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

[Neablis]

Exponential likely means that if we don't do anything to push the clock back next turn will have 2 letters turn red, then 4 the turn after, then 8 letters. If we don't keep pushing the clock back we likely have 5 turns at most before Voxx Primus fires off.

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That's probably not a terrible assumption, but it's still an assumption. And it tells us nothing about how much we'll push it off with things like the propaganda office & any additional actions. If we've only got seven turns with the office I'm going to push for civilian evac ships, infiltrating agri-worlds and shipbuilding. If we have 20 then it's terraforming & research.

@The Laurent Can we add a write-in that the Propaganda Bureau needs to provide us with an estimate of how long until a Voxx Revolution must be kicked off and alternate ways to delay it? This feels like something our people have the in-universe expertise to estimate at this point.

It won't give us information this turn necessarily, but starting Maphara & getting the propaganda office running is still a fine way to keep this ticking without knowing details.

That is a monumentally bad idea. Do not do that. You will need those three Military Actions per Turn to prevent a total military collapse once Voxx Primus shifts its reserves to the front you just opened.

I woukd like to point out that you yourself do not have those. You are going in with 100% of your military. They aren't.

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Good to know.

 

[Picio]

I just noticed that people are so focused about Voxx Primus that rest of the planet got totally ignored.
So what if you conquer Voxx Primus if Duchy then kick you teeth in with rest of the armies and fleets?

Edit: We don't even know how big it is.

 

[The Laurent]

That's probably not a terrible assumption, but it's still an assumption. And it tells us nothing about how much we'll push it off with things like the propaganda office & any additional actions. If we've only got seven turns with the office I'm going to push for civilian evac ships, infiltrating agri-worlds and shipbuilding. If we have 20 then it's terraforming & research.

@The Laurent Can we add a write-in that the Propaganda Bureau needs to provide us with an estimate of how long until a Voxx Revolution must be kicked off and alternate ways to delay it? This feels like something our people have the in-universe expertise to estimate at this point.

It won't give us information this turn necessarily, but starting Maphara & getting the propaganda office running is still a fine way to keep this ticking without knowing details.


Good to know.

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I feel like that's sorta, like... I think if we're going that route we should rather set a time span we think we can actually manage and tell them to try to keep it within that framework. Say, "I'd prefer it if I had 120 years before it's Go Time, try to get me that" or whatever.

 

[PurposefulZephyr]

I hope the Propaganda Office will tell us "Boss, revolution has 30 more years in the shadow at current rate. You either blow it up early or cook something up to help us hide them better, which even then gives us maybe another 20 years."

Will probably need to add to the write in: "Make them periodically report to us how much time is left and if they have any additional help to keep that time."

 

[Neablis]

I feel like that's sorta, like... I think if we're going that route we should rather set a time span we think we can actually manage and tell them to try to keep it within that framework. Say, "I'd prefer it if I had 120 years before it's Go Time, try to get me that" or whatever.

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Why not say 180-200 and do the Maphara action? Then backfill terraforming aimed to land at that date. I will note we're still 250 billion short on housing Voxx. Assuming half of the planet dies in the revolution.

 

[The Laurent]

I hope the Propaganda Office will tell us "Boss, revolution has 30 more years in the shadow at current rate. You either blow it up early or cook something up to help us hide them better, which even then gives us maybe another 20 years."

Will probably need to add to the write in: "Make them periodically report to us how much time is left and if they have any additional help to keep that time."

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I get that you're weary, but this is actually a really annoying/frustrating hope.

Why not say 180-200 and do the Maphara action? Then backfill terraforming aimed to land at that date. I will note we're still 250 billion short on housing Voxx. Assuming half of the planet dies in the revolution.

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Because I do not think we can manage it. The QM has repeatedly been signalling that we don't have that long, even if I think we have more than 30 or 40 years.

Like, this is what they're going to TRY to do, not what they're going to succeed at doing.

 

[aceraptor]

People. If we do actions plus the propaganda office we can keep the Voxx timer at 1 letter a turn.

@The Laurent I think the reason why the Voxx Primus action gained only one more red letter is we did a Voxx Primus action.

If we keep it up we can keep building up and preparing for at least 10 turns. The propaganda office will likely let us get away with doing a Voxx action every other turn or so to push the timer back and keep it from gaining multiple red letters a turn.

We just need to keep up the investment and aim the actions right, like subverting the lower rank Arbites for example to partially blind the Duchy's surveillance.

 

[The Laurent]

People. If we do actions plus the propaganda office we can keep the Voxx timer at 1 letter a turn.

@The Laurent I think the reason why the Voxx Primus action gained only one more red letter is we did a Voxx Primus action.

If we keep it up we can keep building up and preparing for at least 10 turns. The propaganda office will likely let us get away with doing a Voxx action every other turn or so to push the timer back and keep it from gaining multiple red letters a turn.

We just need to keep up the investment and aim the actions right, like subverting the lower rank Arbites for example to partially blind the Duchy's surveillance.

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Yeah, I do think we CAN get 10-12 turns if we work at it enough. I don't think we can have a ghost of a chance of getting twenty.

 

[Aerrow Shadow]

We will not be able to start evacuating people immediately , so the terraforming doesn't need to be ready the turn of the revolution.
Depending on how long it takes to secure enough of the planet we will have a few more turns.
And even if Maphara finishes after we evacuated voxx it will be useful to relief pressure from our planets that took in people from voxx.

 

[aceraptor]

Yeah, I do think we CAN get 10-12 turns if we work at it enough. I don't think we can have a ghost of a chance of getting twenty.

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We can probably do 15 turns if we stretch it and do good Voxx actions I think.

The war for Voxx won't be over in a turn I think. Every campaign we've had, any seriously defended world took multiple turns to take. Voxx won't be safe for evacuation for probably 3 turns at least. And if we take the agriculture worlds intact we can keep the Voxx population that's left after the war alive until we can relocate them.

 

[The Laurent]

That is a monumentally bad idea. Do not do that. You will need those three Military Actions per Turn to prevent a total military collapse once Voxx Primus shifts its reserves to the front you just opened.

I would like to point out that you yourself do not have those. You are going in with 100% of your military. They aren't.

20 Ships and very much so as they would be a coordinated fleet instead of a mish-mash of ships.

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Hmm, since we're going to an SBG standard, how would they match up on the Less than, Equal to, Greater than, Greater than Two scale for SBGs?

 

[Profilozof]

Here is me, again, with the another what the fucking alpha legion is doing in the background:

For the first time in probably forever, both not-chaos and chaos legioners are working for the same ultimate goal: Federation taking over Voxx Primus.

Why?
Chaos: Because it fucks over the duchy, which is will allow many chaos forces to get more powerful as the duchy will lose most of its recruits which will make people desperate
Not-chaos: Because the federation is already doing this, and by taking control over Voxx, the Federation could gain a lot of manpower to basically blitz nearby trouble points, as well as us researching and uncovering secrets in the hives with our better mechanicum could get us to research more.

How? Hydra Dominatus

Who? I am Alpharius

Where? In the walls

 

[sunrise]

Lets say we got 10 turns by spending 5 actions on slowing voxx down(songs, research, write ins) that leaves 25 actions,
7 to build 2 more SBG's
3 to build SAG's
1 to study the wreckage
1 to design evac ships
1-3 to build evac ships
1 terraform
2 to start infiltrating the agri worlds
2 for Infantry research(so we do not lose 20 SAG's per turn)
1 Design action to upgrade the crux + get additional civilian designs(a light freighter with Hymns of the Machines), a destroyer for when we have enough scouts
2 to complete the propaganda office

I like to build one more SBG but do not know what to remove to make room for it

 

[The Laurent]

Lets say we got 10 turns by spending 5 actions on slowing voxx down(songs, research, write ins) that leaves 25 actions,
7 to build 2 more SBG's
3 to build SAG's
1 to study the wreckage
1 to design evac ships
1-3 to build evac ships
1 terraform
2 to start infiltrating the agri worlds
2 for Infantry research(so we do not lose 20 SAG's per turn)
1 Design action to upgrade the crux + get additional civilian designs(a light freighter with Hymns of the Machines), a destroyer for when we have enough scouts
2 to complete the propaganda office

I like to build one more SBG but do not know what to remove to make room for it

Click to shrink...

Well I will say if the Industrial Throughput thing reduces the SBGs from 3.5 to 3, that would free up a little bit of space. Not enough for a 6th SBG, tho.

 

[Neablis]

I'm deciding between which of three plans to champion.

The first one's from @The Laurent, and assumes we have less than 10ish turns even with the Propaganda Office.

[] Plan: Buying More Time to Build
-[] [General] Propaganda For The Foreign Masses (1/3) x2
--[] [Free] Direct them to continue the Voxx Primus Infiltration. While expansion (done carefully) is still important, make sure they infiltrate every sector of society... even the nobles, though likely via servants, done carefully and with secrecy as the main watchword. It will yet be decades or even centuries until the revolution--not that you can tell those on the ground--but now is the time to begin moving to both slow discovery and make ready for when it does come. Also don't forget to keep up the infiltration of the military and defense stations.
-[] Evacuation Fleets - (Ship Design Sub-Turn) (0/?)

The second one is assuming we at least 16 turns, or we let some part of Voxx stew in it's own juices for >5 turns after we take it.
[] Plan: Buying More Time to Grow
-[] [General] Propaganda For The Foreign Masses (1/3) x2
--[] [Free] Direct them to continue the Voxx Primus Infiltration. While expansion (done carefully) is still important, make sure they infiltrate every sector of society... even the nobles, though likely via servants, done carefully and with secrecy as the main watchword. It will yet be decades or even centuries until the revolution--not that you can tell those on the ground--but now is the time to begin moving to both slow discovery and make ready for when it does come. Also don't forget to keep up the infiltration of the military and defense stations.
-[] [General] Terraform (Planet) Maphara - (Target Biosphere: Tepui and Cenote) - (Maximum Population: 101 Billion) - (Terraformation Time: ~200 Years)

The third assumes we have between 10-15 turns.
[] Plan: Buying More Time to Fight
-[] [General] Propaganda For The Foreign Masses (1/3) x2
--[] [Free] Direct them to continue the Voxx Primus Infiltration. While expansion (done carefully) is still important, make sure they infiltrate every sector of society... even the nobles, though likely via servants, done carefully and with secrecy as the main watchword. It will yet be decades or even centuries until the revolution--not that you can tell those on the ground--but now is the time to begin moving to both slow discovery and make ready for when it does come. Also don't forget to keep up the infiltration of the military and defense stations.
-[] [General] Terraform (Planet) Git - (Target Biosphere: Megaflora) - (Maximum Population: 36 Billion) - (Terraformation Time: ~160 Years)

The flat truth of the matter is that we don't have the space to house the people of Voxx. And the most efficient way to get that space is by terraforming. Which we need to start now.

We can do military building later, in the 5ish turns before Voxx pops off. Though I do want to point out that we have
-[] Sophont Workforce Requirement Reduction Considerations (0/2)
(Gain: Tiny increase in partly automated industries.)
Which would further increase our automation. Something to think about.

Lets say we got 10 turns by spending 5 actions on slowing voxx down(songs, research, write ins) that leaves 25 actions,
7 to build 2 more SBG's
3 to build SAG's
1 to study the wreckage
1 to design evac ships
1-3 to build evac ships
1 terraform
2 to start infiltrating the agri worlds
2 for Infantry research(so we do not lose 20 SAG's per turn)
1 Design action to upgrade the crux + get additional civilian designs(a light freighter with Hymns of the Machines), a destroyer for when we have enough scouts
2 to complete the propaganda office

I like to build one more SBG but do not know what to remove to make room for it

Click to shrink...

My problem with this is that it does zero to prep for absorbing Voxx. We'll have 250 billion people just kinda dying on the planet while we fight above it.

 

[The Laurent]

I'm deciding between which of three plans to champion.

The first one's from @The Laurent, and assumes we have less than 10ish turns even with the Propaganda Office.

[] Plan: Buying More Time to Build
-[] [General] Propaganda For The Foreign Masses (1/3) x2
--[] [Free] Direct them to continue the Voxx Primus Infiltration. While expansion (done carefully) is still important, make sure they infiltrate every sector of society... even the nobles, though likely via servants, done carefully and with secrecy as the main watchword. It will yet be decades or even centuries until the revolution--not that you can tell those on the ground--but now is the time to begin moving to both slow discovery and make ready for when it does come. Also don't forget to keep up the infiltration of the military and defense stations.
-[] Evacuation Fleets - (Ship Design Sub-Turn) (0/?)

The second one is assuming we at least 16 turns, or we let some part of Voxx stew in it's own juices for >5 turns after we take it.
[] Plan: Buying More Time to Grow
-[] [General] Propaganda For The Foreign Masses (1/3) x2
--[] [Free] Direct them to continue the Voxx Primus Infiltration. While expansion (done carefully) is still important, make sure they infiltrate every sector of society... even the nobles, though likely via servants, done carefully and with secrecy as the main watchword. It will yet be decades or even centuries until the revolution--not that you can tell those on the ground--but now is the time to begin moving to both slow discovery and make ready for when it does come. Also don't forget to keep up the infiltration of the military and defense stations.
-[] [General] Terraform (Planet) Maphara - (Target Biosphere: Tepui and Cenote) - (Maximum Population: 101 Billion) - (Terraformation Time: ~200 Years)

The third assumes we have between 10-15 turns.
[] Plan: Buying More Time to Fight
-[] [General] Propaganda For The Foreign Masses (1/3) x2
--[] [Free] Direct them to continue the Voxx Primus Infiltration. While expansion (done carefully) is still important, make sure they infiltrate every sector of society... even the nobles, though likely via servants, done carefully and with secrecy as the main watchword. It will yet be decades or even centuries until the revolution--not that you can tell those on the ground--but now is the time to begin moving to both slow discovery and make ready for when it does come. Also don't forget to keep up the infiltration of the military and defense stations.
-[] [General] Terraform (Planet) Git - (Target Biosphere: Megaflora) - (Maximum Population: 36 Billion) - (Terraformation Time: ~160 Years)

The flat truth of the matter is that we don't have the space to house the people of Voxx. And the most efficient way to get that space is by terraforming. Which we need to start now.

We can do military building later, in the 5ish turns before Voxx pops off. Though I do want to point out that we have
-[] Sophont Workforce Requirement Reduction Considerations (0/2)
(Gain: Tiny increase in partly automated industries.)
Which would further increase our automation. Something to think about.


My problem with this is that it does zero to prep for absorbing Voxx. We'll have 250 billion people just kinda dying on the planet while we fight above it.

Click to shrink...

I do think that it leaves something to be desired (I wanna do a Combat Song and a Revolution Song), but the Ag Infiltration would be to make it so that we can rely on the Ag supplies to supplament the shit on the planet.

Also.


[] Plan: Buying More Time to Build v2
-[] [General] Propaganda For The Foreign Masses (1/3) x2
--[] [Free] Direct them to continue the Voxx Primus Infiltration. While expansion (done carefully) is still important, make sure they infiltrate every sector of society... even the nobles, though likely via servants, done carefully and with secrecy as the main watchword. It will yet be decades or even centuries until the revolution--not that you can tell those on the ground--but now is the time to begin moving to both slow discovery and make ready for when it does come. Also don't forget to keep up the infiltration of the military and defense stations.
-[] Evacuation Fleets - (Ship Design Sub-Turn) (0/?)
-[] [Free Melody] Death

I wanna do the Death Melody now that we get a free one because it's likely to be important for any sort of Combat song!

 

[ShakeyDog]

I think taking Terraform Maphara this turn is essential.

Its almost the value of 10 Space Habitat actions and makes it a lot easier to avoid another action sink of dealing with civil unrest created by putting 2-4x more Hivers than local population on our home planets.

Spoiler: QM's quote

Not 24 Billion per world, that is for sure. Maybe 2. But that would cause heavy unrest due to culture clash and friction.

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We don't know when the Duchy War will have to kick off but its looking a lot closer to 100-200 years from now than a couple turns ago. But Maphara doesn't have to be ready by then, since we likely can't evacuate Voxx Primus until the ground war is done, and the ground war will take an 'unknown amount of time' but its a war thats going to kill 350 billion people, it won't be fast.

1. You can certainly try an evacuation in a planetary warzone!

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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.

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And on top of that, we likely don't need to/can't evacuate hundreds of billions of people in a couple turns so there will be more time for Maphara to cook if needed. And we can likely leave some of the Hivers on planet for a couple turns if absolutely needed.

...if you try to integrate the planet instead of leaving it to fester until you have shifted enough people away to leave the planet a husk of itself.

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If I could convince people of my sincerity maybe my plan could include Maphara the turn after next? But I honestly don't know if they'd think I was just trying to put it off forever or whatnot.

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I believe you're sincere but I don't believe its realistic. The longer it is put off the less likely it is to happen. The research actions are important but not essential to happen this turn.

 

[Neablis]

I do think that it leaves something to be desired (I wanna do a Combat Song and a Revolution Song), but the Ag Infiltration would be to make it so that we can rely on the Ag supplies to supplament the shit on the planet.

Also.


[] Plan: Buying More Time to Build v2
-[] [General] Propaganda For The Foreign Masses (1/3) x2
--[] [Free] Direct them to continue the Voxx Primus Infiltration. While expansion (done carefully) is still important, make sure they infiltrate every sector of society... even the nobles, though likely via servants, done carefully and with secrecy as the main watchword. It will yet be decades or even centuries until the revolution--not that you can tell those on the ground--but now is the time to begin moving to both slow discovery and make ready for when it does come. Also don't forget to keep up the infiltration of the military and defense stations.
-[] Evacuation Fleets - (Ship Design Sub-Turn) (0/?)
-[] [Free Melody] Death

I wanna do the Death Melody now that we get a free one because it's likely to be important for any sort of Combat song!

Click to shrink...

Songs would be great, but I think we agree that's not a now thing. I would prioritize grounding over combat, since I think van Zandt has weaponized their Psykers quite a bit and neutralizing that matters more than one more weapon in our arsenal.

I'm also also going to ask - what's the point of the ships without somewhere to put people? We're 250 billion short, 200 if we leave people on Voxx and take the development hit. Even if you didn't think we have 200 years, there are better options that take less time and are the most action-efficent manner to house people.

 

[sunrise]

-[] [Free Melody] Death

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Fire would work for combat as well and is also part of several existing songs(having a better version of the navigator song will help with the evacuation).

 

[The Laurent]

Fire would work for combat as well and is also part of several existing songs(having a better version of the navigator song will help with the evacuation).

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We're talking about Song components. I'd rather have more things to choose from. IE, be able to do Fire 1, Death 1, Some Other Thing 1.

 

[PurposefulZephyr]

Wonder how the Revolution Ticker™ works, especially with us slowing it down.

Option to trigger revolution has 25 letters. 2 of it's letters are red.
Once full option turns red, revolution is here.
Past 2 turns, we got 1 red letter each (calling it a tick, cause ding-dong, our time is coming). Right after spooky hive purge, then turn after, with us going all in on hiding/infiltrating.
Our attempts at hiding harder will slow it down, but revolution ticker advances every turn.

Assumption: It's speed of advance doubles every turn. This gives us 2(now) => 4 => 8 => 16 => DING DONG... 3-4 turns before it goes hot.
We have already slowed the ticker. It was almost certainly going to be more than +1 tick, but we went all in on Voxx preparation.

How much can we slow it down? We have the servo-skulls, we have songs to make, write-in actions to hide harder.
How much is an action worth, here? Few models from top of my head. I will spare you my mathematical musings- I have no clue how to calculate this. We have far too little info to know how much do our efforts matter in slowing it down.

We can buy a turn more for sure, but more than that?
Going to make a gut feeling assumption = max we can stretch our time is doubling it- 6-8 turns from now is do or die.
Best case scenario (8 turns) = it will get hot just in time for Blazing Sun setting down on each planet, and Lamenters getting a new fleet. Best case.

So worth it to spend an action on Lamenters and Blazing sun each.
We really should spend an action or two next turn on hiding better. Maybe all 3 actions! Even a single turn more is a blessing worth it's weight in juvenat.

 

[ShakeyDog]

Fire would work for combat as well and is also part of several existing songs(having a better version of the navigator song will help with the evacuation).

Click to shrink...

Songs only upgrade when all components are upgraded, I kinda think its better to get more Melody options. It does look like we can make good combat songs without Death but I think it adds good killin' vibes.

I like @BigBadBob7070 's plan with the Death Melody added.

[] Plan: Seeding Rebellion
-[] [General] Propaganda For The Foreign Masses (1/3)
-[] Evacuation Fleets - (Ship Design Sub-Turn) (0/?)
-[] [General] Terraform (Maphara)
-[] [Free Melody] Death

 

[The Laurent]

Wonder how the Revolution Ticker™ works, especially with us slowing it down.

Option to trigger revolution has 25 letters. 2 of it's letters are red.
Once full option turns red, revolution is here.
Past 2 turns, we got 1 red letter each (calling it a tick, cause ding-dong, our time is coming). Right after spooky hive purge, then turn after, with us going all in on hiding/infiltrating.
Our attempts at hiding harder will slow it down, but revolution ticker advances every turn.

Assumption: It's speed of advance doubles every turn. This gives us 2(now) => 4 => 8 => 16 => DING DONG... 3-4 turns before it goes hot.
We have already slowed the ticker. It was almost certainly going to be more than +1 tick, but we went all in on Voxx preparation.

How much can we slow it down? We have the servo-skulls, we have songs to make, write-in actions to hide harder.
How much is an action worth, here? Few models from top of my head. I will spare you my mathematical musings- I have no clue how to calculate this. We have far too little info to know how much do our efforts matter in slowing it down.

We can buy a turn more for sure, but more than that?
Going to make a gut feeling assumption = max we can stretch our time is doubling it- 6-8 turns from now is do or die.
Best case scenario (8 turns) = it will get hot just in time for Blazing Sun setting down on each planet, and Lamenters getting a new fleet. Best case.

So worth it to spend an action on Lamenters and Blazing sun each.
We really should spend an action or two next turn on hiding better. Maybe all 3 actions! Even a single turn more is a blessing worth it's weight in juvenat.

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I disagree slightly on your timing conclusions, but I do think we should spend an action on the Lamenters and the importance of keeping up the work.

Basically, the key here is... say it with me, we need to Flatter The Curve.

I'm sorry for giving all of you 2020 flashbacks, but I had to do it.

 

[Aerrow Shadow]

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Why are you writing so detailed directives for the propaganda office when HeroCooky said to give general directives?

No. They will basically do all the shit they need to do based on a general direction you sicc them on. Say you tell them to prepared Planet X for revolution in Y time, and the Prop Office will do what it can to do that.

Click to shrink...

 

[HeroCooky]

Hmm, since we're going to an SBG standard, how would they match up on the Less than, Equal to, Greater than, Greater than Two scale for SBGs?

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Kinda hard to say as they basically insta-win once a ships shield pops and they teleport a dozen strike teams into one of your ship to kill it.

...equal to an SBG. Or thereabouts.

Edit: With that said, night!