In our time of need

Restrictions:

This quest can only appear in systems that have a gas giant planet.

Triggers:

The quest may appear during the early game via an exploration event if the fleet that is exploring has one hero leading it, or in the colonization event of a gas giant planet

Chapter 1 ; Chapter name: In Our Time of Need

If discovered by a hero in a fleet during an exploration event.

During what otherwise would have been the uneventful survey of the (system name) system, the keen eye and expertise of (hero name) revealed an anomalous object orbiting one of the system's Jovian planets.

Upon closer inspection the anomalous object was discovered to be a derelict ship in a highly eccentric orbit over the planet. Preliminary analysis show the ship was about to break free of the giant's gravity well when it was assaulted by someone (or something) to the point of critical structural failure, half destroyed and useless, the ship was abandoned and condemned to orbit the planet forever. 

The technology of the ship strongly resembles that of Concrete Endless, however it seems the vessel was designed as a form of transport ship for other species, while this was an act of friendship or "forced relocation" remains to be seen, as for everything else, who knows what kind of secrets can this forsaken ship hold.

(Hero name) Has advised a course of action, however, your top scientists insist on taking another approach.

Note: [If the hero’s inclination is military, or corporate, he will try to disassemble the ship, if he is exploration or science focused, he will try to study it, with the latter option, those who oppose the hero are “your top generals”] 

Objective 1 (dismantle) or choice 1 {Chapter 1}

Completely disassemble the ship to learn everything we can from it. From it’s looks, it should provide very valuable materials and research.

Outcome 1 (Dismantle)  {Chapter 1}

Report from (Hero Name / high general): The ship we salvaged must have once been a state-of-the-art transport vessel, the rare metals and masterful craftsmanship of it’s structure can only be compared to it’s intricate software design, we have learned a lot while dismantling this beauty, and as a bonus, we even got to refine some of the rare metals that were present in the most intact parts.

You gain either research points dependant on the current state of the game or the full science cost towards a technology that has to do with sensors, trusters or FTL methods; Gain a strategic resource quantity based on the current state of the game (turns) 

Note: [I don’t know which techs you are going to use, therefore I suggest since it’s a transport ship, techs that have to do with navigation, the strategic resource(s) given should be known by the player, no hyperium in turn 5, I strongly suggest you are able to discover up to two techs, to make this option viable] 

Objective 2 (Study) or choice 2 {Chapter 1}

Mount a research lab inside the ship and study all of its systems, the top priority is the conservation of the vessel, not much may be extracted from the unit.  

Outcome 2 (Study) {Chapter 1}

Report from (Hero name/Dr. XXX): The ship is a technological marvel of times long past, it seems the makers of the vessel were not the Endless, however their technology is surely present in some of the ship’s subsystems; anyhow the true breakthrough came when we tried to restart the main power line, during a few seconds, the ship’s grid went online an we were able to intercept what we believe are the coordinates to where the transport unit was originally headed; our scientists are translating them as this report is being written.

Gain a raw science bonus (Science points) depending on the current state of the game (turns)[this gain should be less than that of objective 1].

Gain the location of a nearby star system that meets the conditions specified at Obj. 1 Chapter 2B

Chapter 1 ; Chapter name: In Our Time of Need

If discovered by a colonisation event.

While the system had already been surveyed before, upon colonisation of the planet (Planet name) in the (System name) the colonists discovered that what was previously classified as a “moon” by preliminary studies was actually a small ship of unknown origin, it seems the ship’s physical stealth systems were still somewhat active, at least enough to conceal it’s true appearance from long range scanners, but once we got close, it’s true nature surfaced.

Notes: [1.-the text above only replaces the first paragraph of Chapter one; 2.- The choices will be suggested by either the governor of the system or, in it’s absence, by the closest hero {in a fleet or governing}  and the rules of his path of action will be the same as in the other option, 3.-Absolutely everything else is the same]

Chapter 2 (A) (after dismantle) Name of the chapter: Blast them Open

This chapter (2A) is the continuation of Obj.1, which is to dismantle the derelict ship, and can only be accessed by said choice.  

Some time after the decommission of the derelict space ship an individual arrives at one of your most prestigious research institutions, apparently he(she)[1] was able to acquire one of the software processing cores of the ship as a junk item, and after some tinkering (5 minutes according to the gentelman/lady) he/she was able to extract some information from it, the most valuable and less damaged set of data seems to comprise a set of coordinates, this individual suspects those are the original coordinates to where the transport ship was headed when it was assaulted.

Your scientists have overlapped the coordinates with the known star charts and have plotted them coinciding with a nearby star system they urge you to investigate, however, since those are se same scientists who labeled this ultra-hi-tech core as a “useless piece of scrap used only for aesthetic purposes”, you start to question their usefulness and instead propose a deal to this mysterious character, if his/her information of the ship is correct and there is something to gain from said system, you will recruit him/her as a leader of whatever science division he/she chooses and pay a handsome reward depending on the “awesomeness” of whatever is found in the node.

As a final note, this person tells you the coordinates may lead to what is called a “shield world” whose blast doors may need to be opened by force. 

Notes: [1. The hero (because the individual must be a hero of course) should be chosen randomly from any species (met by the player or otherwise), scientific species should have preference]

Objective 1 (Investigate) Only choice  {Chapter 2A}

Restrictions: The system must be a star system that has a barren or arctic planet in it and in neutral territory, and not colonised by anyone (including minor factions).

Go to the system indicated and bomb open the blast doors of the so called “Shield World” to reveal what’s inside. Be prepared with troops and bombers to invade the system, as resistance might be present.

Notes: [The bombing should be done with the bomber module installed in the ships of a fleet, and depending on the current state of the game (turns) a certain invasion power must be had, both bombers and troops count, if the latter is not enough a message will pop telling the player his firepower is not enough; the “resistance” should be automated defences in the planet capable of killing both the bombers and the troops of the player should his invasion power not be overwhelming, also, if the player is not able to successfully invade during the first attempt, the fortification(or whatever is called, the power to defend the planet) should increase, thus each failed attempt will raise the difficulty of assaulting the planet]

Outcome 1 (Blast them open) Only outcome {Chapter 2a}

Your troops were finally able to blast the doors of the vault within the planet open, unfortunately the damage done to the installation during the battle has left most of it unusable, however after a brief search, several sealed chambers were discovered, with the installation now un-powered they were easy to open, inside you found schematics for the construction of what seems to be advanced ship modules, a cache of strategic and luxury resources and some promising defence systems to be reverse engineered. 

Gain a number of strategic, luxury resources, and a new advanced (defensive) module for your ships.

Gain a technology. (has to do with defence or system fortification, may be unique?)

Chapter 3 (A) (after Blast them Open) ; Chapter name: Allies

This chapter (3A) is the continuation of Obj 1 in chapter 2A and can only be accessed by finishing said chapter.

After looting the whole structure, you send a research party constituted of your top scientists, whose names now you know to be “Jeb” and “Bob”, and your new scientific protege, after some “research” they all sent a final Situation Report, and after reading the first two (corresponding to the two top scientists), who say the “Stinky old ruins and all of it’s weird blinking lights are completely useless and could be sold as junk in the local market” you decide to fire Jeb and Bob and send them (and all of their crew) to a remote tiny planet within your borders and promise them you will reconsider their current situation if they make it out of the solar system alive by their own means. As for the report of (Hero Name), it says that even though most of the systems were damaged in the battle, he/she was able to obtain another set of coordinates that point towards some sort of “Interference Fleet” that is protecting or inhibiting something, no better translation or information seems to be possible thanks to the heavily damaged infrastructure.

Note: [Obvious Kerbal Space Program reference is obvious]

Objective 1 (Go!) Only choice  {Chapter 3A}

Restrictions: The system has no particular restrictions except for being in neutral, uninhabited space.

Go to the system indicated and defeat the fleet present in the system.

Warning from (Hero Name): Remember we don’t know anything about this fleet, and considering the advanced technology and ruthlessness of the defending automata, heavy precautions should be taken.

P.D. It would also be a good time to prepare my payment.

Notes: [This objective has a requisite, you need to have the required Dust for the fleet to appear, otherwise the hero will refuse to give you the coordinates; The fleet will only be visible by the player, to avoid accidental killings, the fleet should be very powerful considering they use some sort of technology stolen or received from the endless, if the fleet is not killed during the first battle, they will repair and resize their fleet every turn, therefore several failed attempts will make the battle significantly harder even for the late game standards] 

Outcome 1 (Allies) Only outcome {Chapter 3a}

After the cruel battle, and at last (if there was more than 1 battle), your fleet managed to destroy the whole opposing fleet, the battle was so intense practically nothing bigger than a fighter survived, and this time, not even (Hero Name) was able to decrypt anything useful, more questions arose that answers could be given, What was that fleet protecting?, Where do they come from? What is an “Interference Signal”? What where they interfering?; just as the fleet lost its last ship, there was a brief transmission from a distant star, however, if our sensors are correct, this transmission came from an inaccesible star, one that is not connected with a string, and whose gravitational waves are null, which means, even with State-of-the-art advanced technology it would be impossible to travel there. Fortunately not all was in vain, for you now learned the new battle tactic that was used against you by the fighting automata, and most importantly, a new ally.   

Gains a New Battle Tactic.

Hero is now available for assignment.

Chapter 2 (B) (after Study) Name of the chapter: Far & Beyond

This chapter (2B) is the continuation of objective 2, which is to study the ship, and can only be accessed after completing said objective. 

The coordinates of the star system have been further analysed, where an unusually large magnetic field in one of the planets has been detected, along with it came another discovery, but this time, from inside the ship, our scientists were able to isolate from the noise left from the “battle” a signal that is still present in some of the drive storages of the vessel, this signal contains important information regarding the unit’s destination. Below is a summary of the Investigation Log. #271 Codenamed SIGNUS.

Excerpt from Log #271: It appears some of the most intact driver storage units still had some information regarding the destination of the ship; it appears this was not the only vessel headed for the star system Cygnus 314P, as far as we can tell, this was a galactic event, a massive evacuation to several “Shield Worlds”, what caused it and what happened is still a mystery, we know this particular ship was not directly en route to one of those Shield Worlds but to one of their relays, it seems a Shield World is a special engineered planet of some sort, designed to endure some kind of catastrophe.

We now know that a “Shield Relay” is present within the system 314P and that it served some kind of redirection purpose, it seems the only way to gain access to one of these Shield Worlds is through one of these relays.  

Objective 1 (Build!) Only choice  {Chapter 2B}

Restrictions: The system must have a Barren planet or moon, it must be on neutral territory or on a system colonised by a minor faction.

It seems the only way of learning more about these “Shield Relays” is to go to directly to the system indicated and build an outpost there, once under imperial control, a

Station for Tackling Spatiotemporal Signals (STaSiS) must be built, this should give us full access to the systems that are both receiving and transmitting the signals, or at least, a enough intel to study them better.