STGOD 4 Game Thread

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-06-09 12:09pm

frigidmagi wrote:
"We might be willing to sell you designs for a basic laser or graser. I'd have to check with the Admiralty on that before I can say anything definite. I know we wouldn't be able to show you much beyond the basic models, certainly nothing on a par with our own military's."
"That would be fine. We certainly do not wish to violate any of your laws."

"I will confer with the appropriate people over in the Admiralty and get back to you. Now about the prime matter? I would like to conclude a basic agreeement. If we could license the manufacture your machinery for our own companies, at a suitable rate, we would be prepared in turn to provide you with a viable breeding population of what live stock you need. And we can arrange the sale of electronic goods in exchange for raw materials."

frigidmagi · Post by **frigidmagi** » 2004-06-09 12:13pm

would like to conclude a basic agreeement. If we could license the manufacture your machinery for our own companies, at a suitable rate, we would be prepared in turn to provide you with a viable breeding population of what live stock you need. And we can arrange the sale of electronic goods in exchange for raw materials

"That agreement sounds good to me."

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-06-09 12:24pm

frigidmagi wrote:
would like to conclude a basic agreeement. If we could license the manufacture your machinery for our own companies, at a suitable rate, we would be prepared in turn to provide you with a viable breeding population of what live stock you need. And we can arrange the sale of electronic goods in exchange for raw materials
"That agreement sounds good to me."

"Excellent."

speaker-to-trolls · Post by **speaker-to-trolls** » 2004-06-09 12:27pm

frigidmagi wrote:
From: The Sovereighn Confederacy of Itsil.
To: The United Protectorates.

After careful examination of the report given to us by the Scourge of Foolishness, we, the government of the confederacy, believe it would be prudent for us to become more involved in the politics of the wider galaxy. For this reason, we believe that our two nations should set up embassies within each others borders, and an exchange of important information should take place, as we are fairly behind in galactic affairs.
From: Unite Protectrates State Office
To: Sovereign Confederacy of Itsil

We welcome you to the galaxy and would be quite happy to exchange ambassadors at this time. Please send any special requirements your staff may have ahead and we will drill out space for your embassey. Futher more we look forward to exchanging information and the beginning of trade relations.

We will need the furniture, windows, etc, to be built to the Jekin scale, we shall send some details of our anatomy to you which may be helpful.

Itsilaar city
Itsil
Sovereighn confederacy of Itsil

Dozens of heavy vehicles began to work digging out the site for the United Protectorates embassy. It would be finished within a week with all luck, and since they already had contact with humans they would have no difficulty with the biological specifics required.
In an orbital station above the planet, ambassador Kitsek Red-ear boarded a diplomatic shuttle, along with his staff and guards, which jumped into hyperspace and headed for Lastport (I think that's the U.P capital, correct me if I'm wrong).

Straha · Post by **Straha** » 2004-06-09 12:28pm

Far Point Military Complex, Briefing Room.

The Priest stood up, and walked to the podium. After a minute preparing himself and the equipment around him he started speaking, aided by a projector.

"Gentlemen, as of 1900 hours yesterday our combined assault on the Overseer, as we now know to call it, ship-yard world reported total sucess. We were even able, thanks in main part to the Ouster to capture a fully functioning 'Main Programmer' from the location. This, however, brings more bad news than good. Here we see the ships that were being produced at the site, they are the same kind of ships that we have seen in the two previous engagements with the forces of the overseer. However these ships are new, very new, for example this ship here, the youngest one, shows signs of being laid down after the rape. It gets worse however. In the process of this operation we recieved a map of the lands of the overseer."

The projector changed its image, turning at first to the two confirmed worlds of the overseer and the two unconfirmed planets, and then nearby systems began to fill in. Then the map zoomed out to the entire quadrant, and then it zoomed out again, each time when the map became overfilled with red systems.

"Gentlemen. If this is true then, at peacetime military support rate, they would have thirty thousand dreadnoughts. Needless to say that's a very very low estimate. We need a plan, so far all we can say is that moving your shipyards away from planets would be a good thing, and sending attacking forays into their teritory to keep them from being able to focus on us would also be preferable. Ideas people?"

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-06-09 12:32pm

"I have a question rather. If the Overseer really does have all those ships and that much capacity how come we aren't simply wiped out by a wave of mechanical Hun? Surely you can't think that if those ships are really out there that they are all sitting idle."

frigidmagi · Post by **frigidmagi** » 2004-06-09 12:33pm

"He has to keep some ships back for defense surely?"

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-06-09 12:34pm

"But tens of thousands of ships? Especially with their disregard for their own existance. I find that highly unlikely."

Straha · Post by **Straha** » 2004-06-09 12:35pm

Stormbringer wrote:"I have a question rather. If the Overseer really does have all those ships and that much capacity how come we aren't simply wiped out by a wave of mechanical Hun? Surely you can't think that if those ships are really out there that they are all sitting idle."

"No, the Overseer mentioned other wars across the galaxy. What we think is that the two previous raids were merley forays into our teritory, and that the overseer is currently moving forcesto fight us. We hopethat you are right, but as the old adage goes, 'Hope for the best, prepare for the worst'."

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-06-09 12:40pm

Straha wrote:"No, the Overseer mentioned other wars across the galaxy. What we think is that the two previous raids were merley forays into our teritory, and that the overseer is currently moving forcesto fight us. We hopethat you are right, but as the old adage goes, 'Hope for the best, prepare for the worst'."

"Of course none of us objects to proper preperation but the simple fact is we can't hold of ours lives in fear of a mechanical menace that might not even exist. After all, what's to preven this Overseer from lying straight to our faces. We can't simply take it's word at face value now can we?"

"Unless you know of way to.. extract information out a machine that doesn't feel pain in the slightest."

frigidmagi · Post by **frigidmagi** » 2004-06-09 12:49pm

"I suppose that hacking into the damn thing is out of the question?"

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2004-06-09 12:56pm

frigidmagi wrote:"I suppose that hacking into the damn thing is out of the question?"

Radim grunted as he shifted forward in his seat. "I doubt we'd get too far hacking it. If we could analyze it, we might figure out roughly how it worked, but we'd probably have to destroy it in the process, meaning we'd have to get another one to crack open," he nodded to the map. "That's our biggest problem. We should confirm Mechanoid presences in those systems ASAP. Get some of the drones on the sweep to head out to randomly selected systems on that map, see what's going on. If the Overseer really does control that many systems, we're not going to lose much by taking a peek anyway."

"Do you have a recording of the conversations with the Machine? I think it would be to our benefit to go over them in detail."

frigidmagi · Post by **frigidmagi** » 2004-06-09 01:11pm

"That's our biggest problem. We should confirm Mechanoid presences in those systems ASAP. Get some of the drones on the sweep to head out to randomly selected systems on that map, see what's going on. If the Overseer really does control that many systems, we're not going to lose much by taking a peek anyway."

"Agreed."

Darksider · Post by **Darksider** » 2004-06-09 02:12pm

::::::::Far point, briefing room::::::

Admiral Nakema listned to the monacoarn briefing.

"Thirty thousand......"

The admiral stared blankly at the other admirals present.

"Even at maximum wartime production, we'll only have twenty five new dreadnaughts at the end of the year. How can we hope to stop somthing with those kind of resources? Even If we all stand as one, this "Overseer" will grind our combined militaries into a fine paste. Not to mention the fact that several of your ships are MIA, on a mad and futile quest to destroy the overseer. I'm sorry, but if the enemy has so many ships, I'm going to recommend against launching Admiral Conner's third fleet in support of admiral Santiago."

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2004-06-09 02:45pm

Straha wrote:Far Point Military Complex, Briefing Room.

The Priest stood up, and walked to the podium. After a minute preparing himself and the equipment around him he started speaking, aided by a projector.

"Gentlemen, as of 1900 hours yesterday our combined assault on the Overseer, as we now know to call it, ship-yard world reported total sucess. We were even able, thanks in main part to the Ouster to capture a fully functioning 'Main Programmer' from the location. This, however, brings more bad news than good. Here we see the ships that were being produced at the site, they are the same kind of ships that we have seen in the two previous engagements with the forces of the overseer. However these ships are new, very new, for example this ship here, the youngest one, shows signs of being laid down after the rape. It gets worse however. In the process of this operation we recieved a map of the lands of the overseer."

The projector changed its image, turning at first to the two confirmed worlds of the overseer and the two unconfirmed planets, and then nearby systems began to fill in. Then the map zoomed out to the entire quadrant, and then it zoomed out again, each time when the map became overfilled with red systems.

"Gentlemen. If this is true then, at peacetime military support rate, they would have thirty thousand dreadnoughts. Needless to say that's a very very low estimate. We need a plan, so far all we can say is that moving your shipyards away from planets would be a good thing, and sending attacking forays into their teritory to keep them from being able to focus on us would also be preferable. Ideas people?"

Gnnarrick Rahjeck surveyed the projection of known machine space with disbelief. "What proof can you give us of these claims? I can see no reason to believe this "Master Programmer", and I will not commit resources to go off into space to combat a threat that might not be there. If anything, this is a ruse to convince us to send our fleets off away from our homeworlds, so that the machines can strike again. I refuse to believe the machines have such numbers; and if they do, their enemies in other sections of the galaxy must be equally powerful; we would not want to make our situation worse, replacing one foe with another. Anything beyond one month's travel from the Terran Sphere is too remote for us to deploy any forces; we should focus on cleansing local space before we go ahead with these grandiose schemes. However, it would be wise to send long range probes to these supposed machine worlds well beyond our borders, and prove that no such threat exists."

frigidmagi · Post by **frigidmagi** » 2004-06-09 04:14pm

"Again I have to agree, anything we get from the machines... mouth so to speak is supect. However it's possible for the damn thing to believe totally and completly in the lies it's spouting... I don't see how we can do anything but send out probes to try to comfirm this. If it true, perhaps we could attempt to defeat it in detail?"

Marcao · Post by **Marcao** » 2004-06-09 06:32pm

Unknown Space
Mechanoid Territory
VPX-11 System

The Veithan taskforce was pleased to have its Grand Empire allies within the system and it was not terribly surprising that like the Grand Empire, the Veithan force was hesitant to plunge itself ever deeper into presumably hostile space. The channel which the Monacoran flagship request was immediately granted, the words of Admiral Santiago met with absolute attention. It was a bold plan, even if disaster lurked at every star system. There was simply not enough time for such a decision to be arrived at, the vice-admiral assuring Admiral Santiago that she would get in contact with command to ascertain what should be done.

The response from the government was unsurprising. The desire to leave the Monacoran forces without assistance was difficult, but what Admiral Santiago desired was also far too rash to be easily considered. In the end, her orders were to not accompany the Monacoran forces as they penetrated more deeply into Mechanoid space. With a flick of her mind, a channel was opened between her vessel and that of the Monacoran flagship. When the channel was accepted, she spoke. “I regret to inform you that my orders will not allow me to take part in your deep penetration raid. You have our best wishes for your success Admiral. I hope that we will be able to work together another time.” With those words said, the channel was closed and she sighed softly. She hoped that the Monacoran forces managed to come back in one piece from this gamble.

The fleet waited patiently, disposed towards making sure that the mechanoid presence in the system had been dealt with before returning to Veithan space. This was but the first step; she had a feeling that rooting out the mechanoid forces would be a long and tiring struggle. The coordination of the involved nations had to improve if that was to be accomplished. They had done all they could in this engagement.

Veithan Claimed Space
URT-7 System

The system had been secured without much difficulty, the primary planet currently dominated by prefabricated structures that would in time be replaced by more permanent structures. With the system secured and preliminary defenses in place, it was all a matter of time. Transit to the system was significant, and that would delay the growth pattern of the system. The need for secrecy would also hinder matters, but the prize was worth it. Preliminary probes had been sent through the threshold, and over eighty percent had returned. The first bits of data had just been made available and sent back towards Veitha III with all due haste; the system's importance could no longer be in doubt.

Monacoran Space
Far Point

The Veithan representative arrived at the edge of the system aboard his vessel and coordinated with Monacoran system control. After a vector and velocity had been approved, the Veithan vessel slid into the system proper. The situation with the Mechanoids could not be overlooked, and then Empire had no intention of doing so. It took roughly fifteen minutes for the vessel to arrive to its docking area, and another ten minutes for the shuttle which carried the Veithan personnel to make their way to the landing point after clearance had been granted.

Once freed from their shuttle, they were escorted to the briefing room in which the meeting would take place. Seats were offered and taken gladly, minds exchanging thoughts as eyes slid about the room. The information which the Monacorans presented was bleak, and immediately suspect. The Veithan delegation agreed that if the so called Overseer had so many forces, it would have been more than capable of launching multiple assaults on its so called enemies. Earth would not have survived, and frankly neither would any other known power beneath the weight of numbers the Overseer claimed.

When the viewpoints of other forces began to emerge, the Veithans found themselves agreeing primarily with the Ravenlock and Baleorans. The size and strength of the Overseer holdings had to be a primary target for the recon drones of the gathered powers, and space closest to known space had to be cleansed first and foremost.

consequences · Post by **consequences** » 2004-06-09 07:19pm

Far Point

Genko chose this moment to butt in on the discussion: "While Admiral Santiago's actions may be rash, his chosen path is not entirely without merit. Consider the speed with which these Machines seem to be able to reinforce themselves. By the time a fleet can be dispatched to act upon a probes findings, they will have an immeasurably tougher nut to crack. The Shi Combine has been planning a similar venture, we are just making sure that our logistical tail is in place before haring off into the night."

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2004-06-09 07:29pm

frigidmagi wrote:"Again I have to agree, anything we get from the machines... mouth so to speak is supect. However it's possible for the damn thing to believe totally and completly in the lies it's spouting... I don't see how we can do anything but send out probes to try to comfirm this. If it true, perhaps we could attempt to defeat it in detail?"

"IF," the rear admiral replied, "the machines do indeed have tens of thousands of ships at their disposal, there is little hope of our defeating them. Perhaps the best solution is to simply leave well enough alone. The 300 ship taskforce could easily have been an exploratory taskforce sent to colonize this region of space. If they were to fail it would be no major loss, considering their numbers. However, if we are to badger them, or even present a threat to them, they could come with real force and obliterate this entire sector with little difficulty. I for one and not interested in disturbing the swarm!"

Thirdfain · Post by **Thirdfain** » 2004-06-09 07:56pm

Monacoran Space
Far Point

Boundman Jerac su Fassar, Admiral of the 3rd Fleet and liaison to the Unification, had arrived late- the Fleet Tender from which he managed his domain was still over Terra, assisting with the refugee situation, and his duties had delayed his journey to Far Point. Now that he was here, he would make his opinions heard.

"The Protectorate's soldier speaks well. There is nothing for us to do but to see if any of this machine's words are true. I say, send probes to verify the existence of Machine bases at the five hundred nearest reported locations. If we find the Programmer is lying, we will have learned valuable information about the functioning of the Machine mind. If it was in fact telling the truth, then will we be in a position to begin speaking of a grand campaign against the Overseer. Until that time, I move that the Unification continue to strike against the Machinne's holdings our first probe wave have uncovered. Word of the efforts of the Krell in this regard has come to me; and they alone have demolished at least one machine fortress apart from the one our fleets annihilated last week."

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2004-06-09 10:28pm

Thirdfain wrote:Monacoran Space
Far Point

Boundman Jerac su Fassar, Admiral of the 3rd Fleet and liaison to the Unification, had arrived late- the Fleet Tender from which he managed his domain was still over Terra, assisting with the refugee situation, and his duties had delayed his journey to Far Point. Now that he was here, he would make his opinions heard.

"The Protectorate's soldier speaks well. There is nothing for us to do but to see if any of this machine's words are true. I say, send probes to verify the existence of Machine bases at the five hundred nearest reported locations. If we find the Programmer is lying, we will have learned valuable information about the functioning of the Machine mind. If it was in fact telling the truth, then will we be in a position to begin speaking of a grand campaign against the Overseer. Until that time, I move that the Unification continue to strike against the Machinne's holdings our first probe wave have uncovered. Word of the efforts of the Krell in this regard has come to me; and they alone have demolished at least one machine fortress apart from the one our fleets annihilated last week."

"If we can agree to this, my government can supply the necessary long range probes, in the meantime, what is to be done with the captured machine AI?"

admiral_danielsben · Post by **admiral_danielsben** » 2004-06-09 10:39pm

SirNitram wrote:
admiral_danielsben wrote:Exploring the depths of space, a lone ship, the Union cruiser 1945-7, explored.

"Captain! look at this. It appears to be an artificial construct of some kind."

"Take us in closer, to investigate."

They came and approached the Overseer's domain...
The glittering tower reached up into space, lonely on the barren, rocky world it was attached to. From it were held several Ouster-style Wombs, inside of which starships were placed together.

The arrival of ships wasn't ignored; several destroyers detached themselves from their patrols and slid through space towards the intruders. Neither they, nor the strange tower, showed any lifesigns.

"Several vessels are approaching... appear to be destroyer-size craft."

"Hail them. Also, raise shields, just in case they are hostile."

"Hmm... that's odd. No lifesigns."

"They could be piloted by some sort of non-carbon-based life-form we are unfamiliar with... or they could be automated defense drones. Keep superdrive (OOC: my FTLdrive's kewl name) on standby. Also, standby to send a message packet to HQ."

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2004-06-09 10:42pm

admiral_danielsben wrote:"Several vessels are approaching... appear to be destroyer-size craft."

"Hail them. Also, raise shields, just in case they are hostile."

"Hmm... that's odd. No lifesigns."

"They could be piloted by some sort of non-carbon-based life-form we are unfamiliar with... or they could be automated defense drones. Keep superdrive (OOC: my FTLdrive's kewl name) on standby. Also, standby to send a message packet to HQ."

"You have entered the Overseer's realm. State the reason for your intrusion." Spoke a voice without ire or annoyance.

Focused EM scans swept over the ship's hull.

Straha · Post by **Straha** » 2004-06-10 12:30am

Far Point Military Complex, Deep Bunker, Small Office

General Fedayn leaned back in the small swivel chair, something never change no matter how much time goes by, and read a book. It was his lunch hour, and he was currently trying to match the print they had found on Estevan, and it wasn't easy. So far the only information he had was that he was most likley magical, and a slightly confusing conversation with the Priest, in which he said 'I remember a red handed from the ball. I'm thinking herb, I don't remember anything else though, only had a passing conversation with him. Very drool, and somewhat condescending." That would have been ignored, except whenever the priest spoke about anything besides theology and his navy you listened, because he knew his shit.
When he came back from the outer office after his lunch was delivered, with rank comes privalige, one of the computers was blinking an alert. Opening the alert he found the reason, a perfect match for the print, however it was missing a name. The location of the prints, however, proved the Priest right again, Earth 'Crystal Palace Wreckage,' from reported by one of the identity teams who were trying to find names to go along with corpses found all over Earth, and seeing as how the only time people were allowed in teh Crystal Palace without giving fingerprints and DNA was the Grand Ball, he had just narrowed down his potential candidates signifigantly.
Shuddering he picked up the direct line to Andorra, after a minute he was punched through to the political prince's personal secretary.
"Hello Mellissa, it's Fedayn, how've you been? Good, that's great to hear. Yeah I've been well too. Listen, I've got a favour to ask of you. Fine... I'll take you to the finest restaurant on Earth... or yes I could come up to you place. Yes, I promise. Thanks, could you send me the list of people who showed up at the Grand Ball? Alright. Thanks tons."

Two minutes and a miso soup later the list came through. Using thecomputers he first cleared anyone who had fingerprints on file, then he cleared anyone who worked for him or the princes. Then he started methodically clearing out people from the list via country, abilities, etc. Finally he looked at the six people he had on the short list, a vampire, three Arcanists, an ouster, and a skaven. Leaning back he picked up his beef teriyaki and started picking away at it, stopping only after he brushed aside a few herbs from the beef. Looking back at the second name on the list he muttered. And opened the file.

Code: Select all

           Name: Basil, Age: Indeterminate, Gender: Male, Race: Vampire (Humanoid) Flag: Yellow


Basil, now second in line to the throne of the blood king. A vampire of signifigant power, both physical and political. History is long, many stories are told about him, nicknamed the "Red Handed." Trade-mark symbol was a hand of blood. Enjoys quite some degree of Autonomy.

....


Current Residence: Newly Aquired Former Arcane Teritory

Smiling he updated the flag from Yellow (Monitor) to Black (Actively Pursue.) He would decide what to do on this later, but now that the footwork was done that could wait. Right now he, and the rest of the Monacoran Intelligence, were more concerned about these Ouster colonies in the hands of the Overseer, they didn't buy the Ouster story and right now they were using their extensive floater spy network, and a few magical books owed to a floater colony, to find out just what had happened.

Dahak · Post by **Dahak** » 2004-06-10 05:32am

Monacoran Space, Far Point

Liv Tjoerhom, now promoted to full Admiral, has been sent from Al-Quadim to join this meeting. Looking around, she only saw stern faces. Listening carefully to the other military representatives and dignitaries, she stayed silent.
After finished discussing with her colleagues, she finally spoke.
"The Grand Empire does not advise any rushed decision, nor do we support them. Your Admiral Santiago seems to be...ill advised to keep rushing ahead into the unknown." She paused for a bit. "But it is not our intend to ignore the possible danger these robots pose. We would offer our industrial might for probes and other needed supplies. Offering military help would have to be considered with utmost carefulness." Turning towards the Baleoran admiral, she carried on. "About this AI of yours... It is to say that we possess some...talent with computers and AIs. We could offer these talents in form of specialists, if requested."