Circular Reasoning [Babylon 5 AU splinter colony quest]

Event Roll: 51
Sandworm Attack: 75. No attack.

Year: 2078

Economy:

• Income:
  • +11 Food Units
  • +3 Minerals
  • +8 Energy
• Expenses:
  • -4 Food Units
  • -9 Minerals
  • -7 Energy
• Reserves:
  • 11/15 Food Units
  • 5/20 Minerals
  • 1/10 Energy

Military Assets:
-- Telekinetic Militia. (+1 Effectiveness)
-- Basic Watch Drones.
-- 1 Squadron of Improvised Tactical Ground Effect Vehicles.




Colonies:

• Kithhame
  • Population:
    • Humans: 1 Unit (~330 people)
    • Kobolds: 4 Units
    • Psi-Drones: 0 Units
  • Planetary status:
    • Marginally habitable. Indigenous wildlife obviously alien but at times oddly familiar.
    • Planetary Storms hit every 5 years. (2072,2077,2082, etc.. Causes -1 to all facilities that turn. Chance of facility loss.)
    • Hostile Fauna: Sandworms. 25% chance annually of attack on food reserves/production.
    • 3 Basic Minerals deposit found (1 Medium Exploited. 2 Unexploited).
    • 1 "Storm Peat" Deposit Found (1 Lightly Exploited). ( Build mine to produce +1 Energy/turn, -1 Food Cost/turn.)
    • 2 Kelp Forest Deposits Found (2 Unexploited). (Build Kelp Farm to produce +1 Food, -1 Food Cost.)
    • 1 Alien Ruins Found. Unlocks biotech, telepathic interface, cybernetics technology paths. Contains 1 Psi-Crystal Fabricator.
  • Colonization status:
    • One landed converted Centauri cargo hauler. No jump-engine, but the previous owner never removed the on-board grav plating.
    • Water Purification Plant ( Grants "Purified" Perk, Adding +1 to Hab Complexes and Farming Complexes, Storm Hardened)
    • 1 Basic Hab Complex: 2 Pop Cap ( 1 Pop Limit, +1 Purification, Storm Hardened)
    • 1 Basic Warehouse Complex. +10 Storage Caps. (Storm Hardened.)
    • Cultural Center (Complete) ( Negates Cultural Crisis.) (All sub facilities automatically Storm Hardened.)
      • Automated Field Hospital. -1 Energy, -1 medical emergency impact
      • 
        
    • 1 Vehicle Maintenance Bay. -1 Energy. (Provides 'care and feeding' for 1 squadron of GEVs.) (Storm Hardened.)
  • Economic status:
    • 3 "lightly pre-owned" Centauri-make autofabbers.
    • 2 Autofactory. -4 Energy ( Storm Hardened )
    • 2 Basic Greenhouse Farm: +6 Food, -0 Energy ( 1 Food, +1 Kobold Pets, +1 Purification, Storm Hardened)
    • 1 Basic Mine Complex. +3 Minerals, -1 Energy ( 1 Minerals, +1 Kobold Pets, +1 Powered Machinery, Storm Hardened. )
    • 1 Basic Peat Mine Complex. +2 Energy, -2 FoodCost ( +1 Energy, +1 Kobold Pets, Storm Hardened. )
    • 1 Storm Nullifier. +2 Energy. (Reduces Storm Turn penalty by 1 step).
    • 1 Basic Fusion Reactor. +2 Energy. (Storm Hardened.)
    • 1 Syngas Reactor. +2 Energy -2 Food. (Max of 3) (Storm Hardened.)

---

Industry:
-- Build Basic Autofactory (2 autofab, 5 minerals)
-- Build Syngas Reactor (1 autofab, 2 minerals) (burn -2 FoodCost from peat mine for +2 energy)
-- Build Basic Fusion Reactor (1 autofac, 2 minerals)

The entire colony could breath easier today, as you activate the first locally built fusion reactor. It's an incredibly basic one -- barely suitable for a standard orbital shuttle, and small enough to fit inside a standard bedroom. But let the heavens weep, for it was made by your people. The fires of the heavens themselves were once again in your hands. Your people would never go back into the dark again.

The engines of industry were slowly picking up steam for your people, and you couldn't be prouder of them. The activation of the reactor had been timed for the Settling Day festival for the year and while your youngest colonists couldn't really understand what was so special about something so dinky, they were certainly happy to partake in the festivities. The cakes made with glazes of Earth Chocolate and local honey certainly helped their morale -- and everyone was certainly happy to watch them celebrate and play in the warm afternoon.

-- Results:
Autofactory count now 2.
Basic Fusion Reactor built.
Syngas Reactor built, operating at 2/3 max yield.

Military:
-- Protect Exploration group from potentially hostile fauna. Maybe supplement colony food stores with some light hunting.

Not to be outdone by the Runningdeers' antics with the colonial survey design they somehow got through the surplus autofactory -- and heavens alone know where they got the resources for it -- Mira had decided that just in case, the old bilpro equipment that had been set aside could be affixed with some simple mechanisms to the long-legged amphibious craft, so they could be used in the better defense of the colony if necessary. The resulting hunting expedition for larger fauna and deposits of wild edibles having a much easier time dragging around their haul made the end result far more enjoyable for everyone involved of course, but that was hardly a major surprise.

-- Results:
5 Food obtained via hunting. ( 1, +1 Kobold Pets, +1 Kobold Veterancy Archives, +1 Effectiveness, +1 GEVs. ).

Exploration:
-- Begin planetary biosurvey. Focus on identifying potentially hazardous flora/fauna. Maybe we can catch the next sandworm-level-problem before they're chewing on our colony.

The Runningdeers had spent much of their time the previous year designing and considering the necessities of performing a fairly rapid planetary biosurvey -- with only a couple of years in which to get it done, as everyone was feeling the overall pressure -- but they still came up aces in the effort. Turns out that the eggheads back on Old Earth had published a number of designs for exactly this purpose which some sticky-fingered -- well, sticky-brained but that's awkward to say -- members of their Clan had managed to make off with from the EarthForce colony planners who were, at the time your people left, contemplating this very problem. A fairly rugged hybrid-lift amphibious ground-effect-vehicle; with graphene and boron-weave shelled wings topped with solar cells, and an air-breathing battery to provide the maximum trip capacity, the vehicle could skim over the surface of sea, prairie, and dunes alike at velocities that would make wide-ranging trips a matter of minutes where wheeled off-road vehicles would take hours; all while having a cargo capacity of a dozen tons.

Somehow they'd taken it upon themselves to scavenge the necessary materials from somewhere when they realized that the secondary autofactory would be up-and-running but idle for long enough for a proper facility to house and assemble the craft to be completed. What had been looking like it might be an effort of over a decade to properly complete would now -- thanks to the loan from the military of a contingent of the basic watch drones -- take far, far less time.

Already the effort was paying dividends: the first survey vehicle deployed went straight to what was suspected to be the native habitat of the sandworms; the dunes just bordering the subarctic tundra. Therein it was discovered, through careful seismic monitoring and rapid deployment, that the sandworms as your people knew them were in fact a nomadic "herbivorous" race, in a strange sort of pseudo-symbiosis with their own dietary source: the stonebushes in their youngest form needed the broken-up sandy soils to take root in, and the passing of the worms as they swam through what should be permafrost resulted in the soil being broken up enough for that to happen. While this was interesting, the bigger discovery was that there was more than one variety of sandworm -- the herbivore, and the carnivore.

The creatures that attacked the colony had predators. Predators that could be mimicked.

In terms of other interesting moments; there was also a species of ... you would hesitate to call it a whale-catfish, but it was certainly the size of whales, with the general body-plan of what seemed like a catfish, and semi-prehensile whiskers that liked to try to catch anything skimming along the surface of the oceans. Arming the GEVs had been a good idea -- but what hadn't had been Mira's attempt at leaning out the window of the vehicle she was in to "show these bitches who's the boss."

-- Results:
Planetary biosurvey will complete in 1 more turn.
Possible repellant method found for driving away sandworms.
The Alexanders have been "quietly" collecting large quantities of the "fixin's" for pan-fried catfish.

Research:
-- We need a design for a satellite that can detect and track spaceships entering our solar system. Ideally quiet, passive sensors only. Bonus points for tracking potential planetary impactors.

Again the Namikazes are happy enough to search through the colonial databases for any offerings of sensor satellites. What they find is a fairly standard design, overall easy enough to make in the batches required. However, there is one sticking point: they require some kind of ground control facility to actually provide the data back to. While you can use the colony ship for this purpose, it would be much better to have a "proper" CNC within the Community Center to do this task.

It is noted that a central server as had been previously thought of could also get this done, along with allocating a simple meeting room to terminals. An alternative option could be, however, building a proper spaceport. The tachyonic beacon array included in the database's spaceport designs having the capacity to not only provide navigational tracking for any hyperspace that could lock onto its timed-pulse encryption, but could also act as a sensor to detect craft approaching the system before entering.

You do find yourself wondering if the psi-crystals could possibly be used to enhance these functions; they do after all have the ability to detect thoughts. And hyperspace is known to significantly enhance the distance at which a telepath's abilities were effective...

-- Results:
Sensor Grid design unlocked. ( Passive Mode reduces effectiveness 2 steps. -2 Energy. Cost: 1 Orbital Operation, 5 Minerals, 1 Autofactory Action.)
Spaceport design unlocked. (3 stage facility. -2 Energy per stage. Provides subfacility slots for orbital-related activities. Cost: 1 Autofactory Action, 5 Minerals per stage.)

Diplomacy:
-- If the stoners are going to try to establish an economy, let's talk about the basics. What is money; is it pure fiat, or is it based in something? How do you prevent abuses of wealth? Are we going to do taxes? Long term this can cause big issues, so let's do it right.
-- Suggest basing 'money' on productive capacity - currency can be exchanged for a specific amount of autofabber runtime. Suggest community-owned fabbers could regularly pay out "production credits" to all citizens.

The Stoners are very pleasantly surprised by this line of conversation. They enthusiastically "glomp" onto it, mentally speaking. Before you even know it, you've found yourself committed to building a new autofactory that will be provided with 2 Food and 2 Minerals in feedstocks specifically to provide for colonist's cashed-in Credits. They assure you that this will avoid burnout and disunity as the colony becomes more well-established over time, and sing your praises for months.


-- Results:
Credit system established. Next turn you are required to build a new Autofactory that will reserve 2 Food and 2 Minerals for colonist private spending. Credit-based economics prevent morale and pop performance from dropping below a minimum.

Personal:
-- Yeah, a human can easily psychically dominate a group of kobolds. But what if you didn't? Try to sink into the kobold group-mind, see what you can learn. Also, take your wife on some nice dates.

It takes several tries to get the trick of floating amongst the kobold-minds without letting them latch onto you at all but rather amongst them. They just adhere too quickly. But you do eventually get there. Just feeling the weaving threads of their minds as the interacting pulses therein manage to assemble into a whole greater than the sum of its parts; it takes a month just to get the stealth technique down to the level it won't interfere with the mossy green scaled critters while still present enough to actually interact with their minds fully; and another couple of months of just observing and watching before it clicks. While it wouldn't work in any way similarly for humans as it does for the kobolds, there's nothing truly preventing the creation of this mesh-weave amongst your fellow telepaths. It would only be an emulation; a product of active cooperation, rather than a true mind unto itself as with the kobolds -- and required a great deal of trust and cohesive operation -- but for four or five people actively creating a telepathic pseudo-mind, having an "overseer" that was aware of each of them could make their cooperation immensely more effective.

Your dates with Mira consist of various fishing strategies. You very carefully do not think about or mention the fact that the puntgun was banned for a very good reason back on Old Earth. Your expeditions out beyond the perimeter of the colony are often "coincidentally" on the path of one or another of the scouts -- and they just so "happen" to have some scrounged up bit of some sweet or another. Just another way your people show their appreciation for you and Mira, really, but ... well, maybe you were old fashioned but you did want genuine privacy at least once in a while to show your wife how much you appreciated her without literally the entire colony feeling the reverberations of it. The upshot of this however is that you find your twins are very friendly with Wanda Runningdeer's own boy, as a result of you taking her aside to ask for a little more decorum.

Well, it's good for their socialization. But still. You watch little Iron like a hawk every time he's around your little girls. Mira thinks it's cute -- your reaction that is. And she isn't too old-fashioned to let anyone else know about it.

-- Results:
Squadlink psi technique obtained.
Mira is very enthusiastic about plinking. And playdates for the twins.

---

Votes by plan, please:
Each turn is 1 year.
1 Action in each category, only write-ins for now while the dust settles and interest is shown.

- [] Industry:
(Agricultural, economic, and residential leadership actions go here.)
-- [] MUST INCLUDE 1 AUTOFACTORY, AND A SOURCE OF 2 FOOD AND 2 MINERALS FOR CREDIT SYSTEM.
- [] Military:
(Militia, naval, wartime, and such go here.)
-- []
- [] Exploration:
(Scouting, mapping, resource survey type actions go here.)
-- []
- [] Research:
(Pulling schematics for practical application out of the colony ship's AI, discovering new techniques, biotech, and so on.)
-- []
- [] Diplomacy:
(Internal or external diplomatic actions. Building community, negotiating trade deals, and so on.)
-- []
- [] Personal:
(Things you do yourself.)
-- []