May The Invisible Hand Be With You - (Star Wars CK2-Style Quest)

[Publicola]

And responses:

Ahsoka: I'm going to be nice and ask you "are you really sure you want to do that?" It's no exaggeration to say that she's one of the major forces holding the 501st together at this point...

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How so? The 501st is a GAR military unit, serving under Yularen with Jedi command from Anakin (absent for the moment, though presumably returning) and Ahsoka. Is it possible to recruit Ahsoka -- 'read her in' on the details that the Abyss Council is privy to -- without causing/forcing her to withdraw from the 501st? We already have the 501st as an 'asset', so she can continue serving with them, without worrying about the inhibitor chips and without worry that she may be surrounded by enemies. She wouldn't be as free to pursue any project that catches her eye, but we could still use her help for various Martial and Intrigue tasks.

Hutt Space: ...Again. Are you really sure you want to do that?

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We're getting under-the-table support from all kinds of systems, to keep it away from Palpatine's attention. My proposal is basically the same here. The Hutts are already 'neutral', so it wouldn't be too different to integrate them into Neutral Space.

Auto-Auto-Success Intrigue Actions: That does seem fair, honestly. Legit.

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Sweet.

Exar Kun: I'll say it again, you do not know he exists yet.

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Sorry about that; that item was copy-pasted from last turn's megalist, and I forgot to delete it.

MP Phrik: Not gonna be a thing, The problem is the sheer lack of material in the galaxy, much like stygium.

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Err... I posted this last turn:

Going by the results, it looks like industrial applications will need to wait for a follow-up action? I mean, phrik is rare and really expensive, but it's not so vanishingly rare that you can't make bigger items out of it. And apparently (per the wiki):

Phrik, while in its smelting stage, was highly malleable, and could be combined with a number of other ores, alloys, and compounds to imbue the phrik's properties with others.

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So it should be possible to exploit this to expand the supply of phrik-like metals available to us. @random_npc and I covered phrik in the (canon) Anomalous Materials Report here:

ITEM 3: PHRIK

'Phrik' is perhaps the most promising type of Anomalous Material currently under study at this time. There is evidence that phrik (or an alloy quite like it) was used as armor and starship plating by the Fenelar race as early as four millennia ago, but Fenel was conquered by the Mandalorian Crusaders, their species driven to extinction and their technology faded to obscurity. The rediscovery of the phrik alloy occurred last year, in an isolated Weapons Research Facility run by the CIS out of the Fest system, lying between Neutral and Muun Space. Unfortunately for them, the facility's transmissions were intercepted by Kal Skirata's Omega Squad, who raided the base and seized the research and AM. Skirata's men have been sitting on it ever since, but now that we're cooperating, they've provided samples for us to examine.

Phrik is an artificial alloy with two main components. The first is phrikite, the rare ore found only on Anteevy and on the 'blood moon 'of Gromas XVI -- both in the northwest Mid Rim (in the Esuain and Perkell sectors respectively), both on the very border of Neutral Space. The second component is tydirium, another rare ore found in primarily on Fest -- which explains why the CIS research station was based there. In its pure form, the phrik alloy is astonishingly light and virtually indestructible, requiring a full order of magnitude more energy to damage or deform than even beskar. More notably, its damage-resistance seems to apply to all forms of energy equally -- kinetic, thermal, electromagnetic.

Most intriguing, however, is the alloy's unbelievable malleability: it can be alloyed with almost any other substance, and has demonstrated a tendency to assimilate properties of materials it is mixed with. One notable instance came during early experimentation, which a small sample of phrik alloy was melted and absorbed into samples of local bedrock. Preliminary scans showed no indication of the alloy, but when we tried to drill through the bedrock sample, our laboratory's high-performance drill assembly literally shattered after 1.6 seconds of attempted penetration. Potential applications of this AM beggar belief, and should enable some frankly ludicrous engineering projects.

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I don't mind if the price-tag is really high, but I'd like to do some of the crazy sci-fi research we introduced in that report.

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TL,DR version: phrik can be alloyed with all kinds of other metals, losing the insane resilience of pure phrik, but retaining enough of its durability to enable all kinds of crazy projects. Phrik armor is nice, but I'd love to turn our Research heroes onto industrial applications.

Bosph and Tarasin are locked out due to not being Near-Human. And uh...where did you get "Bfasshi" from because I couldn't find anything on them.

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Far enough. The last one was misspelled -- it should be 'Bpfasshi' -- and the wiki entry seems to be altered from when I wrote up the galaxy survey (it originally indicated the Dark Jedi built an academy on the planet because the natives were attuned to the dark side and easy to recruit).

Materials Research: ...I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you forgot that Galen would never let his work be used for military purposes given the choice. Anything he researches is going to have purely civilian applications, or at least would be intended for civilian applications.

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Also @Publicola Galen Esro on military research? Pacifism is his thing, besides we have enough crystal sources to just tell him to figure out what you can about those.

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As above: there are plenty of non-military applications for our Materials Research. Hiridiu for instance is capable of massively boosting any communication signal in its vicinity. Studying and replicating the effect should enable all kinds of crazy projects, such as a galaxy-spanning HoloNet alternative that doesn't require holonet nodes in each system.... Hibridium does weird things with dimensional fields -- the military application is for perfect invisibility/intangibility, but there are plenty of non-military uses as well. Same with cortosis -- there was an entire omake (a canon one) describing some of the research avenues based on defensive uses (anti-lightsaber 'chaff') or industrial uses (heat sinks).

 

[Doomed Wombat]

Why would it always backfire? By Star Wars logic we are currently doing far more egregious things on he 'always backfire' front, like using and teaching the Dark Side.

Hell it's even thematic for Darth Traya: The Galaxy needs its betrayers now more than ever.

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Because this kinda karma always comes back around, it doesn't matter how long it takes and it doesn't matter how weirdly it does it it always does because Galen's a good man (I'm only being kinda joking here.)

We've avoided it by being a back stabbing **** who mostly back stabs other asshats.

As for teaching the darkside, eh. This universe seems to follow moderation theory.

As for Darth Traya it's also thematic for us to not do that, after all Traya is free to forge her own path.

 

[DragonParadox]

Because this kinda karma always comes back around, it doesn't matter how long it takes and it doesn't matter how weirdly it does it it always does because Galen's a good man (I'm only being kinda joking here.)

We've avoided it by being a back stabbing **** who mostly back stabs other asshats.

As for teaching the darkside, eh. This universe seems to follow moderation theory.

As for Darth Traya it's also thematic for us to not do that, after all Traya is free to forge her own path.

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I'm pretty sure cold blooded murder for profit (and some of those people were doubtless innocents) on an organizational scale is worse then betraying one man's trust.

 

[Dr. Snark]

I think the counterargument would boil down to "I've seen enough holomovies to know that you never underestimate the ability of a pissed-off scientist or engineer to completely screw you over." That and precedence: Cheriss has a habit of consistently going over-budget and is probably the physical embodiment of feature creep but she's still treated so well because she gets shit done.

Besides, once again this falls under "This really isn't that big of a problem," largely because of Cheriss. You've got another engineer fully willing to work with weapons, so if Galen wants to stick with civilian applications it's really not the end of the world.

 

[spiritualatheist]

@Publicola I suggest getting a base on Ailon, which joined us just last turn. Closer relations with the billion-strong elite mercenary army that just joined up is probably a good idea.

I also suggest a CNS action to integrate them into the guardians, or maybe a Jango action? They respect strength and are all ''survival of the fittest" so Mandalore should impress them.

For the Foundry, only one group per production line is tiny for a superweapon. Maybe have it produce 10/turn with nine behind BRB protocols? That way we still benefit materially while also not using the superweapon to solve all our problems.

I would also suggest the survival room as a base upgrade to increase troop improvement rates.

More suggestions later, and thanks for compiling all this!

 

[Doomed Wombat]

I'm pretty sure cold blooded murder for profit (and some of those people were doubtless innocents) on an organizational scale is worse then betraying one man's trust.

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And we've gone after countless slavers, drug dealers and other bastards to balance out the karma, while also not going after the innocents for a buck. + We prefer to bribe and black mail people into submission rather than resorting to murder

Ciaran isn't a good person I think she herself would agree, but for pragmatic or moral reasons she's not a dick either.

 

[DragonParadox]

I think the counterargument would boil down to "I've seen enough holomovies to know that you never underestimate the ability of a pissed-off scientist or engineer to completely screw you over." That and precedence: Cheriss has a habit of going over-budget and is probably the physical embodiment of feature creep but she's still treated so well because she gets shit done.

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Well the intention here is not to mistreat him, it's to deceive the man that is actively bad at detecting deception. Why would we be so much more adverse at risk taking in this one narrow matter than so many others in which we have risked quite a lot?

Sorry for insisting on this but it just feels like people are not thinking though the moral or pragmatical aspects of the situation and just following tropes blindly.

 

[JAGwin]

[] Cularin: it has all the things. Force nexus, archaeological sites, local Jedi enclave, local Force-sensitive native species, asteroid belt with Force crystals, asteroid belt with 'anomalous material' metals, and a lot more.

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What it no longer includes: Sith Alchemy mumbo-jumbo that would allow us to go to the future and steal an X-Wing.

 

[spiritualatheist]

Well the intention here is not to mistreat him, it's to deceive the man that is actively bad at detecting deception. Why would we be so much more adverse at risk taking in this one narrow matter than so many others in which we have risked quite a lot?

Sorry for insisting on this but it just feels like people are not thinking though the moral of pragmatical aspects of the situation and just following tropes blindly.

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Don't talk shit about may trope waifu!

But more seriously, we don't actually need to lie to him right now, and showing him how trustworthy we are will make it easier to do so later, after he more fully trusts our motives. I don't want to take deception off the table, but in this case we don't need it.

 

[Doomed Wombat]

Sorry for insisting on this but it just feels like people are not thinking though the moral of pragmatical aspects of the situation and just following tropes blindly.

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What about this is morally pragmatic?

What weaponry can we squeeze out of him that can surpass what other people are willing to do for us when we can get just as much milage out of him doing the job we want, which nets us additional profit which we can in turn give to the people who make weapons without needing to be tricked into it.

To me it kinda feels like you just want to do the "grey moral pragmatism" rather than do what makes sense, namely realise that we have plenty of people making weapons already, this guy works for us on the condition we don't use his stuff to make weapons so instead lets respect his wishes and use his stuff to instead make a **** ton of money.

Why unnecessarily complicate things, its like throwing a wrench into a perfectly usable machine, it may make it better, but its significantly more likely to just jam something up...then explode.

+ You seem to be underestimating how long it'd take for him to realise that we'd be using his stuff for military purposes. It only took him 2 years in canon and while Krenick was an idiot I'd only need to bump that up to 4ish as he's kinda suspicious of us...with good reason.

 

[DragonParadox]

Don't talk shit about may trope waifu!

But more seriously, we don't actually need to lie to him right now, and showing him how trustworthy we are will make it easier to do so later, after he more fully trusts our motives. I don't want to take deception off the table, but in this case we don't need it.

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Now this I can get behind.

 

[newwriter]

Question for all
Is it possible for us to establish hidden bases throughout the Galaxy for the anti-Palpatine resistance in case the kill Palpatine plan fails?

Also does anyone have a link to the omake where after Palpatine takeovers the galaxy, Ciaran destroys the bureaucracy thus leaving Palpatine unable to actually rule the galaxy?

 

[Void Stalker]

As above: there are plenty of non-military applications for our Materials Research. Hiridiu for instance is capable of massively boosting any communication signal in its vicinity. Studying and replicating the effect should enable all kinds of crazy projects, such as a galaxy-spanning HoloNet alternative that doesn't require holonet nodes in each system.... Hibridium does weird things with dimensional fields -- the military application is for perfect invisibility/intangibility, but there are plenty of non-military uses as well. Same with cortosis -- there was an entire omake (a canon one) describing some of the research avenues based on defensive uses (anti-lightsaber 'chaff') or industrial uses (heat sinks).

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You pointed out military in your initial write in, and this is just the thing that caused problems the first time someone misled Erso on what his research would be used for at which point he figure out and sabotaged the project. We have a ton of research into just crystals alone we can throw him at and honestly as the best crystal scientist in the galaxy we should use him there. Or if you want a research project then point him at the medical research we have.

Now Hiridiu is a material we could look into since it seems to be a communications material but as mentioned your earlier write in specified military applications and that just is a disaster waiting to happen. Consider this, we tick of Erso, who tells Fry who then joins him in leaving. That could end up very badly for us and really is Darra 2.0. Galen and Fry and probably Mungo really are not suited to everything we do, we just need to keep them on actions appropriate to their natures that won't cross any lines for them.

 

[Doomed Wombat]

Also does anyone have a link to the omake where after Palpatine takeovers the galaxy, Ciaran destroys the bureaucracy thus leaving Palpatine unable to actually rule the galaxy?

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No, but that is possibly one of the better ways to hobble a prospective autocrat.

 

[Publicola]

@Publicola I suggest getting a base on Ailon, which joined us just last turn. Closer relations with the billion-strong elite mercenary army that just joined up is probably a good idea.

I also suggest a CNS action to integrate them into the guardians, or maybe a Jango action? They respect strength and are all ''survival of the fittest" so Mandalore should impress them.

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I don't think a base purchase would work -- there really is nothing else to do on the planet -- but I've added it as a potential Martial action and a Hero action for Jango.

For the Foundry, only one group per production line is tiny for a superweapon. Maybe have it produce 10/turn with nine behind BRB protocols? That way we still benefit materially while also not using the superweapon to solve all our problems.

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I copy-pasted the droid/vehicle text from elsewhere, so @Dr. Snark can adjust the final numbers for how many we produce each turn. I'd be inclined to pick 6 squads per turn for the basic droid chassis, 4 per turn for highly advanced chassis, 2 per turn for vehicles, and 1 per turn for starships; but that's just spitballing at this point.

I would also suggest the survival room as a base upgrade to increase troop improvement rates.

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Where would this base upgrade be located? On the Foundry (if so, that would remove an entire desk from use)? Or some other planet? (Kalee seems the most plausible, but let me know your thoughts).

[] Materials Research: Assign Galen to analyze specific 'anomalous materials' for use in military and potential industrial applications (suboptions include any of the crystals listed under 'Learning').

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Fixed.

[] Materials Research: Assign Galen to analyze specific 'anomalous materials' for use in military and potential industrial applications (suboptions include any of the crystals listed under 'Learning').

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Seriously, though, you don't need to persuade me that Galen + military = bad. I've been harping on the "Materials Research should be fundamentally about growing our industry" line for several turns now, so my hope is that by assigning Galen to such projects, we can fast-forward past the military uses (which are typically 'wear it as armor') and beeline for industrial applications ("unlimited power" isn't for Sith Lords anymore; it's what our engineers will be saying to each other!)

 

[JAGwin]

"unlimited power" isn't for Sith Lords anymore; it's what our engineers will be saying to each other!

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Cherisss: "POWAH!!! UUUUNNNNLIMITEEED POWAAAAHHH!!!"

Galvin: "What's gotten into her?"

Ciaran: "For once, I don't want to know."

 

[Crustle]

Look, all I'm saying is that Ciaran has effectively stolen the X-Wing design from the future.

I'm not saying it's impossible to top that, but damn that's a hurdle to get over.

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We could steal the Coruscant Senate Building. I mean that sounds like something that'd be up Carmen Sandiego's alley, so naturally we'd be able to do it too.

 

[UbeOne]

Except the Galen option as written includes military applications...

 

[spiritualatheist]

Question for all
Is it possible for us to establish hidden bases throughout the Galaxy for the anti-Palpatine resistance in case the kill Palpatine plan fails?

Also does anyone have a link to the omake where after Palpatine takeovers the galaxy, Ciaran destroys the bureaucracy thus leaving Palpatine unable to actually rule the galaxy?

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Now this I can get behind.

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What were you expecting? Altruism?

All aboard the enlightened self inerest train!

Question for all
Is it possible for us to establish hidden bases throughout the Galaxy for the anti-Palpatine resistance in case the kill Palpatine plan fails?

Also does anyone have a link to the omake where after Palpatine takeovers the galaxy, Ciaran destroys the bureaucracy thus leaving Palpatine unable to actually rule the galaxy?

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That would probably end up being a series of base upgrades and/or using the Foundry to create vast stocks of materiel to arm the population of the CNS with. But frankly, at that point we will just use the BRB.

@Publicola, another action idea: purchase large numbers of freighters, Lucrehulks, transports etc. And use them for the Silver Cross while also quietly preparing to refit them for military service. Heck, recruit starfighter wings for them to fend off pirates! Palpatine is going to have to attack the CNS if he wants to keep this war going eventually, and I want us to have a true fleet to oppose him with. We can't get away with purpose-built military ships because that would give him an excuse to attack, but who can complain about humanitarian vessels?

 

[Karugus]

We're getting under-the-table support from all kinds of systems, to keep it away from Palpatine's attention. My proposal is basically the same here. The Hutts are already 'neutral', so it wouldn't be too different to integrate them into Neutral Space.

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No. It isn't. The Hutts aren't just neutral- they're A foreign government that's not intervening in a civil war, any inkling of Hutt involvement in the CNS will absolutely tarnish our legitimacy and is hilariously easy to spin doctor.

We been constantly warned that Palpatine is going to retaliate, in what world is giving him the ammunition of the idyllic neutrality movement being in bed with the greatest slavers and criminal cartels in the galaxy? How the fuck are we going to win hearts and minds if the Hutts are at all seem to be involved? We do it all under the table for a reason.

 

[Publicola]

Except the Galen option as written includes military applications...

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I changed the original so the 'military' part had a strikethrough. Not sure why the quote stripped the strikethrough, but it's fixed now.

[] Under The Knife (Genemods)
-[] Kel Dor: weather control and light-side Force lightning (Lore, Learning)

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@Dr. Snark: I misspelled this as "Kel Door" originally. This is the correct spelling.

[] Archaeological Teams: as the Chu'unthor traverses the galaxy, serving as our mobile embassy to other Force sects, we should include archaeological teams to go exploring whatever planet or system it travels to. (Reward: +1 archaeology roll)

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Also, if you get this in time, I also added this (archaeology teams) as a Chu'unthor base upgrade.

We been constantly warned that Palpatine is going to retaliate, in what world is giving him the ammunition of the idyllic neutrality movement being in bed with the greatest slavers and criminal cartels in the galaxy? How the fuck are we going to win hearts and minds if the Hutts are at all seem to be involved? We do it all under the table for a reason.

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Makes sense. My big reason for listing it as a write-in was to fix some of the border-gore on the end-of-turn map (Hutt Space is a big green blog separating our CNS holdings in the galactic north from the galactic south). But you made a good point, so I take back the write-in.

@Publicola, another action idea: purchase large numbers of freighters, Lucrehulks, transports etc. And use them for the Silver Cross while also quietly preparing to refit them for military service. Heck, recruit starfighter wings for them to fend off pirates! Palpatine is going to have to attack the CNS if he wants to keep this war going eventually, and I want us to have a true fleet to oppose him with. We can't get away with purpose-built military ships because that would give him an excuse to attack, but who can complain about humanitarian vessels?

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Pretty sure this is the point of the 'Medical Battlefleet' Stewardship action...

 

[spiritualatheist]

I copy-pasted the droid/vehicle text from elsewhere, so @Dr. Snark can adjust the final numbers for how many we produce each turn. I'd be inclined to pick 6 squads per turn for the basic droid chassis, 4 per turn for highly advanced chassis, 2 per turn for vehicles, and 1 per turn for starships; but that's just spitballing at this point.

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Yeah, I ballpark it way higher: I tend to assume that the Foundry is on the same order as the Star Forge, which was able to out produce the entire republic. It is ultimately up to Dr. Snark, but I would say those numbers might not even be a tenth of the station's full capabilities.

Where would this base upgrade be located? On the Foundry (if so, that would remove an entire desk from use)? Or some other planet? (Kalee seems the most plausible, but let me know your thoughts).

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Just build another room on to the station. We are already (most likely) going to attach living quarters, build system defences etc., So one more room that takes a comparable pittance of droids shouldn't be that difficult.

Pretty sure this is the point of the 'Medical Battlefleet' Stewardship action...

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And here I thought I was so original...

If we are going to do it, we should probably combo with silver cross pr blitz to drown out any discrepancies in our purchases, I think.

 

[Varder]

Can someone explain what is so appealing about abusing our civilian engeneer-genious trust to gain military equipment, when we already have one with proper experience and motivation?

@Publicola can you explain what do you want Hutts in CNS for? They already favour Ciaran, if they make it official and known it'll cause all sorts of problems for no gain.

 

[spiritualatheist]

Can someone explain what is so appealing about abusing our civilian engeneer-genious trust to gain military equipment, when we already have one with proper experience and motivation?

@Publicola can you explain what do you want Hutts in CNS for? They already favour Ciaran, if they make it official and known it'll cause all sorts of problems for no gain.

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We aren't doing either of those anymore. The military equipment was an error, and Publicola has been convinced to drop the Hutt space idea.

 

[Publicola]

Yeah, I ballpark it way higher: I tend to assume that the Foundry is on the same order as the Star Forge, which was able to out produce the entire republic. It is ultimately up to Dr. Snark, but I would say those numbers might not even be a tenth of the station's full capabilities.

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You might be right in an objective sense, but a single production line that can produce 60 or even 10 droid squads per turn would be insane and pretty thoroughly game-breaking. My hope is, by lowering the bar for what the Foundry can produce, @Dr. Snark will be more willing to leave it in play without considering it a 'big red button'.

Just build another room on to the station. We are already (most likely) going to attach living quarters, build system defences etc., So one more room that takes a comparable pittance of droids shouldn't be that difficult.

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My impression is that the Foundry is a Rakatan construction, so no one really understands it or knows how to expand it. We can strap on a couple hyperdrive engines to move it from point A to point B if we really need to, but that's about it. OTOH, given that we have control of the Foundry system, we could probably build the 'Box' as a separate space station that's located nearby.

Can someone explain what is so appealing about abusing our civilian engeneer-genious trust to gain military equipment, when we already have one with proper experience and motivation?

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As the guy who made the suggestion: that isn't even remotely my intent with that write-in. My goal was to streamline our Learning actions, and beeline for industrial applications. I don't want Galen Erso to work on military applications directly, even if some of his research can be converted into that down the road (any sufficient energy source can be used as a weapon, after all).

@Publicola can you explain what do you want Hutts in CNS for? They already favour Ciaran, if they make it official and known it'll cause all sorts of problems for no gain.

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Asked and answered. Mostly: bordergore on the end-of-turn map. Also: set up the CNS as a quasi-autonomous polity by establishing diplomatic ties with other quasi-autonomous polities. There are reasons, but at this point (while fighting a master manipulator) I've been persuaded it's not worth the risk.