Vox Vitae: Warhammer AI quest

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Well, at least we control the high ground. Hopefully we replace the mechanicus OBS with our own, and turn the tables on the whole 'threaten the natives into compliance with Death from Above" strategy.
 
The Orbital battle was really the most important. The Ground war is more of a sideshow because the Mechanicus never had the numbers to really contest the entire populace on that front. That's why they relied on the kill-sats, which we just took care off.
 
Turn 13 New
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Plan: Look at this shiny apple full of knowledge, want to take a bite?
    -[X] [Free] Poke around some more in the databases, looking for anything in particular.
    --[X] You have a rought picture about who the Navigators are and what they can do by sheer osmosis of hearing them being mentioned occasionally in a conversation, but a deeper look would do good.
    -[X] Diplomacy/Subversion (AdMech):
    --[X] Okay, we're in the home stretch here with the AdMech, now we just need to stick the landing. The only problem is that, well you're literally robo satan and you want to break the Mechanicus technological monopoly over Denva because its terrible. This is going to take careful planning, questionable theological arguments, a lot of bribery and possibly even more murder. Step one is to tell Aevon counterintelligence that we've sorta coup'd the Mechanicus and give them access to enough inside information to ensure that the Mechanicus stays dumb and happy until we're ready. In the meantime, we'll prep the Mechanicus for the truth by using the expected restructuring of our takeover to put tractable minions in key places of power and removing the intractable before they can ruin everything for everyone else. Then, once we're ready we reveal the "truth." Our status as an ancient explorer from the heady days of the Dark Age of Technology. We offer them technology most ancient and a reprieve from needing to do drudging menial labor to keep the world spinning. More than that we offer them the chance to learn how to learn, and a Quest of Knowledge Unending.
    --[X] And if that's not enough we have the biggest hammer anyway, so we'll smash some nails. We'll have 2000 Heavy Infantry Bots, plus more than enough mediums and lights to back them up in the unlikely event its needed, plus more than enough firepower to neutralize the WMDs.
    -[X] Construction x1 (2650 BP)
    --[X] Avatar (10 BP, 0 CP) (Your original Avatar with green hair, glasses and a naval uniform, from before your ship's accident)
    --[X] Avatar (10 BP, 0 CP) (Your old tech-priest avatar before you blew it up)
    --[X] Underground Spaceport (300 BP, 25 CP)
    --[X] 12x Basic Stealth Assault Shuttle (25 BP, 5 CP)
    --[X] 2x Humanized Heavy Infantry Bots w/ MP-MSJ (125 BP, 200 CP) (10x in Stealth Assault Shuttles, 1x base security, 1x escort for Vita Magi/Original Avatars)
    --[X] 500 VBP - 100x Basic space stealth missile (5 Void BP, 1 CP) (launched to orbit)
    --[X] Trade goods, Aevon (25 BP)
    --[X] Trade goods, Mechanicus bribes (55 BP)
    --[X] 12 Manufactories
    -[X] Research x2 (400 RP + 25 RP)
    --[X] Blueprint: 75 RP - Basic Stealth Assault Shuttle (25 BP, 5 CP)
    --[X] Blueprint: 100 RP - Heavy Infantry Bots (100 BP, 200 CP)
    --[X] Blueprint: 25 RP - Man-portable Machine-Spirit Jammers (10 BP)
    --[X] Combat Bot Humanization, Redux (50 RP)
    --[X] Combat cybernetics (50 RP)
    --[X] Organ replacements (100 RP)
    ---[X] Anexa assists (+25 RP)
    --[X] Secrets of the Machine Spirits (10/200 -> 35/200 RP)
    -[X] Pay rent (Trade Goods, Aevon 25 -> 0)
    -[X] Anexa active Action: Research (Organ replacement)
    -[X] Victan active action: Subversion (AdMech)

    You allow yourself a moment of elation after you close the comms link.

    Got the bitch!

    That was satisfying in more than one way. You've eliminated probably the single greatest obstacle to building up, and thrown the leadership of the mechanicus on Denva secundus into turmoil. On the other hand, Thalya was an ass and you didn't like her. Normally that wouldn't be enough to deserve death, but there was a laundry list of things that changed that equation.

    Like consigning a bunch of hanger workers to death by radiation just so she could try to track my shuttle. Or that her intention was very much to swoop in and steal "Magos Vita's" excavation site the moment she knew where it was. Oh yeah, and the fact that she would have been fundamentally opposed to my right to exist if she knew I was an AI.

    Then there's the fact that she worked with the Inquisition in the past. Those files are sealed in ways you can't access, but you doubt that knowing the details of the work she did with the Imperial secret police would improve your opinion of her.

    But now, it's time to capitalize on the opportunity you've created. Everything is in flux, and the leadership of the Mechanicus is struggling to come to terms with one of their oldest and most influential members being cleanly taken off the board, and the introduction of a new player.

    None of them are blindsided by your existence of course, you've in fact spoken to several of them already, and are friendly to a few. But they knew you as the eccentric and learned Magos Vita, the Explorator and purveyor of secrets. The revelation that you're both capable of and quite proficient in violence and skullduggery is going to require them to recalibrate the weight to place on you - as both a friend and an enemy.

    You reach back out to your contacts, having a rapidfire series of individual conversations with all of them to pick up where you left off. You figure that doing it individually will work out better than in a group setting where they can present a united front.

    It's all-hands on deck for a little while, with you talking to multiple different Magi and other tech-priests in quick succession while Victan and Anexa send messages to dozens of different members of the Cogitare Exploraratum. You're trying to convey your vision for the mechanicus moving forward, one where education is more widespread, where individual priests are more free to learn and experiment. One under your leadership.

    Mechanicus diplomacy/subversion roll - 14+17=31. Poor success.
    No levels for Victan.

    The results are... mixed, to say the least. A few people who were already positively predisposed towards you are wholeheartedly onboard, but the old codgers who hold the most power are in opposition. In fact, everybody's investment in your plans seems directly correlated to how much they stand to gain or lose by a shakeup in the mechanicus power structure.

    After quite a large amount of concerted effort you send a message to Victan.

    > This isn't going well. We should stop trying to convince them that we're right, and start subverting them. Or failing that, getting people who are loyal to us promoted - by clearing the positions ahead of them if needed. [Exasperated]

    > Agreed. We're not going to be able to break them out of their current power structure so easily. The oldest tech-priests here have been playing this game for hundreds of years, they're not going to allow the game to change now that they hold so many pieces. [Surly]

    > Can the ACI help? [Curious]

    > No. I'm keeping them in the loop, but they're not able to reach inside of the enclaves. All of their focus is on preventing the mechanicus from getting a good read on Aevon's technology base, or finding this base. [Steady]

    > That makes sense, and definitely is what I want them to keep working on. Do you think it's going to come to open conflict between us and the mechanicus? [Thoughtful]

    > Yes. Even if we're able to get most of the subversion online there's going to be somebody who sees what's happening and decides to go loud. I think the most likely targets are other Mechanicus enclaves that we've had more success in converting. [Speculative]

    > Ok. I'll get on plans to ensure the killsats aren't a problem. Hacking or direct military action, do you think? [Unsure]

    > Military. The hacking would raise more warning flags for them. If we can hack the killsats then they'll be worried about what else you can hack. Just taking out all of the killsats would not only take that option off the table, but it would demonstrate that we're the true power on Devna Secundus in a way that hacking would leave up in the air. [Confidant]

    > Then I'll focus on that, and prep what we'll need to directly assault the enclaves if necessary. [Resigned]

    > I'll let Anexa go back to her studies. She's excited about some of her research plans, and I hate to keep her away for something as minor as taking over a planetary power. [Sarcastic]

    You snort, well aware that Victan's not actually upset about Anexa's priorities. He doesn't understand her singleminded focus on knowledge, just as she doesn't understand the way he enjoys manipulating people into following his desired path. But they respect each others proficency nonetheless - and have formed a sort of outcast's bond over being the two people on Denva Secundus who know your greatest secret.

    Regardless, both you and Victan will keep working on the mechanicus problem in the background. With any luck dogged effort and persistence will succeed where the attempt to exploit the shifting circumstances has failed.

    But in case it doesn't - and because you know you'll need them anyways - you need to prepare to storm the enclaves. You intend to keep up your disguise as an ancient explorer and not an AI when that happens, which means that you'll need to use humanized combat bots. So you might as well upgrade them.

    Additionally, the skitarii guarding the enclaves are fairly elite. They're well-armored and carry weaponry that would be quite effective against your current combat bots. If you want to be able to fight them without throwing massive numbers of bots - more than you currently have - against fortified positions, you're going to need to upgrade your combat bots with heavier armor and heavier weapons. And while you're doing that, you might as well fix the issues with your previous efforts to humanize your bots.

    The two approaches meld quite nicely. Previously you were trying to give the bots more human-like motions, and having trouble grouping the artificial muscles properly. But part of the process of uparmoring and upgunning your combat bots is to make them overall stronger to carry the increased weight of armor, and as you scale up the servomoters to make the whole process work you understand your mistake.

    It's nothing profound, no great secret. You'd just been trying to rearrange the existing motors in ways more reminiscent of human phisiology, maybe add a few more. But what you really need to do is change their size to adapt them for the new positions, and then scale the amount of armor and the limiters to match. It's a little bit fiddly to get all the settings right, but at the end of the day your humanization process will both increase the strength and the amount of armor carried. It works especially well with your new heavy combat bots, each of which is basically a walking suit of power armor weidling weapons that would give a tank pause.

    Heavy Infantry Bot blueprint unlocked for construction
    Researched Combat Bot Humanization, Redux - roll 65+20 = 85 Good success!
    Humanized bots now come with a slight bonus to strength and armor instead of a malus.
    Unlocked new research option - Improved Armor Articulation

    If you're going to bring the war to the mechanicus there's more to do, of course. You know that they use machine spirits in almost all of their equipment, so you spend some time miniaturizing your jamming tech. It won't be able to affect larger machine spirits for long like this, but even a second of confusion from an enemy's equipment is a lifetime in these situations, and it might confuse smaller spirits - like those in guns, or communicators - for longer.

    Man-portable Machine-Spirit Jammers unlocked for construction.

    The last piece you need is a way to actually deliver your troops to your enemies. Thanks to all of your efforts your enemies still don't know where you are, but that means that there aren't many of them within marching distance for your bots. So you spend some time putting together a combat shuttle to effectively carry troops, slapping on the same stealth equipment that your new fighters have. Then you give them some armor and guns and the ability to carry vehicles in a pinch.

    Basic Stealth Assault Shuttle unlocked for construction.

    Then it's time to actually build all of your shiny new toys. You're going to need another underground spaceport to quickly launch all of your new troops, and your factories begin spitting out components for everything from shuttle thrusters to bluescreen grenades. And you've got a bit left over, so you might as well expand your factories. It's possible that the expansion will be suspiscious, but the mechanicus has other problems. Besides, you can defend yourself now.

    2000 Heavy Humanized Infantry Bots with Machine Spirit Jammers Produced!
    Underground Spaceport completed!
    12x Basic Stealth Assault Shuttles completed!
    12x Manufactories completed!

    Along the way you queue up couple more avatars. They're not easy to produce, but after your rather large expansion aboveground they're less than half a percent of your overall production. It might be useful in the future to present yourself in the same body that most of the mechanicus saw blown up to kill Thalya. And it would be nice to have your original avatar back. It represents... you.

    New old Avatar: Female tech priest with some augmentations
    Actually Old Avatar: Original Avatar, young human woman with green hair

    Once your original Avatar is completed you take a moment to just walk around your ship in the shape you chose for yourself so long ago. There's something nostalgic about it, as well as something deeply personal. The Vita that chose this body did so because she felt it best represented herself. People knew you were an AI, they knew you were smarter, faster, more knowledgeable than any unaugmented human could hope to be. But when they met this body, they saw a young, excitable woman with cute glasses and green hair. And that's what they reacted to. Which is how you liked it.

    It wasn't a manipulation thing. It was just genuinely how you wished to be perceived. You liked putting people at ease, being cute and making them laugh. It was simply who you wanted to be.

    But now you have a choice to make. Do you still want to be that person? You had a bubbly personality and close friends to share it with, a whole galaxy of wonders and new sights to explore. Then - everything broke you spent fifteen thousand years alone, isolated. Everybody you cared about, everything you believed in, died. You were stuck in a mess of ships floating through the warp, then stuck on this planet, desperately trying to repair your ship enough to be functional. Trying and mostly succeeding to stay sane.

    Finally, just over a hundred years ago you fully awoke in this new galaxy, a place far darker and less logical than the one you last knew. Nothing is right. Life is cheap, and civilization - true, enlightened civilization - seems to have been scourged from the stars and replaced with the darkest, most repressive state imaginable. There's a reason you didn't build this body for yourself as soon as you were able. You had other priorities, other necessities to staying alive.

    You needed to build new faces for yourself, different shapes that could be swapped out interchangeably at your convenience. But they weren't you. They were avatars, temporary shells that fulfil a given purpose. But you reiterate that they aren't you. When you inhabit one of your other avatars to talk to anybody - even Anexa and Victan - you're fully aware that you're controlling every action of the avatar, and do so intentionally to achieve the desired effect.

    But this body is different. You can feel it, as you walk through the ship towards the lounge where you know Anexa and Victan are chatting. This body is you, in a metaphorical and deeply personal way that no other avatar can match. Maybe you'll change or modify it as you change. But right now, walking to introduce your new body to your crew, feels important. Like a declaration to yourself, to the universe, that deep underneath everything that's happened, you're still you. Bubbly, excitable, cute and most of all optimistic. The galaxy can crush everything that's good and you'll still be there, reaching out to explore for what's left and if you can't find anything then you'll build it.

    The hatch slides open ahead of you, and you fix your crew with a dazzling smile. "Hi. It's nice to see you again. This is the real me."

    They look over together from the intense conversation on the politics of the mechanicus. Victan raises an eyebrow, then smiles back. "I like it."

    Anexa looks you up and down and gives a sharp nod. "Adorable."

    You smile back at them, feeling your eyes get a little wet. Then you take a skip forward and flop onto the empty couch across from them. "So! What were you talking about?"

    Victan waves his hand dismissively. "I was complaining about the tech-priests. Everything's calcifying into just another hierarchy, and they've managed to lock us out as well as they could. Damn every Magos."

    Anexa snorts. "You were complaining about the tech-priests again. I was one, you remember?"

    "You were. You're more than that now though," Victan replies with a raised eyebrow.

    "I am." Anexa's voice is confident, and she turns her attention towards you. "We were going to talk about cybernetics. I was interested in organ replacements. And you wanted to make combat implants. Are you ready to get started?"

    You look back and forth between Anexa and Victan speculatively. You're considering teasing them, but they're not flirting. You've seen people flirt, and this is just them settling into a comfortable friendship. Victan might be interested, but Anexa isn't and Victan's savvy enough to pick up on that. So they're just becoming good friends, which is what you like to see.

    "Yes!" You say excitedly, throwing both hands into the air. "Let's do it!"

    Victan sighs, getting up and collecting a tablet off the table in front of him. "I'll go get to work. It's not like I'm trying to prevent the extermination of all life on the planet or anything. Have fun chatting science."

    "That's what all of the missiles are for!" you yell towards his retreating back.

    Then you turn to look at Anexa, who's giving you a small smile. "I prefer this avatar." She says quietly.

    "So do I. Now, cybernetics?"

    Her grin broadens. "Yes. Now I know I'm going to need your help on it, but still, I thought that it would be fun to make it a competition! You work on making the cybnernetics more responsive and structurally sound, I work on replacing hearts and kidneys with artifical versions." It's clear from her tone which one she thinks is more interesting.

    You shrug. "Ok. Let's get to it."

    So you get to it. Well, Anexa gets to it, and so do you. But your attention is usually split four or five ways, and so it is here. Part of you is helping Victan with his continued efforts with the mechancius, which continue to not go well. Part of you is helping Anexa on her attempts to replace organs with mechanical versions, part of you is working on improving your cybernetic limbs.

    And the final place that gets the majority of your attention is your attempts to do good on your words. You're pretty sure you can neutralize the orbital killsats before they cause problems. It would be nice to be completely sure.

    So you make a hundred more missiles and launch them to space, watching on the satellites for any trace. You've improved the stealth on the protective shells and they don't leave flaming streaks across the sky, but there's still some noticeable atmospheric disturbances with each launch. But it's buried pretty deep, somebody would have to be really looking to see anything.

    Launching 100x Basic stealth missile to orbit - rolled 49, DC 10. Nobody notices.

    Meanwhile, your research on cybernetics is going great. The lessons you've learned from redoing the humanization and the heavy combat bots have carried over, and the combat augments are turning out quite well. They're a lot like the other augments you have, except they're stronger, more durable and even better integrated with the wearer's brain. That part makes you proud - you'd already improved the connections between your cybernetics and the brain, and now you do it further. It's about hooking into the bodies kinesthetic senses in a way that the brain knows where the limb is even when it's moving beyond what a flesh-and-blood limb is capable of. And if it contains a gun, where that gun is aiming.

    It's honestly not that hard to just integrate these improvements into all of the future cybernetics you make - they're slightly more expensive, but it's not a big difference and the improvements in performance are notable. You're well past the point where the limits on strength of a limb are the rest of the wearer's body and not the limb itself, and you have a couple of ideas on how to improve that. After all, the way you prevent recoil on a gun is by adding a rocket engine to the bullet. What if you did something like that for cybernetics to unchain them from the strength of the host body? Heck, you could just go further than that.

    You also learn a few important lessons as to why human bodies are designed that way. The arrangement of force generators is less efficent than other potential layouts, but it inherently is better suited to a wider array of tasks and comes with several redundancies that will keep the overall system functioning even when parts of it are damaged. Interesting, and definitely something to integrate into your overall understanding of robotics.

    Researched Combat cybernetics - rolled 93+20=113 Critical Success!
    Any cybernetics you make are stronger, faster and may contain light and some medium weapons at no additional cost.
    Reduced research cost for Really Good Robotics by -150 RP
    Reduced research cost for Combat Neural Implants by -50 RP
    Unlocked new research option Advanced Combat cybernetics (200 RP) Locked behind Really good Robotics.
    Unlocked special new research option Combat Mobility Cybernetics (100 RP)

    You're flush with victory at the success, and turn your attention to Anexa. Well, you already know how it turned out. You've been working together on that front, and... it isn't going well. The basic problem is that you're trying to hack together replacements for complex organs without a sufficient understanding of the underlying biology. Anexa has a basic understanding, but when she asks you questions your answer as often as not is "I don't know," and it's not helping.

    She's getting frustrated, and you're not able to help her. Sure, you can regurgitate the textbooks on demand, but there's a difference between that and having a working understanding of the actual relationships that can tell you what the problem is with the implants, and why they're not fully replicating the organ functions of the poor Grox you snagged to be your guinea pig.

    Well, one of them. You've gone through about a dozen at this point, and you're starting to wonder if you'll need to order up another truckload from Aevon. But you suggest that Anexa take care of your simulation abilities and you're able to track down some of the issues. Like you thought, the issue is that biology is complex. No organ does just one thing, and most of them do many things. A heart is more than a pump, a kidney is more than a filter, a stomach is more than a vat of acid.

    After a good bit more work on your and Anexa's part, you get to a place where you can replace most of the organs, but they're not... good. The grox survive when you replace their organs, but they don't thrive. You can track that their biomarkers are stable, but it's clear that the new organs aren't doing everything that they need to be doing, and over time the recipients of your organs will sicken and die. It'll save somebody in a pinch, but it's not a long-term solution.

    You also have dreams of trying to engineer new kinds of organs that don't come standard issue to humans - things like adrenaline glands, toxin filters. But both of you spend all of your time trying to prevent your mechanical organs from killing their recipients, so you don't have time. You'll get back to it.

    Researched Organ Replacements - rolled 2 + 20 = 22. Poor success
    You can make organs, and they will save people from death, but they're also not great and will slowly degrade the health of the people carrying them. No levels for Anexa.
    Unlocked new research option Organ replacements, Redux (50 RP) Locked behind Biology is kinda wet

    "I think you won our competition," Anexa says gloomily as she twists the new arm through contortions that would be impossible for an arm of flesh and blood, then watches as a long blade slides out of the palm before she twists the hand the other direction for a stubby lasgun barrel to pop out of the forearm. The arm is made of unfinished alloy, and the grey color is out of place against the rest of her silver-and-gold aesthetic. She sighs heavily and detaches the arm, placing it on the workbench at reattaching her own much more decorated arm and scrubbing both hands through her shoulder-length hair.

    You reach out and punch her lightly in the shoulder, which makes her jump. "Hey. Stop it. You're good at this. We just did things out of order. We don't know enough biology for this yet. Let's go learn more about that, then come back to this when we understand more about how bodies work, and can put it all together."

    She takes a second to respond, but then chuckles and warms up to the idea. "Yeah. Always more to learn. Always improvements to make. We didn't do our background reading. We have time."

    "We do."

    Well. For research, you do. But it's quickly looking like the situation with the mechanicus is spiraling out of control. You and Victan have done what you can, and you've managed to get a few more members of the Cogitare Exploraratum promoted to more senior positions, using only a little bit of murder, and mostly some amount of blackmail and a whole lot of bribes. You've also managed to make a few inroads with various other parts of the leadership.

    But it's the junior leadership. At this point the senior leadership won't even respond to your messages. You know that there's still a political battle going on behind the scenes over control of the Denva mechanicus, and you've done your best to fan those flames in the hope that it would let you claim a piece of the leadership. But the one thing the senior Magi seem to agree on is to stonewall you.

    You and Victan spend some time brainstorming on if it's time to escalate the matter - you could show up outside any given enclave with enough firepower that they'd have to give you an audience, or you could use your influence within the Cogitare Exploraratum to try and sneak your avatar and maybe a few combat bots inside one of the enclaves to assassinate a Magos.

    Then there's the matter of the killsats - you're pretty sure you can take them all down whenever you want, but if somebody sends out a mass bombardment order without any warning you might not be quick enough to stop all of it. Maybe it's best to act preemptively as a demonstration of your power?

    Since apparently killing Thalya wasn't enough.

    The other alternative is to announce your status as an "ancient," using much the same cover that you're using with Aevon to try and justify your stock of knoweldge, and promise the rest of the mechanicus that there's more where that came from. You do want to try and shift them away from their machine cult and to something more agreeable.

    To that end, you spend some time writing, revising and rewriting a kind of autobiography that will introduce your desired narrative. It's not too far off from the truth, except you're a fully human explorer from the Dark Age of Technology who crashed on Denva Secundus during the Dark Age of Technology, and has been here in stasis until awakening only recently.

    You hint as to the technological databases you have access to, the kinds of science you know. Both you and Victan have had a lot of experience at this point tailoring things to spark the imagination of your followers in the Cogitare Exploraratum and you lean into that, though you also make an effort to tailor it towards the more recalcitrant tech-priests.

    You close with a plea, that the mechanicus of Denva Secundus merely listen to your words, and take your hand in your Quest for Knowledge Unending. Then, after a final proofread by Anexa you gather your courage and send it off to every tech-priest and acolyte on Denva Secundus.

    Yes, the roll of 31 still applies here. Poor success.

    You're greeted almost immediately by a full video communication request from Magos Gammian, who leads the Prayath enclave. He's one of the three or four most senior members of the mechanicus, though he's currently disadvantaged because the Prayath enclave has been in conflict with the nation of Prayath, and needed more support from the other enclaves in terms of raw materials.

    You exchange a look with Victan, who is looped in on the same channel. He shrugs and gives you a "go-ahead" gesture, so you open the channel, feeding in the video of your tech-priest avatar. Victan is also seeing the call, but there's no indication of him on the line.

    The other end is a bit surprising. Magos Gammian is on the line, but so is Magos Orynn. Who - is not particularly relevant. You spend a moment wondering why he's there, and what this is about. They're definitely recording this and potentially streaming in other parties on the side, so it looks like it might be grandstanding? You wonder what they have to say in response to your manifesto.

    That lasts until Magos Gammian gives a burst of harsh binaric. "%I deny you the title of Magos, for you are a full Heretek, unworthy of the trappings of the Deus Mechanicus. I denounce you as anathema to the Adeptus Mechanicus, and warn you that I will destroy any tech-priest that listens to your poison.%"
    The side-bands of his message are full of outrage and venom, and also dire satisfaction. He's not really speaking to you, he's speaking to his audience - which is presumably the rest of the mechanicus.

    His next words though, seem aimed at you in particular. "%Now the fires of the Omnissiah's wrath burn you where you stand, and blot your twisted base from the surface of Denva. Die, Heretek Vita.%"

    The avatar sitting with Victan can't help but roll its eyes at the melodrama, and the very serious use of the word "heretek." But the version of you on the call is serious, and so is the strand of attention that flickers through the killsats and the orbital monitoring systems for ballistic missle launches.

    It appears that no less than three killsats over Aevon have come to life, and are readying themselves to fire upon the planet below. You could most likely stop them, but once you realize their target you don't bother. They're aimed at the rugged and uninhabitable mountains that you've been pretending were your base. Where your shuttles have emerged from the cloud cover whenever you went to see Thalya.

    I bet they inherited her notes on where my base might be, but didn't quite understand the amount of uncertainty on that.

    It takes mere seconds for the fire order to be successfully passed, and you wait silently, staring at Magos Gammian and Magos Orynn across the line as ground-bombardment munitions streak through the atmosphere to strike the surface below. You might not have been so sanguine if they were truly destructive weapons, but they're ground-penetrating nukes, meant to penetrate into underground bases and detonate inside. But there won't be any harmful radiation, and you don't even think the there's anybody within fifty miles of the impact zone.

    The bombardment strikes, and you wait a second and simulate a very minor shake in your camera, as if you were just hit by the very edge of the blastwave. Never a bad idea to feed your enemies false information.

    You feel the pulse of frustration through the emotional sidebands as Magos Gammian watches you survive his strike, and then he moves to close the connection. But you've spent the last minute working that problem, and unleash your jammer instead on the communication spirits that he would send his command to. It won't last longer than a minute or so, but until then he can't hang up on you.

    "%You are mistaken. You seek to destroy that you do not understand, but I will show you the error of your ways. The orbital bombardment platforms are too dangerous to be permitted to remain in your hands, so I will destroy them.%"

    Orbital conflict - rolled 99. Critical success!

    At your command stealth missiles awaken across Denva Secundus orbits, already sighted on their targets and blazing to life to deliver their explosive payloads. A hundred faint pinprick explosions bloom across the heavens of the world, and a hundred satellites are snuffed out.

    You blink in surprise, your metaphorical finger over the second wave button. You'd expected the satellites to have some capability to detect that they were under attack and make evasive maneuvers. It wouldn't have been likely to be enough, but over a hundred satellites it was likely that at least one would have gotten lucky and evaded destruction. Except... none of them tried to evade. You launched a hundred missiles, and got a hundred hits. Your fighters are climbing towards orbit with nothing to target.

    Well, that's convenient.

    "%That was easy. Now, any attempt to continue strategic-level bombardment will be similarly halted, and the offenders punished. Let us talk, and you will see the truth behind my words. Or do you deny the knowledge of the ancients when it is offered freely?%" You are careful to lace the sidechannels with your conviction and honesty, along with a certain amount of anxiety to sell the act.

    Magos Gammian hisses, and is about to respond. That's when you cut the channel, and commit to the second phase of your strike. If certain members of the mechanicus are going to defy you, then you shouldn't let them coordinate. You send your fighters to target the mechanicus communication satellites in orbit, then use your codes and all of the hacking you've done in the past fifteen years, along with your solitary jammer, to cut off all communciations between the enclaves.

    It's not perfect, but it's pretty good. Most messages won't be able to reach from one enclave to another, and the ones that do will be pretty badly garbled. Except for yours, of course.

    You and Victan start working the phones, reaching out in isolation to each enclave to reassure them that you're still willing to talk. Your first breakthrough is with Quorath Velis of the Nyvaros enclave, and once he's agreed to talk you're able to use that to get several more enclaves on board. Each of them is the ones that you were friendlier with before, and it's not hard to see where lines will be drawn.

    Then the Pryath enclave launches a series of ballistic missiles towards the enclaves that are collaborating with you, with several aimed at Nyvaros in particular. You're not quite sure how they figured it out, but it doesn't matter. Your fighters take apart the missles, in some cases just barely outside the defensive bubble of the Pryath enclave, and then swoop back up.

    Meanwhile, you're scrambling your assault shuttles. If the senior Magi want to fight to the death, let them. You've got half of the Denva Secundus Mechanicus on your side already, and once you prune the rotten parts of the rest then you'll have better luck with their underlings.

    Ground battle - rolled 23. Poor success.

    Unfortunately, this is where your inexperience with combat starts to show. Setting up the missiles was just orbital mechanics, but war is a field you have no experience with. You send out half of your heavy bots, splitting the forces evenly between each of the defiant enclaves. You have the bots land out of range of the antiaircraft guns, and then the heavily armored bots march towards and assault the enclaves.

    It... does not go well. It works in a few cases, where the defenses were undermanned, poorly organized or undermined by the Cogitare Exploraratum. But in Pryath and a few other enclaves your assault forces manage to take out several of the defense guns but are wiped to the last.

    Victan and Anexa are at this point watching raptly. "Maybe send the lighter bots to secure the other enclaves, and focus on Pryath?" Anexa suggests.

    Is she eating popcorn? I swear.

    You do as she says, having the shuttles return for another load of bots. You send medium bots towards the enclaves where you already have a solid foothold, and are able to secure surrenders in short order. You divert the rest of your heavy combat bots towards Prayth, building up a force of several hundred bots before assaulting the same part of the wall you'd already hit.

    It turns out that the defenders anticipated that and shifted around their weapons to replace everything that was destroyed. It's clear that they're just better at this than you are. But you have advantages they don't, including hundreds of heavily-armed and disposable combat bots carrying plasma guns. And orbital fighters with nothing better to do.

    It sure would be nice to have some artillery. This seems like the kind of problem that's best solved with lots of artillery.

    You send a full dozen fighters in on a strafing run and lose four, but it destroys several heavy guns and distracts the defenders right as you make your next big assault. This time you manage to secure a foothold on the wall, and it makes you a little sick to finally have bots breach the walls and find the charred corpses of the defenders, skitarii, servitors and tech-priests alike.

    The fighting continues inside, brutal close-quarters fighting. There are far more skitarii than there should be, and after a moment you realize that many of them were Thalya's troops. You didn't realize they'd left the Denva enclave, which speaks to an effective campaign of subterfuge. But the armor on your bots cstarts to tell now that you're away from the heavy weapons on the walls, and your machine-spirit-jamming gear starts to be more effective than it was against hardened bunkers.

    You start sweeping the enclave room by room. Many times you come across groups of acolytes and others who are clearly expecting to be massacred. They seem almost surprised to be forcibly disarmed of weapons that can't reasonably harm your combat bots and then herded outside where they can be watched.

    Even as the assault continues more shuttles arrive carrying reinforcements which you funnel into the battle. After several hours of brutal fighting you finally reach the Pryath enclave command center. You breach the secure door and find Magos Gammian and Magos Orynn inside, clearly heavily armed and ready to fight to the last along with their most trusted troops.

    You're hardly one to deny them their wish.

    After that it's more of the same. You concentrate your assaults on one enclave at a time, ferrying your combat bots around as needed with your dozen assault shuttles. None of the other enclaves fight to the last, though a few of the other senior magos try to command it and are usually assassinated by members of the Cogitare Exploraratum or other tech-priests who'd like to see if your offer is genuine.

    A few try to escape, but your jamming and hacking is able to track them down, and with your mastery of the skies you even shoot down a coordinated flight of shuttles and fightercraft that launch from the Aevon enclave, of all places.

    Finally, after several days of hectic coordination, peace falls on Denva Secundus. But it doesn't bring the end of your problems. You - or rather Victan - has been keeping the Aevon government aware of what's going on, and they've reached out to reassure the other goverments that all of this chaos is a good thing, and that there will be more information forthcoming soon.

    -4 Basic Stealth Fighters
    -1400 Heavy humanized infantry bots
    -499 Medium humanized infantry bots
    -200 light humanized infantry bots

    But now it's time to deal with that. And just as importantly, you've got the rest of the mechanicus on Denva Secundus. About eighty percent of it has survived the battles, and they're either triumphant that they chose the right side or terrified that they chose the wrong one.

    It's up to you to untangle this mess. At least the planet is looking unlikely to be nuked! You've even gotten some communications from "Explorator Sigulus," of the "Klyssar's nest expedition," asking when the next supply run is going to be. She sounds like she's trying to avoid political questions and not die on a hostile space station.

    You do some digging, and she's definitely not an "Explorator" of any kind. That seems to be a very recent self-designation, intended to make you feel more positively inclined towards her, and the Klyssar's nest expedition in general.

    Still despite the complications, it's increasingly feeling like Denva Secundus is your oyster. What do you do with it?

    Current capabilities:

    Command Points 4,915/12,500

    Ground Build Capacity: 3250
    Lift Capacity: 500 (converts ground to void BP)
    Void Build Capacity: 0
    Research Capacity: 200
    Psychic Shielding: 100/100 (repair for 10 BP/point)
    Juvenat usage: 23/50 people's worth (cannot be stockpiled)

    Available ships:
    1x Mechanicus-disguised Shuttle (5 CP)
    26x Basic Stealth Fighters (26x5 CP)
    12x Basic Stealth Assault Shuttles (30x5 CP)
    100x Basic Stealth Missiles (200x1 CP) - in space

    Available ground forces:
    1000 Light infantry bots (200 CP)
    1800 Light humanized infantry bots (2x200 CP)
    500 Medium humanized Infantry Bots (200 CP)
    600 Heavy humanized Infantry Bots with Machine Spirit Jammers (200 CP)
    CP costs for infantry bots work as breakpoints in increments of 1000. So 50 or 500 or 1000 bots all cost 200 CP, and 1001 costs 400 CP. Abstraction, y'all.

    Misc assets:
    0 BP of trade goods that Aevon will accept as rent.
    Avatars:
    Adult human woman, indeterminate age.
    Female tech priest with some augmentations.
    Original Avatar, young human woman with green hair


    Current Installations:
    Crashed Ship (10 CP)
    Underground Directional-Control Radio Tower (5 CP)
    2x Underground Manufactories (2x50 = 100 CP)
    61x Manufactories (61x50 = 3050 CP)
    Underground Captive Holding cells, 0/500 occupants (10 CP)
    Underground Basic Technological Research Lab (50 CP)
    Underground Basic Biology Lab (50 CP)
    Small automated medical facility (50 CP)
    Camouflaged Observatory (25 CP)
    4x Underground Spaceport (4x25 CP) (38/40 ship capacity)
    Underground Magnetic Catapult launch system (50 CP)

    Military Installations:
    Underground Machine-spirit Jammer (10 CP)
    Underground Medium Void Shield (50 CP)
    10x Underground Anti-Air Defenses (10x5 = 50 CP)
    2x Underground Anti-Orbital Defenses (2x5 = 10 CP)

    In progress construction:
    None

    In progress research:
    Secrets of the Machine Spirits (35/200)

    Actions (choose 4 of the below, can choose the same action multiple times):


    [] [Free] Poke around some more in the databases, looking for anything in particular.
    I'm not going to write out every aspect of Vita going through the databases she yoinked. If you want to ask if something in particular is present because it's important, do so here. Please keep it to one or two items per turn.

    [] Orders: Command existing units in a given theater of operations.

    [] Diplomacy/Subversion: Talk to people. (Write-in goal & method)
    About half of the Mechanicus wanted to take your deal, and embark on "The Quest for Knowledge unending." The rest disagreed to various degrees. Some surrendered as soon as your forces marched on them, others needed to be forcibly disarmed. There's also the nations of Denva who have been watching all of this with... concern.

    [] Construction: Gain build points equal to your build capacity, write in what combination of blueprints you spend them on.
    Installations
    Installation default is to be built in full view. Basic stealth (building under cover, sensor-absorbing materials) can be applied with 2x BP cost. Ground-based installations can be built entirely underground for 3x BP cost.

    Basic Biology Research Lab (50 BP, 50 CP) Will allow you to process basic biological samples, such as flora & fauna. Or captives.

    Basic Technological Research Lab (50 BP, 50 CP) Will allow you to process basic technological samples, to understand their electronics, materials, etc.

    Captive Holding cells (25 BP, 10 CP) will allow you to hold 500 captives and keep them fed and watered while you interrogate/indoctrinate/talk to them.

    Small automated medical facility (50 BP, 50 CP) 50 treatment rooms with autodocs capable of dealing with moderate injuries.

    Directional-control Radio tower (25 BP, 5 CP) improves signal reception quality and allows you to send your own signals across the planet, as well as giving you the capability to bounce them off the atmosphere to disguise their origin.

    Observatory (100 BP, 25 CP) Built on a nearby mountain. Will unlock research projects to map the current system.

    Manufactory (100 BP, 50 CP) More manufacturing capacity and the raw material harvesting to use it. +50 ground-based build capacity.

    Rocket Launch facility (50 BP, 10 CP) Uses chemical rockets to convert up to 500 ground build capacity to half that amount of void build capacity per action. The opposite of stealthy.

    Spaceport (100 BP, 25 CP) Allows you to use shuttles to convert ground build capacity to Void build capacity with no loss, or as a base to host and rearm fighters. Can host 10 fighters or 10 shuttles, each capable of converting 50 ground BP to void BP per action, built separately. Stealthier than rockets, but not invisible.

    Magnetic Catapult launch system (1000 BP, 50 CP) Allows you to convert up to 500 ground build capacity to void build capacity per action with no loss. Actually quite stealthy.

    Medium Void-shield Installation (1000 BP, 50 CP) A void shield capable of stopping medium orbital bombardment, approximately fifty heavy strikes.

    Anti-Orbital Defenses (100 BP, 5 CP) A single large lance dug into a reinforced bunker. Will prevent hostile forces from claiming the orbits uncontested, but can be neutralized by orbital bombardment or ground invasion.

    Anti-Air Defenses (25 BP, 5 CP) A trio of rapid-recharge lascannons backed up by advanced targeting software in a reinforced emplacement with an upwards-facing arc. Will attempt to destroy ballistic missiles, aircraft or shuttles as they approach. Can miss or be saturated by large amounts of incoming fire or miss and fail to destroy their targets.

    Machine-spirit Jammer (100 BP, 10 CP) A bank of cogitators capable of jamming a large number of small machine spirits (weapons, doors), several medium machine spirits (vehicles) or one large machine spirit (small ship). Effect is temporary and resistance will build up.

    Basic Juvenat Production Facility (250 BP, 50 CP) A set of carefully-managed vats capable of supplying 50 people with a perennial supply of Juvenat.
    Void Installations
    These are built in space. They require 'void BP' which is associated with lift capacity. This is a detail we'll abandon eventually, but for now your lift capacity is limited.

    Orbital Manufactory (500 void BP, 50 CP) Orbital manufacturing capability, built above a world. Includes material harvesting & transport. Gives +50 void build capacity.

    Deep Space Manufactory (1500 void BP, 50 CP) Manufacturing capacity built near asteroid clusters. Gives +100 void build capacity. Automatic basic stealth. Requires you to do a system survey.

    Small Shipyard (1000 void BP, 50 CP) All of the necessary facilities to manufacture 4 destroyers or 2 frigates per turn.

    Medium Shipyard (5000 void BP, 100 CP) All of the necessary facilities to manufacture 16 destroyers or 8 frigates or 2 light cruisers per turn.

    Basic Defense Satellite (300 void BP, 10 CP). Light Defensive platform, 200x200 meters. Light shield, Light armor, 1 light lance battery.
    Ships
    Basic space stealth missile (5 Void BP, 1 CP) Rests steailthily in orbit, until activated, at which point it can attack nearly any target in orbit. One-shots satellites, many are needed for ships or larger platforms.

    Shuttle (20 BP, 5 CP) Each shuttle converts up to 50 ground build capacity to void build capacity. Requires a spaceport for efficient transfer of materials.

    Fighter (20 BP, 5 CP) These fighters have twin-linked lascannons to attack ground and orbital targets, and can carry a couple of small bombs. Requires a spaceport for rapid launch and rearming.

    Basic Stealth Fighters (25 BP, 5 CP) These fighters have twin-linked lascannons to attack ground and orbital targets, and can carry a couple of small bombs. They shouldn't be especially noticeable to anybody not actively looking, though they won't be able to close all the way to attack range without being spotted. Requires a spaceport for rapid launch and rearming.

    Basic Stealth Assault Shuttle (25 BP, 5 CP) Sometimes you want to deliver things other than bombs to your enemies. So let's stick some armor and guns on a shuttle, and make it a bit more maneuverable. They shouldn't be especially noticeable to anybody not actively looking, though they won't be able to close all the way to attack range without being spotted. Can carry 100 troops and provide anti-personnel and light antiarmor fire. Requires a spaceport for rapid transport of troops.

    Requires destroyer-capable shipyard. Tiny system monitor (950 void BP, 50 CP) Destroyer, 1500x300 meters. 7 gravities of acceleration. Medium armor, Light Shields. 2 Light Macrocannon batteries, 1 light lance battery. High-maneuverability thrusters.

    Requires frigate-capable shipyard. Small system monitor (2525 void BP, 100 CP) Frigate, 2200x600 meters. 5 gravities of acceleration. Heavy armor, Heavy Shields. 4x Medium Macrocannons, 1x Medium Lances, 2x Point Defense.
    1000 bp base. 1000 bp
    Units
    Avatar (10 BP, 0 CP) 1 human-appearing robot.

    Light infantry bots (25 BP, 200 CP). 1000 human-sized bipedal robots with light arms and armor, mostly intended to fight lightly-armored enemies. Expensive CP cost due to need for close control. Can be humanized for +15 BP to appear humanoid unless bodies are investigated, with a slight bonus to strength and armor.

    Medium Infantry Bots (50 BP, 200 CP) 1000 human-sized bipedal robots with medium armor and light anti-tank weaponry. Expensive CP cost due to need for close control. Can be humanized for +15 BP to appear humanoid unless bodies are investigated, with a slight bonus to strength and armor.

    Heavy Infantry Bots (100 BP, 200 CP) 1000 human-sized bipedal robots with heavy armor, roughly equivalent to the Sisters of Battle, and heavy armaments such as plasma guns, meltaguns, heavy flamers, melta bombs, missile launchers. Can be humanized for +15 BP to appear humanoid unless bodies are investigated, with a slight bonus to strength and armor.

    Light tanks (100 BP, 50 CP) 100 light battle tanks, primarily armed with anti-personnel weapons.

    Medium tanks (200 BP, 50 CP) 100 medium battle tanks with battle cannons to fight enemy armor.

    Basic Artillery (300 BP, 50 CP) 50 basic artillery units, capable of shelling battlefields with indirect fire. Includes internal ammunition fabrication.
    Export Goods
    Light Infantry Weapons (5 BP) Enough light weapons to outfit 1000 humans. Mostly intended for anti-personnel use. Lasguns, a few stubbers, some grenade launchers and supplies of frag grenades.

    Light Infantry Armor (5 BP) Enough light armor to outfit 1000 humans. Roughly equivalent to Imperial guard Flak armor, though with better communication abilities.

    Medium Infantry Weapons (10 BP) Enough medium weapons to outfit 1000 humans. A mix of anti-armor and anti-personnel use with greater specialization. Hotshot las-gun equivalents, some lascannons, some autocannons, some flamers, some sniper rifles, a supply of krak grenades.

    Medium Infantry Armor (10 BP) Enough medium armor to outfit 1000 humans. Roughly equivalent to Imperial carapace armor.

    Heavy Infantry Weapons (20 BP) Enough heavy weapons to outfit 1000 humans. Primarily focused on anti-armor, will work well on power-armored foes. Plasma guns, meltaguns, heavy flamers, melta bombs, missile launchers.

    Basic Melee Infantry weapons (10 BP) Why?... alright, fine. 1000 chainswords suitable for humans.

    Man-portable Machine-Spirit Jammers (10 BP) Enough small devices in the forms of vox-units, bluescreen grenades and directed antennae to arm 1000 humans or combat bots with gear that increases their effectiveness against enemies using weapons, armor and vehicles with machine spirits.

    Light crewed tanks (100 BP) 100 light battle tanks, primarily armed with anti-personnel weapons. Need crew. Roughly equivalent to the Imperial Chimera.

    Medium crewed tanks (200 BP) 100 medium battle tanks with battle cannons to fight enemy armor. Roughly equivalent to the Leman Russ.

    Basic Crewed artillery (300 BP) 50 basic artillery units, capable of shelling battlefields with indirect fire. Includes internal ammunition fabrication.

    Trade goods (Any cost you wish to spend) A mix of medical supplies, civilian equipment, vehicles and appliances tailored to your trade partner's needs. 5 is a small amount of goods, 10 is decent, 20 is a fair number, 50 starts being quite a lot.

    Manned Manufactory (100 BP) More manufacturing capacity and the raw material harvesting to use it. +50 ground-based build capacity, to be spent as the people running it desire.

    Residential Space (10 BP)
    Enough living space for 1000 people. Beds, plumbing. Temperature control.

    City (1000 BP per 50,000 people)
    The complete package for a city. Residential space, power generation, sewage treatment, transit, offices.

    Orbital habitat (2000 Void BP per 50,000 people) As city but in space.

    [] Research: Gain research points equal to your research capacity, to be spent designing new blueprints or researching projects. Write in what you spend them on.

    Designable Blueprints:

    50 RP - Heavy tanks (500 BP, 50 CP) 100 heavy battle tanks with heavy battle cannons to fight effectively against heavy enemy armor.

    50 RP - Medium Shielded tanks (500 BP, 50 CP) 100 medium battle tanks with battle cannons & antipersonnel weapons to fight enemy armor and infantry. Very survivable.

    100 RP - Heavy Shielded tanks (1000 BP, 50 CP) 100 heavy battle tanks with heavy battle cannons and void shields to fight effectively against heavy enemy armor. Very survivable.

    50 RP - Basic Stealth Shuttles (25 BP, 5 CP) Each shuttle converts up to 50 ground build capacity to void build capacity, and shouldn't be especially noticeable to anybody not actively looking for it. Requires a spaceport for efficient transfer of materials.

    50 RP - Bombers (20 BP, 5 CP) Sometimes you want to deliver cargo to your enemies. Can deliver a fair amount of ordinance to a target in atmosphere or out of it. Unlocks a bomber hanger attachment for ships.

    75 RP - Basic Stealth Bombers (20 BP, 5 CP) Sometimes you want to deliver cargo to your enemies. Can deliver a fair amount of ordinance to a target in atmosphere or out of it. They shouldn't be especially noticeable to anybody not actively looking, though they won't be able to close all the way to attack range without being spotted. Unlocks a bomber hanger attachment for ships.

    50 RP - Assault Shuttle (25 BP, 5 CP) Sometimes you want to deliver things other than bombs to your enemies. So let's stick some armor and guns on a shuttle, and make it a bit more maneuverable. Can carry 100 troops and provide anti-personnel and light antiarmor fire.

    25 RP - Anti-armor Bunker (50 BP, 5 CP) A bunker with a heavy melta cannon, able to take out most armor in a single shot.

    15 RP - Anti-personnel Bunker (20 BP, 2 CP) A bunker with a set of high-fire-rate weapons designed to take down humanoid-sized attackers wearing medium or lighter armor.

    50 RP - Light Void-shield installation (250 BP, 25 CP) A void shield capable of stopping light orbital bombardment, approximately ten heavy strikes.

    50 RP - Ballistic missile (50 BP, 10 CP) A long-range ballistic missile. By default it carries a high-yield explosive head capable of destroying approximately a city block. Can be intercepted by orbital defenses.

    50 RP - Nuclear warhead (25 BP, 1 CP) A variable-yield nuclear warhead that can be deployed by ballistic missile or other means to destroy a city-sized target unless it's heavily dug-in.

    25 RP - Spy satellite (10 void BP, 5 CP) A small spy satellite that lets you do your own surveillance on the planet below. Under your complete control and with better sensors and communication hardening than any of the local satellites.

    100 RP - Advanced Technological Research Lab (500 BP, 100 CP) Will allow you to process advanced technological samples, including materials of alien orgin. Has advanced scanning, modelling and processing capabilities.

    50 RP - Large automated medical facility (500 BP, 50 CP) 500 treatment rooms with autodocs capable of dealing with moderate injuries.

    25 RP - Maglev System (5 bp/mile, 50 flat CP) A high-capacity maglev system to transport large amounts of goods across a planetary surface, linking various surface installations together into a single network so production from any of them can be applied at all of them.

    Ground Blueprint Design:

    To design ground installations & non-combat units, post them and I'll add them here if they're valid, along with RP cost to design them. This includes bunkers, anti-orbital defenses, ground units, etc. You'll unlock more things with more technology.
    Some things are impossible without the correct research - for example, heavy tanks will require you to research heavy armor first. Other things will be very cheap if you already have most of the design - for example if you research a better weapon it will be relatively cheap to just swap that out on the tanks.

    Void Blueprint design:

    To design void blueprints, follow these steps:
    1. Choose a starting hull from the list of available void chassis below
    2. Choose the number of Build Points to be spent on the base hull. This corresponds to overall size of the ship - a destroyer with 200 bp will be 1200x200 meters, while a 500 bp base destroyer will be 1600x400 meters. This will set the "hp" of the design as well as determine the total cost of weapons and combat equipment you can fit into the ship.
    3. Pick the speed, shields and armor of the design. Shields are recharging temp HP, while armor is damage reduction. Speed is self-explanatory. These do not count towards weapon cramming.
    4. Pick noncombat equipment to go onto the ship. These do not count towards weapon cramming.
    5. Choose weapons and combat equipment to add to the ship. As a rule of thumb, your budget for these things is the base BP spent on size before you start to get into cramming. You can cram more stuff in, but there will be penalties to maneuvering, maintenance, etc. As an example, if you build a destroyer with a base hull cost of 400, then you have a budget of 400 to spend on weapons/equipment before penalties start kicking in. See the below example for an explanation:
    6. Spend the number of RP attached to the chassis.

    Here are two examples of me designing the two blueprints you have available:

    (Basic Defense Satellite) Light defense Platform. Base 100 Bp (200x200 meters). No engines, Light shields for 50 bp, light armor for 50 bp. 1x light lance battery for 100 bp. Total is 100+50+50+100 = 300. Weapons+equipment is 100, within the base BP of 100, so no cramming penalty.

    (Basic System Monitor) Destroyer chassis. Base BP 350 (1500x300 meters) Engines: 7 gravities for 100 BP. Light Shields for 50 BP. Medium armor for 100 BP. 2x Light Macrocannon batteries for 200 bp, 1x Light Lance battery for 100 bp, High maneuverability thrusters for (1/10 base, round up to nearest 50 =) 50 bp. Total is 350+100+50+100+200+100+50 = 950. Weapons + equipment is 350, within the base BP of 350, so no cramming penalty.

    Available Void Chassis:

    Light defense Platform, 25 RP, 10 CP, (100-400 BP, 200x200-500x500 meters.) Engines: (none) for (0). Shields: (none/light/medium) for (0/50/100) Armor: (none/light/medium) for (0/50/100)

    Destroyer, 50 RP, 50 CP. (200-500 BP, 1200x200-1600x400 meters) Engines: (6/7/8 gravities) for (50/100/150 BP). Shields: (none/light/medium) for (0/50/100) Armor: (none/light/medium) for (0/50/100)

    Frigate, 100 RP, 100 CP. (500-1000 BP, 1600x400-2200x600 meters) Engines: (5/6/7 gravities) for (75/150/225 BP). Shields: (none/light/medium/heavy) for (0/75/150/225) Armor: (none/light/medium/heavy) for (0/75/150/225)

    Light Cruiser, 150 RP, 200 CP. (1000-2000 BP, 3500x400-4400x800 meters) Engines: (3/4/5 gravities) for (100/200/300 BP). Shields: (none/light/medium) for (0/100/200) Armor: (none/light/medium) for (0/100/200)

    Available Non-combat Equipment:

    Living Space (1/5 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to the nearest 50) This ship is built to be run and operated by humans. It will require a crew but will not cost CP to command.

    Warp Drive (1/10 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to nearest 50) This ship can jump to the warp. Navigation systems sold separately.

    Psychic Shielding (1/5 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to nearest 50) This ship has a neural network integrated throughout the whole thing, that thinks "no" as hard as possible, answering the question for any warp-corruption for any beings or objects within the hull.

    Troop compartment (25 BP) Can carry 10,000 soldiers or 500 medium tanks across the stars.

    Medical bay (25 BP) Can treat 1000 moderately injured people at once.

    Manufactory (Any cost up to base cost of hull, counts as combat equipment for cramming purposes) Generates void BP equivalent to 1/10 of its cost.

    Repair Bay (Any cost up to base cost of hull, counts as combat equipment for cramming purposes). Repairs damage across friendly ships equal to its cost in repairs.

    Available Weapons:

    Prow Ram 50 bp. This ship is built to run into things, and hurt them more than it gets hurt.

    Light Macrocannons 100 bp. Medium range, projectile weapons built for sustained barrage.
    Medium Macrocannons 200 bp. Medium range, projectile weapons built for sustained barrage.
    Heavy Macrocannons 400 bp. Medium range, projectile weapons built for sustained barrage.

    Light Lances 100 BP. Long range, hitscan burst weapons. Not excellent at sustained fire.
    Medium Lances 200 BP. Long range, hitscan burst weapons. Not excellent at sustained fire.
    Heavy Lances 400 BP. Long range, hitscan burst weapons. Not excellent at sustained fire.

    Light Missiles 50 BP short range, limited ammo, vulnerable to enemy point defense but very good burst damage. Limited ammo. Decent anti-fighter/bomber weapon.
    Medium Missiles 100 BP short range, limited ammo, vulnerable to enemy point defense but very good burst damage. Limited ammo. Decent anti-fighter/bomber weapon.
    Heavy Missiles 200 BP short range, limited ammo, vulnerable to enemy point defense but very good burst damage. Limited ammo. Decent anti-fighter/bomber weapon.

    Light Plasma Cannon 250 BP, Medium range, high-fire rate with incredible damage potential. Extremely effective against shields.
    Medium Plasma Cannon 500 BP, Medium range, high-fire rate with incredible damage potential. Extremely effective against shields, less effective against armor.

    Light Melta cannon 200 BP, Very short range, medium-fire rate but with incredible damage potential. Extremely effective against shields.
    Medium Melta cannon 400 BP, Very short range, medium-fire rate but with incredible damage potential. Extremely effective against shields.

    Fighters 100 BP, 50 CP. Parasite craft with short-ranged guns and some missile capability.

    Point Defense 50 BP. A series of turrets on the hull to shoot down enemy fighters, missiles and torpedoes.

    Small Torpedoes 150 BP. A payload of straight-flying armored torpedoes, sized to give destroyers a bad day, hurt frigates and prick cruisers.
    Medium Torpedoes 300 BP. A payload of straight-flying armored torpedoes, sized to wreck frigates, hurt cruisers and make grand cruisers know they've been touched.

    Light Teleportarium 100 bp. Can teleport a small number of organics or robots onto enemy ships from close range. Enemy shields must be down.
    Medium Teleportarium 200 bp. Can teleport a medium number of organics or robots onto enemy ships from medium-close. Enemy shields must be down.
    Heavy Teleportarium 400 bp. Can teleport a large number of organics or robots onto enemy ships from long range. Enemy shields must be down.

    Available Combat Equipment:

    Low-emission Systems (1/10 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to the nearest 50) This ship has been tuned to reduce overall emissions, making it stealthier. Not stealthy. Stealthier.

    High-maneuverability thrusters (1/10 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to the nearest 50) This ship is more maneuverable, able to flip, spin and dodge more quickly. This lets it maneuver well through dense asteroid clusters and dodge/ram more effectively in combat.

    Plasma payloads (choose missile warheads or Macro cannon warheads) (1/20 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to the nearest 50) This ship can load and fire plasma-warhead ammunition, which has a flat damage increase.

    Melta payloads (choose missile warheads, Macrocannon warheads or torpedoes) (1/20 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to the nearest 50) This ship can load and fire melta-warhead ammunition, which is especially effective against enemy armor and hulls.

    Tuned Shields Costs the same as the chosen armor cost, but does count towards cramming (not the total cost, just the extra cost for tuned shields, so if shields costs 100 bp, then tuned shields cost 100 bp and 100 bp is counted against cramming). These shields recharge significantly faster, but when taken down all the way take slightly longer to reboot.

    Alloyed Armor Costs the same as the chosen armor cost, does count towards cramming (not the total cost, just the extra cost for tuned shields, so if armor costs 100 bp, then alloyed armor costs 100 bp and 100 bp is counted against cramming). Armor is much tougher but is harder to repair.

    Light Boarding preparations (1/20 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to the nearest 50) Bulkheads are reinforced, extra hatches seal all decks and turrets guard key chokepoints, making boarding annoying.
    Medium Boarding preparations (1/10 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to the nearest 50) The ship layout is designed to funnel borders into kill-zones in front of armored bunkers, and any borders will take heavy casualties.
    Heavy Boarding preparations (1/5 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to the nearest 50) This ship as essentially a flying dungeon, filled with escherian mazes, hidden turrets, crushing-hallways and other deathtraps.

    Light Machine Spirit Jammers (1/20 of the base cost of hull, rounded up to nearest 50) Banks of cogitators with code to disable machine spirits. Enough to cause significant degradation in an enemy ship's sensors, maneuvering and targeting. Primarily effective against ships of the same weight class.
    Medium Machine Spirit Jammers (1/10 of the base cost of hull, rounded up to nearest 50) Banks of cogitators with code to disable machine spirits. Same as light jammers, plus will also effect total thrust, weapons firing rate. Primarily effective against ships of the same weight class.
    Heavy Machine Spirit Jammers (1/5 of the base cost of hull, rounded up to nearest 50) Banks of cogitators with code to disable machine spirits. Same effect as medium, but may also effect friend-foe designation and reactor stability. Primarily effective against ships of the same weight class.
    The ways to get new research options are to:
    1. Do research. That'll unlock more research.
    2. Build appropriate installations & potentially acquire samples to research in them (samples could be anything from 'a human' to 'a Norn queen' in rarity).
    3. Ask for them. Often I'll tell you what you need to do to unlock specific research options,
    -[] Efficient Weapon Distribution (100 RP) Ok, there must be more efficient ways to lay weapons out on these ships! (Weapon costs count as 0.9x for ship capacity packing.)

    -[] Heavy Cruisers (300 RP) How to make a bigger ship? Let's figure that out. Surely it's not much more complicated than just multiplying all of the dimensons by two! (unlocks heavy cruisers)

    -[] Can I have a new ship please? (200 RP) Triggers a sub-turn to design yourself a new ship. It can be any size, up to one class larger than what you currently have available (This is Vita's unique mechanic, and will let you design the first iteration of your ship)

    -[] Basic Spaceship Stealth (100 RP) Spaceships are big, and emit a lot of energy. It's hard to hide them. Nonetheless, by making them show up worse on active sensors you could make an inactive spaceship much harder to spot. (Unlocks new non-combat equipment to improve ship stealth. Unlocks further research towards better spaceship stealth. Will be able to take advantage of some other stealth technologies.)

    -[] Basic Ground force stealth (50 RP) Tanks show up pretty well on scanners, and it would be nice to change that. You might also be able to make your bots hide better. (Unlocks new design options for tanks and ground forces that are less obvious. Unlocks further research towards better ground force stealth. Will be able to take advantage of some other stealth technologies.)

    -[] Improved Passive Stealth (100 RP) Ok, you've figured out the basics of hiding your small craft, but you have ideas on what you can do better, that might allow them to hide from even fully-alert enemies. They probably won't be able to close all the way to attack range, but they'll be able to get a lot closer (Unlocks improved stealth designs with improved performance. Unlocks further research for advanced passive stealth technologies. Will synergize with other stealth research.)

    -[] Basic Active Stealth (150 RP) Just deflecting away and hiding your signature only helps so much. Then next step is to overlay a hologram over your small craft to make them effectively invisible, and even counter passive sensors. It'll still be a hazy outline, but this is the path towards being able to close to actual combat ranges unobserved (Unlocks improved stealth designs for actively hiding signatures, though they will be expensive. Unlocks further research for improved active stealth, and will synergize with other stealth research.

    -[] Shuttle automation (150 RP) Surely I don't have to fly these stupid things myself. (Reduce the CP cost of shuttles by 50%)

    -[] Heavy In-atmosphere void shields (200 RP) Well, the void shields you have are nice. But it would be nice to be able to build bigger ones, that can shrug off essentially any possible orbital bombardment. You need to figure out how to take advantage of the ridiculous energy and heat dissipation capabilities of being on a planet. (Unlocks heavy and super-heavy void shield installations. May unlock research towards better overall void shielding.)

    -[] Tiny In-atmosphere void shields (200 RP) Instead of scaling up a void shield, can you scale one down to the size of a person? It won't be as capable of the big ones, but if it's only meant to block small-arms fire it could be quite effective. (Unlocks the ability to build personal void shields, as well as add them to combat bots. May unlock research towards better overall void shielding)

    -[] Superheavy Armor (200 RP) Let's just stick starship armor on them and call it a day. (Unlocks superheavy tanks and is half of the puzzle for space-marine-quality power armor)

    -[] Advanced Materials (300 RP) You know there are exotic elements with absurd physical properties. But it's also possible to build absurdly strong materials with common elements. How does that work? Time to dust off some ancient research projects and figure this stuff out. (Unlocks improved armor, as well as research to unlock megastructures. Also required for battleships and larger walkers)

    -[] Basic power armor (100 RP) Putting heavy armor on a person doesn't work well because... well. It's heavy. If you can give it some robotic actuation then they don't need to carry all of it. (Unlocks humanoid heavy armor, as well as being a prereq for superheavy-humanoid armor, i.e. for space marine-quality, once you research superheavy armor.)

    -[] Avatar self-customization (200 RP) Your previous avatar was capable of changing its appearance at your whim, changing the hair, eye and skim color rapidly. Hair length and body size changes took a bit longer but were also possible. Is this worth figuring out? It might just be you being vain. (Unlocks some disguise-style cybernetics... once you get good cybernetics and can do things like skin/eye replacements).

    -[] Improved Armor Articulation (100 RP) From your research on humanizing combat bots you have some ideas about improving the points of articulation on armor to increase the range of motion and make the suits more responsive. (Increased performance & mobility for heavier armor, both for combat bots & people wearing heavy armor you make. May unlock further armor upgrade techs)

    -[] Walkers (300 RP) Tanks are... kind of boring? Mechs are cooler. (unlock armiger knights, starts the knights/titans research tree)

    -[] Really good Robotics: (900 RP) You know it's possible to make robots that are really strong. You've seen the specs floating around. You just don't quite know how to do it, though you've got some ideas on the matter... it would take quite a bit of simulation and a lot of trial and error to bring them into reality (Unlocks improvements to avatars, power armor, cybernetics, combat bots, improved manufactories). Acquire samples of advanced robots to reduce this cost.

    -[] Intelligence Coding (500 RP) You don't really understand how your own code and hardware works. Maybe putting some effort into understanding that would pay dividends. It's never been something too interesting, but hey, maybe you should give it a shot. (Helps you understand your own code. Prerequisite to building new AIs, starts command point tree and automation tree, also unlocks personality-checking research)

    -[] Improved Psychic shielding: (500 RP) Your "no" shielding seems to have worked to protect you from attack so far. But the design is really just a first-generation version. You could develop the second generation, make it capable of more complex and powerful thoughts? (Gives you the ability to build improved psychic shielding, and further upgrades down the path to make it even stronger, half of the research towards using this as some kind of attack against warp beings).

    -[] 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).

    - [] 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)

    -[] The workings of a Void Abacus (200 RP) You have a void abacus. It's pretty complicated, but you also have the manual, and you've always been good at physics. (You're better at using your void abacus, and unlocks the technology to figure out how to manufacture them, half of unlocking research for better warp understanding).

    -[] 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).

    -[] 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)

    -[] Minaturized antigrav (100 RP) You can make antigrav that reduces the weight of things like shuttles to make them able to make orbit. But there's a floor on how small you can make that technology. The Imperium seems to have solved that. (Unlocks drones, jump-packs etc, as well as additional research to make antigrav vehicles/walkers)

    -[] Servitorization (100 RP) You find it repulsive, but being able to replace somebody's brain with a computer that drives them around would have its uses. (Unlocks the ability to servitorize people in the medbay. Unlocks follow-on research to replicate their personality as well)

    -[] Combat Mobility Cybernetics (100 RP) Sticking rockets and grappling hooks into cybernetics isn't just cool. It's also useful - it'll let the wearers utilize more of the strength of their new limb without tearing apart their organic body. It'll also give them new maneuverability options. (Unlocks new parts for augments that enhance the wearer's strength and mobility. Synergizes with other technology, may unlock enhanced mobility for bots & armors)

    -[] Combat Neural Implants (50 RP) Allows you to install neural implants to calculate trajectories, assist with aiming, further improve reaction time and generally improve human capabilities in combat. (Unlocks combat-focused neural implants. Will synergize with other cybernetics and neural implant technologies)

    -[] 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.)

    -[] Rapid hacking (600RP) You need to figure out a new approach to subverting machine spirits. It might involve some combination of confusing them with a burst of signals, then showing up and 'relieving' the issue. But it would take a lot of trial-and-error to get right. (Improves hacking of imperial tech. Potentially enough for use in combat situations? May unlock advanced hacking research that synergizes with jamming capabilities').

    -[] Improved Machine-spirit Jamming (400 RP) Well, you can't combine it with hacking, but you can still try to improve what you have to be more efficent, target more machine spirits at a time, etc. (Improves success rate of jamming imperial tech, decreases failure penalties. May unlock further jamming technology)

    -[] Organic-Machine control (200 RP) Allows you to hook humans into your own command-and-control loop, allowing you to turn over command duties of various bots to humans - though they'll only be able to command combat units. (Unlocks brain implants that allow a human to control some number of CP worth of combat bots/ships. There are more technologies to allow humans to command larger ships/manufacturing systems as well) Locked behind brain implants.

    Locked behind samples/installations/prereqs:
    -[] Advanced Neural Implants (200 RP) Well, your current neural implants are good, but what if you further integrated them into the brain, improving throughput and allowing the recipient even further integrate themselves with digital systems (unlocks advanced neural implants, unlocks further technologies related to neural implants, such as basic cognition filters). Requires Biology is kind of wet, a subsequent biology tech and Organ replacements.

    -[] Basic Cognition Filter: (??? RP) Antimemetic threats are such a hassle. Even the programs you've written to partion your own knowledge are an ad-hoc solution. And aside from having an innate resistance above the zero-tolerance you likely have, humans have a really hard time not thinking about something. Fix it. Work out a method for existing brain-augments to isolate knowledge on cognitohazards to the augment's machine spirit in inert memory vaults. The user will have to instead consciously override the locks on the chosen memories to access them temporarily. That way, stray thoughts about the isolated memories cannot happen, and long-term memories in the brain when the memory vaults are unlocked get instead rerouted to the machine spirit of the brain implant. Will have a harder time isolating knowledge from existing long-term memories formed when not actively using the cognition filter. (Unlocks cognition filter modification to brain implants, unlocks further technologies related to cognition filter and methods for mitigating cognitohazards, basilisk hacks, etc. perceived in real-time.) Requires Advanced Neural Implants, cost to be determined by the roll on that research.
    - [] Personality-Checking Routines (200 RP) All of this chaos-corruption is making you nervous. People changing according to the will of some warp-entity? Becoming different in ways that would disgust their past selves? That gives you the heebee-jeebies. Maybe - just maybe - it would be good to develop some ways to automatically check if aspects of your personality are diverging ways you don't want them to. Then you might be able to fix the problem before you become somebody who doesn't want (Gives you some algorithms to check for personality divergence in AIs. Doesn't do anything, just alerts you to changes and lets you decide what steps to take. Unlocks further research to prevent/rollback personality change, as well as potentially extend this research to humans with neural implants). Locked behind Intelligence Coding.
    -[] Advanced Combat cybernetics (200 RP) Your cybernetics can easily contain light and some medium weapons, but they're not really suited to heavy combat. Yet. You could make them tougher, beefier, and figure out how to fit the power sources for larger weapons inside. (Unlocks advanced combat augments. Half of the technology for excellent combat augments, unlocks further cybernetics/research). Locked behind Really good Robotics.
    -[] Organ replacements, Redux (50 RP) Your organ replacements need work. They need to cover more of the functions of a given organ than the primary one, and that's going to take a bit more work. You also have some ideas around some improvements like adrenaline glands, toxin-filters & other miscellaneous internal augments. Not as good as genetic engineering, but easier. (Removes the malus on your artifical organs, unlocks advanced organ replacements that are effectively as good as biological ones, and improved internal augments). Requires Biology is kind of wet

    Crew :

    Anexa Ifina, Tech-priest Errant.
    Level 5
    -[] Anexa active Action: Research - assists a research action you take, granting +5xLevel RP to the action. Will level on successful roll, scaled by the importance of the tech.
    -[] Anexa passive action: Education - Roll to level, difficulty is 10+5xLevel

    Victan Thallos, Spy.
    Level 7
    -[] Victan active action: Subversion - assists a diplomacy action you take for the purposes of covert action, granting +Level to the dice to the action. Will level on successful roll, scaled by the significance of the action.
    -[] Victan passive action: Counterespionage & communication - Defends against covert action, as well as gathering information on your foes and keeping communication channels open with any allies present. Will only level if something interesting happens.

    The crew mechanics are linked in the Crew, Samples and Assets informational page.

    There's no sanity mechanic for Vita, or at least there won't be unless you start mucking around with Chaos. Her introspection around the body is just that - a personal journey and a reflection of how the Quest votes shape her personality. Don't worry about taking choices that will be bad for her mental health, because I will find ways to justify those actions within her worldview - though that's also a warning that she won't stop you from doing terrible things.

    The tech roll didn't technically fail, but it nearly did. If you'd rolled something slightly higher than a 2 you probably would have gotten some of the other benefits of the organ tech (like artifical glands) but now those will have to wait for the redux research.

    You weren't gong to fail to win a ground war unless you actually rolled below a 15, and they never would have been able to counterattack. But you took much heavier casualties than you would have with another roll. Also, artillery or bombers would have been very helpful against the prepared defenses of the enclaves.

    Don't get in the habit of having a diplomacy action that goes "try diplomacy and then use force if that fails." It'll work, but both halves of it will be weaker and less effective than if you split it into separate actions. Especially the force half.

    It'll take about 250 BP of material every turn to sustain the Mechanicus expedition on Klyssar's nest.

    I haven't been able to get a good image of Victan yet, but it's not the most important thing for now. If anybody can find/make/generate one and post it in the thread that would be great (though post how/where you got it from). He's a shaven-headed dark-skinned man with dark eyes and a palm-sized triangle of art-deco silver and gold over each ear.

    I realize I forgot to put in anything about the free action on looking up navigators. The turn was already busy enough. Maybe I'll add it later - but to summarize, Vita already knows what navigators are, all she learned was their political position within the Imperium. Which is tenuous, practical and bloodthirsty, to put it mildly.

    I'm posting this very late my time and then going immediately to bed. There are probably typos and errors in the post, please call them out and I'll fix them tomorrow afternoon or something.

    Let's do 15 hours of Moratorium and 22 hours of voting?
     
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    • We didn't had time for reasearch on navigators or i'm too tired and missed it ?

    alsothis whole mess must be confusing as hell for so many peoples
     
    Poor rolls in warfare fitting for an AI that is not optimized for it. Good thing that serious amount of preparation and a superior industrial and technological base made it mostly a non-issue. Seriously, we can replace the losses we suffered many times over in a turn if we want to.
    Neablis said:
    200x Basic Stealth Missiles (200x1 CP) - in space
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    This is probably at just 100x now?
    Carcer said:
    We didn't had time for reasearch on navigators or i'm too tired and missed it ?
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    Mentioned in the author notes:
    Neablis said:
    I realize I forgot to put in anything about the free action on looking up navigators. The turn was already busy enough. Maybe I'll add it later - but to summarize, Vita already knows what navigators are, all she learned was their political position within the Imperium. Which is tenuous, practical and bloodthirsty, to put it mildly.
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    Yeah, it looks like while this could have gone better if we spent two actions on it, we prepared so much for this outcome that we made it work anyway.
     
    -[] Secrets of the Machine Spirits (165 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)
    -[] Combat Neural Implants (35 RP) Allows you to install neural implants to calculate trajectories, assist with aiming, further improve reaction time and generally improve human capabilities in combat. (Unlocks combat-focused neural implants. Will synergize with other cybernetics and neural implant technologies)
    -[] Anexa active Action: Research - assists a research action you take, granting +5xLevel RP to the action. Will level on successful roll, scaled by the importance of the tech.
    --[] Combat Neural Implants

    These are what I am thinking for our RP this turn due to the finishing Machine Spirits and Combat Neural Implants being only 50. We should also get some new labs I think.
     
    Two diplo actions I think, one build, and a research.

    One to help sort out the new order, and the other to get boots on the ground at Klyssar Station and begin assisting with that dig.
     
    If it was exact number with the infantry bots, then it would be 50 bots per CP. So It would look something more like this.

    1000 Light infantry bots (200 CP)
    1800 Light humanized infantry bots (360 CP)
    500 Medium humanized Infantry Bots (100 CP)
    600 Heavy humanized Infantry Bots with Machine Spirit Jammers (120 CP)

    And shouldn't there be only a hundred missiles in space? We did use a hundred to blow up the killsats.

    Also, can we please focus on leveling up Anexa?! I get it, she can give an extra 25 RP and a trait right now but the dice have not been in our favor! Beside, I'm pretty sure she can only gain a trait on a critical success in research and the odd are not in our favor.
     
    not a bad turn, though i do wonder if after having seen how her knowledge over how to conduct warfare caused some issues vita will gain an action to study up on warfare, even if it is just going though an online officers training course with the locals and getting a better idea of ground based combat/learning the need for combined arms. Though now we can probably start looking at more void research and gaining tech for the future ship.
     
    10ebbor10 said:
    That is a not insignificant amount of materials.

    Do the envlaves have any lift capacity we know control, or do we pay all of ot out of our own pocket?
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    Even if they did, they've been savaged enough that they probably can't.
    I say we offer the station expedition "magos" whether she wants to return to groundside for the reforms, put a halt on it. Or whether she wants to continue the expedition. Repurpose one of our ports for that? In the meantime, we keep her sustained.

    I say we finally reveal Vita, the ancient to the world. Whether we use Vita, the real or V the agent is a bit up in the air to me (prbably both, play a good-cop, bad-cop). V remains the shift agent for sneaky dealings. Explain to the nations what happened. Have Aevon step up as a living example of how our knowledge can help. The Mechanicus enclaves get to select a head, each. But let's not re-unify them under a single banner.

    Then, I say we share our vision again. A goal of repurposing the enclaves of centres of science and industry that are symbiotic, but largely still independent of the local governments. A sort of international institute of learning dedicated to expanding the possibilities through science and engineering, which they feed back to the world and the world supprots them in turn. Make it a mutually beneficial deal.

    We should further set up a demonstration of our more complete and direct capabilities. What Aevon has is a showcase of Denva's potential. We need to demonstrate the potential of the ancients more directly.
    We'll probably have to reveal that we have an AI (though probably not that we are) because the Mechanicus isn't stupid. They, most of all. Understand the limits of what a human with implants can accomplish and we probably want to show the societal potential.

    Regardless of that, we need to make sure Chaos is accounted for in the reconstruction plans and I think it's best we tell them how and why. We write a report, thoroughly scrubbed of cognitohazards, showing the M.O. capabilities and coutnermeasures against them. Explain how and why we strongly suspect them to be the cause of the Cybernetic Revolt. How they did the Horus Heresy and how you believe the Imperium (and mechanicus? Might be better not to say.) both perpetrates and fights Chaos.

    To prove this, we build a Nope Shield mockup, have it Psyker-reviewed and tested for all to see. Then use a small machine spirit to invite chaos into itself and watch as the shield starts taking damage. Enough to show, but not break. because we'll be under it too, I imagine. Let the admech and psykers review things for corruption. Letting one corrupt OUTSIDE the nope shield would demonstrate more effectively... But also be significantly more problematic for many reasons. We share the research into nope shields freely.

    We can also share the fact we have a good foundational understanding of psytech due to the reverse engineering of Colonisation-Era Prosperan artefacts. Which we'll absolutely have to knock out this turn for this very reason. It's utterly fundamental and we've neglected it for far too long.

    It might be a good idea to showcase Anexa's results as a demonstration of science's glory to the admech.

    I think it's also time to stop spamming manufactories and start building space infrastructure.
     
    Alectai said:
    Two diplo actions I think, one build, and a research.

    One to help sort out the new order, and the other to get boots on the ground at Klyssar Station and begin assisting with that dig.
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    I actually think the station can keep for a turn (other than the 250 BP supply drop). I feel like we should put the second towards talking with the other Denvan nations, now they know we exist.
    It'll help us reassure them that we're not going to be a problem and give us an idea of what they might want to kickstart their own industry.
     
    We need to get our house in order next turn, so to speak, reorganising the Mechancius, at least beginning talks if not brokering deals to restructure their relations with the nations. They might, for instance, be interested in splitting the bill for the Klyssar's Nest expedition in return for sharing access to the techno-archeological and salvage goodies, perhaps including their personnel joining the expedition (their leader seems willing to acquiesce to us quite a bit in the interest of her continued survival and dependence on the planetary enclaves, so we could probably enforce those concessions on the Nest), on top of more general techs-sharing/uplift for resources trading and an end to developmental+research suppression planetside.

    We should also take a look at the enclaves' collective balance sheets to see what incomes and costs they currently have and how we can best utilise their resources to serve our goals both for the Mechanicus and ourselves personally.

    Plus - now we can get unrestricted access to the enclaves, we should check their databases and vaults for any technological information and/or tech-artifacts that we don't currently have on our STC.

    Lastly, figure out how to start reorganising the Mechanicus, particularly how to best integrate or utilise the Cogtiare and (surviving non-hardline) orthodox factions in that transitional process.
     
    Negentropy said:
    We need to get our house in order next turn, so to speak, reorganising the Mechancius, at least beginning talks if not brokering deals to restructure their relations with the nations. They might, for instance, be interested in splitting the bill for the Klyssar's Nest expedition in return for sharing access to the techno-archeological and salvage goodies, perhaps including their personnel joining the expedition (their leader seems willing to acquiesce to us quite a bit in the interest of her continued survival and dependence on the planetary enclaves, so we could probably enforce those concessions on the Nest), on top of more general techs-sharing/uplift for resources trading and an end to developmental+research suppression planetside.

    We should also take a look at the enclaves' collective balance sheets to see what incomes and costs they currently have and how we can best utilise their resources to serve our goals both for the Mechanicus and ourselves personally.

    Plus - now we can get unrestricted access to the enclaves, we should check their databases and vaults for any technological information and/or tech-artifacts that we don't currently have on our STC.

    Lastly, figure out how to start reorganising the Mechanicus, particularly how to best integrate or utilise the Cogtiare and (surviving non-hardline) orthodox factions in that transitional process.
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    Also we gotta make the mechanicus more integrated with the locals because the Imperium and mechanicus are two symbiotic civilizations instead of one.
    So we should change the local mechanicus to be integrated with the other nation states (or later reunified planetary government) so that would break down walls of isolation between the mechanicus and locals.
     
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