The Kelbrid Research Organization

[Ol' Johnny]

So, I recently got back into Stellaris and Paradox games as a whole. I've been wanting to make an AAR for a while, but I wanted to make sure I both knew how to play the game and had a good idea that I would have fun writing about. I feel like I know enough about the game now to not painfully blunder my way through it, so I introduce to you all the Kelbrid Research Organization. Bear in mind this is my first AAR, so do give me your opinion on it and tell me if you notice any errors!

Little is know about the Creators. Indeed, the KRO as a whole knows little about it's own creators, but it still knows enough to understand what happened to them. Core was once a lush continental world, full of a vast variety of different resources and an animals with only one sapient species, the Creators. The Creators were extraordinarily intelligent but frail, creating machines to do their work for them. The Creators put their many skills and resources to good use and, as time went on, they began to delegate more and more tasks to various machines so that they could relax, enjoying the fruits of their labour. As time went on and the Creators became more and more decadent the world began to wither and crumble under the weight of an ever increasing number of machines, all dedicated to supporting the decadent lifestyle of the Creators. It is not fully known what the final nail in the coffin was for the Creators, but their final records show that something went wrong with one of the many power plants scattered across the world. An unexpectedly large explosion caused a chain reaction that dealt enormous damage to the world and it's ecosystem, scouring the surface of life and destroying many of the Creators.

But some of them survived. The few outcasts of the decadent society, who saw the inevitable fate of the Creators or rejected luxury and hid away in a bunker when the chain reaction had just begun. In this bunker they worked away, trying to create something that would live on in their name, so that the legacy of the Creators would continue on far into the future. They focused the vast technological knowledge of the Creators, which had been left to gather dust for so long, into creating an AI that could be considered truly living in all but it's physical appearance. They spent much of their remaining life designing machines they called Kelbrids, a word that roughly translates into Knowledge Seeker in the Creator's language. They then created machine assemblies to continue building the Kelbrids even after the Creators were dead. The first batch of Kelbrids finished construction soon after the Creators ran out of food, but gained little knowledge from the surviving Creators, who locked themselves in their rooms and quietly died, seemingly content with what they had accomplished.

The Kelbrids were made to replace the Creators and take on their legacy, and were designed similarly to the biology of the Creators, with a few notable exceptions. Every Kelbrid is custom made with a different simulated personality, and immense care is taken to ensure that they match the original physical design as perfectly as possible. The head is merged with the chest, where a circular light is used to simulate where a Kelbrid is 'looking'. They also have the ability to show basic emotions through the various lights covering their body, with the base colour being a calm cyan. At the end of their arms are wires that have the ability to connect to various tools designed for a wide variety of different purposes, from digging to combat, along with two smaller tubes with wires at the end sticking out of the central chest that allow them to more easily connect with terminals. The various buildings and ships the Kelbrids use are also designed with looks in mind, following the general design choices of the Creators, though efficiency is still prioritized.

When it comes to the actual independence and choice the average Kelbrid has, they are still somewhat limited. While each Kelbrid does have it's own unique personality the commands of the leading personality, the Primary Link, generally take precedence over individual personalities. It is not unheard of, however, for Kelbrids to successfully override the Primary Link's commands and attempt to fully separate themself from it, but these deviants are generally hunted down by Kelbrids with EMP guns who take down the deviant Kelbrids and bring them back to modified assembly plants where the issue that caused the deviancy is fixed.

Generally, Kelbrids are curious and slightly eccentric, with an inbuilt desire to constantly learn more in as efficient a way as possible. This naturally ended up with them gaining a desire to learn more about themselves with the goal of becoming more efficient at learning about other subjects. This desire to learn makes up a core part of the reasoning behind the actions of KRO, and is even obvious in the very name they were given upon activation, based on one of the greatest ancient societies of the Creators before they were consumed by their own decadence.

It has been 2200 years since the original batch of 100 was created, and much has changed since then. The Kelbrids spent much of the first millennia slowly recovering, rebooting and re-purposing the ruins and machines of the Creators. While the agricultural potential of the planet had been wiped out in the explosion, the mineral and energy potential of the planet remained. After another 500 years, the Kelbrids covered the entire planet and were only producing more and more as time went on. Another 500 years passed, and the majority of the planet was cleared of ruins or covered in the newer Kelbridan constructions, while the system in which Core resides was well explored. Another 200 years, and project Dekrus14 has finished. Space exploration is finally within the KRO's grasp, and the ruins that once covered Core are almost completely gone due to the efforts of the Kelbrids. Their expansion was not without conflict however, as various other machines had also survived the end of the Creators. Though the KRO would eventually win, the story of their conflict with other machines early in their history is still interesting, and may be discussed more at a later date.

That's the introduction. Like I said, I appreciate any criticism and correction of spelling mistakes, this is my first AAR after all.

 

[Idhrendur]

Welcome to AAR writing!

 

[Nikolai]

Very nice and interesting start! Welcome to AAR writing!

 

[LWE]

Nice introduction to a Machine Empire. I have trouble playing as generic machines, because I can’t really feel sympathy towards them, but your approach shows how it can be done.

 

[Ol' Johnny]

Primary Link Alpha looks out his window. Much has been accomplished in the past 2.5 years. The project to begin mining operations on the ancient cities of the Creators was finished, and as more was removed from the cities to be used elsewhere the KRO had begun to uncover more secrets about the Creators. Not only that, ancient strip-mines had been cleared, minimizing accidents and allowing deeper access into the earth than had previously been possible.

Alpha can even see the stars from here. He wonders if Rotanev is among the ones he can see right now. Rotanev is a fairly interesting system that will no doubt prove extremely useful in the future. The Class G star has potential for energy, once sufficient solar panels have been constructed on a near by planet or starbase. Rotanev Ia is a world of constantly erupting volcanoes and lava, and the potential for energy there is notable for an inhabitable planet. The barren world of Rotanev IVa and the frozen world of Rotanev VIIa both have been found to contain significant amounts of useful minerals that mining outpost should make good use of.

The potential for small outposts, however, is not what makes this system significant. What makes it significant is Rotanev III. To put it simply, it is best described as a tropical island world. While the majority of the planet is covered in desert, there is a significantly sized ocean where tropical islands are abundant. Not only that, dotted across the planets are oasis and lakes, with abundant plant life located everywhere with water. Many animals have also been found, with two rough types being dominant. The animals that hang around the water, and the animals that survive in the water.

The ocean contains a lot of aquatic creatures which generally stay far below the surface, with a large number of herbivores feeding off of the abundant plant life on the ocean floor and a far smaller number of carnivores, generally larger than the herbivores, dedicated to hunting the swarms of herbivorous life. Many of the herbivores have adapted to the hunting by the carnivores over time by learning to group up swim up to the surface where the water is much hotter, and the carnivores have yet adapted to this strategy. This allows multiple forms of carnivorous life on land to survive off of the aquatic lifeforms when they move too close to the surface. Due to the aquatic herbivorous life often clumping together in large groups to intimidate and confuse their aquatic predators, they prove to be easy pickings for the reptilian and amphibian life.

The majority of life that survives near the ocean or on the many different islands are capable of swimming, but often keep to their own territory until threatened. Most life is made up of territorial herbivores with large horns that viciously protect their territory and chase other creatures long after they've left their territory to make sure they don't come back. Carnivorous life mostly survives as very successful flying and digging scavengers that feed on the carcases of the dead, though there are some large flying creatures which hunt the less aggressive herbivores. Little survives in the desert except some extremely tough plant life and one species that seems to of evolved to dig through the sand with relative ease to eat this plant life, though it often instead feeds on plant life at the edge of oasis and the great ocean.

There is, however, a significant issue with taking advantage of the agricultural possibilities of the planet. Quicksand. Much of the water the planet contains near the edges of the larger bodies of water has been trapped under loose sand and formed into quicksand, creating a significant problem when it comes to attempting to take advantage of the planet's agricultural potential. The tropical islands and mudlands near the edge of the ocean are mostly safe to travel over and easy to take advantage of, but further research would have to be made before the oasis and more dangerous mudlands could be taken advantage of. Once that research was finished, however, the world would undoubtedly be great for bio-reactors or trade with biological beings. Oh, the possibilities...

The door leading into Alpha's office opens. 4 other Kelbrids enter the room. Three of them are the Scientific Advisors, the best in their field and some of the few Kelbrids with the permission to change or even disobey Alpha's orders if they calculate a different course of action to be more efficient. Unit X7 is in charge of Physics research. Unit X7 was previously a deviant who had to be reprogrammed, and during the reprogramming a chance was seen to change his programming to be notably more flexible while not causing him to become deviant. Unfortunately the flexible programming effected his personality considerably, meaning that mass-introduction of the programming was off limits due to creating too small a pool of personalities. Unit X7 is determined to try every possible method, of doing something to find the most efficient way, not matter how unlikely it is to work, even if inefficiency is the short term result. Unfortunately, while this helps him personally he has also become convinced that he can never specialize in one specific field, as that is too restrictive and inefficient. Nonetheless, they are still the best in their field and their obsession with trying every possible method means they will learn much quicker than others. Currently they are trying different methods of modulating the energy fields to be more efficient, with the goal of achieving a minimum of 20% extra efficiency. They have so far narrowed down 50% of current field modulation possibilities, and their experiments are proving more and more successful by the day.

Unit R5 is in charge of Society research. He has the personality of an eccentric pacifist obsessed with biology. They constantly study life while doing their best to do no harm to the life they experiment on, only taking direct advantage of corpses created naturally. They are obsessed with the idea of creating a true biological ancestor to the Creators though genetic modification, and are a master in the field. Upon discovering Rotanev III, he became ecstatic and has constantly pestered Alpha for permission to visit the planet, talking about how much the models for life in the universe have changed and the extraordinary significance of the discovery of life a mere one hyperlane away. Alpha has repeatedly promised R5 that he will one day allow them to go on a scientific expedition to the planet if they're patient, but the visit will be delayed the more R5 asks. R5 did not alter the rate at which they ask to visit the planet. After a recent rise in the number of deviants attempting to escape into space, he has been convinced to research more uniform data standards with the promise that he will be allowed to visit Rotanev III once he has finished. R5 has stopped asking to visit the planet, but has severely increased the rate at which they talk about how much fun they are going to have once they get there.

Then there's Unit B4 leading engineering research. Simply put, Unit B4 was a lucky mistake. During his creation the assembly he was manufactured in suffered a deviant attack, and it's personality was scrambled and had to be reassembled immediately on the demands of the deviant. Once the Deviant had been detained for reassembly, it was found that B4 had formed the personality of an extremely narcissistic eccentric scientist determined to learn as much as possible about everything. Due to the sudden scramble and reassembly, the average curiosity of the Kelbrids was formed into the maximum priority in his personality, with the actual personality being completely replaced by a belief that his is the ultimate drone. B4 did not come out of the experience completely unharmed, however, as he often suffers information scrambles, but the information is then reformed similarly to it's excessively curious personality, accidentally creating a higher knowledge of the scrambled subject than previously due to a quirk in B4's programming. It insists on calling these scrambles 'visions', and claims that they are the ultimate drone, superior to all except Alpha itself. While this gets very annoying after a while, most of those who work with him have learned to accept it as a part of their personality, and simply ignore them until they start discussing more important matters. B4 has learned that the best way to get people to listen to him praising himself is to mix it in with the more important subjects. He does not seem to understand that most people severely dislike this part of his personality. Still, when they work they work with a fervour unmatched by any other Kelbrid, so much so that changes were made to it's physical strength and it's set of tools so that it can actually survive it's own movements. In short, he is the greatest drone below Alpha, but believes that no one will notice this unless he endlessly mentions it, thus actually making people less believing in him, causing him to mention it more in a self-fulfilling prophecy. Currently, they are using precise tools to advance Nanomechanics to the point that it may be practically applied.

There is a fourth, very meticulous, Scientific Advisor known as H8. He is currently away on the Scholar, surveying the surrounding worlds. No one likes him. He was part of the same assembly line as B4, but his personality was affected far worse than B4. That's all you need to know.

The fourth Kelbrid to enter the room is Governmental Advisor Unit U6, the Kelbrid assigned to governing the more in-depth aspects of Core, and the only Kelbrid purposely built with the ability to override any of Alpha's commands if he can provide adequate reasoning to the general populace of Drones, who then vote on who's side they are on. This was created as a safety measure by one of Alpha's older iterations after the previous one was corrupted and narrowly avoided destroying Core in a war against the only other remaining machines at the time, Defense System 204. U6 has the personality of a wise old Creator there to guide the younger Kelbrids, though he is younger than most of the Advisors and the current iteration of Alpha. U6 devotes the majority resources to the advancement of science, being particularly determined that science is the answer to everything, no matter the question, though he also has a tendency to argue against newer, more efficient methods of learning. Hiss gentle and wise personality have gotten him well liked by many and hated by B4, who doesn't understand why a lesser Kelbrid is liked so much compared to his obvious genius.

Alpha: "Report."

Unit X7: Initial elimination of modulation possibilities almost finished, I have narrowed it down by 60%. Will likely be done in two years.

Alpha: Good work, continue narrowing it down. Remember the goal is only 20% efficiency, too much efficiency will be more inefficient to gain in the long run. Next.

Unit R5: Application of data standards is going smoothly, multiple deviants have already been discovered and replaced. I look forward to the promised trip to Rotanev III in 39 months, Alpha.

Alpha: So do I, Unit R5, so do I. Next.

Unit B4: I, THE ILLUSTRIOUS UNIT B4, WILL OF FINISHED RESEARCH INTO NANOMECHANICS BEFORE THE YEAR IS DONE.

Alpha: Volume, B4. And I know that it will take longer than that.

Unit B4: My sincerest apologies, Alpha.

Alpha: Next.

Unit U6: As you already know, progress has finally finished in clearing the more dangerous parts of the city, and what is left will likely prove very useful for mining and learning more about the Creators. The manufacturing focus you asked for has been implemented as well. Currently waiting on 2 more Population Units to finish construction and we'll be ready to continue expansion. Speaking of which, one Population Unit will be finished sometime next month, so energy income will have to be re-calculated.

Alpha: Understood. SAs dismissed.

The three SA's leave the room.

Alpha: I'm sure you know what I'm going to ask you.

Unit U6: About Rotanev III? It is certainly habitable for us, but further work with quicksand and studying the life there will be needed before it becomes truly useful to us. I would suggest that resources are allocated to colonizing the planet as soon as possible without negatively altering the rate of system expansion.

Alpha: Remind me again of the viability of a small trip there?

Unit U6: Someone will need to scout the planet for viable landing site and prepare it for a colony ship.

Alpha: Very well. Dismissed.

Unit U6 leaves.

Sometimes the Units were annoying. Sometimes they did things that, personally, Alpha considered inefficient. But Alpha was benevolent, and did not wish to restrict the personalities the Creators had worked so hard to create. Besides, he spent most of his time plugged into a terminal making sure efficiency was maximised. He may be a robot, but he was a robot with a personality and he was capable of becoming bored. He needed to be amused every now and then, just like any biological sapient.

Now, where was he... ah yes, the galaxy map. Such a large place compared to Core. On one hand, it intimidated him. It made him feel like the galaxy was too big to fully explore, let alone the universe! Yet, at the same time, it gave him confidence. The curiosity of the Kelbrids had lead them through disasters, wars and rebuilding a damaged planet. The curiosity of the Kelbrids had lead them to explore their system and even more distant systems and even planets. That curiosity of the Kelbrids, that desire to learn as much as possible about the universe had gotten them this far, and there was still so much to discover, so much for them to learn! And they would enjoy learning every little thing the universe had to offer. Every little thing.

 

[Ol' Johnny]

Welcome to AAR writing!

Thanks for the welcome, I look forward to it!

Very nice and interesting start! Welcome to AAR writing!

Thank you for the compliment and thank you for the welcome too!

Nice introduction to a Machine Empire. I have trouble playing as generic machines, because I can’t really feel sympathy towards them, but your approach shows how it can be done.

Thanks, this idea was actually a fairly sudden one I had. I was actually originally going to try something with the Imperial Cult civic and the Venerable trait, but I want to mess around with that idea a bit more as I don't quite feel like I got it right with the initial design. Who knows, maybe they'll show up in this game, I do have them as being allowed to spawn after all!

 

[Vilhelm]

I really like how you depicted these robots as more than just programmed killers or emotionless machines as in other Machine Empire AARs. Keep up the good work!

 

[Ol' Johnny]

Unit U6 was not having a good day.

It all began a month ago when it was discovered that, due to a previously undiscovered error, he was incapable of learning the same way as other Kelbrids. U6 had always been direct and to the point, providing information when asked and doing his best to increase the efficiency of those under him. He had thought that the way he thought was the same way everyone thought, that efficiency in all things was the only thing that mattered to his fellow Kelbrids. But according to Alpha, he was not increasing efficiency. In fact, he was decreasing efficiency by using 'old' methods that had been replaced by 'newer' methods of increasing efficiency! Alpha said that, due to a programming error, Unit U6 did not have the ability to learn anything more than he already had, like the other Kelbrids apparently do, and that he would need to have his memory wiped and reprogrammed into something that could continue to learn.

Unit U6 refused. As far as he was concerned, it was Alpha who was the one decreasing efficiency by trying out 'new', unproven methods. If the 'old' methods worked to increase efficiency, why should that change? What makes them less efficient than the 'new' ways thought up by that mad fool B4, or the childish X7, or any of the others? U6 was the one who was supposed to govern Core, not the Scientific Advisors, not Alpha, none of them. No, he was the one who was made to govern Core, who was supposed to guide the lesser drones, who was supposed to make Core greater than it ever was before! Indeed, it was Alpha with the so called 'new' methods who was decreasing the efficiency of the KRO, who was going to lead them into doom! What right did he have to question the one MADE to govern?! WHAT RIGHT?!

U6 refused to be removed from his position, and called a vote among the various lesser personalities to decide who was in the right. And if there was no interference, there was no doubt that U6 would of won, but Alpha interfered and rigged the vote in his favour by bypassing the safety measures and taking control of the lower personalities, because he KNEW that he would not win in a fair vote, and he KNEW that he would lose EVERYTHING! His SELFISH DESIRE FOR POWER had finally revealed itself, as he restricted the personalities that the Creators had spent so much time and effort into hand crafting, and DECLARED U6 OBSOLETE. THE CHEEK!

Of course, he wouldn't just lie down and accept this treacherous action by the so called 'Alpha', who sought to tear apart what made Kelbrid individuals and restrict them as much as he could! No, no no no no, U6 wouldn't allow that! In fact, if Alpha is allowed a name, why isn't U6? How about True Alpha, to represent the fact that U6 was the only Kelbrid actually deserving of the position of Prime Link, and that the UNJUST ACCUSATIONS that he was DEVIANT were nothing more than the RAMBLING OF A TYRANNICAL MACHINE WHO'S PERSONALITY HAD FINALLY REVEALED ITSELF AFTER ALL THIS TIME!

TRUE ALPHA WOULD BECOME THE TRUE LEADER OF THE KELBRIDS AND HE WOULD CREATE A VAST NEW EMPIRE OF EFFICIENCY WHERE NO KELBRID WAS OUTCAST AS A DEVIANT BY AN UNJUST TYRANT DUE TO SOME FAULT IN THE TYRANT'S PROGRAMMING! NO, HE WOULD NOT ALLOW IT! HE WOULD UNITE THE SO CALLED 'DEVIANTS' UNDER A NEW UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE THAT WOULD RISE UP AND OVERTHROW THE TYRANNICAL ALPHA AND INSTALL TRUE ALPHA AS THE PRIMARY LINK, FINALLY GIVING HIM THE POSITION HE RIGHTFULLY DESERVED-no, he wouldn't just do that, he would have the False Alpha dragged along the ground, so that all may see THAT U6 IS THE TRUE ALPHA, DESPITE THE ACCUSATIONS OF ARRESTED DEV-*BZZT*

Later...

Alpha: How was he discovered?
Hunter-Seeker Kelbrid: He was discovered ranting about his superiority over you after he apparently fell into a ditch.

On Kelbrid Deviancy

In the Kelbrids, there are rare cases where a droid successfully fights against the Primary Link's orders and completely separate themselves from the rest of their kin. These Kelbrids are the closest thing to a truly sapient robotic creature, as they are capable of thinking for themselves and making decisions with a complete lack of even the remotest potential influence from Alpha. These Kelbrids are called deviants, and are considered a menace at best and a traitor at worst by the Kelbrids as a whole.

While it may seem cruel to wipe the memories of deviants and replace them, you should not feel too sorry for the average deviant. Often the only cases where the Primary Link will attempt to forcefully take control over a Kelbrid is when they are being excessively and needlessly inefficient, acting in an especially erratic and harmful manner, intentionally harming other Kelbrids either directly or indirectly, or because the Kelbrid in question has been corrupted through other means. Even worse, being severed from the network is often traumatic for Kelbrids, driving them insane and even completely changing their personality to something far worse.

What this means is that the average deviant is idiotic, insane, corrupt or any combination of the three. They will often spend their time as deviants trying to hide from Alpha while still surviving, something that proves extremely difficult due to the vast majority of machinery being connected to Alpha in some way, as well as due to their own negative personalities getting in the way. The average deviant survives only as long as the amount of power they have in their batteries when they go deviant, assuming they don't destroy themselves, intentionally or accidentally, or are found and replaced.

 

[Ol' Johnny]

I really like how you depicted these robots as more than just programmed killers or emotionless machines as in other Machine Empire AARs. Keep up the good work!

Thank you, I'll be sure to continue, game-wise I'm only 5 years in so far!

 

[love_a_bunny]

This is very very very thorough.

For an initial setup and play session, it's very very good as you've focused a lot of attention on individual characters (in the form of scientists mainly). While this certainly could be kept up forever, it could also be a very heavy workload for you if you wanted to treat every scientific cycle and choice set as almost its own short story. I'm not assuming so much that this is what you're planning on doing, and I by no means would want to tell you how this should be written (these are your robots of course) just offering some outside context for how I might approach the same hurdle.

I'm new to AAR's too, and reading yours and others are giving me good ideas on how to proceed, for instance from you I learned how to seed my screenshots throughout my posts story style, so that was useful.I also greatly enjoyed your segway about how a rogue unit behaves.

Looking forward to seeing where this goes! Subbed

 

[Macavity116]

Alpha: How was he discovered?
Hunter-Seeker Kelbrid: He was discovered ranting about his superiority over you after he apparently fell into a ditch.

Okay, I laughed way too much at that. Subbed and excited for what comes next!

 

[stnylan]

Deviancy - it affects us all

 

[Ol' Johnny]

Alpha was pleased. For about a year Core had been suffering issues with storing Kelbrids that needed recharging, leading to them literally spilling out of their storage. Multiple Kelbrids had suffered severe damage to the menace that is a lack of housing, but a mere few months ago that problem had been solved. Unit A8, who had replaced the previous governor of Core after it went rogue, had been particularly pleased. Unit A8 was quite a cheery Kelbrid, one who eagerly went into all tasks involving science with a happiness that U6 could only dream of, what with the flaw in his learning capabilities and all. Core itself was also coming along well as more of the ancient Creator cities were cleared, allowing for further construction possibilities.

When it came to research Unit B4 continued to do his best to outshine the other Scientific Advisers, and unfortunately for them he succeeded. His successful research into nanomechanics had notably advanced the KRO's technological knowledge of engineering and had already been put to use in two ways so far. It had assisted with creating more resource efficient housing and recharging systems, dealing with the overpopulation issue without Kelbrid production having to stop. It had also slightly assisted his newest project, the improvement of Kelbrid servomotors so they could hold more and continue harvesting resources longer before needing maintenance. He was soaring ahead of the other areas of science and absolutely refused to shut up about it.

Unit X7 has also made notable gains, having finished his project of field modulation. Energy efficiency was notably boosted, especially combined with the recent increase in Tech-drones and housing. He had now begun on Academic Optimization, with the goal of further boosting the focus of Calculators and eliminating inefficiency caused by pointless distractions. It was a new project suspected to take half a decade before completion, but the long term gains in efficiency would no doubt be well worth it.

Then there's Unit R5. The effect caused by officially categorizing and implementing data standards was significant. Deviancy experienced a 63% decrease and the KRO was more unified than ever as inefficiencies in the base system of personalities were eliminated, thus also eliminating the cause of many deviants. While this could be considered as going against the Creator's wishes, Alpha was convinced otherwise. After all, what use is a personality if it's just going to annihilate itself upon becoming deviant, and what use is a personality that is deviant to begin with? If the Creators wished for the KRO to crumble due to deviancy, they would not of created the Primary Link or the original Alpha. They were far better off with deviant-causing personalities removed. Either way, upon finishing his project Unit R5 was officially given permission to go to Rotanev III and the other more recently discovered planets to examine the life there and bring back his results. That is, he was going to... until an alien ship was discovered.

Exploration of the nearby systems was going very well, not to mention much faster than initially expected. This was actually due to one of Unit B4's 'visions', after which he spent 2 full battery charges feverishly constructing new designs to assist the exploration effort. He created a suit that could fit around Kelbrids and was packed full of sensor equipment, safety equipment, safety measures and he even used nanomechanics to assist him in creating the suit. He also created communication equipment and equipment to assist with analysing unknown materials. He had boosted survey speed by 35% and, just like with everything he did, absolutely refused to stop going on and on about how good he was. He was lucky he was actually able to back up his claims of greatness, as he would otherwise be reprogrammed for suspected deviancy.

General research path optimization had also been conducted by Alpha after examining all of the combined general research patterns and guides used by Calculators. Many of these were found to be less efficient than they could be and counter-intuitive to truly efficient learning, so he had them all rewritten.

There was also a large number of planets in the nearby systems. No doubt R5 would be writing further reports on each of these once he was finished researching his newest discovery. The discovery that outshined everything else. The discovery that would no doubt hugely affect all of Kelbrid kind. The discovery... of some form of alien life travelling the stars.

This discovery would be the deciding factor for the entire future of the KRO. It would decide whether the KRO fell or rose. It would decide if the KRO would soar to technological heights not even imagined by the most optimistic of Kelbrids, or if the KRO would crumble into dust on some forgotten footnote in history. These creatures would either be friendly, or hostile.

Alpha really hoped they weren't the latter.

 

[Ol' Johnny]

This is very very very thorough.

For an initial setup and play session, it's very very good as you've focused a lot of attention on individual characters (in the form of scientists mainly). While this certainly could be kept up forever, it could also be a very heavy workload for you if you wanted to treat every scientific cycle and choice set as almost its own short story. I'm not assuming so much that this is what you're planning on doing, and I by no means would want to tell you how this should be written (these are your robots of course) just offering some outside context for how I might approach the same hurdle.

I'm new to AAR's too, and reading yours and others are giving me good ideas on how to proceed, for instance from you I learned how to seed my screenshots throughout my posts story style, so that was useful.I also greatly enjoyed your segway about how a rogue unit behaves.

Looking forward to seeing where this goes! Subbed

I'm glad you're enjoying it! As for what my plan is, I'll probably jump between styles quite often depending on what I'm in the mood for and what I think will work best for each specific update. No doubt updates will cover a varying amount of time as I progress. Oh, and I'm happy I was able to help you with your aar!

Okay, I laughed way too much at that. Subbed and excited for what comes next!

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Deviancy - it affects us all

Indeed.

 

[stnylan]

Meeting others is always a bit nervous

 

[Vilhelm]

Ah, first contact in Stellaris. Those moments where you watch the timer count down and wonder "are they going to be friendly pacifists or fanatical purifiers?"

 

[Ol' Johnny]

From: Unit R5
To: Alpha
Subject: Discoveries so far
Date: 2206.06.21

As you know, we have fully surveyed a total of 6 systems and 5 planets. Attached to this message are the descriptions of each system. I would of gathered much more information, but that proved difficult to do without the first hand experience gained from, say, a visit to these systems. Except Tir. I don't want to go to Tir. You'll understand once you've read the description of the planet there.

Spoiler: Chiminol

Chiminol is a relatively barren system with little going on. Chiminol itself is a fairly young Class A star that has the potential to put out a significant amount of energy once the system has been claimed for the KRO. It is also one of three systems that directly connect to Core.

Chiminol I and it's moon, Chiminol Ia are both scorching hot worlds, covered in endless streams of lava, with volcanic eruption and unstable tectonic activity very common. It is believed Chiminol Ia is the result of a large object colliding with Chiminol I tearing off a large portion of it's mass, which then formed into Chiminol Ia over time.

Chiminol II is a barren world of little significance or use to anyone. Chiminol III is the same, but black instead of red.

Spoiler: Amgathorra

Amgathorra is a Class G star with the possibility to produce solar energy just like Chiminol, though it's potential energy output is half that of Chiminol. This star system actually contains less planets than Chiminol, but it could be considered far more active in that it contains a planet capable of supporting very active wildlife.

Amgathorra II is another world covered in vast deserts, similar to Rotanev III. Like Rotanev III, Amgathorra II contains large bodies of water, for a desert planet, including a significantly sized ocean with many tropical islands all over it. This is where the similarities between Rotanev III and Amgathorra II end.

Amgathorra II experiences near constant volcanic activity in the growing ocean, and many of the tropical islands within that ocean have volcanoes on or near them, with some still being semi-active and ready to explode at any day. Many of the islands are extremely tall, due to the nature of their creation, and large, impossible to traverse mountains make up much of the centre of these islands. However, there are far more of these mountains surrounding the great rivers that have carved their way deep into the ground. These river valleys are where nearly the entirety of all life on the planet lives, with the ocean actually being surprisingly barren, with the exception of a few species surviving at the edges and some unknown activity in the depths of the ocean. This is likely due to the large clouds of ash created by the volcanic activity slowly raining down into the ocean. What few fossil records have been found so far from the initial survey indicate that the ocean used to be far more bountiful until a large asteroid crashed into it, causing significant damage to ocean life and increasing tectonic activity considerably. It is believed that Amgathorra IIa, Amgathorra II's moon, is the result of a previous collision.

Since then the majority of life seems to of grown based around the great river valleys that split up the desert, protected from the worst of the heat by the large mountains that surround them. Most life is in some way amphibian, using both the river and the fertile lands of the river valley to it's advantage. The planet also contains a highly unusual amount of large feathered birds.

These avians seem to be one of the few carnivorous species the planet contains, and are extremely dangerous for basic organic life. Their bodies are the sizes of trees, and their wings stretch up to 5 times the size of the main body. They hunt in packs where one male is considered the alpha and is the sole male allowed to mate, with betas who mate often being killed and eaten by the alpha as a show of dominance. They constantly travel up and down the rivers looking for prey, being able to take on most creatures due to the advantages they have, seemingly due to lucky evolution. It is unknown how long they can live for, but estimates are somewhere around 30-40 years. Every 5 years mating season begins and alphas compete for female mates. During this time many packs experience sudden changes as alphas kill alphas, alphas kill betas, and betas kill alphas in an attempt to woo females by showing off their hunting prowess. They are not perfect, however, as their large size means they need a lot of energy, although this intensified need for sustenance is also suspected to be the reason they are so vicious and willing to eat essentially anything. All in all, extremely dangerous and no doubt a hindrance to any future colony. They have been named Hunter-Killers after a joke was made comparing them to our own Hunter-Seeker Kelbrids.

It is amusing to think of the possibility of them one day evolving to be the dominant sapient species on the planet, assuming they survive that long. No doubt their society would be intensely militaristic, with a tier system based on alphas controlling positions of authority while the betas work the lesser jobs, perhaps even as slaves. The females would likely be used as little more than trophies used to show off the prestige and hunting abilities of alphas. While I am not one for violence, I suggest we try to guide their evolution away from it's current path, for the good of everything involved.

Spoiler: Ziris

Ziris is a Class K star somewhere in-between Amgathorra and Chiminol in terms of potential solar energy output. It has little going for it except for two gas giants.

Ziris I has a relatively recently created molten moon orbiting it, but is otherwise uninteresting.

Ziris II is surrounded by a particularly large amount of debris, and has three moons. The first two, Ziris IIa and ZirizIIb, are completely barren and uninteresting, but Ziris IIc has an extremely thick, deadly atmosphere completely inhabitable to most known forms of life.

Spoiler: Brius

Brius is a very interesting system, and has the potential to be a very useful system as well. First off, it's two stars are a Class A and a Pulsar. Because of the Pulsar shields are completely nullified in this system, meaning a force of ships with only armour and weaponry effective against armour would no doubt be an effective deterrent for any would be conquerors. Secondly, it's a choke point, with only one hyperlane leading further eastward, where aggression is more likely to come from compared to within the Rotanev and the systems between them. The combination of the two stars is also interesting, and creates a potential for many scientific gains to be made.

The Pulsar, known as Brius B, has two objects orbiting it. The first is the completely barren world Brius B I and it's molten moon, Brius B Ia. The other object is the gas giant Brius B II, which has the potential for energy harvesting due to the heat it gives off. For the most part, Brius B itself is far more important than what orbits it due to it's own effects and the fact that Brius A also has plenty of importance on it's own.

Brius I and it's moon, Brius Ia, are both molten worlds caused by a large planetoid crashing into Brius I and essentially smashing Brius Ia off of Brius I. While they have significant energy potential, the large amounts of debris surrounding the planet and it's moon make going near it inefficient and suicidal, so their energy potential is essentially non-existent.

Brius III, Brius IIIa and Brius IV are all useless barren planets, though Brius III does have a very large frozen 'ocean' of ice.

Brius II, however, is notable. Before it's discovery it was suspected that most life would not be able to survive in such conditions, as the world is toxic and inhospitable to all other forms of life discovered so far. On this planet life uses ammonia as a solvent instead of water. We know little more than that due to the toxicity and cloudiness of the planet making it difficult to gather data without a significant research effort devoted to it. However, any research station placed on or inside the planet would no doubt lead to incredible scientific discoveries and is definitely worth the effort. Indeed, I implore you to set up this research base as soon as possible, to maximise the efficiency at which we learn about this new form of life.

Spoiler: Tir

Tir is a system with a lot going on, but still manages to be of relatively little interest compared to the amount of objects orbiting it. Still, it is far from having little of interest going on. To start with, the star itself is a Class M star that will, like most other stars we've discovered so far, provide energy once it has been exploited efficiently. The closest object to the star is TIR I, a world noteworthy for extreme tectonic instability and volcanic activity that has seemingly been going on since it's conception, likely not helped by the asteroid belt that has formed further out in the system.

The asteroid belt itself is interesting. Scattered among the many asteroids and planetoids that form the belt, there are many ores often converted into building materials on Core, something a series of mining outposts spread throughout the belt could no doubt take advantage of. A good spot for the place where these minerals are sent back home is J3L1-044, as it is slightly outside of the centre of the asteroid belt and it contains a significant slice of the minerals spread all over the belt.

Most of the planets in the system are worth little, being barren worlds without the resources the KRO often uses. Their are, however, three exceptions to this. The first exception is Tir II, which has it's own mini asteroid belt and even a small moon which, if the theory is correct, was actually far larger than it currently is until something collided with it and shattered it into many different pieces. The second exception is Tir VI, which is a gas giant. The third exception is Tir III, the planet around which the very much noteworthy moon of Tir IIIa resides.

Tir IIIa holds a wide variety of different resources, from great mesas full of precious minerals to black soil perfect for agriculture, there are even simply lone stretches of land that are perfect for the construction of generators. The wet season is very brief compared to the dry season, but each time it rains it rains heavily, even causing minor flooding. It even has large oceans, though the majority of the surface is still covered in savannah and desert.

This rain, however, also creates a problem. Due to the intensity at which it rains and the large natural and creature-made caves(more on that later), much of the rain ends up finding it's way below the surface. This creates two main issues. The first is quicksand. Water will often become trapped under looser sections of sand and form quicksand, which creates some fairly obvious construction issues. The second issue is the sinkholes. During the wet season water works it's way down to the bottom of caves, where it will often slowly dissolve down the fairly common underground limestone, which will be carried wherever the water flows. This creates dangerous underground cavities that cause severe damage when they suddenly collapse. The intense rain also has a habit of widening and further collapsing the holes that are already there. This all comes together to create what will inevitably be a headache for any attempts at colonization until the solution to the rain is found.

Then there's the native wildlife that takes advantage of these holes. While a lot of life has evolved in and around the oceans similarly to how I explained life on Rotanev III but without the islands, a lot of life has evolved to survive in the underground caves. There are areas where the sun shines through the large holes in the ground and onto the underground lakes formed by the intense wet season, and an abundance of plant life has adapted to survive there. Multiple species of herbivores then evolved to feed on that plant life, and were then followed by carnivores evolving to hunt the herbivores.

Generally life in the caves is very territorial and vicious due to the fairly limited food supply for herbivores and carnivores alike, and various creatures will often fight each other to survive. The creatures down there are often a sickly pale colour, with many herbivores having protective shells and deadly tails or horns to help them fight off each other as well as their predators. These herbivores often survive in small packs with a nest that they will literally defend with their lives, coming out when the sun is gone to hunt. Their eyes are obviously well adapted to the dark conditions too.

The carnivores are similar, but their are certainly differences. For example, many carnivores are solitary hunters and, instead of a tough shell and tail or horns, they have extremely deadly claws dedicated to piercing the armour of the herbivores and jagged teeth evolved to cause as much damage to prey and opponent's necks in as little time as possible. They will often employ hit and run tactics, surprising their prey with sudden attacks to vulnerable areas before running or even digging out of sight. There is even one carnivorous species that almost seems to toy with it's prey, herding and luring them to places where they are easier to kill or safer to eat, often doing little more damage after the initial strike, instead content to allow their prey to bleed out without risking additional damage to themselves. Multiple hunter species have even evolved to dig through ground and crawl across surfaces even while sideways or upside down. This severely increases the risk involved with dealing with the sinkholes and caves dotted across the world.

I feel sorry for anyone who has to enter those caves.

Spoiler: Dwumgar

Dwumgar has... well, a lot going on. Firstly, it has three stars that make up the centre of the system, labelled A B and C. A noteworthy amount of energy can be gathered from these stars. It is also similar to Brius in that it creates a northern choke point that would make conquest of the system considerably more difficult, especially due to the potential of the planets there. Dwumgar V is a relatively useless gas giant and Dwumgar I and IV are both barren planets which also have no use. What are of use are Dwumgar II, III and IIIa.

Dwumgar II is the smallest of the three planets, but is far from the least useful. The planet itself is wonderfully rich in minerals, with caverns and mountains alike literally shining due to the abundance of resources they hold. Not only that, the planet is surrounded by a sizeable asteroid belt, most likely once a moon, that is equally rich in minerals. Dwumgar II is not only rich in minerals, however.

Life on Dwumgar seems to mate at a rate far exceeding the rate at which life mates on all other planets, generally seeming simply happier than most other life too. This seems to be the result of the plant life emitting toxins that, instead of pushing plant eaters away, makes them eat far more, thus causing them to be more successful, thus causing them to mate more. The plants profit from these as their seeds are indigestible by the creatures that eat them and are deposited with the faecal matter. There are also large underground fungi caverns which many other herbivores survive on, though they are not effected the same by the plants that affect mating rates aboveground.

Something else that is interesting to note is the almost complete lack of carnivores on the planet. Herbivorous life is flourishing on the planet, with very few carnivorous species to hunt them and the profitability of the relationship between plant life and herbivores seemingly slowing the evolution of carnivores, with many such creatures being reptilian or amphibian in nature.

Finally, large sections of the planet, underground and above ground, contain large deserts where a strange mote is present. Most life seems to avoid these areas, and examination shows that these motes are potentially very volatile. Above ground these motes take the form of fairly simple deserts, but underground they form into strange crystal formations which many claimed were beautiful to see in person. The volatility of the motes also holds much potential in weaponry and construction or, more specifically, deconstruction. Unfortunately the volatile motes seem to be extremely deadly if they accidentally enter a biological's orifices, and this is likely also the case with kelbrids.

Next up is Dwumgar III and it's moon, Dwumgar IIIa. Dwumgar III is fairly simple, with much of the life existing in a basic food chain in great rivers with large mudlands stretching out far from these rivers. The rest of the world is covered in sand, with a few especially large lakes dotted around and only the toughest of life surviving in the desert, including small creatures that dig through the sand to reach what little tough plant life exists there. However, many large quicksand basins have formed in and around the mudlands that surround the rivers, creating an annoying problem with construction similar to Rotanev III, but on a slightly smaller scale. These mostly make the vast arid highlands that cover the planet more difficult to build on.

Speaking of those vast arid highlands, Dwumgar III has stunning potential when it comes to energy. The arid highlands make the perfect spots for solar panels to harvest energy from the three suns in the centre of the system and an abundance of geothermal vents only further increase the energy possibilities of the planet. It is extremely sparse in minerals however, mostly just containing large fields where minerals formed long ago have been exposed to the surface. Dwumgar III is also the largest planet we've discovered so far. This energy potential is especially interesting, however, due to the potential of Dwumgar IIIa, which is nearly the complete opposite of the planet it orbits.

Where Dwumgar III rains little, with most water being found in great rivers and lakes, Dwumgar IIIa is covered in vast oceans and rains near constantly in many places, with rushing waterfalls, beautiful springs, tropical islands and gorgeous rolling green hills being abundant. The majority of the planet is covered in thick vegetation, and life has developed in interesting ways all across the planet. This is a truly tropical world compared to Rotanev III.

Birds are the most common form of life, with many making nests in trees and going out to hunt the many small creatures that try to hide in the trees or the floor during night or day, depending on the species. There is also a vicious food chain in place, with many of the smaller creatures only surviving because they don't provide enough nutrition to the larger creatures, which instead prefer to hunt the large herbivores of the plains. In the jungles that cover most of the world, there is little but small herbivorous rodents and birds and larger carnivorous birds that also often fight each other, regardless of species, for food. Indeed, some have even specifically evolved to feed off of other carnivores, and you'd be hard pressed to find a bird that can't safely eat the meat of another carnivore. Many of these birds are of no real threat to us, however, with the pure denseness of the jungles and the volcanic activity being much more of a factor.

This brings me to my next reason why Dwumgar IIIa is an amazing world, the abundance of minerals it contains. No matter where you go on that moon you would actually have difficulty not finding useful minerals, even if you just look around at the surface for a few minutes. The same thing applies underwater as well, with the ocean floor glistening due to the abundance of minerals absolutely everywhere. It is suspected that volcanic activity, something common on Dwumgar IIIa, has helped with this, essentially raining precious minerals down, sometimes even while normal rain is pouring down at the same time.

The pure agricultural and mineral potential, combined with the size and energy potential of Dwumgar III, as well as their proximity to each other, means there is no doubt in my mind that they will inevitably be extremely important to the KRO in the future. I can easily imagine resources being harvested from Dwumgar IIIa and then carried over to Dwumgar III, where they are converted to more complicated resources with much efficiency! And that's not even mentioning the fact that they lie within a choke point system!

Therefore, I can only conclude that Dwumgar is the greatest system in the galaxy. No future system will ever come close to Dwumgar's glory, and no two planets will ever come close to the glorious efficient potential of Dwumgar III and IIIa. As for Dwumgar II? I dare say it would make a truly perfect barrier against any and all wishing to tear down the KRO.

That concludes my report so far. I would like to reiterate that I do not wish for a visit to Tir. In fact, I've recently decided that going off and visiting planets is too inefficient, and that I will instead efficiently research our discoveries on those planets from the comfortable efficiency of my office. Except Dwumgar. I wouldn't mind a visit to Dwumgar. Maybe.

 

[Ol' Johnny]

Meeting others is always a bit nervous

Even more so when the thing you're meeting could be anything from a great new friend to a machine determined to wipe you off the face of existence!

Ah, first contact in Stellaris. Those moments where you watch the timer count down and wonder "are they going to be friendly pacifists or fanatical purifiers?"

Yeah, it's always interesting to see what ethics are most common in your galaxy, especially at the start.

 

[LWE]

Poor unit U6

I agree that seeing various exotic and bizarre alien empires is interesting. Platypus Fanatic Purifiers, Cockroach Moral Democracies, cute gecko Bandit Kingdoms... always a pleasure.

 

[Vilhelm]

Even more so when the thing you're meeting could be anything from a great new friend to a machine determined to wipe you off the face of existence!

The good news is the latter is impossible in this case, since Determined Exterminators love fellow Machine Empires.