>>40309833
“Honestly we didn’t have much of a conversation. I don’t think they have the capacity for verbal speech, at least other than the speaker caste, I suppose. We did have a brief attempt at sign language, but it was a bit awkward really.” Lee rubs his neck as the reporter nods silently. “It looked kinda pretty actually, the queen I mean, like an orchid mantis or something. I think she picked that spot partially because it looked nice, actually.”

“So you’re saying these giant bugs had a sense of fashion?” The reporter says with a smirk.

“Well, I mean every culture does, technically, I mean.” Lee lets out a forced half-hearted chuckle before continuing. “They were nice people, is what I guess I’m trying to say.”

The screen quickly flickers to an anchorman who shifts his eyes nervously to some piece of information behind the camera, and an image of the Ticonderoga fleet disembarking in a hurry fills the background behind him. He seems to be sweating.

>>40309842
“Just hours ago we received word of a fleet deployment in the Proxima system. We can now confirm though anonymous sources that the deployment was in response to an outbreak of violence in the Toliman system, which we can now say has resulted in the destruction of Via Maris station, although details are still coming in as to how exactly the events have unfolded.” The man’s face cuts away to a short video clip of the Commonwealth dreadnaught as its weapons turn to face the camera situated against the hull of the USV Galileo. The camera shakes and flickers as the first volley is fired, and the screen cuts cleanly to an image of the Galileo drifting into a dock, trailing smoldering debris and gas behind it in wispy streaks, the camera at the perfect angle to view the worst of the damage.

“This clip appears to show the Commonwealth envoy vessel opening fire on the Union ship the USV Galileo. To what ends remains unclear, but we have received word that the Commonwealth Boarder Fleet and the Ticonderoga patrol fleet are currently at a standstill within the Toliman system. We will continue to bring updates as they arrive.”

Sorry for being so late. Again.

IT IS TIME

TIME TO CONQUER THE KNOWN UNIVERSE

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>>40309833
For Mother

>>40309873
Its okay QD, But may I ask what delayed you?

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>>40309873
>Current resource reserves
Nutrients: 9,175,150
Metals: 8,261,209
Credits: ₡2226
Credits in Lyle’s account: ₡1,175,000

>Hive population and upkeep cost
Hive maintenance – 52325
Queen – 5
Fake Queen (4) – 220
Small Egg layer – 12
Worker (85005) – 170010
Aquatic Worker (5140) – 20560
Vacuum Worker (5200) – 31200
Radiator Worker (5100) – 20400
Warrior (11209) – 56045
Gilled Warrior (100) – 700
Aquatic Warrior (50) – 400
Thinker (2500) – 7500
Quantum Thinker (1000) – 5000
Speaker – (3) – 12
Digger (200) – 800
Refinery (40) – 280
Sniffer (2) – 8
Small Sniffer (200) – 200
Aquatic Sniffer (200) – 200
Fly (1165) – 4660
Wasp (5000) – 25000
Haz-mat Workers (20) – 80
Shock Troops (40) – 520
Parasite (80) – 320
Bio-tank (1000) – 25000
Excavator (1000) – 19000
Colossus (420) – 6300
Hovertank (200) – 5000
Harvester (5000) – 95000
Support Fluttercraft (2) – 272
Ghost Beetle (5) – 135
Heavy Warrior (1000) – 19000
Chinook (100) – 1800
Air defense drone (80) – 5920
Bomber (160) – 6560
Strafer drone (400) – 6000
Heavy Interceptor (160) – 4480
Light Interceptor (800) – 11200
Advanced disruptor (50) – 3750
Advanced Relay (69) – 6900

>Hive fleet
Space Pod (5000) – 150000
Heavy Fleet Fighter (272) – 18224
Heavy Gunship (36) – 1080
Shuttle (10) – 250
Mining Corvette (336) – 92400
Patrol Corvette (126) – 63882
Scout Corvette (8) – 1800
Lancer Corvette (2) – 450
Fleet Corvette (244) – 54900
Heavy Fleet Corvette (48) – 56256
Heavy Fleet Frigate (36) – 51372
Stealth Frigate (4) – 1952
Vanguard Frigate (600) – 240000
Heavy Cruiser (110) – 133650
Heavy Fleet Cruiser (18) – 45090
Heavy Fleet Battlecruiser (4) – 32548

>Formed fleets and orders
Small Heavy Defense Fleet [Patrolling Leeland space]
Heavy Battle Fleet [Awaiting orders]
5 Missile Ambush Fleet [Building]
15 Light Fleets [building]

>>40309877
As soon as we check those pods we will.

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>>40309842
>“It looked kinda pretty actually, the queen I mean, like an orchid mantis or something
oh my

So is this an old news report or a new one after he was rescued and taken to the Hive?

Am I missing sessions?

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>>40309937
Clone upkeep/special projects and expenses
25 Human captives of the USV Hope – 750
[Gemini]
Lyle Rogers – 47
2 Human hybrid clone upkeep – 60
Specializations:
>Tech
>Engineer
1 Human Chimera egglayer – 80
[Hive space]
100 Human Hybrids – 3,000
590 Skyl replicants in production – 35400
3987N

Total upkeep
Nutrient costs: 895,859N

>Income
Metals: 2,838,000
Nutrients: 3,901,250
Net: 2,265,260N

Hive Territory
[G-426]
Asteroid mining base: 50,000M per day.

*Leeland (capital)
Defensive structures
>Surface to Orbit Missile System (750N)
>Anti-orbital batteries: 35/35 (8750N)
Military structures
>Hangar facilities: Room for 4840 Aero/fighter Drones and 2420 Shuttles (3025N)
>Psionic Shroud (1,000N)
>Prison Outpost
Industrial structures
>Docking Pylon: (1969) (98,450N)
[Empty docks: 2000/2000]
Economic Structures
>Smart Mines active: 100,000M per day
>Algae Farm: +2,400,000per day, 24,000 Workers (1 worker per 100N)
>Film harvester dock: +2,500,000N per day, 5,000 Harvesters active (500N per Harvester)

[M-662]
Raligha
Defensive structures
>Anti-orbital batteries: 35/35 (8750N)
Economic structures
>Bloodroot collectors: A series of pipes and veins running from the roots of several of the nearest Bloodroot trees provide a passive and low maintenance source of nutrient income, +250N per day (5)
>Greenwall pit: 500N
>Temple alter: A place for the Ralighan locals to worship and bring offerings to your hive, built in the likeness of your local fake queen, +500N per day

[M-323]
>Orbital docking pylon: Space for docking and construction of 4 sub capitals or 1 capital ship, (50N)
[1 Carrier Battlecruiser]
[Empty docks: 0/4]
>Mining corvette salvage operations +2,688,000M per day (+8000M per corvette)

[Farcast]
Derelict Sensor array

Glassed Hive world
>Hive bunker complex

Deep space waystation
>100 docking pylons (10,000N)
[10 Ambush Missile Cruiser]
[100 Ambush Missile Corvette]
[60 Light fleet frigate]
[15 Light fleet cruiser]
[Empty docks 115/400]

>>40309873
>>“It looked kinda pretty actually, the queen I mean, like an orchid mantis or something
Did I ever mention Lee is a pretty cool guy?

>>40309965
Old, they were showing reruns.

>>40309965
>. It is a slow news day for the most part, with reruns of old interviews and coverage spliced into a short documentary seemingly intended to fill extra time.

bugga you dumb.

So could we try seeding a dead, barren planet and turn it into a lush garden world?

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>>40309989
whoops, I'm dumb

I personally think we should get in contact with the green leader. She's the only sane man, so she could be useful if we feed her the right evidence.
Though Honestly, we first need to decide what the goal of all of our covert ops is. Then we can figure out how to achieve that goal.

>>40310024
>decide what the goal of all of our covert ops is
slaughter all current leadership
gain control of large sections of government

>>40310024
Ask page also revealed green leader is more willing to not fuck with Thesus.

>>40309978
New Construction Options
Defensive structures
>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
>Surface to Orbit Missile System – This massive bunker complex houses a wide range of warheads and a nigh limitless number of missiles within its protective walls, allowing you to launch missiles against approaching invaders from the safety of your hive. The facility uses the ship missile stats and comes equipped with a single Cruise missile silo that can target any detected object within the system, five Stinger missile silos capable of targeting any craft within high orbit, and ten Swarm missile silos specialized in targeting high altitude aircraft and low orbiting targets. The facility itself is a massive complex spread out over several miles, and includes guidance and launch equipment, as well as the means to construct and maintain a stock of warheads and missiles. (1500N 2500M)


>>40309926
Number crunching mostly. The tech and new cybernetics were rather quick to handle. It was mostly due to be just having a really full week and being unable to have a day where I could go through all the many little details, and ended up having to rush it all just before running.

Summer tends to actually be a lot more busy for me most of the time. Or at least more erratic.

>>40310024
We're trying to gain control of the Union through subversion.

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>>40310073
Military Structures
>Hangar Expansion – Construct fortified hangar facilities of +40 aero/fighter drone space and +20 shuttle space. 50N 100M
>Psionic Shroud – A single building built around the shattered remains of a Void Shard, the shroud amplifies the unnatural mental silence of the broken crystal within to mask an entire planet from potential detection, preventing outside forces from easily detecting the thoughts of a hive. (2,000N 5,000M)
Industrial Structures
>Docking Pylon – A large spire or station that contains space for docking and construction of 4 ships, or a single capital ship if placed in orbit. 100N 300M
>Weather Spire – A networked collection of spires spread across a planet capable of studying and altering a planet’s climate and atmosphere. Construction includes the building of all spires needed to function. (8,000N 20,000M)

>>40310024
It doesn't even matter if Tories are in charge. They're all getting parasited after a few weeks of recursively implanting all the personnel that guard them.

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>>40310097
Economic Structures
>Orbital solar array – A station placed in orbit of the local star equipped with a membrane of photosynthetic cells several kilometers in diameter capable of producing a steady stream of nutrient income. Provides 1000N per day total (5,000N 5,000M
>Harvester Dock – A large pier built along the shore overlooking the spore-producing ocean film that serves as an unloading area for Harvester drones, and contains pipelines to pump collected raw nutrients to the hive’s awaiting processing facilities, includes a single Harvester which is covered by the cost and upkeep of the dock. Provides 500N per day total (38N 50M)
>Orbital electroponic station – An orbital instillation built near a large source of hydrogen used to fuel a large fusion core, which in turn provides electrical power to a contained algae farm facility. Must be built in orbit of a gas giant. Provides +500N per day and doubles as a gas mining facility, refueling the tritium stores of any ships in the system. (1000M)
>Algae Farm – A carved out space used to utilize Leeland’s natural electrical field to cultivate food. +100N per day, 1 worker to maintain.
>Hydroponic platform – A floating greenhouse platform used to grow farmland through hydroponics that can only be built on or near water with open access to plentiful sunlight. Each greenhouse platform supports roughly one hectare and requires a single worker to tend the crop and maintain the platform. Multiple platforms can be connected together to create fields of floating farmland. +200N per day, 1 worker to maintain.
>Filter towers – A large underwater pylon built to extract raw nutrients from the microbial life of the surrounding ecosystem. Can only be used on planets with bountiful biospheres and deep oceans capable of supporting large amounts of microbes. Provides between 100 and 500 N per day, depending on the local environment. (500M)

>>40310115
>They're all getting parasited
This.

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>>40310121
Finished Research

>Scavenger gunship
While you had expected to spend several days scouring the ship’s interior, you quickly find everything to be surprisingly familiar to you. With the memories of the captured officer, the layout and design of the gunship comes to you with the familiarity of years of use, and while he had no direct knowledge of the technology within, you do know how everything is operated at the very least, granting you a small boost to any efforts to research the technology within.

>Flash Cloning
While it may not be as efficient or effective as waiting for a clone to grow naturally, sometimes you simply lack the time needed to develop a clone properly. When starting a clone project, you can pay the clone’s per day production cost x10 to rush its development. The clone’s production then takes only a single day, but a roll is required to avoid defects or errors in its genetic code that could result in decreases to its physical or mental abilities, disfigured physical traits, or even the loss of the clone. While some kind of error is highly likely, in most cases it will be a minor inconvenience. Regardless, such clones are best used as a temporary measure, to be replaced when a proper one is available, or to serve as expendable units.

>Anti-orbital pulse cannon
By altering the interior design of your anti-orbital batteries to utilize the design of the blaster, you have found that you can squeeze both more range and power from your defenses. While accuracy may be slightly hampered at longer ranges, the increase in the rate of fire and the improved range seems to more than make up for the marginal loss in accuracy. Your anti-orbital batteries are now capable of firing on targets in medium range orbits, and can fire at targets in high orbits with decreased accuracy, as well as dealing improved damage to targets in low orbits or at sub-orbital altitudes.

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>>40310145
New Research Unlocked

>Boarding pods
Fast
While strikingly similar in nature to the drop pods, a number of critical alterations are made to the design to allow this pod to be fired from a specialized tube like a missile and penetrate the hull of a target vessel. It then opens to allow the deadly contents to enter the ship and engage the crew without needing to dock with the target, allowing boarding attempts without disabling a ship’s drive, although the shields still need to be deactivated.

>Ship grapple
Medium
A simple idea at heart; throw a hook at the target and reel it in. When you take into account the relative speeds and raw kinetic forces involved in such an action, however, it quickly stops being so simple. Complex and highly durable cables and pulleys must be developed, as well as specialized bulkheads to prevent ripping the ship in two. The result, however, should be interesting, if a bit insane.

>Ram
Medium
The concept of ramming in ship to ship combat is simple and straight forward. Doing so without obliterating your own ship, however, is a far more complex skill to master that requires numerous alterations to ship design philosophy and a willful lack of common sense. The Scavengers appear to be insane enough to have thought such a strategy useful in space combat, and are stubborn enough to perfect it. The study and extensive testing of the design of the ram should allow you to develop something similar for your own ships.

>>40310115
>>40310137
YOU GET A PARASITE AND YOU GET A PARASITE

PARASITES FOR EVERYONE

>>40310145
We got the new guns now! Time for some building!

>>40310177
CHECK UNDER YOUR SEATS EVERYONE

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>>40310174
Current research

>Suncaster
Fast
This large and powerful weapon seems to use a mixture of plasma and solid slug projectiles to gain both damage and range. Disassembling it should allow you to build similar weapon systems yourself.

>Variable strike weapon
Fast
A patented weapon technology in the Union, this device is capable of switching between a large number of ammunition types in the middle of combat.

>Magnetized slugs
Fast
This technology appears to use a powerful magnetic charge to alter the trajectory of a fired projectile after leaving the weapon, improving accuracy.

>Privy coat
Fast
This article of clothing utilizes some manner of micro-fiber to block, or at least interfere with the signals of modern weapon scanners in an attempt to prevent weapons from tripping customs alarms or security checkpoints. The device is not fool proof, and typically is only considered reliable on older, less well maintained checkpoints.

>Gravity foils
Fast
The most obvious and direct application of gravity deflection technology utilizes the surrounding ambient gravitational forces to allow a drone to create thrust using a complex arrangement of thin metallic sheets, allowing the drone to hover or fly in any direction. While it can technically function in a vacuum, most such situations would be in space, where the foils would be far less effective due to a lack of strong gravity fields to manipulate.

>Artificial gravity plating
Medium
By utilizing insignificant amounts of antimatter to create unfocused gravitational fields, and then directing them through the gravity plating into a single direction, the internal structure of a ship can be granted a small amount of artificial gravity. White the direction of the gravity can be changed at will, or turned off, it lacks the resources and energy to project a field capable of directly causing injury

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>>40310174
>New Research Unlocked

>Boarding pods

YES

YES
HORRIFYING BUG PODS

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>>40310212
>Gravity thrusters
Slow
Similar in function to your Skid drive, the Gravity thrusters essentially surf along pre-existing gravity fields, increasing their performance when in close proximity to major sources of gravitational pull, be it a large celestial body, a star, a planet, an exceptionally large structure or group of structures, or the core of a gravity drive. While in deep space it becomes less effective, the law of universal gravitation means it never becomes totally useless, and when in close proximity to a powerful gravity source it should outperform most other thruster designs with ease.

>Shield miniaturization
Medium
With your new understanding, previously unknown aspects of standard shield technology can be seen in a new light, indicating a small overlap between it and gravitational manipulation technology. By using newly developed technology, your thinkers suspect that they may be able to create a more compact, but less powerful shield system.

>Psionic reading
Medium
You are already aware of this growing ability in Elizabeth, and with her help, and more research into the remains of the dead relay, you should be able to continue to fine tune your new, more powerful psionic senses to be able to not only detect the presence of sapient thought, but to read it in more detail.

>Photonic microstructures
Slow
The useful applications of manipulating massive photonic molecules are many, and your preliminary studies indicate that you may be able to develop more practical uses beyond the blaster, especially in the field of energy shielding.

>Nausea field
Slow
A rather interesting side effect first noticed with your Blink drive, but now weaponized to great effect as a defensive measure. You should be able to enhance your medium and advanced relays to emit a wave of sickening nausea in a radius around it, causing effected subjects to feel increasing levels of both physical and mental uneasiness, causing feelings of dread and queasiness.

>>40310174
We need more thinkers.

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>>40310174
>All of these wonderful things

>>40309905
oh damn, that's pretty spooky

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>>40310236

>Solid State Teleportation
Slow
While standard quantum systems allow for instantaneous transportation of data, this technology would allow for essentially the instantaneous transport of matter. The matter in question would be disassembled into individual particles and transported in much the same way as bits of data through a quantum relay, and then assembled on the other side. Due to the nature of the process, only simple objects such as raw resources could survive teleportation. This should allow for the transportation of resources across hive space without the need to delegate ships to serve as trade vessels.

>Ground-orbital mega-construction
Slow
By using new construction systems to improve efficiency, the hive can build new projects capable of reaching orbit, using the rotation of the planet to remove the requirements of a free standing structure and instead essentially hang a station in orbit from the surface of the planet. Such a construction project would double as a docking pylon capable of constructing capital ships at a much faster rate, and replace the need for shuttles to ferry goods to and from orbit. [Unlocks the Capillary Tower construction option]

>Quantum Tuning
Medium
While current quantum computing technology requires the relays be built to accommodate one another, this technology should allow you to quickly attune pre-existing devices for one another when in proximity. Your thinkers suspect more opportunities to open up after further research is done. You suspect Theseus would greatly appreciate such a technology, if he does not already poses it.

>Mantle excavation
Slow
By using advancements in the operation and function of the metal trees, you can force them to focus their attention past the rocky crust of a world and have them dive their roots clear into the mantle of a planet, tapping into a vast wealth of metals

>>40310237
Seconded, I want to lay a new batch of thinkers and super thinkers.

>>40310210
[muffled screaming]

>>40310260
>Predictive combat algorithms
Medium
Your drones are always watching the enemy, either in person or through your network, and the hive grows more accustomed to certain quirks and common tactics employed by specific species or individuals. With the powerful calculations made possible by fractal based crystal brains, your drones, and clones with either psionic capabilities or hybrid or chimera types will be able to predict the vast number of variables in any single fight, allowing it to know what the enemy will do in the heat of the moment and act accordingly. Grants a bonus to combat rolls against known and researched enemies.

Available research options

>Psionic Cannon prototype
Very slow/Very dangerous
Detailed accounts of several experiments show the slow progress of Project Godsplitter. The cannon itself is highly volatile, and even the smallest miscalculation often results in the destruction of the ship, as well as any nearby craft. It can only be equipped to a Hive ship's spinal mount, and requires a functional Void Shard as ammunition. At least a dozen testing sizes were atomized in testing the weapon, and in the end it appears The Gardener never quite perfected it.


>Add all new research
>Add boarding pods
>Add Ship grapple
>Add Ram
>None for now
>Other

>>40310276
I thought that the more thinkers you have, you get diminishing returns.

>>40310303
>Add all new research
>Other
1000 more thinkers please.

>>40310303
ALL THE NEW RESEARCH

>>40310303
>Add boarding pods
>Add Ship grapple

>>40310313
Don't care, want thinkers.

>>40310303

>Add boarding pods
>Add Ship grapple

>>40310303
>>Add all new research
>Other
Weather Spire
Let's research the weather as will.

>>40310303
>Add all new research

>>40310303
>Add all new research
>Other
Study The Builder's drones.

>>40310303
>add boarding pods

lets stop adding new shit for a while so we have a chance to get the shit we're currently researching before we all die of old age

>>40310335
>>40310316
We already have hundreds of thinkers per research subject. we gain nothing.

>>40310338
Already got it.

>>40310381
Don't. Care. Want. Thinkers.

>>40310303
>>Add all new research
We boarders now.

>>40310303

>Add all new research
>Other
Construct Weather Spire networks on Leeland and Raligha.

>>40310381
Don't care we need more when we take over the humans.

>>40310420
We totally have to shift tactics to mass boarding when fleets engage.

We are terrifying in close quarters.

>>40310444
Trips command it to be so, FOR MOTHER

>>40310444
If you want to do that you'll have to arm all of our ships with Blasters.

>>40310381
awww, you mean research has a cap?

>>40310303
>Add all new research
>Other
Collect all research projects of interest from the ancient dockyard of the Builder

>>40310385
The weather spire? We do not have them.

>>40310444
Yeah, we'll build a few boarding fleet filled with boarding parties and anti shield weaponry, use it to flank fleets our heavy fleets are engaging.

>>40310444
FOUR MOTHER!

>>40310492
we reached the research cap a while ago, but anons keep adding thinkers for some reason.

>>40310097
>>40310504
>>Weather Spire – A networked collection of spires spread across a planet capable of studying and altering a planet’s climate and atmosphere. Construction includes the building of all spires needed to function. (8,000N 20,000M)

We have it, we just haven't built any as far as I'm aware.

>>40310504
Really? Then why can I vote to build it? >>40310097
>>Weather Spire – A networked collection of spires spread across a planet capable of studying and altering a planet’s climate and atmosphere. Construction includes the building of all spires needed to function. (8,000N 20,000M)

>>40309938
>>40310303
>Other

Pls to be checking our pods we sent out. No putting it off for months this time. Don't let us do that again.

We have to map out our enemies' territory for the sake of future planning and exploitation.

>>40310492
>>40310526
It's not a cap. It's diminishing returns.
>>40310509
I could easily design some right now.

I wonder.

Could we slam our ships into an enemy ship and essentially embed ours within theirs, then use our hive creep to essentially seal the hole back up and spread throughout the ship?

>>40310588
I like the way you think.

>>40310544
I'm not sure who you think we haven't explored. The Scavs, maybe? The Commonwealth, Union, and Obsidian Queen have all been mapped and the Scavs will be mapped whenever the pods we dispatched are done.

>>40310588
>>40310630
That's silly. It grows too slowly to matter at the pace battle goes.

Of course the hole can be quickly sealed. But growing throughout it is kind of pointless, you'd have to have won already.

>>40310544
Aw c'mon, we have the Union space all mapped out, we don't need to spend the majority of the thread mapping out the Commonwealth until we got business with them. They're literally on the other side of the map with the Union between us.

>>40310561
That'd be nice and all but we haven't unlocked the actual boarding pods and shit, you come up with a early draft subject to change I suppose.

>>40310588
Creep is a bit too slow to do that in battle I think, it's still a good idea in that it'll give them one more thing to spend money, time and resources fixing if they escape with the ship in question. Alternatively you could suggest another way we could achieve that as a research subject. Nanomachines, perhaps.

>>40310588
What advantage is keeping the atmosphere when all of our boarder drones are vacuum-sealed?

>>40310687
I was going off of the idea that the drones we use now aren't all vacuum sealed. I suppose it is moot if we hatch boarder specific, vacuum drones.

>>40310303
>Add all new research

Deep within your hive, Lyle gnaws on the end of his cigars as it smolders lightly. Jackob looks at his own arm with great interest as projectors spread along the walls create a holographic image of a bio-mechanical arm. It bends at the joints and whips around, stretching and contorting in unnatural ways.

"I've gotta say, they do have a nice selection to pick from. It's a mighty temping offer." Jackob says. Dillon looks less impressed.

"No offense to either of you, but I can't say it's too wise to start accepting free surgery from aliens." He says.

"Hey, they seem to know what their doing," Jackob says as the hologram disintegrates. "I mean, how many times were you shot in the last week?" He looks to Lyle and lightly punches his arm. "Healing gunshot wounds in less then a day, that's one hell of a medical plan. I don't think I see that on the list though."

"It's a special thing." Lyle says. "I don't think you want that." Jackob shakes his hands in the air in mock surrender.

"Yea, yea sure thing. You don't want me dipping into your cookie jar too much, I get it."

"I mean it." Lyle says again as he rests his hands in his pockets. He feels the small plastic case of a data chip and suddenly remembers the record given to him by Lee's Ceph refugee acquaintance. He pulls out the small device. He may as well see what's on it while they wait.

>Lay more thinkers
>Non't
>Other

>>40310687
The only thing I can think of is the use of sonic based weapons.

>>40310669
>>40310677
We do not have even most of the Union-proper mapped. 9 out of 16 stars in their main territory are unmapped. And only a tiny minority of the Obsidian Queen's territory.

And somewhere in the Commonwealth are the plans to the psionic cannon, mapping them out is pretty important.

And the pods are already "done." It's been days. We just haven't actually looked because ADHD.

>>40310742
>>Lay more thinkers

>>40310742
>Lay more thinkers
Aw yus

>>40310677
We could try to weaponise it, adding some sort of creep spore to missile and launch it at enemies trying to escape. It will take some time to grow but might spread through the ship and cause possible system crashes an be an annoyance to get rid off

>>40310669
>we haven't explored
The only territories we've explored mostly is the Unions.
>>40310677
>you come up with a early draft subject to change I suppose.
Blasters on fixed.
Ion cannons on turrets.
Cyclotrons on aux.
That's as effective as you can get.

>>40310742
>>Non't

>>40310742
>Lay more thinkers
It's not really a big expense.

>>40310786
Just realized how stupid my idea was since it will provide them with free research material, Can't give them the science

>>40310742
>Non't
there's no use for them.

>>40310742
>Lay more thinkers

>>40310738
All drones we use in boarding actions or counter-boarding actions are vacuum sealed (Flies, Heavy Warriors, Vacuum Warriors)

>>40310742
>>Lay more thinkers
Sure.

>>40310742
>>Lay more thinkers
>>Other
Hey QD, could we create a special cybernetic implant that just injects medigel into the subjects wounds, without all the mind rapeyness of a parasite? Would go a long way to keeping Lyle's friends in good nick.

>>40310839
Then how do they poop?

>>40310839
Maybe I'm thinking of drones with re-breathers. Vacuum drones can still eventually suffocate.

If we know that the more thinkers we lay, the less efficient they are why are we still doing it?

>>40310849
No.

We just give them parasites anyway.

>>40310742
>Nont
Can't we dissuade Lyle from speaking so negatively about our lovely paras... Children.

>>40310849
We could just use a normal parasite without clamping down on their spine.

>>40310742
>Lay more thinkers

>>40310849
As soon as they get the parasites they will think it was the best thing that could ever have happened

>>40310766
We just haven't looked because QD needs time to write all that bullshit up and he's been extremely busy of late. Lay off it, we'll get to it when QD is ready.

As for the plans to the psionic cannon, you know how we haven't made it onto the militarized side of Gemini yet? Well the Commonwealth is /entirely/ militarized, and now prepping for war too. If those plans exist they were buried deep in some bunker, and now they're gonna be even further down.

>>40310742
>Lay more thinkers

>>40310862
Flies, Heavy Warriors, and Vacuum Warriors all have oxygen recyclers.

>>40310925
Still want to spread the creep far and wide.

Hey guys, I think we could modify my whistle blower operation to contact the green party, in fact, we could probably just make a bunch of fake Seiners and use them as our ""contact"" for the green party. We know who we're facing, when they kill someone they don't do it publically, the person just ceases to exist, so we can keep making clones of him and only they'd know its a different person. Or we could just keep making his deaths occur in a manner they might have missed something from.

Also I think we should take a DNA sample from lyle and friends and make clones of them, which we will then have found by our drone infested guy and have them send a smith after. The smith will succeed at killing them, but will do so in a manner that ends up leaking onto the extranet, preferably with massive collatoral damage. We want to discredit the tories, and these deaths do not matter as they are clones. However we do need to make sure clone lyle has a ton of implants and everyone actually resists death so its not obvious, if they escape so be it, we get them killed later than.

>>40310925
Just as an aside, the oxygen recyclers don't allow drones to keep breathing indefinitely in the absence of an atmosphere. Just a really, really long time.

>>40310742
>Lay more thinkers

>Thinkers(how many)
>Quantum thinkers (how many)
>Other

And speaking of cybernetics, I found it a little funny that most of the recommendations involved methods of self-destruct implants. Other recommendations included chromatophores and USB implants.

>>40310766
It's a question of time in my view, last time we mapped a bunch of shit it took damn near the whole thread.

>>40310936
We have been working very hard not to give away drones as research material to minimize everything our enemy knows about us. Spreading creep uncontrolled far and wide is the opposite of that

>>40310974
>how many
Fucking loads please.

>>40310974
>6 billion each
Okay not going to lie, I have no idea how many we should lay

>>40310984
Creep is not a drone. Creep is also aggressive and volatile.

>>40310974
Thinkers 500
Quantum 250

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>>40310974
An upgraded, doesn't-even-pretend version of the Reacher arms would be neat.

Creatures with only 2 sets of limbs are so limited! The hive must remedy this!

>>40310904
>we'll get to it when QD is ready.
But he is.

It's always been entirely the players' choice whenever we look at the pods. He was always ready, it just took forever to build consensus for the last round of pods. Weeks and weeks.

It's not really him I'm trying to convince, it's everyone else.

>>40310974
>Thinkers(1000)

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1.26 MB PNG

>>40310174
GRAPPLER SHIPS

>>40311010
This is true, our drones need more limbs.

>>40310974

>Thinkers
5k
>Q Thinkers
1k

>>40310974
That gives me an idea for a self destruct implant actually! What if we used those deconstructing nanomachines to act as a self destruct device, we could release them on trigger to completely vaporize the body its inside of. This means our ""Seiner"" whistle blower idea can be more practical as when we inevidably get found out we can flee out of view for a few moments and suddenly vanish (vaporized).

Than the new Seiner just starts from where the old left off. They'll start getting more and more aggressive and eventually, when the situation is right, we get seiner executed by them in public, somewhere they can't hide what happened, this would be a massive publicity blow, the government going and shooting a harmless old man. Seriously how could they!

I wonder if there'd be any benefit to building a second research site on one of our other colonies.

>>40311005
Still if they manage to et their hands on enough creep to let's say invent a virus to attacking and destroy it, one of our most valuable defenses will be ruined

>>40311031
This one please.

>>40311031
Sure.

>>40310974
An entire planetoid made of nothing but thinkers

>>40311041
>invent a virus to attacking and destroy it
How long would it take the hive to research and nullify it? Several hours? Several days?

>>40310936
The creep can only function on a planet the hive has taken over. It is actually very easy to disrupt or stop if our drones aren't cultivating it properly.

>>40311041
We'll just become immune to any virus they can create within seconds of exposure. It's kind of our thing.

>>40311028
Lyle needs more limbs...
Lyles friends needs more limbs...

>>40310974
I'll back >>40311031

>>40311076
True, just worried that they will manage to come up with something very nasty... Don't want our hard work to be a waste

>>40311082
I'm thinking... limbs with wrist like ends under the skin on his back with long, foldable blades attached.

>>40311031
That is grossly excessive to our needs right now.

>>40310976
No it didn't. It was like an eighth of the thread at most.

And it's a necessary thing we have to do eventually. Exploration and knowledge is what enables all other actions. Best not to put it off so we act informed.

>>40311097
>>40311076
You guys know, we could always false flag them, similar to how Tuburculosis passes itself off as a virus to throw our body off, we could create a nanomachine that appears to be a living bio-organism, in fact, we could go as far as to create a whole bacterial agent that looks like its doing the trick and have the nanomachine be whats killing everything.

We should draw the black queen into researching things we have already made obsolete.

>>40311120
Forgot to mention they can tear out of his back when needed, on command.

>>40311097
The only threat to our biotech is the Black Queen's biotech.

And even in that, we've got genetic manipulation down to such an art that other Queens would be jelly of us. The OQ's odd creepy Goop is just another research project waiting to happen.

>>40311122
>I'm so jewish I don't want to spend pennies out of our massive nutrient reserves

>>40311122
6 billion is excessive, that seems fine.

>>40311001
Realisticaly we need to lay exactly 0, but anons are retarded.

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>>40311134

>>40311069
Uh... doesn't our creep spread and grow on its own now?

>>40311031
Mate, do you even realize how over the top that is? You're talking about doubling the number of quantum thinkers and tripling the number of standard thinkers. We've already got more than 10 times the number of thinkers that would be ideally efficient for the number of research subjects we're working on right now. At that point I would expect more thinkers to more damage than help, what with all the shitflinging the quantum thinkers would do amongst themselves.

>>40311143
Hey, I have another idea. What if we had theseus build and operate several Union vessels that, with our flash cloning, we had filled with Union Soldiers. We have them attack alongside our fleet, coming from what was union space (we rendezvous in dead space about half way from union space to target). She'd have no other option than to believe union was working with us against them, and she'd run an immediate counter attack. One we'd come to the rescue in. We'd have to make sure our ships were blatantly different than hers (color scheme, shape, etc). But we could actually ally with the union with it.

>>40311031
How about this:

>Thinkers
0k
>Q Thinkers
0k

We have no reason to have so many thinkers right now.

>>40311031
Yes, lets.

>>40311143
It isn't about the amount of nutrients involved, it's about having so many fucking thinkers around we wouldn't be able to find anything for them to do. We'd have so many more thinkers working on individual projects that they would be doing basically nothing.

Holy shit, just build the thinkers.

It's not like we're starving for resources here.

>>40311273
Why not build more workers, warriors, or nutrient-collection drones in addition to the thinkers, then?

>>40311271
Well if we find ourselves in that situation then we'll just hibernate them. It's fine.

>>40311271
Idle thinkers provide passive bonuses to all Hive operations. You can never have TOO MANY thinkers. The best part is that THINKERS are responsible for calculating when it's better to administer to Hive direction instead of piling on research projects.

>>40311009
Supporting.

>>40311300
Go ahead.

>>40311300
We can vote on that at the end of the thread, this just happens to have come up now.

>>40311031
Do it.

>>40311300
sure

>>40311300
Because we already maxed out harvesters. Any more and the harvest is no longer sustainable.

And also just keep drone laying till the end of the the thread jesus nothing has happened and we're already more than halfway to bumplimit.

>>40311168
It does, but at certain stages of development the structures it is building are quite fragile. Like, 'destroy them by inadvertently stepping on them' fragile. It can build such structures if it isn't disturbed, but the best way to ensure that is to have our workers around looking after it. It isn't like OQ's black gunk that will deconstruct everything around it if you don't nuke it from orbit.

>>40311309
The thinker bonuses aren't stackable, at least for combat. One is just as good as ten.

>>40311317
>>40311321
>>40311338
>>40311376
Why not now?
Also yeah, harvesters can be unsustainable. But we have a new wonder crop from the Gardener's planet that may/may not be able to replace our current fungus crop on Leeland to great effect, and a nutrient filtration system we can setup in Leeland's oceans, too.

>>40311414
>It isn't like OQ's black gunk that will deconstruct everything around it if you don't nuke it from orbit.
Well fuck son, we need to get right on that.

>>40310974
>5k thinkers, 1k Quantum thinkers

>Lay other drones (write in)
>Start new construction (write in)
>Other
>None

Lyle looks over the data and quickly thumbs through a number of empty junk folders. He quickly finds one that holds what seems to be a number of photos. He opens it and finds a small note document at the top.

"Classified stuff. If I go missing keep it safe."

After that is a number of low quality orbital photos of some alien planet's surface. You see a dense layer of some blurry looking terrain, possibly a jungle of some kind, with a roughly circular radius of open ground in the center. In the center is a long, broken cylindrical object, like a line of buildings poorly aligned to each other. The next image has the object covered by a large central building, with smaller buildings around it. The jungle has receded slightly, revealing a thin line around the clearing, almost like the rim of a crater. The next images shows a number of structures around the rim, and the jungle has receded once more, revealing a number of other small looking metallic objects, and in the next photo they are all either missing or covered in buildings.

"The hell is this?" Lyle says as he flips through the images. Dillon moves over to look.

"Some security leak by the looks of it. I remember hearing about that a while ago, actually. Not sure what the fuss was about. Some pictures of some old alien space junk or something that was found somewhere. Didn't look like anything important but it got some important people pissed off." Dillon continues to look at the grainy photos as Lyle flips through. "We ended up shutting down some file sharing sites over it, made a few arrests, but never found anything too big with it. Just some kids trying to unravel some conspiracy that wasn't there as far as I know."

cont.

>>40311300

Because, arguably, there's a hardcap on benefits from warriors/workers/collectors. Thinkers are much more flexible in regards to how many of them we can have before we start 'spoiling the broth', such as it is, so we can more afford to have 'extra' thinkers than the others.

>>40311466
Should start building weather spires on some of the more inhospitable planets.

>>40311442
>But we have a new wonder crop from the Gardener's planet that may/may not be able to replace our current fungus crop on Leeland to great effect
LOL you retard there is no sunlight on that planet.

>>40311466
Start a mining base at G-426 P1 with just metal trees for mantle excavation and workers to operate them.

>>40311501
He means Raligha you fucking moron, The plants we have over there have not been cultivated on leeland.

>>40311466
>jungle
See, I knew the Skyl artifacts were found on Darwin. That obvious military presence. Constantly scouring the jungle by destroying it.

>>40311466
Well we already have a weapon that does that, only faster. The molecular disassembler warhead.

>>40311527
>replace our current fungus crop on Leeland
No, other anon is the retard for thinking this was even a "may" instead of a "definitely not."

>>40311442
>Why not now?
It was just explained to you dumbass. Two words: "bump limit".

Crunch is comparatively boring and is not urgent since drones take X days to hatch.

>>40311466
>"Some security leak by the looks of it. I remember hearing about that a while ago, actually. Not sure what the fuss was about. Some pictures of some old alien space junk or something that was found somewhere. Didn't look like anything important but it got some important people pissed off." Dillon continues to look at the grainy photos as Lyle flips through. "We ended up shutting down some file sharing sites over it, made a few arrests, but never found anything too big with it. Just some kids trying to unravel some conspiracy that wasn't there as far as I know."

So, Darwin in New Port? We should go around sending a stealth corvette and some flies there some time.

>>40311567
QD could always make a new thread.

>>40311466
Someone just paid his rent forever.

>>40311466
>Start new construction
Weather Spires on all planets the Hive has an open presence on (Raligha, Leeland, Zero-One).

Fungus farms to capacity on Leeland.

Space Sugar Cane farms to capacity on Raligha.

We'll take care of laying drones after the bump limit.

>>40311466
>Start new construction
Weather Spires

>>40311643
>>40311641
Yes.

Pending Theseus' permission on the Weather Spires on Zero-One, of course.

>>40311466
>Lay Other Drones:
19000 Warriors
9000 Heavy Warriors
680 Colossi
For the inevitable and horrifying ground war.

>>40311567
>bump limit
There's always thread 2, mate. You don't need to be so butthurt.
>definitely not
Since you're clearly the expert, what makes it impossible to cultivate GMO crops in new places? Not enough sunlight?
As though that's ever stopped even the humans.

>>40311466
>>Start new construction (write in)
Build weather spire system on Leeland, Raligha
Build Surface to Orbit Missile System on Raligha.

>>40311686
Supporting. We should lay warriors and colossi whenever we expand anything.

>>40311686
We probably should have been building up our ground forces for a while now.

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>>40311686
Support for Mother

>>40311686
>Since you're clearly the expert, what makes it impossible to cultivate GMO crops in new places? Not enough sunlight?
>As though that's ever stopped even the humans.
It's been explicitly mentioned that they only grow in areas with plenty of sunlight.

>>40311686
Supporting
>>40311643
>>40311567

>>40311732
>>40311713
>>40311686
How about we wait until the end of the thread.

Hey QuestDrone, could we start deploying small automated groups of specialized hybrids/drones to human controlled planets to carry out our will on their own?
That way you don't have to write everything out and can just bring us back to these planets when something interesting happens.

>>40311763
Supporting waiting.

You fags will argue about anything.

>>40311763
STOP BEING A FUCKING BUZZKIL

>>40311763
why not now?

>>40311783
stop being a retard.

>>40311783
>>40311792
I want to get shit other than laying drones and building structures done this thread.

>>40311792
Because we ought to lay more drones than that, but I don't want to eat up bumps discussing it just yet.

Also by the end of the thread we might have pressing matters we want to address by laying new drones/ships, and we don't want to go through this process twice.

>>40311811
Says the retard

>>40311741
We have organic lighting. We can grow them inside if we so please, in ways not dissimilar to growing marijuana.
Alternatively, we can, I dunno, change the weather with our giant weather machines and grow them wherever we please.
In the most extreme of cases, we can even modify the damned things, considering we know how they work.
Come on, anon. Open your damn mind.

>>40311466
>>None

>>40311763

We haven't ended the thread with drone laying in months. In any case QD specifically asked for a vote on this now, and we're better off getting it out of the way now when everyone is awake enough to think straight. Relatively straight, anyway.

>>40311466
Near the end of the series of photos the region near the top edge of the clearing is replaced with a massive, smoldering crater. A line of burnt ash runs down the clearing and into the jungle on the other side, carving a deep trench across the camp.

"Shit." Jackob says as he looks over Lyle's shoulder. "What caused that?"

"No idea. That... never actually came up in the reports I saw." Dillon says slowly. "The hell, where did you get this?"

"Got it from a squid, who got it from Lee." Lyle says. "As for where he got it, you'll have to ask him."

"I plan to." Dillon says. Jackob looks at the rest of the folders as Lyle reaches the end of the photos.

"Hey, what's that one over there? Looks like a video file."


Elsewhere in the hive, your speaker continues the chitter between Lee and Elizabeth.

"And that is how the Vaughn arrived to the hive." It says, its beak clicking with the satisfaction of concluding its story. Elizabeth nods.

"The abridged version at least. I've been able to make all manner of astounding discoveries here. It's been a rather exiting few weeks." She says. "I think I know the gist of how you met the hive already though." Lee rubs his head idly.

"Yea, I figured. Honestly, even with the whole crash and nearly being killed several times, it's a nice planet. A bit hot, but if you've lived on Talgo you could be room mates with a Canian." Lee says nervously. "If it's all the same to you, I think I'm going to try to get some sleep. I feel like I've been up for a week." Your speaker shakes its claws, rubbing them against each other to wipe off the traces of dirt and grit.

"Humans have place to sleep, follow!"

19000 Warriors
9000 Heavy Warriors
680 Colossi

>Y/N


>Build missile defense grid on Raligha
>Construct Weather spire network on (write in planet)
>Begin construction of hydroponic farms on Raligha
>Other (write in)

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>>40311780
Are you new to /tg/ or something?

>>40311851
>N

>>40311851
>Build missile defense grid on Raligha
Always get defense networks up.
then
>Begin construction of hydroponic farms on Raligha

>>40311851
>Y
>>Build missile defense grid on Raligha
>Begin construction of hydroponic farms on Raligha
Can we have this one on auto-expansion like our mushroom farms?

>>40311851
>>Build missile defense grid on Raligha
>Begin construction of hydroponic farms on Raligha
>Construct Weather spire network on
Leeland
Raligha

>>40311851
>Y
>Missile Defense Grid
>Hydroponics

>>40311851
>Y
>Build missile defense grid on Raligha
>Begin construction of hydroponic farms on Raligha
>Other
Start a mining base at G-426 P1.

>>40311851

>N

>Build missile defense grid on Raligha
>Construct Weather spire network on: Raligha, Leeland, Zero One (w/ Theseus' permission)
>Begin construction of hydroponic farms on Raligha
>Begin construction of Orbital Electroponics stations in Leeland system, to capacity.

>>40311851
>>Build missile defense grid on Raligha
>Other (write in
Consult theseus on how to best discredit the Tories/Limit aggression between the union and confederacy.

Also you son of a bitch I just got the civil war reference here. I am an idiot.

>>40311824
>But you're the retard
Brilliant come back.
>>40311833
That would cost twice as they would give.
>>40311846
Why don't we set up a section in the wiki for thread planning?

>>40311851
>Y
>Begin construction of hydroponic farms on Raligha

>>40311851

>Construct Weather spire network on (write in) Leeland definitely if we don't already. Raligha probably. Zero-One if Theseus is cool with it.

Then

>Build missile defense grid on Raligha

I think farms can wait until we can protect them.

>>40311851
>Build missile defense grid on Raligha
>Construct Weather spire network on (Leeland, Raligha)
>Begin construction of hydroponic farms on Raligha

>>40311851
Oh, and
>Y

>>40311851
>>Y

>Build missile defense grid on Raligha
>Begin construction of hydroponic farms on Raligha
>Construct Weather spire network on Leeland, Raligha

>>40311851

>Y

>Build missile defense grid on Raligha
>Begin construction of hydroponic farms on Raligha

>>40311851
.
since we have human intel agents here, can we ask them on their opinion on our black queen issues? it seems like they are going to be working with us for the long run and might as well have them do something useful

>>40311851
>N
>Build missile defense grid on Raligha
>Construct Weather spire network on all planets except Zero-one.
>Begin construction of hydroponic farms on Raligha

>>40311919
Stop trying to seem smart, retard

>>40311920
Oh, also
>Construct Weather spire network on Leeland, Raligha

>>40311851
Y

>Build missile defense grid on Raligha
>Construct Weather spire network on (Leeland, Raligha)
>Begin construction of hydroponic farms on Raligha

>>40311952
No. Don't be stupid, they have nothing that would be helpful with combating alien fucking bug queens. It's as far outside their expertise as Teegarden is from Graythrone.

>>40311958
You do realize I'm someone else right dumbass?

>>40311996
Sure buddy sure

>>40311851
Y
>Build missile defense grid on Raligha
>Begin construction of hydroponic farms on Raligha

>>40312006
Dude, this is one of the highest trafficked quests on /tg/, he almost certainly IS someone else. Now go sit in a corner.

AND THUS BEGINS MASSIVE MILITARY EXPANSION

why are we building ground troops and not space ships?

>>40312006
Kill yourself.

>>40311851
>N
>Construct weather spire network on Leeland

>>40311851
Finally managed to catch one of these threads!
Would usually need to be asleep by now, but there's one thing that's confounded me this entire time.

What prevents us from adding more limbs, or adding weapons to spots that aren't limbs (such as shoulder-mounted guns) and eyes and brains to those guns so that they can fire independently of the warriors' actions?

Or hell, simply creating small bugs that are nothing but a gun, targeting-specialized brains, clamps and eyes that attach to the warriors' carapace in a spot with good coverage (head, shoulders, either side of body), serving to give our ordinary warriors some ranged capability without jeopardizing their melee capacity?

Oh, and what of shields, or rather a big plate of carapace that ranged warriors use as cover, similarly to Marines, allowing them to have the armor of an armored warrior in one direction at a fraction of the cost,, and making them more independent of cover?

>>40311851
What do our drones and hive interior smell like?

>>40312057
To be fair ground troops without a decent fleet to support them would render the ground troops useless.

>>40312089
Partially because it needs to actually be able to be aimed and be functional or it'd just be useless.

>>40312098
Cotton candy.

>>40312081
You first, I'll make it a murder-suicide

>>40312079
Space ships are also a good idea.
We must build them, yes.

>>40311851
>Y
>build missile defense on Raligha
>Begin construction of hydroponic farms on Raligha
seem to have support

>Build Weather spire network on Leeland
>Build Weather spire network on Raligha
>Both
>Neither
>Other

Also, don't worry about the bump limit. I don't need to get up early tomorrow so I can just keep making threads until morning.

>>40312027
Sometimes that thought scares me a bit. Still have no idea how it got so big.

>>40312089
The Hive's forms are ALL already as optimized as they get. Armor is as thick/thin in all the appropriate places as it can be to offer the most protection for the least weight. Warriors already have ranged and melee capacity simultaneously without one hindering the other.

I just realised we can essentially perform a perfect version of gender reassignment surgery, that's a market we'll want to get into when we engage in trade with the Union. Gravy train thy name is tranny.

>>40312131
>>Both
PUT ALL THEM RESOURCES TO GOOD USE

>>40312131
>Both
>Other
Construct Orbital Electroponics stations in Leeland's System.

>>40312117
I always imagined that it smelled like a mixture of honey, rotten fruit, and grass.

>>40312120
>>40312006
>>40311958
Stop feeding this troll you fools. If we're going shitpost, it should be about things relevant to the hive, at least.

>>40312131
>Y
>Both

>>40312131
>Both
>>40312142
Who let tumblr in this thread?

>>40312153
I support it.

>>40312131
>>Both

>>40312089

For the independent gun-bug idea, it's certainly interesting, but I'm not sure it's quite necessary given that we do have ranged warriors. It's just an additional complication/thing to keep track of.

For the shield idea, part of the idea of heavy warriors was to act as mobile cover, so that we didn't have to sacrifice attack ability of the warriors for something like shields or heavier armour.

>>40312142
we can make humans biologically immortal, i don't think we have to worry about finding markets

could we essentially turn lyle into alex mercer

>>40312131
>Build Weather spire network on Leeland
Raligha is already hospitable as fuck, I don't see why we need a weather spire there outside of an attack destroying the biosphere.


>>Still have no idea how it got so big
>Original sci fi setting
>fairly interesting plothooks
>Playing something that isnt human for a change
Also I may have discretely linked it on some outside sci fi forums.

>>40312142
Tumblr pls go.

>>40312205
The combat system could use some work though.

>>40312205
>>40312171
If suggesting ways to profit off queers makes me tumblr then fuck it check your privilege.

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651 KB PNG

>>40312171
>>40312205
>giving neckbeards the ability to be the little girl
>tumblr

>>40312238
I think it's a compromise between being a purely story-driven approach and adding a sense of randomness to the action.

>>40312131
>Both

>>40312271
>>40312259
>implying mental ill trannies aren't tumblr as fuck.
>>40312283
But combat is so bland. Especially space combat.

>>40312171
>>40312205
Not tumblr, but thats got to be pretty lucrative. I mean theres shit loads of "normal" people who might do it just to see what its like.

Its kind of hard to argue against body modification when its easily done and easily reversed.

>>40312131
>>Y
>Both

>>40312316
>implying mental ill trannies aren't tumblr as fuck

Trying to explain how wrong you are would take too much effort for a neanderthal like you

>>40312316
>But combat is so bland. Especially space combat.
What do want to see in the combat then?

>>40312316
Yeah I hear tumblr breathes oxygen too, ya landwhale.

>>40312131
Y
Both

>>40312195
On the subject of gun-bugs, that would be an easy as hell way to allow Lyle and his buddies to use our weapons without massively invasive surgery. We could simply design a small drone that could fold it's legs into a stock/grip and use it's arms as a grip. Hell, if QD allows it we could even ad blades to act as a bayonet.

>>40312389
>We could simply design a small drone that could fold it's legs into a stock/grip and use it's arms as a grip
pretty good idea actually

>>40312205
>Also I may have discretely linked it on some outside sci fi forums.
Well that explains a lot. Thanks for flooding this quest with assholes who have no idea how this site functions. Dick.

>>40312389
Our guns are living things, though.
And QD did state they can be modified to be used by humans.

>>40312325
>Its kind of hard to argue against body modification when its easily done and easily reversed.
You have no idea how badly that can fuck someone up. There is a reason why post-op trannies are prone to suicide.
>>40312356
I want to be able to have attacking options other than swarm them like the fucking zerg.

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Arguments started earlier than expected. Good thing I got extra popcorn tonight.

>>40312389

THAT is a very good idea.

>>40312389
What about a gun bug that can cling to their forearms to shoot or maybe clings to them when not in use

>>40312131
>Y
>Both
>Other
Build Maximum amount of sustainable bloodroot collectors on Raligha.

>>40312439
Fluff, shut up. This isn't the kind of thread where posting popcorn pictures is funny.

>>40312109
The idea of adding it as an independent organism is that the organism does the aiming - the warrior only needs to stand still at long range, or move about normally at short-medium range.

>>40312139
Except they're really, really not. A warrior carrying a gun is a lot less efficient than simply making a gun with legs, since a gun with legs doesn't have a huge creature that needs feeding just to hold it.

And since ranged capacity takes up one hand, and two when firing, it does hinder the other.

>>40312195
You could simply replace the ranged warriors with a lot smaller ranged symbiotes that you attach to the regular warriors - allowing you to have a lot more firepower in a higher concentration. As to complication, surely it would be no more complex than keeping track of either ranged damage, or count them as a separate unit with the same movement speed as whatever drones they are attached to?

Heavy warriors take a lot of room, cost, and should generally be moving towards the enemy so that they can use their weapons, as cover they seem mediocre and needlessly expensive?

>>40312448
and when the user is disabled it could actually lunge off of the wearers arm and attack the aggressors itself

>>40312435
>There is a reason why post-op trannies are prone to suicide.
Because they underwent a completely irreversible procedure that will never live up to their expectations that they believe will finally grant them the happiness and comfort with their body that they desire?

Getting a sex change in this day and age is fucking stupid. You'll just have a fucked up barely functional version of the other set of genitals.

>>40312389
...You mean what hive weapons already are.

An independent drone that has those gun parts built into it instead of having it as a modular attachment on its arm would just be a bigger bulkier less practical gun.

And they already have their own projectile weapons.

>>40312434
Not stand alone organisms, they're not. They are GRAFTS, like a prosthetic, that can only function properly when interfaced with one of our drones.

>>40312131
>Both

>Add ships/fleets to que
>Not now
>Other

The door flexes open and Lee finds Lyle and the others chuckling at a projection against the wall of a man in brightly colored armor and a large, bug-eyed helmet rides a vibrantly decorated grav bike through a large, but cheap looking explosion before entering a flying kick through the air in dramatic fashion to the fast paced beat of pathian pop music. Lee's face pales and he leaps at the holo-screen, covering the projector with his arms as he reaches for the controls.

"That's uh, I saved it for a friend!" He shouts as he pulls the small data disc from the projector screen. Jackob lets out a hearty laugh.

"I think I've seen that show come on in the weekend mornings. Why you need to save it?"

"That's the dub. It's edited to-" Lee stammers again as he fumbles to put the disk in his pocket. "I mean, that's what my friend says." The three let out another round of laughter.

"Alright, but seriously, the other stuff on that disc. Those photos." Dillon asks, his tone growing more serious. "Who'd you get 'em from?"

>>40312205
which ones?

>>40312494
I'm imagining something like the Predators shoulder cannon

>>40312522
>Not now
Let's get on with it.

>>40312505
The big bonus about our guns is that, instead of just being a gun, you can have an attached small bug that sits on your shoulder and tracks targets, aims and fires completely independently of what the wielder of the weapon is doing.

Less hand-held gun, more extremely cheap, automated shoulder-mounted turret.

>>40312522
LEE PLEASE

CONTAIN YOUR SPAGHETTI

>>40312522
>>Not now

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>>40312522
You magnificent bastard

>>40312522
>>Add ships/fleets to que
20 planetary raiders.

Because ee need a ship that can just drop hybrids and egglayers onto a planet without risking detection.

>>40312522
>Other:
Build maximum amount of sustainable bloodroot collectors on Raligha.

>>40312484
>the idea of adding it as an independent organism is that the organism does the aiming
>warrior only needs to stand still
Okay, so. Two problems:
Our guns are already living things that can be used by warriors to help aim.
Standing still, without being in a sniping or camping position, is fucking suicide.
>less efficient than a gun with legs
You're suggesting we make a lot of tiny guns that need feeding, instead of one large creature that can also do melee (you know, that thing we excel in).
>ranged capacity takes up one hand, two when firing
False. Our guns can be fired one handed, they're simply less effective.
>you could replace ranged warriors with ranged symbiotes that you attach to regular warriors
Like our current, regular guns? Why are you advocating for shitty and tiny gun platforms, man?
>heavy warriors take a lot of...
Tiny gun platforms take a lot of room, and cost when taken together, and should generally be kept safe from the enemy so that they can use their weapons, as soldiers they seem mediocre and needlessly expensive?

I've tried so very, very hard to not be a faggot.
But please, get the fuck out. Leave and never return, anon. Just fucking go.

we going full production mode this thread

>>40312556
Except those raiders guarantee detection.

>>40312512
See >>40312512

>>40312522
>>Not now

>>40312522
1 Heavy Battlefleet

One thread on Spacebattles, weeks ago, I doubt that a lot of people saw it

>>40312594
?

>>40312522
>4 Heavy Battle Fleet
>5 Light Fleets

>>40312522
>>Not now

>>40312472
Seeing that he's not doing any of the shit posting is starting to make him seem like a damn reasonable compared to the others in here.

>>40312582
How. They are fully cloaked, and can drop a drone onto a planet in a disposable craft about as small as the drone itself. That's a lot safer than our current method of using space pods, the one on Gemini was nearly found by redneck farmers.

>>40312522
5 light fleets and nothing else.

>>40312522
> Add 4 heavy battle fleets and 3 light fleets

>>40312639
Because deploying the drop pods removes cloak. The will be visible to everyone in the system.

>>40312618
What I mean is that they are weapon grafts, and as such require a drone's biological systems to function. Having a small drone do that would allow humans to use weapons produced by the hive with little to no modification.

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>>40312574
Someone sure is salty because someone has an idea they don't like

I wonder how the human guests would react if they were to see even a glimpse of our war stockpile

>No captcha I don't think iguana's are food but I'll take your word for it

>>40312522
>>4 Heavy Battle Fleet
>>5 Light Fleets

>>40312732
Uhm... Uh QUICK LAMB AVERT YOUR EYES BEFORE ITS TOO LATE!

>>40312574
>Our guns are already living things that can be used by warriors to help aim.
But they're not self-targeting, the warrior still has to devote his attention to it, costing valuable charging time and still using up one limb.
>Standing still, without being in a sniping or camping position, is fucking suicide.
The idea of standing still at long range is that you are in a sniping or camping position - it's the same thing we do now, but with the smaller bug doing the aiming without taking up an arm slot. They can also leave the ranged bugs there and have them continue to provide covering fire while they charge ahead.
>You're suggesting we make a lot of tiny guns that need feeding, instead of one large creature that can also do melee (you know, that thing we excel in).
Well, regular guns. And the idea is simply that instead of taking up one of the large creatures' arms, making it less efficient at dat lovely melee, it is simply attached to the carapace.
>False. Our guns can be fired one handed, they're simply less effective.
Fair enough - but they still take up one arm and designate an entire bug as "Ranged Unit with sword" compared to the dedicated melee units.

>Like our current, regular guns? Why are you advocating for shitty and tiny gun platforms, man?
Why do you assume them to be shitty?
Take a gun. Now imagine that instead of having to shoot it, it sits on your shoulder, and shoots people, while you savage them with your claws.

Previously you'd need to hold it, you'd need to aim yourself, and if you wanted to provide covering fire you'd generally need to stand still and in cover and not charge forwards to chop other things into little pieces.

>Tiny gun platforms take a lot of room, and cost when taken together
Not nearly as much as a full warrior does, which is what we have now. A full warrior doing the job that can be done even better by these "tiny gun platforms".

>>40312676
Yes, briefly, and from thousands of miles away. I still prefer those odds over those of sending one of our pods in, because those cloaks don't exactly work very well inside of an atmosphere.

>>40312677
I get that. Who should see it?
>>40312512
See >>40312512

>>40312639
A drop pod is even worse. It's guaranteed to be noticed. A pod can at least have a decent chance of maintaining cloak entering the atmosphere. The pod just fucking falls and lights up like a xmas tree.

A better choice of landing zones would dramatically reduce the chance of being farmer joe'd again. Just send pods down over the damn ocean. That way poor rolls won't leave any crater humans can investigate.

>>40312787
Dude, I'd just like to point out that these are big honking guns we're talking about here. It would be exceedingly difficult for a small drone to manipulate it with the dexterity a regular warrior has.

That ramming/creep idea, wouldn't it be faster if you can get a modified version of the nanite tree mining thing on the ramming part? Imagine one of our corvettes ramming an enemy ship, only to have the enemy ship lose power one by one as our nanites collect the copper in their wires... or maybe hull breaches/more brittle armor since the metal got leeched from around the impact area?
Hell, we don't even need to penetrate, just bump or glance armors, and boom, they have metal trees on their weakened armor that we can shoot through better.

>>40312787
>They're not self targeting
All of a warrior's being is dedicated to combat. It can slash someone down, bite at someone else, while 1-handed aiming a thorn rifle at a third target a fly can see but it can't with the same ease you or I breathe. That is literally the sort of shit they've been designed for for hundreds of thousands of years.
>Smaller bug doing the aiming without taking up an arm slot
Warriors have been designed to have both ranged and melee weapons. It's not a Ranged unit with sword, it's a dangerous soldier bug.
>Ranged bugs can be left to provide cover
Or we could just use more warriors.
>Using one of the creatures arms, making it less efficient at melee
It doesn't.

>>40312880
Wouldn't it be better to just hijack their ship like that?

>>40312813
The drop pods are indistinguishable from natural asteroids. So are the pods, coincidentally, but they stay around after landing, are significantly bigger, and are clearly of alien design. It is impossible to enter an atmosphere under cloak. Sure you could make the ship look transparent, but you can't hide the heat and fire of re entry. This has happened every time we sent our ships to a Union planet, they even noticed them going to Earth. Drop pods are preferable to FTL ships because they leave no evidence and can't be identified as anything more than a space rock.

>>40312880
Molecular.
Disassembler.
Warhead.

The creep is not, and was never intended to be used as an offensive weapon.

>>40312826
Then imagine them as whatever is the minimum size to do nothing but hold and fire that gun accurately. It doesn't need to be cat sized, but dedicating an entire warrior as a weapons platform for a relatively small weapon seems wasteful when a far smaller and thus less expensive bug could do it equally well without using up an arm.

>>40312970
Then we make it a weapon.

>>40312942
>indistinguishable from natural asteroids
They aren't. It's very easy to figure out the difference.