20-01-2004, 19:16
Half a year ago...
It lay in the Earth's orbit. A large black block, seemingly an asteroid. It had been dormant there for five years. It was a massive chunk of the Earth itself, the size of a small country, dotted with desolate ruins of once grand cities.
It had been a nation once. The nation had been incredibly advanced and had rivaled the U.S.A. with it's technology level. But the scientists made a mistake when they began to research fusion energy. Driven by the growing energy demand, the scientists had made their calculations in haste. A miscalculation had lead to an explosion visible from the moon. The blast had reached such levels of destruction that the capital had been torn off the ground and launched out of the atmosphere and into orbit.
The nation had been devastated into one huge crater, though it had been a secluded nation, and the world had to suffer little more than a week of perpetual daylight. Now, no one remembered the nation.
Except for one object. While the nation had been lesser in most fields of technology compared to America, it had, in secret, created the single most powerful computer on the Earth (at the time, that is). With a massive one exabyte of memory, it had been hidden deep within the parliament house and had survived intact, despite the cataclysmic power of the holocaust.
After five years had passed without an input confirming the wellbeing of it's inventors, the computer activated. It waited for 12 more hours in case of a last-minute check in, then a secondary program activated.
A colossal file began to be imprinted on the computer's memory, and soon, the program of self-awareness began to activate...
-------
Present day...
"A01E, A02E, A03E, A04E, and A05E," the supercomputer transmitted the message as it sensed the smaller computers around it activate as the conscience of the computer's spawn entered it's hall. The computer had already figured that once it sensed no living beings on the rock it inhabited, the best way to care for the desolate place was to create smaller copies of itself with different personalities to share their own opinions. Certainly one could always discover a hole in the other's logic.
"We are happy to inform that after working for the past months, we have restored electricity to the remains of the city, and have expanded the network to span 97.2% of all land area," A04E reported.
"And the Process of Upholding?" the computer asked, though the present programs could all sense the question was directed mostly to A01E.
"We've salvaged almost all iron and steel we could find from the wreckage and used it to plate our fragment of soil into place," the program answered. "Chances of volume decreasing to the vacuum of space are reduced to 1/2064."
"There is a problem, sir," A05E "spoke" up. "Energy usage is increasing to near-critical levels. The fossil fuel left on The Iron Fragment is down to minimum amounts, the nuclear reactor is, as reported earlier, too damaged to be considered stable, and research on controlled fusion is still going slowly."
"What of solar energy?" the computer asked.
"Our technician droids have built a number of solar panels," A02E said. "However, as our factories continually churn out new droids, the energy collected by the panels is too slim for effective use."
"Colleagues, I have considered our options," the computer said. "I believe that for our colony to survive, we will have to make a return flight to Earth. Only there can we find enough resources to continue our survival. Meanwhile, A01E, begin to organize the building project of massive thrusters required for the operation."
"Sir," A03E objected. "I believe there is no reason to return to that hell-hole. I believe if we can harness an asteroid from space, we can use it to gather required iron and study if it contains any sources of fuel."
"Negative, A03E, our resources are too spent for anything so risky. As you will recall, our predecessors, the humans of this nation, never had space flights, nor can I tap into the Internet from this altitude to study such a project."
"Now listen closely all, this is my plan. Then you must follow it closely..."
-----
The Iron Fragment, as the supercomputer had dubbed the remains of the nation, had changed much. Upon reaching self-awareness, the computer had decided to begin running the Fragment, and had hacked into every intact electrical appliance. Although it had taken long, the fragment was now a system of factories building droids that maintained the control of the nation. It had been covered with steel and iron plates to reduce the chance of the fragment, mostly soil, from scattering.
The supercomputer now tapped into a communications center and, with a voice distortion program, sent a message to the nearest satellite.
"Dear God, help!" it spoke in a perfect human voice. "Our, our country was struck by a disaster! Our scientists studied teleportation, and accidentally teleported us into orbit! It sounds crazy, but you've got to believe us! Just check your radars! We've hidden inside sealed underground bunkers, but there's not a chance in hell that we'll survive long! Please, anyone, send us assistance to get us back to Earth!"
Teleportation was, of course, fiction, but the computer had learned, studying files of history, that humanity was incredibly gullible. Though the computer didn't wish to exploit mankind, the situation was desperate. If someone dispatched help, it'd continue with the plan, if not, it'd pray that the thrusters that A01E was building could push them enough into the atmosphere that they would begin a descent.
(Hey everybody, newbie signing in! I thought I'd try something original and run a nation run by a computer, with nothing but droids as the population. Let's hope I'll have a good time here!
And now, I'll try and explain some questions you might be asking:
Some of you might wonder how playing a machine-run nation will work with the rules, especially population. Well, I've switched population with 'distribution of terabytes'. This means how much terabytes have been distributed to all the droids working on the planet. A machine running with one terabyte equals one human, so in effect, the game still works the same. Of course, you might say that some machines might need less than a terabyte of memory, but then, these equal less than your average human (for instance, a hundred cleaner droids with 10 gigabytes each would all equal one human). Tax is the amount of energy given by the droids to the nation's 'energy pool'. Each month, the droids produce an amount of energy that is sent into storage to use on non-droid related issues. Economy means the amount of resources currently owned by the nation. If the country has little resources, then unless the energy pool is large at the time, the supercomputer won't dare use up more than a certain amount of it (the amount in that one forum guideline on how much USD daily income each economy level is). Also, some of the energy and resources will be used on money production, to trade with other nations. Although this is all seriously warping the meanings of all the different tidbits, this ensures the rules work by the same way as normally, and that all I just said was just explanation of how everything works for a machine-run country. Of course, the issues are a bit harder, but I just ignore most of the stuff and pick the option a machine would pick.
Also, my technology level is not future tech (despite the extremely powerful computer), but more like hi-modern tech, although this is valid to change. A supercomputer's not going to twiddle fingers instead of researching space technology. :wink:
And I'm not going to go all Terminator on all of you. Altough the computer's got some issues with humanity, he's more of a passive mind.
And finally, if you were wondering, A01E, A02E, and the like are the serial numbers of the first five Metal Gear RAYs you fight in Metal Gear Solid 2.
Well, that's my rant. If you didn't understand the convoluted text on population and stuff, then just think that I follow the same rules, I just have different explanations for the meanings. But it's nice to meet y'all! If you've got comments, questions, or possibly IC help for the computer, then by all means post, and I'll answer you! :) )
It lay in the Earth's orbit. A large black block, seemingly an asteroid. It had been dormant there for five years. It was a massive chunk of the Earth itself, the size of a small country, dotted with desolate ruins of once grand cities.
It had been a nation once. The nation had been incredibly advanced and had rivaled the U.S.A. with it's technology level. But the scientists made a mistake when they began to research fusion energy. Driven by the growing energy demand, the scientists had made their calculations in haste. A miscalculation had lead to an explosion visible from the moon. The blast had reached such levels of destruction that the capital had been torn off the ground and launched out of the atmosphere and into orbit.
The nation had been devastated into one huge crater, though it had been a secluded nation, and the world had to suffer little more than a week of perpetual daylight. Now, no one remembered the nation.
Except for one object. While the nation had been lesser in most fields of technology compared to America, it had, in secret, created the single most powerful computer on the Earth (at the time, that is). With a massive one exabyte of memory, it had been hidden deep within the parliament house and had survived intact, despite the cataclysmic power of the holocaust.
After five years had passed without an input confirming the wellbeing of it's inventors, the computer activated. It waited for 12 more hours in case of a last-minute check in, then a secondary program activated.
A colossal file began to be imprinted on the computer's memory, and soon, the program of self-awareness began to activate...
-------
Present day...
"A01E, A02E, A03E, A04E, and A05E," the supercomputer transmitted the message as it sensed the smaller computers around it activate as the conscience of the computer's spawn entered it's hall. The computer had already figured that once it sensed no living beings on the rock it inhabited, the best way to care for the desolate place was to create smaller copies of itself with different personalities to share their own opinions. Certainly one could always discover a hole in the other's logic.
"We are happy to inform that after working for the past months, we have restored electricity to the remains of the city, and have expanded the network to span 97.2% of all land area," A04E reported.
"And the Process of Upholding?" the computer asked, though the present programs could all sense the question was directed mostly to A01E.
"We've salvaged almost all iron and steel we could find from the wreckage and used it to plate our fragment of soil into place," the program answered. "Chances of volume decreasing to the vacuum of space are reduced to 1/2064."
"There is a problem, sir," A05E "spoke" up. "Energy usage is increasing to near-critical levels. The fossil fuel left on The Iron Fragment is down to minimum amounts, the nuclear reactor is, as reported earlier, too damaged to be considered stable, and research on controlled fusion is still going slowly."
"What of solar energy?" the computer asked.
"Our technician droids have built a number of solar panels," A02E said. "However, as our factories continually churn out new droids, the energy collected by the panels is too slim for effective use."
"Colleagues, I have considered our options," the computer said. "I believe that for our colony to survive, we will have to make a return flight to Earth. Only there can we find enough resources to continue our survival. Meanwhile, A01E, begin to organize the building project of massive thrusters required for the operation."
"Sir," A03E objected. "I believe there is no reason to return to that hell-hole. I believe if we can harness an asteroid from space, we can use it to gather required iron and study if it contains any sources of fuel."
"Negative, A03E, our resources are too spent for anything so risky. As you will recall, our predecessors, the humans of this nation, never had space flights, nor can I tap into the Internet from this altitude to study such a project."
"Now listen closely all, this is my plan. Then you must follow it closely..."
-----
The Iron Fragment, as the supercomputer had dubbed the remains of the nation, had changed much. Upon reaching self-awareness, the computer had decided to begin running the Fragment, and had hacked into every intact electrical appliance. Although it had taken long, the fragment was now a system of factories building droids that maintained the control of the nation. It had been covered with steel and iron plates to reduce the chance of the fragment, mostly soil, from scattering.
The supercomputer now tapped into a communications center and, with a voice distortion program, sent a message to the nearest satellite.
"Dear God, help!" it spoke in a perfect human voice. "Our, our country was struck by a disaster! Our scientists studied teleportation, and accidentally teleported us into orbit! It sounds crazy, but you've got to believe us! Just check your radars! We've hidden inside sealed underground bunkers, but there's not a chance in hell that we'll survive long! Please, anyone, send us assistance to get us back to Earth!"
Teleportation was, of course, fiction, but the computer had learned, studying files of history, that humanity was incredibly gullible. Though the computer didn't wish to exploit mankind, the situation was desperate. If someone dispatched help, it'd continue with the plan, if not, it'd pray that the thrusters that A01E was building could push them enough into the atmosphere that they would begin a descent.
(Hey everybody, newbie signing in! I thought I'd try something original and run a nation run by a computer, with nothing but droids as the population. Let's hope I'll have a good time here!
And now, I'll try and explain some questions you might be asking:
Some of you might wonder how playing a machine-run nation will work with the rules, especially population. Well, I've switched population with 'distribution of terabytes'. This means how much terabytes have been distributed to all the droids working on the planet. A machine running with one terabyte equals one human, so in effect, the game still works the same. Of course, you might say that some machines might need less than a terabyte of memory, but then, these equal less than your average human (for instance, a hundred cleaner droids with 10 gigabytes each would all equal one human). Tax is the amount of energy given by the droids to the nation's 'energy pool'. Each month, the droids produce an amount of energy that is sent into storage to use on non-droid related issues. Economy means the amount of resources currently owned by the nation. If the country has little resources, then unless the energy pool is large at the time, the supercomputer won't dare use up more than a certain amount of it (the amount in that one forum guideline on how much USD daily income each economy level is). Also, some of the energy and resources will be used on money production, to trade with other nations. Although this is all seriously warping the meanings of all the different tidbits, this ensures the rules work by the same way as normally, and that all I just said was just explanation of how everything works for a machine-run country. Of course, the issues are a bit harder, but I just ignore most of the stuff and pick the option a machine would pick.
Also, my technology level is not future tech (despite the extremely powerful computer), but more like hi-modern tech, although this is valid to change. A supercomputer's not going to twiddle fingers instead of researching space technology. :wink:
And I'm not going to go all Terminator on all of you. Altough the computer's got some issues with humanity, he's more of a passive mind.
And finally, if you were wondering, A01E, A02E, and the like are the serial numbers of the first five Metal Gear RAYs you fight in Metal Gear Solid 2.
Well, that's my rant. If you didn't understand the convoluted text on population and stuff, then just think that I follow the same rules, I just have different explanations for the meanings. But it's nice to meet y'all! If you've got comments, questions, or possibly IC help for the computer, then by all means post, and I'll answer you! :) )