Log #46
The nuclear artillery worked, massive detonations wiped out all the bitter hives on what are basically isolated islands because of the flooding, the bugs did try to retaliate but with the water blocking off a fair few hives and narrowing the bugs that could attack the main base into a large group, a few more rounds of nuclear artillery served to clear out the bulk of the attacking force.
As much As I would like to press the nuclear artillery advantage and start wiping out every single bug hive in range, I can't imagine that the bugs wouldn’t eventually evolve a way to be immune to my most powerful weapon, so like with regular nukes it'll be rationed out for the rare occasions I NEED it.
I have less than no desire to fight a swarm of nuke proof bugs, because if nukes can't kill them I don't know what could, and since bugs only adapt against things I’m actively using against them I just wont actively use it against them, often.
With the isolated islands cleared the building teams are being sent out, and by building teams I mean the spidertrons in a bunch of helicopters and me in my own personal helicopter, the only difference is better shielding, and I have to say, looking down at the water and seeing massive outlines swimming in it does not fill me with any positive emotions.
Log #47
Getting back to my roots and building an outpost myself is oddly relaxing, if you ignore the hurricane-esque weather and the hordes of bugs trying to figure out how to get to me from across the river.
But you know that's basically par for the course on this planet.
This outpost is going to be harvesting and refining oil, and since I don't really have to worry overmuch about defense’s what with the water and all, I only spent a few minutes making a wall and lining it with turrets, the minds can install the rest once I get the uplinks and power running, which shouldn't take long, considering oil is a fairly good fuel to burn, at least while I get the reactor for this island outpost up and running.
The spidertrons are also still setting up their outposts, though slower than I am, and while the rain does make it harder to send out ariel transports I have still been getting my scheduled supplies, so I don't really need to worry about running out of building equipment, and while I could just follow the blueprint Byzantine gave me and just let the bots build the thing I’m pretty sure I can just build the thing faster on my own.
Which considering I am outpacing the spider bots seems to be a true statement.
The attacks on my outposts haven’t ceased with the rain though, and the nuclear barrage seemed to remind the bugs that the water isn't the only threat, so the attacks have started up in full force again, even with the water blocking most attack paths a few of the smaller outposts and being pressed hard, and the water is a problem for us to, making sending reinforcements a difficult prospect.
Still that's currently the mind's job to handle, I am busy being marooned on an island and building a massive oil refinery, in some admittedly awful weather.
Log #48
I officially have a roof on this thing now, and the bilge pumps are keeping the inside from becoming to flooded, I must clarify that the flood water is not coming from outside, it was just raining enough to turn my walled enclosure into a swimming pool, so a roof and a bilge pump to keep the inside water level low.
The water level outside my walls is rising, but that was planned for and the roof is actually there to serve as a landing pad for the helicopters, the walls are water tight and 15 feet tall, so unless the flooding gets significantly worse the inside of the refining should stay dry, and even if the whole thing gets flooded under the roofs few openings can be sealed, meaning that nothing will get broken or flooded if the whole structure goes under.
The spidertrons are still building their outposts, and while they don't have the exterior entirely finished they have enough of the walls done that they should be able to finish it before they get flooded, if the water gets that high at all.
The work on the main base's second layer has continued without me there, with the redesign and the supports installed, the actual floor part has also started construction so soon enough machinery should be able to be installed and the second floor will become somewhat operational.
Once that's up and going I should be able to send my airforce out farther from the main base, with more planes meaning I can safely send out larger groups without worrying about leaving anything without air support.
A few more of the bugs are trying to cross the less watery areas, but they still die even when I cant see whats getting them. A bug getting dragged into the water by a tentacle is pretty self explanatory, but those same bugs just kinda melting once they get in the water? That's significantly more concerning.
If I had to make a guess I would assume it's probably some carnivorous plankton, the only hint anything was there at all was the lack of any debris in the water, where everywhere else there are trees, leaves, and dirt the water that those bugs disappeared into was just clear.
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With the resumed attacks only able to approach in small numbers from specific points the stealth bugs have made a resurgence in threat, the bugs apparently deciding that if they can’t take the forts with force they’ll try stealth.
Thankfully the bugs can't go intangible and just covering the factories with triplines everywhere seems to be sufficient to spot the things, you don't need to see something to shoot it, you just need a direction. It does have to be actual trip lines though, the laser ones didn’t work.
I am allowing the minds to use the nuclear artillery on the larger bugs though, as they are still the main threat against any individual outpost, still they are to use them sparingly and only when an outpost is directly threatened.
Log #49
I finished the oil refinery, and the minds uplink and robot forces are finally in play to keep up with maintenance, the helicopter that's coming to pick up the first load of refined plastics is coming to pick me up too, so I’ll be back within the safety of the inner factory shortly, which is nice because the patch of clear water has moved to surrounded the outpost I just finished building, and I no longer want to be in this building.
If they can eat bug carapace they can eat concrete, and while the inner walls are lined with steel there aren’t actually shield generators in them, so they are decidedly meltable, so getting on the first available aircraft before water filled with evil plankton fills the interior of the factory.
I did set the machines to fill the water with toxic oil when the walls get breached, if the plankton ends up getting through at all, which will hopefully kill the things, though I do not hold out hope for that.
The spidertrons are mostly done with their own outposts, which are mainly just mining and processing raw ore, I used to ship the raw ore to the smeltery outposts but that left me with a bunch of waste rock I was hauling back for no reason, so now the mining outposts are larger but only send mostly pure metal, still largely unrefined but significantly more actual metal can fit on the trains than before, or in this case helicopters.
That processing is the only thing that hasn't been finished on the majority of those outposts, which makes sense considering its significantly more complicated than a drill that digs up rock, or a large wall with prebuilt turrets on it, still they should have finished their outposts within the day and this whole excursion can be considered a success.
The second floors floor is finished, and the defensive wall and anti air are being installed, the giant cage is being built higher to encompass this new extension, which means its getting a roof, and the first of the machines are finally running up there, I don't know how I feel about my bunker being underneath thousands of tons of machinery, but I imagine I’ll find out if the thing collapses and buries me. It will happen eventually I know it.
Still the second layer of the factory takes up more space than 6 of the outposts I just built, and It uses significantly more complex machines, not to mention the increased power needs. I can't really expand the nuclear reactor anymore without just knocking down a wall or three. So I will need to find a solution for that at some point, even if it won't be a problem until the second floor is fully operational and actually starts using a significant portion of power.
The current plan is to just make an expansion on the outer wall to build a second reactor, or I could just make outposts dedicated to power but that leaves me open to the bugs cutting off my power supply, where as having the reactors inside leaves me open to having nuclear reactors blowing up half my base, or at least half a section of my base.
Log #50
The clear patch of water did in fact melt a few holes into the outpost, but it left once those same holes started leaking oil, so that's a plus, I currently have a radar tracking the thing while its “hunting” which basically means the things sitting in a spot with a lot of debris and just melting it.
The fish things seem to know it's there too, considering they avoid the thing, or in the case of a few get eaten by it, don't really know how you fight something like that without poison, or even what kind of poison would work on something like it.
Bitter attacks are continuing, and purely mechanical traps continue to be the best way to deal with invisa bugs, cant see the things on any sensors but they still weigh something, and exist in physical space, do pressure plates and trip wires, I tried a pit trap but these are bugs, they can climb, I admit I’m having fun designing traps instead of active weaponry.
A few stealth bugs even got into the main base, presumably riding a train or something, so now everything is weighed when it leaves and when it enters an outpost, if you weigh more you get lit on fire, trains don't burn, bugs do, at least most bugs do.
Just in case you're wondering the stealth bugs did not make it very far, most outposts only have a few drones flying around, we have thousands here and they won't swerve out of the way of something they cant see, and a drone bouncing off of nothing tends to draw the attention of the minds, who solve said problem with the application of fire and radiation.
I got out of the outpost before the thing started melting a hole in the outpost, so I’ve been busy working on the next batch of exotic and fancy weaponry, which is code for strapping things to turrets and drones to see how well they shoot, which is basically what an engineer is supposed to do anyway, probably, I have never met another engineer. That does mean I can safely say it's what engineers on Navius do!
These logs have been significantly closer together than most of my others what with how so much has been going on, or at least with how much I have been doing, so not much has changed on the garden front, But with the flooding bringing in more fish the variety of meat has gone up significantly, and with how varied the fish all are the taste on them changes dramatically.
The one complaint I have is that the minds chose what fish I would eat, and they have no sense of taste, so they just picked what looked appetizing each time, looks do not correlate to taste on most of these things, in fact the weird tentacle meat, which just looks like slimy plastic once its cooked, tastes the best.
Still that's a nitpick at best, and I could give the mind’s taste receptors If I really cared, or at least detailed chemical analysis of what combinations I find tasty, no the food front has basically stabilized into a firm tolerable, I’m even putting on a little muscle now that I’m eating better.
The storms are still ongoing, and the water is getting higher, but I don’t really have a way to actively change the weather, and the only part of the factory its still really hindering is Balistraria, who can’t send out operations to crush enemy forces if her vehicles just get stuck every hundred feet, or in one case getting eaten when it drove too close to a flooded section, which is how I got the tentacle fish, nuclear powered tanks go boom when the minds want them too.