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Author Topic: Delta Pavonis C - Exploitation, Turn 2 (new players welcome)  (Read 8194 times)

Xvareon

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Re: Founders of Delta Pavonis C - Exploitation Turn 1 (new players welcome)
« Reply #60 on: February 14, 2023, 04:27:32 pm »

I propose designing a sound emitter device that can produce loud and disruptive noises to scare off these flying creatures if they start getting too curious. We know they use sounds to communicate based on all that clacking and clicking. For now, proof of concept would be a pylon-like device (maybe even attached to one of the powered light poles) that can be activated remotely. I just want to see if this will work, to be able to scare them off especially if none of us are physically present. This is the kind of thing we can tweak to affect different kinds of creatures, too, so we'll have plenty of use for it.
TL;DR:  Sound emitters to scare animals and send verbal warnings/notices to intelligent beings (like us).

We may be able to adapt that system with different sound ranges later to attempt communication with the creatures, too, but I'll leave that stuff up to the Social experts. Right now I just want them away. Watching is fine, but from a distance.

Nirur Torir

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Re: Founders of Delta Pavonis C - Exploitation Turn 1 (new players welcome)
« Reply #61 on: February 14, 2023, 07:09:53 pm »

Magnetite is okay, but I think we need some sort of ore grinder to separate and exploit it properly – it'll be deposited as fine grains mixed into layers throughout the shale.
We'd have that if we had a concrete production chain, right? I think concrete might be pretty good to start with, but I don't want to properly propose it because I'm not an engineer. It'll help with both a quad-safe ramp down to the swamp, to study it for open-air farming, and for building a large enough mushroom farm.

We have 12 exploitation turns before we starve, but fewer than that before we absolutely must start farming.
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Quarque

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Re: Founders of Delta Pavonis C - Exploitation Turn 1 (new players welcome)
« Reply #62 on: February 14, 2023, 10:03:59 pm »

Gathering both moss and water this phase would still be a Safe roll (and get a Biology bonus). The moss can be scraped off the ground and all it takes is patience.

The sound emitter would also be a Safe roll, but it's not really fitting for the Exploitation phase. It's more of an Expansion proposal, or Research if rephrased to emphasize studying their behavior or trying to communicate (the latter would be more difficult).

Please don't forget to exercise your constitutional rights and vote. :)
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Nirur Torir

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Re: Founders of Delta Pavonis C - Exploitation Turn 1 (new players welcome)
« Reply #63 on: February 17, 2023, 01:54:14 pm »

I want to vote on an engineer design, because I think they'd be a better way to grow than trying to cobble together an open-air mushroom farm. Is there any way to remove my influence reward for a suggestion, and have it go to an NPC engineer or Turo Celsa, while it gets the +1 for engineering?
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Quarque

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Re: Founders of Delta Pavonis C - Exploitation Turn 1 (new players welcome)
« Reply #64 on: February 17, 2023, 03:01:18 pm »

npc isn't possible, but yeah you could give the credits for an idea to mightymushroom if he agrees and then the Engineer bonus would apply.
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mightymushroom

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Re: Founders of Delta Pavonis C - Exploitation Turn 1 (new players welcome)
« Reply #65 on: February 17, 2023, 04:32:07 pm »

Gathering both moss and water this phase would still be a Safe roll (and get a Biology bonus).
Unless the engineering is genuinely the more important aspect of this design, I had planned to vote as the above with a Biology bonus, on the theory that any implied construction would be done to Grace's specifications. The colonies on Mars and Titan will have required 'artificial' soil to become self-sustaining, so I expect she has a good idea of what needs to be done, including selecting the right fungus for the job.

I know a1s's post wasn't very detailed; if you are filling in lore on how the farm is arranged, give the credit to Grace.
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Nirur Torir

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Re: Founders of Delta Pavonis C - Exploitation Turn 1 (new players welcome)
« Reply #66 on: February 17, 2023, 06:41:47 pm »

No, I think we should consider trying to get cement first, on the assumption that it'll both make everything easier/give a bonus to the mushroom farm, and be halfway to a smelting setup.

Magnetite is okay, but I think we need some sort of ore grinder to separate and exploit it properly – it'll be deposited as fine grains mixed into layers throughout the shale.
We'd have that if we had a concrete production chain, right? I think concrete might be pretty good to start with, but I don't want to properly propose it because I'm not an engineer. It'll help with both a quad-safe ramp down to the swamp, to study it for open-air farming, and for building a large enough mushroom farm.

We have 12 exploitation turns before we starve, but fewer than that before we absolutely must start farming.
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Quarque

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Re: Founders of Delta Pavonis C - Exploitation Turn 1 (new players welcome)
« Reply #67 on: February 17, 2023, 07:34:24 pm »

With two votes for water and moss, I'll call it a majority and move on to the next phase.

TURNTURNTURN


Exploitation phase 1: moss to mushrooms. (roll: [1+2+3] -1 (Easy) +1 (Biology specialty) = 6, Works as Expected)

Under the supervision of Grace Rayland (+1 influence), the colony starts working on their water and food security. In order to filter water, the crew starts digging a narrow canal through shale. It's tough labour, but the shale is soft enough to dig with simple picks.
After a week, the canal branches off the creek and leads up to the colony base. From there, it's easy to pump it up with a hose and turn it into safe drinking water with the recyclotron.
Everyone feels relieved. Gone are the days when you had to conserve every last drop of water, as you did during space travel. The Local Map has received a small update to show the canal.

Spoiler: Local Map with canal (click to show/hide)

In the meantime, Grace starts scraping moss off the rocks with a scalpel. It takes patience, but as the canal is finished, Grace has gathered just enough of it to blend it into a sloshy manure. She finds the spores of one of her favorite foods in the seed bank: Italian brown mushrooms. Growing a them on alien moss slosh turns out to work. The colony now has a small experimental mushroom plot. For now this doesn't substantially increase your food supply yet, but it adds some welcome variation to the otherwise bland flavors of your dried food supplies.

While you're working, the Pteroleons watch your activities with interest. Nigel Rosenburg is intrigued by them and he is the first to notice something odd about their behavior. There always seem to be a few of them flying nearby, but individuals come and go. Nigel almost starts to feel as if they are working in shifts. The idea seems crazy though, so whether he shares the thought with the rest of the team is up to Nirur Torir.

The Pteroleons even persist in their behavior at night, which is easy to tell because they're illuminated by the light posts. Those light posts also start to attract various small, brightly colored bugs. They tend to die from the heat of the lights when they get too close. Most of them look a bit like lanternflies, such as this:


Whether this is a new resource to exploit or unwanted attention is up to you to decide.

This is not the only new lifeform you discover. One morning, you notice deep grumbling sounds coming from a far distance to the east. Phryne de Lys makes another trip to the edge of the forest. When she reaches the downward slope, she can see the source of the noise in the distance. A herd of enormous creatures is thrashing the forest. Phryne estimates they're standing at least seven meters tall, although their exact dimension is uncertain, because they don't come closer. Surprisingly, these heavy giants don't seem to have any problem walking in the wetlands. You'd think they should get stuck in the mud.


It is now the Research phase. You get to propose any sort of experiments or research. In addition, please specify whether you will continue to illuminate the area within the perimeter at night, or if you wish to avoid attracting more bugs.

Spoiler: equipment (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: influence (click to show/hide)

« Last Edit: February 17, 2023, 07:58:48 pm by Quarque »
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Nirur Torir

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Re: Founders of Delta Pavonis C - Research phase, Turn 1 (new players welcome)
« Reply #68 on: February 17, 2023, 10:06:05 pm »

"The pteroleons are at least as intelligent as ravens, if not moreso, and are highly social. I propose we study them further."

We should Passively Study the Pteroleons. Try to figure out what they eat, what they don't eat, and their social order. Try to figure out their body language -- when they're agitated, playful, trying to comfort a spooked packmate, etc. Having figured out what agitates them, we can cautiously try to take a few pictures of their nesting ground from long range with the drone, aborting if they appear at all upset or threatened. If we have sound recording equipment, we can start to record their calls, both to start a library to eventually try to figure out if there's any sort of language, and because comforting noises would help with future taming efforts.

Whales name themselves, bees dance out flower locations, and ravens can allegedly describe the faces of those who've attacked them to their flocks. I doubt we can figure anything useful out at this point, but we might be able to tell whether or not their noises are more than random dog barking.
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Xvareon

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Re: Founders of Delta Pavonis C - Research phase, Turn 1 (new players welcome)
« Reply #69 on: February 18, 2023, 10:08:36 pm »

"I agree. That's on you. Let me know if you need help with a... delivery system, or whatever. Even so, I'm keeping an eye on them."

(( Will think of something later. Sorry I didn't vote earlier, I got really distracted. ))

Quote from: Votebox
Keep the light posts on: (1) - Xvareon
Turn the lights off to stop attracting bugs: (0)

mightymushroom

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Re: Founders of Delta Pavonis C - Research phase, Turn 1 (new players welcome)
« Reply #70 on: February 19, 2023, 09:27:49 pm »

Been kicking this around in my head, I don't think Turo has anything to research. Closest would be to "research" the cliffs to find the best place for a path down, and that's just trying to get an early jump on Exploration.

Quote from: Votebox
Keep the light posts on: (2) - Xvareon, mightymushroom
Turn the lights off to stop attracting bugs: (0)
The way I see it, dead bugs means that much more compost, and it even delivers itself.
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Quarque

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Re: Founders of Delta Pavonis C - Research phase, Turn 1 (new players welcome)
« Reply #71 on: February 19, 2023, 10:27:25 pm »

We should Passively Study the Pteroleons.
This would be a Normal roll, and of course receive the social bonus. You do have a small microphone to record sounds with, though not super high quality.

Whales name themselves, bees dance out flower locations,
Just so I understand you correctly, are you proposing to name the large creatures whales?

(( Will think of something later. Sorry I didn't vote earlier, I got really distracted. ))
No worries, take your time.

Been kicking this around in my head, I don't think Turo has anything to research. Closest would be to "research" the cliffs to find the best place for a path down, and that's just trying to get an early jump on Exploration.
Up to you if you think this would be worth it of course, but things like a deeper analysis of the shale or trying to figure out if you could make good concrete out of it do count as research (the chemical analysis of the material has so far been quick and superficial).
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Nirur Torir

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Re: Founders of Delta Pavonis C - Research phase, Turn 1 (new players welcome)
« Reply #72 on: February 19, 2023, 10:49:57 pm »

Whales name themselves, bees dance out flower locations,
Just so I understand you correctly, are you proposing to name the large creatures whales?
No, real whales seem to name themselves. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-beluga-whales-use-unique-sounds-to-differentiate-between-individuals/

Finding alien animals that have some degree of language would be exciting, but not an out of context surprise that would earn a xenolinguist a psych eval for suggesting that we spend resources investigating.
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Quarque

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Re: Founders of Delta Pavonis C - Research phase, Turn 1 (new players welcome)
« Reply #73 on: February 19, 2023, 10:55:37 pm »

Ah, yes I see what you mean.

One question. Your proposal involves trying to locate nests with the drone by following them, right? How far would you be willing to follow them?
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Nirur Torir

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Re: Founders of Delta Pavonis C - Research phase, Turn 1 (new players welcome)
« Reply #74 on: February 19, 2023, 11:09:09 pm »

Ah, yes I see what you mean.

One question. Your proposal involves trying to locate nests with the drone by following them, right? How far would you be willing to follow them?
Not very far, the drone's worth more than distant nest photos. I'll take the quad to the edge of the badlands and plan to send the drone about 10 km at most. If it gets damaged and has to land, that's probably recoverable with a short hike.
If they're farther than that, we might be able to triangulate their flight patterns to guess how far away.
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