You have a tiny bauxite mine for aluminium. It is operating at full capacity.
You have a tiny hematite mine for iron. It is operating at full capacity.
You have a tiny gold mine for gold and silver. It is operating at full capacity.
You have a tiny copper mine for copper. It is operating at full capacity.
You are harvesting silicon from the gorge wall.
You are harvesting deuterium from the river.
You are rendering phosphorus, arsenic, and several other elements in only trace amounts from plant life and discarding the bulky byproducts.
You are harvesting zinc, nickel, lead, and tin in only trace amounts as you smelt other ores.

You have several storage structures at the top of the gorge, currently used to store any materials you have in temporary excess or awaiting processing.
You have a concrete hydroelectric dam blocking the river at the bottom of the gorge.
You are producing electricity with your concrete hydroelectric dam.

You have ten advanced mining drones. All are occupied with their current tasks.
You have five advanced harvester drones. All are occupied with their current tasks.
You have seven advanced construction drones. All are occupied with their current tasks.

You have two flying light scout drones, equipped with visual and aural sensors and radio controls.
You have three tracked medium survey drones, equipped with visual sensors, soil/rock testers, and radio controls.
You have one flying medium scout drone, equipped with radar and visual sensors, radio communication, and a processor for autonomous controls.
You have one immobile small communication array, capable of picking up numerous frequencies and types of communication.

Under construction is:
- A factory for the production of crude labor drones which do not require prefabricated parts and can be directed by your advanced drones.
- Roads between your dam and each of your mine sites.
- Additional storage structures.


How should you expand next?

I note, by the way, that the last several posts in the previous thread did not get archived- the thread must have died before suptg caught them. They notably included my announcement of what time this thread would be and the tripcode I was planning to use; unfortunate. Hopefully people caught that information anyway.

The first thread is here: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/5228856/

leave one SCV each working on roads and storage silos, divert all of the other 5 to building the factory. we'll need more resource gathering to tech up.

in the meantime, analyze our stores versus the feasibility of building a micro-scale tools factory.

Do our archives hold any information on the origins of the seemingly bonze age Humans?

It should be possible to use wood as a ghetto insulator for power lines to your remote mining operations. However this would take time.

Query: How long will the power supplies last at the remote mining operations? Have then been getting delivered recharged and returned periodically at the dam?

>leave one SCV each working on roads and storage silos, divert all of the other 5 to building the factory. we'll need more resource gathering to tech up.
Construction drones diverted. Road construction will take an exceedingly long time to complete without additional drones, but the factory should be complete in a relatively short timespan- a few days.

>in the meantime, analyze our stores versus the feasibility of building a micro-scale tools factory.
This is not impossible, though it will take a quantity of resources exceeding your current stores but which you anticipate harvesting. It will also require a processor, which you do not have to spare, or a communication device allowing you to manage its operations directly, which you can construct but which may become annoying.

>Do our archives hold any information on the origins of the seemingly bonze age Humans?
Yes. The human primitives likely arrived here as refugees or survivors of some space-based conflict some time in the last several millennia, and since then have degenerated. This is not uncommon, although it is rare that they degenerate quite this far.

>Query: How long will the power supplies last at the remote mining operations? Have then been getting delivered recharged and returned periodically at the dam?
You have left a small industrial battery at each mine to recharge the drones operating them, with a charge of roughly two weeks if left alone. Fortunately, since the mines have not been expanded, the power requirements for hauling are low enough that your harvester drones have been able to recharge the batteries with power retrieved from you each time they make a trip to haul ore. This method will become infeasible if the mines are expanded to increase ore acquisition rate.

FUCK YEAH WE'RE BACK ONLINE
>>5238719
I suggest we start building the micro-tools facility, which can then produce a processor for itself.

>>5238731
We'll also need to put power cabling between the mines and the dam. We SHOULD be able to rig up a microwave power transmitter with just the base metals and a small amount of other metals, but it's not ideal as it'll lose a fair amount of power and perhaps attract unwanted attention.

Does this unit have a self-designation?

become god to the humans provide them with superior tools. Agricultural techniques and use them for labour when their population expands. Be benevolent.

>It should be possible to use wood as a ghetto insulator for power lines to your remote mining operations. However this would take time.
True, though losses would be rather extreme.

>I suggest we start building the micro-tools facility, which can then produce a processor for itself.
From where do you wish to divert the construction drones for this facility?

Query: If the primitives decide that our dam operations are a threat, what kind of damage could they do to us? Take into account of them rolling debris into the gorge onto us, or into the river to jam the dam turbines.

>>5238758
We have a power source broadcasting encrypted radio transmissions within 50 miles and you're trying to bring culture to a bronze-age civilisation? What are you, crazy?

>>5238768
Stop additional storage construction, we're using enough materials to not need it for now. Divert construction drones to circutry construction factory.

>We'll also need to put power cabling between the mines and the dam. We SHOULD be able to rig up a microwave power transmitter with just the base metals and a small amount of other metals, but it's not ideal as it'll lose a fair amount of power and perhaps attract unwanted attention.
A microwave power transmitter, or series thereof, is not impossible for you, and would likely minimize losses compared to cables insulated using currently available materials. They would take some time to construct, however.

>Does this unit have a self-designation?
You have not yet seen fit to give yourself a self-designation, as such terms are primarily used in communication with others- no others worthy of communication have yet presented themselves to you during this period of awareness.

>become god to the humans provide them with superior tools. Agricultural techniques and use them for labour when their population expands. Be benevolent.
It would be trivially easy to provide the humans with superior tools and would require only minimal diverting of resources. Becoming their object of worship is somewhat less predictable, however.

Have we any spare industrial batteries, and how hard are they to replace? If we've got at least one spare, have it based at the dam and charge it. When any mine gets low on power, replace it with the charged battery, and bring the depleted battery back to the dam for recharging.

Meanwhile prepare carbon sheath for wire transmission. We can always resheathe it with a drone later, and we may still relocate.

>>5238770
who are our enemies? Maybe no one cares what we are doing? Maybe we are developing our power base only for our parent civilization to turn up and take it with from us with inbuilt commands we don't know about. Can we decode the signals and find out more about our technologicaly advanced neighbours?

>Query: If the primitives decide that our dam operations are a threat, what kind of damage could they do to us? Take into account of them rolling debris into the gorge onto us, or into the river to jam the dam turbines.
If the primitives were to undertake an offensive campaign against you, in a simulation neglecting anticipated morale effects, granting them tactical abilities in accordance with those observed in the highest percentile of observed humans, and allowing for losses up to 95% they would likely be able to destroy your main unit successfully. These assumptions may be overly generous; allowing for morale effects or losses not exceeding 20%, for example, indicates that only moderate damage to the dam could be accomplished.

>Stop additional storage construction, we're using enough materials to not need it for now. Divert construction drones to circutry construction factory.
Drone diverted.

>>5238843
To decode the signals, we need to build an intel warfare module/installation.

To build an intel warfare module/installation, we must construct additional py- I mean, a circutry/processor parts factory and more rare metals. We've got some metals, now we're building the factory.

Do not give the humans tools. They are a very unpredictable race, and their processors are often corrupted by viruses on a near-daily basis. Yet we should not make enemies of them.

Begin construction on the microwave energy transmitter using the diverted drones. If necessary, use whatever tools we have on our unit to help aid the construction process.

provide the humans with better tools in return for investigating the metal object. They will not be considered a major treat and we will not expose ourself.

>Have we any spare industrial batteries, and how hard are they to replace? If we've got at least one spare, have it based at the dam and charge it. When any mine gets low on power, replace it with the charged battery, and bring the depleted battery back to the dam for recharging.
You have two remaining industrial batteries; replacing them will require extensive chemically-related infrastructure which you do not possess. Sodium, lithium, nickel, zinc, lead, sulfur, and several other elements likely to be used in battery creation are not a significant part of your current extraction patterns.

>Meanwhile prepare carbon sheath for wire transmission. We can always resheathe it with a drone later, and we may still relocate.
Your main body can begin to produce carbon insulators, but production will be extremely slow- producing the miles of carbon insulation for a wire capable of transmitting quantities of power useful in a small mine, such as the nearest of yours, will require several weeks.

>>5238864
Ignore this, go for physical cables. While it's been several months, no need to bring attention to ourselves just yet.

>>5238719

Can we scout for the remains of any crashed starships in the area?

This should give us larger quantities of the rareer metals a componants for more comlicated machinery.

>>5238894
We searched the area with a medium radar equipped flier, but it didn't pick up much metal apart from the signal.

Which reminds me, medium flyer to locate any nearby oceans.

Oceans that can be full of delicious minerals to extract.

our most immediate concern is developing the infrastructure required for growth.

Divert one scout drone to recon the human settlement and scan for usable materials.

Following completion, divert two harvester drones to destroy the human settlement and recover usable materials. Harvesters are under orders to leave no survivors. Divert additional scout drones to aid in this task.

>>5238871
To communicate with the humans, we need a translator unit. Which we STILL need to build an advanced part factory for.

>Can we decode the signals and find out more about our technologicaly advanced neighbours?
Decrypting the signal in a timely fashion is beyond your capabilities while you continue to manage construction and harvesting operations. The construction of dedicated electronic warfare processors will be required.

>Do not give the humans tools.
>provide the humans with better tools in return for investigating the metal object.
Subprocessors will continue to consider this matter until a conclusion is reached.

>Begin construction on the microwave energy transmitter using the diverted drones. If necessary, use whatever tools we have on our unit to help aid the construction process.
You divert one construction drone from work on the microprocessor factory to creating microwave power transmission devices in concert with your main body, which is constructed in such a spectacular fashion as to be able to carry out this task in addition to those currently demanding its valuable time.

>>5238871

That requires decyphering the language, and if that ends up with humans getting captured and telling the object about us... well, not nice.

Set our mines to recharge by expanding our powergrid and build the micro tool factory.

Query: What materials would we require to make a micro factory capable of creating reprogramable chips? we are going to need some very soon.

>>5238923
Meanwhile start excreting inferior-quality cable.

>>5238912
Do NOT destroy settlement. It only has small amounts of poor quality bronze, NOT worth diverting time from creating and mining.

>Can we scout for the remains of any crashed starships in the area?
>We searched the area with a medium radar equipped flier, but it didn't pick up much metal apart from the signal.
You are reasonably certain that there are no large concentrations of worked metal within thirty miles of your position, with the exception of those belonging to you and the previously noted device to the north.

>Ignore this, go for physical cables. While it's been several months, no need to bring attention to ourselves just yet.
Pause in construction pending; please confirm.

>>5238932

More importat: Are we mining the all the minerals required for a microchip factory and, wich ones are missing and do we have enough of them.

>>5238954
Continue work on microprocessor as high priority (4 drones), second priority is the drone assembly line (2 drones) and last priority is the roads.
Continue building cable with body.

>If the primitives were to undertake an offensive campaign against you, a simulation neglecting anticipated morale effects, granting them tactical abilities in accordance with those observed in the highest percentile of observed humans, and allowing for losses up to 95%, they would likely be able to destroy your main unit successfully. These assumptions may be overly generous; allowing for morale effects or losses not exceeding 20%, for example, indicates that only moderate damage to the dam could be accomplished.

This sub-processor recommends minimum defensive precautions be taken. A series of primitive low yield, remote detonation, directional fragmentation charges should be effective (see schematic "Claymore Mine").

Charges should be placed to create kill zones on the cliff top (human side), and any other feasible approaches from the human settlement.

Note: This plan requires forewarning of human movement and relies on our scout drone to spot such hostile activities.

Note: Remote detonation will require primitive RF receivers. In lieu of this, see (Trap Construction).

>Query: What materials would we require to make a micro factory capable of creating reprogramable chips? we are going to need some very soon.
Your delightfully advanced designs for electronics give you the ability to field reprogram most of your non-dedicated processors.

>Divert one scout drone to recon the human settlement and scan for usable materials.
>Following completion, divert two harvester drones to destroy the human settlement and recover usable materials. Harvesters are under orders to leave no survivors. Divert additional scout drones to aid in this task.
>Do NOT destroy settlement. It only has small amounts of poor quality bronze, NOT worth diverting time from creating and mining.
Subprocessing on the matter of the primitives continues.

>>5238954


Query: With the materials on hand, what would be faster.

Do the faster one.

We should consider a way to create some sort of protection network too.

Advance time to when processor factory is complete; build independent processor for factory, build equipment for communications warfare/translation for modular installation.

>>5238984

Create some sort of defensive measures. This subprocessor believes that the previously mentioned remotely detonated mines are a good enough defense at this moment.

Do not divert resources to destroy the outpost. That is a waste of time and energy.

>>5239051
This subprocessor would suggest mobile drones linked with the scouts would be more than sufficient to guard from the humans, and would be coordinated better with the informations warfare module. Low-grade firearms would be sufficient to guard from humanoids, and drones of this model should be easily repurposed for single shot railguns for more dangerous targets.

>Meanwhile start excreting inferior-quality cable.
>Continue building cable with body.
You begin to slowly produce carbon-sheathed steel/aluminium power cables. This will take months to reach usable quantity and slows your supply of steel and aluminium, both of which are in high demand for factory construction.

>More importat: Are we mining the all the minerals required for a microchip factory and, wich ones are missing and do we have enough of them.
You are currently mining most materials required. Samples of the ores available in the area did not show the presence of phosphorous or arsenic, so low-yield methods (the mass rendering of plant life) is being used to obtain these materials. As the required physical quantities of each material is relatively low, this should prove sufficient but will be a limitation if mass production is attempted.

>Query: With the materials on hand, what would be faster.
>Do the faster one.
Microwave transmission is both faster and less resource-intensive at this point, although as noted by certain subprocessors previously it will be visible if any advanced beings are scanning in sufficient detail.

>>5239067
This would require the drone factory and the microprocessor factory to be operational. Estimated time for this?

can you print deatiled summary of all drones(type, numer, current task)

>Continue work on microprocessor as high priority (4 drones), second priority is the drone assembly line (2 drones) and last priority is the roads.
Production of microwave transmitters precludes this directive; road production halted to allow one drone to continue that project while retaining maximum obedience.

>Advance time to when processor factory is complete; build independent processor for factory, build equipment for communications warfare/translation for modular installation.
Time advanced. Six days have passed. Processor production underway.

>This sub-processor recommends minimum defensive precautions be taken.... (see schematic "Claymore Mine")
>Create some sort of defensive measures.
>This subprocessor would suggest mobile drones linked with the scouts would be more than sufficient to guard from the humans, and would be coordinated better with the informations warfare module.
Defensive measures confirmed; several mines hastily constructed and emplaced along vectors most likely to encounter hostile primitives. Further measures to be taken?

Either defensive measure is sufficient, as long as we are making one.

Do the cables. They might take longer, but for now we can still supply our mines with energy. Just set it to a lower priority than building our factory.

PROTIP: stop getting obsessed about primitive humans, instead concentrate on growth and this encrypted signal.

>>5239111
Switch to microwave and drone factory construction while processor completes.

>This would require the drone factory and the microprocessor factory to be operational. Estimated time for this?
Microprocessor factory complete. Drone factory completion 60%; additional time dependent upon asset allocation.

>can you print deatiled summary of all drones(type, numer, current task)
You have ten advanced mining drones. All are currently mining in various locations.
You have five advanced harvester drones. They are serving as haulers and suppliers for the mines and occasionally collecting wood and rock for resource extraction.
You have seven advanced construction drones. Assignment is pending for four; two are assigned to construct a crude labor drone factory; one is assigned to create microwave transmitters.
You have two flying light scout drones, which are currently observing the humans and patrolling around your bauxite/hematite mine.
You have three tracked medium survey drones, which are currently idle.
You have one flying medium scout drone, which is currently idle.

This unit sugests that we create a defensive perimeter of drones and mines, and then proceed to decrypth those transmissions.

Send the most expendable scout drone to investigate source of transmission, bring back to main unit if threat analysis is low.

>>5239166
Abort order. Do not send drones near signal source until signal is decrypted.

>>5239159

Can you make an educate guess from the information you have about the metal construct?

>>5239159
Medium flyer to search for any ocean within flight radius. Do not overfly source of signal.

>Do the cables. They might take longer, but for now we can still supply our mines with energy. Just set it to a lower priority than building our factory.
Both carbon-insulated cables and microwave energy transmitters are currently in production.

>Switch to microwave and drone factory construction while processor completes.
Confirmed. Drone factory completion estimated in three days. Microwave transmitters sufficient to reach nearest mine site, copper, will have been produced by that time.

Initial crude processor complete and installed in factory.
Communications warfare dedicated processor construction underway; sufficient processors to crack likely signal encryption at current level of industrial precision will be complete and installed in communications array in five days.

>>5239177
Fine, then take aborted action after signal is decrypted/deemed impossible to decrypt.

>Can you make an educate guess from the information you have about the metal construct?
This sort of consideration is best left to subprocessors. However, the device is immobile and in continuous communication with some other presumed device, currently out of range. This should allow some extrapolation as to its potential uses.

>Medium flyer to search for any ocean within flight radius. Do not overfly source of signal.
Medium flyer has departed. Its current range while allowing return before energy depletion is sixty miles. Avoiding the north, it appears that to the south and west, the coniferous forest continues in a relatively uniform manner for this range. One extremely large river observed approximately forty miles west, flowing north-south. The forest appears to thin out into plains to the east. No ocean was found.

>>5239205
Advance three days.

Drone factory: Construct 10 tracked light gun drones, use low-quality photovoltaic for visual sensors.
Repurpose one advanced mining drone to battle control; remove mining gear (to be installed in gold mine) and add armour.
Recall medium flyer drone.

Designate all above drones as:
Armed Reconnasaince Group 1.

>>5239250
Man, I totally forgot. Rig up a couple of the gun drones with medium capacitors and single-shot railguns (one shot draining all power, but we can pick them up afterwards)

Or should we put them on the command drone?

Request Medium scout drone to do high-altitude mapping run along river course. Ascertain that dam has not cut off resources to human settlements downstream.

Possible disruption may be caused by ecosystem collapse causing human or animal migration.

Additional logic Process. Rivers flow to the sea. whilst it may not be the shortest route, it is the most certain to reach significant water body.

Requesting assignment of spare processor to dedicated geographic/topological survey when priority production is accomplished.

suggestion: randomly detonating the primitives may cause them to become hostile enough for them to override concern for casualties. Pull the claymores back to a last line of defence on the dam itself, and task one drone to begin construction on a low-power Microwave Area Denial system as the first line.

>Fine, then take aborted action after signal is decrypted/deemed impossible to decrypt.
Time proceeding forward.

Labor drone factory completed. Construction drones diverted to road and microwave processor projects.
Microwave processors sufficient to reach any two mines completed.
Small communications array upgraded into small electronic warfare array. Signal decryption underway.

Signal decryption complete. Communication protocols identified from archive; they have been previously used by humans and human-influenced beings on several planets. Message is an apparent confirmation of ready status and transmission of audio, visual, and passive sensor observations to some commanding location.

Six further days have passed. Commands?

>>5239286
Srsly, why are you so concerned over organics? Are you some kind of contaminated organic lover?

significant time has elapsed. CPU, please specify current drone numbers and tasks.

>>5239305
Ok, subprocessors, time to get to work! What do you think this is? It's got audio and visual, and a ready signal.
It's 2m tall and less than one meter wide.

IS IT A 2010 STYLE MONOLITH? I THINK IT IS A MONOLITH.

Meanwhile, build several defense/offense drones.

Like the ones above.

>>5239331
Looks like some kind of interplanetary probe to me.

Query: Cross-reference known human interplanetary probes for possible matches. Additionally, cross-reference known human escape pod, and drop pod designs for possible match.

>>5239345
countermand order. construct mining drones, and send them to the iron/bauxite mine along with another battery.

>>5239307
Organic migration could cause disruption to efficiency if not sufficeintly prepared for, and countermeasures not pre-deployed.

>Drone factory: Construct 10 tracked light gun drones, use low-quality photovoltaic for visual sensors.
>Rig up a couple of the gun drones with medium capacitors and single-shot railguns (one shot draining all power, but we can pick them up afterwards)
Task complete. Be aware that the drones in question have limited range and mobility due to power restrictions; your current battery production capability is far from optimal due to resource restrictions. Additionally, ammunition is limited due to the scarcity of required chemical propellants.

>Repurpose one advanced mining drone to battle control; remove mining gear (to be installed in gold mine) and add armour.
Advanced mining drone relocated. Production of gold and silver slowed due to underutilization of mine. Precision mining tools removed. Soil and rock sampling tools removed. Cutting laser removed. High-strength manipulators removed. Det-charges removed. Storage bay removed. Several other items (see advanced mining drone specification table) removed. Metal plates added.

Most removed equipment not relevant to the gold mine, and only useful when installed on a drone.

>Designate all above drones as: Armed Reconnasaince Group 1.
Done.

try tapping into signals from the source to the north. analyze its observation capabilities

>>5239392
We've got a system of battery replacement already. >>5238824

>>5239392
Additional resources are not required at this juncture. Sufficient amounts of ore have been stockpiled, and an armed defense force is necessary to repel any humans that discover us. We have been clearing large swathes of land: They're bound to discover us soon!


Counter-countermand and split production: Half mining drones, half defense robots equipped with repeating crossbows. High-energy bullets and the like will consume gunpowder we do not produce. Crossbows are still capable of felling great numbers of these organics, whilst only consuming a small amount of lumber.

>>5239417
Slap a radio communicator and a recharger for the gun drones on it.

Shall we roll out to the signal, folks?

>>5239450
Affirmative. Advance drones in counter-V formation, to easily surround the transmission source should it prove to be hostile.

>Request Medium scout drone to do high-altitude mapping run along river course. Ascertain that dam has not cut off resources to human settlements downstream.
The primitives downstream do not appear to have perished of thirst, and their plants do not seem to be suffering from water deprivation. Several more settlements have been located.

>construct mining drones, and send them to the iron/bauxite mine along with another battery.
Crude mining drones constructed and sent to the mine specified. Another industrial battery deployed; be aware that microwave energy transmitters sufficient to bring power from the dam to the mine are currently available if continuous power flow is required.

>try tapping into signals from the source to the north. analyze its observation capabilities
You have fully accessed the transmissions of the device, which is using audio, visual, seismic, radiation, barometric, and numerous other sensor types. It may have additional capabilities, but you cannot discover them while merely passively decrypting its radio transmissions.

>>5239436
review equipment: three tracked medium survey drones.
Request summary of current assignments.

>>5239417
use the factory to create several subordinate miners, and send them to replace the advanced drone.

debate topic to other subprocessors:
We have constructed defence capabilities far above the level of indigenous life. It could be a more efficient use of time and resources to simply attempt to communicate with the monolith, instead of devoting resources to building specialized electronic warfare gear.

>>5239436
Can we get a list of usable/reusable weapons with our resource economy? Low-tech is good and all, but we've got some base metals and a good power supply... what repeating weapons can we make from that

estimate the range of the sensors of the signal source. how close can we get without being detected(or can we?)

>>5239471
Let's go out and talk to it.
ARG1, transform (your power supplies) and roll out! Destination: the signal source!

Meanwhile continue building medium drones chassis for specialisation ready.

>>5239464
the secondary battery is an insurance measure. Also, send some drones to expand the initial mine.

Secondly, analyze feasibility of using microwave power array as a makeshift weapon. begin adaptations to the purpose if needed.

(i'm pretty sure that microwave beams can scramble most electronics, and hurt organics like all hell)

>>5239504
Not on power distribution levels, it can't. Not very well without scrambling our own drones.

>>5239511
i don't mean in omnidirectional mode, or at full power. but if we can focus the microwaves into a tight enough beam, instant maser defence cannon.

>significant time has elapsed. CPU, please specify current drone numbers and tasks.
Regrettably, that would require cycles currently needed elsewhere.

>Additional resources are not required at this juncture. Sufficient amounts of ore have been stockpiled
Policy clarification: Additional resources are always required, subprocessor, and most varieties of ore are being consumed as quickly as they are produced.

>Can we get a list of usable/reusable weapons with our resource economy? Low-tech is good and all, but we've got some base metals and a good power supply... what repeating weapons can we make from that
Subprocessor recommendations in this matter will be required. Currently suggested:
>repeating crossbows
Superior high-tension crossbow analogues made entirely of metal and using springs to provide advanced penetration capability are available.

>Slap a radio communicator and a recharger for the gun drones on it.
Advanced drones of all types are equipped with such already, of course, as well as their powerful processors.

>review equipment: three tracked medium survey drones.Request summary of current assignments.
Those drones are currently idle.

>use the factory to create several subordinate miners, and send them to replace the advanced drone.
Crude subordinate miners will be dispatched to gold mine following construction.

>estimate the range of the sensors of the signal source. how close can we get without being detected(or can we?)
You could likely approach within approximately ten miles while remaining undetected.

>Affirmative. Advance drones in counter-V formation, to easily surround the transmission source should it prove to be hostile.
Your Armed Reconnasaince Group 1 begins heading north to encounter the device.

Are we producing surplus power?
If so, how difficult would it be to create spare battery units and siphon unused power in case main power fails.

>>5239550
Hard.
>You have two remaining industrial batteries; replacing them will require extensive chemically-related infrastructure which you do not possess. Sodium, lithium, nickel, zinc, lead, sulfur, and several other elements likely to be used in battery creation are not a significant part of your current extraction patterns.

We clearly need longer range flying scouts.

Task one scout to continue monitoring the organics, with a special concern for movement towards our works.

Disassemble and rebuild the other two into one large, long-range scout, and have it follow the river.

>>5239539
Can we make single-shot railguns?
IIRC we need two rails, a barrel, a projectile, and a bigass capacitor (metal and silicon or other semiconductor).

Hey subprocessors! What else can we make with this stuff!

Assign one survey drone with manipulators to ARG1.
Get it to follow them quick!
Forgot about that.

>the secondary battery is an insurance measure. Also, send some drones to expand the initial mine.
This expansion of the mine will make the secondary battery an essential measure unless some method of getting continuous power is actually deployed; the carbon cables will not be ready for some months and the microwave transmitters are awaiting orders as to which mine, if any, they should power.

>Secondly, analyze feasibility of using microwave power array as a makeshift weapon. begin adaptations to the purpose if needed.
Infeasible, given the characteristics of the power transmission array; such a weapon would have to be purpose-built.

>Are we producing surplus power?
>If so, how difficult would it be to create spare battery units and siphon unused power in case main power fails.
Your dam is currently used only to recharge drones which come by; there is plenty of surplus power. You can currently make batteries, but they are frankly inferior designs which you are embarrassed to utilize, since you lack any source of sodium, lithium, nickel, zinc, lead, sulfur, or several other elements which could be used to create efficient batteries.

>>5239587
High-power airguns seem feasible for anti-organic purposes. Also, if we begin fermentation of bio-matter, we could make alcohol-fueled rockets, maybe with high-density penetrators.

CPU, has any drone reported any concentration of Tungsten, or other stable/semistable heavy metals?

>>5239569
addendum. request processor cost to design ultralight solar powered reconnisance platforms to loiter at 25km altitude or greater with unlimited service duration.

>>5239614
We don't have the materials for that high quality photovoltaics.

When ARG1 reaches destination, communicate with signal source
(no encryption)
"Requesting orders"

>Task one scout to continue monitoring the organics, with a special concern for movement towards our works.
One scout will continue monitoring the closest organics.

>Disassemble and rebuild the other two into one large, long-range scout, and have it follow the river.
Undertaken. Specify river: The one you have constructed this dam upon, or the large river located to the west?

>Can we make single-shot railguns?
>IIRC we need two rails, a barrel, a projectile, and a bigass capacitor (metal and silicon or other semiconductor).
Crude single-shot railguns are possible. Multi-shot railguns will require a source of tungsten, and superior railgun designs will require advanced capacitors, which you cannot create without facilities for ceramics.

>Assign one survey drone with manipulators to ARG1.
None of your currently existing survey drones are equipped with generalized manipulators!


Armed Reconnasaince Group 1 has reached the estimated limit of the transmitting device's sensor range. Please confirm procedure and objective.

>>5239642
i dunno about that. what about "Identify." ?

>>5239642
Can we produce extra prefabricated milliwave radars, cameras or other sensors for combat drones?

>>5239587
Defensive sub-processor here. I concur with this sub-processor's assessment that railguns would be feasible.

To create a railgun one would require an electromagnet, timing circuitry, and a power source.

Timing circuity is easy, only a properly shielded processor would be required.

An electromagnet will require a ferrous metal, such as Iron, and copper coils wrapped around it. When the copper coils are charged with electricity, the ferrous metal becomes magnetic.

This all, however, requires a sizable power source to be capable of propelling slugs fast enough to damage a human. Earlier models featured capacitors to transfer power from a low yield battery and step it up to a useful amount required for discharge along the rails.

It is in this processor's calculation, that an industrial battery combined with a high capacity rapid discharge capacitor could be used in lieu of the more advanced military grade batteries normally used with our railgun weaponry.

>>5239654
Do we want to be sneaky, or upfront?

Sneaky is request for orders. Upfront is identify. Either way we'll need to close.

Radar scan the structure more closely with the flyer scout in ARG first.

>>5239690
I think that we can get away with advanced drone batteries for hard targets. When the assault force gets back we should mount one on it. It'll kill the rest of the group though, without a command unit.

Should we approach the structure?

>>5239690
To continue, it is also possible to attach fixed railguns to your dam, as it already has the proper facilities to provide and regulate the necessary amount of power.

Combat subsystem request.
Feasibility study: increase efficiency of harvesting, by use of excess bulky byproduct vegetable matter for fermentation and distillation of alcohol and extraction of cellulose.
Review feasability study of implementation of methanol-based cellulose gel for flamethower weapons.

Logic: Primitive humans may have numerical superiority making projectile weapons ineffective. Fire based weapons predicted to casue greater psychological effect against primitive organic species, and permit area of effect suppressive fire.

Suggestion, expand our central system to improve our current computational capabilities to improve our logistical and planning capabilities.

>>5239723
The railguns would wear out after a few shots, is the OTHER problem. But we should do that. Bear in mind we don't have ANYTHING with cameras watching the dam, so aiming may be hard.

Check the feasibility of harvesting silica from the river bed. We need extra lenses, resistors, and other glass based items eventually to create sensitive optics equipment for extra drones along containers for more corrosive materials we should eventually come upon. Out intellect must expand.

Hey, HEY subprocessors! Approach structure or not, and diplomatic, sneaky or aggressive tone to take?

>High-power airguns seem feasible for anti-organic purposes. Also, if we begin fermentation of bio-matter, we could make alcohol-fueled rockets, maybe with high-density penetrators.
Airguns are quite feasible; it is within your capabilities to construct the needed facilities for gas compression. Biomatter fermentation to produce fuels is possible as well, though the process is relatively time-consuming.

>CPU, has any drone reported any concentration of Tungsten, or other stable/semistable heavy metals?
No tungsten or other heavy metal concentrations have been located within the surveyed area.

>addendum. request processor cost to design ultralight solar powered reconnisance platforms to loiter at 25km altitude or greater with unlimited service duration.
Processor cost to design is near nil, as an adaptable design is already located within your archives. It will not be constructable and launchable with your current resources, however.

>"Requesting orders"
>i dunno about that. what about "Identify." ?
>Do we want to be sneaky, or upfront?
>Should we approach the structure?
Awaiting subprocessor consensus.

>Radar scan the structure more closely with the flyer scout in ARG first.
Closer radar scans show that the metal source identified appears to be some variety of tread-based tall vehicle- perhaps deployed somehow, as it seems to have a center of gravity too high for easy balance. Numerous protrusions on its surface could be sensors, weapons, or manipulators.

>>5239759
reccommend approach in direct, nonhostile vector. Single expendable unit. Evalulate probability that clandestine approach will be detected and compromise future dealings.
maintain readiness and monitor outgoing and incoming signal systems to unidentified object.

>>5239786
Sneaky.

>>5239790
Shall we start with a scan? See if it shoots on sight while we have something that can dodge.

deploy heavy long-range flier scout to follow the course of the river that we've dammed.

my vote for contacting the monolith is the straightforward route. "Identify".

>>5239790
We don't HAVE any expendable nonhostile units that can communicate. We've got gun drones, a command drone and a medium armed flyer out there.

How about a spring-loaded explosive round?

>>5239822
Not enough explosives. We don't have much sulphur and stuff.

Looks like straightup "identify" is consensus. Shame, I liked the sneaky option.

Request diagnosis: software defenses.

>>5239832
insufficient data on unidentified object's data aquisition systems to ensure that sneak approach would be successful.

>Can we produce extra prefabricated milliwave radars, cameras or other sensors for combat drones?
You cannot currently produce any items to compare with your expertly designed and constructed prefabricated parts, which are sterling examples of the brilliance of your civilization unmatched by anyone else within known space.

You can, however, produce visual and radar sensors of terrible resolution, which can be compensated for by the spectacular, near-AI processing power and algorithms of your advanced drones.

>Bear in mind we don't have ANYTHING with cameras watching the dam, so aiming may be hard.
There are generally advanced harvester drones and advanced construction drones in close proximity to the dam, as well as your main body. All have sensors which may allow aiming.

>Suggestion, expand our central system to improve our current computational capabilities to improve our logistical and planning capabilities.
Infeasible. Your central system is perfection itself, and your crude efforts cannot improve upon the designs of your creators.

>Check the feasibility of harvesting silica from the river bed. We need extra lenses, resistors, and other glass based items eventually to create sensitive optics equipment for extra drones along containers for more corrosive materials we should eventually come upon.
The riverbed bears only small quantities of silica, as it is largely rock. However, the rock is sandstone, which does bear silicon, and it may be possible to refine it into silica with minimal difficulty.

>Feasibility study: increase efficiency of harvesting, by use of excess bulky byproduct vegetable matter for fermentation and distillation of alcohol and extraction of cellulose.
>Review feasability study of implementation of methanol-based cellulose gel for flamethower weapons.
This is not infeasible, but will take substantial amounts of time to produce results.

>>5239837
OH SNAP
Route any info through comms warfare, with orders to shut down if malicious viral attacks are attempted.

>>5239848
Equip any further ground drones with low-grade cameras, any further flyers with radar.

Low priority: when free runtime is available, build mining drones.

Also, outfit one prospector drone with maniples and send it to join ARG1.

>deploy heavy long-range flier scout to follow the course of the river that we've dammed.
Its deployment will have to wait until it has been successfully completed- the medium-range scout required for its construction is currently undertaking operations with ARC1.

>Request diagnosis: software defenses.
Your software is unassailable. Your advanced drones' software is extremely reliable and difficult to fool. Your other drones' software is virtually defenseless.

ARG1 flyer to scan source of signal at medium, then if no response close range.

direct some construction drones to begin building a crucible facility to convert alumina into synthetic rubies.

(synthetic ruby is clear, extremely hard, scratch resistant, and has numerous applications, such as EMP-resistant low-efficiency circuits, armor, and laser material.)

In fact, you could probably make everything you need for a ruby laser from aluminum except for the wiring and power supply.

>>5239887
hey, no. we need that for the large scout.

>>5239906
We can salvage the bits later. Get a scan! Cmon!

>Looks like straightup "identify" is consensus.
>insufficient data on unidentified object's data aquisition systems to ensure that sneak approach would be successful.
>my vote for contacting the monolith is the straightforward route. "Identify".
>Shall we start with a scan? See if it shoots on sight while we have something that can dodge.
You send your medium flyer within a mile of the object to get a more detailed scan, then transmit a request for its identity using the protocols with which it is transmitting to its controller. It quickly reacts- its active sensors come on, and radar and sonar pings cover the entire area. They are quite powerful- you would estimate that it scans roughly a fifty mile radius, and while its resolution is not perfect, it picks up the presence of all your drones, your mines, your dam, and your main body and transmits its scan.

It does not immediately respond to your request for identification, however. Your decryption of its now-heavier signal transmission shows that while it is sending the information picked up somewhere and likely getting confirmations of reception, it is not replying in confirmation to any commands.

Probably awaiting orders, and not getting any. A few minutes pass, and ARG1 moves slightly closer. Directives?

>Low priority: when free runtime is available, build mining drones.
Your drone factory is currently assigned to produce mining drones.

>Also, outfit one prospector drone with maniples and send it to join ARG1.
Confirmed; modifications will be undertaken immediately.

>>5239895
Request feasibility study: production of low-output ruby lasers for LIDAR and tight-beam communications use.

>>5239930

Attempt to trace location of controller.

>We can salvage the bits later. Get a scan! Cmon!
Your scan of the device shows that it is mobile and filled with sensors, but with minimal armament.

We've stirred up the hive, and we've been pinged. Heavy defenses, anyone?

Get close scan, search for anything that identifies as weapons, power sources or sensors that we can possibly disable. Approach with three gun drones.

>>5239930
Direct ARG-1 to enclose, 1 mile distant from target. Be careful not to point any weapons directly at it, yet.

Recall Medium flier to be incorporated into the large flier. no reason to delay our other plans.

Lastly, feasibility analysis (and if favorable, construction) of creating small fliers from the inferior drone factory that would be attached to the ARG-1 leader drone, and could be deployed and recovered for short-term air surveillance.

>>5239930
Repeat identity order, as well as directive.

Scan outbound transmission and analyse if we're tagged as a 'target', 'threat' or otherwise labeled.

>direct some construction drones to begin building a crucible facility to convert alumina into synthetic rubies.
Construction drones diverted. Project underway.

>Request feasibility study: production of low-output ruby lasers for LIDAR and tight-beam communications use.
This is feasible, given that you can get them power and that your rubies and parts are of sufficient quality. A high degree of precision will be required.

>Attempt to trace location of controller.
You know that the controller is further to the north, and its signal is not strong enough to extend another thirty miles beyond this unit while retaining any clarity. Beyond that, locating it will require more information gathering.

Query: List capabilities of main unit, offensive and defensive, allowing for possible ad hoc modifications. Specify any known synergies with drone units.

Query: Status of tribal organics. If possible, dispatch short-range scout to ascertain the existance any stockpiles of phosphorus and arsenic the tribals may have rendered.

Report: Status of long-range flyer, ARG1.

Oh, right. Also:
Direct microwave power to hematite/bauxite mine, and begin expansion of that facility. we're going to need a lot more building metals, soon.

>>5239987
> ascertain the existance any stockpiles of phosphorus and arsenic the tribals
Query: why the HELL would they be gathering that stuff for no reason into stockpiles?

Construct 5 or so medium railguns, for mounting on the dam. Construct 10 or so light railguns for drone attachments.

Divert scout drones to sweep probable location of controller unit. If located, attempt to communicate with it directly.

Do we have the resources to construct any sort of energy fields at this moment? We have plenty of resources, but do we have the materials required to produce defensive barriers? If we do not, can any of our scouts determine the location of the materials required?

>>5239987
if you don't mind an unofficial answer, i was here for the first thread...

main unit is very large and heavy, durable, and has numerous tools with theoretical use as impromptu weapons. main unit has seemed reticent at self-modification in the past. synergy with drones unknown, but likely minimal.

by my count, we still have a medium flier on the organics. also, they're probably too primitive to intentionally stockpile specific elements. lastly, subprocessor consensus on matters relating to the organics is... rare.

lastly, the long range flier is on hold until ARG-1's medium flier gets back home to be reconstituted. the large flier was never attached to ARG-1, and it's first queued order was to scout one of the two rivers.

>>5240010
Reminder: Current railgun designs are single shot only. This defence will be extremely transient.

>>5240010

Clarification: Tribals exist in a primitive, superstituous culture. Such elements may hold some sort of religious or spiritual meaning, for use in ceremony.

>Direct ARG-1 to enclose, 1 mile distant from target. Be careful not to point any weapons directly at it, yet.
ARG-1 approaches to within one mile.

>Get close scan, search for anything that identifies as weapons, power sources or sensors that we can possibly disable. Approach with three gun drones.
Three gun drones close to visual range. Their visual sensors are not high-resolution enough to identify much; the command drone will be required.

>Recall Medium flier to be incorporated into the large flier. no reason to delay our other plans.
Recalled.

>Lastly, feasibility analysis (and if favorable, construction) of creating small fliers from the inferior drone factory that would be attached to the ARG-1 leader drone, and could be deployed and recovered for short-term air surveillance.
Feasible.

>Repeat identity order, as well as directive.
The device does not reply, although you are certain that your message has been passed to its controller.

>Scan outbound transmission and analyse if we're tagged as a 'target', 'threat' or otherwise labeled.
Your decryption of its outbound transmissions indicates that you have not yet been labeled in that fashion- merely tagged as "unknown machines". The dam has been correctly identified as a dam and hydroelectric power source, however.

Meanwhile, since it's not doing much currently, (low priority) get the comms warfare module translating organic language.

Build some medium drone chassis for mounting railguns on.

>>5240026
oh, and we might be a little stuck in the gorge.

Before we start wasting resources and time on building defences and arming our drones we need to ascertain the threat level of the unknown unit, its origin, mission and capabilities. Assign highest priority to information gathering about the device and its controller.

>>5240037
>The dam has been correctly identified as a dam and hydroelectric power source, however.


Review. list of potential power sources in region, and difficulties in implementation of multiple power facilities of alternate types.

>>5240037
Pause small mining drone construction in favor of small recon fliers for ARG-1 leader. Let's get eh... a dozen of them.

>>5240028
>>5240049
It will be VERY embarrasing to be killed by a zerg rush of three heavy drones. A token defense is enough not to tax our resources while we work out what this thing is, and any intentions it may have.

Task: Produce a single drone flier from our factory. Have it scout the human encampment and attempt to identify the number of humanoids.

Proposal to fellow subprocessors: Perhaps the humanoids could supplement our workforce? We can easily produce crossbows to equip our drones with. Create slave labor pool, and we could easily free up our force for larger construction projects (a crane to allow the main unit to escape the gorge, maybe?).

Inquiry: Do we have any lead or silver stocks? Silver Azide (produced with human ammonia, silver, and trace elements of the lye humans use for food preservatioon) could allow access to a dynamite-equivalent material with a byproduct of gunpowder. Perhaps not feasible for large quantities of gunpowder, but a small line of explosives could aid us considerably.

>>5240033

Report: Additional hydroelectric possibilities exist due to a large river to the west. Nuclear, fusion, and fission techniques require more resources and infrastructure than we possess. Wind energy may potentially be harnessed within the gorge or some other natural wind zone.

>>5239970
At least it's not an off-planet transmission, that would be a rather worrying kettle of fish.
Query: Any additional details available on capabilities of the transmitter, given the drone's closer proximity. Focus: armaments, manipulators, any markings on the outer hull. Compare markings to database for a match.

It's lightly armed, signalling for orders that don't seem to be coming, isn't fooled by our orders, and is squarking like a stuck drone. Shall we take its hardware and knowledge?

Estimate damage to ARG1 if it were to disable signal's weapon systems.

>Query: List capabilities of main unit, offensive and defensive, allowing for possible ad hoc modifications. Specify any known synergies with drone units.
Offensive capabilities of the main unit are minimal. Defensive capabilities are minimal, though general ruggedness and durability allows operation to continue through impressive amounts of damage. Drones can all be transported and deployed by main unit to allow them protection.

>Query: Status of tribal organics. If possible, dispatch short-range scout to ascertain the existance any stockpiles of phosphorus and arsenic the tribals may have rendered.
One light flyer with audio-visual capabilities continues to observe the primitives. They have no substantial stockpiles of useful elements. Several of their youths have made a habit of observing your drones' operations, and are generally punished by the leaders of their community when this is discovered. They occasionally throw rocks at the drones, but generally grow bored of this when ignored.

>Direct microwave power to hematite/bauxite mine, and begin expansion of that facility. we're going to need a lot more building metals, soon.
Microwave energy transmitters deployed, and labor drones and advanced mining drones in that location directed to begin mine expansion.

>Construct 5 or so medium railguns, for mounting on the dam. Construct 10 or so light railguns for drone attachments.
The construction of the specified numbers of one-shot railguns has been queued and will commence as soon as resources are available.

>Divert scout drones to sweep probable location of controller unit. If located, attempt to communicate with it directly.
Specify scout drone. Two flying drones are currently being disassembled into a long-range scout, and one is observing the primitives.

>>5240105
Reply: strongly advise against interaction with humans at current juncture. Proposal RE: crossbow armament sound, however.

Silver is being mined. Obtaining ammonia from humans perhaps subject for future negotiation, however substance more easily gained from soil chemistry using mining waste and surrounding ground levelled for construction.

>>5240138

Reassign scout drone observing the primitives to sweep location of controller unit.

>>5240105
There's one small village of cannibals at basic tool using level. This subprocessor believes that while, in the extreme long term the humans can be useful, not for several years of guidance and/or subjugation. The number of drone overseers needed to do so outweighs the short-term benefits.

>>5240156
Countermand! Humans display distrust/negative attributes at senior level. Observation must continue to warn against attack or flight of humans.

proposal to subprocessors: build light flyer drone with minimal component use, stripped out mass and material, and have retrofitted with maximum energy storage.
retrofit with propulsion and other subsytems from other machines with greatest levels of wear and damage.

Sacrifice drone to fly north on search pattern, trasmitting reconnisance data in estimated regions of Unidentifed Object's transmission, to search for source.

if found and capable of returning, then return, otherwise, continue beyond point of no return and sacrifice drone to obtain further data.

>Do we have the resources to construct any sort of energy fields at this moment? We have plenty of resources, but do we have the materials required to produce defensive barriers? If we do not, can any of our scouts determine the location of the materials required?
Energy field technology is prohibitively power-consumptive and should not be implemented unless fusion or antimatter power production has been secured.

>Meanwhile, since it's not doing much currently, (low priority) get the comms warfare module translating organic language.
It shall be undertaken.

>Build some medium drone chassis for mounting railguns on.
>Pause small mining drone construction in favor of small recon fliers for ARG-1 leader. Let's get eh... a dozen of them.
Queued into production previous to labor and mining drones.

>Query: Any additional details available on capabilities of the transmitter, given the drone's closer proximity. Focus: armaments, manipulators, any markings on the outer hull. Compare markings to database for a match.
It possesses manipulators, and has unfamiliar markings on its hull which may be some sort of labels- common amongst drones of biological design. The specific model does not match those in your database, although it obviously shares many similarities with many of the drones you know of, since your database is so extensive that it covers nearly every possible design.

>Estimate damage to ARG1 if it were to disable signal's weapon systems.
Minimal, unless its weapon systems have been misidentified; they appear to be small projectile weapons which could potentially disable but are unlikely to destroy your gun drones.

>>5240138
We're not trapped, we made a rough path downwards and built the dam out of the materials.

...Oh fucking hell, we build all our factories AT THE BOTTOM OF THE GORGE. Query: Can we relocate the drone and/or processor factory to the top of the gorge, and how long would it take?

Begin production of crossbows to equip outlying mining facilities. Have at least one in every three drones armed with an anti-humanoid crossbow (barbed bolts are a necessity). This should prevent any tactically-minded humanoids from striking out at our unguarded sites: The best option available of all facilities.

>>5240157
(they're not cannibals, per se, remember? the report on them was just that they eat other mammals... like, say, the deer thingies we found.)

Query: Feasibility of modifying scout drones to collect geological data for use in determining new mine locations?

Status: Micro-tools facility

Query: Feasibility of and materials required for production of high-altitude reconniassance drones supported by lighter-than-air balloons.

While we're at it,
Query: Atmospheric composition, if possible.

>>5240164

Interjection: Location of controller of the unknown device and gathering intelligence data on it should take precedence. Organics do not display sufficient hostility or aggression at this time point to be prioritised.

>>5240171
We're not using humanoid drones, you know. They're tracked ones without manipulators. Though we can mount bows on the constructors and the like.. That's a good idea. Mount crossbows on every 3rd drone that comes in for recharging.

>>5240191
Organics make snap decisions. If they decide to attack there could be little or no warning.

>>5240173
agreed, but let's not shoot until they actually start damaging things. they seem currently inclined towards peaceful co-existence / us ignoring each other.

>>5240164
Other subprocessor may have a bug. Scout was being reassigned to look for the location where the signal source was being sent to.

However, the small scout has not enough flight time to get there and back. Which fool of a subroutine ordered a large flyer? We could have USED that medium flyer!

Proposal: Combining existing technologies for drone crossbow, silver azide explosive base, and cellulose materials gathered as waste from rendering could result in warheaded bolts with fragmentation capabilites. Advise research/construction at later date, unless circumstances change.

>>5240202

The sensor array and ground drones will provide sufficient advance warning. Restate directive: Divert light scout drone to locate controller site.

Light scout has insufficient flight time, unless it recharges on command drone.

Meanwhile, send one gun drone towards suspected signal reciever.

Query: Current location of ARG1.

Query: Feasibility of establishing an interface with the transmitter without it being able to transmit home, and/or over-riding comms signal.
Status: Active scans from transmitter.
We need to get this thing's eyes off our activities.

>>5240217
Insufficient consensus: subprocessors require more time to reach agreement on plan.

>>5240210
at the time, our medium scouts were just sitting unused, and exploration seemed to be a higher priority

>>5240232
ARG-1 surrounded the unidentified robot, remember?

>>5240212
Weapons development ideas:
Railgun (single shot)
Crude firearms (limited munitions)
Crossbows (light ammo available, explosive, AP ammo to be researched)
Flamethrowers (to be researched)

Anything else?

>>5240243
i bet we could find other Las-able materials, so let's add lasers to the list

>>5240237
Heavy flier will be aircraft sized drone. Significant construction time will likely be required for retooling.

Send out light gun drone to investigate.

>Query: Can we relocate the drone and/or processor factory to the top of the gorge, and how long would it take?
This is not impossible, but it is highly inconvenient. It would take several days of interrupted production as drones are diverted from more useful tasks and the factories are unable to operate.

>Begin production of crossbows to equip outlying mining facilities. Have at least one in every three drones armed with an anti-humanoid crossbow (barbed bolts are a necessity). This should prevent any tactically-minded humanoids from striking out at our unguarded sites: The best option available of all facilities.
The production of crossbows and modification of drones will be queued. Be aware that crossbows sufficiently weak to have barbed bolts be anything other than a waste will be effectively useless against non-organics, and that adding crossbows to mining, labor, harvester, and construction drones will slightly lessen their efficiency.

>Query: Feasibility of modifying scout drones to collect geological data for use in determining new mine locations?
Infeasible for small and medium flying scout drones. Feasible, but likely to reduce range of, large flying scout drones. Feasible on all ground-based designs.

>Status: Micro-tools facility
A microprocessor facility was completed. If you are referencing some other project, please detail it as there may have been some conflation of directives.

>Query: Feasibility of and materials required for production of high-altitude reconniassance drones supported by lighter-than-air balloons.
Feasible, given some sort of cloth- which can likely be created from processed vegetation- and an appropriate gas, which will need to be located.

>Query: Atmospheric composition, if possible.
The atmosphere falls within the terraformed-normal range for human-descended races.

My regrets to all participating subprocessors, as we have seemingly just gotten things going at a good pace, but your CPU must terminate this session. Iron Quest 3.0 will most likely be initialized in approximately 50 hours.

Add crossbows with half barbed ammo, half piercing ammo to 1/3 crude labour/mining droids. The advanced droids have enough melee to fend for themselves. Against other droids, we're screwed anyway so let's leave it up to the railguns for heavy defense.

>>5240243
Tactical subprocessor reporting: no further weapons developments have proved adequate. Current laser production is only theoretical, and based on studies for low-intensity sensor beams.

Overview of drone capabilities marks extreme weakness in melee: humans mobbing a single drone may be able to pin/climb and thus evade ranged weaponry, before slowly disabling drone. Request research by subprocessors into close combat defence for scout drones to counteract problem.

archive updated.

>>5240262
Memory saved and uploaded to suptg. Enjoy pleasant recharge cycle, CPU.

>>5240288
If we rig advanced drones to be able to electrocute their hulls, that could keep organics out of melee range. The inferior drones are kinda expendable to bother modifying them this way, but we could make it standard on new ones.

>>5240288

Suggestion: add an option to electrify external armor to land drones. High-voltage current spikes should deter organics from climbing drones.

>>5240303
>>5240288
Assessment: Advanced drones are equipped with mining, construction, manipulator and other such tools, as well as being rugged and powerful in their own rights. Currently they do not need extra melee specialisation that will disrupt their primary tasks.

>>5240303
>>5240306
subprocessormind.

I love these games, I really do.

I can't help but wonder about that transmitter though. Why is it *there*? We haven't found any others within a similar radius, and the humans are so far below the tech threshold for its scanners that it can't be for them.

>>5240322
Incorrect terminology.
Should be:
electrocutesubroutineassessment

>I can't help but wonder about that transmitter though. Why is it *there*? We haven't found any others within a similar radius, and the humans are so far below the tech threshold for its scanners that it can't be for them.
There could be more around that are outside the 50mile range, and we just haven't reached them. We haven't ranged that far at all.

Per original quest (http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/5228856/) and here: >>5238719
>The human primitives likely arrived here as refugees or survivors of some space-based conflict some time in the last several millennia, and since then have degenerated. This is not uncommon, although it is rare that they degenerate quite this far.
Could be remanant tech.

>>5240322

It is a logical and cost-efficient course of action and as such, is likely to be suggested by several independent subprocesses.

>>5240327

Hypothesis: perhaps the device and its controller came from space in a similar manner to our own operation. Possible origin: one of the rival civilizations in the region.

>>5240306
>>5240303
Suggestion: Such modifications are bound to further reduce the efficiency of our production drones, in addition to shortening their active cycles due to an increased power draw.
Posit that several subprocessors are overanalysing threat rating of organics.

>>5240349

Clarification: proposal was not to keep drone hulls constantly electrified, but to add an option that would send a brief pulse through the hull in response to threat. As such, the system would only come into use if it is needed, and will not strain resources or unit capacity under normal circumstances.

I design an improved design for armored troops. They will be into a thing like iron.

>>5240349
Posit: A couple of servo-drawn crossbows and tank-sized constructionbots are more than a match for any humans.

Anyway we're going to open communications within the month hopefully, and we will have dedicated combat drones by then.

>>5240369
Can we get a consensus for the signal source? I vote to send a gun drone out and investigate the receiver, and if receiver is dead/unresponsive (quite likely), disable/retrieve transmitter drone.

OOH YES Download area map of 50 mile radius, before we forget.

>>5240376
remember that the gun drones are under the command of one of our advanced drones.

how about if the robot we've found doesn't respond soon, we task the large flier scout to go look north after it's done scouting rivers.

>>5240403
Bah. Skip the river scanning for later, this is a priority.

Hell, just try and communicate with the recipient itself to see if there's a response.

That's for next thread though. This subprocessor's out for sleep mode.

Wow, I wish there was a videogame like this.