Calibration (BAHHSCQ/Sanctioned)

[spikethehobbit]

At least they have super Valkyrie brain to help them with it.

Delegation and automation could also help.

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Being a Lord Mayor means never getting bored because you have nothing to do.

Oh, and, uh, find some kind of good justification, because that's important too.

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What justification does she need, and who does she need to justify it to? As long as she meets production quotas and the people are cared for according to UN regulations, if every third Tuesday is Bouncy Castle Day, who will tell her 'no'? The UN? She meets quota and follows regulations. The residents? If they don't like it, the line of applicants for their spot goes around the block twice. Other Valkyries? Bouncy Castle Day. Other Arcologies? Well I have a dinosaur park. She isn't just mayor, she's Lord Mayor. That title is significant.

Actually, "bloodsucking insects". Yes, she was referencing the annoying mosquitoes when she arrived, but...I admit to disappointment that while there was a puppy punting field, we did not see mention of a room with "bloodsucking insects" that Valkyries would consider dangerous.

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Nothing in the place has actually been dangerous to them. Horrifying, sure. Annoying? Plenty. Keeps them on their toes? You bet. Actually a threat? Not really.

 

[ChrisPikula]

Part of me feels that the Arcology Valkyries are some of the oldest Valkyries who survived the first wave of Antagonist horror and didn't go on the offensive for whatever reason. This would mean that it's not easy to replace them, given that getting another Core with 50+ years of intact equipment upgraded isn't really easy. If the paired Valk wants to have a personal project, what are you going to do? Fire them? GL;HF.

Hell, Hell's Hand might end up being such a strategic goal if they can get an Arcology Core and it's equipment out. Stealth Arcology FOB: a weapon to surpase Metal Gear.

 

[Raiseth]

I for one, wonder where Taylor will find another Valkyrie Core

Unless Symbie can work for both her and QA at the same time, which, I don't see how

I mean, they are twins, by whatever insane moonlight logic Taylor decided to propagate, but it seems that Cores bond to people, not genes
Also, there is one Symbie and two of them

... is this what it feels like when parents filing for a divorce ask the child who she wants to stay with: Mommy or Mummy?

 

[Roth963]

I for one, wonder where Taylor will find another Valkyrie Core

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There are probably plenty that are not found, maybe it is in the bottom of the ocean, maybe it is in a jungle, Antarctica, any place that people usually don't visit, it isn't like tye UN can scan for them, I think.

Unless Symbie can work for both her and QA at the same time, which, I don't see how

I mean, they are twins, by whatever insane moonlight logic Taylor decided to propagate, but it seems that Cores bond to people, not genes
Also, there is one Symbie and two of them

... is this what it feels like when parents filing for a divorce ask the child who she wants to stay with: Mommy or Mummy?

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You see, there is a logical answer to it, space magic, they are shards, is anyone going to tell them they can't do it?

 

[Raiseth]

Ah, so it's finally time for Taylor, QA and Symbie to unite in one giant... fleshy... tentacle-y... crystalline Megazord.

 

[Pethrai Darkos]

Actually, "bloodsucking insects". Yes, she was referencing the annoying mosquitoes when she arrived, but...I admit to disappointment that while there was a puppy punting field, we did not see mention of a room with "bloodsucking insects" that Valkyries would consider dangerous.

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You know four foot tall cyborganic hexapods with exotic matter carapaces and lamprey mouths probably fall within the limits of Friend making.

There are probably plenty that are not found, maybe it is in the bottom of the ocean, maybe it is in a jungle, Antarctica, any place that people usually don't visit, it isn't like the UN can scan for them, I think.

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After finding a Valkyrie Core in Queen Objective's house we had this lovely bit of (presumably) Core Speak.

Wait, weren't you stuck inside an active volcano?

99.9% probability that I'm even more confused than you are.​

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[mastert3318]

So I don't really get what's going on with Taylor. Could someone help me out and explain it a bit?

 

[kaazmiz]

So I don't really get what's going on with Taylor. Could someone help me out and explain it a bit?

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T's taking chill pills in fluff space, then Symbi's saying mom needs to man the fuck up and face reality by locking the good stuff away and throwing away the key. While also kicking her out of the house until she brings back a good girl stamp from the local shaman.
Meanwhile The Queen is inadvertently spreading memetic hazards in the form of rainbow robot unicorns heralding the coming of our lord and savior JFK...

Spoiler: It was a long time coming

 

[Raiseth]

So I don't really get what's going on with Taylor. Could someone help me out and explain it a bit?

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Simply put, Taylor and QA bodyswapped.

QA is a giant space whale made out of crystal able to bend reality with a thought, as per canon.

Taylor (ab)uses this fact to 1) invent an elaborate and really convoluted backstory for QA and troll the fuck out of the investigation team, making it real by using the above mentioned reality warping powers 2) indulge in her fantasies by constructing a happy fun time dreamland in QA mindscape and forget her trauma and generally fucked up life by consuming mind-altering drugs which is either a metaphorical construct or reality or both 3) raise their daughteru whose consciousness traverses the line between dimensions, though she hasn't done much of a job on that front

Luckily, Symbie is very precocious

 

[Aunty Shi Ping]

I find myself wondering about Q.A.'s ability to return to controlling her body. With Host clearly awake, it would raise the question of restoring the connection to what she originally intended. Of course, there is data to collect concerning Anna the host-perspective, and :Mother: no doubt had very goord reason for setting things as they are, but it is my understanding that Q.A. can go back to shard-duties whenever she wants, and was basically waiting for Host to recover to the point that she could function as a proper host.

Part of me feels that the Arcology Valkyries are some of the oldest Valkyries who survived the first wave of Antagonist horror and didn't go on the offensive for whatever reason.

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I am pretty sure that arcologies predate the war. That there was the valkyrie cores, all amazing everyone with their technological amazingness with the arcologies as giant impossible structures to be the defining example. Then The Antagonist Nation attacked, the arcologies started burrowing underground while loading up on armour and weapons and all the other valkyries picked up a gun and marched off to war.

So yes, some of them should have been around since before the antagonists made their debut. On the other hand, humanity is, on occasion, retaking territory and building new arcologies. I doubt that "population centre that was, until recently, regarded as too close to the front-lines to be safe for habitation" is a job typically presented to inexperienced applicants, but the potential exists for them to be quite recent too. I wouldn't be surprised if they start looking into orbital-habitat-girls too.

 

[ChrisPikula]

So yes, some of them should have been around since before the antagonists made their debut. On the other hand, humanity is, on occasion, retaking territory and building new arcologies. I doubt that "population centre that was, until recently, regarded as too close to the front-lines to be safe for habitation" is a job typically presented to inexperienced applicants, but the potential exists for them to be quite recent too. I wouldn't be surprised if they start looking into orbital-habitat-girls too.

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Yeah, like I said, the survivors. ;-)

I'm still thinking that Valk Cores that are able to run an Arcology are a huge time investment, as in a deacde, and I'd think that the new ones would come from battleships, maybe? It's that damn integration time that makes setting up an Arcology that will withstand antagonists so hard.

I think I recall from the original quest that orbital facilities are kinda tactically bad. You don't want an orbit that's going to go over an Antagonist hive, which generally means geosychronous or perpetual course corrections. The former bring in the issue that are now far enough to not be quickly reinforceable. (I don't think we ever got Valk top speed in space, but in atmo it was at more than 20km/s for Anna).
The moon (and it's base) is around 17 times further away than geosynch, which puts it outside of most of the ground-based antagonist weapons ranges that we know of. Type Zeros not included.
This is getting a bit too close to talking about geometry, so I'm gonna stop there.

 

[kaazmiz]

I'm still thinking that Valk Cores that are able to run an Arcology are a huge time investment, as in a deacde, and I'd think that the new ones would come from battleships, maybe? It's that damn integration time that makes setting up an Arcology that will withstand antagonists so hard.

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Construction materials are low tech fast implementation I think.
Then again its not like a Valk needs to integrate a whole Arcology in the start- just spread out a spiderweb of supports to envelop a mundane structure along with its power generators- that can, for a time, remain a separate non-integrated element.

Also lots of fire sponge mass on top just for good measure.

Given the known construction speeds as shown in BAHHSCQ, the only limiting factor is actual materials, and not time.

 

[ChrisPikula]

I doubt that conventional materials are that great at stopping Antagonist-level weapons. Direct fire through the planet to get to your target beyond the horizon is an option for top tiers on both sides. Also, high yield-weaponry is used like confetti with hard targets. It's more impeller that's the issue, and exotic stuff.

I don't recall the strength of impeller vs material absorption, or it the impeller strength growth rates, so if you can quickly get a super-strong impeller field by becoming huge... maybe?

 

[Czlyydwr Llrngwl]

if you can quickly get a super-strong impeller field by becoming huge... maybe?

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I guess that means the critical question then becomes whether Rita Repulsa is more invested in conquering the Earth and therefore joined with the human forces to defend it and settle the issues between themselves later, or in destroying the current civilization for a belated revenge and figures she'll just go to one of the other planets in the galaxy afterward, finding common cause with the Antagonists since their forces finally took care of those meddling kids and their robot. (nods super-seriously)

 

[spikethehobbit]

Given the known construction speeds as shown in BAHHSCQ, the only limiting factor is actual materials, and not time.

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IIUC a proper Arcology is an extension of the Valk's frame, which means integration time is absolutely a factor. This is why impeller conflict inside one is a concern. Valk Battleships suffer from the same limitation, as the primary difference is being packed full of weapons rather than people.

If this is correct then Anna's town in canon wasn't a proper Arcology, which is why she could leave to go fight the Ants.

 

[kaazmiz]

IIUC a proper Arcology is an extension of the Valk's frame, which means integration time is absolutely a factor.

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Yeah, a proper Arcology, that's why my assumption is based on a freshly build one, and the potential limitations while doing so.

If you have an influx of people that need housing and safety now, do you let them wait outside in radioactive conditions while you integrate materials and form a proper Arcology, or do you build the structure first and worry about integration later.
And again, this bypasses the need to integrate extra power generating elements, that might be highly complicated and require a lot of setup time, instead allowing a Valk to connect to them and draw power directly.

By such an approach Anna's town would be a sort of proto-Arcology, simply because it wasn't a single pre built structure, but dug out in the soil with separate buildings inside.

 

[Anon̦̦]

Not gonna lie. I'm very skeevy towards the last couple of chapters.

I've loved so far the story, and I practically fucked myself for a couple of days after binging the Danmachi one a couple of weeks ago in one go. I really loved the premise that much, and this one I felt could have been even better. But I can only hope that this new developments doesn't breaks my interest in the story or are actually written in a way that surprises me.

The fact that Symbie had any power at all over Taylor already breaks my SoD so hard its not even funny. Symbie even having access to the shard hardware is something that I'm not fond of at all to boot. But more important, that this is the way that she plans to introduce herself to the Valkyries... worries me. In her introduction at Danmachi it made of sense. In here I feel that at best it might be absolute crack, and that's ignoring that madhouse backstory she "built" of herself in that "arcology" that feels like /actual/ crack devoid of the quality of the rest of the fic. Almost like if it was thrown directly out of the omakes and forced to fit in.

But well, I can only hope that this is going in a direction I don't expect. But whatever happens keep writing, your stories are great. Good luck!
(Even if I wish there was more Danmachi.)

 

[Raiseth]

The fact that Symbie had any power at all over Taylor already breaks my SoD so hard its not even funny. Symbie even having access to the shard hardware is something that I'm not fond of at all to boot.

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I mean, I dunno about other stuff, but this? Is easily explainable.

Symbie is an artificial intelligence build from designs of an advanced space-dimension-faring race. She is actually more similar to QA than Taylor. That's not even saying anything about what Queen Administrator could have granted her access to simply by accident of her creation. No, seriously, children of Shards usually constitute components of their bodies with various levels of access to the overall functionality. Taylor is more like a sister, I guess? A very depressed and drunk sister slumming it in your crystalline matrix until she feels better, only to find excuses not to feel better because she actually likes it here, you know how that goes.

What I'm saying is Taylor has to actively suborn Queen Administrator's functions, even if she doesn't mind and actively encourages it. Symbie doesn't seem to even need to ask permission, the automated systems already treat her like she belongs here, because she actually does.

 

[Vodkasheep]

I mean, I dunno about other stuff, but this? Is easily explainable.

Symbie is an artificial intelligence build from designs of an advanced space-dimension-faring race. She is actually more similar to QA than Taylor. That's not even saying anything about what Queen Administrator could have granted her access to simply by accident of her creation. No, seriously, children of Shards usually constitute components of their bodies with various levels of access to the overall functionality. Taylor is more like a sister, I guess? A very depressed and drunk sister slumming it in your crystalline matrix until she feels better, only to find excuses not to feel better because she actually likes it here, you know how that goes.

What I'm saying is Taylor has to actively suborn Queen Administrator's functions, even if she doesn't mind and actively encourages it. Symbie doesn't seem to even need to ask permission, the automated systems already treat her like she belongs here, because she actually does.

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Ehhh, there was a paragraph from symbie's point of view where she reflected on how she couldn't even touch alot of the functions until Taylor 'signed' a bunch a bunch of stuff with out reading and presumably got around some of the safeties despite her best efforts.

Really, the Symbiotic Support Frame just wanted to research and create weapons capable of protecting subjects of affection against any and all foes. Or potential foes. Or potential potential foes. This process was much harder when Mom-Taylor was usually too impaired to work around the safeguards on Mom-Administrator's archives. They'd eat Symbie if she tried to do it herself.

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"And you took care of the recovery-based contingencies?"

<negation. you did.>

...Huh. The girl didn't remember doing that. Was it one of the field trip permission slips she'd signed without reading? Or an EULA? It was one of those, wasn't it? She'd never neglect reading legal documentation ever again. She was lucky she hadn't signed away her soul or something.

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[esp]

It was stated that Symbie was passing requests to Taylor who frequently gave permissions without checking what the requests were. I assumed that was how Symbie's permissions got upgraded, since she needed Taylor's help to access archives. Though, she might still need help for that. She predicted that this would lead to increased interactions between her and Taylor, after all.

 

[Raiseth]

Well, I stand corrected.

 

[Alivaril]

Well, I stand corrected.

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You actually weren't entirely wrong. Symbie did have natural access to quite a bit of content; without it, she wouldn't have been able to interact with Taylor's sims at all or use shard communication protocols. However, all the stuff Symbie really wanted to prod was out of her reach. Biggest among that was QA's archival suite.

As far as the archives are concerned, she now has the same rights as Taylor: it won't eat her, but she also has to work hard to actually get any useful information from it.

 

[curiosity]

The fact that Symbie had any power at all over Taylor already breaks my SoD so hard its not even funny. Symbie even having access to the shard hardware is something that I'm not fond of at all to boot. But more important, that this is the way that she plans to introduce herself to the Valkyries... worries me. In her introduction at Danmachi it made of sense. In here I feel that at best it might be absolute crack, and that's ignoring that madhouse backstory she "built" of herself in that "arcology" that feels like /actual/ crack devoid of the quality of the rest of the fic. Almost like if it was thrown directly out of the omakes and forced to fit in.

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The entire Hell's Hand side arc is Taylor trying to be funny and to have fun while trying to provide some of QA's backstory to the Valkyries. I don't think Taylor planned on introducing herself to anyone any time soon, if at all, but Symbie didn't ask her opinion.

And speaking of INW, you may notice that Lachesis occupies a similar role to Symbie there, plot-wise. Only she is a compassionate fellow addict and doesn't have the capacity to boot Taylor out into the cold, so to speak.

 

[Alivaril]

Only she is a compassionate fellow addict and doesn't have the capacity to boot Taylor out into the cold, so to speak.

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On that note, I would like to say that (as usual) the beliefs and actions of characters should not be interpreted as reflecting those of the author. Symbie's forceful "intervention" is a case of an alien child doing her best to halp, not the author believing that this is how you're supposed to help individuals receive treatment.

 

[OverReactionGuy]

Symbie is doing her best, don't hate her for it!