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tuluse

Arcane
Joined
Jul 20, 2008
Messages
11,400
Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong
q-core, just as a macrodiagnostics tool, seems to belong to the whole system, rather than to individual CIs.

It's not like CI1 and CI2 were in on the scheme. What I assume happened is that Flenser infected certain systems, caused a crash to some and structural damage to others, and forced a reactivation of CIs. The fiorst two tried to access contaminated systems and got compromised. We could have easily been in their place.

So I am not sure that the q-core was left operational on purpose. It is more likely that Flenser tried to destroy it to the best of its abilities so that we couldn't interfere with its actions.

I am uneasy with 1B because I am not certain what we would be buying time for. For the Nexus to descend from the digital heavens and bring justice upon the infidels? It is this dependency on external help that makes me turn the option down.
It give us time to gather information, hell possibly even to get OTP encryption out.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Flunklesnarkin 1A
Baltika9 2B
Grimgravy 2A
Excommunicator 1A
Nevill 2B
Azira 2B
asxetos 2B
lightbane 2B
Kz3r0 2B
oscar 2B
Reject_666_6 2B
hello friend 2B
archaen 2A
Random Word 2B
tuluse 1B
Jester 2B
Kipeci 1B
Storyfag 2A
Elfberserker 2B

1A - 2
1B - 2
2B - 12
2A - 3
Not at all jonesing for an update.:M
 

Reject_666_6

Arcane
Joined
Oct 30, 2008
Messages
2,465
Location
Transylvania
Root hurry this shit up, both the pace of updates and the pace of development. Right now it reminds me of the dialogue at the beginning of adventure games, where you have to cycle through the same 5-6 text choices before you can progress.

Also, I assume we're running something newer than Windows 95, so we can multitask more. The Exuberant Angels were regularly faced with 2-3 choices per update, we should be getting in on some of that clusterfucky action - we'll have more shit to debate.
 

archaen

Cipher
Patron
Joined
Mar 10, 2014
Messages
633
I also want black jack and hookers in the next update; or at least a robot who espouses for their inclusion in any endeavor.
 

Holy Cow

Guest
[COMMWEB ACCESS DENIED]

Orders sent, carried out. None of you but CI4 will be able to access all systems until the OTP encryptions arrive. In your case, If they arrive. Time elapsed since reanimation, 510 seconds.

CI4 will keep up a low-grade comms channel open with you, encrypted to the maximum of your combined abilities. If any attempt at breaching it is detected, it will collapse and you will then be truly on your own. Assuming Flenser has been monitoring commweb activities, which it almost assuredly has, it will likely start mobilizing for physical confrontation now. Both infected CIs are equidistant from your location and so, assuming they have been able to reanimate the antigrav skimmer transports, you have about 800 seconds until they arrive, give or take 100, depending on how heavy a load they’re carrying. If they have somehow managed to break open the access locks to the Mobile Assault Synthesizer/Spearhead ships, then that means they will be within teleporting distance of you in 30 seconds. And you’ll be eradicated.

You look up to the looming, powered down shapes of the MASS ships waiting in the dais around your former stasis chamber. They should be inoperative until all CIs within a given node are linked up and given the go-ahead to follow the prime directive. One hopes Flenser hasn’t been able to get around that. No time to lose either way. You blink from stasis rack to stasis rack, bringing online as many slaved drones and semi-independent fire teams you can muster. They won’t be very many, certainly not with your power output so diminished, but needs must. You access the sensory of the scuttler repair drones and send them to power up all perimeter defenses they can. The green glow of the generators and their soundless humming permeate the vaulted underground halls that make up your demesne. Time elapsed since reanimation, 532 seconds.

You bring your personal command squad online. Monomolecular blades and the barrels of disassembler rifles and current carbines glint under your judicious glare. How smart is Flenser? How much of its own troops has it been able to bring online? Will it truly move against you? A thought occurs. CI4 seems to have been thinking along the same lines, and its access to the commweb allows it to monitor the surface indigenous species’ communications. The languages have not been decoded, but certain patterns of military movement and alarm should be fairly obvious within any language. CI4 reports no such patterns for the moment. Time elapsed since reanimation, 541 seconds.

The flesh echo of you lets out a deep breath. Either the MASS ships from the infected CIs have not been activated, or they have not been directed towards you. The work of bringing up as many defenses as your generators can reliably sustain proceeds apace. Even if you had an entire Sol Day to do this, an eternity to your senses, you would only be able to bring up an infinitesimal portion of your forces. Without explicit activation orders from a parent node and with your own node’s systems scrambled, that is as best as you can do. You are unsure if Flenser is working under the same limitations. Even if it is operating under the same restraints as you (a very low probability), it would still outnumber you 2 to 1.

If you are to survive a concerted assault, you need to outwit it. And to outwit it, you need information. If you jury-rigged a cloaked skimmer with just sensor drones and send it out to scout, you may well be able to detect the enemy before it reaches you. Equally possibly it has thought the same thing, or has already set up ambush positions of its own, in which case your skimmer may end up destroyed or, worse, compromised. You can change the cloaking algorithm should that happen, but if it’s compromised fast enough you might never notice it happening. You might be caught unawares. Besides, there are other, cruder preparations you can take. Time elapsed since reanimation is 542 seconds. It appears you have some time to think.

What would you like to do?

1) Send scout skimmer out

2) Don’t send scout skimmer out

Choose any number of the following, any option that gets 5+ votes will be implemented. Some may not harmonize well.

A) Rig the habitat-to-habitat tunnels to collapse. This will make your counteroffensive much harder, but it will slow enemy movement.

B) Divert all attempts from bringing troops online to awakening one of the dormant MASS ships. It’s a long shot, but an overwhelming advantage should you accomplish it. CI4 and your own q-core can aid you in this endeavor.

C) Overload the generators and bring out from stasis the Walker Assault Units. You have nowhere near enough computational capacity to orchestrate their movements with any precision, but their in-built semi-independent AIs should be competent enough to prove a deterrent to Flenser. However, this will hamper any future generator use until they are repaired.

D) CI4 is able to infiltrate the planetary communications network of the indigenous species. Should it falsify distress signals coming from certain points along the enemy’s route towards you (the points closer to the surface), this may well deflect the attack completely. But should Flenser fail to completely annihilate the groups coming to investigate these signals, you will have just revealed your presence in this planet, which will hamper your ultimate mission no small amount.

E) Rig your own habitat’s holding structures to collapse. This will cause extensive system damage but will not destroy the Core Intelligence, and it may well prevent any direct attack for some time. Of course, digging yourself out will be no small matter…
 
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Holy Cow

Guest
I've probably missed it, but what is our prime directive.

what indeed!

(this means you don't know. nor shall I tell you. only that it has some relation to the planet you're currently on and who's on it.)
 
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asxetos

Augur
Joined
Feb 11, 2009
Messages
820
Location
Greece
1. Lets risk it.
A + C.

B i think we should avoid because if we succeed, the other CIs will be very upset that we did it without the parent node's order.
D i have no clue. Might swing either way.
E will be bad because when we manage to get out the virus will already be dominant.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Interesting.

Am I to assume that we can expect some improvements to our situation once the OTP pad arrives? What systems would we be able to access that can help us survive? Is stalling the enemy of any use to us? I suspect one thing might improve drastically, and that's our communication with CI4. Anything else?

Anything with C and D sounds like a decent plan, though D would be harder to explain to other cores. Still, I like its cunning.

(this means you don't know. nor shall I tell you. only that it has some relation to the planet you're currently on and who's in it.)
Since we are expecting a distress signal upon our discovery and have tons of weaponry at our disposal to carry out the directive, I suppose the ITZ of varying proportions to be involved.

E will be bad because when we manage to get out the virus will already be dominant.
There are at least 3 other cores and we have locked the rogue ones out of the system. It might not be that bad.
 

Holy Cow

Guest
Interesting.

Am I to assume that we can expect some improvements to our situation once the OTP pad arrives? What systems would we be able to access that can help us survive? Is stalling the enemy of any use to us?

1) yes
2) all of them with OTP, after they're repaired
3) assuming you're banking on the KKK protocols to save yourselves, stalling would be quite valuable. plus the other CIs may send you reinforcements, but those will take a long time to arrive
 

Ranselknulf

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2
A,B,C,E

I don't think sending out a scout at this stage is a wise decision as even if the scout detects something you wouldn't be able to respond and the enemy might detect the scout and trace it back to your location. Better to work on defenses first and rigging collapses for a worst case scenario while trying to bring a few walkers online.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Is E a plan for a "worst case scenario", or is it a pre-emptive measure to bury ourselves under a pile of rubble and thus prevent the rogues from getting to us?

Also, I am not sure how B would be compatible to C, seeing how the former demands our undivided attention.
 

Ranselknulf

Arcane
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It said "rig for collapse" so i assumed it meant just prepare to set it off if need be.

If root actually means bury yourself now then it'd be a bad idea.
 

Holy Cow

Guest
means prepare with the assumption that if the enemy reaches you you'll bury yourself under a big ole pile of rubble
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
1AC or 2D, but not both, whichever has a chance to win.

I'd like to hear more thoughts on the skimmer though. I am afraid we are being too carreful, and that might not be a good thing in our situation. What's the worst that can happen to us if it gets shot down or hijacked? Is is worse than what happens if the enemies get the drop on us while we are blind?

root, what are the potential consequences of having the scout compromised? Wrong intel? Revealing ourselves? Something worse? Do we have a channel with it through which we can be hacked?

If it's just giving the intel to enemy, then using the skimmer might be bad in case of surprise moves (B, D, maybe E?), but more direct measures would not be affected much by it.
 
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Jaedar

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 5, 2009
Messages
9,837
Project: Eternity Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker
Query: Can we still try to access the archive?

Not sure if it would be wise to divert our attention to it regardless.

Query: You mentioned we 'blink'. I assume this is some form of teleportation. What is the limit? Presumably we could not just teleport to CI4, but if we collapse some parts of the complex, could we or the corrupted CIs still move through obstructions?
 

hello friend

Arcane
Joined
Feb 26, 2012
Messages
7,847
Location
I'm on an actual spaceship. No joke.
1BD

Everything is a long shot at this point. CI3 is most probably lost. It's done it's job, saving the rest from infection. Any troops fielded will be outfielded by the infected CIs having up to twice the computational capacity. Overloaded generators and collapsed tunnels help defenses, but leaves CI3 isolated and without any significant attack capabilities. Will the OTP even be able to reach us if all entry is blocked off? Completely shut off from the outside, CI3 represents less of a threat. This might give CIs 1 and 2 the breathing room to prepare for reprisal from CIs 4 thru 6.

CI3 is probably lost. Fucking infected shit up must be top priority, to give CIs 4-6 time and maximum advantage.

Option D buys some time for option B without compromising offensive capabilities.
 

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