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Total Members Voted: 21

[10ebbor10]

Everyone seems to be stuck thinking that a WMD would need to be nuclear. Really, if we use a pure fusion bomb there won't be any excess radiation. We still need to develop a pure fusion bomb though.

Also, doing it on an other planet would defeat the entire point of it.

[Helgoland]

AFAIK, fusion bombs need a fission bomb to set them off - you need to create lots and lots of heat in a tiny space for fusion to take place, and there's no better thing for that than good ol' uncontrolled fission chain reactions. Also, melt loads of ice by solar power but its reflective properties make that impossible? Soot is your friend! The soviets almost used that to heat Siberia... good thing they didn't

10ebbor10, are your forum games still active? Or dead? Or in hiatus? Or... I dunno, but could you tell?

[Maldevious]

Been AFK, so to speak, for a bit. Will work on getting a post up this weekend, but there also seems to be some contention on two issues:

1) WMDs on ice caps on Aries
2) Battleship dilemma (poll is basically tied, get more info has a slight lead last I checked)

So go ahead and keep arguing about that. I'll post when it seems like a conclusion has been reached (or I feel the discussion has stagnated).

[10ebbor10]

AFAIK, fusion bombs need a fission bomb to set them off - you need to create lots and lots of heat in a tiny space for fusion to take place, and there's no better thing for that than good ol' uncontrolled fission chain reactions. Also, melt loads of ice by solar power but its reflective properties make that impossible? Soot is your friend! The soviets almost used that to heat Siberia... good thing they didn't

10ebbor10, are your forum games still active? Or dead? Or in hiatus? Or... I dunno, but could you tell?

We can try to use a strong enough laser pulse combined with conventional explosives to make a non radioactive fusion bomb. It's gonna be hard, but possible.

[Helgoland]

AFAIK, fusion bombs need a fission bomb to set them off - you need to create lots and lots of heat in a tiny space for fusion to take place, and there's no better thing for that than good ol' uncontrolled fission chain reactions. Also, melt loads of ice by solar power but its reflective properties make that impossible? Soot is your friend! The soviets almost used that to heat Siberia... good thing they didn't

10ebbor10, are your forum games still active? Or dead? Or in hiatus? Or... I dunno, but could you tell?

We can try to use a strong enough laser pulse combined with conventional explosives to make a non radioactive fusion bomb. It's gonna be hard, but possible.

I mainly posted to ask about your stuff...
Also, look up the Z-machine. Fusion bombs without fission sadly are a big no.

Soot, soot, soot to heat the ice! Preserves our WMDs for more... noble purposes.
(Yes, killing loads of people is a noble purpose. Overpopulation and all that jazz )

[10ebbor10]

My games are all in flux for the moment.

[Maldevious]

This month sees a crippling obsession with the idea of using nuclear weapons on the ice caps of Aries, or possibly Shiva. A sense of tunnel vision, an almost single-minded focus on this issue splits the AI subroutines nearly down the middle. So much time is spent debating this one minor issue that nearly no other directives are issued this month. And neither side ends up making a convincing argument, either. So the status quo persists.

Contacting the Moonies again is one of the few tasks undertaken outside the crippling stalemate of debate. There is some back and forth in the dialogue, and some vague allusions to another meeting in the near future. No real progress is made, and no true details are hammered out.

More research is done into the background of the shipbuilding consortium, and they continue to check out. After some unobtrusive DNA sampling, it is clear that they are in fact, humans. Their lack of children is explained away quite convincingly, as none of them seem to have an ounce of nurturing or protectiveness in their personality. They are truly addicted to their work.

A few of their number do come from Aquarius, but they seem to have been born there. Being one of the numerous new generation grown in the advanced reproductive centers dotting the system, they emerged quick to maturity and quickly began to study military history and naval theory there. After a few semesters in the military schools on Aries, they dropped out to join the consortium.

As a whole, the group seems to be growing tired of the wait. They go so far as to send an ultimatum: proceed with the project, or they will withdraw their bid and refuse to cooperate with the AI.

Activity elsewhere in the system continues more or less unobserved by the AI. No major developments occur, but neither do any major setbacks.

Time lapsed in system: 7 years, 5 months

Spoiler: System Info (click to show/hide)

• "Gaia": Earth-like planet with mysterious alien presence, several bustling, competitive human-run colonies, and diplomatic space station (Babylon)
• "Hephaestus": acidic, hostile atmosphere and radioactive, burgeoning research and development station and several power generation facilities
• "Aquarius": aquatic world, savage life, pack-like nomadic intelligent Avians, floating university dedicated to teaching the Avians (50 Avians resident)
• "Aries": Mars-like planet transitioning to Earth-like, industrial terraforming, (scattered trees, quickly advancing grasses, basic wildlife, modest amount of surface water), AI-controlled comfortable Arcology settlements and scattered Maven communities
• "Shiva": Freezing world, habitable caverns in and under permafrost
• Abundant Asteroids: nascent asteroid mining industry, naval base
• Gas Giant A: numerous moons with isolationist intelligent life
• Gas Giant B: several moons with isolationist intelligent life

Spoiler: Technology (click to show/hide)

Military
Self-repairing carbon
Electrochemical ammunition
Mass drivers
Strong magnetic shields
Combat drones

Medical
Cloning and genetic manipulation

Industrial
Aerotransmission of power
Deep drilling
Solar lenses
Magnetic hydrogen scoop

Other
Internet

Spoiler: Military (By ship length) (click to show/hide)

5-25 Meters (Patrol class): 50 ships
26-50 Meters (Corvette class): 25 ships
51-100 Meters (Frigate class): 9 ships
100-150 Meters (Destroyer class): 3 ships

Spoiler: Info about the Mavens (click to show/hide)

• Can communicate through mental implants
• Produces own electricity via small organ
• Can be given programs to augment skills and knowledge
• Exhibit a slight tendency towards uniformity
• Specialized implants to perform military, research, and medical roles
• Seek knowledge obsessively

Spoiler: Info about the Avians (click to show/hide)

• Pack dwelling
• Near-human intelligence
• Nomadic
• Capable of tool use
• Quick breeding rate
• Teach new generations
• Know basic sign language

Spoiler: Info about the Moonies (click to show/hide)

• Dwell on multiple moons around Jovian planets
• Very isolationist
• Possess at least rudimentary space flight
• Possess gravity manipulation technology
• Maintain an economy between multiple moons (evidenced by traffic between them)

[SoHowAreYou]

Take the deal

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

Take the deal

This subroutine agrees.  Determine what we had missed, and prevent debates from taking up so much time in the future.  May miss something important due to not paying any attention.

[10ebbor10]

Take the deal

Right. However, won't it be to large for our current gen shipyards. See how fast we can make a seperate shipyard for them to use.

Anyway, Aries. Carefull analysis of how much water is stuck in the icecaps, and how much water is needed to kick of the water cycle and start the next stage of the terraforming process.

Capture some planetoids that float by. We can use them later as giant ships, should someone decide to betray us,

Build and deploy the Hydrogen scoopers.

Investigate and calculate the parameters for this place's Planetary transport network. (Basically a collections of flight paths that take years but allow transport without energy useage).

Construct the Planetary Highway network. A series of giant massdrivers intended to launch civiliant ships for a small fare.

Do Aries and Gaia have moons?

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

Take the deal

Right. However, won't it be to large for our current gen shipyards. See how fast we can make a seperate shipyard for them to use.

What if they build it like the Star Wars empire builds it's Star Destroyers, in space?

[10ebbor10]

Take the deal

Right. However, won't it be to large for our current gen shipyards. See how fast we can make a seperate shipyard for them to use.

What if they build it like the Star Wars empire builds it's Star Destroyers, in space?

All our ship construction is space based

Even then, they need infrastructure to get it build in time, welding installations, docking ports, live support for crew and some other take up space. Also protection from micrometeroids.

[Xvareon]

Maldevious, you never told us exactly how long this ship would be. I figured that our current infrastructure was woefully insufficient for a ship that size seeing as how we've been making nothing but frigates and such up until now.

While it may seem like building a Battleship is nothing but sunshine and rainbows for us, we must remember that the chances of such a move going unnoticed are zero to none. Someone, somewhere is going to feel very threatened by the fact that we're producing such a massive piece of hardware, probably enough to sabotage its construction in one form or another. I feel that our current approach of slowly building up our navy has been good so far, as it keeps tensions comfortably low and makes sure we aren't taking things too fast.

On the other hand, of course, having such a vessel would be a significant milestone for our civilization as a whole and grant us decent security. I just think we should be clear on the risks we're taking here.

[Maldevious]

The battleship class is 300 - 500 meters in length. Big, definitely, but not so large that it couldn't be assembled modularly using existing technology.

[Zecro_The_Scourge]

Ask for more data and revamp the blueprints to a mothership design as our current body is insuffiecient for rapid colonization.