TURN 5: Decider TutorialMusics Proposal:
Bulwark SquadsResult:
3 [2+1]
Arachtors were cunning and lethal creatures in equal measure, and were definitely a threat to future expansion of the colony. Workers and explorers at the edges of Hearthling territory and beyond were under constant threat of Arachtor ambush. Fear rippled well beyond where the Arachtors had been encountered, as they were ambush predators, and really, can you be entirely sure the rustle in that bush is just a rabbit?
One or two members of work groups would take it upon themselves to act as spotters, and over time, trial and error, and the occasional Darwinistic culling of ineffective ideas, these colonists became somewhat effective at reducing Arachtor attacks. Sure, part of that was the intelligence of the Arachtors to call off an attack if they thought they were spotted prior to an ambush (a behavior we know of only because the creatures occasionally abandon stealth when they decide to depart), but the colonists definitely refined their own skills! Even the failed spotters were useful in that they were usually far enough from the rest of the work team that their screams would give the others enough time to flee. A handful of the surviving spotters got together one night to swap their stories when one had the idea to form a work team specifically for escorting other colonists as they go about their duties. It wasn't a great group - they were never heard from after disappearing during their first protection detail - but it
did seem like a great idea, and it wasn't long before more colonists formed
Bulwark Squads.
The first dedicated Bulwark Squads were quite effective just by their very nature, as eyes faced outward is exactly what Arachtors didn't like their own eyes spotting. A larger group of around a dozen colonists would split into groups of 3 or 4 and position themselves or patrol around the work zone, border, scouting team, or whatever else, forming a shifting perimeter and effective protective meat-barrier [ah, I see this is a thing my brain wants to run with]. Arachtors seemed to get more aggressive during brief probes closer to their own territory, but the Bulwark Squads were extremely effective on the defense.
This efficacy proved to be quite the incentive to form Bulwark Squads. After all, who wouldn't want to earn their keep by standing around with a few friends and scaring off some freakish animals? The first squads certainly had the right intentions in mind, but it didn't take long before the less productive members of society saw their opportunity to profit. These lazy Bulwarks sunk the reputation of Bulwark Squads, providing the bare minimum of diligence with their bare minimum (but "luckily" sufficient) protection. They barely interacted directly with their clients, and certainly never lifted a finger to aid work teams in any of their tasks. It wasn't uncommon to see three Bulwarks sitting backs-to-backs and, upon coming across them, watch the two conscious Bulwarks wake the one taking their nap shift.
The laziness wasn't great, but they still provided a service just by existing, and didn't actively
hamper colonial efforts. Unfortunately that isn't where Bulwark Squads stopped their shenanigans. Some of the less friendly Hearthlings found themselves in a suddenly
vital role in society, with nearly a dozen other colonists united behind them. Squabbles between who would provide protection for which detail, and thus get fed, broke out into serious fights initially, but simmered once deals were made and "territory" determined. Bulwark Squads laid claim to providing protection for specific work groups, and also laid claim to humanity's everpresent willingness to fight itself against its own best interests. Bulwark Squads (or Buls [pronounced like bull, oddly enough]) squabbled over what happened when a work team's composition changed, how to lay claim to new teams, whether or not it was the team or the individuals within it that were under the protection of a Squad, which suckers get pushed into protection detail in Arachtor territory...anywhere and everywhere there was room for interpretation proved to be a potential flashpoint for blood spilling.
At least Buls are generally too lazy to do much more than make threats and occasionally break some bones (a debilitating injury in the current age). Still, it's technically more than they do when they're on-the-job, effective though they are.
Unfortunately for the rest of New Hearth, Bulwarks were very incentivised to provide their services if they were offered a little extra from the contracting team. This gave the more successful hunter/gatherer/scavenger teams the personal stockpiles necessary to pay for the best of the best (that is, the most consistently attentive). In order to remain competitive and maintain their own safety, less moral members of the community started to scrape a little off the top of their findings in order to pool funds for better Bulwarks. “Bul Markets” have formed away from the lights of the Trash Converter. These little gatherings centralize the less scrupulous dealings with Bulwark Squads, providing a place where Bulwarks can settle their claims and meat-wealthy colonists can place their own bids.
Technology Discovered:Bulwark Squads: Work details of around a dozen colonists divided into even smaller teams to provide a protective, or at least observational, perimeter around other work details. “Buls” are known to be lazy and generally unmotivated unless they’re squabbling over who gets to protect what. Effective observers and watchguards when their eyes are open. Currently equipped with the available models of scrap tools. Costs
1 Food,
1 Scrap.
Barter Economy: The most basic form of trade and exchange - goods and/or services for goods and/or services. Foundational Tech - No Resource Cost.
-Bul Markets: Gatherings in the shadows where less-than-scrupulous individuals can trade and deal with one another with minimal interference. Basic and limited enough to not require Resource upkeep.
TURN 6: The End of The Beginning
The Hearthlings of New Hearth are doing well for themselves, and even now, at their lowest point (hopefully), they have hope for the future. Nothing achieves perfection without having overcome struggles to get there, and New Hearth embodied this universal truth. Struggling toward a perfect future was exactly what Hearthlings felt destined to do, and so their struggles, to them, only reinforced the idea that they were on the right path. The way forward isn't clear, but it is theirs.
You’ve Thought, Created, Done, and Decided your colony through their initial hurdles. From here on out the pace of expansion and development is entirely up to you. I’ll still provide guidance and advice, but the training wheels are off and I’m pushing your bike down a hill ending in a river. Good luck.
PILLAR SHIFT!Nirur Torir authored the winning proposal, and so they gain
De+1!. Anyone who voted the proposal through sees an increase of
De+0.1.
Basic Scrap Tools: Simple handheld tools made out of scavenged plastic and steel. Foundational Tech - No Resource Cost.
Trap Hunting: An efficient means of hunting utilizing handcrafted traps as opposed to common but more physically taxing methods. Provides +1 Food in regions where created and funded traps have applicable targets. Food bonuses for multiple trapping options across a single area are not additive, representing sustainable practices meant to maintain the health of the ecosystem. Other bonuses do stack unless stated otherwise. Funded traps affect all occupied zones and will not scale in cost as the colony grows. Hearthling Trappers are particularly keen of mind and studious of their prey.
-Small Snarepits: Lightly covered pitfalls designed to ensnare small prey in a tangle of wires and strings. Provides a very small increase to passive Colony defenses in addition to the Trap Hunting bonus. Deployed in areas with small ground-based animals. Costs 1 Scrap.
-Ripperwhip Traps: Traps triggered by tripwire that whip a scrap-adorned object under high tension at prey with painful results. Injuries caused by ripperwhips are severe, often debilitating and almost always bleeding extensively. Provides a large increase to passive Colony defenses in addition to the Trap Hunting bonus. Deployed in areas with large ground-based animals. Costs 1 Scrap.
Bulwark Squads: Work details of around a dozen colonists divided into even smaller teams to provide a protective, or at least observational, perimeter around other work details. “Buls” are known to be lazy and generally unmotivated unless they’re squabbling over who gets to protect what. Effective observers and watchguards when their eyes are open. Currently equipped with the available models of scrap tools. Costs 1 Food, 1 Scrap.
Firemaking: The ability to use basic principles of friction to start fires. Foundational Tech - No Resource Cost.
Scrap Housing: Protection from the elements and a place to keep ones' belongings made out of scavenged plastic and steel. Foundational Tech - No Resource Cost.
Basic Electrical Power: A rudimentary understanding of how to utilize PreTech power sources. Ultimately represents knowing how to flip a switch and pull a plug, but a foundation for advancement nonetheless. Foundational Tech - No Resource Cost.
Communal Ethos - Reclaim The Old: Sets Colonial society down a path that identifies them in part as diligent, focused Scavengers. Controlled regions capable of producing Scrap will produce +1 Scrap. No Resource Cost.
-Mandate of The Universe: A belief that the colony is predetermined to bring about another utopia for humanity comparable to Earth. Unless something is done as deterrence, this belief will become more deeply ingrained over time. No Resource Cost.
Barter Economy: The most basic form of trade and exchange - goods and/or services for goods and/or services. Foundational Tech - No Resource Cost.
-Bul Markets: Gatherings in the shadows where less-than-scrupulous individuals can trade and deal with one another with minimal interference. Basic and limited enough to not require Resource upkeep.
Trash Converter: A recycling plant that used to provide power as well as a chemical stew of gases that could be repurposed by various elements of the station. Now functions as a massive incinerator powering some emergency lighting that somehow survived the crash. Severely reduces resource requirements related to power consumption within the Colony, while reducing squalor thanks to refuse (and anything else that burns) being a fuel source. A thick black plume of acrid exhaust billows out of the smokestacks as it operates - which is constantly. PreTech.
AVAILABLE/TOTAL (Upkeep Modifier):
FOOD 4/6 (Bulwark Squads [-1], We Live In A Society [-1])
WOOD 2/2
SCRAP 1/4 (Bulwark Squads [-1], Ripperwhip Traps [-1], Small Snarepits [-1])
STONE 1/1
BY REGION:
-1,-1: FOOD x3 (Wheat x1, Sheep x1, Trap Hunting x1), WOOD x1 (Elm Trees x1), STONE x1 (Shale Rise x1)
0,0: FOOD x3 (Bison x1, Rabbit x1, Trap Hunting x1), WOOD x1 (Ash Trees x1), SCRAP x4 (Maint. Module x3, Reclaim the Old x1)
Pink Border: New Hearth Control
Red&Green Dino Icon: Arachtor Infestation
White&Black Icon: Permanent Darkness
Blue: Ocean
Brick Red: Residential Ruin
Brown: Badland
Green: Plain
Grey: Mountain
Ochre: Desert
Pea Green: Swamp
Yellowish: Industrial Ruin
"What is this, a map for ants?"
No, it's just got the potential to grow real big real fast and in unbalanced directions. If you have a problem seeing things, you can hold Control and use the scroll wheel to adjust the zoom on your browser window! Neat!
GREEN=New Hearth Territory
-2,-2: PLAIN, Arachtor Infestation
-2,-1: RESIDENTIAL RUIN
-2,0: SWAMP
-1,-2: OCEAN
-1,-1: PLAIN
-1,0: SWAMP
-1,1: OCEAN
0,-2: INDUSTRIAL RUIN, Endless Night
0,-1: BADLAND
0,0: PLAIN, Ceridwen Crash Site, Trash Converter
0,1: SWAMP
1,-1: DESERT
1,0: MOUNTAIN
1,1: OCEAN
FiveBalesOfHay: Th0.0; Cr0.1; Do0.0; De0.0
IronyOwl: Th0.1; Cr0.0; Do0.1; De0.0
Kashyyk: Th0.1; Cr0.1; Do1.1; De0.0
Nirur Torir: Th1.1; Cr0.0; Do0.0; De1.0
Powder Miner: Th0.1; Cr0.0; Do0.1; De0.1
The Canadian kitten: Th0.0; Cr0.1; Do0.0; De0.0
TricMagic: Th0.1; Cr0.0; Do0.1; De0.1
VermillionSkies: Th0.1; Cr0.0; Do0.0; De0.0
ZBridges: Th0.1; Cr1.1; Do0.1; De0.1
Author
Topic: Colonial Conquest [Turn 6: The End Of The Beginning] (Read 4484 times)