Yeah they did, the same ad mech explorator that is the reason we even have the timeline. Also I'm not sure how much good examples of advanced technology even are at that difference in tech levels. 'Congratulations Ramses, it's a flux capacitor' doesn't exactly inspire confidence does it?
Vox Vitae: Warhammer AI quest
- Thread starter Neablis
- Start date
- Mature Sci-Fi
Yeah they did, the same ad mech explorator that is the reason we even have the timeline. Also I'm not sure how much good examples of advanced technology even are at that difference in tech levels. 'Congratulations Ramses, it's a flux capacitor' doesn't exactly inspire confidence does it?
Angle
Release Candidate Enby
- Location
- Colorado, USA
- Pronouns
- They/Them/Theirs/Comrade
Okay, I missed that detail. As for what you can get from an example of advanced tech - confirmation that there's more to learn and discover, for one thing. Which doesn't help if the thing just gets locked in a vault and forgotten about, but if it's large enough or widespread enough that that's not an option, then you're going to have lots of people looking at the thing and asking questions and having ideas. And that, all on it's own, is a significant boost the technological development.
- Location
- Outside the Box
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Looking back, and- wow, there's actually a lot going on in the sector. Like, uh. I don't think Devna is anywhere close to defending itself against... any of these.
Angle
Release Candidate Enby
- Location
- Colorado, USA
- Pronouns
- They/Them/Theirs/Comrade
Well I think Denva *is* the iconoclast humans, but yeah, if any of those show up anytime soon Denva is in real hot water. :/
That is true as far as it goes, but step one in all that is comprehending technology as technology and not just magic by another name and step two is inventing the scientific method which takes more than a can do attitude and the knowledge there is more to discover out there. The idea that the world is a predictable, comprehensible place to be approached with rigor doesn't come easily to humans at least. Maybe the Velkar are luckier.
- Location
- Alaska
Here's hoping they're in other subsectors, at least!
Angle
Release Candidate Enby
- Location
- Colorado, USA
- Pronouns
- They/Them/Theirs/Comrade
Eh, yes and no. The idea of doubling down and doing this with organization and systematicity doesn't come easy - but humans do unconsciously do a lot of this. And if you dump enough salvage on a planet that 'pry off sharp hard bits and make hand tools out of them' can become an industry, then things start to move along. Add some basic metalworking to make the bits more useful, and then you can move along to more advanced metalworking, and so on, and so forth. And then maybe you start looking at your wrecked spaceship, or drawings and paintings of it, and going 'Hey, this looks like it's supposed to be...' And 'How would you even...' and the like. Add some productivity increases from even basic hand tools using salvaged materials, and things start to add up.
- Location
- Boston
Thanks, for the feedback. Depending on the turn results I'd like to incorporate this into the next turn. As Vita mentioned many turns ago, the unknown unknowns are they really tricky ones. So filling in our map seems like a good idea. It shouldn't take a huge amount of research either so we can still prep for SCG research.
Would you be okay with combining your action with a diplo write-in to get a Devon Secundus Research cooperation going?
We have confirmation it is possible, if we roll well the additional research capacity would pay for the diplo action in 4 turns with at least 1 research action (if we roll badly it will take longer).
We got lots of stuff to research they'd be interested in, we can use existing tech to bribe them, and it would help them grow their techbase.
- Location
- Boston
I'm a little mixed on the research program. If they had nailed the roll for the station and gotten a strong ethos out of it I think it would have made sense. As it stands we might want to wait a turn for them to catch up, since I worry about pushing to hard to fast with this. Will have to see how the 16 played out in the update.
On the other hand, research program would be Vita guiding them in settings it up, giving them the leadership they need.
One thing to keep in mind is that our basic nature is that of a wayfarer. We want to get out there among the stars and discover things.Not sit here and try to make things perfect and spend time gathering resources for a gigantic ship. We've spent a lot of time forced grounded because we had to hide ourselves. Now that this has been reduced, I imagine we should really start investing heavily in getting a decent ship to at the very least explore this solar system while we develop ways to make sure we can explore the sector.
Another point in research programs favor:
Its Vita starting something that can keep growing without her.
And we aren't gonna leave the system in 4 turns, are we?
- Location
- Boston
I would caution everyone against the expectation that the research agreement is guaranteed to pay off in 4 turns. It will yield 10-50 RP per turn on tech they are interested in or if we pay them in tech. The exact yield will be determined by our roll.
It will also mean that the Denvians will get whatever tech we are researching with them, so that is another angle to consider.
Just want to make sure we give it a fair evaluation versus other options.
It will also mean that the Denvians will get whatever tech we are researching with them, so that is another angle to consider.
Just want to make sure we give it a fair evaluation versus other options.
- Location
- Australia
All fair points, but we are operating under the assumption that the Vellkar operates under the same biological or neurological parameters as humanity - they may reproduce exponentially faster than humans, and they (as well as their surrounding ecosystem which they may use for for agriculture) would presumably evolve to be better suited for Denva Primus (even before you consider genetic engineering to better adapt sophonts, crops and livestock), and may think and organise in ways that are fundamentally better or worse (or just different in ways that appear counter-intuitive to us as an AI still grounded in human thinking and perspectives) at innovating and preserving technological knowledge than we would expect comparative human societies (even before considering the extreme societal pressure of thousands of years of existential war).
Additionally, the Vellkar (whether as a whole or specific subgroup) may have access to Imperial technological remains or their own more advanced tech buried beneath the planet or otherwise hidden from interplanetary techno-signature observation, which in either case they would have an extremely strong incentive to conceal evidence of such, especially from astrological observation, at all costs to avoid inviting renewed scrutiny and potential attack from Secundus or extra-Denva System humans.
Whilst whatever advantages the Vellkar previously had or continue to have are not so extreme that they were able to take the fight beyond Secundus or justify exterminatus (at least relative to other threats in the Sector which would occupy additional conventional Imperial reinforcements or exterminatus capabilities), they were able to push Imperium forces off of Primus and be sufficiently costly an opponent to overcome the tremendous Imperial cultural inertia and pressure (particularly for societal elites who fear being branded traitor or just insufficiently fervent) to immediately recommit forces to exterminate Xenos (especially minor Xenos) in general and even more so in system nominally controlled/inhabited by the Imperium or humanity in general - which does suggest they have some bargaining chips which render them not entirely helpless, which probably relate to being exceptionally difficult to defeat and exterminate (some kind of mutually assured destruction they could leverage against Secundus seems unlikely as standard Imperial doctrine would be to accept the lost of loyal human worlds in exchange for the genocide of Xenos populated planets with the understanding both would be recolonised, heedless of however many billions of innocent, faithful humans they would sacrifice along the way).
- Location
- Don't know
- Pronouns
- Whats/That
Depends if there's anything else to explore in the Denva system
- Location
- Don't know
- Pronouns
- Whats/That
I mean, getting to meet an entirely new race would also be a fun new exploration. But I just want us to resist the urge for all of us to linger on a single place until we have solved all the issues there, and built up and research everything we can before moving on.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
They are not, no. I've been banging the "hostile neighbors via chargen" table for a while for a reason - we have to proactively capitalize on the benefits of our chargen choices or be severely disadvantaged against the drawbacks, and that extends to protecting our investment here.
One possible route would be to develop and deploy more of the in atmosphere void shield technology - good thing physics discounted that sharply - and increase coverage of the anti-orbital defenses to the other side of the planet. It's basically what I'd call the minimum threshold for "we're too much trouble for what we're worth" against an actively hostile attacker.
I mean, you can get there with ships too, it's even more conventional to do so, but if we suddenly decide to pack up and gtfo on short notice, that's the quickest way I see to ensuring they don't mcfuckin' die to a bad random event roll. But even in a conventional route, this is basically where a research coop would shine - give Secondus knowledge necessary to meet the prereqs and our discounts and whatever RP we throw towards it ourselves is a bargaining chip for promoting their transformation into a more sustainable, survivable form, and other concessions like putting in some harder guardrails against, say, fucking over the natives of Primus once it's convenient.
That last one is a very real concern, because while the iconoclasts are angels compared to the imperium, they come with the same foibles, as, well, real world contemporary nations. Averting colonialism, neo or otherwise, is very much a thing that won't happen on its own.
These folks are both the easiest subject for getting a friendly civilization we can cooperate with, and a whole lot of work to get there. Yet, I'm personally committed to putting that work in. If we can't make it here, I don't think we'll be able make it elsewhere - much less make a place we can take shelter with when things get too hot, however far in the future it'll be before they're strong enough to offer.
Last edited:
Turn 16
New
[X] Plan: Trust the People of Denva
-[X][DATABASE] We've got Klyssar Station, and it was a place for Navigators, right? See if you can get an idea of where the transit logs are, get an idea of where points of interest in the local galactic region might be in the future.
-[X] Construction: (3500 Ground BP, 550 Void BP))
--[X] 1x Small Shipyard (-1000 VBP, -50 CP)
--[X] 11x Orbital Manufactories (-2750 VBP, -440 CP)
--[X] Danger Vault! (-100 VBP to isolate the Scrap Code Generator somewhere well out of reach in orbit with no access to production material, and a warning to tell us if the shield drops below, say, 70%. Maybe Machine Spirits too if we can? We've got a little excess wiggle-room in the budget if we need it.)
--[X] Repair Psychic Shielding (-150 BP)
--[X] Restore Combat Losses (-120 BP)
-[X] Research x3 (+600 RP + 30 Anexa RP)
--[X] Efficient Weapon Distribution (-100 RP)
--[X] Heavy Cruisers (-300 RP)
--[X] Secrets of the machine Spirits (15 Anexa RP, Completed!)
--[X] The Workings of a Void Abacus (-150 RP)
--[X] Organ Replacements, Redux (-50 RP)
--[X] The Basics of Psytech (-15/200 RP, remaining Anexa RP)
-[X][ANEXA] Research (Secrets of the Machine Spirits)
-[X][VICTAN] Communications
-[X][CRAPCODE] Keep It--in a 100 BP vault many, many clicks away in orbit, with no production abilities, locked behind psy-shielding and hopefully defended by our first batch of homebrew Machine Spirits, and with only a single beacon that will light up if it hits 70% integrity for us. We'll get to it sooner rather than later. And yes, I know what I titled this as.
-[X][STATION] Yes, we've got to have faith. They have the tools they need to make this work
-[X][DATABASE] We've got Klyssar Station, and it was a place for Navigators, right? See if you can get an idea of where the transit logs are, get an idea of where points of interest in the local galactic region might be in the future.
-[X] Construction: (3500 Ground BP, 550 Void BP))
--[X] 1x Small Shipyard (-1000 VBP, -50 CP)
--[X] 11x Orbital Manufactories (-2750 VBP, -440 CP)
--[X] Danger Vault! (-100 VBP to isolate the Scrap Code Generator somewhere well out of reach in orbit with no access to production material, and a warning to tell us if the shield drops below, say, 70%. Maybe Machine Spirits too if we can? We've got a little excess wiggle-room in the budget if we need it.)
--[X] Repair Psychic Shielding (-150 BP)
--[X] Restore Combat Losses (-120 BP)
-[X] Research x3 (+600 RP + 30 Anexa RP)
--[X] Efficient Weapon Distribution (-100 RP)
--[X] Heavy Cruisers (-300 RP)
--[X] Secrets of the machine Spirits (15 Anexa RP, Completed!)
--[X] The Workings of a Void Abacus (-150 RP)
--[X] Organ Replacements, Redux (-50 RP)
--[X] The Basics of Psytech (-15/200 RP, remaining Anexa RP)
-[X][ANEXA] Research (Secrets of the Machine Spirits)
-[X][VICTAN] Communications
-[X][CRAPCODE] Keep It--in a 100 BP vault many, many clicks away in orbit, with no production abilities, locked behind psy-shielding and hopefully defended by our first batch of homebrew Machine Spirits, and with only a single beacon that will light up if it hits 70% integrity for us. We'll get to it sooner rather than later. And yes, I know what I titled this as.
-[X][STATION] Yes, we've got to have faith. They have the tools they need to make this work
It's finally time to start preparing to leave Denva. Or more accurately, preparing to prepare to leave Denva. You don't exactly have your ship designed or even really have the requisite industry for it. But you have control over the local system, and the freedom to pretty much do what you want. And what you want is to build a ship and leave.
That's not entirely fair. There's some other things on my list. Those stations in the outer system. Denva Primus. Making sure Denva Secundus gets off the ground. Maybe the psyker monasteries.
Still, this is the end of the beginning of your new life in the distant future that is much bleaker than you imagined it. Still, for all of the general grimness things aren't going too badly. More specifically, it's time for you to design your new ship!
Lets see. Now that I'm free of tonnage requirements from the federation, I can make it as big as I want! How big do I want to make it?
That doesn't take a lot of pondering. Especially right now, you want something as large as possible. Not only will that allow you to be more heavily armed and armored, but it's not like you'll be able to count on support facilities out here. Any repairs, re-armament or other tasks you want to do out in the stars you'll have to be able to do yourself.
Hmm. Viewed through that lens you don't so much want to build a ship as much as a mobile base. And that means big. Bigger than you currently can build ships. So! It's time to pin down the details of how to build a really big ship first - and only then will you design your own ship.
You can feel the desire to sink back into your design simulations and not emerge until you've got the blueprints of your future ship. Then you'll be able to build it, and it will carry you through this galaxy, to discover whatever secrets and horrors await in the galactic deeps. Unfortunately, you've got responsibilities. Whatever.
Not so much responsibilities as opportunities actually. The psyker monestaries, the scrapcode generator, the Vellkar on Denva Primus. A lot of hanging technological threads. But I can do those later, as I travel the stars. Really it's those first three that need to get done sooner rather than later.
The scrapcode generator in particular scares you. You're incredibly curious about it, and you both want to figure out how it works - without being corrupted by chaos - and figure out better defenses against it. These are near-perfect conditions to learn how to resist chaotic influences, after all.
You also want to bring Anexa in on the study - but not yet. You haven't fully read her in on Chaos yet, though you promised to work on some devices for that at some point. But she hasn't pushed on it, very happy to work on non-chaotic research projects.
Regardless, it's not a thing you're gong to investigate now. And if you're going to leave a malicious magical hacking machine intact, you're going to want to put it somewhere secure. You're definitely going to wrap it in psychic shielding, but do you stick it at the end of a long tunnel or in space? In a tunnel it's less isolated but you can march bots towards it and blow it up. On a space station it's extremely isolated but if the station gets taken over you won't be able to attack it so easily.
That's a solvable problem. I want to build a shipyard anyway. Just stick it in a satellite without engines. Even if it does take over the station it can't do anything and I can just swat it with a ship I build in a few years.
That's that matter solved. You send out the construction order and the soon enough there's a new satellite orbiting Denva Secundus. It's pretty big, but that's just because you don't know how to make the psychic shielding small, so it's basically a single giant unpressurized room with the scrapcode generator suspended in the center by a series of metal wires. There's various monitoring equipment pointed at it, and then a heavily shielded channel out of the satellite and directly back to you. You'd prefer it attack you directly and slide off your newly repaired psychic shielding than manage to get its hooks into any of the infrastructure you're building.
+15 Psychic shielding
The generator itself is remarkably dormant during the entire procedure, emitting no more malicious code. But that might be intentional - you've got multiple levels of redundancy in all of the bots assembling its prison, so it would be a bit of a waste of energy to work now. The eyes in the screaming face sculpted into the flaring back of the altar do seem to follow your bots around in a calculating manner, but once the psychic shielding powers up the entire altar shakes in its supporting cradle, as if it's trying to break free from the wires keeping it trapped.
The eyes roll wildly as code rolls out of the generator it to attack your vault and... it fails, though it does badly damage the psychic shielding. Still, your bots are on-hand, so it's not a challenge to repair in the moment. The generator goes dormant, all activity ceasing. But you can still detect some electromagnetic activity inside of it, so you didn't kill it. Regardless it doesn't seem like it'll be causing a problem for now.
Scrapcode Vault completed!
Scrapcode Generator Asset acquired!
I may or may not have rolled hidden dice to see if this went well, and to see if the scrapcode generator will be a future problem. You don't know. Currently your shielding is at 10/10 health. You can upgrade it at the cost of 20 bp/point to a limit of 50 if you want
New research unlocked - Scrapcode Research (200 RP)!
Research discounted - Miniaturized psychic shielding costs 50 RP less!
Research discounted - Improved Psychic shielding costs 100 RP less!
The other thing you need to take care of before you descend into the bowels of your labs and reality-simulations is Kylssar's Nest. The first crews from Denva are aboard now, surveying the space and getting familiar with all of the critical infastructure. But they still don't know if they're going to be running it or not, and they're waiting for your answer on that front.
You're a bit unsure, so you reach out to Victan to chat about it.
> Hey, how's it going? [Apprehensive]
> All good here. I'm finally catching up on some family news. W's in her third "retirement" and started dating somebody. It's cute. [Amused]
You blink at that. You hadn't thought about W in a while, and certainly hadn't kept track of how she was managing her career when she hasn't visibly aged in several decades. It sounds like she's occasionally going into retirement and then coming back out when people had forgotten her. Maybe under a false idendity, but you're not sure she has a real identity. At least to anybody beyond Victan, who seems like her only close family.
> Congratulations? That seems complicated to manage. [Wary]
> Oh, it's fine. This is probably her having some fun. I think she's almost taking a victory lap. She won against the mechanicus. You helped give her the tools, but she won. And now all of the nations of Denva are spying on each other, and she doesn't want to be part of it. [Amused]
> Ah, that. Are you good to be on counterespionage for a little while? I'm not planning to interfere directly with Denva at all. I'm going to turn over control of the station and let them deal with it. [Relieved]
> Are you sure that's a good idea? My impression is that the politicians wrote a check and their engineers might not be able to cash it. Aevon is sending its best, but they're only a fifth of the team and the rest are basically machinists who've had some crash-courses on plasma reactors. [Apprehensive]
> Maybe it's not. But they asked for it, and this galaxy isn't a safe place. They'll need to take risks to get anywhere, and maybe this isn't a bad time to start. But - if you have the time - it might be good for you to oversee them. I'm leaving a few bugs and monitors in the station systems and I'll give you full access. It's not going to be enough to detect a problem before it gets serious, but it'll be enough to at least tell us if something goes wrong. [Resolved]
> Alright, I'll do what I can. I'm a little bit more worried about the security of the ground base though. I don't think anybody will outright attack it, but everybody and their mother is going to try and get any possible information they can on us. I'll try to make sure that Aevon knows it's important to keep the site secure. [Speculative]
> I'll set some bots as security. We have excess now anyway. Anything else? [Distracted]
> Nope. Have fun diving into the science. I'll make sure nothing blows up while you're distracted. Or at least have a good excuse ready if it does. [Affectionate]
You send the messages and the appropriate technical guides to the crew taking over the command center, then withdraw your presence from the station, wishing them luck. The station is Denva Secundus' first foray into space, and you could easily see a failure now blunting their appetite for expansion.
But! It's not your problem. And by passing it off, you're free to focus on other things. Like bigger ships!
First, you try doubling all of the dimensions of the largest ship you can build, then simulating it and seeing where problems arise. And the answer is... everywhere. It's not that simple - of course. On the outside that's what it's going to look like, but you're going to have to completely rewire the interior. That means figuring out everything from dealing with changed thermal dissipation to probably adding another reactor towards the front of the ship so you don't have to deal with long, long superconducting cables from the rear to the front of the ship.
The trick is not just to make it work, but to make it scaleable. You could design a single large ship without too much trouble, but if you don't understand the principles behind how to make the design work at a number of different scales you'll have to put in an inordinate amount of work for every single ship you build, and you won't have a stable foundation as you move to even larger ship designs. And the only solution to this problem is just lots of legwork, and lots of time spent analyzing how heat and liquid and power flow through the ship.
Piece by piece you figure it out, and deploy a new design process and tools to help you design ships this size, as well as figure out what you'd need in a shipyard to construct them. You also see a few ways to streamline the process of future ship design, which might be useful in the future, and you understand how to put in more layers of shielding on a single ship as well.
You're pretty sure you also see the tools you'd need to design ships the next size up - and it would be more of the same. At some point in the more distant future you can see needing new materials to deal with the strain on the ship hulls and spines, but that's in the more distant future.
Researched Heavy Cruisers - rolled 39+20=59, Success!
Unlocked new technology - Grand Cruisers (400 RP)
Unlocked new technology - Medium Defense platform (100 RP)
Unlocked new technology - Heavy Void shields (200 RP)
Unlocked new Void Chassis - Heavy Cruiser (200 RP)
Unlocked new Blueprint - Large Shipyard
You do have a bit of extra time that you'd budgeted here to improve the ship design systems, so you focus on being able to make any weapons you put onto your ships a bit more space efficent. They'll still cost the same amount, but you'll be able to get more bang per unit of hull. And that's worth a lot. Those considerations neatly dovetail off the improved set of design tools you'd already built, and you see several of other improvements you can make to your ship design software in the future.
Researched Efficient Weapon Distribution - rolled 61+20=81, Good Success!
This doesn't discount weapon prices, but it does let you cram more weapons into the same hull.
Unlocked new technology - Streamlined ship design (150 RP)
Unlocked new technology - Efficient Equipment Distribution (100 RP)
Unlocked new technology - Extremely Efficient Weapon Distribution (200 RP)
If you're preparing to leave, it would also be nice to know where you're going to go. Not only could have the local warp lanes have rearranged in the last fifteen thousand years, but you've never been through here in a normal exploration run, since you got spat out of the warp after you detached from the amalgamation of warp junk.
You weren't able to salvage much data from Klyssar's Nest - their data scrubbing protocols are frankly better than the mechanicus - but there's some useful information from the dock cogitators, and you cross-reference that with what you've got from the mechanicus, building out clues to get a sense of local space.
Database diving for a map of local space - rolled 58! Local map acquired!
The real gem is a map of the local sub-sector that one of the local dockmasters apparently kept in their crib notes in an accessory database that wasn't scrubbed, and it gives you a sense of the local area. You're able to pile a bit more information on top of that from a few ship manifests, though it's sparser than you'd like. Also, what the heck is a "feral world?"
The map will be color-coded as you gather more information about the systems.
Known info:
Denva is where you started
Kethraxis is home to a feral world.
Myrris produces an excess of prometheum.
Zarithune's maw is a black hole system.
Othrael's Lantern is a binary system with a blue giant.
Hearthward Verge was a civilized world
Drakwyn's rest was a shrine world
Beyond that, you're able to get a little bit of information on the larger space from the mechanicus files. You're in sector Thrace, which is huge. It seriously does have about a thousand systems, and is located somewhere in "Segmentum Obscuras." It was moderately populated and commonly called upon to contribute material to other fronts in the Cadian, Gothic and Athena sectors until... well. Until everything broke.
Your information on the sector itself is less than complete, since you only know your adjacent subsectors, and you don't know if they're connected to each other or if Denva really is the nexus that it appears to be.
This map will expand as you discover new sub-sectors.
There is a hive world in Braxis Fall.
There is a forgeworld somewhere in the direction of Hearthward
There is a hive world in Braxis Fall.
There is a forgeworld somewhere in the direction of Hearthward
All of this information is going to live over in the maps page.
That's all... worrying. If Denva really is the crossroads it looks like, it makes sense for the navigators to have resources here. But why did they pull out? Why did the Imperium pull out? That suggests they didn't think they could hold it. But hold it against what?
That's a discomforting thought, but not one you can do anything about. Except maybe prepare to get the hell out of dodge if it turns out there's something terrifying nearby.
Still, you're on a roll, and so it's time to look towards the next piece of research you need before you can really start building your new ship and preparing your escape option. And that's the void Abacus. You don't technically need it, since you still have your old one, and as far as you can tell it's still functional. But there's the rub. As far as you can tell is not really good enough for something you're trusting to navigate you through the insanity of the warp. It's not like you can pick up another one, or go find an expert to ask. You are the expert. In this, and in everything else.
Though Anexa's catching up. The machine spirit research with her is something I'm looking forward to, as soon as she catches up on all of my notes.
Though you do have the navigator fetus, safely in storage in one of the vaults aboard your original ship and waiting your attention. That's an alternate approach, but it's not one that's ready or extensible beyond you. If you want the people of Denva to expand beyond Denva, then they'll need interstellar travel, and this is how they get there.
Then there's the warp itself. It was a topic of study that you didn't care about much in your first life, but now you're both more inclined to thinking deeply about problems - thanks to your enforced fifteen thousand years of isolation - and it seems more relevant. After all, the warp you recall was fairly tame, and from imperial descriptions it seems like the current warp is anything but. So. It's time to figure this stuff out.
For all of those reasons and more, it's time to get into it, and you do. You carefully pore over the structure of the void abacus, probing the code and manuals while imaging it with every device you have. You simulate what it's modelling and find yourself confused. At the core it's a basic quantum computer that somehow 'attunes' itself to the warp in a way you don't understand in order to provide guidance. It's not simulating anything, it's basically just creating a bunch of entangled particles and waiting for the distribution to collapse into something reasonable. And that makes zero sense.
You understand the quantum physics and nothing about this makes sense. You have the traces of an idea and start simulating it in more detail when you get an high-priority message from Victan.
> Vita. They messed up the heating on the station. It's overheating. [Urgent]
Denva Secundus Management of Kylssar's Nest station - rolled 16. Poor success verging on failure.
You drop your simulations and turn your attention to all of the data you have from Klyssar's nest. Then you sigh deeply. This is exactly the sort of mistake you were worried they'd make, though at least it's not one of the more catastrophic ones. A station of this size has an enormous amount of thermal inertia, and most of it had been nearly as cold as deep space. And they'd tried to heat it up too quickly and overshot the mark. It had taken months for the problem to be apparent, but now the central areas were reaching temperatures best described as "broiling," and all of the people were retreating to the exterior of the station where the heat could dissipate over time. You finish your analysis in an instant and respond to Victan.
> Well, it's not catastrophic, though it might kill whoever's in the command center trying to manage this mess. And it's certainly going to kill everything in the hydroponics. They're going to have to ship more food and seeds up from Denva to restart their food production. And their waste fermenters. What happened? This seems like a basic mistake. [Exasperated]
> What happened was that nearly a third of the "engineering" crew were spies, sent to learn what they could, especially from Aevon. It seems like everybody realized that their engineers didn't know a plasma conduit from a waste pipe but Aevon did, so they tried to offload all of the work and then steal all the knowledge they could. [Pissed]
> Well, that's unfortunate. What now? [Withholding judegment]
> Now? Now I send that information to Aevon and they use it to bludgeon all of the other nations over the head with a diplomatic beatstick. This is going to slow down the colonization of Klyssar's nest by years, and some of the most competent engineers Denva has are going to die fixing the problem, but it won't stop anything. If anything this just means Aevon is going to have an even larger presence than it did before. [Still pissed]
> Is that a problem? [Calm]
> It's a problem if you expected these governments to be reasonable. This is still crab in a bucket thinking. I was hoping the station would help them get past it. But clearly I was mistaken. [Frustration]
> Do we need to intervene? [Honest question]
There's a pause as Victan considers that, and you're sure he's leaning back in his desk and thinking hard for a moment. You can't tell, because you're not watching his quarters. But you're familiar enough with him that you're pretty sure that's what's happening.
> No. They'll sort it out. Just... slowly. This is a speedbump, and one that will probably help them get over their issues. It demonstrates that there are consequences to this sort of behavior. And not ones they can pin on anybody. Not even us, since we're demonstrably out of the system. It might even lead to them asking us for help later. [Simmering Snger]
> Do they need the help? [Curious]
> Maybe? We'd have to be careful to keep them moving on their own. I don't know all of the technical details but I think we've given them everything we can in terms of educational materials. Now we'd just be providing material and telling them how to design their processes, and if we do that forever then they'll never learn how to do it on their own. [Frustrated]
> Ok. We'll make that decision if it comes to it. I'm a bit tempted to help them set up research campuses so they can start from the ground up. It's even possible they can help Anexa and I figure out some of our problems. Anyway, sorry about this. I know you hoped this would work. [Empathetic]
> It'll work. It's just working so much worse than it could have worked. In other news there's no less than twenty-two plots to spy on your ground bases and shuttleports. [Irritated]
> Ah. That sounds like a problem. [Miffed]
> Not really. Aevon's stopping most of them, and your bots are scaring off everybody else. The shuttles are in somewhere far-out enough that it's hard for anybody to get out there, and it's easy enough to secure the perimeter. A lot of them are still using the communicators you provided, so it's trivial to see what they're planning. It's mostly observation, but I've shut down a few small plots that might have interfered. I wish they'd put their energy into more productive things. [Sour]
> Well, let me know if it's a problem. Those areas are pretty fortified, and what's the worst that happens? [Curious]
> Probably that they figure out you're an AI, though it would be hard to get solid proof. Probably just that they figure out everything's robot-operated, but even that we could explain away. [Calmed]
> Yeah. And to some extent there's really not much they can do to us, especially if Aevon stays on our side. But keep an eye on it for now and let me know if anything gets worse. [Indifferent]
> Heard and understood. [Dutiful]
Well, that's annoying, but not entirely without precedent. You wish you and Victan had been able to get the nations of Denva at least moving in lockstep. But you got them moving in the right direction, so that's somethign at least. But if they keep this up then they're never going to amount to much.
And that'll be on them. Not you. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.
What were you working on again? Oh yeah, the void abacus. You were trying to figure out how the quantum calculations returned useful data instead of junk, which is what it looks like they'll return. You had the shreds of an idea about that, but you've lost it. Your simulations come back without anything obvious, and you're forced to table the idea for later. At least you've read the manual cover to cover and understand how most of it works, and you have a good idea of how to manufacture them.
Researched The workings of a Void Abacus - rolled 5+20=25. Poor success.
You know how to use the abacus better, and can figure out how to build more but you don't quite get the warpy-elements of it yet. That'll require another research.
Unlocked new technology - Abacus Manufacturing (200 RP)
Unlocked new technology - Abacus-Warp interactions (100 RP)
Well, that's a downer. But at least you have something to look forward to now - and that's working with Anexa. She's just sent you a message that she's finished catching up on everything you've learned about machine spirits, and since you've been busy she made some progress of her own. You reply with a message of your own even as you crack open the files she's sent you.
> Let's get started. [Anticipatory]
> Yes. Lets. I had some ideas... [Excited]
> Taking a look. [Curious]
It turns out she's done more than "catch up," and her file of ideas are... fascinating. They involve a half-dozen leaps of logic that all revolve around a thesis of specializing machine-sprits for different purposes. Instead of linking a bunch of neural nodes together and hoping for the best, you pre-specialize each node in a specific way, then link them together in ways to enhance and predetermine their function. Not only should this serve to reduce the... moodiness of the machine spirits, but you think that it will also improve their performance at various duties.
> Wow. Let's start building them. [Impressed]
> I'll meet you in the testing lab. [Proud]
Her designs work exactly the way she'd hoped and more. In fact, they all show an incredible level of familiarity with the simulation and modelling software left at her disposal. It's clear that she understands how to use several of those tools nearly as well as you do, in addition to having a nearly virtuosic touch at designing the neural networks involved in machine spirits. They plug into your combat bot and tank designs seamlessly, and there's a bunch of different ways you can see using this technology to make your technology require less oversight, though it'll be somewhat more expensive to make since the machine spirit manufacturing is somewhat delicate.
You express as much to Anexa in person, your body turning to her and inclining its head as you watch one of the machine-spirit controlled prototype bots complete various tasks flawlessly.
"Congratulations. These are amazing, and the increased price of production price is well-worth it. I'm shocked they just work in the existing bot designs."
She grins at you, gratified by your response. "It's all about laying out the signal flow. Signal processing from wherever the inputs are coming from, then decision-making nodes further in and then simulation nodes that reach back out to how it interacts with the world. No one node needs to understand everything, and that means they can be concerned with their particular piece of the puzzle."
You nod, pursing your lips as you consider that explanation. "That makes sense. I see some emotional nodes in there as well. Why are they there?"
Her smile turns a bit sad. "After what happened with the hacking I tried to take them out. But everything got worse. Then I started to realize that they need to care about their job. The machine spirits are built on emotion, and you need to interlink it with their inputs and decision making. They need to see the world around it and feel a certain way about it."
She flicks you a file of a design tree documenting all of her attempts, mostly in simulation. "After that, I started thinking about how I would design my own brain, to optimally receive input and process that into decisions and outputs." Her expression turns introspective. "A bit of empathy was all it took."
"Do you have plans along those lines?" You gesture vaguely towards her head, where her neural implants show in patterns of gold against her skin.
Her hair swings slightly as she shakes her head. "No. My brain is messy, and sometimes that means I have flashes of Insight - like into machine spirits. I'll probably redesign my augments soon enough with the new understanding, but I'm going to wait until we have better neural implants before I start connecting machine spirits directly to my brain."
"Reasonable," You reply, then turn back to your experiments. "Now, I've learned a little bit more about chaos corruption, and I think we can make these more resistant to it.
In the conversation that follows, two things become clear to you. First is that Anexa has a nearly intuitive understanding of machine spirits and how they function. She's able to grasp in a thought how they think, and redesign their architecture on the fly to recieve a desired result. When you ask her to explain, all she says is "empathy."
The second is an idea of how machine spirits resist chaos corruption - they're not just simple machines. They're more complicated than that. Even a chaos-augmented worm that can slip through normal firewalls seamlessly won't have such a simple time corrupting them, since changing their directives is more complicated.
They're emotional, and to some extant understand what their orders are, and do their best to carry those out. That gives you some insights into your own psychic shielding, and you think you might have the vague hint of an idea how to integrate psychic shielding with machine spirits.
You quickly dispatch a construction bot to the Scrapcode Vault and install machine spirits into its systems to see if you can test that theory. Though you're not sure that'll happen anytime soon. The scrapcode generator has been inert since you turned on the psychic shields, almost like it's biding its time.
Researched Secrets of the Machine Spirits - rolled 76+20=96. Critical success!
+2 Anexa levels, and Specialty gained: Machine Spirits.
Upgraded Scrapcode Vault
This can either be thought of as damage reduction or a saving throw. Both are generally accurate.
New blueprints unlocked - Light Machine-spirit infantry bots, Medium Machine-spirit Infantry Bots, Heavy Machine-spirit Infantry Bots, Light Machine-spirit tanks, Medium Machine-spirit tanks, Basic Machine-spirit Artillery
You would have needed to research all of these individually, but Anexa's crit means you get all of these designs for free.
New Technology unlocked - Improved combat Machine spirits (100 RP)
New Technology unlocked - Large-scale Machine spirits (150 RP)
New Technology unlocked - Manufacturing Machine Spirits (100 RP)
New Technology unlocked - Psytech Machine spirits (250 RP) Locked behind psytech
Bonus research unlocked - Machine Spirit Chaos resistance (300 RP)
Research discounted - Improved Psychic shielding cost reduced by 100 RP
Research discounted - Miniaturized psychic shielding cost reduced by 50 RP
Research discounted - Improved Machine-spirit Jamming cost reduced by 100 RP
Research discounted - Rapid hacking cost reduced by 100 RP
Research discounted - Organic-Machine control cost reduced by 50 RP
Research discounted - Advanced Neural Implants cost reduced by 50 RP
Research discounted - Intelligence Coding cost reduced by 100 RP
Foundational techs are very good places to crit because of how many things they touch.
You spend some time excitedly talking about the implications of the technology with Anexa. This is nearly an entirely new branch of basic command-and-control hardware that replaces the need for a lot of direct control. It can be applied to almost everything, and understanding it gives you more foundation to compare other kinds of cognition. It could also be applied with organic-machine control to let a single person control thousands of combat bots on their own, which has some interesting implications.
Anexa's shows some interest in that application, though more in possibly controlling manufacturing systems than in directly controlling combat bots. It just doesn't seem like she's interested in combat beyond the theoretical end-use case of her research projects.
She does express more interest in your work to fix all of the issues with organ replacements. You're happy to show her what you've managed to do, though a lot of it was just understanding all of the functions of every organ, then designing new versions of the implants that supported all of those functions.
The complexity of each kind of implant has nearly tripled, since you've had to add in all of the auxiliary features. But generally it all works well enough that your artificial organs can replace natural ones without dramatically reduced quality of life, though there's still some limitations that you couldn't quite eliminate.
But it still leaves you in good stead in respect to further research into implants and artificial life support. You're becoming more limited by your understanding of surgery and medicine than the devices you're putting into people, though a greater understanding of how to support complex biological systems does have some positive outcomes there.
Researched Organ replacements, Redux - rolled 47+20=67
You can make mechanical versions of organs that are pretty good, and add on some auxiliary capabilities like conscious control of hormones & metabolism. What's limiting you now is your capability to do surgery on people.
New technology unlocked - Advanced organ replacements (150 RP) Locked behind You don't need no stinkin' medical school.
New technology unlocked - Superhuman organs (300 RP) Locked behind You don't need no stinkin' medical school and Advanced Combat cybernetics.
Research discounted - You don't need no stinkin' medical school cost reduced by 50 RP
Research discounted - Servitorization cost reduced by 50 RP
She's understandably less excited about those advancements than she was about the machine spirit developments, but you have to admit that there potential of better organ implants isn't quite as exciting as the machine spirits.
You've had a fairly boring couple of years doing research, apart from everything going on with Klyssar's Nest. Speaking of that, it might be nice to check back in on how that's all going.
A few messages to Victan gets you a an offical government report, and then a second, less-official report that he managed to get from people who want to keep him - and you - linked into what's going on Klyssar's Nest. It seems that his release of exactly what happened on Klyssar's Nest has earned him some friends.
They seem to have mostly recovered from the near-catastrophe, and just over a hundred thousand people call Klyssar's Nest home. That's notably behind the target for this time, which was around a million. The lift capacity is still on-target, but more of it has needed to be devoted to supplies that were made necessary by the hydroponics failure caused by excessive heat.
The whole incident has left the station-dwellers wary of the ground-based governments. They view the near-disaster as primarily caused by ground-based diplomatic meddling with the station, and nearly all of the senior and most of the junior technical staff can trace their education through the Aevon educational system that was set up decades ago with your uplift guides. None of the other nations have really had the time to properly integrate your knowledge into their educational systems.
Your own void infrastructure continues to tick upwards, and you're less worried about it using up all of your command capabilities now that you know it's possible to reduce the demand on you by getting machine spirits into the loop.
1 small shipyard completed!
11x orbital manufactories completed!
+400 medium humanized combat bots
+800 heavy humanized combat bots
A few years ago you were thinking you were at the beginning of the end of your time in Denva. Now you're somewhere in the middle. You could design a ship and start building it almost immediately if you wanted to. But there are still things here that interest you - Denva Primus, the stations in the outer system, the psyker monestaries.
And some part of you wants to help the people here more too. The station is just getting its feet under it, and there's a lot you could still do to help bootstrap Denva Secundus to the stars, including setting them up so they could use your manufactories when you leave. Because as much as you want to, you won't be able to take all of the infrastructure behind when you go.
But you're starting to have a bad feeling about this. There's a wave cresting somewhere, and when it breaks Denva isn't going to escape some kind of onslaught. You don't know if you're imagining it, but if you're not then you'll need to decide if you're staying to fight or running the hell away.
Current capabilities:
Command Points 7,005/12,500Ground Build Capacity: 3500
Lift Capacity: 3500 (converts between ground and void BP)
Void Build Capacity: 1100
Research Capacity: 200
Psychic Shielding: 100/100 (repair for 10 BP/point)
Juvenat usage: 23/50 people's worth (cannot be stockpiled)
Shipbuilding capacity: 4 ship construction slots (treat it as capacity. You can only be building ships that fit within your construction slots)
Available ships:
1x Mechanicus-disguised Shuttle (5 CP)
30x Basic Stealth Fighters (25x5 CP)
12x Basic Stealth Assault Shuttles (30x5 CP)
100x Basic Stealth Missiles (200x1 CP) - in space
60x Shuttles (5x60 =300 CP) +3000 Lift Capacity
Available ground forces:
1000 Light infantry bots (200 CP)
2000 Light humanized infantry bots (2x200 CP)
1000 Medium humanized Infantry Bots (200 CP)
3000 Heavy humanized Infantry Bots with Machine Spirit Jammers (600 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:
25 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) +100 BP
Underground Directional-Control Radio Tower (5 CP)
2x Underground Manufactories (2x50 = 100 CP) +100 BP
66x Manufactories (66x50 = 3300 CP) +3300 BP
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) (40/40 ship capacity)
6x Spaceports (6x25 CP) (60/60 ship capacity)
Underground Magnetic Catapult launch system (50 CP) +500 lift capacity
Underground Directional-Control Radio Tower (5 CP)
2x Underground Manufactories (2x50 = 100 CP) +100 BP
66x Manufactories (66x50 = 3300 CP) +3300 BP
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) (40/40 ship capacity)
6x Spaceports (6x25 CP) (60/60 ship capacity)
Underground Magnetic Catapult launch system (50 CP) +500 lift capacity
22x Orbital Manufactory (22x40=880 CP) +1100 VBP
Small Shipyard (50 CP) 4 ship construction slots
Scrapcode Vault, upgraded with machine spirits (10 CP) 10/10 psychic shielding Can be upgraded for 20 bp/point of psychic shielding, to a maximum of 50.
Small Shipyard (50 CP) 4 ship construction slots
Scrapcode Vault, upgraded with machine spirits (10 CP) 10/10 psychic shielding Can be upgraded for 20 bp/point of psychic shielding, to a maximum of 50.
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:
The Basics of Psytech (15/200 RP)
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)
The nations of Denva don't really need your immediate attention. They're integrating the mechanicus, slowly, and moving into space, slowly. The direction is all good, it's just going to take about 10 turns before the situation changes on its own, absent an outside force like you poking it.
[] Construction: Gain build points equal to your build capacity, write in what combination of blueprints you spend them on.
- Installations
- Void Installations
- Ships
- Units
- Export Goods
[] 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. Also unlocks the machine-spirit versions.
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. Also unlocks the machine-spirit versions.
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. Also unlocks the machine-spirit versions.
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. Also unlocks the machine-spirit versions.
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. Also unlocks the machine-spirit versions.
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.
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:- Choose a starting hull from the list of available void chassis below
- 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.
- 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.
- Pick noncombat equipment to go onto the ship. These do not count towards weapon cramming.
- 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:
- 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, 1 ship construction slots (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, 2 ship construction slots (500-1000 BP, 1600x400-2200x600 meters) Engines: (5/6/7 gravities) for (75/150/225 BP). Shields: (none/light/medium) for (0/75/150) Armor: (none/light/medium/heavy) for (0/75/150/225)
Light Cruiser, 150 RP, 200 CP, 8 ship construction slots (1000-2000 BP, 3500x400-4400x800 meters) Engines: (3/4/5 gravities) for (100/200/300 BP). Shields: (none/light/medium) for (0/150/300) Armor: (none/light/medium) for (0/100/200)
Heavy Cruiser, 200 RP, 300 CP, 32 ship construction slots (2000-6000 BP, 4500x600-6000x1200 meters) Engines: (2/3/4 gravities) for (300/400/500 BP). Shields: (none/light/medium) for (0/200/400/600) Armor: (none/light/medium) for (0/200/400)
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.
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:
Multiple the final weapon cost by 0.9 before applying it to ship designs. So if you have 500 BP of weapons, it only counts as 450 for the purposes of ship packing. But it'll count as 500 for final ship cost.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.
Heavy Plasma Cannon 100 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 armor.
Medium Melta cannon 400 BP, Very short range, medium-fire rate but with incredible damage potential. Extremely effective against armor.
Heavy Melta cannon 800 BP, Very short range, medium-fire rate but with incredible damage potential. Extremely effective against armor.
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.
Large Torpedoes 600 BP. A payload of straight-flying armored torpedoes, sized to wreck cruisers, hurt grand cruisers and make battleships 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.
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.
Heavy Plasma Cannon 100 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 armor.
Medium Melta cannon 400 BP, Very short range, medium-fire rate but with incredible damage potential. Extremely effective against armor.
Heavy Melta cannon 800 BP, Very short range, medium-fire rate but with incredible damage potential. Extremely effective against armor.
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.
Large Torpedoes 600 BP. A payload of straight-flying armored torpedoes, sized to wreck cruisers, hurt grand cruisers and make battleships 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 Defenses (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 Defenses (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 Defenses (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.
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 Defenses (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 Defenses (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 Defenses (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:
-[] Ground Manufactory Efficiency Improvements (50 RP) You dramatically improved the efficiency of your void manufacturing by stripping out the dumb stuff that was required by stellar federation beauracracy. There's probably some stuff like that in your ground manufactories too. (Reduces the CP cost but not BP cost of your ground manufactories).
-[] Grand Cruisers (400 RP) Making a ship design that's not spaghetti takes time and effort. It's still boring. But if you want to make queens of the void, its necessary. (unlocks grand cruisers, half of the prereq for battleships)
-[] Medium Defense Platforms (100 RP) You've already got most of the tools you need to build bigger defensive platforms, but these would be a larger platform to stick guns on, with more ability to withstand damage. (Unlocks medium defensive platforms, potential for other void-based installation options)
-[] Streamlined ship design (150 RP) You can improve your tools for ship design to make it easier to design ships in the future. That might be nice (Halves the RP cost to design new ships, may unlock other ship design improvements)
-[] Efficient Equipment Distribution (100 RP) Let's see if you can apply the benefits from weapon packing to equipment (Combat equipment costs count as 0.9x for ship capacity packing.)
-[] Extremely Efficient Weapon Distribution (200 RP) You did a good job already in packing more weapons into less space. But you think you see ways to make it even better (Weapons cost at 0.75 for ship capacity packing)
-[] Boarding Capabilities (100 RP) Apparently it's common for ships in this day and age to board each other and for the crew to fight hand-to-hand. Instead of, you know, chucking enormous missiles at each other. Insane. Well, it might be a nice capability to have in case you want to capture ships intact. (Unlocks boarding torpedoes and boarding craft for hangers, may combine with stealth research to unlock stealth borders)
-[] 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 (50 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 (100 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 Void shields (200 RP) Your current shields are good, but they could be better. Specifically, you want to make multi-layered shields, which could be applied to anything larger than a destroyer (Unlocks heavy void shields for ships and stations, as well as further research for void shielding improved for recharge speed, layered defenses, etc.)
-[] Heavy In-atmosphere void shields (100 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 (100 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 (250 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 (100 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 (50 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: (600 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 (400 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: (300 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, as well as half of the requirements to integrate machine spirits with psychic shielding).
-[] Miniaturized psychic shielding: (200 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).
-[] Scrapcode Research (200 RP) How does scrapcode work? Obviously the answer is "psychic shenanigans," but you'd like to get a little bit more detail than that. Maybe you'll be able to defend against it in some way. (Understanding of scrapcode that's likely useful for defending against it. Grants light reduction to shield damage from scrapcode and unlocks technology to further reduce psychic damage from scrapcode, and potential technologies to generate or store scrapcode for your own use.)
- [] 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)
-[] Abacus Manufacturing (200 RP) You understand all of the physical parts of an abacus. Now you need to figure out all of the manufacturing techniques needed to actually put one together. (Unlocks the void abacus ship equipment)
-[] Abacus-Warp interactions (100 RP) The one part of the abacus you don't understand is how it interacts with the warp. That part is just weird, and you need to put in some more brain-sweat to figure it out. (Better understanding of the void abacus, necessary for any improvements on the basic design, and unlocks technology for better warp understanding).
-[] Gravity Weapons (200 RP) You know it's possible to use gravity as a weapon, though it sounds a bit crazy. But still, it might be worth trying? (Unlocks basic graviton weapons for infantry, vehicles and warships, as well as research for more advanced graviton weapons. Half of the research necessary for Nova Cannons)
-[] The Biggest Boom (150 RP) So. There's no actual upper limit for how big a fusion warhead can get. But it does get more complicated to build bigger and bigger bombs. Let's figure that out. (Unlocks bigger, exterminatus-grade warheads for nukes. The other half of the research necessary for Nova Cannons)
-[] Superconductive Shenanigans (200 RP) Room-temperature superconductors are a thing. But only kind of, and they still need to be highly pressurized to be stable. You know some people cracked this problem, but they didn't publish on it, which was annoying. But you think you might have an idea how they did it. Figuring it out would be great for manufacturing, and drop costs across the board. (A flat production boost of 5-15% depending on rolls).
-[] Improved combat Machine spirits (100 RP) Right now the machine spirits can match the performance of bots you directly control. However, with some tweaking of their networks, structure and code you think you can make an across-the-board improvement in aim, tactics and decision-making of the machine spirits in combat. (Improved combat performance of machine-spirit imbued infantry & vehicle forces. May unlock technology for improved tactical coordination, as well as improved combat performance of machine-spirit equipped ships/larger installations)
-[] Large-scale Machine spirits (150 RP) As it stands, you can integrate machine spirits into small things. Expanding that to military installations and ships is going to require designing even more complex networks and figuring out how to make them work. With Anexa's insights you think it's eminantly possible thought (Unlocks machine-spirit equipped versions of frigate-sized or smaller ships and platforms, as well as most defensive installations. Unlocks more research for machine spirits for larger ships & platforms.)
-[] Manufacturing Machine Spirits (100 RP) Making machine spirits run reactors and shoot guns is one thing, but making them build something? That poses another challenge. You don't think it's insurmountable though. (Unlocks machine-spirit controlled manufactories, orbital manufactories and deep-space manufactories. Unlocks more research for other kinds of machine-spirit aided manufacturing).
-[] Machine Spirit Chaos resistance (300 RP) You think the reason that the machine spirits resist chaos is because they understand their purpose to some extent, and the entire neural network needs to be corrupted to corrupt that purpose, which is harder. There's also emotional simulation that's going on in there. (Improves the basal resistance of machine spirits to chaos corruption. May unlock further technology down this chain, as well as half of the requirements to integrate machine spirits with psychic shielding.)
-[] Miniaturized antigrav (50 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 (50 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)
-[] An Introduction to Human Genetics (100 RP) Humans are complex creatures, but apparently their manufacturing instructions are just 6 billion bits long, and most of that seems redundant. Interesting. (Unlocks very basic genetic enhancements, as well as a basic understanding of mutations. Unlocks research for more complex genetic engineering, and may lead to research to fix mutations)
-[] Does in vitro have something to do with wine? (200 RP) Unlocks the ability to clone basic humans (Unlocks the cloning bay, as well as further technology to clone things other than baseline humans, like humans without brains for organs or humans with more dramatic genetic mutations. Along with brain implants may lead to personality backups).
-[] You don't need no stinkin' medical school (50 RP) You've got a few auto-doc modules that can prescribe drugs based on symptoms or do basic surgeries. If you actually understood the medicine you'd be able to perform better care, as well as do more advanced surgeries (Unlocks better medical care, as well as general enhancements to surgeries, cybernetic augmentations and more. May be a prerequisite to further biomedical research. Also unlocks more research for advanced medical care, which will likely reduce other research costs and be a prerequisite for advanced augmentations.)
-[] Drugs? Drugs. (100 RP) Human biochemistry is... weird. You've got a standard list of recipies for basic drugs, but if you wanted to get further into it you could start pulling out some stranger and more illicit ones from your research databanks. (Unlocks a wide variety of drugs for things like interrogation, combat, sedation, etc. May lead to research for things like perfect knockout gas, super-adrenaline, psytech drugs, etc.)
-[] Juvenat Beginnings (600 RP) Ok. Juvenat is complicated. You're able to make it by following a formula that is at times precise, at times general and at times just - what? Maybe start to delve into the science of that. (Unlocks a basic understanding of juvenat, and may make it more efficient to produce. Tech cost will be reduced by other biomedical researchers. The start of the juvenat research tree.)
-[] Rapid hacking (500RP) 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? Will unlock further hacking technology).
-[] Improved Machine-spirit Jamming (300 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 (150 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)
-[] Superhuman organ replacements (300 RP) Your organ replacements almost fully replicate the real thing, and have some useful auxiliary functions. But there's another level of improvement that's possible here. You could make organs that conveyed superhuman characteristics on the wearers. Improved oxygen transfer rate, improved bone density, immunity to most toxins, improved healing rate. (Unlocks advanced organs implants which grant superhuman capabilities. Not quite space-marine-level, but that's the next tech, though these are still artifical). Locked behind You don't need no stinkin' medical school and Advanced Combat cybernetics.
-[] Advanced Neural Implants (150 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 You don't need no stinkin' medical school.
-[] 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 (150 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.
-[] High-energy Physics (300 RP) There's some pretty crazy stuff you can do with physics. Especially when the energy exponents really start getting insane. However, that's going to take a bit of testing - maybe on a planetoid you don't care too much about. Or in space. (The next steps towards bigger, badder weapons, such as fusion beamers, disintegration weapons. Half of the research for vortex weaponry.) Locked behind a High-Energy Physics Research Lab
-[] Navigator Genetics (500 RP) So... you have some navigator genetic material. You can poke at that, see if you can figure out how it works. They had a reputation even back in your day, and it only seems to have gotten worse. Still, tempting. (Unlocks basic understanding of navigator genetics. Will unlock further technology to improve the health of navigators, as well as technology to allow you to clone navigators.) Locked behind tech you haven't unlocked yet - probably 1-2 down the human genetics chain depending on rolls.
-[] Navigator Gestation (200 RP) You have a navigator fetus. You don't know what to do with that beyond the obvious. So, how would you do it? Well, you doubt you could just implant it into somebody. From the traces left behind on Klyssar's nest you should do this in a tank. (Allows you to turn the navigator fetus into a navigator baby) Locked behind the Does in vitro have something to do with wine? and maybe a followup tech depending on rolls.
-[] Psytech Machine spirits (100 RP) You don't think that machine spirits can be psychically active. However, from what you understand of psytech it's a temperamental and difficult discipline, and you think that integrating machine spirits into the construction of psytech might improve its reliability and performance. (Improves psytech, at the cost of making it somewhat more expensive. May lead to more advanced versions for more advanced psytech, and may contribute to better psychic shields) Locked behind The Basics of Psytech.
- Do research. That'll unlock more research.
- Build appropriate installations & potentially acquire samples to research in them (samples could be anything from 'a human' to 'a Norn queen' in rarity).
- Ask for them. Often I'll tell you what you need to do to unlock specific research options,
-[] Ground Manufactory Efficiency Improvements (50 RP) You dramatically improved the efficiency of your void manufacturing by stripping out the dumb stuff that was required by stellar federation beauracracy. There's probably some stuff like that in your ground manufactories too. (Reduces the CP cost but not BP cost of your ground manufactories).
-[] Grand Cruisers (400 RP) Making a ship design that's not spaghetti takes time and effort. It's still boring. But if you want to make queens of the void, its necessary. (unlocks grand cruisers, half of the prereq for battleships)
-[] Medium Defense Platforms (100 RP) You've already got most of the tools you need to build bigger defensive platforms, but these would be a larger platform to stick guns on, with more ability to withstand damage. (Unlocks medium defensive platforms, potential for other void-based installation options)
-[] Streamlined ship design (150 RP) You can improve your tools for ship design to make it easier to design ships in the future. That might be nice (Halves the RP cost to design new ships, may unlock other ship design improvements)
-[] Efficient Equipment Distribution (100 RP) Let's see if you can apply the benefits from weapon packing to equipment (Combat equipment costs count as 0.9x for ship capacity packing.)
-[] Extremely Efficient Weapon Distribution (200 RP) You did a good job already in packing more weapons into less space. But you think you see ways to make it even better (Weapons cost at 0.75 for ship capacity packing)
-[] Boarding Capabilities (100 RP) Apparently it's common for ships in this day and age to board each other and for the crew to fight hand-to-hand. Instead of, you know, chucking enormous missiles at each other. Insane. Well, it might be a nice capability to have in case you want to capture ships intact. (Unlocks boarding torpedoes and boarding craft for hangers, may combine with stealth research to unlock stealth borders)
-[] 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 (50 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 (100 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 Void shields (200 RP) Your current shields are good, but they could be better. Specifically, you want to make multi-layered shields, which could be applied to anything larger than a destroyer (Unlocks heavy void shields for ships and stations, as well as further research for void shielding improved for recharge speed, layered defenses, etc.)
-[] Heavy In-atmosphere void shields (100 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 (100 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 (250 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 (100 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 (50 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: (600 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 (400 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: (300 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, as well as half of the requirements to integrate machine spirits with psychic shielding).
-[] Miniaturized psychic shielding: (200 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).
-[] Scrapcode Research (200 RP) How does scrapcode work? Obviously the answer is "psychic shenanigans," but you'd like to get a little bit more detail than that. Maybe you'll be able to defend against it in some way. (Understanding of scrapcode that's likely useful for defending against it. Grants light reduction to shield damage from scrapcode and unlocks technology to further reduce psychic damage from scrapcode, and potential technologies to generate or store scrapcode for your own use.)
- [] 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)
-[] Abacus Manufacturing (200 RP) You understand all of the physical parts of an abacus. Now you need to figure out all of the manufacturing techniques needed to actually put one together. (Unlocks the void abacus ship equipment)
-[] Abacus-Warp interactions (100 RP) The one part of the abacus you don't understand is how it interacts with the warp. That part is just weird, and you need to put in some more brain-sweat to figure it out. (Better understanding of the void abacus, necessary for any improvements on the basic design, and unlocks technology for better warp understanding).
-[] Gravity Weapons (200 RP) You know it's possible to use gravity as a weapon, though it sounds a bit crazy. But still, it might be worth trying? (Unlocks basic graviton weapons for infantry, vehicles and warships, as well as research for more advanced graviton weapons. Half of the research necessary for Nova Cannons)
-[] The Biggest Boom (150 RP) So. There's no actual upper limit for how big a fusion warhead can get. But it does get more complicated to build bigger and bigger bombs. Let's figure that out. (Unlocks bigger, exterminatus-grade warheads for nukes. The other half of the research necessary for Nova Cannons)
-[] Superconductive Shenanigans (200 RP) Room-temperature superconductors are a thing. But only kind of, and they still need to be highly pressurized to be stable. You know some people cracked this problem, but they didn't publish on it, which was annoying. But you think you might have an idea how they did it. Figuring it out would be great for manufacturing, and drop costs across the board. (A flat production boost of 5-15% depending on rolls).
-[] Improved combat Machine spirits (100 RP) Right now the machine spirits can match the performance of bots you directly control. However, with some tweaking of their networks, structure and code you think you can make an across-the-board improvement in aim, tactics and decision-making of the machine spirits in combat. (Improved combat performance of machine-spirit imbued infantry & vehicle forces. May unlock technology for improved tactical coordination, as well as improved combat performance of machine-spirit equipped ships/larger installations)
-[] Large-scale Machine spirits (150 RP) As it stands, you can integrate machine spirits into small things. Expanding that to military installations and ships is going to require designing even more complex networks and figuring out how to make them work. With Anexa's insights you think it's eminantly possible thought (Unlocks machine-spirit equipped versions of frigate-sized or smaller ships and platforms, as well as most defensive installations. Unlocks more research for machine spirits for larger ships & platforms.)
-[] Manufacturing Machine Spirits (100 RP) Making machine spirits run reactors and shoot guns is one thing, but making them build something? That poses another challenge. You don't think it's insurmountable though. (Unlocks machine-spirit controlled manufactories, orbital manufactories and deep-space manufactories. Unlocks more research for other kinds of machine-spirit aided manufacturing).
-[] Machine Spirit Chaos resistance (300 RP) You think the reason that the machine spirits resist chaos is because they understand their purpose to some extent, and the entire neural network needs to be corrupted to corrupt that purpose, which is harder. There's also emotional simulation that's going on in there. (Improves the basal resistance of machine spirits to chaos corruption. May unlock further technology down this chain, as well as half of the requirements to integrate machine spirits with psychic shielding.)
-[] Miniaturized antigrav (50 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 (50 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)
-[] An Introduction to Human Genetics (100 RP) Humans are complex creatures, but apparently their manufacturing instructions are just 6 billion bits long, and most of that seems redundant. Interesting. (Unlocks very basic genetic enhancements, as well as a basic understanding of mutations. Unlocks research for more complex genetic engineering, and may lead to research to fix mutations)
-[] Does in vitro have something to do with wine? (200 RP) Unlocks the ability to clone basic humans (Unlocks the cloning bay, as well as further technology to clone things other than baseline humans, like humans without brains for organs or humans with more dramatic genetic mutations. Along with brain implants may lead to personality backups).
-[] You don't need no stinkin' medical school (50 RP) You've got a few auto-doc modules that can prescribe drugs based on symptoms or do basic surgeries. If you actually understood the medicine you'd be able to perform better care, as well as do more advanced surgeries (Unlocks better medical care, as well as general enhancements to surgeries, cybernetic augmentations and more. May be a prerequisite to further biomedical research. Also unlocks more research for advanced medical care, which will likely reduce other research costs and be a prerequisite for advanced augmentations.)
-[] Drugs? Drugs. (100 RP) Human biochemistry is... weird. You've got a standard list of recipies for basic drugs, but if you wanted to get further into it you could start pulling out some stranger and more illicit ones from your research databanks. (Unlocks a wide variety of drugs for things like interrogation, combat, sedation, etc. May lead to research for things like perfect knockout gas, super-adrenaline, psytech drugs, etc.)
-[] Juvenat Beginnings (600 RP) Ok. Juvenat is complicated. You're able to make it by following a formula that is at times precise, at times general and at times just - what? Maybe start to delve into the science of that. (Unlocks a basic understanding of juvenat, and may make it more efficient to produce. Tech cost will be reduced by other biomedical researchers. The start of the juvenat research tree.)
-[] Rapid hacking (500RP) 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? Will unlock further hacking technology).
-[] Improved Machine-spirit Jamming (300 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 (150 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 samples/installations/prereqs:
-[] Advanced organ replacements (150 RP) Your organ replacements almost fully replicate the real thing, and have some useful auxiliary functions. But they can't adjust to shocks in body homeostasis and they do need to be replaced every decade or so. You think you can make them as good or slightly better than the real thing, including the potential to grow with the bearer. (Unlocks organs which actually just replace normal organs almost perfectly. Likely to synergize with other implant/cybernetics/enhancement techs). Locked behind You don't need no stinkin' medical school.-[] Superhuman organ replacements (300 RP) Your organ replacements almost fully replicate the real thing, and have some useful auxiliary functions. But there's another level of improvement that's possible here. You could make organs that conveyed superhuman characteristics on the wearers. Improved oxygen transfer rate, improved bone density, immunity to most toxins, improved healing rate. (Unlocks advanced organs implants which grant superhuman capabilities. Not quite space-marine-level, but that's the next tech, though these are still artifical). Locked behind You don't need no stinkin' medical school and Advanced Combat cybernetics.
-[] Advanced Neural Implants (150 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 You don't need no stinkin' medical school.
-[] 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 (150 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.
-[] High-energy Physics (300 RP) There's some pretty crazy stuff you can do with physics. Especially when the energy exponents really start getting insane. However, that's going to take a bit of testing - maybe on a planetoid you don't care too much about. Or in space. (The next steps towards bigger, badder weapons, such as fusion beamers, disintegration weapons. Half of the research for vortex weaponry.) Locked behind a High-Energy Physics Research Lab
-[] Navigator Genetics (500 RP) So... you have some navigator genetic material. You can poke at that, see if you can figure out how it works. They had a reputation even back in your day, and it only seems to have gotten worse. Still, tempting. (Unlocks basic understanding of navigator genetics. Will unlock further technology to improve the health of navigators, as well as technology to allow you to clone navigators.) Locked behind tech you haven't unlocked yet - probably 1-2 down the human genetics chain depending on rolls.
-[] Navigator Gestation (200 RP) You have a navigator fetus. You don't know what to do with that beyond the obvious. So, how would you do it? Well, you doubt you could just implant it into somebody. From the traces left behind on Klyssar's nest you should do this in a tank. (Allows you to turn the navigator fetus into a navigator baby) Locked behind the Does in vitro have something to do with wine? and maybe a followup tech depending on rolls.
-[] Psytech Machine spirits (100 RP) You don't think that machine spirits can be psychically active. However, from what you understand of psytech it's a temperamental and difficult discipline, and you think that integrating machine spirits into the construction of psytech might improve its reliability and performance. (Improves psytech, at the cost of making it somewhat more expensive. May lead to more advanced versions for more advanced psytech, and may contribute to better psychic shields) Locked behind The Basics of Psytech.
Crew :
Anexa Ifina, Tech-priest Errant.Level 8
-[] 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
Specialty (1/1): Machine Spirits. Grants a +5 bonus when doing research rolls involving machine spirits.
Victan Thallos, Spy.
Level 8
-[] 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.
Thanks to @Nightlord256 for the Victan AI reference image! It's much better than the ones I was getting.
I adjusted a few other numbers on the various ship designs. You don't absolutely need to build a large shipyard to build your main ship, but building it without that will be more expensive.
The sector is renamed to fit into the larger sector map. You're not right next to the Eye of Terror, but you're not too far away either.
You can refit existing bots and later manufactories with the new machine-spirit guidance for one quarter of their old base cost. Replacing the whole command-and-control system is expensive, man. The only reason it's such a large reduction in CP is because the bots were intentionally CP-expensive, and Anexa crit. You won't get such a large reduction in ship/manufacturing costs... without another crit.
That bit at the end is a reminder that this sector is going to devolve sooner or later. You've still got a few turns before anything really bad happens. But. Consider this a warning, intuited from the starmap, that this station isn't going to be overlooked for long.
I am not certain, but I think I've been nominated for Best New Work on SV for 2024! I think the voting opens tomorrow and runs through December. I'm probably going to shamelessly ask for votes in following updates because I want to win.
Lets do 24 hours of moratorium and 22 hours of voting. I'm not sure I'll be able to write the next update quickly, but as always we'll see what happens!
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I'm not saving them. If you want to design them, have them as part of a research action for a winning vote. They're all slightly out of date at the moment because I changed some numbers due to the tech that happened this turn, but they're good designs that should work with a bit of tweaking.
Yeah, it's worth keeping in mind that part of setting up a research program would be teaching them to do research. Which - if it goes well - might help Denva a lot in the future.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
We also should, IMO, miniaturize the Shield to see if we can get it to building size for them.