There's a huge difference between not act like current day bleeding heart, bowing to every eventual self contractiory moral stance abyone on SV can ever have and just start sacrificing babies to slanesh.
Also the fact that getting on argument with people that are taking a mainly moral stance is a cataclysmic pain in the ass. Because any logical argument is not relevant because is a moralistic stance.
-[] Shards of Humming Gemstone (100 RP) The shards of crystal you recovered from the ritual don't carry an inherent chaos taint of their own, but they resonate with the warp somehow. The largest piece you have is the size of a human hand, maybe you can figure out what it is and how to use it? (May unlock new options for using, finding or synthesizing this warp-reactive substance, as well as discounts to technologies that involve resonance with the warp.)
This is a loot Warp research option and if we put Anexa on it a guaranteed success and 50% crit for only 100RP. If your plans need more RP you can delay Immaterium Understanding for next turn and use this for the discounts we need on our Warp comms instead.
How do you figure? I'm not just pulling numbers out of the ether. We have previously approved design options for ground based and orbital universities scaling at tens of thousands of students.
50 RP assuming no Cogitare assistance to design either, and assuming we went with the more expensive orbital option, 1,750 per ten-thousand simultaneously enrolled students. Assuming our free enrollment and constant advertising combo only managed to get us a 1% hiring rate, that's a hundred recruits per turn. Even I don't think we need more than five hundred recruits coming in per turn and that's still less than 10,000 BP. They wouldn't be Cogitare, which would be suboptimal, but we have previous precedent to suggest they could still serve as either scientists or omc operators, with military operators/pilots presumably a potential third option, they just wouldn't be as flexible as Cogitare and would need a juvenant supply.
I don't appreciate the implication that I'm purposefully trying to mislead either you or the thread at large.
-[] Shards of Humming Gemstone (100 RP) The shards of crystal you recovered from the ritual don't carry an inherent chaos taint of their own, but they resonate with the warp somehow. The largest piece you have is the size of a human hand, maybe you can figure out what it is and how to use it? (May unlock new options for using, finding or synthesizing this warp-reactive substance, as well as discounts to technologies that involve resonance with the warp.)
This is a loot Warp research option and if we put Anexa on it a guaranteed success and 50% crit for only 100RP. If your plans need more RP you can delay Immaterium Understanding for next turn and use this for the discounts we need on our Warp comms instead.
I think at least one of these two techs being implemented for the next two turns is a good idea. Immaterium will provide discounts across a wide swath of warp technologies, but so will the gemstone. Distributed over two turns will provide the maximum amount of discount utility while not being really much of an impediment to any research plan anybody wants to propose.
You cannot call my response fallacious when you complained against "moral stances". You clearly support some moral stances—say, not sacrificing babies to Slaanesh—but find others disagreeable and not amenable to logic.
What separates between those groups is not for me to say, but I would pose a question: is there a moral stance with which you disagree but which you think is valid?
Apologies; that was rude of me. If I may restate my point, you should take into account the various researches necessary to fulfill those designs completely, from designing the ships to large scale machine spirits, variety is the spice of life, and others.
I do not make arguments based in moral stances, regardless in what I do belive or not, I am not the fun police, and there rules in this forum if someone goes too faar.
Also if you are once again going back to it hours after the post, I will not be enaging you.
Apologies; that was rude of me. If I may restate my point, you should take into account the various researches necessary to fulfill those designs completely, from designing the ships to large scale machine spirits, variety is the spice of life, and others.
Alright, and fair enough I guess. Although it's worth pointing out we've already more-or-less created one civilization reliant on ultra-spicy food as their main source of sustenance.
But sure, call it Variety for 50 RP, a University design for another 50 plus or minus discounts, and designing... let's call it a light cruiser with onboard Juvenant production for a hundred people for another 37 RP again plus or minus discounts so that our employees have somewhere to live, we aren't losing them to the ravages of age, and we can add "Our company health plan includes immortality" to the recruitment pitches.
~137 RP, somewhere between 1,750 and 8,750 BP in initial production for the university depending on how overboard we want to go with student capacity and how selective we want to be with recruitment, one or two diplomacy actions to kick everything off, one or two turns depending on whether we need Variety before we could design/build the not-spicy aquaculture plants, and one or two light-cruisers per turn in ongoing production.
In return we get a light cruiser or two every turn with one or two hundred assorted scientists, omc operators, and omc pilots recruited in as ethical a manner as is possible in 40K to be assigned as needed. If you don't want them accompanying the fleet and cramping our style or whatever, have them stick around in Denva helping to build and run whatever megastructure you're imagining or additional void manufactories for the next time we come back, or acting as crew for the fleet of a hundred novacannon frigates we leave an order for in case we run into something that actually outguns us and have to call in backup while running for our lives.
I got bored and made a cargo version of the hot box by just simply replacing the assault shuttles with normal ones and the troop compartments with cargo space
--[] design Coin Purse cargo Destroyer, 12 RP
---[] Chassis: Base (450 BP) Engines: (9 gravities) for (150 BP). Shields: (medium) for (100 Bp) Armor: (medium) for (100 BP) total: 350 BP
---[] Hull Equipment: Machine Spirit (50 BP) Warp Drive (50 BP), Void Abacus (50 BP), "no" Psychic Shielding (250 BP = 50 HP) Improved Passive Stealth Profile (250 BP) total: 650 BP
---[] Weapons: 1 x Shuttles (250 BP) total 250 BP (225 with camming modifier)
---[] Equipment: Cargo Bay (150 BP) High-maneuverability thrusters (50BP), Repair Bay (45 BP) total 245 BP (221 with camming modifier)
I do not make arguments based in moral stances, regardless in what I do belive or not, I am not the fun police, and there rules in this forum if someone goes too faar.
Also if you are once again going back to it hours after the post, I will not be enaging you
Then please tell me what, if not morality or ethics, makes the Chaos route wrong. This is not the fallacy of composition; you made a general statement, I questioned it, and you have yet to respond to the question.
And about my taking hours: I work for a living and I have other things taking my time. It will take me hours to see a post, yeah. Might even be more than a day, sometimes.
Lost of personal freedom, agency and individuality being reduced gor a shell that already have the enemies chosen for you and not even be alowed to win. Chaos suck, not subjectively, objectively suck.
Is the same of asking of why not try to choose the nids but with more self delusion.
And for the work thing, then don't start discussion with people only to apparently wait hour when the discussion is already outside of their minds to re engage.
If you want your time to be respected, respect others time too.
Then please tell me what, if not morality or ethics, makes the Chaos route wrong. This is not the fallacy of composition; you made a general statement, I questioned it, and you have yet to respond to the question.
And about my taking hours: I work for a living and I have other things taking my time. It will take me hours to see a post, yeah. Might even be more than a day, sometimes.
First - yeah, "hours" isn't long enough to suggest anything about the delay in posting by anyone, gonna second you on that... though, being careful about raising the temperature or challenging someone to make a response when you don't have time to follow up on is a valid point too, and one that I have to work on myself.
As for morals... yeah, some people just don't want to engage on those grounds.
Moral arguments in quests suck. They suck. Particularly, they drag people in with the implication that the actual out-here-in-real-life moral principles are being fought over, or are being validated or dismissed by choices in the quest when frankly a dude writing serial fiction can't really be asked to validate or invalidate moral theories in the first place - not that everyone playing is even thinking about it that deeply.
Killing kitties, chaos torture murder stuff, you don't have to think deeply about that to have a problem with it. And we've kinda already staked ourselves as opposed to chaos and had fun punching them in the face.
Explaining the difference between the ham fisted stuff and the stuff people disagree about, especially without it being taken as an invitation to discuss the morals they're saying they're not interested in exploring, is also teeth gnashing work. Justifying "I won't have fun if I argue this type of topic" is unfun.
Tally
[X][Anexa] Maestro of Cognition and Soul
[X] Plan: Asset Rationalization, Base Building, and Preparation
-[X] Idea: Get 2 techs to help Aurora and discount the rest, guarantee success of Ansible project, upgrade shuttles and spaceports to MS versions, build a couple more ships and continue expanding Primus Industrial Complex.
-[X] Boon: Recruit 300 additional Cogitare.
--[X] Detach them to run the Aetherion and Denva Primus Installations, minus the Warp research lab (7,935 / 9,000 CP) (8,190 Void BP/turn, 15,876 Ground BP/turn, 16,000 Lift Capacity)
-[X] Research x2 (400 + 100 (Anexa) + 170 (Cogitare) = 670 RP)
--[X] An Emotional Ansible (150 RP)
---[X] Anexa assist
--[X] More than just a Boom (100 RP)
--[X] The key to Expert surgery is Ego (75 RP)
--[X] Understanding Mutations (150 RP)
--[X] That's two levels of augmentation too many (150 RP)
--[X] Advanced Technological Research Lab (13 RP, reduced by assigning 50 cogitare)
--[X] MS-Shuttle (30 BP, 0.5 CP) (7 RP, reduced by assigning 50 cogitare)
--[X] MS-Spaceport (150 BP, 2.5 CP) (5 RP, reduced by assigning 50 cogitare)
--[X] DESIGN: Portable Fab Cruiser (9 RP, quartered by 50 cogitare) (Link here)
--[X] Total 659/670, 11 overflow assigned to Faith is My Shield (31 -> 42/75 = 11 RP)
-[X][Free] Voidforge Miners, Detached Cogitare, and Repair Bay (3,500 VBP + 8,190 VBP = 11,690 VBP | 15,876 GBP | 16,000 LC | 1000 BP Repair Bay)
--[X] Spark Refit | Total Expenditure: 1000 BP Repair Bay + 2,420 VBP
---[X] Basic Psychic Experimentation Lab (300 BP, 50 CP, 1 slot)
---[X] 270 HP Psychic Shielding for the new Psy Lab [repair bay used up here] (2025 BP)
---[X] Advanced Technological Research Lab (750 BP, 100 CP, 2 slots[replace the basic tech lab])
---[X] Raise Crew quarter psychic shield to 270 HP (1013 BP)
---[X] Add another Troop Compartment (75 BP, 45 cramming) [2887.5 free cramming reduced to 2842.5 free cramming]
--[X] Aetherion | Total Expenditure: 8,950 VBP
---[X] 2x Ember Mk2 Novacannon Frigate (30 CP, 4 ship construction slots, 8,950 VBP)
--[X] Total VBP Spent: 11,370 | 11,690 - 11,370 = 320 Remaining, transferred to GBP via Lift Capacity. | 15,876 + 320 = 16,196 GBP Available
--[X] Denva Primus | Total Expenditure: 16,170 GBP
---[X] Upgrade 32 Spaceports into Machine Spirit Spaceports (800 CP -> 80 CP) (1,600 BP)
---[X] Upgrade 320 Shuttles into Machine Spirit Shuttles (1,600 CP -> 160 CP) (3,200 BP)
---[X] Build 61 Machine Spirit Ground Manufactories (1,098 CP, 7,320 BP)
---[X] Build 9 Machine Spirit Spaceports (22.5 CP, 1,350 BP)
---[X] Build 90 Machine Spirit Shuttles (45 CP, 2,700 BP)
--[X] 26 BP Remaining, use 2 to build a stasis chamber for Aurora and the rest for Cogitare requests?
-[X] Raise Aurora: You have images, recordings, and tales of many wondrous things. A lot of what you had from before was lost during your time in the Warp, but what you have from then, and what you have since you woke up, you will show her. The opening of a majestic webway gate; comets passing through space; a water planet seen from orbit. Plants, peoples, and beings as diverse as the galaxy itself.
--[X] See about devising safe games for her to play. Whether it's chess, puzzles, board games, or something else, take advantage of the fact that, while she can't affect holograms with her mind, you can change them in response to her movements and demands.
--[X] Cia, Gwendolyn, and Gwendolyn's staff (particularly the diviner) can assist?
--[X] Explain to Aurora that we are working hard on medicine which will ease her discomfort and mutations, but we also have a stasis chamber, which she can make use of if she does not want to suffer while she waits. If she's interested, make sure to test that stasis works as it should on her.
-[X] Diplomacy: Get to know the Vellkar. Talk to them, learn about their culture, their plans, their people. How they envision the galaxy and their place in it. Find out what they want and what they need.
-[X][Free] On a success turn over An Emotional Ansible to the Stellar Ascendancy for a boon.
-[X][Free] On a success turn over More than just a Boom to the Stellar Ascendancy so that they can upgrade their own novacannons.
-[X][Free] Turn over any successfully researched medical technology to the Stellar Ascendancy for humanitarian purposes.
-[X] Anexa active action: Research
-[X] Victan: Diplomacy assist
-[X] Cia: Help Vita raise Aurora, otherwise active psyker improvement.
-[X] Gwendolyn: Help Vita raise Aurora, otherwise active psyker development.
-[X] Aurora: You. Take the Spark around the system and show her the different planets and good sights of those planets from orbit and if her condition allows with a shuttle too. Try to foster a love of seeing new and interesting things.
Everybody in the observatory deck has their eyes on Aurora as she totters around the place, moving from pressing her face up against the window to playing with the hologram. She wasn't actually controlling the display of the Denva system resting over the low table, but you were making it respond to her motions.
You call her over, and she gives you a pout before stumbling over. Your crew watches nervously, and Victan flinches when she stumbles, but she recovers. You pick her up and place her in your lap, holding her close as you open the meeting.
"I'll be taking over raising Aurora. I want to emphasize that this isn't because Victan did a bad job. Aurora's had some health concerns, and she's been in and out of the medbay quite a lot."
"Hate medbay," the little girl declares with the utter certainty of a toddler.
You look down at her seriously. "Yes, and that's understandable. So I'll be doing trying to make it so you need to go less often. Does that sound good?"
She replies with a pleased nod, then subsides and yawns. She's tired from her exertions.
You look up, eyes on Cia and Gwen. "She's starting to manifest some psychic powers. I don't know what, but I'm getting some positive readings on the warp scanners. I'd like you both to be available if you can be. Raising Aurora is more important than anything else we're doing." You hold eye contact with them to be sure they get the message, then turn to your other crewmembers.
"Meanwhile, Anexa and Victan will have a full schedule. We're going to recruit as many more Cogitare as we can get our hands on, then set them up to run all of the manufacturing capacity in the system." You smirk slightly. "We have better things to be spending our time on than building things."
Both of them give you suspicious looks, but you roll right over it, pointing first at Anexa.
"We're going to figure out warp comms. We've still got a little bit of time before we leave, but I don't want some unforeseen technical kink to prevent us from being in contact with Denva when we leave."
She nods, pursing her lips. "The new Cogitare - are they under my authority? How are we going to manage that."
You shrug. "I was thinking of folding them into the Voidforge Miners, if we can make that stick." You notice Victan's eyebrows furrow, and you gesture for him to speak.
"I'm not certain if that's best. The organizations are very different, a clan versus a priesthood. Anexa, is there somebody on your staff who's more drawn to management and oversight of logistics."
She nods. "Fabricta Lyxx-99. You might guess from the name, but all that woman wants to do is build things. She thinks a well-organized timeline is a beautiful thing."
"There you have it," Victan says. "Put her in charge of the new Cogitare, and then figure out some ystem for her to talk to the Voidforge Miners and coordinate there."
"Sounds good to me," you say, smoothing over Aurora's hair as she starts to snore. "Victan, beyond the standard communication with the Stellar Ascendency, we're going to be making friends with the Vellkar. I don't have a firm idea for how we'll get started on it, but we have our toes in the door after the negotiation. They're kind of mystery to me, and I'd like to at least know what they want and if and how we should help them."
His own expression quirks. "Or if they're a threat."
"Or if they're a threat," you echo. "We don't think so, but there's been suspiciously little openness about them, even for all of the transactions they've had with the Stellar Ascendency."
He simply nods at that, and you pivot to Cia and Gwen. "I'm building an extra psychic lab, which will be at your disposal Gwen. Let your staff learn the basics of their power, and explore your own while you're at it. The strategy study can wait a little bit, get your staff going."
Your attention swivels to Cia. "The first psychic lab is all yours. Push. I'm sorry I won't have the time to help -" you pat Aurora to help explain why "- but I'm giving you permission to play it a little less safe with your powers. You know what you're doing. Learn something new."
"I'll give it my best effort," she replies, excited but also a little nervous.
"Gwen, any concerns?" you ask.
She shakes her head. "I don't think so. We're starting to figure it out. I'm excited to work with some of the psykers, and I think everybody else has a lot to offer once we all get off the ground. There's going to be some wear and tear on the psychic labs, but I assume that's part of the plan."
You nod. "They're not cheap, but again, our production is pretty free. Don't break the ship, don't hurt each other and I will be happy as long as you learn something."
You give everybody else a look around. "Alright, go have fun. I'm going to be a bit preoccupied these next few years. Definitely call on me if you need anything, but I'll be a bit less able to check in and help out." You gently pick up Aurora's sleeping form and carry her out of the room.
Your first order of business is ensuring that her medical prognosis improves. She's in a good spell now, but that's never lasted before. You aim to ensure it does.
Part of that is that her mutations are continuing to get worse - the spur of bone sticking out the front of her chest shows no sign of slowing down, and the enlarged head could cause any number of downstream problems. You can't exactly shave her skull down, but a better understanding of surgery would enable you to respond more adroitly to any problems that crop up. And you can snip off the protruding bone, though doing so without damaging the marrow and cartilage in the long term might be tricky.
So you hit the books again, this time reading beyond the central trunk of medical knowledge. It's not exactly fringe so much as specific. Techniques that you'd only use if you couldn't use the more standard approach because of some third reason. If you need to do an organ transplant and you can't immunosuppress as much as you'd like, you can restrict blood flow just a little. If your patient needs a ligament repaired but they have a condition that makes their connective tissue too stretchy, you can reinforce with strips of grown collagen.
You quickly realize that the full scope of these kinds of techniques is immense, and most of them aren't fully documented. In fact, the number of complete procedures you have is in the minority, and the vast majority are just fragmentary. This is primarily because most of what you have are public databases - and most of these articles are effectively teasers. Just enough information to entice an interested party to pay for the full version. Truly, for-profit scientific publishing is the bane of technological development far beyond its scope.
Once you're done grumbling about it, you set up an indexing system for the fragmentary information you do have, and move onto the thing you should have started with, which is better surgical systems. There's a limit to what you can do with the robotics you have, but better sensors and capabilities on your surgical bots paired with better software will help ensure they do a better job, no matter what they're tasked with doing.
Researched The Key to expert Surgery is Ego - 15+20=35, Poor success. Your base level of medical care is improved. As long as somebody's still technically alive, you can bring them back. Unlocked new technology - Lazarus Protocol (200 RP)
Unlocked new technology - Flesh is Clay (150 RP)
Discounted existing technology - Physical Apperance is Skin-deep cost reduced by 50 RP
Discounted existing technology - Regeneration is just a matter of applied Growth cost reduced by 50 RP
That's not enough, to your mind. It'll help with Aurora's next medical treatments, make them more effective and less invasive. But stitching a wound closed only works if the wound heals instead of reopening, and many of Aurora's problems are the kind that aren't fixed with simple treatment.
Furthermore, many of her mutations are the result of her connection to the warp, much like the rare and grotesque mutations that afflict the natives of Denva Secundus to this day. Luckily, you have some samples of the end of that kind of path on hand.
The chaos space marine corpses have been in cold storage since the day they were slain. The variety of plasma and melta weaponry used to put them down means you've actually got about one complete corpse in total, once you remove all of the thoroughly cooked parts.
You prepare a massive amount of sterilizer and cart them to an isolated surgical bay. You begin the dissection process, looking for things that are different from human baseline. It quickly becomes apparent that there's very little left that is human.
A week later, you incinerate the last wriggling organ and make a note that sterilizer probably isn't enough. You're going to need steam and flame to get the contamination out of this particular surgical suite.
You learned a few things. A few. But not nearly as much as you'd hoped. The corpses you dissected were almost better categorized as alien than human, with layers of mutation, augmentation, then further mutation. Some of the mutations were random, some seemed to be directed, but altogether it was impossible to tell which was which, and how they were stacked atop baseline human biology to make something more.
Researched That's two levels of Augmentation too Many - 12+20 = 32 Poor success. Discounts additional technologies, greater understanding of warp-associated mutations. Existing research discounted - Understanding Mutations cost reduced by 50 RP
Existing research discounted - Complex genetic enhancement cost reduced by 50 RP
Existing research discounted - Superhuman Uppers cost reduced by 25 RP
Existing research discounted - Superhuman organ replacements cost reduced by 100 RP
Existing research discounted - Chaos Corruption Cognitive Intervention cost reduced by 25 RP
Your attention on the technology wavers for a second, and it turns back to Aurora. She's still on the upswing, but the early warning signs are there that as she develops, so too will her mutations. They've held off so far, but you're operating on a clock. So while half of your attention is bent to keeping her entertained, the rest delves into all of the data you have on mutations, starting with hers.
But you don't limit your search there. As the Stellar Ascendency has developed, it hasn't neglected its medical care, and high-quality and largely automated medical care based on your designs is available to all. It's not exactly free, but it's pretty close. It's not exactly widely available, but through a combination of data requests and some gentle massaging of systems, you quickly acquire what you need. You make sure to anonymize it before you get into analysis, but it could still be considered a pretty massive invasion of privacy. You just hope it's worth it.
The first thing you note is that the amount of mutations have declined with the rollout of psychic shielding. They haven't reached zero and likely never will, but they're an order of magnitude lower in areas where people spend a reasonable portion of their lives under the protection of psychic shielding. That's your first clue.
The Stellar Ascendency's treatment of the mutants they do accumulate has certainly improved with the technology you're provided so far, but it's still mostly treating symptoms with tools that aren't designed to counter whatever is going on with the bizarre mutations that seem so commonplace in this era. But you can't fault their data collection, and you have access to millions of genetic samples, scans and other kinds of analysis.
These mutations are nothing like what you know as mutations - simple genetic variation that sometimes has negative effects and usually has no effect at all. It's not uncommon for people to become shambling hulks of muscle and flesh, or to sprout new limbs, or start growing feathers. Insane and overly visual outward changes are the order of the day, not the defects in signalling and metabolism you'd expect. And they're not temporary changes either - often genetics are scrambled in nonsensical ways that nevertheless assert the mutated state as the "new normal" for the person in question.
It's closer to what you'd expect from an unscientific idea of mutation, and that is the second key to what's going on. What people know as mutations are quite literal warp-twistings, where the corrupted realm of thought impresses itself onto human bodies. The material twists into a shape determined by the immaterial, and flesh, bone and genetics shift in whatever way is necessary to accommodate the idea impressed onto them. You're not completely sure if demons are directly responsible or if mutation is something that today's more malevolent warp just does, but it doesn't really matter.
Denva hasn't seen the endpoint of this kind of mutation for one reason or another, but your examination of the chaos space marines demonstrates exactly how bad it can get, and how this kind of warp-twisting can be guided and used to notable effect. But you're not interested in intentionally mutating people at the moment. You want to learn how to fix the mutation.
For normal mutations, understanding what's going on comes with the possibility of fixing the actual genetic sources of the problem. It's not the true source, but it will make treatment significantly easier. But that won't help Aurora until you understand the obscure-by-design arrangement of her genome, and the warp-based origin of the mutations means it's necessary to figure out more general treatments anyway.
That's a challenging prospect, but with the extra time you have you take a crack at it. Whatever happens to the person during mutation is a warp-catalyzed effect that is linked to the idea of the mutation in question. There's definitely some application of your psychic shields - in particular, the soothe meaning - that can help nullify the effect. But if you can understand the idea behind the mutation, then you can address it in a more targeted way, using surgical, pharmaceutical and hormonal treatments to keep symptoms to a minimum without directly opposing the full force of the mutating effect.
A custom treatment plan will need to be developed for each patient based on the specific mutation they have, and it requires a touch of art in addition to science. Still, you're able to put together what you think should be a fairly concrete flowchart for it, and that's enough to move forwards.
Researched Understanding Mutations - 75+20 = 95, Critical success! You've developed a comprehensive suite of treatments for mutation, and as long as the regimen is followed, it should keep mutations suppressed. Adult genetic engineering can cure normal mutants. Unlocked bonus technology - Triggering mutations (200 RP)
Discounted existing technology - Psyker genetics cost reduced by 100 RP
Discounted existing technology - Juvenat Beginnings cost reduced by 75 RP
Discounted existing technology - Navigator Genetics cost reduced by 100 RP
Discounted existing technology - Chaos Corruption Cognitive Intervention cost reduced by 50 RP
In parallel to developing more general techniques, you've been refining Aurora's medical care. She still isn't a fan of the medbay, but your company and humor help her work through it, and the fact that the treatments are genuinely becoming less invasive and more effective carries you the rest of the way.
"Feeling better?" you ask her as she wakes up from her latest round under the autodoc. You're sitting on the side of her bed, gently stroking her hair as her eyes flutter open.
She sits up gently, every motion cautious. She pokes and prods at her body, seeming surprised by the lack of electrodes and intravenous lines. It probably would have been better to leave them in, but you'd noticed early on that she hated waking up without freedom of motion. Besides, you have enough sensors in this room and are paying enough attention that you can accurately measure her vitals remotely.
"Y-yea," she replies, sounding surprised. She glances down the neck of her robe at the bandage that covers the chest. "How long until we need to do it again?"
You smile at her. "A long time. If I can manage the drugs, maybe never."
She looks up at you in surprise, eyes widening. They're a little too large for her frame, but it serves to give her more of a fey look than something in the uncanny valley. "Really?" Wetness starts to gather at the corners of her eyes.
You lean in and hug her gently, and after a moment, she begins to hug you back. It's not as automatic as you'd prefer, and she's still not fully ready to trust you.
Over the next few years, you continue the treatments and find them mostly successful. Her third eye is still growing, and you're becoming a bit concerned with how large it is, but her brain appears to be developing around it appropriately. It's not something you understand and don't want to mess with, so you leave it mostly alone. You're able to reduce the frequency of her checkups to weekly from daily, and transition her from a course of medication and treatments designed to keep her stable, instead of improving her back to baseline. The stasis chamber you built sits unused in the corner of the bedbay, and for that you are thankful.
Her skin is better, less likely to crack and tear from force, but as a compromise, it's threaded through with jagged red cracks that look a bit like open wounds. They're not painful and don't bleed, but it's the balance you've found to satisfy the warp-influence that wants her to bare her blood to the world, and your own desire to keep her comfortable.
The chest-spike was a bit more difficult, and you're not sure you fully have a handle on it yet. The mutation wants there to be something there, and you're trying to corral it into something less problematic than a giant spike of bone. So far you've managed to drive it into quiescence, but there's still a ball of tissue there that wants to become something more than cartilage covered by skin, and you expect that it'll continue to develop over time.
As the demands of her body fade into the background, you seek to replace it by feeding her mind. You take the Spark of the Ancients on a grand tour around the system of Denva, showing her the majesty of Aetherion from multiple viewpoints before visiting the various planets. Devna Secundus is a jewel of life floating in the cosmos, but Primus is no less gorgeous in its muted browns and reds.
She spends a lot of time in the observation deck with you, with you beginning her education in earnest. You try to engage her in games in her downtime, keeping her mind active even with activities drawn from the archives and trying to link fun and joy with the idea of the wonders of the stars.
To further that objective, you take occasional trips to a viewing gallery to observe scenes from recent and ancient history with a focus on stellar events. The opening of the webway gate, dozens of different planets from orbit, and the aurora for which she is named. Aurora does well with this regimen, becoming enthralled with sight of stellar beauty.
Check-ins and engagement with Gwen and Cia help as well. Both of them treat Aurora more like a younger sister than a pupil, and are able to discuss things with her that you find trouble having common ground on, from the vagaries of flesh to the existential terror common from brushing against the warp.
It's not entirely perfect - she's still somewhat cold towards Victan, and treats Anexa like a distant aunt in the few times they meet. But all in all, she seems be personally flourishing in a way that seemed improbable some time in the past. Some of it's the medical treatments, some of it is you observing how Victan failed and tailoring your own approach appropriately.
You do recieve several complaints from close at home about all of the galivanting around the system. Both Victan and Anexa are engaged in projects that are hard to persue when the ship is moving - Victan because he's busy speaking to the Vellkar, Anexa because she's engaged in delicate experimentation on the Spark.
> (Anexa) Stop moving all over Denva! The warpaphone is sensitive to real-space movements! [Miffed]
> (Victan) It's also hard to keep the line of communication open with the Vellkar when I can't show up to meetings because we're out in the Oort cloud. I can teleconference in, but it's not the same. I can't build trust like this? [Disappointed]
> (Vita) Sorry, sorry. I've been so focused on Aurora that I didn't think about the impact on your work. I think I'd like to keep it up a bit, can you work around it? Victan, detach some staff, Anexa, could you start doing remote experiments in the warp lab around Aetherion? [Apologetic]
> (Victan) I was glad to hear she's doing better. I can probably detatch some staff. We're trying to gain familiarity, it's just going very slowly. I'm starting to think they don't want outsiders ever seeing their cities. [Frustrated]
> (Vita) We don't need to see their cities. We need to know what they want, and what they can provide. It's a bit of a different question. [Prodding]
> (Victan) I suppose so. It'll just take time. [Resigned]
> (Anexa) I can do some work in the warp lab. It'll slow me down a bit, but things are otherwise going well. [Stalwart]
> (Vita) Good to hear. Let's keep working on it. Also - I wanted to check in on the process with the Cogitare. I've been handling a lot of the lower-level bureaucracy there, and bringing them into temporary quarters on the Spark. How's it going on the personnel side with the Cogitare? [Curious]
> (Anexa) Good. We've got a bunch of new graduates but they're thrilled to be working for us, even if they won't be directly under you. Fabricta Lyxx-99 is excited for the project, and when I asked her if she wanted to take over the manufacturing in the system, she nearly bluescreened. [Amused]
> (Vita) Good. Keep me informed! [Signing off]
Over the next few months a few hundred more number of Cogitare arrive and take up command of your manufacturing infrastructure under the direction of the somewhat phlegmatic Fabricta Lyxx-99. This is all a direct result of your long-ago understanding on how to link human implants into your own control systems. Fifty years of development later and it only takes a few hundred operators to manage all of your industrial infrastructure. This way it will run without your direct attention. Not as fast or as efficiently as you could use it if you were willing to dedicate some serious time or attention to it, but you can give broad manufacturing directives and have them carried out.
300 Cogitare Recruited
The organizational side is a bit more complicated to set up than you'd expected, but nothing bad. The Cogitare and the Voidforge miners are rather different subcultures and if you put one in charge of the other then there's bound to be friction down the line. But you're able to set them up with a clearly defined set of responsibilities and lines of communication so they can collaborate on getting things done.
Established the Cogitare Manufacturing Command - 61. Success. The CMC is set to run your manufacturing capabilities in Denva. They will automatically run the manufacturing and provide BP that can be spent as a free action, much like the Voidforge miners. They're currently aboard the Spark of the Ancients.
As their first order of buisness, you have the CMC refit their own space transit infrastructure - it's shuttle-based, but the air-traffic control problem is not a simple one. You design some machine-spirit enabled versions of the spaceports and the shuttles to solve that problem, then set the CMC to replacing all of the pre-existing versions. Then you have them build out their bases further. You've got an agreement with the Vellkar that will let you build a thousand manufactories on the surface of their planet, so you've got plenty of expansion space remaining.
Designed MS-Spaceport
Designed MS-Shuttle
Replaced Denva Primus Shuttles & shuttleports with MS-equivalents.
Built 61 Machine Spirit Ground Manufactories
Built 9 Machine Spirit Spaceports
Built 90 Machine Spirit Shuttles
CMC is at 6941/9000 CP CP capacity.
There's still a good amount of manufacturing capacity to go around, and you set it to other purposes. You add the second psychic experimentation space you were promising, build out some more capacity to haul troops around and finally design and build the kind of laboratory you need to analyze some of the more interesting samples you've acquired.
Advanced Technological Research Lab designed & constructed
Basic Psychic Experimentation Lab constructed with 270 "No" Psychic Shielding.
Crew quarters psychic shielding enhanced
Troop compartment added
You also enlist some more of Anexa's staff in helping you design out a light cruiser that carries enough manufacturing capacity to get by. It's not defenseless, but it's definitely intended to be a factory first and a warship a distant second. Still, it's missile armament and point defense means it won't be vulnerable against small craft, and could serve as a decent screen in utmost need.
Designed the Fab manufacturing Cruiser (6400 BP, 30 CP, 8 ship construction slots) 4400x800m (2000 bp hull), 6 gravities, medium shields, medium armor. "No" Psychic Shields (100 HP). Machine spirits, Warp Drive, Void Abacus. Medium Missiles, 2 point defense, Light boarding preparations, light self-destruct, 1800 bp manufactory (produces 414 bp)
Having spare Cogitare to throw at the problem of ship design definitely helps. You get a surprisingly stern message from Fabricta Lyxx-99 informing you that they still have more production capacity remaining, so you is chomping at the bit for more to do, so you throw in an order for two more Embers. You can never have enough novacannons.
2x Ember Mk2 Novacannon Frigates constructed!
Speaking of Nova cannons, while the current payload you have access to is powerful, it's a fairly blunt object. It's likely always going to be useful to deliver ultra-high yield warheads across insane distances, but the truth of the matter is that that's not always going to cut it, especially against larger enemy ships or ones whose defenses aren't fully physical in nature.
The first trick is to manufacture more equipment that can survive the stresses of being fired out of a novacannon. It's one of the most challenging physical stresses you've ever built for, but you've done it already, and you can do it again. Your solutions this time are a bit more general, less specialized. That helps you design a couple of alternate versions of the base novacannon warhead. They're still giant explosions, but tuned for different effects. The basic version shifts the makeup of the bomb in the center of a standard novacannon shell to make more high-energy plasma. The shells are a bit harder to make, but they should do more overall damage, especially against shields.
The other 'basic' shell you produce is one that doesn't produce a very large explosion but does make a lot of radiation. It won't serve to penetrate shields or armor at all effectively, but it should serve to provide a strong sensor reflection from anything trying to hide, and may even be able to strip and destroy a few different kinds of active stealth technology. You won't need a ton of these kinds of shells so they'll be a few provided from every ship. They're not a panacea since you'll still need to know approximately where an enemy is, but it should prevent a repeat of the Eldar being able to run rings around you.
The second problem is that anything fancier than a giant bomb is going to require direct contact to be effective, and at the ranges novacannons are firing at the enemy has usually moved between when the round is fired and when it arrives. Adding to that difficulty is the fact that the novacannons aren't perfectly accurate, and an error of a hundredth of a degree adds up to thousands of kilometers while the round is in flight.
There's no perfect solution here, but you're proud of the one you come up with. You build more gravity-generators into the shell, and store some of the massive energy of the round being fired into an extremely short-lived kind of inertial sump. It only lasts a few seconds before being discharged to violently counteract the force of the firing. But the genius is in the ability to redirect the force during those few seconds. The result is a module that takes up nearly half of the volume of a novacannon shell but allows it to make terminal guidance corrections.
The accuracy is better, but even against undodging targets you still expect at least half of the rounds to miss entirely, and the only payload you currently have for it is a melta round. But even so, it shows you a glimpse of a new kind of warfare, where long-range specialty rounds are able to eliminate an enemy before they ever enter your range.
Researched More than just a Boom, 52+20 = 72. Good success! All novacannon-equipped ships carry some sounding shells, effective at revealing stealth. Melta & plasma payloads may now apply to novacannons. Unlocked new technology - Improved Novacannon guidance (150 RP)
Unlocked new technology - Energetic Warheads (250 RP) Requires either vortex weapons or Antimatter is Dang Scary
Unlocked new technology - Eldritch Warheads (300 RP) Requires either Bell, Book and Candle or Offensive Shielding meanings
Discounted existing technology - Improved Gravity Weapons cost reduced by 25 RP
Discounted existing technology - Streamlined Novacannons cost reduced by 25 RP
The research on the warp ansible is coming along, but it's not quite ready for a full report. You're still spending a good chunk of your attetnion on Aurora, but with what extra you've got you check in with your resident psykers.
Cia's spending long hours in the psychic lab she's reserved for her own use, and checking the logs it looks like she hasn't left in a literal year. You're a bit worried about her, but she left behind pretty strong instructions not to disturb her unless somebody's boarding the Spark, so you respect your wishes and stay away.
Gwen on the other hand is doing pretty well with her staff, engaging with them personally and running them through a basic series of psychic exercises. Nobody's able to pull of miracles yet, but there's a general sense of progress among the crew. The biomancers are healing faster and the diviners are learning an almost subconsious knack for winning at strategy games, though they're being kept on their toes by the telepaths.
That extends to Gwen, who's consistently at the top of the gaming brackets, and is continuing to work through her reading and coursework on military strategy. She's not quite ready to teach at the Silvertear islands, but she's also at the level of many of the graduates.
Gwen & Staff Active Psyker Development rolls - 32 & 69. +1 Gwen level
+1 Staff level
The only cost to all of this is some normal wear and tear on the labs, but that's expected with this level of sustained practice.
One Psychic Lab takes 136 damage.
The warp communications research has been happening for the entire duration, with both you and Anexa working diligently on hooking up the two halves of the system into a complete whole.
You never expected it to be easy, and it's very much not. But it's going. The issues you're facing now are matching up the warp sender, the tube-shaped "warpaphone" with your reciever, which is just a sufficiently tuned psychic shield "sensor." It works, but making it work robustly and across interstellar distances is the hard part. The warp is not a calm medium through which it is easy to send messages, and you've had to compensate by scaling up the size and signal power of the warpaphone.
You also aren't actually testing it across interstellar distances, but you have tested it across the Denva system at this point. A properly constructed warpaphone makes use of the existing warp connections between different star systems, and it should reach about three systems if your calculations are correct. Anybody with a ship-sized or larger psychic shield with the right software attached will be able to pick up the message. However, the transmission is only kind of directional, and anybody in range will be able to pick up the signal and decrypt it if they know the encoding - and given that the signal bandwidth isn't much more than a series of low-throughput pulses, you aren't able to fit incredibly complex encryption into it just yet. Anybody even farther away might be able to tell a signal was sent, even if they aren't sure exactly what was in the signal.
You know that there are various nasties around here that are attuned to the warp in various ways - hell, some of them call it home. You're not sure if they'll be able to detect the transmissions at all, or what they'll make of them. It could be ringing the galaxy's largest dinner bell, or it could be another source of relatively meaningless noise against the background of everything going on in the warp.
Researched Emotional Ansible - 36+30 = 66 Good success. You can build Warpaphones in orbit or on the ground - large, stationary installations that can send messages across the warp. They have low signal transmission rates, can only reach three systems away (so from Denva to Zarithune's Maw), and may be detected by enemies at further distances, though the signal will be hopelessly garbled. Unlocked new technology - Mobile Warpaphones (250 RP)
Unlocked new technology - Smaller Warpaphones (100 RP)
Unlocked new technology - Boosted Warpaphones (200 RP)
Unlocked new technology - Focused Warpaphones (150 RP)
Unlocked new technology - Modulated Warpaphones (300 RP)
Once you have that all complete, you bother Victan's staff to draft up the technology transfer documents for everything you've discovered recently, including the warpaphone, the novacannon improvements and the various medical technologies. Over the years it's become somewhat of a formal process, since it turns out that bureaucrats like that kind of stuff, even when they're being delivered a gift-wrapped package. You suppose it would be kind of annoying to have civilization-shifting technologies dropped off on your front doorstep like a cat drops off dead mice, but all of the gift-wrapping in the world doesn't change what you're doing. It just gives it structure.
They're also not gifts, not really. It's a trade - you give them technology, they give you what you want. Speaking of which, the initial soundings from the various parts of Denvan society are beyond thrilled. The news of interstellar communications is initially classified as secret, but it quickly leaks and once more ignites public imaginations. Though there's an amusing amount of argument over the proper pronunciation, as well as several entymologists arguing that it should be called a warpagraph, but nobody listens to them.
+1 Stellar Ascendency Boon
The Stellar Ascendency government simultaneously confirms the discovery and enforces a top-down pronunciation edict. It is the warp-a-phone. They also begin the construction of one on the surface of Denva, quite close to the location of your original base.
You intentionally do not look into the leak, since you give it even odds that you could trace it back to Victan's team making sure that you get the credit for the discovery, as well as ensuring that the Stellar Ascendency didn't slack on building at least one. Part of the purpose is to ensure that they'll be able to call for help if they get invaded again, and to that end they actually need to build one.
The rest of your technology isn't quite as splashy, but does make larger impacts in the relevant fields. Your new surgical gear is only a modest upgrade, but the understanding of mutations goes some distance towards helping treat mutants across society, especially those in the far-flung mining ships far from intensive treatment centers.
With some of the flaws in the novacannon addressed, the Denvan military doubles down on novacannon development even more than they had already. You get whispers that they're beginning to develop the necessary tech for improved nova cannons, and are intending to make novacannon utilization a core part of their military doctrine. But their physics research institutes are just getting underway, and not associated with you in any form.
+1 Stellar Ascendency Boon If you want Denva to share improved gravity weapons with you next turn, spend a boon on physics sharing with them.
The Stellar Ascendency Navy is also continuing its expansion, and more Candle, Flame, Ember, and Torch ships slip free of the ever-expanding set of shipyards to fall into the waiting hands of fresh graduates of the NEPTUNE program. It's starting to shape up into a regular little space navy, and any hostile invaders of the Denva system are going to have a somewhat rude greeting.
Stellar Ascendancy Development - 46
They're also planning their first mission out of the Denva system, with more to come. At first it's going to be a scouting-in-force mission, but the intention is to establish permament outposts in the surrounding systems with an eye towards building up some strategic depth. To that end, they're starting to lay down the keels for several of the newly designed Lighter-class manufactory cruisers to potentially help along negotiations or establish bases.
Lighter class Manufactory Cruiser (17,100 BP, 300 CP, 32 ship construction slots) 6000x1200 m (6000 bp hull). 5 gravities, heavy shields, medium armor. Crew Quarters, Warp Drive, Void Abacus, "No" Psychic Shields (200 HP), Light boarding preparations, light self-destruct, troop compartment, 20x shipboard aquacultures, medical bay, manufactory (produces 1127 bp)
But then they approach you, or rather Victan's staff, with a question. Or a series of questions, rather. They recognize that they're somewhat inexperienced in the area of interstellar exploration and base-building and want some advice. Their current plan is to simply scout out all of the places immediately adjacent to Denva and try to persuade any existing locals to voluntary join the Stellar Ascendency.
But they want your input first, and you gather that there's a solid contingent that lobbied for a directed expansion towards Caldereth and Vorthryn, since you already provided detailed scouting data, including the existance of the Cogitare bases you established. There's another question there, one just barely not asked, about what will happen to those footholds in the system, since they would be so easily extrapolated to complete Stellar Ascendency control of the system in question.
If, that is, you're willing to turn them over, and give the Stellar Ascendency ships the instructions and codes that will tell the Cogitare you left behind as much.
Vote below on where Denva expands to, and if you're going to cede your claims to the Vorthryn and Caldereth Cogitare outposts. Similarly, if you want to weigh in on their approach to new systems, this might be a time to spend a boon (or two) to influence their approach to the matter.
Stellar Ascendancy Expansion - 51
All of this back-and-forth goes by without much attention from Victan, which seems appropriate. His staff is fully capable of keeping routine communication moving without him as he exerts his full attention on understanding the Vellkar. You're with him every step of the way, reading the messages and analyzing the rationality or lack thereof behind the responses.
It's very slow going. The Vellkar are a paradoxical people, obsessed with trade and exchange to an unusual extent, even while they value their own privacy quite highly. From what you've been able to tell, their whole governmental system is rooted in transactionality and contract law, though they also hold to legal standards that stick to the spirit of the contract, not the letter, which means their contracts tend to spend more time on defining intent rather than the exact letter.
They're also not mercenary in any sense of the word - there's a strong sense to each individual Vellkar about what they are allowed to trade, what falls within their perview and what does not. They will happily sell their own labor and property for fair value, but they won't jeapordize another's labour, even so far as intellectual property and simple information about their civilization.
Eventually, after a multi-year process of attempting to crack the code, a high-level offical in the Vellkar government agrees to a meeting. The kind of person who can actually make decisions for the Vellkar as a whole, though you don't understand their exact role. They know you've been probing around and trying to understand them better, and they may even accept your stated reasoning for it - that you want to know what they want. You've come to realize it's not as benign a purpose to them as you first meant it - after all, the person who understands the other side better usually gets the best of negotiations.
The small alien meets you in one of the spaceports that now dot the surface of Denva Primus, an interface between the underground world of the Vellkar and the space-based infastructure they're continuing to build out across the system. There are others in the room, but the one before you is the primary speaker.
Over a few hours you talk of wants and desires. You speak of your desire to explore and have a friendly, diverse port to come back from in this howling galaxy of madness. He speaks of his people's desire to become masters of their own destiny, carving out their homes and reaching ever-greater depths. You're pretty sure the metaphor in human terms would be to have their civilization ascend to ever greater heights, but they're a subterranean species to the human's arboreal, so it's not a surprise that the idoms are flipped.
Eventually, you work out a limited trade of cultural information, content from your databanks in return for some further cultural background on the Vellkar. They need to be reminded that most of this information really is yours to transfer, the owners long dead, and with you as the sole guardian of the information for tens of millennia.
What you learn from the database is more than you'd feared, but less than you'd hoped. The Vellkar are indeed a people rooted culturally and biologically in transactions, and believe that the path towards virtue is to engage in fair transactions. But they're also somewhat slow to trust that a new individual or group intends to adhere to that principle, and the culture of the Vellkar are laden with the betrayals of somebody taking advantage of that trust, and the various lengths the protagonists go to to avenge their broken trust.
One lesson becomes fairly clear early on as you and Victan go over the accumulated data. If you bargain an obviously unfair deal with the Vellkar and they learn about it later, they will consider it a betrayal on the order of an attack on their person. Their society considers nearly any ends to be permissible to go about avenging that wrong and reclaiming appropriate recompense, and it's not uncommon for others to pitch in and help out. You can't help but be thankful that they don't consider the Imperium and the Stellar Ascendency as the same entities, and that you managed to nudge the Stellar Ascendency into a policy of fair dealings with them.
It's also clear that they regard the Stellar Ascedency with some amount of goodwill, as having made unequal trades for the purpose of elevating the Vellkar as a trading partner. That's a practice which contains a whole philosophy in Vellkar culture, and is often considered to be a thoughtful and virtuous act akin to investing in the future. But you don't know if that goodwill would have long survived in the face of the Stellar Ascendency's intention to tread the Vellkar as a lesser sibling.
However, you're also able to distill out the things that the Vellkar want, and their capabilities. They're primarily a subterranean species, and that isn't likely to change very much. They appear to be using a decent chunk of their homegrown manufacturing capacity to improve their ability to dig out new caverns for living, farming and... sport? Various kinds of recreation at least, and you're pretty sure that you could earn a significant amount of goodwill with improved technology along those fronts based on their already fairly capable designs.
Unlocked new technology - Can it dig? (75 RP)
They're still developing their own style of manufacturing, which seems focused on distributed, highly individual production that only works because each and every Vellkar takes a high degree of responsibility over their own property. By any other standards, they would be doing quite well, but comparison to the Stellar Ascendency and the miracles of manufacturing made possible by the Organic-Machine Implant would make anybody look bad.
Vellkar Development - 54
Unsurprisingly, they're also very interested in the OMC implants you've perfected for humans, and openly indicate that they'd be interested in collaborating on making the implants work with Vellkar physiology. This isn't going to be a small project, but it would likely unlock a lot of capabilities for them, and earn you a commesurate amount of goodwill.
Unlocked new technology - Vellkar Organic-Machine Control (200 RP)
No doubt Denva would prefer to keep that particular capability under their control, but they're not the one making the decision. Gifting the Vellkar with OMC would accelerate and change their development in many ways, and it's your decision to make if you'll invest the effort into it.
Finally, the Vellkar are interested in expanding off Denva Primus, but lack the confidence and capabilities to do so. Their documents make it clear that they'd consider it a great service to deliver approximately fifty thousand of their people to a planet that they find habitable and give them sufficient aid in establishing a colony there.
At first glance, this sounds like a big ask - but Victan points out that this is a case where the details really matter - the Vellkar are a subterranean people, and they would be able to live on many planets that humans would find uninhabitable. It can't be an absolute iceball or an inner-system scorched rock, but given sufficient technological support, they'd be able to survive and thrive on a lot of planets that aren't even marked on the maps. You could certainly establish successful colonies of Vellkar on the uninhabited nine-tenths of Ascalon Primus, and dustballs in the right temperature range should be present in roughly one-third to one-half of the systems you explore. Furthermore, they'll only require underground lodging to get started, taking care of their own food supplies.
It would cost 3000 ground bp to build a sufficient colony for the Vellkar to get started, in addition to transporting 50,000 of them across the stars to their new home.
Vellkar boons are unlocked.
Vellkar Diplomacy, 8+29 = 37
Finally, you decide it's time to check in on Cia, who is slightly overdue on coming out of her latest meditation. She's emerged at times to socialize and reassure everybody that she is actually fine and still making progress with her meditations. The last time she seemed slightly more excited than usual, and rushed back into her psychic lab to resume her meditations.
But she's a couple of days overdue, and while you aren't worried about her physically, there's more than enough supplies in there for her. But you are worried that she's pushing harder than she should be to try to overcome her stalled progress. In the end you decide to give her a few days - you did tell her to push for progress, and if she believes that she can do it you aren't going to second-guess her.
Your confidence in that decision wanes as the days drag on with no sign of Cia, and you're trying to decide when you're going to forcefully drag her out when the psychic lab explodes. One moment, it's ticking along with all readings nominal. The next the psychic readings go insane, and the shielding reports that it's holding back a conflagration of psychic energy.
That conflagration becomes quite literal as flame eats away the material of the psychic lab, failing at the last moment to release bare streamers of flame that nonetheless scorch the hallways for a dozen meters in every direction. Many of your sensors are destroyed, but one camera survives with just the right angle to see the warp-sourced flames clear and reveal a naked Cia hovering in the center of the new void in your ship where the psychic lab used to be.
Then the power dies down, and she falls to the bottom of the ruined space. You prioritize the medical bots over the combat bots, which arrive to find Cia already shaking off her fall and trying to stand. It's going to be tricky with leg broken from the fall, but apart from that injury she seems completely unharmed.
You can't help but have a wry tone as you speak out of the medical bots transporting her to the medbay. "Did you learn something?"
She looks chagrined, occasionally glancing back towards the wreckage of the lab where she's spent so much of the last five years. "I did."
"I noticed that the fire didn't seem to harm you," you comment idly.
"That's part of it. I've seen more of the true nature of pyromancy. It's more than fire. It's energy, and on every level." She snaps her fingers, and a spark jumps between them. "Something to think on."
Cia Active Psyker Improvement - 16 & 93. +1 Cia Level. Continued levels will be improved by better psytech or Vita helping her. One psychic lab is completely destroyed.
"I'm just glad you're ok," you reply, your avatar finally arriving with Aurora in tow.
Cia smiles over at you and waves at Aurora. "Hey, how's it going?"
Aurora's brows knit together. "What happened to you?"
"I blew myself up. It was only mostly an accident!" Cia exclaims.
"I need to check you for a concussion," you say, but you're still mostly glad she's ok. You waggle your finger at Aurora. "This is why we don't play with the warp until we're ready. This happened even inside a shielded laboratory. I'll show you the wreckage soon."
Aurora's eyes widen almost concerningly and her mouth opens in a small 'o'. "Ok. But I want to see."
In this next turn Aurora's third eye will open. You don't know exactly what will happen, but you may set aside time to research it.
New technology unlocked - The Vagaries of a Third Eye (100 RP)
Current capabilities:
Command Points 1,606/12,500
0 Cogitare members are providing 0 CP
Ground Build Capacity: 0
Lift Capacity: 500 (converts between ground and void BP)
Void Build Capacity: 600 (+ Cogitare Manufacturing Command)
Repair Bay Capacity: 1,000 (+ Cogitare Manufacturing Command)
Research Capacity: 200 (+Anexa/Cogitare)
Bongo Psychic Energy: 0/0 Bongo is Bound in the Oubliette.
Staff Capacity: 904/1000 Build more crew quarters to improve this.
Juvenat usage: 103/150 people's worth (cannot be stockpiled)
Shipbuilding capacity: 0/0 ship construction slots
Flagship:Spark of the Ancients, 1100 CP cost
Psychic Shielding: Outer Hull 240/240 HP, Vita Core 270 HP, 2xCrew Quarters. 270 HP & 270 HP, Basic Psychic Experimentation Lab 134/270 HP, Bongo Oubliette 540 HP, Secondary Vault 50 HP, Medbay 20 HP "soothe", Captive Holding cells (12/500) 50 HP, (Shields can be repaired for 5 BP/point, repair bay works)
Available ships:
2 Torch Dive Cruisers (2x30 = 60 CP)
8 Ember Mk2 Novacannon Frigates (8x15 = 120 CP)
Available ground forces:
338 Specter Light infiltration bots (20 CP)
2252 Medium Humanized Machine-spirit Infantry Bots (3x20 = 60 CP)
3794 Heavy Machine-spirit humanized Infantry Bots with Machine Spirit Jammers (4x20 = 80 CP)
2,966 Seeker Bots (3x20 = 60 CP) (Left on Denva Secundus)
37 Light Machine-spirit tanks (4 CP)
28 Medium Machine-spirit tank (2 CP) CP costs for infantry bots work as breakpoints in increments of 1000, or 100 for tanks. So 50 or 500 or 1000 bots all cost 20 CP, and 1001 costs 40 CP. Abstraction, y'all.
Current Installations: Aetherion:
Warp research lab, 400 inner shielding, 200 outer shielding. (100 CP) Denva Primus:
Cogitare Manufacturing Command: (6941/9000 CP)
300 Cogitare produces 9000 CP
Void BP: 8,190/turn.
Ground BP: 21,256/turn
Lift capacity: 21,500/turn
Shipbuilding capacity: 31/64 ship construction slots Aetherion:
2 Caltrop Defense stations (2x10=20 CP)
130 Machine-spirit orbital Manufactories. +8190 Void BP/turn (15x130=1950 CP),
1 Large Shipyard, (31/64 ship construction slots) (250 CP)
Contains hulls for 2x Light Cruisers (1800 BP size), 4x Frigate (900 BP size), 7x Destroyers (450 BP size) Denva Primus:
5 Burgs (5x5=25 CP)
1 Medium Void-shield Installation (50 CP)
241 MS Manufactories (18x241=4338 CP) Produces 21,256 ground bp.
41 MS-Spaceports, with 410 MS-shuttles (2.5x41+0.5x410=308 CP). Converts 21,500 ground bp to void bp.
In progress construction:
none
In-progress research:
Faith is My Shield (42/75 RP)
Misc assets:
A (bound) Scrapcode generator named Bongo. Dark Eldar Weaponry, A few Dark Eldar bodies, Dark Eldar Boarding Craft. The Hand of Saint Agatha. A sector-governor's ransom in wealth. A dozen ancient metallic bots. A chunk of auramite supposedly from the Emperor's armor. Pieces of Chaos Spare Marine armor. Warp-Resonant Crystal. A Strange Seed.
Scout out any significant encroaching threats and bring back intel.
Deliver battleship-grade hulls to them.
Found stable outposts for them in external systems
Do big favors for civilizations to earn Boons. See the Boons & Known Civilizations page for the most-recent list of boons you can get from the Stellar Ascendency. Ongoing boons:
Voidforge Miners, +4000 bp/turn in Denva.
Sharing General Design, ship design, Industrial, cybernetics (OMC), void shields and biology tech trees.
Large Cogitare presence, continuing to expand.
The Stellar Ascendancy. "Be for others as I have been for you."
Outstanding: 0 Boon Opportunities:
Improved subterranean tunneling equipment.
OMC implants that work for Vellkar (potentially multiple boons)
Carry a population of 10,000 Vellkar to a new system and provide them aid in establishing a colony there (potentially multiple boons)
Do big favors for civilizations to earn Boons. See the Boons & Known Civilizations page for the most-recent list of boons you can get from Denva (or anywhere else) Ongoing boons:
Rights to build 1000 manufactories on the surface of Denva Primus, benefitting from +40% additional production due to the Kultrinium deposits.
Actions (choose 4 of the below, can choose the same action multiple times):
[] Orders: Command existing units in a given theater of operations.
[] Travel/Explore: Pick a system on the Map to travel to/explore. Currently, you may travel 1 system as part of an explore action, or 3 systems if you don't explore. You can explore a place you've already explored, or focus your exploration on a specific feature of a place you've already explored. Or explore two systems next turn and then the turn after go back for specific POIs without costing an action. Jumping a single system over as part of an exploration action is free, a number which will increase with better navigation. A navigator will increase this number dramatically.
[] Diplomacy/Subversion: Talk to people. (Write-in goal & method)
[] Construction: Gain build points equal to your build capacity, write in what 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.
For non-military installations, you can upgrade them with psychic shielding by spending extra BP up to 4x the base cost of the installation. The more you spend, the stronger the shielding will be. This is seperate from and stronger than the psychic shielding granted to blueprints in the design section. That's a lighter shielding with reduced HP, this is for when you want something really beefy and are willing to pay for it.
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.
Advanced Technological Research Lab (500 BP, 100 CP) Will allow you to process advanced technological samples, including materials of alien origin. Has advanced scanning, modeling and processing capabilities.
Basic Psychic Experimentation Lab (200 BP, 50 CP) Will allow for safer experimentation with psytech and general psyker powers, at the very least confining the damage from perils of the warp. Can be outfitted with inwards-facing psychic shielding.
High-Energy Physics Research Lab (500 BP or 500 VBP, 100 CP) Will allow you to conduct research on more... excitable branches of physics. Maybe don't put it close to anything you want to keep. (Rolling a 1 while researching something here might turn out badly, but at least you'll have containment measures in place)
Warp Research Lab (500 BP or 500 VBP, 100 CP) Anexa's brainchild. Half mad science lair, half sensible warp research setup. Will allow you to conduct research on the warp, miniature portal generator and all. Will likely help contain poor results, though maybe give it some psychic shielding. (Rolling a 1 while researching something here might turn out badly, but at least you'll have containment measures in place in addition to any psychic shielding you add.)
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. Basic psychic shielding.
Small automated medical facility (50 BP, 50 CP) 50 treatment rooms with autodocs capable of dealing with severe injuries. Basic psychic shielding.
Large automated medical facility (500 BP, 50 CP) 500 treatment rooms with autodocs capable of dealing with severe injuries. Basic psychic shielding.
Cloning facility (100 BP, 100 CP) All of the facilities necessary to clone 50 babies every year. Childcare not included. Basic psychic shielding.
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. Basic psychic shielding.
Observatory (100 BP, 25 CP) Built on a nearby mountain. Will unlock research projects to map the current system. Basic psychic shielding.
Manufactory (100 BP, 45 CP) More manufacturing capacity and the raw material harvesting to use it. +52.5 ground-based build capacity. Basic psychic shielding.
Machine Spirit Manufactory (120 BP, 18 CP) As a manufactory, but controlled primarily by machine spirits. +63 ground-based build capacity. Basic psychic shielding.
Industrial Aquaculture Plant (50 BP, 10 CP) Produces all of the food necessary to feed 15,000 people. The food is very spicy. Basic psychic shielding.
Rocket Launch facility (50 BP, 10 CP) Uses chemical rockets to convert up to 500 ground build capacity to half that amount of void build capacity per action. The opposite of stealthy. Basic psychic shielding.
Spaceport (100 BP, 25 CP) Allows you to use shuttles to convert ground build capacity to Void build capacity with no loss, or as a base to host and rearm fighters. Can host 10 fighters or 10 shuttles, each capable of converting 50 ground BP to void BP per action, built separately. Stealthier than rockets, but not invisible. Basic psychic shielding.
MS-Spaceport (150 BP, 2.5 CP) Allows you to use shuttles to convert ground build capacity to Void build capacity with no loss, or as a base to host and rearm fighters. Can host 10 fighters or 10 shuttles, each capable of converting 50 ground BP to void BP per action, built separately. Stealthier than rockets, but not invisible. Basic psychic shielding.
Magnetic Catapult launch system (1000 BP, 50 CP) Allows you to convert up to 500 ground build capacity to void build capacity per action with no loss. Actually quite stealthy. Basic psychic shielding.
Medium Void-shield Installation (1000 BP, 50 CP) A void shield capable of stopping medium orbital bombardment, approximately fifty heavy strikes. Basic psychic shielding.
Burg (1515 BP, 5 CP) A heavily fortified base containing firepower equivalent to three anti-orbit lances, six anti-air defenses, six anti-armor bunkers and twelve anti-personnel bunkers. Also contains storage space for troops and supplies. Is equipped with machine spirits, "no" psychic shielding and Machine Spirit Jammers.
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. Basic psychic shielding.
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.
Anti-personnel Bunker, Psychic Shielding (40 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. Modified with somewhat heavier psychic shielding.
Machine-spirit Jammer (100 BP, 10 CP) A bank of cogitators capable of jamming a large number of small machine spirits (weapons, doors), several medium machine spirits (vehicles) or one large machine spirit (small ship). Effect is temporary and resistance will build up. Basic psychic shielding.
Basic Juvenat Production Facility (250 BP, 50 CP) A set of carefully-managed vats capable of supplying 50 people with a perennial supply of Juvenat. Basic psychic shielding.
Warpaphone (5000 BP, 100 CP) Allows for interstellar communication, looks like a giant cannon barrel. Basic psychic shielding, which must be turned off for communciations.
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 Aquaculture Plant (250 BP, 25 CP) Produces all the food necessary to feed 75,000 people. The food is very spicy. Basic psychic shielding.
Orbital Manufactory (250 void BP, 40 CP) Orbital manufacturing capability, built above a world. Includes material harvesting & transport. Gives +52.5 void build capacity. Basic psychic shielding.
Machine Spirit Orbital Manufactory (300 void BP, 15 CP) Orbital manufacturing capability, built above a world. Includes material harvesting & transport. Gives +63 void build capacity. Basic psychic shielding.
Deep Space Manufactory (750 void BP, 40 CP) Manufacturing capacity built near asteroid clusters. Gives +105 void build capacity. Automatic basic stealth. Basic psychic shielding.
Machine Spirit Deep Space Manufactory (900 void BP, 15 CP) Manufacturing capacity built near asteroid clusters. Gives +126 void build capacity. Automatic basic stealth. Basic psychic shielding.
Small Shipyard (1000 void BP, 50 CP) 4 Ship construction slots
Medium Shipyard (3000 void BP, 100 CP) 16 Ship construction slots
Large Shipyard (10,000 void BP, 250 CP) 64 Ship construction slots
Orbital Warpaphone (5000 VBP, 100 CP) Allows for interstellar communication, looks like a giant cannon barrel. Basic psychic shielding, which must be turned off for communciations.
Spark Ambush Platform (1500 VBP, 10 CP), Light Defensive platform, 500x500 meters (400 BP). No shields, Medium armor, 20 HP "veil" Psychic Shielding. Advanced Passive Stealth Profile. Heavy missiles, Medium missiles, 2x Light missiles, Melta payloads.
Strategic Weapons
Nuclear warhead (15 BP, 1 CP) A variable-yield nuclear warhead that can be deployed by ballistic missile or other means to destroy a hive-sized target unless it's heavily dug-in or protected by void shields.
Exterminatus warhead (100 BP, 1 CP) A "variable-yield" nuclear warhead that must be deployed by an orbiting ship. Comes with a ground-penetrating body about the size of a torpedo, and can be shot down. But if not, it'll set off an explosion large enough to crack the crust and cause planetary-scale devastation from the resulting earthquakes, volcanoes, and utter destruction of all planetary cycles. It'll be possible to survive the resulting cataclysm in a bunker on the far side of the planet, but the planet's toast for at least a century.
Small Craft
Basic space stealth missile (5 Void BP, 1 CP) Rests steailthily in orbit, until activated, at which point it can attack nearly any target in orbit. One-shots satellites, many are needed for ships or larger platforms.
Shuttle (20 BP, 5 CP) Each shuttle converts up to 50 ground build capacity to void build capacity. Requires a spaceport for efficient transfer of materials.
MS-Shuttle (30 BP, 0.5 CP) Each shuttle converts up to 50 ground build capacity to void build capacity. Requires a spaceport for efficient transfer of materials.
Fighter (20 BP, 5 CP) These fighters have twin-linked lascannons to attack ground and orbital targets, and can carry a couple of small bombs. Requires a spaceport for rapid launch and rearming.
Basic Stealth Fighters (25 BP, 5 CP) These fighters have twin-linked lascannons to attack ground and orbital targets, and can carry a couple of small bombs. They shouldn't be especially noticeable to anybody not actively looking, though they won't be able to close all the way to attack range without being spotted. Requires a spaceport for rapid launch and rearming.
Basic Stealth Assault Shuttle (25 BP, 5 CP) Sometimes you want to deliver things other than bombs to your enemies. So let's stick some armor and guns on a shuttle, and make it a bit more maneuverable. They shouldn't be especially noticeable to anybody not actively looking, though they won't be able to close all the way to attack range without being spotted. Can carry 100 troops and provide anti-personnel and light antiarmor fire. Requires a spaceport for rapid transport of troops.
Ships
Crucible manufacturing craft (550 void BP, 60 CP, 1 ship construction slot) Voidborne craft with family-sized crew compartment. In-system only, no defenses but relatively hard to chase down. Gives +100 void build capacity, very mobile.
Anvil Large manufacturing craft (1500 void BP, 120 CP, 2 ship construction slots) Voidborne craft with small crew compartment. In-system only, no defenses but relatively hard to chase down. Gives +350 void build capacity.
Tiny system monitor (950 void BP, 50 CP, 1 ship construction slot) Destroyer, 1500x300 meters. 7 gravities of acceleration. Medium armor, Light Shields. 2 Light Macrocannon batteries, 1 light lance battery. High-maneuverability thrusters.
Small system monitor (2375 void BP, 100 CP, 2 ship construction slots) Frigate, 2200x600 meters. 5 gravities of acceleration. Medium armor, Medium Shields. 4x Medium Macrocannons, 1x Medium Lances, 2x Point Defense.
Torch Dive Cruiser (7150 BP, 30 CP, 8 ship construction slots) 4400x800m (2000 bp hull), 6 gravities, heavy shields, medium armor. "No" Psychic Shields (200 HP). Machine spirits, Warp Drive, Void Abacus. Improved sensors, tuned shields, medium boarding preparations. 2 point defense, 2 light macrocannon, 1 medium plasma cannon, 1 medium gravity blaster.
Fab manufacturing Cruiser (6400 BP, 30 CP, 8 ship construction slots) 4400x800m (2000 bp hull), 6 gravities, medium shields, medium armor. "No" Psychic Shields (100 HP). Machine spirits, Warp Drive, Void Abacus. Medium Missiles, 2 point defense, Light boarding preparations, light self-destruct, 1800 bp manufactory (produces 414 bp)
Lighter class Manufactory Cruiser (17,100 BP, 300 CP, 32 ship construction slots) 6000x1200 m (6000 bp hull). 5 gravities, heavy shields, medium armor. Crew Quarters, Warp Drive, Void Abacus, "No" Psychic Shields (200 HP), Light boarding preparations, light self-destruct, troop compartment, 20x shipboard aquacultures, medical bay, manufactory (produces 1127 bp)
Units
Avatar (10 BP, 0 CP) 1 human-appearing robot.
Seeker Bot (80 BP, 20 CP). 1000 light infantry bots, light arms, and armor intended to fight lightly armored enemies. Can pass for human, are run by machine spirits, equipped with "No" psychic shields and basic nonlethal weapons mostly consisting of basic knockout gas that sometimes causes fatal side-effects.
Specter (100 BP, 20 CP). 1000 infiltration bots, light arms and armor intended to fight lightly-armored enemies. Can pass for human, are run by machine-spirits, equipped with machine-spirit jamming and are both passively and actively stealthy.
Light infantry bots (25 BP, 200 CP). 1000 human-sized bipedal robots with light arms and armor, mostly intended to fight lightly-armored enemies. Good in tight corners and rough terrain. Expensive CP cost due to need for close control.
Light Machine-spirit infantry bots (35 BP, 20 CP). As light Infantry Bots, but controlled by machine spirits. Slightly more chaos-resistant.
Light Humanized Machine-spirit infantry bots (60 BP, 20 CP). As light Infantry Bots, but controlled by machine spirits and made to look like humans. Slightly more chaos-resistant, tougher and stronger.
Medium Infantry Bots (50 BP, 200 CP) 1000 human-sized bipedal robots with medium armor and light anti-tank weaponry. Good all-rounders. Expensive CP cost due to need for close control.
Medium Machine-spirit Infantry Bots (75 BP, 20 CP) As Medium Infantry Bots, but controlled by machine spirits. Slightly more chaos-resistant.
Medium Humanized Machine-spirit Infantry Bots (100 BP, 20 CP) As Medium Infantry Bots, but controlled by machine spirits and made to look like humans. Slightly more chaos-resistant, tougher and stronger than normal bots.
Heavy Infantry Bots (100 BP, 200 CP) 1000 human-sized bipedal robots with heavy armor, and heavy armaments such as plasma guns, meltaguns, heavy flamers, melta bombs, missile launchers. Good in open field combat against heavily armed foes.
Heavy Machine-spirit Infantry Bots (150 BP, 20 CP) As Heavy Infantry Bots, but controlled by machine spirits. Slightly more chaos-resistant.
Heavy Humanized Machine-spirit Infantry Bots (175 BP, 20 CP) As Heavy Infantry Bots, but controlled by machine spirits and made to look human. Slightly more chaos-resistant, tougher and stronger than normal bots.
Heavy Machine-spirit humanized Infantry Bots with Machine Spirit Jammers (190 BP, 20 CP) As Heavy Infantry Bots, but controlled by machine spirits and made to look human. Slightly more chaos-resistant, tougher and stronger than normal bots. Can jam the weapons and equipment of foes who use machine spirits.
Light Machine-spirit tanks (150 BP, 5 CP) As Light tanks, but controlled by machine spirits. Slightly more chaos-resistant.
Medium tanks (200 BP, 50 CP) 100 medium battle tanks with battle cannons to fight enemy armor.
Medium Machine-spirit tanks (375 BP, 5 CP) As Medium tanks, but controlled by machine spirits. Slightly more chaos-resistant.
Basic Artillery (300 BP, 50 CP) 50 basic artillery units, capable of shelling battlefields with indirect fire. Includes internal ammunition fabrication.
Basic Machine-spirit Artillery (450 BP, 5 CP) As Basic Artillery, but controlled by machine spirits. Slightly more chaos-resistant.
Ocean Remediation Ship (50 BP, 10 CP) A ship that will dredge up massive amounts of seaweed, compact it and sink it to the bottom of the ocean as a solid lump. 1 ship will fix 1% of the Calderath problem over 1 century. Basic psychic shields.
Machine Spirit Ocean Remediation Ship (75 BP, 1 CP) A ship that will dredge up massive amounts of seaweed, compact it and sink it to the bottom of the ocean as a solid lump. 1 ship will fix 1% of the Calderath problem over 1 century. Controlled by a very serene machine spirit. Basic psychic shields.
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. Comes equipped with basic psychic shields, though not perfectly integrated.
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. Comes equipped with basic psychic shields, though not perfectly integrated.
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.
Heavy Infantry Armor (5 BP per unit) Enough heavy armor to equip 1000 humans with armor slightly superior to Sisters-of-Battle grade armor. Can be built with integrated void-shields by doubling the price. Comes equipped with basic psychic shields, though not perfectly integrated.
Basic Force Weapons (5 bp for a personalized one, or 10 for 1 bp for general-purpose) A force weapon in the shape of a sword, axe, spear or glaive. Ideally it gets personally fitted to the user, which is difficult but has a better result, or you can mass-produce weapons that will work but won't be all they could be.
Man-portable Machine-Spirit Jammers (10 BP) Enough small devices in the forms of vox-units, bluescreen grenades and directed antennae to arm 1000 humans with gear that increases their effectiveness against enemies using weapons, armor and vehicles with machine spirits.
Personal Void Shields (5 bp per unit) A void-shield projector capable of protecting a person or bot from weapons fire. Can be fit into an amulet or be a larger unit attached to armor for greater shield strength.
Light crewed tanks (100 BP) 100 light battle tanks, primarily armed with anti-personnel weapons. Need crew. Roughly equivalent to the Imperial Chimera. Basic psychic shields.
Medium crewed tanks (200 BP) 100 medium battle tanks with battle cannons to fight enemy armor. Roughly equivalent to the Leman Russ. Basic psychic shields.
Basic Crewed artillery (300 BP) 50 basic artillery units, capable of shelling battlefields with indirect fire. Includes internal ammunition fabrication. Basic psychic shields.
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. +52.5 ground-based build capacity, to be spent as the people running it desire. Basic psychic shields.
Residential Space (10 BP)
Enough living space for 1000 people. Beds, plumbing. Temperature control. Basic psychic shields.
City (1000 BP per 50,000 people)
The complete package for a city. Residential space, power generation, sewage treatment, transit, and offices. No food production. Basic psychic shields.
Orbital habitat (1750 Void BP per 50,000 people) As city but in space. Includes Hydroponics. Basic psychic shields.
Manned Ocean Remediation Ship (50 BP) A ship that will dredge up massive amounts of seaweed, compact it, and sink it to the bottom of the ocean as a solid lump. Also can turn the seaweed into moderately palatable food for the crew. 1 ship will fix 1% of the Calderath problem over 1 century. Basic psychic shields.
[] 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.
Ground Blueprint Design:
To design ground installations & non-combat units, use the rules below and then spend the RP necessary to vote on them. This includes bunkers, anti-orbital defenses, ground units, etc.
If there's something you want that's not explicitly on this list, it's probably fair to assume that you can use the nearest reasonable thing - if you want to design psychically shielded armor, the RP cost will be the same as for the appropriately sized bots. Same for manned vehicles and remotely controlled vehicles.
Small Blueprints Design
Blueprint Modification Options
Blueprint Modification system: We've unlocked various additions to ground blueprints. Instead of attempting to list all possible combination below I'll list the base options, and you can trick them out with the following modifications. In general BP & RP should round up to the nearest 5. CP does not. Note that these are calculated off "base cost," not total cost, so it is not compounding, though some upgrades increase the base cost.
Here's an example of me designing a fancy assault shuttle (I'm not going to keep this up to date, so the numbers here may not reflect the numbers as you improve the modifications available with future research
The base blueprint is 25 RP - Assault Shuttle (25 BP, 5 CP), but I want to make it fancy. First, let's make it machine-spirit controlled. That gives +0.5x base BP, -0.9x CP, or +15 BP, -4.5 CP. So the blueprint is now:
25 RP - Machine Spirit Assault Shuttle (40 BP, 0.5 CP)
Then I want to give it void shields. That costs +1x base BP cost because it's a small craft, then +1x RP. So +25 BP, +25 RP. Now it's:
50 RP - Void-shielded Machine Spirit Assault Shuttle (65 BP, 0.5 CP)
Now I want to give it psy shields. That's +4x base BP cost for small craft (which was 25, so +100 BP), and +1x base RP cost (which was 25, so +25 RP). So now it's:
75 RP - Void & Psy-shielded Machine Spirit Assault Shuttle (165 BP, 0.5 CP)
Oh and screw it, might as well make it stealthy too, which is +1x base RP cost, +0.25x base BP cost, so that's +10 BP (round up to nearest 5) & +25 RP cost, which leaves us with:
100 RP Basic Stealth Void & Psy-shielded Machine Spirit Assault Shuttle (175 BP, 0.5 CP)
And of course that's a bit of a mouthful, so I'm going to rename it the "Icarus," and the blueprint should look like:
100 RP - Icarus (Basic Stealth Void & Psy-shielded Machine Spirit Assault Shuttle, 175 BP, 0.5 CP)
If we'd wanted to also make it humanized (so it looks like it's piloted by people, for example if you wanted to transport allies without them knowing it was flown by robots) then this all changes, since that adds +5 BP to the base cost. That doesn't change the RP or CP cost at all, but it does change BP. Instead of 25+15(0.5x)+25(1x)+100(4x)+10(0.25x)=175 you'd do (25+5)+15(0.5x)+30(1x)+120(4x)+10(1.25x)=205 BP. And then you'd have
100 RP - Basic Stealth Humanized Void & Psy-shielded Machine Spirit Assault Shuttle (205 BP, 0.5 CP)
Crewed - (No change in RP or BP cost, completely removes CP cost) Makes a unit operable by a crew of trained humans. Incompatible with Humanization, Machine Spirits decreases manpower requirement. Can be applied to: Vehicles, Small craft, defensive installations, small utility.
Humanization - (+15 base BP cost for combat bots, +5 base BP for vehicles, small craft & defensive installations) Makes a unit appear to be operated by fully-armored humans. Slightly increases strength and armor of those units. Can be applied to: Combat Bots, Vehicles, Small craft, defensive installations, small utility.
Machine Spirit Jammers - (+10 base BP) Adds machine-spirit jamming equipment to the blueprint, enhancing capabilities against forces that use machine spirits. Can be applied to: Combat Bots, Vehicles, Small craft, defensive installations.
Machine-spirits - (+0.5x base BP cost, -0.9x base CP cost for non-manufactories. +0.2x base BP cost, -0.675x base CP cost and + 0.2x base BP production for manufactories.) Make this blueprint controlled by machine spirits, making it slightly corruption resistant and reducing the load on your systems. Synergistic with Psychic shields. Can be applied to: Combat bots, vehicles, small craft, defensive installations, small utility.
Void Shields - (+1x base BP cost for tanks, small craft, defensive insallations, utility, +9x base BP cost for bots, +1x base RP to design blueprint) - Adds void shields to the object, dramatically increasing survivability. Can be applied to: Combat Bots, Vehicles, Small craft, defensive installations, small utility.
Psychic Shielding - (+2x base RP to design blueprint) - Adds psychic shields to the object, having a variety of effects based on the type of shielding. Synergistic with Machine Spirits. Choose one of: "No" (offers general protection to warp attacks), "Begone" (coming into contact with warp entities may banish them), "Veil" (Protected from psychic perception, mild antimemetic effect), "Soothe" (Being in contact with or contained within the shield soothes warp-sensitive creatures). This is design-integrated shielding, and is not as strong as what can be acheived by building heavy-duty shields into things (which can only be done for installations & larger). Can be applied to: Combat Bots, Vehicles, Small craft, defensive installations, utility, large utility. A blueprint can currently carry two layers of shielding, with any combination of shielding meanings.
Basic Stealth - (+0.25x base BP cost for vehicles and small craft, +0.5x base BP cost for bots) Makes a unit harder to detect with both active & passive means. Can be applied to: Combat bots, vehicles, small craft. Insallations/utility are covered by the "underground" rules, see the blueprint page.
Less-than Lethal armament - (+0.5x base BP cost for vehicles, small craft & bots.) Arms a unit with dispensers for drugs to render human foes unconscious instead of dead. Will be improved by research for flexible. Can be applied to: Combat bots, vehicles, small craft.
Gravity Weapons - (+2x base BP cost for vehicles, small craft & bots.) Arms a unit with gravity weapons, capable of ignoring armor and ripping apart enemy internals on high power, or fairly effective short-term crowd control on low power. Power-hungry and short ranged, will be improved by research. Can be applied to: Combat bots, vehicles, small craft.
Combat Bots
10 RP - Light infantry bots (25 BP, 200 CP). 1000 human-sized bipedal robots with light arms and armor.. Expensive CP cost due to need for close control. Good at rapid pursuit & maneuvering through tight terrain, bad against heavy armor.
25 RP - 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. Good all-rounder capable of all roles, though not optimal at either.
25 RP - Heavy Infantry Bots (100 BP, 200 CP) 1000 human-sized bipedal robots with heavy armor, and heavy armaments such as plasma guns, meltaguns, heavy flamers, melta bombs, missile launchers. Good at the heaviest fighting over open ground against heavy armor, not well-suited to avoiding collateral damage.
Vehicles
15 RP - Light tanks (100 BP, 50 CP) 100 light battle tanks, primarily armed with anti-personnel weapons. Good at rapid pursuit & maneuvering through tight terrain, bad against heavy armor.
25 RP - Medium tanks (250 BP, 50 CP) 100 medium battle tanks with battle cannons & antipersonnel weapons to fight enemy armor and infantry. Good all-rounder capable of all roles, though not optimal at any.
25 RP - Heavy tanks (500 BP, 50 CP) 100 heavy battle tanks with heavy battle cannons to fight effectively against heavy enemy armor. Good at the heaviest fighting over open ground against heavy armor, not well-suited to avoiding collateral damage.
Small Craft
25 RP - Shuttle (20 BP, 5 CP) A single shuttle which converts up to 50 ground build capacity to void build capacity, and shouldn't be especially noticeable to anybody not actively looking for it. Requires a spaceport for efficient transfer of materials.
25 RP - Bomber (20 BP, 5 CP) Sometimes you want to deliver cargo to your enemies. Can deliver a fair amount of ordinance to a target in atmosphere or out of it. Unlocks a bomber hanger attachment for ships.
25 RP - 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.
25 RP - Assault Shuttle (25 BP, 5 CP) Sometimes you want to deliver things other than bombs to your enemies. So let's stick some armor and guns on a shuttle, and make it a bit more maneuverable. Can carry 100 troops and provide anti-personnel and light antiarmor fire. Cannot deliver troops to space targets.
Defensive Installations
10 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.
5 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.
15 RP - 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.
10 RP - 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.
50 RP - Fortress Strongpoint (1000 BP, 50 CP). A single integrated and heavily fortified defensive structure containing firepower equivalent to three anti-orbit lances, six anti-air defenses, six anti-armor bunkers and twelve anti-personnel bunkers, as well as storage space for troops and supplies.
25 RP - Light Void-shield installation (250 BP, 25 CP) A void shield capable of stopping light orbital bombardment, approximately ten heavy strikes.
50 RP - Medium Void-Shield Installation (1000 BP, 50 CP) A void shield capable of stopping medium orbital bombardment, approximately fifty heavy strikes. Basic psychic shielding.
25 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.
10 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.
Small Utility
50 RP -
10 RP - Maglev System (5 bp/mile, 50 flat CP) A high-capacity maglev system to transport large amounts of goods across a planetary surface, linking various surface installations together into a single network so production from any of them can be applied at all of them.
20 RP - Industrial Aquaculture Plant (50 BP, 10 CP) Produces all of the food necessary to feed 15,000 people. The food is very spicy. Basic psychic shielding.
30 RP - Orbital Aquaculture Plant (250 BP, 25 CP) Produces all the food necessary to feed 75,000 people. The food is very spicy. Basic psychic shielding.
25 RP - Manufactory (100 BP, 45 CP) More manufacturing capacity and the raw material harvesting to use it. +52.5 ground-based build capacity. Basic psychic shielding.
35 RP - Orbital Manufactory (250 void BP, 40 CP) Orbital manufacturing capability, built above a world. Includes material harvesting & transport. Gives +52.5 void build capacity. Basic psychic shielding.
50 RP - Deep Space Manufactory (750 void BP, 40 CP) Manufacturing capacity built near asteroid clusters. Gives +105 void build capacity. Automatic basic stealth. Basic psychic shielding.
10 RP - Rocket Launch facility (50 BP, 10 CP) Uses chemical rockets to convert up to 500 ground build capacity to half that amount of void build capacity per action. The opposite of stealthy. Basic psychic shielding.
20 RP - Spaceport (100 BP, 25 CP) Allows you to use shuttles to convert ground build capacity to Void build capacity with no loss, or as a base to host and rearm fighters. Can host 10 fighters or 10 shuttles, each capable of converting 50 ground BP to void BP per action, built separately. Stealthier than rockets, but not invisible. Basic psychic shielding.
80 RP - Basic Juvenat Production Facility (250 BP, 50 CP) A set of carefully-managed vats capable of supplying 50 people with a perennial supply of Juvenat.
Large Utility
40 RP - Magnetic Catapult launch system (1000 BP, 50 CP) Allows you to convert up to 500 ground build capacity to void build capacity per action with no loss. Actually quite stealthy. Basic psychic shielding.
50 RP - Warpaphone (5000 BP, 100 CP) Allows for interstellar communication, looks like a giant cannon barrel.
50 RP - Orbital Warpaphone (5000 VBP, 100 CP) Allows for interstellar communication, looks like a giant cannon barrel.
20 RP - Small Shipyard (1000 void BP, 50 CP) 4 Ship construction slots
40 RP - Medium Shipyard (3000 void BP, 100 CP) 16 Ship construction slots
60 RP - Large Shipyard (10,000 void BP, 250 CP) 64 Ship construction slots
25*N RP - Void Manufacturing Platform (1000*N BP, 50*N CP) Design a larger, more efficient deep-space manufactory. Produces 100*N+50*N^2 BP. N must be a positive integer, currently capped at 5. If N=5 this platform would cost 125 RP to design, 5000 BP to build, 250 CP to run, and produce 100*5+50*5^2=1750 BP. Requires megastructure machine spirits before you can get the machine spirit boost. Further technology will increase max N.
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 amount of space inside the ship, which is represented by the number of BP spent on the hull. That's your "Budget"
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 cramming.
Pick hull equipment to go onto the ship. These do not count towards cramming.
Choose weapons, combat equipment & noncombat equipment to add to the ship. 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.
Have a vote win which spends the necessary RP to design the planned ship.
(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.
Light defense Platform, 5 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, 12 RP, 50 CP, 1 ship construction slots (200-500 BP, 1200x200-1600x400 meters) Engines: (7/8/9 gravities) for (50/100/150 BP). Shields: (none/light/medium) for (0/50/100) Armor: (none/light/medium) for (0/50/100)
Frigate, 25 RP, 100 CP, 2 ship construction slots (500-1000 BP, 1600x400-2200x600 meters) Engines: (6/7/8 gravities) for (75/150/225 BP). Shields: (none/light/medium/heavy) for (0/75/150/300) Armor: (none/light/medium) for (0/75/150)
Light Cruiser, 37 RP, 200 CP, 8 ship construction slots (1000-2000 BP, 3500x400-4400x800 meters) Engines: (4/5/6 gravities) for (100/200/300 BP). Shields: (none/light/medium/heavy) for (0/150/300/600) Armor: (none/light/medium) for (0/100/200)
Heavy Cruiser, 50 RP, 300 CP, 32 ship construction slots (2000-6000 BP, 4500x600-6000x1200 meters) Engines: (3/4/5 gravities) for (300/400/500 BP). Shields: (none/light/medium/heavy) for (0/200/400/800) Armor: (none/light/medium) for (0/200/400)
Available Hull Equipment:
These do not count towards hull cramming.
Crew Quarters (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 if properly crewed. Comes with fod supply but it's basic (i.e. nutrient paste). Not required for OMC control, ship can still be controlled by CP if desired.
Crew numbers are 5-15k for destroyer, 10-30k for frigate, 20-80k for light cruisers, 40-200k for heavy cruisers, 80-500k for grand cruisers, 160k-3 million for battleships. The lower number is the number required to fully crew the ship with mundane humans, the upper is the most that can fit with this addon. Get the "additional living space" equipment below if you want to stick more people onto the ship.
Machine Spirit (1/10 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to nearest 50) This ship is primarily controlled by a sub-sapient machine spirit, reducing the CP cost of the base hull to 15% of what it would be normally. Currently limited to light cruisers, medium defense platforms and anythimg smaller).
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.
Void Abacus (1/10 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to nearest 50) This ship can navigate through the warp slowly, at a rate of 3 systems per action.
Psychic Shielding (Between 1/10 to 1/2 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to the nearest 50) This ship has a neural network integrated throughout the whole thing, which has an effect based on the type of shielding. Choose one of: "No" (offers general protection to warp attacks), "Begone" (coming into contact with warp entities may banish them), "Veil" (Protected from psychic perception, mild antimemetic effect), "Soothe" (Being in contact with or contained within the shield soothes warp-sensitive creatures). HP of the shield is 1 HP per 5 BP spent on it. A blueprint can currently carry two layers of shield, with any combination of shielding meanings.
Basic Passive Stealth Profile (1/5 base cost of the hull, rounded up to nearest 50) This ship has it's sensor profile reduced with special coatings and a shape that reduces the cross-section in response to active sensors. It can reasonably expect to stay hidden at long ranges (outside weapon range) as long as it's not moving, or moving very slowly. Improved Passive Stealth Profile (1/2 base cost of the hull, rounded up to nearest 50) This ship is heavily dedicated to stealth, with not just coatings and a shape but also significant amounts of sensor bafflers and other passive systems designed to prevent it from being spotted. Should be able to stay hidden at medium ranges (or long weapon range) as long as it's not moving, or moving very slowly. Advanced Passive Stealth Profile (base cost of the hull, rounded up to nearest 50) This ship tries it's hardest to be a void in space, and so long as it's not moving it generally succeeds. Should be able to stay hidden at close ranges as long as it's not moving, or moving very slowly. Probably not good enough to get into boarding range.
Available Weapons:
These do count towards hull cramming.
Multiply the final weapon cost by 0.9 before applying it to ship designs. So if you have 500 BP of weapons, it only counts as 450 for the purposes of ship packing. But it'll count as 500 for final ship cost.
Prow Ram (1/20 base cost of the hull, rounded up to nearest 50). This ship is built to run into things, and hurt them more than it gets hurt.
Light Macrocannons 100 bp. Medium range, projectile weapons built for sustained barrage. Medium Macrocannons 200 bp. Medium range, projectile weapons built for sustained barrage. Heavy Macrocannons 400 bp. Medium range, projectile weapons built for sustained barrage.
Light Lances 100 BP. Long range, hitscan burst weapons. Not excellent at sustained fire. Medium Lances 200 BP. Long range, hitscan burst weapons. Not excellent at sustained fire. Heavy Lances 400 BP. Long range, hitscan burst weapons. Not excellent at sustained fire.
Light Missiles 50 BP short range, limited ammo, vulnerable to enemy point defense but very good burst damage. Limited ammo. Decent anti-fighter/bomber weapon. Medium Missiles 100 BP short range, limited ammo, vulnerable to enemy point defense but very good burst damage. Limited ammo. Decent anti-fighter/bomber weapon. Heavy Missiles 200 BP short range, limited ammo, vulnerable to enemy point defense but very good burst damage. Limited ammo. Decent anti-fighter/bomber weapon.
Light Plasma Cannon 250 BP, Medium range, high-fire rate with incredible damage potential. Extremely effective against shields. Medium Plasma Cannon 500 BP, Medium range, high-fire rate with incredible damage potential. Extremely effective against shields, less effective against armor. Heavy Plasma Cannon 1000 BP, Medium range, high-fire rate with incredible damage potential. Extremely effective against shields, less effective against armor.
Light Melta cannon 200 BP, Very short range, medium-fire rate but with incredible damage potential. Extremely effective against armor. Medium Melta cannon 400 BP, Very short range, medium-fire rate but with incredible damage potential. Extremely effective against armor. Heavy Melta cannon 800 BP, Very short range, medium-fire rate but with incredible damage potential. Extremely effective against armor.
Light Gravity Blaster 300 BP, Very short-range, continuous weapon that wrecks enemy internals while ignoring armor. Ineffective against shields. Medium Gravity Blaster 600 BP, Very short-range, continuous weapon that wrecks enemy internals while ignoring armor. Ineffective against shields. Heavy Gravity Blaster 900 BP, Very short-range, continuous weapon that wrecks enemy internals while ignoring armor. Ineffective against shields.
If using a different design than the basic one, take your design's base BP cost and multiply it by 10 to get the cost for a ship component of those craft, which contains 10 ships. Fighters 250 BP. Parasite craft with short-ranged guns and some missile capability. Shuttles 250 BP, 50 CP. 10 Shuttlecraft, combined capacity of 500 lift to or from a planet. Assault Shuttles 250 BP. 10 Assault shuttles, with combined capacity of 1000 troops or 10 tanks in one trip.
Point Defense 50 BP. A series of turrets on the hull to shoot down enemy fighters, missiles and torpedoes.
Small Torpedoes 150 BP. A payload of straight-flying armored torpedoes, sized to give destroyers a bad day, hurt frigates and prick cruisers. Medium Torpedoes 300 BP. A payload of straight-flying armored torpedoes, sized to wreck frigates, hurt cruisers and make grand cruisers know they've been touched. Large Torpedoes 600 BP. A payload of straight-flying armored torpedoes, sized to wreck cruisers, hurt grand cruisers and make battleships 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.
Novacannon 1000 bp. Fires a teraton-range shell at extraordinarily long range that does damage in a large area-of-effect. More effective against multiple smaller ships than a single big ship. Aimed by aiming the ship, and extended or repeated engagements can burn through ammunition, which is mitigated with ammunition bunkers.
Available Equipment:
Multiply the final equipment cost (both combat and non-combat) by 0.9 before applying it to ship designs. So if you have 500 BP of equipment it only counts as 450 for the purposes of ship packing. But it'll count as 500 for actually paying for the ship.
These do count towards hull cramming.
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.
Improved Sensors 250 BP - increased size and density of sensors, backed up by the necessary computational support, will make it more difficult for anybody to sneak up on this ship. Excellent Sensors 500 BP - You would say it's impossible to sneak up on a ship with this many sensors, but you saw what the Eldar did, and now it's merely incredibly improbable. Superb Sensors 1000 BP - This ship has enough sensors of enough modalities that it's basically a mobile scientific research platform. Anything weird will get noticed, investigated, and if it's an enemy ship, pinned down.
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. Vector-Shift Drives (1/5 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to the nearest 50). This ship can re-vector its primary thrusters, making it able to flip, spin, and dodge significantly better. It can't exactly spin on a dime, but it's more maneuverable than a multi-kilometer ship should be.
Plasma payloads (choose novacannons, 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 plasma-warhead ammunition, which has a flat damage increase.
Melta payloads (choose novacannons, missile warheads, Macrocannon warheads or torpedoes) (1/20 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to the nearest 50) This ship can load and fire melta-warhead ammunition, which is especially effective against enemy armor and hulls.
Tuned Shields Costs the same as the chosen shields cost, and additionally counts towards cramming (not the total cost, just the extra cost for tuned shields, so if shields costs 100 bp, then tuned shields cost 100 bp and 100 bp is counted against cramming). These shields recharge significantly faster, but when taken down all the way take slightly longer to reboot.
Alloyed Armor Costs the same as the chosen armor cost, and additionally counts towards cramming (not the total cost, just the extra cost for alloyed armor, so if armor costs 100 bp, then alloyed armor costs 100 bp and 100 bp is counted against cramming). Armor is much tougher but is harder to repair.
Light Boarding preparations (1/20 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to the nearest 50) Bulkheads are reinforced, extra hatches seal all decks and turrets guard key chokepoints, making boarding annoying. Medium Boarding preparations (1/10 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to the nearest 50) The ship layout is designed to funnel borders into kill-zones in front of armored bunkers, and any borders will take heavy casualties. Heavy Boarding preparations (1/5 of the base cost of the hull, rounded up to the nearest 50) This ship as essentially a flying dungeon, filled with escherian mazes, hidden turrets, crushing-hallways and other deathtraps.
Light Machine Spirit Jammers (1/20 of the base cost of hull, rounded up to nearest 50) Banks of cogitators with code to disable machine spirits. Enough to cause significant degradation in an enemy ship's sensors, maneuvering and targeting. Primarily effective against ships of the same weight class. Medium Machine Spirit Jammers (1/10 of the base cost of hull, rounded up to nearest 50) Banks of cogitators with code to disable machine spirits. Same as light jammers, plus will also affect total thrust, weapons firing rate. Primarily effective against ships of the same weight class. Heavy Machine Spirit Jammers (1/5 of the base cost of hull, rounded up to nearest 50) Banks of cogitators with code to disable machine spirits. The same effect as medium, but may also affect friend-foe designation and reactor stability. Primarily effective against ships of the same weight class.
Ammunition Bunker (100 BP) Holds a store of ammunition and specialized manufacturing equipment to supply ammunition to all projectile-bearing ammunition on the ship. Stacking more on a ship will reduce ammunition concerns for drawn-out battles and general resupply needs.
Light Self-destruct (1/30 of the base cost of hull, rounded up to nearest 50). Enough explosives are packed into the hull and critical systems to ensure that should the system be triggered, there won't be much left except an empty hulk, likely in multiple pieces. Medium Self-destruct (1/10 of the base cost of hull, rounded up to nearest 50). Forget normal explosives, now we're seeding the ship with nukes. The ship itself is going to be vaporized, and anybody else in boarding range is going to have a really bad day. The effect scales with the size of the ship. Heavy Self-destruct (1/2 of the base cost of hull, rounded up to nearest 50). This isn't a ship. It's a flying bomb. When this thing lights off, anybody nearby is going to feel it, and the bigger the ship, the bigger the bomb.
These do count towards hull cramming.
Troop compartment (50 BP) Can carry 10,000 soldiers or 500 medium tanks across the stars.
Living Space (50 BP) Living space and life support for 5,000 people. Includes "basic" food production, i.e. nutrient paste.
Shipboard Aquaculture (15 BP) Produces all of the food necessary to feed 5,000 people. The food is very spicy.
Medical bay (25 BP) Can treat 1000 severely injured people at once.
Manufactory (Any cost up to base cost of hull) Generates void BP equivalent to 1/5 of its cost. (plus 5%. If the ship also has the Machine Spirit equipment, add another 10%).
Cloning Bay (100 BP) All of the facilities necessary to clone 100 babies every year. Childcare not included.
Cargo Bay (No cost, free. Designate an amount of BP to fill for cramming purposes) Allows transport of an amount of BP equivalent to the cramming amount from one system to another.
Repair Bay (Any cost up to base cost of hull). Repairs damage across friendly ships equal to its cost. Can be used to refit the ships as well with a +50% markup. Cannot be used to make new ships, bots, manufactories.
Modular Space (No cost, free. Designate an amount of BP to fill for cramming purposes) Every 250 bp gives you one modular slot that can be filled as under the flagship rules, with the exceptions that no manufactories can be built in these slots.
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,
Ship Design
-[] Grand Cruisers (350 RP) Making a ship design that's not spaghetti takes time and effort. It's still boring. But if you want to make queens of the void, its necessary. (unlocks grand cruisers, half of the prereq for battleships)
-[] Medium Defense Platforms (50 RP) You've already got most of the tools you need to build bigger defensive platforms, but these would be a larger platform to stick guns on, with more ability to withstand damage and better capability to jam in more guns and stuff. (Unlocks medium defensive platforms, which may have an inbuilt cramming bonus, potential for other void-based installation options)
-[] Advanced Engine Designs (200 RP) Further improvements to your engines won't be so easy, but they'll make you faster than most other things in space. (Enhances ship speeds at every level. Unlocks further speed & maneuverability & stealth technologies)
-[] Extremely Efficient Equipment Distribution (250 RP) With further optimization, you can fit more stuff in your ships. (Equipment costs count as 0.75x for ship capacity packing. Especially effective for cargo holds on a good roll.)
-[] Extremely Efficient Weapon Distribution (200 RP) You did a good job already in packing more weapons into less space. But you think you see ways to make it even better. (Weapons costs count as 0.75 for ship capacity packing)
-[] Mobile Shipyards (75 RP) Fitting a shipyard inside a ship is an engineering challenge, but an entirely surmountable one. (Unlocks the shipyard equipment for ships, letting ships build ships).
-[] Can I have a new ship please? (150 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 new iterations of your ship)
-[] Boarding Capabilities (100 RP) Apparently it's common for ships in this day and age to board each other and for the crew to fight hand-to-hand. Instead of, you know, chucking enormous missiles at each other. Insane. Well, it might be a nice capability to have in case you want to capture ships intact. (Unlocks boarding torpedoes, drop pods, and boarding craft for hangers, may combine with stealth research to unlock stealth borders)
-[] Networked missiles (100 RP) The biggest danger to missiles is that they'll get shot down by fighters and point defense. If you can network them together to cooperate against those threats, more of the warheads will reach their targets. (Unlocks new combat equipment to make missiles & torpedoes more effective. May unlock more technology to make missiles smarter, longer ranged and generally more effective)
-[] Improved Torpedoes (100 RP) Torpedoes are powerful, but there's so many ways to optimize them. Improved range, (Unlocks new variants of the torpedo with more range, better steering, better armor, etc. May unlock more technology along the similar line.)
-[] Fighter-Bombers (100 RP) A small craft designed for both tasks will be less effective at either. Sometimes, the advantage in flexibility is worth it. (Unlocks new small-craft that can fill both fighter and bomber rolls. May lead to further small-craft research.)
-[] Hanger Cramming (50 RP) Your hangers aren't well-optimized for how much space they use up, but that's becauase storing one takes a lot of space. You might be able to figure out better solutions to this problem. Like folding wings. Folding body? (Unlocks a new small-craft modification that reduces cramming space on hangers using this technology)
-[] Improved Novacannon guidance (150 RP) Your current novacannon guidance system is best described as "crude." There's a lot of ways to improve it to reduce the size of the equipment to allow for more warhead, and improve overall accuracy (improves the performance of guided novacannon shells).
-[] Energetic Warheads (250 RP) If you develop even more powerful destructive energies you can likely pack them into a novacannon round, but it'll require engineering them into a pacakage robust enough to survive being fired (Enables vortex/antimatter equipment for novacannons). Requires either vortex weapons or Antimatter is Dang Scary
-[] Eldritch Warheads (300 RP) You've got a few options against enemies with warp-based defenses. For one option, you psychic shielding has the potential to be used offensively, or you could go the simpler route and make the shells delivery mechanisms for sigils of demonic banishment (Enables psychic shielding and anti-daemonic novacannon equipment). Requires either Bell, Book and Candle or Offensive Shielding meanings
-[] Bigger Gun, Bigger Bullet (150 RP) There are all kinds of technical difficulties in scaling up a novacannon. But none of them are true blockers, and the only thing stopping you from hucking shells the size of a small ship at your enemy is your imagination. And a lot of design work. (Unlocks a Heavy Nova cannon that will barely fit on a grand cruiser, with an effect to match).
-[] Streamlined Novacannons (175 RP) You left some improvements on the table in the first go-around with nova cannons. Some might let you effectively miniaturize them, others might let you pack the same punch into a smaller package. (Discounts novacannon weapon, potentially enough to fit on a destroyer. May unlock smaller novacannon suitable for turret-mounting, or other novacannon optimization tech.) Requires Improved Gravity Weapons
-[] Ship Manufactory Optimization (100 RP) There's a lot of small sacrifices that had to be made in cramming a manufactory into a ship hull. Work on the design to improve those (Increases output of the ship manufactory equipment, likely by about 10%).
-[] Mega Manufacturing, now mobile! (150 RP) You've figured out how to design larger-scale void manufactories with increased efficiency. Taking those same improvements and making them mobile is going to be a tricky proposition, but it's one that will have some huge payoffs when you can cart around enough manufacturing capacity to build entire fleets at once. (Unlocks mechanics for the shipboard manufactory, where it gets more efficient the larger you build it, similar to the void manufacturing platform rules)
General Design
-[] Megastructure Manufacturing (200 RP) You can design larger void manufactories now, and there are corresponding gains in efficiency. (Improves the size of void platform available for construction. May unlock research for other kinds of manufacturing, including core taps, asteroid-eaters, orbital rings, etc.). Requires Advanced Materials
-[] Non-Habitable Ground Manufacturing (150 RP) Your ground manufactories currently rely on fairly mild conditions as far as pressure, temperature, gravity, etc. If you want to build out industrial facilities in less-friendly conditions, it might be nice to work around that. (Unlocks a ground manufactory blueprint for building in less-habitable places).
-[] Can it Swim? (100 RP) Of all of the habitable planetary area in the galaxy, a good chunk of it is underwater. Being able to have access to it would be fairly useful. (Unlocks the aquatic modifier for the blueprint design tab. May unlock the capability to build installations & habitation underwater).
-[] Can it dig? (75 RP) The Vellkar have thought a lot about how to dig out large spaces underground. Surely you can take their approaches and improve on them. (Improved construction of underground bases, likely boon with the Vellkar)
-[] Shuttle automation (150 RP) Surely I don't have to fly these stupid things myself. (Reduce the CP cost of shuttles by 50%)
-[] Streamlined Vehicle/Small Craft Design (75 RP) You can improve your tools for designing vehicles and small craft, much the way you did for ships. (Halves the RP cost to design new vehicles and small craft, may unlock other design improvements)
-[] Streamlined Bot Design (100 RP) You can improve your tools for designing bots, much the way you did for ships. (Halves the RP cost to design new combat bots, may unlock other design improvements)
-[] Streamlined Installation Design (75 RP) You can improve your tools for designing installations, much the way you did for ships. (Halves the RP cost to design new installations, may unlock other design improvements)
-[] Walkers (250 RP) Tanks are... kind of boring? Mechs are cooler. (unlock armiger knights, dreadnaughts, starts the knights/titans research tree)
-[] Mothballing (50 RP) Keeping a bunch of systems functional and ready requires attention that is swiftly running out. Maybe you can figure out how to spend less attention on things that are mostly inactive (Unlocks the ability to mothball an installation for 10% of it's build cost, free reactivation that takes a few weeks. May unlock techs to allow you to freely turn things on and off, as well as increasing the speed of reactivation enough for you to keep military installations mothballed until they're needed.)
-[] Habitation Requires Correct Ingredients (200 RP) If a planet lacks an essential element, there's not that much you can do about that. Well, there isn't unless you lack imagination. You could crash comets and asteroids into the planet and get volatiles that way - but it would take a lot of them. Still, doable, if expensive. (Unlocks the ability to add essential elements to planets that lack them. Likely expensive, though further research will reduce the cost).
Stealth
-[] Improved Spaceship Passive Stealth (200 RP) Your current stealth systems are effective, but it would be nice if they were a little bit more effective. And maybe a bit cheaper. (Improves the effect and cost of stealth hull equipment. Unlocks further research towards better spaceship stealth.)
-[] Low-Emission equipment (150 RP) Hiding a ship's profile versus active and passive sensors is one thing, but hiding engine signatures and heat dumping is entirely another. (Unlocks new non-combat equipment to allow ships to maneuver and do other things without destroying their stealth. Unlocks further research towards better spaceship stealth. May unlock technology to allow weapons fire without breaking stealth.)
-[] Reduced Thruster Emissions (100 RP). Your thrusters work by spitting high-energy particles into space, which inherently emit energy. It might be possible to tune those emission ranges so that your thruster plumes blend into the cosmic background. Or something. (Unlocks new equipment to reduce the signal of ships under thrust. Unlocks further technology to hide ship movement, or fake out enemy targeting predictions.)
-[] Active Spaceship Stealth (150 RP) Not returning a sensor signal is one thing, but actively providing false signals is another, and something that the Drukhari are evident masters of. (Unlocks new equipment to improve ship stealth against various sensors that you can't trick any other way. Unlocks further research towards better spaceship stealth. May unlock technology to hide your position and prevent enemies from getting good targeting.)
-[] Ground force stealth standardization (150 RP) It takes some time and effort to design stealth versions of various units, and they end up more expensive to produce. If you take another look at the process with an eye towards standardizing it you could probably improve that. (Reduces the BP & RP cost of stealth modifications for ground forces, potentially to zero.)
-[] Improved Passive Stealth (50 RP) Ok, you've figured out the basics of hiding your small craft, but you have ideas on what you can do better, that might allow them to hide from even fully-alert enemies. They probably won't be able to close all the way to attack range, but they'll be able to get a lot closer (Unlocks improved stealth designs with improved performance. Unlocks further research for advanced passive stealth technologies. Will synergize with other stealth research.)
-[] Improved Active Stealth (150 RP) Again, moving towards the idea of actively countering sensors so they can't see you. It's a cat-and-mouse game with sensors, and you want to be the cat. (Improved stealth designs for actively hiding signatures. Unlocks further research for advanced active stealth, and will synergize with other stealth research.)
-[] Optical Camouflage (300 RP) Covering your units with holograms to make them harder to see with the naked eye sounds like a simple concept, but it very much is not. You need to know where the watcher is, project an image of what's behind you, and make it account for the movement of both the viewer and object. Unless you can think of a better idea. (Unlocks a blueprint modification to make your units harder to see. Unlocks further visual camouflage capabilities that might be closer to true invisibility)
-[] Examine the Dark Eldar Craft (150 RP) The Dark Eldar boarding craft showed incredible stealth capabilities. If you can figure out how it works that would be a great way to improve your own stealth capabilities (Discounts all stealth technology, may unlock unique stealth research and let you see through Eldar stealth better) Requires Advanced Technological Research Lab.
Shields
-[] Heavy Void Shield Miniaturization (150 RP) Your best shields require multiple emitters, with heavier power demands. That means they can't be fit on anything smaller than a ship. (Unlocks heavy void shields for destroyers, as well as improving void shields mounted on vehicles and small craft. Unlocks improved personal void shields.)
-[] Heavy In-atmosphere void shields (100 RP) Well, the void shields you have are nice. But it would be nice to be able to build bigger ones, that can shrug off essentially any possible orbital bombardment. You need to figure out how to take advantage of the ridiculous energy and heat dissipation capabilities of being on a planet. (Unlocks heavy and super-heavy void shield installations. May unlock research towards better overall void shielding.)
-[] Void Shield Layering (300 RP) If you could layer multiple shields together, then when one failed the second could take damage while the first recharged. Right now there's harmonics that prevent this, but you are sure you can figure it out... with a full redesign. (Unlocks the ability to layer two sets of shields. Will unlock research for more layers of shielding, weirder shapes of shields and other specialty modules)
-[] Void Shield Discounts (200 RP) You have some ideas on how to swap out materials or simplify designs to reduce the costs of void shields. (Reduces the cost of void shields across the board. May lead to new kinds of mundane applications for void shields, such as manufacturing modules, shielded fighters or shuttles)
Materials & Armor
-[] Superheavy Armor (200 RP) Let's just stick starship armor on them and call it a day. (Unlocks superheavy tanks. Prerequisite for space-marine-quality power armor)
-[] Chaos Space Marine Armor Investigation (100 RP) Between the dozen corpses you can almost certainly piece together a full suit or two of armor from the chaos space marines. What does it do? Why is it covered with horns? (Significant discounts on space-marine power armor research, potential discounts on robotics and cybernetics, may unlock further research to improve power armor. Potential identification of strengths and weaknesses of Black Legion power armor).
-[] Advanced Materials (250 RP) You know there are exotic elements with absurd physical properties. But it's also possible to build absurdly strong materials with common elements. How does that work? Time to dust off some ancient research projects and figure this stuff out. (Unlocks improved armor, as well as research to unlock megastructures. Also required for battleships and larger walkers)
-[] Heavy Armor Production Line (100 RP) You can make Heavy armor, but you solved the problem by effectively making each suit into a custom-crafted suit full of expensive actuators. Maybe a redesign will make it cheap enough to mass-produce, and unlock follow-on research. (Dramatically reduces cost for heavy armor, and subsequent superheavy armor. May unlock more options for heavy armor, including integrated mobility options)
-[] Armor Device Integration (200 RP) Your armor blocks blows, which is its basic purpose. Still, it would be great to be able to integrate different devices into it - void shields, psytech, mobility options like jetpacks, holdout weapons and more. (Unlocks the ability to design specialty types of medium, heavy and superheavy armor that contain additional functions, many of which will be unlocked by other technology.)
-[] Temperature? Let's talk Albedo (150 RP) To change the temperature of a planet, you simply need to change how much it's absorbing and re-radiating, then let the energy of a local star do the rest. (Unlocks projects to heat or cool planets over decades with surprisingly minimal investment. Unlocks further improvements and potential weaponization.)
-[] The Golden Metal (200 RP) On Calderath, inside the Sector Governer's Hall of Wonders, in place of pride, you found a piece of golden metal supposedly from the Emporer's armor. What is it? What can it do? Why does it react stragely to psychic energy? Can you shape it into something for Cia? How can you find more? (A basic understanding of auramite and how to work it. Will unlock further research to prospect for it more efficiently - or potentially synthesize it eventually). Write in if you'd like to fashion what you have into the edge of a weapon or part of a piece of psytech for Cia.
Necrons
-[] Necron Initial Investigations (200 RP) You've got these scary robots lying in prison cells as if you're afraid they'll come to life and attack. Which you are. But the reason you have them is to study them, so start studying them. Everythign about them is fascinating, from the matierals they're made from to their mode of articulation to their processing units and even some faint radiation they're giving off. (Begins the necron research tree). Requires advanced technological research lab.
Robotics
-[] Avatar self-customization (100 RP) Your previous avatar was capable of changing its appearance at your whim, changing the hair, eye and skim color rapidly. Hair length and body size changes took a bit longer but were also possible. Is this worth figuring out? It might just be you being vain. (Unlocks some disguise-style cybernetics... once you get good cybernetics and can do things like skin/eye replacements).
-[] Improved Armor Articulation (50 RP) From your research on humanizing combat bots you have some ideas about improving the points of articulation on armor to increase the range of motion and make the suits more responsive. (Increased performance & mobility for heavier armor, both for combat bots & people wearing heavy armor you make. May unlock further armor upgrade techs)
-[] Combat Bot Melee Combat (150 RP) Your bots aren't armed for melee combat, and don't really have the articulation for it. If you could fix that, maybe they wouldn't be so vulnerable to close-range combat. (Gives your combat bots melee weapons and basic proficiency with them. Will unlock technology for improved melee proficiency, as well as synergize well and potentially unlock technology for improved melee weaponry.)
-[] Cradle Facilities (150 RP) Making a human being is just the first step in creating a person. Then you gotta raise them, which is a dangerous and difficult process. Designing the robotics to do that doesn't involve a single enormous breakthrough, but rather a million small advancements and integrations to care for children as they grow. (Unlocks facilities to raise & educate babies to adulthood, as well as further research for full eduction of people).
-[] Really good Robotics: (600 RP) You know it's possible to make robots that are really strong. You've seen the specs floating around. You just don't quite know how to do it, though you've got some ideas on the matter... it would take quite a bit of simulation and a lot of trial and error to bring them into reality (Unlocks improvements to avatars, power armor, cybernetics, combat bots, improved manufactories). Acquire samples of advanced robots to reduce this cost.
Artifical Intelligence
-[] Improved Reasoning Capacity (300 RP) You're already extremely good at connecting the dots, doing analysis on confusing data and creative thought. Improving your capabilities on this front will be tricky, but may be very rewarding (Improves RP produced per action by an amount depending on your roll. May lead to further RP-generating techs, or techs to improve the output of organics with your implants)
-[] Grafted Memory Modules (100 RP) You appear to have built out a fairly modular network of keeping track of everything already, so it shouldn't be too hard to add some more capacity in that respect. (Improves CP cap by an amount depending on your roll. Likely leads to further CP-improvement capabilities, as well as installations that improve local CP efficiency).
-[] Assembling Awareness (250 RP) You think you understand how to build another AI core. It won't be a copy of you, but rather its own person that you will need to raise, which will probably take about the same amount of time as raising a human. (Figure out how to build a new AI core with capabilities depending on rolls, which will become an option under blueprints. Does not automatically build a new AI, merely unlocks the option. Unlocks more technologies to improve their capabilities, guide their development, or streamline production).
-[] Enemy Action Simulation (250 RP) You've never been good at military matters, and it's probably because you're bad at putting yourself in the shoes of somebody who wants to kill you. But there's probably a way around that, if you're willing to put in the work. (Grants Vita a bonus to military rolls, like she has for diplomacy & research. Likely to be smaller at first, but leads to future technology that may raise it to +10).
-[] The Soul in the Machine (200 RP) Anexa has demonstrated proof that you have a soul. There are a lot of potential implications here, but the one she's locked onto is that this might be the key to uploading a human into an AI core. (Unlocks & discounts further technology for Vita to directly interface with psychic technology and potentially wield psytech herself. Part of a tech-tree along with some cybernetics and other AI techs to upload people into empty AI cores.)
- [] Personality-Checking Routines (100 RP) All of this chaos-corruption is making you nervous. People changing according to the will of some warp-entity? Becoming different in ways that would disgust their past selves? That gives you the heebee-jeebies. Maybe - just maybe - it would be good to develop some ways to automatically check if aspects of your personality are diverging ways you don't want them to. Then you might be able to fix the problem before you become somebody who doesn't want (Gives you some algorithms to check for personality divergence in AIs. Doesn't do anything, just alerts you to changes and lets you decide what steps to take. Unlocks further research to prevent/rollback personality change, as well as potentially extend this research to humans with neural implants).
Psychic Shielding
-[] Better Psychic Shielding Efficiency (150 RP) You've figured out how to make your shielding modular, but each panel is still tricky to make. If you spent some time iterating that design you think you could make them even easier to make, and potentially power powerful (Further Improves the BP/HP ratio for psychic shields, may improve the HP of shielding you can pack into a unit of space.)
-[] Psychic Shielding Reliability (100 RP) Trying to make tripwire-versions of your shielding that could be installed in everything has revealed a weakness - the circuits can spontaneously fail. You fixed that problem by making them tougher, but now they won't always trigger. You're confident you can fix this issue, but it'll require you to make them more failure-proof. On the plus side, this should mean that your psychic shielding can last longer without maintenance. (Makes psychic tripwires more accurate, potentially to the point where it's impossible to corrupt your tech without you knowing about it. Also likely to make your psychic shielding last long time periods without maintenance. Will unlock research to use this on ships, and to make civilian-grade versions that could be put into literally everything).
-[] Large-scale Design-integrated psychic shielding (175 RP) Start installing this shielding into hull plates as the norm. Every ship will have psychic shielding (Makes the cheapest version of psychic shielding free & automatic for all ships and platforms. Will unlock research to make cheaper shielding better)
-[] Offensive Shielding meanings (200 RP) You're starting to figure out the rules behind designing new kinds of psychic shielding, but you think that the designs branch by intent. Using the psychic shielding offensively might let you do things like put it into projectiles, project the effect away from the physical shielding, and maybe even enhance the descrutive power of weapons. (Unlocks new shielding meanings that can be used offensively, including in ranged weaponry. May lead to further techs to impose nasty warp effects on local areas, entirely technologically).
-[] Defensive Shielding meanings (200 RP) Your "no" shielding works well, but there's a lot of room to improve it in all sorts of ways, from strength to the area protected to extending to the material properties of armor. (Unlocks new shielding meanings that improve the defensive capabilities of psychic shields, unlocks research for meanings that improve the base toughness of whatever the shielding is attached to.)
-[] Utility Shielding meanings (200 RP) There's a lot of potential in your psychic shields to influence the local warp, to have all kinds of impacts on the local area. Who knows what kinds of powers that will unlock? (Unlocks new shielding meanings that do various things, including better stealth, improved psytech, faster movement etc. Will lead to future research for various random utility meanings.)
-[] Self-repairing psychic shielding (200 RP) Once you have a thinking, even if non-sapient, being in the loop on your psychic shielding, you can start to think about building it out of a material that'll let it self-repair after damage. (Your psychic shielding will repair when not in combat).
-[] Tiny Psychic shielding (300 RP) You were able to make your smaller psychic shielding by stacking the components and using the interference caused to generate the proper effect. However, you don't understand that interference well enough to go any smaller. Once you do, you can start to try to make actually tiny versions of the psychic shielding, small enough to fit in implants, or potentially into totems that project the shielding effect outside of themselves. (Fixes the issues with personal psychic shields, unlocks the ability to create implants with psychic shielding capability and potentially allows you to make amulets with psychic shields. May unlock additional technology to make all of that better.) Requires Triple Nested Psychic shielding
-[] Triple Nested Psychic shielding (200 RP) You've had two shields, yes. What about three? (Allows you to have three layers of shielding active at once. May unlock tech to allow inner shields to boost outer shields to be greater than the sum of their parts)
-[] Multi-meaning shields (250 RP) Your current shields say "No." Other sayings probably exist, and saying multiple things at the same time might have more esoteric effects, such as damaging attackers or defending better against certain types of attacks. Combining multiple of those into one shield could be powerful. (Allows you to combine two shield types together into one shield. May unlock further research for further combination, or to say one meaning EXTRA HARD.)
-[] Scrapcode Denial (250 RP) Scrapcode - and psychic corruption in general - is a difficult opponent. It's hard to enforce mistakes when it can magically see through your defenses. But if you could incorporate psychic encryption into that approach, it becomes viable again. (Makes your shielding Extraordinarily resistant to potentially completely immune to scrapcode-based attacks. Does not apply to machine spirits yet. May unlock technology to apply to other kinds of corruption. Likely synergistic with generating your own scrapcode)
-[] Psychic Shield Tuning (125 RP) Your new scrapcode defenses help against scrapcode, but not necessarily other threats. This research would potentially allow you to tune the capabilities of your shielding on the fly to improve performance against other angles of attack. Likely to allow psychic shielding to physcially block demons. (Resistance to specific types of attack will improve with exposure, up to a cap. Unlocks more research to allow for more flexible shielding that can target specific weaknesses of various psychic enemies. Synergizes with mutli-meaning shielding.)
-[] Enhanced Psychic Encryption (150 RP) You can block normal scrying and warp communication, as if you were encrypting everything. But it's possible that really good scryers could unscramble the signals somehow. Maybe? You're not sure. Still, it would be good to cut off the possibility. (New versions of psychic shielding that block even scrying & communication by expert seers. Likely to unlock specialized research to build installations that will deny scrying and foresight over a larger area - like a planet or system.) Requires Immaterium Understanding
The Warp
-[] Teleportation is like skipping a stone (150 RP) Teleporters work by skipping a cargo across the shallow warp, linking two places for a moment. They are limited in many ways. Now that you understand that, you can find the limits to extend range, capacity and think about other ways to utilize the same general idea. (Improves teleporters for boarding, may lead to the ability to directly teleport to planetary surfaces. Unlocks further research for further improving the teleporter, as well as potentially leading to warp portals, which is likely required for webway understanding).
-[] The Epicure of Chaos (50 RP) You can bin warp signatures into blessings, artifacts or rituals, as well as distinguish what god they came from. But you're not sure if you could tell apart a ritual of summoning from a ritual of empowerment or a ritual meant to attack an enemy. Work on that. (Allows you to detect what kind of ritual/blessing/artifact you're dealing with on the fly. Unlocks new intelligence when dealing with chaos, as well as the potential for actively countering or interfering with chaos when paired with alternative shielding meanings).
-[] The faintest whiff of the Chaos-Touched (100 RP) Warp signatures linger on objects and people. It'll be a short range-sensor, and may end up being some kind of scanner, but you can probably tease out the passive remnants of a ritual or even association with chaos-blessed objects on a person. (Unlocks improvements to sensors that will let you detect people who've been in proximity to a chaos ritual or have touched a chaos artifact, even if they bear no blessing.)
-[] Shards of Humming Gemstone (100 RP) The shards of crystal you recovered from the ritual don't carry an inherent chaos taint of their own, but they resonate with the warp somehow. The largest piece you have is the size of a human hand, maybe you can figure out what it is and how to use it? (May unlock new options for using, finding or synthesizing this warp-reactive substance, as well as discounts to technologies that involve resonance with the warp.)
-[] Mobile Warpaphones (250 RP) Your warp senders are currently impossible to move - they need to be constructed in tune with the local warp environment in order to send clear signals over massive distances. Making them continually tunable would likely allow mobile warpaphones, and may be the first step towards overcoming jamming or warp phenomenon that would otherwise disrupt communication. (Unlocks warpaphone ship equipment, unlocks further research to harden the warphaphone against jamming or other things that might distort the signals, may lead to techs that make comms robust against warp storms or the shadow in the warp).
-[] Smaller Warpaphones (100 RP) The current warpaphone is a massive and expensive construct, using raw power to overcome a few of the technical challenges involved in sending a clear signal over light years. It's probably possible to solve those challenges in a more efficent way (reduces the cost, and size of the warpaphone.)
-[] Boosted Warpaphones (200 RP) 3 systems is an impressive range, but it's not as far as you would like. It's probably possible to boost that range, though it may require an even larger warpaphone construct. (Boosts the range of the existing warpaphone, on a low roll unlocks a bigger version with longer range. May unlock further research for even further range or versions that aid in warp navigation) Requires Immaterium Understanding
-[] Focused Warpaphones (150 RP) Your current warpaphone are less "dear friend" and more "to whom it may concern." If you want to keep your signals away from potential eavesdroppers it might be important to focus down the warp signals so they're only received by the intended party. It won't be perfect since you still need to know where they are, but it will reduce the chance that your message intersects with an unfriendly ear regardless (Makes your messages increasingly private, may lead to further tech to refine targeting, range and precision for the warpaphone)
-[] Modulated Warpaphones (300 RP) Meaningfully increasing the transmission throughput of the warpaphone is... hard. You need to increase the throughput of information by a couple of orders of magnitude, through some combination of increasing the numbers of signals you can distinguish and increasing the speed at which you can send them. (Allows sending techs and design details over interstellar distances, unlocks techs for continual control of CP-requiring units over interstellar distances).
-[] Psychic Triangulation (150 RP) Your psychic sensors give you directionality for nearby things, but for things that are farther away there's less clarity because warp signals don't propagate smoothly. Maybe you can figure out a workaround? (allows precise targeting of psychic signals from long range, useful to identify which ships to target, or exactly which compartment of a station houses a ritual. Leads to research to pinpoint signals like scrying over interstellar distances)
-[] Emotional Interpretation (200 RP) If your psychic shielding is so sensitive, you could develop it into a way to read strong emotions off of people in close proximity, as a kind of technological telepathy. (Unlocks new capabilities for interrogation and intelligence gathering, as well as potential narrative effects).
-[] The Vagaries of a Third Eye (100 RP) Aurora's third eye gives her a view into the Warp. What does that mean? Is there a way to help her look safely into a realm of madness? What is the interaction with psychic shielding? Is this dangerous for others too? (Better understanding and protection for Aurora and others as she begins to access her inborn powers.)
-[] Warp Weather Prediction (200 RP) The Warp has been said to have "weather." Well, at least storms. But if you're constantly monitoring the signals from your psychic shielding, you can start to make predictions about what will come. That... might be useful. (Likely to give you advance warning of significant warp-effects, especially warp storms. May unlock further research to improve warp navigation, and if you crit again, a strange kind of warp-based technological foresight.)
-[] Warp Manufacturing (125 RP) The laws of physics break down in the warp, and in spaces influenced by the warp. This includes creating impossible structures and pushing materials beyond their limits. Figuring out how to use that might be tricky, but will probably be quite rewarding. (Figure out ways to use warptech to improve mundane manufacturing, unlocks techs for both mass-production and relic-tier artificing). Requires Immaterium understanding.
-[] Vortex Weapons (250 RP) When you first read about them vortex weapons sounded... terrifying. Now you're even more scared. Still, that might be a nice thing to have in your arsenal at some point. (Unlocks basic vortex weaponry. Likely further research for larger and smaller vortex weapons). Locked behind High-energy Physics
-[] Reliable Gellar Fields (200 RP) Your gellar field technology is capable, but for something that important you want it to be rock-solid. That'll probably require a full redesign, but having a gellar field that cannot be knocked out without destroying a good chunk of your ship seems like it might be a good investment. (Improves your gellar field technology to make it more reliable and redundant. Will help you resist demonic attacks in the warp.)
-[] Faith is my shield? (75 RP) Clearly the Imperium believes that faith can protect you from warp gribblies. It even seems like it might be true. How? Is there a way you can harness the effect without having to dedicate yourself to the Imperial creed? Also, what's going on with this skeletal hand you found? (Understanding the benefits of Faith. May unlock further research to allow Vita to design a less objectionable faith optimized for warp protection, and help develop better psyker training programs. Likely to unlock further understanding of relics and their usage.)
-[] Bell, Book and Candle (200 RP) Needing to set up a whole ritual for demonic binding and banishment is... potentially an issue. Trying to come up with all-purpose rituals that can be deployed offensively might be a useful tool to have in your pocket. (Develops anti-daemonic equipment for blueprint modification, as well as unlocks new narrative options for dealing with demons. May lead to research for ship-scale anti-daemonic equipment.)
-[] Read the Fine Print (200 RP) Summoning Demons is generally viewed as a bad idea. However, if you take the appropriate precautions, it can be an effective way to gain information, recruit footsoldiers, leave some damned nasty booby traps or even bind them into objects for an extra oomph. (Gains the ability to summon demons without significant investment. May lead to further research to bind demons into objects to make some pretty crazy items. Synergistic with warp manufacturing).
-[] Immaterium Understanding (200 RP) Anexa believes she understands something fundamental about the warp. Do some experiments to see if she's right. (Further discounts on all warp-related research, potential to unlock a research from farther down a warp research tree while skipping prerequisites) Anexa must work on this action. Guaranteed level(s) for her. Requires Warp Research Lab.
-[] Improved Void Abacus (125 RP) You understand how the Void Abacus works now, and you think you can tweak it to be better. That involves some amount of expanding and improving its connection to the warp though, so you're far from certain (Improves your Void Abacus design to be faster and better at warp jumps, though still inferior to an average navigator. May unlock further optimization of Void Abaci, including for cost/unstable warp jumps).
-[] The Basics of Psychic Computation (200 RP) You have several examples of different kinds of cogitators that interact with the warp in some way. They all share some kind of neural network system, but are very different in other ways. If you can figure out the minimal requirement for something to be psychically active - well. That would have implications. (Improves psychic shielding research, psytech research, some machine spirit research, may improve scrapcode research. Will help genetic manipulation to create psykers. May lead to a research tree to make psychic AIs or implants that grant psychic powers).
Psytech
-[] Help Cia's Training (50 RP) By spending more time with Cia, actively monitoring her use of her powers and providing feedback, you can improve the quality and outcomes of her training (Gives a +10 to any Cia training dice this turn, and may result in new kinds of outcomes. Can be improved by further pyromantic research. Repeatable)
- [] Basic Psychic Amplification Devices (100 RP) You think you understand the principles of psychic amplification, but to actually confirm that you need to build one and see if it works. (Allows you to build basic psychic staffs or other personal psychic amplification devices. Unlocks more advanced psychic amplification, as well as larger amplification constructs)
- [] Basic Psychic Suppression Devices (150 RP) You think you understand the principles of psychic suppression, but to actually confirm that you need to build some and see if it works. (Allows you to build basic psychic hoods or other personal psychic protective devices. Unlocks more advanced psychic nullification, as well as larger nullification constructs)
-[] Complex Psytech Implants (250 RP) Adapting what you know from organic-machine control implants, you can give a psyker greater control over their implants, in turn allowing you to give psytech implants more capabilities and more power that requires active tuning on the fly. (Improves psytech implants in terms of both precision and raw power) Requires either Basic Psychic Suppression Devices or Basic Psychic Amplification Devices
- [] Improved Psychic weapons (250 RP) You are starting to understand how force weapons work, but you're far from perfecting them. There's definitely work to be done on the composition of the main weapon, and if you can figure out how to grow crystals into the proper orientation that will help, and the psi-convectors and... well. It's almost easier to list the ways you can't improve them. (Further improves force weapons in every way. Potential to unlock specialized kinds of force weapons, such as versions specialized to fight specific foes and maybe large-scale force weapons such as ship rams).
- [] Psychic Aegis (250 RP) Psychically enhancing a weapon in combat is an obvious application, but the equally-obvious follow-on is enhancing armor. Or shields. Whatever. General defensive measures. It would be significantly more complicated than a simple weapon, and shields are probably the first step. But still - that would be a path to near-invincibility. (Allows you to create force shields and armor. Unlocks further research for improved force armor and other kinds of large-scale defensive psytech).
- [] Psychic Materials (250 RP) Silver. Specific kinds of crystals. Chitin? What unifies those things? What is it that makes them warp-conductive? If you can figure that out, maybe you can start designing new warp-capable materials that are better. (Psytech improvements across the board in terms of new materials, likely follow-on research into specific specialty materials and applications. Will be improved by samples of additional psionically active materials).
- [] Pyromancy Staff (200 RP) Amplifying a specific kind of psyker powers should allow you to amplify them even more. (Allows you to build pyromancy-focused psychic amplifiers, with the most common one being in the shape of a staff. Will unlock further pyromancy-specialized equipment, including larger-scale and more powerful amplifiers that may be relevant in ship combat.)
- [] Improved Pyromantic understanding (300 RP) Cia's eager to delve further into the secrets of pyromancy, and if you tried you could follow along for the ride. Any maybe figure out how to model this specific kind of psychic power. (Improves all pyromancy-focused psytech, improves the Help Cia's Training action and may unlock research towards influencing young psykers towards pyromancy.)
-[] Basic Divination understanding (100 RP) Gwen's naturally inclined towards futuresight with her power. You could try and figure out more details about how that works, though it'll rely on her to generate somewhat larger-scale effects. (Allows you to build divination- focused psytech, and potentially unlock new kinds of actions or narrative options for Gwen) Locked until Gwen reaches level 5.
-[] Basic Telepathic understanding (100 RP) Telepathy psytech would be a powerful addition to your staff's abilities, especially for covert ops, interrogation and crowd control capabilities. (Allows you to build telepathy-focused psytech, and potentially unlock new kinds of actions or narrative options for Gwen's staff) Locked until Gwen's staff reaches level 5.
-[] Basic Telekinetic understanding (100 RP) Telekinetic psytech would be a powerful addition to your staff's abilities, especially for more controlled combat, manufacturing and other potential advantages. (Allows you to build telekinetic-focused psytech, and potentially unlock new kinds of actions or narrative options for Gwen's staff) Locked until Gwen's staff reaches level 5.
-[] Basic Biomantic understanding (100 RP) Biomantic psytech would be a powerful addition to your staff's abilities, especially for healing, enhancement and understanding biological samples. (Allows you to build biomancy-focused psytech, and potentially unlock new kinds of actions or narrative options for Gwen's staff) Locked until Gwen's staff reaches level 5.
-[] Cross-Discipline Psytech usage (300 RP) Understanding the differences between the disciplines is an imposing task. But if you understand something about what differentiates their psytech, you may be able to adapt them such that somebody in one discipline can use psytech belonging to another. It won't work as well, but you think it's possible. (Allows psykers of one discipline to use psytech from another discipline to replicate some effects of that discipline. May lead to further improvements, and allowing psykers branch into other disciplines more easily). Requires all five of the "basic psytech understanding" techs.
-[] Destructive Scrapcode Investigation (200 RP) Well, if Bongo doesn't want to play ball, maybe you need to go in there and figure out what makes the scrapcode generator tick. Time to bring out the power tools. (Discounts existing scrapcode research, may unlock new research around psytech/psychic shielding. Gives better understanding of Chaos Demons. Destroys the scrapcode generator and likely banishes Bongo back to the warp.)
-[] Scrapcode Generation (300 RP) You have the barest hints as to how you might start generating scrapcode. You need to imbue psychic meaning into code. You're not quite sure how you might go about that, but it's an interesting avenue to chase down. (Unlocks the ability to create and hack with your own brand of scrapcode) Requires psytech past Basic Psychic Amplification Devices, as well as Rapid hacking
-[] Sigils of Power (250 RP) There are various sigils that are effective in binding, banishing and damaging demons. They can probably be integrated with psytech to be even more effective. (Modifies psytech to be especially effective at hurting, protecting against and evading demons. May unlock further research towards demon-interacting psytech).
Physics
-[] Dark Eldar Weaponry (150 RP) You have a few examples of Dark Eldar weaponry. Some of it just uses esoteric poisons, but other parts seem based on physical princples you can't identify. That's exciting (Unlocks new weapons based on Dark Eldar small-arms weaponry) Requires Advanced Technological Research Lab.
-[] Improved Gravity Weapons (125 RP) Your gravity weapons are fairly rudimentary and could be made significantly more elegant. Start by tuning the power flow, then by decreasing the graviton interference... (Improves the range and reduces the cost for gravity weapons. Likely to improve the range for nova cannons, may unlock other applications of gravity technology.)
-[] Bootstrapping a magnetic field (200 RP) If a planet's magnetic field is dead then in the short term it'll be bombarded with hazardous levels of radiation, and in the long term whatever atmosphere is present will get blown off into space by stellar wind. But there might be a way to fix that? (Unlocks a rather expensive semi-megastructure project to start up magnetic fields. Unlocks further research to cheapen the process. May lead to some crazy research into utilizing or messing with star or gas-giant magnetic fields.) Requires Advanced Materials.
-[] The Promise of Superconductivity (250 RP) Now that you know the scope of the challenge, you think there's actually a lot of promise here. The problem is that you're not going to be able to just read literature, but actually come up with something yourself. (Discounts across many researches involving high current, a flat production boost of 10-20% depending on rolls, and potentially discounts on ship/bot equipment depending on rolls.)
-[] Miniaturized antigrav (50 RP) You can make antigrav that reduces the weight of things like shuttles to make them able to make orbit. But there's a floor on how small you can make that technology. The Imperium seems to have solved that. (Unlocks drones, jump-packs etc, as well as additional research to make antigrav vehicles/walkers)
-[] High-energy Physics (200 RP) There's some pretty crazy stuff you can do with physics. Especially when the energy exponents really start getting insane. However, that's going to take a bit of testing - maybe on a planetoid you don't care too much about. Or in space. (The next steps towards bigger, badder weapons, such as fusion beamers, volkite weapons, disintegration weapons. Half of the research for vortex weaponry.) Locked behind a High-Energy Physics Research Lab
-[] Antimatter is Dang Scary (250 RP) So. Antimatter. A staple of science fiction since time immemorial. The problem with dealing with antimatter is that it requires nothing less than perfection in every respect. One flaw in containment and suddenly you've got an anhillation reaction on your hands. Another problem is actually reacting it in a controlled way, since it favors incomplete reactions which result in the rest of the antimatter going the other direction at a speed close to light. Hmm. That might be interesting to weaponize (Unlocks methods to manufacture antimatter, which is a special resource that can be used to upgrade explosive weapons to incredible yields. May unlock technologies for weapons that fire beams of antimatter, which would be... dangerous.) Requires High-energy Physics.
-[] Better Sensors are just Physics (150 RP) You've made some progress on better sensors, but if you're really going to go to the next level you're going to start looking for edge cases. Things that are hard or downright impossible to hide, and will give away an enemy ship no matter its stealth. (Unlocks better basal sensors across the board, as well as improves specific stealth technologies. Synergizes with stealth research, unlocks even better sensors and may unlock long-range sensors to do detailed scans from across the system).
-[] Combat Information Gathering (200 RP) Many ship weapons are slow-firing and demand specific responses. If you can tell what an enemy ship is going to do before it does it, that will give you a tactical advantage. (Allows you to detect and decode energy signals to predict enemy ship activities, giving an advantage in combat. Will help more the better your sensors are. Will synergize well with boarding, may unlock targeted-teleportation technology and technology to target weak-points).
Machine Spirits
-[] Machine Spirit Ground Strategy (250 RP) Your bots can coordinate on the small scale, but being able to manage larger battles and fights is beyond them. If you can figure out how to connect individual squad networks together you can improve their performance. (Improved combat performance of machine-spirit imbued infantry & vehicle forces over the scale of theaters. Will unlock further technology for improved strategic coordination.)
-[] Machine Spirit Combat Bot Flexibility (250 RP) Your bots can do one thing, and that's win fights with lethal force. If you want them to do things like take captives, or avoid collateral damage, then you're going to need to teach them to do that. (Enables enhanced flexibility of orders for your combat bots. May unlock greater creativity in problem-solving on the part of your combat bots, as well as the capability for the bots to be effective at medicine or other tasks)
-[] Machine Spirit Void Tactics (100 RP) Fighting a ship is a very different thing from fighting on the ground, but many of the principles are similar. Adapt them. (Improved combat performance of machine-spirit imbued ships and void fighters. May unlock technology for improved strategic coordination. If you want to point your fleet at a system and say "Conquer it, spare the civilians" this is a good tech to have.)
-[] Advanced Large-scale Machine spirits (100 RP) Machine spirits scale strangely, and the effort of trying to keep them functional and stable as they get bigger is hard. But the value of them being so much easier to control is substantial (Raises the size limit on machine-spirit hull equipment.)
-[] Megastructure Machine Spirits (200 RP) A ship is a single entity that must be lean and efficient. But they also tend to be heavily standardized, with rugged construction and easy repairs. But a larger strucutre doesn't share those things, and needs to be able to deal with a greater diversity of modules (Unlocks machine spirit-improvements for larger facilities, including shipyards, larger manufactories and other potential megastructure-scale constructions).
-[] Independent Manufactories (300 RP) Your manufacturing machine spirits are pretty good at being independent but still require some direction on sourcing materials, and various types of blockages. If you give them more independence then they'd need even less management. But at the same time, building in that much independence would require appropriate safeguards so they didn't go off the rails. (Further reduce CP requirements of machine-spirit manufactories).
-[] Basic Automated Manufactories (150 RP) If you tool a factory and install a machine spirit optimized to make just one thing, then it can just keep doing it without your oversight. (Unlocks automated ground/orbital/deep space manufactories, which will continue to produce a single kind of product without requiring actions. Will require CP, and cannot make starships or installations. Unlocks further research to increase productivity, and flexibility, remove the CP requirement, as well as allow the automated manufactories to produce ships, installations and eventually megastructures).
-[] Machine Spirit Ship Design Improvements (200 RP) By encouraging creative and complex solutions to problems you can use the design-specialized machine spirits to improve your ship designs in exciting new ways. (Allows you to cram more things into void ships, depending on rolls. May unlock further research to further optimize cramming, as well as discount the absolute cost of various categories of ship components).
-[] Machine Spirit Hallucinations (150 RP) Your new machine spirits are capable of incredible creativity when you push them to solve impossible problems. A lot of it is silly and impossible, but buried within the morass are occasional nuggets of gold. Every good idea starts as a bad idea, so let's generate more ideas. (Improves the number of RP you get per action, though not by a huge amount. May unlock more research to further improve this number).
-[] Machine Spirit Chaos Immunity? (250 RP) You might be able to make your machine spirits "super-sane" and nearly impossible to hack with chaos shielding. It's likely to make them more expensive, but it may be worth it. (Unlocks blueprint options for ships & smaller units that makes them virtually immune to chaos takeover.)
-[] Psytech Machine spirits (100 RP) You don't think that machine spirits can be psychically active. However, from what you understand of psytech it's a temperamental and difficult discipline, and you think that integrating machine spirits into the construction of psytech might improve its reliability and performance. (Improves psytech, at the cost of making it somewhat more expensive. May lead to more advanced versions for more advanced psytech, and may contribute to better psychic shields)
Biology
-[] Servitorization (50 RP) You find it repulsive, but being able to replace somebody's brain with a computer that drives them around would have its uses. (Unlocks the ability to servitorize people in the medbay. Unlocks follow-on research to replicate their personality as well)
-[] Variety is the Spice of Life (50 RP) Your current foray into aquaculture production is fully effective at feeding large numbers of people, but it also makes them try to drink an ocean the first time they eat it. And several times after that. And kind of kills their taste buds toward anything else. Maybe get some other versions of aquaculture working that don't do that? (Fixes the spice problem).
-[] Enhance the Agriculture! (200 RP) 15,000 people being fed from one facility sounds like a lot. But it's really not when you start to consider things like star systems. So far you've been playing with the hobby-version of aquaculture. More commercial versions used heavier food-manufacturing systems that are closer to organic printers. They'd probably be much more effective for feeding extremely large numbers of people. (Unlocks blueprints for extremely efficient methods to produce large amounts of food. Unlocks research to install tiny systems that fully substitute food needs, such as installing something onto a spacesuit that fully converts waste into delicious food).
-[] Calderath Stank-Be-Gone (200 RP) Calderath is an interesting case of a planet that doesn't need to be terraformed so much as ecologically engineered. You think you know how to do it - make a microbe that sinks the stupendous amount of seaweed standing up the oceans and buries it in ocean sediment. Actually making and deploying such a thing and having it do what you want is a different matter. (Potentially makes Calderath livable to humans again without breathing masks. Will cross-synergize with MICROBES, and both techs will discount each other) Write-in a risk tolerance. Depending on how well you roll you might not release it and instead get a follow-up action to further improve your solution. Even if you roll poorly and release it there will be a subsequent roll to determine success or failure.
-[] MICROBES: Miniaturized climate regulatory and optimized biogeochemical engineering symbionts (250 RP) Microbes are the chemical factories that reshape the chemistry of the planetary surface and atmosphere to your liking. Delving into the techniques used in the distance past to figure out how to engineer them would let you design better, faster terraforming organisms, as well as let them be applied to more extreme starting conditions (Improves, cheapens, accelerates and broadens the terraforming projects you have available. Unlocks further improvements and potential weaponization.)
-[] Study the Strange Seed (150 RP) Gwendolyn has a strange seed that occasionally seems to glint with golden light. What's... going on with that? Can you figure out what it is? Maybe clone it? (More information on the strange seed, potentially unlocks the ability to clone it, may unlock a questline of some kind). Requires Gwendolyn active action to research.
-[] Complex genetic enhancement (100 RP) The complexity of human genetics lies in the epistasis between multiple different alleles. Put more simply, this shit is complicated. Figure it out. (Unlocks more advanced enhancements, including significantly improved strength, intelligence, etc. Unlocks research for even more dramatic engineering, and is likely required to try to make psykers)
-[] Psyker genetics (200 RP) What makes somebody psychic? You have a psyker, and some genetic samples from others acquired from various trips to the monasteries. (Allows you to develop a test to determine psychic ability, though it won't be perfect. Unlocks further technology to improve psychic potential in adults and embryos.)
-[] Triggering mutations (200 RP) Mutations can sometimes have beneficial effects. Learning how to trigger those in particular might be an effective way to enhance people's bodies and souls. (Unlocks a new category of enchancements, though not one without risk) Requires Immaterium understanding.
-[] Adult genetic engineering (100 RP) Genetically modifying an adult comes with all sorts of complications. Doing it without killing them or incapacitating them for months is even harder. (Allows your genetic enhancements/therapies to apply to adult humans. Will help cure mutants. Likely required for a full understanding of juvenat.)
-[] New Body, Brain Missing (100 RP) Unlocks the ability to clone humans without fully developed brains, ripe for harvesting for organs or being used as new bodies if you can figure out mind-uploading (Improves medical devices, along with companion cogitators will unlock technology to allow for mind backup and uploading).
-[] The Tank-bred (100 RP) You know a number of mutations that can enhance human capabilities, and you're on the path to figuring out more. But cloning people carrying those traits is another matter. (Unlocks the ability to clone enhanced humans. For now that's just slightly healthier, stronger, smarter, but as you unlock new technologies it may include navigators, psykers or people with space-marine level augments).
-[] Alien Cloning (300 RP) Cloning humans is one thing, but extending those same capabilities to aliens... that would be dramatic indeed. Still, it's worth investigating (Can attempt to clone other generally humanoid species. may lead to techs to further enhance this capability).
-[] Lazarus Protocol (200 RP) So long as the brain isn't fully destroyed, it's possible to revive a body. Often with permanent, long-lasting damage to memory and body, but hey, they're alive. (Medical care can revive somebody from recently dead, or much, much longer if they were properly preserved.)
-[] Flesh is Clay (150 RP) So long as you have the parts, you can stitch them together as you like. This can be used to help people recover from even the most terrible wounds, or to create the kinds of abominations that cause terrible wounds. (Improved medical care, and unlocks the ability to build flesh abominations).
-[] Physical Apperance is Skin-deep (50 RP) Being able to do surgery on somebody's inside is one thing. But what about their outsides? (Unlocks cosmetic surgery to fix scars, alter appearances and even change skin tones. Unlocks follow-up research to allow you to disguise humans as xenos species whose biology you understand, or vice versa. May discount juvenat research.)
-[] Regeneration is just a matter of applied Growth (200 RP) You can make sure everything lines up properly to stimulate natural growth, but you can't actually accelerate it. Trying is a quick path to cancer and needs to be tweaked for every patient. That's why it wasn't common even in your time. But it should be possible, and you don't have to worry about pharmaceutical patents. (Your medical treatments have vastly accelerated healing timelines. Normally a prereq of juvenat, but in this case will simply have synergy. Unlocks further research for video-game-like med-kits and the ability to give people new organs without surgery)
-[] Perfect Knockout (75 RP) Your knockout gas is good, but it could be great. Increase dosage window, increase duration, decrease side effects. Make it absorb through exposed skin. (Dramatically improves effectiveness of knockout gas).
-[] Superhuman Uppers (75 RP) Pushing beyond the realm of what's normally possible for the human body is a recipie for disaster - unless you design the drugs right. (Unlocks drugs to boost human mental and physical characterstics beyond norms. Includes basic psytech drugs. Half of unlocking further psytech drugs).
-[] Juvenat Beginnings (250 RP) Ok. Juvenat is complicated. You're able to make it by following a formula that is at times precise, at times general and at times just - what? Maybe start to delve into the science of that. (Unlocks a basic understanding of juvenat, and may make it more efficient to produce. Tech cost will be reduced by other biomedical researchers. The start of the juvenat research tree.)
-[] Navigator Genetics (200 RP) So... you have some navigator genetic material. You can poke at that, see if you can figure out how it works. They had a reputation even back in your day, and it only seems to have gotten worse. Still, tempting. (Unlocks basic understanding of navigator genetics. Will unlock further technology to improve the health of navigators, as well as technology to allow you to clone navigators.) Locked behind Complex genetic enhancement
-[] Dubious Dark Eldar Dissections (75 RP) You've got some corpses of Dark Eldar. Time to take them apart and see what you can learn! (Gives you some details on Dark Eldar physiology. May provide bonuses towards psyker genetics, or develop medical techniques, drugs or implants for Eldar)
Cybernetics
-[] Combat Mobility Cybernetics (100 RP) Sticking rockets and grappling hooks into cybernetics isn't just cool. It's also useful - it'll let the wearers utilize more of the strength of their new limb without tearing apart their organic body. It'll also give them new maneuverability options. (Unlocks new parts for augments that enhance the wearer's strength and mobility. Synergizes with other technology, may unlock enhanced mobility for bots & armors)
-[] Combat Neural Implants (50 RP) Allows you to install neural implants to calculate trajectories, assist with aiming, further improve reaction time and generally improve human capabilities in combat. (Unlocks combat-focused neural implants. Will synergize with other cybernetics and neural implant technologies)
-[] Advanced organ replacements (50 RP) Your organ replacements almost fully replicate the real thing, but not quite. But they can't adjust to shocks in body homeostasis and they do need to be replaced every decade or so. You think you can make them as good or slightly better than the real thing, including the potential to grow with the bearer. (Unlocks organs which actually just replace normal organs almost perfectly. Likely to synergize with other implant/cybernetics/enhancement techs).
-[] Superhuman organ replacements (200 RP) Your organ replacements almost fully replicate the real thing, and have some useful auxiliary functions. But there's another level of improvement that's possible here. You could make organs that conveyed superhuman characteristics on the wearers. Improved oxygen transfer rate, improved bone density, immunity to most toxins, improved healing rate. (Unlocks advanced organs implants which grant superhuman capabilities. Not quite space-marine-level, but that's the next tech, though these are still artificial). Locked behind Advanced Combat cybernetics.
-[] Companion Cogitators (250 RP) Your implants are good. But they still rely on external computers for any heavy lifting. But with a good deal of work, and some effort at miniaturizing computation, data storage and power units you could fit a full computer into somebody, giving them access to a full suite of capabilities. (Powerful neural implants capable of incredible amounts of data crunching/cryptography, as well as full virtual presences. Further improves Organic-machine control, unlocks very powerful types of implants, including implanted machine spirits, full-dive VR, personality-backups and depending on other technology, minor AI assistants).
-[] Mood Regulators (100 RP) Interfacing the implant with the brain's emotional centers will allow it to regulate emotional states. Potentially useful to help the bearer regulate dangerous emotions like fear, lust, anger, greed, sloth, as well as emotional outbursts when such would be dangerous for them. Also potetnialyl useful for interrogation. (Your implants that can help with - or destroy - mental stability. Useful for those engaged with Chaos, and for unstable psykers. May unlock more technology geared towards ensuring a stable mental condition). Locked behind Drugs? Drugs.
-[] Pain Controller (100 RP) Pain is an incredibly deeply seated stimulus, and it's hard to block it without destroying a lot of senses. But if you manage it it could help immesurably with combat implants. (Your implants allow the deadening of pain, allowing people so implanted to fight or last through injuries and other bad feedback).
-[] Advanced Combat cybernetics (150 RP) Your cybernetics can easily contain light and some medium weapons, but they're not really suited to heavy combat. Yet. You could make them tougher, beefier, and figure out how to fit the power sources for larger weapons inside. (Unlocks advanced combat augments. Half of the technology for excellent combat augments, unlocks further cybernetics/research). Locked behind Really good Robotics.
-[] Advanced Cognition Filter (150 RP) Your existing Cognition Filter works very well, but you worry that it's prone to remove important details. It's hard to see how long an enemy's sword is when that sword is covered with Chaotic sigils, for example. Some amount of modelling and virtual reality augmentation could just replace that with an unadorned sword, circumventing the drawbacks of the first-generation cognition filter. (Improves Cognition filters to remove any downsides to filtering out chaotic information from perception.)
-[] Sanity Module (150 RP) By integrating your learnings from chaos-resistant machine spirits into implants, you can help ensure that people with your implants keep a firm grip on sanity. (Reduces the vulnerability of people with your implants to corruption of all kinds, as well as more normal psychoses. Helps stabilize psykers). Requires Companion Cogitators.
-[] Chaos Corruption Cognitive Intervention (225 RP) Chaos corruption is a lot of things. However, it almost certainly involves some amount of neural rewiring to think more Chaotic thoughts. With your neural implants, you believe you might be able to reverse that, using warp sensors to detect harmful thoughts, then a combination of memory editing, negative feedback and induced plasticity to undo the Chaotic brain patterns. This is unlikely to return them to how they were before, but it'll give them a chance to be somebody new without demons twisting their brain. (Your brain implants can slowly un-corrupt the mental side of chaos corruption). Requires Companion Cogitators& Understanding Mutations
-[] Vellkar Organic-Machine Control (200 RP) Adapting the organic-machine control implants to a new species is a tall challenge, and only one you'd really consider with their full cooperation and provisioning of willing test subjects. But it's not surprising, since it'll let the Vellkar match Denva's rate of technological development. (Enables your full suite of organic-machine control systems to work for the Vellkar, likely earning a significant amount of goodwill and
-[] Advanced Organic-Machine Control (150 RP) Given improved technology you think you can let a single person control an unprecedented amount of machinery. At some point a crew of humans will be able to have as much CP as you will. (Approximately doubles the capacity of organic-machine control, letting a single human command more CP worth of units. Leads to further follow-on improvements.) Requires Companion Cogitators.
-[] Collaborative Design Frameworks (100 RP) It's hard for a group of researchers to work together on a design, since it's nearly impossible for them to share the same vision. With your implants, that's fixable. (Allows teams of researchers to entriely design blueprints.)
-[] Collaborative Strategic R&D (200 RP) You've built tools to enable multiple teams to work together, but it's still hard to communicate discoveries to people in adjacent fields. Fixing that would enable the integration of an entire research ecosystem. (Further increases size of research team before RP/turn limit is reached, especially for many teams working on different topics. Will significantly boost research organizations comprised entirely of organics.)
-[] Streamlined OMC interface (50 RP) Your Organic-machine control implants are a beast to learn how to use, and the learning curve to true mastery is measured in decades if not centuries. With a further redesign focused on effective tooltips, detailed tutorials on every facet of their function and further optimization to work with various kinds of robots you can help new operators figure out the ropes and get up to speed quickly. (Increases effectiveness of humans equipped with OMC implants, both for combat and manufacturing)
-[] Gameified OMC (50 RP) You have the combat simulation part of it down, but a game is more than just fighting. You need a framework for why the fighting is happening, some kind of tie-in to manufacturing and the ability to make people care about the results of the combat. You can solve all of those problems, but doing it properly so that people actually learn useful skills and enjoy doing it will be tricky. (Create a game that teaches OMC-skills to the general populace, both providing basic training and helping find individuals with above-average proficiency. Synergizes well with Lower OMC Implant Specs)
-[] Lower OMC Implant Specs (150 RP) Your OMC implants are fairly intense, and only growing more so as you improve their capabilities. If you figured out how to dial down the requirements for the software, then it would be possible for less-sophisticated and invasive implants to also work with the system. They wouldn't operate at the same capabilities of control, but it would allow people with civilian-grade implants to control a CP or two worth. (Dramatically lowers the barrier to entry into OMC-style work, allowing a much larger fraction of the population to work with organic-machine control, and likely accelerating training as lower-scale implants are required to successfully work with OMC-technology. May unlock future technology to allow implant-less people to operate OMC effectively through normal cogitators).
Hacking
-[] Rapid hacking (400RP) You need to figure out a new approach to subverting machine spirits. It might involve some combination of confusing them with a burst of signals, then showing up and 'relieving' the issue. But it would take a lot of trial-and-error to get right. (Improves hacking of imperial tech. Potentially enough for use in combat situations? Will unlock further hacking technology).
-[] Improved Machine-spirit Jamming (300 RP) Well, you can't combine it with hacking, but you can still try to improve what you have to be more efficent, target more machine spirits at a time, etc. (Improves success rate of jamming imperial tech, decreases failure penalties. May unlock further jamming technology)
Anexa Ifina, Maestro of Cognition and Soul
Level 20
-[] Anexa active Action: Research - assists a research action you take, granting +5xLevel RP to the action. Will level on a successful roll, scaled by the importance of the tech.
-[] Anexa passive action: Exploratory Research - Roll to discount a random tech from one of her specialties, a success will discount an amount similar to her +5xLevel RP bonus but modified with the roll. Will receive the specialty bonus, and a crit will result in a level-up and unlocking a new bonus technology, like what you get for a crit on a research action. Specialties (4/4): Machine Spirits. The Warp, Cybernetics, Artificial Intelligence. Grants a +20 bonus when doing research rolls in the relevant category, and failed rolls are rerolled until they aren't failures. Staff: 500 tech-priests of the Cogitare Exploratium, who can each provide either +30 CP or 1 RP or aid 1 design per turn. For RP, people beyond 150 provide 0.2 and people beyond 500 providing 0, so all 500 on research is an additonal 220 RP. For design, 20 can be assigned to a design task to halve its RP cost, or 50 to reduce the cost to 25%. Those so assigned will not produce RP.
Victan Thallos, Diplomat-Spy
Level 19
-[] Victan active action: Diplomat-Spy - assists any diplomacy action you take, granting +Level to the dice to the action. Will level on a successful roll, scaled by the significance of the action.
-[] Victan passive action: Counterespionage & Alliance-building - Defends against hostile covert action and improves relations with existing allies, as well as gathering information for making new allies. Will only level if something interesting happens. Staff: 100 assorted diplomats, analysts, and spies from Aevon Intelligence & Counterintelligence. Will provide narrative bonuses to spying, diplomacy, infiltration, etc. (It's now valid to insert them covertly, and you'll be provided more information on new worlds you talk to.)
Cia Steblin, FocusedPyromancer Psyker
Level 16
-[] Cia Active: Psyker improvement - Cia will actively attempt to practice her powers. Roll two d100s. Take the higher roll for determining level-up, but take the lower for perils of the warp. (DCs are unknown but context-dependent. They will get less favorable as she levels.)
-[] Cia Passive: Psyker improvement - Cia will take lower-risk actions to improve herself, including meditation, study and augmentation. A single level-up roll, with only a low roll resulting in perils of the warp. Focus: Combat. Cia is now armed with custom heavy armor and a large but crude two-handed force sword. Abilities: Cia is able to use minor psytech without risk. She's learned the value of carrying around a few mundane ways to make fire for when she doesn't want to rely on her abilities, but is focusing on improving her pyromancy, which is currently ranked at Epsilon.
Gwendolyn Kytante, Strategist
Level 4
-[] Gwen Active action: Military Command - Gwen will help coordinate and run a military campaign. She will contribute her level as a bonus to an order action that involves military action. Requires a critical failure for perils of the warp.
-[] Gwen Active action: Psyker Development - Gwen will help her crew become more familiar with their psychic abilities, also developing her own powers. Roll two d100s, with the higher counting for level for gwen & her staff, and the lower counting for perils of the warp.
-[] Gwen Passive: Training & Psyker improvement: Gwen will roll to improve her understanding of strategy and tactics by reading literature and studying past battles. She will seek to improve her psyker abilities, but only as a secondary foucus. Will only roll on perils of the warp with a failure. Focus: Strategy. Gwen is armed with custom heavy armor and a crude two-handed force sword. She's not really that invested in personal combat, but will become involved in any surprise military actions as a commander.
Abilities: Gwendolyn is a diviner-specialized psyker, currently ranked at Delta Staff: 40 psykers of kappa to theta in power of all specialties, along with a duo of zeta biomancers, two fairly strong pyromancers, a telepath, and a diviner. Staff level: 2
Aurora, Navigator Child
Age 10 Who raises your newest crewmember for the next five years? It will take her 4 total turns (20 years) to grow to be an independent part of your crew. You can trade off who raises her every turn, and depending on the age bracket, she'll learn different things from different people. This turn her third eye will open, which is likely to be a significant event.
-[] You. Write-in how you raise her. Child has an emotional connection to you. Takes one of your actions. Has a +5 modifier given past successes.
-[] Have Anexa raise her. Child is likely to end up interested in technology, but plus emotional connection to Anexa. Takes Anexa's action.
-[] Have Cia raise her. Child is likely to end up interested in combat and warpy stuff, emotional connection to Cia. Takes Cia's action.
-[] Have Victan raise her. As above, but plus emotional connection to Victan. Takes Victan's action. Has a -10 modifier given past failures.
-[] Have Gwen raise her. Child likely to end up interested in strategy and history, emotional connection to Gwen. Takes Gwen's action.
-[] Have Victan's staff of diplomats & analysts raise her. Child likely to end up interested in humans. Reduces the effectiveness of Victan's staff for a turn.
-[] Have Anexa's Cogitare raise her. Child likely to end up interested in technology. Reduces the effectiveness of Anexa's staff for a turn by ~20 Cogitare members because they're going to be very careful about it.
How do you suggest the Stellar Ascendency expands? (part of plan vote)
-[][Expansion] As they were intending Next turn the Stellar Ascendency sends missions to Ascalon, Myrris, Veytharis and Kethraxis, scouting them out and potentially establishing a presence in each system.
-[][Expansion] To Calderath and Vorthryn, with Cogitare bases They expand through Ascalon towards Calderath and Vorthryn, and take possession of your bases there. +3 boons to represent how much easier having a toehold will make it to assimilate those systems.
-[][Expansion] To Calderath and Vorthryn, without Cogitare bases They expand through Ascalon towards Calderath and Vorthryn. -1 boon because you're telling them to respect your turf and allow your Cogitare to expand while under their protective umbrella.
-[][Expansion] Don't expand. The Stellar Ascendency focuses all of its effort on upleveling Denva itself, making more ships, a bigger manufacturing base, etc.
-[][Expansion] Like this... (write in) They're not willing to go out of the Zantris sub-sector just yet, though if you start spending boons, that might change. They also probably want to keep a contiguous set of systems, so don't tell them to get Caldereth, Othrael's Lantern, Lyrintha, and Braxis' Shadow. Also don't include Caldereth or Vorthryn, those are what the options above are for.
If you're rolled better on the augmentations tech you might have unlocked a chain of techs to make your own geneseed, though based on corrupted samples. But it was too corrupted for that, and all you got a sense for was mutations and a bit of a discount on other techs. If you want to make space-marine-level geneseed then you'll need to get a sample from somewhere else.
I realized I probably should have made setting up the Cogitare Manufacturing Command require an action, and I'm likely to do that for similar events in the future. My recompense was to roll for it, with you only getting the "free" action on a 50 or higher, which you got. Narratively this worked out that you had a competent administrator lying around ready to take over.
You never built lodging capacity for the Cogitare running your infastructure, so they're onboard the Spark now. If you want to actually leave them behind you're going to have to build that.
Your warp sensors can send basic messages and orders. Things like "Under attack by twelve chaos destroyers," "please build 64 Embers and 4 torches," "system contains an imperial hiveworld being invaded by greenskins" but not details of new technology, design specs or planetary scans. My commentary on ringing the dinner bell is stating a possibility, not a certainty. You legitimately don't know.
The "good success" on warpaphones meant that the range was 3 systems and not 2, that you can build it on the ground in addition to in space, and that the cost is 5,000 bp and not 10,000 bp. There's a reason that the Imperium uses psykers for this. A crit would have gotten you the offensive warpaphones bonus tech, that you can use with offensive meanings to make a new kind of weapon specialized against psychically-sensitive entities. It's still on the table for future crits in this tree, and the various warpaphone techs can discount each other, and there are several other techs that can discount them as well.
Denva has a set amount of effort budgeted for the expansion. It's enough for a solid attempt at establishing relationships and base-building in about four systems, and if you encourage them to focus on fewer systems, it's more likely they'll get more done in those systems.
I was planning for you to start off with some Vellkar boons due to past actions, but the waters were muddied by the bombardment from the Forsaken Echo, and then Victan rolled low. So no starting boons, but several ways to earn them, and spend them.
Cia is fine, but there's nothing to keep her progressing. Research more psytech or aid her specifically to keep her improving so she doesnt' stall again. A stronger psychic lab would also help.
If nothing drastic happens you'll spend this upcoming turn and the next in Denva, then leave the turn after that, when Aurora is grown and you unlock the full navigator speed-boost.
I'm going to be out of town for a little while, so we're going to set a longer-than-usual moratorium. Then voting will also likely be open for some time as well because I've got a busy couple of weeks coming up.
A crit would have gotten you the offensive warpaphones bonus tech, that you can use with offensive meanings to make a new kind of weapon specialized against psychically-sensitive entities. It's still on the table for future crits in this tree, and the various warpaphone techs can discount each other, and there are several other techs that can discount them as well.
I can't believe we might one day be able to literally cuss someone out with the warp-a-phone. Just send Bad Vibes at Daemons until they spontaneously combust. Absolutely obliterate some fools with foul language alone.
I can't believe we might one day be able to literally cuss someone out with the warp-a-phone. Just send Bad Vibes at Daemons until they spontaneously combust. Absolutely obliterate some fools with foul language alone.
I was making a draft for a "Necrons now with High-energy Physics and Advanced Materials" -plan, but I'm now convinced that we need a focused bio/warp research plan. Because even with that mutation research crit and the general improved medical practices as well as what we've gleaned about the Chaos Space Marines? Aurora needs more help.
Dammit Neablis, tugging my hearstrings like that with the Aurora's suffering and interactions with her Aunt Vita and the others. Lol, Vita just taking the whole ship around the system to show her places. Anyway, this was a good update. It has me already attached to Aurora to a degree that I'm willing to throw away my dreams for bots capable of slaughtering basic chaos space marines in 1v1 in the near future. Well done.
Anyway, I think that its practically mandatory that we have Anexa work on "The Vagaries of a Third Eye (100 RP)", right? With her allocated to that, it will be literally impossible for us to fail that research project. And considering how important this would be...
Still considering our other options, but continuing genetic research towards Navigator Genetics is probably a good idea. Takes care of chaos-tainted mutations for Denva with Adult Genetic Engineering and Complex Genetic Enhancements will be a major upgrade for Denva. Also useful for us, even if to a lesser degree. The rest, I will have to consider.
Researched The Key to expert Surgery is Ego - 15+20=35, Poor success. Your base level of medical care is improved. As long as somebody's still technically alive you can bring them back. Unlocked new technology - Lazarus Protocol (200 RP)
Unlocked new technology - Lazarus Protocol (150 RP)
Researched That's two levels of Augmentation too Many - 12+20 = 32 Poor success. Discounts additional technologies, greater understanding of warp-associated mutations. Existing research discounted - Complex genetic enhancement cost reduced by 50 RP
Existing research discounted - Complex genetic enhancement cost reduced by 50 RP
Hm. We've effectively constructed HPG stations with the Warpaphone, and I'm glad we did it now because we need to slim them down and make them mobile both.
I can't believe we might one day be able to literally cuss someone out with the warp-a-phone. Just send Bad Vibes at Daemons until they spontaneously combust. Absolutely obliterate some fools with foul language alone.
I don't think cussing daemons out is going to do much, that happens all the time. Tell Nurgle to clean up, Khorn to peace out, Tzeentch to stop waffling about, and Slaanesh to chill out.
-[] Physical Apperance is Skin-deep (50 RP) Being able to do surgery on somebody's inside is one thing. But what about their outsides? (Unlocks cosmetic surgery to fix scars, alter appearances and even change skin tones. Unlocks follow-up research to allow you to disguise humans as xenos species whose biology you understand, or vice versa. May discount juvenat research.)
-[] The Vagaries of a Third Eye (100 RP) Aurora's third eye gives her a view into the Warp. What does that mean? Is there a way to help her look safely into a realm of madness? What is the interaction with psychic shielding? Is this dangerous for others too? (Better understanding and protection for Aurora and others as she begins to access her inborn powers.)
- [] Basic Psychic Suppression Devices (150 RP) You think you understand the principles of psychic suppression, but to actually confirm that you need to build some and see if it works. (Allows you to build basic psychic hoods or other personal psychic protective devices. Unlocks more advanced psychic nullification, as well as larger nullification constructs)
-[] Complex genetic enhancement (100 RP) The complexity of human genetics lies in the epistasis between multiple different alleles. Put more simply, this shit is complicated. Figure it out. (Unlocks more advanced enhancements, including significantly improved strength, intelligence, etc. Unlocks research for even more dramatic engineering, and is likely required to try to make psykers)
-[] Adult genetic engineering (100 RP) Genetically modifying an adult comes with all sorts of complications. Doing it without killing them or incapacitating them for months is even harder. (Allows your genetic enhancements/therapies to apply to adult humans. Will help cure mutants. Likely required for a full understanding of juvenat.)
-[] Navigator Genetics (200 RP) So... you have some navigator genetic material. You can poke at that, see if you can figure out how it works. They had a reputation even back in your day, and it only seems to have gotten worse. Still, tempting. (Unlocks basic understanding of navigator genetics. Will unlock further technology to improve the health of navigators, as well as technology to allow you to clone navigators.) Locked behind Complex genetic enhancement
-[] Tiny Psychic shielding (300 RP) You were able to make your smaller psychic shielding by stacking the components and using the interference caused to generate the proper effect. However, you don't understand that interference well enough to go any smaller. Once you do, you can start to try to make actually tiny versions of the psychic shielding, small enough to fit in implants, or potentially into totems that project the shielding effect outside of themselves. (Fixes the issues with personal psychic shields, unlocks the ability to create implants with psychic shielding capability and potentially allows you to make amulets with psychic shields. May unlock additional technology to make all of that better.) Requires Triple Nested Psychic shielding
-[] Triple Nested Psychic shielding (200 RP) You've had two shields, yes. What about three? (Allows you to have three layers of shielding active at once. May unlock tech to allow inner shields to boost outer shields to be greater than the sum of their parts)
The narrative points to three problems Aurora still has (in order from least to most important): her skin is better but still looks like it has open wounds and scars, the third eye is going to open next turn, and there is that bone growth in her chest which isn't going away.
For the skin the Skin Deep research should help, for the third eye the new research option for it and Basic Psychic Suppression Devices should help a lot if I understood the narrative correctly, and for the bone growth we will probably need the complete package of Complex Genetics, Adult Gen Therapy, and Navigator Genetics is probably required.
The ability to carry around a specialised psychic shield would probably also be useful since being under the effect of a psychic shield seems to prevent mutations, so giving Aurora a dedicated one designed to help with her issues specifically seems like it would be very effective in preventing new issues from showing up even if it can't fix the existing ones.
But that is a lot of research, so IMO we should prioritise the three genetic ones and the Third Eye research, with the basic suppression devices if we have RP left over.
-[] Vellkar Organic-Machine Control (200 RP) Adapting the organic-machine control implants to a new species is a tall challenge, and only one you'd really consider with their full cooperation and provisioning of willing test subjects. But it's not surprising, since it'll let the Vellkar match Denva's rate of technological development. (Enables your full suite of organic-machine control systems to work for the Vellkar, likely earning a significant amount of goodwill and
-[][Expansion] To Calderath and Vorthryn, with Cogitare bases They expand through Ascalon towards Calderath and Vorthryn, and take possession of your bases there. +3 boons to represent how much easier having a toehold will make it to assimilate those systems.
@Neablis
You write in the option I quoted above that they will "assimilate" those systems. Are they planing on going in with the stated goal of getting the locals to join up, or are they intending to ask the locals first what they want and their diplomacy is more open ended and more aimed towards setting up their own bases/colony on not inhabited planets in the system (basically treating the locals like the Vellkar)?
Also the Vellkar Organic-Machine Control cuts off mid-sentence.
Considering we now have three potential sources of internal psychic shield damage, and the regular shield damage from warp transit... shouldn't we invest in self repairing shields?
-[] Physical Apperance is Skin-deep (50 RP) Being able to do surgery on somebody's inside is one thing. But what about their outsides? (Unlocks cosmetic surgery to fix scars, alter appearances and even change skin tones. Unlocks follow-up research to allow you to disguise humans as xenos species whose biology you understand, or vice versa. May discount juvenat research.)
I'm only voting for plans that include this Research because of the juvenat discount that is possible on higher successes. Also Anexa needs to go on both the The Vagaries of a Third Eye and Immaterium Understanding since she can do two research action per turn now as part of her skill set. Though I leave it to you guys to figure out the RP spending properly.
@Neablis this requires correction as it was not updated. Also, concerning the below-quote: do we know yet if we need special equipment for actual Navigator warp-travel navigation, or if psy-/warp-tech equipment will just help with it? Or will it be revealed only after the Navigator eye awakens? EDIT: Also, noticed the wording on the current Machine Spirit -modification in "Blueprint Modification Options" in "Small Blueprint designs". It says "making it slightly corruption resistant" which is probably higher at this point? Also, nothing about chaos corruption resistance is mentioned in the ship Hull Equipment option for Machine Spirits.
If nothing drastic happens you'll spend this upcoming turn and the next in Denva, then leave the turn after that, when Aurora is grown and you unlock the full navigator speed-boost.
You can build Warpaphones in orbit or on the ground - large, stationary installations that can send messages across the warp. They have low signal transmission rates, can only reach three systems away (so from Denva to Zarithune's Maw), and may be detected by enemies at further distances, though the signal will be hopelessly garbled. Unlocked new technology - Mobile Warpaphones (250 RP)
Unlocked new technology - Smaller Warpaphones (100 RP)
Unlocked new technology - Boosted Warpaphones (200 RP)
Unlocked new technology - Focused Warpaphones (150 RP)
Currently we've got a 3-system limit, it's stationary, and a rather big facility. I hate having to ask the thread of this, because it's going to be a hard push, but are you willing to sink 350RP this turn to make it at least mobile and small enough to fit on a ship?
And what if we cannot fit it on a ship because it will require minimum of a battleship or something?
Let's just build this things in every system we visit and worry about portability later.
