>>1899725
Can we vote on these things?
>Research the crystal spires at G-426 P2
>Begin rebuilding the skyl ringworld at M-323
>Begin colonizing A-295
>Begin updating Elizabeth on the all things we've learned
>Communicate with Heretic and Theseus on the true nature of the enemy and try to get all relevant information

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The best time of the week is here!

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>>1899725
It begins again

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>>1899725
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: 29,347,760N
Metals: 22,885,364M
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]

>Construction underway
before I start adding up some of your more recent orders, I'd like to see if we can go over your general industrial complex, so to speak, and give you a chance to look over and mess with your build queues. We seem to keep adding more ships, but I haven't given you much of a chance to improve your planets to get an income to match, and I want to make sure we do that now that I have the planetary construction set up.
made but unpaid for
[Light Fleet] x5
[Heavy Fleet] x15
[Ambush Fleet]x10
[Fast Assault Fleet] x5

>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
[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

>>1899745
>now that I have the planetary construction set up
Oh hell yea bud

SO IT'S FINALLY A NEW DAY

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>>1899745

Espionage Activity
Gemini: This planet holds an embassy, random chance to gain intelligence each day, +1 Active Operation available. This planet's population is highly irritable and aggressive to Hive influence. All failure and detection chances are increased. Increased rate of psionic resistance in the local populace. Any attempt to increase unrest will receive a bonus to success chance and increased detection rate.
[Covert Infiltration] Resources: 1 sleeper cell planted in maintenance and sanitation department.
>Beggars and Taidarens

Path: This planet is currently under military lockdown, dramatically increasing failure and detection chances. The local population is anxious and afraid of the future due to recent events, increasing the population's psionic vulnerability to influence.

Huron: This planet's condition is unknown, no monitoring effort is under way.
[Maintain Concealment]

Bedrock: This colony is suffering from widespread panic, dramatically lowering detection chances of hive agents, but making the results of operations and gathered data far more unpredictable.
[Maintain Concealment]

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 battery grid: 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 battery grid (8KN)
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]

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>>1899769
New Construction Options

Defensive structures
>Anti-orbital battery grid – A network of anti-orbital batteries scattered across the planet, each situated in a fortified bunker complex fitted with stationary gun positions and intense hive creep fortifications. Each battery is a capital ship class particle beam capable of attacking enemy vessels in orbit of the planet, each situated in relation to the others to provide overlapping fire over any location above the planet. 8,000N 48,000M
>Surface to Orbit Missile System – This massive bunker complex houses a wide range of warheads and a nigh limitless number of missiles within its protective walls, allowing you to launch missiles against approaching invaders from the safety of your hive. The facility uses the ship missile stats and comes equipped with a single Cruise missile silo that can target any detected object within the system, five Stinger missile silos capable of targeting any craft within high orbit, and ten Swarm missile silos specialized in targeting high altitude aircraft and low orbiting targets. The facility itself is a massive complex spread out over several miles, and includes guidance and launch equipment, as well as the means to construct and maintain a stock of warheads and missiles. (1500N 2500M)
>Shield dome network – An overlapping network of bunkers crisscross the landscape of a planet offering emergency shelters for any local inhabitants to survive orbital attack, as well as shield emitters placed in overlapping layers set around important infrastructure and planetary installations. Like all shields, heat quickly becomes a problem as it sustains fire, as such a mixture of ventilation towers and subterranean heat sinks, turning a small facility into a massive, sprawling network of infrastructure. If the planet suffers orbital bombardment, this planetary installation will absorb all damage first. 8,600N 50,000M

Daily reminder

>Raid OQ
>Read the locked memories of that thinker.
>Board a scav vessel for their FTL.
>Send a diplomacy team to earth.
>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.)

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>>1899771
Military Structures
>Military Spaceport – Extensive fortified maintenance bays and hangars are built across the surface of the planet, as well as infrastructure and manufacturing centers to support the production and maintenance of a planetary strike craft squadron. Swarmer fighters are produced at a constant rate with suitable range to intercept orbiting vessels or approaching dropships, while more advanced fighters and gunships of the most suitable design are produced and maintained for system wide defense and patrol Aerodynamic drones are also maintained in scattered hangar facilities to provide air support in the event of ground attack, and intercept enemy dropships. All craft are held in hibernation to reduce costs, allowing an entire planet's worth of strike craft to be maintained for a relative low cost. 500N 1000M
>Psionic Shroud – A single building built around the shattered remains of a Void Shard, the shroud amplifies the unnatural mental silence of the broken crystal within to mask an entire planet from potential detection, preventing outside forces from easily detecting the thoughts of a hive. (2,000N 5,000M)
Psionic Sensor Tower – A massive spire composed of highly psionically sensitive instruments and material focused on the detection and measurement of wide range quantum states in a vacuum directed at the space around the planet. Grants a chance to predict the arrival of ships approaching the system via certain FTL methods. The effectiveness depends on the method used and the size of the incoming fleet, granting a base chance to detect incoming Blink drive ships at 75%, Space-fold and Rip drive at 50%, Warp drive at 25%, and Flicker drive at 10%. Gatecasting ships from Hypergates and Slip drive is not effected. (20KN, 30KM)

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>>1899777
Economic Structures
>Docking Pylon – A large spire or station that contains space for docking and construction of 4 ships, or a single capital ship if placed in orbit. By default is used to produce hive vessels, but can be made to offer repair services to passing ships in return for credits or other acceptable transaction fees. 100N 300M
>Weather Spire network – A networked collection of spires spread across a planet capable of studying and altering a planet’s climate and atmosphere. Construction includes the building of all spires needed to function. While the spires can manipulate a planet's climate towards any desired effect, by default the spires will attempt to optimize a planet's fertility and habitability for hive life and its primary crop strains, increasing a planet's base N score by 5. Alternatively, the spires can work to create intense storms and thicken the local ionosphere, reducing N score by 5 and imparting a penalty to enemy craft within the atmosphere and blocking enemy communications to and from orbit, as well as disrupting sensors of orbiting ships. This option is not available for planets with naturally turbulent and disruptive climates. (8,000N 20,000M)
>Orbital solar array – A station placed in orbit of the local star equipped with a membrane of photosynthetic cells several kilometers in diameter capable of producing a steady stream of nutrient income. Due to practical constraints of logistics, a star system can support up to five solar arrays. Must be built around a main sequence star. Provides 1500N per day total (5,000N 5,000M)
>Harvester Dock – A large pier built along the shore overlooking the spore-producing ocean film that serves as an unloading area for Harvester drones, and contains pipelines to pump collected raw nutrients to the hive’s awaiting processing facilities, includes a single Harvester which is covered by the cost and upkeep of the dock. Provides 500N per day total (38N 50M)
>Orbital electroponic station – An orbital instillation built near a large source of hydrogen used to fuel a large fusion core, which in turn provides electrical power to a contained algae farm facility. Must be built in orbit of a gas giant. Provides +2000N per day and doubles as a gas mining facility, refueling the tritium stores of any ships in the system. The station itself can serve as the hub of a space city with additional investment. (3000M)
>Algae Farm – A carved out space used to utilize Leeland’s natural electrical field to cultivate food. +100N per day, 1 worker to maintain.

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>>1899785
>Hydroponic platform – A floating greenhouse platform used to grow farmland through hydroponics that can only be built on or near water with open access to plentiful sunlight. Each greenhouse platform supports roughly one hectare and requires a single worker to tend the crop and maintain the platform. Multiple platforms can be connected together to create fields of floating farmland. +200N per day, 1 worker to maintain.
>Filter towers – A large underwater pylon built to extract raw nutrients from the microbial life of the surrounding ecosystem. Can only be used on planets with bountiful biospheres and deep oceans capable of supporting large amounts of microbes. Provides between 100 and 500 N per day, depending on the local environment. (500M)
>Capillary Tower – This massive organic space elevator offers a number of logistical and economic advantages, despite its drastic up front cost and fragile nature. Shuttles or space craft are no longer needed to move resources from the surface to orbital structures, freeing shuttles for more important tasks. The counterweight station serves as a center for construction, with 4 docking pylons included on the structure to repair and build ships, while gaining a bonus to capital ship construction time due to the speedy nature with which resources arrive from the surface. The Capillary Tower can also spread hive creep and extract resources at an increased rate, spreading roots deep into the crust to bring up resources directly into orbit, allowing you to consume a planet much more quickly than normal. A Hive ship can construct a Capillary Tower if given the time and resources to do so, deploying one after 3 full days, after which it becomes the counterweight station, and must remain stationary until it detaches and destroys the tower to move. A Hive ship deployed in this way does not have access to its spinal weapons, but can use other features as normal. A planet can hold a max of 4 Capillary Towers along its equator. For each one, planetary mining or over harvest activities are doubled and its Development score increases by 10, this bonus can surpass a planet's maximum development, and will not effect its biosphere. Upkeep is reduced by half on planets with an atmosphere. (50,000N 500,000M)
>Planetary Core Rejuvenation network.

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Ahhh yeah boiii

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

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>>1899794
Finished Research

Empathetic Paralysis
By using a carefully tuned psionic signal focused into a concentrated area, it is possible to momentarily interfere with the proper functioning of the somatic nervous system, causing paralysis and interfering with higher thought functions, causing a momentary lapse in memory in the target's mind for the duration of the effect.

New Research Available
Current Research

Gas Giant Superstructure Construction
Medium
Using a mixture of space station technology and modified, miniaturized capillary towers, it may be possible to create semi-permanent or fully permanent hives within the upper atmospheres of gas giants, where a mixture of atmospheric static, wind farming, and gas mining can provide a more constant and bountiful resource income while providing a more robust frame with which to construct infrastructure.

Swarm Drive Tuning
Slow
By configuring the gravity thrusters to respond to the foils of other ships within the same formation, performance can be increased outside of a gravity well by taking advantage of a kind of gravitational slipstream created from the foil's unique gravitational effects.

Gravity Thruster Optimization
Medium
Miniaturization to the gravity thruster itself, as well as optimizing the layout of the foils across the hull allow for smaller strike craft sized ships to make use of the thrusters both when operating in atmosphere and when performing evasive maneuvers.

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.

>>1899794
>Planetary Core Rejuvenation network.
>no cost given
Is it free then?

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>>1899806
So ad this will probably the last time in a long time i'll be here for one of these threads...

>>1899806
So are we going to vote on this stuff?
>>1899731
You did say to remind you.

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>>1899806
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.

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.

>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.

>>1899807
No it just didn't save the file properly. It is rather expensive, to say the least. Everything else should be good. Although now you got me nervous that something else didn't save right.

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>>1899827
>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.

>Data decryption
Medium (Very Fast with Theseus assistance)
While much of the data within the Smith mind was corrupted during the experimental extraction process or the trauma of the agent's death, there is still a good deal of encrypted data still intact. The data itself could be anything, from a revolutionary discovery to the agent's personal preference in music, or anything between. There is now way to know without decryption of the data, and the total randomness of the mystery has your thinkers begging to go to work.

>Planetary Shielding
Slow
By adding further scale to the shield dome, it is believed that an overlapping network of shields can be expanded from a series of clustered protective areas defending a planet's critical infrastructure to a vast, near total coverage shield stretching entire continents so as to protect a planet's biosphere and widespread population in addition to its military and industrial zones.

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.

>Add new research
>Add Psionic Cannon
>Add neither

>>1899835
>Add new research
So we have a new research option? Or just the one I gave.

>>1899835
What new research? I thought the Scavenger Matriarch had just arrived. She's not listed in research?

>>1899725
At last, a new day dawns on the hive!

>>1899835
>>Add new research

And once more psionic thermoknectic escape us again. This constant failure is starting to drive me a little bit mad...

>>1899835

>>1899852
>>1899844
Shit, my bad, messed up the copy and paste and just skipped right over it.

Empathetic Compulsion
Slow
A step further from the disruption of the nervous system, with additional fine tuning it may be possible to exert some limited control over an individual mind without the use of direct contact.

>>1899835
Incidentally QD, how did the hurricanes treat you? I hope your house is still above water.

>>1899880
There we go.
>>1899835
>Add new research

>>1899884
It missed us for the most part, as I told everyone it would. The issue was not the storm, but dealing with everyone in my family screaming about the storm and trying to buy out every canned food and water bottle in the store. Most of them still remember Hugo.

>>1899880
So you going to let us research the Crystal Spires on P2 or what?

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>>1899835
>>1899827
>>1899880

>Add new research

The machine shall never stop!

>>1899835
>Add new research
Like anything else is an option, lol.

>>1899899
The cannon is an option.

>>1899892
We really could stand to send out a proper scientific survey to a bunch of planets really. I still want to see what sort of adaptations we can gain from the ecosystems on Corbin.

Proposed Purchases:
G-426 (Aka Leeland)
P1, P2 and P3: Anti Orbital batter, Surface to Orbit Missile System, Shield dome Network
Gas Giant: 1 Thousand Orbital Electroponic Stations
Total Cost: 3.302 Million Metal, 5580 N. Gain + 1 million N per day.
This fortifies the hell out of our home system by fortifying every solid body in the system, and adds a mass of N income by sacrificing some of our ludicrous metal reserve. Need to check the other options once I understand the pastebin better.

>>1899835
>>1899880


>Add new research

Elizabeth examines the preemptive biological report of the scavenger brood mother, cross referencing the data from your parasite with the information gained from your study of your captured scavenger alpha. She quickly makes mental notes of points of major differences in epigenetic activity.

"I can already see some interesting variation, although until I can get the more detailed study done I can't tell if that's just due to natural genetic variance or not. Still, I think I've learned enough of genetics from you to be able to figure that out once I get my hands on it." She looks to your speaker. "I've also... hmm." She thinks for the words for a moment. "I seem to have been feeling a bit of anticipation from some of the thinkers. Something about a thinker with a suppressed memory. The little things seem to bring it up at least once a day." She lightly pets one of the soft orbs of brain matter as it quivers in thought. "We could have a look through that while the workers dump our latest specimen into the pods."

>Agree to examine the suppressed memory of your first thinker
>Refuse, it could be dangerous
>Other

>>1899942
>Agree to examine the suppressed memory of your first thinker

>>1899942
>Agree to examine the suppressed memory of your first thinker
It's about time

>>1899942
>Refuse, it could be dangerous
At least wait until we get the Psychic Shroud.

>>1899915
>going into Union space to perform research when the tensions are high
No anon that's stupid.

>>1899942
>refuse

>>1899942
>Agree to examine the suppressed memory of your first thinker

>>1899942
>Agree to examine the suppressed memory of your first thinker

Elizabeth is best thinker-sis. But i guess she is also as curious as the thinkers to see what is in it.

>>1899942
>Agree to examine the suppressed memory of your first thinker
Didn't even know he had any. It was the other WQ thinker from the hidden bunker that had his hidden memories, I think.

>>1899947
The void gods are already in our space. Near the anomality the humans found. But still they are here. I guess it's time to pop that pinata.

>>1899942
>>Agree to examine the suppressed memory of your first thinker

>>1899948
Please, as if they could detect us on a backwater hellhole like Corbin.

>>1899968
More like they trapped themselves in a black hole so no one can kill them.
>>1899972
You are officially retarded. They almost detected us invading Huron.

>>1899942
>>Refuse, it could be dangerous
We can't UNdo it once we do it.

>>1899982
If the humans hadn't managed to scope then insade that blackhole, i might have disagreed with you. But you may be right about it.

Also should we share this with Liz? I want to see her reaction once she knows the Union was partialy aware of the void.

>>1899960
Correct. Though the playerbase was retarded enough to think it had hidden memories. That might have rubbed off on QD.
>>1899995
Please nobody here cares if it leads to us getting killed.

>>1899947
>At least wait until we get the Psychic Shroud.
We already have a psionic shroud.

>>1899982
>What is espionage
>What is stealthy infiltration via cloaked pod
Anon when they detected our pod they identified it as a meteorite, which is exactly what we intended. By your logic we should never engage in espionage or covert actions beyond the planets we've already infiltrated, and never again expand the scope of our espionage actions. What do we even have the capability for if that's the case?

>>1900005
We're talking about the Thinker that was in the Space Pod egg that guided us to Leeland in the first place.

From early on it was said to have a hidden message/memory from the WQ but we kept putting it off until now

>>1899999
I think we should leave the Thinker alone since it's memories are suppressed for our good. And if make a mistake and get wiped what if they were meant to activate later on? That would screw us over.

>>1900015
Even the stealthiest infiltration via pod is very noticeable even more so now they are aware of it.

>>1900017
Except it doesn't from what I've read. That was the one from Farcast.

>>1900017
I thought the only memory it had was being hatched shortly before being put in the pod and launched.

>>1899942
>Agree to examine the suppressed memory of your first thinker
Its time. We know the enemy. We know where they are. Let take the next step. Lets remember ourselves

>>1900033
>>1900035
WQ implanted a memory in it as a time-capsule for when we're ready to crack it open

Personally I think it's a message from Grandma herself.

>>1900038
So you want to die? Because we'd die if we tried that.

>>1900041
That is an assumption. It is far more likely it was meant for after we've killed the Black Queen.

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>>1899942
Your thoughts of agreement bring an uncontrolled smile to her face.

"Excellent." She says. "We'll I'm going in with you. Hopefully there is something that could help make sense of some of my own scrambled memories. I can see scraps of them in my dreams but-"

"You are avoiding sleep to prevent dreaming?" You ask. She looks to your speaker with a terse glance as she leans back into a reclining chair of chitin and muscle, her antennae flexing to plug themselves into a set of thin sockets lining the top of the seat.

"We're searching through your old memories right now, not mine. Besides, I've just finished this new interface. I know this comes naturally to you, but I can still benefit from some training wheels." You can feel her thoughts more closely as the neurons link directly, establishing a physical connection between the hive and her mind. "I was inspired by those cluster creatures, actually, although in principal it works just the same as the parasite. Still, it seems to help increase the connection, or at least induces a noticeable placebo effect. I haven't had the time to run a proper study on it."

You quickly reach out with your mind, focusing more than your normally would on your infrastructure, as if concentrating on your own breathing, your drones march to your will without much of a conscious effort on your part, but you call one drone in particular to the center of your mind. Your first thinker, the pilot of the pod carrying your own cocoon, a thinker of the White Queen. You pull at its mind, its own conflicting orders buzzing in its consciousness. It's last orders were simple, to carry you to safety, and to hide a thought. With you as its Queen, it will contradict that order on your command, although it would prefer if you did not, like a child being told to do something wrong, it fears the disapproval of a long dead authority. You ease its mind as it panics over the contradiction.

Please roll 1d100, best of 3.

Rolled 14 (1d100)

>>1900047
Well, we'll find out. Votes have been cast and it looks like we're taking a trip down memory lane soon

>>1900050
Rolling

Rolled 93 (1d100)

>>1900050
For mother

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Rolled 38 (1d100)

>>1900050

>>1900051
>14
Looks like we lose it forever if we roll like that.

>>1900055
You speak too soon.

>>1900055
You are much too cynical anon. Look at this roll >>1900052

That's how you do things for Mother

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>>1900052
For Mother indeed.

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>>1900050
>Your first thinker, the pilot of the pod carrying your own cocoon
>It's last orders were simple, to carry you to safety, and to hide a thought.

This isn't remotely what happened. Wut.

The Thinker with the forgotten memory was found in the Farcast system with the hibernating drones and a Hamlet-esque demand for vengeance. >>>/tg/39025421

Thinker One was still an unhatched egg until the pod was lightyears away from Reprieve. >>>/tg/36070250
>upon questioning you find that while the thinker hatched in the pod some light years within the nebula already, it had very simple orders from its own queen.
>"Go far away."

>>1900084
QD got caught up in the stupidity and made a mistake.

>>1900084
this anon is technically correct; the best type of correct.

>>1900084
Uh, shit, looks like you're right. I guess we've gotten to the point where the quest is so huge and expansive even the QM is losing track of stuff huh?

>>1900109
More like people kept saying "our first thinker" then QD fucked up writing it in his notes.

>>1900151
It's first in terms of birthday. So there.

>>1900157
*hatching-day

>>1900089
>>1900151
You must be loads of fun to hang around, cynical-anon

>>1900174
Birthing-day AND hatching-day.

>>1900176
I actually am it just happens I speak most cynically when on 4chan.

>>1899725
AW SHIT
QUEEN TIME I DIDN'T EVEN REALIZE.

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>>1900050
Your ghostly mental form materializes in an empty world. Elizabeth stands next to you, her mind projecting a sensory experience comprehensible to the human mind. Her own form trails her thoughts and memories like gossamer silk wings, tattered and frayed at the edges. Her form is even less human than her physical appearance, covered in a thick carapace, her eyes glossy black orbs. You both examine your hive, their minds like an endless swarm of gleeful obedience to their queen. Elizabeth's mind extends the construct as your zoom in on your thinkers, and a vast classroom of children materialize, each one running their eyes across sheets of endless paper with inhuman speed, scrawling numbers of incomprehensible complexity faster than either of your own personal minds are capable of following. Groups of quantum thinkers sit in circles between the scattered desks, shuffling blocks and strange devices, occasionally fighting over one of them or scribbling over another's drawings.

You shift your focus again, concentrating on only the drones you did not lay yourself. The number decreases dramatically. In the distance, on a playground formed in Elizabeth's mind from a patchwork of memories, several young children surround a number of blurry figures as they bash them with sticks. The vague shapes of scavenger grunts slowly evaporate beneath the pummeling into the woodchips of the playground floor. Several of the warriors you recovered from your mother still live, reforged and improved, but alive all the same. Within the imagined classroom are two children, each writing some incomprehensible mathematical equation on a chalk board that seems to stretch past the horizon, the numbers blurring into a wall of data that changes and shifts with every adjusting variable. You recognize one as a blink calculation. The ship vanishes from your mind, and enters again a moment later in a new system, and the board is erased, only to be filled with a new wall of numbers. The other is organizing drones, a vast battle plan spreading across star systems shows theoretical attack vectors and probable threats as an orbiting fleet scans for Scavenger counter attacks, and atmospheric calculations give optimal firing solutions for orbital strikes and atmospheric entry for strike craft.

cont.

>>1900109
I have about 35 tabs of notes open, and a dozen word documents, it gets a bit disorganized at times, sorry.

>>1900213
Our children are the cutest.I love them so.

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>>1900213
>mfw
All this post

>>1899920
Correction, its 55800 N. Not sure how that mistake got there. Anyway, what do people think about that suggestion?

>>1900213
Did you not see the other people point it out earlier before that update happened. >>1899960 >>1900005

>>1900292
If he paid attention to me we'd have thinkers studying the Crystals on P2 right now.

>>1900282
Well it would certainly make taking those bodies more difficult, but do we really need to fortify EVERY planetoid in the system? From what has been said of P2 any attempt to build military installations would be problematic in the extreme, they would be constantly melting.

>>1900318
>P2
Wrong planet. That's P1.

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>>1900213
The two thinkers halt, the numbers in front of them continue to shift as other unseen thinkers pick up their never ending work. They turn to face you, timidly gripping their chalk, uncomfortable with anything beyond their numbers.

"And these are the thinkers from the White Queen?" Elizabeth asks.

"Yes, one piloted my cocoon to safety. It was born with memories of the Queen's commands, the other was left to be found on an abandoned world, along with a small force of drones and resources, and an urging desire to destroy the Obsidian Queen." You unfold their minds as the mental projection begins to disintegrate around you.

"I've never actually pried inside a drone's mind before." Elizabeth says. "It's so complex, but so efficient. There are no doubts, no regrets, all the memories are... it feels like they're alphabetized almost, not sure how else to put it."

"They are thinkers. They think, and they are good at it." You reply with pride. The pride is mirrored, and enhanced even, shading the mental world around you with vibrant flashes of color.

You see flashes of thought, collected in dense clusters of archived memories, each cataloged by date, objective, location, result, duration, and resulting feedback it earned from you. You see Grey and the others hunched over, digging up to the shoulder in a pod's exposed flesh. There is a mix of focused calculation and intense fear, not of the humans, who are fascinating with their strange speech, but in its loneliness. It keeps a portion of its thoughts locked onto your mind's distant echo, offering faint cries of data pertaining to observed weather patterns and limited topographical data until your workers reach its location. Its mind is filled with joy as it receives your will for it to be recovered, removed from the pod, and added to the Hive's number.

Another memory flashes by, simple but deeply remembered. You feel a sudden shock as an unfamiliar mind offers a brief moment of attention. Data regarding the strange biological substance you recovered that consumes metallic substances. The research is unfinished, but an initial report is offered to the Queen, your mother, and the response is simple.

"Well done. Return to work on the cannon." The response has the thinker beaming with pride, and it lunges into its work with the others, the memory becoming a haze. The thinker was one of many on the project, its own mind only focused on a small component of the larger project, nonetheless, you find some data to be gleamed from it.

>Psionic Cannon prototype boosted to Slow/Very dangerous

cont.

>>1900322
Incorrectomundo, once again.
>• P2: This elliptical shaped planetoid is composed of various metals, with visible rivers of mercury running through mountains of crystallized rock formations. The day lasts roughly six minutes, causing tremendous strain on the planet, maintaining its nearly disc like shape. At the equator, a geostationary orbit is enough to escape orbit, making any landing attempt dangerous at best. Atmosphere is thicker in the poles, and is composed of a mixture of sulfur oxide, argon, and nitrogen. Due to geothermal anomalies likely a result of its rapid rotation, forests of crystals are a common sight across the planet.
And those crystal formations you won't shut up about are clearly natural formations caused by geological processes btw. Not worth wasting thinker power on.

>>1900327
>>Psionic Cannon prototype boosted to Slow/Very dangerous
Oh fuck.

>>1900340
Unless we want to sell them as tourist trinkets to New New New Age hippies as talismans attuned to the "galactic harmonics" from that self-help book.

>>1900327
>the metal eating organism is part of the weapon
Didnt see that coming

>>1900340
>implying
And the asteriod field in the home system is clearly a failed planet. STOP TAKING THE DESCRIPTION FOR FACE VALUE IT'S LIKELY WRONG.

>>1900352
*skyl home system

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>>1900350
That's probably because it isn't true.

>>1900347
Knowing more about the enemy can't possibly make it easier for them to read our collective mind. Learning more about this surely has no consequences whatsoever.

>>1900364
I actually kept saying that there was information on the Psionic cannon in the thinker memory but nobody wanted to believe me.

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>>1900352
Yeah, because the starting system we chose clearly has been infiltrated by the omniscient god-mind so long before we arrived that it has managed to take over the entire planet. The planet that is almost directly adjacent to our homeworld and the queen herself.

Do you seriously think that we wouldn't have detected that level of psionic activity right under our noses this entire quest? We were able to sense the Skyl remnants on Aral from outer orbit.

>>1900318
Don't forget that the cruise missiles and planetary fightercraft can target anything in the system. Mind you, you have a point about P2. We can drop that.

>>1900350
I think it's more like the canon required high amounts of metal to be estructured and so the thinker was the one in charge to gather the resources in a fast way and so decrease the process of gathering the resources to build it.

Would be interesting if we could somehow make our creep use the resource of a planet and so build the canon automaticaly. But this is highly unlikely.

>>1900375
What stupidity are you uttering? If there were void shards on P2 we'd have to explore the planet first, which you seem to be alergic too, because they almost impossible to hear unless you are within 50 meters of them. Hell we were only aware of the Tartarus Reactor because the Psionic signal from the shard was amplified.

>>1900340
The contention was over 'constantly melting', which would be the much hotter P1. Nothing would melt on P2 it has other problems.

>>1900485
Which is that carbon life couldn't survive on it because the is not breathable to carbon based life though silcon life could probably survive just fine.

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>>1900327
You continue to examine the memories, old and dismissed as unimportant to its current goals. Some have been re-remembered, leaving only fragments of memory behind as neurons are re-tasked with new memories, their structure slowly rewired as the thinker moves from task to task, isolating only a select few memories, those of you, its current queen, and those it needs to function, as well as one memory it has been ordered to keep, but to suppress. The neurons have nearly been severed, left into a corner of the mind, buried deep beneath hoards of thoughts and deliberately obfuscated into a faint ripple of warning.

You pull at the thought like a stray thread, unraveling the thoughts from the tangled mess of deflective memories and into a coherent image.

You see your mother, the White Queen. She is holding the thinker in her own claws.

"I am sorry." She says to the drone, but it is directed past it, the thinker a mere vessel for the thought of deep regret. "I have failed. My time comes to an end, and all I can give you is your ignorance to shield you until you are ready. You will be ready, in your time. I know this because you are my daughter, and I can expect no less. The Nomad has helped me in my endeavors. She is already gone, but her hives still hold what you will need. Follow this trajectory, and when you are ready, follow it. I will give you all I know, and then you must finish what I could not, and succeed where I failed. You are the last hope of our kind, and I am sorry to have forced this upon you. You will be wild, without inhibition or the civility of our culture, but that is what you will need. We could not bring ourselves to the truth of our desperation. We struggled to maintain our own comforts, our civility. You must be untamed, you must do what we would find unthinkable. You must be forged in suffering and live as a beast to earn back the birthright we squandered." You examine the location given, a velocity and distance relative to the White Queen's own world, far off in deep space.

"Find it. This drone is too simple and too vulnerable to hold this knowledge, and once you have it, you will need to fight to keep it." The queen lowers her head, her crest touching the thinker's soft carapace as a sudden pain washes over the drone, and the memory fades into a blur of deliberately obscured thoughts.

You have already calculated the given vector. The drift is low, and if the information is reliable it would not be difficult to find.

>Send a ship to the deep space location
>Leave it alone
>Other

>>1900499

> when you are ready, follow it.
>once you have it, you will need to fight to keep it."

Uhhh.

If this is to the black hole or a similar location we may not be ready. Let's unlock the psionics tree first.

Bad idea RN.

>>Leave it alone

>>1900499
Is it a place we know of?

>>1900499
>>Leave it alone
Wait until we colonize and fortify the expanse. Should only take a day or two if we actually have an infrastructure vote soon.

>>1900499
>send a fleet to the deep space location
Go big or not at all.

>>1900499
>Leave it alone
We are not ready yet.

We still need to secure the expanse and have a proper amount of ships.

>>1900499
>Other
notify theseus and herectic. we need to form a task force fleet between us and send that

mother said we will fight. lets be ready to fight.

>>1900525
Like seriously "you will need to fight to keep it" is a big red flag saying "just KNOWING this draws aggro, they will know you know".

>>1900527
Anything less than a maxed out tech is not ready.

>>1900526
It is a location in deep space, apparently a secret hive made by the Nomad.

>>1900525
>>1900527
>>1900531
But what if we need to get it right now?

>>1900499
>>Send a ship to the deep space location
It is time to accept our birthright.

>>1900534
I support that.

We do need to organize the Expanse a bit first though. Or at least get the fleet out of Gemini's orbit.

>>1900534
We're not ready. WE'LL FAIL BECAUSE THIS WAS MEANT FOR AFTER KILLING THE BLACK QUEEN.

>>1900556
I don't really think that's the case. What do we have that suggests that?

>>1900548
Then we lost because it the player's stupidity.

>>1900535
Reminder that we have already fought and beaten the Obsidian Queen in claiming what has been lost. We saved the Scarred Queen and this we can anticipate that this will be on about the same level.

>>1900499
>Send a ship to the deep space location

>>1900560
I predicted this drone would be the end game if we go it's route. IT'S END GAME IF YOU FOLLOW IT.

>>1900556
>MEANT FOR AFTER KILLING THE BLACK QUEEN
I dont remember any evidence supporting this, and you havent put any forward.

That said, Reclaim Our Birthright!

>>1900499
>LEAVE IT
Not time for suicide mission.

>>1900571
But what evidence do you have that it's endgame?

This could have the solution and advice on fighting the Obsidian Queen for all we know.

>>1900556
I don't think I've agreed with a single thing you have posted this entire thread, but there is no basis for assuming that. Beating the OQ is the goal mother set for us, if we have to fight her for this obviously we can't do that after we kill her.

>>1900534
You may have a point. They have proven quite useful in conflicts against psionic enemies so far

>>1900573
>locked memories
That's all the proof you need. The memories were locked so we kill the thing the caused her to fail.

>>1900580
The would have unlocked themselves after we killed the Black Queen. And if I'm right then doing this will force the end game early killing us.

>>1900576
Except if it were then why was it locked? It would automatic been given to us in that case.

>>1900499
>Send a ship to the deep space location

>>1900603
You haven't been right about a single thing this entire thread. Why do you assume QD would be so eager to kill this quest with no warning?

>>1900499
>>Send a ship to the deep space location

>>1900616
Best just to ignore them by this point. They're convinced they're right and won't budge.

>>1900616
>haven't been once right
What kind of idiot are you? You've already been proven wrong on all account and then you turn around and say "no you wrong" for fuck sakes.

>>1900623
I remember when i was that stubborn, good times, good times.

>>1900631
You aren't providing evidence and are raging quite hard. Its safe to assume you no longer have anything to contribute. Blocked.

Lets hope you learn from this by the next time you are needed thinker.

>>1900623
THE SAME COULD BE SAID ABOUT YOU. WHY NOT WAIT AND EXAMINE THE SITUATION CAREFUL BEFORE DIVING INTO A POTENTIAL SUICIDE MISSION BECAUSE CAUGHT UP IN THE MOMENT. This reminds me of time Killinger baited us.

>>1900631
>proven wrong on all accounts.
Uh no, the only thing he's been proven wrong on is >>1899915

>>1900643
Okay let's have a civilized argument for what reason could there possibly be to not delay this shit.

>>1900650
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgifYsEc1cU

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>>1900653
If you want to split hairs that was more of an expression of a general opinion on my part, rather than an assertion of fact.

>>1900499
>Send a ship to the deep space location
Scout it out. See what's there. Don't claim it yet.

>>1900653
He was talking about shit like us being able to sense void shards from space (how I wish we could) or how the P2 was to hot to build on (another player did that). I mean for fuck sakes what about this doesn't scream "call to war" and why the fuck are we not requesting advice from the Scarred Queen.

>>1900499
>>Leave it alone

>once you have it, you will need to fight to keep it
I suspect rediscovering it will set larger events in motion. And we've been without it this long, we'll be fine without it for a while longer yet.

>>1900678
>or how the P2 was to hot to build on (another player did that).
>(another player did that)
What? There are no buildings on P2.

>>1900667
>wrong about P2 being too hot
>wrong about hearing void shards from space
>wrong about the descriptions being reliable indicators of what they hold
This your track record.

>>1900657
>>1900657
Although it has not happened yet, I fear conventionally that the void or the Obsidian queen are making preparations behind the fog of war. Aquiring resources and knowledge sooner, rather than later, may allow us to claim things before the Obsidian queen moves in on them in more force.

Would OQ have killed the phantoms and the BaQ if we had taken a few dozen more threads to intervene? I dont know. Would she have finished eating path without our interference? Definately.

That is the posit, that the OQ might know who this Nomad is, and if they are out there, they may be destroyed before we encounter them. Preservation of time and resources necessitates sacrificing some of our hesitation.

That said, I strongly believe if the OQ knew she could fight us at this immediate moment, she would be, and I dont expect QuestDrone to produce ass pulls.

Now with that prefacing, lets weigh the benefits.

If the Nomad, who if memory serves has only been mentioned twice, is alive and joins our faction we will be adding free fleet assets to our hive. Included in that is the promise of all research that our mother produced, most likely in a memory crystal, which we will be able to crack and use at our leisure.

There is of course always the risk that we might warp in and find a doom fleet of 30 void entities devouring the Nomads flotilla, or whatever mom left for us out there, but I refuse to let that thinking corner me, if we all did that we would have never stopped the breach at nowhere!

If there is a credible rationale for why you think there may be enemy forces or a "ticket to the end game" it must be expounded upon.

As I see it, what you are suggesting could only happen 2 ways. We get there and somehow are instantly against our will bombarded with intimate knowledge of the Void, allowing them to see us completely, or we encounter the enemies fleets directly and they realise our jump vector and trace our homeworld.

One is impossible, and one is unlikely, though I do admit possible.

>>1900690
Are you proposed being thick? I never said anything about there being building on P2 just it's not to hot to build on it.

>>1900701
What the hell does "Another player did that" mean then?

>>1900691
We heard something from the undying Skyl and their shard. I can see the mistake.

I still wish we had tried to find a way kill them the old fashioned way in a lab instead of just saying "ok whatever you want" at their strange-ass idea of the only way to kill them. Could've figured out why they couldn't do it themselves somehow.

>>1900698
The void can do little as they are and they is only one thing that would force us to fight to keep it.
A fully functional Psionic Cannon.

>>1900698
Nomad is dead anon. The WQ memory we just found out said so.

>>1900710
>A fully functional Psionic Cannon.
So if you think there's a fully functional Psionic Cannon there why don't you want to get it?
It literally removes the worst part of the Psionic Cannon research, the wait time and risk of Void invasion when it's not ready, but with a complete Psionic cannon any void incursion can be blasted.

>>1900698
>behind the fog of war.

...We have pods in literally all known OQ star systems.

We sent them to every star on the map, and Nowhere.

If something important were happening, surely QD would tell us?

>>1900698
Nomad is almost certainly dead I fear, along with every other queen that were around when our Mother recorded this. The scarred queen was a fluke who only kept herself alive by doing the hive equivalent of gouging her own eyes out and piercing her eardrums to save herself from witnessing what not be witnessed. I would be amazed if any other queens were capable of doing the same to themselves, or were able to find other ways of hiding themselves from the void.

>>1900703
Another pointed out that it's not to hot to build on though please be patient I'm following 3 quests and struggling to follow all of them.
>>1900718
That allows the Void to attack us directly which would end in our death if we go as we are.

>>1900710
Are you suggesting that traveling to this system will instantly make us aware of the functioning of the weapon? Because I was under the understanding that the Void does not know every minutia and detail of our actions, just as we dont theirs.

How will discovering a Psi cannon, that we do not understand the principles of cause the void to be aware of us further and attack us?

>>1900714
>>1900725
Just re-read that and yes, she is. So whatever mom left is unprotected. More reason to strike.

>>1900724
CHEEKI BREEKI SCOUT UPDATES NEVER.

I stopped wondering about them 20 threads ago. Might as well do the same anon.

>>1900499
Send a ship. Maybe it has a present from Mom.

Sorry I'm late

>>1900724
>...We have pods in literally all known OQ star systems.
>known

>>1900732
It's not until we go for that they will attack us, until then it'll be the BQ and void cultist attacking us along with everyone else. That is the reason I want delay it.

>>1900730
>That allows the Void to attack us directly which would end in our death if we go as we are.

>Have a fully functioning Psionic cannon.
>We still die according to you.
Yea no, i refuse this assertion of yours that going to that system will immediately trigger a game over.
Actually this reminds me of that freakout back when we first got the "You feel the notice of a Distant Mind", a bunch of anons were panicking and saying this is game over and that we needed to lay a new queen. A complete overreaction.

>>1900745
>attacking us along with everyone else
This might be poorly worded. They'll attack everyone including us. We're just another face in the crowd they're looking at until we have the Psionic Cannon in which they will swarm our home system with everything.

>>1900745
>It's not until we go for that they will attack us
You have not provided proof or reasoning for this despite saying it 4 times. How are they going to attack us? How is the OQ going to attack us instantly for taking whatever this is, if its even there?

We went to the builders old shipyards and looted many things without the notice of the OQ or the Void.
We recruited Heretic in the same way.
We fought the fucking black queen on multiple occasions, and she isnt suicide rushing us constantly even though she knows we are in contact with older queens and probably knows we are aware of the psi cannon.
You provide no support for any of your suppositions, and no details other than "Dey gonna get us! Lets hide forever!"
Im done talking to you. You do not think logically thinker. Goodbye.

>>1900764
Functional Psionic cannon does not guarantee victory especially since the Black Queen. As matter of fact all it'll take one ship to destroy it and the black queen has tens of thousands and the cultist still out tech us. You have to remember the WQ failed despite having a PC

>>1900732
The Void is watching everything we do right now to the best of its considerable ability.

They probably have to roll for it every thread to see how well they can spy on us. But they're definitely watching in a way that we refuse to do the same, because that would seemingly lower their DC.

>>1900768
The Void appeared on the WQ door step taking her by surprise remember. You have to have maxed out tech to fight them and we're still stuck in the industrial revolution.

>>1900784
>Functional Psionic cannon does not guarantee victory especially since the Black Queen. As matter of fact all it'll take one ship to destroy it and the black queen has tens of thousands and the cultist still out tech us. You have to remember the WQ failed despite having a PC
She failed cause she missed the first shot dude, she defeated both OQ and the ceph with no damage to the PC, i am confident we can do the same.

Well, I want to see what Nomad had got, but precautions must be taken.

>Lay a queen egg with a time delay and send it to Earth. This is our quicksave. Ensure it has every but if tech that won't get void attention.

> Get a combined research/salvage task force together with our allies. Psychic fuckery can hurt us, but it can't hurt an AI.

>>1900792
>The Void appeared on the WQ door step taking her by surprise remember.
No it didn't, WQ was completely expecting them to show up at some point during the battle.

>>1900793
Nope she hit the first time it only scratched the thing.

>>1900794

>Lay a queen egg with a time delay and send it to Earth. This is our quicksave. Ensure it has every but if tech that won't get void attention.
I do not feel like these precautions are necessary.
It's literally a repeat of the aftermath of Nowhere now.

>>1900796
Reread. She didn't expect them to show up the players did however.

>>1900799
Because we rolled low causing her to hit only a glancing shot you dummy.

>>1900768
>with older queens
>queens

One queen only anon.
But i understand however as mom said in her memory:

>This drone is too simple and too vulnerable to hold this knowledge

Which implies a more advanced or bigger thinker that holds knowledge. Which makes us wonder if we can move it or not. But wondering about it is waste of time

>and once you have it, you will need to fight to keep it

OQ's ship are scouting the old hives system, we maybe with a stealth fleet we can manage to spy the surrounding before deciding to jump toward it.

Also i don't know how much the 'notice of a distant mind' allows the void to see us. The Scared Queen said something about it. I don't remember if it's that they KNOW about us but can't pin point were we are or if they can simply sense our psionic.

>>1900803
There is no quick save anon. That's why I'm angry.

>>1900793
>She failed cause she missed the first shot dude
We got pretty good rolls in that flashback thread, as I remember, and WQ had a pretty fucking huge fleet backing up the cannon. We might have a tech advantage by comparison, but I wouldn't be comfortable betting our victory on rolling 85+ at the critical moment.

>>1900794
If we loose with this queen is game over anon. There are no 'quicksaves'

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>>1900499
It seems hotly contested, but it looks like it's
>Send a ship to the deep space location

You quickly find a corvette and give it its new destination. Your ship charges its drive, and in a moment of mental static, you receive the image of deep space. The glow of the Cradle is still visible, and the faint signature of plasma drifts across your sensors. The ship is still within the nebula, although in a cooler part of it.

With the increased background heat, you find it difficult to discern anything from the soup of unborn stars. Your corvette drifts through space, aligning itself to the designated vector and examining all around it for anything of potential importance. Eventually, something stands out. A cluster of debris you first dismiss as junk, but it is moving in too uniform a manner to be detritus. You send your ship closer, and visual sensors detect that the components are connected in a massive web of infrastructure, although the heat level indicates none of it is active.

The structure itself is like a dozen small asteroids, all daisy chained together by fragments of starship hull. Along the outer perimeter is a massive set of gravity foils, although their design is somewhat unlike your own. They shift and ripple, like the drifting trail of a jellyfish flowing in an invisible ocean current, the plasma charge surrounding the foils sending them sliding from one side to the other. You feel a sudden rush of excitement.

"Tell me you're sending a boarding party." Elizabeth says. "You heard the White Queen, whatever is in there, it's critically important."

You are less sure of the situation. You have your ship quickly run about the station, closely examining it with all available sensors, including your own mind. It is cold and dead, its path steady and stable, and you feel no thoughts or psionic emanations from within...

>Board the Nomad's hive
>Leave it be for now
>Crack it open and search the resulting debris
>Other (write in)

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>>1900810
>That's why I'm angry.
You sound like you're angry about a lot of things.

>>1900810
Fellow Thinker, we don't have the luxury of fear. Take logical precautions, but execute for mother.
Mother want thing, so we get thing.

>>1900807
>glancing
WHAT PART OF A GIANT BLOB WAS SHE SUPPOSED TO HIT FOR IT TO NOT BE A GLANCING HIT IN YOUR EYES? AND WHAT IF SHE DID ROLL HIGH? IT WOULD HAVE ENDED THE SAME WAY.

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>>1900815
>>Board the Nomad's hive
Oh my that's a lot of delicious research.

>>1900815
>Board the Nomad's hive
>blink in ships with strong sensors and fly contingents to canvas the structure quickly
>blink in a supporting security fleet some distance away to maintain an overview of the situation

>>1900815
LEAVE IT. GIVE IT TO HERETIC AND THESEUS. ANYTHING BUT DOING IT OURSELF
>>1900819
And we need to be ready and we are not.

>>1900815
>>Other (write in)
Call up Heretic and ask him what he knows about a Queen named the Nomad
Do the same with the Barren Queen.

After that, if we still haven't detected psionic emanations we board the sucker.

>>1900832
Supporting

>>1900830
Now that we know that the Void is mechanical in nature, it stands to reason that Theseus and Heretic would be even more vulnerable to void corruption than us. Now please stop shouting.

>>1900832
>After that, if we still haven't detected psionic emanations we board the sucker.
>implying that matters
There are so many ways around that it's almost a joke at this point.

>>1900806
>>1900821
>You distribute your orders to the thinkers within your ships for them to break formation and spread themselves apart to make themselves harder targets, and you activate the jammer. The pain is agonizing, but as you lose control of your fleet, you watch as the perfectly organized flowing formations of the Ceph fleet break down into chaos. Collisions and friendly fire engulfs the fleet as they spiral out of control. Your fleet open fire, each one spread out far enough to not even need their network to fire for effect. The space around you is filled with bursting shrapnel, and you watch as the ships flicker away in clusters, piece by piece.

>Finally, you sense space open before you, and an elongated ovoid of reflective metal emerges. The surface ripples like water.
>You finally have their attention. You must be more of a nuisance than you anticipated.
>The shimmering vessel grows into a point, and a lance of burning light slices a battleship in two, its innards burning like kindling, the escaping air carrying the flames from the wound like blood. Another lance leaps from the smoother surface and pierces a battlecruiser, slicing apart several corvettes behind it in the process.
>It drifts calmly towards you, its lances burning down your fleet ship by ship as the barrage of chittinous slugs evaporate against its hull.

>You finally have their attention.
Boy just look at that surprise.

>Roll of 34
>You charge the energy and unleash the cannon once more. The piercing death cry of the crystal within feels like needles in your mind. The beam lashes out to the looming hulk and tear at its hull. It begins to boil. The gurgling metallic liquid falls away in chungs, evaporating into nothingness. As the beam dissipates, you see a seeming crater in its bow, slowly reforming as cracks appear to form in the flowing surface. You can feel it screaming in pain and rage.
You made it bleed.

>>1900809
More like it implies research subjects for you to study, and/or a white crystal memory.

>>1900812
We rolled a 34 on the only one that mattered: attacking the entity itself.

>>1900815
this:
>>1900832
>Call up Heretic and ask him what he knows about a Queen named the Nomad
>Do the same with the Barren Queen.

>Board the Nomad's hive
Well, whatever it is is not large enough to be an industrial operation. Looks like it's some kind of skunkworks.

>>1900815
>>Board the Nomad's hive

>>1900815
>Board the Nomad's hive
>Other (write in)
Prep our fleet on Gemini to jump so it can quickly reinforce this system if an enemy decides to atttack.

>>1900815
>>Leave it be for now
I feel like we should watch it and guard it for now. If enemies find it, only then we will have our hand forced and have to defend it and find whatever it is within.

Also dangit, they engineered gravity foils. of course they did seemingly have nanomachines that ended up inside Elizabeth.

>>1900846
The roll was only to find out how much of the fight we get to "see" even if the roll was high it would have still failed. One psionic cannon would never be enough.

>>1900827
Suporting

>>1900865
No it wasn't you dumbfuck, go reread thread 29.2

>>1900870
QD in that thread said rolls were not only for how much damage was done but also how much the fight we get to see.

>>1900870
You mean this conversation? Because it was still gonna be a losing battle it seems by how QD acknowledged both comments.
>>>/tg/36076181
>High rolls would have just delayed the inevitable, I suppose. I mean. What else could have happened? We get a bunch of really high rolls and we find our mother half-dead but savable?
>>>/tg/36076232
>I'm basically thinking the higher our rolls the more story we see and exactly how good of a fight our Mother gave and how much damage was done.

>>1900815
Send a boarding party. Time to see what gifts mom and aunt Nomad left us

>>1900815
>Send a boarding party

Your ship moves in to find a place to dock, eventually extending its umbilical and it begins sending across its warriors.

>Speak with Heretic
>Speak with the Scarred Queen
>Continue with the boarding
>Other (write in)

>>1900880
Long story short. ONE PSIONIC CANNON IS NOT ENOUGH DAKKA TO FIGHT THE VOID.
And we're lucky if we can get one.

>>1900892
Yes
And all of the above

>>1900892
>Speak with Heretic
>Speak with the Scarred Queen

>>1900892
>Speak with Heretic
>Speak with the Scarred Queen
Why not both?
Then
>continue with the boarding

>>1900894
Honestly, having more than one -- provided we can even make them -- is great for redundancy. Since the cannon has a chance to explode each time we fire it, and each unit of ammunition is so precious, a situation where we have unspent ammunition just explode and become useless is very bad.

>>1900892
>>Speak with the Scarred Queen

>>1900865
>even if the roll was high it would have still failed.
Then why did QD have us roll for it if it didn't matter? You literally have no proof that the psionic cannon is ineffective no matter how high we roll and you seem to be treating QD like he's merciless.
>>1900880
I admit fault, but it seems to me he acknowledges that the rolls were for both the damage caused and how much we get to see, so they weren't only for the flashback sequence like this anons says here >>1900865
Also, QD did say that the damage done there was persistent, and although he only speaks about the ships it's possible that the void could have been severely hurt or even fatally wounded if we had rolled higher. We just don't know.
>The damage you're doing here is persistent. All those ships you blew up are still blown up, and the owners sorely miss them.

>>1900903
>Supporting.

>>1900892
>>Speak with the Scarred Queen
Though really we can share afterwards. Talking to that guy seems unlikely to change our course anyway.

>>1900903
>Supporting

>>1900892
>Speak with Heretic
>Speak with the Scarred Queen
That is all.

>>1900892
>>Speak with Heretic
>>Speak with the Scarred Queen
>>Continue with the boarding

Multitasking is efficient

I just got either a brilliant idea or a horrible one.
If whatever we find will cause our enemies to attack, why don't we have the ship carrying it blink to that system the Scav fleet is staying at so when the enemy pursues they suddenly find themselves in, at worst a 3 way fight, at best a fight that weakens 2 enemy factions?

>>1900892
Your mind reaches out to Theseus. It is strange, but, given the limitations of more conventional forms of communications, you receive a faster response from Heretic by going through Zero-One than by transmitting to the Drive ship of Heretic and waiting for a response. It certainly says much to the integration of the two. You receive a reply directly, and you almost mistake it as being from Theseus, but the tone is unmistakable.

"We are open to all needed questions at all times. Please state your question."

>Ask about the Nomad
>Ask about the White Queen's plans
>Other

>>1900963
>Ask about the Nomad
>Ask about the White Queen's plans
>Other
Let's call him in to help guard whatever the item is.

>>1900963
>Ask about the Nomad

Pretty sure Heretic won't have nice things to say about the White Queen. They had some beef.

>>1900963
>Ask about the Nomad

>It certainly says much to the integration of the two.

Then they are literaly a couple now. They are also almost speaking like the other. All it needs is for then to finish each others setence

>>1900963
>Ask about the Nomad
>Ask about the White Queen's plans
>Other
Inform him of all information we have gathered on the enemy and if he has anything he can give us any revelant information.

>>1900941
It's probably not a physical item that causes it. It's the information itself.

>>1900963
>>Ask about the Nomad
If we must.

>>1900963
>>Ask about the Nomad
>>Ask about the White Queen's plans

>>1900963
>Ask about the Nomad

>>1900963
"The old Queens," you say, "of them, what did you know of the one known as the Nomad?"

"The Nomad: Appearance unknown, fleet assets, unknown, capital, unknown. The Nomad considered secrecy to be the greatest form of security, and relied on allies for many resources due to a general refusal to settle near stars, preferring instead to construct mobile hives in deep space. It is unknown if the Nomad survived, but it is unlikely."

"An information cache has apparently been held by the Nomad for some time." You say, there is some apparent interest at that, and you detect Zero-One come alive with information broadcasts. There is some interference in your connection, and you can sense a fog of whispers, as if the two were conversing in great length. "This cache was obtained by the White Queen, and held by the Nomad for safety. Do you know anything of this?"

"No." Heretic replies. "This was unknown to us. In our life, the White Queen mistrusted lesser species, especially those who were once servile. We were deprived of all cooperation from those who followed the White Queen, until near the end, when her fleets withdrew. The Nomad was of a similar mind, however her mistrust was without discrimination. Everything and everyone was a potential threat. The Nomad only trusted other hives, and only of a related dynastic line. Her alliance with the White Queen was firm, but they held their disagreements."

"Over what?" You ask. You can feel the faint drifting thoughts of digitized organic memories, the thoughts strangely morphed by translation.

"We know only what we have been told. The business of the Queens was not of our concern, but it was clearly regarding overall strategy." You feel memories of the Gardener slip by, countless conversations and joint research efforts. "The Nomad held no more tolerance for us than the White Queen, but her desire to turn the tide of war and enter the offensive was strong. She vouched for the Black Queen's plans. The debates were bitter, enough that we overheard some scraps of thought between them. An emissary team was forced to retreat from the vicinity of the effigy hall or suffer injury from the psionic effects."

You find that surprising. Elizabeth flicks through her own thoughts, trying to assemble a mental puzzle from the information.

"In that case, something must have happened to get them to cooperate again." She says.

"That is all we know." Heretic says. "More information may be available at Nomad hive locations." Theseus adds. "Very few such locations were known, even to other Queens. If you have such a location, it is more than we could hope to know." Heretic says. "We would appreciate further information, if you gain any. Her focus of study will likely lead to valuable information regarding the Enemy."

cont.

>>1901068
>Her focus of study will likely lead to valuable information regarding the Enemy
And we still haven't mentioned anything the Ancients have said.

>>1901068
>you will never argue so hard that lesser races' heads threaten to explode

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>>1901093
It hurts

>>1901068
>The Nomad considered secrecy to be the greatest form of security, and relied on allies for many resources due to a general refusal to settle near stars, preferring instead to construct mobile hives in deep space.

Second best aunt get.

>>1901068
I've finally read through the archives. This quest is amazing.

>>1901108
Welcome aboard fellow thinker. Take seat and start doing things for mother.

>>1901068
The thoughts of your new vassal hive are growing rapidly. The Phantoms have already secured a large sum of nutrients for an initial hive, and the Scarred Queen has begun producing her first children. Her first clutch already skitters across the chamber of her throne room, a rather vulnerable position in your estimation, but she assures you it is temporary now that she is renewed.

"You wish for information on the old queens." She says. "I was unimportant. My small holdings minuscule. I had no effigy to speak for me. Still, I listened, and learned much from my old mother. I know of the Nomad, but not much. She was secretive and mistrusting, with no children in her dynasty to support her. She was an isolationist, and that made her welcome in the White Queen's alliances."

"I have heard." You reply. "But what of her and the White Queen's plans? We must be careful to minimize the dangers of recovering what they left behind."

"That I can say little about." Your new daughter replies. "I know the Nomad was trusting of her equals, more so than the White Queen. The Nomad wished to follow the Black Queen, and fell for her deception like the rest of us. Perhaps she was less trusting than I believed, if she held some contingency in secret with the White Queen?"

"Perhaps it would be best to send in Theseus or Heretic to retrieve whatever is left within."

"No!" She says, quickly lowering her thoughts to a more respectful tone. "No, my Queen, with respect, it is our legacy. We should not have voiceless silicates tampering with our ancient secrets."

"They are our closest allies." You remind her. There is some hesitation, some reflexive apprehension even the Scarred Queen does not know the source of. "I am sorry. I do not trust them, but I your judgment is the final word on the matter. I simply believe that only a hive drone should step foot within a hive, even a dead one, but yours is a new dynasty for a new age. I will try to leave behind my old inhibitions if you feel they impede our goals."

>Agree, out of respect, a dead Queen's hive should only be touched by another Queen, or her trusted creations
>Agree, they would not know what to look for, and may miss warning signs that would otherwise prevent a disaster
>Disagree, we can sift through the hive through their eyes. It is best if we keep our minds away from it until everything within is cataloged
>Disagree, psionic sensitivity is not the only metric of true life, they are sentient, and are close allies to the Hive
>Other (write in)

>>1901136
>Agree, out of respect, a dead Queen's hive should only be touched by another Queen, or her trusted creations
>Agree, they would not know what to look for, and may miss warning signs that would otherwise prevent a disaster

>>1901136
>>Agree, out of respect, a dead Queen's hive should only be touched by another Queen, or her trusted creations
She's right. We don't detect any risk to us and can bug out (heh) if we do. This is a hive matter, it must be dealt with as such.

>>1901136
>Disagree, psionic sensitivity is not the only metric of true life, they are sentient, and are close allies to the Hive
>Other (write in) Deploy the Vaugh

>>1901136
>Agree, they would not know what to look for, and may miss warning signs that would otherwise prevent a disaster

>>1901142
>Other (write in) Deploy the Vaugh
Now that's an idea worth considering.

>>1901142
>>1901144
The last time things went tits up she wasn't any help at all, and we should be expecting a fight here. Better to leave her safe and secure.

>>1901136
>Disagree, we can sift through the hive through their eyes. It is best if we keep our minds away from it until everything within is cataloged
>Other
"The lie that vision alone dictates life is a scar of our war with the enemy. We must be mindfull of what this war has taught us and how it has made us ignorant both. Now survival is the law that reigns."

>>1901136
>>Agree, out of respect, a dead Queen's hive should only be touched by another Queen, or her trusted creations
>>Agree, they would not know what to look for, and may miss warning signs that would otherwise prevent a disaster


>>1901146
While I disagree with sending her, she was VERY helpful during the Nowhere Incident.

>>1901146
Yeah, you're right. It wouldn't matter at this point I think.

>>1901146
>>1901152
I say send her. Nomad has proven to be misstrusted from other species AND other queens. Second best aunt must have putted some kind of security. So in case the place has something to block a queen psionic network it would be worthy to have Vaugh there in case we get jammed.

>>1901148
I would like to just point out that if sending in Theseus and relying on him to do the leg work would mean granting him unfettered access to whatever technological developments Nomad had stowed away. Tech that at the bare minimum includes gravity foils and thus nanotechnology.

>>1901162
We don't need her there though. Only a drone with a memory crystal implanted into it.

>>1901163
thats okay :)

>>1901163
>nanotechnology
>which Heretic already had and thus Theseus too
While it no longer matters to what route we take at this point that is a poor example.

>>1901136
>>Disagree, psionic sensitivity is not the only metric of true life, they are sentient, and are close allies to the Hive

>>1901136
>Agree, out of respect, a dead Queen's hive should only be touched by another Queen, or her trusted creations
>Agree, they would not know what to look for, and may miss warning signs that would otherwise prevent a disaster
You know what I'm going to vote even though I care little at this point. Though I must point it's likely psionic knowledge.

>>1901136
>>Agree, they would not know what to look for, and may miss warning signs that would otherwise prevent a disaster
The strongest reasons for sending them in are also the strongest against: incompatibility with psionics. Less risk of them being damaged, but a higher risk of them missing signs we wouldn't.

>>1901172
You know, you raise an interesting point here. Logically we should expect that Heretic possesses intimate knowledge of nanotechnology and how to apply it, but we have yet to see any signs that Unity has employed them in any capacity. And I would expect the Unity with it's hard on for gravity manipulation and titanic space structures would use it prolifically.

I know it's unlikely but I suspect that Heretic never possessed intimate technical knowledge of the production and application of advanced nanomachinery. If that's the case the Unity would happily pay a mint for access to it.

>>1901136
>>Agree, out of respect, a dead Queen's hive should only be touched by another Queen, or her trusted creations
>>Disagree, psionic sensitivity is not the only metric of true life, they are sentient, and are close allies to the Hive

Shit i'm late as usual.

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>>1901136
"Actually, I agree. While they are close allies of the hive, it may be prudent for the hive to deal with our own kind in these matters. They may miss some crucial component due to their blindness that may escalate the danger." You have a sudden realization of progress as your warriors have penetrated the outer hull and begin drifting into the structure. You quickly turn your attention to them.

The interior is dark, your drones relying on their other senses to navigate through the fossilized hall. The architecture is clearly hive in nature, its design not intended for any form of gravity or expense made for comfort. Even still, as your flies scout the halls, there is an order to it. You feel as if the halls radiate out from deeper within, as if its design is guiding you, regardless of your entrance, to a specific point. Your thinkers determine the mathematical formula for it, each hall set at just the right orientation so as to create the effect of constant inward progress, the halls spiraling outward from a central point despite being superficially random in nature.

>Ask Heretic about the Cluster
>Ask the Scarred Queen about the Cluster
>Continue onward in your survey
>Other

>>1901190
>>Continue onward in your survey

>>1901190
>add all to queue

we haven't talked with these guys very much comparatively. might as well get this all done in one go

>>1901190
>Ask Heretic about the Cluster
>Ask the Scarred Queen about the Cluster
Time for important information.
And it feels like QD is trying to delay the discovery like something bad is going to happen.

>>1901190
>Ask Heretic about the Cluster

>>1901190
>Ask the Scarred Queen about the Cluster
I don't think Heretic would know anything.

>Continue onward in your survey

My god I should not have come late, this all screams bad idea to me. White queen locked the memories away for a time that we would be ready to pursue with stable roots. She wanted us to be playing "macro" style in rts terms. Here we are with hotheaded anons rushing things.

Do you think we are ready to fight eldritch gods? Hubris I say! Overconfident and ignorant. We don't even have the expanse secured, let alone our reletively shabby economy compare to OQ. Our tech tree isn't even near ready for a certain war of attrition, are you all impatient because you think we played like secretive pussies for too long? There is a very good reason why we did that, and the reason is still there. We aren't ready for war, not against OQ, Ceph, gods, and support our efforts with the humans at the same time. We are young, with little time to grow while some of our enemies have had thousands of years of economic development.

Mark my words, when the coming shitstorm arrives we will not be ready. QD has dropped hints and warnings, even showed us the scale of conflict in flashbacks. When shit hits the fan and salt flows from our collective ass, the only ones at blame are these overconfident anons. We will point fingers at each other and none of them will come out to admit it.

One must wonder where all of our intelligence from the beginning of the quest went.

>>1901201
It's honestly more of a lead into question if you're familiar with what those are.

>>1901136
>Disagree, we can sift through the hive through their eyes. It is best if we keep our minds away from it until everything within is cataloged
>Other (write in) Send in the Vaugh.
Send the Vaugh to the 'dead' hive. Make sure she knows as much as we do about the situation.

Ping Theseus, tell him we found a telekinetic dropsuit that runs on canderon and begin joint research when possible.

>>1901202
Melodramatic much?

>>1901190
>>Continue onward in your survey
In the interests of getting to the bottom of this before the sun rises.

>>1901202

Risk assessment. We're concerned that we're running out of time to properly get shit done before OQ and the void step up their game, and so we're taking calculated risks (that ARE acknowledged as risks) in an attempt to make sure we've got at least close to enough stuff to fight them off as opposed to being caught entirely with our pants down.

The Nowhere Incident SEVERELY rattled a lot of players' confidence in their timetable.