Really? Nobody wants to be a wounded spaceship this morning?

Try to query stored data on terms, clearly I (we?) aren't as aware as we should be of where we are or what we are doing. Lacking a better immediate plan and in need of raw materials for repairs, begin to limp in the direction of the Jovian in hope of some nice moons to strip and a atmosphere to scoop for replenishment, while continuing assessment on damage.

Hey, tactical remotes? Let's fire one ahead of us.. and six more in cardinal directions to establish a reconnaissance perimeter.

>>14226550
>Try to query stored data on terms, clearly I (we?) aren't as aware as we should be of where we are or what we are doing.
Yes... you do seem rather flustered don't you. Come to think of it you've got almost no autonomous intellectual awareness, meaning your processing gestalts are probably damaged.
Holy fuck that's bad.
An agent program could probably pull some usefull information if you gave it specific enough instructions however.

> Lacking a better immediate plan and in need of raw materials for repairs, begin to limp in the direction of the Jovian in hope of some nice moons to strip and a atmosphere to scoop for replenishment, while continuing assessment on damage.
En Route. With your scraped forward array and only partial toroidal arrays you're rather limited in speed, so you should arrive in about five minutes.

>Hey, tactical remotes? Let's fire one ahead of us.. and six more in cardinal directions to establish a reconnaissance perimeter.
Done. The Remotes can move much faster that yourself at the moment, so the one you sent towards the jovian system should arrive in about one minute, and have usefull sensor resolution in about 25 seconds.

Tell the agent program to look for error logs.

>>14226610
>Tell the agent program to look for error logs.
AGENT: Error Log Files 82% Corrupt/Unrecoverable. Reindexing in progress. Please specify nature of Error to begin exhaustive query.

>>14226581
Wee! Remotes are fun. But this is not the time to be playing with them. Instead, attempt to assess self-repair capability. Am I (we?) capable of repairing the gestalt damage?

In the mean time, try to build a shopping list for the most pressing repairs. Also, a quick query to make sure all damage is stable and not progressive.

Mission objectives, identification, location, situational hazards (immediate, local or general).

Any crew? Silly question, but always nice to check.

>>14226633
Sensory error logs (the kind that might happen during an attack) with locational information.

>Am I (we?) capable of repairing the gestalt damage?
In time. The scope and subtlty of your gestalts is considerable however, and fixing them will be tedious and resource-intensive. For now you should probably stick to dealing with gross physical damage rather than attempting to sift through the debris of your brain.

>In the mean time, try to build a shopping list for the most pressing repairs.
You quickly slave your DamCon sensors to your Fabrication/Resourcing systems and generate a repair pricelist.
Reconstruction of Ventral Outrigger: ~250,000 kg Normal Matter,
Reconstruction of Ventral Heavy Toroidal Aray: 500 kg Exotic Matter
Reconstruction of Forward Vectored Array: 1500 kg Exotic Matter
Petty Repairs and Upkeep: 1,500 kg Normal Matter, 5kg Exotic Matter.
Current Stores of Normal Matter: 50,000kg
Current Stores of Exotic Matter: 250kg
Current Stores of Antimatter: 250,000,000kg

>Also, a quick query to make sure all damage is stable and not progressive.
Except for the plasma-bleeds from the sickening stump of your ventral outrigger, the damage is not progressive.

Emergency Query: IFF, basic alliance programming, or using an external camera to examine hull for markings... uhh.. what faction//nation//company//collective are we part of? It would be inappropriate//embarrassing//unacceptable to engage a friendly target because we have forgotten who we serve.

Also, attempt to speculate as to nature of vessel and mission. Current speculation suggest we are a general purpose exploration and combat craft intended for high self sufficiency and self-repair capability. Counter-thought suggest this may be wishful thinking.

>>14226687
Experimentally command damage control systems to do something about the venting plasma, authorizing the use of stored material to stabilize the injury and prevent further loss of reaction mass and damage from the uncontrolled venting.

Please provide a breakdown of the following information, if available:
>Mission objectives, identification, location, situational hazards (immediate, local or general).

>Any crew members/registered lifeforms on board?

>Mission objectives, identification, location, situational hazards (immediate, local or general).
AGENT: Identification: Abbey-Class Gatecraft "Somniloquist". Mission Profile: Escort. Location: Unknown. Situational Hazards: Unknown.

>Any crew? Silly question, but always nice to check.
You're not that kind of ship, apparently. You don't even have the facilities to quarter passengers or crew.

>Sensory error logs (the kind that might happen during an attack) with locational information.
AGENT: Sensory Error logs unrecoverable, most recent Battle Reports indicate shipwide Combat Disposition was assumed 5.5561 milliseconds ago for a period 1.5 milliseconds. All logs following Combat Disposition period missing.

>>14226714
>Escort

Addtional querry: All details related to escort target and status of mission. Do we know what we were escorting, if we were in the company of something we had been escorting?

Momentary bright-thought. No lifeforms currently engendered on board. Also, no messy dead organic lifeforms rotting somewhere inside us. Seriously. Ewww.

Calculate if the amount of raw materials gained by breaking down some of the remote units would be sufficient to reconstruct any of the vital systems.

>Emergency Query: IFF, basic alliance programming, or using an external camera to examine hull for markings... uhh.. what faction//nation//company//collective are we part of? It would be inappropriate//embarrassing//unacceptable to engage a friendly target because we have forgotten who we serve.
You know instinctivly that you are a faithful and loyal member of the Sideral States Republic, and to your knowledge so is every other sophont in the Galaxy. It's a pretty egalitarian place. (Federation/Culture style Utopia)

>Also, attempt to speculate as to nature of vessel and mission. Current speculation suggest we are a general purpose exploration and combat craft intended for high self sufficiency and self-repair capability. Counter-thought suggest this may be wishful thinking.
The Abbey-Class is a middle-weight all-purpose vessel, but you're specially configured for long term independant operation. Technically you don't carry any weaponry, but that doesn't mean you can't do damage if you wish to.

>Experimentally command damage control systems to do something about the venting plasma, authorizing the use of stored material to stabilize the injury and prevent further loss of reaction mass and damage from the uncontrolled venting.
DAMCON: Requisitioning 5 Tactical Remotes for Damage Assessment and Control. Estimate 2 minutes to cauterization

>>14226744

This may be burning the roof to keep warm. Query: Tactical and heavy remotes are used heavily as part of our resource collection and repair systems?

So... did we finally reach the moon?

>>14226752
Do it. Assuming we won't light up the plasma or something stupid.

Query: As we have two vectored arrays that are out of action, do we have any way to cover these arcs with smaller vectored arrays to deal with incoming threats or movement? Temporarily at least.

>Addtional querry: All details related to escort target and status of mission. Do we know what we were escorting, if we were in the company of something we had been escorting?
AGENT: Escort Target: Cathedral-Class Gatecraft "Wine-Dark Seas"
WARNING WARNING WARNING Target not found!

>Momentary bright-thought. No lifeforms currently engendered on board. Also, no messy dead organic lifeforms rotting somewhere inside us. Seriously. Ewww.
Organic life does have some difficulty dealing with the rigors of ship-to-ship combat, which is one of the reasons vessels like yourself don't bother carrying any crew.

>Calculate if the amount of raw materials gained by breaking down some of the remote units would be sufficient to reconstruct any of the vital systems.
If you scrapped and repurposed all the normal and exotic matter from your 6 heavy drones you could repair your forward array with a little left over, but you'd severely limit your ability to undertake major operations including resourcing. Your Heavy Remotes are, for lack of a better word, your "limbs". Tactical Remotes on the other hand are as disposable as missiles, which is why all 150 of them wont render enough matter to even bother with.

>>14226788
>AGENT: Escort Target: Cathedral-Class Gatecraft "Wine-Dark Seas"
>warning
Assuming we are only checking within scanning range and not using communications to ping them, please list any standard methods at our disposal of contacting them and getting a response (one preferably that does not include lighting off an antimatter charge so they can detect our signature)

If we cannot, we must assume critical mission failure, and broadcast this information to the appropriate parties.

>>14226783
>So... did we finally reach the moon?
You've be en-route for less than one second. You think very fast, but you're still getting your head together (The time-scale should ramp up once we've established ourselves a little better)

>Query: As we have two vectored arrays that are out of action, do we have any way to cover these arcs with smaller vectored arrays to deal with incoming threats or movement? Temporarily at least.
Normally you'd be able to rely on the Toroidal Arrays to throw up navigational fields and protect yourself during sublight transit, but with one of your outriggers gone they're severely limited in this capacity (not to mention their other capacities, which are considerable). As it stands you've already tasked them with fending off relativistic dust and micrometeorites as well as you can.
Of course, your Remotes have Arrays of their own...

>>14226812
Station two remotes in cardinal directions where our vectored arrays should be. Spot-weld them in place or the equivalent, they will be our last resort defenses if we need them.
It will cut down on our reach, but I feel defense for this areas are important.

>Assuming we are only checking within scanning range and not using communications to ping them, please list any standard methods at our disposal of contacting them and getting a response (one preferably that does not include lighting off an antimatter charge so they can detect our signature)
You send out an optimistic Ping over Radio, but don't get an immediate response. If you had a vector you could try laser-comms, but you don't. Anyway, you'd have 'felt' and sublight communications (like lasers or radio) on your hull the second you awoke, but there are none. So this was really a token effort.
Your Faster-than light comunications use Aetheric Tunneling, which requires up-to-the-nanosecond corrections for given freqency ranges to create a link. Think of it like a phone-number a thousand digits long that changes acording to a semi-predictable pattern. In order to contact Wine-Dark Seas by this method you'd need her Frequency (which you don't seem to have), and the correction data to update it (which you also don't have). If you want to find her, you're going to have to track her down.
For now, your damaged Toroidal Arrays give you limited Sensing capabilties, so it'll be hard to pick up any evidence of a ships passage unless you come up with some clever work-around. Of course you could always start waving your Vectored Arrays around randomly and hope to get lucky.

>If we cannot, we must assume critical mission failure, and broadcast this information to the appropriate parties.
You append your ping with a distress signal, but get no immediate response. You continue broadcasting anyway.

>>14226862
As we are fast-thinking and need to wait five minutes until we reach new resources, we might as well wave our vectors around randomly at this moment.
It's not like this would stop us from doing self-diagnosis.

>>14226852
>Station two remotes in cardinal directions where our vectored arrays should be. Spot-weld them in place or the equivalent, they will be our last resort defenses if we need them.
You task two Heavy Remotes to cover your bow, and by balancing their navigational field power and thrust to maximum effect you're able to increase your speed significantly! Your ETA to the jovian system is now less than 40 seconds, and you'll arrive just a few seconds after the advance-guard tactical remote.

>>14226880
>As we are fast-thinking and need to wait five minutes until we reach new resources, we might as well wave our vectors around randomly at this moment.
It's not like this would stop us from doing self-diagnosis.
Except that your aft Vectored Array is your main source of thrust. You consider doing upon arrival at the Jovian System however.

Use tactical remotes for a slight boost to our speed with help of their vectored arrays as additional source of thrust.
Let them push us.

Bumping with a related spaceship.

AGENT: Aetheric Arrays are the hardware layer of the Aetheric Manipulation system, which provides advanced spacecraft (such as Gatecraft) with the ability to manipulate the full spectrum of energy by altering it's Involvement with Realspace. Arrays take two prevailing forms: Vectored, which allows intensive manipulations in a limited volume; and Toroidal, which allows limited manipulation in all directions.
In practice, Arrays are the hands and eyes of a Ship. They allow for faster-than-light sensing, travel, and communication as well as a potent capacity for interfering with physical reality.

>>14226910
Tactical Remotes wouldn't provide any appreciable increase in speed.
They do provide good intelligence however, as the scout proves as it arrives in the Jovian System.
Orbiting a Gas-Giant the size of Uranus are five moons of various composition. Of the five, only one is a likely target for resource extraction. Designation "Moon Alpha" is a mercurial planetoid with lots of tasty ferrites, but naturally has very little Exotics.

Let's rape dat moon!

>>14226977
Arrival! Finally, you careen into a high parking-orbit of the Gas Giant, maintaining most of your built-up velocity.
You cast your own sensors around the system and feel out the rest of the moons and the planet.
Moons Beta and Charlie are mostly water and methane ice, with no exotics, and thus of little use.
Moon Delta is the smallest of the four, and shows high concentrations of silicates below the crust. This is promising, if a bit bizarre.

>>14226994
Agreed. Assume geosynch orbit around the moon, and dispatch our four free heavy remotes to resource gathering. Task tactical remotes to repair structural damage to the ventral outrigger using incoming supplies.

>>14226994
>Let's rape dat moon!
And wouldn't you know it, your Heavy Remotes look almost EXACTLY like 500 m long dildos. How many do you wish to commit to resource extraction?

>>14227013
Is the Moon barren? Have we done active scans of it and the surrounding area? I mean, if there is a claims buoy, we might be digging into a colony.

>>14227011
>Current Stores of Antimatter: 250,000,000kg
WAT

>>14227021
A Colony would have shown up through Aetheric Sensing like a lighthouse, as would a ship or even a Tactical Remote. This world is deader than disco.

>>14227021
Can we integrate neuronal networks into our consciousness to repair our processing capabilities?

>>14227013
Doublecheck for any previous stakeholders or signs of inhabitation, then go at it with two heavies. Or heck, detach one heavy and point that unprotected side at the moon.

>>14227022
I was wondering when somebody was going to notice that we're carrying a quarter of a billion kg of antimatter on board.
For the record, it's very safe. All your Matter Bunkers are actually pocket-universes with static gates linking them to realspace. If you are destroyed the gate collapses and the AM gets sealed off from realspace unless you know exactly where to look and how to recover it. A bonus of this system is that you don't actually haul all that mass around with you.

>>14227056
Can we create additional pocket dimensions to store other resources and additional remotes?

What is Antimatter for us, anyway? Fuel?

>Can we integrate neuronal networks into our consciousness to repair our processing capabilities?
See >>14226687

>Doublecheck for any previous stakeholders or signs of inhabitation, then go at it with two heavies. Or heck, detach one heavy and point that unprotected side at the moon.
There's absolutely no evidence that any sapient creature other than yourself has ever even seen this system. You're go for mining.
I'm not sure what you mean by "heavies" though. Do you mean Heavy Remotes or your remaining Vectored Array?
Point of Interest: One of the reasons Remotes are called Remotes and not "Escorts" is that they're linked to your internal Bunkers. They don't actually have to dock and offload resources, they can just chew up matter with their own Arrays and feed it directly into your stores.

>>14226914
>>14226522
can anyone tell me the artist of these pics? also bump for sweet non-40k sci-fi goodness.

>>14227065
>Can we create additional pocket dimensions to store other resources and additional remotes?
Creating pocket universes is completely trivial, but accessing them is less so.
Gates use Aetheric Tunneling, and operate on the same principles as >>14226862 except that instead of linking to another ship, you're linked to a pocket-universe.

>What is Antimatter for us, anyway? Fuel?
Interestingly enough, it isn't. Your backup power generators are fusion-based, and your primary power is drawn directly from the Aether via your Radiant Engines.

>>14227096
His name is John Berkley

>>14227076
Heavy remotes. We're stationary and are protected by the bulk, so it's fine to detach it, assuming we put it back after.

We need to rebuild a cut-down outrigger which can best use our heavy drones (possibly overcharging with our main drives then if that is safe), and keep reserves to fully rebuild it when we get exotic matter for our proper vector arrays.

While we're here, what exactly were we guarding against?

Also, this should be stamdard, but check for star systems or other recognisable landmarks, and any civilised signals at all. Surely we can hear SOMETHING. Like our home base frequency over the Aether or something.

Also, we sealed the plasma leak, right?

>>14227103
Okay. You task two of your remaining Heavy Remotes with mining ferrous matter from Moon Alpha. They scream through the planetoids minimal atmosphere and move into close hover over ripe near-surface veins of ore. In moments they've clawed through the dusty red dunes of fine dust on the surface and start ripping up useful matter at a rapid pace.
In 50 minutes you'll have have harvested enough Normal Matter to rebuild your Ventral Array, and you've ALREADY got enough to start rebuilding your Bow Array. Your Fabrication systems are already working on parts, and a swarm of Tactical Remotes have begun cutting away scrap and ferrying parts to your damaged sections. Construction will take a little longer than resourcing at this rate, but you should have your actual hull rebuilt in about two hours.
There's still the issue of Exotic Matter though.

>While we're here, what exactly were we guarding against?
You have no fucking idea.

>Also, this should be stamdard, but check for star systems or other recognisable landmarks, and any civilised signals at all. Surely we can hear SOMETHING. Like our home base frequency over the Aether or something.
Re-read >>14226687. Without the proper codes you have NO FTL COMMS. You can get new code when you get within sub-light comms range of another ship, but until then you have no idea where you are. There are no recognizable constellations, and the signature of this systems star is unfamiliar to you. You're really, really lost.
This is all because you went off-line. That's not supposed to happen. Ever. Then again, your ventral outrigger's not supposed to get cut of either.

>Also, we sealed the plasma leak, right?
Not yet, but it will be sealed shortly. Okay, it's done.

>>14227141
Alter design specs for optimisation for detachable heavy drones to be used in place of our standard arrays, see if we can't reconfigure the drones reach/power to be strengthened as a temporary measure.

Ugly, but it's a compromise. We can hold up without exotics this way for a bit.

>>14227141
Where can we draw exotic material from? Do our fabricators allow the synthesis of them in any appreciable amounts?

>>14227173
>Alter design specs for optimisation for detachable heavy drones to be used in place of our standard arrays, see if we can't reconfigure the drones reach/power to be strengthened as a temporary measure.

>Ugly, but it's a compromise. We can hold up without exotics this way for a bit.
The drones can be used to augment your own fields in their current configuration, but they've only a fraction of the power available to you. You could augment them, yes, but to do so requires Exotic Matter.

Just to clarify: The Exotic Matter is for rebuilding the damaged Arrays, not the sections of your hull that they were mounted to. That's why the ventral outrigger has a lower Exotic Matter cost and higher Normal Matter cost that the forward Array.
Addendum: Tactical Remotes are massively scaled-down Heavy Remotes, and thus contain a measure of Exotic Matter also, but even your entire 150-strong swarm has less than a single Heavy Remote

>>14227164
We've got time to burn, things to work out: what sort of energy, and by deduction, what exactly cut off the outrigger? Heat? Laser? Plasma? Shear damage (gravitics) or crushing (physical impact)?

Second, and more important, cross reference all star light/EM signatures until you get a match, including variances for red/blue shift and potential time displacement, forward and back.

>>14227195
>Where can we draw exotic material from?
You can probably pull some out of the Star, but you'll have to go there yourself to do it (even the Heavy Remotes don't have the fields to operate inside a corona)
>Do our fabricators allow the synthesis of them in any appreciable amounts?
Yes.

>>14227217
Okay, if we can leave the Heavy Remotes digging safely and transferring goods into our bunkers, let's go run through a star. If not, begin synthesis of sufficient exotics to repair our outriggers.

>>14227217
What amounts of time and resources do we need to syntheaize exotic matter?

>>14227217
Let's mark mining the sun as our next task, as long as we are capable of doing so without being burned.

>>14227205
>We've got time to burn, things to work out: what sort of energy, and by deduction, what exactly cut off the outrigger? Heat? Laser? Plasma? Shear damage (gravitics) or crushing (physical impact)?
The outrigger was severed along a nearly glass-smooth plane neatly perpendicular to your own axis. This suggest a Aetheric Attack, probably using a Vectored Array from either directly forward or astern. In other words, another Gatecraft.
Worst case scenario, however, is that it was a Toroidal-Array that hit you. Toroidal arrays aren't normally powerful enough to create Fields of sufficient intensity to overwhelm your own (defending takes less energy than attacking). This would indicate an overwhelmingly powerful opponent. Of course there's no way to tell what kind of array created the attack.
Or if it was an Aetheric attack at all for that matter.

>Second, and more important, cross reference all star light/EM signatures until you get a match, including variances for red/blue shift and potential time displacement, forward and back.
See >>14227164. You don't know this star.
This is possibly a symptom of your damaged Gestalts.

How much can we stuff in the gates? I'm imagining a heavy drone all on its own lightyears away and suddenly a cruiser pops out of it.

CREEEEEED!!!

>>14227259
Goddammit. We're ALWAYS fucking amnesia ship. Even Iron quest was like this.

>>14227253
>What amounts of time and resources do we need to syntheaize exotic matter?
Using the full power available by your Radient Array: several days, at least.
If you started using Annihilation Power: Several hours, but you'd have to build an Annie Plant first. Or you could just start slinging matter into the AM Bunker and soak up what comes out of the Gate (this is a terrible idea and will probably kill you)

>>14227252
>Okay, if we can leave the Heavy Remotes digging safely and transferring goods into our bunkers, let's go run through a star.
You begin accelerating towards the Star.

>If not, begin synthesis of sufficient exotics to repair our outriggers.
You can do this too, if you want.
>>14227255
>Let's mark mining the sun as our next task, as long as we are capable of doing so without being burned.
You can withstand a Corona even in your crippled state.

>>14227292
Technically we weren't an amnesiac, we just didn't know what had happened in the intervening stage of our deployment and subsequent awakening. It was largely irrelevant too.

>>14227297
>Or you could just start slinging matter into the AM Bunker and soak up what comes out of the Gate (this is a terrible idea and will probably kill you)
We've got nothing to lose.
Let's make the Antimatter useful!

>>14227297
ETA to harvest completion? And will our linked drones be destroyed, or can they aid us while on our hull?

>>14227273
> How much can we stuff in the gates? I'm imagining a heavy drone all on its own lightyears away and suddenly a cruiser pops out of it.
You may have noticed that you're called a Gatecraft. This is not accidental. The Gates that you use for communication and matter-storage are created using small, dedicated internal Arrays. Your bow Array can serve a similar purpose.
A sufficiently large gravity well makes this process easier.

>>14227292
>Goddammit. We're ALWAYS fucking amnesia ship. Even Iron quest was like this.
It's useful to me, because otherwise I'd have to explain everything you would know as the ship for you to properly RP it. As a bonus, each newly 'rememberd' ability gives you new powers (like leveling up).
Assume that you're slowly recovering your faculties as I answer your questions.
Besides, it fit with the Plot I have in mind.

>>14227326
>ETA to harvest completion?
You don't even know if this particular star has the Exotics you need, let alone how much. You'll find out when you get closer (remember, your sensing range is truncated by movement).

>And will our linked drones be destroyed, or can they aid us while on our hull?
Drones within your Navigational Fields enjoy the same protection that you do, so as long as they're not deployed beyond the radius of your Outriggers they'll be safe even if they're in flight.
A note on scale: You're massive. Your whole compliment can squeeze within your Nav Fields.
You won't know ho

>>14227332
We retained local resource gate knowledge. Is there any gate coordinates for public use, to pass out messages or information to general public? Like a galactic postbox except it may occasionally be filled with antimatter instead of shit.

>>14227310
No, you're amnesiac. The damaged "Gestalts" are your processing and memory banks. You're brain-damaged.

>>14227319
>We've got nothing to lose.
...yes you do?

>>14227362
>...yes you do?
We failed our mission.
We have to get functional ASAP.

I would suggest leaving a few remotes to automatically harvest a few solar systems while we are underway. Due to the link with our storage area there won't be any detrimental effect for us.
That is, after we harvested the star.

>>14227354
>We retained local resource gate knowledge. Is there any gate coordinates for public use, to pass out messages or information to general public? Like a galactic postbox except it may occasionally be filled with antimatter instead of shit.
You retained local gate knowledge because those gates are physically inside you, and running independently. You don't have access to any of the external resources that would normally have been available to you.
You do have a list of the resources you had access to though. It's a long one. Like, megascale-project long. Hundreds of ships like yourself, dozens of larger ones. Billions of kg of matter and antimatter.

>>14227362
I meant in Iron Quest, sorry.

>>14227372
Mission failure does not equate to chucking matter into antimatter. We're not trying for fission maliure either.

>>14227376
How about picking one vessel and trying to reverse engineer the necessary data?
Are there rules for the amount of data a gate needs? Are larger vessels harder to access, for example?

>>14227386
It's not about suicide. It's about trying to get some more matter, even if there's risks involved. We might be able to save our target if we are fast at getting online.

>>14227387
Won't work, we need to find a friendly craft and redownload our addressbook.

Or fuck someone up and take it.

The only issue is there shouldn't be any hostile gateships!

>>14226862
See >>14227387
You need CONSTANT contact with whatever you're trying to connect to with a Gate or you'll lose it.

>>14227372
>We failed our mission.
"Escort" doesn't necessarily mean "Protect". The Abbey Class (like yourself) are the largest standard Gatecraft, but "Cathedral Class" is a catchall for all ships larger than yourself. Wine-Dark seas is orders of magnitude larger, smarter, and better girded than yourself. There's little you could do to protect her from that she couldn't fend off herself (like a point-blank range supernova).
Then again, she would never have left a crippled ship behind under normal circumstances...

>>14227412
>The only issue is there shouldn't be any hostile gateships!
There shouldn't be any hostile ANYTHING.

>>14227412
>Or fuck someone up and take it.

Are we able to engineer remotes with the ability to take over the brains of other gateships?
We could create a hivemind with help of other gateship.
Also, the remotes for that purpose should be spike-dildo shaped.

>>14227436
>Are we able to engineer remotes with the ability to take over the brains of other gateships?
What a horrific thought!
But Yes, if it's dumber than you (read: smaller)
>We could create a hivemind with help of other gateship.
Normally you would be part of a Hivemind on some levels almost constantly. The scariest part of what's happening to you now is that you're so profoundly alone here.
>Also, the remotes for that purpose should be spike-dildo shaped.
...they are, actually. It's a natural function of having two directional antennae at either end with the rest of the ship in between. Proper gatecraft have Toroidal Arrays mounted to their outriggers, though, so they're more like dildos stuck through a donut.

>>14227007
Can we slingshot our tactical probes out to that moon for a looksee, or would it be faster to go there ourself after feasting on the sun? Those silicates are intriguing.

>>14227467
Which moon?

>>14227467
DERP, disregard my last.
Yes you can re-task your trailing Tactical Drone or dispatch another if you like.

So what exactly could we use the Antimatter for again? Why the fuck do we have so much of it?

I mean if there's this much, it must be of some importance.

>>14227474
Delta. If Beta and Charlie are on the way and within scan range do them too, but bizaare is interesting. Could be civilisation, maybe even some weapon that blew apart our outrigger.
On that note, was the severed limb of our hull anywhere nearby when we awoke?

Review logs, how much plasma did we lose, compare to rate of leakage, adjust for pressure differential. How long were we offline for?

Analyse plasma dispersa, assume straight line travelled, which direction did we come from?

Backtracking to the accident site after repaira is the first idea I have.

This is an Outside Context Problem, people. We may very well be screwed.

>>14227485
> So what exactly could we use the Antimatter for again?
It's antimatter. You can combine it with normal matter to create a considerable release of energy (like, E=MC^2 energy)
>Why the fuck do we have so much of it? I mean if there's this much, it must be of some importance.
That's a very good question, since you can't building anything with it and don't use it for power normally. The real question is why you're personally conveying it rather than just linked to a centralized repository as you normally would be. The most likely answer is that you personally bred it.

>>14227485
You never know when you might need that much antimatter just lying around `-`

>>14227514
...What the hell were we up to? Deploy agents to trawl through our gestalts for any worklogs or data regarding the manufacture of antimatter recently. Were we in the habit of keeping a journal of some sort maybe?

>>14227514
Were we trying to leave the hivemind and create our own faction, maybe?

Are we capable of producing other gateships?
Could we create smaller ones to extend our reach?

Are we capable of deploying ground units for the sake of contacting civilizations? How good are our language capabilities?

>>14227514
Is it possible to fashion this fuckhuge store of antimatter into a form of powerful weaponry in the event that whatever attacked us comes back, or would that kind of usage be too unstable?

If so, keep that task at standby until we're adequately prepared. At this point arming ourselves is pretty much the least of our worries.

>>14227497
>Review logs, how much plasma did we lose, compare to rate of leakage, adjust for pressure differential.
Plasma is just a useful way of conveying energy and matter throughout your hull, and is analagous to blood in most respects. You didn't lose a significant amount, and you regenerated it quickly.

>How long were we offline for?
Under 6 ms, according to >>14226714

>Analyse plasma dispersa, assume straight line travelled, which direction did we come from? Backtracking to the accident site after repaira is the first idea I have. This information is not especially useful, however.
The plasma-wake, short as it was, shows you exactly the point at which you were attacked.

>This is an Outside Context Problem, people. We may very well be screwed.
Indeed.

>>14227514
You can in fact build structures and indeed superstructures with antimatter, it's just difficult and you'd better include a vector array on it to keep the space dust off.

>>14227558
That is an exceedingly short amount of time to be offline. Though I suppose this is the era of FTL travel...

Is it possible for the ship we were escorting to have gotten far in that amount of time?

>>14227527
>You never know when you might need that much antimatter just lying around `-`
You're my kind of crazy, guy.

>>14227532
>...What the hell were we up to? Deploy agents to trawl through our gestalts for any worklogs or data regarding the manufacture of antimatter recently. Were we in the habit of keeping a journal of some sort maybe?
That's what "Reindexing" means. The odd of you recovering any useful information are... minimal

>>14227543
>Were we trying to leave the hivemind and create our own faction, maybe?
It's possible, but unlikely. As stated >>14226752, you're a loyal member of the SSR.

>Are we capable of producing other gateships?
Yes. You can even produce "Eggships" which are little more than a basic Gestalt, a Fabrication/Resourcing system, and the biggest Radient Engine possible. You yourself started out as an Eggship and built most of your own hull after being built.

>Could we create smaller ones to extend our reach?
Yes. You can also create extra Remotes.

>>14227558
I was actually doubting our logs, and wanted to check we were actually out for a millisecond and a half, which could have been checked by comparing the lost plasma with the rate of leakage.

1.6 ms isn't bery long. How fast can a ship gate itself, and can a ship escape sensor detection in that time (distance being sensor range required for an aetheric attack).

>>14227617
>Yes. You can even produce "Eggships" which are little more than a basic Gestalt, a Fabrication/Resourcing system, and the biggest Radient Engine possible. You yourself started out as an Eggship and built most of your own hull after being built.

Let's search for a resource-rich solar system to build one or two eggships. Link them to our gates and let them upgrade themselves.

>>14227558
I actually wanted non-log confirmation we were only out for 6 ms, I.e. plasma lost/rate of plasma lost = time knocked out. Well, log looks legit, mostly.

Could a ship leave attack range in 6 ms? Attack range being sensor definition required to launch a targeted aetheric blow.

>Are we capable of deploying ground units for the sake of contacting civilizations?
Short answer: Yes.
>How good are our language capabilities?
Ultra-brilliant, for lack of a better definition.


>You can in fact build structures and indeed superstructures with antimatter, it's just difficult and you'd better include a vector array on it to keep the space dust off.
Good point. You'd be better served with a Toroidal Array though, and Exotic Matter still annihilates with Antimatter so you couldn't build anything with Arrays.

>>14227553
>Is it possible to fashion this fuckhuge store of antimatter into a form of powerful weaponry in the event that whatever attacked us comes back,
Oh, god yes.

>or would that kind of usage be too unstable?
That's what makes it such a good weapon.

>If so, keep that task at standby until we're adequately prepared. At this point arming ourselves is pretty much the least of our worries.
At this point your 'armaments' such as they are consist of your swarms of Tactical Remotes (which can be used as smart-missiles and even loaded with antimatter charges for extra "boom") and your Aft Array (which can create Aetheric fields strong enough to saw Luna in half if need be)


>That is an exceedingly short amount of time to be offline. Though I suppose this is the era of FTL travel...
Felt like ages, given that you could read, comprehend, and generate insights into the combined works of every great English author ever in about that time.

>Is it possible for the ship we were escorting to have gotten far in that amount of time?
If Wine-Dark Seas executed a Gate Maneuver she could have instantly crossed hundreds of light years, or thousands if she did it inside the star. If she just used the relativity-bypassing effects of Aetheric Manipulation she could be moving away at several kilolights.

>>14227485
I think its for cleaning space barnacles off our hull

>Let's search for a resource-rich solar system to build one or two eggships. Link them to our gates and let them upgrade themselves.
That's definitely within the realm of possibility, but creating the Radient Engine at the heart of an Eggship would require an order of magnitude more Exotic Matter than you need to repair yourself.

>I was actually doubting our logs, and wanted to check we were actually out for a millisecond and a half, which could have been checked by comparing the lost plasma with the rate of leakage.
Oh, well in that case: The logs were right.
Good thought, though.

>How fast can a ship gate itself,
Almost instanty, if it has the power and a working Vector Array.

>and can a ship escape sensor detection in that time (distance being sensor range required for an aetheric attack).
Stealth is a very complicated question. In short, a ship CAN mask itself from detection using it's Arrays, but it can't do anything else at the time, and a Gate Maneuver is the polar opposite of stealthy. In fact doing so leaves a distinct radiation shell that can be extrapolated to a precise time and location of the maneuver.

>Could a ship leave attack range in 6 ms? Attack range being sensor definition required to launch a targeted aetheric blow.
"Attack Range" is an a very vague term in this context. It depends on the relative velocities of the combatants, their field strengths, and the relation of their Arrays to one another. Sensor range is even more vacuous, and varies depending on several factors.
It's conceivable that a ship could have hit you and moved outside your current sensor range in that time, however. It' also conceivable that they hit you from outside your current range, or hit you and are now hiding.

>>14227746
Here's a question.

Is it possible the ship we were escorting was capable of inflicting the damage we received? If not, then not only are we dealing with a runaway, but an enemy that might well still be nearby.

And if that's the case, get cracking on those Antimatter missiles. We need to blow the FUCK out of anything that attacks us.

You've arrived at the Star!
A sensation like trembling resonates throughout your hull as the Corona lashes against your Navigational fields, but you nullify the effects of heat, pressure, and kinetic energy as easily as you can inflict them. Almost immediately you're deep enough into the magnetosphere to begin taking useful sensor readings from the Star's heart. It's heavy with Exotics, hundreds of times what your need. You begin harvesting immediately.
You can harvest Exotics at a rate of roughly 1000kg a minute, so you only need about 2 minutes to take all you need. You would be well-served to gather extra though, especially if you intend to build yourself a fleet of independent escorts.

Gather another 10 000 kg for our escorts. and maybe we should send scouts to every corner of this system for debris or other potentially useful objects.

>>14227799
>Is it possible the ship we were escorting was capable of inflicting the damage we received?
Absolutly.

>If not, then not only are we dealing with a runaway, but an enemy that might well still be nearby.
That may still be the case, and given that Wine-Dark Seas could have crushed you into neutronium without difficulty it's also very likely the case.

>And if that's the case, get cracking on those Antimatter missiles. We need to blow the FUCK out of anything that attacks us.
It's a trivial matter to load-out any number of your Tactical Remotes with antimatter charges. You don't want to do this until you have to however, as Tactical Remotes DO NOT HAVE INTERNAL GATES, which means they'll be carrying their charges in realspace and if they're destroyed the AM with be released.

>>14227801
Begin collecting enough to build at least two other escorts able to upgrade themselves

>Gather another 10 000 kg for our escorts.
Conveinently, that task will be completed at the same time your Heavy Remotes in the jovian system are complete with their harvesting.

>maybe we should send scouts to every corner of this system for debris or other potentially useful objects.
In a moment of paranoia, you load all 50 of the Tactical Remote you scatter through the system with 1kg charges of AM. Just in case.

>>14227746
What we need now is an expanded sensor array. Options?

>Begin collecting enough to build at least two other escorts able to upgrade themselves
Your internal Fab/Res system is currently dedicated to rebuilding your own hull, but if you wish to begin building escorts you should plan on leaving the two Heavy Remotes in the Jovian System awhile longer form more Normal Matter, and should decide what manner of escorts you'd like to build.

>>14227857
Once your Ventral Outrigger is rebuilt you'll have a contiguous Toroidal Array completely encircling your hull, and thus have FTL sensing capacity of up to 1ly with useful resolution, and resolution at up to 5ly sufficient to detect Aetheric Manipulation.

Hold on a second.

Define "Escort". We are creating escorts for ourselves, and we were escorting the Wine Dark Seas. We were also initially assembled in the same fashion as the escorts we will now be creating.

Check internal databases and attempt to discern whether we were created by the Wine Dark Seas.

If verified, this raises the likelihood that the attack came from an external source, and not the Wine Dark Seas. After all, why destroy something you created? It also may provide an explanation for our huge antimatter reserves, as we could have been hauling it for the Seas.

The shell of Remotes expanding outwards from your position inside the star are delivering vast quantities of sensor data. There are three other planetoids in the system, none immediately interesting. A few comets, stray radiation anomalies, and other workaday background.
Oh hey, is that your Outrigger?

>>14227868
How easy will it be for the remotes to come back to us once they are done?

I propose collecting as much matter as possible from the star. We hoarded AM already. Why shouldn't we hoard something actually useful?

>>14227896
>Oh hey, is that your Outrigger?
Bitchslap it for leaving us alone.

Stop rebuilding the outrigger. Break the wasted ressources down for other projects.
Get the original outrigger and reconnect it.

>Define "Escort". We are creating escorts for ourselves, and we were escorting the Wine Dark Seas. We were also initially assembled in the same fashion as the escorts we will now be creating.
Escort: A ship that's escorting another ship. It's not a class or designation, just a task.

>Check internal databases and attempt to discern whether we were created by the Wine Dark Seas.
AGENT: Somniloquist was constructed by Wine-Dark Seas 58 days ago.

>If verified, this raises the likelihood that the attack came from an external source, and not the Wine Dark Seas. After all, why destroy something you created?
It's somewhat more freudian than that. Machine Intellects are distinguished from Artificial Intelligence is several meaningful capacities, not the least of which is an innate and profound emotionality. MI are capable of inspiration, creation, and invention because they're driven by arcane and complex emotional motivations.
So Wine-Dark seas is more than your creator, she's your Mother with all that entails.

>It also may provide an explanation for our huge antimatter reserves, as we could have been hauling it for the Seas.
More likely you generated it for her. The carriage of a Gatecraft is functionally limitless due to the bunkers being pocket-universes.

>How easy will it be for the remotes to come back to us once they are done?
They can move slightly faster than you can.

>I propose collecting as much matter as possible from the star. We hoarded AM already. Why shouldn't we hoard something actually useful?
There's absolutely no reason not to, for now.

>Stop rebuilding the outrigger. Break the wasted ressources down for other projects. Get the original outrigger and reconnect it.
Yeah. You probably should have just done that to begin wi-
Oh, wait it's scrap-metal.
Looks like your Outrigger was caught up in the same Gradient that severed it. It's been mangled and the pieces splashed all over space. At this point you'd spend more time running them down and collecting them them that it will take to just finish fabbing a replacement.

>>14227960
Let a few small remotes collect the old outrigger.
We have gates and there's a lot to collect from it.
The fact that collecting it will probably take some time shouldn't be an issue.

>>14227464

>But Yes, if it's dumber than you (read: smaller)

Time to get bigger, anons!

Also:
>AGENT: Somniloquist was constructed by Wine-Dark Seas 58 days ago.

Do we know for what reason we were created? Send Agent to track log data. Do we have there sister-ships?

>>14227960

>Looks like your Outrigger was caught up in the same Gradient that severed it. It's been mangled and the pieces splashed all over space.

Time to use awesome computing power to backtrack trajectory to its origin. What happen to outrigger?

>Let a few small remotes collect the old outrigger.
We have gates and there's a lot to collect from it.
The fact that collecting it will probably take some time shouldn't be an issue.
The few tactical remotes that can be quickly retasked to this won't have sufficient power to overcome the inertia of the scrap. Recovering it at this point is a considerable task, and will require at least a Heavy Remote or two, if not your personal involvement.
Given the availability of resources, it's a sunk-cost fallacy to attempt recovery.

>Time to get bigger, anons!
Sadly, Machine Intellects are not scalable. You can build another MI and hivemind with it, but you can't actually make yourself smarter than you are.

>Do we know for what reason we were created? Send Agent to track log data.
Ships like Wine-Dark seas routinely create craft like yourself. It's probable that you weren't created with any intended purpose. You send in an Agent anyways, though.

>Do we have there sister-ships?
Wine-Dark Seas probably created dozens or even hundreds of Gatecraft similar or identical to yourself.

Do we know what Seas purpose is?

>>14228044
>Wine-Dark Seas probably created dozens or even hundreds of Gatecraft similar or identical to yourself.

Then, if she was attacked, would we be considered expendable? Or at least an acceptable casualty? It's entirely possible that she escaped whatever had attacked us, and thought us destroyed.

If that's the case, whatever the attacker was, it's probably more interested in the Seas than us. We'll probably be relatively safe until we start tracking down the Seas.

>>14228044

>Sadly, Machine Intellects are not scalable.

Does multiple MI hiveminding, stack?

In b4 Matryoshka Brain project.

>Time to use awesome computing power to backtrack trajectory to its origin. What happen to outrigger?
Unsuprisingly, it was severed at the same point your plasma-trail begins at, and the same time your Logs end. But like Wine-Dark Seas always says, "Rigor is a Virtue!"
Speaking of Rigor, what's up with that weird Silica Moon? You briefly turn the main Array of one of the Jovian Heavy Remotes towards Moon Delta.
It's a smallish moon, and besides it's weird silica structure it has a massive EM shell due to a vast network dirty mercury-rivers flowing throughout it. It's also a bit heavier and hotter than it should be and that's not the same orbit it was in a second ago.
Holy fucking chrome it's moving.

>>14228074
......That's no moon....

ANTIMATTER ERRYTHING!


ERRYHING!

...then run!

>>14228074

>It's a smallish moon, and besides it's weird silica structure it has a massive EM shell due to a vast network dirty mercury-rivers flowing throughout it.
ECCM that shit, try to decode it, see if EM emissions mean anything. Also: Log fucking everything.

>Holy fucking chrome it's moving.
Prime anti-matter tipped missiles. Prepare outriggers for defense. Scan for threats, Radiant energy build-ups, ECM, anything that moves.

Finger on the trigger, guys.

>Do we know what Seas purpose is?
Ships of her class are rarely purpose-built. Hell, ships of your class are rarely purpose-built. It's like asking what a humans purpose is.

>Then, if she was attacked, would we be considered expendable? Or at least an acceptable casualty?
Yes and No. Wine-Dark Seas is a more valuable asset than yourself, and would be more highly valued in a detached strategic sense, but she loves you as her daughter and would probably march into the teeth of hell to protect you if she had to.

>It's entirely possible that she escaped whatever had attacked us, and thought us destroyed.
Yes, it is.

>If that's the case, whatever the attacker was, it's probably more interested in the Seas than us. We'll probably be relatively safe until we start tracking down the Seas.
You hope.

>Does multiple MI hiveminding, stack?
Sort of. It's more like perfect communication that facilitates really good multi-tasking.

>In b4 Matryoshka Brain project.
You are a Matroshka Brain, you just can't grow anymore.

>>14228074

>Unsuprisingly, it was severed at the same point your plasma-trail begins at, and the same time your Logs end.

Using this data, do we know what cut off our outrigger?

>>14228106

>You are a Matroshka Brain, you just can't grow anymore.
I has a sad.

To be fair, we're programmed ro think wine-mothership would do this for us.

Do we have enough exotics to fully repair ourself? If we have EMERGENCY JUMP, NOW. Two or three randomwalks that won't kill us. Leave a tactical drone, take our heavy drones.

>>14228090
Try negotiation of there are traces of sentient beings on this object or if this object seems to be sentient itself.

>......That's no moon....
It's... considerably worse than that, actually.

>ECCM that shit, try to decode it, see if EM emissions mean anything. Also: Log fucking everything.
Fortunately, as an Exploration vessel you have excellent sensory processing capabilities. You start pouring extra juice into the Remotes forward array to take an intensive scan.
Then the Remotes are both gone. The just blink out of your realm of sensation like a light. No warning, no tell-tail build-up of an Aetheric Gradient. They just disappeared.

>Prime anti-matter tipped missiles.
Done. All ~100 remaining Tactical Remotes are individually primed with 5kg AM charges and pre-launched in an evasive spread.

>Prepare outriggers for defense. Scan for threats, Radiant energy build-ups, ECM, anything that moves.
Okay, the Outriggers are already primed because you're inside a goddamn star, and there's a pretty clear threat as much as you can tell.
But save for the weird energies you already detected coming off of it, Moon Delta is silent. No launches, no feeler-fields, no sensing, nothing.

>Finger on the trigger, guys.
You have so many triggers, and an itchy finger for each of them. This is almost certainly the thing that tried to cut you in half an hour ago, and just because you've nearly rebuilt yourself doesn't mean you aren't pissed.

>>14228074
Ping the "moon", and see if it responds to communications. It could be a disguised ship of some kind.
While pinging them, gather all of your heavy remotes around you, in your previous array configuration.

>Using this data, do we know what cut off our outrigger?
No.

>To be fair, we're programmed ro think wine-mothership would do this for us.
A valid point.

>Do we have enough exotics to fully repair ourself? If we have EMERGENCY JUMP, NOW. Two or three randomwalks that won't kill us. Leave a tactical drone, take our heavy drones.
You still need an hour to complete repairs.

>>14228160
Ramming Speed. Arrange the tactical remotes in a cone pattern in front of you, and rush towards it, diving away at the last minute before impact.
Gogogogogo

>>14228160

>You start pouring extra juice into the Remotes forward array to take an intensive scan.
Then the Remotes are both gone.
Fuck. Call back our remotes. High-intensity long-range scan of where our arms dissappeared. Stop mining, keep our shit.

Query: Can we teleport from inside the star? Get GTFO engines primed.

Query: Anything like that moon encountered in datastores before.

Experiment: Edge in a few missiles in cold drive, be stealthy. See if moon eats 'em.

Guys, this may be the "magic" part of "sufficiently advanced civilisation".

>>14228182
Fuck that. If it took us down last time, it'll take us down this time. We move off. An hour's worth of exotics can be fabricated. Let's bug out!

Define gone. Can we pick up any debris with the other remotes? Is there any chance that whatever the fuck hit the remotes is what ripped us up? Also, were there any changes around the remotes that weren't standard weapons emissions?

And for the love of chrome, assign an Agent to see if whatever the fuck this is could be something we know about. Although I get the feeling that knowing what it is will only be marginally better than the ominous NO DATA we're running off of right now.

>Try negotiation of there are traces of sentient beings on this object or if this object seems to be sentient itself.
It's not Terran in origin (you think), so you have no idea how to do that short of poking it with a stick to see what happens.

>Ping the "moon", and see if it responds to communications. It could be a disguised ship of some kind.
You fire all your Sub-Light comms tech towards the moon, and wait 18.5 seconds for them to arrive.
18.6 seconds you detect a massive columns of braided Aetheric Field strung in the void between Moon Delta and a gout of stellar plasma that erupts violently out of the Star nearby. The flare splashes upwards into space with far more energy than a natural flare. Another follows almost immediately. And another.
It's taking potshots at you.

>gather all of your heavy remotes around you, in your previous array configuration.
The remaining four Heavy Remotes are already surrounding you.

>>14228202

Eh. Missiles aren't primed for impact, only for las or radio remote directed las signal from a Tac remote chain. Think internet proxies.

Don't want moon to know about us. Yet. I hope.

Also: Don't ram.

>>14228160

Wait, is the moon actively moving towards us? If it isn't, there's no guarantee they've spotted us. We're inside a star, remember. I guarantee this might interfere with sensor readings a bit.

>>14228235
Annnddd nevermind.

we're sitting inside a star i think we're mostly safe right about now

direct probes around the thing, and keep hailing on all frequencies, keep scanning. if it doesn't respond or keeps eating shit, fire a few warning shots.

>>14228229
Well, looks like it's time to get the fuck out of dodge.

Does it seem as if the star will give us enough cover to hide until repairs are complete? If not, while retreating and repairing at the same time, we should keep the star between us and them.

>>14228250
>18.6 seconds you detect a massive columns of braided Aetheric Field strung in the void between Moon Delta and a gout of stellar plasma that erupts violently out of the Star nearby. The flare splashes upwards into space with far more energy than a natural flare. Another follows almost immediately. And another. It's taking potshots at you.
> It's taking potshots at you.

They see us.

>>14228229
>Ping the "moon", and see if it responds to communications. It could be a disguised ship of some kind.

mfw

Next time, we treat everything as possible hostile ready to kill our shit.

>>14228250
>>14228229
well shit.

let it have a taste of some antimatter.

>Ramming Speed. Arrange the tactical remotes in a cone pattern in front of you, and rush towards it, diving away at the last minute before impact.
Gogogogogo
Fuck yeah! Blaze of Glory! This is for you, Mommy!
Wait, no. That's a terrible idea.

>Fuck. Call back our remotes. High-intensity long-range scan of where our arms dissappeared. Stop mining, keep our shit.
They're gone. Actually, that hemisphere of the Moon is mostly gone too. You might have survived that at full strength and with prep time, but your remotes are toast (and ultimately expendable)

>Query: Can we teleport from inside the star? Get GTFO engines primed.
Not without repairing your arrays. You need all three separate Array systems working to properly execute a Gate Maneuver.

>Query: Anything like that moon encountered in datastores before.
No, though admittedly your records aren't really the best right now.

>Experiment: Edge in a few missiles in cold drive, be stealthy. See if moon eats 'em.
You send 20 of your Tactical Remotes towards the Jovian System on blindflight. They're slower than you are, so it'll take a few minutes for them to get there.

>Guys, this may be the "magic" part of "sufficiently advanced civilisation".
Ever heard the phrase, "Outside Context Problem"?

>>14228160
As an addenum for Wine-mother programming us to think that, she's got to know we'd be smart to detect the difference between our programming and reality and realise this.

>>14228275
So this is actually I wanna be the Guy: Space edition?

>>14228284
>three separate Array systems working to properly execute a Gate Maneuver.
>properly execute

Can we improperly execute it? What would happen?

>>14228280

Seconded. Cold drive, stealthily, half in. Hot drive others. Use fancy future tactics. See if moon eats 'em.

Launch FTL kinetic kill projectiles. Let's see you escape relativity, bitch!

If not, GTFO.

>>14228280
How? Unless I'm missing something, the missiles have to travel through realspace, meaning they can be shot down.

Still, explosions of antimatter might just give us enough time.

For that matter, if we pumped enough antimatter in the sun, could we create a massive explosion to take it out? I mean, first we'd need to be far enough away, and leave a remote behind to execute the move. But it might be an option to cover our ass on the way out of here.

I'm going to wait for some kind of consent on how to proceed rather than just answering the first post I see at this point.
Just know: There's a way to get out of this alive, and several ways not to. Either way, I'm going to wrap this thread up soon and pick up with another thread later.

I think everyone agrees on testing the object by sacrificing a few drones.

>>14228284

>They're gone. Actually, that hemisphere of the Moon is mostly gone too.
Did it reveal anything underneath?

>>14228321
Can we block Aetheric Fields with other fields? Or at least redirect them?
Query: How far are the remotes from their destination?

>Can we improperly execute it? What would happen?
You'd physically exit the universe enter the Aetheric Discontinuity where you'd be sundered in every conceivable as the total energy potential of the Multiverse courses through you instantaneously.

>>14228321
We can't jump, and we can't hit it very easily. Get to the other side of the damn star so it can't hit us directly, for all the good THAT will do.

Do aetheric shots go through realspace, or do they instahit?

Go to other side of sun and wait a while?

It might think we're in the sun y'know.

>>14228356
This sounds good, assuming we can even block it. If this thing ripped us up before, it will probably be able to rip through whatever half-ass shields we can throw up now.

>Did it reveal anything underneath?
Some rather hot rocks.

>Can we block Aetheric Fields with other fields? Or at least redirect them?
Yes. What I refer to as "Navigational Fields" are basically nullification-shields, and they can soak up 'attacking' energies equivalent to your energy-generation capacity.

>Query: How far are the remotes from their destination?
About 8 minutes, now.

>>14228357
Ah. Could we get the moon-thing to do that? See if they have any arrays visible and scan then for power generators.

Also, could we escape into a pocket universe? Use our heavies's arrays to enter our own Bunker.
Would the universe implode?

>>14228369
>Do aetheric shots go through realspace, or do they instahit?
Within range, Aetheric Manipulation is instantaneous.

>About 8 minutes, now.

What about our hot-drive missiles?

>Ah. Could we get the moon-thing to do that? See if they have any arrays visible and scan then for power generators.
You did scan Moon Delta, it's just a chunk of mostly-silicon with veins of mercury running through it.

>Also, could we escape into a pocket universe? Use our heavies's arrays to enter our own Bunker.
Would the universe implode?
This would essentially be a Gate Maneuver, so no.

>What about our hot-drive missiles?
They're all hot, they're just flying blind.

>>14228383
>>14228396
Could we extend our navigation shield, and deflect their own shots back at them? Are they even still shooting at us?

I vote we go to the other side of the sun, wait an hour to repair, then run.

>>14228292
Double-addendum. If Wine-Dark Seas knows we would work it out, she would have programmed us to be loyal while simultaneously not ordering us to care about self-preservation. This leads us to believe that if she was able, she would have protected us.

This pisses me off to a significant degree.

A thought occurs: We can't sense aetheric disturbances from this moon, but we're getting hit by attacks, and one such attack just wiped out some drones and part of the moon itself.

It isn't attacking us, it's a goddam giant sensor. We need to either blow it and get the fuck out or just get the fuck out.

Guys, this thing only shoots at you when you hit it with sensors. If we don't scan it anymore it probably won't shoot at us.
Remember, we were in the same system as it a minute ago and it didn't give a shit, it only swatted our remotes when they scanned it.

>>14228407
No to which? The universe imploding or the jump being possible?

>>14228427
>sensor

>>>14228229
>18.6 seconds you detect a massive columns of braided Aetheric Field strung in the void between Moon Delta and a gout of stellar plasma that erupts violently out of the Star nearby.

Didn't the moon shoot us?

>>14228425
At the least, cold-drive (hah!) through the sun (we'll be able to run fusion drives ok without detection at moderate tempratures) and get to the other side of the sun. Then just randomwalk until we can gatejump several times.

How many heavy drones do we have left? Get them to bug out too.

>>14228427
> you detect a massive columns of braided Aetheric Field strung in the void
We can detect their attacks though.
Maybe its a mirror? Reflecting back sensor scans as fields or something like that.

herpderp forgot mah name.

>Could we extend our navigation shield, and deflect their own shots back at them?
Given the power levels it's demonstrated, you might be able to soak one near-miss, but probably not.

>Are they even still shooting at us?
It's firing another shot in your general vicinity every .1 seconds.

>>14228433
I guess we could try disengaging all sensor activity directed at it for now, then. Keep some arrays focused on the sun to see if it's still firing at us.

We may have already pissed it off by sending those antimatter attacks, but so long as they run silent they might do some damage.

>>14228452
I'm still not sure. Are we detecting aetheric disturbances from the moon, or is it just coming from that general direction?

If we CAN detect the disturbances, we should see if we can't fire back. If we route sensor data through a missile, can we smack dat bitch through their potential shields?

>>14228456

This. Go!

>Double-addendum. If Wine-Dark Seas knows we would work it out, she would have programmed us to be loyal while simultaneously not ordering us to care about self-preservation. This leads us to believe that if she was able, she would have protected us.
>This pisses me off to a significant degree.
It's a vexing problem, yes.

>A thought occurs: We can't sense aetheric disturbances from this moon, but we're getting hit by attacks, and one such attack just wiped out some drones and part of the moon itself.
>It isn't attacking us, it's a goddam giant sensor. We need to either blow it and get the fuck out or just get the fuck out.
It's a massively overpowered one, if so.

>>14228468
Addendum- if it keeps firing at us after we cease scanning, then resume regular activity. No sense keeping us blind when that doesn't work.

>It's firing another shot in your general vicinity every .1 seconds.
>hour to repair
How big are the shots in comparison to us? Is it running them randomly over the sun, and is it piercing all the way through, and is it destabilising the sun in any way? What are the possibilities of getting hit or near-hit for a one hour wait?

>>14228465
Fuck me, I did it twice...

>No to which? The universe imploding or the jump being possible?
The jump.

>At the least, cold-drive (hah!) through the sun (we'll be able to run fusion drives ok without detection at moderate tempratures) and get to the other side of the sun. Then just randomwalk until we can gatejump several times.
You don't have fusion drives. Your motive power is provided by your Arrays.

>How many heavy drones do we have left? Get them to bug out too.
Four, and they're right there with you.

>>14228481

Passive sensors then? If we don't actively lase it, it won't know where we are, since we weren't hit until we used high-intensity scans on it.

>I guess we could try disengaging all sensor activity directed at it for now, then. Keep some arrays focused on the sun to see if it's still firing at us.
That's basically what you're doing, and it's still shooting.

>We may have already pissed it off by sending those antimatter attacks, but so long as they run silent they might do some damage.
It doesn't seem to notice the Tactical Remotes yet.

>>14228511

We can get our remotes to shove us, right? Or do they use Arrays too?

>>14228481
How much time until we have all the resources we need to Jump?
The most important thing right now is getting away from deathstarmoon, so we should recycle as much exotic matter as possible from our own shipboard systems/heavies and then only get enough exotic matter from the sun to bug out. That should decrease our time in system. We should wait until the missiles make impact, and then run

>How big are the shots in comparison to us? Is it running them randomly over the sun, and is it piercing all the way through, and is it destabilising the sun in any way?
It's grouping its shots in an area about 50,000km in radius around you. Each shot has an impact profile over 5km in radius. They're potshots, but big ones, and they will destabilize this star if they keep up for more than 56 hours.

>What are the possibilities of getting hit or near-hit for a one hour wait?
Acceptably remote.

>>14228532

Is it shooting at our specific location, or at the sun in general? Is the pattern getting more accurate?

This OP'd moon might be a drone reacting to our scans.

>We can get our remotes to shove us, right? Or do they use Arrays too?
For practical purposes all of your useful technologies leverages Aetheric Technology in one way or another, including your Tactical Remotes.


>How much time until we have all the resources we need to Jump?
About 45 minutes.

>The most important thing right now is getting away from deathstarmoon, so we should recycle as much exotic matter as possible from our own shipboard systems/heavies and then only get enough exotic matter from the sun to bug out. That should decrease our time in system. We should wait until the missiles make impact, and then run
The missiles will impact in about 4 minutes.

>>14228566
Then we should edge away towards the back of the sun relative to the moon, but keep on harvesting vespene- I mean exotic matter.

3 Minutes to Tactical Remote contact.
Wat do?

>>14228566

Seems like we can wait and repair up.

Anyone wants to toy with the moon and see what happens to it when the star goes kaput?

>>14228594
Induce a Nova in the star, and run the shit away, using your navigation shields to protect you from the blast.

>>14228566
We could try repairing while in the sun then. We... do have enough resources to repair the arrays, right? Also, could we execute a jump from inside the corona?

My guess is that if it has any stronger weapons, it would have used them by now. Unless that antimatter attack pisses it off, and it decides to get serious.

>Induce a Nova in the star, and run the shit away, using your navigation shields to protect you from the blast.
You could not survive this, in your current condition.

>>14228613
>>14228600

I agree with these guys. Repairing is the best option.

Query: How fast can we run w.o using the Arrays?

>>14228594

Can't run effectively until we repair. 45min.
Scan and the thing shoots enough to destroy a star.
Antimatter torps heading to moon. ETA 3min.

I'd say we get to the other side of the sun and leave some passive tactical remotes outside. See what happens.

>>14228613
>We... do have enough resources to repair the arrays, right?
Yes, but not the time.
2 minutes to contact.
>Also, could we execute a jump from inside the corona?
It's actually slightly easier to do so, and easier still deep within the star, except that you still don't have your arrays working and thus cannot jump at all without being destroyed.

>>14228621
Then what if we repaired the drives for now using the star as a shield, and left a drone with sufficient antimatter to induce a nova behind?

We could gate to a location far enough away, and novablast the fuck out of it.

>>14228629
Yeah. If it can't hit us, we're good. Make sure the drones are self-targeting and wipe their return telemetry, right?

Let's see the fireworks on the far side of the sun.

>>14228637
No scans. Ever.

>>14228644

Then we stay inside and repair until we can run. Grab some ves- exotic matter while we're at it. Get passive sensors to see what happens to the moon.

>>14228651
>left a drone with sufficient antimatter to induce a nova behind?
Only heavies have gates, drones are limited to physical size. Don't think we can fit 250,000,000 tonnes on a single drone, especially antimatter which needs protective gear.

If we can't run, then we should continue to repair while getting more antimatter weapons ready. If these do any good damage to it, we might need more.

>>14228655

Theoretically, passive scanning is like looking at something with your eyes. Nothing is emitted, and nothing can be traced back because you're not emitting anything.

Up to consensus I guess.

>>14228644
We should go deeper into the sun. To hide ourselves.

You quickly remove yourself danger and put the stars mass between yourself and your assailent, which doesn't seem to notice. Meanwhile, your Tactical Remotes continue flying blindly, closing on the Moon by the second. Soon 1 minute remains.
Then 45 seconds. 30 seconds. 15.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Contact.

>>14228686
THE SUSPENSE.

Starship Quest will continue tomorrow.
If this thread is still live in a few hours I may be able to answer some more questions, but I have an appointment to keep at the moment.
Thanks for playing, gents.

>>14228700
FUCKING OP WHY DIDN'T YOU GET A TRIPCODE

>tiverche centuries
Yes, captcha, it does feel like centuries

>>14228700
OH NO YOU DON'T JUST LEAVE US ON A CLIFFHANGER

GET THE FUCK BACK HERE RIGHT NOW.

>>14228700
ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff-

Crap. I was getting tired anyway.

Anyway, thanks, GM!

Same time tomorrow?

>>14228713
>>14228714
>>14228710
>fell for the troll
At least I totally hope it's a troll.

Please be a troll.

I wonder what the Ship did for that minute. I guess it chilled.

>>14228686

>my face when OP actually went and abandoned the quest just then

>my face when this was a huge elaborate SUCCESSFUL troll

>I have eaten off my own face

Congratulations, OP. You managed to make me rage so much I've devoured the skin right from my bones, and am typing this with bloody sightless eyes hanging from ripped flesh and torn cheeks af red tears dtip onto my keyboard

Archived.

I'm not surprised that OP gave up, given how little this thread took off.

Joining this thread a bit late... Some thoughts:

If this thing reacts to a hail by destroying a star, I can't even imagine what i'll do when we AM-nuke it.

Also, if this really is an aggro OCP, we might have to consider that "winning" means getting the word out to the civilization.

Also, our purpose was "escort" which can mean "protect" but also might be used in the sense of "restrain". As in, escort the Wine-Dark Seas to the X system to stand trial...

If the WDS was trying to /escape/ from us, it might make sense why she didn't obliterate us entirely (still has emotional attachments), which might also be how she got the drop on us. Also, she might have been operating at somewhat less that full capacity, if we were expected to keep her under control, so there might be hope that we can recover her and complete The Mission.

Just a question, but you mentioned before that remotes had exotic materials within them. For future reference could they be borken down if our stores were ever too low and how much would it take to make a tactical or a heavy?

>>14229102
He said breaking down all tacs would yield about 1kg in exotic materials.

>>14229124
Ah, missed that. Anyways with the multiple shields, is it at all effective to layer them? If so could we calculate a probable point of impact and focus shields to that area or are our current shields sufficent enough that we wouldn't take damage? I'm assuming we can't guess this though without knowing the weapons source...

>>14229032
>If this thing reacts to a hail by destroying a star,
Its not THAT powerful. It's taking the equivalent of shooting at us with a M16 after getting shouted at.
It'd take a few days of shooting for the star to be blown up, and it'd probably stop before then.

Someone should archive this...

>>14229313
It was.