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[Ross Vernal]

A few answers before I think of update:

Sure, individual Scouts aren't bright. Thing is, it's not individual scouts. The attention of the Queen and Hivemind are with them. What they see, You see; what they know, You know, both literally and figuratively. I have Hive Mode idling on "Queen and high-level Drones are currently actively classifying information from this as it happens." I'm not saying the Scouts can now hack into systems they don't even comprehend, but should the Scouts spend enough time spying, the information on how to manipulate the ship can be sent back and forth.

Also: It's the only one close enough to detect in the area. I can't provide more information on how many there are in the hemisphere, but it was once described that the Administration will generally only do things if it brings profit, with there being a lot of small towns, gangs, pirates, etc. I leave it to you guys to decide amongst yourself how much attention the Administration will give a "janky piece of shit" crawler that appears on the charts, but I won't tell you how many or how few feces they give about low-level pirates.

[javierpwn]

So that's almost official. The humans PROBABLY won't care about this ship crashing.
My vote is still on bringing it down after we get the necessary information recovered(decided by the rest of you fellas)

[GrizzlyAdamz]

Wait, so they've got some kinda corporatocracy? When did our queen find that out?

mmmgmgm, I'm still hesitant about taking such overt actions so early.

Why they could pay attention to low-level pirates: pirates decrease profits. Therefore, eliminating pirates = increased profits. Question is where they draw the line for cost effectiveness in their anti-piracy efforts. Are they the train-owners from Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, or are they notch?
Seeing as how the pirates are running quiet/jamming satellites, they obviously aren't notch.
However, since the rig is 'janky', this implies piracy isn't exceptionally profitable, which also infers either 1. A profligate market or 2. An exceptionally small market. There's either an ass-load of low-level pirates about or no one wants to touch pirated goods. I'm personally inclined to go with the former, but that might be cultural bias and is still, at best, just a guess. The Admin very well could be the train owner, (millions for defense, not one cent for tribute!), and the pirates are beggared because no one wants to buy their products & call down the Administration's draconian wrath..

As for ID'ing the human's equipment, I'm still highly skeptical. We were able to pick apart our ship for all the useful bits because it was our ship. To us the grey box looks like a grey box, not the xK42-9i variable oscillation control unit, and the displays read 'gibberish' and 'more gibberish'.
-The only way we could learn anything meaningful about this is if we spent (hours-days) observing the humans operate the craft, can gather a significant (read: omniscient) amount of data on what the craft is currently doing, and have super-computer levels of information processing. Let's take the last one first: does our hivemind have super-computer levels of information processing? (not including sensory-data processing Mr. Technicality. Can we keep track of (a very large amount) of variables as they change in real time and establish patterns and correlations between them, (multiples, not one-to-one, and between different groups of said correlations as well, in multiples)?)

Strike me down if I'm reading too far into this and buzzkilling the thread.

[Ross Vernal]

It was known to the Hivemind before the NOVABOMB and somehow wasn't gone when most of the Hivemind turned into ash.

Having the Tech Drones and NavDrones monitoring can have Us keep track of changing variables and the like.

[Noxes]

Hmm, alright then. Let's have those Scouts camp this flying PoS as long as possible and eavesdrop on the puny humans; let's see if we can learn something about their language and technology. Make sure the scouts aren't being too brazen in their hiding places though, make sure they always have a safe bugout path in case more drones come crawling through the conduit for whatever reason, I don't think we could get away with blasting all of them at this point.

Have Our favorite Nav drone and a few of the T-drones on espionage duty for the indefinite future (until the situation changes basically), helping Us parse the information from the Scouts. Once we've got more of a handle on their language and gadgets, THEN we can think about blasting the lot (except those we keep for experiments) and seize the ship.

Edit: Also, a priority target for this espionage mission is identifying the queen of this vessel, when we get ready to gut and seize the vessel we will capture her for a more thorough probing back at the Hive.

[GrizzlyAdamz]

It was known to the Hivemind before the NOVABOMB and somehow wasn't gone when most of the Hivemind turned into ash.

Having the Tech Drones and NavDrones monitoring can have Us keep track of changing variables and the like.

Ah mk.

Hm, nifty.
Thank ye kindly, sir.



The other two parts, (and problems), with learning how to operate the craft:
Even with the ability to analyze all the data needed to establish proper relations between control-inputs & results, we still need to collect it. That means we need to simultaneously observe things like fuel-injector output or shock absorber load & any associated controls that could manipulate them in real time. Which might be kinda tricky with three drones.

The third problem is actually having the time. Even if we can both collect & process the data, we're going to be stuck doing that as long as it takes. Do we, (our queen, tech & nav drones) really have nothing better to do for a day or two?

Edit: Also, a priority target for this espionage mission is identifying the queen of this vessel, when we get ready to gut and seize the vessel we will capture her for a more thorough probing back at the Hive.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Noxes]

Even if we fail in learning to operate the craft and so have to abort seizing the vessel, taking a few days to learn what we can of the Human language will still be of great aid to Us in the future for both making use of Human assets and potentially engaging in diplomacy (or at least playing at it for our own gain). True, our assets in play currently are less than ideal for the task, but we may still be able to achieve something of worth despite that.

Edit: Recall the teachings of Sun Tzu; there is no greater weapon than information.

[GrizzlyAdamz]

If we're after their language, the ideal targets would be guidebooks, generalized pocketbooks, and (RNG-forbid) picture-dictionaries. Things that relate text to real-world things & concepts. Things with calendars/mathematical formula are good.

Although, such a concept would be foreign to our queen, (since drones communicate through the hivemind). I assume we've already encountered other races & remember how to figure out languages?


I'm ok with hanging around to see how much we learn about them & their stuff. Should we worry about goings-on in the hive? (hehe, are the rest of the drones drooling on themselves since we're focusing on something?)


-If we don't want to leave what we learn about the vessel completely up to chance, (may not be a bad thing):
Use two drones to watch controls while the third keeps track of individual key components of the vessel, (Mainly all parts of the powertrain + electricity). If we can work the mobility and general electrical system, all we need to watch for concerning the rest of the vehicle is what remains constant, and what they do to keep them constant, (if we can figure out their number system & computer GUI).

[Ross Vernal]

You understand other races use images, pictures, and symbols as opposed to Our method of mind, scent, and sound. Given enough exposure, You can decipher them.

The Hive is going on with the duties continuing. All attention not here is spent keeping the Hive going, with a Tech Drone overseeing the manufacturing, the Nurse taking care of the young, etc etc.

[Noxes]

The Hive is going on with the duties continuing. All attention not here is spent keeping the Hive going, with a Tech Drone overseeing the manufacturing, the Nurse taking care of the young, etc etc.

That's pretty much what I was assuming, so I say we have our work cut out for Us for a few days (weeks?)

f we don't want to leave what we learn about the vessel completely up to chance, (may not be a bad thing):
Use two drones to watch controls while the third keeps track of individual key components of the vessel, (Mainly all parts of the powertrain + electricity). If we can work the mobility and general electrical system, all we need to watch for concerning the rest of the vehicle is what remains constant, and what they do to keep them constant, (if we can figure out their number system & computer GUI).

Not a bad idea, but I'd say only keep one drone watching the controls; the other drone watching the bridge should be paying close attention to the interactions between the crew for as much detail concerning their language(s?) as possible. Likewise, your previous idea was solid gold, if any of the drones see an opportunity to steal printed materials of all sorts (CAREFULLY!) go for it! They can look at it and relay the info back to us and also hang onto bits that seem especially useful to bring back to the hive when the mission concludes (be that self-extraction or hostile takeover of the vessel), and books and reference manuals are kinds of things people lose anyway so the absence is 'explainable'.

Edit: errr... Datapads. I don't think they'd have much in the way of dead-tree books on Mars XD

[GrizzlyAdamz]

Hey you guys, now that I think of it, if the jamming system on this thing falls, we can't take it anywhere near our base, (and our scouts aren't going to be coming home)-- We have to assume it's being recorded with high-res satellites the moment it drops.

f we don't want to leave what we learn about the vessel completely up to chance, (may not be a bad thing):
Use two drones to watch controls while the third keeps track of individual key components of the vessel, (Mainly all parts of the powertrain + electricity). If we can work the mobility and general electrical system, all we need to watch for concerning the rest of the vehicle is what remains constant, and what they do to keep them constant, (if we can figure out their number system & computer GUI).

Not a bad idea, but I'd say only keep one drone watching the controls; the other drone watching the bridge should be paying close attention to the interactions between the crew for as much detail concerning their language(s?) as possible. Likewise, your previous idea was solid gold, if any of the drones see an opportunity to steal printed materials of all sorts (CAREFULLY!) go for it! They can look at it and relay the info back to us and also hang onto bits that seem especially useful to bring back to the hive when the mission concludes (be that self-extraction or hostile takeover of the vessel), and books and reference manuals are kinds of things people lose anyway so the absence is 'explainable'.

Edit: errr... Datapads. I don't think they'd have much in the way of dead-tree books on Mars XD

Hmm, depends on how much info we can pry from a single drone- is it like everyone's watching a video feed, able to focus on different parts at the same time, or is it everyone experiences precisely what the drone sees, (think blinders)?

They are driving a janky vehicle, so cheap books might still be around- though their value is questionable. Until we can start nailing down word meanings, (which takes pictures/RL examples), it'll just be a big hunk of useless gobbledegook.

[Ross Vernal]

The data You get from a Scout is different than what the Tech Drones will get out of it.

[Morrigi]

Yeah, when we do leave we should bring some bits and pieces back for proper analysis.

[GrizzlyAdamz]

If the jamming's deactivated, nothing can come back from it.

[10ebbor10]

Most likely, they'll rely primarly on passive stealth, and only need active measures for when they are under close scrunity, or driving around. So as long as we're not moving, the disabled ship won't be that noticeable.