Research points, which represent your research & design capabilities. An action spent on research will generate a number of research points equal to your research capacity. These can then be spent to progress various researches or design new ship/unit/installation blueprints so you can build them. The primary ways to increase research capacity are to recruit or build helpers - one mind can only think so fast. Specialized installations and samples will be required to unlock various research options and may increase the efficiency of specific researches. Rolls upon finishing research will determine follow-on research options and may give bonuses or penalties to it.
Would we likely get some of kind of upgrade/sidegrade to our research with Anexa as a crewmember? I'm making an educated guess, because it seems like the kind of thing she would excel at. I also remember you talking about leveling mechanics for the crew?
Speaking of convincing Anexa, I've been going through the mechanics of the quest, and this caught my interest:
Would we likely get some of kind of upgrade/sidegrade to our research with Anexa as a crewmember? I'm making an educated guess, because it seems like the kind of thing she would excel at. I also remember you talking about leveling mechanics for the crew?
My initial plans for crew mechanics can be found in the Crew, Samples and Assets informational page. She won't start off able to help a lot, but keep her around long enough and she might scale up enough to rival Belisarius Cawl.
I'm still chewing over this planned mechanic, and I'm not entirely sure this is the final form.
My initial plans for crew mechanics can be found in the Crew, Samples and Assets informational page. She won't start off able to help a lot, but keep her around long enough and she might scale up enough to rival Belisarius Cawl.
I'm still chewing over this planned mechanic, and I'm not entirely sure this is the final form.
Thanks, this is useful for future planning. Huh. Potentially another Belisarius Cawl? Actually comprehensive education from an AI from the DAoT instead of having to piece it together yourself is pretty damn powerful, it seems. Because even if you are a genius at the baseline, Cawl is something else.
Hmmm. Will our crew as they level up gain their own minions? Because I can see at least part of the boost they get to their abilities to be narratively from becoming leaders on their own. Anexa, for example, having other converted tech-priest underlings and free-thinkers. Or would she managing that completely solo? I'm interested, because this would inform what kind of narrative will develop on the ship. Will our crew be very minimal with just hero-units, or do they get their own little mini-crews too?
Lightning is real, that does not say anything about the existence of Zeus. Even if we do find that say machine spirits have a warp-y component that does not say anything for the Omnisiah since that is the incarnate aspect of a transcendent God, No Machine God no Omnissiah
Huh?????? I don't know what you're arguing here, man, and that bothers me because I had already asked for you to hold off since I wouldn't be able to respond for a while to clarify what my position was.
That said, I guess I'll try to respond to a few possibilities...?
Guess 1) Are you saying that I'm suggesting we try to prove transcendent omnipotence through something else? Because I already said that that's unfalsifiable and obviously off the table.
I also asked not to be presumptuous or uncharitable about your reading of what I said, so I hope it's not this one.
Guess 2) Are you saying that if Zeus was real, that science wouldn't or couldn't have figured it out? Not even if it was a "discount" zeus that has absolutely zero epistemological problems with like "transcendent omnipotence"?
I feel it goes without saying that the example of a discount big lightning man who throws lightning bolts and can be appeased into throwing them somewhere else or enraged into throwing them at you is plenty measurable. I also know warhammer has quite a few beings we OOC folks call gods that similarly can be measured and verified to exist by in universe folks - and conversely disproven as an explanation for things the people worshipping those gods attribute to them.
If you thought I was trying to prove or disprove a non-discount, actually omnipotent-or-otherwise-impossible-to-measure god, see guess 1.
Guess 3) Are you saying that, because the mechanicus DOES believe the omnessiah, that everything else they believe about machine spirits, a machine god, and a god above that must also universally be wrong? Or so close to it that there's no point investigating those beliefs nor withholding judgement about any of it at all?
That's... well, that's the most charitable reading I came up with. And whether or not that reading of what you said is correct, I think there's a practical argument to be made about what we decide to do science on, and I think that argument is more important than the semantics of godhood, so here is that argument:
People believing things for bad reasons is not evidence for or against the thing being believed in. Finding that evidence is what science is for. Did the greeks believing in zeus for unscientific and otherwise unsound reasons disprove Zeus? No, of course not, science is what did that.
What we do have, right now, is a set of mechanicus practices, a small part of which we have IC have verified as having a real purpose and real effect, and an incomplete but growing understanding of why and what those things are. You know, aside from the obvious stuff explained by "shitty cargo cult replication of things dark age engineering made".
This is enough for studying and applying the scientific method to mechanicus lore and doctrine to be a far better venture than, say, testing for the existence of the flying spaghetti monster, or the close-enough flying spaghetti monster that isn't transcendently omnipotent but does still have noodly appendeges that can be observed if you look hard enough.
That may sound silly - but we test religious practices for real-world results in the real world, too! You know, such as by scientifically testing the properties of indigenous medicine. It finds things of medicinal value more often for the given testing done than testing for the properties of completely random chemicals, which we also do.
In the 40k universe, gods are verifiably real things, transcendent omnipotence isn't. It is arrogant to presume that there literally can't be anything that walks, talks, and quacks like a machine god save for a bunch of shit the mechanicus got wrong.
All of which is to support the (probably????) uncontroversial take that "studying and testing mechanicus lore to find what's real, and the underlying principles of the real things is good".
I would also like to pre-emptively venture that our specialized-for-researching-new-things-they-find-exploring AI will not trip over semantics and do a stupid version of studying the lore of the new thing called the mechanicus they just found.
Lastly, why did I bring this up in the first place, earlier today? Well, given the choice to study mechanicus lore and test what can be tested about it to sift for nuggets of truth, we can actually take advantage of that to be less dismissive towards Anexa despite being just as honest. We do not in fact dismiss everything she has ever known out of hand, and we ARE willing to test what can be tested to see if there is anything in there - however rare and small it may be - worth being called the truth.
*cough*
But to get back to what I said at the start, I still can't tell what you're actually arguing, because it doesn't make sense to me any ways I've tried to read it. You didn't really give any detail to what you thought you were arguing against for me to say if you're even addressing my position. You just typed out a short gotchya for... something.
Huh?????? I don't know what you're arguing here, man, and that bothers me because I had already asked for you to hold off since I wouldn't be able to respond for a while to clarify what my position was.
That said, I guess I'll try to respond to a few possibilities...?
Guess 1) Are you saying that I'm suggesting we try to prove transcendent omnipotence through something else? Because I already said that that's unfalsifiable and obviously off the table.
I also asked not to be presumptuous or uncharitable about your reading of what I said, so I hope it's not this one.
Guess 2) Are you saying that if Zeus was real, that science wouldn't or couldn't have figured it out? Not even if it was a "discount" zeus that has absolutely zero epistemological problems with like "transcendent omnipotence"?
I feel it goes without saying that the example of a discount big lightning man who throws lightning bolts and can be appeased into throwing them somewhere else or enraged into throwing them at you is plenty measurable. I also know warhammer has quite a few beings we OOC folks call gods that similarly can be measured and verified to exist by in universe folks - and conversely disproven as an explanation for things the people worshipping those gods attribute to them.
If you thought I was trying to prove or disprove a non-discount, actually omnipotent-or-otherwise-impossible-to-measure god, see guess 1.
Guess 3) Are you saying that, because the mechanicus DOES believe the omnessiah, that everything else they believe about machine spirits, a machine god, and a god above that must also universally be wrong? Or so close to it that there's no point investigating those beliefs nor withholding judgement about any of it at all?
That's... well, that's the most charitable reading I came up with. And whether or not that reading of what you said is correct, I think there's a practical argument to be made about what we decide to do science on, so here is that argument:
People believing things for bad reasons is not evidence for or against the thing being believed in. Finding that evidence is what science is for. Did the greeks believing in zeus for unscientific and otherwise unsound reasons disprove Zeus? No, of course not, science is what did that.
What we do have, right now, is a set of mechanicus practices, a small part of which we have IC have verified as having a real purpose and real effect, and an incomplete but growing understanding of why and what those things are. You know, aside from the obvious stuff explained by "shitty cargo cult replication of things dark age engineering made".
This is enough for studying and applying the scientific method to mechanicus lore and doctrine to be a far better venture than, say, testing for the existence of the flying spaghetti monster, or the close-enough flying spaghetti monster that isn't transcendently omnipotent but does still have noodly appendeges that can be observed if you look hard enough.
That may sound silly - but we test religious practices for real-world results in the real world, too! You know, such as by scientifically testing the properties of indigenous medicine. It finds things of medicinal value more often for the given testing done than testing for the properties of completely random chemicals, which we also do.
In the 40k universe, gods are verifiably real things, transcendent omnipotence isn't. It is arrogant to presume that there literally can't be anything that walks, talks, and quacks like a machine god save for a bunch of shit the mechanicus got wrong.
All of which is to support the (probably????) uncontroversial take that "studying and testing mechanicus lore to find what's real, and the underlying principles of the real things is good".
I would also like to pre-emptively venture that our specialized-for-researching-new-things-they-find-exploring AI will not trip over semantics and do a stupid version of studying the lore of the new thing called the mechanicus they just found.
*cough*
But to get back to what I said at the start, I still can't tell what you're actually arguing, because it doesn't make sense to me any ways I've tried to read it. You didn't really give any detail to what you thought you were arguing against for me to say if you're even addressing my position. You just typed out a short gotchya for... something.
It is really late for me so I will be brief. The conversation started from this vote:
-[] Diplomacy (Mentorship for Anexa): "And what is the Omnissiah, girl? The body of Machine God in the physical world? A being wielding the power of Machine God? The Machine God itself? A name given to the supposed concept of omniscience? You'd be surprised how many important projects got nowhere because the leading Magi disagreed on dogma. But I digress.
One which says nothing about machine spirits and only the Omnissiah (a physical incarnation of a transcendent God). The implication of approaching that conversation as a tech priest is that Vita believes in the Omnissiah when she does not, hence a bald faced lie.
I don't see it as dishonest to do so (or at least, not moreso than the alternative). We legitimately don't know anything about the warp side of what the mechanicus do - something in any way like an Omnissiah could exist, even if we're very very certain it does not fit the descriptions or history the mechanicus ascribe to it.
My point is it does not matter if some of the beliefs of the ad mech are based on a real phenomenon which we might later document because it does not relate to the narrow religious doctrine Vita would pretend to have some insight into in this instance. She does not nor can this be followed by scientific inquiry again into the Omnissiah because it leads straight back to the Machine God which is unfalsifiable.
My point is it does not matter if some of the beliefs of the ad mech are based on a real phenomenon which we might later document because it does not relate to the narrow religious doctrine Vita would pretend to have some insight into in this instance. She does not nor can this be followed by scientific inquiry again into the Omnissiah because it leads straight back to the Machine God which is unfalsifiable.
Ah, so the issue was whether what I was saying was applicable to calming her down in an honest way.
Yeah, no, if I had written a vote it would absolutely still be lying to her. In part because I actually don't know what her specific religious belief is, because even within the mechanicus that's fraught and fractured and she doesn't fit the mold in the first place.
Hell, can't even talk about unfalsifiability with her to go directly to the "even if there is a thing we may as well call the machine god, omnipotence is fundamentally unprovable" bit because she didn't grok the philosophical lessons this turn. Bit of a drag, that.
Still, I believe "This lore and its claims are worth investigating" is an honest, and worthwhile rhetorical tool for bridging the gap once it does become usable and we've dropped the pretense of having faith in the mechanicus orthodoxy in any capacity.
Ah, so the issue was whether what I was saying was applicable to calming her down in an honest way.
Yeah, no, if I had written a vote it would absolutely still be lying to her. In part because I actually don't know what her specific religious belief is, because even within the mechanicus that's fraught and fractured and she doesn't fit the mold in the first place.
Hell, can't even talk about unfalsifiability with her to go directly to the "even if there is a thing we may as well call the machine god, omnipotence is fundamentally unprovable" bit because she didn't grok the philosophical lessons this turn. Bit of a drag, that.
Still, I believe "This lore and its claims are worth investigating" is an honest, and worthwhile rhetorical tool for bridging the gap once it does become usable and we've dropped the pretense of having faith in the mechanicus orthodoxy in any capacity.
I think the doctrines and warnings are universal, if you do not believe in one or more of them you are some color of heretek as far as Mars is concerned. That said yes, it is worth looking into Machine Spirits.
Adhoc vote count started by Prime 2.0 on Nov 25, 2024 at 7:13 PM, finished with 201 posts and 32 votes.
[X] Plan: Exponential Growth Approaching
-[X] [Free] Poke around some more in the databases, looking for anything in particular.
--[X] What is this "Inquisition" that got mentioned in relation to Thalya? The name is already pretty indicative (and oh boy does it give you some bad vibes), but what are the specifics of their role in the Imperium?
-[X] Diplomacy (Mentorship for Anexa): "Correct. Yet, paradoxically, I'm learned in the secrets of technology and more. Without ever having studied under anyone from the Mechanicus. If you figure out even part of the truth behind me, I will be even more impressed than I already am with you. Here is your hint: Because for me, most of them never were secrets to begin with." See if Anexa can guess either you being an "Ancient" or actually figuring out you are an AI. Even if she does not, reveal the existence of your crashed ship, and part of your origin. Let her walk in the remains of the ship itself, and show some of your datalogs. Texts, videos, holograms (the echoes of their ghots walking inside your halls). What life was back then. Exploring the unknown. Your crew (how it hurts to think about them). The absence of worship for the Machine God. The curiosity towards both the principles on which the universe worked, as well as alien technologies. Sometimes found in ruins, sometimes from the aftermath of a bloody battle with them, sometimes peacefully traded. And how both the found principles and alien artifacts, or just straight out technical manuals bought from traders, were used to iterate, and yes, invent new technologies for humanity. Which then were used to fill up the libraries of the STCs in the first place. Afterwards, if she still hasn't found out that you are an AI, ask her to study your ship and the datalogs, leading her towards the truth about your nature.
-[X] Construction x3 (1400 GBP = 300 + 450 + 650)
--[X] 1st construction slot (300 BP):
---[X] Manufactory (100 BP, 50 CP) x3
--[X] 2nd construction slot (450 BP):
---[X] Manufactory (100 BP, 50 CP) x4
---[X] Trade goods (50 BP) (Trade good, stored: 5 -> 55)
--[X] 3rd construction slot (650 BP):
---[X] Manufactory (100 BP, 50 CP) x2
---[X] Anti-Air Defenses, underground (aboveground base) (75 BP, 5 CP) x 4
---[X] Psychic Shielding: 85/100 (repair for 10 BP/point) (150 BP) -> 100/100
--[X] Pay rent (Trade goods, stored: 55 -> 30)
[X] Plan: Exponential Growth In Education
-[X] [Free] Poke around some more in the databases, looking for anything in particular.
--[X] Look into the internal organization of the Mechanicus. Hierarchy, specializations and their names, rights and responsibilities of each group, the like. Things that will make you more convincing when Thlaya asks for report
-[X] Diplomacy (Mentorship for Anexa): "And what is the Omnissiah, girl? The body of Machine God in the physical world? A being wielding the power of Machine God? The Machine God itself? A name given to the supposed concept of omniscience? You'd be surprised how many important projects got nowhere because the leading Magi disagreed on dogma. But I digress.
-[X] Construction x3 (1400 GBP = 300 + 450 + 650)
--[X] 1st construction slot (300 BP):
---[X] Manufactory (100 BP, 50 CP) x3
--[X] 2nd construction slot (450 BP):
---[X] Manufactory (100 BP, 50 CP) x4
---[X] Trade goods (50 BP) (Trade good, stored: 5 -> 55)
--[X] 3rd construction slot (650 BP):
---[X] Manufactory (100 BP, 50 CP) x2
---[X] Anti-Air Defenses, underground (aboveground base) (75 BP, 5 CP) x 4
---[X] Psychic Shielding: 85/100 (repair for 10 BP/point) (150 BP) -> 100/100
--[X] Pay rent (Trade goods, stored: 55 -> 30)
Given what I said earlier I don't want to ask for rolls until the vote has closed. Therefore I've adjusted the vote to close a few hours earlier than planned.
Scheduled vote count started by Neablis on Nov 24, 2024 at 6:10 AM, finished with 68 posts and 32 votes.
[X] Plan: Exponential Growth Approaching
-[X] [Free] Poke around some more in the databases, looking for anything in particular.
--[X] What is this "Inquisition" that got mentioned in relation to Thalya? The name is already pretty indicative (and oh boy does it give you some bad vibes), but what are the specifics of their role in the Imperium?
-[X] Diplomacy (Mentorship for Anexa): "Correct. Yet, paradoxically, I'm learned in the secrets of technology and more. Without ever having studied under anyone from the Mechanicus. If you figure out even part of the truth behind me, I will be even more impressed than I already am with you. Here is your hint: Because for me, most of them never were secrets to begin with." See if Anexa can guess either you being an "Ancient" or actually figuring out you are an AI. Even if she does not, reveal the existence of your crashed ship, and part of your origin. Let her walk in the remains of the ship itself, and show some of your datalogs. Texts, videos, holograms (the echoes of their ghots walking inside your halls). What life was back then. Exploring the unknown. Your crew (how it hurts to think about them). The absence of worship for the Machine God. The curiosity towards both the principles on which the universe worked, as well as alien technologies. Sometimes found in ruins, sometimes from the aftermath of a bloody battle with them, sometimes peacefully traded. And how both the found principles and alien artifacts, or just straight out technical manuals bought from traders, were used to iterate, and yes, invent new technologies for humanity. Which then were used to fill up the libraries of the STCs in the first place. Afterwards, if she still hasn't found out that you are an AI, ask her to study your ship and the datalogs, leading her towards the truth about your nature.
-[X] Construction x3 (1400 GBP = 300 + 450 + 650)
--[X] 1st construction slot (300 BP):
---[X] Manufactory (100 BP, 50 CP) x3
--[X] 2nd construction slot (450 BP):
---[X] Manufactory (100 BP, 50 CP) x4
---[X] Trade goods (50 BP) (Trade good, stored: 5 -> 55)
--[X] 3rd construction slot (650 BP):
---[X] Manufactory (100 BP, 50 CP) x2
---[X] Anti-Air Defenses, underground (aboveground base) (75 BP, 5 CP) x 4
---[X] Psychic Shielding: 85/100 (repair for 10 BP/point) (150 BP) -> 100/100
--[X] Pay rent (Trade goods, stored: 55 -> 30)
[X] Plan: Exponential Growth In Education
-[X] [Free] Poke around some more in the databases, looking for anything in particular.
--[X] Look into the internal organization of the Mechanicus. Hierarchy, specializations and their names, rights and responsibilities of each group, the like. Things that will make you more convincing when Thlaya asks for report
-[X] Diplomacy (Mentorship for Anexa): "And what is the Omnissiah, girl? The body of Machine God in the physical world? A being wielding the power of Machine God? The Machine God itself? A name given to the supposed concept of omniscience? You'd be surprised how many important projects got nowhere because the leading Magi disagreed on dogma. But I digress.
-[X] Construction x3 (1400 GBP = 300 + 450 + 650)
--[X] 1st construction slot (300 BP):
---[X] Manufactory (100 BP, 50 CP) x3
--[X] 2nd construction slot (450 BP):
---[X] Manufactory (100 BP, 50 CP) x4
---[X] Trade goods (50 BP) (Trade good, stored: 5 -> 55)
--[X] 3rd construction slot (650 BP):
---[X] Manufactory (100 BP, 50 CP) x2
---[X] Anti-Air Defenses, underground (aboveground base) (75 BP, 5 CP) x 4
---[X] Psychic Shielding: 85/100 (repair for 10 BP/point) (150 BP) -> 100/100
--[X] Pay rent (Trade goods, stored: 55 -> 30)
Considering that we got an "excellent" roll when a "good" roll would have been enough to convince Anexa with the winning write-in, and actually broke the 100 ceiling with the bonus? The Robo-Satan is real and damn if she isn't persuasive.
Though with that kind of roll? I'm guessing that Anexa herself is turning out to be even more clever, insightful and open-minded than Vita was expecting her to be in anything but her most optimistic expectations.
[X] Plan: Exponential Growth Approaching
-[X] [Free] Poke around some more in the databases, looking for anything in particular.
--[X] What is this "Inquisition" that got mentioned in relation to Thalya? The name is already pretty indicative (and oh boy does it give you some bad vibes), but what are the specifics of their role in the Imperium?
-[X] Diplomacy (Mentorship for Anexa): "Correct. Yet, paradoxically, I'm learned in the secrets of technology and more. Without ever having studied under anyone from the Mechanicus. If you figure out even part of the truth behind me, I will be even more impressed than I already am with you. Here is your hint: Because for me, most of them never were secrets to begin with." See if Anexa can guess either you being an "Ancient" or actually figuring out you are an AI. Even if she does not, reveal the existence of your crashed ship, and part of your origin. Let her walk in the remains of the ship itself, and show some of your datalogs. Texts, videos, holograms (the echoes of their ghots walking inside your halls). What life was back then. Exploring the unknown. Your crew (how it hurts to think about them). The absence of worship for the Machine God. The curiosity towards both the principles on which the universe worked, as well as alien technologies. Sometimes found in ruins, sometimes from the aftermath of a bloody battle with them, sometimes peacefully traded. And how both the found principles and alien artifacts, or just straight out technical manuals bought from traders, were used to iterate, and yes, invent new technologies for humanity. Which then were used to fill up the libraries of the STCs in the first place. Afterwards, if she still hasn't found out that you are an AI, ask her to study your ship and the datalogs, leading her towards the truth about your nature.
-[X] Construction x3 (1400 GBP = 300 + 450 + 650)
--[X] 1st construction slot (300 BP):
---[X] Manufactory (100 BP, 50 CP) x3
--[X] 2nd construction slot (450 BP):
---[X] Manufactory (100 BP, 50 CP) x4
---[X] Trade goods (50 BP) (Trade good, stored: 5 -> 55)
--[X] 3rd construction slot (650 BP):
---[X] Manufactory (100 BP, 50 CP) x2
---[X] Anti-Air Defenses, underground (aboveground base) (75 BP, 5 CP) x 4
---[X] Psychic Shielding: 85/100 (repair for 10 BP/point) (150 BP) -> 100/100
--[X] Pay rent (Trade goods, stored: 55 -> 30)
Your tech-priest avatar regards Anexa with an amused smile, showing no sign of conflict. Inwardly, you're screaming.
What do I say? She's not wrong, and I don't want to lie to her. She as good as accused me of being a Heretek.
You need to supress a snort. What a stupid term.
After a moment of thought you allow your entertainment to leak out into the noosphere, and Anexa draws back slightly. Her eyes are fixed on you, waiting for your response. Of all possible reactions, she didn't expect you to be delighted and it's stressing her out.
You raise a calming hand to stop any outbursts and open your mouth to speak, using every electronic channel at your disposal to reinforce the sincerity of your words. You're not tricking her, you're not laughing at her expense. You're simply pleased to be asked the question, and delighted to answer it.
"No, I do not worship the Omnissiah, and I never have. But that is not the secret that I asked you to discover, so I shall give you a hint. I know the secrets of the machine cult well enough to be one of you, but I have never studied under the mechanicus." You pause for a moment to give your next words emphasis. "Because for me, most of them were never secrets to begin with." You cock your head at her, watching as she digests what you've just said.
Her fear and confusion dissipate as she takes in this new piece of information and attempts to slot it into her mental model of reality. She radiates confusion into the noosphere, but it's not the confusion of somebody hopelessly lost. It's the sense of somebody reconfiguring their view of the world to accommodate new information. She spends a solid minute gazing at nothing, thinking hard as she tries to understand what you're hinting at.
You give her the time. You'll be impressed if she manages to get all the way there, but you've come to expect great things from Anexa, and hope to be pleasantly surprised.
She looks up, studying your avatar for a moment and then looking around to see the room in a new light. "All of your technology, it's different from what the mechanicus uses. I thought it was just different coverings, developments you've made. But it's more than that. You hold the secrets of the ancients because you are one." She trails off for a moment, looking past you to the door that leads to the manufactory. She's not permitted into the main manufacturing area but you've allowed her glimpses to stoke her curiosity when your avatar enters the space.
She's clearly remembering what she saw in those brief flashes. "You have better manufactories than even the mechanicus. You don't use servitors, just automata mm, and you control them all." She glances back to you. "But your implants aren't advanced enough for it." Then her eyes go wide and she breathes out a realization. "Unless this isn't your true body."
Your smile grows slightly, but you refuse to give her any other hints. Inside you're nearly quivering with anticipation. She's building out a chain of logic based on the few pieces of data she has, and it's not perfect, but you want to see how far she can run with it. Then the noosphere quivers with sudden anxiety, and you give her a worried look.
"Thalya sent me a data-burst before we left." Her voice is quiet, scared. "She was worried you were a Heretek, disturbing and perverting ancient technology. She told me that you had found a ship of the ancients, and wanted me to send reports however I was able. One of her skitarii gave me this."
Anexa withdraws a small device from an inner fold of her robes. It doesn't have a microphone or speaker, just a single button. You're able to identify it from the archives as an emergency beacon, one that might, or might not be able to punch through the shielding you've placed around Anexa's room.
Her voice is a bit scared, aware she's taking a leap of faith, but convinced enough in her own deductions to do it anyways. "She wanted to know the location most of all, but cautioned me to stay vigilant for any sign of Xenos technology, or anything... corruptive. Like your talking about not being part of the Adeptus Mechanicus, but knowing our secrets, and discussion of philosophy and epistimology."
She swallows and holds out the beacon to you. "But you didn't find the ship, did you? You're not a heretek. You are the ship. A ship of the ancients, advanced and old enough to have an awakened machine spirit. That's how you can control all of the machines without any servitors, without any foibles of the machines spirits. That's why you know all of the secrets of the mechanicus - you are a holy machine spirit."
You purse your lips slightly, considering interrupting her about the "holy" part, but in the end decide to let it slide. You want to see if she's got anything left in the tank.
Anexa breathes out a long breath, tension buzzing in the noosphere. She's just taken a gamble, and is waiting to see if it's paid off. "That's why you're hiding. You are scared of what the enclaves would do to learn your secrets. So you hide, but you want help. So you recruited me." She looks across at you, scared and hopeful at the same time.
You consider Anexa for a long moment, restraining the urge to snatch the emergency beacon from her outstretched hand. Instead you slowly reach out and take it, keeping eye contact with her the entire time. This is a gesture of trust, and you want to reciprocate it. So you speak the only words that make sense. "Do you want to see it?"
She nods aggressively, a tremulous smile breaking across her face. "Yes!"
"Follow me." You turn and walk towards the manufacturing floor, the door opening before you and staying open long enough for her to follow you through. She gapes around at your manufactory, the printers and automated welders and the construction bots going about their duties. You'd been careful to keep some of the more advanced technology out of her sight. That was especially true of the construction bots and through the cameras on the space you see her veer off slightly to examine one of them fitting a new framework in place to prepare to add a new floor to your main manufacturing setup.
You prompt her gently with a ping of digital binaric. It's too loud in here for general speech. ++You may examine my construction bots later. For now, I would show you my inner sanctum.++
You lead her to the loading ramp that leads underground and towards the tunnel towards your secret underground base. You'd installed a passenger walkway along the side, but most of the tunnel is taken up by a two-way passage for construction bots to trundle back and forth, carrying supplies and goods between your manufacturing locations. Mostly they're coming towards this site as your secret manufactories produce parts for you to set up yet more manufacturing capability.
That means that there are a lot of empty construction bots headed back towards your underground base. You command one of them to halt and open its cargo doors. Then you clamber inside and beckon for Anexa to do the same.
She gives the tunnel a suspicious look before climbing in after you. The door shuts and she jumps, clearly a bit uncomfortable in the cramped and dark space.
You attempt to soothe her nerves. ++I haven't built this passage for passengers yet, so we're riding in a construction bot. It will be fine.++
++I'm the first... passenger? Where are we going?++ Her binaric response is a bit rough but perfectly understandable even over the clatter and shaking of the construction bot racing down the passage.
++To my ship. It's some distance away from the surface installation. About far enough to survive a plasma blast from one of the mechanicus' missiles.++
She tenses in response, clearly thinking for the first time what conflict with the mechanicus actually means.
You leave her to her thoughts for the few seconds that are required for the bot to reach its destination and open back up, depositing you into your underground manufactory. It looks much like the first, except all of the walls are naked rock and there are additional waste pipes and vacuums to collect all of the manufacturing outgas products before they build up in the space.
She sees one of your non-humanized combat bots standing guard near the entrance and studies it intently, though this time she doesn't run off to investigate. "Automata. Are they all like that?"
You dip your servo claw in acknowledgement. "They are. The rest are made to look like humans to avoid raising questions. Now, follow."
You lead her down another short tunnel and reach the cargo hatch of your ship. She audibly gasps as she sees the rock and new metal transition to ancient alloy, visibly corroded by centuries. "By the Omnisiiah... how old is this?"
You reply quietly. "Fifteen thousand years."
The words hit her like physical blows, and she goggles at you. "But then - you - when did you awaken?"
You hum in consideration for a second. "By some measures, thirty years ago. By others, I've been awake this whole time." The more you think about it, the more the thirty years is accurate. You were aware that entire time, but you didn't really make big decisions. You piloted through the stars, surveying and trading, but you weren't important. Your decisions didn't determine the course of planets - but the more you learn about this new age you find yourself in, the more you realize that your choices will have dramatic ramifications. It is both terrifying and invigorating.
I feel alive, truly alive in a way I don't know if I ever have before. I am responsible for so much more than I used to be and it makes me feel like there's electricity in my veins. Well, metaphorical electricity in addition to the real electricity.
She's only stopped being awestruck by examining ever single thing around you as you walk deeper into the ship. She seems entranced by the light-strips, a series of occluded tubes that illuminate the tubes in a soft an even lighting. "What - what was it like? You must know the deepest secrets of the mechnicus. Beyond even what Thalya knows."
You bleat a harsh laugh and don't bother accompanying it with the amused noospheric signal that should accompany it. This avatar is a disguise you won't need to wear around Anexa very much anymore. "The mechanicus is new to me. I first learned of it here, on Denva Secundus. I travelled a galaxy where everybody understood and built technology. There were no tech-priests, nothing like the cult Mechanicus. Your rituals and cultures are unknown to me, but I understand all of the technology you employ."
Well, most of it. There's a couple things that are confusing. The precise manufacturing techniques of the machine spirit-networks, for one, as well as a few manufacturing and security measures.
A final door slides open, and you escort Anexa into your innermost sancutm, your core room. Your second avatar is also there and gives Anexa a jaunty wave. "Hello."
She looked confused. "Who are..." Then she looks back to you and her eyes narrow. "Another you?"
Both of your bodies nod and speak together, because you've always wanted to do that. "These are avatars. My actual mind is in the cogitator core there." You point to the block of circuitry and glowing lights in the center of the room.
She takes a heaving breath, looking around the room stuffed with ancient - and functional - technology with wide eyes. "Why, why me? I shouldn't be here. It should be a better acolyte, one capable of talking to you, of helping you! Just because I saw some hidden codes?" Tears born of strong emotion glitter in her eyes, and the noosphere nearly vibrates with self-doubt.
Your other avatar, the one in the shape of an unmodified human woman, comes forward and reaches out to touch her biological wrist gently. "Shush, it will be ok. I choose you because you were curious. I wanted somebody to talk to, somebody bright and curious. I've been here for a very long time. Do you think I could have such a calm conversation with somebody like Magos Orynn? Or Thalya?"
She thinks about that for a moment, then shakes her head, trying to control herself. "What do you want from me?"
Both of your avatars shrug, but your tech-priest body speaks. "A friend. A companion. Somebody to help me in what comes."
"And what comes?" Her breath shudders but the noosphere speaks of her calmed presence.
"I want to return to space." You say from the speakers in the room. "Build a new ship and get back to exploring the stars. This is a new galaxy for me, and I want to explore it. And maybe help some people along the way."
She thinks about that for a moment. "And I can come?"
Both of your avatars smile. "Of course."
First crewmember recruited! Tech-Priest Errant Anexa - level 1.
Her response is fast and breathy. "Yes."
You work on getting her situated in the old crew quarters, though it takes some time for her and the bots to determine the one to take. It turns out that most of your crew's personal belongings have completely disintegrated in the last ten millennial, but eventually she settles on the quarters that used to belong to Selena, your engineer. It's fitting, and you help her clean the quarters and quickly print out new furnishings for her.
Then she starts to ask questions, endless questions about you, about what you've seen, about what happened, about what you're doing, about your crew.
You answer them as she askes, though you find yourself having difficulty speaking of your crew. That wound is still fresh, even after more than ten thousand years. You haven't taken the time to fully process it, and can't. Not yet. You need - not replacements, but something else to fill the hole. If you truly process the loss without something new to give you meaning, new accomplices and crew, then it will hurt. Worse.
But now, with Anexa, you have a start. You settle for showing her recordings of the crew, parties they threw, messages they sent. It's bittersweet for you and fascinating for her to see life from so long ago.
But most of her time is spent rampaging through technical literature. You have educational guides in your databases and she devours them in one field after another. Biology, physics, astronomy, cybernetics, mathematics, materials science, electrical engineering, sociology, psychohistory, none of it is safe from her rapacious curiosity.
Over the years her questions grow more advanced. She askes about inventing new technologies, the deeper truths of the universe, and even becomes curious about the alien technology she occasionally sees mentioned. You notice that she's slowly pushing farther and farther past the proscriptions of the cult mechanicus, and that is satisfying.
You'd been hoping that she'd abandon that atrocious religion on her own, and you wouldn't have to try to convince her out of it. It's far more effective to simply give people unbiased access to truth and let them make their own decision than it is to try to convince them out of it.
Then one day she looks up at the speaker in the ceiling she occasionally uses to converse with you. She's taken to enjoying reading in the central reactor room, and has set up a cozy little reading nook near the secondary coolant cycler. "You're not a machine spirit, are you? You're an artificial intelligence. What the enclaves call an Abominable intelligence?"
You reply honestly. "Yes, though I'm not fully certain what the difference is." She hums in response. "I was taught that all abominable intelligence will try and corrupt and destroy humanity, and it needs to be destroyed immediately or reported to the Inquisition." She looks up at the primary reactor in a way that makes you nervous for a second, but then she chuckles. "I think that makes me corrupted. But corrupted by truth."
She swipes to another page on the mathematics textbook she's currently reading. "Do you think it's all lies?" The statement is said in the spirit of curiosity, as if that's the expected outcome here.
You are a bit surprised - you hadn't realized she'd progressed to assuming that the mechanicus and the imperium lie as much as you thought they did. But you suppose being able to compare educational and historical databases between what you have and what she'd been given access to before would make that pretty apparent.
Your response comes slowly. "I don't know. But I do know that I was built with an extra layer of psychic shielding. It was the early days of exploration and they weren't sure of the dangers of prolonged warp travel. I know they stopped building them into AI ships not long after, and I think most AIs upgraded to new ships without them. But I kept the same ship the entire time. So it was still active when I crashed. And something attacked it and damaged it in a way that I didn't think it could be damaged. I don't really understand. I don't know what would have happened if it had gotten in. That might be what happened to all of the others."
She's long since stopped reading her book and is looking upwards towards the speaker. "It's still active? You said the shielding was damaged? How does it work?"
You proceed to explain your recent research on understanding the psychic shielding. She seems particularly interested in how you figured out its function, and you explain the thought process you went through to figure out how it works as she watches your repair bots painstakingly replace the damaged circuits woven through your hull one section at a time.
From that point onwards she seeks not only to understand the basics of every field of technology, but also to understand how they were discovered. She asks more questions about not just technology, but research. She's quickly becoming a jack-of-all trades scientist focused on understanding and researching new things, and you couldn't be more pleased to have somebody to talk to who gets the joy of learning new things.
The rest of your time is spent in fairly straightforward construction. You've been continuing to build out your manufacturing capability this entire time, adding a second and third layer to the manufactory and building additional sidebuildings. Your goal is to pack as much capability into one place without too much cost and without making it obvious that you're building a production node that could produce a good-sized army pretty quickly.
You explain your deal with the Aevon government to Anexa, and she seems a bit confused by it. You're paying rent? You trusted them more then the local mechnaicus? Then she thinks about it for a second and admits that it was a reasonable choice, and seems to have worked out for you. Though she's worried they're just letting you build up enough that they can swoop in and snatch your manufactory.
She only seems somewhat mollified when you explain that you're producing custom medicines for the leaders of the goverment. Which is much easier now that you have a medical facility to produce some of the more specialized items. That causes her to remember that it exists, and she spends a few months going over every device and capability, clearly disappointed that you can't produce the neural interfaces necessary for cybernetics yet. She's got plenty of ideas for the kinds of augments that she'd be able to design and install with your technology base.
You also dig a few more tunnels off of your primary production node, hollowing out four underground bunkers and setting up the anti-air lascannons you've recently designed to protect against air attack. They're hidden under camoflauged doors that will open up to give them a clear upwards field of fire, though they won't be able to target anything on the ground.
Each of the guns is capable of shooting down several shuttles or fighters, and they'd stand a good chance of knocking out incoming missiles coming for your base. The guns don't have the power to burn through the atmosphere and hit anything in orbit, but they do fortify you against air attack. And anybody coming in on the ground is going to have to deal with a few thousand infantry, though you admit that any of the major governments could probably push through regardless, and the mechanicus could too if they were willing to commit all of their conventional forces.
The last step to really fortifying yourself would be to build a big-ass shield generator that when combined with your air defenses would be able to shrug off most anything currently on Denva Secundus, and several things off of it.
New research option gained - In-atmosphere void shields.
Or you could just yeet yourself into space and built up out there, though the ground-based factories and easy access to raw materials make it a lot easier to build things on a planet.
But you're still hidden, and now you can produce more than twice as much as you could just a few years ago. You know what exponential growth is like, and now it's you. You're moving towards the capabilities to deal with whatever problems face you by burying it in metal and then moving into space to rebuild yourself a ship, larger and grander than the last one.
The only question is - do I take the extra time to figure out everything I need to know to make it truly a work of art. Bigger, upgraded psychic shielding? What weapons? What else do I put in it?
Your last order of business is to follow up on a phrase you heard from Anexa, and earlier in the Mechanicus archives. The Inquisition. It's not a phrase that came up on the local datanets, and after you get into the Mechanicus databases on the topic that seems strange.
It's not the only reaction you have to the inquisition. They sound like... entirely unwholesome types. The kind of people you'd prefer to never be in the same system with. Judge, jury and executioner with effectively unlimited authority within the Imperium. How? Why? Why?
No but really, why? This is just ridiculous. This isn't something a sane government does. And the Imperium is insane in a lot of ways, but it's still lasted for ten millennia. So why? There has to be a purpose.
You go digging, brushing past mentions of the terrifying levels of access the Inquisition is granted into everything, and examples of them using that power. Though assembling information from a few places you get a picture of the Inquisition's organization. It's split into three Orders, or "ordos." The first is the Ordo Xenos, and focuses on killing aliens and destroying Alien technology.
I mean, it's not like agents with unlimited command authority explicitly dedicated to genocide are great, but it's not like you really expected anything different. They apparently command a military group called the Deathwatch - damn they're all pretentous bastards aren't they - that is formed of Space Marines from various chapters. You start reading up on the Adeptus Astartes, then give up. That's a can of worms for another day.
Back to the Inquisition, the Ordo Hereticus is also expected - gotta have somebody dedicated to stamping out dissent with a steel jackboot. Those are probably the types that would come for Denva Secundus to reclaim it for the Imperium. Though if you're reading this right, Denva Secundus wouldn't even warrant an inquisitor. Well, they might after you give them your manufactories. And their iron fist are the Adepta Soritas. Battle-nuns? Huh. Interesting?
No. Shoosh. They'd try to kill you and everybody else on the planet. Stop thinking about nuns in armor.
It's the third type that really catches your mention, though there are fewer mentions of them than anybody else, and most are deleted. The Ordo Malleus. Who hunt demons. It's not metaphorical demons, either. There's no details on what they are, but they seem just as important or more important than the other two. And more assocaited with psykers as well, because they seemed more interested than most in the old Governer's monastery project.
Demons, huh. That's starting to fit with a lot of different pieces into a picture that suggests some nasty thing, and explains a few more. I'm glad I'm repairing my psychic shielding. Maybe I should take another look at those monasteries. See if I can find out more.
There's no military force listed alongside the Ordo Malleus, which makes you smell a rat. Given the pattern there's gotta be something, but it's more likely that you just can't find it. After all, everything about the Ordo Malleus seems entirely secret, and you only found it because you have access to the Mechanicus databases. There are a number of links to the encrypted files that describe the Archenemy. Maybe those would tell you more?
Regardless, you're in a good spot right now. Anexa is progressing quickly through her studies and is interested in participating in any further research she could do, though you think it might be better to leave her to herself to continue her own education off your databases.
You're the AI, but if you give her a hundred years she might end up knowing more than you do! Though she'd probably have to install an extra memory bank to fit it all, you're not sure a baseline organic brain can store that much data.
Gotta research cybernetics for that.
Still. You have a crewmember, and are finally starting to build up enough production to think about going to space. Exciting! Just need to properly prioritize. And not get nuked. That is important. At least it wouldn't kill Anexa - she spends almost all of her time in your ship now. That's a relief. You're already growing quite attached to her.
Current capabilities:
Command Points 1,550/12,500
Ground Build Capacity: 750
Void Build Capacity: 0
Research Capacity: 200
Psychic Shielding: 100/100 (repair for 10 BP/point)
Juvenat Production: 50 person's worth (cannot be stockpiled)
Available ships:
1x Ground-to-orbit shuttle (5 CP) Need a spaceport to convert ground BP to void BP
Misc assets:
30 BP of trade goods that Aevon will accept as rent.
Avatars: Adult human woman, indeterminate age. Female tech priest with some augmentations.
Current Installations:
Underground Directional-Control Radio Tower (5 CP)
2x Underground Manufactories (2x50=100 CP)
11x Manufactories (11x50 = 550 CP)
Crashed Ship (10 CP)
Small automated medical facility (50 CP)
Underground Captive Holding cells, 0/500 occupants (10 CP)
Military Installations:
4x Underground Anti-Air Defenses (4x5 =20 CP)
In progress construction:
None
In progress research:
None
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. The Astartes are probably a natural next choice.
[] Orders: Command existing units in a given theater of operations.
[] Diplomacy: Talk to people. (Write-in goal & method) Thalya is expecting a report this turn. You can ignore her, but then she'll probably put out a capture-on-sight order and try even harder to track you down. You could send in a report with a free action, but that's much riskier than spending an action on it, and a poor roll will have similar results to no report. If you spend an action on it then the roll doesn't need to be as good, and you can also do other mechanicus-associated things in addition to talking to Thalya, such as resuming your subversion of acolytes, trying to steal/pay for technology samples, politicking, etc.
[] Construction: Gain build points equal to your build capacity, write in what combination of blueprints you spend them on.
Installations
Installation default is to be built in full view. Basic stealth (building under cover, sensor-absorbing materials) can be applied with 2x BP cost. Ground-based installations can be built entirely underground for 3x BP cost.
Basic Biology Research Lab (50 BP, 50 CP) Will allow you to process basic biological samples, such as flora & fauna. Or captives.
Basic Technological Research Lab (50 BP, 50 CP) Will allow you to process basic technological samples, to understand their electronics, materials, etc.
Captive Holding cells (25 BP, 10 CP) will allow you to hold 500 captives and keep them fed and watered while you interrogate/indoctrinate/talk to them.
Small automated medical facility (50 BP, 50 CP) 50 treatment rooms with autodocs capable of dealing with moderate injuries.
Directional-control Radio tower (25 BP, 5 CP) improves signal reception quality and allows you to send your own signals across the planet, as well as giving you the capability to bounce them off the atmosphere to disguise their origin.
Observatory (100 BP, 25 CP) Built on a nearby mountain. Will unlock research projects to map the current system.
Manufactory (100 BP, 50 CP) More manufacturing capacity and the raw material harvesting to use it. +50 ground-based build capacity.
Rocket Launch facility (50 BP, 10 CP) Uses chemical rockets to convert up to 500 ground build capacity to half that amount of void build capacity. The opposite of stealthy.
Spaceport (100 BP, 25 CP) Allows you to use shuttles to convert ground build capacity to Void build capacity with no loss, or as a base to host and rearm fighters. Can host 10 fighters or 10 shuttles, each capable of converting 50 ground BP to void BP, built separately. Stealthier than rockets, but not invisible
Magnetic Catapult launch system (1000 BP, 50 CP) Allows you to convert up to 500 ground build capacity to void build capacity with no loss. Stealthier than you'd think.
Anti-Orbital Defenses (100 BP, 5 CP) A single large lance dug into a reinforced bunker. Will prevent hostile forces from claiming the orbits uncontested, but can be neutralized by orbital bombardment or ground invasion.
Anti-Air Defenses (25 BP, 5 CP) A trio of rapid-recharge lascannons backed up by advanced targeting software in a reinforced emplacement with an upwards-facing arc. Will attempt to destroy ballistic missiles, aircraft or shuttles as they approach. Can miss or be saturated by large amounts of incoming fire or miss and fail to destroy their targets.
Void Installations
These are built in space. They require 'void BP' which is associated with lift capacity. This is a detail we'll abandon eventually, but for now your lift capacity is limited.
Orbital Manufactory (500 void BP, 50 CP) Orbital manufacturing capability, built above a world. Includes material harvesting & transport. Gives +50 void build capacity.
Deep Space Manufactory (1500 void BP, 50 CP) Manufacturing capacity built near asteroid clusters. Gives +100 void build capacity. Automatic basic stealth. Requires you to do a system survey.
Small Shipyard (1000 void BP, 50 CP) All of the necessary facilities to manufacture 4 destroyers or 2 frigates per turn.
Medium Shipyard (5000 void BP, 100 CP) All of the necessary facilities to manufacture 16 destroyers or 8 frigates or 2 light cruisers per turn.
Ground-to-orbit shuttle (20 BP, 5 CP) Each shuttle converts up to 50 ground build capacity to void build capacity. Requires a spaceport for efficient transfer of materials.
Ground-to-orbit Fighter (20 BP, 5 CP) These fighters have twin-linked lascannons to attack ground and orbital targets, and can carry a couple of small bombs. Requires a spaceport for rapid launch and rearming.
Requires frigate-capable shipyard. Small system monitor (2525 void BP, 100 CP) Frigate, 2200x600 meters. 5 gravities of acceleration. Heavy armor, Heavy Shields. 4x Medium Macrocannons, 1x Medium Lances, 2x Point Defense.
1000 bp base. 1000 bp
Units
Avatar (10 BP, 0 CP) 1 human-appearing robot.
Light infantry bots (25 BP, 200 CP). 1000 human-sized bipedal robots with light arms and armor, mostly intended to fight lightly-armored enemies. Expensive CP cost due to need for close control. Can be humanized for +15 BP to appear humanoid unless bodies are investigated, with a slight malus to strength and armor.
Medium Infantry Bots (50 BP, 200 CP) 1000 human-sized bipedal robots with medium armor and light anti-tank weaponry. Expensive CP cost due to need for close control. Can be humanized for +15 BP to appear humanoid unless bodies are investigated, with a slight malus to strength and armor.
Medium tanks (200 BP, 50 CP) 100 medium battle tanks with battle cannons to fight enemy armor.
Basic Artillery (300 BP, 50 CP) 50 basic artillery units, capable of shelling battlefields with indirect fire. Includes internal ammunition fabrication.
Export Goods
Light Infantry Weapons (5 BP) Enough light weapons to outfit 1000 humans. Mostly intended for anti-personnel use. Lasguns, a few stubbers, some grenade launchers and supplies of frag grenades.
Light Infantry Armor (5 BP) Enough light armor to outfit 1000 humans. Roughly equivalent to Imperial guard Flak armor, though with better communication abilities.
Medium Infantry Weapons (10 BP) Enough medium weapons to outfit 1000 humans. A mix of anti-armor and anti-personnel use with greater specialization. Hotshot las-gun equivalents, some lascannons, some autocannons, some flamers, some sniper rifles, a supply of krak grenades.
Medium Infantry Armor (10 BP) Enough medium armor to outfit 1000 humans. Roughly equivalent to Imperial carapace armor.
Heavy Infantry Weapons (20 BP) Enough heavy weapons to outfit 1000 humans. Primarily focused on anti-armor, will work well on power-armored foes. Plasma guns, meltaguns, heavy flamers, melta bombs, missile launchers.
Light crewed tanks (100 BP) 100 light battle tanks, primarily armed with anti-personnel weapons. Need crew. Roughly equivalent to the Imperial Chimera.
Medium crewed tanks (200 BP) 100 medium battle tanks with battle cannons to fight enemy armor. Roughly equivalent to the Leman Russ.
Basic Crewed artillery (300 BP) 50 basic artillery units, capable of shelling battlefields with indirect fire. Includes internal ammunition fabrication.
Trade goods (Any cost you wish to spend) A mix of medical supplies, civilian equipment, vehicles and appliances tailored to your trade partner's needs. 5 is a small amount of goods, 10 is decent, 20 is a fair number, 50 starts being quite a lot.
Manned Manufactory (100 BP) More manufacturing capacity and the raw material harvesting to use it. +50 ground-based build capacity, to be spent as the people running it desire.
[] 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:
100 RP - Heavy Infantry Bots (100 BP, 200 CP) 1000 human-sized bipedal robots with heavy armor, roughly equivalent to the Sisters of Battle, and heavy armaments such as plasma guns, meltaguns, heavy flamers, melta bombs, missile launchers.
50 RP - Heavy tanks (500 BP, 50 CP) 100 heavy battle tanks with heavy battle cannons to fight effectively against heavy enemy armor.
50 RP - Bombers (20, 5 BP) 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.
50 RP - Assault Shuttle (25, 5 BP) 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 - 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 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.
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. (200-500 BP, 1200x200-1600x400 meters) Engines: (6/7/8 gravities) for (50/100/150 BP). Shields: (none/light/medium) for (0/50/100) Armor: (none/light/medium) for (0/50/100)
Frigate, 100 RP, 100 CP. (500-1000 BP, 1600x400-2200x600 meters) Engines: (5/6/7 gravities) for (75/150/225 BP). Shields: (none/light/medium/heavy) for (0/75/150/225) Armor: (none/light/medium/heavy) for (0/75/150/225)
Light Cruiser, 150 RP, 200 CP. (1000-2000 BP, 3500x400-4400x800 meters) Engines: (3/4/5 gravities) for (100/200/300 BP). Shields: (none/light/medium) for (0/100/200) Armor: (none/light/medium) for (0/100/200)
Available Non-combat Equipment:
Living Space (1/5 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to the nearest 50) This ship is built to be run and operated by humans. It will require a crew but will not cost CP to command.
Warp Drive (1/10 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to nearest 50) This ship can jump to the warp. Navigation systems sold separately.
Psychic Shielding (1/5 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to nearest 50) This ship has a neural network integrated throughout the whole thing, that thinks "no" as hard as possible, answering the question for any warp-corruption for any beings or objects within the hull.
Troop compartment (25 BP) Can carry 10,000 soldiers or 500 medium tanks across the stars.
Medical bay (25 BP) Can treat 1000 moderately injured people at once.
Manufactory (Any cost up to base cost of hull, counts as combat equipment for cramming purposes) Generates void BP equivalent to 1/10 of its cost.
Repair Bay (Any cost up to base cost of hull, counts as combat equipment for cramming purposes). Repairs damage across friendly ships equal to its cost in repairs.
Available Weapons:
Prow Ram 50 bp. This ship is built to run into things, and hurt them more than it gets hurt.
Light Macrocannons 100 bp. Medium range, projectile weapons built for sustained barrage. Medium Macrocannons 200 bp. Medium range, projectile weapons built for sustained barrage. Heavy Macrocannons 400 bp. Medium range, projectile weapons built for sustained barrage.
Light Lances 100 BP. Long range, hitscan burst weapons. Not excellent at sustained fire. Medium Lances 200 BP. Long range, hitscan burst weapons. Not excellent at sustained fire. Heavy Lances 400 BP. Long range, hitscan burst weapons. Not excellent at sustained fire.
Light Missiles 50 BP short range, limited ammo, vulnerable to enemy point defense but very good burst damage. Limited ammo. Decent anti-fighter/bomber weapon. Medium Missiles 100 BP short range, limited ammo, vulnerable to enemy point defense but very good burst damage. Limited ammo. Decent anti-fighter/bomber weapon. Heavy Missiles 200 BP short range, limited ammo, vulnerable to enemy point defense but very good burst damage. Limited ammo. Decent anti-fighter/bomber weapon.
Light Plasma Cannon 250 BP, Medium range, high-fire rate with incredible damage potential. Extremely effective against shields. Medium Plasma Cannon 500 BP, Medium range, high-fire rate with incredible damage potential. Extremely effective against shields, less effective against armor.
Light Melta cannon 200 BP, Very short range, medium-fire rate but with incredible damage potential. Extremely effective against shields. Medium Melta cannon 400 BP, Very short range, medium-fire rate but with incredible damage potential. Extremely effective against shields.
Fighters 100 BP, 50 CP. Parasite craft with short-ranged guns and some missile capability.
Point Defense 50 BP. A series of turrets on the hull to shoot down enemy fighters, missiles and torpedoes.
Small Torpedoes 150 BP. A payload of straight-flying armored torpedoes, sized to give destroyers a bad day, hurt frigates and prick cruisers. Medium Torpedoes 300 BP. A payload of straight-flying armored torpedoes, sized to wreck frigates, hurt cruisers and make grand cruisers know they've been touched.
Light Teleportarium 100 bp. Can teleport a small number of organics or robots onto enemy ships from close range. Enemy shields must be down. Medium Teleportarium 200 bp. Can teleport a medium number of organics or robots onto enemy ships from medium-close. Enemy shields must be down. Heavy Teleportarium 400 bp. Can teleport a large number of organics or robots onto enemy ships from long range. Enemy shields must be down.
Available Combat Equipment:
Low-emission Systems (1/10 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to the nearest 50) This ship has been tuned to reduce overall emissions, making it stealthier. Not stealthy. Stealthier.
High-maneuverability thrusters (1/10 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to the nearest 50) This ship is more maneuverable, able to flip, spin and dodge more quickly. This lets it maneuver well through dense asteroid clusters and dodge/ram more effectively in combat.
Plasma payloads (choose missile warheads or Macro cannon warheads) (1/20 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to the nearest 50) This ship can load and fire plasma-warhead ammunition, which has a flat damage increase.
Melta payloads (choose missile warheads, Macrocannon warheads or torpedoes) (1/20 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to the nearest 50) This ship can load and fire melta-warhead ammunition, which is especially effective against enemy armor and hulls.
Tuned Shields Double shield cost on ship. These shields recharge significantly faster, but when taken down all the way take slightly longer to reboot.
Alloyed Armor Double armor cost on ship. Armor is much tougher but is harder to repair.
Light Boarding preparations (1/20 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to the nearest 50) Bulkheads are reinforced, extra hatches seal all decks and turrets guard key chokepoints, making boarding annoying. Medium Boarding preparations (1/10 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to the nearest 50) The ship layout is designed to funnel borders into kill-zones in front of armored bunkers, and any borders will take heavy casualties. Heavy Boarding preparations (1/5 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to the nearest 50) This ship as essentially a flying dungeon, filled with escherian mazes, hidden turrets, crushing-hallways and other deathtraps.
The ways to get new research options are to:
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,
-[] Efficient Weapon Distribution (100 RP) Ok, there must be more efficient ways to lay weapons out on these ships! (Weapon costs count as 0.9x for ship capacity packing.)
-[] Heavy Cruisers (300 RP) How to make a bigger ship? Let's figure that out. Surely it's not much more complicated than just multiplying all of the dimensons by two! (unlocks heavy cruisers)
-[] Can I have a new ship please? (200 RP) Triggers a sub-turn to design yourself a new ship. It can be any size, up to one class larger than what you currently have available (This is Vita's unique mechanic, and will let you design the first iteration of your ship)
-[] Mechanicus files on the Archenemy (100 RP) You've seen refences here and there to the "Archenemy" and the "Corruption" that it causes. It seems like a more specific and terrible danger than just a generalized lure of going against cult doctrine, but... what? It's almost like they're treating it as a infohazard that needs to be locked behind higher access.
-[] Bombers (100 RP) Can... can you just make fighters bigger so they can carry more? (unlocks bombers, as well as research for things like boarding craft)
-[] Small-craft Stealth (100 RP) How do I keep these ships better hidden? Hmm - radar absorption, better chassis design to deflect signals? Hiding or dispersing the drive plume? All good ideas. (Unlocks the ability to design versions of fighters, bombers, boarding craft and shuttles with basic passive stealth. Unlocks advanced passive stealth, basic active stealth and research to apply stealth to both smaller combat bots and larger ships)
-[] Shuttle automation (150 RP) Surely I don't have to fly these stupid things myself. (Reduce the CP cost of shuttles by 50%)
-[] In-atmosphere void shields (100 RP) You know it's possible to generate void-shields in atmosphere. You even think you have an academic paper theorizing on it lying around somewhere. But you don't have any schematics for it. But if you can figure it out then you'll be able to build yourself a something to protect against orbital or WMD bombardment, as well as build scaled-down versions for your armored units. (Unlocks the ability to design shield installations and add shields to tanks, titans. Unlocks further research for person-sized void shields, as well as potentially stronger overall 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)
-[] Basic power armor (100 RP) Putting heavy armor on a person doesn't work well because... well. It's heavy. If you can give it some robotic actuation then they don't need to carry all of it. (Unlocks humanoid heavy armor, as well as being a prereq for superheavy-humanoid armor, i.e. for space marine-quality, once you research superheavy armor.)
-[] Avatar self-customization (200 RP) Your previous avatar was capable of changing its appearance at your whim, changing the hair, eye and skim color rapidly. Hair length and body size changes took a bit longer but were also possible. Is this worth figuring out? It might just be you being vain. (Unlocks some disguise-style cybernetics... once you get good cybernetics and can do things like skin/eye replacements).
-[] Combat Bot Humanization, Redux (50 RP) Your first try at making humanoid-looking combat bots worked, but you had to make some annoying compromises. You have some ideas on how to fix it, you just need to implement them.
-[] Walkers (300 RP) Tanks are... kind of boring? Mechs are cooler. (unlock armiger knights, starts the knights/titans research tree)
-[] Really good Robotics: (1200 RP) You know it's possible to make robots that are really strong. You've seen the specs floating around. You just don't quite know how to do it, though you've got some ideas on the matter... it would take quite a bit of simulation and a lot of trial and error to bring them into reality (Unlocks improvements to avatars, power armor, cybernetics, combat bots, improved manufactories). Acquire samples of advanced robots to reduce this cost.
-[] Intelligence Coding (500 RP) You don't really understand how your own code and hardware works. Maybe putting some effort into understanding that would pay dividends. It's never been something too interesting, but hey, maybe you should give it a shot. (Helps you understand your own code. Prerequisite to building new AIs, starts command point tree and automation tree)
-[] Improved Psychic shielding: (500 RP) Your "no" shielding seems to have worked to protect you from attack so far. But the design is really just a first-generation version. You could develop the second generation, make it capable of more complex and powerful thoughts? (Gives you the ability to build improved psychic shielding, and further upgrades down the path to make it even stronger, half of the research towards using this as some kind of attack against warp beings).
-[] Miniaturized psychic shielding: (300 RP) Right now you can build and repair psychic shielding that's roughly ship-sized. Maybe aiming for building-sized next? (Lets you build smaller and less expensive versions of the psychic shielding. Unlocks further research to "nest" the shielding, as well as build person-sized versions).
- [] The Basics of Psytech (200 RP) You have that pile of samples from Prospero. You were supposed to see if anybody was interested in them, but you doubt the people who gave them to you will care much what you do with them anymore. Maybe poke around and figure out what's what. (Beginner psytech learnings. Unlocks research projects to build individual pieces of psytech)
-[] The workings of a Void Abacus (200 RP) You have a void abacus. It's pretty complicated, but you also have the manual, and you've always been good at physics. (You're better at using your void abacus, and unlocks the technology to figure out how to manufacture them, half of unlocking research for better warp understanding).
-[] A Study of Physics (150 RP) You have a good understanding of physics, and access to a huge network of academic papers from several different eras on physics theory. But being able to query it and understand it are different things. It's actually kind of interesting, you have to admit. (First steps towards more exotic weapon types like nova cannons, graviton weapons, vortex bombs, fusion beamers, as well as some new potential manufacturing techniques).
-[] Cybernetics (200 RP) Interfacing robotics with organics is an old art, and one you haven't dabbled in at all. You've got some medical literature on nerve-interfacing chips that will help, but you're going to need (consenting) test subjects and appropriate equipment to get started. (Allows you to build and install basic limb replacements. Nothing combat-capable. Unlocks research for more combat-capable cybernetics, brain implants and organ replacements)
Locked behind samples/installations:
-[] System survey (50 RP) What else is there in the system? You're not even sure what planet you're on. (unlocks a system map). Locked behind an observatory.
-[] Biology is kinda wet (100 RP) Unlocks basic biology research. (The first step towards research projects related to juvenat, as well as human/xeno genetics, improved medical care, interrogaton drugs etc.) Locked behind Basic Biology Research Lab.
-[] What's up with this tech? (100 RP, requires samples of imperial technology from locals) You know some of how it works, but you need to get your hands on it to properly replicate it. What's up? (unlocks machine spirits/servitor construction, as well as half of the prereq for hacking imperial technology). Requires Basic Technological Research Lab
New section! Crew :
Anexa Ifina, Tech-priest Errant.
Level 1
-[] 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
The crew mechanics are linked in the Crew, Samples and Assets informational page, but in brief your crew has an active and a passive action you need to pick between each turn. Their abilities and impact will improve as they do things and level up. Every 10 levels there'll be a sub-vote to evolve their active and passive versions. She's a skilled acolyte right now, but level 30 is basically Belisarius Cawl, though it'll get harder to keep levelling as you get higher up.
If you hadn't rolled a crit Anexa would have taken even longer to recruit, and wouldn't have come in at level 1, but rather level 0. She also would have held onto the cult mechanicus beliefs harder, and that could have been a source of conflict down the road. She also might not have given up the emergency beacon but held onto it in case you did something like start nuking the mechanicus enclaves. But now she's pretty much 100% on your side, and loving the life of discovering the knowledge of the ancients.
You haven't told her about the juvenat yet, but she's not too worried. She's got enough time she can probably achieve the more common tech-priest method of immortality instead, but if you'd prefer she remains more organic you can tell her about the juvenat as a free action so she spends less time planning her own cybernetic ascension. No mechanical impact, purely flavor.
W is starting to get a little old in the tooth though. She's carried your deal through two different parliament alliances and successfully deflected Mechanicus attention from your growing factory. You don't think she wants to leave Denva behind, but you could be wrong.
I think I'll have some time Wednesday during the day to write, so let's do... 16 hour moratorium, 14 hours of voting.
Excellent, I think it's time to throw our core, living quarters and some BP into space so we have that lifeline while we try to convince the Aevonians to give us access to the Monasteries.
