrown into a machine that grinds people into fuel and goods does nothing...but throw some more? Again? And again? The gears slow. The cogs break. The machinery slows...and it must be halted to perform maintenance. But it shall not start again. Not if they have any say in it.
(Focus: A rebel cell within the Croaf Hegemony prepares their next strike in a seemingly endless war. There is nothing but cold fury and old hatred to be found.)
BURN THEIR HOMES! BAR THE BANKS! STRIKE NOW! - The Ashan Families are made up of those who want one thing, and one thing only: money. Though power is part of that, everyone, from the lowest union member to the highest mafia boss, desires one thing: to make it rich. Everything bends in that direction, and though barely a functioning state, thanks to that, the Families hold together when it comes to those willing to burn it all down. Many have tried, and many will follow.
(Focus: An anti-government riot is brutally put down by the enforcers of the Ashan Families.)
Horrors In The Depths- There are many among the Mashan who remember through the scrolls and the wisdom of their elders the days when the galaxy was a far more peaceful place, when Humanity stood atop the mountains as sovereign and wise rulers of the materium that reached with open hands to all who grasped them. They also remember those who Humanity did not give an open hand but a closed fist, peoples and beings of such revulsion and horror that even they, those who tried to deal fairly with the Eldar Empire, took no chances upon and gave no mercy. The Mashan did not aid one of those fists in their memories. They now wish they had, if only to remember the lessons learned in blood by Humanity again and again.
(Focus: The war against the Cleansing Rain continues, and the death of a people who only know savagery approaches.)
A History Of Strife- Sacrifice everything. Sacrifice anything. Sacrifice the future and the past, so you may just have a chance to hold the present. The scars of war run deep, yet the effects ripple deeper. Never Again. The Alliance was brought to the edge of eternal damnation, and they rejected it wholly with every generation thereafter. Let the graves of our forebearers tell the price when one falls to the temptations of the daemonic.
(Focus: A visit to a monument or holy site warning of the dangers of Chaos.)
Dew Upon The Petals
Their reach has expanded to new horizons, yet it remains as small as it has ever been. With old friends now old allies, what glory awaits those who know there shall be dew upon the petals.
(Focus: Shipwright's Alliance and Stellar Growth merger.)
Age Of Blood - In burning war were these nations born, in burning war did these nations stand. A hundred hundred corpses tall did the mounds of the soldiers and civilians grow with every fight, and blood flowed as freely as did water. And yet, with cruelty unbound, so too come those who bind themselves in chains of honor and those who follow them unto the end.
(Focus: As nations rise, so too do the casualties when war is declared. Codes of Honor and Conduct are created to stem the tide of blood..)
[Negaverse] - Hetalia Some Events
A nun with an HMG, her (self-declared) anthro hyena boyfriend carrying the magazine drums, and her Kil'drabi bestie towing the artillery go on an adventure!
(Focus: Write some Hetalia meme/crack omake.)
The Smell Of Rain- A group of Human and Yeeni soldiers sit around a campfire at night, celebrating the latters elevation to KIn after 300 years. Tomorrow, they will continue with their training mission, but today? Today, they talk, laugh, and exchange the weirdness of each other's biology, like a human's freakish ability to smell the rain.
(Focus: Human-Yeeni interaction.)
Friends Among The Thules- It is...truly frightening what a combination of boredom, long deployments, longer training sessions, and a dearth of new people can do when they combine and distill themselves into a group of Thules let free from the confines of their ship unto a waystation to run rampant, especially when the only person staffing the only bar on said station is a newly arrived, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, happy and naive Yeeni not yet wise to the ways of the Thules.
(Focus: Human-Yeeni interaction.)
Oil, Engines, Void, And Stations- The heartbeat of nations is not within their cultures or faiths but within the might offered and drums beaten by their industry. One such hammer upon the drums is this mining station, home to a gaggle of Kil'drabi eagerly biting deeply into asteroids as their human counterparts smelt and refine the metals gathered by their extremophile kin.
(Focus: Human-Kil'drabi interaction.)
Rule The Wastes- For the tribes and mutants (and even worse) that roam the Wastes between the Hives of Voxx Primus, there is nothing to be done in one's day than to scrounge up the materials for survival. There is no time for fancy art, religion that requires more than one's word (and even then mostly not even that), and for fancy dreams. But when opportunity knocks...one grabs it with gun and knive in hand.
(Focus: A violent clash between a Voxx Primus Waste Tribe and your Infiltrators.)
Rise Of Ruin- Kill or Die. The only rule that exists within the Underhive that all must bow to. There is no other option, for to lay one's weapons and killing intent away is to surrender one's life. Yet, offered a chance for something better, to fight for something better, weapons are eagerly taken up by those who once had nothing to look forward to. For the Star Child, the salvation of their worthless lives and the harbinger of doom upon the nobs.
(Focus: Recently converted Voxx Primus Underhive Gang fighting for the Star Child independently of you.)
The Garden Built Under A Noble Houses Ambitions- Ah, this oh, so, pleasant world has all one might desire. Nature unspoiled by the unpleasantness of industry and smog. Cities built to please the eyes in their curves and arts. People who know how to dress and act in the presence of their betters, as well as how to please them in the ways of the court and nobility! Simply a wonderful world...if it wasn't also known to be the place where the nobility of the Free Duchy exiles its offspring to when they are currently not needed.
(Focus: House Manna's personal Garden World and the intrigues happening there as seen from a servant.)
Kings Kneel, Knights Kill- Honor! Duty! Glory! Words to live by, words to die by! By Strength; Mercy! The words of her House are the only words she shall ever heed. Let all the other useless girls prance and laugh all they want when they finish their duels for the throne; she did not join to end up as the ruler of a gaggle of bickering whiners! Her mother and mother-mothers bore witness to the fall of their House, but she shall ensure that their ghosts shall witness their rise once more because she shall win by any means. Mercy is for the weak, for only the strong can give it. And she is not yet strong...
(Focus: A contender for the Black Ash Clan Throne enters...and wins against all odds.)
Temples Upon The Mountains- It is said, in the texts of their ancestors, that a Xenos cannot be trusted. That they will do anything to trick, kill, and destroy you and all you hold holy. These people cannot understand that such an idea was ever regarded as wisdom. They have peace. Their children have peace. There is no suffering, and their ailments are taken care of with the aid of healers and faith; food is plentiful, and there is no cloud on the horizon. Just as the winds flutter the banners upon the mountains and the temples, so too have the Mashan heralded prosperity for body and soul.
(Focus: A human villager within a Mashan Temple Authority-held world goes about their peaceful day.)
A Legacy Of War- Their fight was long. It was bloody. It took much, demanded more, and destroyed all. Hands were fed to its slavering maw, bodies broken upon the anvil of war, souls sacrificed with every day, and the howling of those left behind by the honored dead grew silent with each one taken to the front. And yet, the war is long over. The scars are there...but the wounds have healed. The children grow strong, no longer slaving to create guns but chafing as they are forced to learn to read and write. It is an odd thing for one who has witnessed it all...yet they find it a good oddity.
(Focus: A veteran of the 621 United Cults War dies. They recall the changes, good and bad, as their soul slips away into oblivion.)
A Planet Grown Anew- Place the seeds, till the soils, mix the waters, and churn the growths. Turn the tables, guide the growths, burn the forests, mix the ashes. Seed the clouds, water the charred earths, relish the sunlight, chatter with the fishes. March with the insects, uplift the amebas, downgrade the pests, and enjoy a rest. A world now living where before there was none. Another world awaits to have life donated to its dead shores.
(Focus: The Irrita terraform another planet.)
To Scorch The Past- The Stellar Growth was not always the way it was. They had, once, been poor caretakers of their home, growing and growing without care, thinking that the soils of the world were endless and would never sour. Generations of suffering averted only by an effort that united their people within their cradle of Earth in Sol was their thanks. And once more, their people gather where they can, their thoughts on those decades of death brought by greedy roots, and the lessons learned.
(Focus: A memorial held, a history remembered.)
Stellar Eninges - For others, the creation of a Warp Drive is a process of industry, religion, and logistics, minds of war and production coming together to defy the infinite distances between the tiny beds of safety careening through the void between worlds. For the Irrita, it is the equivalent of repairing an engine for a car they are restoring.
(Focus: A young Irrita in the middle of constructing their very first Warp Drive.)
Vicious Thorns - Though one may think that the Irrita are peaceful folk who prefer to trade and grow over any kind of violence, to think that they are incapable of bearing vicious thorns and poison'd spore against those who wish them is a fools thought.
(Focus: Some manner of fighting with an Irrita against an self-chosen foe.)
Age Of Heroes - As the cycles turn, and the age of cities turns into the age of leagues and empires, so too does the ages turn their face unto the leaders and shapers of their people, those heroes who shall echo into eternity!
(Focus: Mothomes inner-city warfare or diplomacy to establish new nations.)
The latest innovation in Scouting technology, as a result of the Scouting Scandal of 701, in the wake of the almost entirely controversy free Cosntitutional Convention
I mean, I 100% forgot that the convention should happen last Turn. And...there kinda is something to talk about, at least from my end for you. Sooooo....as the powers that come with being a QM, I hereby declare that tomorrow shall be the Convention Update, and that it'll be slotted in between the Turn today and yesterday in the chronology.
I mean, I 100% forgot that the convention should happen last Turn. And...there kinda is something to talk about, at least from my end for you. Sooooo....as the powers that come with being a QM, I hereby declare that tomorrow shall be the Convention Update, and that it'll be slotted in between the Turn today and yesterday in the chronology.
