Arn't you suppose to do a super solder rollcall by now to see if their are openings?
This is the very day I was planning to do it. Speaking of:
Hey soldier volunteers!Please confirm you are available for murder starting on next week. If you can't confirm before day 0, you'll be replaced. By my notes the volunteers are:
- ATHATH, assigned for NAV
- Dustan Hache, assigned for Ozarck
- killerhellhound, assigned for Sean Mirrsen
- renegadelobster, assigned for penguinofhonor. Eh, you probably are fine. Been posting actively.
- spazyak, assigned for Demonic Spoon. Likewise assuming you'll be there.
- star2wars3, assigned for Egan_BW.
- Xantalos, assigned to Harry Baldman. Resident psionic soldier will probably be ready to serve.
- Yottawhat, assigned to HugeNerdAndProudOfIt.
While we are talking about this let's talk about other things too. In the beginning I said combat testing would start on 1st October, but I have come to realize that's not possible. For starters I have to go through with everybody their soldier design in details, what they have and what they can do.
On related note after day 0 I'll be taking a break for rest, a day or two. Lately writing turns has taken all my free time, in worst case over five hours thanks to multiplying complexity. So some free time would be nice.
Oh, and scientists? The Company wants you equip your soldiers with basic recoding set so they can review their effiency from multiple angles. Also tracking devices everything you deploy so they can be recovered later in case they get discarded during testing. Simple GPS locators will be provided if you are too budy to build your own. Please do not use them to locate your opponents.
3 days until deadline.Find the target, wait, move around his house occaisionaly, attempt to stay out of the way, mess with electronics to start hooking up his cd player, tv, computers, all of it so that,, at the press of a button, I can rick role him and burst into the room he is in uncloaked screaming "Oh Yeah!" With a glass of koolade in hand to give to him.
Also go steal files of the computers while I am it if I can
And maybe a few hapless victims while I am at it, err maybe not. Who told you to speak up?! We all agreed I was head mind. What was the vote? Two to one. Origional mind two, senority. But maybe kidnpping people wouldn't be good ideal, wasn't there that one thing about not harming other scientists? Yeah but I mean theft IS already harming them, besides we aren't taking a head scientist. Actualy we do we even need the bodies? Surely we just need their heads..let's just take the heads from those we are probably going to end upkilling when this goes to shit anyways. Agreed, other me, you agree? Yeah.
You use invisibility to get to main door and inside. Basically when a guard opens the door you punch him on back of head knocking him out and slip in while door is still open. This laboratory is very similar to the one where you were transformed. Few guards occasionally patrolling hallways, and when day progresses assistants too start running around doing... whatever they do. You manage to find a computer that seems to be important and download as much data as possible. You have no idea if what you got is useful, but folder names like "Dazzleball", "Hypereyes" and "Monoatomic katana" ought to contain something interesting.
While local head researcher is doing his job you sneak into his room and wire everything you possible can for Rick'rolling him. As ex-special forces guy you can get fair number of things under control. Then you stand in a corner and wait. Eventually the man comes to eat his lunch and possibly enjoy some cat videos (he got a folder full of them, several gigabytes in fact), but since every file is replaced with Rick Astley he's taken by suprise. Oh that look on his face! You drop the invisibility field and offer him the glass of Kool-Aid (which I presume you meant).
Man doesn't appreciate your sense of humor. He pulls goggles over his eyes, produces a ball from his pocket and ooh shiny... It takes you way too many seconds to take notice the man is fiddling with your suit and has already severed power cables from your particle rifle. When the realization hits you turn on invisibility on again, sluggishly, but as soon as it's on you are back in full control of your mind again. The scientist curses when he's blinded by your field. Sounds like your hint to escape. Both mission goals are reached so no need to dawdle around. You run out of the laboratory complex knocking over people and running straight through main doors.
It's great you can run all night long and very fast, so you make good progress on your way back to where you are supposed to be. Or maybe you'll continue your pranking round...
((This is ridiculously slow. Why?))
50% Nanites to self-replication, 50% to finishing Wormhole, meaning it should be finished today (2 days of building in one day/2, is one extra day of building in addition to my own building, and 2 days needed
Priority 1: Wormhole: Once it's done, spillover production goes to turning Mercury into a solar-powered mass of computronium. Send 10 nanites each to Luna, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. They are to spend 2 days just replicating then split their capacity 50/50 between replicating and producing computronium after that. Link everything together with some QE Comms
Priority 2: Grand Unified Theory of Everything
Priority 3: Mega-Scale Space Engineering: How to build space mega-projects
Priority 4: Free Energy: Probably something with Zero-Point energy. Break Thermodynamics
I assume the theory on Nuclear Transmutation and Fusion power is done. I don't see why I have to waste my time building actual facilities. Can make then later as needed with nanites.
Yep, Wormhole generator and its required Exotic matter synthetizer are finally fully constructed! Time to conquer universe. Or at least this star system. You know, I was thinking that since wormholes connect two points of space, they shouldn't be moving togeter with the planet, solar system and the whole galaxy, meaning the wormhole entrance and exit would rocket right past you or whole Earth. But guess I won't be a dick here. However pressure differential will be an issue!
Half of nanites produced today are sent to Mercury along with large number of papers and other poorly secured objects when atmosphere leaks into the wormhole together with nanites. While nanites can deal with Mercury day temperatures (>400°C), the QEC box doesn't. So that's why you toss them on colder night side.
Venus proves very opposite problem. 9.2 megapascal pressure ensures QEC box would get crushed instantly even if you were get it there. Even your nanites won't have easy time there. The actual problem is that pressure difference blows into opposite direction. Hurricane level winds of 500°C carbon dioxide bursts out and sets shit on fire, yo! Assistant's haven't lately been around very much so nobody really gets hurt, except few of your remote bodies. So fuck Venus. And fuck those gas giants because they will cause exactly same problem. But Luna and Mars get their portion of nanites. Maybe you should set Luna as your staging ground and send stuff in from high orbit?
So per nanites, Mercury has 1 day workpower, and Earth has 2. Luna and Mars have N/A.
Grand Unified Theory of Everything:
This stuff is hard, but you keep wildy modifying theories until they start look like something very different and more compatible while still fully explaining almost all interactions. There's still one hole that makes no sense whatsoever. Your current theory implies existance of extra universes and 0.1 layers of something around each, which like makes no bloody sense. Extra universes are something you could expect existing, but that 0.1 is just weird.
Mega-Scale Space Engineering? Yeah, have it.
Free energy? Yeah, sure. Not today at least, not with that priority.
Singularity Tech
Computronium
Grey-Goo
Wormholes
Mega-Scale Space Engineering
Fusion Power - theory
Nuclear transmutation - theory
Mega-Scale Space Engineering
Research in progress:
Grand Unified Theory of Everything
To be researched:
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.
No Research
That's two days saved.
Be helpful in any way I can!
Heck, if Doc wants I can replace some of his lab assistants doing nonvital work seeing as I can work much more efficiently than they can. Do all the grunt work for them and stuff. Filing papers, moving stuff, etc. Trying to speed up development.
There's very little you can do to help him with his current research. Best you can do is to practice and wait to see if anything cool happens. But training is boring.
OPERATION: ALL-SEEING EYE
Step Nineteen, cont'd: see if I can print the mind of the EP onto the substrate! It's always helpful to have a psychic bar of metal around. Especially one as helpful as the EP.
Step Twenty-One: that multitasking thing is also probably important, but I only have so many days and honestly the JD is probably a better use of the funding anyway. Get to it if time permits.
Frankly "The Great Journey" isn't named such for no reason. There's word "great" in it after all.
You finish copying the last part of EP's brain and then spend entire day constantly referring your theory of neural systems while constructing 3d model for the printer. Thinking about it, this psychic piece of metal will be small, maybe you can make it a 1cm wide sphere. Working with atomic scale gives you some leeway.
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
No Research
Roll saved.
Fully upgrade my ATHATH. Thanks for the reminder.
As you probably guessed, the one spaz visited is you. It happens after upgrading your soldier and before rest of today's research. It's a hectic day trying to find out what else he did other than replacing all your cat videos with Rick Astley videos, all photos with him, and even all music files are replaced with "Never gonna give you up". Goddamn everything. That means he almost certainly had time to copy all your research data.
Once guards agree there's no immediate risk for your health you continue developing the armor, but are soon overtaken by depression. You know you have to download all those cat videos again...
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 camouflage
Extended brain - Enhanced visual cortex
Monoatomic katana
Major Technologies:
True fusion of biological and mechanical technology
Test subjects expired: 45
I'll post a number to indicate how many Ozarcks are doing what. also, only hat which has a psionics tag are to be actively researched as psionics. however, anything that can passively be added in as a side effect of other research should be.
32 may as well replicate again (including necessary material absorption).
research:
8 psionics: the ability to detect other minds, and to alter their perceptions. (I was gonna go with teleportation, but I think that's still outside my tech tree. Speaking of which...)
8 electromagnetic control (ought t help with the whole radiation concern)
8 gravity manipulation
8 teleportation
if there's time and energy left over may as well research, in order
lasers
distributed neural network
advanced armor materials (abaltive armor, anti-ballistic suits, anti concussive suits ...)
32 Ozarcks keep mining raw materials out of ground, spreading wider and deeper and constantly replicating themselves. The pile of stone cubes on the parking lot is starting to look like a miniature pyramid and more are rising in surrounding forests. By next morning there's hundred Ozarcks in mines.
The psionic power derived from specific neural pathway patterns are quickly developed. Both ability to detect minds of people and alter their perceptions, though those end up killing quite few test subjects when you mess with their brains, plus the one succesful with perception alteriation because he's terrorizing assistants and guards.
Electromagnetic controller designed and built inside your spaceship. Space egg.
Gravity manipulator done and build. Inside the egg.
Teleportation station done and build. Likewise.
Laser done. It uses small phased array so atmoshperic blooming won't be so much a problem.
Distributed neural network done. Works on fleshy people as long as they don't lose any bodyparts. Should that happen it's same as cutting parts of brains out. Another parts of redistributed brain may take up those jobs as it usually happens. This technique requires your medical nanites.
Also your advanced armor materials.
Your headstart with nanites makes you even worse game breaker than Meshanblov.
By the way, according my notes your soldier is still a natural human without any modifications. Is this right? How long this is right?
Project Ascension:
Annie plant
Confundium Control Unit
Spaceship
Unified Swarm Soul
Research in progress:
Psionic powers
To be researched:
Brain in a jar II
Kinetic shielding
Camouflage
Armor
Distributed neural networks
Large scale modularity
Body reconstruction and restoration
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
Direct matter to energy converter
Railguns
Swarm bots
Hunter drones
Psionic powers: Detect minds
Psionic powers: Alter perceptions
Electromagnetic control
Gravity manipulation
Teleportation
Lasers
Advanced armor materials
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: 49
Swarm souls: 132
Do what must be done
De-de-doo. Shooting stuff. Smashing stuff. Who's good super soldier? You are! Good soldier!
I continue reworking the monster maker, getting a bit more creative. Real scales are a good start, and then big claws and sharp teeth. Larger muscles too. Then perhaps some horns scattered across the body unpredictably. And an accelerated metabolism, even after the transformation is complete, for more hunger. I also work on whatever pheromone changes are necessary to make them not attack the monster maker's user. I design a pheromone modification injection that will give someone the pheromone signature they need to be perceived as friendly by the monsters. If I complete this, I test it by putting four test subjects in Chimera's old reinforced cell, injecting one with the pheromone modification and the other three with the monster maker serum (delivered from a distance via dart gun).
I design some basic tests for gun accuracy and mace handling, and give renegadelobster the weapons I ordered from the Company. I instruct him to complete the appropriate test with each weapon and instruct his assistant to record the results. If this works I should be able to get at least a weight range that he can handle well, and narrow down the weapons he'll be practicing with tomorrow.
I also check on the test subjects who have been given neurotoxin immunity, and if they're showing no side effects I give renegadelobster immunity to the neurotoxin he'll be wielding (the first one, that targets more than the brain) and give myself immunity to both.
Gun accuracy test was part of your original testing route, so that can be handled there. And mace handling isn't much of challenge to make, almost boring. Guns are best handled by lower arms although their power is limited. It gives him proper orientation for aiming. Submachine guns are all light enough so he won't have any problems with those. Heavy machine guns are too heavy for lower arms, but he could employ tripods and use them like they were intented to. Around 10kg is what he's comfortable with. Now upper arms won't have problems even with heavy machine guns, so 40kg maces aren't problem either. Accuracy with guns is good, especially with lower arms, but with upper ones he can't aim (no eyes in suitable locations) or have use the gun upside down with messes up with accuracy.
Neurotoxin inoculation doesn't have any apparent problems, so you give it to your man.
Just imagine how fun it would be to release monster maker virus on large population centers. You keep factoring various ways how it would proceed so long that you don't get anything else done than finishing the cannon design.
Research in progress:
Monster maker II
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
Okay. I will attempt to phrase my questions in a less tinkery manner.
I'm not planning to date Company employees... I just... don't want her to hate me too much. >_>
Anyway.
The scientist does not know much swordfighting. Like many people he had, at some point, been a child, and has therefore some degree of proficiency with swinging stick-like objects at various other objects. He also probably has a certain familiarity with knives. And a sword is basically a stick-sized knife.
I mean... it's not a question of proficiency. He's not going to be fencing anybody anyway, he has much better (and messier) means of dismembering someone. The problem is that he has no weapons that don't rely on ammunition, and like it or not if the enemies are of certain size (be they tank-size monsters or actual tanks), his teeth and claws just aren't going to
cut it. He needs something long, sharp, and sturdy, that he can amplify his attacks with. A sword seems like a natural choice.
Daily Activity #1: Put Hyperalloy into production, and the claws and teeth cut to shape from it. Don't supplant the superalloy claws and teeth production sublines just yet. If the production run starts before we can make the hyperalloy ones, we'll have to make do as-is and swap them after the fact.
Daily Research #2: Suspend the reloader design for sidearms, instead switch to "Outer Armor and Defense Improvements" research. It's more important that the armor is designed first, I'm sure we can catch up with ammo feeds later.
- Add eyelids to the body. It's a sound idea, and probably one that should have been done from the start. We already have myomers laced into the synth-skin, a section that closes over the eyes should be easy to do. It won't be able to have scales on it, but it should cushion some impacts at least. Make sure this is done ahead of all others, as it needs to go into the production line.
- The armor suit itself would be a coat of plates - a flexible underlay with rigid superalloy plates bolted on, somewhat like a second layer of very large dragonscale.
- It has to be partially powered, because it will include armored covers for the radiator wings, so it needs a little bit of its own muscle, feeding off the same connections that the cannon turret has.
- It is also dotted with the same tiny cameras that the body is dotted with, because it will obscure them. Have the cameras match one-for-one, actually, so that there is no confusion whether the armor is worn or not.
- Most of the armor is large, curved, overlapping superalloy plates conforming to the general body shape. Chest/front torso, back of the neck, shoulders and forelimbs, along the spine and base of the tail, and some extra plating on straight sections of back legs. Flexible sections like the front of the neck should have a greater amount of thinner strips, so that more of the flexibility is maintained. The idea is that the same thing that penetrates dragonscale, numerous smaller attacks, will be ineffective against bigger plating, or will have to find and exploit seams first. Heavier blows will damage the heavier plating, but the body is well suited to taking heavy blows by itself. So that only a combination of the two will actually be dangerous.
- The helmet is a mostly open thing, serving primarily as a means to mount and support its visor - which is for all intents and purposes, an armored blindfold with a few cameras stuck on it. Its primary purpose is protecting the eyes and leaving the toothy jaws uncovered for biting purposes, but it still adds a bit of armor around the SPU.
- The holsters for the sidearms would be mounted in a V shape on the back, just behind and on either side of the neck, with the reload mechanism and ammo storage for both of them resting squarely on the back of the unit.
- Finally, the entire thing must be designed to come off. Assault, and recon. Heavy, loud armor is assault, like the autocannon. Make it so that most of the armor is held on by several long, mechanically assisted seams. Two along the back on each side of the spinal assembly (thus keeping the sidearm holsters on the body), one seam along the back of the neck, and once they all release it can just be shrugged off. I don't particularly anticipate much tactical use for this in upcoming testing, but it's a thing that might be useful and you never know. Maybe some giant hand grabs you and you do the equivalent of leaving it holding your jacket? Or I don't know, if you're splashed with super-acid, or napalm, or aggressive nanites, or whatnot.
Is the sim idling? Tsk tsk.
New task for the molecular sim. Yes there's not enough time but blast it, why not.
Have the sim find a combination of chemicals and/or minerals/metals that can produce a "Total Opaque Concealment" area. Something intended to be used in a smoke grenade type device, but rather than just obscuring vision, the chemicals in the smoke undergo an endothermic reaction once released, rendering the cloud opaque to thermal sensors, and metallic or perhaps carbon particulate suspended in it interferes with radar and EM detection methods.
And hm. On one hand, yay for earlier brains. On the other, boo I haven't made all the required modifications yet. Oh well. They should be alright as long as nobody wakes them up. What's the shelf-life for fresh synthbrains anyway?
Also. I just don't have time for testing! D:
It's been delay after delay and I'm being needlessly specific and detailed in the design side, and I haven't the opportunity to ever test anything. The fact that basically
everything had to come together for me to have anything resembling a test platform only worsened the matters.
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 figure this needs a new post in case Aoshima has already copied the action turns in.
I can't trust my description skills much, so I tried to draw what I thought the armor could look like.
This is the unit unarmored.
This is the unit plus armor, sidearms holsters, and sword.
The forelimbs should theoretically be completely covered, but I'm not sure if that's feasible given that I want the armor to come off on demand. But if the rolls say I can make it so, make it so.
I'm still not sure how the bow fits in this whole thing, but we'll get to that.
Yah, but you understand there's a lot more to swordfighting than just swinging it around. Sure overhead slash is simple to execute, but yeah, backup weapon.
It's one of those rare good days. The entire armor thing is finished in a day. Cameras on external armor are located primarily on same spots as ones on skin and will overdrive those. It doesn't good to have half of your eyes showing nothing. Camera signals are routed with wire via connection port under the autocannon. Helmet cameras use a port under passive radar on head. And since you have still evening left you finish those revolver autoloaders.
Assistants finish updating production line for doubled production rate, 12 bodies in a day. First twelve brains have finished growing. Coincidentally you have a body for each brain plus one extra used for testing and another Atreyu controls. Speaking about him, Atreyu finished production plan for hyperalloy swords. After checking with you he goes to assist the simulation.
Synthbrain shelf-life? Probably hundreds years. It's crystal based so it doesn't deteriorate so easily.
Research in progress:
Outsourced work:
Total Opaque Concealment grenade - simulation + Atreyu
Research to do:
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
Hyperalloy mass production
Hyperalloy broadsword
Outer Armor and Defense Improvements
Weapons ammo feed
Other victims: 1