5 days until deadline.Priority 1: Wormholes: Tell the agent something convincing about using the Radon to develop cheap mass-producible fusion power to corner the energy market for the company.
Priority 2: Grey Goo: Build that nanomachine
Priority 3: Finalized Super-Soldier: Be done already
Priority 4: Fusion Power
So Computronium is done right?
I'm gonna double the effort just because.
But that messes up my timetable! 
Re Godgame: Research was too slow! Then when it finally got up to speed you said my research speed was gamebreaking and I should stop. Meshanblov can't win.
Your priority have been decreased to rank 8. Enjoy.
Not sure what that means but it sounds ominous
Computronium is done, the design of it at least and the plan how to produce it. Building any of it is job for nanites.
Rank 8 means I write your turn last when I'm most tired and want to quickly finish this.
Wormholes:
Agent says that's outside of the scope of this project. You get two tons, make due with it. Should be enough for any super soldier energy production needs. Compact fusion energy sounds nice and he doesn't want to second guess you too much.
Well two tons just won't do it. It simply isn't enough. So obvious solution is to synthetize it somehow. While you easily have sufficient brain power to solve all kinds of problems easily, physical contruction jobs are still rather limited. As you finish the first nanomachine the though occurs that you could use nanomachines to harvest materials and build things in addition of simply converting mass into Computronium.
Grey Goo:
Got it, wanna release it here? Just to build some base mass? Assume all kinds of safety measures applied. Cutting power to your brain would be counter productive after all.
Finalized Super-Soldier:
Done. We'll go through later what it exactly is made of so we won't have any misunderstandings.
Fusion Power:
Likewise, it takes time to build. Physical tasks are so annoyingly slow.
Singularity Tech
Computronium
Grey-Goo
Wormholes
Fusion Power
Research in progress:
To be researched:
Grand Unified Theory of Everything
Research done:
Armored exoskeleton structure
Artificial muscles (electricity driven cells)
Digital brain copy
Particle Beam II
Miniature fission reactor II
High density capacitors
Remote controlled body
Quantum brain II
EMP hardening
Remote sciencing body
Compact built-in systems
Modular design
Quantum brain mass production
Modular autonomous drones
Remote Sciencing Bodies mass production
Mind Editing
High definition high speed cameras
High definition high speed IR cameras
Meshanblov Collective II
Cyber-Security
Quantum Entanglement Communication
Invisibility
Supermaterial Armouring
Advanced Sensors/Senses
Fast Body
Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality
Heat application: Thermovoltaics
Finalized Super-Soldier Design
Stolen garbage:
Meshanite
Meshanite production line
Myomers
High capacity fuel cell
Test subjects expired: 32
Total brainpower of Meshanblov Collective: 30 Bloody singularity. Just take what you want.
Bring him back, scoop out his brains, coat his skull!
Yup, coating added. You had to file his skull thinner in order to fully fit the shielding. The man will have problems if he wants to fly somewhere on commercial airlines.
Another day's roll saved in case you want to do something else, with minor penalty for doing the surgery because it wasn't easy nor fast one.
Does the soldier want to go back on pranking now?
Research in progress:
To be researched:
Exoskeleton
Mind to machine interface - canine adaptation
Mind merging
Artificial muscles
Advanced medical procedures
Optical camouflage
Overclocked biology
Research done:
Stable weapon attachment point and remote aiming designator
Mind to machine interface
Dreamstream
MMI - Data Diver
Braincase
Slave brain array
Simple brain-enhancing system
Miniature fission reactor
Terrorizer shielding
Test subjects expired: 62 (100)
Other victims: 35
"When your progress reports start to contain literal magic, that's how you know you're at the bleeding edge. A method of measuring this more precisely has been proposed - the glories-to-paragraph ratio. As research starts to warrant reports of at least one glory per paragraph, properly transhuman research can be said to have begun. This naturally poses serious issues in communicating with lab assistants in any way beyond motivational speeches, but for me much like any other researcher worth their salt this wasn't that much of a departure from business as usual."
Head Researcher Curious George, Knuckle Deep In The Mind: A Memoir
OPERATION: ALL-SEEING EYE
Step Nineteen: construct the Journey Device, or JD. Have a prototype ready post-haste, set this to first priority. See if I can imprint minds on the wind, for instance.
Step Twenty: do have the WHW-ASE modules installed into the EP's group, though.
Step Twenty-One: return to the possibility of greatly expanding multitasking ability if time permits.
OPERATION: RECYCLED NEURON
Step Six: if JD is completed today, wonder how it is that my lab assistants are incapable of operating a device that should theoretically be done. Take matters into my own hands if time permits.
Journey Device ends up being nothing more special than 3D printer, albeit one that prints on atomic level. Taking a break from that you slap assistants for being incompetent, show them step by step how it is done and confirm that it actually works. One test subject is made to forget his mother, so it should be reliable.
WHW-ASE added on EP people.
Then you return pondering what kind of brain you should make with the printer. Insect brain is too small. Mouse level complexity should be enough to prove it. For example you build in TG-R and TG-B variants to confirm it works, although those would have to be rebuilt from ground up. Literally.
Research in progress:
The Great Journey
To be researched:
Advanced multitasking
Hivemind testing
Research done:
Improved coordination
Improved cooperative bonding
Improved learning ability
Improved reaction times II
Terrible Glory + Analysis
Hive mind
Brain killswitch
Incentive module
Hivemind master module
Extra fast neuron growth
Executive module
Codename: WHW-R
Codename: WHW-T
Codename: WHW-B
Full WHW integration
WHW-ASE
Memory wipe
Major Technologies:
NERVOUS SYSTEM DESIGN AND UNDERSTANDING
Test subjects expired: 35
Other victims: 8
Volunteers killed: 1
don't use X-ray tech, keep going with the rest. also, diplomise Menshilov.
Advanced sensor suite is then basically done, but without X-ray detector. Adding the sensor suit into confirmed soldier outfit.
Diplomise what? What's the goal? Company could probably relay your communication requests, but you don't exactly know who your competitors are.
Research in progress:
To be researched:
Reverse chemical formulation
Improved training speeds
Intelligence increasing treatments
Research done:
Layered lighweight armor
Matter annihilation power plant
Dead man's switch
Rail-guns
Exoskeleton
Military armor grade shape-memory alloy
Advanced flamethrower
Insulation suit
High power laser
Pressurized air jump-jets
Advanced sensor suite
Test subjects expired: 6
Automatic Research
Motivation went out of window looking for new dress and self discipline is having vacation days. Inspiration is having affair with depression. That means you spend day watching videos and pics of cats acting silly.
Research in progress:
Lightweight armor
To be researched:
Full enviromental protection
Self-sealing body
Redundant organs
Extended brain - Control equipment with thought
Extended brain - External knowledge
Extended brain - Physical and mental pain filtering/hardening
Stealthsuit body integration
Suggestible pheromones
Stealth holodrones
Researched done:
Reaction time study
Optical camouflage
Mobile holoprojector
High density battery
Dazzleball
Extended camouflage
Coilgun
Shock absorbent lining
True cyber limbs
Leg enhancements
Brain integrated chips - Improved reaction speed
Improved internal organs
Hyper eyes
Locable joints
Extended brain - Enhanced coordination
Built-in coilgun
Extended brain - Enhanced multitasking
Stealthsuit non-visual camo
Extended brain - Enhanced visual cortex
Monoatomic katana
Major Technologies:
True fusion of biological and mechanical technology
Test subjects expired: 45
Not breaking the game was the main reason I didn't do the swarm soul earlier. In fact, with nanite bombs, I figured I had a great weapon long ago, and could focus on basically extraneous things. I actually expected the nanite bombs to be the most practically useful item for a super soldier, besides the nanite/robotic body.
Begin Project Ascencion. I'll build a massive Annie Plant (annihilation power plant), a massive Confundium Control Unit, and a space ship around it. I doubt Ii need to worry too much about life support.
Meanwhile, I'll replicate exponentially, until such a time as I deem I have sufficient brainpower and resources to achieve whatever I need.
Research Railguns, swarm bots ( i thought we had finished them, as well as the hk drones.), and Unified Swarm Soul.
after that, pretty much just walk down my list of 'to be dones' for now.
In terms of construction you are in far superior situation compared to anyone else. Where they have to use hands, machines and excert force to build things, not to mention how physical mass gets on their way, you can simply spread your body over any mass and work on it. Your very body is a factory. No matter how many of you there is, you don't get anyone's way.
So two you are set on soldier research, two for expotential replication, and remaining six focuses on project ascension. Two latter group are immediately in conflict with each other because both require same resources. This is resolved by simple 50/50 deal for today, after which replicators go underground searching for raw materials. In the end of day number of replicators have increased to 12.
Project Ascension makes good progress with power plant and the confundium control unit, but gets only halfway done before resources run out. You put request for large amount raw materials (with some plausible explanation) and focus on theoretical aspects of various other projects. For example Unified Swarm Soul, which you theorize completed before morning. It takes large mass of reprogrammed SS nanites, which will then absorb remaining swarm souls one by one incorporating them into the whole. It could probably recreate conventional SS brains if there's a need for one. One such need would be independant actor playing with super soldier project while USS works with more important problems.
In meanwhile researchers complete both railgun and swarmbots.
The reason they weren't made was because both types needed scalable flight engine. I assumed you would use that as base to continue with bots.
Project Ascension:
Annie plant
Confundium Control Unit
Spaceship
Unified Swarm Soul
Research in progress:
To be researched:
Brain in a jar II
Hunter drones
Psionic powers
Kinetic shielding
Camouflage
Lasers
Armor
Distributed neural networks
Large scale modularity
Body reconstruction and restoration
Direct matter to energy converter
Research done:
Nerve interface
Brain in a jar
Meshanite
Myomers
Highly volatile fuel
Robotic body
Multibrain control systems
Corrosion resistance
CF launcher
Improved spatial recognition
Variant pulse detonation engine
Improved reaction time
Nanobot production: Extended raw materials
Railguns
Swarm bots
Major Technologies:
Nanomachines
Self construction
Self destruction
Electric manipulation
Kinetic shielding
Structural support
Gray Goo Limited EditionTM
Corrosion resistance
Swarm soul
Factory swarm
Confundium Harmonizer
Test subjects expired: 37
Swarm souls: 20
Start getting used to the Tarantula body. Hopefully it goes faster this time.
Weapon preferences have changed a little. Probably should have a mace or a double headed axe instead of a greathammer/warhammer. Also, an SMG and/or shotgun instead of a pistol. Probably also don't need an assault rifle now too.
Yep, there's hoping. And since impantation happens right on morning, I can probably give some progress already. *Rolls* Or not. See you tomorrow.
You know what? We don't have time to ponder. I have a gut feeling about Tarantula, and it looks like renegadelobster is leaning in that direction so I transplant his brain into Tarantula and begin the adaptation process anew. I also give this new body magnetovision while we're messing with things.
Next I begin designing an armored suit for Tarantula using the material I created. I keep in mind defense, mobility, and maximizing renegadelobster's carrying capacity. He doesn't have Brutus' strength, but he should still be able to carry around more weapons and gear than a normal person.
I also devote some time today to the first aid jelly tubes. A paste design seems a little too messy for combat.
Alright. Cutting Brutus open is just as hard as it was last time, maybe even more so when you have to keep Tarantula's brain cavity open in same time. But genius as you are it isn't too much trouble. Soldier is reimplanted and has whole host of assistants assigned singing praises when he succesfully twitches right finger.
And he also has nice flat body to stack things on. Good thing is you don't have to worry about chafing with this armor. It will heal quickly. Armor doesn't take long to build. It is very pale in color. Almost white even. Good thing paint sticks on it well enough, so you can paint camo patterns. You also add extra hooks and straps so soldier can attach various objects on both top and bottom of his body. The whole armor is kinda skin tight and constructed in pieces, top and bottom are separate parts out of necessity. Legs of course get separate armor.
First aid jelly tubes done. Works only for your combat bodies. In order to make it useable by normal humans, you would have to build into the tube itself a device to craft the regen virus on demand, which is not only dangerous, but also prohibitely expensive. Probably. Not that price of things is your problem.
Research in progress:
To be researched:
Research done:
Targeted hyper cancer
Inline DNA manipulation
Artificial Siamese Twins
Monster maker
Rapid healing
Extra bodypart attachments
Panacea - Immune system replacer
New nerve pathways
DNA: Codename Tarantula
DNA: Codename Brutus
DNA: Codename Chimera
Nutrient slurry generator
Magnetoreception
Post-implantation adaptation
IR detection
Weaponized neurotoxin
Body armor material
Brain targeting neurotoxin
Tarantula armor suit
Combat body first aid injections
Major Technologies:
CELL MANIPULATION AND LARGE SYSTEMS DESIGN
Test subjects expired: 48
Other victims: 3
So, close, and yet still not there. Those excuses better be damn good once I think of them.
So many things done, yet more are still to do, and the deadline keeps getting closer. On to more work.
Atreyu, Daily Activity: Ranged Weapon Testing. This should just take a few hours out of his day, but it's important. Pick a window with a good view of some open ground, and set up a firing range beyond it, so that Atreyu can practice his weapons. Ammo feeds aren't in, but hell, for testing we can do manual loading. Targets are to be human-shaped sheet metal cutouts (there's no need to test what a 30mm round will do to a human if it hits them), and some of those armored cars we got to know one night before, placed outside the window at various intervals, furthest at 1000 meters.
Tests are as follows:
- Autocannon, accuracy: test how well Atreyu can hit a human-sized target at the set ranges, with and without SPU support.
- Autocannon, burst accuracy: the RARDEN was designed with the capacity for firing 6-round bursts, and its long-recoil operation minimizes the forces on the vehicle it's mounted to. Our cannon is firing the same rounds, but is much lighter, and is not affixed to a 30-ton armored vehicle. Let's say 3-round bursts max, same targets. How much does accuracy suffer?
- Sidearms, accuracy: same test as for the autocannon.
- Sidearms, "no-head mode": Let's pretend Atreyu literally lost his head. Turn off the SPU, the primary eyes, and all sensors on the head. How well can he hit a target using just his auxiliary cameras?
- SAM-bow, accuracy.
- SAM-bow, power: this is what the armored cars are for. 30mm and 20mm slugs are a known quantity, but what damage will a superalloy arrowhead do to an armored car (say, its engine) if it hits it at the different set ranges?
Atreyu, Daily Research: Hyperalloy and applications. The weapon testing will take only a part of the day, and he's got all day and night to work with. I recall once asking whether I could combine my efforts with the molecular sim. Well, Atreyu can do that now. Have him finish the research into making hyperalloy, carbon nanotubes and all, and draw up all required plans for mass production. First application: Melee weaponry, easiest to do with sheets. Replace all superalloy claws and teeth on the mass-produced body with hyperalloy, and design a hyperalloy broadsword. He'll be the one using it, he knows best how to make it ergonomic.
((It occurs to me I never specified a name for my mad brilliant scientist. Oh well.))
Scientist, Daily Research #1: Propagated brain growth and learning, continued. If Atreyu can spare the time from his own research, his help will be appreciated. The problem with having a static data source can be solved in the long-term by creating a superdense data storage that can hold the entirety of Atreyu's database in it, a sort of "memory core", but that's far off and we don't have time. In the short term, there's an easier, if more unsettling way. Atreyu's consciousness runs in a simulated environment. To get a static snapshot, we just need to put the sim on "pause". Atreyu should probably do it himself, so that he's mentally ready for it - he'll be waking up from that state in a very different place. But to him, the intervening time will simply not exist.
Scientist, Daily Research #2: ...actually, screw #2. I get more progress regardless of roll if I focus on one research, right? Let's do that.
Assistants, Activity: Production Line Optimization. Well, more like expansion. The bottleneck is pretty clear, and that should really make it easy to work with. See that sub-line that makes the fuel cells? It's holding us up. Making it go faster is tricky, so we'll do what any sane person who isn't paying for this stuff would do: take this sub-line, and build another one just like it next to it. With the next-widest bottleneck being about exactly twice as wide, this should basically double our maximum production speed. And we have an estimated 3 days before we have the brains for the production run. Should be enough time, right?
Company Liaison, Activity: Material supply. As mentioned, I have a few days before I'm making the production run. Since the run is contingent on an uninterrupted supply of materials, I'd like to have a small stockpile of those materials on hand. It will probably be easiest if they're secured ahead of time.
Semi-in-character list of "things to be done before the project has to go into testing":
Mandatory:
- Synth-brain, Synthetic Consciousness.
- Synth-skin | Dragonscale.
- Sensor suite: Optics, sound, temperature/contact/tremor, IR/UV, ultrasound, passive radar, active radar.
Optional, in order of decreasing importance:
- Training with body, and any optional equipment.
- Armaments, ranged: Autocannon Turret, small arms. Superalloy/myomer bow.
- ammo feeds/reload mechanisms
- custom ammo?
- External armoring: superalloy half-plate barding?
- Armaments, melee: Sword? (Hyperalloy preferred)
- Apparel: Military combat gear redesigned for different body.
I agree, they better be good.
Test goes as follows:
- Autocannon, accuracy: First shots miss, but he quickly gets proper aiming, thanks to your brilliant mind and weapons experience from soldier. After that he's a proper sharpshooter up to 800 meters. With SPU he doubles precision range, but shortened barrel reduces ability to reliably calculate trajectory.
- Autocannon, burst accuracy: I see Tinker syndrome in progress here. First shot is always as good as he can ever do, but rest depends largely on which direction barrel is pointing. Horizontal and 90° sideways will kick him off his ass with second shot and you are lucky if it hits on the same are. Nobody knows where third shot goes, but definitely not where it was intented to go. If cannon is aligned with length of body (0°/180°) and above 20° in vertical angle, then it is much better. Optimal direction is shooting backwards in angle where the body can play virtual extension of the barrel and take recoil fully. In that case, if used with SPU, three rounds will hit same hole at 700 meters. Of course these numbers are pulled out of my ass, but since you asked...
- Sidearms, accuracy: Effective firing range with normal .50 cal bullets is 50 meters, so with modded 20mm bullets without knowing any better I would say the same. Destructive capabilities are naturally greater.
- Sidearms, "no-head mode": I don't think it makes any difference. One camera is all he needs to aim so it is more of matter aligning himself in manner that will give him a camera with best viewing angle.
- SAM-bow, accuracy: Neither you or your soldier were archers, so this is something he has to learn by himself. Even after downloading and reviewing archery guides it hard to be accurate, especially when most target materials can't stop the arrow. Have to rebuild non-superalloy parts every time. He can put an arrow realiably through same hole from 15 meters. But with SPU after variables are fully figured out? We are measuring in hundreds meters. Having trajectory projected in realtime really helps.
- SAM-bow, power: Why do you make me calculate kinetic energy of your arrow? I don't really even know how much power the bow generates. But after throwing some bullshit math around I think maximum velocity of arrow is just a bit shy of Mach 9. Probably sticks pretty deep into the engine from close range. I'm starting to understand piecewise's hate for armor thickness questions.
Alright, as soon as that is finished Atreyu goes on standby mode, aka. laying like a cat in front of fractal computer room and does his thing with Hyperalloy.
Eh, you get individual results quicker by focusing on only one, but multitargeting may or may not end up balance +-0. Huh, I have some weird numbers here that I do not remember writing down nor I have any idea what they are for. But they sum up less than your progress roll, so this brain growth and learning thing gets done.
The problem with non-static datasource is that all changes must be rectified into brains too, and brains of active creatures change constantly. It would cause constant and never ending updates on growing brains. But snapshot is taken. Atreyu recommends the new bodies/brains are activated in sleeping posture such as his remote controlled one is in right now. Makes it easier for him to get up.
Right, assistants get into work. Ah, right. The production line test run probably produced one brainless body.
Man, I need my own Nyars. I'm getting equivalents of armor thickness questions here.
Research in progress:
Outsourced work:
Hyperalloy mass production - Atreyu
Hyperalloy claws and teeth - Atreyu
Hyperalloy sword - Atreyu
Production line optimization - assistants
Research to do:
Weapons ammo feed
Superalloy weakness
Research completed:
Structural skeleton
Myomers
Muscle layout
Cooling
Molecular simulation
High capacity fuel cell
Wear protection
Knowledge Database
Man Machine Interface
Non-Newtonian Kinetic Protection
MMI-computer control
Customized Personal Supercomputer
Consciousness Simulation Engine
Main gun
Synth-dragonskin
Hyperalloy
Synth-Machine-Interface
Secondary Processing Unit
Sidearms
Bionic brain
Sensor suite
Full A/RT-ACCS production line
Synthetic Intelligence training
Myomer/superalloy compound bow
Carbon nanotube growth
Propagated brain growth and learning
Other victims: 1
Wait meshanbov is working on fucking wormholes and and a godamn singularity yet is still working on god damn fusion tech?!
Fusion is not easy to extract energy out of in meaningful quantities unless you're a star.
Or unless you are a mad scientist in my game.
Oooh, weapons!
Lots and lots of ballistics. High-power and long-range sniper rifles, since I can fire them with near-perfect accuracy as long as I have a body near the target. Remote cameras that I can stick all over the place, little flying drones with cameras on them, that way I can get eyes on something and teleport vital parts of them away. Silent drones would be preferable. Knives, mines, tons of flash and smoke grenades for maximum misdirection and disorientation of the enemy, some poisoned blowdarts, the most advanced concealment gear the guys can get their hands on, stuff like that. I'm a real glass cannon compared to some of the other soldiers (that I don't know about, but Zane is assuming a lot of the scientists are going to be going for big shooty/stabby monster things), so my primary strategy will be one of misdirection, sniping, and teleporting vital parts of people's bodies away from stealth. They won't even know how they're dying when they do!
You need almost direct line of sight to teleport things, video feed doesn't work unless you want to teleport the display. But no problems otherwise. You got a plenty of bodies to carry them with. Just keep in mind which one is the most important body.
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Topic: Roll to create a supersoldier! Bloody air resistance (Read 141155 times)