Doomed Wombat
Let's go Darling!
- Location
- Dancing on wires!
-
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The Long Night Part One: Embers in the Dusk: A Planetary Governor Quest (43k) Complete Sequel Up
- Thread starter Durin
- Start date
- Location
- madison
I meant someone who's a higher level blank than they are a psyker, would we get a blank who has a pskyer like trick rather than a psyker with a blank like trick?
- Location
- Alice Springs, Australia
1. they do not
2. you can ask you get a no clue as an answer
3. not without finding the notes
4. no
5. you are not sure, not omega but stronger then Tau
Doomed Wombat
Let's go Darling!
- Location
- Dancing on wires!
Perhaps something like Spear?
Ominous.
Also ominous.
Normal
Rotary Laser
A laser variant trading the range of laser weapony for increased firing speed. The principels behind the functioning does not allow a reduction in size below void ship sized weapon but allow upscaling just as easily as any other laser variant. Remarkebly the focus allows it to draw a variable amount of energy of 1/2 up to 5 times what is normal wich is for a laser based weapon still acceptable. At the lowest energy draw and fire rate it still archives 75% of a normal battery while on the highest energy draw and fire rate it can reduce to as much as 25%. As the per shoot damage and penetration is lower it is a supreme weapon to destroy large numbers of lightly armored targets but is worse against heavier targets. Tactically it give ship captains the ability to redirect spare energy from other systems to this or away based on the situation instead of choosing to operate it or not.
Guided Plama Battery
A hybrid system using focussing laser to extend the range of plasma batteries. A system that can easily replace current long range plasma batteries but allow for an even greater extension of range. Guided plasma batteries can operate on extreme range (for a plasma battery) with the same downsides as other weapons for futher range extension.
Advanced
Pulse Grid
A ship component that has to share the space of traditional point defences. At the cost of replacing or reducing the point defence capabilities of a ship it gains a weapon of battery strenght (for its ship size and facing except for an escort) for knive fighting range with effectively no minimum range. A system that has substantial heavier energy draw than normal point defence and even less range but with the firepower to punch through void ship shields and armor. For larger ships it give them the ability to target and destroy smaller vessels attemting to board or threating any that gets to close. It is theoretically possible to install both grid systems on a ship but as both rely on the same principels for positioning and will at best interfere with each other functions or at worst make the ship more vunerable. It can operate as a standart point defence system but at best at 10% effect if not lower.
Phased Torpedo MK3
A torpedo variant that uses a form of phasing to avoid sensors and point defence on the final aproach to its target. The energy stores nessecary will reduce the payload and the torpedo is more expensive to produce while through its phased state it can not carry the more exotic warheads. The phasing process itself is simplyfied to reduce the cost by a factor of 10 and halving the battery space -a found manual claims this- but in exchange void shields will deflect a phased torpedo.
Experimental
Virtual Mass Engine
An engine type that through gravimetric interaction with itself allows a ship to move at full speed in any direction. The 'Virtual' part of the engine name is derived from the fact that the gravimetric operation while in use are invisible from just a dozen meter away from the engine core making it effectively invisible to sensors. One downsite is that a ship propelled by it gains no momentum and will just stop the moment the engine deaktivates. Additionally maneuvering while active will fight the movement speed and generally made more difficult. Through the possible velocity changes does not negatively affect the ship, crew or components (as they will not feel acceleration of movement) the stabilizing field the engine puts on the ship is described as unsettling. Through it can reach similar speeds of normal engines at only high cost instead of extreme the unsettling feeling is compound during warp travels with the already existing unease experienced by the crew.
Morphe Micro Fighter
A void fighter of very small size. To best describe it a knight titan able to archive flight speeds equivalent of slower void fighters (which are around 100m long). Its projected use was to attack large ships and crippling them by destroying every component reachable outside. For that function it is equipped with stronger than usual shields against point defence weapons and heavy close combat power weapons and a pair of heavy infantry weapons to defend against sallying crew. To substain the acceleration the fighter has a flight mode and for attacking a ship a walker mode. Given its size it is an extremly maneuveral craft and very resilient but compared to the weapons used as point defence and by void fighters its best defence is to remain unoticed. Given chance a wing of these crafts can do crippling damage to the point defences, sensor and weapons of high value targets while staying out of its firing arcs.
@Durin
Anything to change or some good ideas?
Rotary Laser
A laser variant trading the range of laser weapony for increased firing speed. The principels behind the functioning does not allow a reduction in size below void ship sized weapon but allow upscaling just as easily as any other laser variant. Remarkebly the focus allows it to draw a variable amount of energy of 1/2 up to 5 times what is normal wich is for a laser based weapon still acceptable. At the lowest energy draw and fire rate it still archives 75% of a normal battery while on the highest energy draw and fire rate it can reduce to as much as 25%. As the per shoot damage and penetration is lower it is a supreme weapon to destroy large numbers of lightly armored targets but is worse against heavier targets. Tactically it give ship captains the ability to redirect spare energy from other systems to this or away based on the situation instead of choosing to operate it or not.
Guided Plama Battery
A hybrid system using focussing laser to extend the range of plasma batteries. A system that can easily replace current long range plasma batteries but allow for an even greater extension of range. Guided plasma batteries can operate on extreme range (for a plasma battery) with the same downsides as other weapons for futher range extension.
Advanced
Pulse Grid
A ship component that has to share the space of traditional point defences. At the cost of replacing or reducing the point defence capabilities of a ship it gains a weapon of battery strenght (for its ship size and facing except for an escort) for knive fighting range with effectively no minimum range. A system that has substantial heavier energy draw than normal point defence and even less range but with the firepower to punch through void ship shields and armor. For larger ships it give them the ability to target and destroy smaller vessels attemting to board or threating any that gets to close. It is theoretically possible to install both grid systems on a ship but as both rely on the same principels for positioning and will at best interfere with each other functions or at worst make the ship more vunerable. It can operate as a standart point defence system but at best at 10% effect if not lower.
Phased Torpedo MK3
A torpedo variant that uses a form of phasing to avoid sensors and point defence on the final aproach to its target. The energy stores nessecary will reduce the payload and the torpedo is more expensive to produce while through its phased state it can not carry the more exotic warheads. The phasing process itself is simplyfied to reduce the cost by a factor of 10 and halving the battery space -a found manual claims this- but in exchange void shields will deflect a phased torpedo.
Experimental
Virtual Mass Engine
An engine type that through gravimetric interaction with itself allows a ship to move at full speed in any direction. The 'Virtual' part of the engine name is derived from the fact that the gravimetric operation while in use are invisible from just a dozen meter away from the engine core making it effectively invisible to sensors. One downsite is that a ship propelled by it gains no momentum and will just stop the moment the engine deaktivates. Additionally maneuvering while active will fight the movement speed and generally made more difficult. Through the possible velocity changes does not negatively affect the ship, crew or components (as they will not feel acceleration of movement) the stabilizing field the engine puts on the ship is described as unsettling. Through it can reach similar speeds of normal engines at only high cost instead of extreme the unsettling feeling is compound during warp travels with the already existing unease experienced by the crew.
Morphe Micro Fighter
A void fighter of very small size. To best describe it a knight titan able to archive flight speeds equivalent of slower void fighters (which are around 100m long). Its projected use was to attack large ships and crippling them by destroying every component reachable outside. For that function it is equipped with stronger than usual shields against point defence weapons and heavy close combat power weapons and a pair of heavy infantry weapons to defend against sallying crew. To substain the acceleration the fighter has a flight mode and for attacking a ship a walker mode. Given its size it is an extremly maneuveral craft and very resilient but compared to the weapons used as point defence and by void fighters its best defence is to remain unoticed. Given chance a wing of these crafts can do crippling damage to the point defences, sensor and weapons of high value targets while staying out of its firing arcs.
@Durin
Anything to change or some good ideas?
- Location
- England
Portec, I really like the knight/fighter.
- Location
- Peterborough, NH, USA
Normal
Wreck Harvester: This is essentially a Destroyer-sized mining ship, specialized for hulked or badly (60% or more) damaged ships, though monitors and the like also fall into this range. While far too specialized to harvest asteroids very well, it drastically increases the effectiveness of efforts to salvage material from wrecked ships. Presumably created to lower the chances of a single battle totaling an entire fleet for the forseeable future.
Wreck Harvester: This is essentially a Destroyer-sized mining ship, specialized for hulked or badly (60% or more) damaged ships, though monitors and the like also fall into this range. While far too specialized to harvest asteroids very well, it drastically increases the effectiveness of efforts to salvage material from wrecked ships. Presumably created to lower the chances of a single battle totaling an entire fleet for the forseeable future.
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- Location
- United states
I'd say that there is no freaking way that anyone would be willing to send it's people to live on Avernus. We've already been told repeatedly that it's considered inhumane since most of them are going to die for the first few years alone. Not to mention that there would be no way in hell the rest of the Trust would sign up with the reasoning for doing that being in the hopes of an alien planet mind altering humans. And Null-psykers have been noted to be 1 in a trillion. It's also noted that it severely weakens the psyker powers to the poitn that Aria would be alpha level without the Pariah gene instead of Delta.
Interesting, I'm guessing that the PM finds Aria too valuable since she is an amazing anti-chaos weapon that can't be replicated so it doesn't allow anything too likely to kill her to attack her.
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- Location
- Alice Springs, Australia
Domestic cats on Avernus
- Location
- England
Domestic cats on Averneus
For anyone new to Averneus one thing to get used to is the huge number of domestically kept psychic cats. Actually exceeding the number of psychic pets per capita of the Eldar empire these eldritch felions are kept for companionship and security.
Phase cats are far better vermin hunters than the conventional Terran cats that spread across the galaxy on humanities starships. Faster, smarter and tougher as standard the ability to phase, and often, for older wiser cats, to partial phase allows them to pursue small, and often very dangerous creatures infiltrating the home. The extra intelligence allows them to be trained for a variety of tasks one would struggle to achieve with a normal cat too, with phase cats often understanding at least the general idea of hundreds of words. On occasion phase cats will phase inside their owners while they sleep. Waking up and having a cat spring out from inside you can be terrifying.
Temple cats are just as smart, albiet moderately less effective hunters. They shine in three regards. Firstly they look majestic. Those giant ears make the Duat cat a sight to behold. Secondly, they very willingly murder almost every blink spider that appears near them, and only long range teleporting in ones are a real threat to anyone with a temple cat. Finally, they serve as a moderately effective warning system for rogue psyker attacks. While often they don't run early enough to get away from particularly destructive individuals they often can detect a nearby psyker a good few hours before they manifest. Given the roaming nature of temple cats this can be hard to notice however. Sometimes its hard to tell why temple cats go where they do but if they leave the neighborhood en mass the people should follow.
Explorers in the far off regions of Averneus report more small cats with different powers but these reports are often conflicting or bizzare. Of particular note is the chameleon cat, rumoured to exist around Lindon, but given its degree of stealth, almost unstudied. It is also rumoured that the cats in Stygia are... odd, but little is known of the impossible city.
For anyone new to Averneus one thing to get used to is the huge number of domestically kept psychic cats. Actually exceeding the number of psychic pets per capita of the Eldar empire these eldritch felions are kept for companionship and security.
Phase cats are far better vermin hunters than the conventional Terran cats that spread across the galaxy on humanities starships. Faster, smarter and tougher as standard the ability to phase, and often, for older wiser cats, to partial phase allows them to pursue small, and often very dangerous creatures infiltrating the home. The extra intelligence allows them to be trained for a variety of tasks one would struggle to achieve with a normal cat too, with phase cats often understanding at least the general idea of hundreds of words. On occasion phase cats will phase inside their owners while they sleep. Waking up and having a cat spring out from inside you can be terrifying.
Temple cats are just as smart, albiet moderately less effective hunters. They shine in three regards. Firstly they look majestic. Those giant ears make the Duat cat a sight to behold. Secondly, they very willingly murder almost every blink spider that appears near them, and only long range teleporting in ones are a real threat to anyone with a temple cat. Finally, they serve as a moderately effective warning system for rogue psyker attacks. While often they don't run early enough to get away from particularly destructive individuals they often can detect a nearby psyker a good few hours before they manifest. Given the roaming nature of temple cats this can be hard to notice however. Sometimes its hard to tell why temple cats go where they do but if they leave the neighborhood en mass the people should follow.
Explorers in the far off regions of Averneus report more small cats with different powers but these reports are often conflicting or bizzare. Of particular note is the chameleon cat, rumoured to exist around Lindon, but given its degree of stealth, almost unstudied. It is also rumoured that the cats in Stygia are... odd, but little is known of the impossible city.
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Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
North is also where chaos invasions come from. >.<
So we have a bulwark and get bear Calvary. Awesome!
Currently the plan is to go east to Eta. I prefer it for a few reasons, including the fact that its the better prospect for economic expansion. (more places to build cities, less deadly and thus a higher population growth rate, etc.)
They are both large areas that give us resources and population density is really not a issue, since we have hives. Even if there is we can just expand to another part. There is not really places that are less deadly since we first settled the less deadly place to begin with. Plus bear Calvary. That would be a huge boon against chaos.
- Location
- United states
And odds are we are not even going to have time to study the time planes since Tranth is coming back with a bunch of DAoT tech that we need to research and are likely going to for the next hundred years. IIRC we also need an AI in the first place and Durin mentioned that the only way that they would even consider it is if things get desperate enough.
Additional cities mean additional buildings, which generate resources on top of the population generated resources. And again, Eta is less dangerous than Theta is. That means a lower death rate, which means a higher overall population growth rate, which is best to take advantage of by getting to the region sooner than later.
And no, just because we might inhabit the tundra doesn't mean we can go to the arctic. The arctic is a different region altogether, is the single most deadly region of Avernus that we know of, and its very doubtful we'll be able to make Blank Bear cavalry given we won't even be able to access the region without risking extreme likelihood of death. Your assessment of the likelihood of getting Blank Bear Cavalry seems incredibly optimistic. (I'll also mention that these are clearly based on polar bears, and as such likely don't create large enough populations for use as cavalry animals anyways)
- Location
- United states
Important to note that just because they are based on polar bears doesn't mean they are a complete comparison. Example being that since they live in the most dangerous region they are one of the most hardiest of Avernite races. Taking a few of them to one of our regions which are notably safer would likely have them reproduce at a way quicker rate than normal. And that's before taking into account that we may be able to convince the Trust to take them off world considering how amazingly useful they are against psykers and daemons which means chaos in general.
We also don't need any of our heroes to show up personally to go retrieve some since we have expandable troops for that kind of thing.
The Most Hated Creature of Region Eta
New region means new gribblies. It's an excellent time to give @Durin ideas for new wildlife.
Sergeant First Class Orlan Southard was nervous. Now, in some senses of the word an Avernite was always nervous, but that was usually just a state of alertness that was well above that of an ordinary human being. No, this was even more than that. Exploration of unknown areas was one of the most dangerous jobs a soldier in the Avernite army could do, and there was a lot about Region Eta that was unknown. But Governor Rotbart wanted it done so there'd be more room to expand into, so by the Emperor the Helltroopers would do it.
He and his men were currently moving up a hill to get a better view of the area they were exploring, walking through the razorgrass that could easily kill them were they not wearing powered armor. They had sent a servo skull up first and found nothing unusual, but that didn't really mean anything given all the psychic fuckery that the Deathworld they inhabited was famous for.
As they crested the hill, it was only his years of experience that allowed him to see that something was off. "Jenkins! Stop. Back up."
His subordinate quickly obeyed, backing up and leveling his weapon at the area in front of him, scanning for threats. "Sarge?" Jenkins asked, while the other men also began looking for whatever new horror it was that was about to try to murder them all.
Orlan moved forward, just a step away from the very well disguised trap. The circle of razorgrass on top of it was just a bit shorter, just a slight bit unhealthier than the surrounding vegetation. Just enough to tell that something was different, if you had a really good eye for detail. "Pit trap. Camouflaged."
Normally, he wouldn't have gotten so close to an unknown like this, but exploration had necessary risks, but like hell he'd ask one of his men to take it. Besides, if something was about to jump out from under this it would have when Jenkins had gotten close. Taking his power armored boot, he stomped down on the lid of the trap and pulled back as it collapsed into pieces and fell in. What he saw inside the pit filled him with existential horror right out of every Avernite's nightmares.
"SPIDERS! FUCK! FUCK!" he screamed, losing his composure. The pit was fucking filled with the abominable things. Different sized ones, too. Most were tiny, but there were swarms of the damn things. But there were others. Bigger ones, with the largers being around the size of a Space Marine's head. There also appeared to be several Raptor bones that seemed to be melted in places, the marrow sucked out of them most like.
Alerted to the presence of that which was the bane of all that was good and decent, Orlan's men prepared to both kill the monsters with extreme prejudice and fall into an orderly retreat while internally screaming like little girls. About a minute after everyone had backed away, awaiting for the damn things to come swarming out for a moment, the coghead that they'd been saddled with moved forward to inspect the pit.
"Fascinating." the junior biologis stated, as if he wasn't looking at something utterly terrifying. Everyone knew the cogheads who worked for the biologis were fucking crazy, so this shouldn't have taken anyone by surprise, but it did anyways. He had servo skulls scanning and recording, analyzing the damnable pit.
"What's the verdict? These things dangerous?" Orlan asked, as if the answer wasn't obvious.
"Evidence of some acidic compound used to melt through armor and bone... specimens variant in size... egg sacks present..."
"I asked a question. Answer it. Now." Orlan demanded.
The coghead turned to look at him, clearly annoyed. "As you have seen, these arachnids are incapable of escaping this pit. I surmise this is a nest. By itself, it is only dangerous if you are not observant enough and fall in, provided the acidic compound used by these creatures is sufficient to melt through your power armor."
"I'll bet that it can." one of Orlan's men said, just above a whisper. Orlan wouldn't take that bet, because of course the fucking spiders would have acid venom that could melt through power armor.
There was one other thing the coghead said that caught his attention, though. "By itself?" he asked, dreading the answer.
"These are likely adolescents of this species." the biologis responded with a tone expressing his keen interest. "The pit keeps them safe to grow to maturity, while food will occasionally stumble in to feed them. Given the size of the pit, I would surmise the adult of the species is much larger."
It was at that moment the adult of the species decided to make itself known, jumping out of the grass and tackling Isaacs, who was the furthest back from the rest of the group. The man shrieked in terror and pain as the big, black spider the size of a Helljackal sunk its horrible fangs into him, green gas coming out as acid rapidly melted through armor that could withstand las weapon fire.
Orlan and his men aimed and fired at the horrid thing, hoping that they weren't too late to save their comrade, but to no avail. All their weapons stopped as they hit a previously unseen energy field, because of fucking course the giant Emperor-damned spider had to have a fucking energy shield. What was worse, one of the heavy impaler rounds that had been fired at it was briefly caught in mid air, and then promptly fired back and slamming itself into another man right in his center of mass and killing him instantly.
"Energy weapons only! No kinetics!" Orlan ordered, feeling helpless as he watched Isaacs die. He and his men kept firing, but it didn't seem to be making any difference. The shield just wouldn't collapse.
"Splendorous! This will be a most interesting subject for my thesis. Now then, the Quest for Knowledge demands experimentation." the coghead mused. One of his mechandrites had a flamer attachment, which he used against the monster. The shield stopped it, but the fire spread around it. "Shield is unidirectional. Hypothesis: flanking and firing weapons from multiple directions will prove effective."
"You heard the coghead! Do it!" he barked, and his men hopped to it. Spreading out and encircling the beast, it worked. The shield could be focused in any one direction, but only one direction at a time. Simultaneous fire from different directions was indeed effective, though the damn thing's carapace was as tough as power armor and it took a good number of hits before the monster died.
"Fuck... FUCK!" Orlan yelled. "Alright, we've got a new threat profile, and we've taken losses. We need to get back to the main expedition group. But first, coghead, take your flamer and burn that fucking nest."
"But-" the biologis attempted to object. The idiot probably wanted to keep studying it.
"Now! By Rotbart's balls, you can find another one later. Just light the damn things on fire." he ordered, his tone brooking no opposition.
The coghead looked utterly dejected as he did so, but he did comply. "Such a wasted opportunity..."
Orlan ordered his men to gather the dog tags from their dead, and mark this location for hopeful but unlikely retrieval of the bodies later.
"Uh... Sarge..." Jenkins said, hesitation in his voice.
"What? Spit it out."
"We've got incoming! More spiders!" Jenkins said, his voice verging on panic.
And that's when Orlan saw them, moving in the grass towards their location. Nearly two dozen at various distances. "Shit. Shit. Retreat. We're falling back right the fuck now!"
The spiders pursued. They weren't much faster than someone moving at a brisk walk, but they were inexorable. They didn't stop. Even hours later. Orlan eventually decided that they had no choice but to fight them.
===
Subject: Shield Spider
Region: Eta
Author: Junior Biologis Turkus Mosan
Summary of Initial Observations:
The Shield Spider is a large arachnid species with several deadly features. Its chitinous armor is at least as tough as that of pre-collapse Astartes grade powered armor, while being surprisingly light. Its venom is highly acidic, likely increasing in potency as the subject reaches maturity, and has been observed to rapidly melt through Type I Trooper armor. It also boasts a powerful psychic defense, which allows it to create a unidirectional shield that seems to be all but impenetrable, though the shield can only be generated in any given direction at a time.
Testing has shown that even fire from the main gun of a Leman Russ Vanquisher is unable to pierce it. Additionally, the shield is able to capture a kinetic round and fire it back towards the point of origin with equal force. My request to test the effectiveness of Macro-cannon fire from one of the mobile exploration facilities was denied, for fear that it might actually be able to reflect the shell back.
Socially, several dozen Shield Spider adults seem to share a single nest, which are pits they dig and then disguise with local vegetation glued to a thin topper made from their webbing. This allows for sufficiently unwary prey to fall in and feed the younglings located within, though this may be supplemented with food brought in captured by hunting adults.
The adults seem to hunt for prey at a radius spanning several kilometers from the nest. When a Shield Spider spots potential prey, it pursues it relentlessly until it has either captured its prize or been slain in the process of making the attempt. There is no observed limit to how far a Shield Spider will chase its prey, and though it is not very fast it can likely outlast its quarry in terms of endurance while stopping any direct attacks towards it. Even getting out of sight will not stop pursuit. Much like early humans on ancient Terra, it walks its prey to death. It is currently unknown whether their ability to lock onto a target like this is psychic or mundane, and warrants further study.
The number of young seen inside the nest indicates that their population could explode exponentially if not culled, which could be problematic.
They seem to have some weakness to fire, and though their shields will block a direct blast, they are ineffective if the surrounding landscape is burning around them. Some soldiers have reported sightings of Firebats taking advantage of this principle to kill and cook some of these creatures for consumption, which is likely helps keeps their population from overwhelming the region.
=== The Most Hated Creature of Region Eta ===
Sergeant First Class Orlan Southard was nervous. Now, in some senses of the word an Avernite was always nervous, but that was usually just a state of alertness that was well above that of an ordinary human being. No, this was even more than that. Exploration of unknown areas was one of the most dangerous jobs a soldier in the Avernite army could do, and there was a lot about Region Eta that was unknown. But Governor Rotbart wanted it done so there'd be more room to expand into, so by the Emperor the Helltroopers would do it.
He and his men were currently moving up a hill to get a better view of the area they were exploring, walking through the razorgrass that could easily kill them were they not wearing powered armor. They had sent a servo skull up first and found nothing unusual, but that didn't really mean anything given all the psychic fuckery that the Deathworld they inhabited was famous for.
As they crested the hill, it was only his years of experience that allowed him to see that something was off. "Jenkins! Stop. Back up."
His subordinate quickly obeyed, backing up and leveling his weapon at the area in front of him, scanning for threats. "Sarge?" Jenkins asked, while the other men also began looking for whatever new horror it was that was about to try to murder them all.
Orlan moved forward, just a step away from the very well disguised trap. The circle of razorgrass on top of it was just a bit shorter, just a slight bit unhealthier than the surrounding vegetation. Just enough to tell that something was different, if you had a really good eye for detail. "Pit trap. Camouflaged."
Normally, he wouldn't have gotten so close to an unknown like this, but exploration had necessary risks, but like hell he'd ask one of his men to take it. Besides, if something was about to jump out from under this it would have when Jenkins had gotten close. Taking his power armored boot, he stomped down on the lid of the trap and pulled back as it collapsed into pieces and fell in. What he saw inside the pit filled him with existential horror right out of every Avernite's nightmares.
"SPIDERS! FUCK! FUCK!" he screamed, losing his composure. The pit was fucking filled with the abominable things. Different sized ones, too. Most were tiny, but there were swarms of the damn things. But there were others. Bigger ones, with the largers being around the size of a Space Marine's head. There also appeared to be several Raptor bones that seemed to be melted in places, the marrow sucked out of them most like.
Alerted to the presence of that which was the bane of all that was good and decent, Orlan's men prepared to both kill the monsters with extreme prejudice and fall into an orderly retreat while internally screaming like little girls. About a minute after everyone had backed away, awaiting for the damn things to come swarming out for a moment, the coghead that they'd been saddled with moved forward to inspect the pit.
"Fascinating." the junior biologis stated, as if he wasn't looking at something utterly terrifying. Everyone knew the cogheads who worked for the biologis were fucking crazy, so this shouldn't have taken anyone by surprise, but it did anyways. He had servo skulls scanning and recording, analyzing the damnable pit.
"What's the verdict? These things dangerous?" Orlan asked, as if the answer wasn't obvious.
"Evidence of some acidic compound used to melt through armor and bone... specimens variant in size... egg sacks present..."
"I asked a question. Answer it. Now." Orlan demanded.
The coghead turned to look at him, clearly annoyed. "As you have seen, these arachnids are incapable of escaping this pit. I surmise this is a nest. By itself, it is only dangerous if you are not observant enough and fall in, provided the acidic compound used by these creatures is sufficient to melt through your power armor."
"I'll bet that it can." one of Orlan's men said, just above a whisper. Orlan wouldn't take that bet, because of course the fucking spiders would have acid venom that could melt through power armor.
There was one other thing the coghead said that caught his attention, though. "By itself?" he asked, dreading the answer.
"These are likely adolescents of this species." the biologis responded with a tone expressing his keen interest. "The pit keeps them safe to grow to maturity, while food will occasionally stumble in to feed them. Given the size of the pit, I would surmise the adult of the species is much larger."
It was at that moment the adult of the species decided to make itself known, jumping out of the grass and tackling Isaacs, who was the furthest back from the rest of the group. The man shrieked in terror and pain as the big, black spider the size of a Helljackal sunk its horrible fangs into him, green gas coming out as acid rapidly melted through armor that could withstand las weapon fire.
Orlan and his men aimed and fired at the horrid thing, hoping that they weren't too late to save their comrade, but to no avail. All their weapons stopped as they hit a previously unseen energy field, because of fucking course the giant Emperor-damned spider had to have a fucking energy shield. What was worse, one of the heavy impaler rounds that had been fired at it was briefly caught in mid air, and then promptly fired back and slamming itself into another man right in his center of mass and killing him instantly.
"Energy weapons only! No kinetics!" Orlan ordered, feeling helpless as he watched Isaacs die. He and his men kept firing, but it didn't seem to be making any difference. The shield just wouldn't collapse.
"Splendorous! This will be a most interesting subject for my thesis. Now then, the Quest for Knowledge demands experimentation." the coghead mused. One of his mechandrites had a flamer attachment, which he used against the monster. The shield stopped it, but the fire spread around it. "Shield is unidirectional. Hypothesis: flanking and firing weapons from multiple directions will prove effective."
"You heard the coghead! Do it!" he barked, and his men hopped to it. Spreading out and encircling the beast, it worked. The shield could be focused in any one direction, but only one direction at a time. Simultaneous fire from different directions was indeed effective, though the damn thing's carapace was as tough as power armor and it took a good number of hits before the monster died.
"Fuck... FUCK!" Orlan yelled. "Alright, we've got a new threat profile, and we've taken losses. We need to get back to the main expedition group. But first, coghead, take your flamer and burn that fucking nest."
"But-" the biologis attempted to object. The idiot probably wanted to keep studying it.
"Now! By Rotbart's balls, you can find another one later. Just light the damn things on fire." he ordered, his tone brooking no opposition.
The coghead looked utterly dejected as he did so, but he did comply. "Such a wasted opportunity..."
Orlan ordered his men to gather the dog tags from their dead, and mark this location for hopeful but unlikely retrieval of the bodies later.
"Uh... Sarge..." Jenkins said, hesitation in his voice.
"What? Spit it out."
"We've got incoming! More spiders!" Jenkins said, his voice verging on panic.
And that's when Orlan saw them, moving in the grass towards their location. Nearly two dozen at various distances. "Shit. Shit. Retreat. We're falling back right the fuck now!"
The spiders pursued. They weren't much faster than someone moving at a brisk walk, but they were inexorable. They didn't stop. Even hours later. Orlan eventually decided that they had no choice but to fight them.
===
Subject: Shield Spider
Region: Eta
Author: Junior Biologis Turkus Mosan
Summary of Initial Observations:
The Shield Spider is a large arachnid species with several deadly features. Its chitinous armor is at least as tough as that of pre-collapse Astartes grade powered armor, while being surprisingly light. Its venom is highly acidic, likely increasing in potency as the subject reaches maturity, and has been observed to rapidly melt through Type I Trooper armor. It also boasts a powerful psychic defense, which allows it to create a unidirectional shield that seems to be all but impenetrable, though the shield can only be generated in any given direction at a time.
Testing has shown that even fire from the main gun of a Leman Russ Vanquisher is unable to pierce it. Additionally, the shield is able to capture a kinetic round and fire it back towards the point of origin with equal force. My request to test the effectiveness of Macro-cannon fire from one of the mobile exploration facilities was denied, for fear that it might actually be able to reflect the shell back.
Socially, several dozen Shield Spider adults seem to share a single nest, which are pits they dig and then disguise with local vegetation glued to a thin topper made from their webbing. This allows for sufficiently unwary prey to fall in and feed the younglings located within, though this may be supplemented with food brought in captured by hunting adults.
The adults seem to hunt for prey at a radius spanning several kilometers from the nest. When a Shield Spider spots potential prey, it pursues it relentlessly until it has either captured its prize or been slain in the process of making the attempt. There is no observed limit to how far a Shield Spider will chase its prey, and though it is not very fast it can likely outlast its quarry in terms of endurance while stopping any direct attacks towards it. Even getting out of sight will not stop pursuit. Much like early humans on ancient Terra, it walks its prey to death. It is currently unknown whether their ability to lock onto a target like this is psychic or mundane, and warrants further study.
The number of young seen inside the nest indicates that their population could explode exponentially if not culled, which could be problematic.
They seem to have some weakness to fire, and though their shields will block a direct blast, they are ineffective if the surrounding landscape is burning around them. Some soldiers have reported sightings of Firebats taking advantage of this principle to kill and cook some of these creatures for consumption, which is likely helps keeps their population from overwhelming the region.
So, this idea popped into my head and demanded to be written, and since we're going into a new region I figure it needs some creatures to fill it. And let's face it, every new region needs its own unique form of horrible spider, because Avernites hate them more than anything else.
So, with that in mind I thought of options. Shield Spiders popped to mind, the base concept stolen blatantly from The Wandering Inn, a somewhat amusing isekai web serial I've been reading to kill time between tasks as work. Large, armored spiders with camoflauged nests that will pursue you until one side is dead.
But that wasn't horrifying enough... so I toughened up the armor. And then I added acid venom, because they needed a way to kill our power armored troops themselves. But that still wasn't good enough, so why not add a psychic energy shield of some kind? Well, that sounds good... and Full Metal Panic had a new season recently, so why the fuck shouldn't I give them a psychic version of a Lambda Driver so it can reflect kinetic rounds back at things attacking it?
I'm sure our people will be having nightmares about these things for a long, long time. Still, at least they don't teleport![/QUOTE]
So, with that in mind I thought of options. Shield Spiders popped to mind, the base concept stolen blatantly from The Wandering Inn, a somewhat amusing isekai web serial I've been reading to kill time between tasks as work. Large, armored spiders with camoflauged nests that will pursue you until one side is dead.
But that wasn't horrifying enough... so I toughened up the armor. And then I added acid venom, because they needed a way to kill our power armored troops themselves. But that still wasn't good enough, so why not add a psychic energy shield of some kind? Well, that sounds good... and Full Metal Panic had a new season recently, so why the fuck shouldn't I give them a psychic version of a Lambda Driver so it can reflect kinetic rounds back at things attacking it?
I'm sure our people will be having nightmares about these things for a long, long time. Still, at least they don't teleport![/QUOTE]
Roskilde Tech ideas
- Location
- Toronto, Ontario(occasionally)
@Durin tech ideas, an omake on the travel to Roskilde is coming up next.
Roskilde Tech ideas
Advanced Singularity Thrusters and research notes
One day some researchers over in the Helheim system decided to create a ship mounted singularity projector, with the intention of shooting black holes at their enemies. This failed, they couldn't get enough range on it, it wouldn't actually provide enough gravitational pull to form an event horizon, and the gravity pulled on the ship in weird and unpredictable ways, so they gave up on the idea.
Then someone else picked it up and decided to run with it. They realized that by projecting a gravitational well a little ways off of a ship they could make the ship 'fall' in that direction, while the thrust gained in this manner was not exceptional compared to conventional systems, its ability to change the vector of small ships without losing speed was extremely useful to dodging, allowing a ship to throw their entire velocity into a new heading and vector, and improving the maximum distance that they could dodge attacks by in every direction, especially to the rear.
They would essentially slingshot the craft around an arbitrary point in space, allowing it to dodge incoming attacks far more easily, though it only somewhat increased its rate of travel it had a vast effect on the ship's ability to avoid incoming fire.
By the time the creators of the system were killed research was ongoing in adapting the system to larger craft, but was facing challenges as the creators tried to compensate for the structural strain caused by the uneven pull of gravity on large objects. It was hoped that this system or some variant of it could compensate for the reduced maneuverability that immense ships suffer.
The Dewarp Mine
This system is actually inspired by psykery and technology employed by the Orkz against Humanity during the Age of Technology. It makes use of the positional uncertainty relative to realspace of any gellar field or gellar field adjacent field within the Warp to destructively draw such a segment of realspace back into realspace by means of a generated Funnel of Probability.
In practise, this allowed a defending force to choose the location of battle against an attacking fleet, and was critical to retaining parity with those Psykic species that could predict the exact location that a fleet would exit the warp or otherwise affect ships warping towards their systems, was important to preventing defeated fleets from escaping a system, and later was critical to preventing the deployment of certain more destructive naval weapons in orbit directly over human worlds.
Unfortunately the energies involved in creating a Funnel of Probability are immense and unpredictable, while it is theoretically possible to create a Persistent Dewarp system that doesn't destroy itself in activating, it has been long deemed counterproductively difficult to actually do so.
The design notes and several samples of the system are present to enable the planned inclusion of one such Persistent Dewarp System that the Deus Class superdreadnought was intended to mount. After all, a naval superweapon isn't really doing its job if the enemy can run from it, now is it?
Has occasional problems with drawing space hulks, Warp bound astronomical objects or planets, and creatures from outside of reality into reality by accident when activated.
DO NOT ACTIVATE IN PROXIMITY TO WARP STORMS.
Experimental Variable Geometry Gellar Field projector pattern sample, research and notes
Exploiting humanity's growing knowledge of the theoretical underpinnings of warp travel and varied and well documented contact with alternative methods of ensuring the continued reality of things submerged in unreality, this system is ultimately intended to allow a commander a range of options regarding the speed and safety of their travel through the warp.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that this system is the single greatest influence on the design and creation of the Deus class superdreadnought, and the system that makes creating the Deus as a class rather than a one off wonder practical.
This system allows a captain to choose whether they want to reach their destination quickly or safely, and to what degree they wish to make tradeoffs in one category in favor of another to do so.
This allows us to avoid the pitfalls other superdreadnoughts face in either being at too much risk from standard Warp travel for their expense to be worthwhile compared to a larger number of battleships or dreadnoughts, or being slow enough that the enemy can easily avoid them on a strategic level.
Under normal operating conditions commanders will operate under the slowest, absolutely safe setting, allowing it to move around enough to get the specialized servicing that a craft of this size and advanced technology needs to remain optimally functional, while being able to hang around conflict zones or critical defensive areas at all other times, all without exposing it to the risks that other super dreadnoughts suffer in warp travel, and on the other hand being able to change systems quickly when strategic necessity requires that the superdreadnought move with alacrity to remain strategically relevant.
This system includes some drawbacks, not only is it very expensive, it is also slightly less safe than a comparable single purpose Advanced Warp Drive/gellar field combo at any given rate of travel and slightly less quick at any given level of safety.
It is disastrous to attempt to change configurations in transit without dropping out first, and changing configurations is a reasonably time consuming process, during which the superdreadnought cannot enter warp, and as such should be avoided in any situation where a tactical choice to enter warp seems likely.
Luckily the scientists say they've finally solved the problem of mechanical wear on the delicate crystals of the gellar field generator during changes of configuration.
Callamus tech trade ideas
(Definitely not an)Imperator Titan
When Callamus was offered the pattern to make Imperator class Titans in exchange for the spoils of one of their more legendary campaigns they refused, instead preferring to make use of this selfsame archaeotech spoils as the basis for their pattern of superheavy Titans.
A controversial decision, leaving much doubt as to the relative holiness of the resulting system, especially considering the source.
After all, this was a war machine of the
Men of Iron themselves, acquired on the only occasion Callamus has had thus far to engage them.
This differs from Imperial patterns in it's smaller crew, with the internal space that would have otherwise been filled with crew occupied by machinery to enhance the performance of the machine, and its antiboarding measures being much more advanced and automated.
Callamus Sky Ships
Callamus has long supported its Titan legions with a force of superheavy antigrav skimmers, specializing in assault covering orbital insertions, but able to support their Titans, with their greater mobility compensating for their lighter build.
Black ships
A complex and secretive modification to existing classes of ship, only available to a select few.
Callamus was sure to acquire samples of the black ships from their contacts early in the second age of strife, correctly surmising that their use in transporting untrained psykers to be trained to fill important roles would be of great value to any polity attempting to survive the fall of the Imperium.
Honeycomb spine
A significant example of Callamus' innovation is the development of alternative methods of structural bracing and internal bulkhead placement that allow ships to survive far more punishment.
This takes the form of a modification to existing ship classes, if one that must be applied during the earliest phases of construction.
While this system is slightly more expensive it significantly increases the survivability of ships and their ability to continue fighting despite taking damage. It also greatly reduces the chances if a ship becoming unsalvageable by breaking its spine, by means of replacing the single mass of a solidly cast adamantium spine or keel with a honeycomb pattern of load bearing bulkheads spread throughout the ship.
Nova lance
The Nova Lance is a Nova cannon sized Lance, some might say 'enough said, I want one' right there, but a more nuanced understanding of the system leads one to realize that it also matches a Nova cannon in range, using advanced targeting systems and beams that are able to be split and played over the most likely paths of enemy travel this system can be used to 'snipe' specific enemy craft from a long range. Requires a significant power source.
Orbital Drop defences
These systems were commissioned by Imperial high command, who wanted to be able to drop a fortress or an anti orbital battery on a planet on short notice, to better counter the continued and increasing incursions of Tyranid Hive Fleets into Imperial territory.
After being completed by Callamus these systems have seen use on many battlefields across the Imperium.
Molten metal feed pipes
Callamus' systems for extracting energy and usable minerals from the molten mantle of their world are among the most advanced in the Galaxy, and would be of some use to the exploitation of planets like Char.
Nanofactories,
Callamus has long focused on mass production, notably they use modules full of specialized nanomachines to assemble large amounts of equipment with great precision.
Roskilde Tech ideas
Advanced Singularity Thrusters and research notes
One day some researchers over in the Helheim system decided to create a ship mounted singularity projector, with the intention of shooting black holes at their enemies. This failed, they couldn't get enough range on it, it wouldn't actually provide enough gravitational pull to form an event horizon, and the gravity pulled on the ship in weird and unpredictable ways, so they gave up on the idea.
Then someone else picked it up and decided to run with it. They realized that by projecting a gravitational well a little ways off of a ship they could make the ship 'fall' in that direction, while the thrust gained in this manner was not exceptional compared to conventional systems, its ability to change the vector of small ships without losing speed was extremely useful to dodging, allowing a ship to throw their entire velocity into a new heading and vector, and improving the maximum distance that they could dodge attacks by in every direction, especially to the rear.
They would essentially slingshot the craft around an arbitrary point in space, allowing it to dodge incoming attacks far more easily, though it only somewhat increased its rate of travel it had a vast effect on the ship's ability to avoid incoming fire.
By the time the creators of the system were killed research was ongoing in adapting the system to larger craft, but was facing challenges as the creators tried to compensate for the structural strain caused by the uneven pull of gravity on large objects. It was hoped that this system or some variant of it could compensate for the reduced maneuverability that immense ships suffer.
The Dewarp Mine
This system is actually inspired by psykery and technology employed by the Orkz against Humanity during the Age of Technology. It makes use of the positional uncertainty relative to realspace of any gellar field or gellar field adjacent field within the Warp to destructively draw such a segment of realspace back into realspace by means of a generated Funnel of Probability.
In practise, this allowed a defending force to choose the location of battle against an attacking fleet, and was critical to retaining parity with those Psykic species that could predict the exact location that a fleet would exit the warp or otherwise affect ships warping towards their systems, was important to preventing defeated fleets from escaping a system, and later was critical to preventing the deployment of certain more destructive naval weapons in orbit directly over human worlds.
Unfortunately the energies involved in creating a Funnel of Probability are immense and unpredictable, while it is theoretically possible to create a Persistent Dewarp system that doesn't destroy itself in activating, it has been long deemed counterproductively difficult to actually do so.
The design notes and several samples of the system are present to enable the planned inclusion of one such Persistent Dewarp System that the Deus Class superdreadnought was intended to mount. After all, a naval superweapon isn't really doing its job if the enemy can run from it, now is it?
Has occasional problems with drawing space hulks, Warp bound astronomical objects or planets, and creatures from outside of reality into reality by accident when activated.
DO NOT ACTIVATE IN PROXIMITY TO WARP STORMS.
Experimental Variable Geometry Gellar Field projector pattern sample, research and notes
Exploiting humanity's growing knowledge of the theoretical underpinnings of warp travel and varied and well documented contact with alternative methods of ensuring the continued reality of things submerged in unreality, this system is ultimately intended to allow a commander a range of options regarding the speed and safety of their travel through the warp.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that this system is the single greatest influence on the design and creation of the Deus class superdreadnought, and the system that makes creating the Deus as a class rather than a one off wonder practical.
This system allows a captain to choose whether they want to reach their destination quickly or safely, and to what degree they wish to make tradeoffs in one category in favor of another to do so.
This allows us to avoid the pitfalls other superdreadnoughts face in either being at too much risk from standard Warp travel for their expense to be worthwhile compared to a larger number of battleships or dreadnoughts, or being slow enough that the enemy can easily avoid them on a strategic level.
Under normal operating conditions commanders will operate under the slowest, absolutely safe setting, allowing it to move around enough to get the specialized servicing that a craft of this size and advanced technology needs to remain optimally functional, while being able to hang around conflict zones or critical defensive areas at all other times, all without exposing it to the risks that other super dreadnoughts suffer in warp travel, and on the other hand being able to change systems quickly when strategic necessity requires that the superdreadnought move with alacrity to remain strategically relevant.
This system includes some drawbacks, not only is it very expensive, it is also slightly less safe than a comparable single purpose Advanced Warp Drive/gellar field combo at any given rate of travel and slightly less quick at any given level of safety.
It is disastrous to attempt to change configurations in transit without dropping out first, and changing configurations is a reasonably time consuming process, during which the superdreadnought cannot enter warp, and as such should be avoided in any situation where a tactical choice to enter warp seems likely.
Luckily the scientists say they've finally solved the problem of mechanical wear on the delicate crystals of the gellar field generator during changes of configuration.
Callamus tech trade ideas
(Definitely not an)Imperator Titan
When Callamus was offered the pattern to make Imperator class Titans in exchange for the spoils of one of their more legendary campaigns they refused, instead preferring to make use of this selfsame archaeotech spoils as the basis for their pattern of superheavy Titans.
A controversial decision, leaving much doubt as to the relative holiness of the resulting system, especially considering the source.
After all, this was a war machine of the
Men of Iron themselves, acquired on the only occasion Callamus has had thus far to engage them.
This differs from Imperial patterns in it's smaller crew, with the internal space that would have otherwise been filled with crew occupied by machinery to enhance the performance of the machine, and its antiboarding measures being much more advanced and automated.
Callamus Sky Ships
Callamus has long supported its Titan legions with a force of superheavy antigrav skimmers, specializing in assault covering orbital insertions, but able to support their Titans, with their greater mobility compensating for their lighter build.
Black ships
A complex and secretive modification to existing classes of ship, only available to a select few.
Callamus was sure to acquire samples of the black ships from their contacts early in the second age of strife, correctly surmising that their use in transporting untrained psykers to be trained to fill important roles would be of great value to any polity attempting to survive the fall of the Imperium.
Honeycomb spine
A significant example of Callamus' innovation is the development of alternative methods of structural bracing and internal bulkhead placement that allow ships to survive far more punishment.
This takes the form of a modification to existing ship classes, if one that must be applied during the earliest phases of construction.
While this system is slightly more expensive it significantly increases the survivability of ships and their ability to continue fighting despite taking damage. It also greatly reduces the chances if a ship becoming unsalvageable by breaking its spine, by means of replacing the single mass of a solidly cast adamantium spine or keel with a honeycomb pattern of load bearing bulkheads spread throughout the ship.
Nova lance
The Nova Lance is a Nova cannon sized Lance, some might say 'enough said, I want one' right there, but a more nuanced understanding of the system leads one to realize that it also matches a Nova cannon in range, using advanced targeting systems and beams that are able to be split and played over the most likely paths of enemy travel this system can be used to 'snipe' specific enemy craft from a long range. Requires a significant power source.
Orbital Drop defences
These systems were commissioned by Imperial high command, who wanted to be able to drop a fortress or an anti orbital battery on a planet on short notice, to better counter the continued and increasing incursions of Tyranid Hive Fleets into Imperial territory.
After being completed by Callamus these systems have seen use on many battlefields across the Imperium.
Molten metal feed pipes
Callamus' systems for extracting energy and usable minerals from the molten mantle of their world are among the most advanced in the Galaxy, and would be of some use to the exploitation of planets like Char.
Nanofactories,
Callamus has long focused on mass production, notably they use modules full of specialized nanomachines to assemble large amounts of equipment with great precision.
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