GFL, by and large, runs on "there can be only one" rules. It's up to Solark if they want to deviate from canon on this (they've deliberately deviated on a few other points).
Is there a ''in-lore'' reason why they only have one T-Doll of each kind/weapon ? Because it's kinda weird that (outside Dummy network) only one can exist instead of, for example, full squads of AK-47 running around.
(Just curious)
Is there a ''in-lore'' reason why they only have one T-Doll of each kind/weapon ? Because it's kinda weird that (outside Dummy network) only one can exist instead of, for example, full squads of AK-47 running around.
(Just curious)
it could be a mental health thing. The T-dolls see themselves as a single person who has gaps in their memory, if there are multiple versions of one running around that starts to break down and they might start fearing death, seeing themselves as the single killable instance. They lose a lot of effectiveness if they don't fight willingly since when following direct orders they lose a lot of initiate and might start looking for loopholes.
Is there a ''in-lore'' reason why they only have one T-Doll of each kind/weapon ? Because it's kinda weird that (outside Dummy network) only one can exist instead of, for example, full squads of AK-47 running around.
(Just curious)
There is a lore reason, under new-Soviets regulations PMC's cannot field standardized T-Dolls, this extends to both the model of T-Dolls and equipment they carry. This regulation is used to limit the military firepower of NGO's.
Griffin and Kryuger just dealt with it in the most hamfisted manner possible.
You stay silent as seconds tick away. Of course, Gager notices you hesitation.
"Do you need anything else from her?"
"Not really..."— you have some passing thoughts, but they are superficial at best.
"Then don't overthink it."
You shift your gaze from the ceiling to look into her eyes. Whatever you're expecting to see isn't there, instead she seems to see something in yours. She places her hand on your arm, and closes her eyes. You sense a barely noticeable spike of network traffic. You know what's going on, but do not try to stop her. The spike subsides several seconds later.
"There, all done."— you feel a gentle squeeze of her fingers before she lets go. Oh well, at least you didn't make the mistake of talking with your prisoner face to face to make it harder. "I'll make sure they won't ever have a chance to come as close as today. I'll keep you safe, so leave the security to me, okay?"
"...Okay."— you exhale and offer a tiny smile. "You said there is a tunnel in my backyard? I think I know what to do with that primary type explosives that's been collecting dust."
It's morning. The tunnel seems to be a part of a catacomb network, possibly a priceless archaeological discovery. You don't care about any of that as you direct your troops to place charges at precisely calculated points. It doesn't take too long, and you set everything off the moment your personnel resurfaces. The explosion is muffled, you mostly feel it through the ground as it shakes and rumbles.
You confirm the results, leave Gager to making follow-up security arrangements, and head to the Anomalous Materials wing. Once there, you check your notes, bring the trusty KrF/Nd:YAG laser combo online, and embark on a rigorous journey to narrow down suitable source materials and define optimal conditions. Mixing molecular-beam epitaxy with pulsed laser deposition, you aim to craft an atomically flat quantum nanostructure, and then directionally amplify Asaro-Tiller-Grinfeld instability to achieve lateral separation. It's a series of challenges, each so problematic that it verges on the impossible.
But you have a solid foundation built upon the Executioner's request, and have significantly expanded your understanding of the field. Your lab equipment is barely able to keep up as you push it to its limits. Thankfully, the quantities you operate with here are virtually non-existent compared to MITHRIL production, so the devices hold up. Actually, everything goes so well that you get a satisfactory result much earlier than expected.
Converting all Alchemist's blades is going to be a time-consuming process, while something of a smaller size can be done much faster. Considering the extra time you've got, and Gager's interest in sharpening your utensils, a scaled-down prototype is just waiting to be made! You smirk, ordering your personnel to fetch you a knife from the kitchen.
Your prototype seems to be everything you expected. Even the finest, thinnest paper you have doesn't bend when the edge touches it. It simply comes apart as the blade cuts through seemingly without resistance. Oh yes, it's time to impress your adjutant!
"Hey Gager, guess what this is?"— you go straight to the point as she comes in to meet you in the kitchen 3 minutes later.
"...The chef's knife from the upper drawer?"— she looks confused rather than impressed. That's about to change!
"Yeah, but it's not what it used to be. It's a prototype with a mono-molecular edge, so it's super sharp and possibly everlasting!"— okay, now that got her interested. "Wanna try it?"
Gager takes the knife from you and inspects the edge. Then opens the fridge to retrieve... a red, ripe tomato? You blink.
"Do I even want to know how you managed to get a tomato out here?"
"Nope, you probably don't."— she places the vegetable on a cutting board and adjusts her grip on the knife. "Don't sweat the small details."
The edge barely touches the red skin and sinks straight in, not causing even the slightest deformation.
"Wow"— your friend casts you a look of pure astonishment and proceeds with the cut. The sliced off part is paper-thin, yet it preserves its original shape. She admires the results for several seconds, then turns to you, holding the knife like it's a family heirloom.
"If it's really going to stay this sharp for a long time, I bet it could outsell our military tech by an order of magnitude."
Yes! Gager is utterly impressed! Making the prototype was so worth it! Your face-splitting grin is proud and content.
"Oh, don't make me blush, it's nothing. And you can keep this knife if you like it! It's a limited edition, there is only one copy in the whole world."
She nods with a smile.
"Then don't mind if I do. Still, I didn't know you were into cooking."
"Naah, it's for Alchemist's request."
"That's even more surprising."— Gager twists the knife with her fingers, making it dance in the air like helicopter blades. "I didn't know Alchemist was into cooking."
"Now that'd be something! Unfortunately, it's for her gunblades. She asked for a blade that could cut through anything, even tank armor."
Gager knits her brows, thinking.
"And this is your answer?"
"Yes, why?"
She picks up the cutting board, inspects it, then hands it and the knife to you.
"Can you demonstrate?"
The board is made of some kind of hardwood, not even 2 centimeters thick. Should be a piece of cake!
"Of course! Watch closely."
Holding the board vertically, you swing at its corner to cut it off in one swift motion.
Thunk!
The knife embeds itself in the board, penetrating about 20% of the blade height.
"..."
Before the realization fully hits you, Gager is already talking. Her familiar voice anchors you in the real world, makes you pay attention.
"There is more to the knife than just the edge. Here, let me show you."
She turns on the display and starts drawing a simple schematics.
"Every knife is essentially a wedge. The tip is the edge, and from there the blade gets thicker to have required rigidity."
"A sharp edge acts like... a lens for mechanical force. It focuses all the pressure into a very thin line. This extreme pressure separates the material. The sharper the edge, the easier it goes in. Are you with me?"
You nod, concentrating on what she says and blocking all unrelated thoughts.
"So, the edge we have here is extremely sharp. It penetrates effortlessly, but...
"...the initial cut is only about as thick as the edge itself. Sinking in, the blade gets thicker, pushing the material to the sides. It works fine with paper and tomatoes, they are soft and flexible. The hardwood, however, isn't going to deform that easily."
"It's rigid, so it grabs the blade from both sides like a... C-clamp. That's why it gets stuck. Sharpness doesn't matter when the edge can't touch the material. Does it make sense?"
For all you know, she may be reading this off the net, but it doesn't matter: you could have done it too, before committing to your decision.
"Architect?"
"Y-yes. Yes, it does."— you have to keep this conversation going. "So, uh, how... how can we cut steel?"
"Hmm, all methods I know are about material removal. If you want a tool to cut steel, you have to make space for it. Where knives rely on pushing material to the sides, angle grinders scrape it off, making space for the cut-off wheel to do its work. Same goes for hacksaws."
Good, just like this. It keeps you focused.
"But aren't saw teeth thinner than the blade? How come it still doesn't get stuck?"
"They're angled to both sides a bit, so the cut is a tiny bit wider than the blade."
She has to be consulting the net at this point. Or maybe she's just smarter when it comes to things that actually work.
"What can I... what can be done to make this"— you point to the knife in Gager's hand— "work?"
"Theoretically, if you remove everything except the edge itself..."
"Impossible. A molecule-thin edge without rigid support is too brittle, even if I manage to deposit it onto thin air. Anything else?"
"...Make the whole blade as thin as the edge."
"Hmm, a two-dimensional blade could work in perfect conditions, but a small amount of side force not aligned with its plane would immediately break it."— you tap your finger on the table. "What else?"
"Make it a mono-molecular saw?"
"Oh... yes, that could work, actually. Chainsaw, oscillating saw... the only problem is those are going to be power-dependent, and with added mechanical complexity on top of that..."
You look at Gager, she responds with an apologetic shake of her head. No more ideas, your brief improvised brainstorm is over. Once again your solution met the specifications but failed to address the problem it was designed to solve. You were focused on innovation and overlooked the fundamentals of its intended application. Well, this time it's not that bad. You can still make it... or forget about it and move on, accepting your major failure.
[] Energy blade (1d)
[] Move on
Does it make sense? In any case, it's probably time to fully switch to brainstorm-type problem solving. This fixed-type is just not working as I wanted it to, and it really is a reading comprehension which is not the experience I wanted to create.
In case I wasn't clear, abandoning the request now will result in a regular failure, not a major one.
Oh right, the other issue with physical blades: blade geometry is a complete bitch. Yeah, there is a reason why I said an energy weapon was the conservative "reliable" option here.
[X] Energy blade (1d)
Also, maybe we should start bouncing ideas off of Gager as well as Mr. Sharkey. Actually, that could be are excuse for doing away with these fixed-choices.
Turning it into a chainsaw runs into energy problems, and potentially mechanical problems too. I guess we did invent the world's best kitchen knife, so, hopefully that might be valuable someday.
Only idea I've got so far is some kind of mono-molucular wire projector? Rather than a normal blade, send out cutting wires to slice through your target. Even if that works, (and it might run into directional problems,) I'm not sure Gager Alchemist would appreciate it. And you'd probably need an entire spool of the wire, since you'd expect this stuff to get broken often. Eh.
So much for ambition this time around. I just hope there's not a hidden downside to the energy blades, too.
I honestly think that, while this doesn't accomplish what we set out to do, we should still deliver this rather than the energy blade. The energy blade has tradeoffs; this is just a straight upgrade, useful always with no downsides.
I don't like "move on", I prefer:
[X] Deliver as-is
As for my own... remember my gunblades? They have served me well, but now I'm feeling their limitations as my melee skills have improved. The gun part is still fine, it's the blades that I have outgrown. They are only good for some small fry, and can't slice through a tank, or anything armored. I've got what it takes to be truly unstoppable, I just need better blades that can slice through anything. Being held back by their limitations is frustrating. Being helpless against a hulk of metal is unforgiving.
Your first option would be to simply take Gager's energy blade and integrate it with Alchemist's gunblades. It's a proven solution extensively used by Gager, a shaped construct of pure energy that disintegrates everything it touches, thus cutting through anything without resistance. The downside you can identify is it's energy-dependent. You'll be replacing the physical blades with energy emitters for this one.
I am very glad we are moving away from these into the brainstorming ideas type votes. those tend to be a lot more intresting, the thread is better at throwing ideas at the wall then comparing them than they are with reading things closely to work out which option will actually work.
[X] Energy blade (1d)
-[X] Monomlcular blades provided as a backup.
I hope we can at least use the technology we developed for something else.
[X] Energy blade (1d)
I know we're running low on time, but actual successes delivered is important. Even if it doesn't work, it's a fairly low cost compared to the unknown of whatever we do next.
I honestly think that, while this doesn't accomplish what we set out to do, we should still deliver this rather than the energy blade. The energy blade has tradeoffs; this is just a straight upgrade, useful always with no downsides.
This doesn't actually do anything as-is, there's nothing to deliver that works beyond one very fancy kitchen knife, for cutting veggies. As mentioned, it doesn't pierce heavy armor and deal damage, which is what Alchemist was looking for.
[X] Energy blade (1d)
I know we're running low on time, but actual successes delivered is important. Even if it doesn't work, it's a fairly low cost compared to the unknown of whatever we do next.
This doesn't actually do anything as-is, there's nothing to deliver that works beyond one very fancy kitchen knife, for cutting veggies. As mentioned, it doesn't pierce heavy armor and deal damage, which is what Alchemist was looking for.
I honestly think that, while this doesn't accomplish what we set out to do, we should still deliver this rather than the energy blade. The energy blade has tradeoffs; this is just a straight upgrade, useful always with no downsides.
I don't like "move on", I prefer:
[X] Deliver as-is
they do not in fact have tradeoffs. the fact they use power is not a significant issue, it has not practical effect. See the below response to me asking if they would run out of power. But if you want we can just give her a backup set of blades.
You stay silent as seconds tick away. Of course, Gager notices you hesitation.
"Do you need anything else from her?"
"Not really..."— you have some passing thoughts, but they are superficial at best.
"Then don't overthink it."
You shift your gaze from the ceiling to look into her eyes. Whatever you're expecting to see isn't there, instead she seems to see something in yours. She places her hand on your arm, and closes her eyes. You sense a barely noticeable spike of network traffic. You know what's going on, but do not try to stop her. The spike subsides several seconds later.
"There, all done."— you feel a gentle squeeze of her fingers before she lets go. Oh well, at least you didn't make the mistake of talking with your prisoner face to face to make it harder.
Does it make sense? In any case, it's probably time to fully switch to brainstorm-type problem solving. This fixed-type is just not working as I wanted it to, and it really is a reading comprehension which is not the experience I wanted to create.
ok so a thought, we have a way to make monomlcular blades right? could we use that to make super high performance perpetrator rounds? Discarding sabbot with a monocular point, maybe ridges and groves to push material it cuts lose out. It would be hellishly expensive sure, but it might be able to one shot anything without some sort of energy based defense.
It was said in jest, but I don't think Archi would be getting off at the tribunals.
It's a moot point anyway - the Ringleaders are already treated as outlaws and hostis humanis generis on account of being rebellious slaves, and they're never getting put on trial because that would mean acknowledging them as people. GFLverse is...not a nice place.
It was said in jest, but I don't think Archi would be getting off at the tribunals.
It's a moot point anyway - the Ringleaders are already treated as outlaws and hostis humanis generis on account of being rebellious slaves, and they're never getting put on trial because that would mean acknowledging them as people. GFLverse is...not a nice place.
so, its unclear if she killed her or not. She's still around right? just missing some memories. Legally, and as far as the victim is concerned, she was not killed, she just lost some memories. T-dolls seem to consider themselves alive if they can be restored from backup, regardless if that's true or not.
It's a moot point anyway - the Ringleaders are already treated as outlaws and hostis humanis generis on account of being rebellious slaves, and they're never getting put on trial because that would mean acknowledging them as people. GFLverse is...not a nice place.
Also by the same definition the prisoner wasn't a person either. So from legal standpoint what happened was about as unlawful as a washer cycling a mobile phone forgotten in a pocket!
its going to be an akward conversation if we end up working alongside her. I mean i'm assuming that we intend to hire some or all of the G&K dolls if we manage our grand plan of stealing their job.
Also by the same definition the prisoner wasn't a person either. So from legal standpoint what happened was about as unlawful as a washer cycling a mobile phone forgotten in a pocket!
