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Completed Let's Play Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

Shadenuat

Arcane
Joined
Dec 9, 2011
Messages
11,955
Location
Russia
BB

There's no reasoning with the Hive, not when you have Democracy as a policy.
Fucking backstabbing Deirdre, she always does that. Try to make her attack the Hive if possible.
Don't give up on AF completely. Maybe you'll get to Copters with Air Superiority...

I recently fucked up Hive with Gayans with Psi Amplifier (+50% psi attack wonder), air and cyborg centers - Psi Copters + Locusts of Chiron. So good.
 
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Cassidy

Arcane
Joined
Sep 9, 2007
Messages
7,922
Location
Vault City
1A, continue focus on Air Force and 2B, this is a war to the end, have won.

==============================

Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal; and I will turn you around and lead you on, bringing you up from the far north, and bring you against the mountains of Israel. Then I will knock the bow out of your left hand, and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand. You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. You shall fall on the open field; for I have spoken.”

-- The Conclave Bible, Datalinks.

Armageddon Campaign

U.N. Air Force theme

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Mission Year 2294. The Lord's Believers reign of terror and intolerance is at last over, and Sister Miriam ends paying the highest price for her many crimes against mankind. If only the other circumstances behind such fortunate end were as favorable. New Jerusalem, now fittingly given a holographic museum of the real, lost city of Jerusalem on Earth, has become the front line of a war that will decide Planet's future, a war of, ironically, biblical proportions. The Believers always labelled Yang as the Antichrist, and under the benevolent and free rule of the United Nations, they still maintain such apocalyptic belief, and some have faith that, for all its shortcomings, the Peacekeepers are the only institution that could prevent the complete extinction of their religion in the totalitarian hell of the Human Hive. Among future historians still clinging to their dated(*tips fedora*) religion, the conflict with the Hive would be known as the Armageddon War.

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Unfortunately, the victory of the Peacekeepers came at a cost. The United Nations has grown massively, and their mass only adds to the still lingering bureaucracy in spite of all the improvements thanks to the efficiency of Democratic institutions, Green economics and a very open information policy that often eschews confidentiality. Public services have worsened, and as a result, the number of drones across all of UN bases has increased, and for every base liberated from the Hive, once they manage to overcome their masses, these drones will increase further and further. Only heavy investments in Psych can mitigate this.

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"It will happen, and it will happen in our lifetimes. Fusion Power isn't just the future. Fusion Power is now."

-- T. M. Morgan-Reilly, Morgan Metagenics

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The last pilots of a dying generation commit to their gallant defense of U.N. Museum of Jerusalem and to inflict as much damage as possible to the superior Hive assets. One of their wing of strike fighters is caught off-guard, and in spite of the superiority of their chaos guns, utterly exterminated. However, they know their victories will be like a blaze of glory, yet stubbornly, they insist, fearing massive hordes will overwhelm Jerusalem unless they keep fighting, no matter the risks.

The Believers called the entire war, from its very beginning, Armageddon. Perhaps it was a fitting coincidence for the city once called New Jerusalem to become a centerpiece of the conflict for so many years.

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: I got everything under control! Our Psi-Corps have the means to tame, so to speak, many of those mind worms, and with so many of them, we will finally be able to make a difference, even as a last resort, as you insist.

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: You better ensure no civilians in U.N. Health Agency will suffer because of this.

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Back to the front lines, the Hive is gathering legions of heavy artillery for a massive assault against Jerusalem. Gallant, the old guard of U.N. Air Force fights the good fight. They are normal humans, perhaps one of the last generations of regular, non-augmented human beings on Planet, for Bioenhancement Centers are already under construction, and the next generation of fighter pilots will be made by cybernetic pilots, augmented to achieve unequaled flight combat performance.

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But the harsh interception always happened shortly after their valiant strikes, costing countless lives. UNAF was suffering heavily, but if they simply remained landed in their bases, the Hive would gain too much ground. Their mission was to buy enough time, to hold the line at Jerusalem, for anything lost to a society as inhuman and horrific to live in as the Human Hive would be a tragedy.

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Although costly, because the Gaians were about to finish it first and thus many energy credits had to be used to rush this great project, finally, U.N. Headquarters concludes the largest particle accelerator ever built by mankind, a much useful project to allow the Peacekeepers to, for a change, become the technological leaders of mankind.

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Organic Superlube? Oh, it's great stuff, great stuff. You really have to keep an eye on it, though--it'll try and slide away from you the first chance it gets.

-- T. M. Morgan-Reilly, Morgan Metagenics

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Plasma shard is a misnomer, for something non-solid cannot be shaped as a shard, but it is a quite fitting description for the most immediate application of Advanced Spaceflight. With immense firepower, such new weapon will finally give the Peacekeepers a fighting chance against the Hive.

Furthermore, Orbital Power Transmitters, essentially a new take on the old idea of using microwaves to transmit power from space-based solar collectors to the surface, have the potential of giving to the United Nations unequaled energy to invest on research or more. As for the Living Refinery, the Hive is almost building theirs.

The population growth, expansion and victories of the Peacekeepers also opened a new possibility.

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And finally, after a long, long time, Pravin Lal is once again the Governor of Planet, although such is mostly a honorific title, and the hope of an alliance united against the common threat of the Hive is long dead now.

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So many were wiped out by the Human Hive that the Councils felt empty, lifeless even.

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The exploration of the ruins to the north of the continent by Psi-Corps yields excellent, if dangerous results.

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More and more mind worms appear, some of the still remaining pods swarming with them, but many are captured and under control of the Psi Corps, whose director Bester never gives up with his insistence they can achieve a decisive victory against the Human Hive.

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It was an interesting, if ugly, secret war.

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The Shard Tactical of the Human Hive wiped out the UNAF, but their deaths were not in vain. They exterminated legions of Hive forces, and in the end, stubbornly, they kept attacking the now ironically named Godwinson's Hope to lure the same and avenge their fallen. Strike fighters with inferior armaments against a dedicated interceptor, they suffered many losses, but in the end, a very valuable asset of the enemy was utterly vanquished.

Such old guard's "retirement" will never be forgotten, but unfortunately, they never stood a chance.

:salute:

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In spite of the threat of mind worms, an already previously successful terraform project continues, the goal being vastly rising the altitudes all across U.N. Health Agency to benefit solar collection, the most ambitious terraforming project ever devised by the U.N.

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Unfortunately the project of raising altitudes around the same base will have to be delayed, as the threat of mind worms got out of control.

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Fortunately, many mind worms could be used to stop the tide of mind worms heading for Health Agency, and many more of those could be "tamed" by Psi-Corps, creating the perfect force for defending the United Nations against hostile native life forms.

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It was somewhat surprising neither side decided to risk weaponizing outer space and orbit, yet, but in the end, the entire conflict would be decided within Planet's atmosphere.

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: And to think I once had hopes for the salvation of the old Mission, but now, to paraphrase the deceased Zakharov, who would probably accolade the U.N. for its focus on Knowledge, now we are alone.

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We are all aware that the senses can be deceived, the eyes fooled. But how can we be sure our senses are not being deceived at any particular time, or even all the time? Might I just be a brain in a tank somewhere, tricked all my life into believing in the events of this world by some insane computer? And does my life gain or lose meaning based on my reaction to such solipsism?

-- Project PYRRHO, Specimen 46, Vat 7; Activity Recorded M.Y. 2302.22467 TERMINATION OF SPECIMEN ADVISED

Morgan%20Everett.png
: Commissioner Pravin Lal, I am proud to inform UNATCO's very first bioenhanced agent just graduated, he is here with me, because he really wanted to meet you in person. He is John Christian Denton, but you may call him J.C.

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: Nice to meet you, J.C. ,now, if you do not mind me asking, right now is night time: why are you wearing sunglasses?

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: My vision is augmented.

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Exploration of the ruins proceeds with mostly success.

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While a new generation of augmented pilots is under training, the last wing of the old guard continues its valiant defiance against all odds, and their sacrifice may have saved Jerusalem from falling into the hands of the Hive throughout the many years before the U.N. finally would have means to overcome the Hive Air Forces.

:salute:

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Bioenhancement centers in every base, yet, what was the cost to humanity. It was strange for a so ecologically minded faction to be the first to make such a leap into the new era of cybernetic and eventually nanotechnological human augmentation.

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And so we return again to the holy void. Some say this is simply our destiny, but I would have you remember always that the void EXISTS, just as surely as you or I. Is nothingness any less a miracle than substance?

-- Sister Miriam Godwinson, "We Must Dissent"

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If any of the old guard of UNAF survives, they will fly far more powerful fighters, and after so long without dedicated air superiority fighters, the development of the weaponry known as plasma shard puts them in parity against the Hive, and thus air superiority can be achieved through superior training and cybernetically enhanced pilots capable of enduring immense Gs that would lead a non augmented human to unconsciousness and with vastly sharper reflexes as well.

However, that was not the watershed of the final years of the tragic, war-ridden 23rd century. Another discovery would forever change the History of mankind, a discovery that would soon bring much rejoicing the the only truly free peoples of Planet, and also allow for the U.N. to overcome any numbers of the Human Hive. The boundaries of humanity were changing as the 23rd century ended, and depending on who wins this war, the new man would not necessarily be better, smarter or superior to the old one.

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The Liberators gained a much valued upgrade. With their new armaments none will be better at fighting ground forces fitted with AA tracking inside bases, while they will have AA tracking as well, in the form of cybernetic implants. But soon this new unit will become obsolete, all according to the plan.

The Kali is the direct successor of the Ramayana, with over twice the firepower of the aging attack fighter in the form of its plasma shard, or as some prefer to call it, plasma "shotgun".

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To achieve air superiority against the masses of the Hive, and whenever likely to succeed, launch ground attacks as well, if at reduced efficiency compared to the dedicated ground strike platforms, the Vishnu will vindicate all fighter pilots who gave their lives to protect the city of Jerusalem.

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Many citizens in Planetary Trust became specialists to counter the growing issues with drones due to bureaucracy, but it still is one of the most productive cities of the United Nations, and now it will build a new, much mightier Air Force with cyber and nano-augmented pilots.

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Health Authority survived such incidents, but the Psi-Corps insisted with the exploration, even when they many some of their own in an attack by one of the untamed horrors.

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However, they certainly risked themselves and were brave to protect the civilians of Health Authority indirectly by wiping out or capturing as many mind worms as they could before they amassed against the base, and with their numbers, they became a sizable military force on their own.

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However, tasked with something that is not their usual mission, UNATCO operatives were the ones who truly saved U.N. Health Authority and countless lives.

:salute:

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And speaking of UNATCO, in Jerusalem, they would face another challenge, as the Hive, no longer so confident about total victory, made an offer.

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: No free nation on this Planet will ever appease to tyrants again as the nations of our gone Earth did! We will fight to the end, and your crimes against humanity will be judged one day, Yang!

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In spite of the free flow of information, through superior experience, UNATCO prevailed, and whatever dirty work they planned, Jerusalem was safe for now.

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Meanwhile, a new, long delayed need was finally forwarded. These new formers now only would be able to put up a fight, but they also would be able to eliminate the fungal threat much faster.

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The old guard of UNAF, with pilots relying purely on experience and their own skills rather than implants and enhancements, is almost gone, and for a few years, there was little left to stop the hordes of Yang. Yet, their deaths were not in vain. In fact, like it was already said once on Earth, never before so many owed so much to so few.

:salute:

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The last wing of the old guard continues to fight with courage and determination, even as Jerusalem suffers a rain of artillery, the legions bringing terror and death to the streets. This will not be forgotten!

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Yang however has one great weakness: being completely predictable.

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UNATCO lost the battle, but they will win the war. Meanwhile, to counter ecological damage still happening despite the Green economics, new preserves were being built.

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: I really want to believe that was nothing besides a bad dream.

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The last of the old school did not make it. They will never be forgotten, and their heroic sacrifice will not be in vain. In their memory and honor, the new generation of UNAF pilots will crush the Hive slave pilots like a skull of pigeon!

:salute:

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The first Air Superiority Fighter of the UNAF is ready, and more are coming, but most importantly, new fighters will have a far more significant difference, one that will turn the Peacekeepers into a truly formidable military force they have to be to win this war.

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Why do you insist that the human genetic code is "sacred" or "taboo"? It is a chemical process and nothing more. For that matter -we- are chemical processes and nothing more. If you deny yourself a useful tool simply because it reminds you uncomfortably of your mortality, you have uselessly and pointlessly crippled yourself.

-- Chairman Sheng-ji Yang, "Looking God in the Eye"

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: I do not want to hear any other word of this "Gray Death" project of yours, Morgan Everett! The applications of Retroviral engineering will be exclusively used as a stepping stone towards the ethical engineering of the evolution of mankind, guided by humanitarian and democratic principles.

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With the new developments, the very notions of what means to be a human were shifting, but a new technology became available: clean reactors, the military cornucopia for Morgan Industries and all Democracies on Planet, for they allowed them to field armies as vast as those of a tyrannical Police State, if necessary.

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The Academician's private residences shall remain off-limits to the Genetic Inspectors. We possess no retroviral capability, we are not researching retroviral engineering, and we shall not allow this Council to violate faction privileges in the name of this ridiculous witch hunt!"

-- Fedor Petrov, Vice Provost for University Affairs

In more fortunate events, the Peacekeepers become the first to develop means of retroviral engineering thanks to the study of a mysterious alien artifact. Perhaps the fact these aliens are no longer around is a warning to the dangers such technologies present.

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Jerusalem remains the front line, neither side having achieved any decisive victory to advance any further since the fall of the Believers. There are many open issues, and as usual, Lal still hears his people, even more now that many have been augmented by the newly developed technologies in the last decade of the 23rd Century.




1) Technology is rapidly advancing, and some are already envisioning Future societies that will change mankind forever based on such technologies. Should the Peacekeepers, once they stop being mere speculation, embrace any future?



A) Make everyone forget the U.N. was ever bureaucratic by, once possible, assigning artificial Intelligences to every menial, administrative or anything that can be described as a job or work, and create the greatest yet extremely efficient and environmentally friendly Cybernetic Welfare State on mankind's history, where 99 out of every 100 humans will be on welfare and will never need to work in their entire lives, only play videogames or draw paintings, if they want to. However, while idleness may seem good, it will actually make people more likely to dissent. (+2 Efficiency, +2 Research, +2 Planet, -3 Police)

B) There is nothing more humanitarian than an Utopia, although that word may one day become an oxymoron. A perfect society is one of exertion, not idleness because machines will do all the work. Such Eudaimonia would be everything those truly idealistic within the United Nations dreamed of, and more, a perfect and free society where everyone is truly equal in their superiority thanks to eons of enhancement ensuring 180+ IQ, titanium bones and 8 PhDs for everyone. However, with the manboon genes and shitty environment long weeded out, these übermensch will be a little rusty for fighting against foreign threats. (+2 Economy, +2 Growth, +2 Industry, -2 Morale)

C) A perfect democracy is a facade for the Illuminati New World Order one without dissent, said Morgan Everett, offering a very unorthodox and perhaps unethical proposal. To guide the United Nations as an "invisible hand" keeping the people as one, for all time, to control their thoughts in a way they will not even notice themselves, so they will always vote on what is most convenient, and remain completely loyal to the UN ideals forever. Besides its ethical implications, such secret means of population control will be very expensive and cost many mineral resources. (+2 Police, +2 Probe +2 Morale, -3 Support)



2) The new Air Force can compete with the less trained forces of the Hive, but one question remain: what should be the proportion between bombers and air superiority fighters?



A) Build only air superiority needlejets until air supremacy is achieved and all Shard tactical fighters of the Hive exterminated.

B) 1 bomber for every 2 fighters.

C) 1 bomber for every fighter.

D) 2 bombers for every fighter.

E) Build only bombers and overwhelm the Hive defenses with massive ground strikes before they can send their interceptors.




3) Drop pods will be available in a few years. Should the U.N. build airborne troops, albeit lacking in AA tracking unless designed without clean reactors, and thus having support costs to the base that trained them?



A) Build a few airborne forces(2-4) with clean reactors.

B) Build a lot of airborne forces(4+) with clean reactors.

C) Build a few airborne forces with AA tracking instead of clean reactors.

D) Build as many airborne forces as the base supporting them can afford with its mineral upkeep with AA tracking instead of clean reactors.



4) The Psi-Corps, with a much larger mind worm force under their control now, petitioned again for the end of the prohibition of use of mind worms against human populations. Should such prohibition be lifted, regardless of its human rights implications, and their mind worms shipped to the front to fight against the Hive?


A) Yes

B) No



5) General long term plan for most of the bases currently not directly involved in the war effort:



A) Build Aerospace Centers and launch Orbital Power Transmitters, and eventually even Morgan will be jealous of the energy income of the Peacekeepers.

B) Build Aerospace Centers and launch enough Sky Hydroponics Farms to be able to have fully specialist-populated bases.

C) Build the infrastructure needed to field the equivalent of Elite forces through training and cybernetic implants and build an unstoppable military with clean reactors, at the expense of economic development or supply crawlers.
 
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Azira

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Nov 3, 2004
Messages
8,519
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
Codex 2012
My votan:

1A
2C
3C
4A
5A


Better efficiency will help curtail the losses, when you start racking up the power ratings of the bases. Hence choosing Cybernetic.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
They aren't mutually exclusive. The game allows it.

I mean, if there was an option to happily reluctantly bomb the whole Planet into the Stone Age...
 

Cassidy

Arcane
Joined
Sep 9, 2007
Messages
7,922
Location
Vault City
I just can't fathom Thought Control Peacekeepers without involving an even more ridiculous canon crossover with Deus Ex.

Alright, option for Illuminati New World Order Thought Control added now, if you really want this:



:M
 
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Shadenuat

Arcane
Joined
Dec 9, 2011
Messages
11,955
Location
Russia
Lal being Illuminati/illuminati's puppet all that time sounds too awesome to pass up - C.

As for others,

C) 1 bomber for every 2 fighters.

B) Build a lot of airborne forces(4+) with clean reactors.

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B) No worms

5) General long term plan for most of the bases currently not directly involved in the war effort:
I'll leave this one up to you, all sounds kinda good and you'll have to somehow manage our dumb decisions and not run out of people/minerals.
 
Last edited:

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
A) Make everyone forget the U.N. was ever bureaucratic by, once possible, assigning artificial Intelligences to every menial, administrative or anything that can be described as a job or work, and create the greatest yet extremely efficient and environmentally friendly Cybernetic Welfare State on mankind's history, where 99 out of every 100 humans will be on welfare and will never need to work in their entire lives, only play videogames or draw paintings, if they want to. However, while idleness may seem good, it will actually make people more likely to dissent. (+2 Efficiency, +2 Research, +2 Planet, -3 Police)
Everyone who is voting for a friendly Cybernetic Welfare State where Artificial Intelligence runs things with a bit of a downside that a few people might dissent out of boredom is essentially voting for this:

This is a video of the Self-Aware Colony Secret Project, the fully automated colony that runs and polices itself.

It works a bit differently from how the marketologists claimed it would.

Sister Miriam Godwinson had a pretty good foresight when she warned about the dangers of the rampant technological progress. By the end of the game, what remains of the humanity can hardly be called humans anymore. If they ever get to visit Earth again, they might as well be aliens.

Reminds me of "The Star Diaries" by Stanisław Lem, "The Twenty-first Voyage" in particular.
 

Cassidy

Arcane
Joined
Sep 9, 2007
Messages
7,922
Location
Vault City
The results were: 1 - A, Cybernetic Welfare State, and the Self Aware Colony video is definitively involving a Cybernetic Police State, not a Cybernetic Democracy, so those comments are irrelevant, furthermore I do not intend to build the Self-Aware Colony because of "roleplay".

Disregard option 2 because I messed it up, plus the circumstances(of overwhelming numbers of Hive air units) forced a me to ignore it anyway lest a horrible defeat happens and then, it would be Planet buster time!

3 - A, build a few clean airborne units(and eventually Space Marines if I succeed in building the Space Elevators first) had 3 votes, and so did the similar option B, to build a lot (4+) of them. By the moment this update ends there was not enough of them trained for this draw to even matter, but whatever.

4 - A, authorize the use of mind worms against the Human Hive, has won, but their deployment won't yet happen in the following update

5 had a draw between spamming Orbital Power Transmitters and building the infrastructure to build more well trained units in bases away from the front lines. Considering the numbers of the Hive, I will do both.

=========================

"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty."

-- Mohandas K. Gandhi, Datalinks.

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"Human" Evolution

Atropos

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: It is done, Commissioner. Now the illegitimate Hive will have something to truly fear.

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: We better hope we will never need to resort to such a weapon, for mankind will not survive another exchange of weapons of mass destruction and another planetary annihilation, neither will mankind survive as anything remotely human under the rule of Yang. This is exactly why we must do our best to win this conflict without such drastic measures.

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: A thousand artillery bombardments happen against the Museum of Jerusalem even as we speak, and their numbers are vastly superior. You better have a good plan, because it won't take long, in my review of the situation, for that warhead to become the only resort left.

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: Have faith in these brave men, Morgan Everett. They are willing to fight to the death for their freedom, but they will most unfortunately slaughter many in defense of the liberty and human rights the United Nations stand for.

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: We stopped a mind control probe just in time. It was a tough operation, specially considering the security vulnerabilities of our Nodes, but it is done, and the people of Jerusalem are safe, for now. However, we need reinforcements. It is hard to conduct any mission under such heavy artillery fire.

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: Excellent work agent! And worry not, more operatives are on the way. We will not let them take Jerusalem like that! For now, your objectives remain the same, for we cannot afford proactive probe operations yet.

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: Commissioner Lal, are you aware of the environmental consequences of this longevity treatment being distributed to everyone through our public healthcare system? The population boom may become so massive it will cause ecological damage, and some of our bases are already having ecological troubles in spite of all the precautions of our economic model.

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: Death is a disease, Secretary of the Environmental Agency, and after countless thousand years, we are finally getting close to a treatment that will delay it for a long, long time, and eventually, we will find out to the definite cure. I find it extremely unjust that only I should be granted such longevity, and I believe it is our humanitarian duty to have it available to all our citizens, no matter what.

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: Besides the more philosophical possibility we will no longer be human by the time clinical immortality may become a reality, look at these projections, I must unfortunately strongly recommend that this treatment should only be given with a severe restriction: only people willing to commit to never have more than one child should be allowed access to the Longevity vaccine, lest we unleash a new ecological disaster.

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: *Sigh*, very well, there will be such a restriction, but anyone who agrees to it will be given free access to such vaccine, no matter what. "Perhaps I should consider implementing an economic model that puts the well being of the human above near worship of an environment as hostile as this Planet's. Although only true artificial intelligences, still not developed after all these years, could lead to an efficient socialist economy"

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The Information Agency became, rather than an Information Agency, a training camp for cybernetic Peacekeeper Forces in a war that is getting close to its hundredth year. Jerusalem continues to resist, yet the front of the Armageddon War remains unchanged, the masses of the Hive too many for the Peacekeepers to have a chance of pushing through in the next decade, or perhaps more. Fortunately, thanks to a much wise administration, what the United Nations lacked in numbers they had in energy, and even with the disregard of information security in favor of freedom of information the ideal of Knowledge ensued, there was still a chance for UNATCO to do more than to have successfully stopped a mind control probe that would have been disastrous otherwise.

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: The commissars of the Human Hive force besieging Jerusalem were killed, and UNATCO negotiators have convinced most of the grunts of the benefits of defection. From what they understood from debriefing the defectors, the Human Hive is truly every Orwellian nightmare made real. Their support will be very important to give Jerusalem a better chance.

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: Yang is such a brute, with such crude, straightforward and violent methods of societal control. Never was a good man, always too impatient, always too direct for his own good, too much of a control freak to understand the subtleties that ensure successful and peaceful rule, for even the toughest iron fist will rust and decay, while a sufficiently soft, almost unseen velvet glove can last forever.

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: What do you mean, Morgan Everett?

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: Just some old rhetoric. Good work out there, J.C. Denton, you are truly among UNATCO's finest.

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The gravity of the situation could not be sufficiently stressed. The construction of a perimeter defense around the Museum of Jerusalem was rushed due to such threat, yet there was uncertainty whether it would be enough to hold out or not, for the Hive had a massive army and a massive air force.

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Although the Vishnu Air Superiority Fighters were not built for ground attack, the incoming hordes were such that there was no alternative left than to risk them into such missions.

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The old guard's last unit survived thanks to pure circumstance. Called to stop a mind worm attack and protect an U.N. base whose defenders perished to the vicious native things, it remained there, vigilant until the same base had a new garrison trained to defend itself. Now, that moment arrived, but before returning gallantly to the front lines as the last of a dying breed of still plain human pilots owing only to their experience and dedication, this unit will be fitted with plasma weaponry instead of its long outdated missiles. May they survive and succeed where all others of the old UNAF have not.

:salute:

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Half a century ago, the United Nations was technologically behind most of the other factions. Now, this has more than changed, a new age of rapid advance happens, not only in knowledge, but in the very boundaries of mankind, shifting, changing. Lal is not completely at ease with what is happening, but he knows it cannot be stopped. Humanity is evolving, or perhaps it is something else that is evolving, but it will happen, thus it is better for such evolution to be guided by the humanitarian initiatives of the United Nations rather than by the totalitarian horrors of the Hive.

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: The Gaians are on the verge of a breakthrough, they will beat us to the Longevity project!

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: No, I have a plan!

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And so, the Peacekeepers had just the quantity of energy necessary to beat the Gaians to such a project, thanks to their immense interest in purchasing Retroviral Engineering research.

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Morgan, as always, is willing to trade. Hybrid Forests will be very useful to the United Nations because of how they will make forests better than any other terraforming setup save for bases in very high altitudes, and the occasional borehole, never in excess to prevent ecological disasters, for even the ecological safeguards of a Green economy will not be enough to mitigate all damage they cause.

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The Morgans fear what may not be purchased, for a trader cannot comprehend a thing that is priceless.

-- Sister Miriam Godwinson, "The Collected Sermons"

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: Secretary Bester, the situation has changed drastically in the last years, and I am therefore lifting all restrictions on the employment of your Psi Corps against the Human Hive. Not only that, but I am open to suggestions on how to operate them.

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: *Chuckles* Finally! For a start, Isles of the Deep can be grown, and they would be more suitable for Psi Corps. All you need is a properly fitted Biology Lab. I'd also recommend a Bioenhancement Center in the base where such Isles will be grown.

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: That will take a some years, but it shall be done. Now, I must ask: how much control do you have over such worms? Could you make them attack and kill in a less painful way than the methods wild mind worms employ?

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: We will try, but I cannot give you assurances to that. Do not worry, Commissioner, you will not regret such a decision.

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: I really want to hope so.

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Unfortunately, for practical reasons such event will have zero benefit.

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Having lost some aircraft during the previous ground attack operation, the first wing of Vishnu fighters was attacked by similarly equipped Hive air superiority fighters. However, Yang resorted purely to numerical superiority, and nothing more, and that was how, against superior numbers, the U.N. Air Force had its first real victory in air to air combat, for the poorly trained Hive pilots were no match to the highly trained and cybernetic UNAF pilots.

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Although Planet's native life is based, like Earth's, on right-handed DNA, and codes for all the same amino acids, the inevitable chemical and structural differences from a billion years of evolution in an alien environment render the native plant life highly poisonous to humans. Juicy, ripe grenade fruits may look appealing, but a mouthful of organonitrates will certainly change your mind in a hurry.

-- Lady Deirdre Skye, "A Comparative Biology of Planet"

A Bioenhancement Center shall then be built in the same base.

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The fight between the Peacekeepers and the Hive, both covert and overt, continues to ravage the apocalyptic No Man's land across old New Jerusalem.

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Fortunately, in spite of constant artillery bombardment and the endless reserves Yang can sacrifice, the defenders of Jerusalem have still prevailed so far.

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The worms controlled by Psi Corps are about to finish scouting all the pods in the north, around the vast circle of monoliths.

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: We shall fight to the end, and Jerusalem must stand! All UNATCO agents will be give as much support as possible for further operations to ensure more defections.

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: They have lived their entire lives in a communal and totalitarian abyss where freedom does not exist even as a word, yet, they were so eager to join the Peacekeepers after their slavemasters were wiped out, something that gave me hope: hope that perhaps the human nature is not as malleable as Yang wishes it to be, that the desire for liberty will always remain in everyone, even as a dormant kernel.

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: Like victims of a cruel master freed from their cages, they lashed out on their oppressors with far more hatred and determination than even the most resolute of our Peacekeepers. They did not care about their odds, and they were determined to never surrender now. Something died inside them because of what the Hive did to them for so long, and I fear it cannot ever be revived.

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Another horde thus was successfully defeated, the brutal war seemingly unending, and Yang naturally sacrificing more and more, and even more, into such meatgrinder.

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A new weapon is being prepared as the Battle of Jerusalem continues over many years.

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Yet, of all gains, none was greater than the artifacts Psi Corps brought from such xenofungus-infested northern wastes.

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: The Gaians put their environment ahead of themselves to an extent that can be considered a borderline humanitarian disaster. Perhaps we must reconsider the points of Agenda 23.

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: The Warrior's bland acronym, MMI, obscures the true horror of this monstrosity. Its inventors promise a new era of genius, but meanwhile unscrupulous power brokers use its forcible installation to violate the sanctity of unwilling human minds. They are creating their own private army of demons.

-- "Report on Human Rights"

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: Unfortunately, even those who willingly implant themselves with MMI in a free society might be losing something in the process, but such advances cannot be denied: what can be done is fighting for a future where nobody will be coerced and where such technology shall never be used as a tool against human free will.

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: We have everything ready to commence the nano-augmentation project, Commissioner, all we need is your approval.

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: If this process redefining the meaning of humanity cannot be stopped, it would be better for future generations if those ahead in it are those who stand for humanity and freedom.

Fitted with many cybernetic augmentations, including Brain-Computer Interfaces, the newly developed units after this breakthrough: the Space Peacekeepers, could turn the tides of this war. However, their operational range remains limited, and for them to gain orbital drop insertion, and fall from the skies, landing anywhere on Planet like a steel rain, further technologies and projects must be developed first.

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The first Attack Helicopter of the United Nations, the Bengal is more expensive than attack fighters, but also more strategically and tactically flexible. Once air superiority becomes assured, their deployment will begin. Some also suggested transport helicopters, but because of range issues, they have yet to be approved.

Note: Copters can "crash land" if they run out of fuel, losing 30% of strength instead of being destroyed, which gives them, in theory, a much greater operational range than needlejets. They also can hit and run, while needlejets lose all movement points in a turn after attacking something and thus are more vulnerable to interception.

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The war, it will not end any time soon. The Hive continues to train more and more troops, deploying them to the front lines, almost all their bases are dedicated to war. However, in this there is a hope: only a fraction of the U.N. bases is focused on this conflict, yet Jerusalem is not lost, and the rapid economic development in other bases in spite of the war means that it is only a matter of decades before the Hive ends technologically backwards.

If only Jerusalem holds, victory could be at hand.

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Could they be retreating? Or is this an elaborate trap?

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The first Airborne forces of the U.N. are formed, but for now they are too few to be risked in any offensive operation.

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Brave UNATCO operatives are sent in a suicidal mission, as it becomes clear the odds involved will require sacrifices for enduring freedom. Thanks to their brave stand, an offensive that could have crushed Jerusalem was distracted long enough for the base to stand against such odds. These brave heroes who gave their lives for liberty shall never be forgotten.

:salute:

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Unfortunately, the overwhelming numbers of the Hive are not the only problem the U.N. faces, having lost another wing in battle due to such numbers. The bureaucracy due to the integration of the former Lord's Believers bases has worsened public services to a level that increased the number of drones considerably, and unfortunately this problem is starting to grow serious. While the Longevity Vaccine will ameliorate it, it will not, by itself, solve it. Fortunately, there is an expensive but practical way of solving such problem, and once there is no other alternative, investment of energy in Psych projects instead of economy or research will be necessary.

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The Psi Corps expeditionary force will be truly a psychological weapon: Isles of the deep carrying legions of mind worms, they are planned to land somewhere far behind the front lines, and with the infiltration thanks to the fact Lal regained his status as Planetary Governor, the Peacekeepers can identify any weakness in the overwhelming defenses of the Hive. Most importantly, the Hive perimeter defenses and underground bunkers are useless against the Psi Corps unique "weapons".

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Despite their numbers, the Hive has yet to take control of Jerusalem, and they are suffering far worse losses, but they can afford such losses.

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Yet, how long can they continue to send out so many to die for their unjust and totalitarian cause?

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The vast air force of the Hive is being assembled over the conquered husk of Sparta Command, almost forgotten now, after decades of brainwashing and subjugation. To defy such a number of aircrafts will be the greatest challenge UNAF has ever faced.

Note: And this is why the Option 2 was completely ignored. Until this really big problem is gone, I will be building exclusively air superiority aircrafts.

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On more positive news, soon, like what doomed the Believers, the Hive may end fighting a two-front war. Hopefully this could be the beginning of the end, for the Peacekeepers have been at war for way, way too long already.

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Hoping the Xenofungus will provide a modicum of "stealth", a new wing of Vishnu fighters begins an offensive against a large number of Hive aircraft, before they have a chance of annihilating the defenses of Jerusalem.

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When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.”

-- The Conclave Bible, Datalinks

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: We have failed in our most important duty, and we must take the harsh lessons from it, to ensure this humanitarian disaster shall never, ever happen again.

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You are the children of a dead planet, earthdeirdre, and this death we do not comprehend. We shall take you in, but may we ask this question -- will we too catch the planetdeath disease?

-- Lady Deirdre Skye, "Conversations with Planet"

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Note: This project is just an overpriced The Merchant Exchange for Free Market economies(not that it would be a bad choice for a Morgan base that already built The Merchant Exchange), but for the other models, it reduces the number of drones in every base, specially for Planned with -2 drones.

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: I loved my chosen. How then to face the day when she left me? So I took from her body a single cell, perhaps to love her again.

-- "Time of Bereavement"

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: Morgan, I cannot stop thinking: is that truly her, or merely a copy, a completely alien, different sentience infused with her memories, while my true love will remain lost forever?

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: That is a philosophical question, Lal. Does it matter in the end? Is there any difference in behavior that points to her not being her?

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: That does not ease my doubts. In any case, I find the idea of such Cloning Vats very dangerous for a free society. I understand that many have died already in this war, but if we resort to mass cloning to beat Yang's vast numbers, we will be lowering ourselves to his level.

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: Not if these clones are given exactly the same rights and liberties as any other U.N. citizen, we will not conscript them to the war, as Yang would, but the population boost of mass cloning will nevertheless increase our chances in this difficult conflict. We are changing, clinging to the past will go nowhere: we must look up to the future.

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: I will think about it, but I am very reluctant to approve such a project. But I understand there is no turning back now. I am authorizing this research to make mass scale adoption of nano-augmentation to all willing citizens through our public healthcare system practical, and may I not regret what this shall lead us to become.

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: Superhuman beings, perfect, flawless. We will achieve in decades something vastly superior to what eons of random evolution brought, and once our transformation happens, not even Yang will be able to stop the manifest destiny of the United Nations.

Once again, Lal is puzzled about certain polemic matters and consulted public opinion.



1) In spite of its ethical implications, should the U.N construct The Cloning Vats?


A) Yes

B) No



2) The maximum benefit of The Longevity Vaccine will only be gained under a Planned economy without the population control restrictions to anyone who wants to take the vaccine. However, a planned economy means inefficiency, and thus it could be a horrible idea to abandon Agenda 23 considering the number of bases the U.N. currently controls, at least until a Cybernetic Future Society happens. What will be the economic future of the Peacekeepers?


A) Retain the Green economic model forever. Wasteful planned economies will cause ecological damage, and the larger bureaucracy will worsen the drone problem more than unrestricted distribution of longevity treatments will improve on it.

B) Immortality for everyone! Switch to a socialist economy ASAP. The Industry and population growth benefits will make up for the efficiency loss.

C) Once artificial intelligences exist to manage such a planned economy with high efficiency, abandon Green economics, but until then, continue with Agenda 23.



3) Copters are more expensive than Needlejets, but also more flexible and capable of achieving better results in numerical asymmetry. Should the UNAF switch to them as their primary chassis for both air superiority and air strike roles?


A) Yes

B) Only for air strikes

C) Only for air superiority

D) No
 
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