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A Darker Porpoise posted:Stepping back to her chair Camisa takes a seat and reclines slightly, a look of impatience on her face "You should be receiving confirmation of my identity momentarily Mr. Rao, if you would have but a moment's more patience." Rao nods to Camisa, and turns his head to stare out at the middle distance. After a few minutes, his compad sounds softly and he opens the forwarded message. After reading, he swabs his cheeks and slides the tubes back to her. "Do you need anything else?" 588 While working on his analysis of the Fampir, a security warning chimes. Someone just flooded the public website of Killdozer in a brute force attack, and in the process spoofed a message from Killdozer. It takes you very little time to obtain a copy of the message, the physical location that was the source of the attack, and the fact that Rao was the message recipient. Gen The only excitement which occurs in the morning is the arrival of your new Echo armature, and the cleaners' arrival to begin work on the building. Two gravtrucks with open backs pulled into the bay, but they're initial work was to beginning sanitizing the first and second floors. A combination of pressure and sonic cleaners can be heard in the background throughout the morning and the afternoon.
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Sep 18, 2016 15:35
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 '588' > 8 / 8 HP > 9 ACGen Chatham posted:"Hey, we all decompress in our own ways, and y o u certainly earned it! Have fun out there, and hit me up if you go anywhere interesting! As for the building itself, I'll hang out and ensure things get done right. Some "normal" activity will do me some good! Besides, I need to start coordinating those interviews - Keep me posted if anything comes up, ok?" Cleaning Company posted:"Of course, ma'am, we'd gladly welcome the challenge! For labor and cleaning, our standard rates would be 600 credits. For haul away of the refuse, we normally charge 500 credits per ton, rounded up, for delivery to a secure disposal facility, but waive the haul away if you sign over salvage rights to us. If you let me know which you prefer, I'll draw up an agreement and work can begin in the morning!" Executive Retreat posted:"Unfortunately, many of our top suites are previously booked for the next several days, but... we do have a very spacious executive suite available! If you'll just provide your payment information to reserve the suite, we welcome your stay and hope you'll let us know if you need anything to make your stay a memorable one." Plot posted:While working on his analysis of the Fampir, a security warning chimes. Someone just flooded the public website of Killdozer in a brute force attack, and in the process spoofed a message from Killdozer. It takes you very little time to obtain a copy of the message, the physical location that was the source of the attack, and the fact that Rao was the message recipient. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Passive: Intelligence (+2) / Wisdom (-1) / Charisma (-2) / 3,245xp / 36,435cr / Killdozer LLC Skill (+0): Combat (gunnery) / Culture (traveler / Weltraum Zwang) / Security / Vehicle (space) Skill (+1): Computer / Navigation / Perception / Science / Stealth / Tech (maltech / medical / postech / pretech) Inventory (ready): Compad0 / Bioscanner1 / Dataslab1 / Metatool1 Inventory (stowed): Grenade launcher3 (3/3 shots, flashbang) / Stealth Field Uniform0 / Gravity Pack1 / Mag Pistol (silenced, 6/6 shots)1 Inventory (back at base): Instapanel (x5) / Lazarus patch (x1) / Medkit (x1) / Type A cell (x6)/ Flashbang grenade2 (x2) / Butler armature crate Inventory (warehouse): Armory (frigate) / Stealth Suit Cachex / Assault suit2 / Argus web1 __________________________________________________________________________________________
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Sep 18, 2016 16:00
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Camisa Roja HP: 16/16 AC: 8 (Street Clothes) Strain: 0/12 Taking a glance at the pair of swabs Camisa quickly confirms the collection of a viable sample, the swabs fading to a light pink as they react to the small amount of human DNA. Satisfied with her work Camisa nods "No Mr. Rao I believe that will be satisfactory." Sliding the tubes back into their protective envelope, Camisa lights up a cigarette and moves to stand at the balcony once more. After a long drag and a puff of smoke Camisa smiles in Rao's direction, her inertial shunts spooling up silently. Prepared to leave the scene, Camisa gives her fellow prospect a casual wave and starts to roll back, off of the building "Til next time Mr. Rao." Gravity quickly takes control and within a moment Camisa has slammed into the ground of the alleyway next to the Distani building harmlessly, taking a half a moment to right herself she takes off at a dead run, her commlink buzzing away in her head as she sends a message off to her future employers. Now poor as dirt, Camisa does have to hoof it across the city to the address Killdozer's actual HR representative had lain out for her, but it is only a matter of time and she eventually makes the drop off. Sending a quick confirmation of her task's completion she begins the long hike back to her apartment to prepare for a coming interview. Inertial Shunt Nodes: Spend one round spooling up to nullify any full body impact. Reuse within a minute causes 1d8 heat damage. Tech Save to activate as a reaction. Integral Biostatus Monitor: Automatically alerts Camisa to Poison/Pathogen/Radiation exposure, identifies the substance and standard treatment for it. +2 to first skill check to treat the effects. +1 to Tech/Med checks against Camisa. Successful Businessmanga fucked around with this message at 03:27 on Sep 19, 2016 |
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Sep 18, 2016 18:12
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'588' > 8 / 8 HP > 9 ACCamisa Roja posted:...taking a half a moment to right herself she takes off at a dead run, her commlink buzzing away in her head as she sends a message off to her future employers. Now poor as dirt, Camisa does have to hoof it across the city the the address Killdozer's actual HR representative had lain out for her, but it is only a matter of time and she eventually makes the drop off. Sending a quick confirmation of her task's completion she begins the long hike back to her apartment to prepare for a coming interview. pre:When I receive the sample I'll cross-check his DNA against available databases. Trying to get a positive identification on 'Rao'. Passive: Intelligence (+2) / Wisdom (-1) / Charisma (-2) / 3,245xp / 36,435cr / Killdozer LLC Skill (+0): Combat (gunnery) / Culture (traveler / Weltraum Zwang) / Security / Vehicle (space) Skill (+1): Computer / Navigation / Perception / Science / Stealth / Tech (maltech / medical / postech / pretech) Inventory (ready): Compad0 / Bioscanner1 / Dataslab1 / Metatool1 Inventory (stowed): Grenade launcher3 (3/3 shots, flashbang) / Stealth Field Uniform0 / Gravity Pack1 / Mag Pistol (silenced, 6/6 shots)1 Inventory (back at base): Instapanel (x5) / Lazarus patch (x1) / Medkit (x1) / Type A cell (x6)/ Flashbang grenade2 (x2) / Butler armature crate Inventory (warehouse): Armory (frigate) / Stealth Suit Cachex / Assault suit2 / Argus web1 __________________________________________________________________________________________
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Sep 18, 2016 19:49
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Gen Chatham Thankful for the remote protocols he had set up for the earlier excursion with The Commodore, Gen sets about popping the seal on the Echo armature. As the crate opens up, Gen's jaw would have hit the floor. It's always weird looking at one's self in third person, but this... This was him. After so many hundreds of years, with the last 20 or so identifying as a box, it was an actual, complete, correct body. It was him/. At least, as much of him as could be reconstructed from a photograph. Back in the day, this would be about the halfway point in the rehabilitative process - getting used to the body that one would finally exist in once the transference was complete. Sure, his own rehabilitation didn't take quite the track it would have back in the day, but... Well, it was a body. His body. Now the only question was how he was going to get himself from way down there to way up there. He had an idea, but it would depend on how well the interview went.
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Sep 19, 2016 01:14
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Erica Steiger As she entered the building, Erica's mind raced. The slum location. The smell of... mould. Ugh. How you get mould issues in a desert was beyond her, but there it was. The loud cleaning crews. Killdozer was new, and it was poor. That was not what the site and recruitment posting implied. Disappointing... or was it? There's no better way to climb the ranks than to play a pivotal role in establishing something new. The next challenge was the box. "Entity" made sense now. You can't shake hands with a box on the floor. A wave is too dismissive. She opted for a salute. It wasn't the sort of crisp salute depicted in film. On her world, as the war developed, both sides quite quickly dropped the parts that seemed to serve mostly to give generals wet dreams and focused on what mattered. Shoes were not polished - the tactical advantage of dazzling the enemy with shiny shoes was rather low - bunks were not made with a ruler's precision, the clothes were not ironed particularly carefully. This applied to the tradition of saluting as well. It started with high performance units like Erica's, but it eventually spread everywhere - the salute was at the same time quick, cocky and lazy, made with a relaxed arm. It seemed to fit the environment, she thought. "Good afternoon. My name is Erica Steiger. I'm here for the interview." Later "Before private work, I've served in a military. You wouldn't be familiar with the world, it was rather isolated. I spent most of the war leading a tank platoon within the Schwarze Reiter. Heavy assault regiment. Later, as supplies ran low and we ran out of tanks, I was reassigned to a Fallschirmjäger regiment." "Except ice and space, I've fought in nearly every environment. Desert, jungle, urban, temperate, you name it. I'll cut to the chase. I can see you're new, despite what the news reports are trying to portray. The discrepancy means there's more to you than meets the eye. The fact that you worked for the government is a decent hint where your connections lie. You've got a good opportunity to go far. I intend to the part of that. I know what I'm doing and you're better off with me than without me. This comes with conditions. I expect a command. My expertise is with vehicles and, particularly, armour. As the firm grows and budget allows, I'd like to lead your Lancers."
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Sep 19, 2016 09:32
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Got some ideas for this one, so I hope you don't mind a slight retcon of scenery. Since there are a lot of questions and it would take forever to resolve a back-and-forth interview, I'll post the questions all at once, get responses, and then move on. Gen Chatham As Erica enters the lobby, the stock-looking box rests on a desk, with a chair for the more ambulatory interviewees. As Erica gives her brief introduction, a series of lights cycle on the face of the box, red, yellow, and green. A voice, clear and artificial, emits from the device afterwards. "Thank you for considering Killdozer, LLC. Your background analysis has proven exemplary, and while there is little reason to doubt your skills, we are required to ask a series of hypothetical questions. As part of an in-person skills assessment, if you happen to have brought a concealed-carry firearm on your person, please proceed to field strip the device while considering your answers." The 3 lights click in sequence: Green, green, yellow, red. "To the best of your recollection, how many lives have you taken over the course of your career?" The lights click again: Yellow, red, red, green, red. "In your experience, what is your preferred caliber of ballistic round for the following ranges: 10m, 100m, 1km" Green, yellow, green. "You are charged with eliminating a high-value target. You have 3 days left of a 10-day window. You are able to eliminate said target with a significant amount of collateral damage. What do you do?" Yellow. "If you could have one food item packed in all future rations, what would it be?" Green, a pause, then green again. "A teenager in a combat zone is armed with a spike thrower. What is your reaction?" Red, yellow. "You are near the end of a contracted conflict. Your final assignment projects an estimated loss of 32.5% of friendly forces. You receive questionable, yet actionable intelligence that would raise this percentage over 50%, yet victory is still assured. How do you proceed?" Red, red, green. "What did you eat, if anything, for breakfast last Tuesday?" Green. "How many blue lights have flashed during the course of this interview?"
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Sep 20, 2016 03:21
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Waador posted:They would waive the hauling costs if he gave them salvage rights? Kind of a weird option, but if they wanted dirty needles and hobo skeletons they were welcome to take them. He realized, of course, that there was a slight possibility that something of value might be laying around in the office. Slums or not, it had been the property of a reasonably influential clan up until a few days ago, and they might have been taking a hide in plain sight approach to whatever purpose this location previously served. If finding that hidden gem required him to sort through literal mountains of trash, however, he figured he was probably better off without. He certainly didn't want the 'first assignment' of their new employees to be cleaning duty, either. Treating people with respect was important, and if they were going to hire reasonably competent employees, they should treat them as such. He responds to the cleaning service, "You're welcome to the salvage rights of anything you haul away as trash, that's fine. I'll have a man on-site to help direct what, if anything, is either our property that we've brought to the facility, or workable equipment that we intend to keep. Fair?" "Yes, that sounds acceptable, we'll begin work in the morning. Thank you for your business, ma'am!" quote:The hacker responds, "Looking forward to it, I'll be there in a few hours!" In addition to 588's work on reverse engineering the Fampir, his time making social connections bore several fruitful results.
pre:~Caerleon Naval Forces Overview~ Caerleon's naval forces are somewhat crippled by the continued fractured nature of the society as a whole. The clan hierarchies and political machinations surrounding them has led to a very fracture navy in total. Each clan maintains its own smaller navy that in theory would fold into the larger Caerleon forces in the event of attack by an external enemy. Because of this, it's expected that one sign of an invasion would be political pressure exerted on individual clans to prevent their naval forces from joining the defense of Caerloen. In addition, clan forces would have political barriers preventing them from participating in an offensive military campaign. There is an inherit level of unreliability for all clan forces. Because of the need for a more fragmented force, the Caerleon navy is heavily dependent on Frigate and Fighter class ships. Current naval policy is to employ swarm tactics when possible to eliminate capital ships first, absorbing losses as necessary. Federation Forces Peerless Space Station (orbital) Cruiser (flagship) Frigate x5 Courier x3 Patrol Boat x5 Shuttle x5 Free Merchant x3 Fighter x6 Total Clan Forces Frigate x8 Shuttle x12 Free Merchant x12 Fighter x28 ~Holst Dominion Naval Forces Overview~ Holst naval policy seems to be built around system defenses led by a space station and a Cruiser-led task force, with offensive/reactionary task forces rotating through Holst-controlled space. The system defense forces are likely intended to tie down attackers in an extended hit-and-run engagement, letting the Holst navy to counter-invade with overwhelming force. Offensively, it's expected that they will pull some of their system defense forces into an invasion fleet; the presence of a Troop Transport in their current fleet forces suggest at least the willingness to exercise an offensive strategy of conquering an enemy world. The presence of a Troop Transport is confirmed by CID assets in the Holst Dominion. For defensive forces, the systems of Al-Daye and Shradha systems have installed Peerless class space station, while Holst itself has a Scutum class space station installed. All three systems have comparable defense fleets; our best estimates of the defensive task forces are as follows: Cruiser Frigate 2-4 Patrol Boats 2-4 Shuttles 5-10 Fighters In addition, the total Holst mobile forces estimates are as follows: Battleship 2 Cruisers 3-5 Frigates 2-3 Couriers 2-4 Shuttles 10-20 Fighters Troop Transport Logistics Ship For the leads, let me know if any of them are something you want to pursue.
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Sep 20, 2016 03:33
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Camisa As Camisa runs away from jumping off of a building and landing in a pool of heat and light, she hears the whine of a bullet flying past her ear but notably not the report of a gunshot. If she chances a look back, she'll see someone she presumes to be Rao turn from the balcony's railing. I need a roll; Rao is coming for you. You have a lead so the DC on this is only a 6, but if you fail Rao will find you after you deliver the DNA sample but before you get home. I have a few ideas on how he can do this, but which way it goes depends on what you roll. I can also think of a few skills you can roll, but want to see what you come up with. 588 While Mitchy is laughing at a joke you told over drinks, you receive two messages within minutes of each other. The first is addressed to you, and is the courier service letting you know that the sample is en route and will be delivered within the hour. The second is Rao, sent to Killdozer. While audio only, the heavier breathing of Rao and the sound of passing wind suggest he is running. "This is Elsted Rao. Met with a woman, Krasnaya Rubashka, tonight. She claimed to work for Killdozer, provided credentials. She just took DNA samples from me and jumped off of a balcony on the Distani tower. Does she work for you? If so, explain your intentions." The DNA sample, when tested, reveals that the man claiming to be Elsted Rao... is Elsted Rao. Or at least he has Rao's DNA. It's your choice if you respond now or after the DNA test, but the DNA test results are so easy you don't even need to roll for them.
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Sep 20, 2016 03:50
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Camisa Roja HP: 16/16 AC: 8 (Street Clothes) Strain: 0/12 Camisa barely flinches as the bullet whizzes by her head, sparing a glance back and up she doesn't see Rao hurtling through the air toward her, so it was a good bet he wasn't in possession of similiarly advanced tech as she was. Things were well within the limits of her slapdash plan. The few years Camisa had spent working as a ship buster had made her quite good at a few things, the most relevant at which was avoiding solo or small groups attempting to catch a single target in an enclosed area, so fleeing into the crowded and haphazardly tossed together flea market a few blocks away was not a hard decision. Over the course of a ten minute span, Camisa allows herself to fall into visual range of Rao, who has no doubt caught up to her, before bolting off through the shoddily lain out floorplan of the market. Running around willy nilly in a marketplace was nothing in comparison to the stress of flitting through the hallways of a battleship loaded with security personnel, Camisa didn't even have a nuke strapped to her back right now! What was there to be worried about? Eventually the game begins to bore her and Camisa makes for the exit, leaving the market place and a likely very confused Rao to keep up the search. Jogging off into the city, Camisa makes her way to the courier's office that had been outlined by Killdozer HR and drops off the package so that she can head home after an amusing day. Inertial Shunt Nodes: Spend one round spooling up to nullify any full body impact. Reuse within a minute causes 1d8 heat damage. Tech Save to activate as a reaction. Integral Biostatus Monitor: Automatically alerts Camisa to Poison/Pathogen/Radiation exposure, identifies the substance and standard treatment for it. +2 to first skill check to treat the effects. +1 to Tech/Med checks against Camisa. quote:Constitution/Tactics: 6 No following me Rao
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Sep 20, 2016 04:28
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. Camisa is a master of the serpentine maneuver!
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Camisa Several times, Rao sees Camisa in the flea market, but it's always when she wants him to. She eventual escapes without incident, delivers the DNA, and heads home for the night. Great, that closes out Camisa's events for the night. I think that it's up to Gen and 588 how they handle Camisa and Rao at this point.
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Sep 20, 2016 04:45
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'588' > 8 / 8 HP > 9 AC The analysis of the Fampir was going reasonably well, and he rewarded himself with a break for dinner and a bit of socializing with the other patrons of the resort. Plot posted:A Far Trader based out of Perserv named Tone Mitchy mentioned that he had recently been frozen out of trading with the industrial planet Argyra in Crespo. It's not the local government that has frozen out Mitchy's company from tarding in Argyra; instead, a rival trading group is targeting his ships when the drill into the system. He's come to Caerleon following the shipping trail to try and identify the group. Plot posted:Rumors are that the recent attempt to introduce a baseline miscible biosphere on Seda in the Dynamene system have gotten out of hand, and the introduced species are turning violent against the Sedans. Plot posted:Several ships traveling to Novorossiya from Draken have gone missing recently. The Shantri claim the ships never arrived in system, and are blockading search and recovery of the ships. This was, theoretically, the most annoying but potentially most profitable work. It would require him to leave the planet, and would also require him to navigate the ship for days on end. If they found the missing ships before anyone else, though, they could end up adding a few vessels to their growing fleet. They might also be able to rescue the beleaguered crews, he supposed, and earn an actual monetary award for the act of heroism. Either way it would be profitable. He might be wrong about the meta-dimensional drift, though. In which case, if they hadn't ended up off course, and hadn't been abducted upon arrival in Shantri, where had they gone? A curious question. With a shrug, he forwards his findings to Chatham. "Chatham, I've rounded up three possible missions for you. The first is pretty basic investigation and protection duty. My new friend, Mr. Mitchy, is an interstellar trader who is being muscled out of his contracts in Crespo. He thinks the rival trading group spends some time in and around Caerleon, so could use some help determining their identity. I can probably help with that part of the job, I assume. Once he finds out who they are, I assume he's going to want to break some legs or blow some poo poo up. We haven't actually talked about that part so I suppose I might be projecting, but that seems like where it'll go." Laughing, the hacker continues, "The second option is more of a humanitarian mission. Some rear end in a top hat introduced a vicious species into the Sedan biosphere on Dynamene, which is rampaging through the local communities. I doubt they'll be able to pay us particularly well, but the locals would certainly be grateful for the help." A brief pause, before the hacker continues, "The third option is search and rescue. A handful of ships have gone missing while traveling into Shantri space from Draken. Shantri is claiming they never arrived, and basically telling people to get off their loving lawn. I haven't done any research on the matter as yet, but my preliminary assessment would be an undocumented shift in meta-dimensional currents, or plausibly a computer virus designed to subtly alter navigational charts prior to and during a spike drill. Odds are those ships didn't actually arrive in Shantri space. I'd recommend we start by investigating anyone helplessly orbiting Dynamene or Najibah, though I suppose they could have ended up near Crespo, Surur, Traxis, or even Teucer. Anyway, the benefit of this one is that we might be able to save a couple crews if we find them in time, and even if we're late we might be able to boost their ships." Elsted Rao posted:"This is Elsted Rao. Met with a woman, Krasnaya Rubashka, tonight. She claimed to work for Killdozer, provided credentials. She just took DNA samples from me and jumped off of a balcony on the Distani tower. Does she work for you? If so, explain your intentions." pre:Killdozer LLC >> Mr. Rao, thank you for reaching out. We did request that a sample of your genetic material be obtained. It sounds like our operative was perhaps a bit less than subtle in their approach? That will be noted in their file. In terms of your file, we're curious to know... ...how can you apply for a job, when you are, legally speaking, already dead? This doesn't necessarily disqualify you from the position to which you have applied. If you're willing to explain the matter in greater detail during your interview, I believe we can come to an amicable arrangement regarding your employment terms. Full disclosure, we only asked for the sample because we thought you might be a spy sent from Bear to cause problems for us. If that isn't the case, we're otherwise supportive of you as a prospective employee. Plot posted:In addition, in the early hours of the morning 588's backdoor access to the CID system let him know about an incoming message. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Passive: Intelligence (+2) / Wisdom (-1) / Charisma (-2) / 3,245xp / 36,435cr / Killdozer LLC Skill (+0): Combat (gunnery) / Culture (traveler / Weltraum Zwang) / Security / Vehicle (space) Skill (+1): Computer / Navigation / Perception / Science / Stealth / Tech (maltech / medical / postech / pretech) Inventory (ready): Compad0 / Bioscanner1 / Dataslab1 / Metatool1 Inventory (stowed): Grenade launcher3 (3/3 shots, flashbang) / Stealth Field Uniform0 / Gravity Pack1 / Mag Pistol (silenced, 6/6 shots)1 Inventory (back at base): Instapanel (x5) / Lazarus patch (x1) / Medkit (x1) / Type A cell (x6)/ Flashbang grenade2 (x2) / Butler armature crate Inventory (warehouse): Armory (frigate) / Stealth Suit Cachex / Assault suit2 / Argus web1 __________________________________________________________________________________________ Waador fucked around with this message at 12:12 on Sep 20, 2016 |
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Sep 20, 2016 12:03
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Erica Steiger This was interesting and frustrating in equal measure. The use of a talking box instead of a person was certainly unexpected. Was it a lack of respect, or a test to see how she would react when thrown off balance? Either way, she was here now, and even if this did prove a waste of time, she wouldn't save much by walking out at this stage. Rhyos posted:"Thank you for considering Killdozer, LLC. Your background analysis has proven exemplary, and while there is little reason to doubt your skills, we are required to ask a series of hypothetical questions. As part of an in-person skills assessment, if you happen to have brought a concealed-carry firearm on your person, please proceed to field strip the device while considering your answers." Erica tries to suppress a sigh. She was a tanker, not infantry, and field stripping weapons never was that important. She knew some people found a certain meditative quality to it, but once you've had to overhaul a drivetrain in the middle of a jungle you'd rather stay away from mechanical things unless necessary. The F9 was also, annoyingly in this case, a pre-war design, prioritising performance over practicality. She certainly did not know the sequence by heart, and so would have to look down while stripping it. This wasn't the best start. As she started to work, the pistol made chunky mechanical clicks, engineered to sound high-quality rather than for any practical purpose. Rhyos posted:"To the best of your recollection, how many lives have you taken over the course of your career?" Annoying question. "I do not kill for pleasure or in a controlled environment that makes counting possible. In long range engagements, you can never fully confirm, nor was record keeping my priority at the time." That, she expected, was a better answer than admitting to atrocities. Rhyos posted:"In your experience, what is your preferred caliber of ballistic round for the following ranges: 10m, 100m, 1km" She flicks up a small, elongated round that was in her mag pistol's chamber. "3mm iridium penetrator flechette. 3mm iridum penetrator flechette fired from a rifle. 100 mm high velocity multi-purpose sabot." Rhyos posted:"You are charged with eliminating a high-value target. You have 3 days left of a 10-day window. You are able to eliminate said target with a significant amount of collateral damage. What do you do?" "Depends on the contract and specified ROE. If collateral damage is specified, I inflict it. If it is not specified, I attempt to avoid it. 3 days is a significant time window for other opportunities. If no better opportunities present themselves and cannot be made to occur, the collateral damage route can usually be taken even when the situation isn't optimal." Rhyos posted:"If you could have one food item packed in all future rations, what would it be?" "Chicken nuggets." Rhyos posted:"A teenager in a combat zone is armed with a spike thrower. What is your reaction?" "A combatant is a combatant, regardless of age. That is the harsh truth of a dirty war. Most people don't want to hear it, but a weapon will kill you just as much no matter who or what is holding it." Rhyos posted:"You are near the end of a contracted conflict. Your final assignment projects an estimated loss of 32.5% of friendly forces. You receive questionable, yet actionable intelligence that would raise this percentage over 50%, yet victory is still assured. How do you proceed?" "Negotiate higher hazard pay." After a short pause, Erica begins to sense that the flippant answer might not be seen well. "Look, people who are mercenaries or professional soldiers volunteer. They know the risks and choose the career path regardless. If they are informed of the expected casualty rate and remunerated appropriately, it is better to risk their lives than those of people who did not get to choose." Rhyos posted:"What did you eat, if anything, for breakfast last Tuesday?" "I do not recall." Rhyos posted:"How many blue lights have flashed during the course of this interview?" For the first time during the interview, Erica allows a smile to appear. Interpretation was a big part of successful mercenary work, whether it of the contract, intel or any other parameters. "Now that very much depends on how you count." Zeppelin Insanity fucked around with this message at 17:21 on Sep 20, 2016 |
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Sep 20, 2016 14:45
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Waador posted:
In response to 588's latest message, a text message is received instead of an audio one. pre:In the future, just ask instead of playing spy. If you are referring to the reported death eight years ago, that was not me. Attached you will find my travel records leaving Caerleon for Perserv more than 20 years ago, as well as my return records last month. Please forward the details about my interview, as all further conversation about my employment with Killdozer should occur face to face. At ground level. Because it made sense, I just rolled a Computer/Int check for you; that avoids the need for you to roll it before I feed you information on this. It was a staggered roll, with a 6 needed to confirm and more information gained every +2 on the roll result. Comp/Int Check: 2d6+3 9
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Sep 20, 2016 19:02
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Gen Chatham Once again, the lights flash. Green, green, green. "Thank you once again for your time and patience. This last task shall conclude the interview process. Inside of this box, you will find the central core of the Echo armature in the following room. As Killdozer members often must interact with intelligences both biological and artificial, the occasional handling of physical consciousnesses may occur. Please insert this core into the armature in the following room." It was a huge trust exercise, as much for Gen as anyone else. If he woke up on the other side, then it was all good. Everything else could be worked with. Activating the insertion protocols remotely on the Echo in storage, he gets ready to go dark once more. The box makes a ding not entirely unlike an archaic toaster, a slide moving forward to reveal a box.  It shouldn't take more than a few minutes, right?
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Sep 20, 2016 21:58
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Erica Steiger Killdozer really was full of surprises. So the box was a representative, only decided not to introduce itself. A bit rude, but it seemed she got the job, so that was something. Erica carefully takes the box and does as instructed. It's surprisingly easy, actually. The actual technical part, that is. Seeing a man with an open chest is a not an easy experience if one isn't ready for it. She knew of human-form AI, of course, but she never saw one up close. It was uncanny and viscerally wrong. Seeing a deactivated armature, her brain, guided by millennia of evolution, screamed "death". Her hands tremble, and the box nearly slips out of her grasp. It takes a deep breath and closed eyes to calm the instinctual response, suppress the wrongness. Then, she proceeds, handling the task as if this was any other machine.
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Sep 20, 2016 23:57
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Gen Chatham Once again, seconds feel like small eternities. There was a lot to evaluate - that is, if the job prospect didn't just drop the case and run. Or steal it for the valuable pre-Scream tech. Or engage in a hostile takeover of what currently amounted to a building full of refuse. The hastily-assembled nature of their organization was really more based on potential than assets. Gen had banked on that potential his entire life. There were bad people out there. There were good people whom have done bad things. Having his unique perspective on time and a grander scheme has done a lot to- Ding~ His train of thought is interrupted as ports close, connections are made, and are those eyelids? Blinking his eyes as everything boots up, Gen takes a moment to take the moment in. Eyes. Fingers. Toes. Ab-equivalents. And while unnecessary - a sharp inhale helps to draw input through olfactory sensors. Not the best scent, but a scent, nonetheless. Wiggling his jaw, he can't help but smirk as he holds his hand out to her. In a normal, human voice, he finally says: "Erica Steiger? Gen Chatham. Thanks for putting me back together, and welcome to Killdozer. You have no idea how hard it is to reach from that little squawkbox. Sorry for the aloofness - it was a matter of seeing how you adapted to weird situations. We come across quite a few of those, and you handled it well. Trust is important, especially in this line of work, and I'm glad to see my trust was placed well." After the admittedly awkward introduction, Gen offers to help with her weapon's reassembly and to show her the facility, such as it was. There was a lot of work to be done, and it was nice to have some hands to work with.
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Sep 21, 2016 02:33
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'588' > 8 / 8 HP > 9 ACElsted Rao posted:'In the future, just ask instead of playing spy. If you are referring to the reported death eight years ago, that was not me. Attached you will find my travel records leaving Caerleon for Perserv more than 20 years ago, as well as my return records last month. Please forward the details about my interview, as all further conversation about my employment with Killdozer should occur face to face. At ground level.' Plot posted:What's interesting is that when 588 traces the provided information, a second and third set of travel papers is also found; Elsted Rao returned to Caerleon from Perserv one month ago as he claimed, but also five years ago and ten years ago. The return five years ago coincides with an outbound travel log for a E. Rao to the Holst Dominion one week later. There is no record of Rao returning from Holst five years ago, nor an explanation of how he's been transiting Caerleon since his reported death eight years ago on Caerleon. It appears that this discrepancy in death records versus travel records has gone unnoticed due to a combination of fragmented clan records and poor documentation by CID's InSec division. pre:Elsted Rao, data analysis... 3190 OEC - travel documents support return to Caerleon from Persev. 3192 OEC - verified killed in a Raven clan raid on a Bear compound. 3195 OEC - travel documents support return to Caerleon from Persev. 3195 OEC - travel documents support departure to Holst from Caerleon. 3200 OEC - travel documents support return to Caerleon from Persev. In the grand scheme of things, he really didn't care. He forwards what he's learned to Chatham in a data file, and comments, "Chatham, Rao would like a meeting face to face. I've managed to obtain a sample of his genetic material, don't ask how, and confirmed he is indeed Elsted Rao. The same Elsted Rao 'verified as dead' eight years ago, according to the medical records available. There's something up with him, but it might just be typical clandestine operation protocol to play around with death records and the like. He seems to be a professional, if nothing else, though I'd suggest keeping an eye on him if you decide to hire him." The hacker provides Rao's contact details to Chatham, and lets the man decide if a meeting is wise for himself. For his own part, he already had a significant queue of issues to work through. He had two more days at the executive retreat, and he intended to spend that time largely focused on analysis of the Fampir. Afterwards, he would need to start to think about their recently acquired vessel, and what precisely to do about it. The answer to that question would be guided largely by Chatham's choice of operatives and mission, though, so it was difficult to get a head start on the matter. Suspecting it might be wise to let Chatham know that, he also offers, "Chatham, one other thing to keep in mind. Depending on the job you want to take on, I'm going to need a bit of lead time to get our ship ready to fly. Not much point going into the specifics, but expect somewhere between three days and a week before we're actually able to leave the planet, if we need to do so." pre:For my own part, I am going to remain focused on the reverse engineering. I have two days remaining at the executive retreat, and will spend most of my time on that research. I will put out a few feelers to the wealthy folks at the retreat, to see if anyone is interested in buying our ship outright, though. Like selling a computer it's probably easier to get a fair price selling it as-is rather than carving out the constituent parts and selling those individually. Passive: Intelligence (+2) / Wisdom (-1) / Charisma (-2) / 3,245xp / 36,435cr / Killdozer LLC Skill (+0): Combat (gunnery) / Culture (traveler / Weltraum Zwang) / Security / Vehicle (space) Skill (+1): Computer / Navigation / Perception / Science / Stealth / Tech (maltech / medical / postech / pretech) Inventory (ready): Compad0 / Bioscanner1 / Dataslab1 / Metatool1 Inventory (stowed): Grenade launcher3 (3/3 shots, flashbang) / Stealth Field Uniform0 / Gravity Pack1 / Mag Pistol (silenced, 6/6 shots)1 Inventory (back at base): Instapanel (x5) / Lazarus patch (x1) / Medkit (x1) / Type A cell (x6)/ Flashbang grenade2 (x2) / Butler armature crate Inventory (warehouse): Armory (frigate) / Stealth Suit Cachex / Assault suit2 / Argus web1 __________________________________________________________________________________________
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Sep 21, 2016 05:44
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Erica Steiger "Well... uh... pleased to meet you I suppose. You certainly got the "weird" part down. So, what now? I can't help but notice that this firm isn't exactly as advertised."
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Sep 21, 2016 17:11
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Waador posted:
Once you hit 12 hours on the Fampir, you can roll again; for the ship, finding a buyer is easy. Finding a good price is harder. How serious are you for making this sale?
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Sep 21, 2016 21:00
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'588' > 8 / 8 HP > 9 AC He was inclined to say that the first day at the executive retreat had been productive. He had delved into his research project almost immediately after checking in, and after a solid twelve hours of effort had rewarded himself with a break. Although he didn't particularly enjoy social activity for prolonged periods of time, it was a change of pace, and he interspersed it with sampling the cuisine of the resort, and indulging in other activities as they became available. Towards the end of the night, or more accurately as the sun began to rise, he returned to his room and spent a few hours mentally recovering from the prolonged social activity. More than a few hours were entirely wasted browsing the public net, and binge-watching half a dozen episodes of an online drama about drug dealers. All in all, it had been money and time well spent. pre:The timeline so far has essentially been... Day 1, 10AM - 10PM, check-in at resort, research Day 1, 10PM - 10AM, socialize, eat, lift hard, get hard, rest pre:Day 2, 10AM - 10PM, return to suite, research Science/Int 10 This brings me up to 30 / 30 research points. pre:I will log onto Caerleonlist, or its equivalent, and make a few posts...
>> Willing to trade ten barrels of starship-grade polyceramic overlay material, like new condition!
>> Approximate market value of 250,000 credits.
>> Willing to parcel out as a complete package, or in partial increments!
>> Willing to take credits in payment, or trade for like equipment compatible
with a free merchant class vessel!Unfortunately, that also meant he might have to go to the effort of executing ten separate trades with ten individuals to get the most bang for his buck. It'd be worth it, though, if it helped with the resale value. He was reasonably confident that he could fake a new-in-box condition for each of the barrels, and in all fairness the actual overlay material was mostly impossible to distinguish from anything fresh from the factory as long as you handled it carefully. It might be easier to just create a company and community focused on trading unwanted equipment and let the market mature until he absolutely had to get rid of the stuff. He'd think about it. pre:Not sure what sort of response I will get, but I will entertain reasonable offers of trade for any of the following fittings: >> Workshop equipment // frigate-compatible // 5,000cr value >> Ship's locker // frigate-compatible // 20,000cr value >> Extended medbay // frigate-compatible // 50,000cr value >> Survey sensor array // frigate-compatible // 50,000cr value >> Advanced navigation computer // frigate-compatible // 100,000cr value >> Drop pod // frigate-compatible // 300,000cr value I haven't done so yet, but will get around to removing the polyceramic overlay from the ship, and package it into ten separate barrels. Total market value of the fitting new-in-box is 250,000cr, so about 25,000cr per barrel once it is properly uninstalled. I have no idea what sort of trading market exists for starship parts, but I suspect there might at least be some kind of community that exists to trade parts between like-minded and cost-sensitive interstellar traders. If Caerleonlist isn't that place, Computer/Int 10 to search for wherever that might be done online, and build a believable profile. If that isn't done online, I'll make a website to start doing so in order to create the market for reliable trading that that I will eventually want. Plot posted:For the ship, finding a buyer is easy. Finding a good price is harder. How serious are you for making this sale? pre:For the most part I'm just exploring options. If there's some desperate trader who needs to get back into space who is willing to pay a fair price, I might sell it outright and then go to the effort of buying a new one, but really just checking out my options. Passive: Intelligence (+2) / Wisdom (-1) / Charisma (-2) / 3,245xp / 36,435cr / Killdozer LLC Skill (+0): Combat (gunnery) / Culture (traveler / Weltraum Zwang) / Security / Vehicle (space) Skill (+1): Computer / Navigation / Perception / Science / Stealth / Tech (maltech / medical / postech / pretech) Inventory (ready): Compad0 / Bioscanner1 / Dataslab1 / Metatool1 Inventory (stowed): Grenade launcher3 (3/3 shots, flashbang) / Stealth Field Uniform0 / Gravity Pack1 / Mag Pistol (silenced, 6/6 shots)1 Inventory (back at base): Instapanel (x5) / Lazarus patch (x1) / Medkit (x1) / Type A cell (x6)/ Flashbang grenade2 (x2) / Butler armature crate Inventory (warehouse): Armory (frigate) / Stealth Suit Cachex / Assault suit2 / Argus web1 __________________________________________________________________________________________
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Sep 22, 2016 00:10
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Travelposting for the next week or so - I know I don't post much, but it'll be a little more terse for a bit! Gen Chatham "To my recollection, what was advertised was explooosions, car chases, gunfights, and saving the President. While all of those things have happened, it's been pretty recent. More importantly, you want to lead. What better unit to lead than one you get to hand-pick? We've got the talent, we're acquiring the tools, and we're reaching a point where it's more prudent to establish an actual organization versus a loose group of folks thrown into the deep end. You hav-ve organizational skills, combat experience, and most importantly, few delusions of grandeur. War is hell, but what we're good at is shepherding people through it. Not once did you bill yourself as an all-consuming badass who could take down an entire platoon on your own. That's precisely the kind of person who, when push comes to shove, actually finds a way to do the impossible. Killdozer is essentially a blank slate at this point. You get to be the chalk. Your team, your way. Unless this whole brain in a box thing scared you away, which I wouldn't blame you for!"
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Sep 22, 2016 01:24
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Waador posted:Understanding the concepts didn't seem that hard, though he perhaps had a unique viewpoint on the issue. It helped to have a few centuries of experience in a dozen related scientific fields, he supposed. He took a few breaks throughout the course of the day to review his work and make sure his math was correct. It was always good practice to check one's work. It also afforded him an opportunity to play around online, and make a few posts on various boards for trading and other commerce. After about a day of dedicated study, 588 is fairly certain he understands how the Fampir engine works, and why it is so much more efficient than the standard engine configurations. The engine, as noted before, traps the heat generated during normal operation instead of venting it. The secret is a specialized alloy embedded on the interior of the engine's casing. This alloy demonstrates a unique property to convert ambient heat into a weak EM charge; the process is not 100% efficient, but is very, very high and happens very quickly. That EM charge is then used in the engine to provide a secondary source of power within the engine itself via a clever EM induction circuit. The alloy doesn't match anything in 588's databases (internal and external), but is clearly manufactured in origin from iron, aluminum, and an unknown ore. Because the heat conversion is not 100%, the engine would eventually overheat but the initial data suggests it would require about 9 days of continuous use at maximum thrust to heat the engine interior high enough to begin damaging components. It also appears that the alloy would eventually degrade to the point of needing replacement, but that replacement window looks like it would be measured in decades at least. quote:It might be easier to just sell their recently acquired vessel and start fresh, although that was going a bit far relative to what he actually wanted to accomplish. Going to CaerleonList is a bust for finding second-hand starship sales and starship fittings trading; there's just not a major volume of secondhand fittings and starship redealers have the second hand ship market in a virtual stranglehold. Part of what drives this small market is superstition; starship captains don't want to bring in the bad luck of another ship via the traded part. To find the potential buying and selling prices, it takes detective work... and trading is not 588's strong suit. Given time, he narrows down what the prices for various fittings would be second hand this month, as well as the sell price he could expect from the overlay and the ship in total. pre:COMPONENT PRICE TO BUY Workshop Equipment 2750 Ship's Locker 18000 Extended Medbay 50000 Advanced Navigation Computer 90000 Drop Pod 120000 TO SELL Poly Overlay 75000 Full Ship 483750 ~ Ok, so fairly serious at least in the research of buying/selling! There are a lot of things going on here, so I'm going to drop a more detailed explanation post in the OOC later. What you need to know right now is: Starships are like cars. Really loving expensive cars. When they are first bought, their value drops. Same with fittings. The book says that loot, even ships, should be sold at half value, 20% if they are hot. I'm using the Suns of Gold book to tweak that and give you a chance to buy and sell the ship parts like a trader, maybe stop yourself from losing all of your money. Despite this, you should expect to sell lower than you buy for unless you build up the relevant skills, especially when you're talking specific items. To forge a new-in-box condition for the overlay, you need to pass an Int/Tech (Astro) check at DC 10 to pull that off yourself, or pay someone else to do it for you. What you're talking about is illegal, so the cost of hiring someone for this would be doubled. But if you do this, the Poly Overlay can sell for 150000 credits, doubling your money. As for starting your own trading hub, feel free to start it, but it will take time for people to gravitate to it and for it to be the best source for trading and prices. I could see it eventually shifting the prices on starships/fittings secondhand
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Sep 22, 2016 15:19
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'588' > 8 / 8 HP > 9 ACPlot posted:Frustrated with the lack of a centralized starship and fittings trading/second-hand repository, 588 starts up a new site in the Caerleon network and spreads the word about it. It will take time and luck to build up a thriving community on the site, but the payoff could be very large. Of course, almost immediately the starship community began to denounce the website as a travesty that was set to inflict untold bad luck on anyone who used it to order new ship fittings. It had taken them less than a few hours to pick up on the innovative new marketplace, and start to denounce its quality. To a certain degree, they were right, or at least they would be if he wasn't careful. He didn't intend for this site to become a marketplace for moving stolen goods, nor a place where people could offload their broken or poorly maintained equipment. He also didn't want the aforementioned manufacturers and retailers of new-in-box starship fittings to have an easy time of sabotaging him, which they could easily do if they could simply create a thousand accounts and bombard people with broken goods and frustrating deals. The solution was a simple one, thankfully. He elected not to open the site to the public at large, at least in terms of registration. They were welcome to view, though. He wanted to create an air of elitism to it, so that people would want to join. As a result, in order to register with the site, you needed to provide valid credentials: the credentials of a starship captain, its first officer, or its chief engineer. Every trade would be tied to a ship registered in the Caerleon database, and credit for that trade would be applied to one of those three key crew members, all of whom tended to be registered in official databases that could be queried. Access to the trading platform could only be conducted using the FTL communications system inherent in a starship, which itself would help with validating the source of the transmission. That process would allow him to verify the identities of all new applicants with a relatively reliable degree of accuracy. Having sorted out how to validate new users, his next task was on how to keep them honest. As far as he could tell, that should also be reasonably simple. Every trade would be associated with a starship captain. No trade could be executed without the approval of that starship captain, even if it was being managed by their first officer or chief engineer. This site was, at its core, a trading platform between captains and for captains. That helped to establish accountability. A successful trade would accrue 'renown' points for the captain, as well as the ship. An unsuccessful trade would be a black mark upon the same. Starship captains, in general, were ego-driven individuals. They wanted people to know their name, and they needed to be respected. If playing according to the rules on this platform helped them build their legend, they would play ball. pre:Welcome to SpaceBay, Caerleon's premier starship community! How the trading platform works... > All new users must register with the following information: >> Starship Name >> Starship Registration Number >> Starship Rank >> Real Name > SpaceBay is only for starship captains, their first officers, and their chief engineers. This helps to ensure that you are dealing with a real person, with real accountability. > SpaceBay's platform can only be accessed from the FTL communications terminal of a starship. This helps to ensure that you're always dealing with the right person! > In order to be completed, a trade must be authorized by a starship captain on both sides. > Your crew can help, but you, the captain, are in command! How our renown system works... > If you want to be a successful trader, you need to be a reputable trader. That's true in the deep black, and it's true here at SpaceBay! > Traders at SpaceBay are ranked by their trading score, known as 'Renown'. > Renown is tracked at three levels, as follows: >> Starship captains earn one point of renown for every 100,000cr in successful trades. >> First officers and chief engineers earn the same if they are acting on a captain's behalf. >> Starships earn the same for every successful trade conducted by their captain. > Here at SpaceBay, we recognize that the captain of the ship is always in command! However, we also recognize that roles change over time, and so renown is attributed to first officers, chief engineers, and vessels as well. This helps to ensure that a vessel maintains its trading score even if its captain moves on to bigger and better things, and similarly, helps to ensure that a captain's renown follows him wherever he goes! Rewards for high renown... > It wouldn't be much of a system if there wasn't some incentive, now would it? > Every month, we will host a 'traders of the month' article on our site, interviewing the three most active and most successful traders during the month. > We will also be hosting a leaderboard on our system, to track lifetime trading achievements. Who among you will be the greatest trader in all of Caerleon? Who among you will claim the title of Renowned Trader? Log into SpaceBay now and get started! He was aware, of course, that humans, and starship captains in general, tended to be a bit superstitious. He debated setting into motion a series of advertisements that stigmatized superstition as a mental illness, so that a social cost in admitting to such beliefs would develop over time. He would wait to see if that proved to be necessary, though. He was hoping his renown system would prey on the ego of starship captains, which on most days tended to trump their superstition. With that matter settled, he gets back to work on everything else on his plate. First order of business, the Fampir. pre:A separate post will follow later today on the other open items. Passive: Intelligence (+2) / Wisdom (-1) / Charisma (-2) / 3,245xp / 36,435cr / Killdozer LLC Skill (+0): Combat (gunnery) / Culture (traveler / Weltraum Zwang) / Security / Vehicle (space) Skill (+1): Computer / Navigation / Perception / Science / Stealth / Tech (maltech / medical / postech / pretech) Inventory (ready): Compad0 / Bioscanner1 / Dataslab1 / Metatool1 Inventory (stowed): Grenade launcher3 (3/3 shots, flashbang) / Stealth Field Uniform0 / Gravity Pack1 / Mag Pistol (silenced, 6/6 shots)1 Inventory (back at base): Instapanel (x5) / Lazarus patch (x1) / Medkit (x1) / Type A cell (x6)/ Flashbang grenade2 (x2) / Butler armature crate Inventory (warehouse): Armory (frigate) / Stealth Suit Cachex / Assault suit2 / Argus web1 __________________________________________________________________________________________ Waador fucked around with this message at 19:22 on Sep 22, 2016 |
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Sep 22, 2016 16:54
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'588' > 8 / 8 HP > 9 ACPlot posted:After about a day of dedicated study, 588 is fairly certain he understands how the Fampir engine works, and why it is so much more efficient than the standard engine configurations. The engine, as noted before, traps the heat generated during normal operation instead of venting it. The secret is a specialized alloy embedded on the interior of the engine's casing. This alloy demonstrates a unique property to convert ambient heat into a weak EM charge; the process is not 100% efficient, but is very, very high and happens very quickly. That EM charge is then used in the engine to provide a secondary source of power within the engine itself via a clever EM induction circuit. Depending on how you looked at it, the results of the engine analysis were either a major barrier, or a less-than-critical curiosity. In terms of his endgame, it was the latter. In terms of being able to reproduce the Fampir in its current form, however, it was a major barrier. As it stood, until he had a better understanding of the alloy that enabled the electromagnetic energy recapture, it would be functionally impossible to reproduce the engine, and thus the Fampir, in its current state. There was also another complication subtly hidden within that overall problem: even when he did identify the unknown ore that enabled the process, he would also need to find a source for that ore. That might prove to be a complicated endeavor, though if he were to invest in a suite of advanced sensors and scanners for their ship, he might be able to get started on that. That was a risk, though. If the ore was only available in exceedingly limited quantities, it might well take decades to develop a reasonable supply. In all likelihood, Draken Shipyards was probably already in the process of securing all known deposits, if they hadn't done so already. Space was a big place, of course, and on a cosmic scale there was probably more than enough of the resource to go around, but that didn't make finding it any easier when you only had one ship. Durandal (the past) posted:It was kind of funny. On the one hand, he definitely agreed with the CID team that the engine was the real innovation in the overall hull design. The limits of its supercapacitors were difficult to believe in the context of a fighter assembled in a postech manufacturing facility. On the other hand, his long-term design plan actually involved the removal of that engine for something that would suit a more specialized purpose. The Caerleon Navy would no doubt be less than amused with his design change when they were presented with it, after salivating at the possibilities of the Draken drive. He was, however, confident that he knew what was best for Caerleon in this scenario. In either case his immediate goal was clear. CID Preliminary Report: Fampir Systems posted:... while the weapons and armor are high in quality, they are not revolutionary in concept. The inclusion of a railgun on a fighter is interesting, as it suggests the fighter was intended for targeting ground-based units and not starships. Plot (the past) posted:The thrusters roar into life. Weapons hot. Supercapacitors at 98%. Ammunition: 400 rounds. Odd as it might be that the ship is loaded with ammunition for its light railguns, you can't exactly complain. You begin with gentle control inputs, to which the hull reacts with surprising violence. It's agile as hell, but twitchy. Configured for an ace pilot rather than a typical bored oligarch. You settle into a hover, aimed directly at the exit, waiting for the perfect moment. The inherent atmospheric configuration was also problematic, though less so. In his opinion every vessel capable of installing the equipment necessary to pierce an atmosphere should be configured to do so, but he didn't think that it was sound engineering to force it upon a user. There were a non-trivial number of scenarios where a vessel could reliably expect to never again return to an atmosphere, and freeing up the space required to be able to do so could be very advantageous. pre:Goal / Design Note: The second phase in this project is, on paper, a simple one: the removal of the systems integrated into the overall Fampir design, with the goal being to improve the modularity of the hull by freeing up the power and mass requirements necessary to facilitate these systems. There are a few pieces of this to note, as follows: > A standard railgun (SWN pg. 39) is described as having a magazine of 20, and indicates that 'ammunition sufficient for one round of firing costs 50 credits'. > The Fampir railgun, as linked, is described as having a magazine of 400, which would cost 20,000 credits to reload. The Fampir came fully-loaded, so my assumption is that part of its purchase price includes the cost of munitions. > Engines of Babylon (pg. 11) describes the requirements for fitting a railgun to a vehicle, as follows: >> Cost of 8,000cr >> All statistics equivalent to the base model, including magazine size >> Two vehicle hardpoints >> Three vehicle power units >> Three vehicle mass units Once the reverse engineering is complete on everything except the engine, the next stage of my goal is to adjust the schematics so that the railgun is no longer required, and to also do the same for the atmospheric configuration. This obviously has the intent of freeing up additional power, mass, and hardpoints on the vessel. In terms of the railgun... > Hardpoints, I don't think would translate 1-to-1 from a vehicle to a starship. Although a fighter is probably about on par with the size of a tank or a similar wartime vehicle, I don't believe you can easily fit starship weapons onto vehicles. In light of this, my goal is to remove the railguns, and use those two vehicle hardpoints to create a single additional starship hardpoint on the hull. > Power units, I don't know how this would work. Operating the railgun and its supporting targeting system probably does require a reasonable amount of power, whether it's from a starship spike drive or a vehicle's fusion core. My goal is to try to turn these three vehicle power units into three starship power units. > Mass units, I am going to try to also convert into three spare mass units on the starship. While I don't think a vehicle railgun itself should translate one-to-one in this case, the inclusion of 400 belts of ammunition in its total payload seems to suggest that this system is taking up an insane amount of mass on the ship. In terms of the atmospheric configuration... > This one seems like it would be simpler to engineer out of the design. > The standard cost for this fitting on a fighter is 5,000cr, 0 power and 1 mass. > I am going to try to remove the inherent configuration to free up that mass. > In terms of impact to base cost, removing the system should remove the following: >> (5,000cr) - Atmospheric configuration >> (8,000cr) - Railgun system >> (20,000cr) - 400 rounds of ammunition, at 50 credits each. The below table summarizes the planned redesign of the schematics of the hull, at least insofar as 'Phase II' is concerned.  __________________________________________________________________________________________ Passive: Intelligence (+2) / Wisdom (-1) / Charisma (-2) / 3,245xp / 36,435cr / Killdozer LLC Skill (+0): Combat (gunnery) / Culture (traveler / Weltraum Zwang) / Security / Vehicle (space) Skill (+1): Computer / Navigation / Perception / Science / Stealth / Tech (maltech / medical / postech / pretech) Inventory (ready): Compad0 / Bioscanner1 / Dataslab1 / Metatool1 Inventory (stowed): Grenade launcher3 (3/3 shots, flashbang) / Stealth Field Uniform0 / Gravity Pack1 / Mag Pistol (silenced, 6/6 shots)1 Inventory (back at base): Instapanel (x5) / Lazarus patch (x1) / Medkit (x1) / Type A cell (x6)/ Flashbang grenade2 (x2) / Butler armature crate Inventory (warehouse): Armory (frigate) / Stealth Suit Cachex / Assault suit2 / Argus web1 __________________________________________________________________________________________ Waador fucked around with this message at 22:25 on Sep 22, 2016 |
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Sep 22, 2016 18:23
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Erica Steiger "You have a point. I suppose I just expected you to be a bit more... established. But I can work with this. My question was about the next steps. What now?" Some time later, Erica claims a somewhat oversized room as her quarters. The place was a dump right now, but she had plans.
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Sep 22, 2016 20:48
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'588' > 8 / 8 HP > 9 AC He could already tell that the process of amending the schematics was going to take a while. He caught himself midway through a potentially embarrassing mathematical error, as he had nearly assumed that the conversion ratios of energy and mass from vehicle-based to starship-based equipment was similar to that of comparable pretech components. A bit of research online quickly confirmed that current manufacturing capabilities were quite limited, largely due to the difference in power output between the fusion reactors used in vehicles relative to the metadimensional reactors deployed on interstellar vessels. It was by no means a roadblock, but it did require him to amend his calculations a bit. Thankfully, he caught the problem before wasting a huge amount of time. After three hours into the analysis, he decides to take a break. Grabbing a drink from the bar at the resort, he returns to his room and sends a message to Voight. He knew that he should probably tell her about his findings on the engine, as managing the control of that information was going to be very important. If Voight got a heads-up before her team caught up to him, it might help her direct the process. pre:588 >> Voight, it's me. I've attached my findings on the analysis of the Fampir. You've got a problem, and it's not a small one. I can replicate the hull without any major challenge, but the engine relies upon an alloy of iron, aluminum, and an element that I've never encountered before. That last part, for reasons I'm sure are obvious to both of us, is a big deal. Your team probably hasn't realized it yet, but if they continue their research, they will find the same thing. This rare element appears to be a critical component in what will no doubt form the next generation of cutting-edge spike drives. Access to that rare element is going to be the bottleneck necessary to produce those spike drives. I would recommend that you lock down any possibility of a leak of this information immediately. I imagine your team can be trusted, but only if they know the ramifications of what they're dealing with. A careless consultation with an off-base colleague could spiral out of control very quickly. You don't want to trigger a gold rush. Here's the thing, though. I have no idea where you're going to find this element. I assume that Draken is currently in the process of securing all known deposits, before it becomes common knowledge that it happens to be valuable for an industrial purpose, rather than by mere virtue of being rare in nature. If you're interested in hiring my team to conduct an off-book operation to survey the sector for signs of this element, we'd obviously be happy to do so. However, successfully conducting that operation will require installation of a military-grade survey sensor array on our ship. If you want us to source the equipment and install it ourselves, I'd request a budget of about 100,000cr to get us ready to fly. We'll hit up all the neighboring sectors first, since those will be easier to secure. I imagine there's a cache of whatever it is we need somewhere in or near the Draken system, but they're more likely to notice us snooping around if we go shopping on their doorstep. You're probably better off letting them think they're the only ones aware of the existence and value of this element for as long as you can manage. If you want further details feel free to give me a call, or arrange for an in-person meeting as necessary. Passive: Intelligence (+2) / Wisdom (-1) / Charisma (-2) / 3,245xp / 36,435cr / Killdozer LLC Skill (+0): Combat (gunnery) / Culture (traveler / Weltraum Zwang) / Security / Vehicle (space) Skill (+1): Computer / Navigation / Perception / Science / Stealth / Tech (maltech / medical / postech / pretech) Inventory (ready): Compad0 / Bioscanner1 / Dataslab1 / Metatool1 Inventory (stowed): Grenade launcher3 (3/3 shots, flashbang) / Stealth Field Uniform0 / Gravity Pack1 / Mag Pistol (silenced, 6/6 shots)1 Inventory (back at base): Instapanel (x5) / Lazarus patch (x1) / Medkit (x1) / Type A cell (x6)/ Flashbang grenade2 (x2) / Butler armature crate Inventory (warehouse): Armory (frigate) / Stealth Suit Cachex / Assault suit2 / Argus web1 __________________________________________________________________________________________ Waador fucked around with this message at 21:07 on Sep 22, 2016 |
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Sep 22, 2016 20:48
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Zeppelin Insanity posted:Erica Steiger Gen Chatham As the pair wander the building, getting the lay of things, Gen keeps up conversation. "Well, the next step is picking a job. We've got a few offers and ideas on the table, but it'll take a bit of lead time to get geared up for any of them. That's where your help really comes in! We've got a few loose ends we need to work on here on Caerleon, but there's some potential work back out there in the Black." Counting on his fingers, he sidesteps a member of the cleaning crew hastily walking a bag of... something drippy down the hallway. "First off, there's a guy who applied to work for us - a man by the name of Elsted Rao - whom has a lot of really weird inconsistencies. Guy supposedly died 8 years ago, but has tons of travel records before and since. He's also looking for a face-to-face, so if it's not too much trouble, I'd like to see what you can see and maybe give me a hand if things get weird." The little walk is a great opportunity for him to get a feel for the armature. And as bad as things smell in the building, he's thankful that he has normal legs. Sure, it looks weird for a guy to be crossing en passant while walking and talking, but it quite frankly wasn't the weirdest thing they had dealt with that day. "Along with -hup!- that, we've had a trader ask us to look into a rival gang that's been muscling him out of some deals between here and Crespo. Looks like a lot of investigative legwork that can be done planetside while we get our feet back underneath us. Always hel p s to have a trader indebted to you - you never know what'll fall off of the back of that truck!" The sound of a pressure washer revs up as they pass by another room, the cleaning guy scrambling to close the door as he realizes folks are walking past. "After that, we get to take our pick: Exterminating an invasive species on Sedan, or investigating missing ships in Shantri space. Lots of potential cash and salvage with the latter, lots of people helped with the former. We're working on the interstellar aspect right now, but I figured working the earlier cases would help buy some time and assets before tackling the later ones." Thankful for the internal compad, he compiles the information 588's put together on the potential jobs and people and sends them her way. "Thoughts? Input? Ideas? I'm always up for new ideas."
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Sep 23, 2016 04:21
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After doing a little number cruching, I think we're going to go with the following rules: You can install vehicle fittings on a starship, but they are not increased in abilities. So for weapons, they get downgraded against starships per the rules, other fittings will not provide the total benefits because starships<>vehicles. The power and mass requirements are derived from the vehicle stats: for power, every 3 vehicle power takes 1 starship power, rounded down, with a minimum of 1 and for mass, every 2 vehicle mass takes 1 starship mass, wounded down, with a minimum of 1. But for fitting them, the time is based on the vehicle stats. So for the three fittings listed, without a check it takes 24 hours to remove the railgun, 24 hours to remove the atmospheric configuration, and 12 hours to uninstall the magazine. You'll only get an additional +1 on the power and mass from the railgun being removed. But you need the ship back before you can begin. Waador posted:After three hours into the analysis, he decides to take a break. Grabbing a drink from the bar at the resort, he returns to his room and sends a message to Voight. He knew that he should probably tell her about his findings on the engine, as managing the control of that information was going to be very important. If Voight got a heads-up before her team caught up to him, it might help her direct the process. It doesn't take long for a response from Voight: pre:Voight>> Information received and sent to the science team. They claimed they were "close to making this discovery themselves" which I believe means it would have been another day or two before they found it. To that end, I've been able to authorize a scientific discovery payment. 2500 credits have been sent to the Killdozer account, for "independent scientific research." As for tracking it down, we're going to use internal resources for now to backtrack the source. Thank you for the offer, but I think we can track it better and faster through our methods than a sector by sector search. That was a pretty basic job, but deserves some reward; it feels like part of a larger job involving you understanding and refitting the Fampir. So take 175 XP for cracking that engine and passing the information off to Voight.
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Sep 24, 2016 15:48
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Erica Steiger "Hmm. Well, I don't know what your assets are at the moment, but judging by the state of this place, I'm assuming a cash injection would be pretty useful. Speaking of this place, now seems like a good time to decide what goes where. If I could have a look at the schematics, I might have some input. You'd be surprised how much morale is influenced by simple things like base layout. I can watch over the interview if you like, but I'm not an expert on that. There's some other things to take care of, off the top of my head, if I'm not being too presumptuous. I don't know what you've already handled. You're going to need providers. Firms you can vet and trust. Logistics, gear, ammunition. Food, that part's really important. Little things like cleaning services. For everything you need redundant suppliers. More expensive that way, but believe me, you don't want to run out of something important when it matters because someone's production line malfunctioned or truck broke down. I'm not familiar with Caerleon enough to vet the firms, but I can make a list of what we need. Oh yeah, administrative staff, too. Someone to answer the phones and fill out forms. Probably a hundred other things." Assuming I can get started on that, here's what I want to research. I'll do a few rolls, use a combination or pick what's appropriate. If you have a better idea, feel free to roll for me! I expect this is a bigger organisational task that will take a number of days and a number of rolls, I'm just looking to get started and get general cost estimates. I'd like to plan the layout of the building, paying particular attention to the following: sleeping quarters, mess hall, reception\lounge, armoury, motor pool (I assume that one will be difficult - maybe we can dig out a bigger basement?), gym, larger gathering area (might be combined with mess hall), command room, server room, training\drill room. As mentioned before, I want to claim myself a sizeable stateroom as well. The other factor is security - I want to place critical areas closer to the centre of the building, and plan what kind of defences can be feasibly installed in the future. I'd also like to get started with making a list of the logistics and services we will need. Int/leadership: 2d6+1 9 - for considering morale implications Int/tactics: 2d6+1 11 - for layout from a defence perspective, and for knowing what a paramilitary organisation needs to fight int\security: 2d6-1 7 - security systems Int\steward: 2d6-1 6 - not sure if that's entirely appropriate but this seems like a decent skill to roll for identifying the general needs of a business. It seems a bit more appropriate for the situation to me than Business skill itself, as it's more about maintaining things and long term needs Let me know if I'm going overboard with rolls and should tone it down. I'm approaching it from the perspective of wanting to incorporate my character's weaknesses into the results.
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Sep 24, 2016 23:07
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Zeppelin Insanity posted:Let me know if I'm going overboard with rolls and should tone it down. I'm approaching it from the perspective of wanting to incorporate my character's weaknesses into the results. No, that's perfectly fine, roll away. But we're probably going to go with the same rules as with 588's research: 12 hours per roll. In this case, though the roll at the end of the 12 hours is the final roll, and determines how good or bad your design/etc. is. So my question would be, what are you rolling first?
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Sep 25, 2016 05:16
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Let's go with steward.
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Sep 25, 2016 10:28
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'588' > 8 / 8 HP > 9 ACPlot posted:It doesn't take long for a response from Voight. Maintaining the corporate narrative was important, and to a certain degree it didn't make much sense for the Killdozer brand to draw a substantial portion of its earnings from 'independent scientific research'. At the moment, however, he was happy for the income, and ensured it was quietly moved into the appropriate corporate account. Killdozer's first honest contract ...more or less. The actual amount of the payment hadn't been particularly significant, but it was a reasonable wage. Given that the project took him about a day and a half to complete, after breaks and other distractions, he definitely couldn't complain. pre:+2,500cr added to the Killdozer accounts. 3,245xp base + 175xp earned = 3,420xp revised. Durandal (the past) posted:He could already tell that the process of amending the schematics was going to take a while. He caught himself midway through a potentially embarrassing mathematical error, as he had nearly assumed that the conversion ratios of energy and mass from vehicle-based to starship-based equipment was similar to that of comparable pretech components. A bit of research online quickly confirmed that current manufacturing capabilities were quite limited, largely due to the difference in power output between the fusion reactors used in vehicles relative to the metadimensional reactors deployed on interstellar vessels. It was by no means a roadblock, but it did require him to amend his calculations a bit. Thankfully, he caught the problem before wasting a huge amount of time. Plot posted:You can install vehicle fittings on a starship, but they are not increased in abilities. So for weapons, they get downgraded against starships per the rules, other fittings will not provide the total benefits because starships<>vehicles. The power and mass requirements are derived from the vehicle stats: for power, every 3 vehicle power takes 1 starship power, rounded down, with a minimum of 1 and for mass, every 2 vehicle mass takes 1 starship mass, wounded down, with a minimum of 1. But for fitting them, the time is based on the vehicle stats. So for the three fittings listed, without a check it takes 24 hours to remove the railgun, 24 hours to remove the atmospheric configuration, and 12 hours to uninstall the magazine. You'll only get an additional +1 on the power and mass from the railgun being removed. But you need the ship back before you can begin. That being said, he didn't want to ignore Chatham and the rest of the team, whoever they ended up being, for an entire month while he focused on the Fampir. There were a few goals to be achieved, and a functional private military corporation contributed to the majority of them. Which meant he needed to turn his attention away from the Fampir, at least for a few days. The question was... to where should he turn his attention? Their vessel needed some rework, and his options were to either do it himself, or hire someone to get the job done. In a certain sense, it would be a good opportunity to gain some real-world experience with modern-day astronautic equipment, so that was a point in favor of doing the work himself. On the other hand, it would almost certainly be cheaper to hire someone to do the task, rather than purchasing all of the equipment he would need to do the work himself. pre:Ironically, a Toolkit/Astronautic costs 500cr. In comparison, an expert-level technician costs 100cr per day. They are also described as bringing the 'basic tools for the job'. Mechanics posted:For time of changing loadouts, hardpoints are intended to change, so they take 24 hours with no check, 12 hours with a DC 6 check, and halving from there for every +2 increase to the roll. You need to call it ahead of time, though, because missing the roll wastes the time. For non-hardpoints, it takes a day per point of Mass and 12 hours per point of power, with a minimum of 12 hours. You also need to make sure you remove/add in the order to avoid going over the mass/power limits of the hull. Again, you can roll to reduce at +2 intervals starting at DC 6. For cost, if you do it yourself you're not going to spend money, but most major spaceports/stations/etc. have labor you can hire, using the base rates. pre:Killdozer Human Resources >> Hello, Camisa Roja! We wanted to thank you for your efforts in providing the genetic sample as requested. In recognition of your success, we've arranged for a one-night all-expenses-paid stay at Caerleon's premier corporate retreat, address attached. Please feel free to avail yourself of everything the resort has to offer tomorrow, and then proceed to our office address, also attached, for your interview. Sincerely, the Killdozer human resources team pre:> I will spend 30cr to rent a groundcar for two days. > I will drive to the Interplanetary Spaceport. > I will purchase a Toolkit/Astronautic from their maintenance department for 500cr. Theoretically, stripping the hardened polyceramic overlay from the hull was a simple process. According to the manual, there were four common processes used to perform the task. The first option was an ablative treatment with what was essentially a hand-held belt sander. There wasn't any meaningful complexity to the process, but given its manual nature, it would take nearly two days to complete the task. The second option was an ablative treatment with an industrial belt sander the size of his entire body. That improved version could get the job done twice as fast, but it was a bit clumsier given that it obstructed the user's view of the ship. The third option involved the use of a chemical compound to liquefy the overlay, but it needed to be applied carefully, as the chemical solution tended to become tainted and require reprocessing if it came into contact with anything other than the polyceramic material. It was a decidedly fast process, though, clocking in at only twelve hours from start to finish if done correctly. The fourth option, tucked away towards the back of the book, was labeled as 'for experienced technicians only', and came with a number of safety warnings. It didn't seem like it could put the ship at risk, but it definitely might do something unpleasant to a careless technician. He read through it in detail, and was intrigued to find out that it involved a liberal application of lasers. Specifically, a carefully laid out array of lasers would be used to superheat the polyceramic overlay, causing it to rise just above its melting point, but keeping the rest of the ship's hull well below a temperature where it would suffer any damage. Problematically, it was a slow burn: in order to avoid the dangers associated with instantaneous laser discharge (otherwise known as the weaponized version), the process was designed to heat up the hull over a period of six hours. If set up correctly, the overlay would merely drip off down the contours of the ship into prearranged collection baskets. If it wasn't set up correctly, however, the overlay wouldn't melt at all, and the technician would have wasted six hours of his time waiting for the process to complete, only to need to reconfigure the array and try again. The worst part about the whole thing was that it was self-admittedly unique to each ship, given the different purities of composite, ambient temperature, preexisting contamination on the hull from paint, battle damage, and a dozen other variables. There was no way to know what the right setting was until you actually found it, or unless you had a good instinct for the work. That was probably why it was in the 'for experienced technicians only' part of the book. That said, he wanted to become an experienced technician. What better way to do so than to emulate the processes he knew they would follow? His course was clear. pre:Interplanetary Spaceport... Task #1 - Removal of the hardened polyceramic overlay. > Base time of 24 hours per point of mass. > Fitting consumes 2 mass, requiring 48 hours base time to uninstall. >> Tech (astronautics)/Int vs. DC 6 reduces base time to 24 hours. >> Tech (astronautics)/Int vs. DC 8 reduces base time to 12 hours. >> Tech (astronautics)/Int vs. DC 10 reduces base time to 6 hours. > I will spend 1 skill point on Tech(astronautic), increasing its bonus from -1 to +0. Thank you instruction manual! I am going to shoot for the DC 10 / 6-hour target attempt, as noted in the rolls. pre:> Attempt #1 vs. DC 10 - Tech (astronautics)/Int 7 >> 6 hours lost. pre:> Attempt #2 vs. DC 10 - Tech (astronautics)/Int 8 >> 6 hours lost. He took the opportunity to retrieve a sonic cannon from his astronautic toolkit, using it to blast the hull from stem to stern. Over the course of about an hour, he'd successfully shattered the resin, dropping it to the floor in chunks. He had also completely ruined the paint job. It should solve his problem, though. pre:> Attempt #3 vs. DC 10 - Tech (astronautics)/Int 9 >> 6 hours lost. pre:> Attempt #4 vs. DC 10 - Tech (astronautics)/Int 10 >> Success after 24 hours! pre:This task will apparently take me the entirety of the third day. The timeline so far has essentially been... [12h] Day 1, 10AM - 10PM, check-in at resort, research [12h] Day 1, 10PM - 10AM, socialize, eat, lift hard, get hard, rest [12h] Day 2, 10AM - 10PM, return to suite, research [24h] Day 2, 10PM - Day 3, 10PM, remove hardened polyceramic overlay Passive: Intelligence (+2) / Wisdom (-1) / Charisma (-2) / 3,420xp / 35,905cr / Killdozer LLC Skill (+0): Combat (gunnery) / Culture (traveler / Weltraum Zwang) / Security / Vehicle (space) / Tech (astronautic) Skill (+1): Computer / Navigation / Perception / Science / Stealth / Tech (maltech / medical / postech / pretech) Inventory (ready): Compad0 / Bioscanner1 / Dataslab1 / Metatool1 / Toolkit (astronautic)3 / Groundcar (48 hours) Inventory (stowed): Grenade launcher3 (3/3 shots, flashbang) / Stealth Field Uniform0 / Gravity Pack1 / Mag Pistol (silenced, 6/6 shots)1 Inventory (back at base): Instapanel (x5) / Lazarus patch (x1) / Medkit (x1) / Type A cell (x6)/ Flashbang grenade2 (x2) / Butler armature crate Inventory (warehouse): Armory (frigate) / Stealth Suit Cachex / Assault suit2 / Argus web1 __________________________________________________________________________________________ Waador fucked around with this message at 04:58 on Sep 26, 2016 |
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Sep 25, 2016 18:02
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Camisa Roja HP: 16/16 AC: 8 (Street Clothes) Strain: 0/12 The next couple of days are more than a little stressful for Camisa, between worrying that Rao may appeal to higher powers and kill her in her sleep, or that the whole caper for all for nothing. Relief floods through Camisa as she gets a notification from Killdozer's HR department, whether it was a rejection or acceptance Camisa couldn't bring herself to care, she just needed to know. A long sigh of relief escapes her mouth as she skims through the message, he relief is cut short as her stomach begins to growl, it'd been a few days since she'd eaten and the last of her money had been put to the extra credit task of grifting Rao. Reading the message in full Camisa's face splits into a pleased grin. Packing all of her gear up into its crate, Camisa extends the collapsible handle, tilts the crate on its wheeled side, and takes off for the hotel. An evening of relatively restrained depravity via room service ensues, Camisa staying up late into the evening to watch some of the film series that have come out in recent years that she had fallen behind on, before a collapse into a bed more blissfully comfortable than any she has been on in her life. Waking early the next day, Camisa goes through her morning routine, again grateful for small blessings, the room's shower the first she has used in months that has any semblance of water pressure. Clean and dry once more, Camisa settles herself down at the room's vanity and begins the hour long process of applying her face paints, satisfied with the work she plugs in the room's blow dryer and begins to gently fan the freshly applied skull paint on her battle gear's helmet. "Paint dried, gear stowed, clothes cleaned..." she does a few last checks over the total sum of her belongings stashed in the mobile crate and nods "good to go I guess!" Heading down the the front desk Camisa checks out and begins the trek off toward the address given to her by the HR department. Killdozer HQ "Not the uh... not what I was expecting." Camisa glances up and down the shabby building a look of disapproval on her face, but she is quick to chastise herself; these people were the biggest new thing and she'd been working for and with Vasan criminals for the last few months, so she wasn't one to talk about filthy working conditions. Stepping into the lobby Camisa announces herself "Camisa Roja reporting as requested." Inertial Shunt Nodes: Spend one round spooling up to nullify any full body impact. Reuse within a minute causes 1d8 heat damage. Tech Save to activate as a reaction. Integral Biostatus Monitor: Automatically alerts Camisa to Poison/Pathogen/Radiation exposure, identifies the substance and standard treatment for it. +2 to first skill check to treat the effects. +1 to Tech/Med checks against Camisa. quote:Timewise I guess Rao has an interview of sorts to go to and then two days later Camisa rolls up on the office for hers. Successful Businessmanga fucked around with this message at 02:12 on Sep 26, 2016 |
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Sep 26, 2016 02:07
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Gen Chatham As the next few days grind on, Gen learns a lot more about logistics than he had ever cared to know. Necessity being the mother of ingenuity, and with a fairly decent teacher, he and Erica do what seems to be a fairly decent job at organizing the upcoming buildout of the office. Her ideas are sound, and he does what he can to aid her in preparation. While he might be a bit out of his league running logistics, at the very least he did know security. Load-bearing supports were to be shored up, firewalls inspected and secured, 6-wall security for the server room, anything snazzy and/or deceptive in the windowed rooms, and emergency blockages for the ventilation system. It would be far easier to implement these changes after everything was cleaned, but it gave him time to source vendors, test products, and take some time to ponder this issue with Elsted Rao. There was little reason to deviate from the course he had started with Erica, especially if there was the chance of a hit. Given the history they had established with Rao, it might be a good idea for his actual self to be there, slightly flipping the script by having Erica transporting him to his body instead. pre:From: G.C@Killdozer.pmc Mr. Rao, Your presence is requested at 36 Cymuned Blvd tomorrow at 2:15pm. Please wear something comfortable and include your concealed weapon of choice, should you so wish. The entity at the lobby will instruct you from there. Looking forward to it! - Gen Chatham, Killdozer LLC Almost done with the work trip! Are there any rolls I can do to assist with Erica's sourcing? Likewise, should we come up with the more specific details of the building layout, or did you have something in particular in mind? Rhyos fucked around with this message at 07:23 on Sep 26, 2016 |
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Sep 26, 2016 06:30
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Erica Steiger Erica wasn't infantry. She had to spend some time in that role, when resources had ran out and tanks couldn't be kept running, but she wasn't good at it. Her thoughts kept drifting to organizing Killdozer's vehicle division in the future. Privately, she cursed the location. There was nowhere to put them. The garage was laughable. And even if she could figure it out, they were in the middle of the slums. It would take hours of driving through narrow streets to get anywhere. Even discounting the fact that it was ambush heaven, it was just damned inefficient. Then she is struck by a new thought. For a brief moment, she is angry at herself for thinking in the box and missing such an obvious solution, but this feeling is quickly replaced by self-satisfaction. Of course. The tower had a rooftop. It would only be a matter of some credits to install a freight elevator that goes to the roof, where the vehicles could be loaded onto a flier. It was still vulnerable to portable anti air, but that was preferable over ambush alley. Eager for a break from working on logistics and layout, she approaches Gen. "You mentioned picking a team. I've got... let's say strong opinions on that. Most PMCs like to recruit the best. Seems logical enough, and it is. But I'm going to argue the opposite. You see, in the war, units composed of the best cut through the enemy like a scythe. That's true. But as soon as the scythe encountered a rock, those men with perfect service records had their pick of any assignment. Pride is not to be underestimated, but when the going gets really, really tough, no one wants to die. The elite units burned very brightly, but faded quickly. I imagine that's even more true of a PMC, where someone can just find another company. Don't pick the best. Go for the dregs. The people with no options in life. The poor, the criminals, the disenfranchised. Those that fate gave a poo poo hand. You want real loyalty? Take those people and give them a good life. Expensive food, comfortable quarters, time off. That's more expensive than most companies or militaries like, but it buys you dedication to run through fire. You'll have Espirit de Corps up to here. Then you can teach them to shoot straight." We have four floors to work with, and a basement if I read it correctly. Erica thinks that the top floor should (as we expand, not immediately, obviously) turned into a flight hangar and workshop. The third floor would be the motor pool. Second floor for some quarters, mess hall and server room. Ground floor would be the reception and misc company stuff. The basement for the rest of the quarters as well as training area - gym and firing range, if space allows. This, of course, pending what the rolls find out!
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Sep 26, 2016 09:28
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'588' > 8 / 8 HP > 9 AC While he waits for the lasers to do their work, the hacker sends a message off to Chatham., curious to see how things are going down in the slums. pre:From: 588@killdozer.pmc To: G.C@killdozer.pmc Chatham, how are the interviews going? I have a good feeling about Roja, for what it's worth. The ship should be ready to fly soon, another two or three days at most. Any thoughts on which assignment we might want to pursue? I am beginning to develop a preference for the humanitarian mission in the Dynamene system, if you're undecided. There are people who need our help, and we're in a unique position to assist them. I remain open to the others, but in terms of a self-contained mission with reasonable proximity to something resembling civilization, it seems like the most practical option. In all honesty, I'm also a little worried about committing to a trek out to Shantri space, or to Crespo. I'm doing the best that I can to ensure everything on the ship is in working order before we're in the unforgiving sea of black, but I'd rather be on the doorstep to Caerleon in case anything goes wrong. The ship seems fine, mind you, I just have trust issues. Our maiden voyage should probably be a short one, just in case. Thoughts? Passive: Intelligence (+2) / Wisdom (-1) / Charisma (-2) / 3,420xp / 35,905cr / Killdozer LLC Skill (+0): Combat (gunnery) / Culture (traveler / Weltraum Zwang) / Security / Vehicle (space) / Tech (astronautic) Skill (+1): Computer / Navigation / Perception / Science / Stealth / Tech (maltech / medical / postech / pretech) Inventory (ready): Compad0 / Bioscanner1 / Dataslab1 / Metatool1 / Toolkit (astronautic)3 / Groundcar (48 hours) Inventory (stowed): Grenade launcher3 (3/3 shots, flashbang) / Stealth Field Uniform0 / Gravity Pack1 / Mag Pistol (silenced, 6/6 shots)1 Inventory (back at base): Instapanel (x5) / Lazarus patch (x1) / Medkit (x1) / Type A cell (x6)/ Flashbang grenade2 (x2) / Butler armature crate Inventory (warehouse): Armory (frigate) / Stealth Suit Cachex / Assault suit2 / Argus web1 __________________________________________________________________________________________
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Sep 26, 2016 20:19
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Zeppelin Insanity posted:Let's go with steward. It takes a bit of time, but Erica eventual manages to put together a basic plan for outfitting, supplying, and supporting a basic PMC. In truth, by the end of it the structire looks a lot like her company on her homeworld would have looked before the war, with a solid logistic train behind it and several back office supports in place. With Gen's help, the beginning of a solid organization begin to fall into place... on paper, at least. A roll of 6 is a pretty basic roll; there's room for improvement and streamlining in your business plan and it needs a decent amount of back office support to manage as it scales up in terms of employees, but it works. And at the end of the day, that's the important part, right? Waador posted:It was more of a personal victory, he supposed, but it still amused him that he'd beaten an entire collaborating team of CID scientists in a race to analyze the engine of the Fampir. It was hard to tell what the determining factor had been, though. The lack of any real need for sleep, food, or other biological distractions on his part was normally a competitive edge, but in this case he had taken a fair amount of time out of his day to enjoy the food, drink, and other entertainment available at the resort. He'd also spent at least half the morning streaming video in his room to relax. It had been an entirely fair race, and they had lost. Rather handily, actually, if they had still been a few days out from the task. Perhaps there had been some bureaucratic red tape involved? It didn't really matter, he supposed. A quick peek behind the scenes, but they shipped it to orbit where a team of scientists representing various clan power blocs took turns at the engine. It wasn't CID, remember, it was naval, and the Caerleon Navy is fragmentary as gently caress. It took them 76 hours to hit 30 when it was all said and done because they weren't sharing fully what they'd found. quote:
Rao walks into Killdozer a few minutes; to all appearances, he's unarmed and not particualrly happy at the conditions he finds. Still, he doesn't hestiate before approach Gen. "Elsted Rao, reporting." Feel free to blitz through Rao if you want, asking all the questions you have and I'll answer as Zep did, in a longer post. Well, not too long, it's Rao. He doesn't talk much. quote:Almost done with the work trip! Are there any rolls I can do to assist with Erica's sourcing? Likewise, should we come up with the more specific details of the building layout, or did you have something in particular in mind? Not really, at least not the way you'd think. SWN is built around the idea of simple, singular rolls and player wits; it's more explicit in later games, but the typical idea is that if someone is helping, at most it's a modifier to a roll but you don't have multiple rolls for a single action. There's exceptions, but that's a tough sell to make after the rolls. As for building details, make it as detailed or hand-wavey as you want for now. Anything substantial you'll need to invest money for, but number of rooms, size of them, etc? That's all up to you. Just remember the basics; this is a cheap building in the slums, surrounded by other buildings touching wall to wall in places. Most of the party could punch they way into/out of the building given a couple of rounds. Improving that is going to be a serious investment.
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Sep 27, 2016 01:52
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'588' > 8 / 8 HP > 9 AC A thoroughly painful twenty-four hours had passed, and he had finally been able to remove the polyceramic overlay from the hull. Capturing the material into barrels designed to house it had been simple enough, and it took about an hour after that for the tar-like material to cool and harden back into a form that was safe to handle and transport. The last thing he wanted was a car accident to spill it all over the road, rendering his day of suffering all for naught. As he loaded the barrels into the trunk of his groundcar, he began to ponder the question ...what to do with it? One way or another he planned to sell it, of course, so really the question was how to go about doing that. He had three options available to him, in that he could sell it today as-is, he could spend a bit of time repackaging it into a believable fresh-off-the-truck condition, or he could play the long game and wait for his recently established trading platform to develop a market where it could be traded at a fair price. The first option was off the table, as it was akin to setting money on fire. The latter option was appealing, but required patience. While he, as an immortal being with no real material needs, definitely had patience, Killdozer was on a timeline. Morally ambiguous or not, an influx of credits was required, and a little casual forgery was the best means available to accomplish that goal. Moreover, he knew for a fact that the overlay material was just as good on its second application as it would be the first time around. Hell, he could remove it from a hundred ships and it'd still be in more or less the same condition if properly processed. If some rear end in a top hat was willing to pay an extra seventy-five thousand credits for consumer packaging, he'd give it to them. He didn't want to make a careless mistake, though. If the previous day had taught him anything, it was that he still had a bit to learn when it came to using astronautic tools competently. Given that what he was talking about was also illegal, he would have to layer on a few appropriate contingencies. Durandal (the past) posted:
Thankfully, he knew just the person to help with the task. He liked Vasily. He liked the Russian mafia in general, actually. They were reliable, and if you had a good relationship with them, they normally wouldn't screw you over. Every system had its own local flavor of their culture, but even on an interstellar scale they somehow managed to get along reasonably well with their various factions. That was how it appeared to an outside observer, at least. He assumed the internal political situation was probably a little more complicated than that. At the moment, that didn't matter, though. Dialing the man on his compad, he inquires, "Василий, мой друг! Я делаю арт-проект позже во второй половине дня, и может воспользоваться помощью команды ваших самых талантливых художников! Можете ли вы организовать это? Я приду на склад." "Vasily, my friend! I am doing an art project later this afternoon, and could use the help of a team of your most talented painters! Can you arrange for this? I will come to the warehouse." He had rented the groundcar for two days, largely for this reason. It provided more than enough time to get to the warehouse, complete his 'art project', and transport it wherever it ended up needing to go. He would just have to swing by an electronics store on the way, to pick up a few supplies of his own. pre:Task #2 - Repackaging of the hardened polyceramic overlay. > Tech (astronautics)/Int vs. DC 10 to succeed. If Vasily is able to provide the talent, I will go through the following process to repackage the hardened polyceramic overlay... > I will go to an electronics store and purchase a holo unit for 50 credits. > I will go to Vasily's warehouse, and unload the barrels of overlay tar. > I will use the holo unit to project an image of what the new-in-box ceramic overlay barrels should look like, to consult as a basis while the forgery is underway. > I will use my astronautic toolkit to make the check, at 2d6+2+0. > I will hire a team of five expert-level artists/forgers to review my work and point out any flaws relative to the base product projected by the holo unit. They should each have +2 Perception, and normally cost 100cr per day, putting them to 200cr per day since they're Russian mafia helping me with illegal activity. With five of them that works out to 1,000cr per day. > I am not sure how long the process of repackaging the material will take? Passive: Intelligence (+2) / Wisdom (-1) / Charisma (-2) / 3,420xp / 35,905cr / Killdozer LLC Skill (+0): Combat (gunnery) / Culture (traveler / Weltraum Zwang) / Security / Vehicle (space) / Tech (astronautic) Skill (+1): Computer / Navigation / Perception / Science / Stealth / Tech (maltech / medical / postech / pretech) Inventory (ready): Compad0 / Bioscanner1 / Dataslab1 / Metatool1 / Toolkit (astronautic)3 / Groundcar (48 hours) Inventory (stowed): Grenade launcher3 (3/3 shots, flashbang) / Stealth Field Uniform0 / Gravity Pack1 / Mag Pistol (silenced, 6/6 shots)1 Inventory (back at base): Instapanel (x5) / Lazarus patch (x1) / Medkit (x1) / Type A cell (x6)/ Flashbang grenade2 (x2) / Butler armature crate Inventory (warehouse): Armory (frigate) / Stealth Suit Cachex / Assault suit2 / Argus web1 __________________________________________________________________________________________ Waador fucked around with this message at 05:46 on Sep 27, 2016 |
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Sep 27, 2016 05:29
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"Доброе утро Василий ! Это 588. Ты сегодня работаешь?"
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Gen Chatham With a little help from Erica, the interview setup is brought back to life. Back in his Squawkbox, he makes sure to shuffle back into place, Erica keeping an eye on things as Elsted shows up. Once again, the desk is populated with the squawkbox and a chair for the more ambulatory interviewees. Again, the lights on the front of the box cycle; green, yellow, red, before the artificial voice speaks. "Thank you for considering Killdozer, LLC. While questions do exist as to your background, the forthcoming interview should aid in disambiguation. As part of an in-person skills assessment, if you happen to have brought a concealed-carry firearm on your person, please proceed to field strip the device while considering your answers." The 3 lights click in sequence: Green, green, yellow, red. "To the best of your recollection, how many lives have you taken over the course of your career?" The lights click again: Yellow, red, red, green, red. "In your experience, what is your preferred caliber of ballistic round for the following ranges: 10m, 100m, 1km" Green, yellow, green. "What was the cause of death listed for you 8 years ago? What steps have been taken with the Caerleonian government to disambiguate this error?" Yellow. "On how many worlds have you performed covert operations?" Green, green, red, yellow. "You are separated from your unit. You find a way to achieve your objective, but it would ruin the cover of your unit. You are unable to use electronic communications. How do you proceed?" Yellow, green. "Paper or plastic?" Green, red. "You are tasked with retrieving an experimental piece of cyberware. In the course of your investigation, it is found to be implanted in an adolescent, and is currently keeping them alive. How do you proceed?" Red, red. "Please list all sovereign and private militaries you have served under, and any accolades you may have received during service." Green, yellow, yellow, red. "If you could have one food item packaged in all future rations, what would it be?" Green, a pause, then green again. "What did you eat, if anything, for breakfast last Tuesday?" Green. "How many blue lights have flashed during this interview?"
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Sep 27, 2016 08:03
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