Dragon Kings in the 41st Millennia (Exalted/40K Empire)
- Thread starter StarJaunter
- Start date
???
I am very close to calling Golden Tank the victory based on its 1 solid vote.
I will be busy for the weekend, if there are no new votes or there is a tie as of Monday Morning, the Golden Tank will be the declared design Victor.
For any Americans out there,
Happy Fourth!
I am very close to calling Golden Tank the victory based on its 1 solid vote.
I will be busy for the weekend, if there are no new votes or there is a tie as of Monday Morning, the Golden Tank will be the declared design Victor.
For any Americans out there,
Happy Fourth!
The Froggy Ninja
The Blade Will Never Die
[X] Design Fuck Chaos
-[X] Golden Wrath
Hull Size
-[X] Templeship: 6 slots plus temple, +6 Logistics
Hull Composition
-[X] Geomantic: + Hull Level and -power demand, +cost and -maneuver
Slotless Add-Ons:
Drive:
-[X] Ram-Drive: +6 AP, Double 9 ramming attempts.
Hard to Kill:
-[X] Two H2K: +4 AP
Toughness:
-[X] No
Hardness:
-[X] No
Artifact Hull:
-[X] Artifact Templeship of [Orichalcum]: +110 AP +10 power
Ramming Prow:
-[X] Add the Ram: +4 AP
Half-Slot:
-[X] Half Barracks
One Slot:
-[X] Essence Battlements (2*-0 Hull levels): +4 AP, +2 power, +1 logistics.
-[X] Temple of [Sol]: Built into cost of Templeship, costs 10 AP, +1 power, +1 logistics otherwise
-[X] Perfected Calculation Array (multiplex positioning): +10 AP, +1 power, +2 logistics (3 maneuvers, four for conquest platform only)
-[X] Vaults (secure cargo bay): +8 AP, +1 power, 0 logistics
-[X] Way Travel Chancel: +10 AP, +1 Power, 0 logistics
Two Slots: Each of the below items consumes two slots
-[X] Sutra Weaponry: +25 AP, +1 power, +2 logistics
BP:
-Half-Barracks 3 BP
- Double 9s vs CoD (8 BP, requires astrological support during construction)
- All breed dice can and must contribute to the project (BP neutral)
- Requires Tokat-like conditions (+4 BP)
- Requires Factory-Cathedral (+1 BP)
- Ondar Shambol is Atelier (5 BP)
- Ondar Shambol is Exotic (3 BP)
- Exotics can be added (not sure how that's going to fall out, but I'm assuming a total of nine will bring us to a third so spending to buy another six expenditures 6 BP)
-[X] Golden Wrath
Hull Size
-[X] Templeship: 6 slots plus temple, +6 Logistics
Hull Composition
-[X] Geomantic: + Hull Level and -power demand, +cost and -maneuver
Slotless Add-Ons:
Drive:
-[X] Ram-Drive: +6 AP, Double 9 ramming attempts.
Hard to Kill:
-[X] Two H2K: +4 AP
Toughness:
-[X] No
Hardness:
-[X] No
Artifact Hull:
-[X] Artifact Templeship of [Orichalcum]: +110 AP +10 power
Ramming Prow:
-[X] Add the Ram: +4 AP
Half-Slot:
-[X] Half Barracks
One Slot:
-[X] Essence Battlements (2*-0 Hull levels): +4 AP, +2 power, +1 logistics.
-[X] Temple of [Sol]: Built into cost of Templeship, costs 10 AP, +1 power, +1 logistics otherwise
-[X] Perfected Calculation Array (multiplex positioning): +10 AP, +1 power, +2 logistics (3 maneuvers, four for conquest platform only)
-[X] Vaults (secure cargo bay): +8 AP, +1 power, 0 logistics
-[X] Way Travel Chancel: +10 AP, +1 Power, 0 logistics
Two Slots: Each of the below items consumes two slots
-[X] Sutra Weaponry: +25 AP, +1 power, +2 logistics
BP:
-Half-Barracks 3 BP
- Double 9s vs CoD (8 BP, requires astrological support during construction)
- All breed dice can and must contribute to the project (BP neutral)
- Requires Tokat-like conditions (+4 BP)
- Requires Factory-Cathedral (+1 BP)
- Ondar Shambol is Atelier (5 BP)
- Ondar Shambol is Exotic (3 BP)
- Exotics can be added (not sure how that's going to fall out, but I'm assuming a total of nine will bring us to a third so spending to buy another six expenditures 6 BP)
This Community is Protected!
- Location
- Europe
Glorious.
The Froggy Ninja
The Blade Will Never Die
@StarJaunter, I've been considering writing something based on making the Unconquered Sun in the Warhammer 40k: The Warp jumpchain and inserting either into the Horus Heresy Period or the modern TTS timeline (though that somewhat depends on the TTS Jump being completed). Unfortunately, I have a crippling aversion to the commitment of starting a proper thread, so I thought to combine that with my crippling hunger for Internet cookies and arbitrary points.
TLDR: Would either a straight UC into 40k story or one about an SI UC Expy be thematically related enough to be considered omakes?
TLDR: Would either a straight UC into 40k story or one about an SI UC Expy be thematically related enough to be considered omakes?
Sure Omake do not have to be cannon, I tend to reward ones that could be cannon slightly more (like adding the characters involved as paragon units or diplomatic contacts) but you will still get AP rewards.
Speaking of @Kaziglu Bey you may ask a question of me or assign a single AP success to any project with a DC under 50.
Turn 46 results
Turn 46 results
Within a month of each other a small ork vessel visited both Tocha and Tokat. The one visiting Tokat only approached close enough to check that our ships were still in orbit before withdrawing. The one at Tocha entered orbit and conducted some landings. When we repelled them using troop on Tocha and millions of controlled orks the landings eventually stopped at the ship withdrew. Sadly our Divination efforts are too committed to study the rest of the sub-sector and try to gain insight. Our best guess is someone is scouting for targets though.
---
Wyld Horns go off suddenly one night although only on the lowest level and only for the time period immediately associated with the early morning hours, a traditionally unlucky time in Creation. When its over the Omen Chimes are checked and all of them outside the most protected areas (which granted are Ondar Shambol and all our Major cities) show several triggers. Again on a very low level. The whole thing seems like a very mild Wyld Storm washed over the planet, so mild that only instruments designed to detect these sorts of things in advanced even notice. Mortal divination attempts produce no results.
[x] Plan Gellar out of the left Field
Anklok
-[x] Bribing spirits to do their job. 1 AP
DC: Auto
Reward: +5 to other actions.
-[x] Little Beam Training Arc (part 3): 1 AP
DC: 35 > 60
Finally making a breakthrough needed in Void Dancing Style, Little Beam both completes the style as well as having high end versions of the associated artifact weapons made. He is ready to move on to more generic Training!
Reward: Little Beam completes phase 3 of Training Arc.
-[x] Infuse Ark: 1 AP
DC: 25 > 59
Its a bit confusing that this Ark was provided by an Omake made after this budget was posted but what is time but playdoh in the hands of Primordials anyway.
Reward: 2nd Ark of Wrath Beyond Measure is infused.
-[x] Guided by a Dark Star: 3 AP
DC: 45-10=35 > 45, 24, 95
Abaddon the Despoiler desperately wants to acquire at least one of the Blackstone fortresses for himself. He will try for more and will also try to wreck any left behind, but he NEEDS one and while he will try to play conservative he will lavishly expend divination and anti-divination resources in order to secure it.
Abaddon the Despoiler first learned of the existence of the Blackstone Fortresses and their potential power at some point in the 40th Millennium. Abaddon was guided by the visions of Zaraphiston to an Aeldari Crone World in the Eye of Terror.
In the ruins of an ancient wraithbone city littered with skeletons, the sorcerer led the Warmaster of Chaos to a room where a tapestry of flayed skin covered the walls from floor to ceiling. Upon its surface Abaddon read a prophecy -- the Penumbra Prophecy -- that revealed the secrets of six weapons of immense power. He immediately set out to learn how to gain control of these weapons, the six Blackstone Fortresses.
Abaddon was influenced by **r*a**, -- -- to hunt down a pair of ancient alien artifacts. These devices, known as the *a*d ** Da*k*e*s and the *** of ****t, were present in near the Gothic Sector and were capable of re-activating the massive xenos battle stations, bringing them under the Despoiler's control.
Thought impregnable by the Imperial Navy, the Blackstone Fortresses will be overcome by Abaddon using a previously undiscovered method of shutting down the power supply, using one of the artifacts. Deactivated, the Blackstone Fortresses will prove defenseless against ranged attacks and vulnerable against a determined boarding action.
Once brought under the Despoiler's control using the other artifacts, the Blackstone Fortresses will be able to shed their grafted-on Imperial equipment and glide slowly through space under their own power, using their original W*** Cannon in place of the turrets and fighter bays the Imperial Navy had built onto them as defensive measures."
With what we have learned we can try to usurp one of the artifacts and replace it with a dud, either by recovering it first or stealing it from Abaddon. These artifacts are incredibly potent items on the same tier as the Eye of Autochthon that essentially act as focus points for a concept and allow creation of custom evocations based on that concept and the users needs. The Despoiler will have to spend a year or so studying them to create the effects he needs to claim the Talismans of Vaul. We can partially wrap our minds around the concept of [DECAY] associated with the h*n* ** *a*kne** and can create a potent seeming but effectively useless artifact as a decoy which hopefully will fool Abaddon. We cannot due it with both as he needs at least one to work to enact his plan and will throw additional resources at it. The other artifact is ... less comprehensible as well as better defended and more crucial to the Despoilers plans. We can attempt to steal it after but that requires infiltrating Planet Killer instead of a mostly abandoned human world so we do not recommend that method. If we steal either artifact without a decoy or wait until Abaddon knows the artifacts well enough to recognize a decoy he will pursue us to reclaim them.
If we want to pursue this we need to create the decoy and an infiltration ship in [turn 47] and launch a mission to perform the switch in [turn 48] as his loyalists will show up to claim it. In fact launching the mission in [Turn 48] will be quite tight and we have a non-zero chance of duking it out with his recovery team. If we do claim the artifact we can study it and attempt to create Evocations using [DECAY]
Alternatively we can create a cross conceptual artifact to shield against [DECAY]. It will be nowhere near as powerful and will effectively protect the target from [DECAY] based effects but cannot produce effects. This will be cheaper and simpler than making Wondrous Globes for everything even if such globes are far more useful. [DECAY] is what the despoiler uses to depower the stations and activate their self destruct. The other artifact is how he claims control of the Stations. Convincing human soldiers to allow aliens to install an artifact aboard their stations will be its own quest though.
TLDR; Abaddon is willing to throw tremendous resources to claim his minimal requirements. He wants more but can be denied. Through careful planning we can limit Abaddon to the minimal possible victory while costing him as much as possible and possibly render his victory Pyrrhic.
Reward: Know Abaddons minimal goal and how he is achieving it. You cannot thwart him but you can make it cost him more to achieve it and prevent him from gaining any extra.
-[x] Temple ship research 3 AP
Transfer dice to Temple Ship roll.
-[x] Improved Warbird 2 AP + Arc
DC: 40 > 08, 59, 39+5
Progress on improved Warbirds continues but we haven't managed to complete the new designs yet.
Reward: 5/6 Progress
-[x] Naval Phalanx Groups Training Ground + Ashlords + Sparks + Ecstatics
Auto
Reward: +3 Naval Phalanx groups.
Mosok
-[x] Thetis of Thessaly class Templeship [Treel Geomantic Templeship] 4 AP + factorycathedral + atelier manse + exotic + manta
DC: 25 (15) > 56, 49, 01 , 61
The ship was all but done when a surge of essence shunting through an emergency relay and cause a fair amount of interior damage. We managed to clean up and repair what was hurt but the lost time delayed us just enough[we did not manage] barely managed (omake reward) to launch the vessel, it has been named. Abundant Feast Obscures Raging Lioness Before Mount Pelion
To untrained eyes the completed vessel looks like a normal multi kilometer asteroid, lumpy mounds of rocky hills and riddled with holes. Closer inspection reveals the holes as launching paths for our war birds, rocs, and assault landers in war... or colonization and cargo landers during peace. Closer inspection will often reveal fort like constructions on the surface crewed by our people ready to defend the ship. As a geomantic construct the vessel simply maintains habitability through geomantic effects regardless of the conditions surrounding the hull.
Reward: Abundant Feast Obscures Raging Lioness Before Mount Pelion added to your fleet and can be send on mission next turn assuming you have the logistics to back it up. -1 Exotic stockpile
-[x] Gemini Yards (Ophelis) 3 AP
DC: 40 > 76, 59, 66
Progress continues on the dual yards and we have a solid framework that recognizably contains two bays, but most of the equipment is still missing.
Reward: 7/12 Progress
-[x] Void Dancing Style: 2 AP + Dojo
DC: 50 > 94, 73, Auto
Void Dancing Style, developed by Little Beam as an art specifically to aide in boarding, especially when using weapons traditionally associated with our Phalanx Boarding groups, short heavy variants of the Swordclub with shields and their artifact equivalents. Almost all who learn it will learn Flame and Stone Styel and Eye of Heaven style since they are highly compatible. Many also learn Golden Exhalation style to aide in the use of ardent embrace weaponry aboard ships. The style uses a combination of teamwork effects and specific environment manipulation to pin opponents and leave them either defenseless or doomed (style lets you due stuff like slash the environment and cause a surge of collapsing hullplating/vent air/plasma/lightning/oil/steam/vacuum/etc to hit an opponent similar to an environmental hazard from Autochthon. Since this is inherently a stunt AND a charm it only vaguely needs to make sense. Users are highly able to ignore relevant hazards such as vacuum and hard radiation (At least on a vessel, and "on" may include outside on the hull as well as inside). The core of the style is slowing or pinning enemies with such traps, hazards and teamwork and than use the mobility advantage to either continue on to the objective or fight the trapped enemy with a large bonus on your side.
Note: Retraining Naval Phalanxes will cost 1 ap each and their cost for future units is doubled to gain this elite trait. I will not track elite and non-elite units on a unit per unit basos. Do them all or do none. You may be able to raise large formations of the opposite choice later for a specific purpose.
Reward: Void Dancing Style Complete, Naval Phalanx can be retrained to gain the style and are granted elite status. This means +1 on the d10 roll for their combat. 25 Celestial Martial Artists can act as a non-elite Naval Phalanx group if needed, using their other skills and knowledge to make up for the lack of specialized training and equipment.
-[x] Celestial Arena for [300 participants] 1 AP
DC: 05 > 03+5
Fighting is especially brutal with blows landing among the crowd killing several who were not technically participating. Still we have our Celestial Martial Artists and Little Beam pushed their training hard to insure all know Void Dancing Style already.
Reward: +30 CMA, lost 4 small battlegroups.
Pterok
-[x] Astrological Question "When is the most fortunate time to undertake the expansion of our naval capabilities?" free
-[x] Astrological Question "What are ill-omened days to learn to navigate Mercury's Ways through the Wyld?" 1 AP
-[x] Astrological Question "When will an alignment between Mars and Jupiter be auspicious for the investigations by the Dark Star?" 1 AP
-[x] Elemental Support: 3 AP
DC: 25 > 56, 95, 22+5
Ophelis proves quite efficacious for the summoning of elementals and those summoned to aide construction of new cities on that world all seem to work harder or have more relevant powers than we were expecting.
Reward: +12 AP
-[x] Wondrous Globe of Precious Stability: 15 AP
DC: 60-10=50 > 86, 73, 70, 27, 26, 23, 42, 39, 14, 72, 95, 63, 11 reroll 76 , 37, 02 reroll 58
Massive amounts of resources are dedicated towards this undertaking. Indeed, no experts that could contribute even slightly were left out and much of the remaining dragon power was spent on gather materials and conducting experiments at the behest of Savants. Still the work is done.
A Jade sphere the size of a child's skull is covered in dozens of complex occult symbols inlaid with orichalcum, moonsilver, adamant, and Elektrum. Ideally Adamant will be replaced by Starmetal and Elektrum with Soulsteel but needs must right now. The Globe is pierced with a short shaft of jade inlaid with orichalcum and can rotate freely around this axis. The top of this shaft neds in the setting for a hearthstone while the bottom has a triangular base for afixing it to a structure or vehicle.
When set with a Hearthstone, which must be a true Hearthstone and not an elemental core in order to lend Geomantic stability to the Globe. It also requires an essence user to commit essence to it and when both of those is met the globe begins to glow and spin. Any structure the Globe is attached to and all the inhabitants of that structure are completely protected from the effects of the wyld. They also gain 5 dice to resist the charms of the Fairfolk (which includes Daemons and unknown to you most psyker powers)
When installed on a ship or building it may endure exposure to effects all the way to the Deep Wyld without effects. Only Pure Chaos (which is oddly lacking in this new realm) can overcome it, and even that is eventually. With this we could build stations in warp torn areas and send ships through the deepest and darkest parts of the Immaterium to increase their mobility. The issue is cost.
Wondrous Globes of Precious Stability are incredibly complicated and require a dedicated Factory Cathedral to manufacture. They use rare and hard to integrate magical materials, which limits are potential manufacture and more stable and greater quantities of those materials should become available before raising production. They also require a dedicated Hearthstone from a Basic Manse; a Geomantic Relay or elemental core just won't do. They also require enough committed essence and intricate magitech maintenance that active ones require 1 upkeep each.
The prototype has been refined somewhat and installed in the Library of Sperimin where it will be maintained by budding Reality Engineers and inspire innovations in Shaping technologies.
Note: Each Globe requires being assigned an Ideal Workshop slot to itself, each costs 15 AP before admin bonuses. Currently the materials limit is Elektrum which is the material least conducive to being forced into the shape of intricate occult glyphs. So we can only make one a year. Establishing a supply of soulsteel will let us make two a year. After that we need either starmetal or a larger supply of Moonsilver and more Factory Cathedrals. Each one costs a full Basic Manse and 1 upkeep per turn to operate. Its assumed to be small enough any ship or station or building can find a place for it.
Reward: You may construct Wondrous Globes of Precious Stability. You may research "Hand of the Great Maker" as the next step in Reality Engineering (as it lets you do Wyld Shaping without being a Solar it counts as a full Artifact 5 charm which requires a Major Solar Manse Hearthstone to operate)
-[x] Sutra Batteries: 3 AP
DC: 40>38+5, 92, 22
Scaling up prayer weapon has led to golden slugs that weigh one hundred tons each. (This is often made using either alchemically transmuted gold or silver-gold alloys to preserve the amount of natural gold available for Orichalcum production). These massive gold slugs are beautifully engraved with epics regaling half the story of the forging and birth of the Unconquered Sun and his rise as the Guarding Star of creation while the other half is permanently engraved in the orichalcum barrels of the weapon. Each slug is capped with a unique masterwork sutra invoking awe in the Highest of Holies. Each master prayer crafter trying to bring about a unique and transcendent knowing of the phrase "for the Glory of the Unconquered Sun". Sutra Weapons do Advanced Damage to all targets, against Creatures of Darkness or their unholy artifice this weapon does supreme damage. If such a target has a spell or mechanism to repair their ship in combat scale time frames it fails before the rage of the Glory of the Most High.
It should be noted that the golden round of a Sutra weapon glows with the incandescent martial Rage of the Most high and thus appears as energy fire to the unenlightened observer. Essence waste wafts like incense as it exits the barrel when firing and any sapient observing it sees to go whichever direction they in that moment and circumstance would consider up. This works even if different observers observe different iterations of up in the same shot.
Reward: You may design ships and stations that install Sutra Batteries. You may research Titanic Scale Sutra weaponry
-[x] Void Vessel Mini Turn [Solar Templeship] 2 AP
DC:??> 87, 66, 56, 16, 38
It was a Dream given form, to announce our presence to the Galaxy by bringing the Light of the Most High to the Darkest of places. To bring Hope and demonstrate the utmost of His Virtues in the face of Wyld Addicts, Traitors, and servants of the foulest presences in the Wyld. Thus the Luminous Herald of Dawn was designed to act as the announcement of our presence to the Galaxy, its Holy architecture demonstrating the spite of the Most High for the Wicked.
The consecrated design of the Luminous Herald of Dawn reaches a pinnacle only surpassed by the utter concentration of effort represented by Ondar Shambol. In fact the design is intended to lean on the sacred geometries of the Sun's City in purity and prayer to reach this level of Consecration on a mobile construct meant for war in any kind of vaguely reasonable timeframe.
Our designers hold nothing back and decide to incorporate copious amounts of precious Orichalcum into the Pyramidal Templeship, both protecting its essence flows and demanding more than doubling the power requirements for ships of the class. Still the performance boost from the artifact hull combined with the resilience of the orichalcum and the terrible majesty of her Sutra weapons is sure to wreck terrible havoc, especially those unhallowed in His sight.
Reward: Luminous Herald of Dawn class Solar Templeship designed.
Costs: 258 AP before adjustments. Requires Templeforge construction at a world with Sun formed star and Ondar Shambol equivalent city. 25 is removed for administration. 108 may come from Atelier Manses (6 Ateliers), one of which must be Ondar Shambol or equivalent city. 9 Exotic Components may be spent to reduce total by 72, one of these must be Ondar Shambol. At least one factory cathedral must be assigned during any turn of construction. The hull can benefit from a maximum of 80 AP from Factory Cathedrals and each one counts as 10 rolled successes as a special effect of this design. In addition each Breed may contribute AP but in exchange ALL four breeds must contribute at least 1 AP. A divination MUST be assigned to proceed with construction which serves no purpose but to aide this individual ship.
Luminous Herald of Dawn
Speed: 3
Maneuver: 2 + 2[Orichalcum]
Components: Sutra Weapons, PCA, FTL, Essence Battlements, Solar Templeship
Upkeep: 2
Power: +19
Logistics: +10
Hull Level: [Orichalcum] -0/-0//-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-3/-4/-4/Crippled/Crippled
Notes: Double 9s vs Creatures of Darkness
-[x] Logistics Stockpile: Atelier
Reward: +10 Logistics Stockpile
-[x] Standard Stockpile: Atelier
Reward: +10 Standard Stockpiles
-[x] Invocation Stockpile: 1 AP + Thaumaturgy
DC: 15 > 15
Reward: -10 Grace, +10 Invocation Stockpiles.
-[x] Birds of a feather [Assault Rocs 9/17]: 2 AP + Factory Cathedral + Atelier
DC: 25 > 97, 46 (+6 from Atelier Manse, +9)
With the power of dedicated Factory Manses realizing the components and a lot of enthusiasm on the part of the work force the first batch of 100 Assault Rocs equipped with Synapse Drives is completed and the crews have a good year of time to familiarize themselves with their crafts (as well as practice remaining conscious during the disorientation caused by traveling through a Shima's Synaptic network.
As desired the NSI drives can be removed and the carry space restored to a full 50 Infantry, usually Naval Phalanxes. We may also use them to carry small raiding or scouting parties to the other ork worlds nearby although keep in mind that stealth is not one of their functions, even J'Bond cannot compensate for a giant metal death bird ripping through the space time continuum like it owns the thing. Still Orks are hardly the most comprehensive in planetary security and as long as discretion is not required we can certainly land a party and recover them later (using ansibles to make pick up arrangements.
You may assume you can dig up a couple single Rocs for such trips if needed, although if you want a larger raid with big numbers you must call on one or more of your official squadrons.
In addition to sub-sector scouting missions and getting assault troops through to enemy craft or planets, Assault Rocs may also be used for strike missions to do Advanced Damage to the enemy vessels and stations, and bombing runs against planetary targets.
Reward: +10 Assault Rocs (including NSI drives)
Raptok
-[x] Call Ulthwe (call "Onroth"): 1 AP
DC: 35 > 58
We spend time communicating and getting to know this Onroth personage. He is far more cautious with his words than our other contact but over time he becomes slightly more used to communicating with Dragon Kings. We discover from him that the Elemental cores we sent them have been studied and deemed both safe and efficacious. He goes into length of subtle details involved in securing a recharging method which makes it seem like Eldar, or at least the Ulthwe may technically know Geomancy as a society... in theory... but in practice, well, they are out of practice. Or perhaps only ever knew it in theory.
Anyway, with that confirmation it seems clear that they are willing to order more and perhaps set up an exchange system for recharging them... however the numbers he is throwing around... millions!
Ludicrous
For now.
Reward: +1 relations. Gain project to trade a boatload of elemental cores to the Eldar and set up a trading program to recharge them, assuming we can spare the Manses.
-[x] Navigator: 3 AP + Technomorph
DC: 40-10=30 > 67, 10, 89, 27+5
With the aide of divinations and further contributions from the Technomorphs we make further progress in designing this complicated Genesis template. Its becoming clear that Navigators will have a whole new way of looking at the world and especially the Immaterium that others can barely comprehend. They will have a steep learning curve ahead of them and we believe we may need to organize a system allowing experienced Navigators to have a stake in training the young new ones. Perhaps some form of Guild system or perhaps something similar the Gens established for the Dragon blooded?
Reward: 8/24 Progress
-[x] Essence Drive: 2 AP + Crystal + Metal
DC: 35-10= 25 > 68, 42, 68 (metal does not count but it doesn't matter)
Through a combination of refining the techniques available to our Savants and Sorcerous Engineers to produce essence thrusting effects and the essence accumulators that aide in powering them with new techniques learned through in depth study of Ork drive systems we have improved our drive systems for the Glory of the Unconquered Sun.
Ramship Drive: Drives can go into a high power mode at just the right moment, heavily optimized to aide ramming actions. Double 9s when ramming or positioning to ram. Chariot, Pennant. Tech up adds more classes. Automatic selection.
Surety Drive: Shroomborn design principles are applied... sparingly, to increase the simplicity of drive designs and reduce costs. Vessels cost -3 AP to build, tech up allows greater discounts for larger ships.
Robust Drive: Drive is made of robust materials and needs less maintenance. -1 logistics. Any. Tech up allows bigger ships to increase the discount.
-[x] Colonization Package Ateliers x3
Three separate factory manses begin construction, the first set in each are slightly rushed and than sent on to Ophelis as soon as possible while the other three remain in our warehouses.
Reward: +6 Colonization Packages.
-[x] Temple of [Leeayta] 2 AP
DC: 30 > 48, 44, 48 1 x elemental AP
Leeayta, Lizard Queen and Goddess of Dragon King Warfare and Wars of Conquest. Her temple could be mistaken for a military Academy with an unusually large Military History Museum attached... Because that is basically when it is.
As the Mother of Conquest her temple can be used to provide administrative aide of an Essence 6 divinity to projects following a conquering, whether that be pacifying or integrating a local population or colonization of Dragon Kings upon the world. As long as it was conquered and not free for the taking or given she can help. (Comparable bonus to what Treel or Relza provides just with different applicability)
She may also be called upon for aide in providing astromancy guidance to wars involving Dragon Kings or Conquest once we have the Loom of Fate running.
She may train sublime conquering generals but she is rough with them. Due to the need to insure replacements and a desire to make sure that not all good commanders are depleted to make a few great ones we estimate we will gain one of her Chosen Commanders per 100 full Draconic Legions. The selection of the first batch and training is underway and she insure she will have a commander ready by the time for opposing the Despoiler... even if she seems disappointed we apparently likely won't conquer anything in the war. Her general gains a set of armor and weapons with powerful evocations which Leeayta guides them through unlocking, War 5 with at least one specialty dot in almost anything that might be relevant and a hearthstone reducing their need for sleep so they can keep plotting and strategizing conquest.
Her temple may be used to Infuse arks of "The Crumbling Walls", "Raise the Puissant Sanctum" and "Mystic Travel", and empower relics that can call upon a God-Forged Champion of War or Summon Ghost of a Conquering Hero... assuming they are known and within the Halls of Lanka.
Reward: Temple open of Leeyta the Lizard Queen.
-[x] Temple of [Final Hymn of Judgment] 2 AP
DC: 30 > 43, 31, 05, 84 2 x Elemental AP
The Mark IV Heavy Sonic Cannon was used during the Primordial War to cripple the Nightmare Dancer, defining soul of a Primordial defeating during the war. He himself is the spirit of the weapon just as the Sonic Cannon is the Weapon of the Spirit.
Himself is a figure the size of Noble Warstrider in gleaming Orichalcum and translucent adamant wielding a grand daiklaive name Dissonant Coda.
His Temple is filled with Automata crafted by Final Hymn most of which produce various tones. When he commands the Automata can play beautiful heart wrenching melodies but often he allows them to do as they please creating a cacophony that requires visitors to wear hearing protection.
At his Temple can be crafted the psuedo divine weapon known as the Mark IV Heavy Sonic Cannon. Batteries of this Weapon may be build and deployed aboard Directional Titans or in the special Dromon Artillery ship. A templeship of his own could also mount such cannons. We may also deploy them aboard Ordinatus platforms if we ever build those.
He can infuse Arks that allow one to summon a Mark IV Heavy Sonic Cannon onto a battlefield and a unique effect that acts as Heart of Darkness but with sound instead of light, covering a mile in every direction with a piercing din over which nothing else can be heard. He may also empower a relic that allow the user to unleash an instance of his Signature Attack, the Structure Rending Scream, a massive cone attack that cannot be blocked or dodged except via perfect defenses and has the piercing effect.
He can also be called upon as the Destroyer spirit he is to fight against the enemies of the Great Maker, Wyld beings, undead, and worst of all Gremlins (corrupted Machines) where he can fight as a potent singular, if very large being, using Dissonant Coda, Silver Voiced Nightingale Style, and his own Rending Scream smoothly in combat. He will be very hard to keep on task if the opportunity to destroy corrupted machines arises.
Reward:Temple Open for Final Hymn of Judgment.
Resource
-[x] Karmic Expedition 1 AP + ghost
DC: 30/60 > 94, 68
This time our expeditions into the Lanka realms focused on the realm of Tau'va. The unknown race here call themselves the tau and they are an interesting and industrious race. They have castes of their own, based on the elements of Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. Earth caste in particular seem to be quite skilled with technology and science.
We conducted some simple trades to bring home somewhat refined materials as our bounty, but it occurs to us we have an entire advanced and unified society here dedicated to the concept of the Greater Good. In exchange for teaching them how to be useful to us and keeping them apprised of what their efforts are accomplishing (ie Good) we can probably work out a deal. And we are pretty sure their native race does not know enough necromancy to find out what we teach their dead... pretty sure.
I am sure it will be fine.
So while the deal today is good, we propose we go back with teachers, equipment and such to set up a fairly massive relationship with them. The difference is that with our training and equipment their efforts will count as the benefits of skilled labor rather than as pure resources.
Reward: +4 AP, +1 exotic stockpile, unlock Tau'va trade project.
-[x] Jach'Uchil Expedition 3 AP + Steam + ships
DC: 45/95 > 58, 89, 46, 81
Digging around among the sulfur mines again we found a site containing a huge amount of sulfur containing minerals which were just not quite useful enough to carry home as an ore. But we discovered, practically by accident that the mineral isn't too hard to break down, revealing several useful sulfur based reagents that all pull out of the mineral with some refining. It would produce a lot of slag though and so is still not worth bringing ore home in the ship. But a basic mine and refinery set up on the planet would take care of that problem.
Reward: +12 AP, unlock Resource Exploitation Site project for Jach'Uchil.
Colonization
-[x] Ophelis (50 million) 5 AP + Slicktongue
DC: 15 > 23, 75, 65, 57, 07; elemental x 9 = 35, 05, 75, 99, 01, 16, 38, 03, 54
(3 Colonization Packages applied, assuming the first three of the six under construction made it in time.
The first batch of Colonization packages is sent through the Gate as soon as possible and while focus for workers stays on the main cities, dozens of minor cities soon grow using Builder bugs, elementals and only the most minimal Dragon King workforce to near completion before finalization efforts are completed by the Teams sweeping in after they finished the job at the Major Geomantic cities.
Ophelis now has 15 Major Geomantic Cities and 240 minor cities. While these cities are fairly underpopulated for now, we have enough people on the planet to fully exploit its riches and wonders. Which are plentiful.
Reward: Ophelis now home to 80 million plus. +16 General AP, 6 AP for each Breed. Unlocks projects to build manses on Ophelis.
Within a month of each other a small ork vessel visited both Tocha and Tokat. The one visiting Tokat only approached close enough to check that our ships were still in orbit before withdrawing. The one at Tocha entered orbit and conducted some landings. When we repelled them using troop on Tocha and millions of controlled orks the landings eventually stopped at the ship withdrew. Sadly our Divination efforts are too committed to study the rest of the sub-sector and try to gain insight. Our best guess is someone is scouting for targets though.
---
Wyld Horns go off suddenly one night although only on the lowest level and only for the time period immediately associated with the early morning hours, a traditionally unlucky time in Creation. When its over the Omen Chimes are checked and all of them outside the most protected areas (which granted are Ondar Shambol and all our Major cities) show several triggers. Again on a very low level. The whole thing seems like a very mild Wyld Storm washed over the planet, so mild that only instruments designed to detect these sorts of things in advanced even notice. Mortal divination attempts produce no results.
[x] Plan Gellar out of the left Field
Anklok
-[x] Bribing spirits to do their job. 1 AP
DC: Auto
Reward: +5 to other actions.
-[x] Little Beam Training Arc (part 3): 1 AP
DC: 35 > 60
Finally making a breakthrough needed in Void Dancing Style, Little Beam both completes the style as well as having high end versions of the associated artifact weapons made. He is ready to move on to more generic Training!
Reward: Little Beam completes phase 3 of Training Arc.
-[x] Infuse Ark: 1 AP
DC: 25 > 59
Its a bit confusing that this Ark was provided by an Omake made after this budget was posted but what is time but playdoh in the hands of Primordials anyway.
Reward: 2nd Ark of Wrath Beyond Measure is infused.
-[x] Guided by a Dark Star: 3 AP
DC: 45-10=35 > 45, 24, 95
Abaddon the Despoiler desperately wants to acquire at least one of the Blackstone fortresses for himself. He will try for more and will also try to wreck any left behind, but he NEEDS one and while he will try to play conservative he will lavishly expend divination and anti-divination resources in order to secure it.
Abaddon the Despoiler first learned of the existence of the Blackstone Fortresses and their potential power at some point in the 40th Millennium. Abaddon was guided by the visions of Zaraphiston to an Aeldari Crone World in the Eye of Terror.
In the ruins of an ancient wraithbone city littered with skeletons, the sorcerer led the Warmaster of Chaos to a room where a tapestry of flayed skin covered the walls from floor to ceiling. Upon its surface Abaddon read a prophecy -- the Penumbra Prophecy -- that revealed the secrets of six weapons of immense power. He immediately set out to learn how to gain control of these weapons, the six Blackstone Fortresses.
Abaddon was influenced by **r*a**, -- -- to hunt down a pair of ancient alien artifacts. These devices, known as the *a*d ** Da*k*e*s and the *** of ****t, were present in near the Gothic Sector and were capable of re-activating the massive xenos battle stations, bringing them under the Despoiler's control.
Thought impregnable by the Imperial Navy, the Blackstone Fortresses will be overcome by Abaddon using a previously undiscovered method of shutting down the power supply, using one of the artifacts. Deactivated, the Blackstone Fortresses will prove defenseless against ranged attacks and vulnerable against a determined boarding action.
Once brought under the Despoiler's control using the other artifacts, the Blackstone Fortresses will be able to shed their grafted-on Imperial equipment and glide slowly through space under their own power, using their original W*** Cannon in place of the turrets and fighter bays the Imperial Navy had built onto them as defensive measures."
With what we have learned we can try to usurp one of the artifacts and replace it with a dud, either by recovering it first or stealing it from Abaddon. These artifacts are incredibly potent items on the same tier as the Eye of Autochthon that essentially act as focus points for a concept and allow creation of custom evocations based on that concept and the users needs. The Despoiler will have to spend a year or so studying them to create the effects he needs to claim the Talismans of Vaul. We can partially wrap our minds around the concept of [DECAY] associated with the h*n* ** *a*kne** and can create a potent seeming but effectively useless artifact as a decoy which hopefully will fool Abaddon. We cannot due it with both as he needs at least one to work to enact his plan and will throw additional resources at it. The other artifact is ... less comprehensible as well as better defended and more crucial to the Despoilers plans. We can attempt to steal it after but that requires infiltrating Planet Killer instead of a mostly abandoned human world so we do not recommend that method. If we steal either artifact without a decoy or wait until Abaddon knows the artifacts well enough to recognize a decoy he will pursue us to reclaim them.
If we want to pursue this we need to create the decoy and an infiltration ship in [turn 47] and launch a mission to perform the switch in [turn 48] as his loyalists will show up to claim it. In fact launching the mission in [Turn 48] will be quite tight and we have a non-zero chance of duking it out with his recovery team. If we do claim the artifact we can study it and attempt to create Evocations using [DECAY]
Alternatively we can create a cross conceptual artifact to shield against [DECAY]. It will be nowhere near as powerful and will effectively protect the target from [DECAY] based effects but cannot produce effects. This will be cheaper and simpler than making Wondrous Globes for everything even if such globes are far more useful. [DECAY] is what the despoiler uses to depower the stations and activate their self destruct. The other artifact is how he claims control of the Stations. Convincing human soldiers to allow aliens to install an artifact aboard their stations will be its own quest though.
TLDR; Abaddon is willing to throw tremendous resources to claim his minimal requirements. He wants more but can be denied. Through careful planning we can limit Abaddon to the minimal possible victory while costing him as much as possible and possibly render his victory Pyrrhic.
Reward: Know Abaddons minimal goal and how he is achieving it. You cannot thwart him but you can make it cost him more to achieve it and prevent him from gaining any extra.
-[x] Temple ship research 3 AP
Transfer dice to Temple Ship roll.
-[x] Improved Warbird 2 AP + Arc
DC: 40 > 08, 59, 39+5
Progress on improved Warbirds continues but we haven't managed to complete the new designs yet.
Reward: 5/6 Progress
-[x] Naval Phalanx Groups Training Ground + Ashlords + Sparks + Ecstatics
Auto
Reward: +3 Naval Phalanx groups.
Mosok
-[x] Thetis of Thessaly class Templeship [Treel Geomantic Templeship] 4 AP + factorycathedral + atelier manse + exotic + manta
DC: 25 (15) > 56, 49, 01 , 61
The ship was all but done when a surge of essence shunting through an emergency relay and cause a fair amount of interior damage. We managed to clean up and repair what was hurt but the lost time delayed us just enough
To untrained eyes the completed vessel looks like a normal multi kilometer asteroid, lumpy mounds of rocky hills and riddled with holes. Closer inspection reveals the holes as launching paths for our war birds, rocs, and assault landers in war... or colonization and cargo landers during peace. Closer inspection will often reveal fort like constructions on the surface crewed by our people ready to defend the ship. As a geomantic construct the vessel simply maintains habitability through geomantic effects regardless of the conditions surrounding the hull.
Reward: Abundant Feast Obscures Raging Lioness Before Mount Pelion added to your fleet and can be send on mission next turn assuming you have the logistics to back it up. -1 Exotic stockpile
-[x] Gemini Yards (Ophelis) 3 AP
DC: 40 > 76, 59, 66
Progress continues on the dual yards and we have a solid framework that recognizably contains two bays, but most of the equipment is still missing.
Reward: 7/12 Progress
-[x] Void Dancing Style: 2 AP + Dojo
DC: 50 > 94, 73, Auto
Void Dancing Style, developed by Little Beam as an art specifically to aide in boarding, especially when using weapons traditionally associated with our Phalanx Boarding groups, short heavy variants of the Swordclub with shields and their artifact equivalents. Almost all who learn it will learn Flame and Stone Styel and Eye of Heaven style since they are highly compatible. Many also learn Golden Exhalation style to aide in the use of ardent embrace weaponry aboard ships. The style uses a combination of teamwork effects and specific environment manipulation to pin opponents and leave them either defenseless or doomed (style lets you due stuff like slash the environment and cause a surge of collapsing hullplating/vent air/plasma/lightning/oil/steam/vacuum/etc to hit an opponent similar to an environmental hazard from Autochthon. Since this is inherently a stunt AND a charm it only vaguely needs to make sense. Users are highly able to ignore relevant hazards such as vacuum and hard radiation (At least on a vessel, and "on" may include outside on the hull as well as inside). The core of the style is slowing or pinning enemies with such traps, hazards and teamwork and than use the mobility advantage to either continue on to the objective or fight the trapped enemy with a large bonus on your side.
Note: Retraining Naval Phalanxes will cost 1 ap each and their cost for future units is doubled to gain this elite trait. I will not track elite and non-elite units on a unit per unit basos. Do them all or do none. You may be able to raise large formations of the opposite choice later for a specific purpose.
Reward: Void Dancing Style Complete, Naval Phalanx can be retrained to gain the style and are granted elite status. This means +1 on the d10 roll for their combat. 25 Celestial Martial Artists can act as a non-elite Naval Phalanx group if needed, using their other skills and knowledge to make up for the lack of specialized training and equipment.
-[x] Celestial Arena for [300 participants] 1 AP
DC: 05 > 03+5
Fighting is especially brutal with blows landing among the crowd killing several who were not technically participating. Still we have our Celestial Martial Artists and Little Beam pushed their training hard to insure all know Void Dancing Style already.
Reward: +30 CMA, lost 4 small battlegroups.
Pterok
-[x] Astrological Question "When is the most fortunate time to undertake the expansion of our naval capabilities?" free
-[x] Astrological Question "What are ill-omened days to learn to navigate Mercury's Ways through the Wyld?" 1 AP
-[x] Astrological Question "When will an alignment between Mars and Jupiter be auspicious for the investigations by the Dark Star?" 1 AP
-[x] Elemental Support: 3 AP
DC: 25 > 56, 95, 22+5
Ophelis proves quite efficacious for the summoning of elementals and those summoned to aide construction of new cities on that world all seem to work harder or have more relevant powers than we were expecting.
Reward: +12 AP
-[x] Wondrous Globe of Precious Stability: 15 AP
DC: 60-10=50 > 86, 73, 70, 27, 26, 23, 42, 39, 14, 72, 95, 63, 11 reroll 76 , 37, 02 reroll 58
Massive amounts of resources are dedicated towards this undertaking. Indeed, no experts that could contribute even slightly were left out and much of the remaining dragon power was spent on gather materials and conducting experiments at the behest of Savants. Still the work is done.
A Jade sphere the size of a child's skull is covered in dozens of complex occult symbols inlaid with orichalcum, moonsilver, adamant, and Elektrum. Ideally Adamant will be replaced by Starmetal and Elektrum with Soulsteel but needs must right now. The Globe is pierced with a short shaft of jade inlaid with orichalcum and can rotate freely around this axis. The top of this shaft neds in the setting for a hearthstone while the bottom has a triangular base for afixing it to a structure or vehicle.
When set with a Hearthstone, which must be a true Hearthstone and not an elemental core in order to lend Geomantic stability to the Globe. It also requires an essence user to commit essence to it and when both of those is met the globe begins to glow and spin. Any structure the Globe is attached to and all the inhabitants of that structure are completely protected from the effects of the wyld. They also gain 5 dice to resist the charms of the Fairfolk (which includes Daemons and unknown to you most psyker powers)
When installed on a ship or building it may endure exposure to effects all the way to the Deep Wyld without effects. Only Pure Chaos (which is oddly lacking in this new realm) can overcome it, and even that is eventually. With this we could build stations in warp torn areas and send ships through the deepest and darkest parts of the Immaterium to increase their mobility. The issue is cost.
Wondrous Globes of Precious Stability are incredibly complicated and require a dedicated Factory Cathedral to manufacture. They use rare and hard to integrate magical materials, which limits are potential manufacture and more stable and greater quantities of those materials should become available before raising production. They also require a dedicated Hearthstone from a Basic Manse; a Geomantic Relay or elemental core just won't do. They also require enough committed essence and intricate magitech maintenance that active ones require 1 upkeep each.
The prototype has been refined somewhat and installed in the Library of Sperimin where it will be maintained by budding Reality Engineers and inspire innovations in Shaping technologies.
Note: Each Globe requires being assigned an Ideal Workshop slot to itself, each costs 15 AP before admin bonuses. Currently the materials limit is Elektrum which is the material least conducive to being forced into the shape of intricate occult glyphs. So we can only make one a year. Establishing a supply of soulsteel will let us make two a year. After that we need either starmetal or a larger supply of Moonsilver and more Factory Cathedrals. Each one costs a full Basic Manse and 1 upkeep per turn to operate. Its assumed to be small enough any ship or station or building can find a place for it.
Reward: You may construct Wondrous Globes of Precious Stability. You may research "Hand of the Great Maker" as the next step in Reality Engineering (as it lets you do Wyld Shaping without being a Solar it counts as a full Artifact 5 charm which requires a Major Solar Manse Hearthstone to operate)
-[x] Sutra Batteries: 3 AP
DC: 40>38+5, 92, 22
Scaling up prayer weapon has led to golden slugs that weigh one hundred tons each. (This is often made using either alchemically transmuted gold or silver-gold alloys to preserve the amount of natural gold available for Orichalcum production). These massive gold slugs are beautifully engraved with epics regaling half the story of the forging and birth of the Unconquered Sun and his rise as the Guarding Star of creation while the other half is permanently engraved in the orichalcum barrels of the weapon. Each slug is capped with a unique masterwork sutra invoking awe in the Highest of Holies. Each master prayer crafter trying to bring about a unique and transcendent knowing of the phrase "for the Glory of the Unconquered Sun". Sutra Weapons do Advanced Damage to all targets, against Creatures of Darkness or their unholy artifice this weapon does supreme damage. If such a target has a spell or mechanism to repair their ship in combat scale time frames it fails before the rage of the Glory of the Most High.
It should be noted that the golden round of a Sutra weapon glows with the incandescent martial Rage of the Most high and thus appears as energy fire to the unenlightened observer. Essence waste wafts like incense as it exits the barrel when firing and any sapient observing it sees to go whichever direction they in that moment and circumstance would consider up. This works even if different observers observe different iterations of up in the same shot.
Reward: You may design ships and stations that install Sutra Batteries. You may research Titanic Scale Sutra weaponry
-[x] Void Vessel Mini Turn [Solar Templeship] 2 AP
DC:??> 87, 66, 56, 16, 38
It was a Dream given form, to announce our presence to the Galaxy by bringing the Light of the Most High to the Darkest of places. To bring Hope and demonstrate the utmost of His Virtues in the face of Wyld Addicts, Traitors, and servants of the foulest presences in the Wyld. Thus the Luminous Herald of Dawn was designed to act as the announcement of our presence to the Galaxy, its Holy architecture demonstrating the spite of the Most High for the Wicked.
The consecrated design of the Luminous Herald of Dawn reaches a pinnacle only surpassed by the utter concentration of effort represented by Ondar Shambol. In fact the design is intended to lean on the sacred geometries of the Sun's City in purity and prayer to reach this level of Consecration on a mobile construct meant for war in any kind of vaguely reasonable timeframe.
Our designers hold nothing back and decide to incorporate copious amounts of precious Orichalcum into the Pyramidal Templeship, both protecting its essence flows and demanding more than doubling the power requirements for ships of the class. Still the performance boost from the artifact hull combined with the resilience of the orichalcum and the terrible majesty of her Sutra weapons is sure to wreck terrible havoc, especially those unhallowed in His sight.
Reward: Luminous Herald of Dawn class Solar Templeship designed.
Costs: 258 AP before adjustments. Requires Templeforge construction at a world with Sun formed star and Ondar Shambol equivalent city. 25 is removed for administration. 108 may come from Atelier Manses (6 Ateliers), one of which must be Ondar Shambol or equivalent city. 9 Exotic Components may be spent to reduce total by 72, one of these must be Ondar Shambol. At least one factory cathedral must be assigned during any turn of construction. The hull can benefit from a maximum of 80 AP from Factory Cathedrals and each one counts as 10 rolled successes as a special effect of this design. In addition each Breed may contribute AP but in exchange ALL four breeds must contribute at least 1 AP. A divination MUST be assigned to proceed with construction which serves no purpose but to aide this individual ship.
Luminous Herald of Dawn
Speed: 3
Maneuver: 2 + 2[Orichalcum]
Components: Sutra Weapons, PCA, FTL, Essence Battlements, Solar Templeship
Upkeep: 2
Power: +19
Logistics: +10
Hull Level: [Orichalcum] -0/-0//-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-2/-3/-4/-4/Crippled/Crippled
Notes: Double 9s vs Creatures of Darkness
[ ] Luminous Herald of Dawn: Its time to forge this wonder of a ship to protect our Virtue and Project our will across the Galaxy. AP needed: 1 each Breed AP + 1 General AP + 1 Divination slot + 1 Factory Cathedral + Templeforge. DC: 45. Success Needed: 116 AP. Reward: +1 Luminous Herald of Dawn class Solar Templeship. 9 per Atelier Manse up to 6 times (ondar Shambol counts as Atelier Manse), 10 from Factory Cathedrals up to 4 times, and 4 per Exotic Component up to 9 exotic components.
-[x] Logistics Stockpile: Atelier
Reward: +10 Logistics Stockpile
-[x] Standard Stockpile: Atelier
Reward: +10 Standard Stockpiles
-[x] Invocation Stockpile: 1 AP + Thaumaturgy
DC: 15 > 15
Reward: -10 Grace, +10 Invocation Stockpiles.
-[x] Birds of a feather [Assault Rocs 9/17]: 2 AP + Factory Cathedral + Atelier
DC: 25 > 97, 46 (+6 from Atelier Manse, +9)
With the power of dedicated Factory Manses realizing the components and a lot of enthusiasm on the part of the work force the first batch of 100 Assault Rocs equipped with Synapse Drives is completed and the crews have a good year of time to familiarize themselves with their crafts (as well as practice remaining conscious during the disorientation caused by traveling through a Shima's Synaptic network.
As desired the NSI drives can be removed and the carry space restored to a full 50 Infantry, usually Naval Phalanxes. We may also use them to carry small raiding or scouting parties to the other ork worlds nearby although keep in mind that stealth is not one of their functions, even J'Bond cannot compensate for a giant metal death bird ripping through the space time continuum like it owns the thing. Still Orks are hardly the most comprehensive in planetary security and as long as discretion is not required we can certainly land a party and recover them later (using ansibles to make pick up arrangements.
You may assume you can dig up a couple single Rocs for such trips if needed, although if you want a larger raid with big numbers you must call on one or more of your official squadrons.
In addition to sub-sector scouting missions and getting assault troops through to enemy craft or planets, Assault Rocs may also be used for strike missions to do Advanced Damage to the enemy vessels and stations, and bombing runs against planetary targets.
Reward: +10 Assault Rocs (including NSI drives)
Raptok
-[x] Call Ulthwe (call "Onroth"): 1 AP
DC: 35 > 58
We spend time communicating and getting to know this Onroth personage. He is far more cautious with his words than our other contact but over time he becomes slightly more used to communicating with Dragon Kings. We discover from him that the Elemental cores we sent them have been studied and deemed both safe and efficacious. He goes into length of subtle details involved in securing a recharging method which makes it seem like Eldar, or at least the Ulthwe may technically know Geomancy as a society... in theory... but in practice, well, they are out of practice. Or perhaps only ever knew it in theory.
Anyway, with that confirmation it seems clear that they are willing to order more and perhaps set up an exchange system for recharging them... however the numbers he is throwing around... millions!
Ludicrous
For now.
Reward: +1 relations. Gain project to trade a boatload of elemental cores to the Eldar and set up a trading program to recharge them, assuming we can spare the Manses.
-[x] Navigator: 3 AP + Technomorph
DC: 40-10=30 > 67, 10, 89, 27+5
With the aide of divinations and further contributions from the Technomorphs we make further progress in designing this complicated Genesis template. Its becoming clear that Navigators will have a whole new way of looking at the world and especially the Immaterium that others can barely comprehend. They will have a steep learning curve ahead of them and we believe we may need to organize a system allowing experienced Navigators to have a stake in training the young new ones. Perhaps some form of Guild system or perhaps something similar the Gens established for the Dragon blooded?
Reward: 8/24 Progress
-[x] Essence Drive: 2 AP + Crystal + Metal
DC: 35-10= 25 > 68, 42, 68 (metal does not count but it doesn't matter)
Through a combination of refining the techniques available to our Savants and Sorcerous Engineers to produce essence thrusting effects and the essence accumulators that aide in powering them with new techniques learned through in depth study of Ork drive systems we have improved our drive systems for the Glory of the Unconquered Sun.
Ramship Drive: Drives can go into a high power mode at just the right moment, heavily optimized to aide ramming actions. Double 9s when ramming or positioning to ram. Chariot, Pennant. Tech up adds more classes. Automatic selection.
Surety Drive: Shroomborn design principles are applied... sparingly, to increase the simplicity of drive designs and reduce costs. Vessels cost -3 AP to build, tech up allows greater discounts for larger ships.
Robust Drive: Drive is made of robust materials and needs less maintenance. -1 logistics. Any. Tech up allows bigger ships to increase the discount.
-[x] Colonization Package Ateliers x3
Three separate factory manses begin construction, the first set in each are slightly rushed and than sent on to Ophelis as soon as possible while the other three remain in our warehouses.
Reward: +6 Colonization Packages.
-[x] Temple of [Leeayta] 2 AP
DC: 30 > 48, 44, 48 1 x elemental AP
Leeayta, Lizard Queen and Goddess of Dragon King Warfare and Wars of Conquest. Her temple could be mistaken for a military Academy with an unusually large Military History Museum attached... Because that is basically when it is.
As the Mother of Conquest her temple can be used to provide administrative aide of an Essence 6 divinity to projects following a conquering, whether that be pacifying or integrating a local population or colonization of Dragon Kings upon the world. As long as it was conquered and not free for the taking or given she can help. (Comparable bonus to what Treel or Relza provides just with different applicability)
She may also be called upon for aide in providing astromancy guidance to wars involving Dragon Kings or Conquest once we have the Loom of Fate running.
She may train sublime conquering generals but she is rough with them. Due to the need to insure replacements and a desire to make sure that not all good commanders are depleted to make a few great ones we estimate we will gain one of her Chosen Commanders per 100 full Draconic Legions. The selection of the first batch and training is underway and she insure she will have a commander ready by the time for opposing the Despoiler... even if she seems disappointed we apparently likely won't conquer anything in the war. Her general gains a set of armor and weapons with powerful evocations which Leeayta guides them through unlocking, War 5 with at least one specialty dot in almost anything that might be relevant and a hearthstone reducing their need for sleep so they can keep plotting and strategizing conquest.
Her temple may be used to Infuse arks of "The Crumbling Walls", "Raise the Puissant Sanctum" and "Mystic Travel", and empower relics that can call upon a God-Forged Champion of War or Summon Ghost of a Conquering Hero... assuming they are known and within the Halls of Lanka.
Reward: Temple open of Leeyta the Lizard Queen.
-[x] Temple of [Final Hymn of Judgment] 2 AP
DC: 30 > 43, 31, 05, 84 2 x Elemental AP
The Mark IV Heavy Sonic Cannon was used during the Primordial War to cripple the Nightmare Dancer, defining soul of a Primordial defeating during the war. He himself is the spirit of the weapon just as the Sonic Cannon is the Weapon of the Spirit.
Himself is a figure the size of Noble Warstrider in gleaming Orichalcum and translucent adamant wielding a grand daiklaive name Dissonant Coda.
His Temple is filled with Automata crafted by Final Hymn most of which produce various tones. When he commands the Automata can play beautiful heart wrenching melodies but often he allows them to do as they please creating a cacophony that requires visitors to wear hearing protection.
At his Temple can be crafted the psuedo divine weapon known as the Mark IV Heavy Sonic Cannon. Batteries of this Weapon may be build and deployed aboard Directional Titans or in the special Dromon Artillery ship. A templeship of his own could also mount such cannons. We may also deploy them aboard Ordinatus platforms if we ever build those.
He can infuse Arks that allow one to summon a Mark IV Heavy Sonic Cannon onto a battlefield and a unique effect that acts as Heart of Darkness but with sound instead of light, covering a mile in every direction with a piercing din over which nothing else can be heard. He may also empower a relic that allow the user to unleash an instance of his Signature Attack, the Structure Rending Scream, a massive cone attack that cannot be blocked or dodged except via perfect defenses and has the piercing effect.
He can also be called upon as the Destroyer spirit he is to fight against the enemies of the Great Maker, Wyld beings, undead, and worst of all Gremlins (corrupted Machines) where he can fight as a potent singular, if very large being, using Dissonant Coda, Silver Voiced Nightingale Style, and his own Rending Scream smoothly in combat. He will be very hard to keep on task if the opportunity to destroy corrupted machines arises.
Reward:Temple Open for Final Hymn of Judgment.
Resource
-[x] Karmic Expedition 1 AP + ghost
DC: 30/60 > 94, 68
This time our expeditions into the Lanka realms focused on the realm of Tau'va. The unknown race here call themselves the tau and they are an interesting and industrious race. They have castes of their own, based on the elements of Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. Earth caste in particular seem to be quite skilled with technology and science.
We conducted some simple trades to bring home somewhat refined materials as our bounty, but it occurs to us we have an entire advanced and unified society here dedicated to the concept of the Greater Good. In exchange for teaching them how to be useful to us and keeping them apprised of what their efforts are accomplishing (ie Good) we can probably work out a deal. And we are pretty sure their native race does not know enough necromancy to find out what we teach their dead... pretty sure.
I am sure it will be fine.
So while the deal today is good, we propose we go back with teachers, equipment and such to set up a fairly massive relationship with them. The difference is that with our training and equipment their efforts will count as the benefits of skilled labor rather than as pure resources.
Reward: +4 AP, +1 exotic stockpile, unlock Tau'va trade project.
-[x] Jach'Uchil Expedition 3 AP + Steam + ships
DC: 45/95 > 58, 89, 46, 81
Digging around among the sulfur mines again we found a site containing a huge amount of sulfur containing minerals which were just not quite useful enough to carry home as an ore. But we discovered, practically by accident that the mineral isn't too hard to break down, revealing several useful sulfur based reagents that all pull out of the mineral with some refining. It would produce a lot of slag though and so is still not worth bringing ore home in the ship. But a basic mine and refinery set up on the planet would take care of that problem.
Reward: +12 AP, unlock Resource Exploitation Site project for Jach'Uchil.
Colonization
-[x] Ophelis (50 million) 5 AP + Slicktongue
DC: 15 > 23, 75, 65, 57, 07; elemental x 9 = 35, 05, 75, 99, 01, 16, 38, 03, 54
(3 Colonization Packages applied, assuming the first three of the six under construction made it in time.
The first batch of Colonization packages is sent through the Gate as soon as possible and while focus for workers stays on the main cities, dozens of minor cities soon grow using Builder bugs, elementals and only the most minimal Dragon King workforce to near completion before finalization efforts are completed by the Teams sweeping in after they finished the job at the Major Geomantic cities.
Ophelis now has 15 Major Geomantic Cities and 240 minor cities. While these cities are fairly underpopulated for now, we have enough people on the planet to fully exploit its riches and wonders. Which are plentiful.
Reward: Ophelis now home to 80 million plus. +16 General AP, 6 AP for each Breed. Unlocks projects to build manses on Ophelis.
Planetary: Anklok/Mosok/Pterok/Raptok/General
Tokat: 5/5/5/5/23
Ophelis: 6/6/6/6/16
Total: 11/11/11/11/39
-Resource Extraction Limit: 16/19 (maximum possible bonus from easy to acquire raw materials (anything that requires effort to acquire and effort to render into usable form), including trade of same.
-Labor Exploitation Limit: 0/19 (maximum possible bonus from skilled slave labor, trade, or equivalent in finished high quality goods or services)
Resource Exploitation Sites
Jach'Uchil: temporary only
Underworld: Temporary only
Trade Routes
Kaukauna: none
Ulthwe: none
RT Lockhart: none
Time Limited Exploitation
Dying slaves: none for 0 turns
Bountiful but limited mines: none for 0 turns
Tokat: 5/5/5/5/23
Ophelis: 6/6/6/6/16
Total: 11/11/11/11/39
-Resource Extraction Limit: 16/19 (maximum possible bonus from easy to acquire raw materials (anything that requires effort to acquire and effort to render into usable form), including trade of same.
-Labor Exploitation Limit: 0/19 (maximum possible bonus from skilled slave labor, trade, or equivalent in finished high quality goods or services)
Resource Exploitation Sites
Jach'Uchil: temporary only
Underworld: Temporary only
Trade Routes
Kaukauna: none
Ulthwe: none
RT Lockhart: none
Time Limited Exploitation
Dying slaves: none for 0 turns
Bountiful but limited mines: none for 0 turns
Medical: [1] 1 upkeep for Nursery
Industrial: [9] 7 upkeep for Atelier; 2 upkeep for Factory Cathedral
RES: [0] 0 Resources Exploitation
Fleet: [4] 1 upkeep for three Skyreme; 1 upkeep for Ramship, 2 for Treel Templeship
-Wondrous Orbs of Precious Stability [0]
-Logistics: [0] 0 upkeep for 0/0 support
Transportation: [2] 2 upkeep for gates
Military: [0] 0 upkeep for 0 special units.
Trade: [0] 0 trade routes
Total Costs: 16
Strategic Material Demand/Supply
1/1 x Celestial Mead: mostly consumed by deities via offerings
1/1 x Karmic Honey: Mostly used in either artifice, or to secure divine blessings (usually for artifice)
16/27 x Jade: Jade supply is not strained
1/1 x Moonsilver: Moonsilver is in extremely high demand for artifice, only producible via crucible.
3/5 x Elektrum: Magical Amber has a minor surplus to standard demands but limited
16/17 x Orichalcum: Wishmetal is able to meet current requirements although all spare finds use in religious icons or rituals.
16/23 x Adamant: Supply of adamant is sufficient but expansion of the Celestial City will consume much spare production.
0/0 x Soulsteel: no steady supply of soulsteel
0/0 x Starmetal: No steady supply of starmetal, extremely limited production via divine assistance and intense sources rituals.
0/0 x Adamantium: No steady supply of Adamantium
0/0 x Promethium: No current supply or demand for Promethium
Industrial: [9] 7 upkeep for Atelier; 2 upkeep for Factory Cathedral
RES: [0] 0 Resources Exploitation
Fleet: [4] 1 upkeep for three Skyreme; 1 upkeep for Ramship, 2 for Treel Templeship
-Wondrous Orbs of Precious Stability [0]
-Logistics: [0] 0 upkeep for 0/0 support
Transportation: [2] 2 upkeep for gates
Military: [0] 0 upkeep for 0 special units.
Trade: [0] 0 trade routes
Total Costs: 16
Strategic Material Demand/Supply
1/1 x Celestial Mead: mostly consumed by deities via offerings
1/1 x Karmic Honey: Mostly used in either artifice, or to secure divine blessings (usually for artifice)
16/27 x Jade: Jade supply is not strained
1/1 x Moonsilver: Moonsilver is in extremely high demand for artifice, only producible via crucible.
3/5 x Elektrum: Magical Amber has a minor surplus to standard demands but limited
16/17 x Orichalcum: Wishmetal is able to meet current requirements although all spare finds use in religious icons or rituals.
16/23 x Adamant: Supply of adamant is sufficient but expansion of the Celestial City will consume much spare production.
0/0 x Soulsteel: no steady supply of soulsteel
0/0 x Starmetal: No steady supply of starmetal, extremely limited production via divine assistance and intense sources rituals.
0/0 x Adamantium: No steady supply of Adamantium
0/0 x Promethium: No current supply or demand for Promethium
Last edited:
The Froggy Ninja
The Blade Will Never Die
How many Arks and Relics can we carry without a cargo bay or Vault?
The Froggy Ninja
The Blade Will Never Die
Maybe we can Omake getting it designed over the break and then build and deploy it with a bit more margin for error. Also, @StarJaunter, would I be safe and in assuming we're not letting the New Paths near the Very Important Crusade Missions since we're still not sold on them not being somehow profane?
Its less a number limit and more the risk of some raid or another stealing them. Once others become aware of their use/existence their power will be coveted and all kinds of crazy guys like Drukhari, Inquisitors, and Chaos Space Marines will want to claim them. For Temple relevant deployments aboard a Templeship I will assume relevant sacred number limits. So 5 Solar Arks and 25 Solar Relics aboard a Solar Templeship, which are stored in the most temply bits of the templeship.
The stalking mantis is designed and can start construction, its limit is that it cannot be used for anything BUT infiltration purposes. Even a one success Omake would allow a basic design for a full fledged Infiltration ship though. Even the one granted to @Kaziglu Bey would work. Probably be more useful as a ship but probably also raises the total cost. Assume the needed mysterious Mosok Stealth system needs 1 slot and the infiltration support needs another, thus usually conceived as a pennant or smaller for keeping up speed. And for the purpose involved in seeing if you arrive on time in turn 47 Speed stat will be checked. The existing Stalking Mantis design is basically a Motonic Sloop with those two things and an FTL drive and nothing else.
Designs earned through Omake do not get Bonus points and cannot accept quirks to earn them, only basic designs are plausible here.
As long as you do not assign the dice from them to a project you can assume they were kept away (baring a paradigm change of course), even if the choice to do so is made retroactively. If you at any point in the project assigned the new path dice to the project all bets are off.
The Froggy Ninja
The Blade Will Never Die
How fucked would the first and last of those be against only the natural defenses of an Orichalcum Solar Templeship and whatever anti-boarding forces are available without even a half barracks? Discounting the ability to just detonate an Arc of Wrath as absolute area denial.
Depends how far down the rabbit hole they have gone unless you have secured the Sun's wrath against them? Plus they are happy to use slaves or Mercs who lack their weaknesses to do the deed.
The first attempts may fail hilariously but your enemies will learn.
The Froggy Ninja
The Blade Will Never Die
Very fair. Would a half slot Vault only lose out on capacity or also on defenses?
It might be possible to convince the Inquisition if we contact them right away and explain everything. Might.
Trying to steal a holy temple ship strikes me as dangerous to people. It is a fantastic way to get smote unless you can somehow block the god from noticing/responding. I'm sure Chaos has lots of ways to to do that. But Chaos is on the autosmite list.
So that looks like three trade goods we can provide the Eldar:
- Willpower enhancing Elemental Cores (helps them draw deeper on psychic powers, letting one of their strengths get stronger)
- Holy keyword weapons (particularly helpful against one of their greatest strategic foes)
- Immaculate Seed stockpiles (addresses one of their most crippling weaknesses; casualties they cannot afford)
@StarJaunter Would they be receptive to other equipment with the Holy keyword if we could provide it? Or do they have other equipment/materiel deficiencies they'd love to be able to correct but can't quite for one reason or another? The only thing that really comes to mind is maybe making a variant of Brass Legionnaires for them to replace Wraithguards in their order of battle. I'm thinking something approximately as potent but without the icky feeling of committing necromancy. I doubt StarJaunter'd go for it, but unlike the Dragon Kings the Eldar as a whole seem to have few compunctions against using constructs to fight their battles for them if it means saving valuable Eldar lives. A thought at least.
IIRC Iyanden should be pre-Tyranid right now, and they were one of the leading anti-Chaos Craftworlds (which was a blindspot because they spent all their time looking for "How to vs Chaos" and not enough "What if bugs come?"), so in addition to the first and third point being true for...pretty much any Craftworld, they're likely especially interested in the second point. I'm hopeful that after the Gothic War Ulthwe is willing to give them our business card, it seems like we can really help each other out here.
(On an only tangentially related note, I want to gradually start bringing trade materials online. We're told that pretty much every trade deal will include spending Atelier manse uses and stuff from our plantations, but if we had Jach'Uchil settled by the time Lockhart comes back we should be able to offer him gems, good quality iron and promethium as well. Not bad for a bunch of savage xenos that don't even have proper power generation)
Speaking of, nalwood was apparently some pretty good stuff. In addition to providing food and a luxury hardwood (though admittedly it's probably not going to be 'planetary governors use this on their desks to show off wealth' for some time yet), it's also a source of psychoactive materials good enough for Astartes Librarians (and thus likely a good source of materials for artificers) and, given their migratory habits, possibly provide some defensive advantages to Raptok playing "Hide and seek and murder" with invaders. May result in Scottish ninja dinosaurs though.
I am now imagining Tokat's Funniest Home Videos with a brutal amount of slapstick and a rousing round of 'stop hitting yourself' played with an Aspiring Champion.
I would suggest epic levels of diplomacy here. Fortunately we have access to both "Super Diplomat Goddess" Nysela and (with a tiny amount of investment in R&D) Alchemical socialites, so I'm not actually going "lol, if wishes were horses" here. It's...possible. Just not probable outside nontrivial investment of resources.
Yeeaaaah. Anybody not want to send some folks into the Wyld to see what that was all about? Because I checked the time each chime went off and put them on a map and they spelled out 'sus'. I'm guessing it's basically the Chaos version of an inquisitive sonar ping. Did the Aurichim and Argentim have anything to report about it?
"The next person to even hum 'Eye of the Tiger' gets to help me demonstrate Heaven Thunder Hammer."
-Little Beam, presumably.
Glad to see that done, and I'm guessing that the artifact weapons made are for his personal use but are not part of his Panoply?
Note to self; the accumulated annoyance at chronal elasticity demonstrated here is research fodder for the temporal studies research option.
On a more serious note, I'm giving consideration to doing a lot of infusions in these arks so the temple-ship can drop coronal ejections onto deserving laps with every battle. I don't know if this is reasonable, and it's probably not even smart, but I find myself...tempted.
Whooboy. That's a lot.
So, my thought is that we do everything we can to make at least one infiltration ship. I want six by the time things kick off (one for each subsector in the Gothic Sector), and while this isn't ideal we got to war with the army we'll have ready in time. So, we make the ship, launch the ship, and pray we get there in time. Maybe mention this to the Eldar to help us with that.
I'm not sure how we're going to hide either artifact. A part of me is saying 'take it home and hide it in a temple' but that just seems like the opposite of a good idea. Hand it off to either the Imperium or the Eldar in a game of hot potato? Not sure the Dragon Kings would be keen on passing the buck like that though. I'm not keen on every ship Abbadon can bring to bear showing up in Tokat orbit, but I'm not keen on letting either of the other Order factions take the hit either. This is going to require some thought.
I do think that we're going to want to try to take the *** of ****t from Abbadon as it's more important to his plans in general and I was already planning to board the Planetkiller (note the second Ark, sure would be a shame if a pillar of holy golden fire were to happen to it) so that's not so much a new risk as mission creep. More glory to the Unconquered Sun though!
Completing this project would have been great, but it's not crucial. I'll probably pivot to trying to get Skyweavers set up. Are the Sparks sufficiently advanced that they can assist in training new pilots, or are they still a bit short?
I count four 'dice' going in but only three groups coming out. Does one of the paths not qualify, or is this more of a 'paths are not quite as effective as a proper die'?
Muy excellente. Her maiden voyage I intend to be settling Tocha. With three stockpiles and some work already done, I'm hopeful that it won't be long before Tocha becomes a productive planet for the Realm. (I still love the name of the ship).
Also, it amuses me how it's likely to be mistaken for an Orc Rok. The Dragon Kings will be offended at the comparison (can't you see the carefully wrought artifice in her every line?) while everyone else is like "Dude, it's an asteroid that got turned into a ship. Paint it red and have a few dead grots floating around and no ork would question it". This is how you can tell some races are uncouth barbarians.
Decent progress, honest progress. We're one step closer to being able to field ships in the Ophelis sector.
I'm keen to retrain for Elite status and to make that standard for Naval Phalanx groups. I intend to make a lot of use of ship boarding tactics as part of our naval paradigm, and especially with the news that a Leeyata Templeship could be a strong cruiser-weight boarding platform (note to self; see if we can get teleporters squeezed in there somehow) leveraging our advantages in personal combat and environmental effects to offset one of our weaknesses (lack of ships in our fleet), and 'ded-killy spess scaly boyz' fits pretty well in that paradigm.
I'm just imagining the various shonen anime tournament arcs where ridiculously powerful attacks get thrown around and are miraculously stopped by a two foot concrete barrier. I'm guessing that didn't happen here. And now I need to rewatch Yu Yu Hakusho's Dark Tournament arc.
Still, that's more damage than I'd like, but callous as it is to say 30 CMA are worth it and we'll...probably recover in time for the war proper. We'll see. (Will the replenishment be accelerated if we complete Encourage Development?)
A Dragon King child's skull, or a human's?
Also, does crafting a Globe benefit from the Ideal Workshop bonus, or will we need to toss some 15 AP or so towards the project to see one completed? Also, I don't see any indication that Bribing Spirits kicked in on the rolls here. Not sure if they're inapplicable due to how complex the project is, if Star Jaunter forgot or if they're there but not listed.
(Excited about Hand of the Great Maker btw, that's some top tier stuff)
"You know the phrase 'struck as though by the fist of an angry god'? We know many wrathful deities, and while their fury is indeed potent, we have determined we need something yet more potent still." Titanic sutra batteries, the mind boggles.
Love the sutra batteries, they just seem so appropriate for the setting and for the Dragon Kings. "We prayed real hard that some god would smite you. We also threw several tons of enchanted gold at you to help the process along." Amazing.
Guys, I did the math and...we might be able to produce one of these per turn so long as exotic stockpiles hold out and we're willing to throw dice at the problem. The biggest question in my mind is whether we can keep Factory Cathedrals on the job, and unless someone completes Soulsteel Trade with an omake I don't think the first turn will be an issue (we can't save the Talismans without soulsteel, ergo it's not worth the attempt to make them until we have the right stuff), and this seems like incentive to produce several more atelier and Factory Cathedrals.
I'm not sure if this is a clerical error in our favor, but I think the DC's supposed to be 35 and requires 15 successes to complete. Am I wrong here? Because if not I am absolutely delighted to double down on this.
More birds, excellent. This pleases Ryzla. Our ability to deploy ded-killy spess scaly boyz IN SPESS! becomes ever more robust.
This is important, not just for the Eldar's force projection or our metaphorical AP bank account, but Ulthwe is now going to see our territorial expansion to be in their interests (provided it is accompanied by appropriate manse construction that helps them maintain their willpower-bolstering cores. I see this effecting Leeyata ('more conquests, yay!'), CCI ('more manses and generally making life difficult for the Wyld, yay!') and possibly we have another trade item; geomantic instruction (if we want to push that; I imagine the Eldar would prefer to know how to do so in case of emergency but let us assume most of the exposure and risk; sharing a few baubles to keep Eldar lives safe instead of risking military action unnecessarily is a sucker's bet in any Farseer's eyes)
Now I'm going to have to sit down and calculate what sort of numbers we're going to need for this recharge effort.
Navigators are a project that I'd love to just chip away at for another few decades, getting the most out of our Technomorphs. Unfortunately we're kind of slightly a little bit in a hurry, especially if we want to swap out one of the artifacts Abbadon wants to get ahold of. Navigators are one possible way to make sure they arrive in time, and another is the Void Abacus. Both together would be ideal, but completing either project is asking for a lot of dice being thrown at them (~20 dice for the Navigators, 9 or so for the Abacus research) and that's not going to guarantee that we're able to get a prototype aboard the ship and even if it does, it gives us little wiggle room for anything else. Still, it's possible it could work.
Quite helpful. Do we know what kind of administrative bonus the Abundant Feast Obscures Raging Lioness Before Mount Pelion is expected to give on colonization actions? Also, can elemental dice support colonization of Tocha or are helpful elementals reluctant to sit tight in a transport for six weeks while they go from summoning chambers to work site?
The timing doesn't work, but I like the idea of rocking up to the Gothic War with the literal ghost of Lord Solar Macharius to command the Imperial defense.
Does her bonus apply to admirals, or just generals?
Ded-killy, if nothing else I want to get him as a hero unit for the war.
Could you explain how you're treating skilled labor and resources differently? I get that you are, but I'm not sure I appreciate the space between.
What determines these limits? Is it just population, or do planets colonized or 'base' General AP play a role as well?
When it becomes relevant, I'd like to know more about these 'trade routes' and what Kaukauna is (when I search Google's telling me about some place in Wisconson, which will be interesting to have xenos travelling to Holy Terra).
What happens if demand outstrips supply?
- Willpower enhancing Elemental Cores (helps them draw deeper on psychic powers, letting one of their strengths get stronger)
- Holy keyword weapons (particularly helpful against one of their greatest strategic foes)
- Immaculate Seed stockpiles (addresses one of their most crippling weaknesses; casualties they cannot afford)
@StarJaunter Would they be receptive to other equipment with the Holy keyword if we could provide it? Or do they have other equipment/materiel deficiencies they'd love to be able to correct but can't quite for one reason or another? The only thing that really comes to mind is maybe making a variant of Brass Legionnaires for them to replace Wraithguards in their order of battle. I'm thinking something approximately as potent but without the icky feeling of committing necromancy. I doubt StarJaunter'd go for it, but unlike the Dragon Kings the Eldar as a whole seem to have few compunctions against using constructs to fight their battles for them if it means saving valuable Eldar lives. A thought at least.
IIRC Iyanden should be pre-Tyranid right now, and they were one of the leading anti-Chaos Craftworlds (which was a blindspot because they spent all their time looking for "How to vs Chaos" and not enough "What if bugs come?"), so in addition to the first and third point being true for...pretty much any Craftworld, they're likely especially interested in the second point. I'm hopeful that after the Gothic War Ulthwe is willing to give them our business card, it seems like we can really help each other out here.
(On an only tangentially related note, I want to gradually start bringing trade materials online. We're told that pretty much every trade deal will include spending Atelier manse uses and stuff from our plantations, but if we had Jach'Uchil settled by the time Lockhart comes back we should be able to offer him gems, good quality iron and promethium as well. Not bad for a bunch of savage xenos that don't even have proper power generation)
Speaking of, nalwood was apparently some pretty good stuff. In addition to providing food and a luxury hardwood (though admittedly it's probably not going to be 'planetary governors use this on their desks to show off wealth' for some time yet), it's also a source of psychoactive materials good enough for Astartes Librarians (and thus likely a good source of materials for artificers) and, given their migratory habits, possibly provide some defensive advantages to Raptok playing "Hide and seek and murder" with invaders. May result in Scottish ninja dinosaurs though.
I am now imagining Tokat's Funniest Home Videos with a brutal amount of slapstick and a rousing round of 'stop hitting yourself' played with an Aspiring Champion.
I would suggest epic levels of diplomacy here. Fortunately we have access to both "Super Diplomat Goddess" Nysela and (with a tiny amount of investment in R&D) Alchemical socialites, so I'm not actually going "lol, if wishes were horses" here. It's...possible. Just not probable outside nontrivial investment of resources.
Yeeaaaah. Anybody not want to send some folks into the Wyld to see what that was all about? Because I checked the time each chime went off and put them on a map and they spelled out 'sus'. I'm guessing it's basically the Chaos version of an inquisitive sonar ping. Did the Aurichim and Argentim have anything to report about it?
"The next person to even hum 'Eye of the Tiger' gets to help me demonstrate Heaven Thunder Hammer."
-Little Beam, presumably.
Glad to see that done, and I'm guessing that the artifact weapons made are for his personal use but are not part of his Panoply?
Note to self; the accumulated annoyance at chronal elasticity demonstrated here is research fodder for the temporal studies research option.
On a more serious note, I'm giving consideration to doing a lot of infusions in these arks so the temple-ship can drop coronal ejections onto deserving laps with every battle. I don't know if this is reasonable, and it's probably not even smart, but I find myself...tempted.
Whooboy. That's a lot.
So, my thought is that we do everything we can to make at least one infiltration ship. I want six by the time things kick off (one for each subsector in the Gothic Sector), and while this isn't ideal we got to war with the army we'll have ready in time. So, we make the ship, launch the ship, and pray we get there in time. Maybe mention this to the Eldar to help us with that.
I'm not sure how we're going to hide either artifact. A part of me is saying 'take it home and hide it in a temple' but that just seems like the opposite of a good idea. Hand it off to either the Imperium or the Eldar in a game of hot potato? Not sure the Dragon Kings would be keen on passing the buck like that though. I'm not keen on every ship Abbadon can bring to bear showing up in Tokat orbit, but I'm not keen on letting either of the other Order factions take the hit either. This is going to require some thought.
I do think that we're going to want to try to take the *** of ****t from Abbadon as it's more important to his plans in general and I was already planning to board the Planetkiller (note the second Ark, sure would be a shame if a pillar of holy golden fire were to happen to it) so that's not so much a new risk as mission creep. More glory to the Unconquered Sun though!
Completing this project would have been great, but it's not crucial. I'll probably pivot to trying to get Skyweavers set up. Are the Sparks sufficiently advanced that they can assist in training new pilots, or are they still a bit short?
I count four 'dice' going in but only three groups coming out. Does one of the paths not qualify, or is this more of a 'paths are not quite as effective as a proper die'?
Muy excellente. Her maiden voyage I intend to be settling Tocha. With three stockpiles and some work already done, I'm hopeful that it won't be long before Tocha becomes a productive planet for the Realm. (I still love the name of the ship).
Also, it amuses me how it's likely to be mistaken for an Orc Rok. The Dragon Kings will be offended at the comparison (can't you see the carefully wrought artifice in her every line?) while everyone else is like "Dude, it's an asteroid that got turned into a ship. Paint it red and have a few dead grots floating around and no ork would question it". This is how you can tell some races are uncouth barbarians.
Decent progress, honest progress. We're one step closer to being able to field ships in the Ophelis sector.
I'm keen to retrain for Elite status and to make that standard for Naval Phalanx groups. I intend to make a lot of use of ship boarding tactics as part of our naval paradigm, and especially with the news that a Leeyata Templeship could be a strong cruiser-weight boarding platform (note to self; see if we can get teleporters squeezed in there somehow) leveraging our advantages in personal combat and environmental effects to offset one of our weaknesses (lack of ships in our fleet), and 'ded-killy spess scaly boyz' fits pretty well in that paradigm.
I'm just imagining the various shonen anime tournament arcs where ridiculously powerful attacks get thrown around and are miraculously stopped by a two foot concrete barrier. I'm guessing that didn't happen here. And now I need to rewatch Yu Yu Hakusho's Dark Tournament arc.
Still, that's more damage than I'd like, but callous as it is to say 30 CMA are worth it and we'll...probably recover in time for the war proper. We'll see. (Will the replenishment be accelerated if we complete Encourage Development?)
A Dragon King child's skull, or a human's?
Also, does crafting a Globe benefit from the Ideal Workshop bonus, or will we need to toss some 15 AP or so towards the project to see one completed? Also, I don't see any indication that Bribing Spirits kicked in on the rolls here. Not sure if they're inapplicable due to how complex the project is, if Star Jaunter forgot or if they're there but not listed.
(Excited about Hand of the Great Maker btw, that's some top tier stuff)
"You know the phrase 'struck as though by the fist of an angry god'? We know many wrathful deities, and while their fury is indeed potent, we have determined we need something yet more potent still." Titanic sutra batteries, the mind boggles.
Love the sutra batteries, they just seem so appropriate for the setting and for the Dragon Kings. "We prayed real hard that some god would smite you. We also threw several tons of enchanted gold at you to help the process along." Amazing.
Guys, I did the math and...we might be able to produce one of these per turn so long as exotic stockpiles hold out and we're willing to throw dice at the problem. The biggest question in my mind is whether we can keep Factory Cathedrals on the job, and unless someone completes Soulsteel Trade with an omake I don't think the first turn will be an issue (we can't save the Talismans without soulsteel, ergo it's not worth the attempt to make them until we have the right stuff), and this seems like incentive to produce several more atelier and Factory Cathedrals.
I'm not sure if this is a clerical error in our favor, but I think the DC's supposed to be 35 and requires 15 successes to complete. Am I wrong here? Because if not I am absolutely delighted to double down on this.
More birds, excellent. This pleases Ryzla. Our ability to deploy ded-killy spess scaly boyz IN SPESS! becomes ever more robust.
This is important, not just for the Eldar's force projection or our metaphorical AP bank account, but Ulthwe is now going to see our territorial expansion to be in their interests (provided it is accompanied by appropriate manse construction that helps them maintain their willpower-bolstering cores. I see this effecting Leeyata ('more conquests, yay!'), CCI ('more manses and generally making life difficult for the Wyld, yay!') and possibly we have another trade item; geomantic instruction (if we want to push that; I imagine the Eldar would prefer to know how to do so in case of emergency but let us assume most of the exposure and risk; sharing a few baubles to keep Eldar lives safe instead of risking military action unnecessarily is a sucker's bet in any Farseer's eyes)
Now I'm going to have to sit down and calculate what sort of numbers we're going to need for this recharge effort.
Navigators are a project that I'd love to just chip away at for another few decades, getting the most out of our Technomorphs. Unfortunately we're kind of slightly a little bit in a hurry, especially if we want to swap out one of the artifacts Abbadon wants to get ahold of. Navigators are one possible way to make sure they arrive in time, and another is the Void Abacus. Both together would be ideal, but completing either project is asking for a lot of dice being thrown at them (~20 dice for the Navigators, 9 or so for the Abacus research) and that's not going to guarantee that we're able to get a prototype aboard the ship and even if it does, it gives us little wiggle room for anything else. Still, it's possible it could work.
Quite helpful. Do we know what kind of administrative bonus the Abundant Feast Obscures Raging Lioness Before Mount Pelion is expected to give on colonization actions? Also, can elemental dice support colonization of Tocha or are helpful elementals reluctant to sit tight in a transport for six weeks while they go from summoning chambers to work site?
The timing doesn't work, but I like the idea of rocking up to the Gothic War with the literal ghost of Lord Solar Macharius to command the Imperial defense.
Does her bonus apply to admirals, or just generals?
Ded-killy, if nothing else I want to get him as a hero unit for the war.
Could you explain how you're treating skilled labor and resources differently? I get that you are, but I'm not sure I appreciate the space between.
What determines these limits? Is it just population, or do planets colonized or 'base' General AP play a role as well?
When it becomes relevant, I'd like to know more about these 'trade routes' and what Kaukauna is (when I search Google's telling me about some place in Wisconson, which will be interesting to have xenos travelling to Holy Terra).
What happens if demand outstrips supply?
OTL one of the first things hard hit is a planet that was basically the sectors Inquisition Headquarters. You do not know the details but understand enough of the gist to get idea of what the consequences will be.
To say nothing of stealing a giant pile of gold from a race of Dragons.
They will be wary of advanced automata not powered by their own dead.
Basically, just a way of announcing that chaos is vaguely aware of you. I intended to come up with an ominous return saying when mortal astrology was used but everything ended up more ominous or urgent seeming than I intended.
This is less new danger and more training wheels you did not know were there have been removed.
Gods are weird. Not immediately but if he used them long enough to do enough awesome deeds that it becomes part of his legend they would become his panoply.
I plan on unlocking step 5 of the alt paths on turn 50.
Partially this but mostly I do not think Ashlord is applicable enough to add much.
Silly humie..,. Youz got to add green paint to make sumting Orky.
Less replenishment and more increasing the base. More number is more numbers though right?
Technically human.
You do get the tripling effect if that is what you are asking.
Double checks... If there is anything in that mess that would actually have benefitted I totally missed it but I did not see it on a double check either. No sense in writing a +5 if it isn't going to make the numbers work right?
Next tier of reality engineering needs high level custom "designed" components forged with wyld-shaping and tier after that needs Wyld shaping performed as maintenance. This was my solution to "You are not solars" That is why its a high end level 5 artifact instead of a level 3, bypassing the "you are not solars" limit.
Sacrificing valuable baubles and craftsmenship is standard for worship right. From a Dragon Kings perspective what is hurting their foes is their gods wrath not the engraved golden bullet. A most the round is some sort of divine wrath targeting beacon to direct the smite of their Lord.
Objectively their foes are getting hurt way more than being shot by a golden bullet should so its hard to argue they are wrong.
So what can the Eldar trade (on a regular basis that is) that is not AP. Only thing I could think of is Divination support.
Tier 6, Ie max discount is 36 AP off of 72 total.
Between yasal crystal storage and summoning them on site they can. I might raise the DC by 5 if their support is explicit being done on the totally uncolonized yet planet but don't be surprised if I forget to do taht.
Conquerers obviously.
Resources: Anything from raw ore, refined metals to low end exotic components, food, etc. This is things that Dragon Kings go out and get somehow in order to continue doing their actual jobs. Getting the material supplied some other way, through efficient mining expeditions or trade just saves them time and energy which is represented as the bonus AP. The limit is the population limit at which point you simply do not have the people to exploit further resource availability.
Skilled Labor and Services: These are things that from a Dragon King perspective take the skilled labor of a Dragon King to produce. Alchemical Reagents, mid tier exotic components, widgets, doo-dads and gizmos a plenty. Not food but hunting safari. Not a mine but administrators of a mining effort that see the ore refined AND distributed to the places that need it timely and reliably. Basically these are jobs Dragon kings can and expect to do. Due to deals or special circumstances sometimes the realm can source that labor (or the effects of that labor) from non-Dragon King sources like trade with aliens, servant races, or Super AI administrators. Dragon Kings can be reassigned to other jobs where their talents better serve the realm. Between the work having to be vetted by Dragon Kings at some level and the fact that Dragon Kings were probably pretty good at the job to begin with the opportunity for deals significant enough to add AP is not easy to find. Another downside is that at least some of the Dragon Kings doing that job probably wanted it and will be unhappy to be reassigned. Thus keep growth of exploitation to either slow growth with a lot of time for the unhappy to find new careers or short bursts related to emergencies. If needed you can go right up to the max just expect grumbly dragons complaining about their jobs being stolen.
Population sourced General AP only. IE current Dragon King population divided by 10 million.
I went rafting and saw the sign and though it a cool name. They are the mysterious aliens over in the next subsector that fight orks sometimes.
shortages. What that means depends on the item short and whats going on.
You know I hate ti say this, but just ow hard to we want to stop Abbadon? I mean we clearly do not want to have Chaos win... but as Xenos we do not much like the IoM for obvious reasons. The ideal situation would be for the Imperium to fall further into decay in a more controlled manner that allows us to swoop in and claim vast swaths of it as tributaries
Knowledge. They have tons of knowledge about the freaky Wyld of this strange new place we are in.
That is something we do not want as it would put us in direct conflict with the IoM. Seeing as its mythical Emperor qualifies as ether some sort of super solar or this realities version of the UCS, I don't think we want to be in conflict with that. Better to start as an annoying benefit (the more beneficial the better) than an irritating roach...
Okay I wish I had figured out a better metaphor there.😅
Plus knowledge of loads of other things including but not limited to potential locations of interesting/useful relics or objects, history of various things in the IoM and potential arranged meetings with advantages persons.