trooperist
Cinnamon Roll AI
While the option says it's not exactly up-to-date and cutting edge, I assume they're at least enough to keep people alive until they get shipped off-world to a better facility.
Attempting To Fulfil Your Contract: A Noveria Planquest [Mass Effect]
- Thread starter Faith
- Start date
- Pronouns
- Erd
Can we research the Geth technology ourselves after we salvage it?
trooperist
Cinnamon Roll AI
We don't really research anything. We just manage a facility with low regulations that has multiple corporations operating in it. My guess is we just recover the salvage and then sell it to whoever wants it in exchange for credits and/or concessions. Then later we could buy the tech like anyone else or get first dibs.
Looking at the Corporations info post and the option, the ones interested are Kantor Robotics (Batarian national corp.), Synthetic Insights (Citadel AI research corp.), and the Citadel military.
Is Kantor Robotics still a Batarian national company? I thought they cut ties with them after the Batarians left the council.
trooperist
Cinnamon Roll AI
Going by the info post I think they still have ties.
Perhaps not nationally owned by Batarian government, but they're at least strongly influenced.
- Location
- Singapore
It's a very obvious Batarian SIU (their intelligence agency) front. Any Batarian operating outside the Hegemony is either an exiled criminal or an SIU agent posing as pirate-slavers to feed their slave based economy.
See, I thought that meant that they stayed behind as the batarian government retreated inwards and are kind of independent now but yeah I see what you mean.
- Pronouns
- He/his/him
[X] Plan : Oh no, Mountain Monster
Faith
Some idea of what I'm doing.
- Location
- Land of Waves and Warmth
Hanshan Medical Centre was built to service a city of ~100k people and is only twenty years old. It can handle most kinds of injuries, and the majority of well-understood illnesses, certainly well enough to stabilize a patient for transport off-world if it comes to that. It's just not a very big hospital, and the technology, even at construction time, was picked for being in the slice of venn diagram between 'good enough' and 'cheap', rather than for maximal medical efficiency.
Anyway, it seems Oh No, Mountain Monster is decisively winning, so I'll go ahead and call it there and roll some dice.
- Location
- Queensland, Australia
Just to check, but we do have three Free Dice right @Faith Because neither of the two plans suggested for this turn used any of them, and I think we've got 15 more resources in reserve with the winning plan? And hell, we could use them for the Internal Sweeping action without costing resources...
10ebbor10
DON'T PANIC
- Location
- Present
Whoops.
Faith
Some idea of what I'm doing.
- Location
- Land of Waves and Warmth
This is all very true, and a potent reminder of the importance of double checking the plans you vote for.
In future I'll move the free die counter down closer to the actions, perhaps - should make it easier to prevent this mistake in the future.
In future I'll move the free die counter down closer to the actions, perhaps - should make it easier to prevent this mistake in the future.
trooperist
Cinnamon Roll AI
Expand Onsite Construction Facilities 166+39+63+87+15= 370/300
Hanshan Processor & Microframe Plant 251+71+15= 337/300
Prototyping Workshop (Peak 41) 92+23+30= 145/150
Distributed Windworks 36+79+50= 165/150
Arcology Spire 87+25= 112/200
Geth Salvage 27+52+14= 93/100
Snow Patrol 21+27+14= 62/200
Investigate: Saren & Benezia 73+61+54+15= 203/?
Cheaper dice for construction actions
Cheaper dice for high tech actions
-6 Cargo (Now +2)
+8 Power (Now +8)
Narhu Combine: +1P, +1F
Kaskadan Syndicate +1P, +2F
2 Profit down, 19 more to go.
Pity about Prototyping Workshop being short by 5.
Hanshan Processor & Microframe Plant 251+71+15= 337/300
Prototyping Workshop (Peak 41) 92+23+30= 145/150
Distributed Windworks 36+79+50= 165/150
Arcology Spire 87+25= 112/200
Geth Salvage 27+52+14= 93/100
Snow Patrol 21+27+14= 62/200
Investigate: Saren & Benezia 73+61+54+15= 203/?
Cheaper dice for construction actions
Cheaper dice for high tech actions
-6 Cargo (Now +2)
+8 Power (Now +8)
Narhu Combine: +1P, +1F
Kaskadan Syndicate +1P, +2F
2 Profit down, 19 more to go.
Pity about Prototyping Workshop being short by 5.
Turn 2 - 2183-02 Results
Faith
Some idea of what I'm doing.
- Location
- Land of Waves and Warmth
"Binary Helix shares took a sharp dive today, as the company publicly revealed they were recently forced to temporarily shut down operations at one of their major research sites due to what they're referring to as a containment failure incident. As is usual for stories about Noverian research sites, conspiracy theories are flying, and whilst we're not able to confirm anything yet, an anonymous source within the Citadel's intelligence apparatus has suggested that their research there may have involved the rac-"
You wave a hand, and your VI dismisses the news feed. The fountain of disaster that Peak 15 proved to be may have been a nightmare in terms of work, but at least it presented an excellent opportunity to make credits. Your broker didn't ask too many questions when you told him to put in a short order, and if a few of his other clients happened to also short Binary Helix, well, how fortuitous for them. You're sure more than a few of the Executive Board members did much the same.
Your stock profile isn't the only venture making decent progress, either. Construction efforts continue apace, with a notable success in the form of new factories spooling up in time to start producing equipment for the new month. The prototyping workshop Anoleis neglected to build is almost finished, which should help keep the krogan off your back, and a new wave of wind farms has sprung up across the lower valley, adding a fair bit of slack to Port Hanshan's power capacity. Construction of an additional arcology spire along the northern fringe of Port Hanshan is well underway, aiming to include an additional three thousand six hundred apartments to be rented out by the NDC.
The NDC's other outdoors endeavours unfortunately proved less constructive - many of the new security staff got their first taste of the Noverian chill whilst running patrols through the Aleutsk Valley and surrounding areas, and though morale is high and the troops are professionals, the difficulties in searching for potential enemies whilst wrestling with Noveria's near-constant snow are apparent. Though most of the geth debris has been collected, there are still several small caches left for security to scoop up.
The real success of the quarter, in your eyes and in the eyes of the executives, is the investigation into Saren and Benezia. You have reams of data from corporate databases that paint a very interesting picture of their recent activities.
Heavy Industry
[ ] Expand Onsite Construction Facilities (Success Overflow)
Port Hanshan's initial development called for a small and simple production facility, to produce basic construction materials and structural components. By expanding the manufacturing capabilities of that facility, and setting aside space to store and maintain dedicated construction vehicles and equipment, the NDC can save on the cost of importing skilled workers, specialised equipment, and prefabricated modules, and instead ship in cheaper raw resources and construct on-site.
(Progress: 370/300 - 25 Resources per die) (Cheaper dice for Construction actions, -4 Cargo)
(Sannovi Industrial: +1P, +2F)
With the new landing and loading bays already established, the materials and heavy equipment being brought in can be delivered directly to the site, rather than transferred through Port Hanshan proper, saving a great deal of time in fully establishing the various manufacturing lines.
Some parts of the plant come together so quickly that Sannovi are able to run a few production runs of basic components needed to finish off the rest of the plant, not only saving time but cutting down on the cost a small amount. Though you're sure the Sannovi workers pocketed some of the savings themselves, as a gesture of good faith and appreciation for the fast work, some is kicked back to the NDC - most of which, you return to the general coffers for next month.
(+15 Resources)
Advanced Industry
[ ] Hanshan Processor & Microframe Plant
A syndicate of salarian electronics manufacturers, the Kaskadan Syndicate, have put forward a request for the construction of a new and high end electronics plant either in or around Port Hanshan. Currently, no such facility exists, and as such, high end electronics are one of the many things Noveria needs shipped in for major projects. The Kaskadan Syndicate is willing to give the NDC first-refusal and a tidy discount on those electronic products if allowed to develop and manufacture them on Noveria.
(Progress: 337/300 - 15 Resources per die) (Cheaper dice for High-Tech actions, -2 Cargo)
(New Corporation: Kaskadan Syndicate (+1P, +2F))
The last few pieces of equipment the Kaskadan Syndicate was waiting on finally arrived towards the close of the month, and were quickly installed. There were a few minor issues in the first test production run, but Chero Finn waved them off as typical teething issues and promised the plant would be fully operational and ready to work come the new month.
Meanwhile, their administrative staff and yours finally got together to sign off the final details of their rental contract and set up their payment plan, bringing Port Hanshan some additional funds greatly appreciated after Binary Helix closed their doors.
[ ] Prototyping Workshop
For all the power and sophistication of computer modelling and simulations, it is difficult for them to surpass the level of realism of reality itself. But producing prototypes only to find minor issues that require the reproduction of components or even the entire system is a source of constant frustration. Many designers prefer actual workshops, so that minor adjustments can be made swiftly and in direct response to problems that arise during the prototyping and testing phase without requiring constant digital redesigning.
-[ ] Peak 41 (Progress: 145/150 - 15 Resources per die) (Korten Machines: +1P) (Overdue 0/3)
In fitting with the terms of the krogan's request, the Prototyping Workshop constructed on Peak 41 is built as an extension to their existing facilities, turning what was once a small maintenance bay into a fully equipped garage and workshop.
The krogan are surprisingly patient with your crews interrupting their work to reroute power conduits and connect utilities, and once the foundations are set up and construction proper begins, the krogan somehow become even more helpful, actually making the task significantly easier by getting involved themselves, supplementing the workers with their own not-insignificant strength.
Though there are still a few particular pieces of equipment still to come, the workshop is almost fully operational, and just a slight investment should see the place finished.
Infrastructure
[ ] Distributed Windworks
Noveria's weather and the terrain of the Skadi Mountains means that there are many, many valleys near Port Hanshan suitable for the deployment of distributed wind farms. Cheap, dependable, and clean, they're an ideal source of power, and distributing generation across multiple areas has benefits of its own. Some people think that the wind farms are blights upon the landscape, but seeing as how there's a dozen luxury resorts on Noveria and Port Hanshan isn't one of them, you find it kind of hard to care.
(Progress: 165/150 - 15 Resources per die) (+8 Power)
An unfortunate issue with Noveria is that the scale and intensity of weather regularly extends beyond the standardized metrics generally used for construction of prefabricated wind turbines. For installations capable of surviving Noverian blizzards, the turbines must be made to order, reinforced to handle strong winds and freezing temperatures.
Fortunately, this is not a particularly huge issue - and most of the rest of the construction is fairly straightforward. Foundations are laid and power conduits connected whilst the blades are being manufactured, and by the time the turbine blades are shipped in, every other element of the wind farm is good to go. Though the poor weather interrupts or stalls installation a few times, the project is still completed rapidly.
[ ] Arcology Spire
Very few people want to make their lives on Noveria, and it doesn't take a genius to work out why. The advantage of this is that it massively reduces housing pressure - and what little long-term housing pressure does exist tends to be focused on the resort-cities, which cater far more to high class lifestyles. Nonetheless, some 80,000 people call Port Hanshan home, and that is brushing close to the practical capacity limit. Taking lessons from centuries of urban planning and orbital habitat design across the galaxy, arcology spires serve to provide not just housing and the requisite utilities, but rental spaces that can be dedicated to shops, restaurants, schools, gyms, and other facilities, providing all the average resident needs within a single complex.
(Progress: 112/200 - 10 Resources per die) (+4 Housing)
Sannovi Industrial is one of the most renowned construction firms in the galaxy, and it's due in large part to their penchant for simplicity. Whilst willing to perform bespoke construction - and, indeed, much of the initial Port Hanshan facilities were bespoke designs intended to fit seamlessly into the mountains, they also maintain a wide range of modular units with varying levels of connectivity that make it incredibly easy to put together even the largest of structures.
The arcology spire constructed on Port Hanshan's northern fringe was, of course, no exception. By shipping in mass produced high-rise-core units, they were able to construct the central spine of the spire, featuring multiple high speed elevators and bulk utility lines allowing for service of a huge number of attached apartments. From that central spine, a skeletal frame for the entire building was constructed, and a number of the larger facilities, including a gym and arcade, were installed, carried down from a Sannovi bulk carrier by orbital lifters in flat-pack boxes and assembled planetside by legions of worker mechs.
Though the majority of the housing itself is yet to be completed, slotting the apartments into place is a fairly fast task - thanks to the modular system, individual units can be built up and slotted into place rapidly, and the process of filling out the skeleton shouldn't take much longer.
Security
[ ] Geth Salvage
Between the troopers, warbots, turrets, and miscellaneous other detritus of battle, the NDC is sitting on a veritable goldmine of exotic geth technology. Ensuring that the debris is appropriately recovered and stored for future use by the NDC, rather than whoever stumbles across it, is vital. A Citadel military think-tank has already put out a request for recovered geth technology to be passed on to them, and you know for a fact that there are corporations on Noveria who would be similarly interested.
(Progress: 93/100 - 5 Resources per die) (Further options on completion)
A fairly large pile of geth debris has been acquired and stacked in one corner of the locked-down western gatehouse, much to the consternation of the garage manager, Lilihierax. Perpetually guarded by the troops Matsuo considered least likely to start swiping scrap and selling it for profit, the pile contains everything from broken guns and fragments of geth plating to a nearly-completely-intact warbot, apparently disabled by a very well placed shot with a high power phasic round.
You spent a lot of your free time poking through the pile - though you've only had the misfortune of fighting geth once, early into your pilgrimage, you still know a fair bit more about them than most of Port Hanshan's residents. Their memory cores were universally wiped and often damaged, but between all the piles there's a fairly decent chunk of intact geth technology, and you're certain people will pay good money for pick of the litter.
[ ] Snow Patrol
Though Matsuo's report and the Peak 15 surveillance footage paints an impressive image of the Spectre's combat prowess, and the trail she left in her wake is by no means small, the possibility of small groups of geth or rachni remaining somewhere near Peak 15 is non-zero, which by your reckoning is too high. Though it's a pain, having some of Matsuo's forces and drones scour the Aleutsk Valley for any trace of either invader would do a lot to ease tensions.
(Progress: 62/200 - 10 Resources per die)
ERCS forces, escorted by flocks of recon and gun drones, began scouring the Aleutsk Valley for any sign of remaining hostiles early into the month. Smaller groups in Grizzlies or shuttles ranged further afield, performing perfunctory scans covering huge tracts of land around the Peak 15 complex. Aside from a few false alarms from destroyed geth frames, half buried in the snow, nothing has been found so far.
Rumours of 'mountain monsters' are spreading throughout the security staff, but they appear to be taking it in stride. Though progress has been slow, that can primarily be attributed to poor weather, with work halted several times due to deteriorating weather conditions.
Administration
[ ] Investigate: Saren & Benezia (Rolled: 203)
Whilst not strictly under the aegis of the NDC's regular operations, the Executive Board is very curious as to what, exactly, they did, and whether or not it stands to impact the reputations or profit margins of the NDC. Given that Benezia's presence on Noveria is the most recent lead on either of their activities, the NDC's records on them seem a good place to start looking.
(Breakpoints: ??? - 5 Resources per die) (Consequences Unclear)
With Benezia's unfortunate death in Peak 15, many of her corporate assets were passed on to her estranged partner, her daughter, or members of her fellowship, complicating the task of combing through the assets for clues directly. However, one of the less-known purposes of the Noveria development was to provide a safe place for the various corporations to store bulk-data away from the prying eyes of Citadel auditors. The records contained everything from transaction details to staff profiles to transcripts of shareholder meetings, in some cases dating back to the founding of the company in question centuries prior.
Whilst it is not required for corporations to grant the NDC access to those files, it seems in this case strings have been pulled, and access is granted almost across the board to read any files pertaining to Saren or Benezia. NDC auditors initially eye the challenge of combing through literally centuries of documentation warily, but quickly realise that they can enhance their search results by exclusively cross referencing Benezia's financials with Saren's (vastly shorter) transaction history and identify common trends.
Both individuals invested heavily in Binary Helix - relatively well known. What wasn't particularly well known was why. Whilst Benezia had interests in many of the NDC's investor corporations, her initial interest in Binary Helix was minor. Saren invested in them first, several months in advance, and Benezia followed with a smaller but still significant investment of her own - around the same time Binary Helix started work on the rachni project, according to one report. All things considered, you find it difficult to accept that as a coincidence.
Both used their influence to pull strings - Saren swayed a vote to take on a contract from a krogan clan to cure the genophage, and Benezia had several staff bounced around, added to new projects or reassigned to a private facility on -
Virmire?
You're pretty sure there's nothing on Virmire. Right on the edge of the Terminus, the only colonial effort made there in your lifetime ended within the year due to constant pirate pressure. Why does Binary Helix have a lab there? And why does it have such a small staff?
Their other investments are no less strange. Both made sudden, enormous buy-ins to Synthetic Insights, within days of each other. According to the Synthetic Insights records, Saren and Benezia used their sudden influence there to acquire Synthetic Insights expertise for a secretive private project - on Virmire.
Synthetic Insights definitely don't run a lab on Virmire. Why were Saren and Benezia so keen to get top researchers from Synthetic Insights and Binary Helix to what must be a privately-owned research complex on Virmire?
You prod the Executive Board for the personnel files of the staff who went to Virmire, and all of them tell a similar story. Reassigned to a private facility on Virmire, few to no messages or contact, they stop claiming pay after a few weeks, and then silence.
It's not like the researchers on Noveria are particularly chatty about their work either, though. Although most of them would never pass up a chance to claim pay. If Saren is running a personal secret research facility, an uninhabited garden world is arguably a better place than Noveria, and frankly, you doubt a Spectre and a Matriarch with a commando legion at her beck and call would be too concerned about pirates.
But Saren and Benezia made themselves enemies of the Citadel Council. Several dozen highly qualified researchers have gone to work for them and promptly dropped off the grid, potentially hindering more profitable company operations here on Noveria and elsewhere in the galaxy. Benezia was clearly aligned with the geth, smuggling huge numbers of the things into Port Hanshan, and if she and Saren were somehow behind Binary Helix finding the rachni -
Was the whole Peak 15 disaster in some way intentional? Were they trying to build an army of rachni and geth? What would such influential individuals even need such an army for? Were Saren and Benezia attempting to wipe out the Binary Helix facility on Noveria? Were they trying to wipe out everything on Noveria?
You've got a lot of questions, and none of them are good.
You steeple your fingers as you skim through the report again. This, you decide, will require some thinking.
(+5 Executive Support)
(Obviously Nil'Zannis and his admin team will be neatening up the report and sending it to the Executive Board. There are a few other parties who would be very interested in some or all of this information, to various degrees and for various reasons. Whether Nil'Zannis elects to pass some or all of the data onto some or all of those parties, or hold off on doing so and let the Executives decide what to do with it, will be part of next turn's vote.
As per usual, tag me for any questions or whatever)
You wave a hand, and your VI dismisses the news feed. The fountain of disaster that Peak 15 proved to be may have been a nightmare in terms of work, but at least it presented an excellent opportunity to make credits. Your broker didn't ask too many questions when you told him to put in a short order, and if a few of his other clients happened to also short Binary Helix, well, how fortuitous for them. You're sure more than a few of the Executive Board members did much the same.
Your stock profile isn't the only venture making decent progress, either. Construction efforts continue apace, with a notable success in the form of new factories spooling up in time to start producing equipment for the new month. The prototyping workshop Anoleis neglected to build is almost finished, which should help keep the krogan off your back, and a new wave of wind farms has sprung up across the lower valley, adding a fair bit of slack to Port Hanshan's power capacity. Construction of an additional arcology spire along the northern fringe of Port Hanshan is well underway, aiming to include an additional three thousand six hundred apartments to be rented out by the NDC.
The NDC's other outdoors endeavours unfortunately proved less constructive - many of the new security staff got their first taste of the Noverian chill whilst running patrols through the Aleutsk Valley and surrounding areas, and though morale is high and the troops are professionals, the difficulties in searching for potential enemies whilst wrestling with Noveria's near-constant snow are apparent. Though most of the geth debris has been collected, there are still several small caches left for security to scoop up.
The real success of the quarter, in your eyes and in the eyes of the executives, is the investigation into Saren and Benezia. You have reams of data from corporate databases that paint a very interesting picture of their recent activities.
Heavy Industry
[ ] Expand Onsite Construction Facilities (Success Overflow)
Port Hanshan's initial development called for a small and simple production facility, to produce basic construction materials and structural components. By expanding the manufacturing capabilities of that facility, and setting aside space to store and maintain dedicated construction vehicles and equipment, the NDC can save on the cost of importing skilled workers, specialised equipment, and prefabricated modules, and instead ship in cheaper raw resources and construct on-site.
(Progress: 370/300 - 25 Resources per die) (Cheaper dice for Construction actions, -4 Cargo)
(Sannovi Industrial: +1P, +2F)
With the new landing and loading bays already established, the materials and heavy equipment being brought in can be delivered directly to the site, rather than transferred through Port Hanshan proper, saving a great deal of time in fully establishing the various manufacturing lines.
Some parts of the plant come together so quickly that Sannovi are able to run a few production runs of basic components needed to finish off the rest of the plant, not only saving time but cutting down on the cost a small amount. Though you're sure the Sannovi workers pocketed some of the savings themselves, as a gesture of good faith and appreciation for the fast work, some is kicked back to the NDC - most of which, you return to the general coffers for next month.
(+15 Resources)
Advanced Industry
[ ] Hanshan Processor & Microframe Plant
A syndicate of salarian electronics manufacturers, the Kaskadan Syndicate, have put forward a request for the construction of a new and high end electronics plant either in or around Port Hanshan. Currently, no such facility exists, and as such, high end electronics are one of the many things Noveria needs shipped in for major projects. The Kaskadan Syndicate is willing to give the NDC first-refusal and a tidy discount on those electronic products if allowed to develop and manufacture them on Noveria.
(Progress: 337/300 - 15 Resources per die) (Cheaper dice for High-Tech actions, -2 Cargo)
(New Corporation: Kaskadan Syndicate (+1P, +2F))
The last few pieces of equipment the Kaskadan Syndicate was waiting on finally arrived towards the close of the month, and were quickly installed. There were a few minor issues in the first test production run, but Chero Finn waved them off as typical teething issues and promised the plant would be fully operational and ready to work come the new month.
Meanwhile, their administrative staff and yours finally got together to sign off the final details of their rental contract and set up their payment plan, bringing Port Hanshan some additional funds greatly appreciated after Binary Helix closed their doors.
[ ] Prototyping Workshop
For all the power and sophistication of computer modelling and simulations, it is difficult for them to surpass the level of realism of reality itself. But producing prototypes only to find minor issues that require the reproduction of components or even the entire system is a source of constant frustration. Many designers prefer actual workshops, so that minor adjustments can be made swiftly and in direct response to problems that arise during the prototyping and testing phase without requiring constant digital redesigning.
-[ ] Peak 41 (Progress: 145/150 - 15 Resources per die) (Korten Machines: +1P) (Overdue 0/3)
In fitting with the terms of the krogan's request, the Prototyping Workshop constructed on Peak 41 is built as an extension to their existing facilities, turning what was once a small maintenance bay into a fully equipped garage and workshop.
The krogan are surprisingly patient with your crews interrupting their work to reroute power conduits and connect utilities, and once the foundations are set up and construction proper begins, the krogan somehow become even more helpful, actually making the task significantly easier by getting involved themselves, supplementing the workers with their own not-insignificant strength.
Though there are still a few particular pieces of equipment still to come, the workshop is almost fully operational, and just a slight investment should see the place finished.
Infrastructure
[ ] Distributed Windworks
Noveria's weather and the terrain of the Skadi Mountains means that there are many, many valleys near Port Hanshan suitable for the deployment of distributed wind farms. Cheap, dependable, and clean, they're an ideal source of power, and distributing generation across multiple areas has benefits of its own. Some people think that the wind farms are blights upon the landscape, but seeing as how there's a dozen luxury resorts on Noveria and Port Hanshan isn't one of them, you find it kind of hard to care.
(Progress: 165/150 - 15 Resources per die) (+8 Power)
An unfortunate issue with Noveria is that the scale and intensity of weather regularly extends beyond the standardized metrics generally used for construction of prefabricated wind turbines. For installations capable of surviving Noverian blizzards, the turbines must be made to order, reinforced to handle strong winds and freezing temperatures.
Fortunately, this is not a particularly huge issue - and most of the rest of the construction is fairly straightforward. Foundations are laid and power conduits connected whilst the blades are being manufactured, and by the time the turbine blades are shipped in, every other element of the wind farm is good to go. Though the poor weather interrupts or stalls installation a few times, the project is still completed rapidly.
[ ] Arcology Spire
Very few people want to make their lives on Noveria, and it doesn't take a genius to work out why. The advantage of this is that it massively reduces housing pressure - and what little long-term housing pressure does exist tends to be focused on the resort-cities, which cater far more to high class lifestyles. Nonetheless, some 80,000 people call Port Hanshan home, and that is brushing close to the practical capacity limit. Taking lessons from centuries of urban planning and orbital habitat design across the galaxy, arcology spires serve to provide not just housing and the requisite utilities, but rental spaces that can be dedicated to shops, restaurants, schools, gyms, and other facilities, providing all the average resident needs within a single complex.
(Progress: 112/200 - 10 Resources per die) (+4 Housing)
Sannovi Industrial is one of the most renowned construction firms in the galaxy, and it's due in large part to their penchant for simplicity. Whilst willing to perform bespoke construction - and, indeed, much of the initial Port Hanshan facilities were bespoke designs intended to fit seamlessly into the mountains, they also maintain a wide range of modular units with varying levels of connectivity that make it incredibly easy to put together even the largest of structures.
The arcology spire constructed on Port Hanshan's northern fringe was, of course, no exception. By shipping in mass produced high-rise-core units, they were able to construct the central spine of the spire, featuring multiple high speed elevators and bulk utility lines allowing for service of a huge number of attached apartments. From that central spine, a skeletal frame for the entire building was constructed, and a number of the larger facilities, including a gym and arcade, were installed, carried down from a Sannovi bulk carrier by orbital lifters in flat-pack boxes and assembled planetside by legions of worker mechs.
Though the majority of the housing itself is yet to be completed, slotting the apartments into place is a fairly fast task - thanks to the modular system, individual units can be built up and slotted into place rapidly, and the process of filling out the skeleton shouldn't take much longer.
Security
[ ] Geth Salvage
Between the troopers, warbots, turrets, and miscellaneous other detritus of battle, the NDC is sitting on a veritable goldmine of exotic geth technology. Ensuring that the debris is appropriately recovered and stored for future use by the NDC, rather than whoever stumbles across it, is vital. A Citadel military think-tank has already put out a request for recovered geth technology to be passed on to them, and you know for a fact that there are corporations on Noveria who would be similarly interested.
(Progress: 93/100 - 5 Resources per die) (Further options on completion)
A fairly large pile of geth debris has been acquired and stacked in one corner of the locked-down western gatehouse, much to the consternation of the garage manager, Lilihierax. Perpetually guarded by the troops Matsuo considered least likely to start swiping scrap and selling it for profit, the pile contains everything from broken guns and fragments of geth plating to a nearly-completely-intact warbot, apparently disabled by a very well placed shot with a high power phasic round.
You spent a lot of your free time poking through the pile - though you've only had the misfortune of fighting geth once, early into your pilgrimage, you still know a fair bit more about them than most of Port Hanshan's residents. Their memory cores were universally wiped and often damaged, but between all the piles there's a fairly decent chunk of intact geth technology, and you're certain people will pay good money for pick of the litter.
[ ] Snow Patrol
Though Matsuo's report and the Peak 15 surveillance footage paints an impressive image of the Spectre's combat prowess, and the trail she left in her wake is by no means small, the possibility of small groups of geth or rachni remaining somewhere near Peak 15 is non-zero, which by your reckoning is too high. Though it's a pain, having some of Matsuo's forces and drones scour the Aleutsk Valley for any trace of either invader would do a lot to ease tensions.
(Progress: 62/200 - 10 Resources per die)
ERCS forces, escorted by flocks of recon and gun drones, began scouring the Aleutsk Valley for any sign of remaining hostiles early into the month. Smaller groups in Grizzlies or shuttles ranged further afield, performing perfunctory scans covering huge tracts of land around the Peak 15 complex. Aside from a few false alarms from destroyed geth frames, half buried in the snow, nothing has been found so far.
Rumours of 'mountain monsters' are spreading throughout the security staff, but they appear to be taking it in stride. Though progress has been slow, that can primarily be attributed to poor weather, with work halted several times due to deteriorating weather conditions.
Administration
[ ] Investigate: Saren & Benezia (Rolled: 203)
Whilst not strictly under the aegis of the NDC's regular operations, the Executive Board is very curious as to what, exactly, they did, and whether or not it stands to impact the reputations or profit margins of the NDC. Given that Benezia's presence on Noveria is the most recent lead on either of their activities, the NDC's records on them seem a good place to start looking.
(Breakpoints: ??? - 5 Resources per die) (Consequences Unclear)
With Benezia's unfortunate death in Peak 15, many of her corporate assets were passed on to her estranged partner, her daughter, or members of her fellowship, complicating the task of combing through the assets for clues directly. However, one of the less-known purposes of the Noveria development was to provide a safe place for the various corporations to store bulk-data away from the prying eyes of Citadel auditors. The records contained everything from transaction details to staff profiles to transcripts of shareholder meetings, in some cases dating back to the founding of the company in question centuries prior.
Whilst it is not required for corporations to grant the NDC access to those files, it seems in this case strings have been pulled, and access is granted almost across the board to read any files pertaining to Saren or Benezia. NDC auditors initially eye the challenge of combing through literally centuries of documentation warily, but quickly realise that they can enhance their search results by exclusively cross referencing Benezia's financials with Saren's (vastly shorter) transaction history and identify common trends.
Both individuals invested heavily in Binary Helix - relatively well known. What wasn't particularly well known was why. Whilst Benezia had interests in many of the NDC's investor corporations, her initial interest in Binary Helix was minor. Saren invested in them first, several months in advance, and Benezia followed with a smaller but still significant investment of her own - around the same time Binary Helix started work on the rachni project, according to one report. All things considered, you find it difficult to accept that as a coincidence.
Both used their influence to pull strings - Saren swayed a vote to take on a contract from a krogan clan to cure the genophage, and Benezia had several staff bounced around, added to new projects or reassigned to a private facility on -
Virmire?
You're pretty sure there's nothing on Virmire. Right on the edge of the Terminus, the only colonial effort made there in your lifetime ended within the year due to constant pirate pressure. Why does Binary Helix have a lab there? And why does it have such a small staff?
Their other investments are no less strange. Both made sudden, enormous buy-ins to Synthetic Insights, within days of each other. According to the Synthetic Insights records, Saren and Benezia used their sudden influence there to acquire Synthetic Insights expertise for a secretive private project - on Virmire.
Synthetic Insights definitely don't run a lab on Virmire. Why were Saren and Benezia so keen to get top researchers from Synthetic Insights and Binary Helix to what must be a privately-owned research complex on Virmire?
You prod the Executive Board for the personnel files of the staff who went to Virmire, and all of them tell a similar story. Reassigned to a private facility on Virmire, few to no messages or contact, they stop claiming pay after a few weeks, and then silence.
It's not like the researchers on Noveria are particularly chatty about their work either, though. Although most of them would never pass up a chance to claim pay. If Saren is running a personal secret research facility, an uninhabited garden world is arguably a better place than Noveria, and frankly, you doubt a Spectre and a Matriarch with a commando legion at her beck and call would be too concerned about pirates.
But Saren and Benezia made themselves enemies of the Citadel Council. Several dozen highly qualified researchers have gone to work for them and promptly dropped off the grid, potentially hindering more profitable company operations here on Noveria and elsewhere in the galaxy. Benezia was clearly aligned with the geth, smuggling huge numbers of the things into Port Hanshan, and if she and Saren were somehow behind Binary Helix finding the rachni -
Was the whole Peak 15 disaster in some way intentional? Were they trying to build an army of rachni and geth? What would such influential individuals even need such an army for? Were Saren and Benezia attempting to wipe out the Binary Helix facility on Noveria? Were they trying to wipe out everything on Noveria?
You've got a lot of questions, and none of them are good.
You steeple your fingers as you skim through the report again. This, you decide, will require some thinking.
(+5 Executive Support)
(Obviously Nil'Zannis and his admin team will be neatening up the report and sending it to the Executive Board. There are a few other parties who would be very interested in some or all of this information, to various degrees and for various reasons. Whether Nil'Zannis elects to pass some or all of the data onto some or all of those parties, or hold off on doing so and let the Executives decide what to do with it, will be part of next turn's vote.
As per usual, tag me for any questions or whatever)
Shepard has no money, so we cant sell it to Shepard, but giving it to Shepard would earn us some brown point with the new specter
- Location
- alphen aan den rijn
Pretty shep got money, not coprate lvl money but money
trooperist
Cinnamon Roll AI
Honestly, Shepard should have access to some sort of Citadel black ops fund or something. Instead the game has you loot corpses and containers for equipment to sell.
Chimeraguard
We do deserve to exist.
The financial independence of the Spectres is apparently a feature rather than a bug. Which seems to have been a problem that led directly to Saren being able to do all this shit with no one able to call him out or have a clue what he was doing until it was almost too late (and was too late for a lot of people), but far be it from me to question the wisdom of the Citadel Council.
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