The Culture explores 40K II: Now With 100% more Fanfiction

[Gavinfoxx]

When their boss is human, the suggestion is that you end up with an almost ogryn like ork and a very ork-y human. I wonder what effect a Mind would have on an ork?

The thing is, there is absolutely no canon to support this. It is one person's viewpoint, and I don't think that particular ending is really supported in the canon... I would suggest that Orks remain Orky in all circumstances, until genetic tweaking is done on them!

[Tiki Snakes]

The thing is, there is absolutely no canon to support this. It is one person's viewpoint, and I don't think that particular ending is really supported in the canon... I would suggest that Orks remain Orky in all circumstances, until genetic tweaking is done on them!

And possibly even then. But, yeah, even the canon is less than clear.

[Gavinfoxx]

Although his recorded political stances are not great for our diplomatic goals

Boy, they are good at understating things, aren't they? >.>

[jseah]

part 8.5 Rogue Trader

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Week 1
The Rogue Trader has deployed his asteroid platform fully and mining operations have begun in earnest. Using his continued profits of shipboard manufacturing, the Rogue Trader has begun to purchase materials for second asteroid mining platform.

The Rogue Trader appears to not have changed his strategies in any way after deployment of the nanobots. Since we are becoming satisfied with his performance, we see no reason to keep Aisha Meiro on board his ship, he already knows about the Culture in any case.

Week 2
We have provided him plans for the construction of IoM weapons that have refined capabilities, built on the same technology base. The nanobots have been put to work retrofitting the Dauntless and Lunar's weapons, particularly in manufacturing additional missiles of higher performance.
This was provided with the understanding that this would be considered a down payment for one battle against Chaos, we will provide ship construction plans after the battle.

Despite the fact that the two mercenaries have not returned with him, the word does not seem to have spread. Apparently the IoM doesn't care what happens to mercenaries not in their employ. The Rogue Trader has managed to hire more mercenaries, including another Lunar cruiser and three frigates.
This time, he has not provided them with hyperspace drives, saying that he is unable to produce them. It appears that he is taking our caution to not lose technology to Chaos to heart, although not quite in the way we expected. It seems that he plans to treat the mercenaries as expendables.

The two asteroid platforms have ridiculously slow extraction rates, even after teething problems were accounted for. It appears that inefficiency is endemic to the IoM. We are planning to provide him with enhanced extraction technologies, a better management plan really.

RE the corporation plan:
What if the corporation was actually a Culture-impersonation of a Rogue Trader? Are RTs allowed fixed assets?

How much chance will the Culture have on shaking up the way the asteroid mines work to gain efficiency?

[The Glyphstone]

Rogue Traders are allowed whatever the hell they want as long as they don't get caughtit's not heretical/treasonous, and they can sometimes get away with minor xenos artifacts if they're careful not to flaunt them. But a sufficiently powerful/wealthy RT will still end up getting Inquisition plants on him simply out of paranoia and completeness, so the chain of events would play out exactly the same as the corporation in regards to being infiltration-proof.

[jseah]

Rogue Traders are allowed whatever the hell they want as long as they don't get caughtit's not heretical/treasonous, and they can sometimes get away with minor xenos artifacts if they're careful not to flaunt them. But a sufficiently powerful/wealthy RT will still end up getting Inquisition plants on him simply out of paranoia and completeness, so the chain of events would play out exactly the same as the corporation in regards to being infiltration-proof.

If they find evidence of xenotech? Like... oh, I dunno, the nanobots?

[Gavinfoxx]

If they find evidence of xenotech? Like... oh, I dunno, the nanobots?

That.. probably depends on the personality of the Inquisitor on the case. He could do anything from calling down the thunder to essentially be like, 'I want in on this operation of yours. In a leadership position--you're playing with fire you do not understand and need me. Or else!'

[Gavinfoxx]

How much chance will the Culture have on shaking up the way the asteroid mines work to gain efficiency?

How exactly does The Culture want to improve mining technology given Imperial base tech? There are several, several possible ways...

...Heavy Industrial power armor for the workers (after all, the Terminator Armor project was initially industrial power armor, intended for ship repair and working on radioactive drive systems and the like. Non Astartes Heavy Power Armor and similar systems are probably great for mining!)? Improved mining spacesuits and similar?

...Give access to the absurdly rare -energy weapon- melta varieties, rather than the chemical weapon melta varieties, and the best quality lascutters they have so far found in the imperium, along with the best plasma generators, solar cell 'lux nets', and battery cells in the imperium?

...Improved Mining Augmetics for the workers? MIU's (the superior Mechanicum designs or the normal ones?)?

...Improved actual mining equipment? What if the equipment is known as an STC design, rather than something ad-hocced? Is this hand tools or the larger tools and vehicles and such? Drills? Various sorts of industrial power field tools?

...Improved heavy mining servitors, and cogitation systems for mining servitors? And maybe reclamation bays and medical bays and such places to make new servitors from the vat??

...Improved access to glanded productivity drugs of various types for the workers?

...Archeotech robotic mining drones, non Servitor-based (based on industrial variations of Legio Cybernetica)?

...Simple things like improving the prefab home base for the mining workers themselves, for higher morale?

...Improved positioning of auspex, sensor, and augur networks around the asteroid, connected to a cogitator, and maybe a communications network and internal cogitator linkage inspired by in-ship communications networks? For superior 'management'? With an advanced command and control 'bridge' like found on a starship for managing the place, maybe with with stuff like advanced cogitator linkages and interlinks?

...Augmenting all the workers to be noosphere-capable via cranial augmetics, and then having a Noosphere network on the asteroid for information sharing and cooperation?

...Maybe they found and scanned some of the more esoteric magos biologis research bases, and know of a retrovirus that will mutate people to be one of the sanctioned (but that many consider heretical) heavy industry genetic tinkering transhuman types, that are often found on forgeworlds?

...Extra power availability for the various machines, by using rarer Imperial power systems that are not normally found on a mining platform?

By the Emperor, are you suggesting they:

...recreate the Men of Iron for purposes of heavy industry?


---The thing is, a lot of this stuff, while technically viable, isn't really economically viable unless you find a huge asteroid that is pretty much the motherlode. And a good number of this stuff is archeotech, mechanicus only, or completely heretical or near heretical if used this way---

[Gavinfoxx]

On impersonating Rogue Traders... Rogue Traders require, you know. An actual ancient Warrant, probably in a vault somewhere (on Terra for the most august ones, signed by the Emperor or one or more of the Primarchs), to do what they do. So... you'd need that. When we say Rogue Traders have permission slips from God, we mean it in a very literal way...

Rogue Trader Warrants are generally only granted by very, very powerful organizations...

But it's certainly possible for something with the Culture's capabilities to engineer an appropriate Xanatos Gambit so that the family of one of their agents, and the agent (all of which are planted to seem like typical Imperial citizens) gets granted one!

You should look at the role playing game book Rogue Trader Core and Rogue Trader Into the Storm for more information on the actual Warrants, and how they are bestowed and such.

[jseah]

part 8.5 Rogue Trader

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Despite the fact that one of the frigate mercenary captains was obviously unhappy that the Rogue Trader "refuses to share", we find it strange that the other three ships made no protest at the Rogue Trader's restriction of granted technology to himself. The Rogue Trader explained that they were afraid of the Mechanicum listing their ships as heretical, which confirms many of our other, hard to believe, observations that the Mechanicum maintains a complete monopoly on advanced technology in the Imperium.

We must find a way to break this monopoly. The Imperium cannot advance in technology without removing their control.

Week 3
We have put it to the Rogue Trader, a proposal that involves him breaking the monopoly. Since our psychological assessment indicates that he is not ready for a request that is not in his interest, we have merely expressed a desire to see him build an independently functioning space colony. A number of advantages were listed out for him, from having an independent production base to build weapons and ships to having more 'power'.

What about this one then? Our loyal but not too-xenophobic Rogue Trader ex-navy captain is presented with the proposal that the Culture will help him establish an independent mobile space fleet. Independent meaning it has its own production base and civilian population.

Sort of like a fleet supply train that includes... everything.

[jseah]

RE mining platform:
How likely is it that the workers will be fine without returning to their original homeworld? If they just need shore leave, once a certain critical mass of people come under the Rogue Trader, they form a mini-society and it more or less functions exactly as the Culture want anyway.

The Culture can give him plans for a mini habitat. Basically, a ship that is also a small city. Will probably cost alot in materials, but it will certainly make the workers' morale much higher. Might even get people from Hive worlds volunteering.


How likely is the Rogue Trader to allow the Culture to manage something for him?

[jseah]

part 8.5 Rogue Trader

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The Rogue Trader has asked for some time to think about it and we have agreed to do so.

Meanwhile, the Rogue Trader has picked up on rumours of a Space Hulk in the area and is determined to find it. A piece of debris that matched the description of the hulk was found by one of our probes in a nearby system and the Rogue Trader has set off to find it. He seems to think that he might find the battle against Chaos forces there.

part 8.5 Necrons

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Week 1
The Necron tombworld we have been negotiating with has been visited by a minor fleet of Necron vessels. The commander of the fleet noted our presence immediately (something the Necron Lord here was unable to do so) and sent a message saying that he merely came to negotiate with this Necron Lord.

The two Necrons exchanged cryptographically secure messages (we can't hack their computers) for a while and after a moment, a heavily shielded shuttle docked with the flagship of the fleet for one hour before returning back to the tombworld.

After which, the fleet retreated the way it came. ROU White Devil has elected to tail the fleet personally and the network of drones around this region will pass to Curiousity Saved the Cat to coordinate. Discussions with this new Necron Lord have also begun.

I was planning for this to be Trazyn (or at least one of his proxies) come to collect the stasis-fielded drone, but it can also be any Necron faction with their version of future sight.

[hamishspence]

Orikan the Diviner is the Necron most known for future sight (and time travel to fix predictions that don't go as planned).

[Water_Bear]

RE mining platform:
How likely is it that the workers will be fine without returning to their original homeworld? If they just need shore leave, once a certain critical mass of people come under the Rogue Trader, they form a mini-society and it more or less functions exactly as the Culture want anyway.

The Culture can give him plans for a mini habitat. Basically, a ship that is also a small city. Will probably cost alot in materials, but it will certainly make the workers' morale much higher. Might even get people from Hive worlds volunteering.


How likely is the Rogue Trader to allow the Culture to manage something for him?

Well, RT fleets already have huge numbers of civvies and manufacturing, and I'd imagine asteroid miners (and their ancestors for at least the last few centuries) are Spacers who've never set foot on a planet. So in terms of living out in space that's something they do as is, just not as comfortably or safely.

Also, you can't really just load up a cargo ship with volunteers. Hivers are essentially serfs, so unless you really want a Planetary Governor as your enemy they'll need to be paid for. Not that that's outside of an RT's budget, or even unusual for them to do, just a reality of the situation.

The RT is probably going to want to run their own fleet, that's kind of the whole point of being a Rogue Trader, and won't give their press-ganged crews anywhere near the kinds of freedoms the Culture expects as a norm. Plus, staying in one spot and living as miners doesn't really resonate with the whole RT mantra of High Risk / High Rewards. They'll likely go out and try to conquer local Xenos worlds or recapture ancient Human colonies, or at least look for lost treasure somewhere.

[Gavinfoxx]

RE mining platform:
How likely is it that the workers will be fine without returning to their original homeworld? If they just need shore leave, once a certain critical mass of people come under the Rogue Trader, they form a mini-society and it more or less functions exactly as the Culture want anyway.

It is... really really hard to make a self-sustaining void ship without morale problems for indefinite voidfaring, without morale problems and such, via Imperium tech. It might be possible, given sufficient scans of disparate tech, to make, from the ground up, a ship that can do mining operations and such indefinitely... you'd need a lot of absolutely incredible quality in all of the components (and thus for more miniaturization, to fit everything you would need).

But in general, ships DO have morale problems if they are in the void for long enough without stops. I'm going to send you an email regarding this topic.

Also... you know that many, maybe even most, Imperial ships practice impressment, kidnapping, and emptying the prisons and such to get their crew, right? right? This happens on Hives and anywhere else with sufficient population. The captain goes to a hive world, tells the local authorities to empty their prisons, and the ship leaves with a new crew. Or, they go to a hive world, find prisons empty (other ships recently got there), and pay the local authorities to look the other way for the impressment gangs, or if the rank of the person on the ship is high enough, just tell the local authorities not to interfere..

Also, if someone is impressed, they will probably want to go home, if they figure out that it is possible... but the trick is to get folk to realize that it isn't possible, and the ship is now their home.. that's what most ships in the Imperium do. But if that changes...?

Anyway, I sent you an email, did that have anything useful for you?

[Misery Esquire]

What about this one then? Our loyal but not too-xenophobic Rogue Trader ex-navy captain is presented with the proposal that the Culture will help him establish an independent mobile space fleet. Independent meaning it has its own production base and civilian population.

Sort of like a fleet supply train that includes... everything.

Large scale mining bases require Administratum approval. Unless run by the AdMech. RTs might be able to do so, but it's unlikely since their writs are to go explore new space, and establish miniature trading empires, that will become part of the Imperium of Man.

And every Imperial ship technically already has a civilian population onboard, seeing as they house tens-to-hundreds of thousands of crew members.

Any Imperial civilian that ends up travelling, knows that they will never go home.

[Gavinfoxx]

Setting up large scale mining bases --indeed, settling mining planets-- is a major option in the Rogue Trader RPG. They can and do most definitely set up huge business operations, of various sorts. In fact, they are some of the only people who can really set up businesses and corporations and ventures on an interstellar scale just because they feel like it! Further, I would say that cutting through the red tape to do just that is a major part of their jobs! That's why they have a legally protected cartel on that sort of thing...

[jseah]

part 8.5 Necrons

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We have continued negotiations with the Necron Lord's fleet who we are tailing. These Necrons claim to be from a different dynasty (a political organization not unlike separate countries) from the Tomb World we are still monitoring. As the Necron Lord in charge of this fleet is considerably more psychologically stable, we have shifted our main focus of diplomacy to them.

Analysis of the Monolith (IoM name) continues and we think we might have a theoretical understanding of what components are required for its field projector to work. A number of asteroids suffered... unusual accidents, mostly involving Warp rifts, in the process of gaining this understanding.
However, for obvious reasons, copying the process, even crudely, still requires proper sub-atomic engineering.

Nevertheless, the expendability of the Necron warriors and how lightly the Necron Lords treat their fellow citizens' lives does not bode well for proper acceptance of their culture.

Week 2
Through corroboration with the far more eloquent Necron Lord in the fleet, we have confirmed most of the Eldar account of the War in Heaven (their name). It appears that a major intra-galactic war between two powerful races, the C'Tan and Old Ones are possibly OCPs, was fought with the creation of lesser races and even HSes as weapons. And that this war was at least partially responsible for the creation of the Chaos gods in a way that is unclear.

Now that we have accounts from both sides, it becomes clear that the enmity between the Necrons and the Eldar is deep-seated. Not just by their long-dead master races, but also in a fundamental conflict of values. The Eldar celebrate individual acheivement and experiences, while the Necrons are collectivist. Not to mention that the Eldar are reliant on the Warp while the Necrons have a stated plan to remove connection with the Warp.
Peace between the two does not look likely, especially when both sides still appear to be fighting for the complete elimination of the other.

We fear that our technology trade with the Eldar will result in the complete destruction of the Necrons when the Eldar employ the hyperspace drive. While this is in the extremely long term, we feel that some action must be taken now. Negotiation with the Eldar to avoid destroying the Necrons is likely to be uselessly deteriorating to our diplomatic relations.

Sorry about that yesterday, internet connection died mysteriously. Given the number of times that has happened, I wake up expecting an undead apocalypse to have started with my router...

Q1 What might happen if the Culture decides to take a Gunboat Diplomacy stance with the IoM? Like the US and Japan way back then. It is looking more likely every time I look that the IoM is inflexible to the point that any attempt at change will blow it up or just fail.

Covert operations can only go so far when you are aiming to introduce society wide changes. The mentioned Inquisitorial faction that is friendly to the IoM changing can't do much, especially if the others declare them heretical which they almost certainly will if the Culture manages to introduce xenotech through them.

Still, not all is lost so far. Q2 What happens if the Culture decides to introduce the hyperspace drive to the Mechanicum? The Culture is certainly able to track every copy of the hyperspace drive ever produced if it's given to Mars and Mars keeps its monopoly. Failing that, it can be introduced to multiple Forge Worlds in hopes that one of them would build it for general use.
The idea of course is to reduce IoM reliance on Warp travel and thereby massively cut the IoM's tech leakage to Chaos. Sure, Chaos will get the hyperdrive in this case, but Chaos's production base is basically non-existent and them being able to reverse engineer it (amid much rivalry) is also rather inhibited.

[Fan]

part 8.5 Necrons

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We have continued negotiations with the Necron Lord's fleet who we are tailing. These Necrons claim to be from a different dynasty (a political organization not unlike separate countries) from the Tomb World we are still monitoring. As the Necron Lord in charge of this fleet is considerably more psychologically stable, we have shifted our main focus of diplomacy to them.

Analysis of the Monolith (IoM name) continues and we think we might have a theoretical understanding of what components are required for its field projector to work. A number of asteroids suffered... unusual accidents, mostly involving Warp rifts, in the process of gaining this understanding.
However, for obvious reasons, copying the process, even crudely, still requires proper sub-atomic engineering.

Nevertheless, the expendability of the Necron warriors and how lightly the Necron Lords treat their fellow citizens' lives does not bode well for proper acceptance of their culture.

Week 2
Through corroboration with the far more eloquent Necron Lord in the fleet, we have confirmed most of the Eldar account of the War in Heaven (their name). It appears that a major intra-galactic war between two powerful races, the C'Tan and Old Ones are possibly OCPs, was fought with the creation of lesser races and even HSes as weapons. And that this war was at least partially responsible for the creation of the Chaos gods in a way that is unclear.

Now that we have accounts from both sides, it becomes clear that the enmity between the Necrons and the Eldar is deep-seated. Not just by their long-dead master races, but also in a fundamental conflict of values. The Eldar celebrate individual acheivement and experiences, while the Necrons are collectivist. Not to mention that the Eldar are reliant on the Warp while the Necrons have a stated plan to remove connection with the Warp.
Peace between the two does not look likely, especially when both sides still appear to be fighting for the complete elimination of the other.

We fear that our technology trade with the Eldar will result in the complete destruction of the Necrons when the Eldar employ the hyperspace drive. While this is in the extremely long term, we feel that some action must be taken now. Negotiation with the Eldar to avoid destroying the Necrons is likely to be uselessly deteriorating to our diplomatic relations.

Sorry about that yesterday, internet connection died mysteriously. Given the number of times that has happened, I wake up expecting an undead apocalypse to have started with my router...

Q1 What might happen if the Culture decides to take a Gunboat Diplomacy stance with the IoM? Like the US and Japan way back then. It is looking more likely every time I look that the IoM is inflexible to the point that any attempt at change will blow it up or just fail.

Covert operations can only go so far when you are aiming to introduce society wide changes. The mentioned Inquisitorial faction that is friendly to the IoM changing can't do much, especially if the others declare them heretical which they almost certainly will if the Culture manages to introduce xenotech through them.

Still, not all is lost so far. Q2 What happens if the Culture decides to introduce the hyperspace drive to the Mechanicum? The Culture is certainly able to track every copy of the hyperspace drive ever produced if it's given to Mars and Mars keeps its monopoly. Failing that, it can be introduced to multiple Forge Worlds in hopes that one of them would build it for general use.
The idea of course is to reduce IoM reliance on Warp travel and thereby massively cut the IoM's tech leakage to Chaos. Sure, Chaos will get the hyperdrive in this case, but Chaos's production base is basically non-existent and them being able to reverse engineer it (amid much rivalry) is also rather inhibited.

Actually, gonna have to correct that Chaos having no production base thing.

There IS a Dark Mechanicus, who owns many forge worlds within the warp, and then there is The Forge of Souls which is fueled by the agony of the souls that are killed by Chaos.

If a Daemon kills someone, they immediately claim their soul, and if they're from the Forge of Souls it is immediately sent there to be stripped of identity, and meaning before used as an everburning torture victim, and fuel, for the Forge of Souls itself.

Their industrial base is actually BETTER than the IoM's due to their complete lack of restricting Dogma, and embrace of "Heretek" or progress not sanctioned by the Mechanicum. While the Culture doesn't know this, and there's really no way to aside from being indoctrinated in Chaos, if they hand the IoM a Hyperspace drive, and Chaos gets a hold of it? You can garuntee that there wont be any gellar field capable of preserving them inside the Eye of Terror for at least a few months.

[Selrahc]

Their industrial base is actually BETTER than the IoM's due to their complete lack of restricting Dogma,

Uh. Possibly more efficient. Definitely not more gigantic. The Imperium can produce far more things than the forces of Chaos.

And also: If Chaos comes outside the eye, then they get smashed. The material forces of Chaos are almost junk. They can hide out in the Eye/Maelstrom. Or they can get gridfired.

[Maugan Ra]

Chaos' industrial base is a... complicated matter. The Imperium flatly outdoes them in a sense of sheer mass production and being able to reliably produce most of their less advanced tech. The forces of Chaos, by contrast, don't have to worry about silly things like 'supply lines' or 'power supply' or even 'physically possible'.

As for giving the Mechanicus a Hyperdrive... it's an interesting idea. The Magi wouldn't accept it and make use of it right away - ten thousand years of bad experiences have taught them to be very careful with new and untested technology - so you're looking at several centuries of rigorous testing first. But if the tests prove that the hyperdrive is more efficient and safer to use than their current warp drive, odds are they'll begin making the change over. It will be very slow going, but eventually, it would probably work.

[jseah]

It will be very slow going, but eventually, it would probably work.

It will test out, so the changeover will happen. The question being that since it will leak to Chaos before the changeover happens, is whether the IoM is fast moving enough to adopt it before Chaos kills them with it.

Consider the problem of a hyperdrive equipped Chaos fleet going up against a standard plasma drive IoM fleet? Can one say 'curbstomp battle' loud enough?

Sure, the Culture can help, since they'll nuke Chaos as and when they find them, but the Culture aren't everywhere and a single Chaos frigate coming down from the Warp (they can just as easily use both) on top of an IoM planet will wreck every single merchant ship in the system and just get out of dodge before the Culture nearby can get there or the IoM in-system can react.
And since their sorcerors aren't going to have any qualms using 'magic', they can easily foretell if they're about to un-Warp in a system where a Culture vessel just happens to be in.

If Chaos adopts a hit-and-run terrorist bombing activities with the hyperdrive against a non-hyper equipped IoM it's bye bye IoM as an expanding ring of systems (expanding at Warp drive speed) around the Eye lose their merchant traffic.

[Forum Explorer]

It will test out, so the changeover will happen. The question being that since it will leak to Chaos before the changeover happens, is whether the IoM is fast moving enough to adopt it before Chaos kills them with it.

Consider the problem of a hyperdrive equipped Chaos fleet going up against a standard plasma drive IoM fleet? Can one say 'curbstomp battle' loud enough?

Sure, the Culture can help, since they'll nuke Chaos as and when they find them, but the Culture aren't everywhere and a single Chaos frigate coming down from the Warp (they can just as easily use both) on top of an IoM planet will wreck every single merchant ship in the system and just get out of dodge before the Culture nearby can get there or the IoM in-system can react.
And since their sorcerors aren't going to have any qualms using 'magic', they can easily foretell if they're about to un-Warp in a system where a Culture vessel just happens to be in.

If Chaos adopts a hit-and-run terrorist bombing activities with the hyperdrive against a non-hyper equipped IoM it's bye bye IoM as an expanding ring of systems (expanding at Warp drive speed) around the Eye lose their merchant traffic.

I don't know about that. The Imperium can be pretty good at keeping stuff out of Chaos' hands. That and Chaos isn't unified in any way. For a long time the hyperspace drives would be more used to get 1-ups on rivals by singular warlords and they wouldn't share. Even Abbadon wouldn't want to put those on any ships other then his flagship and his absolutely most trusted minion's ships.

[Fan]

I don't know about that. The Imperium can be pretty good at keeping stuff out of Chaos' hands. That and Chaos isn't unified in any way. For a long time the hyperspace drives would be more used to get 1-ups on rivals by singular warlords and they wouldn't share. Even Abbadon wouldn't want to put those on any ships other then his flagship and his absolutely most trusted minion's ships.

When Chaos sets it's mind to it, they can make an entire planet vanish into their hands. However, that usually has A LOT of plot behind it.

However if there's any reason for a warp storm to appear in a system, it's probably the Culture's biggest tech advantage.

[jseah]

I don't know about that. The Imperium can be pretty good at keeping stuff out of Chaos' hands. That and Chaos isn't unified in any way. For a long time the hyperspace drives would be more used to get 1-ups on rivals by singular warlords and they wouldn't share. Even Abbadon wouldn't want to put those on any ships other then his flagship and his absolutely most trusted minion's ships.

For the reasons Fan mentions, Chaos will get it much faster than the IoM will. Even if their adoption of the hyperdrive is plagued by infighting and a much small population base to draw specialists from, their flexibility is considerably larger than the IoM's.

It might take a couple of decades, but Chaos will still adopt hyperdrive tactics before the IoM does.

[Murska]

Why won't the Culture just give the Imperium a really slow hyperdrive?

[jseah]

Why won't the Culture just give the Imperium a really slow hyperdrive?

It could be strategically slow, but it will still be tactical FTL. Which is all manners of broken when it comes to fighting a non-FTL opponent.

[Murska]

It could be strategically slow, but it will still be tactical FTL. Which is all manners of broken when it comes to fighting a non-FTL opponent.

Well, add limitations to make it unusable in tactical combat. It's not like that's beyond the Culture's capability, and the main thing they want to give the Imperium is the ability to travel without the Warp, after all.

[Selrahc]

Well, add limitations to make it unusable in tactical combat. It's not like that's beyond the Culture's capability, and the main thing they want to give the Imperium is the ability to travel without the Warp, after all.

Yeah. If the Culture gives the Imperium a Hyperdrive that needs something like preprogrammed movement solutions, which they'll have to do with a slow IoM cogitator array, then it might take (say) half an hour to prepare it between each journey. Very limited tactical utility, but still handy on a strategic scale.

[jseah]

Yeah. If the Culture gives the Imperium a Hyperdrive that needs something like preprogrammed movement solutions, which they'll have to do with a slow IoM cogitator array, then it might take (say) half an hour to prepare it between each journey. Very limited tactical utility, but still handy on a strategic scale.

But the Imperium and Chaos would reverse engineer the fundamental technology and just build a drive that isn't limited. At least, it wouldn't be beyond Chaos to do that.