OFFICIAL : Science poll for turnchat 2279 onwards

[Jamski]

So, Ladies and Gentlemen, without futher ado I present my second technology poll as Director of Science. This poll, will, I trust, continue the mini-tradition I have made of completely mucking everything up. As an improvement over last week, this poll is multiple choice. Please select 2 at most to try to keep things simple.

The state of play:
Well, the most popular choice last week was, unsurprisingly, Advanced Space Flight. Of course, it was then not availabe for choice. So, once we finished making magnets with one pole, we got Unified Field Theory sorted out instead, followed by Biomachinery, got Nanominaturisation from an Alien Artifact, and then made a start on Advanced Space Flight. So its coming soon, very soon. I'll drop dead of a heart attack if we don't get it during the next turnchat, folks. Bad humor. Well, without further ado, here are the choices for the next turnchat:

Homo Superior
Don't laugh. This gives us the Universal Translator and Nanohospitals and (with Centauri Psi) leads to...

The Will To Power
Not very UN - gives us the Dream Twister and the SE choice "Thought Control". Archaic, put that down NOW!. Sorry. To get this we also need...

Centauri Psi
Can anyone remember what this does? (It lifts some fungus restrictions, and enables us to build our Psi-cannon legions, BTW)

Photon/Wave Mechanics
This will give us tasty level 5 armour. It will also lead to even better protection, as it allows us to research...

Probability Mechanics
Yes, level 6 armour, and Tachyon Fields. Nothing gets past this combo except a planet buster. With a bit of luck this can lead to...

Nanometallurgy
This will soup up our navy with subs, carriers and transports with repair decks. Nautical but nice.

Industrial Nanorobotics
I'm not even sure if we will get offerred the chance to research this. But we might. So its here anyway.

Write In
Tell me what's wrong with the poll this week.

Centauri Xenobanana Meditation
Our Empaths report that consumption of Xenobrew, combined with inflated research budgets, has lead to a new understanding of the relationship between mankind and bananakind. My loyal cadre of scientists stand ready to sacrifice themselves willingly for the cause of science and better understanding.

So there's really two "paths" to choose from : the "Green Path Of Righteousness" (Homo Superior - Centauri Psi - The Will To Power) or the "Other Path of Destruction" (Photon/Wave Mechanics - Probability Mechanics - Nanometallurgy) Choose wisely, choose early and choose no more than two, please.

-Jam

[Pandemoniak]

Homo superiror also enables diplomatic victory, am i wrong ?

[Jamski]

Hi Pan ! Didn't think you were around.
I'm at work, so I'm going from memory, but I don't think so. I'll be d@mned if I can remember what does, though. Anyone?

-Jam

[GeneralTacticus]

MMI.

And to be frank, you need to pay more attention to the reports we give after the chat. We don't have Biomachinery, and we couldn't if we wanted to; it requires Homo Superior.

[Jamski]

I do try to read the whole chat log.

Well *shrugs* its too late now, especially if people want a turnchat tommorrow. If we research Homo Superior 1st, and if the next favorite requires Biomachinery, then we'll have to shove it in the research order then. OK? If its available, of course.

-Jam

[Archaic]

Homo Superior, then Biomachinery, for the Vats.

And WoA, why are you trying to class me as someone who'd automatically support TC? From a game mechanics point of view it of course makes sense (-4 Support or whatever? Pffft. We have Clean reactors, and the Vats would make it meaningless anyway), but from a RP point of view....

[Jamski]

It joke.
Might not be funny.
Hmm.
Can edit out if liked.

-Jam

[MrWhereItsAt]

The path for defence! Photon and Probability. That way we can protect our troops to the level that we need not worry for a LONG time about more defence techs, and we can protect ourselves whilst educating the other factions in what happens when you defy the UN.

[Cedayon]

Oh, come now MWIA, we've got big enough guns, we don't need thicker armor right now

... and just so you all understand: If we get the vats, we have the crawlers and the mag tube network to ensure that every non-max-pop base on said network will grow *every single turn* until it reaches max-pop. This is *obviously* good, but I thought I'd enumerate:
-We'd be able to work a lot more squares
-We'd be able to make fuller use of orbital resources
-We'd be able to use mass numbers of specialists
-We'd easily get enough votes to win the game if we so choose (I'd like that, but I think the game will go on till transcendance since many wish it so).
edit- and I don't think I need to mention what happens when we get hab domes


RL I'd have massive problems with something like the vats, but the game does not model the parts that I would have a problem with... so, since it's my duty to follow the course I see as best for the faction, I'm throwing my weight behind whatever tech gets us to the vats (and I'm going to look to see what those are right now )

edit - Biomachinery gives the vats (this may have been mentioned), and it's prereqs are Retroviral Engineering and MMI (both of which we have). I therefore vote we go for Biomachinery, or if that's not available go for Industrial Nanorobotics (which we can in fact get, it's prereqs are IndAuto and Nanomin).

[MrWhereItsAt]

No, you don't understand. Probability Sheaths are a theoretical concept (ATM) that would enable us to go into the field without armour completely, protected by a mere invisible nm-thick field of spin-flipping neutrinos. You see, the weapons used by most of Planet's militaries are high-energy ion streams. Upon encountering the field, these high-energy particles experience the dramatically increased probability of spontaneous decay to their ground state with the emission of harmless infrared light, an event that would be vanishing unlikely over those time-periods if unaided. Thus the energy weapons of Planet today are rendered useless by the Sheath device. As for ballistic weapons, the field generator generates a strong magnetic field that would destroy any approaching bullet or rocket.

Now tell me you don't want our soldiers to have that.

[Cedayon]

I'm sorry, all I heard was "blah-blah-blah-I-want-better-armor" ... seriously, though, the cloning vats are wayyyyy more important than defense 5 or 6. I'd even take the Nano Factory over them (think about it, with the NF we could very cheaply upgrade lots of our old military units into more advanced "engines of peace" ).

edit-btw, Biomachinery isn't on the list, so I can't vote for it... hmm... write-in?

[MrWhereItsAt]

But just think of it! Apart from the obvious benefits of lighter defences on the stamina of our troops and the lifetimes of our Machines of Peace, if we got these then you wouldn't have to put up with my blathering quite as much. Surely a tempting offer.

[Cedayon]

Originally posted by MWIA
"yada-yada-yada-better-armor-yada-yada-yada"

Yeah, yeah...

"yada-yada-won't-have-to-listen-to-me-as-much-"

...

I believe you have a point

...

but the vats are still way more important

[GeneralTacticus]

Homo Superior (which is a vote for Biomachinery too), then Industrial Nanorobotics.

MWIA: Patience, patience. You'll have your new toys to play with before long.

[Jamski]

+1 for Biomachinery=Homo Superior
+1 for Ind Nano

(PM from our Holy Emperor.)

-Jam