To be fair, didn't Rhode Island hide/seal all files related to Team Rainbow because (mainly) they didn't want to bring the wrath of Laterano for the presence of weapons not using Arts when mentioned in later reports?
The whole conversation about Laterano being hardasses about guns for feels very.. out of character? If that makes sense, for Laterano, it's not like guns are some sort of secret, they just have a monopoly on the market but both Jessica and Liskarm have them.
it's just a different tech tree.
Terra's industry just isn't built to make guns as we know them and it's not like "regular" guns are more powerful, they're just easier to use but they have crossbows and the like for that who hit way way harder and are far more advanced than their real world counterparts.
All in all "Regular" guns would probably be at most neat curiosities rather than anything truly practical for widescale use.
And uh.. I think there were some significantly more important things to hide in the Team Rainbow report than just non-arts guns.
Scheduled vote count started by thenew on Dec 6, 2022 at 11:18 AM, finished with 64 posts and 15 votes.
[X] Plan: Fly Swatter
-[X] Inform the others that you're about to do something that'll probably knock you out. You'll need lots of cover fire for this to work. If anyone can follow after you, that'd also be a great help.
--[X] Exusiai, if she can still fight, and the Emperor should focus on popping its acid cannons and restricting its movement, while Mostima should continue slowing it down to help us catch-up.
--[X] Croissant should keep an eye out for any more surprises from the maw-mines. Smashing them with a hammer might not be wise, but throwing stuff at them with her absurd strength should work out.
-[X] Damn the consequences of Fairy and go all-out in chasing after E.P.. Jump after it from street to rooftop, and rooftop to sky and use chains of hard-light to slam E.P. back to the ground where everyone can wail on it to finish the creature off.
[X] Plan: first, second, and third
-[X] Shoot the fucker down.
--[X] Ask Texas if she can make a harpoon with her magic or not, If she can, Tie a rope on it then throw it with all the strength you have in your body at that flying son of a bitch.
--[X] If she can't, Get a gun and tell everyone to start shooting at it, use the 3rd impact if you have to.
-[X] Ask the emperor to call the local authorities, tell them to get as much firepower over here as possible.
--[X] "If you don't want to have a fucking genocide happening in your city then just get the *** over here, you *** heads! "
-[X] Cooperate with them to sweep the city if it ran away.
--[X] "Don't attempt to capture it And don't try to fight it alone. tell everyone to come over before you try to engage with it. Or else you are asking for a quick death."
[X] Plan: Hungry Hungry Mary
-[X] Inform the others that you're about to do something that'll probably knock you out.
--[X] Damn the consequences of Fairy and go all-out in chasing after E.P. Jump after it from street to rooftop, and rooftop to the sky, and use those chains of hard light to slam E.P. back to the ground where everyone can wail on it to finish the creature off.
-[X] Get any people with ranged weapons who are in fighting shape and aren't already preoccupied to focus on it and try to knock it down in a hail of gunfire with Mostima slowing it down to prevent it from getting too far. Anyone without a ranged weapon should deal with any maw-zombies it has already created or may end up creating.
--[X] Exusiai, if she can still fight, and the Emperor should focus on popping its acid cannons and restricting its movement, while Mostima should continue slowing it down to help us catch-up.
-[X] Evacuate as many people as you can, the closer they are to the Eternal Persistence the greater of a priority they are, prevent it from obtaining more biomass.
-[X] While evacuating search the area for any sign of Gambino
--[X] Try to convince Gambino to help you out as best you can, and try appealing to his pride. However, if that doesn't work use of force is necessary, either that or "accidentally" leading the Eternal Persistence towards him.
—[X] If Gambino cannot be found, look around for any sturdy rope, chains or wire and attempt to lasso onto it, and ground it so that it cannot escape
-[X] If the Eternal Persistence somehow escapes attempt to regroup and form a plan to hunt it down before it can gain too much biomass.
[X] Plan: Fly Swatter
-[X] Inform the others that you're about to do something that'll probably knock you out. You'll need lots of cover fire for this to work. If anyone can follow after you, that'd also be a great help.
--[X] Exusiai, if she can still fight, and the Emperor should focus on popping its acid cannons and restricting its movement, while Mostima should continue slowing it down to help us catch-up.
--[X] Croissant should keep an eye out for any more surprises from the maw-mines. Smashing them with a hammer might not be wise, but throwing stuff at them with her absurd strength should work out.
-[X] Damn the consequences of Fairy and go all-out in chasing after E.P.. Jump after it from street to rooftop, and rooftop to sky and use chains of hard-light to slam E.P. back to the ground where everyone can wail on it to finish the creature off.
The whole conversation about Laterano being hardasses about guns for feels very.. out of character? If that makes sense, for Laterano, it's not like guns are some sort of secret, they just have a monopoly on the market but both Jessica and Liskarm have them.
it's just a different tech tree.
I don't think it is so much about that as the fact that there is a method (whether or not it is possible to manufacture on Terra, I don't think they care too much about that) that someone who is not Sankta can handle a weapon. As far as I remember, the reasons for behaving regarding guns with the attitude of "DEUS VULT" is not only economic but religious. Also, it's not just that the weapons are a simple curiosity because of the different technological tree, but that they have (apparently) superior capabilities, mainly speaking for the shooting range. I think the wiki has the full dialog explaining this.
While I admit it's odd, the material we have seems to point a bit to that. I don't think it's too unreasonable considering Religion (yes, capitalized) is involved.
Ah, but on a side note, what other things do you think might be relevant to hide (originium density in blood for some reason was directly CENSORED)?
Something I'd like to see explored in this quest (though I don't think it will) is the implied consequences of being otherworldly in relation to Terra and all the political stuff or movements there might be when strange things happen that make our... puppet... suspicious. All the combat stuff and stat tracking isn't my thing, but I'm hopeful that the plot will get more complicated with more... roleplaying.
Well I'll freely admit that my memory of Operation Originium Dust is basically non-existant so I honestly can't contribute much more there. I can only really go by Guide Ahead and various half-remembered op records and throwaway lines
I do think I know why the Originium Density in blood got censored, everyone on Terra (except the Feranmuts and possibly the Aegir who have never left the ocean ) have some amount of originium in their bodies iirc so having precisely zero would raise red flags, plus Kal'tsit kinda just threw her hands up in the air and said it'd be a waste of time to keep looking into things from OOD. At least according to Tachanka's trust files.
According to the wiki yeah you're right, "regular" guns have way better range but don't hit as hard? And ammo is non-existant and the closest thing RI could cook up wasn't the best.
And speaking of otherworldly, our old buddies up North are waving hi.
Little side note, but Terran guns and Earth guns should have about the same range. What Tachanka and the Engineers talked about was that the modifications they made to R6's guns reduced their effective range in exchange for making them compatible with Terran ammo.
Little side note, but Terran guns and Earth guns should have about the same range. What Tachanka and the Engineers talked about was that the modifications they made to R6's guns reduced their effective range in exchange for making them compatible with Terran ammo.
No? According to the wiki dialogue, it shows that much earlier, when they talked about it, the Rhode Island Operators were skeptical that they could have such a large range when Team Rainbow referred to it. Later, when the modifications are made, it is mentioned *now yes* that the overall range had to be decreased in favor of the ammunition.
Huh, by the way, all this talk about weapons, political consequences, this quest (and Binah) has made me a little itchy to see a quest with the Arknights scenario where someone from The City tries to make their way to create a Wing on Terra while trying to flee the Inquisition (and survive).
I think that sounds interesting. I suppose I could suggest it in more detail in that thread someone opened a few days ago.
No? According to the wiki dialogue, it shows that much earlier, when they talked about it, the Rhode Island Operators were skeptical that they could have such a large range when Team Rainbow referred to it. Later, when the modifications are made, it is mentioned *now yes* that the overall range had to be decreased in favor of the ammunition.
Do you mean this section? That's less commentary about Terran firearms, and more about how confused Rhodes Island's engineers were with Earth tech since all their attempts to replicate gunpowder based bullets failed with it only being lethal at 10 meters since they didn't even know what nitrocellulose was.
Considering the context, it's not really enough to conclude anything about the effective range of Terran firearms, otherwise we'd have to believe that Sankta guns can only reach 10 meters, which is pretty jank considering gameplay and other bits of lore like Lemuen destroying the rooftop Fiammetta and Andoian were fighting on via sniper rifle from a signboard far away enough that neither could tell it was her doing.
The Arknights wiki when it isn't quoting the game word for word, is pretty infamous for adding unsourced speculation or headcanons, so I don't fully trust it. I don't blame the writers though, the lore can be incredibly opaque at times.
There's actually an interesting tidbit in the Rainbow Six crossover event where the mad scientist guy explains that chemistry in Terra is 'different' than on Earth. Paired with the whole deal about RI engineers being unable to replicate it one possible implication is that gunpowder just literally can't be made with what's available in Terra. Which personally I favor because goddamn do I hate 'gun uplift' fics.
[X] Plan: Fly Swatter
-[X] Inform the others that you're about to do something that'll probably knock you out. You'll need lots of cover fire for this to work. If anyone can follow after you, that'd also be a great help.
--[X] Exusiai, if she can still fight, and the Emperor should focus on popping its acid cannons and restricting its movement, while Mostima should continue slowing it down to help us catch-up.
--[X] Croissant should keep an eye out for any more surprises from the maw-mines. Smashing them with a hammer might not be wise, but throwing stuff at them with her absurd strength should work out.
-[X] Dmn the consequences of Fairy and go all-out in chasing after E.P.. Jump after it from street to rooftop, and rooftop to sky and use chains of hard-light to slam E.P. back to the ground where everyone can wail on it to finish the creature off.
1.14 - Suppression
…you can't let the Distortion flee. If he flees, there's no telling how tough he'll get from all the brand-new prey in his hands.
You… you wish your friends were here. You wish you had someone you could truly and utterly trust to cover your back. Someone you could trust in to let you go all-out without fear. You take a deep breath and raise a light-blade at the fleeing creature. You have made a decision.
You will return home. You will find your way back to the City and retrieve the books of the Turbulence Office. And this Distortion is standing in your way. You are the Steel Determination. You are not going to keep doing this hit-it-and-get-distracted-until-it-heals-back horseshit. You are going to hurt this bastard goblin. You are going to hurt it so badly it will think of your blade for every second of its hopefully very short life.
You turn your back towards Penguin Logistics.
"I am going to do something very risky and very painful. Hopefully it'll earn us a win." you say, materializing a set of hardlight chains wrapped around your arm. "If you guys can, try to clear out these mouths it left behind. You guys with the guns can help me out by shooting its acid cannons. Mostima- if you use these staves to slow it down, that would be great."
"Ya gonna go chasing after it with the chains? Pin it down?" asks Croissant. You nod. She grins.
Well- wait…
"Can you bring down its mines? I don't like the idea of getting another sneaky surprise pulled in us. Some cover would be great, too."
Right as they nod, you give Penguin Logistics a thumbs up and begin your plan. First- dash towards the wall of a nearby building, and start running upwards. Then, take a leap to the top of a lamppost, and another, and another. If you were to do this hopping all the way to the Persistence… you can't be sure if it wouldn't dodge. It would be very predictable.
This plan sounds better. Just as you come closer to the Persistence, it starts making moves to dodge. It's seen you coming, and will likely use its jets to dodge you tossing yourself at it- your original plan. Is it just you or is it getting smarter? You need to do something to throw it off-balance.
So you fling the light-chain you materialized before, right at the place where it's dodging towards. The blade on its end buries itself on the leather, and it shrieks. It's panicking. Cornered prey can be the most dangerous. Someone with nothing to lose will pull all stops.
You pull it towards yourself, and smash on it with your shoulder. It squirms and reaches out with its tendrils, trying to wrap itself around your body. Before it can even stretch them out fully, however, Mostima and the Emperor get to work, decimating its appendages with blasts of energy and rubber bullets. Both of you fall into the ground.
You smash it with your fist. You stab it with your blade. You slam down on it, and then slash at it, and twist the light blade inside of its entrails as fast as you can, all of it in quick succession. It twists and attempts desperately to wriggle out of your grasp, but you hold onto the light chains. It tries to bite you and strike with its tongues, but it's so damaged that you can easily dispel such assaults.
The Persistence lets out another screech, and its body bloats up. The rest of Penguin Logistics is moving towards you, ready to provide assistance, weapons on hand to finish off the Persistence, but it's too late. You've realized what the Distortion is trying to do.
It rigged itself to blow. Its body has filled itself with acidic pus that it was using as a projectile. It would make sense- it already has some kind of organ to produce it, it just altered something it already has.
The Distortion is making a noise… no. It's chuckling. Has it stabilized?
"Make… your… choice." it spits out.
Let it go, or it will self-destruct. That is the choice that it is presenting.
The Eternal Persistence's pus-filled body is going to explode. It will detonate, and no doubt cause destruction around the scene. The devastation will be immense. You cannot be sure whether or not Penguin Logistics will survive the explosion.
Yet, you cannot allow it to escape. If it does, it will inevitably return with far greater strength and punish your mistake.
…there must be a third option.
"All of you, get away! Croissant!" you bellow. "Your shield! Now! Toss it to me!"
The horned Messenger does not hesitate. She is far away- smashing mines and deflecting their acid blows with her shield, but she realizes what is about to happen. The misshapen lump of metal flies towards you at a blinding speed.
You grasp it in your hands a second before it would fly above your head, and slam it down on the Eternal Persistence. Texas takes a step back- seeing the writing on the wall.
Then the Distortion explodes spectacularly- launching you upwards in a massive blast jump. The shield holds, miraculously enough. It's on the verge of dissolution, but it holds. An atrocious hiss is held, and you soar through the air towards one of the nearby buildings.
From the blast of acid, the Eternal Persistence rises. Nearly three-quarters of its body has been burned off by its self-detonation, but now it flies away without a care, lifting new, feathered, wings which drip with blood and pus.
You cannot let it escape. You materialize a new set of chains right before you hit the building, and lasso the Distortion before it can fly away.
Well. It still flies away, but now it's dragging you alongside it.
This might have been a bad idea.
As your most recent hire sails through the air with that adapting monstrosity, you slap your flipper over your face. Fuck.
"Croissant, I think this wasn't that good of an idea…" notes Exusiai, still clutching her burned arm. "We should have stopped him"
"Aw shucks. My bad."
"...and I was hoping to kill it before it got out of our range…" mutters Texas.
"Hey, girlies. I think ya should go hunt for it. We ain't gonna let a homie fight alone, are we?"
Mostima squints. Sieghart is probably still strapped to the monster. Shit, the kid went and got himself into a spot of trouble.
"Yeah, what the boss said. We gonna have to account for this. Croissant, how's your shield?"
The taps at the lump of metal, which Sieghart dropped after getting launched into a building.
"It's pretty bad, Texas. The metal's all gone and busted. 'nd the glass panel melted. Still usable for one or two hits- I ain't one to waste good stuff. But after that we gotta replace it. "
"It's all gonna be paid at the end of the night. 'tis a serious matter. We can't let the Eternal Persistence keep going after this night."
"Eternal Persistence?"
"That's the name I got for it. Appeared in my head when it screamed for the first time. Now go, scram, help the hat man. I gotta call for Wei. You folks just snatch up a car and hotwire it, I'll get everythin' cleared up with the LGD. This stuff… we can't let it pass."
"Kay, boss. Bye!"
…Wei is not going to like this. You yourself didn't like this. You thought this was… one of them, at first. But it isn't. That feeling is instantly recognizable. Whatever the Eternal Persistence is… it's something… fundamentally Capone.
It's an ugly as sin abomination, but you understand it, oh, you do. When it screamed, it blared out so much of what it was. You're old enough to understand this. All it wants is to keep going. But… you did catch some doubt. The process of transformation isn't complete. It can't be allowed to complete.
Dammit, and you were enjoyin' chillin' around Lungmen, singing' for your fans all around the world. Now this asshole comes up and messes up the town? You gonna mess it up right back. Real bad.
Now… to call up an asshole-
"The hell was this? I let Mostima go out of my field of sight for one second and now she's fighting… whatever that was? Penguin, explain this to me! Damn it!"
Oh great, now the Church is here. You're almost tempted to shoot this asshole who was stalking Mostima through the night and probably thought you couldn't see her. For being a creep. But then she'd shoot you back. Which is not a pleasant experience.
Fuck, guess that Wei will have to wait.
You are Sieghart, again.
Wait, you're pretty sure you never stopped being Sieghart. That came out of nowhere.
You are sailing through the air, holding on to a flying abomination screaming bloody murder at you. You guess that it has stabilized, by now, given by the incomprehensible profanity that it's screeching at you.
You need to get it off the air. The chain isn't going to last for much longer. You take a deep breath, and fling your lightblade straight through its left wing.
Now the two of you are falling. No issue- you just gotta use your abilities in just the right way. With a flick of your wrist, another chain materializes, and you toss it against the nearest lamppost. Your fall shifts suddenly- the momentum arrested- and the two of you fall on the floor at speeds that will not turn either of you into a splatter on the wall.
You take a look at the Eternal Persistence. It's wriggling on the floor rather pathetically. What's left of it is nothing but a scarred, acid-burned husk of a human torso and monstrous parts tacked on. If you gave it time, it could recover…
"I… can't… hear her anymore…" whispers the creature through its last usable mouth. "Was… was she lying to me?"
The Distortion looks at you pleadingly with a half-destroyed eyeball. It would be… easy to finish it off right now. Just materialize another sword and stab it clean through the torso. You somehow know that it has a heart, there.
"You hear her too, didn't you?" it continues to speak. "Did… did she tell you anything important? Was… was what she said true?"
…no. It really isn't.
The Voice tells you things you think are true, regardless of their actual veracity. It's not a lie. But that does not make it a truth.
There are civilians whispering around you. Some people are running. There is a man with the body of a rat- dressed in a luxurious furred coat- staring straight into your eyes.
The Eternal Persistence is defenseless, or so you think.
You could kill it right here, right now, and end this so-called persistence. Not so eternal now, hmm? No, no. It could have kept fighting. It isn't now because... because it's doubting itself. It's doubting itself.
You... you could speak to it. You're not even sure if killing it will really kill it. Something tells you... it has some last trick on its sleeve.
[ ] Kill it.
[ ] Speak to it.
- [ ] What will you tell it?
Status of Self and Allies: Sieghart: A considerable amount of internal damage, but not enough to actually reduce his capacities in any meaningful way. Has become adjusted to the Fairy and will not activate it as much when fighting. PL: Somewhat far away from you.
Enemy Status:
THE ETERNAL PERSISTENCE
- Grade: Lowermost rankings of Star of the City.
- Condition: Nearly dead. Sieghart's Note: It's... it's almost dead. I can end it right now. Yet, I feel a sadness, when I look into its misshapen body. If things had went differently, I could have been this.
…Wei is not going to like this. You yourself didn't like this. You thought this was… one of them, at first. But it isn't. That feeling is instantly recognizable. Whatever the Eternal Persistence is… it's something… fundamentally Capone.
Oh great, now the Church is here. You're almost tempted to shoot this asshole who was stalking Mostima through the night and probably thought you couldn't see her. For being a creep. But then she'd shoot you back. Which is not a pleasant experience.
okay good news, Capone didn't get mistaken for one of the existential threats native to Terra so we're not in as deep shit as we could be, Emperor calling up Wei might blunt some of the consequences and Laterano will know.
The bad news is Wei got called and Laterano will know.
Well. At least Seighart has a clear example on why never to truly listen to the Voice in his head. He probably knew it already, but this is a bit more visceral.
[X] Speak to it.
-[X] "You really shouldn't listen to dumb weirdoes in your head."
--[X] Murder it afterward.
It doesn't really matter. Carmen will try to lead you to a situation where you can't help but listen to her. But once you are in such a situation, you can't really not listen to her.
Because when you are in such a situation, your heart itself is already saying the same words she's talking about.
The only way to avoid being distorted is the literal power of friendship.
[X] Speak to it.
- [X] "It's not wrong to want to survive. But living alone is much harder than it seems. That's why you swore that blood oath with your brother. Persisting alone means enduring alone. But with Gambino, you could share the pain. You could make the burden a little easier together. The bond you shared was what kept you alive."
[X] Speak to it. - [X] You know the worst part of this is that you weren't in danger? We wanted to use you as bait to rescue the old man, but we also planed on keeping you alive to honor our promise. Guess telling you that might have saved some trouble... You can come back from this, you know? It's still Capone in control in there, and I'll admit that I didn't like the guy that much, but he didn't deserve this. If you stay like this you'll eat and eat and eat till everything's gone and you die, alone and cold. You want to go out like that?
(Oh god I need to sleep but this just refused to stay unwritten.)
Sieghart's Note: It's... it's almost dead. I can end it right now. Yet, I feel a sadness, when I look into its misshapen body. If things had went differently, I could have been this.
[X] Speak to it.
- [X] You know the worst part of this is that you weren't in danger? We wanted to use you as bait to rescue the old man, but we also planed on keeping you alive to honor our promise. Guess telling you that might have saved some trouble... You can come back from this, you know? It's still Capone in control in there, and I'll admit that I didn't like the guy that much, but he didn't deserve this. If you stay like this you'll eat and eat and eat till everything's gone and you die, alone and cold. You want to go out like that?
[X] Speak to it.
- [X] You know the worst part of this is that you weren't in danger? We wanted to use you as bait to rescue the old man, but we also planed on keeping you alive to honor our promise. Guess telling you that might have saved some trouble... You can come back from this, you know? It's still Capone in control in there, and I'll admit that I didn't like the guy that much, but he didn't deserve this. If you stay like this you'll eat and eat and eat till everything's gone and you die, alone and cold. You want to go out like that?
Hey, I just found this quest and am enjoying it. Though at this part, all my instincts are telling me that just mouthing off has a lower success rate than just killing it.
Then again, any semi-long write in makes me feel uneasy. Something like that is way too easy to take advantage of.
[X] Speak to it.
- [X] You know the worst part of this is that you weren't in danger? We wanted to use you as bait to rescue the old man, but we also planed on keeping you alive to honor our promise. Guess telling you that might have saved some trouble... You can come back from this, you know? It's still Capone in control in there, and I'll admit that I didn't like the guy that much, but he didn't deserve this. If you stay like this you'll eat and eat and eat till everything's gone and you die, alone and cold. You want to go out like that?
