>>1371977
IT IS TIME!

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>>1371977
You feel the notice of a Distant Mind
>Psionic research has received a small boost
>Slip drives have a 10% chance to alert you to their usage

>Current resource reserves
Nutrients: 42,253,880N
Metals: 44,568,839M
Credits: ₡602,226
Credits in Lyle’s account: ₡1,175,000

Active trade routes
>Leeland – Lanway: HMS Orphan, Captain John Spreckels
[FormOther brand Fusion Reactors]

>Formed fleets and orders
Citadel Hive Ship – [Awaiting orders]
Small Heavy Defense Fleet [Patrolling Leeland space]
25 Heavy Battle Fleet [Supporting Commonwealth Liberation]
5 Missile Ambush Fleet [Awaiting orders]
30 Light Fleets [Supporting Commonwealth Liberation]
20 Light Fleets [Awaiting orders]
10 Fast Assault Fleets [Awaiting orders]
10 Ambush Fleet
6 Carrier Battle groups

Clone upkeep/special projects and expenses
25 Human captives of the USV Hope – 750
[Gemini]
3 Taidaren Hybrids (105)
4 Human flash clone upkeep – 120
18 Human hybrid clone upkeep – 540
Specializations:
>Tech
>Engineer
>Brawler
[Hive space]
100 Human Hybrids – 3,000
Lyle Rogers – 57
Jackob Eisner – 56
Dillon Reager – 30
Clone/project upkeep – 3,908N

>Income
Metals: 2,950,500
Nutrients: 7,636,000
Net:

Total upkeep
Nutrient costs: 6,675,390

>>1371977
FOR MOTHER

Ahahaha Commonwealth showing the Union how it's done!!

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>>1371984
(Nutrient stat + structures) * 1k * dev score + modifiers = Nutrient income total
(Metal stat + structures) * dev score + modifiers = Metal income total


Hive Territory
[G-426]
*Leeland (capital)
N 60+40
M 45
Development 50

Income:
4.886MN
162.5KM

Defensive structures
>Surface to Orbit Missile System: Uses long range missiles to attack enemy ships in the system (1KN, Additional costs per launch)
>Anti-orbital batteries: Directly attacks enemy ships in orbit (8KN)
Military structures
>Hangar facilities: Deploys atmospheric and orbital drones to intercept attackers, uses aerodynamic and fighter drone designs (4KN)
>Psionic Shroud: Conceals hive activity from psionic senses (1KN)
Industrial structures
>Docking Pylon: (2000) (100KN)
[Empty docks: 8000/8000]
Economic Structures
>Capillary Tower [under construction]
>Smart Mines active: Calculates development stat twice for metal income
>Algae Farm: +25N
>Film harvester dock: +15N
Asteroid mining base: 50KM per day added to nearest planet.

[M-662]
Raligha
N 90+20
M 10
Development 25

Income:
2.75MN
0M

Defensive structures
>Surface to Orbit Missile System (1KN)
>Anti-orbital batteries: 35/35 (8KNN)
Economic structures
>Bloodroot collectors: Pipes running from Bloodroot trees extract nutrient rich sap +20N
>Greystalk farms: [under construction]
>Greenwall pit: Genetically engineered plant efficiently recycles waste material, Extra N income x2
>Temple alter: A place for the Ralighan locals to worship and bring offerings to your hive, built in the likeness of your local fake queen, +500N per day

[M-323]
>Orbital docking pylon: Space for docking and construction of 4 sub capitals or 1 capital ship, (50N)
[Empty docks: 0/4]
>Mining corvette salvage operations +2,688,000M per day (+8000M per corvette)

[Farcast]
Derelict Sensor array

Glassed Hive world
N 0
M 100
D 10

Income:
0N
100KM

>Smart mine mantle excavation: Calculates development stat 3 times for metal income

Deep space waystation
>100 docking pylons (10KN)
[Empty docks 400/400]

Fourth for Free Fly week.
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/15841-Spring-2947-Free-Fly

Daily reminder


>Raid OQ
>Read the locked memories of that thinker.
>Board a scav vessel for their FTL.
>Send a diplomacy team to earth.
>Build that new FTL prediction building.
>Take Reprive (I think that is the system that our mother made her last stand and it only has mining corvetts, it would be a great test for our raiding fleet.)

Oh thanks. I needed to feel good after the shitstorm in the last quest I was participating in

>>1371977
THINKER THINKING THOUGHTS FOR MOTHER.

HAHA

TIME FOR GALACTIC CONQUEST

>>1371977
Yaasssss! Happy easter qd!

Am I blind, what was the thread QD described Mother?

Idid the math, if they are waiting a profit of around one hundred billion per year, this means they will be having a monthly income of 8.333.333.333,333 credits. We can make a monthly fee of 45% giving us 3.750.000.000 credits a month. And this is only on the ore raw price.If they want to discuss te tax we can lower it for the companies that allow Hive inspections or that allow hive security measures. which may or may not include drones watching and working as a security force. But this only inside the factories.

>>1372009
>>1371977
Also are you fully recovered now? You have not said any more on twitter I´m still a bit worried.

Anyway Science away QD

So that's why QD couldn't come up with the thread. Time for some sweet research.

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the time has come, and so have I

>>1372000
You can't raid what you haven't scouted and we haven't ever heard found out what the pods sent to the OQ systems saw, and it's virtually impossible to board a Scav ship when we haven't voted to construct a single fleet design that has had ships with ramming keels, boarding pods, or both.

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>>1371996
Finished Research

>Psionic Cloaking
A complex practice naturally accomplished by the Phantoms under the care of the Barren Queen, you have been instructed in the basics, and extensive practice among the Phantom locals has made you exceedingly efficient in the process, using carefully woven mental signals to broadcast a sense of non-existence. While this process is most effective against being sensitive to tachyonic radiation, it can be used against virtually any organic being. A psionic race may find entire patches of planet voided from their minds like a mass-induced psychosis, while less attuned or mentally blind species find details of the cloaked unit impossible to remember or describe, or may simply not notice the unit unless it is alone and obvious in appearance. Simply turning around or standing among a small crowd is enough to become virtually invisible. Unfortunately, this invisibility comes at a cost, as it is omni-directional, and any unit enveloped in such a shroud would be unable to mentally communicate with others, effectively cutting itself off from any hive network. This ability requires at least a moderate relay or implant to accomplish, although no drone would do so willingly and cut itself off from the Queen without a direct command to do so.

As your drones settle into their new dedicated psionic research lab deep beneath the surface of Leeland, your thinkers report a number of anomalies in their first experiments. With the thinkers themselves isolated in a cage of psionically shielded chambers, you must wait for their reports at predetermined times each day for the results of the tests, but after missing their initial deadline for their first report, you receive a signal some hours later after detecting a thermal anomaly. A number of thinkers, in debate over their research as they calculate the incomprehensible sea of numbers of their research topic, seem to have inadvertently triggered a chain reaction with the test thinker itself, resulting in the enclosed lab space becoming enveloped in a thermometric detonation created from the mixture of explosive pressure waves and heat. Very little survived the incident, and your workers must now repair the lab itself, regrowing and repairing the many sensitive instruments held within.

>>1371984
The USV hope crew cost is still there.

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>>1372025
Current Research

Psionic Thermokinesis
slow/mildly dangerous
An even more finely tuned execution of known tachyonic physics, thermokinesis is the practice of altering the energy state of atoms, but instead of altering their velocity, it utilizes a less uniform alteration to increase or decrease atomic vibration, quickly increasing or decreasing the ambient temperature of the target. It may take some time for your thinkers to successfully accomplish this feat, however, without also igniting the laboratory.

Psionic Conduction
slow/mildly dangerous
While altering the physical nature of particles has become possible, using highly controlled tachyonic signals it may also be possible to use the projected psionic energy to subtly alter and transfer other forms of energy in a more direct process than kinetic force. Your thinkers believe it may be possible to use alternate sources of energy outside of the target and potentially use tachyonic signals in order to carry that energy to the target. The early experiments have already proven promising, however it may be some time before the thinkers are capable of producing results without causing spontaneous detonations within the laboratory.

Cybernetic memory extraction
Fast
With the continued assistance of Theseus and his extensive mechanical research systems, you feel confident in your ability to extract at least partial memory fragments from the largely cybernetic brain of the killed Smith agent. It is too soon to determine if the data is of any use, but it could offer further clues regarding their origin and capabilities.

Memory Seed
Slow
By creating a miniaturized and less overtly useful memory crystal similar in overall function to the white crystals used to record thought by your elders, and modifying it into a neural implant, you believe it may be possible to create a kind of constantly updating backup memory for clones, agents, and even drones that would potentially hold its information after death. The memory seed would theoretically be capable of retaining the full memories of the host individual up to and including the very moment of death, and be able to preserve those memories long after the brain itself has physically deteriorated, a process that typically drastically limits the time frame in which memories can be gathered.

>>1372028
I've deleted it like twice now but it keeps coming back somehow. Curse my paranoid multiple redundancy save files.

>>1372025
They thought so hard they blew up
Well great

>>1372025
>As your drones settle into their new dedicated psionic research lab deep beneath the surface of Leeland, your thinkers report a number of anomalies in their first experiments. With the thinkers themselves isolated in a cage of psionically shielded chambers, you must wait for their reports at predetermined times each day for the results of the tests, but after missing their initial deadline for their first report, you receive a signal some hours later after detecting a thermal anomaly. A number of thinkers, in debate over their research as they calculate the incomprehensible sea of numbers of their research topic, seem to have inadvertently triggered a chain reaction with the test thinker itself, resulting in the enclosed lab space becoming enveloped in a thermometric detonation created from the mixture of explosive pressure waves and heat. Very little survived the incident, and your workers must now repair the lab itself, regrowing and repairing the many sensitive instruments held within
Thinker thinked itself into an explosion

>>1372025
>sees image name
PANIC
>reads post
Oh good, just a thinker exploding.

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>>1372036
>Psionic Spores
Slow
While normally the hive spores used to spread infrastructure are little more than genetically engineered nanomachines, replicating and performing their function alone until their built structure is complex enough to receive mental signals, your mixture of psionic research and advancements in spore related genetic programming has made the idea of a psionically sensitive spore seem not nearly as far fetched as it once did. With a mixture of distributed networking and complex cellular reconstruction methods, it could be possible to create a spore strain that would respond to mental signals.

>Advanced Psionic Imprinting
Slow
With the application of psionic imprinting you are able to influence and alter the state of matter using only focused and precise mental signals. Your thinkers believe this can be taken further, using more accurate signals and more precise manipulation methods to imprint more complex thoughts and ideas more quickly and easily, and at a greater range.

>Personal shielding
Slow
By further shrinking the emitters, your thinkers believe they may be able to eventually make them small enough to be equipped to the carapace of a drone, or to the surface of an armored suit. At this time it is mostly speculation and an eagerness to please mother beyond all reason, and you cannot be sure what the limitations may be, but the thinkers are sure they can do it.

>Shield dome
Slow
The opposite way of thinking as personal shielding, by scaling the shield emitters up further to a size that would be impossible to hold and power on a ship, your thinkers suspect they should be able to construct a defensive perimeter around a hive center protected by a powerful defensive shield. The thinkers that have proposed the idea seem to be certain in the failure of the other project, as they are of this one, and you have had to separate the quantum thinkers as they attempted to disprove each others’ theories more than develop their own.

>>1372024
The fast assault Cruiser and Battlecruiser has boarding pods but i agree with that we need a dedicated boarding ship.
And we can raid OQ in the systems that we have already scouted(like Reprive)
>>1372036
Today on spooky tales.
THE CAPTIVES THAT NEVER LEAVE.
They must really like that hot tub.

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>that feel when failled research.

So is this how the Union feel all the time?

>>1371984
Also QD, i fucked up when i ordered those Ambush fleets, they're supposed to be missile ambush fleets but i abbreviated.

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>>1372046
>Advanced Psionic Reading
Slow
With your new abilities growing, you continue to hone and develop more advanced methods of using your psionic network. Your thinkers believe that with more practice they should be able to delve deeper into the minds of non-hive life, digging past surface thoughts and emotions and into more detailed pieces of information without resorting to invasive neural interfaces.

>Atmospheric static generator
Medium (is done, but working on how it adjusts the Tower's cost in the new system)
By utilizing the natural friction of a sufficiently dense atmosphere against the surface of a capillary tower, the tower can be made to generate energy to feed itself and reduce its upkeep cost.

>Gravity thrusters
Slow
Similar in function to your Skid drive, the Gravity thrusters essentially surf along pre-existing gravity fields, increasing their performance when in close proximity to major sources of gravitational pull, be it a large celestial body, a star, a planet, an exceptionally large structure or group of structures, or the core of a gravity drive. While in deep space it becomes less effective, the law of universal gravitation means it never becomes totally useless, and when in close proximity to a powerful gravity source it should outperform most other thruster designs with ease.

Available research options

>Psionic Cannon prototype
Very slow/Very dangerous
Detailed accounts of several experiments show the slow progress of Project Godsplitter. The cannon itself is highly volatile, and even the smallest miscalculation often results in the destruction of the ship, as well as any nearby craft. It can only be equipped to a Hive ship's spinal mount, and requires a functional Void Shard as ammunition. At least a dozen testing sizes were atomized in testing the weapon, and in the end it appears The Gardener never quite perfected it.

>>1372049
They're not actually in the calculations, I just keep having them show up in the breakdown by accident. Just got rid of them so it should be fixed, sorry.

>>1372025
The first research failure ever?

Who forgot their Saturday goat sacrifices?

>>1372036
>Psionic Thermokinesis
>mildly dangerous
I wonder what thinker exploded.. hmmmm

>>1372061
>>Psionic Cannon prototype
I think it's time we started making plans for this. Not actually saying we should start now but we should negotiate with the Unity to set to set up a joint research lab with all the psionic shielding and cloaking we can to make a start.
Or something like that, I admit I don't fully understand how this could go wrong so how do we prepare for the worst?

>>1372068
I suspect void fuckery. In any case it was a good thing we decided to lift up some security mesuares for this kind of research.

>>1372049
It would be overplaying our hand if we don't know where the most valuable targets are up front, which we know ICly, and just go for what happens to have been written up already.

Tactics only work best once before the enemy learns, as using cloaked pod nukes showed. You want to hit and run all the production facilities at once.

>>1372083
By acquiring more planets and increasing our fleet. So we start to build it after we had finished stripping the Expanse from the Union.

>>1372083
Expect exploded planets on whichever system the cannon is researched.

>>1372083
The worst is not prepare-able against. That's the problem.

>>1372083
Or maybe we could get it from Earth or the Commonwealth.

>>1372083
>how do we prepare for the worst?

We don't. We can only prepare for the better result.

>>1372088
The primary objective of the raids isn't to damage her most valuable targets, it's to cause ship causalities that will slow down her industry due to replacing the ships.

>>1372106
that would only work if her industry is on par with our own but considering her size and age she probably considers ships as valuable as we consider drones.

>>1372106
That doesn't sound very effective, surely harnessing resource gathers and supply ships is the more traditional and effective tactic.

>>1372068
Sorry couldn't find any goats, though It'd be ok with sheep. Apparently I was wrong. Again sorry about that.

>>1372106
>>1372121
It's still a good idea to keep her on the back foot.
Every ship we force her to replace is a great way to weaken or slow the coming of the zergblob we all fear she'll throw at us.
And if we get lucky we might be able to find one of her shipyard planets and use one of our crust-cracker bombs on it.

>>1372123
Resource ships are a good target, but hive FTL makes retreat and/or reinforcement a bit too easy for the buggers.
Now, if we could blow up her nutrient production facilities...

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>>1372061
>be it a large celestial body, a star, a planet, an exceptionally large structure or group of structures, or the core of a gravity drive

Or a singularity projector!

>>1372121
>that would only work if her industry is on par with our own
She's slightly ahead of us due to multiple systems but it's irrelevant how large her industry is as long as we cause enough causalities that she struggles to rebuild and replace them.
>considering her size and age she probably considers ships as valuable as we consider drones.
We should use that disregard for ships to our advantage and hurt her before she realizes what we're doing.
>>1372123
The raiding ships can do that too, there's nothing holding them back from doing that.
I recall Reprive had mining ships so that should be our first target.

here's an interesting hard science channel I found you can watch while we wait for an update https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzuHxL5FD5U

>>1371977
>Mangus

>>1372144
Remember when we considered ourselves the coming zergrush? Great times.

>>1372144
Wait we don't have to play her game for this. Consider what we have that she doesn't:
1. Cloaking, she knows we have it but can't effectively deal with it yet.
2. Nukes, does she have them? Does she have defenses that can effectively stop them?
Idea: Cloaked kamikaze nuke pods attacking at irregular intervals.

>>1372106
>slow down her industry due to replacing the ships

You know what would slow that down much more?

Glassing the places that build the ships.

>>1372172
She doesn't even have missiles

>>1372172
I had that idea before, i thought up of a space minefield made up of nuclear pods that could deploy along the raiding fleets so that when the ships retreat and the OQ ships pursue they end up surrounded by nukes.

>>1372193
All of which will now detonate early and with very low impact due to the OQ's now ubiquitous swarms of drones that surround her ships to buffer against invisible bombs, unfortunately.

>>1372193
I was thinking more about the psychological benefits of such an attack. Image how such an attack would affect the mind of the Queen, never knowing when an attack would come and not understanding what was happening. It would put her on the defensive and give us more time to expand.

>>1372178
If you want to attack her production centers that's fine but you'll have to find them first. Until then you'll have to attack her ships to cause damage.
Actually we can do both, attack her fleets to force her to replace them, that causes her picket fleets to become thinner as long as we cause more casualties than what she can replace, then attack her production centers that will have weakened picket fleets then take her planets.

>>1372217
A buffer. Against nukes in space. That's how you get extra shrapnel.

>>1372226
>you'll have to find them first
We already did. We've sent pods to every single star system the OQ occupies. The Queen knows what's in them now. Docking pylons are pretty visible.

It's just that we the players don't know what teh Queen knows yet because the pastebin hasn't been updated in a good while.

>>1372222
>>1372229
It would be so much better to just deploy Missile Ambush Fleets or, even better, Obsidian Queen Harassment Fleets against her. They work more than once, and as I've been saying for threads and threads now could be effectively deployed to Mom's old world and hide among the rubble so as to be a persistent threat.

It's important that they be able to work more than once too, because the OQ can still detect our blink signatures and if we're just using pods then we'll run out eventually (and they're easily isolated and taken out with minimal damage to her forces).

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>>1372061
Gilliam frantically types across the console before him, running through security cameras and sensor systems as alarms blast in his ears and marines and PDF troopers scream military jargon at each other. Palmer seems stuck in some fugue state, staring at the aftermath of the destroyed lab on the screen. The door opens with a hiss to the control center as Captain Norris is carried in by the shoulder as he hops in one one leg, his other trailing blood from a shredded stump as the guards set him down on a table, one of them sweeping it clean with his arm and sending all manner of highly sensitive and extremely expensive instruments crashing to the floor to make room. Palmer seems to regain some level of attention as he observes the bleeding stump, and he and Gilliam both seem to inch forward as if to begin offering their medical advice, but the medical knowledge of the typical Union PDF trooper, while limited, is highly specialized. The guards quickly pull out a number of devices as one of them strips away the shredded, blood soaked cloth around the wound, and another takes a telescoping titanium rod and injects it into the stump as it sprays the shredded flesh with some manner of localized anesthetic and latches on to the bone with a firm click. Norris grits his teeth as his arm grabs a soldier at random by the collar and pulls him close.

"I want that thing deep fried!" He shouts. "We atomize it! Get the men organized into fire teams and set up a perimi-" He is cut off with a sharp, pain filled gasp as the telescoping rod extends a small branch out that plants onto the leg's upper thigh and a laser begins lancing off the shredded flesh into a clean, cauterized wound. The front of the laser jabbing the skin of the leg like a sewing machine as it injects another localized anesthetic as it progresses.

"Set up a perimeter." He finishes. "And you two chuclefucks!" He says as he points to Gilliam and Palmer. "You want to do research, you can poke the ashes we left in that lab. Live capture is off the table!"

cont.

>>1372059
Remind me later tonight and I'll sort that out.

>>1372068
Not the first, actually, but the first failure for a dangerous topic. You've had setbacks before but they often don't result in much of an issue.

>>1372251
Ooh, now we get to see if it's casually infectious or not.

>>1372250
I had actually forgotten about those fleets, yes its time for them to live up to their name. If we send the to harass her constantly it could buy us months to prepare or make her do something reckless.

>>1372236
Actually we do know of some systems we can attack, First landing, Jewel and Cluster.
There's also Waystation and drift we can colonize.

>>1372251
Oh boy it's time for space horror!!

>>1372251
R.I.P. Norris.
Your paranoia served you half as well as you deserved.

>>1372284
I kinda feel bad for him. It's not his fault that Killinger's a cunt and Windsor's a crystal-infected crazyman.

>>1372291
We could offer him a replacement leg. I'm sure that would go over just fine.

>>1372251
Did any of our drones make it into the lab? Cause this would be a great time to make use of the panic and chaos.

>>1372303
Nope. Our only asset we have there is Gilliam

>>1372303
>Did any of our drones make it into the lab?

Nope we are going to help the terrorist attack against the company producing the smiths.

>>1372251
I wonder if there's any plausible way to get any of the DNA samples of the drone this thing was puppeting from the inside, or from the Thing itself, into the mouth of our parasite inside Gilliam to analyze.

>>1372310
And the parasite inside Gilliam.

>>1372310
And the symbiot inside him.

>>1372250
The OQ raiding fleets design has a severe lack of defense since it only has stealth but it's alpha damage is great, i think if we pair it up with the fast assault we could have it's missiles and ramming ships be the spear tip of an attack while the fast assault blinks in and attacks the confused enemy for cleanup.

>>1372277
My favorite!

>>1372315
there's a whole planet of them so yeah we can

>>1372317
>>1372318
lol that is exactly what I meant. I kinda consider them one unit now since once that parasite is out Gilliam is no longer our agent

>>1372313
I still think it's too risky for us to send traceable hive agents into the lab. For all we know the terrorists have been infiltrated and they'll expect a hive attack. We've destroyed so many Union labs they may actually be starting to learn from the disasters (unlikely, but possible).

I think Theseus would be a much better bet for this attack. We can offer discreet support to Theseus, but it makes more sense for an AI to attack what is, ostensibly, an anti-AI research facility and gives us plausible deniability when it comes to involvement. And I'm sure Theseus is at least as interested in the research done there on Smiths as we are.

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>tfw you stumble upon a Hive Queen Quest thread but haven't caught up with the story

>>1372331
that's assuming we didn't make the drone addictive

>>1372321
With our new and improved psionic cloaking we may be able to have our stealth raiding fleets given much more viability with "hit and run" attacks than they previously had.

>>1372277
Problem is that this time we aren't the horror.

>>1372333
I know i wrote drones but i meant to say our hybrib agents. We manage to smuggle some flies if anons are iffty in helping then we can alway do our on scoutting mission.

>>1372343
Even better we are the hero. Time to scav that freezing maxine into a gun. Or just grab a flamethrower.

I wonder when are we going to get call from this lab to our embassy.

>>1372352
I'd love to be a hero. The problem is, the Union is almost certainly not going to tell us they've fucked up in another secret lab yet again - and this time in a heavily Urban environment. If the situation devolves to the point where they're asking for our help we may be reaching "glass the planet" levels of danger and infection (assuming the Thing is infectious).

>>1372321
It's not meant for outright attack, it's meant to infest a system and make it utterly inimical to the OQ, hence the high alpha. We've got other ship designs for outright attacks.

>>1372327
>there's a whole planet of them
We're talking about this one thing. Not what others may or may not exist in large numbers in uncharted places.

is anyone outside the facility aware of what's going in here yet? Cause I'd i'm thinking defense in depth should be the name of the game here.

>>1372364
Never, since this thing isn't even a drone and they don't have clearance to talk about it.

>>1372371
Huh? Is it meant to break OQ picket fleets or something?

>>1372251
>NULE THE PLACE FROM ORBIT!

>>1372251
This thing was hiding inside a fake hive drone, how long until it's hiding inside a fake human? Someone has to think through the PTSD and realize the possibility and it might as well be the guy with calming parasite drugs in his blood.

>>1372369
I was talking in making Gilliam a hero. Of course he isn't prepared to deal with this kind of situation but at least with us he can manage to survive.

But that depends if we want to stop it.

>>1372374
you do remember the last thread we had with these guys and that there's a hive of them frozen on a world in the expanse we even offered Lyle to go scout it for us?

>>1372382
Did you not read the thread where Gilliam said to contact the Hive and ask them questions?
Also has anyone noticed we're not even at the main event. BQ spores haven't consumed the facility yet.

>>1372291
Windsor has never been crystal influenced or he wouldn't have tried to shut down the Tartarus reactor.

>>1372369
I hope it is and I hope this goes extra critical because I want Killinger to personally eat his big stacked plate of won't bow bullshit over their labs screwing with expanse stuff that we literally just warned them about. There couldn't BE a better timing for a major lab fuck up in a Union urban center. Our espionage systems couldn't even stage something this perfectly timed and disconnected from ourselves.

>>1372383
And generally increase her cost of maintaining forces anywhere.

For instance, Mom's old world is a valuable mining system where the OQ has a metal-harvesting operation on the scale of ours at the Skyl megastructure. We've thus far only seen non-combat mining ships there. JUICY TARGET.

The idea is that you blink an OQ Harassment Fleet into a system that you want to disrupt, and then (due to their stealth and missile compliments) from that point on if ANYTHING goes ANYWHERE without a hefty escort it'll get killed. Suddenly every single routine patrol has to be beefed up to have a cruiser or two incorporated. Logistical ships all need escorts. Or they get destroyed by our stealthy ships.

Reduced efficiency and increased costs of operation on her part, minimal investment and maintenance from our end.

In a sense it would break her picket fleets too though. She's sat on her worlds without competition for a while, and gotten lazy and weak from it.

>>1372415
It was a joke, anon. He was crazy enough to approve the development of the Tartarus Reactor though. Along with all the other research projects we've been blowing up.

>>1372284
>>1372291
Reminder that we had multiple opportunities to let him roast the thing before it got to this point by eating the drone; if we had listened to our own damn advice things wouldn't have gotten this bad. Even if it had breached they wouldn't have had such a ridiculous advantage if we had acted faster to oppose it.

Mark my words, this is the beginning of a major pain in the ass that the hive as a whole is going to have to put forth considerable time and effort into containing and eradicating so that it doesn't threaten the rest of the galaxy.

>>1372419
I just want to protect our clones drones and Gilliam. A mother should protect it's children even the adopted ones.

>>1372450
My plan in not stopping it soon was because i wanted to Gilliam see how the Union is way abobe it's head. And now we can start helping him so we can increase our hold on him. Turning him into something more then a sleeping agent.

>>1372433
So the OQ harassment fleet is meant to hide in a system and attack any stragglers? How would you send in reinforcements when you lose ships?
I still think it has more use as alpha damage but this function is useful too.

>>1372451
I always love hearing stuff like this. Some anons complain that it makes the most sense for us to only care about our survival, bu just remember our first choice besides which planet to start on:whether to eat the thinker we started with or attempt to save it. And we have roughly kept the mentality we had with that choice.

>>1372419
You want to make this even worse? Then bring the Valen the were helping Killinger to pressure him to work with us. Hell at this point the only way he could move forward with any plans he has is if he works since we are the only one who could figure out that his main opponent is Void controlled.

>>1372450
really? how is this thing a threat to the galaxy?

>>1372480
Agreed.

>>1372450
Like I give a fuck about a Union planet getting infested or glassed. Our exchange with parliament and how cuntish they're all being has actually made me take Anons' side and say that I'd be quite fine if the Commonwealth were the only human government around.

>>1372475
They're really pretty cheap. If they get worn away then it's not that much a loss for what we'll gain. If they need to be refreshed then we'll blink more in the system. They'll more than make back their cost in damage to the OQ, and that's how wars are won.

It's also been designed such that if you equip them with shields/multilayer shields (at least on the Anti-Hive fleets) they'll fair well in open combat. That's a distinct variant from the stealthy guerilla version though.

Does anyone realize that the Ion Cannons are perfect for use against the Black Queen's ships?

>>1372484
If he eats enough and increase his mass he may leave orbit as a giant planet eating living thing.

And i guess there is plenty of mass in Path.

>>1372484
It was asleep, and we could have killed it then

>>1372413
>yfw the spores mimic the material they consume so you can't tell they're there until they reach a specific transformation triggering scale
>yfw the spores eat into mineral veins to sprout upwards at other locations ala fungi if they've been given enough time
>yfw the spores get carried on winds and infect the lungs of any unprotected organism until they reach a cordyceps phase
>yfw that cordyceps phase is crystals
I've anticipated many scenarios for the spores.
Hopefully they are not a disappointment.

>>1372483
That's a good idea.

>>1372510
That sounds stupid. How would anything manage that?

>>1372490
>If they need to be refreshed then we'll blink more in the system.
I guess that'll work. So build 1 or 2 for every system we want harassed and 1 for each 2/3 Fast assault fleets to act as alpha damage, how does that sound?

>>1372480
Well at first was more so we could get data and we started with a extra drone. But it became one of the Red Queens main traits.

>>1372505
How? The electronic-scrambling function is nulled by-and-large by virtue of her ships being organic, just like it is for us.

What's really perfect against the Black Queen's ships is boarding parties of Heavy Warriors and Royal Guards, and Apex Royal Guards. She has no answer to our Heavy Warriors' armor, and she definitely can't do anything against a Siren Maw and/or Psionic Disruptor.

>>1372521
Don't know. But seeing this thing are you sure it couldn't manage to do it?

>>1372523
Anything that involves building more ships sounds great to me.

>>1372473
He already does everything we say at a thought, how much more control can we really get over him?

>>1372484
>>1372490
I strongly doubt that these things will be constrained to just the planet or system they're on, or even Union territory once they figure out how to get space and FTL travel from the hive genetic info they assimilated. Hell, they're adaptive enough that they might just generate those abilities independently once they face enemies that can do it.

>>1372532
Our ships, according to QD, are still affected by the same shit regular ships are vulnerable to (with the exception of hacking) due to heavily relying mechanical parts.

>>1372513
not only does this not answer the question it also assumes that we all knew it wasn't a hive drone before it woke up.

>>1372545
That reminds me, does anyone want to build my attack/support fleets or should the design be scrapped and forgotten?

>>1372521
Also i may o may not have being playing dead space three during this week and that got me thinking.

>>1372549
>At the very least get a fleet ready to nuke the place from orbit, unless you want the VOID to rip anothet hole in thr universe?

>>1372532
While I like the idea of Royal Guards a lot, especially for high value targets or human interaction, they're too expensive for us to send aboard BQ ships as primary boarders. Our heavies backed up by standard warriors with improved armor and/or blasters would probably be the way to go. They are much, much, cheaper than the elite "royal" guards and will be more effective in numbers.

I agree psionic disruptors is an excellent weapon against the OQ, but they're difficult to deploy and will be likely be at their most effective for a few battles before the OQ starts adapting or counters.

>>1372413
Did you? He was told that he doesn't have clearance to do so. Not allowed.

>>1372532
you forget the first time we boarded the OQs ship and are heavy warriors died from acid glue

>>1372584
Why we should probably get some Unity/Heretic Drones to join us next time we attempt to raid a Hive ship. I think those acid-flies were anti-biological, probably won't have too much of an effect against mechanical drones

>>1372584
Or we need a big fly-swatter. Bunch of lightning gun equipped wasps would probably be good for that

>>1372584
I thought they died because we were trying to take the relay alive?
Actually we should really get another sample of that acid glue, board a ship and let her hit us with it then just walk the drones into the labs.

>>1372597
I doubt that, considering that we most likely use the same acid as the OQ does since it's base hive tech.
Do remember that our acid basically did in Lyle's dropsuit the 2nd time we fought him back on Leeland.

>>1372549
Oh please, you're making way to big a deal out of this shit before we have any evidence along those lines. What about a twisted drone carcass makes you think this shit can figure out FTL? We need more investigation before we go into galaxy-ending shadowruns mode.

>>1372584
Yeah, after rampaging through half her ship because nothing except that could stop them.

>>1372572
You're completely right, Royal Guards should only ever be used sparingly (like 1:20 ratio with Heavy warriors, at max). However, I do think we really need them or Ghost Beetles/Wraith Beetles in our boarding teams.

Because all of our tech advantage counts for shit when the OQ starts stocking psionic disruptors on her drones (which we know she has), unless we have elite Q-Brained units in the mix that can take out targets with disruptors.

>>1372597
Acid weapons are a anti armor weapon regardless if it is tech or biotechnology

We used it against Lyle when we first started but phased it out as we got other anti armor weapons

>>1372597
Personal shielding should fix that.

>>1372617
Don't white crystal relays counter psionic disruption? Could equip our drones with that.

>>1372597
Only that the bitch queen has already faced UNITY before. So she will probably adapt.

Next time don't board unless is suicide units that explode when they die in a big boom enough to damage the bitch Hive Ship.

Actually... we should have a few dedicated kamikaze units...

>>1372572
the siren adaptation we got is more useful since it causes the drones to reset
>>1372549
that's not really a galactic threat or even much of a worry

>>1372637

The best option is hybrid units, half humans are most likely to tolerate not hearing us, and we can give them parasites with crystal relays.

>>1372617
Technically we don't need quantum brains in every drone, we just need Thinkers at close-range sent into battle. Ideally with moderate relays on the Thinkers, since that boosts their range when under jamming.

Obviously all with kamikaze acid sacs in their lobes.

>>1372617
So, you know in a theoretical scenario where there's a boarding party (which are very expensive) that confronted with an OQ Psionic Disruptor...all our drones are suddenly almost dead.

Unless they've got something with them with a Q-Brain, in which case it can try to take out the OQ's Disruptor Drone...which is unlikely to be successful because it'll be 1 drone versus the OQ's Disruptor and support. Provided our Q-Brain equipped drone is very potent on its own, it's possible it'll manage to eliminate the target (for instance, a Royal Guard).

However, if the Q-Brain equipped drone also has its own psionic disruptor then the playing field is even, and essentially it's just the OQ Disruptor Drone versus our Disruptor Drone. Which is one of the reasons why the Apex Royal Guard is designed to be the nastiest motherfucker around, because we have a tech advantage on her so 1v1 it should beat almost anything.

>>1372560
To be honest I hate most ship and fleet names due to how they are named and how disjointed the fleet design is.
>>1372549
I highly doubt they are that advanced.
>>1372541
Pretty certain that sort of tech would let us break the game.
>>1372562
>playing Dead Space 3
What are you doing with your life anon?

>over an hour since last update

QD is kill
no

>>1372651
It's cheaper to put Q-Brains into a handful of elite drones sprinkled through our forces than it is to put Thinkers with moderate relays in. It's also more useful to have combat-oriented drones with extra gubbins than non-combat drones with extra gubbins that have to be protected.

>>1372662
Or we could use moderate relays since they were confirmed in the Nowhere crisis that they are the counter to psionic disrupters.

>>1372662
We usually send a few ghost beetles in with our standard boarders if I remember correctly. They have quantum brains.

By the way, now that we've unlocked psionic cloaking why don't we add that to our standard ghost beetle build? The upgrade should be capable of cloaking individual drones since it cloaked individual phantoms.

>>1372662
Or you could use a white crystal relay, which i recall acts as a signal booster and helps alleviate Psionic disruption, so then we can have our drones remove the source of the disruption.

>>1372663
>To be honest I hate most ship and fleet names due to how they are named and how disjointed the fleet design is.
I don't blame you, it's a mess.

>>1372637
I think the advancements from the White Crystals got incorporated into our drones by default, making them more resistant but not immune to jamming.

It's kind of a terrifying proposition to me though to allow that possibility at all. Remember how powerless we were against some random fucking fish on Huron that had the Siren Maw? Disruptors are like that x10, and if the OQ can use some on our Heavy Warriors or other advanced bugs and capture them for study then we'll lose our tech advantage far quicker than anticipated, genetic countermeasures can always be overcome with time and effort.

>>1372679
If we learned anything at all the Nowhere crisis taught us that putting relays everywhere is extremely dangerous when dealing with anything void corrupted as they all lead directly back to the Queen.

>>1372676
>Fielding thinkers in a drone battle
I don't understand why you would do this. Why not equip a moderate relay to a drone fit for battle? The relay will reach after all.

>>1372683
Too expensive and unnecessary for widespread deployment. We should have a leader-ghost beetle variant (such as the Wraith Beetle) with it.

>>1372676
>it's cheaper
We don't actually track drone costs anymore, so that's irrelevant, but also doubtful. One Thinker with a moderate relay can control all drones in the immediate area.

All the quantum brained units would be fighting by themselves, with no help from the comatose others that lacked Q-brains. Thinkers are the only kind of drone that can command others.

Outsourcing the thinking to Thinkers is just sensible specialization. They can be protected as easily as drones protect their eyes. Or you can keep them inside honey pot sacs of the larger drones.

>>1372696
Are you dense?
Those were Advanced relays that fucked us over, Moderate relays are fine.

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>>1372251
"I'd say that's perfectly reasonable at this point." Gilliam says. Palmer looks at the screen of the charred body in the lab's containment room as it smolders, and Norris pounds the table in pain, making the lab techs jump.

"God damn!" He shouts as the burnt flesh of his leg falls off as the laser cuts through the last of it, and a rubber lined metal cup plants itself firmly over the stump with the sound of suction and a loud thump as the bolt attached to the bone. The telescoping rod extends out, and the combat medic attending to it twists it as a curved carbon fibre foot unfolds. You can see on the side as the trooper moves away a set of detailed instructions written along its side, with the bold print lettering "Union standard issue Trench Foot Mk VII" near the heel. Norris shifts himself on the table and is helped to his feet by his men as he tests the temporary leg, grimacing in pain as he eases his weight on it. You can see the ring of the anchor is lined with auto-injectors, likely filled with more pain killers, and he takes out a small bag holding another injector and holds it to his neck for several seconds before tossing it away.

"We need to set up our defences for whatever this thing is planning." He says quickly. "I want you two to figure out what you can from that corpse. I want to know how to kill it and anything you can tell me about how it may behave, or what it could be after."

"I doubt a dead body could offer us much in that regard." Palmer says.

"Well you've got a dead one." Norris replies. "Work with what you got. Until then, nobody goes anywhere alone. This thing's already been missing for a good while now and we need to get on the offensive." Palmer and Gilliam share a concerned look as the lab techs around the room seem frozen with fright. The guards are hauling about various weapon systems and defencive equipment as several begin setting up a turret in the hall outside, while others begin opening crates of ammunition and heavy weapons. Several activate plasma throwers as they begin to glow with heat and plasma shotguns hum to life as they begin to cycle their charges as they build up pressure. Others unpack armor and move-assist packs, strapping them to the small hooked rings along their suits as they change the filter units on their rebreathers and perform startup checks on their thermal visors and motion trackers.

>Let Palmer examine the corpse while Gilliam examines other data
>Help Palmer with the biological study
>Other (write in)

>>1372672
Super sorry, had to do something real quick.

>>1372617
It was mentioned by QD that hive DNA triplexes have all the genetic data for all the stuff we know how to do, they just only have the relevant and necessary parts activated for the purposes of any given drone.

In other words, the fact that the OQ (or whoever's drone got eaten) has FTL at all creates the possibility that something that assimilated its genetics might be able to reproduce that effect, with time.

>>1372643
>hey, if shit goes south they might be able to freely spread throughout star systems with impunity
>nah that's not really much of a danger nothing to worry about there

Mark my words, these guys will become a pain in the ass if they aren't swiftly dealt with.

>>1372683
we should also consider adding our holo tech on to them since it can be used to for better stealth
we could also modify their eyes with halo tech that would allow them to magnify their vision and see in different light spectrums heck if we wanted to go full anime we could give a similar adaptation to our titans and let them shoot lasers from their eyes

>>1372706
Seems like a dumb idea to me too, hence why I suggested a combat drone with a moderate relay instead.

>>1372717
One Thinker with a moderate relay can control all the drones within its non-jammed range, sure. Which would not include the area around whatever's jamming our drones, which is where we would need units fighting in the first place.

>>1372695
I recall there were 2 things we got from crystal research, a passive that applied to our thinkers and made them smarter, and the ability to make white crystals and implant them into drones.
And again, i believe implanting a white crystal on a drone allows that drone to nullify the disruption, acting as a beacon of clarity for other drones.

>>1372721
>>Let Palmer examine the corpse while Gilliam examines other data

>>1372721
>Let Palmer examine the corpse while Gilliam examines other data
The thing(hurhur)might not fully be dead, and i'd prefer for the head scientist not to die while we are occupied.

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>>1372721
Do they have mop drones here too that they can use cameras on to scout through the ventilation ducts for their quarry?

>Help Palmer with the biological study

>>1372747
>Help Palmer with the biological study
Whoops wrong vote

>>1372721
>Help Palmer with the biological study

>>1372745
Sounds perfect for putting into Elite/Regular Royal Guards then.

>>1372721
>Help Palmer with the biological study

>>1372721
>Let Palmer examine the corpse while Gilliam examines other data
I'd rather not risk losing Gilliam to the off chance that it's still alive and/or dangerous.

>>1372721
>Let Palmer examine the corpse while Gilliam examines other data.

Time to see what this bacteria reacts and if it's faster to burn it or kill it with meds.

>>1372721
>>Help Palmer with the biological study

>>1372759
yeah but both were implied to be passives and our already applied to all our drones at the vary lest no cost was ever add to them

>>1372737
>within its non-jammed range
No, they can communicate successfully with a moderate relay over all drones in the immediate area. Without moderate relays, Thinkers are iffy, but with moderate relays, they're much more useful.

>>>/tg/48001027
>Moderate relays will have greater success, but are limited to tactical range, essentially, and can only effectively communicate with drones within the immediate area.

>>1372766
It most likely is still alive and Palmer will try preserve it.

>>1372774
>bacteria
Anon we have no clue what it is.

>>1372721
>Help Palmer with the biological study
see if we can slip a sample to our parasite to study.

>>1372721
>Nuke from orbit.

>>1372721
>>Help Palmer with the biological study
Not much else Gil can do in this situation.

>>1372721
>>Help Palmer with the biological study
Have the Queen assist. Palmer has no fucking clue about what could kill this thing. We are way better equipped to actually provide somewhat useful advice.

>>1372778
No, read it again >>1372745
Our drones have the passive that makes them smarter but we haven't built a single white crystal since we got the tech.

>>1372737
Or we can just use hybrid that don't look guman at all, no need to use thinkers.

We have an elite unit of non human looking yibrids that use the jamming and have parasites with crystal relays to deal with Queen Bitch.

>>1372721
>Let Palmer examine the corpse while Gilliam examines other data

>>1372721
>Help Palmer with the biological study

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

>>1372789
well it did dislike the Defcon spray or whatever its called also having a mix of plant and animal cells maybe its some type of space fungus
>>1372804
i read it just fine i'm just saying the tech was never given a price and it improved our abilities so logically we just upgraded all our drones with it because why wouldn't we.

>>1372834
Could it be the Black Queen's spores?

>>1372781
>and can only effectively communicate with drones within the immediate area.
Okay, so now we're back to needing a Thinker w/ Moderate Relay with every boarding party, or other operational group. 108N for a non-combat drone that needs protection.

For that cost we could instead add Q-Brains to 13 drones. Supposing we only equip elite/particularly potent drones with Q-Brains, and those drones are otherwise designed for combat also so they're contributing positively when jamming isn't an issue, I'd say Q-Brains on elite units still comes out as more economical.

>>1372789
The way it reacted to the chemical spray when it was in containment suggest it might be a kind of bacteria.

Alright i was looking for the white crystal description and found something interesting.

Thread 26
>Your Translation of the ancient star chart found on Raligha has been complete. When you noticed the similarities between the language on the chart and the Skyl language, you expected it to have boosted your efforts, but they do not seem to be related. The characters are almost identical, but there is no correlation at all between their meanings. It is as if the characters were lifted from another source and repurposed.
>The chart itself is a chronicle. An overview of the history of a great stellar empire dating back for thousands of years. Most of the inscriptions show a brief history of the empire and its endless war against an alien threat. The war was fought for countless centuries until a brief respite was achieved, but it was clear that the war was long from over. This ship was built to carry a thousand queens from a thousand dynasties away from the every encroaching front of the war, and here it landed, nearly seventy thousand years ago, from your estimate.

>At the end of the tablet is a series of instructions on accessing the ship's systems, as well as a series of coordinates that seem to be nearby, just on the far side of the neighboring nebula.
Apparently there's a secret on the other side of the cradle.

>>1372813
I'm really fine with that solution too. In fact, I really love the idea of deploying squads of fuckoff-strong hybrids or chimeras that don't give a fuck about maintaining human appearances. I think it'd be awesome to read scenes in which they're involved, and that's worth just about any nutrient cost in my book.

>>1372834
Actually there is a price for the white crystals in the paste bin under tech.
50N 10M
And we haven;t built a single one.

>>1372834
>>1372842
I get the impression it's some sort of gestalt organism that shows traits of every form of life it's absorbed. That's how it can display elements of fungal and plant life while simultaneously taking on attributes hive life.

>>1372843
Actually most disruptor are short ranged enough that "immediate area" is large enough to reach a drone outside of the the disrupted area.

Holy crap, do we only have 2 planets? We might need to set up more hives to get our economy and industry really rolling. We've been building tall but not wide enough.

>>1372854
And we still have a homeworld to liberate, which Ive mentioned in a previous thread and couldnt find the source for. thanks senpai

>>1372842
I hope not.

>>1372872
Amen, part of the problem with our rate of expansion up until now was that we were limited by our need to stay under the radar of the Union and other space powers, but that time has passed now. At this point we can settle any and each world in the expanse at our pleasure.

>>1372875
Don't think it's the homeworld but it's definitely connected to the old queens.

>>1372856

Yes. It solves the jaming problem and is something the bitch doesn't have. Plus the parasite can totally destroy thr unit if it's captured... if we add that option.

We don't want Wuern bitch copying it. Plus if they totally look like bugs there is less chances for humans to find they are half humans.

>>1372872
Let's colonize Waystation and drift then.

>>1372904
Drift is Black Queen territory and Waystation is already colonized by us.

>>1372904
>>1372884
Yep, we gotta colonize. Its like we are at lategame tech while everyone else is still in earlygame only having 1-2 bases, good army but small max industrial capacity.

We gotta do this while we can, ain't gonna have time for it when the war with OQ really kicks off

>>1372915
It is? Pastebin just has
>Drift – A rocky, metal rich rogue planet set adrift in deep space. It is covered in kilometer wide trenches and fissures in its crust that run the length of continents, which are filled with exposed metal deposits and ruined hive structures.
What forces does she have there?

>>1372915
We should start building colonizing fleets. Also if we help the Valen with their profits maybe we will manage to speed up the decision to give the hive the expanse. They were also already leaving tanahauser/kerikshakar already.

>>1372915
When did we get waystation?

>>1372843
>108N
Bugga what. A Thinker with a moderate relay is 56N to lay. 57N if you add acid glands.

And it would be capable of controlling a great deal more than 13 drones.

>>1372904
Problem with those worlds is that they have no environment or biosphere of their own, and the hive operates by taming an existing ecosystem and learning how to cultivate biomass from it. Hence why we use almost exclusively electrosynthesis on Leeland and good photosynthesis based lifeforms on Raligha. We couldn't even plant an ecosystem on either of those planets as neither of them have a sun, so we need to focus on a planet with an existing biosphere, like Darwin to really and truly settle it.

>>1372949
They both have metals however, which we should get.

>>1372938
When we blinked a pod in to scout the planet it's flash was spotted by her fleet. I'm uncertain how large the fleet there is though.

>>1372959
Oh absolutely, but we need biomass as much as we need metal so we ought to focus on bringing in both wherever we can.

>>1372843
We'd definitely have to put explosive glands at a bare minimum on each moderate relay drone. If the OQ has disruptors or other corrupting bullshit it may be able to compromise the moderate relay or seize it, and then use it to fuck with the advanced relays which would lead to our whole network and the queen.

I still think it's risky, but if we really want to make this many moderate relays and have them actively boarding enemy vessels we need redundant self-destruct mechanisms to ensure there is zero possibility of them being captured or infected.

>>1372940
We don't actually need fleets for colonizing. Any fleet will do but we have to actually colonized the system first.

>>1372949
Yes, this exactly. Although in the long run we could create a biosphere and run it with hive ecosystem. Something to think about later.

>>1372959
Yes but we also need N and more industry of all sorts, warriors don't grow from rocks after all. Atleast I hope not.

>>1372978
*fleets made for colonizing to colonize planets

>>1372976
>>1372976
>or seize it, and then use it to fuck with the advanced relays which would lead to our whole network and the queen.
That's not a thing that can happen. Only advanced relays can be exploited to jam the entire network. Moderate relays don't "lead to" the advanced relays any more than a regular drone's basic relay does, since both are in communication with the Advanced ones.

>>1372949
or we could make a specialized drone that can naturally make the food we need and then attach it to a fusion reactor it could use the energy gained from the fusion reactor to make the food we need we wouldn't even need a sun and if we really need lighting we could just make a bioluminescent hive creep varent

Oh you know what? This discussion has got me thinking. We could build shit right up in orbit, since we rely on photosynthesis for some of our income. Think craftworlds or habitat stations, we could put our farms in ships for even more income.

We could also try out a dyson sphere. If that is anywhere near plausible in the future.

>>1372995
If you say so...

If our advanced relays can completely block out "corrupted" moderate relays from our own hive or keep them from effecting drones in the system I don't have a major concern about including moderate relay drones in boarding parties besides cost.

>>1372995
Well, its still good to be able to self destruct right? Like in the scenario that filthy humans get their hands on our relays, we wouldn't want them to try researching us would we?

>>1373007
maybe start with o'neil cylinders but with our space city tech we're heading in the right direction at least

>>1373022
Naturally. Plasma grenades for everyone!

We don't want the OQ reverse engineering heavy armor, thermal blades, or vibro blades from our drones after all.

OK i finally found the white crystal description.

>Psionic fortification
A strange mixture of organic components assembled into a crystalline matrix, the strange white crystals not only can serve as a kind of memory storage device, but also as a component in a psionic relay. When incorporated into a drone, it replaces the portion of the brain maintaining the psionic link to the queen and serves as a mixture of fuse and signal booster, allowing the relay to broadcast to drones suffering from psionic jamming, and can protect itself from jamming by cutting off its ability to receive thoughts.
The process of installation does not cost anything, but requires a white crystal be implanted into the selected relay to function.

So basically a white crystal drone allows it to boost our orders to nullify any drones suffering from psionic disruption, however from what i understand it can't protect itself so it has to either stay out of range or be preordered to signal boost if it encounters psionic disruption.

>>1373022
Sounds good to me. We have too much juicy tech we don't want other factions getting their hands (or claws) on.

>>1373023
We don't even need to rely on shitty old fashioned centrifugal force to generate artificial gravity anymore though, we can just build fuck huge space cities hundreds of kilometers long if we want.

>>1373023
sadly I doubt we'll ever get to the point of building megastructures since it would break the game.
if we ever got to the point where we could starlift we would be able to out grow every faction we know

>>1372996
We have those.
>>1373007
And those.

They're basically fusion farms and solar collectors. Fusion farms being more efficient, since obviously they're much closer to the deliberately-controlled fusion reaction than the solar collectors can be to the uncontrolled reaction in the sun.

>>1373043
Actually we could create a megastructure with the Skyl ringworld debris if we had the right tech and do it in a timely manner.

>>1373043
megastructures didn't save the Skyl.

>starlift
I don't think megastructures imply being able to do that either, whatever that is.

>By the time i found the white crystal description the discussion for what to do against psionic disruption was already over.
God dammit.

>>1373063
Star lifting is fancy term for manipulating stars to do thing. Star mining is one of form of star lifting that the Union is technically not even doing right.

>>1373063
it's basically using a dyson sphere to harvest a sun of its metals and helium to give you an almost limitless supply of building material
>>1373051
tech doesn't really matter to megastructures we could build one today with our current technology we just like the manpower to do it

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>>1372721
>Help Palmer with the biological study

Several guards, now faceless within their combat hardsuits, escort Gilliam and Palmer out of the control room as the both of them carry a number of crates filled with various lab instruments. As they move down the hall you see a number of stationary turrets running through their startup sequences and motion trackers being installed along the walls.

The lab is covered in blood. Human red, and a more sickly black, almost like ink, coating much of the space around the charred behemoth. Its multitude of legs are outstretched and contorted in gnarled clusters like mangled tree roots and it smells like an animal caught inside a burning tire. Palmer and Gilliam cover their faces and pull out a set of rebreathers as they approach what was once an airlock and unfold a pair of basic hazmat suits from their crates.

"First impression?" Gilliam asks. Palmer looks at the body for a long moment.

"We don't know enough yet for an estimation but... Some kind of hive parasite?"

"What do you mean?"

"Humans can get lice that lay eggs in our hair and feed on our blood. Valen have an animal almost like a coconut crab that does something similar and nests in the gills. The taidaren could be considered to actually be parasites, and despite it often being a bad idea to mistakenly compare alien life to known biology, Earth ants and other colony superorganisms all have predators that mimic a member of the collective to feed upon its other members with impunity." Palmer says. "If we scale up the concepts of biology to include the entire hive, rendering individual drones to a position more akin to organs or body cells, such a predator could be considered a parasite."

"That would mean it can somehow mimic the hive's method of biological IFF." Gilliam replies as he pulls out several surgical implements from his crate. "Which is quite the accomplishment given we can't even identify how their method of communication works. Leading theory from the Clark expedition was radio signals and sonic vibrations."

"Both totally unfounded." Palmer says. "And yes, I read the papers. Dr.Seiner had a wide range of theories providing a rather comprehensive explanation of how little he knew about their species beyond cursory observation. With the observation we have seen so far, and the ambient recordings provided from their arrival on Gemini and even Seiner's field recordings, there is no way they are producing sufficient sonic or radio signals to transmit the data they are clearly sharing. That, plus a number of other more peculiar incidents." He says.

"I'm not sure what you mean." Gilliam says. Palmer looks back at him as he carries a long tripod, assembling it over the corpse as a portable bioscanner flashes to live.

"What, you don't think Windsor would assign me all this and not send me at least the basic lab reports on the relevant topics?" He answers, his suit muffled with his breathing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0U1P4lzkY4

>>1373085
IT AINT DEAD DIMWIT

>>1373085
hu very interesting so its like the head fungus we encountered when we were a new hive i wonder why it didn't respond to our signal is it defective from its time in the ice or is it specialized to prey on a specific hive signal from birth?

>>1373137
If the drone could respond to a signal then it would have shutdown from the parasite trying to control it.

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>>1373109
Hehehehehe

>>1373137
Not sure what it'd gain from doing so. We would easily be able to tell it had intelligence of it's own. If the theory's right, it likely tries to pretend it be an unobtrusive drone as far as the other drones are concerned.

>>1373137
Could be either of those things. But remember we didn't pick up any kind of psionic signal from it whatsoever. Even less than we pickup from the blind or regular creatures. So it may be that it has a form of psionic cloaking similar to the phantoms if it's an actual hive parasite. I doubt it's a parasite on hives, though. Palmer is just talking out his ass. We know way more about the situation than he does. I do wonder what the Barren (reborn) queen will think about this given her long memory.

>>1373155
I was thinking more of the charred dog corpse that they dragged back from the Norway camp

>>1373085
>music selection
Here we go.

>>1373085
Lol knew it the inside isn't burnt so it's inside is creating a new body for the rest of the living mass.

>>1373171
I was lazy and I kept thinking of someone sticking their hands in too deep.

>>1373149
it's not a drone though and i meant more like the parasite hijacks a drone's psychic impression and implants it on its offspring then the new parasite would be able to pass off as one of the drones but wouldn't respond to other queens signals

>>1373185
It was a good scene no doubt, but it showed how deep it spread and then head crab happens and it just wack

>>1373166
Psionic cloaking is unlikely. Psionic insulation is the more likely scenario.

>>1373166
that's true but it gets my world building mind going thinking that there might have been a species of hive that could make parasitic queens like real ants can it's unlikely but still fun to speculate about

>>1373085
Palmer gestures to several of the guards standing by, each aiming some manner of weapon, be it plasma thrower, shotgun, or rail rifle.

"Keep an eye on this thing." He says. "The outer shell is roasted but we can't be sure what the insides look like until we crack it open." He turns back to Gilliam as he walks back to retrieve more equipment from the crates while Gilliam places the surgical implements on a table, each one far larger and more robust than any human surgery would require, and from your estimation they seem to be intended for operations on valen or large animals, judging by the implements that seem almost wholly dedicated to penetrating a hardened armored shell like a set of large, pneumatic lobster shell crackers with a set of diamond circular saws built in.

"I didn't exactly have the time to get up to date on all the things you were cleared to know, and honestly I don't know much more myself." Gilliam says. Palmer shakes his head as he pulls out a portable laser drill typically used for asteroid prospecting.

"I know enough to start putting things together. It's not that we just don't know how the hive communicates, it's that we don't know how to detect it. I suspect they are using some manner of transmission we just don't comprehend. Given the size of their sphere of influence, it is entirely possible they have some manner of interstellar communication beyond our understanding. To them, it may very well be a kind of direct mind-to-mind communication, if it has enough bandwidth." He seems to ponder for a moment, his gloved hand rubbing his chin through the rubber of his suit. "Perhaps a kind of advanced quantum entanglement. That could explain the need for a centralized authority, if every drone or local colony is connected to the queen, they could support the cerebral offloading seen in the bodies we recovered. It could be most of their brains is dedicated to long range instant communications which functions to offload the thought process of the drone to a central command structure, a central hive brain, either a leader caste or a singular focal point of the hive itself."

"Usually superorganisms function on a more even distribution of the hierarchy." Gilliam says.

"Yes, but if that were the case we should be able to see some more individuality in the drones. The body scans we pulled when we first brought in the bodies was far more specialized than that. It is possible the drones have a more distributed nervous system, but I was unable to find anything akin to a sub brain, and a body that large just can't function with a totally distributed nervous system, not in any intelligent way at least. No, in order to function as a single entity, while maintaining cohesion, based on what we've seen so far, I can only theorize they export their thought process to a kind of thinker caste or central command structure which would guide the entire hive.

cont.

>>1373262
Smart man

>>1373262
>>1373268
We should give him a 'job offer', honestly. The benefits are just too numerous to turn down, after all.

>>1373268
Guess we need to adopt or kill him? If we are lucky the thing might do it for us.

>>1373279
>>1373282
Too risky given that if they manage to get out there going to be checked like mad in quarantine, may even be possible of gill to be outed if we roll bad

>>1373262
So this is why that anon suggested bullshitting individuality. They've pretty much known since our first interactions and their guesses are close enough.

Probably, if Palmer knows this much then the uppers already believe in at least Queen = Hive Control or Speakers = Hive Control given what they've seen. Guess we're not really sneaking this around anymore.

>>1373292
>>1373282
He seems like a very intelligent individual. If we can ever find an opportunity to shanghai him, we could use him for research. I just think it'd be a waste to kill him.

>>1373300
well it was an inevitability but also not that big of a deal.

>>1373300
They sent a smith to infiltrate and locate the leadership back when they used lee as an ambassador

And setting up the nukes indicated they saw us as a major threat

They must of had been able to retrieve some records of us either in there dig sites or from skyl artifacts but weren't sure we were the same thing in the references

>>1373309
Nukes were standard procedure. They could just keep them in orbit until they were needed,even if it was thousands of years later.

>>1373307
Thankfully. Would've been fun to fuck with 'em more though.

>>1373306
nah we've got Elizabeth, shes a much better scientist. Plus, he works for killinger.

>>1373323
Not to such an extent that Theseus was surprised by it

>>1373327
That line of thinking is stupid.

>>1373306
Just watch, he was classmates with Elizabeth.

She knows all the mad scientists in the Union afterall

>>1373323
>Nukes were standard procedure.

Now now, Anon. Don't believe *everything* the government tells you.

>>1373327
C'mon, the more scientists you shove in a room the better. That's how shit gets done!

>>1373323
Just because it was doesn't mean we can't be offended about it. We are trucking offended by that.

>>1373353
Oh im not saying were aren't, just that they didn't do it for any reason that was out of the ordinary.

>>1373353
>trucking
Just say "fucking" faggot.

>>1373334
I know Lee was surprised but Theseus was as well? Do you have the thread that's in?

>>1373366
Probably autocorrect

>>1373376
Hive Queen Quest 15 No.33389401

"Interesting. A standard monitor satellite linked to the local intelligence office. Perhaps..." you feel him trail off in a series of calculations. "I do believe with sixty percent certainty that the Union considers you to be above class 1 or greater."

Dont remember what Class 1 means but i think indicate that we a par or greater than union tech level

>>1373433
Class 1 was a catch all term for FTL capable civilizations with influence across multiple star systems if I'm remembering right.

>>1373433
And then this after we kill the smith they sent

Hive Queen Quest 22.5

No.34550194
"From this information it appears to be what humans refer to as a 'full mod', or a full body modification. The process leaves the human brain within highly unstable. It's a limitation of the human brain. Their physical prowess is exceptional, but yes, they have been known to act recklessly. Even we have a difficult time capturing one when they are sent against us, and they usually self-destruct when capture becomes inevitable.
There is a short pause. "What exactly did you do to attract this kind of attention?"

No.34550529
"Nothing apparent."
"Well, they clearly believe you to be of some interest. The name, by the way, is a moniker. All such agents typically claim to be named as a Smith of some sort."
"Would it have any transmission capabilities?"
"Impossible to know for sure. It is possible to conceal a quantum communications device within such a body, although it would be capable of only the most rudimentary of communication. Low definition still pictures would be the limit, and it would take a short time to finish transmission. Such a device would be exceptionally expensive, however, and we rarely ever find them. Typically such devices are used only in suicide missions of great importance. Have the humans left yet, or have they been destroyed?"
"No, but they seem to be leaving."
"Excelent." You sense the Clarke accelerate back towards your system, although it remains below light speed for now.

>>1373449
So yeah they had some knowledge about there being biotech users, but didn't have enough to id us completely

>>1373433
>>1373438
Class 1 is pre industry.


0- pre-history. No development or invention. Avoid contact.
1- pre-industry. Tendency towards tech worship and sudden acts of violence. Avoid contact.
2- industrial. First contact is recommended. Introduction of new manufacturing processes to produce dependency recommended prior to annexation.
3- post industrial. First contact must be performed at once. Prevent further development. Introduction of quantum computer processes to operate infrastructure to develop dependency is recommended prior to annexation.
4- pre-FTL. Classified as the moment a member of their species breaks orbit.
First contact recommended. Halt development via commodity and commerce based dependency prior to annexation.
5- FTL. Avoid direct contact. Alert Parliament immediately and await further instruction.

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>>1373262
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR8UF1xQimE&

Palmer attaches the laser drill to the tripod and it extends its legs until it reaches several meters above the body, its sensors coming to life with a strained buzzing.

"Now we should give it space while we cut through the carapace. From what we saw of the smaller sample, it could still be alive, or at least have some autonomic threat response." Palmer says as he backs away. The guards begin to stand back, holding their weapons up at the body as Gilliam installs the sawblade cracker into its port on an extending arm beside the body, and backs away as the two of them operate the levered boom of the surgical saw. The laser drill fires a burst, chewing into the carapace with a scent of burning hair until it lets out a beep and a screen comes to life with a holographic projection. The drill itself originally designed as a prospecting tool, its beam analyzes the materials it drills through to help find valuable ores. With modifications, it is now giving a basic readout of biological matter.

"Just as I thought, the inside seems largely intact, although consistency is rather unusual, even for an alien life form." Palmer says.

"I'll have to admit, this level of xenobiology is a bit past my own purview, at least in regard to this particular machine." Gilliam replies. He's heard of this kind of sensor, of course, typically used in autopsies of valen and as a cheap treatment for a kind of tumor-like hereditary disease in their species, but he had never used one in his research.

"See the creases here, and there?" Palmer says as he points out lines of static in the hologram. "We should cut it open there. I'd like a better look at what that is. You can see other anomalies around the target sample area as well. It's almost as if its insides are... folded over in on itself." The two hoist the boom, assisted with built-in move assists, and bring it down on the carapace slowly as it gradually sinks into the shell and begins to retract along the boom, dragging the saw through the carapace. They pull the blade out after a short distance, and the metal claw plants itself into the wound, slowly prying it open with the whine of hydraulics as a cloud of steam rises from the soft body within. The guards snap their guns at the exposed flesh ready to fire, several of them inching closer with their weapons.

"Don't shoot it yet!" Palmer says. "I want to at least get what information I can out of this thing. Especially if we're going to find out anything about the other one." He slowly inches forward, Gilliam just behind, and the two wave away the steam as the simmering flesh begins to cool.

"Fascinating." Palmer says "Well, as I suspected, the inside was steamed like a boiled crab, but look at this. These organ compositions. I've never seen such an array of materials."

"Is that an eye?" Gilliam asks.

"And teeth." Palmer says. The two look over the strange mishmash of haphazardly distributed flesh with unease.

>>1373518
When QD wants to turn up the horror movie setting in this quest, he cranks that shit to 11.

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>>1373518

>>1373518
>>1373155
Huh they avoided the trap

>>1373545
Can you say "spear tongue" or "acid spit"?
I know I can.

>>1373555
They may actually be able to avoid those

The are acting genre savvy or just getting good rolls

Do ya think there is a way to to put them off guard?

>>1373567
Id prefer for them to stay on guard. What they learn about the creature, we learn about it, and more importantly I want Gilliam to stay alive.

>>1373578
It is in our collective interest for shit to hit the fan though.

>>1373589
Once he's in a panic room first

>>1373589
Not really. They may ask for advice, but asking us to perform military operations in one of their own cities when they have a perfectly serviceable army here already is unlikely. Unless you have a different reason?