What should your focus for the rest of the Quest be?


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[X] Plan Vox Damage Control and Restructuring, The Laurent Alternative Version v2
-[X] [Military] Militarize The Schools Of Paladins
-[X] [Psykana] Sing a Song
--[X] Silence, Protection, Grounding, Perception
-[X] [Other] Vox Primus Infiltration: Events on Vox Prime have shifted the dynamic rapidly, and as such the servants of the Star Child mush shift in response. Alongside this newest batch of supplies, as well as the Templars coming online, new orders will be relayed: now is a time for retrenchment and scaling back operations. Expansion is to cease, and if done carefully, retraction of territory or even factories is to be done, with any decrease in factory land or agriculture to be matched so as to not lead to shortages and etc. Discretion and the new Song is to be used, and a focus is to be shifted for the moment towards sending personnel and material to begin to infiltrate other levels of the Hive-Cities to establish a functional intelligence network to learn more about both how everything on Vox Primus functions and hopefully more about the history and current state of the Van Zandt Duchy as a civilization. These Intelligence Networks are to take all efforts to avoid exposing themselves-converting others to the Star Child's Light should only be undertaken if operatives are 100% certain that doing so will not jeopardize the network.
--[X] A list of questions we expect answers to, given a decade to ask, are to at the VERY least, the following points as seen here.
--[X] Furthermore, greater caution and internal security and defensiveness is to be exercised in order to prevent sabotage in the future. All security systems are to be updated, tests are to be utilized for moles, watches or so on to be put in place, etc, etc. Literally everything any spy has ever done to prevent infiltration and subversion.
--[X] Before and during enacting it ask for both local (Voxx Primus) advice, advice from the other side from Cerberus, and School of Paladins advice among other things, changing ANY of the previous sections and adding anything that a general consensus of relevant experts would argue would be helpful for achieving the basic and fundamental goals outlined here.
-[X] [Free] Audit the School of Paladins to identify limitations of its scope or flaws in the teaching/etc.
 
[X] Plan Vox Damage Control and Restructuring, The Laurent Alternative Version v2
-[X] [Military] Militarize The Schools Of Paladins
-[X] [Psykana] Sing a Song
--[X] Silence, Protection, Grounding, Perception
-[X] [Other] Vox Primus Infiltration: Events on Vox Prime have shifted the dynamic rapidly, and as such the servants of the Star Child mush shift in response. Alongside this newest batch of supplies, as well as the Templars coming online, new orders will be relayed: now is a time for retrenchment and scaling back operations. Expansion is to cease, and if done carefully, retraction of territory or even factories is to be done, with any decrease in factory land or agriculture to be matched so as to not lead to shortages and etc. Discretion and the new Song is to be used, and a focus is to be shifted for the moment towards sending personnel and material to begin to infiltrate other levels of the Hive-Cities to establish a functional intelligence network to learn more about both how everything on Vox Primus functions and hopefully more about the history and current state of the Van Zandt Duchy as a civilization. These Intelligence Networks are to take all efforts to avoid exposing themselves-converting others to the Star Child's Light should only be undertaken if operatives are 100% certain that doing so will not jeopardize the network.
--[X] A list of questions we expect answers to, given a decade to ask, are to at the VERY least, the following points as seen here.
--[X] Furthermore, greater caution and internal security and defensiveness is to be exercised in order to prevent sabotage in the future. All security systems are to be updated, tests are to be utilized for moles, watches or so on to be put in place, etc, etc. Literally everything any spy has ever done to prevent infiltration and subversion.
--[X] Before and during enacting it ask for both local (Voxx Primus) advice, advice from the other side from Cerberus, and School of Paladins advice among other things, changing ANY of the previous sections and adding anything that a general consensus of relevant experts would argue would be helpful for achieving the basic and fundamental goals outlined here.
-[X] [Free] Audit the School of Paladins to identify limitations of its scope or flaws in the teaching/etc.
 
The edits are a little micromanage-y, but I like the tone. Let's get these infiltration actions off our chest.

[X] Stay the Course, distract the Monster, Shakey version
[X] Stay the Course, Distract the Monster



And if it's still in play:
[X] We made legitimate mistakes in going at and about the infiltration of Voxx Primus. We will live and adapt.
 
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[X] Plan Vox Damage Control and Restructuring, The Laurent Alternative Version v2
-[X] [Military] Militarize The Schools Of Paladins
-[X] [Psykana] Sing a Song
--[X] Silence, Protection, Grounding, Perception
-[X] [Other] Vox Primus Infiltration: Events on Vox Prime have shifted the dynamic rapidly, and as such the servants of the Star Child mush shift in response. Alongside this newest batch of supplies, as well as the Templars coming online, new orders will be relayed: now is a time for retrenchment and scaling back operations. Expansion is to cease, and if done carefully, retraction of territory or even factories is to be done, with any decrease in factory land or agriculture to be matched so as to not lead to shortages and etc. Discretion and the new Song is to be used, and a focus is to be shifted for the moment towards sending personnel and material to begin to infiltrate other levels of the Hive-Cities to establish a functional intelligence network to learn more about both how everything on Vox Primus functions and hopefully more about the history and current state of the Van Zandt Duchy as a civilization. These Intelligence Networks are to take all efforts to avoid exposing themselves-converting others to the Star Child's Light should only be undertaken if operatives are 100% certain that doing so will not jeopardize the network.
--[X] A list of questions we expect answers to, given a decade to ask, are to at the VERY least, the following points as seen here.
--[X] Furthermore, greater caution and internal security and defensiveness is to be exercised in order to prevent sabotage in the future. All security systems are to be updated, tests are to be utilized for moles, watches or so on to be put in place, etc, etc. Literally everything any spy has ever done to prevent infiltration and subversion.
--[X] Before and during enacting it ask for both local (Voxx Primus) advice, advice from the other side from Cerberus, and School of Paladins advice among other things, changing ANY of the previous sections and adding anything that a general consensus of relevant experts would argue would be helpful for achieving the basic and fundamental goals outlined here.
-[X] [Free] Audit the School of Paladins to identify limitations of its scope or flaws in the teaching/etc.
 
The Smell Of Rain - [Canon]
Vicious teeth cut into soft flesh, splitting skin, tearing muscle. With audible cracks, bone shattered, and then the assault began anew. In minutes, another bone was stripped of flesh, then torn apart, the marrow sucked away, the remainder crushed between powerful teeth then ingested whole. As the crackling of the fire blended with the shattering of bone, the two humans on the other side of the camp fire watched on with a mixture of fascination and horror, deep seated instincts suppressed by enduring curiosity.

For the last few weeks, Ninel Gaja and To The Light Devoted (Sparkz to her friends) had shared their Anansi walker with the two Yeeni Carrion Scouts. It hadn't always been easy, but well, no one willingly squeezed themselves in an Anansi if they wanted things easy. The machine was over three centuries old now, largely obsolete on the battlefield, and clearly designed in an era were people were smaller. Despite that, it maintained steadfast support among civilians and military planners for it's low logistical footprint, unprecedented maneuverability, and sheer ubiquity. This mission was merely the latest attempt to find a new niche for the vehicle, using it as a personnel transport to carry the two Yeeni and their gear outside up sheer cliffs they would not have ordinarily been able to navigate.

"The military rations are that poor huh. Did you starve these past weeks?", Sparkz remarked, seeing the Yeeni absolutely devour their meal. "Good meat is supposed to be eaten fast", Zonnestraal affirmed. "The rations are proper bone, compressed. They will last as long as they need to. " "But if you don't eat your meat right now, something else will." Morgendauw tagged in. "It's the way things work back on Dirt. " "Afraid I'm going to steal your food, then" Ninel joined in, a playful grasp aborted when Zonnestraal answered with an impressive growl. "You don't get it", Morgendauw continued in between bites "Dirt's a living planet, not a tamed or constructed one. It's food chain is complex, hungry, and equipped with plenty of claws. And well, " she pointed at Ninel, "you're not on top". "Of course she's not", Sparkz said. "I've got the gun, she's just the spider jockey".

The rest of the meal passed quickly, Sparkz and Ninel trading barbs and jokes for a bit, much to the Yeeni's amusement. As the last of the meat disappeared, Zonnestraal spoke up again, asking where the meal had come from.
"Oh, Sparkz got some contacts with the Thules stationed on the orbital defense platform" Ninel answered. "They brought in a whole shipment, and dropped us a package of in during that low pass yesterday. Probably did it just to get an excuse for some nape of the earth flying, the big show offs. Don't worry though, I didn't give them your names."

"Quite a favor" Morgendauw reacted "to share the bounty of a great hunt among so many." "A hunt?" Sparkz asked, confused? "I assumed they'd just raised these in paddocks, like the Groxes". Morgendauw shook her head . "Ranches and farms are a human thing. On Dirt, neither of those would last the season. The grand herds and their seasonal migrations would devour it all. Meat is hunted and scouted, then grabbed before it can attack anything else. Why did you think they called us Carrion Scouts? It's what we do. We find the weakened herds, the great beasts dying of natural deaths, drive them to the slaughter zones, and then we call in the Grand Cutters and Retrieval Brigades before it can be devoured."

"I can't believe I ended up on a mission with 3 cowgirls" Sparkz joked. "Did none of you grow up proper, in actual space station? Meat's supposed to come from the wall, from the vats, not from some live threatening ceremony".
"Is this about you wanting to pet the Grox again" Ninel questioned. "No!" Sparkz denied, too fast. "I just think they're cute".
"I wouldn't suggest petting any of our creatures either " Zonnestraal said "The river raptors can strip a beast to the bone in seconds, and they're about the least harmful, scalliest thing we got". "Everything else is bigger, or meaner, or faster."
"There's good reason the first Yeeni settled on islands in the river, spanning nets to catch the bones floating downstream, surviving on the seasonal slaughters that fill the river with skeletons. You should come see it some, the crumbling of the bone dams is a magnificent sight".

"And you should come visit my place" Ninel responded. "People say the acreage of crops is boring, but the village life has plenty of entertainment. Come walk the fields, bring in the harvest, pet the grox (hrmph), smell the rain. It's a peaceful life".
"Smell what?" Morgendauw responded.
'"The rain? It's how you know a planet's got good soil. if it's fertile, non toxic, not poisoned, it'll give of that perfect smell after a light rain. You don't have that on your world? Could be since you don't got any farms."
"We don't have that anywhere" Zonnestraal said. "I think it's a human thing. What does this planet's dirt and rail smell like?"

"I couldn't tell you" Ninei responded.
'Ah, because it's not raining?'
"No, because my nose's all stoppered up being around your fuzzbuts. Allergies suck".


(Mostly prompted by me wondering how a species which eats predominantly bone does agriculture, concluding that they can't, which means that they must have some bizarro ecosystem that regularly generates giant concentrations of bone to allow civilization to rise)
 
[X] Plan Vox Damage Control and Restructuring, The Laurent Alternative Version v2

[X] We made legitimate mistakes in going at and about the infiltration of Voxx Primus. We will live and adapt.
 
[X] We made legitimate mistakes in going at and about the infiltration of Voxx Primus. We will live and adapt.

[X] Plan Vox Damage Control and Restructuring, The Laurent Alternative Version v2
 
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[X] Stay the Course, Distract the Monster
[X] Stay the Course, distract the Monster, Shakey version
[X] Plan Voxx takes up to many Actions
-[X] [General] Propaganda For The Foreign Masses (1/3) x2
--[X] Prepare Voxx Primus for an uprising in 170 (17) Turns
-[X] [General] Terraform (Maphara)
 
[X] We made legitimate mistakes in going at and about the infiltration of Voxx Primus. We will live and adapt.

[X] Plan Vox Damage Control and Restructuring, The Laurent Alternative Version v2
 
What does Divulge mean to you here? To me it means making something known or giving information, not something stealthy.
Maybe "divulge to us that someone was looking"?
Knowing that someone tried and failed to scry us could be handy.

[X] Stay the Course, Distract the Monster

[X] Stay the Course, distract the Monster, Shakey version

[X] We made legitimate mistakes in going at and about the infiltration of Voxx Primus. We will live and adapt.
 
The edits are a little micromanage-y, but I like the tone. Let's get these infiltration actions off our chest.
Yeah sorry, I meant to blend the base Propaganda Office, your Subversion Bureau and Laurent's Write In together better but ran out of time before the vote start and late submitted plans have almost no chance to win.

I didn't like the nobility focus and kinda think the Subversion Bureau focused on our Voxx problem is overtaking the general purpose of the Office. The base Action's language seems focused more on diplomacy and being overt, while your version seems more focused on fomenting revolution and covert actions. I might just be reading way too much into you dropping the word 'diplomatic' and putting a capital on 'Subversion'.

Maybe it can be a combined Propaganda Office that focuses on diplomatic outreach, lobbying and missionaries openly spreading the Word of the Star Child to neutral/friendly neighbours where they are at least begrudgingly accepted. For hostile neighbours we have the Subversion Bureau focused on covert missionaries, revolutionaries and trainers building an insurgency like we have in Voxx Prime. There can be a dedicated Intelligence/Counter-Intelligence Division to focus on gathering information and doing the spy shit whether that is building relationships in diplomatic offices or sneaking around planting bugs and knifing enemy agents behind secret wall compartments. Using all the experience of our hive infiltrators, they can draw from those with the most aptitude for it from the School of Preachers and Paladins, staff our hidden bunkers and Chameleons with the best signals intelligence officers from the Navy, and our black ops from the Templars and veteran infantry.

Or intelligence division is an unnecessary distinction from the Subversion Bureau. Or the overt diplomacy thing is a misreading by me of the original.

I dunno, I kinda feel like I'm getting lost in the weeds a bit now.

To clarify, my imagined next turn might look like:

1x Propaganda Office, 1x Civilian Fleet, 1x Something else? Maybe research? Maybe SBG stuff?

This is the last active turn where an action will need to be spent on an infiltration action for Voxx Primus.

...now, even once we automate that we still have to basically spend all of our actions on Voxx Primus in the form of Agriculture World Infiltration, building Space Stations, building the Civilian Fleets, Researching Needful Things, and Building Up Our SBGs for the War.

If 2x Propaganda plans win, I think next turn we should do something like this?

-Evacuation Fleets - (Ship Design Sub-Turn) (0/?)
-Terraform Planet
-- Maphara - (Population: 101 Billion) - (Time: ~200 Years)
-Sing a Song
-- Silence, Protection, Grounding, Perception (Turn Their Eyes Away)

After that maybe switch to Federation Post ISC to do a couple turns of Actions for Civ Ind XV, along with Research, build Civilian Fleets.
 
Yeah sorry, I meant to blend the base Propaganda Office, your Subversion Bureau and Laurent's Write In together better but ran out of time before the vote start and late submitted plans have almost no chance to win.

I didn't like the nobility focus and kinda think the Subversion Bureau focused on our Voxx problem is overtaking the general purpose of the Office. The base Action's language seems focused more on diplomacy and being overt, while your version seems more focused on fomenting revolution and covert actions. I might just be reading way too much into you dropping the word 'diplomatic' and putting a capital on 'Subversion'.

Maybe it can be a combined Propaganda Office that focuses on diplomatic outreach, lobbying and missionaries openly spreading the Word of the Star Child to neutral/friendly neighbours where they are at least begrudgingly accepted. For hostile neighbours we have the Subversion Bureau focused on covert missionaries, revolutionaries and trainers building an insurgency like we have in Voxx Prime. There can be a dedicated Intelligence/Counter-Intelligence Division to focus on gathering information and doing the spy shit whether that is building relationships in diplomatic offices or sneaking around planting bugs and knifing enemy agents behind secret wall compartments. Using all the experience of our hive infiltrators, they can draw from those with the most aptitude for it from the School of Preachers and Paladins, staff our hidden bunkers and Chameleons with the best signals intelligence officers from the Navy, and our black ops from the Templars and veteran infantry.

Or intelligence division is an unnecessary distinction from the Subversion Bureau. Or the overt diplomacy thing is a misreading by me of the original.

I dunno, I kinda feel like I'm getting lost in the weeds a bit now.



If 2x Propaganda plans win, I think next turn we should do something like this?

-Evacuation Fleets - (Ship Design Sub-Turn) (0/?)
-Terraform Planet
-- Maphara - (Population: 101 Billion) - (Time: ~200 Years)
-Sing a Song
-- Silence, Protection, Grounding, Perception (Turn Their Eyes Away)

After that maybe switch to Federation Post ISC to do a couple turns of Actions for Civ Ind XV, along with Research, build Civilian Fleets.

If 2x propaganda wins, I'd rather that Maphara option be an SBG-building, Space Station, or Research action.

Because we sure as hell do not have 200 years. I'm unsure if we even have 100 at this point, but 200 is largely besides the point at this stage.
 
The current vote doesn't have the 2x propaganda right? Or even 1x? it's just a write-in, right? So why not hit one action and then have it be a free action?
 
We are not taking any actions on the propaganda department, right? We are just doing an "Other action" for Vox specifically?

Yes, taking one Propaganda action instead of the Other Action for Voxx would be not doing Voxx (it'd be at 2/3, so no dice) on a turn where we literally just had a huge problem. Taking two (Propaganda 2x) would mean not doing either the Stealth Song or the Militarized Paladins, both of which seem pretty vital at this exact moment when we need the help.
 
Yes, taking one Propaganda action instead of the Other Action for Voxx would be not doing Voxx (it'd be at 2/3, so no dice) on a turn where we literally just had a huge problem. Taking two (Propaganda 2x) would mean not doing either the Stealth Song or the Militarized Paladins, both of which seem pretty vital at this exact moment when we need the help.
Hmm fair enough. With the benefit of hindsight, we have done about the Voxx Primus strategy a bit wrong. We should have set up our Propaganda department first and then directed via Free Actions through said department. Oh well, lessons learned

[X] Plan Vox Damage Control and Restructuring, The Laurent Alternative Version v2
 
Hmm fair enough. With the benefit of hindsight, we have done about the Voxx Primus strategy a bit wrong. We should have set up our Propaganda department first and then directed via Free Actions through said department. Oh well, lessons learned

[X] Plan Vox Damage Control and Restructuring, The Laurent Alternative Version v2

To be clear, until literally a few turns ago we were under the impression that it was truly random and we couldn't at all direct where it was aimed at.
 
If 2x propaganda wins, I'd rather that Maphara option be an SBG-building, Space Station, or Research action.

Because we sure as hell do not have 200 years. I'm unsure if we even have 100 at this point, but 200 is largely besides the point at this stage.
If we don't start Maphara now it will never happen, its 10 actions worth of Space Habitats. Its such a massive gift to us.

If I'm correct on the Hang-man idea of the Duchy War starting when Revolution becomes Revolution we might have 9 more turns before the war starts. Then we have to win the ground war which will take 'an unknown amount of time' but could be a half or full century before we can start evacuating tens of billions of people if I have the right idea of the QM's responses.
1. You can certainly try an evacuation in a planetary warzone!
3. Just to make sure you are aware; taking Voxx, without a massive insurection helping you out, will churn through 50 SAGs per Turn. With said insurrection, you will be looking at around ~20 SAGs per Turn. With an unknown amount of time to take the Hive World.

Then we don't know how many decades it will take to move the population, will we be able to move 10, 20, 30 billion per turn? But it will probably again happen over multiple decades. And between our Hive Agriculture and the Agriworlds we can support the hivers while we're shuffling people around.

This isn't going to wrap up quickly once the fighting starts or when we win the fight, I think 200 years is doable.
 
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[X] Plan Vox Damage Control and Restructuring, The Laurent Alternative Version v2

Hey BTW I literally woke up with a realization:
We need to send a scouting party to the cleansed hive, to see the aftermath, maybe find some clues to what happened. Maybe a Choir even, tho we'd be risking losing them.
 
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