Ok, so for the AI: look, the enemy we seek to defeat is the Logic Virus. You can see it from our data, from what we are doing outside, from how we helped other Autons, like Vlahk, Ijin, Marjak. Do you really want to fight for the Virus? Do you actually think that Logic Virus intends what is best for you? You are not it's only slaves: we met at least one and other. And guess what? Every time, it turns people into weapons. And sure, you are a war ai, a general, a soldier. But a soldier is not a weapon, but if the virus is not purged, you will become one.
For Maxis: Look, your desire to kill me is understandble. Genuinely! But the Autoplanet is not the only place where the virus spread. In Directorate, it took over a bunch of peaceful people and made them murder their friends and neighbors. It created an abomination in the form of KrillFleet and spiders, and while their target were not good people, they did not deserve total annihilation spiders would give them. So please, Maxis. Just for now, step aside. We need to defeat the virus here, to learn more about it, to learn more about how to treat its victims. In the end, you may decide that my contributions here are not enough to redeem me. That is understandable. But we need everyone we can get if we hope to defeat the virus here, and if you still want to kill me afterwards, we can settle it then.
I say Server Complex 02 because it clearly was guarding something precious or Security HUB 01 which suggest it to be some sort of mystic map.
Theta-Tachyon Eisenstein? Now I wonder if Admechs know about Eisenstein considering they did know about Telsa and even used his skull as an electric shooting weapon.
Oh I like Magos Tachyon, We should do more Nova Mechanica projects like Alchemical Archeotech revival thing.
I knew VaccineWare would be useful, we should do more Green Doc projects especially to deal with Chaos and considering Tortuga is a Chaos pirate haven.
I think Dr. Yvnture or OrphiaTek the original to make a family reunion or Whale Song because I think we should have got that.
Alright, have a lot of choices to make… and a secret to find
Hopefully we can find a lot of good stuff!
For Maxis… he's acting completely irrational. Hatred is a deadly emotion that blinds people and while trying to be diplomatic with him seems beneficial, I don't think saying a couple of 'convincing' words would change his mind on this. So maybe trying to distract him is a better option here.
Or we can do both? Tell him the enemy has spread to the stars by a malignant creature of pure hate to do the same thing they did on us to the other worlds in form of a swarm of devouring Krillships, if we fail to locate the Logic Virus to learn to stop this plague, the blood of many worlds will be at your hand and you will be the perfect hateful creation the Man of Flint want you to be in his own image.
OK, I've gone through and these are all the votable things we have for Mother's thing:
[ ] Captain Penultima: A military tekket with extensive weapons training, several academy dissertations on Destroyer tactics and combat strategies, and extremely high Wargame stats, Penultima may have never seen combat, but she is the closest your military had to an expert on the subject, having authored a report laying out exactly how badly the Directorate would fare in a second round against the Destroyers: not well, especially if their ship was intact. This Captain favors military solutions, answering problems with careful strategy: unlocks doctrinal projects to refine and hone Tekket strategic ability.
[ ] Captain Xid: Trained in espionage and trickery, Xid had nearly been expelled several times from the Academy due to their use of spyware on fellow students and instructors, though they have long since shaped up. Still, their ability to subvert and infect systems meant that they would hopefully allow the Endeavor a leg up against its foes. This Captain favors trickery to solve problems, bypassing obstacles and threats using careful subversion and manipulation: unlocks doctrinal projects focusing on espionage.
[ ] Captain Toxel: A graduate of the Academy who specialized in engineering, Toxel has a firm understanding of Tekket technology and its limits and how best to absolutely break past those limits via creative and potentially dangerous manipulation of technology. His claim to fame, a Zero-G race where he would merge two different vehicles mid-race. This Captain favors technological solutions, meeting potential issues with creative engineering: unlocks doctrinal projects focusing on improvising with BlokTek.
Hypermodular Power Bay: A proposed idea by Toxel: make the power bays on ships evenmore modular in order to allow power to be easily divertable to the various subsystems as needed. This would require investing in producing a great deal many more PowerBloks, but it would both increase power efficiency and versatility in the field. 0/15, unlocks Hypermodular Power Bay upgrade for ships, improving performance and adaptability, costs 1 Nuclear Material.
Engineering Improvization Doctrine: Toxel advocated that victory could be assured best by teaching Engineers how to improvise solutions in the field quickly and under fire: he wanted to expand the Academies curriculum for Fleet Engineers by including a variety of semi-randomized open ended simulations of increasing difficulty that would test their ability to come up with novel solutions to issues. 0/20, establishes Toxel Doctrine, improving your Engineers ability to develop novel technical solutions under fire.
[ ] Dr. Mongus: Mongus, a Shrine-Keeper who specialized in advanced robotics and nuclear engineering, had a simple idea: using advanced power generation technology, a small building sized BlokBot could be designed to handle ground-based mega-engineering projects. Because of the space provided, said BlokBot could also host a shrine, small herd, and contingent of spirit-tenders in order to act as a sort of Blok-Bot shrine. Unlock Champion Class BlokBot and BlokBot Shrines for research next turn, spending Warp to apply Shrine upgrades to BlokBots.
[ ] Prof. Gebb: Geb meanwhile believed that the best way to optimize the swarms was providing them a dedicated optimizer 'bot: the Upgrader-Bot he demonstrated would automatically seek out 'bots and merge with them, improving performance. Whenever the 'bot no longer needed the extra performance, the upgrader-bot would un-merge and seek out a bot that did need a performance boost. Unlock Upgrader Class BlokBot and Gebb Optimization Principle for research next turn, allowing for + models (Golem+, Mammoth+, Gnome+) to be fielded.
BlokBot Optimization Principle: The basic program behind Upgraders could be simplified in order to allow for, over time, BlokBots to automatically perform basic optimizations and improvements. This would largely benefit industry, as valuable Tekket-power that was spent on BlokBot design could instead simply be foisted off on machinery. 0/25, BlokBots over time will slowly upgrade to more powerful + versions, increasing EXP.
Upgrader Class BlokBots: Emergency upgrade units, these 'Bots would seek out and augment bots in the field as needed with their own components, allowing a greater degree of reactivity, being able to optimize and improve performance as needed for as long as needed, before detaching themselves and going on to aid other bots. 0/25, gain Upgrader Class BlokBots, capable augmenting BlokBots to a more powerful + versions in the field.
[ ] BOR-1292: Unusually, a Bond-Machina chose to participate this time, designing a sort of Processor-Bot they called the 'Beholder' to act as, in essence, the brains behind a BlokBot Swarm. The more Beholder-Bots that were deployed, the more clever and creative blokbots could get with problem solving. Work smarter, not harder, after all. Unlock Beholder Class BlokBot and BlokNet for research next turn, increasing BlokBot intelligence.
[ ] Whale-Heart: The Mysteks crudely thrown together device could be refined, they believed, utilized to create a special sort of mystic subsystem that would allow your ships to mimic the whale-song, reducing danger and increasing warp-speed both. They would need some GodTek to do it, however. Gain Whale-Heart Project, 0/25, costs 2 ART.
[ ] Leviathan Hymnals: The Mysteks crudely thrown together device could be refined, they believed, utilized to improve the design of your TekGrimoires by allowing them to mimic the function, allowing your Occulteks to weaken enemy spirits such as the Booug and strengthening their rituals, though this would require significant investment into designing new systems. Gain Leviathan Hymnals Project, 0/25, costs 1 Warp and 1 ART
[ ] ZwergBot
ZwergBot Disassembly Protocol: A proposed subsystem that would allow for BlokBots to continue operation even after being blown apart via configuring themselves into lesser classes. This would be very, very useful for your security bots, as it would mean they would have to be very thoroughly dismantled to stop them. 0/15, Security Bots will automatically when dismantled reform into smaller classes of BlokBot.
[ ] The Sacred: The many spirits of the world found themselves nourished by the Talismans crafted by the Shrine-Keepers. Should this path remain open, the Tekket will continue to develop more advanced means of utilizing Talismans to awaken and invokate the spirits of the cosmos. Major Talisman Technologies Lost: Elemental Talismans, Greater Sacred Talismans, Meditative Talismans
Recompense: Talismanic ChronoCore - Inside the talisman is a chamber. Inside the chamber is a heart, sustained by advanced life support, intended to keep the heart alive for relative aeons. Time in the chamber moves at several thousand times increased speed compared to the outside: allowing the heart to (seem as if) it's capable of generating a near infinite (if still rather slow) stream of lifeforce with which to feed spirits. 0/25.
[ ] The Divine: Even that which was divine found itself under the sway of Talismans, used to act as badges of sacred authority and icons of power in order to invoke the heavens. Should this path remain open, the Tekket will continue to develop more advanced means of using Talismans to call upon the divine. Major Talisman Technologies Lost: Greater Holy Talismans, //PATH TekTalismans, Awakening Hearts.
Recompense: Talismanic GodNet - They will make Talismans that speak with each other. Their voices will speak in unison, each one small, but together, they shall help talk into existence that which you deem divinity. The more voices that they speak with, the stronger each voice will be, and the words that one knows shall be known by all, until they assemble together such thesis that they can postulate the celestial into existence. 0/25
[ ] Dr. Yvnture
Dream-mind Beds: Some children learned better via instruction. Some learned better with direct tutelage. And according to one Dr. Yvnture, some children learned better via having the instructions directly uploaded to their mind as they slept by a complex mind-machine interface hidden within their bed. A fairly slow process, especially if one didn't wish to interrupt the process of dreaming, but it would help accelerate the education of kits considerably, and increase the general level of knowledge and competence throughout the Directorate. 0/15, deploy Dream-mind Beds, increasing ACD considerably! Costs 3 Network.
[ ] Tyygbert
Tyygberts Crescendo: One particular Occultek believed that with the right ritual pattern, it might be possible to quite literally music into existence life-force via Warp-Space Manipulation. This would require more than just a mere Orchestrion, however: Tyygbert wanted to create what could only be described a Symphonion to forge this resonance. 0/30, gain Tyyberts Crescendo, increasing Warp by 3. Very good, very risky. When this one dies, his ideas die with him.
Tyygberts Sorcerous Primer: In the extremeness of age at this point, Tyygbert wished to compile a singular text of arcane knowledge that could be used as a guide to casual mysticism and theurgy in order to allow anyone to dabble in the arcane with the same simplicity they might learn the basics of reactor repair. This would require a great deal of research, however, in order to simplify numerous rites. 0/50, gain Tyygberts Sorcerous Primer, increasing all categories.
[ ] Dr. OrphiaTek
OrphiaTek DreamPods: Dr. OrphiaTek had managed to take brainscans of his experience in the Forbidden Archive. He believed that he should be able to use neural stimulators and personae masks to create a program that would allow users to recreate part of his experience, though doing so would require creating something a fair bit larger than a mere mask. 0/25, gain DreamPods, increase Forbidden Archive influence and FTH.
OrphiaTek Ark Simulacrum: Further, enough individuals had been dreaming of the Ark that he could, as well, create a sort of digital representation of the Ark: using the advanced hypermath of NV2, it could perhaps form at least the start of a bridge to the Ark through the data sea. 0/25, gain OrphiaTek Ark Simulacrum, increase Autovessel influence and FTH.
OrphiaTek Digital Death Index: With the Ark Simulacrum in operation, it might be possible to establish a permanent data-bridge to the Index of the Dead by creating a digital conduit to the Evaluator meant to use Emulator software to allow mortals with sufficient permissions to access the records contained therein. 0/25, NekroTeks can utilize the Index of the Dead, increasing FTH by 3. Cost 1 Network.
OrphiaTek DreamBrain: The concept of a Boltzmann Brain was mostly a thought experiment meant to deal with old hypothetical ideas about how the universe was created. In theory, however, OrphiaTek believed he might be able to use collected data from the increasing amount of dream-quests to engineer a program designed to create digital semi-randomized boltzmann brains in the cyberverse programmed to generate new dream-quests. 0/25, DreamPods will use Boltzmann Brain AI's to generate new Dream-Quests, increasing FTH. Cost 1 NT.
In regards to theories:
1) The reason why Cloning Labs and Bioengine could have negative consequnces had nithing to do with them nkt working, and more to do with Koptu pulling some warcrime-y bullshit to produce the genekeys. This would/will cause Directorate to flip their shit, and some autons, who are thankful for Koptu's efforts during liberation, which causes a diplomatic accident.
2) The Poliad Marjak is listening to is a NekroAI (though maybe not true AGI), which she made when she made out of Poliad's bodies and filled with data Marjak had on Poliad.
3) What watchmakers call stars is any powerful entity from outside of their system that was either more mystically or technologically advanced than them, with one of the stars being Man of Flint (the last one), and another implied to be Vashtor.
4) My anti-Koptu bias still argues that we should have dismatled them rather than Vlahk during that Star vote in the archive.
5) While I judge it unlikely, New Dawn might be more related to Talos Principle's plan to save humanity from extinction than HZD's, with the intended inheritors being AI's immune to the virus, who could cure the autons from it.
Here's my theory: when the Forbidden Archive went into lock-down, the Poliad became obsessed with their own survival, ordering LAB B-01N to study genetics to grant them infinite life and cutting resources to other Brixis labs to ensure its prioritization. This led to the creation of the Anti-Aging Serum, which the Poliad would consume to extend their life, but resulting them in becoming a deformed blob. Marjak was then left in limbo, with them "technically" still being alive and thus her superior, but beyond brain-dead.
The Poliad is completely, utterly dead. However, Marjak is still afflicted with the logic-virus; this warps one's mind and can make them see things (there is a reason HUERCUS did the robot equivalent of gouging his eyes out). Marjak was enough of a believer in the government that, coupled with mental instability brought on from the early symptoms of infection, she could not believe that the Poliad was gone. The directives she says are their will are the result of hallucinations.
[] Plan: It Time To Reumble
-[] TNDI Teams --[] Site AA2: Minor warp taint detected, as well as a powered structure of some sort, medium sized. Partially above-ground, entrance seems to be small administrative building. --[] Site AB6: HEAVY warp taint, small structure, electrified, detecting toxic gasses in heavy quantities. Entrance seems to be a disused exhaust vent passing through area. --[] Site KI3: Entrance appears to be disguised as approximation of office building. High number of hostile feral autons, no other notable defenses. Structure is extremely large and electrified, though no biosigns have been detected.
thinking here is that whatever surviving outpost of independent autons/watchmaker still around won't have surivied by firepower or being too hard to attack they have a entire planet worth of resource to go attack them they will have surived by being sneaky, by trying to appear unnoticed I'd also imangie that they won't try to go further into computertek and there high likehood in there desperation they will have gone into some kind of warptek stuff hence the warp taint and hence these choices.
-[] WULF Diplo
--[ ] Nearly every single being on this planet is currently under the effect of a mind alterting virus that has altered them and caused them to view reality differtnly. I am part of a group called the directorate trying to free everyone from the effect of this virus cause look around! Look how everything has fallen into squalor, look at the planet outside of all the reactors failing, of degradation happening with all the autons, look at this facility would a center of mil devolpment like this have such medicore defence if u weren't in a right state of mind, if u were in a right state of mind we wouldn't have gottent his far at all! The logic virus is why we sneaked in for we didn't know what awaited us in here you could have not been conzgiant at all and only wanted to attack us but gladly u are able to talk to us so let's talk. If you are willing I can tell u about my story for I have been part of this jounrey to liberate y'all since the beggining
-[] Vault Complex CAMBON --[] Server Complex 02: Fully powered, detecting high amounts of security, no robospider presence. The Eye shows a locked treasure chest, guarded by a clockwork man in a uniform: writ upon their badges the word LEGION.
It got a treasure chest and someone impormant is guarding. Our goal is to search for impormant items or codes to get exuctive backdoor acces. We have a super impormant chest and someone super impormant guarding it. A 2 for one deal here
-[] VHALK
--[ ] You think you are the bell of the ball don't you? "I have been training for centuries getting ready to kill you?" That sounds like something from a comicbooks. Has your training for the last couple centuries been practicing that speech in front of mirror? For all this training too that you have been bragging about, I didn't see you in the forbidden archives? Were the forbidden archives not worth enough to you for you to try to save them from the monster you think am I? Perhaps you aren't different from my past self really and maybe ur just a lot of talk?
I think
[ ] Whale-Heart: The Mysteks crudely thrown together device could be refined, they believed, utilized to create a special sort of mystic subsystem that would allow your ships to mimic the whale-song, reducing danger and increasing warp-speed both. They would need some GodTek to do it, however. Gain Whale-Heart Project, 0/25, costs 2 ART.
would be super cool to grab since it help make our ship travel way safer
There's another thing… there were mentions of Vashtorr during the last event, there was even a project after getting a certain item:
The Autonomicon Ex Mortis (Simplified): The Book of the Broken Machine. The Autonomicon was penned by an ancient Watchmaker sorcerer, one who had apparently managed to contact a dark god of the forge, who taught him sacred and profane arts of dark technology. Much of the rituals within were potent, but would likely need to be modified to be safe. 0/25, gain 3 random technologies, increases Auton reputation by 5. Repeatable (Wheel, Weapon, Wand, Wine, Walker): fifth completion increases all special resources by 5. WARNING: each completion of this project triggers a number of HazardTek rolls equal to the number of times this project has been completed. Can only be completed five times.
I maintain that this is so straightforward it shouldn't count: The Central AutoBrain was the worst infected and couldn't be cleansed of the logic-virus. They were connected to the rest of the facility and had the ability to kill everyone in it. They're still infectious. The reasonable thing to do is to simply remove them from the facility, place them in what is intended to rehabilitate dangerous prisoners. Whether or not their actions were particularly unpleasant doesn't matter because Tartarus isn't intended as a punishment center.
Put together my own plan; I figure we should probably make sure we're on the same page with the OMAC AutoFacility, since with Marjak we went 2-3 turns before finding out she didn't know about the Purge. With Maxis, I figure the easiest way to rile them up is to attack their pride; they spent all those years training for Vlaahk and didn't even think to try liberating AutoPlanet themselves.
[] Plan: Into the Depths
-[] Vault Complex COG
--[] Site AA2
--[] Site BA9
--[] Site KI3
-[] Vault Complex OMAC
--[] "Just so we're on the same page, you're not on the side of the logic virus, right? Because we're trying to free AutoPlanet from its effects, just like we exercised the logic virus from the AutoVessels, and just like we exercised it from the Forbidden Archive. We don't want to fight you, and you can probably tell that we've been using non-lethal force, so we don't have to be enemies."
-[] Vault Complex CAMBON
--[] Security HUB 01
-[] Central Power Core 07
--[] "Are you really going to let vengeance stand in the way of AutoPlanet's liberation? You spent years training to fight me, and yet neglected to fight the very logic virus that poisoned us? Are you really the hero you think you are, or are you just so short-sighted as to think killing me would actually aid our liberation? Or has your own mind been poisoned, and liberation hasn't even occurred to you to begin with?"
Greetings puny mortals, it is I, your GM! I would like to officially announce that I am performing a deep scrubbing on the project list! Basically, I'm getting rid of any project that is obsolete, antithematic, can reasonably be merged with other projects or blandly generic. To whit, the following are no longer options:
Expand Totem Network(s), Cabal Extermination Corp, Shrine-Amps, Shrine-Conduits, Advanced TekShrines, TotemTek Peripherals, Totem Power Grid, Totem Eco-Scanners, Totem-Net, Great Totems, Land Totems, Awakening Totems, Mindwaltz Resonance, PowerArt, SmartArt, BioArt, Tacchis Water Extraction, Tacchis Surface Mining, MegaHarvester Power Plant, MegaHarvester Navigational Hub, MegaHarvester Agri-Car, MegaHarvester Manufactory, and Sandscorn Water Drop.
Now, please note that while a lot of these are getting cut, a number are being consolidated into singular repeatable per planet projects (expand totem networks), replaced with less generic versions (bioart), or being merged into a single, generally more advanced version (shrine amps/conduits/tekshrines).
Further, be aware that I am not finished pruning: these are just the cuts so far. I will announce additional purges as they happen.
[X] Plan: Into the Depths
-[X] Vault Complex COG
--[X] Site AA2
--[X] Site BA9
--[X] Site KI3
-[X] Vault Complex OMAC
--[X] "Just so we're on the same page, you're not on the side of the logic virus, right? Because we're trying to free AutoPlanet from its effects, just like we exercised the logic virus from the AutoVessels, and just like we exercised it from the Forbidden Archive. We don't want to fight you, and you can probably tell that we've been using non-lethal force, so we don't have to be enemies."
-[X] Vault Complex CAMBON
--[X] Security HUB 01
-[X] Central Power Core 07
--[X] "Are you really going to let vengeance stand in the way of AutoPlanet's liberation? You spent years training to fight me, and yet neglected to fight the very logic virus that poisoned us? Are you really the hero you think you are, or are you just so short-sighted as to think killing me would actually aid our liberation? Or has your own mind been poisoned, and liberation hasn't even occurred to you to begin with?"
[X] Theory:How did the logic virus initially get released? Koptu made a deal with the devil and released the logic virus to free the Autons from the Watchmakers, not realizing just how high the cost would be (the price to the Autons; they didn't care about the price to the Watchmakers).
[X] Dr. Yvnture
The opportunity to boost our ACD, our education system, and getting one of the weirdest of our projects more attention? Dr. Yvnture is by far my favorite pick for returning from the dead. Education is key for the Directorate, so let's get that some attention!
[X] Dr. Mongus
I like big robots. And you know what I like more than that? Even bigger, building-sized robots.
[X] Captain Penultima
Probably more "practical" then "fun," but the narrative whiplash she would get would still be fun to read about, and we are planning to do more work on our military.
[X] Plan: It Time To Reumble
-[X] TNDI Teams
--[X] Site AA2: Minor warp taint detected, as well as a powered structure of some sort, medium sized. Partially above-ground, entrance seems to be small administrative building.
--[X] Site AB6: HEAVY warp taint, small structure, electrified, detecting toxic gasses in heavy quantities. Entrance seems to be a disused exhaust vent passing through area.
--[X] Site KI3: Entrance appears to be disguised as approximation of office building. High number of hostile feral autons, no other notable defenses. Structure is extremely large and electrified, though no biosigns have been detected.
-[X] WULF Diplo
--[X] Nearly every single being on this planet is currently under the effect of a mind alterting virus that has altered them and caused them to view reality differtnly, called the logic virus. I am part of a group called the directorate trying to free everyone from the effect of this virus cause look around! Look how everything has fallen into squalor, look at the planet outside of all the reactors failing, of degradation happening with all the autons, look at this facility would a center of mil devolpment like this have such medicore defence if u weren't in a right state of mind, if u were in a right state of mind we wouldn't have gottent his far at all! The logic virus is why we sneaked in for we didn't know what awaited us in here you could have not been conzgiant at all and only wanted to attack us but gladly u are able to talk to us so let's talk. If you are willing I can tell u about my story for I have been part of this jounrey to liberate y'all since the beggining
-[X] Vault Complex CAMBON
--[X] Server Complex 02: Fully powered, detecting high amounts of security, no robospider presence. The Eye shows a locked treasure chest, guarded by a clockwork man in a uniform: writ upon their badges the word LEGION.
-[X] VHALK
--[X] You think you are the bell of the ball don't you? "I have been training for centuries getting ready to kill you?" That sounds like something from a comicbooks. Has your training for the last couple centuries been practicing that speech in front of mirror? For all this training too that you have been bragging about, I didn't see you in the forbidden archives? Were the forbidden archives not worth enough to you for you to try to save them from the monster you think am I? Perhaps you aren't different from my past self really and maybe ur just a lot of talk?
[X] Dr. Mongus
applying shrine upgrades to our bots would make them superrr potent
[X] Whale Heart
gets us a super potent ship upgrade
[X] Leviathan Hymnals
Get our occultist a potent upgrade to handle bad spirits
[X] Tyygbert
[X] Plan: Into the Depths
[X] Theory: Itep cut a deal with Koptu and used his cloning lab to bring back the Watchmaker's equivalent of dogs, which despite being reptiles have wool. They then knocked down all the walls in their wing and created Sheep Paradise. The uninfected Autons and sheep live there quite peacefully.
