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We'd need to run dossiers on anyone they send us though. Blackmail all three, we can always run an insurgency on anyone who's too upset. Readingaccount fucked around with this message at 08:03 on May 24, 2014 |
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May 24, 2014 08:01
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Update 7: Blackmail, Bombs, and Sabotage 2/29/96 - 3/1/96 Planetary Information Acquired Harmony Fleet Specs Ship Building Tutorial ___________________________________________________________________________ Monthly Report 2/29/96 Missed that this was a leap year. The Thornwood mission has returned to base. 3/1/96  Well, we were down to about $5,000 at the end of last month and now have over $118,000. I got another report that my departments are unhappy with their funding. Raising all departments to $15,000.  ...interest, though, we added it to his file.  Name: Temik Milhouse IV Role: Chairman of the Board Planet: Thyzahn Stats: Intelligent, Cruel, Devious Bio: Elected unanimously to his current position of Chairman of the Board of Thyzahn. Rumor indicates that this is partially due to blackmailing most of the key members of the Board. He is a major stockholder on Thyzahn, and reputed to have virtually no scruples when it comes to negotiating a deal. Update: Further investigation revealed that Milhouse and Sib'broue have been lovers for some time, in spite of the fact that Milhouse is married. Already knew that from the other side but good to know. Setting SIN agent on extortion missions to: Terik Milhouse, Chairman of Thyzahn Egri, Dean of Zaphroxi Grand High Kahuna of Tarso. I also sent one agent to run a dossier on: The Falloosh Sect, the group of strange aliens on Ceddran. 3/2/96 Got some data on Jo Kelle, queen of Huygen:  ...another little nasty secret we uncovered. We have updated her file.  ...our proposal to the head of commune on Tarso immediately. The other two blackmail agents also confirmed that they were on the job.  Name: Jo Kelle Role: Queen Planet: Huygen Stats: Dull, Conceited, Crafty Bio: The Queen of Huygen, she was originally sixth in line to the throne. The five heirs in line before her met with untimely demises. Fortunately she seems content with this level of achievement, and has made no attempts to expand her power beyond the planet Huygen (yet). Update: Kelle's father was nobility; Eddris Kelle, Prince of Rankine. Her mother, however, was not the princess, not nobility, not even one of the palace concubines. She was a commoner who the prince took a liking to once evening. While this does not jeopardize her position on the throne, it is something she is terribly embarrassed about. Fun secret to use to mess with her if needed. 3/5/96 The Serenity finally arrived at the planet Bird.  Well, that was disappointing. Fortunately we also got a comcode for the leader of the planet.  Name: Deraine Zarney Role: Scientist Supreme Planet: Bird Stats: Diligent, Single-minded, Kind Bio: Zarney is a better administrator than zoologist or biologist, a logical choice for the leader of Bird. While she will not usually offer help directly, she has no compunctions about asking for it. However, she always repays her debts. "Scientist Supreme" huh? Nice. I give her a call:  Well, not too impressed with that trip. Recalling the Serenity for the long trip home. 3/8/96 Results from all 3 Extortion missions came in.  ...agree to your offer, but rest assured I will not forget this. You shall hear from me in the future. We shall see you stupid little git.  ...festering, pustule-covered body racked with pain from an infection of Gwasdi's disease has given new focus to my life. I only hope that when the moment comes, it will last. Note to self: Upgrade the biological contaminant filters at home and in office.  ...yours. I have received your transmission concerning the safety of me and my flock, and I do not shun you. Rather I praise your actions and your courage to travel the rocky roads you have chosen. I will provide the resources you have asked for, although they drain our funds terribly I'm sure that Chaos will provide. May Chaos take a liking to you, and bring you to Him very soon. Wait, was that a threat? Look at the jump in cash! About $250,000 upwards from where we were. I assigned agents to recon and insurge on Thyzahn and then launched the Fitzenburger to transport them both. 3/9/96 Poll update came in. Number fell one more percentage point to 83%. What is wrong with you people? Also got a sales call from Tool:  ...down those pesky neighbors, we always have the right Tool for the job - at the right price. Remember our slogan: We treat every customer as if they were the Syndicate. Okay....kind of creepy. 3/12/96 Got a call from Thornwood.  ...offer still stands. However, a new wrinkle has developed in the cloth, Dr. Annuber's house and lab were destroyed today in quite the brutal explosion and the fire that followed. There's nothing left, so I hope you have all the information you need. I'll keep you posted if anything new comes up. She also send footage from the lab:    Glad we got our agent in and out before that happened. 3/13/96 Ceddran mission returned home. Silent Running ready for reassignment. 3/14/96 Checked and it seems each mission can only carry one agent. Sending the Silent Running to carry the insurgency mission to Thyzahn. 3/15/96 Call coming in from Selwyn Larcher of DICE:  ...and I hope we can do business in the future. Well, that offer is now off the table. Hope we can find something to do with this stuff. Also, got a call from Pfiqfif, the mining colony:  ...uncovered a strange ore at the base of our Piffin mountain range, and some dude from Haltrot has been buying it up at a tremendous price. I didn't really have that much, but he bought all we could extract. I figure that if you can find some of the stuff, it's probably worth the time. Found his alternate source. I am guessing this is a hint to look for the catzite if you have not found it already. 3/17/96 Got a report on the Faloosh Sect from SIN:  ...willing to answer. I don't think we are going to find anything new, we're just going to leave the file as it is. Didn't think we would get anything but worth a try. Sent the SIN agent to do a dossier on Zarney, Supreme Scientist of Bird. 3/20/96  ...Gerschen. We are ready to serve Overlord. Finally get to look at the Phaeton.  The white highlights mean the system is damaged. I order repairs. Phaeton Hull: Hawk Weapons: Metal Eaters, Scatter Missiles, Empty Defenses: Patch Spider, Empty, Empty Computer: Auto-Medic, Empty It has some slots that need filling. I also never gave stats for the Fitzhulhu: Fitzthulhu Hull: Ox Weapons: Large Laser Cannon, Scatter Missiles, Empty Defenses: Lt Xtra Armor, Structural Integrity, Empty, Empty, Empty Computer: No slots 3/21/96 The Fitzthulhu arrived at the quasar. We got a call:  ...have discovered a planet previously unknown to us, hidden from sensors by the interference of the EMF energy present in this sector. The planet is called Sve'n-ha-llywn, the inhabitants are humanoid and able to communicate with us. The speaker for the planet is Sar'kis Vul'disha, who is eager to talk and will contact you shortly. Sve'n-gha'llywn   Alignment: None Compendium Entry: This is a bizarre planet set right in the heart of a radio galaxy on the other side of Harmony from the Syndicate, and quite a ways away from Harmony as well. General: As moving complicated electronic equipment through the Sve'n system was so difficult, the people of the planet Sve'n-gha'llywn developed as a very sedentary race. Out of necessity they developed an excellent knowledge of electro-magnetic science, and specialize in these types of devices. While they now possess the technology to leave the Sve'n system they have no desire to do so. Military: The planet Sve'n-gha'llywn is located on the far side of the Sve'n star system opposite from Harmony. They have no active army as the unapproachability of the Sve'n system acts as an effective natural defense. They are an advanced people, and while they have no starships they do have a number of powerful ground mounted weapons.  Name: Sar'kis Vul'disha Role: Planet Representative Planet: Sve'n-gha'llywn Stats: Intelligent, Quick-Witted, Helpful Bio: Vul'disha would like, if possible, to unite the entire galaxy but she does not believe in the Syndicate methods. While she also does not approve of warfare on general principles, she does hope that the Harmony rebel forces will be victorious. I will wait for her call. Ordering the Fitzthulhu home. 3/22/96 First research project completed.   Cost: $1,125 Range: 250 Manufacturer: Harmony Type: Missile Largest in the missile launcher series, it's bigger, meaner, goes farther, and does more damage. Nice! While it will not fit the smaller hulls it is a good addition to our arsenal. Note how cheap it is. That is because we are the manufacturer. We can sell the specs to Tool for cash but then they get the license and it will cost more to build. Another downside is that everyone in the galaxy will then have access to it. I checked and Tool will pay $36,000 for the license. One oddity is that all the systems renumber when you add a new one. Not sure why they did not just put unresearched systems at the top. Maybe to make it hard to tell if you have the whole tech tree? I am editing it into the ship-building tutorial at the end in any case. I assign this researcher and his team to build more missiles. I am impressed. This was one of the later projects we started and it finished while the next highest is still only 78% complete. I also realized I have a bunch of not busy agents so I set them to run dossiers on various people. Katrina Vannes called again with the same sales pitch call as before. Must be a glitch where my name was on her list twice. 3/28/96  ...what we were looking for. We added a summary to her file.  Name: Katrina Vannes Role: Chief Engineer Planet: Tool Stats: Determined, Ambitious, Intelligent Bio: While in undergraduate studies, Vannes was one of Tool's top students, and pioneered an entire new branch of biological engineering. Her genius and inventiveness was beyond what Tool's professors had seen previously. With her tireless work and devotion it was inevitable she would eventually be Chief Engineer. Update: Vannes has worked tirelessly in human genetics. During her time as a student on Tool, she was pregnant twice, and her medical records show that both pregnancies ended in a miscarriage. In reality Vannes had been performing DNA tailoring experiments on herself, and this resulted in the deaths of the two unborn children. Okay, wow. That is a little off-putting. We are going to do nothing with this. Blackmailing Vannes is the one "LOSE THE GAME" button I pressed when I was a teen playing this game. She will pay up quite a bit and then cut off all access to Tool products. So....no new ships since you cannot buy any new hulls. You can only refit existing ships with DICE and Harmony technologies. Done at any point before the endgame when the fleet is built this will cost you the game. So we will not be doing this unless we want to just before we win. We also got an update from Research about some sabotage:  Could be several days before it is repaired, and we'll have to stop or slow down all other projects. I'm having the SIN inspect the lab form information. I am guessing this is the Syndicate or Milhouse over on Thyzahn or the Dean of Zaphroxi. I doubt it was the android. If it was someone we blackmailed hopefully they will call it even after this. 3/31/96 Okay, things are going well.  Quite a bit of money stockpiled. We can build the Goonswarm next month.  I am toying with wage increases to push up poll numbers and increase efficiency.   Research is ticking along. We should have at least 4 projects done next month. When the next Missile project finishes I plan to reassign that research head to general. No one specializes in General. If I remember correctly there is some good stuff in the General area. A survey of our mines shows that all of them except the catzite mine are still profitable. Hopefully we can find a use for the stuff soon. All SIN agents not out in the field are busy running dossiers. Realistically we should finish off the dossier list soon and I may cut down on the number of agents we are paying. Recon and Insurgency missions are limited to how many ships we have available and we won't need a ton of extortion agents. ___________________________________________________________________________ Goon Input Military: The Phaeton and the Fitzthulhu need filling out with stuff if anyone wants to make recommendations. We can also swap out parts for 75% value if we do not like them. Those scatter missiles suck for example. Fitzthulhu Hull: Ox Weapons: Large Laser Cannon, Scatter Missiles, Empty Defenses: Lt Xtra Armor, Structural Integrity, Empty, Empty, Empty Computer: No slots Phaeton Hull: Hawk Weapons: Metal Eaters, Scatter Missiles, Empty Defenses: Patch Spider, Empty, Empty Computer: Auto-Medic, Empty Here is the list of parts if interested: Ship Building Tutorial I am also building the Goonswarm next month. We probably want another Fox hull as well for covert missions if anyone wants to design one. Mining: Nothing to do here. We do not have spare staff to open more mines if we wanted to. SIN: Any more recon or Insurgency missions? We could still run a flyby of the Eyeball or recon or insurge Tarso. We also have the Llhy$%*(&$% whatever system with hostile humanoids there. We could send the next available Fox ship in on a covert run to investigate. I am also going to try to scrape together some more staff for SIN from other departments to increase counter-insurgency. Should we blackmail Jo Kelle, queen of Huygen? Research: I am going to bump up to 3 general projects and 1 of each of the other 7 categories. Or should we cut back a bit?
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May 24, 2014 20:44
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Overlord, With respect to the other advisors, I told you that extorting people before we have the means to make use of it was a bad idea. The astrophysics crew would like to express their gratitude for the recon mission, by the way. They're going downright nuts at the idea of a quasar system with a habitable world - I think we just proved a whole bunch of textbooks wrong. As for the current situation, it's clear that we need weapons, and I think our logs indicate a place where we can find some. I propose a recon mission to Uhll'mumay, that nuked armory planet we saw a brief report on earlier. I. al-Sahrahani, Harmony Skydock, Director of Operations
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May 24, 2014 20:55
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While we might have shown our hand early, this may ultimately work out in our favor. This way people will hate us only briefly and we got a jump start for our cash flow. Let's take a Fox and recon the eyeball. Try to make that fucker as stealth as possible. Let's also try to get lasers out ASAP. I wanna wipe the smirk of DICE's face when we show those morons what catzite can REALLY do. (more catzite = more lasers = better  )  Let's not blackmail anyone else for now and play nice with Rasputin. They seem to have money troubles and maybe we can help on that front?
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May 24, 2014 21:46
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Brother Overlord, my congregation is overjoyed by the naming of the found ship; our last ceremony was dedicated to praising your efforts and I personally sacrificed a black goat named after you to the Eight Unholies. Patterns in its intestines revealed great future for the Fitzhulhu if we refit it with Hallucinogens and H2 Bond Denaturing Ray. Those have the advantage of solving our live sacrifice supply issue or, in the case of the latter, providing oil for the Chapel Of Doom's lamps. As for defenses, by almost unanimous vote (rest assured the situation will be remedied and we will reach true unanimity by the next sacrifice, even should mean our congregation shrinks a bit) the flock decided the most hallowed vessel shall emulate our amorphous masters, using wet metal, patch spider and energy field. We still maintain that it is of utmost importance to, well, eyeball the Eyeball. The name clearly means it is an object of deep symbolic importance; wouldn't there, perchance, be an object named Tentacle? Please do not draw any false conclusions from the goat. We gave it all due respect. May Stars Rain Destruction On Worthless Humanity, Rev. A.E. Hilated, First Church of the Old Ones, Harmony
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May 24, 2014 22:00
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Wonderful. I'm worried about keeping pseudonatural horrors out of my station, and we apparently have lunatics worshiping them on the planet below.
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May 24, 2014 22:06
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Update 8: New Gadgets and Two Threats 4/1/96 - 4/11/96 Planetary Information Acquired Harmony Fleet Specs Ship Building Tutorial ___________________________________________________________________________ Cythereal posted:Wonderful. I'm worried about keeping pseudonatural horrors out of my station, and we apparently have lunatics worshiping them on the planet below. They are nice. They sent me a fruit basket. anilEhilated posted:Brother Overlord, Your ship design seems well-made. Thanks for the fruit basket. SSNeoman posted:While we might have shown our hand early, this may ultimately work out in our favor. This way people will hate us only briefly and we got a jump start for our cash flow. I will recon the Eyeball as soon as I have a free SIN agent and ship. Cythereal posted:Overlord, A fine idea, this mission will follow the Eyeball mission in priority. ___________________________________________________________________________ Monthly Report I refitted the Phaeton Phaeton Hull: Hawk Weapons: Metal Eaters, Fitz Bombs, Super Missile Defenses: Patch Spider, Heavy Xtra Armor, Wet Metal Computer: Auto-Medic, Ship Psych Slapped in our new Super Missile tech. 4/1/96 For the third month in a row SIN is complaining about their budget according to the governor. Tell them to shut the hell up. I designed a new Fox called the U-boat  U-boat Hull: Fox Weapons: Super Missile Defenses: Air Antibacterial, Light Xtra Armor, Energy Field Computer: Radar Cloak Put us back about $73,000. We still have $387,000 left. For the next starship purchase I want to buy a Dragon to serve as a flagship but I would like to wait for more new tech. I will also refit the Fitzthulhu once it returns to Harmony. I plan to send the U-boat to recon the Eyeball as soon as an agent becomes available. I also give everyone a $10 a month raise, both execs and staff in the hopes of raising morale. 4/2/96 Our two missions arrived at Thyzahn. The recon revealed nothing new.  Huh.....that was easy. I call the chairmen who we recently blackmailed to see what this means.  Nothing at the moment. He is probably still a bit butthurt from his gay lover and our threats to reveal him. Recalling both missions. 4/7/96 Our electrical team just finished:   Name: Inner Ship Repair Drones Cost: $1,500 Manufacturer: Harmony Type: General Description: These robots constantly patrol the inside of the ship maintaining equipment and making minor repairs when necessary. Neat. We set them back to work on new electrical gizmos. 4/8/96 Our laser team finished.   Name: Reflective Hull Surface Cost: $1,625 Manufacturer: Harmony Type: Laser Description: A highly polished surface will reflect even the most powerful of lasers. Surface is sprayed on and will not affect ship's weight. Nice, but could you build death rays instead? Get back in the lab and bring me death rays. 4/9/96 The other missile group finishes up.   Name: Mass Tracking Missile Launcher Cost: $1,750 Manufacturer: Harmony Type: Missile Description: Better than a heat seeker, as it is not easily fooled once targeted, it will hit unless destroyed. I set this group to researching general applications as we already have another Missile project underway. At least my missile group gives me missiles. Come on Laser Group. Bring me lasers. The Magnetic group should be next. They are at 86%. 4/11/96 I was looking over mining reports when red lights started flashing. The military is calling but they have never flashed red lights at me.  ...non-aggressive stance. They are led by a General Harzchoff Zoran, who has contacted us and wishes to speak to you. I am patching him through now.  ...resume command I will keep you as my vizier, your wages will be most handsome. If you do not surrender peacefully, I will take the crown from your bloody hand. You have two days to decide your fate. Okay, enemy warships inbound. Increase alert status. More importantly, I am supposed to have a crown? Why the hell don't I have a crown? I order a crown made at once. We have a dossier on this guy:  Name: Harzchoff Zoran Role: General Location: Zoran Ship Stats: Arrogant, Mean, Selfish Bio: Little is known about this man at this time. The Zoran family is distantly related to Noel Ainchrist by marriage, but they were exiled from Harmony years ago for trying to rule as a monarchy. His family moved to Rasputin, where Harzchoff's grandfather Mikzail was convicted of treason and placed in a mental hospital. He committed suicide the day Harzchoff was born, and the Zoran family believes that Mikzail was reincarnated as Harzchoff. Zoran's rank of general is self-assumed, and his fleet is most likely staffed by the exiled Zoran family. Great, the grandson of a mental patient. Related to Ainchrist? Reincarnation? Was Billy's dad right about that family being the antichrist? I get a call from Pihzda:  ...Syndicate space and they will not identify themselves, nor respond to communications of any kind. I fear they intend to harm Pihzda or even take over as they have done on other planets. Please help us. Even if this is a false alarm, if you send your ships I will compensate you for your time. But please hurry! Ummmmm.....drat. We will need ships both at Harmony and Pihzda if we can. Let's take a look at the situation.  Here is Zoran's fleet. It appears to be right on top of us but...  We rotate the map and it is way off to the right. We have time before they can arrive. They are also not moving. Must be waiting for the 2 day deadline. We also have a fleet massing at Thyzahn for some reason:  Hopefully that is not connected. We did win over the loyalty of a lot of the people but are they moving against us? What is going on? In any case the Goonswarm is being commissioned now. Goonswarm Hull: Swarm Weapons: Mass Tracking Missiles, Attack Drones, Hydrogen Bond Denaturing Ray, Magnetic Pods, Fitz Bombs Defenses: Reflective Surface, Antiprojectile Gun, Repair Drone, Hull Antibacterial, Light Xtra Armor Computer: No Slots Everything except that ray is a swarm weapon. Okay, here is the fleet situation:  The ships in Green are still away. We are cancelling the Eyeball mission and all other recon missions until this situation is resolved....except maybe a Recon mission to Pihzda if we send a fleet. The ships should all return home before Zoran can arrive. How do we split our forces? If we want to help Pihzda we probably need to dispatch ships immediately or at least soon. It is not possible to run a dossier. Just checked. ___________________________________________________________________________ What do you think? Should we split the fleet? My first idea is to send the ships in dock (Goonswarm, Fitzgerald, Phaeton, U-boat) to Pihzda. Then use the 4 returning ships and buy one more large warship to defend Harmony. We have just over $240,000 which is enough to buy a decent warship. We would be hard-pressed to fit out a Dragon on that budget but a Gryphon might be doable. I will refit the Fitzthulhu first and then spend what we have left on another warship. We might have new tech by then too. We can also just leave Pihzda and throw everything into the defense fleet but I want the promised reward. Oh, and please do not start a panic amongst the populace. Here is the fleet's armaments: Fitzgerald Hull: Hawk Weapons: Fitz Bombs, Tracking Laser, Rapid-Fire Missiles Defenses: Patch Spider, Heavy Xtra Armor, Structural Integrity Computer: Tracking System, Radar Cloak Fitzenburger Hull: Hawk Weapons: Rapid-Fire Missiles, Tracking Laser, Frapp Ray Defenses: Heavy Xtra Armor, Patch Spider, Structural Integrity Computer: Gravity Field, Tracking System Silent Running Hull: Fox Weapons: Tracking Laser Defenses: Structural Integrity, Patch Spider, Antiprojectile Gun Computer: Radar Cloak Serenity Hull: Fox Weapons: Knockout Syringe Defenses: Energy Field, Patch Spider, Antiprojectile Gun Computer: Auto-Medic Fitzthulhu Hull: Ox Weapons: Large Laser Cannon, Scatter Missiles, Empty Defenses: Lt Xtra Armor, Structural Integrity, Empty, Empty, Empty Computer: No slots Phaeton Hull: Hawk Weapons: Metal Eaters, Fitz Bombs, Super Missile Defenses: Patch Spider, Heavy Xtra Armor, Wet Metal Computer: Auto-Medic, Ship Psych U-boat Hull: Fox Weapons: Super Missile Defenses: Air Antibacterial, Light Xtra Armor, Energy Field Computer: Radar Cloak Goonswarm Hull: Swarm Weapons: Mass Tracking Missiles, Attack Drones, Hydrogen Bond Denaturing Ray, Magnetic Pods, Fitz Bombs Defenses: Reflective Surface, Antiprojectile Gun, Repair Drone, Hull Antibacterial, Light Xtra Armor Computer: No Slots
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May 25, 2014 05:17
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Overlord, is there any possible reward worth probably losing your command, and so the entire fight against the hated Syndicate over? Keep everything at home and obliterate this pretender. If Thyzahn is possibly about to come after us then it seems sensible to have them around, too. Keif Bai-ley has his own military. In a worst-case scenario, in the event of any successful invasion by the Syndies, could SIN effect a regime change?
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May 25, 2014 05:49
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Dividing the fleet seems like the most logical option. Very rude of the two of them to attack at the same time. Maybe send the U-Boat to recon, while the other docked vessels support Phareda directly? I'm not sure how effective our stealth ships will be in direct combat. I have no input on designing a new warship at this time, however.
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May 25, 2014 05:50
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I'm not so good at this military stuff, but I promise I'll fire a mining laser into the sky so long as there are hostiles in orbit! Mind you, the beam is designed for short range work and the atmosphere will make it lose cohesion within a few dozen kilometers of the surface, but maybe it'll make 'em flinch? Feels good on my end, anyhow.
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May 25, 2014 06:01
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jBrereton posted:In a worst-case scenario, in the event of any successful invasion by the Syndies, could SIN effect a regime change? Very unlikely. I doubt it.
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May 25, 2014 06:13
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Split our fleet Man this is an unfortunate coincidence.
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May 25, 2014 06:26
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Split the fleet The weird king guy only has 3 ships and I bet they're not all fully outfitted Dragons. Our returning ships plus a new warship should be able to handle that, and if we can provide any aid to prevent another planet from falling to the Syndicate that's a significant victory.
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May 25, 2014 08:03
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Boss, We got this. Send our flotilla to Pihzda, and let the returning ships put that nutjob on ice. You want some more firepower to take down the incoming guys? Buy a couple Ox, load 'em up with cheap weapons, add in defences 'til you run out of money, the hull can take the strain. Nets you 6 extra weapon slots, and a ridic amount of hull to get through, should be plenty enough. See you when we get back, Executive Officer Lomas DuQuesne, Fitzgerald.
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May 25, 2014 08:44
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Yeaah, Tool and Dice are the only two places I'm really leery of blackmailing (the warrior planets seem a bit scary too though). Do we have any alternative to Dice's upgrades? Use all blackmail material except targets we need supplies from, but put priority on starting insurgencies from now on. It'll be easier to get people on our side first and then blackmail their leaders, though if that doesn't work either having them on our side is probably much better. Looks like SINs top agent is sabotaging us already. Divide the Fleet Run a dossier on Ainchrist, and then the rest of our staff. Readingaccount fucked around with this message at 18:36 on May 25, 2014 |
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May 25, 2014 18:20
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Update 9: An Angry Heir 4/11/96 - 4/30/96 Planetary Information Acquired Harmony Fleet Specs Ship Building Tutorial ___________________________________________________________________________ Fan Mail jBrereton posted:Overlord, is there any possible reward worth probably losing your command, and so the entire fight against the hated Syndicate over? Keep everything at home and obliterate this pretender. If Thyzahn is possibly about to come after us then it seems sensible to have them around, too. If the rest of the galaxy falls to the Syndicate I will lose my command anyways. Veloxyll posted:Dividing the fleet seems like the most logical option. Very rude of the two of them to attack at the same time. Our Fox ships are not heavily armed but they can contribute support in a fight. Bobbin Threadbare posted:I'm not so good at this military stuff, but I promise I'll fire a mining laser into the sky so long as there are hostiles in orbit! Mind you, the beam is designed for short range work and the atmosphere will make it lose cohesion within a few dozen kilometers of the surface, but maybe it'll make 'em flinch? Feels good on my end, anyhow. Focus on digging up more Fitz instead so we can build more metal shells with guns. vyelkin posted:Split the fleet Yeah, I think we can hold them. AJ_Impy posted:Boss, I have not decided what warship to buy but I will keep this in mind. Readingaccount posted:Yeaah, Tool and Dice are the only two places I'm really leery of blackmailing (the warrior planets seem a bit scary too though). Do we have any alternative to Dice's upgrades? I will run a dossier on Ainchrist as soon as I have a spare agent. I have one free now but I am sending him with the fleet to Pihzda to do a recon while they are there. ___________________________________________________________________________ Monthly Report Though not always monthly obviously. I messed up the copy protection when I was logging in so here is a death sequence. This also happens if you lose the Planet Harmony to an attacking fleet. The enemy fleet arrives:  The troops land:  The battle outside the capital building:  They break into my office and shoot me in the face:  So hopefully we will never see that sequence. The copy protection asks for the name of a planet at specific coordinates (in manual) and only does so after 3 months of play. When you get to that point or load a game past that point you get the copy protection question. I had a friend when I was a kid who took the sector map and plotted the rough coordinates himself and was able to get around the copy protection. The CD version did not have the copy protection so I never had to deal with it with my copy. The other way to get around it is that sometimes it asks for the planet at coordinates 0,0,0 which is (duh) Harmony. Okay, first thing I do is assign officers to the new ships.  Hmmmmm....popular name? The game reuses names occasionally and assigns random bios. One of the Lagenhol's is an expert programmer and one is an engineer. 4/12/96  The Pihzda fleet gets orders to launch and will take off tomorrow with a recon agent in tow. Now we wait for the rest of the fleet to get home. The rest of the free SIN agents are sent to begin checks on my own ministers. 4/14/96 I thought we gave a two day ultimatum.....is he giving me extra time? 4/15/96 The governor called with an update on Zoran:  ...Zoran was not difficult, sorting it was near impossible. Many rumor, incidental attacks and unresolved offenses have been attributed to him. There is no mention of him having a permanent base of operations, it is thought that he and his fleet simply drift. Anyway, they updated his file, you should probably have a look. No new information was add.  I am guessing this was put in to make you read his file for the first time which I already did. Well, his fleet is still not moving. If we get a long enough grace period we might be able to get the Pihzda fleet back in time to meet Zoran. I realized the Insurgency agent on Thyzahn did not return with the ship. Must be why we can see the Thyzahn fleet. 4/19/96 The Bird and quasar missions just returned home. I refit the Fitzthulhu. Fitzthulhu Hull: Ox Weapons: Large Laser Cannon, Hallucinogenic, Hydrogen Bond Denaturing Ray Defenses: Lt Xtra Armor, Structural Integrity, Patch Spider, Wet Metal, Reflective Surface Computer: No slots 4/21/96 The Silent Running has returned home. Did Zoran mean two months or two weeks? 4/22/96 Zoran finally calls. I make sure to put on my new crown for this meeting:  ...with you at my side, or you can die like a Pfipfite Volstaag and lie rotting on the purple soil. May I land in peace? "As Overlord of Harmony I reject your claims to the throne and deny you citizenship of this planet. You may not land here. You may not enter our system. If you do so you will be utterly destroyed."  ...destiny! Prepare to suffer greatly! We have a report that they are powering up and heading for Harmony. 4/25/96 The Fitzenburg has returned. 4/26/96 Our ships are now ready with officers reassigned to maximize efficiency. We get a call from Research about our Magentic project:  ...generating play havoc with the shipboard computers.  Name: Vibro-Ray Cost: $1,375 Range: 175 Manufacturer: Harmony Type: Magnetic Description: Oscillating magnetic fields force the target hull to vibrate at harmonic frequencies, promoting cracking and computer damage. Neat. I also start a new poll which I have not done in a while. 4/28/96 Two new reports came in on our heads of mining and research. Armor Uvgod, Head of Research: He has been working on Harmony for the last seven years. During a stressful final year on Zaphroxi, Uvgod cheated on his final paper in advanced particle physics. The professor was paid off, though he felt that Uvgod was competent anyways. The university was never told, and would revoke Uvgod's degree if they knew. Nowell Ainchrist, Head of Mining: Nowell Ainchrist is sterile, and will likely be the very last of the Ainchrist line. She has tried repeatedly to get a child from the baby market on Rimble, with no success. So Armor cheated and Nowell is desperate to continue her long-storied line. 4/29/96 Got another report on my cabinet. Rackhert Gerschen, Head of Military: During his training on the planet Keyops, Gerschen killed a superior officer in a bar room brawl. Given his high reputation and connections, the incident was covered up. drat it! What is wrong with you people? I design a Gryphon class warship: FitzHawk Hull: Gryphon Weapons: Vibroray, Super Missiles, Mass Tracking Missiles, Heat Ray Defenses: Reflective Surface, Repair Drone, Antiprojectile Gun Computer: Scanner, Enemy Computer Control I focuses on locally-built systems to cut costs. We still have less then $10,000 left. That will be it for a while. 4/30/96 End of the month. Wanted to run another month and resolve battles but have to head out for the day:  We are nearly broke but more money comes in tomorrow. As for research:   The Thermal and Nuclear research projects look like they hit a dead end and need to start over. This makes me sad. ___________________________________________________________________________ I wish I hadn't built the Fitzhawk and had saved money for a Dragon. Should I build as much of a Dragon as I can with next month's budget and use it to fight or hold off and wait and use the ships we have for now? Xenocides fucked around with this message at 05:53 on May 31, 2014 |
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May 25, 2014 21:19
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We evidently need more ships as we're required to take military action. Build as many as we need until we blot out all the stars in space with our military might!
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May 25, 2014 21:40
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Then our people shall simply cover up their indiscretions in the shade! Seriously, is there anyone in this game who hasn't killed anyone or isn't obsessed with babies in one way or another?
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May 26, 2014 13:16
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The lamps in the Chapel of Doom are always hungry for baby oil, bretheren.
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May 26, 2014 13:29
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Wow. So soon after you start and already some megalomaniac is breathing down your neck?
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May 26, 2014 18:38
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Aw, poor Ainchrist.  Tell me there's a way to help her out.
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May 26, 2014 18:57
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Coolguye posted:Aw, poor Ainchrist. Well I'm pretty sure there'll be no end of orphans by the end of this playthrough...
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May 26, 2014 19:45
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Recommendation: Hold back on building new ships until after the battle against the crazy megalomaniac. Either you win handily even without a half-built mess of a Dragon, or you're completely hosed anyway. And after you win you'll need the extra money to replace losses/repair ships. Also, split the fleet, I'm guessing here a fleet of three ships commanded by a crazy man won't be too big of a challenge. The Syndicate fleet on the other hand seems to be the real threat. More ships and more likely to be actually combat-capable. Alternative: If you want to be on the safe side, use the money to get the next best thing to a Dragon which you can still fully fit, so you can send one more ship to confront the Syndics without weakening home defense.
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May 26, 2014 20:21
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Kaboom Dragoon posted:Well I'm pretty sure there'll be no end of orphans by the end of this playthrough... The Church is perfectly willing to start an orphanage. edit: Sorry, got carried away. Anyhow, imminent solution to the sacrifice flow notwithstanding, the congregation suggests not wasting money on any half-assed designs, what we have should be enough to deal with the infidel. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 20:58 on May 26, 2014 |
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May 26, 2014 20:52
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She's trying to find a child sacrifice as a vessel for her foul spirit. We must blackmail her to save the galaxy.
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May 26, 2014 23:56
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Update 10: Great Battles 5/1/96 - 5/31/96 Planetary Information Acquired Harmony Fleet Specs Ship Building Tutorial ___________________________________________________________________________ Fan Mail Kaboom Dragoon posted:Then our people shall simply cover up their indiscretions in the shade! There was the guy who got a sex change operation instead. Glazius posted:Wow. So soon after you start and already some megalomaniac is breathing down your neck? I may have died a few times to Zoran playing as a kid. Coolguye posted:Aw, poor Ainchrist. Maybe we can visit Rimble and find a baby market. anilEhilated posted:The lamps in the Chapel of Doom are always hungry for baby oil, bretheren. May I suggest the planet Rimble. ___________________________________________________________________________ Monthly Report 5/1/96 New month ticks over and the cash comes in.  No complaints about the budget now that I kicked them to $20k each. 5/2/96 A report from Pihzda:  ...Syndicate ships, and two other inactive ships. We will be within combat range shortly. SIX???? Ummm.....drat? Well, hopefully they are all budget hulls armed with inferior weaponry. Also, what happened to your face? 5/3/96  The first battle under my leadership. On arrival we find only three enemy ships. I order all the ships to concentrate fire on their foremost warship.   We score many hits on enemies 1 and 3. Looks like Ship 1 is fleeing.  Both enemy ships flee and we target and destroy their final ship.  Victory!!! No real damage sustained. They must have sent crap ships to beat on Pihzda and not expected our deadly ships. Either that or the enemy admiral is incompetent. Either works. Battle is not very interesting. You can set ships to attack, defend, or balanced status (I usually stick with balanced and switch to Defend if a ship is damaged) and give them targets. You can also order a ship to retreat. That is about it. You can also tell them to move to specific positions but I have never gotten that to work right. Easier to tell the ships to attack an enemy. The top bar for each ship is the structural integrity and the lower one is crew morale. Pihzda calls to thank us:  ...as promised, I am sending a reward of $30,000 to assist you in your struggle. If you need our help in the future, please do not hesitate to call. That's it? I put our homeworld at risk for you and you send us enough money to run one and a half of our four departments for one month. We may send ships back to Pihzda with the intent of laying waste until they actually give us our actual due for saving them.  It looks like Zoran is going to arrive before the ships can get home. I will leave them to have our agent recon Pihzda and then order them to return to base. 5/4/96  ...bears noting. There is a single-habitation satellite orbiting Pihzda. While I have not mentioned the satellite to the Pihzda government, I took the liberty of accessing their files on the matter, and there is no record of the object. It was sheer luck I found it, as a preliminary inspection shows that it has several cloaking devices running. In addition it is heavily armed and heavily protected, though it appears currently unmanned. If it does not belong to Pihzda and I am certain it is not ours, I can only assume it belongs to the Syndicate. I am now continuing with my current mission. Hmmmmmm.....  Name: Jerov Laddry Role: Syndicate Agent Planet: Unknown Stats: Deadly, Intelligent, Slippery Bio: Known only by reputation, Jerov Laddry is the Syndicate's most powerful agent. He is apparently able to get in and out of anywhere without detection. Rumor says he has a private satellite as his headquarters, but its location is unknown. HMMMMMMMMM........ Good to know. I put officers and crew on the Fitzhawk and launch the five ships at Harmony to defend the planet. Okay, we are very short on staff. SIN now has one regular staffmember and all the other departments have none not working on projects. Research is going to have to cut back a bit. As the General projects finish up I will probably have to yank their staff. Either that or cut all project's staff from 20 to 15. 5/7/96  Zoran has arrived.  And he is not a brilliant tactician. One enemy ship charges towards us alone.  Whatever Ship 3 is it is not very tough. I tear it up as the rest of his ships try to catch up.  Ship 3 flees and we switch to Ship 2. Due to damage I can tell it has at least 5 weapons and 3 computers. It has to be a Dragon.  I order all five ships to pound it and it goes up. All ships target the final enemy. It tries to run but we blast it. Don't think it was a tough hull.  Zoran is dead and most of his family is dead. I ran this battle twice. The first time I messed up the screenshots. Hit the wrong key so got none so decided to run it again. In the first take I took out all 3 ships but the Serenity was dead in the water and the Fitzenburger and the Fitzthulhu were down to less then 50% hull. I was worried I was going to lose a ship. The second time not sure why it fought so much more poorly. I wish I could have kept the first results. They were more interesting. The Fitzthulhu reports minor damage. The rest of the ships took superficial hits but are fine. I immediately issue a press release and there is singing in the streets. There was joy at the Pihzda success but there were worries that splitting the fleet might cost us the planet. 5/8/96 I order both fleets to return to base. Our best metallurgists are hard at work making medals. Sin's background check on the governor is complete and this was added to her file: Her father was a miner on Harmony, her mother was a prostitute and she was the result of a 'business transaction' between the two. They were never married and her father never even knew she was born. Not sure why that needs to be secret. The agent even said I should not use it as she is a "good kid". 5/9/96 Two research groups finished, first thermal:   Name: Full Thermal Cost: $2,250 Manufacturer: Harmony Type: Thermal Description: All of the benefits of the warming and cooling thermal control systems in one neat package, with increased power as well. Might actually use this. The problem with the original system is it takes two slots to mitigate thermal weapons. The nuclear group called too:  ...from going nova.  Name: Propulsion System Enhancer Cost: $1,875 Manufacturer: Harmony Type: General Description: This device keeps precise track of the mass/fuel ratios of the ship, and operates the propulsion system at maximum efficiency. Nice, decent upgrade. I put both teams back to work and order the hull of the Fitzthulhu patched up. It only cost about $3,000. 5/10/96 I set SIN agents to recon the Eyeball and Uhll'mumay, the nuked armory world. Serenity is going to the Eyeball and Silent Running to Uhll'mumay. The crew was not happy to leave considering their current hero status but it is time to get back to business as usual. 5/12/96 The latest poll results have come in. Approval shot up from 83% to 96%. I just wonder if it was the military victories or the pay increases. 5/16/96 The report I ran on my SIN department head just came back.  ...Fredericks anyway, I'm sure he's aware of the situation. His file has been updated. The second sentence is new:  I like this guy. I have started letting agents go from the SIN. There is no one left to run a dossier on that does not currently have a dossier running. 5/18/96 The Silent Running has arrived on Uhll'mumay.  ...still some survivors who have managed to adapt somewhat to the radiation. We have equipped their speaker, Codata Onn'hatet, with a comm-link set-up , and she is waiting for your call. We have also assembled a file on her, and updated the data on Uhll'mumay. Uhll'mumay   Alignment: None Compendium Entry: This planet was a known military outpost during the great wars, and was specialized to nuclear weapons. During the final stages of the wars terrible destruction occurred here, and everything went up at once. The planet was contaminated by radioactive fallout, it is assumed that there are no survivors. General: Several decades of exposure to the radiation of the planet have caused the people here to mutate in various ways, but the strain of human that now inhabit the planet have developed a strong immunity to genetic damage by radioactive decay. The survivors of the wars were the intellectuals of society, and their genes for intelligence have bred through to the present day. The planet has a civilized and organized government, and will probably be a major force in the galaxy if they ever rebuild their world. Military: The inhabitants barely have the technology to stay alive, let alone mount an active military. However, the radioactive atmosphere that encloses the entire planet makes landing and taking over a very difficult process.  Name: Codata Onn'hatet Role: Speaker Planet: Uhll'mumay Stats: Fair, Even-Tempered, Intelligent Bio: One of a band of small survivors, her determination to survive has inspired her entire group. Onn'hatet believes that learning is the best tool for survival, and allocates much of Uhll'mumay's resources to the reconstruction of the knowledge that was lost. A bunch of hyper-intelligent mutants. This is going to go well. I give her a call.  Wait, she just regains interstellar contact with the galaxy an now is 'unavailable' to take. Okay......will get in touch later. Recalling the ship to Harmony. 5/22/96 Got a report from the Serenity at the Eyeball.  Disappointing but not unexpected. Returning ship to Harmony. 5/27/96 The Pihzda mission and the Uhll'mumay missions have returned. The battle fleet is now all on Harmony. I am dispatching the Silent Running to pick up the agent we left on Thyzahn. The U-boat is going to check out L'll'y'yy'rww, a planet inhabited by hostile aliens who like attacking arriving fleets. Going to hope the stealth systems can keep us hidden and let us take a peek. 5/31/96 Research is humming along:   A quick pass on all mining sites shows that all are still profitable.  The budget looks good. Hopefully we will get a brief reprieve to rebuild the treasury before another crisis looms. ___________________________________________________________________________ Goon Input We have plans for an insurgency mission on Zaphroxi and another on Thornwood. Any other suggestions? There is not much going on at the moment other then recon. I can't expand the fleet until I free up more staff and there is little point increasing mining without miners. I think the focus for the next little while will be recon and insurgency missions. I honestly don't know how insurgency missions help but I plan to experiment. Xenocides fucked around with this message at 05:50 on May 31, 2014 |
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May 28, 2014 04:46
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Boss, Told you we got this. Pity about the two that had the good sense to flee. Anywhere that needs recon in force and by fire? Executive Officer Lomas DuQuesne, Fitzgerald.
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May 28, 2014 05:00
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Xenocides posted:
I think that's what protective clothing looks like over the comm system. Dunno why it makes folks look like they've got a body condom on. Makes me glad the mine operations gear is purple. Since we've apparently got the firepower to take out two invasion fleets at once, why don't we practice against a non-military planet that doesn't particularly like us? That'll keep those flyboys happy! Also, can you run an insurgency against the same planet more than once? Could be you aren't getting results because you need to keep up the pressure to get some real results.
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May 28, 2014 05:01
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Bobbin Threadbare posted:I think that's what protective clothing looks like over the comm system. Dunno why it makes folks look like they've got a body condom on. Makes me glad the mine operations gear is purple. It is probably important to note that both of those fleets were small. If we attacked a Syndicate world we would probably be somewhere between evenly matched and outgunned. Later attacks may not be so anemic. Name a good target and maybe we can send the fleet hunting. I have no idea if you can effectively run more then one insurgency on a planet. Should we try Thyzahn again?
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May 28, 2014 05:07
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Xenocides posted:It is probably important to note that both of those fleets were small. If we attacked a Syndicate world we would probably be somewhere between evenly matched and outgunned. Later attacks may not be so anemic. Name a good target and maybe we can send the fleet hunting. Why not pick on Huygen? Small military, nepotistic captains with useless honor codes, and a society so oppressive that nobody will be mad at us for bullying them. And yes, let's try a second insurgency on Thyzahn. If it fails or can't even proceed, then at least we'll understand the mechanic better.
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May 28, 2014 05:15
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Bobbin Threadbare posted:Why not pick on Huygen? Small military, nepotistic captains with useless honor codes, and a society so oppressive that nobody will be mad at us for bullying them. I like this plan.
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May 28, 2014 05:25
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We should upgrade out infil/exfil ships with the Propulsion System Enhancer, so that they can complete intelligence missions faster and escape if attacked.
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May 28, 2014 08:51
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We should foster further local development and economic diversification by using locally produced ship systems wherever possible. All Harmony ships should have at least one, ideally more, harmony manufactured systems.
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May 28, 2014 09:11
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Dear Overlord, It's me, Billy! Sorry that I haven't written in a while. My dad was real mad for a bit but we saw the battle last night up in the sky, and he says he's totally changed his mind on you. Mom didn't want me to repeat this but he said "maybe the overdouche isn't such a prick after all." What does that mean, Overlord? Mom wouldn't tell me. I think you should send some more ships to save more people from those syndicate meanies. And maybe we can call that man with the satellite?! He sounds really cool. I wish I had a cool satellite base like that, but I still have fun with my treehouse! Mom's calling me. Bye Overlord! -Billy, Age 9 Green Intern fucked around with this message at 15:10 on May 28, 2014 |
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May 28, 2014 13:39
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Is there anything that can be done with the apparent discovery of Jerov Laddry's super spy satellite? It sounds like it may be a good idea to get him out of the picture if possible.
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May 28, 2014 14:56
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A secret spy satellite? Not ours? Not in our domain! Recommendation: Obliterate it.
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May 28, 2014 16:57
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We have a large battlefleet. If possible mechanically it is time to forcefully convince our neighbors to join our cause, starting with Phizda? If not then let's ramp up insurgency missions, they seem to be more useful than blackmail ones, but keep those ready in case we need emergency infusions of cash for defense. We are greater now than the Syndicate will ever have the potential to be. Readingaccount fucked around with this message at 17:26 on May 28, 2014 |
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May 28, 2014 17:15
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With our full fleet, I suspect we could take that super secret spy sat down, and break one of the Syndicate's more legendary arms.
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May 29, 2014 00:36
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It would be fun to have a superspy on our side though...
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May 29, 2014 01:16
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Could we steal the satellite?
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May 29, 2014 01:59
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