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The Shadow of Old Transgressions (Homeworld/Mass Effect Crossover Quest)

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[X] They can't destroy what they can't hit.
[X] Scout the Void Wraiths

Waiting for the attack feels tactically unsound to me. Feels like surrendering initiative to the enemy. Given Irune's existing defenses, it already seems like an impressive nut to have to crack. I really would like to work on integrating our flicker friends into our tacnet, but doing so now feels like an inopportune time for it.

Likewise, helping people evacuate? That feels like quitting. This is the moment where you spit out that bloody tooth rattling around in your mouth, get back on your feet and put your fists up, not run from the bully that just punched you in the face.

The Void Wraiths bloodied us and the Irune mercs but we bloodied them right back, and just like us they're almost certainly using this time to repair, rearm and reload for the next round. If we can find where they're based out of, seeing how they do so could prove enlightening and interesting, as well as give ideas for how to better fight and kill them. Also if Ulysses comes along, it'd give him time to properly shake down his new chassis.
 
Looks like we are trending towards "They can't destroy what they can't hit" and "Scout the Void Wraiths". I'll close the vote tomorrow morning. And no promises about the next update because my power company is warning me about outages over the weekend from the Hurricane.
 
Arcanestomper said:
Looks like we are trending towards "They can't destroy what they can't hit" and "Scout the Void Wraiths". I'll close the vote tomorrow morning. And no promises about the next update because my power company is warning me about outages over the weekend from the Hurricane.
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Just remember to keep bottled water packed into your freezer if that's an option for you. That way if your power does go out, you can use the frozen bottles to make your perishables last longer.
 
Scheduled vote count started by Arcanestomper on Sep 25, 2022 at 3:01 PM, finished with 23 posts and 12 votes.
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It was five to four, but "They can't destroy what they can't hit." takes the win. That was a real close vote. "Match them strength for strength" had the least votes and it still had three. I'll add options for all of them to the research projects, but the strike crafts will get a bonus.

As for the second option it was nowhere near as close. Scouting was the clear winner. I'll try to get the next update out today.
 
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I was DMing an in person TTRPG tonight, and I also had a few points where I was not sure what to do next. Don't stress about it too much, this quest is very fun and it's important you have fun writing it.
 
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Turn 4.7: Observing the Enemy
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    • The Great Rift

    System 796B
    Outer System

    You exit hyperspace several light hours from the gas giant you project as being the actual Void Wraith base. You don't feel the need to jump right into the firing arcs of the Void Wraiths after all. Instead you plan to analyze what is happening based on old light. It might not be quite up to date, but it should give you an idea of what is happening, if anything.

    You didn't come here with the full flotilla. It was decided that a quick scouting mission was better than trying for a reconnaissance in force. And not only do you have the fastest hyperdrive, but you are also equipped with the new mass effectors. You did bring the shepherd frigates though. They're even faster than you after all, and you feel better having at least a little fighter coverage.

    It's safer, but it means you have to do all the analysis of the sensor data from three ships by yourself as it streams in. So It takes you a few moments to confirm what is happening in the system. As you suspected, one of the gas giant's moons is actually a megalith. And a portion of its rocky surface has been excavated revealing the blueish armor of the wraith's favored hull material underneath.

    And the wraiths are present here in force. You count several dozen of their carriers and five of the missile cruisers. Several more appear to be rising out of the Megalith. You can't tell if they're new constructions or if there is a larger hangar inside the Megalith. It didn't seem like the last two you encountered held active ships though.

    You don't spend much attention on them however. Most of your concentration is on getting as much information on what is obviously the wraith flagship. At ten kilometers long and several wide and several wide it's massive. The largest ship you've ever seen, even including Bentus. It has manipulators on its bow like the smaller carriers, but also has a huge spinal cannon that's obvious even at this range. You have no idea what for. To your knowledge there's nothing anywhere in the galaxy that could stand up to a gun even a fraction of the size. Clearly being in front of the wraith flagship is a terrible idea.

    Of course the capital ships aren't alone. There are swarms of interceptors on patrol along with multiple flotillas of frigates. They still have traces of their Tuuranic raider origin, but it is minimal. They've become coated in wraith armor and organic tumors that give them a rounded alien look. You also see the first non warships in the wraith forces. They appear to be large ovoid tenders flying back and forth from the megalith to the capital ships transferring supplies.

    Given the logistics of PDA construction there are very few reasons why a modern carrier would ever need to take on supplies. In fact there is usually only one. If they were planning to attack somewhere where they need supplies to build new forces. Unfortunately your mind is immediately drawn to Irune. There are other settled planets in the region, but it is the only one that would need a force this large.

    You are faced with a dilemma. You are too far away to get very accurate data on the wraiths. You have a rough count, but no detailed information on their numbers. At this range some of them might have even jumped out without you noticing. You can fix that problem by getting closer or staying in the system longer, but either way risks detection, and you are in no position for a fight.

    What do you do?

    [ ] Jump in Yourself
    You've got some data, but you don't have an accurate read on what the wraiths are doing from here. You can tell they're preparing, but not how many of them there are. Prepare for a risky double jump and get right up close to the moon so you can gather sensor data before immediately jumping away.

    [ ] Sacrifice a Shepherd
    You can send a shepherd instead of yourself. If it launched a wave of recon drones it would even be able to gather far more information than you could. The problem is that it neither has your jumping capabilities, nor the stealth of a probe. It would almost certainly be destroyed.

    [ ] Send in a Probe
    It would be nice to check out what the wraiths are doing up close, but you don't need to do so yourself. Prepare a stealth probe to make a high speed pass by the moon. The problem is that while probes are fast no drive can compare to a hyperspace jump. It will take time for the probe to complete its journey, and you'll need to linger in the system in order to pick it up on the other end.

    [ ] Take Your Leave
    There's clearly a large wraith presence here. You don't need to get closer to know they're planning a large assault, and there's only one target in the region. Jump back to Irune and warn them.

    There is also the question of whether you want to alert the wraiths as to your presence. Right now they haven't detected you. The only way to ensure it stays that way is to leave now. Sending a probe would probably be undetected, but they might pick you up on their regular scans of the system. Jumping anything in would immediately alert them.


    Quest Note: The hardest part is figuring out votes that are actual meaningful.
     
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    • Well, now that we have confirmation that they're preparing for an attack, as well as some information about their (rather powerful) fleet and flagship, I think it may be time to get out while the getting is good. I don't really like our odds if they came after us, and would also rather not provoke them into attacking Irune immediately, if they think they've been made.

    [X] Take Your Leave
     
    [X] Send in a Probe

    A probe gets us more information while minimizing the amount of danger we put ourselves in. Also, probes are cheap; if this goes sideways and we have to bail before we can retrieve it, then the RU hit will be very minimal.

    However, minimizing the risk of discovery even more is relatively simple and would only cost us a little more time and effort. As a reminder, despite how mind-bogglingly big your average star system is as it drifts through the vacuum of space, it's easy to forget that space is not in fact empty.

    A star system such as ours for example is filled with countless meteorites that range in size from specks of sand and pebbles to big old chunky boulders of rock, ice, and/or metal. Most are fragments broken off from comets and asteroids, and it's estimated that approximately 25 million meteoroids burn up in Earth's atmosphere every day.

    Now, I can't say whether or not that number would be larger or smaller in this particular instance concerning the gas giant that the Void Wraith base is orbiting (we no nothing of the gas giant's mass, density, gravity, how fast its orbit is, etc) but given that Homeworld proves (in the first game anyways) weigh in at about 40-50 tons, that puts our stealth probe at the size and weight to easily be mistaken as a floating hunk of rock and metal as long as no one looks too closely at it.

    Being a stealth probe, I'm assuming here that the logic is to launch it on a course that will send it well past the the base, just close enough for the probe's passive sensors to take a quick peak. Plot it's course so that stays outside of what we suspect might be the Void Wraiths' active sensor range as it buzzes past the base, then get the prove moving at a speed typical for hunks of space rock getting flung around via a gravity well's tentative grip (don't wanna use the probes engines if at all possible until it's time to 'catch' it) which is roughly about 70 kps I think (I'm no astronomer/astrophysicist though), and hopefully none of the Void Wraiths are close enough to suspect anything.

    Though admittedly what I'm hoping most of all is that that enormous ship isn't the Naggarok.
     
    NHO said:
    That'll still a few months, we don't have that time.
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    Just for the record I was thinking of something more like a leech than what you would consider for a hard science stealth probe. As in it's got active stealth and can use its engines to make a quick pass without being detected.

    Anyway I'll close the vote tomorrow. Updates will probably be slow this week though. Both my dogs are sick. Nothing serious, but it's taking a good bit of my attention.
     
    Turn 4.8: Last Minute Preparations
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    • Aethon Cluster

    System Aru
    Irune Outer System

    Deciding that discretion is better than getting more information you sync the shepherd frigates with your hyper space core and slip through a quantum gate. You chose to make a short jump, just a few light years, in order to minimize your disturbance of hyper space and hopefully leave the wraiths none the wiser. But as soon as you emerge you're plotting the longest and fastest jumps possible. You need to get back to Irune as soon as possible.

    You even contemplate abandoning the shepherds to make their own way back. But after simulating your course with and without them, decide that doing so would provide a negligible increase in speed. Instead you spend the time jumping back to Irun analyzing the sense data you collected as closely as possible. Especially what you could get on the flagship. You have the feeling the flagship and how you deal with it will make all the difference in the next battle.

    Eventually you make it back to Irune, and fortunately it doesn't appear that the wraiths have arrived yet. Unfortunately there are still a lot of ships evacuating. You expected that. Irune is a homeworld. There are billions of volus on its surface and nowhere near enough ships to evacuate them all. Of course many don't want to leave, but even those that do are straining the capacity of the local shipping.

    As soon as you can you direct a tight beam at Aurora and link back into the flotilla network. It's good to be with your fellows again.

    "How is Ulysses?"

    "Still not awake yet. All the data links read as optimal so I don't know what's keeping him under. I need a deep scanner to check. Until we can get to one we'll just have to wait for him to come back online himself."

    "That's unfortunate," and that's an understatement. "Unfortunately I was right. I found the wraith base, and it looks like they're preparing for a major assault. How are things here?"

    "Not good. The Volus are going crazy. They can't figure out whether they want to stay and fight or get as many people out as possible. And what's worse is the Taiidan are pulling out."

    "What! Are they crazy!"

    "Apparently they think the wraiths are just pirates, and they've received orders from the Taiidan command to regroup with the other fleets. There's some kind of major battle going on close to the core."

    "Bentus give me strength. Okay Iuno, I'm going to need you to."

    [ ] Convince the Volus to evacuate.
    You aren't sure you have any way to combat the wraith flagship yet, and more importantly you haven't even had a chance to figure out counters for their mind controlling technology. You don't think you'll be able to hold Irune. Instead you'll try to buy as much time as possible for the Volus to get as many people as possible away.

    [ ] Convince the Volus to fortify.
    You don't think Irune's defenses can hold as they are now, but Irune is a major world and it has significant manufacturing capacity. Convince the Volus Assembly to focus their efforts and build as many layers of defenses as possible in the time remaining. Lease them some Bentusi drone technology to help them out.

    [ ] Stop the Taiidan from leaving
    The Taiidan ships aren't up to your standards, and they're probably inferior to the wraiths, but an entire fleet of disciplined military units is a huge asset that you can't pass up. Show them your data and convince them that the wraiths are coming. They're only leaving because they think the wraiths are normal pirates. You're sure Iuno can convince them to stay.

    "Okay while she's doing that we need to work out how we can help. Any thoughts?"

    "I can build more liners to take the Volus out of here."

    "And I finished that Dervish design you were working on. I bet we have time to finish a few more designs and at least get a prototype out."

    "Yeah, that's a good idea. I might need to talk with the Volus though. Iuno might not be enough. Oh, how are the Kadeshi and Kushan doing."

    "They've been working with the mercenaries. Trying to get the survivors back into fighting shape. Not sure why. They already got pounded once."

    "More ships is more ships. With the size of that wraith flagship we're going to need everything possible."

    "Yeah, I guess." Laverna pauses, "But that probably means they're going to die fighting it."

    You all take a long moment to ponder that. It's not just the flicker races at risk. Ulysses is still in the shipyard comatose. This could be the end for any of you. Though none of you have even suggested leaving. Not while there are innocent Volus in peril.

    "Yeah, yeah they might."

    What will Aurora do?

    [ ] Help the Evacuation
    She's already been working on a liner for potential new allies. The designs were superseded for the Ark, but she can pull them back out and start churning out stripped down versions designed to take as many Volus out of the system as possible.

    [ ] Work on the Fleet
    -[ ] Pick a Research Project.
    On the other hand Aurora can work on the design projects the flotilla has been going over. If she does she'll also be able to build more prototypes for the fight than you or Laverna could manage.

    What will Laverna do?

    [ ] Coordinate with your flicker allies
    You won't leave the Kadeshi and Kushan out to dry this time. Laverna has experience handling drones; she can figure out a way to patch their ships into the Flotilla network so that they'll be able to keep up. The Raawan at least. You'll just have to compensate for the Marduk's speed. Laverna might even be able to do a little work on the mercenaries' ships.

    [ ] Work on the Fleet
    -[ ] Pick a Research Project.
    On the other hand Laverna can work on the design projects the flotilla has been going over. If she does, she'll be able to better optimize the drone designs and ensure that the prototypes you manage to build will be better able to maneuver.

    What will you do?

    [ ] Help Iuno
    -[ ] Pick one of the three options
    Iuno is the best of you at speaking with the flicker races, but you've picked up a few things in your time with them yourself. You can probably talk with one of the groups that Iuno doesn't have time to handle. (The Volus options are mutually exclusive, but you could talk with the Taiidan if Iuno talks with the Volus or vice versa.)

    [ ] Work on the Fleet
    -[ ] Pick a Research Project.
    On the other hand you can work on the design projects the flotilla has been going over. You've picked up a lot of experience with defensive fields in all the recent fights. You think you could pack some extra fields into the prototypes without compromising their functionality.


    Projects work the same way as before. If the project matches the Bentusi's specialty they can finish two blocks. Otherwise they only do one.

    [ ] Gravity Pulse Emitters (High Energy): ([ ] [ ])
    Using data from the Megalith you have been able to develop a singularity weapon that can be deployed on the battlefield to trap and disrupt enemy vessels. It scales more or less with their engine power. Fighters and corvettes will be crippled. Frigates and Destroyers will be massively slowed. Cruisers and up will simply be somewhat slower. It's a great weapon, but you haven't actually been able to test it. It requires certain exotic materials you only have theoretical knowledge of. In fact the first time you actually saw them used was in the Megalith, and you didn't exactly stop to mine it. So you'd have to find a supply.

    [ ] Missile Pods (Logistics): ([ ] [ ])
    Most weapons require power from the carrying ship, but missiles are self contained. You could outfit missile launchers to your entire flotilla. The downside is that only Aurora and Laverna could supply themselves. The rest of you would need to return to Aurora to reload. That might be possible to mitigate with resupply drones, but you'd need to put more work into it. Also frankly missiles are fairly lackluster compared to ion cannons. You could also use fusion torpedoes or mines, but they have their own limitations and the same supply issues as the missiles.

    [ ] Monomolecular Armor (Metallurgy): ([ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ])
    You were very impressed by the monomolecular armor on the Megalith. From your analysis you believe you will need to use some of the exotic matter to squeeze your normal materials into the requisite close bonds and then stabilize them that way. It will be a challenging project covering areas that Bentusi have not looked into before. Which makes it a very exciting avenue of research.

    [ ] Passenger Ark (Engineering): ([X] [X] [ ] [ ])
    Ever since you have brought aliens into your flotilla the five of you have been bouncing back and forth ideas for providing them a better way to exercise and enjoy recreational activities. These have solidified into a mothership class ship fitted with parks, hangars, a Bentusi class jump drive, and sufficient space for thousands of crew. Right now it's just a thought exercise, but you could change that.

    [ ] Design Drone Core (Sociology): ([ ] [ ])
    You have a number of potential designs that the Bentusi have never felt the need to build drone cores for. You can perform the design and analysis of a virtual intelligence capable of piloting these ships.
    -[ ] Pick a non Drone Design

    [ ] Optimize Schematic (Engineering): ([ ] [ ])
    You have a number of designs on file that are either fron Non Bentusi races or were designed from scratch and have flaws to put it mildly. Take some time to go over them and fix mistakes and redundancies as well as incorporate Bentusi technology if necessary.
    -[ ] Pick a jury rigged or non Bentusi Design

    [ ] Involve your Flicker Friends (???): ([X] [ ])
    Ask the Kadeshi and Kushan what sort of engineering tricks they can bring to bear on the problems that the flotilla faces. Bentusi might have the best technology, but you aren't blind to the fact that approaching an idea from a different angle might come up with some innovative solutions.

    [ ] Repair Drone (Engineering): ([ ] [ ])
    It would be a good idea to produce a drone that could autonomously repair your vessels. Unfortunately there is a lower limit on the size you can cram the necessary modules in, but you ought to be able to develop a drone frigate that could do the job.

    [ ] Design a Mobile Defensive Generator (High Energy): ([ ] [ ] [ ])
    Build a drone ship with sufficient defensive fields such that it can protect the rest of your flotilla without you personally have to get involved.

    [ ] Design a Bombardment Ship (Logistics) : ([X] [ ] [ ])
    If the Wraith can build bombardment ships so can you. And you'll do it better. Most of the effort will go into the missiles. With Bentusi drives and armor they'll be incredibly tough and difficult to destroy. And with a quantum explosive charge in each one failing to do so will hurt the wraiths hard. For the launcher you'll just use a modified Shepherd frigate. After all they're already designed to build and launch fighters and the missiles will be relatively similar. You'll probably need to revisit the design once you've seen how the Wraiths respond however.

    [ ] Hack the Bentusi Archives for a Cruiser schematic (Engineering): ([ ] [ ] [ ])
    The problem here is that you've gone way out of the parameters of your original mission. Most Bentusi in your position would be expected to head back to the shielded nebulae and report to the elders not take it on themselves to rally the flicker races. And they definitely wouldn't be given access to the ancient Bentusi military cruisers. You're going to have to hack into your restricted archives and take whatever you can find.
    (Note: If you finish this, then you'll be transferred from your current ship into the new cruiser.)
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Well now, this is definitely where it's getting interesting and by interesting I mean that there's almost certainly someone amongst the Volus, Kadezhi or Kushan quietly sighing and saying, "Yep, we're all gonna die."

    Iuno
    [X] Stop the Taiidan from leaving

    More fixed defenses are good but dedicated warships are far better of an option and I've played far too many RTS titles to believe otherwise. More seriously, the Taiidan rank up as being arguably the best flicker-race military, full stop. Whatever battle they're wanting to rush off to join, I'd bet dollars to donuts that it's very likely that they wouldn't arrive in time to do much good. Politically, abandoning the Volus and Irune in the face of a pending assault could very well result in Irune declaring that the Taiidan have abandoned their duties to Irune and seceeding, which would only fracture the flicker races even more at a time when that would be an extraordinarily bad occurrence given the rapidly growing threat of the Void Wraiths.

    Laverna
    [X] Coordinate with your flicker allies
    This feels like an 'all hands on deck' situation, and we should try to make sure that the Raawan and the Marduk not only survive this fight but make significant contributions to it.

    Edit - changed my vote because I suddenly realized that it could be fantastic for the morale of our flicker-race allies here if they had a Bentusi flagship to rally around.
    Aurora
    [X] Hack the Bentusi Archives for a Cruiser schematic (Engineering)

    Valerius
    [X] Hack the Bentusi Archives for a Cruiser schematic (Engineering)

    If the Bentusi Elders get mad... Well, sometimes you have to ask for forgiveness instead of permission.
     
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    I think Missiles would boost our firepower a hell of a lot.

    We really want and need Firepower.

    We cannot give everyone speed like our dervishes and swarmers have sadly, so Shield Ships to help protect our Allies seems wise.
     
    If Valerius finishes researching the Ark (since it only has two boxes left and is in Valerius' specialty), can Aurora take advantage of them if they help with the evacuation?

    My thinking is that splitting our focus will hurt us. Either we're trying to defend as best as possible, or evacuate as best as possible. Still have Iuno keep the Taiidan around. Even convincing Irune to fortify wouldn't pay the dividends that having the Taiidan see the full power of the Void Wraiths would.

    Evacuate:
    [] Plan: BEMA (Bentusi Emergency Management Agency)
    -[] Iuno: Stop the Taiidan from leaving
    -[] Aurora: Help with the evacuation
    -[] Laverna: Coordinate with your flicker allies
    -[] Valerius: Work on the fleet
    --[] Passenger Ark (Engineering)

    Defend:
    [] Plan: Fortress Irune
    -[] Iuno: Stop the Taiidan from leaving
    -[] Aurora: Work on the fleet
    --[] Design a Bombardment Ship (Logistics)
    -[] Laverna: Work on the fleet
    --[] Design a Mobile Defensive Generator (High Energy)
    -[] Valerius: Work on the fleet
    --[] Design a Mobile Defensive Generator (High Energy)
     
    carterhall said:
    If Valerius finishes researching the Ark (since it only has two boxes left and is in Valerius' specialty), can Aurora take advantage of them if they help with the evacuation?

    My thinking is that splitting our focus will hurt us. Either we're trying to defend as best as possible, or evacuate as best as possible. Still have Iuno keep the Taiidan around. Even convincing Irune to fortify wouldn't pay the dividends that having the Taiidan see the full power of the Void Wraiths would.

    Evacuate:
    [] Plan: BEMA (Bentusi Emergency Management Agency)
    -[] Iuno: Stop the Taiidan from leaving
    -[] Aurora: Help with the evacuation
    -[] Laverna: Coordinate with your flicker allies
    -[] Valerius: Work on the fleet
    --[] Passenger Ark (Engineering)

    Defend:
    [] Plan: Fortress Irune
    -[] Iuno: Stop the Taiidan from leaving
    -[] Aurora: Work on the fleet
    --[] Design a Bombardment Ship (Logistics)
    -[] Laverna: Work on the fleet
    --[] Design a Mobile Defensive Generator (High Energy)
    -[] Valerius: Work on the fleet
    --[] Design a Mobile Defensive Generator (High Energy)
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    The fact is Irune is just too populated to Evacuate.

    Your Defend option seems better to me.
     
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