The drones activated, programs spinning off of the main AI in the ship and downloading themselves into various bodies. Reports indicated that communications were spotty at best so the drones would have to act as a swarm instead of spreading out to do their own things as would be normal. The first drone, a Scout chassis, sends out a ping towards the south. Safe. Materials.
Information needed, a fellow Scout replied. East; Information rich/Some Materials.
CUT! CUT! A Cutter pinged. EAST! CUT ROCK AND BIOLOGICALS!
...Cutters. The ship pinged with bemused fondness.
The debate continued for a little longer, but most drones agreed that the swarm should move East for the potential information on local lifeforms. Any world with life was inherently unpredictable; it is very difficult to predict local selection pressures. Also the Cutters really wanted to live up to their bodies.
The swarm set off for the forest, taking only a few cycles to arrive at the edges of the green. They figured they had perhaps half a period left for gathering various materials. However, they were barely beginning to mark out potential spots of interest when an emergency transmission came in from one of the Scouts.
AID REQUIRED! TRAPPED IN BIOLOGICAL NET!
The swarm leapt into action, Scouts converging on the location as the column of Cutter and Battery Drones ground forward, intent on rescuing and defending their comrade. As the Scouts arrived, it was quickly realized that things may be more complicated than realized. A large eight-legged biological was scurrying towards the trapped drone, with a small group of similar creatures following in its wake.
(Drone swarm vs Giant Spider Colony Guard Contingent)
The eight legged thing clicks in fury as it spots the approaching enemies, surging forward in a burst of insane speed. The Scout drones attempt an interception splashing the chittering horde with blasts of acid. While it does some damage on their unarmored bodies, and even outright kills on of the smaller creatures, the pain seems to drive the rest to greater fury. They slam into the drones with crushing force. Their poisons are ineffective, but even so one of the Cutters is torn apart by the rend of powerful legs and mandibles while another takes some scratches.
That casualty is their only victory though. The Battery drones launch a barrage of attacks, tearing apart all but one of the smaller creatures. Their weapons are a bit underpowered thanks to not having collected any energy yet though, and the largest creature takes only a single scorch on its abdomen, pushing it back and letting the single survivor of the smaller creatures get ahead. It doesn't end well for the creature though, as an enthusiastic Cutter catches it on its saws and rips it apart in a shower of fluid and chitin. The largest creature still attempts to drive forward and attack again, but is unceremoniously executed by a drone grabbing its legs and opening splitting it with its saws like a coconut.
Filled with sticky green goo.
Cleaning required at ship.
With the fight over, the drones regroup and assess. The Scout caught in the bio-net is freed without further issue. The drone that had been rendered nonfunctional is given some field expedient repairs and made workable, though it has lost much of its carrying and industrial capacity.
However, two opportunities have presented themselves. First, the creature's bodies make an excellent Information opportunity. Dissection and analysis would reveal much about local biology and capability. Second, it has been found that the bio-net was built on top of some form of low, flowering herb. The odd thing is that there appears to be some form of energy around the plants. It is impossible to tell if the plants are emitting the energy or attracting it, but it is curious nonetheless. There seem to be many of these plants around, and the ship feels that transplanting a few back to the ship may have benefits, though the exact type is unknown.
[] {Riot} Gather Materials: Strange Plants (Special: No Materials gained, Information once brought to ship, Potential other benefits) [Potential Combat]
[] {Group} Stay and gather for another Period
[] {Group} Return to Ship
AN:// Periods are what I'm calling turns. Essentially, you will have a chance every turn to return to the ship if you feel you have done enough. Also? You all got lucky. That was a Neutral event. Events can change how you interact with gathering and other things. Now, Events will happen even at high Information, but they will have a better chance pf being neutral or positive, an you will be able to choose whether you want to interact with them while not starting with a disadvantage-in this case missing one of your scout drones.
Finally, @Kkutlord I have decided that Cutters can repair each other. The repair ability can only move you up by a single damage tier though so be careful.
[X] {Riot} Gather Materials: Strange Plants (Special: No Materials gained, Information once brought to ship, Potential other benefits) [Potential Combat]
[X] {Group} Return to Ship
Stupid giant spiders! Let's grab some loot and get cleaned up, my saws are a bit gunked up!
For now I just put the numbers on the front page for the three types, then when one was destroyed I rolled for who got crushed. I'll clean it up a bit in future updates, but I wanted to get this one out.
[X] {Riot} Gather Information: Slain Creatures (High gain)
As a glorious scoutbot it is only proper to go for that juicy info!
[X] {Group} Stay and gather for another Period
We should make the most of the opportunity the great machine goddess has given us.
For now I just put the numbers on the front page for the three types, then when one was destroyed I rolled for who got crushed. I'll clean it up a bit in future updates, but I wanted to get this one out.
Maybe you should list which player is which kind of drone underneath? Also, are you going to threadmark the periods? I'd be interested in helping out if I can.
[X] {Riot} Gather Information (High gain?)
[X] {Group} Stay and gather for another Period
Well since we've taken the risk, let's risk another turn before we go back.
Maybe you should list which player is which kind of drone underneath? Also, are you going to threadmark the periods? I'd be interested in helping out if I can.
[X] {Riot} Gather Materials: Strange Plants (Special: No Materials gained, Information once brought to ship, Potential other benefits)
[X] {Group} Stay and gather for another period
[x] {Riot} Gather Materials (Medium gain?)
We chop, we chop and get more materials for more repairs!
[x] {Group} Stay and gather for another Period
We take the risk, we get the reward!
I'd rather be Battery, but we don't need pew pew right now.
[X] {Riot} Gather Materials: Strange Plants (Special: No Materials gained, Information once brought to ship, Potential other benefits)
[X] {Group} Return to Ship
We have a limited carrying capacity, so we don't know how much we'll be able to carry of the resources we gain. Better to finish up this period, and return to the ship to heal, estimate how much we gain from a location, and dissect the plants.
So, they're normal sized spiders but there's a giant colony of them? Okay.
Wait, if this is one of those situations where we're just really tiny then does that mean this forest of trees are all super-mega-humongous compared to us, or are we just exploring a bunch of shrubs or someone's broccoli garden?
Because if it's that last scenario then somebody's got a serious problem if their broccoli garden is swarming with spiders (Though I imagine the spiders would make short work of any insects wanting to eat the crops. Maybe it's an organic broccoli garden?).
{Scout Drone}
[X] {Riot} Gather Information (High gain?)
[X] {Group} Stay and gather for another Period
While things are basic enough currently that we don't really need to know who's scout and who's cutter and who's battery, I get the feeling we're going to have upgrades to differentiate ourselves later on. If so, it might be a good idea to start labeling ourselves now, so we can more easily keep track of how many of us there are, who's who, and what each of us is best at.
[X] {Riot} Gather Information: Slain Creatures (High gain)
[X] {Group} Stay and gather for another Period
So, they're normal sized spiders but there's a giant colony of them? Okay.
Wait, if this is one of those situations where we're just really tiny then does that mean this forest of trees are all super-mega-humongous compared to us, or are we just exploring a bunch of shrubs or someone's broccoli garden?
Because if it's that last scenario then somebody's got a serious problem if their broccoli garden is swarming with spiders (Though I imagine the spiders would make short work of any insects wanting to eat the crops. Maybe it's an organic broccoli garden?).
