Section: Colony Defence
Deploy both Developer drones to build a perimeter fence around the Command Post, at just beyond the required 1km required radius (hopefully right in the middle of the sensor net). This doesn't need to be anything fancy, I imagine these guys will have never encountered a heavy-duty chainlink fence with a barbed wire top before. Make sure to go below ground a couple of meters, to prevent the subterranean murder worms. We can upgrade it with electrical and sonic deterrents once the base fence has been completed.
Meanwhile one of the Flying Scouts should patrol around the areas the Developer Drones are at, to give plenty of early warning for anything dangerous, and a security drone is on standby, to respond to anything that might threaten the developers or the fence.
Section: Southern Scouting
The other Aerial Scout will rendezvous with the Ground Scout in the South, and they will work together to try and predict any additional groups that are coming our way. If any do, the Aerial Scout should tail it to confirm..
Section: Colony Prep
One medical Drone will collect a selection of Algae samples and transfer it to the Farm for culturing. It should then see about harvesting a selection of the local fish and whatever they subsist off of, ensure that they are suitable for human consumption, then start off the aquaculture systems with them. Naturally, it should endeavour to remove as many hostile microorganisms and nanomachones as possible.
We should then requisition two more developer drone and have them build a simple detainment centre for the captive, before upgrading the Habitation Compound to be a slightly more pleasant place to live. Private bedrooms, various recreational facilities, you know, stuff to make it less like a homeworld prison. Once done, they should assist the perimeter fence team.
Section: Captive Care
We should have some information on the kind of food these natives eat from the scour drone's time in captivity. The second Medical Drone sshould see if it can replicate some of that food from the flora/fauna the first has acquired. It should then offer that and some water to the captive..
Section: Stay the Course
Miners keep mining, with a Security Drone escorting them.
The third Medical Drone, with the assistance of the final two Ground Scouts, should continue cataloguing local life, with the third security drone escorting.
Foundation Stage; Days 7-10Yet more drones are launched from the Mothership, this time a pair of Developer Drones, this was going to be a busy next few days for the Drones. Even before the fresh drones impacted the soil the two already present where immediately sent to start construction of a perimeter fence, starting in the south with a basic but reliable chain link fence, topped with barbed wire for extra effectiveness, and buried four metres underground to repel the subterranean threats. This is going to be a long process and the new fence will hardly be a complete deterrent, but it is better than nothing and will form the foundation for a much more imposing perimeter later on, not to mention it's simplicity will make it a much faster process than a more advanced perimeter fence. A single Aerial Drone and Security Drone are also dispatched to watch over the construction, and do wind up scaring away a few more Snake-Worms over the next few days.
The two fresh drones meanwhile are immediately put to work on a containment centre for the captive, a simple prison build near the river, with a hard transparent door and metal bars so it can be provided food and water during its extended stay here in the base. After this task, which is completed relatively quickly due to the need for only a single functioning cell at present, the captive is then brought out to its new home away from home. This process proves slightly problematic as said captive attempts to escape as soon as it is out of the habitation compound, but this kind of work is exactly what Security Drones are made for, and a series of warning shots followed by a quick tasering makes the creature remarkable more cooperative during its transportation, if slightly limp for the next two hours, the drone upped the dosage a bit after the first shock only slowed it.
Once this business is done the task of feeding the captive also proves to be relatively easy, with water being in no short supply, and food being easily acquired by the Security drones using slightly more lethal deterrents on the next batch of hexapods that wander into the perimeter. Utilizing footage of the 'Saakin" group from before a medical drone is able to prepare the meat, mostly just giving it a quick roast, and adding a few seeds that the natives where seen eating to add a bit of variety, this simple meal is sent to the captive who quickly wolfs it down. Their lack of lips does seem to make their eating a bit messier than humans, but it eats it all up and appears rather healthy at the end of it, and as a bonus you now have a small supply of Hexapod meat.
Meanwhile with the captive relocated the new drones get to work redecorating the habitation complex, private rooms, recreational spaces and other inefficient but supposedly important (according to your designers) features are added to the complex, and the end result is less of a military base and more of a small village. Not paradise by any means but it should keep the colonists from grumbling too much. After this the drones are then sent to assist in the construction of the perimeter fence, work on which speeds up very significantly with the doubling of the workforce.
As this carries on the Medical drone examining the algae then sends some to the hydroponics and begins a small crop, it removes potentially hostile microorganisms but leaves the nanomachines, after all, those are nothing to be concerned about. It then turns its attention back to the river to collect the local aquatic life, the fish-like creatures (which resemble fish only in basic body shape and apparent ecological role really) prove difficult to catch, especially for a drone not designed for combat, but through patience and the fact that the drone is not alive it does manage to eventually catch a few different species. Examinations of the creatures provide a few interesting facts, the biggest being that some of these creatures have jaws unlike every other creature you have seen thus far, but also tests end up clearing the creatures as safe to eat, no idea how they will taste but they won't kill the colonists. After cleaning the creatures from potentially hostile microorganisms (but not nanomachines, those things are nice) these fish creatures are then placed in the aquaponics to hopefully create a steady breeding colony. It carries on adding more creatures and plants to the farms and after a few days you have a stable ecosystem for harvesting proteins, calories and all the other food things humans need.
As this carries on the northern mining operations continue to progress smoothly, the convoys continue to be followed but the natives continue to not interfere with them. There is an unfortunate instance on the seventh day, when the watching Security Drone natives a band of native, separate from the ones following the convoy, happen to crest a hill and get a very good look at the refinery and a massive returning mining drone, they soon scatter but the bad news is that from what the Security drone saw they fled northwards, which indicates the possibility that they are an entirely separate group of natives who have now found the mining operations. This news if further compounded when on the ninth day the natives following the convoy finally follow it all the way to the refinery, though they continue to keep with the "watch from a distance" approach, at the current rate it is only a matter of time before they wind up following the convoy to the colony, and there is now a second group which has also seen the refinery. In current procedure one Mining Drone is permanently stationed up at the refinery while the other works there for a few hours before returning to the colony with a Security drone escort, resource wise this is the most efficient method available but it does wind up leaving a Mining Drone and the refinery alone for several hours at a time, there aren't many animals in the rocky terrain of the mine and those few that are tend to be easily scared off by the bulk of the mining drone, so it hasn't been a problem at this point, but with potentially two native groups knowing about the existence of the refinery, that may need to change.
The cataloging of local wildlife meanwhile continues to have, mixed success, observing the wildlife is incredibly easy, but closer examination continues to prove difficult as the medical drone simply cannot catch anything. Further issues arrive when another band of natives happen across the Medical Drone and its Security Drone escort, and though the native hunting party is scared off by the Security Drone (this time without any apparent injuries), it is becoming increasingly apparent that stealth is going to become less and less possible as time goes on. Still it appears that the local ecosystem is also running out of creatures to find, as you now have a very large list of different species that live in these deserts, though you are a bit scarce on details when it comes to these things.
Also on the seventh day, the gifts start moving southeast, they move at a very slow pace, but by the tenth day they still haven't stopped moving, though they are still within the limit of your sensors, being about sixty kilometres southeast.
The news from the southern scouts meanwhile is that which most concerns you. Over the next few days the Aerial and Ground scout watch the cities, particularly the one that the natives fled to (which they entered on the dawn of day seven), they don't pick up very much though, staying well away from the settlements to avoid any other unplanned encounters but for the most part not picking up any change in activity. That is until the tenth day.
On the tenth day a small band of armed natives, clad in steel armour and carrying a mix of steel weapons, mostly spears and swords, though the exact shapes differ slightly from human variants, and most interestingly about six of them seem to carry some form of muskets, and they seem to have a different mix of uniforms on them. The group numbers about forty-seven strong and are all mounted on hexapods, slightly bigger variants than the ones you have seen before now, and start riding north on a beeline to the base.
As the scouts attempt to get a better look, one of the natives riding slightly ahead of the group manages to then spot your ground scout! A short chase ensures for the next hour, as these Hexapods also prove to be a bit faster than any you have seen before, during which you are able to confirm that the musket devices are indeed muskets, with rifling if their range is anything to go by, though they are muzzle loaded. They also have crossbows, but they don't make use of any throwing weapons, be they javelins or slings, at least at the distance your scout keeps them. Eventually the chase ends with the scout successfully escaping into the dunes, after which the natives have a short meeting ending with two of them being sent back to the city and the rest continuing north, with about five more lightly armored natives riding ahead of the group as scouts most likely.
Your Aerial scout trails them for the day until they stop for the night at a small spring that you hadn't yet discovered for the night, during which it is able to confirm that the cartographer from the previous group is among them, though it does not appear to be the actual leader of the group. Given their previous pace and their distance, they will likely arrive at the colony just before midday tomorrow, so far they haven't been friendly, but perhaps diplomacy is still an option, for now the Aerial scout is watching from above while the ground scout is keeping its distance.
The perimeter fence is not completely finished, but in the four days they've had the drones have finished about five sixths of it, the completed parts seem to be doing their job so far, no intrusions have emerged from where the fence is finished, and the incomplete part is on the north side of the base. The captive is alive and well fed, and has even occasionally said a few things at the Medical Drone (you think), not that you or the drone understand it, the food seems to have calmed it down a bit. It is still definitely not happy about its situation, but at least it is not overtly hostile. More drones could also be sent down before this southern band arrives.
Once that problem is taken care of, there is also the matter of the refineries discovery, as well as the continued discoveries of your drones by other natives.
Command Post (Secure)
Perimeter Sensors (Active)
Basic Habitation Compound (Secure)
-Slightly Furnished
-Attached Auto-Turrets (Active)
Drone Hub (2) (Secure)
Basic Farms (Secure) (Active)
Basic Perimeter Fence (Incomplete
Refinery (Active)
Personel;
-2 Mining Drones
-1 Security Drone
Network Usage 17/21
3 Units of Security Drones (Active)
3 Units of Scout Drones (Active)
4 Units of Developer Drones (Active)
2 Units of Miner Drones (Active)
2 Units of Aerial Drones (Active)
3 units of Medical Drones (Active)
Only the small alteration about the fence starting south was included because it wasn't really a change in a plan just a modification of priority and frankly what I would have done anyway, the other suggestions unfortunately didn't get enough votes.
Author
Topic: Colony Command (Read 9630 times)