I don't really see why we should move, the attacks are far from overwhelming and I cant see how moving to the borehole would take any pressure off.
Anyway considing the time it takes to build anything I dont think we can afford to at the moment.
Moving to the borehole would mean we only have to defend 2 locations, not 3.
It's wasteful to have to defend the base, borehole and Mandlebox all at once. Since we can't build a base on the mandlebox, and our current base doesn't have secret alien ruins and a very convenient tunnel system + more tunnelling! system underneath it, a borehole base would just be making good use of our resources.
True but it would also mean that if we lost one we would lose both and we are not certain that the hole will stay relevent forever. For all we know we could have to collapse it before the aliens get there or something. Also we don't know the possible long term psycological effects of setting up there, alien stuff has proved harmful in the past.
Less stuff to defend would be nice but I don't think we should move all our expensive toys there before we know exactly what there is.
0
Options
Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
Overview
Funds: €336M [+€(88+1d10)M/turn]
Research Progress: Mandlebox’s effects on human physiology and psychology [RP100] 26/100 [+3d12*/turn]
Engineering Progress: ELF Europe 23/25 [+1d10+1d10/turn]
Borehole Progress 100/100 [+2d10/turn] Suspended
Agency HQ, Madrid
Research labs [+1d12 RP/turn]
Distributed Research [+1d12 RP/turn]
Exotic Materials Lab [€10M/turn upkeep, +1d12 RP/turn]
Engineering bay [+1d10 EP/turn]
Radar Antenna Array [Allows detection of enemy vessels]
Hanger [Can maintain/hold 2 aircraft. Restores 1 aircraft wound / turn]
Another Hangar [[Can maintain/hold 2 aircraft. Restores 1 aircraft wound / turn]
Advanced Medical Lab [€10M/turn upkeep, Treats 1 wound / soldier / turn and 1 psyche / turn]
International Assets
UNIT [Active in Europe, Oceania and Asia, provides bonus missions, €30/turn upkeep]
DESCARTES PREMIER [Free attack on any alien craft that end up in Europe. Target number is 12 and it deals 1d4 damage]
Outsource manufacturing [+1 EP dice for projects of 25EP or over
Kola Superdeep Borehole [Digging too greedily and too deep]
ELF detector array in Asia [€250M, 25EP: Detects previously invisible craft, collects alien signals]
LF detector array in Europe [€250M, 25EP: Detects previously invisible craft, collects alien signals]
MIA
Traitor, Colonel Steven Hiller
[6,4+2,1/3] [Gunslinger II] [Revenge] [Tough] [Fragile] [death ray] [Targeting Computer]
LIVE ALIEN STORAGE
1x Dust Bunny Rockship Assault Pod Lander Crew
1x Dust Bunny Rockship Bomber Pilot
1x Weather Control Jelly
2x Snowglobe Crew Replicants
1x Snowglobe Response Team Jelly
STORAGE
Empty
Specials
[Gunslinger] - On a natural 20 gains an extra attack
[Gunslinger II] - On a natural 19-20 gains an extra attack
[Headshot] - On a natural 20 deals an extra 1d4-1 damage to the target
[Tough] - +1 Wounds
[Revenge] - +2 on combat rolls if a squadmate is killed in action
[Even The Odds] - +1 on combat rolls if outnumbered
[Iron Will] - +1 Psyche
[Medic] - Restores one wound after a mission
[Berserker] - +1 on combat rolls for every wound
[Quick Reactions] - +2 on combat rolls in first round
[Bloodlust] - Killing an alien restores 1 psyche
[Team player] - +1 on combat rolls if another soldier has the same trait
[Sacrifice] - Automatically deals one additional weapon hit when killed
[Spotter] - On a hit, an allied unit gains +1 on the next combat roll
[Field Research] - Earns 1RP after a mission
[Slow] - Fires every other turn
[Fragile] - Breaks on a natural 1
[Targeting Computer] - Lowers target by 2
[High explosive rounds] - +1 damage
· is a Black Mark. Collect two to drop a funding level with a council
Europe +€54 [Level 3] [Morale -0.1] [Difficulty 16]
Middle East +0 [Level 0] [Morale -0.2] [Difficulty 13, -4 penalty]
Asia +€30 [Level 3] [Morale -0.5] [Difficulty 16]
Africa +0 [Level 0] [Morale -0.2] [Difficulty 13, -3 penalty]
Oceania +€18 [Level 1] [Morale -0.1] [Difficulty 14]
North America [Level 0] [Morale -0.2] [Difficulty 13]
Central America [Level 0] [Morale -0.2] [Difficulty 13, -3 penalty]
South America [Level 0] [Morale -0.4] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
The Coca-Cola Company +€16[Level 1] [Morale -0.2] [Difficulty 14] [.]
Internal: +€20
Blackmarket sales: +€1d10
Research
Gear III: Personal Armour [Cost €10M, 5EP. Gives a soldier 1 armour], Powered Armour [Upgrades personal armour to 2 armour, allows Beyond Humanity project], High Capacity Transports [Cost €250M, 10EP. Unarmed, 4, 3] [Transport 7] ]
Materials I: Basic alien scrap analysis [Allows exotic material lab]
Alien Tech IV: Alien Comms I [mounts comm packages on all aircraft], Alien Comms II [Allows ELF detector array], Death Rays [Cost €15M, 10EP: Difficulty 8, [Fragile]], Stun weapons [Phase 1 combat now deals stun damage]
Xenobiology III: Fractal Fish [gives +2 diplomacy bonus with Oceania], Jelly dissection [-1 max wounds on Jellies], Dust Bunny dissection [global +2 diplomacy bonus],
Mysteries IV: Kola Superdeep Borehole [facility construction discount / mining spin out and excavation options], Borehole Fractals [Allows Fractal Energy Coupler (€500M and 50EP) and Energy Nexus (€500M and 50EP)], Vivsection Lab [allows advanced medical lab, identifies alien clones], Human composite blob [allows ELF detector to decode messages, allows unethical computation: increase research die size]
Narrative
"No change in course. Sorry sir, we missed."
"Ready all teams. And as soon as Interceptors make contact I want to hear it."
"All five have now made landfall and have started to burrow, Sir."
His palms were sweating. Looking out over The Pit, his seat of power, the Generalmajor rubbed his palms together. Red pixels swarmed around the three hot zones: The artillery site, the borehole at Kola and finally here, The Agency's stronghold beneath ESAC. When those bastards came they came in hard.
"Sir, Interceptor Two has visual contact. Signal analysis pans out, it's another bomber. Missile range. Solid hit but it's still coming. Screamers. It's deploying Screamers."
Live feeds from both of the interceptors were clearly visible on two of the big screens. Blue skies on the first and a multi-lobed rock bomber shrouded in smoke of the other. Rain poured down as the shrieking masses of black ribbons detached themselves from the surface and turned the cloudy sky black. Machine gun fire opened up carving out a tunnel through the heart of darkness. A glimpse of the grey-brown pock-marked surface and another pair of missiles streaked out. The camera shuddered and abruptly turned.
A brief cheer rolled around the room. One third of the way there.
"The first pods will breach in sixty seconds, Sir."
"Are the teams ready?"
"Yes, sir. Ready and waiting. We have estimated egr- Inteceptor One now has visual contact."
Necks craned to get a few of the ship that was coming down on the Borehole. This was something new. A rough agglomeration of rocks forced into a ring with a lozenge shaped stone at its heart, floating in place with no visible connection to the outer circle.
"Pit, this is Interceptor One. I have no fucking clue what that thing is. I say again, the alien vessel is not a design we've seen before."
"Interceptor One, you are clear to engage. Bring it down."
"Yessir."
Twin coils of vapour spiralled out from the bottom of the camera, tracing the path of the two supersonic missiles. One of the outer ring exploded into fire and smoke. In response the entire ship listed violently. Huge chunks of material dropped from the damaged rock as it disintegrated from the blast. Sunlight caught something on the central fragment. Electricity arced around the ring, growing in intensity as it raced around. Finally, having reached some critical level it leapt outwards turning the air between the alien vessel and the interceptor into a glowing plasma. The viewscreen in The Pit abruptly turned a saturated white. For several seconds there was only sound.
"It's... There's some kind of lightning weapon. I'm hit, but systems seem fine. I'm taking another pass."
"Generalmajor, the first lander has just breached sub-level thirty-five. Rainbow Force have engaged."
For a second his attention was diverted, so he heard the scream before he noticed that the screen had bleached white again.
"Sir, we have lost contact with Interceptor One. We are ordering an immediate evacuation of UNIT staff from the Kola site."
A few moments of frantic analyst activity, in which the second and third base breaches were announced,
"Sir, we have lost all contact with the Kola region. Exterior surveillance systems have been destroyed. Hotspot Gamma is still hot."
A glance at the holomap confirmed that the ship was still there broadcasting. Resolution wasn't good enough to know if it had set down or not, but it was there holding steady.
[Interception at Borehole
Phase1: Interceptor hits twice. Ring hits twice.
Phase2: Interceptor misses. Ring hits once
Phase3: Interceptor misses. Ring hits once. Interceptor destroyed]
Across the room alerts were sounding as the five things drove their burrowing ships down through the solid earth and out into The Agency's base. Camera images couldn't capture those horrors. Terrible abominations. Twisted impressions of Dust Bunnies. Strange creatures that shrugged off their typical oily environmental suits and instead fought exposed and apparently unaffected by this alien atmosphere.
Twenty minutes later and the Majorgeneral was sitting listening to the reports as they came in. All five were down, two friendly fatalities. All in all it wasn't bad. Five was more than had been expected. They'd had to split the troops down into tiny groups. It was risky. This whole thing was risky. An exercise in spreading yourself too thin. Taking a deep breath he got to his feet. He needed to congratulate the men. They'd done well. They'd lost the Borehole for the moment. But just for the moments. They'd held the Mandlebox in place and repelled another direct strike on their home. They would win this war yet.
[DESCARTES misses the landers. All five land successfully each deploying a solitary something
Base attack! All available personnel join the fray, forcing five teams to each face one of the mysterious aliens
Team 1: Archer, Rei, Jessup, Hanson
Team 2: Greer, Loeb, Poovey, Harris
Team 3: young, Kawalsky, Shinji
Team 4: Johansen, Alpert, Tunt
Team 5: Scott, Sayid, Feretti]
[Team 1
Round 1: Creature is stun immune, so team uses live rounds. No hits. Monster hits once.
Round 2: Team hit once. Monster hits twice.
Round 3: Team hit three times. Monster misses
Round 4: Team misses. Monster misses.
Round 5: Team score five hits. Monster hits twice
Round 6: Team hit once. Monster hits once. Monster is dead]
[Team 2
Round 1: Creature is stun immune, so team uses live rounds. Team hit twice. Monster hits twice.
Round 2: Team hit once. Monster hits twice
Round 3: Team hit eight times. Monster hits once. Monster is dead.]
[Team 3:
Round 1: Creature is stun immune, so team uses live rounds. Team hit three times. Monster hits once.
Round 2: Team hit once. Monster hits once.
Round 3: Team hit twice. Monster hits twice
Round 4: Team hit three times. Monster hits twice
Round 5: Team hit twice. Monster misses. Monster is dead]
[Team 4:
Round 1: Creature is stun immune, so team uses live rounds. Team hit once. Monster hits once
Round 2: Team hit twice. Monster hits once
Round 3: Team hit once. Monster hits twice
Round 4: Team hit twice. Monster hits twice
Round 5: Team hit once. Monster hits once
Round 6: Team hit twice. Monster hits twice. Alpert is dead
Round 7: Team hit once. Monster hits once. Monster is dead.]
[Team 5:
Round 1: Creature is stun immune, so team uses live rounds. Team hit once. Monster misses
Round 2: Team miss. Monster hits once
Round 3: Team hit three times. Monster critical hits, restores 1HP and causes 1 psyche damage to Scott
Round 4: Team hit once. Monster hits once
Round 5: Team hit once. Monster hits once
Round 6: Team hit twice. Monster hits twice.
Round 7: Team hit twice. Monster misses.
Round 8: Team hit once. Monster hits twice. Scott is dead. Monster is dead]
[+1RP from Field Research. 3 Wounds healed by Medics
Alpert and Scott are dead
Hanson, Harris, Shinji and Sayid all go up a rank.
Hanson learns Team Player
Harris learns Spotter
Shinji learns Quick reactions
Sayid learns Tough]
Next
A - Perform focused research [additional +1d12 RP this turn]
B - Perform focused engineering [additional +1d10 EP this turn]
C - Hire new military personnel (specify number) [€20M each]
D - Train existing military personnel (specify soldier to promote) [Cost is €2M * Old Rank]
E - Hold negotiations to improve funding / remove black marks(specify council) F - Start construction of an ELF detector array in [Region] [€250M, 25EP: Detects previously invisible craft, collects alien signals]
G - Start construction of a Fractal Energy Coupler in Asia [€500M, 50EP: can possibly damage the Mandlebox]
H - Start construction of an Energy Nexus in [Region] [€500M, 50EP: routes all energy from a region to the FEC]
I - Start producing [n] suits of Personal Armour [€10M, 5EP] [10/19 troops armoured]
J - Start producing [n] death rays [€15M, 10EP. Difficulty 8 [fragile] weapon] [3/19 troops have death rays]
K - Implement Unethical Computation [€500M, increases RP dice to d15, atrocity]
L - Implement Beyond Humanity Cyborg Program [€500M, one soldier per turn returning to base with only 1 remaining wound is made into a cyborg at a cost of €20 +1 armour, -1 psyche, +1 on combat rolls, atrocity]
M - Buy/Build new aircraft [€250M Interceptor or €250M,10EP Dropship, three open hangar slots]
N - Build and have the ESA launch DESCARTES DEUXIEME [Asia or Oceania, €250M, 25EP]
COMBAT - Engage a contact in Asia [Targets: Supply ship, Retake borehole, Random Ground, Random Air ]
PROTOCOL OMEGA - Active the self destruct system
1 - Execute pseudo-replicant "Cleopatra"
2 - Send her back to Richardopolis to try and win some goodwill
3 - Try to sell her back to Richardopolis to try and win some fantastic cash prizes
4 - Commence "enhanced" interrogation of "Cleopatra"
5 - Let her go free even though she hates you now
Mojo_Jojo on
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
Cleopatra knows nothing and won't cooperate, and when we picked her up we got promptly dropped on by 5 alien ships and lost 3 good soldiers. I say screw it - shoot her and burn the corpse. We've got enough problems and Richardpolis doesn't know we have her.
I would be up for hiring more troops, but we need to take the mandelbox down soon.
He's a shy overambitious dog-catcher on the wrong side of the law. She's an orphaned psychic mercenary with the power to bend men's minds. They fight crime!
We have a clone of a famous queen, that's got to be worth scratch or favors. Then we need to get another interceptor soon as well. Troops and planes, too many money troubles.
Frankly, before releasing her on this messed up unsuspecting world I'd rather make damn sure we know everything she knows. Just incase she carries something valuable. And, she does hate us which means we can benefit even less from releasing her.
Look I am the one who wanted to make her our mascot and pull a Caesar but you had to interrogate her, lets just finish the job then okay?
He's a shy overambitious dog-catcher on the wrong side of the law. She's an orphaned psychic mercenary with the power to bend men's minds. They fight crime!
Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
edited May 2013
Turn 50 Decision: E[Oceania] 4 - Deploy the interrogation bees and see if Australia can spare some cash Numbers:
Overview
Funds: €428M [+€(106+1d10)M/turn]
Research Progress: Mandlebox’s effects on human physiology and psychology [RP100] 37/100 [+3d12*/turn]
Engineering Progress: No Project 0/0 [+1d10+1d10/turn]
Borehole Progress 100/100 [+2d10/turn] Occupied by Alien Forces
Agency HQ, Madrid
Research labs [+1d12 RP/turn]
Distributed Research [+1d12 RP/turn]
Exotic Materials Lab [€10M/turn upkeep, +1d12 RP/turn]
Engineering bay [+1d10 EP/turn]
Radar Antenna Array [Allows detection of enemy vessels]
Hanger [Can maintain/hold 2 aircraft. Restores 1 aircraft wound / turn]
Another Hangar [[Can maintain/hold 2 aircraft. Restores 1 aircraft wound / turn]
Advanced Medical Lab [€10M/turn upkeep, Treats 1 wound / soldier / turn and 1 psyche / turn]
International Assets
UNIT [Active in Europe, Oceania and Asia, provides bonus missions, €30/turn upkeep]
DESCARTES PREMIER [Free attack on any alien craft that end up in Europe. Target number is 12 and it deals 1d4 damage]
Outsource manufacturing [+1 EP dice for projects of 25EP or over
Kola Superdeep Borehole [Digging too greedily and too deep]
ELF detector array in Asia [€250M, 25EP: Detects previously invisible craft, collects alien signals]
ELF detector array in Europe [€250M, 25EP: Detects previously invisible craft, collects alien signals]
MIA
Traitor, Colonel Steven Hiller
[6,4+2,1/3] [Gunslinger II] [Revenge] [Tough] [Fragile] [death ray] [Targeting Computer]
LIVE ALIEN STORAGE
1x Dust Bunny Rockship Assault Pod Lander Crew
1x Dust Bunny Rockship Bomber Pilot
1x Weather Control Jelly
2x Snowglobe Crew Replicants
1x Snowglobe Response Team Jelly
STORAGE
Empty
Specials
[Gunslinger] - On a natural 20 gains an extra attack
[Gunslinger II] - On a natural 19-20 gains an extra attack
[Headshot] - On a natural 20 deals an extra 1d4-1 damage to the target
[Tough] - +1 Wounds
[Revenge] - +2 on combat rolls if a squadmate is killed in action
[Even The Odds] - +1 on combat rolls if outnumbered
[Iron Will] - +1 Psyche
[Medic] - Restores one wound after a mission
[Berserker] - +1 on combat rolls for every wound
[Quick Reactions] - +2 on combat rolls in first round
[Bloodlust] - Killing an alien restores 1 psyche
[Team player] - +1 on combat rolls if another soldier has the same trait
[Sacrifice] - Automatically deals one additional weapon hit when killed
[Spotter] - On a hit, an allied unit gains +1 on the next combat roll
[Field Research] - Earns 1RP after a mission
[Slow] - Fires every other turn
[Fragile] - Breaks on a natural 1
[Targeting Computer] - Lowers target by 2
[High explosive rounds] - +1 damage
· is a Black Mark. Collect two to drop a funding level with a council
Europe +€54 [Level 3] [Morale -0.1] [Difficulty 16]
Middle East +0 [Level 0] [Morale -0.2] [Difficulty 13, -4 penalty]
Asia +€30 [Level 3] [Morale -0.5] [Difficulty 16]
Africa +0 [Level 0] [Morale -0.2] [Difficulty 13, -3 penalty]
Oceania +€36 [Level 2] [Morale -0.1] [Difficulty 15]
North America [Level 0] [Morale -0.2] [Difficulty 13]
Central America [Level 0] [Morale -0.2] [Difficulty 13, -3 penalty]
South America [Level 0] [Morale -0.4] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
The Coca-Cola Company +€16[Level 1] [Morale -0.2] [Difficulty 14] [.]
Internal: +€20
Blackmarket sales: +€1d10
Research
Gear III: Personal Armour [Cost €10M, 5EP. Gives a soldier 1 armour], Powered Armour [Upgrades personal armour to 2 armour, allows Beyond Humanity project], High Capacity Transports [Cost €250M, 10EP. Unarmed, 4, 3] [Transport 7] ]
Materials I: Basic alien scrap analysis [Allows exotic material lab]
Alien Tech IV: Alien Comms I [mounts comm packages on all aircraft], Alien Comms II [Allows ELF detector array], Death Rays [Cost €15M, 10EP: Difficulty 8, [Fragile]], Stun weapons [Phase 1 combat now deals stun damage]
Xenobiology III: Fractal Fish [gives +2 diplomacy bonus with Oceania], Jelly dissection [-1 max wounds on Jellies], Dust Bunny dissection [global +2 diplomacy bonus],
Mysteries IV: Kola Superdeep Borehole [facility construction discount / mining spin out and excavation options], Borehole Fractals [Allows Fractal Energy Coupler (€500M and 50EP) and Energy Nexus (€500M and 50EP)], Vivsection Lab [allows advanced medical lab, identifies alien clones], Human composite blob [allows ELF detector to decode messages, allows unethical computation: increase research die size]
Narrative
Part of the ritual was to print out the most important emails. Quick notes were dealt with electronically, but anything that warranted a decision, required some thought, he'd be sure to deal with a copy on paper. So now, Generalmajor Reichenbach had four neatly stapled documents on the desk. He just wasn't really looking forward to dealing with any.
The top one could definetly wait until the end though. His stomach actually knotted at the thought of dealing with Dr Thomas' complaint. Damn Scot. This was why he'd had her out at Kola. This exact situation was what he'd been trying to avoid but her work there was done and there was only so long he could keep her at arm's length. For a moment, he stared at it blankly before pushing it aside.
At least the next item started out with some much needed good news. The ELF array in Europe was now online. The Port Talbot site was now busily collecting signals. Initial findings were not quite as bad as they had been in Asia, but they were far from good. Seven ground sites and a constant cloud of otherwise invisible traffic rushing through the atmosphere. There had also been something that some of the technicians were calling an artefact and others were calling a legitimate hit. A brief burst of ELF signals from the central Atlantic, approximately sea level, which had then promptly vanished. It was too hard to zero in on being right at the extreme edge of coverage. They'd need another array on the opposite side of the ocean to verify. Still, there was one great advantage of seeing the enemy on home ground. DESCARTES was watching. The only risk was that the aliens showed some glimmer of intelligence and shot the ancient Cold War satellite down once it had claimed a few of their ships. Tricky one that. They'd not moved on it so far though. He scribbled a few pencil notes and moved to the next document.
A little background on The August Knights of the Holy Cross of Our Lady of Guadalupe had finally been unearthed. A determined analyst had been collecting up various ancient Catholic texts in the hope of getting lucky and he had. The Knights were an old organisation, dating back at least to the Crusades and achieving magnificently little and gradually dying out. Their mission (which may have been a direct papal directive directive if you look a strangely liberal reading of one document) was to prepare the Earth for the Rapture. Exactly how to go about this seemed to be the central problem in keeping the organisation alive. They had a steady group of members over the centuries, with the heart apparently moving down certain family lines. Originating around Venice, the group had slowly drifted around Europe until it eventually fissioned across to the Americas. Surprisingly their message of strict preparation for the end of the physical world hadn't gone done well in the United States so they'd mostly ended up in the lower half of the continental mass. The European arm looked to have died
out completely,
Once or twice a group using the name (who may not have been the group itself) had drawn attention to itself as a Doomsday cult. Nothing like that since the 1960's in Cuba though. their own mythology seemed to have gradually developed into waiting for something which could very easily be interpreted as the current state of the planet. There was mention of the leaders of the world breaking bread together and this being their final act as mortals. Perhaps a little more directly worrying was that their apocalypse involved Angels and their "Fallen Brethren" descending upon the world of men prior to God himself arriving to take the righteous with him to heaven.
They were rich though. The Vatican had been giving them a stipend for as far back as records went. And through creative international book-keeping they'd managed to withhold most of it from the various governments who were due taxes.
The modern organisation had apparently dubbed the aliens as Fallen Angels which was good. Their methods were however extreme. Alien sympathisers and replicants were "unmasked" on a semi-regular basis. It was only a matter of time before the people realised that an undemocratic militia executing key officials for being aliens with little or no supporting evidence was not in their best interests.
No real actions to take for the moment, and so the Majorgeneral turned to his next item: Cleopatra. Despite her reluctance, interrogators were able to inspire her to communicate. What she shared was garbled and riddled with desperate lies but this had subsequently been reassembled to provide a few intriguing details about Richardopolis. The city that was now the defacto capital of the Middle East was taking a considerable interest in Africa. That region had not established a reliable response to the incursions. Local military tended to deal with threats as they were reported, but resources were stretched thin and any learnings were local. To this end the Branson Empire was implementing a framework to tie together these groups into one coherent mass. A coherent mass that they had considerable influence over.
Influence which extended to building something. The problem was that Cleopatro didn't know what her husband had wanted to build, but she did know that he'd started and that he was particularly happy about this turn of events. Sadly, Subject Nile had expired before being able to provide any additional insights into Richardopolis and the larger Branson Empire. Her remains were now with Dr Bishop pending investigation
[One set of heavily used Pseudo-replicant remains provide +5RP on blackgoo research]
And that just left Dr Estefan and Dr Thomas' situation. The response the Agency should take was obvious. Estefan would be suspended immediately pending police action and then they'd have an internal formal disciplinary hearing to identify any systematic issues that bred a culture where this could happen. It should have been an unpleasant matter but one where they could all follow procedure. The Generalmajor had seen this catastrophe approaching and despite his best efforts he'd still not managed to avoid it.
What was he to do? Call the police? Tell one of his best scientists to stop working? Just let the Mandlebox turn the world insane? Let the Dust Bunnies replace every single civilian with a replicant? No. Those were unacceptable options but he also couldn't just let this go on as business as usual. And not least because that might cost him Thomas, another of the brilliant minds that they needed. He wished that Dr Thomas had dealt with this herself, that she'd done anything but make a formal report, but the Generalmajor knew that blaming the victim was a hateful act. And yet he did. At least to some extent. Not as much as he despised having to keep Estefan working for him though. He'd let the whitecoats run wild and this was what had come of it.
Maybe he could just sit them both down together? Would Thomas even be willing to sit at the same table as him? The medical report had photos. The bruises across her face would be there for at least a week. The man was a monster, there was no doubt. He should have kept Thomas offsite. If he had he wouldn't be sat here trying to find a way to deal with one of his top scientists getting drunk and apparently trying to rape a colleague in a hallway. Thank God that Greer had been nearby to stop it.
Next
A - Perform focused research [additional +1d12 RP this turn]
B - Perform focused engineering [additional +1d10 EP this turn]
C - Hire new military personnel (specify number) [€20M each]
D - Train existing military personnel (specify soldier to promote) [Cost is €2M * Old Rank]
E - Hold negotiations to improve funding / remove black marks(specify council)
F - Start construction of an ELF detector array in [Region] [€250M, 25EP: Detects previously invisible craft, collects alien signals] G - Start construction of a Fractal Energy Coupler in Asia [€500M, 50EP: can possibly damage the Mandlebox]
H - Start construction of an Energy Nexus in [Region] [€500M, 50EP: routes all energy from a region to the FEC]
I - Start producing [n] suits of Personal Armour [€10M, 5EP] [10/19 troops armoured]
J - Start producing [n] death rays [€15M, 10EP. Difficulty 8 [fragile] weapon] [3/19 troops have death rays] K - Implement Unethical Computation [€500M, increases RP dice to d15, atrocity]
L - Implement Beyond Humanity Cyborg Program [€500M, one soldier per turn returning to base with only 1 remaining wound is made into a cyborg at a cost of €20 +1 armour, -1 psyche, +1 on combat rolls, atrocity]
M - Buy/Build new aircraft [€250M Interceptor or €250M,10EP Dropship, three open hangar slots]
N - Build and have the ESA launch DESCARTES DEUXIEME [Asia or Oceania, €250M, 25EP]
COMBAT - Engage a contact [Choose a region [Europe, Asia] and a target [Supply ship, Random Ground, Random Air] or Attempt to Retake the Borehole]
PROTOCOL OMEGA - Active the self destruct system
1 - Do not use DESCARTES PREMIER on the random contacts in Europe
2 - Have DESCARTES PREMIER open fire on the aerial ELF contacts in Europe
3 - Have DESCARTES PREMIER open fire on the ground sites in Europe
Mojo_Jojo on
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
COMBAT[Asia][Attempt to Retake the Borehole]
I think we should try and regain control of the Borehole as soon as possible, we don't want the aliens to finish whatever they were doing there last time.
0
Options
jakobaggerLO THY DREAD EMPIRE CHAOS IS RESTOREDRegistered Userregular
We definitely need the Borehole back. We've tunneled all the way to the core, so we need to get in there and make sure they don't do the thing they were trying to when we first took it. Also, I am still team "let's move base to the borehole".
COMBAT[Asia][Attempt to Retake the Borehole]
But then there's this:
Maybe he could just sit them both down together? Would Thomas even be willing to sit at the same table as him? The medical report had photos. The bruises across her face would be there for at least a week. The man was a monster, there was no doubt. He should have kept Thomas offsite. If he had he wouldn't be sat here trying to find a way to deal with one of his top scientists getting drunk and apparently trying to rape a colleague in a hallway. Thank God that Greer had been nearby to stop it.
What the fuck? Did we have any inkling this was coming? Psyche reports, video monitoring or something? A top scientist went from "intelligent guy" to "violent rapist" ?
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wiltingI had fun once and it was awfulRegistered Userregular
Subsequently, we seriously need to rebuild our interceptor numbers. Possibly get a second dropship, to deal with all these ELF hits and attacks.
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jakobaggerLO THY DREAD EMPIRE CHAOS IS RESTOREDRegistered Userregular
Unfortunately, I don't really think being a brilliant scientist rules out being a violent rapist. Don't think we had any concrete hints, but I guess our agency's dispension of all oversight, ethical standards etc, combined with a culture where we just tortured a prisoner to death...didn't help?
Combat(Asia - Retake Borehole)
Interrogating a enemy sleeper agent is one thing, raping a colleague is another. We need to replace him. However, he is carrying a lot of information that we don't need the world to see. Perhaps, instead of replacing him we'll transfer him to the borehole if we recapture it this turn. We should also restrict and monitor his movements.
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Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
Sometimes I wonder if I make things too obvious when I'm writing. Apparently not. Possibly because of all the typos.
Estefan being a nasty piece of work and his relationship with Dr Thomas should have been well established by now. I didn't mean this just be "and then somebody tries to rape a coworker."
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
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jakobaggerLO THY DREAD EMPIRE CHAOS IS RESTOREDRegistered Userregular
Estefan being nasty in general I had picked up on, but I think I missed this specific nastiness. Occasionally I (and, I suspect, others) may gloss over some of the story/flavour text while skimming to pick out the stats, decisions and other game info. Which is lame, because I enjoy what you write, and am invested in this as story as well as game, but I guess it's just the training from video games kicking in.
Unfortunately, I don't really think being a brilliant scientist rules out being a violent rapist. Don't think we had any concrete hints, but I guess our agency's dispension of all oversight, ethical standards etc, combined with a culture where we just tortured a prisoner to death...didn't help?
We might be able to bring her back if we get the tech. Since she can't remember her death, we can just keep bringing her back until we get all the information we need!
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Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
Right. I'm moving house, which means no posting for a bit as I'll only have internet at work until next Thursdayish.
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
Right. I'm moving house, which means no posting for a bit as I'll only have internet at work until next Thursdayish.
stop having a normal responsible adult life!
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Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
So it's been over a week and today I sat down to write another update but it just wasn't fun. It was work I had to do. That is entirely the wrong spirit for this.
I can offer excuses about mistakes I made with the game that make posts time consuming and annoying for me, but there's no real need. I just can't put the time in that needs anymore.
That said, I had been directing this towards a close, so here's a summary of where things were going:
Mandlebox(es)
These are the source of life in the universe. Or at least both human and dust bunny. Earth had a foetal Mandlebox inside it all along (as you discovered during your Kola Borehole investigations) and it was this seed that gave the jump start necessary to boring chemistry to make interesting biochemistry.
Life is an unintentional side-effect for these things, they are just big sponges that shift energy between forms across the universe. Whether they are alive in any meaningful sense is also a lingering question, they could be manifestations of fundamental physics (like how planets orbit around suns) or they could just be incredibly apathetic to the strange little ripples they leave in their wake.
Regardless, small quantities of dark energy gradually grow across incredibly slow timescales, creating life in the process, but eventually they hit critical mass and off they "wake up".
Waking up tends to destroy the planet around them and then they set off out into the universe on their mysterious errands.
The Mandlebox was a mature specimen which had originally been inside the Dust Bunny homeworld. The process of awaking tore open a wormhole between solar systems and through this the Mandlebox came to feed on its unborn brother.
Dust Bunnies
Born to a massive world with incredibly high pressures, these squidgey creatures came into being due to the Mandlebox living inside their own planet. They realised that they were doomed far too late to do much about it and so most of their civilisation was destroyed. What survived came through the rift in space into Earth's solar system. And at this point the disagreed slightly about what they needed to do next. They had no home and there is only so long you can live in the hastily cobbled together spaceships that they had.
A key problem they had was that this solar system didn't offer much in the way of useful elements (their homeworld featured a mostly different set of elements due to the higher energies in its creation, so they had access to the other "islands of stability"). One of the key features of these higher order elements was that they don't couple well with gravity, in fact some of them have a negative effective mass. i.e. anti-gravity ahoy.
So they arrived and a section of their remaining society mutinied and left the armada behind. These were the Dust Bunnies were tended to drive the hollowed out asteroids. They also had determined that the Mandlebox created life on their own planets and saw it as a god. They were taking the destruction of their world as a sign that they had not lived pious lives and so were devoting themselves to the worship of a vast manifestation of maths and hoping that maybe if they furthered its goals it would make them a new home.
The other faction were much more practical. Their home was destroyed and now they were stuck with a small fleet of spaceships and the thing that killed everybody they knew was now about to repeat the act. They also realised that a Mandlebox is like a big bucket of energy. Their plan was to tap the dark energy of the dormant Mandlebox and use it to rapidly terraform the Earth (grossly increasingly its mass and giving them a more habitable planet). To this end they were conducting all kinds of ground-based science experiments (replicants were a stab at maybe adapting themselves to the planet and then became a way of dealing with the weird bald apes that kept getting in the way of their work).
Dust Bunny psychology didn't really allow for direct violence, so their conflict was fairly subtle and subdued by human standards.
Jellies
These were specially developed by the colonist faction of the Dust Bunnies for Earth-Side missions. They're just partially biological robots.
Replicants
A scientific inquiry into survival on low-pressure planets. This alien project evolved from understanding humans to trying to adapt to Earth to finally a method of controlling the populace. Not-Wolner was an early prototype who escaped, although he wasn't strictly loyal and could have been triggered down the line (he ignored blowing up the base when presented with the option because the Dust Bunnies didn't really see them as a threat at the time). His reaction to the Mandlebox was a typical human one, his mind snapped and he may have revealed that he was a sleeper agent down the line.
Cleopatra was a human constructed replicant. The Branson Empire figured out how to make their own version of replicant goo which let them clone people from their own remains.
The Branson Empire
These guys were attempting to save the world and also to take over the world. The idea being that as the world governments have all been more or less destroyed then they can fend off the aliens and the Earth can be united under a program of enforced beards. To that end they were funding the terrorist action - although this later died out due to the August Knights.
The August Knights
A Christian fundamentalist doomsday cult. The plan for them was to gradually become subverted by the Mandlebox (accepting it as their God and essentially becoming a human reflection of the rockship aliens).
Pepsi Present Earth Defenders
A terrible solution to a real problem, but they were a force for good if just a terribly crass one.
Hiller
Hiller was going to come back in the final battle on the alien mothership (assuming that you didn't massively piss off PPED). He'd accepted that his marriage was a sham and he really loved Franklin. So he was gradually trying to get to New York to be with his lover (which would have put him back on the radar), although Franklin was also happily married I presume his wife would be cool with it.
I'll stick something in the general CYOA thread about the specific cock ups I made running this that led to it collapsing. But not right now.
Sorry for not seeing this through.
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
wiltingI had fun once and it was awfulRegistered Userregular
edited May 2013
Thanks for the fun/crazy ride Mojo. I like how the aliens themselves were victims of vast forces of the universe beyond their comprehension. So, would the alien mandblebox feeding on the Earth proto-mandlebox have been a good thing then? In that it would stall the growth of the Earth box. Probably just do plenty of damage itself, I'm guessing.
I like how the religious reaction would affect both humans and aliens, interesting, was never quite sure where that element was going.
What was the deal with the artefact stealing/museum attacks? Just part of the effort to understand humans?
I could ask more questions, such as whether you kept track of the alien activity we didn't see etc, perhaps that's better left to the general CYOA thread.
I'd also like to say double thanks for sharing some of the overall plotlines that would have been touched on. At least we got a feeling as to where it would've gone.
Especially with Hiller. That would've been a perfect touch at the end.
Great game, you really brought out a lot of character in your writing. Sorry to see it end, but yeah we wouldn't want you to feel like it was a forced work program.
Thanks Mojo.
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Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
edited May 2013
Glad that people had fun with it.
The art theft stuff was me trying to demonstrate that even though the aliens divided into two factions they weren't just single goal homogeneous blobs. So while there was no discussion on their end at all about whether it was "wrong" to exterinate a living planet to give themselves a new home, a small group of the colonists wanted to have some relics of how Earth was. For a museum.
Plus it helped enforce their alien psychology to have weird goals.
The Mandlebox reaching the borehole would have been game over really. The earth would be less destroyed than if the dormant one matured alone but it still would have been pretty catastrophic. Maybe I would have carried on and made it more about trying to stop the planet from collapsing as a big chunk of it sailed into space
On question, I'm happy to answer them. I think it's best to keep plot stuff here and mechanics stuff in the other thread though.
Mojo_Jojo on
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
Just how bad of an idea would it have been to implement the Beyond Humanity project? Or other atrocity things - I don't think we did any.
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SnicketysnickThe Greatest Hype Man inWesterosRegistered Userregular
Aye, sorry to see this end, I'd drifted off for the last couple of updates because of RL, but I could see us getting somewhere. Don't feel disheartened though, you seem to have a talent for these!.
Seeing as the world is ending, I may as well boost my praise:
Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
Atrocities were a cumulative thing. So one or two just give some diplomacy penalties but eventually they start causing morale hits for your home regions.
And yes, Snick also had a triple vote up his sleeve (for working out what was going on with Hiller)
One thing I didn't mention was the dust bunny spear you found. There was only one and it was a dark energy fragment which had detached from the Mandlebox when it was eating the dust bunny homeworld. It was a weapon and holy Artefact which would have had a small chance to injure your own team
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
Posts
True but it would also mean that if we lost one we would lose both and we are not certain that the hole will stay relevent forever. For all we know we could have to collapse it before the aliens get there or something. Also we don't know the possible long term psycological effects of setting up there, alien stuff has proved harmful in the past.
Less stuff to defend would be nice but I don't think we should move all our expensive toys there before we know exactly what there is.
Decision: B[Borehole/Artillery] 2
Numbers:
Funds: €336M [+€(88+1d10)M/turn]
Research Progress: Mandlebox’s effects on human physiology and psychology [RP100] 26/100 [+3d12*/turn]
Engineering Progress: ELF Europe 23/25 [+1d10+1d10/turn]
Borehole Progress 100/100 [+2d10/turn] Suspended
Agency HQ, Madrid
Distributed Research [+1d12 RP/turn]
Exotic Materials Lab [€10M/turn upkeep, +1d12 RP/turn]
Engineering bay [+1d10 EP/turn]
Radar Antenna Array [Allows detection of enemy vessels]
Hanger [Can maintain/hold 2 aircraft. Restores 1 aircraft wound / turn]
Another Hangar [[Can maintain/hold 2 aircraft. Restores 1 aircraft wound / turn]
Advanced Medical Lab [€10M/turn upkeep, Treats 1 wound / soldier / turn and 1 psyche / turn]
International Assets
DESCARTES PREMIER [Free attack on any alien craft that end up in Europe. Target number is 12 and it deals 1d4 damage]
Outsource manufacturing [+1 EP dice for projects of 25EP or over
Kola Superdeep Borehole [Digging too greedily and too deep]
ELF detector array in Asia [€250M, 25EP: Detects previously invisible craft, collects alien signals]
LF detector array in Europe [€250M, 25EP: Detects previously invisible craft, collects alien signals]
Personnel
ACTIVE
Captain Sterling Archer
[10,3,4] [Gunslinger] [Bloodlust] [Iron Will] [combat rifle]
Sergeant Everett Young
[10,3+2, 4] [Team player] [Iron Will] [combat rifle]
Sergeant Tamara Johansen
[10,3+2, 3] [Medic] [Headshot] [combat rifle]
Sergeant Rei Ayanami
[10, 3+2, 3] [Medic] [Headshot] [combat rifle]
Squaddie Charles Kawalsky
[10,3+2, 3] [Even the Odds] [combat rifle]
Squaddie Amy Jessup
[10,3, 3] [Field Research] [combat rifle]
STANDBY
NONE
MEDICAL LEAVE
Captain Ronald Greer
[14,1/3,3] [Quick Reactions] [Bloodlust] [Berserker] [rocket launcher] [slow] [1d4 damage]
Captain Shinji Ikari
[10,3+2, 2/3] [Revenge] [Headshot] [Quick Reactions] [combat rifle]
Sergeant Pam Poovey
[14[1d4+1],3/4,2/3] [Tough] [Berserker] [rocket launcher] [slow] [high explosive rounds]
Sergeant Mitchell Loeb
[10,2/4, 3] [Team player] [Tough] [combat rifle]
Sergeant Jonas Hanson
[10, 4+2, 3] [Team player] [Tough] [combat rifle]
Sergeant Sanford Harris
[10,2/3, 4] [Spotter] [Iron Will] [combat rifle]
Sergeant Sayid Jarrah
[10,2/4, 3] [Sacrifice] [Tough] [combat rifle]
Squaddie Cheryl Tunt
[8,1/3+2,2/3] [Medic] [death ray] [Fragile]
Squaddie Louis Ferretti
[10, 3/4, 2/3] [Tough] [combat rifle]
QUARANTINE
Alien Imposter, Mandlebox exposed, Colonel Edvard Wolner
[10,4+2,0/4] [Revenge] [Medic] [Tough] [Iron Will] [Combat Rifle]
MORGUE
Sergeant: 2
Squaddies: 8
Rookies: 7
MIA
Traitor, Colonel Steven Hiller
[6,4+2,1/3] [Gunslinger II] [Revenge] [Tough] [Fragile] [death ray] [Targeting Computer]
LIVE ALIEN STORAGE
1x Dust Bunny Rockship Assault Pod Lander Crew
1x Dust Bunny Rockship Bomber Pilot
1x Weather Control Jelly
2x Snowglobe Crew Replicants
1x Snowglobe Response Team Jelly
STORAGE
Empty
Specials
[Gunslinger] - On a natural 20 gains an extra attack
[Gunslinger II] - On a natural 19-20 gains an extra attack
[Headshot] - On a natural 20 deals an extra 1d4-1 damage to the target
[Tough] - +1 Wounds
[Revenge] - +2 on combat rolls if a squadmate is killed in action
[Even The Odds] - +1 on combat rolls if outnumbered
[Iron Will] - +1 Psyche
[Medic] - Restores one wound after a mission
[Berserker] - +1 on combat rolls for every wound
[Quick Reactions] - +2 on combat rolls in first round
[Bloodlust] - Killing an alien restores 1 psyche
[Team player] - +1 on combat rolls if another soldier has the same trait
[Sacrifice] - Automatically deals one additional weapon hit when killed
[Spotter] - On a hit, an allied unit gains +1 on the next combat roll
[Field Research] - Earns 1RP after a mission
[Slow] - Fires every other turn
[Fragile] - Breaks on a natural 1
[Targeting Computer] - Lowers target by 2
[High explosive rounds] - +1 damage
Craft
Dropship [-, 4, 3] [Transport 7/7]
EMPTY
EMPTY
Funding
Europe +€54 [Level 3] [Morale -0.1] [Difficulty 16]
Middle East +0 [Level 0] [Morale -0.2] [Difficulty 13, -4 penalty]
Asia +€30 [Level 3] [Morale -0.5] [Difficulty 16]
Africa +0 [Level 0] [Morale -0.2] [Difficulty 13, -3 penalty]
Oceania +€18 [Level 1] [Morale -0.1] [Difficulty 14]
North America [Level 0] [Morale -0.2] [Difficulty 13]
Central America [Level 0] [Morale -0.2] [Difficulty 13, -3 penalty]
South America [Level 0] [Morale -0.4] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
The Coca-Cola Company +€16[Level 1] [Morale -0.2] [Difficulty 14] [.]
Internal: +€20
Blackmarket sales: +€1d10
Research
Materials I: Basic alien scrap analysis [Allows exotic material lab]
Alien Tech IV: Alien Comms I [mounts comm packages on all aircraft], Alien Comms II [Allows ELF detector array], Death Rays [Cost €15M, 10EP: Difficulty 8, [Fragile]], Stun weapons [Phase 1 combat now deals stun damage]
Xenobiology III: Fractal Fish [gives +2 diplomacy bonus with Oceania], Jelly dissection [-1 max wounds on Jellies], Dust Bunny dissection [global +2 diplomacy bonus],
Mysteries IV: Kola Superdeep Borehole [facility construction discount / mining spin out and excavation options], Borehole Fractals [Allows Fractal Energy Coupler (€500M and 50EP) and Energy Nexus (€500M and 50EP)], Vivsection Lab [allows advanced medical lab, identifies alien clones], Human composite blob [allows ELF detector to decode messages, allows unethical computation: increase research die size]
Narrative
Next
A - Perform focused research [additional +1d12 RP this turn]
B - Perform focused engineering [additional +1d10 EP this turn]
C - Hire new military personnel (specify number) [€20M each]
D - Train existing military personnel (specify soldier to promote) [Cost is €2M * Old Rank]
E - Hold negotiations to improve funding / remove black marks(specify council)
F - Start construction of an ELF detector array in [Region] [€250M, 25EP: Detects previously invisible craft, collects alien signals]
G - Start construction of a Fractal Energy Coupler in Asia [€500M, 50EP: can possibly damage the Mandlebox]
H - Start construction of an Energy Nexus in [Region] [€500M, 50EP: routes all energy from a region to the FEC]
I - Start producing [n] suits of Personal Armour [€10M, 5EP] [10/19 troops armoured]
J - Start producing [n] death rays [€15M, 10EP. Difficulty 8 [fragile] weapon] [3/19 troops have death rays]
K - Implement Unethical Computation [€500M, increases RP dice to d15, atrocity]
L - Implement Beyond Humanity Cyborg Program [€500M, one soldier per turn returning to base with only 1 remaining wound is made into a cyborg at a cost of €20 +1 armour, -1 psyche, +1 on combat rolls, atrocity]
M - Buy/Build new aircraft [€250M Interceptor or €250M,10EP Dropship, three open hangar slots]
N - Build and have the ESA launch DESCARTES DEUXIEME [Asia or Oceania, €250M, 25EP]
COMBAT - Engage a contact in Asia [Targets: Supply ship, Retake borehole, Random Ground, Random Air ]
PROTOCOL OMEGA - Active the self destruct system
1 - Execute pseudo-replicant "Cleopatra"
2 - Send her back to Richardopolis to try and win some goodwill
3 - Try to sell her back to Richardopolis to try and win some fantastic cash prizes
4 - Commence "enhanced" interrogation of "Cleopatra"
5 - Let her go free even though she hates you now
Cleopatra knows nothing and won't cooperate, and when we picked her up we got promptly dropped on by 5 alien ships and lost 3 good soldiers. I say screw it - shoot her and burn the corpse. We've got enough problems and Richardpolis doesn't know we have her.
I would be up for hiring more troops, but we need to take the mandelbox down soon.
We have a clone of a famous queen, that's got to be worth scratch or favors. Then we need to get another interceptor soon as well. Troops and planes, too many money troubles.
Use exploding bullets just to be sure.
That is my guess too.
Decision: E[Oceania] 4 - Deploy the interrogation bees and see if Australia can spare some cash
Numbers:
Funds: €428M [+€(106+1d10)M/turn]
Research Progress: Mandlebox’s effects on human physiology and psychology [RP100] 37/100 [+3d12*/turn]
Engineering Progress: No Project 0/0 [+1d10+1d10/turn]
Borehole Progress 100/100 [+2d10/turn] Occupied by Alien Forces
Agency HQ, Madrid
Distributed Research [+1d12 RP/turn]
Exotic Materials Lab [€10M/turn upkeep, +1d12 RP/turn]
Engineering bay [+1d10 EP/turn]
Radar Antenna Array [Allows detection of enemy vessels]
Hanger [Can maintain/hold 2 aircraft. Restores 1 aircraft wound / turn]
Another Hangar [[Can maintain/hold 2 aircraft. Restores 1 aircraft wound / turn]
Advanced Medical Lab [€10M/turn upkeep, Treats 1 wound / soldier / turn and 1 psyche / turn]
International Assets
DESCARTES PREMIER [Free attack on any alien craft that end up in Europe. Target number is 12 and it deals 1d4 damage]
Outsource manufacturing [+1 EP dice for projects of 25EP or over
Kola Superdeep Borehole [Digging too greedily and too deep]
ELF detector array in Asia [€250M, 25EP: Detects previously invisible craft, collects alien signals]
ELF detector array in Europe [€250M, 25EP: Detects previously invisible craft, collects alien signals]
Personnel
ACTIVE
Captain Sterling Archer
[10,3,4] [Gunslinger] [Bloodlust] [Iron Will] [combat rifle]
Captain Shinji Ikari
[10,3+2, 3] [Revenge] [Headshot] [Quick Reactions] [combat rifle]
Sergeant Everett Young
[10,3+2, 4] [Team player] [Iron Will] [combat rifle]
Sergeant Tamara Johansen
[10,3+2, 3] [Medic] [Headshot] [combat rifle]
Sergeant Jonas Hanson
[10, 4+2, 3] [Team player] [Tough] [combat rifle]
Sergeant Rei Ayanami
[10, 3+2, 3] [Medic] [Headshot] [combat rifle]
Sergeant Sanford Harris
[10,3, 4] [Spotter] [Iron Will] [combat rifle]
STANDBY
Squaddie Charles Kawalsky
[10,3+2, 3] [Even the Odds] [combat rifle]
Squaddie Amy Jessup
[10,3, 3] [Field Research] [combat rifle]
MEDICAL LEAVE
Captain Ronald Greer
[14,2/3,3] [Quick Reactions] [Bloodlust] [Berserker] [rocket launcher] [slow] [1d4 damage]
Sergeant Pam Poovey
[14[1d4+1],4,2/3] [Tough] [Berserker] [rocket launcher] [slow] [high explosive rounds]
Sergeant Mitchell Loeb
[10,3/4, 3] [Team player] [Tough] [combat rifle]
Sergeant Sayid Jarrah
[10,3/4, 3] [Sacrifice] [Tough] [combat rifle]
Squaddie Cheryl Tunt
[8,1/3+2,2/3] [Medic] [death ray] [Fragile]
Squaddie Louis Ferretti
[10, 4, 2/3] [Tough] [combat rifle]
QUARANTINE
Alien Imposter, Mandlebox exposed, Colonel Edvard Wolner
[10,4+2,0/4] [Revenge] [Medic] [Tough] [Iron Will] [Combat Rifle]
MORGUE
Sergeant: 2
Squaddies: 8
Rookies: 7
MIA
Traitor, Colonel Steven Hiller
[6,4+2,1/3] [Gunslinger II] [Revenge] [Tough] [Fragile] [death ray] [Targeting Computer]
LIVE ALIEN STORAGE
1x Dust Bunny Rockship Assault Pod Lander Crew
1x Dust Bunny Rockship Bomber Pilot
1x Weather Control Jelly
2x Snowglobe Crew Replicants
1x Snowglobe Response Team Jelly
STORAGE
Empty
Specials
[Gunslinger] - On a natural 20 gains an extra attack
[Gunslinger II] - On a natural 19-20 gains an extra attack
[Headshot] - On a natural 20 deals an extra 1d4-1 damage to the target
[Tough] - +1 Wounds
[Revenge] - +2 on combat rolls if a squadmate is killed in action
[Even The Odds] - +1 on combat rolls if outnumbered
[Iron Will] - +1 Psyche
[Medic] - Restores one wound after a mission
[Berserker] - +1 on combat rolls for every wound
[Quick Reactions] - +2 on combat rolls in first round
[Bloodlust] - Killing an alien restores 1 psyche
[Team player] - +1 on combat rolls if another soldier has the same trait
[Sacrifice] - Automatically deals one additional weapon hit when killed
[Spotter] - On a hit, an allied unit gains +1 on the next combat roll
[Field Research] - Earns 1RP after a mission
[Slow] - Fires every other turn
[Fragile] - Breaks on a natural 1
[Targeting Computer] - Lowers target by 2
[High explosive rounds] - +1 damage
Craft
Dropship [-, 4, 3] [Transport 7/7]
EMPTY
EMPTY
Funding
Europe +€54 [Level 3] [Morale -0.1] [Difficulty 16]
Middle East +0 [Level 0] [Morale -0.2] [Difficulty 13, -4 penalty]
Asia +€30 [Level 3] [Morale -0.5] [Difficulty 16]
Africa +0 [Level 0] [Morale -0.2] [Difficulty 13, -3 penalty]
Oceania +€36 [Level 2] [Morale -0.1] [Difficulty 15]
North America [Level 0] [Morale -0.2] [Difficulty 13]
Central America [Level 0] [Morale -0.2] [Difficulty 13, -3 penalty]
South America [Level 0] [Morale -0.4] [Difficulty 13, -2 penalty]
The Coca-Cola Company +€16[Level 1] [Morale -0.2] [Difficulty 14] [.]
Internal: +€20
Blackmarket sales: +€1d10
Research
Materials I: Basic alien scrap analysis [Allows exotic material lab]
Alien Tech IV: Alien Comms I [mounts comm packages on all aircraft], Alien Comms II [Allows ELF detector array], Death Rays [Cost €15M, 10EP: Difficulty 8, [Fragile]], Stun weapons [Phase 1 combat now deals stun damage]
Xenobiology III: Fractal Fish [gives +2 diplomacy bonus with Oceania], Jelly dissection [-1 max wounds on Jellies], Dust Bunny dissection [global +2 diplomacy bonus],
Mysteries IV: Kola Superdeep Borehole [facility construction discount / mining spin out and excavation options], Borehole Fractals [Allows Fractal Energy Coupler (€500M and 50EP) and Energy Nexus (€500M and 50EP)], Vivsection Lab [allows advanced medical lab, identifies alien clones], Human composite blob [allows ELF detector to decode messages, allows unethical computation: increase research die size]
Narrative
Next
A - Perform focused research [additional +1d12 RP this turn]
B - Perform focused engineering [additional +1d10 EP this turn]
C - Hire new military personnel (specify number) [€20M each]
D - Train existing military personnel (specify soldier to promote) [Cost is €2M * Old Rank]
E - Hold negotiations to improve funding / remove black marks(specify council)
F - Start construction of an ELF detector array in [Region] [€250M, 25EP: Detects previously invisible craft, collects alien signals]
G - Start construction of a Fractal Energy Coupler in Asia [€500M, 50EP: can possibly damage the Mandlebox]
H - Start construction of an Energy Nexus in [Region] [€500M, 50EP: routes all energy from a region to the FEC]
I - Start producing [n] suits of Personal Armour [€10M, 5EP] [10/19 troops armoured]
J - Start producing [n] death rays [€15M, 10EP. Difficulty 8 [fragile] weapon] [3/19 troops have death rays]
K - Implement Unethical Computation [€500M, increases RP dice to d15, atrocity]
L - Implement Beyond Humanity Cyborg Program [€500M, one soldier per turn returning to base with only 1 remaining wound is made into a cyborg at a cost of €20 +1 armour, -1 psyche, +1 on combat rolls, atrocity]
M - Buy/Build new aircraft [€250M Interceptor or €250M,10EP Dropship, three open hangar slots]
N - Build and have the ESA launch DESCARTES DEUXIEME [Asia or Oceania, €250M, 25EP]
COMBAT - Engage a contact [Choose a region [Europe, Asia] and a target [Supply ship, Random Ground, Random Air] or Attempt to Retake the Borehole]
PROTOCOL OMEGA - Active the self destruct system
1 - Do not use DESCARTES PREMIER on the random contacts in Europe
2 - Have DESCARTES PREMIER open fire on the aerial ELF contacts in Europe
3 - Have DESCARTES PREMIER open fire on the ground sites in Europe
I think we should try and regain control of the Borehole as soon as possible, we don't want the aliens to finish whatever they were doing there last time.
COMBAT[Asia][Attempt to Retake the Borehole]
But then there's this:
What the fuck? Did we have any inkling this was coming? Psyche reports, video monitoring or something? A top scientist went from "intelligent guy" to "violent rapist" ?
Interrogating a enemy sleeper agent is one thing, raping a colleague is another. We need to replace him. However, he is carrying a lot of information that we don't need the world to see. Perhaps, instead of replacing him we'll transfer him to the borehole if we recapture it this turn. We should also restrict and monitor his movements.
Estefan being a nasty piece of work and his relationship with Dr Thomas should have been well established by now. I didn't mean this just be "and then somebody tries to rape a coworker."
Anyway, that aside! I propose we "volunteer" him for some kind of neural recalibration.
We might be able to bring her back if we get the tech. Since she can't remember her death, we can just keep bringing her back until we get all the information we need!
stop having a normal responsible adult life!
I can offer excuses about mistakes I made with the game that make posts time consuming and annoying for me, but there's no real need. I just can't put the time in that needs anymore.
That said, I had been directing this towards a close, so here's a summary of where things were going:
Mandlebox(es)
These are the source of life in the universe. Or at least both human and dust bunny. Earth had a foetal Mandlebox inside it all along (as you discovered during your Kola Borehole investigations) and it was this seed that gave the jump start necessary to boring chemistry to make interesting biochemistry.
Life is an unintentional side-effect for these things, they are just big sponges that shift energy between forms across the universe. Whether they are alive in any meaningful sense is also a lingering question, they could be manifestations of fundamental physics (like how planets orbit around suns) or they could just be incredibly apathetic to the strange little ripples they leave in their wake.
Regardless, small quantities of dark energy gradually grow across incredibly slow timescales, creating life in the process, but eventually they hit critical mass and off they "wake up".
Waking up tends to destroy the planet around them and then they set off out into the universe on their mysterious errands.
The Mandlebox was a mature specimen which had originally been inside the Dust Bunny homeworld. The process of awaking tore open a wormhole between solar systems and through this the Mandlebox came to feed on its unborn brother.
Dust Bunnies
Born to a massive world with incredibly high pressures, these squidgey creatures came into being due to the Mandlebox living inside their own planet. They realised that they were doomed far too late to do much about it and so most of their civilisation was destroyed. What survived came through the rift in space into Earth's solar system. And at this point the disagreed slightly about what they needed to do next. They had no home and there is only so long you can live in the hastily cobbled together spaceships that they had.
A key problem they had was that this solar system didn't offer much in the way of useful elements (their homeworld featured a mostly different set of elements due to the higher energies in its creation, so they had access to the other "islands of stability"). One of the key features of these higher order elements was that they don't couple well with gravity, in fact some of them have a negative effective mass. i.e. anti-gravity ahoy.
So they arrived and a section of their remaining society mutinied and left the armada behind. These were the Dust Bunnies were tended to drive the hollowed out asteroids. They also had determined that the Mandlebox created life on their own planets and saw it as a god. They were taking the destruction of their world as a sign that they had not lived pious lives and so were devoting themselves to the worship of a vast manifestation of maths and hoping that maybe if they furthered its goals it would make them a new home.
The other faction were much more practical. Their home was destroyed and now they were stuck with a small fleet of spaceships and the thing that killed everybody they knew was now about to repeat the act. They also realised that a Mandlebox is like a big bucket of energy. Their plan was to tap the dark energy of the dormant Mandlebox and use it to rapidly terraform the Earth (grossly increasingly its mass and giving them a more habitable planet). To this end they were conducting all kinds of ground-based science experiments (replicants were a stab at maybe adapting themselves to the planet and then became a way of dealing with the weird bald apes that kept getting in the way of their work).
Dust Bunny psychology didn't really allow for direct violence, so their conflict was fairly subtle and subdued by human standards.
Jellies
These were specially developed by the colonist faction of the Dust Bunnies for Earth-Side missions. They're just partially biological robots.
Replicants
A scientific inquiry into survival on low-pressure planets. This alien project evolved from understanding humans to trying to adapt to Earth to finally a method of controlling the populace. Not-Wolner was an early prototype who escaped, although he wasn't strictly loyal and could have been triggered down the line (he ignored blowing up the base when presented with the option because the Dust Bunnies didn't really see them as a threat at the time). His reaction to the Mandlebox was a typical human one, his mind snapped and he may have revealed that he was a sleeper agent down the line.
Cleopatra was a human constructed replicant. The Branson Empire figured out how to make their own version of replicant goo which let them clone people from their own remains.
The Branson Empire
These guys were attempting to save the world and also to take over the world. The idea being that as the world governments have all been more or less destroyed then they can fend off the aliens and the Earth can be united under a program of enforced beards. To that end they were funding the terrorist action - although this later died out due to the August Knights.
The August Knights
A Christian fundamentalist doomsday cult. The plan for them was to gradually become subverted by the Mandlebox (accepting it as their God and essentially becoming a human reflection of the rockship aliens).
Pepsi Present Earth Defenders
A terrible solution to a real problem, but they were a force for good if just a terribly crass one.
Hiller
Hiller was going to come back in the final battle on the alien mothership (assuming that you didn't massively piss off PPED). He'd accepted that his marriage was a sham and he really loved Franklin. So he was gradually trying to get to New York to be with his lover (which would have put him back on the radar), although Franklin was also happily married I presume his wife would be cool with it.
I'll stick something in the general CYOA thread about the specific cock ups I made running this that led to it collapsing. But not right now.
Sorry for not seeing this through.
Thanks for seeing it this far.
Edit: oh, by the way, the art thieving. What was up with that?
I like how the religious reaction would affect both humans and aliens, interesting, was never quite sure where that element was going.
What was the deal with the artefact stealing/museum attacks? Just part of the effort to understand humans?
I could ask more questions, such as whether you kept track of the alien activity we didn't see etc, perhaps that's better left to the general CYOA thread.
I'd also like to say double thanks for sharing some of the overall plotlines that would have been touched on. At least we got a feeling as to where it would've gone.
Especially with Hiller. That would've been a perfect touch at the end.
Seriously I watch story cut-togethers of video games on YouTube all the time, because no matter the game I just *have* to know how it ended.
Thanks Mojo.
The art theft stuff was me trying to demonstrate that even though the aliens divided into two factions they weren't just single goal homogeneous blobs. So while there was no discussion on their end at all about whether it was "wrong" to exterinate a living planet to give themselves a new home, a small group of the colonists wanted to have some relics of how Earth was. For a museum.
Plus it helped enforce their alien psychology to have weird goals.
The Mandlebox reaching the borehole would have been game over really. The earth would be less destroyed than if the dormant one matured alone but it still would have been pretty catastrophic. Maybe I would have carried on and made it more about trying to stop the planet from collapsing as a big chunk of it sailed into space
On question, I'm happy to answer them. I think it's best to keep plot stuff here and mechanics stuff in the other thread though.
Seeing as the world is ending, I may as well boost my praise:
FORBIDDEN TECHNIQUE: TRIPLE VOTE
D3 Steam #TeamTangent STO
And yes, Snick also had a triple vote up his sleeve (for working out what was going on with Hiller)
One thing I didn't mention was the dust bunny spear you found. There was only one and it was a dark energy fragment which had detached from the Mandlebox when it was eating the dust bunny homeworld. It was a weapon and holy Artefact which would have had a small chance to injure your own team