Age of Mechs: Rise of a Polity (A Battletech Quest)

Budget: 114,000/120,000 Credits
Bays: 48/48
People/Housing = 605,000/630,000
Power: 88/140

Colonist 9 Bays -26,500
Cyro Bay x1 2,000
Human Gene Bank x1 1500
Multi-Storage Gene Bank x1 2,500
Luxury Quarter x5 -30,000
Penal Cyro Bay x1 -2500

Scientific 7 Bays 29,500
Scientific and Technological Storage vault x2 8,000
Scientists Grants x3 4,500
Basic Science Equipment x1 2,000
Advanced Scientific Equipment x2 6,000
Colonial Scientific Institute x2 9,000

Food and Agri 8.5 Bays 17,500
Advanced Farming Equipment x4 4,000 (2 bays)
Preserved Foods x3 1,500 (1.5 bays)
Animal Gene Banks x2 3,000
Vat Grown Meat Equipment x1 2,500 -1
Seed Banks x2 2,000
Farmer Grants x3 4,500

Civ Ind 8 bays 25,500
Building Equipment and Vehicles x2 6,000
Industrial Workers Grant x3 4,500
Fuel Refinery x1 2,000 -2
Water Purification Plant x2 3,000 -2
Automated KF Drive Factory x2 10,000 -10 3 bays

Mil Ind 8.5 bays 27,000
Military Vehicle and Equipment Database Vault x1 4000
Modern Infantry Equipment x2 1 bay 5,000
Modern light vehicles x1 .5 bay 3,500
Modern Surveillance x1 1,500 -1
Outdated Heavy vehicles x1 3,500
Outdated Aircraft x1 3,000
Mil factory x1 4,000 -2
Munitions factory x1 1,000 -.5
Outdated Military Vehicle and Equipment Database Vault x1 1500

Military 7,000 Credits
Grants to Combat Veterans around the world and their families x2 5,000
Grants towards the private sector military groups and their families x1 2000

Mining 1 Bay 1,000 credits
Steel Factory x1 1,000 -.5

Energy: 6 bays, 33,000 Credits
Fusion Power Plant x2 9000
Solar Panel and Battery Factory x2 8,000 -2
Automated Fusion Generator Factory x2 16,000 -10

Very early incomplete thoughts, trying to get some essentials in place for future growth- bringing enough farming equipment to feed 600k from the modern farms and another 400k via hydroponic farms might bring along 1 bay of perserved foods (feeds 300k) as backup since that would be 1k credits. A lot of sections are incomplete

Edit- Fleshed it out a lot more, built in some redundancy as well as hoping for a quicker startup.

[] Origins- German
[] A Scientist
[] Entrepreneur
-[] Do you bring them along (adopt aesthetic of your core nationality) (same bonuses and cultures as in the previous turn)
[] West South West

German origins for more automated industry tech to go with France and Japans industry and resource gathering

Mad0Slayer said:

Bolt On Spots: Small External Containers bolted onto a jumpship, they run the risk of been lost in a jump to a new system and can cause a hullbreak on a ship while jumping crippling the jumpship and losing some of it's cargo or personal. (Current Hullbreak DC check is 75 while losing the containers has a DC of 55)

Each Standard jumpship has 3 Bolt on spots that can be used and each one used will lower the DC for a hull break by 5

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I'm a bit confused by this.

If we don't bolt anything on, what are the chances of a hull break, or any sort of jump problem?

Tatbee said:

I'm a bit confused by this.

If we don't bolt anything on, what are the chances of a hull break, or any sort of jump problem?

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Yeah this is important to know because it changes how things are done here quite a bit if every jump we have a 25% to lose a jumpship per jumpship as opposed to that chance only applying to jumpship with bolt on spots used

Tatbee said:

what are the chances of a hull break

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Relatively low as it revolves around having an extremly bad jump once you clear explored space (Which is only planned to be around 3-5 jumps before reaching your colony) That or running into something you don't plan to (Like Asteroids or debris in your jump points), though when something in a jump does go wrong (Even if a little) you get rolls to see if you lose the bolted on Silos(Since their barely covered by the jump field.) And if you lose a Silo that will damage the jumpship and lower the DC for a hull break to occur should something really go wrong.

Hull breaks should only occur in the worst case of the jumps As you went with the best you could there is only a 25% chance of your ships killing you if the jumpships are under extreme pressures or if the hull is breached.

A bit early, but how are our cities going to look? Futuristic yet easy to defend? We have the technology to construct self-sufficient fortress cities after all

Hadrian.Caeser said:

A bit early, but how are our cities going to look? Futuristic yet easy to defend? We have the technology to construct self-sufficient fortress cities after all

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Completely up to you

You could even go Maniot/Boer/Warhammer imperials; and have each farmstead and village being a 'fortress' containing extended families for extra protection.

Thoughts:

• Multi-Storage Gene Banks > one each of Human Gene Bank + Animal Gene Bank + Seed Bank. Lowers the risk of catastrophic loss.
  • Get up to 3 MSGB. After that, maybe get additional HGBs for future population growth - we don't have to start running iron wombs until we're ready for those people to be added to the population, whereas cryo people will have to get unfrozen on landing.
• Get all the grants and data vaults. Having both human expertise + stored data on more expertise is good.
• Luxury Quarters over Penal Cryo. Neither is actually great for the population stock, but Luxury Quarters pay more.
• Don't get anything low-quality.
  • If one bay of Option A is as good as two bays of Option B, get one bay of Option A + one bay of Luxury Quarters, it is cheaper and comes with 10,000 extra people. 6,000 credits is a lot when our budget looks like 2,500 per bay.
• Things-that-make-the-things are probably better to bring than things, in most cases. Plan for long term.
• Water purification plants are important.
• Ability to manufacture fusion power plants is important.
• Don't duplicate the things we already have multiples of. Variety is better than quantity after a basic hedge against single-point failure. Per Tatbee, that's:
  • Cryo Bays
  • Solar Plants
  • Pre-made heavy-duty housing units
  • Automated Factories
  • Civilian Factories
  • Mining Equipment
  • Mineral Refineries
  • Berthing Stations:
• Per Tatbee's list, we have one of the following. If any of these seem absolutely essential, maybe get an extra to hedge against loss.
  • Heavy-duty forestry equipment
  • Steel Factory
  • Advanced Mining Equipment
  • Advanced Mineral Refinery
  • Large Space Dock
  • Fuel refinery station
  • Ore refinery station
  • KF Drive Station

tomwritestuff said:

Luxury Quarters over Penal Cryo. Neither is actually great for the population stock, but Luxury Quarters pay more.

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One Penal colony for the early construction bonus is nice

tomwritestuff said:

Get all the grants and data vaults. Having both human expertise + stored data on more expertise is good.

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Yes! All my yes

tomwritestuff said:

Cryo Bays

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One of these helps round our initial pop numbers out

Negation said:

[] Human Gene Banks: While a rather untested and frowned upon technology it is one of the many ways with which the Terran Alliance and other groups have used to send out fleets of colonisation fleets, though the consequences and dangers of space have left many doubting or outright protesting at the use of such things. (Has enough Genetic Material for 200 000 People and Primitive iron Womb's though there may be issues with this approach) 1500 Credits per Bay

[] Multi-storage Gene Banks: While the Gene banks for animals have raised concerns amongst activist groups about foreign animals it is a commonly held belief that a source of Terran animals will be needed for survival should none be present on the new world and since much of the equipment to keep their genetic material safe for the journey is the same other Gene Banks it is possible to take what is needed for a viable human colony. (Holds Genetic material both for humans as well as a section of Animals (80 000 people and Animals for food stock and food staple plants) 2500 Credits per Bay


[] Animal Gene Banks: Not much different from a Human Gene bank and while it seems odd to bring a full bay of Animal Gene's it has been noted to be popular amongst colonists heading for earth like planets. 1500 Credits Per Bay (Free to spread local earth animals on your colony for recreation and as a local food source)

[] Vat Grown Meat Equipment: Often called Fake Meat or Lab Meat it has long since become a standard practice for safe and reliable distribution amongst terra and while there is a certain distaste amongst many Wealthy countries a dedicated lab to grow protein has helped solve starvation amongst poorer regions within Terra even if the meat is not quite right. 2500 Credits Per Bay (2 Meat Factories at colony start which feeds 160 000 People) (Consume 1 Power per factory)

[] Seed Banks : A vast storage unit filled with the various crop seed that one would need to survive on a new world, the variants of many staples within for the best chance at some form of earth crop taking to a new world and providing a new source of food. 1000 credits Per Bay

I'm also tempted by the gene & seed banks. With Vat meat as an option as well for extra food security. Human gene banks for greater genetic diversity amongst colonists.


[] Scientific and Technological Storage vault: A State of the Art and Highly Durable Vault which holds all the knowledge of humanities advancements as well as its more affluent entertainment just because it had the space and no one knew what else to put on there. 4000 Credits Per Bay

We must of course take this along so we don't end up back in the Stone Age in case of personnel loss.

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I definitely agree that we should max out our Biotech and Tech Database/Stores etc.

Void Stalker said:

One of these helps round our initial pop numbers out

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One more cryo bay is 30,000 more people now on top of an existing 480,000 population - 6.25%. I think 480,000 people is probably enough to actually operate all the machinery we're going to deliver, which is the point where it would be a real limiting factor.

Let's say that the limiting factor on the colony's long-term growth is human population, that you have a natural TFR that roughly corresponds to doubling the population every generation, that you on average maintain that supply of iron wombs rather than continuing to duplicate the technology, and that there are no major depopulation events (famines, plagues, warfare, et cetera):


Doubling the population means a TFR of around 4.6, which is pretty high for our level of technological setting, even with "free land please go have moar babby" policies in place. There's also the very real possibility that we lose a lot of colonists in the first generation due to something going wrong in terms of climate, food, disease, and/or internal conflict.

One Human Gene Bank module is 200,000 more people when we decide we're able to feed and house 200,000 more people, with an associated increase in total genetic diversity and a large supply of working and replicable iron wombs to support continued artificial population growth and even if the level of development makes women not very interested in popping out loads of babies. If we start with iron wombs as an important part of the colony's initial growth, we're more likely to be able to keep that technology on the table, as opposed to having social stigma attached to it or simply losing the technical capability.

You might be right about the penal cryo bonus being worth including one.

One MSGB includes about 0.4 of a HGB. If I were to take your plan as a basis and revise it, here's what I would do (48 bays, 119,000 budget spent):

[] Plan Second Generation Explosion

tomwritestuff said:

One more cryo bay is 30,000 more people now on top of an existing 480,000 population - 6.25%. I think 480,000 people is probably enough to actually operate all the machinery we're going to deliver, which is the point where it would be a real limiting factor.

Let's say that the limiting factor on the colony's long-term growth is human population, that you have a natural TFR that roughly corresponds to doubling the population every generation, that you on average maintain that supply of iron wombs rather than continuing to duplicate the technology, and that there are no major depopulation events (famines, plagues, warfare, et cetera):

​

Generation	Population	With +1 Cryo	With +1 HGB
1	480,000	510,000	480,000
2	960,000	1.0 million	1.2 million
3	1.9 million	2.0 million	2.5 million
4	3.8 million	4.1 million	5.2 million
5	7.7 million	8.2 million	11 million
6	15 million	16 million	22 million
7	31 million	33 million	43 million
8	61 million	65 million	87 million
9	120 million	130 million	170 million

Doubling the population means a TFR of around 4.6, which is pretty high for our level of technological setting, even with "free land please go have moar babby" policies in place. There's also the very real possibility that we lose a lot of colonists in the first generation due to something going wrong in terms of climate, food, disease, and/or internal conflict.

One Human Gene Bank module is 200,000 more people when we decide we're able to feed and house 200,000 more people, with an associated increase in total genetic diversity and a large supply of working and replicable iron wombs to support continued artificial population growth and even if the level of development makes women not very interested in popping out loads of babies. If we start with iron wombs as an important part of the colony's initial growth, we're more likely to be able to keep that technology on the table, as opposed to having social stigma attached to it or simply losing the technical capability.

You might be right about the penal cryo bonus being worth including one.

One MSGB includes about 0.4 of a HGB. If I were to take your plan as a basis and revise it, here's what I would do (48 bays, 119,000 budget spent):

[] Plan Second Generation Explosion

Quantity	Item	Bays	Cost	Category
2​	Human Gene Bank	2​	3000​	Colonist
3​	Multi-storage Gene Bank	3​	7500​	Colonist
5​	Luxury Quarters	5​	-30000​	Colonist
1​	Penal Cryo Bay	1​	-2500​	Colonist
2​	Scientific and Technological Storage Vault	2​	8000​	Science
3​	Scientists Grants	0​	4500​	Science
2​	Advanced Scientific Equipment	2​	6000​	Science
2​	Colonial Scientific Institute	2​	9000​	Science
6​	Advanced Farming Equipment	3​	6000​	Agriculture
3​	Preserved Foods	1.5​	1500​	Agriculture
1​	Vat Grown Meat Equipment	1​	2500​	Agriculture
3​	Farmers Grants	0​	4500​	Agriculture
2​	Building Equipment	2​	6000​	Civilian Industry
3​	Industrial Workers Grants	0​	4500​	Civilian Industry
2​	Water Purification Plant	2​	3000​	Civilian Industry
2​	Automated KF Drive Factory	3​	10000​	Civilian Industry
1​	Steel Factory	0.5​	1000​	Civilian Industry
1​	Fuel Refinery	1​	2000​	Civilian Industry
1​	Military Vehicle and Equipment Database Vault	1​	4000​	Military
2​	Modern Infantry Equipment	2​	5000​	Military
2​	Civilian Small Arms	1​	2000​	Military
1​	Modern Light Vehicles	0.5​	3500​	Military
1​	Modern Surveillance	1​	1500​	Military
1​	Modern Military Heavy Vehicles	1​	5000​	Military
1​	Modern Military Aircraft	1​	5000​	Military
1​	Military Factory	2​	4000​	Military
1​	Munitions Factory	0.5​	1000​	Military
1​	Outdated Military Vehicle and Equipment Database Vault	1​	1500​	Military
2​	Combat Veteran Grants	0​	5000​	Military
1​	Private Sector Military Grants	0​	2000​	Military
2​	Fusion Power Plant	2​	9000​	Energy
2​	Solar Panel And Battery Factory	2​	8000​	Energy
2​	Automated Fusion Generator Factory	2​	16000​	Energy

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What about the Space Docks?

tomwritestuff said:

One more cryo bay is 30,000 more people now on top of an existing 480,000 population - 6.25%. I think 480,000 people is probably enough to actually operate all the machinery we're going to deliver, which is the point where it would be a real limiting factor.

Let's say that the limiting factor on the colony's long-term growth is human population, that you have a natural TFR that roughly corresponds to doubling the population every generation, that you on average maintain that supply of iron wombs rather than continuing to duplicate the technology, and that there are no major depopulation events (famines, plagues, warfare, et cetera):

​

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Could swap the cyro I grabbed for another gene bank- since I do view pop as a limiting factor we have a lot of natural resources and should be bringing a ton of industrial gear to exploit and develop, also want to be able to expand into nearby systems sooner than later to try and get a proto realm forming.

What's the benefit of Human Gene Banks?

Seems more efficient to just let couples reproduce normally?

As whether it's a natural birth or "iron womb", kids still need parents.
But I doubt we'll have 200,000 unemployed adults available.

Unless... we're deliberately raising orphans?
I'd rather not do that.

TheOmnimercurial said:

What about the Space Docks?

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I was just adapting VoidStalker's plan, but I agree that space docks seem great. That said... Tatbee's list has this on it:

Tatbee said:

- 3 Berthing Stations (Consumes 0.5 x3 = 1.5 Power)
- 1 Large Space Dock (Consumes 4 Power)
- 1 Fuel refinery Station (Consumes 2 Power)
- 1 Ore refinery Station (Consumes 2 Power)
- 3 Mining Stations (Consumes 3 x3 = 9 Power)
- 1 KF Drive Station (Consumes 12 Power)

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It might be nice to add back-ups for some of these (e.g., maybe squeezing in a Small Space Dock in case something happens to the ship carrying the Large Space Dock), but it looks like we already have a complete space industry starter kit.

Will vote for a non-euro PC, maybe an Inuit, Paraguayan, or Bangladeshi

Edit: for the character flavor and language used, plus getting tired of all the euro and japanese sounding characters we keep playing as

Tatbee said:

What's the benefit of Human Gene Banks?

Seems more efficient to just let couples reproduce normally?

As whether it's a natural birth or "iron womb", kids still need parents.
But I doubt we'll have 200,000 unemployed adults available.

Unless... we're deliberately raising orphans?
I'd rather not do that.

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"People wanting to go through pregnancy and give birth" generally are mostly a subset of "people who want to raise kids." It's relatively easy to raise kids in slightly larger batches - a pair of parents raising 4 kids isn't twice as much work as a pair of parents raising 2 kids, especially when they're spaced out and the older kids help look after the younger kids (which, in turn, trains them to be better parents). The number of iron wombs and available children opens the door for older couples, couples who would not generally conceive naturally, e.g., most same-sex couples, as well as couples with simple fertility issues.

With the plan I outlined above - up to 640,000(!) iron womb babies ready to go between two HGBs and three MSGBs - the limit on population growth would be people willing to engage in parenting, for at least the first 1-2 generations, and you'd thereafter just have the technological womb capacity for people who are unable or unwilling to go through the rather annoying, painful, difficult, and in many cases downright dangerous process of natural pregnancy.

Say can we go into the Deep Periphery? a lot less fleets are gonna go out there and we will have all the room to expand all we want, and we will keep out of the mess of the Inner Sphere

Thule said:

Say can we go into the Deep Periphery?

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It is possible in certain circumstances.

tomwritestuff said:

I was just adapting VoidStalker's plan, but I agree that space docks seem great. That said... Tatbee's list has this on it:

It might be nice to add back-ups for some of these (e.g., maybe squeezing in a Small Space Dock in case something happens to the ship carrying the Large Space Dock), but it looks like we already have a complete space industry starter kit.

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Having back ups on other Ships does seem the best approach I agree.

butchock said:

Will vote for a non-euro PC, maybe an Inuit, Paraguayan, or Bangladeshi

Edit: for the character flavor and language used, plus getting tired of all the euro and japanese sounding characters we keep playing as

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How about Esperanto? ^_^

Mad0Slayer said:

It is possible in certain circumstances.

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Yuss! ^_^

Current plan, WIP.

[] Plan: Populous Beginning

Personnel Grants: 0 Bays, -19000 Credits
-[] x3 Scientist Grants: -4500 Credits
-[] x3 Farmer Grants: -3000 Credits
-[] x3 Industrial Workers Grant: -4500 Credits
-[] x2 Grants to Combat Veterans around the world and their families: -5000 Credits
-[] x1 Grants towards the private sector military groups and their families: -2000 Credits (May draw additional Military Equipment and even 1 or 2 jumpships for said equipment.)

Colonist Options: 10 Bays, +4500 Credits
-[] x6 Cryo Bays: 6 bays, -12000 Credits, holds 180000 People
-[] x1 Human Gene Banks: 1 bay, -1500 Credits, Genetic Material for 200 000 People and Primitive Iron Wombs
-[] x3 Luxury Quarters: 3 bays, +18000 Credits, holds 30000 People

Scientific Options: 4 Bays, -14500 Credits
-[] x1 Scientific and Technological Storage vault: 1 bay, -4000 Credits
-[] x2 Advanced Science Equipment: 2 bays, -6000 Credits
-[] x1 Colonial Scientific Institute: 1 bay, -4500 Credits

Food and Agriculture Options: 6.5 Bays, -11500 Credits, -4 Power
-[] x3 Advanced Farming Equipment: 1.5 bays, -3000 Credits, 6 Farms feed 450000 People, 6 Hydroponics feed 300000 People
-[] x2 Preserved foods: 1 bay, -1000 Credits, feeds 300000 People for a year
-[] x1 Animal Gene Banks: 1 bay, -1500 Credits
-[] x2 Vat Grown Meat Equipment: 2 bays, -5000 Credits, 4 Meat Factories feed 320000 People, -4 Power
-[] x1 Seed Banks: 1 bay, -1000 Credits

Civilian Industry (Factories and housing): 12 Bays, -29500 Credits, -10.5 Power
-[] x3 Pre-made Heavy duty housing units: 3 bays, -7500 Credits, holds 270,000 People, -1.5 Power
-[] x3 Building Equipment and Vehicles: 3 bays, -9000 Credits
-[] x3 Building Materials: 1.5 bays, -3000 Credits
-[] x1 Fuel Refinery: 1 bays, -2000 Credits, -2 power
-[] x2 Water purification plant: 2 bays, -3000 Credits, -2 power
-[] x1 Automated KF Drive Factory: 1.5 bays, -5000 Credits, -5 power

Military Industry and Equipment: 6.5 Bays, -19000 Credits, -3.5 Power
-[] x1 Military Vehicle and Equipment Database Vault: 1 bay, -4000 Credits
-[] x1 Modern military Infantry Equipment: 0.5 bays, -2500 Credits, 10 000 units of Infantry Equipment
-[] x1 Modern military light Vehicles: 0.5 bays, -3500 Credits
-[] x1 Modern Military Surveillance drones: 1 bay, -1500 Credits, -1 Power
-[] x1 Civilian Small Arms: 0.5 bays, -1000 Credits
-[] x1 Outdated Military Vehicle and Equipment Database Vault: 1 bay, -1500 Credits
-[] x1 Military Factory: 1 bay, -4000 Credits, -2 power
-[] x1 Munitions Factory: 1 bay, -1000 Credits, -0.5 power

Mining Equipment and Metallurgy industry: 3 Bays, -6500 Credits, -1.5 Power
-[] x1 Automated Mining Equipment: 1 bay, -2500 Credits, -1 power
-[] x1 Steel Factory: 1 bay, -1000 Credits, -0.5 power
-[] x1 Advanced Mineral Refinery: 1 bay, -3000 Credits

Energy Equipment and industry: 4 Bays, -20500 Credits, -7 Power, +40 Power
-[] x1 Fusion Powerplant: 1 bay, -4500 Credits, +40 Power
-[] x2 Solar Panel and Battery Factory: 2 bays, -8000 Credits, -2 Power
-[] x1 Automated Fusion Generator Factory: 1 bay, -8000 Credits, -5 Power

Space industry: 2 bays, -2500 Credits, -2 Power
-[] x1 Small Space Dock: 2 bays, -2500 Credits, -2 Power

Plan Total:
48 Bays
-116,500 Credits
People/Housing = 210,000/180,000
Power Usage/Generation = 28.5/40

+ What the jumpships already have onboard:
People/Housing = 480,000/630,000
Power Usage/Generation = 57/60

= Final Total:
People/Housing = 69(Nice!)0,000/810,000
Power Usage/Generation = 85.5/100

Food Production:
+450,000 Farms
+300,000 Hydroponics
+320,000 VatMeat
= 1,070,000

[X] Plan: Populous Beginning

Nordic people

I like the idea of a very different Culture and Nation Background than the norm....

[X] Plan Hiawatha in Space!
-[x] male
-[x] Hiawatha (he who makes rivers)
-[X] Onandaga (his original tribe)
-[x] Native American (nationality)
-[x] Iroquois Confederacy (you will remake that great empire in the stars)

@TheOmnimercurial how's this?

[X] Plan Void Stalker

[X] Plan Hiawatha in Space!
-[x] Plan: Populous Beginning
-[x] male
-[x] Hiawatha (he who makes rivers)
-[X] Onandaga (his original tribe)
-[x] Native American (nationality)
-[x] Iroquois Confederacy (you will remake that great empire in the stars)
-[x] (Bonus to Diplomacy Actions) be a businessman, and how to run companies: You knew little out of normal education as you were taught how to run a business and what it would take to ensure you got the best deal for you and yours when you took the rains of the company or one of it's departments.
-[x] The Path of a Soldier: You joined up with your countries military so that you could serve it and did so with distinction before returning to your family after only a single tour of duty. (Choose a sub-category)
--[x] Army
-[X] Do you feel a twinge of nationalism/kinship for your people...
--[x] Do you bring them along (adopt aesthetic of your core nationality) (same bonuses and cultures as in the previous turn)
-[x] West South West