The Practice War [Complete]
- Thread starter Snowfire
- Start date
- Original Sci-Fi
Turn 8
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Year 8, 2112 AD
You return to the start of another year still nursing the memory of the truly monumental headache you acquired from passing through the Elder's Door. According to Mary, it's been worth it, and you almost want to joke about how pain has been responsible for unlocking most of your newest abilities. Only almost, however. You suspect that no one in your cabinet would take that well.
The Navy is expanding quickly, and the array of options at Lina's fingertips is shrinking as you work through the final pieces of preparation. Refitting options have come up this year though, and with various other breakthroughs on the horizon, it's likely that fully upgrading the fleet will be taking up a lot of her time over the next few years. There's some bad news there though, as you appear to be hitting the limit of Practiced craft you can build. Calypso hasn't helped much there, but Lina's adamant that you'll appreciate what she'll bring to the table in three years.
The real work is getting new equipment developed, distributed and fully integrated before the Tribute Fleet arrives. That and making sure that Mars doesn't start outright panicking when it arrives, which it will if it doesn't get some planetary defences online. You were planning on getting that done this year anyway, but apparently people get a little tetchy when it's three years to a possibly genocidal attack fleet arriving and they've got nothing but air between them and orbital weapons fire.
Somehow you've managed to wrangle more time out of the schedule than you had last year, though. That's something.
You have Twelve (12) Action dice available with Five (5) currently locked. Unless an option states otherwise, there is no limit to the number of dice you may spend on an option.
Military
Practiced Leadership: you have One (1) free dice for Military actions.
Forging the Sword: The only blows humanity successfully struck against the Shiplords were made in space, but although you have returned to the stars again, little of what plies the dark is military. There was little need for it, but that's all changed now. All you have to do is work out which of the proposals you want your Minister to push.
[X] Fury of the Heavens: The weapons created by the First Awoken are more powerful than any humanity has ever known, but their strength is limited by a lack of availability. The weaponry retrieved from across Earth has helped relieve this shortage, but more could be done. Even a small thing, like making sure every missile fired against the Shiplords has felt the touch of Practice, could do a great deal. [30%, requires a Practice Dice, locked 1 year]
[] *New* To Know War: You have a fleet, but only part of it has known true combat. Although you can't give the rest of the Navy a taste of what Task Force One and the seconded ships for Operation Gauntlet experienced, there are other ways to prepare. Lina has set out a punishing schedule of wargames and training for the Navy, all you have to do is sign off on them. [40%, 1 year, Repeatable]
[] *New* Everyone loves Upgrades (Point Defence): Thanks to Mary's rather eccentric working group, your shipyards are now capable of refitting your current vessels with reverse-engineered Shiplord point defence systems. Although they won't be as effective as Practiced systems, they'd be head and shoulders better than your current baseline. [40%, 1 year, Design Action]
Piercing Light: Although reverse-engineering the FTL drive of the Shiplord Courier captured last year is beyond your capabilities given the time restrictions involved, it isn't it useless. Given the manner of acquisition, Lina and her own advisors believe that it would be possible to fit the drive to one of your ships before the Shiplords arrive. They admit that the drive will not function within the inner system, but further out it could be a powerful asset.
[X] Commanding Speed: You knew the Ministry had worked on a flagship design, but it had been discarded due to the issues present in repositioning such a large craft quickly. With access to an FTL drive, however, Lina has brought the nascent Calypso class to your attention. [25%, locked 1 year, Design Action]
Humanity's Shield: Weapons are well and good, but a solar system makes for a vast fortress given time. Here you have something to work with as well, as all of humanity's orbitals are equipped with some weaponry. There's always room for improvement however, and a new need for it too.
[] Adamant Miracle: When the Shiplords came before, they set Mars ablaze, and only Practice was able to restore the small part of it that is now yours again. The teams that worked on the Aegis defence network on Earth have come forward with a plan to install protections around Skylark, to make it as resistant as possible to any attack. Given the symbolic value of the city, and the very real value of the Red Tower, it merits thought. [40%, 1 year]
[] *New* Man the Walls: Although the Navy has shouldered the burden of supplying trained staff to operate the new military systems of your orbitals, they've been trained for ship to ship combat and many find it hard to work with the idea of a stationary platform. Forming a new service branch this late is a complex process, but Lina promises that a properly trained orbital defence corps could pay considerable dividends. [45%, 1 year]
Shipyard Operations
You have Two (2) Construction dice to assign. Unless an option states otherwise, there is no limit to the number of dice you may spend on an option.
Military:
[] Construct Auxiliary Task Groups
[] Construct Dauntless class Squadrons (You may only assign one dice to this action)
[] Construct Tower class Squadrons (You may only assign one dice to this action)
Infrastructure:
[] Design Centre Expansion [Increases bonus to these checks. Limit: +20]
[] Yard Work [Increases bonus to these checks. Limit: +20]
Diplomacy
Reach to the World: You asked for help and the Circles answered. The reports they gave you would have been invaluable on their own, but they also gave you suggestions. Plans based on the knowledge they gathered, to act on what they told you.
[] Widen the Circles: The Circles were the centre of your efforts to heal humanity of the emotional wounds that the Shiplords inflicted. They've grown far beyond your greatest expectations and helped millions heal, but there's always more that could be done. They gave you some suggestions, but it'll take a lot of work. [30%, 1 year.]
[] Hearts of Humanity: The Hearts are the most experienced of all in the Circles at helping others, and have almost by accident become some of the most experienced therapists on Earth. Formalise this status by setting up a new aid organisation for them to work out of. [60%, 2 years]
Stewardship
Ministerial VI: you have One (1) free dice for Stewardship actions.
Healing Hands:
[] Symbols of Hope: Many of the great monuments that humanity built in the last two hundred years are only barely hanging on, victims of the single-minded focus that had to be given to other things. They're more than just the physical trappings however, and restoring them could do the world good. [50%, 1 year]
Skylark Reborn: The Miracle of Skylark. First Practiced Miracle since the discovery of the Pattern, that many had believed had signalled the end of those glories. It's impossible to understate the value of Vega's Miracle as a symbol, but it does leave you in the rather interesting position of having to decide what to do with it.
[] Streetwise: Skylark was a centre of science before the Shiplords came, but it was old science, born of the Secrets that the Shiplords decreed forbidden. Much of it seems to have been changed, replaced with objects of Practice, but it might be a good idea to make sure. [30%, 1 year]
[X] Uplink: Some parts of the city still remain offline or in need of replacement, particularly its communications gear. Integrating Skylark back into the net would allow you to distribute its databases, and access its systems remotely. [35%, locked 1 year]
Intrigue
Limited Bandwidth: Cannot select more than two actions.
Know thy Enemy: The Shiplords are coming, you know that now, and if you are to be prepared you must know what they are truly capable of.
[] Corpses Leave Clues: The Shiplords did good work cleaning up the mess that their two ships made when they were destroyed, but several pieces evaded their clean-up. Some you know now to have been parts of the subversive infonet that almost killed you, but not all were. The pieces have settled into stable orbits now, and each is a potential gold mine of Shiplord technology. [???, 1 year]
[] *New* Blurred Crosshairs: The reverse engineered schematics of the Shiplord point defence brought with it more than one benefit. Given a look at how Shiplord defensive scanners work, the Ministry of Security believes they might be able to construct signal jammers to degrade their performance. [25%, 2 years]
*New* Voice from the Grave: Thanks to the diligence of FSNS Avalanche, you now know of what you believe to be the final piece of the Shiplord information network remaining in the star system. Unfortunately, technical or infospace dissection of the platform is likely to leave it useless due to the anti-intrusion systems installed in the shell. Marcus has presented two options at this point. You may pick One (1) of the following options.
[] Know Thyself: The data inside the Tombstone platform could be priceless, not for any knowledge of the Shiplords, but for what it might tell you about what they are likely to know very soon after entering the star system. This must be your priority. [30%, 1 year]
[] Darkling Plain: Although the data might be exceptionally important, the stealth coating on the platforms could be incredibly useful as an enhancement for your own small craft and also to get a firmer understanding of how it works. [30%, 1 year]
[] *New* Closing the Net: Although it's probably impossible to get all of the Tombstone platforms, giving the Navy some practice tracking stealth systems could come with benefits all of their own. And for every platform you destroy or capture, the better your chances of coming to understand more of the technology that protects them. [???, 1 year, Repeatable]
Learning
Daughter of Secrets: you have One (1) free dice for Learning actions.
The Neverending Journey, Second Step: All of the scientists on Mary's list have settled into their new working and living environment now, and you can see how happy your friend is to be surrounded by those just as passionate as she is. Now that they're all integrated however, they need a direction.
[] Picking the Bones: The defensive node captured last year is a potential treasure trove of information, but it has to be analysed and properly studied first. Aware that you don't have as much time as anyone would like, Mary plans to turn it all over to those like to herself and then monitor. From a safe distance. [40%, 1 year, Repeatable]
The Red Tower: One of the main centres of research on Mars before the Burning, the Red Tower was also one of the primary conversion points for the atmospheric conversion system better known as Clear Skies. Fully restored and online after the Miracle of Skylark, it is a treasure trove waiting to be unlocked.
[] Ancestral Key: Although the majority of the tower's files have been unlocked, some high level files remain encrypted. Mary mentions quietly that a great deal of the Martian colony systems were DNA coded, and that privilege system seems to remain in effect. Given who she is, she says, she might be able to unlock those files assuming she can convince the security protocols that she is who her DNA says she is. [20%, 1 year]
*New* The Sixth Secret: The possibilities of nanotechnology are theoretically endless, and Mary knows this, but she's been working with Lina enough that she's thinned the list down to a bare handful. Tuning it to current needs, she calls it.
[] Damage Control: You'd thought that working out a way to self-maintain your ships with nano-tech would be easy. Unfortunately, it's not quite that simple. Bugs, errors in design schematics and actual construction, the first testbed ended up having to be towed into the sun. The Navy needs a fix, and quickly. [25%, 1 year]
[] Assembly Array: On a more permanent side, nanotechnology provides an incredibly potent construction functionality, although teaching them how to build things without them exploding mid-way looks to be an incredibly complex task on the programming side. It's not impossible, though. [20%, 1 year]
*New* The Elder's Vault: The vault left behind by the Elder First is a treasure trove of data and devices, but you need ways to fight, or defend against the oncoming invasion. There's not much in the way of an index however, so it's going to be a slow process.
[] Databank Sweep: The databanks in the Vault are works of art, holding an order of magnitude more data than anyone thought such size-limited systems could. A typical scientist could lose themselves in there for decades, and Mary could probably go for longer. She's promised to not get lost on chain-research however, and to focus on things that could be directly useful for the war effort within the remaining timeframe. [30%, 1 year]
[] Artefact Investigation: Given the manpower at your disposal, looking around the vault for devices that might be useful isn't beyond you. It might be slow, and have less of a chance of finding anything truly special, but from first impressions 'normal' Elder First devices should be quite enough. [45%, 2 years]
[] Pushing the Boundaries: There are deeper areas to the Elder Vault, ones that even yourself have found only partial access. What you have found has pointed to work entirely outside of what you'd ever have expected from the Elder First, artefacts that might be capable of actually taking part in the fight against the Tribute Fleet. Getting access to them might be hard, however. [15%, 1 year]
[] Reading the Word: With a theoretical explanation finally in hand, Mary advises a careful examination into the imprints. For that however, she'll need new tools, ones that can actually see what she wants to study. [45%, 1 year]
[X] Unison: What Mary, Lina and Vega created last year was and is a miracle of combined science and practice, a fusion that has gone far beyond anything you've built before. Even the Calypso seems far less than the system that Vega managed to bring online. Everything you've built so far has been using Potentials and Practice to make it stronger. Unison, if you can complete it, will do the opposite. [20%, requires a Practice dice, locked 1 year, Design Action]
Practice Actions
You have Three (3) Practice Dice to assign to actions, with Two (2) currently locked. Unless explicitly stated, you may not assign Practice Dice to Practice Actions.
More than a Vessel: With their success parsing out the basics of what Marcus did to himself, Vega's staff have assembled a list of options to expand the understanding of internal Focus use by Potentials.
[] The Firstborn: The Endless Connection is an anomaly, but only due to his Awakening. Many of the First have come to internalise their power in similar ways, but their Focuses do not lend themselves to such spectacular utility. Talk to those of the First Awoken like your Security Minister, then combine the data sets. [55%, 2 years]
[X] Look to the Centre: There's enough in the files that the Ministry for Practice have put together for other Potentials to work with. Having more data to compare against would be nice, but taking two years to just make sure isn't on the cards. [40%, locked 1 year]
Project Harmony: Another section of your policy made almost entirely invalid by the Miracle of Skylark, Vega now has all the proof she needs to point to of her ability. Far more will accept her advice with an example like that behind her. Of course, you could also choose to send her to another project, although other actions taken by the Ministry will suffer.
[] Fluid Harmony: The data compiled last year seems to be changing the way it's being used as people look it at, but no one can understand why. This is Vega's work, at the core of things, and she's probably the only person who can truly understand it. [30%, 1 year]
[] The Shape of Miracle: Vega can now be personally assigned to an action utilising a Practice Dice, and a success will automatically trigger a Practice Trance. Other actions will suffer without her oversight, however, reducing her bonus to all other Practice actions and Practice dice by a quarter. [30%, 1 year]
Project Insight: A long running working group of Second and some Third Awakened, Project Insight is the only reason you know as much as you do about the Shiplords. They taught the world of the enemy's ways, unravelled many strengths and few weaknesses, and discovered the Pattern in time for you to prepare. Now you have a new question for them.
[] What Purpose Our Loss: The Shiplords take the same thing from all civilisations they touch, but what do they do with their tributes of blood? There are some suspicions, but the Project has never truly wanted to look that deep. Neither do you, to be honest, but you must know. [30% chance for information every year.]
[] Our Enemy, Before Us: Eight ships came before, but would eight come again? It's a simple question, but one with deeply important connotations. [40%, 1 year]
[] Rosetta: Thanks to the work of the Project, you now know that there are others but the Shiplords out there, and many might want to meet you in peace. It might be wise to learn more of the galaxy, that until recently you thought held only enemies. [25% chance for information every year]
[] Achilles Heel: The Project has found several weaknesses in the Shiplords, but Phoebe has told you that they can all feel something on the edge of their consciousness when they search through those things, just out of reach. [30% chance for information every year]
[] Write-in: Give me a question you would like answered about the Shiplords, and Project Insight will try to answer it. I advise choosing sensible questions.
*New* [] Learning to Run: Although still deeply involved in tuning the Unison process to make it functional for the vast majority of Potentials, Vega has also started training with her platform. Kagiso has apparently been extremely helpful in feeling out her limits, which Vega has found to have grown considerably. She wants to try and put together a first-generation training manual for the Unison Platform, to make the process of equipping them (hopefully) next year easier. [30%, 1 year]
Personal Actions
You may select Two (2) Personal actions this year.
[] Work with Mary: Get back into the saddle as a scientist and finally take the time to work through the theories that Mary has been trying to get you to give a proper read for the last few years.
[] Make Something: You're a Potential, capable of working items into artefacts so far removed from their original form and function that they might as well be considered magic. It will take time, but the results will be worth it. [Start Practicing an object, write-in a general idea of what you want to make.]
[] Work with a Minister: Your Ministers are all experts in their fields, excellent on the job teachers for matters that you have little experience with. [Write-in which Minister. Chance to raise stats and/or gain Traits.]
[] Powerful Words: Your words have a Practiced strength to them, but that's a cheap thing to say when you have no real understanding of what's involved. In some ways it's exhilarating, being able to draw so easily on the strength of your Focus. But you worry about what could happen if you put Practice behind a wrong word. You need to hone this gift, learn its limits and strengths. [78/???]
*New* [] Artifact Examination: Mary found several devices that you'd created in your youth, to take with you through the Elder's Door. Although you remember most of what you could do with them quite clearly, you also remember that there were some more complex functions, and you've grown a great deal in your understanding of Practice since then. Perhaps you could use them? [Write-in an item on your inventory list, will unlock its traits for use. Cannot be taken more than once a year.]
*New* [] Inheritor: Although others may access it, the master control for the Elder's Vault remains with you. This may make you far better suited to finding what you need in there, as any limits that remain should be far less restrictive to yourself than any other. It will take time, however. [Write-in a selected Elder's Vault action to boost.]
*New* [] Unison Fitting: Although still in the prototyping phase, Vega has spoken with considerable passion about how useful her Unison platform has been to her. She's currently knee-deep in the process of working with Mary and Lina to complete the system and work out a way to train Potentials in their use. Work she says could be a lot easier if she had another Potential she knew to work with. The benefits of a platform are not inconsiderable, either.
You return to the start of another year still nursing the memory of the truly monumental headache you acquired from passing through the Elder's Door. According to Mary, it's been worth it, and you almost want to joke about how pain has been responsible for unlocking most of your newest abilities. Only almost, however. You suspect that no one in your cabinet would take that well.
The Navy is expanding quickly, and the array of options at Lina's fingertips is shrinking as you work through the final pieces of preparation. Refitting options have come up this year though, and with various other breakthroughs on the horizon, it's likely that fully upgrading the fleet will be taking up a lot of her time over the next few years. There's some bad news there though, as you appear to be hitting the limit of Practiced craft you can build. Calypso hasn't helped much there, but Lina's adamant that you'll appreciate what she'll bring to the table in three years.
The real work is getting new equipment developed, distributed and fully integrated before the Tribute Fleet arrives. That and making sure that Mars doesn't start outright panicking when it arrives, which it will if it doesn't get some planetary defences online. You were planning on getting that done this year anyway, but apparently people get a little tetchy when it's three years to a possibly genocidal attack fleet arriving and they've got nothing but air between them and orbital weapons fire.
Somehow you've managed to wrangle more time out of the schedule than you had last year, though. That's something.
You have Twelve (12) Action dice available with Five (5) currently locked. Unless an option states otherwise, there is no limit to the number of dice you may spend on an option.
Military
Practiced Leadership: you have One (1) free dice for Military actions.
Forging the Sword: The only blows humanity successfully struck against the Shiplords were made in space, but although you have returned to the stars again, little of what plies the dark is military. There was little need for it, but that's all changed now. All you have to do is work out which of the proposals you want your Minister to push.
[X] Fury of the Heavens: The weapons created by the First Awoken are more powerful than any humanity has ever known, but their strength is limited by a lack of availability. The weaponry retrieved from across Earth has helped relieve this shortage, but more could be done. Even a small thing, like making sure every missile fired against the Shiplords has felt the touch of Practice, could do a great deal. [30%, requires a Practice Dice, locked 1 year]
[] *New* To Know War: You have a fleet, but only part of it has known true combat. Although you can't give the rest of the Navy a taste of what Task Force One and the seconded ships for Operation Gauntlet experienced, there are other ways to prepare. Lina has set out a punishing schedule of wargames and training for the Navy, all you have to do is sign off on them. [40%, 1 year, Repeatable]
[] *New* Everyone loves Upgrades (Point Defence): Thanks to Mary's rather eccentric working group, your shipyards are now capable of refitting your current vessels with reverse-engineered Shiplord point defence systems. Although they won't be as effective as Practiced systems, they'd be head and shoulders better than your current baseline. [40%, 1 year, Design Action]
Piercing Light: Although reverse-engineering the FTL drive of the Shiplord Courier captured last year is beyond your capabilities given the time restrictions involved, it isn't it useless. Given the manner of acquisition, Lina and her own advisors believe that it would be possible to fit the drive to one of your ships before the Shiplords arrive. They admit that the drive will not function within the inner system, but further out it could be a powerful asset.
[X] Commanding Speed: You knew the Ministry had worked on a flagship design, but it had been discarded due to the issues present in repositioning such a large craft quickly. With access to an FTL drive, however, Lina has brought the nascent Calypso class to your attention. [25%, locked 1 year, Design Action]
Humanity's Shield: Weapons are well and good, but a solar system makes for a vast fortress given time. Here you have something to work with as well, as all of humanity's orbitals are equipped with some weaponry. There's always room for improvement however, and a new need for it too.
[] Adamant Miracle: When the Shiplords came before, they set Mars ablaze, and only Practice was able to restore the small part of it that is now yours again. The teams that worked on the Aegis defence network on Earth have come forward with a plan to install protections around Skylark, to make it as resistant as possible to any attack. Given the symbolic value of the city, and the very real value of the Red Tower, it merits thought. [40%, 1 year]
[] *New* Man the Walls: Although the Navy has shouldered the burden of supplying trained staff to operate the new military systems of your orbitals, they've been trained for ship to ship combat and many find it hard to work with the idea of a stationary platform. Forming a new service branch this late is a complex process, but Lina promises that a properly trained orbital defence corps could pay considerable dividends. [45%, 1 year]
Shipyard Operations
You have Two (2) Construction dice to assign. Unless an option states otherwise, there is no limit to the number of dice you may spend on an option.
Military:
[] Construct Auxiliary Task Groups
[] Construct Dauntless class Squadrons (You may only assign one dice to this action)
[] Construct Tower class Squadrons (You may only assign one dice to this action)
Infrastructure:
[] Design Centre Expansion [Increases bonus to these checks. Limit: +20]
[] Yard Work [Increases bonus to these checks. Limit: +20]
Diplomacy
Reach to the World: You asked for help and the Circles answered. The reports they gave you would have been invaluable on their own, but they also gave you suggestions. Plans based on the knowledge they gathered, to act on what they told you.
[] Widen the Circles: The Circles were the centre of your efforts to heal humanity of the emotional wounds that the Shiplords inflicted. They've grown far beyond your greatest expectations and helped millions heal, but there's always more that could be done. They gave you some suggestions, but it'll take a lot of work. [30%, 1 year.]
[] Hearts of Humanity: The Hearts are the most experienced of all in the Circles at helping others, and have almost by accident become some of the most experienced therapists on Earth. Formalise this status by setting up a new aid organisation for them to work out of. [60%, 2 years]
Stewardship
Ministerial VI: you have One (1) free dice for Stewardship actions.
Healing Hands:
[] Symbols of Hope: Many of the great monuments that humanity built in the last two hundred years are only barely hanging on, victims of the single-minded focus that had to be given to other things. They're more than just the physical trappings however, and restoring them could do the world good. [50%, 1 year]
Skylark Reborn: The Miracle of Skylark. First Practiced Miracle since the discovery of the Pattern, that many had believed had signalled the end of those glories. It's impossible to understate the value of Vega's Miracle as a symbol, but it does leave you in the rather interesting position of having to decide what to do with it.
[] Streetwise: Skylark was a centre of science before the Shiplords came, but it was old science, born of the Secrets that the Shiplords decreed forbidden. Much of it seems to have been changed, replaced with objects of Practice, but it might be a good idea to make sure. [30%, 1 year]
[X] Uplink: Some parts of the city still remain offline or in need of replacement, particularly its communications gear. Integrating Skylark back into the net would allow you to distribute its databases, and access its systems remotely. [35%, locked 1 year]
Intrigue
Limited Bandwidth: Cannot select more than two actions.
Know thy Enemy: The Shiplords are coming, you know that now, and if you are to be prepared you must know what they are truly capable of.
[] Corpses Leave Clues: The Shiplords did good work cleaning up the mess that their two ships made when they were destroyed, but several pieces evaded their clean-up. Some you know now to have been parts of the subversive infonet that almost killed you, but not all were. The pieces have settled into stable orbits now, and each is a potential gold mine of Shiplord technology. [???, 1 year]
[] *New* Blurred Crosshairs: The reverse engineered schematics of the Shiplord point defence brought with it more than one benefit. Given a look at how Shiplord defensive scanners work, the Ministry of Security believes they might be able to construct signal jammers to degrade their performance. [25%, 2 years]
*New* Voice from the Grave: Thanks to the diligence of FSNS Avalanche, you now know of what you believe to be the final piece of the Shiplord information network remaining in the star system. Unfortunately, technical or infospace dissection of the platform is likely to leave it useless due to the anti-intrusion systems installed in the shell. Marcus has presented two options at this point. You may pick One (1) of the following options.
[] Know Thyself: The data inside the Tombstone platform could be priceless, not for any knowledge of the Shiplords, but for what it might tell you about what they are likely to know very soon after entering the star system. This must be your priority. [30%, 1 year]
[] Darkling Plain: Although the data might be exceptionally important, the stealth coating on the platforms could be incredibly useful as an enhancement for your own small craft and also to get a firmer understanding of how it works. [30%, 1 year]
[] *New* Closing the Net: Although it's probably impossible to get all of the Tombstone platforms, giving the Navy some practice tracking stealth systems could come with benefits all of their own. And for every platform you destroy or capture, the better your chances of coming to understand more of the technology that protects them. [???, 1 year, Repeatable]
Learning
Daughter of Secrets: you have One (1) free dice for Learning actions.
The Neverending Journey, Second Step: All of the scientists on Mary's list have settled into their new working and living environment now, and you can see how happy your friend is to be surrounded by those just as passionate as she is. Now that they're all integrated however, they need a direction.
[] Picking the Bones: The defensive node captured last year is a potential treasure trove of information, but it has to be analysed and properly studied first. Aware that you don't have as much time as anyone would like, Mary plans to turn it all over to those like to herself and then monitor. From a safe distance. [40%, 1 year, Repeatable]
The Red Tower: One of the main centres of research on Mars before the Burning, the Red Tower was also one of the primary conversion points for the atmospheric conversion system better known as Clear Skies. Fully restored and online after the Miracle of Skylark, it is a treasure trove waiting to be unlocked.
[] Ancestral Key: Although the majority of the tower's files have been unlocked, some high level files remain encrypted. Mary mentions quietly that a great deal of the Martian colony systems were DNA coded, and that privilege system seems to remain in effect. Given who she is, she says, she might be able to unlock those files assuming she can convince the security protocols that she is who her DNA says she is. [20%, 1 year]
*New* The Sixth Secret: The possibilities of nanotechnology are theoretically endless, and Mary knows this, but she's been working with Lina enough that she's thinned the list down to a bare handful. Tuning it to current needs, she calls it.
[] Damage Control: You'd thought that working out a way to self-maintain your ships with nano-tech would be easy. Unfortunately, it's not quite that simple. Bugs, errors in design schematics and actual construction, the first testbed ended up having to be towed into the sun. The Navy needs a fix, and quickly. [25%, 1 year]
[] Assembly Array: On a more permanent side, nanotechnology provides an incredibly potent construction functionality, although teaching them how to build things without them exploding mid-way looks to be an incredibly complex task on the programming side. It's not impossible, though. [20%, 1 year]
*New* The Elder's Vault: The vault left behind by the Elder First is a treasure trove of data and devices, but you need ways to fight, or defend against the oncoming invasion. There's not much in the way of an index however, so it's going to be a slow process.
[] Databank Sweep: The databanks in the Vault are works of art, holding an order of magnitude more data than anyone thought such size-limited systems could. A typical scientist could lose themselves in there for decades, and Mary could probably go for longer. She's promised to not get lost on chain-research however, and to focus on things that could be directly useful for the war effort within the remaining timeframe. [30%, 1 year]
[] Artefact Investigation: Given the manpower at your disposal, looking around the vault for devices that might be useful isn't beyond you. It might be slow, and have less of a chance of finding anything truly special, but from first impressions 'normal' Elder First devices should be quite enough. [45%, 2 years]
[] Pushing the Boundaries: There are deeper areas to the Elder Vault, ones that even yourself have found only partial access. What you have found has pointed to work entirely outside of what you'd ever have expected from the Elder First, artefacts that might be capable of actually taking part in the fight against the Tribute Fleet. Getting access to them might be hard, however. [15%, 1 year]
[] Reading the Word: With a theoretical explanation finally in hand, Mary advises a careful examination into the imprints. For that however, she'll need new tools, ones that can actually see what she wants to study. [45%, 1 year]
[X] Unison: What Mary, Lina and Vega created last year was and is a miracle of combined science and practice, a fusion that has gone far beyond anything you've built before. Even the Calypso seems far less than the system that Vega managed to bring online. Everything you've built so far has been using Potentials and Practice to make it stronger. Unison, if you can complete it, will do the opposite. [20%, requires a Practice dice, locked 1 year, Design Action]
Practice Actions
You have Three (3) Practice Dice to assign to actions, with Two (2) currently locked. Unless explicitly stated, you may not assign Practice Dice to Practice Actions.
More than a Vessel: With their success parsing out the basics of what Marcus did to himself, Vega's staff have assembled a list of options to expand the understanding of internal Focus use by Potentials.
[] The Firstborn: The Endless Connection is an anomaly, but only due to his Awakening. Many of the First have come to internalise their power in similar ways, but their Focuses do not lend themselves to such spectacular utility. Talk to those of the First Awoken like your Security Minister, then combine the data sets. [55%, 2 years]
[X] Look to the Centre: There's enough in the files that the Ministry for Practice have put together for other Potentials to work with. Having more data to compare against would be nice, but taking two years to just make sure isn't on the cards. [40%, locked 1 year]
Project Harmony: Another section of your policy made almost entirely invalid by the Miracle of Skylark, Vega now has all the proof she needs to point to of her ability. Far more will accept her advice with an example like that behind her. Of course, you could also choose to send her to another project, although other actions taken by the Ministry will suffer.
[] Fluid Harmony: The data compiled last year seems to be changing the way it's being used as people look it at, but no one can understand why. This is Vega's work, at the core of things, and she's probably the only person who can truly understand it. [30%, 1 year]
[] The Shape of Miracle: Vega can now be personally assigned to an action utilising a Practice Dice, and a success will automatically trigger a Practice Trance. Other actions will suffer without her oversight, however, reducing her bonus to all other Practice actions and Practice dice by a quarter. [30%, 1 year]
Project Insight: A long running working group of Second and some Third Awakened, Project Insight is the only reason you know as much as you do about the Shiplords. They taught the world of the enemy's ways, unravelled many strengths and few weaknesses, and discovered the Pattern in time for you to prepare. Now you have a new question for them.
[] What Purpose Our Loss: The Shiplords take the same thing from all civilisations they touch, but what do they do with their tributes of blood? There are some suspicions, but the Project has never truly wanted to look that deep. Neither do you, to be honest, but you must know. [30% chance for information every year.]
[] Our Enemy, Before Us: Eight ships came before, but would eight come again? It's a simple question, but one with deeply important connotations. [40%, 1 year]
[] Rosetta: Thanks to the work of the Project, you now know that there are others but the Shiplords out there, and many might want to meet you in peace. It might be wise to learn more of the galaxy, that until recently you thought held only enemies. [25% chance for information every year]
[] Achilles Heel: The Project has found several weaknesses in the Shiplords, but Phoebe has told you that they can all feel something on the edge of their consciousness when they search through those things, just out of reach. [30% chance for information every year]
[] Write-in: Give me a question you would like answered about the Shiplords, and Project Insight will try to answer it. I advise choosing sensible questions.
*New* [] Learning to Run: Although still deeply involved in tuning the Unison process to make it functional for the vast majority of Potentials, Vega has also started training with her platform. Kagiso has apparently been extremely helpful in feeling out her limits, which Vega has found to have grown considerably. She wants to try and put together a first-generation training manual for the Unison Platform, to make the process of equipping them (hopefully) next year easier. [30%, 1 year]
Personal Actions
You may select Two (2) Personal actions this year.
[] Work with Mary: Get back into the saddle as a scientist and finally take the time to work through the theories that Mary has been trying to get you to give a proper read for the last few years.
[] Make Something: You're a Potential, capable of working items into artefacts so far removed from their original form and function that they might as well be considered magic. It will take time, but the results will be worth it. [Start Practicing an object, write-in a general idea of what you want to make.]
[] Work with a Minister: Your Ministers are all experts in their fields, excellent on the job teachers for matters that you have little experience with. [Write-in which Minister. Chance to raise stats and/or gain Traits.]
[] Powerful Words: Your words have a Practiced strength to them, but that's a cheap thing to say when you have no real understanding of what's involved. In some ways it's exhilarating, being able to draw so easily on the strength of your Focus. But you worry about what could happen if you put Practice behind a wrong word. You need to hone this gift, learn its limits and strengths. [78/???]
*New* [] Artifact Examination: Mary found several devices that you'd created in your youth, to take with you through the Elder's Door. Although you remember most of what you could do with them quite clearly, you also remember that there were some more complex functions, and you've grown a great deal in your understanding of Practice since then. Perhaps you could use them? [Write-in an item on your inventory list, will unlock its traits for use. Cannot be taken more than once a year.]
*New* [] Inheritor: Although others may access it, the master control for the Elder's Vault remains with you. This may make you far better suited to finding what you need in there, as any limits that remain should be far less restrictive to yourself than any other. It will take time, however. [Write-in a selected Elder's Vault action to boost.]
*New* [] Unison Fitting: Although still in the prototyping phase, Vega has spoken with considerable passion about how useful her Unison platform has been to her. She's currently knee-deep in the process of working with Mary and Lina to complete the system and work out a way to train Potentials in their use. Work she says could be a lot easier if she had another Potential she knew to work with. The benefits of a platform are not inconsiderable, either.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
So about that whole mid-week thing.
Yeah, sorry 'bout that. Luckily I have a week and a half off coming up, so I'll have a bit more in the way of free time (excepting Christmas being, you know, Christmas).
Any questions etc. let me know. I think I caught everything I needed to on this run, and gave you some interesting options to play with.
Yeah, sorry 'bout that. Luckily I have a week and a half off coming up, so I'll have a bit more in the way of free time (excepting Christmas being, you know, Christmas).
Any questions etc. let me know. I think I caught everything I needed to on this run, and gave you some interesting options to play with.
This is not a Quest to plan out on a phone; have to wait till I get to a real computer.[X]Plan Fight for Humanity
Italics mean an option that was locked at the start of the turn
[X] Fury of the Heavens
[X] To Know War(2 Action dice)
[x] Everyone loves Upgrades (Point Defence) (1 Action dice)
[X] Commanding Speed
[x] Man the Walls (Free Military dice)
Continue with existing actions, set up a specialised branch of the military to man our orbital fortifications, and improve the point defence systems on our ships. Finally, train like humanity's collective life depends on it - because it does.
[x] Construct Auxiliary Task Groups (1 Action dice)
[x] Construct Dauntless class Squadrons (1 Action dice)
[x] Construct Tower class Squadrons (1 Action dice)
[x] Design Centre Expansion (Free Construction dice)
[x] Yard Work (Free Construction dice)
Keep upgrading our orbital infrastructure and keep building more ships for our fleet.
[x] Streetwise (Free Stewardship dice)
[X] Uplink
Continue rebuilding and protecting Skylark
[x] Blurred Crosshairs (1 Action dice, 1 Practice dice)
Ultratech ECM is go!
[X] Closing the Net (1 Action dice)
Let's play our space version of Hunt for Red October.
[x] Picking the Bones (1 Action dice)
Plunder the captured defensive node for whatever information we can get.
[X] Damage Control (Free Learning dice, 1 Action dice)
Improve the damage control on our ships to make them tougher.
[x] Databank Sweep(1 Action dice, 1 Practice dice)
[x] Artefact Investigation (1 Action dice)
[X] Unison
Keep looking for Elder First shinies
[X] Look to the Centre
[X] Learning to Run (1 Standard dice, 1 Practice dice)
Improves the chance of getting mecha/power armour/ whatever for our Potentials in space combat
[x] Powerful Words
[x] Unison Fitting
Keep working on developing our Practice abilities, and help Vega with her work on the Unison platforms / space mecha.
Italics mean an option that was locked at the start of the turn
[X] Fury of the Heavens
[X] To Know War(2 Action dice)
[x] Everyone loves Upgrades (Point Defence) (1 Action dice)
[X] Commanding Speed
[x] Man the Walls (Free Military dice)
Continue with existing actions, set up a specialised branch of the military to man our orbital fortifications, and improve the point defence systems on our ships. Finally, train like humanity's collective life depends on it - because it does.
[x] Construct Auxiliary Task Groups (1 Action dice)
[x] Construct Dauntless class Squadrons (1 Action dice)
[x] Construct Tower class Squadrons (1 Action dice)
[x] Design Centre Expansion (Free Construction dice)
[x] Yard Work (Free Construction dice)
Keep upgrading our orbital infrastructure and keep building more ships for our fleet.
[x] Streetwise (Free Stewardship dice)
[X] Uplink
Continue rebuilding and protecting Skylark
[x] Blurred Crosshairs (1 Action dice, 1 Practice dice)
Ultratech ECM is go!
[X] Closing the Net (1 Action dice)
Let's play our space version of Hunt for Red October.
[x] Picking the Bones (1 Action dice)
Plunder the captured defensive node for whatever information we can get.
[X] Damage Control (Free Learning dice, 1 Action dice)
Improve the damage control on our ships to make them tougher.
[x] Databank Sweep(1 Action dice, 1 Practice dice)
[x] Artefact Investigation (1 Action dice)
[X] Unison
Keep looking for Elder First shinies
[X] Look to the Centre
[X] Learning to Run (1 Standard dice, 1 Practice dice)
Improves the chance of getting mecha/power armour/ whatever for our Potentials in space combat
[x] Powerful Words
[x] Unison Fitting
Keep working on developing our Practice abilities, and help Vega with her work on the Unison platforms / space mecha.
Here is my analysis of actions. I will divide actions into four categories:
Locked
Urgent - Actions that are important to the war effort and which we want to take ASAP.
Useful - Actions that may be important to the war effort but could probably wait until turns 9 or even 10.
Other - Actions that are not considered a priority, usually because they won't pay much dividends until after the war.
Also, actions may be annotated, depending on what they require.
[] represents a normal action, requiring an action die.
[+P] represents an action that requires an extra practice die in addition to the normal action die.
Military (1 Free)
[+P] Fury of the Heavens
[] *New* To Know War - training significantly increases the effectiveness of our fleet. Furthermore, as a repeatable action, we want to do it immediately so we can repeat it later if desired.
[] *New* Everyone loves Upgrades (Point Defense) - upgrades make everything better, but we can safely delay this until year 9.
[] Commanding Speed
[] Adamant Miracle - Shielding mars is important. Frankly, I'd be comfortable putting this off until turn 9, but apparently the people of Mars aren't, so we might as well do it now.
[] *New* Man the Walls - Our orbitals are one of our strongest assets - crewing them properly is common sense. Furthermore, organizational changes can cause problems if rushed, so doing it now is best.
Shipyard Operations (2 Free)
[] Construct Auxiliary Task Groups / [] Construct Dauntless class Squadrons / [] Construct Tower class Squadrons - Building ships is useful to the war effort. However, the building actions that are repeatable can be taken any number of times per year, so we can do the building whenever.
[] Design Centre Expansion / [] Yard Work - Any bonus we get now will only apply for two years leading up to the war, and we can only get an additional bonus of +5 per category. This is simply not worth it.
Diplomacy
[] Widen the Circles / [] Hearts of Humanity - These actions seem to set up long-term benefits; they won't bring us results by wartime.
Stewardship (1 Free)
[] Symbols of Hope - Pretty sure this just boosts morale. Pretty sure we are good on morale.
[] Streetwise - This seems like it will unlock new projects. We don't need new projects right now; we need solutions.
[] Uplink
Intrigue (Action Cap of 2)
[] Corpses Leave Clues - It is probably too late to start looking for more Shiplord tech, especially because we have our hands full with everything else.
[] *New* Blurred Crosshairs - Between us having missiles, fighters, and Unison-equipped-Practiced, stopping the Shoplord point defense is going to be exceedingly important. On the other hand, hopefully we can get away with delaying this a year. The 2 action lockout means that this action is out of the running given the pair of other options that in the category that are priorities.
*New* Voice from the Grave ([] Know Thyself / [] Darkling Plain) - Whether we want to learn what is known about ourselves and adapt our strategies and learn about stealth coating and adapt our technology, we are going to need time. That means this action needs to be taken ASAP.
[] *New* Closing the Net - If we want to get the most out of this option, we should take it as much as possible. That means we start NOW. And maybe even add a practice die to it.
Learning (1 Free)
[] Picking the Bones - This is tech served up to us on a silver platter; all we have to do is research and implement it in time. If we want to get another project out of this, we need to start it NOW.
[] Ancestral Key - Completing this action will probably unlock multi-year research actions, and then completing those might unlock an action to actually make something. No thanks.
[] *New* Damage Control - This designs nano-repair, probably unlocking the "Everyone loves Upgrades (Nano-repair)" option next turn. It seems like a winning bet.
[] Assembly Array - I'm guessing this would give us an extra shipyard die. We would get to use it for two turns, which makes it a net positive (since building more Task-forces is always a reasonable use of dice).
[] *New* Databank Sweep - If Mary thinks she can find something useful, might as well let her. Maybe the Elder First have a nice surprise in store for us?
[] *New* Artifact Investigation - This action takes two years, which makes me hesitant - but if we have the room for it, this is definitely valuable.
[] *New* Pushing the Boundaries - the odds may seem low, but with our bonuses they we have a 2/3 chance, and if we do find a trump card or two, that can be a big deal.
[] Reading the Word - No time for basic research.
[+P] Unison
Practice
[] Look to the Centre
[] Fluid Harmony - No time for basic research.
[] The Shape of Miracle - I say we hit "[] Fury of the Heavens", giving each of our ships the touch of not just Practice, but of Miracle. Or at least Trance.
[] What Purpose Our Loss - This would be interesting to know, but probably won't make a difference to the battle.
[] Our Enemy, Before Us - we probably want to do this just so that we don't have to keep an eye out for ambushes by extra ships and the like. This is especially important since the Shiplords are apparently deadly serious about stealth.
[] Rosetta - This would be interesting to know, but probably won't make a difference to the battle.
[] Achilles Heel - finding more weaknesses would be great.
[] Learning to Run - The Unison Platform is apparently going to be one of our strongest assets; it is worth leveraging that as much as we can.
Personal Actions (Choose Two, no action dice consumed)
I'm not going to go through these one at a time; instead, I'll explain what I think is most worthwhile in text form.
Our first pick should be Unison. As mentioned earlier, boosting the Unison Platform is of high importance, and the enhancement is likely to be helpful overall.
Our second pick should be Inheritor on "[] Pushing the Boundaries". Boosting our chance of picking up some of the good stuff is valuable.
Artifact Examination on the Concert Set to make inspirational speaches later was a runner up, but it will wait until next year. Powerful Words could be nifty, but we probably won't finish it anytime soon, so it is a no go.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So. In aggregate, my recommended actions are:
Military (1 Free)
[+P] Fury of the Heavens
[] *New* To Know War
[] *New* Everyone loves Upgrades (Point Defense)
[] Commanding Speed
[] Adamant Miracle
[] *New* Man the Walls
(6 proposed - 1 free = 5)
Shipyard Operations (2 Free)
[] Construct Auxiliary Task Groups
-[] x2
(2 proposed - 2 free = 0)
Diplomacy
<This space intentionally left blank>
Stewardship (1 Free)
[] Uplink
(1 proposed - 1 free = 0)
Intrigue (Action Cap of 2)
*New* Voice from the Grave ([] Know Thyself / [] Darkling Plain)
[] *New* Closing the Net
(2 proposed - 0 free = 2)
Learning (1 Free)
[] Picking the Bones
[] *New* Damage Control
[] Assembly Array
[] *New* Databank Sweep
[] *New* Artifact Investigation
[] *New* Pushing the Boundaries
[+P] Unison
(7 proposed - 1 free = 6)
Practice
[] Look to the Centre
[] The Shape of Miracle
[] Our Enemy, Before Us
[] Achilles Heel
[] Learning to Run
(5 proposed - 0 free = 5)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finalizing
5 military + 0 shipyard + 0 diplomacy + 0 stewardship + 2 intrigue + 6 learning + 5 practice = 18 total.
17 actions available.
One gold needs to be dropped. Options:
-[] Everyone loves Upgrades (Point Defense)
-[] Our Enemy, Before Us
The upgrades are more important; Our Enemy Before Us dropped.
That is my analysis. I'll be proposing a plan based on this shortly.
Though I still need to work out where to allocate the three free practice dice should go. Any suggestions?
Locked
Urgent - Actions that are important to the war effort and which we want to take ASAP.
Useful - Actions that may be important to the war effort but could probably wait until turns 9 or even 10.
Other - Actions that are not considered a priority, usually because they won't pay much dividends until after the war.
Also, actions may be annotated, depending on what they require.
[] represents a normal action, requiring an action die.
[+P] represents an action that requires an extra practice die in addition to the normal action die.
Military (1 Free)
[+P] Fury of the Heavens
[] *New* To Know War - training significantly increases the effectiveness of our fleet. Furthermore, as a repeatable action, we want to do it immediately so we can repeat it later if desired.
[] *New* Everyone loves Upgrades (Point Defense) - upgrades make everything better, but we can safely delay this until year 9.
[] Commanding Speed
[] Adamant Miracle - Shielding mars is important. Frankly, I'd be comfortable putting this off until turn 9, but apparently the people of Mars aren't, so we might as well do it now.
[] *New* Man the Walls - Our orbitals are one of our strongest assets - crewing them properly is common sense. Furthermore, organizational changes can cause problems if rushed, so doing it now is best.
Shipyard Operations (2 Free)
[] Construct Auxiliary Task Groups / [] Construct Dauntless class Squadrons / [] Construct Tower class Squadrons - Building ships is useful to the war effort. However, the building actions that are repeatable can be taken any number of times per year, so we can do the building whenever.
[] Design Centre Expansion / [] Yard Work - Any bonus we get now will only apply for two years leading up to the war, and we can only get an additional bonus of +5 per category. This is simply not worth it.
Diplomacy
[] Widen the Circles / [] Hearts of Humanity - These actions seem to set up long-term benefits; they won't bring us results by wartime.
Stewardship (1 Free)
[] Symbols of Hope - Pretty sure this just boosts morale. Pretty sure we are good on morale.
[] Streetwise - This seems like it will unlock new projects. We don't need new projects right now; we need solutions.
[] Uplink
Intrigue (Action Cap of 2)
[] Corpses Leave Clues - It is probably too late to start looking for more Shiplord tech, especially because we have our hands full with everything else.
*New* Voice from the Grave ([] Know Thyself / [] Darkling Plain) - Whether we want to learn what is known about ourselves and adapt our strategies and learn about stealth coating and adapt our technology, we are going to need time. That means this action needs to be taken ASAP.
[] *New* Closing the Net - If we want to get the most out of this option, we should take it as much as possible. That means we start NOW. And maybe even add a practice die to it.
Learning (1 Free)
[] Picking the Bones - This is tech served up to us on a silver platter; all we have to do is research and implement it in time. If we want to get another project out of this, we need to start it NOW.
[] Ancestral Key - Completing this action will probably unlock multi-year research actions, and then completing those might unlock an action to actually make something. No thanks.
[] *New* Damage Control - This designs nano-repair, probably unlocking the "Everyone loves Upgrades (Nano-repair)" option next turn. It seems like a winning bet.
[] Assembly Array - I'm guessing this would give us an extra shipyard die. We would get to use it for two turns, which makes it a net positive (since building more Task-forces is always a reasonable use of dice).
[] *New* Databank Sweep - If Mary thinks she can find something useful, might as well let her. Maybe the Elder First have a nice surprise in store for us?
[] *New* Artifact Investigation - This action takes two years, which makes me hesitant - but if we have the room for it, this is definitely valuable.
[] *New* Pushing the Boundaries - the odds may seem low, but with our bonuses they we have a 2/3 chance, and if we do find a trump card or two, that can be a big deal.
[] Reading the Word - No time for basic research.
[+P] Unison
Practice
[] Look to the Centre
[] Fluid Harmony - No time for basic research.
[] The Shape of Miracle - I say we hit "[] Fury of the Heavens", giving each of our ships the touch of not just Practice, but of Miracle. Or at least Trance.
[] What Purpose Our Loss - This would be interesting to know, but probably won't make a difference to the battle.
[] Our Enemy, Before Us - we probably want to do this just so that we don't have to keep an eye out for ambushes by extra ships and the like. This is especially important since the Shiplords are apparently deadly serious about stealth.
[] Rosetta - This would be interesting to know, but probably won't make a difference to the battle.
[] Achilles Heel - finding more weaknesses would be great.
[] Learning to Run - The Unison Platform is apparently going to be one of our strongest assets; it is worth leveraging that as much as we can.
Personal Actions (Choose Two, no action dice consumed)
I'm not going to go through these one at a time; instead, I'll explain what I think is most worthwhile in text form.
Our first pick should be Unison. As mentioned earlier, boosting the Unison Platform is of high importance, and the enhancement is likely to be helpful overall.
Our second pick should be Inheritor on "[] Pushing the Boundaries". Boosting our chance of picking up some of the good stuff is valuable.
Artifact Examination on the Concert Set to make inspirational speaches later was a runner up, but it will wait until next year. Powerful Words could be nifty, but we probably won't finish it anytime soon, so it is a no go.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So. In aggregate, my recommended actions are:
Military (1 Free)
[+P] Fury of the Heavens
[] *New* To Know War
[] *New* Everyone loves Upgrades (Point Defense)
[] Commanding Speed
[] Adamant Miracle
[] *New* Man the Walls
(6 proposed - 1 free = 5)
Shipyard Operations (2 Free)
[] Construct Auxiliary Task Groups
-[] x2
(2 proposed - 2 free = 0)
Diplomacy
<This space intentionally left blank>
Stewardship (1 Free)
[] Uplink
(1 proposed - 1 free = 0)
Intrigue (Action Cap of 2)
*New* Voice from the Grave ([] Know Thyself / [] Darkling Plain)
[] *New* Closing the Net
(2 proposed - 0 free = 2)
Learning (1 Free)
[] Picking the Bones
[] *New* Damage Control
[] Assembly Array
[] *New* Databank Sweep
[] *New* Artifact Investigation
[] *New* Pushing the Boundaries
[+P] Unison
(7 proposed - 1 free = 6)
Practice
[] Look to the Centre
[] The Shape of Miracle
[] Our Enemy, Before Us
[] Achilles Heel
[] Learning to Run
(5 proposed - 0 free = 5)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finalizing
5 military + 0 shipyard + 0 diplomacy + 0 stewardship + 2 intrigue + 6 learning + 5 practice = 18 total.
17 actions available.
One gold needs to be dropped. Options:
-[] Everyone loves Upgrades (Point Defense)
-[] Our Enemy, Before Us
The upgrades are more important; Our Enemy Before Us dropped.
That is my analysis. I'll be proposing a plan based on this shortly.
Though I still need to work out where to allocate the three free practice dice should go. Any suggestions?
We've still got a couple of years until the Shiplords show up, and it's a single turn action, so if we do it next turn we should have it done in time. Plus we should have a Practice dice to allocate to it next turn.
[X] Plan Ours Is The Fury
-[X] Military (1 Free)
--[X] Fury of the Heavens
--[X] To Know War
--[X] Everyone loves Upgrades (Point Defense)
--[X] Commanding Speed
--[X] Adamant Miracle
--[X] Man the Walls
-[X] Shipyard Operations (2 Free)
--[X] Construct Auxiliary Task Groups
--[X] Construct Auxiliary Task Groups x2
-[X] Stewardship (1 Free)
--[X] Uplink
-[X] Intrigue (Max 2)
--[X] Know Thyself
--[X] Closing the Net
-[X] Learning (1 Free)
--[X] Picking the Bones
--[X] Damage Control
--[X] Assembly Array
--[X] Databank Sweep
--[X] Artifact Investigation
--[X] Pushing the Boundaries
--[X] Unison
-[X] Practice
--[X] Look to the Centre
--[X] The Shape of Miracle (Fury of the Heavens)
--[X] Achilles Heel
--[X] Learning to Run
-[X] Practice Die Allocations
--[X] Collaboration (Fury of the Heavens)
--[X] Collaboration (Unison)
--[X] Practiced Support (Commanding Speed)
--[X] Practiced Support (Construct Auxiliary Task Groups)
--[X] Practiced Support (Closing the Net)
-[X] Personal Actions
--[X] Inheritor (Pushing the Boundaries)
--[X] Unison Fitting
-[X] Military (1 Free)
--[X] Fury of the Heavens
--[X] To Know War
--[X] Everyone loves Upgrades (Point Defense)
--[X] Commanding Speed
--[X] Adamant Miracle
--[X] Man the Walls
-[X] Shipyard Operations (2 Free)
--[X] Construct Auxiliary Task Groups
--[X] Construct Auxiliary Task Groups x2
-[X] Stewardship (1 Free)
--[X] Uplink
-[X] Intrigue (Max 2)
--[X] Know Thyself
--[X] Closing the Net
-[X] Learning (1 Free)
--[X] Picking the Bones
--[X] Damage Control
--[X] Assembly Array
--[X] Databank Sweep
--[X] Artifact Investigation
--[X] Pushing the Boundaries
--[X] Unison
-[X] Practice
--[X] Look to the Centre
--[X] The Shape of Miracle (Fury of the Heavens)
--[X] Achilles Heel
--[X] Learning to Run
-[X] Practice Die Allocations
--[X] Collaboration (Fury of the Heavens)
--[X] Collaboration (Unison)
--[X] Practiced Support (Commanding Speed)
--[X] Practiced Support (Construct Auxiliary Task Groups)
--[X] Practiced Support (Closing the Net)
-[X] Personal Actions
--[X] Inheritor (Pushing the Boundaries)
--[X] Unison Fitting
- Location
- Queensland, Australia
[X] Plan Sharpening the Blade
Military
[X] Fury of the Heavens: The weapons created by the First Awoken are more powerful than any humanity has ever known, but their strength is limited by a lack of availability. The weaponry retrieved from across Earth has helped relieve this shortage, but more could be done. Even a small thing, like making sure every missile fired against the Shiplords has felt the touch of Practice, could do a great deal. [30%, requires a Practice Dice, locked 1 year]
-[X] 1 Locked Die, 1 Locked Practice Die
[X] *New* To Know War: You have a fleet, but only part of it has known true combat. Although you can't give the rest of the Navy a taste of what Task Force One and the seconded ships for Operation Gauntlet experienced, there are other ways to prepare. Lina has set out a punishing schedule of wargames and training for the Navy, all you have to do is sign off on them. [40%, 1 year, Repeatable]
-[X] 1 Free Die
[X] *New* Everyone loves Upgrades (Point Defence): Thanks to Mary's rather eccentric working group, your shipyards are now capable of refitting your current vessels with reverse-engineered Shiplord point defence systems. Although they won't be as effective as Practiced systems, they'd be head and shoulders better than your current baseline. [40%, 1 year, Design Action]
[X] Commanding Speed: You knew the Ministry had worked on a flagship design, but it had been discarded due to the issues present in repositioning such a large craft quickly. With access to an FTL drive, however, Lina has brought the nascent Calypso class to your attention. [25%, locked 1 year, Design Action]
-[X] 1 Locked Die, 1 Practice Die
[X] Adamant Miracle: When the Shiplords came before, they set Mars ablaze, and only Practice was able to restore the small part of it that is now yours again. The teams that worked on the Aegis defence network on Earth have come forward with a plan to install protections around Skylark, to make it as resistant as possible to any attack. Given the symbolic value of the city, and the very real value of the Red Tower, it merits thought. [40%, 1 year]
[X] *New* Man the Walls: Although the Navy has shouldered the burden of supplying trained staff to operate the new military systems of your orbitals, they've been trained for ship to ship combat and many find it hard to work with the idea of a stationary platform. Forming a new service branch this late is a complex process, but Lina promises that a properly trained orbital defence corps could pay considerable dividends. [45%, 1 year]
Shipyard Operations
[X] Construct Auxiliary Task Groups
-[X] 1 Free Die, 1 Practice Die
[X] Construct Dauntless class Squadrons (You may only assign one dice to this action)
-[X] 1 Free Die
Diplomacy
Stewardship
[X] Uplink: Some parts of the city still remain offline or in need of replacement, particularly its communications gear. Integrating Skylark back into the net would allow you to distribute its databases, and access its systems remotely. [35%, locked 1 year]
-[X] 1 Locked Free Die
Intrigue
[X] *New* Blurred Crosshairs: The reverse engineered schematics of the Shiplord point defence brought with it more than one benefit. Given a look at how Shiplord defensive scanners work, the Ministry of Security believes they might be able to construct signal jammers to degrade their performance. [25%, 2 years]
[X] *New* Closing the Net: Although it's probably impossible to get all of the Tombstone platforms, giving the Navy some practice tracking stealth systems could come with benefits all of their own. And for every platform you destroy or capture, the better your chances of coming to understand more of the technology that protects them. [???, 1 year, Repeatable]
-[X] 1 Standard Die, 1 Practice Die
Learning
[X] Picking the Bones: The defensive node captured last year is a potential treasure trove of information, but it has to be analysed and properly studied first. Aware that you don't have as much time as anyone would like, Mary plans to turn it all over to those like to herself and then monitor. From a safe distance. [40%, 1 year, Repeatable]
-[X] 1 Free Die
[X] Damage Control: You'd thought that working out a way to self-maintain your ships with nano-tech would be easy. Unfortunately, it's not quite that simple. Bugs, errors in design schematics and actual construction, the first testbed ended up having to be towed into the sun. The Navy needs a fix, and quickly. [25%, 1 year]
[X] Assembly Array: On a more permanent side, nanotechnology provides an incredibly potent construction functionality, although teaching them how to build things without them exploding mid-way looks to be an incredibly complex task on the programming side. It's not impossible, though. [20%, 1 year]
[X] Databank Sweep: The databanks in the Vault are works of art, holding an order of magnitude more data than anyone thought such size-limited systems could. A typical scientist could lose themselves in there for decades, and Mary could probably go for longer. She's promised to not get lost on chain-research however, and to focus on things that could be directly useful for the war effort within the remaining timeframe. [30%, 1 year]
[X] Artefact Investigation: Given the manpower at your disposal, looking around the vault for devices that might be useful isn't beyond you. It might be slow, and have less of a chance of finding anything truly special, but from first impressions 'normal' Elder First devices should be quite enough. [45%, 2 years]
[X] Pushing the Boundaries: There are deeper areas to the Elder Vault, ones that even yourself have found only partial access. What you have found has pointed to work entirely outside of what you'd ever have expected from the Elder First, artefacts that might be capable of actually taking part in the fight against the Tribute Fleet. Getting access to them might be hard, however. [15%, 1 year]
[X] Unison: What Mary, Lina and Vega created last year was and is a miracle of combined science and practice, a fusion that has gone far beyond anything you've built before. Even the Calypso seems far less than the system that Vega managed to bring online. Everything you've built so far has been using Potentials and Practice to make it stronger. Unison, if you can complete it, will do the opposite. [20%, requires a Practice dice, locked 1 year, Design Action]
-[X] 1 Locked Die, 1 Locked Practice Die
Practice Actions
[X] Look to the Centre: There's enough in the files that the Ministry for Practice have put together for other Potentials to work with. Having more data to compare against would be nice, but taking two years to just make sure isn't on the cards. [40%, locked 1 year]
-[X] 1 Locked Die
[X] Fluid Harmony: The data compiled last year seems to be changing the way it's being used as people look it at, but no one can understand why. This is Vega's work, at the core of things, and she's probably the only person who can truly understand it. [30%, 1 year]
[X] The Shape of Miracle: Vega can now be personally assigned to an action utilising a Practice Dice, and a success will automatically trigger a Practice Trance. Other actions will suffer without her oversight, however, reducing her bonus to all other Practice actions and Practice dice by a quarter. [30%, 1 year]
-[X] Fury of the Heavens
[X] *New* Learning to Run: Although still deeply involved in tuning the Unison process to make it functional for the vast majority of Potentials, Vega has also started training with her platform. Kagiso has apparently been extremely helpful in feeling out her limits, which Vega has found to have grown considerably. She wants to try and put together a first-generation training manual for the Unison Platform, to make the process of equipping them (hopefully) next year easier. [30%, 1 year]
Personal Actions
[X] Inheritor: Although others may access it, the master control for the Elder's Vault remains with you. This may make you far better suited to finding what you need in there, as any limits that remain should be far less restrictive to yourself than any other. It will take time, however. [Pushing the Boundaries]
[X] Unison Fitting: Although still in the prototyping phase, Vega has spoken with considerable passion about how useful her Unison platform has been to her. She's currently knee-deep in the process of working with Mary and Lina to complete the system and work out a way to train Potentials in their use. Work she says could be a lot easier if she had another Potential she knew to work with. The benefits of a platform are not inconsiderable, either.
Military
[X] Fury of the Heavens: The weapons created by the First Awoken are more powerful than any humanity has ever known, but their strength is limited by a lack of availability. The weaponry retrieved from across Earth has helped relieve this shortage, but more could be done. Even a small thing, like making sure every missile fired against the Shiplords has felt the touch of Practice, could do a great deal. [30%, requires a Practice Dice, locked 1 year]
-[X] 1 Locked Die, 1 Locked Practice Die
[X] *New* To Know War: You have a fleet, but only part of it has known true combat. Although you can't give the rest of the Navy a taste of what Task Force One and the seconded ships for Operation Gauntlet experienced, there are other ways to prepare. Lina has set out a punishing schedule of wargames and training for the Navy, all you have to do is sign off on them. [40%, 1 year, Repeatable]
-[X] 1 Free Die
[X] *New* Everyone loves Upgrades (Point Defence): Thanks to Mary's rather eccentric working group, your shipyards are now capable of refitting your current vessels with reverse-engineered Shiplord point defence systems. Although they won't be as effective as Practiced systems, they'd be head and shoulders better than your current baseline. [40%, 1 year, Design Action]
[X] Commanding Speed: You knew the Ministry had worked on a flagship design, but it had been discarded due to the issues present in repositioning such a large craft quickly. With access to an FTL drive, however, Lina has brought the nascent Calypso class to your attention. [25%, locked 1 year, Design Action]
-[X] 1 Locked Die, 1 Practice Die
[X] Adamant Miracle: When the Shiplords came before, they set Mars ablaze, and only Practice was able to restore the small part of it that is now yours again. The teams that worked on the Aegis defence network on Earth have come forward with a plan to install protections around Skylark, to make it as resistant as possible to any attack. Given the symbolic value of the city, and the very real value of the Red Tower, it merits thought. [40%, 1 year]
[X] *New* Man the Walls: Although the Navy has shouldered the burden of supplying trained staff to operate the new military systems of your orbitals, they've been trained for ship to ship combat and many find it hard to work with the idea of a stationary platform. Forming a new service branch this late is a complex process, but Lina promises that a properly trained orbital defence corps could pay considerable dividends. [45%, 1 year]
Shipyard Operations
[X] Construct Auxiliary Task Groups
-[X] 1 Free Die, 1 Practice Die
[X] Construct Dauntless class Squadrons (You may only assign one dice to this action)
-[X] 1 Free Die
Diplomacy
Stewardship
[X] Uplink: Some parts of the city still remain offline or in need of replacement, particularly its communications gear. Integrating Skylark back into the net would allow you to distribute its databases, and access its systems remotely. [35%, locked 1 year]
-[X] 1 Locked Free Die
Intrigue
[X] *New* Blurred Crosshairs: The reverse engineered schematics of the Shiplord point defence brought with it more than one benefit. Given a look at how Shiplord defensive scanners work, the Ministry of Security believes they might be able to construct signal jammers to degrade their performance. [25%, 2 years]
[X] *New* Closing the Net: Although it's probably impossible to get all of the Tombstone platforms, giving the Navy some practice tracking stealth systems could come with benefits all of their own. And for every platform you destroy or capture, the better your chances of coming to understand more of the technology that protects them. [???, 1 year, Repeatable]
-[X] 1 Standard Die, 1 Practice Die
Learning
[X] Picking the Bones: The defensive node captured last year is a potential treasure trove of information, but it has to be analysed and properly studied first. Aware that you don't have as much time as anyone would like, Mary plans to turn it all over to those like to herself and then monitor. From a safe distance. [40%, 1 year, Repeatable]
-[X] 1 Free Die
[X] Damage Control: You'd thought that working out a way to self-maintain your ships with nano-tech would be easy. Unfortunately, it's not quite that simple. Bugs, errors in design schematics and actual construction, the first testbed ended up having to be towed into the sun. The Navy needs a fix, and quickly. [25%, 1 year]
[X] Assembly Array: On a more permanent side, nanotechnology provides an incredibly potent construction functionality, although teaching them how to build things without them exploding mid-way looks to be an incredibly complex task on the programming side. It's not impossible, though. [20%, 1 year]
[X] Databank Sweep: The databanks in the Vault are works of art, holding an order of magnitude more data than anyone thought such size-limited systems could. A typical scientist could lose themselves in there for decades, and Mary could probably go for longer. She's promised to not get lost on chain-research however, and to focus on things that could be directly useful for the war effort within the remaining timeframe. [30%, 1 year]
[X] Artefact Investigation: Given the manpower at your disposal, looking around the vault for devices that might be useful isn't beyond you. It might be slow, and have less of a chance of finding anything truly special, but from first impressions 'normal' Elder First devices should be quite enough. [45%, 2 years]
[X] Pushing the Boundaries: There are deeper areas to the Elder Vault, ones that even yourself have found only partial access. What you have found has pointed to work entirely outside of what you'd ever have expected from the Elder First, artefacts that might be capable of actually taking part in the fight against the Tribute Fleet. Getting access to them might be hard, however. [15%, 1 year]
[X] Unison: What Mary, Lina and Vega created last year was and is a miracle of combined science and practice, a fusion that has gone far beyond anything you've built before. Even the Calypso seems far less than the system that Vega managed to bring online. Everything you've built so far has been using Potentials and Practice to make it stronger. Unison, if you can complete it, will do the opposite. [20%, requires a Practice dice, locked 1 year, Design Action]
-[X] 1 Locked Die, 1 Locked Practice Die
Practice Actions
[X] Look to the Centre: There's enough in the files that the Ministry for Practice have put together for other Potentials to work with. Having more data to compare against would be nice, but taking two years to just make sure isn't on the cards. [40%, locked 1 year]
-[X] 1 Locked Die
[X] Fluid Harmony: The data compiled last year seems to be changing the way it's being used as people look it at, but no one can understand why. This is Vega's work, at the core of things, and she's probably the only person who can truly understand it. [30%, 1 year]
[X] The Shape of Miracle: Vega can now be personally assigned to an action utilising a Practice Dice, and a success will automatically trigger a Practice Trance. Other actions will suffer without her oversight, however, reducing her bonus to all other Practice actions and Practice dice by a quarter. [30%, 1 year]
-[X] Fury of the Heavens
[X] *New* Learning to Run: Although still deeply involved in tuning the Unison process to make it functional for the vast majority of Potentials, Vega has also started training with her platform. Kagiso has apparently been extremely helpful in feeling out her limits, which Vega has found to have grown considerably. She wants to try and put together a first-generation training manual for the Unison Platform, to make the process of equipping them (hopefully) next year easier. [30%, 1 year]
Personal Actions
[X] Inheritor: Although others may access it, the master control for the Elder's Vault remains with you. This may make you far better suited to finding what you need in there, as any limits that remain should be far less restrictive to yourself than any other. It will take time, however. [Pushing the Boundaries]
[X] Unison Fitting: Although still in the prototyping phase, Vega has spoken with considerable passion about how useful her Unison platform has been to her. She's currently knee-deep in the process of working with Mary and Lina to complete the system and work out a way to train Potentials in their use. Work she says could be a lot easier if she had another Potential she knew to work with. The benefits of a platform are not inconsiderable, either.
Last edited:
[X] Plan Ours Is The Fury
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Vote Tally : Original - Sci-Fi - The Practice War | Page 49 | Sufficient Velocity
##### NetTally 1.7.5
[6] Plan: ◈Ours Is The Fury
[2] Plan: ◈Fight for Humanity
[1] Plan: ◈Sharpening the Blade
Total No. of Voters: 9
If the trend towards Ours is the Fury continues much further, I'll close this vote tonight. It's kinda amusing to me that the turns are starting to take less time to plan out and finish up then what's in between.
##### NetTally 1.7.5
[6] Plan: ◈Ours Is The Fury
[2] Plan: ◈Fight for Humanity
[1] Plan: ◈Sharpening the Blade
Total No. of Voters: 9
If the trend towards Ours is the Fury continues much further, I'll close this vote tonight. It's kinda amusing to me that the turns are starting to take less time to plan out and finish up then what's in between.
Malaquez
[MUFFLED EUROBEAT]
- Location
- Singapore
It's because we have people like Primal and Hawk who're pretty good at parsing and analysing the content into bits that I can understand.
Psh, I'm not lazy. Who told you that?
Zeitgeist Blue
Currently Made of Metal
- Location
- Manila, Philippines, GMT +8
And there's a far clearer path we have to go through now: prepare for the Tribute Fleet. Anything that doesn't look like it'll give us immediate gains gets put aside.
Wait 'till after and we don't have such a clear way going forward. We'll have a galaxy's worth of options then.
Watch as we waffle around the fate of Earth!
The only things holding me back from Our is the fury is the lack of fluid harmony and the outside die allocations. I really want fluid harmony this turn: currently our ability to make Miracles is super-reliant on Vega's personal interaction, and as she's probably going to be at major risk in the invasion I'd rather not have her be such a single point of failure.
Also, practice die. I kind of want to put Practice into Adamant Walls. Practiced walls to protect a Practice city sounds extremely useful to me, especially since the tribute fleet is certain to go after Mars.
Then there's Shape if Miracle. Can we even do that this turn? Both Unison and Learning to Run, as described, are actions already requiring Vega's personal intervention; if we remove her from those to concentrate on something else wrong those two actions suffer quite a bit?
Also, practice die. I kind of want to put Practice into Adamant Walls. Practiced walls to protect a Practice city sounds extremely useful to me, especially since the tribute fleet is certain to go after Mars.
Then there's Shape if Miracle. Can we even do that this turn? Both Unison and Learning to Run, as described, are actions already requiring Vega's personal intervention; if we remove her from those to concentrate on something else wrong those two actions suffer quite a bit?
Take a look at There is no GATE sometime. Great quest, lots of fun, good reading. A bit slow, sadly.
I bring it up because the main part of the turn (plan options, voting, preliminary results) take a couple of days on average. The writeup of all the interesting things that happened (in the form of interludes) can then take months.
Malaquez
[MUFFLED EUROBEAT]
- Location
- Singapore
Seconded. It's a fantastic quest with a great QM.
The community is great too. The omakes are top quality.
That's nothing. Have you heard of the lampreys? Hard science planetary conquest quest with a backstory of a 10,000 year interstellar slowboat the GM insists on recreating in real-time flashback interludes.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats