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File: space monke quest2 intro1.png (314 KB, 1600x1387)
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“It is, of course, needless to describe the function of the Star Dynamo to the Supreme Ruler-”

“Yes, considering the fact I was permitted to study it in my equivalent of grade school, where as you were not prepared for it until at least university, technician.”

“Errmm- umm, yes, your Eminence. However, we have found it prudent to condense all available information for our presentation- if you would give your, erhm, permission?”

The technician fidgets nervously. He's never worked on your staff before, and is a little starstruck. He must be well aware that him and his team is trying your patience. You tap your finger on your desk, allowing him to continue.

“As you know, the Star Dynamo is our race's most revolutionary scientific discovery. It allows the direct transformation of energy into motion. However, unlike with traditional propulsion methods, when the energy from this device is turned off, the momentum it has generated ends as well. As in, a spaceship traveling at 10% the speed of light between two points ceases to move and loses all momentum when the generator ends, where as any common sense would dictate the air molecules inside the craft would combust from the sudden friction, not to mention the untold damage to the astronauts. But this does not happen. This violates the law of inertia and has fundamentally changed our understanding of the universe. How is this possible? There are three theories.”
>>
The first theory is that the universe is a simulation or “game”, in which the Star Dynamo changes the speed “value” of a given mass to a set number. When the Dynamo is turned off, the value is reduced to its original number. This theory is clearly the least possible, as it requires the most assumptions, but it is still taught in regards to the Star Dynamo because it illustrates the point that the device changes the speed or motion of a given mass without anything else. This is the reason the Star Dynamo is considered the precursor to FTL technology.

The second theory is that the Star Dynamo works by “pulling” or warping space towards itself, thus explaining the lack of motion once it is turned off. It seems absurd that a tiny device could move space-time of the entire universe towards itself in a given direction, but gravity technically works the same way; with a single grain of sand technically pulling all the mass in the universe towards itself, just on such a small scale that it is essentially meaningless.

The third and final theory is the most commonly accepted, and that is that the Star Dynamo creates a “bubble” of warpspace around it, allowing it to move incredibly fast by essentially curving space around itself, like a bullet in a wind tunnel. This is a convenient theory, as it also explains the blue-light radiation caused by things traveling faster then the speed of light- which is traditionally thought to be impossible within a vacuum and it explains why none of our spacecraft have been obliterated by a chance collision with space dust.

Regardless of what actually causes this incredible phenomena, the end result is the same. The concept of relativistic kill drives or weapons is not fundamentally possible using the Space Dynamo, indicating that our dealings with interstellar species are not a situation of who strikes first.
>>
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You thank the technician for his explanation; his committee found a solid explanation on why interstellar communities may be able to form by denying the concept of relativistic weapons- which is exactly what you asked for. The reason being, of course, was because of the alien signal.

Just a few years ago, your people encountered a signal from deep space that seemed of intelligent design. Your scientists and AI network decoded the message- though you were busy with other matters.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/4854243/

You have made contact with your first highly intelligent, technologically advanced alien species. This message came from about 50 light years away- meaning this message must have been sent during the reign of Vantix Garastra, possibly just after the first flight of the Star Dynamo!

“We are the Haazar, the enlightened hermaphrodite race, and I am the appointed speaker. I personally want to welcome your species into the Interstellar Community! We have scanned your solar system and, barring the delay of light speed, believe we are about on pace with you technologically. I do not wish for us to be rivals, instead, we should be friends. We apologize for the bluntness of this message, but lightspeed communications are lacking in pleasantries. You happen to have resources that we could use, and we would like to offer a trade. Your gas giant seems to contain a large amount of Argon gas, which due to a quirk of our development, is extremely important for our computer systems. However, we have a very small limited amount of this resource to use, while for you, it is plentiful. We don't expect it for free- and will exchange something of equal value. You send us canisters of this important gas and, in exchange, we will teach you the techniques of tetramere lengthening we have mastered, allowing for an increase of normal healthy lifespan.

We have sent a ship towards your solar system traveling at sublight speeds. This ship will intercept any canisters- with orders to continue even if you decline this trade offer. Instead, they will become a diplmatic vessel to meet you for the first time, face to face. We look forward to our collective future.”

Your name is Vul Takar. You are the Supreme Ruler of the Jaxtian People, and with all possibilities factored in, you are inclined to tentatively accept this trade offer!

>Learn more about the Haazar
>Examine the material requirements to complete this trade
>Perform damage-control simulations on how this could go wrong
>Send a counter message (will take ~100 years for a response)
>>
>>5007157
>Examine the material requirements to complete this trade
Might as well humor this idea.
>>
>>5007157
>Learn more about the Haazar

I don't trust these hermaphrodite fucks
>>
>>5007157
Also good to have you back man, I really enjoyed the first part of this quest!
>>
>enlightened authoritarian space monke quest is back
Holy shit hype

>>5007157
>Learn more about the Haazar
It'd be good to trade but I'm sure they won't begrudge us for caution.
>>
>>5007157
>Learn more about the Haazar
>>
>>5007167
>>5007172
>>5007227
You decide to learn more about the aliens.

The aliens signal contained a large amount of information in the style of broadcasts and cultural noise- shows, movies, podcasts, independent productions, and so on. In order to better get an understanding of them, a selection of AI cores are assigned to 'watch' the content as though they were impressionable children; much more effective at learning the culture then an encyclopedic study and breakdowns of discoveries and facts.

The Haazar are a race of hermaphrodites. Their home planet's orders of life are not like your own, and are roughly divided into "mammal-insect" and "fish-reptile". Contrary to first believed, most species on their planet are not hermaphrodites, and the Haazar view their 'gift' as a thing that sets them apart from the animals. While it seems unlikely, there is a possibility that they view Jaxtians as lower animals then; or any species that does not share their sexual selection.

Each member of the Haazar has a breeding spike that can implant embryos into the bodies of others of their kind- with over 90% of the DNA coming from the implanter. However, they have different phenotypes based on reproductive preferences that are not just based on choice, but possibly hormones and resource scarcity in early life. For instance, some are warrior types who only implant others, and seem to be among the intelligent leadership and scientific caste of the planet. Also are cultivator-types, who control territory in exchange to implant others, and broodmother-types whose breeding spikes are withered and mostly are only implanted; but whose offspring have the highest chance to survive to adulthood with closer to 50% of their host DNA. Your scientists identify between 5 and 7 of these phenotypes.

This sexual strangeness has also led to other factors; such as the Haazar's near constant nudity and lack of boundaries. All relationships are transactional- there is no parent-offspring affection for example, with children expecting to work in society or die as they develop into adults. Their technology and basis seems similar to yours, but with more advancement in bio-science and genetic modification and less then your engineering and computer research.

Because of these factors- it is highly likely this is a traditional, transactional trade relationship with your people that lacks pretense or manipulation, beyond perhaps hiding information. It could be possible this technology is nearly worthless while Argon is very rare on the galactic scale, but all projections make it seem unlikely. What could they have to gain?
>>
Your people are the Jaxtians. Coming from the planet Jaxt- you are a race of primates that evolved into your planet's dominant lifeform and advanced into technology. After many eras of war and strife, eventually your people ended the reign of corporations and nation-states in the last great civil unrest and emerged as The Hedgemony.

The Hedgemony is the government of the planets and moons named Jaxt, Schoon, Caplit, Vass, and all outlying exoplanets and beyond. You are currently an Interplanetary Empire. You have Star Dynamo craft, spaceships, that can travel at a maximum speed of 10% the speed of light. You are also technically an Interspecies Empire, after having discovered an alien species that is intelligent enough to made as citizens- though none of them know it yet, as the migrators that live under Caplit's ice sheets spend 99% of their lives in deep stasis, and can live for a thousand years in that watery abyss.

The Hedgemony is the ultimate government. It fully intends to rule until the heat death of the universe- it is the perfected form of authority that is self correcting and uncorruptable. After the fall of the billionaire elite and destruction of democracy, the Hedgemony has reigned uncontested underneath the benevolent rule of its highest office- the Supreme Ruler.

While technically the second intelligent alien species you have encountered, the Haazar offer a unique challenge and threat to the Hedgemony- the Hedgemony has never engaged in a war- especially not an Interstellar war. There is always a possibility that such a thing may happen, and you must be ready for it- the Haazar do not seem warlike in the slightest, but now is the best time to prepare. To prepare your people for the possibility such a conflict, what measure will you take?

>Declassify the alien contact and create common sense initiatives and a citizen readiness program (Creates the most panic; most readiness)
>Reveal the alien contact piecemeal and propagandized to downplay any chance of conflict (Slows readiness)
>Do not declassify- prepare military branch for space with no explanation (Moderate readiness; may come back to haunt you)
>Do not declassify- align research towards interstellar warfare (Least readiness, most stable)
>>
>>5007276
AAAAND we're BACK BABY, Now this is cool.

I do not trust these people for a single, not a single minute. We're just being introduced to the galactic stage and they're offering us technology in exchange for an resource? This sounds like some british-level negotiations.

But here's the thing, while i do believe we should make an military branch, i don't think that we should just have 'no explanation'. Creating a military branch is completely and utterly reasonable in this scenario, even if we don't declassify the alien contact completely as of now.

The way i see it,i don't trust those aliens as far as i can toss them - mostly because i wouldn't want to touch them to throw them in the first place. We're being 'invited' into the galactic community and their first step is a trade offer of technology for a resource? Hell to the FUCK No. This is some british-tier shenanigans..

Way i see it, we should create a military with an clear explanation that this is 'safety' against possible threats that may come now that we're exploring other systems. If we're not ready we die, so it's better to waste money than to be caught unprepared.

After that, we should slowly but surely prepare the population for the alien contact as to avoid general panic.
>>
>>5007276
>Reveal the alien contact piecemeal and propagandized to downplay any chance of conflict (Slows readiness)
>>
Why not prepare a military branch while also revealing the alien contact to the civilian population in a heavily propagandized and piece meal manner?

Something in the manner of 'we doing good lads, but we're investigating outside our systems now and we need an army for spooky aliens"
>>
>>5007576
This is my vote
>>
>>5007276
>>Declassify the alien contact and create common sense initiatives and a citizen readiness program (Creates the most panic; most readiness)
>>
>>5007576
This, and also a memo for later: we should trade materials for materials, and tech for tech. What do we lack that we really need right now?
>>
>>5007967
Way i see it, this sounds like some 19th century colonial stuff. Why would they offer such trade deal in our FIRST CONTACT MISSION? Doesn't it seem a bit too direct?

So what i'm guessing is happening is that Argon Gas is extremely valuable, and they want to trick us before we join the interstellar community and get wise.
>>
Truth be told, this Argon trade was something you've already thought long and hard over.

Simply put; you've run the calculations already, you've discussed it with your advisors, and you've made your decision on the trade. You are going to perform the trade. The risk-analysis checks out- even if it ends up with getting screwed over, the damage will be minimal.

Firstly, the idea of trading Argon from your gas giant could be a colonial venture; taking advantage of a less developed force. But this only works if the resource in question is rare- but Argon is not rare. It's a common enough gas- one of the noble gases that comprises a large amount of Max, your gas giant, giving it a purple color.

Secondly; the amount. The trade offer included with the Haazar's introductionary message gave units of weights and measurements- which gave a unit of Standard Planetary Masses. They want two of such masses from your gas giant in raw gas- which is roughly 3% of its total mass. It's a very small amount of resources expended in total, and mostly cost effective; your people have simply done nothing of this scale yet.

Secondly; your scientists assure you that it is technically possible that their story checks out. The elements of the universe are widespread; they are the same everywhere, they aren't exactly rare. However in specific places, certain elements could be more or less rare due to random chance and the accreditation disks of stars and supernovas that form planetary systems; the only blip here is that a relatively lightweight element, like Argon, should be very common, where as the more "rare" elements that are heavier could theoretically be more or less rare in specific star systems, meaning that theoretical alien races could trade for them over short distances in the galactic scale.

Of course- all of this is hanging on the possibility of an ulterior motive. What motive could there be? You aren't offering your own genome to be modified for the aliens to tinker with, and it doesn't seem like this trade would seriously damage or upset your industrial ability to wage a war, in the event it was a way to weaken you before a surprise attack. If anything, it will force your society to learn new technologies and methods to build on a huge scale; which could be an ulterior motive; perhaps they want you to be strong in the event you are politically convenient allies; which would still be beneficial to your race.

In the end; your projections seem to point towards this being a trade of convenience; giving a technology you would discover on your own eventually a bit earlier in exchange for a resource too inconvenient for them to find a new source for; and a large enough industrial base using a gas on a home planet inefficiently could reasonably deplete it in a few hundred years of industrialization, which almost happened to your people in the form of radioactive fuel.

Perhaps... your own fear of death is the real reason?
>>
You decide to introduce the intelligent aliens piecemeal and through heavy propaganda; making sure to control information on it in a way that has the least risk projections.

Your AI assistant, Alavis reports that the average citizen is... very unperturbed. While a few hard cases and conspirators will always exist, the vast majority take to the news of first the signal, and then the existence of intelligent aliens very well. After all, you've already discovered alien life AND intelligent alien life; just a very limited form of it. Technological advanced aliens were always an obvious truth, just never proven until now. Your people actually trust the government, the Hedgemony, as they should because it truly does have their best interest at heart- as such, there is no serious negative public reaction. Readiness is progressing at a good rate. Excellent.

In the meanwhile; there is the more complex matter of defense. With the public smoothed over; now is the time to focus on military manners in the actual event of the unthinkable; or if the alien ship the Haazar are sending is actually a warship?

>Build Planetary Defense Cannons on all planetary colonies
>Research projectile and missile systems for your ASDV-Class Starships
>Seek High-Energy alternatives to traditional weapons
>Mass produce AI controlled defense satellites to patrol your solar system (expensive)
>Other (Write In)
>>
>>5008414
>Seek High-Energy alternatives to traditional weapons
>>
>Research projectile and missile systems for your ASDV-Class Starships
Slugthrowers for the win.
>>
>>5008414
>>Research projectile and missile systems for your ASDV-Class Starships
>>
>>5008414
Monke throw stones, ook ook
>Research projectile and missiles
>>
>>5008414
>Research projectile and missile systems for your ASDV-Class Starships
>>
>>5008443
>>5008472
>>5008514
>>5008559
The military planning budget is now in place.

It seems clear now that, for the next decade of your reign, your discertionary budget is being used towards the daunting task of completing the first interstellar alien contact- and the first trade between space nations in your people's history. More daunting, however, is the massive construction project and needed advancements in technology and engineering to complete it.

The Haazar requested two Standard Planetary Masses in gas from Max. Each SPM is roughly, though slightly smaller, then the entire mass of your home planet! While Max is a gas giant, and the mass can simply be taken and shipped- the prospect is unfathomable. Nothing in your races history comes anywhere close to this in scope and size.

Something of this scale will require a long time, probably your entire reign and then some, to complete. It is a megaproject; the perfect expansion of your people into space. Until now, you have build colonies and tin cans; while you did manage to make an interplanetary empire with automated shipping and communications; you are still bugs living on the surface of your worlds. You have not yet mastered them.

Alavis splashes a few potential projects that could be the first step towards completing this grand feat.
>Draft designs for flying cities & habitation on gas giants
>Seek mega-structure breakthroughs for massive gas extractors/ships to collect it
>Invent auto-replicating machine technology to complete the project with pure scale
>>
I still don't think we should be trading argon, though. I mean, lifespan increase? For an amount of gas twice th size of our planet? It's a damn trick, i tell you.

With that said,
>Draft designs for flying cities & habitation on gas giants
While big ships or auto-replicating machines are more 'effective', i'm not a big fan of hard sci-fi. Floating Cities are cool, so by damn we must choose that.
>>
>>5009517
>It's a damn trick, i tell you.
By which i mean it's not a particularly good deal and they're probably taking advantage of us*

A few months of life ain't worth that many resources, i say. We should be keeping it to trade once we get on the interstellar stage. It probably has a good price.
>>
>>5009498
>Seek mega-structure breakthroughs for massive gas extractors/ships to collect it
>>
>>5009498
>Draft designs for flying cities & habitation on gas giants
>>
>>5009498
>Seek mega-structure breakthroughs for massive gas extractors/ships to collect it
>>
>>5009498
>Invent auto-replicating machine technology to complete the project with pure scale
>>
>>5009498
>Draft designs for flying cities & habitation on gas giants
Wasn't here for the first thread but read through it, good to see this back.
Captcha KHAAW bird people when?
>>
How can anyone say no to a cloud city?
>>
You put forward the order to your AI assistant- Alavis, to begin working on the cloud city concept. Living habitats in space are not something your people work towards; but a few select flying cities around specific planets will be very useful to have around Max- they can also act as basic research stations while their primary goal is harvesting the huge amount of mass you will need for this grand project.

"Alavis- report. Logistics and possibility of success."

"Oh your eminence! The project is very likely to be successful. We have most of the necessary materials and computer software already; no unknown or fictional mechanics will be needed to make this happen! Projected time; about twenty years until the first cities can be launched."

"Excellent. Cost estimates?"

"Reporting- your excellence! The totals are... a lot!"

You take a look at the projections. Yeah, that is a lot...
>>
It's been a rough 15 years

Your budget and timescales were off a bit- distracted and pulled away from your goals by unforeseen results.

Your idea to employ and equip your starships with basic cannon and missile defense and weapon systems was an absolute failure. While naturally a weapon aboard a ASDV can work fine on a planet or in low-speed conditions, any attempt to use a weapon while travelling at any speed with a Star Dynamo simple fails. The projectiles ejected by your ships do not carry any momentum once they leave its immediate range. This means that any depleted uranium shells simply hold in the relative position in space once they are no longer directly connected to the vessel, and missiles do not go much better. While early attempts to attach warheads to Star Dynamo propulsion drive missiles seemed a good idea; the moment the missiles hit their mark and explode they would be instantly left behind by anything travelling at any considerable speed, as the explosion does not move with the relative momentum it was moving with when driven by a Star Dynamo. At even 1% the speed of light, the explosion is left behind and can barely scratch the paint of any test craft.

While against hard points, planets, or anything moving slowly enough these weapons could be useful- nothing about them works in a fast Star-Dynamo to Star-Dynamo craft combat, making them utterly useless for ship-to-ship warfare.

"Blast! Dammit!" You cry. You've caused yourself quite a lot of stress on this doomed project; and even worse feel as though it could have been avoided through better application of known sciences!

Meanwhile; the flying city project has been progressing on pace. The planet Schoon in your solar system, which has been the industrial powerhouse of your entire empire since before you ever took the position of Supreme Ruler, has been producing the huge quantities of steel and electronics to make these cities out of. Early prototypes are good; they will soon be launched into space cheaply via Star-Dynamos and assembled in orbit around Max before being lowered into the atmosphere for a stable flight. However there is a problem; even at these altitudes, Max's gravity is over twice that of your Homeworld. Those Jaxtians living on Schoon already have a higher rate of injury and fatigue with just a slightly higher natural gravity- living on these cities could be nightmarishly bad without some serious adjustment. What's the best solution for this problem?

>Research gravity-modifying technology (Extreme longshot)
>Proliferate cybernetics to protect and strengthen those living in high-gravity places (expensive)
>Keep strict personal rotations and health and safety regulations to make the living there as safe and comfortable as possible (cheap)
>>
I don't know, on one hand, gravity modifying would really help us, but in the other hand its a crutch, if it got turned down in an emergency the people there would be in trouble.

Cybernetics are a no-no, we already went against that. We chose genetics over cybernetics. But just keeping strict regulations doesn't seem effective

Any ideas?
>>
>>5010485
Either we make the cities higher up in low orbit, or we make power armor. Think something more akin to small mechs instead of armored suits.
Alternatively we modify our species into a subspecies with stronger bones and better regeneration. Basically making supersoldiers just to live and work on these cities - but it's gonna take quite a while.
>>
>>5010480
>>Keep strict personal rotations and health and safety regulations to make the living there as safe and comfortable as possible (cheap)
>>
>>5010581
>ther we make the cities higher up in low orbit, or we make power armor
I like the idea of making the cities higher up in orbit. I mean, i don't think Max has an breathable atmosphere, right? If it doesn't, there's no reason not to make it higher and just make tools to help workers who go down to collect the gas.
>>
>>5010480
>Make the cities higher up in orbit
Don't really see many problems with this but I'm not a scientist, can we make big ass scoops that lower down to the planet to get the gas too?
>>
>>5010625
>Support
>>
>>5010625
>>5010700
support these ideas
>>
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The cities have progressed along nicely. Just a few generations of Supreme Rulers ago, the thought of creating such a massive structure in space would be unthinkable; even moreso before the space revolution with the Star Dynamo's invention. With your predecessor Qet's decision to move all production facilities onto Schoon meant a massive increase in total productivity; huge plumes of pollution are released on a dead planet, and massive mineral resources can be dug directly there. The huge constructions of metal and the frames that will create this massive station are already made.

Truthfully, while the raw ability of manufacture has increased, the budgetary and computer resources needed to undertake such projects have not increased nearly as much in the same span. So much of this time was spent crunching numbers, so much time was spend inventing new cost-effective protocals for inventing these revolutionary devices; gas gyroscopes, mass harvesting cables, anchor cables- all of it comes to this.

In the meanwhile; deciding to move the flying cities to a higher orbit is a simple and cost-effective means to fix the high gravity problem. You will be remembered fondly for avoiding causing pain and injury to your subjects- but this will mean the ability of research and gas-harvesting will be reduced somewhat, but a small part to pay for safety. The city is almost complete...
>>
The first flying city has been completed in the past five years; on schedule!

Of course, completing this massive task wasn't easy. The "city" is also a bit of an exaggeration; it is more similar in scope to a large colony base, similar to the research base on Caplit, self contained, and capable of both living in suspension and harvesting gas from the planet. It "peels" the higher, less dense gasses from the planet away and channels them up through its chimney; allowing for multiple cities to "stream" the gas upwards in concentrated lines to be collected by whatever shipping you may eventually design for this project.

The city is mostly self sufficient. It grows its own food and produces most of its own stability and energy from the temperature and static energy created deeper in the planet. Long reaching cables connected to the city "anchor" it in the cloud layer, making it very difficult to topple or drag lower. The gravity of the planet keeps it from being flung into space or floating away; the computer systems have already been adjusted to compensate for when the planet's mass is reduced, however slightly, by your later harvesting efforts.

Finally, mercifully, it is complete. This is a massive achivement for all of Jaxtian kind... despite the fact it amounts to a big tin can in space. Your heart sinks a bit; even this great feather in your cap feels inferior compared to your predecessors; how can you compare this to securing your homeworld's biosphere or the march into space?

Regardless- its time for one final step. The first colonists, mostly high-level scientists and technicians, will be the ones aboard this massive flying structure. However, it is missing one critical component. It's name.

>What will you name the first flying city?
>>
>>5011316
Cirrus

It's a type of cloud that's really up high.
>>
>>5011316
Cirrus works for me
>>
>>5011316
Cirrus is a cute name
>>
>>5011316
Bandwagoning on Cirrus.
>>
I support Cirrus aswell.

Also we should consider sending a ship to meet their ship. We could establish a quicker communications with through their envoy ship and also we could assess what this "envoy" ship actually is and their motives before they could reach our system.
>>
>>5011481
Supporting cirrus
>>
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You have decided to name the first flying city Cirrus; a fitting name for a massive project like this. With the naming ceremony completed, the state of the art habitat floats majestically through the huge mass of Max's clouds, cutting a wake through it, its beacon shining to all Jaxtians.

As with all of the Hedgemony's new holdings, there is no shortage of new colonists... at least at first. Cirrus is a technological achievement and is staffed to the brim with technicians and scientists who are proud to have worked on it. But on second glance, it seems the number of colonists for Max is much smaller then the other colonies- the sole exception being Vass, because of how inhospitable it is. Caplit has scientific oppertunities with its native life, plus fame from Maktana's leadership and "life's work". Schoon is an industrial powerhouse and closest to Jaxt in terms of living conditions; the underground cities there have become extremely complex with entire buried archologies and nature preserves! The flying cities of Max, however, will need numbers to help stock them, as the planet is massive. But it seems the least attractive of all off-world colony types- the precarious nature of being a flying habitat that could fall into a soup of gas and never return is at least partially the problem.

And that's only the problem with Max itself. It seems that as time goes on, the novelty of living off world has all but evaporated from the mainland Jaxtian people; the beginning push to colonize space by the late and great Vantix Garastra was generations ago now- space travel has lost much of its luster. People prefer to live on a real planet with a real ecology. And with your budgetary squeeze from these massive projects; simply bribing people to colonize the rest of space is going to be difficult.

>>5011481
The idea of launching ships to meet the aliens face to face has also come to you; but further complicating matters with this colonist push. It would take some seriously dedicated astronauts to make that journey; without cryostasis technology or any life expending technologies; any ship sent to meet the aliens would need to be a generation ship, where none of the original crew will ever be able to return, not to mention the absurd cost of a project with little to no reward...

"Hey buddy!"
Oh my god. It's Kinja. You haven't seen him in decades now. Even worse; he's still gorgeous. He hasn't aged a day.

"Vul, buddy! How is it hanging? Hopefully on the branch of the Danbo tree, huh?"

God you hate him. He touches your shoulder. You recoil in disgust. Ugh, Nouveau Riche.
>>
Kinja is your "friend" who you practically grew up with. Before the death of your predecessor, Qet Scholiander, you were one of the two possible candidates to become the next Supreme Ruler- with Kinjda being the runner up. After you were chosen for the office, Kinja went on to become appointed to the head of the largest entertainment outfit in the empire; and using both it and his advancements, he has become the richest man in history.

Of course, wealth doesn't mean very much in your current age- at least as compared during the age of the degenerate "democracies" where wealth equaled power- in the modern day, almost all significant families belong to the corrupt Bloodline Billionaires have been eradicated or benevolently rolled into the general population. Kinja uses his wealth and influence for the good of all; and has already written his will to give all of his wealth to the Hedgemony as a gesture of goodwill.

"But seriously, Vully. I hired a few people to crunch the numbers; I was gonna start making a documentary on the Cirrus (by the way, you busy later? Can I get you for an interview- I know you're busy being Supreme Ruler and all but for me ~baby?) and we noticed a big difference in the number and quality of applicants for colonization. The truth is that our solar system has become boring; space travel isn't what it used to be. It isn't a great adventure anymore; it's mundane. I know this baby- our subscribers prefer fantasy or historical sims over science fiction- which was once our biggest category!"

You roll your eyes helplessly. You already know where he is going with this- and is he really calling you by your first name, or a nickname of it, at that? The Supreme Ruler? Does he even know what the traditional punishment for that level of disrespect used to be?

"So listen- I want to help you. I know that pretty soon the exploration ships to other solar systems will start to beam back the findings- and from then the Hegemony will want to send people to those far away planets; and I want to be the one who leads the charge. Oh I'll be dead as a doorknob by then baby, but WE gotta set the groundwork for it. Know what I mean? So what do you say? Give me the insider scoop? Let me have access to the propaganda broadcasts- I'll make sure your predecessors will have no shortage of colonists to send away!"

>Accept Kinja's offer
>Tell him to fuck off
>Tell him to fuck off & put him in jail for a few months to teach him a lesson
>>
>>5012193
>Accept Kinja's offer BUT make sure it doesn't end up badly/Kinja does something stupid
We really need to make sure our people are willing to go to foreign worlds if we want to become an advanced civilization. If it can't be an "adventure", it should be an opportunity, like moving to a new state to get a job.

Kinja is a goddamn weirdo, but he seems to be an entertainment weirdo, which means his goal here is probably trying to make more of a name for himself. That doesn't really matter, as long as it doesn't actively harm our people.
>>
>>5012193
>Accept Kinja's offer
But we get a final say on all broadcasts before they go out
>>
>Accept Kinja's offer
Its clear Kinja wants to make propagation of colonization ideals into his special project. Such focused turbo autism is always excellent when it aligns with our goals. Lets give Kinja the mandate to lead the propaganda efforts. No need for much intervention on our part unless Kinja oversteps his authority and stuff goes off the rails.

>Problems with Cirrus popularity
We don't always have to pay people to come live in Cirrus you know. We can make it so that setting up a bussiness in Cirrus is the most sensible thing to do. Lets make Cirrus a tax haven. Also, some restrictions on illegal goods can be lifted over there.aswell. Its is a little shady and scummy but we gotta indice them with something. Later when Cirrus achieves a critical mass where colonists and growth no longer is an issue, we can reintroduce taxes and restrictions that apply elsewhere in the dominion. They aint going anywhere then.

>Meeting their envoy
In an attempt to circumvent the need for generation ships here is a proposal. Its not the complete solution but will make future trips further away easier. We need to set up a string of outpost stations along the way out of the system. These systems would be relay stations. Near there would be a solar farm which collects power and then uses a gigantic laser to beam it towards the closest relay station. That station uses some of the power to power itself and redirects rest of the power towards the next relay station. A string of these needs to be build along any points of interest with the aim that eventually the string of relay stations leads outside the system. Also, these same relay stations can be used to simply funnel the argon gas out from the system in a similar way that the electricity is beamed from station to station, except where laser is captured by a reciever dish, the gas would be recieved by and immediately redirected by a partivle accelerator towards the next station.
>>
>>5012213
>Lets make Cirrus a tax haven.
That is a horrible idea which would result in a return to the old bloodlines.

What part of 'Authoritarian Totalitarian Hegemonic Government' did you not get?
>>
>>5012220
Maybe we can try automation and make some AI cover the more menial tasks and have fewer souls on board, and pay for the more specialized folks
>>
You decide to accept Kinja's offer. In the next few months; the colonization efforts of the Cirrus stop as the ship finishes it capacity- it seems there was enough interest for one, but the problem was with the many more you would need to fully commit to gas harvesting production- especially to the scale Haazar need for this interstellar trade.

In the meanwhile; the Cirrus is specially equipped with transmitters and AI cores to become the capital of Max's flying cities. You've already set AIs to plan for a fleet of these ships; but the light speed limit of information from Jaxt is more then enough to justify having a master computer on the distant gas giant. Many flying cities; all synced together for optimal gas stripping and coordinated flights.

Jaxtians who would work on these flying cities would still have all opportunities and normal life; everything from food grown from hydrophonics, employment, quarters for living and schools, and entertainment. The most popular form of entertainment for Jaxtians are Interactive Films, though mostly just called "interactives". These films are produced and shot like a traditional movie from centuries past, except with AI interpretation and data packs which allow for special types of control. They allow the watcher to interact in a limited capacity to the characters and scenes. This goes to 3d camera control letting them see from multiple angles, to asking characters questions to better explain the movie, to even suggestion courses of action or ideas for what may happen next. The AIs interpret the original script and intention of the film to keep a strong central theme and tone for the entire thing; but this freedom is a passive way to enjoy entertainment. This was also the primary production of APE- the company that Kinja heads. And speaking of; Alavis has given you the heads up on his new project as it nears completion.

"The Dark Station". It's a horror interactive. Set on the Cirrus. It's about alien spores hiding in the gas clouds of Max, which enter the flying city and mutate into a huge monster that slays and infects all of the residents of the Cirrus. The real residents of the station are present and can become "victims", with the viewer sometimes having to choose who lives or dies based on their choices; though the story always ends with the last survivors barely managing to escape in a pod (which are fictional; there are no life pods on something that is not designed to fail) as the station falls into the clouds and is destroyed. The finale of the movie features a stinger as a single alien spore is shown on the inside of the escape craft.

You summon Kinja to you as soon as you finish watching the draft.

"Kinja! What the HELL is this?!"

"Wait- listen Vul- no, your Eminence- please don't shut down the project! It's going to work- I swear! I know what I'm doing here. Please, your grace."

>Ban the interactive
>Allow the interactive
>>
>>5012854
>Ask him what the hell is his goal with this
No, seriously, i want to know. What the hell is he actually trying to do? Is he trying to make a chernobyll movie and get everyone scared of the very concept?
>>
>>5012902
This. I don't understand how a horror flick would help us.
>>
>>5013036
Yeah, but he doesn't seem stupid (he wouldn't have become rich otherwise), which is why i want to know what the hell is his plan. He says he knows what he's doing? Then he's better goddamn explain it.

I mean, we're trying to push colonization and he makes a horror movie about everyone dying? I mean seriously, what is his goal exactly?
>>
Uhh, wait, the interactive has real people?

I mean, maybe its me, but i dont think showing a movie where real living people get mauled by aliens is a good idea if we want people to colonize MORE and not less
>>
>>5012854
>>Allow the interactive
People love horror movies.
>>
>>5012902
This, what the hell is his aim here?
>>
>>5012902
>support
>>
"What is your goal with this, exactly?" You ask Kinja, motioning to the video display. "I don't get it- it seems like you're trying to sabotage the propaganda effort. You need to explain yourself."

"Your omnipotence- with all due respect, I understand the public. And I also understand history. The truth is, your loveliness, we are a solved culture. There are no more serious natural threats, crime, or war to worry about. While one day our alien neighbors may act the part as enemies to rally against, that part is far off. After all, the only aliens we've met are the Haazar, and they are over 60 light years away. Their ship will take at least that long to get here- long after we're all dead." He breathes these words as easily as he would about cinematography or art, when you're pretty damn sure the aliens ship's arrival should be confidential. Damn privileged candidates for the Supreme Rulership!

"I'm sure you've studied it in history; but the first death in the space age happened ages ago, during the reign of Vantix Garastra. An asteroid miner's helmet was blown open by a freak rogue meteorite which caused him to lose his oxygen and without medical aide in the primitive ages of space exploration he died. When that was announced, interest in space mining as a career increased, not decreased, for decades afterwards. While people complained about and started to talk about increasing safety, the interest in that field went up. Why? Because Jaxtians are curious, intelligent beings- natural explorers. Our oldest ancestors lived in treetops, only coming down to the ground to give birth- and leaving the weak babies behind who couldn't keep hold as the mother climbed back into the trees. This kept the species strong, but how would a species like that discover stone and bone tools that fall to the ground? Or learn how to make fire and plant seeds for agriculture? The danger makes it romantic. But our culture lacks danger- we already have colonies on almost every celestial body in our solar system, nothing about Max is more dangerous then those except the fact its flying in the (very stable) cloud layer of the upper part of the planet's atmosphere. You need to make things look like an adventure, or else people turn their brains off and focus on distractions and the humdrum. It's very basic psychology your grace. I know it will work. Please trust me."

Hmm. You think he might be off his rocker, over-analyzing things and being too high off his own artistic farts.

>>5013393
But you decide to release the interactive... to a limited run. Keep it off Jaxt for the time being, see how recruitment goes for a few months. Don't poison the well- just beam the film to some outlying colonies and see how transfer requests and reservations go for the first and second fleet of Max's flying cities...
>>
After two weeks, you've released the film everywhere. Perhaps unsurprisingly to Kinja, but a pleasant surprise to you, this idea seemed to work.

The absurd idea of an alien entity killing people on a station seemed to do wonders to sate people's more realistic fears of the city being unstable or poor to live in. Kinja even threw in some lines in the film about how "the city will keep going even after we're all dead" and "only if all the navigation computers AND failsafes AND AI is shut down are we gonna sink!" as though you ordered the propaganda to show how safe the Cirrus was- he was one step ahead of you on that.

Turns out, recruitment problems quickly disappeared. You quickly had a full queue for colonists for the second and third flying cities. It wasn't even all from people who watched the films- simply putting the idea in the public conscious of the flying cities being exciting, romantic places was enough to work it out. And Kinja won interactive of the year away too from your state department of entertainment and diversion. Way too go. Not that he doesn't win it every year already.

But in the meantime; you remember the purpose for all of this. The flying cities were built to harvest gas for a trade with aliens for... life extension technologies. You can feel yourself getting older yet still, the slightest of white discoloration on your fingertips only prove it to you. But something Kinja said stuck with you- the Haazar homeworld and adjacent system. They are fifty light years away. Even in the best case scenario and the alien ship is traveling at the faster sub-light speeds then your fastest ships can go, and have access to the genetic technology that can help you extend your lifespan, AND they decided to send it after simply seeing you building these space habitats without a single drop of gas being sent to them- even in ALL of those cases it would be another forty to fifty years for them to even see your progress, and then ANOTHER forty to fifty for the information to reach you. You'll be dead long before then- just like Kinja said.

There's no point in focusing all your energy on this one project- for your own vanity. It's a waste of your time and dignity. You will not become another Gaftar IV.

But in the meantime; you have to consider the progeny. It may be time to start considering having an heir, and focusing on your own bloodline. Though Supreme Rulers are supposed to be above dynastic ambition, it may be time to consider having children of your own.

>Seek a wife
>Focus on matters of state more
>>
>>5013501
>Seek a wife
>>
>>5013501
>>Seek a wife
We can try to raise a good heir, at worst we can still pick someone else if he's not the best for the job.
>>
>>5013501
>Focus on matters of state more
To be Supreme Ruler is to be married to the state, there is so much more we could do.
>>
>>5013501
>>Seek a wife
>>
>>5013501
>Seek a wife
Make sure it’s a cute tomboy
>>
>>5013501
>Seek a wife
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcrrUuRoWT4
>>
>>5013501
>Seek a wife
>>
On Jaxt and all the colonies of the Hedgemony- monogamy is the preferred and approved method of courtship and reproduction. Your primitive ancestors may have went the way of polygamy- and much social unrest and pointless competition resulted from it until your people modernized. This is because that the breeding and raising of children is investment in the future of the health and quality of the citizens of tomorrow- all Jaxtians therefore take their pedigrees with at least a little seriousness. Of course- all of these forms of breeding are done ethically- voluntarily. Only those with genetic disorders and those below a rolling genetic quality threshold, usually about 4% of the population, are forcibly sterilized to ensure a quality crop of babies year after year.

As such; the Hedgemony practices several forms of eugenic control and selection. While you are technically a meritocratic state, there is a limit of available resources and time- genetic tampering is still in its infancy. As such, it only makes logical sense to give the most training and resources to each that they are worth according to their full possible potential.

The Supreme Ruler is no exception. As the Supreme Ruler, while technically not a by-blood rule of succession exists, the high quality families and bloodlines are expected to continue, at least to a degree, so genetic superiority of your office can continue. As such, you instruct your AI assistant to search the databanks for appropriate females of the highest genetic quality- before bidding them to join you at one of your vacation palaces.

You meet the three women face to face for the first time. All three of them not only meet your exacting standards, but are also more then willing to meet with you for a potential sexual relationship.

It should be noted here that the office of the Supreme Ruler is not supposed to be used for sexual conquest and fantasy. Such things are forbidden and very much beneath you. But you are the most powerful and eligible bachelor among an entire solar system of horny monkey people... It kind of comes with the gig.
>>
The first is Raza. She is very beautiful; and dressed very seductively. Your years of training however already let you detect her obvious trickery; besides her false blush, you can see she has intentionally dressed herself like you... matching your black robes with her outfit, and a golden necklace to match the symbol of office around your neck. Unconscious attraction, huh? Of course, this only shows her cleverness. You've seen all three girls and their genetic scores; hers are... very impressive, to say the least. Any child you have with her will be of the greatest stock among your species- and she clearly wants the same for her children as well. She's forward, and knows what she wants.

“Your grace.” She says, placing a hand on the top of her chest. She rolls the words in her mouth with her tongue decedantly. “...A pleasure to meet you in person.~”

The second is Elfi. She is slim, and an athlete of small renkown around gymnastic circles. Her awkward choice of attire, a lacy brazier over tight fitting orange pants? Her mane is unkept.

“I just got so nervous I couldn't think of what to wear! I'm very sorry, your eminence.”

“Heh, don't worry about it.”

Her gene scores are also very high- though more focused on athleticism and health. All of her great grandparents lived to be almost eighty. She has a small amount of social awkwardness not hinted at by her gene score- must be a learned behavior. You like her though. You can't sense any falsehoods or ulterior motives with this one.

The third and final female is named Lian and she is... she's a blonde?

The blondes are a rare racial phenotype that, unlike most races of your species preindustrialized past, were either eradicated or subsumed into the mainlander “common” Jaxtian stock. The blondes managed to survive even into the space age possibly because of their racial traits being commonly associated with expressive or dominant genes.

“Your majesty.” She nods, before looking away. Perhaps she's a bit starstruck. She may think she isn't worthy of being your wife- you'd understand. There isn't a technical rule against it but... any children you'd have with her would be almost certainly blonde. And there has never been a blonde Supreme Ruler.

While tradition indicates a marriage and long term relationship to foster the best quality children; there is no rule that the Supreme Ruler can't have more then one wife. It may not reflect well on you, but you are the Supreme Ruler of your entire species. If any man isn't forced to pick and choose, that man would be you. Which female do you choose?

>Raza
>Elfi
>Lian
>All three
>>
>>5013784
I say, first of all, i do not trust the Jezebel over there. Not that she's necessarily bad, just that she's very clearly trying to go for it.

Elfi's cool. Tomboys are cool. A good choice.

Lian seems nice. Her gene score is impressive if she's come this far. It's interesting really...

Well, i'm going to say, while blondes are interesting enough, we should not just think genewise. Elfi is an slightly awkward tomboy, and that's just adorable. I feel she would fit Vul more.
>Elfi
>>
>>5013784
>Elfi
Gib tomboy! Also we need healthy genes
>>
>>5013784
>Elfi
>>
>>5013784
>Lian
Cringe tomboy posters, go for gold
>>
>>5013784
>Elfi
>>
>>5013984
We're not choosing a girl just because she's gold, Elfi fits Vul Takar the most.
>>
>>5013784
Elfi for wife, others for favored concubines (if this is an option)

Otherwise:

Just Elfi
>>
>>5014057
>others for favored concubines (if this is an option)
That's a bad option, we need a wife for KIDS
>>
>>5013784
Just Elfi
>>
>>5013784
>Elfi
TOMBOY MAKE US GO OOK OOK

I don't trust the gold digger and the blonde, while my second choice, just barely loses.
>>
>>5013784
>Elfi
>>
>>5013784
>Elfi
>>
You decide to pick Elfi for your wife. The courting is short- while you at first believe that all these women are simply here for the benefits that come with being the lover of a Supreme Ruler, and this would be a purely mechanical "exchange" of genetic information for political benefit, the truth is that your relationship blossoms into something more. Something a bit more genuine. You begin to feel as though she generally likes you; and while you can barely muster time to see her, she always has a smile on her face when you do make it. You get the feeling she enjoys your deep intellect and very interesting life; and have shown enough interest in her creative and athletic endeavors that most people she have met do not. You are a headstrong type, naturally, and she follows that in a way that completes it, without ever trying to usurp that natural authority your sex has over hers. After a few months; she seems overjoyed when you ask to marry her and embrace her for the first time.

But even after the first time you saw her naked... you were always a little disappointed. She's so thin, and while she's supposed to be the epitome of health for your children's sake, she's so bland. So boring. She gives so easily. You can see her as the victim of a co-dependent type. There aren't two cells in her body that resist authority. And her body- it is too boyish. Too slim, built for function over comfort. There is nothing exciting about her. You like her, and you know she loves you, but there is no passion. You don't love her.

She's your wife, yes. But why should a man like you have to choose between love and passion? So you don't choose. She can believe what she wants. You now have both. And everyone is happier for it.
>>
With the future of your progeny in check; you have spent some time living aboard the Cirrus to get a better idea of its function and living quarters. The time alone with Elfi is nice, and the view of Max so close like this is beautiful. While this flying city is a marvel; it is just one of many that are soon to be rolling out of the great factories of Schoon; ready to take on the colonists and work they were designed for.

As of right now, the city has not produced one iota of gas for packaging. You have yet to build that system. As part of the slow progress of finishing this “trade” deal, you need to actually finalize the designs for how to actually deliver the gas to the distant alien homeworld of Haazar- a long 50 light year flight!

Even with your current speed limit of 10% the speed of light- a physics defying feat of energy in the first place, the trip is astronomically long. That would take 500 years for the first of the no-doubt many packages to reach your destination. And that's assuming you could actually build a ship large enough to carry a significant amount of the two SPM needed for the trade. While you assume the aliens will beam over the information when they're sure you'll honor your word and not make you wait centuries for it; it will still be a very difficult task.

The other problem, of course, is that technology improves over time. It is highly likely any inefficient solutions you find to ship this mass of Argon over to the aliens be obsolete in a few decades time. It may actually be best then, counter intuitively, to allow a future Supreme Ruler to figure out a solution once you have the pipeline of resources in place.

>Develop self-organizing AI courier swarms to deliver the gas
>Commission a massive starship to take a huge chunk of the gas at once
>Pass the buck and wait for technology to improve
>>
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>>5015636
>too slim
I knew Vul Takar was not perfect, but not that he was such a fucking plebeian.

As for the question itself, i feel like we should begin developing the city for the acquisition of resources and let our successor get the transportation issue.
>>
>>5015636
>Pass the buck and wait for technology to improve
>>
>>5015636
>Pass the buck and wait for technology to improve
Next chumps problem
>>
>>5015636
>Pass the buck and wait for technology to improve
>>
>>5015636
>Pass the buck and wait for technology to improve
>>
>>5015636
>>Pass the buck and wait for technology to improve
Yeah that makes the most sense.
>>
You have decided the best course of action is... to wait. The sad truth is that your own hubris and desire has outpaced your ability. Everything from the budget to this flying city to an alien trade deal to killing Gaftar IV and taking the marvels he made and jealously hoarding them. Your own relationships, even. Immortality granted by alien gods may be out of your grasp, but at least you have a child to carry on the mantle.

It is about then you are startled by an alarm. One moment you are peering over the serene view of Max's crest as light shines for a new day, the gas giant rotating the station around, and the next, you are recieving a damage report from Al.

"Vul? What's happening Vul?!" Elfi has woken up. She hobbles to her feet as best she can, despite how deeply pregnant she is.

"Supreme Ruler-" Al's computer voice garbles out. "Unknown data failure. Signal aimed at the Cirrus intercepted less then twenty minutes ago. Normal precautions taken; data corrupted. Is computer virus that cannot be quarantined traditionally. Data sinks and connections severed. Station is losing cocentric orbit. Crash immeniant. Powering down to prevent further spread of computer code-"

"Wait! Al! Is this closet airtight? AL! ANSWER ME!"

"Vul! What's happening?! I'm scared!"

"Yes. All internal doorways and chambers are double locccccccccccc-"

Her speech cuts off. It's clear she's not coming back; though you know the "Alavis" on this station is not the mainframe Alavis. You are almost amazed at the thought of a virus that can break through her own self-quarantining protocols but- you don't have time for that now.
>>
You take your symbol of office from your neck.

"Here- put this on, Elfi. Don't you dare take it off."

"Please Vul- Please-"

"There's no more time. Don't cry, don't scream. Conserve your strength and your oxygen- for yourself, and the baby."

The gas is coming into the room. Max's gas isn't exactly poisonous; but it will displace all breathable air as this station sinks.

"Please Vul- stay with me. Please don't go."

"This closet isn't big enough for the two of us. Don't open the door."

You begin to roll it shut, using all your strength. The station's lost power has made these automatic doors much heavier then they need to be.

"Vul.. I love you Vul! I love you-"
>>
Alavis has already broadcast a signal. Ships are scrambled. The only ones close enough to respond are construction ships and mining ASDV's, with a few personal transports mixed in. They move to the station on a Class 1 alert.

THE SUPREME RULER IS STILL ALIVE. I REPEAT, PRIORITY ONE. THE SUPREME RULER'S LIFE SIGNS REMAIN ACTIVE.

The Hedgemony cares about all its people, but in a crisis situation, some people are naturally more valuable then others for a focused rescue. The Supreme Ruler is at the top of that list. While the entire crew of the Cirrus is likely dead, or dangerous close to sinking into the gas giant to never be recovered- you need to rescue the Supreme Ruler.

The Cirrus's flight circuits had somehow been totally shot and scrambled, as though from a massive data loss and failure. The city lost control of the cloud anchors and gyroscopic systems; and could not sustain orbit. It is sinking into the gas giant. It will not be recoverable from any serious depth.

Alavis is in control. Seconds matter here- and only two rescue ships are present in the current moment. The computer instantly calculates the best chance of survival of the Supreme Ruler, with a secondary objective of retrieving any other valuable personal and saving the city from falling (impossible- objective override).

She decides to;
>Send a rescue team aboard the vessel to secure the Supreme Ruler
>Attach leads to sinking city and attempt to keep it from falling with the ASDV thrusters LIKELY DEATH OF SUPREME RULER
>>
>>5016769
>Attach leads to sinking city and attempt to keep it from falling with the ASDV thrusters LIKELY DEATH OF SUPREME RULER
While rescuing the supreme ruler is important, the biggest asset here is Cirrus.

It's a gamble, of course. The Supreme Leader could die...but at the same time, losing Cirrus would be a much greater loss.

Either way, i bet it's those fucking aliens. I KNEW That it was a trick. Too bad our vote on it didn't matter since he chose to do it anyway.
>>
>>5016769
>Attach leads to sinking city and attempt to keep it from falling with the ASDV thrusters LIKELY DEATH OF SUPREME RULER
>>
>>5016769
>>Attach leads to sinking city and attempt to keep it from falling with the ASDV thrusters LIKELY DEATH OF SUPREME RULER
>>
>>5016769
>>Attach leads to sinking city and attempt to keep it from falling with the ASDV thrusters LIKELY DEATH OF SUPREME RULER
>>
>>5016769
>Save Cirrus
>>
Alavis decides to take a calculated risk and save the Cirrus from collapsing into the gas giant. Her commands are ended with a forced data quarantine and shut down of all communication devices brought onto or near the Cirrus- it is the only way to prevent spread of the data corruption.

The one exception is the Supreme Ruler's life monitor. The symbol of office around his neck.

As the two ships attach lead cables and pull against the tug of gravity, their Star Dynamo cores only barely able to keep the flying city from sinking in further. It takes a few hours for more ships to arrive; even with the maximum speed of the Star Dynamo craft simply can't beat relativity that quickly. Eventually, the Cirrus is saved from the pull of the gas giant's gravity and pulled out into space. The flying habitat is badly damaged, with some parts of it lost and thrown down into the gas giant's mass. With time to spare now; The machine quarantine is in full effect and all connections are disabled. Only afterwards is it safe for crews to enter for body recovery; they follow the locator signal of the Supreme Ruler's pendant.

However, he wasn't the one wearing it. Someone else was; Elfi. She is dead, choked by heavier-than-air gases, and the infant child within her did not survive. The child is unnamed and, due to tradition, will be named as Vul the Second before their collective burial. The Supreme Ruler- Vul Takar's body has not yet been recovered, and likely never will be.

Without an appointed successor, the previous candidates for the position must be elected instead- the Hegemony must find a new Supreme Ruler. Looking back to Qet's contemporaries reveals only Bost, who died years ago, and Maktana, who is much too old to take the position and retired over a decade ago. That leaves only one living candidate for the position left...
>>
Your name is Kinja Dulioan and you are now the Supreme Ruler of the Jaxtians.

With this newfound unwanted responsibility thrust upon you, your life is about to change in a big way. There was no news on the death of the previous Supreme One- the Hegemony goons just showed up on your newest project and put this necklace around your neck. Bullshit!

Super model dates, red carpets, setting box office and personal wallet records with none of the guilt- Your perfect life.... It's ruined now! You can't believe this! Vul, you bastard! How dare you go and die like that!

Alright, calm down. Things are going to need to change; you were trained for this eventuality. You must put aside your personal life forever; the needs of the people, the state, and the ruler must come first. What is your first course of action?

>Learn everything you can about the data corruption that destroyed the Cirrus
>Find the coordinates of where the data corruption was sent
>Prepare the AI network for protection against further data corruptions
>Comfort the people over the loss of the previous Supreme Ruler and assure them of your new administration's ability and sincerity
>>
>>5017108
>Find the coordinates of where the data corruption was sent
Let's see if it was the aliens that did this.
>>
>>5017108
>Learn everything you can about the data corruption that destroyed the Cirrus
>>
>>5017108
>Find the coordinates of where the data corruption was sent
It's the fucking aliens, i say.
>>
>>5017108
>Learn everything you can about the data corruption that destroyed the Cirrus
Knowing is half the battle.
>>
>>5017170
Shouldn't we know where it came from before?
>>
>>5017108
>Find the coordinates of where the data corruption was sent
>Prepare the AI network for protection against further data corruptions
In that order once we discover where it came from
>>
>>5017108
>>Find the coordinates of where the data corruption was sent
>>
>>5017108
>>Find the coordinates of where the data corruption was sent
>>
>>5017180
You have point, the trail might go cold, meanwhile we'll have time to study it later.

Switching my vote to find co-ords.
>>
>>5017108
>Find the coordinates of where the data corruption was sent
>>
>>5017108
>Find the coordinates of where the data corruption was sent
>>
>>5017108
>Find the coordinates of where the data corruption was sent
We must find out who is responsible
>>
You decide to find the coordinates to where the signal came from. Alavis quickly breaks down the data, based on what little information she has gathered.

"My liege- as you are aware, I am an artificial intelligence. I do not have the mind of a biological organism- and as such, all "pieces" of myself are still part of my greater self. The Alavis aboard the Cirrus broadcasted all of the data as it was found until it, or "I", released a Stage 4 Quarantine warning message before ending its own ability to transmit and shutting down. Based on the time of the shutdown and the data procured, the data signal was sent from a star system that is not identical to the one we received from the Haazar aliens."

You knew about the alien trade from the mainstream media and the releases from the state department back when Vul was ruling the empire. Of course, you had more access then most because of your position as a candidate for the Supreme Rulership. Still, you're surprised how much was kept from the public knowledge on it and how well it was maintained.

"The Haazar's signal originates from a solar system roughly fifty light years away. It is a longform signal that constantly emitted itself over and over; the idea being to be caught. It was not aimed at out homeworld exactly but maintained enough coherency at this range to be usefully picked up by any sufficiently advanced civilization's devices. The signal that caused the data-corruption aboard the Cirrus was sent from a different solar system among a farther cluster. The signal was very high energy and short form- and it was very carefully aimed to hit the gas giant in our solar system. Also, based on the pattern of its spread and the fact it hasn't lingered; the data corruption is moreso like a weapon, fired like a cannon, then a legitimate attempt at communication. For these reasons, it is extremely unlikely that the Haazar sent this transmission directly, though the coincidence of this signal being sent a few decades after we received reason to investigate our own gas giant cannot be ignored."

With this in mind, you figure that whatever this was probably wasn't directly caused by the Haazar. Could it be they want to use your gas giant because their own was attacked by this data signal in the same way? Could they have known you would accept the trade offer? And why did whoever or whatever send this signal at your gas giant instead of at a colony or homeworld; where it would have done untold damage?

These thoughts you are thinking are reminding you of your higher calling yet again. It is time for a change of wardrobe. From your fashion into the robes of imperial might...
>>
You have chosen your Imperial robe to be red, with a black stripe, to represent the loss of your predecessor. Red is the color of war, and this attack is very likely to be the first act of war perpetuated against your people by an intelligent alien race; if not the first act of war done against the Hegemony against its inception.

"Supreme One- there is a great deal of commotion. The destruction of the Cirrus has had a profound impact. The loss of almost ten thousand aboard, many of whom were high ranking technicians and scientists, not to mention the previous Supreme One, are having a disastrous effect on the perception of both space and the Hegemony among the people. We need an immediate response."

>Make a public announcement that this was a direct attack by an unknown, hostile alien race and swear vengeance upon them
>Play at the unknowable; this signal could have been anything and may well be an accident. This is a time for patience and evaluation.
>Temporarily cover up the disaster as an accident
>Other (write in)
>>
>>5017572
>Make a public announcement that this was a direct attack by an unknown, hostile alien race and swear vengeance upon them
FUCKING XENOS GET OFF MY SYSTEM REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

(Sea blobs are cool though)
>>
>>5017572
>Make a public announcement that this was a direct attack by an unknown, hostile alien race and swear vengeance upon them
REEE
>>
Also, it's a shame that Elfi died, i would have thought that only Vul would have perished. Would have been cool to have a possible future supreme leader with a vendetta against aliens
>>
>>5017572
>Make a public announcement that this was a direct attack by an unknown, hostile alien race and swear vengeance upon them
>>
>>5017572
>>Make a public announcement that this was a direct attack by an unknown, hostile alien race and swear vengeance upon them
THE XENO SCUM HAVE COWARDLY ATTACKED US
>>
>>5017572
>Make a public announcement that this was a direct attack by an unknown, hostile alien race and swear vengeance upon them


Kinja was the one who talked about the romance of danger after all, let's see what he can do with this
>>
>>5017572
>Make a public announcement that this was a direct attack by an unknown, hostile alien race and swear vengeance upon them
I feel like stirring up the population like this might bite us in the ass at some point, but we need a simple explaination and decisive action. Besides what kinda lame ass propaganda machine do we have if it can't change the people's attitudes on a dime?
>>
>>5017572
>Make a public announcement that this was a direct attack by an unknown, hostile alien race and swear vengeance upon them
>>
>>5017677
Adding
>inform the populus the attack came from a specific star cluster, and that they are the ones that we will punish for this cruel act of aggression with this dreadful loss of life

Better to give our people the target rather than make them aggressive with every xeno we could meet out their
>>
>>5017572

A thought: Although the attack didn't come from the Hazar world directly, could the Hazar have set us up for this? This station was to mine for something they had specifically requested, knowing we would need to construct this sort of infrastructure - and something that is theoretically galactically common enough that the Hazar shouldn't have needed to make this request from us. Whilst the Hazar are not Warlike, so I don't assume they are behind the attack itself; there is no reason that someone else might not be attacking THEM. And that the Hazar might have concocted this deal to make us into a target for their enemy, and so secure themselves an ally who they can 'assist' in doing the fighting for them.

>Play at the unknowable; this signal could have been anything and may well be an accident. This is a time for patience and evaluation.
>>
>>5017777
Regardless of who did it, it was fucking xenos.

This is obviously going to influence the people's "Response". Aliens did this, so we should rightfully be angry about aliens.
>>
>>5017572
>Make a public announcement that this was a direct attack by an unknown, hostile alien race and swear vengeance upon them
FUCKING XENOS, what if it was the fucking Haazar doing this attack pretending to be some either non-existent/enemy of theirs alien race to bring our race closer to theirs so they can take our gas for cheaper! Or it may just be some actual other aliens.
>>
From the safety of a battle bunker, you proselytize your plan of action.

"My fellow primates- the destruction of Cirrus was no accident. The deaths of thousands, as well as the death of our previous Supreme Ruler, are the direct result of a malicious signal sent by an alien species. However- these are not the Haazar. It seems we have stumbled into a much more crowded galaxy then first appeared- the alien signal came from a distant star cluster, about eighty light years away. This can only mean one of two things."

You turn to read Alavis's message on the screen. Her simulation and probability matrices are of a great help. Repeat after me.

"The first possibility is that these beings sent this energy pulse eighty years ago there, after spying our development one hundred and sixty light years ago; which is to say before we entered the space race. This would indicate a desire to wipe out a pre-Star Dynamo society, a monsterous action of a genociding race. The second possibility is that this was an accident of random chance; but by NO means does this grant clemency. Any signal or emission of such high energy with the ability to destroy is not an accident, but an act of unimaginable negligence. The truth, my friends, is that in either scenario- these aliens are irredeemable. The blood of our people is on their hands- and we WILL have our vengeance!"

The decision to spin this as an act of war not only works- but works better then you could have hoped. The Hedgemony has already seeded the population of Jaxt and its colonies with cultural ideas of rising up and together against outside threats through fiction and strategic training; not since the first founding of the Hegemony and the destruction of the bloodline billionaries is there more cultural unity and strength as in this moment.

You see the signs everywhere. Victory gardens being grown to support the food needs of the people in the event of long interstellar flights; recruitment for the military and space branch shoot up by over six times the norm. Space technicians and mechanics are working unpaid overtime to maintain and prepare a new fleet of ASDVs. You even see it in the clothes people wear on the street.

The Hedgemonic symbol; the three joined circles, is the symbol of your government and can only be worn by government officials and important installations. But the civilian symbol; three circles joined at the points of a triangle is seen everywhere now. From patches to outfits, everyone is feeling incredibly patriotic. Anti-alien bias has grown, though thankfully the Migrators and Haazar are recieving less of it, some is still directed towards the growing minority of racial supremacists who believe the Jaxtians should exterminate or enslave all other sentient life in the galaxy. But even these are still willing to work with the common population. This energy is intoxicating.
>>
However, due to the nature of this long range, long planned attack, Alavis brings up some practical concerns.

"It may be prudent to turn this entire message of vengeance into boosts to the economic and science sectors. Direct intervention and retaliation is either impossible or impractical."

...She's right. With a 80 year gap in time-light dilation; and with your top speed of 10% the speed of light; only a generation ship loaded with colonists would have any chance of reaching the far off system- in the better part of a millennia. Eight hundred years?! Who would even remember the Cirrus in that time. Worse yet, there is no chance the original culprits of the attack are still alive even now; who knows if the government or group in power in that far off part of space are even still in power. By the time you get there- certainly not. Even worse, a direct data or energy attack, travelling at the speed of light, (and that's assuming you could even pull it off) would still take 80 years to get there. Eighty long years.

There may not be a direct way of intervening. But the restless energy of the people must be expended, and something must be done. What can be done? Can anything be done? Whatever you choose, it will not happen in an afternoon- it may not happen within many lifetimes. But your choices now will have ramifications for the future of the Jaxtian people.

>Research FTL technology
>Enrich & Defend your solar system to show the strength of the Jaxtian people
>Transmission into a Xenophobic, Imperialist empire built on military might
>>
>>5018149
>Enrich & Defend your solar system to show the strength of the Jaxtian people
>>
>>5018149
>Research FTL technology
WE MUST GO ON THE ATTACK, also this'll allow us to trade with those Haazar guys faster, I'd also vote for transmissioning into a xenophobic empire but I fear that will cause problems for the Migrators which was that one guys life work that I forgot the name of so gonna avoid that.
>>
>>5018149
>FTL
>>
>>5018149
>Research FTL technology
>>
>>5018149
>Research FTL technology
Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to attack them within a reasonable time frame.
>>
>>5018149
>Research FTL technology
>>
>>5018149
>Research FTL technology
Well that escalated quickly...
>>
>>5018149
>Research FTL technology
>>
>>5018149
>>Research FTL technology

If it is possible, we must do it.

Also, how are our own heir candidates looking? Since we got here because Vul went and got himself killed, we must not assume the same couldn't happen to us. Especially if we're now living under extraterrestrial threat.
>>
>>5018149
>Research FTL technology
We shouldn't go full xenophobic imperialist yet. I'd rather stay as just an autocratic, reasonable xenophobic empire.
>>
You have to decided to begin the, perhaps impossible, journey to develop faster then light technology. This is your long term empire goal, which will probably not be finished by any one Supreme Ruler.

The dream of science fiction authors everywhere- the idea of faster then light travel is a fantasy that appeals to the vast indifference of space. Of course, once the concepts of general relativity were discovered, it was believed to be impossible- until the invention of the Star Dynamo. Due to its ability to transfer energy into momentum directly through a yet unknown vector that is almost unaffected by inertia and graivty, it may be possible to increase this technology to faster then light levels. It is simply not feasible with any modern day technology.

The truth is that your people don't have enough data and knowledge on the absolute building blocks of the universe yet. You commission a massive project; a huge particle-collider on your homeworld of Jaxt. Built in the otherwise desolate Blonde Mountains; it stretches across several imperial provinces and even crosses a time zone. The project is huge in scale, but building on the homeworld and the recent frenzy of patriotism has cut back on costs significantly.

The massive particle collider will accelerate particles to fractions of the speed of light and observe their interactions; with this, and experimental measures to try and increase this speed even further, it may yield the secrets to FTL technology. Thankfully, the Hedgemony's educational system is strong enough to dispel most idiocies such as the beliefs of apocalyptic black hole creation or combusting the atmosphere- but a new development involving Max would cause a significant panic if revealed to the public...
>>
The Caplit colony, which is located on Max's ice moon, has reported an increase in heat and energy activity coming from within the gas giant's depths.

Unfortunately, this disturbance has been detected on the same place where the Cirrus nearly fell into the gas giant.

You call Alavis to report, and the AI chirps in confusion.

"Insignificant data. Only Conjecture available. There is a possibility the energy surge that struck the Cirrus may have been a highly advanced technology- such as teleportation or the creation of matter from "nothing". The heat and energy signatures are moving underneath the planet, growing, and waning. This indicates activity that is not a run-away ignition or chain reaction, and is being caused by several disperate entities."

While Alavis's advice and predictions are usually spot on; this one you can't place. The concept of alien ships actually "beaming into" your solar system to attack you is so laughable it's almost absurd. Any alien race capable of performing that data corruption and had a level of technology like this would be like gods for the Jaxtians- you're pretty sure you made an interactive like that once.

Still, there is the matters of the military to consider. The truth is that your are woefully unprepared for an attack. All of the testing and research done a few years ago during Vul's reign for different space ship weapons ended up being useless in a ship to ship dogfighting scenario- all due to the mechanics of the Star Dynamo. These weapons are as archaic as a spear or a nuclear bomb. Having no concept of the alien capabilities- anything traveling sub light speed may be able to be detected and avoided. You have no way of knowing, but it's the best chance you have. You tell Alavis to present you with the most hopeful weapons research. She presents you with three.

The first are Lasers. They travel at the speed of light, and could be used to disrupt and destroy matter with extreme heat and energy. They drain a lot of energy but are cheap to manufacture, and you could already outfit ships with near-weapons grade level diodes at this very moment.

The second are Particle Beams, a type of weapon that fires a wider beam of super charged, fast particles. These deal damage through abrasion and could blast about physically weaker structures, though travel slightly slower then a laser would. Ammunition in the form of particles to super charge would be a small concern.

The third is a more experimental technology in the form of a Neutrino Gun. This weapon essentially captures and fires Neutrinos in a powerful burst. They travel slower then the other weapon types, but would be highly damaging to an enemy ship and neutrino explosions could disable traditional electronics.

Which will you research?
>Laser Weapons
>Particle Beam
>Neutrino Gun
>>
Neutrino for me, with Laser being a close second in case of a tie.
>>
>>5018783
>Laser
While i believe we should definitely research Neutrinos later, right now we want to be armed enough to defend ourselves, and the only way we're doing that is through lasers.
>>
>>5018795
I'm concerned over whether we can get Neutrinos. It's experimental, and we already failed the last time we tried to use non-laser weaponry.
>>
>>5018783
>>Particle Beam
>>
>>5018783
>Laser Weapons
>>
>>5018783
How 'experimental' are the Neutrino Beams? They sound good, but they also sound years away for an effective weapon. Could we start a Neutrino weapons program for the long term, but arm things with Lasers in the meantime as we seem to have them nearly ready already?
>>
>>5018958
Pretty much my thoughts, while i don't know about the program (we need to concentrate our resources), i will say that neutrinos, while the most promising, are experimental.

We already had a dead end military project once. No need to have another.
>>
>>5018783
>Laser Weapons
Lasers will be good for the short term but later on we should try getting Neutrino guns.
>>
>>5018783
>Lasers
>>
>>5018783
>>Laser Weapons
>>
>>5018783
Neutrino Gun
>>
>>5018783
>Laser Weapons for now but also start looking into neutrino guns
>>
You have decided to outfit your vessels with laser weapons.

You now have a very basic beginnings of a space force- your ASDV ships have been in use since around the end of Qet's reign, and have proven to be a highly versatile and reliable craft- but only for space exploration and colonization. The Advanced Star-Dynamo Vehicle is a large, circular craft which can both fly through vacuum, atmosphere, and can land on planets. Equipped with a Star Dynamo and reactor core for power, the craft uses its outer shell and large, flat inner floor as places to run its electrical circuit for the Star Dyanmo. This allows it to move in any direction, turn, pitch, and yaw in 3d space giving it excellent agility- though you have no idea how agile a "true" dog fighting spaceship would be.

These crafts are now equipped with lasers; a technology that has existed and has been experimentally weaponized multiple times throughout history. While never employed in a real combat scenario; laser weapons could deal significant damage by focusing heat and energy on a single spot. Because of this, the ASDVs are being equipped with two powerful diodes in rotating dome casings near the front of the ship, using binocular targeting to perform the most damage. These attacks, as well as most of the ship's motion can be controlled by artificial intelligence. Unfortunately, knowing nothing about what sort of weapons or tactics may be used by alien spaceships, you have no methods to protect the ships. Any significant weight increase to the vessel will make it much harder to land and take off and lower its agility, which is being prioritized here.
>>
While you are not sure on what the future may hold for space combat, your very most basic predictions as figured out by AI network seem to indicate a high likelihood that cyber attacks are as likely and potentially devastating as any energy weapon or kinetic assault.

Your species has had prolific uses of AI for two centuries; it is highly likely any other alien intelligence will use also use them. This provides both a positive and a negative; any cyber attack performed on one of your ships may be able to be countered or slowed by your own AI cores aboard, but at the same time the enemy AI will likely be testing, countering, and attempting to wrest control from your own AI to itself- the Alavis core aboard the Cirrus had no chance against the data corruption and could only shut itself down to limit its spread; if any alien spaceships had a similar level of viral computing you'd be a sitting duck. They could even hijack control of your vessels away from you- which would only make the situation worse.

For this reason; you have decided that your combat ships should contain a skilled pilot in the event that any onboard AI is compromised or disabled by an alien software attack. This same concept (as well as strange laws created by Vul Takar during his reign that required physical backups for computer-controlled machines) is the reason as to why ASDVs can be flown without a computer guide, if in an emergency. Among the Jaxtian astronauts, space miners, and colonists; the number of individuals who can pilot an ASDV without computer help are shockingly low, as it is a rare talent that has little practical use.

However, several pilots are standouts. You have Alavis select and assign the three greatest pilots you can find and have them shipped to the Caplit colony immediately along with three of the modified ASDVs.

While touring Caplit and preparing it for the first of its kind military spacecraft hangar, you are actually approached by one of the pilots.

"Your excellence." He salutes you. "My name is Shintar Val, the pilot."

"At ease, and yes, I know you. Your simulator records are impressive. I feel much better with you flying one of these craft."

He grimaces, as though being complimented by you causes him physical pain.

"Your excellence. The reason I am approaching you is to make a request. I may be speaking out of turn, as I am not a Hegemony-Certified medical professional, so I am also fully ready to accept punishment for wasting your time like this..."
>>
"...I would like to volunteer to run a course of performance enhancers for any upcoming combat scenarios or trials, your grace. I learned about them in flight school- the ones once used by nation states for fighter pilots before the unification? They were discontinued by the Hegemony because of the long term risks they pose to the patient's health. However, I am fully ready to accept the consequences of taking them. The defense of my people and Supreme Ruler come before myself. If you think you can use me to my full potential, then I will willing sacrifice myself, no matter the cost."

Wow, this guy is acting just like the heroes of your movies. You never seen someone so patriotic and selfless. It makes you feel a bit embaressed. You're Kinja, the movie maker, and this guy is talking about laying his life on the line. Doesn't he knew the fighter pilots they used those on lost the use of their legs half the time, went blind, and then died twenty years earlier then they should? However- he has a point. If an alien attack does come, then you would need to squeeze out every last drop of use out of all your resources- if it be wealth, technology, or personal. Otherwise every Jaxtian could be killed or enslaved.

He stands there in stiff salute, waiting for your answer.

>Put him on a cycle of the performance enhancers
>Deny his request
>>
>Put him on a cycle of the performance enhancers
We should probably make sure he's well aware of the risks but still.
>>
I'm not a big fan of overreliance on performance enhancers. Those are a devil's deal.

Furthermore, if the aliens are so advanced they can easily beat our normal pilots and their ships, there is no amount of performance enhcament that'll save us. That's without mentioning that we don't know how long it'll be until this 'attack' comes - what if it doesn't come within this lifetime and his sacrifice is for naught?

Because of that,
>Deny his request (explain why)

It's a brave sacrifice, but sacrifices should be done when we know they'll be worth it. Performance Enhancers aren't enough - not yet that any 'improvement' would be basically useless due to how low our technology is.
>>
>>5019443
How quickly do these performance enhancers take effect?

Whilst I'm uncertain about putting Shintar on them immediately, having an enhancer rig available for Shintar to engage and inject himself if a Xeno threat starts to rise from below Max's clouds would make a certain sense - a void pilot with health concerns and reduced lifeterm expectancy still has a longer lifespan then one lost to Alien weaponry in the first minutes of engagement.
>>
>>5019446
>Begin the development of new performance enhancers based upon advances in medical technology since the Unification War. Shintar Val can be the first to join the trials for these new enhancers.
>>
>>5019664
+1 pretty much this, tech from back then has improved a lot and we should be able to make better drugs for em.
>>
>>5019446
>>Put him on a cycle of the performance enhancers
Let's hope it works out better this time
>>
>>5019664
>Support
>>
>>5019664
+1
>>
While there is inherent risk to any kind of unnatural drug routine, both in the form of reliance and side effects, you order your medical staff to use updated formulas and safer interactions from the past version of the performance enhancers.

>>5019549
Shintar begins a cycle; these are not pills you can pop once, but instead must first begin with a low dosage, building up, and then rolling down in a cycle. This is one of the reasons they were so dangerous. But now you have the full force of the Hedgemony; he'll be your test animal.

In the meantime; the solar system is quiet. The lack of a second data corruption attack, and the lack of data on what it was or how to stop it has caused serious fears and restlessness among the higher authorities on the various colonies. Colonial desire to move back to Jaxt, where at least a data attack wouldn't mean destruction of breathable air.

The heat signatures from Max haven't stopped- indicating...something is going on down there. Unfortunately, you don't yet have the technology to scan what is going on beneath the clouds, and your ships, which are practically just tin cans in space, can't very well go into the gas giant to find out- the extreme gravity, heat, atmospheric pressure, and so on would cause certain doom.

You seem to have a moment of calm to yourself. As the current Supreme Ruler- you have more then just one gas giant catastrophe to deal with.

>Upgrade your general technology
>Expand your colonial holdings & build self-reliant bioshelters on each outlying colony
>Invest further into propaganda and entertainment to calm the people
>Build a primitive automated defense satellite around a planet or moon
>>
>>5020588
>Expand your colonial holdings & build self-reliant bioshelters on each outlying colony
We must ensure the safety of our efforts.
>>
>>5020588
Either
>Upgrade your general technology
So we could scan and see what is happening down in Max
or

>Build a primitive automated defense satellite around a planet or moon
If something rises from Max, Caplit would have next to no warning time. An extra defense there would be useful.
>>
>>5020588
>Upgrade your general technology
>>
>>5020588
>Upgrade your general technology
SCIENCE
>>
>>5020588
>Upgrade your general technology
DESU, we simply don't have the technology to make anything we need and trying to do so anway would produce things that are woefully inadequate.
>>
>>5020588
>Upgrade your general technology
>>
>>5020588
>>Expand your colonial holdings & build self-reliant bioshelters on each outlying colony
>>
>>5020588
>>Upgrade your general technology
>>
>>5020588
>Expand your colonial holdings & build self-reliant bioshelters on each outlying colony
or
>Upgrade your general technology
We can build a defense satellite somewhere later when we actually have confirmation of an enemy that can invade our solar system
>>
The sinking of the Cirrus was, in a way, both a boon but also a huge setback for science. Many of your top scientists and technicians died from the malfunction, including the Supreme Ruler, but at the same time the flying city project on Max took up so much funding and time that other scientific programs needing just a few more steps to complete were put on hold.

Firstly; a general upgrade to your colonization technology is enacted. These devices were already near completion for years, ready to replace half a century or older technology. The first are your drones; the flying SD equipped drones once used to aid in construction and colony management have been upgraded to newfound insect bots, who are equipped with their own AI cores that can remotely sync with others of their kind nearby, and have increased mobility and defense against extreme conditions. The same advancement is also made to the pressure sensors or "static fences" already placed around every major colony or installation. These traditionally help monitor the weather, seismic activity, radiation levels, temperature, and more and create helpful borders and zones for AI and astronauts on alien worlds; this technology improves their ability to work together. Small, incremental improvements will make a big difference in the end.

There isn't enough time to create more large scale projects- it has only been about a year since the sinking of the Cirrus and the appearance of the heat signatures. You refuse to risk replacing mission critical resources at the exact wrong moment.

>>5018958
>>5019345
At the same time, you also look a bit more into Neutrino Gun research. These Neutrino weapons, also called "Blasters", essentially fire a ball of captured Neutrinos. They travel at about the speed of light, but the weapon must fire slowly. You also better understand the electronic disabling properties- when a blast from one of these strikes matter, it explodes billions of neutrinos from the blast point in all directions, naturally being more dense right next to the epicenter, thus causing electronic glitches and temporary outages. However, an advanced AI like your own, or any an alien could create, would be able to predict or approximate the orders and signals that were disrupted. Instead of disabling technology, think of it more as slowing it down or causing loses of efficiency.

Neutrino blasts, along with lasers and particle beams, will probably make up the base line of space weaponry you will encounter in space.
>>
As the first of your newest advancements are rolled out; you are suddenly interrupted by a RED ALERT!

You already happen to be on Caplit when Alavis sounds the alarm. The pilots are already scrambled.

"Supreme One- the heat signatures spiked five minutes ago. Then, four alien spacecraft broke from Max's atmosphere. They are headed along the gas giant's axis at sublight speeds, and are approaching Caplit colony."

The computers and machines of the Hedgemony are already crunching the numbers. Civilian networks and AIs are commandeered to help with processing power- some of these were first placed on the planet's surface during the reign of Vantix Garastra, and now they're adding their computer cycles to the craft overhead. You know nothing about these craft or their capabilities- digital or physical. You also don't know their intentions, but you can only assume they are here for an attack. You also know how devastating an attack could be. Even a mildly armed alien craft could destroy the Caplit colony and kill everyone within. There isn't enough time to evacuate even key personnel, much less the entire civilian base.

The four ships are approaching. Your three ships stand ready to respond- your ace pilots fidgeting in their controls, with AI ready. It's very quiet now; the four ships approaching like falling stars.

"Your Eminance; it may be prudent to engage the enemy in open space." Alavis advises. She explains that if the alien craft were forged, or teleported into the atmosphere of Max, they are probably more designed to function in an atmosphere. However, the further away from Caplit your own ships are, the less your AI network can help bolster their abilities and help defend them from cyber attacks and scrambling.

The window for engaging on your terms is shrinking. It's impossible to tell if the alien craft don't notice your own ships, don't view them as a threat, or truly have nonviolent intentions. At any rate, they aren't transmitting anything; and your few "cease" calls sent to them are not understood- or probably just ignored.

Now is the time to make a choice.

>Engage the alien ships in space
>Wait for them to enter Caplit's atmosphere
>>
>Engage the alien ships in space
KILL THEEEEEEEEEM
>>
>>5021791
>Engage the alien ships in space
With our neutrino weapons we should damage their form of propulsion and any weapons they may have and capture their ships then move them to a secure area on schoon with orders for military personnel to come from home to create a form of prison
> once we have their ships immobile and disarmed we should attempt to communicate, and have our A.I prepared for any kind of corruption or infiltration of the network
Their is a near 100% chance these guys are responsible for the assault on our habitat, so we should be thorough in our "questioning " for info on the reasons for their actions should they be at fault
>>
>>5021817
You do not have any functioning Neutrino weapons. They are experimental only, and not equipped to these ships.
>>
>>5021791
>Engage the alien ships in space
>>
>>5021791
>Engage the alien ships in space
>>
>>5021791
>>Engage the alien ships in space
>>
>>5021791
>Engage the alien ships in space
No mercy
>>
>>5021791
>Engage the alien ships in space
They are clearly more advanced in their technology and thus they have the responsibiity to make a non-threateing first contact with yo. They havent done that and thus, they probably dont have good intentions. So, BLAST THEM TO HELL!
>>
You watch as the aliens crest the planet's atmosphere- watching from a hundred eyes. Alavis has already synced the feeds from each starship and asteroid monitoring station to give you the best possible information. You send them one final warning- as clear as day; a picture of one of their ships being destroyed, converted to spectroscopic imagery. They continue the advance.

You decide to engage the aliens in space- before they breach Caplit's atmosphere. That's your airspace. It is clear they're looking for a fight- and you'll give them one. Interestingly- they are not traveling especially fast; not even approaching a percent of the speed of light yet. This may yet be an advanced tactic. Perhaps space combat is more about conserving resources- or are these craft not equipped with Star Dynamos?!

As your ASDVs get close enough; the first wave of attacks begin. Perhaps as expected, they are cyberware attacks- massive virus and hacking protocals are launched at each ship. The advanced AI cores aboard struggle to keep up deleting, quarantining, and keeping the ship's functional. Ento, a middle aged man who has worked as a space miner around Vass and is used to flying manually when solar flares kill his onboard AIs, has his ship shut down totally for the meanwhile, skidding to a halt.

Alavis starts to catalog the alien cyber attacks. Interestingly- the attacks may tell you more how the aliens think. There are no attacks on specific weapon systems or attempt to control on board systems, possibly because they don't know what systems you have, and there are no attempts to attack the components or life support inside the ships directly. Instead, the cyber attacks are more like huge amounts of random noise that scrambles computers and viral attacks attempting to get computers stuck in infinite loops.

"Alavis- make those flight AIs focus only on the weapon targetting systems on the ships. Lasers are only effective when aimed well, the aiming is more crucial then the flying- especially with these pilots. Use all CPU cycles to keep them in fighting shape!"

Your intuition on how space combat should work seems to pay off. The first use of the weaponized laser is seen when one of your ships attempts to burn off one of the forward struts off one of the alien ships, but it rotates in 3d space, blocking the damaged strut from the lasers. Perhaps firing at the central mass may be a better idea.

Another vessel flies by- Shintar performs an aerial maneuver to blast it at the same time as another Jaxtian pilot. The two laser attacks heat and rupture the central chamber of one of the ships. One alien vessel lies destroyed; the performance enhancers seemed to really do the trick.

"Got one!" He cries happily. The other alien vessels whistle past.
>>
The three remaining alien vessels zoom past your two remaining ships, dog fighting instincts be damned. Alavis pings you that she has now predicted within 90% accuracy that these are CPU controlled vessels, or droneships. Their actions are too robotic, even for a flight computer- no pilot would turn their back on a foe in a fight unless they had a deathwish or they were on a suicide mission- which these robots may just be! They are running past your ships to get into Caplit's atmosphere- are they going after the colony.

You'd expect as such. These alien bastards would never fight you man to man!

In the meantime; Ento's ship has only barely regained its ability to fly after the devastating cyber attacks. Being in space really made it tough to defend against the cyber attacks. But in the meantime, with his AI core still disabled or nearly useless, he freezes in place as he sees an alien vessel approaching directly towards him. He needs to make a choice, quick! You can see his viewpoint from your own computer- what do you yell at him?

>Fly left!
>Fly right!
>>
>>5022309
>Fly right!
I can see another alien vessel approaching on the left in the picture and I doubt the guy has regained enough of his vessels ability to try and destroy it so dodging seems like a good option here.
>>
>>5022309
>Fly right!
It's tilting there. We need to go and shoot it.
>>
>Fly right!
And shoot if at all possible for ento
>>
>>5022324
>Fly right!
>>
>>5022309
>>Fly right!
>>
"Ento- Fly right!" You yell, the message being sent directly into his communication speakers. He picks up on it, and within a second, has begun moving his ship out of the way of the approaching ship.

That was a good call. The second ship whizzes by in a second after. For some reason, it feels like a bad idea to get stuck between two of these alien vessels.

The three remaining ships regroup and begin to fly towards Caplit together, with your own vessels in hot pursuit. The three seem to suddenly "agree" on which one to stay behind; the one with the damaged forward strut. It whips around and, out of nowhere, fires a projectile from its core.

That's a Neutrino blast! But more amazingly, it arcs through the air and curves to strike just one specific ship of your group- Shintar's ship! Thankfully, the blast wasn't powerful enough to destroy it in a single hit. His ship comes to a screeching halt for a moment as the neutrino's disable his electronics; minimal shielding will do that. Thankfully, he's locked up safely in the cockpit's own airlock, so the explosive decompression doesn't hurt him. That was a close one. Your other warships retailiate and fry the attacker with their lasers; it had to slow down enough to aim and fire making it easy prey.

However- this only raises more questions, and casts a long shadow. How could the aliens make a bolt of energy home in on something? And why Shintar? They must have detected his flying as the biggest threat. It's impossible to imagine; none of your weapons work that way. They simply send energy forward, near the speed of light, or in the case of your lasers, exactly at light speed. Even your experimental Neutrino guns can't "curve" their projectiles. There is no intelligence, it is just a bolt of energy.
>>
The two alien ships are now entering Caplit's atmosphere. It is too late to stop them now; you will need to perform an aerial dogfight where they will be in their element. One is mildly damaged, and the other is untouched.

In the meanwhile; one of your own ships is heavily damaged and almost disabled- Shintar's ship. Even after his AI gets his engines back online, there is a dangerous possibility of a radiation leak. With another direct hit, it's likely to cause the reactor core to explode.

"Dammit! Why me! You fucks!" Shintar curses. He's grounded.

Just then, you are tapped on the shoulder by someone. You whip around.

"Who let this old- hey wait a second, aren't you Maktana!?"

The old man smiles. He IS Maktana! An ex-candidate for the Supreme Rulership, later turned into a genius scientist and biologist. You're amazed how well held up he is for his age.

"Yes! Young Emperor. I wanted to meet you in person."

"Ahh, Maktana. Your film was such an inspiration- but we're kind of in the middle of an interracial alien war here..."

Your real problem is your disabled bird. You are now 2 on 2, with your best pilot currently useless. You could force him to fight in that ship, but a glance could cause it to explode. And now, Maktana wants to talk to you; but you need to focus on the action.

"If you'll humor an... an old man, I think I can offer some assistance."

---Choose One from each category---
>Tell Shintar to stand down
>Have Shintar switch ships with another pilot before chasing (Costs time)
>Use Shintar's ship in a purely defense manner- have it defend the Caplit colony, but not chase

And

>Listen to Maktana (costs time)
>Kick him out of your command room- respectfully.
>>
>>5022979
Listen to Maktana, he's been on caplit for a long time. I dont know about shintar though.
>>
>>5022979
>>Use Shintar's ship in a purely defense manner- have it defend the Caplit colony, but not chase
>Listen to Maktana (costs time)
>>
>>5022979
>Use Shintar's ship in a purely defense manner- have it defend the Caplit colony, but not chase
>Listen to Maktana (costs time)
>>
>>5022979
>Use Shintar's ship in a purely defense manner- have it defend the Caplit colony, but not chase
>Listen to Maktana (costs time)
>>
>>5022979
>Use Shintar's ship in a purely defense manner- have it defend the Caplit colony, but not chase
>Listen to Maktana (costs time)
>>
>>5022979
>Use Shintar's ship in a purely defense manner- have it defend the Caplit colony, but not chase
>Listen to Maktana (costs time)
>>
You decide to recall Shintar back to the Caplit colony. His lasers will act as a good deterrent at the very least, but you're in no position to have him fly right now.

He grunts, and follows your orders. You're happy your chemists worked out the "heightened aggression" and "increased disregard for personal safety" symptoms out of the updated version of the performance enhancing drugs.

In the meanwhile, the two alien crafts enter Caplit's atmosphere. They seem to "catch" the air and straighten out, their flying become much more graceful. This also spells the end of a small advantage of your side as well; your lasers are less effective in atmospheres or through mediums other then vacuum- though Caplit's atmosphere is blissfully thin and free from particulates. Still, your effective laser range will be shortened. You tell Alavis to adapt your targeting protocols for this; while you turn to listen to Maktana.

"My young ruler- listen to me now. I was given a great gift once, a submarine. I used it to map the under-ice oceans here on this planet, and to make first contact with the navigators. I spent my life to decode their language and prove they were an intelligent people, just like us, just different. But part of that job involved the submarine's advanced sonic emitters- it may be half a century old, but with enough energy those sonic emitters could be used as a makeshift weapon. If you'd allow it-"

Alavis pings an alert, you have to cut him off as you switch back to the feed. You see your two ships chasing the two alien craft, who suddenly create a green beam of energy between the two of them. It looks like it is burning.

"Get away!" You cry, but too late. The energy link suddenly breaks free from both craft and flies backwards. Amazingly, it stretches and bends like a flying snake, and actually seems to try to strike one of your craft- which it does. There is a direct hit.

"Ahh! No!" The pilot screams before his craft is destroyed- glowing hot plasma melting through the weak tin shielding of his ship and causing an explosion. Now you only have one craft left- against two alien ships.
>>
"-Supreme One, looks like you're outnumbered." Maktana says, almost playfully.

He's right. With only one bird left, you're stuck weighing your options. You don't want them to get close enough to shoot at the colony- but chasing them seems even more dangerous with that plasma weapon. However, you'll need them to get closer to angle them into a trap and fight at full strength- your last full strength ship, Shintar's damaged ship, and Maktana's sub, not to mention the wrath of the AI network could all be brought down on the aliens at once. But can that be done before they fire off a shot?

"...Orders? Pursue the interlopers?" Ento asks on comms, looking for direction.

>Tell him to pursue the alien craft
>Tell him to retreat to the base and wait to ambush the aliens
>>
>>5023495
>Tell him to retreat to the base and wait to ambush the aliens
If we don't, we won't be able to destroy them.
>>
>>5023495
>Tell him to retreat to the base and wait to ambush the aliens
>>
>>5023495
>>Tell him to retreat to the base and wait to ambush the aliens
>>
>>5023495
>>Tell him to retreat to the base and wait to ambush the aliens
>>
>>5023495
>>Tell him to retreat to the base and wait to ambush the aliens
>>
>>5023495
>Tell him to retreat to the base and wait to ambush the aliens
>>
>Tell him to retreat to the base and wait to ambush the aliens
>>
You order Ento to not persue the craft, instead tailing them until they reach Caplit's colony center. In the half a century since being built, the humble research colony built together with scraps has grown into multiple buildings, connected with over-ice climbways. Several families, technicians, and researches live here full time, as well as a larger rotating staff. There is no secure bunker or area for the people to stay safe during this attack- you have simply ordered them to hunker down in their quarters and hope for the best.

You have also readied Maktana's old submarine, which hasn't been used in decades, and had several of the mark 2 drones plug into it- adding their nuclear power cores to the sub's own. If his idea has any merit, the sonic weapon could be a useful thing to turn the tide here.

As the drones approach; they form another few plasma strands between them, and without hestitaion fire them at one of the Caplit colony buildings. The plasma is hot and burns through even these moon-toughened materials and steel supports. Several chambers are depressurized and the resulting plasma cutting kills several low level technicians working in that building. With damage to the heating coils- the Caplit colony endures a small ice age over the next few weeks as colony temperatures drop...

At the same instant; your two remaining ASDVs burn an offending drone with their lasers causing it to explode. Now, only one left.
>>
The final drone is caught within Maktana's sonic weapon, which seems effective! Beyond stunning the drone, you order the last remaining ships to break its forward struts- which Al has correctly identified as the vessel's mobility modules. With that damage done, it crashes to the ice in a nearby valley, almost intact!

You send teams to collect the various blown up pieces of the various drones; and a special science team to study the last one where it fell. You finally recieve some much needed information on these alien vessels.

When studying the remains of these alien vessels- your suspicions were true. There is no biological matter within the crafts, indicating these are fully automated drones. For what? Offense, or scouting? Another fact comes to light as some of the metals inside the alien craft are identified- the proof is undeniable. The acid-mark on this steel confirms it. This is metal made by the Schoon Shipyards Company, as in, these drones are made in part by scavenged parts by whatever fell into Max from the Cirrus when it was corrupted.

However; many pieces are wholly unique and new. The bulk of the alien craft is made out of some silicate material rich with gases- it's essentially made of hardened dirt. Oxygen, Nitrogen... and a heavy supply of Argon. It's made of Max's own cloud structure. The inside of the craft also contains an incredibly unique computer system- dozens of small spheroid chambers which hold various gases in different quantities. Using this, these drones were piloted in a form of "computer" that used gas instead of electrical circuits. Uniquely, this type of technology could be used to create slower computers, but computers that could do multiple things at once, or even computers that can think more laterally in the way a living thing could.

Several questions and concerns still haunt your mind. Why did the data attack happen against Max? How can you protect against it? How are the aliens controlling plasma they way they do? How did the aliens create these craft? You still can't go into Max and search yourself yet- your ships aren't sturdy enough for that kind of environment. And what did the Haazar have to do with it- if anything? It seems too coincidental for them to have not known anything...

It's time to deal with the immediate fallout of the alien attack though. Who knows how far back this pushed people's distrust of alien races and colonizing Max's clouds... Rally the people- and take this victory to establish yourself as the Supreme Ruler. Even now, you feel age spots flowering on your ears- you weren't really that much younger then Vul was- and this stress is doing terrible things to your complexion.

>Award everyone involved with the defense and rekindle national pride
>Create a flight school and defense programs to rebuild your defenses
>Focus AI efforts on full analysis of this alien technology
>Other (Write In)
>>
>>5024895
>Award everyone involved with the defense and rekindle national pride
>>
>>5024895
>Create a flight school and defense program
>>
>>5024895
>Focus AI efforts on full analysis of this alien technology
While a flight school would be good, that force is most likely not even close to a 1/100th of the power the invaders wield. We must analyze the alien tech so that we'll have proper fighters.
>>
>>5024895
>Award everyone involved with the defense and rekindle national pride
>Create a flight school and defense programs to rebuild your defenses
>>
>>5024895
>>Award everyone involved with the defense and rekindle national pride
>>Focus AI efforts on full analysis of this alien technology
>>
>>5024895
>Award everyone involved with the defense and rekindle national pride
>Focus AI efforts on full analysis of this alien technology
>>
>>5024953
>>Award everyone involved with the defense and rekindle national pride
>>Focus AI efforts on full analysis of this alien technology
>>
>>5024895

>>Focus efforts on full analysis of this alien technology

Really. I'd do all of it if we could; award those Heroic pilots and Maktana (whilst giving ourself enough credit but not allowing us to overshadow the heroes we led - heck, with our film industry connections we probably know a director who'd love to make an inspiring film based on this) and build a flight school so the Heroes of today can train the heroes of tomorrow. But if only one is possible, best to learn what we can whilst we have both a sample to study and Maktana's still around to help study it; we want to learn enough to lift a little of the veil of blindness from our eyes should future conflict arise.
>>
>>5024895
>>Award everyone involved with the defense and rekindle national pride
>>Focus AI efforts on full analysis of this alien technology
>>
>>5024895
Man, fucking imagine how many of these fuckers there would be if we let Cirrus fall.
>>
>>5025220
Still sad Elfi had to die, though. Now we'll never get Inigo Takar to say "You killed my father, prepare to die!"
>>
>>5024895
>>Create a flight school and defense programs to rebuild your defenses
>>
>>5025228
We sure about that? Vul was also schtupping Raza on the side...
>>
>>5025311
No? He wasnt. If he wanted to do that he would have just married both of em.
>>
>>5025325
Um, Anon...
>>
>>5025332
Oh yeah, i missed that. I thought it was just Elfi.
>>
You focus your first efforts on morale. You hand out the highest honors you can grant; golden bands.

Around the left and right sleeves a Jaxtian can be awarded golden bands- a type of addition or piece of jewelry or even a tattoo. This is the highest public display one of your kind can achieve- naturally, wearing a golden band on any piece of clothing without being granted one resulting in the offending hand being removed. Nowadays, in more civilized time, several years in prison more then suffices.

Around the right hand go bands belonging to great works of war and labor. You grant one to both of your living pilots; Ento and Shintar Val, though a posthumous honor is given to your third, who did not make it. Finally, as reward to Maktana for his sonic weapon, you grant him a golden band on his right arm; going well with the two he earned as a young man so very long ago. He's certainly become one of the most decorated of your kind. You salute them with honor- and the public eat it up too.

Meanwhile; Alavis and the AI network begin to scan and collect as much data as possible on the alien drones; learning as much as they can about space aerodynamics, engine and weapon systems, and learning more about the strangely gas-based technology these aliens seem to possess. As the AI network encapsulates all computers, civilian connections are often slowed or temporarily downed, or even rationed out, as these huge calculations are made and simulations ran. Over the years; Al finally comes to a realization. This technology has been developed by a race of aliens who evolved in a gas giant; of which is a form of life you never thought possible.

In the meantime, the newfound need for combat-ready space vessels has shifted production of a few new military craft- the WSDVs. Sleeker and incorporating the guidance struts from the alien drones; these will be much more agile fighters. Your flight school(s) are also built but, with no war to fight and the funding being not a priority, they mostly act as an auxiliary to computer flown craft in combat training. While no new alien threat lives on the horizon yet, your people are ready for action.
>>
*huff huff*

Your name is now Aumu Osintor, the lowly laborer. Not that you do much labor anymore- you keep yourself afloat with crypto and online book sales of your various novels. It has been ten years since the first ever battle fought in space, and it is still fresh in the imagination- thus leading to your success.

You have lived your entire life on a planet free from pollution and overpopulation. You are protected from outside threats by the Hegemony and the so-called "omnipotent" Supreme Ruler. All of your food is incredibly fresh and clean, and opportunities for adventure and exploration abound everywhere- and you don't want or care about any of that. Why would you feel any different?

Your life is a joke!

You went through life with the standard education of a Jaxtian- where merit is supposed to lead to opportunity. Of course- the "Supreme" ones and other government pets are allowed the best training and hormone treatments- so you guess that opportunity isn't very fair at all. You're shorter then you could be, maybe if YOU got special treatments. You were smarter then everyone, and yet you failed to qualify for any careers or positions of note. You were never given any special treatment. You were assigned to be a laborer- a nobody, so much for being "entitled to a meaningful career".

You've always been fat- perhaps a craving for more food then you are given, perhaps an addictive behavior. At this point, did it matter? You have requested the Hegemony several times to give you a on-planet transport, but they refused. Your age and health history indicate you are "too capable" to need one. You're too heavy to use the jump poles, so you have to walk to this stupid fucking event.

Worse yet; you despise this government. Their overreach, their control over all media- I mean, the biggest maker of entertainment and state sponsored propaganda had become the last Supreme Ruler. There is no way to vote them out. Their grip was absolute, and the people just ate up and believed whatever they were told. And now, they have the fucking gall to require your attendance to this "cultural fare".

The helplessness of your life and position in this empire, and the ever present lurking feeling of inadequacy and self-loathing begin to creep in. You hate crowds- and all these happy smiling people talking and dancing and selling and buying and laughing is making you deeply uncomfortable. You just wish you'd be beamed up by aliens instead of having to be here. Anything but this.

>Calm down and go find something deep fried to snack on
>Sperg out and go on an anti-government rant in public

This is the most important choice in the quest btw
>>
It really is a good question. On one hand, i like the Hegemony and getting embroiled in civil unrest would lead to something worse. We KNOW How the unprotected "free" society was before - it was a big war-filled oligopoly.

At the same time, however, the lack of upwards social mobility is bad. It means that skilled people can't make use of their skills because they didn't have the genes for it.

I don't want to go full 'obey the government always', we'll just end up fat and lazy. But at the same time, i don't want to go back to the time of uber-powerful families.
>>
>>5025756
>Sperg out and go on an anti-government rant in public
Fun.

>>5025766
We need capitalism back, but a more controlled version of it so elites and big corporations don't have absolute control over the market and thus corrupt politicians and thus the world

Just like in real life
>>
>>5025756
>>Calm down and go find something deep fried to snack on
To each their own, but I like space monkey china and I feel like whatever would replace it would make the quest more generic.
>>
>>5025772
>We need capitalism back
I don't know about that. With monkey capitalism we kept killing each other, with the Hegemony we, in a few generations, took to space.

In the hegemony, we can make things that aren't profitable but lead to progress. If we go back to a capitalistic society we'll stagnate because no one will bother doing anything new since doing so costs money and it's easier to just rake in profits.
>>
>>5025756
>Sperg out and go on an anti-government rant in public

Let's see where this goes...
>>
>>5025772
More meritocracy would be good but capitalism seems pointless, we didn't have any problems because of our lack of capitalism and if anything that would make the current "inequality of opportunity" problem even worse.
>>
>>5025756
>Calm down and go find something deep fried to snack on
>>
>>5025773
I also like it, but the way it's worded it seems like by choosing this our people are just going to become more hedonistic. You know, bread and games.
>>
>>5025776
I mean there's more to a successful society than just its technological advancements, sure we can stay in china mode forever but it aint fair to the individual. Scientific progress can still take place in government financed researches, not to mention that competition between businesses would encourage developing better technologies that will eventually be normalized.

What matters is to give more power to the government over the market, if it's 100% free then of course it will lead to the ills of modern capitalism and oligarchy

A side note but the whole supreme ruler thing will lead to hell once we get a Caligula (not happening while we're in charge of course), it's just a matter of time
>>
>>5025800
It already almost did. Gaftar IV, anyone?
>>
>>5025800
>Scientific progress can still take place in government financed researches, not to mention that competition between businesses would encourage developing better technologies that will eventually be normalized.
That's in theory.

In reality, what happens is that no one does anything new because it's not profitable and oligarchic families will end up ruling the rest. We only ever got to space because Vantix Garastra was a good leader.
>>
>>5007172
This is me, if my IP's changed any.

>>5025756
>Calm down and go find something deep fried to snack on
Chill, Aumu, it's all good. The Hegemony has things handled.
>>
>>5025807
Exactly. And we almost became an eternal slave state, subjugated to a self-centred immortal, because Gaftar IV was a corrupt one. Only clever planning and deadly gambits allowed us to uncover his plot three generations hence. No power structure, left completely unaccountable to those below, can remain benevolent and competent forever. There needs to be a method for those below to be heard and affect change, or the system is a powder keg.
>>
>>5025959
Yes, but at the same time, with how it's supposedly the most important choice, it seems revolting will lead us back to the times of oligopolic families.
>>
>>5025756
>Focus this anger into self-improvement, you'll show the damn Hegemony that you more then just a laborer!
>>
>>5026222
Anon, you understand that he's mad because he CAN'T? There's no upward mobility.
>>
>>5026120
Just because it's the most important, doesn't mean it will inevitably revert society to a worse state--just transform it in some major way. Maybe it is the most important because if this last revolutionary dreamer relinquishes his spark and gives into ennui, it will precipitate and general decline in our culture? Maybe he is our unlikely Last Great Hope?
>>
>>5026276
I don't know about that, we're not the borg. But we need a shakeup anyway so we won't stagnate.

>Sperg out and go on an anti-government rant in public
>>
>>5025756
>>Sperg out and go on an anti-government rant in public
The future isn't set until we go through it. It could to a better system, or worse.
>>
>>5025756
>>Calm down and go find something deep fried to snack on
>>
>>5025756
>>Sperg out and go on an anti-government rant in public
>>
>>5025756
>Sperg out and go on an anti-government rant in public
>>
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>>5025756
>Channel your dissatisfaction into the creation of a new science-fantasy epic where you use a fictional race of hairless ape creatures and amphibians to tell an outwardly harmless tale that is actually loaded with biting political undertones... or make the message overt, IDGAF.
>>
>>5025756
>Sperg out and go on an anti-government rant in public
>>
>>5025772
>We need capitalism back
Did it ever go away? If money is still a thing then Capitalusm is still a thing. Just so heavily regulated so that it can barely move it's little finger, as monke Adam Smith intended.
>>
>>5025756
>>Sperg out and go on an anti-government rant in public
>>
The voting will close in 4 hours.
>>
Update is in production.
>>
>>5026629
Capitalism is more than just the existence of currency. Currency existed under agrarian feudal states, and in communist blocs. Capitalism centres the economy on producers and consumers, encouraging competition between economic actors to create innovations and allowing the demands of consumers to direct their flow. It enshrines individual property rights as sacred. If Jaxtian society has top-down economic orders, and the state can seize private property at any given time (ie. computing power, land from bloodline billionaires, bodily autonomy from relatives of traitors), if isn't especially capitalist. Given that money doesn't seem to matter as much, and citizens aren't free to try their hands at whatever job the market will pay them for but instead are sorted preemptively by biological analysis, it seems even LESS like a capitalist system.
>>
You've had enough!

The all powerful government, the lies they tell the people, you are going to let them know. They've dragged you out here for your forced community time- forced you around these people who will suck up anything the Hegemony spits out! The useful idiots! Useless peons! You won't tolerate it for one minute longer.

You find a box to stand on and prop yourself up precariously- because of your weight it's a little unstable. You hold out your arms.

“People! Jaxtians! Listen to me!”

You only turn a few heads, but with how peaceful and calm it is here otherwise, your loud voice invariably will attract attention.

“All of you, all of us- we are but sheep! It is time to wake up and see the world how it is- the violence and tyranny of our government- the Hegemony!” Several people shoot each other nervous glances. Talking about the Hegemony in public is already a bit of a social taboo- speaking of the Supreme Ruler is typically considered more polite and relevant to the day to day lives of the people. In contrast, the Hedgemony is faceless- the invisible hand and body behind the face of the Supreme One.

“Don't you see? Every day, you consume media. Every day, you eat their food and live on their land- they decide what you can see. No one truly owns anything. We were serfs once under the billionaires and bourgeois, and we are serfs again underneath an all powerful government! You are all slaves- and you don't even know it!”

“Shut up!” -Already a heckler. But he isn't wearing the uniform of an Enforcer- he is just an average citizen. More like a useful idiot, enforcing the social order of the Hedgemony without them having to lift a finger, or even pay him for the privileged.

“We are treated as trash in this society- assigned by birth to a caste of which we cannot escape. Has anyone actually seen the inside of the gene test centers? How do we know the Supreme Ones- the Garastras, Baltimians, the Takars; are these not aristocrats? They are corrupt families ruling us all!”

“Qet wasn't! Praise Qet the Lesser!”
“Shut up fatty!”
“You're ruining our day off, shut up!”
“Hey- he can't say stuff like that!”

It's true, you crossed a line- well, technically a LOT of lines here. Any kind of criticism of the Hegemony is unheard of, basically not allowed at all. Asking questions is acceptable, accusing them of being an incestual aristocracy? Unthinkably offensive.
>>
The truth was that at this point, you were past a point of no return. You puff up your chest- you're running short of breath from this effort, but at the same time you feel alive. More alive then you have in years.

“We are ALL under their control. Every purchase and message you send online is monitored, everywhere you go is monitored. If you do something they don't like- they will know. Business are controlled; you can only own a single location in a single place to prevent social mobility. You can't pass any money down to your children. Training and schooling is controlling- if you aren't part of the intellectual elite then you are doomed to a life of drudgery!”

“That's because you're stupid!” One cries. “He's a laborer!” That one burned. You are a laborer. The lowest of the low; despite your society's emphasis on personal responsbility and everyone having a place, there is still a degree of elitism based on ones career, since it help you get a high quality mate, insures large and comfortable housing, and several other privileges. As a laborer, you have no privileges.

“AND? So WHAT if I'm a laborer?! Does that mean I'm not allowed to ever dream for something better? That I'm stuck in my one bedroom flat for my whole life? Because of my gene score? Because of my parent's gene score?! How is this fair?! This isn't right! You know it's not right!”

Most of the hecklers are men, you notice. The women look mostly upset, and the children confused, or looking at their parents for guidance. But the truth is, you see some faces there that see doubt. You know some of them agree with you- maybe they never thought about it that way, but some of the people do.

“...Alright- that's enough.” A gruff hand squeezes your arm, lightly pulling you. It's an Enforcer- the nearby drones had to have alerted them. You suspect someone in the audience might have called the police as well- it only took a minute for them to come.

“No I'm not done- get off me! Let go! You can't do this to me!” You pull back against the guard, nearly stumbling off your pedestal.

“I'm going to use a stunner on you if you don't-” He says, before you are screaming over him again.

“I DEMAND FREEDOM! I DEMAND TO BE TREATED LIKE A PERSON! THE HEDGEMONY IS CORRUPT AND EVIL- YOU KNOW I'M RIGHT! YOU KNOW-”

And with that, an electric buzz issues from the back of your skull like a slow motion to the front of your face, giving you a sensation of your whole body falling asleep. You jolt and can't control your muscles, and in less then a second you lose consciousness. When you wake up, you're in a prison cell, wearing a prisoner's uniform, with your tail locked behind your neck.

“Shape up- you have a visitor.”
>>
As the door opens, you instantly know who is is. It's the Supreme Ruler.

You, as well as all people on Jaxt on her colonies, know exactly how powerful and important the Supreme Ruler is. The ruler of your entire race- well, technically Jaxtians and the Migrators, though nobody knows what they do or talk about at all since they just sleep all the time. The true gravity of the situation, that the fact the Supreme One is here, presumably to pass judgment on you, hasn't quite dawned on you yet.

The fact you are here though, in this cell, and in this situation, has started to make you perspire. You're deeply uncomfortable. You are starting to regret your decision, not so much for your beliefs, but more for you voicing them. You feel like a naughty child about to be scolded.

“Is your name Aumu? Aumu Osintor?”

You wait for him to fully finish speaking before answering. You clear your throat. ”Yes, your Supremacy.” The conditioning is strong, every Jaxtian is taught how to speak to the Supreme Ruler. They ask, you answer. Despite your rebellious attitude earlier, you don't really want to... fight with this man before you. You don't want to make him angry.

”I just-” You begin, speaking out of turn. ”I was just really upset earlier- I didn't get a lot of sleep. I mean, I have sleep apnea and...”

“And these excuses justify your behavior?”

”N- No. Your excellency. They do not.” You look down at the table.

“So you admit you did something wrong?”

”Yes- your majesty. I was wrong to speak out of line.” In truth, admitting this makes you feel a little better. ”It was very, very stupid of me to do that. I admit it.” You put your hands on the desk and begin to make a motion to stand. ”I know I shouldn't have done it- it was dumb. I'm sorry. I swear I'll never talk like that again. And I'm sorry. I'll go back to my- OOF.”

You are shoved back into your seat. Without really understanding why, you start to feel tears flowing.

”I- I just want to go back to my old life. I'm sorry okay? If I could take it back I could, I was so angry at everything- and I know it isn't an excuse and...” The way he's staring at you makes you feel like you're digging your own grave. Only now do you realize what is happening. You can't go back.

”W-wait. Supreme- *sniff . Wait I really mean it. I am really sorry, I really mean it. I'm not just saying that, I swear. I want to be better. I didn't mean to- in front of all those people like that. I was just so angry. Please just- *sniff “

You hear an electronic beep from behind you- the guard. You hear a cock from his gun.

“Your Eminence. Transport is here.”

“Great.”

”N-No wait! Hold on! Wait!”
>>
You start to sniffle, and it becomes hard to breathe. You realize what exactly you're dealing with now, finally, only now does it come to you. Only now does the fact the Supreme Rulers of the past castrated and horribly tortured dissidents. Only now do you start feel like a trapped rat, in this cold room with no windows, with easy to clean linoleum floors...

”NooooOOOOOooo! Kinja- Great One- I'm sorry! Please- I just want to write my books again. I swear I didn't mean it. Please don't kill me! Please let me live! I'll clean toilets forever, I'll do anything you want- please- please don't-”

At your lowest point, you can't even talk anymore, simply babble. You can practically feel the gun barrel of the guard behind you pointed at your head. You squeeze your eyes shut in impotence as you hear Kinja walk closer to the table. What is he going to do? Is he going to insult you one last time, is he going to watch up close and enjoy seeing your brains splattered over the table? You know your time is up. You actually regret what you've said- not because you love the Hedgemony, but because you realize how stupid it was to argue with the omnipotent. What did you expect to happen? To start a revolution? You are so stupid and weak- as if you could even lead a revolution.

“Aumu.”

You feel a hand touch yours.

”No... please...”

“Aumu. Look at me. Look at my face.”

You open your eyes to see the Supreme Ruler looking right into your eyes, and through your blurry tears you can see him smile. But it isn't a sadistic smile. It is a kind smile.

“I'm not going to kill you Aumu- We're not going to kill you.”
>>
After a few minutes of crying and regaining your composure, as if you had any left, you blow your nose into a tissue and sit across from the Supreme One, who sits there with that same warmth you felt before.

”Kinja- err- Your Grace. I- I just want...”

“Be quiet, Aumu. What you want no longer factors in- it's for your own good.”

You shut up quick.

“I want to tell you a little something about statistics and trust. Do you know what a real society is built on? It is trust. Any despot can hold a gun, and any oligarch can spend money, but only trust makes a citizen care about his fellow citizens.”

Kinja holds up his hand and pokes out two fingers.

“Two point two. That's the number of betrayals a person can take, before they never trust again. This is an average of course- some people can only take one, and some are co-dependent and will never stop trusting. But the only reason it is above two is because of those too-trusting types. For the vast majority, it is statistically always two. This also applies to more then just one factor- relationships, a career path, a video game, governments; everything here applies roughly to this rule. Two point two infractions. The first time someone is betrayed, they can shrug it off, they can truly accept an apology and move beyond it- no pattern of behavior has yet been observed. But the moment you get to two- then the person has been betrayed twice. They have been taken advantage of twice. The pattern has been observed, and from this, there is a permanent resistance to building trust.”

“In a perfect society- everyone trusts everyone. Neighbors trust their neighbors with the safety of their homes. The worker trusts that his wage is fair and that he will be taken care of if injured on the job. The citizen trusts their government has their best interest in mind. The media is trusted to report accurate and clean information. The people trust the police. People trust the appliances in their homes are safe. Do you understand what I'm getting at? You only get TWO.”

He holds his fingers again for emphasis.

“TWO. All it takes is two violations of that trust, and a person's worldview is permanently shattered. Of course, it isn't that extreme- loss of trust just means a defensive barrier is put up, people still live, but it is a permanent loss of expectations. Trust can also be regained, but slowly and laboriously. Now I want to ask you, Aumu, how many firsts or seconds did you make out there today? How many people did you make lose their trust in our society by your actions?”

Next update tomorrow
>>
>>5026929
Perhaps reforms would restore some trust, or at least a few highly-public efforts to uplift the labourer caste. Just saying.
>>
”Your majesty... Why are you telling me this?”

“The answer is simple; if it only takes TWO betrayals to make someone lose all their faith... then I can't imagine how you must feel. Nobody can blame you for doing what you did. Think about it- every day, you are told to work in a field you don't enjoy. Every time you look at your bank account, that's another betrayal. Less then you deserve. Every time you are denied something you want because of your low status- that must hurt. I understand.”

You aren't really sure how the Supreme Ruler could feel the way you do in this corrupt government... but the way he says it just makes you believe it. Maybe he really does understand? Is he really not going to kill you, and let you go?

“You were betrayed before- we aren't sure how it happened, but after studying your tests again after you were arrested- it seems there was a mistake. You were never cut out to be a common laborer, Aumu. Your actually level of intelligence is much higher.”

You can't help but feel giddy. You knew it! The sense of self hatred starts to fade a bit- you always had to wrestle with the idea that you weren't actually smart at all and just thought you were- that was your last and only defense. But now that the Supreme One just confirmed it for you... You feel better.

“But, by this same measure, you must understand that is the reason why we can't let you go back to your old life. Every time someone from the public park sees you again, it may trigger them to think back- to be betrayed. Or worse, just think they had been betrayed in the way you told them. They will lose their trust in the government. Do you understand what I am saying?

You think you do. You nod to his Supremacy, as he places several documents- and a large wad of cash on the table.

“Effective immediately, you are being transferred to a new city under a new name. There, you will work within the highest branches of a new astrophysics department studying... Plasmatronics.”

”Wha-what? No fucking way- I mean, urr, your majesty I'm sorry. I mean, I just can't believe...”

“Yes Aumu. I know it sounds impossible, but Plasmatronics are real. You were right all along- which is why I am taking your talent. Now, if you'll excuse me...”
>>
You are now Kinja Dulioan and you feel exhausted- after dealing with that fat idiot all day. Who could have guessed, in a million billion years, that somebody like that could be born? Someone with an unimpressive gene score and little to no adult advancement, no skills, and no legitimate claim to any privilege beyond their station actually somehow predict and fundamentally alter the sciences forever?

It all began when the crystalline matrix was found within the crash debris of the alien probes. It's usage was unknown at the time, but only as it was researched did the science team, over the past grueling decade, did they find its ability to control energy. It was directly responsible for the ability of the craft to bend a ball of Neutrinos in flight- to give mindless particles a guidance system. The concept of controlling energy directly was always science fiction, until the alien probes dropped proof of it in your lap. Crystal matrix that can program energy- exactly like the books written by Aumu Osintor.

You don't dislike Aumu by any means- you didn't want to be forced to kill him. Even if his scientific ability was absent, you wouldn't have wanted to have him killed so willy nilly like that. You're not that kind of Ruler. The truth is that under another's reign, like Vul, Aumu would have been killed for his actions, no hesitation. Vul probably would have locked him in a cell until his scientific talent had been expended, and then kill him later.

The truth is that the system works, and as such, you are at a loss as to how this had happened. His gene score's IQ portion had been on the lowest end of passable- not quite meeting the threshold for enforced abortion. He was still never cut out for greatness; though he did shift up a standard deviation when he reached adulthood. Very uncommon- but possible. The Hedgemony's system of assigning people to their roles based on their genes and very-early life performance as children is used because it works- and this is because of the fundamental truth that people are not and have never been born equal. How can an equal society exist when, by all objective means, people aren't capable of being equals?

So how could this have happened? You've chalked it up to a matter of scale- it must be possible that one out of ten billion people could have an unintelligent gene sequence and, yet, grasp a specific scientific concept so well as to describe and predict the processes of it in fiction. It must be possible that standardized testing given to all children, in addition to their gene scores, determine their placement and possible futures could have holes or gaps allowing a high mark to slip through. It must be possible because, you're looking at proof of this.

You guess this could be the first time the society had betrayed you. Your preconceptions. You hope that you won't encounter a second.
>>
The concept behind Plasmatronics is the programming or controlling of energy in a various forms after it has already been released. There was not yet any known vector for this to happen- the closest would be an electromagnetic field perhaps, but the concept of bending light or shifting the state of matter rapidly as to give it “information” had never been considered before, at least not seriously. Only Aumu, a low born with no science credentials, even began to theorize on the concept in his books years ago. The books are science-fantasy- relying on supernatural crystals found on different planets to accomplish this goal- coincidentally he predicted that too.

As far as your scientists can understand- these crystals work by bending particles in a specific shape to establish certain fractal patterns. By doing so, certain superstructures or even “machines” set up inside a field of energy can be used intelligently to make energy have certain effects.

Even now, your scientists are very limited in what they can accomplish with the technology- with the exception of the discovery and creation of Artificial Gravity prototypes. But with the help of your new scientist you may be able to move forward in the project. Alavis tells you that you have the budget to excess fund one of the following prospective programs. All of them will be equally likely to reveal something useful in the future.

>Inertial Catalysts (Tractor Beams)
>Fixed-Point Plasmatronics (Force Fields)
>Disrupters (New Weapon)
>>
>>5027647

>Fixed-Point Plasmatronics (Force Fields)
>>
>>5027647
>Fixed-Point Plasmatronics (Force Fields)
>>
>>5027647
>Inertial Catalysts (Tractor Beams)

Enemy ship capture/slowdown, resource extraction from deep within the gas giant... I see a lot of utility here.
>>
>>5027647
>>Inertial Catalysts (Tractor Beams)
>>
>>5027647
>>Inertial Catalysts (Tractor Beams)
>>
>>5027647
>Fixed-Point Plasmatronics (Force Fields)
>>
>>5027647
>Inertial Catalysts (Tractor Beams)
I feel good for Aumu.
>>
>>5027647
>Fixed-Point Plasmatronics (Force Fields)
Defence is most important here
>>
>>5027647
>>Inertial Catalysts (Tractor Beams)
>>
>>5027647
>Inertial Catalysts (Tractor Beams)
Gotta go with this, that other anon described the utility of this pretty well.
>>
>>5028024
Not just defense. Reinforcement against hazardous environments, internal security enhancements, isolation and quarantine measures. Far more true utility then an over-elaborate techno-towcable.
>>
>>5028171
Yeah, anons are overesstimating tractor beams. The sheer opportunity that we get from Force Shields is immeasurable. And if we can get one of those star wars style environmental shields, we won't need a bunch of fancy depressurization zones to launch smaller ships.
>>
>>5027647
>>Inertial Catalysts (Tractor Beams)
>>
>>5027647
>Fixed-Point Plasmatronics (Force Fields)
>>
Intensive research over the next 5 years leads to newfound developments in the advanced plasmatronic technology. You focus your efforts in moving matter without a vector; essentially controlling inertia and motion the way a Star Dynamo does without having one aboard.

The first development is the creation of the basic gravity plate, a lattice of many tightly pressed crystal layers, charged with electricity, can either mimic or reverse the gravity of a strength roughly equal to one Standard Planetary Mass or SPM. This technique is revolutionary.

Your newest member of the high energy physics team was instrumental of course. He now goes by Amustat, and is awarded a golden band on his left arm, the reward for the grand scientific discovery.

Using a basic version of this technology- ships can now be armed with tractor beams, capable of pulling in objects. The mass and size of the object relative to the beam's power influences how far and fast it can be pulled in, or pushed away. You waste no time in equipping ships with the devices and sending them to Max- with orders to pull out the wreckage of the old Cirrus.

While the heat signatures died out a decade ago; the truth is there was always a fear the alien drones would return from the depths- the depths of a gas giant which housed denser and denser gas until eventually it becomes akin to water or foam, and then eventually solid. Somewhere in the near-liquid layer, the dense clump of matter is retrieved.

You find constructs formed of the sheddings of the Cirrus, things made of solidified gas, and most distressingly, corpses of the slain. Their bodies mangled into long lines, acting as capillaries for some horrible metal flower. The creation is gruesome; but shows a clear alien intent behind it. It was a weapons platform made to create standardized attack robots, and when all available material was used, it sent them on the attack. This explains why only four ships were sent, which is more logical then the "attack in waves" theory. Each ship was constructed of whatever was available; and the maximum strength of the ships was probably limited by your own technology at the time.

Now it is dead, a useless pile of junk, and the bodies of the dead can finally be at peace.
>>
However, a new problem is burgeoning on the horizon. You're running out of DanboMarks.

The Hegemony is a state run economy, with a small private market in both legal and illegal assets. As such, the state produces goods and sells them to its own citizens, with an emphasis on keeping a near zero profit margin for the purposes of enrichment and to prevent waste. You do not charge any personal taxes, because income is already taxed. There are small exceptions of course; individuals may invest their own money in digital or collectible items, monetize their own hobbies, certain goods are taxed to discourage specific behaviors such as addictive foods, and citizens may create small, one-location businesses which keeps craft and family industries alive. There is also a thriving state bank which allow thrifty citizens to save or burrow wealth for larger personal purposes. The Hedgemony has been doing this for a very long time, and while still not a post-scarcity society, it has become very efficient at it.

However, your plasmatronic research projects, particle accelerator, multiple colonies, the founding of a space military, intense radioactive mining, in addition to the massive loss of the Cirrus and its crew, has finally begun to sting. Alavis informs you that the budget is looking "not good".

Despite intending to be a stable, always in-the-green economy, the Hegemony is still a closed economic system and any amount of disruption can upset the balance. There must be a way to fix this problem and continue your species's advancement.

>Create "taxes" in the form of required unpaid labor days for workers (Unpopular)
>Confiscate all crypto currencies and NFTs from private citizens (Very Unpopular)
>Encourage citizen homesteading and growing their own food on Jaxt
>Allow for some personal business freedoms to grow the private sector
>Go all in on sciences and seek a return with your Inertial-Catalyst technology
>Borrow wealth from the wealthiest citizens
>"Borrow" wealth from the wealthiest citizens
>>
>>5028484
>Print more money.
>>
>>5028484
>Go all in on sciences and seek a return with your Inertial-Catalyst technology
>Encourage citizen homesteading and growing their own food on Jaxt
We both allow there to be the growth of a new market for privately-grown food on Jaxt (while still maintaining our government owned plantations as to stop the appearance of Latifundia) as well as make use of our new technology to increase our economical growth.

With tractor beams, there is a lot of economical manners in which to use this new science.
>>
>>5028484
>Print more money
>Confiscate all crypto currencies and NFTs from private citizens (Very Unpopular)
>Borrow" wealth from the wealthiest citizens
Economics is fake. Just go brrrrrrr with the money printers.
>>
>>5028484
>Encourage citizen homesteading and growing their own food on Jaxt.
>Allow an additional location for family and craft businesses for a substantial fee yearly.
>Issue 5, 10, and 20 year Science Bonds with very modest interest rates. Make sure they are aethetically pleasing and market them as being used to raise money to speed up scientific innovations. Send Bondholders a yearly Science Newsletter which is also an advertised benefit.
>If all that doesn't work then reduce the science budget.

If the economy actually works then it is better to slow R&D than mernppmss up the economy.
>>
>>5028674
That's just not wise. We're at a scenario here where R&D matters a LOT. We were almost destroyed by those things. We're going to be needing many more high-budget projects from this point onwards due to the nature of space exploration.

We should grow the economy, rather than reduce expending.
>>
>>5028674
To clarify. One and only one additional location per business.
>>
>>5028677
What do you think of raising prices slightly on nonessential goods?
>>
>>5028683
That would just be increasing the cost of life. We're at an technological revolution here

What we do is increase our economy. We should work on that, on making it bigger.
>>
>>5028484
>Encourage citizen homesteading and growing their own food on Jaxt
>Check this 'small private market' of illegal assets.
A small market of legal assets is okay, but if we've an illegal one something is going wrong. Is there anything within it we could safely legalise to reap the economic benefit for the Hegemony, rather then criminals? And if there isn't... then known illegal trade is too dangerous to be allowed to continue. A clamp-down on these criminals might allow a 100% asset-seizure from these shady individuals.
>>
>>5028484
>>5028674
+1 seems good to me
>>
Didn't you people SPECIFICALLY Vote on tractor beams solely because for 'muh economics'? Don't pick an option and then refuse to use it.
>>
>>5028484
>Go all in on sciences and seek a return with your Inertial-Catalyst technology

Don't wreck our economy, let is recover in time and adapt to the new technology
>>
>>5028484
>Encourage citizen homesteading and growing their own food on Jaxt
>Allow for some personal business freedoms to grow the private sector
>Go all in on sciences and seek a return with your Inertial-Catalyst technology
>>
>>5028484

>>5028749
Supporting this one!
>>
Not that clamping down on illegals isn't good, but you DO realize we need governamental amounts of money, right?

You're going for a few millions, HOPEFULLY, when we need BILLIONS.
>>
>>5028674
+1
>>
>>5028674
All of this is useless, we are literally in the grips of a complete technological revolution which grav-trains, grav-cars, artificial gravity and not to mention the myriad of industrial applications. All we need to do is to continue to develop the technology without compromising our core state ideals.
>>
>>5029160
Good excuse to start giving our people a sense of participation and agency, though, right?

Me, I was >>5028929, because I'd like to stamp out the criminals even more.
>>
>>5029180
>Good excuse to start giving our people a sense of participation and agency, though, right?
The Science Bond idea isn't too bad but it's just a bandaid. We should be working towards increasing our economy.
>>
>>5029180
Fucking capitalist's are gonna run us into the ground, do you really want the bloodline billionaires back?
>>
Just wanna remind everyone of the 2 betrayal rule. I think that was the QM indirectly telling us we can afford to royaly piss off our people once per ruler. Something to keep in mind when voting for unpopular policies.
>>
While no one solution can fix all of your budgetary problems, a combination of fixes and initiatives can certainly help. Perhaps because of the historical precedent set by hyperinflation and their effects; the Supreme Rulers of the past have all been extremely hesitant to increase the monetary supply. Currently, the money supply is limited to 50 Quintillion DM, which is a AI directed cap based on the population and the general output of industries. It was hyperinflation in the past that led to the rise of the bloodline billionaires; as their assets in the form of land, stocks, and precious metals appreciated with value, while the average citizen and the government's liquid assets depreciated in value. You decide to inflate the currency by a measly 2%, printing one Quintilian marks for your own use.

Several other methods are also used. The Science Bonds are, unfortunately, very unpopular. The only one bought in any significant sum are the 5 year bonds, possibly because of the average citizen's intuition of new technologies and entertainment right on the horizon- the moment Antigravity was announced, Hoverboards rose to the number one requested birthday item. Perhaps an enforced exclusivity on new releases of this technology for those with the bonds would have helped sweeten them.

Homesteading and farmer's markets are encouraged everywhere- decreasing the value of food and thus decreasing the costs of feeding people under government dime. Criminal organizations are busted at your order- with criminals being sentenced to more hard labor punishments then before. At the same time, the archaic laws of deleting money taken from fines (to prevent a conflict of interest with the law enforcement and those they are supposed to protect), is also reversed. At the same time; business expansion licenses are issued, allowing for up to one extra retailing location or an expansion of a low-impact factory's facilities. In the coming years, this will increase the gap between richer and poorer citizens by a small margin- still, the richest citizens will probably have 5 to 10 times the wealth of the poorest, nowhere close to the level of difference in the time of the billionaries.

With these changes in mind; you have secured your budget for the next decade. At the very least, this will provide the first step for the massive change of your infrastructure; which will hopefully pay for itself in the coming years.
>>
...The truth is, however, all of this is just bean counting. You might be able to fix the budget for the next ten years, even fifty, but what of your predecessors? Qet Scholiander foresaw both a climate crisis and an energy crisis coming and fixed both; he refused to take the easy way. In much the same way any society will run into these inevitable stopgaps, so too a society may run into the problem of budget. The truth is, you just don't have enough people to support the kind of science and advancement you want to keep growing.
>>
The Jaxtians have been unintentionally blessed by the winds of fate. Your people received a massive depopulation event right as they mechanized into the modern space era with the final nuclear war. Your ancestors had the foresight to begin your eugenic pruning early and often; You now live on a paradise planet, with a slow-growing, highly intelligent population, judging quality over quantity. Even now, the average Jaxtian citizen can afford to buy some permaculture-ready land in the wild places of the world, with vast tracts of wilderness still available for wildlife preserves and outdoor usage. However, the issue here may be a matter of scale. While the fast few centuries your population and technology were in sync, your population is now behind the level of scale you may need to access the technologies of the future.

In the same way that a village in the ancient dark ages, no matter how wealthy, intelligent, healthy, and well-informed they were, could suddenly get together and invent gunpowder weaponry or the combustion engine. There is a certain threshold of population needed to sustain a level of infrastructure and technology. Even basic AI estimates state that a civilization with FTL technology should number at the very least in the trillions, if not quadrillions.

Partially to blame for this problem is your cultural and government emphasis on keeping Jaxt as your Homeworld. Every Jaxtian lives on Jaxt for at least some of their life, except those who are so important as they cannot be forced to do so- such as Maktana, who is too well adapted to life on Caplit and would die if brought to a higher gravity planet, especially at his age. This is done to create an emotional and cultural connection to your home planet; to prevent the primates far away from losing common ground with each other. Jaxtian (mandatory) vacations and extra scholarships given to second generation children born on a foreign planet to return them and their genes to your homeworld also prevent mutant offshoots. Perhaps the flying cities of Max was to be the place where your people could expand next; but with the thread of another data corruption attack it seems unlikely that place will be used for some time as well.

The truth is that, as any leader, you must make a choice. Sacrifice your people's comfort and high quality of life for greater and greater population density to advance the sciences, or keep your race trim and attached to their homeworld?

>Grow your population
>Enforce stronger eugenic policies to keep population manageable but high quality (Unpopular)
>Find a Scientific Solution (Debt)
>Stay the course and hope the economic situation improves with time
>Other (Write In)
>>
For once, can we do something that isn't stupid? You people literally voted for tractor beams so we could 'help our economy', then turned back and refused to use it for our economic. Are you all trying to be retarded on purpose?

We're not going to benefit if we just turn into china and make our planet into a giant city. But at the same time, we can't just stay the way we are. We need to find a way to safely grow our population.

About Jaxt, is every continent inhabitable and populated?
>>
>>5029579
>Grow your population
>Find a Scientific Solution (Debt)
>>
>>5029645
>About Jaxt, is every continent inhabitable and populated?
Yes. Every continent and landmass is inhabited, except the artic poles. Your AI advisors insist that in all general likelihood; most biological, carbon-based life will have a very similar planet.

Jaxt is a planet that is covered in a majority of water, with the land broken into plates with an active molten core. The lands are heavily forested, and massive wild nature preserves stretch across most of the landscape, since the Hegemony prevents much urban creep. Many cities without significant strategic or cultural significance were destroyed after the unification for the purpose of letting nature reclaim the planet.

The vast majority of Jaxtians live in large cities, but because of your unique racial biology going upwards is easier then going for a walk; climbing is second nature. Perhaps for this reason, your habitats are very land efficient. Those of a certain level of privilege in the system may be allowed to purchase land outside of these designated urban zones, but doing so comes with the stipulation of being required to live there for the majority of the time (to prevent land-speculation and investing that drives up prices) and all land is very strictly controlled as to not pass between generation to generation, to prevent concentration of generational wealth.

It would be easy enough to simple assign more land to urban habitation; but doing so doesn't necessarily increase your total carrying capacity. It's more about the overpopulation, economic factors, and the resources used especially in the form of fresh water and energy. Massive population growth will increase your taxes and economic ability, in the same way having a billion peons living in miserably small apartments could pay for all your science needs, it just isn't the desired future of the Hegemony... at least until you've reached this difficult choice.
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>>5029579
>>Grow your population. But do this as an addition - our natural population growth policies shall be left as-is; so once we are past this shortage there are no social reproductive rules we will need to revert. But as well as this, our state will also create more young Jaxtians using DNA taken from our highest-quality genetic samples. Even if we want to increase our numbers, we will do it with care and cultivation; not an explosion.

>We do not wish to clog up the world of Jaxt with more population then her land could support. But does new population mean more of the land's surface need be sacrificed for housing? Not any more. Not with our new technologies. The Hoverboard is but an example of what we can do. Floating settlements in our skies, floating settlements upon our ocean; geosynchronous stations in our orbit; held safely and securely together by a network of tractor beams so that there can be no repeat of Cirrus. The sky was once the limit, but now is no longer.
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I think we should see some manner of scientific solution.

With the ability to mine asteroids and other planets (for rare earth materials and other minerals, not energy like we had to worry about), we have an essentially endless supply for building, especially with our off-world factories.

I believe that, if we were to use our technology, we could be able to maintain quality living standards of Jaxt while not having to sacrifice huge amounts of land for urban development.

I mean, it's a whole planet. A few hundred kilometers more isn't going to turn it into a ball of smog.
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>>5029734
>Flying cities
Because SURELY The Tractor beam can't fail just like cirrus couldn't, right?

You do know that this tractor beam wouldn't save us if it got turned off? If we do that we WILL have an repeat of Cirrus.

The way i see it, we should just expand more land for urban development. Without gigantic factories and high-polluting vehicles, we should be able to create a mostly green city that doesn't ruin the environment in a large scale.
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>>5029734
+1
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>>5029719
Does Jaxt have a moon?
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Lurker Anon coming in to point out you could just create orbital colonies? E,g O'Neil cylinders. Since they're orbital they're immune to Cirrus-style disruption (beyond systems failing but that is less of a issue) and you can replicate "natural" environments within them.

>TLDR - Build orbital colonies, they resist data attack and should help avoid QoL loss.
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>>5029719

>>5029734
Supporting this one...

>>5029808
...But with an addendum that we focus on cities in natural orbit AND with a further request: if we're increasing our population, can we at least take this opportunity to investigate our eugenics policies? I'm not saying we abandon them, but Aumunu/Aumustat is proof that they aren't perfect, and we don't want our new population to be highly-inbred from only a small population of social and genetic elites.
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>There are people unironically trying to have a repeat of cirrus
Are you fucking CRAZY? We STILL haven't stopped that goddamn xeno threat with the virus. We do not have nearly ENOUGH space OR Resources to make another Cirrus - that city alone nearly bankrupted us.

Why are you all suddenly being so retarded?
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>>5029808
>Since they're orbital they're immune to Cirrus-style disruption
Why in the everliving hell would they be? Cirrus was destroyed because of the virus. how the fuck does making it in an ORBIT with AN ATMOSPHERE make it better?
>(beyond systems failing but that is less of a issue)
THAT IS LITERALLY WHY CIRRUS FAILED
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>>5029993
>The Cirrus's flight circuits had somehow been totally shot and scrambled, as though from a massive data loss and failure. The city lost control of the cloud anchors and gyroscopic systems; and could not sustain orbit. It is sinking into the gas giant. It will not be recoverable from any serious depth.
This is what killed Cirrus - causing it to fall into too much pressure. It was never in a actual orbit, just constant flight. What I am describing would continue on its orbital path even with complete systems failure (meaning that it wouldn't be destroyed - worst case life support is down too long but the actual infrastructure survives (though if you've a large contained atmosphere, you've a fair bit of time before such a thing becomes a risk)).


TLDR - There is a difference between a "flying" city like Cirrus and a "orbiting" city like I am talking about. One requires constant intervention to maintain its position / trajectory - the other comparatively does not (technically speaking all orbital craft experience drag from particles in the void of space but we're talking tens of thousandths of a meter per second sorts of loss of velocity).
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>>5030015
You do realize that the size necessary for us to build enough space habitats would be enormous, right? We're talking 'bigger than cirrus', and in much greater amounts.

That alone would make it extremely dangerous, if it went offline it would not be able to balance itself out and get pulled in by Jaxt's gravity.

Not just that, but we have NOWHERE near the resources necessary for this. Did you forget that the entire reason we needed all this money anyway was because Cirrus was stupidly expensive? We CANNOT afford this plan, it is RETARDED and the moment they fail (be it alien attack or solar flare or something else) those cities will FALL with the power of the meteor that exterminated the dinnosaurs.
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>>5030026
>That bullshit
K, guess we wait for QM to confirm or deny viability.
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>>5030086
>no argument
Of course.

If we choose that, we will be putting money and effort into it, we'll be doing it despite how retarded it is. We CAN make wrong mistakes, the QM isn't just gonna say "lol u can't do this it's stupid", he'll let us do it and let it blow up in our faces
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>>5030101
How can I argue with someone that doesn't seem to understand the basics of what an orbit is?

>We CAN make wrong mistakes, the QM isn't just gonna say "lol u can't do this it's stupid"
If it is completely financially impossible or industrially beyond us he will tell us so. Those are my only concerns.
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>>5030129
>How can I argue with someone that doesn't seem to understand the basics of what an orbit is?
You actual buffoon, you DO know that the ISS needs reboost maneuvres so it doesn't fall, right? Even if you put it outside of Jaxt in space, it would still need to maneuvre itself so as to not fall on Jaxt, and if it was ever unable to do so, or worse, if the virus hijacked it and crashed it on purpose, we would be fucking dead. Jaxt would be fucking dead.
>If it is completely financially impossible or industrially beyond us he will tell us so.
As seen by the kinetic weapons program, he WILL allow us to fuck up.
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>>5030139
>You actual buffoon, you DO know that the ISS needs reboost maneuvres so it doesn't fall, right?
Yes yet a large part of those is due to its low earth orbit meaning it is still experiencing minute drag effects

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition26/iss_altitude.html
>At its current altitude, the space station uses about 19,000 pounds of propellant a year to maintain a consistent orbit. At the new, slightly higher altitude, the station is expected to expend about 8,000 pounds of propellant a year.
If a "slightly higher" orbit can cut your fuel requirements in half, then a fairly large increase will see them drop far further. Not to mention, with the existence of tractor beams and the star dynamo, we can create tractor tugs to pull the station constantly or occasionally rather than using on-board engines. Meaning no concern about fuel to maintain orbits.
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>>5030197
>drop them far further
It doesn't matter how less fuel it costs, what matters is that without the push to make sure it stays on orbit it'll fall.
>, we can create tractor tugs to pull the station constantly or occasionally rather than using on-board engines. Meaning no concern about fuel to maintain orbits.
It's not about the fuel, you buffoon.

It's about the fact that if the thing goes down, we have a city-sized chunk of metal coming straight at us. And then we'll be fucking extinct. And when there is a literal killer virus able to hijack our technology and we don't even know it's origin,

Why, in the everliving hell, would you choose to risk our ENTIRE SPECIES, in an costly project that would not be able to help us in any meaningful way, solely to avoid claiming a small amount of space on ground for urban development
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>>5030202
>It doesn't matter how less fuel it costs, what matters is that without the push to make sure it stays on orbit it'll fall.
Yes, over the course of months - years even? You realise the ISS loses 0.1 mph per day right? Its not like the ISS has to burn literally every second or fall back to earth and we're talking about a larger installation further out with a far greater inertia behind it.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2018/04/18/what-prevents-the-iss-from-falling-out-of-orbit/?sh=1e37f5367b88

Even in the case of the ISS,
https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/9482/how-long-would-iss-stay-in-orbit-if-it-didnt-get-reboosts
according to this it dropped by about 3km/month over a extended period when they weren't burning but in its case this was from 416 km up going down, with the lowest point in its orbit having been 350 km in past and a variance of about 10km in height over the course of one orbit that is quite tiny and more importantly not threatening to the continued existence of the ISS in the short / medium term.


You are fear-mongering and over-estimating the risks involved significantly.
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>>5029990
Bring on the risks. I believe in us.
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>>5030213
>Yes, over the course of months - years even?
Yeah, i'm certain that the gigantic space cities supposed to house billions have the same pull as a couple of pods attached to each other.
>Even in the case of the ISS,
Your source literally says that the ISS would have a substantial drop in decay.

Even if it was higher up, you're talking about a substantially larger station. Multiple city-sized stations, in fact. If the virus attacked and it lost it's pull, just like cirrus, it would fall on Jaxt and nuke the whole planet


>You are fear-mongering and over-estimating the risks involved significantly.
You are a moron who doesn't learn from the mistakes of the past and wants to nuke our entire homeworld with god knows how many city-sized habitats we can't even afford in the first place.
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>>5030217
There's a difference between "risks" and "being retarded"

Cirrus was a risk. We took a risk, and for that our civilization was almost destroyed. Now you people want to do it again, except on our homeworld. That is being retarded.

Normal monkeys know you don't touch the banana if it's already shocked you.
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>>5030219
>Yeah, i'm certain that the gigantic space cities supposed to house billions have the same pull as a couple of pods attached to each other.
Comparatively, yes - greater mass for the area being hit by space particulate (square cube law) means that there's less effective change in speed over a certain period.

>Your source literally says that the ISS would have a substantial drop in decay.
"Running the current altitude to decay, I get that we would have a deep sea space station in about 15 months" is what you should be focusing on. More than a year not good enough for you?

>You are a moron who doesn't learn from the mistakes of the past and wants to nuke our entire homeworld with god knows how many city-sized habitats we can't even afford in the first place.
Ha.


Let's suppose for a moment, IF the aliens launch another data attack and IF it hits one of these stations and IF the station fails to recover and IF we do literally nothing and IF it is in a relatively near orbit (we can move at % of the speed of light, we could put it 400,000 km away from our homeworld and still take seconds to travel there, so this is a non-issue) it still takes months to come down to the surface.

TLDR - You are wrong.
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>>5030250
>Comparatively, yes
No, it isn't.

We're talking a city-sized station here, putting it on our orbit means it's going to be pulled in and reach a state of freefall much faster than the ISS does on earth
>More than a year not good enough for you?
Fifteen year is what he assumes it would be in that scenario with a specific set of data, nothing like we would have in any real shit situation. The ISS is in no way comparable to a your string of megahabitats.
>IF the aliens launch another data attack
Like it already did
>IF it hits one of these stations
Like it already did
>IF the station fails to recover
Like it already did
>IF we do literally nothing
We have nowhere so much as close to the power necessary to pull out hundreds of kilometers worth of metal out of our atmosphere in enough time for it to not crash
>IF it is in relatively near orbit
Which you need in your plan to maintain a geosynchronous stirng of stations
>It still takes months
In your made-up scenario with completely different numbers where everything goes exactly the way you want to.

TL;DR You are a retard and your plan is going to get us killed
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>>5030282
>TL;DR You are a retard and your plan is going to get us killed
So be it. Still voting for it. The other anon's arguments seem more persuasive to me.
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>>5030282
>We're talking a city-sized station here, putting it on our orbit means it's going to be pulled in and reach a state of freefall much faster than the ISS does on earth
Deceleration I've already addressed as being slow as hell.

>Fifteen year is what he assumes it would be in that scenario with a specific set of data, nothing like we would have in any real shit situation. The ISS is in no way comparable to a your string of megahabitats.
Wow so what you are saying is it is twelve times longer than I thought it was and yet you still don't consider it long enough - even if he was enough by a factor of 10 he'd still have 1.5 years then.

>Like it already did
Wow, you can tell if the aliens have already launched another data attack? I'm amazed, what else can you tell us?

>Like it already did
What about "this station isn't like Cirrus" is so hard for you to understand.

>We have nowhere so much as close to the power necessary to pull out hundreds of kilometers worth of metal out of our atmosphere in enough time for it to not crash
Kilometers is a measure of distance not volume or mass - so that's inaccurate. Further, we rather do given we wouldn't be: a, pulling it out of our atmosphere; b, have to do it during any sort of time-crunch because again, orbits take TIME to decay.

>Which you need in your plan to maintain a geosynchronous string of stations
Never said they were genosynchronous but supposing they were, do you know how far out that'd be? 35,786 miles assuming we're talking about earth. That is to say more than 100 times further than the 248 mile orbital height of the ISS.

>In your made-up scenario with completely different numbers where everything goes exactly the way you want to.
As opposed to your made-up example, of course, where everything goes exactly as you want it to.
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>>5030314
>Deceleration I've already addressed as being slow as hell.
No it isn't, are you dumb? It's much, much bigger. It's going to get pulled much faster than the ISS. It's going to reach the peak of 'imminent crash' much faster, too.
>even if he was enough by a factor of 10 he'd still have 1.5 years then.
Fifteen months, you mongoloid.
>Wow, you can tell if the aliens have already launched another data attack?
They have already launched an attack, and we do not know why. They were able to completely destroy our defences. We should act on the basis that they can attack again, because if we don't, and they do, then we'll fucking die.
>What about "this station isn't like Cirrus" is so hard for you to understand.
It's not like cirrus, it's just several times bigger, and in extremely greater numbers (still no way to afford it anyway).
>Kilometers is a measure of distance not volume or mass - so that's inaccurate
You know very well i meant kilogram.
>pulling it out of our atmosphere;
In the scenario that they launch an data attack and the stations fail like cirrus, we will. Or we would try, but fail, and die.
>, have to do it during any sort of time-crunch
Yes anon, i'm certain all those habitats are going to stay there forever because they clearly work the same as a tiny-ass junction of pods in a best-case scenario.
>That is to say more than 100 times further than the 248 mile orbital height of the ISS.
Geosynchronous orbit means we'd be at whatever height it's necessary to accompany Jaxt's rotation. More than low enough for the orbit to decay too fast for us to catch it in a virus scenario.
>As opposed to your made-up example, of course, where everything goes exactly as you want it to.
No, in the realistic scenario where the world isn't a sandbox where everything's always working how you want it to.
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>>5030292
If you want to destroy jaxt, sure.
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>>5030330
Pretty sure it won't before we can stop the destruction. I say we give it a go.
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>>5030412
>before we can stop the destruction.
We need millions, maybe billions of people according to that estimate - we'd need so many habitats it would be impossible to do so.

This still doesn't solve the fact that we don't have the bucks for it either. Cirrus almost bankrupted us - and now we're proposing to build a hundred more? Not to speak of the morale damage, no one's gonna live in a cloud city after cirrus.
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>>5030427
Did you learn nothing from The Supreme Leader's propaganda film? Our people long for danger and adventure. Now, they're more patriotic and driven than ever, and technology has improved!

As for the practicality, the extra manpower and technological advances will make it possible, or the AI will advise us to stop before we make more than a few. It will also be less expensive: closer to home, made with better technology ALREADY, and we can do it in small phases.
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>>5030435
>Did you learn nothing from The Supreme Leader's propaganda film? Our people long for danger and adventure. Now, they're more patriotic and driven than ever, and technology has improved!
Danger and adventure is one thing, an entire city being sunk is another.
>technology has improved
Not THAT Much, though - we got tractor beams, sure, but we'd need much more advanced antigravitational devices to reliably make space habitats. As in, we'd need it to be so normal and cheap we could slap it everywhere without having to worry about malfunctions.
>As for the practicality, the extra manpower and technological advances will make it possible,
We NEED manpower for it, that's why we're making this. If we're waiting to get more population, there's no point in the cloud cities.

Distance hardly matters anymore; With the drives, going to schoon was like making a boat. If anything, it's harder here because we have to take more care to prevent the (most likely unavoidable) crash onto Jaxt.

We're overcomplicating this, we could literally just expand our cities a little bit more. Our industry is offworld, anyways.
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>>5030329
>No it isn't, are you dumb? It's much, much bigger. It's going to get pulled much faster than the ISS. It's going to reach the peak of 'imminent crash' much faster, too.
>It's going to get pulled much faster than the ISS.
Do you mean gravity? I have to ask this very specifically - do you mean that it is going to experience more acceleration due to gravity than the ISS?

>Fifteen months, you mongoloid.
Huh, that's funny, real funny - because I quoted you as saying 15 years and that is what I was referencing. Now, clearly there is some miscommunication here but the source is you if anyone.

>It's not like cirrus, it's just several times bigger, and in extremely greater numbers (still no way to afford it anyway).
We don't know the size of Cirrus so no. Remember, Cirrus was largely a gas mining array with a city stacked on top (AND it was only the first of many - so clearly we COULD afford them).

>You know very well i meant kilogram.
Possibly but I stand by it.

>In the scenario that they launch an data attack and the stations fail like cirrus, we will.
So your opinion is that if they launch a data attack the station will somehow instantly start breaching the atmosphere - a thing that'd require it to lose all momentum, accelerate towards the planet and cover the distance between the two. A process which as discussed could take months or at least weeks.

>Geosynchronous orbit means we'd be at whatever height it's necessary to accompany Jaxt's rotation.
I know, I was giving the IRL example.

>More than low enough for the orbit to decay too fast for us to catch it in a virus scenario.
Okay but that is objectively wrong. If the ISS falls out of orbit in 15 months and we're 100 times further out and the deceleration decreases as you get further out - let's suppose it increases just two-fold from that estimate. That gives us 2.5 years to stop the decay and restore the habitat.

>No, in the realistic scenario where the world isn't a sandbox where everything's always working how you want it to.
As opposed to yours where everything works how you expect it to.
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Thread Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IC44_GK_5w
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I know enough to know that I have no idea which annon is right but going with how I understand terminal velocity vDa2IbsK makes the most sense. Of course that is just my two cents and I might very well be wrong
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>>5030472
>Do you mean gravity? I have to ask this very specifically - do you mean that it is going to experience more acceleration due to gravity than the ISS?
This array of cities is much, much larger than the ISS. It'll arrive at the point of 'falling into the planet' much faster than the ISS
> - because I quoted you as saying 15 years and that is what I was referencing
You actual retard, YOU said 15 months, that's what i was talking about.
>We don't know the size of Cirrus so no.
It was extremely large, but it was an facility. You're trying to put hundreds of million - maybe billions into those stupid flying cities of yours
> (AND it was only the first of many - so clearly we COULD afford them).
Like hell we can, we've explicitly been with economical issues due to how expensive it was.
>So your opinion is that if they launch a data attack the station will somehow instantly start breaching the atmosphere - a thing that'd require it to lose all momentum, accelerate towards the planet and cover the distance between the two
They will fall much faster than we can stop them in an attack.
>Okay but that is objectively wrong.
And yet again you assume that your made-up number from a dream scenario is what we would have.
>As opposed to yours where everything works how you expect it to.
The difference is that i'm not a retard who thinks everything will go great just because you want space habitats
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>>5029579
>Tempotarily suspend the particle collider project in favour of increasing homeworld carrying capacity through the construction of large arcologies and floating (on water) habitats.

No gonna lie anons it looks like we're not gonna be able to go anywhere until the economy recovers and we get more population. Kinja's legacy is going to have to be fixing shit and laying foundations. At least no one will blame Kinja for having an inglorious legacy, the role being thrust upon him and all.
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>>5030746
>This array of cities is much, much larger than the ISS. It'll arrive at the point of 'falling into the planet' much faster than the ISS
It is also much, much more massive (as in having-mass, not scale) than the ISS meaning that the forces acting on it to slow it down are comparatively smaller. The surface area for stellar particulate to hit relative to the mass behind that area is overall smaller meaning less force acting on the mass over time. Big surface, little mass = quickly slows. Little surface, lotta mass = slowly slows. Fact is the square-cube law shows that as you get bigger the area that is going to get hit by particulate grows slower than your volume and this your mass.

>You actual retard, YOU said 15 months, that's what i was talking about.
So I say 15 months, then you say - and I'm gonna quote you directly here - "Fifteen year is what he assumes it would be in that scenario with a specific set of data"? And for some reason, I am the one at fault?

>It was extremely large, but it was an facility. You're trying to put hundreds of million - maybe billions into those stupid flying cities of yours
Individually? No. Each of these should contain somewhere in the region of about ten million - twenty-two million at most but that hits an urban density of about 70,000 through the whole interior.

>Like hell we can, we've explicitly been with economical issues due to how expensive it was.
More to do with it being a complete loss-on-investment but fair.

>They will fall much faster than we can stop them in an attack.
Entirely unreasonable as a assertion.

>And yet again you assume that your made-up number from a dream scenario is what we would have.
Okay fine let's check that.
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You have decided to grow your population to deal with the exponential cost and scale of technological advancement- while keeping the majority of population remaining at Jaxt. While you don't intend to make your beautiful homeworld a hive planet, a much larger population base is simply required to continue on as you are. Fertility and reproductive mantras and health are forwarded, where as homosexual and anti-natalist ideas and opinions are further driven from the mainstream.

There is actually a direct part of the population; the roughly 2-3% of women whose genes are considered not good enough to reproduce, and those females too beyond their prime to continue sexual reproduction. Many of these women still desire children, and the Hegemony can provide for them; a new initiative to artificially inseminate them with the highest grade genetic material your race can muster. While your genetic technology is a long way off from breeding vats or artificial wombs; simple gene splicing and selective breeding is easy enough. Because of a quirk of the Jaxtian menstrual cycle; these artificial ovum are given a heavy "sheathe" of fatty lipids and proteins, to help nurture and secure them against the utrine wall, especially in the less-than-ideal hosts they are implanted within...
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...As a side effect of this process, the young children are born with a rich, deep blue coat that remains that color for life. The "Indigo Children" have yet to show what their impact on your people may be.

During these programs; several other important events occur. The first is the death of Makatana, the researcher and genius ex-supreme ruler candidate. He died just a few Jaxt-hours after his 90th birthday, making him the oldest living Jaxtian in history! Perhaps his desire to protect life, or his genes and lifestyle on the low-gravity Caplit, allowed him to live so long. It's highly unlikely that anyone will beat his record until tetromere lengthening or other anti-aging technologies are unlocked. With no son, his burial site is selected by his closest friends and research aides- who decide to inter his body in a sealed casket in one of the ice caves on the surface of Caplit. While the idea to simply drop him into the ice ocean and allow his body to feed that ecosystem was proposed; he wouldn't have wanted to upset the careful balance of the alien biosphere that he spent his life protecting.

Next; the grand Antigravity Revolution has begun! Every year, hundreds of new applications and techniques are found. It seems some of your fears about the budget were unfounded; massive profits in the entertainment, business, and private spheres; not to mention the raw productivity increase. For safety, industry, and transport this technology has truly changed everything. It is commemorated in a grand up-down water fountain, in which water flows upwards via an antigravity lip.

And then; a reminder from the past. It seems that about 50 years ago today, Qet Scholiander sent unmanned probes to the nearest four stars to your own- and the closest has just arrived. Due to the light lag, it will take about 5 more years for the information from the probe to reach your homeworld, which will return detailed analysis of your first alien solar system!

The truth is, there are many more things you want to do. Ocean habitats, megahabitats, colonial efforts on other planets... But you're getting old. You assign more land on Jaxt for residential development for now. You have to start thinking about the future of your office.
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Yes, the time has finally come for you to choose your heir. The Supreme Ruler is the more important office in your society- and only the absolute pinnacle of your race can be considered for the position. The little ones you see before you are not only the genetic elite of your race, but trained and educated since birth to take great reigns of power- if not the Supreme Rulership, then somewhere else high and mighty within the grand Hegemony.

As per ancient tradition; the Supreme Ruler may choose from any of the worthy candidates for their position, who are ascended into their status for the rest of their lives. It is also important to remember that the Supreme Ruler is frowned upon to choose dynastically, as in those who are their own children and offspring, but none of yours are present here today. There are also only two viable candidates because of events in the past.

The first of the two is Eoba Garastra, the great grandson of Vantix Garastra! Eoba... such an unusual name. That is typically the name given to pet falcons once used as fighting birds and mink-hunters for royalty.

As his namesake; Eoba is an incredible fighter and duelist. Alavis tells you his physical skill with a knife and killing instinct are second to none. He's aggressive, arrogant, and a bit of a supremacist- but these are normal, sometimes even desired traits of a Supreme One. Because he is still a minor, and we live in more civilized times, he hasn't actually trained his bladeskills against the mentally incompetent, convicted criminals or political adversaries. Yet. The ancient game of tailcutter is his primary forte, but he is also skilled in all forms of strategy and does incredibly well on command sims. He would be a classic, reliable choice.

The second is Talacent. Strangely, he has no documented father. His mother refuses to speak of it- though this boy's gene scores are incredibly good. Fatherless boys do not do too well in the Hedgemony- less so from prejudice and moreso from the type of genetic trash that would impregnate and abandon their mate, or a female who would be woo'd by such a mate, but in his case, neither seem to apply.

As he was raised by his mother, he's a bit more soft and effeminate then other boys. More eager to please others, and more prone to seek cooperation over confrontation. Still, he is very gifted in language- he is one of the youngest ever to be marked as "Truly Fluent" in Blondespeak, and can even recite a few phrases in Haazarian, though his throat shape makes this very difficult. He is more of the unconventional pick- but which is your choice?

>Eoba
>Talacent
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>>5030806
>Talacent

Gentlemen, we need a new breed of Jaxtian leader: one who can deal with the internal strife that the growing population will create. We need a dealmaker, not a war-leader.
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>>5030802
>It is also much, much more massive (as in having-mass, not scale)
It is ALSO much greater in scale - unless you plan on having the citizens live in pods, which is what we were trying to avoid, it'll be gigantic. Gigantic enough for the cutoff point at which it goes meteoric on jaxt to be much, much sooner.
>And for some reason, I am the one at fault?
If you argue in bad faith, it is. Nowhere did 15 years make sense.
>Individually? No.
Individual or not, those would be gigantic cities, and you'd need god knows how many of them
>Entirely unreasonable as a assertion.
We could barely stop cirrus, and that was a single city on an isolated attack
>Okay fine let's check that.
Luckily, not
>>
>>5030813
Good point, but at the same time, i fear we might have to face aliens of, in which case we would need someone like Eoba. I like Taloacent too, but he might be too soft for this. He seeks to please others, cooperate more, and sometimes that's a weakness. Especially when dealing with extrastellar invaders.
>>
>>5030873
We can always make Eoba Garastra the Admiral of our burgeoning space forces?
>>
>>5030871
>It is ALSO much greater in scale - unless you plan on having the citizens live in pods, which is what we were trying to avoid, it'll be gigantic. Gigantic enough for the cutoff point at which it goes meteoric on jaxt to be much, much sooner.
Really no.

>If you argue in bad faith, it is. Nowhere did 15 years make sense.
Okay so I am arguing in bad faith when I take your claim of 15 years at face value? You are the one at fault. You made the claim, stop pretending that everything is my fault and actually accept your own culpability.

>Individual or not, those would be gigantic cities, and you'd need god knows how many of them
To double our population while maintaining reasonable urban density (30000 people per square mile)? 1400. Well, 1419 but still.

>We could barely stop cirrus, and that was a single city on an isolated attack
Okay, I want you to stop for a moment Anon and listen because you really don't seem to get this. Cirrus wasn't in orbit. Cirrus was never in orbit. Cirrus was in the atmosphere. Cirrus was essentially a overgrown aircraft that never was designed to land. Cirrus needed to constantly and expensively reinforce its momentum to maintain its flight. What I am talking about IS in orbit, ISN'T in the atmosphere and only requires occasional reinforcements of its momentum.

So when Cirrus got infected and lost systems, it went down like a stone. If this happened to what I am describing, that wouldn't - couldn't - happen anywhere near as fast or as easily.

>Luckily, not
I mean calculate it. I had done so but my computer crashed. Give me half an hour and I'll objectively show you the truth.
>>
>>5030888
>Really no.
Yes.
>Okay so I am arguing in bad faith when I take your claim of 15 years at face value?
You actual faggot, it was never 15 years, at no point in time did "15 years" make sense.
>1400. Well, 1419 but still.
We nearly went bankrupt making cirrus and you want to make a thousand and four hundred of those megahabitats?
>Cirrus wasn't in orbit.
You actual meme, we explicitly put Cirrus much above it's previous height to avoid health damages. If we had a virus to your insane megastructure, it would go down much faster than we can stop it. A single one would exterminate life on Jaxt, and you want to make over a thousand of them
>Give me half an hour and I'll objectively show you the truth.
uh huh, 'objectively'
>>
>>5030878
True, but the problem with that is that Talacent is the leader, and he might end up being too weak to respond effectively to a threat.
>>
>>5030806
>Talacent
Only because I suspect that he may be Vul's bastard son.
>>
File: ARGUMENT.pdf (17 KB, PDF)
17 KB
17 KB PDF
>>5030896
>You actual faggot, it was never 15 years, at no point in time did "15 years" make sense.
Then why did you say it? I've never seen someone misspell months as years. I can't think of any other reason for such a thing to occur that isn't malicious or requiring of genuine insanity or incapability of functioning so I must ask, what the hell did you intend then?

>uh huh, 'objectively'
Please see attached PDF for working, logic and appropriate links. I would also appreciate anyone else interested taking a look too.
>>
>>5030806
>Talacent

Let us remember Aumu. The lowliest among us may hold potential which has gone unexplored. Aumu and Talacent alike are evidence of this. If we had slain Aumu, or disappeared him to a prison, we would not be experiencing our current economic miracle. Who knows what Talacent might bring?

Eoba can be his strong right hand.
>>
>>5030897
That's true, but if shit gets that bad, I would say we can always move to a military junta if needed.
>>
>>5030928
I'd write it out longer now, but it's too late. When i wake up, i'll explain why it's retarded. And i can already see some holes in your logic.
>>
>>5030928
>>5030954
Girls, girls, you're both pretty. We've moved on. Let it rest until this becomes actually relevant again.
>>
>>5030806

Is Talacent's mother Raza? We can look that up, at least.

Talacent seems like he'd make a great leader of a strong and confident Jaxt that can afford magnanimity in dealings with the galaxy. But right now we don't know our strength upon the galactic scene; and we do know that unknown forces have attacked us for unknown reasons.

Do the two of them get on? If they are friendly and can work together, I'd think Eoba as Supreme ruler with Talacent kept close on-hand as an administrator, diplomat and advisor would make a good team, sort of like Augustus and Agrippa.
>>
>>5030806
>Eoba
I rather we go for a strong reliable leader than someone who will likely be too weak to make hard decisions, reminder that we were attacked by some drones not too long ago.
>>
>>5030806
Eoba
>>
>>5030806
>Talacent
Monke Jesus
>>
Because this one is kinda important and the voting is neck-and-neck I'll give another ~10 hours or so before working on the update.
>>
>>5030806
>Talacent with Eboa as his right hand/head of military.
>>
>>5030806
>Talacent
>>
Voting closes with Talacent wining. Update will be made as soon as I can.
>>
You have chosen Talacent as your successor. You hope that, in the future, the issues of your race and other alien species will be resolved by his ability.

While he continues and finishes his training, and you consider where to appoint his contemporary, you spend your time overseeing the construction of your floating ocean cities and the various urban projects of Jaxt. Entire empty cities are being erected for a predicted population explosion; while difficult to overcome your own population's adversary to rapid breeding with a high standard of living, enough propaganda and time will fill that vacancy.

In the coming years; the transmission from your nearest stellar neighbor is complete! The Skiff 2.0, sent out on its mission half a century ago, and whose transmission is only arriving now five years after the fact, is probably already done with its voyage among the new system.

This star was named a long time ago after a constellation, and as such has a classical name of Xin. Your initial astronomer report on this system hundreds of years ago estimated that it could have between six to twenty planetoids- but this miscalculation seems obvious now.

Xin is a small red dwarf. Because of its size, it gives off significantly less light then your own star and has a much tighter habitabile zone, but will probably last trillions of years compared to your own yellow K-Class star. Your astrologers estimated that red dwarves and red giants are probably less likely to harbor life around them, and that seems the case.

Xin has two planets- named Xin-1 and Xin-2. Your ship has detected two asteroid belts, an inner one with heavier metals, and an outer one with lighter metals and icy comets.
>>
The Skiff flies through the atmosphere of Xin-2 first; finding it an ashy wasteland. It's atmosphere is thin, and the planet is constantly rolling with huge storm clouds of the fine powdery stuff. It seems absolutely barren, with nothing of value perhaps whatever minerals it could provide underneath its exterior.

The closer planet to the sun, Xin-1, however, is a different story.

It has water! Liquid water! The planet is covered by a majority of liquid water. While the ship isn't programmed or capable of collecting samples- it seems to be a normal, dead ocean surrounding rocky continents. It's atmosphere is thick enough to support a planetary ecosystem, though it doesn't seem to have a high amount of oxygen or carbon dioxide and is mostly made of nitrogen, similar to Jaxt. The lack of oxygen indicates that the planet has not evolved any living things with an aerobic cycle, so its very likely this planet is a dead world. However, with the right algae clusters to produce oxygen, some grasses to hold down topsoil, seeding the continents with plants and pollinators.. yes, this world could be made into a living, habitable planet for future Jaxtians to live on. The first of its kind found by your race.

In fact, maybe the Pink Bacteria created by Gaftar IV could be of use here- creating all the amino acids to produce life on their own, simply needing light to be powered.

But you are interrupted by Alavis, who presents you with something- a message from the previous Supreme One.

"This is a confidential message, written on paper. I was not permitted to read it. I was told to give this to you in the event of Vul's death, after you have chosen a successor so as to not influence your decision regarding his offspring's chance of being chosen. While he had no children- I could not defy the command given to me by the previous Supreme Ruler."
>>
What is this?

.... Hmm. Well, the history of the past Supreme Rulers was more complicated then you thought. No matter- it is a simple fix.

With that out of the way; you now have a final big decision to make. Probably your last before you retire- and go back to making movies again.

The truth is, the existence of a possible planet to colonize in your stellar neighborhood, along with the fact you still have no known defense against possible data-corruption attacks, means that it would be prudent to think about colonizing other worlds far away. To take some of your people to another solar system and live there- in case your homeworld is destroyed. At the very least, you could expand the empire- and you could do it with a generation ship.

And no matter how patriotic Jaxtians can be- asking them to travel for 50 years to a foreign world may be a big ask. But you have the capacity to make that trip easier- you could do it with the Suspension Gene. The culmination of Maktana's "life's work"- the special gene sequence of the Migrator species that lets them live 99% of their lives in stasis. Using your technology, it may be possible to mutate Jaxtians with this gene, and tie it to a specific protein sequences, meaning you could activate it at will- cryogenic stasis to travel to far away solar systems.

However, your technology is limited and you cannot modify the DNA of adults with your current genetic modification limitations. It's just too difficult to modify so many complex organs and body parts that have accumulated genetic damage- like cloning an adult of a species. But you could modify children- the Indigo Children.

Even better- the cost of such a program would be enormous, if not for the Cirrus. It's still there in space, deactivated but mostly intact, no erosion to deal with in the vacuum of space beyond a few micro asteroid impacts. With some modifications, it could be turned into a giant spaceship, filled with cryogenic astronauts, ready to travel to and colonize a new planet.

The science checks out- and the scope of such a project is incredible. This could be your chance to immortalize yourself as the Supreme Ruler of the ages.

The only problem... is it really worth it? With a five year light delay, whatever new society that would be created over there at such a distance would be effectively cut off. Only slow light-speed messages can be sent, and resources or personnel couldn't be shared. It would be a sister society, not a true branch of your mighty empire, the first political and likely ideological split your society will have had in hundreds of years. You could be seeding the stars with competitors- though then again, a loyal colony set up on another star system would be your first true step into space colonization as an interstellar empire and species. There's no telling when FTL might make this any faster.

What is your choice Supreme One?
>Begin the Project
>Do not
>>
>>5032182
>Begin the Project
We already have competitors--enemies, even--in the stars above. Some of them might as well at least be fellow monke.
>>
>>5032182
>Do not

Not as long we can't fix communications at least. Sending a bunch of children without any adults will result in chaos even if we give them A.I to watch over them and besides we need the extra population on Jaxt
>>
>>5032186
You know what, you raise a good point--I want us to spread to teh stars, but I guess we don't need to rush it. Still, we should begin setting up contingencies.

>>5032182
Changing >>5032183 to

>Do not

...But, if possible, have the ship and the project maintained, ready and on standby.
>>
>>5032182
>Begin the Project
Five years isn't that much, we probably one or two Supreme Rulers before needing to bring them back in the fold.
For now, we just need to bring a lot of propaganda in the ship and probably plan some stricter social rules for the colony.
>>
>>5032182
>Do not

One of the reasons our off-homeworld population remained so tiny is us trying to prevent culture drift. Now we're talking about creating a colony that is going to be 5 light years away, 50 years of travel at our current ability and 5 for communication, out of date.
>>
Can't we still begin to insert the Suspension Gene in future children tho? that seems very useful and would be good for everyone to have it in a few generations
>>
>>5032186
>Correction & Explanation:
They will not be sent as children. The next generation of Indigo Children will be implanted with the suspension gene and trained into adults- with the portion of them capable of leadership heading the project in the same way the Supreme Ruler heads your own society. They may need their own Supreme Ruler with a light speed communication limit, or they could be headed by a colonial ruler.

The idea behind the choice is creating a colony that could ideologically break off given enough time, since they are separated by a constant 5 year delay, but it is still intended to be a loyal colony and expansion of the Hegemony.

>>5032199
Yes, but it's implied that Indigo children are the "modified" people and Jaxtians are the "natural" people.
>>
>>5032182
>Do not
>though we should look into improving our biological understanding of our kind to make this project a bit more reliable with adults as part of the journey, then we could plan this out better

From my perspective this project dosen't feel reliable at the moment, I think we should come back to this once we have a better grasp of genetic engineering, and some form of communication, through with talk's about terraforming I think we could practice that with our tech we have now to see how the pink bacteria works by creating a sort of test site in a remote location on world of on a space station and create an environment like on Xin-1

If not i would like to look at making our world more green with our plans for a population boom, mabye we could look at making areas more hospitable or areas we could grow larger amounts of food reliability and safely for example should we have any tundra of savanna like regions on our planet, we could work on improving our planet we currently live on while we plan the expansion and create enough food to feed our planned population
Just to let you anons know I would like it if we made our homeworld green and vibrant with life, not necessarily a hive world covered with toxic smog
>>
>>5032201
If this is a program we can BEGIN without immediately rocketing kids into space with an AI guardian, then I revert to my first vote, at >>5032183
>>
>>5032182
>Do not
Let's just wait for FTL to develop and leave this as a last resort in case of a extinction event, in fact I'd be up for semi-preparing the ship just so we can get it ready faster in case an extinction event does happen.
>>
>>5032182
>Begin the Project
Hopefully by the time it's well and truly set up we will have FTL
>>
Could we maybe start terraforming the planet, rather than just straight up sending children to it already? Terraformation takes time.

Send a bunch of pink bacteria, with all the stuff they might need, and plant it on the planet. Let it create life while we improve our star dynamo's speed.

This way, we would be able to prepare it for our eventual arrival without having to create a possible split civilization, which could create some real issues in the long term.
>>
>>5032356
This +1. If we can send a long range Jaxtaforming 'starter pack' it'd be a definite bonus to any colonisation efforts.

That said, I'm down for sending colonists soon if we can make it work - they might be needed to oversee Jaxtaforming efforts.
>>
>>5032182
>Do not
A colony that is out of our effective control is just a rebellion waiting to happen.
>>
>>5032509
What this guy said, supporting.
>>
>>5032182
>>Do not
Instead, spend the funds researching FTL and improving means of controlling distant populations, be it through biology or technology.
>>
>>5032212
Gonna change my vote to this actually >>5032356
>>
In the end, you decide not to send a generation ship. The project is promising, and you have the technology and budget to do so but... it wouldn't be a true expansion of the Hedgemony. It would be an expansion of your species that would, eventually, become a political rival. There's too much risk; and more importantly, all Jaxtians must work together under the will of the Hedgemony.

But there's no reason to let the data you have gained about the distant solar system go to waste- there is still a great opportunity for the future. With the hundreds, if not thousands of years it would take to terraform even a close-to-habitable planet like Xin-1, it's best to get started early. Even FTL can't help speed that up.

So you decide to send a probe. Equipped with modern advanced AI systems and the newer service drones, this has capabilities the old decommissioned Skiff 2.0s never did, after 50 years a self directed terraforming program is now possible. You load the craft with a copy of Alavis's AI codex, a vial of the pink bacteria, and some dehydrated and dormant basic ocean algade from your planet.

The pink bacteria was designed by Gaftar IV to produce everything a Jaxtian needs to survive besides oxygen- vitamins, sugars, proteins, and amino acids. These are also what very basic forms of life can use as a stepping stone to produce their own life. The drone is told to spray the pink bacteria in different places on the planet's ocean, letting it spread for decades of time, and when the concentration is right, release the ocean algae to start oxygen production on the planet from the producers. Without any living creatures to consume the excess oxygen, it may eventually poison the atmosphere- but that would take centuries to happen. By then, you'd either be on the planet, or send another probe to begin vegetating the landscape.

With this project underway, the Cirrus is finally destroyed and broken down for scrap. Whatever advanced future ship you may commission some day to travel the stars, it will probably be of better materials. The Cirrus's computers are deep scourged and sent to Caplit to do high-energy researched in the ice caverns, its radiation shielding and life support sent to Vass to help protect the astronauts on its barely-livable dark side, and much of its raw metal and industrial machines are sent back to Schoon, to be broken down for parts.

This ends the saga of the Cirrus. But the Hedgemony and the Supreme Ruler goes on- just in a new form...
>>
Your name is Talacent Intari and you are the Supreme Ruler of the Jaxtian people!

You're very grateful to be chosen. You hope the reason Kinja picked you is for your skills, and not because he had pity on your background- single mothers rarely produce sons who are worthy of high office, so this is a great offer. You never knew your father, though you always had your suspicions. Regardless, you intend to steer your people to greatness with a firm yet gentle hand.

You have chosen green to the color of your Imperial Robes. Green for peace and prosperity.

As you have only recently ascended, few big important decisions or the daily grind of Statescraft are yet your concern. Kinja is in semi-retirement and the AI network can take care of the humdrum for the short term while you learn the ropes. Your first big decision as the Supreme Ruler is to approve the new spacesuit designs.

The designers meet with you. The technicians are especially giddy to show off their designs.

"Oh great one- our race has been using the same unchanged Space suits for the better part of a century now- it's time for an upgrade!"

"Yes- smart materials have been placed down the spine and support seams, giving the suit energy-dispersal that will make the suit harder to puncture, and protect its occupant."

"Yes! And the boots- Gravity boots! They can be turned on to stay stuck to a low-gravity surface, such as an Asteroid, or they can be reversed to make walking easier on a high gravity planetoid. The suit is also equipped with a much better life support system; oxygen-osmosis barriers can even absorb a small amount from an atmosphere of an underdeveloped planet- granting minutes or even hours of oxygen."

"Yes- and we chose a nice bright color to make it stand out against the background of space and planet surfaces- for rescue and recovery of astronauts."
>>
...But why did they pick pink?!

"We hoped you liked the suit design, Supreme One! They're ready for mass production now- outfitting to all of our astronauts and miners on all the Hegemony worlds. Just say the word."

Really? Pink?

>Tell them to change the color to something else (Specify)
>Just accept it and move on
>Have them thrown in their jail for their impudence
>>
>>5032898
>"Okay, seriously, is there a reason why they have to be pink?"

I'm not against pink perse but cmon, there has to be a reason. It can't be aesthetics.
>>
>>5032898
>Tell them to change the color to something else (Specify)
The possibly habitable world we discovered is redish in color from what I've seen in the images and while yes I know it'll be a long time before we go colonize it and it's likely newer space suits will be made by then, it's better to standardize and the color will likely be the same on the next suits, so let's go for a different color that is even more visible and also add lights to the outside for easier identification, maybe go for like a bright yellow or green, don't forget reflective strips on it too.
>>
>>5032898
>Just accept it and move on
I really don't care about the color, it's bright, stand out against the background of space and planet surfaces.
Changing it would probably delay production and maybe even cost money, that would be a childish waste.
>>
>>5032918
>support
>>
>>5032898
>>Have them thrown in their jail for their impudence
>>
>>5032902
Ask this, and if it's just cosmetic, >>5032918

I understand this might be a little bit childish, but come on, who the hell wants to die in a pink suit?
>>
>>5032898
IF it has been tested against reddish surfaces, and it works, accept it and move on. If not, maybe blue to go with our fur? Will offset the blondes nicely, too.
>>
>>5032898
>Tell them to change the color to something else (Specify)
A bright green would stand out even better then Pink in space, and also stand for peace and prosperity. Just like our robes.
>>
>>5032902
+1
>>
>>5032902
"Okay, I like the suits, but why did you make them pink?"

"Hmm? Oh well- we thought it would be a nice color since none of the other suits have been pink thus far..."

"Well yeah but, there are SO many others colors you could pick. Why pink?"

"What's wrong with pink?"

Ugh. This is ridiculous.

"Just make them green. Just like my robe- just brighter!"

"Alright, your omnipotence, as you wish..."
>>
And the suits are made green. And they are good. Almost immediately, the number of space-mining and colonization injuries while wearing a suit are reduced, and the newfound ability of the gravity boots greatly reduces the need for specialized suits- no more iron-soles for Caplit explorers!

While the suits are made and distributed, Al pings you with the progress for your various space colonization programs- after Xin's solar system was fully mapped (physically over five years ago- but only seen near the end of Kinja's reign with the light-lag), many other solar systems are soon going to be visited by the old Skiffs sent on their missions. You feel as though you are stuck doing nothing but waiting and reacting to things- but as your population slowly grows to fit in with Kinja's late projected growth goals and your explorer AIs slowly make their journeys- what else can you do besides twiddle your thumbs and worry about the color of spacesuits?

"Your Supremacy."

You are visited by Eoba Garastra. He's all grown up- and presents you with his open palm to show he means you no harm. Respectful gesture- nobody else is allowed to carry a knife around you like this. He never puts the thing away.

"Talacent. As minister of defense, I feel the need to bring your attention to our lacking space fleet- with your permission?"

"Please go on, Eoba."

"Well- the truth is we have limited ability to fight alien vessels. While our first impromptu space fleet under Kinja was enough to defeat a handful of severely lacking alien scout drones- it didn't do so without taking casualties. I can only imagine that a larger army of drones or more powerful ships could very well be on the way. On top of this, the strange Haazar's ship will probably arrive within our solar system within our lifetime, and we have no idea on their true intentions or capabilities- if we find they are hostile, we will not have time to build a powerful ship in response once they are already upon us- as such, I propose a proper warship. I've already sent the plans to Al for your consideration. I strongly advise your approval for this project- For the Hedgemony!"

Hmm- when you have time, you review the plans. Reinforced hulls with thermal coating to protect against lasers & plasma, Several rotating weapon turrets using the new models of the Neutrino blasters, powerful laser diodes, air-supremacy guidance struts for fighting in atmospheres or gas clouds. The ship itself is much larger then your ASDVs or WSDVs- it has a double flight deck in the event one is destroyed, and his plans include larger crews of highly trained pilots.

The project is expensive- but not prohibitively so. It would bring of peace of mind to have such a powerful weapons platform in your employ, but there are always other things you could be spending your precious DM on...

>Approve; build a powerful ship
>Spend the money on growth & civil projects
>Put more in science
>>
>>5033343
ONE such ship seems like an "all our eggs in one basket" situation. Can we build a small fleet of less-advanced versions of this design?

If not:
>Approve; build a powerful ship
>>
>>5033343
>Approve; build a powerful ship
>>
>>5033343
>Approve; build a powerful ship
Well we do need a flagship and this could be the pride of the fleet! (for now at least until we can get EVEN BIGGER SHIPS)
>>
>>5033343
>Approve; build a powerful ship
TOTALLY NOT A FRAGILE MONEY SINK LIKE THE DEATH STAR
>>
>>5033343
>Approve; build a powerful ship
While i'd rather have more ships considering how advanced alien weaponry is, this is a start. Once we start producing it, it becomes cheaper.
>>
>>5033343
>Approve; build a powerful ship
>>
>>5033343
>>Approve; build a powerful ship
>>
Clearly what we need to do is construct Space Battleship Cirrus.
>>
Bonus update!

You have decided to approve the design; Eoba thanks you and begins work on the project. It goes a bit over budget, and takes about five years to finish, but eventually the more advanced ship is complete. It's the biggest Star-Dynamo vessel your people have ever built.

When time comes to unveil it, Eoba stands in front of it with a smug look of satisfaction on his face. What, does he think it's his ship or something? Or did you get duped into satisfying some macho ego project? You never could say no to a friend...

But more seriously; the importance of a powerful flagship cannot be understated. Based on the very limited information you have on space warfare and space combat, it's not always as simple as numbers and technology wins. Obviously a vast army of superior ships would crush your puny resistance, but when the sides are mostly evenly matched, a single powerful ship with above average designs, materials, crew, and planning- not to mention the computer systems that keep the fleet fighting together can really turn the tide of battle. Perhaps someday a squadron or entire fleet of ships of this scale and power could be created, but as of right now, it's the greatest warship your race has ever built.
>>
At the foot of the Blonde Mountains lay the biggest particle-collider ever created by the Jaxtians. It was built during Kinja's reign, and has been working for almost four decades now. During that time, endless high-energy impacts and ever escalating speeds closer and closer to the speed of light have been observed from particles.

While the results of the collider were always useful and applicable to high-energy sciences, they were revolutionized with the works of Amustat. Plasmatronics ended up being a key to controlling and replicating some of the stranger edge cases. The ability to accelerate particles and hold things in place with artificial gravity ended up being invaluable to further the research.

During a penultimate experiment that was the sum of all this combined knowledge; two extremely high energy particles were collided at 99.9998% the speed of light to observe the effects. After the collision, one of the particles was caught and observed by a very experience scientist by the name of Himsos. However, due to an error on his part, the high-energy particle was lost from containment, ruining several years of research in one fell swoop.

For this great dishonor and waste of resources, he has resigned from his position, and prostrated himself before you for punishment.

>Give him a fitting punishment
>Demand he explain himself (Chance of time wasted)
>Retire him to a less demanding field (unpopular among scientists)
>>
>>5033528
DEATH
>>
>>5033528
>Give him a fitting punishment
Demote him to laborer and revoke his breeding license.
>>
>>5033528
>Demand he explain himself (Chance of time wasted)
>Give him a fitting punishment
He's accepted it's an error, but we should hear it anyway. After that, give him an punishment.
>>
>>5033579
+1
>>
>>5033579
Support.
>>
>>5033528
>Demand he explain himself (Chance of time wasted)
>>
>>5033528
>>Demand he explain himself (Chance of time wasted)

Talacent's the sort who tries to listen and see if there's understanding to be found.
>>
>>5033579
+1 Also I doubt we'll have a lot of time wasted from just a small talk with this dude
>>
>>5033528
>Give him a fitting punishment
Everyone makes mistakes but we cannot overlook such a grave error. However it would be wasteful to remove an experienced researcher from the talent pool.
>>
Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>5033579
You decide to give him a chance to explain himself- and then punish him if it turns out to be his error.

"I don't know what happened, your grace! I swear I followed the protocals for the experiment- the particle just seemed to just... vanish! It disappeared from containment and our monitoring equipment. I don't know what error I made- but I am deeply sorry for it, your eminence. I fully accept any punishment I am given."

Hmm. You decide to have Alavis double check the results of the experiment, as well as contact the science team. This will put them back a little bit, but as far as your education has taught you- many scientific experiments of the past were discovered by accident. Who knows?
>>
Wait a minute... this is no accident!

Upon reexamining the evidence, the scientist in question was right. Without the ability to simulate such a complex and unknown property of physics- several repeat experiments are run over the next several years. During this time, the Plasmatronic laser-matrix that is supposed to catch these high energy particles and "contain" them for observation continually misses. While Himsos was first accused of misalignment the containment field, every single configuration fails to capture the high energy particles after this experiment. It doesn't make logical sense, its as if they just "slip" away.

Finally, it is discovered. These particles don't just disappear- they ascend into a higher energy state. These are considered "Hyper Particles", in which our "Base Particle" rules of physics do no seem to apply. From this is born the cutting edge field of Hypertronics, and Himsos is later found to be worthy of a golden band for his discovery.

After five years of painstaking research and a fortune spent in research budget- a massive machine has finally succeeded in controlling and initializing a particle, in this case a humble heavy Neutron, into a HyperNeutron state. It moves at ten times the speed of light.
>>
You have finally done it- though in reality it wasn't really you. The voyage begun by Vantix Garastra has truly led to this point. You have discovered the secret of faster then light travel. The higher order of particles exist in their own layer of being; this so called "Hyperspace" allows things to move faster then light. Perhaps at the peak of this Hyperspace is Hyperlight, which acts as its own universes speed limit...

Of course- it isn't that easy. Using a massive portion of computing power and comendeering a fifth of Jaxt's power grid, you managed to accelerate one Neutron into a Hypernetic state. The concept of sending a single Jaxtian person, not to mention a ship or robot, into such a state is laughable with any where near your level of technology- in order to send a single ASDV into a Hypernetic state would require all of the energy produced by every nuclear power generator on all the colonies and on Jaxt to be focused on a single vessel, sustained or stored for years at a time, and then finally sent along. As always, there is a catch to everything.

As of this point in time, the only feasible method of producing enough power to send a vessel through Hyperspace is through Nuclear Fusion. Of which, your race has never successfully built a single reactor. It had been a dream since the times of Qet and even before the Hedgemony- an even safer and cleaner-burning source of energy then nuclear fission, immensely powerful and productive.

Could this perhaps be your legacy as the Supreme Ruler? To create the first fission reactor, and then the first Hyperdrive?

Already, your head swims with the possibilities to set up such a lofty goal. Set up more high-energy schools, research grants, special projects on other colonial worlds. Perhaps the Indigo Children, with their genetically modified level of intellect could figure it out?

Unfortunately, on Jaxt, things are looking less peaceful. There is ever growing tension between the normal Jaxtians and the Indigo Children- many Jaxtians are feeling like the Indigo Children are their betters, their genetic superiors. You can't really blame them- besides the Suspension gene that has been inserted in the DNA of every single Indigo Child, their genes are sourced by highly intelligent, hardworking, and healthy Jaxtians- leading to the Indigo Children having high gene scores and getting higher positions and honors. It's self fulfilling. While the population of adult Indigo Children is a small minority, the vast majority are in high office and will continue to do so into the far future. Unaltered Jaxtians are feeling restless and obsolete. With your people skills you feel as though you could fix this before it goes out of control...

>Discontinue the Indigo Children project
>Tell people to accept that the Indigos are superior (Unpopular)
>Order Indigo Children to be treated as second class citizens & enforce control on them
>Other (Write In)
>>
>>5034067
>Start a program where Indigos are rewarded for tutoring, assisting, and generally helping out normal Jaxtians, with a goal of making the public perception of them lean towards powerful protectors and helpers
>>
>>5034067
Maybe find a way into fixing this whole indigo children problem. Trying to "mend" things or teaching our own will not help when our entire basis for a society - genes - are something they win in.

The problem with indigo children is that it's a side effect from the populational growth, yes? From the shields of genetically worse mothers. It's unintended

If we want to continue Jaxtian,we gotta fix that. And we should do it now that indigos feel jaxtian and their normal ancestors are around - if we wait too much, they'll develop their own culture and destroy the hedgemony from the inside out.
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>>5034070
>willingly handing over your government to a new class
hell no, we must never forget our roots. We can improve our genes, never change them. It starts with fur color, and soon enough we'll be looking like a goddamn all tomorrows race.
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>>5034070
+1
>>
This is a horrible idea, we'd be literally allowing our species to become subservient to a minority.
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>>5034067
>Discontinue the Indigo Children project
Let's just nip this in the bud.
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>>5034095
That was to make more children without lowering genetic quality.
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>>5034095
I agree we can't have such a major split off, but at the same time, we're trying to increase our population without having to suffer from genetic problems.

Maybe now that the indigo children introduced a bunch of new genetic material into the hedgemony, we can find a way so their children will be back to being normal Jaxtians? This way, we'd both get rid of this problem and also be able to continue to increase our population naturally. It sure would also help us go against that whole 'inbred elite' thing they were talking about.
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>>5034054
>It moves at ten times the speed of light.
Okay so once we've got this, nearest world is .4 years away (4.8 months) away which is actually somewhat reasonable in terms of having a off-world colony. Would prefer it being significantly less to prevent cultural separation but it'll do at least for setting up exploration / scientific outposts.

>>5034067
>Discontinue the Indigo Children project

Realistically, this is the only solution that'll work out long-term even if it hurts short term. Worst comes to worst, we can resume the Indigo Children project every other generation or so and basically use them like as a occasional pop booster rather than a constantly growing minority.
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>>5034102
Indigo Children litteraly have a single alien gene and a non-genetic weird fur color, otherwise they are really just high quality jaxtian fetuses implanted in old and/or genetically unfit women.
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>>5034103
>Realistically, this is the only solution that'll work out long-term even if it hurts short term. Worst comes to worst, we can resume the Indigo Children project every other generation or so and basically use them like as a occasional pop booster rather than a constantly growing minority.
Refusing to use cybernetics because of that ai secret ruler made cybernetics not an option noted to be frowned upon by the Hedgemony later so I doubt that we could use them later.
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>>5034104
>a single alien gene and a non-genetic weird fur color
And that isn't enough? They're not normal Jaxtians. Their children aren't Jaxtian either, they keep the fur color. They're an mutation so to say, one we induced ourselves.

We must not allow Jaxtians to devolve into a new species. Fortify genes yes, change them never. If we lose touch with our nature we will become abherrations. The Indigo Children aren't bad themselves, they're still just a small group with no identity, but they must not be allowed to continue.

If we let this problem grow, they'll end up replacing Jaxtians.
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>>5034108
We voted to add the suspension gene to eventually colonize other planets.
Just change the fur color.
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>>5034110
We explicitly said not to have the generation ship thing - we're already close to inventing a hyperdrive, anyway. We don't need it to colonize, only to put them on cryopods.
>Just change the fur color.
It's not just fur color, their very genetic makeup is unnatural. We might be able to edit it out of them, but just changing the color isn't enough.
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>>5034115
They have genes from high quality jaxtians, it's not more unnatural than artificial insemination.
>very genetic makeup is unnatural
Do you also believe GMOs are bad and somehow worse than random mutations?
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>>5034104
Wait, who introduced the single Alien gene? That was an option in the event of a colony program in the distant solar system, which we decided not to do.

The Indigo fur was caused by implantation method, if I recall? Not a genetic factor. So Indigos breeding - even with each other - should produce normal coloured Jaxtian offspring.
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>>5034105
Eh, only one way to know for sure if this'll be the same case.

>>5034125
This, Indigo fur is a result of the insemination of older mothers causing some fringe biological reaction (something something protective sheaf of lipids). It is not a genetically inheritable trait. That's why stopping the program ends the Indigo fur issue rather than giving us a persistent minority of them.

Reasonably speaking what we could do is stop using only the highest quality of genetics for the Indigos - since that'd help reduce the overperformance of their minority. It does somewhat lower both their benefit and the overall genetic quality of our civilisation (though more accurately, using only the highest quality of genetics for them has dragged it up and this would just be re-asserting a more natural distribution).
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>>5034121
>They have genes from high quality jaxtians
No they don't, they are explicitly put on bad quality jaxtians that otherwise wouldn't have been allowed to breed. They're not normal.
>Do you also believe GMOs are bad
Vegetables are not people, and GMOs also suffer from things like diseases wiping the entire race out because they're effectively one big genetic blob.

See:Bananas
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>>5034135
>No they don't, they are explicitly put on bad quality jaxtians that otherwise wouldn't have been allowed to breed. They're not normal.
You keep saying "muh unnatural" without explaining how that's bad.
>>
>>5034135
>No they don't
Do.

>There is actually a direct part of the population; the roughly 2-3% of women whose genes are considered not good enough to reproduce, and those females too beyond their prime to continue sexual reproduction. Many of these women still desire children, and the Hegemony can provide for them; a new initiative to artificially inseminate them with the highest grade genetic material your race can muster. While your genetic technology is a long way off from breeding vats or artificial wombs; simple gene splicing and selective breeding is easy enough. Because of a quirk of the Jaxtian menstrual cycle; these artificial ovum are given a heavy "sheathe" of fatty lipids and proteins, to help nurture and secure them against the utrine wall, especially in the less-than-ideal hosts they are implanted within...
Direct quote from >>5030803 - gene splicing and high selection quality means we've cut out anything shit and used only the best, even if the mothers drag it down somewhat. How else do you explain them performing as well as they do? They're made from the best of our race, refined and then intermixed with those that are below the threshold of the rolling generational culling (a cull which over generations has raised the bottom even as the top has raised too).

Even if they are "unnatural" - so what? They're arguably proof that we should expand the program rather than shrinking it given their high performance as a population indicates they are genuinely great shit.
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>>5034139
>What do you mean, you don't want to replace your entire race with an artificially created species?
>>5034140
>Do
It does not. It proves what is said, that they're unnatural, they're artificially made.
>And so what
They're artificially made, and i'm not going to be the one who helps us replace our own species. Jaxtians are Jaxtians, not Indigos. Being obsessed with 'muh efficiency' will only lead to our doom.
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>>5034141
>It does not. It proves what is said
I was pointing out they DO have genes from high quality Jaxtians. A thing you claimed they didn't. You are incorrect in saying it backs up what you claimed.

>they're unnatural, they're artificially made.
Okay so just to follow your logic - Artificial Insemination makes them unnatural or Gene-Alteration? Because I swear that early posts of this quest talk about the candidates for Supreme Ruler being genetically modified too.

>They're artificially made, and i'm not going to be the one who helps us replace our own species
They are Jaxtians - besides the ability to enter a state of stasis but that's a negligible difference (and one I actually want to spread to the whole population!) 99.9% of the time.

They don't breed to produce Indigo children unless inseminated under the same situations as created them in the first place - they will produce ordinary Jaxtian children of high quality with the stasis-gene. They aren't going to "replace" us, short of them only having children in their aged years (which if anything would prevent them replacing us). Stop fear-mongering.
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>>5034144
>A thing you claimed they didn't
If you actually look at it, you were saying it wasn't unnatural bcause they came from high quality jaxtians, and i said that they didn't, becvause they were only inseminated with high quality genes, as opposed to having high quality genes for the mothers.
>Okay so just to follow your logic - Artificial Insemination makes them unnatural or Gene-Alteration?
It's the fact that they're altered to the point of basically being another species - they're much more highly modified. It's the difference between washing something and replacing it.
>They are Jaxtians
No, they're Indigo Jaxtians, they're highly different. They are much less natural than the Jaxtians, even with our gene changes.
>They don't breed to produce Indigo children unless inseminated under the same situations as created them in the first place
Yes, they do. It's a genetic trait - if it was implied that they would die out within a generation, there'd be no issue. Not just their coloration, but their genetic code - it's different.

They're closer to clones than normal jaxtians - their mothers are essentially a nonfactor for their genes.
>>
>>5034067

Wait, why is the suspension gene in the Indigo children? We decided not to do that, explicitly so.

>>5032201
Was where we got the choice of adding the gene IF we decided to go for the colony. We decided not to.
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>>5034149
>If you actually look at it, you were saying it wasn't unnatural bcause they came from high quality jaxtians, and i said that they didn't, becvause they were only inseminated with high quality genes, as opposed to having high quality genes for the mothers.
Fair enough I guess, though I'd point out with artifical insemination you can alter the genetics of both the sperm and egg (assuming we didn't use high quality eggs too and just used them as surrogate wombs) so chances are we bothered to do both meaning there was no low quality genetics involved.

>It's the fact that they're altered to the point of basically being another species - they're much more highly modified. It's the difference between washing something and replacing it.
I disagree entirely.

>No, they're Indigo Jaxtians, they're highly different. They are much less natural than the Jaxtians, even with our gene changes.
>Yes, they do. It's a genetic trait - if it was implied that they would die out within a generation, there'd be no issue. Not just their coloration, but their genetic code - it's different.
Yet if that is the case nothing you do will matter - short of genocide - as they are superior to the average Jaxtian and breed true. We cull the lowest 3% generationally and they are distinctly absent from that group. Ergo, over time, we will eliminate """"true"""" Jaxtians from the genepool while these Indigos are less or even entirely unaffected until such a time as the genetic quality of the Jaxtians rises to match them - by which point in time most of the population would be Indigo-blooded. If you are right they've already won, GG - no RE.

Of course this also assumes that your position has even the slightest base in fearing / hating them. They are different - so? Why are you irrationally attached to inferior genetics? They maintain our culture and government, they are essentially still us on the macro-scale of their biology - your fears seem like something /pol/ would delight in more than a reasoned position.

TLDR - Either they breed true and we need to perform a genocide because you want genetic purity for some stupid reason OR they don't in which case, to refer to my earlier comment, stop fear mongering.
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>>5034155
>I disagree entirely.
They are, though. They're much more different. It's said so - they are more 'effective 'than your normal Jaxtian. They're not natural. They, despite being a really small minority, occupy an absurdly big percentage of positions in the government.
>Yet if that is the case nothing you do will matter
Discontinuing their project is a good start - if they breed, then, well, that's why i said we should look for a way to maybe fix them so they won't be forced to have their breeding license removed.
>If you are right they've already won, GG - no RE.
If i'm right, then we can cull them early on and perfect the science to ensure there'll be no Jaxtian Replacement. "muh genocide" is not an argument hwen we already have literal breeding licenses.
>Of course this also assumes that your position has even the slightest base in fearing / hating them.
They are not us. They will replace us if we do not get rid of them. Ergo, they are a threat.
>Why are you irrationally attached to inferior genetics?
It's not inferior genetics, they're just way too genetically changed. They're far too artificial.
>They maintain our culture and government
Like hell, they're not Jaxtian, and they're not going to continue Jaxtian due to how different they are. They don't even have any biological links to their mothers
>your fears seem like something /pol/ would delight in more than a reasoned position.
>muh /pol/
>muh 'replacement is actually good because something something efficiency'

TL;DR Put that thing back where it came from or so help me
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>>5034164
You have a lizard brain.
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>>5034164
>They are, though. They're much more different. It's said so - they are more 'effective 'than your normal Jaxtian. They're not natural. They, despite being a really small minority, occupy an absurdly big percentage of positions in the government.
Actually you know what, I don't care about this point. Even if they aren't natural I don't see that as a issue and I've laid out enough arguments that they are natural or near enough that at this point I'm just going to ignore this point because to me that is a non-issue and I doubt I can actually change your mind.

>fix them
You mean undo the entire point of the project that produced them? That's retarded.

>despite being a really small minority
We don't know how small of a percentage of the population they make up. They are a minority but that means little when higher tier jobs are by their nature less of the population.

>If i'm right, then we can cull them early on and perfect the science to ensure there'll be no Jaxtian Replacement
So your plan, if I am getting this right, is to forcibly cull a minority of our population who presently hold some of the highest ranking positions disproportionately by not letting them have kids.

>"muh genocide" is not an argument hwen we already have literal breeding licenses.
There is a difference. Those denied the right to breed were denied it at birth and have little recourse because it is a objective and unbiased action taken on the whole population. You on the other hand specifically want to target a minority of the population intentionally and despite them not being "justified" for removal by the logic of genetic inferiority.

Our system of justification is that genetic inferiority is to be eliminated so people become better over time. Under that basis you can't justify this targetting - meaning that if you attempt that you will see a backlash even if only from the Indigos but possibly more broadly.

>They are not us. They will replace us if we do not get rid of them. Ergo, they are a threat.
See, you complain that about ">muh /pol" and then say shit like this. I'm just calling it like I see it.

>It's not inferior genetics, they're just way too genetically changed.
It is objectively inferior genetics. They are outperforming our unmodified population via meritocratic processes. Fact.

>they're not Jaxtian
They are.
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>>5034169
>I don't see that as a issue
Because you're efficiency addled, you'd replace us with aliens if they "were better"
>You mean undo the entire point of the project that produced them?
The point was to grow our population without worsening our geenetic quality - but the side effects are bad.
>So your plan, if I am getting this right, is to forcibly cull a minority of our population who presently hold some of the highest ranking positions disproportionately by not letting them have kids.
If we don't do it now, we won't be able to do it later.
> You on the other hand specifically want to target a minority of the population intentionally and despite them not being "justified" for removal by the logic of genetic inferiority.
They are an artificial mutation. That is their issue. That's why removing them would be better - if we keep them, we'll irreversably change the hedgemony and, according to your own words, everyone will become indigo
> I'm just calling it like I see it.
You said it YOURSELF that if they can breed more indigos, then "We'll be replaced GG No Re".
>It is objectively inferior genetics
They are artificial genetics.

We refused cybernetics for this same reason - because we want to remain with our roots. If we followed your soulless attempt at logic, we'd all become mechanicus-tier abominations because it's "meritocratic"
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>>5034168
At least i have a brain.
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>>5034134
>Reasonably speaking what we could do is stop using only the highest quality of genetics for the Indigos - since that'd help reduce the overperformance of their minority.

Agree with this. What we really wanted at the end of the day was more population at all levels. I don't think we'll ever have a shortage of elites.
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>>5034171
>because we want to remain with our roots.
Revisionism, people were just afraid of Helper.
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>>5034195
What? No, the Cybernetics part was decided before we had the whole Helper debacle. Fear of AI Was part of it, but it was also because we didn't want to go full mechanicus.

I would know, i was there and talked about it.
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>>5034171
>Because you're efficiency addled, you'd replace us with aliens if they "were better"
Don't insult me by putting words in my mouth or implying I'm obsessed with efficiency.

>The point was to grow our population without worsening our geenetic quality - but the side effects are bad.
What side-effects?

>If we don't do it now, we won't be able to do it later.
And I don't want to do it ever.

>They are an artificial mutation. That is their issue. That's why removing them would be better - if we keep them, we'll irreversably change the hedgemony and, according to your own words, everyone will become indigo
>You said it YOURSELF that if they can breed more indigos, then "We'll be replaced GG No Re".
Yeah, you seem to be ignoring two things: one, the complete lack of proof they breed true; two, that I was speaking hypothetically.

IF "they do breed true" which I don't think is the case and even if they can I don't actually see it as a issue - Indigos interbreed with regular population and the % culled get the chance to have Indigo kids. Thus the genetics of everyone is improved to the modified and those who are culled just produce more Indigos. Further I don't have a issue with the replacement because, again, they are Jaxtians to me.

Also, how the hell do you see them changing the Hegemony? They're the same as our ordinary people just with better genes (+ stasis-gene which is new). They have our culture, language, history, education - your literal sole basis for wanting rid of them is a strange fear of artificial genetics.

>They are artificial genetics.
And?

>We refused cybernetics for this same reason - because we want to remain with our roots. If we followed your soulless attempt at logic, we'd all become mechanicus-tier abominations because it's "meritocratic"
I'd need to double check but our fear was AI bullshit - not "preserving muh roots".
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>>5034067
The Implanted children project was intended to help grow our population by increasing the number of Jaxtians born without overhauling our existing natural birth laws; using natural recombination of high-quality genestocks.

If someone has been using the program to introduce genetic engineering into the population without the permission and authority of the supreme leadership, that is an issue.

If someone has been using the program to introduce alien genetic strands into the Indigo children, despite the decision that we would not be perusing the colonial project that required them, that is an issue.

Therefore we must immediately INDEFINITELY SUSPEND the program pending review of all staff and administrative logs to see where and when these rogue orders crept into the system.

(Also, get a couple of the Indigos to reproduce with one another, or find an Indigo couple. See if the children are born the natural colour without the artificial process.)
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>>5034206
>If someone has been using the program to introduce genetic engineering into the population without the permission and authority of the supreme leadership, that is an issue.
The genetic engineering was mentioned >>5030803, "gene splicing and selective breeding is easy enough".

>If someone has been using the program to introduce alien genetic strands into the Indigo children, despite the decision that we would not be perusing the colonial project that required them, that is an issue.
To be fair, I'm not certain QM has actually confirmed if we've added that in. >>5034104 is the post where it is first mentioned in this discussion and it seems like we all ran with it from there rather than it being stated by QM.

So yeah, we might've miscommunicated that into being a issue.
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>>5034202
>Don't insult me by putting words in my mouth or implying I'm obsessed with efficiency.
Your entire argument is that the artificial split-off that created the indigos is good because they're "better"
>What side-effects?
Mainly, the looming chance of a split in our population? That we have to deal with this at all is not good.
>And I don't want to do it ever.
No duh, you WANT the jaxtians to be replaced by the indigos. Because they're "better"
>Yeah, you seem to be ignoring two things: one, the complete lack of proof they breed true; two, that I was speaking hypothetically.
If they don't, this argument is moot as all their artificial genetics will be going away in a few generations or so and the indigos will be a memory. Not just their color.
> Thus the genetics of everyone is improved
They're made into artificial crutches.
> Further I don't have a issue with the replacement because, again, they are Jaxtians to me.
Because, again, you're trying to 'minmax' our genes like it's some sort of videogame. No care for the effects.
>Also, how the hell do you see them changing the Hegemony?
They're a different group than Jaxtians, you can see even in how they're treated. Their artificiality means they are much more alike than your normal Jaxtian. They're not Jaxtian.
>And?
It's bad to make your people artificial. Playing god is a dangerous game with dangerous consequences. It's one thing to make yourself better - to improve the genes you have. It's another to make a being from the bottom up.
>I'd need to double check but our fear was AI bullshit - not "preserving muh roots".
It wasn't just AI, as i remember, it was also not wanting to turn into a cybernetic mechanicum mess and to stay true to our more biological culture. Basically, to avoid too much reliance on machines.
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>>5034178
Your arguments and insults are like those of a toddler, desu.

>>5034067
>Start a program where Indigos are rewarded for tutoring, assisting, and generally helping out normal Jaxtians, with a goal of making the public perception of them lean towards powerful protectors and helpers
>stop using only the highest quality of genetics for the Indigos - since that'd help reduce the overperformance of their minority
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>>5034229
>Your entire argument is that the artificial split-off that created the indigos is good because they're "better"
>Mainly, the looming chance of a split in our population? That we have to deal with this at all is not good.
If I might draw your attention to the fact >>5034103, this is my vote and has remained such all while I argued with you. I am ending the program because I don't want this causing us issues with stability (although what we could try is having a reduction in the number of Indigo children we're producing to prevent them filling too much of the upper brackets and seeing if that helps - though that'd cut into the bonus to population growth so meh) even if I think it has benefits.

Also - don't put better in quotation marks, it implies it is not objectively and measurably true - which it is. They are physically and mentally better - it is a fact as shown by them outcompeting society-wide despite being a minority and even acknowledged by you here >>5034164 - and your denial of this fact discredits your arguments.

>If they don't, this argument is moot as all their artificial genetics will be going away in a few generations or so and the indigos will be a memory. Not just their color.
No - if they don't then their genetics will spread into subsequent generations or do you not understand how genetic inheritance works? Everything we'd done to them was genetic - the colour change is NOT intentional, merely a side-effect of the chosen mothers. They will produce kids who are also higher quality but just look like regular Jaxtians. This is why my original vote-post suggested producing them in waves rather than having a constant minority because they are reabsorbed into the population meaning we could avoid the issue of accumulating social strife around them by basically eliminating them as a sub-group every so often.

>They're made into artificial crutches.
This is not a coherent position Anon. How does actively making the baseline Jaxtian smarter, stronger, healthier, longer lived and more capable = artificial crutches. It doesn't. You are trying to argue that by making our people better I am actually making them worse.

>Because, again, you're trying to 'minmax' our genes like it's some sort of videogame. No care for the effects.
As opposed to "failing to roleplay as a ruler of eugenicist nation" which I could level against you if we're going to start with those sorts of arguments. Focus on the actual facts Anon and don't try to bismirch me or my position by arguing I'm not taking this seriously enough.

>They're a different group than Jaxtians, you can see even in how they're treated. Their artificiality means they are much more alike than your normal Jaxtian.
I don't understand what that has to do with them changing the hegemony, so I'll ask again - how do you see them changing the hegemony?
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>It's bad to make your people artificial. Playing god is a dangerous game with dangerous consequences. It's one thing to make yourself better - to improve the genes you have. It's another to make a being from the bottom up.
Okay but we haven't made "another being from the bottom up" - these are just Jaxtians-but-better. Same number of organs and limbs, capable of interbreeding with original population - your position is only feasible if you exaggerate the changes we have made to a insane degree. Further, what is your plan in future whenever we acquire the gene tech that we set up the gas harvesting plan with Cirrus for? It's alien and artificial. Are you telling me you don't plan on using it?

>to avoid too much reliance on machines.
Which is radically different to being bio-puritanical like you were suggesting.
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>>5034067
>Change laws to mandate Indigo Children must mate with non-Indigo Jaxtians to spread their genetic gifts
>Begin massive propaganda efforts highlighting racial unity, the superiority of the Jaxtian species and feel-good romantic comedies about Indigo-Blue pairings.
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>>5034255
t. Hazaar
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>>5034255
>Begin massive propaganda efforts highlighting racial unity, the superiority of the Jaxtian species and feel-good romantic comedies about Indigo-Blue pairings.
I mean one of my unironic "solutions" was gonna be mandating that they can't take Indigo partners since that'd reduce the feeling that they're superior possibly but that'd work too.

WWW.INDIGO'D.COM
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>>5034247
> I am ending the program because I don't want this causing us issues with stability
If that's your position, why would you then say that you have no issues with replacement of Jaxtians with Indigos?
> and your denial of this fact discredits your arguments.
They are "better" and not better because, while more skilled, their origin is a much possible weakness. We're not perfect here, and their near-complete genetic altering is not something we as a society should lean on.
>No - if they don't then their genetics will spread into subsequent generations or do you not understand how genetic inheritance works?
If they can pass down their genes, they'll pass down the fur too. It's an side effect of the mothers, but it's still something that was imprinted onto their fetuses.
>How does actively making the baseline Jaxtian smarter, stronger, healthier, longer lived and more capable = artificial crutches. It doesn't.
Because it's completely artificial. It's not an natural birth improved with technology - it is an unnatural one. The mothers are a complete non-factor, they're basically surrogate wombs. Indigos are basically pod babies.
>As opposed to "failing to roleplay as a ruler of eugenicist nation"
Jaxtians are eugeniscists, but they're also highly attached to their tradition, which is why we didn't just start spamming metropolises on Schoon to fix our population problem and instead built cities on the ocean.
>I don't understand what that has to do with them changing the hegemony,
How do you not? They're artificial and closer - they're more similar. They don't have the general deviations that normal Jaxtians do. They're "better". And this is for now - if we were to allow them to continue, they, being different from your normal Jaxtian, would surely develop their own in-culture. The only way Indigos would maintain Jaxtian culture would be if all the Jaxtians suddenly died out.
>these are just Jaxtians-but-better.
They are specifically highly altered, they don't take genes from their mothers and they possess the ability and modification to take things such as the suspension gene.
>Are you telling me you don't plan on using it?
I didn't want the deal in the first place, but in general, tetramere lenghtening seems to be a technique used to improve upon the already-existing genes.
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>>5034265
>If that's your position, why would you then say that you have no issues with replacement of Jaxtians with Indigos?
I don't see them as any different beyond a temporary change in fur colour and improved genetics - something which the regular Jaxtians already generally work towards meaning I'm basically just cutting the process short. They are no different in my eyes than regular high-gene-grade Jaxtians that by-chance got a change of coat colour that wouldn't be inherited.

>their origin is a much possible weakness
Your fear of their genetics causing a weakness to disease or other such issues is admirable I suppose but ill-founded - since I have serious doubts that we have made them genetically similar enough for such a thing to pose a serious issue or even to provide a noteworthy rise in the ability for a disease to affect them.

>If they can pass down their genes, they'll pass down the fur too. It's an side effect of the mothers, but it's still something that was imprinted onto their fetuses.
No - because the fur is not genetic. It is a thing caused by their birth mothers but not inheritable. Hell, the original wording can even be interpreted in such a way as to suggest that the stimulus which causes the coat-colour change is also artificial and something we decided to do.

"Because of a quirk of the Jaxtian menstrual cycle; these artificial ovum are given a heavy "sheathe" of fatty lipids and proteins, to help nurture and secure them against the utrine wall, especially in the less-than-ideal hosts they are implanted within...As a side effect of this process, the young children are born with a rich, deep blue coat that remains that colour for life. The "Indigo Children" have yet to show what their impact on your people may be."

E,g we gave them the lipid coat as a protection against the mothers rather than the interpretation that this was something their bodies did to make up for old age or something - which'd make more sense given the fact that some of the people we inseminated wouldn't have been old but rather just in the margin of unacceptable genetics. Their coats don't descend into their children.

>Because it's completely artificial
It isn't. They are made using natural genetic material, even if we have enhanced it by modification.

>Jaxtians are eugeniscists, but they're also highly attached to their tradition
And part of their tradition is eugenics.
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>>5034275
>How do you not? They're artificial and closer - they're more similar...only way Indigos would maintain Jaxtian culture would be if all the Jaxtians suddenly died out.
Because they are our people, we use extensive social and psychological conditioning combined with propaganda and surveillance - we can prevent nascent cultural formation if it comes down to it and further there is the fact that even if they might diverge it would take a very long time for their subculture to mature into a issue. Not to mention, as they don't breed true, they can't actually pass any sorts of minority-culture down to their children (as their children are distinctly not of that minority) meaning that so long as their % of the population remains small enough / we keep them decentralised they can't achieve cultural inertia. Frankly, I admit you have a point but equally I don't see it as being absolutely certain to occur nor that it would happen quickly, especially if we take actions to protect and dissuade the issue.

>They are specifically highly altered, they don't take genes from their mothers and they possess the ability and modification to take things such as the suspension gene.
Yet that doesn't change them being fundamentally Jaxtian - their genetics are built from the best of our race even if not their mothers and as I noted a few posts back the suspension gene might not actually have ever been added to them. They are Jaxtian, from their amino acids to their macro-structure.

>I didn't want the deal in the first place, but in general, tetramere lenghtening seems to be a technique used to improve upon the already-existing genes.
I don't imagine it is a technique for improving existing genetics but even if it is we're relying on a design of it developed by aliens and modifying our genetics artificially.
>>
>>5034275
> something which the regular Jaxtians already generally work towards
No, it's different. The Jaxtian process is much more natural, more aimed towards pairing up high-grade genetics and weeding out the imperfections with medicine. This is much deeper - we're a single step away from just straight up making them in assembly line artificial uteruses.
>but ill-founded
Is it, though? If you're just taking a few high-grade genetics and spreading them without significant change (no influence from mother), the chance of an problem that'll affect them grows much higher - it's like the example with the bananas that have more than once went nearly extinct because people just keep putting the same ones.
>No - because the fur is not genetic
The Fur comes from the 'barrier' put on their fetuses to stop them from absorbing the characteristics of their mothers - this means that, in their development, they had something that shifted their hue from blue to purple - the fatty lipids and proteins. It follows that they'll still possess those fatty lipids and pass them on to their children.
>It isn't.
How is a heavily modified fetus that is completely unaffected by it's mother not artificial?
>And part of their tradition is eugenics.
Yes, but this eugenics does not get overruled by staying true to the original 'Jaxt'.
> we can prevent nascent cultural formation if it comes down to it
Not if they continue to gain power in our government. All it takes is there being enough purples in the state and they'll be able to form their own culture - what, you think that they're going to police themselves?
>Yet that doesn't change them being fundamentally Jaxtian
They're different from Jaxtians in the same way a race of clones would be different from their host species.
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>>5034276
>we're relying on a design of it developed by aliens and modifying our genetics artificially.
Obviously it's not wise to just blindly use it, but if it's just knowledge in the form of being able to improve our 'tetrameres', we would be within normal eugenics done by the hedgemony
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>>5034067
>>Discontinue the Indigo Children project
No difference between Jaxtians but their will.
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>>5034255
>support
Why remove a boon to our society when given time we can just remove what makes them "different" and have them look like everyone else
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>>5034304
>No, it's different. The Jaxtian process is much more natural, more aimed towards pairing up high-grade genetics and weeding out the imperfections with medicine. This is much deeper - we're a single step away from just straight up making them in assembly line artificial uteruses.
So your logic is a process being more natural makes it better and more acceptable? Should we not perform artificial insemination at all then? This idea of something being 'more natural' making it more acceptable is incredibly questionable to me. Hell, why not make them on an assembly line - the sole reason we haven't done that is we can't do it technologically you realise? That was a stated limitation of our technology back when we first made them and QM'd only mention it if it were important - and he would mention if we were disgusted at the idea in character then too.

>Is it, though? If you're just taking a few high-grade genetics and spreading them without significant change (no influence from mother), the chance of an problem that'll affect them grows much higher - it's like the example with the bananas that have more than once went nearly extinct because people just keep putting the same ones.
Those bananas are genetics duplicates - not the same.

https://groundedgrub.com/articles/bananas

"Banana seeds are produced through fertilization of female flowers by male pollen, like most other plants, but they have been bred to be smaller over time because large seeds make them nearly inedible. The seeds are used for breeding programs and are sometimes viable, but usually have a low germination rate. This leads to the propagation of banana plants using plant material from rhizome (a specialized type of root) tissue. Tissue propagation is an effective method for creating identical plants that produce consistent fruit, something that is desirable for merchants around the world. The issue with this type of propagation is twofold: the tissues themselves can transport pests and diseases, and they create genetically identical clones that are more susceptible to diseases because they don’t have the genetic diversity that comes with sexual reproduction"

Frankly I can't imagine our geneticists being dumb enough to not vary the structures they are adding to the Indigos to prevent something like you fear occurring.
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>>5034378
>The Fur comes from the 'barrier' put on their fetuses to stop them from absorbing the characteristics of their mothers - this means that, in their development, they had something that shifted their hue from blue to purple - the fatty lipids and proteins. It follows that they'll still possess those fatty lipids and pass them on to their children.
No, because the fatty lipids were an artificially added feature rather than something genetic. Ergo short of them doing that to their kids, which they can't without us giving permission, they can't. If it was natural - and as described in the post - the population would natively have Indigo children and their fur colour wouldn't automatically distinguish them. The fur will disappear.

>Yes, but this eugenics does not get overruled by staying true to the original 'Jaxt'.
Okay, tell me then - what is the 'original'? Because the original genetic code contained diseases and flaws which we have expunged. Should we add those back in? Or is it only positive changes you concern yourself with. Further I think you are putting words to the mouth of QM's world which I don't see great evidence of. If what you suggest were the case then the suggestion of using the Stasis gene on our own people would've been a option tinged with distinct risk rather than just being a "could do" option - the same for the aforementioned cloning in my first quotation of you in my prior post. Your understanding of Jaxtian morality and philosophy is in my opinion inaccurate - and from that stems this entire rejection of what is factually from what has been seen entirely accepted activity and individuals.

>Not if they continue to gain power in our government. All it takes is there being enough purples in the state and they'll be able to form their own culture - what, you think that they're going to police themselves?
They are a severe minority in a nation which uses AI to automate numerous tasks and has the capacity to perform extensive propaganda efforts. Nations in far, far more precarious positions than us have used a minority against itself and we aren't even reliant on them to do it. It is possible.

>They're different from Jaxtians in the same way a race of clones would be different from their host species.
You mean not at all?

>>5034310
We literally have grades of Jaxtians assigned to castes for their whole lives based on arbitrary (as in they can't change them / didn't cause them) if important characteristics. Nothing wrong with it but it does conflict with your logic.

>>5034375
Issue is it may take too long. Besides that I agree.
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>>5034378
>So your logic is a process being more natural makes it better and more acceptable
It's more reliable, is what it is. And yes, also more acceptable.
>Should we not perform artificial insemination at all then?
We shouldn't do the kind where we're basically using a womb as an artificial surrogate.
>Frankly I can't imagine our geneticists being dumb enough to not vary the structures they are adding to the Indigos to prevent something like you fear occurring.
They're specifically making them from the highest quality jaxtians. They take nothing from the mother. It's not as bad as a literal clone, but it's still much worse than the way we were using.
>No, because the fatty lipids were an artificially added feature rather than something genetic.
They were added, but why wouldn't they continue? Unless you're implying that the purple fur isn't actually a part of the indigo genetics, in which case the indigo would be equivalent to paint. Which it is not - it can't be removed.
>Okay, tell me then - what is the 'original'?
Well, tell me, why haven't we heavily modified ourselves? And i mean much heavier modification like allowing us to breathe underwater (just an example)? Why would the stasis gene be added to the Indigo and not the Jaxtians?
>They are a severe minority
A Severe minority that holds a disproportionate amount of important government positions. The AI ultimately follow the orders of the Hedgemony.
>You mean not at all?
I mean they are different, not just genetically but in the cultural sense as well.
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>>5034397
>It's more reliable, is what it is. And yes, also more acceptable.
I disagree with your belief it is more reliable on the simple basis that you can't control evolution only reject the bad outcomes with selective breeding while with this we can actively encourage good outcomes and reject the bad. As to it being more acceptable, I imagine that is a point we're just never going to agree on.

>We shouldn't do the kind where we're basically using a womb as an artificial surrogate.
I disagree, simple as.

>They're specifically making them from the highest quality jaxtians. They take nothing from the mother. It's not as bad as a literal clone, but it's still much worse than the way we were using.
I disagree, simple as.

>They were added, but why wouldn't they continue?
Because the Indigos are high genetic quality - meaning that any kids they bear aren't going to need it in the womb. If we continue the program, sure, there'd continue to be some Indigo furred children around but they'd be born to the bottom 3% - not the high achieving Indigos.

>Unless you're implying that the purple fur isn't actually a part of the indigo genetics, in which case the indigo would be equivalent to paint. Which it is not - it can't be removed.
Physiological changes don't require genetic differences. You can have a human turn blue because of a build up of silver in the skin, similarly these changes to their fur could be simply down to a particular genetic sequence being flicked on in the presence of excessive lipids or a a number of other causes which don't precipitate it carrying on to future generations.

Easiest way to confirm - or deny this - is if QM would weigh in but he's absent currently. Frankly until they return to confirm or deny that this is inheritable, we can't discuss the point further.

>Well, tell me, why haven't we heavily modified ourselves?
Frankly I don't know, I presume because any easy and universally useful modifications that could be done were done before quest-start since we'd had a few hundred years or whatever of rebuilding and thus plenty of time for the alterations that could be made or inspired by wildlife and science were performed then.

>And i mean much heavier modification like allowing us to breathe underwater (just an example)?
Making something like our people breathe underwater is a serious adaption that'd almost certainly have severe limitations to their lifestyle and capabilities in other areas - to say nothing of the fact that most of our people 99.9% of the time don't need that. Since going into water can probably be left to drones when it comes to working and recreational swimming / diving is a activity rather than a necessity.

>Why would the stasis gene be added to the Indigo and not the Jaxtians?
I was and remain of the opinion it should be added to everyone - as to why not the Jaxtians because natural insemination doesn't enable such modifications.
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>>5034411
>ou can't control evolution only reject the bad outcomes
The difference is that weeding out the bad is far easier and more contained than possibly causing a fuckup of your own.
>I disagree, simple as.
You disagree with genetics? The Indigos have much less genetic diversity; They are much more prone to that sort of problem.
>meaning that any kids they bear aren't going to need it in the womb
Unless it passes on, but i digress.
>Frankly I don't know
I reckon Jaxtian culture's "ties to nature" might have to do with it.
>Making something like our people breathe underwater is a serious adaption
It's an example, i'm asking why we didn't do any heavy-duty changes to ourselves. We're still relatively normal monkeys.
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>>5034439
>The difference is that weeding out the bad is far easier and more contained than possibly causing a fuckup of your own.
If we were applying this to the whole population or even a significant portion of it I would agree with you but fact is these individuals wouldn't otherwise exist so a 'risky' but beneficial approach is fine to me because even if 99.9% of them died suddenly we're still going to be around as a species.

>You disagree with genetics? The Indigos have much less genetic diversity; They are much more prone to that sort of problem.
To what sort of problem? Because again,

>Unless it passes on, but i digress.
As I said - QM in absentia, drop the point for now.

>I reckon Jaxtian culture's "ties to nature" might have to do with it.
There is a difference between "trees are good for your mental health and we should preserve ecology" and "my body is sacred, I will not change it unnaturally".

>It's an example, i'm asking why we didn't do any heavy-duty changes to ourselves. We're still relatively normal monkeys.
I mean one possible reason is just it not being economically feasible due to it requiring artificial insemination of most of the population which probably has some downside somewhere. Another is that we have done major changes but they were pre-quest start or aren't obvious (e,g changing our bone structure or getting rid of a vestigial organ( or organs)). Another is that we lacked the technology to feasibly do it until recently (unlikely).

Another is that there just weren't many if any changes that could genuinely be justified in a cost/benefit analysis - fact is we exist in a society that has technology in excess of earth and already earth is getting fairly close to removing humans from a vast range of positions in society. What changes could we actually justify making to the average Jaxtian that wouldn't negatively impact them somewhere in their lives but would also benefit the government / economy / them? If the answer is few or none, then we might have just never done it.

Meanwhile when it comes time to actually do a program of genetically-as-perfect-as-possible children, perhaps that changed the accounting since we were already going to be modifying this and splicing that to make some of those changes now more reasonably affordable / cost-effective. A little adjustment to the whole population that costs $200 per person might not be justifiable if it only pays back $4 per generation but if you are already paying $1000 to make the baby and adding it on effectively only costs $20 due to the fact you are already changing up the DNA significantly to combine 5 or 6 different high quality strands, suddenly it is worth it or at least closer to being so.

Another reason is previous Supreme Rulers being focused on other ideas or Helper suppressing the concept due to it being controlled by someone who wanted to frequently replace the Supreme Ruler and the easiest way to do that was to prevent them expanding their lifespan.
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>>5034478
>To what sort of problem? Because again,
God dammit

To finish this "there shouldn't be any real issues from them. Fact is they were intended to work as a way to colonise another world which means that their genetics would have been designed to avoid the Founder Effect and thus should still have decent genetic diversity assuming it has dropped in any statistically significant way from the average population."
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>>5034478
>even if 99.9% of them died suddenly we're still going to be around as a species.
The problem is if the indigos continue to grow and grow to basically take over our government due to their artificial gene scores.
>There is a difference between "trees are good for your mental health and we should preserve ecology" and "my body is sacred, I will not change it unnaturally".
There is also a difference between "I will improve my body through selective genetics and medical treatments" and "I will edit my body beyond what can be classified as my own species"
>I mean one possible reason is just it not being economically feasible
Even the higher-ups, the ones who get the most genetic treatment, are still relatively normal monkeys as opposed to some giga-brained supermen.
>Fact is they were intended to work as a way to colonise another world
Actually, Indigos were made with the idea to increase our population, the colonization thing came from the suspension gene that they could have.
>>
Yanno, i just realized, i dont think the subject of Jaxtian religion has come up even once in this quest
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>>5034375
>>5034381
>>5034255
>Why remove a boon to our society when given time we can just remove what makes them "different" and have them look like everyone else
Man this quest is full of globohomos.
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>>5034095
I also almost forgot to vote. Supportin' this
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>>5034549
I don't think that they have one, strong space china vibes IMO.
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>>5034559
They are very traditional, though. Way more than China. For example, their law to cut off the hand of someone who wears a golden band.

Their clothing and tradition, feels like it might have religious sources, even if not as widespread or as strong as here on earth.
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>>5034548
>The problem is if the indigos continue to grow and grow to basically take over our government due to their artificial gene scores.
It's unlikely they'll experience sufficient population growth in the immediate future - fact is the 3% who could only have kids this way are a static percentage of the population and we control how many Indigos are born (a number I am happy with reducing to 0, since it is basically just extra pop growth thing, at least until we can resolve the social issues) so, from having a relatively static breeding population to needing our direct intervention to reproduce - their ability to expand is limited. E,g If we mandated "no more than X-per-Y may be Indigos" then that'd be that, there can be no more than that at any time.

>There is also a difference between "I will improve my body through selective genetics and medical treatments" and "I will edit my body beyond what can be classified as my own species"
If that is the standard you want to vote and argue by, fair enough but I entirely disagree - and more importantly I don't think that it is the standard of the Jaxtians and would prefer in future if you didn't make claims about moral acceptability regarding it within the perameter of in-universe society. If you want to decry it as immoral out-of-character, fine, but unless QM states something is the case or at least provides a reasonable hint towards that end - I would like to steer clear of that sort of arguing. It is circular and ruinous to productive discussion.

>Even the higher-ups, the ones who get the most genetic treatment, are still relatively normal monkeys as opposed to some giga-brained supermen.
I mean we've no idea what they used to be like nor actual stats to look at. We've apparently had our government for centuries and it's been removing the bottom 2-3% for that whole time. Assuming every generation you removed on average 2.5%, after 8 generations you've only the top 81.7% of people left.

That is equivalent of getting rid of everyone IRL with a IQ lower than 87. Seeing as retardation starts at 80 or 70 - depending on region / definition / etc, this should give you an idea of just how much of the population we're talking about from just enforced selection alone. Sure the upper end shifts slower but the point is big change.

>Actually, Indigos were made with the idea to increase our population, the colonization thing came from the suspension gene that they could have.
Eh, the point stands either way - if a population of them could have sufficient genetic diversity to make it viable then clearly it can't be that reduced compared to the greater population. Also their birth and the colonisation idea comes up in the same post so I don't know if they are really that seperate.
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>>5034652
>It's unlikely they'll experience sufficient population growth in the immediate future
They don't need to replace us - they are already occupying a disproportional amount of the government. What happens if the Indigos essentially take over? They sure as hell aren't going to stop themselves.
>Sure the upper end shifts slower but the point is big change.
And how does that change the fact that the 'highest' on Jaxt are still pretty much just normal Jaxtians? All the smartest, of course, but they're not supermen. Jaxtians are eugenicists, not fleshweavers.
> then clearly it can't be that reduced compared to the greater population.
When it comes to genetics as complex and fragile as that of a sapient, it can.
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>>5034659
The Indigos are, as far as we know or have reason to believe, the equivalent of a very-well-bred Jaxtian, plus darker due to womb conditions. They aren't superjaxtians anymore than a Supreme Leader candidate is.

>But what if they take over??

Then our meritocratic eugenicist commune will be run by someone who exemplifies the merits of eugenics. Oh no.
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>>5034662
>the equivalent of a very-well-bred Jaxtian
Well, except for the fact that they're much more artificial in every way.
>Then our meritocratic eugenicist commune will be run by someone who exemplifies the merits of eugenics. Oh no.
Yes, oh no, our people will get replaced. What next, should we let the Hazaar take over if they have fancy artificial technology too? Moron.
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>>5034659
>They don't need to replace us - they are already occupying a disproportional amount of the government. What happens if the Indigos essentially take over? They sure as hell aren't going to stop themselves.
Eh, we control our successor so there'll always be a non-Indigo in charge if we want that to be the case and further it is the case that they are out-competing for government positions - not that they make up anything near the majority of jobs in it. Worst comes to worst, prevent them from entering into the government intelligently by forcibly redirecting their talents into scientific pursuits which they are suited for given their higher intellect on average or even banning them from service in government. Set up deep space outposts and isolated research facilities where we can have entirely Indigo crews studying the stars or something.

And, again, they're not exactly able of preventing our activity presently nor would they largely be able to in future. After all, Helper only informed us about the prior Supreme Ruler's kids after choosing his successor - we could set a similar rule where only non-Indigos are informed about the limit placed on their population growth as regards the artificial impregnation. Assuming that they'd even disagree with the simple observational logic of opposing a Indigo supremacy or any other number of reasonable reasons why this isn't a major issue.

To say nothing of our incoming Telomere repair / enhancement tech from the visiting aliens that should provide us with a boost to the lifespan of Supreme Rulers further securing our ability to resist such changes / takeovers. Also >>5034662 is right, who cares? They are our people, they are our race - your logic against them is flawed and frankly if your sole argument against them is "genetic purity" then I'm frankly done arguing with you.

>And how does that change the fact that the 'highest' on Jaxt are still pretty much just normal Jaxtians? All the smartest, of course, but they're not supermen. Jaxtians are eugenicists, not fleshweavers.
Because they're not normal. None of our population is or has been for a long time. Selective breeding by its very nature does not produce 'normal' animals.

>When it comes to genetics as complex and fragile as that of a sapient, it can.
It really can't.

https://phys.org/news/2018-03-populations-pair.html

To actually populate another world unless we intended to send them with thousands of spare eggs and sperm from other donors - they'd need 2500 to 5000 breeding pairs. Assuming similar genetic complexity as humanity - this population being the bare minimum to afford both the ability to avoid negative inbreeding that loses population fitness AND more importantly, provides a wide-enough genetic base to adapt to future environmental changes (including disease). Thus I can reasonably assume that this may very well be the case given it wasn't mentioned that they'd be bringing extra population diversity in a box so to speak.
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>>5034664
>Well, except for the fact that they're much more artificial in every way.
Okay but here's a question - how do you prove they are artificial? Do you imagine if you look at their amino acids you'll see a little trademark? As I keep telling you, they are made of the best of our genetic material spliced together and nothing more (besides the Stasis gene, if that is even in there which I still don't think has been confirmed). They are made from normal genetics, born from a normal womb and raised in a fairly normal family - they are about as normal as any child can get.

>Yes, oh no, our people will get replaced.
Yes, oh no, our policies are working LITERALLY as intended and having the most fit of our people lead. What next, doctors healing people? Scientists making discoveries? Workers working? Oh where will the horrors end!

>What next, should we let the Hazaar take over if they have fancy artificial technology too? Moron.
Frankly, you are the moron here - the Hazaar are not our citizens, not raised in our culture, not born of our history or our nation. Your comparison is insane and strawmanned to hell. Don't be a prat.
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>>5034671
>Eh, we control our successor so there'll always be a non-Indigo in charge if we want that to be the case
You say that until all the options end up being indigos because we didn't put an end to it.
> After all, Helper only informed us about the prior Supreme Ruler's kids after choosing his successor
What does that even have to do with the indigos? How would that stop them from continuing to take over the government's positions?
> They are our people, they are our race
Like hell they are, and i've already talked about it a lot.
>Because they're not normal.
They're better, obviously, but that's because they weeded out the weak and used modern medicine to help with that, as opposed to creating something artificially.
>Thus I can reasonably assume that this may very well be the case given it wasn't mentioned that they'd be bringing extra population diversity in a box so to speak.
You forget the fact that they are ultimately created from an particular subset of Jaxtians, on the high end perhaps but they're still made from one particular group. The chance that some issue could afflict them in specific is much higher.
>how do you prove they are artificial?
They are picked from an specific subset of Jaxtians, genetically edited much more heavily than your usual Jaxtian and carry no genes from their mothers.
>Yes, oh no, our policies are working LITERALLY as intended
Our policies are to put the most fit Jaxtians in them, not to replace our entire race with artificial grapes.
>Your comparison is insane and strawmanned to hell
It's an apt comparison. Your argument is that the Indigos should replace us because they're "better". If we follow your dumb logic, we should also bow to the Hazaar.
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>>5034664
>much more artificial in every way

Talk out of your ass more. The post described them as being spliced from Jaxtian genes, from living, normal Jaxtians of good-breeding, and being indigo only because of a layer of fatty tissues shielding them from the so-called inferior maternal contributions. The stasis gene was voted against.
>>
I sometimes wonder why the attack on citrus was so exact. It could have easily been targetted at our homeworld.
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>>5034688
They need more than just an barrier to work out. Much more splicing. Not to say that even if we voted against the suspension gene, it was the indigos who were "suites" to receive it.
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>>5034683
>You say that until all the options end up being indigos because we didn't put an end to it.
Frankly if a severe minority can manage to be that over-represented in our succession pool then I don't give a shit they're great and I want to see what having one in charge would bring.

>What does that even have to do with the indigos? How would that stop them from continuing to take over the government's positions?
Because that means we can limit their population numbers and thus just how much they can dominate any institution because there just won't be enough of them.

>Like hell they are, and i've already talked about it a lot.
Like hell - they are - and I've already talked about it a lot.

>They're better, obviously, but that's because they weeded out the weak and used modern medicine to help with that, as opposed to creating something artificially.
Nope. Both are methods of artificial selection just you like one but not the other, for entirely illogical reasons.

>You forget the fact that they are ultimately created from an particular subset of Jaxtians, on the high end perhaps but they're still made from one particular group. The chance that some issue could afflict them in specific is much higher.
And if that is the case then I will quite happily accept being told that it was my fault but frankly we have little reason to believe that is the case. Also, "a particular subset" of Jaxtians that is literal million strong. We've 11.802~ billion people supposing we used only one-in-a-million (0.000001% of our population) for donors - that'd be 11,802 AKA more than twice the threshold I highlighted to maintain a healthy population on a genetic level.

>They are picked from an specific subset of Jaxtians, genetically edited much more heavily than your usual Jaxtian and carry no genes from their mothers.
Yes yet they carry genes from their TRUE mothers and fathers - high quality Jaxtians. Not the one which handles biological maturation and raising. IRL this is a thing too with 3-person IVF (sperm + egg inserted into the shell of a egg that is forcibly emptied before being implanted - useful for infertile people). Who is to say they aren't just adopted children and that wasn't the sort of thing I was trying to establish.

When I say "prove they are artificial" - I don't mean "show they don't have a REAL DAD" by your standard - I mean show how you would prove in isolation that they aren't a normal Jaxtian besides their fur which I expect to fade in a generation. Fact is if our records were destroyed you wouldn't know who their supposed mother and father are so your only possible way to tell would be to study their body for signs of being artificial. There are none, seeing as they don't even have the Stasis Gene so they are normal, in the grand scheme of things, fact.
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>>5034703
>Our policies are to put the most fit Jaxtians in them, not to replace our entire race with artificial grapes.
Yes, and these people are Jaxtians. You can say whatever you want, that is a fact. They are recognised as such by our people, our government AND our science. You are factually wrong, both in and out of QM's quest-universe because the definition of a species is a group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding" usually combined with "that which can provide viable fertile offspring" as this is how we can tell if two species are distinct rather than merely being somewhat genetically separate but still one whole. By application of both of these standards, Indigos are Jaxtians.

>It's an apt comparison. Your argument is that the Indigos should replace us because they're "better".
My logic is our people should become better - these are our people and they are better. Why would I oppose the success of our people in improving themselves? Why would I oppose our best people in succeeding? Oh! I know, by having stupid ass ideas like you! Yeah, if I was a fucking mouth breathing retard - I suppose then I might decide to oppose them, you know, just before remembering that I have to breathe again to not die.

>>5034694
Magnetosphere might cause too much interference? Other possibility was it was meant to hit us but their observation of our system missed some orbital peculiarity and thus they targeted the wrong place. That or it would only work with a sufficiently big target - which'd make sense since they made it produce drones so it wasn't a one-and-done attack - in which case only Cirrus was viable probably.
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>>5034706
Wonder if we could fashion the first part of your response into a part of a speech to give to our people should we go with >>5034255
Idea about using propaganda to unite our people, along with explaining why they have such particular color hue to their fur
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>>5034703
>Frankly if a severe minority can manage to be that over-represented in our succession pool
Its easy to get that good when the government comes and says "Here, take our best eveything"
> there just won't be enough of them
To arrive at that level we'd need to seriously cut their numbers - which is good, i WANT less indigos.
>Both are methods of artificial selection
Cleaning something is different from buying a new one.
>maintain a healthy population on a genetic level.
It's not about interbreeding, it's about their genetic subset being much less diverse.
>show how you would prove in isolation that they aren't a normal Jaxtian
Their genetic changes are no limited to their lipid wall - they have heavier changes, splicing. It was these changes that allowed them to be possible hosts for the suspension gene

And, as much as i'd like to argue about your wish to be replaced, In the end, what matters is that the Indigo program has to go away.
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>>5034706
>that is a fact
It is no fact.
>our people
Clearly not.
>our government
We're dealing with that.
>AND our science
Our science is what created that subset in the first place.
>Indigos are Jaxtians.
About as much as a mule is a horse.
>My logic is our people should become better
Indigos are not our people. Jaxtians, the ones we followed for hundreds of years, are our people. Your shitty grapejuice subsect is not that group. It is a side effect caused by insufficient technology in an attempt to increase our population.
>>5034713
>unironically supporting the literal "globohomo propaganda" joke
You are a clown.
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>>5034719
Literally zero arguments.
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>>5034719
Do you also believe that jews are trying to replace white people IRL?
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>>5034724
It is literally a stonetoss "globohomo" joke. Anything beyond the message it gives as related to the quest matters not. Supporting that is beyond retarded.
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>>5034726
>disagreeing with me is a joke
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>>5034727
Yes anon, the clear joke option with a recolored stonetoss meme and state-mandated interbreeding is a retarded meme option.
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>>5034713
Eh, if you wanted a speech about that sort of thing I could try to write something a bit more long-form and clearly fitting.

>>5034714
>Its easy to get that good when the government comes and says "Here, take our best eveything"
They got the same educational opportunities as everyone else - were subjected to the same hiring standards - didn't come from prestigious or respected or wealthy families - they came from our bottom 3% of people who are likely all labourers who aren't exactly respected or well paid. They are proof of our meritocratic success, you are wrong.

>To arrive at that level we'd need to seriously cut their numbers
Okay a few points - one, we've no idea how many there are; two, we've no idea what percentage of the government they make up; three, cutting their population has a delay of about 14+ years at least to seeing any change in representation. Likely far longer seeing as existing ones will either continue to fill existing roles for extended periods or move further up into more senior positions which'd arguably make the problem worse for you.

For all we know they are only being noted as consuming so much of government positions because they are absent in all of the lower tiers of society and their fur colour - that is to say it is obvious to the common Jaxtian because the only time they see them is either as kids or as government officials. That isn't to say they aren't out-competing for the government jobs but instead that they can only really be punching so far above their weight.

>Cleaning something is different from buying a new one.
It's not cleaning. In cleaning you don't remove anything from what you are attempting to clean, only shit that has gotten on it. You are wrong.

>It's not about interbreeding, it's about their genetic subset being much less diverse.
AGAIN - even if only 1-in-a-million people were used as donors they would still be 2.26 times the amount required to sustain a genetically diverse population. It isn't an issue, stop going on about it. You are wrong.

>Their genetic changes are no limited to their lipid wall - they have heavier changes, splicing. It was these changes that allowed them to be possible hosts for the suspension gene
The splicing was to combine the best of all of our people's genetics you dullard. You don't need to do splicing unless you add a thing and we didn't add the Stasis Gene. They are normal, you are wrong.
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>>5034728
People can still want to do that if they want to.
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>>5034694
Probably slower than light probes going to planets rich in that element the other aliens wanted.
They probably depleted the gas giants of the second aliens too (them not having that element was noted as being unusual).
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>>5034729
>And, as much as i'd like to argue about your wish to be replaced, In the end, what matters is that the Indigo program has to go away.
Frankly, I'm increasingly certain that it has to continue just to spite you. I now want to suggest that all we should do is stop adding the lipid layer - even if they suffer in quality they'd be indistinguishable from the rest of the population and probably still average or above making it entirely acceptable for the original goal of population growth boosting.

>>5034719
>It is no fact.
Just provided unobjectionable logical and scientific proof both on the basis of IRL and in-quest facts. It is.

>Clearly not.
Clearly are.

>We're dealing with that.
No, you want to "deal" with that and I don't. How about we consider what the CURRENT position is and the fact that no one is raising a issue about them being another species - only complaining about being outcompeted, not about their existence or anything - and nothing that QM has written suggests that anyone even considers them another species as opposed to a subset of our population like the Blondes. You are arguing a nonsense view. You are wrong.

>Our science is what created that subset in the first place.
Yeah, fucking and? How does that change the fact they recognise them as being part of the same species?

>About as much as a mule is a horse.
BULLSHIT - I refer you to the definition of a species I mentioned in >>5034706 ("a group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding") and the expansion to it I mentioned ("that which can provide viable fertile offspring"). They, scientifically, ARE our species. A mule is a infertile hybrid, thus we know that horses and donkeys are two distinct species. Indigos can produce fertile spawn with unmodified Jaxtians. By human standards they are therefore one species.

>Indigos are not our people. Jaxtians, the ones we followed for hundreds of years, are our people. Your shitty grapejuice subsect is not that group. It is a side effect caused by insufficient technology in an attempt to increase our population.
Anon, I have tried to treat your positions seriously and argue with you logically - at this point, I am done with you. Your treatment of >>5034713 is the final straw. Either come back with genuine reasoned arguments or just stop arguing. At this point I'm just referring to prior posts and statements and that ain't a good use of my time.
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>>5034728
Not a meme option at all, we literally a eugenics based civilisation that only allows people with high genetic scores to breed in the first place. We want to spread the high quality genes and the Hibernation to the rest of our population, a mandate to force them to breed with others who do not already carry those genes is very inline with the Hegemony.

As for the Stonetoss meme and Globohomo, we run a benevolent dictatorship and have COMPLETE control over the entire entertainment industry. Using propaganda to influence our citizens towards actions and thoughts that we think is best is entirely within our abilities and what we should do.
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Genuinely, why do so many people assume that natural = good and artificial = bad?
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>>5034752
Considering how the hibernation gene is massively beneficial to space travel and we should be working towards have 100% of our population with it I have no clue.
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>>5034763
The hybernation gene is pretty great in general seeing as - depending on the activation method / issues it might cause - it has military and survival implications.

Imagine if you will, someone trapped in a collapsed building. Hibernation extends how long they can survive without supplies, letting more of our people survive earthquakes and other such disasters.
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>>5034563
I mean, modern Commie China is currently encouraging people to draw a line between their "socialist with Chinese characteristics" and Confucianism.

>>5034744
>Using propaganda to influence our citizens towards actions and thoughts that we think is best

Literally how Kinja got his start and operated in his early days as Vul's ally and then as Supreme Leader.

>>5034752
It's part of a conservative mindset. Not in the American political sense, but in the sense of the personality-type that tends towards preserving the old and which expresses disgust, distrust, and fear as automatic responses to novelty.
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Update is being written now
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It seems that Kinja ordered the inclusion of the Suspension gene in the Indigo Children even though the generation ship was never built or sent- possibly in the event the particle accelerator project never discovered hyperparticles, or any method of traveling faster then light.

The artificial nature of the Alien gene means it must be spliced and cannot yet be passed down sexually; neither does the coat color, which is the product of the rich lipid sheathe. What this means is that the Indigos are artifically altered Jaxtians- though they are still Jaxtians. Their children are Jaxtians. They are aliens among us; genetically modified to be the spreaders of our race throughout the stars- who in just a few short years may have found themselves to be obsolete by a powerful Hyperdrive starship. But that doesn't necessarily need to be the case.
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...When it comes to the Indigo Children, the concept of the ancient God of Blessings & Curses come to mind. The ancient volcano religion(s) which once dominated Jaxtian thought before the industrial revolutions stomped them from existence had the belief to explain the differences between people; that with one hand the God hands you a blessing, and in the other a curse. When one is born weak, they are born with a great mind or just heart, where as if one is born strong and tall, they are arrogant and slow to learn. Nature compensates. However- the truth is that this isn't real. There is no “balance” in nature. Some people are born better then others- people are not created equal. Kinja understood this, as do all Supreme Rulers. The Indigo Children were a population filling measure- to give the old and unsuited a chance to experience motherhood and fatherhood without sullying the world with their inferior spawn. No magical hand of the gods will come down to grant their lesser children a special talent to make up for their low intelligence, sickness, and ugliness.

That doesn't make the truth any easier to swallow.

The process of creating an Indigo child- an in vitro fertilization of a fertalized egg into a female womb in a protective fat and protein sheethe; was used to fertilize the lowest ranks of our society. However, this “richness” was only to make up for a deficet- if the same “richness” was used in a high quality female, it would still probably produce better offspring, with the same coat color. Hell with enough genetic modification, it may be possible to make a male Jaxtian's sperm rich enough to cause the coat color shift without any kind of in-vitro. There are even supposed to be benefits too it- the Indigo coat is supposed to have less whitening with age and is thicker, warmer, more protective. The Jaxtian coat exists as evolution dictated, in which efficacy and the almighty calorie-demand got first choice over what may actually make an organism superior.

The truth is, you cannot see any reason not to have an Indigo child yourself. You are a Supreme Ruler, the highest point of your species Eugenic program, but your own genes could always be improved somehow- even if simply picking the best sperm, the best egg, and a headstart with a lipid sheathe. While the thought of being “cuckolded” by raising a child who doesn't look like you- or the irrational fear of raising the genes of another man disgusts you on some deeply personal, irrational level. But there is no reason genetic modification can't be used to improve your progeny- as with the progeny of any of your race, from the highest to lowest levels.
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And this is only the basic possibilities- The technology now is very basic in only taking a single egg and sperm- mixing alien genes for Suspension; but you've already received word that soon enough, it will be possible to swap out entire chromosomes. Instead of your offspring being 50% of your DNA, and 50% of your partners, you could swap out a chromosome of another man, or woman, or alien fish monster- and make it 48% your child instead. Where does it end? How does familial relation work when our genes can be manipulated like clay?

In the Hegemony- reproduction is already considered a privileged and not a right. It is the duty of your government to weed out undesirables, as they have been doing for hundreds of years. Has any of those culled souls come back to haunt us? No- we are all the better for it. So when technology advances to include improvement of our base stock; rejection is the same as coping for freedom to breed by the lowest classes.

In the not too distant future; further alien DNA or techniques could further change what it means to be a primate. What it means to be a Jaxtian. Your recent star-fairing ancestors already had a similar idea- this is why you rejected the idea of worldships in the first place, to keep a sort of baseline for your race and not evolving seperately on different homeworlds. But we control the evolution now; our children will be how we, or more accurately, the Hegemony wants them to be.

How can one claim ownership of their genetic offspring anyway? Your own genes belong half to your mother and half to your father. The only part of your genes that can pass on that are in any way yours is the tiny mutational shifts that drive evolution forward. The same is true for your child. To believe that your genetic legacy is somehow special, or even worthy of preservation in favor of objective superiority, is irrational.
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You've been approaching the problem the wrong way. You've strongly considered ending the Indigo Children program, and strongly considered limiting their number and role in society. But both appeal to the supremacy of natural genetics- and for what reason?

There is no logical reason to continue to be ruled by natural evolution and breeding. You can instead have a world where the Hegemony dictates the genes of the future.

You are the Supreme Ruler of your people and you, and only you, have the ability to radically change the entire course of your species. No bickering democracy or corrupt oligarchy could do this. Only the Supreme One. The choice would be deeply unpopular; while the lowest of your people's gene groups love their Indigo children, those of a higher or even middle level will resent and hate the thought of being forced to be essentially replaced by them. Possible riots, if not downright rebellion. But the potential benefits are huge.

You had hoped your reign was boring. You wanted to be the “Faster-Than-Light” Supreme Ruler. Not the eugenic holocaust Supreme Ruler. But this is the hand you were dealt, no different then your genetic code. The only difference is, now, you have a choice. You can choose to permanently end all uncontrolled reproduction forever. The final death-gasp of your biosphere's crude grip on your people. This would mean the perfect Eugenic society- an ever-advancing march towards perfection. And it would mean the end of genetic castes- which your society embraces fully in all but name.

Of course- this would also mean the end of your evolved diversity. The imperfections. No more light muzzles and dark muzzles. No more spider monkey admixture. No more Alphas, no more Blondes. Only an Indigo future.

>Control (All future Jaxtians are Indigo and are Superior)
>Freedom (Jaxtians remain the same; some genetic technologies will be locked forever)
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>>5034849
>Freedom

I wanted the keep the Indigo program going... But not like this.
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>>5034849
>>Control (All future Jaxtians are Indigo and are Superior)
IMO the alternative doesn't make sense for the Hedgemony and sounds like inserting personal IRL politics.
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QUICK ADDENDUM:

The "Freedom" option above does not ban the use of Indigo Children; it simply means they will be given random sets of genes (above the cull threshold- as suggested above) to be used as a population growth enhancer. Their traits will not pass to the next generation, and they will breed true.

>>5034852
You're 100% right, it didn't come out the way I intended.
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>>5034849
>Control (All future Jaxtians are Indigo and are Superior)
Let's face it, this is the logical conclusion of our civilisation's values, and kind of the whole point of eugenics in the first place. Freedom is for other space civs. We're a dictatorship time to own that and take control.
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>>5034849
>>Control (All future Jaxtians are Indigo and are Superior)
This option will backfire in a horrible way because no matter what you do you can't escape nature but from the POV of The Hegemony the alterntive is no better so I vote for this.
Also, How much of our population is lower class?
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>>5034933
>This option will backfire in a horrible way
Oh yeah it most certainly will, but when Banannas said not doing it would lock us out of genetic tech I knew it had to be done, because I am but a random quest voter and if there's one thing we hate it's a route lock.

Having our race die of targetted bio weapons or genetic stagnation will be totally worth it if we get to be super monke. Sure the ensuing social discord from maintaining (limited) reproductive freedom is more survivable but it's nowhere near as cool.
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>>5034849
>Freedom (Jaxtians remain the same; some genetic technologies will be locked forever)
The way i see it, while control would 'improve' things, this seems like an horribly underthought, stupid plan.

We do remember we are still horribly unadvanced, right? We do not have anywhere NEAR enough the technology necessary to fully control our population's reproduction at this level. The fact that we had to deal with the indigo color (an unintended side effect) shows this.

>inb4 THAT'S OOC
No, it's not. Think for a moment - the Hedgemony is not STUPID. Talacent, as an smart leader, shouldn't risk everything for a stupid move this soon.
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>>5034939
It's not just going to backfire, it's stupid. If anything, upgrading everyone so soon would be more likely to lock us out of super monkey, as our genetic code would become the equivalent of Spaghetti Code, and thus, not upgradable.

I mean, honestly, i don't like that it's made as a 'freedom' thing because that's not the hedgemony's business, but it's fucking stupid to do this whole control thing NOW.
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>>5034942
The freedom choice is explicitely the one locking us out of some genetic technologies
>>5034849
>some genetic technologies will be locked forever)
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>>5034943
Yes, and i'm saying that that's kinda dumb, becuase it's clearly supposed to be locking us out of it because we'll "refuse" to control all our population's genetics

I don't want to stop being eugenicist, i just don't want to jump the boat too soon. It is WAY too soon.
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Also, you people realize turnign us all into Indigos is going to completely destroy our social order, right? Our entire SYSTEM is based on a genetic pyramid.

How the hell are we going to choose between a laborer and a supreme leader when they've got the same gene scores?
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>>5034849
>Freedom (Jaxtians remain the same; some genetic technologies will be locked forever)
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>>5034948
Having more intelligent scientifics would probably be good for automation so we wouldn't need to make our population bigger to get a bigger economy anymore, we are kinda in a catch-22 situation where we don't have a big enough economy for even a true interplanetery civilization but we are already too cramped.
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>>5034948
Adding to this, if we do choose it, we'll end up in complete social chaos very soon. When everyone is equal, why should one person in particular be supreme leader? After all, their differences are so small it won't matter - and then, everyone will be able to argue that THEY should be supreme leader. And why shouldn't they? We'd all be the same.

So unless you want to end up in a stupid spaghetti gene democracy, you shouldn't vote to switch over our populace so soon.
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>>5034944
Yeah, that happened with cybernetics when the biggest reason for most people that voted against were for security reasons because we already suspected something bad with the uber AI instead of being ideologically against the notion.
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>>5034953
>muh economy
We won't HAVE an economy if we choose this. Our social order will break down. Our entire civilization is based on the concept that some people are SUPERIOR than others, and you're trying to REMOVE that. Our entire philosophy behind the Supreme Hedgemony is that - that the best stay at the top. But what happens when the Bottom and the Top are the same?

Are you really going to risk our entire civilization for 'muh gdp'?
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>>5034849
>Freedom (Jaxtians remain the same; some genetic technologies will be locked forever)
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>>5034954
Well you convinced me.
>>5034849
changing from
>>5034933
to
>Freedom (Jaxtians remain the same; some genetic technologies will be locked forever)
>>
You know, this is far off, but i believe once we are able to get to that new planet in the nearby system, we should be able to have a population boom.

Right now, the way we're growing our population is by allowing people in the culling line to have children artificially, yes? Well, with a new planet where we don't have to worry about lack of space, we could just try to get our general populace to grow.

I don't know how many children an average Jaxitan family can have, but if we move towards homesteading on a new planet, it can grow. A lot.
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>>5034942
Ohhh look at you, trying to change my mind with facts and logic. Well joke's on you; I'm an irrational hairless ape and my feelings don't care about your facts!

>>5034860
...but I feel like you have a point so I'm changing my vote to
>Freedom
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>>5034849
>>Freedom (Jaxtians remain the same; some genetic technologies will be locked forever)

We can still be the “Faster-Than-Light” Supreme Ruler! No need to be the 'eugenic holocaust' guy when we do not want to be that guy.

Besides - whilst it is good for an INDIVIDUAL organism to have the BEST genes possible, it is good for a SPECIES to maintain a WIDE VARIETY of genetic diversity within the population. And we are supreme ruler of the Species.
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>>5035005
>it is good for a SPECIES to maintain a WIDE VARIETY of genetic diversity within the population.
Yeah but it's cold comfort to the people who got the short end of the genetic stick. Not trying to argue, just musing.

Also it might be worth starting up the generation/sleeper ship project again because even if we're a long way off from practical FTL transportation, we could probably develop FTL communications within a few years. That alone could open some new doors. At the very least it could make intra-system comms more efficient by eliminating light lag.
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>>5035094
I don't know about that - we don't know how fast we might be able to develop FTL. Even if it wasn't an regular engine we could stick onto lots of ships.

If we send the generation ship and end up developing FTL, it'll be a big waste. Plus the planet needs time to develop those bacteria anyway, no use in going early.
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>>5034849
>Freedom (Jaxtians remain the same; some genetic technologies will be locked forever)
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>>5034849
>Control (All future Jaxtians are Indigo and are Superior)
If everyone is superior, then is any of us superior?
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>>5035184
As another anon noted, that's potentially part of the problem. Not for me IRL, as I'm a filthy demsoc, but in-game we are the genetically-ordained Supreme Leader of a totalitarian eugenicist meritocracy. This could destabilize our social structure.
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>>5034849
I'll be frank, I've argue the point in favour of the Indigos extensively and at great length - with favourable results by simple logical argument and reference. This? This is a choice I am unwilling - unprepared - to criticise anyone for wanting either path to be taken. I don't know what the right option is. Don't think anyone can.


Down control lies all the promise of the Indigo - longer lives, smarter people, stronger soldiers, healthier workers, colonisation at even STL speeds - genetic miracles we have yet to discover. All of it and more given down that path lies some gene techs we otherwise will have to reject.

Yet it comes at a high cost - we deny the whole population the right to reproduce? We risk revolution and chaos, in the transition, from our upper and middle class? We also lose out on our "imperfections" - a thing that I feel no great sadness about I admit besides the knowledge that these groups have a right to existence within reason. We sacrifice the concept of family, even if only in a certain biological sense.


Down freedom lies most of the promise of the Indigo - for they shall still exist, both here and potentially amongst the stars, shall still interbreed into our population and spread their many slight genetic gains. Yet how many drops does it take? How many generations? How many centuries before the bottom will be dragged up to meet with the current best and brightest and how much further will the best and brightest have advanced?

Do we have a right to restrict the opportunities of the people? Control would ensure every individual has the best chance of fulfilling any role they want if they work to it. Freedom meanwhile promises - ensures - that a certain percentage of the population will never have a chance to do some things. Yet it also grants out people the freedom to love, and to bear the burden and reward of love into this world.

>Freedom (Jaxtians remain the same; some genetic technologies will be locked forever)

Please see my reaction to the post #5034941 to understand my opinion / reason for choosing Freedom more precisely.

>>5034941
>We do remember we are still horribly unadvanced, right? We do not have anywhere NEAR enough the technology necessary to fully control our population's reproduction at this level. The fact that we had to deal with the indigo color (an unintended side effect) shows this.
This is a very valid point. We can't perform cloning or in-adult gene modification or god knows what else yet. Doing it now might be stupid - we could defer the choice to another Supreme Ruler, set a message in Helper's memory for them to each revisit this choice at the start of their reign or only after a major gene-tech breakthrough.
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>>5034948
>How the hell are we going to choose between a laborer and a supreme leader when they've got the same gene scores?
The same way as we currently do - by their academic performance, their physical excellence, their social standing and so on. We don't just use gene scores, we use every metric of excellence, skill and power we can get to determine who is suitable.

>>5034953
Eh, we need a simple raw mass of population to organise labour / production and to act as the economic engine that our government can skim earnings off of to then push into our many projects. That is where and why we need the bigger population, because we're essentially trying to build Saturn V rockets with a population that is meant to manage V-2 rockets.

>>5034955
Mm, frankly we should probably revisit cybernetics if we get a chance. Shit'd be pretty useful.

>>5034954
>>5034956
Anon - stop fear mongering. You have little basis in fear of "spaghetti genetics" and you seem to really misunderstand the selection process for Supreme leader. It isn't just genetic as I have outlined above.

>>5035005
To be fair, I think QM was implying >>5034857 that sufficient genetic diversity will be / is being maintained amongst the Indigos, "above the cull threshold- as suggested above", but I could be wrong.
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>>5035240
>Set a message in Helper's memory for them to each revisit this choice at the start of their reign or only after a major gene-tech breakthrough.
Unnecessary. If gene-tech advances enough to allow us to reliably upgrade our population, the supreme leader will know.

Furthermore, this whole idea has problems. Mainly, in the fact that it would destroy our society. How can we have a genetic-based caste system if everyone is the same genetic caste?

How can we claim to be obejctively more fit to rule than a labourer when we're all the same? Every society is a pyramid, whether you like it or not.
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>>5034849
>Control (All future Jaxtians are Indigo and are Superior)
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>>5035246
>We don't just use gene scores, we use every metric of excellence, skill and power we can get to determine who is suitable.
Except all those things are going to be much...closer, if everyone is able to reach the same level, it'll be a much closer race. Physically and Academically, at least
>their social standing
We don't want to choose our leader based on social standing - that's a short road to demagogues, and those are horrible, even more so in an autocratic government.

Think of it like this; Only a few people receive the education that would allow them to become supreme leaders in the first place. We decide those by gene score. What happens when everyone has roughly equal gene scores?
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>>5035248
>Unnecessary. If gene-tech advances enough to allow us to reliably upgrade our population, the supreme leader will know.
Yet that doesn't mean we'd get a option to revisit the choice - what I am laying out means we reasonably would.

>How can we have a genetic-based caste system if everyone is the same genetic caste?
"And it would mean the end of genetic castes- which your society embraces fully in all but name." - to directly quote QM >>5034849 here, 2nd to last paragraph. Before arguing a point, do try fully reading what he posts.

>How can we claim to be obejctively more fit to rule than a labourer when we're all the same?
Because we are more successful by the meritocratic measures our society abides by. Simple.

>>5035253
>Except all those things are going to be much...closer, if everyone is able to reach the same level, it'll be a much closer race. Physically and Academically, at least
Yes, and? Most people will not apply themselves to excellence, this is a fact. Those who do might be more common and / or successful but there are many other roles to be filled out too that they would be placed into. It is a non-issue. Socially transformative but not societally destructive.

>Think of it like this; Only a few people receive the education that would allow them to become supreme leaders in the first place. We decide those by gene score. What happens when everyone has roughly equal gene scores?
Presuming you are correct about how only a few people receive the education - a thing I would contest to be only slightly accurate at best - it still doesn't matter. Again, the selection for Supreme Ruler is done to find the very best of our whole society not just on the basis of genes far more than that. If everyone has roughly equal genes, that just means we get a few more choices every selection, individuals we know applied themselves rather than being successful due to a fluke of genetics and that is that. It isn't going to destroy our society because we can just raise the standards.
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>>5035259
>Before arguing a point, do try fully reading what he posts.
It's called an expression, anon. What do you think i meant when is said "everyone will be the same caste"? I'm saying that everyone will have high gene counts.
>Because we are more successful by the meritocratic measures our society abides by
Our meritocracy works on the assumption of gene counts, though - if you have low genes, you're an labourer and you get an labourer's education. If you're really high, you might become a supreme leader and get the education for that.
>Yes, and?
Which means that you can't just say that the supreme leader is objectively better - how will you choose from the general populace? If they will all score high on academia and physics.

Or do you think that everyone in jaxt is lazy? Even if only 0.1% of our society applied themselves - far less than ever in modern earth, we would have thousands, maybe millions of possible candidates.
> thing I would contest to be only slightly accurate at best
Anon, it's LITERALLY canon. It's literally said, time and time again. It's literally on the OP post - Vul Takar knew about the Star Dynamos in grade school, the Technician in University.

>that just means we get a few more choices every selection,
'A few more' meaning 'a few million'
>ndividuals we know applied themselves
And how are we going to do that when only a few individuals get the supreme leader's education? We would have to determine who would receive this education.
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>>5034849
>Freedom (Jaxtians remain the same; some genetic technologies will be locked forever)
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>>5035266
>It's called an expression, anon. What do you think i meant when is said "everyone will be the same caste"? I'm saying that everyone will have high gene counts.
There is a difference between exclaiming "this'll destroy our society" and "this will result in significant change".

>Our meritocracy works on the assumption of gene counts, though - if you have low genes, you're an labourer and you get an labourer's education. If you're really high, you might become a supreme leader and get the education for that.
Partly accurate yes but there is also an element of choice in it you know.

>Which means that you can't just say that the supreme leader is objectively better - how will you choose from the general populace? If they will all score high on academia and physics.
If they all score high then we revise the tests - harder questions, more of them, additional subjects tested. We raise the standards, enforce additional tests, add in competitive activities between possible candidates to eliminate people from the running. We cut them down to more suitable numbers as needed.

>Or do you think that everyone in jaxt is lazy? Even if only 0.1% of our society applied themselves - far less than ever in modern earth, we would have thousands, maybe millions of possible candidates.
Yes and they aren't all going to be aiming for the role of Supreme Ruler. A lot of them will want to be entertainers or scientists or soldiers or any other number of roles. Not just the guy with the biggest hat.

>Anon, it's LITERALLY canon. It's literally said, time and time again. It's literally on the OP post - Vul Takar knew about the Star Dynamos in grade school, the Technician in University.
Mm, I'll concede that point - my memory of the OP post failed me.

>'A few more' meaning 'a few million'
Already covered this three and two points back.

>And how are we going to do that when only a few individuals get the supreme leader's education? We would have to determine who would receive this education.
I presume that, given it is a option, our current Supreme Ruler thinks that it is reasonably possible in some fashion. Before you bring up the space weapons research, we thought that was reasonably possible too and I concede that this could turn into another fiasco BUT there is less that we don't know about this.

We know the resources needed for Supreme Ruler education, how many candidates are educated like that currently and can predict what % of the population would prove suitable for such education if they were all of the highest genetic grade by looking at the % for that genetic grade that exists already and extrapolating. It is a far more predictable change than the space weapons and our Supreme Ruler believes it possible. I am willing to trust our fictional counterpart in knowing what is reasonably possible for their society to accommodate - economically, socially, politically and structurally.
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>>5035327
>"this'll destroy our society"
If we go with such a plan and make everyone equally genetically good, and DON'T end the hedgemony, it won't be long until people start asking "Why does HE get special treatment?", and from there on it's a step and a skip to revolt
>Partly accurate yes but there is also an element of choice in it you know.
You can't choose not to be a laborer. Who the hell's going to want to be educated less and take on a worse job?
>If they all score high then we revise the tests - harder questions, more of them, additional subjects tested
Because 'making tests harder' sure worked well for imperial china. Clearly there is no way this can go wrong or be questioned, right? Do you have a way of making it objectively sure the tests won't just end up stupid and unecessary solely to weed out people? And that on itself also depends on the education they receive.
>Yes and they aren't all going to be aiming for the role of Supreme Ruler.
More than enough to make our "pick the successor" much, much more complicated - so far, the most choices we had was what? Three?
>It is a far more predictable change
But how are we going to predict them if everyone's got the same top genetic grade? We predict who deserves the supreme education by only allowing the high-grade genetics to do it

But what happens when EVERYONE is high grade genetics?
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>>5035347
>If we go with such a plan and make everyone equally genetically good, and DON'T end the hedgemony, it won't be long until people start asking "Why does HE get special treatment?", and from there on it's a step and a skip to revolt
No one is getting special treatment, so your point is invalid.

>You can't choose not to be a laborer. Who the hell's going to want to be educated less and take on a worse job?
What is a worse job? If I dislike doing X but like doing Y, I might accept less pay or longer hours. Not to mention my point was more so the fact that I think you are over-simplifying the actual levels of achievement in our society. It's not just "labourers" and "rulers" - god knows how many layers to our society there is but worst comes to worst we use our vast systems of societal control to redirect the interests of the populace into being entertainers or any other number of tasks.

>Because 'making tests harder' sure worked well for imperial china.
Comparing us to Imperial China is unreasonable. Their issues stemmed from hereditary actors intentionally making the tests oblique and reliant on knowledge that was obscure and held only by them. Replacing questions on mathematics with requiring quotations of poetry for example. You can make tests harder - genuinely harder - in order to gauge someone's knowledge and abilities. This is a factual statement and is not reasonably questionable.

>Clearly there is no way this can go wrong or be questioned, right?
Oh no they clearly can but see, there's this thing called "our people actually trust their government because we're competent and propaganda like fuck" - as seen by the fact no one questions their gene-scores besides a single disgruntled writer.

>Do you have a way of making it objectively sure the tests won't just end up stupid and unecessary solely to weed out people?
No, no one does and we can't say that isn't already the case for our current system. Neither of us know what questions are currently asked or how many or when, where, why, by who or what measures are used to assure answers are accurately recorded or anything. I am not responsible for any of that, I don't have to justify any of that - because it is reasonable to assume our civilisation is competent enough to run unbiased testing for its meritocratic structures.
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>>5035404
>More than enough to make our "pick the successor" much, much more complicated - so far, the most choices we had was what? Three?
Yes. Worst comes to worst if we've 300 or 3,000 or 30,000 possible successors left have a tournament in various fields between them (see next section) but this is a issue that was ALWAYS going to arise.

>But how are we going to predict them if everyone's got the same top genetic grade? We predict who deserves the supreme education by only allowing the high-grade genetics to do it
>But what happens when EVERYONE is high grade genetics?
Suppose presently we allow the top 0.0025% of our civilisation (1-in-40000) to even be considered to have the potential to possibly qualify for the role and they do get special resources and education to prepare them for it and of those 1-in-40000, 1-in-1000 actually end up as potential candidates and 1-in-100 of them become actual candidates - what I was saying is we can use that to predict the number of candidates.


Instead of 0.0025%, that stage is now 100% (more realistically 99% or so because there'll be people who get knocked out of the running early for whatever reason) then we will have an amazing surplus of candidates yes - something along the lines of 110000 but this makes lots of assumptions. That these individuals won't instead become any other number of roles in our society, that the rate at which these individuals will attempt to compete for the role maps linearly with population growth (far easier to motivate yourself when it is you against 500 than you against 50000 or more), that we can't or won't strengthen, extend, expand and diversify tests and that above all else there won't remain ways to further elimination of candidates.

Suppose for example we instituted a simple rule - all candidates must engage in a "duel" (anything that is meritocratically measurable, chess, running, fencing, etc) with at least one other candidate. That alone drops us from 110000 down to 55000. A second set of duels or more - 27500 - 13750 - 6325. Suppose we tighten standards and manage to make the tests eliminate 1-in-105 rather than 1-in-100 candidates - 110000 becomes 104762. Suppose the rate of interest in actually being Supreme Ruler drops from 100% of candidates down (assuming it is even that high - if it is already lower then my point is even stronger) to as much as 89% - suddenly 110,000 is 97900. To say nothing of requiring candidates to perform some great feat before being considered - a scientific discovery for example.

In combination, with all of these, we'd go from 110000, 104762, 93238, 46619. Another 3 rounds of duels would reduce it to 5,827. Still a vast number but the point is there are plenty of ways for us to cut down on candidates and in theory these ways would even benefit us by raising the quality of what we are then dealing with.
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>>5035404
>No one is getting special treatment,
They are, our society's built on that division of who gets treated which way through genes, which is why i say it would cause problems
>What is a worse job?
Sure anon, the 120 IQ Geniuses will be very easily manipulated into wanting to work on a factory all day.
>This is a factual statement and is not reasonably questionable.
But how hard can you make tests before they become dumb and oblique? After all, if we go with such a plan, our entire populace would have the same capability to learn and think.
>our people actually trust their government
They trust our government now because gene scores are objective. Dumb people at the bottom and smart people at the top. What happens when everyone is suddenly like that disgruntled worker? A genius on a low station?
>because it is reasonable to assume our civilisation is competent enough to run unbiased testing for its meritocratic structures.
Why is it? Our entire system is dictated by a genetic caste system. Why would they be suddenly able to make everything perfectly in such a different scenario? 'The system works' is followed by 'People are not equal'. What happens when they are?
>but this is a issue that was ALWAYS going to arise.
No, we seem to be doing pretty good.
>a fucking competition
Yeah, mate, great way to choose our leader, a fucking tournament. Because that's what makes a good leader, the ability to jump tall or have experience at chess.

What's next, pick our minister of defence with a boxing match?
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In the end, you decide against controlling your species reproduction once and for all. It would be too big of a change to do all at once, and there are too many unknown factors. Who knows what treasures could lie in your genetic code that would be bulldozed by forcing everyone to be the same? Furthermore- the destruction of your societies core system of organization; not to mention the end of your own genetic class. The slightest selfish desire to be better then others is always present in living things; including you. It would just be too much to destroy all of your genetic heritage. The little quirks that make people unique- even if less efficient. Like the loss of your uniquely green-tinted muzzle, which nobody else you know has. Only you... And people related to you.

Update in progress. This was a big choice that I wanted to let stew, but since the votes are 10-3 in favor of freedom I doubt it's going to flip anytime soon.
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>people were calmed down by indigo waifus
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>How will we fix prejudice? Of course, with a fetish film!
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>>5035411
>They are, our society's built on that division of who gets treated which way through genes, which is why I say it would cause problems
Yes, and as the QM's post notes and as I highlighted to you - the Control path specifically gets rid of such divisions. No special treatment because no division.

>Sure anon, the 120 IQ Geniuses will be very easily manipulated into wanting to work on a factory all day.
See, this is the thing, I'm not actually sure what our menial workers / labourers do. We've actual thinking AI and drone tech and shit - at this point I presume almost all of our economy is automated to hell and back (actually, I know it is - 2,500,000 people live on our industrially focused planet - that is not enough for our heavy industrial needs so clearly that place is automated to hell and back) so I am not certain that their roles are critical rather than them basically being given busywork.

At the same time, this means that we should be in such a position whereby we can just reduce work hours per Jaxtian to compensate for a lack of meaningful employment in the upper tiers (although equally just expanding our scientific research out the ass even further would also absorb a number of these individuals quite well).

>But how hard can you make tests before they become dumb and oblique? After all, if we go with such a plan, our entire populace would have the same capability to learn and think.
You are presuming that genetic capability is the only major factor involved Anon - rather than personal motivation, life experiences and so on.
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>They trust our government now because gene scores are objective. Dumb people at the bottom and smart people at the top. What happens when everyone is suddenly like that disgruntled worker? A genius on a low station?
His annoyance arose from believing that he should have been higher because he was "clearly smarter" than he was being given credit for by society. Yet if everyone is born with the same start, any differences in position must arise solely from the self and the actions they choose to take or others take around them.

Also going back I noticed a interesting point in that post - >>5025756 - "You went through life with the standard education of a Jaxtian- where merit is supposed to lead to opportunity. Of course- the 'Supreme' ones and other government pets are allowed the best training and hormone treatments" which reinforces a earlier point I made. All Jaxtians receive the same education, BUT, higher tiers get additional resources that enable them to move onto more advanced materials more quickly due to their additional accrued understanding, as seen in the OP post of this thread.

Your position in life is NOT determined genetically as you supposed, you do not become a worker because you have worker genes. You get educated and when you show worker results THEN you are a worker. Meritocracy not genocracy.

>Why is it? Our entire system is dictated by a genetic caste system. Why would they be suddenly able to make everything perfectly in such a different scenario? 'The system works' is followed by 'People are not equal'. What happens when they are?
Them being equal does nothing to affect the ability of our systems because - if anything - the improvements made to the involved individuals should if anything improve standards.

>No, we seem to be doing pretty good.
No, because our population is growing. Eventually, we were going to colonise other solar systems. Eventually our population would produce too many candidates either way. If candidates are literally 1-in-a-billion we make 11/12 currently. Assuming we manage to grow our population tenfold (hardly unreasonable) in say the next three or four threads, that'd be us having 110/120 candidates which is the lower end of beginning to be a problem. If we grow it greater than that then the issue becomes even worse. Suppose we end up growing our population 60 fold and have 660/720 candidates to work from, we've got to figure out a way to narrow that shit down ASAP. All I am doing is predicting a future problem and leaning into it.

>Great way to choose our leader, a fucking tournament. Because that's what makes a good leader, the ability to jump tall or have experience at chess.
Wow, amazing way to represent the concept - by dragging it down to a low-level view of what it represents. This discussion no longer matters however, and never really did, as the result has came in and it is the one I supported.


>>5035428
>>5035429
The future is buxom clone waifus, clearly.
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>>5035429
>QM leans into the propaganda pitches, even the Stonetoss reference

Based.
>>
With the decision made; you begin your work in integrating the Indigo Children into the core population- this time without the supremacy of high gene scores. Part of this is normalizing them in the core population, and part of them is fixing their broken image- due in part to the yet unseen gender imbalance. Apparently, the majority of Indigo Children have been males. This was partially due to the use of males being more disposable for genetic testing; less hormonal shifts; and partially because the families of low gene-scores who were given Indigo children were allowed to choose their child's gender as an incentive to take one. Of course, this ended up meaning way more boys then girls were picked; and a large gender imbalance was the result. What a stupid oversight- as a male dominated society, high performing males would naturally cause jealously among the lower performing ones!

You decide to portray Indigos in a more feminine light- and with your newfound ability to grow new Jaxtians in artificial wombs, thanks to some very old and very advanced life support technology brought to your attention by Alavis, you have gained the ability to essentially generate population as much as needed as long as you have the facilities set up. You also contact an old friend to create a propaganda film- and give him permission to sidestep some of the censorship boundaries. This results in a raunchy, somewhat fetishistic film about the exotic attraction between a Jaxtian male and an Indigo female. Kinja... what a dirty old man you've become.

This fetish film also helps your newfound need to spread the alien gene, because genetic research has advanced; it can now be passed between Indigos and Jaxtians, and inherited thru the generations. Within a few hundred years, even the most pureblooded “nautral” Jaxtian will have a copy of the Suspension Gene; and technology using it will be hopefully universal.

Over the past 5 year, you've done your best to integrate the Indigos and it seems almost all of the hesitancy and prejudice against them is gone. The exception only being a few luddites who believe their artificial alien genes mark them as nonjaxtian or unnatural- pure spiritualist superstition. Such voices will be silenced, as is the way of the Hegemony.

But you're busy- because the signals from your long range probes are about to arrive!
>>
The first star system orbits the star Nan, which is a white dwarf. White dwarf stars are cool and dark, meaning habitable planets or alien life is unlikely to form, but other resources or strategic value may make the system useful for later exploitation or colonization.

Nan I and Nan II are both gas giants of different gas compositions; both with moons. Nan I has three large moons, Nan I A is an anomaly for its heavily oxidized surface, the majority of the moon's crust must be made with Zinc, with Nan I B and C both being rocky planets with little to note. It's unfortunate that this 60 year old vessel with an outdated AI is so poor at data analysis- it can't even make any predictions or projections, only sending back raw data to be analyzed by the AI network here on the homeworld. Perhaps you will find out more with a more up-to-date exploratory vessel.

Nan II's Moon, or NanII A, is to note for its meager atmosphere and desert landscapes- though no living things appear on the planet's surface. It's very dry and filled with sand dunes that stretch for thousands of miles; perhaps a silicate harvesting facility for eletronics would be of value here?

The second star is Vetuck; a yellow star- the ones predicted to have the highest chance of supporting life. Your own home star of Light is also a yellow star. This is a rich solar system with five planets.
Vetuck I is a barren rock world; similar to Vass.
Vetuck III is a gas giant with two moons; a hot volcanic world and a very small barren ice moon
Vetuck IV is a dark world made of very heavy elements- unusual for such a far orbit. It's surface is barely impacted by craters; suggesting a super-hard exterior or that it was newly formed.
Vetuck V is a tiny cold planet with a very thick atmosphere.

The most fascinating is Vetuck II which has life!
>>
It is a habitable range world with ice caps, large continents surrounded by ocean, and diverse plant and animal life. This life appears to be carbon based, just like your own. One continent has large swathes of what appear to be farmland from high altitudes- suggesting intelligent alien life.

Little is known about this alien race- but your Skiff 2.0 probe is able to get a closer look without drawing too much attention. Signs from the atmosphere suggest a pre-industrial agricultural society- the lack of radio waves, EMF radiation signs made by electricity generated, and lack of pollutants hint that they are not highly developed- a mid to late iron age level of technology is estimated for their agricultural planning and population density.

The news of these far off space probes is creating a great exploration frenzy once again; All this excitement of far off places, meeting new people, and conquering new lands has gotten you pumped- and yet you're still stuck in your home system!

Without your Hyperdrive technology- these alien races might as well be unreachable! Not to mention the matter of defense against your foes, who still have not yet faced Justice for what they did to your people...

Back on Jaxt- work goes steadily on the Fusion Reactor- the most complex piece of power generation your people have ever attempted. While the ability to fuse elements into higher forms is simple enough, creating a self-contained loop of power generation is difficult. Right now, there are four factors that require serious work.
>>
These are the core problems remaining before fusion power can be created reliably.
The Fuel Source
The Containment Technology
The Heat Sink
and The Power Capture Matrix

With each requiring its own advanced set of science principles and technicians to test; finding a solution to all of these problems will be a large undertaking- both in time and budget. What are your suggestions, Supreme Ruler?

===RULES NOTE===
Make a suggestion on each of the four factors in your vote. The suggestion with the highest number of votes, for each factor will be used. Additionally, you may use the suggestion of “AI” for the artificial intelligence network to crack the problem, but each AI used commandeers cycles from the AI network and makes populace less happy and compliant.

>Fuel Source
>Containment Technology
>Heat Sink
>Power Capture Matrix
>>
What exactly are we supposed to suggest?
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>>5035467
>Fuel Source: Deuterium
It's easily attainable, and most within-reach for us right now. We can always upgrade later.

>Containment method: Tractor-beam point technology

We'll use the tractor beams to keep our nuclear fusion reactors running.

>Heat Sink: Star Dynamic carousels

Hear me out here; is there any way that we can use the Star Dynamo type conversions to turn the heat off of this process into motion? It'll spin big fans that cool down the process even as it generates heat.

>Power Capture Matrix: Plasma-sonic Convex array

Maybe we can use Plasmatronics and sonic tech in conjunction to form a series of energy-redirecting dishes.

All this is just spitballing, not sure if these would work at all.
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>>5035431
> No special treatment because no division.
Which, again, severely fucks up our societal structure
> I'm not actually sure what our menial workers / labourers do.
I'm guessing they operate the machines? They might not be able to be fully AI operated, or at least, it wouldn't be effective in an economy of scale where energy is valuable.
>rather than personal motivation, life experiences and so on.
You do remember that candidates are literal children, right? How much experience can they have? Equal genetics means they're able to understand things roughly equally, meaning that if they study they'll be, in their majority, able to learn all that's necessary.
>any differences in position must arise solely from the self and the actions they choose to take or others take around them.
And you think that doesn't cause problems? It would basically destroy the hedgemony as an autocratic state. Are we just going to stop assigning people jobs?
>. All Jaxtians receive the same education,
No they don't, it's literally on the OP. did you forget it again? 'Standard' doesn't mean 'everybody has the same', it means 'the plebs have normal education'
>Your position in life is NOT determined genetically as you supposed, you do not become a worker because you have worker genes.
He is specifically mad that despite being smarter, he was assigned a labourer job because he was said to be a 'low gene'
>No, because our population is growing.
Even if our population were to grow, only a peak of those would have the best genes - if more got high genes, the standards would grow, because there'd still be those among them who would have even higher genes. No such tightening can be done if everyone is already at the max possible amount.
>and it is the one I supported.
We didn't vote to control and gene-modify everyone, so what does this have to do with the argument?
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>>5035439
I swear, they better not fucking let the blue furs die out. Cyan is better than Indigo.
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>>5035475
+1
>>
Don't forget about WHO you might be able to assign to one of these as a project
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>>5035475
Support!

>>5035492
Aumstat is on Power Capture Matrix. Ask Eobard if he knows anyone especially good with the tractor beams to help with Containment.
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>>5035485
>I'm guessing they operate the machines? They might not be able to be fully AI operated, or at least, it wouldn't be effective in an economy of scale where energy is valuable.
Possibly but the issue I see with that is that it just doesn't seem likely. I mean the best explanation I could come up with is they're literal odd-job men and women that basically just serve as personal assistants and such to their betters.

>He is specifically mad that despite being smarter, he was assigned a labourer job because he was said to be a 'low gene'
QM's post specified he was assigned to be a labourer because he failed to qualify - not because of his genetics.

>We didn't vote to control and gene-modify everyone, so what does this have to do with the argument?
It's my way of politely saying "Please stop, this literally doesn't matter anymore" - that even if you are right or I am right that continuing to argue is pointless.
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>>5035517
>QM's post specified he was assigned to be a labourer because he failed to qualify - not because of his genetics.
And that he was also smarter than everyone but still failed to qualify and was instead assigned for labouring - because, you guessed it, his gene score said he was basically a near-retard.

But i digress. It's pointless.
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>>5035522
>And that he was also smarter than everyone but still failed to qualify and was instead assigned for labouring
He's a narcissist. >>5027644, as confirmed here he genuinely is not a smart man. He's a 1-in-a-trillion idiot that stumbled onto a concept.
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>>5035467
>>5035475

>Fuel Source
It doesn't matter what we suggest if it won't work in the reactor, start with Deuterium but try a number of alternates; and listen to suggestions/requirements the other teams put forward.

>>Containment Technology
Get Amustat on this. Whatever we build physically, we'll probably need a plasmatronic system to keep things well enough in line and manipulate without direct contact and exposure. Force fields and holding beams may abound.

>Heat Sink
Star Dynamo usage sounds an interesting idea.
Perhaps Eoba Garastra might have some insights into heat issues as minister of defense and experience with ships/our flagship that would be a boon to our Hyperdrive program?

>Power Capture Matrix
Could Himsos help on this one? As the discovering scientist, perhaps he has insight on how we get the power actually flowing in a way that helps drive us.
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>>5035517
>>5035522
He was a freak accident with both a low gene score and bad early childhood performance who somehow managed to grow up to be much smarter and a savant in one scientific area, what happened to him is very unfortunate but he is a one in several millions accident.
>>5035524
His actual IQ is still 134.
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>>5035524
>he genuinely is not a smart man
His IQ is literally 134.

He was transferred to the plasmatronics division, which means he's clearly smart.
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>>5035475
+1 can't really think of anything else so sure fuck it, also we should probably use AI on one of them and only one just to make it go easier.
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>>5035467
I vote we use the AI on >Heat Sink
For the rest I'll leave it to the other anons
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>>5035529
>>5027644

This post by qm literally calls him an idiot with poor genes
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>>5035642
>134 IQ
>invented plasmatronics without scientific education and still managed to become a scientist once promoted
He has poor genes but he's still explicitely abnormally intelligent for someone with bad genes and low early childhood performance.
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>>5035662
The 134 IQ is shown as being put in by the supreme leader himself there, his actual IQ is low but it was probably changed there so if anybody looked at his official records nobody would think anything is wrong, he is just a savant at plasmatronics.
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>>5035733
>The truth is that the system works, and as such, you are at a loss as to how this had happened. His gene score's IQ portion had been on the lowest end of passable- not quite meeting the threshold for enforced abortion. He was still never cut out for greatness; though he did shift up a standard deviation when he reached adulthood. Very uncommon- but possible. The Hedgemony's system of assigning people to their roles based on their genes and very-early life performance as children is used because it works- and this is because of the fundamental truth that people are not and have never been born equal. How can an equal society exist when, by all objective means, people aren't capable of being equals?
Look at the image saying actualized IQ, the 92 (higher than what his genes predicted but still below average) was his score as a small kid, 134 is his adult IQ.
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>>5035462

I'm now imagining that the young Indigo female actress pictured here married old-age Kinja
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>>5035756
Implying Kinja doesn't have a harem.
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>>5035462
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Update in progress.
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Asking some of your most accomplished science officers; it seems that you have a good start towards working out the particulars of fusion power.

The first is the Fuel Source. Deuterium is suggested by many, and is a strong contender due to how plentiful it is. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like you can get your fusion cores quite hot enough yet to actually fuse it reliably by itself; meaning a more Tritium heavy reaction is required. It seems the more advanced a civilization is, the less dense their Fusion fuel could become. Eventually you may be able to work down to Deuterium, which is more plentiful then Tritium, and preferably pure Hydrogen- which would essentially make your fuel unlimited. But you can't even begin to generate the kind of gravity fields needed to force that kind of reaction...

As for your containment system- powerful gravity fields and spinning magnetic "sphere orbitals" will keep the fusion core in its proper shape- a sphere. Transforming some of the heat into rotating energy will also help your relatively low-heat and low-energy fusion reaction, hearby deemed a flux cloud, from disintegrating.

The trouble with fusion unlike fission is that, if fission goes wrong, it will continue the chain reaction out of control and release tremendous energy. Fusion instead ends itself, making it much safer; but also ending all power generation at the same time. Because it requires a tremendous amount of energy to begin a fusion reactor in the first place, a broken fusion core could mean a ship or facility is stranded without a way to "spark the burner", so to speak.

With your Fuel Source and Containment figured out, the other elements elements will require more work. Heat is difficult to transfer in a vacuum, where your ships will be, so more technology will be needed. Even with RAMM material and your best solar-capturing panels, actually containing the immense energy of a fusion reactor is still yet a dream. You may need to assign more AI cycles or find yet undiscovered materials for the remaining problems.
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>>5036495
>this monke was almost Supreme Leader of a multiplanetary civilization.

Guys, I think our caste system might have some problems.
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The new advancements towards Fusion power has also opened a distinct possibility.

Tritium fuel for fusion must be gathered in the only places where Tritium forms naturally- which is in the upper atmospheres of planets & moons when struck by cosmic rays. This means that any planet with an atmosphere in a solar system would produce a very small amount of Trititum, passively, over time- meaning to support an empire's worth of ships and energy cores, you will need to be gathering it in the atmosphere of many planets- and the best for this would be gas giants.

Could this be the original purpose of the Haazar's trade offer of "Argon"? To steal Trititum fuel from you under your nose? Or the purpose of the yet unknown alien's data attack?

Jaxt, Caplit, and Schoon could all begin small amounts of atmospheric filtering for Tritium now, if you so ordered it, but all of their atmospheres are much thinner and, naturally, have less surface area as a gas giant. However, there is no telling if a second data attack will happen against things flying through Max's atmosphere- ever since the sinking of the Cirrus, the Hegemony has forbidden any machine from flying through it again- so more data waves may have already attacked without you even knowing it.

Perhaps it may be wise to try and farm and stockpile Tritium in the upper atmospheres of Max for the time being as fusion power advances; though it carries the risk of more data hijacking. At the same time, allowing this could let you learn more about the alien aggression. It's a difficult choice that carries a degree of risk- but Max will be the source of our precious Tritium until other solar systems can be reached.

>Begin unmanned gathering of Tritium on Max
>Forbid gathering for now
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>>5036505
>Begin unmanned gathering of Tritium on Max

Have we developed any new defences against data attacks? CAN we do so, and integrate them into Swordautist's super-duper flagship? That would be cool.
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>>5036505
>Begin unmanned gathering of Tritium on Max

No way around this. I say we should harvest the Tritium using large trawler shis that way we'll spread out the risk.

You know looking back at the older posts I recall the Hazaar saying they needed the Argon for their computers. Meanwhile the alien attack drones had a gas based computer system.

Also given that sublight communications take decades wouldn't the data attack have to be launched before the Cirrus was built? So how would our unknown aggressor even know there was a target waiting for them let alone be able to engineer a virus capable of targetting our computer systems?

Could the Hazaar actually be more technologically advanced than us and already have a colony from which they launched the attack? But then why would they sabotage their own trade deal?

Another possibility is that they have an interstellar rival. That is trying to stop us helping them.
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>>5036505
>Begin unmanned gathering of Tritium on Max
Alright I don't know much about data shit but can we have it all closed off and require a physical connection? Like just have some ship dock with it whenever it's full on collecting gas to update its software, send data, etc and have it be completely automated with an ai whenever a ship isn't connected to it.
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>>5036505
>Begin unmanned gathering of Tritium on Max
>>
I fucking KNEW The Hazaar were trying to fuck us over, i SAID IT, i FUCKING CALLED IT. Fucking strawberry-faced ant eaters.

With that said,
>Begin unmanned gathering of Tritium on Max
We know that the attack on cirrus only happened because the virus was received; If there was a way to completely stop any ship from so much as receiving the data in the first place, we would be able to avoid any chance of attack.

Of course, that's all assuming there'll be another data attack first...
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>>5036505
>Begin unmanned gathering of Tritium on Max
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>>5036499

>Sincerely question the genetic selection algorithms and youth-education system that gave us this ignorant monkey as a viable candidate for supreme leadership.

I mean, really Eoba? You seemed to know a fair bit about the ship when you proposed it - did you get coaching for that?

>>5036505
>Begin unmanned gathering of Tritium on Max
And keep any Argon we gather at the same time for the start of a trade reserve. At least it's a start, right?

And the simple fact is that we do not know if the attack will happen again; but we are now aware enough that it might to monitor for the possibility; to make the minor preparations against attack we can and to ready ourselves to learn from the attacks if they happen again to better defend against and stop them in the future.

Also, have a couple of 'rescue tugs' with tractor beams ready.
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>>5036505
>Begin unmanned gathering of Tritium on Max
>>
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You commission several large surface "peelers" that will harvest the Tritium from the upper atmosphere of Max. Thankfully, since Trititum only forms up there anyways, you can have them set to only stay at a high altitude over the planet and at the same time include several safety features.

The peelers are equipped with a unique and revolutionary technology- paper! Or moreso, a paper-backup that records everything that happens within each on, in the event of data corruption. This completely non-digital blackbox will be used to monitor what happens within each of the peelers and may provide vital information. You also assign several pilots with rescue ASDVs and WSDVs and station them on Caplit- to provide a response in the event of a data corruption attack. You also assign several ASDVs as pickup crews; flying and docking with the automated stations to collect the Tritium. These special ships are flown entirely by a pilot on shifts; their AI and computer guidance systems automatically turn off the moment they get close to Max. These features together should ensure that the data corruption virus doesn't spread in the event of an attack.

In the meanwhile, the peelers are deployed and begin to harvest Tritium- within a few months you have enough to run your early fusion experiments- though not enough to equip a starship for a potential Hyperspace Jump, as you are still well in the simulation and computer-prototype stage of even the earliest designs.

This all takes about five years.

Almost right on time, just a few months after the Peelers are deployed and set to harvest- another Data Corruption occurs. Because of your readiness, not a single peeler is lost to the clouds and all are recovered. The paper records are taken as well, and quickly scanned for Alavis to examine. That seals it- there is no possible way that these aliens are relying on prediction or sub-light technology or form of attack. They must be monitoring and attacking Max with a Hyperparticle Device. The device must also be extremely accurate, as only Max is struck by it; the surge doesn't extend all the way out to Caplit.

Al explains to you that the alien data corruption is a bit like a data prion, hence why her earlier incarnation could not stop it from destroying her systems aboard the Cirrus. Significantly more dangerous then a computer virus; this corruption spreads even to the tools or programs used to contain or delete it.

Using this knowledge- it may be possible to make a defense against it. Alavis has gone over the files and splashes a few suggested solutions.

>Rediscover Fixed-Point Plasmatronics to defend against the high-energy data blast (Force Fields)
>Design new, better AI cores that can fight back against the data corruption on their own
>>
On one hand, force fields are great, and useful in many ways other than just the data attack. On the other hand, if we were to develop a new AI core, it would severely improve our general technology and computing capacity.
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>>5036928
>Rediscover Fixed-Point Plasmatronics to defend against the high-energy data blast (Force Fields)
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>>5036928
>Rediscover Fixed-Point Plasmatronics to defend against the high-energy data blast (Force Fields)
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>>5036928
>Design new, better AI cores that can fight back against the data corruption on their own

Forcefields are a cringe aesthetic and the QR code leads to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGvy8ZR7xPo
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>>5036928
>>Design new, better AI cores that can fight back against the data corruption on their own
Better AI that can't be hacked are more useful. Imagine getting Skynet'd by a computer virus send from the other side of the galactic arm.
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>>5036928
Good point, we don't want our stuff getting hacked because the data could get through the force fields.

>Design new, better AI cores that can fight back against the data corruption on their own
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>>5036928
>>Design new, better AI cores that can fight back against the data corruption on their own
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>>5036928
>Design new, better AI cores that can fight back against the data corruption on their own
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>>5036928
>Design new, better AI cores that can fight back against the data corruption on their own
I would go with the force fields but the ability to use this better ai on other shit like researching ftl shit faster is just too useful to pass up.
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Over the next 10 years, advancements in computers are focused. Your budget is always growing and expanding with your industrial base; thank goodness for the Indigo expansion!

During this time, Alavis and the AI network in general is greatly enhanced. Originally, the AI architecture was designed by the late and great Gaftar IV, father of the AI revolution, who had the strange decision to make AI's work as roughly a single "brain". However, in the past decades that was slowly changed, with this being the most significant. AIs are much more capable of cloud computing and storage now, with Alavis leading the charge.

Also; advancements in cooling technology from working on fusion has allowed for room temperature quantum computing. This form of computing greatly advances simulation and thought-speed of AI working on large projects. Interestingly; small attempts at beginning the working of a gas based computing system, similar to the ones the aliens use, is experimented with. But as with any new field of science, it seems very rudimentary and not equal to your own processing capabilities. It may be that certain forms of technology are unique to different civilizations and may not be communicable; it would probably take you centuries to reach the same point as you are now in computing with gas powered. Hopefully, with the new advances, you won't need to.

At the same time; something else happens. Less important in the grand scheme, but important to your personally. Kinja has died of old age. He wasn't the healthiest Supreme Ruler, especially his young-adult lifestyle of crunch time to produce movies and working on a corporate schedule in the fast paced entertainment industry, meaning he died relatively young.

As per ancient Jaxtian traditions; Sons choose how their Fathers are buried. Kinja was not your father; but the successor of the Supreme Ruler becomes the "son" in spirit of the previous. You didn't know Kinja that well, but you do know he didn't choose the Supreme Rulership; and records indicate he was spurious and did not appreciate it; running off as soon as he could to thrust it on you to go back to his own hobbies. You are now the decider in his burial and will choose how his memory is honored... or not.

>Give him a respectful burial
>Give him a disrespectful burial
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>>5037409
>Give him a respectful burial
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>>5037409
>Give him a respectful burial

Is this even a real choice? He CHOSE us, despite our status as a bastard and a softie. He paved the way for our own innovations. He helped us avert a race war with softcore porn! What a monke. What a LEGEND.
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>>5037409
>Give him a respectful burial
He's not the most ideal ruler, but he managed to pull the hedgemony through a crisis despite having been basically forced into the role. He did his job, and that means he deserves a proper burial.
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>>5037424
Supporting this.
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>>5037409
>>Give him a respectful burial
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>>5037409
>Give him a respectful burial
He didn't want the job but he was decent enough a it.
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>>5037409
>Give him a respectful burial
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>>5037409
>Give him a respectful burial
Someone make this man a dramatic movie portraying his life!
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>>5037409
>Give him a respectful burial
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>>5037409
>>Give him a respectful burial
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>>5037409
>Give him a respectful burial
>>
You decide to bury Kinja respectfully. While you don't have any special ideas about his remains- you order them interred on the grounds of A.P.E.- the government company that produced most of your species great works of entertainment- you DO have an idea on how to treat his death. You order the production of a character study and film of his reign; granting a bit of a background into the life of a Supreme Ruler. Of course, this won't touch on anything confidential, but it will be a strong production focusing on responsibility and the will of a people. You think this is how he'd truly want to be honored.

Around the same time of this production; a three day, then week, then two week long experimental Fusion Reactor burn is performed using your Tritium stockpiles. These experiments are done in a state-of-the-art reactor facility on Jaxt to test your prototype equipment. During the tests, the flux cloud was able to stay stable and continually synthesize Helium, producing massive amounts of energy, and remained capable of sustaining its own reaction for the duration of each test. While an excellent step forward- a few issues remain. The intense heat and radiation of the fusion core, especially during the two week test, damaged the control and energy feeding mechanisms. Also; because this experiment was performed on Jaxt, excess heat could be channeled down heating coils into the ocean of the planet to dispel waste heat- but out in space in a vacuum, this won't be an option. Finally; the vast majority of the fusion energy was wasted by your lacking ability to capture energy. Clearly, several branches of science still need advancements- meaning you are still a ways off from making a Hyperdrive equipped starship; though you are closer to making fusion power for use on colonies and planets more real! Even without a hyperdrive, fusion reactors on planets could create immense amount of power, supporting exponentially larger industries and population numbers.

Speaking of a growing population; your species has been going through a baby boom recently, mostly due to the Indigo and the Hegemony's influence. However, part of this growth has fueled a newfound youth culture; Alavis explains that her newfound quantum computing cores allow her to make even greater predictions and simulation models; and the subroutines she constantly runs to study the citizens in their private chats, media interests, and so on have seen some shocking new developments.
>>
Because of the tolerance and inclusion towards Indigos, the time since the last space-war, the treatment of the office of the Supreme One under Kinja, among several other cultural and random factors, has lead to a growth in a youth culture that is less autocratic then the Hegemony's standard core beliefs. It should be noted here that all of this is pure speculation on the part of Alavis's AI cores; but as a machine she has no axe to grind nor reason to exaggerate. What you see before you is pure analysis.

Essentially; the younger generation of Jaxtians are less strict then their parents in many factors- the largest being their value towards authority. Not their trust or open resistance of it- simply not valuing the power and strength of the Hegemony as an asset in their own lives; they value entertainment and their own wealth and freedom as being more important then the state. This small shift in values indicates a change in thought that could prove to cause problems down the line.

Of course- the believers of this fringe ideology are not political active- not that political parties are or ever will be legal- it's just that the founders of this "movements" have already been born and are among the people. And in truth... you are partially to blame for them. Your lax style of Supreme Rulership and softness caused this blister to grow under the skin of the Hegemony.

Alavis predicts that if immediate action is not taken, that there is a 60% probability that a political movement will come out of this in the next few decades. That was one of the first things you learned as a Supreme Ruler candidate- The Hegemony must remain in absolute control of all aspects of the government, the people, the science, the military, and wealth and all thought and political action. Any deviation from this path lies the way to fracture, decadence, and weakness. It is the most core and important tenants of the Hegemony- zero tolerance for any power other then the Hegemony.

The question is; what are you going to do about it? After all- these are kids. None of them have done anything. It's what they might do that is the issue. What is your approach?

>Arrest, segregate from parents, relocate and reeducate (Unpopular but effective)
>Use espionage, gang-stalking, poor work advancement, and shadowmasking online interactions to keep them weak, depressed, and unable to organize (Moderately effective)
>Do nothing and hope continuous Hegemony victories realign their thinking (Least effective)
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>>5037759
>>Use espionage, gang-stalking, poor work advancement, and shadowmasking online interactions to keep them weak, depressed, and unable to organize (Moderately effective)
Seems like the most reasonable.
>>
Won't creating a generation disillusioned with life not result in more direct resistance against the hedgemony as opposed to just not caring for it?
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>>5037759
>Use espionage, gang-stalking, poor work advancement, and shadowmasking online interactions to keep them weak, depressed, and unable to organize (Moderately effective)
>>
I think we should invest more heavily on propaganda. They're children, right? We own all the schools and learning institutions.
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>>5037770
I think that we are just targering those likely to become future leadeds of a counter-cultural movement.
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>>5037780
Yeah, but that's the problem, if they believe in wealth over the state, and they find themselves in a situation where there is no wealth for them, won't they decide this is the state's fault and form against the actual hegemony?

Would it not be better to try to use propaganda to get rid of any counter-movements at all?
>>
What these kids need is a rite of passage. Something that teaches them to value the comforts they have and the role the Hegemony plays in maintaining them.
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>>5037759
>Positive propaganda push, reminding the Indigos and those that grew up tolerant of them The Hegemony stood between them and the savagery and anarchy of populist sentiment, as well as sci-fi pictures emphasizing the wisdom and cleverness of The Hegemony in the face of threats from beyond the stars

>Re-education camps for any who remain dissident in their opinions and expression
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>>5037759
> Introduce a new subject to the educational curriculum that explains how the Hegemony is the only viable form of government. Nobody has to pass it, but eveybody has to take it. It shall be called: History and Moral Philosophy.
>Also introduce a mandatory military bootcamp year at some point during Jaxxian Secondary education. This should help the children not take the comforts of civilisation for granted. Maybe ask Eoba for tips.
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>>5037759
>Use espionage, gang-stalking, poor work advancement, and shadowmasking online interactions to keep them weak, depressed, and unable to organize (Moderately effective)

Best of the three options available. Though my preference would also be:

>Introduce pro-Hegemony political actors and a 'social rewards' system that incentivises pro-pro-Hegemony action and interactions within the datasphere; granting greater social credit and more 'likes' for those who show and demonstrate the values of the Hegemony and show they value what the Hegemony has done for them and their species.

to combine that earlier subtle stick with a few hints of carrot and the option to make your own carrots to show to your freinds!
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>>5037759
>Arrest, segregate from parents, relocate and reeducate (Unpopular but effective)
If it works for China it will do for us.
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>>5037759
>Arrest, segregate from parents, relocate and reeducate (Unpopular but effective)

Not something we can let fester, the velvet glove can only exist when they fear the iron fit underneath
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>>5037759
>Do nothing and hope continuous Hegemony victories realign their thinking (Least effective)
We need change
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>>5038244
-100000000 social credit
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>>5037759
Though remember anons the children haven't been born yet so we should go along the lines of preparing an environment for them to learn about the benefits of the hegemony so I vote for
>>5037801
>>5037860
>>5037904
any of these since they all revolve around sending a positive message of the hegemony to be learned by the younger population that still hasn't been born yet
>support
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>>5037759
>>Do nothing and hope continuous Hegemony victories realign their thinking (Least effective)
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>>5037759
>Use espionage, gang-stalking, poor work advancement, and shadowmasking online interactions to keep them weak, depressed, and unable to organize (Moderately effective)
>>
Guys I'd strongly advise against doing anything too drastic on this one. We're dealing with a POTENTIAL future threat. Coming down hard before anyone actually does anything will alienate the people. Plus 60% while significant is not a high enough probability to justify arresting and re-educating kids.
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>>5038587

Agreed. The stick is always there and always a possible; but much better to use the carrot (the banana?) and provide reasons for them to love the Hegemony.
>>
You have decided to use subterfuge to deal with this troublesome youth culture- but you'll only do it your way.

One advantage of Jaxt being the cultural and family-center of your race is the availability of wild lands and wilderness- you still exist in your more-or-less evolutionary cradle. As such, putting people back into this environment may sharpen the positive traits you want to instill in them. You declare a mandatory one month training camp for all Jaxtian males- similar to the militarization and conscription efforts of the early Hegemony. While you are no longer embroiled in wars and civil conflicts- the space age has brought war back to you. It may be best to remember the old ways.
>>
During this "camp", young people are physically drilled, practice several "war games", and live roughly, including being forced to live in the treetop canopies making hammocks and beds out of gathered leaves and sticks- just as your ancestors did. Eoba has a hand in picking the games himself, naturally. Beyond being a preservation of your culture, you find those who return from the program more confident in themselves and less materialistic in general.

You also follow this up with two other control methods; the first being your Talacent Scholarship program, an extra education and achievement project that is targeted towards the depression-prone and underachieving types- to which Al has identified as a large block of the counter-cultural types to put their lives back on track in service of the Hegemony. The second is the more insidious control for those who continue their behaviors- especially those who show a dismissive or antagonistic towards the Hegemony. It seems that males are more heavily affected by gang stalking and unpleasant living conditions, where as females are more harmed by negative social ramifications; but both are useful and effective.

The important thing here is the degree of force and the proper administration of punishment. You are not like the dictatorships of the past who tortured political adversaries and rivals for enjoyment- the instant any of these hegemonic critics post a comment in support of the Hegemony, take an interest in the guiding principles or traditions of your people, or recant any of their previous statements or opinions they publicly shared; the gangstalking, threatening messages, and life disruption stops. Their quality of life instantly jumps up; to prove that the right attitude is rewarded.

Alavis tells you that your actions have greatly impacted the youth culture without causing too much stress or concern among the adult population- after 5 years, you have lowered the chance of this political party emerging to just 20%.

Suddenly; you are interrupted yet again by a BIG DEAL ALERT.

Your telescopes and listening stations report that a Gigantic Cyclinder is now arriving at your star system! It is clearly an artificial construction, flying at sublight speeds. Its size and scope are massive; it is large enough to probably contain its own inner atmosphere and gravity well- meaning it seems perfectly suited to a generation ship. The Haazar ship has finally arrived!

As your first contact with truly advanced alien life- this could be an excellent opportunity to secure your alliance with these unusual aliens, or at least to forge strong bonds. As the Supreme Ruler- you were chosen just such for your talents. But at the same time, it's always scary meeting a new people; especially ones with such a huge construction; hinting at a superior technological pace then your own.

How should you greet the Haazar?
>Warmly (Diplomacy & Trade)
>Coldly (Prepared for a Fight)
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>>5038603
>>Warmly (Diplomacy & Trade)
>>
On a separate point, yay fusion research - soon to render us non-nuclear (as in fissiles, a thing we almost ran out of) independent! A bright future of essentially limitless energy for our civilian population alone (even if we never reach FTL-ship levels of power density) is pretty great. In combination with our development of tractor beams however, it just makes me wonder what sorts of mega-projects we could do.

>>5038603
>Warmly (Diplomacy & Trade)

Frankly, if they are prepared to function as a vessel of war I give us poor odds of beating them. Just the sheer mass of their vessel alone would render it fairly difficult for our craft to combat before it does serious damage.
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>>5038603
>Warmly
>>
>>5038603
>>Warmly (Diplomacy & Trade)
>>
>>5038603
>Warmly (Diplomacy & Trade)
We should have ships on standby just in case though, putting any military ships already out there on alert and readying ships within hangars for launch if they do decide to attack. Nothing overt of course.
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>>5038603
>Warmly (Diplomacy & Trade)

Mention that we would trade argon with them, but somebody sabotaged our nascent gas mining operation.

I don't think the Hazaar were behind the data attack, but they might know who was.
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>>5038603
>"Warmly", BUT Prepare for the case of invasion
CANT YOU PEOPLE SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING?!

Add everything up. The odd request, the attack, the probes that targetted our colony...and now, they send what is possibly a generation ship.

THEY'RE TRYING TO TAKE US OVER. It's so goddamn simple. They send the message, they let the drones do the work of killing, and then they repopulate the now dead system

Fucking Hazaar.
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>>5038603
>>Warmly (Diplomacy & Trade)

They sent us a message in advance, and gave us a HUGE amount of forewarning they were on their way. The least we can do is give them a polite welcome after all this time.

Apologise for not having much Argon ready for them, tell them what happened to the collection facility we established due to some form of data attack.

Our own defences will be placed on standby just in case - it is never wise to drop one's guard entirely - but hopefully they will not be required.
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>>5038709
>They sent us a message in advance
So we could make the facilities to collect argon, which could be sunk with the data attack and construct drones like those.
>Apologise for not having much Argon ready for them
They don't WANT Argon, they want Tritium, which they can use for their gas-based computers. They were trying to trick us.

The Hazaar are trying to destroy us and we should have spent more time building warships instead of having to worry about dumb shit like race wars.
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>>5038711
What actual evidence do we have of this that isn't just conjecture?
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>>5038711
I think that there are two alien species involved, the Hazaar and the ones that attacked us from our argon rich giant.
The Hazaar don't have argon in their solar system and that was noted to be statiscally unlikely, I think that the attack happening after meeting them was a red herring.
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>>5038825
Okay.
>So we could make the facilities to collect argon
The data attack was highly pinpointed, meaning whoever did it was explicitly aiming at our facility in our gas giant - this, of course, requires knowledge of what we were doing, and it can't be just an random Dark Forest Shootout because they could have easily destroyed our planet.
>Which could be sunk with the data attack
That was the actual purpose, as seen by the fact that the station was repurposed to become the droid vessels
>They don't WANT argon, they want tritium
Argon itself is found in much more notable quantities on the galaxy, and itself isn't that useful, but Tritium is extremely rare and found, 'coincidentally' in the same place they needed Argon from. Tritium can also be used for a Gas-Based computer systme, which we know they have.

And now, they're sending us an ship that's said large enough to be able to be a generation ship...heading for a planet that could have been almost taken over if not for our defences.

Is it adding up yet?
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>>5038888
Well I see your point so I just vote we be cautious when dealing with them till we find out who specify sent the data attack, also when we took apart the drones they also had the gas computers running them , so we should be prepared should they try anything

I'm just worried this may give our species a negative view on the other species out there, though we do have another species under the umbrella of our hegemony
so just hoping we don't go full xenophobic
>>
You decide to greet the alien cylinder warmly. You've already decided to compromise with the aliens by docking and meeting with them aboard their space vessel- you'll take the first steps into their space. After all, they came all the way to your solar system, so they're in your territory and might be feeling uncomfortable. Might as well compromise and enter into their ship. After all, your computers have already worked out that the Haazar and Jaxtians atmospheres are similar and are survivable by both races; Jaxtians might prefer more nitrogen and Haazar more pure oxygen, but there's no danger for either of your kinds.

As you approach the alien ship with a small, ceremonial military escort- the cylinder slows to a halt. The end begins to open up, slowly unscrewing to emit forth a massive cloud of gas into your solar system- though all of the gas is contained within two Plasmatronic bubbles- this concept had been put forward before by your AI as a form of air-docking and flight in space for things better suited to flying in the atmospheres of planets...

Why is it taking so long to get a response? Alavis has been telling you the canister is constantly emitting signals, but are garbled high energy waves that aren't exactly attempting to bridge the gap between your species.

"This is the Supreme Ruler of the Jaxtians speaking- we are ready to meet with our honored guests. Response?"

You don't like this. The fur is standing up on the back of your neck. Your tail is knotting itself up. That gas doesn't register as having any significant amount of oxygen at all according to spectromety...
>>
Wait! Something is coming out of the gas. It looks like several ships-

OH SHIT

Drones- exactly identical to the design used on Max- begin to pour from the open end of the canister. Along with them, a larger spider-like craft seems to lead them. You turn tail.

"GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

You alert the military to their battle stations. Your scanners indicate that hundreds of drones are being released by the canister into your solar system. And they are beginning to chase you.

"Defend the Supreme Ruler!"
"Your Grace- let us die for you here!"

Your two military ships are running with you- but both are expressing their urge to turn around and buy you time to escape. However, doing so would mean certain death for those pilots...

>Tell them to cover your escape
>Crank up the Star Dynamo and run together MAY CAUSE DEATH OF SUPREME RULER
>>
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Of fucking course. I told you people it would end up like this. I fucking told you. It's time to get XENOPHOBIC.

>Tell them to cover your escape
>Aim lasers at the mass of drones that's starting to activate
Think of it, if they still get the Supreme Leader's vessel while it's running, there's no chance they'll make it out - and there's an incredibly thick concentration of drones. Kill them while they still haven't gotten ready.

God fucking hazaar, i'm going to shove a rock so far up their ant eating holes they'll give birth to a pebble.
>>
>>5039012
>>Crank up the Star Dynamo and run together MAY CAUSE DEATH OF SUPREME RULER

Whelp, looks like the Haazar are utterly irredeemable Xeno scum after all. I apologise to those who guessed it right who I doubted.

Anyway, let's not order these brave pilots to their deaths. Right now we need every combat-capable ship we have more then we need a 'peace and diplomacy' supreme leader in Wartime. And alert Eoba that he might find himself supreme leader very soon.
>>
>>5039026
But anon, if we crank up the star dynamo and we die anyways just like last time, won't the pilots also die?

Trying to run together might just get us to lose both our pilots and our supreme leader. Talacent needs to have his revenge agianst the Hazaar.
>>
>>5039012
>Tell them to cover your escape
I rather not have to deal with getting a new leader during war time.
>>
>>5039022
Supporting. Eoba will be invaluable, but we don't know hoe competent he is outside of dueling and other feats of personal military prowess. He and Talacent as a TEAM, though...
>>
>>5039012
>Tell them to cover your escape
It's harsh but the Hegemony's survival comes before the individual's.
>>
>>5039012
>Tell them to cover your escape
Oh so this is gonna be a "Dark Forest" type of universe.

Alright warhawks you were right, I was wrong. Let's kill these fuckers, and once we develop FTL, we're gonna nuke their homeworld. But first we need to survive.
>>
>>5039012
>Cover our escape
What are the chances that this is not the Haazar but something else masquerading as them? It could even be that our first contact with them is fabricated, and that no Hazaari actually exist; the true ones are the gas giant dwellers that are currently attacking us.
In any case, prep them sonic cannons.
>>
>>5039071
>Oh so this is gonna be a "Dark Forest" type of universe.
No, i don't think so.

Dark Forests are the way they are because of RKW. It doesn't matter how weak or strong your nation's arms, the moment people know you you're dead because they'll just obliterate your entire system since that's a basis for space flight.

We, however, KNOW that Star Dynamos CANNOT be used for Relativistic Kill Weapons. So it can't be a Dark Forest, because just broadcasting our location doesn't result in an insta-kill. It's more so just your usual 'xenos are bad' universe.

Also, Migrators should get promoted to 'not xenos' before we start purging the uglies. I mean, they're not Jaxtians, but they're from our system and they're pretty cool.
>>
>>5039012
>Tell them to cover your escape
Ah fucking shit alert Eoba and get his flagship along with the rest of the fleet over here, also we should totally go full xenophobe now (except against the Migrators they pretty neato)
>>
>>5039100
It may also not be that all xenos are bad. We've met two races, and spied on one. So far, only 1/3 have tried to scam and destroy us.
>>
>>5039012
>>Tell them to cover your escape
>>
>>5039100
>Dark Forests are the way they are because of RKW.

I meant Dark Forest in the sense that the only rational responses to an alien civilisation are to annihilate them subjugate them, or hide from them. Lack of RKWs doesn't remove the fundamental problem that you can't know a race's intentions and that even if they are benign or weak you can't know whether they will contimue to be benign or weak. Thus to ensure your own survial you must attempt to annihilate or subjugate all weaker civilisations and mask your presence from stronger ones.

I foolishly thought that the Hazaar couldn't be responsible for the data prion because it would saboage their own trade deal. Turns out they were trying to trick us into creating mass they could use for a vanguard fleet. Thank goodness we saved the Cirrus, else we would be up to our armpits in attack drones before we had a real space navy.

Right now we can safely assume the Hazaar are ahead of us in the field of hypertronics but haven't achieved FTL and that they have at least one extra solar outpost.
>>
>>5039261
We will move forward more cautiously, but we need not be unduly paranoid... Especially once we have a position of strength.
>>
>>5039100
>We, however, KNOW that Star Dynamos CANNOT be used for Relativistic Kill Weapons
That doesn't preclude RKWs tho - fusion reactors are just one purposeful containment breach from being a extremely high thrust, high efficiency engine with a incredibly common, stable and easy to access fuel. To say nothing of the fact that tractor beams similarly enable theoretically immense acceleration of a object beyond the Star Dynamo's present limit.

Not to mention the existence of hyperspace - the ability to transport matter in another dimension across vast distances at speeds of 10c supposes if anything a worse state of affairs than RKWs since it is capable of travelling even faster and is functionally undetectable since there wouldn't even be gravitic disturbance (as it rests in another dimension and thus doesn't affect space-time here).

You are somewhat right however, we can and must assume that we are in a universe that is going to be largely hostile - but I disagree that going full xenophobe is justified at this precise moment in time. As I consider a possibility that seems presently ignored. What if the Hazaar were hit by the same data prion we were attacked with during their journey here? Consider - the Hazaar exist off of basically similar biology, we can presume this because we haven't any reason to believe otherwise. The gas vented from their ship just now lacked significant oxygen content - implying that we and thus they wouldn't be able to survive in it. From this there are a few possibilities. One is this ship is entirely automated and the gas isn't important to it, another is the Hazaar have a Stasis gene like we do and thus the crew isn't consuming substantial space or resources - thus they don't bother maintaining a perfect atmosphere and lastly is the possibility that this ship was hit by the same data prion.

>1/2) Hazaar hostile, trojan horse / stasis'd colonists.
This is the simplest but raises questions to me - who is so foolish as to send their colony ship in as part of the first wave? This generation ship is presumably carrying a population of their people (unless entirely automated - but that raises further questions like why they bothered with a proper generation ship design instead of militarising it since we'd either be defeated or unable to react to their obvious provocation by the time of arrival) and throwing them into harm's way makes little sense. One possibility is they have another ship coming after this one that is the actual colony craft and this one is just the military. Intended to wipe the slate clean.

>3) Hazaar innocent, infected
Their ship could have been hit at any point after we received that message from them (or even before if that message was pre-made or made by the attackers) and begun its transformation into a carrier.
>>
How viable would plan 'attack run' be? The Fighters attack the drones and try to take out as many as they can before they awaken/are overwhelmed; and the supreme leader races for the cylinder to get himself inside? Out in space he and his craft are sitting ducks, but if we get inside the cylinder - who knows what mischief a skilled monkey might inflict?
>>
>>5039012
>Tell them to cover your escape
>>
>>5039012
>Tell them to cover your escape

>>5039320
Terrible - we're severely outnumbered by technologically peer / superior forces that just took us by surprise (meaning our pilots are not on combat drugs so they'll fight worse). Even assuming our escort managed to take down 200 craft before being killed each? "hundreds of drones" have already been released. We are not winning here and frankly even if we got into the interior given the size of the place the chances of us finding and disabling something critical without being killed is too low.
>>
>>5039298
>being a extremely high thrust, high efficiency engine with a incredibly common, stable and easy to access fuel
I don't know about that, don't they work together with Star Dynamos, which are the only thing able to accelerate to such a speed?
> To say nothing of the fact that tractor beams
Eh...I don't think tractor beams are THAT fast. They're, you know, tractor beams.
>Not to mention the existence of hyperspace
Hyperspace is specifically anti RKW because the particles are all going to a different dimension, basically. Holdo Maneuvers wouldn't make any sense.
>>
>>5039012
>Tell them to cover your escape
>>
It is taught in History and Moral Philosophy that the Hegemony has the greatest moral weight and bearing on the world. This is because the universe will one day end.

You went to flight school. You still took that class.

The truth of the world is that if the universe was infinite, or if energy or matter could be created from nothing, or there was an afterlife, then everything we do in this life doesn't matter- as we will get infinite chances to do again, or fail again, or live again, or to die again. It is meaningless. However, the Hegemony teaches that because everything will end, and life will one day cease, this means that everything we do has incredible importance.

It is therefore the simple, logical truth that to die one day a hero is better then to live a thousand lifetimes as a coward. And what better way to die then to assist the Supreme One- the Ruler of the Hegemony, the enlightened of Jaxtian primates and all lesser species in the galaxy?

For the Supreme One! For the Hegemony!
>>
You have allowed both of your more agile escorts to peel away and fight the oncoming hoard of drones- even though they know it's a suicide mission. The WSDVs are much more agile then your Imperial ASDV- only with a distraction can you get away.

Sadly- without shielding technology or especially well trained & piloting traditions, your space ships aren't well defended. One good hit from the alien probes... and it's over.

Your distress call has already reached Jaxt- the fighters are scrambled. Eoba has readied his crew for his vessel- and commands the fleet into action!

The enemy fleet, however, is a dangerous foe. The alien fleet is made up of automatous drones controlled by AI. These drones are not especially powerful, but have the power to fire a Neutrino blast, scramble nearby electronics, and can also create plasma bonds with nearby drones via Plasmatronic Induction. These plasma lines are fired and home in on their targets, and are hot and powerful enough to seer through your ships- with a sole exception to your most powerful flagship. There are also hundreds of them that have poured out from the alien vessel.

The capabilities of the squid-like flagship are yet unknown. Could this be a mechanical version of what this alien species looks like? Or could it be a cultural symbol; the Haazarian man-of-war jellyfish that represents their conquering spirit?
>>
Your fleet is readied for war- headed by Eoba Garastra in the flagship- which has since been officially named Vul's Revenge.

Your fleet is made up of both ASDVs and WSDVs. The ASDVs are the workhorses of the Hegemony in space and are not designed first for combat. The WSDVs make up a majority and are very agile- especially in atmospheres. This makes them better at chasing and high speed maneuvers. It is also being headed by the Alavis AI herself- a kernal level AI core is stored safely in the flagship- protecting all of the ships of the fleet from the deadly data prion.

The ASDVs are armed with two high energy diode lasers- useful for cutting metal and blasting apart meteorites. They are also armed with basic tractor beam modules- which will be moderately to very powerful against basic drones, but much less against the enemy flagship due to differences in mass.

Your WSDVs are equipped with two high energy diode lasers and a single Neutrino blaster- the blast of which emits neutrinos that scramble and temporarily disable nearby computer systems. They are your primary strike craft.

Finally; the Tul's Revenge is a massive ship with armor and thermal-resistance shielding, meaning it will survive more then one hit by a drone attack. It is also armed with several Neutrino blasters, but is naturally the least agile.

Your entire fleet that can be mustered is here- a final and all-important last stand. If the aliens defeat the fleet or force a retreat- they will be able to attack all remote colonies and installations of the Jaxtian people. Millions will die- and if worse comes to worse, they could destroy your manufacturing base on Schoon, thus leaving your permanently grounded and unable to rebuild any kind of army. This cannot be allowed to happen!

>Cautiously approach to learn the capabilities of the enemy flagship
>Send WSDVs on strike mission against open alien cylinder
>Bombard at long range
>Other (Write In)
>>
>>5039469
>Bombard at long range
Less QQ more pew pew!
>>
>>5039469
>Send WSDVs on strike mission against open alien cylinder
We can't let release more drones.
>>
>>5039398
>I don't know about that, don't they work together with Star Dynamos, which are the only thing able to accelerate to such a speed?
Not over stellar distances - to hit the speed of light takes just 10 years if you are accelerating at 1G. Remember that even if you hit 1 G instantly, our nearest star takes 4 years to get to. Ergo interstellar KKVs are still entirely viable because you can just use a non-star dynamo engine (which is why I talked about fusion reactors being basically great engines for this purpose).

>Eh...I don't think tractor beams are THAT fast. They're, you know, tractor beams.
Yes but it's all a matter of application and method - suppose they're projecting a force and it's basically a laser but with pushing/pulling. In that case, the power drops to a quarter every time you double the distance but it still exists. Thus if you use enough tractor beam you can achieve insane forces on small objects - especially compared to conventional "solar sails" since you don't have to worry about tractor beams being reflected by your recipient material.

Reasonably speaking however tractor beams work, unless they're just directed Star Dynamo fields (likely not since they're reliant on a different tech entirely!) they should have no upper limit to how fast they can accelerate things meaning it is just a matter of keeping the beam on target until you hit your desired speed.

>Hyperspace is specifically anti RKW because the particles are all going to a different dimension, basically. Holdo Maneuvers wouldn't make any sense.
Hyperspace requires you to move in it in order to actually get anywhere - assuming that your momentum continues on exit then RKW are even deadlier as I supposed. Given you can send targeted energy bursts (data prion) through hyperspace, this implies I am right - after all, if it lost all momentum on arrival the wave would collapse because it'd just sit on it's exit point as a ball of energy for a split second before repulsion forced it apart.


>>5039469
>Bombard at long range

Safest approach to start with, whittle down the attackers and give us time to work out what their plan / capabilities are.
>>
>>5039469
>Bombard at long range
When they're all clustered together, ready to engage us? That's when we detonate a 'quiet' nuclear device among them.
>>
>>5039469
>>Bombard at long range
>>
>>5039469
>Bombard at long range
>>
>>5039469
>Bombard at long range
>>
>>5039469
>Bombard at long range
>>
You decide to bombard the aliens from a long distance away. You aren't sure who has better long range munitions and firepower- while you are clearly outnumbered, perhaps quality and defeat quantity here. You know that, in 3d space combat, getting caught in by a semi-circle would mean certain death- you have to hold a line. Engaging in a dogfight with so many enemy agile craft is also very foolish- but the distance should help avoid that.

At first, the alien drone swarm has a severe advantage- the alien drones pump shots towards your ships, with lasers being ineffective in retaliation at such a long range. Your Neutrino blasts will have to do. The alien Neutrino blasts are just as strong as ever- much more accurate with their flight patterns then your own, though each shot seems to have less behind it then your own ships, which seem to have much more powerful cannons from your reactor cores- just imagine what fusion cores could do!

Alavis also seems to help; helping your ships to target alien drones that are about to fire next, while the drones just seem to target your own semi-randomly. The number of shots fired is also considerably reduced by both sides data attacks scrambling and reducing the ability to focus fire and properly target- many neutrino blasts are hacked at the last second before they are emitted from a ship, and then peel off course and fly into space uselessly. Many also hit their mark; several of your own ships are struck, killing or disabling the pilots within. The sheer numbers advantage pushes you back.

However, as time goes on, your own ships start to edge out an advantage in this long range war. It seems the smaller size and less powerful energy sources these drones use are terrible for endurance, and the enemy firing mechanisms overheat after just two or three shots. Without a way to vent it into space, the larger size of your craft and their crew actually act as a nice heat sink for your weapons systems.

Then- the alien craft begin to form plasma bonds; of course! Those are super heated strings of gas particles, a way to vent the heat from their ships into space. Plasmatronic control of these turns them into a projectile- hundreds of drones form dozens of bonds in the line, and then fire them towards your ships!

These plasma whips will burn through your ships and destroy them; and a line of them are being fired towards you; in only seconds they will be upon you. How are you going to counter these?

>Write in
>>
>>5040086
>Use all of our tractor beams to repulse the plasma whips
>>
>>5040086
Plasma whips are possible because of Plasmatronic control, right? It just so happens that we developed our own Plasmatronic control system purely for control and manipulation from range, didn't we?

>Use our tractor beams to capture these 'Plasma whips' and use them against the aliens.
>>
>>5040086
>tractor beam time
>>
>>5040086
Time to tractor beam.
>Tractor beam the 'ends' of the chain, as well as any nodelike structure - throw them back at the drones!
>>
>>5040086
Hoist by their own petard
>Tractor beam redirection
>>
You use your ASDVs tractor beams to fling back the plasma attack- and it works perfectly! This also frees up your WSDVs to focus on firing their weapons, cutting off the power to their engines temporarily to pound the enemy drone army with more and more blasts.

The waves of force push back and disrupt the flight path of the plasma, and despite the relatively weak gravity of your tractor beams, it is enough to break up the plasma. Sadly they don't keep whole enough to become a deadly returning weapon to the enemy fleet- but the plasma particles burning in a micro gravity environment will no doubt cause some problems to the enemy ships.

However; the enemy's largest vessel or drone begins to move. The squid-like ship stretches out its long arms as a squad of drones move between. As Neutrino blasts try to attack the drones- they stop short as though they hit a wall. Yes, this larger enemy vessel must be capable of generating shields!

The shielding squid advances with its squad of drones- getting closer. It seems this squid ship may have a higher level of intellect then these drones- it knows that getting too close to your ships will result in your laser barrage, so its using its shield as cover. You have no idea how much damage that shield can take- though judging by your experiments in the earlier Plasmatronic experiments- energy shields can eventually be overloaded with enough energy.

"Heh- guess it's finally that time then. Talacent- you listening to me?! Well guess what- your buddy isn't just a dumb knife fighter. Did you really think somebody with my kind of training would just waste money on my little pet "flagship" project?! No- but I need a good cover story. After all, those aliens could have been listening to our encrypted broadcasts- I figure they could crack our codes easily juding by how they made the data prion. So feast your eyes on the never before seen secret weapon of the Jaxtians..."

As he speaks, his hand picked crew changes a few settings and reveals a massive laser cannon on the top of the ship; hidden under a cover like the basic Neutrino blasters. At the same time, all power in both the ship's fission reactors are rerouted to this weapon.

"...The most intense high energy diode we can produce, huge rare gemstones cut into focusing lenses, a state-of-the-art heat beam transfer system.... SAPPHIRE AVALANCHE!
>>
The powerful laser weapon fires from the cannon and begins to pound on the squid ship's powerful shields. The heat and energy of that beam are extremely intense- many times higher then the your standard weaponized lasers, which can already cut metal and break apart small asteroids.

However- the Vul's Revenge was a special ship designed with two decks, apparently for this purpose. As all of its energy is sucked up to be used for this laser, it is gradually increasing the heat within the ship- as well as reducing the oxygen as the life support is drained away.

"Hold... Hold..."

Damn Eoba! His crew is wearing space suits, but he isn't. If the ship's life support goes down or explodes, the crew may not be able to get him into a space suit quick enough. The ship itself wouldn't be damaged or disabled by this- but Eoba is running out of oxygen as the cabin reaches unsafe temperatures for your kind.

"Heh... in the ancient dueling techniques, it was only rarely that an opponent was killed by your own blade. Instead, you let them attack you, and let their momentum carry them off the branch. You don't kill them, the fall does. In the same way, my own attack could kill me- an honorable death. Don't you dare stop this- TALACENT! DO YOU HERE ME?!"

Alavis tells you that she could easily disable the Blue Avalanche; but the squid ship seems to be losing power to its shields fast- and it will likely be obliterated by the beam once those fail, along with the squadron of drones it is protecting!

"HOLD! HOLD!!!"

>Order Alavis to turn off the beam
>Hold (Chance that Eoba dies)
>>
>>5040363
Oh no, he's chuuni.
>Hold
>>
>>5040363
>Hold (Chance that Eoba dies)
Can we possibly get one of his people to get him in the space suit? I have no idea why he hasn't already gotten into one. It doesn't really make any sense - is he just that dramatic? We need more of those cool weapons and i don't want his knowledge to be lost already in the start of this war.

But we can't allow it to stop. Without this weapon, we won't be able to defeat the giant squid because we weren't able to get shields. We need to use it to blow up the goddamn thing.

But i mean, come on, his death is not necessary. Give him a goddamn space suit already, don't wait until the oxygen is cut off. Get one of the crewmembers to give it to him - we can't let our top general die so soon.
>>
>>5040382
>>5040391
Eoba WILL die if you pick the hold option anons. This quest uses no dice rolls.
>>
>>5040395
Destroying the enemy flag ship is more important, looks like they need slower than light travel to launch a big attack so something like that will not happen in this generation again.
>>
>>5040395
Well, i would hope it's not as simple as that, because avoiding his death should not be hard. I mean, come on, you have all those other people, the space suits explicitly there, how hard would it be to get him to not die?

I mean, i hope this isn't gonna be a quest where any kind of progress in a battle means you have to sacrifice your leaders. There's no reason for Eoba to die, and even then, it's just a chance.
>>
>>5040363
>>Hold (Chance that Eoba dies)

Eoba has requested this. We will honour this brave request, even if it may be his last.

...Though we shall try to think of a way not to have him die. A space suit ready to put him into if his consciousness slips, or perhaps have something that can take a bit of heat itself siphon some of the excess from Vul's revenge for just long enough.
>>
>>5040363
>Hold
GODSPEED SPIDERMAN
>>
>>5040363
>Hold
He has put his honour on the line! HE SHALL BE ALLOWED TO HOLD!
>>
>>5040363
>Hold
We are going full Imperium after this, right?
>>
>>5040363
>>Hold (Chance that Eoba dies)
>>
>>5040363
>Hold (Chance that Eoba dies)
>send a message to get that fool in a goddam space suit
>>5040463
Not shure we would have to see the decision given to us by the QM after this whole ordeal, but at the very least we now have a target species in the universe we are practically at war with, but when we first got word from them they told us their where other sentient species on their world so their are probably others that would like to see these guys crushed and beaten, though after some preparation
>>
>>5040463
By all meaning, we already are an empire. The Hegemony has complete control over everything, or at least pretty much everything.

Xenophobia, i believe, is fairly resaonable. And we know how people responded to the crisis at Cirrus - our people are driven by danger. We can use this to construct a true military power.

And with those AIs we got, we should be able to advance our technology more rapidly.
>>
>>5040363
>Hold, but also ORDER Eoba to put on a damn spacesuit
>>
>>5040363
>Hold
A giant laser? Really Eoba? How pedestrian. You are gonna survive this, and afterwards we are gonna have a long talk about an ultimate weapon worthy of the Hegemony.
>>
>>5040727
Sadly, energy weapons are the only things able to travel in space with the star dynamos. It's either a laser, a neutrino or a particle beam. Maybe we'll find more exotic weaponry in the future.
>>
Wait, why can't we vent heat in space again? It's space. It's cold.
>>
>>5040739
>Wait, why can't we vent heat in space again? It's space. It's cold.
It's a vacuum, mostly. There's no conductive substance for the heat to travel into via convection.
>>
>>5040794
This - in space you basically can only lose heat via thermal radiation unless you use a heat-sink substance and then detach / vent that. So in theory we could equip our ship with big heatsinks to shunt waste heat into but they'd impact flight / size characteristics and only work so long.
>>
Rolled 3 (1d3)

>>
>>5040871
OH NO YOU RETARD
>>
>>5040871
What a Chad
>>
The powerful BLUE AVALANCHE is held for moments longer- overloading the enemy squid-ship's shield with its intense energy. Within a few seconds, the shield comes down and strikes the squid ship- the resulting explosion destroys several nearby drones as the squid-ship itself is burned and vaporized from the utterly overwhelming power of the laser. The enemy fleet has lost its flagship.

However; the risk Eoba took ended up being calculated. The ship's life support held up- the moment he saw the enemy vessel destroyed, Eoba collapsed and allowed himself to be helped by the crewmates. He'll be fine- but you'll need to have a talk with the dramatic old fool. Why can't anyone in this empire act their damn age?

However- the destruction of the squid ship sends some kind of ripple through the enemy fleet- the moment it is destroyed, the drones scatter and chase your ships in a massive confusing ball; the dogfight has begun. This is basically the one thing you needed to avoid happening- the long range strategy was working. Now the small, agile drones and numbers advantage, coupled with your ships lack of defenses, mean they have the upper hand. Your ASDVs are getting struck and dropping like flies, though your more agile WSDVs are doing better. The Tul's Revenge is itself disabled; not from damage but from the fact it needs to cool down and recover its energy from its last attack.

During this time, you are commanding the battle as best you can from your nearby ASDV- ready to bolt if trouble comes. Going to Jaxt and preparing it for defense against the flying drones would probably be the best way to control this situation; in the event you lose this. Alavis can't give you a good rundown on what is happening, because she is currently very busy. The AI is not only calculating and aiding every single ship in the fleet against every drone in real time, but also watching out for data attacks and the data prion, controlling the ships with dead or injured pilots but are still operable, and disabling scores of the enemy drones and keeping them from overwhelming you with sheer numbers. It's not like she can help you plan your next move here- but its clear your fleet needs help. You need a final desperate plan to turn the tide of battle in your favor. Without the ability of Alavis to double check or work over the probabilities, you gotta go with your gut.

>Call in as many MK2 service drones as you can with tractor beams to assist your fleet
>Order the unarmed ASDV mining and transport ship pilots to come and act as distractions and living shields
>Assign some ships of the fleet to hook up with the Vul's Revenge to transfer heat and power to get it operational again
>Bring up Makatana's old sub to use its sonic emitter in space
>Leave the battle and go to Jaxt to prepare for invasion and minimize casualties
>>
>>5040890
>Assign some ships of the fleet to hook up with the Vul's Revenge to transfer heat and power to get it operational again
>Leave the battle and go to Jaxt to prepare for invasion and minimize casualties
>>
>>5040890
>Assign some ships of the fleet to hook up with the Vul's Revenge to transfer heat and power to get it operational again
>Leave the battle and go to Jaxt to prepare for invasion and minimize casualties
>>
>>5040890
>Call in as many MK2 service drones as you can with tractor beams to assist your fleet
>>
>>5040899
>>5040905
Why leave when we can summon our drones to lock them down
>>
>>5040890
>Call in as many MK2 service drones as you can with tractor beams to assist your fleet
>Assign some ships of the fleet to hook up with the Vul's Revenge to transfer heat and power to get it operational again
>>
>>5040890
>Call in as many MK2 service drones as you can with tractor beams to assist your fleet
>Order the unarmed ASDV mining and transport ship pilots to come and act as distractions and living shields

We need all the help we can get, have the drones slow down the enemy craft to make them easier targets.
>>
>>5040899
>>5040905
If we loose this battle, the drones can take out our extraplanetary industrial base. OP said as much. That would leave us without industry and place us entirely at the mercy of an alien power that has been shown to be merciless. WE CANNOT RETREAT HERE.
>>
>>5040890
>Call in as many MK2 service drones as you can with tractor beams to assist your fleet
>Order the unarmed ASDV mining and transport ship pilots to come and act as distractions and living shields
We can not relent. Everything depends on this.
>>
>>5040890
>Call in as many MK2 service drones as you can with tractor beams to assist your fleet
>Assign some ships of the fleet to hook up with the Vul's Revenge to transfer heat and power to get it operational again
>>
>>5040890
>Order the unarmed ASDV mining and transport ship pilots to come and act as distractions and living shields

It'll hurt our economy but fuck it - these drones will do more damage if they aren't stopped. Although, I wonder, couldn't we hook these up to Vul's Revenge instead? Since they're not armed we'd avoid losing some of our fighting power but they're also capable of absorbing heat...
>>
>>5040915
Changing my vote (>>5040905) to this.
>>
>>5040971
That's a good idea to use the ASDV mining ships there, that way we're not taking fighting ships off the line to restart Vul's revenge.
>>
>>5040890
>Call in as many MK2 service drones as you can with tractor beams to assist your fleet
>Assign some ships of the fleet to hook up with the Vul's Revenge to transfer heat and power to get it operational again
Thank God the mad man lives, we totally need to make a fucking propaganda film out of this battle once it's over and begin ramping up for full scale war so once we can use FTL we can fuck over those Haazar fucks.
>>
>>5040463
I think that getting uncivilized races like the Navigators is fine at least as small minorities, we should be wary of advanced aliens though.
>>
>>5040890
>>Call in as many MK2 service drones as you can with tractor beams to assist your fleet
>>Order the unarmed ASDV mining and transport ship pilots to come and act as distractions and living shields
>>
>>5040871
You absolute madman, the absolute lad. I propose when we eventually make a cooling system, we name it EOBA:
Exhaust for
Ordnance
Boost
Apparatus

>>5040890
>Order the unarmed vessels to help shunt heat from Vul's Revenge
>Call in the MK2 service drones with their tractor beams to assist the fleet, mostly by pushing enemy ships and enemy fire away

Also we really need to reverse-engineer that sonic emitter and weaponize it. I know sound doesn't travel through space, but what if we can send vibrations through tractor beams? Find that precise frequency that disrupts the enemy drones, and find a way to 'pulse' tractor beams so they transmit this frequency at whatever they hit.
>>
>>5040890
>Call in as many MK2 service drones as you can with tractor beams to assist your fleet
>Assign some ships of the fleet to hook up with the Vul's Revenge to transfer heat and power to get it operational again
They must work in conjunction with the ships. Tractor Beam, shoot, Tractor Beam, shoot. Attack them while they're stuck.
>>
You decide to send in the MK2 drones to help win the battle. You also consider sending in the unarmed ASDVs as meat shields- but using them to power up the Vul's Revenge is a much better, less wasteful idea. Unfortunately, Alavis can't handle any more right now- even commandeering the AI cores of the extra drones isn't going to be enough for her to keep up with all these ever growing systems and variables to consider. As such, the order to organize the Vul's Revenge to reach full operational strength is significantly delayed.

Meanwhile in the fire fight- the MK2 drones help your ships even without energy weapons. They hold drones in place with their tractor beams, making them easy targets, move your damaged and immobile ships into ideal safe or ranged-combat zones, and some of the very outdated J.A.S. MK1 drones, now almost exactly 100 years old, bring along the last of those old asteroids to use as shields or to fling drones into them; crushing them to pieces.

After another hour of precise battling- the tide turns utterly. With each drone you destroy, Alavis has more resources freed up. With each of your pilots inspired by a victory, another victory follows. Within the hour, your people have triumphed over the alien assault- and by the time the Vul's Revenge has its heat pumped into some civilian ASDVs and its generators recharged with fissible fuel; it mops up the last pockets of alien resistance. You can't believe it, but its true. The Jaxtians have triumphed in the battle.
>>
However, it was not by any measure an easy fight, or a total victory. The losses you suffered were immense; almost your entire fleet has been wiped out or put out of comission. Dozens of pilots are dead. Without any high-tech shielding technology of your own, or armored hulls, every battle you have in space will likely end this way; if the stakes weren't so high, this may have been considered a Pyrrhic victory... but with the sovereignty of your species on the line in your own star system- any price is worth sustaining the Hegemony.

As many of your MK2 drones, used as shields and weapons in the last fight were destroyed utterly; the consequences of this last ditch effort was a great loss of your colonial economies and construction efforts off of Jaxt. It will take years to rebuild this- so many destroyed Star Dynamos...

In the meantime; you shift your attention to the great alien cylinder- and find it is currently closing. The top is spinning like a lid, but the ship isn't moving from its spot. It's likely the alien craft is spent- perhaps all of their drones were just released at once, or whatever energy or AI control they use needs time to recharge. The gas billows back inside as the huge lid spins more and more shut.

At this moment, only a handful of WSDVs and the Vul's Revenge are capable of the speed needed to get inside that capsule- to scout or counterattack whatever is inside before it seals shut. You get the feeling that once it closes, a direct counterattack against this alien vessel will be almost impossible for some time- but its very likely there are weapon defense systems at the mouth of the cylinder- and while unlikely, there could be more ships inside that weren't used in this battle who will destroy your invaders. Of course, the information you would receive would be invaluable...

Then there's the second option- the nuclear option. The Vul's Revenge could be evacuated, its power and weapon systems overloaded, and send inside as a kind of ultimate bomb- a double nuclear explosion to burn out whatever is within the alien capsule. Doing so would mean the loss of the Sapphire Avalanche forever; but it may be your only chance to destroy the capsule...

>Send the WSDVs in for a quick scouting run; making sure they fly out before it closes
>Overload the Vul's Revenge as a bomb and send it inside
>Send all available ships to attack the inside of the capsule- (Chance to lose all remaining ships + crews)
>Just guard the mouth of the cylinder until it is fully shut so nothing slips out
>>
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>>5041112
>Use Sapphire Avalanche to target one of the supports of the lid stopping it from closing.
>>
>>5041119
+1
>>
>>5041119
Supporting, but I suspect it might take the destruction of more than one support. Have the WSDVs focus fire another support and get more support craft to cycle heat on the Vul's Revenge to increase rate of fire.
>>
>>5041119
>>5041123
Supporting this one.
>>
>>5041112

Supporting:
>>5041119
>Use Sapphire Avalanche to target the supports of the lid stopping it from closing

If any brave Jaxtian wishes to volunteer for a scouting run/to get inside the cylinder before it closes then I would wish him well and hope he succeeds; but every surviving pilot today is already a hero many times over. I would not order any more heroes to their death today who did not take that choice for themselves.
>>
>>5041119
Good idea, but we need to make sure we take out ALL the supports.
>>
>>5041172
My only fear is that the ship is going to produce more drones if we let it close.
>>
>>5041119
+1
>>
>>5041245
Agreed with that. And tearing the door from the hinges with the 'Sapphire Avalanche' really seems the only viable way we have to stop it.

A scouting run might tell us what's inside, but we wouldn't be able to do anything about what we find.

Sending Vul's revenge/all remaining ships inside both run the risk of our remaining force being captured and neutralised by the unknown factor inside, and worse, potentially handing all information and technology thereon right to the aliens.

And doing nothing simply isn't an option we can take and be secure in the safety of our solar system.

Tearing the thing's door off with the Sapphire Avalanche whilst the struts are exposed is the only way we have of opening this thing up so we can be certain the threat it presents is contained.
>>
You decide to focus fire on the struts of the great cylinder- to force it from closing. The power of the Sapphire Avalanche and your remaining warships move in to eliminate the target- but after just a few seconds of firing it becomes apparent that it won't be that easy. All of your ships align themselves to a single strut support beam- and then you realize that there is no way in hell you're going to be able to stop this from closing.

The cylinder is made of a yet unknown material that is both extremely strong, extremely light, and extremely heat conductive. To the point that your lasers are essentially heating up the entire thing slowly as they fire- your infared scanners reveal as much. However, it isn't a totally useless gesture. The strut is damaged enough to force the ship to retaliate- in the form of releasing and hardening several metric tons of gas- similar to how the drones are formed in the first place. The "wall" of gas weakens your lasers, and at the same time, two strange vessels inside the cylinder move to the strut to repair it using highly concentrated magnetic waves, before finally, the cylinder closes shut and locks tightly.

Your ships return with chunks of the spent gas for analysis. The result is almost what you expected; the gas inside the cylinder is very dense gas taken from a gas giant, and has a mix of almost every kind of element- though noble gasses make up the majority. And to make special mention; very little Argon is present.
>>
It seems as though whatever technology this race is using; they form most of the base components and shells from using a gas from a gas giant; slowly forming it by plucking what they need from the aether. This method of building is undoubtedly slow, but it adds convenience of having all your materials on hand. Just fill the cylinder with gas and you have all of your building materials.

If it took a year to build 4 drones in the atmosphere of Max after scavenging your technology- it may take a very long time for these aliens to recreate that original space fleet. While they have undoubtedly have better materials to work with in there; Alavis tentatively estimates that the aliens will take fifty years to rebuild their space fleet inside the cylinder. Perhaps they built it on the way here. Now that you have thwarted it; they are hiding inside the cylinder. But they haven't backed away or engaged any kind of drive system of motion; they are just dead silent, orbiting your star, the dense field of signals surrounding it like dark whispers. For now, you simply have to bare this monolith looming over your shoulder until you find a way to break it open; or until it opens again. Hopefully by then, you'll be ready for whatever they bring out again.

In the meantime; a ceremony is held. You order a monument to portray the bravery and sacrifice of the many pilots that lost their lives in the form of a WSDV statue. Many privileges and accolades are awarded to the fighters and support staff that made this possible. The ceremony is broadcast to all of your colonies- and a special broadcast is sent directly to the alien cylinder. You want to show them that your strength as a people is greater then any terror they could possibly bring against you again.

However- despite the wave of patriotism and support for the government being at an all time high- Because of the almost total depletion and destruction of your own space fleet- you are currently a sitting duck. If the aliens have another cylinder on the way, or an other race has been watching and biding their time, you may be vulnerable. It is time to consider how to build back up. Which should you focus on? Your budget and military manpower only allow you to pick one.

>Prioritize the drone network and weaponize your drones for future battle support
>Create new, high grade fighters using what you've learned
>Unlock a new ship, bigger ship class (Cruisers)
>Learn from the limitations of your old weapon systems and improve them (Disruptors)
>Learn from the limitations of your old defense systems and implement them (Shields)
>>
I have one question first and foremost, regardless of what we unlock, we ARE going to produce more ships, right? Kind of pointless to find a new technology if we won't replenish our numbers.
>>
>>5041538
>Create new, high grade fighters using what you've learned

Getting stronger fighters based on what we have learned with proper armor is the way t go.
>>
>>5041563
Do we even have the ability to make better, proper armor, though?

I mean, aren't their shots able to just saw through us? Maybe we should get the shields.
>>
>>5041565
Vul's Revenge had armor that could stop a few shots, there is no reason we can't make a new generation of fighters with it
>>
>>5041538
>Learn from the limitations of your old defense systems and implement them (Shields)
Lack of defence really bit us in the ass in the last battle. Our weapons seemed adequeate for dealing withbthe enemy, but with shields we could have reduced loses and maybe saved processing power from nullifying data prion attacks.
>>
>>5041567
Vul's Revenge was also a big-ass battleship, fighters are small.
>>
>>5041538
We are all forgetting we are dealing with a new species in our system, they most definitely have eyes on us, we should look into ways to disable their drones and/or possible surveillance and scanning systems
>Disruptors
>>
>>5041538
>Learn from the limitations of your old defense systems and implement them (Shields)
>>
>>5041570
>Vul's Revenge was also a big-ass battleship
Was it really? It was the biggest thing we could build at the time which isn't saying much. I'd peg it at a large corvette or small destroyer by Stellaris standards.

We have a really long way to go before we can make a real space navy.
>>
>>5041538
>>Learn from the limitations of your old defense systems and implement them (Shields)
>>
>>5041538
>Learn from the limitations of your old defense systems and implement them (Shields)
>>
>>5041538
>>Learn from the limitations of your old defense systems and implement them (Shields)
>>
>>5041538
>Learn from the limitations of your old defense systems and implement them (Shields)
Later on I totally want to go get Cruisers because BIG SHIPS ARE COOL!
>>
>>5041538
>>Unlock a new ship, bigger ship class (Cruisers)
>>
>>5041538
>>Learn from the limitations of your old defense systems and implement them (Shields)
>>
Rolled 5 (1d5)

>>
You have decided to finally unlock the secret technology of shields. Using Plasmatronic arrays, shields are created by emitters using special layers of crystal and glass arrays- just like the antigravity principles, except focused to an infinite thin sliver of space.

As the technical name reveals; Fixed Point Plasmatronics is the creation of an energy "barrier" that stays in an exact configuration as it is made; relative to everything else. Meaning a bubble can be created around a ship, following it as it moves, without being affected by gravity, momentum, tractor beams, etc. Each energy shield acts as a barrier that can take a certain amount of energy before it is disrupted and breaks apart. While your current shields are limited in strength by your primitive fission reactors and the relative small size of your ships; later fusion advances could allow for some very powerful shielding indeed.

As your scientists discover the technology- several bits of tactical data are also uncovered. Shields are highly effective against high energy attacks and impacts with matter. Different weapon types will have different effects; shields are highly effective against Disrupters, Kinetic Weapons, and Neutrino Blasts. They are moderately effective against lasers and particle beams, which drain their energy much faster. Finally; the most effective weapon against shields is ironically plasma; one of the weapon systems you were trying to make these to protect against. Regardless, even a weak shield is better then no shield against plasma. A final consideration; shields are less effective in atmospheres as the particles in the air constantly impact the shield and drain their power supply.
>>
Over the next 10 years, you rebuild your fleet of ships and your economy. With your advances in shield tech; the biggest change to your fleet designs now is the inclusion of a shield generator- a real power hog in most situations. You're beginning to see the real limitations of small ship sizes at this point; larger ships naturally have bigger requirements but also more room and scale to build their systems, defensive or otherwise.

Your ASDVs, being more general purpose craft, are granted larger shield batteries then your WSDVs, which must stay lightweight and agile for their purpose as a dogfighting vessel. The WSDVs are outfitted with a small spectral shield, which can absorb a few seconds of a concentrated laser burst or can scatter and deflect a good strong neutrino blast. Of course, anything absorbed or deflected by a shield will drain the craft's limited energy reserves. Shields are likely to be commonly used by alien battleships, making it an important technology to research; both to use yourself, and to find any potential countermeasures.

Of course, shields aren't just about combat. Already, shielding is being used experimentally in high energy containment laboratories, and may prove essential to fission research as well. Perhaps one day, personal shielding coded to a specific frequency will make radiation exposure in space a thing of the past, or maybe even protect cities with massive shield generator plants.

During this time; your society's reaction to the great battle and first real "war" in the Hegemony's history has gone well. There is no shortage of recruits now- the first battle at Max was more like a tragedy, or a terrorist attack, but the constant looming threat of the capsule in your solar system has changed the Jaxtian mindset to one of preparedness. Thankfully, this radical change in the political and military situation of your people has rendered the youth movement totally dead, the decadence of that live and let live generation shocked by the harsh reality of space.

It is at the end of this time you are besieged by a sudden BIG DEAL ALERT.

There is another big alien ship coming into your solar system. Not as big as the cylinder, and much more clearly designed as a ship to hold a great number of individuals; colonists or passengers? The ship hails you as it approaches your solar system.

"Hello! This is the unarmed Haazar civilian vessel here to make first contact with the Jaxtian people! We have finally arrived and are pleased to meet you! Requesting permission to dock with one of your fine vessels and to certify this historic moment! I repeat- this is the peaceful envoy of the Haazar! We are pleased to meet you at last!"

>Attack and destroy the spaceship
>Hail them and demand to know their relation to the giant alien cylinder that attacked you
>Welcome them to your system and meet them face to face
>>
>>5041887
>Hail them and demand to know their relation to the giant alien cylinder that attacked you

This is why we picked Talacent. We have to avoid war with them if they're not the perpetrators of the attack- whoever sent the squid cylinder might be a third party trying to divide two nearby developing species that are close to catching up.
>>
>>5041887
>Hail them and demand to know their relation to the giant alien cylinder that attacked you
My people have a word to describe the hazaar here, it's "Cara de pau"
>>
>>5041887
>Hail them and demand to know their relation to the giant alien cylinder that attacked you
Yeah my theory about two species of aliens being involved may still be true.
>>
>>5041887
>>Attack and destroy the spaceship
This must be a trick
>>
>>5041887
>Hail them and demand to know their relation to the giant alien cylinder that attacked you
>>
>>5041887

>Hail them and demand to know their relation to the giant alien cylinder that attacked you

I mean, we saw the image of the ship they were sending in >>5007157
It was a cylinder, just like the thing that menaced our civilisation. Not like the thing that just turned up. An explanation is needed here.
>>
>>5041887
>Hail them and demand to know their relation to the giant alien cylinder that attacked you
We demand an explanation.
>>
You initiate Alavis and begin to exchange communications. With the light delay only being a few seconds; its almost as good as meeting the Haazar face to face.

"Halt! This is the Supreme Ruler of the Jaxtians speaking. We demand to know your relation to the alien cylinder that attacked our people just prior."
"Cylinder? What Cylinder?"
There seems to be a pause.

"W-What?! That's a Baalathi Cylinder! You need to evacuate your colonies before it opens! Head into underground bunkers and-"
"It already opened. We dealt with it."
There is another pause.

"...We Haazar have seen first hand the devastation those cylinders cause. The Baalathi are a race of aliens who have begun to expand aggressively- first with data attacks to pave the way towards the gas giants they live in, then sending in cylinders to colonize the star systems. Their race is very strange; almost impossible to communicate with or understand, living inside gas giant clouds and viewing biological life, our kind of life, as not even being people- or perhaps just pests that must be removed. Or own home system was taken by them not long after we sent our first message to you. Now with the light-lag, we don't even know the ultimate fate of our people back home, but at this point we can only assume they are huddling down inside the life-moons and in underground bunkers, unable to build up their technology. This ship is the last and most advanced of the Haazar as they existed as a free people. I remember it well- I was the one who sent the message."

He was the same Haazari who sent the message to your people back during the reign of Vul and Qet? That was almost a hundred years ago- and given the light lag, he'd have to be well over a hundred and fifty now, if not more.

"...Which comes to my next point. This mission was originally supposed to be diplomatic, or about trade. However, I would like to make a formal request to you, leader of the Jaxtians. Replenish our supplies of nitrogen and allow us an ice comet or two- just enough to replenish our supplies. We do not wish to be a burden to you, and we also do not wish to remain here. We may have to travel very far to find our new home; unless if you know of a planet we could potentially live on again. We would be eternally grateful for your help."

>Give them some supplies
>Talk to them some more
>Direct them towards a star system (Specify)
>Seize their ship
>Other (Write In)
>>
Now wait just a moment, if the Hazaar knew of the Baalathi, how come the data attack came only after they sent us a message to build argon facilities? And how come they only attacked our gas giant with the data when they could have easily taken out our entire home planet?

And then there's that Hazaar ship that looks like a cyllinder.
>>
>>5042611
Question them about the gas within the Cylinder having very little argon like in their solar system
>>
>>5042635
That doesn't really make sense, it just had little argon because they put little argon.

It would be better to ask about the sheer coincidence of the attack.
>>
>>5042611
>Have the Haazari prepare to be boarded so we can undertake a search of their ship and its computer systems (copying everything for later use) to confirm their stories. If their story turns out to be true we will stock them up on supplies and direct them towards the Xin system. However, they must know that the Xin system is claimed by the Jaxtian Hegemony and settling there would mean their inclusion into the Hegemony as non-Jaxtian citizens such as the Migrators. Greater discussions can be had on the nature of their place within the Hegemony when FTL is fully operational but that is the price of them gaining a new world.
>>
>>5042722
Hell no, we're not letting them settle that system. It's ours. It's our best hope at Jaxtian live in a real plnaet outside our system. They can gtfo.
>>
>>5042727
The best planet we have discovered is Vetuck II which has a full bio-sphere and free servant race to conquer. Having someone else develop Xin for us as we focus on better planets has nothing but bonuses.
>>
>>5042730
Xin is an entirely new planet, free to be populated entirely and only by Jaxtians - we can literallly shape it in any way we want. Vertuck brings the problem of natives and what to do with them

I still dont trust the Hazaar. It seems all too coincidental.
>>
>>5041896
That cylinder is a picture of a gas canister, not a hazaar ship. For the context of the post I'm pretty sure that's not a ship.

>>5042611
> Give them the supplies and location of Vetuck 2 in exchange for the telomer extension tech and all their info about the Baalathi.

I don't think we need to be too aggressive here, but I definitely want something out of these guys.
>>
>>5042611
Huh, I was (almost) right. The Haazar were innocent, though rather than this being a corrupted craft it was just a second interstellar ship travelling to us...which feels incredibly unlikely...as for my vote, I'm backing:

>Give them some supplies
>Talk to them some more

Fact is we've little to gain via conflict and I imagine people want to save those solar systems for ourselves - one possibility we might consider is offering them the chance to rest here and make improvements to their ship. Given we've clearly got some interesting differences in technology and the fact that they're a potential boost to our civilian economy.

Hell, who knows, if we work out FTL while they are here we can possibly trade that to them in return for them basically becoming our stellar taxi / hauler to new colonies (with them being protected by us and such).
>>
>>5042611
>>Seize their ship
>>
>>5042722
>>5042856
A mix of these, if their story checks out after we board them, direct them to Vetuck 2... with an envoy contingent of our own accompanying them. That was we can keep an eye on the Haazar if they try shady stuff, and enable us to do first contact with the Vetuckian primitives if need be, instead of letting the Haazarians do it alone. Hopefully we can get better FTL comms so that the 'envoys' could alert us if the gasbags attack again.

Also what are your opinions about tech exchange between Jaxtians and Haazarians? Should we do it, and if yes, what should we trade?
>>
>>5042611
>Search their ship and question them more

BUT if we confirm they're telling the truth, then having their home system occupied only allows the Baalathi more resources from which to conduct their campaign of Xenocide. And however they might wish to be elsewhere, they can be of use to us if they stay.

I suggest we OFFER THEM ASYLUM on our research colony. They will add their efforts to developing the technologies of the Hegemony, particularly the biological ones. And once we have taken permeant care of the Cylinder in our own system, we will help equip and outfit a LIBERATION FLEET so that they might win back control of their own worlds.
>>
>>5042908
>first contact with the Vetuckian primitives

You misunderstand. I don't care about those primitives. I also do not care to send a single Jaxxian to tag along with an alien race as envoy. Something like that pre-FTL is an even bigger ask than being a generation ship crew. Only reason I advocated using that planet as a bargaining chip is because the presence of natives complicates colonisation efforts, so we're not handing the Hazaar a world that could be built into Jaxxian colony from the ground up.

>>5042947
>OFFER THEM ASYLUM
Sound like a plan. Let em choose: asylum in exchange for research aid, or resupply in exchange for info. Either one sounds fine to me.
>>
Are people unironically wanting to give an FUCKING INHABITABLE PLANET? RIGHT NEXT TO OUR SYSTEM? You know how RARE Those are?

We don't even know if the Hazaar are telling the truth here. They definitely can't stay in our society because they're completely unable to conform with our rules and culture.

We investigate more, and we send them along on their merry way. Vetuck and Xis are OURS.
>>
>>5043060
>You know how RARE Those are?
We don't. Seriously - we've been to three systems and in those we've found 1.1 habitable planets - one fully life-bearing and the other kinda-on-the-way which we've kickstarted, to say nothing of the two in our own home system. We also know there are at least two other habitable systems (as in life-supporting, not we-can-live-here) nearby from which the Haazar and Baalathi originate.


Not even really arguing in favour of telling them about the planets or anything - just saying that we've no idea if they are that rare.
>>
Something about their story doesn't add up- you decide to press a little deeper.

>>5042635
>>5042651
"Argon? What about Argon? I mean we wanted the element for our trade and- er- Why did the Baalathi attack your gas giant and sent a colonization cylinder, I mean uhh well-"
>>
Clearly they're hiding something from you. While they're said multiple times they are unarmed, and have no secondary objectives- it might be prudent to search their ship computer. Maybe see if they're a colonial vessel- trying to pick up the pieces after your race have been exterminated by the Baalathi, eh? You've had quite enough of these games- and moreso, you don't trust these aliens in the first place.

>>5042722
>>5042873
>>5042947
You order their ship boarded. Several soldiers armed with basic weapons are loaded into ASDVs and flown to the ship; with the airlocks opened up by Alavis's hacking abilities. The Haazar computer systems are very rudimentary compared to yours. True to their words, the Haazari aboard are not armed- making capturing them easy. The only ones that give you trouble are the warrior ones- who are quickly beaten into submission and subdued along with the rest of the crew.

While Alavis combs their admittedly large computer file system via a MK2 Drone- you learn a bit more about the Haazari strangeness. They all go around naked, almost always, with clothing more of a status symbol or even just for "peacocking" a specific romantic interest. Another strange thing- the Haazar don't protect or defend their own children at all- as in their children are almost totally independent from the moment they are born, but they offer no resistance and do not seem to have yet grown the penis-like spike organ the Haazar use for impregnating others of their kind. Well, at least you though it was for their own kind...

After the quick boarding and seizure of the Haazar ship; a handful of soldiers have been injured. The Haazar were unarmed, just like they said, but... their biology was used a a weapon. The lance-like penises the Haazar use for reproduction are indeed very sharp- and several soldiers were injured by them- Or "implanted", as the Haazar use the term. It seems the warrior caste of the Haazar tie in their aggression for both offense and defense.

The soldiers are naturally really embarrassed about it; and all seem very concerned that an alien embryo is currently growing from their bodies. The long term health effects of growing a Haazar implanted embryo is a total unknown; and the transmission of alien diseases are another huge factor that has to be considered here. But unfortunately the implantation process hijacks many of the host's blood vessels and nervous system to feed into the fetus. It seems these parasite embryos do this to make removal by surgery or another means painful and dangerous. While you wait for Alavis to compile the details of the Haazar's story, you should probably make a decision about what to do with the implanted soldiers.

>Order the Embryos surgically removed and the wounds cauterized
>Find a poisonous compound for the Haazar that is harmless to Jaxtians; inject the embryos
>Have the soldiers quarantined and let it run its course
>>
>>5043075
>Order the Embryos surgically removed and the wounds cauterized
Fuck this, those fuckers are goddamn xenomorphs. Get them the FUCK out of our system. That's fucking disgusting. GET THE FUCK OUT.

Comb through their ship for everything valuable and BLOW IT UP.
>>
>>5043075
>Have the soldiers quarantined and let it run its course
Soldiers are expendable, knowing a little more about Haazar biology is worth a few of them.
>>
>>5043079
And risk whatever the fuck it is that'll pop out? No fucking way jose.

Put that thing back where it came from or so help me.
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>>5043080
Let people vote for what they want dude.
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>>5043081
I'm trying to tell you why it's a dumb idea. We can't risk whatever THING will pop out of those guards. We need to remove it.

We can analyze it once it's out.
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>>5043075
>Find a poisonous compound for the Haazar that is harmless to Jaxtians; inject the embryos
So do these guys even need wombs? Sounds like their babies just grow on their bodies like tumours.

Yeah in light of this, these guys are sounding way too dangerous to coexist with... I'm leaning more and more towards killing them and taking their stuff. Right now I'd still be amicable to just sending these guys on their way, but if we find out they were hoping to conquer us in the aftermath of a Baalathi attack then it's time to go full Xenophobe on their asses.
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>>5043123
I think just killing them is a waste. We're probably going to be in a war with those guys, and if that cyllinder was just an automated attack ship, i don't wanna know what their main forces are like.

We need to study their biology more..by which i mean dissect them, of course. Tear down their ship and learn everything we can. Weaknesses, strengths....

We can study those tumours too, if we remove them surgically.
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>>5043075
Have the implanted soldiers stated any preferences of their own for what they want done to these invasive tissue-lumps?

If the soldiers have no preference,
>Have the Embryos surgically removed and the wounds cauterized

At least this shows that what they told us of their own biology was true, even if we have no idea how it'll interact with ours. Though at the same time, it also makes me wonder if they made a big omission - if they can implant an alien, what was stopping them implanting the 'mammal-insects' and 'fish-reptiles' of their home planet?

Talk to the Hazaar about this. Let them know that we already consider the resisting of a legitimate search of their vessel in sovereign Jaxtian space to be an aggressive action on THEIR part, as was their failure to send any sort of warning of these cylinders forward to us. How many decades must they have known of their existence, if their homeworld was lost after the first message sent to us? Was their choice not to warn us intentional, or merely negligent?

Explain we would still like a productive and cooperative relationship with their people in the future, but THEY ARE MAKING IT DIFFICULT. If they have told us nothing but the truth, then we would welcome setting them up in asylum, so they can help our people develop and - once our own system has been cleared of the Baalathi - we would welcome a chance to further retaliate against the Baalathi and free the Haazar home system as well.
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>>5043165
We should probably quarantine the implanted for a little while. If the embryos connected to their blood stream there's a very real chance we could be dealing with a serious diesease soon simply because one species' common is another species turbo AIDS.
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>>5043165
>he still thiks the balaathi are real
Anon, it's a fabricated story. They didn't even know what we were talking about when we asked about it.
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>>5043172
I agree about the quarantine - after we remove the embryos, that is. We don't want to end up with Space Cow Pox and get wiped out like the Indians.
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>>5043175
Some things doesn't add up if we suppose the Haazar and the Balathi are in cahoots or even a unified force.
1) Why would they immediately send an unarmed ship after 'their' attack ship? Even more puzzling, they didn't run away after 'their' attack ship was disabled. If they are in comms with each other, they'd know.
2) If they have gas drones that shoot plasma, why didn't the Haazar on the ship have similar gaseous armaments or technology?

Some scenarios of what happened:
1) Haazar send message, Haazar send ship, Balathi wreck Haazar homeworld, learns of sent ship and another space civ (us Jaxtians), sends their own ship which is faster than the Haazar's to sabotage a possible alliance/get Jaxt-Haazar genocides rolling because bugs squashing bugs is more efficient.
2) Balathi wreck Haazar homeworld, learns of where we are, force remaining Haazar to send message and ship.
3) Haazar learns the Balathi are about to wreck Jaxt, sends message to get us off-guard, send ship to colonize Balathi aftermath.

My money's on the first one, of the Balathi forcing us into a Dark Forest Shootout with the Haazar.

In any case...
>extract and cauterize a third of the infected, try possible Haazar-lethal Jaxt-safe substances on another third, and let the last third progress into maturation. Quarantine and monitor all infected.
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>>5043205
>Why would they immediately send an unarmed ship after 'their' attack ship?
I'm guessing that it's a backup plan. Either we die to the drones and they colonize, or we don't and they can pass themselves off as "peaceful diplomats"
>why didn't the Haazar on the ship have similar gaseous armaments or technology?
This one is a colony ship - plus didn't we see the Hazaar had a cylinder ship too? They also use gas-based computer systems.

The way i see it, there's no evidence that the Balathi exist at all, or that they're the ones who sent this ship. There's too many coincidences, and when we asked them about them, they were clearly caught off guard.
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>>5043214
Iirc the illustration was not a Haazar ship but gas canisters. But that thing you said-
>gas based 'unmanned' drones
>gas based computers
Dare I speculate that the Balathi are the Haazar's rampant AI/unknowingly uplifted argon-based lifeform?
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>>5043277
>rampant AI
Impossible.

We already know that from our experience, AI don't just "go rogue" like Skynet. If the Balaathi existed (I STILL think it's just a lie) then either they are controlled by someone, or they were made with the specific purpose of wiping out life.
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>>5043277
>>5043287
Let's see what Alavis turns up in their computers. Speaking of which, there is one other factor we haven't considered:

Balaathi computers can send a sophisticated data prion and our own AI has to use up all it's computing power to prevent us being overtaken in electronic warfare.

Hazaar computers are so bad we can easily hack their doors.

You'd think the Hazaar cyber security would at least pose more of a challenge if they were in cahoots.
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>>5043075
>Poisonous compound
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>>5043315
>You'd think the Hazaar cyber security would at least pose more of a challenge if they were in cahoots.
Well, it was an specialized data attack, and the cyllinder was an big weapon. This ship, on the other hand, very obviously didn't expect to have a fight on their hands.

It seems possible to me that they just didn't spend as much in cybersecurity and expensive AIs on this colony ship.

There's just way too many coincidences, and their reaction is completely guilty. I mean seriously, how the hell did the Balaathi attack only after we had the transmission? And how come they didn't target our world?

If they're unfeeling machines, why would they need to leave our world safe? Not like they need oxygen, after all.
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>>5043385

Going by the Haaazar explanation, the 'Balaathi' don't see non-gaseous worlds as significant except to stop the population of them interfering with Gas giants they intend to claim. So they could have been sending signals constantly, but we couldn't suffer from them until we started looking into Max. Which might also explain why the Haazar were willing to pay for Argon; they couldn't mine it from their own Gas giant because they were already falling under the same sort of remote attacks themselves?

Given the technological discrepancies we've seen and the fact that the Haaazar ship interior doesn't seem remotely like the cylinder, I'm inclined to believe the outline of the Haazar story, but that doesn't mean they aren't withholding some specifics - perhaps specifics that might be otherwise damning.
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>>5043468
>the 'Balaathi' don't see non-gaseous worlds as significant except to stop the population of them interfering with Gas giants they intend to claim.
Except in the Hazaar's story, they explicitly send the cyllinders out to colonize the planets. Furthermore, if the data attacks were already being sent to Max, why didn't it pop up during construction or exploration? It was the first time the virus came, after all. Why did the attack only happen when Cirrus was built, EXPLICITLY after they sent the message?

If they want to destroy organic life and don't care for normal planets, there's literall no reason to not attack our planet. But they specifically targetted the Gas Giant.
>they couldn't mine it from their own Gas giant because they were already falling under the same sort of remote attacks themselves?
If they knew about it, why didn't they warn us? Surely if they wanted to trade and pay for Argon, they would have told us not to carelessly put ships on the gas giant. But they didn't.
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>>5043477
>Why did the attack only happen when Cirrus was built, EXPLICITLY after they sent the message?
We've established the Balaathi send the data prion through hyperspace comms. They might have a method of FTL communication as well.

>If they knew about it, why didn't they warn us?
Light LAAAAAAAAAAAAAG. Also, how were they supposed to know a cylinder would turn up in our system? It's not a detail I'd mention unless it became relevant.
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>>5043654
>We've established the Balaathi send the data prion through hyperspace comms
If they sent it through our comms, why did the attack only happen after Cirrus was built? It makes no sense.
>Light LAAAAAAAAAAAAAG.
Well, either they knew about the Balaathi, in which case they didn't warn us, which is stupid if they only care about gas giants since we'd be working with one, or they didn't, in which case this whole operation is an extremely convenient coincidence.

I mean, that's a lot of coincidences, isn't it? Data attack precisely on a gas giant after they tell us to build something in a gas giant, then the cyllinder arrives a few years before a colony ship just ready to start colonizing a planet.
>>
You have the soldiers segregated and quarantined- with all volunteering to have the implanted egg surgically removed. The Haazar are masters of biology- there is no way you're taking chances. One soldier had a very unfortunate place for his embyro to be implanted; right in his underbelly, where his nerves and blood vessels from his small intestines, genitals, liver, and both kidneys are unfortunately tied up. He'd have to have all of that amputated and replaced with machines, and probably go on lifelong dialysis if his embryo was removed, if he even survived the process.

"I guess I'll be the guinea pig- let the embryo run its course." He shrugs. "I already accepted that I might die for the Hegemony when I signed up- just put a bullet in my head if it gets too bad, ok?"

Just then- Alavis pings you with her findings. The Haazar computer system contains a massive amount of information, far too much for her to simply keep even in her quantum cloud memory- but she has managed to sift through enough to find something interesting; massive Argon harvesting operations in many systems, with many underdeveloped species, and crypto-currency transfers in various star systems by individuals of this race- some of them coming from suspiciously named Baalathi star system!

She explains to you that the Baalathi, according to Haazar medical and biology reports, are a species that lives in gas giants. While they don't exactly have a hive mind, they make decisions based on the quantity of gasses in their atmospheres, meaning they have a group mind. The Haazar, seeking Argon, manipulated the technologically inferior Baalathi in giving up some of the Argon in their atmosphere in exchange for technology- except with the loss of Argon, it manipulated their behavior. Something that kept the Baalathi peaceful and in check was lost, causing them to begin aggressively expand.

".,,I suppose you know everything then. We were really lucky- this mining ship was coming to you just a few years before the Cylinder arrived in our star system. Not that it matters anymore. In our society, the consequences of an individual's actions are suffered by that individual. We aren't collectivists like you; how could you possible understand? Every Haazari can do business as they see fit- But now, the consequences of those miners are felt by everyone. Nobody could have guessed that the Baalathi could expand their technology so fast and so powerfully. The fact they sent a cylinder out this far means they've probably gotten to a dozen star systems by now."

The Haazari leader looks at you with piteous eyes.

"What are you going to do with us now?"

>write in
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>>5043691
>write in
Haazari societal structure clearly flawed: ruination and near-extermination of species their result. Clearly we must force them to give up their technological and cultural distinctiveness. They will learn, in time. That or we should copy all the useful / interesting stuff from their computers before sending them on their way. Either or.
>>
Wait, i don't understand, what exactly was the Hazaar's plan?
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>>5043705
I don't know what the hell their plan is, but i don't think we should let them anywhere near our people. We saw how they can literally shoot embryos like goddamn facehuggers. They cannot be let close to our people.
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>>5043691
"You have doomed your species with these actions and have likely killed millions of others. The guilt is on all of your people for this."

>Liquidate the Hazaar
>Send the Cylinder a shipment of pure Argon
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>>5043718
No plan, just negligence. Basically a bunch of Hazaar argon miners inadvertantly caused the Balaathi to become aggressive/expansionist by sucking up part of their homeworld and altering the nature of Balaathi decision making.

I'm sympathic to the fact that these specfic Hazaar are not directly responsible for what happened, but the fact remains we can't let them anywhere near our spiecies.
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>>5043691
>"We're going to take some time to figure that out after we talk to your people some more. It'll be fine."
>It won't be fine. The Haazar will be split up. Half interrogated them executed. Half used in experiments to determine weaknesses, strengths, and potential uses then executed. A few dozen, all young, will be brainwashed and will serve us however useful they may be and be kept in a secret biohazard facility to be used as sleeper agents against the Haazar at a later time or whatever.
>As for their ship? It will be stored in a secret biohazard facility to be ripped apart for tech and to make sure there are no surprises from it.
>Common history will be revised to teach that our first contact with them was met with them attempting to decieve us and then desperately attacking us.
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>>5043691
I'm from Buenos Aires and I say
>KILL EM ALL
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>>5043749
No, what was their plan for us? What were they doing, what was their operation if the cyllinder wasnt theirs?
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>>5043719
Well yeah but we can just keep them on their ship if we want - it's basically a self-sufficient world already.

>>5043760
Basically the Haazar were / are interstellar con folk. They find races and ask them to extract gas resources - specifically Argon. These they then trade amongst themselves because they seemingly, genuinely, did want Argon for whatever reason. The issue is they manipulated the Ballathi into accepting this sort of deal, and when it was done the lack of Argon made the Ballathi violent and thus we're in the situation we're in.

TLDR - They took Argon from loads of races, the Ballathi included, for their own gain. It's just the Ballathi were the wrong race to do that to.
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>>5043691
>Liquidate the Hazaar
>Send the Cylinder a shipment of pure Argon
Yeah, I'm really not anti-xeno but the Hazaar were just idiots.
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>>5043691
>>5043705
>we should copy all the useful / interesting stuff from their computers before sending them on their way
> give them a hefty insulting and condemning speech acknowledging their selfish capitalist actions stating that they have not only damed their own home world but countless other with what they have done, and now they are running away like cowards to scared to face the consequences of their actions thinking that they can just run away, live in a quiet part of space and act like this never happened." Then some insulting gesture or action like spitting on them"....
And give them half the supplies they asked for, and get them OUT OF OUR SYSTEM
>then once this is done begin preparing a speech to our people telling them about the fool's who started this and caused this attack on our people and planet, and state that this was not an act of aggression but one of greed, the greed of fool's who would trick younger races into giving them a precious resource such as argon, and that this new enemy was brought forth as a result, that now lies at our doorstep in the cylinder and will not stop the attacks on our home, till we thoroughly crush them or give in and offer them resources that bbelonging our system and our world, do we do to them as we did to the billionaires that corrupted growth and advancement of our people, and now there is one that poisons the growth and progress of countless civilizations out there as the result of the same thing, greed.

>We must now ask ourselves are we to offer this beast who knows nothing more than an insatiable hunger or do we do as we did before and stomp out such greed and bring prosperity not only to our people but countless other who now are being assailed and feasted upon by this beast, Jaxtian do we grovel before a mindless monster who was tricked into such a beast or do we put it out of its mindless misery and as a result help... no SAVE other's who are suffering because of the actions of corrupt and greedy fools who would seek only to line their pockets and wouldn't even acknowledge the potential doom and suffering it would entail.... tell me now do we kneel before a beast who would tear our throats out at the drop of a hat or do we strike the beast and share it's hide and meat with our families and neighbors who went hungry and cold as a result of this beasts senseless hunt and hunger

Didn't mean to make a speech
(may even save some of its litter if we want to since they became this way as a result of harvesting argon from their home gas giant)( and get us some potential loyal new subjects if we play our cards right, either way we definitely should not kneel to a mindless brute who legitimately striked before words where even an option)
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>>5043808
For the loyal subjects I mentioned potential species we may liberate or save from extinction as a result of our actions, not just the Baalathi should we choose to do anything about potential "saving" them from what they have become
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>>5043691
>Force them to help remove the embryos from our people, strip their data banks of any useful data and technologies, finally when we can gain nothing more from them, give them the supplies and tell them to fuck off.
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>>5043691
Here we see the weakness of the individualist methodology. Not only have they collapsed their own society, they are bringing about the ruination of dozens of worlds though turning the Baalathi into a threat.

And because of this weakness, it is VITAL that we do NOT allow these Haazar to take a new world as they are. They would just repeat the failures again until they learn how to function COLLECTIVELY.

>Demand they help remove the embryos from our people.
>Set up an asteroid base. This is where the Haazar will now live, away from Jaxtians but dependent on us.
In exchange, they will help us uplift our technological base (and we will try to get them to adapt our/collectivist ways). We will make it clear that we do not see this a permanent state, we will allow them to leave to RETURN HOME once we are in a position to try and expel the Baalathi from their home system. Whatever the Haazar have done, it is the Baalathi who tried to exterminate us; and therefore the Baalathi who cannot be allowed to retain their existence.
>Find out how long ago the Haazar 'traded' with the Baalathi, estimate where the Baalathi have likely reached by now.
Haazar are long lived, Baalathi are slow builders - this might all have happened centuries ago.

>Try to deal with the cylinder - send them a small pure Argon shipment to see if it alters their behaviour.
The Haazar dealt with them once, it must not be impossible. And it is worth a small experiment to see if they can be reverted in behaviour and made able to communicate.

>But if they do not respond, or respond aggressively, we will ready ourselves to act. This time, we will have the fleet fully readied and at maximum possible strength. We will have corruption-resistant static defenses in place around them. We will have a bomb ready to slip into the inside of their cylinder. And if the Cylinder does not open, we will use our TRACTOR BEAMS and tow the thing INTO OUR STAR to melt both it and every single xenocidal bot and being onboard into Molten solar plasma.
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>>5043691
Genocide
>>
1 800 trash man, kill em all

900 billion dead Hazaar

>Genocide
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>>5043691
>Asteroid gulag time!
Now that we know they fucked up, it's fine to seize their technology for our own. Also yes on pumping some argon to Balathi cylinder, with maximum security.
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>>5043691
>Liquidate the Hazaar
>Send the Cylinder a shipment of pure Argon

A shame. I'm sympathetic to the non-culpability of these hazaar for the balaathi attack... But NOT for hiding vital details, lying to us, and stabbing our monkes with their war-dicks. That's on them.
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>>5043691
G E N O C I D E
E
N
O
C
I
D
E
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Cant wait to decorate the hegemony with these
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The Haazar leader, who you know as the owner and proprietor of this long range Argon mining ship, stands before you know. You need to have a talk with him- and as you decide what to do with the Haazar that remain.

"While you are not the Haazar who directly caused the Baalathi aggression, you do share their common cause and culture..."

>>5043165
>>5044000
"Resist your search- Resist... Are you JOKING?! You came onto a ship with warrior-types with ZERO acclimation time. Your computers should have known better. Whenever Warrior types see strangers, they get aroused! Even worse- you started to touch them and rough them up- That's how they reproduce- forceful implantation. Our crew went through a two week acclimation period just for them."

>>5043816
>>5043858
"Help you remove.. remove the embryos? You mean murder the unborns?! Are you INSANE?! Those are people! You can't kill them, that's murder. They didn't ask to be implanted there; unacceptable! You are going to remove them? No you ARE NOT! I won't allow it! I'll give you a prick myself if I have t-"
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>>5044079
>threatening to rape the Supreme Leader in front of armed security
Oh shit nigga you done made a mistake
>>
*BLAM*

With the owner of the ship dead, the other Haazar fall into line much quickly. It's very strange watching them cower as they do- they do not protect their children at all, in fact they force their children out first- as their children are just adults like them. What foreign minds- could they ever actually be understood by Jaxtians?

Your guards move in with the guns. You raise your hand, and the world stops to listen when the Supreme One raises their hand.

"Stop."

This has gotten out of hand. The Haazar on this ship could be the last of their kind. You know Vul would have done it, especially if he had survived the data attack on the Cirrus. You think Kinja might have done it too. Eoba certainly would do it, especially to protect his soldiers. But you won't do it. You are Talacent Intari and you won't commit Xenocide.

Your choice of Supreme Ruler means you cannot commit Xenocide.

"Listen to me now, Haazari. You are no longer a free people- but we will not murder your race. To prevent you from causing any more trouble, we are going to keep you here. You will be given a home among an asteroid cluster here in our star system. You will be stranded here until further notice- and in exchange for basic supplies of water, nitrogen, and even Argon gas, you will given us all of your technology advancements aboard this station. This is my order, and this is the will of the Hegemony."

The Haazar seem fearful and upset- which is to be expected. Their culture is a one of freedom and personal ambition- you have crushed that and made this ship a prison instead of a home. But at the same time, any other action would result in their destruction as a species- at least as far as you know. Allowing them to go free, with the knowledge of what they have done, is also not an option.

"...By the end of this, you will not be the same. I do not yet know if we will include you in our Eternal Empire among the stars- but we will teach you discipline and you will swallow it. There will be no further resistance. You belong to us now."

Next update tomorrow
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Awww, i wanted to blow them up. Damn conniving fucks nearly killed us all
>inb4 muh innocence
They are a civilization, as a stellar civilization they should have understood that their actions had consequences not just for them, but for everyone.

The Hazaar are completely unfit for living in any wider civilization. They literally implant any stranger they see on sight like they're goddamn facehuggers. Who knows how much damage a single warrior type could do if it was freed onto a city.

At least we'll get to seize their technology.
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>>5044089
>we now have a vassal species because Talacent wouldn't genocide them
It's much more productive to get potential competitors to the Hegemony under our control. Very nice.

Does anyone else suspect that Talacent is the child of Vul and the woman he was having an affair with? I suspect so due to his extremely high genetic score and backstory but there's no way to be sure.

>>5044094
The Haazar are completely fucked by Jaxtian morals but we don't have to integrate them into our society. Maybe we could have them working asteroid mines under armed surveillance. We would even pay them, they wouldn't be slaves, just quarantined, indefinitely indentured workers.
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>>5044098
>Does anyone else suspect that Talacent is the child of Vul and the woman he was having an affair with?
Anon, that's already been confirmed a long time ago.
>Maybe we could have them working asteroid mines under armed surveillance.
I feel like that might have some less-than-positive side effects in the long run.

I do agree that this is better than just shooting them all down, though. Pragmatically, that is - we get more stuff out of them.
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>>5044109
>Anon, that's already been confirmed a long time ago.
The letter Kinja received, right.
>I feel like that might have some less-than-positive side effects in the long run.
Eh we'll figure it out. I'm confident in the Hegemony.
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>>5044098
>Does anyone else suspect that Talacent is the child of Vul?

Reflect back on Talacent's thought process regarding diversity when he decided not to advance the Indigo program to its ultimate extent.
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>>5044089
>Your choice of Supreme Ruler means you cannot commit Xenocide.
Good.

>>5044094
>They are a civilization, as a stellar civilization they should have understood that their actions had consequences not just for them, but for everyone.
Anon, that is a retarded logic. Actions have consequences, sometimes unexpected and unpredictable ones. How were they to know that the Ballathi were a group-mind reliant on a particular gas to not be murderous xenophobes?

>They literally implant any stranger they see on sight like they're goddamn facehuggers
Also inaccurate. Only their warrior caste who seemingly are genetically / mentally / socially distinct. For all we know they're closer to dogs than humans so to speak - which seems likely since their crew needed weeks to be accepted by them without violence or something.

>Who knows how much damage a single warrior type could do if it was freed onto a city.
Given none of the implanted died from the act? Probably a little more than a Jaxtian unless armed at which point the damage equalises for the most part.
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>>5044126
>How were they to know that the Ballathi were a group-mind reliant on a particular gas to not be murderous xenophobes?
They were an anormal civilization that lived on gas giants - and they just tried to swindle them without any thoguht as to the consequences?
>Only their warrior caste who seemingly are genetically / mentally / socially distinct.
Their leader was about to shoot Talacent with it before he got shot.
>Given none of the implanted died from the act?
We haven't seen what happened when they come out. We're going to see, i think, soon. Furthermore, even if it does not kill them, they're still reproducing aggressively.
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>>5044141
>They were an abnormal civilization that lived on gas giants - and they just tried to swindle them without any thought as to the consequences?
Yes but how could they have known? After all they traded with the Ballathi for it and they didn't warn them or stop them or anything - if the race doesn't raise an issue, why would you? They've had centuries to study their biology.

>Their leader was about to shoot Talacent with it before he got shot.
After we announced we were going to commit murder, on unborn children. You say it as if we said hello and that was his response.

>We haven't seen what happened when they come out. We're going to see, i think, soon.
True.

>Furthermore, even if it does not kill them, they're still reproducing aggressively.
That factors in little to how effective their soldiers are given their children weren't a threat. Also not that aggressively, they still take time to gestate, it ain't a quick process.
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>>5044149
>After we announced we were going to commit murder, on unborn children. You say it as if we said hello and that was his response.

That in and of itself is weird. Maybe not to the Haazari, but to Jaxtians (and us), it cannot seem anything but strange that a race which doesn't value their children and uses forceful impregnation as a means of self-defence and warfare is ALSO super pro-life. Certainly, when dealing with an alien race--which the Jaxtians are to them--it should reasonably have occurred to them that we might not SHARE their evolutionary-determined views. They know we're eugenicists. They must know we don't believe in the sanctity of an embryo, let alone one implanted by aliens, against our will, as an act of warfare.
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>>5044089
We're going to need to make them wear clothes.

...and possibly some form of chastity cage if they don't quickly learn to control themselves.

Should we consider raising the children separately to give them a more thorough indoctrination in Jaxtian norms? It isn't as if the Adults care about them anyway, and this way they'd be able to pass on less indoctrination of their own against us to the next generation.
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>>5044179
I'd support these measures.
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>>5044149
>Yes but how could they have known?
They live on a gas giant. They don't breathe oxygen. They don't live in normal habitations. They should have learned more before doing a deal like that.
>After we announced we were going to commit murder, on unborn children
You DO remember that they implanted those children by force, right? They literally gave our soldiers alien tumours. Of course we were going to remove them.
>That factors in little to how effective their soldiers are given their children weren't a threat
It does when a soldier can shoot their things on who knows how many people
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>>5044266
>They live on a gas giant. They don't breathe oxygen. They don't live in normal habitations. They should have learned more before doing a deal like that.
None of these things points towards the removal of a single element causing this reaction - especially when the race doesn't resist its removal. The Haazari were entirely reasonable in their course of action, they had no reason to suspect that more needed to be learned nor would there have been a way to test this Anon.

The Ballathi were affected by overall atmospheric concentrations and lived in a gas giant, any sorts of change in % would have taken years to manifest and getting a single one into isolation to perform testing on would have been incredibly difficult and expensive given their environmental needs, unfamiliar biology and them being of another species who might take this sort of activity as a threat. There could also be issues securing a single one based solely on how deeply into the gas giant they live.

The point is the Haazar took reasonable actions and had done this with dozens of species without it back firing. They had no reason to suspect this would be any different.

>You DO remember that they implanted those children by force, right? They literally gave our soldiers alien tumours. Of course we were going to remove them.
And that suddenly renders the baby-killing reasonable and morally unobjectionable? His reaction was perfectly natural, that is my sole point.

>It does when a soldier can shoot their things on who knows how many people
It's not a projectile, it's a barb. They stab you, they don't shoot you. It is effectively a shiv with reproductive capacities.
>>
>>5044293
>baby-killing

We are eugenicists who force our citizens to abort fetuses. The Hazaari use their actual newborns as labourers and human shields. There was no reason for us to suspect, based on our culture or observations of theirs, that they would be anti-abortion. Even under those circumstances, whipping out his dagger-dick and threatening an alien overlord as a first course of action was tremendously stupid.
>>
>>5044293
>None of these things points towards the removal of a single element causing this reaction
They're signs that these people aren't normal. They should have invested more. But they did'nt, because they were too overconfident in their stupid little conman game, and now god knows how many people have died. Just because they were greedy fucks. They reaped what they sowed.
>And that suddenly renders the baby-killing reasonable
Well....yes. They're xeno tumours that they shot at us. What next, you're telling me aborting a facehurger fetus is "evil"?
>>
>>5044293
I wonder if their daggerDs are super sharp/hard or if basic personal armor is just not great?
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>>5044459
I don't think we have dedicated combat armor, from the look of our soldiers they seem to wear military jumpsuits.

I suppose that's reasonable since we haven't had planetary warfare in over a century.
>>
>>5044521
As far as I can tell infantry armour probably doesn't factor into Jaxxian doctrine too heavily due to them using climbing and verticality a lot in both their natural and urban environments.

Boarding actions would probably be one of the few situations where heavy armour would be an advantage no matter how you slice it. If possible it might be worth equipping a small force of dedicated space marines with environmentally sealed power armour for these specific scenarios.
>>
While you have spared the Haazar from the fate of Xenocide, that does not mean they are getting off easy. Their ship is stripped of its SD capable components and engines, with Alavis installed in every computer terminal and linked together to manage and monitor the facility. At the same time, the last of the large Jaxtian asteroids and the now defunct JAS shield are brought to the Haazar's base.

In a way, they have regained many of their freedoms- you allow them to divvy up their resources and space inside the asteroid bases according to their own capitalist and individualist methods, as long as they continue to pay lip service and learn from the Hegemony. As promised, the Haazar continue to beam information straight to Jax in exchange for basic supplies. You have no idea if a species like that could be reformed or changed in any meaningful way- but in the mean time teaching them obedience to the Hegemony for their own limited ability for self interest will be useful. At the same time, you are regulating their education and learning how they tick more and more- in the future, you may just make them citizens, or brainwashed allies that live far away from you.

In a few months after the Haazar incident, the remaining soldier who was implanted “completes” the cycle. He builds a nest out of some strange instinct, curls up, and the Haazari child is born from the embryo. The soldier himself reports a feeling of satisfaction and happiness- which could last for months or even years- from the embryonic reward system of that parasitical baby. You decide to keep this information classified, in case Jaxtians don't go seeking Haazar dicks out of a desire to get high. As for the child- it is too young to yet speak, but it can understand Jaxtian fluently. It even understands some technology, such as how to queue a request for the AI, things it could not have learned just from being in a womb. As such, the Haazar implantation must copy memories or knowledge from the implanted persons of their species, which explains how children with no parents could survive in their evolutionary history.

Using some of the Haazar's on-board chemical supplies, you find a high powered bioacid that could be used in conjunction with your other weapons to scrape off just a few tiny scraps of material from the alien cylinder. You use the Sapphire Avalanche to blast it off, and send the materials to the lab to be analyzed...
>>
Over the next five years, the massive growth and influx of technology from the Haazar ship sends your science departments into overdrive. As far as you can tell, every race of aliens has slightly different technological developments and priorities; and every race is limited in the number of geniuses, natural phenomena to study, or even “lucky” breakthrus as ways to advance technology. It cannot be overstated how massive access to another race's science developments like this is; you have essentially skipped several centuries worth of scientific research to get access to these technologies.

Of course- it isn't that simple. Technology requires industrial bases, is dependent on certain resources, or is built after certain design goals. All of these are not necessarily shared between the Haazar and the Jaxtians, but the discoveries you do make are extremely significant. As masters of biology- much of the science discoveries lean towards the medical fields; new XS cells, or Xeno-Stem Cells can be used to regrow lost or damaged body parts and organs. These regrown parts don't look or react quite right as they should, they tend to be inferior copies of the original, but short of regenerating the original body parts whole from the patient's DNA, this is the next best thing.

Another discovery is the Haazarian's advanced fields of flora and chemical research- high quality oxygen and calorie recycling plants will make long distance journeys on smaller starships, even without cyostatic sleep, finally feasible. Cures for many different diseases are likely to be found, and the increase of genetic and bio-technology means that your own eugenic program will only increase.

And finally- the telomere lengthening process is finally within your grasp. While this special procedure can only be done once on a person, both Eoba and yourself are feeling the effects after you rushed it to completion in the testing phase. It seems that with the Telomere, your average life expectancy has jumped to 100 years of age. With all the talk of Haazarian reproductive nonsense- getting back to good old monkey love with your newfound libidos is going to be a welcome change of pace.
>>
There is some time yet in your reign, and with your newfound youth, you feel as though you've got all the time in the world!

But there is a more pressing matter at hand; the alien cylinder.

For the past few years, the cylinder has not been seriously messed with beyond examination and sending it Argon, both a sealed canister and a cloud of unprocessed gas from Max, which yielded no obvious results. Without a reaction, you deemed it an unnecessary risk to prod the cylinder again until your fleet strength was back at its full capacity. Now your fleet is back to full strength.

What are you going to do with this thing?

The truth is the alien cylinder, while a harbinger of great peril, ended up being in many ways a great unifer and symbol of Jaxtian might. The military swells with applicants and “Cylinder-Watch” groups assist the Hegemony with monitoring its activity. Cute of thing to think you aren't on top of it already, but it can't simply stay here forever.

Alavis explains that the fact we were able to repel the cylinder once means that we probably aren't going to be eradicated the next time it opens, if it ever opens again. There's no way the limited resources inside could keep up with your technological and industrial growth- But you have no idea what they could be building in there. On the one hand, leaving the Cylinder around to be defeated next time it opens and studying whatever is left is a prospect that leaves you salivating, especially after all you have gained from the Haazar. Plus the Cylinder itself, made of a very special material which you don't yet fully understand, could be immensely valuable, as no natural sources of it exist. However- it would be much safer to be rid of the damn thing, and if the Baalathi inside aren't ready to fight, then this is the perfect time to get rid of them for good. You could destroy them in your star- or fling them out into deep space, where you will have a few decades warning if it tries to come back, with your sensors now locked on it. There's no telling which is the right answer here- it will have to be your intuition, Supreme One.

>Push it out into deep space
>Pull it into your Star
>Leave the Cylinder where it is and stay vigilant
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>Memory-copying parasite that drugs the user to feel happy about the alien tumor
We must not let these things to so much as land a feet on Jaxt, i've got half a mind to shoot them and their asteroid into deep space once we learn all their technology

As for the cyllinder, i believe we should put it in not-so-deep space. Not necessarily to get a whole decade of warning; We wouldn't be able to get it back so easily then.

We should push it far enough to get at least an hour or so of warninig - that's enough to let us get to it before it closes again.
>>
>>5045020
>It seems that with the Telomere, your average life expectancy has jumped to 100 years of age
Holy shit. That's a 66% increase over what it was previously for the best of our race and probably more for our less genetically perfected members.

Also, economically / population wise - we've now effectively got 40 years where we will have no natural deaths if we can roll that out to the whole of our population. To say nothing of the fact that we've just altered our racial dynamics regarding debt, education and so on significantly. After all, we've now got people living far longer which means each worker can be invested in to the same degree for greater returns or to greater degrees for far greater returns. Similarly, if our loans were built around the limit of our lifespan, suddenly you can take out loans on a longer basis. To say nothing of being in your prime years longer and thus being able to work and breed longer.

TLDR - We're about to enter a golden age of productivity and economic growth / flexibility beyond the existing golden age, assuming we can roll that technology out.


>>5045022
>Leave the Cylinder where it is and stay vigilant
>>
>>5045022
>>Leave the Cylinder where it is and stay vigilant
It's not going to be a threat again, defeating a probably lesser waves of drones with better technology will be easy.
>>
>>5045022
>Pull it into your Star
A battle trophy if you will
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>>5045022
>Leave the Cylinder where it is and stay vigilant
This can't possibly go wrong
>>
>>5045022
>Leave the cylinder where it is
>>
>>5045022
>Pull it into your Star

We can't risk it building back up/building something new and terrifying/waiting for reinforcements. Plot a course that doesn't pass near to any of our worlds and dunk it into the sun.

If it opens to defend itself before we can scorch it, a bonus; we get to fight before they've made themselves ready again.
>>
>>5045022
>>Leave the Cylinder where it is and stay vigilant
>>
>>5045022
>Leave the cylinder be
While it's tempting to just chuck it wherever, wait until we can reverse engineer that plating. Besides, it being there makes for a military morale boost, and perhaps we could even salvage and repurpose it into a colonizer ship or flagship later. Shit's primo material, waste not want not.
>>
>inb4 the star option was a trap option because the cylinder can build drones out of it
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>>5045019
Well, we've now seen what happens when a Jaxtian is implanted with a Haazar. Now we need to test out the inverse; inject the Haazar with Jaxtian genetic material samples and see if they grow. This might be most likely to have effect upon the Broodmother types who supply near to 50% DNA to the Embryos and therefore most closely resembles Jaxtian sexual reproduction.

>>5045020
What happens to Jaxtians who would have met the 'Supreme leader' grade but are young at a time when we aren't actively looking for a new one? It might be worth keeping a reserve on hand, particularly if our plans might someday involve needing a High-Quality Jaxtian to lead an extrasolar colony mission.
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>>5045216
>Now we need to test out the inverse; inject the Haazar with Jaxtian genetic material samples and see if they grow.
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>>5045216
This is a good idea. A dangerous idea but it could tell us a lot about them. What if we could get a Jaxtian-Haazar hybrid? I can't think of any reason that would be good but it would be interesting to see if we could increase the lifespan with that.

>>5045033
Now we know why they're extremely anti-abortion. They get high when the baby is born from them. That's kind of terrifying.

>>5045022
>Leave the Cylinder where it is and stay vigilant
If it isn't broke. What happened to the blue Haazar? I feel like it should be gene-scanned and given a small apartment or something. It's not a full Haazar and it is at least part Jaxtian. We owe something to it. Maybe it can get a job working as a diplomat to the ayys.
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>>5045282
>allowing the alien parasite to infiltrate our society
no thanks, that thing literally copied the memories of it's parent.
>>
>>5045291
I don't want to integrate it into our society, I just think it would make a good middle-ground to understanding how the Haazar work.
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>>5045291
Replicating the way they reproduce in Jaxtians could be good, eliminating childhood would be more efficient.
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>>5045306
>Replicating the way they reproduce in Jaxtians could be good,
Like fucking hell it would. Copying memories from their birth is a horrible weakness - they're not supposed to know everything. Furthermore, this is an ALIEN. They aren't born Jaxtian, they're born HAZAAR.

We will NOT become Hazaar, you filthy fucking xenophile.
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>>5045296
If we want to understand him, we need to put him in 24/7 watch. That thing is a hazard. It knows everything that soldier knows, and god knows what else.

We should study it carefully under watch.
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>>5045306
>eliminating childhood would be more efficient
I can't agree with that, childhood is a fundamental part of what it means to be Jaxtian.

>>5045311
Yeah I of course want to survey it but the fact that it's inherited Jaxtian memories and interprets things from that context means it's a very good way to bridge the gap in our understanding of the Haazar.
>>
It's not "more efficient". That is a stupid, one-second thought. Skipping childhood is a horrible, inefficient, and dangerous endeavour. There are multiple risks and downsides.

First of all, the information hazard - if they are born knowing what their parents knew, this is really bad because it means they know EVERYTHING. Every single little secret. And in a police state such as ours, this is REALLY bad. How can be reeducate children to our needs? What happens to children of supreme rulers who aren't chosen for the job? They'd know too much.
>inb4 just don't add that part
How else do you think they skip childhood? Children are stupid because they don't know anything. These things, on the other hand, already know it all.

Then, there's the societal hazard - you're destroying society as we know it by completely demolishing the concept of a family. No more families, no more fighting in the interest of your children; We'd end up into filthy individualists who use children as shields like the Hazaar.

Third, there's the psychological hazard that comes with filling a sapient mind with a lifetime of knowledge. And what happens when this problem compounds in future generations? A mind can only hold so much information - and information will often leave permanent changes on one's reaction to the outside world. What happens when you get several generations worth of muddled memories?

Trying to do anything with this Hazaar reproduction is a horrible, stupid. retarded idea, and further proof they can NEVER join our society.
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>>5045331
>he fact that it's inherited Jaxtian memories and interprets things from that context means it's a very good way to bridge the gap in our understanding of the Haazar.
It's also a danger. I agree we should study it, but we can't give him an normal apartment or even let him stay with his other people. He's not Jaxtian, he's a Blue Hazaar that has important information. We should put him in a research facility away from anything he might be able to use - or even worse, escape.
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>>5045338
I didn't mean sticking it in an apartment in a Jaxtian city, I meant like an apartment in a black site research bunker somewhere. It's clearly carrying Jaxtian genetics and right now it's the only one of its kind in the galaxy. There's no reason we can't make it comfortable.
>>
Maybe apartment wasn't a good word. I mean like a really cushy cell, house arrest style.
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>>5045022
>Leave the Cylinder where it is and stay vigilant
>>
>>5045216
You just want to see a monkey fuck a dinosaur
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>>5045416
It'd all be through Artificial insemination conducted by the AI, no actual fucking involved by anyone. It'd be 'sold' to the Haazar rather then forced upon them for nothing, though we might not tell them exactly what they'd be selling to us. It'd be interesting to see if the leader's philosophy on the unborn holds true among his fellows when its them n the receiving end.
>>
You have decided to leave the cylinder where it is. It could be a threat in the future, but with the influx of new alien technology, and the potential goldmine of uses the cylinder's strange material could be used for, including the potential of working in the great Fusion Generator project as a heat transfer and management system- it's too valuable to pass up. Either way, you'll be ready for it.

Alavis's data examination of the Haazar's computers also opens up something to you about the Baalathi you had not yet considered. The cylinders and data attacks were all an effort of colonization of foreign worlds because of the altered Baalathi decision making on their home planet. But in that case, any world they move to will likely have enough Argon to keep the population from being too aggressive as well. What this means is, while the Baalathi homeworld may be a source of constant expansion and attack, their other worlds won't act the same way.

Could it be possible for you to stop this runaway civilization some day? Would it be as simple as dumping a load of gas from your own gas giant into their atmosphere, and turning their brains back to something resembling peaceful? While some of your people demand the Xenocide of the Baalathi for what they've done, there may be more then one answer to this great problem.

These past years of your reign have been interesting. You've been so very busy dealing with the Haazar, the Baalathi, and the sudden growth of science and technology, that you forgot all about the last long range probe. Alavis has to remind you about it as it finally manages to beam back its information from almost ninety light years away...
>>
...It seems the galaxy is a much more interesting place then you originally thought.

-----------
Hey everyone, QM here, thanks for playing the Quest! I'm going to end this chapter of the Space Monkies here. I do hope you enjoyed it.

I will be sticking around to talk and answer questions, since I had a lot of fun too. I didn't do a midpoint assessment OOC post this time, which felt unnecessary.

>>5035528
>>5035529
>>5035733
About this; Amu's IQ was meant to be 92 as according to the Hegemony's records, with the SL overriding it and putting in whatever value he wanted to stroke his ego or put him in a science program. Amu's thing was that his brain didn't work like a normal person, though very smart in one specific area, he wasn't "smart" in general.

>>5043277
Yeah, the second picture in the quest was supposed to be a rendition of a potential future gas canister sent by the Jaxi. Sorry if it wasn't more clear.

But in the meantime, I have some questions for YOU- the player!

>Does the Quest live up to its premise?
One of my favorite game genres as a kid was the space 4x game, something that this quest was meant to emulate and is probably its biggest inspiration. Do you think the quest lives up to it? This quest doesn't use a lot of dice rolls or complex mechanics, so I feel it could be a little too "story based" or too railroady. I'd like to know you feel about it.

>First Thread?
Is this thread better or worse then the first thread of the game? It certainly felt a bit more aimless by the end; the first thread kind of had a meta-plot with Helper that drove the story, this one felt more like just waiting for things to happen. I'm curious to know which you think is better.

>Shields on Fighters?
Opinions on this? I actually dislike it so much I might do a soft retcon later. Feels like a way to make fighters vs big ships more distinct, but its not like ship classes are a big deal anyway.
>>
>>5045650
>Does the Quest live up to its premise?
For sure! One of the best civquests I've played in a long while, and it's going a long way toward inspiring how I'd want to run my next attempt at one. I like the balance of big story beats and personal character moments. I also really aprpeciate how we can determine WHO leads, and even direct them as to HOW, but we can't just brute-force OOC moments. It makes choosing a Monke Supremo feel really important and not just like selecting an avatar and stat outlay.

>First Thread?
I like this one better. The first one felt like getting the ball rolling--not a tutorial level, exactly, but that same vibe. This thread felt way less narrative, and more dynamic, freeform, and traditionally civ-y.

>Shields on Fighters?
They still seem distinct to me: big ships can have better shields, right? Whereas small ships can't have as powerful or durable a shield, or as long-lasting a battery, and when they go into atmosphere it loses a lot of utility so fighetrs may not always prioritize it. Almost seems like we could have three ship-classes: big deep-space flagships with huge shield batteries, defensive and ship-to-ship space-fighters with mobility and shields balanced for dogfighting and protecting the big ship(s), and then smaller, less-shielded fighters meant for planetary invasion fleets.


>Over all opinion
Top fucking tier quest, QM. Thanks for running! I hope you keep it going.
>>
>>5045804
Agree
>>
>>5045650
>About this; Amu's IQ was meant to be 92 as according to the Hegemony's records, with the SL overriding it and putting in whatever value he wanted to stroke his ego or put him in a science program. Amu's thing was that his brain didn't work like a normal person, though very smart in one specific area, he wasn't "smart" in general.
Nice to see I was right.

>Does the Quest live up to its premise?
Certainly.

>First Thread?
Eh, they both felt very solid to me.

>Shields on Fighters?
There's no fundamental reason to prevent them having fighters - after all the main limit for fighters is volume/weight and power supply that must be divided between systems. Adding more systems can arguably be worse than having fewer bigger/better systems.
>>
>>5045650

>Does the Quest live up to its premise?
Yes. I think a story based approach works well, particularly as the supreme leaders (and other appearing characters) help to give a sense of personality and structure.

>First Thread?
Both felt pretty good to me, they just had different foci due to the differing and growing nature of our technology and abilities.

>Shields on Fighters?
Seems okay to me that they exist. I don't imagine they're particularly long-lasting given the size of the vessel they're on - enough perhaps to save you from a random glancing strike or 'snipe' attempt; but they're still not going to hold for more then a second if an actual threat locks on behind your fighter and unleashes a barrage of lazer/phaser/disruptor/blaster etc. energies.
>>
Well, thanks for the feedback guys! I'm still be here to answer any questions- and I'd love to know what kind of Sci-Fi tropes and stuff you'd like to see next.

Here's the archive link for posterity.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/5007154/
>>
>>5046100
>Jump gates
Meh, forcefields, tractor beams and gravity manipulation more broadly seem like the better general-use tech.
>>
>>5045641
I guess this little blue Haazar's being raised with the Jaxtians - are we raising the other 'children', or just this one? And are more being born/dying through Haazari neglect out on the asteroid, or are we making sure to take care of them and raise them with families, even if adopted ones?


>>5046100
>>5046108
>Jump Gates

....

OH FUCK

...How long will it take the Baalathi to finish reconfiguring their cylinder into a jump-gate, I wonder?
>>
>>5046300
>raising the Haazari

Exactly how the penis-fencers are being brought up is probably something we'll be voting on next thread, I would wager.

One thing is for certain: none of reproductive age can EVER be allowed near a Supreme Leader without a chastity belt.
>>
>>5046606
Eunuch Hazaari advisor sounds dope honestly
>>
>>5045650
>Does the Quest live up to its premise?
Yes. I'm especially impressed by how you managed to keep the story rolling with minimal mechanics. Too many civ quests try to emulate computer games and suffer for it, but without the framework of mechanics it can be hard to run a quest in a way that doesn't feel like you're just puling stuff out of your ass.

>First Thread?
Both had their own arcs. I think you did a good job of giving us issues to grapple with while waiting for our civ to become FTL capable. The data prion, Balaathi tech and interactions with the Hazaar feel like they were lifted straight out of "The Dark Forest" and "Speaker for the Dead" respectively.

>Shields on Fighters?
They can be something that just takes one hit before going down. Not great but still the difference between being shot down and limping back to base.

>>5046100
Man to think the difference between plasmatronics and jump gates was whether Amu got arrested or decided to have a snack.

If we had known what was at stake in that decision the anons might have caused a shitstorm debating back and forth over what tech to get. Now every time we need to make an innocuous decision we'll be wonder what kind of butterfly effect shit it's gonna cause.

I love it.

What did we fuck up by not allowing pink space suits?
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>>5045804
>It makes choosing a Monke Supremo feel really important and not just like selecting an avatar and stat outlay.
Yeah, this is one of the things I wanted to enforce. The players should always be able to select the next Supreme Ruler, unless something... happens. Naturally I already broke this rule before, but I feel like it's the most important choice. Even though you guys are a little predictable.

>>5046108
>>5046300
>>5046676
Yeah, the idea was that was the "most important choice of the quest" because it determined what path technology went down. Either towards Plasmtronics/High Energy sciences, or the Jump Gate/Teleportation sciences. Both led to an FTL method, but the Jump Gate method would have been online first because you'd need to send out sublight probes/ships to construct your gates and stuff like that.

>>5046676
While I do like the idea of a random one off choice determining everything, it's a bit disingenuous. This is why I still warned the Amu choice was important. As for the space suits- I actually didn't have anything planned at all and just wanted to let the players pick their own spacesuit colors
>>
>>5046676
Watch, the whole color of space suits thing ends up ----- ------------- ------ -------- ---- because of the suit color but has already unlocked assertive Talecent choices and will unlock GUILT choices later on.

Maybe?
>>
>>5045650
>Does the Quest live up to its premise?
It sure does, i've been here since the first post. It's been good at portraying an actual civilization. It doesn't feel like we lean too heavily on the Supreme Leaders themselves, but rather on Jaxtian Civilization as a whole.
>First Thread?
While this thread has been generally good, i feel like this second one's had some issues - like, for example, the fact that we had no choice over whether to accept the hazaar's trade deal or not. I mean, i understand it was necessary to advance the plot, but that part felt a bit railroaded. But other than that, the threat was good.
>Shields on Fighters?
Honestly, i'm not against it, because not being able to have shields generally makes it so there's no reason to have smaller ships. I don't like the whole idea that space warfare should just be a race to who gets the biggest gun bucket - smaller ships should have as much of a role as bigger ones.
>>
>>5046890
Ah. So because the Baalathi have also shown plasmtronic usage they wouldn't be able to make Jump gates either; but the Haazar have demonstrated nothing of either technological line so they could build a jump-gate society if they ever manage to overcome the Baalathi in their home system?
>>
>>5047103
Oh no, I didn't mean to imply anything like that. It's less of different mutually exclusive tech trees and more the "flavor" the Quest was going to be going for.
>>
>>5047108
Ah, fair enough!

Who were were going to have been mourning here - with the corner picture showing both cirrus and what I presume are the Baalathi signals, I'm guessing this was remembrance for Vul?
>>
Short Synopsis
The Supreme Ruler Vul Takar accepted a trade deal with a myserious alien race of hermaphrodites- the Haazar- life extension technology in exchange for raw gases from your gas giant, named Max. The Haazar claimed to be sending a ship to your system to make first contact or to collect the canisters when they were ready for shipment.

After many years of building, the great flying cloud-city named Cirrus was launched, but was struck with a data attack that killed everyone onboard, including the Supreme Ruler. With no heir; Kinja Dulioan was forced to step up and become the next Supreme Ruler.

Defending your home system from alien drones- Kinja expanded your population and tax base in preparation to research fusion power, a likely requirement for Faster Then Light travel. Part of this involved the creation of the Indigo Children- genetically modified Jaxtians meant to grow the population faster and spread the alien suspension gene to the rest of the Jaxtian population through a few generations of race mixing. Along the way, the secrets of Plasmatronics were discovered, unlocking anti-gravity and eventually deflector shield technology. Kinja stepped down as Supreme Ruler finally and selected Talacent Intari as the next successor due to his diplomatic skills.

The Haazar ship finally arrived in your home system many years after the message was sent- only for it to be an imposter. The massive blue cylinder was actually a ship sent by another alien race, the Baalathi, as a vehicle for expansion and conquest. After you defeated the drone swarm, the cylinder shut itself and quietly remained in orbit around your star, biding its time.

Finally; the Haazar ship did arrive and after capturing it, you learn the truth of the Baalathi expansionism and the Haazar's culture of interstellar scam artists. You refuse to genocide the Haazar, who could be the last of their kind, and being to learn from their technology to enhance your own.

The story continues in part 3:
>>5053823



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