Art of Domination Thread 04

Francoise: It seems the Author’s Forge is indeed sentient and capable of understanding what we want.

That is huge news of its own right.

*snip*

But if it's sentient and can deign new stuffon demand that kiiiiind of changes everything.

Since the AF can just do certain things should we consider creating another Omni-Factory, or some sort of point usage that increases research speeds/creates shortcuts?

No, that's not exactly true. It's apparently not limited to only producing items on the list we were given before, but remember:

You order HQ to begin inspecting he Author’s Forge as soon as possible. With instructions left behind by Intruder, they manage to operate it with ease, though no one in your R&D teams quite understands how it works. There are no buttons or switches; it reads your thoughts and

will only build what has already been pre-programmed by Intruder.

So it doesn't necessarily have the ability to invent things. Either the scanning meatware is something Intruder pre-programmed that just wasn't fancy enough to be on the list, or maybe the Author Forge just rearranged pieces it already had programmed. Like, maybe the scanning meatware is mostly just a control panel off of the Void Sphere, or something. So we can make organic gadgets, but we probably can't get new really magical stuff if it isn't on the list.

Makes me wonder if an adaptation of the Overmind Armor has any applications for the psionic training program? The Psi training has a risk of burning out the neurons that are stimulated. If the overmind armor counters psychic attacks on its own then it probably wouldn't have an application, but if it does so by enhancing the wearer's brain or something, then maybe it would.

Other adaptation: I assume the Phantomic repeater is normally designed for someone with hands, but I'd bet it could easily be a mounted weapon incorporated onto Grenda's arsenal. Probably the best person around to have at least one, I see no reason we shouldn't spend some AS on that. Maybe politics? Arming the human federation with wacky guns....ahhh it's probably fine.

As for the arms manufacturing decision, I vote for
>: Seek and Destroy.
I think the second half of it is the more special part, it synergizes well with the author forge. Combined with Phantomic Repeaters, CWS could both see through walls and shoot through walls. Or maybe drive an APC up to a gang of bodyjackers and shoot them without leaving the APC. Hopefully the Commander's Vanguards could also get to see through walls, add on the Overmind Armor and we'd be getting serious about monster-hunting.
EDIT: Ahhh, nevermind. It's a neat combo, but it's a solution without a problem. Everybody notes Instant Recovery, that makes sense to me. It's a war against bioweapons, after all. All kinds of nasty crap. I'd say Sky Supremacy is still pretty valuable, though. Just because we fought hovertanks once in Region 4 doesn't mean we won't again. And it also synergizes well with our infantry-focused army, because it armors up the Skyshadows. Can't portal on to Region 1 with the brains, gonna have to use Skyshadows, and tumorhide armor is too heavy for aircraft. Also, those triple cores are gonna pop up pretty soon, right? And it supposedly takes like 1000 troops to be equivalent to 10 of 'em? Screw that, let's use something that won't just get lasered to death. So actually my vote is for
>: Sky Supremacy
, with Instant Recovery in second place.

MORE EDIT: I got frustrated trying to find descriptions of the PMC units, so when I eventually found them in the dropbox I figured maybe other people would get frustrated too, so I put them on ye olde mostly unused out of date wiki.

EVEN MORE EDIT: Oh, and uh...does Lagantis being here mean he's going to manage most of the troop deployment and stuff? We were here first, but he DOES outrank us.