(Silly StumbleUpon. How does working out a series of crappy, obvious puzzles make me a genius? You don't even know how old I am)

I say we nuke it again, just to be sure.

>>14585283
Didn't that line originate from humans bombing xenomorphs?

Are we taking that phrase back or something?

>>14585300

Everything belongs to the Swarm.

>>14585345
Of course, of course.

So, are we planning to do something? Perhaps concerning the world we just attacked and/or the threatening swarm of nuke-enabled ships over a couple of previously Terran worlds that are all angry about us attacking it?

Suddenly, a wild Ward appears!

>>14585395
>Go, Ultralisk!

As the Swarm lingers in the sky, the radiation levels increase suddenly, as we detect a number of small nuclear detonations underground.

The last of the landing areas goes dark. The planet is only transmitting from one cluster of relays, now.

>>14585463
Lets get our ground troops off planet and bomb the clusters from orbit, just to be sure.

>>14585500
Overlords meet up with what ground forces survived the assault and clear the area. Our carriers once more charge their main batteries and fire, this time at the last transmitting relay cluster. It takes only one shot to destroy the cluster, but we fire a second, just to be sure.

There are now no transmissions issuing from the planet at all. We could destroy the rest of the relay clusters, if we so choose.

>>14585186
>>14585544

Have the Zerg Science Corp. assemble a team of thumblings and/or infested terrans and construct a remote lab of some sort on Dagobah. Have them investigate the mining equipment that VoidGate used, and see if we can use our current technology to see if we can successfully mimic it. We want to know how its tech works, but we don't want to compromise our tech base by having any trace of VoidGate's AI left in the ravaged machines.

Approach Nargil. Ask him about how he would feel about heading an effort to discover where VoidGate fled to.

Do we have any dropservers stationed at Ash'Arak? If so, how are the Protoss reacting?

>>14585544
Send a dropserver to that former terran world we watched voidgate take. Then check all other terran fringe worlds.

>>14585614
Labbrate and Internbrate agree that after a project of that scale, any mining equipment would have been either disassembled for parts and raw materials or relocated to another world for a new project.

Nargil immediately reminds us that we know the locations of all of the Terran worlds VoidGate has attacked. If the ships remain unaccounted for after we scout or destroy those worlds, then it will have an idea of what it needs to look for.

Our dropservers left Ash'Arak to scout Dagobah. Since there is obviously no need for them here, we could send them back, if we wanted.

>>14585739
Well, if we know all of the world voidgate took then we can skip the rest of the fringe worlds. Make haste with the checking the rest of voidgate's proto-empire.

>>14585739

Alright then, let's deploy a few dropservers to the last known VoidGate world coordinates.

Is Kerrigan's Overlord still in orbit? Let's try to call her and see how the 'toss are reacting.

>>14585785
The first dropserver arrives over the first world we saw destroyed, Olayhus. A sizable fleet hovers over the planet, which has several city-like complexes on each continent. Each complex has a cluster of relays, much like the ones on Dagobah, which are all transmitting. There are pipelines leading from each complex to the nearest large source of water.

The ship cannot come closer for a more in-depth inspection, as several of VoidGate's bulky detector satellites are in orbit over the planet.

The second dropserver arrives over a fringe world called Colonna. Records indicate that Colonna was dominated by a shallow ocean, much like Dagobah's current state, but with one small continent. On arrival, we note that the continent is paved over, with landing areas and half-constructed transmission relays, as well as several large and apparently active drill sites. There is a very small fleet here, with no detector satellites. The surface is very active.

Both worlds show signs of recent nuclear weapons activity.

>>14585905
I do believe Dapperlord is still in orbit. I assume the protoss are debating, it's what they do.

>>14585905
"I'm in a bit of a corner, Cerebrate. The attack revealed for everybody that the Zerg are still a threat. My Conclave minions are attempting to argue that the new enemy that violated their computer systems is the more dangerous threats, but Tassadar's templar refuse to listen. Oh, what I wouldn't give to infest or destroy that Protoss..."

>>14585928
Well, lets take care of Colonna before it gets fully operational, and then blockade the other system. Maybe use ZergTV to point Kingston at that one, he could use a nice victory over something.

>>14585956
Well, let's have Nargil see if he can track Tassadar.

>>14585968
(Our first vote-worthy suggestion of the night! And it's a two-parter! How special!)
Attack Colonna: 1
Do something else about Colonna: 0

Attack Olayhus: 0
Try to get Kingston to attack Olayhus: 1
Do something else about Olayhus: 0

(Need 3 on both issues, as usual)

>>14586027
The only reason I'm not just attacking Olayhus is I am unsure of our success in that venture. So, Warbrate if we sent everything we have at Olayhus could we disable the facility?

>>14586027

Try to goad Kingston into attacking.

Attack Colonna.

>>14586060
Warbrate estimates that we could, but our casualties would make further military action unwise for at least a week, perhaps more if Accountantbrate is serious about how drained our resources really are.

If we are stupid about the attack (we can practically feel Warbrate trying not to add "like Gorn"), it isn't sure whether we would actually win.

>>14586112
I figured as much. Colonna should be no problem, and we could probably manage to setup a blockade while we replenish our forces.

>>14586090
Attack Colonna: 2
Do something else about Colonna: 0

Attack Olayhus: 0
Try to get Kingston to attack Olayhus: 2
Do something else about Olayhus: 0

(Still time to vote, change votes, come up with brilliant plans, etc)

>>14586194
Hold on, Baldric has a suggestion... wait never mind.

>>14586194
Voting for attacking Colonna, but not telling Kingston and blockading Olayhus ourselves.

Also, ask Labbrate if it can salvage any new technology from the Dagobah ruins.

What is our current projections regarding Nuke World and regular Zerg production?

...Can we get Kerrigen to use some of our stuff to infest Tassidar?

OR to begin infesting various protoss?

ALso, attack the one that is the lesser deffended, with no satalites.

Blow em up.

Can Labbrate produce an ECM drone now that we know which frequencies VoidGate uses?
Just a simple radio transmitter, but a powerful one, that will transmit static on all of VoidGate's control frequencies?

Okay, we have enough votes to attack Colonna, and apparently not enough to do anything yet about Olayhus.

Cerebrate, are you waiting on a vote for Olayhus, or a plan of attack for Colonna?

>>14586406
Olayhus is currently
1 Blockade
1 Kingston
1 Blockade and Kingston, because I'm difficult.

>>14586298
Regular production is down. We expended most of Accountantbrate's reserves for a sudden militarization to attack VoidGate.

NukeWorld is about eight hours from producing its first twenty missiles.

>>14586364
Labbrate could whip that up in a jiffy, but it warns that we don't know exactly how VoidGate's communications work. It is possible that it will adapt.

>>14586406
I need a vote on Olayhus, though I won't argue with plans for Colonna. If nothing shows up in a few minutes, I'll just go ahead on my own (dun dun dun!).

>>14586438
blockade and alert Kingston.

>>14586463
(THANK you. Ctrl-V!)

Taking care, we select an Infested Terran to be our spokesperson. Artisanlord graciously allows us to interrupt My Super Sweet Evolution on ZergTV. Our Terran appears behind an unmarked podium. It addresses the Confederacy and its affiliated Terran neighbors. It reveals that VoidGate, the malicious Artificial Intelligence that has been attacking Fringe Worlds, is gathering for an assault on the Terran Core Worlds. We show "classified footage" from "one of our brave scout units" of the fleet over Olayhus, and of the twisted cityscapes, briefly overlaid with stock footage from how the world used to look. We reveal that we are currently engaged in operations to destroy crucial manufacturing centers on other VoidGate worlds, but that we simply cannot spare the forces to protect all of humanity's interests. We plead with Kingston to commit his forces to an attack on Olayhus, for the well-being of all mankind.

We haven't lied that much in a long time. It felt great. We're a little distressed at that reaction. Anyway, we have other matters to attend to.
(CONT)

>>14586438
I vote to begin light harassing and probing attacks on Olayhus. Make it appear that Olayhus is to be our next major attack; this will cause VoidGate to lower defenses elsewhere as it improves the defenses of Olayhus.
We can then attack it's other planets. We need more dropservers to check out the other Terran worlds that VoidGate has nuked.

>>14586477
Despite the fact that it will obviously leave the Core Worlds completely undefended, Kingston's armada arrives on cue less than two hours later. It is obvious from the formation of the fleet that those two hours were used analyzing the footage for troop movements. The characteristic booms of Confederate warp engines herald the fleet into what we can only describe as "a startling overuse of nuclear power." Within minutes of the battle's outset, radiation levels in the system render future human inhabitation implausible. Battlecruisers and sleek VoidGate craft melt into slag in the sky. Wraiths drop in and out of cloak as their charges allow. The radiation begins to interfere with our dropserver's instruments as valkyrie nuclear flurry strikes bathe the area in artificial sunlight.

Meanwhile, our blockade of Colonna goes off without a hitch, to use a Terran expression. The ships are still incapable of detecting our cloaked units, despite their increased willingness to use nuclear weapons in close range combat. Warbrate adjusts tactics to give the ships a wider berth, lowering casualties somewhat. With the orbital defenses destroyed, we can assault the surface at our leisure.

>>14586569
>>14586569
Orbital bombardment is my suggestion.

ANd is there any way we can come up with something to permanently render the planet inhospitable? a planet cracking weapon maybe?

Let's get some ECM drones ready, but not deploy them yet. It should be worth at least a small window of opportunity before VoidGate adapts.

>>14586569
Well, lets assault Colonna once we can get a good reading of Olayhus. I want to make sure Kingston did his job, and once we seize Colonna we need to check the surrounding systems for voidgate's presence.

>>14586569
Have Warbrate prepare for a ground attack upon Colonna!
There is a lot of technology that we must salvage and reverse-engineer from VoidGate, not the least of which is its advanced plasma weaponry.

>>14586608
If we do that we can't take it ourselves, though.

Are we entirely committed to Colonna, or do we have assets we could use to mop up any survivors from the Kingston/Voidgate battle?

>>14586608
It depends on your definition of "permanently inhospitable."

The Protoss carrier batteries can already burn away any biomatter on the surface, and in a pinch, Terran battlecruisers can do the same. A much more wasteful solution is nuclear bombardment, which will do the same damage, but also leave behind hazardous radiation. Still, a devoted team of terraformers (or any Zerg) could overcome these problems and establish a presence.

Actively destroying the planet would require substantially more resources, even with such shortcuts as orbit disruption.

>>14586608
Stripping off the planets crust with a carrier's beam weapon might not be permanently inhospitable, but the time needed for the planet to cool is.

>>14586569
Ground attack if it seems feasible, with any luck the self-destruct nukes aren't in place yet.

>>14586656
But the trade off is cost of life, and we get a shiny new asteroid field to mine.
>>14586660
Basically causing the planet to break up, violently, and in such a manner as it couldn't reform for millenias.

>>14586681
(Heh. Heh heh)

Ok, so you guys aren't being really clear. Are you going for the kill in Colonna, or are you going to try to look through the haze of nuclear fog in Olayhus to see who's still standing?

>>14586364

Good idea.

We've also got an untapped resources in Dagobah.

We've blown up the heat-sinks and presumably fried the planet's equivalent of it's CPU beyond repair. However, most of the rest of the wiring should still be viable and we may be able to jury-rig some way to access the planet's 'hard drive'.

What I'm proposing this this:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12037941/ns/technology_and_science-science/

We rip out the fried CPU and replace it with some sort of cerebral substrate with the plasticity to form connections. If necessary, we'll implant a part of ourselves on the newly conquered planet (like the Overmind did on Aiur) or create a cerebrate whose sole function is to integrate with the machinery and, after the experiment is deemed safe, remerge with the greater whole. A self-sacrificing cerebrate that becomes the conduit between the zerg and the machine.

We absolutely need to find out more about the nature of Void Gate so that we can destroy it.

Does it reside as a single entity?
How does it communicate with itself?
How is it's information encoded? Can the information be corrupted?

Since Void Gate was based of google, would we be able to do a 'google search' with it and force it to list all the likeliest 'hits'? Maybe the fact that Terrans on earth knew how to ask Void Gate questions like 'How do I destro Void Gate?' was what forced it to escape in the first place.

I'm not above using spam, denial of service attacks or the 'Bernie' virus here.

Also, destroy colonna and muster forces to deal with Olayhus.

>>14586747
Do both.
Go for a ground invasion on Colonna, and send another Dropserver, as well as an escort of cloaked mutalisks and a cloaked overlord, to Olayhus to see the results of the battle and if there's anything for us to salvage.

>>14586690
... how is cost of life relevant to anything we do? Unless you mean cost of infested terrans. I like the idea of disabling the core like we did on degoba, but only after we verify that Kingston did his job.

>>14586747
hmm...

Scan both worlds, deeply.

Try to get as much information about them, anything that can help us.

Scan the rest of the system too.

>>14586759
An interesting plan.
We could have Labbrate set it up as a long-term project.

>>14586781
cost of our invasion life, and if possible, resources as well.

Ensures total annihilation of enemy.
Ensures that we can get resources back.

>>14586805
Let's deal with Colonna and make sure we killed voidgate before we start picking over the ruins.

>>14586759
I...admire your enthusiasm.

Labbrate and Internbrate tentatively theorize that, assuming the thing isn't too advanced, we might be able to use a cerebrate as a sort of bio-processor...though they doubt it would be able to do much more. Certainly, it would not have enough brainpower left over for psionically controlling units. We would essentially be sacrificing this cerebrate, without knowing for sure that it would work.

(DEFINITELY going to need 3 votes for that)

>>14586844
I vote for it, but only if we have one that volunteers.

>>14586844

Don't we have a few left over 'brates from the time we saved them?

Else we merge some overlord to form RoboBrate.

>>14586844
Seconding the idea of creating a Cyber-Cerebrate.

Will we also need to choose a cerebrate to sacrifice? Or can Labbrate and Internbrate attempt this with a lot of neutral Zerg neural matter instead?

>>14586870
Cerebrate, can we get away with several Overlords being merged together to create the bio-processor?

>>14586844
Name an overlord, and then make a big overlord pile on top of the processor with the named on in the middle. If it doesn't work we, meh. Still want to make sure voidgate is not on Colonna or Olayhus first though.

>>14586747
What a... remarkably inefficient use of uranium. Oh well.
>>14586844
What's left of Dagobah that would require so much brainpower? Would we be sacrificing a cerebrate to gain control of manufacturing facilities and communications, or only to learn more about our enemy?

>>14586892
Scan/check both.

Perform the cerebrate cpu plan.
Ask labrate if there's anything we can do to help increase our odds of it being as successful as we want?

>>14586836
>>14586793
>>14586777
We begin attacking the surface of Colonna with our cloaked air forces, and landing ground troops, when several previously-unpowered structures suddenly light up. From the sudden increase in fire from the surface, it seems that these are more detectors. The casualty rate increases, but we have already established a couple of beachheads. We begin pressing forward against the machines, inch by bloody inch.

Our dropserver over Olayhus continues to move, steering clear of the odd nuclear blast, though most of the battle appears to be over. Massive amounts of radiation scramble most of the ship's scans, as well as severely degrading the transmissions we use to keep in contact with it. We worry about the integrity of its cloaking field. Still, it has yet to confirm any contacts, either Confederate or computer-controlled.

>>14586943

We have identified the detectors? Time to use our orbital superiority.

Pin-point lance strikes on those that we've identified and enemy troop concentrations. No point squandering our forces without proper backup and integration of our resources.

>>14586943
We must send in those cloaked Overlords and cloaked mutalisk escorts.
The dropserver should pull back once we have other recon assets in the Olayhus system; the dropservers are still a secret from Kingston, and I don't want the knowledge of such a unit falling into his hands.

>>14586943
dropserver over Olayhus
Backup. Rather not be seen tyvm.
we can check back after the dust has settled a little more.

wait and watch the current forces when they begin to show signs of being "done" or atleast movingi into a more observatory rolls we can move in and take a look

>>14586943
Thats... not good.

Visual confirmation would be best, specifically with something shielded to radiation.

>>14586943
Pull the dropserve to the outskirts of the radiation and have it wait until the radiation subsides. I do not want one of our dropserves to be captured by Kingston.

>>14586995
(The dropserver IS rad-shielded.)

>>14587037
Alright, how about something that can actually penetrate the radiation cloud, and give us a lookieloo as to what is going on on the planet.

>>14586979
The battlecruisers shine as they fire on the detectors closest to our lines. Then those a little further back. Then those furthest. Within minutes, VoidGate's advantage is gone, and our forces march invisibly on. The carnage resumes apace. We surround the mine shafts. Shall we descend?

>>14587000
>>14586990
>>14586989
The dropserver slowly makes its way away from the planet. As the distance increases, the resolution of its scans also increases, as does the strength of its signal to us. However, it is still difficult to scan anything within the radiation cloud. We turn the craft for a visual inspection.

Two battlecruisers appear to be engaged in rescue operations of a third, while valkyries maintain an orbital patrol. Dropships appear to be hastily leaving the planet's surface.

>>14587119
Yes, descend down into the mines.
Is the ground here soft enough that it can be penetrated by hatchworms? Confer with Warbrate if this might allow us to circumvent some of VoidGate's defenses.

Get some Overlords and an escort of mutalisks to Olayhus. Their psychic communication should be unaffected by radiation, and we can have them check within the radiation cloud and see what the situation is on the planet.

>>14587119
Looks like Kingston is withdrawing, let's keep an eye on things there. As for the tunnels, we proceed down, find the cpu blast the roof off and drop a nuke on it, just like before, unless things are radically different then before.

>>14587119

Voidgate's forces have shown to be able to decimate our forces regardless of armour. Speed is paramount. Send in the Speedlings.

>>14587184
The Jiggawhats?

>>14587174
>>14587153
As none of the lifts are at the top, and none of them are responding, our units find themselves climbing down the sides of the tunnels. Despite the concentration it takes to move tens of thousands of Zerg down in this fashion at a time, Artisanlord interjects that the image of this is "ridiculously cool."

We worry that Artisanlord may be watching too much Terran television.

More and more units pour down the mineshafts, but we have yet to reach the bottom, yet.

Over Olayhus, the dropships leave the system as soon as they break atmo. Suddenly, the valkyries turn in unison and begin firing at the surface with their payloads. As if the radiation in the system weren't already astronomical, nuclear blasts blanket the planet. After a few minutes, they have obviously expended their ammunition, and jump away. We can't tell whether they have finished annihilating the planet, though we can't imagine VoidGate having much more success functioning on the planet than our dropserver had in orbit.

>>14587276
We need to get several Overlords in orbit over Olayhus to confirm the termination of VoidGate's presence.

>>14587276

SC2 Zerglings with the 60% extra speed upgrade.

Basically flood them with the cheap disposable shock troops that can close with the enemy extremely fast.

>>14587276
Right on, Artisanlord. Just like the beaches at Normandy.
My Ackbar senses are tingling, though. Let's send a few 'lings ahead to scout.

>>14587368
Maybe some hatchworms would be prudent?

>>14587345
(SC2 multiplayer? I wish. I only just got my computer to keep performance high enough to stay connected for a whole mission so that the game would realize I've beaten it already on Hard and give me my first achievement...which ended up being like my first 15 achievements. I still don't have the achievements for completing the missions. Just the game. Yeah. It's ridiculous. So, don't expect me to know anything about multi. My computer just doesn't have what it takes. Maybe by Heart of the Swarm)

>>14587408
Cerebrate, are you waiting on any decisions from us?

>>14587276
We wait a little while, watching the battlecruisers get their compatriot up and running, before they jump away, too. Just as we prepare to send an overlord into the system to doublecheck Kingston's work, the valkyries come back. They once again blanket the skies of Olayhus with nuclear fire, and then leave. We seriously doubt that anything survived that assault. In fact, we're not entirely sure that anything COULD have survived. Like, mathematically.

On Colonna (rather, IN Colonna), our forces find the bottom of two shafts still being mined out by large drills, which we disable. We're not entirely sure how to get them out, should we choose to try. The other two continue downwards.

Labbrate asks us if we intend to proceed with our plan for using a cerebrate to interface with the Dagobah computer. If we do, we will need to decide which cerebrate we will use.

>>14587507
(Gave you time if you wanted to make decisions, then started my laborious typing. Sorry for the delay)

>>14587511
Ask for a volunteer.

>>14587511

Are there any spare 'brates left?

Can we order the overlords to spawn a new one?

>>14587511
>Labbrate asks us if we intend to proceed with our plan for using a cerebrate to interface with the Dagobah computer
Before we consign a cerebrate to possible death, does Labbrate think it would be feasible to merge a dozen or so Overlords together and use that as the central bio-processor?

Toaster is currently overseeing Nuke World, and Nargil, Gorn, Warbrate, and Labbrate are out of the question, as are Colonylord, Accountantbrate and Citybrate.

I guess the choice would be between Saberhagen and Wormface.

>>14587511
Silly Labrate, we make a new one for it. Or use Toaster, but I'm more leaning towards making a new one.

>>14587534
>>14587559
We're not even sure if we can recreate the conditions required to spawn a new cerebrate.

>>14587534
see:
>>14587542

We have created a cerebrate, intentionally, once. However, that WAS Bernie. Neither we nor Nargil are 100% sure of our method, but if we do create a cerebrate, there's no reason it wouldn't be capable of taking on this new assignment as easily as any of our others.

>>14586844

Thanks! Since I'm the one that suggested it, I probably can't vote for it.

Also, creating a cerebrate whose sole purpose is to be re-subsumed into the greater whole means that we wouldn't need to sacrifice any of the others.

I would imagine that it'd act like that cow-alien thing with a fetish for being eaten that appears in 'The Restaurant at the End of the Universe' ("Please eat me, I'm oh so tender...") except we can respawn it back afterwards.

Alternatively, it can be an emotionally repressed 'doll' with the desire to die. We'll call it 'Rei'.

Incidentally: I'm also the one that suggested that we shove the essence of Bernie (augmented by about 100 psy-emmitters) into the Khala.

Remember: what makes the Zerg a threat is not our adaptability (Terrans are faster) or our production capability (Void Gate soundly beats us in this respect) or our individual might and technology(Protoss gets that). The one thing at which the zerg are the lords and masters of is our PURITY OF ESSENCE.

We can be drowned out (psy-emitters), subdued (lots and lots of drugs). With the power of the Void, we can even be severred from one another (Dark Templar). But, since the day we were created, our underlying ESSENCE cannot be corrupted.

THIS is the thing that justifies our existence and our conquest of the sector.

Cerebrate Anon, in his infinite wisdom, reduced our production capacity to about 2% of what we are supposed to have. In return, he gave us Artisanlord the creator and Bernie the destroyer.

I think it's time we realised that this was a FAIR TRADE. None of this: 'we stealz their technologiez lolz' nonsense at every opportunity as if we're inferior kleptomaniacs.

'PURITY OF ESSENCE' FUCKERS.

Finally: how far have we gone towards becoming 'Perfect' with the Protoss again? Everything else is muckin' about.

>>14587583
Granted Berniebrate was different from our other cerebrate, in that it was one personality overlord + one other thing, ass opposed to all the others which we a dozen semi-autonomous overlords

>Before we consign a cerebrate to possible death
OR POSSIBLE GLORY!
Cerebrates, how can you not see the incredible potential here, the chance to be more than mere flesh, to be more, in fact, than any cerebrate could dream of, to be ROBOBRATE THE INVINCIBLE?

>>14587648
Nobody appears to be volunteering.

Should we put one of the slackers in danger, or create a new being perhaps just to die?

>>14587618
THE COMMIES ARE FLUORIDATING OUR WATER!

Though I must admit, I also support the idea of sending Bernie into the Khala.

So I'm seeing half wanting to attempt to create a new cerebrate for this task of becoming a cyber-cerebrate, and the other half wants to give the choice to our remaining free cerebrates.

Can we do both? Like, attempt the creation of a new cerebrate (though Nargil will likely complain that we're committing heresy again), and if it fails, hose out the neural matter and give Wormface or Saberhagen a shot at glory?

>>14587680
Make with the new cerebrate, cerebrate.

>>14587680
Create a new cerebrate for this dangerous mission!

There is Internbrate.

For SCIENCE and FOR THE GREATER SWARM

>>14587719
... I am tempted, but no we should try to make a new one first.

>>14587583

Hey, Bernie was messed when we found him.

Also, what 'possible death' are we speaking of? The Overmind's covenant with all it's cerebrates remains, even if the Overmind itself is no more.

Is it posible that Voidgate is powered by... Dark Templar juice?

>>14587787
We have no assurance or indication that the cerebrates are still immortal. With the passing of the Overmind, we may all be vulnerable now.

>>14587787
>The Overmind's covenant with all it's cerebrates remains
How do you know that? We've been good about not having cerebrated die on us since Dad died, and I'd like to keep it that way.

Our swarms of Zerg reach the bottom of the other two mineshafts to find a large industrial complex, full of massive computer parts and construction materials, complete with armed machine protectors. Unfortunately, there are several detectors here, and the androids are using what appear to be vital resources (including nuclear batteries) as cover. We suspect that this is a form of passive sabotage on VoidGate's part. Gorn suggests simply puncturing the batteries, and allowing the ensuing small nuclear blasts to take care of the machines. Warbrate suggests that if we settle on that plan, we should at least pull as many units out of the area as possible. Gorn pouts a little at that.

Nargil is NOT a happy camper. It hisses that we defile the Overmind's memory yet again with our heretical production of pseudo-cerebrates. Thankfully, we haven't yet explained WHY we're creating a cerebrate. We doubt that will go over well, either. Still, Nargil is our Cerebrate, and its protestations are only a little more emphatic than Accountantbrate's constant groaning.

>>14587835
To Nargil:
Which is more important, Nargil? That we abide by our old ways? Or that we crush those that harmed Our Father, and wreak righteous vengeance upon our enemies, and assure the survival of the Swarm?

As for the VoidGate machinery; we must take them intact. We must learn from our enemies, just as we assimilate their flesh and genetic material into the Swarm, so must we assimilate their knowledge of science and machinery.
Their technological and biological distinctiveness shall be added to our own.

>>14587835

CA, is the room armoured?

I want defilers and other unit digging from the main shaft around the room to emerge behind enemy lines to swarm them while we still send in waves of unmodified zerglings to keep their attention.

Any sign that the warheads are armed?

>>14587899
Parts of it are, but other parts appear to be in the process of being excavated.

(Clarification: these are VoidGate's nuclear power sources, not missiles. However, each one has the potential to go all Chernobyl if damaged)

>>14587703
+1

>>14587952
I support >>14587899 in their use of defilers and hatchworms to outflank the VoidGate defenses.

So, are you all going for the burrowing plan?

>>14588000

>>14587899 here

Since the room is armoured, have some of our units start pulling up armoured plates to use as mobile cover to cross the divide between the killing grounds and the enemy combatants. This will give them something new to think about.

Our units need to be given orders to shield those reactors with their bodies should the machines attempt to shoot them.

Also, do the burrowing plan. The more their fire is diffused, the better it is for us.

>>14588000
Sure

>>14588000
Sure. We've got the resources, let's use them.

Do observers only defeat cloaking, or can they also see through conventional cover like smokescreens?

As the androids continue to fire on our forces from behind cover, assorted units fall out of the ceiling, pop out from walls, and explode up from the ground. While this is great for destroying the androids, who put up substantially less fight when distracted, then suddenly overrun, it also has a drawback.

For the second time in our dealings with VoidGate's underground facilities, we have forgotten to take gravity into proper account. We are reminded of this frightfully as a support dramatically snaps out of place. The ceiling contorts and drops rocks threateningly, giving us just enough time to pull some of our units back up the mine shafts before several tons of rock and soil collapses on the chamber. We continue climbing, as we can guess what that kind of impact might have triggered.

Thousands of Zerg spill out of the shafts before the first battery detonates, and the mine shafts begin to collapse. That, of course, causes all of the other batteries to follow suit.

On the plus side, we have destroyed VoidGate's forces. This is still a win.

On Xenta, Nargil finally bows to our will, and it takes the five overlords we have provided. They huddle over one another, slowly growing a thick organ-like covering that pulses and squirms on the Creep, forever changing the creatures within.

(Find out whether we've really got the knack for this cerebrate-making business NEXT WEEK, when I'll hopefully have less of a cold)

>>14588146
Oh goddamnit! Should have remembered that we're fighting a fucking mine!

Well, at least it's still technically a win.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/14585186/

Yo dawg, I herd u like reading this thread.

Well, I archived it while the thread's still active, so you can read this thread while you read this thread.

>>14588036
It's funny that you guys still have this going on. I'm not going to be specific, but this is totally a hint (the post, that is. Not the pic. That'd be extra silly)

>>14588146
Oops indeed

>>14588185
Aw, man! Now that I think about it, I should have had you burrow into a Vespene reservoir and exploded you that way.

I mean, that'd totally be cheating, but it's a legitimate danger in the SC universe.

>>14588200
Not that I'd ever do something like that to you guys.

Unless it would be hilarious, somehow. Then I would. I'm not going to lie to you or myself about that.

>>14588247
As long as we don't do something obviously stupid in hindsight, like digging so many holes as to destabilize a mineshaft while we're inside of it, we should be okay, right?

>>14587899

Excellent idea!

Also; didn't we 'invent' lurkers? It seems like cheating but creatures that can attack whilst remaining completely burrowed should be able to completely dominate any combat occuring below ground.

You can't hit them without shooting through metres of dirt (or delicate pipes and wiring) and they can still hit you. Give lurkers the ability to move whilst burrowing and we'll have an overwhelming advantage in enclosed spaces.

We should also consider utilising those transport worms we created as a form of underground troop carrier.