Thank you! (I assumed that it was, but, well, text > : | )
Also: Interesting stats:
I have 11% of the replies in this thread at 128 posts
To put that in perspective: @OneirosTheWriter has the most at 16% (184 posts), and the next most responsive after me is @Void Stalker following at 7.4% (86 posts).
I will also note that I have written 10,737 words of posted/postable words of ficlet alone in since September 18th, Nine days ago.
It occurs to me that /I am really into this thread/
> : 3
It also occurs to me that this Quest has reached 46 (1150+ posts) pages, (With ~70+ (I lost count > : |) separate posters) in less than two weeks. So once again, kudos to our illustrious QM @OneirosTheWriter !!! 'gratz!
Thank you! (I assumed that it was, but, well, text > : | )
Also: Interesting stats:
I have 11% of the replies in this thread at 128 posts
To put that in perspective: @OneirosTheWriter has the most at 16% (184 posts), and the next most responsive after me is @Void Stalker following at 7.4% (86 posts).
I will also note that I have written 10,737 words of posted/postable words of ficlet alone in since September 18th, Nine days ago.
It occurs to me that /I am really into this thread/
> : 3
It also occurs to me that this Quest has reached 46 (1150+ posts) pages, (With ~70+ (I lost count > : |) separate posters) in less than two weeks. So once again, kudos to our illustrious QM @OneirosTheWriter !!! 'gratz!
I assume that even though we've all been committing a copy-and-paste error to assign Spock to "Xenoanalysis" that is understood to really be "Xenopsychology"?
I assume that even though we've all been committing a copy-and-paste error to assign Spock to "Xenoanalysis" that is understood to really be "Xenopsychology"?
I assume that even though we've all been committing a copy-and-paste error to assign Spock to "Xenoanalysis" that is understood to really be "Xenopsychology"?
As an aside, and to somewhat explain why it is that Vice Admiral Valentina Sousa was nearly pushed out, the current structure of Starfleet that I have down has...
1 Admiral billet (yours)
3 Vice Admiral billets (Ops, Tactical, Shipyards)
15 Rear Admiral billets
31 Commodore billets
and more Captain billets than actually serve as commanding officers of starships.
Things get very pinched the further up the chain you go, and people start getting forced out.
I lied. Remember when I said there were three ficlets? Well, there was a forth! Remember this post of mine? Here's what it looks like in universe. And now., I can finally rest. Good night.
Lieutenant Alexandria Kuznetsova of Starfleet Intelligence is an odd duck. For one thing she has some eccentric views on the galaxy and life. And another thing is that she knows better than the entirety of Starfleet Intelligence.
"Bloody Romulans trying to 'send a political message', that's not at all what's going on. It's a plague and we're all going to die," Kuznetsova says, putting down her sandwich.
Lieutenant Anne Usha of the Office of Naval Architecture quickly bites into her sandwich. Sometimes she wishes she ate alone at her desk, "Okay you're going to have to run that one by me," she says after swallowing a mouthful of delicious sandwich.
"Well consider...and bear in mind that the following is all publicly available. So I am not violating any secrets… consider the following..." The Starfleet Intelligence officer says while grabbing a salt shaker, "Suppose at some point the Romulans encountered some sort of biological weapon or terrible plague that was imprinted in their institutional knowledge base." She shakes the salt… shaker.
Anne nods, and takes another bite; if her mouth is full she won't have to reply.
"Now, that disease breaks out on Ulith III, maybe it defrosts from the ice or something." Alexandria grabs her sandwich and pours salt on it.
Anne eyes the salt warily, and now thirsty she puts down her sandwich to pick up her glass of water, only to watch in resignation as her friend takes a spoon and moves some of the salt from "Ulith III" to her poor sandwich. "Now at some point a freighter or something moves the plague from Ulith III to Korlonia II."
"My sandwich..." Lieutenant Usha says with deep resignation. This has all happened before, and it will all happen again.
Alexandria doesn't seem to hear. "So now, Challorn shows up at Ulith III and finds all the outpost crew killed. But rather than risking the disease spread via leftover spores or virii particles or something," she punches her sandwich, causing Anne to jump in her chair, "They sterilize the whole area."
Lieutenant Usha regards her sandwich longingly, but sheds not a single tear and turns to a slice of angel food cake, her favoured dessert, and she picks up a white plastic cafeteria fork to consume the tasty treat.
Kuzentsova takes her own dessert, a large cookie, and pours some salt from Korlonia II on it, "Now, Cheron takes on the disease somehow. Probably stored in her cargo rooms or something." She suddenly breaks the cookie in half. "And the Romulans, noting what has been happening, try to destroy the Cheron." she drops half the cookie in her glass of milk, "They don't destroy the ship, but do destroy the offending sample"
Anne nods as her fork delivers a bite of delicious spongy cake to her mouth, which means that it is out of place to save the rest of the slice from Alexandria's demonstration, "Muh Cake..." she says sadly, through a full mouth, as her friend uses a black plastic cafeteria spoon to move salt onto her cake.
"Then another sample is delivered to the Klingon colony on… Tre...beck?" the SI officer shrugs, "Not important. Anyway the Romulans try to fight because they don't trust that we will destroy a colony of our own people on our world."
"Klingon colony" Anne provides helpfully, wondering if she can brush the salt off of her cake with the sleeve of her crimson uniform.
"Well… yes, not important. Anyway. They fail" Anne snatches her cake back before something else happens to it, "Buuut…. Korlonia II drops out of communication, probably suffering from the disease. And…" *bam* she punches the remaining sandwich. "Korlonia II is sterilized as well"
"Muh Sandwich..." the ONA officer says sadly through a bite of slightly salty cake, deep in mourning, considering that she should stop eating with her friend if this keeps happening. And it happens at least once a week it feels like. All the way back to their days as Academy roommates. She sighs, the deep sacrifices of friendship.
"So what does this tell us?" Kuznetsova asks, and Lieutenant Usha shakes her head while eating her cake as fast as possible. "That the disease is either intelligent or controlled by an intelligent force."
Anne regards her friend dubiously, swallowing the last hastily chewed bite of her cake, "That's crazy. You're crazy," she says with a kindness born of familiarity that softens the literal meaning of the words.
"That's what Commander Otiev says. But I'll show him, I'll show them all!" Alexandria's voice grows strident, "I'll put this in writing, and submit it. And when the time comes they'll know that someone predicted this disease!"
"What? This time?" Anne Usha regards her friend dubiously, "Why will that happen this time as opposed to, say, the Tribble conspiracy?"
Alexandria has the good grace to look slightly embarrassed.
"Or the omnipotent and omniscient energy being watching Humanity, so that someday we will stand trial for our actions?"
"That remains unproven!"
"Oh! Or the possible threat of infiltration by changeling aliens from ~The Gamma Quadrant~"
"Also unproven!"
"And what about the breed of augmented Intelligent cats ruling Earth from the shadows?"
"Well, I suppose I was overenthusiastic about that. But how else do you explain how cute cats are?"
"Uh-huh," says Anne taking a sip of her unspoiled water, "What makes this time different?"
Four months later when Lieutenant Alexandria Kuznetsova of Starfleet Intelligence is all but kidnapped for a top secret research program run by Starfleet Tactical, she has the good sense to be surprised… and frightened.
I lied. Remember when I said there were three ficlets? Well, there was a forth! Remember this post of mine? Here's what it looks like in universe. And now., I can finally rest. Good night.
Lieutenant Alexandria Kuznetsova of Starfleet Intelligence is an odd duck. For one thing she has some eccentric views on the galaxy and life. And another thing is that she knows better than the entirety of Starfleet Intelligence.
"Bloody Romulans trying to 'send a political message', that's not at all what's going on. It's a plague and we're all going to die," Kuznetsova says, putting down her sandwich.
Lieutenant Anne Usha of the Office of Naval Architecture quickly bites into her sandwich. Sometimes she wishes she alone ate at her desk, "Okay you're going to have to run that one by me," she says after she swallow a mouthful of delicious sandwich.
"Well consider...and bear in mind that the following is all publically available. So I am not violating any secrets… consider the following..." The Starfleet Intelligence officer says while grabbing a salt shaker, "Suppose at some point the Romulans encountered some sort of biological weapon or terrible plague that was imprinted in their institutional knowledge base." She shakes the salt… shaker.
Anne nods, and takes another bite; if her mouth is full she won't have to reply.
"Now, that disease breaks out on Ulith III, maybe it defrosts from the ice or something." Alexandria grabs her sandwich and pours salt on it.
Anne eyes the salt warily, and now thirsty she puts down her sandwich to pick up her glass of water, only to watch in resignation as her friend takes a spoon and moves some of the salt from "Ulith III" to her poor sandwich. "Now at some point a freighter or something moves the plague from Ulith III to Korlonia II."
"My sandwich..." Lieutenant Usha says with deep resignation. This has all happened before, and it will all happen again.
Alexandria doesn't seem to hear. "So now, Challorn shows up at Ulith III and finds all the outpost crew killed. But rather than risking the disease spread via leftover spores or virii particles or something," she punches her sandwich, causing Anne to jump in her chair, "They sterilize the whole area."
Lieutenant Usha regards her sandwich longingly, but sheds not a single tear and turns to a slice of angel food cake, her favoured dessert, and she picks up a white plastic cafeteria fork to consume the tasty treat.
Kuzentsova takes her own dessert, a large cookie, and pours some salt from Korlonia II on it, "Now, Cheron takes on the disease somehow. Probably stored in her cargo rooms or something." She suddenly breaks the cookie in half. "And the Romulans, noting what has been happening, try to destroy the Cheron." she drops half the cookie in her glass of milk, "They don't destroy the ship, but do destroy the offending sample"
Anne nods as her fork delivers a bite of delicious spongy cake to her mouth, which means that it is out of place to save the rest of the slice from Alexandria's demonstration, "Muh Cake..." she says sadly, through a full mouth, as her friend uses a black plastic cafeteria spoon to move salt onto her cake.
"Then another sample is delivered to the Klingon colony on… Tre...beck?" the SI officer shrugs, "Not important. Anyway the Romulans try to fight because they don't trust that we will destroy a colony of our own people on our world."
"Klingon colony" Anne provides helpfully, wondering if she can brush the salt off of her cake with the sleeve of her crimson uniform.
"Well… yes, not important. Anyway. They fail" Anne snatches her cake back before something else happens to it, "Buuut…. Korlonia II drops out of communication, probably suffering from the disease. And…" *bam* she punches the remaining sandwich. "Korlonia II is sterilized as well"
"Muh Sandwich..." the ONA officer says sadly through a bite of slightly salty cake, deep in mourning, considering that she should stop eating with her friend if this keeps happening. And it happens at least once a week it feels like. All the way back to their days as Academy roommates. She sighs, the deep sacrifices of friendship.
"So what does this tell us?" Kuznetsova asks, and Lieutenant Usha shakes her head while eating her cake as fast as possible. "That the disease is either intelligent or controlled by an intelligent force."
Anne regards her friend dubiously, swallowing the last hastily chewed bite of her cake, "That's crazy. You're crazy," she says with a kindness born of familiarity that softens the literal meaning of the words.
"That's what Commander Otiev says. But I'll show him, I'll show them all!" Alexandria's voice grows strident, "I'll put this in writing, and submit it. And when the time comes they'll know that someone predicted this disease!"
"What? This time?" Anne Usha regards her friend dubiously, "Why will that happen this time as opposed to, say, the Tribble conspiracy?"
Alexandria has the good grace to look slightly embarrassed.
"Or the omnipotent and omniscient energy being watching Humanity, so that someday we will stand trial for our actions?"
"That remains unproven!"
"Oh! Or the possible threat of infiltration by changeling aliens from ~The Gamma Quadrant~"
"Also unproven!"
"And what about the breed of augmented Intelligent cats ruling Earth from the shadows?"
"Well, I suppose I was overenthusiastic about that. But how else do you explain how cute cats are?"
"Uh-huh," says Anne taking a sip of her unspoiled water, "What makes this time different?"
Four months later when Lieutenant Alexandria Kuznetsova of Starfleet Intelligence is all but kidnapped for a top secret research program run by Starfleet Medical, she has the good sense to be surprised… and frightened.
Okay, looks like the winner with 8 (which seems somehow appropriate) votes to 5 is...
[x] 8 Teams
-[x] Starfleet Medical - Ulithi Biophage Research & Investigation
-[x] Daystrom Institute - Computing
-[x] Spock - Xenoanalysis
-[x] Vulcan Science Academy - Sensors
-[x] Starfleet Science Academy - Communications
-[x] Starfleet Tactical Command - Foreign Analysis (Romulan Research)
-[x] Andorian Academy - Shields
-[x] Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems - Warp Technology
End results are...
Ulith III Biophage - Starfleet Medical Commander* (Sk 3)
A highly infectious and destructive disease has broken out in two locations. Although there is a known vector for the Ulith III breakout, there is no known vector for the Korlonia II breakout that occurred a year later. 8 / 8 Re-examine the Ulith III site and USS Challorn sensor records for indications of how long the disease was dormant in the ice.
6 / 8 Re-examine the abandoned Korlonia II site and USS Kumari sensor records for indications of a possible vector
6 / 10 Perform full analysis of the properties of the Biophage.
6 / 12 Backtrack the course of the USS Cheron to determine if there is any connection. 4 / 4 Coordinate with Klingon Medical service for any similar reports.
4 / 4 Attempt to contact the Romulan Star Empire regarding similar reports.
6 / 20 Fully Examine the Dunwich IV colony site and review the gigaquads of sensor data pulled in.
Computing - Daystrom Institute* (Sk 3)
All manner of computer technologies come under this banner.
20 / 20 Data Analysis Center I (-1 RP required to activate Tech Team)
3 / 30 Data Analysis Center II (-1 RP required to activate Tech Team (8)) 20 / 20 Targeting Computer I (2% weapon weight reduction)
2 / 30 Targeting Computer II (2% weapon weight reduction)
18 / 20 Ship Computer Core I (2% Science weight/power savings) 20 / 20 Ship Operating System I (1% warp core power improvement)
2 / 30 Ship Operating System II (1% warp core power improvement)
Xenopsychology - Spock* (Sk 4)
For fostering cross-cultural understanding. Not just with outside powers, but within the Federation.
16 / 20 Xeno Architecture I (2% Weight/Power Savings for Presence)
16 / 20 Recruiting Campaign I (Increase Academy intake from Federation Affiliates)
16 / 20 Diplomatic Analysis I (Improve the Annual Diplomacy Rolls) 20 / 20 Universal Translator II (Improve First Contact Scenarios)
1 / 30 Universal Translator III 20 / 20 First Contact Protocols I (+1 to attempts by non-Explorer Corps ships at First Contact encounters)
1 / 40 First Contact Protocals II (+1 to attempts by non-Explorer Corps ships at First Contact encounters)
Sensors - Vulcan Science Academy** (Sk 3)
For research into improving your ability to detect what is around you in space.
14 / 20 SR Anti-Cloaking I - Chance of intercepting cloaked vessels before battle
19 / 20 Targeting Sensors I - (2% weight savings for combat)
19 / 20 Enhanced Sensors I - (2% weight savings for Science)
14 / 20 Long Range Sensors I - (progress to a +1 to Rolls in Mapping Missions)
Communications - Starfleet Science Academy** (Sk 2)
Technology for facilitating other than face to face communication.
17 / 20 Long Range Subspace Comms I (Lead to roll bonus for Distress Call and Diplomacy missions)
17 / 20 Fleet Comms I (Give a 1% bonus to Federation Combat values in multi-ship battles)
12 / 20 Research Net I (Gain +5 RP/year)
12 / 20 Subspace Communications Intercepts I (Improve Intelligence Gathering)
Romulan Research - Starfleet Tactical Command* (Sk 1)
2 / 30 Tactical Analysis I (+1% Fed Combat Power)
2 / 30 Doctrinal Analysis I (-1% Rom Combat Power)
2 / 30 Attack Pattern Analysis I (+2% chance of dodging a hit)
7 / 30 Intelligence Analysis I (Improved counter intel)
Shields - Andorian Academy** (Sk 2)
For stopping things that go pew and/or bang.
6 / 20 Core Shields I (reduce Shield power requirements)
6 / 20 Navigational Deflectors I (reduce penalty for increasing D over C)
6 / 20 Emitter Designs I (-2% to Deflector Weight)
6 / 20 Shield Geometry I (+1 to Damage Escape Attempts)
11 / 20 Shield Regeneration I (No effect yet)
Warp Technology - Yoyodyne** (Sk 3)
Warp Cores, Warp Engines, and power generation all come under here.
8 / 20 Dilithium Efficiency I (Warp Core Weight:SR ratio)
13 / 20 Warp Core Construction I (Warp Core Weight Savings)
8 / 20 Warp Core Scaling I (Warp Core Min Multiplier reduced)
8 / 20 Escort Warp Coil Design I (Nacelle Weight Penalty)
8 / 20 Warp Core Safety Design I (Chance to prevent Warp Core Breach and reduce crew loss in the event of ship destroyed)
After all that hard work getting Alexandria dismissed as a crackpot, it looks like the cat conspiracy was caught napping by the bioplague business. That or they placed the lives of peons above their own convenience....
The best news is that there is another level of data analysis center with the same type of effect (proportionally even better) and only moderately more expensive. Obviously that can't continue indefinitely or we'd reach free activation around 2350, but even getting activation cost down to 5 would be enormous.
The best news is that there is another level of data analysis center with the same type of effect (proportionally even better) and only moderately more expensive. Obviously that can't continue indefinitely or we'd reach free activation around 2350, but even getting activation cost down to 5 would be enormous.
Yes even better it will only take 3 to 4 years of research thanks to a skill increase in two years. And we will have 45 rp per year at that point so 5 techs a turn with 5 leftover.
Aw dang, we missed Diplomatic Analysis I. Next year, though...
And we'll be able to activate all 8 teams again if we get just 30 rp from exploration - just 7.5 on average per turn!
If we can keep running them two years straight, which I think is possible, in two years Starfleet Tactical Command will be at skill-2, Starfleet Science Academy at skill-3, and the Daystrom Institute will be at skill-4.
If we can keep running them two years straight, which I think is possible, in two years Starfleet Tactical Command will be at skill-2, Starfleet Science Academy at skill-3, and the Daystrom Institute will be at skill-4.
And we've got a research point granting mining base coming online in 2304.Q4 and we're either one or two turns out from getting +research points from comms tech.
Computing and comms should basically never leave our research list until the research boosts techs vanish, IMO.
Only if we want to implement the design boosts in them right now. I'd rather hold off till we have a battery of Tech Bonuses -Weapons, Shields, Sensor- before we start doing Refits.
