Sixty-four Pixel Colonists

Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
#51
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
BRitS is the name of the meteor stupid
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#52
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
I'm not too picky what flag we get.
Still the early days for the colony, plenty of time to find the right one.

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Quiet. Good for an unusual opinion. Doesn't talk much.
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#53
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
Here is a draft message. Not that we should send it now; we need the algae tanks powered.

Quote:PLEASE SEND SOYBEANS, VEGETABLE SEEDS, MEAT CELLS AND VATS FOR FARMING. ALSO CONSIDER TERRAFORMING DOMES AND PLASTICARBON. TY <3

We should probably research some kind of radar system to detect objects coming from space, and maybe part the fog of war some. Maybe a radar tower.
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#54
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
We should get a mining drone. Not just to mine but also to expand.
It would be easier for structural and logisitcs reasons to dig most or at least part of our buidings underground rather than relying on those prefab shelters.

Also you know the asteroid rock would provide protection from smaller crashing objects.

Also this is where of the resources we could trade back with earth are going to be.
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#55
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
The flag should have a white circle representing our home planet, surrounded by complete black with one tiny blue dot representing our homeworld.
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#56
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
TURN 5

Construction Drone: UNPOWERED
Compact Scouting Drone: UNPOWERED
Compact Scouting Drone: UNPOWERED

Projects:
Design - Small Algae Tank: Complete
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The colonists continue to eat half-rations. The hunger is starting to get to them.
Mood: +Hungry, +Short-tempered

Mio the engineer spends some time examining the broken solar panel. Good news - it's reparable. Mio can jury-rig it with a turn's worth of work (+Vulnerable: Breakdown), or fix it properly with two turns of work and 5 plasticarbon.

All drones are taken offline to dedicate power to the algae tanks.

The biologist and the geologist's argument over whether the weird ice stalks to the northeast could be the byproduct of life-forms has been slowly but steadily getting more heated. They both want answers, and with the scouting drones offline, they decide the only way to get those answers is to go on foot, together. It's a gross violation of safety protocols to leave the colony on foot. Still, they're determined, and it's pretty clear the colony won't have enough resources to manufacture any transport vehicles or anything for at least a little while longer. They pack as much food, water and compressed air as they can carry, seal up their pressure suits, and head out.
New Project: Foot Expedition to the Northeast (?? Turns)

Shiva, having gotten the grumbling out of their system, throws themself into the flag project with abandon. After several discarded ideas, they produce some designs they like. The favorite seems to be an abstract pattern of pastel circles with a big, conspicuously blank space in the center. Shiva knows exactly what they want to put in that blank space, but they don't think the other colonists would go for it yet. Yet.
[Image: flag_by_arcanuse.png]
Is this the design the colonists should settle on?

Some of the colonists put together a message for GFP:
Quote:PLEASE SEND SOYBEANS, VEGETABLE SEEDS, MEAT CELLS AND VATS FOR FARMING. ALSO CONSIDER TERRAFORMING DOMES AND PLASTICARBON. TY <3
They program it into the ansible so it'll be ready to send as soon as the colony can afford the power drain.

The colonists discuss the usefulness of a mining drone. Unfortunately, they won't be able to manufacture drones without the proper equipment or work space.

A group of concerned colonists, led by the medic, meets with Mio the engineer to ask Mio to start designing some kind of radar tower that can detect falling space debris. Mio listens placidly to the group's appeal, stretches, puts down their drink, and stands up from the chair. They mosey over to the wall where their reference tablet hangs. The medic and the other colonists wait impatiently while Mio leafs through indices and ponders the issue. Finally, Mio decides that yes, they can take on this project with the tools and resources currently at the colony's disposal. As the colonists turn to leave, Mio pulls a couple of them aside and convinces them to help; this will be a big project.
New Project: Design - Radar Tower (3 Turns)

Food Consumed: 5 Units
Food Generated: 8 Units
Total Remaining Food: 8 Units (+3)

THE NUMBERS:
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#57
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
more important to fix the solar panels properly. i like the flag, obv. anyone object to going on full rations now?
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#58
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
Let's get on full rations, since we're producing an excess. Next turn we can go back on half for just one turn and produce lots of plasticarbon.

It'll be slow-going, but if there aren't immediate threats to our safety, we can take this easy and get what we need, and proper food generation that isn't hurting our scouting and building efforts.
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#59
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
If we can't go on full rations right now, we can definitely split 8 rations 10 ways. The most hungry among us can have full rations, but it would be wise to still have volunteers to split as we get back on our feet. We only need four people to split rations if we can't eat anything we produce this turn.

I think we should have the solar panel working as soon as possible. We can survive without the extra power, but we would be stagnating for a while. Having extra power sooner allows us to use the ansible, and more importantly, the extra algae tank. We don't even have the plasticarbon we need for the long fix right now anyways, there's no reason why we can't fix it later.

Can we see our active projects in the numbers panel?
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#60
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
Let's go on half rations for a while longer, so we can build up a buffer of supplies in case of emergency. We should look into producing plasticarbon too since all our construction depends on it. Dedicate one algae tank for that.
Vivian Quest
Tale of a small lizard, crime, and weird biology!
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#61
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
TURN 6

Colony Mood:
Hungry, Short-tempered

Construction Drone: UNPOWERED
Compact Scouting Drone: UNPOWERED
Compact Scouting Drone: UNPOWERED

Projects:
Foot Expedition to the Northeast: ?? Turns
Design - Radar Tower: 2 Turns

[Image: map_6_cropped.gif]

Though the colonists are still hungry, their mood holds steady. However, they should have enough food now to go back on full rations. About time, too!

The colonists decide to dedicate one of the algae tanks to producing plasticarbon. It will generate 5 plasticarbon every turn.

Mio starts to jury-rig the solar panel. It won't take long to get it working, though it might not take long for it to stop working again, either.
New Project: Quickly repair solar panel (1 Turn)

The biologist and the geologist radio back to the colony. They're doing okay, but they're having a hard time cutting or melting through the ice to whatever's underneath. They'll have to stay out there for at least a little while longer.

The archivist, who's been taking records of the colonists' actions and minding their data logs, announces that they've found some discrepancies in the sensor data for algae tank A: Some of the record IDs are non-contiguous, and the timestamps don't match up properly, either. They recommend that tank be taken offline for a turn so it can be inspected for faults - or worse, tampering. The other colonists aren't thrilled with the idea. They're sick of being on half-rations and they don't want to halt food production now that they can finally fill their bellies again. If they do shut off the tank, it won't be good for morale. Maybe there's something else they can do to address this problem? Or maybe if they ignore it, it will go away?

The colonists adopt the abstract pastel circles as their flag. Shiva insists they put up a flag pole as soon as they can spare the 1 plasticarbon needed to create it.

Food Consumed: 5 Units
Food Generated: 12 Units
Total Remaining Food: 15 Units (+7)
(Food tallies will go inside THE NUMBERS from now on, since food production is less of an urgent issue. For the moment.)

THE NUMBERS:
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#62
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
let's go on half-rations again but also don't shut down the poison tank. that way we'll only get half as sick, and the other half can just keep being quote-unquote sick of being on half rations
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#63
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
oh, I see how projects are logged now
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#64
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
Well, there's no reason not to shut that tank down; just turn on the other one.

Go back to full rations. We have enough food to sustain us for three turns if we keep two algae tanks on food production.

If any of the colonists know how to meditate, have them teach everyone else. Full bellies and deep breathing will destress us right quick and prime us for the sozzling

If the expeditioners aren't making any progress by next turn they should probably just come back. Let's be real; whatever is under that ice could be dangerous, and we're about to get a boost of power.
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#65
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
In my experience most problems go away if you ignore them for long enough, but I guess they could rig a secret security camera to see who's messing with the tank. Don't tell Shiva though because it's totally them who's doing it.
Vivian Quest
Tale of a small lizard, crime, and weird biology!
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#66
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
>Have some discreet suveillance around the tank for two nights and then stop it and inspect it nomatter the results anyway because the newt hospital is freaking astronomical units away and we really can't afford any risks of food poisoning

>Also if it's proven someone is tmpering with the food supply, the vital food supplies, on purpose, let's explain how next time they pull that kind of crap there will be serious trouble.

Which reminds me:
>We should choose a security chief to enforce our colonies 'laws'
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#67
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
(01-17-2018, 03:18 PM)smuchmuch Wrote: »>We should choose a security chief to enforce our colonies 'laws'

Do this through democratic vote after everyone has eaten.
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#68
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
no don't. fuck the police.
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#69
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
(REFERENCE)
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TURN 7

Colony Mood:
Stable

Construction Drone: UNPOWERED
Compact Scouting Drone: UNPOWERED
Compact Scouting Drone: UNPOWERED

Projects:
Foot Expedition to the Northeast: ?? Turns
Design - Radar Tower: 1 Turn
Repair - Solar Panel (jury-rig): Complete!

[Image: map_7_cropped.gif]

The broken solar panel is fixed, but cheaply. Make good use of it while the repair holds up!
+Vulnerable: Breakdown

After spending a turn back on full rations, the colony's mood has improved. They're not eager to cut rations again any time soon.
Mood: -Hungry, -Short-tempered

Colonists spot a figure approaching from the northeast: It's the geologist, alone. "They're crazy!" says the desperate geologist, referring to the biologist. "We were starting to make some progress on the sample collection problem, but it was slow going. We were running low on food and air. I said we should go back. They insisted we should stay, that we were too close to our goal. We had a big argument, and I thought I won. We went to our pressure-tents to sleep, intending to start the journey home early the next morning. But when I woke, I was alone. They took all their gear and supplies and left mine. I don't know where they went, and they won't answer the radio. We need to go back and find them! They'll die out there!" "This," says the medic, solemnly, "is why we use drones for this sort of thing." "No," says the geologist, "it isn't! Because we are supposed to be trained professionals who know and respect the limits of our own abilities! We are supposed to have enough sense not to pull this kind of crap!" The geologist is extremely agitated and more than a little bit angry.

The colonists realize that, duh, they can just turn on the spare algae tank while they drain and inspect the weird one. A couple of them volunteer to do the teardown. What they find, however, concerns them: There's a thing in the tank. "A thing?" asks the medic. "Yeah, a thing. Some kind of fuzzy little lump. Bright violet, and only the size of a lentil. Maybe it's some kind of mold? We tried to scrape it off, but it's adhered to the side of the tank really well." They'll go ahead with the rest of the sensor test suite and so forth, but that will take a little longer. But what's this mysterious mold?
New Project: Diagnose Algae Tank A's electronics systems (1 Turn)

The tank-tampering issue has started a debate: Some of the colonists suggest the colony appoint a Chief of Security to handle these kinds of situations. Others think that's stupid and unneccesary in a colony of 10 scientists and trained explorers who, after living in cramped quarters for as long as they have, know each other intimately, and who have been getting along in a state of enlightened anarchy pretty well so far. "Yeah," counters the pro-security side, "and we'd agree with all that, if it weren't for the fact that someone's already been tampering with food production! So apparently it's not unneccesary after all, is it?" The colonists have strong but divided opinions on the subject. After some quarreling, they decide to put it to a vote: Should the colonists appoint a Chief of Security, or not?

While the debate is ongoing, the archivist takes it upon themself to set up a discreet surveilance camera over the tanks. Within a day, the camera catches someone skulking about: It's Shiva, who does something surreptitiously at tank A and at tank C. Unfortunately, the camera doesn't get a clear shot of what they're up to: It was focused on the two food-producing tanks, B and D. The archivist isn't sure what to do with this information.

The colony generates a little bit of plasticarbon and 1.2 extra kW of power. What should they do with it?

THE NUMBERS:
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#70
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
I say we save up that Plasticarbon for later so we can build another proper Solar Array on the next turn. That way, in case the jury-rigged one breaks down, we'll still at least have 2.4 kW of power to draw from. Either way, we should definitely not waste any time on diagnosing the problem with Tank A's electronics systems. And whenever we can, see if we can't figure out what the hell is up with that mold. That seems to be pretty important as well.

...Also, given the knowledge we're armed with, it may be best to have someone check up on Tank C as well, just in case.

EDIT: Ah! And while we're at it, we should use the power we have to send a scouting drone out to check on the northeast and see what the hell happened to the guy that decided to stay behind. ...Maybe use the other one to take a sample of that mold, if possible? That, and to put that unpowered compact tank to use, and get it to generating food to compensate for the fact that A is offline.
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#71
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
mold is not proof of tampering, it's proof of fucking mold, it grows on food and shit, it happens sometimes, you're on an alien planet, get over your paranoid cabin-fever asses
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#72
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
>Send both scouting probes to look for the Biologist
>Ask Shiva to explain what they were doing and please stop being so goddamn shady for no reason whatsoever
Vivian Quest
Tale of a small lizard, crime, and weird biology!
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#73
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
Okay first thing first, we need to start looking into tank A and get an anlysis of that mold.

Either it's a earty contaminant, brought with us in the ship likely. That means that etiher through tampering or accident brought it in there.
And while it's not like a national emergency if it's not tapering, it still a big-ish deal. Even if we recycle most of our oxygen and water and our food production is surely but slowly augmenting (hopefully), we're /still dealing with limited supplies of all of them. We really can't afford extra contimanations. Accident will alway happen but negligence however can be prevented.

If it's an alien organism... well that's a big godamn deal now isn't it ? I mean we're a research colony, this kind of exactly the kind of stuff we're looking for.
... Shame that our rident biologist acte like a mrron and has gone away ssut when they would be relevant.

And if turns out that, say, complelty at random, Shiva is using the tank to grow pigment for his paints... dude you could just ask and wait a bit, we'll save you a tank for this kind of stuff and weed growing when we have established food production.

(To be fair, CHOWKA is correct.
Mold is not proof of 'tampering' per se. (although given we are on as asteroid with no oxygen, the chances of purely natural contamination are much slimmer than on earth) and even the camera footage, should the archivist choose to share it, is not 100% proof Shiva is the 'culprit' per se. It's still very strong evidence, tho, and at the very least those noctural visits deserve some dman good explanations)

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Saving for an extra solar pannel does seem good idea.

As is sending the scoutingdrone to spot the biologist, hopefully thy're not dead. And we need them to study tank A.

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To clarify, when I mean a "security officier" for now I don't necessarily mean like a permamanently armed cop who enforce the law at every hour. I just mean one guy or gal who can be trusted to go down when/if bad shit start going down, like breaking fights (I mean ten people cramped spaces t's gonna happen sooner or later) or people acting like jackasses, general reckless endangerement and telling Shiva to cut it out.

So relax, no 'judge Dredd' here, not even 'sherrif' and more 'mall cop' or 'playground supervisor' level of authority here. For now that should be enough. Hopefully.
And the position should be given to a volunteer with at a majority of vote support, with a one/two week mandate.
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#74
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
>Question what shiva was doing with algae tanks A and C.
>Particularly C as that tank is still running.
Quiet. Good for an unusual opinion. Doesn't talk much.
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#75
RE: Sixty-four Pixel Colonists
TURN 8

Colony Mood:
Suspicious

Construction Drone: ???
Compact Scouting Drone: SEARCHING
Compact Scouting Drone: SEARCHING

Projects:
Design - Radar Tower: Complete!
Diagnose - Algae Tank A: Complete!
Build - ???: 1 Turn
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Supplies:
11 Food (-2)
9 Plasticarbon (+5)
600W unused power

[Image: map_8_cropped_1.gif]

The colonists waste no time sending both scouting drones to go find the biologist. The geologist takes the controls personally. They search for hours with no results. Eventually, the other colonists go to bed.
The geologist stays at the drone console well into the night, palms sweaty, staring at the sensor readout screen without blinking. At some point, the medic shows up with a warm mug of algal-derived stimulants. The pair of them sit together in the cramped cockpit of the landing craft through the night while the drones continue their methodical sweep.
They're interrupted in the middle of a quiet conversation by a sudden dimming of the lights. The console screens flicker out, then cycle back to life. There is a tense moment of waiting before it becomes apparent that the power system is still holding - for now. The medic makes a nervous joke. The geologist doesn't laugh. Power failure at this point would destroy the biologist's last hope of rescue.
Finally, as the colony's artificial day cycle triggers a slow brightening of the ambient lights, one of the drones sends a video feed of a body lying on the ground. The drone is at the periphery of its range, and the image is very shaky, but the body looks to be wearing one of the colony's uniforms. All of a sudden, the picture wavers and turns to static! The geologist, howling with frustration and despair, hammers on the controls with their fists, but the drone is totally unresponsive.
The medic finally calms them down, pointing out that they should send the second drone to the same coordinates. However, when it gets there, the video feed shows no sign of either the body, or the other drone. What could have happened?

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Mio finishes a design for a radar tower. It will take a lot of resources to build, but once it's finished, it will both give the colonists better vision of their immediate surroundings, and help warn them if any smaller asteroids or malfunctioning drop pods show up to cause problems.

The colonists finish diagnosing Tank A's electronics systems. They conclude that nothing is malfunctioning. That means that the records must have been altered deliberately. Unfortunately, all of the colonists have the training to have altered them, and all of the colonists have had plenty of opportunity to do it without being noticed. Everyone is a potential suspect.
Mood: +Suspicious

As for the weird mold, the colonists are divided in their opinions. Some don't see what the big deal is - just clean the stuff off and turn the tank on again already, right? Others, however, put forth the opinion that if there's the slightest chance this mold is an alien organism, then maybe that's worth paying attention to. Isn't this exactly the sort of thing they all came out here for? To make exciting new discoveries? A third group, still irked about the earlier paint generation incident, think whatever this is, Shiva is to blame. In any case, it doesn't cost much to try to analyze the mold, although the colonist with the most expertise in this area has chosen a highly inconvenient time to go missing. Not to mention that the colony still lacks a proper biology lab.
New Project: Analyze Mold (2 Turns)

The archivist, remembering a notion from earlier that they meant to follow up on, starts meditation classes for any interested colonists. Several join. The colonists will be better at staying calm and at focusing from now on.

The attempt to vote on the security officer issue dissolves into a brief debate over the definition of "security officer" that ultimately leads nowhere. It's hard for the colony to coordinate this kind of thing when they don't have any sort of proper meeting area. Maybe they should revisit some earlier proposals to build a central community space?

The archivist wants to confront Shiva, but they're having a tough time cornering the artist. It's not that Shiva is hard to find. On the contrary, the colony is so small that there's nowhere for Shiva to hide. The issue is that they aren't sure they want to make their findings widely known until they've given Shiva a chance to explain themself, so they'd prefer to speak to them in private. But there isn't much privacy to be had among the colony's handful of tiny buildings. Shiva is always in the company of others. The archivist can't figure out a good excuse to get Shiva alone. Or should they go ahead and just spit it out in front of everyone?

Shiva mixes up some algal protein powders and cooks them over a heating element borrowed from some spare environmental shelter equipment into a kind of experimental scramble. Those colonists brave enough to try it declare it to be surprisingly good, and a welcome change of pace from the usual algae patties. The majority of them, however, refuse to touch the stuff until the business with the algae tank is resolved to their satisfaction. Especially since there's a contingent of the colony that remains convinced Shiva is responsible for either the tampering or the mold - even if they can't prove anything.

THE NUMBERS:
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