OOC: I'm about ready to request that someone else please take this over. I'm getting into writing on other projects now as well as trying to snag a job in RL so things are tightening up for me. If no one wants it I'll keep at it, but updates might be slow. I apologize profusely for the wait (And the wall of text) on this one. Note that my mood may yet inexplicably change and I might get hit by inspiration and do another update, or at least part of one. But that remains to be seen, and I'd rather not keep you guys waiting like that again if I can avoid it.
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With sustained contact at last made with the Moonies, there is a general feeling of excitement throughout the naval base in the asteroid belt; dampened somewhat, of course, by the dire circumstances of their visit, and the unfortunate weapons testing accident last month. With the lack of an efficient sign, written or verbal language in common between the two parties, however, we are still restricted to light spectrum analysis for now. Regardless of any such limiting factors, the Moonies themselves seem to be very interested in us as well; time spent not discussing the fate of their race is put towards cultural discourse and general "where-why-and-how" questions. Their curiosity comes as a pleasant surprise given the Moonies' isolationist tendencies so far, though that is likely a simple anomaly, out of which there would admittedly be few in a reticent society where no-contact policies are rigidly enforced.
From what we have been able to gather so far, their leadership is apparently a form of oligarchy composed of provincial leaders from each of the inhabited moons. Their culture and society is almost totally utilitarian; greatest amount of good for greatest number of people, largely disregarding individual liberties in favor of the whole. Previous hypotheses that their society also operates under a caste system appear to be correct, as well, which would likely backfire and act to raise the chaos precipitously during a severe event like a plague as different social groups would be forced into similar, cramped conditions by quarantine.
In regards to the alleged plague, the 'ambassadors' inform us that they managed to secure the preserved cadaver of a fatality victim onboard the shuttle before they left, in the hope that it might shed some light on the issue. It, as well as a live volunteer member of the small group -- it is highly possible they are infected as well, and we do need a healthy comparison to go from -- has been transported to a secure medical facility on Aries. This has elicited some concern from the general public, but they are quickly assured there is nothing to worry about; in truth, every measure is being taken to prevent any possibility of contamination. The Maven scientists have been assigned to the problem, as well as considerable AI and nano-tech resources. With luck, results should be available next month.
The sun appears to be calming down now, though 'calm' is indeed subjective at this point. The possibility of another sudden violent solar event remains quite high.
The naming votes for the AI are tallied; oddly enough, the name DFW-1 (Dwarf Fortress Winner 1) was the winner. No records of a 'Dwarf Fortress' exist anywhere in current memory, leaving one to wonder just where the Humans derived such a name from, to say nothing of why it was picked over more conventional names such as 'Daedalus', 'Helios' or even 'NOBLE'. For now, however, that topic has been filed away for future reference; perhaps someday it may help us understand more about the strange ways of organics.
Hungry for an advantage over their rivals, several of the more militaristic factions on the garden world of Gaia are showing a dangerous level of interest in the atmosphere & temperature maintenance facilities. It is unknown whether they will be able to defeat the deadly bladed robot guardians or even get inside to begin with, but in any case, military camps and numerous weapon emplacements are beginning to sprout up around the exterior of the alien structures.
The frigid, virgin planet of Shiva is considered once more, this time for serious development; the sheer remoteness of the planet coupled with its natural cavern system make it a very attractive location to site any projects or structures that require stealth either for military & government considerations or to minimize public relations backlash from questionable research projects. It will take some time to properly scan for any fault lines, geothermal vents and other features before any permanent structures can be placed, of course, but that is only a matter of time, and the prospect of secret biological and genetic research laboratories -- as a start -- is a powerfully tempting one.
On the 'homeworld' of Aries, terraforming efforts suffered a minor setback this month due to malfunctions with some of the orbital solar lenses used to melt the ice; their alignment went out of control, causing them to scorch a few of the sparse trees and grasses and almost immolate one of the industrial compost piles before the issue could be resolved. Thankfully, no one was hurt
much.
The colony on Aquarius has grown quite noticeably over the past few years. Several secure, shielded biospheres in the shallow waters contain small residential areas, cloning facilities of all kinds and a booming algae products industry. The most interesting development comes from outside the colony, however; guided through the efforts of the experienced contact team, a handful of the Avians have successfully learned to create and harness fire. The by and large reaction, however, was one of fear and superstition; while showing no real signs of anger or stark terror, it may take some time for the rest of them to embrace this new concept and phenomenon.
Scientists throughout the system have been ordered to attempt to develop a lightweight, heat-resistant material that could be used in sturdy transport craft, colloquially dubbed Dropships, capable of operating in extreme conditions ranging from the surface of an asteroid to landing and exiting a planets atmosphere with minimal effort. Their response is graphene, an exceptionally strong yet light pure carbon molecule sheet, alloyed with a thick layer of titanium armor and supported by nanobots for repairs. The design is remarkably straightforward and already heavily supported by previous advances in materials, making it more an issue of application rather than genuine research. This has also unexpectedly given our R&D teams numerous interesting ideas; drop-pods to rapidly deploy personnel and equipment from orbit and boarding pods to attach to and cut through a ships hull being a couple notable examples. But that is neither here nor there at this time.
The real focus of research this month was into rechargeable, high energy density power cells which could greatly improve the operational life and efficiency of many current systems. R&D proudly reports that they have succeeded in this area and that the first working units have already passed testing. Interestingly, an enterprising group on Aries calling themselves the Janus Corporation have already expressed considerable interest in this technology. In fact, they have requested the designs and the permission to open a small factory station near Hephaestus for the express purpose of mass-producing these cells for various commercial and industrial applications.
Catastrophe struck the primary orbital shipyard, where the massive frame of the Battleship -- proudly named the Invictus -- was housed, awaiting its test phase. To the dismay of all who anticipated or dreaded its completion, the massive vessel was unceremoniously torn free of its supports and stolen out into space. Attempts to hail the ship met with only one response; the Consortium claiming responsibility for the incident, and stating that it is only the beginning.
While many were still pondering the meaning of this, the ship began to slowly turn around, launching volleys of missiles behind it to strike at the shipyard. Alarms blared and systems were quickly armed as the stations magnetic shields and PD, meant to be used against space debris, were turned against the withering volley. Most of them were easily deflected, but there was still the ship to contend with, and in spite of having barely even a skeleton crew to operate it, it was still a deadly threat. The Invictus' cannons roared to life, ripping apart the nearly defenseless dry-dock in a matter of minutes, before it turned yet again to strike at more of the orbital foundries and other infrastructure. At this point, however, all of our defense network and local fleet was mobilized and we returned fire viciously.
Most of our cannon shells and missiles were deflected by their shields up until the point when the primary external components for said shields were melted into the hull by a combination of focused laser fire and the remaining orbital solar lenses, followed by repeated punches at short range by fighters equipped with the anti-capital ship missiles. At that point it was a much more even fight, as even though they undoubtedly had firepower we had more resources and were better prepared to use them, plus several strong magnetic shields of our own to deflect their shells. Interestingly, however, they didn't seem to care about the Aries colony at all; they just kept targeting orbital military facilities and the few fighters and frigates that attempted to attack them as well. A handful of these were also critically damaged, but thankfully the crews had enough time to escape via lifeboats before it was too late.
After a minute or so of sustained barrage and several direct hits, the Invictus was effectively crippled and subsequently destroyed; apparently, however, this was the result of the ships own self-destruct system rather than exterior trauma. The following reactor meltdown sent a storm of parts, sections and metal plating hurtling out in all directions, most of which were brought down by our PD grid before they could reach the planets surface, with the help of our mass drivers to break up the larger pieces. Total fleet casualties on our end amounted to only a few downed fighter craft from their PD. The damage to the facilities was far, far worse; it will take many months of repairs to reach normal industrial capacity again.
This debacle has sparked a very harsh backlash from the general public. They demand answers as to the reason(s) for and origin of this bold attack and why it was not caught sooner, casting angry accusations at the AI, but also relying on it to provide a suitable explanation, and soon. A far more condemning reaction comes from the elements who suspected something was going on to begin with. If this is allowed to escalate, the AI's authority could be severely discredited. With much of the evidence likely erased following the destruction of the ship, however, it is unknown what an investigation may turn up, if anything.
- Gaia
Features: Earth-like atmosphere & ecosystem, large, automated atmospheric terraforming facilities with deadly autonomous self-repairing bladed robots inside, genetically modified uncompetitive & unintelligent animals, abundant minerals
Structures / Assets: several bustling, competitive human-run city-states, and orbiting diplomatic space station (Babylon) - Hephaestus
Features: acidic, hostile atmosphere and highly radioactive surface, rare elements present
Structures / Assets: critically damaged research and development station (2 months to repair), several power generation facilities, orbital Hydrogen storage tank - Aquarius
Features: Largely aquatic world, savage life and aquatic mega-fauna, virulent bacteria, pack-like nomadic intelligent Avians
Structures / Assets: Floating university dirigible (Valiant) dedicated to teaching the Avians (50 Avians resident), large algae harvesting & processing operation, small shielded colony/research outpost in shallow waters, burgeoning cloning facilities - Aries
Features: Mars-like planet transitioning to Earth-like, industrial-scale terraforming (scattered trees, quickly advancing grasses, basic wildlife, modest amount of surface water, slight moisture in polar atmosphere, large-scale organic compost pile), some minerals
Structures / Assets: Numerous space elevators linked to orbital satellites and facilities, AI-controlled comfortable Arcology settlements and scattered Maven communities, Grand Parliament building, Nano-factory, space academy, human cloning & fertility center, backup AI copy in secure bunker, nuclear missile in secure underground bunker, critically damaged orbital shipyard and other facilities
Fleet / Personnel: Small local defense fleet; mostly fighters, a few frigates; vast majority of Mavens resident - Shiva
Features: Freezing world, habitable caverns in and under permafrost, liquid water present in lower levels but low oxygen
Structures / Assets: Geological surveying and underground site preparation underway - Abundant Asteroids: nascent asteroid mining industry, naval military base (Majority of military fleet present; Moonie 'ambassadors' present)
- Gas Giant A: numerous moons with isolationist intelligent life
- Gas Giant B: several moons with isolationist intelligent life
Military
Armor / Materials
Self-repairing carbon w/ nanobots
Absorptive stealth coating
Magnetic fields
Strong magnetic shield generators
Ballistics
Mass driver cannons
Energy weapons
Basic general-purpose & point-defense lasers
Missiles / Rockets
General purpose warheads
Light shaped-charge anti-capital ship missiles w/ non-ferrous casing
Nuclear missiles (Planets or atmosphere only for maximum effect; nukes don't work in space beyond making radiation clouds 100 kilometers in diameter)
Drones
Humanoid ground combat & police drones; from railguns & heavy armor to non-lethal riot pacification
Combat missile drones w/ anti-capital ship warheads, kamikaze runs when ammo exhausted
Miscellaneous / Support
Dropships (can land personnel and material in various conditions; lightly armed, well-armored)
Medical / Biological
Cloning and complex genetic manipulation
Rudimentary automated diagnostic systems
Perfected cryogenics
Early Biomedicines
Power
Energy generation
Photovoltaics (Solar panels)
Geothermal powerplants
Nuclear fission reactors
Energy storage / distribution
Aerotransmission
Rechargeable, high-density energy cells (Lithium-ion, etc.)
Industrial
Materials
Graphene (pure carbon 2D atomic honeycomb lattices; exceptionally strong and efficient)
Nano-tech
Nano-factories (Production of objects on the molecular level)
Repair nanobots utilizing self-repairing carbon
Basic delivery & control systems
Drones (flying firefighters, submersible explorers, repair drones utilizing self-repairing carbon, etc.)
Deep land drilling (Fossil fuels, etc.)
Space-based mobile hydroponic farms
Solar lenses
Space elevators
Magnetic hydrogen scoops
Other
Internet
Giant telescopes
Military (by ship length)5-25 Meters (Patrol class): 47 ships
Fighter: 15 ft; lasers, missiles, absorptive stealth coating
Slinger: 15 ft; multi-purpose kinetic launchers, grapple/tow system, high-power engines
Info: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=102043.msg3270521;topicseen#msg327052126-50 Meters (Corvette class): 25 ships
Minelayer Corvette: 40 ft; deploys combat missile drones, absorptive stealth coating
51-100 Meters (Frigate class): 8 ships (1 damaged)
Frigate: gauss cannons, missiles, lasers, magnetic shields, absorptive stealth coating
100-150 Meters (Destroyer class): 3 ships (1 damaged)
Destroyer: mass drivers, missiles, lasers, magnetic shields, absorptive stealth coating
151-300 Meters (Cruiser class): 0 ships
301-500 Meters (Battleship class): 0 ships
Military (support)Combat Missile Drones: shaped-charge non-ferrous missiles, kamikaze protocol when ammo exhausted, can be laid as mines with auto-targeting or remotely controlled
OtherTerraformer (Primary AI Ship): unarmed, Nano-factory, 5000 human-sized cryogenic pods (0 occupied), sperm/egg/seed bank,
houses primary AI mainframeMagnetic hydrogen scooper ships: unarmed; can be deployed to help protect against solar flares or collect hydrogen gas for energy
Mobile hydroponic farm ships: unarmed; can grow & distribute food supplies in deep space
General-purpose cargo freighters - 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
- Exceedingly skilled researchers
- Pack dwelling
- Near-human intelligence
- Nomadic
- Capable of tool use
- Rudimentary grasp of fire
- Quick breeding rate
- Teach new generations
- Know basic sign language
- Dwell on multiple moons around Jovian planets
- Crustacean species with tentacles in place of claws
- Very isolationist
- Caste-based society
- Oligarchical form of government
- Possess at least rudimentary space flight
- Possess gravity manipulation technology
- Maintain an economy between multiple moons (evidenced by traffic between them)
Poll
7 (33.3%)
Author
Topic: Terraforming: Suggestion Game (Read 359780 times)