>>49010398
inb4 twitter

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>>49010398
IT'S TIME

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Aw yeah.

>>49010398
I wonder what world this is, is it in the Virgo system?

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>>49010472
>alien forests
>moons
>inhabited
>this world actually orbits a planet, making itself the third moon
>gas is exchanged between the atmospheres

Gee I wonder if it's the Phantoms' forest moon in Refuge.

>>49010398
Welcome back QD!

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>>49010398
Your drones have assembled in the hall with the broken queen. Workers sort and clean the various rugs and tanned hides layered over the inner sanctum and come and go with bowls of water and food handed off by various natives outside. A speaker drone has made its way with the others as your wasps stand vigil around the makeshift nest and beyond, squat like chitinous gargoyles atop a human chapel.

The queen rests her form on the ragged pillows and stacked quilts as your workers skitter around her, adjusting the nest and adding padding as needed as several pick and peel at the dead, crusted chitin along her back. Her mind flows openly with linguistics. A detailed mental archive of the language of the Phantoms, or languages, would be more accurate. The many dialects and countless variations the locals have gone through over the generations. Their mandible filled mouths are incredibly complex in design, selected over their evolution to attract mates through song, and eventually leading to the formation of language, and with that, the start of their journey to civilization. Even now, song is important. Their grammar a delicate balance of poetic verse and musical notes, it takes you some effort to fully appreciate its complexity, and reminds you of Valen grammar in a way, with its branching interpretations and multiple potential meanings.

With the lessons in language is the lessons in psionics. The strange talent of the Phantoms that give them their name has become well known to you in theory, although you have yet to practice the skill in the field. To the locals, it is a skill as closely intertwined into their culture and sense of self as their ability of flight. Their strange, semi-psionic nature entirely focused on evading, as opposed to communication.
cont.

>>49010408
I'm impressed.

Is the scarred queen finally going to make her choice?
Also reminder to look at the locket memories of the tinker.

GAS THE SQUIDS
NUKE THE WHALES
STAB THE MONKEYS
TRUST NOTHING
THE VOID IS WATCHING

>• Rocky temperate world: A moderate planet in most respects, it holds a thin atmosphere that offers enough shelter from space to allow liquid water and clouds to form, and supports a small collection of simple life forms that live in the shadows of the devastated hive spires that remain. The selection of life seems to be a narrow evolutionary bottleneck containing the select few creatures that were able to survive the destruction of the local hive forces.

We really must begin construction of a psionic sensor tower on the planet for the system of Refuge, last thing we want is to be caught flat-clawed when the OQ blinks into the place.

>>49010804
We get it. You like memes

>>49010707
Thanks for the reminder, we really need to see what's in there.

>>49010819
Also a fine idea!

>>49010824
Space war now.

>>49010698
>Their mandible filled mouths are incredibly complex in design
I sense an upgrade for our speakers.

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>>49010698
The queen shutters in discomfort as your drones peel away a chunk of twisted chitin curled in on itself like an ingrown nail, the dead chunk a scar from a long-healed wound, its removal opening up a new seeping wound that quickly seals with a new scab.

"You have neglected hygiene." You say silently with a glance of your speaker. The queen looks back for a moment.

"My hosts have done what they could." She replies. "They are not workers, but they did what they could." She senses the activity outside as you both watch through your wasps as Phantoms build bonfires along the outcroppings of rock and erect spiralling, vibrantly colored decorations of finely woven fabrics and stained hides as songs echo between settlements across the valley below.

"Are they celebrating the battle?" You ask curiously.

"They are celebrating the local orbital paths." She says, as if she appreciates, but does not understand the ritual. You also find the notion odd, but you realize that almost all of the races you have encountered have placed a great deal of importance on the paths of their system's celestial bodies, even adapting their biology to it in some cases.

>Discus the locals (write in)
>Discus the war with the Obsidian Queen (write in)
>Discus the Humans, and their recent and repeated blunders (write in)
>Introduce the Broken Queen to the allies of the Hive
>Other (write in)

>>49010999
>Discus the locals (write in)
>Discus the war with the Obsidian Queen (write in)
>Discus the Humans, and their recent and repeated blunders (write in)
>Introduce the Broken Queen to the allies of the Hive

Of course we want to tell her what happened since she is the only other being alive from the great war

>>49010999
>>Discus the Humans, and their recent and repeated blunders (write in)
Tell her how the blind have been messing with crystals, and that we have caught a glimpse of Them.

>>Other
Mention our allies and ask if she would like to meet them.

>>49010999
>Other( discus the skyl then Introduce the Broken Queen to the allies of the Hive)

>>49010999
>>Discus the war with the Obsidian Queen (write in)

We have recovered one of the Builder's projects.

It stands a high chance of predicting when the enemy will enter this system again, if constructed. It is a large project.

>>49010999
>Discus the Humans, and their recent and repeated blunders
The recent debacle with possessed humans is especially important.
>Discuss the known sapient beings and civilizations around.
To catch her up to stuff. We can ask if she wants to be introduced to our allies.
>Discus the war with the Obsidian Queen
She ain't right in the head.
>Discus the locals
Just learn more about them and their culture in general.

>Discus the war with the Obsidian Queen (write in)
>Discus the Humans, and their recent and repeated blunders (write in)
>Introduce the Broken Queen to the allies of the Hive
Tell her the blind have been messing with the crystals and we got seen, and that we need to speed things up. Then offer to introduce her to heretic and Theseus.

>>49010398
IT's TIME

>>49010999
>>Other (write in)
So, did you see the WQ over the last 70 thousand years since the great betrayal? She has been busy working against the enemy until quite recently.

>>49010999
>>Introduce the Broken Queen to the allies of the Hive

>>49010999
>Discus the war with the Obsidian Queen (write in)
>Discus the Humans, and their recent and repeated blunders (write in)

These need to be priorities. Later we can talk about our allies in more detail when we aren't on the verge of fighting with humans and the OQ. Also...

>Write in: ask if she has considered our offer to make her whole

I'd type responses myself, but I'm on mobile and still at work for another hour.

>>49010999
>>Discus the war with the Obsidian Queen (write in)
Have you seen the traitor's appearance now? A huge black crystal, replacing the antenna. What does it indicate? A weakness?

>>49011061
It probably won't help much, it is beyond their experience as much as it was ours.

The enemy has never had access to Canderon before. Not until the White Queen decided to hand some void shards over to the Blind.

Being Blind, they should have perished from exposure, but it seems the enemy found a bypass.

>>49011224
It means she's been corrupted by voidfags you shit, it's the same thing we seen with the humans at Nowhere.

>>49010999
>Discus the war with the Obsidian Queen
How exactly did you fight against the void crystals?
We're they just an ever-present reason to have huge fleets or did you actually use those fleets to blow up something?

>>49011276
No fucking duh, asking for Barren-y's point of view here.

>>49010999
"The Blind." You say, your mind flowing with history and information at the simple thought.

"Humans." She says curiously. "How is it that they could survive for so long?"

"They have spread through the stars in this region." You reply, an overview of human history unfolding between your two minds. "They know nothing of psionics."

"Good. That would only complicate our matters." She says. You hesitate and she senses the apprehension.

"What has happened?" She asks as she pulls her ragged form from the piles of fabrics and cushions.

"Their blind bumbling has caused some issues. They constructed some device..." Your mind sends the images of the reactor, the pulsing form that emerged, and the possessed humans who built it on the strange, starless world. The queen chitters madly, her mind emanating a panicked wail. One or both of the outbursts attracts a collection of elderly, well dressed Phantoms who rush into the chamber with looks of concern. She waves them away with a haggard claw.

"And they perceived your mind?" She asks as the thoughts confirm it. "Then they are watching us, but, at the very least, we can watch them in return. They must be prevented from bumbling further."

"That has been done." You say in agreement, your minds volley momentary thoughts back and forth, as if debating methods of child-proofing a house until she cedes to your actions.

"That will hopefully be enough. You are right. There would be no point in wasting more time on such creatures."

cont.

>>49011459
Don't we have more important things to ask her about... like say... That the void is watching us now? Or our diplomacy efforts with the humans? Or that we will soon be engaging an OQ fleet in combat?

I'd like to get her opinion on the OQ's crystal induced craziness/stupidity too, but we have more pressing things to worry about here.

>>49011663
Wait, we showed her the void entity and she didn't attract their gaze?
Do you need to have meet it personally to be seen?
Can pictures of it be shown to others then?

>>49011776
Did you reall ybelieve QD would have something as cheap as just learning about them would trigger the Voidgaze?

>>49011776
Cause she crippled herself remember?

They already knew of her and she got off the radar by ripping parts out of her

Come to think of it we should offer Unity/Heretic psionic insulator tech?

>>49011865
psionics have no effect on silicate based life but they might appreciate it for the Skyl clones

>>49011865
They're already completely immune by their very nature. The only reason they would have for that tech is to study the crystal which we don't want them doing.

>>49011865
Maybe.
>>49011858
But she can still use psionics.

>>49011899
I agree. In fact, I think we're a bit overdue for a nice sit-down chat with Heretic (where we can discuss plans for humans and the expanse among other things).

However, I'm a bit wary of stating that psionics have no effect whatsoever on silicate based life. There may be no effect that we know of right now... but humans were also supposed to die before being able to be corrupted. When dealing with the powers of the void god it's probably best not to make assumptions about anything.

>>49011865
Personally, I think Multi Shielding tech is more important to offer them in the short term. Theseus could certainly use it.

>>49011899
>theseus and heretic
>silicon based lifeforms
He's an AI thus doesn't count as alive for psionics. Most likely can affect silicon based life with psionics. Also the void is most likely spying on them right now.

>>49011984
Oh that's a very good point, they haven't yet come into contact with the scavs yet, so they would have no knowledge of the multi shielding and hard light tech. We really need to hold a conference with those two soon.

>>49011984
Multi shielding is just miniturization and special hull style combined.

They can make it should we give them the hull/armor design and how to miniturize.

It is extremely unclear how affected or not our robot allies are. Perhaps they are being watched by the void without realizing it.

>>49012010
Maybe we should ask Theseus of the instances that saw and recorded the void entity, isolate them then give them psionic relays so we can see if they are infected.

>>49012042
We could without a doubt watch Theseus using the Void shards so yeah they are likely being watched. Though thinking about it doesn't Heretic run on light based computers?

>>49011663
"They have proven to be useful." You say. She seems to almost dismiss the idea, but stops short as she drops her gaze back down to the nest of blankets and quilts around her.

"The single minded can be... surprising." She says. The Phantoms have astonished me with their coordination. They still lack understanding in many ways, but it is well beyond what I would expect possible."

"Verbal communication seems sufficient." You say simply.

"But their direction, it emerges without leadership of any stable form." She adds. "their leaders last less than a century, their children take years to develop. Such debilitations should prevent them from keeping any semblance of culture, yet they manage." Through the wasps observing the villages below, you see the Phantoms that first led your drones in. The well toned warrior holds a spear propped on the ground with her short legs held up to her chest, her wings wrapped together into a robe of sparkling, feathered scales as she discusses something with the vibrantly colored individual across from the growing fire. You get a closer look from this position, a young male, covered in decorative scarring along the plates of scales along his head and piercings of gold lining the brows of his four eyes which are surrounded by finely brushed paints and powders. They continue their discussion for some time before the male brings his wing wrapping around the other and they depart the terrace. There is a heckling, chirping call from several of the other warriors as one of them notices the departure.

>Ask about the locals (write in)
>Discuss the Obsidian Queen (write in)
>Introduce the Barren Queen to the your allies
>Other (write in)

>>49012221
Offer to introduce her to our allies.

>>49012221
>Introduce the Barren Queen to the your allies

>>49012221
>Introduce the Barren Queen to the your allies

Daw, They are off to have a ....hive?

>>49012221
>>Discuss the Obsidian Queen (write in)
She watched you for some time. She knew you were here? She dedicated an entire hive ship to hunting for you.

She may return for you. We must prepare.

>>49012221
>Introduce the Barren Queen to the your allies
Ask her if the void can sense non-organic lifeforms.

>>49012221
>>Other (write in)
Tell the Queen about our allies, and ask if she would be interested in meeting them. She's put a lot of effort into staying hidden for a long, long time, we should just make sure she's cool with being introduced like this.

>>49012221
>Introduce the Barren Queen to the your allies

>>49012221
>Introduce the Barren Queen to the your allies

>>49012221
>Discuss the Obsidian Queen (write in)
The tech advantage we have now against auntie will not last long if she continues to approach the human space.
In fact, did we ever tell this specific info to any of our allies?

alternatively...

>Introduce the Barren Queen to the your allies
Maybe some of our allies could find some info useful in some way.

>>49012328
Theseus probably figured out that by watching our expansion.

>>49012221
What does removing 'true sight' from the humans even mean, the Taidarens don't seem any more sensitive than the humans.

What do they got humans don't got.

>>49012622
Humans I think were naturally psionic until Mother White Queen decided to do a little bit of culling. SHe's what caused that giant die-off of humans like 70,000 years ago

>>49012622
Brains start to breakdown when exposed to tachyons.

We need to ask the scarred queen about hive history.

>>49012670
Or at least after the WQ's tampering human brains break down. That's why Lee had brain cancer after they shoved the skyl artifact into his eyesocket.

>>49012963
I swear the Union must've had Taidaren running their psionics program with that kind of move

>>49012645
It was a hell of a thing. there was estimated from 10 to 30 million humans world wide when the 'great die off' happened 74,000 years ago. (yea, 4k off but it was close enough). Again, only 2,000 to 5,000 humans where left alive after that. That was a lot of killing.

>>49012987
Now that you say that. perhaps we should look into that possibility...

>>49012987
>A-are you sure they should be doing that?

>Yes yes, artifact goes there!
>Direct path to brain!
>Trust us, we're doctors!

>>49013033
Fluff stop being a retard. The total human population back then was tiny compared to today, and there isn't any evidence to actually suggest a massive die off other than a genetic bottleneck. Could have been the case that the White Queen genetically reconfiguring human groups on a common anti-psionic template for all we know.

>>49013106
>Calling Fluff a retard
>When he for once has something correct

Might want to delete your post while you still have a chance

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>>49013135
Saved for prosperity. and the right pic this time

>>49012221
"There are more than just the humans." You say. "Some have proven quite helpful to the Hive."

"So it would seem. The White Queen's disdain of the Skyl has proven to have been misplaced, it seems." She replies. Your workers carve at the layers of dead chitin and begin shoveling away the chips of discarded carapace. As your drones dissipate she places a claw firmly on the ground and props herself up on a shaking limb.

"Are you aware of any limitation in their psionics?" You ask as a worker scurries up to help her lift herself from the nest of cloth. "Any kind of life they cannot detect?"

"No True life is entirely undetectable." She says with a hint of dismissal. "That is why they are alive." Your minds attempt to clarify the meanings and concepts. The genetic data and its specific architecture and composite materials, the definition of life. The Barren Queen looks at your speaker in momentary confusion as you reach a corrected agreement on concepts.

"Carbon life, made from the genetic material we use, yes. That is life." She says. "These silicates, they are not. A star changes, lives and dies, but it is not life. These things are simply complex stones." She says firmly. "They have no thoughts to hear. Psionic signals pass them by without note."

You wonder what the best way to introduce Heretic and Theseus would be, exactly.

>Request a Theseus drone be sent to the planet to assist communication
>Serve as the mediator between them
>Other (write in)

>>49013258
>Request a Theseus drone be sent to the planet to assist communication

>>49013258
>Request a Theseus drone be sent to the planet to assist communication
This

Also seems I was right about Psionics not affecting silicon based life.

>>49013258
>>Serve as the mediator between them
Pretty sure she can't talk verbally anyway, so we'd need to intemperate

>>49013258
>>Serve as the mediator between them

>>49013258
>>Serve as the mediator between them

>>49013258
>>Request a Theseus drone be sent to the planet to assist communication

They are really really really smart rocks.

>>49013258
Sorry, I just noticed I'm writing slower than usual. Been feeling a bit under the weather lately I guess.

>>49012645
You are unsure by how much, but it does seem that psionic sensitivity in one way or another is actually less uncommon than you at first believed. The Humans and Phantoms seem proof at least that psionic sensitivity can develop in nature.

>>49013258
>>Serve as the mediator between them

This place is private and protected by the phantoms, it would be rude to bring someone who can penetrate the cloaking entirely.

>>49013258

>Request a Theseus drone be sent to the planet to assist communication
This will help to show her that they are more than just smart rocks.
>>49013314
QD, you alright buddy? Is it the Flu? take your time, don't push yourself.

>>49013258
>Silicates aren't alive.
"Wanna bet?"

>>49013258
>Serve as the mediator between them

There is a flaw, here.

We gazed into a void shard.

It showed us Theseus's server ship that we had met a fragment of on Leeland.

So clearly, the void shard scrying can spy upon him, even if it cannot read his thoughts.

>>49013258
>Request a Theseus drone be sent to the planet to assist communication
>Serve as the mediator between them
No reason to do both, just have theseus send a drone to the planet and we translate.

>>49013405
Conversely, no reason to bring a drone if you are just acting as mediary anyway, and can project images of what drones and quantum computers look like remotely.

>>49013398
Oh shit, better tell him that.

>>49013258
>Request a Theseus drone be sent to the planet to assist communication

Might as well, He and heretic will want to look at the natives to

I guess on the bright side Theseus would be a really difficult foe for the Crystal gestalt to eliminate. I would ALMOST take solace in putting a queen's egg in his security should the worst come to pass, since a server ship traveling faraway from inhabited space would be more or less impossible to detect and have absurd industrial capacity for a new nascent resistance.

>>49013258
>>Serve as the mediator between them
Remember Theseus, knowledge is dangerous, so careful how much interviewing your infoboner wants to do of this living remnant of a millennia-old civilization.

>>49013258
>You wonder what the best way to introduce Heretic and Theseus would be, exactly.
Serve as mediator. Theseus is unlikely to be too upset at being called "an intelligent rock" but I'd rather he not leave a bad taste in Barren Queen's mandibles. Besides, it would be rude to invite him here without her permission. This is her world, as it were.

>>49013493
I'm assuming QD would take it for granted that we'd ask her permission first.

>>49013364
Had a cough all day, not sure if I have a fever but if I do it's not that noticeable. I'll be alright, I'm sure.

>>49013389
I do like this.

Maybe they don't have any thoughts, but they manage to interface with a thinker well enough, and have a fleet that rivals us to boot.

>>49013519
Why not offer to serve as mediator at first and then invite a representative if she thinks it is wise?

>>49013519
I certainly hope so.

>>49013519
That's not actually what you are voting for though.

>>49013258
>Request a Theseus drone be sent to the planet to assist communication
set course for Direct Approach!

>>49013307
suddenly your post reminded me of pet rocks

>>49013398
how do you anons even figure these things out?

>>49013258
>Serve as the mediator between them
Asking for a drone would take too long and yeah, might be rude to invite a robot over for dinner. We can serve as the telephone, maybe get a holoprojector in

>>49013710
A holoprojector might be cool.

>>49013258
>Serve as the mediator between them
don't we have some tech that let's us talk to him we could just give her one

>>49013613
All parties involved have an implied trust in our good judgement if they agree to meet so it's not like anything will go wrong. Plus I kinda want to see Theseus' diplomat drone.

>>49013676
Everyone is pretty much agreed that we should ask permission regardless of which way we voted, I'm sure QD will work it in.

>>49013687
Our anons are incredibly good at times in figuring out things. Perhaps even... Psyonic themselves?

>>49013788
>Plus I kinda want to see Theseus' diplomat drone.
If it's for the Hive, maybe a robobug?

>>49013848
might look like a Skyl

>>49013613
Also it'd be good for our allies to have a go to advisor on combat against hive fleets, she knows a lot more about that shit than we do.

>>49013848
I'm having a hard time picturing it as anything other than a rubiks cube on wheels.

>>49013848
Same here. I'll change my vote to ask Theseus to send a drone.

>>49013834
I don't think we drink enough crystal skull to become psionic ourselves.

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>>49013687
>figure these things out

>stating something that happened right in front of us

That isn't figuring out anything.

>>49014152
Sometimes, it is. Usually it is.

You can't count on everyone knowing what just happened in front of us, so it's a good idea to point it out.

>hive queen quest
>it's friday
WOT

>>49014257
check twitter

>>49014308
WOT

>>49014257
and a regular sunday ones as well, if twitter's still accurate

>>49014257
Any day is a good day for serving Mother!

>>49013258
>Request a Theseus drone be sent to the planet to assist communication

We can still communicate discreetly with Theseus - tell him about diplomatic protocol with another queen, etc. It's better he speak to her for himself. I doubt it'll self destruct... (famous last words I know)

>>49014233
Is this a subtle way of calling most people completely retarded.

>>49014407
no but this is me saying you have a persecution complex

>>49014407
I didn't consider it subtle.

>>49013258
"The Hive has made close allies that lack genetic data." You say as the knowledge of Theseus and the greater Unity enters her mind, as well as the understanding of Heretic. She scoffs, nearly collapsing in her place.

"A shadow of the Skyl. That is not a life, any more than a queenless thinker. This other entity however, a tool made by the humans? They could not even maintain command of their creations." She says humorously. "This entity, it functions through a quantum relay? That is interesting." She says. "I have not heard of such a device."

"I can invite a drone, a speaker for the Unity." You say as the Barren Queen takes her first few steps propped up by several workers, which slowly peel away as she stumbles briefly on shaking legs.

"I believe I would like that." She says. You send out a ping, it is quickly replied to in kind.

"The presence of a diplomatic drone is requested." You say. "Another Queen has been found, and I have arranged an audience." You sense a fervor of activity seeth through Zero-One and beyond, slower than normal with so many of the Unity's external connections to the Union's often poorly secured public network largely severed, but the reply comes in time.

"Very well. A ship shall be dispatched." He says.

Your speaker accompanies the Barren Queen as she struggles to walk, several of your workers hoist the relay plugged into her shattered headdress and follow close behind.

"The gravity helps." She says silently as she moves down the hall, eventually reaching a small balcony overlooking the growing bonfires illuminating the valley. She rests her claws on the railing and looks out over the festivities below.

cont.

>>49014453
>You sense a fervor of activity seeth through Zero-One and beyond
is this the Unity internet seen in the previous encounters with them?

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>>49014417
I never said I disagreed or felt insulted, retardanon.

>>49014453
So... Does Theseus actually know we have a fleet floating over the Union Parliament?

In before it turns out that the void gods are actually the old hives' attempt at creating an AI via crystals.

what if the black crystals are an AI trying to link everything into the same hivemind

>>49014561
We could probably stand to offer to route critical activity on his Gemini network through our own.

>>49014453
"The Obsidian Queen spent great resources blockading this world." You say. "It is likely she will attack again soon."

"No." She replies. "No, she has been bloodied now. Her forces are inferior to yours, and she will seek to first gauge your numbers before attempting to take more territory, or strike back and risk a counter attack. That is how she has always waged her wars. She ensures she has an opening. Her forces will attack other systems with small fleets to test their strength, and strike only when she sees the best move."

"She has already begun attacking the humans." You say. She doesn't seem surprised.

"She is looking for you, no doubt, but will attack anything of theirs that she sees as weak." She says silently. The local star has begun to slip under the horizon of the parent planet as the two moons converge together, their shimmering atmospheres becoming halos of light arcing over the collecting layers of horizons, and you feel a rumble in the ground. Within the mountain range, deep within one of the decorated cavern dwellings, a rumbling rolls out as a swarm of small, fumbling Phantoms, each flapping underdeveloped wings as they gallop over each other, screaming and shouting as they playfully pull and shove at one another. Behind them, a long, muscular arm reaches out, dragging forth a tremendous form. Crimson scales shimmer with iridescent colors carved intricately with a myriad of patterns and mosaics to cover a body easily two stories tall. Its arms extend out, reaching for the ground in front of it as it drags itself out of the cave and hoists itself into the air on its knuckles, its wings unfurling like a sail.

cont.

>>49014648
>Crimson scales shimmer with iridescent colors carved intricately with a myriad of patterns and mosaics to cover a body easily two stories tall.
Dang, I guess the Phantoms can grow to Kaiju size if they live long enough.

>>49014521
Just proving my point, paranoia-anon

I'm drink and I have no idea if I am late or not, but I'm here,

>>49014648
fuckin majestic

>>49014521
>Calling someone else retard to hide their shame
Nice misdirection there, truly retardedanon, A-

>>49014648
It takes a step forward, wrapping itself in its wings like a robe as it unleashes a thundering roar, the complexities of its language buried within like some ancient code. It is not quite a speech, but more like a prayer, magnificent roar that lasts nearly a minute without pause. At its conclusion it settles itself down to the ground, resting itself onto its stubby, dexterous legs before propping itself onto the elbows of its massive arms. As it rests itself on the ground in front of the large bonfire, you notice crude looking paintings and haphazard drawings of oddly shaped stick figure Phantoms and brightly colored star analogs painted in thick, globbed up pinger paint doodles along its forearms and wings. The small phantoms sprint up to it and begin clamoring over its form like a jungle gym as it reaches down at them with its stubby legs, juggling them about.

Others form around them. The elderly females you once saw attending the Barren Queen flock around the massive Phantom, linking intricately woven lanyards and carved totems on cords to gold piercings along the massive phantom's arms and head, each of the females wearing some manner of lightweight armor of dried woven plants and bones, and holding a spear in their hands covered in decorative carvings. Others outside the growing circle seem to be doing the same. You spot the couple from before among them, the warrior pinning a small lanyard to a gold ring pierced to the male's upper left eyelid, while several other warriors pin their own decorations on the phantom's face and arms. Other groups seem to be doing the same.

cont.

>>49014888
I kinda want to get a large-sized Phantom Chimera for anti-OQ attacks now

>>49014888
"I still am unsure why, but they choose often wait for this celestial event to select mating groups." The Barren Queen says with some measure of detached fascination. "It has nothing to do with any biological imperative, and the tradition is only three centuries old. They are always adjusting the festival every few generations. I try to observe it once a century at least to see what has changed."

>(write in)

>>49014888
this big thing practically looks like a Christmas tree in my head.

huh. do we have anything else left to tell/ask?

>>49014938
"What we see as inconsequential has great import to the short-lived. It is quite fascinating to watch how the single-minded grow and shape themselves over their generations. Human history is quite chaotic, but impressive in that regard. They went from beast-powered vehicles to spaceflight in less than one of their life-times."

>>49014938
>>(write in)
What was fighting the Crystals like back in your time? How exactly did you do it?

>>49014974
Maybe just ask if she'd like to take a spa-day in one of our Large Medipods. See if we can repair her ovipositor?

>>49014938
My experience with the blind tends to suggest they create such rituals and symbols as much as link to past generations and their triumphs as it is to brace themselves for what the future may bring. It is a poor substitute for psionics as a means for organizing their societies, but it works seemingly against the odds.

>>49014888
Is the big one a male or female?

How the hell does their sexual dimorphism work?

>>49014938
If they are like the humans, then they likely derive wonder and a sense of unity from a rare shared experience in a temporary life. They are unable to feel as we do, just as we have too much control over our own biology and physiology to experience what they do.

>>49015009
I think she's still considering that, which reminds me.
>>49014938
"Have you made a decision yet?

>>49015009
We already asked her, she's still mulling the offer over. Apparently replacing an egglayer is tantamount to being reborn as an entirely new queen.

>>49014938
Well, individuals are always seemingly inefficient at reproducing.

>>49015052
At this point, we could stand to have more allies in our war against the void gods.

>>49014938
>write in

Ask if she's tried to offer suggestions on developing their culture or tech, do they have a written language, record keeping?

So we have the Ralighans adopted from the Gardener and the Broken Queen has the Phantoms. I like the Queens having their own vassal races they look after and guide

Humanity was the White Queens, but she didn't seem like a good owner...

>>49014938
The Traitor must be destroyed. The tyranny of the void must end. The canon has been successfully fired. It must be done again. All of us, all the races we have brought under our wings, all our tools and sentient rocks will die if we fail. The final war has begun and I will see it through. Will you be there, or will you remain here?

>>49015162
Hey, right now we're pulling double duty to protect both nations of humanity from two seperate threats, so they can free up the manpower to wage their idiotic war on their own terms. I'd say we make for a pretty benevolent guide for their mad, mad species.

>>49015162
Honestly, it feels like the whole Hive archetype of life just lacks a bunch of good qualities from the individual-minded races. Little to no innovation. A lack of art and creative work. Lack of ability to experiment.

>>49014938
"It is less efficient than a Queen's genetic archive, but a strong culture can give the single minded great adaptability." You reply as you examine the groups of similarly aged young. "They often place great importance on such events to gain an advantage. In this case, it appears their tradition comes with the convenience of synchronized age groups. For such short lived life, such a simple thing can be a great advantage." The queen chitters in agreement.

"It is fascinating how they can thrive with so little." She says in admiration. "How they can communicate at all using nothing but atmospheric vibrations, yet organize a civilization."

"Have you altered them?" She looks back at your drone.

"No, not since the White Queen left this place have they been tampered with. I have granted them the use of my technology, but I lack the means to make more, and they lack the understanding to build using genetic data. I have aided them in chemistry and biology to some degree, but they still lack understanding and infrastructure. I have found that most of the knowledge I give them is held up as magic. Their superstitions are difficult to break through."

"You would be surprised at what the single minded can develop on their own in enough time." You say, she seems to agree.

"Our total control of the self, our genetic data, does seem to have come at a cost." She says. "We lack their urgency, and have become stifled in our longevity. Perhaps your young age will help in that matter. You still feel the urgent thrill of ever passing moment."

You both watch as the star vanishes finally behind the collection of perfectly overlapping horizons, glowing in a brilliant plume of plasma and atmospheric gas before dimming again into a false night.

cont.

>>49015353
Not to mention the crushing loneliness.

Imagine what it would be like with only other hives to communicate with. Probably just terf war after terf war broken up by the occasional territorial dispute between our daughter queens. We Probably are the most socially adapted queen ever since we have had to develop diplomatic relationships and mutually beneficial arrangements that could even be described as friendship.

>>49015510
Don't be coy. Theseus is the Queens best friend tied with Elizabeth and Lee

>>49015501
"How did the hives fight the enemy in your time?" You ask. The Barren Queen thinks for some time on the matter.

"We largely fought the Skyl. We focused our efforts on helping them to liberate themselves. We believed that would lead to victory, or at least some further mutual plan. As you say, the single minded can be surprisingly creative." She says in silence. "It was not a mutually agreed on plan, however. We fought amongst ourselves. I lacked the influence to take any stand on the matter, but your mother eventually abandoned us. Now, I realize it was likely out of the fear she would lead us to corruption, but in her absence, it was proved to be irrelevant."

>Ask her to accept your offer of rebirth into your dynasty
>Let her continue to mull it over on her own
>Other

>>49015600
>>Let her continue to mull it over on her own

>>49015600
>Let her continue to mull it over on her own

>>49015600
>Let her continue to mull it over on her own
She's a big girl who can make her own decisions.

How are you all containing the panic of knowing the Black Queen might be ruining our negotiations with the Union?

>>49015600
>Let her continue to mull it over on her own
>Other
Did we ever get an accurate count of how many queens there where before the fall? I wonder if there are other 'broken' queens like herself hidden elsewhere.

>>49015600
>>Let her continue to mull it over on her own

no nagging.

She can probably tell we're thinking about it.

>>49015600
>>Let her continue to mull it over on her own
It's entirely her call.

>>49015718
I actually want the war to happen, I'm confident we can win against the union if we make good use of our ambush fleets and cooperate with Theseus and the commonwealth.

>>49015501
>Perhaps your young age will help in that matter.
Constant mortal and existential peril is a good motivator.

>>49015718
simple, we tell them it's not us. different queens exist, and if you exclude the tech she might be getting, when it comes down to which faction to sack it's the Union that comes out at a loss, not commonwealth.

>>49015885
B-But, we could all be friends! The humans aren't bad, they just have a strong sense of self interest and a desperate xenophobia.

>>49015600
Let her decide but remind her of the offer

>>49015885
Me too.

>>49016048
Fuck that, nigga. I want to test drive all our sweet new weapons and biological war crimes.

>>49016086
Careful there... If the union decides we're so bad the Void can't be any worse, they may seek to resume their experents with the goal of creating an enemy to draw off our attention or perhaps just out of spite. We can win against the Union alone, but we do not yet know at what cost in the long term.

>>49015600
The planets in the sky slowly lower themselves beneath the horizon, their dim glow fading to nothing as the stars begin to wink into view in the sky above, mirrored by the countless dots of light from the fires throughout the valley. A glow in the distant sky ripples through the night as a cylinder server ship unfolds into space.

I know it's been a bit since the last full thread, so I'd like to make sure we at least have the option of going over crunch stuff. The last few threads have been crazy, so I likely missed a few things that were voted on but zoomed past me without notice.

>>49016176
I think the votes were "build more ships" and the votes were yes.

>>49016176
We haven't built a single psionic sensor tower in any system.

>>49016202
Yes, there were the ships, and didn't we have a votes on starting construction of a space city?

>>49016176
I think we were also thinking about colonizing the Desmond system and A-295 when the thread dropped off last time. Does anyone want to hold another vote on that?

>>49016176
How much nutrients can we buy from the humans with the money we got to boost our supplies in the short term. Is it an option we got? I know we can convert nutrients to metals and back, but buying the nutrients is something we haven't done yet. Also, that outpost we set up at in the colony, the one in a busted night club. Can we out and out buy that property and secure it that way, so that the humans won't be so likely to break into it thinking it's abandoned?

>>49016176
We ordered
>Begin construction of 5 Light Fleets 15 Heavy Fleets 10 Ambush Fleets and 5 Fast Assault Fleets.
In thread 59.5 And we're discussing colonizing Desmond and A-295.
Also someone mentioned that we added a new ship design to a fleet before the hiatus but i can't remember the details.

>>49016176
I forgot to ask the Barren Queen if she knew what the deal was with the gift left inside the Ark on the Gardener's planet.

It contained memories from before the ark's exodus from the old queens. did the Black Queen add those in there? Barren seems familiar with some of the projects people were doing like WQ and Gardener fucking with species, but did she hear of this.

>>49016202
Yea, sounds about right.

Hope you guys don't mind the super slow thread tonight. Don't know what it is but I've been coughing up a lung all night and it feels like I got hit with a bag of bricks.

>>49016216
I'll need to double check the notes but you have started construction on Leeland if I recall off the top of my head.

>>49016228
This as well, the few people that were still around seemed to agree on it, but the thread dropped off right as it was getting votes.

>>49016238
Depends on the source and method. If you do it all above board and up front, you could likely get a very nice bulk discount from a large supplier and buy up cheap prison food and the like. A lot of effort goes into making the food taste good for humans, and most planets supply the majority of their food locally, so there isn't all that much nutrient trade beyond shipments heading to space cities or stations, the rare planet that isn't fully self sufficient, and luxury food.

>>49016327
I vote yes, let's colonize.

Set development to 25

>>49016327
How many times have you gotten sick QD?
>>49016351
Supporting.

WHich planets were we terraforming?

Should we ask Heretic if there's a planet or system they'd like us to terraform for the Skyl clones?

>>49015029
Male. It seems their culture is similar, at least on the surface, to earth lions. The females all seem to be warriors and hunters while the males are far more flamboyant in appearance. If your observations are anything to go by, they seem to mate in groups with multiple females to one male. You're unsure how the male gets to be so large, but the one you saw is the only one anywhere close to that size.

>>49016360
In what time frame, exactly?

I don't exactly have a good track record. Especially in this time of year.

>>49016364
We asked heretic if they wanted a planet for the skyl before but he refused.
>>49016374
If we used psionic insulators as ammo against other hive how effective would they be both as slugs and as powder.

>>49016327
hum, so is the type of bulk food makes a difference? we get less Nutrients from say, grains than raw sugar?

>>49016374
So I'm assuming the huge male was ancient then?

>>49016327
We could also build a sensor tower on Raligha, Zero One, and in Refuge on that primordial planet with the dead hive spires.

Those are the most likely OQ targets in the future.

>>49016327
Where have we begun building our catepillary towers from 56.2 and how many?
Also how goes your work on the scouting pods we sent?

>>49016327
I'm backing this >>49016351
We need to expand our territory.

>>49016351
Voting yes for colonization as well.

>>49016327
It's fine that this was a slow thread. It was a mid-week thread and I'm sure there will be battles galore on Sunday (assuming you are feeling better by then, get well soon!), what with our conflicts with the scavs, OQ, and even potentially the Union.

>>49016429
Since we're talking about sensor towers i had an idea inspired by WQ's sensor array in farcast.
Build a space station with a sensor tower, 2 farms and 2 shipyards and put it on the farthest point in a system, then put pods in a faster orbit that the station around the system border.
When we're attacked the station will detect it and we can our fleets prepare.

>>49016418
In price, it would. I'm assuming you're talking about buying vast, vast amounts of cheap low quality food in the kind of bulk numbers that could potentially drive price hikes and food shortages in parts of the Union though. A growing hive needs its nutrients afterall.

Otherwise, it would really just depend on where you get it and what deal you make for it. The Union has their own take on nutrient paste most often used as a cheap food for the less well off segments of space cities and other areas where food needs to be shipped in. It doesn't have as much sugar content as your own nutrient paste, and has more fiber and various chemicals that the human body requires but drones do not, but otherwise it is still a sufficient source of food.

Fully organic food, like sugar or grains are often considered luxuries, and if you don't live near a source of them you'll likely not eat it on any regular basis, if at all.

>>49016351
Colonize Desmond and A-295

Desmond – Binary star, one red giant and one blue dwarf
• Accretion disc: A thin ring of stellar debris spinning around the two stars containing a microbial substance capable of feeding on metallic materials.
• Pegasean Gas giant: This “Hot Jupiter” is heated by a combination of its core’s rotation and its proximity to the two stars
• P1: A frozen ball of ice with no atmosphere
• P2: A thin atmosphere, geothermal activity, and high levels of oxygen
• Asteroid belt: This sparse field holds small amounts of usable metals
• Ice planet: This small, dead planet is unremarkable in its appearance

A-295 – White dwarf
• Frozen ice planet
• Monitor satellite orbiting ice planet
• Binary volcanic planets, high metal concentration
• Barren, irradiated planetoid

>Y
>N

>>49016635
>Y

>>49016635
Y

>>49016635
>Y

>>49016635
OF COURSE

>>49016635
>Y

>>49016635
>Y

>>49016635
So which planets are we going to go for? All of them?

>>49016635
>Y

Any specific planets in mind for colonization? None of them have a current supply of nutrients, but the ones with an atmosphere, however thin, will be easier to start nutrient production on. You will automatically perform a detailed planetary survey of the planets as you begin colonizing the system, but for now, you can guess the rocky ones will likely have far more metals, while the ice planets may have an abundance of water, depending on how much of that ice is actually water and not various inert gases, which would make nutrient farming more convenient.

>>49016767
I think for Desmond.
>Colonize P2
>mine all the other planets.
I faintly remember we had a tech that lets us make farms using gas giants, so if I'm right please build some on Pegasean.
And for A-295
>Experiment and colonize barren irradiated planetoid.
>colonize any other planet that we can, mine the ones we can't

>>49016767
I vote for P2 in Desmond and the binary volcanic planets in A-295, with mining operations starting on the other worlds as soon as we can.

>>49016767
QD please notice me >>49016499

>>49016872
seconding

>>49016767
what this guy said >>49016872

>>49016767
>P2

>barren irradiated planetoid

Seems to be the consensus. Your colonies will send units to perform detailed planetary surveys of the rest of the celestial bodies in the systems as well to allow more detailed development planning once the colonies are established.

The gas giant, unfortunately, is largely worthless, as it's on fire. It would likely attract a hell of a tourist industry, but otherwise it's too hostile to efficiently construct any resource gathering facility deep enough into the atmosphere to make a profit.

>>49016892
If I recall of the top of my head, you're building one on Leeland which should be about done. I'll have to check my notes to be sure but I don't think you started any others yet.

>>49017113
WAIT the gas giant is on fire?
I have to think of an awesome name for our colony now, and maybe rename the system too.

>>49017113
Exactly what kind of tourism industry would a gas planet thats on fire generate? I want to hear this QD.

>>49017178
Well, let's hear it then, don't keep us in suspense.

File: HD188753-hot-jupiter-1.jpg (156 KB, 750x552)

156 KB JPG

>>49017178
Yes, a Pegasean Gas giant, otherwise known as a "Hot Jupiter", essentially a star wannabe. It's like a toddler flopping around in dad's business suit pretending to fire his action figures for not working hard, only it's a gas giant pretending to be a sun. The gasses in the atmosphere have ignited, causing the entire planet to glow in the night like a massive hot coal.

>>49017245
How much would you pay to visit a gas giant that's on fire?

I mean, it's a rather rare phenomenon. Any station or space city that held a good view of it would have some rather decent potential for luxury service and tourism as a credit income source. Hotels, luxury restaurants, observation decks, ect.

I just remembered something:
let me remind you guys of something that went up last thread:
Tech Trades.
Someone mentioned making a list of whatever tech Unity/Commonwealth/Skyl might find useful and trade with their tech, especially ones that they specialize in. what can we give them?
someone mentioned that Multi-layered shielding will benefit everyone, but I want to hear more.
For example, I remember the notion to trade Unity nanomachines for one of their techs considering theseus doesn't have one and they would benefit greatly for it. Commonwealth might want armor or generators, considering that they are not so high up in terms of tech...

>>49017245
I'm putting the greatest effort on thinking a name but i can't.

>>49017245
>>49017292
>Surtur
>Tartarus
>Hephaestus
>Mothers Anger

>>49017282
Yeah, the nanomachines would be huge for Theseus, I agree we should offer them. We also should ask about those EMP limpets he used to bring down the Clarke, they sound like something that would work very well with our ship harpoons.

In case there's anything else you want to line up with any faction, here's a pastebin listing our tech development up to thread 52.

http://pastebin.com/Ed8aTShA

>>49017278
I bvote for building a tourist space station here then. It would be a great place to hold future diplomatic talks, possibly even a place to introduce Humans to Skyl/Ralighans/Phantoms

>>49017435
We should also ensure that any luxury resorts or hotels on this station have massive pools. Got to house Ceph and Valen passengers somewhere, after all.

>>49017292
I'm just gonna open google and search "name's related to fire" and "names related to the sun."
Related to fire
>Titaia
>Titus
>Phlegon
Related to sun
>AELIUS
>AREVIK
>HELIOS
>NARANGEREL
>SOLFRID
>SOLVEIG
>SORIN
>ELEKTRA
>ELECTRA
>>49017435
Supporting.

>>49017453
Oh of course. Our grav plating would make sure the pools are proper pools and not globs of free-floating water

Does anyone think we should make a trade good that would be like the Dentic from Farscape?

How about marketing those Furby like creatures on Leeland as pet?

>>49017435
Supporting.

>>49017435
Well why the hell not? Sporting!

>>49017514
Yeah sterile tribbles could be a decent pet. Maybe change their dietary needs so they don't chew through their cages or the homes of their owner

>>49017278
Quick question QD, can you remind us how you plan space stations to work and how many we can build?

>>49017629
the tribbles are a different creature, but that is a good idea. I was talking about the things that literally look like furbies that live in the wilds of Leeland. They don't have a name.

>>49017399
Nanomachines, and by extention rapid nano assembly: would be useful for everyone, but particularly Unity.

nanomeds: could be used for Unity as well, maybe instead of organic bits it could use metal bits to repair units.

Liquid meal sculpting: would be great for building up friendly fleets' battleships. for all three of them, although I'm not sure if the commonwealth can adapt to it fast enough.

Predictive combat algorithms: maybe. theseus might have their own version however seeing that they are specialized in those fields.


Variable strike weapon: would be helpful for commonwealth/skyl. Unity might use it too but seeing how they had no problem chopping off people a few threads ago, maybe they could use it, or not.

Quantum tuning&Grav plating: incredibly juicy tech for commonwealth.

>EMP limpets
We already have an Ion beam. although it doesn't go through shields or energized armor.

>>49017282
The Valen will probably come with some offer too soon enough.

Speaking of which, we should open contact with them now. There's no reason not to.

>>49017676
we learned they existed when agent smith blew a hole into are hive and a lot of local fauna tried to move in.

>>49017692
That's the beauty of nanomachines, with them the Unity will be able to repair and even build it's ships out of a liquid medium. The Unity's server ships will be just as capable of self maintaining as our own vessels, and would completely redefine it's construction methods.

And the EMP limpets have already been shown to be far more effective than our puny ion beams. Ion cannons can blind a craft, but the limpets can leave it completely dead in the void with a single strike. If we're ever going to use our boarding tech in actual combat that sort of thing would be stupidly handy.

>>49017728
>but the limpets can leave it completely dead in the void with a single strike.
Wait what? I don't remember anything like that, but if that's the case, yeah, that's certainly a thing we should get for our boarding ships/ships supporting said boarding ships.

>>49017701
>The Valen will probably come with some offer too soon enough.
shoot, yeah. tha valen too. we still need to grab hypergate tech.

>Speaking of which, we should open contact with them now. There's no reason not to.
Certainly, but we should finish up the colonizing plans, and then tech trades(with Unity and Commonwealth) since it's been discussed for a long time but never got properly voted, and then open contact(which is, let's be honest here, will probably eat up a whole thread's worth of runtime and therefor will not happen this thread).

I think QD died

>>49017435
Supporting. So we're going Babylon 5 route?

>>49017809
With everyone isn't the Union, yeah.

THis is probably the first HQQ thread not to hit bump limit in like 4-5 hours in a long ass time

>>49017800
DON'T DIE ON ME

>>49017809
OH OH we could also use this station as a place for the Mute Ceph to come and receive treatment to cure their skin disorders. The pools could be rehabilitation areas for them as they get used to their new skins and abilities

File: Dog of Approval.jpg (3 KB, 108x125)

3 KB JPG

I am 2 threads Behind but I just wanted to say I love you QD!

>>49017889
What is this? A dog for ants?

>>49017861
>>49017800
I'm a little worried. He isn't replying elsewhere either

>>49017988
Haha nice

File: Hive Ambassador.jpg (69 KB, 540x699)

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Bump with a prayer to Mother for QD's good health

I just remembered something about that space city we voted to start building a couple threads ago. QD said that we could decide exactly where it was being built in a vote after it was completed. When it's finished we can vote to place it in orbit over the burning gas giant and kit it out with luxurious accommodations for all races.

>>49018315
I thought that one was going to be made out of the hollowed out asteroid in Leelands system?

>>49018315
Or put it in tannhauser so we have a trade station conveniently next to a gate, we have a lot of places to put space stations in.

>>49018315
>>49018337
>>49018356
Fuck it, why aren't we building multiple of it?
speaking of which let's just build multiples of hive ships as well. and buy nutrient shit off from other factions to aid the effort.
let's get HUGE

>>49018274
while missing it's fluff I'm imagining our Speakers looking like that

Creepy and uncanny, I love it

>>49018405
but what's the point if they aren't fluffy

>>49018451
No I mean, if that pic had some fluff it would be a perfect Speaker

don't die on me QD

>>49019005
Hope he just went to bed

>>49017876
>>49018315
We could start a joint research project with Unity and maybe others, for a space station that uses all our combined tech.

>>49018377
Not worth the time and enough.

>>49019795
* effort

>>49018315
Fun fact we also can get a system with a gaint diamond that would make a great resort. If we could colonize it.

>>49019795
>>49019810
I wonder if QD would allow us to establish orbital outposts, smaller than a full blown mega-structure but still capable of housing humans comfortably in prime real estate spots.

>>49020139
QUEEN SIZE or GO HOME

>>49017435
I like this idea but I am late to thread

>>49016767
What about P1 in our home system. We should colonize that as well.
>• P1: Small, rocky planetoid that is devoid of life but geologically active. The surface is littered with steam geysers, indicating both geothermal activity and the presence of water beneath the crust. Thin atmosphere of methane, nitrogen, and trace amounts of oxygen with dangerous levels of sulfur oxide in both the air and water.

>>49021039
Really, we could come up with a list of planets, planetoids, and other celestial bodies within our space we should settle to some extent. I can pick out at least three in the A-295 and Desmond without even counting the planets we picked in the vote.

>>49017435
>>49017543
>>49017599
>>49017809

A little late, but Supporting. Name the Jovian Mom's Rage.

Luxury tourist trap/Diplomatic/trade station could work. Last time the commonwealth and union tried to diplomance one side nearly became a dictatorship and started a war.

We could offer it as a neutral place for peace talks-- and make them play nice if the union insists on being fucktarded.

Bringing about human peace would be great advertising for our emerging tourist trade too.


That said I'd rather see more Lyle shenanigans or get back to whipping the scav fleet, but most of our fleet is still busy intimidating the union right now huh.

>>49018356
>next to a gate we're going to tear into pieces to create our own gates with
Anon. If we study that gate we'll be making our own anywhere we want anyway.

>>49021769
Gate technology is the Valen's most closely-guarded secret though. I wouldn't be surprised if they declare war before letting us tinker with one of their gates.

>>49021792
...You know tearing it apart implied attacking first, right.

We're already laying claim to Aral as we speak. Even if the Union hands it over willingly, the Valen will likely fight and we'll have some fun there.

We don't need Valen gate-tech. If anything we could probably trade them for it, or explore the Skyl ruins on the Valen world.


We do need the Valen banks, so we can actually sell or buy stuff.

Reminder that we need Canderon to fuel our black hole guns.

File: ohwaityoureserious.gif (957 KB, 288x198)

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>>49021897
>we could probably trade them for it

>>49021897
Are you implying the Valen pass up business opportunities with people they're at war with and don't fluctuate between enemy and friend rapidly?

>>49021897
>We do need the Valen banks, so we can actually sell or buy stuff.

I think it comes down to this. Their financial and trade infrastructure is more valuable than their gate technology in anything except the very long term, because we would essentially have to rebuild the entire Valen power base as our own before really getting a return on that investment.

>>49021963
Space jews passing up business oppurtunities? hah, not likely. I'm not implying anything-- I'm just saying it's not an essential tech we need right now-- hell even the blink drive got our entire fleet into union planetary orbit.

We've already got one Valen in our pocket selling our stuff-- I'm sure we can find another to sell us state secrets. Hell, set some flies loose for some espionage and parasitize some Valen and steal it.

>>49022101
Our biggest infiltration failures have been in avoiding detection by Valen agents and machines, though. Humans have been a cakewalk by comparison.

You're right about the tech though. What do gates even get you that one of our options doesn't? I forget how it's different from the rip drive. Are gates arbitrary-range instant gate-to-gate travel, or limited-range instant gate-to-arbitrary-place travel? If it's the latter that just sounds like a rip.

>>49022033
We have access to their financial and trade infrastructure regardless of if we also copy their gate tech by force. They would, at best, try to Jew us slightly more than they would otherwise. They always do that.

>>49022183
>We have access to their financial and trade infrastructure regardless of if we also copy their gate tech by force.

I don't get what you mean. If we seized a gate they'd never let us have an account in any of their markets or banks ever again.

>>49022177
>What do gates even get you that one of our options doesn't?

Miniaturization. We've seen a minigate used on the Ceph homeworld.

We can construct our own bootleg gate network and, once we send a Thinker and a Ceph smuggled onto the homeworld with a mission to establish a minihive and construct a minigate.

Then we can transport things to and from there freely.

We could transport void shards back home to stockpile as ammo for the psionic cannon.

Or we could just construct an immolation warhead at home, and teleport it to the Ceph homeworld to blow them all to hell.

It's the only FTL that's precise enough, predictable enough, and subtle enough to use for that.

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>>49022210
Like the other post said.

Are you implying the Valen pass up business opportunities with people they're at war with and don't fluctuate between enemy and friend rapidly?

Nobody is disqualified from taking out a loan from the banking clans, let alone giving them money for safekeeping.

>>49022177
>What do gates even get you that one of our options doesn't?

Unlimited range at instantaneous speed. Blink drives and rip drives have limited range, and warp drives are incredibly slow.

If we want to expand beyond this region of space, we will want to be able to construct hive gates at the distant location to connect the two. It's a ways off, but it'll become useful later.

>>49022302
And it's gate-to-gate?

>>49022269
A total embargo is certainly their nuclear option, and I'm sure that threat is what keeps people from pissing the Valen off too much. But would they actually push that button if we seized gate tech from them?

Would the trade we can offer them be worth more than the loss of control of gate tech? Valen are long-lived too IIRC, and play a long game. Their monopoly over gates ensures their long-term dominance of trade and finance.

So I guess it comes down to whether they're really focused on long-term monopolies that will be profitable forever or a short-term bump in profits while jeopardizing their long-term monopolies.

>>49022323
Yeah, getting there the slow way is necessary to build the connection, but the important thing is you only have to get there the slow way once.

otherwise it would be very hard to defend.

>>49022369
They wouldn't. They're far more mindful about the future opportunities you can provide than about dwelling on past betrayals.

Once we've actually got the gate tech, continuing to fight us ceases to be profitable.

http://ask.fm/QuestDrone/answers/130480456997
>In order to truly be cut off from trade, you would need to appear to be incapable of offering any hope of leading to some kind of profit, and from the perspective of humans, they are notorious for being able to squeeze something worthwhile out of just about anything. An example of this can be seen in Librae, and just how quickly the previously hostile clans and Valen investors were to resume trade, and even help fund for much of the repairs.

>>49021897
They won't trade.
But if we manage to parasite someone knowledgeable enough, we might get it.

It's going to be tough though. Maybe if they accidentally swallow a parasite? Or not so accidentally, selling them parasites pretending they're snacks.

>>49022369
Remember that only the actual gate cult owners or whatever organization profit from the gate monopoly.

There are many, many Valen who don't profit from the gates, and would probably profit from helping us betray them, if they were capable of helping us. Which they aren't really. Not on a timescale that's faster than just attacking Aral.

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>>49021301
Yes. And the hive will be the Station Vorlon's,

>>49022415
And the IIRC the Valen do have a natural inclination towards profitable backstabbing even among themselves and a sort of respect for anyone that can pull off a profit.They're giant Ferengi alligator-turtles.

>>49022533
I still think we should gift them immortality.

>>49022590
>give immortality to space jews.

Go away your Valen spy!

>>49022533
I was thinking more along the lines of Jabba the hutt, but your point stands.

>>49022590
They're already very long-lived IIRC. Giving them parasites as an immunity to disease might work though.


Seriously though one Valen supports Killinger and the conservatives in exchange for favors, another one can't even scrape a 20% margin off our trade. I'm sure we can find one greedy enough to get us the tech somehow.

>seize gate
>"hey valen lets trade"
>"no"
>"ok ill just show these gates to everyone then :^)"
>"wait, shit"

>>49022658
>I'm sure we can find one greedy enough to get us the tech somehow.

That's not how it works.

The ones who HAVE access to the tech, the 1% of Valen, are super rich and make their money from cooperating with the gate cult's monopoly. They have all the wealth they need.

It can only be stolen, in an admirably grand coup that will probably make us best friends afterwards, which is the same thing as rivals and enemies.

Maybe we can just have theseus to steal that gate that's under construction for a joint research project.

>>49022953
Or we can steal it and cut out the middleman. Theseus doing it would be worse, and he's shown no interest in it, or else he would have done it already himself.

I mean if he stole it himself, he'd have no motive to share with us, who took none of the risk.

Also we're conquering Tannhauser anyway if the Union doesn't hand it over willingly, so one way or another we're taking some of the valens' toys from them.

>>49023081
I don't think it would be that simple. They obviously must have several measures in place to prevent a gate from being captured and reverse engineered. When we're discussing seizing a gate it includes infiltrating the place thoroughly first.

Organic food is a luxury item for humans, isn't it?

So can we dedicate a planet to be a farmworld to produce the kind of organic food humans and other non hive aliens like?

Then we sell it cheap to improve our PR and generate demand.

Is there any world we can do that?

>>49023150
Agreed, if we're going to seize the gate tech we'd be better served using subterfuge rather than blinking our fleet in and telling them to hand it over.

>>49023081
Like anon said, they'll have many preparations in place to defend their gate tech, the least of which would be to just blow the fucking thing up once it becomes obvious that they'll be losing it either way. Like we do.

From the Wiki
>all things must be replayed in kind, be they gifts of resources, loans of credits, mating arrangements, favors, and even insults or hostile actions

So not only will we likely not get the tech, we'll also be subject to retaliatory strikes at a time when our attention is already divided. Better all round to go the stealth option.

>>49023560
Or gift them the longevity tech and use them as mercs against the scavengers.

>>49023482

I think any food that isn't human-made nutrient paste is a luxury item for humans now, unless they live on an agricultural planet like space florida.

We're already producing near top-of-the-line starship engines though, next time QD focusses on trade we'll probably get a spike in demand from that alone.

As to PR... How about that tourist station above the hot jupiter? We could probably sell more of our nutrient paste cheaper as well-- it's probably better than the human equivalent.

>>49023632
Better yet, we could offer them immortality parasites. We could literally have them pay for the privilege.

I'd hate to burst all the excitement but please remind me again, what the humans can trade us?

>>49023702
Nothing really. They effectively have nothing worth trading our ridiculous tech for. It would be better to force them to be our servitors.

>>49023560
Yes, but the difference between us and them is that our drones will happily die for Mother and have no sense of self preservation.

They, as healthily self-interested individuals, need to have a way to blow up the gate without blowing up themselves, while also not allowing other people to blow it up remotely/Theseus to hack it and destroy it as a terrorist act.

Given the constraints, they might, at worst, be able to initiate a countdown that will give them plenty of time to leave. But conversely, give us time to find a countermeasure.

Subterfuge first is definitely a good idea. But if we're already attacking, we might as well at least try to capture things intact.

>>49023702
Credits and Canderon. Possibly allies/mercenaries for use against the black queen/ceph/void gods if we diplomance them well enough, seeing as ceph already raid the hell out of humans.

Canderon we need for our singularity weapons and if we want to build any ships using their drive-- such ships would be more agile in combat than our current blink drive, but honestly the blink drive is pretty good-- and we can also get Canderon from the Valen.

>>49023747
And if they did have something. We would just buy a sample of it on the market, and reverse engineer it.

>>49023702
Poor quality nutrients
Metals
Canderon
Mercenaries

>>49023702
Is mostly to have good PR. We better not be fighting the humans and the OB at the same time after all.

Plus it fuels those fanatics that want to see us as a benevolent dictator space insect Jesus.

Also if we sell good food cheap the colonies will fucking love us unless it cuts in their profits.

"Know what? The Hive is selling us real food cheap while thr Union scsms us with cheap nutrient paste, fuck the Union!"

I'm pretty worried about QD you guys

>>49023826
Give him 28 hours.

>>49023702
>>49023747
>>49023776
>>49023793

Bear in mind our current low-level of trade with humans (engines) effectively costs us nothing and generates us plenty of credits. I think we were asking for something like 700k per engine. If we just expanded our business more we could be raking in the millions-- and with canderon at 50k a piece we could easily dominate them economically.

We don't need to trade our tech with them, although I think it would be nice if we could assist the commonwealth against the scavs and get access to their planetary shielding tech and some scav drop suits/ships.

>>49023826
I bet he passed out on his keyboard.

>>49023826
Me too. But is not like he has not disappeared before. Is not like we can't do anything for him without more information. Hopefully is just his Internet or power being cut out than anything serious.

>>49023862
his last post was like 8:20AM. It's nearly 8PM.

>>49023854
Let's sell /trade everyone but the union artificial gravity plates tech. Is not something they can easily use against us and they will love it.

>>49023776
>>49023818
>>49023823

>Candeon
Alright, but we cut a deal to get a steady supply from the commonwealth. Just something to keep in mind.
>Credits
Come off it, credits are used to buy things and the question is what can we buy from them.
>Nutrients
A good idea if they can move a solid amount of low quality food.
>Metals
We can core planets. They will never be able to supply what we want or need.
>Mercenaries
We can just use clones and Lyle if we want a human face doing out work.
>PR
Maybe, we would want to make sure not to give them military hardware in that case.

Don't get me wrong, I like some of these ideas. Like the orbital star-base around the burning gas giant and maybe some tourism at that location, those are fun ideas. But we need to be going in wondering what we can get out of it rather than having fun with our favorite four limbed aliens.

>>49023897
Anything you sell to anyone who mass produces it on any scale, which they would for a luxury good, will get bought, copied and reverse engineered by the union.

Also, its underlying tech is gravity reflection and nanomachines, which is far too valuable to trade away.

>>49023869
Yeah he's not even replying to me on messenger

>>49023919
Send dick pics, guaranteed to get a response.

>>49023914
Scientists to improve our R&D. Also, I kinda want to have Heretic help the Commonwealth with AI research.

>>49023916
It still going to take the union months to years. They are not as efficient as the hive.

Fine how about trading the gravity plates with Heretic and Unity and selling the tech to the Valen?

Also Unity with nanomachines son would be too dangerous. Let's save it for later or at least ask for a lot of tech in exchange.

Unity will go for it, he knows how useful nanotechnology will be for him.

>>49023914
>any of those being worth tech
Opinion disregarded.

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>>49023702
They can also build the psionic cannon hidden from the void gods.

So if we want to build it in secret. So that they wouldn't be able to stop it's construction. We can use Heretic and Theseus. But if we add the humans as a work force we can, possibly, speed up the cannon construction.

And if we are afraid of then using the cannon we can make the humans build some parts and make heretic and theseus build the other parts.

>>49023989
You realize gravity plating INVOLVE nanomachines intrinsically, I just said that. That's where gravity reflection is in the tech tree.

>>49024014
We don't even need to trade them tech mate. we can produce stuff they need anyway. Simply giving them nutrient paste cheaper than they can produce it would lead to us dominating their economy.

>>49023914
>>49023967
Point. Us bugs have a hard time coming up with ideas in the first place and our Kerrigan lookalike has been invaluable so far, possibly preventing full void-god materialization in our realm.

Also supporting the sale of grav plates. Humans already have gravitic/power-tap tech and not every race gets the same research options. We really shouldn't worry about humans at this point, they're not a considerable threat to us, unless they're fucking around with more hellgates.

>>49023989
Still not worth it. We're immortal why do you want to sacrifice ridiculous potential for long term gain we have for the short term gain that could bite us in the ass.

Well clearly his lung collapsed and he died of asphyxiation without even being able to call for help.

>>49024035
But the void gods are spying on us. So they would know we have the AIs building the canon.

>>49024035
Not anymore they can't not that it matters since we have Unity and the completed blueprints are back on Earth.

Remember, once both human factions are either allies or sequestered with spinepals the stronger they are the better-- and considering we're in negotiation with the union right now (with fleet like a hammer positioned over their egg of a planet) and have already promised assistance to the commonwealth...

>>49023916
>>49023989
>>49024057
I have a compromise, we could set up a trade with the Union, gravity plating tech for some appropriately amazing tech of their own, THEN we start selling gravity plating.

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>>49024070
I see the humans as the house pet you take care of when a person that is close to you dies.I see the humans as our mother's mother, or at least one of her, legancy.

>>49024119
I changed my idea to sell Gravity plating to the Valen and trade for it with Heretic and Unity.

>>49024076
Well we can always make our not!kerrigan, Lyle, and Lee work as the middle man.

>>49024014
You didn't read anything I wrote.

>>49024126
If only they were cuter...

>>49024153
Actually. I was thinking in using the same company we already set with the Valen to sell the Valen the tech.

>>49024159
We can always improve then. We have the technology!!