(I'm currently elated. I asked a pretty girl to a scary movie, and she said yes. This sort of happened: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZYMC8KznI4&feature=related )

>>15974215
Harvest them for resources; they're obviously of new other use.

>>15974432
Congrats Cerebrate! The Anonymous Overmind shares in your joy!

>>15974480
Thank you!

>>15974441
1 vote for boiling them down for their component atoms. Accountantbrate is surprised by our consideration.

>>15974215
We should assimilate them into the hive. They could give us access to some pretty kick ass infiltrators or let us improve our other infiltrators depending on how their whole thing works.

>>15974549
First time posting in this thread, so I'm not sure if I just recommended undoing X threads worth of hard work.

>>15974549
... No wonder he's surprised. Dissecting them to figure out why we get nothing from them is the far more sensible thing to do.

>>15974566
Nah, you just suggested the most economically beneficial course of action. We're never sensible or frugal, we weaponize MOONS!

>>15974566
(3/4 of a thread of clandestine eco-terrorism, more like)

>>15974564
Nargil refuses. It will not touch them.

Labbrate isn't particularly sure how this is even possible, but would be willing to try to figure it out if we wanted it to (that'll be some /tg/ dice and some voting, right there)

1 vote infestation.
1 vote industrial recycling.

>>15974609
What kind of dice? I could roll now... then change my vote if I roll bad. And we don't necessarily have to infest them, I'm sure we can blend a few of them and take a look at what neurochemicals they have that are making them quiet.

>>15974635
You want to know what kind of dice for figuring out how they work or for infesting them?

>>15974657
I want to pre-roll, so I can rally support in a direction based on the outcome, since it's currently split.

>>15974682
Figuring out how they work will take 1d100.

Infesting them will take 3d100, of which the first is basically figuring out how they work, anyway.

rolled 63, 49, 58 = 170

>>15974702
Good to know.

rolled 74, 68, 35 = 177

>>15974702
I'm sure this will go well.

>>15974725
>>15974733
(Totally not telling you if they're good enough until you decide to do it, though. That would be silly)

rolled 45, 31, 65 = 141

>>15974733
Bah who cares, worse case scenario we screw it up and turn them all into a puree to sell on Moria. What's the downside?

rolled 62, 1, 87 = 150

In the mean time, we need to have infested terrans in plate armour, ridding zerglings, sally fourth onto yonder battlefield. Conquer the feudal manta-ray things.

>>15974834
Be glad that wasn't your first roll...

>>15974793
I'm sure Cerebrate Anon could think of terrible things happening to us or the swarm. I think the top rolls though might be okay since none of them too far below 50.

>>15974851
Can we agree to figure them out before we make them extinct?

Reminder: You've rolled for it, but you haven't decided whether to study them, infest them, or wipe them the fuck out, yet.

>>15974879
Oh I don't want them extinct. I'm the person who first suggested infesting them.

>>15974896
I have trouble keeping track of how many people there are.

At the least, we can agree that we're going to try to figure them out since that first roll has to happen no matter what. Can we see the results of that study before deciding to go the infestation route?

>>15974937
After careful dissection of a few samples, Labbrate believes that the creatures indeed produce a psionic signature, but have essentially inward-facing glands that absorb the energy and scatter it evenly, as if nothing were there.

The evolutionary processes that brought this about boggle its mind. It theorizes that this planet must have had an abundance of predators that hunted through psionics, thus making the least psionically "visible" creatures most likely to survive. If the Terrans or Protoss ever got their hands on this, we would be in serious trouble.

>>15974919
>>15974879
What's with all the cutelings?

>>15975012
BURN THEM ALL! START THE CRUSADE AGAINST THE MANTA-RAYS!

As for the cute SC2 units, I just saw them, thought they were cute, and decided to post them.

>>15975052
What about the psionic nulls?

>>15975012
Have Labbrate identify the DNA patterns that code for these glands.
Create a test run of hydralisks with these psi-dampening glands, to see how they work, and if they impede our ability to control them. Once we find the limits of this new gland, have it placed aside for use in a new line of assassination and deep recon units. Look for possible integration in a new line of cloned Terrans.

>>15975084
Kill them all in some fashion that accountbrate approves of. It will make up for the expense of painting out power armour grey and having all the infested terrans say "verily" while we infest the manta-rays.

>>15975012
Big prizes for taking big risks. I say infest the hell out of these things. Although a more limited trial run might be best to see how bad things go.

>>15975103
Why would we phase in something that hinders psionic reception? It'd be like sticking a mini psi-disruptor in every hydralisk.

>>15975103
>>15975124
>>15975137
2 infest
1 destroy and focus on the manta rays

(This is the only picture I could find that resembles something that even implies a manta ray civilization)

>>15975143
Just to see what happens. Also, being a psionic null might be useful, especially against the Protoss. This is why I'm advocating for Cyberbrate to finish repairs on Dagobah and to create new Terminator CPU's that will are programmed to be loyal to us, the Swarm.

>>15975173
Fine, lets try to infest them, then we infest the manta-rays, because medieval manta-ray civilization!

>>15975210
The first step to infestation is figuring out exactly how to integrate this ability into the Swarm. Labbrate works feverishly, adjusting the composition of the creatures, the spores, the glands, and the way we communicate with them, but to no avail. Infesting the creatures is simple. Their genetic diversity enters the Swarm without fail...but their glands keep out the mind of the Swarm. Our mind. Removing or edging around the glands enough to control the creatures renders their effect insignificant. We have the glands, but remaining psionically connected to an outside force requires them to open their minds to it.

Labbrate apologizes profusely for its failure. Nargil hisses that the very attempt is spiteful, and that we should remove this abomination from the Hive.

On the upside, our comical invasion of the manta ray-infested Northern hemisphere is an unqualified success. The creatures are completely unprepared for a conquering force of space aliens riding saddled worm monsters (Warbrate thought this swampland invasion would be a decent chance to use hatchworms). Their societies cannot muster a proper resistance, and before long we have them segregated and cowed. What shall we do with this force?

>>15975304
Declare that the psionic null project is on hold for now, and put them all on ice.
Tell Labbrate it's okay; it was a long shot anyway.

As for the manta rays, have Nargil take a look and see what he can come up with.

>>15975304
I hope we remembered to film it for ZergTV. But what do we do? Same thing we do every night cerebrate, try to infest the world.

>>15975304
Hmm. So if we implanted the glands into another organism that's already accepted our control and all - would that work? Otherwise I can't think of any use for the glands at this point... Stupid dice.

In regards to the manta's, infest the hell out of them. Let's get some profit out of this planet hopefully.

>>15975348
Artisanlord is both appalled by the violence and impressed with the footage.

>>15975336
>>15975348
(Just wanted to make sure you didn't have plans for subjugation or silly arthurian questing or larping or something before infestation. Right?)

>>15975404
I just wanted the silly medieval stuff to be the conquering part, after I was thinking infest everything then strip the planet of everything.

>>15975404
If the selection of which individual to infest helped affect what we'd get in the swarm, I'd consider the idea but I see no need at this point. Let's just get it done and get away from this heart break of a planet. Manta's are a let down compared to those other animals.

rolled 2 = 2

>>15975473
>>15975477
Cool.

>>15975477
We can use them as fodder. Maybe Kingston will think it's some new strain and prepare counter measures for the manta-rays.

rolled 18 = 18

>>15975500
Eww. Take two. If it's a one, we'll take roll one, the two.

>>15975512
(Much better!)

The creatures submit to infestation in the face of extinction. Their forms are odd, supporting a brain slightly more powerful than a human being's with decent psionic potential. With a fair amount of tweaking of their genetic code, Nargil produces a war flier that it dubs the mantalisk. The blades of its wings incorporate concepts from the Protoss in order to produce a blade of psionic energy, like those of the zealots. The unit can attack by ramming its wings into opponents, puncturing them with its tail, or using its mandibles to rip flesh away.

Nargil is proud of this.

(I'm so glad that roll was so high. Justifies using this picture I'm shamelessly stealing from Google)

>>15975512
I hope something good happened, like the Neilswarm ratings have ZergTV through the roof.

>>15975573
I like it. Now we should see if anything has happened while we've been faffing about. If nothing important has happened then it's back to hunting down nifty things from the Xel'Naga archive.

>>15975573
Can they be outfitted with the shield/cloaking harnesses that the rest of our forces use?

Produce a few squadrons and hand them over to Warbrate for testing and to attempt to work into our regular forces.

Also, are we able to pinpoint any other Xel'Naga visited worlds from their Biology data folder?

Can labbrate work some kind of technological solution? Maybe with Cyberbrate, create an amplifier or something that links them to the hivemind?

Failing that, we could put technological controls into them and give the joystick to an overlord.

>>15975611
Warbrate is optimistic about mantalisks.

We could attempt to find more data from the Xel'Naga fragment, if you like.

>>15975605
>Look around, see what's been happening.

Roll 1d10. I just updated the "shit happens" chart from a couple of weeks ago. We'll see how that goes.

>>15975611
Protoss shields are not inflatable donuts.

rolled 9 = 9

>>15975672

>>15975694
>>15975672
I guess kinda ok.

Part of me really wants to grab that reviving crystal from the Protoss. Or at least destroy it. I dislike the Protoss being able to revive people.

Just passing through, but I find the whole concept of Cages anathema to the zerg. Wouldn't it make more sense some kind of Ultralisk strain designed to SWALLOW but not DECOMPOSE living subjects? Or a specially attuned Overlord that places hostile elements in it's ventral sac, lulls them with psionic lullabies and neurotoxins, then transports them off world or diggests them? inb4VoreLord

>>15975710
We can think it into not working, so I'm not too worried about them pulling another person out of their pauldron.

>>15975724
(We're...highly unusual Zerg. We're currently operating a pirate TV station and we once entered into a military alliance with a nuke-crazy genocidal AI)

>>15975694
9, eh? That's sort of a big one...

You want to go with what the paper says, or do you guys want to take an action?

>>15975786
wait... are high numbers bad in this case?

>>15975805
It's just a randomized list of stuff that might happen.

The Protoss reviving Adun was #3, last time. I've replaced that one, since they're not going to pull that again.

>>15975786
Now I know what's happened, Kingston has become addicted to Teen Queen, Jersey Spore, So You Think You Can Mutate, and all of the ZergTV soaps, right?

>>15975829
Then lets just keep poking around in the archives.

>>15975858
In the interests of me being too lazy to justify Scenario 9 right now, yes.

>A bit of digging shows data intact in folders for operations, design, ship's logs, and bio-diversity.

>>15975887
I think we need to go on safari, and not be attacked by freaky monkey things, so designs!

>>15975887
Go for designs.

>>15975915
The data in this folder is even more corrupt than what we found in the biodiversity folder.

Intact subfolders have odd names: Asey Ev, Spirèdon, Kânt'emir, and O-sip

>>15975999
Can we attempt to reconstruct some of the data?

>>15975999
Kânt'emir because I like the sound of it.

>>15976033

Oh crap, forgot Zerg quest was today!

Kantemir or whatever sounds great. Seconding.

>>15976065
To fill you in, the null apes were a bust, but the manta-rays are potentially good.

>>15975304

Hold on a sec.

We can still produce the psionic-blocking glands from the genetic information we have, right? And they block off stuff from hivemind communications like our Zerg psionic control?

Perhaps we can't create stealthy anti-psi zerg, but MAYBE we can induce growth of those glands in psionically sensitive individuals that we manage to get our hands on. Like Protoss, eventually. This might terrifically speed up the process of getting them to reject the Khala (i.e. through long periods of what is basically psionic solitary confinement) while sidestepping the problems associated with cutting off their psionic organs. IIRC, we infested their physical forms no problem, but the Protoss we infested earlier on had to reject the Khala in order to fully become a part of the Swarm.

At the very least, if we manage to get our hands on Tassadar or Khas or someone, we might be able to neuter their biggest strength through forced gland-growth.

>>15976033
>>15976065
Delving into the Kânt'emir subfolder is surprising. It appears that Kânt'emir was a Xel'Naga female. Partially-intact blueprints in the folder range from finely-crafted embellishments for religious balustrades to ship designs for a what's labeled a "Worldcrafting vessel," as well as schematics for tools and architecture. It seems that whoever Kânt'emir was to the Xel'Naga, her work covered a wide range of fields.

>>15976116
(Could be. Of course, if you start kidnapping Protoss to test this, Khas and Tassadar are probably going to get fussy)

>>15976121
While I am curious about a worldcreating ship, I am more interested in the balusters. So, balusters first, then worldcreating ship.

>>15976121
Have the Science Trio take a look at the tools, see if there's anything in there that would be useful in our factories, or that can be repurposed into weapons.
And take a closer look at this Worldcrafting Vessel.

>>15976162
You realize that balustrades are just architectural garnishes, right?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baluster

>>15976162
(Damn you, calling me out for mentioning balustrades without knowing anything about interior design!)

>>15976164
(Slow down, sparky. We do things one at a time inside the ten-thousand-year-old jury-rigged chunk of a destroyed ship's crippled computer system)

>>15976174
Yes, that's why I'm so interested. Just what are Xel'Naga supports like?

>>15976121
>>15976196

Let's see what the world-creating ship designs have.

Be sure to access them very carefully. Although I realize how ridiculous that sounds.

>>15976229
Roll 3d20, then. We've got to establish what part you get to, whether you can read it, and whether you can understand what you're reading.

rolled 15, 19, 13 = 47

>>15976260
Let's do this!

rolled 17, 12, 13 = 42

>>15976260

rolled 13, 18, 7 = 38

>>15976260

Rollin'

>>15976286
Peering into the files, we find a section that appears intact, detailing a device for manipulating natural forces to force elements to stratify at different levels of a planet, and at different densities. The science behind it is vastly beyond Labbrate, who genuinely does not believe the notes concerning the device's abilities.

After hours of file restoration, Labbrate believes the schematics are clear enough to construct a working model of the device, though it complains that the power required for this device would be immense, on the order of four carriers strapped together, burning their drive cores out, just for a few minutes of operation.

rolled 13, 5, 1 = 19

>>15976368
Would it allow us to move all the valuable minerals to the surface of a planet? If so I'd say four carrier cores are worth it for stripping a planet bare in a short amount of time. Additionally, it's just the power cores we need, not the ships themselves.

>>15976368
Massive power requirements?
What about the Aleman Station? Can Internbrate incorporate some of this technology for better material output?

>>15976404
We would have to move one material at a time, and it would likely take multiple attempts to get all of one element, but it is possible that we could use such a device as a sort of mineral magnet.

>>15976429
Bring it to Tarsonis, move all the iron to the surface including all the iron used in terran construction. It's a new ship killer, point it at a ship and pull out the main structural metal.

>>15976419
Aleman station is essentially harvesting a sun. It could easily put out enough energy to use this device, but moving the station far enough from a star to use it on a habitable planet would cut off its power source.

(Internet's being suspiciously slow. I don't like it)

>>15976485
What I meant, was to use the material manipulation with the energy-to-matter converters on the station to try to make more complex materials and metals, and maybe try for completely pre-fabricated parts and such.

>>15976404
>>15976429
>>15976461

Or a planet killer.

Distract everything with Zerg, use the device to rip apart a planet by using a selective metal magnet. If we can find enough power to leave it on for that long.

>>15976518
Honestly, we're still not 100% sure of how the Aleman station's design accomplishes what it does. We are completely in the dark about this Xel'Naga device. We have schematics from which we could build one, but that is just a matter of putting pieces together. We have no idea how they interact to bring about this result.

Labbrate is still skeptical that it will bring about any result at all.

>>15976485

I know we're messing with some seriously powerful science here, but would it be possible to build a scaled-down version of this Xel'naga device? While it may not be able to shape and meld planets, being able to shape and meld mountain ranges would be nifty too.

>>15976564
>>15975999

Let's consider our other options before we commit resources to them, gentlemen. Plenty of time for wild projects later when we know what we're dealing with.

Can we see what's up with the Spiredon file, Cerebrate Anon?

>>15976592
(Ok, but sleepytime is getting closer. Be aware)

After some near-crashes, the system calls up the Spirèdon subfolder. It seems that Spirèdon dealt primarily in crystals and their applications to technology. Labbrate immediately notices a technical file that helps it better regulate the inflow of energy through the crystals it has been using to keep the fragment operational.

There appear to be theoretical documents, weapon schematics, design specifications for power generation, and assorted aesthetics (crystalline lighting appears to make up the bulk of the files in this folder).

>>15976687
WEAPON SCHEMATICS!
GIVE US ALL THE WEAPONS!

>>15976705
Oh, are you interested in the weapons? It's hard to tell from your post. :D

rolled 13, 6 = 19

>>15976705

>>15976733

Let's look up weapons first.

Power generation will undoubtedly and inevitably come up later on... but let's see what we can do with Xel'naga tech that's meant to kill things.

>>15976757
Great we have the schematics, but they make no sense.

>>15976762
Because we know how well Xel'Naga weapons did against the MIGHT OF THE SWARM!

>>15976757
We access as many of the weapons schematics as we can, though we accidentally corrupt several of them in the process.

What we find is disappointing. It seems that Spirèdon was not a very good weaponsmith, or that (s)he lived at a time when weapons were vastly underdeveloped in Xel'Naga culture. The schematics are for small-scale projectiles, all with a prominent crystalline component, often one that could easily be replaced by a less expensive alternative. Some of the designs merely use psionically-charged crystals as ammunition. The concept it novel enough, but Accountantbrate would never condone that sort of waste. The mass driver is interesting, though Labbrate questions whether the crystals actually contribute anything to the design.

Spirèdon's weapons are, by and large, unimpressive. Perhaps we will have better luck with his/her other designs.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15974215/

(Well, anticlimactic as that is, I'm going to leave it there. Next week, stuff will probably distract you from looting the Xel'Naga ship for a while. Hell, maybe I'll actually use Scenario #9, like the /tg/ dice wanted me to. We'll see. For now, I give you the OverKitty.)

>>15976791
(Rather, we have the schematics, but he was shit at weapons. I intended that to be the case, and the dice were nice enough to make it so. Thanks, /tg/ dice!)

>>15976887
See you next week, Cerebrate Anon.