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drat, I did not expect the Believers to be (seemingly) so successful against the Hive.
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Mar 20, 2015 05:44
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I for one welcome our new fundamentalist overlords.  I think that's the most successful I've ever seen Miriam be...
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Mar 20, 2015 06:06
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Miriam is going to be our Soviets. Broke, terrifying, sitting on top of a huge army.
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Mar 20, 2015 06:07
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nweismuller posted:Occupied settlements:  Did not see that coming.
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Mar 20, 2015 07:56
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Yarville posted:drat, I did not expect the Believers to be (seemingly) so successful against the Hive. Well, if anyone was going to pull it off...
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Mar 20, 2015 08:07
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I usually see Miriam doing pretty well, because she's good at doing what the AI is good at, i.e. poo poo out ten bazillion dudes and send them forward in massive human wave attacks. Of course the tech gap is eventually going to bite her in the rear end, but early on she's hella scary. Also one point of note is that IIRC Yang isn't actually a communist. In the SMAC timeline China isn't a People's Republic anymore, and Yang's philosophy seems to be based on the ancient chinese philosophy of Legalism rather than Marxism. EDIT: Though from an in-LP perspective, it seems sensible that the Morganites would just jump to the conclusion that Yang's a commie. Cerebral Bore fucked around with this message at 08:56 on Mar 20, 2015 |
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Mar 20, 2015 08:49
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It's been ages since I played this so do we even know for sure if the Hive is still around? That list of cities looks a hell of a lot like Miram has conquered all the Hive already, if not there can't be much more left of Yang. I guess that explains why we haven't seen Yang yet either; he's being stabbed to death by Miriam under the fog of war 
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Mar 20, 2015 10:13
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Neruz posted:It's been ages since I played this so do we even know for sure if the Hive is still around? That list of cities looks a hell of a lot like Miram has conquered all the Hive already, if not there can't be much more left of Yang. In either case, there can't be much more left of Yang. Then again, what do I care for his suffering? Pain. even agony, is no more than information before the senses, data fed to the computer of the mind. The lesson is simple: He has received the information, now he should act on it. When he takes control of the input he shall become master of the output.
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Mar 20, 2015 10:18
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Neruz posted:It's been ages since I played this so do we even know for sure if the Hive is still around? That list of cities looks a hell of a lot like Miram has conquered all the Hive already, if not there can't be much more left of Yang. I'm pretty sure there's a popup even if you haven't met them, and even if that's not the case you can tell because the Hive bar/line would drop off the power graphs.
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Mar 20, 2015 10:21
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One of these days someone will make a 4x game where if you haven't met a side yet you literally don't know if they exist and don't have magical statistics that tell you if they do or not.
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Mar 20, 2015 10:45
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Didn't Civ1 do that?
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Mar 20, 2015 10:50
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Cerebral Bore posted:I usually see Miriam doing pretty well, because she's good at doing what the AI is good at, i.e. poo poo out ten bazillion dudes and send them forward in massive human wave attacks. Of course the tech gap is eventually going to bite her in the rear end, but early on she's hella scary. Small-c 'communist'. Worth noting that Yang's inherent advantages are a built-in Planned Economy, essentially, before he gets Planned, which stacks with an actual Planned Economy, and a very, very strong incentive to get Police State and Planned, combined with a philosophy that rejects any concept of individualism whatsoever in favor of treating society as a greater organism. He's not a Marxist Communist, but 'communist' as a generic descriptor is not inaccurate. E: for that matter, the Human Hive isn't recognisably standard Legalism, either. There's recognisable influence from Legalism, Communism, and Taoism on the Hive's philosophy, but it is its own thing, not a direct retread of any one Earth philosophy, unless the one Earth philosophy is 'try and find a terrible unifying theme behind totalitarianism'. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 14:27 on Mar 20, 2015 |
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Mar 20, 2015 13:16
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AJ_Impy posted:In either case, there can't be much more left of Yang.  Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. It even makes thematic sense that Miriam, a conservative sceptic of unbridled technological and societal change, should be the one to shut down Yang's crazy schemes.
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Mar 20, 2015 13:42
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Had a feeling that Miriam had swallowed the Hive, based off of the power ranking charts. Still, Drone riots in two of the major settlements taken from Yang, including his former HQ, looks promising for disrupting her. Yang probably can't muster the force to take them back, even with the riots, though. Any data on her Social Engineering choices?
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Mar 20, 2015 20:42
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GhostStalker posted:Had a feeling that Miriam had swallowed the Hive, based off of the power ranking charts. Still, Drone riots in two of the major settlements taken from Yang, including his former HQ, looks promising for disrupting her. Yang probably can't muster the force to take them back, even with the riots, though. Any data on her Social Engineering choices? Current SE settings for the factions, from memory (there may be some errors that snuck in because of my not checking before I left for the weekend): North Pholus: Democratic/Free Market/Knowledge. UNCC: Democratic/Free Market/Power. East Pholus: Fundamentalist/Simple/Power. Yes, Fundamentalist again, alas. Spartan Federation: Fundamentalist/Planned/Power. Planetary University Free State: Democratic/Planned/Survival. Holy States: Fundamentalist/Planned/Survival. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 21:33 on Mar 20, 2015 |
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Mar 20, 2015 21:29
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It's kinda funny, but I think the Holy State is forcing a lot of the Fundamentalism because the AI is trying to shore up in the face of it.
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Mar 20, 2015 22:52
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nweismuller posted:Current SE settings for the factions, from memory (there may be some errors that snuck in because of my not checking before I left for the weekend): So Miriam can Nerve Staple her rioting bases?
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Mar 20, 2015 23:07
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GhostStalker posted:So Miriam can Nerve Staple her rioting bases? She sure can. The only people who can't Nerve Staple now are us, the UNCC, and East Pholus.
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Mar 20, 2015 23:38
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Update coming soon?
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Mar 24, 2015 19:40
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I've never had any desire to nerve staple in this game. Even if it weren't an atrocity, it's so much easier to just pull a few pop and have them generate psych. Maybe it's because I don't play on harder difficulty settings.
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Mar 25, 2015 18:02
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Nerve stapling is really only worth it if one of your core bases riot, the enemy literally is at the gates and you desperately need a garrison unit to finish building right the gently caress now. In literally all other scenarios it's better to get more psych instead.
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Mar 25, 2015 18:20
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Hal Kimberley's Personal Log Went to see a demonstration of the latest telempathic military devices today. I hadn't known this before, but apparently each squad's morale officer--the soldier most resistant to the mind worms' attack whose resistance gets beamed to the rest of the squad--sings in order to keep his or her spirits up. "The Empath Song," it's called. The rest of the squad joins in when they can, but the morale officer keeps at least a hum going even during sprints and vent crawls. You know, I've never understood these Planetborn kids who say that Earth no longer has any relevance. That simply isn't true. Humans are the children of Sol and Gaia, and nothing we do, not even genetic hybridization or cyberization, is going to change that fact. Our bodies were designed for one atmosphere of pressure and one gravity of acceleration. Our minds were built to make us more adaptable and more intelligent than anything the hostile biomes of Earth could throw at us. And as much as our leaders have turned Chiron into their personal social experiments, everyone on the Unity staff brought Earthly baggage with us: social mores, philosophies, cultural biases, you name it. I bring all that up because I don't believe the Planetborn squad was aware that "The Empath Song" borrows its melody from a much older source. Oh, they've changed the lyrics, certainly--used to be a real Bible-thumper's ballad back in the day, and while I'm sure that's just dandy for Godwinson's Believers, it's not how we roll here at Morgan Industries. Got to be more inclusive what with the melting pot or however it is we're describing "religious diversity." Still, I have to admit, if you're going to set your own death to a song, you could do a lot worse than "Battle Hymn of the Republic." End log, double encryption. Signing off.
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Mar 26, 2015 04:30
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Really hope the lyrics are something like: Say, brothers can you feel us? Say, sisters can you feel us? Say, soldiers can you feel us? On Chiron's happy shore!
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Mar 26, 2015 06:24
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Had to head out for the weekend before I was quite finished writing up the update, but it's more than half-finished. Expect it Saturday evening. Sorry for continued delays- after having time sick, it was easy to procrastinate before I got back in the habit of attending to the work of updates, and upload of images before writing was interrupted last evening by hiccups with my DNS server.
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Mar 27, 2015 05:26
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An Age of Glorious Gold    Late in 2270, negotiations with the Spartan Federation led to a sharing of cartographic data- the last instance of official cooperation between the Republic of North Pholus and the Spartan Federation in the term of their alliance. The Federation negotiators revealed the Federation had a new settlement established near the northern tip of Hercules, Janissary Rock. This far-flung colony for the Federation, although extremely difficult for the Federation to administer, was a point of pride for their government.    A year later, the primary network backbone into Kusisitiza Future was completed, while developers in the UNCC began their own efforts to establish increased network connectivity between Hercules and Chiron Minor, even as North Pholan interests helped link Pholus and Hercules together into a single network. A year after that, in 2272, the protests that had gripped Gaia's Landing died down, leaving the settlement to enjoy smooth productivity and a high standard of living built on an expert and well-paid workforce enjoying every modern convenience.   By 2274, Lovelace Software quietly announced the completion of their long-running research program, and issued updates to security software for users across North Pholus, with assurances of increased network security. What was unclear to most at the time of the announcement was how much network security had been increased. The video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmRpLLs7SNE As usual, I did not record this video.   Within a year of the announcement, network infrastructure improvements and adoption of robotic industry across South Pholus were further advanced, helping develop the Protectorate further and solidify its economy. Although the Protectorate still lagged behind much of North Pholus in development, the gap between North and South Pholus was steadily narrowing as time passed.   In 2276, North Pholus enjoyed a major new surge of prosperity as the science of ecological engineering was applied to analyse economic damages from pollution and waste, and as the insurance industry in North Pholus moved to negotiate premium changes that helped minimise damages. Other applications of ecological engineering helped devise new strains of fruit-bearing, Chiron-adapted trees, with industry developing further applications for forestry products both as luxuries and as basic industrial goods. Some ecologists anticipated that as new Chiron-adapted trees were seeded across North Pholus, it would provide some alternative habitats for several species of native life, mitigating the collapse in populations associated with continued fungal clearances. The growing prosperity of North Pholus became ever more apparent, with Kusisitiza Future joining the other settlements of the Republic in enjoying very high productivity of labor and a quality of life to match. Environmental Economics both lifts energy caps per tile- which is HUGELY beneficial to us- and allows an excellent new structure, the Tree Farm, which has benefits for forests, for mitigating the ability of the fungus to respond to our ecodamage, and improves both Economy and Psych output in the settlement it is built in.     The year was not all marked by good news, however. The Spartan Federation, emboldened by their capture of Sanctity Base from the Holy States, unilaterally broke the alliance with North Pholus in 2276, with many political analysts fearing further degradation of relations in the future. Since the Spartans broke the alliance without provocation, it does not stain our honor- maintaining a high Integrity can be vital to diplomatic relations. Our integrity is still unblemished.       The following year, the North Pholus Intelligence Service inserted informants and observational programs into the Planetary University Free State, helping ensure a flow of current information from that small colony, while swarms of mindworms emerged from an isle of the deep near Lily of the Valley, to be destroyed by local forces within a year.        War erupted briefly between East Pholus and the UNCC briefly in 2278, provoked by the electoral victories of a conservative Gaian party that proceeded to tighten controls on speech and the press, which led to the UNCC condemning the human rights situation in East Pholus even as the East Pholan government condemned the environmental state of the UNCC. This led to a collapse of relations and formal declaration of war. The North Pholan government brokered a truce between East Pholus and the UNCC, while investors in North Pholus bought up 159 billion credits worth of UNCC governmental and commercial debt over the course of the year. A small but notable portion of the economic output of the UNCC began flowing into North Pholus as repayment for the investment. Sometimes, you can give loans to other factions. In my opinion, this is a powerful option, as long as you can be assured that relations will remain strong for long enough for you to reap the profits.   Meanwhile, Intelligence Service operatives performing a reconnaissance mission north along the Great Pholus Ridge found another strange portable device left behind by earlier inhabitants of the planet. The find began to be transported back to Prometheus, where it could be studied and analysed. Another attack by mindworms led to the loss of terraformer teams working to develop mines south of Bushnell Center, shortly before Bushnell security forces wiped out the worms and lifted the threat to their settlement.   By 2280, two Intelligence service teams sent across the Sea of Chiron in foils had encountered the eastern borders of the Holy States, locating an underwater settlement and a strange settlement along the eastern coast of Chiron Minor buried beneath the ground. It became clear that this settlement was recently captured from 'the Human Hive', a totalitarian dictatorship founded by the Pod 2 colonists.          The Intelligence Service set up information-gathering operations in the Holy States, although its agents needed to enter deep cover and were unable to be extracted. The Holy States, caught between the Human Hive and the Spartan Federation in war, agreed to truce with North and East Pholus in exchange for a payment of 100 billion credits. The North Pholan government reluctantly agreed, raising the taxes necessary to cover this massive expense. The Republic of North Pholus as of 2280    Exploration further north on Pholus has discovered a major nexus of xenofungal growth and multiple monolith complexes half-buried in the xenofungus, while exploration to the west has started to chart the edges of Chiron Minor, where a major Holy States army has gathered, presumably to push north into Hive territory. The UNCC has settled further east on Hercules, helping tame the whole of their portion of the continent. The exploration ship Adventure has set forth from Lily of the Valley, a heavy seaworthy ship hearkening back to the ships of old Earth.   With massive reductions in waste engendered by recent advances, the size of the North Pholan economy has grown enormously, allowing for continued rapid innovation and investment. Although trade volume with the Spartan Federation has dropped as the alliance has collapsed and scrutiny of cross-border movement has increased, trade volume with the Republic's other trade partners has grown more than enough to make up for the losses.  The settlement of Morgan, already the economic hub of Chiron, has achieved heights of wealth previously unknown on Chiron. By some estimates, the value of the economy of Morgan on its own is greater than the entire economy of Hercules, although measurement on this scale is difficult and prone to errors. The energy economy of Morgan, at least, is larger than the entire energy economy of Hercules on all three measures- Economy, Labs, and Psych. The industrial output of Hercules via minerals output complicates the matter.  Although Torrson has not benefitted so dramatically as Morgan, it nonetheless has enjoyed a significantly improved economy and quality of life as economic ventures in Pholus have reorganised on more efficient lines. A major new research hospital in Torrson is expected to provide improved care and contributions to advanced medical research within the year.  Fungal clearances along Tellus' peninsula have made room for expanded agricultural land and greater thorium collection, to Tellus' benefit. The improvements from new economic analysis have been minimal in Tellus, but firms in the settlement have been pioneering new advanced forestry methods on a large scale. Even now, many Tellus firms retain a commitment to development in the biological and ecological sciences.  Bushnell Center has continued to grow rapidly, and retains the second-largest economy in North Pholus. It has benefited significantly from new economic analysis methods, and is the primary center of the computing industry on Chiron. Work on overseas cables has resumed amongst many firms in Bushnell Center, which hope to maintain their lead in intercolonial data transfer over UNCC interests. Relatively small-scale mining of the rich bluffs south of Bushnell Center has resumed, but the loss of the terraforming teams to mindworm attack has delayed large-scale mining development. Investors are bidding for the services of remaining Pholan terraforming teams, hoping to accelerate Bushnell Center's development. The UNCC work on the Planetary Datalinks has meant I am reluctant to delay work on the Planetary Datalinks here. I don't want to lose that race.  Improved robotic industry has helped allow for growth in Talon's habs and population, and the settlement has prospered further over the past decade. New terraforming firms have begun gathering the capital for operation in the settlement, hoping to provide the resources needed for Talon and other settlements in Pholus to thrive.  Xochimilco's factories are in an ongoing process of retooling for new automated processes, while terraforming teams work to planet forests on Dry Island to allow a fresh forestry industry operating out of Xochimilco. Hopes are high amongst the Tlaloc Initiative's investors and executives that, with a stronger industrial foundation, they can secure a permanent and commanding lead in the shipbuilding industry for the future.  Terraformers working near Kusisitiza Future have engineered an 'accidental' bloom of xenofungus while the ownership of the metals deposits on the seafloor east of the settlement is clarified, and have been working once more to clear the fungal blooms. Kusisitiza has been manufacturing equipment for a new, heavily-automated geothermal station in the sea to the south, while purchasing the vessels needed for supply runs between the settlement and the station. The profits anticipated from the operation are expected to be handsome indeed.  Prometheus has been secured against mindworm attack, and a series of small businesses and entertainment facilities have begun to open in the settlement to serve the population. Investment has been gathering behind more new terraforming firms here, hoping to further exploit the virgin territory along the ridge that, for now, still hosts only small-scale farms, mines, and geothermal stations.  Gaia's Landing enjoys higher productivity and quality of life than a decade ago, but remains, in many respects, largely unchanged. Perhaps with time the old capital of the Dominion will further modernise and advance beyond its rather backwater current status.  Autumn Grove remains the primary industrial center of South Pholus, with factory automation now matching modern North Pholan standards. The Sophia Institute, a relatively new organisation founded in Autumn Grove, has begun conducting extensive experiments into human telepathy based on the interactions between the human brain and the xenofungus, and has begun to develop some concrete results in human-to-human communications through 'psionic' means. The Sophia Institute believes that there is still much potential for further developing their research, and has been drawing on volunteers from the 'psionically sensitive' segment of the South Pholan population. Although 'psionic sensitivity' remains fairly rare even in South and East Pholus, it is believed that there is a higher proportion of sensitives in that population than in any other colony on Chiron. The Empath Guild- a Secret Project that represents early research into human telepathy.  Lily of the Valley has managed to emerge from its economic slump and more, taking great advantage of new economic analytic techniques to improve the efficiency of operations in many firms. The Institute for Ecological Study has developed a successful strategy of licensing its methods to independent terraforming firms while incorporating new insights from the science of ecological engineering which has brought income back into the struggling organisation, which in turn has provided fresh revenue streams to many smaller unrelated businesses in Lily of the Valley that nonetheless served the Institute or its members. The Institute itself has been the single largest entrant into organic reprocessing plants in Lily of the Valley, although a number of smaller firms continue to compete with the Institute to process waste into valuable substances. The reduced energy income here has finally passed, and the income of the settlement has more than doubled.  Improved network infrastructure in Memory of Earth and improved access to virtual entertainment have allowed for greater productivity at work and more options at play for the population, although it remains a tiny backwater. Population and small businesses have slowly grown here, however, and perhaps the settlement is not quite as isolated and insignificant as it once was.  Recent elections have returned a hardline Gaian party to power in East Pholus, and religious laws have begun to be vigorously enforced at the expense of personal freedoms in that Republic. Still, the East Pholan government remains deferential to North Pholus, and their foreign policy focus has been upon a war freshly declared by the Spartan Federation. The North Pholan Expeditionary Force in Song of Planet ensures that any aggression by the Spartan Federation at the front lines shall unambigiously be acts of aggression against the Republic of North Pholus. Pity about their Democracy, it was nice while it lasted.  With the Spartan Federation withdrawn from its alliance with North Pholus, trade between the two colonies has grown more difficult, and intelligence on the Spartan Federation has grown more difficult to gather. The Intelligence Service hopes that soon it will be able to insert informants and datacrawlers into the Federation's population and networks, allowing access to current information on the Federation. What has been clear is the Federation's recent military successes against the Holy States, although whether this can endure when the full weight of the Holy States' military is turned against them is less clear.  The UNCC, despite a population only about half the size of North and South Pholus combined, maintains a military equal to that of both Republic and Protectorate. Its economy, small by North Pholan standards, is still the envy of every other colony on Chiron. Even with significant portions of the profits of the UNCC's economy flowing to North Pholan firms who own the bulk of the UNCC's debts, the strength of investment, development, and innovation in the UNCC remains very strong, and the colony manages to retain reasonably friendly relations with every other colony on Chiron, for now. Whatever the differences between the UNCC and North Pholus, the people of the two colonies enjoy a sense of mutual respect and friendship proven by decades of good relations.  The Planetary University Free State, despite its esteem for its scientists and the quality of many of its researchers, actually remains the most technologically-backward colony known to North Pholus. The hardships from their long war with the UNCC and the continuing shortages of many materials have held the colony back, although it is expected they may shortly be able to develop their own terraformer teams that may help to overcome their difficulties. Although much of the Free State enjoys sophisticated network and computer infrastructure, damage and shortages suffered in the war have actually crippled the network in University Base itself, much to the inconvenience of the scientific elite of the Planetary University. Somehow, they lost their free Network Node in University Base. This has not helped them any at all- they don't have to pay upkeep on the free Network Nodes, so they aren't even a burden on their energy income. They appear to be one year away from discovering Centauri Ecology for themselves, which might help uncripple them. At least a little.  The Holy States of the Lord's Believers are a sprawling centrally-administered morass of settlements under the strict hand of the central Church. The bureaucracy to administer their sprawling empire chokes their administrative capacity, and shortages and local tensions are common, frequently erupting into local riots. Nonetheless, much of the population is fanatically devoted to their religion, and the constant stream of recruits for the Holy States' crusade against the 'Human Hive' leaves the Holy States with a military force that may be larger than that of the Herculean, Pholan, and Spartan colonies combined. Although information on the Human Hive remains limited, beyond that which can be gleaned from Holy States propaganda, it seems that the Human Hive is a totalitarian dictatorship under Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang, former executive officer of the Unity and the highest surviving mission officer. Propaganda from the Holy States suggests that inhumane and brutal control methods intended to condition any hint of free will from the inhabitants of the Hive are standard, and that the Hive's settlements are all cramped subterranean warrens bored out from the rock itself. This, at least, would explain Yang's puzzling request for the bulk of the drilling and boring equipment from the Unity stores. Although the Holy States' crusade against the Human Hive has gone well, it has begun to lose ground in the south against the Spartan Federation. It remains to be seen how the course of the war will go. Although this decade has brought unprecedented prosperity to North Pholus, whether the fragile peace the Republic enjoys can last is a matter of deep debate as the elections for Colony Executive approach, and the first solid news of the Human Hive has been deeply disturbing to many individuals in North Pholus, even if Yang's bizarre experiment in social control seems to be faltering before the wrath of the Holy States. Who can predict what the future shall bring? nweismuller fucked around with this message at 07:07 on Jan 30, 2016 |
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Mar 29, 2015 06:04
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Sorry this took so inexcusably long. I hope the wait has been worth it, at least.
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Mar 29, 2015 06:07
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nweismuller posted:
Really looking forward to the next time someone tries to probe us— ...oh wait, they probably won't, since they know we have the project.  nweismuller posted:
No objections here! Definitely don't want the AI to have that one, and it has thematic connections to the two secret projects Bushnell has already.
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Mar 29, 2015 06:32
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Wait, wait, wait. That one research project immunizes every settlement and every unit against probe teams? In other words, one research project completely invalidates the entire concept of probe teams? Holy poo poo.
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Mar 29, 2015 06:42
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Captain Bravo posted:Wait, wait, wait. That one research project immunizes every settlement and every unit against probe teams? In other words, one research project completely invalidates the entire concept of probe teams? Holy poo poo. The Hunter Seeker is insane. We have now effectively removed all downsides of the Knowledge choice.
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Mar 29, 2015 06:51
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Captain Bravo posted:Wait, wait, wait. That one research project immunizes every settlement and every unit against probe teams? In other words, one research project completely invalidates the entire concept of probe teams? Holy poo poo. Oh, it doesn't invalidate the concept. Our probe teams work just fine.  But yes, there's a reason Alien Crossfire nerfs that secret project two or three times. If I recall correctly, it downgrades it to 'merely' a large bonus against probe team attacks rather than outright immunity. I know for sure that you can equip units with Algorithmic Enhancement (which greatly improves the unit's ability to probe offensively) and build the Nethack Terminus secret project (which, among other benefits, gives all probe teams with fusion reactors or better automatic Algorithmic Enhancement). And even then it's worth considering building the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm.
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Mar 29, 2015 06:59
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Leonard Sun runs for re-election to the Colony Executive position on the NPCP ticket, with the following platform: - maintaining peace and commerce with all friendly powers, and alliance with East Pholus - attempting to broker peace between East Pholus and the Spartan Federation, if the Spartan Federation will accept this - holding the Expeditionary Force in Song of Planet, to ensure the Federation cannot pursue an offensive against East Pholus without violating their own treaty obligations with North Pholus - actively destroying Spartan forces in East Pholan territory if the Federation breaks the peace - attempting to pursue a more permanent peace with the Holy States if war erupts with the Spartan Federation, as the Holy States' objections to our relations with the Federation would then be invalidated - attempting to infiltrate the Spartan Federation for intelligence, and locate the Human Hive so the Intelligence Service can independently assess the situation in the Human Hive. Morgan Industries continues to pursue superconductive fiber as a high priority, although other industrial research projects take secondary positions, while the standard Morgan Industries policy of high compensation and investment into consumer light industry and services continues. NPCP, Conquer 2, Build 2, Economy 3, Labs 4, Psych 3.
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Mar 29, 2015 06:59
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Well looks like there is a war brewing between NP and Spartans.quote:From Zhane Dunkel (ZDunkel@AresHolo.net Ares Holo News, CEO announces plans to support Leonard Sun quote:With the announcement that Perrin Sequence will have representatives in Ares' board of directors, the power monopoly held by Steele is now broken after the Lovelace Software update rendered the CDF's task of rooting out "Infiltrators" obsolete. Perrin Sequence was able to succeed in getting the decision to support Leonard Sun passed to Ares CEO James Cavalier, who announces he will support Leonard Sun's visions. He had the following statement made during the public press conference.
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Mar 29, 2015 08:09
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The field of Explore techs has narrowed considerably since the last time; I believe the only options we've got now are Doctrine: Air Power and Centauri Meditation. Still, just to be sure...Explore 3, Conquer 1. We're a few techs away from the step beyond Meditation, and Neural Grafting is first on the list. Morgan, I was already picking team members when you messaged me. I can arrange for an expedition to be on a coastal foil before the end of the month, and if the sea fungus is kind they'll be at the North Pholan ruins before the year is out. I'm as intrigued as anyone by the idea of fungal "supertowers" growing out of a massive Progenitor complex. By the way, I hope you haven't forgotten my request for a new biology lab. I'd even move to South Pholus if it meant getting access to modern facilities. Hal Kimberley, Ph.D., Morgan Xenobiology Department Project Rosetta Log Entry 10 While the xenofungus has proven that it has some ability to comprehend human languages, I suspect that, like any other victim of self-education, its knowledge is full of holes and misunderstandings. As such (now that Rosetta has funding that's worth a drat), we're starting from square one: the alphabet. The Learning Station has been set up to broadcast the letter A in every possible format: the written letter on a screen, a human voice in both masculine and feminine audio frequencies, the equivalent in an AM radio broadcast on several frequencies, and finally a small sampling of EEG signals of human brains thinking about both the written and spoken letter. We can take no chances when it comes to what a mind so alien will regard as a signal, and as such we will keep the Learning Station running all day until I'm certain that the xenofungus and all its symbionts realize that everything the Learning Station broadcasts represents the same symbol. After we finish with the alphabet, we'll move on to concrete nouns, things like "apple," "stalk," and "human," then action verbs like "eat" and "run," and if that goes well we'll move on to pronouns and the mechanics of basic grammar. We should also see about fitting some mathematics in at some point; I'm curious to know how far the xenofungus understands numbers, but I suppose I'll have to defer to our developmental psychologists in regards to our curriculum. I hypothesize that as the fungus comes to understand our methodology, Project Rosetta should be able to accelerate considerably, possibly even to computer speeds of communication. I can hope, anyway; a talking fungus would look great on my grant applications. End log.
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Mar 29, 2015 08:12
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[Excerpt from A Centauri Monopoly Revisited, by Dr. Svetlana Hendrikson, Morgan University Political Science Department] You will hear, everywhere in North Pholan society, that the foundation of our success is economic liberty. You will hear this your entire life, from creche to college. It isn't exactly true, but you'll hear it all the same. The idea of free enterprise is the most enduring cultural myth of North Pholus, and the individual entrepreneur is its mythic hero. Take the reputational ethics system, intended as a replacement for economic regulation; the concept sounds simple. A corporation has it in its interests to deal fairly with its customers, because due to our economic liberty and lack of subsidy or governmental favoritism, consumers have the choice to simply take their business elsewhere and a corporation with a reputation for ill dealing will not prosper. Like many policies in North Pholus, this sounds simple and reasonable, and is surprisingly naive. I want my reader to do a simple thought exercise: Think of the products you consume, the financial services you use. Are you aware of exactly which corporation and subsidiary provides all of them? Are you aware of any and all suspected ethics violations, suits for false advertisement, etc they may be undergoing? Of course not. It would be a ridiculous demand to make of every individual consumer. More importantly, even if you found fault with, say, Morgan Industries, could you avoid doing business with them? Every government on the planet that we've discovered and who isn't currently in a shooting war with the Republic says no; how could the individual consumer do better? And say you've managed the herculean task of being more aware of business news better than nearly any executive; how much simpler is it for a corporate PR department to organize mass movements than for the individual consumer? Much of North Pholan policy ignores the very real power difference between consumer and producer. A corporate body simply has enormous power, financial and political, as well as access to better information and the means to disseminate it in a form that promotes their interests. Morgan is correct that a corporate body will generally act in the interests of its own goals; where I would disagree is the extent to which those goals align with the goals and priorities of their customers. Economic liberty is essential to political freedom. The difficulty is, for the individual consumer or middle class worker, they possess a much lesser degree of economic power (and thus liberty) than those who employ them, who produce their goods, who furnish their loans. We should not deceive ourselves that just because the quality of life in North Pholus remains relatively high, there is not a genuine owner class that possesses a great degree of economic advantage from birth, either. Not only does a corporate body have the economic power to transform it into political power, but the individuals and families at the top of that corporate ladder possess a large degree of influence and wealth. This influence, this advantage, ensures that the level playing field necessary for true economic liberty does not exist. I would argue that when our leaders speak of our prosperity, they are placing the credit in the wrong place. We have what we have to the degree that we possess economic liberty, and we possess what economic liberty we have because of things that a libertarian would call unabashedly statist. I was educated at the expense of the state, as were many of my colleagues. The NPCP's tradition has long placed a large amount of our government spending in so called 'Psych' programs, 'quality of life' work. That money goes to aiding workers in retraining, educating their children, taking care of the injured or sick, and helping to support future employees as they acquire the skills necessary to compete in Chiron's increasingly globalized economy. This universal educational access is absolutely critical to our economy, our liberty, and yet it is promoted by the central government. Psych spending IS government policy; you see it voted on every election cycle. Similarly, it has long been government policy to promote basic research of the sort that simply is not profitable; our devotion to knowledge means that information is freely available to whoever can monetize it, but the spark comes from the central government. The simple fact of the matter is, our government helps to level the playing field and provide what economic liberty North Pholans have, which in turn assures what political freedom our Republic enjoys. In keeping with her father, Svetlana is not entirely in line with normal Pholan political alignments. Will hold off on voting until I see other platforms.
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Mar 29, 2015 08:37
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Captain Bravo posted:Wait, wait, wait. That one research project immunizes every settlement and every unit against probe teams? In other words, one research project completely invalidates the entire concept of probe teams? Holy poo poo. I'm fairly sure Hunter-Seeker doesn't prevent infiltration, but apart from that it's an insane secret project. The thing is, even the expansion nerfs don't matter much because they come too late, and anyone building the H-S enjoys a window of opportunity where factions relying on probe wars get invalidated. There are three must-have projects in this game in my opinion, those are the Weather Paradigm, the Hunter-Seeker and the Cloudbase Academy (expansion only). Those three simply do everything and then some in their areas of expertise.
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Mar 29, 2015 11:07
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Omobono posted:I'm fairly sure Hunter-Seeker doesn't prevent infiltration, but apart from that it's an insane secret project. The thing is, even the expansion nerfs don't matter much because they come too late, and anyone building the H-S enjoys a window of opportunity where factions relying on probe wars get invalidated. There are also two others that come a bit later in the game that let you pull off some real bullshit, but I won't elaborate at this point. Also one should keep in mind that some factions get more benefits than others from certain secret projects, which can be gamebreaking in its own right. For example, if Zak gets the Human Genome Project and/or the Virtual World, he's more or less eliminated his biggest drawback (i.e. extra drones). Cerebral Bore fucked around with this message at 11:54 on Mar 29, 2015 |
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Mar 29, 2015 11:37
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To: Leonard Sun <address HSA secured> From: Adhama Kusisitiza <address HSA secured> Subject: Kusisitiza Future offshore investment proposal Leonard, I will be frank. I am not usually an advocate of the NPCP position, but the decades have taught that that usually doesn't end profitably. So, here's a chance to obtain my endorsement and electoral resources. You've seen the projections on our remote resource gatherer operations here in Kusisitiza future. You know just how massive an impact they will have on the viability of our manufacturing base. You've also seen just how long, how many decades it will take our present base to complete the project. Our investors are not satisfied with this rate of return. So, I propose an adjustment: A committed investment of centrally-held North Pholan capital to hasten our progress here. Once our manufacturing base is accordingly brought up to speed, we will repay this investment through dispatching substantial supply transports to assist with the production of major projects of interest to North Pholus as a whole, match funding if you will. So, in short: pay forward in energy, recieve a dividend in production materiel greater than the original investment once we are capable of doing so in a timely manner, gain access to my endorsement and electioneering resources as an additional benefit. Let me know of your thoughts on this matter. Adhama Kusisitiza Discover 2 Conquest 2 Econ 3 Labs 4 Psych 3 vote pending
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Mar 29, 2015 12:56
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That is a giant uptick in our faction strength. I guess from the sudden lifting of the energy limit?
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Mar 29, 2015 16:56
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I've been following the thread since the last update, when I binge read the whole thing. I love this thread so much. Have you given any thought to how it will be archived?
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Mar 29, 2015 17:11
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Glazius posted:That is a giant uptick in our faction strength. I guess from the sudden lifting of the energy limit? There's not been any recent sudden uptick, which makes sense because raw energy income doesn't feed directly into the Might formula. We've had our Might steadily grow as our population and technology have both grown. Inglonias posted:I've been following the thread since the last update, when I binge read the whole thing. I love this thread so much. Archiving the thread? I'm honestly reluctant to edit in all the thread activity into the main archive- that's going to be a huge amount of work. On the other hand, I could possibly leave a note for people who have forums archives access that there's a huge amount of supplemental discussion in the original thread?
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Mar 29, 2015 19:30
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