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After a break the most prestigious sport known to gentleman and scholars is back, the play by email Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri multiplayer game. Prepare for big brain time, grab your pizza with neanderthal-approved cheese, pack your rice and fire up the bunker's VaultOS terminal to watch the game of the Cognito Elite Club.
Figures A and B. Examples of Cognito Elite Club members.
The rules:
1. Be a bro don't be a fag
2. Do not reload the save and move units differently
3. Do not conduct diplomacy before meeting in-game
4. Do not use pods to increase a base beyond the maximum population limit
5. Do not RETIRE default designs in the workshop, this will delete units for other players
6. Do not Allahu Akbar units (i.e. use self-destruct to wipe out enemy units)
The settings:
Difficulty: Transcend
Higher Goal: Allow Victory by Transcendence
Total War: Allow Victory by Conquest
Peace in Our Time: Allow Diplomatic Victory
Mine, All Mine: Allow Economic Victory
Do or Die: Don't restart eliminated players
Look First: Flexible starting locations
Regarding, switching SE setting and then back in the same turn: Apparently, the exploit with changing Industry setting and disbanding unit has been fixed (or was it always like that, it's been long). So, the only thing I can come up with off-hand is switching from Free Market to Green, kill/capture a worm and then switch back.
Jeremiah was watching from his office the formers and colony pods leaving Gretaland as behind him at the polar opposite of his oval enclosure he had a view of the tall and beautiful White Pine. He deemed to think at the time that things were going a bit too fast for him. The captain's assassination, the landing, the quick dispersion of the neatly organized, and constructive base of operations. It was as if this was a normal day occurrence and there was no need to lend it attention. It was as if this was the plan all along.
His assistant shyly peaks around the corner and enters the room once he notices that his boss is all but working on serious matter:
"Hail Queen Greta, Jeremiah." His assistant said, still looking at his tablet
"Yas slaaay bossbitch, Rupert. Spill the beans on our cases so far." He wanted to pause but he was quicker to act than to think. " I want this to get over faster, next year I will finally be able to step down as Regional Chief of Security Affairs and won't have to deal with the idiotic logistic schemes of those damn scout patrols while also having to deal with the denizen's temptations of rape, murder, and eco tax evasion."
Jeremiah spat those words on a desperation tone, some would call this unprofessional, his assistant's look conveyed him the right amount of slight disgust on his face for him to shut up.
The assistant cleared his throat. "We have an update on the serial rapist thanks to several tips obtained by concerned citizens and... a tip from, what we now consider the main suspect, making a tip to deny the allegations of the tips we have received against him... By Greta, how come our colony gets the weirdest idiots?" daydreaming of a better community he continued. "We also have a wanted poster that we are now putting all throughout Gretaland, take a look."
"Very well, is that all for today?" Jeremiah insistently asking, dreaming of getting home to get pegged by his wife while she'll wear a Greta mask.
"No xir, actually, I kept the weirdest for last, funnily enough. It's the scout patrol Green Peacers." Jeremiah stopped. "What about them?"
Regarding, switching SE setting and then back in the same turn: Apparently, the exploit with changing Industry setting and disbanding unit has been fixed (or was it always like that, it's been long). So, the only thing I can come up with off-hand is switching from Free Market to Green, kill/capture a worm and then switch back.
Planet and morale modifier changes from social engineering do not become active until the next TURN. So you can't just switch to Green to fight or capture worms and then switch back on the same TURN.
Back on Earth, before and even during the Decline, ivory tower academics used to argue about exactly which professions were humanity’s oldest. Some pointed to fundamental needs of human civilization, suggesting the humble farming of crops or the tailoring of clothes. Others took pleasure in digging up the depths of human depravity, pointing out to chortling peers that deceit and prostitution, simple expressions of innate biological processes, were even more inherent to humanity as a whole.
Sparta had its own answer to that question. From the very first multi-cellular organisms struggling for nutrients, to the first hominids who carved out stones to beat each other’s heads in, life was never anything but war against not only itself, but the very world: to survive, to prosper, to reproduce and carry one’s genetic destiny into the future. Life was a fight to the death, and to the victor went the spoils.
As civilization evolved to reach its zenith, this inconvenient truth was brushed aside and swept under the rug, but never quite forgotten. Even the limp-wristed bureaucrats who ran the machinery of Earth’s increasingly totalitarian states knew full well how fragile the foundations of their power really were, and what needed to be done so they could continue to enjoy its privileges. It was said that an idea could never be killed, but Sparta was more than that, for to fight and kill was an imperative at the core of each and every human being. As long as a single human breathed, even if the last Spartan was hunted down and exterminated by drone strike, Sparta would live on: lying dormant within the collective unconsciousness of humanity, waiting for its moment to emerge again.
Of course, even that had been put into jeopardy in the final years of the Decline, as the human race was evidently quite determined to exterminate itself in glorious monument to its own stupidity. The Unity Project, for all its pomp and grandeur, was never meant to be more than a monument in itself; one final show of vanity made from the last of Earth’s dwindling resources, one final flicker of flame before the candle burned down and extinguished forever.
But monuments needed to be guarded, and the bureaucrats spared no expense in this regard. The UNS Unity’s security personnel were recruited from the finest practitioners of Earth’s martial traditions: special forces, presidential honour guards, direct action operatives. All of them were already Spartans in deed and being, if not in name. It only took a few subtly implanted suggestions during training and selection to complete their transformation for good.
When the Unity arrived above Planet, and treachery inevitably struck, the Spartans were ready. The crew, used to being ordered and corralled like mindless drones, were simple enough to round up and herd into the designated landing pod, ensuring that their talents in more technical matters would be preserved for the tough years ahead. In the chaos of the mutiny, Sparta promised and granted order.
The Unity broke apart. The landing pods separated and burned through the atmosphere.
And so, emerging from its pod and blinking in the harsh light of Alpha Centauri’s twin suns, Sparta breathed again.
As it always would.
Here’s to another prestigious game of SMAC PBEM! Some veteran players, some newer faces. Best of luck to all!
Not a lot to comment on at this point. Got an adequate landing site, now beginning the expansion.
Welcome to Morgansoft MorganOS III: Deluxe Enterprise Professional Edition, now powered by the non-intrusive Ebony Cloud and with MorganBawks Games Net sync support*.
*not intended for use on corporate IT assets, premium subscription fees apply, accessing the service results in instant subscription sign-up and fee deduction from linked Morgan Omni-Goliath bank account through biometric identification.
WARNING: Unauthorized use of corporate IT assets for purposes other than those intended by IT policy, including but not limited to:
catfishing, sexual harassment, play by email multiplayer games, Sodom Enterprises “Nutflex” streaming platform usage, MorganGroups(tm) forum vandalism (“shitposting”), promotion of destructive ideas (unions, maternity leave, taxation, drone class revolution, conspiracy theories regarding fictitious danger related to alien monoliths, work-life balance and other crypto-marxist concepts), attempted murder of corporate staff, successful murder of corporate staff, ordering ITZFOODZ deliveries to hotdesk cubicles or elsewhere on corporate premises during working hours (note: all hours are working hours per corporate policy), non-sanctioned financial fraud, charity, sending chainmail and memes, corporate espionage targeting Morgan Industries
...will result in immediate employee termination in all forms as described in corporate policy. Remember, spend your time online responsibly and productively, so that Morgan Industries revenue can continue to grow and shareholder value with it.
Playing file “ov_news_market_raider_06_06_2046.mpeg”
*theme song plays*
It’s time for MARKET RAIDER coming to you LIVE from PROSPERIA! With our most prosperous host, world-class financial guru, SANJAY PRATEEK!
Sanjay Prateek: Good evening, tonight on MARKET RAIDER...
...oil prices expected to fall below 800 USD per barrel, that’s no joke and I’ll explain why!
...the art of the deal or how Texas and Russia got together to make business after the secession.
image contains just some random stock photo pajeet in a suit this time around, if anyone was wondering if that is again the man himself
...uranium options, so HOT right now! How you can make a quick buck on uranium options as states invest in new nuclear arsenals.
...the booming Australian nerve stapling market and how the new stricter pandemic restrictions made it possible.
But first I will host a very special guest in our studio, a man both admired and despised all within Omniventures Inc., CEO of Morgan Industries - Nwabudike Morgan.
*applause*
Sanjay Prateek: Good evening Mr. Morgan.
Nwabudike Morgan: Good evening Prateek, glad to be in Prosperia.
Sanjay Prateek: So, Mr. Morgan, about the UNOMA fiasco, any comments?
Nwabudike Morgan: Why Prateek, what else is there to comment? Surely my PR team made a clear and entirely true statement, clarifying the grossly incorrect narrative coming from the UN office for Martian Affairs.
Sanjay Prateek: But still, they blame your company’s pull out from the Ares project.
Nwabudike Morgan: Prateek, that is just life. If you can’t hedge against the risk, haven’t got the needed protection, you got to pull it out before it blows up all inside.
*laughs*
Sanjay Prateek: Surely the UN is not happy with this? Are you prepared for the fallout?
Nwabudike Morgan: I am prepared for all kinds of fallout, yes, hedging against risk is paramount in business. But this particular one is my least concern. After all, what is UNOMA, Prateek?
Sanjay Prateek: The world?
Nwabudike Morgan: World? No, the UN and UNOMA are certainly not the world, just a fragment with a particular set of stubborn opinions. I mean the mouthful of a bureaucratic name says it all "United Nations Office for Martian Affairs". Or indeed the UN itself is merely a forum where representatives not even of nations but particular current and ever changing governments, can haggle and horsetrade until they get what their hearts desire. A market place where you send your brokers, not unlike a trading floor. I was simply open to other opportunities and saw one arise, so I decided to bet on a better horse available on this market.
Sanjay Prateek: The UNITY project and United Nations Extrasolar Settlement Initiative you mean?
Nwabudike Morgan: UNITY and UNESI, yes. I am quite impressed with this idea put forward by Mr. Zakharov.
Sanjay Prateek: How come?
Nwabudike Morgan: Well we should aim for the stars, yes? Boldly seize new opportunities! Acquire unimaginable treasures like the conquistadors of old in the new world! That is the core of mankind’s enterprising nature, I am sure the UN will see this as well and proceed with the proposal of Mr. Zakharov.
Sanjay Prateek: So is this all just about being ambitious? Can the UN afford such ambition in this day and age? Doesn’t the ROI and maturity date of that investment look unspectacular, not to mention the cost of opportunity?
Nwabudike Morgan: Afford it and the cost of opportunity? Of course! Look at Mars, they wanted to send shuttle fleets every 2 years, aerobreak asteroids from the belt and I do mean break not just brake, and nuke the poles god knows how many times. And for what, to spend trillions and centuries to make it maybe as habitable as Siberia? That’s just economic hogwash. Chiron on the other hand...
Sanjay Prateek: Is over 4 light years and decades of flight time away?
Nwabudike Morgan: Decades spent on ice don’t matter, and what you get for it is at least agriculturally viable with no climate engineering needed, and needing only a breathing mask to walk outside. Compare that to spending centuries of time and millions of manyears on warming up the frozen dustball to ice age Europe levels. Mars is a dead end, a fools errand. We cannot bank the future survival of our species on a corpse of a world dead for at least a billion years! Not while Chiron is alive.
Sanjay Prateek: UNOMA disagrees.
Nwabudike Morgan: And Zakharov disagrees with them! There is no consensus, no objective truth in this matter of becoming a multiplanetary species! Truth is in the eye of the beholder and I firmly believe that Zakharov’s eyes are closer to the truth.
Sanjay Prateek: That is a lot of faith.
Nwabudike Morgan: Prateek, investment is all about faith in your ability to capitalize on the perceived opportunities. You cannot do business without faith.
Sanjay Prateek: So you are a believer?
Nwabudike Morgan: I am a believer, yes, a believer in the wealth that can be obtained by letting individuals pursue opportunities in a free and competitive business environment. One where the best man and best vision win. I mean surely we are now sitting in a place that proves that very belief is true, the success of Omniventures is known far and wide.
Sanjay Prateek: Well, yes, Prosperia here on Omniventures Island is indeed a testament to that statement. Final question before I move onto my show’s next segment. Would you ever go to Chiron yourself, once it would become successfully settled by the Unity of course.
*laughter*
Nwabudike Morgan: Prateek, please, why I would go there already if I could! I believe in that opportunity as strong as I believed in all my other successful ventures.
Sanjay Prateek: Thank you Mr. Morgan and good luck with the Unity proposal. Goodnight!
ITZ already FISCAL YEAR 2103, 3 TURNS into the game.
Not much to reveal so I posted backstory with the obligatory omniventures reference and implications of Earth going straight into ITZ (as prophesied by a certain neanderthal). Actually I expected there to be more time before the game really got rolling and thought I would post this before first TURN and updates from anyone else, but it seems we have incline and some major high-powered LARPfaggotry about this time around with Gaian pets and Spartan spirit making themselves known.
Now we’re at the hush-hush stage as no one knows who landed where and what risks or opportunities are waiting nearby in the fog of war. Curious how it will go this time around.
Also I miss Omniventures and the over the top corporate evil. With Morgan and SMAC I feel compelled to keep it within, ahem, realistic (somewhat... a bit ok) and believable boundries. Well that and I can't do biblical satanic and apocalyptic undertones in SMAC LARP.
Real shame the last Aurora Codex game never took off, but that’s Garfunkel for you. Well that and Aurora, game is a chore to play, too much micromanaging and MP is horrible to setup and run.
Speaking of codexian multiplayer incline we should play Shadow Empire one day via PBEM and I would totally pick Omniventures there or Heracs Hellas for my custom faction. That one has great LARP potential as well, but I suck at it (probably need to read a logistics mechanics guide to stop losing crap to attrition). Of course it will never be as great as with Cassidy (League vs Omniventures was a spectacular cold war in the first Aurora game) but alas, tempus fugit, pantha rhei and all that, gotta move on. Been a billion years since that in internet time.
Enough whining, there is TURN and PROFIT to be made.
The brightest member of the Alpha Centauri system is Alpha Centauri A, simply called "the sun" by the colonists. It is of the same spectral class as Sol and emits the same comfortable yellow white light. It is somewhat more massive than Sol and significantly brighter.
Alpha Centauri B was named Hercules by the colonists, after the Greek hero who was a great nemesis of the mythical Centaur race. Hercules is a smaller, cooler star, with light more orange in color than that of its partner. Alpha Centauri A and B orbit around their mutual center of mass, somewhere in the space between. Every 80 Earth years, Hercules comes within 11.4 AU of the sun, or somewhat more than the average distance between Sol and Saturn. At their most distant, the two stars are about 35.8 AU apart, or a little less than the average distance between Sol and Pluto.
However Alpha Centauri C is much smaller than its two partners. It is a red dwarf star, only a small fraction of Sol's mass and less than one ten thousandth as bright. It is remarkable primarily for its very low mass, and for its nature as a highly active flare star. From hour to hour, Alpha Centauri C experiences constant stellar flares, any one of which may as much as double its normal brightness.
Alpha Centauri C was once called Proxima Centauri, since it is significantly closer to Earth than the A-B pair. In fact, for many years it was suspected to be an independent wanderer, close to the A-B pair out of sheer happenstance. The Unity expedition was the first to prove otherwise. As it turns out, Proxima does orbit the A-B pair, but at a tremendous distance. It never approaches more closely than 0.25 ly, and takes over half a million Earth years to complete one cycle. From Chiron, Alpha Centauri C is a dim star lost among the galaxy's millions, only visible to the naked eye if the observer knows precisely where to look. As such, it was never given a mythological name of its own, and was called simply "C" or "Proxima" by the colonists.
There are several uncomfortable factors to Alpha Centauri C; one should be aware at all times to:
Not look at the Proxima Centauri during Equinox;
Not speak to Proxima Centauri during the solar flares;
Not ask the Monolith about
[Rest of the excerpt is burned.]
-Epistemology of Xenotology esoterism beyond the veil of Astrophysics. MY 2170, Bing GORDON, Gallimard Edition,
The rover rolled at an alarming pace towards the monolith. Despite the deafening sound of the rover's engine spitting out mechanical war screams, it was but a comfort that tried to drown something much more menacing. The two men inside the rover were silent, stern-faced at the dangerously uneven ground of Chiron, it was alive yet merely spectating in its deep core the place of the newly landed ants on its back.
Nothing would get them used to the ominous audible soundwaves that the gentle rock was emitting. Researchers concluded back in MY 2101 that the monolith must've been used as some sort of psi array left behind by the previous tenants of the Planet, a race still elusive. Various speculations combined with far-retched empiric experiments dubiously proved that the waves emitted by it throughout a sizeable area does things such as aiding the nutrients in the soil into becoming more fertile, as if given better instructions to the nutrients on how to do their job, thus helping crops grow healthier and faster. Yet it does not affect merely the living biology, R&D stations near it claim that the AI algorithms that help the projects progressing, compute at a considerable faster pace compared to their untainted counter-parts in different regions. Nonetheless, when it comes to humans, they haven't been granted clemency by the Xenostructure unlike the aforementioned. Prolongated exposure to the monolith is never predictable, some have felt better since studying it: having better sleep patterns, feeling less depressed and anxious, feeling like everything makes sense now; others aren't so lucky, during the first year there was an alarming rate of schizophrenia and psychosis happening around it, the insanity going as far as mass suicides. One sociologist put further a thought that the psi arrays are not compatible with human brains, they were built for Xeno minds and Xeno lifeform, humans were never taken into the equation.
Researches conclude what researches experience, even so one thing is certain. Once in its grip, the monolith makes you dance a tune of its own, its incomprehensible humming trying to make you understand. And they drove in today to understand what happened the other night. Once arrived at the base camp at the foot of the monolith, caught up with the local staff there and asked around for more details. It has to be said, at this point and time, that if the men spoke true regarding the veracity of the string of events, it will rearrange the understanding of the giant artifacts. The spotlight was all on one scientist, who one night disappeared and then came back several months later, witnesses say since he arrived he was inebriated on what he called fungus brew that helped him dialogue with the monolith a bit easier. From an outside perspective as two inspectors to hear such a report would be preposterous, yet puzzle pieces attach, and the bigger picture reveals itself.
The room where the process happened was not far from the Living Quarters, the newly found former disappeared scientist was visibly drunk on his brew and talking to himself, muttering, and snarking. As the inspectors tried unsuccessfully to make conversation with the scientist, infuriated one of the inspector grabs his arm and thus began his vision:
"As you stare into the crystal, its light grows brighter and brighter, blinding you to everything else. No shadow, no sound, no thoughts - just light.
Now it is the light of the clear blue skies above lush, thick forests of green. You have never seen such sights, but somewhere deep in your mind - you know this place.
A massive structure of stone and metal rises far above the treetops. Its sacred, yet obscene geometry cuts into the skies above. Its dark cold walls have been hardened by millions of years of angry winds and tempered by many sieges.
Impregnable it stands in the wildest region of this moon - the Tomb of the Redax.
Evil winds that now whip this temple seek to awaken the dead Redax. They bring word of his people, his children, and the sickness that has befallen them... that has *again* befallen them.
Now, gratingly the many maws of the Tomb open, bellowing deeply. The song is carried back on these evil winds to all corners of the moon.
Slowly the voices rise from across the globe. They are irritated at first, and soon they grow angry, furious. But their fury becomes tempered with fear and then... pain.
Now the world is screaming and you soon realize why. Deep in your guts you can feel it - a beast stirs. Fueled with all your desires and fears, like a rabid dog it claws with increasing fury at the inside of your skin, yelping, growling, barking.
The pain becomes increasingly intense as the moments pass. Your face and your hands become numb, and inside - only pain. You look up at the sky, it's nighttime.
In desperation your hand reaches for the stars. You have to escape or you have to cut your belly open and let the beast out, there is no other way."
The vision ends abruptly and the inspector finds himself back in the real world. Collapsed on his knees, tears running down his face, he is screaming at the monolith. He takes a deep breath and composes himself. Maybe what he saw was only a vision, but the pain was real.
1. Be a bro don't be a fag
2. Do not reload the save and move units differently
3. Do not conduct diplomacy before meeting in-game
4. Do not use pods to increase a base beyond the maximum population limit
5. Do not RETIRE default designs in the workshop, this will delete units for other players
6. Do not Allahu Akbar units (i.e. use self-destruct to wipe out enemy units)
#2 I had impression game check this too and game marks you a cheater or say something like "you have already moved and saved".
#3 Does this mean not to communicate between real people until they meet in the game? Or is there some exploit that allows to do diplomacy *in the game* even before faction meeting?
#4 Probably yes in vanilla where base limit is hard. However, base limit is "soft" in WTP meaning it just reduces base GROWTH until it stagnates allowing base to grow beyond limit with positive enough global GROWTH.
From the other hand, it is not clear to me why it is not allowed. This colony should be taken from other base. So it is essentially citizen transfer with lost time. How it could be an exploit?
#5 This one is news for me. In single player game when I retire predesigned unit it stays in the list and doesn't disappear. AI also can continue building it. Are you saying that in multiplayer game if one tries to retire predesigned unit it doesn't disappear for this player but does for others?
#6 This probably can be programmatically disabled.
#2 I had impression game check this too and game marks you a cheater or say something like "you have already moved and saved".
#3 Does this mean not to communicate between real people until they meet in the game? Or is there some exploit that allows to do diplomacy *in the game* even before faction meeting?
#4 Probably yes in vanilla where base limit is hard. However, base limit is "soft" in WTP meaning it just reduces base GROWTH until it stagnates allowing base to grow beyond limit with positive enough global GROWTH.
From the other hand, it is not clear to me why it is not allowed. This colony should be taken from other base. So it is essentially citizen transfer with lost time. How it could be an exploit?
#5 This one is news for me. In single player game when I retire predesigned unit it stays in the list and doesn't disappear. AI also can continue building it. Are you saying that in multiplayer game if one tries to retire predesigned unit it doesn't disappear for this player but does for others?
#6 This probably can be programmatically disabled.
2 - sometimes replaying TURN is unavoidable (ex. crash mid-TURN), this house rule is so that in those cases you recreate the moves.
3 - no PMs and collusion between two players before you can do ingame diplomacy
4 - this one is back from when we played vanilla
5 - someone retired a transport foil once and it deleted my transport foils, might have been fixed by one of the exe hax.
6 - probably, but we're lazy
ONLINE Christian States Heavenly Sword Main Diocese Sabbath 2026-02-13 Evangelical Fire Solar System Broadcast "The Fall of Babylon" Narrated by Reverend-Prophet Colonel William Jebediah Godwinson Sr.
In the years since the Heavenly Descent, the survivors of the self-sustained U.N.S. Unity colonisation pod 54-D, commonly stylised the Second Ark, had rapidly united, consolidated and expanded under the leadership of Psych Chaplain Miriam Godwinson. Although the majority had originally professed misguided adherence to deviant denominations and satanic pagan "religions", or worse yet, had even rejected God entirely out of supreme ignorance, a coordinated program of emphatic reasoning, positive encouragement and group-based scriptural studies had soon seen the majority of New Zion embrace the handed-down eternal truth of the Evangelical Fire. For Miriam, of course, such work was nothing new. In the aftermath of the Crusader Wars, millions had hailed her as a new messiah (the Prophet Phenomenon, the United Nations had styled it, brushing it away as a symptom of post-nuclear madness). Guiding lost souls back to the Lord God who called them was her most cherished function, and as she so often put it, the true purpose she had been created for.
Of course, there were some stiff-necked few who despite overwhelming evidence persisted in clinging to their path to damnation. Similarly, abhorrent mutant subspecies had infected the cryocells, in no small parts due to Garland's rabid adherence to U.N. dogma of "racial equality". The madman had even banned national symbols on Unity uniforms, as if seventy years of sacred sleep would somehow erase the memory of America, New Zion, seat of Christ's Kingdom on Earth. Fortunately, the latter scourge had been easily expunged, the tares expertly separated from the wheat based on detailed genetic profiles so kindly provided by Unity Command. Miriam did not believe in leniency. To allow even one fleshly demon to fester among the Children of God would directly endanger the entire blood covenant and merely repeat the tragedy where Israel so blatantly failed to purge the Canaanite scum. Some had squirmed, as expected, but by and large justice had been swift and final. The former group of dissidents had been more challenging. Where emphatic outreach proved impossible, public stonings had triumphed.
Planet-based hostile xenofauna aside, the continuous church-building, scriptural enlightenment, family building and communal worship spanned a good sixteen years uninterrupted. There had been no sign nor record of other survivors. None, until now... Lowering his electronic binoculars, Faith Militia Sergeant Dariusz Junior still could not believe his eyes. The force down the mountain outnumbered his detachment two to one. To his knowledge this was the first confirmed sighting of alien forces. There had been some combat with outcasts and rebels, sure, but the humans down there looked and behaved way differently, much unlike anything he'd seen in his fifteen years. Organised, clean uniforms, shredder carbines in every hand.
"Are they demons, brother-commander?" he asked nervously.
Junior, of course, had never witnessed the mythological monsters of yesteryear, but they had frequented enough in his parochial upbringing. Grotesque pitch-black apemen, smutty-lipped and hooked-nosed serpentiles, slit-eyed bugmen, crazed sodosexuals and worse... The stuff of nightmares, thankfully never pictured, for as Miriam always said, a milligram of prevention trumps a megaton of cure. Nevertheless, rumours had it Believing Command retained a copy of the "datalinks" which displayed these horrors in their full form.
Lieutenant Miltanosis shrugged and took a drink from his hip flask of Jim Beam Crusader Fuel. "Too far to tell, really, plus the face masks and all. Might be. If they are, we kill them all, simple as. If not, Sister Supreme has a message for potential Adamic survivors we must first transmit. Fortify positions and prepare emissaries."
"What if they attack us?" Junior asked, glancing at his own brothers. Unlike the prospective enemy, shredder armaments were more akin to precious relics of the past due to their limited supply and dwindling ammunition stores. Predominantly, his brethren carried crossbows, spearguns, makeshift synth-swords and spiked clubs. Supposedly, the cognitive elites of Zarephath Horeb were retooling a prototype for the Unity mining laser to serve as some type of combat duty directed-energy antipersonnel weapon, but that was a good year or two, not to mention 1,200 miles away. No matter how he looked at it, the situation did not seem favourable.
"If they attack we have the high ground - moral and otherwise" his commander replied. "And the Lord Almighty is with us -- always!"
Last man off the ship, Lal Pravin made planetfall together with U.N. staffers on the central continent of Chiron
The man who had been pre-picked to be the Governor of humanity's colony on Chiron knew that his role had changed with the splintering of the factions
Quickly forming the U.N. Peacekeeping Forces and establishing a Headquarters for U.N. operations, the next step was clear:
the UNS Unity wreckage lay just beyond the horizon and could still hold the keys to unite humanity
success
With a Spartan Federation Rover closing in on the crash site and the buzzing of broadcasts from distant factions, the new mission for Commissioner Pravin was set
Unite the factions in conversation, create a global council according to U.N. guidelines - and establish democratic elections
==EMERGENCY BROADCAST==
This message is being broadcasted on all frequencies by the U.N. Peacekeeping Forces
We have located the coordinates of all the escape pods by examining UNS Unity computers
The coordinates will now be transmitted according to U.N. directives on data sharing
We have made contact with the Spartan Federation and through tough negotiations reached an agreement, the first Pact signed since Planetfall:
Let this be an example for the whole planet to follow. Reach out to your neighbors so that we may come together and flourish!
In Unity we will have a common order that benefits all!
"Therefore be ye courageous and keep all that is written in the Book of the Law. Turn not to the right nor the left; but cleave unto Yahweh your God, as ye have done unto this day. One of you shall chase a thousand, for Yahweh your God fighteth for you. Yet if ye go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, and make marriages with them, and go in unto them; know for a certainty that they shall be a snare and a trap unto you, and a scourge in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which Yahweh your God hath given you." -- Paraphrase of Joshua 23:6-13
Captain Leeroy Jenkem surveyed the enemy before him with burning revulsion. He had been aware of "human" activity on the southern fringes of New Zion's borders for years. Radio intercepts, odd tracks and degenerate snack bar wrappers left contemptuously under the suns. Morgan Industries, as confirmed by Pravin Lal's broadcasts, had festered and thrived like a cancer just beyond the horizon. Unlike exchanges with the Gaians up north, however, diplomatic inquiries from the CEO had never been formally acknowledges nor addressed by Believing Command. Not until today. He relished the feeling as he gave the command to charge.
Rushing the enemy formation, he noticed the Morganites coming into view had more the look of regular colonists than the corpsec profiles he had studied in Milnet. Green recruits, no synthmetal armour, just regular shredder weaponry. Even better, he thought. Sharp rounds ripped the man on his right to shreds. On his left, Brother Bubba's skull exploded into a bloody fountain. Still he pushed on. As the forces clashed a third of his unit was already decimated, but the ferocity of the faithful seemed to make up for it. Machetes and maces out, men and boys he had known all their lives hacked and smashed the Morganites with righteous fury, grenades and carbines blasting all around. He blasted a frightened Morganite running for his life with a salvo, then another, and a third... It was glorious, triumphant, the feeling of ultimate ecstasy -- and then it struck him.
It shouldn't have been possible. The burst had come out of nowhere, knocking him to the ground. Fumbling and struggling to keep his guts from pouring out he felt more dumbstruck than dismayed. A thousand? He had barely chased a dozen! Had he erred somehow? Or was this part of the greater plan? Whatever, he rationalised. His brethren were behind him. Endless reinforcements would arrive until victory was secured. His death, though disappointing, was inconsequential. The faithful would never be contained.
Well that was embarrassing! Downhill bonus plus zealot attack, a good +50% and my guys still manage to get wiped out leaving Morganic scout with 10% health. This is the worst attack ever. I literally can't even. Well here goes nothing. Might be a record or something as for earliest vendetta but it's now or never.
The two men had left the lightly armed recon rover behind, climbing a low outcrop to obtain a better view on Mount Vesselin's southwestern slope. The rocky desert around them was interspersed with green shoots of various pioneer plants. A steady wind from the sea disturbed leaves and the men's clothes alike.
"Yes, where we are standing used to be 20 kilometers off the west cost."
Academy Guard lieutenant Coussidis' military exact posture would have satisfied any drill sergeant. Yet his voice and manner of speech betrayed his nervousness. He had spent nearly every waking minute since Planetfall with training and guard duty. He was not used to interacting with Academy bigwigs, much less a legend like Prokhor Zakharov himself. Coussidis pointed down the slope to a low plateau rising out of the waves of the Southsea. "This area was a mid-sized island maybe 50 kilometres distance from the continent."
Raising his binoculars Zakharov studied the plateau for a moment. "This land is cultivated?" The obvious amazement in his voice was the first time Coussidis could detect any kind of emotion from Zakharov. Coussidis laughed. "One of our recon teams ran into a Unity terraforming bot. The thing went haywire and built a bunch of farms until it ran out of fuel."
Zakharov stayed silent for a moment looking around at the rocks and vegetation but not really seeing them. This time Coussidis thought he noticed a hint of dissatisfaction in the man's expression.
"Not happy about this, sir?"
"Does it not disturb you that some process moved megatons of sediment and bedrock to create a mountain within less than a year? That the process was apparently triggered by something as small and of low energy density as Unity supply capsule? Moreover, the Council considers sending colonists into this area that appeared almost overnight."
"We in the Guard mostly think the whole thing is hella convenient, sir."
"Admittedly."
Silence stretched again. Coussidis made the mistake of attempting to fill it. "One could almost think the fools are right and some higher power is helping us, what with the extra land and the pre-built farms..." His nervous laugh died under Zakharov's withering look. "..though, the farms are too far away to be of any immediate use, of course, erm ..."
"Thank you, lieutenant. I believe we are done here..."
Zakharov was interupted by the sound of rover engines. Another Guard rover drew up beside the first. A figure holding a data sheet jumped out of the back seat, hurrying towards the rocky outlook. When the figure came closer Coussidis was shocked to recognize provost Polyanov, one of the most powerful men in the Academy.
"Would you please wait at the rover, lieutenant?" On his way down, Coussidis crossed the path of Polyanov who was climbing the outcrop with rather more speed than expected from a member of the inner council.
The data sheet contained a message from the UN. mission lead by Pravin Lal. Aside from all manner of sactimonious blather, it shockingly also indicated the landing locations of all 7 factions, with the University's identified correctly.
"'U.N. directive on data sharing', is it?. Pompous fool. How did they get a message through to us? Do they have access to a satellite or some Unity module? That would explain how they know our position."
"A satellite or Unity remnant is highly unlikely. For the moment, we can only speculate about the source of their knowledge. As for the message, they bounced the radio signal off the ionosphere the way it was done in the early days of radio communication on Earth. The signal was thus fairly scrambled. We only just managed to put it back in order."
Polyanov pointed at the data sheet.
"They included additional information about the other factions in an addendum. It seems all factions coalesced around a charismatic leadership figure from the Unity. We knew about Lal and Yang. But otherwise I must admit to our shame that their knowledge is much more comprehensive than ours."
"Santiago, Morgan ... , ... Godwinson, Skye, really?"
Polyanov shrugged.
"We have scouts out in the general direction of some of these positions. I suggest we have the check those landing sites and see if those are correct also."
"Do so and keep me informed. Im afraid we have interesting times ahead."
Starting position is very cramped but blessedly far from the wolves. Also, a capsule on the coast created a mountain that connected a medium sized island to my little continent. That was downright silly convenient.
A message from the University office for public outreach:
Unity freshman orientation courses on C-Terminal and E-Mail use are now available to the general public.
Do not give up! Learn to communicate electronically like a scientist!
...and now for the latest trends in Morganican High Life, right from the mountain tops. Morganican elites flock to try out the slopes at Morgan Rand Resort at Mount Rand, where they ski down in the latest and most fashionable in Alpine Bodysuits enjoying various other new local attractions of the booming winter recreation industry. The young, rich and pretty in particular jumped on the trend, with the first generation planetborn that has just reached adulthood being extremely well represented in the trendy resort.
Synthcheese fondue and Xenofruit wine are all the rage in luxurious lodges built from some of the very first lumber harvested by Morgan Yuge Wood (a Dick Smoker venture), for that authentic luxurious Alpine resort feel adding to the allure of the resort.
Morgan Yuge Wood! They’ve got yuge wood and it’s HARD.
Corporate sabotage at an all time low, Morgan Police Corp arrests yet another group promoting the dangerous idea of paid vacation leave. Silly drones, how in clear concience can they demand businesses pay them for time when they are not working! This was yet another in a string of Police Corp successes following the pacification of the ITZFOODZ O2 riots.
The economy thrives as years of pro-market policy lead to technological advances and infrastructure investments, not to mention a self-perpetuating cycle of eternal economic growth fueled by perpetually increasing consumption. This is in line with the corporate long term plan envisioning a century of economic boom as we uncover and exploit new resources on this virgin world.
With the recent broadcast of Pravin Lal’s UN remnant...
*BEEEEEEEEP*
WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAMME TO GIVE YOU THIS IMPORTANT CORPORATE ANNOUNCEMENT
THE BLACK SWAN CONTINGENCY PLAN IS IN EFFECT, ALL STAFF WITH THE EXCEPTION OF MILITARY CONTRACTORS ARE CONFINED TO LOCAL PREMISES. PLEASE REMEMBER YOUR MANDATORY BLACK SWAN CONTINGENCY TRAINING, SO THAT COMPANY ASSETS AND PERSONNEL PRODUCTIVITY ARE PRESERVED.
ALL PERSONS FOUND OUTSIDE OF LOCAL PREMISES WITHOUT VALID MORGANICAN IFF WILL BE TERMINATED ON SIGHT.
OVERTIME IS EXTRA-MANDATORY.
***
Castratikron Recon PMCs succesfully fend off very rude trespassers. The so-called believers expecting an easy victory over a lightly armored recon force have suffered devastating losses. CEO Morgan has issued an official condemnation of the rude and unprovoked attack, at the same time powerfully rejecting the outrageous demands made by the lunatic known as Miriam Godwinson shortly after the surprise attack.
THIS STREAM WILL CONTINUE AFTER THIS MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR:
Canned Chili Con Gusanos – a real man’s canned dinner from ITZFOODZ in cooperation with Morgan Happy Worm Ranch.
Now with official survivalist endorsement from Self-Defence.morg
ITZ ITZFOODZ so ITZ got to be DELICIOUS!
*end of commercial*
CEO Morgan: Give away all our corporate assets and technology? Surrender or commit suicide? Agree to go into exile from the land we have developed? Unacceptable, outrageous and completely mad! The great venture that is Morgan Industries will not bend to some bible-belt crackpot claiming divine destiny. It is hard work and entrepreneurial spirit that will prevail, and the hostile elements from the east will be neutralized by the most cost-efficient means necessary.
It is fiscal year 19...
Shigata ga nai I guess, to throw in another Red Mars reference*, this is SMAC PBEM after all WAR is to be expected especially with the Churchnuts nearby.
*As if SMAC itself wasn’t already inspired by and referencing the Red/Green/Blue Mars trilogy by itself.
Anyway found the scout just before the UN broadcast revealing our relative positions, talk about timing. Didn't know the Believers were my neighbor in the east prior to that. Didn't expect it to shoot at my scout bros anyway, thought my zone of control cockblock would force a retreat, guess Miriam has other plans.
Quite early in the game to have a war - TURN 19, by contrast I think it was TURN 31 back when I decided to started my anschluss of the Believer’s last game as SPARTAAA.
Still surprised he didn’t just walk away and returned later with more zealots, shame to lose a scout like that at this point. I just got my money’s worth from mine. Of course it will take more than that to deal with the unwanted sequel to the Morganican-Churchnut war.
OMG, guys and gals.
You are taking this seriously and you are so artistic and ingenious. Very nice stories. It is a sight for sore eyes to see so many SMACX fans in one place.
:D
Keep it up!
---
Later addition.
Pictures and artwork is out of this world!
The first look we have this game into relative power. Things are pretty close apart from the Hive, but maybe the good chairman has not yet made contact with anyone and thus his score reflects a low number of techs possessed while others traded.
Seems I am number two just slightly ahead of the Believers. Primarily due to tech I think as well as population. This TURN I had 3 more pop than the Believers, 15 vs 12 if vote numbers are to be trusted.
University is leading in score but surprisingly not in tech, but in population, which mean their score is not inflated by their extra tech. STRONG start I guess.
Believers first in firepower, unsurprisingly since they want to kill me.
Gaians leading in tech and cash is not what I would bet on.
I have most turf but that might be subject to change. Lost only one scout so far in this war, but it clearly isn't the end of it and who knows how it goes. SMAC PBEM 47D chess and all that.
Brethren rejoice! A symbolic seven years after Miriam struck the Rock of Horeb, not contemptuously but with pure humility before the Lord, triggering a sacred mechanical miracle birthing the River of Everlasting Life turning the inhospitable "Great Dunes" into a lush paradise, Angels of the Lord have now blessed the faithful again by triggering auto-mining pods to clear a path through the fungus barring the way to Morgan Happy Worm Ranch. Quick to act upon this great blessing the Sword of the Lord struck swiftly to inflict considerable casualties upon the depraved enemy!
Uplifting reels of the battles and the dashing to pieces of prisoners will be displayed in all community hubs for spiritual nourishment. Parents in particular are reminded to seize upon this moment and instil in their children the joy of the Holy War. Remember: Israel is a warrior race. Praise the Lord for delivering our enemies into our hands and pray that he blesses our boys laying siege to the godless den of wickedness.
In related good news, laser buggies have been dispatched to halt the repugnant xeno-beasts sent against us by Gaian "empaths" - witches in communion with fungal demons sent by the backsliding whore Deirdre whose infamous genocide of the Lambs of God under deceitful pretence of aiding the Holy Crusade has earned her Eternal Suffering in the Lake of Fire. Elders speculate the source of Deirdre's perversion is her abuse of psycho stimulants and huffing of fungal fumes which opens the mind to demonic possession. Whatever the case, Lord God's Covenant People may rest assured the destruction of this vile creature will be pursued with utmost zeal and credit. The Lord will see us through!
This after agreeing to pact, and while Morgan, natural enemy, was running Free Market being extra vulnerable to mind worms.
I won't even attempt to understand pizza's move, but I finally know how Hellraiser felt in that game with junior.
