The Last Human [Finished]

[deMangler]

"Let me explain a couple of things.
To call myself the last human isn't entirely accurate. I am "Organic Last Redundant Backup Contingency Humanoid Clone Sigma". OLRBCHCS to my friends, if I had any, which I don't. I am mostly biologically human, A clone, existing only to be awoken should all other fail-safes fail to report optimum functionality at this installation, Sub-luna DNA repository Beta Gamma Three. I consider it a  friend so I call it SLDNARBGT.
Should I mention that I have no trouble pronouncing the system names in the galactic map?
I have been awoken. I have a job to do and accomplishing that job is within my design parameters. It appears that all of humanity has been wiped out, or very nearly so. The worst fears of my creators have been realised, but there is a twist. It was our own AI that did it. Because of this twist there is a chance for me to save humanity.

This installation never officially existed. On the records it is an automated mining outpost. A replicator, extractors, a couple of engineer drones.... a scout. Nothing to raise any flags. I never existed. I was never born, I am not a citizen. I have no rights. Something I do have however.
I have access to the lowest level protocols of all the data transmission networks throughout what was once human space. I wish that meant that I could decrypt the AI internal network. I can't. I don't have that much processing power. All I can tell about it is that the AI must have at least a couple of large centralised processor clusters just dedicated to handling the encryption on it's internals. Why? It is very powerful, practically omniscient... What is it afraid of?
What my network access does mean is that I can install and operate an Orbital Command Centre in any system where there is a network node and I have supply. In other words, potentially, any system ever occupied by humans. In other words I can reach the AI and kill it. If I can find it.
To my advantage is that although the main AI core will be housed in one or two main processing centres, it is largely a decentralised intelligence. This means that if I can make my activities appear to it's systems as not much more than perhaps those of one of it's own mildly deviant subsystems then my existence will be tolerated. This is one of the AI's many strengths. A kind of internal evolution, survival of the best subsystem, with safeguards. I do not have those safeguards. This will be it's fatal weakness. If I can locate it's core, if I can survive.....
If I should die, for whatever reason - perhaps I will simply expire from old age before my mission is complete, I leave this personal record as a testament to my being a living feeling human, and as a gift to my replacement, Organic Last Redundant Backup Contingency Humanoid Clone Tau. I wish my predecessors had been as kind....."
 -Last Human

--------
Zenith Remnants Expansion
80 Planets
AI Progress 1/30 2xDif 7 Random Easier

Simple Ships Selection.
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[deMangler]

>System|Processmessages|Pattern-recog|Escalation-daemon -->>
>System|Wakeprocess|Heuristic-37#ll9 -->>
>System|Receive-report / verbose:no
>|->> Statistically unlikely configuration of assets in system  ~FF3E749[375] <Ginwig> 2D sectional N-Space matter-density matrices follow::

Galactic:


Ginwig:


Typical Gate Configuration:


>System|Wakeprocess|Heuristic-37#ll9 <<--
>|->> Heuristic analysis:: Drone behavioural deviation not critical.
>System|Processmessages|Pattern-recog|Escalation-daemon <<--
>|->> Action:: Progress Escalation +1
>System|Processmessages|Pattern-recog| <<--
>>System|Processmessages| <<--
>|->>

[RCIX]

Presumably an AI subsystem report?

Gotta say, you're doing a great job story-izing these things!

[deMangler]

"My approach must be governed by caution - after all I have already been asleep for nearly 1000 years, and I have nothing else to consider, no obligations other than the great responsibility that lies before me. I cannot afford to fail. I cannot afford to act without consideration.
I began by constructing a small automated force of parasite units in my base system, Ginwig, and some tractor turrets around the wormholes. I am accumulating a ragtag mix of parasited ships, hoping that this registers to the AI monitoring systems as more of a unit allocation namespace type change rather than as an actual hostile destruction. I won't be able to stay under the AI radar for long using this method but I need to avoid attracting attention and being accidentally destroyed by low-level systems while I do my scouting.
Two hours 53 minutes and 13 seconds into my task and I fear that I do not have the luxury of taking my time.
The parasite are doing their job but they are slow movers and they require a lot of energy. This limits the number of assets I can support. Also there has been a lot of Astro-Train traffic through the system which complicates things. Counter Dark Matter Turrets help but their range is very limited. I need a more efficient defence.  
I have been taking out the Guard posts and Warp gates in nearby systems. Ismeick and Oripum are clear. I daren't risk attacking a command centre until I have better defences. I have tried, but I cannot crack the AI Command Centre security - The only way is to destroy them and replace them with copies of this one. That is sure to attract attention.
It seems I am facing two quite different AI's, or one schizoid one. I am currently in the process of neutralising the third system, Onnoco. It is controlled by the AI I have taken to calling Blackie - because it seems to like building Black Hole Generators."

****- The First Onnoco Raid -****
The Onnoco system has a AI Troop Accelerator which must be destroyed as well as the guard posts and a warp gate, because of the black hole generator that I wish to capture, any raiding parties I send in are not coming back. I do not intend to destroy the Command Centre during this raid.
There are quite a number of troops in this system as well as 2 Flagship class Starships so this could be interesting.



The first objective after entering the system at (X) is to take out the warpgate at (A)
The Plan:
Go in with a force of 65 Bomber II's and 35 Fighter II's
Move as a group into range of Gate and target it. Whatever forces are left to continue through objectives (B), (C), and (D).
-------------
 


In Through the wormhole - mines!
Took out 5 of my ships straight away and left the rest moderately damaged.
Also AI Electric Shuttles and MLRS, Fighters, a mix of stuff... Time to take out the tractor turrets and head for the warpgate.

46 Bombers and 14 fighters made it clear of the wormhole defences but there is bad news, The AI Starships are closing fast and my forces are at around 50% health.


Moving as a group straight for the enemy gate, taking losses left and right, 35 bombers and 12 fighters make it and Boom! Bye Bye gate. Good job it wasn't shielded.


Now to see if I can take one of his Starships before my raiding party is wiped out...


Not a chance.....
----------------------
"The Raid on Onnoco  was as successful as can be expected. I will have to take a bigger force to have any hope of taking out his shielded guard posts - even crossing the extra distance is going to take it's toll. I may have to seriously consider possessing Ismeick for the resources before I pursue this plan... Caution has served me well so far, but something tells me time is running out."
- The Last Human 2:55:30

[deMangler]

Presumably an AI subsystem report?

Gotta say, you're doing a great job story-izing these things!

Thanks! 
I was hoping people would enjoy them.
I am having a great time seeing how these games unfold myself.
I wonder if 'The Last Human' will do much better than the pitiful Riedquat Resistance.....
dM

[I-KP]

[/Cloak]
http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,3092.0.html - Alternate Lightning sprite that makes it far easier to see the source of the burst.  Very handy when in the presence of multiple emitters at partial zoom.
[Cloak]

[deMangler]

"The destruction of the warp gates in all adjacent systems apart from Dumelzon means that the enemy warp-waves will all come from there. It is a happy accident that the Dumelzon wormhole is the furthest away from my command centre, but is should not have been an accident, it should have been planned. What else am I missing? What unhappy accidents await? I must think carefully, yet I must be bold. I will take the risk of positioning the Ginwig defences to intercept attacks from the Dumelzon wormhole.
This will still not free up enough Ordnance to give me an acceptable chance at taking out the guard posts and AI Troop Accelerator in Onnoco - but they must be eliminated soon, Onnoco is already the most heavily occupied of the neighbour systems and it just going to get worse."



"I will have to risk Onnoco re-inforcing further while I occupy Ismeick, without the extra resources from Ismeick I cannot begin to neutralise Onnoco. It bothers me that the Onnoco wormhole is the closest to my command centre. An unhappy accident.

I hope to return to this journal soon with good news"
 - The Last Human 2:55:30  

[deMangler]

[/Cloak]
http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,3092.0.html - Alternate Lightning sprite that makes it far easier to see the source of the burst.  Very handy when in the presence of multiple emitters at partial zoom.
[Cloak]

Thanks, I used it - it's pretty good.
At the moment I am going through a phase of enjoying the WTF? Aggggh Chaotic! ionised plasma streakiness! of the original sprite so I have changed back. Nice to have a choice though.
dM
 

[deMangler]

 "And get worse it has done.
 It is becoming clear to me that the AI is only going to grow in strength and hostility the longer my quest continues.
 I have occupied Ismeick and Thereliuja beyond. From the resources from these two systems I built a fleet that I used to destroy the remaining guard posts and AI Troop Accelerator in Onnoco. As the fleet I sent was expendable I also used it to decimate the enemy ships including the starships. Nevertheless, since then the AI has reinforced the numbers in Onnoco to even greater than before.
Now that it is obvious that I cannot confront the AI militarily, I have invested some research into MK II Scouts, my MK I's were not making it more that a couple of systems away. While seeking a clue as to the location of the AI core I have stumbled upon something incredible in the 'Nades' system.

 

I admit that I do not know what to make of it. It may be that humanity has learned something of these artefacts in the time I was asleep, but all I have to go on is the names, 'Broken Artillery Golem', 'Zenith Reserve Ships' and some basic statistics from the MK II Scout identification database. Whether my situation will become desperate enough to risk toying with these mysterious artefacts we shall see, however, it seems that to begin to use either one of these finds will take at least 400,000 Energy. Inconceivable. I cannot afford to be distracted by such fantasies.


On a more practical note I discovered and destroyed an AI datacentre in the nearby system of Vilseark, this should somewhat dim the AI's awareness of the, shall we say, 'unusual activity' that has been going on in this part of the galaxy since I awoke. I need all the advantage I can scrape together.




And all the while the burgeoning AI forces press upon my defences. I cannot allow my base to fall. If I lose my Home Orbital Command centre, I will loose all ability to access the AI net and my quest to save humanity will be over. Fortunately, my method of using parasites stationed around hostile wormholes seems to be working, I have accumulated quite a number of ships that I could never build, and quite large waves of attackers have been fought off without huge losses on my part.



The resources situation is not ideal. While I have acquired more crystal than I can use, metal seems to be rare. For the short term I have built a farm of metal manufacturies to convert the crystal into useful alloys, but it is inefficient and I need to find usable metal as a priority.

My scouts must provide me with the information I need to choose my next move wisely, before time runs out.

[RCIX]

I recommend you put together some leech starships, they'll "leech" your crystal real quick

[deMangler]

"It is about time I did something about the build up in Dumelzon. There are two guard posts, a special forces guard post and a warp gate in this system, adjacent to my home, and it has been reinforcing for the last 8 standard hours.
Also, I need more data for my science labs, however, upon taking my planning a stage further I noticed a bit of a snag... "


Permamines! Surrounding the other side of the wormhole. Good job I checked.

"Luckily, it appears that I can get to Dumelzon by passing through Onnoco - a system I have already effectively neutralised - thus avoiding the minefield at the Ginwig/Dumelzon wormhole. I will send a sizeable force of mixed bombers and fighters along with a MK II science lab and a forcefield generator through Onnoco and into Dumelzon.
A good plan I think. But wait... The Onnoco system is still in the possession of the AI 'Blackie', with it's penchant for Black Hole Machines. The only way I can pass through there is to either take possession of the system for myself or destroy the Black Hole Machine.
There is an even supply of metal and Crystal to be had if I take Onnoco, and I would only be exposing myself to one more of the AI controlled wormholes - the one leading to Thobo. Also I would be gaining control of a Black Hole Machine. Once I have taken Onnoco then I can neutralise Dumelzon from there. It seems that the decision is an easy one. The only possible bad side-effect I can see is that I might induce the AI to begin reinforcing Thobo, which is marked in my database as a MK III system."



"With it's 8 guard posts and special forces post, I wonder if I wouldn't rather have a Black Hole Machine between me and Thobo... Still, I cannot hide in Ginwig forever..."

[deMangler]

"My plan for taking Onnoco was a simple one based on what I have learned from taking Ismeick and Thereliuja, although as it turned out I was to learn a new method of managing my forces which deserves a mention.
The first stage, send in a group of a hundred or so mixed fighters and bombers - this time with some parasited units thrown in from the Ginwig defenses around the Onnoco wormhole. I was determined to make a stand on the Onnoco side.
As the Ginwig wormhole in Onnoco is at the 'southern' egde of the system it was fairly easy for me to set up a defensive group while my forcefield generator and colony ship snuck in behind to set up shop.
I brought in a few engineers and quickly built a space dock to replace the losses in the beach-head forces.
To begin with I kept my forces in attack-move mode around the Ginwig Wormhole between me and the AI defenders that were rushing down.
However, I was taking heavy losses and soon it became clear that the continuous stream of AI reinforcements from Dumelzon and Thobo would be able to kill my newly built base if I allowed them to get into range, so a new method in my madness evolved.



Setting the space dock to continuously build a fighter, bomber, and parasite in rotation, and rally them at the Ginwig wormhole in attack-move mode, then going off and devoting my attention to the waves attacking in other systems, then when the group at the rally point numbered 20 or more, switching them to FRD mode, turned out to be very effective, much more so than rallying them straight into FRD.
They would then wander off in little groups taking care of business. It was not the most efficient way to manage my forces I am sure, but given my multitasking needs at the time it was surprisingly effective and the losses were minimal. Before long I had well over 100 offensive units of various types in little groups mopping up the AI forces, defending my base, and harassing the AI reinforcements from Thobo and Dumelzon.
It is now my intention to hold Onnoco, using it as a base from which to raid Dumelzon while I scout the galaxy for priority AI targets."

[deMangler]

"I attempted a number of raids on Dumelzon to reduce the number of hostiles there, but the number just seemed to be increasing. A quick look at what was happening revealed the problem.

AI leech starships, no wonder. The raiding parties I was sending through were just adding to his forces. Not only that but there had been a lot of regeneration Astro-Trains passing through so I was helping him more than I was hurting him with my raids.
Well, seeing his starship constructor gave me an idea, I began construction of a fleet of three flagship class starships to take out his leeches as they are immune. Meanwhile I was fighting off warp waves and cross planet attacks.
In a knowledge raid in Oripum, I used the first starship I built to draw the fire of the turrets while my lab collected data. I later learned that the lab cannot be targeted by turrets anyway, but it was a nice exercise in something or other anyway.
As soon as my starships were built I sent them into Dumelzon to take out the leeches."



"The mission was quickly successful, but then I discovered my big mistake.
There is a Black Hole Machine in Dumelzon. I KNEW that was there, how could I forget to include it in my planning?
I now am faced with a Dilemma, try to capture Dumelzon, destroy the Black Hole Machine, or abandon my starships.....
For me to suffer such a lapse in concentration is a bad sign, but looking back over my activities it has happened a lot. Was I brain-damaged during the clone-awakening process? The fate of humanity rests on my shoulders, I can't afford to make mistakes and I have no time to sleep. I have been controlling my drones now for over ten hours and I am only just beginning to scout the galaxy."



"It could be that the AI has already won, and I just have yet to accept the inevitable, and go to the sleep I crave so much..."

[deMangler]

"Of course, things always look worse when you are tired and outnumbered. A heroic epic could be written about what then transpired at Dumelzon. I don't have time to write a heroic epic, what with saving the galaxy and all, so briefly...
From the options previously listed, I decided, none of the above, and commanded my next raiding party to join the starship trio in Dumelzon.
"
 
"Reinforcements have arrived!"

 
"First to take out the nearest guard post....."


"Now for the special forces post...."


"Then let's eliminate the warp gate...."


"Meanwhile, sending in the boffins from Onnoco..."


"And now for the final guard post"


"Now to give them their FRD freedom, to enjoy while it lasts..."


"Fairly soon all that remains are the starship trio"


"Coming to support the boffins....Not looking good for those scientist dudes.... Wait, where are you going?"
       

"They appear to be thinking of taking on the permamines of death at the Ginwig wormhole..."


"Two live to fight on, further reducing the AI forces before heroically... erm... experienceng systems failure..."


"At the end of this understated heroic epic, Dumelzon has been thourougly neutered. Encouraged by this turn of fortune, I have determined to push outward through Oripum...."

[deMangler]

"And push into Oripum I did, but not through."



"I discovered a much more compelling objective in the system of Tickal, 4 hops from my home system.
There were a number or reasons for my choice to push in this direction.
My scouting binge made me realise that the AI really does have this area of space sewn up. I was despairing of a viable choice. I am a realist at the end of the day, which is why I have this responsibility - even if I have been damaged by some part of the cloning process, and the reality of the situation was that there was no way I was going to succeed going very far in any direction unless something changed.
In Tickal there is (or rather was - we'll get to that) an advanced research station. If I could capture that,  I thought, I may gain an advantage. Also, in the next system after Tickal, Vani, there is something called a "decoy fab", possibly also useful.
Another very good reason for choosing to expand in that direction is that the systems are strung on the wormhole route like beads on a thread. There are no branches until Bulta, so no extra defensive overheads, unlike the other directions through Oripum, Onnoco, or Dumelzon.
So, I chose Tickal as my goal.
It took a while, 10 hours to get where I feel I hold the system. This was mainly due to having to fight off attack waves and Cross Planetary Attacks, dividing my limited forces, there have been a lot of regen Astro Trains while I have been fighting, which I think make the CPA's a lot worse.
Once I had captured Tickal the first time I was soon pushed all the way back to Ismeick by AI forces surging out of Vani. Whether it was a coincidence that there were other waves attacking Onnoco and Aripum, as well as regen astro trains crossing the battle zones is something I do not want to consider too closely.
In any case, the AI did not seem to want to hold the systems it took from me, it even left the remains of my turrets which were easily rebuilt - it did, however, destroy everything else - including the Advanced Research Station. No matter, before it was destroyed I recovered the blueprints for a "Raptor", a very fast attack ship. I am somewhat dissapointed with this as it seems on paper rather useless, but I will try it out in some fast raids and see how it does. Not the game-changing advantage I was looking for.
Soon I will try to take the decoy fab and then I will have to see about foraying further into the unknown. With each system I take my resources grow so there is hope, but I really can't risk attracting too much attention - I fear I have tripped too many flags already."