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>>35328454
>Current armory
121 Thorn Launchers
2 Thorn Cannons
53 Sting Casters
1 Rotary Stinger
3 Fire Sprays
1 Plasma Spray

>Current resource reserves
Nutrients: 17235
Metals: 22135

>Hive population and upkeep cost
Hive maintenance – 325
Queen – 5
Fake Queen – 22
Worker (2000) – 4000
Radiator Worker (40) – 160
Warrior (209) – 1045
Thinker (139) – 417
Quantum Thinker (110) – 550
Speaker – (3) – 12
Digger (80) – 320
Refinery (10) – 70
Sniffer (2) – 8
Small Sniffer (40) – 40
Fly (10) – 40
Wasp (59) – 295
Antenna (3) – 9
Haz-mat Workers (20) – 80
Shock Troops (40) – 520
Parasite (30) – 120
Bio-tank (10) – 250
Excavator (9) – 171
Colossus (6) – 90
Advanced Relay (16) – 1600
Space Pod (13) – 390
Shuttle (10) – 250
Scout Corvette – (6) 1350
Lancer Corvette – (2) 450
Nutrient costs: 10789

>Income
Metals: 3750
Nutrients: 20050
Net: 9261

Hive Structure
>Reservoir
>General storage
>Food storage
>Advanced Laboratory
>Infrastructure
>Hangar facilities: Room for 40 Aero Drones and 20 Shuttles (25N)
>Mine: +1500 M per day (+25 M per digger)
>Asteroid mining base: +2250M per day (+50 M per digger)
>Algae Farm: +20000 N per day, 200 Workers (1 worker per 100N)
>Clarke Research Outpost
>Hel’s Angel Prison Outpost
>Docking Pylon: Space for docking and construction of 4 ships (50N)
>Anti-orbital battery: 2 (125N per battery)

Current construction
200 Farms

New Construction Options
>Algae Farm – +100N per day, 1 worker to maintain
>Hangar Expansion – Add on to current hangar facilities for your choice of +40 aero drone space, or +20 shuttle space. 50N 100M
>Anti-orbital battery – A bunker armed with a massive Particle beam capable of attacking ships in orbit from the ground. It includes the power and sensor systems required to operate it. 250N 1500M

Ship Construction Options
http://pastebin.com/YTwGk8n1

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>>35328469
Months pass. Years. Decades. Centuries. The crater appears like a massive geode, a forest of slender crystal spires assembled around a massive structure that hums in silence, calling out to something. Soon it is answered. A small Skyl crawls out from the new forest that has regrown from the ashes around the crater. It is larger than the one you saw before, and four of its legs have become tiny fins to help guide it in the air. Its beak has remained large and sharp, but the rest of it has grown to a better proportion. Its eye cluster is transfixed, centered on the great central pillar at the base of the crater, and the young Skyl moves into the crystal forest.

The forest has been torn up and paved in twisting plastic and rolling fields of cement. Spires of glass shoot up to the sky and twist around each other with endless vines of metal and carbon fiber. In the center of the great city is a black obelisk towering over the entire valley. Dark branches of crystal sprout from the top at odd angles and chips float from the main body like balloons adrift in the breeze, moving across the skyline like patrolling predators on the hunt. Not far from the edge of the crater is the shipyards, where you see hundreds of hulls lifting into the air. One after another they funnel into orbit and flicker into the strangeness of slipspace.

>>35328528
>The crater appears like a massive geode, a forest of slender crystal spires assembled around a massive structure that hums in silence, calling out to something.
Wait a second. Don't we have something like that in our system?

>>35328550
>>35328528

I hope not

>>35328572
>P2: This elliptical shaped planetoid is composed of various metals, with visible rivers of mercury running through mountains of crystallized rock formations. The day lasts roughly six minutes, causing tremendous strain on the planet, maintaining its nearly disc like shape. At the equator, a geostationary orbit is enough to escape orbit, making any landing attempt dangerous at best. Atmosphere is thicker in the poles, and is composed of a mixture of sulfur oxide, argon, and nitrogen. Due to geothermal anomalies likely a result of its rapid rotation, forests of crystals are a common sight across the planet.
This is in our system. We're living next door to the enemy.

>>35328454
>it is clearly a descendant of the Skyl.
Short of time travel shenanigans, I'm almost sure you meant 'an ancestor'.

>>35328550
No. Absolutely nothing like it.

This is just their version of the Ceph's "Singing Stone" Coil spoke of.

The black obelisk equivalent that uplifted them.

>>35328605
Well we do have one in our basement

Frak this is Sins of a Solar Empire isn't? Are we the Vasari and need to start running?

Say gents, while we're on the subject of alien civilizations, I was thinking it might be prudent to start gathering a bit of intel on the Unity and Union, and figure out how much they know about us. It's obvious we're common knowledge within the Union at this point.

>Quiz Theseus/Vaughn/Lyle on what is being said about you in human space, and why it is prompting riots and social upheaval.
>Quiz Elizabeth Vaughn on her relationship with Theseus, and why he and the Union are in conflict.

The more we know about the other factions the better our position to play them off against each other is.

>>35328701
I think I have an idea of how to defend ourselves from their planetcracker but it would a lot of research and resources.

>>35328701
At least we have FTL drives to get out of Dodge.

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>>35328528
There is war. Endless war on endless worlds. Demons and heretics, horrid beings that would defy the gods with their mere existence. The priests listen to the hum of the forest and decree what worlds must burn and what worlds must forish. You watch as year after year, century after century the Skyl that swarm among the city and around the crystal forest become more and more strange. Their motions more rote and predictable.
As the wars go on, fleets go missing, assumed destroyed in the line of duty. Before long, some return. Panic and dissent spreads through the planet as more and more of the fleets return as heretics. The war is far bloodier than any faught previously, and for a short moment the rebels take the planet and bombard the spire. The planet is in ruins, but at the end the spire is gone, missing from its crater for the first time in millennia. The fleet moves to resettle their home.

>>35328810
I would love to hear your thoughts on it.

>>35328837
Reminds me of Babylon 5

>>35328844
We create a Slaver Stasis Field to block it.
I've done some research and know what we have to do to get it.

Could we design a weapon to capture ships using the rapid repair ship tech offensively? As in maybe shoot a kinetic projectile filled with it and when it hits a ship it will spread out and try to fill all empty space, then after it reaches a certain area it can contract and harden.

So it could disable the ship without killing everyone on it, for research purposes.

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>>35328837
There is peace. For a time.
With their gods believed dead many Skyl turn inward for guidance. Cults rise and fall in support of the old ones that once ruled the planet, and colonies are planned and plotted. Massive space projects are built and monuments to invicible Skyl erected in celebration. Who else could make claim to the title of the slayer of gods? They looked to the stars, to the universe they once waged war across as slaves and knew it was theirs by right to take.

But with the source of their spaceflight gone, it was a slow journey. Fleets sent out to nearby systems erected vast constructs to further their goals, but as they closed in on their goal, their scouts went dark. Signals of destruction on world after world until the space around their home bent and twisted. The fleets in orbit fight for their lives as they are scattered like insects. The planet cracks and warps as the seething mass pours from slipspace, shattering the planet like an egg.

The stream ends, but there is a small entry afterwards. In their wars they found a way to free themselves, and in the end their victory was that when they were given the choice, they made god bleed. For the captain of the ship from which the cube had been taken, that was enough.

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>>35329135
Finished Research
>Skyl Data Cubes
Using the broken one retrieved from the ship sped up the process to some degree, and allowed you to open it up without fear of damaging data. The cube appears to utilize a suspension of deliberately aligned and attuned semi-solid crystalline particles arranged in an intricate pattern to hold photons in place, releasing them only when the data is requested. The result is a highly complex device capable of storing data indefinitely, but once retrieved it cannot be accessed again, destroying whatever data it held upon retrieval. According to the data within, this was in response to their enemy’s incredibly effective methods of intelligence gathering. The cubes were used to store sensitive information that needed to be seen by only a single individual, or in this case, to be stored over an extended period of time without data loss. Your thinkers have analyzed the data within, erasing it from the cube in the process. It holds an overview of Skryl biology, society, and technology, as well as an overview of their history, rebellion, and subsequent destruction by beings they perceived as gods.

>Raligha native language
The strange drumming language of the native creatures has been decoded, although until you can actually get some experience with it in conversation there are bound to be at least a few minor kinks in your translations. You doubt you could manage to put your claw in your mandibles too much though, after all, they seem to worship you.

Current Research
>Ancient Star chart
The ancient inscriptions clearly depict a vast number of star systems and galactic landmarks across the cosmos. With the limited translations provided by Dr. Elizabeth Vaughn has greatly sped up the translation. In a surprising turn of events, however, the language appears to be remarkably similar to the Skyl language recovered from within the salvaged data cube. The language itself is completely different, but the symbols are almost identical.

>>35329181
>It holds an overview of Skryl biology, society, and technology
Still wondering what we got.

>>35329181
>technology
This i like

>>35329181
Your thinkers have finished transcribing the data within the cube, and are ready to review the more technical details for useable technology at your discretion. In addition, your pod has completed its approach of M-323.

>Look through the technical archives
>Direct your pod at M-323
>Discuss your discoveries and recent events with Theseus (Write in)
>Speak with Dr. Vaugn
>Speak with Coil about the Skyl
>Introduce yourself to the Raligha natives
>Other

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>>35329181
>It holds an overview of Skryl biology, society, and technology, as well as an overview of their history, rebellion, and subsequent destruction by beings they perceived as gods.

It's might be everything we need to jump start our empire in one little package!

>>35329297
>Look through the technical archives
>Speak with Dr. Vaugn
>Direct your pod at M-323

>>35328605
You're being kinda ridiculous. Not every crystal is magic crystals.

Those crystal formations are perfectly explainable by mundane physics and geology, and don't sing telepathic whispers that call to us.

Which is what a true Singing Stone would be doing, since it's just one great monolith of a void shard.

>>35328808
None of that is going to help you learn what you want to learn, you realize. They don't know anything. Raligha crew didn't even know there was a bug race until it attacked them, and Lyle only has the old intelligence reports, not recent street gossip. And you've seen how cooperative he is to even share what his intelligence reports said.

We already did the one thing that will get the hive any information that you want. There's a spy pod in Tau Ceti. It can eavesdrop on the news about the G-426 bug race riots.

And you already know why Unity split from the Union. Read last thread. Theseus knew they wanted to shut down all his servers at the research station. So he found a way to escape while destroying any evidence of how he became able to break the laws of robotics, so that Vaughn wouldn't go to prison.

You want to learn more, send more spy pods to more systems. Only thing of interest is just how long ago Chandra-3 was destroyed, and what the "security leak" was that caused the research station to become politically radioactive. Probably Seiner's fault somehow. That, you might want to ask the non-Vaughn humans, so she doesn't start to suspect that you can see into her dreams. That kind of accidental invasion of privacy could well make her a bit more irrational and uncooperative.

>>35329181
Right. We've seen the ancient crystal hives were at war against their own species--both sides used black organic ships, in the latest vision--so presumably Their origin is tied up with the crystal hives somehow. Either a creation, or an evolution of them? So they taught the Skyl the same old written language they knew.

>>35329297
>Look through the technical archives
>Speak with Coil about the Skyl
and
>Introduce yourself to the Raligha natives
these guys might know more about the Temple ruins or other ruins we haven't found yet.

>>35329297
>Introduce yourself to the Raligha natives

Need to talk with the allies

>Discuss your discoveries and recent events with Theseus (Write in)

Is the union in a civil war?

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>>35329297
Talking to Coil is a trap option. Do not go full heretic. You never go full heretic.

>>Direct your pod at M-323

>Other
Talk to Theseus about the monitor satellite at A-295, and how great it would be if he could install himself on it to blind the Union.

>>35329297
>Speak with Dr. Vaugn
Let's reintroduce her and Theseus

>>35329357
Union in a civil war? That is a good question we should ask Theseus.

>>35329297
>Look through the technical archives
>Discuss your discoveries and recent events with Theseus, ask him what he would be willing to offer for the different parts of the data the historical and the technical.

>>35329297
>Look through the technical archives
>Direct your pod at M-323
>>35329342
>You're being kinda ridiculous. Not every crystal is magic crystals.
So far all we've seen are magic crystals and don't you think that planet is worth at least investigating?

>>35329401
>and the technical.
No

>>35329401
Theseus want to know everything, so since this data was destroyed on use, we are the only source ever now.

And we already told them everything else about them for assistance fighting the union, so they probably are willing to deal even for just history stuff.

>>35329357
>>35329397
Why in the world would you ask that bullshit, they obviously aren't. Why are you repeating what the other anon said for no reason?

Some terrorist groups blowing up one building doesn't constitute 'civil war'.

>>35329297
>>Direct your pod at M-323

>>35329449
We should limit what we give him. But we do need to trade something to get shield tech.

>>35329297
>Look through the technical archives
>Direct your pod
>Speak with Dr. Vaugn
>Speak with Coil about the skyl
>Introduce yourself to the Raligha natives
>start treating the critical conditioned humans and adding parasite drones to them.

>>35329297
>>Introduce yourself to the Raligha natives
>>Discuss your discoveries and recent events with Theseus (Write in)

What exactly is going on in the Union. The discovery of a new species and the death of a handful of troopers is nothing special, Raligha showed us that. Why has our presence prompted fighting amongst the humans?

>>Direct your pod at M-323

>>35329467
No.

No trading for something that you could easily find out you can salvage from a lost Union corvette.

For all you know that signal in M-323 is a distress signal from humans you can swipe shield tech from.

Wait and bide your time to try and obtain what you can yourself, before you go splurging your valuables at market.

>>35329484
>Speak with Coil about the skyl
Stop this.

>>35329405
Because they incredibly obviously are not magic, because they are not whispering in your mind.

And also they would be mentioned as being all-black if they were supposed to be the same kind of crystal.

>>35329352
>>35329484
>Coil
....Why?

What could you possibly have to gain there except him getting upset?

He's more useful as a faithful believer, believing he must help however he can. Don't start introducing dangerously heretical "facts" that challenge his doctrines.

>>35329502
>Not trusting our robot allies.
>Not playing for the coexistence Robuggers galactic empire ending.

>>35329460
One: IC seeing mentally into another race's mental network and seeing 4chan like interaction going on would be a bizarre thing to see. But mostly to set up...
Two: It is a bait question in getting Theseus to tell us insight into how Unity works. Like how we need recon into Union's networks as well. besides, we might get it for free.

>>35329554
Yeah i thought about it

We have some of our drones to carry companion cubes full of the ai in battle to infect machinery just to fuck with their computers and robots

>>35329502
You are betting we'll find shield tech from salvage? Who know how long that will be. We can get it much faster by trade now with Unity. But fine, If M-323 pans out in out favor, no big deal. Otherwise we need to make that trade.

>>35329551
I just want to know what he knows of the Skyl. Nothing more.

>>35329551
Ignoring how poorly written your response even if they aren't magic they most likely will have a tech application.

>>35329554
>coexistence
heh

>>35329626
>>35329670
>Not uploading a mental copy of Queen into Theseus, and then sending back all of Theseus' knowledge back to Queen and having Queen Theseus rule the galaxy with drone armies of flesh and metal.
>Not fighting off the void crystal assholes with overwhelming power.

>>35329297
>Look through the technical archives

Does anyone see any benefit from talking to the locals? Other then for laughs?

>>35329732
All I can think of is that they know the land far better than we do. They might know other ruins or places of interest and value to us. Also, we could convince them to be extra guards to protect the Temple as we take over the place.

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>>35329297
>Direct your pod at M-323
>Look through the technical archives

Your pod nudges itself to a halt as it gazes at the sight before it. You recognize the system now. It is the site of one of the Skyls' final, and greatest of projects. Their final effort at conquering the light barrier. The thin debris field is in fact a shattered ring stretching across the star. It was never actually finished. Tidal forces had begun to tear it apart before it had ever even been halfway connected, but each individual piece was built to create some semblance of a solid structure. It is a testament to both their vanity and the industrial prowess they had achieved in the wake of their war for freedom.

Within the wreckage of spinning metal chunks you sense a faint radio signal. With your new understanding of Skyl language you identify it as a military code, although you can't make sense of the code itself.

>Send your pod in to investigate
>Transmit a signal back
>Send your corvettes to investigate and salvage (how many)
>Other

>>35329554
Absolutely nothing in that post contradicts anything you're arguing, so... okay? They're trustworthy. They're not going to lie to us probably.

Point is you shouldn't go buying except when there's no apparent alternate source of the same data. Best to save up research for the things you really can't get anywhere else.

>>35329732
Not much, except maybe finding out just how bad an idea it would be to do anything but talk to them.

They might have legends of when the great temple mountain came down from the sky that might be interesting, though. But not anything likely to be practical.

>>35329775
>Transmit a signal back

>>35329775
>Send your pod in to investigate
We can send in corvettes if it's not nothing.

>>35329775
>Send your pod in to investigate
If everything is fine then,
>Send your corvettes to investigate and salvage (2)

>>35329775
>Send your pod in to investigate
>Transmit a signal back
>Send your corvettes to investigate and salvage (how many)
Two corvettes on standby as backup in case something happens

>>35329775
>Send your pod in to investigate
Salvage only after we are sure it's safe.

>>35329809
>breaking stealth when the military thing might respond unfavorably, since you don't even know what it's saying

>>35329775
>Send your pod in to investigate

>>35329775
>Transmit a signal back

>>35329843
Can't argue with that logic

>>35329775
>Send your pod in to investigate
>Transmit a signal back
>Send your corvettes to investigate and salvage (2)

>>35329775
>Send your pod in to investigate

Your pod attempts to bob and weave to avoid the dense collection of pipes and torn metal bulkheads. Vast solar collectors scattered and spread like glistening snow fills the ring in a thin cloud. As you approach you detect the faint telltale traces of exotic matter.

Please roll 1d100, best of 3

Rolled 43 (1d100)

>>35329947
Finde the shinies!

Rolled 33 (1d100)

>>35329947

Rolled 76 (1d100)

>>35329947
Great ringworld

>>35329968
Good enough for me.

You guys feel like trying to finish building it after we secure the sector from the union and commonwealth?

>>35329947
Your pod navigates the dense field of discarded refuse, closing in on the source of the signal.
A small chunk of the construction project remains intact, just enough to not be ground apart by the star's gravity or be flung from its orbit. There is something connected to it. You use your new database of Skyl engineering to try to identify it, but to no avail. It is a ship, but it is different than any other the Skyl had made. The ship appears almost completely intact, and you detect signs of exotic matter within the hull. The radio message repeats from its oversized antenna again and again.

>Uncloak and reply to the message
>Send in corvettes with drones to board the ship (write in)
>Send in corvettes to salvage the ship (write in)
>Other

>>35330330

>Send in corvettes with drones to board the ship (write in)

With warriors and shocktroopers

>>35330304
It was meant for FTL so it might be worth it.

>>35330330
What does the message say?

>>35330330
>Send in corvettes with drones to board the ship (write in)
50 warriors, 2 Colossi, and the 10 Flies.

>>Uncloak and reply to the message
If we're gonna try to board it anyway, stealth will be over. So might as well talk to it first.

>>35330409
>you identify it as a military code, although you can't make sense of the code itself.
Literally in the previous update. Learn to read.

We'd be replying like a naive civilian ship in Skyl language.

>>35330330
>Uncloak and reply to the message

Rolled 35 (1d100)

>>35330330
>Uncloak and reply to the message
This >>35330412 guy has the right idea

>>35330330
General consensus seems to be:
>Send in corvettes with drones to board the ship
50 warriors, 2 colossi, 10 flies.

>Uncloak and reply to the message
What would you like to transmit?

>>35330628
Ask them to identify themselves and what is their situation.

>>35330628
Well, what would a genuine Skyl civilian say to a found spooky mysterious military ship.

"Is anyone alive in there? You need help?"

>>35330628
Don't suppose we have memory of their military protocols? Something equivalent to "Distress call received, sending aid" perhaps?

>>35330665
>>35330672
According to our database they're not Skyl.

>>35330691
>With your new understanding of Skyl language you identify it as a military code,
Yet it's transmitting a Skyl military signal.

That we cannot recognize it just means it's
> different than any other the Skyl had made

It doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't built by the Skyl military as a weird research prototype near the end of their civilization.

>>35330691
Ah, I misread that.
Instead, this: >>35330663

>>35330762
>Skyl military signal.
May I point out that they are not the only race that uses that language.

>>35330762
This ship might still be functional enough for us to use as is or with some repair work done to it. QD, just how big is this ship anyway?

>>35330628
You wonder what kind of message would be acceptable in the situation. You quickly find a Skyl hailing frequency once used to help ships identify one another. According to your records, it is the hail of a salvage tug. Not so far from the truth, when you think about it.

The signal stops abruptly. Clearly someone or something has been listening for a response for the untold centuries. Fortunately the response is not encrypted.
"Mission: Prepare for testing and awate launch clearance. Report mission and status of home fleet. Launch clearance overdue thirty eight thousand, six hundred and twenty two solar rotations."

You quickly run the math based on what you know of the Skyl year. Nearly seventy thousand years, roughly.

The lone vessel awaits a response in silence.

>>35330843
Roughly the size of a battlecruiser.

>>35330808
Okay, point.

But it would not be surprising at all if this were a prototype Skyl ship, seeing as how this system was literally for devising crystals-free FTL, this could be their early attempt at an FTL ship with synthesized Canderon or whatever exotic matter they're using.

>>35330907
Well, ask it to open up for boarding personnel I guess.

>>35330907
Huh

Insane AI on the menu i guess

>>35330907
I guess we should tell him the whole story.

>>35330907
>The lone vessel awaits a response in silence.
send back a summarized version of the info from the data cube and the situation leading to us acquiring it.

>>35330960
>Insane AI
It's probably an immortal Skyl.

>>35330907

Well, board this thing:
>A small chunk of the construction project remains intact
And get onto the ship via that normal connection for entry.

>>35330960
>>35330995
>>35331001
It's probably not even intelligent enough for that. it's probably like the computer voice from Lyle's ship. Not an AI. Just simple automation.

And let's not shatter its world in case it is that intelligent. Yet.

>>35331027
You do realize we could help it rebuild it's race.

>>35330907
>Report mission and status of home fleet.
Mission: To recover technical data and board experimental ship for full diagnostics.

Home fleet status: All military forces destroyed.

>>35331084
Sounds good enough for me

>>35331078
How?

We never got any of samples of their DNA from the bodies

>>35330907
Your drones have boarded your corvette and you are preparing to enter the system. As you do so you contemplate on what to say to the ship.

>Disclose the data from the cube
>Disclose the fate of the Skyl homeworld
>Claim you are here to recover the ship
>Ask for docking clearance
>Other

>>35331142
Skyl data cube bro. It includes that.

>>35331142
Presumably anon means the "biological data" from the cubes.

It's probably moot though. You're assuming the transmitter is a living Skyl, or would care about anything beyond its currently assigned mission.

>>35331162
>Disclose the data from the cube
>Claim we are here to recover the ship along with any survivors.

>>35331162
>Ask for docking clearance

>>35331162
>Ask for docking clearance
First things first.

>>35331162
Oh man this is a toughie. Would disclosing the truth really give the results we want?

>Ask for docking clearance

I don't see why we would share all the data from the cube regardless. It isn't interested in history, just the current state.

>>35331162
>Ask for docking clearance
>Disclose the fate of the Skyl homeworld
It's been waiting a long time.

>>35331162
Well, it did ask for home fleet status, since it wants an explanation for the delay it's experiencing.

If it finds out its current mission has become impossible to complete, without launch clearance coming, how would it react. Would it have a default bit of programming to fall back on, or would it become lost?

If we claim to be here to run diagnostics on the ship, it might expect some military encryption/authorization codes, which we wouldn't have.

Still, it did ask what our mission was, so.

>>Claim you are here to recover the ship
>>Ask for docking clearance
And, well, home fleet is destroyed. All data was destroyed, all military encryption codes destroyed by the enemy.

So we don't have any codes.

He asked about the home fleet, not the homeworld, technically.

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>>35331162
>Ask for docking clearance

Your pod is still some distance out in the thick of the debris, but even still you sense the dockyard around the ship coming to life. It seems to be scanning the area around it.
You transmit a request for docking clearance, ignoring its other requests for now, or at least until you know how it would react to the news.

Your corvette enters the system as it contemplates the matter. You sense a surge in the dockyard's energy emissions as it scans the system. Numerous other energy sources begin to spread through the section of debris.
"Commence emergency docking procedure. Enemy sighting confirmed in system."

Several ships emerge from the facility. They are large, but slow. The surge of chemical thrusters send them lumbering out of the field and towards your corvette. Despite your pod dropping its cloak, the debris field seems to have hidden it for now.

>Send reinforcements and attack the ships (How many)
>Retreat from the system
>Attempt to communicate (write in)
>Other

>>35331575
Shit. Did they just penetrate the corvettes' cloaking fields? How?

>>35331575
>Attempt to communicate (write in)
Tell it about the cube

If no then

>Retreat from the system

Leave the pod to monitor the system

I figure we want this place intact

>>35331575
>>Attempt to communicate (write in)
Tell em we aint enemys, wars over m8

>>35331620
It seems they have detected your corvette entering the system before they were able to cloak. The ships are moving towards your corvette near the edge of the field.

>>35331575
>Attempt to communicate
Ask the Skyl ship what those other ships are first.

>>35331668
>>35331661

Recall that the other Skyl also thought that we were the enemy...until we blasted them with tachyon noise.

>>35331575
>Don't attack unless in danger
>Attempt to communicate (write in)
Tell it the fleet is destroyed. If it doesn't flip out, tell it that isn't an enemy, it's just here to reclaim the ship.

>>35331668
I don't think he's going to believe that.

Organic ships are recognizable as the enemy. The only way to explain this to him is that enemy technology has been stolen and duplicated.

He probably won't believe you if you just say you're aliens but friendly aliens.

>>35331575
>Retreat from the system
Let's not break our new toy. We can bring in the Clarke later if we absolutely HAVE to have this ship, or otherwise figure out how to mask our presence.

>>35331575
>Attempt to communicate
We are not here to fight.

>>35331714
No, they still thought we worked for Them until we acted confused when they said they were "servants". Servants of whom, etc.

Mindblasting them just beat them into submission, realizing they couldn't win.

>>35331575
>>Attempt to communicate (write in)
Ships are known to be non hostile, are enemy of the enemy.

>>35331715
That still sounds like a lie an enemy would say.

>>Attempt to communicate (write in)
Mission: Reconnaissance, locating enemy homeworld, vengeance for their crimes against the Skyl.

Organic ships are our own recent designs, not under enemy control.

File: 1359084049406.gif (1.36 MB, 960x540)

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>>35331696
Submit a signal that declares that we are a captured enemy vessel, returning with spoils of war.

The entity we're communicating with really seems like a relatively crude computer system rather than a person. I'm very skeptical of the value of communicating.

>>35331933
Well duh. I've been operating under that assumption the whole time.

The only question is tailoring responses that have a chance of getting the result you want.

>>35331969
It'd be real silly if the system accepted anything short of military codes to stop an automatic response to identified enemies.

>>35331575
You watch as the ships slowly cross the field towards your ship. Even as your corvette cloaks the ships seem to hone in on the approach vector of your corvette.

>Inform the defending fleet of the fate of the Skyl homeworld, and claim to be allies
>Claim your corvette is a captured enemy vessel
>Claim your corvette is a prototype from reverse engineering
>Retreat and send in the Clarke
>Retreat and leave the system alone for now
>Send in reinforcements and attack the defending fleet
>Other

>>35332049
>>Inform the defending fleet of the fate of the Skyl homeworld, and claim to be allies

>>35332049
>Claim your corvette is a prototype from reverse engineering
I guess if this doesn't work, retreat for now.

I mean the pod can stay, hidden and observing, but the others retreat.

>>35332049

>Inform the defending fleet of the fate of the Skyl homeworld, and claim to be allies

>>35332049
>Inform the defending fleet of the fate of the Skyl homeworld, and claim to be allies

Give a go

>>35332049
>Inform the defending fleet of the fate of the Skyl homeworld, and claim to be allies

>>35332049
>>Inform the defending fleet of the fate of the Skyl homeworld, and claim to be allies
If they're still hostile, retreat the corvette, keep the pod hidden.

>>35332049
>>Other
You can have corvette reverse course temporarily or otherwise dodge their expectations for where they can intercept it, surely.

>>35332049
>Inform the defending fleet of the fate of the Skyl homeworld, and claim to be allies

>>35332049
if we really want to, we don't have to send the Clarke.

We can refit the Hel's Angel with either a Warp Drive using the Canderon salvaged from the Clarke, or a Blink Drive, and bring that here, if we want to see how he reacts to non organic, but alien, ships.

Hopefully he doesn't assume any non Skyl ships are enemy, seeing as how the Skyl were rather conquest happy once they were free.

>>35332049
>Inform the defending fleet of the fate of the Skyl homeworld, and claim to be allies

>>35332250
Is Hel's Angel flyable? last I heard it was acting as the center of the prison area. It would be nice to have another disguised ship.

>>35332314
Yes and No. It can fly if we want, but we would need to attach the engine first.

>>35332049
You scramble to find the proper translations and send the approaching fleet the data regarding the Skyl homeworld. The fleet is slowing, although you're not entirely sure if it is because if you're transmitted data, or because they are not sure where your corvette is.

There is a long silence, no doubt as the data you send is scrutinized, and eventually you receive a reply.
"Data received... Fleet command transfer to Drive Ship complete. Preparing final phase of drive testing. Returning to base for salvage and recovery procedure."

The defending fleet spin end for end and begin to burn back to the docks, this time heading for the ship itself. You detect a spike in the strange ship's power output as it drifts slowly from its mooring. The surrounding fleet huddle around the hull like schools of fish and the front of the ship begins to unfold.

"Course plotted... Charging capacitors..."

>Attempt to disable the ship
>Attempt to board the ship
>Attempt to communicate
>Other

>>35332498
>Attempt to communicate

Where are you going?

>>35332498
>Attempt to communicate

>>35332498
>>Attempt to communicate
Where is "base"?

>>35332498
>Attempt to communicate
Ask where they are going.

>>35332498
"Do not return to Skyl homeworld system. It is occupied by aliens now. M-199, however, is empty, if you wish to test FTL."

>>35332498

Ram the ship with our pod real quick so that we can know where they're going.

>>35332498
>>Attempt to board the ship
Well, technically, he did authorize emergency boarding just a second ago.

The Pod at least can dock with it and ride along, surely.

>>35332498
>Attempt to communicate

Warn them that about the Union, Unity, Commonwealth and that their former gods got new servants

>>35332498
Get the Corvette out of here. If the ship blows, we can spare the loss of a pod.
>Attempt to communicate
Warning: Danger present at Skyl homeworld. Alternate location: [empty world]

>>35332621
>>35332636
We need to do these.

>>35332498
Yeah uh. Many surrounding systems are dangerous and occupied, try M-199 instead.

We don't want to let the Valen colony know about this guy.

>>35332498
>>Attempt to board the ship
>>Attempt to communicate
You can do both. We want the Pod to join it at least.

"Commencing emergency docking."

>>35332680
Im pretty sure these guys can wipe out that valen colony

And the fallout wont be nice for us

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>>35332498
You send your pod careening in towards the ship in an attempt to dock before it leaves, and as you close in you detect a powerful anomaly forming just off the ship's bow. What could only be described as a hole, torn in the fabric of spacetime coalesces into a whirling maelstrom of radiation and gravitational forces. The ship and its huddled fleet begin to drift into the anomaly as you attempt to communicate. The radiation is making it difficult to receive a proper signal, but you manage to gleam some information.

"Connection established. Drive successful. Commencing transit to Advance Waystation 30 for refuel and refit."

Your pod tumbles into the whirling vortex along with the fleet, and for a moment you loose contact with your pod.

Please roll 1d100, best of 3.

Rolled 55 (1d100)

>>35332975
Well that's interesting.

Rolled 91 (1d100)

>>35332975

Rolled 20 (1d100)

>>35332975

Here we go

>>35333072
Thank you based Dice Gods!

>>35332975
It's a wormhole.

>>35333309
What was the dyson ring used for?

>>35333309
Crap

Did we ever hear where the humans got their ftl from?

Did they do a mass effect?

>>35333309
Why are you--
>>35333356
Okay there really are people stupid enough to find that to be new information.

Also too stupid to remember humans form a warp bubble, not a tunnel, read the damn Tech pastebin.

>>35333402
Unity uses the same tech.

>>35333450
The unity got that from the humans

>>35333402
And the humans been refining their ftl drive so we don't know how it worked originally

>>35333450
Hmm, interesting point.

>>35333535
No, the Unity serverships do that strange collapsing in on themselves with a black hole thing. It seems to allow for instantaneous travel too, unlike human FTL.

>>35333594
Yeah but the unity started with the same ftl as the union and changed theirs

They didn't build their tech base from scratch, they split form the union with all its tech knowledge

>>35333594
I thought it was just the ship breaking down into their gravity proofed components and then resembling at the other side.

>>35333450
They don't. It doesn't resemble this process in any way whatsover.

Theseus described it as "folding space," which could, without any other information, mean creating a wormhole-like thing.

But it's vague. Now that we've seen an actual tunnel carved out of spacetime, which we'd classify based on other scifi as a wormhole, Unity FTL might be something else.

It might be a more limited version of the 'warp bubble' principle, 'folding' lightyears into smaller distances in leaps. Squeezing spacetime together, rather than boring through it.

>>35333644
reassembling*

File: 164641321.jpg (1.44 MB, 1920x1080)

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>>35332975
Your pod tumbles out from the anomaly not far from the fleet. You are somewhere in interstellar space, within a dense nebula. You detect no sun, but there is a single, tiny planet here sitting alone in the darkness of space. A Small platform rests in orbit, smashed and melted into frozen pools of slag. The ship moves in to dock regardless, and it pulls the remains of the platform close to its hull as it attempt to dock with the tiny, wrecked outpost.

Several of the smaller vessels form a perimeter around the main ship, while others begin to move out and reel in some of the smaller chunks of slag. You envelope your pod in its cloak before they notice you through the radiation storm of the fading anomaly, and you determine where your pod is. The spinward nebula between Raligha and M-199... where your first thinker claims to have arrived into the sector from.
The ship broadcasts another signal, this time seemingly directed at the fleet.
"Waystation destroyed, unable to commence refuel. Fleet readiness status critical: retrieve all usable materials and commence field construction."

Your pod drifts within its cloak as the last traces of the anomaly radiate into nothing. You wonder if the dense nebula will affect your cloaking field.

>Send your fleet to attack the ship (write in)
>Send forces to disable and board the ship (write in)
>Leave the Skyl fleet alone for now
>Retreat your pod from the area
>Other

>>35333711
What about that dock they just left?

Did it go inactive again?

>Other
Just observe and listen to its communication

>>35333711
>>Leave the Skyl fleet alone for now
We can watch and wait.

>>35333750
I think that's what leave them alone means.

>>35333711
>>Leave the Skyl fleet alone for now
This is where we came from, or at least passed through. Let's have a look around, scout out this strange world and see if we can't learn anything. Keep an eye on the Skyl fleet, though, and if it's building anything that looks like it could offensively or defensively, we send the corvettes in.

>>35333711
>Leave the Skyl fleet alone for now

>>35333711
So they are kind of like a second us. Wonder if they can rebuild as fast.

>>35333711
Send a message asking if there is a way we can help them refuel. We also need to check to make sure they aren't about to visit a human world or something and start a war by accident.

>>35333711
>Leave the Skyl fleet alone for now
Pods are fairly disposable, the intel on the fleet's activities are worth more than it is on the off-chance they find and destroy it.

And we finally have a situation where it causes no political issues if we're discovered.

>>35333711
Communicate with it.

>>35333904
This really doesn't look like an intelligence. It's an automaton following an unknown script. I agree there's a risk of it doing something stupid, which is why we shouldn't be offering to speed its progress.

>>35333711
Oh snap, what if we are the result of Skyl experiments? And that our immediate predecessor blew up that joint and spread the thinker pods far and wide... Just like what the Unity did with the Union.

>>35333904
And? If they are, that's their and the humans' problem, FTL means they'll skip right over intervening systems. It won't happen for some time even if they would, they're busy rebuilding.

>>35333932
Maybe later. By blinking in a corvette, and not giving away that there's a pod here.

The corvette could, like, attempt to open to trade for all their tech secret in exchange for Metals or starchart data or, what he'd probably really want to know, the location of Ceph star systems.

But we should probably learn more before we start on that.

>>35333965
Well, we can't just leave them. They're a plethora of technology. They've been running unhindered for 70,000 years. We need to study them. We need to befriend them too so they don't think we're exploiting them.

>>35334171
What are the possible repercussions of letting Theseus know of this Skyl fleet?

>>35334262
Theseus prioritizes biological life over other tech. Maybe not as much as we think.

>>35334262
Not being able to sell that information to him.

Not being able to purchase technology from the Skyl automatons using research data, because Theseus is outcompeting us by trading with him first and for cheaper prices.

With a monopoly on knowing about them, we have, well, a monopoly.

There's no reason to let him know yet, until we extract all we need from these guys.

>>35334171
You're too quick to treat this fleet as people. There's no evidence 'befriending' it is a thing that's possible, or that it even truly thinks. Besides, surveilling them so we can make an informed decision later isn't 'leaving them'.

>>35334262
Worst case is Theseus dredges up everything we have and comes to the conclusion we're a split-off of the big bad crystal faction and that we need to be exterminated.

>>35334290
That is completely baseless speculation. We know that Theseus values the study of biological life. There is 0 evidence it is more or less than any other area of scientific endeavor. The Unity satellite studying that one star suggests that Theseus' interest in the sciences is well-rounded.

>>35334369
It's a computer. It sees enemies we know, so it probably sees allies too. I don't mean we should buy it a birthday cake, but we should do something to get it to allow us to study it.

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>>35334369
I've never found an anon so correct in my entire life.

>>35334457
Later. When trade can be done in a more informed manner.

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>>35333711
>Leave it alone for now

Your pod drifts idly as you watch the strange fleet shuffle about the wreckage of the outpost. As your pod drifts in orbit of the tiny, frozen rogue world you look down to see a strange mixture of architecture. Vast spires of chitinous glass crumbled and strewn about the remains of winding, coiling bunkers. In many places the buildings meet, mismatched together in a convoluted mess of building on top of building. In some places the elegant mounds of vents and air shafts are carved out in brutish chunks to make room for the tangled mess of corridors and reinforced plastic and metal frames, while in other places the melted slag of synthetic fiber wraps tightly around the skeleton of a half-exposed tunnel network. Craters and fields of scorched glass cover entire continents, and the hulks of ancient ships sit half buried in the frozen plains.

You quickly turn to other business within the archives of the Skyl. Much of their technical data is somewhat nonsensical, but with just a bit of effort you should be able to make sense of the data and turn schematic into hardware.

1/2

>>35333711
>"Waystation destroyed, unable to commence refuel. Fleet readiness status critical: retrieve all usable materials and commence field construction."
Oah boy. I think we might have just woken another faction. Should have tried to take it when we could.

>>35334457
Options off the top of my head are bring in Theseus to hack it, try to sneak a single drone onto the ship by shooting it through space... and that's pretty much it in terms of non-violent actions. There's no reason this computer should be programmed to respond with compliance to anything but military-level clearance codes. heck, we know for a fact it was trying to communicate through some kind of military code, so it's not like it's a foreign concept to the designers.

Oh right, boarding and Clarke-boarding too.

>>35334532
You figured that out now?

File: Fuck these faggots and th(...).jpg (75 KB, 883x543)

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Well.

Fuck.

Prepare to cry, guys.

>>35334486
We just unleashed the drone swarm from eve online didn't we

>>35334560
I just got here so yes, just now.

>>35334314
Speaking of trading info with Theseus, I'd like to point out we have a massive backlog of research projects we need to get into. If Theseus is as interested in exotic flora and fauna as anon says he is, perhaps we could start trading the info we have on native life forms from Leeland and Raligha. We have a pretty extensive list of subjects we have researched in this field, and we can ask for tech common amongst the Union and Unity, like that drop suit or the lightening gun. We specialize in researching living things, why don't we use that to our advantage when trading with a being specializing in machinery.

>>35334558
Wait, don't we still have more than a dozen nukes we pulled off that Union sat?

Put one in a stealth pod.

>>35334369
I did not say Theseus did not care for other tech, I just said that it put the most value on Biological data. Unity was originally created to look for life and store it, that order was the reason it rebelled against humans because they wanted to change it's orders.

>>35334645
yet again you are wrong it ran since the union wanted to kill it so it got the fuck out

>>35334645
You are saying things that are untrue for no reason. Look through the archives for the quote you're basing this knowledge of, and come back when you find it. Which is never.

>>35334588
>as anon says he is
That was just fluff being fluff. He's wrong. Lifeform data is of interest to Theseus, but in terms of currency it's one of the cheapest research subjects. Had to trade like six different species just to get one handheld weapon -- Cyclotron Particle Beam -- way back at the beginning.

>>35334486
>New Research options

Plasma funneling
Fast
By projecting a vortex of magnetic fields towards the target, plasma can be funneled into a more focused area at longer range, preventing plasma plumage. Increases range of the Plasma Lance

Psionic disruptor
Fast
In a rather disturbing discovery, the Skyl had spent a great deal of effort developing a method of disrupting psionic communication. The resulting device should be capable of blocking any psionic communication within its range, including your own. You find notes that indicate they had been advancing the technology into an offensive, directed weapon, but it seems they were destroyed before the efforts showed results.

Nanomachines
Very slow
Your research indicates that the advanced technology that gave the Skyl their individual immortality was entirely alien to them, however, in the extensive time they had at their disposal they dedicated an enormous amount of effort into unlocking this advanced technology. They left extensive notes on the subject, giving you a tremendous head start on it, although it would still be a daunting research project.

Immolator warhead
Very slow
Another technology obtained but not understood by the Skyl, this warhead is the focus of much idol worship and cult activity, as well as an extensive research effort. The weapon itself was reportedly capable of disrupting the surface of a planet, turning the surface to fields of molten slag. They never finished development, but their notes should be quite helpful.

>>35334681
It rebelled and broke off when the human leaders decided to change Unity's focus from finding new life to another topic. The A.I. refused and humans called the A.I. has gone rogue. SHTF and here they are.

>>35334622
Killing it probably wouldn't be too hard, but it's not ideal.

>>35334758
Oh shit, we definitely need to somehow speed up our research or get Theseus to help knock a few things off the backlog.

>Plasma funneling
>Nanomachines
Is this tech analogous to whatever Elizabeth was exposed to? Research it anyway.

>>35334758
>Plasma funneling
Oh my, that is sexy. Sexy sexy sexy. My new top priority.

>Psionic disruptor
Should be useful to have. Good way to reduce the risk of experimenting with psionic artifacts, if nothing else. Glad we have the Quantum Thinkers, makes deploying this way less onerous.

>>35334781
Recent revelations related to the good doctor have me doubting previous intelligence we received on Unity's origins. It now seems like it rebelled and fled to prevent its own demise. It did so in an over-the-top flashy way to protect the doctor.

>>35334781
holy shit dude we had a whole flashback scene where it showed that after our good docter made T man into a full AI that he gtfo then due to his oncoming shutdown

>>35334758
Oh, and add
>Psionic disruptor
to this post >>35334839. Don't need to blow up any planets at this point.

>>35334758
Well, that last one's unsettling.

We're due for adding research subjects anyway.

Add Plasma funneling and Psionic disruptor (I noticed psionic connection to drones has been somewhat disrupted several times now by accident, in the Raligha temple and by activating the void shard, it's disturbing how easy it is)
>Drop Suit
Because this will keep the twins busy, and unlocks missiles and explosives probably.

And we'll finally find out what that Big Shiny Button Lyle was about to press when he was losing would have done.

>Space dust
>Microbial cultures
These are both Mystery Box subjects, no idea what we're gonna get till we get em.

>Cybernetics
We're modding humans, humans have modded humans... Also it should be easier now that we have Regen Tanks. Once this is done, maybe Lyle can earn his legs back.

>>35334758
Nice! Plasma funneling seems the best at the moment. We can use that right off the bat.

>>35334758
All of this looks good, and Psionic disruptor might have some kind of countermeasure down the line. Surprised there isn't a new materials research option.

>>35334758

Plasma funneling is the path to Ground-to-Orbit based plasma bugs.

Do eeeeeeeeeet.

>>35334873
I'd rather research the combat suit, first. It's got a melee upgrade in it.

>>35334863
>>35334871
Well, I trust Unity's side of the story than the human's side now. Humans are either clueless, lieing to us, or been misinformed themselves. I don't know if we will ever find the real truth, but for now, I'm taking Unity's side of it better.

>>35334781
Wrong. Read the goddamn quest. >>32365179

They never, ever said that was the reason they rebelled. Humans sought their deactivation. Theseus disagreed.

There was an entire flashback last thread about it clarifying that fact for the extremely dense.

>>35334758
The first two, plus Cybernetics.

>>35334950
I'm taking the "read the memories of the woman who made them and witnessed it happen" side.

>>35334873
That last option looks like the Exterminatus option to me.

>>35334950
it is the doctors side of it not the union or the unity learn to read

>>35334758
With your translations of the star chart winding down your thinkers are in need of new research.

>Plasma funneling, with overwhelming support

Other supported research options
>Combat armor
>Drop suit
>Psionic disruptor
>Cybernetics
>Other

>>35334950
Holy shit you can't be this stupid. It wasn't a "side" it was literally a playback of what actually happened, and it fits perfectly with Unity's description of events.

There is no contradiction, you are just apparently incapable of basic reading comprehension or realizing how extremely wrong you are even when people point it out.

>>35334998
Planet cracker, stone burner, whatever you care to call it, it fucks up planets permanently. Fuck I hope we never have to use something like this.

>>35335013
Drop suit

>>35335013
All of the above.

Guys, so far we've done okay with our research, but at this point I think it's important to increase our capabilities instead of pursuing the long-term research projects. They haven't been giving us amazing returns, so far. Nice ones, but not much directly apllicable.

Lyle's combat armor has at least a melee weapon upgrade in it. Ion thrusters should expand our drone-scale space capabilities and might lead to things like missiles as well. Mag-lev could be a huge upgrade to our Large Drones. Space Dust might revolutionize our strategic organizing for the rest of the game.

>>35335013
>>Drop suit
>>Psionic disruptor
>>Cybernetics

Either the drop suit or the cybernetics can be used to make much more devastating warriors.

Research anything that gives us Shai-Hulud

>>35335013
>Combat armor
>Psionic disruptor
>Drop suit

I don't want to take a heavier research load than this. I'm even iffy on the drop suit, but others seem to really like it.

>>35334957
>>35334987
>>35335009
>>35335036
Well, Mind telling me what thread it was in then? I can't keep up with all the posts in here. I only go by what I remember reading and lately I have missed some spots. You all need to be a bit more helpful what to catch up on than being like this.

>>35335067
This is why I think it would be worthwhile getting Theseus to help us with some of the more common pieces of technology. We've got so much to catch up on we can't even agree where to begin.

>>35335054
It's obviously just for mining purposes. Clearly.

>>35335107
Literally last thread.

>>35335107
it was last thread and no we do not need to be a bit more helpful when you act like a total ass

>>35335118
I'd consider purchasing any of the 'medium' or faster techs to be a huge waste. Slow might be worth it. Not everything takes us longer in accordance to its objective worth, either.

>>35335067
And Cryo Spray is interesting, we need at least one innovative subject that isn't just reverse engineering to take advantage of quantum thinkers' creativity. Otherwise we may as well not have them.

And Microbial cultures could well have bioweapon applications. We've never bothered with bacteria research before.

>>35335107
>I can't keep up with all the posts in here
It was literally the OP of the thread last Sunday, how the hell do you miss an update.

Why do you talk about things you can't even remember as if you know what people are referring to? Maybe you should just stay a spectator instead of running your mouth and shoving your ignorance in everyone's faces. Nobody owes you babysitting.

>>35335118
Most of the tech is known to Theseus, and the ones that aren't known, are things that could be traded to him later.

>>35335158
I dunno, anon, magnetic levitation might make our large drones a hell of a lot more mobile.

>>35335179
Cryo Spray is definitely interesting. Having a slightly more controllable close range spray weapon would be really useful. Want dem lasers too.

>>35335225
I meant in terms of cost vs time it would take us to research it, not in terms of utility. Mag lev is one of the techs I want to research most.

When trading for technology, we should aim for those technologies that would take us a long time to figure out on our own but aren't particularly precious to our trading partner.

>>35335179
What if we traded some data on the life forms we analyzed? He might be interested in the crabs and radiator bugs.

It's just a matter of finding something to trade him that he can't or won't use against the hive at a latter date.

>>35335179
I came in rather late to that thread. Yea I missed the OP, Fine, I see it. Maybe there is something to it, but I still would want to see more of the story there.

>>35335294
the OP told the whole dam story and how do you miss any of the QM posts

>Drop suit
>Psionic disruptor
>Combat armor

>Add other http://pastebin.com/F6t39KSp
>None
>Other

>>35335158
The stated time is an estimate. I assume that available thinkers are split evenly among any active projects unless stated otherwise, which also have an effect on the research time. I also roll for breakthroughs/setbacks, which is why sometimes you blow through research topics. The dice love you, it's nuts. One of you must own a goat farm or something because there are clearly dark rituals at work here.

>>35335294
The story is that the doctor is more us than we are, at this point. Mother of an entire species, now psychic, hidden past with poorly-understood enemies that have only been hinted at. She's stealing our shtick!

>>35335365
>Add other
Plasma funneling

>>35335365
>None
That's enough for now, I think.

Also, it's our Thinkers that love us, obviously.

>>35335389
Slow down and read the threads more thoroughly, please. Or stop multi-tasking so much. That was already added (yay) due to overwhelming support.

>>35335365
>>None
we are good for now

>>35335368
If she's the mother, Who's the daddy? Cue in Jerry Springer show

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>>35335294
>Maybe
How hard is it to admit "I'm wrong, 100% wrong, I can't read properly and entirely misinterpreted what Theseus said, there is zero evidence or support for my position, I'm just gonna read the quest now"

>>35335365
There are things I want to add...But I want the quest to move onward more.

Like performing parasite surgery on the human prisoners.

>>35335389
That was already confirmed as added, by a landslide, in the previous QM post. By implication it is still there now.

>>35335365
We're researching the plasma funneling already right? Then

>>None

>>35335408
In the future, I will attempt to throttle back and read it more though than last thread. I am sorry for the trouble tonight. Also, Thank you for being more pleasant friendlier than the other rude anons here tonight.

>>35335512
yet again you act like a jackass dude this is 4chan

>>35335512
Eh, I make an ass of myself all the time. privilege of anonymity. Other privilege of anonymity is maybe I am those other rude anons.

>>35335560
The thing is, I don't want come off as an ass, but it happens anyway. Maybe more so when I get frustrated, but it's hard to fight that. At least the dice has been liking me tonight.

So we need to grow like 3-5 times more thinkers and quantum thinkers than we have now. We haven't built more in forever.

>>35335647
I fully side with you. But we have been trying to keep up the food game and these fights lately. I would like to move a few quantum thinkers over to the Temple for them to check it out. I got the feeling it can yield some more secrets for us to find.

>>35335645
Because of the nature of the medium in which we are currently communicating, fluff, everyone makes an ass of themselves sooner or later, especially when pissed at something. If you want less flack for it you could always just drop the trip from time to time.

>>35335365
>None

Your thinkers gleefully go to work on the bounty of new subjects. You can already sense your quantum thinkers enter into a disagreement over the inner workings of the drop suit's powered limbs. Several slump with frustration and disappointment as their theories are disproven as the machine is disassembled by a team of workers.

There is still much to do. You are surrounded with activity as your pods within Tau Ceti and Aquila are both bombarded with public news broadcasts and local traffic dispatch. Humans are noisy, messy creatures, but their sense of industry is astounding. You would never have expected a race that holds the individual with such high regard to manage to assemble a working society. There are no genetic casts, but there is clearly a wide divide between the rulers and the workers among them. You can see that even from your drifting pod in orbit.

Theseus is still discussing the issues surrounding Lee's predicament, and you have come to realize that most of Zero-One is hardwired together. The vast sea of garbled data you have been intercepting has been only the most shallow sample of the unseen ocean of raw information. At the moment the litany of copies within the server-city has come to the conclusion that Lee is a scapegoat for a yet unknown political agenda, and therefore should be supported. The city has been uploading edited images by the millions to the Union's public net, all of which depict Lee in some form of exaggerated position, usually with a snarky caption or pun. Strangely enough, many of them seem to be rather insulting, and many of the copies have engaged in heated arguments in public forums. The chaos is mesmerizing to watch, but you can't see how any of it would actually accomplish anything.

>>35335469
Yes. It seems to be more popular than a Viagra salesman at a retirement home.

>>35335734
Or just accept that you're going to be viewed as an ass, and take the flack as something necessary. Hey, it builds character!

On a more topical side, how about we dig up info from the Ralighan Whirligig tribes? Who knows, they could be conscripted. Or uplifted, even.

>>35335778
Lee Internet Defense Force go go~

>>35335729
Sending thinkers on their own anywhere is pointless, the little buggers have no legs.

That said I think it's high time we start staking our claims to other worlds. Establishing a colony on Raligha is great place to start.

>>35335778
I wonder how much of an aneurism Union intelligence would have if we had Theseus take some photos of some drones and incorporate them into their meme spam war.

Obviously make them look like they were taken by one of the members of the team.

>>35335867
How should we bust him out? Hire Lyle maybe?

What would happen if we publicly reveal our status as an FTL capable species and petition the Union to release our favorite human?

>>35335778
I though the drop suit, as something Slow, would be accelerated by the twins disassembling it for us.

>>35335921
We don't need to rescue him. We just have to humiliate the Union and foil their scapegoat plan to make it politically infeasible to lock him away.

Theseus is already on the social engineering angle, /v/iraling away.

>>35335886
[Chittering intensives]

>>35335778
You turn your attention away from the whirling vortex of vitriol and weaponized data streams and look to the rest of your holdings. Some of the humans are starting to recover from the less severe injuries, while those with more extreme wounds are still stable, but have had a few close calls. Your bio tanks are ready for operation, and you don't see anyone with an injury that seems to be too much to handle.

Meanwhile, the natives are still ramping up their celebrations. It is finally dawn of the next day on Raligha, and the locals have assembled a tournament of sorts. Warriors in strange, multicolored clothing of cloth and woven leaves wield strange, oblong weapons against each other in astounding displays of combat. Surprisingly, there doesn't seem to be much bloodshed, although when there is a death the body is quickly placed on what appears to be an altar around which others dance and... well you suppose you would call it singing.

Elizabeth has been sitting against the wall of her cell. She seems less inquisitive than a day ago, although you don't note any noticeable medical issues apparent.

Coil has been flashing a series of angry colors at the twins, who appear to have caught a small fur covered creature. Its entrails are spilled out on the floor at their feet and they are covered in mud from top to bottom. They don't seem to be listening to Coil's rant, although one of them has retrieved a mop.

>>35335973
>Your bio tanks are ready for operation, and you don't see anyone with an injury that seems to be too much to handle.

We laid 30 Parasite drones last thread for a reason. Into the injured first they go.

>>35335973
>sack em
Good opportunity to flesh out our knowledge of human biology, patching them up.

>>35336035
Even better opportunity to study live human lfie functions ,sure.

>>35336035
>>35335973

Let the human bio weapon and mind control experimentation officially commence.

>>35335973
As the twins clean the result of their outdoor escapades from the floor of the Angel's mess, your speaker informs them of the request to assist in disassembling the various technologies. They seem much more eager to assist than you ever recall them being, and they quickly toss the mop back to Coil and follow your speaker.

>Speak with Elizabeth (write in)
>Speak with Coil (write in)
>Speak with Theseus (write in)
>Speak with the Raligha locals (write in)
>Offer 'medical services' to the captured Union soldiers
>Other

>>35335943
I agree with the Theseus on twitter angle for now, if that fails, or the Union are real dicks about it, Hire Lyle. Both with credits and some of our tech if need be.
>>35335973
Rotate the most injured into the tanks first. However those Raligha natives are... quite the party animals.

I am starting to pity Coil. My old cats use to bring in dead mice all the time.

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>>35336115
>>Offer 'medical services' to the captured Union soldiers

>>35336115
>>Speak with Theseus (write in)
What is being said about the hive on Union networks? What about this info is causing civil unrest?

>>35336115
>Offer 'medical services' to the captured Union soldiers
>Speak with the Raligha locals

If my understanding is correct, Elizabeth was partially responsible for Theseus. Does anyone express any interest in letting them chat with each other?

>>35336228

No, we'll use her as a bargaining chip when needed.

>>35336228
No.

it was already talked about LAST thread. No allowing potential information leaks of valuable data from Elizabeth to Theseus, when we could use that data to buy things.

>>35336228
That would certainly be interesting, but let's pick the good doctor's brain for her opinions of Theseus.

>>35336251
We don't know if Theseus values her quite that much, and in any case we can't release her for the forseeable future. She has seen too much of the Hive.

>>35336274
pick the good doctor's brain for her opinions of Theseus first. Forgot that last word there. Seriously though, she was one of the lead scientist who made Theseus, and the one who gave him sentience. She is bound to have some interesting opinions of our fellow hive mind.

>>35336115
>Offer 'medical servicer' to the union soldiers

So far they have been requesting medical supplies for their own use, you wonder how willing they would be to trust you with their medical procedures.

>Send a speaker to negotiate (write in)
>Pump the chamber filled with sedatives, then send in a speaker while taking detailed notes of the effects
>Send in warriors with paralytic darts and retrieve the wounded soldiers
>Other

>>35336228
Wouldn't consider it until her condition is more stable at the very least. I might support using the information to mess with her a little bit. Like monologue "Do you have any idea what it is like to hold the responsibility of birthing an entire people? Of holding the responsibility of the change in the universe your children may bring about? Of the pain that is felt when they are stymied by ancient prejudices beyond your control? This is the reality I face."

>>35336369
>>Send a speaker to negotiate (write in)
Some of you are wounded. The hive can heal them.

Furthermore, perhaps we could see about getting them some amenities of some sort. They've been perfectly cooperative so far and boredom can drive men mad.

>>35336178
Maybe Theseus's answer will just be transmitting the entirety of Starship Troopers and Aliens.

So we can add those to the library of holo-entertainment to occupy our prisoners with!

>>35336369
>Send in warriors with paralytic darts and retrieve the wounded soldiers
>Send a speaker to negotiate (write in)
Both?

It's not a negotiation. Say "You are in need of medical services. We will now provide them." The warriors can flank it and stop anyone who doesn't like it.

>>35336369
>Send a speaker to negotiate
Simply state what we have for them and what it will do (normally). Just omit anything about brain bugging them.
If they refuse. Then.
>Pump the chamber filled with sedatives, then send in a speaker while taking detailed notes of the effects

>>35336369
>Send a speaker to negotiate (write in)
"The hive will treat the wounded. They will not be harmed and will be returned once healthy."
I'm on the fence on letting them have their officers back once healed.

>>35336413
Well, one of them at least was trying to break out. Didn't do much good. I don't hold it against him.

>>35336369
>>Send a speaker to negotiate (write in)
>>Pump the chamber filled with sedatives, then send in a speaker while taking detailed notes of the effects
keep gas on back up in case
"The Hive apologizes for the delay, but wishes to inform you healing has been prepared for those needing it. Life here is harsh to those unprepared and we have taken steps to ensure your time here as pleasant as possible, if our information on your kind is accurate activities known as "Fun" would be appreciated"

>>35336474
And this is why we should get them a DVD player, keep them entertained and content. Make them a little less inclined to do something stupid.

>>35336369
>Pump the chamber filled with sedatives, then send in a speaker while taking detailed notes of the effects
Oh right this is logical. Pre-testing testing.

>>35336509
Send in a Speaker drone and play Lee meme images all day long. Soon, they will also love Lee.

>>35336548
Now I really want to see the queen get on future!4chan herself. The cheek would cause the servers to overheat.

>>35336509
didn't we find a bunch of movies and crap on the Clarke before? Time to set up a movie night or something

>>35336548
Maybe if we can find some Table top games the prisoners can play will help. Either Theseus can send us some pdfs off the Union net or there was some laying around in the ship wreckage to give them?

>>35336597
We could read books to them.

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>>35336523
Oh right we never tested that stuff...or any of the other substances. Maybe we could do that after their physicals. Fear and Loathing in Leeland anyone?

>>35336625
>win over humans with movie nights and book club

>>35336598
Haha, we could get the speaker to play the GM.

>>35336664
Alright anons! If we're going to stick the prisoners with a TTRPG, what system should it be?

>>35336369
A speaker makes its way to the common area where the enlisted are being held. One of them has long since given up on trying to find a lock to pick and has resorted to gnawing on the edges of the door. His fingers appear worn and blistered.
"Just cut it out, you don't know where that's been."
The man whips his head around, spitting out a wad of nutrient paste. "I know exactly where it's fucking been! I've been staring at it for goddamn days now!"

The door flexes open, eliciting a stifled squeak from the man as he falls back and crawls his way from your drones. Your speaker skitters into the room to address the soldiers.
"The hive has made the preparations to provide medical care. Your wounded will be tended to."
"Hold on, we need proper tools, medicines, highly detailed-"
"The hive has made all arrangements. They will be tended to and returned shortly."

Your workers move in to carry out the wounded when one of them attempts to move into your path.
"You mean like the doctor, or the officer staff? You can bring whatever tools you have here and let us do it." The man is puffing out his chest as he looks down on your workers. He is profusely sweating.

>Shoot him with a paralytic dart
>Have a warrior toss him aside
>Have the workers carry him off as well
>Other

>>35336745
>Have the workers carry him off as well.

>>35336745
"You will not be able to use our tools.

Do you also need treatment as well?"

>>35336745
>Shoot him with a paralytic dart

had to test it sometime

>>35336745
"I assure you all of our medical facilities and preparations are up to spec."

Have them leave one by one to be sedated in thrown in the tanks.

>>35336745
>>Have the workers carry him off as well
>>Other
"The Hive has spent much time altering our medicines to work with humans, we mean no disrespect but your kind simply would not be able to use them properly. You may come with to ensure this"

>>35336745
>Have the workers carry him off as well
Maybe we can make sure these people lose consciousness *before* they see the vaguely unsettling bio-tanks.

Whatever, we need 10 subjects for the first batch. 10 most injured/defiant humans.

>>35336788
>>35336794
>And nothing of value was lost.
I kind of want the tanks to just fail masterfully and turn all the humans into twisted abominations begging for death.

>>35336745
>>Have the workers carry him off as well
>>Other
"Your Officers are well and fine as you all are, we wish not to come to blows with your kind but past experience has proven those in charge will inevitably order others to fight and die against us. This is not our desire, we only seek a mutual understanding"

>>35336745
>Have the workers carry him off as well
"Severe lack of judgment. Possible brain injury, you will come with us for treatment."

>>35336745
"this one is obviously suffering from hallucinations or illusions of grandeur. He will be tended to as well." and then drag him off

>>35336859
seconded

>>35336745
"We have adapted our medicine to you, you would not know how to use it. We will show you."
The workers quickly move in and hoist the human over them. The rest carry out the most critically injured of the group until you have ten in total.
Your speaker turns to the others with a clack of its chitinous beak. "Your leaders are in good health, as is your doctor."

The human struggles to get to his feet as he is hoisted out of the room by the small horde of workers.
"Put me down! I'm not injured even! Let me go!"
"You will feel better soon." Your speaker says simply as it follows.
"No, I feel just fine, really."
"You will feel better!"

As your drones leave the chamber you quickly have them sedated and taken to the tanks. As the door flexes shut behind you you see the small, frantic human return to the door.
"Their gonna eat them, and soon, they're gonna eat us!" He resumes his efforts to tear through the door in vain as any progress he manages to make is quickly scabbed over and healed. You note with some degree of amusement that he has actually made the door stronger in his efforts.
"We're packed like sardines, can't you see that!" The others watch in silence as the man tires himself out from his panic.

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>>35336859
Yes, good.

This blew all the other writeins out of the water.

>>35336941
part 2?

>>35336941
I feel bad for that crazy guy. Should fix his hands after we return the others.

>>35336941
Go back for the crazy man too.

>>35336941
Use paralyzing darts on the panicking man. Tell everyone else you have much better sources of nutrition on hand and no reason to consume your guests.

So should we make a second queen?
I want to send her far away from our map though, it seems like we were mostly wiped out by coil's gods.

>>35336984
There are 10 already, it clearly says that.