Vox Vitae: Warhammer AI quest

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[X] Plan: Spinning Up and Leave Next Turn

The planet will still be there next turn and the reaction they will have to our ancient story will tell us if its even worth trying to diplomance them.(which i think is our default answer to any hails?)
Also the earlier we get the permanent RP boost the better.
 
[X] Plan: Look, it's clear we have a weakness for space nuns with Diplomats

[X] Plan: Blessed Shields and Holy Relics (Are For Trading)

Xon said:
We need to collect some battle nuns for Vita Cia.
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There may be more sophisticated reasons, but this is a big one. I like sororitas. They are like the opposite of orcs.

Neablis said:
That's a lot of research. I did this to myself, didn't I. Maybe I should be less free with research bonuses? Naww. It'll get better once you get further out into the tech trees and costs go up.
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Cheap basic tech and expensive advanced tech is an incentive to spread ourselves more evenly, rather than trying to specialize.

random_npc said:
give no information, simply leave, give no information, simply leave
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Ok, but why? It's not like we are going to find more interesting systems- this one has a webway gate and populated world- and this is a brand new society for us to study. It's not like we have a deadline or are in a rush.

MSH said:
We certainly should not be empowering an orthodox Imperial society, and reformatting their society isn't our business
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I guess I'm trying to understand what is driving this. What is our business, to you?
 
OfManyForms said:
[X] Plan: Spinning Up and Leave Next Turn

The planet will still be there next turn and the reaction they will have to our ancient story will tell us if its even worth trying to diplomance them.(which i think is our default answer to any hails?)
Also the earlier we get the permanent RP boost the better.
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The default reaction to our ancient story is "You're a fucking liar and a heretic." We are not in a position to prove our benevolence despite not having been born to the imperium, and while the planet will still be there next turn, so will their memory of us snubbing them now.

Don't confuse "worth diplomacy" for "worth being friends". Their administratum has records of the local system and traffic through Ascalon that we want, the ecclesiarchy and sororitas has information about the imperial faith we want with Neablis saying it could be relevant to our faith studies research outright:
Neablis said:
Having Sisters of Battle on hand would probably have some interesting combinations with the faith-based research too.
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Holy artifact samples to study. Faith superpower users to observe. New imperial tech (power armor especially!) to reverse engineer (and they'll effectively be paying us to do it!). Administratum records to give us a clearer picture of the neighborhood, and getting them used to and a positive impression of the tech base of their neighbors (Denva).

That's plenty of reason to want diplomacy. Diplomacy does not mean friendship - sometimes it's just transactional, and I think Alectai/Meian's explorator sponsor story works best. From our position of power all we have to worry about as far as harm they can do to us goes is our reputation, and I think said write-in works far better than the Ancient story as well.

Anyways, @Neablis hasn't said what we'd call ourselves if we don't write anything in, I think.


Lastly - Plan: Blessed Shields and Holy Relics (Are For Trading) takes advanced implants with Anexa, setting us up to get the HSI tech next turn easy squeezy. We're fine on that end.
 
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Whatever we go with in terms of diplomacy (and I know I said this before but I need to emphasise this), we should go with the belief that the Eldar may have intentionally made the Imperials so dysfunctional here (ignoring the rift and the withdrawal order).

Whatever we do here, we should check ans see if we're interfering with anything by doing anything more permanent.

A crate of melta guns is fine, reworking the planet to be ready for when Denva assimilates it is gonna rock the boat.
 
BigFungus26 said:
Whatever we go with in terms of diplomacy (and I know I said this before but I need to emphasise this), we should go with the belief that the Eldar may have intentionally made the Imperials so dysfunctional here (ignoring the rift and the withdrawal order).

Whatever we do here, we should check ans see if we're interfering with anything by doing anything more permanent.

A crate of melta guns is fine, reworking the planet to be ready for when Denva assimilates it is gonna rock the boat.
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Agreed - the plans I'm voting for stay on the "crate of melta guns" side though, so it's a mostly dealt with concern in that case.
 
BigFungus26 said:
Whatever we go with in terms of diplomacy (and I know I said this before but I need to emphasise this), we should go with the belief that the Eldar may have intentionally made the Imperials so dysfunctional here (ignoring the rift and the withdrawal order).
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Not like they could move several billion people, someone had to stay and the infighting seems to be within imperial norms.
 
Prime 2.0 said:
Besides what Alectai said, this is exactly the kind of tumultuous time that could break that dry streak - and incentivizing people to act in the good of the imperium with the power they get when terra isn't or can't be looking is exactly what a warrant of trade would be incentive for, no? Aspiring rogue trader means we have aspirations of becoming on, not that we're already in the process of being one - and especially for this job in particular, nobody's going to read "aspiring" as "in training".

So we don't have to convince them that we'll succeed, just that we're actually trying and that we think we have a shot.

And bluntly, if we can swing it we're certainly not going to turn a warrant of trade down, lmao. This isn't really all that deceptive, certainly not in comparison to accepting that we shouldn't try convincing them of the exceptionally-hard-to-prove truth that we're an ancient.

These are people more zealous than the space marines, and unlike those space marines these battle nuns can't look at Denva for themselves to see that we haven't fucked the place over. Our denvan cover story is not a workable first introduction, and Alectai's plan gives us the foundation for one that is more suitable for our exploration.

Its lies remain lies of omission - the two coming into contact are not going to cause much of a problem.
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Issue is getting caught in lies of omission, especially omission of important things, can start people asking what we're not telling them. Say, that we're an AI.
 
DragonParadox said:
Not like they could move several billion people, someone had to stay and the infighting seems to be within imperial norms.
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True, but even so, this would be an ideal situation for any Corsairs or Drukhari who want an easy meal, and I could even see the craftworlders intentionally keeping them like this if it means hiding the presence of the webgate.

Point being is that - while the evidence is sketchy - we do have a logical theory that the system the webgate resides in is kept in a state of infighting for as long as possible for Eldar interests.

Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions, but the Drukhari I've conjured in my brain is looking at Ascalon and salivating at the exposed and vulnerable world the same way you'd eye a chicken in an oven.
 
Decided to expand our deals to the Admininstratum based on suggestions. Considering how much early DAoT-tier manufacturing we have, this seems sensible.

@Prime 2.0 decided to go with your idea, does this look good to you?
meianmaru said:
EDIT: added a line for diplomacy "Approach also Adminstratum about trading for records on their stellar neighborhood and any ships that have passed through."
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BigFungus26 said:
True, but even so, this would be an ideal situation for any Corsairs or Drukhari who want an easy meal, and I could even see the craftworlders intentionally keeping them like this if it means hiding the presence of the webgate.

Point being is that - while the evidence is sketchy - we do have a logical theory that the system the webgate resides in is kept in a state of infighting for as long as possible for Eldar interests.

Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions, but the Drukhari I've conjured in my brain is looking at Ascalon and salivating at the exposed and vulnerable world the same way you'd eye a chicken in an oven.
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Fair, but as long as we do not give them any serious tech that should not matter. Hell say we give them a thousand plasma riffles, the kind of gift that would make what we gave the marines look like peanuts... it isn't going to make them anymore able to catch up to Drukari raiders or notice when some seer is leading them around by the nose. We have a very limited ability to make this mess any more functional even if we wanted to which we do not, we are just tying to make a good trade... which come to think of it is very much in the spirit of a Rogue Trader. :V
 
For what we could say in terms of Diplomacy, here's what I've got:

[ ] (DIPLOMACY): Explain that you are an explorer who came to Ascalon to make some quick repairs and trade with the locals - Warp travel was pretty bumpy and the Tech-Priests onboard need to look things over - and you could come to a chapel for a sermon or two, you'd love to hear them out! [Bubbly as all hell? :V ]
-[ ] But if not, we won't be long, just need a few years to mumble mumble Flux Capacitor mumble mumble machine-spirit
 
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DragonParadox said:
Fair, but as long as we do not give them any serious tech that should not matter. Hell say we give them a thousand plasma riffles, the kind of gift that would make what we gave the marines look like peanuts... it isn't going to make them anymore able to catch up to Drukari raiders or notice when some seer is leading them around by the nose. We have a very limited ability to make this mess any more functional even if we wanted to which we do not, we are just tying to make a good trade... which come to think of it is very much in the spirit of a Rogue Trader. :V
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Giving the Sororitas a thousand plasma rifles might lead to a short sharp purge where half the Administratum turns out to have been heretical charcoal briquettes all along. Or half the Ministorum, conceivably, depending on just who the Sisters are especially sick of.

Breaking the balance of power might be good or bad for the general public, but it could be pretty broken.
 
Aineko said:
Giving the Sororitas a thousand plasma rifles might lead to a short sharp purge where half the Administratum turns out to have been heretical charcoal briquettes all along. Or half the Ministorum, conceivably, depending on just who the Sisters are especially sick of.

Breaking the balance of power might be good or bad for the general public, but it could be pretty broken.
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Sure, but that doesn't change much in the long run when it comes to the planet, those riffles aren't going to make them better administrators and they are not going to make them any better at foiling Eldar plots. At most we would make for mild entertainment for any watching seers.
 
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I'll be honest with y'all. Leaving the fate of the planet to the Sororitas might be a worse idea than the already corrupt Administratum. The Administratum is happy to leave folk in misery while Bolter Bitches would go out of their way to ensure that folk are living in misery as a sign of penance.
 
Prime 2.0 said:
The default reaction to our ancient story is "You're a fucking liar and a heretic." We are not in a position to prove our benevolence despite not having been born to the imperium, and while the planet will still be there next turn, so will their memory of us snubbing them now.

Don't confuse "worth diplomacy" for "worth being friends". Their administratum has records of the local system and traffic through Ascalon that we want, the ecclesiarchy and sororitas has information about the imperial faith we want with Neablis saying it could be relevant to our faith studies research outright:


Holy artifact samples to study. Faith superpower users to observe. New imperial tech (power armor especially!) to reverse engineer (and they'll effectively be paying us to do it!). Administratum records to give us a clearer picture of the neighborhood, and getting them used to and a positive impression of the tech base of their neighbors (Denva).

That's plenty of reason to want diplomacy. Diplomacy does not mean friendship - sometimes it's just transactional, and I think Alectai/Meian's explorator sponsor story works best. From our position of power all we have to worry about as far as harm they can do to us goes is our reputation, and I think said write-in works far better than the Ancient story as well.

Anyways, @Neablis hasn't said what we'd call ourselves if we don't write anything in, I think.


Lastly - Plan: Blessed Shields and Holy Relics (Are For Trading) takes advanced implants with Anexa, setting us up to get the HSI tech next turn easy squeezy. We're fine on that end.
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I just dont see the value in a construction action that could be useless if the diplo roll fails.
(or commit to a bunch more diplo actions because of that otherwise wasted construction action.)

Neablis said this wasnt going to be an easy diplo roll and i dont want to stay here that long, especially when we instead could just trade for stuff with the eldar. Also there is a very high chance that these low hanging fruit we would be trading for with our top of the line ancient tech is just around the corner in one of the next systems on a dead hiveworld.
 
[X] Plan: Spinning Up and Leave Next Turn

It is a funny thing mechanically we're very rewarded with von neumanning and researching, we have 20 turns of evidence but haven't yet felt exploration reward. I'm sure there will be!

But in terms of instincts so far in the quest, is to research and build stuff. I don't think this world has much of interest, and I don't want to spend time delving into a place where one half didn't talk to the visiting grand cruiser and the other literally told us to kill ourselves. And they seem low tech. I don't want to play 'uplift and fix every shitty imperial world we see'.

Want to explore! Find daot ruins, meet cool xenos civilizations, and research the shit out of everything.
 
OfManyForms said:
I just dont see the value in a construction action that could be useless if the diplo roll fails.
(or commit to a bunch more diplo actions because of that otherwise wasted construction action.)

Neablis said this wasnt going to be an easy diplo roll and i dont want to stay here that long, especially when we instead could just trade for stuff with the eldar. Also there is a very high chance that these low hanging fruit we would be trading for with our top of the line ancient tech is just around the corner in one of the next systems on a dead hiveworld.
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Aside from what DP just said, the construction action amps up every success bracket, that's how material offers work in this quest. When Neablis says "it will be hard", unless he's introducing an entirely new mechanic he means it'll be a harsh results table... which is what the well-considered construction action and good write-in solves.

That we also have the mechanicus on board, which the quest text explicitly says is helpful for interfacing with Imperial planets, makes this... well, good, basically. We're good.

And Victan hasn't let us down yet.

Like, man, let's be honest here the things that are citing as not making this world worth any attempt at trade or contact are going to be common across nearly all imperial worlds. We look like a xenos at first glance. Our story to denva of being an ancient won't fly. Individual imperial worlds don't have much, they're kept intentionally dependent on the rest of the imperium.

But they're still going to have cool things, and we're going to have to try sometime. Why on earth not now?
 
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