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It's obviously a dormant bioterror weapon seeded by the Bulrathi. See what you did, peaceful people?
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Oct 29, 2016 06:00
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Crazycryodude posted:It's obviously a dormant bioterror weapon seeded by the Bulrathi. See what you did, peaceful people? Nah, it's our own fuckup. E: If we want to be picky, it's a random event, but it happened literally the year after horrifying bioweapons became possible for us, and our research after that discovery could have the potential for Fun Biotech Disasters. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 07:00 on Oct 29, 2016 |
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Oct 29, 2016 06:49
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Is that the truth, or just what the liberal pro-Bulrathi media WANTS you to think?
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Oct 29, 2016 16:44
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Shadow Empires- Bulrathi and Human Habitation in the Rim The recurrent rise of piracy based out of the Warikomi system has long been public knowledge to the citizens of the Human Republic, and the well-informed are aware that the Bulrathi Empire itself has been harried by renegades from the Gularn system. What has only become clear with recent Space Fleet scouting operations and waves of immigration into the Human Republic from external sources is that the industrial centers emerging in Warikomi are only the tip of the iceberg for a 'shadow empire' of nomads, warlords, and pirates that stretches over much of the Rim, operating invisibly to most civilised audiences but nonetheless at its peak representing nearly 10% of the population of the known galaxy. The initial wave of exodus of criminals from the Human Republic was only the first stage of exodus, with criminals and refugees filtering out beyond the borders of the Republic and establishing deep space habitats. The rigors of deep space habitats, the avoidance of deep gravity wells, a nomadic lifestyle, and extremely poor governance by whatever pirate king or warlord holds sway over an Oort cloud space station or battered nomad fleet have made for a ramshackle society with a poor industrial base, but by necessity hydroponics have been developed to an artform by these 'barbarian' populations, who obsessively curate food staples to sustain life in their harsh environment. Opportunistic mining and smelting, the manufacture of small ships at stations, and repair of components until complete failure strain their limited industry to the breaking point. No unified government links the 'shadow empire' of the rim, but travel, barter, and brutal little skirmishes primarily fought by boarding actions in the absence of widespread access to ship to ship weapons are common. Most rim enclaves are monospecies, with species differences often being a pretext for war and piracy, but an unbroken chain of communication nonetheless links systems from Gularn to Tyrannus, while a thinner penumbra of Bulrathi shadow colonisation stretches coreward from the Bulrathi Empire. The establishment of border fortifications around the Human Republic and Bulrathi Empire cut off travel across 'civilised' space, while few of the slow, limping ships of the renegades dare to cross the Pferd system. Where few dare to cross Pferd, none dare to settle there permanently. The colonisation of Tarazad has seen an evacuation of renegade stations into nomad fleets, primarily moving into Tyrannus and joining other communities on the rim. Most such communities are small and poor, but opportunity has spurred the development of certain major industrial and military centers amongst them. The repeated emergence of heavy settlement in the asteroids of Warikomi is the most obvious example, with the continual passage of trade between the Bulrathi Empire and Human Republic or the lines of Bulrathi supply ships in wartime providing a rich source of resources for a culture critically impoverished and struggling at the edge of extinction. Access to what raiding can be done allows new settlers into Warikomi to accumulate greater wealth and reources, helping allow greater populations to be supported and bolstering the power of local warlords. In time, the pirate havens of Warikomi re-emerge as true industrial centers with populations as high as 250 million. The net total population of these societies may be as high as 4 billion total, coreward and rimward, Human and Bulrathi- a far larger shadow than we previously imagined.
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Oct 29, 2016 18:30
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I would go for the future-oriented ships. The cool thing about the mass drivers is that you can hang back and let the punishment go. Best targeting systems, heavy autocannon., in the shape of an actual autocannon for the looks.
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Oct 29, 2016 21:02
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And I just noticed my bit about the plague had dates 20 years off. Fixed. Stupid of me.
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Oct 30, 2016 05:29
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Love the explanation for where pirates come from! Nice bit of fluff.
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Oct 30, 2016 08:36
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The Masque of the Red Death Late in 2440, negotiations with interests in the Bulrathi Empire were able to arrange transfer of Bulrathi targeting computer technology to the Human Republic, although the price was steep- 100 trillion credits over 20 years and information on Human shielding technology. Nonetheless, this was likely advantageous to the Republic in the long run. Annual tribute arrangements last 20 years, like trade agreements. The AI tends to be rather lopsided in value assessments, which means that we can occasionally get deals like that when seeking technology transfers. Researching Xenology should help us in that, however.      Two years later, in 2442, the Earthlike planet Tarazad Prime was colonised and officially named 'Sunrise'. The local population set to establishing local industries and infrastructure, while the rich fisheries that were set up in Sunrise's oceans helped feed the hungry population of the planet. With the Human Republic's third inhabited world, Human presence amongst the stars was steadily strengthening. Only a year later, an unarmed Bulrathi Imperial scout was detected headed to Tarazad from Segel, although the Hugh Glass and Huscarl were able to deny it passage beyond the edge of the system when it arrived.   By 2444, Human study of physics had advanced sufficiently to identify strange quasi-magnetic interactions even in neutrally-charged neutrons and develop theories explaining this otherwise baffling behavior. Exploitation of this refinement of knowledge about electromagnetism allowed for a dramatic miniaturisation of neutron cannon weaponry to personal weapon sizes, far more powerful mass drivers than had ever been developed, and refinements in the cost-effective magnetic bottling of the output of fusion reactors in an industrial context. The description of the Neutron Collider as a research tool when it only boosts industrial production irritates me; you will see how I am glossing the improvement in more detail by the end of the update.     With these new developments, the Defense Department ran a design contest for updates to the nearly 50-year-old Davy Crockett and Huscarl ship designs. Teyer-Young Weltraumwerke, a firm headquartered in the Ruhr Valley of the Republic of the Rhineland, won the competition with its Striker space control cruiser and its Paladin escort frigate. With double mass driver turrets both on the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the ship and with new fire control technology acquired from the Bulrathi, the Striker was capable of significantly increased effective firepower at range than the older Davy Crockett design. The Paladin, for its part, used a massive array of KKV launchers and a single dorsal mass driver turret to provide devastating firepower against inbound missiles while still providing some fire support against enemy ships.  The Davy Crockett itself was the first of the Human Republic's old ships to be refitted to the new design standards, with the Hugh Glass and Huscarl on station in Tarazad without adequete yard facilities for refits and the Arbalest departed on a scouting mission along the galactic rim. Although the cost was significant, the modernisation of the Human Republic's fleet was expected to help preserve the peace with the Bulrathi Empire. Refits require the fleet be at a star base or military outpost.  Only four years later, in 2448, major breakthroughs in biological sciences led to the ability to create specially-engineered lifeforms. Amongst the first things to come from this was a line of hardy and nutritious molds and fungi that could help recycle waste in harsh environments into usable food, with further medical developments anticipated as research continues to refine the process. What was not immediately appreciated was the darker potential of this technology. Events, however, would soon make this all too clear.    In 2449, an accident in a lab attempting to work on retroviral treatments for cancer led to a release of raw retroviral material on Paradise. With none of the safety limiters intended to make the retrovirus safe for use yet in place, the virus turned to attacking even healthy tissue, leading to massive tissue necrosis, bleeding, organ failure, and death as the course of the 'Red Masque' plague continued. By the end of the year, Paradise was under full quarantine as a pandemic ravaged the planet, population growth and much of the economy essentially ground to a halt as emergency measures to combat the plague were put into place and desperate research programs attempted to develop a true cure to the horrifying disease. The plague random event breaks out JUST as we get access to bioweapons. The death toll from a plague is modelled by halving food production on the planet, although Paradise, thankfully, is able to keep that just in check. All research on a plague-stricken planet, instead of going to your normal research goal, goes to trying to find a plague cure- and it's generally a good idea to divert everybody you can spare to research to stop this as quickly as possible. Leaving just enough agricultural population to avoid a population crash with the remainder of the population working on a cure lets it pass relatively quickly. We also shall not be using bioweapons- they're both morally appalling and a diplomatic affront to everybody who is aware of you using them. Sure, they let you easily capture planets with infrastructure intact without a major ground war, but they represent a bridge too far.   By 2452 a fortification locking down the route between Tarazad and Segel was completed by the Industrious, and the Hugh Glass and Huscarl were sent in to the yard facilities on the fortifications for modernisation. Meanwhile, the Arbalest, which had been exploring along the galactic rim, finally arrived at Gularn, proving that there was a path of access between Bulrathi and Human space that did not pass through Pferd. A widely-scattered spray of small deep-space stations and nomadic fleets was found to be present all across the rim, a whole previously-invisible society whose periodic rebuilding of the facilities preying on shipping in Warikomi was only the most obvious manifestation. A massive, sprawling orbital city inhabited by Bulrathi renegades was present around the harsh, ammonaic planet of Gularn Prime, itself a part of the spread of shadow colonisation along the rim and an industrial center to match the ones that had repeatedly grown in Warikomi.  Only a year later, new ships equipped for ship to ship combat were detected both in Gularn and in Warikomi- clear evidence that the pirate haven of Warikomi had once again grown into prominence. The Arbalest began its journey back to the Human Republic, while the Pinaka set out to once again bring the piracy plaguing the trade lanes between the Empire and the Republic under control.   In the same year of 2453, the 'Red Masque' plague on Paradise was finally cured, with the cure and inoculation being distributed all across the population and the last cases recorded in late 2453. Life on Paradise slowly returned to normal, the quarantine lifted and people once more participating in normal work and economic life. The death toll had been horrific over the four years of the plague, but Paradise had survived.      It was in 2456 that two pirate frigates arrived at the Mihr border defenses. They suffered crippling damage from long-range mass driver fire before being torn apart by the advanced nuclear missiles of the fortifications. The Davy Crockett stood ready to assist, but failed to arrange a firing solution before both frigates were sunk. The ability of mass driver fire to score damaging hits at such a range was duly noted by the Chiefs of Staff- previous experience with lasers and neutron cannon suggested that most hits at the outer edge of the range envelope would fail to do any effective damage against ship armor. The victory was conclusive.    Almost simultaneously, the Pinaka was hammering the shipyards and command posts of the pirate king ruling in Warikomi, devastating the local command infrastructure. With the local power structure devastated and the threat of interception by pirates in Warikomi gone, many of the nomads and exiles of the rim saw their chance, as did the bulk of the population that had been oppressed under the warlord of Warikomi. Waves of ramshackle nomad ships began arriving in Mihr over the next several years, bringing what eventually proved to be nearly a billion immigrants hoping to settle on Paradise and escape the grim deprivation and violence of the exile communities of the rim. The Republic's authorities ensured that military forces were in place to maintain order in Paradise, but could not bring themselves to turn away the refugees, who largely assimilated into the population with only relatively limited disruption. Free population from hitting a pirate base is always very nice, although imagining that a billion slaves are on hand right there strikes me as a bit of a stretch. Drawing on the reserves of the 'shadow empire' of the pirates seems a little more likely to me.   Despite the tragedy of the 'Red Masque' plague, the experience and knowledge gained from fighting it helped contribute to the eventual development of genetically-engineered bacterial medical technologies in 2458. These bacteria could be 'programmed' by tweaking their genetic structure, helping them seek out diseased tissue in a body, releasing medicinal chemicals in targeted doses, attacking tumorous cells, or helping stimulate coagulation and sealing of wounds. Use of so-called 'microbiotic' bacteria in medical treatments helped to effectively and affordably fight illness with minimal side effects, improving Human life expectancy across the board. Earlier experiments with similar retroviral treatments were abandoned when it was determined that the risk of viral mutation leading to severe health risks was simply too high to be accepted. Genetic Engineering gives you a choice between two medical technologies that boost population growth; I chose to go with the one that's immediately implemented everywhere for no upkeep cost over the somewhat more powerful one that needs to be built and has an upkeep of 3 BC. That said, if we can end up trading for Cloning Centers later, it will be worth it. The Human Republic and Known Space as of 2460    The entire accessible portion of the galaxy has been surveyed, proving to be a roughly 90 degree arc of the galactic disc from the rim to a point perhaps halfway up the galactic arms. The Human Republic and Bulrathi Empire have, between them, civilised seven different systems, while scattered nomads, pirates, and renegades beyond their borders contribute several billion more to galactic population. Trade between the Bulrathi Empire and Human Republic is booming, helping ensure the health of both economies and speeding their development. The Davy Crockett and Pinaka are on station guarding the borders at Mihr, the Hugh Glass and Huscarl are helping protect the Tarazad system, and the Arbalest is moving between Kif and Warikomi, returning swiftly to the Republic's space. The Chiefs of Staff are dismayed that Gularn and Marindi provide another potential route of access for Bulrathi forces into Human space in the event of another war, but nonetheless are working to adapt strategic planning to the new environment.    Earth's population has grown to well over 11 billion by 2460, with dramatically upgraded communications and data processing and fusion power generation compared to two decades ago. Improved data networks have manifested in faster network communications for the general population, but the true impact of these communications improvements has been seen in the scientific and engineering communities. Innovation and the spread of ideas is easier and faster than ever before, and the scientific productivity of Earth has dramatically increased. Meanwhile, the massive heavy-duty fusion plants now serving to supply Earth's power needs have allowed for expansion of industrial plants and the use of industrial methods that would have previously been prohibitively expensive due to energy costs. Perhaps the most flagrant example of this is the use of neutron accelerators to manufacture synthetic isotopes on demand for specialised applications. Although hardly the largest contributor to improved industrial productivity, the mere fact that such an incredibly energy-intensive process is commercially viable is the most obvious sign of the change in Earth's industry. Expanded industrial output has brought with it increased industrial waste, and once again the environment quality of Earth is slowly degrading.   Between immigration from beyond the Human Republic's borders and the natural increase of its own population which has occurred outside of the plague years, Paradise now exceeds a population of nine billion, and still rapidly growing. A significant surface military has been raised on the planet, which has helped counteract any tendency by recent immigrants to revert to the violent lifestyle normal on the rim and ensuring smooth assimilation. Both heavy industry and research on Paradise have exploded in output, although both are still somewhat less efficient than Earth's new standards. A new armed orbital headquarters for Space Fleet over Paradise should be completed within the next few years, helping support its operations and allow for a heavier weight of Human ships in service.   Sunrise has a population of only about 1.4 billion, supporting a small if thriving local heavy industrial sector, along with sealed habitats for agriculture and research. Local fishing has helped maintain very respectable local food supplies which are likely to be further improved as industrial-scale hydroponics are put into place on the planet. The small population relative to local development renders it heavily dependent on Humanity's more developed worlds to maintain its infrastructure, needing constant imports of specialised components from off-planet.    The system of Marindi along the rim is notable for its dense asteroids and gas giant, which have undergone fairly extensive opportunistic mining and harvesting by the exiles of the rim and could promise significant exploitable resources if ever properly colonised. The system also supports two potentially-interesting rocky planets. Marindi Prime is a hot planet with a thin atmosphere and a limited biosphere of primitive life around its northern polar region, exploiting the limited subterranean water supplies of the planet. It is fairly hostile, but still has a breathable atmosphere and could support agriculture without too much difficulty. Marindi II, on the other hand, is airless, searing, and heavily-irradiated. It is only a small world, and would be unremarkable if not for the still-surviving evidence of ancient cities, perhaps from the Orion Confederation, still able to be found on its surface.  The sole interesting planet around Gularn is Gularn Prime, notable for its blistering, corrosive ammonia-based atmosphere and significant gold locked in the rocks under its choking clouds. A long-establised orbital station-city exists around the planet, hosting a society of renegade Bulrathi long fighting hopeless raids against the Bulrathi Empire. Proposals for the People of the Republic Research Priorities  The largest portion of current research efforts are focused on improved materials science and voidcraft engineering, which may shortly help develop significantly improved armor and structural materials. Other fields continue to get some attention, however. Development of an improved science of study of alien behavior could help with diplomatic and corporate negotiations, while development of artificial gravity generation technology could significantly improve the comfort of long-term ship deployments and make certain orbital facilities more viable. Continued study of physics might help develop new weapons and potentially unlock new computing applications in the future, while development of large-scale ecological engineering methods could help mitigate pollution and ecological damage and provide for other high-value projects. Finally, improvement of current drive systems could potentially improve the speed of every Human ship in service. Please vote between Xenology, Artificial Gravity, Positron Physics, Xenobiotics, or Advanced Fusion. If you vote for Artificial Gravity, please place a secondary vote for shipbuilding or research applications; likewise, if you vote for Xenobiotics, please place a secondary vote for scientific or agricultural applications. Paradise Development Paradise lags behind Earth somewhat in overall development, and a significant number of different projects have been clamoring for investment capital on the planet. Which shall be completed first depends to large extent on how successful they are- improved communications networks, expanded industrial development, improved processing of industrial waste, and improved planetary fortifications all are planned by some body or another. Please vote between an Advanced Data Center, Neutron Collider, Atmosphere Renewer, or Missile Base as our next priority on Paradise after the Star Base. Earth Industrial Focus A new colonial mission to be dispatched to Segel is being assembled on Earth, which much of Earth's industrial might focused on outfitting this mission. What shall follow, however, is a matter of some question. A new colonial mission may be sponsored, civilian shipbuilding to support emigrants to Sunrise, or military appropriations may be next. Military appropriations, for their part, might support a new surface military on Earth, an expansion of Space Fleet, or the establishment of an experimental system of DNA sniffers intended to catch Bulrathi infiltration, even if at rather significant expense. Please vote between another Colony Ship, a Civil Transport, a Marine Barracks, new Warships, or a Planetary DNA Scanner for Earth following our current colony ship. Segel Prime Name With Segel Prime about to be colonised, it will need an official name, which will be decided upon by its colonists. Please propose and vote on names for Segel Prime. Despite being rocked by tragedy over the past decades, the Human Republic is in a strong position, wealthy, advanced, and secure. It can be hoped this continues into the future.
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Oct 31, 2016 00:43
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Xenobiotics - Take the agricultural applications. (In my personal opinion, reducing the number of pops that need to work on food on a developed planet achieves the same effect as the research boost, while also letting them do other things if needs be) Neutron Collider followed by the renewer. Feel free to take a pop off research to speed up production. The renewer should balance things out once built. Ideally, this is where we'll build up our fleets, and once pollution gets too high, build the data center and switch to research mode. COLONY SHIP - Now that we have a half-decent fleet, we must not allow the colony gap to grow too wide. Segel -> Hegel
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Oct 31, 2016 01:14
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Sheesh, for a planet named "Paradise", they're have a poo poo run of luck haven't they? Xenology, Atmosphere Renewer, Colony Ships We need to get new planets up and running, as well as making sure we don't spoil them or get into any more hostilities. As for the new planets, we've had the boys in sales come up with some nice friendly "inspiring" names: Utopia, Heaven, Manifest Destiny, Green Acres
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Oct 31, 2016 01:27
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SECRET- Interstellar Intelligence Agency Operations; Top-Level Assessment of Bulrathi Empire The Interstellar Intelligence Agency has now expanded to three field teams. Bravo and Charlie are assigned to domestic counterespionage duties on Earth and Paradise while Alpha has been developing information sources within the Bulrathi Empire.  The Bulrathi Empire operates under a heavier taxation regime and more oppressive laws than the Human Republic, and as such suffers a generally higher degree of unrest across multiple worlds and lower labor force participation. Border fortifications are believed to be present on the border of Rosemund on the conduit to Kaff, along with two fortifications locking down both points of conduit access to both Ellq and Ursa systems. Bulrathi population is believed to be similar to the Human population, but total GDP slightly lower. Technology is roughly comparable, although Bulrathi deep sensors and medical technology lag Human standards.  The capital planet of Bulra has a population of roughly 11 billion, similar to Earth but believed to be somewhat less developed. Local unrest has led to scattered work stoppages, reducing local output. Despite Bulrathi religious traditions and efforts towards ecological preservation, it is notable that Bulra has suffered worse environmental damage than Earth from industrialisation. Team Alpha's sources indicate that Imperial Intelligence operates active counterintelligence on Bulra, which is home to the only orbital military headquarters of the Imperial Fleet.  Korga has a population of approximately five billion, with a development level estimated to be similar to that of Paradise. As on Bulra, local unrest is a significant negative impact on the planetary population. A well-organised local government and active counterintelligence efforts by Imperial Intelligence render the planet relatively secure against espionage.  Kalov has a population of only three billion, with massive and ongoing local unrest relative to the local population. The local economy is somewhat well-developed but lacks general improvement of business organisation and economic analysis. Team Alpha is tasked with developing information sources on Porov, the last Bulrathi Imperial world. Following this, a reassessment of Team Alpha's operations may be necessary. Subversion of elements within scientific and/or hacker communities, key positions in agricultural production and food distribution, labor groups in heavy industry, or sources within administrative and military positions could be possible on any Bulrathi world, as could reassignment to counterintelligence duties at home. At least one set of sources within the Imperial scientific community may help determine what new scientific developments are ongoing in Imperial territory, and will help assess the local state of research and innovation on any planet. Agricultural and industrial espionage could likewise help reveal the state of local sectors on different planets, while moles within the government and military will help better assess the security state of the planet along with some other data. It is worth noting that any of these deeper penetrations are higher-risk than information-gathering has been up to this point, which the legislature should bear in mind. Deeper infiltration into all aspects of a given planet's activities or in parallel on multiple different planets is possible. The IIA requests clarification from Legislative Intelligence Oversight as to the legislature's priorities. Please inform me how you wish Team Alpha to be used once it gathers information on the last Bulrathi world. Counter-espionage, or deeper infiltration into science, agriculture, industry, or government are possible, with deeper infiltration possibly targeted at the same aspect of multiple worlds or all aspects, one after another, of the same world- tell me how you want it targeted if you want deeper infiltration.
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Oct 31, 2016 01:29
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We are not naming a colony world 'Hegel'.
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Oct 31, 2016 01:32
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I am amused by the fact that Humanity seems to be doing better, ecologically, than the Bulrathi here. From looking at the lore on the main website, their own backstory has Humanity rescued from ecological collapse by the Bulrathi as part of the backstory. This would seem to be yet another case of Humanity doing the X-COM thing of being better at the aliens' technologies than the aliens themselves. Neutron Collider if pollution is fine, otherwise Atmosphere Renewer Colony Ship, we need to make up for lost time The colony at Segel Prime should be named New Gobi. It is far less hospitable than the places we have sent other colonists, while still being relatively Earthlike. No opinion on research.
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Oct 31, 2016 02:16
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nweismuller posted:We are not naming a colony world 'Hegel'. Would "Dialectic" be okay? First batch of votes: Xenobiotics/Science, Neutron Collider, Colony Ship, New Babylon Second: Infiltrate Science on Kalov because it's probably a softer target. Friend Commuter fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Oct 31, 2016 |
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Oct 31, 2016 02:16
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ManxomeBromide posted:I am amused by the fact that Humanity seems to be doing better, ecologically, than the Bulrathi here. From looking at the lore on the main website, their own backstory has Humanity rescued from ecological collapse by the Bulrathi as part of the backstory. The website lore is directly contradictory to in-game information in some places, and having backstory with prior contact between species doesn't really make sense anyhow in the context of the game, so I cheerfully ignore absolutely everything on the website. That said, yes, Bulrathi do have a nature-revering religion and a bonus to pollution mitigation, which tells me they were really going whole hog on pollution on Bulra earlier. Friend Commuter posted:Would "Dialectic" be okay? No.
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Oct 31, 2016 02:22
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Oh come on, what's wrong with Hegel? If you don't change your mind then I vote for New Babylon, but Hegel will always be first in my heart. Otherwise, Xenology, Neutron Collider, colony ship, and infiltrate science on Kalov, once that's done work on stealing any especially juicy techs if they have them, otherwise start working on the industry on Ursa. Kalov's the softest target to get moles within the research community, and Ursa is presumably their best developed planet and will retain that spot for a while so it's the best place to lay the groundwork for a "make the economy fall apart the next time they inevitably get uppity and need a kicking" button. Also, Paradise really has it rough, doesn't it. Paradisians(?) must be some pretty cynical people at this point. Crazycryodude fucked around with this message at 18:39 on Oct 31, 2016 |
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Oct 31, 2016 02:32
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Crazycryodude posted:Paradisians(?) Tomatoes.
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Oct 31, 2016 04:22
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Goodness, in the early days of space exploration there must have been a major exodus to produce a pirate/non-affiliated society that large. Before the governments were prepared enough to send out properly loyal and equipped space vessels, one imagines every Weyland and Yutani was sending out expeditions, while people just looking to get away set out with whatever ships they could cobble together. A few hundred here, a couple thousand there. It all adds up. The corporate vessels being forced to search ever further in vain for sources of profit until they couldn't make it back, if they were ever meant to, while the early colonists either (mostly) failed or lacked the means or desire to stay in contact. They took the risks, so when Earth sent its official navy out into the galaxy they had an example of what not to do.
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Oct 31, 2016 04:38
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Yeah, frankly the pirates being able to be a goodie box full of billions of people is a tough thing to write around. That said, a lot of it is also supposed to be population growth over a wide area in a 'frontier' society, whatever its hardships.
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Oct 31, 2016 04:51
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Obviously they're space libertarians who invested in gold and flew it to their own private asteroids 
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Oct 31, 2016 05:04
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But WE are the Space Libertarians. Where's my asteroid full of gold Space Ron Paul sold me in a mutually enriching business transaction free from government interference?
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Oct 31, 2016 05:09
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One of the interesting things about bioweapons is that this game buffed the gently caress out of them compared to Master of Orion 2. The diplomatic penalties are there in both games, but they actually get poo poo done here. See, in Master of Orion 2, to use a bioweapon, you had to get close to the planet and attack it during space combat, like with a regular bomb. The problem is that bioweapons had a small chance (10% for Death Spores, 20% for Bio Terminators) to kill one unit of population each, and this was halved by Microbotics and quartered by Universal Antidote way further down the line. And you couldn't use them in the post battle "your ships are over their planet, what do you want to do" bits. So you had to get them to the planet in combat, drop a bunch and hope they worked despite lovely odds, and to top it all off if you killed everyone on the planet this way, the colony was destroyed and you'd have to rebuild it all from scratch anyway. And just to add insult to injury, Death Spores and Bio Terminators are both mutually exclusive with some other fantastic technologies. They still carry a horrific diplomatic penalty in this game, but the changes to make them worth using are quite simple: in the post battle "you own their orbit, what do you do" bits, you can drop conventional bombs and/or bioweapons, depending on what you're packing. Bombs have a chance of blowing up infrastructure, killing population units, or killing ground troops. Bioweapons only kill population units or ground troops. The other big change is that if you kill everybody, the colony still exists and is owned by the original empire, it just has a population of zero, so you've got to ship in some fresh people to actually make use of anything. I don't expect to see bioweapons get shown off here for the same reason I don't expect to see any planets getting bombed clean, but at least now bioweapons are actually worth considering instead of a terrible boondoggle for puppykickers.
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Oct 31, 2016 05:56
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MechaCrash posted:I don't expect to see bioweapons get shown off here for the same reason I don't expect to see any planets getting bombed clean, but at least now bioweapons are actually worth considering instead of a terrible boondoggle for puppykickers. This seems to be a return to form, then, because your description matches my memory of how they worked in Master of Orion 1.
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Oct 31, 2016 05:58
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You could use them from orbit in MoO2, too, it just wasn't explicit about it. It'll always drop the bioweapons first before starting to bomb the planet regularly. There's no "just the bioweapons" option, and no "don't bioweapon" option either as I find out after accidentally clicking "bomb" instead of "mind control" somehow on a fleet with captured enemy biowarfare ships.
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Oct 31, 2016 06:05
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Xenobiotics - Agriculture: more pops = more science Neutron Collider -> Atmosphere Renewer: b/c my dad Colony Ship: More worlds = more pops = more everything Not a fan of these names, but New Babylon is alright Hey nweismuller, if you were to destroy the Bulrathi pirate exclave and receive population from it like the last event, would they be Human or Bulrathi? Is there any benefit to destroying other nation's pirates? Aeromancia fucked around with this message at 23:00 on Oct 31, 2016 |
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Oct 31, 2016 15:40
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Aeromancia posted:Hey nweismuller, if you were to destroy the Bulrathi pirate exclave and receive population from it like the last event, would they be Human or Bulrathi? Is there any benefit to destroying other nation's pirates? Hitting any pirate enclave gets you the fabulous prizes in question, and population generated by pirate enclaves is of your empire's species. As for not liking the names, honestly I would think New Egypt would be a little better for an arid world than New Gobi, given that there *are* fertile valleys with some rain and desert inland. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 15:58 on Oct 31, 2016 |
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Oct 31, 2016 15:55
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Call it Dune. Or failing that, New Babylon.
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Oct 31, 2016 16:32
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my dad posted:Xenobiotics - Take the agricultural applications. (In my personal opinion, reducing the number of pops that need to work on food on a developed planet achieves the same effect as the research boost, while also letting them do other things if needs be) Sure, seems smart. Also, liking New Babylon.
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Oct 31, 2016 17:01
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Oh, hey, I *like* New Babylon a lot. Nice suggestion!
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Oct 31, 2016 18:20
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Rather fond of New Babylon myself, changed vote (but still lodge formal protest in response the the distinctly undemocratic vetoing of Hegel).
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Oct 31, 2016 18:39
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New Babylon
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Oct 31, 2016 19:00
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Crazycryodude posted:Rather fond of New Babylon myself, changed vote (but still lodge formal protest in response the the distinctly undemocratic vetoing of Hegel). Same here.
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Oct 31, 2016 19:04
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As a mechanics question, do you really only have ... what, five ships? Or have you built more and are glossing over them, using the names to represent teams? I haven't played nuMoO and I'm wondering if militaries are really that small, with a handful of powerful ships instead of large groups of weaker ones. As a non-mechanics comment, New Babylon. I bow to the majority on the rest of the decisions; the previously suggested options seem fine.
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Oct 31, 2016 21:25
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Just as a head's up, Master of Orion is on sale right now. The 40% discount is nearly halving the price and is running until 6th November, so if you want to try the game out, now is the chance! Thanks to this LP, I finally broke down and bought it. I mean, 40% discount! How the hell was I supposed to resist this temptation?
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Oct 31, 2016 22:07
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Stormgear posted:Call it Dune. I like the name as well, I'll change my vote to New Babylon as well.
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Oct 31, 2016 23:00
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I'm going to suggest something simultaneously older and New Ur.
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Oct 31, 2016 23:16
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Do you guys think Nova Babylon(ia?) sounds better than New Babylon? I'm kinda on the fence about the Latin but the all-English names could get tiring.
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Oct 31, 2016 23:16
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Crazycryodude posted:Do you guys think Nova Babylon(ia?) sounds better than New Babylon? I'm kinda on the fence about the Latin but the all-English names could get tiring. If you want to be really classy, it's Eššu Bābilu in Akkadian.
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Oct 31, 2016 23:23
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AJ_Impy posted:I'm going to suggest something simultaneously older and New Ur.  "Whether this is a good or bad thing is up to you.
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Nov 1, 2016 00:04
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I like the mutually-exclusive approach to a tech tree. Really incentivizes trade.
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Nov 1, 2016 00:25
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