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Cathode Raymond posted:...Or head of a church for that matter. Well given the ages of our officer corps I'm fairly certain someone will hit Archon by 40 at the latest. Seriously, all of our dudes are incredibly young for their positions. Our highest-ranking goon (Cryo) is 26 right now.
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Feb 6, 2018 02:57
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Dr. Snark posted:Well given the ages of our officer corps I'm fairly certain someone will hit Archon by 40 at the latest. Martian years, friend.
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Feb 6, 2018 14:29
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Not Alex posted:Martian years, friend. Or years on Mars, not total years of life. A great percentage of people who currently are citizens of our glorious Federation were not born under the flag but helped initially raise it.
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Feb 6, 2018 23:09
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I dunno, there's a very revolution-y feel of "we purged all of the higher officers, so now we need anyone we can get to fill in the empty spaces" kinda vibe to the officers that I think really fits the spirit of Mars. The rebellion of the young seeking to break away from the old and dying Earth.
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Feb 6, 2018 23:51
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Dr. Snark posted:I dunno, there's a very revolution-y feel of "we purged all of the higher officers, so now we need anyone we can get to fill in the empty spaces" kinda vibe to the officers that I think really fits the spirit of Mars. The rebellion of the young seeking to break away from the old and dying Earth. That seems unlikely considering almost none of them would have even been born when Mars declared independence if it's in Earth years.
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Feb 8, 2018 01:22
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It's to do with how Aurora generates characters i.e. as juniors in their 20's (even when created through GM fiat). Normally a game will take place across decades at least so you get a progression of officers being created, aging and dying for whatever reasons but the time frame here is rather tight.Not Alex posted:Martian years, friend. Also this.
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Feb 8, 2018 01:30
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Finally caught up, just in time to watch the solar system burn. Time to hunt down the officer sign-up spreadsheet so I can get in on the ground floor of upcoming post-apocalyptic (Rimworld?) cave dweller phase of the LP.
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Feb 10, 2018 05:44
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 The battle over Ceres resumes in about an hour, head over to the Discord to watch live.https://discord.gg/hbAqB6z
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Feb 13, 2018 19:35
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 Saros posted:The battle of the Belt Last time we had fired an initial series of salvos at the Terran Ceres fleet, destroying nearly half of it and were engaging the fighters launched by the Terran invasion force with our own fighters from Mars. 10 Feb, 0538hrs  Near Mars the Terran fighters have turned away and our own fighters have launched on them and are opening the range to as far as possible and still maintain target locks.  The Newfleet Colliers, full of ammunition are speeding outbound towards the 3rd and 4th squadrons of newfleet engaged in the asteroid belt. The blue ring is the distance our fighters can maintain locks on the enemy fighters.  Over in the belt we have four salvos of missiles streaking towards the Terran Ceres fleet. Having lost two cruisers, two destroyers and a battlecruiser already it is in poor shape and is yet to inflict any damage other than with its initial fighter salvo.  South of Mars we have the Terran response force and troop convoy and the Terran new model ships which are rapidly overhauling the convoy.  Finally we have the whole battle area including both Mars and Ceres. ------------------------------ 10 Feb, 0538hrs  Firstly the missiles closing on the Terran Ceres fleet are mostly seeking their own targets.  The blue ring is their range, if the Terrans pass inside that then they will be attacked by the missiles.  A minute later the first salvo starts taking hits from anti-missile missiles (AMM's) and loses a handful of its missiles.  Seconds later though they come into range and acquire the Terran fleet.  An impressive 35 hits after two are shot down by point blank point defense (PD) fire sees one Terran railgun destroyer gutted and burning.  Colonel FourCartridge of the missile cruiser Enuma Elis claims the kill!  Missiles redirect to the other railgun destroyer for ten hits and two penetrations.  Her engine plume flutters wildly but she maintains her integrity and her drive field stabilises.  Three more salvos are incoming...  The usual missile shootdowns continue to slightly degrade the second salvo which has separated into two parts as it blindly seeks the enemy.  The Terrans must be doing something right as they are getting a lot more hits this time around.  Both the separated sections of the salvo manage to find their targets!  With better AMM effectiveness and laser PD only 26 hits make it through.  That's enough for Akratic Method of the A Series of Extremely Good Ideas to be able to claim another destroyer kill.  Missiles redirect after the destroyers death and target one of the Terran missile cruisers, it apears to be surprisingly heavily armored however as it suffers no penetrations despite fourteen five hundred kiloton hits.  Leaving behind another broken ship the Terrans press on into the third salvo.  They really seem to have figured out this whole AMM thing too.  As always too little, too late. Another 26 hits claw at the Terran fleet. The primary target is a Terran missile cruiser, it has a bad, uh, time.  How is this thing still alive!  Limping away on a single engine the Terran missile cruiser turns for Ceres with over three quarters of hits complement dead and seemingly held together by duct tape and prayers, it is no longer a threat.   A single salvo of forty missiles remains. After consultations with the Discord cabal the fighter strike from 4th fleet readies its weapons. If the Terran's don't surrender after this final salvo the fighters will drop in with their own missiles before heading back to rearm.  A few more AMM's whizz in to take out some missiles.  As always, it's not nearly enough.  The two missile destroyers, presumably the source of the AMM's explode as the salvo tears them apart.  Fourcartridge claims another kill.  As does Akratic Method.  The remaining functional missile cruiser takes a number of hits as well. ------------------------------------------ With the initial missile exchange over the battle takes a breather as both sides take stock. 4th Fleet:   4th Fleet is packing modernised missiles capable of reaching out to 60m km. Their fire controls are old but were built with plenty of redundancy so are able to match the 60m km range of the new size 2 Ion missiles.  Most of the Ceres force is destroyed, only a Battlecruiser, light carrier and missile cruiser remain. Again Sebmojo broadcasts the demand for the Terrans to surrender. In return her gets an expletive filled rant from a Terran Vice-Admiral   The Terran commander's Intel dossier reveals a few key things, firstly he appears to be a total dick but more importantly that he is both famed for his ruthlessness and a serious golden boy of the hardliners. No doubt why he was placed in charge of the fleet units at a rebellious colony like Ceres.  Yelling at his cowed bridge crew and waving around a pistol -all the while with an open comms channel to Sebmojo- Admiral Ismael Schmahl orders maximum speed to close the gap between the Martian and Terran forces.  Somewhat unsurprisingly the largely unarmed carrier and damaged missile cruiser are not so keen on this and divert at maximum burn for Ceres. Sebmojo contacts the ships directly and is pleasantly surprised when the captain of the missile cruiser offers to surrender. In exchange for guarantees to be remanded into Martian custody and not that of the Ceres populace he shares missile telemetry data. (Terra-o-vision)  It seems that the Terrans have been launching missiles at 3rd and 4th squadrons for some time now.  After Sebmojo agrees to take all the crew as Martian PoW's and do his best to extricate any of their crewmembers held on Ceres the Captain shuts down his targeting systems and active sensors causing the missiles to lose guidance and deactivate.  Goodbye missiles. 10 Feb, 0543hrs  Not long afterwards the carrier and second, badly damaged, cruiser officially surrender provoking another tirade from the Admiral on the Terran Battlecruiser which continues to close with the Martian Squadrons. It will be nearly an hour before they are in beam range so Sebmojo opts to attempt to talk the Admiral down.  Down south by Mars the missiles from your fighter strike have covered half the distance to the enemy fighters. 10 Feb, 0548hrs  Five more minutes passes.  The 4th fleet fighters are reforming and will move to escort the surrendered ships towards Ceres and 4th fleet who will inter them.  About now the Terrans finally rearm their fighter strike on the Ceres carrier. 10 Feb, 0549hrs  Another minute passes and the missiles continue to home in on the Terran fighters near Mars. The Martian fighters have turned to maintain a distance of 25m km and are now following the Terrans as they retreat.  Oh dear.  Suddenly the Galileo AWACs pick up incoming missiles, eighty four of them to be precise.  The fighters break hard and burn directly away fro mthe incoming missiles while the Mustangs warm up their railguns to attempt to shoot down as many as possible.  50% of the missiles are dodged by the desperately maneuvering fighters.  Another ten are shot down by the Mustangs railgun fire but thirty-seven impact across the Martian fighter force. Two Phobos II and two Mustang's are completely destroyed with only a single survivor between them and another Mustang is crippled as its railgun is rendered inoperable.  One of the Galileo AWACs is completely destroyed by multiple impacts.  And the other loses its engine leaving it drifting helplessly but still able to provide guidance to the missiles.  The remaining combat capable two Mustangs and four Phobos II fighter-bombers, some damaged but only on their armor reverse course again, resuming their pursuit of the Terran fighters.  Unfortunately the Galileo providing targeting information to the missiles is immobile and the retreating Terrans will shortly pass out of range of its sensors.  If they wished the Mustangs could overhaul the Terran fighters well before they reached the safety of their carriers. 10 Feb, 0550hrs  A Terran Owl class AWACs splits from the rest of the fighters and heads for the Martian Colliers heading towards Ceres. Likely the Terrans can see them on their passive sensors but don't know what they are and would like a closer look.   Shortly after the main terran fighter force passes out of range of your immobilised Galileo's sensor and the missiles targeted on them lose tracking. However the one heading for the Martian colliers unknowingly remains in range. 10 Feb, 0554hrs  Boom!  Bad luck, both the bigger missiles missed (at 49% chance to hit) so none of the three small missiles that impacted managed to score a penetrating hit.  It does however seem to have spooked the enemy scout and it hauls rear end back towards its fellow fighters.  The remaining Martian fighters pursue for a little while but after command warns them that six of the Terran fighters have likely held their missiles in reserve they turn to refuel at Mars and then provide close escort to the colliers. ------------------------------------------- 10 Feb, 0620hrs  Over in the Asteroid belt the Terran admiral has begun ignoring demands for surrender and is still charging the fleet. 10 Feb, 0640hrs The Battlecruiser suicidally closes with the fleet.  At 200k km the Battlecruiser begin ineffectually firing Particle beams and small lasers at the Martians with no hits. Once the fleet closes to 150k km Sebmojo orders a salvo from the fleets rapid fire lasers and the 30cm spinals on the Azreal destroyers.  It works quite well, the 30cm beams blowing two holes in the thin armor of the Battlecruiser.  Light laser hits begin to come in on the destroyer Bad Rat as the fleets rapid fire lasers properly go to work tearing up the Battlecruiser.  As the Fleet passes 50k km distance Sebmojo hammers the big red button marked [SPINAL LASERS] and two massive beams lance out from the two Pollux cruisers.  Bad Rat takes hits from a salvo of missiles originating from the Battlecruiser that cross the distance before point defense can react but her shields hold (barely). The Battlecruiser fares.... less well.   The two massive beams gut the ship from prow to stern, DoubleUMC of the Pollux cruiser Lasing Frequencies Open claims the kill. --------------------------------------  The battle of Ceres is over.  The two surviving Terran cruisers and the light carrier have surrendered and underway to rendezvous with 4th fleet with the fighters of 4th fleet flying in close escort. Contact has finally been established with the provisional government of Ceres. They claim to have seized the shipyards and the Gibraltar class defensive base on the surface and are asking for Mars to guarantee their independence and right to self-governance as well as performing a sweep of Ceres space for any remaining mines or booby-traps left by the Terrans.  Further south the two Terran forces are continuing their slow movement around Mars.  The whole theater.
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Feb 14, 2018 16:03
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Got 'em! Martian cruiser crews be like: 
Crazyeyes24 fucked around with this message at 16:43 on Feb 14, 2018 |
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Feb 14, 2018 16:39
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One fleet down, two to go. Now let's hope we can figure out some way to keep their fleets divided so we don't have to face just a massive UT armada of armor and mediocre AMMs.
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Feb 14, 2018 16:43
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What's the plan? Try to divide and conquer their fleet, or sue for peace to consolidate the gains here? Edit: that reminds me, what's the status for our IPBMs? Have the missiles in those silos been modernized?
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Feb 14, 2018 18:15
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Saros posted:Contact has finally been established with the provisional government of Ceres. They claim to have seized the shipyards and the Gibraltar class defensive base on the surface and are asking for Mars to guarantee their independence and right to self-governance as well as performing a sweep of Ceres space for any remaining mines or booby-traps left by the Terrans. 10 Feb 0730hrs Fleet Communications Officer HiHo ChiRho woke up with a hangover. This was perfectly normal beginning of the day for the Commo, especially when one's day job is handling all the communications ship to ship and ship to facility for the entirety of the Goddamned Colonial Navy. One filled with a bunch of crazy fanatics, cultists and every so often a dreaded Trotskyist. Alcoholism is the unwritten job requirement. Rudeness, however was not. Being one of rudest officers in the navy (and losing your ship in battle) nets you the punishment of overseeing the communications of a bunch of mad Martians. Commo HiHo curses in frustration as he paws around for the bottle with the remnants of last night's dinner. "It's too loving early for this poo poo", HiHo groused as he finds success, drinking the warm liquor as he slowly opens his bloodshot eyes, peering into his tablet for the latest communications. <Surrender> <Surrender> <Spam> <Fighter losses> <External communication - Ceres> Well, gently caress. Commo HiHo , rubbing his eyes, stares at the communications from Ceres, his grin widening by the end of the message. So Ceres is liberated!, HiHo mused internally. With glee, he furiously types out a response back, locking out the Diplomatic Corps fuckers from responding with noncommittal promises and other poo poo. <TO: The Awesome Fucks Over At Ceres Provisional Government FROM: The Martians Kicking Fascist rear end in Sol SUBJECT: WELCOME COMRADES TO THE BADASS THUNDERDOME BODY: Comrades, With great pleasure, your brothers and sisters and nongendered assholes in the Motherfucking MCF fully recognize the Provisional Government of Ceres and it's right to self-governance and guarantee it's independence from the Fascist Fuckheads in Terra. We will help secure Ceres Space once we get rid of the rest of the scum in tin cans. Enjoy the welcome package! In Solidarity, Mars> Message sent, Commo HiHo immediately boots up his music player and begins broadcasting old songs of solidarity to Ceres, splicing in the juciest snippets from the Massacre in Sol caught by the Third and Fourth Cruiser Divisions. Grinning maniacally, HiHo decides it's nicer to share. Besides, if he's up so should the rest of the fuckers in Command HQ - and the Fascist scum. Flipping a few more switches, the package is also broadcasted towards the incoming Terran fleets and on every screen in the Martian fleet. Commo HiHo then grabs a special bottle, one of the first Martian bourbons distilled on the red planet. Cracking it open, he takes a swig and cranks up the music, singing loudly to the dismay of his neighbors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CI3lhyNKfo
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Feb 14, 2018 18:22
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Glorious. Now let's keep up the momentum. And obviously move to recognise Ceres asap. I would be in favour of a negotiated peace at this point if the hardliners will go for it, but I really can't see it happening. Can't hurt to offer it though. At the worst it makes us look magnanimous and maybe sows some doubt in their ranks.
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Feb 14, 2018 21:18
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I agree we need to recognize Ceres, particularly while the UT government can't really say anything about it. But while we can offer the hardliners the option to surrender, I don't think we should be willing to sue for peace with them, only with the Legitimate UT Civilian Government. Just because they got too big for their britches and thought they could coup their way to the top doesn't mean they get recognized at the diplomatic table.
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Feb 14, 2018 21:43
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Exactly, we negotiate only with legitimate governments. These rebels are no such thing.
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Feb 14, 2018 21:44
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Help the legitimate UT government deal with their rebel problem (read: do it for them). In exchange, they be our bitch now.
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Feb 14, 2018 22:29
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Radio Free Kobold posted:Help the legitimate UT government deal with their rebel problem (read: do it for them). In exchange, they be our bitch now. Given that we'd end up destroying a large part of their Newfleet, and a decent chunk of their Oldfleet, and the fact that Ceres will help ignite other rebellions, aaaannddd the fact that we're in the process of booting the Terrans off of Rangi V...yeah that's kind of inevitable whether they like it or not.
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Feb 14, 2018 22:50
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Radio Free Kobold posted:Help the legitimate UT government deal with their rebel problem (read: do it for them). In exchange, they be our bitch now. You mean the rebel problem that we caused in the first place? That rebel problem? (/sarcasm) Yeah, sure! Let's do it! (/not sarcastic at all)
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Feb 15, 2018 14:40
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CHAPTER FOUR - I AM GLAD YOU ARE HERE WITH ME. HERE AT THE END OF ALL THINGS --- The Internationale, 10 Feb 2054 --- Without much fanfare the Internationale slips back into a solar system gone mad. The expected Terran pickets on the jump point are absent excepting a small sensor buoy which squawks at the exhausted crew warning them that martial law has been imposed and they will be expected to surrender themselves to the nearest Terran authorities. Far far insystem the unmistakable twinkling lights of nuclear detonations is their second warning that something is terribly wrong. Thanks to the planetary alignments compared to the Galileo jump point she is over two light hours from Titan but half the distance from Mars. The Internationale trains her comm laser on the receiving stations in both Martian and Titanian orbit and begins to shout her revelations in-system. Unnoticed, a small and perfectly unremarkable but very new patch of the ships hull detaches and floats away. Seven billion kilometers distant under thousands of meters of ice all activity in Facility crashes to a halt, interfaces and systems sputtering out as its mobile unit goes shock still and freezes in the middle of a conversation with Dr Lafever. Cdr (1st class) Smith; TFS Internationale posted:PRIORITY REPORT Saros fucked around with this message at 17:03 on Feb 15, 2018 |
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Feb 15, 2018 16:58
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God drat it Speedy.
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Feb 15, 2018 17:25
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Hey man, Speedy gave us way more info on this Krap than Facility was able to.
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Feb 15, 2018 17:34
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Right who wants to get in on the ground floor of the cult of Speedy I'm starting? Speedy is clearly way more badass than mechanical Auntie, and I bet outranks her significantly also.
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Feb 15, 2018 18:20
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So it sounds like the Krabs we've been fighting are the modified forms of the peaceful life on Speedy's planet? And they were created by a vast civilization both more advanced and widespread than us, and that civilization is in turn attempting to hunt down the remnants of the hyper-advanced Collaboration that is friendly but nearing extinction? How do we use this info to subjugate Terra? 
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Feb 15, 2018 18:57
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pthighs posted:So it sounds like the Krabs we've been fighting are the modified forms of the peaceful life on Speedy's planet? And they were created by a vast civilization both more advanced and widespread than us, and that civilization is in turn attempting to hunt down the remnants of the hyper-advanced Collaboration that is friendly but nearing extinction? Not sure about subjugating Terra, but the fact that the Internationale broadcast this to Mars and Titan and not systemwide is quite nice. However it does potentially give us an interesting hypothesis about what happened to the Collaboration, being that what may have brought down their race to in fact be the Fartcrabs that they may have genetically engineered and bio-mechanically enhanced to act as the 'sentience tax' for jumptravel. Unfortunately someone either screwed up or did what they intended to do but was not part of the original plan and the Fartcrabs got hostile, hence their intent to destroy much of anything they encounter. But even that doesn't necessarily follow as there's been mention by Speedy of a so-called "Governor" so either not all fartcrabs are mind-stapled, it doesn't work how we think, or the reason they attacked us in the Pit was because they detected us using Collaboration based jump-tech and they think we're just a Collaboration remnant or something. Dunno, lot of new information was just presented.
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Feb 15, 2018 19:22
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We need to get every available salvager to that system pronto.
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Feb 15, 2018 19:57
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They likely attacked because they detected us, not because of our specific jump tech. Space Penguins met the same fate as did the other precursors. Seems more like we have a Big Bad running the drone Krab show and is actively suppressing any FTL species from developing.
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Feb 15, 2018 20:01
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Crazyeyes24 posted:They likely attacked because they detected us, not because of our specific jump tech. Space Penguins met the same fate as did the other precursors. Seems more like we have a Big Bad running the drone Krab show and is actively suppressing any FTL species from developing. Maybe someone set this up to try to limit the amount of FTL travel being made (hence the Krab sleeper cell)? We do now space Cthulhu is out there, maybe this was an over reaction by someone to keep it contained?
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Feb 15, 2018 20:12
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Saros posted:Unnoticed, a small and perfectly unremarkable but very new patch of the ships hull detaches and floats away. Seven billion kilometers distant under thousands of meters of ice all activity in Facility crashes to a halt, interfaces and systems sputtering out as its mobile unit goes shock still and freezes in the middle of a conversation with Dr Lafever. What did Speedy just do to Auntie 
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Feb 15, 2018 20:14
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Pash posted:Maybe someone set this up to try to limit the amount of FTL travel being made (hence the Krab sleeper cell)? We do now space Cthulhu is out there, maybe this was an
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Feb 15, 2018 20:34
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Oh Auntie... did Speedy just send you a hatemail? Or is something else over the horizon?
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Feb 15, 2018 20:52
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My interpretation was just that Auntie Facility is in shock at a Collaboration AI contacting her in Sol.
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Feb 15, 2018 21:07
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Shutting down external functions does seem to be Auntie's MO when presented with surprises. Hence my conviction that Grandpa Speedy is the superior AI to worship, he took the arrival of the Internationale totally in his stride.
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Feb 15, 2018 21:40
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Does anyone else find it hilarious that the Internationale chose not to use the name 'Speedy' in their report? I suppose they wanted to sound credible.
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Feb 15, 2018 22:25
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Fray posted:We need to get every available salvager to that system pronto. One gate and one jump right? Can't be any more depressing than the war tearing up our solar system, send me and my crew over. Someone probably needs to take care of the sensor buoy on the JP to not tip off Terra to what we're doing. * I don't think I've said it before but I've decided to roleplay my salvage ship-piloting space captain as a very dour, probably civilian or conscripted to military working-class officer (not sure if our salvagers are military or civilian craft) that tries to cope with all these sudden existential threats to everyone by narrowing his blinders on his job. I'm gonna try to not get too negative to avoid sparking more arguing about whether Dominion was a good plan or not cause we don't need more of that.
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Feb 15, 2018 22:49
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Pharnakes posted:Shutting down external functions does seem to be Auntie's MO when presented with surprises. Yeah when Facility meets strange new aliens she runs a boring First Contact package and then goes catatonic anytime something surprising happens. When Speedy meets strange new aliens he decides to gently caress with them and intentionally broadcast nonsensical "first contact" handshakes, and when big surprises happen he teleports a few gigatons of nukes onto them. I know which ancient AI I'd prefer to hang out with.
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Feb 15, 2018 23:14
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Because things werenj't already a mess. SO HOW ABOUT THEM TERRAFORMERS EH?
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Feb 15, 2018 23:42
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In defense of Facility, it wasn't designed to do anything but observe & report and had been damaged and inoperative for a ridiculously long time. Speedy is ship's AI which must be designed to be far more adaptable, and probably has been operational it's entire life without significant interruption.
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Feb 16, 2018 01:33
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Facility just needs to be repaired.
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Feb 16, 2018 01:39
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mossyfisk posted:Does anyone else find it hilarious that the Internationale chose not to use the name 'Speedy' in their report? I suppose they wanted to sound credible. Technically the ships name is The Swiftly Brought Decisive Solution but Commander Smith doesn't like that one either (Commander Smith likes things like feeling the charred bones of Capitalists crunch under his boots).
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Feb 16, 2018 12:41
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