Your sister shrugs.
"What? It's true, you were quick to point out possible changes in my hair colour. Might as well do similar for you."

"Bekka I had to get a breast reduction after I had kids so I could still use by power armor dammit."
"Excuses."
"Look, are we doing this or not."
"Fine."

After swearing her to secrecy you give her the basic version, leaving out anything to do with the Krath Krath involvement. She thinks it over for a bit before responding.
"I can't decide how much of that story is bullshit."

"I dont blame you for that but how many Neeran have you fought in close combat?"
"Zero, I stay on my ship and let Marines deal with the big fuckers. I only suit up for ground ops and boarding Faction ships."
"Marines must love you," you mutter.
"I spent half my career in South Reach fighting pirates or other Houses. Besides I always pay bonuses, among other things."

"Whatever. You've read reports, Neeran with their freaky shit. This is like that. Like the artifacts you've seen me use."
Retrieving one of the artifacts stored away here as a backup you hold it up for your sister to see.
"You've seen me use these?"

"I saw enough of your suit recordings."

Making sure to hold it correctly before focusing your mind, you use the cooling laser artifact to fire a beam at one wall.
"Don't touch it." you warn.

Bekka grabs a rifle from one of the lockers and uses its stock to whack the wall section that had been hit. Predictably parts of the now brittle concrete shatters.
"Neat," she says before turning back and noticing your stance has changed. "You okay?"

"Yeah it just takes a bit out of you. I need to keep in practice. The human caretaker upgrade is supposed to give people a huge boost to using things like these."
"Why didn't you get it then?"
"First because it was in testing, then we were under threat by a weapon that royally fucks over anyone with that ability. It straight up kills Neeran."
"What?! Why didn't WE have weapons like that?"
"It needs a Neeran suicidal enough to turn it on, killing themselves in the process."
"...oh." is Bekka's only response.

"Yeah, oh. I've been too busy to go back but I am planning a trade mission to Kythera space eventually. You could go with me and we could make a stop along the way."

Bekka considers the offer. "That sounds too good to be true. There has to be a catch."

"Aside from the lack of long term study of the effects of using it you mean? There is one."
"Spit it out, I dont want to be down here all day."
"Convince Mon and Dad to get a treatment to extend their life spans and fix Mom's condition."

Bekka makes a dismissive sound.
"Her condition is being related to us."

Walking over to your sister you poke her in the shoulder. "You know what I mean."

"There are people besides Mom who never want to go to space. Phobias are things normal people tend to have, she just has a very good reason to have one. What were you afraid of again?"

You beat some phobias, do any more linger?
>What say?

FOR HOUSE AND DOMINION

>>4127956
Neeran Commandos in close quarters. Grenades in your face. Being in the firing line of an Executioner ready to fire. Teleporter accidents. Terran Black Ops teams. Subspace Demons. Mom.

>>4127949
FOR HOUSE AND DOMINION

>>4127961
"I don't know the phobia, but from where I've been and seen it makes me wonder if we'll wake up one day and be facing a threat we can't defeat."

"Also shuttles with thrust vectoring."

>>4127961
Not being able to do the best Sonia can possibly do.

>>4127969
>"Also shuttles with thrust vectoring."
Sonia did eventually train herself to pilot those properly. Maybe more of an aversion to them?

>>4127979
I think that's fair. One phobia conquered, many more undiscovered to go?

"A lot of things," you decide. "Teleporter accidents, black ops teams, being in the line of fire of an Executioner. I've worried I'm not doing the best I can to keep my people alive on campaign. I'm also worried about waking up one day and finding out we're facing a threat we can't possibly defeat."

"See, you do have some," Bekka points out, sounding very proud of herself.

"None of that stops me from going out and doing what needs to be done! Any time a fear gets in my way I push through it. Sometimes it may take me a little bit longer but eventually I get through."

"Okay okay I get it," Bekka waves for you to calm down. "Mom's strong willed too but she cant always do that with everything. She was never really put into a situation where if you let your fear freeze you up you'd probably die. She's a civilian. Dad could probably deal with it but she cant."

[ ] I guess see your point.
[ ] People can change.
[ ] Other?

>>4128021
>[ ] People can change.

>>4128021
Yeah but I don't want her obituary say "died from stubbornness", not when this chance exists

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>>4128038

>>4128054
Lol

>>4127949

For House and Dominion! Closing chapters of an amazing story!

>>4128021
>[ ] Other?

Ask mom to come visit. We lay out on the table we've found a means to cure/ get rid of her condition. If she is willing to let us put her in stasis and travel across the universe to a place where we can cure her.

She wont have to make up her mind now. But I think after the internal conflict the House suffered not to long ago. We managed to put just enough doubt in her mind for her to reveal why she cant leave the planet. We told her would not actively search for a method to cure her and we didn't. That the Builder Ship can possibly cure her is just a side bonus to all the other tech we discovered and possibilities we helped open up.

Now's our chance to tell her that we did find a means to cure her. And see if she has put more thought into the possibility of us finding a cure and whether or not she would accept it.

For House and Dominion!
>>4128021
>[ ] I guess see your point.

>>4128021
>[ ] Other?
"You think she'd take an atmospheric shuttle through a wormhole gate?"

What's the name of the species living inside the navigation hazard regions of the DRH 1 Relay? I'm looking everywhere and for the life of me cant find it.

>>4128149
And I just found it, never mind.

>>4128149
Gelsan?

"People can change. Sometimes for the better." you finally answer.

"Yeah... yeah I suppose they can."

"I'm not going to ask you to drug her and help me drag her off the planet. We'll talk to Dad and we can all try to convince her. The de-aging thing will also cure her medical condition as well as a side effect so I dont have to lie about actively looking for a cure."

"Worth a shot I guess," Bekka decides. "I'll talk to Dad. Probably less suspicious than you doing it."
"Thanks sis. Hey, do you think she'd take an atmospheric shuttle through a wormhole gate?"

"You mean from one planet to another? I dont know. Was it true what some of the tech guys were saying about planet to planet teleporters? Those are sort of similar."

You haven't heard anything solid on this but it wouldn't surprise you over much. The sublight only Gelsan civilization near the Run have been in the process of linking their worlds with teleporters. In their case it's being set up with a network with points no farther than 10-20 light years apart. That's a far cry from the millions of lightyears that would be needed to travel to the occupation zone.

"We've not there with those yet, I meant more using the ship or installation to help create a temporary wormhole."

Your sister isn't sure. Being in an aerocar could potentially be a bit more reassuring through since they're certainly not interstellar capable.
"They're not even supposed to leave the atmosphere, though I guess they are rated for it."

Opening a wormhole to Dreminth would not be an easy feat. Usually the other end either connected to another gate, something in relative proximity, or in open space. If mom still refuses to go you may just have to make arrangements to build a gate receiver on the planet using recovered tech.

The rest of the day is spent back up stairs with family as you'd planned. You and Bekka wait until the following day when everything is done and looked after before bringing up the topic with your parents.
Dad is interested in the idea of getting a bit of a tune-up, but certainly doesn't want to end up looking like a young kid again. Making sure everything's working properly is about it.
"I definitely dont want to end up looking younger than any of you kids."

"That's fair. Mom?"
"It sounds interesting but I don't want to travel off the planet. If it's a medical system cant you bring it here to Dreminth?"

"We're working on it, but it's going to take a few years to reverse engineer," you admit.

>Cont

"I haven't turned 60 yet, I would say we have plenty of time just with the regular medical technology we have access to here." She looks around the table at the rest of you. "I'm prepared to wait. You've managed to get all sorts of new technology into production in a short time. If it takes a few years extra then so be it."

Oh well. Not the response you were hoping for but she was prepared to listen at least.

Did you want to make sure extra money is funneled into getting certain techs developed more quickly?

[ ] Reverse engineered builder medical system
[ ] Small scale teleport/gate network
[ ] Both
[ ] Neither, you've already contributed

>>4128218
>[ ] Both
Both have pretty heavy commercial applications. A gate network especially, since we were already worried that the House was going to become fragmented.

>>4128219

>[ ] Both

Getting medical systems figured out and available even if only for the extremely rich at the start. Would be a massive boost to current health standards and by that time we would likely have enough money saved up to get both mom and dad a tune up.

As for the small scale teleport/ gate network? I like this idea. Keeps all the worlds of the house connected at least within their respective galaxies. Not to mention how much quicker response times will be to pirates and other antagonistic forces that will try to take advantage of the coming peace and inevitable draw down of forces.

>>4128267
>Not to mention how much quicker response times will be to pirates and other antagonistic forces that will try to take advantage of the coming peace and inevitable draw down of forces.
Small scale as in moving person sided objects as opposed to say entire ships or fleets.

Before leaving the planet you make notes to your advisors informing them of you intention to invest more funding into both R&D programs.

Next stop is Loran where the Harmen family are holding a holiday themed ball for close friends and relatives. So basically friends and enemies. As with the other visits Troys parents are glad to see their grandchildren and are vigilant for any threats posed to them by their various cousins. Troy's mother privately confides in you that she's glad they're normally far from the politics of Loran.

Troy quietly makes a similar offer to his parents as you did for yours. Surprisingly their response is much the same as your mothers, though for different reasons. The terraforming company, the planet and its politics, everything is in flux right now with the end of the war. Things haven't been easy since the assassination of the Count, but the Harmen family are still in control of Loran. It is taking a lot more work than before and they cant afford to be off-world for 3-4 months.

While at the party you manage to make some in-roads with the in-laws. A few of them are interested in continuing developments you've helped kick start and want to keep pushing for further advances. Refinements in terraforming theory are needed to help deal with the rapid changes new tech has brought on. Many in the company are still accustomed to working on timescales of 30-40 years. The new pace is running crews ragged.

Anything you wanted to discuss with the other shareholders of HTF?

Stopping for the night. Have work the next 2 days so I wont be able to resume until late afternoon.

>>4128417
Long term plans like building a ring-world. We gotta think big, after all.

>>4128421
Pretty much. If Dyson spheres exist then we can bloody well make a ring world

>>4128417
>Anything you wanted to discuss with the other shareholders of HTF?
There are probably a lot of opportunities for low effort high impact terraforming or general planetary improvement projects in Neeran space.
The Neeran Empire didn't seem particularly interested in planetary development, so that might be an area where faction tech is significantly more advanced or at least more efficient. As many of the races now liberated seem to be this universe's knock-offs of what's already established in the centri cluster, it should be easy to adapt established products to these species.

We could set up a new division for these projects, we just got to act fast. Instead of offering expensive and complicated long term improvement like HTF does at the moment, this subsidiary would offer things that have been done on all faction planets and are usually only required on newly colonized worlds.
As many of the newly established governments are probably not particularly stable yet, cheap and noticeable improvements to their planets habitability seems like a service that would be in demand.

>>4128421
>ring-world
Would that be covered by the factions treaty? There's a reason why the factions aren't really that big on large scale space installations outside of military usage. If it doesn't qualify, we'd probably have to lobby to have the treaty amended before anybody will be willing to invest in the project.

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Also, random ideas and suggestions:

>Neeran war museum
Buy cheap damaged Neeran equipment from the Alliance before it's scrapped and set up a large Neeran war museum (and themepark later on when people won't get upset about it any more) while all the stuff is still readily available.

>J-D capital ship captain academy
The way Sonia's House handles knights means we have lots of people rising through the ranks who focus on corvettes and attack cruisers. Or stabbing people. I think we don't have a single knight lt or commander who specializes in large ships or carrier tactics. We should do something about that. Maybe also get some cheaper medium cruisers so people can start using them earlier in their career.

>Talent scouting
Winifred managed to get in touch with Sonia before she was even a knight. Sonia doesn't seem to have that talent when it comes to her own fleet. Either do something about it or hire somebody to handle this for her. I'm sure Winifred will have somebody available who can help.

>House Gal'mil
How are these guys doing? Did the Alliance manage to deprogram the officers we rescued? If nothing official has happened yet, maybe give the RH or Emperor the hint that some help for these guys could be some easy PR? Their planets were destroyed while defending the Dominion, so a magnanimous gesture could probably win some staunch allies in the long run.

>Missing House Erid Baron
Did he manage to turn up again after his teleporter capsule disappeared?

>Teleporter project
We have to get our missing people back, and these guys are costing a fortune without producing any results so far. Have somebody check what they're doing and if they or somebody else is hiding research results from us.

>Turning useless planets into FTL material plants
Relatively early in Sonia's career we financed a project that put a satellite around a star to produce FTL material artificially. It worked but only on a relatively small scale. Now that we can move planets, maybe we should try to turn otherwise useless planets with the right kind of surface composition into semi-artificial FTL material farms?

>Dimension shifted planet interior mining
The builders likely hollowed out Threochts planet at some point and it seems to have no impact on the world in real space. See if we can use this as a way to stripmine entire planets without doing anything that effectively impacts their habitability. Even better if we can colonize the interior afterwards.

>Custom built attack or medium cruiser
While we still have control over the builder ship, see if we can have it build a ship from the ground up instead of just coating an existing one with builder material.f

>>4128417
Expansion plans for the company. We're making planets by the dozen, should HTF expand to keep up the pace or maybe we can just push the planets into the habitable zones, let nature do its thing for a few years, then come back and finish it off.

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>>4128421
>>4128751
This is beyond your capabilities and such a project would take a very very long time. You might want to start smaller like with a planet sized ringlet. A good example of this would be the HALO Rings. This could be done with the current tech, though it would be resource intensive. There are plenty of better uses for that much material.

If you're really serious about a full sized ringworld most of the wait is going to be the need to create the infrastructure necessary to mass-produce builder material. Expect to be extending your life span repeatedly or spending centuries in stasis.

>>4129748
>Planet ring
That's the kind of size I meant. It's purely and totally a PR, scientific, and exploratory endeavor. Full size ring-world and eventually a Dominyon Sphere are ultimate pipe dreams.

>>4128763
>low effort high impact terraforming or general planetary improvement projects in Neeran space.
This is a project quite a few others are interested in. Of course there are dangers plus issues of available personnel. The same dangers RSS/RLS/RTS are facing in the occupation zone are further magnified by the fact that terraforming operations are more vulnerable. The people working on such projects are stuck there for years which means if someone wants to raid it they have plenty of time to plan for it.

Construction of planetary shields or orbital defenses would certainly provide protection but for many worlds they have to pay for that themselves. It isn't really an option until they're colonized so a government would have to invest more beforehand. Governments dont like to spend money when they dont have to.

You talk it over with Troy.
"Sounds like we'll have to add planetary shields to the list of things we can offer deals on if they choose HTF. That or spring for shields the terraforming teams bring with them on jobs."
You're certainly not cutting any deals on defense platforms, those are too expensive and you may have to deal with wage increases along with lack of subsidies.

"They dont like to use shields if they can help it," Troy points out. "It can impact some of the high altitude atmospheric changes."
"Still, it's better to have them in an emergency."
"Let me talk to a few people."

Roll 1d100

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It's been more than a week and my new glasses are still fucking with my eyes. I feel like pic related.

Rolled 68 (1d100)

>>4129826

Rolled 20 (1d100)

>>4129826

Rolled 24 (1d100)

>>4129830

>>4129841
>Rolled 68
One of Troys distant cousins managed to get hold of some planetary shields and a suppler that could eventually get more at a good rate. Not enough for an entire planet but it's a start.

Did you want to help cover the remaining costs of defense of the terraformers, or work to encourage others to do so? Possibly with an minor increase in profits from the completion of projects.

>>4129903
[ ] Help cover costs of some shields
[ ] Encourage others to do so
[ ] Require governments protect terraforming sites

>>4129934
>[ ] Help cover costs of some shields
>[ ] Require governments protect terraforming sites

>>4129934
>[ ] Help cover costs of some shields

>>4129934
>[ ] Help cover costs of some shields
With at least the requirement of a minimal garrison on site:
>[ ] Require governments protect terraforming sites
So people who attack the terraforming operations will automatically have to engage government troops. That should scare off at least some of the potential attackers.

>>4129830
Have your optometrist check your new glasses? There's always the chance for manufacturing errors or somebody screwing up your eye exam in the first place.

>Neeran war museum
>Buy cheap damaged Neeran equipment from the Alliance before it's scrapped and set up a large Neeran war museum (and themepark later on when people won't get upset about it any more) while all the stuff is still readily available.
It would be fairly easy to acquire some older model Faction ships to pad out such a museum. Replacing some outdated ships from RTS would be one way of doing so, or asking some Knights to park some of their privately owned vessels. I'd actualy considered this awhile back but cant rember if I mentioned it to people.
Finding a secure location for the museum might actually be the hardest part.

>J-D capital ship captain academy
There are officers and some knights with the battleship units. Though as many of them became more mobile the fleet officers tended to end up staffing medium cruisers more. Fleet officers tend to make a name for themselves more commanding carriers. This is how Tama was promoted to Admiral, though he's likely to reture soon.
Your Rioja fleet is not known for its upward mobility in the area of Carrier captains or crews. The rest of the House is better by comparison.

>Talent scouting
>Winifred managed to get in touch with Sonia before she was even a knight. Sonia doesn't seem to have that talent when it comes to her own fleet.
Admittedly you've been commanding a fleet easily 5 times larger than Winifred's expeditionary force. Actually, maybe closer to 10 times larger in numbers without factoring in logistics craft since you use 6 squadron attack wings instead of the older 3 squadron ones.
The individual commanders like Hera, Phas and Lyas would be in better positions to keep an eye out for that sort of thing. People got knighted at their recommendation on the return to the homeworlds at the end of the war.

>Either do something about it or hire somebody to handle this for her. I'm sure Winifred will have somebody available who can help.
Probably a good idea too.

>House Gal'mil
>Did the Alliance manage to deprogram the officers we rescued?
They're seeing some success with this. It's unlikely anyone who has been the subject of Neeran brainwashing will be allowed back into active military service. They're certainly blocked from the Alliance. There is no guarantee that something hasn't been missed. Efforts with this will continue in the years ahead.

Back later today.

>>4130646
>Finding a secure location for the museum might actually be the hardest part.
An underwater arcology? The ships should be sturdy enough to be used as safe rooms in case of an emergency, while the water should damage enough of their systems to prevent anybody from flooding the museum in order to steal them.

>This is how Tama was promoted to Admiral, though he's likely to reture soon.
Time for some reforms or restructuring before he leaves?

>Your Rioja fleet is not known for its upward mobility in the area of Carrier captains or crews.
Maybe these new drone interfaces the Neeran deployed at the end of the war might help? We usually avoid fighter deployments because the losses can easily get out of hand.

>It's unlikely anyone who has been the subject of Neeran brainwashing will be allowed back into active military service.
That's unfortunate, with them being some of the last surviving members of their House who would actually have a decent case to get it reestablished.

>>4130799
>An underwater arcology?
Never considered keeping them on a planet. Given the size of such ships and their numbers it's going to be a big museum. Also water might be a bad idea, you'd end up with all sorts of things trying to live on the exterior.

>the water should damage enough of their systems to prevent anybody from flooding the museum in order to steal them.
That would impact their (emergency) resale value.

>Time for some reforms or restructuring before he leaves?
That or recruit from the rest of the House.

>That's unfortunate, with them being some of the last surviving members of their House
Steps will probably be taken to assist them or their descendants in forming a replacement House in a few decades.

>>4128880
>Missing House Erid Baron
Did he manage to turn up again after his teleporter capsule disappeared?
You know what, I dont actually know. If he did he hasn't returned to the Dominion. There's no shortages of places to hide or find things to do out there now.

>Teleporter project
>these guys are costing a fortune without producing any results so far.
It's not because of a fridge full of cash. Though they have kept explosions to a minimum.

>Have somebody check what they're doing and if they or somebody else is hiding research results from us.
Nah it's just that things explode causing delays on delays. Then by the time they have it fixed a design refinement has been developed that needs to be tested. Then another, and another. These things are known to happen with difficult technologies sometimes.

>Turning useless planets into FTL material plants
>we financed a project that put a satellite around a star to produce FTL material artificially. It worked but only on a relatively small scale. Now that we can move planets, maybe we should try to turn otherwise useless planets with the right kind of surface composition into semi-artificial FTL material farms?
Worth a shot. Bring this up again if I dont remember during your upcoming trip.

>Dimension shifted planet interior mining
The builders likely hollowed out Threochts planet at some point and it seems to have no impact on the world in real space. See if we can use this as a way to stripmine entire planets without doing anything that effectively impacts their habitability. Even better if we can colonize the interior afterwards.
There is actually a report on this written by the science team. When out of phase at the correct dimension -for lack of a better word- most of the mantle region is clear. The planet needs to have the correct properties, not to mention the core to provide a magnetic dynamo.

>Custom built attack or medium cruiser
>While we still have control over the builder ship, see if we can have it build a ship from the ground up instead of just coating an existing one with builder material.
Is it needed to help deal with some immediate threat? Or just a proof of concept?

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>>4131410

>>4131412
I recognise that game.

You discuss a few more matters with Troys distant relatives as well as Baron Archivald before departing. At Lord Harmen's insistence you stay on plant a few days so that they have a bit more time with the grandchildren. It also gives you a chance to get a bit more familiar with places around the planet. Specifically a few bolt holes Troy is confident few know about.

For the heck of it you take a tour of the orbital habitats. You've seen them many times from your earliest missions but never actually had a chance to get a look up close. Many are made up of stacked disks with spaces between them for apartment buildings. Not the most efficient use of space but it would probably cut down on the claustrophobia and ensure most had a good view of the planet or open space.

There has been talk for some time of installing atmospheric containment fields to make the open spaces habitable. It was something the designers had planned for but it was never within the economic realities of the House. Now it could be for those wanting to continue living here instead of the various available planets.

Troy explains that the platforms used to be overcrowded with refugees from the former House Jerik territories. Nobles, middle and lower classes alike lived aboard them. Establishment of the outer colonies through terraforming finally lessened the situation. Despite this the stations didn't reach more normal population levels until the reconquest of South Reach and capture of more worlds there. Now most of these platforms are home to ship docks workers and the industries that support them.

With the start of the new year the Count has requested your presence. Fortunately you're still in the homeworlds. The House has been asked to send a delegation to Amherst where the Dominion's new SP weapon production facilities have been set up. Given your familiarity with J-D research programs and good standing with the Emperor you've been selected as one of those being sent.

Did you have any plans for things you wanted to do before this, or reasons to delay the trip?

>>4131704

>SP Torp pick up

Make sure that we have a fleet on stand by ready to come to our assistance. I'm certain that system is probably going to be heavily defended. But you never know if some would be pirates would try to ambush us thinking we've grown soft or complacent.

Also, setting up a place to perform test firing of a few of these new SP-Torps. Likely an an older ship meant to be retired so we can observe just how powerful these are compared to Terran SP-Torps.

>>4131704
I can't remember if there was anything we wanted to do in the homeworlds to be honest. Maybe bring Duncan with us as well?

Build a universe wormhole gate to invade other quests.

>>4131410
>Or just a proof of concept?
I really liked the idea of a 95% invulnerable cruiser, instead of one that's only 50% invulnerable like the ships that just have a coating of the stuff.

>>4131704
>Did you have any plans for things you wanted to do before this
Did we manage to pick up a rare starfighter for Archivald while on deployment? Also, we could use the chance to check in with the other barons in the region. I think we actually haven't visited several of them.

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>>4131410
>That would impact their (emergency) resale value.
The idea would be to store them under water in sealed containment chambers. You box up the ship in space, then drop it in the ocean. If anybody tries to steal them, you simply flood the unit containing the ship. If you ever need to use or sell them, you just have to carefully raise the containment unit again.

>Also water might be a bad idea, you'd end up with all sorts of things trying to live on the exterior
It shouldn't matter much with a setup like this.

>>4131725
>Make sure that we have a fleet on stand by ready to come to our assistance.
An escort consisting of your command squadron will be brought. How large of a force would you consider adequate as a fleet? A wing of attack cruisers?

>>4131783
>Maybe bring Duncan with us as well?
This will be done.

>>4132205
I was not expecting that.

>>4132371
>Did we manage to pick up a rare starfighter for Archivald while on deployment?
Unusual perhaps, not necessarily rare. I think a couple Neeran heavy or particle beam fighters would have been picked up.

>>4132371
>check in with the other barons in the region.

Before your departure to Amherst you decide it would be best to stop in and see some of the Barons throughout the homeworlds. Archivald you met with briefly at the party. Barons Dremine and Saputo you haven't had the opportunity to see outside of meetings with all of the Barons in awhile.

Saputo has survived an assassination attempt. He suspects it was orchistrated by the Governor through as expected there is little evidence to support this. A simultanious attempt was also made on the Governor so as far as the public on Torun is concerned they were both targets. The planet is locked in a cold war between the two of them.

"Anything I can do to help?" you ask.
"Yes actually. I'm going to need a back door on and off this planet for the next time there is an uprising. I can't afford to be cut off from my fleet again like in the rebellion. I'd like to make a contract with your security forces as cover for the acquisition of a teleport receiver facility like Helios used in the capital during the battle with the Kythera."

With your trade deals with Helios and the current proliferation of the tech you should be able get hold of such a teleporter system.

Take the contract?
>Y/N?

>>4132570
Y
Sneaky. Didn't we rig a bunker with a teleport to an attack cruiser hidden in deep space? Maybe he could also use something similar in addition.

>>4132574
>Didn't we rig a bunker with a teleport to an attack cruiser hidden in deep space?
Something like that. It's hidden beneath the resort on Tourta.

>>4132570
>The planet is locked in a cold war between the two of them.
He wasn't the one to start this who bit off more than he can chew, right?

>Take the contract?
>Y/N?
I'd go with yes, unless this drags us into something that could set the House on fire again in a few years.

>>4132570
>Take the contract?
Y

Fuck that guy. Saputo is our mate and aint noone gonna fuck with him

>>4132586
>He wasn't the one to start this who bit off more than he can chew, right?
Saputo is of the Conservator faction while the Governor aligned with the Egalitarian Coalition, at least publicly. There were already issues from the moment the rebellion ended.
The fleets that recently returned from the occupation zone brought with them many of the large penal units that had served. This is resulting in plenty of unrest.

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>>4132599
Guess it's just the usual headache of being a baron on an established world in that case.

>>4132551
>Unusual perhaps, not necessarily rare. I think a couple Neeran heavy or particle beam fighters would have been picked up.
Maybe some of the craft from the carrier would be interesting once the engineers are done with it?

>>4132599
Maybe we can drop in on the governor one day?

Arrangements are made. You've quietly set up a similar facility before, this should be no different. Though you have no intention of telling even Saputo that. Given his comparison to the Helios embassy setup this one probably need to be able to move enough people to support special operations in an emergency. You'll get it done.

Baron Dremine is the next on the list of those to meet with. They're looking well despite their age. Dreminth is facing similar problems with unrest but it's not nearly as severe as on Torun. The Egalitarian Coalition remains under pressure to keep their people under control.

Unlike most other Barons Dremine has not taken any steps towards demobilizing his planet's army. Some are being allowed to leave of course but they need to have reached one of the set service milestones. Others are being paid bonuses to stay on.
"We'll be ready if anyone tries to overthrow the Count again or start trouble. Speaking of which Viscount, I have something of a gift for you."

The Baron hands you a datapad which you take a quick skim through. It seems to be personnel records and intelligence data.
"What is this?"
"Emigration records for you and your spymaster. People of interest that are leaving Dreminth and are most likely headed for Rioja."

There's a lot of data here, the result of long term surveillance by the looks of it. Most of it is focused on political ideologies and the like along with perceived loyalty to the House. It would make it much easier to keep an eye on potential trouble makers or recruits for intelligence.

>What say?

>>4132615
That's a pretty nice gift and one that seems to be important with the war being over. Anyone or any group he suspects of 'organising'?

"Is there anything I can do in return?"

>>4132615
>What say?
"Thank you. I'm afraid I didn't bring anything myself."

>>4132630
"Thank you. I'm sorry I didn't bring a gift of my own for you. Is there anything I can do in return?"
"Make sure these people dont make a mess of your world. Or worlds if your project is successful. We cant let them gain a foothold anywhere else in the House. There are already enough problems."

You make only a brief stop on Diroath to see Stanni Jor'ron, discussing investments and the training base. The money you put into his world has helped out the local economy. Though his world is still considered one of the weaker Baronies in the House it is improving and over time may be able to be counted as an equal the other more established ones.

Mike and his family are discussing moving to Diroath despite the disruption that would cause. He and Baron Jor'ron are eager to set up R&D for the captured High Guard attack ships. Given a few years they should be able to get the improved weapon systems functioning properly. That would give the planet a good boost.

"Let me know if you need more funding," you tell them. "I'm sure the Royal Guard will pay well to get those upgrades."

Desh Xisoth is a bit busy at the moment so you detour to Artà to see Jehtot Kharbos. It's still a bit odd at times to see the former rookie of your old unit as a Baron, but that was a long time ago. Things here are relatively peaceful compared to the House homeworlds. Much of the populace of the former Erid world is supportive of the House and its policies. Things are going well and thanks to the trade lane that passes through much of former Erid space the economy is thriving.

Basically not much to report other than a rapid demobilization of the army to roughly pre-war levels. Jehtot is taking a bit longer with the fleet, setting up competitions to determine who to keep if necessary. A few local Knights are wondering if you'll be organizing another tournament soon.

>>4132710
>High Guard attack ships
I liked the look of these things.

>tournament
Oh hell yeah that sounds like a fun time. Inviting Windsor would be hilarious.

>>4132749
>Inviting Windsor would be hilarious.
Windsor did actually manage to grow eventually.

>>4132749
Windsor has been trying to lay off the tournaments and duels while working to build up a more respectable image.

Next you visit Alex on Alaior. The Heavy Cruiser yard in orbit is still hard at work constructing another mobile shipyard while a second one is being run through systems tests. A medium cruiser and two wings of ships from House Nirium are present, probably waiting to take possession of the completed vessel. Three times as many of Alex's ships are deployed throughout the system or parked near the docks.

Alaior has seen an increase in the number of people from the J-D homeworlds over the years but it still seems to be stable. There is the occasional flareup of protests or insurgents but they tend to be localised.

Alex has had a bronze plaque installed in the courtyard of the small castle where you captured Baron Ukalah. It's marked as a world heritage site relating to the civil war, House J-D and House Erid.

>get your photo taken with some tourists?

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>>4132753
>get your photo taken with some tourists?
Pretend we're some student doing the Viscount Reynard impersonation thing to pay for tuition. It will be fun.

>>4132753
>Windsor has been trying to lay off the tournaments
Invulnerable Fire Drake to tempt him?

>Photos
If anyone works up the courage to ask. Or >>4132764
As unlikely as it would be, any Terran tourists present?

Rolled 31 (1d100)

>>4132775
>any Terran tourists present?
This seems unlikely. Only on a 100.

>>4132777
Ah that's a shame.
Did Sonia fund a "Dominion Vampire in Terran Space" movie yet?

For the hell of it you get a few photos taken with a couple of tourists.

>>4132803
The Dominion Vampires movie is currently in pre-production.

Returning to the planetary capital Alex is waiting with a gift. Stopping for a moment he reconsiders his words.
"Maybe gift is disingenuous, more like a return on your investment."

"Oh? Which one?" you have to wonder.
"For the shipyard. One billion in cash or FTL components since I've built up a stockpile. Unless you wanted something else? Dont say one of the yards, that treaty was hard enough to negotiate even with your suggestions."

>>4132824
>One billion in cash or FTL components
That's a fucking lot. I'll vote for components so that we could potentially use it in the SP process.

>>4132824
Leave it with him? Having 1 billion available in an emergency that can't be traced to Sonia beforehand seems super useful in a lot of circumstances.

>>4132824

>One Billion

Either ask him to hold on to it ie reinvesting it in any other program of his. As >>4132904 anon pointed out. Having a billion to use that is not traceable is useful and better to have that billion still working in making more money. Although if Alex does not want it. Suggest he invest it in one of the Houses R&D projects that we are supporting. He doesn't lose any money in doing so and the House benefits in additional R&D funding.

You ask Alex to hang onto it for you. Invest it or otherwise keep it safe. It would be nice to have that much in the way of funding available in the event of an emergency.

When you still cant get hold of Baron Xisoth after leaving Alaior you start to ask more serious questions. Like what the hell is going on? Just in case your take your unit to Edanis to investigate. All ships are put on alert but the crew are informed it's just a drill.

"If he's on a family retreat or something just say so," you tell Xisoth's advisor.
"It's not that Viscount. There is a noble family that has been causing trouble for several years in the hopes of replacing the Governor. They may have funded previous attempts at localised uprisings but we haven't been able to find sufficient evidence. The Baron is currently in the middle of finding a permanent resolution to the matter."

Sounds like Xisoth is either making people an offer they cant refuse or conducting a purge.
Do you really want to get involved in that?

>>4133159
>Do you really want to get involved in that?
Escalate the issue to people more experienced in these matters? Archivald, Dremine, and the Count seem like people who are experienced and should be able to come up with a solution that hasn't the potential to spiral out of control.
I don't think Sonia is too keen on getting involved in garbage like that after what happened on Surakeh. On the other hand, I'm sure she's not too keen on something like it happening at all in her House, no matter who is on the winning side.

>>4133159

>Do you really want to get involved in that?

Ask his Advisor if there is anything we can do to assist the Baron. If they don't suggest anything then leave it to Xisoth to handle.

>>4133179
>Ask his Advisor if there is anything we can do to assist the Baron.
"While I'm certain you could I would not recommend it. This has become rather personal for the Baron."

That doesn't sound good. As much as you'd like to avoid becoming entangled in another world's political problems again perhaps you should something besides simply leaving. On the other hand maybe initiating a GTFO maneuver is precisely what you should do.

[ ] Leave
[ ] Contact the Count
[ ] Contact 1 or more of the other Barons
[ ] Suit up and intervene

>>4133307

"Give the Baron our best regards in his endeavors and if he needs us or our resources in the future to contact us."

>[ ] Leave
>[ ] Contact the Count

They didn't suggest a way for us to help and if this is personal it may be best to leave it to the Baron. Pass along a quiet message to the Count that if he were to provide Xisoth and the current planetary governor some assistance or whatever. In a few days or weeks, whenever Xisoth has has finished what he is doing. Might be a good opportunity for him to make some in roads in to either endearing or strengthen bonds between former Erid nobles and his current leadership.

>>4133307
[x] Monitor the situation.
Hang back and watch. If this looks like it's going to turn into another uprising or attempted coup then we intervene.

>>4133307
>[ ] Leave
>[ ] Contact the Count

Though initially undecided on the best course of action, what you do know is that you've not about to drop in there with a few squads of special forces. Who knows what sort of reception that would earn you?

After departing the system you contact the Count on a secure channel. It isn't a long conversation but it gets across the important bits. Caius promises to look into it immediately. As you're getting ready for the trip to Amherst you get word that Caius departed the capital with a good portion of his personal guard. Hopefully whatever he's planning will be of benefit to the House and not earn Xisoth's ire.

After making sure the kids are well your unit assembles and jumps out of the galaxy. Two days later the unit is guided into the system by Dominion navigation controllers and given parking coordinates for your command ship and escorts. The attack wings are ordered to wait well away from the planet while the Outer Heaven is directed into geostationary orbit.

Things are busy here. Ships from dozens of Houses are present, some of the heavy cruisers you'd seen in the data Alex sent you are still present. There are no supers here at the moment. Apparently the Emperor must have returned to the capital with the flagship.

There are construction sites for future defense platforms and cargo transfer stations. From the frames that have already been built it looks like they'll be smaller than you might have expected. Cargo traffic is being routed through Kilo class mediums acting as staging points for HLVs. Passenger shuttles and the like are being given clearance to land at spaceports, though anyone straying from the approach corridors are quickly surrounded by security.

Like some of the others you're given permission to land with an LST at a spaceport in the northern hemisphere. You can bring escorts but holographic camouflage and weapons larger than pistols will not be permitted. Holding up one of your plasma pistols you trade glances with your bodyguards. This shouldn't be an issue.

After landing at the spaceport you and the delegation are met with limos and escort made up of Royal Guard personnel. It takes an hour to reach one of the facilities where it seems a tour guide of sorts is already waiting for you. Dressed in a lab coat the odd human seems to fit the description of eccentric scientist.

"Viscount Reynard, what a pleasure to meet your acquaintance! I am Inec Micena, one of the program specialists here. The Emperor was most insistent that you be given a good showing of the facility. The equipment from the super carrier was most helpful in accelerating output to full production levels."

With a wave for you and your party to follow the scientist turns on his heel and heads inside, setting a brisk pace.
"We wont be able to go everywhere of course. It wouldn't do to have the guests on the wrong side of the radiation shielding when there are energetic subspace fields involved. Not to mention the various interactions of the veckron streams. We have to keep those quite deep below ground to ensure they're a safe distance from the stockpiles... and our personnel of course.

Despite this we have made sure that our high profile guests should be able to see roughly what's going on, even if direct viewing and recording are next to impossible."

"Are we in any danger of weapons being inadvertently detonated planetside?" is your first and most pressing question.

"Oh goodness no. That safety issue was solved very quickly, thanks in large part to our past experience operating veckron torpedo craft. The Dominion lost a majority of the captured vessels after the Faction wars learning how to operate them properly. We simply had to apply that knowledge as a safety check to the other collected data secured from the Neeran."

The first area you visit is a control center overlooking what at first you take to be a large warehouse. Rows of cargo racking or other containment vessels are present with loading cranes suspended from the ceiling moving around.

"This isn't much to look at I'm afraid. It's all second stage enrichment of drive plates that have reached saturation. They'll have to go to a third stage before final weapons grade enrichment. Imagine, almost all of that just to get a few tiny little pebbles."

>Questions or wait until later in the tour?

>>4133761
>>Questions or wait until later in the tour?

Wait until later.

>>4133761
It seems like a lot of this facility has spring up very quickly. How long have they been planning for this? And how helpful was all the materiel and data recovered from the Neeran?

>>4133642
>There are construction sites for future defense platforms and cargo transfer stations.
Can we get some construction contracts while we're here? Or at least provide some designs? Being an official defense contractor for the Dominion's only SP production and research facility seems like a great PR opportunity.

>>4133761
>Questions or wait until later in the tour?
Is it the same material that's used in Veckron pearls?

>recording are next to impossible
Why's that?

>personnel
Are they only working on weapons here or are they conduction research for cures against v-radiation on the planet as well?

>>4133761
>Imagine, almost all of that just to get a few tiny little pebbles."
"That's pretty much what people used to say about uranium enrichment too.'

"That's pretty much what people used to say about uranium enrichment too," you state.
"Yes I suppose you're right. Fortunately for us these early stages of reprocessing are much safer than than the handling of fissile materials."

It seems like this facility went into operation very quickly and you say as much. "How long have you been planning for this?"

"Before the invasion of the Neeran Empire was launched we began setting up new facilities on this planet. They were just for drive plate reprocessing, or so we were told. The Emperor and Archduke of House Kharbos wanted better FTL drive plates for use on the Sovereign class. As the fastest super heavy it wouldn't do to have its FTL speed suffer.

You may not be aware due to warships armoring over the plates these days, but they can appear tinted different colours. The change in spectrum is a result of how they're processed and directly effects some of their properties. The Dominion and Republic use ones that are a pink-purple, similar to the natural state of some raw ore lattices. These are slightly less energy intensive to operate which is useful for our corvette forces.
The Rovinar and Krath use slightly more green tinted ones which may reduce drive flare slightly. All Dominion cloaked ships are also fitted with these.
Some Kavarian ones are more orange, the result of trying to make them tougher. The effectiveness of this is debatable. I imagine it's so they dont have to cover over the plates which reduces their efficiency.
Then there's the Terrans, as well as the Shallans, who use more blue tinted ones. Ships with these are able to achieve higher FTL speeds more easily."

That makes sense. The Terrans tend to have fast ships the best example of which being the Excalibur class. Micena continues.

"As we've been finding out the methods the Terrans use actually impact the decay processes, making their drive plates better later weapons grade enrichment."

"Fascinating," says one of the J-D Techs.
"Yes isn't it?" Micena claps his hands excitedly. "So yes we've been setting up production and refinement processes for Terran style drive plates for several years now. We were not made aware of its actual purpose until captured Neeran technical data began to arrive. As a security precaution there was some memory erasure used but usually only a few days worth of work."

"How helpful was all the materiel and data recovered from the Neeran?" you ask.

"Quite helpful. It shaved a great deal of time off our start up. Oh! I suppose you meant specifically from the super carrier. It was still helpful and allowed us to complete two other facilities far ahead of schedule. Also as a means of double checking the data and equipment captured by the other Barons."

"So this isn't the only facility on planet then?" Duncan queries.

"Oh no. I'm only aware of four that are operational, but there could be more."

One of the J-D techs raises a hand in question.
"Why do they need to go through so many enrichment stages?"
"Drive plate decay is often uneven. Even minor impurities can cause uneven decay patterns and quickly result in their drive plate field becoming unstable. This can be very bad for a ship that happens to be using it if ignored long enough. Separating out these impurities through reprocessing takes time to make sure plates being sent back out are of the same consistency and the densest sections are diverted to the appropriate processing stage."

>>4133970
>Is it the same material that's used in Veckron pearls?
"That would be a simplistic way of putting it. The concentration of key elements needs to be densified several thousand times, along with being stepped up to a more volatile state."

>recording are next to impossible
>Why's that?
High levels of radiation frying instruments.

>Are they only working on weapons here or are they conduction research for cures against v-radiation on the planet as well?
"We've been made aware of certain treatments that prevent damage or injury from the weapons radiation. There is no cure I'm afraid, only prevention."

Next up on the tour is final processing. Here the last stages of enrichment are completed resulting in a marble sized Veckron core. Most of it is hidden away by machinery through there are plenty of displays showing various masses of material different states of completion. As you watch the technicians perform an abort on one mass.

"Is everything alright?"
"This happens occasionally," Micena explains. " There may be impurities or the density may be off for the particular stage. It will have to be sent back around again for a more reprocessing, though they'll have to be much more careful with it this time."

You're shown to a loading area where one of the completed cores are being deposited to a cart. It surrounded with radiation shielding. Caution and hazard warnings festoon the entire area. Once the cart is loaded, sealed and brought out you can see displays showing radiation levels.

"The cores are a bit hot just after processing but not serious. You could probably pick it up for a few minutes without any long term damage but we have to worry about prolonged exposure to out workers."

Getting a closer look through the shielded glass, the core looks the same as those you've pulled out of Terran Veckron weapons before.

"After a few days cooling to make sure they've safe to handle they're sent for testing. We only expose them to the barest minimum of a charge. Never enough to get anywhere near a criticality event. Very rarely they have to be sent back for another round of reprocessing."

You glance in the scientists direction. "That has to be annoying."
"It is but fortunately we're getting better at it. After final tests the cores can be allocated to V-Torp weapons or SP Torpedo production."

Duncan speaks up. "How much are being used in V-Torps?"
"Very few, and most of those are being used in warhead tests to ensure they're performing similar to other Faction weapons."

>>4134477
This really does sound like early nuclear program work, but with more safety.

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On the other side of the facility is the SP production wing. In between you can see engineering crews assembling downward facing conical devices with drive plates being loaded into the upper wider sections. Each block is equipped to modular racks allowing them to be easily moved around inside of a larger housing. From a few displays you're able to see in the SP labs the tip of the cone will be fitted with one of the Veckron cores.

There seem to be 6 or more production labs at this facility, each connected to a deep drill shaft extending well below the surface of the planet. At any given time it looks like half of the shafts are in active use, with radiation hazard lights lit over sealed blast doors.

Cargo lifts from shaft two are being brought up carrying what look like dozens of warheads suspended in transparent cases. After several more loads have been brought up the frame with the conical device is brought up as well. Radiation levels from it are still a bit high so stasis fields have been activated to help keep it contained.

Micena brings up a display at one of the vacant consoles showing a veckron core that had been used down in one of the manufacturing shafts. It's misshapen and worn down looking, like something that had been left in a microwave too long.

"The large device you saw is effectively a printer head. We expose the entire exterior surface of the torpedo casing, hardening it and giving it the SP properties we've all been after so badly. It's taken us a few months to find the ideal settings for the beam. It actually needs to operate like a particle stream to get the best effect, but this wears down the cores being used more rapidly. Additional testing is still required."

As you're brought to final warhead assembly Micena asks you a question, one which he doesn't really give you the chance to answer.

"Tell me Viscount, what is our greatest advantage against the Terrans? Because if you ask most people in the Dominion they will answer: numbers. We have the ships and crews and the willingness to replace both if necessary. SP Torpedoes are expensive to produce. If we were to put our anticipated SP production against the Terrans we could never hope to produce anything close to similar numbers. We dont have the same quantity of available materials and we may never be able to match them. Obviously that's not good yes? So we're not going to try."

"Uh, we're not?" you ask somewhat reluctantly. "I take it you have another plan?"

"Yes! The Republic developed SP missiles. Smaller, cheaper, using less of the required materials for their casings. They're still not quite ideal but that's been enough to point us in the right direction. We would instead produce a conventional torpedo body with its maneuver drives and so on, but the actual warhead itself would be the only part with an SP casing.

"A smaller warhead? You're going to lose a lot of the punch of Terran SP weapons."
"Their current ones are actually overpowered," Micena insists. "A single one might be overkill for an attack cruiser if the ship is built wrong. Ours will be better optimised for dealing with assault corvettes and frigates. Not as much punch true, but against bigger ships we would have used saturation bombardment regardless."

>Input on this development?

>>4134505
I'm sure they have put a lot of thought into this but why specialize against smaller ships? Aren't the Dominion the only ones who currently rely on ships of these classes the most?
Wouldn't something like oversized shield piercing antimatter torpedoes with improved veckron protection make more sense in the long run?

>>4134477
>we have to worry about prolonged exposure to out workers
Who is actually staffing this planet? Is it divided between the RH and the 7?

>>4134505
Like a MIRV warhead? The torpedo hits the shield, the warhead continues through from the sheer momentum, but the rest of it is destroyed on impact with the shield? If they're doing that are they planning to add some kind of final impact 'burst' system that gives it a last bit of speed so the target can't dodge?
I bet that would like cool, like when cluster bomblets air detonante.
Also, if a warhead is conical in shape, and the sides are totally coated in SP material but the base of it isn't, what happens when it tries to go through the shield?

Is there any way to artificially mature the drive plates? Something we could tie in with the artificial drive production.
Also when we scanned that SP torp production module in the ship, how did they get around the radiation issues we're seeing here?

>>4134523
>Aren't the Dominion the only ones who currently rely on ships of these classes the most?
The Terrans switched over a lot of their fleet strength to assault corvettes over the course of the war. It was the easiest way for them to replace losses. Most of the super heavies they have access to now are super carrier types, which means more assault corvettes. Those have also proven to be the best way to deploy their superior numbers of SP Torps.

>Wouldn't something like oversized shield piercing antimatter torpedoes with improved veckron protection make more sense in the long run?
Perhaps, but would you prefer to bet on 1 large torpedo getting through a point defense screen or 40-100 smaller ones?

>Who is actually staffing this planet? Is it divided between the RH and the 7?
Yes, or it will be eventually. There are also specialists from other Houses that contributed to the search for the Neeran weapons programs.

>>4134528
>Like a MIRV warhead? The torpedo hits the shield, the warhead continues through from the sheer momentum, but the rest of it is destroyed on impact with the shield? I
There would still only be 1 warhead. The main body will also be able to deploy more decoys to saturate enemy point defense. There are plans for minor thruster additions or repulsors for course corrections on the warhead itself.

>Also, if a warhead is conical in shape, and the sides are totally coated in SP material but the base of it isn't, what happens when it tries to go through the shield?
They're not taking that chance, the entire warhead is enclosed.
>Is there any way to artificially mature the drive plates?
This is under investigation. It is believed the Terrans have already been doing this.

>Also when we scanned that SP torp production module in the ship, how did they get around the radiation issues we're seeing here?
The modules were not active and hadn't been for awhile. They'd been secured for transport.

>>4134554
>Perhaps, but would you prefer to bet on 1 large torpedo getting through a point defense screen or 40-100 smaller ones?
I guess the people in universe know the answer to that much better than I do. The Dominion can probably put stasis shields on large torpedoes at this point if they're destructive enough to be worth the cost increase.

Finally you're brought into another warehouse section, this time filled with racks upon racks of torpedoes. So many torpedoes. Some are of various marks produced by the Terrans, others somewhat similar but with Dominion markings. Then there are the newer models this facility has begun producing with just the main warhead given the SP coating. The rest of the body looks more like a conventional torp.

Valeri points out a few Rovinar torps off to the side taped over with yellow markers indicating they're reserved.

"Our first few batches of torpedoes were intended to be as close to the Terran and Rovinar ones as possible. Not as good as their latest models but almost a match for the ones made before the war. Your House was to be allocated ten thousand warheads. If you want you could take that many of our early models, or forty thousand of the newer types. They both required similar quantities of SP coating."

>What are you getting for the House?

>>4134737
>What are you getting for the House?
Do we get a continuing stipend for the machine from the carrier?
Anyway, 5000 classic torpedoes and 20000 of the new design?

>>4134744
>Do we get a continuing stipend for the machine from the carrier?
Eventually. They're still ramping up production and making adjustments.

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>>4134754
Very nice.

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>>4134554
>There would still only be 1 warhead.
Sorry, I meant in terms of design with how the warhead separates from the ICBM once it reaches peak trajectory
Like this pic?

>>4134791
Yes that.

>>4134737
I'm not too keen on taking them all now in case there's bugs to be worked out or improvements and such. Maybe 2000 regular SP and 12000 new type? That would leave us with '5000' points.

Questions or plans while you're on planet?

Have to head out, resuming tomorrow.

>>4134897
>Questions
Are they also working on SP beams or other weapon designs?
Have they found something that can actually block a v-torp aside from a hundred meters or so of super dense armor?
Do they know how to manufacture the anti veckron radiation medicine?

>plans
See if we can get permission to buy an office building and some housing to go with it.

>>4134897
See if we can get some data on the new type torpedos so our decoy torp production line can catch up?

>>4134897
>>4135535

Supporting this, getting data so as to improve decoy sp torps is important. So we can make different models, decoys for Rovinar, Terran and Dominion type sp weapons.

While I am certain the answer is no. Do they know if after all the houses are given their own stock of Dominion SP weapons. If they are going to be selling to the other factions? Though I feel this might best be directed to a RH rep instead of our guide.

>Are they also working on SP beams or other weapon designs?
They are setting up a facility to study ones the Neeran built that were captured. They're a bit more dangerous so its taking longer to construct a test area that is safe enough. Also because starship grade spinal mount weapons tend to be a big larger than a few drive plates.

>Have they found something that can actually block a v-torp aside from a hundred meters or so of super dense armor?
Sufficiently powerful stasis shields should be able to, though they still punch through quite a lot of them in tests.
>Do they know how to manufacture the anti veckron radiation medicine?
They know the basics, though it's absurdly expensive. They haven't produced any of their own yet but it is being actively studied.

"Would it be possible to get some data on the new type torpedoes so my decoy torp production line can catch up?"
"Yes of course, the Emperor wanted you to be provided the data in person, along with a contract to produce 8 million decoys."

"Eight- eight million?!" you sputter, momentarily taken aback.
"Yes. You'd be expected to provide them over a period of ten years. There may be additional design changes to the warheads at which time your company would be provided with new data. There are other decoy producers so we can't guarantee business beyond that point."

The contract uses the same base sale price your decoy production line has been using since day one, so you're not going to be forced to under bid. At least not until contract renegotiation in another decade.

>>4135956

>8 million decoys ordered

Well fuck, so long as our company can meet 800k a year without interruptions then we should be able to handle it. But we may want to expand our production facilities to meet said quota if it looks like we might fall behind.

>>4135989
More because you're still getting orders from the Alliance.

>>4135956
E x p a n s i o n

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>>4135956
>a contract to produce 8 million decoys
Based Emperor Ber'helum, simply making the tallest Dro'all emperor was the best thing anybody in the Dominion has ever done.

>>4135956
This is going to be a long rule for the RH isn't it?

"This may sound like a silly question, but once the House strategic stockpiles are in place will the Dominion begin selling these weapons to other Factions?"

Micena looks as though he'd never considered this. "I have no idea. I imagine individual Houses might. The PCCG would undoubtedly be interested. They have no SP weapon tech to speak of. The Emperor may see fit to trade with them but I cannot say."

You're not about to bring up the Dominion potentially selling weapons to the Shallan State. That's a whole barrel of problems of its own.

>>4136049
There's also the Norune, who are probably really unproblematic customers. And potentially also the Watchers.

What kind of Warhead are they using in the torps? Just a scaled down conventional explosive?

If we were to adapt the plasma/fusion explosive torpedo technology into the smaller warhead size, would that give a bigger boom? You could even channel some of the stasis plasma for a small portion of thrust for the impact vehicle.

Final point, if you were to take the afterburner systems and use them to generate Anti-matter on the fly, with a small stasis compartment in the Impact vehicle, could you effectively create 'dial-a-yield' SP torps? It would be a lot safer than storing the antimatter, since you only generate the amount you need, and it would only be used to augment the explosive power of the warhead.

>>4136039
I have no idea. I'm not sure who was Ruling House in the next time period I'd done any work on.

>>4136068
>What kind of Warhead are they using in the torps? Just a scaled down conventional explosive?
Newer high yield fusion warheads allowing them to have much the same punch as an older torpedo in a smaller package.

They can be fitted with stasis/plasma warheads or kinetic payloads as needed.

>You could even channel some of the stasis plasma for a small portion of thrust for the impact vehicle.
Possible but there are concerns about compromising the SP casing.

>if you were to take the afterburner systems and use them to generate Anti-matter on the fly, with a small stasis compartment in the Impact vehicle, could you effectively create 'dial-a-yield' SP torps?
If you mean like how the Helios class torpedo medium works then yes, that's possible. House Helios is already working on a next generation version of the ship that would be able to load multiple smaller warheads at a time with antimatter from the ships AM generators. This would increase firepower quite a bit over the 1-2 heavy torps the current version can fire now.

Could you do the same thing on smaller ships? Yes, but the Helios Medium version is overbuilt to survive accidents while this wouldn't be possible on smaller ships.

>>4136160
>They can be fitted with stasis/plasma warheads or kinetic payloads as needed.
With the possibility of smaller ships mostly shifting to non phase weaponry, would it make sense to load nanites instead of conventional explosives in certain scenarios?

>>4136175
>With the possibility of smaller ships mostly shifting to non phase weaponry,
Pulse cannons are a subset of phased energy weapon.

>would it make sense to load nanites instead of conventional explosives in certain scenarios?
I guess? I presume acquiring offensive nanites as part of the kythera trade mission will be a thing?

>>4136189
I'm hoping we dab on the Kythera in our diplomatic mission. It's an absolute power move to have Sonia, the victim of multiple nanite attacks, on the team.

>>4136189
>I presume acquiring offensive nanites as part of the kythera trade mission will be a thing?
I'd say that depends on how the Kythera actually are as a people? We haven't really had proper contact with them yet, I think. They were in a really shitty situation with the Neeran Empire trying to exterminate them and all that.

Let's get a vote on torpedoes while we're still here. What are you selecting for the House?

[ ] 10,000 "Standard" SP Torpeodes
[ ] 40,000 Dominion New SP Torp / small warhead type
[ ] Reserve until improvements are made
[ ] 5k Standard, 20k Dominion
[ ] 2k Standard, 12k Dominion, 5k Reserve

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>>4136266
>[x] 5k Standard, 20k Dominion

>>4136266
>[ ] 2k Standard, 12k Dominion, 5k Reserve

>>4136288
I'm okay with that to move things along.

>>4136266

>[X] 2k Standard, 12k Dominion, 5k Reserve

You decide on a mix of torpedo types with an additional reserve to be collected later. Dominion SP weapon production is in its infancy and they're bound to come out with more refined versions.

It's not a huge amount, certainly not when compared to the numbers the Alliance assigned to your fleet, but it should last the House for now. As long as things remain in relative peace there wont be any immediate need for them. While the Emperor has not said as much, the Seven are making it clear to their vassals and allies that those who start trouble will be cut off. That should buy two or three years peace at the very least. People want their torpedoes and after a generation of war most are prepared to wait out any additional grievances.

The rest of the J-D delegation will be remaining on planet to help make arrangements for assistance to the programs here. Primarily that will mean setting up supply of drive plates from J-D to SP weapon manufacturing rather than to the Guild.
You're warned that the Dominion wont be able to cut the Guild out of the loop entirely. Your Faction cant handle the load of reprocessing all drive plates itself. They'll have to be checked and monitored and only those that meet certain requirements should be sent here. Creating that logistics train is going to take some work.

Before leaving the planet you check around for some investment opportunities. Specifically you want an office building here that your companies could make use of. It doesn't take long to realise that there aren't many available, but there are local Lords that have cratered property that needs rehabilitation. One is prepared to give your company a 100 year lease if you pay for construction of the building. They would be able to make use of 10% of the available floors for their own business, you can do what you want with the rest.

Interest in this?

>>4136392
>Interest in this?
Definitely.

>>4136392
Sounds like a pretty good deal, I'm up for it.

>>4136394
>>4136415
Did you want to more or less copy the setup of the property in the Dominion's capital?
Big main building with executive landing pads. Outer buildings for aerocar taxi, securities and public plaza?

>>4136392
>Interest in this?
yes

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>>4136437
Sounds good to me. Maybe make the buildings look more utilitarian, considering the nature of the planet.

>>4136437
Hell yeah, maybe a big bunker too, for any special projects.

>>4136447
Fortunately you already have building patterns that are more structurally reinforced and still have windows.

>>4136450
Probably not the best idea to be doing special projects on the same planet as all that other stuff.

With business concluded and the torpedoes in tow you return to orbit. You're permitted to return any time you want as long as you give 2 weeks notice prior to your arrival.

The escort wings have been keeping themselves occupied with simulator battles against forces of a few other Houses that are present. Nothing unusual has happened aside from a stray frigate with improper clearance being swarmed by boarding craft.

Your units return to J-D space and the Count is given a briefing on the weapons you've returned with. He's supportive of your decision to wait on some of the additional warheads. The House certainly needed some of them now but it's good to have a backup in case these turn out to be less than ideal.

"Viscount with the current state of the Dominion's special weapons production, do you feel it would be in our interests to have some similar industry of our own prepared for an emergency? We have access to many more worlds through terraforming. It would be relatively easy to construct hidden facilities now that could be completed and activated later. Our house has ample resources at the moment but that may not always be the case. I'm interested in hearing your opinion on this."

>What say?

>>4136607
>What say?
"In the current political climate, discovery of any such facility would very likely result in the decimation or outright destruction of our House. I don't know any details about the treaties the Emperor has signed to make the facility on Amherst a reality but I am willing to bet even they couldn't save us from the results of such a discovery.
If we should ever be in situation where a production facility can be constructed without severe repercussions to our House, the technology will likely have advanced far enough to make any such facility with current tech severely outdated. I don't think it's worth it at the moment."

Also, how did things work out with Baron Xisoth? Will we have to buy him a gift to make up for getting the count involved?

>>4136607
I think it would be dangerous to do such a thing. The only reason no one has intervened in the 'official' production is because it's being done all above-board. There's no hiding, no covert ops, it's all out in the open for people to see. If JD were to start a program of their own, it could invite problems from outside and inside the Dominion. The Seven might take offense to it, the political fallout could be immense.

Assembling the requisite support industry might be something we're capable of though. If you have all the parts ready to go and production facilities waiting to have equipment installed, that might be a way to skirt around the regulations, and something we could probably do over a number of years, quietly and unnoticed.

>>4136626
>>4136676
Supporting

>>4136607

Supporting these two

>>4136626
>>4136676

>>4136607
Honestly? Wait until such a time that the Emperor gives it to us. The cons of being discovered outweighs the pros of having it. Especially while it is in its early phase. Just give it some time and eventually we will get access.

Is this finally coming to an close? I haven't been back to 4chan questing in years after moving to other sites, but I always assumed For House and Dominion would run forever until TSTG died.

>>4137612
I refuse to accept that it is and am currently pretending it is just another Arc before we move on to the next one.

>>4138200
This is me too. Never thought I'd get so attached to a quest.

>>4129748
> HALO rings

> Not Ringworld Ring with Caretaker Scrith equivalent and turning the sun into a giant defensive laser.

I am dissapoint

Also thanks for all the years of running.
>>4130646
> Finding a secure location for the museum might actually be the hardest part.

Stick it on a touring retired Super. "Forget" to fully disarm it so it can quickly be re-armed, Starslip Crisis Fuseli style.

>>4136626
>>4136676

This

If we want to stockpile SP torps, better to just buy them.

This wasn't a conversation you were expecting to have but at the same time it isn't that surprising. Once a technology begins to appear in the Dominion it isn't long before other Houses want it to proliferate. Except right now that's the last thing the Dominion needs.

"I would recommend against it as. Given the current political climate, discovery of any such facility would very likely result in the decimation or outright destruction of our House. The only reason no one has intervened in the "official" production is because it's being done all above-board. There's no hiding, no covert ops, it's all out in the open for people to see."

"Or at least for the other Factions to see," Caius points out.

"Exactly. If we try hide something like this it's only going to invite covert operations or worse if it's found out. I don't know the details about the treaties the Emperor has signed to make the facility on Amherst a reality but I am willing to bet even they couldn't save us from the results of such a discovery."

Caius considers your words.
"Yes, if the Emperor was faced with losing the SP program, or potentially all out war, the fate of one House would be a small price to pay to keep the peace. Thank you Viscount."

It may be possible to expand certain support industries to better prepare for the day when SP weapons tech is more widespread, but that's a long term project. Best to not start on that too early.

Before departing you ask about how things went with Baron Xisoth. Caius was able to reach Edanis quickly enough to prevent the Baron from killing a number of nobles that had started a feud of some sorts. Supposedly they weren't in open rebellion against the House, just the Baron and Governor.

The Count struck an agreement with them in return for saving their lives. The nobles at fault will be permitted to hand over their assets to designated heirs and will be placed under house arrest. Just where they'll be staying isn't known but it's expected they'll be taken off world. If any of the involved parties breaks their agreements or parole then their fate will once again be in Xisoth's hands.

Baron Xisoth isn't pleased they've been left alive but can't do anything more about it. He'd wanted vengeance for one of his relatives that had been killed.

You spend the next few days with family and seeing to matters in the homeworlds. Attending a ball here or there and working on issues related to the various companies. Even with the draw down of the fleets the Norune and the Alliance are still placing orders for your heavy cruisers. They're now working together on a project for a common heavy cruiser design both of them can use. The Alliance specifically wants it for use as a test bed for experimental weapons so some mounts will need to be more modular.

Getting more info is like pulling nails but you eventually find out the Alliance wants to equip it with something called a plasma lance. You'd heard rumors of such a weapon being in development during the war but that's about it. Nothing on size, power or specific use. If it's going on your heavy cruiser design that narrows it down to larger spinal mount guns or something able to fit medium plasma cannon turrets.

Did you want to dig into this further or just wait and see?

Sorry for the lack of posts, I've been going kinda crazy like I always seem to do during spring weather. I think someone suggested snow mold as a possible cause? I dunno.

>>4139383
>HALO rings
>Not Ringworld Ring
>I am dissapoint
If you want something built that Sonia might see the completion of a then a full sized Ringworld is not it.

>>4143029
See what we can dig up, use the excuse that the Heavy shipyard might need retooling if its a big change in shape, size, power, or even recoil.

>>4143029
>Did you want to dig into this further or just wait and see?
>They're now working together on a project for a common heavy cruiser design both of them can use
Maybe try to get in on that new heavy cruiser? We do technically have more experience designing modern heavy cruisers than both of them and they seem to like the current design enough to keep buying it. See if we can get some contract work for them, having a stable non-dominion market for our largest shipyards seems like a useful thing.

>snow mold
Never even heard of that. At least you're not in Corona lockdown mode yet.

>>4143047
>Maybe try to get in on that new heavy cruiser?
Yeah I explained that badly.
It's intended to be based on the Mark 5 version of your heavy. They're trying to agree between them what changes need to be made to it so they can both adopt the same hull.

>>4143062
Oh, okay. In that case I'd say we simply wait and see. It should earn us points with both the Norune and Alliance if we don't poke around too much.

>>4143074
>not wanting to get another technology demonstrator for the Plasma Moon

>>4143113
The Dominion is going back into full retard mode soon enough. I'd love to have one of these for the plasma moon but stable relations and partners outside the dominion are probably worth more in the future.

>>4143125
Getting some technical specs early won't damage relations, but stealing a whole cannon probably would.

>>4143074
>>4143113
Ideally if we could get a tie breaker at some point that would be good.

Continuing on.

The movie currently going by the working title Dominion Vampires is nearing the end of pre-production. Halide being a Dominion based company and thus somewhat sensitive to the needs of the nobility, are refusing to produce the film. They are worried that it could be seen as a negative portrayal of the nobility regardless of whatever comedic aspects it might be focused on.

You've funded production o movies in the past, but that was paying professionals to do the actual work. There's a good chance other Dominion companies will have similar reactions.

How do you plan to deal with this?
[ ] Keep looking inside the Dominion
[ ] Hire Terran firm
[ ] Shelve the project for now
[ ] Other?

>>4143166
>[ ] Hire Terran firm

>>4143166
>[ ] Hire Terran firm
>[ ] Other?
We could set it during a campaign in Neeran space. That way we could hire a former Imperial company. I'm sure there's lots of acting talent looking for work in the region. Or just go with a Terran company. That's fine too.

>>4143166
> [ ] Hire Terran firm

Put a clause in they have to hire Dominian cultural experts and infiltrate the firm under the guise of sticking them with a bunch of useless Nobles as being the kind of graft that they expect out of the Dominion.

Famous people are great contacts for spies.

>>4143187
>infiltrate the firm
Any support for this?

>>4143214
Sure

>>4143214
As a bonus, we can stick some otherwise useless nobles in as well to earn some political points. Nepotism!

If nobody in the Dominion is up for your plan to troll a select number of Terran officers you'll get the Terrans to do it themselves. The writing team is ordered to begin shopping the script around to different terran movie firms. You'll provide most of the money, though you reserve the right to assign so called "cultural experts" to keep an eye on things once in production. Quite a few studios are rather annoyed with this last bit but plenty more consider it a non-issue.

It's expected that your people will be able to come to an agreement with one of them within a week or so.

Baron Dante Zvonimir has contacted you. His transforming battleship is still in development but it's making progress. That isn't the real reason for the call. Military R&D budgets across Faction space are being slashed with many turning their attention to civilian uses of tech. Plenty of Houses are in talks to combine efforts on particular projects to lighten the load and so on.

Still interested in continuing work on more outlandish projects the Baron has decided to found the Innovators Development Compact. The idea is to give more eccentric individuals an opportunity to pool their resources and put projects up for peer review.

Once a year each member can put forward an idea for a project. The group will then try to decide which one should be invested in that year. While focusing on one project at a time would be preferred, there is nothing stopping members from investing in the less popular ones.
Obviously given your history the Baron immediately thought it a good idea to offer you membership.

>Join / support the Innovators Development Compact?

>>4143271
I already love this idea. Heavy support.

>>4143271
>>Join / support the Innovators Development Compact?
Yes

>>4143271
Oh god, yes. Definitely.

>>4143271
>>Join / support the Innovators Development Compact?

I'd be up for joining this sounds like a good place to throw our outlandish ideas.

>>4143294
Just remember, you can only put forward 1 at each annual meeting.

>>4143319
Splicing Shallan with Neeran DNA to create a proper ruling caste of huge Shallans with super powers.

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There is little hesitation on your part when it comes to joining or supporting such an organisation. This could be an essential outlet for some of your mad schemes in peace time. Dante is glad to hear you're willing to take part and hopes to see you later this year at the IDC's first meeting. If for whatever reason you're not able to make it you can send a representative in your place.

Another piece of news the Baron delivers is that next year's 4047 meeting will coincide with the Yineput Grand Tourney. Tournaments, games and contests will be open to any Knight of any House. Ship battles, jousts, starfighter duels, with power armor and walker actions on the planet itself. This is going to be THE tournament by the sounds of it. Easily the largest held this century.

The Emperor has been invited though it's not known if he'll be able to attend. The last time Aros Ber'helum attended a large event on Yineput things didn't go well.

Did you want to make any plans regarding the Grand Tourney?

>>4143408
What are the regulations for people with improvements?

>>4143420
They're going to have separate leagues to ensure the least disruption from protests, though there will be some open to both enhanced and non.

>>4143421
Sounds like a fun thing in that case. Maybe try to get Sonia's useless sister involved as well. Has Ethan been knighted?

>>4143408
Planning for attendance.
See if any of our forces on Rioja want/are willing to attend. If they are, specialised training squadrons to get them into competitive shape.
Volunteering an invulnerable Fire Drake as one of the prizes.

>>4143423
>Has Ethan been knighted?
For doing what? He has no battlefield accomplishments. He's a low ranked engineering officer whose unit was largely stationed in J-D space in the last year of the war.

>>4143448
I would assume there are unfortunately more than enough other idiots aside from Neeran who might have forced him into doing some heroics. Still, a relatively comfy deployment isn't exactly a bad thing either.

>>4143423
>Sonia's useless sister
If she was useless she wouldn't have been Knighted. She's just better as small unit actions.

>>4143504
>I would assume there are unfortunately more than enough other idiots aside from Neeran who might have forced him into doing some heroics.
If that had happened it would have been because of the House Uprising turning into a bloodbath.

>>4143426
>Volunteering an invulnerable Fire Drake as one of the prizes.
This was one of the prizes I was considering. It had been mentioned before, either by myself or another anon, I cant remember.

Support for this?

>>4143408
. . . . Do we still have that giant mech?

If not, we should build one.

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>>4143541
>. . . . Do we still have that giant mech?
The Dante class gunship? You have a couple of them to my knowledge. They haven't gone for upgrades in a few years.

>we should build one.
Under license? Because it would be much cheaper to just buy another and have it custom fit.

>>4143536
>Support for this?
Maybe? An indestructible assault corvette would also make a fine prize. No idea which one is actually more desirable. I'm also concerned about these ships becoming publicly connect to J-D. Would it be possible to officially run the donation through Ber'helum or the Emperor? I'm fine with Baron Dante knowing but it doesn't need to be advertised elsewhere.

>If she was useless she wouldn't have been Knighted.
I wasn't entirely serious about that.

>If that had happened it would have been because of the House Uprising turning into a bloodbath.
It's good to know that the military has much nicer careers to offer than during Sonia's time as a newbie, I guess.

>>4143536
>Support for this?
I think it's a nice way to signal the end of the war at least.

>>4143567
>Maybe? An indestructible assault corvette would also make a fine prize. No idea which one is actually more desirable.
The only assault corvettes given the builder material armor upgrade were the Fire Drakes because it wouldn't wreck their main guns.

>>4143567
>Would it be possible to officially run the donation through Ber'helum or the Emperor? I'm fine with Baron Dante knowing but it doesn't need to be advertised elsewhere.
Also this is actually a good idea and would be easy to do.

>>4143557
No. I mean for the tourney.

GIANT MECHA BATTLES.

>>4143590
>>4143617
I'm fine with handing over a fire drake in that case.

Also, I just remembered. We promised to wind down strip mining operations in the Rioja badlands once the war is over. We should probably initiate that if it hasn't been done already.

>>4143641
Yes that is a category in the tournament. You might want to get them upgraded before or they wont take as much of a beating.

>>4143651
>We promised to wind down strip mining operations in the Rioja badlands once the war is over. We should probably initiate that if it hasn't been done already.
It's been slowly stepping down to the point where there are only a few still operating. As with any strip mining operation they are still making a mess. Fortunately the containment shields have been of great help reducing atmospheric pollution in the south.

At your prompting the Governor requests that surface mining be shut down within the next 6 months. Subsurface mines are already in operation, though they're not as quick in removing ore.

>>4143679
Can we make a mecha with a giant shark head hand for rip 'n tear? We had a specific shield for ramming, yes? Cover the shark head with the shield, put a lightning gun inside the mouth, use it to smash into enemy mecha and fry it from the inside.

While still in the homeworlds preparation for the Kythera trade mission is ongoing. Diplomatic personnel for the House will be needed so it's best to talk to them while you're here. It may be months away but it is certainly happening.

There wont just be one House involved. Ideally the mission will establish trade relations with the entire Dominon. Making sure there is representation from the Ruling House or most of the Seven is going to be essential. At least that way there wont be accusations of the Kythera infiltrating a small number of Houses if they're the only ones trading.

The team will have access to AI war mode fitted weapons and power armor to ensure they have some means of protection. Nothing that's been built since the Kythera incident due to concerns about revealing the latest weapons.

Speaking of weapons there are concerns about how much knowledge the diplomatic party should have when it comes to the Dominions R&D programs. You especially know a great deal.

1) Is Sonia going on the Kythera trade mission?

2) What sort of tech, etc are you hoping to trade with/for?

>>4143804

>1) Is Sonia going on the Kythera trade mission?

Yes

>2) What sort of tech, etc are you hoping to trade with/for?

Anyone remember the Rust Virus? Well what about making a reverse of that? Working with the Kythera to create nanites that repair ships automatically from stored mass nearby. So that if your ship is damaged superficially you just pull in some scrap metal and let the nanites repair the surface level. You'll still need to hit a yard for superstructure. But having nanites repairing your armor or even nanites to repair modules would be useful. Think like in EVE-Online where they armor and module repair kits.

Also maybe technology to monitor a persons body/ biology. So if say a person has been poisoned the nanites can clean the poison out. Or even make repairs to a persons DNA if they have something that advanced. Basically, nanites for health purposes.

Also interested in seeing if we can figure out how that Kythera ship we saw back in the Civil War worked with its exposed reactor(?).

>>4143679
Thanks.

>>4143804
>1)
I'd say yes. If the Dominion could afford to have Sonia sent to the frontlines, they can afford to have her join a diplomatic mission.

>2)
I'd prefer to stick to mostly civilian tech for now. Automatization for hazardous work, medical technology. It's pretty hard to settle on things beforehand if we don't really now what they have to offer or what they want. We could offer to employ the Dominion's vast cloning facilities to jump start their recovery efforts if they still start out as organic creatures before going through digitalization, for example.

>>4143804
>1) Is Sonia going on the Kythera trade mission?
I want to say Yes. We'll have to be on guard though, maybe wearing Builder armor and Energy convertor the whole time. It still seems to stop nanites right?

>2) What sort of tech, etc are you hoping to trade with/for?
The exposed reactor technology might be interesting. I bet you could use it to replicate a sun and use that in Terraforming operations. Maybe medical nanite technology? That's a dangerous game though.

>>4143804
> 1) Is Sonia going on the Kythera trade mission?

Yes.

>
2) What sort of tech, etc are you hoping to trade with/for?

Why trade tech for now? Start with art and culture. They're synthetic life forms, so simulations are probably their jam. Offer our library of holo-everything and the concept of gaming as simulations under artificial restrictions to make it more interesting. In exchange, they can help us make the simulations even more realistic and simulators more portable.

Peacetime profits.

We can also see if they have any unique media we can distribute in Alliance markets.

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Before I forget.
>Let's trade with the Kythera for personal nanite cloud weapons
>What's the worst that could happen?

Resuming tomorrow hopefully. Wont be running thursday.

Got called into work because people are sick.

>>4144280
Stay safe out there. It's getting kind of crazy.

>>4144280
Booo. Don't get sick yourself!

>>4144280
Don't work yourself sick just so your boss can rack in more profits, TSTG.

>people are sick
I know the vote to start shipping people to the advanced medical facility on the builder ship didn't go through but I'd like to have people like Knight Cu'paher put in stasis once their health starts going critical to bridge the years until these treatments become semi-publicly available. Having people die at this point is just negligent.

>>4144847
>I'd like to have people like Knight Cu'paher put in stasis once their health starts going critical
That old Knight is well beyond critical. The guy spends more time in medical systems or stasis than Lord Yu in SG1.

>>4145430
That frog alien is a national treasure.

Resuming tomorrow barring having to cover for other people.

>>4143804
Now that the war is over and ship orders are decreasing, we could offer to use part of the Dominion's industrial capacity to produce machinery and items to speed up the Kythera's recovery efforts. A standard faction design should work well enough for them if they provide with modifications to allow our tech to interface with their systems.
Even if their local designs are preferable for them, having a fusion reactor or mining ship that has a weird design is much better than not having one at all.

Supposed Dominion secrets be damned. Nobody objected to you taking a fleet into Neeran space late in the war, there shouldn't be any issue with you going to Kythera space yourself. Besides, if the trade delegation ends up in trouble at least some of them should know how to fight. Though it things get to that point you're probably screwed anyways.

Drawing up lists of trade goods, things you want or have to offer, will probably take longer to work out. Obviously tech is going to be a big one, either to better handle harsh environments or decrease manpower. There may be tech the factions have that could be of interest to them as well.

The idea of medical technology is of course not a unique one, but could be dangerous given what happened in the war. With work they could theoretically open up another path to the level of tech the Builder medical systems use.

The Factions are still scaling back starship manufacturing so selling them civilian hulls might work. Maybe even military ones under the right circumstances.

Media such as art and entertainment might also be an untapped market. Provided it doesn't turn out they're a hivemind that shares everything they've seen. That could make digital rights management a lot more difficult.

With plans underway everything needed for the trade delegation should be ready in 3-4 months. The Kythera have agreed to the talks, responding via the Alliance. They have also offered to recieve envoys from the other Factions if they wish to send them. From what you hear from the other Houses the Krath will not be in attendance, refusing to go anywhere near Kythera space.

An idea you'd long considered for a mission such as this is the inclusion of AI's. They may not have the best rights in Faction space but normalizing relations with the Kythera could theoretically change that.

Did you want to talk to the Alliance (or dare I say the Terrans?) about inclusion or representation of Faction AI?

>>4148409
Please ask the Krath what's their problem with these guys.

>AIs
I guess asking the Alliance won't hurt. Maybe they have a demilitarized model that can help or specializes in something not considered vital to the factions.

Also, see if we can get access to the FA and Neeran Empire archives about these guys.

>>4148409
Talk to Versa about what she thinks they might want for trade.

Talk to the Alliance about AI rights.

>>4148409
Yes, I would like that. Even if only to counter any intrusion attempts.

>>4148409
I'm not sure if everyone remembers but during the Planet sphere mission we asked about any other builder sites and one holding their cultural/art/data was mentioned also in Neeran space. Any chance we could visit that as we pass through?

>Only get 2 hours sleep
>somehow make it through shift
>get a few hours sleep this afternoon
>wake up even more tired

>>4150076
Go back to bed.

>>4148433
>Please ask the Krath what's their problem with these guys.
The Krath are a species based on extreme bio adaptability. They dont generally work with nanites if they can help it.

The Kythera being an entirely machine and nanite based people are basically anathema to them. If it's necessary to trade with them they'll probably do so through intermediaries like the Rovinar, or in some cases maybe even Houses they're on good terms with. Who knows?

>>4148865
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/3910149/#p3915484
The Suvorov taskforce with data provided by your expedition located a former habitat. Based on other data it is likely that this was a major cultural center, but other ones specifically mentioned could still be out there somewhere.

Right now the taskforce is being reorganized to better deal with post-war staffing issues.

Did tstg get the virus

>>4154623
No I just have absolutely zero drive to write lately.

>>4154648
Aw, fair enough. It's been a long journey, take your time to end it in a way you feel happy with.

Thanks for all the years!

>>4154686
what this guy said.

>>4154686
+1

The design team at the Surakeh heavy cruiser yard have been trying to get as much information as possible from the Alliance regarding possible design changes. Reinforcement of structure, additional power systems capacity, anything that could give an indication of what the ship will be used for is suggested.

Eventually it's narrowed down to a turret weapon. A new set of design requests are sent by the Alliance asking for 2 potential models. One with smaller republic built forward guns, and another omitting them entirely in favour of improved stores and defenses. Whichever they decide on wont be capable of mounting Dominion built siege weapons.

That's not the only thing. Based on the responses there are signs that some structural sections could be replaced in later designs with stronger Kavarian built materials. It could be the Alliance is planning ahead to upgrade all of their ships in the long term. At the same time there's no guarantee your yard would continue to get business from them, though that's likely to be years down the line.

Figured I'd try to post at least something before the thread fell off the board.
I have no intention of starting another H&D thread until or unless I've actually got some content planned out. I dont see that happening soon to be honest. I want to move on to other projects I started planning out at least 2 years ago.

>>4164244
new quest?

>>4164244
:(
Hope you'll find your muse soon!

>>4164279
I compiled a list of ideas and detailed notes for easily +30 quests at one point. I've been hoping to do something that would be more accessible to my extended family who are scattered all over the place and thus dont have much opportunity or reason to talk. That or a more patreon focused thing. Haven't decided. And I need to get my meds fixed before any of it because I cant seem to focus enough to write while taking this shit.

>>4164290
good luck and god speed, i hope they're as good as this one is/was.

>>4164244
>>4164290
Good luck whatever you end up doing my dude.

>>4164290
Thank you for several years of entertainment. I'm looking forward to participate in any quest you start in the future

>>4164244
>>4164290


Thanks for running TSTG.

>>4164290
>>4164244
No worries TSTG. Thank you for all the effort you put into the quest. I hope you'll manage to get the situation with your medication sorted out.