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How capable is the Karzelek's sensor of actually detecting anything interesting in a flyby? It's purpose-built for finding minerals deep underground, and can't detect heat or EM. We could take the FESTER sensors, make a little engine to match, and build a one-off fighter sized recon craft to do an orbital pass. We know there's structures. We don't actually know they're cold/dead.
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Nov 8, 2020 04:06
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I don't know why you are all so worried. Our crack team of Cosmonauts are equal to the task.
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Nov 8, 2020 04:07
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UAWR says wait for real archeologists
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Nov 8, 2020 04:46
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NewMars posted:UAWR says wait for real archeologists Agreed
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Nov 8, 2020 05:17
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March 25, 1981 The Karzelek will make a low pass over Cydonia, leaving closer examination to experts.  The region is hilly and moderately cratered, and borders the vast, flat lowlands of Acidalia Planitia; on initial passes, what turned out to be structures were interpreted as more hills. Existing terrestrial imagery of the area is too low-resolution to make out anything, and the only pre-TN orbiter to successfully reach Mars took no photographs of the area. There are about a dozen large structures and approximately forty smaller ones across an area of about fifty square kilometers. The most noticeable of them, informally dubbed 'the face' due to its initial appearance on low-resolution orbital photography (it's pareidolia, it doesn't actually look much like a face on closer examination), is an enormous mostly-hollow underground complex built into and under a large hill, about 3 square kilometers in size. There are at least two large, independent masses of TNEs and conventional metals, mostly steel, aluminum, and duranium, present within, as well as a third of similar size composed entirely of conventional materials. Buried in the nearby hills, informally dubbed 'the city', 'the fortress', and the 'pyramid', are multiple other similarly-large underground complexes. A huge field of irregular scattered objects, interpreted as a debris field, radiates out from the 'pyramid' in a star-shaped pattern. In the open areas between are a number of smaller surface structures, ranging in size from a few dozen meters to hundreds of square meters; a few more structures of similar size have been detected in small clusters as far as 100km away. Small quantities of irregular debris can be found scattered about the entire area, and most of the structures are connected by what are presumed to be cables or pipes. If there are any power sources, EM emissions such as radio signals, or thermal sources, we currently lack the means to detect them. With nothing else to be done, the crew of the Karzelek reluctantly departs to continue their mission. 'Discover Alien Ruins' is a potential auto-award medal condition if you wanted to create one. March 26, 1981  Scans of Deimos and Phobos reveal no TNEs - Phobos in particular is a loose aggregate that doesn't contain much of anything. The Karzelek moves on to surveying a target of opportunity - the comet Tempel-1, which will be passing nearby. It will be yet another first - they were the first humans to visit Mars, now they will be the first humans to visit a comet.  They discover modest TNE deposits, and move on to surveying the inner asteroid belt. March 28, 1981  Modest deposits of TNEs are discovered on a number long-period comet. April 3, 1981 The first TNE-enhanced personal computer, officially AL-1 but informally 'Alexandria' or 'Alex', is rolled out for public release throughout the Comintern. Previously, TNE-based computing hardware had only been available to academic institutions and governments. Locally-produced copies of the design, improvements on it, and unrelated TNE-based computer hardware development all start cropping up almost immediately. April 12, 1981  The Skarbnik completes their survey of Venus, discovering TNE deposits that are enormous, but so uneconomical to harvest that they are effectively inaccessible - with the exception of the gallicite veins, which should be very easy to extract. They move on to Mercury. April 13, 1981  CSV Skarbnik reaches Mercury, and become the first human spacecraft to orbit it. April 20, 1981  Small mineral deposits discovered on the asteroid Kalliope, after scanning dozens of asteroids with no luck. April 30, 1981  Another asteroid deposit is discovered. Additionally, the first sensor package ordered for the FESTER project finishes development, and work begins on the second.  A sensor platform is immediately designed to contain it. It is sized for the small hangar bays currently being developed, and has very large maintenance supply stocks and an unreasonably long deployment time, just in case one is ever deployed somewhere other than Earth. One of them is immediately ordered.  It'll be done in a couple weeks. May 9, 1981 The Communist Party of Nepal wins overwhelmingly in the first ever free elections for the country's parliament. May 20, 1981   The Electron surveillance station is launched into orbit, with its small crew. It is commanded by Ship Commander PurpleXVI, selected for their combination of relevant skills and ironclad political credentials.
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Nov 8, 2020 05:33
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It occurs to me that this might be reason enough to fast-track Mars colony plans if we want a team of on-site scientists to properly examine the structures.
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Nov 8, 2020 05:44
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A bunch of 0.9 accessibility gallicite on Venus is really nice, we got a super lucky Sol system with all these minerals and ruins everywhere
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Nov 8, 2020 05:59
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Mister Bates posted:It is commanded by Ship Commander PurpleXVI, selected for their combination of relevant skills and ironclad political credentials. Never, ever trust PurpleXVI. Ever.
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Nov 8, 2020 06:05
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Crazycryodude posted:A bunch of 0.9 accessibility gallicite on Venus is really nice, we got a super lucky Sol system with all these minerals and ruins everywhere Yeah, absolutely. I'm expecting zero Sorium on the gas giants to compensate.
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Nov 8, 2020 06:15
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Is there not a general goon Aurora4X discord? Seems like it would be popular enough.
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Nov 8, 2020 07:12
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Mister Bates posted:With nothing else to be done, the crew of the Karzelek reluctantly departs to continue their mission. Nooo, you pusillanimous idiots made our cosmonauts sad. Fantastic news from Venus, though. What's the plan for the Skarbnik again? Will it investigate the asteroid belt too, or will it explore outer system planets and moons? Rhjamiz posted:Is there not a general goon Aurora4X discord? Seems like it would be popular enough. There are several Discords with Aurora channels, all at different levels of dead. Aurora's popular, playing it less so, it seems. Which I really understand, I often want to play, but it's a just a bit too draining. And I really, really hate the new ground forces mechanics.
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Nov 8, 2020 08:26
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Mister Bates posted:May 20, 1981 I ride bikes all day posted:Never, ever trust PurpleXVI. Ever. C'mon, what trouble could I possibly get into without weapons and engines? Hey, why doesn't this thing have any engines and weapons? How am I supposed to destroy the forces of interstellar capital from here?! I feel strangely as though someone has been very canny with this posting...
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Nov 8, 2020 09:45
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Did we get any TNE results back from Mercury?
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Nov 8, 2020 10:13
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Well the NOMAD Collective will be happy about the Venus news, Venera Initiative looks vaguely viable now that we know there's actual resources to extract there to justify the balloon habitats. What's the industrial applications of Gallicite anyway? I'm guessing it's like Corbomite where currently our Earth supply more than meets our demand? As for Mars... these orbital passes tell us a lot, and it's a bit worrying. All these underground structures could just be economical radiation shielding, like Lunagrad building into lunar lava tubes. The apparent debris field radiating out from The Pyramid however tells me "fortified military position," and one that saw active combat with who knows what. Whether they won or lost is up for speculation, we don't know if the debris came from something on the Pyramid itself blowing up or whether something blew up above it, it MIGHT be an anti-aircraft defense of some sort? It's a real shame we can't scan the EM spectrum for any signs of life. This place could be derelict for hundreds, thousands, hell maybe millions of years. These ruins could justify a Mars colony by themselves, they'd keep archaeologists busy for decades, let alone anyone trying to reverse-engineer whatever goodies are in there. However, we have no idea how old these are, and we know there was active combat going on in the Solar system at least in the late 40s. These could be fairly recent. Hell, they could still be occupied for all we know. If we send a team, they better be sure to knock carefully before going in the front door of this thing.
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Nov 8, 2020 14:35
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Quick-and-dirty overview of the TNEs and their general uses: Duranium: Used in basically everything. Sorium: Fuel. Also used in Jump Engines, but in negligible amounts compared to its use as fuel. Neutronium: Used for shipyards, advanced armor, and kinetic weapons. Corbomite: Shields, stealth, and electronic warfare components. Tritanium: Missiles. Boronide: Power plants, capacitors, and terraforming. Uridium: Sensors and fire control systems. Corundium: Energy weapons. Mercassium: Mostly research facilities, also used in life support and tractor beams. Vendarite: Fighters. Gallicite: Engines.
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Nov 8, 2020 14:43
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Gallicite is definitely one we want a lot of, though Earth can still satisfy our needs for a while yet too yes. Engines get gallicite-expensive real quick, and the tech to decrease their thermal signature makes the cost go from "expensive" to "horribly expensive", even if you reserve that only for military ships.
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Nov 8, 2020 14:49
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So if I'm reading this right, assuming we go big into resource extraction on Luna and Venus, we'll have an excess of the materials needed for ships with a hypothetical "stealth" capability, as well as powerful yet "quiet" engines? Interesting. Gentlemen, this may inform our spaceborne military doctrine going forward. And depending on what we find on Mars, we might need it.
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Nov 8, 2020 15:09
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Discovering alien ruins definitely needs a medal. Somebody whip one up
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Nov 8, 2020 15:36
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Given our recent success in inventing technology to rapidly clean up radiological waste, I am hopeful we should be able to use this to our advantage in bringing the Commonwealth of New England into the Comintern. As an expat, I have been in conversation with like-minded individuals formerly of Boston in the refugee camps outside Berkshire county.
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Nov 8, 2020 16:15
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HiHo ChiRho posted:Given our recent success in inventing technology to rapidly clean up radiological waste, I am hopeful we should be able to use this to our advantage in bringing the Commonwealth of New England into the Comintern. As an expat, I have been in conversation with like-minded individuals formerly of Boston in the refugee camps outside Berkshire county. The best reason of course being that then we get to name one of our martian colonies or cities "New New England".
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Nov 8, 2020 16:31
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Sanev.Khan posted:The best reason of course being that then we get to name one of our martian colonies or cities "New New England". Please, Neo New York
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Nov 8, 2020 19:48
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Kitfox88 posted:Please, Neo New York No no, Neo New Amsterdam
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Nov 8, 2020 20:06
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New Amsterdam/New York is NOT New England, do we have Gladio infiltrators in the thread already?
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Nov 8, 2020 20:12
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New New Hampshire, surely.
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Nov 8, 2020 20:15
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Asterite34 posted:It's a real shame we can't scan the EM spectrum for any signs of life. This place could be derelict for hundreds, thousands, hell maybe millions of years. These ruins could justify a Mars colony by themselves, they'd keep archaeologists busy for decades, let alone anyone trying to reverse-engineer whatever goodies are in there. However, we have no idea how old these are, and we know there was active combat going on in the Solar system at least in the late 40s. These could be fairly recent. Hell, they could still be occupied for all we know. If we send a team, they better be sure to knock carefully before going in the front door of this thing. (This does have the downside of possibly empowering Purple if their Compulsive Backstabbing Syndrome / 'Strange Medical Condition' acts up.) Asterite34 posted:New New Hampshire, surely.
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Nov 8, 2020 21:15
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Foxfire_ posted:A 50RP project for a dinky 100 ton engine would let us make an Electron-like platform self-mobile at almost-Karzalek speeds with a few billion km range. That would get us orbital EM scans on a weeks timescale, and we could do something similar once the FESTER thermal sensor is ready. The crew accommodations are also maybe generous enough to transport a small (fluff) initial science team since it'd be a few-months mission instead of its design multi-year deployment. Ah yes, I remember reading a superhero themed book where being a supervillain was deemed a medical condition. I can confirm PurpleXVI is likely afflicted. I suppose it's not a bad idea. It's too bad Aurora C# did away with diplomatic/xenology/geology/espionage teams and replaced them with ship components or ground troops. Or good. Not too sure yet. Foxfire_ posted:Newenglandgrad Neonewenglandville.
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Nov 8, 2020 21:23
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Comrade Representative John Carter of Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland and one of the Delmarva Commonality’s ambassadors to the Comintern has humbly requested that the first Martian colony be named “Barsoom.” Again, he seems rather adamant about what’s been discovered on the Red Planet and that we start colonization efforts as soon as is possible.
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Nov 8, 2020 22:28
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Clearly it'd be Nowaja Nowaja Anglija
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Nov 9, 2020 01:11
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May 21, 1981 The survey report from Mercury, which was logged on May 1 but due to a clerical error was not released at that time, is made available. While there are large TNE deposits there, most of them are borderline-inaccessible and extracting them in significant quantities will require exponentially more mining infrastructure than deposits on Earth. Since then, the Skarbnik has been engaged in solar science, taking advantage of being the closest human spacecraft to the Sun in history to gather all sorts of interesting, though economically useless, data. Its mission completed, it sets off to join the Karzelek in the asteroid belt, stopping to visit some inner-system asteroids along the way. The Skarbnik's route will briefly take it within range of the Earth Deep Space Tracking Network again, and will be used to test the performance of the sensors against incoming objects. I just straight-up forgot to send the ship onward before now lol May 24, 1981 The Electron's powerful EM sensor arrays are pointed downward after a few days of calibrations and testing, and will be used to detect, isolate, and categorize radio signals and other emissions in an attempt to detect illicit or unauthorized communications. Actually listening in to even unencrypted signals will be difficult (for that you'll be wanting an ELINT module), but even knowing where they are can be very useful. May 26, 1981  Legislation passed at the previous session mandated that an outpost be established on Mars as soon as possible if TNEs were discovered there, and so the Luna and Tranquility are once more called into service, this time to travel far greater distances than originally intended. Their primitive chemical rockets will take much longer to actually reach Mars than the Karzelek did, and they can carry minimal facilities, just enough for a small scientific station. For safety reasons (just in case it is inhabited), and to avoid contaminating the site, the first outpost will be placed near the mountain Arsia Mons, thousands of kilometers from Cydonia. As with their first mission to the Moon, the Luna will go first, followed a few days later by the Tranquility. Unlike the first mission, the Hawaiians will not be following. The Hawaiians contribute one ship to the Luna-Earth passenger route to keep the link operational in the absence of the Tranquility; the other is laid up in drydock being modified to use banks of Vasilyev tubes, for long range transport. The single unit of infrastructure the Luna is capable of carrying did not significantly disrupt your industrial plans, taking only a few hours to produce. May 28, 1981  The Luna and Tranquility set out on their second mission. As with the first, the 250 people who will form the first Mars team are a combination of highly-trained cosmonauts and scientists chosen through a rigorous selection process. The trip will take over 20 days one-way.    In addition, a slew of new survey reports come in. The Skarbnik investigates not one, but three comets in rapid succession and finds mineral deposits on all of them. LostCosmonaut's skills have improved markedly over the course of their mission, as have those of their crew. June 1, 1981  The Tranquility, which is now more than halfway to Mars, carries out an emergency drill to perfection, showcasing the skill and effectiveness with which its commander, Dirt5o8, has trained the crew. In addition, Interkosmos Academy Commandant Nadia Konovalova publishes an excellent research paper on the applications of tritanium in rocketry and missile design. June 4, 1981  The Skarbnik sends in another set of survey reports, this time from the Asteroid Belt.  In addition, the shipyards complete tooling for the new freighter design. Four ships are immediately laid down, and the yards, having been given no instructions, begin constructing additional slipways. The ships should be ready next March. They're all named after suburbs of Sydney. June 11, 1981 A single-person lander carries cosmonaut Geraldyn 'Jerrie' Cobb, a legendary American aviatrix from the town of Norman in the Five Tribes Confederation (formerly Oklahoma), to the surface of Mars. Cobb was infamously rejected from the American astronaut program by NASA for being a woman, despite passing the same selection tests as the male Mercury astronauts. Her first words on the surface echo Neil Armstrong, with a few modifications - 'That's one small step for a woman, one giant leap for humanity.' After planting a plain red flag that almost disappears against the Martian terrain, and setting up a few video and still-image cameras for the viewers back home, she gets to work, scouting out the site before calling down the supply drops and the First 250. June 13, 1981  The first 250 permanent residents land on Mars. As with Lunagrad, the Mars landing site was chosen due to the presence of natural lava-tube caves nearby; unlike Lunagrad, rather than expanding into them once people start to arrive, the Mars outpost is built into a lava tube first thing, with only a landing pad and various unmanned infrastructure remaining on the surface.  In charge of the expedition is Administrator Thatbastardken, whose logistics experience should prove valuable in such an isolated place. The Mars outpost is currently about 20 light-minutes away from Earth, and all transmissions back and forth thus require a 40-minute round trip. In the event of an emergency, help or rescue will be nearly a month away. June 19, 1981  Yet another asteroid deposit is discovered. On the same day, the Electron surveillance station isolates the source of unauthorized encrypted low-power radio signals it's been detecting in Europe for several weeks, pinpointing a cabin in the Italian Alps. June 22, 1981 The Karzelek discovers another asteroid deposit. Unless they are large or unusual enough to be noteworthy, I will no longer be reporting individual asteroid survey results, and will instead post a summary at the end of the year. They're definitely happening; the two ships together have surveyed hundreds of asteroids and usually get in a few more every day. July 2, 1981  FESTER continues to pay dividends. Over a hundred suspected or confirmed GLADIO cells have been located throughout Western Europe. So far they appear to be none the wiser. July 3, 1981 The Luna and Tranquility return from Mars. July 12, 1981   The next FESTER sensor package is ready for deployment, and construction of a sensor platform to use it begins immediately. The labs are mostly reallocated to mining projects, except for one which is tasked with grav sensor development. July 15, 1981 A request from the team on Mars to attempt to summit Olympus Mons, the tallest mountain in the solar system, is denied by MOSA for safety reasons. The team has been busying themselves with scientific experiments and sample collection. August 5, 1981  The next FESTER station is launched, officer Chocolate Pancake commanding.
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Nov 9, 2020 02:41
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FESTER already paying dividends. Servetus deserves a medal for exemplary service to the Comintern for that proposal.
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Nov 9, 2020 02:59
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...Okay I'm genuinely surprised FESTER worked that well. I wasn't expecting them to all be using entirely unique transmission protocols you could pinpoint from orbit. GodDAMN fascists are stupid. Also let me extend my congratulations to Comrade Cobb as first human to set foot on Mars, and best wishes to Administrator Thatbastardken. Keep 'em out of trouble!
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Nov 9, 2020 03:13
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Indeed, this Gladios problem seems to be a bigger and deeper issue than previously feared. We should look to creating a special task force to deal with them, perhaps with counter-intelligence training since they seem to be heavily into cloak and dagger work. Maybe even set aside lab time to upgrade the intelligence gathering ability of the satelites?
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Nov 9, 2020 03:22
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Antilles posted:Indeed, this Gladios problem seems to be a bigger and deeper issue than previously feared. We should look to creating a special task force to deal with them, perhaps with counter-intelligence training since they seem to be heavily into cloak and dagger work. Maybe even set aside lab time to upgrade the intelligence gathering ability of the satelites? We could call the team the Exceptional Communists, or X-COM for short
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Nov 9, 2020 03:28
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Asterite34 posted:...Okay I'm genuinely surprised FESTER worked that well. I wasn't expecting them to all be using entirely unique transmission protocols you could pinpoint from orbit. GodDAMN fascists are stupid. To be fair these signals would have been all but undetectable with conventional technology and it's unlikely the systems they're using were developed with TNE-based surveillance in mind. The sensors on the Electron would be able to detect a decent-sized active sensor from millions of kilometers away and are being pointed straight down at the Earth, there's very little getting sent over the air that they don't catch, no matter how low-power or highly directional. They've also located several pirate radio stations but regulating such things is not the Ministry's responsibility. In addition there have been many thousands of false positives and likely many false negatives, there's a ton of data to sort through. The confirmed cells were mostly confirmed by cross-referencing transmission times and locations with attacks, meetings, or other activities. Mister Bates fucked around with this message at 03:33 on Nov 9, 2020 |
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Nov 9, 2020 03:29
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Allocating research time for ELINT modules to further increase FESTER's effectiveness should definitely be a legislative priority. And considering the apparent glut of stealth-affinity elements, this may make for useful stealth spy satellite-fighters in the future.
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Nov 9, 2020 03:39
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It also seems like properly exploring the Martian ruins should be a priority if it can be done alongside fixing the mineral crisis, or right after it if not.
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Nov 9, 2020 03:42
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Hmm... okay after thinking about it, Gladio seems both more and less sophisticated than I thought. They're seemingly widespread throughout Western Europe, and instead of the guerilla setup of unconnected cells being directed by dead-drops like I hypothesized, they have their own encrypted radio network to rapidly coordinate across the continent. This WOULD be threatening, except they obviously haven't infiltrated MOSA or anything high up in the Comintern. They seemingly had no clue as to FESTERs capabilities, or possibly even the project's existence. The SigInt tech gap is only going to widen with the next generation of Electrons, and poor infosec is a death sentence for a large clandestine organization.
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Nov 9, 2020 03:50
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I expected us to manage surveillance of a few remaining military holdouts; like that group in America up in the mountains who just declared their leader another president. Get some goodwill with friendly governments, keep an eye on their hot spots while they had to deal with Gladio infiltration. I never expected to see this much of the Gladio network; I never expected...this. Drinks another shot of something strong It's fortunate that Gladio put their faith in the technology of their radio network instead of good fieldcraft.
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Nov 9, 2020 04:09
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The UAWR is particularly concerned about the possibility of Gladio cells on the Australian continent. Due to our extensively decentralized nature, whereby even constituent polities such as the Mianjin commune and the People's Republic of New Zealand have enough autonomy to vote, plus the sheer territory of the continent, there is any number of places where GLADIO can hide. The road wars may be long over by now, but hundreds of kilometres of untracked and unmaintained highways, any number of isolated townships and the vast wilderness between and around them remain. Although the fact that no one drives since the TNE railworks project was commissioned might help there.
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Nov 9, 2020 04:42
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| # ? Jun 1, 2024 00:41 |
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HiHo ChiRho posted:Given our recent success in inventing technology to rapidly clean up radiological waste, I am hopeful we should be able to use this to our advantage in bringing the Commonwealth of New England into the Comintern. As an expat, I have been in conversation with like-minded individuals formerly of Boston in the refugee camps outside Berkshire county. Berkshire Refugee Camps represent, in this way our timelines are similar.
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Nov 9, 2020 04:48
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