WildSpace - A Riot! Quest

Week 6, Part 1: Moneymaker
Jack looked around at the other members of the team, getting a couple of nods and a couple of shaken heads in response. After a moment conferring with First Impact via radio, he chuffed out a breath - sounding slightly relieved. "Yeah, I reckon you can." he said, and eyed their rover. "There ain't enough room for all of us in here, though." The woman looked slightly deflated, and was about to say something. Jack held up his hand. "I got an idea, though." he said, moving over to one of the rovers that had defended the old colony. They were remarkably intact - most of their damage seemed to be superficial, except in the case of the scorched holes torn through the middle of the engine block.

Scepta and Meir walked over, looking at the rover thoughtfully. "Think our rover could pull it with the tow chain if we flipped it back onto its wheels?" Meir asked.

"That's what I was jus' wonderin', Lochan." Jack mused out loud. "Benny, Vic, go grab the rover and chain." he ordered, and within minutes the First Impact rover was backed up to the technical, Benny chaining its undercarriage to the rover's tow bar. With everyone out of the way, the rover threw up rooster tails of dirt as it strained against its payload. Slowly, it started to tip over. For a moment, it seemed as if the rover wouldn't have enough torque to get the job done - but then, with a groan, the technical tilted over and dropped onto its wheels, bouncing on its suspension.

"Alright, ever' one aboard!" Jack called out, and the survivors scrambled to get aboard the rover and the technical.

Benny unhooked the chain from the technical's side, moved it to its front, and mere minutes later, the rover was doing work for two, hauling the survivors to their new home.

[New Codex Entry: Settlers]
[Settlers acquired: 9 ZB, 1 Specialist (R&D)]
[New Codex Entry: Technical]
[Damaged Technical Acquired (Carries 2 crew+6 troops, armed with HMG) (Repairable with Garage)]


Nevill and Steve got to work, trying to repair the transport's engines. The discovery of the ravaged colony site had driven them to the conclusion that a getaway option was vital for the colony's - and their own - survival, out here in the Wildlands. But at the end of the week, they'd just wasted a bunch of alloy and wiring trying to attach the 'new' engines from the other colony ship to First Impact's.

Minor Failure. +1 XP to Steve, Nevill.
-10 DC to next repair action.

The machine shop assembly effort went slightly better. Claire, Roselia DuClare, Bob Smith and Michael Erickson worked as hard as they could to get the machine shop up and running by week's end. Their efforts were met by obstacle after obstacle - the ceramacrete took longer to dry than expected, a support beam fell on Claire and broke her arm, and in general, the build team's morale quickly dropped as the week wore on. But finally, on Saturday morning, the assemblers came online, the CNC machine fired up, and Roselia op-tested the lathe, punch and other machine tools.

First Impact was now ready to start making things.

[New Codex Entry: Colony Asset: Improved Machine Shop]
[New Codex Entry: Turnkey Blueprints]
[New Codex Entry: Turnkey Blueprints: Slug Throwing Rifle, Light Machine Gun, Heavy Machine Gun, Rotary Autocannon, Survey Toolset Mk I]
[New Production Options]

Painful Success. +1 XP to Claire, Roselia, Bob and Michael.
Claire is Injured for 3 turns, and may not participate in any physically-intensive activity.

Scepta, meanwhile, took the time to familiarize herself with her weapon, and train in the skills required to be an effective fighter. There was only so much she could learn, working by herself - but she did get the opportunity to improve her marksmanship against some static targets.

Success. +2 Combat XP to Scepta.

Ludwig, Dr. Mizzet, and the newly-awakened Kayla Futhark worked on fortification technology throughout the week. It quickly became clear that none of them were born fortification engineers, as every attempt at coming up with more than basic razor-wire barricades (which, at the time, they couldn't even make) was met with at best no result, and at worst a heaping pile of improperly fused ceramacrete off to one side of the colony, where they'd attempted to form a wall of the super-hard material.

It was frustrating, but Ludwig was somewhat sure that given more time, they could come up with better results.

Minor Failure. +1 XP to Ludwig Cristoffen, Dr. Mizzet, and Kayla Futhark.
-10 DC for next attempt at researching Fortification I.

After last week's adventures, one would have thought that Jack and Meir would have had their fill of exploration for a short while, but one would also be wrong. Early in the week, they hopped aboard the rover, and explored to the west again.

They traversed the rolling hills at a reasonable clip, the rover handling itself well both up and downhill. They discovered rivers winding through the hills, and forests began to dot the land before long. An animal the size of a small dog took to following the rover, curious and non-hostile. It had a long tail, a blunt, trapezoidal head, two large eyes and four sure feet - whose digits, on closer inspection, were splayed far enough apart and jointed just so... were those some form of hand?

They eventually lost sight of the little beast, and gained sight of something else.

A ship.

It stood on short landing legs, people scurrying about the base of a ramp that extended from its belly to the dirt, hauling up pallets of what looked like furs and gems. A rover and a mobile mining rig stood off to the side. It wasn't a very large ship - no larger than the First Impact colony ship, which was itself a converted tramp freighter, and not a large one at that - but it looked new, and well maintained. Down one side read the name: "LADY LUCK", and beneath that, in smaller font, "INDEPENDENT SHIPPING SERVICE - REGISTERED CONFEDERATE TRADE AUTHORITY CT-2501387"

Traders?

(All can vote)
[] Approach
[] Don't approach
[] Hail via radio

Success. +4 XP to Jack, Meir Lochan.
 
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Week Six, Part Two: Aiming to Misbehave
"Alright, Meir, let's give the guys and gals back home the good news." Jack said, and Meir turned to the rover's radio controls. A minute later, Meir held up the radio mic for Jack to take. Thumbing the mic's on switch, he began to speak.

"First Impact, this is Survey Group One; come in, over." Jack called out over the airwaves.

A moment's silence, and then -

"SG-1, this is First Impact, we read you loud and clear. What've you got, over?" came the voice of Roselia DuClare, crackling over the airwaves.

"We've got what looks like a Confederate tramp freighter, name of 'Lady Luck', about thirty-two klicks west o' the colony," Jack informed her, "and I think it'd be best if we didn't approach it too close-like with only two people. Think you could hail them, over?"

"I imagine we could, yeah. Wait one."

~~~
"Confederate freighter Lady Luck, this is First Impact Space Control. Come in, Lady Luck." Roselia called out. Space Control consisted of one room - hers - and the colony ship's radio, but the Confederates didn't need to know that, now did they?

"Uh, this is the Lady Luck. The hell is First Impact?" came the rather startled-sounding reply.

"The name of the colony here on Icarus, Lady Luck. Our scouts just found your ship." Roselia responds, and muffled curses can be faintly heard across the radio link.

"This place was uninhabited last I checked!" came the indignant retort.

"It might have been. It isn't now." Roselia said calmly. "Regardless, it's not like we're angry you're here, or anything. You are traders, yes?" she inquired.

"Yes. We carry... well, a little bit of everything. Cargo, passengers... even a bit of smuggling, for a price." came the slow response. "I figure if you're all the way out here you're not too put out by a little bit of friendly contraband distribution."

"Not hardly." Roselia replied, wryly. "Seeing as we are here, what do you think of hopping over and trading with us? We haven't got much in the way of goods, but we've got a few energy credits to spare."

"Wait one." the Lady Luck's radio operator replied. Several minutes passed by. Then:

"Captain says he's up for it. What's your location?" he asked.

"Thirty-two clicks east of you as the stormbird flies." Roselia said.

"Give us an hour. Lady Luck, out."

~~~

"SG-1, this is First Impact, over." Jack woke from his light snooze, scrambling for the radio mic.

"SG-1, go ahead."

"Those traders are gonna swing up our way - mind coming back? Just in case they're not as friendly as they seem, I'd like all our fighters nearby."

"Yeah, I reckon I can get back there... call it half an hour?"

"Excellent. See you soon."

~~~

An hour later, the exploration team was back and the tramp freighter was touching down in a clearing about three hundred yards from the main colony, met there by the rover (hauling the damaged technical via its tow chain, a bored-looking Kayla Futhark leaning up against the HMG's mounting. The gun and its armored strike plates were facing away from the transport, making it as non-threatening as possible while being a reminder for the smugglers to be on their best behavior.

The captain of the Lady Luck, a tall, handsome man in a grey duster over grey coveralls, tramped down the freighter's ramp, a salesman's smile fixed on his face. At the bottom of the ramp were Sgt. DuClare, Dr. Mizzet, Jack and Nevill, while most of the rest of the colony was nearby, ready to help move anything that needed moving - or shoot things that needed shooting, either or.

"Hello there!" the captain boomed as he stepped off the ramp, his hand extended to Roselia, who was slightly forward of the rest of the group. "You'll be the one we talked to on the radio, right?" he asked.

"Yes, I am." she responded, shaking his hand.

"Well, nice t'meet'cha. Name's Everett Denton, purveyor of fine and exotic goods." he said, still smiling.

"Sgt. DuClare." she said, politely. Denton seemed to take the hint.

"You'll be wantin' t' see what we've got for sale, I'll wager." he said, reaching into his duster and withdrawing a tablet. He pressed a few buttons on the screen, and handed it over. "Take a look, pass it 'round."

Vote for as many as you like/have cash for. You currently have 70 CR.

BUY

[] TECHNOLOGY: Flight Adaptation (unlocks Air production capabilities for the Machine Shop and Garage, adds Airfield) (20 CR)
[] 1 Wheeled Technical (Dumbfire Rocket Launcher OR Fire-and-Forget Rocket Launcher) (30/40 CR)
[] 4 Slug-Throwing Rifles (5 CR tot)
[] 1 HMG (2 cr)
[] 2 Avenger all-purpose sentry turrets (10 cr EA)
[] 2 Handyman Constructo-bots (5 cr EA)
[] 1 Brew-It-Yourself distillation unit (produces alchohol: improves Settler morale, also used as a Trade Good) (10 CR)
[] 2 units of Exotics (8 CR tot)
[] 10 units of Food (6 CR tot)
[] 10 units of Minerals (12 CR tot)

SELL
[] FOOD (.6 CR PER)
[] Minerals (1.2 CR PER)
 
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Week 6, Part Fin: Ouch, Right In The Wallet
Roselia looked over the inventory list with a critical eye, and made several suggestions. She passed the tablet on, and as it made its way around the group, several more were added. They came together in a hushed huddle while several other members of the colony wandered over, saw the list, and made their inputs.

Finally, after about half an hour of deliberation, Roselia passed the tablet back to Denton. "Everything we want is circled in red. Don't worry about the money - we're good for it." she said, and Denton took the tablet with a gracious nod, eyebrow quirking ever higher as he scanned down the list.

"You want just about all of my tradeables, don't you?" he said with a booming laugh. "Well hell, I like it. Makes a hell of a lot more room for more... lucrative cargo, down the line. You've got the cash?" he asked, and Roselia nodded, while one of the rescued teens comes running up with a small portable safe. DuClare unlocked it and reached into it, pulling out a stack of credit-coins, with rather a lot of zeroes hanging off the ends of their value indicators. She handed them over, and Denton counted them out.

"Hmm... 'tween this and the minerals you promised me, you've got enough to cover it." he said, scratching at his chin. "And the minerals themselves?"

As if on cue, all of the colony's packmules come trundling up, hauling small carts, full of precious metals and gemstones. Denton slapped his leg, laughing again.

"It's been a hot minute since I've seen a packmule! Been spending too long haunting 'civilized' space, I'll wager." he said, and held his hand out to Roselia, Jack, Dr. Mizzet and Nevill in turn. "You've got a deal!"

~~~

Within half an hour, the colony's shiny new, secondhand Technical came bouncing out of the ship's cargo hold, two Avenger turrets and two Constructo-bots on a trailer hooked to it. Four of the colony's packmules came trundling out, pulling the distillation unit between them, with assistance from two of the trader's own wheeled cargo units, its massive interconnected bulk looking like it might blow the twenty-four wheels letting it move at any moment.

One more packmule came out, carrying two of the oddest things anyone in the colony had ever seen - a floating stone, bound to the trailer by heavy chains, and a black monolith that seemed to drink the light from its surroundings.

And Denton himself came down with the data disk containing basic flyer designs and blueprints for their parts. "Here," he said, handing it off to Mizzet, who looked pleased with the addition to his growing tech library,"Got a whole bunch of stuff on it you might find high useful. I also tossed some of the latest newsfeeds off the HyperNet on it in a separate file. Enjoy!" he said, walking back towards his ship.

"Oh!" he added, as the ship's engines started spooling up, "I almost forgot. I'm gonna give y'all a good word among the traders I know - you might see some more business soon!" he said, and waved as the ship started to lift off, the cargo door closing fully.

[New Codex Entry: Colony Asset: Wheeled Technical Mk I-FGM (carries four crew and two passengers; armed with Fire and Forget missile)]
[New Codex Entry: Colony Asset: Constructo-Bot X2 (Operations I robot)
[New Codex Entry: Colony Asset: Distillery (Produces +5 trade goods/t) (requires 1 power; mostly self sufficient due to wind and solar power)
[New Codex Entry: Colony Asset: Avenger all-purpose turret x2 (defends against air and ground targets)]
[New Codex Entry: Flight Adaptation (air vehicle production unlocked at Garage, Spacefield designs added)]
[New Codex Entry: DESIGN: Hellhound F-2 (airborne fighter; adds Fire Support to ground engagements, adds Vehicle Bonus to air engagements) (+5 bonus to engagement)]
[New Codex Entry: DESIGN: Star Ferry C-32 (small cargo shuttle; requires Repulsorlift; can make orbit, carries up to 10 passengers)]
+2 Exotics

Meir Lochan gains 1 xp! Skills: ESP 3 (2/21);
Nevill gains 1 xp! Skills: OPS 2 (11/13);
Scepta gains 1 xp! Skills: CMB 2 (5/13); OPS 1 (0/7);
Ludwig Cristoffen gains 2 xp! RND level up! Skills: RND 3 (0/21);
Steve gains 4 xp! Skills: OPS 3 (8/21);
Jack Reyes gains 1 xp! Skills: CMB 2 (12/13); OPS 1 (0/7);
Evern gains 1 xp! Skills: CMB 1 (1/7); OPS 1 (0/7);
Roselia DuClare gains 2 xp! Skills: CMB 1 (0/7); OPS 2 (4/13); RND 1 (2/7);
Dr. Mizzet gains 2 xp! Skills: OPS 1 (0/7); RND 2 (7/13);
Michael Erickson gains 4 xp! Skills: OPS 2 (4/13); RND 1 (0/7);
Bob Smith gains 2 xp! RND level up! Skills: OPS 2 (0/13); RND 1 (0/7);
Bill Door gains 4 xp! OPS level up! Skills: OPS 1 (0/7); RND 1 (0/7);
veekie gains 1 xp! Skills: CMB 2 (1/13); OPS 1 (0/7);
Kayla Futhark gains 2 xp! Skills: CMB 1 (0/7); RND 1 (3/7);
Wolf Walters gains 4 xp! Skills: OPS 1 (4/7);

[] Survey the area (R&D)

[] Set up a building:
- Improved Shelter (protects 40 Settlers and Characters from low-level Disasters) (12 minerals) (requires 3 power)
- Improved Garage (provides repair capabilities for your equipment, production of vehicles with Machine Shop, can build Tracked Vehicles) (10 minerals) (requires 2 power)
- Improved Machine Shop (allows production of higher-level equipment) (4 minerals (2 after discount)) (requires 3 power)
- Improved Farm (produces +8 food) (4 minerals)
- Improved Hydroponic Farm (produces +18 food) (10 minerals) (requires 2 power)
- Improved Lab (enhances research; adds +20 to any roll) (15 minerals) (requires 2 power)
- Improved Mining Operation (produces +10 minerals/turn) (15 minerals)
- Nuclear Power Plant I (produces +10 power) (15 minerals)

- Distillery (produces +5 trade goods/t) (requires 1 power) (0 minerals) (kit possessed)
- Spacefield (allows the use of air-breathing aircraft; provides small/medium vessels a place to land)

- Basic Radar (provides 30-50km of early warning against aerial targets) (10 minerals) (requires 5 power)

[] Try to repair the transport's engines (2 Transport Engines, 5 minerals)

[] Upgrade a building
- Which one? (Cost variable)

[] Explore (Combat+Espionage)

[] Produce an Item
- Wheeled Rover (10 minerals)
- Wheeled Technical (Armament?) (11 minerals)
- Tracked Tank (Armament?) (30 minerals)

- Slug-Throwing Rifle (1 mineral per run)
- LMG (1 mineral per run)
- HMG (1 mineral per run)
- Rotary Autocannon (1 mineral per weapon)
- Survey Toolset Mk I (1 mineral per run)
- Cristoffen Firebird Recon Drone (1 mineral per 4)
- Cristoffen Gorilla Workbot (1 mineral per 4)


[] Research technologies
- Repulsorlift Vehicles (unlocks Repulsor-driven vehicles and space-capable craft)
- Munitions Adaptation (unlocks Heavy Weapons production capabilities for Machine Shop)
- Long-Range Sensing (unlocks Tier II radar)
- Electromagnetic Manipulation (unlocks rail- and gauss weapons. Required for Fusion power)
- Advanced Robotics (unlocks Tier 2 robots & drones)
- Advanced Nuclear Power (unlocks advanced nuclear power generation for vehicles and settlements)
- Space-Borne Nuclear Power (unlocks nuclear power generation for spacecraft)
- Fortification I (unlocks basic fortifications and defenses)
- Write-in Tech

[] Write-in
 
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Week 7, Part One: It's Maginot-gonna be enough!
There were two major problems First Impact dealt with in the seventh week of the colony's existence - power and shelter.

The first took a Herculean effort to overcome; almost half of the colony pitched in at one point or another, raising the low-slung structure of the nuclear power plant that would be the beating heart of the colony's power generation for some time to come. It was a classic design - control facility adjacent to a single, large cooling tower. Now, as nuclear power plants went it wasn't a large one, but for the colony's current needs, it more than sufficed - and was built to be added on to, as a bonus.

The initial power-on went without a hitch, radioactivity levels in the chamber slowly rising as the control rods were manipulated into their optimum position, the whole thing cooled by a flood of cooling water, controlled by a knockoff of a state-of-the-art control system. It was solid and dependable, as power plants went - barring enemy action or really bad luck, the colony wouldn't have to worry about it going nuclear on them.

[New Codex Entry: Colony Asset: Nuclear Power Plant I]
Power: 8/20

Shelter was a two part problem - actual living space and protection for everyone involved. So while a team of builders went about setting up a second basic shelter, an almost exact clone of the colony's current habitation, a team of researchers,
lead by Kayla Futhark, dug back into the problem of protecting the colonists from another raid like the one that had killed the other colony on Icarus. Perhaps it was because the team was mostly comprised of those settlers, that they finally managed to get some ideas floating for how to defend the colony.

First was blocking access to the colony - that would, for a time, stymie a land-based attacker, intelligent or otherwise. That would only go so far, however, seeing as the colony would need to grow and simply erecting a wall would pose too large a hassle to work around in that regard. A modular barricade system was devised, using large, popup, sand-bag like containers that could be filled with earth to form a protective barrier around the colony, not unlike that used on firebases back on Earth during the 21st century.

Second was providing the colony a way to defend itself - and, leveraging their knowledge of robotics, the colonists also managed to design a simple turret with radar and infrared sensors to find nearby targets. Admittedly, they may very well have simply opened up one of the Avengers to get a look at how it ticked. The turret they designed used a rotary autocannon as its main weapon - but the chassis was designed to be able to accept any weapon the First Impacters came up with in the future.

[New Codex Entry: Colony Asset: Basic Shelter]
Pop Limit: 30/40
[New Codex Entry: Impedance Modular Barricade (provides the colony with a temporary, modular solution to controlling ground access) (5 minerals per section)]
[New Codex Entry: Velocity Auto-Sentry Mk I(provides the colony with a modular defense platform capable of being upgraded as new weapons become available) (5 minerals per unit) (-1 power/unit)]

Ludwig Cristoffen and Bob Smith tackled another technological problem between them - electromagnetic field manipulation. They delved into the nigh-mystical world of capacitors, electromagnets and the many applications thereof. Without going into too great of a detail, they succeeded in performing small-scale experiments with a desk-top railgun, as well as generating "bubbles" of electromagnetism that repelled magnetic objects nearby with their intense fields.


No success comes without a little pain, though, and this success exacted a toll in the form of a damaged Packmule. It happened to be ambling by, hauling construction materials to the Power Plant, when a slight miscalculation in power caused the railgun demonstrator to shoot through the barrier in the workshop, then the workshop's wall, and finally through the Packmule's leg. Thankfully, no vital components or personnel were hit, but Packmule will have to be repaired. (-1 mineral for repairs)

[New Codex Entry: Electromagnetic Manipulation I]
[Now available for production: Smith & Cristoffen Gauss Rifle (prototype), Smith & Cristoffen Rail Cannon (prototype)]


Sergeant DuClare, feeling the need to "be useful", ensconced herself in the machine shop, working by memory to create her vision of a Heavy Machine Gun. Picking the venerable classic caliber of 12.7mm (or .50BMG), she built the first of what will hopefully be many more guns produced by First Impact.

[New Codex Entry: Colony Asset: DuClare Model 2570 HMG, x1]

It seemed that the crusade to repair the transport's engines was to be met with no more success than the last attempt, though the repair crew is hopeful that maybe a third week would be allotted to them to finish the repairs.

(Repairs still unfinished on the Colony Ship)


Dr. Mizzet, working somewhat in conjunction with the Fortification research team, came up with a brilliant little idea of his own, perhaps inspired by the heavily fortified center that the settlers from the other colony had survived in. The end design was a squat structure made of ceramacrete that extended two to three stories underground, topped by communications gear and with a pair of mounting points for Velocity or Avenger sentries to be mounted on, giving them excellent fields of fire over the entrance and rear of the facility. The aboveground level did have windows and all the niceties that made humans not feel like they were in a bunker when it wasn't necessary - but all those niceties also had blast doors ready to slam down over or under them to protect those within, and firing ports were to be found throughout the wall for interior defenders to blast away at foes outside.

[New Codex Entry: Wildlands Grade Town Hall (can safely shelter up to 60 people within; provides protection from small and large caliber fire beneath artillery caliber; has provisions for two sentry turrets to be mounted on top of it]

Now on to the Events... tune in next time on Week 7, Part Two!
 
Week 7, Part 2: Lights in the Sky
Jack, Meir, Evern and Scepta set out in the missile armed technical early in the week, armed with their rifles and ready for anything that might come their way. They rode over the hills to the west, dipping into the shallow valleys and cresting the tops of the hills at great speed, cameras rolling the whole time, recording everything they saw. They discovered two new kinds of herbivores - both small, the size of a young deer and a mid-size dog, respectively, one with grasping fingers that walked on its hands and feet where the other had powerful hind legs that allowed it to hop up to reach fruits hanging from the branches of trees.

They kept going, cataloging the rivers, lakes and ponds they came across, their path taking them along the way to a lone mountain off in the distance.

On the fourth day, they saw lights in the sky.

Jack brought the technical to a halt in the gathering dusk, shutting off the running lights by hand while Scepta and Evern manned the missile launcher. They held still as the lights passed by overhead, growing lower and lower. It gradually came into view, an ominous, black-and-silver shadow in the shape of a wedge, and it was headed in the general direction of First Impact.

Voting!

[] Maxim 26. "Fire and Forget" is fine, provided you never actually forget. (Engage the aerial target)
[] Maxim 13. Do unto others
. (Allow the vessel to fly by.)
[] Write-in
 
Week 7, Part Three: Splash One
"Nope, no the fuck you don't." Scepta said, watching the craft soar past overhead, training the missile launcher on it. A tone sounded as it locked on, and she pulled the trigger. The missile shot out, going about thirty feet before lighting off its main motor and tearing off after the now-wildly evading ship. The advantage the ship normally had in aerial combat - the ability to use its repulsors to juke directly left or right without heed of gravity - was nullified by the sheer speed of the missile - and the fact that it could do the same.

An explosion tore apart the night sky as the missile impacted against what appeared to have been the craft's fuel supply, and it began a tumbling spiral to the surface. Jack turned the rover's lights back on and hit the accelerator, spinning the technical about and tearing off after the failing spacecraft. It hit the surface with a dull boom and another gout of flame. By the time the exploration team got to the crash site, the fuel had burnt itself largely out, and there was little left of the craft but smoking wreckage.

Jack got on the radio. "First Impact, we discovered a craft headin' in toward the colony and shot it down."

"... roger. Did it look hostile?"

"You might say that. It was running low and slow and wasn't broadcastin' any sort o' ID."

"Affirm. RTB. First Impact, out."

Meir Lochan gains 4 xp! Skills: ESP 3 (6/21);
Nevill gains 1 xp! Skills: OPS 2 (12/13);
Scepta gains 4 xp! Skills: CMB 2 (9/13); OPS 1 (0/7);
Ludwig Cristoffen gains 2 xp! Skills: RND 3 (2/21);
Jack Reyes gains 4 xp! CMB level up! Skills: CMB 3 (3/21); OPS 1 (0/7);
Evern gains 4 xp! Skills: CMB 1 (5/7); OPS 1 (0/7);
Roselia DuClare gains 4 xp! Skills: CMB 1 (4/7); OPS 2 (4/13); RND 1 (2/7);
Dr. Mizzet gains 4 xp! ESP level up! Skills: ESP 1 (0/7); OPS 1 (0/7); RND 2 (7/13);
Michael Erickson gains 1 xp! Skills: OPS 2 (5/13); RND 1 (0/7);
Bob Smith gains 2 xp! Skills: OPS 2 (0/13); RND 1 (2/7);
veekie gains 4 xp! Skills: CMB 2 (5/13); OPS 1 (0/7);
Kayla Futhark gains 2 xp! Skills: CMB 1 (0/7); RND 1 (5/7);
Wolf Walters gains 1 xp! Skills: OPS 1 (5/7);
Jerry gains 1 xp! Skills: ESP 1 (0/7); OPS - (1/4);

Voting!

[] Survey the area (R&D)

[] Set up a building:
- Improved Shelter (protects 40 Settlers and Characters from low-level Disasters) (12 minerals) (requires 3 power)
- Improved Garage (provides repair capabilities for your equipment, production of vehicles with Machine Shop, can build Tracked Vehicles) (10 minerals) (requires 2 power)
- Improved Machine Shop (allows production of higher-level equipment) (4 minerals (2 after discount)) (requires 3 power)
- Improved Farm (produces +8 food) (4 minerals)
- Improved Hydroponic Farm (produces +18 food) (10 minerals) (requires 2 power)
- Improved Lab (enhances research; adds +20 to any roll) (15 minerals) (requires 2 power)
- Improved Mining Operation (produces +10 minerals/turn) (15 minerals)
- Nuclear Power Plant I (produces +10 power) (15 minerals)
- Distillery (produces +5 trade goods/t) (requires 1 power) (0 minerals) (kit possessed)
- Spacefield (allows the use of air-breathing aircraft; provides small/medium vessels a place to land)
- Basic Radar (provides 30-50km of early warning against aerial targets) (10 minerals) (requires 5 power)
- Impedance Modular Barricade (provides the colony with a temporary, modular solution to controlling ground access) (5 minerals per section) (Sections: 0/4)
- Wildlands Grade Town Hall (can safely shelter up to 60 people within; provides protection from small and large caliber fire beneath artillery caliber; has provisions for two sentry turrets to be mounted on top of it) (15 minerals) (-4 power)

[] Try to repair the transport's engines (2 Transport Engines, 5 minerals)

[] Upgrade a building
- Which one? (Cost variable)

[] Explore (Combat+Espionage)

[] Produce an Item
- Wheeled Rover (10 minerals)
- Wheeled Technical (Armament?) (11 minerals)
- Tracked Tank (Armament?) (30 minerals)
- Slug-Throwing Rifle (1 mineral per run)
- LMG (1 mineral per run)
- HMG (1 mineral per run)
- Rotary Autocannon (1 mineral per weapon)
- Survey Toolset Mk I (1 mineral per run)
- Cristoffen Firebird Recon Drone (1 mineral per 4)
- Cristoffen Gorilla Workbot (1 mineral per 4)
- Smith & Cristoffen Gauss Rifle (prototype)
- Smith & Cristoffen Rail Cannon (prototype)
- Velocity Auto-Sentry Mk I(provides the colony with a modular defense platform capable of being upgraded as new weapons become available) (5 minerals per unit) (-1 power/unit)

[] Research technologies
- Repulsorlift Vehicles (unlocks Repulsor-driven vehicles and space-capable craft)
- Munitions Adaptation (unlocks Heavy Weapons production capabilities for Machine Shop)
- Long-Range Sensing (unlocks Tier II radar)
- Advanced Robotics (unlocks Tier 2 robots & drones)
- Advanced Nuclear Power (unlocks advanced nuclear power generation for vehicles and settlements)
- Space-Borne Nuclear Power (unlocks nuclear power generation for spacecraft)
- Fortification II (unlocks improved fortifications and defenses)
- Write-in Tech

[] Write-in

 
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Week Eight, Part One: More Firepower
               
  Comments SKL ITM SET GM Roll Total
Task 1* Explore the DOOR 48   -   93 141
Task 2 Build RADAR 24   12   10 46
Task 3 Research Munition 16   17 2 40 75
Task 4 Survey the area 5   -   81 86
Task 5 Build Distillery - - 12   34 46
Event Roll: 33

After last week's scare with the unknown vessel (which Survey Group One promptly turned into a falling mass of burning metal), the inhabitants of First Impact got serious about getting themselves a way to find potential enemies before those enemies found First Impact, without relying on blind luck.

The machine shop was configured with the blueprints for the radar array designed some weeks before. It lathed the parts with computerized precision, and assemblers fit the parts together in sections small enough to be pulled out of the shop's door on Packmule and rover-drawn trailers. The radar array began to take shape, though progress was slower than expected, as the colonists' inexperience with constructing high-energy, low-tolerance equipment showed through. Several times the work had to be halted while the more engineering-minded members of the work crew got together, occasionally pulling from the researchers for specific points, and redid the work correctly.

At the end of the week, the radar was not finished - but it was close.

Minor Failure - Basic Radar requires 1 more week to finish

Another build crew worked to put together the distillery kit the colony had bought from the last trader. The foundation was poured and fused, pipes went together, vats and distillation equipment were set up, the walls and roof were raised... but when the group went out to start running the distillery, several of the pipes burst. It was later discovered that they were incorrectly fastened down and pressure differentials caused them to warp, quickly leading to bursting.


It'd take time and parts to repair it. Oh well. One more thing for next week.

Minor Failure - Distillery requires 1 more week to finish

The researchers had far better luck than the construction crews. They busted out newly-fabbed chemistry kits and got to tinkering, with a lot of trips out to a berm that was quickly raised by the expedient method of "fab a steel plate to make a dozer blade to mount on the rover", in order to test new explosive compounds. They were able to rapidly decipher the makeup of that timeless classic, Composition Four, as well as a number of other highly explosive goodies. While part of the team played with explosives, the other would spend time in the colony's design and simulation program, testing different designs for rockets, missiles, artillery and bombs from the safety of the virtual realm, and the two would switch out every so often. Ludwig Cristoffen, in particular, was ecstatic - this was one of the rare weeks in which he had managed not to harm himself or any of the equipment in his quest for greater technology for the colony.

Plus, explosions will make anyone smile when you know why they're happening and when they're happening - and you're a safe distance away.

Dr. Mizzet and Sgt. DuClare spent a significant amount of time designing adaptations for the Machine Shop, to allow it to manufacture and safely handle explosive warheads and charges. This effort was also met with success, though it would require expanding the Machine Shop to accommodate the specialized line. Kayla Futhark, in between her survey duties, lent a hand with designing a SAM launcher for the colony's defense, though she was largely separated from the research as a whole because...

[New Codex Entry: Improved Machine Shop Mk II]
[New Codex Entry: Munitions Adaptation]
[New Production Option: First Impact Armory 155mm 'This End Towards Enemy' howitzer (-4 minerals) (towed)]
[New Production Option: DuClare FGM-200 Pilum Fire-and-Forget missile launcher (-1 mineral)]
[New Production Option: First Impact Armory Wheeled 227mm Artillery Rocket/Missile System (-15 minerals)]
[New Production Option: Smith & Cristoffen All-Purpose Explosive Kit (capable of assuming multiple configurations to suit a variety of needs - Claymore, satchel-charge, explosive entry, etc.) (-1 mineral)]
[New Production Option: Futhark MIM-16 Dragnet SAM launcher (-10 minerals) (towed, static for use)]
[New Production Option: Missiles and Bombs (when you guys build a spacefield and have fighters and ships I'll detail these)]

... there's rare earths in them there hills!

By far the biggest home-front success this week was Kayla Futhark's one-woman survey spree. She borrowed the rover when it wasn't in use, running around the colony's near environs with the survey toolkit and taking newer, more accurate readings - given that she wasn't rushed and didn't fall into a pit of super spiders. She discovered several veins of minerals not too deep beneath the surface with the mineral scanner included in the kit, though at times she was required to break out the core sampler and drill deep down under the soil and rock to get better scans. She cataloged a lot of the usual suspects - iron, coal, gold, even oil - and found a goldmine of lithium and neodymium, not to mention uranium.

[New Codex Entry: Near Colony Minerals: 1650/~150 extracted]


The week's exploration mission was, as ever, full of surprises...

TO BE CONTINUED
 
Week Eight, Part Two: Drums, Drums in the Deep
SG-1 set out in its largest concentration since the expedition that found the failed colony. Seven colonists, carrying rifles (with the exception of Scepta, who carried the colony's only HMG, with her ammunition carried by Evern), went out to explore that door they had found a month before. Armed as they were, they were less wary of the few Razorclaws they passed on their way back to the door's hiding spot.

"Alright, we ah heah." Scepta said as she bounced out of the technical's open back. Jack followed her, and as a group they made their way to the door.

"I think it'd be a good idea t' set that cannon of yours up coverin' the entrance, Scepta." Jack suggested. "Wouldn't want anything untowards to come bouncing out of it without bein' able to plaster it with the fifty."

"Good idea, boss man." she replied, stooping down to set up the tripod and place the gun on it, taking the ammo can from Evern. She fed it and hauled the bolt back, a satisfying shck-chk sounding in the quiet of the day. Birds called off in the distance, but around them it was like there was a cone of silence. "Ready t' rock an' roll."

The rest of the team stacked up next to the door, with Meir in the back, and Evern located what looked like the control switch. He ran his hand along it, and with thuds of retracting locking lugs and the whine of ancient machinery, the door swung slowly inwards.

Nothing came out of the hole - not yet. After a minute, Jack tapped Evern on the shoulder and the man raised his rifle, going inside. Jack and Meir followed.

The beams from the flashlights on the ends of their rifles showed them nothing but bare corridors leading to the right and left.

"We oughta pick one way and have Scepta post up covering the other direction." Evern suggested. "It'd be safest that way, I think."

Exploration Team Only:
[] Left
[] Right


Back at the colony, there were... issues.

The colonists were reporting sighting hazy figures in the distance, their forms indistinct. It might have been nothing more than fauna - if it weren't for the vehicles kicking up sprays of dust as they drove. They never got closer than just under the horizon, but the colonists got the feeling they were being watched.

It hadn't amounted to anything yet...

But.

The survivors of the failed colony were, understandably, anxious. "They're back," some said, "They've found us and they're back."

Others whispered that it might be xenos.

No one knew.

"What should we do?"

Everyone but the explorers:
[] Write-in
 
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Week 8, Part Three - Down the Rabbit Hole
Back in the colony, with unknowns on the horizon, it is decided that the prudent course of action would be to get ready for a possible attack. Not that you have much to prepare - the Avengers are already emplaced atop their squat ceramacrete towers, the broken technical is towed into place covering the colony's main road, and the howitzer is pointed in the unknowns' general direction. All but one of the colony's assault rifles is with SG-1 at the moment; the last one is held by Kayla Futhark, who happened to be available, as well as the only one with any real combat training left behind.

Michael Erickson attempts to contact the unknowns via use of the colony's short range radio; he hears nothing but static in response. "I don't think they can talk. Or if they can, they don't want to." he mused aloud.

They remain in the distance for the rest of the day and night, but when the majority of the colony wakes up in the morning they are no longer on the horizon.

They are far closer. Six to seven miles away, well within range of the colony's collected macrobinoculars.

The unknowns were short and squat, with hairy torsos and arms and canine-like heads. Their four-fingered hands had one opposable "thumb"; all four digits ended in retractable claws. They ranged in color from tawny to grey to black as pitch.

And they were heavily armed with weapons no one in the colony could recognize, driving wheeled vehicles of a type that was reminiscent of a dune buggy.

Colony Voting!
[] Maxim 20. If you're not willing to shell your own position, you're not willing to win. (Open fire with the howitzer; if they come closer, open up with everything else)
[] Maxim 12. A soft answer turneth away Wrath. Once Wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head. (wait to see if they come closer. If they do, open fire)
[] Maxim 50. Every target is one bribe away from becoming a client. (Don't open fire until they do.)
[] Write-in

"We'll go right." Jack decided. "Scepta, you keep that cannon of yours facin' down the left hand side."

"Got it, boss." Scepta replied.

"Go grab th' eggheads," Jack told Evern,"Anythin' that's behind a door like that's probably worth lookin' at."

With the scientists in tow, the entire group - minus Scepta - made their way down the right hand corridor.

It made several turns, and seemed to be winding its way into the earth. They passed what looked like a checkpoint, with another heavy door and a guard station like you might find in any underground bunker. They opened that, too, and past that they began to move through what seemed to be a dormitory built for whatever had built the complex. The beds were square and smaller than an adult human would normally find comfortable, unless they were, legally, a midget. The restrooms could have passed for human-make, with adjustment for proportions, though the shower stalls were less showers and more tall-sided bathtubs.

The scientists murmured among themselves, considering the possibilities, but Jack was impatient, and the group moved on from the dormitory.

Past the dormitory, they came to another two-way fork, this one with strange writing placed at chest-level for most of the explorers. The scientists, after a few minutes of study, identified the separation between characters... though they still don't know what they mean.

Exploration Team voting:
[] Ten Characters (right)
[] Nine Characters (left)
 
Week 8, Part 4: I'm watching you, pal!
[X] Nine Characters (left)

"We're makin' a left turn..." Jack muttered to himself. Roselia looked at him, quirking an eyebrow. He waved her off and started down the left route.

The end of this hallway had nothing in it but an elevator.

A powered, active elevator.

The explorers, seeing no other way close at hand, piled into the elevator and stood within it nervously as it automatically began to descend. None of them could guess just how far it was going, but ten long seconds later the doors opened once again, and revealed something utterly alien... and utterly familiar.

An armory.

"Oh shit son, I think we came down the right way." Jack said aloud as his eyes swept over the alien-looking weaponry racked neatly along the walls. In the center of the room, several large cases carried mysterious cargo. Off to one side of the room, a thick metal-reinforced glass window revealed the sleek shape of a rocket in a cavernous opening somewhere beyond.

"No, Jack, we went down the left way." Evern piped up.

Jack smacked him across the back of the head. They all went around the room, picking up weapons and other gear and looking at them.

After a moment, all the weapons they had picked up started to beep frantically. Sensing danger, Roselia shouted, "Toss the guns!"

And not a moment too soon. No sooner had the last rifle clattered against the wall than all the weapons exploded with a small amount of force.

"Damnit." Jack said.

Roselia studied an intact rifle. "Hold on, it looks like it's bio-coded... I may be able to disable the scanning mechanism. Give me a little while."

Several hours later, she finally managed it. Most of the stockpile got destroyed over the course of her experiments, but enough remained that she was confident she could replicate the weapons - after some study.

[New Codex Entry: Spoils: Alien Weapons x20]
[New Codex Entry: Spoils: Mysterious Cases x10]


[X] Maxim 'was it always there?': Ask the resident magician for advice and make it appear as if there are way more people and weapons in the colony than there actually are, hoping that the weird guys would choose not to attack such a well-defended place.


Putting the resident magician in charge of town defense seemed to be an iffy proposition for some people, but enough of the colonists got behind the idea that a man who made people believe in magic for a living might know a thing or two about deceiving. Everything from broom handles to hazmat drums were pressed into service and repainted to look like rifles, missile launchers, artillery tubes - even a couple of mocked-up Avengers - and placed where anyone observing the colony would definitely see them. Simple robotic arms periodically swayed repainted sticks on pre-determined paths inside of windows. Dummies were fashioned out of ballistics gel and steel supports, clothed in pieces of outfits and stuck on sentry duty.

The colony looked very, very well-armed from the outside in.

The next day, the aliens had come no closer, and seemed content to sit and observe. The expedition team came back, bringing back the majority of the colony's mobile firepower as well as a cargo of plunder.

[New Codex Entry: Colony Assets: Ghost Army (+5 to deception rolls on defense)]

VOTING:

Free:
[] Continue the Deception
[] Attack the Xenos
[] Try to contact the Xenos (write in how)

[] Survey the area (R&D)

[] Finish Building:
- Basic Radar
- Distillery

[] Set up a building:
- Improved Shelter (protects 40 Settlers and Characters from low-level Disasters) (12 minerals) (requires 3 power)
- Improved Garage (provides repair capabilities for your equipment, production of vehicles with Machine Shop, can build Tracked Vehicles) (10 minerals) (requires 2 power)
- Improved Machine Shop (allows production of higher-level equipment) (4 minerals (2 after discount)) (requires 3 power)
- Improved Farm (produces +8 food) (4 minerals)
- Improved Hydroponic Farm (produces +18 food) (10 minerals) (requires 2 power)
- Improved Lab (enhances research; adds +20 to any roll) (15 minerals) (requires 2 power)
- Improved Mining Operation (produces +10 minerals/turn) (15 minerals)
- Nuclear Power Plant I (produces +10 power) (15 minerals)
- Spacefield (allows the use of air-breathing aircraft; provides small/medium vessels a place to land)
- Impedance Modular Barricade (provides the colony with a temporary, modular solution to controlling ground access) (5 minerals per section) (Sections: 0/4)
- Wildlands Grade Town Hall (can safely shelter up to 60 people within; provides protection from small and large caliber fire beneath artillery caliber; has provisions for two sentry turrets to be mounted on top of it) (15 minerals) (-4 power)

[] Try to repair the transport's engines (2 Transport Engines, 5 minerals)

[] Upgrade a building
- Which one? (Cost variable)

[] Explore (Combat+Espionage)

[] Produce an Item
- Wheeled Rover (10 minerals)
- Wheeled Technical (Armament?) (11 minerals)
- Tracked Tank (Armament?) (30 minerals)
- Slug-Throwing Rifle (1 mineral per run)
- LMG (1 mineral per run)
- HMG (1 mineral per run)
- Rotary Autocannon (1 mineral per weapon)
- Survey Toolset Mk I (1 mineral per run)
- Cristoffen Firebird Recon Drone (1 mineral per 4)
- Cristoffen Gorilla Workbot (1 mineral per 4)
- Smith & Cristoffen Gauss Rifle (prototype) (2 minerals per run)
- Smith & Cristoffen Rail Cannon (prototype) (6 minerals)
- Velocity Auto-Sentry Mk I(provides the colony with a modular defense platform capable of being upgraded as new weapons become available) (5 minerals per unit) (-1 power/unit)
- First Impact Armory 155mm 'This End Towards Enemy' howitzer (-4 minerals) (towed)]
- DuClare FGM-200 Pilum Fire-and-Forget missile launcher (1 mineral per run)]
- First Impact Armory Wheeled 227mm Artillery Rocket/Missile System (-15 minerals)]
- Smith & Cristoffen All-Purpose Explosive Kit (capable of assuming multiple configurations to suit a variety of needs - Claymore, satchel-charge, explosive entry, etc.) (1 mineral per run)]
- Futhark MIM-16 Dragnet SAM launcher (-10 minerals) (towed, static for use)]

[] Research technologies
- Repulsorlift Vehicles (unlocks Repulsor-driven vehicles and space-capable craft)
- Medical Adaptation (adds Hospital; unlocks Medical production for Laboratory)
- Long-Range Sensing (unlocks Tier II radar)
- Advanced Robotics (unlocks Tier 2 robots & drones)
- Advanced Nuclear Power (unlocks advanced nuclear power generation for vehicles and settlements)
- Space-Borne Nuclear Power (unlocks nuclear power generation for spacecraft)
- Fortification II (unlocks improved fortifications and defenses)
- Write-in Tech

[] Write-in

QM Note
: Just to be clear, there are some technologies which require one or more prerequisites to be met before you can research them. Example: EM Manipulation and Advanced Nuclear power are required to unlock Fusion.

I hide a lot of things so that I don't get people going oooh shiny and running off down one development route when they should be casting a broad net and vying for good trades to get either A. Advanced stuff or B. stuff they missed.
 
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