Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[mightymushroom]

Listen, I don't mind if we perform more studies of this ... incursion, but I don't think it outweighs protecting the cultural archive.

Spoiler: breaking character for meta talk (click to show/hide)

As a player at the metaphorical table, I am not opposed to adopting an open suggestion for further study of the drives/shielding system. It is my in-character persona that is more concerned with the science faction ignoring the present danger to our irreplaceable archives in favor of a seeming wild goose chase.

There are plenty of other collision scenarios one could pick that are plenty dangerous. Objects larger than "micro," for instance – do we know any limit to the size that can slip through? I don't. If the science team had said, "The next one could be half the size of the ship," then my character would have more credible reason to fear for those same archives and the mission generally. I've already taken the step of conceding that the phenomenon warrants study with my in-character persona. But we have not suffered anything resembling an FTL collision despite traveling at FTL speed, and it's taking the danger to that level that my persona regards as a "scare tactic."

I am further challenging the suggestion on the grounds that it skips ahead to having a fix for the drive bubble. Can we really change the energy balance of our FTL drive without tearing ourselves to bits? If so, why was it not done in the first place? I think these are questions better suited to GM answer. If we do get to study it and learn of a modification, THEN we can debate the price of action. Until then, "fixing" is purely speculative.

As IronyOwl points out, it is not reasonable to expect the GM to give us something for free: we ought to expect a trade off scaled to the size of the benefit, which in this projection is an existential threat demanding an existential price. I really don't think that's what the event report is intended to convey, or we would have seen a range of dire choices in the list to start with.

[Sanctume]

B: Move the damaged casing to the ships auto nav servers (note: manual control is always an option if this is damaged down the line)

Moving the casing will involve an external EVA that while mostly routine, is not entirely without risks.

Mr. Sanct McStone, cultural heritage representative, implores the council to save the priceless porn servers as it will serve to benefit our culture for eons to come.

[helmacon]

I keep seeing new posts on this so I was holding off, but I think I'm going to start the update when I get home in a couple hours today. Please finalize your votes before that.


Because it was mentioned at some point, you do not have the expertise, facilities, or resources to re-engineer the most complex and expensive piece of equipment ever built by humanity. The drive bubble is very capable of moving and protecting your ship, but if a piece of debris is in the exact right spot and the exact right angle, it can pass through. This is inevitable, and why your ship has plateing in the first place. The space around you is moving allowing you to travel faster than light, but you are not moving faster than light within that space. When the object entered your bubble of space, you both collided at sub light speeds. When moving through light-years of uncharted space, this will just happen from time to time.

This is a game about managing risks, and making tough decisions. A perfect victory will be almost impossible (unless y'all keep rolling like this). Don't overthink it.

[ZBridges]

B: Move the damaged casing to the ships auto nav servers (note: manual control is always an option if this is damaged down the line)

Moving the casing will involve an external EVA that while mostly routine, is not entirely without risks.

Mr. Sanct McStone, cultural heritage representative, implores the council to save the priceless porn servers as it will serve to benefit our culture for eons to come.

Sadly, the cold equations that govern interstellar travel suggest that, in the event of emergency, we must sacrifice the sacred porn archives in order to protect the impartiality of ship navigation.  The loss of our technological records would also represent an existential threat to humanity.

[Sanctume]

I cannot imagine humanity thriving without the porn culture.  The arts of Kama Sutra, and DIY sex toys kits!  Such knowledge. 

What about the memes?  #savethememes. 

The military benefits from these porn culture, so I am sure the can spare a few grunts to manually drive this hunk when needed. 

Better access for them too being in the nav.  C'mon, no latency VR sessions!

[Glass]

Because it was mentioned at some point, you do not have the expertise, facilities, or resources to re-engineer the most complex and expensive piece of equipment ever built by humanity. The drive bubble is very capable of moving and protecting your ship, but if a piece of debris is in the exact right spot and the exact right angle, it can pass through. This is inevitable, and why your ship has plateing in the first place. The space around you is moving allowing you to travel faster than light, but you are not moving faster than light within that space. When the object entered your bubble of space, you both collided at sub light speeds. When moving through light-years of uncharted space, this will just happen from time to time.

Ok, thank you for clarifying the specific mechanics of what happened.
So, we're using an Albecurrie drive, then? Interesting. Though matter should technically get shredded if it hits the edge of the spatial distortion bubble. Although I do suppose there's a tiny area in the very middle on the diagrams I've seen where it's flat.
Fair enough, I guess.

Mr. McStone is making a very good argument for why we shouldn't protect the cultural databanks. Regardless, there are more important things on there than he is trying to imply.
It does seem to me that it would be best to move the damaged casing to the autopilot. While it makes me somewhat worried about it making it easier for any possible saboteurs - not that there should be any, or that it even makes any sense for there to be any, but it's possible - to take control of the manual control should we have to shift to that, the simple fact of the matter is that if the casing replacement EVA is a fairly routine project, then it probably wouldn't be terribly hard for any idiots to fuck us over like that to begin with. I believe that maintaining our scientific and cultural knowledge is probably more important than making sure that the computer continues to be the thing to steer the ship.

B.

[ZBridges]

The potential issue isn't sabotage (ie. deliberate damage) so much as one individual, or a group of individuals, seizing control of the navigation system.  That would allow them to extract concessions from the council, and the general ship population, by effectively holding the ship hostage.

The idea that members of the ship's population would never act to destabilize the current government due to the importance of our mission, even if it would result in personal gain, is naive.

[Screech9791]

I cannot imagine humanity thriving without the porn culture.  The arts of Kama Sutra, and DIY sex toys kits!  Such knowledge. 

Motherfucking sigged. And this has been the first sig quote of the decade for me, and it's been almost 6 months since I last got to change mine.

PTW. If it's not too late to join, then I'm joining as a scientific community representative.

[helmacon]

Update

It appears the B's have it. The damaged casing will be moved to the ships Auto-Nav servers. The cultural population is pleased by this decision, and praise your commitment to the humanities. Some of the military officers grumble about "needless endangerment of irreplaceable assets" but the councils word is final.

Success

The Eva is routine, and the casings are successfully swapped. The council is returned to their cryo pods.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I cannot imagine humanity thriving without the porn culture.  The arts of Kama Sutra, and DIY sex toys kits!  Such knowledge. 

Motherfucking sigged. And this has been the first sig quote of the decade for me, and it's been almost 6 months since I last got to change mine.

PTW. If it's not too late to join, then I'm joining as a scientific community representative.

You believe you are beginning to get used to waking up from cryo. The colony ship has been in space for decades, but it hardly seems a few weeks for you. The ship has arrived at a new planet and the council is brought fourth again to deliberate. There are quite a new few faces around, and you are informed that the population of the ship has grown significantly since you were last awake. With all the opportunities and responsibilities that come with living aboard a spaceship, a portion of the population has drifted into a more Scientific outlook, and the ratio of the scientific community is now equal to the amount of the cultural community, although the ship is still dominated by the military structure. (3/3/4)

The ship was built with the expectation of some population growth, and previously vacant sections of the ship now house a new community. The have elected Councilor Orca to your ranks as their representative. 

Regardless, the new planet looms before you. Preliminary results of the short range scanners are already in, and the council gathers to discuss the details.

The planet has:

Very low gravity*
Moderate Temperatures*
Earth like Atmosphere*
A Primitive Biosphere*
Most necessary resources, with a few notable exceptions*

The surface scans indicate that the primitive biosphere contains plant like structures, and insect analogs, but there is no larger life on the planet at the moment. Your biologists suspect this is the result of a recent mass extinction event.

This planet contains most resources for day to day life with modern technology, but lacks resources necessary for advanced materials industries, star-ship fuel production, and a few rare isotopes with a range of applications across the board.

There are (4) anomalies detected on the planet. (3) can be observed from space.

Observable anomalies are:

Frequent Meteorite impacts
Geological instability
Unbelievably Beautiful

To identify the cause of the other anomalous readings would require a surface expedition.

You presently have 100 tons of expedition equipment on-board. An expedition here requires 35 tons of equipment, though barring catastrophe, most of it should be re-usable. During the expedition, you can either collect exhaustive samples of the planets biosphere, or perform an in depth study of the planets geological formation (gravity).


Your options are:
A: Send an expedition to study the biosphere
B: Send an expedition to study the geology
C: Don't not send an expedition and preserve your supplies.

Additionally:
A: Colonize this planet
B: Do not colonize this planet
C: Postpone the decision for colonization until after the expedition (if A or B above)

Please remember to Bold your vote. If you do not, it may not be counted.

[wierd]

[Science]

A shame we cannot study both A and B. This biosphere is very interesting, and is at an interesting transition point if recovering from a mass extinction event. (but that also means this biosphere is very fragile at the moment.)

I would go with B on that one. In theory, fossilized remains in the geological record would give us a great deal of insight about the biosphere of this planet, while we explore the reason for the planet's geological instability.


With an earth-like atmosphere, it might be beneficial to restore atmospherics for the colony ship, since the low gravity would permit resource collection with significantly less energy expenditure.

Sadly, the low gravity poses significant health concerns to colonists. The lack of specific resources will stymie necessary habitat construction that can survive the meteor impacts AND earthquakes this planet frequently encounters.  It might be that our instruments are not registering deep deposits, and that the issues with earth-quakes and meteors can be resolved after surface exploration.


Assessment:

B
C

[IronyOwl]

Ooh. Tempting, but the materials and meteorites are a dealbreaker for me. We'd be able to build a pleasant life here in between the earth and sky getting angry at us, but we might never be able to get back to the stars, and that'd be a death sentence in the long run. I'm forced to reluctantly consider this a beautiful tomb with occasional surprise redecorations.

I'm torn on the expedition, though. Accumulating as many scanner bonuses as possible is of the utmost importance, but risking 1/3 of our supplies on a volcanic shooting gallery makes me nervous. I'll probably end up nervously voting yes, but I'd like to hear what everyone else has to say.

[VoidSlayer]

An opportunity to study the gravity situation would be really nice, very low gravity wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for the geological instability and meteor strikes.  We could have set up some kind of low tech rail catapult system to do most of the orbital lifting.  Saw an anime about that once.

It is risky but the expedition supplies exist to be used.

Honestly all necessary resources in small amounts is looking better and better...

I honestly can not see us selecting this one where heaven and earth both oppose us despite the great wonder of the landscapes.

B

B

[Glass]

I personally say BB.

To be honest, I'd like to research gravity.
Simply put, gravity is the only stat a planet has that we cannot do anything about.
Temperature and atmosphere? We can make self-contained habitats for those.
Biosphere? If we didn't bring crops or anything like that, we're dumb; even if there isn't much of a biosphere, we can make one over time.
Hell, even with resources, if a resource-poor planet has neighbors - especially a moon - that have a decent amount of resources, then so long as the ship is in good enough shape to be repurposed to get us there, we can get those resources.
But if the gravity is too high or too low, too bad.

But oh well, that's not an option. Geology may be materials, or it may just be planets with safer tectonics. Either way, it's probably a good idea.

[Sanctume]

B

C

I watch a holovid, then prepare to go back to sleep.

Oh my apology, I inverted my vote due to some form of ship-lag.  They should be:
Your options are:
C: Don't not send an expedition and preserve your supplies.

Additionally:
B: Do not colonize this planet

This planet may look like a beauty, but it does shows the huge red flag of passive-aggressiveness. 
That 4th hidden thing could be akin to some crazy possessive ex-boy friend who don't need any excuse to cut our nuts.

[wierd]

There is a 4th anomaly on the planet that we wont learn about until we explore the surface.

Could be alien ruins, could be hostile natives, could be toxic plants-- who knows.

Hence my "postpone decision" vote.