- Location
- Somewhere out there
How do you solve a problem like Maria?
seriously I don't get the reference
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The Practice War [Complete]
- Thread starter Snowfire
- Start date
- Original Sci-Fi
seriously I don't get the reference
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
The description hasn't been updated. I'll get to it tomorrow.
Start has been made on Arcadia Progress Report, will continue working on it tomorrow.
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
You date an incarnation of god.
- Location
- Ekaterinburg, Russia
...Say, I don't think I recall it ever being mentioned in discussions...
But considering how drastically Humanity has changed, for reasons numerous and varied, after the Week of Sorrows, and considering how it was stated that First Tribute is always biomass...
What if that social upheaval, after more or less purging a significant portion of the previous power structure, is one of the goals of Shiplords? A forced renewal so to speak.
But considering how drastically Humanity has changed, for reasons numerous and varied, after the Week of Sorrows, and considering how it was stated that First Tribute is always biomass...
What if that social upheaval, after more or less purging a significant portion of the previous power structure, is one of the goals of Shiplords? A forced renewal so to speak.
- Location
- Somewhere out there
I can see that, but it would only make sense if they could influence the direction of renewal to further their ends. I don't see it making sense to cause upheaval just for the sake of upheaval.
Himmelhand
Giant Sinkhole 2020
- Location
- Midwestern US
It could be one of those things where they want to raise an army, but the army has to be self-driven. After all, Secrets can't be taught. So they put everyone into a huge existential threat and see who can rise to meet them. The ones who fold weren't going to be useful for anything more than chaff to the Shiplords, while the fighters may potentially merit "nurturing" through further, more advanced attention.
If course, the question of why the Shiplords need to go through such a process looms over the whole thing, but that's another layer entirely.
Perhaps they are looking for something specific that none of the Uninvolved species had/could achieve.
Turn 24 - Arcadia Progress Report
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Arcadia Progress Report - 2129
The months passed in fits and starts, with your attention scattered between Arcadia, your more personal projects, and preparing generally for the conflict that may arrive as early as the year to come. The Third Battle of Sol now lies a bare three years away at most, and as little as a handful of months. The full picture of your opposition is starting to take shape through Insight's eyes, and it is more than simply frightening. As motivations go, it's a powerful one, and Arcadia's scientists rise once again to the challenge.
Of key import for the battles that it's hoped will follow this one, is the successful development of a computer system capable of bringing the multiple systems of the Orrery together to allow you to target War Fleet craft. With the help of Iris and Vision you've been able to construct a prototype, and you hope that they are right when they tell you that no great amount of testing will be required. You've always found practical testing to be more complicated than expected. You can only hope that does not hold here. Having the coordination capacity of the Orrery available to you for Third Sol would be, in Lina's words, wonderful. Though you lack understanding of some of the finer points, it's hard to misunderstand the basics. More power makes you more capable, that makes sense. The rest… well, it makes sense to the two AIs you have helping you. That's all you really need.
Lightless Circuits: 79 + 26 (Learning) + 25 (Vision) + 31 (Iris) + 20 (Archive of Terra) + 10 (Momentum) + 121 (Rollover) = 312/300
It's a sentiment that proves far more true than you'd hoped. Arcadia does what it always has done in producing results, but it's a little surprising where the progress ends up coming from. You find yourself uninvolved for the most part in the work that follows, with your daughter taking a practical lead in the project, something that is both a little surprising and a cause of considerable pride. You try not to embarrass her about it, at least whilst at work. Outside of Arcadia, mind, your daughter is fair game.
There's quite a lot to be proud of her for, too. Testing completes towards the latter half of the year, but it's complete testing, nothing less. Iris even asks for advice from the War Office on how best to create a system that will be able to integrate easily with their current designs. If the specialists find being queried by someone with the visual appearance of a sixteen year old odd, they don't show it. Part of you wonders if that would have been the same before the Sorrows. You can't help but think not, though perhaps you misjudge your predecessors. Whatever the truth might be, the reality now is what matters.
War Office Development: 99 + 42 + 10 = 151 + 12 = 163. Greater Success.
And that reality is that, when challenged, AIs are exceptionally capable. Not that the part of the War Office can be discounted, a fact that Iris is quick to point out. Without their help, Arcadia never would have been able to prepare the heart of the Orrery for installation, nor enable the development of optimised software. There were still legions of new tests to be done to prepare the system for its true purpose, but for coordinating an engagement against the Regulars that would soon be at your door? This would be more than enough. Lina has already allocated resources for a second system, promising it to Arcadia – and by extension, Iris. The latter has implications for your daughter's tactical capabilities that you would have preferred not to think about, especially after the final upgrades she made to her frame this year.
Second stage development complete. Research action satisfied. +63 rollover banked for general computational development. Baseline Orrery system online for Third Battle of Sol.
That process ends up overlapping heavily with the latest project of Arcadia this year, attempting to produce a derivative of the incredibly advanced nanoshell produced by Mary seven years ago. Part of you wishes you'd found time to do so earlier, but you can't find it in yourself to dispute the necessity of the other projects you pursued. And there has been steady work in this field ever since Mary developed it, both from Arcadia members and focus groups within the War Office itself. Neither fact is altogether surprising, but the depth of their coordination is as impressive as it is heartwarming.
Humanity's greatest strength since the Sorrows has been this, how people learnt to come together in common cause. Yet even now, it can surprise you in the best of ways. Walking into the first planning meeting to find two groups who clearly knew each other exchanging recent notes was a new experience, but not at all an unwelcome one.
A Skin of Steel: 84 + 26 (Learning) + 21 (Vega) + 422 (Rollover) = 553/450
It does make for an odd year, though, with Vega unsuited to her part in the project. This isn't her area of expertise, and with those involved already so used to working together, if unofficially, her nature as a Harmonial isn't as useful as you'd hoped it might be. Not least when no one involved, including her, is comfortable with potentially putting the entire project at risk by applying Practice directly to it. You need this system as one that can be easily produced, in as much as that's possible. Practice can do incredible things, that's true, but there simply isn't time to reverse-engineer the product of an accidental Miracle. Not now.
So Arcadia does what it does best, applying purely human ingenuity to a problem as old as humanity; how to distribute a highly expensive piece of technology to the masses. It's not possible to do so without compromise, but on completing their analysis of Mary's designs, they do find something. Mary had designed her system to come as close as possible to an Aegis as she could, within the limits of Sixth Secret technology, and she'd not stopped adding to it since. But what the War Office needs isn't a match to an Aegis. They just need something that will let the most important and vulnerable personnel have a better chance of survival and recovery. It's almost embarrassing when they explain it, though, as Mary told you when she'd first tested it.
War Office Development: 76 + 42 + 10 = 128 + 103 = 231/200
What follows is nothing less than an intensive feature strip from what the War Office calls the Dreamer nanoshell, currently only issued to Cabinet members and truly vital command staff. Several different models are finalised within the year, working from a baseline of removing everything but the most vital combat systems then working back up. There won't be enough time to construct enough of them assuming the Shiplords arrive in the next two years, the system complexity is just too high. But even if the Regular Fleet arrives on the cusp of 2130, the most important and many of the most vulnerable will be outfitted with the fruits of shared labour.
Second stage development complete. Research action satisfied. +31 rollover banked for nano-based projects. Combat nanoshells available for combat Potentials, command staffs and fighter pilots.
Which brings you back to what is steadily moving towards being the longest running piece of research in Arcadia's short history. But then, unlocking a Secret you have only the barest real knowledge of should be difficult. It was for humanity before the Sorrows, after all, and everything you've found since has been derived from Practiced components. Research into the Third Secret remains one of the only projects that continues to be funded by the Ministry of Science, and by now, those assigned to the task are all but a minor Circle of their own.
Tasting Lightning: 89 + 26 (Learning) + 35 (Mary) + 15 (Daughter of Secrets) + 15 (Olympus Archives) + 40 (Momentum) + 625 (Rollover) = 845/900
Ministry of Science Research Assistance: 26 + 21 + 26 = 73 + 845 = 918/900
Six years. Six years of constant trial and error in search of something that humanity has never successfully found since before the Sorrows. Even in this you had some help, but it's far less than any of the other Secrets unravelled since humanity's first encounter with the Shiplords. A few words from the Telas on the matter, and a single Emitter that has not been touched in almost half a decade, not since you realised that it was only holding you back. None of you think that was deliberate on the part of the Telas. They simply don't have the same depth of understanding of the Secrets as you do. In a way, it's a little odd for races so much older than you not to know as much. But given their upbringing, and the way in which they joined galactic society, it makes sense.
What you have now isn't the ability to build Emitters like what the Telas gave you, not yet. It's the theory that underlies such creations, and the knowledge of how to use them to give you what you want. It is unlikely in the extreme that the final section of this endeavour will be completed by the time the Shiplords arrive, even though you doubt it will be as challenging as reaching this point. As a temporary stopping point, it isn't a bad one if you want to pursue something more…militaristic next year.
Second stage development complete. Rollover banked (+18). Research action unsatisfied.
The months passed in fits and starts, with your attention scattered between Arcadia, your more personal projects, and preparing generally for the conflict that may arrive as early as the year to come. The Third Battle of Sol now lies a bare three years away at most, and as little as a handful of months. The full picture of your opposition is starting to take shape through Insight's eyes, and it is more than simply frightening. As motivations go, it's a powerful one, and Arcadia's scientists rise once again to the challenge.
Of key import for the battles that it's hoped will follow this one, is the successful development of a computer system capable of bringing the multiple systems of the Orrery together to allow you to target War Fleet craft. With the help of Iris and Vision you've been able to construct a prototype, and you hope that they are right when they tell you that no great amount of testing will be required. You've always found practical testing to be more complicated than expected. You can only hope that does not hold here. Having the coordination capacity of the Orrery available to you for Third Sol would be, in Lina's words, wonderful. Though you lack understanding of some of the finer points, it's hard to misunderstand the basics. More power makes you more capable, that makes sense. The rest… well, it makes sense to the two AIs you have helping you. That's all you really need.
Lightless Circuits: 79 + 26 (Learning) + 25 (Vision) + 31 (Iris) + 20 (Archive of Terra) + 10 (Momentum) + 121 (Rollover) = 312/300
It's a sentiment that proves far more true than you'd hoped. Arcadia does what it always has done in producing results, but it's a little surprising where the progress ends up coming from. You find yourself uninvolved for the most part in the work that follows, with your daughter taking a practical lead in the project, something that is both a little surprising and a cause of considerable pride. You try not to embarrass her about it, at least whilst at work. Outside of Arcadia, mind, your daughter is fair game.
There's quite a lot to be proud of her for, too. Testing completes towards the latter half of the year, but it's complete testing, nothing less. Iris even asks for advice from the War Office on how best to create a system that will be able to integrate easily with their current designs. If the specialists find being queried by someone with the visual appearance of a sixteen year old odd, they don't show it. Part of you wonders if that would have been the same before the Sorrows. You can't help but think not, though perhaps you misjudge your predecessors. Whatever the truth might be, the reality now is what matters.
War Office Development: 99 + 42 + 10 = 151 + 12 = 163. Greater Success.
And that reality is that, when challenged, AIs are exceptionally capable. Not that the part of the War Office can be discounted, a fact that Iris is quick to point out. Without their help, Arcadia never would have been able to prepare the heart of the Orrery for installation, nor enable the development of optimised software. There were still legions of new tests to be done to prepare the system for its true purpose, but for coordinating an engagement against the Regulars that would soon be at your door? This would be more than enough. Lina has already allocated resources for a second system, promising it to Arcadia – and by extension, Iris. The latter has implications for your daughter's tactical capabilities that you would have preferred not to think about, especially after the final upgrades she made to her frame this year.
Second stage development complete. Research action satisfied. +63 rollover banked for general computational development. Baseline Orrery system online for Third Battle of Sol.
That process ends up overlapping heavily with the latest project of Arcadia this year, attempting to produce a derivative of the incredibly advanced nanoshell produced by Mary seven years ago. Part of you wishes you'd found time to do so earlier, but you can't find it in yourself to dispute the necessity of the other projects you pursued. And there has been steady work in this field ever since Mary developed it, both from Arcadia members and focus groups within the War Office itself. Neither fact is altogether surprising, but the depth of their coordination is as impressive as it is heartwarming.
Humanity's greatest strength since the Sorrows has been this, how people learnt to come together in common cause. Yet even now, it can surprise you in the best of ways. Walking into the first planning meeting to find two groups who clearly knew each other exchanging recent notes was a new experience, but not at all an unwelcome one.
A Skin of Steel: 84 + 26 (Learning) + 21 (Vega) + 422 (Rollover) = 553/450
It does make for an odd year, though, with Vega unsuited to her part in the project. This isn't her area of expertise, and with those involved already so used to working together, if unofficially, her nature as a Harmonial isn't as useful as you'd hoped it might be. Not least when no one involved, including her, is comfortable with potentially putting the entire project at risk by applying Practice directly to it. You need this system as one that can be easily produced, in as much as that's possible. Practice can do incredible things, that's true, but there simply isn't time to reverse-engineer the product of an accidental Miracle. Not now.
So Arcadia does what it does best, applying purely human ingenuity to a problem as old as humanity; how to distribute a highly expensive piece of technology to the masses. It's not possible to do so without compromise, but on completing their analysis of Mary's designs, they do find something. Mary had designed her system to come as close as possible to an Aegis as she could, within the limits of Sixth Secret technology, and she'd not stopped adding to it since. But what the War Office needs isn't a match to an Aegis. They just need something that will let the most important and vulnerable personnel have a better chance of survival and recovery. It's almost embarrassing when they explain it, though, as Mary told you when she'd first tested it.
War Office Development: 76 + 42 + 10 = 128 + 103 = 231/200
What follows is nothing less than an intensive feature strip from what the War Office calls the Dreamer nanoshell, currently only issued to Cabinet members and truly vital command staff. Several different models are finalised within the year, working from a baseline of removing everything but the most vital combat systems then working back up. There won't be enough time to construct enough of them assuming the Shiplords arrive in the next two years, the system complexity is just too high. But even if the Regular Fleet arrives on the cusp of 2130, the most important and many of the most vulnerable will be outfitted with the fruits of shared labour.
Second stage development complete. Research action satisfied. +31 rollover banked for nano-based projects. Combat nanoshells available for combat Potentials, command staffs and fighter pilots.
Which brings you back to what is steadily moving towards being the longest running piece of research in Arcadia's short history. But then, unlocking a Secret you have only the barest real knowledge of should be difficult. It was for humanity before the Sorrows, after all, and everything you've found since has been derived from Practiced components. Research into the Third Secret remains one of the only projects that continues to be funded by the Ministry of Science, and by now, those assigned to the task are all but a minor Circle of their own.
Tasting Lightning: 89 + 26 (Learning) + 35 (Mary) + 15 (Daughter of Secrets) + 15 (Olympus Archives) + 40 (Momentum) + 625 (Rollover) = 845/900
Ministry of Science Research Assistance: 26 + 21 + 26 = 73 + 845 = 918/900
Six years. Six years of constant trial and error in search of something that humanity has never successfully found since before the Sorrows. Even in this you had some help, but it's far less than any of the other Secrets unravelled since humanity's first encounter with the Shiplords. A few words from the Telas on the matter, and a single Emitter that has not been touched in almost half a decade, not since you realised that it was only holding you back. None of you think that was deliberate on the part of the Telas. They simply don't have the same depth of understanding of the Secrets as you do. In a way, it's a little odd for races so much older than you not to know as much. But given their upbringing, and the way in which they joined galactic society, it makes sense.
What you have now isn't the ability to build Emitters like what the Telas gave you, not yet. It's the theory that underlies such creations, and the knowledge of how to use them to give you what you want. It is unlikely in the extreme that the final section of this endeavour will be completed by the time the Shiplords arrive, even though you doubt it will be as challenging as reaching this point. As a temporary stopping point, it isn't a bad one if you want to pursue something more…militaristic next year.
Second stage development complete. Rollover banked (+18). Research action unsatisfied.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
So, first off, sorry about this taking so long on this. I like trying to make weekly(ish) updates, and this one has…slipped a bit. The first action and the opening to the second definitely take the blame for this. I'm not really sure why, but both of them fought me. More than just a little, too. Still, we're here, and I have a suspicion that you'll find the wait to have been worth it.
A note on Tasting Lightning; the final research section is developing practical (heh
) applications of the technology in the manner of Emitters and the like. You have the theory now, and some experimental proof that it actually does work. But applying theory to the real world, outside of a lab, takes time. Not nearly as much as the action has taken so far, but still, time.
Oh, and for those interested, I've updated the description for Amanda's multi-tool, and a few of her stat descriptors.
A note on Tasting Lightning; the final research section is developing practical (heh
) applications of the technology in the manner of Emitters and the like. You have the theory now, and some experimental proof that it actually does work. But applying theory to the real world, outside of a lab, takes time. Not nearly as much as the action has taken so far, but still, time.Oh, and for those interested, I've updated the description for Amanda's multi-tool, and a few of her stat descriptors.
Thebigpieman
I've got this, I think.
- Location
- United States
Dem rolls.
- Location
- United States
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
It feels like two or three words are missing from the end of this sentence.
Oh hell yes!
So does this stage count as having unlocked the Secret (the point where the Secret would reveal its name to you if you didn't already know it), or does that not happen until after the last section?A note on Tasting Lightning; the final research section is developing practical (heh
Done. Finally.
Just one point short on that War Office roll from a natural 100.
Still, we have what we want out of this.
Question is whether to do the thematic thing and jump into Whispers of Life.
Or do the military industrial thing and go with Gestalt Platforms.
Probably start Practice in Unity with this slot.
Necessitates taking a Mother of Circles Minor Action though.
I'm tempted to go for a Hail Mary here.
Wings of Starlight might help with our looming War Fleet problem. And our general deployment strategy. Or we could just finish up first. Probably take another 300-600 points.
I am for finishing Lightning.
We are still not done, and to gain a Secret in full would be amazing.
Even if not in time to help in Third Sol, to have it as we would be rebuilding damaged and destroyed infrastructure would be worth it in my opinion, since we would be upgrading it/integrating a new Secret into it at the same time.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
This would be that point, yes.
The more information we get...
The more I feel like it is a nearly mandatory action anyway.
Circles are probably Amanda's biggest achievement, and her returning to her role at the Heart of them already paid dividends, and I feel could be extremely important for Third Sol.
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Thebigpieman
I've got this, I think.
- Location
- United States
Wait, you mean we're still only at HAPCON 5?!Heh.
This is actually not the worst part
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
@Snowfire
I assume that if we switch away from Tasting Lightning to do something shorter-term, we still lose our momentum bonuses even if it's at "a good stopping point," yes?
Because if the next stage of the project takes anywhere near as long as this one, we're finally getting our momentum up to the point where it can actually plausibly shave yet another year off the completion time quickly
(We wouldn't have cleared this step this year without momentum bonuses, which at this point are responsible for, uh... 180 points of our total progress to date, and a further 95 points over the next two years alone)
On the other hand there MIGHT be a way to build a jump interdictor out of that technology which would just be HAHAHAHAAA. I'm still interested in the tech.
I assume that if we switch away from Tasting Lightning to do something shorter-term, we still lose our momentum bonuses even if it's at "a good stopping point," yes?
Because if the next stage of the project takes anywhere near as long as this one, we're finally getting our momentum up to the point where it can actually plausibly shave yet another year off the completion time quickly
(We wouldn't have cleared this step this year without momentum bonuses, which at this point are responsible for, uh... 180 points of our total progress to date, and a further 95 points over the next two years alone)
I'm pretty sure that outmaneuvering War Fleet ships in sidereal space isn't actually that hard, it's their ability to teleport all over the place that's a kick in the balls.
On the other hand there MIGHT be a way to build a jump interdictor out of that technology which would just be HAHAHAHAAA. I'm still interested in the tech.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
I can confirm that translating theory to practical application will be a more traditional Research Action in terms of progress required, and not a 900 pointer. You were dealing with those because discovering Secrets is hard.