Vox Vitae: Warhammer AI quest

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We can also possibly look into the Enclave designs and how to improve them. I'm assuming they're Forge Cities, but very fortified? I'd want to improve a lot of the basic infrastructure of them, massively reduce waste/pollution, and improve the quality of life for the inhabitants by a lot. I'd also want to install heavy anti-orbital defenses at each Enclave, so they as anchorage points in a planetary defense network.

We also need to look into diplomacy with the other non-Mechanicus factions, we're looking to somewhat unify the planet after all. Developing Basic Power Armor designs (like Fallout, maybe StarCeaft) would give us a very useful and flashy trade tech to dangle in front of each faction, as well as what we have, such as Juvenat.

Once we secure the orbital satellites, we should begin designing and building a Space Elevator. It will help the worlds econ by a lot, boost our bulk mass movement by a lot, and speed up like all orbital/space build options. After the SE, a proper Shipyard, then we can the ship body we want.

Edit: I second the futurist art Deco look for us, I think Anexa's designs look amazing, and it does differentiate us from the Mechanicus.
 
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Have you guys thought about contacting W and informing her about our masterstroke of a coup, maybe create a different Avatar and make it represent the machinus enclaves, and have the two avatars meet to make it seem like they are meeting for the first time?
 
Joshsteel35#013 said:
Have you guys thought about contacting W and informing her about our masterstroke of a coup, maybe create a different Avatar and make it represent the machinus enclaves, and have the two avatars meet to make it seem like they are meeting for the first time?
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Effective, but it'd also be diving into deep lies and no lie lasts forever. I'd rather keep the straight up lies to the minimum.
Then again, it'd still be pretty effective.
Might be personal bias tho. I'm categorically opposed to lies.
 
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Well. That opens up some options I guess.

We're probably still gonna want to take out the kill sats, because we don't want that hanging over the heads of the people of Denva in the future. But if we can straight up just take charge of the Enclaves thanks to this, we should try and then have them come to the negotiating table with the nations of the planet to create a new way forward.
 
We could also look into maybe designing a set of civilian cyber augments for each factions leaders and top officials? Like what Anexa and spy guy are using. Would help them do their jobs better, and interact with our post-reform Mechanicus on a more level playing field.

Maybe design and build Cyber Augment Clinics, medical facilities that wed build one of in each capitol? Help people get higher quality cyber augments for cheaper.
 
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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

DESERVED.

that said. i think its almost time to come clean to Aevon, once we finish subverting the mechanicus next turn, we can reveal to aevon, then to the mechanicus, do a couple build actions to give them a bunch of BP, and then start doing the part of the quest where we explore!
 
avatar11792 said:
We could also look into maybe designing a set of civilian cyber augments for each factions leaders and top officials? Like what Anexa and spy guy are using. Would help them do their jobs better, and interact with our post-reform Mechanicus on a more level playing field.
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If we do, we'll want it to be applicable universally. Remember, the Denva states are democracies, and we don't want to create greater unbalance between the leaders and the people by making them super-human. Not unless we can make it so everyone is.
 
Okay. Wow. That's, wow.

So basically at this point being able to take over through just subversion is absolutely possible - we're basically in the lead already. Keep playing the game, then we can reform the mechanicus from the top down.

So! About that research backlog I've been mentioning.
Neablis said:
-[] Miniaturized psychic shielding: (300 RP) Right now you can build and repair psychic shielding that's roughly ship-sized. Maybe aiming for building-sized next? (Lets you build smaller and less expensive versions of the psychic shielding. Unlocks further research to "nest" the shielding, as well as build person-sized versions).
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My personal poster child for letting subversion cook over the past few days.

This research is part of the lead time towards personal psy-shields which we want for the Monastery outreach - but nested psy-shielding research is also unlocked by this, and that is also relevant if we, say, want to have the ability to apply our brand of anti-chaos to the monasteries themselves, another great bargaining chip.

Not to mention that nested shielding sounds pretty nice to have for our ship self.

Neablis said:
- [] The Basics of Psytech (200 RP) You have that pile of samples from Prospero. You were supposed to see if anybody was interested in them, but you doubt the people who gave them to you will care much what you do with them anymore. Maybe poke around and figure out what's what. (Beginner psytech learnings. Unlocks research projects to build individual pieces of psytech)
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This is foundational research - and also pretty much mandatory to have any idea of how the psykers on Secondus can help us, or secondus in our absense.

Also worth noting that we paid two shinies for those samples, and they're primarily a "get started on this tech tree quick" option. We should avail ourselves of that, and now that the mechanicus crisis is effectively behind us, it's time to do so.

Neablis said:
-[] A Study of Physics (150 RP) You have a good understanding of physics, and access to a huge network of academic papers from several different eras on physics theory. But being able to query it and understand it are different things. It's actually kind of interesting, you have to admit. (First steps towards more exotic weapon types like nova cannons, graviton weapons, vortex bombs, fusion beamers, as well as some new potential manufacturing techniques).
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More basic research! The physics module we purchased during char gen gave us this one, and getting it in advance will improve our infrastructure crash build next turn once we've solidified our control of the mechanicus.

Neablis said:
-[] Biology is kinda wet (100 RP) Unlocks basic biology research. (The first step towards research projects related to improving juvenat yield, as well as human/xeno genetics, improved medical care, interrogaton drugs etc.)
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You didn't think we were done, right? No, despite making prosthesis and implants, we haven't actually unlocked any kind of biology research lmao. I've added some emphasis to the interrogation drugs - that'd be a good asset to solidifying control of the mechanicus, and getting the most value out of anyone who's not going to be staying free after the transition. Or alive, depending.

Also a good to have for research on psykers.

Neablis said:
-[] Secrets of the Machine Spirits (200 RP) You can imagine a lot of uses for these machine spirits in your own work. If they're included in the command loop on various pieces of machinery then that would reduce their command cost, and likely make them harder to hack. And if the Imperial literature is to be believed, corrupt? (Unlocks the ability to stick machine spirits into your combat bots, reducing CP cost. Unlocks follow-up research to use them for chaos shielding, as well as the ability to put machine spirits into installations or ships)
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We've started this - and reasonably, we want to complete it before building our ship because it's another pillar of our anti-chaos research.


That's the stuff that sticks out to me right now. Basically - now that we're out of crisis mode, I think it's time to start digging into the foundational stuff that'll make everything better and tell us what our options really are.
 
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Well it is sad to see that Emotional Hacking is now off the table, but it's more than made up for with Thalya dead and us looking like a Boss Bitch to everyone.

This turn we certainly have to start asserting our authority to get people in line, and for that I think Research should continue as previously planned with Heavy Combat Bots and Basic Stealth Assault Shuttles, then start moving in with some Heavy Bots to show off our power and let everyone know who's the new big wig.

Though we likely don't need to up our defenses as much now, or at least in keeping it hidden as much, and we can make more shuttles to get ready to start expanding into the void proper.
 
I have an idea for the next free database searching action. Can we go through stuff like shipping data to build a preliminary map of the sector/subsector and the general locations of known groups? Like, I doubt that the sector capitol has moved, nor would a space marine chapter's homeworld move. It would be a way to get something like Sterbelicht's sector map, or at least a very generalized version. We could even get more details from the Navigator station that's in system.
 
Hopefully the machine spirits that were gaslighted can be rehabilitated eventually (I don't mean right now), but this was a nice turn.
 
Did some more thinking. We've taken a pretty slow but steady kind of approach so far. My idea for a big announcement of change is pretty risky and while likely to be effective overall, it's got a decent chance of devolving into civil war because, on second thought it was just Thalya and her servitors that died. Which we haven't prepared for civil war that much either. Unless we get to jumble chronology a bit and say some of the next turn actions happened before the assassination it may be better to take a more relaxed, normal approach and just continue subverting the next generation and doing some restructuring primarily through Admech's science 4chan

I do still say we announce our possession of a fully intact DAoT survey ship database and post an index to prove it. That's the big carrot for everyone. "I've been feeding you scraps so far, follow me and you'll see how far we can truly go," kind of vibe.

For another turn we spend our time restructuring things and setting the dominoes to fall into a redeemed Admech. Let's refer to them as Cogitare.

I still say dismantle the WMD's because we can't risk any of Thalya's "contingencies" screwing us. On a similar note, let's try to hack into her personal stuff before it gets destroyed by such contingencies. Maybe employ some of our guys to aid us.

Our new avatar should definitely look like a Dominus, or could be one if so wanted. Ideally kitted with an excessive amount of brand-new archeotech implants.

Besides that, we focus on our foundational techs a bit. I think we can stop hiding our physical location though, use it as another flex, and proof of our superiority. Start building in orbit and prove we don't need to keep the killsats cuz we've got better, much more potent options. Albeit, they're obvious. Which is it's own kind of dominance.
 
Okay! So, what are our priorities, now? Probably a shitton of diplomacy - we need to nation build a *lot*, IMO. We want Denva on it's feet enough that we can leave at some point, and come back to find the place still standing and still friendly. That means sorting the mess out with the Mechanicus, teching up the planet and kickstarting their industry, helping make sure their political system is robust enough to handle the sudden increase in technology and the changing status with the mechanicus, figuring out how to harden them against chaos, etc, etc. Luckily, it seems there's plenty to discover in the rest of the solar system, so Vita shouldn't get *too* antsy during this process. We want to look at the station, the other planets, the gas giant stations, and probably take a good gander at the rest of the system in general... Oh, and the psyker enclaves, obviously.

We should probably start with figuring out what we're doing with the mechanicus first, then. Well, obviously the killsats need to go. Then, they need to stop suppressing the technological development of the nations of Denva. Ideally, we'd recruit them to do research for us, or otherwise be useful? That's not a small ask, though. We probably want to be able to reveal our secret without them becoming hostile? Not sure how to go about approaching that one.

I guess, start by figuring out which of the mechanicus will never agree to give up their monopoly of technology and then maneuvering to neutralize them. Then figuring out which ones will never accept the kind of free and open inquiry we desire, and neutralizing them? Or, maybe do those in the opposite order? Yeah, maybe start with the call for more open inquiry first - that's what all our followers in the mechanicus are sold on in the first place. Openly sharing technology can be a follow on goal.

Oh, and I want to know what Orynn was so desperate to talk about. Was it just Thalya? :/
 
Prime 2.0 said:
So! About that research backlog I've been mentioning.
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Looking back at this post and realizing with horror that about half of it, in the middle, somehow went poof.

EDIT: Okay - figured out what happened, there was some unclosed tags that ate the post. Fixed now, redundant-ish writing spoilered below.

If me saying "you didn't think we were done" after only one tech examined seemed strange, well, that's because originally I brought up these two first:
Neablis said:
- [] The Basics of Psytech (200 RP) You have that pile of samples from Prospero. You were supposed to see if anybody was interested in them, but you doubt the people who gave them to you will care much what you do with them anymore. Maybe poke around and figure out what's what. (Beginner psytech learnings. Unlocks research projects to build individual pieces of psytech)
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The basics of psytech is something we got from our char generation choices - we paid two shinies for it, we paid for that by having Tyranid splinter fleet be in our neck of the woods - and it's in char-gen where its real value pitch is given:
-[] Psytech repository (-2 shinies) You have technical documents and a stockpile of rudimentary psytech. You can immediately begin the psytech tree without requiring samples. Even if you choose the full STC, there won't be psytech in it without this because you were built before humans had figured out much about psykers. This path won't let you manipulate the warp yourself, but it will let you build stuff to boost psykers, including force weapons, psychic hoods and more, as well as larger installations capable of letting individual psykers have battlefield-level effects.
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Suffice to say it's actually really powerful, but that came in the form of "can start this right away". We have not, as of yet, started it. I argue we should this turn - to the point I'd rank it above finishing* miniaturized psy shields.

I'd put money on it discounting or improving our psychic shielding research in some way, besides.

*I could see starting, though. If a discount applies after we start, maybe it auto completes lol.
Neablis said:
-[] A Study of Physics (150 RP) You have a good understanding of physics, and access to a huge network of academic papers from several different eras on physics theory. But being able to query it and understand it are different things. It's actually kind of interesting, you have to admit. (First steps towards more exotic weapon types like nova cannons, graviton weapons, vortex bombs, fusion beamers, as well as some new potential manufacturing techniques).
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Yeah, yeah, we don't have a pressing need for new weapons, but even just the specs are yet more mechanicus catnip now - and the improved manufacturing is something we want before the infrastructure crash build happens, I wager.

So, to put it all together: Between wet bio, basics of psytech, and study of physics we... well, we have a lot of basic "what is even possible" research that we just haven't done yet.
 
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Random thought: let's dredge up our space ship, slap some tracks on it and call it ordinatus.
Very much not a classical one, but it's 100% archeotech and designed for space-ship grade battles even if it was kinda shitty for the time. So relatively? It absolutely meets all the requirements.

Not sure it's actually a good idea tho. Fun it would undoubtedly be.
 
Insult Everyone! said:
Random thought: let's dredge up our space ship, slap some tracks on it and call it ordinatus.
Very much not a classical one, but it's 100% archeotech and designed for space-ship grade battles even if it was kinda shitty for the time. So relatively? It absolutely meets all the requirements.

Not sure it's actually a good idea tho. Fun it would undoubtedly be.
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Thinking about it, using the excavation of our old ship body as a prize for mechanicus members who go along with our reforms might be possible. Will need to be after hardliners are cut off from military assets and the kill sat's are placed under our full control.
 
Angle said:
Oh, and I want to know what Orynn was so desperate to talk about. Was it just Thalya? :/
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Oh, no. He just heard that Vita was handing out tech and wanted his share. Also realizing he got lowballed for Anexa.

Insult Everyone! said:
What dost tou sayeth?
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Yeah yeah, fixed.

Insult Everyone! said:
I kinda feel bad for Orryn and can't help but hope he survived. If only to see what he wanted to say.
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It was mostly asking for handouts. He's kind of a weasel.

avatar11792 said:
We can also possibly look into the Enclave designs and how to improve them. I'm assuming they're Forge Cities, but very fortified?
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They're very much not cities. Fortified yes, but closer to forge villages in size.

Prime 2.0 said:
So basically at this point being able to take over through just subversion is absolutely possible - we're basically in the lead already. Keep playing the game, then we can reform the mechanicus from the top down.
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Is it subversion if you just maneuvered the enemy leader into an assassination attempt so that you could justifiably kill her in defense? And now everybody knows who you are?

Aura Dragon said:
I have an idea for the next free database searching action. Can we go through stuff like shipping data to build a preliminary map of the sector/subsector and the general locations of known groups? Like, I doubt that the sector capitol has moved, nor would a space marine chapter's homeworld move. It would be a way to get something like Sterbelicht's sector map, or at least a very generalized version. We could even get more details from the Navigator station that's in system.
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There's probably a pretty good map in the local machanicus files, and there's definitely one on the navigator station. Among other goodies. People got that I was hinting there's navigator genetic material in there?
 
Prime 2.0 said:
Looking back at this post and realizing with horror that about half of it, in the middle, somehow went poof.

EDIT: Okay - figured out what happened, there was some unclosed tags that ate the post. Fixed now, redundant-ish writing spoilered below.

If me saying "you didn't think we were done" after only one tech examined seemed strange, well, that's because originally I brought up these two first:

The basics of psytech is something we got from our char generation choices - we paid two shinies for it, we paid for that by having Tyranid splinter fleet be in our neck of the woods - and it's in char-gen where its real value pitch is given:

Suffice to say it's actually really powerful, but that came in the form of "can start this right away". We have not, as of yet, started it. I argue we should this turn - to the point I'd rank it above finishing* miniaturized psy shields.

I'd put money on it discounting or improving our psychic shielding research in some way, besides.

*I could see starting, though. If a discount applies after we start, maybe it auto completes lol.

Yeah, yeah, we don't have a pressing need for new weapons, but even just the specs are yet more mechanicus catnip now - and the improved manufacturing is something we want before the infrastructure crash build happens, I wager.

So, to put it all together: Between wet bio, basics of psytech, and study of physics we... well, we have a lot of basic "what is even possible" research that we just haven't done yet.
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I like all of those as well... I want to focus on a decent level of warp understanding first, though. Maybe pick up the void abacus research and then the basic warp understanding that was hinted to be locked behind it. I think it'll be a while before we can really focus on research though, we have a whoooole lot of nation building to do, along with industrializing and teching up an entire planet. And we still need to blow up the killsats and sort out the mechanicus...
 
And now we assune leadership with the carrot and the Stick we got tech the can only dream about but if you dont want progress you will get politcal neuterd otherwise solid turn for us and yes we need to get the basics out of the way but im for the secret of the mashine spirit we already started it and it would help us build the Imperium tech more up instead of tearing evrythinf down and starting New.
 
Well, old magos got got. And there was much rejoicing.

@Neablis would it be possible for Vita to make a partition/fork to keep an eye on Mechanicus after we leave the planet? FTL comms being what they are, we won't be able to prevent them from backsliding once we go exploring without a trusted subordinate, and it might be cynical out of me but I don't think someone other than Vita has both chops for that position and unwillingness to abuse it for their own gain.
 
Didn't expect this kind of result when I wrote the plan, but I'm more than happy with it. Still probably for the best to prepare for a violent revolution and taking out all the killsats and nukes while storming the Enclaves with heavy combat bots, but pushing the button on all of that could probably be left to the case where we don't get everything we want in the negotiations.
Neablis said:
There's probably a pretty good map in the local machanicus files, and there's definitely one on the navigator station. Among other goodies. People got that I was hinting there's navigator genetic material in there?
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Yes. No wonder the mechanicus is interested, because that sounds quite useful for them. If only for more methods to further blackmail the Navigators. But I'm a bit more occupied and worried about the mention of scrapcode.
Mithrill said:
Well, old magos got got. And there was much rejoicing.

@Neablis would it be possible for Vita to make a partition/fork to keep an eye on Mechanicus after we leave the planet? FTL comms being what they are, we won't be able to prevent them from backsliding once we go exploring without a trusted subordinate, and it might be cynical out of me but I don't think someone other than Vita has both chops for that position and unwillingness to abuse it for their own gain.
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Probably not feasible even if it turned out to be feasible in a technical sense. Because Vita has the Wayfarer -trait:
Neablis said:
Wayfarer - Standing still makes you itchy. You were created to explore the galaxy personally, and cannot tolerate being tied down in one place for too long. There will be special mechanics for building and upgrading your own personal ship. However, you must always be planning and working towards exploration and visiting somewhere new and exciting.
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Even a copy of Vita (if we could even make one at this point, which I doubt) would want to leave to the stars. So I can't see this working like you envision in any way, shape or form.
 
The good thing about the station being a Navigator one is that there's probably not some kind of Mechanicus superweapon inside. Though that probably doesn't discount the possibility of there being a daemon trapped there which could be released if the tech priests there throw all caution to the wind.

Action wise it's probably best for an even split: one on Diplomacy to capitalise on Thalya's death, one on Construction and two on Research.

With Anexa we could do Heavy Combat Bots, Basic Stealth Assault Shuttles, Study of Physics and Biology is kinda wet?
 
Mithrill said:
Well, old magos got got. And there was much rejoicing.

@Neablis would it be possible for Vita to make a partition/fork to keep an eye on Mechanicus after we leave the planet? FTL comms being what they are, we won't be able to prevent them from backsliding once we go exploring without a trusted subordinate, and it might be cynical out of me but I don't think someone other than Vita has both chops for that position and unwillingness to abuse it for their own gain.
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At its core, mechanicus are a bunch of nerds.

If we keep on breaking their monopoly on technology, their isolation makes very little sense, and they will eventually end up getting absorbed by the more populous polities.
 
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