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[ZBridges]

Okay to borrow a remote robo-body on the Sword to transact the Deathcube deal?  I think we have a few over there.

[syvarris]

@Paris
If I understand you correctly, null universes already serve in that role.  They destroy anything left in them for more than a few minutes, which is part of the reason we use them as intermediates--nothing can infect them, and they dispose of anything dangerous.

The primary problem we have is that we need to be able to look at a probe and see whether or not it has something dangerous, but the act of looking at it can infect our universe.  If there were a selectively destructive universe, one which destroyed infectious xeno stuff but not probes, that would be amazing, but would carry the problem that we likely wouldn't know the infectious universe is dangerous.

@Zbridges
Sure?  Saint doesn't actually use empty robobodies, he just possesses robosods, but you can have one regardless.  I'd say not to break it, but honestly, neither Saint nor I care if you destroy a hundred robosods.  We make more of the damn things than we know what to do with.

[Radio Controlled]

Wow!  Do we still have those brain templates available?  Also, interested in the hypnotic commands.  Did those work as expected?

Yes, and yes, though we never really got to use them in-game, but pw did confirm them as being ok and working.

Gah, that was a stupid typo.  I was thinking Paris when I wrote that, I swear. >.<

Anyway, yeah, anchors would probably be the most effective solution.  Thrusters or something would be much cheaper though, and if we completely throw away the concept of it being a real "colony", we could just roboticize everyone and stick them in static constructions.  That would make the balancing act much easier, I imagine.

Anchors might give a more stable balance and not require fuel to keep going, but depending on how large a cavern is (I remember them being really huge?) might be really expensive to set up initially. Or indeed go with a society of cyborgs (which gives the interesting possibility of them finding fleshy bodies icky and repulsive after a few generations. Couldn't really blame them even) or genemodded people and forego the bombastic engineering nightmares.

...Y'know, I've always thought something like this, where we clone the most effective people, would be a really good idea.  I just didn't think PW would go for it because it could easily supplant the players (Why send players on BLOPs missions if you can send ten Milnos?).  I'm not sure whether I'm happy about this smart thing being done, or unhappy about it not being exploited to its full potential.  :\

One of the caveats I presented to pw from the very beginning to help get his approval is that this wouldn't replace players at any point, only open up new possibilities, give us small advantages here and there and give them something extra to interact with (and maybe some background stuff). Also, funnily enough Milno is the one person you couldn't send ten of to anywhere since he pretty much explicitly asked not to be used as a template.

In any case, thanks, this is really cool and useful.  How should Saint go about asking for authorization to use them, assuming the current disaster blows over?  As you said before, he should have knowledge of them, if only due to the BLOPs team talking about their mission.

I think I'll double check with cael first (can't imagine he still cares at this point, but just in case) but after that just contact Miya IC and mention you heard of the project from Dester or something, and then we'll have an opening to either give him some access to work with it or just make the agents and research materials readily available for (correctly authorized?) people.

Laputan machine

Three things spring to mind:
- I now realize there is a distressing lack of explosions involved in any of these code-phrases.
- I should maybe watch a deus ex let's play sometime, it's one of those things that seem to be in the public consciousness.
- Are you implying my inventions are lacking in practical applications?! 

[Parisbre56]

-Everyone needs an antimatter bomb in their brain that can be set off by the wrong combination of words (or a good/bad charisma roll, since it can apparently let people say things they couldn't possibly know ).
-Yeah, it's the sort of game that was really good for its time (and even today), but takes a bit of modding to get working in an acceptable level nowadays. And it also suffers from all the other things that come with playing an old game, all the modern conveniences it lacks. Then again, this is a forum about DF, so I bet there would not be a lot of people caught complaining about lack of conveniences and interface problems. Still, a let's play might be better, if only because it would give you most of the fun parts in a shorter amount of time. Just got to find one who has put in the effort to make a good presentation of the game.
-Not really. Just that fun poetic killswitches are...well, fun. A killswitch that is, in a way, the victim's "true name". EDIT: I guess most tinker results have a habit of being perfectly good, but getting rendered mostly irrelevant due to changing circumstances before they can see heavy use. Is there a name for that?

[Radio Controlled]

In fact, looking at the damage the average charisma roll does, let's just make it go off the second anyone opens their mouth. Then we'll get to play the universe's most elaborate charades game.

Oh, and I was referring to this with that last part:

Gunther's killphrase is Laputan machine. Uttering the phrase in Gunther's presence discharges a 400 milliamp electric current into his midbrain. The phrase itself refers to the flying city of Laputa from Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. In the novel, the Laputans are masters of theoretical engineering but completely lacking in practical mechanical knowledge; the devices they produce are tremendously innovative "on paper" but badly flawed in practice (like Gunther himself).

I guess most tinker results have a habit of being perfectly good, but getting rendered mostly irrelevant due to changing circumstances before they can see heavy use. Is there a name for that?

Dead on arrival? Prematurely obsolete? Don't think there's a specific word for it (which means we get to make one up I think).

[ZBridges]

@syvarris thanks!  Need this deathcube.  Hopefully won't kill myself with it.  Why does all my planned research remind me of bombastic Laputan machines?

[Radio Controlled]

2) Sending people to ogyverse is a crapshoot at the moment, due to the weird empire that is controlling entire planets of almost humans. Controlling them specifically by messing with their protein development or something like that.

Maybe send at least 1 'large' ship with (frozen) colonists ans lots of raw materials near to a star in that universe to act as a sort of 'safe haven' space station in case things don't work out at the start. Using sharkmist it could create large solar panels for energy and mine nearby asteroids or something for materials.

What wishing orbs you are talking about? Timmy's Tears? I'm not even sure there exist such thing as Jim's brain any more in any form you can use. His DNA, sure, but no brain.

I am not sure, but I don't think that wishing orb is a Timmy tear, since it was used once already and didn't disintegrate. It might be akin to the original sphere-wishing/magic-artifact that Timmy had (and which lead to the latter's demise and creation of the Timmy Tears).

I'm sensing some hostility from the deal with Maurice...  I'm willing to do it, since yes it would probably be stupid and dangerous, and I have a propensity for that kind of thing.

The plan better be sensible though, or no way woud Miya send over the orb. Desperate times desperate measures and all that call for more leniency of course, but still.

And no, I don't think his brain exists as any template. Son's are more about using his and other's DNA to form potential. Brain scanning isn't used on player characters. Besides making actual template from Jim's brain would be betraying SC. He wasn't thrilled about potential use of Jim's brain after he quit.

Again, that's how have understood things. And cloning takes far lot time than you have.

Hmm, well this is what Radio posted:

"The ‘hardware’ for these agents consist of clones of ARM personnel. If needed, a blending of two or more templates will be used to get optimal configuration of traits. Note that this could lead to instability, meaning the screening process is all the more important.
Templates used:
Jim: EXO and willpower
Milno: CON and survival
Miyamoto: UNCON and tactical/strategic thinking
Simus: technical skills
Charles (empiricist): charisma and speech"

That suggests to me that brain templates are available.  Whether using them would be betraying anyone or not, I don't know.  Plus when I asked Radio if "brain templates are available?" he said "yes."

Also, I think the CSU wishing orb could be used multiple times (remember that it didn't crack or disappear after NJW used it?)  I think it is a separate artifact from Timmy's Tears.  And we can pump out sods each turn, so I don't know why we couldn't pump out a Jim a few times.

Maybe I wasn't very clear before, allow me to elaborate. For the AICOPS project we indeed used their DNA as 'starting templates' to work off of, we didn't just carbon-copy them nor did we grow fully formed copies from the biochem forge. With 'brain templates' I meant that the DNA templates to create people with brains like them would be available. That said, you could always scan the appropriate AICOPS agent of course (though that'd take more time than the current crisis allows). Next to that, we do have Jim's body stored on ice, but since SC did indeed request Jim not to be used much anymore we might wanna refrain from using that.

So basically, I'd suggest that if you indeed need a high will brain for that plan you either try to convince a player (eg Pancaek, or someone on Hep) or use an AICOPS agent.


Also, have you guys tried shooting it with non-Origin weapons to maybe try and slow its growth? You have the massive laser/lens system in the Hep system that's ready to fire right now, and if you dump those manips you could still ram the ship full of nukes into it. There should also be a bunch of regular non-manip warships avaliable.

[ZBridges]

Oh, my bad.

[Parisbre56]

1. Take a bunch of players with high will.
1.a. If possible and helpful, use doctor's experience with Ghost Ships and ability for quick surgery,  empathetic glands, enhanced capacity and whatever else is available to make them more willing, focused and in tune with each other.
1.b. If possible and helpful, supplement with any available players and NPCs. Maybe there are some leftover test subjects from the doctor's
1.c. Make a quick trip with the AM to the Orgyverse and... Wait, that came out wrong. Anyway, try to revive the AM and then maybe try to use her expertise with being so willful. Maybe her procedure could be replicated. After all, the Doc did say that installing an amp on Mesk and letting the nanobots process it while infused with Pascal Quicksilver could lead to interesting results and we know that Pascal Quicksilver is what is keeping the AM stable.
1.d. Anything that could increase the odds in such a limited timespan.
2. Put everyone on a ship a safe distance away from the anomaly. Remember, it is quick.
2.a. A system that quickly catapults people through a portal to a safe rendezvous point and then utterly obliterates the ship should be devised to protect the ship from retaliation.
2.b. The target could be distracted by normal ordinance. Magic eater orbs could be installed on them, in case they could help prevent interception, close the breach (tests with intact teleporters could help confirm) or cause more damage.
2.c. The presence of magic should probably be avoided, since we can't tell if it will be corrupted and what effects that could have if combined with the (probably irreversible) Lurker  corruption of origin tech. Non-origin magic can be tested, but with caution, since there is a chance we will lose the ability to safely use it or worse that the entity will use it to spread throughout the galaxy and to players using such technology.
3. Now everyone stands in a circle around the wishing sphere (or in mind-linked MMI pods or whatever) and prepares to wish real hard. What are they wishing for? Well, there are two approaches to this. Go all in or incrementally increase strength (start with a wish to affect the environment around the entity (bend space/time), then slow down the entity, then stop the entity, then push back the entity, etc.). I personally favor the "all out" approach: wish really hard to either seal the breach or reverse time or something like that. While it is more dangerous to the users if something goes wrong or if the wish exceeds the sphere's capabilities, it is also the one more likely to succeed and not get intercepted or corrupted, since all the users will focus their will for a (hopefully) small amount of time to a relatively simpler task (much like using a manipulator).
3.a. Alternatively, wish to blow up the planet it is going for or turn it into a black hole. It's always nice to have indirect alternatives.
4.
5. Hopefully, profit and universe's saved death prolonged. If not, you're either dead or worse or you should start running.

That's my slightly crazy plan for today. Improve it and use it or don't. I had fun coming up with it.

[spazyak]

1. Take a bunch of players with high will.
1.a. If possible and helpful, use doctor's experience with Ghost Ships and ability for quick surgery,  empathetic glands, enhanced capacity and whatever else is available to make them more willing, focused and in tune with each other.
1.b. If possible and helpful, supplement with any available players and NPCs. Maybe there are some leftover test subjects from the doctor's
1.c. Make a quick trip with the AM to the Orgyverse and... Wait, that came out wrong. Anyway, try to revive the AM and then maybe try to use her expertise with being so willful. Maybe her procedure could be replicated. After all, the Doc did say that installing an amp on Mesk and letting the nanobots process it while infused with Pascal Quicksilver could lead to interesting results and we know that Pascal Quicksilver is what is keeping the AM stable.
1.d. Anything that could increase the odds in such a limited timespan.
2. Put everyone on a ship a safe distance away from the anomaly. Remember, it is quick.
2.a. A system that quickly catapults people through a portal to a safe rendezvous point and then utterly obliterates the ship should be devised to protect the ship from retaliation.
2.b. The target could be distracted by normal ordinance. Magic eater orbs could be installed on them, in case they could help prevent interception, close the breach (tests with intact teleporters could help confirm) or cause more damage.
2.c. The presence of magic should probably be avoided, since we can't tell if it will be corrupted and what effects that could have if combined with the (probably irreversible) Lurker  corruption of origin tech. Non-origin magic can be tested, but with caution, since there is a chance we will lose the ability to safely use it or worse that the entity will use it to spread throughout the galaxy and to players using such technology.
3. Now everyone stands in a circle around the wishing sphere (or in mind-linked MMI pods or whatever) and prepares to wish real hard. What are they wishing for? Well, there are two approaches to this. Go all in or incrementally increase strength (start with a wish to affect the environment around the entity (bend space/time), then slow down the entity, then stop the entity, then push back the entity, etc.). I personally favor the "all out" approach: wish really hard to either seal the breach or reverse time or something like that. While it is more dangerous to the users if something goes wrong or if the wish exceeds the sphere's capabilities, it is also the one more likely to succeed and not get intercepted or corrupted, since all the users will focus their will for a (hopefully) small amount of time to a relatively simpler task (much like using a manipulator).
3.a. Alternatively, wish to blow up the planet it is going for or turn it into a black hole. It's always nice to have indirect alternatives.
4.
5. Hopefully, profit and universe's saved death prolonged. If not, you're either dead or worse or you should start running.

That's my slightly crazy plan for today. Improve it and use it or don't. I had fun coming up with it.

Why not combine it with the ideal for jim clones?

[Egan_BW]

ideal

This has been bothering me for so long. Is it some autocorrect thing?

[Parisbre56]

Because two hours time limit. I'm stretching it as it is, assuming that the Doc can provide some equipment and perform rapid surgery and that teleporters can be used to quickly fly things around. Edit: Fly seems like the wrong word. Teleport? Port? Hop?

[spazyak]

ideal

This has been bothering me for so long. Is it some autocorrect thing?

Yah, too lazy to fix it

[Ozarck]

in my initial response to the thing coming into Heph system, I sent the test room back to it's universe, leaving a severed piece of the elder god growing in this universe, it was, as of last turn, the mass of a small planetoid. In the same turn that I sent the room back, I ordered all weapons fired at the thing. PW didn't elaborate on the effect this had.

Edit: of course, he may have not included any orbital or Heph mounted systems, and considered only the weapons on the warship I am currently on, so there's that.

[Empiricist]

Okay so to be clear, the places the probes can return to are distributed throughout the Hephaestus System, correct?