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[Rockeater]

Designs
(3) Autonomous Nanoscale Terrestrial Scavengers (ANTS): Carefulrogue, ConscriptFive, Rockeater
(3) Space Superiority Ship, Mk1, 'Peitho': Carefulrogue, ConscriptFive, Rockeater
(0) Advanced Military Unit - 'Kakaktitis':
(0) 'Hephaestus' Asteroid Miner mod
---
Lore
(3) The Big Lie: Carefulrogue, Kashyyk, Rockeater

[ConscriptFive]

Designs
(3) Autonomous Nanoscale Terrestrial Scavengers (ANTS): Carefulrogue, ConscriptFive, Rockeater
(3) Space Superiority Ship, Mk1, 'Peitho': Carefulrogue, ConscriptFive, Rockeater
(0) Advanced Military Unit - 'Kakaktitis':
(0) 'Hephaestus' Asteroid Miner mod
---
Lore
(4) The Big Lie: Carefulrogue, Kashyyk, Rockeater, ConscriptFive

[Madman198237]

Turn 7 Design Phase: The Network

Autonomous Nanoscale Terrestrial Scavengers (ANTS)
The planets are rich in raw resources, if only they weren't so difficult to get to our industrial facilities.  It's time to take the leash off our bitforms and put them to work in the field.
Modeled in behavior much like their namesake, ANTS are a self-replicating "colony" designed to seek and gather designated solid elements or compounds.  Their nano-scale allows them to identify and collect dust and other particulate matter that eludes conventional systems.  They have limited excavation means, but excel at climbing, navigating small apertures, and building 'trails' to convey a stream of resources to a designated container.  For our industries, the payoff is a container of homogeneous material that was steadily filled by a trail of ANTS through a peephole-sized aperture.
While designed mostly for combing the airless Planet Alpha for useful metals, they can also be used to extract the last bit of an otherwise exhausted mine or a thorough industrial cleanup.  Accordingly, we expect ANTS will be a tremendous benefit to our industries.

Autonomous Nanoscale Terrestrial Scavengers (ANTS)
Difficulty: Normal
Roll: 1 + 2 - 0 = 3 Buggy Mess (It's one of those turns again, apparently.

We're pretty sure ANTS is a great idea. We're pretty sure it'll work really well to massively aid our Planet A mining efforts, and give us much better rewards than homeworld mining ever could due to the relatively unexploited nature of the other planets. However, we're also pretty sure they're not supposed to disassemble the supports of the mines they're clearing out, nor are they supposed to randomly activate during transit and eat holes in starship hulls. However, having seen examples of all of this, we've decided that maybe this project needs additional work before being continued.

ANTS, at present, are omnicidal killing machines capable of sorting out specific elements based on weight and moving them back to a designated collecting location. They must be very carefully calibrated for specific planetary environments, so deploying them on any planet other than A is going to take a nontrivial amount of work. These seem to be the only functioning pieces of the ANTS proposal, however. They cannot be set with "safe zones", i.e. things that shouldn't be mined, so a given ANTS unit will take ANY of the material it's been calibrated to gather until the remote power source is shut off. This includes the iron from steel support beams or the titanium from ship hulls. Also, the remote power sources are a little finicky. And by "finicky" we mean "spontaneously turn themselves off or on and can sometimes fry all the nanobots with too much power for reasons not well understood." They also do not self-replicate, but given the problems with self-replication we're pretty sure that's not a problem. Each ANTS "colony" comes with a small power source capable of running the colony for about a week, sorting bins (neatly stackable), and a small ANTS factory to replace any damaged ANTS with new ones. Comes with larger ANTS units capable of collecting any material to feed the factory's need for many different elements.

At present, ANTS is not functional enough to deploy and does not provide any real benefits other than yet more experience finally exploiting Bitforms' magnificent abilities.

Last, and most concerningly, ANTS do not, under a microscope, look like tiny ants.

They look more like beetles.

Space Superiority Ship, Mk1, 'Peitho'
The Peitho is a large warship, similar in size to the Hephaestus, but keeping the same hexagonal prism shape of the Logos. It is built for seizing hostile orbits, and thus includes redundant power connections, reserve Bitform storage and has an integral Thermal Defence Citadel. The Command Center, Life support, Twin Tokamak-Plasma Drives and the main ammunition storage are secured in a central Citadel near the back of the vessel, with additional sub-citadels for the turrets, plus armoured supply corridors to provide ammo, power and crew access. The non-critical sections of the ship, such as the  habitation sections will have a minimum amount of armouring, as Crew Units will not be present in these sections during combat operation.

The ship comes with the same array of Infrared and Electromagnetic sensors, with a built-in Art3mis Targeting Computer connected to the secondary battery of six R-5 Shrapnel Cannons (distributed evenly fore and aft, one on each of the six long faces), and the primary battery of three R-4 Railgun double Turrets (placed evenly around the center of the ship). The Shrapnel Cannons should allow the ship to provide ample point defense for any fleet it is part of, maximising the use of the R-4's for capital ship fire.

We are aiming for this ship to cost 4 SSP.

Space Superiority Ship, Mk1, 'Peitho'
Difficulty: Normal
Roll: 4 + 3 - 0 = 7 Excellent Craftsmanship

The Peitho is the first large warship we have built, and it is ferociously heavily armed. It is quite a large vessel, as well, far larger than the Hephaestus could hope to repair in its internal bay. Indeed the Peitho is larger than a Hephaestus, needing many crewmen to operate the huge battery of weapons, sensors, and engines.

First, the massive main drive. Located in the back of the ship, it propels the Peitho with very high accelerations. It lacks maneuverability compared to smaller warships, but that is only to be expected of such a large vessel. The location of its main armament makes a lack of maneuverability much less of an issue. It has great firepower able to be pointed at any target, though a target in front of it would be most vulnerable.

The armor is also impressive. It uses a similar concept to the Logos' TDC, but the protection is better and the ship, built to accommodate it from the start, makes use of the armor more effectively and with less wasted space or armor. Turrets have a barbette-style armor protection underneath them to keep their munitions safe. Or, rather, the R-5 turrets do. R-4 turrets, which predominantly fire solid metal slugs, use their slugs as a form of armor. This armor is capable of keeping out all but concentrated laser fire. Around the engines and bridge the armor is of comparable thickness, and other stations have lesser armor that is still quite capable.

The armament is, in a word, terrifying. The twin R-4 turrets track and fire as fast as the single mounts due to the amazing power output of the Tokamaks, which were substantially enlarged compared to the basic model, which was about as big as a Logos' reactor and drive (but more powerful) to propel the ship and to power it. This gives the ship twice the firepower of a Logos at range, though the limitation of having only three turrets is that there are still only three guns available to "box in" targets with fire. At medium and close ranges, however, that limitation vanishes with the terrifying presence of no less than six R-5 Shrapnel cannons capable of throwing mixed ammunition at any unlucky souls who stray into range. Functionally immune to any known missiles due to the amount of antimissile firepower these things pack, at close range nothing could save a ship from the unholy hellstorm of railgun fire the Peitho could put out. Were two Peithos to close in on each other and fight for some reason, the damage would be immediately and irreversibly catastrophic, yet the protection of the main battery and the bridge might allow the two ships to continue firing until nothing is left but twisted metal and the silence of the vacuum.

The unfortunate lack of sensor improvements leave the ship no better in the command-and-control department than the Logos, though it is more spacious on the inside. Integrated Artemis gives the ship the ability to shoot anything down at any rate and at any time or place.

This ship would be capable of dueling at least four Logos-class to a standstill even if those Logos had Artemis and TDCs due to its heavy armor, redundant systems, and sheer firepower. At close range, entire fleets of Logos could be chewed up and spat out as so much scrap metal. We don't know if the enemy could even stop one of these monsters should we deploy it, but we're eager to see them try. They cost 8 SPP due to their massive size and huge armament.

Space Superiority Ship, Mk1, 'Peitho': Six R-4 railguns in twin turrets. Six R-5 shrapnel cannons in single mounts scattered over the hull. Heavy thermal armor concentrated in citadels and barbettes over vital spaces. Massive twin Tokamak powerplant and plasma drive assembly. High speed, decent enough maneuverability for its size. Basic sensors. Integrated Artemis fire control. Robo-coffee dispensers in three different places on the bridge.
Cost: 8 SPP

----
Revisions yet again! Two revisions, of course.
----

Spoiler: The Network Control (click to show/hide)

The Hub: 10/0/0 (YOURS/UNCLAIMED/ENEMY)
  -  Nothing
A: 10/0/0
  -  Logos-02 "Nervous Energy"
B: 10/0/0
C: 10/0/0
  -  Logos-06-TDC, Logos-07-TDC, Logos-08-TDC
D: 10/0/0
  -  BMU-4, BMU-5, BMU-1 (Emergent), BMU-3 (Emergent)
  -  ITC-01-LIFT "Cargo Cult"
  -  Logos-06-TDC-ART "No More Mr Nice Guy", Logos-07-TDC-ART "Gunboat Diplomat", Logos-08-TDC-ART "Of Course I Still Love You"
E: 10/0/0
  -  BMU-6, BMU-7
F: 0/0/10
  -  Logos-03-TDC "Uninvited Guest", Logos-04-TDC "Attitude Adjuster", Logos-05-TDC "Zero Credibility"
  -  ITC-05 "Prime Mover"
    -  BMU-2
    -  3x Dozer
G:
H:
I:
Planet 2: 0/0/10

Spoiler: The Network Logistics (click to show/hide)

Ship Production Points: 33
  4 points: 2x ITC
  1 points: 1x LIFT
  2 points: 1x [old] Logos
  9 points: 3x Logos with TDC
  9 points: 3x Logos with TDC and Artemis
  3 points: LOST at E, available Turn 9 Strategy Phase
  5 points: Unassigned

Ground Production Points: 35
  14 points: 7x BMU
  7 points: 7x Trephine
  2 points: 2x Hammer
  6 points: 2x Emergent
  4 points: 4x Dozer
  6 points: Unassigned

Units
BMU-1
  -  Trephine, Emergent, Hammer
  -  Location: Delta
BMU-2
  -  Trephine, Dozer
  -  Location: in ITC-05
BMU-3
  -  Trephine, Emergent, Hammer
  -  Location: Delta
BMU-4
  -  Trephine
  -  Location: Delta
BMU-5
  -  Trephine
  -  Location: Delta
BMU-6
  -  Trephine
  -  Location: Echo
BMU-7
  -  Trephine
  -  Location: Echo

Ships
ITC-01-LIFT "Cargo Cult"
  -  Location: Delta
  -  Contents: Empty
  -  Condition: Undamaged
ITC-5 "Prime Mover"
  -  Location: Foxtrot
  -  Contents: BMU-2, 3x Dozer
  -  Condition: Undamaged

Logos-02 "Nervous Energy"
  -  Location: Alpha
  -  Condition: Crippled
Logos-03-TDC "Uninvited Guest"
  -  Location: Foxtrot
  -  Condition: Undamaged
Logos-04-TDC "Attitude Adjuster"
  -  Location: Foxtrot
  -  Condition: Undamaged
Logos-05-TDC "Zero Credibility"
  -  Location: Foxtrot
  -  Condition: Undamaged
Logos-06-TDC-ART "No More Mr Nice Guy"
  -  Location: Delta
  -  Condition: Slightly Damaged
Logos-07-TDC-ART "Gunboat Diplomat"
  -  Location: Delta
  -  Condition: Slightly Damaged
Logos-08-TDC-ART "Of Course I Still Love You"
  -  Location: Delta
  -  Condition: Slightly Damaged

Spoiler: Map (click to show/hide)

Planetary Contents:
1 & 2: Earthlike planets just as you’d expect. Take your opponent’s homeworld to win, lose yours and you die.
A: Riddled with caves and with a mineral-rich crust, this airless world is ideal for the production of spacecraft components. 1 GPP, 3 SPP.
B: A volcanic world with a caustic atmosphere and lava flows on the surface, B is full of minerals that can be easily acquired…if you can deal with the, quite literal, heat. 3 GPP, 1 SPP.
C: Icy, barren, rather flat in most regions. It has rather a lot of those things humans need to live sitting on and under its airless surface. 3 GPP, 3 SPP.
D: A surface-wide ocean is the defining trait of this planet, providing an interesting combat environment and also plenty of interesting life forms that can be studied….if you can build a big enough boat to catch one, anyway. 4 GPP, 2 SPP.
E: Another Earthlike planet, ideal for habitation….or, y’know, fighting a good old fashioned war over! 4 GPP, 4 SPP.
F: A world of highlands and mountains, the lower parts of the planet are filled with most of the planet's already scarce water. However, the mountainous regions have high mineral contents and plenty of good spacecraft launch sites above the majority of the atmosphere. 2 GPP, 4 SPP.
G: Deserts cover the surface of this planet. Deserts made, in fact, of a curious sand with abnormally high metal and mineral contents. It has an atmosphere that serves to stir up the sands into occasional sandstorms. 3 GPP, 3 SPP.
H: An airless, small rock in space, H is heavily cratered and not a great place to live. Good place to build spacecraft, though. 1 GPP, 3 SPP.
I: A world covered in wide stretches of windswept terrain covered in something that we’re going to call grass, I is ideal for large-scale industrial activity. Nobody cares if you do irreparable damage to a huge tract of grasslands here, after all, there are a hundred more huge tracts of pristine grasslands you haven’t ruined yet. 3 GPP, 1 SPP.

Spoiler: The Network Tech (click to show/hide)

Ships
ITC (Interplanetary Transport Craft): A less-than-stellar spacecraft, the ITC is a version of the ships landed on your planet when you first colonized it. It is prone to malfunction, slow, and generally unpleasant. The rocket shuttles used to get equipment from the ITC to the ground have a limited capacity, meaning that with the exception of troops and things that can be broken into much smaller parts, the ITC cannot carry any equipment of a size greater than 1TC. It has 4TC capacity in total and uses chemical engines for propulsion. It has no armor or armaments.
Cost: 2 SPP

FASS Mk1. Logos: A reasonably quick, reasonably agile, fairly effective light ship of about 45 meters long with Light armor and three R-4 railguns for weapons complement.
Cost: 2 SPP

Logos Thermal Defense Citadel upgrade: An internal ceramic armor layer on the Logos which is actively cooled to reduce damage from thermal weapons. Raises Logos armor to Medium, cost increases by 1 SPP, agility and speed decreased.
Applied To: FASS Mk.1 Logos
Cost: Increase Logos cost by 1 SPP

'Hephaestus' class Support Vessel: A giant cylinder with extra bits on it, the Hephaestus is capable of small updates to ships or ground equipment and serious repairs to Logos-sized vessels due to its enclosed hangar. It is not armored and its only defense is being large. Uses a lot of Bitforms, two reactors, and plenty of materials and is generally a fairly large ship, so it's expensive. However, it provides a huge capability for our fleet to stay functional on long deployments.
Cost: 4 SPP
Provides: 3 Repair Points per turn for Logos-sized vessels, 1 Repair Point for larger vessels that will not fit within its hangar.

Space Superiority Ship, Mk1, 'Peitho': Six R-4 railguns in twin turrets. Six R-5 shrapnel cannons in single mounts scattered over the hull. Heavy thermal armor concentrated in citadels and barbettes over vital spaces. Massive twin Tokamak powerplant and plasma drive assembly. High speed, decent enough maneuverability for its size. Basic sensors. Integrated Artemis fire control. Robo-coffee dispensers in three different places on the bridge.
Cost: 8 SPP

Units
Basic Military Unit: (you may rename this if you so wish) A capable group of soldiers trained to operate any equipment you can give them. Field training allows them to keep up to date on the best way to operate the newest deathtraps and self-destructing gizmos you send them even after they’re deployed.
Cost: 2GPP

Ground Weapons
Printed Pistol: Issued to security guards on the colony ships, the only real weapon both colonies have. They are 3D-printed out of plastic, a process which is not entirely reliable, meaning the gun has a tendency to break after prolonged use... or any use, really.
Cost: Cheap

Trephine Magnetic Sabot Rifle: A very effective weapon for Medium- to Long-ranged engagements, the Trephine is a 12mm APFSDS weapon with a 10mm projectile, capable of firing with damage roughly equivalent to a high-caliber rifle or, at maximum power, a light cannon. The projectile tends to fragment on piercing Light armor, doing even more damage than usual to the underlying target. Fireworks displays included with every order of 1000 or more. Now includes 4-round magazine and semiautomatic function.
Cost: 1 GPP

'Hammer' Magnetic Flechette Rifle: A carbine version of the Trephine, the Hammer fires exclusively lighter-weight discarding-sabot flechette rounds which are very accurate and deadly. The rifle is lighter, shorter, and faster than the Trephine, and has a four-round internal magazine and a bolt-action style chambering (being a railgun there is not really a semiautomatic function). It is accurate and deadly out to Medium range, and can lay down suppressive fire at Long range with minimal chances to hit. Now includes 4-round magazine and semiautomatic function.
Cost: 1 GPP

'Dozer' Magnetic Cannon: A functional combination of 40mm grenade launcher and mortar. Sights are basic but it has a Medium-Long range in mortar configuration with higher launching powers and Short-Medium range when shoulder-fired. Shells are basic explosives with a moderate payload. Functions as an auxiliary weapon. Now includes 4-round magazine and semiautomatic function.
Cost: 1 GPP

Ground Equipment
Basic Space Suit: A civilian space suit, totally unarmored and cumbersome to walk in. At least it works well enough, and has a self-sealing lining meaning a single shot isn't an immediate death sentence... most of the time. Necessary for deployment to worlds without breathable atmospheres.
Cost: Cheap OBSOLETE

MultiEnvironment Tactical Armored Suit: A slight improvement to the Basic Space Suit in every way, METAS is a hair less cumbersome, has magnetic boots and some armor so it won't (usually) explode the minute somebody looks at the oxygen tank funny. That usually happens the second minute that somebody remains looking at the tank funny.
Cost: Cheap

Ground Vehicles
"Emergent" Assault Aircraft In-Field Assembly Kit: A fault-ridden aircraft more prone to disassembling itself than flying, and when it does fly it tends to do so in a rather wobbly-looking way. However, it does carry two Trephines, a pilot, a gunner, and six combat units around at reasonably fast speeds. Er, we think it does, anyway, given that the most recent prototypes haven't been tested, since all our test Units are too good at probability-of-death-or-maiming calculations.
Cost: 4 GPP
Weight: 2 TC (requires 1 shuttle TC)

"Emergent" AAIFAK 1.1: Still not a great aircraft, this new version of the Emergent suffers from unbalanced engine thrust which is quite effective at hamstringing maneuverability, but it is capable of something that resembles proper flying. It is still more expensive than it needs to be due to the engine problems. It can carry two Trephines (in a single turret), a pilot, a gunner, and six combat units around at reasonably fast speeds.
Cost: 3 GPP
Weight: 2 TC (requires 1 shuttle TC)

Command Radio: Essentially just a very big radio set, capable of reliable communication between planets, ships, and/or other planets. Currently only useful for taunting your enemy. The transmitter dish comes in a single piece and cannot fit in an ITC shuttle.
Cost: 2GPP
Weight: 1TC (requires 2 shuttle TC)

Spacecraft Components
Tokamak-Powered Plasma Drive: A matched set of self-melting components, the TPPD is generally regarded as having been a bad idea.
Cost: A large amount of expensive alloys and electromagnets we're willing to throw away, all of High Command's good will.

Plasma Engine: A Speed 2 interplanetary drive, capable of producing fairly acceptable changes to velocity in combat conditions. Very power hungry at combat-use sizes.

Gen. 2 Tokamak-Powered Plasma Drive: A slightly more efficient, powerful, and compact set of reactors and plasma drives for a warship. It works just a little better than the previous one, and is far better than the original TPPD. Not that that's much of an achievement. Provides a lot of power both in terms of electrical and maneuvering ability.

R-4 Railgun Turret: An amazing weapons system, the R-4 is an externally mounted 50mm railgun loaded with 20 round drums capable of firing a three-round burst on a single capacitor charge, while a loading arm loads the drums into the weapon from the storage bay in the ship proper. The turret is lightly armored for protection. Requires a ship to mount it on.

Large Item Flight Transport (LIFT): An upgrade to the ITC's basic shuttles, capable of moving 4 TC objects to and from orbit. Has advantages and disadvantages, minor mechanical issues, but primarily is something of an "all your eggs, one basket" situation when deploying into combat conditions. Raise the cost of an ITC when attached.
Cost: 1 SPP (equips an ITC with a full set of LIFT shuttles)

LIFT Intraplanetary Plasma Engine (IPE): An upgrade to the LIFT shuttles, capable of moving 4 TC objects to and from orbit. Faster and more maneuverable even than basic shuttles, and come with some amount of reinforcement and protection against attack. Raise the cost of an ITC when attached.
Cost: 1 SPP (equips an ITC with a full set of LIFT shuttles)

Art3mis Precision Targeting System: An upgraded targeting suite that allows a Logos substantially more information and hitting capability against targets as compared to the baseline. Very effective against unknowing targets and capable of a limited degree of predictive firing and precision-coordinated shots amongst multiple weapons. Requires a refit.
Cost: None.

R-5 Shrapnel Cannon: A bigger but lower-velocity railgun capable of firing chaff rounds, shrapnel or canister shot, and of course solid shot. Fires faster than the R-4 with less armor piercing capability due to its lower velocity, but lower energy requirements. Can lay down a laser- and radar-reflecting chaff barrage to interfere with weapons and sensors both, capable of shooting down missiles with great precision when paired with Artemis tracking. Same cost as the R-4.

Infrastructure
Colony Defense Grid: The reason you can't instantly invade the enemy homeworld. A series of surface-to-orbit missile launchers, the only real concession to defense the planners of the colony made. How they work is a mystery now, and no one wants to risk taking them apart to find out.

Semi-Autonomous Industrial Facilities: A network of interlinked incredibly well-connected modern factories capable of production of unparalleled efficiency and scale.
Provides: 2 GPP

Orbital Reclamation Centers: Satellites in orbit around the Hub that reprocess damaged and destroyed units and other bits of metal and plastic into spacecraft parts.
Provides: 2 SPP

Tokamak: Nuclear Boogaloo: A functioning nuclear fusion reactor, producing on our first attempt, no prior attempts being on record. It requires much less expensive fuel than nuclear fission plants and so its more complicated construction does not increase its cost beyond that of a fission plant, and therefore is automatically retrofitted into any ships that are refitted or any new builds. Provides a substantial increase in power generation to any ship and removes any issues with power generation.
Provides: 2 SPP and 2 GPP

Spoiler: Credits (click to show/hide)

Array

[Carefulrogue]

The recent failures to get ANTS working in spite of the now incredibly important need for the potential mineral output has resulted in disappointment in the higher ranks.  The specifics of the failings have only worsened the regard command holds for the team in question.  Assessments are being made of the former team while a new team is instituted to repair the faults.

Basic Unit & System Test Structures - (BUSTS)

First order of business is assess and redesign the control framework for the worker machines.  No pseudo random on/off triggers permissible.  Further, a policy for transit of the machines will insist that the capacitors and battery banks be empty to prevent transportation catastrophes.  Only when the destination is reached will the central bank be brought back online.

Second is providing regional exclusion zone support.  Tearing out the support beams is something that should wait till the end, or if we plan on turning the shaft mining into an open pit.

[ConscriptFive]

Revision: "Deadspace" Damage Control Locker
The tragic combat loss of the ITC "Trade Surplus" has highlighted the need for better resilience in our fleet.  "Deadspace" is a fleetwide upgrade to our existing damage control lockers.
Our current damage control kits are functional, but lacking in certain regards, namely in leveraging bitform technology.  In addition to common red canister fire extinguishers, green canister "pH neutralizers" will be added alongside.  (pH neutralizers are fire extinguishers filled with acid and base producing bitforms with chemical precursors.  Once in contact with a fluid, the bitforms monitor pH and produce appropriate acids or bases are produced to titrate the fluid to pH neutral.)  This will provide a better solution to combat and non-combat HazMat situations (such as battery & coolant ruptures) than the standard "nut up or shut up" NCO encouragement.  (See also: "Back in the day, we just held our breath and took a shower afterwards.")  Furthermore, violet canister "polymer patching resin dispensers" will also be added.  (polymer patching resin dispensers are fire extinguishers filled with an adhesive monomer & bitform resin.  Once dispensed and applied to a solid, the bitforms catalyze & spread the monomers into durable impermeable polymer patch/seal.)  Polymer patching resin will allow for rapid emergency patching of conduit & bulkhead ruptures and possibly even catastrophic exterior hull breaches.  ("Back in the day, we just used duct tape.")
The Inspector General (IG) should also confirm that all legacy space suits have been replaced with appropriate META-variants for damage control personnel.

[Kashyyk]

Orbital Reclamation Center Asteroid Smelting (ORCAS)
Currently the Orbital Reclamation Centers are responsible for recycling ground and space waste for reuse. This extends the usability of our resources, but it never adds new material to the system, so we can never use it to grow. This ends with the ORCAS.

By supplementing the existing bitform/chemical baths with the furnaces and workshops of the Hephaestus, an ORCAS has a much greater ability to work material into the desired form. In addition, these components allow it to break down asteroids, just like the Hephaestus, and use the resources to supplement the supplies retrieved from recycling.

[Carefulrogue]

(1) Basic Unit & System Test Structures ()- (BUSTS): Carefulrogue
(0)"Deadspace" Damage Control Locker:
(1) Orbital Reclamation Center Asteroid Smelting (ORCAS): Carefulrogue

[Kashyyk]

(2) Basic Unit & System Test Structures (BUSTS): Carefulrogue, Kashyyk
(0)"Deadspace" Damage Control Locker:
(2) Orbital Reclamation Center Asteroid Smelting (ORCAS): Carefulrogue, Kashyyk

[Rockeater]

(3) Basic Unit & System Test Structures (BUSTS): Carefulrogue, Kashyyk, Rockeater
(0)"Deadspace" Damage Control Locker:
(3) Orbital Reclamation Center Asteroid Smelting (ORCAS): Carefulrogue, Kashyyk, Rockeater

[ConscriptFive]

(4) Basic Unit & System Test Structures (BUSTS): Carefulrogue, Kashyyk, Rockeater, ConscriptFive
(0)"Deadspace" Damage Control Locker:
(4) Orbital Reclamation Center Asteroid Smelting (ORCAS): Carefulrogue, Kashyyk, Rockeater, ConscriptFive

[Madman198237]

Turn 7 Revision Phase: The Network

Basic Unit & System Test Structures - (BUSTS)

First order of business is assess and redesign the control framework for the worker machines.  No pseudo random on/off triggers permissible.  Further, a policy for transit of the machines will insist that the capacitors and battery banks be empty to prevent transportation catastrophes.  Only when the destination is reached will the central bank be brought back online.

Second is providing regional exclusion zone support.  Tearing out the support beams is something that should wait till the end, or if we plan on turning the shaft mining into an open pit.

Basic Unit & System Test Structures - (BUSTS)
Difficulty: Normal
Roll: 3 + 2 - 0 = 5 Average

Well, with sufficient work anything is possible, and after some painstaking modifications to the Bitforms we've successfully engineered them to actually work like they're supposed to and harvest materials but not marked structural elements. They're very, very slow at it, being nanoscale machines every step takes them mere nanometers at most. The simplistic nature of this setup makes it easy to deploy but slow to work. They can collect 1 SPP of material from Alpha, with much more lucrative possibilities yet to be uncovered.

Autonomous Nanoscale Terrestrial Scavengers: Despite their initial failings, ANTS units have been substantially refitted and are now capable of extracting 1 SPP from Planet Alpha. This is far from the total value available there, or elsewhere in the system. Further improvements to support structures in an ANTS "colony" or other useful adaptations would greatly improve the yields.
Provides: 1 SPP

Orbital Reclamation Center Asteroid Smelting (ORCAS)
Currently the Orbital Reclamation Centers are responsible for recycling ground and space waste for reuse. This extends the usability of our resources, but it never adds new material to the system, so we can never use it to grow. This ends with the ORCAS.

By supplementing the existing bitform/chemical baths with the furnaces and workshops of the Hephaestus, an ORCAS has a much greater ability to work material into the desired form. In addition, these components allow it to break down asteroids, just like the Hephaestus, and use the resources to supplement the supplies retrieved from recycling.

Orbital Reclamation Center Asteroid Smelting (ORCAS)
Difficulty: Hard
Roll: 1 + 2 - 1 = 2 Utter Failure

Well, uh, this went badly. So we accidentally rammed an asteroid into an ORC and then it kind of broke another few ORCs, and we kinda had to spend the entire development budget on replacing them. However we're pretty sure that we've got the asteroid towing settled, more or less. Just a little more work to integrate the Hephaestus' advanced field-forging equipment into the ORCs and we should be able to extract some more work out of them, though they are poorly placed for this sort of thing. Further out into the system, the rewards will be richer.

----
Strategy phase. Push your luck, or consolidate your forces. Or do something completely inexplicable, I guess. Your choice. The last one would be more amusing, though.
----

Spoiler: The Network Control (click to show/hide)

The Hub: 10/0/0 (YOURS/UNCLAIMED/ENEMY)
  -  Nothing
A: 10/0/0
  -  Logos-02 "Nervous Energy"
B: 10/0/0
C: 10/0/0
D: 10/0/0
  -  BMU-4, BMU-5, BMU-1 (Emergent), BMU-3 (Emergent)
  -  ITC-01-LIFT "Cargo Cult"
  -  Logos-06-TDC-ART "No More Mr Nice Guy", Logos-07-TDC-ART "Gunboat Diplomat", Logos-08-TDC-ART "Of Course I Still Love You"
E: 10/0/0
  -  BMU-6, BMU-7
F: 0/0/10
  -  Logos-03-TDC "Uninvited Guest", Logos-04-TDC "Attitude Adjuster", Logos-05-TDC "Zero Credibility"
  -  ITC-05 "Prime Mover"
    -  BMU-2
    -  3x Dozer
G:
H:
I:
Planet 2: 0/0/10

Spoiler: The Network Logistics (click to show/hide)

Ship Production Points: 34
  4 points: 2x ITC
  1 points: 1x LIFT
  2 points: 1x [old] Logos
  9 points: 3x Logos with TDC
  9 points: 3x Logos with TDC and Artemis
  3 points: LOST at E, available Turn 9 Strategy Phase
  6 points: Unassigned

Ground Production Points: 35
  14 points: 7x BMU
  7 points: 7x Trephine
  2 points: 2x Hammer
  6 points: 2x Emergent
  4 points: 4x Dozer
  6 points: Unassigned

Units
BMU-1
  -  Trephine, Emergent, Hammer
  -  Location: Delta
BMU-2
  -  Trephine, Dozer
  -  Location: in ITC-05
BMU-3
  -  Trephine, Emergent, Hammer
  -  Location: Delta
BMU-4
  -  Trephine
  -  Location: Delta
BMU-5
  -  Trephine
  -  Location: Delta
BMU-6
  -  Trephine
  -  Location: Echo
BMU-7
  -  Trephine
  -  Location: Echo

Ships
ITC-01-LIFT "Cargo Cult"
  -  Location: Delta
  -  Contents: Empty
  -  Condition: Undamaged
ITC-5 "Prime Mover"
  -  Location: Foxtrot
  -  Contents: BMU-2, 3x Dozer
  -  Condition: Undamaged

Logos-02 "Nervous Energy"
  -  Location: Alpha
  -  Condition: Crippled
Logos-03-TDC "Uninvited Guest"
  -  Location: Foxtrot
  -  Condition: Undamaged
Logos-04-TDC "Attitude Adjuster"
  -  Location: Foxtrot
  -  Condition: Undamaged
Logos-05-TDC "Zero Credibility"
  -  Location: Foxtrot
  -  Condition: Undamaged
Logos-06-TDC-ART "No More Mr Nice Guy"
  -  Location: Delta
  -  Condition: Slightly Damaged
Logos-07-TDC-ART "Gunboat Diplomat"
  -  Location: Delta
  -  Condition: Slightly Damaged
Logos-08-TDC-ART "Of Course I Still Love You"
  -  Location: Delta
  -  Condition: Slightly Damaged

Spoiler: Map (click to show/hide)

Planetary Contents:
1 & 2: Earthlike planets just as you’d expect. Take your opponent’s homeworld to win, lose yours and you die.
A: Riddled with caves and with a mineral-rich crust, this airless world is ideal for the production of spacecraft components. 1 GPP, 3 SPP.
B: A volcanic world with a caustic atmosphere and lava flows on the surface, B is full of minerals that can be easily acquired…if you can deal with the, quite literal, heat. 3 GPP, 1 SPP.
C: Icy, barren, rather flat in most regions. It has rather a lot of those things humans need to live sitting on and under its airless surface. 3 GPP, 3 SPP.
D: A surface-wide ocean is the defining trait of this planet, providing an interesting combat environment and also plenty of interesting life forms that can be studied….if you can build a big enough boat to catch one, anyway. 4 GPP, 2 SPP.
E: Another Earthlike planet, ideal for habitation….or, y’know, fighting a good old fashioned war over! 4 GPP, 4 SPP.
F: A world of highlands and mountains, the lower parts of the planet are filled with most of the planet's already scarce water. However, the mountainous regions have high mineral contents and plenty of good spacecraft launch sites above the majority of the atmosphere. 2 GPP, 4 SPP.
G: Deserts cover the surface of this planet. Deserts made, in fact, of a curious sand with abnormally high metal and mineral contents. It has an atmosphere that serves to stir up the sands into occasional sandstorms. 3 GPP, 3 SPP.
H: An airless, small rock in space, H is heavily cratered and not a great place to live. Good place to build spacecraft, though. 1 GPP, 3 SPP.
I: A world covered in wide stretches of windswept terrain covered in something that we’re going to call grass, I is ideal for large-scale industrial activity. Nobody cares if you do irreparable damage to a huge tract of grasslands here, after all, there are a hundred more huge tracts of pristine grasslands you haven’t ruined yet. 3 GPP, 1 SPP.

Spoiler: The Network Tech (click to show/hide)

Ships
ITC (Interplanetary Transport Craft): A less-than-stellar spacecraft, the ITC is a version of the ships landed on your planet when you first colonized it. It is prone to malfunction, slow, and generally unpleasant. The rocket shuttles used to get equipment from the ITC to the ground have a limited capacity, meaning that with the exception of troops and things that can be broken into much smaller parts, the ITC cannot carry any equipment of a size greater than 1TC. It has 4TC capacity in total and uses chemical engines for propulsion. It has no armor or armaments.
Cost: 2 SPP

FASS Mk1. Logos: A reasonably quick, reasonably agile, fairly effective light ship of about 45 meters long with Light armor and three R-4 railguns for weapons complement.
Cost: 2 SPP

Logos Thermal Defense Citadel upgrade: An internal ceramic armor layer on the Logos which is actively cooled to reduce damage from thermal weapons. Raises Logos armor to Medium, cost increases by 1 SPP, agility and speed decreased.
Applied To: FASS Mk.1 Logos
Cost: Increase Logos cost by 1 SPP

'Hephaestus' class Support Vessel: A giant cylinder with extra bits on it, the Hephaestus is capable of small updates to ships or ground equipment and serious repairs to Logos-sized vessels due to its enclosed hangar. It is not armored and its only defense is being large. Uses a lot of Bitforms, two reactors, and plenty of materials and is generally a fairly large ship, so it's expensive. However, it provides a huge capability for our fleet to stay functional on long deployments.
Cost: 4 SPP
Provides: 3 Repair Points per turn for Logos-sized vessels, 1 Repair Point for larger vessels that will not fit within its hangar.

Space Superiority Ship, Mk1, 'Peitho': Six R-4 railguns in twin turrets. Six R-5 shrapnel cannons in single mounts scattered over the hull. Heavy thermal armor concentrated in citadels and barbettes over vital spaces. Massive twin Tokamak powerplant and plasma drive assembly. High speed, decent enough maneuverability for its size. Basic sensors. Integrated Artemis fire control. Robo-coffee dispensers in three different places on the bridge.
Cost: 8 SPP

Units
Basic Military Unit: (you may rename this if you so wish) A capable group of soldiers trained to operate any equipment you can give them. Field training allows them to keep up to date on the best way to operate the newest deathtraps and self-destructing gizmos you send them even after they’re deployed.
Cost: 2GPP

Ground Weapons
Printed Pistol: Issued to security guards on the colony ships, the only real weapon both colonies have. They are 3D-printed out of plastic, a process which is not entirely reliable, meaning the gun has a tendency to break after prolonged use... or any use, really.
Cost: Cheap

Trephine Magnetic Sabot Rifle: A very effective weapon for Medium- to Long-ranged engagements, the Trephine is a 12mm APFSDS weapon with a 10mm projectile, capable of firing with damage roughly equivalent to a high-caliber rifle or, at maximum power, a light cannon. The projectile tends to fragment on piercing Light armor, doing even more damage than usual to the underlying target. Fireworks displays included with every order of 1000 or more. Now includes 4-round magazine and semiautomatic function.
Cost: 1 GPP

'Hammer' Magnetic Flechette Rifle: A carbine version of the Trephine, the Hammer fires exclusively lighter-weight discarding-sabot flechette rounds which are very accurate and deadly. The rifle is lighter, shorter, and faster than the Trephine, and has a four-round internal magazine and a bolt-action style chambering (being a railgun there is not really a semiautomatic function). It is accurate and deadly out to Medium range, and can lay down suppressive fire at Long range with minimal chances to hit. Now includes 4-round magazine and semiautomatic function.
Cost: 1 GPP

'Dozer' Magnetic Cannon: A functional combination of 40mm grenade launcher and mortar. Sights are basic but it has a Medium-Long range in mortar configuration with higher launching powers and Short-Medium range when shoulder-fired. Shells are basic explosives with a moderate payload. Functions as an auxiliary weapon. Now includes 4-round magazine and semiautomatic function.
Cost: 1 GPP

Ground Equipment
Basic Space Suit: A civilian space suit, totally unarmored and cumbersome to walk in. At least it works well enough, and has a self-sealing lining meaning a single shot isn't an immediate death sentence... most of the time. Necessary for deployment to worlds without breathable atmospheres.
Cost: Cheap OBSOLETE

MultiEnvironment Tactical Armored Suit: A slight improvement to the Basic Space Suit in every way, METAS is a hair less cumbersome, has magnetic boots and some armor so it won't (usually) explode the minute somebody looks at the oxygen tank funny. That usually happens the second minute that somebody remains looking at the tank funny.
Cost: Cheap

Ground Vehicles
"Emergent" Assault Aircraft In-Field Assembly Kit: A fault-ridden aircraft more prone to disassembling itself than flying, and when it does fly it tends to do so in a rather wobbly-looking way. However, it does carry two Trephines, a pilot, a gunner, and six combat units around at reasonably fast speeds. Er, we think it does, anyway, given that the most recent prototypes haven't been tested, since all our test Units are too good at probability-of-death-or-maiming calculations.
Cost: 4 GPP
Weight: 2 TC (requires 1 shuttle TC)

"Emergent" AAIFAK 1.1: Still not a great aircraft, this new version of the Emergent suffers from unbalanced engine thrust which is quite effective at hamstringing maneuverability, but it is capable of something that resembles proper flying. It is still more expensive than it needs to be due to the engine problems. It can carry two Trephines (in a single turret), a pilot, a gunner, and six combat units around at reasonably fast speeds.
Cost: 3 GPP
Weight: 2 TC (requires 1 shuttle TC)

Command Radio: Essentially just a very big radio set, capable of reliable communication between planets, ships, and/or other planets. Currently only useful for taunting your enemy. The transmitter dish comes in a single piece and cannot fit in an ITC shuttle.
Cost: 2GPP
Weight: 1TC (requires 2 shuttle TC)

Spacecraft Components
Tokamak-Powered Plasma Drive: A matched set of self-melting components, the TPPD is generally regarded as having been a bad idea.
Cost: A large amount of expensive alloys and electromagnets we're willing to throw away, all of High Command's good will.

Plasma Engine: A Speed 2 interplanetary drive, capable of producing fairly acceptable changes to velocity in combat conditions. Very power hungry at combat-use sizes.

Gen. 2 Tokamak-Powered Plasma Drive: A slightly more efficient, powerful, and compact set of reactors and plasma drives for a warship. It works just a little better than the previous one, and is far better than the original TPPD. Not that that's much of an achievement. Provides a lot of power both in terms of electrical and maneuvering ability.

R-4 Railgun Turret: An amazing weapons system, the R-4 is an externally mounted 50mm railgun loaded with 20 round drums capable of firing a three-round burst on a single capacitor charge, while a loading arm loads the drums into the weapon from the storage bay in the ship proper. The turret is lightly armored for protection. Requires a ship to mount it on.

Large Item Flight Transport (LIFT): An upgrade to the ITC's basic shuttles, capable of moving 4 TC objects to and from orbit. Has advantages and disadvantages, minor mechanical issues, but primarily is something of an "all your eggs, one basket" situation when deploying into combat conditions. Raise the cost of an ITC when attached.
Cost: 1 SPP (equips an ITC with a full set of LIFT shuttles)

LIFT Intraplanetary Plasma Engine (IPE): An upgrade to the LIFT shuttles, capable of moving 4 TC objects to and from orbit. Faster and more maneuverable even than basic shuttles, and come with some amount of reinforcement and protection against attack. Raise the cost of an ITC when attached.
Cost: 1 SPP (equips an ITC with a full set of LIFT shuttles)

Art3mis Precision Targeting System: An upgraded targeting suite that allows a Logos substantially more information and hitting capability against targets as compared to the baseline. Very effective against unknowing targets and capable of a limited degree of predictive firing and precision-coordinated shots amongst multiple weapons. Requires a refit.
Cost: None.

R-5 Shrapnel Cannon: A bigger but lower-velocity railgun capable of firing chaff rounds, shrapnel or canister shot, and of course solid shot. Fires faster than the R-4 with less armor piercing capability due to its lower velocity, but lower energy requirements. Can lay down a laser- and radar-reflecting chaff barrage to interfere with weapons and sensors both, capable of shooting down missiles with great precision when paired with Artemis tracking. Same cost as the R-4.

Infrastructure
Colony Defense Grid: The reason you can't instantly invade the enemy homeworld. A series of surface-to-orbit missile launchers, the only real concession to defense the planners of the colony made. How they work is a mystery now, and no one wants to risk taking them apart to find out.

Semi-Autonomous Industrial Facilities: A network of interlinked incredibly well-connected modern factories capable of production of unparalleled efficiency and scale.
Provides: 2 GPP

Orbital Reclamation Centers: Satellites in orbit around the Hub that reprocess damaged and destroyed units and other bits of metal and plastic into spacecraft parts.
Provides: 2 SPP

Tokamak: Nuclear Boogaloo: A functioning nuclear fusion reactor, producing on our first attempt, no prior attempts being on record. It requires much less expensive fuel than nuclear fission plants and so its more complicated construction does not increase its cost beyond that of a fission plant, and therefore is automatically retrofitted into any ships that are refitted or any new builds. Provides a substantial increase in power generation to any ship and removes any issues with power generation.
Provides: 2 SPP and 2 GPP

Autonomous Nanoscale Terrestrial Scavengers: Despite their initial failings, ANTS units have been substantially refitted and are now capable of extracting 1 SPP from Planet Alpha. This is far from the total value available there, or elsewhere in the system. Further improvements to support structures in an ANTS "colony" or other useful adaptations would greatly improve the yields.
Provides: 1 SPP

Spoiler: Credits (click to show/hide)

Array

[ConscriptFive]

Enemy Projection:
Approximately half the enemy fleet will assault either E or F.  Heavily damaged enemy ships at D will attempt to retreat to or through G.  Loaded enemy ITC's will be present at either G, E, or F accordingly.

Summary: The entire fleet focuses on a decisive battle in orbit of G, eliminating the enemy ships that were damaged at D.  F is bypassed in favor of invading G.  The crippled Logos at A is retired at the Hub, and its heroic personnel rewarded with assignments on the new Petho model "Big Stick."  Any enemy ships that advance to E or F (instead of consolidating at G) are in range to be engaged by the Big Stick next cycle.

Details:

1.  Legacy model Logos-02 "Nervous Energy" completes its journey to the Hub, and is given a heroes' welcome.  After the parade and awards ceremony, personnel are then directed to either the ORC or the newly built Big Stick as appropriate.  The legacy model Logos will be recycled except for artifacts chosen for preservation by the Museum of Conquest.
2.  Peitho model "Big Stick" is built and pushed forward to C.
3.  Logos 06, 07, and 08 continue enemy pursuit from D to G.
4.  Logos 03, 04, 05 and the ITC "Prime Mover" pumpfake from F to join the invasion at G.  Primer Mover should obviously avoid space combat, and attempt to land its troops on G.
5.  ITC "Cargo Cult" should load BMU-1 and BMU-3 at D and also join the invasion at G.  Cargo Cult should obviously avoid space combat, and attempt to land its troops on G.
6.  D and E each keep garrisons of two "light" BMU's a piece.

Friendly Projection:
Damaged ships from D are intercepted and destroyed at G.  Additional enemy ships, including at least one ITC, will be damaged.  Three "heavy" BMU's land at G and are enough to take ground.  Enemy ships that went forward are now stranded behind our fleet at E or F.  They remain unaware that they are sandwiched by the new Peitho at C.  Possible decisive space battle of the war.

[Carefulrogue]

We appear to have the upper hand easily over the enemy.  Aggression is proposed by several.

kill_-9.exe

1.  All Logos with IDs 3-8 move to Golf, engage any ships there, and then settle into patrol patterns over the planet.  Their orders are to engage and kill all enemy ships encountered along the path, while protecting ITCs Cargo Cult and Prime Mover who will be offloading troops on the planet below.

2.  ITC-01-LIFT "Cargo Cult" will pick up troops from the surface of Delta then move to Golf .  The units to be loaded are BMU-3, BMU-4, BMU-5. If the battle in orbit is lost, they are to retreat to deep space.

3.  ITC-5 "Prime Mover" is instructed to proceed to Golf, link up with ITC-01-LIFT Cargo Cult.  Unloading is not to take place until both ships sit in orbit.  If the battle in orbit is lost, they are to retreat to deep space.

4.  Offload all troops and equipment from Cargo Cult and Prime Mover onto Golf.  BMUs 3, 4, and 5 are to immediately be equipped with Dozers.

5.  Logos-02 "Nervous Energy" is to be moved to the Hub shipyards, where most of her will be disassembled in an ORC facility, except for artifacts chosen for preservation by the Museum of Conquest, to complete the construction of a Peitho-class cruiser, named "Big Stick."  Once completed it will move to Bravo then Charlie.

[Kashyyk]

(1) Gutpunch: Kashyyk
() kill_-9.exe:

[ConscriptFive]

(2) Gutpunch: Kashyyk, ConscriptFive
() kill_-9.exe: