Zeitgeist Blue
Currently Made of Metal
- Location
- Manila, Philippines, GMT +8
[X] Dagger Strike
[X] Yes
[X] Yes
The Practice War [Complete]
- Thread starter Snowfire
- Start date
- Original Sci-Fi
Mandabar
Waifu of choice is Rem. Give that girl some hugs!
- Location
- Florida, USA [Yes. Florida *FacePalm*]
I've noticed you haven't voted yet.
Ah! Good to know. Will you be putting this info anywhere in the thread to be threadmarked for easy access? Perhaps one of the first page posts? Our current assets and etc. Structures perhaps. Ships/armies/military etc blah blah
Another thing to note, it didn't seem from @Snowfire that the standard options including Dagger would attempt to subvert the network instead of just destroying it. One is indeed more surgical and should leave a lot left over which is what we are aiming with, but still ded. Seems we would need to write in for a dagger version of an subvert attempt. Not sure if we honestly should though, since it's honestly tough enough as it is. Honestly hoping some Miracle Vega stuff floats in somehow, but it seems she didn't hit a miracle on her side. Possibly a trance since having an easy ish time of the spoofing... though she did seem to show some strain in the last snip during the communication.
Edit: Ah here is an interim vote tally as well. I merged in MTB's anomalous worded option.
Vote Tally : Original - Sci-Fi - The Practice War | Page 21 | Sufficient Velocity
##### NetTally 1.7.4
[X] Dagger Strike
[X] Yes
No. of Votes: 5
[X] Two Potential Army
[X] Yes
No. of Votes: 4
Total No. of Voters: 9
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Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
It is on the list of things I need to do at some point in the near future
You would need a write-in to aim for a subversion from where you currently stand. It would also, as I think I've said, be extremely difficult.
Mandabar
Waifu of choice is Rem. Give that girl some hugs!
- Location
- Florida, USA [Yes. Florida *FacePalm*]
The list never ends eh?It is on the list of things I need to do at some point in the near future
Oh, I thought that's what I said. Clarifying/Confirming/Affirming it I guess.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Sorry, that was meant as a confirmation, not a statement on its own. I mis-typed it.
Edit: I would like to call this sometime tomorrow, preferably early afternoon, but if this discussion continues I'll push that back further.
Questions to the usual address, will answer in the morning!
Edit: I would like to call this sometime tomorrow, preferably early afternoon, but if this discussion continues I'll push that back further.
Questions to the usual address, will answer in the morning!
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- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I agree, but, on the other hand - do you think we are the first species that manages to disable/subvert the surveillance? If you were a shiplord, how would you design the system?
Humanity might be. This is only an option due to direct intervention by somebody who is exceptional even by the standards of a Potential, which are themselves something so far up in the hierarchy of the Secrets of the Void that the Shiplords don't have a direct equivalent and might not even be aware of them.
A lot of this doesn't make sense. We just don't have enough of the context. The system appears designed to prevent violations by not only the subject species, but itself, to such a degree that it won't even investigate potentials. It seems almost absurdly reluctant to launch the courier despite humanity obviously knowing of the system's existence at this point. There's a reason that I've been speculating that the Shiplords have restrictions of their own, or that this system is actually that of a third party or even some human party. It's hard to draw conclusions from that, however, because the whole policy of the Shiplords is just weird. Why allow humanity even the opportunity to rebuild into a potential threat? Why not leave open observers or supervisors in addition to a clandestine system?
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
For me it seems the shiplords practice a harvesting strategy, where it seems 'now develop something new' (for us to harvest) being their modus operandi. That policy would give them the results of insights their own race didn't (couldn't) come up with. For that to happen you need your crop to bloom ...
Mini-turn: Shadows of Sorrow - Part 7
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
You reformed in the infospace with Kirstin, your Insight Focused companion resolving a few moments after yourself. She gazed for a moment at the towering complex around you both, her presence broadcasting wide-eyed awe and no small amount of shock. You'd seen it before though, and there wasn't the time for this. For a moment you considered going as loud in here as you had in reality. It was very tempting, and not just because it would force the hub's overseer to split its focus immediately, which could save the lives of those protecting you on the ground and in space. In the end, however, you pushed the temptation aside.
Tempting it might be, but going loud like that could cause massive damage to the repositories and control circuits for the hub. It would be the height of tragic irony for you to successfully stop the courier, and then die because you couldn't turn the drone platforms off. The cloak around the presence that was Marcus-and-Kirstin in the infospace faded chameleon-like to match the world around it. You took a step forward towards the keep. That was where your target was, you could feel it, and Kirstin was already searching for doors. You'd done this enough times for her to be able to pre-empt your actions.
You took another step, slipping through the endless data like a ghost. Kirstin being here made that easy for you. She saw things you couldn't, and everything else besides. You watched, it would be foolish to simply close your eyes, but her Focus just made her so much better at finding things. And that left you free to concentrate on your own Focus. In some ways it was very close to a Trance, but you'd never reached that depth of connection. It was hard to explain how you knew that, but you did.
You felt Kirstin whisper to you, feeding information to the shared presence as you directed its steps around digital minefields and alert zones. She'd found you a door, hidden in the seamless walls far from the citadel gates. It was watched, but your cloak would protect you from those prying eyes. You simply had to brave the defensive perimeter first
Pathfinder: Intrigue + Living Gateway + Network Supremacy + Access Code + Seeker of Doors vs Intrigue + Infowar Subroutines + High Alert + Citadel
(61 + 32 + 10 + 4 + 10 + 10 vs 48 + 40 + 15 + 10 + 5 = 127 vs 118. Success)
On your own this would have been difficult, perhaps almost impossible, even for you. But with Kirstin's help, you succeeded. She stopped your movements several times on the steady ascent, just short of tripwires or mines. A few of them you might have been able to subvert on contact. The ones closer to the door, probably not. Here the architecture began to change, the way in which the infospace was constructed shifting into something much more threatening.
Automated weapons and even more advanced eyes watching for them. Walls of something very much more than metal, or light, a strange mix of both within the environment that you couldn't penetrate. The door was still there, however, and Kirstin's instructions stood you in good stead on the final approach. There was a hairline seam there in front of you in the wall, you had to look incredibly close to find it but it was there, and Kirstin directed you towards it.
"There's a panel to the side." She said to you, highlighting it in your vision. "You'll need to subvert it to open the door without alarms." A single point in the seemingly featureless wall pulsed as Kirstin did…something. You felt the atmosphere change around you, a heightening of tension as an access panel flowed out of the barrier beside the door. "Ready?"
"No time like the present." You said, and reached out. A part of you touched the panel, and you poured into it like a silent hurricane. The security protocols had time to come online, but not to flag you properly, and you cut away its alarm circuits with ruthless efficiency before it could. There was time after that for a single breath, then the security protocols slammed into you. You met them head-on, or at least that's what it looked like. Most of your attention did indeed go to defence, but on other levels you struck back.
Parts of the program started to break down as you slipped through the tiny gaps in its defences that no human could have seen. No normal human, at least. Your Focus and Kirstin's worked in concert here, finding the vulnerabilities and breaking open the locks they led to. It felt like it took an age, but it couldn't have been as long as you thought before the resistance crumpled away as you isolated the controls for the panel and overrode its security protocols. That would get noticed, but you were willing to take the chance. From here on, speed was of the essence anyway.
The door hissed open, meters of solid barrier folding away to admit your presence. You allowed Kirstin a quick glance to catch any traps, then rushed through when she said it was clear. You wondered why this door was here as you rushed past powered down security protocols, senses reaching ahead to find the presence you sought. It was a strange place for it, but it also clearly wasn't a trap. That would have sprung by now. Stairs confronted you, and you took them a level at a time, the cloak folding in on itself to keep your steadily concentrating form hidden without ripples.
The last stair deposited you onto the top floor of the citadel, the most heavily armoured and protected place. And this passage had just taken you there? You reached out carefully into the space around you, peering intently to ensure that this really wasn't a trap. Nothing out of the ordinary, but you recoiled quickly as your senses grazed the edge of the presence in the room next to you. That was the core of the system, the hub's controller. Had this been a way for its masters to come to it, perhaps? That would explain the lack of security.
In the interface it was resolved into a humanoid figure in your careful vision, stood at the centre of the room. Yours was only one out of four doors, and you had to wonder where the others led. No time though. Here you were, the enemy before you.
"What is it, Marcus?" Kirstin asked, noticing your hesitation.
"I…" you shook yourself, then drew out the representation of one of your two remaining access codes. "Nothing, Kirstin. I just wish we had more time."
"I know." Her voice softened a little, but there was steel beneath the silk. "But there are men and women dying right now. So we can get here, and destroy what's on the other side of that door." Your hands swept across the code, and fluid change poured from your hands. This wasn't in either of your Focuses, building weapons, but in the infospace you could trick your Focus into helping you. Or maybe it tricked you, you didn't know.
Others like you created massive things in this place, representations of the power they wished their constructs to hold. You were more elegant than that. One of your hands caught the changed code as your modifications took hold. A smooth dagger of white metal, shining in the dim light of the citadel.
"You're right." You said, changing your grip. "Let's do this."
You stepped through the door, the cloak falling away from your shoulders, given up to bypass the physical portal that could have given away your entrance. What you found was…not what you'd expected.
The walls were full of data, reflected images that showed the world outside, and before you there was the figure that you knew was your target. You'd wondered more than once about what you were fighting, what type of intelligence had guided the subnet against you. Now you knew. It wasn't an AI.
The movements were wrong, you heard Kirstin say as you took a step towards it. In front of it you saw a lance of ravening power tear a light cruiser apart, but there was no satisfaction to the sight from the figure. It just moved on to the next target, trying to break the suffocating field of light around it that had to be Vega's work.
You wanted to move faster as the ship blossomed into a fireball, but the field and Kirstin's silent presence held you back. Another step. Fire lanced down a corridor within the station, a corridor you recognised even before you saw the suited figures shooting back at the camera. Bodies were sprawled across the way, many drones but some unmistakably human.
Another step, and it glanced to one side, fixing for a moment on a series of switches ended with an innocent looking blue button. It considered them for the time it took to take another step, then looked back at the screen.
You were right behind it.
You raised the blade, focusing everything you had into the blow.
Strike: Intrigue + Living Gateway + Network Supremacy + Access Code + Insight's Eyes + From Nothing vs Intrigue + Infowar Subroutines + ???
(93 + 32 + 10 + 4 + 10 + 5 + 10 vs 69 + 40 + 15 + 10 = 164 vs 134. Success)
Tempting it might be, but going loud like that could cause massive damage to the repositories and control circuits for the hub. It would be the height of tragic irony for you to successfully stop the courier, and then die because you couldn't turn the drone platforms off. The cloak around the presence that was Marcus-and-Kirstin in the infospace faded chameleon-like to match the world around it. You took a step forward towards the keep. That was where your target was, you could feel it, and Kirstin was already searching for doors. You'd done this enough times for her to be able to pre-empt your actions.
You took another step, slipping through the endless data like a ghost. Kirstin being here made that easy for you. She saw things you couldn't, and everything else besides. You watched, it would be foolish to simply close your eyes, but her Focus just made her so much better at finding things. And that left you free to concentrate on your own Focus. In some ways it was very close to a Trance, but you'd never reached that depth of connection. It was hard to explain how you knew that, but you did.
You felt Kirstin whisper to you, feeding information to the shared presence as you directed its steps around digital minefields and alert zones. She'd found you a door, hidden in the seamless walls far from the citadel gates. It was watched, but your cloak would protect you from those prying eyes. You simply had to brave the defensive perimeter first
Pathfinder: Intrigue + Living Gateway + Network Supremacy + Access Code + Seeker of Doors vs Intrigue + Infowar Subroutines + High Alert + Citadel
(61 + 32 + 10 + 4 + 10 + 10 vs 48 + 40 + 15 + 10 + 5 = 127 vs 118. Success)
On your own this would have been difficult, perhaps almost impossible, even for you. But with Kirstin's help, you succeeded. She stopped your movements several times on the steady ascent, just short of tripwires or mines. A few of them you might have been able to subvert on contact. The ones closer to the door, probably not. Here the architecture began to change, the way in which the infospace was constructed shifting into something much more threatening.
Automated weapons and even more advanced eyes watching for them. Walls of something very much more than metal, or light, a strange mix of both within the environment that you couldn't penetrate. The door was still there, however, and Kirstin's instructions stood you in good stead on the final approach. There was a hairline seam there in front of you in the wall, you had to look incredibly close to find it but it was there, and Kirstin directed you towards it.
"There's a panel to the side." She said to you, highlighting it in your vision. "You'll need to subvert it to open the door without alarms." A single point in the seemingly featureless wall pulsed as Kirstin did…something. You felt the atmosphere change around you, a heightening of tension as an access panel flowed out of the barrier beside the door. "Ready?"
"No time like the present." You said, and reached out. A part of you touched the panel, and you poured into it like a silent hurricane. The security protocols had time to come online, but not to flag you properly, and you cut away its alarm circuits with ruthless efficiency before it could. There was time after that for a single breath, then the security protocols slammed into you. You met them head-on, or at least that's what it looked like. Most of your attention did indeed go to defence, but on other levels you struck back.
Parts of the program started to break down as you slipped through the tiny gaps in its defences that no human could have seen. No normal human, at least. Your Focus and Kirstin's worked in concert here, finding the vulnerabilities and breaking open the locks they led to. It felt like it took an age, but it couldn't have been as long as you thought before the resistance crumpled away as you isolated the controls for the panel and overrode its security protocols. That would get noticed, but you were willing to take the chance. From here on, speed was of the essence anyway.
The door hissed open, meters of solid barrier folding away to admit your presence. You allowed Kirstin a quick glance to catch any traps, then rushed through when she said it was clear. You wondered why this door was here as you rushed past powered down security protocols, senses reaching ahead to find the presence you sought. It was a strange place for it, but it also clearly wasn't a trap. That would have sprung by now. Stairs confronted you, and you took them a level at a time, the cloak folding in on itself to keep your steadily concentrating form hidden without ripples.
The last stair deposited you onto the top floor of the citadel, the most heavily armoured and protected place. And this passage had just taken you there? You reached out carefully into the space around you, peering intently to ensure that this really wasn't a trap. Nothing out of the ordinary, but you recoiled quickly as your senses grazed the edge of the presence in the room next to you. That was the core of the system, the hub's controller. Had this been a way for its masters to come to it, perhaps? That would explain the lack of security.
In the interface it was resolved into a humanoid figure in your careful vision, stood at the centre of the room. Yours was only one out of four doors, and you had to wonder where the others led. No time though. Here you were, the enemy before you.
"What is it, Marcus?" Kirstin asked, noticing your hesitation.
"I…" you shook yourself, then drew out the representation of one of your two remaining access codes. "Nothing, Kirstin. I just wish we had more time."
"I know." Her voice softened a little, but there was steel beneath the silk. "But there are men and women dying right now. So we can get here, and destroy what's on the other side of that door." Your hands swept across the code, and fluid change poured from your hands. This wasn't in either of your Focuses, building weapons, but in the infospace you could trick your Focus into helping you. Or maybe it tricked you, you didn't know.
Others like you created massive things in this place, representations of the power they wished their constructs to hold. You were more elegant than that. One of your hands caught the changed code as your modifications took hold. A smooth dagger of white metal, shining in the dim light of the citadel.
"You're right." You said, changing your grip. "Let's do this."
You stepped through the door, the cloak falling away from your shoulders, given up to bypass the physical portal that could have given away your entrance. What you found was…not what you'd expected.
The walls were full of data, reflected images that showed the world outside, and before you there was the figure that you knew was your target. You'd wondered more than once about what you were fighting, what type of intelligence had guided the subnet against you. Now you knew. It wasn't an AI.
The movements were wrong, you heard Kirstin say as you took a step towards it. In front of it you saw a lance of ravening power tear a light cruiser apart, but there was no satisfaction to the sight from the figure. It just moved on to the next target, trying to break the suffocating field of light around it that had to be Vega's work.
You wanted to move faster as the ship blossomed into a fireball, but the field and Kirstin's silent presence held you back. Another step. Fire lanced down a corridor within the station, a corridor you recognised even before you saw the suited figures shooting back at the camera. Bodies were sprawled across the way, many drones but some unmistakably human.
Another step, and it glanced to one side, fixing for a moment on a series of switches ended with an innocent looking blue button. It considered them for the time it took to take another step, then looked back at the screen.
You were right behind it.
You raised the blade, focusing everything you had into the blow.
Strike: Intrigue + Living Gateway + Network Supremacy + Access Code + Insight's Eyes + From Nothing vs Intrigue + Infowar Subroutines + ???
(93 + 32 + 10 + 4 + 10 + 5 + 10 vs 69 + 40 + 15 + 10 = 164 vs 134. Success)
And now the fun part. You get to pick Marcus's other priorities in the strike. I will tell you this now, the VI is being destroyed. You did not roll high enough to subvert it. If Marcus did not strike to kill, it would destroy itself and probably take the entire hub with it. You did roll extremely well for which route Kirstin found for you, which is why so much of the security was bypassed. All my work
With that and everything else, you have Three (3) dice to assign to what you want to try and get out of the subnet. These are your choices:
Data Repositories
- [] the Shiplords
- [] the Tribute Fleet
- [] Subnet assets
- [] Write-in (I'll let you know the limits on this)
Control Circuits
- [X] Courier
- [] Hub Defensive Node
- [] Hub Combat Platforms
- [] Subnet Platforms
If you do not use the control circuits, the assets will be reduced in time, but expect more losses and little actionable intel from the wreckage.
With that and everything else, you have Three (3) dice to assign to what you want to try and get out of the subnet. These are your choices:
Data Repositories
- [] the Shiplords
- [] the Tribute Fleet
- [] Subnet assets
- [] Write-in (I'll let you know the limits on this)
Control Circuits
- [X] Courier
- [] Hub Defensive Node
- [] Hub Combat Platforms
- [] Subnet Platforms
If you do not use the control circuits, the assets will be reduced in time, but expect more losses and little actionable intel from the wreckage.
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48 + 40 + 15 + 10 + 5 = 118.
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
my 2 cents
Data Repositories
==> - [] the Shiplords
- [] the Tribute Fleet
==> - [] Subnet assets
- [] Write-in (I'll let you know the limits on this)
Control Circuits
- [X] Courier
- [] Hub Defensive Node
- [] Hub Combat Platforms
==> - [] Subnet Platforms
Shiplords - some strategic info. With insight, that might give us a hint about their motives, and that may allow us to survive what happens after the Tribute Fleet is demolished.
Subnet assets - house cleening.
Subnet Platforms - house cleaning, information.
Comments?
Data Repositories
==> - [] the Shiplords
- [] the Tribute Fleet
==> - [] Subnet assets
- [] Write-in (I'll let you know the limits on this)
Control Circuits
- [X] Courier
- [] Hub Defensive Node
- [] Hub Combat Platforms
==> - [] Subnet Platforms
Shiplords - some strategic info. With insight, that might give us a hint about their motives, and that may allow us to survive what happens after the Tribute Fleet is demolished.
Subnet assets - house cleening.
Subnet Platforms - house cleaning, information.
Comments?
I have a couple of questions about our choices, if you don't mind.
First and foremost, is this VI the controller for the ENTIRE subnet as far as we know? I.e. once it is dead, thee other subnet resources are going to go idle?
Second, narrowing our scope somewhat, what happens to the defensive hub's weapons (internal and external) if we leave them alone vs take control of them? The way I'm reading your comment, we will have to keep fighting those systems if we don't take control of them, albeit it should be easier without a controller adding their bonuses to the rolls. Conversely, if we do take control, we can maybe get some data on the system. Is that accurate?
Third, what are "Subnet Platforms"? I get that the defensive node is gravitic weaponry and whatever point defence we got hit by on the way in, and that the combat platforms are the things trying to kill our boarding team at the moment, but what are the subnet platforms?
Last but not least, how easy does Marcus expect finding the other subnet assets insystem would be if we don't take data on them now? Previously, we had backtraced them but were stopped by security (or more precisely, not wanting to trip security) - does that mean we could easily achieve this with an action now, or conversely that it will be impossible since the transmissions we piggybacked on ought to stop? Also, are said assets likely to have any data (which we use if we capture it, and the Shiplords use if we don't), or was that all localized to the VI?
I get that Marcus may not know all of this; that is fine. I'm not asking for spoilers, just the IC information.
EDIT: Is the locked Courier die included in our 3 choices, or do we get 3 choices PLUS the courier?
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Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Three choices plus the courier.
Subnet platforms are the other stations in the net, the relays and other space-based assets it had.
I'll be afk for probably the next five hours at this point, so expect a full answer post then.
Edit: and yes, this is the only VI in the system. I don't mind confirming that.
Subnet platforms are the other stations in the net, the relays and other space-based assets it had.
I'll be afk for probably the next five hours at this point, so expect a full answer post then.
Edit: and yes, this is the only VI in the system. I don't mind confirming that.
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Alright. I'm going to put off voting until later, then; I think that the answers to my questions above are actually pretty pivotal in deciding our future course of action.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Didn't say it then, but thank you for catching this. I have no clue how that error occurred. It's fixed.
It is, yes. The other subnet systems may have replicant agents, but they're far more limited in ability and should require a command from the hub to go active.
This is the case, yes.
These are the other orbital assets the subnet has. Marcus knows that there are relays, but isn't sure about anything else.
It wouldn't be impossible, but they'll realise that the hub has been been taken eventually. At that point, Marcus isn't sure what they'll do. Vega's work should give you some good data sets, but it's reasonably likely you'll miss some things (this relies on rolls on her end). He can only speculate in regards to the second question.
Three plus Courier.
You do, but Marcus is holding on to it to make sure he and Kirstin can get out when half the infospace implodes, which is what he expects to happen when he takes out the controller for the subnet.
Thank you, @Snowfire. That was extremely helpful.
In this case, I think I have my answers.
[X] Courier
This option is locked; there is nothing we can do about it.
[X] Subnet assets
One of the main goals behind this entire operation was to destroy the shiplord presence in system, thus denying then the chance to act or pass the Tribute Fleet intel when it arrives. This is still a factor, even with the VI destroyed - if there are any leftover remnants, they might still act against us (albeit much less effectively) and the Tribute Fleet will still pick up info on arrival (albeit not nearly as complete a picture). Furthermore, knowing where everything is may give us the option to grab some more data/tech from those locations later, so it seems like this is a good deal overall.
[X] Hub Defensive Node
Getting this turns off the gravitic weaponry killing our people, AND probably boosts our own gravitic tech. Plus we don't have to brave point defence again on the way out.
[X] the Tribute Fleet
I'm tempted to ask about the Shiplords overall, but I feel like the Tribute Fleet is more urgent, and if there is an unpleasant surprise that would have screwed us over, this is the option that uncovers it.
In this case, I think I have my answers.
[X] Courier
This option is locked; there is nothing we can do about it.
[X] Subnet assets
One of the main goals behind this entire operation was to destroy the shiplord presence in system, thus denying then the chance to act or pass the Tribute Fleet intel when it arrives. This is still a factor, even with the VI destroyed - if there are any leftover remnants, they might still act against us (albeit much less effectively) and the Tribute Fleet will still pick up info on arrival (albeit not nearly as complete a picture). Furthermore, knowing where everything is may give us the option to grab some more data/tech from those locations later, so it seems like this is a good deal overall.
[X] Hub Defensive Node
Getting this turns off the gravitic weaponry killing our people, AND probably boosts our own gravitic tech. Plus we don't have to brave point defence again on the way out.
[X] the Tribute Fleet
I'm tempted to ask about the Shiplords overall, but I feel like the Tribute Fleet is more urgent, and if there is an unpleasant surprise that would have screwed us over, this is the option that uncovers it.
- Location
- Illinois
- Pronouns
- Ze/Zer/Zem
[X] Courier
[X] Subnet assets
[X] Hub Defensive Node
[X] the Shiplords
I understand the appeal of looking into the tribute fleet; it's the immediate threat, but I'm betting that the knowledge on the Shiplords will be more broadly useful. Also, we may not get another chance like this later.
[X] Subnet assets
[X] Hub Defensive Node
[X] the Shiplords
I understand the appeal of looking into the tribute fleet; it's the immediate threat, but I'm betting that the knowledge on the Shiplords will be more broadly useful. Also, we may not get another chance like this later.
