Sterbelicht - One Sacrifice At A Time Against The Galaxy (40K)

[10ebbor10]

Eh, the rest of the point and the one below it makes it clear what is meant, Cerberus taking it as "go be xenophobic" looks like needing a very hostile reading that requires Cooky wanting to fuck us over.

And I don't believe Cooky would.

And no actionable intelligence? Isn't our that threat about cults pretending to be mutants?

But if you want a version without it, feel free. I'd vote for it.

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The problem is that what you're saying to them is "go be xenophobic".

You're telling them to fear and investigate "The Stranger". That's the literal textbook definition of xenophobia.

So, this is not a hostile reading, it's the plain reading?
Like, what do you actually expect Cereberus to do, if not be xenophobic and be anti-mutant? You've provided them zero other intelligence to go off on.
All they know is that their literal god, as well as the highest instutitions in the country, told them that foreigners and mutants are a threat.

Like, I'm genuinely curious what you expect them to do that's not Xenophobia?
They don't magically know about Genestealer cults, they might not even know genestealers are real.

 

[HeroCooky]

No Croaf hegemony?

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Added them now.

 

[BigBadBob7070]

Added them now.

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Croaf Hegemony - A sneering imperialist clad in heavy robes, holding a collared figure's chain in one hand as she holds a Navigator's Staff in the other, Croaf is both as hateful of others as she is jealous of anyone that is "better" than her, with that definition seriously stretched due to her warped mind.

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Thanks. I hate her and want to punch her in the face.

 

[Neablis]

Croaf Hegemony - A sneering imperialist clad in heavy robes, holding a collared figure's chain in one hand as she holds a Navigator's Staff in the other, Croaf is both as hateful of others as she is jealous of anyone that is "better" than her, with that definition seriously stretched due to her warped mind.

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Ah, yes. A wonderful opportunity to test out our new fleets and see how face-punchy they are. My guess is that 5 LRADs can snipe most of their ships from outside their range. That's a lot of long-range firepower, including what, 20 of our nova-cannon equivalent.

Question @HeroCooky. I know the Piscarans are very determinidly not Xenos. That means we're not going to get a trait for them?

The problem is that what you're saying to them is "go be xenophobic".

You're telling them to fear and investigate "The Stranger". That's the literal textbook definition of xenophobia.

So, this is not a hostile reading, it's the plain reading?
Like, what do you actually expect Cereberus to do, if not be xenophobic and be anti-mutant? You've provided them zero other intelligence to go off on.
All they know is that their literal god, as well as the highest instutitions in the country, told them that foreigners and mutants are a threat.

Like, I'm genuinely curious what you expect them to do that's not Xenophobia?
They don't magically know about Genestealer cults, they might not even know genestealers are real.

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We're not exactly saying "go prosecute everybody slightly weird." We've already set them up as a necessary but reasonable counter to chaos cult infiltration, and they've done a fine job for centuries. Them being needlessly cruel in general is a hostile reading, because that's not what they've done in the past.

What we're doing now is just expanding their official responsibilities beyond purely chaos. We got a divine message to be cautious of a new threat, and we're passing it along for the correct tool for the job. If we have genestealer cults the people who are going to find it and shut it down are Cerberus. That kind of investigation is what they're built to do, and refusing to do it isn't going to prevent xenophobia, it's going to end up with a Genestealer cult calling a hive fleet down on our front door.

Additionally, I would say that our new medical advances give us options. Over the last few turns we did:
-[] Abhuman Medical Advances
-[] Improved Medical Diagnostics
-[] A Cure for Lycanthropy
-[] Clone Creation Improvement

This means we can much more flavor it as "Help the mutants get the medical attention that we can give them." Instead of "Crack down on mutants because we're worried about them due to the prophecy." We can afford to be humane about this, because we spent 4 actions of research improving our capabilities to treat mutants. So we can help and treat mutants instead of killing them all. And that's what the write-in directs Cerberus to do.

 

[HeroCooky]

I know the Piscarans are very determinidly not Xenos. That means we're not going to get a trait for them?

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Since they are Abhumans, and not Xenos, no trait.

 

[10ebbor10]

This means we can much more flavor it as "Help the mutants get the medical attention that we can give them." Instead of "Crack down on mutants because we're worried about them due to the prophecy." We can afford to be humane about this, because we spent 4 actions of research improving our capabilities to treat mutants. So we can help and treat mutants instead of killing them all. And that's what the write-in directs Cerberus to do.

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Cereberus is not the agency you'd use for that. They're an inquisition, designed to find and observe, to analyze, and if deemed bad, root out. Their humanitarian aspects are only a small part of their duties.

On this matter, they're not a good tool.

On top of that, again, we're not giving them any actionable intelligence. We're just pointing them at a huge population group, and telling them "the divine has suggested evil in that direction". We don't know enough about the nature of the threat for intelligence to be useful here. We're hiding the enemy by burying our intelligence agencies beneath a massive pile of makework, of pointless investigations, harrying after every random mutant.

Cereberus would more effective at finding Genestealers if it was just looking for regular cults, because "acts like a suspicious kindnap/murder cult" is at least someting discernable.

 

[Toboe]

The only two things I see that could be tweaked are us "offering a hand" but providing no alternative. Them leaving entirely might be a bit much, but we could give them the choice between becoming kin and remaining a protectorate for another hundred years, maybe with greater involvement in the federation's service, such as joining our military and choirs. Then they'd have more information then. We could also drop the "they have no debt to us" portion at the start.

Basically what I'm suggesting is changing this:

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to this:
-[] On the Mothome's status within the Glimmerling Federation.
--[] The Glimmerling Federation has taken responsibility for the Mothome for over a century, intervening against the depredations of Chaos and then provided advisors diplomatic, spiritual and psychic to help them understand what they must know to survive in this Galaxy.
--[] Due to the advances made in societal development, planetary unification & improved education, we have judged the Mothome to be fellow Travelers, capable of traveling the stars under their own power and making their own decisions of their future.
--[] In recognition of the advances made by the Mothome, the Glimmerling federation offers a choice. They can join us as Kin, with all of the rights and responsibilities that come with such status, and integrate themselves inextricably with our government and society. Alternatively, they could remain as a protectorate of the Federation for another century before being presented the choice again, though now that they are acclimated and industrialized we would expect an increased contribution for the purposes of their defense and for individuals of theirs to join our military to understand the threats that lurk in the stars.

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Isn't "or they can stay a protectorate" implied in us offering them Kin status?
But if you'd prefer, I'll change it.

Lords of Eternity - A proud and serene noble, Lord is clad in heavy cloth that shows off his academic achievements as he proudly displays a Mask showing the Aspect of the Scholar of the God-Emperor of Mankind. He believes himself to be in debt to Glim, who is too distracted to invite him to her gang.

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I think qm is dropping hints...

The problem is that what you're saying to them is "go be xenophobic".

You're telling them to fear and investigate "The Stranger". That's the literal textbook definition of xenophobia.

So, this is not a hostile reading, it's the plain reading?
Like, what do you actually expect Cereberus to do, if not be xenophobic and be anti-mutant? You've provided them zero other intelligence to go off on.
All they know is that their literal god, as well as the highest instutitions in the country, told them that foreigners and mutants are a threat.

Like, I'm genuinely curious what you expect them to do that's not Xenophobia?
They don't magically know about Genestealer cults, they might not even know genestealers are real.

Click to shrink...

We are telling them to watch for non-chaos infiltration, too.
We are telling them about the prophecy.
And we are telling them to inform and aid the mutant & abhuman population. That we care about all members.

Sure, theoretically they could go "forget all standards and treat mutants as enemies, got it" (but seriously, if they are gonna misinterpret it like that, what orders would they not misinterpret?), but the reasonable interpretation is and remains "there is an infiltration threat coming that will try to attack mutants, we are to protect them"

 

[Amilia]

The problem with confederating the Lords of Eternity is that the Watchtower Confederacy is in the way.

And since we don't know whether to fuck, marry or kill the latter, we are kind of stuck.

 

[10ebbor10]

We are telling them to watch for non-chaos infiltration, too.
We are telling them about the prophecy.
And we are telling them to inform and aid the mutant & abhuman population. That we care about all members.

Sure, theoretically they could go "forget all standards and treat mutants as enemies, got it" (but seriously, if they are gonna misinterpret it like that, what orders would they not misinterpret?), but the reasonable interpretation is and remains "there is an infiltration threat coming that will try to attack mutants, we are to protect them"

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You tell them to look for non-chaos infiltration, but we do not have information on what that non-chaos infiltration looks like.
The only thing we know, as noted, is "beware the twisted body".

So, we're telling them that mutants and abhumans are the threat.
How is Cereberus supposed to know what that means? How are they supposed to know that it's not all mutants and abhumans which are inherently a threat? You're confusing our OOC knowledge about genestealers and their infiltration actions, with what little Cereberus knows, and that's nothing more than "strangers bring doom".

Again, we'd way, way better off if we focused on search on actionable intelligence, like actual murder cults, instead of burdering our intelligence agency with a mandate to look at a population group, yet not actually know what they're looking for.

 

[Neablis]

Isn't "or they can stay a protectorate" implied in us offering them Kin status?
But if you'd prefer, I'll change it.

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Good point. I'm fine with it either way.

On this matter, they're not a good tool.

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Then what is a good tool? We asked where our future threats might be coming from, and were told that the way to defend against the biggest, the most consequential threat was to Beware the stranger and the twisted body. If we can't pass that along to our secret police, then what do we do with it? Do we ignore the literal god-given prophecy telling us that the mutants are an actual danger to us?

Put another way - if you don't want to point Cerberus at it, do you have a constructive suggestion for how else to take the warning into account?

Maybe we should tell them to work in concert with our faith orders, but still they should be involved because finding cults is their thing, and anybody who does work with the mutants to get them medical care is probably going to stumble across some cults. Their order is to beware the twisted body, and we're telling them to deal with that by un-twisting the body with our new medical research.

Maybe we should commit to getting medical infrastructure X in the next 3 turns to make this even better. Would that help?

 

[BigBadBob7070]

The problem with confederating the Lords of Eternity is that the Watchtower Confederacy is in the way.

And since we don't know whether to fuck, marry or kill the latter, we are kind of stuck.

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Well, it would be significantly easier to find out what we want to do if we, y'know, actually talked to them?

 

[Aura Dragon]

Pre Post Edit: WELL. This took absolutely forever to type. Enjoy the ~3280 word essay on my thoughts. .... Damn this spiraled. Here is your update people, lol. Will read comments and react to it after I wake up in a few hours.

So, here's a very large analysis on our current situation that I typed up due to having time thanks to the update being delayed, enjoy.

I think that all of the talk about the Mothrame people is to soon. They haven't really done anything that meets our guidelines for being Kin (unless you can find something that is equal to what the Irrita did). Perhaps we should wait a while for them to actually ask to move beyond their home system like the Yeeni did before we consider them as anything else but a Protectorate.

As for the Constitutional Convention itself. I see HeroCooky's computer troubles as an opportunity to stop spend a few days to reassess what our short, mid and long term goals are and how to optimize large segments of the Federation towards those goals.

Some things that I think we should definitely address are:

1. The Military

Personally I don't have an opinion on our ships quality as we've just finished a refit on a lot of our ship classes a week ago IRL. Quantity on the other hand is something that I think that we should really be looking into. Firstly, we've been using the same number of ships per SBG for centuries now. This is so bad that our pretty crap investment into automation plus general expansion (plus the two Traits) has made it so that we can make 2 SBG's for a single action. Don't get me wrong - this is amazing. But I think that we can do better, upping the size of SBG's is frankly overdue. Plus with the Fortress Initiative's "equal to 1 SBG" that means that by increasing the number of ships we field our defenses also increase automatically below our level of abstraction.

Secondly, the Lamenters have a Favored Tactic of Shock Assault. I'm not an expert on WH40k armies so I'm not sure if "Tanks - ~20% Strength" hurts them their. Might be something to look into. On a good note we should also be seeing the Chief Librarian position soon filled given that we finally allowed them to take from the Psyker pool.

We should also look at upgrading our armies weapons and armor next round of boosted research, they are going to need it.

2. Expansion/The Map in General/Our Neighbors

I am in agreement with our Grand Admiral (and most of the thread), our situation is shit. The only saving grace we have with this shit fest is that we built tall, are about to get even more tall thanks to the Planetmaw making All Dev 10 a thing that can happen in a reasonable amount of time AND that we have kept good relations with most of our neighbors.

The bad news is that we have to expand significantly in the short term. This will likely be best done during/after All Dev 10 with the Traits making it a much faster/easier expansion. For this we have two options: North-West and South-East. Both are going to be needed due to the presence of the Chaos Cults. The only thing to discuss is the order in which we focus on absorbing them.

Given the size differences of our neighbors I believe that we should leave the final integration of the Shipwrights Grove to last UNLESS we get confirmation that it would be a union of equals/as a part of our system. This is because despite bringing to the table a lot of benefits size still matters for a lot. While they aren't likely as built up as us given the fact that we built tall we would likely be the lesser partner in a potential alliance if we combined right now. Which is why I believe that we should focus on taking the South-East first.

The Black Ash Clan are a group we already know how to absorb peacefully - win duels. The problem with this is that HeroCooky has talked about designing out own Titans as one of the possible Dev 10 Traits and I think he also mentioned something about the Clan escalating whith what they bring to the duels if we go this route. This is problematic but doable - we just need to Tech and Dev up. That said, as we are friendly we could probably negotiate access through their territory to the Croaf Hegenomy (tag team them, perhaps?)

Black Cat Company and The Croaf Hegemony: Cats are mercenaries, just contact them with diplo and hire them for the gank squad aimed at Croaf. Croaf we conquer as they are a Navigator ruled empire that will hate us on sight for forever as we have an FTL method that makes them irrelevant. Doing this quickly enough and in enough secrecy that Van Zandt don't realize what our target is should let us get all of their Sub-Sectors (will need a military build up for this). That includes stopping Van Zandt from encircling us by eating the rest of Croaf (there is no way that Croaf didn't have control over all Sub-sectors that neighbor their capitol sub-sector) and putting us two half sub-sectors away from a choke point against the two lower Chaos Cults.

Watchtower Confederacy: We really need to contact them and get their measure. They don't seem all that unified from what we do know however. Given their name and the location (near Do Not Enter) our Fortress Initiative might be the selling point in joining after a decent amount of diplomacy. This would give us a border with the Lords of Eternity though I don't see us getting them to join us before the Shipwrights Grove joins or the next wave of enemies hits us.

Overall, I believe that we should gobble up one/two of the smaller groups to our South-East WHILE doing the prep work for getting Shipwrights Grove to join but leaving the final step for last after we take Ishanu factions -> Croaf. Again unless we can get equal partnership or better with Shipwrights Grove of the bat.

3. Projected Enemy Timings/Analysis

There are five main enemies that I'm trying to keep track of currently. The first is the Van Zandt as the Gorilla looming over us. Not even the Chaos Cults worry me as much as the Dutchy deciding they want us dead now. However, they are distracted and possibly have a problem that I'll mention later. Attack Timeline prediction: If they can shake fleets free soon then they may attack. If not then probably not until they beat everyone they are currently fighting and want more clay/(to take back what we took from them).

Slaanesh Cult: Has Titan(s?), has a Daemon World is prophesized to maybe send that through Shipwrights Grove then into us. We have warned our ally and will likely get them to join up with us fully before they hit. Looking to be a defensive slog at best. We do not have the long ranging fleets to cross 10 sub-sectors and destroy a Daemon World. Advice: Get SG in the Federation and begin fortification efforts. For the sub-sectors that are between the SG and Chaos, if they are inhabited perhaps try to use the Evacuation Fleets to get them out of harms way? (probably not possible). Timeline Prediction: Soonish/Mid term danger.

Khorn Cult: Not much known except they are locked in conflict with the Nurgle Cult. Smallest of the space empire cults. Most importantly: is the closest to us and doesn't have a Daemon World. Timeline: Will probably come into conflict with Croat and Watchtower soon (potential way to get them to join us quickly?) as they try to gain an advantage over the Nurgle Cult. Likely to try to make a Daemon World (we should really try to stop that). Advice: This should be the Cult that we try to eliminate completely first. Grab choke points and attack their Capital Sub-Sector from the East near Watchtower's border.

Nurgle Cult: Also has a Daemon World which is 10 Sub-Sectors away from our Capital Sub-Sector. The largest and likely the most problematic to deal with. It will likely surge in size as we take down the Khorn Cult. Timeline: Probably out of the scope of the Quest unfortunately. Advice: Honestly? Wait until our relations are better with Van Zandt and then show them the parts of the map with the Chaos Cults on them. They wont want a massive Cult near their borders and they might have the troops to take care of it. Downside is that Van Zandt will get even bigger.

Tzeentch Cult: This is a bit of a stretch but... Well I don't trust this one to be out of the running yet. 621 and Amratur in hindsight was obviously going to turn out to be this. We (and MTA + SG) stopped this from happening. However, there is a very large Imperial Successor state that HeroCooky has stated (I think) that is treading a very fine line between Dogmatic and Heretical sooo...... Yeah potential Chaos enemy from that direction. Its unlikely to be the other three as they already have factions on the board so to speak. Most of their patron's energy would be used to bulk up the existing Cults.

Necrons: Not a threat. Why? Because we intend to politely give them their stuff back in perfect condition (I hope). Use the goodwill of that to (hopefully) get them to not exterminate the entire Storlar Sector with the World Engine that is floating in Macabre.

4. Sacred Sand World Priority

HeroCooky has stated that we can boost this but using One Action Per World. This is an abysmal use of an Action. I sincerely hope for this to get better in time. Regardless, priority for this should be Sub-Sector Capital Systems and Homeworlds (Droma, Mothome) --> Important Unique Systems (PsyAcademy at Quintura Diablo) --> Choke Points/Future Battlegrounds Near Chaos Cults --> Sub-Sector Choke Point Fortress Systems --> Backfill Core Sub-Sectors.

It would be nice to get a list of which world/system is each Sub-Sector's capital/main military fortress to plan around in case of invasion.

5. Faith Actions and Our Promise (That we still haven't fulfilled yet!)

Ask the Star-Child stuff: eh we already know what general threats are going to come in the future (though more confirmation would not be unwelcome) with the previous question and with the new maps. The only question that I think we should do is for the Do Not Enter System.

The Penitentia Rite is something that we promised to do ages ago and I would like to get it before the benefits potentially disappear like what happened with the Saints. Plus, we did promise to do it. Could be an opening part of a new Faith Action Chain

6. Dev Actions

Thanks to the Planetmaw All 10 is within reach and that plus more Automation Research Actions is probably how we're going to pull ourselves out of the hole we've found ourselves in thanks to being pinned in.

One thing to note is that the existence of the Planetmaw may do some harm to our relationship with the Irrita, we might want to add a free write in to check with them if the planets we destroy for materials aren't capable of being terraformed (there should still be for more materials available then we could ever use up in this quest's scope)

7. Research Priority

Above all other options, the most important Research Item on our list is Noosphere Unity (1/2) (Gain: 0.05 Research Progress per Research Action.). The reason? With A Glint of Genius working with 40 Choirs we get 0.95 free research banked. I don't think that I need to explain further why this is a priority.

Aside from that, what we want to research comes down to what we want to do. We also have to plan around the warp tremors and activating the Symphony to make the most out of Research. We may only want to do one turn of it active until we get the Research specific Symphony to prevent the space elves from getting annoyed with us.

Here are some basic plans for Symphony Research Turns: Assuming using first Symphony for 1 turns (Low ->> Medium Warp Tremors) and via songs 1 Action -> 2 Research. = 10 Research Points (I'm pulling these numbers from observations and tired 4:30am math, they may be wrong)

Plan Ship Quality + Progressing Necron Tech Quest Chain:
-[] Ship Equipment Standardization x 6

- Auto-Loaders​

- Pure Lenses​

- Advanced Alloying​

- Internal Security Systems​

- Veteran Pilot Gene-Lines​

- Gravimetric Engine Calculations​

-[] Green Ship Gun? (0/2)
(Gain: A GS-gun derivative. Probably short-ranged.)
-[] Green Ship Other Gun? (0/2)
(Gain: A GS-gun derivative. Looks to be long-ranged?)

Plan General Improvements Across the Board + Integration Requirements:
-[] Rejuvenat Experimentation
(Gain: Improve Rejuvenat Access from 1% to 1.2%.)
-[] Safely Harmonized Cogitation Equilibrium
(Gain: Develop the means to allow multiple brains to communicate and act as a semi-coherent singular entity. Safeguards Included, thanks to New Dawn.)
-[] Reverse Engineer the Knights (2/4) x 2
(Gain: You can now build Knights Paladin, Errant, and Gallant.)
-[] Novel Infantry-Grade Weapons and Armor Development II (0.5)
(Gain: Infantry Weapons and Armor Upgrades.)
-[] Experimental Infantry-Grade Weapons and Armor Development (0.5)
(Gain: New Infantry Weapons and Armors.)
-[] Logistical Infantry-Grade Weapons Development II (0/1)
(Gain: Cheaper Infantry Weapons.)
-[] Logicstical Infantry-Grade Armor Development II (0/1)
(Gain: Cheaper Infantry Armor.)
-[] Shipyard Automatization III (1/2)
(Gain: 1 Frigate every Turn.)
-[] Warcasket Prototypes (0/2)
(Gain: Warcaskets, the primitive version of a Dreadnought.)

Plan Focused Psyker Improvements
-[] Improved Psyker Staves (0/5)
The ability to create psychic focii is no longer a mere beginner's art within the Glimmering Federation, and with knowledge and familarity comes the ability to strive further than yesterday. With The Sun Melody having become a measuring-stick upon which one can see progress, its is estimated that further refinement will be capable of of reducing the damages incurred into "mere" full-body third-degree burns.
(Gain: Improves Choir efficiency and might when using Songs and Melodies.)
-[] Improved Psychic Hoods (0/5)
Thanks to the work done in figuring out how to psychically atune and shape cloth and metals to weave together into one whole, a "Psychic Hood" for the layperson, the Celestial Choir is eager to not only begin large-scale disseminations of the knowledge and practice, but also delve deeper in their understanding on how they function, and can be improved.
(Gain: Improved Psychic Hoods are equipment that shields your Psykers from backlash to varying degrees.)

I'm honestly interested in what happens when we get to the end of the 1 DP Standardization Chain. Wonder if we'll get access to a 2 DP version?

Remember that deactivating a Symphony is a free action. So a 1 action cost the turn before to have a single turn getting 10 points of our research backlog done. Just remember to ask the Eldar if one decade of this Symphony is ok to use or if we need to refine it more.

8. Subversion/Infiltration and Intelligence Reports

Our current system for Subversion is completely focused on creating rebellions. This needs to change - we need to be more focused on spy networks to keep up to date on what our neighbors are up to especially the Dutchy. I suspect that this can be done by spending a few actions to reorganize the Ministry's priorities. The only viable target for long term subversions is the Dutchy, who we are trying not to go to war with. The other target that people wanted to use subversion for was the mercenaries to get their battleship. But that failed as they have very good anti-spy capabilities and would likely be able to be bought out much easier and for fewer actions then would be needed to boost the subversion to guarantee getting the battleship intact.

Having a greater focus on spy networks would also mean a more up to date Intelligence report on our neighbors. For HeroCooky's sake it could simply be giving us levels of information based on infiltration levels like: General Goals of the polity; Action investment ratios; information on what the leaders are wanting to do/doing and more detailed information on what enemies they are fighting. System maps of their Sub-Sectors would also be something interesting (but probably to much work for HeroCooky).

9. Diplomacy

Holy F*** do we need to expand this (if possible). Currently we have only two auto diplo improvements with 5 potential (currently on the list) places to put them. With one of them stuck on making sure the Dutchy wont attack us that severely slows our peacefull integration plans. If we can improve this with investing actions into the department we absolutely should.

Additionally, if the systems shown on the map are inhabited then they are likely small polities that are ~1 Sub-sector of less. It seems that all of the major powers plus the smaller ones we have contacted/know about got all of their systems revealed. However, this just means that we'll need a massively expanded diplo org to incorporate the likely dozens of smaller polities that surround us.

10. Psykana

There are 49 levels to complete the currently revealed Melodies and the 3 from the Star which we'll get next update from auto-completing the Sun 5, which given our current action-melody efficiency means we need to take [] [Psykana] Conduct Six Melodies 9 times rounded up from 8.6. Three Turns completely dedicated to Psykana would complete that option (Until we get more Melodies). Woing this will also free up 10 Choirs from needing to stay on auto researching Melodies.

To get the benefit of our current Symphony without the Eldar yelling at us well probably need 2-3 actions making the Songs to use as components. I'm not awake enough for a detailed dive through our collected QM hints bit I'm pretty sure we just need to find something that specifically reduces required Research points/increase Research Points per Action invested.

11. Auto-tickers and the Holy Write-In

Sacred Sands auto-ticker mentioned above. Actions: Hope that it scales with size.

Terraforming: Qulach's Forge will finish terraforming in 12 turns. Voxx Primus will finish in 35 turns. Reminder - we got these on a Holy Turn, they are expected to be worth it.

Subversion and diplo auto-tickers mentioned above.

Nomadic Fleet Auto-build ticker mentioned above in Military section.

Psykana Melody auto-ticker mentioned above.

Knightly Orders auto-ticker is currently working on expanding the Orders with more of what we already have - we need to research better knights to get them. Will finish current project in 3 turns if not assisted.

Lamenters auto-ticker is working on expanding the legion chapter into asteroid fortresses throughout the Federation at a rate of 1 Company per turn. Has no visible end point but is probably tied to how many systems/planets we have.

Remember the most important Action option in the quest - the Write in. We can use it for many things that are not on the list. WE have confirmation that we can make ISC's with 2 actions even if we wont get much of a say in what they are. We can also use it to set up branches of our government and potentially improve them.

Well... This took a few hours. But its done now.

 

[Toboe]

So, we're telling them that mutants and abhumans are the threat.

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No.
We are telling them to inform and aid mutants and abhumans. That "we care for all of the Federation's citizens".
And that the threat is something that looks like pretends to be mutant/abhuman.

But if it calms you, we could just ask.

@HeroCooky:
Would the currently winning plan be interpreted by Cerberus as "be xenophobic! Fuck mutants/abhumans!" or "Something will try to infiltrate mutants/abhumans by pretending to be them. Protect our mutant/abhuman population from that threat!"

 

[10ebbor10]

Then what is a good tool? We asked where our future threats might be coming from, and were told that the way to defend against the biggest, the most consequential threat was to Beware the stranger and the twisted body. If we can't pass that along to our secret police, then what do we do with it? Do we ignore the literal god-given prophecy telling us that the mutants are an actual danger to us?

Put another way - if you don't want to point Cerberus at it, do you have a constructive suggestion for how else to take the warning into account?

Maybe we should tell them to work in concert with our faith orders, but still they should be involved because finding cults is their thing, and anybody who does work with the mutants to get them medical care is probably going to stumble across some cults. Their order is to beware the twisted body, and we're telling them to deal with that by un-twisting the body with our new medical research.

Maybe we should commit to getting medical infrastructure X in the next 3 turns to make this even better. Would that help?

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I think you're overly focused the mutations. Those are a dead end, because we don't know how to seperate a good mutant from a bad one, leaving us solely with the possibility of either treating them all as bad, or just burdering our security forces with looking at everyone while not knowing what they're even looking for.

Meanwhile, that prophecy was far larger than the bit about mutants, it included so much other stuff.

But the last...it shows a continent. Titanic and resplendent, with a Capital City of splendor and wealth located in its lower West, the continent is home to many cities and regions.

But they are split by a massive rift, tectonic plates grinding and eating all who attempt to cross any place but a select few.

On that side, cut off from the capital lie cities and villages, peaceful or restive, engaging in trade, combat, and desperation due to cut-off supply lines.

Yet, in the northeastern portion, a village begins to whisper of things in the dark forests: children going missing, travelers vanishing, and neighbors acting stranger by the week.

Until the landlines to the village are cut.

Scouts from nearby villages do not return.

Expeditions are mounted and lost.

But travelers approach the villages all the same.

And those settlements begin to whisper of things in the dark forests.

Something will arrive from the North-East, beyond the Duchy. It will take by degree before it conquers wholesale. Beware the stranger and the twisted body.

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Focus on the actionable intelligence in here.

Attempts by the enemy to cut communication, actual cult like behaviour with murder cults and more.
Travellers coming from places that have gone silent.

That is stuff we can work with.

More specifically, we could throw an action add another divine question, to figure out jsut what mutations to look for.
You could do a write-in for listening stations.
We could make a song to listen for the voices in the dark forest, or to silence them.

 

[HeroCooky]

Re: Prophecy
Subject: Interpretations
This is the summary your clergy figured out;

[Something will arrive from the North-East, beyond the Duchy. It will take by degree before it conquers wholesale. Beware the stranger and the twisted body.]​

You will, if you want to guard against the above threat, need to notice the DIRECTION and then note that STRANGER and TWISTED BODY are put together.

Meaning that a Stranger with a Twisted Body will arrive from the direction of the Duchy.

Now, please look at the map I've made and then look at where the Stranger with a Twisted Body needs to go through to tailor your response.

 

[Aura Dragon]

Re: Prophecy
Subject: Interpretations
This is the summary your clergy figured out;

[Something will arrive from the North-East, beyond the Duchy. It will take by degree before it conquers wholesale. Beware the stranger and the twisted body.]​

You will, if you want to guard against the above threat, need to notice the DIRECTION and then note that STRANGER and TWISTED BODY are put together.

Meaning that a Stranger with a Twisted Body will arrive from the direction of the Duchy.

Now, please look at the map I've made and then look at where the Stranger with a Twisted Body needs to go through to tailor your response.

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Looks like we need to set up spy ship patrols in the three warp lanes there.

 

[Amilia]

@HeroCooky could we use our subversion apparatus to basically infiltrate other nations as a whole with the ultimate goal of improving relations rather than taking over the government.

 

[HeroCooky]

@HeroCooky could we use our subversion apparatus to basically infiltrate other nations as a whole with the ultimate goal of improving relations rather than taking over the government.

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No, you have that already in the Improve Relations.

 

[Neablis]

Pre Post Edit: WELL. This took absolutely forever to type. Enjoy the ~3280 word essay on my thoughts. .... Damn this spiraled. Here is your update people, lol. Will read comments and react to it after I wake up in a few hours.

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Nice collection of thoughts! I'm going to go through and react to specific things. Generally I think you have a lot of good points, and I like where you're going with consolidating research turns, but I want to suggest that we do a bit of symphony work in parallel - singing more focused symphonies in particular. I have a list of those here.

Firstly, we've been using the same number of ships per SBG for centuries now. This is so bad that our pretty crap investment into automation plus general expansion (plus the two Traits) has made it so that we can make 2 SBG's for a single action. Don't get me wrong - this is amazing. But I think that we can do better, upping the size of SBG's is frankly overdue.

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Eh, SBGs are mostly just to let us abstract away fleets. I kind of like the size of the SBG as a single 'unit' of fleet strength. If we build a dozen SBGs with an action that's fine, then distribute them around like pieces on a gameboard. They're functional units, I don't see a reason to consolidate them further. Maybe we could do a write-in to strengthen the fortress initiative though. I don't think it would magically happen if we redefined an SBG to be twice as large.

We should also look at upgrading our armies weapons and armor next round of boosted research, they are going to need it.

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Probably - it's relatively cheap, though getting to military infrastructure X will also help a lot. I think we should be staggering our research into 1-2 round surges either with a research-focused symphony or the existing symphony. I did an analysis a little while ago that if we get our research bonus up to 1.05 or 1.1 (so +0.1 or 0.15) then our research turns go from 10 actions to 13. Notably that would probably happen with a heavy-industry X development.

3x research actions.
+3 research actions from glint of genius.
+2 symphony actions from symphony for more than 5 non-symphony actions. Spend on research.
+3 research actions from glint of genius and overflow of extra research
+1 symphony action from non-symphony actions breaking 9 actions
+1 research action from glint of genius.

For a total of 13 research actions in one turn. That's approaching Bounty of Labor levels. But it would require a lot of setup - a higher research bonus than we currently have, an action on one of the proceeding turns to get the symphony setup, a large amount of banked research (assuming a total bonus of 1.05 bonus research per action, then we'd need at least .5 in the bank, and we'd end with 0.05 in the bank). But if we have a research bonus of at least +1.1 bonus research per action then it'll happen automatically.

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The bad news is that we have to expand significantly in the short term. This will likely be best done during/after All Dev 10 with the Traits making it a much faster/easier expansion. For this we have two options: North-West and South-East. Both are going to be needed due to the presence of the Chaos Cults. The only thing to discuss is the order in which we focus on absorbing them.

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I'm not 100% sure we need to focus very significantly in the short term, or at least that we don't need to invest a ton of actions into it. We've gotten hints that we can probably get the Lords of Eternity integrated soonish, and the Black Ash are mostly a matter of getting our Military Development up so we can build titans.

Overall, I believe that we should gobble up one/two of the smaller groups to our South-East WHILE doing the prep work for getting Shipwrights Grove to join but leaving the final step for last after we take Ishanu factions -> Croaf. Again unless we can get equal partnership or better with Shipwrights Grove of the bat.

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We've gotten QM confirmation that getting to all-X will make integration easier, especially of the shipwright's grove. They like us, and convincing them to join us is going to be a lot easier if we'll increase their quality of life so significantly. They've expanded really quickly but probably are more wide than tall.

Get SG in the Federation and begin fortification efforts. For the sub-sectors that are between the SG and Chaos, if they are inhabited perhaps try to use the Evacuation Fleets to get them out of harms way? (probably not possible). Timeline Prediction: Soonish/Mid term danger.

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Yeah, sounds good-ish to me? This is sort of a question for after we've integrated them and have more intelligence on what's happening over there. They're most likely to be a our first big chaos-battle.

HeroCooky has stated that we can boost this but using One Action Per World. This is an abysmal use of an Action. I sincerely hope for this to get better in time. Regardless, priority for this should be Sub-Sector Capital Systems and Homeworlds (Droma, Mothome) --> Important Unique Systems (PsyAcademy at Quintura Diablo) --> Choke Points/Future Battlegrounds Near Chaos Cults --> Sub-Sector Choke Point Fortress Systems --> Backfill Core Sub-Sectors.

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I agree that this is a terrible use of an action. We've already done a few homeworlds & Quintara Diablo - but it would probably be a good idea to do the Yeeni homeworld, then start getting choke points that face towards Chaos. That's why we did Lethysan recently. We should do Phantom soon too. This is going to be tricky as we integrate people, since they'll be closer to chaos than any of our worlds currently are. We should also do Brans, since it faces the Croaf and through them the Duchy.

The Penitentia Rite is something that we promised to do ages ago and I would like to get it before the benefits potentially disappear like what happened with the Saints. Plus, we did promise to do it. Could be an opening part of a new Faith Action Chain

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Did we promise to do it? I think we preserved it as an option. I agree it'll be useful but I don't know if I want to spend an action (and more importantly, an action we don't have a song to boost) on it until we're actually about to fight chaos again. I'd prefer to plow that action into development.

Here are some basic plans for Symphony Research Turns: Assuming using first Symphony for 1 turns (Low ->> Medium Warp Tremors) and via songs 1 Action -> 2 Research. = 10 Research Points (I'm pulling these numbers from observations and tired 4:30am math, they may be wrong)

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Oh yeah, see above. This is right - but if we get up to 1.1 research bonus we're guaranteed 13 research point turns.

-[] Ship Equipment Standardization x 6

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We've been told that equipment standardization goes up in cost after you do more of them. We probably get 1 more at 1 research action and after that the cost doubles, then triples, etc.

Plan General Improvements Across the Board + Integration Requirements:

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Generally agree with this, though getting to the 13-action research turn will let us clear almost our entire next level of the tech tree at once.

Our current system for Subversion is completely focused on creating rebellions. This needs to change - we need to be more focused on spy networks to keep up to date on what our neighbors are up to especially the Dutchy. I suspect that this can be done by spending a few actions to reorganize the Ministry's priorities. The only viable target for long term subversions is the Dutchy, who we are trying not to go to war with. The other target that people wanted to use subversion for was the mercenaries to get their battleship. But that failed as they have very good anti-spy capabilities and would likely be able to be bought out much easier and for fewer actions then would be needed to boost the subversion to guarantee getting the battleship intact.

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I don't think we need to change this - and I want to keep our actions reserved for stuff like development and integration. It's useful to point at random single-polity systems and just integrate them without an action. Our next target with it should be the Black Cat, so in like 100-150 years we'll just yoink them without an action. That will probably synergize with us hiring them for stuff.

Holy F*** do we need to expand this (if possible).

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I think this is part of the point - we have to choose our battles. It went from 1->2 after we integrated Voxx. Once we grab another big polity it'll probably go to 3. So they way we expand it is to get bigger.

Summary:
For most of our priorities, the thing that will actually help is Development.
-Military Industry X gets us better general military, as well as a titan to win all the Black Ash duels.
-Heavy Industry X gets us more research bonus, getting us the 13-action research turn with the symphony.
-Food and Medical infastructure get us a higher quality of life, which convinces the Shipwright's and the Lords of Eternity to join us.

I also think we should sing some new, more focused symphonies (maybe the research & the development ones here

Symphony of Innovation and rediscovery (tech focused)
1.. A Glint of Genius - "Through inspiration, desire" – The spark of invention that drives the entire journey.
2. Diverting Power - "Let Harm not come to us." - why we want better technology, to protect us from a hostile and uncertain galaxy.
3. Hippity Hoppity - "Where is my Star Child-damned inheritance!" – Once we had all of this knowledge. It's been lost and we want it back, dammit!
4. The Devouring Mechadendrite - "Industry must expand to meet ever-increasing demands" – A focus on the work needed to turn ideas into reality.
5. A Web of Song - "Sing for me of better days" – A hopeful glimpse of the future, where these creations bear fruit.

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The Symphony of New Foundations
1. The Devouring Mechadendrite - "Idle hands cannot exist when work abounds" - Kicking off the symphony with industrious growth, as society builds itself anew through hard work.
2. A Glint of Genius - "The efforts of the many, distilled into one singular moment" - The innovative breakthroughs from all involved that elevate infrastructure and efficiency.
3. Heartbeat of Industry - "There is no heart that beats with more blood for humanity than its Military Industry" - A callout to the unceasing, rhythmic pulse of industry driving progress forward.
4. Break Your Chains - "Break the chains that divided us, embrace in freedom" - An anthem to social reforms that improve life for the masses, breaking barriers and bringing equity.
5. Unto Works Generational - "Generations upon generations toiling with only one promise" - Ending by promising to build enduring systems that span generations, laying the groundwork for a prosperous future.

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Re: Prophecy
Subject: Interpretations
This is the summary your clergy figured out;

[Something will arrive from the North-East, beyond the Duchy. It will take by degree before it conquers wholesale. Beware the stranger and the twisted body.]​

You will, if you want to guard against the above threat, need to notice the DIRECTION and then note that STRANGER and TWISTED BODY are put together.

Meaning that a Stranger with a Twisted Body will arrive from the direction of the Duchy.

Now, please look at the map I've made and then look at where the Stranger with a Twisted Body needs to go through to tailor your response.

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Ok, let's tweak the Cerberus-write in to be especially cautious of people entering from the direction of the van Zandt. Which means beefing up presence/security on Phantom and Brans?

 

[BigBadBob7070]

I also think we should sing some new, more focused symphonies (maybe the research & the development ones here

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I also think we need to sing more songs. Like the one that protects against Chaos, the one that shields the minds of our machines, and the one that's literally a Hellbomb (b/c I REALLY want to see what a song dedicated to blowing shit up would like). And maybe one of those Tribe songs and that "the Court is Now in Session" song

 

[Amilia]

I was convinced to wait for Mil X before we take a swing at the Black Ash Clan.

So I think we should rush for it while also making moves to the Watchtower Confederancy. The hetalia omake calls them a hillbilly, but not as bad as Croaf. So confederation might be possible with them.

 

[aceraptor]

I was convinced to wait for Mil X before we take a swing at the Black Ash Clan.

So I think we should rush for it while also making moves to the Watchtower Confederancy. The hetalia omake calls them a hillbilly, but not as bad as Croaf. So confederation might be possible with them.

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Also the Watchtower is a confederation that seems to be pretty loose and came together for mutual protection more than anything. Since we aren't going to be like the Croaf we should be able to start enticing various individual worlds to join us.

But that requires us to have actual communication with them. We 100% need to open diplomacy with them and see where we are at.

 

[zack omega24]

Primaris Lamenter (Commission)

By
Jchrispole

 

[snow eternal]

Just reading the votes and the chapters leaves me with very little idea of what's actually going on. I have a decent grasp given I'm coming back to this story after a bit of a break but anything with the technology is beyond me, do they give anything but narrative bonuses? Opening more options in battlefield tactics maybe?

 

[Neablis]

Just reading the votes and the chapters leaves me with very little idea of what's actually going on. I have a decent grasp given I'm coming back to this story after a bit of a break but anything with the technology is beyond me, do they give anything but narrative bonuses? Opening more options in battlefield tactics maybe?

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By technologies do you mean the things under [] [General] Research ?

They're hugely important - some are narrative (such as the medical advancements that we're hoping will let us help catch Genestealers), but many give us new components for ship design or increase the number of ships we produce, or even improve the efficiency of specific actions (like the chicken research giving us a food production bonus we haven't used yet). Often technology unlocks new actions - like the planetmaw that I'm so looking forward to seeing in action. Maybe I should write an Omake about it.

Other options are things like improved armor production which increased the number of armies we can passively yield, or the upcoming knight research to improve our Knight orders. The Jeuvenat research should slowly increase our total number of choirs, letting us sing more songs at once. Then there's the psytech which does stuff like make our choirs stronger in a fight, or gives us psytech we can design onto our ships.