IMO Unit-02 2017/07/10(Mon)06:01 No. 814519 ID: b27cac
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To summarise, the Ignole are a reptilian species from a hot planet with highly variable yearly temperatures. They have evolved the ability to change forms between a small, shelled form during the short winter and a large predatory form for the warm season. Thermal shock may force them to reflexively switch forms. The cost of their heat resistance is that cooler temperatures will make them sluggish as they approach freezing.

In addition to this, they are excellent climbers, can use their claws as thermal cutters, possess thermal sensory pits and can swiftly recover from severe injuries by burning through their nutrient reserves.

>As we'll be giving them a space pirate brain, becoming slow witted in low temperatures should not be so much of a problem, and can be compensated for with the suit anyway.
Correct. The brain substitution will provide some protection from low temperature effects and the power armour's environmental support will and assist with temperature regulation. However there will be difficulties adapting the armour to cryogenic environments.

>Considering the lack of thermal extremes in most planetary systems, the choice of an Ignole would almost certainly result in them consistently taking the more condensed form (assuming the hot season is closer to the thousand degree subsection.)
With only minor technical assistance it should be possible to use either form in an environment comfortable for humans.

>Regardless the Ignole are still suboptimal due to the increasing standardisation of cryo weaponry that had been made to counter Metroid organisms.
Despite Science Team's best efforts, Metroids are currently extinct outside of speculated Galactic Federation black projects.

>If we could develop a suit that would let the user shift between both forms with ease it could be beneficial since they only start to slow down when exposed to extreme cold so having a agent that can somewhat shape shift could help them move around a bit more unnoticed and we could maybe take a page from the hunter's morph ball and let our agent move through areas and passages that otherwise wouldn't be possible or severely limit movement.
It may be possible to design a power suit that adapts to either form. Failing that, the Ignole could simply eject from the suit to explore the area with a lighter set of equipment in its alternate form.

>Hm... Thinking on it some more, it might actually be easier than I thought to make an adaptable Power Armour for Ignole, if we use the data from their own shells in the making for it.
The Ignole shell does not change size when they switch forms. It's segmented so as to separate and space out when their body expands. This makes it a useful attachment point or perhaps segments of it could be substituted if needed.

===

Hour Zero

Boiler Team, you have 512 hours to complete the project.

The project is to be divided into four parts:

Brain Extraction: Removal of the Secret Trooper's brain from its Space Pirate donor and design of the brain case.
Cloning: Growth, modification and implant design for the cloned alien body the brain will be transplanted into.
Power Suit: Prototyping and construction of the armour, weapons and speciality systems for the Secret Trooper.
Rehabilitation: Training with new equipment and acclimatisation of the Secret Trooper to their new body.

Set the priority for each task from highest to lowest (1-4).

Cloning - 1
Brain Extraction - 2
Rehabilitation - 3
Power Suit - 4


This is the logical progression, of course. Extracting the brain is pointless without a clone to put it in, and we can't train the brain until it's in a clone (well, aside from Sims, but those don't develop muscle memory). Leaving the suit until last also lets us get a feel for how the Trooper is going to operate in practice, rather than just in theory, and adapt the design to compensate for weaknesses.

>>814529
Seconded. This is sound reasoning. Let's get cracking!

Unit 02 said priority, not sequential order.

I must assume priority is based on allocation of resources rather than sequential order, as a project like this, with each stage requiring different fields of expertise (medical, biological, engineering and psychology) will surely be carried out by teams with different expertise simultaneously.

So, my priority is:
1 - Power Suit
2 - Cloning
3 - Brain Extraction
4 - Rehabilitation

They can learn on the job.

I place Power Suit on top priority because I recommend we create a two-layer suit, partially inspired by the Hunter's Zero suit. A sufficiently flexible substance would be able to contract and maintain some level of protection and support function even for our agent's contracted form, while also serving as a backup even for the larger, in the event that the main suit has to be repaired or temporarily abandoned for other reasons. This "body stocking" style of undersuit could also probably be made particularly effective at the task of regulating our agent's body temperature.

Of course, such a suit would be pretty snug when in the larger form, but that shouldn't be a major problem.

Speaking of, given the body's nutrient reserve requirements for healing, we should decide ahead of time where the body should store extra nutrients and adjust its genetic predispositions to match, so that we can build that part of the suit with the flexibility necessary to account for large swings between being overfed or starving.

>>814529
That would be the critical path for the project, and the order that things would be approximately done in. Assuming it is more allocation of resources then a prioritisation such as the one >>814543 suggests would be more apt (Which I second).

To add ideas into the pool, perhaps we should take inspiration from the Ignole's plating for the primary armouring of the suit, with a series of plates that can overlap if the trooper shifts to the more compact form.

Having the armour be a high priority would be useful as the internal components will need to be able to operation at the same temperatures of the Ignole. Some form of external temperature regulation unit, as well as openings for the Ignole's thermal pits and claws will need to be a must as well.

>>814529
I support this order, as we are also considering having the trooper perform out-of-suit activity. Putting rehabilitation last is too risky I mean, NOT RISKY ENOUGH, because, uh, having all of its gear prepared before we begin testing would be too easy!

1 power armor
2 brain extraction
3 cloning
4 rehabilitation.

Let's not fuck up getting the brain out.

Comrades, I have just returned from doing a little diving in the archives; I felt a familiarity in the latter of these ideas (>>814543), and as I suspected, a project of this type has been attempted before!

Years ago, researchers on the hostile planet of Neoplasmis II created an environment suit designed to support long-term outings in the poor visibility of the irradiated environment. Designed to increase nonverbal communication ability as well as to offer protection and sustenance, the skintight suit employed a semi-organic nanotech gel layer which absorbed energy from the environment in a photosynthesis-like process and converted it into lipids for nanohypodermic transfer into the user's own organic storage, ready for use. The suit was even capable of some self-repair! Of course, the suit had the disadvantage that the occupant wasn't actually eating, and therefore eventually went mad from their body's false sense of intense starvation, but it proved astonishingly sound in most technical aspects. It was known as the Kinesic Nutritional Optimization of Capacity Kit and Environment Resistance Suit.

I'm sure we could make an Enhanced version.

Priority 1 should be the brain extraction and case design.
We are likely going to have to carve out large parts of the volunteers brain and replace them with smaller synthetic analogues so that the body can shift fully without issue, the brain case will also need extreme heat shielding given the native home world of the ignole can have heat levels go as high as 1000C and the ignoles larger form will have a body temperature likely close to that. Lastly we can simply reuse the same volunteer via re-transplant should any of the developed bodies suffer serious issues if the brain case is robust, saving time and resources.
Priority 2 should be cloning, modification, and implant design.
The Extremophile nature of the species as well the the extreme body shift quirk will likely make all parts of this part of the project rather difficult so resources should be allocated to match.
Priority 3 should be power armor, weapons, and equipment development.
The main issue is simply insuring the non collapsible parts of the armor and equipment are affixed to the unchanging body plates in order to prevent any loss of effectiveness from a size shift. Beyond that is simply enviro proofing the armor to deal with the cold vulnerability.
Priority 4 should be rehabilitation and training.
The trooper will continue to acclimate and improve on the field simply by operating normally, so we simply need to thoroughly bug test at this point to catch and deal with any unforeseen issues.

>>814572
This.

>>814543
I agree with this

I feel the suit is probably going to be one of the biggest challenges we'll face since if we do make it change with the host body then we going to basically need to make two suits that can effortlessly switch between both forms without harming the host or sacrificing protection or versatility to much.

Cloning should also be high on the list since we want to make sure we get the body right but seeing how we are basing it off a pre existing race it should mostly need us to make sure the thing comes out right... and I guess some minor tweaking to make sure it comes out in it's psychical prim or at least close to it.

The brain extraction is also important and the biggest challenge here is going to be making sure the brain doesn't overheat and their are no complications when the body changes forms. Might be able to work on those problems when we're actually cloning the body as well to make it easier for us to put the brain in and to make it so when they shift between the to forms the cranium undergoes a less extreme structural shift so we don't need to figure out how to change the brain without damaging the space pirate which is why I placed cloning higher.

at lastly rehabilitation isn't something we really have time for since we do need those supplies to restore this base sooner rather then later.

>>814572
Well, Perhaps if we made part of the brain case out of the Ignoles shell, we could kill multiple avians with the same projectile weapon.
It would likely be both resistant or adaptive to the ignoles natural temperature shifts, so insulation would be the only concern, it'd be easier for the outer casing to shift with the size change, though it doesnt apper the bodies haed drastically changes in size...
Additionally, it will serve as good camouflage. If we do it correctly, no one will be able to tell the outer shell from the subjects own body.

>>814598
>>I feel the suit is probably going to be one of the biggest challenges we'll face since if we do make it change with the host body then we going to basically need to make two suits that can effortlessly switch between both forms without harming the host or sacrificing protection or versatility to much.
I disagree! going by the initial profile, I feel like there are a few key points of the Ignole body that only shift minimally during expansion or contraction, ans So building around those points should allow great ease and flexibility in the armor. To be precise, the torso and head regions do not appear to change size much if at all, Only the limbs and connecting body tissue do. Basing the skeleton of the armor around these two points should have the most success I believe, and using a base Breastplate and Helmet design, covered and connected with a series of layered, segmented pieces, perhaps in the form of armored "scales"connected by a nanofiber or ferrofilm, should allow for one form that can expand and contract as the Ignoles own biological armor does.

>>814623
>>814598

I think making the main suit change forms will make things much too complicated for the suit to be as functional as it could be. All those interlocking transformy parts take up room! Where will things like the heating system or the shielding or the guns or environment functions go? Besides, the main advantage of being able to take the smaller form - fitting into small spaces - will be lost if we try keep the mass of the armour folded up around it.

We should just make the main armor for use in the large form and then eject out of it for use of the small form. A lighter undersuit (my preference), or a part of the main suit that pops off and becomes armor for the small form, will work better.

In terms of allocation of resources, I would still go with >>814529

Cloning at max will allow us to customize the trooper's body more. Gene-spliced features, useful implants, things that can't easily be detected or taken away. Better for a stealth unit.

Brain Extraction at second priority should allow us to do the body hijacking we planned, perhaps with a remote control over the primary trooper body as well.

Rehabilitation is important for the Trooper to function, and shouldn't be left for last.

Power Suit is just icing on the cake. We will be more likely to find improvements or better equipment later than we are to magically find a better host body.

>>814628
>a part of the main suit that pops off and becomes armor for the small form
But if it pops off, then wouldn't that mean that we're leaving behind whatever didn't pop off? That sounds very dangerous! Why would we leave behind a piece of the armor? Our trooper might run into a situation where it can't come back for that part! Or something/someone finds it and carries it off while our trooper is elsewhere!

I say no popping off pieces!

>>814667
I concur. we dont have the resources to waste risking them being lost or stolen from being taken off whenever the small form is used. and only having the armor be useable in the larger form would be the height of wastefulness. We might as well have not chosen this specimen at all if we werent going to take full advantage of it.

Please don't make me regret changing my vote.

1. Cloning
This is the most important thing to focus on. Ignole are already a hardy species, maximizing that is our most cost-effective option.

2. Brain ExtractionSq
Botch this and our Trooper might well go rogue due to amnesia.

3. Rehabilitation
It would defeat the point of making it a Stealth Trooper if the first thing it does is attack a Federation base. The only reason this isn't ranked higher is because we can easily continue improving this over time, unlike the first two.

4. Power Suit
As powerful as a Power Suit is, we can easily upgrade it later when we aren't pressed for time or materials.

>>814711
I second this motion.

>>814711
I think attacking the Federation without thinking would actually fall under the brain being damaged during extraction.

Rehabilitation is more of getting the trooper used to moving around in their new body and learning to control it.

>>814744
All the more reason to have Brain Extraction as priority 2 and Rehabilitation as priority 3!

Besides which, they will need to have a decent understanding of how to change between forms, and how to use their hands/claws without melting whatever they're trying to grab. There's no point in providing a Power Suit if they accidentally melt it!

1/1 IMO Unit-02 2017/07/12(Wed)04:48 No. 815083 ID: b27cac
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Hour 2

>Cloning is the most important thing to focus on. Ignole are already a hardy species, maximising that is our most cost-effective option.
>The biggest challenge here is going to be making sure the brain doesn't overheat and there are no complications when the body changes forms.
>We will be more likely to find improvements or better equipment later than we are to magically find a better host body.

1 - Cloning
2 - Brain Extraction
3 - Rehabilitation
4 - Power Suit

Perfection of the host body and customisation of the brain case to suit Ignole physiology will be the top priorities. Less resources will be dedicated to rehabilitation and the development of a basic power suit and equipment for the Secret Trooper to use.

Initial estimate of time to completion is 400 hours.

>I recommend we create a two-layer suit, partially inspired by the Hunter's Zero suit. A sufficiently flexible substance would be able to contract and maintain some level of protection and support function even for our agent's contracted form, while also serving as a backup even for the larger, in the event that the main suit has to be repaired or temporarily abandoned for other reasons. This "body stocking" style of undersuit could also probably be made particularly effective at the task of regulating our agent's body temperature.
>We should just make the main armour for use in the large form and then eject out of it for use of the small form. A lighter undersuit (my preference), or a part of the main suit that pops off and becomes armour for the small form, will work better.
With the level of effort to be dedicated to power suit design, this operational concept would be the most straightforward approach. The inner suit would provide light protection and handle most of the life support functionality while the outer suit would be an armoured frame carrying the primary power source and heavy equipment.

>The torso and head regions do not appear to change size much if at all, Only the limbs and connecting body tissue do. Basing the skeleton of the armour around these two points should have the most success I believe, and using a base Breastplate and Helmet design, covered and connected with a series of layered, segmented pieces, perhaps in the form of armoured "scales" connected by a nanofiber or ferrofilm, should allow for one form that can expand and contract as the Ignole's own biological armour does.
While riskier in the time available, this is also a valid approach.

Garden Team selected their project priorities almost five hundred seconds before Boiler Team so they have already been allocated one half of the bio-research laboratory. The better half.

Before cloning can begin, one issue needs to be resolved. The medical tanks usually protect and nourish the clone by suspending it in bio-gel to provide a nutrient rich and controlled environment for fast growth. However, the temperature for optimal physical development of the Ignole clone exceeds the boiling point of the bio-gel.

How do you intend to resolve this perplexing dilemma, Boiler Team?

Hmm. Well, so long as the biogel would theroetically remain functional at the high temperature - and the nutrient mixture an Ignole needs presumably does survive such heat - then it just needs to not turn into a gas, so keeping the substance under the right pressure should keep it from boiling away. It can't boil if there's nowhere for the resultant gas to go!

We'll just need to reinforce the clone tube... and we know how to make tubes.

>>815085
Just in case, let's build an emergency release valve... pointed at Garden Team.

>>815090
Stop trying to sabotage the competition, that's a waste of resources. Anyway, our task is now clear: we need to figure out how to develop a non-

Wait a second. Ignole blood doesn't boil inside them and contains plenty of Ignole-friendly nutrients. Can't we just replicate their blood and nutritionally enrich it? That way we don't need to waste time replicating a new substance and don't waste any resources on exploding biotanks.

>>815099
You want to marinate it in its own blood? That is both effective, and metal as fuck. Let's do it.

>>815083
Increasing the pressure surrounding the bio-gel will increase its boiling point. since this is supposed to be a durable, adaptable species, it should not have too negative an impact.

>>815085
So, turn the cloning tube into a cloning pressure cooker? I like that idea, although I'm not sure if the increased pressure would have any adverse effects on the cloning process. Another idea might be to investigate Ignole egg yoke (Assuming eggs since Ignole are a reptilian species) as a alternate biogel.

>>815083
>Garden Team selected their project priorities almost five hundred seconds before Boiler Team
Only because Arhra decided to update their quest first! /-:<

>>815099
>Ignole blood.
>>815141
>Ignole egg yolk.
Both of these seem like valid options.

>>815099
Sabotage, a waste of resources? You're not thinking like a Space Pirate.

>>815153
>Only because Arhra decided to update their quest first! /-:<
Actually, the first post in this thread (mine) was 8 minutes (500 seconds) after the first post in the Project Garden thread.
It's an impressive little attention to detail.

>Ignole blood.
>Ignole egg yolk.
if we have these substances this could help us speed things up quite a bit but the question is do we have enough Ignole samples left to actually fill a whole cloning tank with the stuff? If so then we can figure out a good mix of bio-gel and ignole egg yolk/blood to make the best damn clone we can.

Also, in the chance that we don't have Ignole blood or egg yolk and we need to increase the pressure of the tank, I don't see why we couldn't adapt the clone to be use to high gravity environments so we wouldn't need to worry about the added presser harming the developing clone. And if we do this it would also make the clone denser as well so their strength and durability would be higher then that of a normal Ignole. However they would probably be shorter then another of their race but we could probably lessen that drawback with all the resources we're putting into the clone so while it wouldn't be standing above it's peers it's lack of hight wouldn't stand out which is good since not trying to draw attention with the agent.

>>815443
>>815085
>>815090
I'm pretty sure that the following failure points will occur if we just reinforce the tank and "fuck the consequences" by increasing the heat and pressure.

1: the clone is crushed to death while growing
2: the support systems for the cloning tank are compromised by extreme pressure, leading to a terrible accident and hilarity for garden team.
3: the clone doesn't manage to properly absorb it's now evaporated precious nutrient via osmosis and dies.
4: pumping more biogel into the tank induces thermal shock and death.

Let's just see if we can't reinforce the boiling point of the biogel using ignole blood or any other extreme heat tolerate chemicals we have on hand that are probably safe for use in cloning.

For science!

1/1 IMO Unit-02 2017/07/14(Fri)04:21 No. 815684 ID: b27cac
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Hour 18

>Hmm. Well, so long as the biogel would theoretically remain functional at the high temperature - and the nutrient mixture an Ignole needs presumably does survive such heat - then it just needs to not turn into a gas, so keeping the substance under the right pressure should keep it from boiling away.
Trials conducted with fast-grown tissue samples have indicated this is feasible. Due to the substantial changes in bodily volume they are capable of, Ignoles already have various adaptations to avoid pressure induced mechanical trauma from air cavities within their bodies which removes one major complication.

However, there are likely to be developmental problems with the lungs and eyes due to the pressure. In particular, the lungs will be collapsed and inoperable until the clone is decanted. Direct oxygenation will be provided via the bio-gel until that time.

Due to the passive resistance of the high pressure liquid during electrical muscle stimulation, it is expected the clone should be substantially stronger. Body density should also be higher, meaning an increase in physical toughness.

>Just in case, let's build an emergency release valve... pointed at Garden Team.
Overt sabotage of Project Garden is strictly prohibited.

>Wait a second. Ignole blood doesn't boil inside them and contains plenty of Ignole-friendly nutrients. Can't we just replicate their blood and nutritionally enrich it?
Absorption of nutrients via the skin will not be possible so this will require a placental structure to be constructed. The clone and its support structure can then be suspended in a neutral high temperature liquid medium. The Ignole will need minor modification to be able to process the enriched blood effectively.

Fast prototyping of enriched Ignole blood shows it is comparable with low grade fuel gel in terms of energy density. It will act as a storage buffer, vastly enhancing the nutrient reserve available for regeneration. Increased physical fitness and endurance is also expected.

Blood outside the body can be ignited if required. However, the blood's volatility means damage from energetic weapons which penetrate the power suit will be increased.

Boiler Team, select Pressure Cooker or Volatile Blood as the incubation method.

As the clone develops further modification will be possible via genetic therapy, splicing and cybernetic implantation. Specify other desirable modifications now.

I feel like the Pressure Cooker method is actually better here because a LOT of space fairing races like to use energy weapons and we did put the power suit near the bottom of priorities so I'm not comfortable with putting such a weakness into what is supost to be our last hope. I say we go with the Pressure Cooker idea, and since it the Ignole race does seem to be a pretty good brawler race in general the extra strength and toughness should help out greatly.

As for cybernetics I feel that since the Pressure Cooker method will mess with the eyes and lungs we should replace the eyes with cybernetic ones or at least make a new pair of organic ones once the clone is done growing so we don't have to worry about poor eye sight and maybe buff the lungs as well just to be safe.

>>815686
This sounds reasonable. Let's do the Pressure Cooker method!

I will also vote Pressure Cooker, and to implant cybernetic eyes to compensate for the damage there. In fact, adjust the genes to give the subject slightly larger eyes than a normal Ignole; we'll be able to fit better cybereyes in there, and research suggests several species will find it "cuter". The visual projections we've been shown suggest the eyes do not change size during the species' size adjustment transformation. Some genetic tweaking for lung capacity should also be considered, just to balance out any potential long-term effects there.

As mentioned previously, we should also adjust the clone's genes so that weight gain due to overfeeding is predictable and can be planned for compatibility with the suit. The subject will likely be often alternating between massive burning of reserves and massive consumption of food to stock up reserves for burning later, and we don't want them to have problems with not being able to fit in the suit, or the suit being too loose. The posterior and pectoral fat deposits will likely offer the most tactical advantage; certain species will find those aesthetically pleasing (those weird non-space pirate wretches), and those areas of the suit shouldn't be too much trouble to build flexibility/support into, as the one will need to be flexible anyway and the other will be well reinforced. The subject's body will also need to be able to deal well with large swings in body mass. A broader diet - making sure the clone doesn't suffer from any allergies or intolerances that can strike normal ignole - will also be of assistance.

For cybernetics, those can be thought of a little later than the genetic changes, but aside from the eyes we should add the basic health monitors, something to the ears to complete their ability to interact with A.R. interfaces (and secret communication with us), and we may as well reinforce the armor plates since they don't change size. Other cybernetics will probably be tricky, given that they need to not interfere with the size change. The brain case, however, should include some form of "technopath" implant for superior use of machinery. It may also be possible, and wise, to reinforce the joints for flexibility and impact resistance, to support the stronger muscles.

That's all planning around the pressure cooker method. Among other considerations, the volatile blood method sounds slower. Also, with the pressure cooker, we get to build a better tube.

TUUUUUUUUUBES!!

Volatile Blood. As the Power Suit will be rather basic, we are relying on the Ignole's physical traits more than technical wizardry for results. Many energy weapons are not designed to pierce armor, excepting the wretched (and blessedly rare) Plasma Beam.

>enhanced claws for climbing/swiping
>enhanced knockers
>enhanced thermal expansion
>Vision replacement/augment

The first two are self-explanatory. Enhanced thermal expansion enables the Ignole to stretch further in 'hot' mode, giving them a longer reach in close combat and a built-in 'High Ground' in social and tactical situations.
If the other incubation method is chosen, then replacement of the eyes with cybernetic equivalents, or adding a 'sixth sense' to detect enemies (or enhancing the other senses - hearing, smell, etc.) should account for the... shortcomings of this inferior method.

>>815684
Pressure Cooker.

We should also modify the subject to be able to vibrate their claws at high frequencies. Combined with high strength and the ability to heat them to high temperatures, the subject should be able to slice through just about anything, and shred power suits like paper mache.

This might cause some tissue damage to the digits around the claws, but we can reinforce that area with biological manipulation, and the Ignole's inherent regenerative qualities will make it even less of an issue.

Another suggestion is cybernetically increasing leg strength for better running and jumping.

>>815703
Oh, a mechanism for squirting blood from the eyes/mouth would also be good for controlled application of volatile blood. Certain reptilian species already possess this trait.

Pressure cooker just ain't worth it, voting for the volatile blood option.

>>815684
Pressure cooker. A vulnerability to energy weapons is a failure state.

>As mentioned previously, we should also adjust the clone's genes so that weight gain due to overfeeding is predictable and can be planned for compatibility with the suit.
Are you referring to the clone being "denser"? If so then I don't believe that the clone will actually be fat, it's just that the higher gravity condenses the bone and muscles so that their is more bone in muscle tissue per square inch in the body then something from lower gravity so while the high gravity creature would look the same as a normal gravity counter part it would still weigh more since it has more mass condensed in the same area. Kinda why High gravity creatures tend to be smaller in general but we can fix that and make our clone roughly the same size as a normal Ignole. Then again I could be remember things wrong as biology was never my strongest subject.

anyways on to cybernetic upgrades involving the eyes, I'm thinking that we could make one organic eye with slightly improved vision to a natural Ignole eye (like 20/20 vision, low light vision, less sensitive to bright lights, easily regenerated should something happen to the clones eye/face) and one clearly cybernetic eye that could be attached to the brain case and can see in infrared, night vision, have a scan feature, and act as a targeting system so we don't have to worry about throwing these things onto the power suit to free up our limited supplies for the power suit. Also I may be getting a bit ahead of myself here, but when we do work on the brain case I was thinking we could add a port the back of the clone's head that would let the clone jack into it's suit using the brain case (since we're putting a good deal of resources into the brain case) as the power suit's operating system making it so all the suits features can by used with nothing more then a thought as well as make it easier for the clone to try and jack into other machines to try and hack them as well. Does this sound plausible or do we not have the resources at this time?

>>815725
That only happens if the energy weapon in question can outright penetrate the power suit.

And considering the most obvious example of such extreme firepower...

Well, the secret trooper would likely have been compromised somehow.

>>815725
Consider the following:
1. Primary employers of energy weapons are the Galactic Federation and the Space Pirates. We are not expected to fight either.
2. Unit-02 specifically mentioned energy weapons that penetrate the armor. Most energy weapons dissipate their energy across the surface of the target without penetration, something an Ignole's heat resistance should resist. Plasma Beam-type weapons are rare and expensive.
3) Increased regeneration reserves leave us capable of recovering from increased damage, and still has increased effectiveness against other weapon types.
4) If an energy weapon is designed to pierce armor, it likely matters very little how poorly we react to it, as such weapons are lethal anyway.

Volatile Blood. I agree, enhanced regeneration means we can last longer and take more risks in the field.

>>815718
I like this idea, but let's go further and install an igniter in the mouth, allowing it to breath fire. Considering the species, I would be surprised if this wasn't a reoccurring mutation, natural or otherwise.

>>815729
>Are you referring to the clone being "denser"?

No, I'm referring to how our agent will be wanting to take advantage of their regeneration, which uses up a lot of nutrient reserves in their body, which in most organic creatures are stored in fat. So our bounty hunter will need to have high reserves, and will occasionally go through cycles of burning their reserves (and body fat) off and then eating high amounts of food to regain it.

Essentially, they are going to need stretchy pants, metaphorically speaking. If we make sure their body tends to store fat in key areas, we can build the suit to be able to account for loss and gain in those areas more efficiently.

>>815739
>>815731

Whether standard energy weapons penetrate the armor is hardly a factor given that it doesn't need to penetrate it. Remember, power armor doesn't regenerate! Why, do you think armor just has some... some number that goes down whenever it's damaged, and stays perfectly functional until it reaches zero? What a foolish idea! I don't know where anyone could have gotten such a notion.

Any damage, energy or not, will open gaps and ruptures in the armor that will expose our agent to shots from even low-power energy weapons. In fact, our agent's tactics will favor such scenarios, because we want them to use their regeneration! The volatile blood option is self-defeating! It enhances regeneration - and in any scenario where enhanced regeneration is an advantage, their armor will have already become less protective, incapable of protecting from energy weapons. Employing the advantage it offers necessarily means becoming vulnerable to the disadvantage.

Besides which, our bounty hunter may also be exposed to hazards similar to energy weapons, such as electrical shocks, radiation, phazon energy, psychic energy manipulation, et cetera. As well as which, a plan has already been suggested for our agent to sometimes use an undersuit (which I favor, mind you, as a cheap and efficient way of adding tactical options given our low resource allocation on the suit), and which would not protect against energy weapons so well.

And plenty of people use energy weapons, anyway! I hardly recall the last time I heard of someone using a projectile weapon that wasn't some spine or acid spit from their own body. The only exception is explosive missile weapons, which I imagine could also set off the blood. In any case, we ourselves use energy weapons, and I'm pretty sure we sell those energy weapons, particularly to people who can't buy federation weapons - which is what most everyone else who needs a weapon does.

Haven't we seen creatures with volatile blood get turned into living bombs when they get hit hard enough?

If our secret trooper gets hurt faster than they can regenerate, wouldn't they also explode from getting hit too hard?

Even if the blood inside our trooper doesn't get ignited by energetic weapons, getting hit by a missile or super missile might make our trooper explode.

>>815684
Pressure Cook!

While volatile blood has merits, and opens up a lot of modification possibilities. I'm going to have to put my vote towards the pressure cooker idea. We can compensate for issues with the eyes and lungs, but with the priority we assigned the power armour (And especially the less armoured inner suit of the two layer suit if that's decided on) we can't effectively counter parts of our trooper igniting when struck with energy weapons.

As for modification ideas: If volatile blood wins, maybe see if the skin of our trooper can be modified to act as a form of biological reactive armour, and some way of projecting and igniting the blood as a natural weapon.

If pressure cooker wins: Cybernetic eyes to compensate for the developmental issues, and some modification (Not sure yet) to improve the lungs.

For either: Enlarged and retractable claws to improve the Ignole's natural melee weapons without impeding dexterity, and genetic engineering / drugs to produce a overall larger / physically imposing subject.

Suggestion 2017/07/15(Sat)19:48 No. 816072 ID: e121d3
File 150017330593.png - (296.59KB , 900x700 , questroidideas.png )

You know, I've been spying on observing our colleagues on Project Garden, and it seems they have a few issues that might end up with their clone being larger than species norms.

Given that, I had the idea: what if their clone agent and ours worked together? Given its flexibility, the Volviti body could be built into a power suit exoskeleton that could in turn be used by our Ignole bounty hunter. With its body protected by a large backpack/helmet structure, it could use its vine limbs as additional musculature for the suit, apply its particular powers, and take control of the suit when our ignole hunter ejects to operate in an undersuit or their smaller form. Given their ventures with metroid organs, the volviti could even be able to recharge itself off the Ignole's (probably large supply of) life energy, with the Ignole's regeneration compensating, assuming it can eat enough.

I have attached a few concept images. Please note power suit design is not my speciality and I assume a more functional/pleasing version could be produced. Also that the Volviti and Ignole may not be... environmentally compatible, assuming volviti are flammable. I merely offer this concept for consideration.

>>816072
Interesting idea. We would need some sort of mind link for that to work though. They'd need to move perfectly in synch!

>>816053
>>If pressure cooker wins: Cybernetic eyes to compensate for the developmental issues, and some modification (Not sure yet) to improve the lungs.

Barring Cybernetics, a simple corrective surgery, or organ replacement should be possible, if not immediate, right? We have the technology

>>816082
True.

>>816072
well truth be told, if both projects did get grouped together I feel it would be better if we kept both clones apart. I mean he Ignole body needs extreme heat to morph into it's predator form and that much heat would probably cause the Volviti body to burst into flame and I feel that it wouldn't be very cost effective to try and make a suit that would let the two merge, make the most of both their biology, and protect each other from the other's more harmful biological traits. Plus from what I've overheard from the garden team is that they seem to be making their clone be more of a long range fighter while we seem to be leaning more towards a brawler. I feel it would be best to keep them separate from each other as our clone could get up close and tear whoever limb from limb while Garden's clone could pick them off from a distance. However this is assuming we actually do deploy both clones but I'm not sure if the boss would be up for that.

Still I like they way you think.

>>816084
I'm pretty sure it's just cold that forces it to change into the compact form, and hotter temperatures for the predator form, but not super hot. The predator form just lets it SURVIVE super hot temperatures.

LimeBreaker 2017/07/15(Sat)20:47 No. 816090 ID: 5792da
File 150017683039.png - (1.67MB , 1900x1750 , New Canvas3.png )

>>816072
The fools in Project Garden couldn't clone their way out of a paper bag - with how they're planning to rush the brain extraction, they'll be lucky if they end up with anything that isn't a gibbering wreck.

We're better off making sure Project Boiler will be operational on its own, and maximizing the efficiency of the assigned equipment instead of trying to build a supersuit that can regulate the temperature and atmospheric needs of two vastly different species.

>>816077

Since we're building brain cases for them anyway, we could build in some system where one can be "slaved" to the other. Still conscious, still drawing on their understanding of how to move that body (since they'll be better trained/experienced with it), but replacing their intent with the other's.

Of course, we'll still need to decide which of them takes precedence over the other.

>>816084

I understand your concerns. Another option is to send out both of our bounty hunters to work with their own suits and, once we have a few more resources, build another suit for double action.

>>816090
Agreed, fuck plants.

>>816085
Maybe we should equip it with some kind of heat release mechanism, so it could shrink at will. Itd probably be simpler to lose the heat energy then to gain it, right?

1/2 IMO Unit-02 2017/07/16(Sun)01:49 No. 816185 ID: b27cac
File 150019497463.png - (20.88KB , 600x750 , baked_lzrd.png )

>I feel like the Pressure Cooker method is actually better here because a LOT of space fairing races like to use energy weapons and we did put the power suit near the bottom of priorities so I'm not comfortable with putting such a weakness into what is supost to be our last hope. I say we go with the Pressure Cooker idea, and since it the Ignole race does seem to be a pretty good brawler race in general the extra strength and toughness should help out greatly.
>Also, with the pressure cooker, we get to build a better tube.
The Ignole clone will be grown under high pressure.

===

Hour 72

The cloning tank has been reinforced and the Ignole clone inserted. Maturation of the clone is proceeding. No serious abnormalities detected. It will soon be entering a critical developmental stage: the final stage of growth into an adult body.

Analysis of growth progression thus far shows the Ignole clone will be shorter than average Ignole height. However, Boiler Team should remember that average Ignole height in high temperature form is 2.4m.

>Adjust the genes to give the subject slightly larger eyes than a normal Ignole; we'll be able to fit better cybereyes in there, and research suggests several species will find it "cuter". The visual projections we've been shown suggest the eyes do not change size during the species' size adjustment transformation.
>Cybernetic eye that could be attached to the brain case and can see in infrared, night vision, have a scan feature, and act as a targeting system
Replacement cybernetic eyes will be installed. Some improvement of visual range and targeting enhancement is possible. However a scan visor also requires a high end computational back-end and a data repository to perform analysis.

>We should also modify the subject to be able to vibrate their claws at high frequencies. Combined with high strength and the ability to heat them to high temperatures, the subject should be able to slice through just about anything, and shred power suits like paper mache.
>Enlarged and retractable claws to improve the Ignole's natural melee weapons
The clone's hand and foot claws will be modified to be more formidable weapons. The greater cutting power should also make more surfaces climbable.

>It may also be possible, and wise, to reinforce the joints for flexibility and impact resistance, to support the stronger muscles.
The clone will already be modified and conditioned for the enhanced strength from the incubation method. Unless you mean you wish to further enhance its physical strength?

>Maybe we should equip it with some kind of heat release mechanism, so it could shrink at will. It'd probably be simpler to lose the heat energy then to gain it, right?
Ignole retain heat easily - they cool much slower than they absorb heat.

>The brain case, however, should include some form of "technopath" implant for superior use of machinery
This would be designed into the brain case, not the clone.

Strong consensus has not been detected for the remaining features. Proposals are:

>Rebuild lungs
>Greater size
>Enhanced thermal expansion
>Expanded nutrient reserves (Fast digestion as well?)
>Leg reinforcement (Better running and jumping)
>Heat release (Rapid transition to compact form. Weaponisable?)

New traits can be selected in addition to the above list. Three more traits can be added.

2/2 IMO Unit-02 2017/07/16(Sun)01:54 No. 816187 ID: b27cac
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>>816072

!

A priority proposal has been raised!

Preliminary calculations show the single pilot courier craft should be able to support both agents in a combined suit.

>We would need some sort of mind link for that to work though. They'd need to move perfectly in synch!
>Since we're building brain cases for them anyway, we could build in some system where one can be "slaved" to the other. Still conscious, still drawing on their understanding of how to move that body (since they'll be better trained/experienced with it), but replacing their intent with the other's.
A direct override is simple to implement. A more nuanced level of interconnection and synchronisation may need more development and training. Roles could also be split, for example a gunner and a driver.

>If both projects did get grouped together I feel it would be better if we kept both clones apart. I mean he Ignole body needs extreme heat to morph into it's predator form and that much heat would probably cause the Volviti body to burst into flame and I feel that it wouldn't be very cost effective to try and make a suit that would let the two merge, make the most of both their biology, and protect each other from the other's more harmful biological traits.
Protecting the clones from each other should not be especially complicated. The main weakness of the combined armour is that it would not be able to take full advantage of the Ignole natural resistance to heat or the Volviti resistance to radiation and electrical fields.

>I'm pretty sure it's just cold that forces it to change into the compact form, and hotter temperatures for the predator form, but not super hot. The predator form just lets it SURVIVE super hot temperatures.
Correct.

>The fools in Project Garden couldn't clone their way out of a paper bag - with how they're planning to rush the brain extraction, they'll be lucky if they end up with anything that isn't a gibbering wreck.
Graffiti in the breakout room is prohibited, Boiler Team.

Do you wish to combine Project Garden and Project Boiler into Project Glasshouse?

>>816187
As part of Garden Team I do not object to this plan. Sticking two different things together is a time-honored science tradition.

>>816188
As part of Garden Team, you will have to be executed via airlock for intruding into Project Boiler. Our apologies, management is sure you understand.

>>816185
>Weaponisable?
Fucking Heat Vision Eye Lasers
Melt fuckers with a literal death glare.
We can make the cyber-eyes do that, right?

>>816187
UUUgh. As much as I hate the idea of working with those sissy flower-peddling gardeners, it would be a waste of resources to just scrap one of these clones in favor of the other.
Fine, two troopers is better than one.

>>816189
We're using the same lab space!

>Rebuild lungs
helps if the clone can breath

>Expanded nutrient reserves (Fast digestion as well?)
Since the suit is low on priorities I would not be opposed to making the clone more survivable out in the field

>Leg reinforcement (Better running and jumping)
Mobility is also very important, especially if we do end up making the clone a close range monster like it seems we're doing


>Do you wish to combine Project Garden and Project Boiler into Project Glasshouse?
eh... not really mostly because it seems both teams already have an idea of how they want their clone to turn out and I'm not sure how well both ideas will mesh with each other since we haven't really been trading notes. But then again I'm not to opposed to the idea so I wont be to upset if we do end up merging both teams. But just to be clear to do feel it's better to keep both projects separate.

>>816072
As adorably amusing as this proposal is, it seems likely to introduce a great deal of additional challenges while solving very few, if any, of the teams' respective issues at this point. I say we continue working independently and table this idea until we better know the clonal specimens we'll be working with.

>>816191
You can very clearly see that we've painted a line down the middle and you crossed it.

I'm going to have to say no to combining the projects, it introduces unnecessary complications by having them work in close proximity, and it puts all our eggs in one basket so to speak. It'd be better to have the other project as a reserve in case the first one fails.

As for modifications, >>816198 raises a good point so I'll vote for the same as well.
>Rebuild lungs
>Expanded nutrient reserves (Fast digestion as well?)
>Leg reinforcement (Better running and jumping)

>>816185
>Rebuild lungs
>Leg reinforcement (Better running and jumping)

>Heat release (Rapid transition to compact form. Weaponisable?)
Weaponizable?! Easily. All it would take is focusing the venting of the heat energy in any of a number of ways to make it viable.

For instance, In the smaller form, Boiler should be much more dense, as should the armoring of the suit, correct? So, a possible quick release in a directional stream from the suit could turn the subject into a kind of super dense, fiery missile, thats also heavily armored!
With somewhat finer control, we could also utilize the release as some kind of blow torch, or heated jumping aid.

>>816185
>Rebuild lungs
>Heat release (Rapid transition to compact form. Weaponisable?)
Clearly we need to repair and modify lungs for fire/plasma breath! Laser breath? Why not!

And if we're going full dumb, we'll give the thing fire/plasma/laser vents all over. Biological jetpack! Limb-vectored thrust! Flamethrower fist! Lasers everywhere!

>>816187
Heck no, Boiler for life!

>>81618
I would recommend we fix up the lungs so we don't end up with a subject that has a hard time breathing unassisted, as well expanded nutrient storage for long-term missions, ideally in the form known as "enhanced knockers"

Some manner of subcutaneous armour could also be useful for overall survival if its future armour is rendered useless.

>>816216
And we'll power it all with a nuclear reactor crammed into the chest/carapace. We don't need any of the electricity-generating bits, so a reaction chamber with some control rods to manipulate the reaction rate is all that we need to keep the ignole nice and toasty. Or put it into a superheated nuclear laser rampage.

And I guess it'll need some shielding to keep the radiation in or whatever.

>>816216
I can get behind this plasma vents idea. Its sounds useful on multiple levels! Also, its cool!

I support Project Glasshouse! The main disadvantage is not being able to visit the ignole and volviti's extreme home environments or ones resembling them, but as ignole and volviti were chosen partially for their rarity, their work as bounty hunters should not require them to visit any such rare environments! Not many species share their habitation preferences. The majority of their targets will either be staying on more comfortable worlds or in environment-protected areas on hostile worlds. Besides, the ignole can have their undersuit and the volviti control over the larger suit when the ignole is not occupying it, allowing for some (albeit more limited) operations where the other hunter remains in the ship. Both of our clones have considerable "natural" powers in any case, and can attempt some operations without suits at all - especially subtle sabotage operations designed to flush targets from areas that are unsafe to operate in.

Besides, two heads are better than one! Simply having two operatives working together offers several large tactical advantages over having just one.

For the clone's enhanced features, I recommend rebuilt lungs, expanded nutrient reserves/fast digestion, and leg reinforcement. Our ignole clone agent shall be capable of extreme agility and, with their claws, great environmental mobility. We already made it with an eye towards being able to interact well with other species - these features will allow them to track down and eliminate bounty targets even in places where armor and weapons are restricted. Why, we should keep records of how we produced this clone in case we need any assassins in the future.

A proposal shout from garden side: "Mech, not power armor! They can give cover stories for each other!"

Utilizing both the Ignole and Volviti to work together for a single suit does sound like a rather interesting idea, but I've kept an eye on some of their work and I'm concerned that by hybridizing the Volviti with a Metroid that it might end up draining the Ignole dry if we were to put them both in the same Power Suit, ruining any advantage the two might have combined.

As for traits to alter the Ignole with... Hold on I know I made some notes...

>Rebuild Lungs

This is pretty obvious, we don't need respiratory problems for our Trooper.

I'd like to make recommendations to look into possible upgrades from the data of the Diamont Spire, from any data we've received on them from Weavel. We do at least still have the weapon data of the Magmaul he sent, right?

As a member of Science Team who could not decide between the Garden or Boiler projects and has been alternately viewing each project independently, I would like to voice an opinion in favor of Glasshouse.

Extensive research has shown that unification of operatives ("combining", as the humans have termed it) has a high chance of increasing overall operational success. Furthermore, two operatives working together and reaching consensus can lead to unorthodox solutions to problems, which could be vital to the continuation of the Secret Trooper project once in the field.

Preferably, the chosen donors for Boiler and Garden bodies would be "friends" rather than "acquaintances", to increase cooperation coefficient.

Also, more drills are going to be required if- NO, I have not been watching old human cartoons. The very idea is preposterous. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my… research.

>>816187
I recommend we combine the projects into Project Glasshouse, and not just because I am ragingly jealous of the other team's successful manufacturing of Metroid hybrids when all we have is another cyborg of questionable durability.

>>816187
Glasshouse will minimize waste from splitting our efforts.

>>816185
>3 more traits.
Rebuild lungs
Expanded nutrient reserves (Fast digestion as well?)
Leg reinforcement (Better running and jumping)

>>816187
>Do you wish to combine Project Garden and Project Boiler into Project Glasshouse?
What was the point in splitting us into separate teams if you're just going to change your mind and have us work together anyways? It would've saved us a lot of time and effort if you just didn't split us up in the first place! We probably would've made the clone by now if we were all working together! Especially since Ignole was the winning the votes before we got split up.

>Greater size
Increased density in the same or bigger frame means an even stronger clone.
>Enhanced thermal expansion
As above, so below.
>Expanded nutrient reserves
A high performance body is also high maintenance.

Look to including a rebreather in the Suit stage to compensate for lungs. ...but if I really had to, I would switch out the enhanced reserves for repaired lungs.\
I've already made my choice for Project Glasshouse. (Greenhouse, maybe? Because of the heat, and plants?)

>>816190
Expanding my votes for traits:
>Weaponized Heat Dispersal (gaze-directed heat ray)
>Leg Reinforcement
>Rebuild Lungs

>Laser eyes
>Rebuild Lungs
>Reinforced Legs

And a vote for Glasshouse.

>Weaponized Heat Dispersal (gaze-directed heat ray)
>Leg Reinforcement
>Rebuild Lungs

And another Glasshouse vote

>>816591
>>816314
>>816264
Why all this Laser eyes business? We could just get actaul lasers, and build them into into the cybrer eyes, or just put them on hat, or just give it a handheld laser blaster! We could do so much more with this Heat dispersal system!

>>816709
Because it would basically be the Zero Laser.

>>816185
>Leg Reinforcement
Highly useful, doubly so for making use of the increased strength of the clone.
I would suggest this includes some restructuring of the feet to grant opposable digits, a design already found in reptiles and avians, allowing superior climbing and grappling capability think General Grievous

>Rebuild Lungs
>Heat Release (WEAPONIZED!)
I propose that progress on both enhancements can be expedited by joining them together in work on what I tentatively call a Dragonsbreath modification: I suggest we channel the heat expulsion into the respiratory system via tuuuuubes;
By strengthening the lungs for both superior capacity and force of inhalation/exhalation, the clone would be able to expel superheated air great distances, introduction of specialised glands containing either flammable liquids, thermoconductive gel or compressed particles. All of which will be aerosolized during exhalation and would allow for the clone to breath, respectively; Fire, Thermogel and Smoke

>>816742
Oh and I vote for Glasshouse, it is the best use of the resources on hand unless we manage to get another working ship for the additional trooper to make use of.

>>816742
>General Grievous leg throw
Yes

>>816187
yes for glasshouse

>>816185
>Rebuild lungs
>Greater size
>Enhanced thermal expansion
These sound like the best option considering that we might have to fight without armor and being able to overppower our opponents in close combat could be the difference between life and death...
>>816187
On top of that, Project Garden's subject is apparently exhibiting anormal growth so rolling with this might be profitable if we end up combining the two Projects into Glasshouse.
I thus fully endorse Porject Glasshouse.

>>816742
Now regarding Leg Reinforcement, I suppose this could be useful but honestly our power armor should be able to do this on its own if we mod it carefully.

>>816709
I would tend to agree, eyes lasers are functionally redundant when we already have weapons at our disposal. In the event we might need it, we already have claws that can shear through the enemy.

>>816852
Remember that our power suit and equipment will be the weakest aspect of project boiler (even got referred to as basic), as per our prioritisation, while clone modifications will be the strongest

1/2 IMO Unit-02 2017/07/19(Wed)07:23 No. 816858 ID: b27cac
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>UUUgh. As much as I hate the idea of working with those sissy flower-peddling gardeners, it would be a waste of resources to just scrap one of these clones in favour of the other.
>I recommend we combine the projects into Project Glasshouse, and not just because I am ragingly jealous of the other team's successful manufacturing of Metroid hybrids when all we have is another cyborg of questionable durability.
>Utilising both the Ignole and Volviti to work together for a single suit does sound like a rather interesting idea, but-
Congratulations Boiler Team, your work was just barely good enough to be made into an addition to Project Garden. You should feel as proud, as much as you can be.

Finalising Ignole modifications now.

>>Rebuild lungs
>Helps if the clone can breath
Yes, preliminary simulations indicate that a Ignole with the ability to breathe will maintain combat effectiveness far longer than one that does not.

>>Expanded nutrient reserves
>Since the suit is low on priorities I would not be opposed to making the clone more survivable out in the field.
Various tweaks will be made to the Ignole's metabolism to improve dietary tolerance, digestion speed, extraction of nutrients and energy from food and storage of surplus nutrients around the Ignole's body to improve survivability.

>>Leg Reinforcement
>Mobility is also very important, especially if we do end up making the clone a close range monster like it seems we're doing
>Highly useful, doubly so for making use of the increased strength of the clone.
>I would suggest this includes some restructuring of the feet to grant opposable digits, a design already found in reptiles and avians, allowing superior climbing and grappling capability
Reinforcements will be made throughout the limb to improve elasticity, muscle twitch speed and kick strength. Cybernetic prostheses will be incorporated into the feet to grant opposable digits.

>>Heat release
>Clearly we need to repair and modify lungs for fire/plasma breath! Laser breath? Why not!
This is compatible with rebuilding the lungs. They will be replaced with a compact cybernetic equivalent that includes heat concentrators and apparatus lining the throat to release it as a directed energy weapon. Effectiveness will depend on how much heat is stored in the Ignole's body.

However this is a single shot weapon that will completely deplete the Ignole's heat reserves. This may be avoided by ensuring there is a thermal source to replenish the Ignole's body heat. For example: standing in lava.

2/2 IMO Unit-02 2017/07/19(Wed)07:26 No. 816859 ID: b27cac
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Boiler Team, the remaining time before the projects are combined will be spent on the Brain Transplant.

Effectiveness will depend on how much heat is stored in the Ignole's body.

Four candidates have been selected from the Troopers on-board on the basis of useful skills and expendability. Note that for de-risking, techniques may be trialled on non-candidate brains.

Select the preferred candidate for final transplantation into the Ignole clone:

SUBJECT A
Name: FO-221-ER
Phenotype: Tallonian
Sex: Male
Blood type: Green

Skills: Charisma, Medic, Xenology, Birdwatching
Misdemeanours: Keeping pet Gronkats despite base orders, possession of banned alien literature

+

SUBJECT B
Name: CH-10-255
Phenotype: Zebesian
Sex: Female
Blood type: Green

Skills: Repair, Survivor, Navigation, Massage
Misdemeanours: Theft of officer rations, use of a deceased Trooper as rations without authorisation

+

SUBJECT C
Name: 13-OOM-237
Phenotype: Zebesian
Sex: Male
Blood type: Teal

Skills: Dardevil, Piloting, Architecture, Roughhousing
Misdemeanours: Use of Metroids for target practice, operating a gambling ring

+

SUBJECT D
Name: 15-O-OL
Phenotype: Urtragian
Sex: Female
Blood type: Blue

Skills: Analytical, Hacker, Law, Interpretive Dance
Misdemeanours: Operation of an unauthorised still, editing of duty rosters

>>816859
I love me some D, so I'm voting for D.

Also she seems fairly inventive and possibly intelligent. And potentially lazy.

>>816859
I'm torn between SUBJECT B and SUBJECT D. And, no, it's not because they're both female! .....ok, maybe a little, but not for the reasons you're thinking!

Since the Ignole's large form will look female to anyone, having a brain that's been female all their life will help our trooper adjust to their body more easily.

Also, I've seen SUBJECT A's alien literature, he'd end up playing will the Ignole body's chest area all the time and not get any work done!

But I'm sure we can turn SUBJECT B's and SUBJECT D's misdemeanours into positives for the Ignole body!

SUBJECT B always taking food, will go well with the expanded nutrient reserves.

While SUBJECT D being able to make alcohol will help with the "fire breath", considering alcohol is flammable.

For the time being, I'll cast my vote for SUBJECT B or SUBJECT D.

I favour either subject A or subject B.

Subject A's social and xenographic skills, and their familiarity with alien culture, will be useful for interaction with aliens, which is one of the tasks the Ignole was chosen for. The medical skills may also be useful support for their partnership with the Volviti agent.

On the other hand, Subject B's dietary habits and survival skills may be more useful for the Ignole body's dietary needs, and their skill at navigation will not only be useful on board ship but also, potentially, for the work of exploring the networks of small tunnels that everyone seems to have running through their structures, which the Ignole's smaller form, climbing and tunneling abilities are suited for. Presumably, navigation includes a decent sense of direction. Subject B's repair skills will also come in handy in repairing the power suit, a task which will be more easily carried out by the Ignole than by the Volviti, who will be more integrated into the suit.

So, on balance, I choose Subject B for final transplantation.

I like A. We need charisma and ability to interact with aliens above all else. Remember, this is an infiltrator!

Hm. Subject B will do. I like a test subject that's good with her hands.

>>816865
Bolding all of the subject names repeatedly like that is akin to scribbling over all the choices on the form, then drooling on it for good measure.

>Use of Metroids for target practice
Psh, as if it could have harmed the specimens. Uh- he said that. V

>>816859
Hmmm, the choice is difficult. It's true that each of those troopers have their own merits so being careful is a must...
That said, I think I'll choose Subject B. With how well our latest operations have been going, having someone who is ready for everything will be a valuable asset. I mean, she has already committed cannibalism and promised me a massage if I get her selectioned so she clearly exhibits the strength of will required to prevail out there.

>>816859
Subject C is just the sort of aggressive personality we'd want in our alien lava monster.

>>816872
>Bolding all of the subject names repeatedly like that is akin to scribbling over all the choices on the form, then drooling on it for good measure.
No, actually it's to make sure everyone knows who I'm talking about and there's no miscommunication.

Also, after following >>816868 's logic, I've decided to finalize my vote and I choose SUBJECT B.

Let's go with subject D. A trooper whose skillset includes analytics AND hacking? Yes please.

Voting for Subject B, their eating habits should be useful given the Ignole body may burn through reserves quickly. Also, while I like the skill set of subject D I have noticed that Garden Team have opted to give their clone a hacking tool, given that the two projects are to be merged it may be prudent to let them have Subject D.

Hey, I just looked at Garden's clone and I'm a little concerned.

Since both troopers are supposed to be occupying the same power armor, can we honestly rely on Garden to not fuck up and have their trooper kill ours? After all, they set brain extraction as the lowest priority, so if their trooper ends up brain damaged, it might not be able to control the "Metroid energy absorption" ability they gave their clone!

I vote for subject D, the law knowledge coupled with capitalistic tendencies should result in optimal profits when abusing federation law.
I second the worry about garden and the low brain priority coupled with the danger of the hybrid, the brain dead garden clone has already killed a technician just with mere physical contact. Have we any understanding how metroid "life force" draining works in detail? I'm slightly paranoid the consumption of the technician will contaminate gardens clone somehow.

My first pick would be subject B because I feel having a survivor in a new body, especially on that we're not putting too much time into Rehabilitation, would allow for the subject to more quickly adapt and get use to their new body which should hopefully improve their chances on the field. And since the longer they can survive the more supplies they can bring back I feel that it's a good fit

however I have been going over Garden team's notes and I'm actually noticing something. They seem to be making a floating weapons platform out of their clone with some decent hacking capabilities. Since this has now become a joint operation should we maybe pick subject D to aid with some of Garden's designs or do you think that would be redundant?

Oh and for those wondering why I chose to skip over subjects A and C, While A has some good points and would probably be able to more easily interact with other races and his knowledge of xenobiology could help him with the new body I feel that it would be better to have someone who's more of a fighter out there because again, last hope for us and bounty hunting is a very dangerous job. C actually almost had my vote but I'm not comfortable putting a daredevil into our clone.

I am torn, I believe Subject B's survival instincts and skills would be very useful but similarly I think Subject D's personality and skills better fit the Boiler Clone's physical abilities (after all we have created a truly mighty close-quarters combatant)
I vote for D, but will change to B if it settles a tie.

>>816891
I admire the dedication to the mission, we should lord such an action over our clearly more scatterbrained (hehe) rivals who required the aid and as such I would likewise suggest that Subject D be recommended as a candidate for project Garden

Is it possible for the brain casing to incorporate a microcomputer to better allow the finished project to make use of it's cybernetic eyes? I think a HUD with elements able to track internal nutrition and heat reserves would help in orienting the Transplant subject in place of lengthier training.

>>816907
Ha shit I'm stupid and typed it wrong
I vote for C, but will change to B if it is tied for winning with anything but C.
I still recommend that D be proposed to Garden team.

Social agents like SUBJECT A are most adapt establishing cover identities, gaining trust, and swaying away negative rumors. Remember that our agents would need to avoid being associated with our base of operations. And the less questions asked, the better.

Also, I have been looking over at Project Garden. Their project could seriously hurt anyone without decent medical knowledge and xenobiological experience. SUBJECT A is the best candidate for the partnership to work.

I'll put my vote in for Subject D. Seems appropriately cunning, and the distilling knowledge may have some beneficial uses.

I'm hoping Garden team will take Subject A, personally. Better xeno knowledge would be good for the xeno splice.

>>816859
So... I take it all the competent troopers died heroically defending our escape, huh?

Subject B it is. Also, recommend whoever put Subject A on this list be sent to sickbay for medical analysis. They're like.... the worst possible candidate for the 'be made into an alien' project. They'll just steal the body and leave us all to die while they live out their creepy xenophilic fantasies.

Subject A for xeno knowledge. Ideal for a self-sufficient spy. Medical skills also may endear the subject to those he is infiltrating. Who would suspect the medic?

>>816917
All the competent troopers aren't expendable enough to be on the list!

I vote subject C: His skills should be relatively useful, and the hustle required to operate a gambling ring will hopefully apply favorably to the primary mission.

I hope everyone remembers that our hunters are tasked with acquiring resources to repair our ship, not with slaughtering the federation.

>>816859
voting for Subject A

Here we go again folks!

Subject A has 3 votes.

Subject B has 7 votes.

Subject C has 3 votes.

Subject D has 4 votes.

Once again, if you think I'm wrong, double check and correct me!

>>816925
There is always time to slaughter the Federation. Besides, Subject B can be a navigator and engineer, and then we force Project Garden's staff to select someone to be a salvager and exterminator.

Given that we selected a body type that will be conventionally attractive to humanoids, and the other team chose a machine-interfacing electro-plant-thing, shouldn't we be picking a Party Face brain and them picking the Engineer/Tech Nerd brain?

We should go with A or C. Both of them would be much better options for social situations - A for diplomacy and social awareness, C for trickery and knowing how to game a system.

>>817032
Actually, I'd like to change my vote to C. He's a daredevil, which we'll need if he's going to be a close-combat monster who gets hit a lot. Subject A would probably pussy out.

>>817028
I mean, in before Garden gets to pick from the three we leave behind.

I vote A, they will probably have a better chance of infiltrating and finding ways to provide support without combat occurring, provided loyalty is not tested too much and rewarded promptly.

Update:

Subject A has 4 votes.

Subject B has 7 votes.

Subject C has 4 votes.

Subject D has 4 votes.

>>816859
i vote D she seems creative

>>816859
Subject A has my Vote.

1/2 IMO Unit-02 2017/07/24(Mon)06:16 No. 818034 ID: b27cac
File 150090220297.png - (33.80KB , 800x600 , spess_piree.png )

>Since the Ignole's large form will look female to anyone, having a brain that's been female all their life will help our trooper adjust to their body more easily.
This is not considered to be a significant factor in adaptation to a completely alien body.

>Hm. Subject B will do. I like a test subject that's good with her hands.
Practical skill are essential for the success of the Secret Trooper, yes.

>Subject B's dietary habits and survival skills may be more useful for the Ignole body's dietary needs, and their skill at navigation will not only be useful on board ship but also, potentially, for the work of exploring the networks of small tunnels that everyone seems to have running through their structures, which the Ignole's smaller form, climbing and tunnelling abilities are suited for. Presumably, navigation includes a decent sense of direction. Subject B's repair skills will also come in handy in repairing the power suit, a task which will be more easily carried out by the Ignole than by the Volviti, who will be more integrated into the suit.
Confirmed. Subject B, the female Zebesian Space Pirate CH-10-255, has been selected as the brain donor for the Project Boiler Secret Trooper.

>I second the worry about garden and the low brain priority coupled with the danger of the hybrid, the brain dead garden clone has already killed a technician just with mere physical contact. Have we any understanding how metroid "life force" draining works in detail? I'm slightly paranoid the consumption of the technician will contaminate gardens clone somehow.
Analogues to Metroid mandibles and energy transfer conduits to link them to the nucleus have only been modified into two of the Volviti hybrid's tendrils.

"Reporting for duty! I understand I have been selected as a candidate for a special trooper project? I said I didn't volunteer and they said I didn't have to! Back when I was a larva, I always wanted to be an Elite Pirate! I'm ready to be the best Space Pirate I can be. Do I get a special gun? And better armour? Do you have any concerns about my suitability for the project?"

Biometric scans indicate a 97% probability the test subject is lying about her enthusiasm for joining Project Boiler. Attempting to ingratiate herself to Boiler Team is further evidence of Subject B's finely honed survival instinct.

However, the test subject's been sent down far too soon. Give her some make-work.

There's numerous technical hurdles to be overcome to successfully perform the brain transplant into the Ignole clone. The brain case will need to survive temperatures hundreds of times higher than the point that enzymes in vital metabolic pathways would normally denature. The difficulties in maintaining cooling in such extreme conditions means radical modifications to the brain may be needed instead of merely inserting it into an insulated shell which in turn suggests-

2/2 IMO Unit-02 2017/07/24(Mon)06:18 No. 818036 ID: b27cac
File 150090232267.png - (76.32KB , 800x600 , warning.png )

WARNING WARNING WARNING

Explosion detected in bio-research laboratory.

Containment breach in Volviti specimen tank.

Damage control teams report to bio-research laboratory immediately!

>Do I get a special gun? And better armour? Do you have any concerns about my suitability for the project?
Maybe/kinda, yes, and no.

>However, the test subject's been sent down far too soon. Give her some make-work.
Have her run an obstacle course so we can see how well she preforms both before and after the transfer to the clone. If nothing else should keep her busy.

>Explosion detected in bio-research laboratory.
>Containment breach in Volviti specimen tank.
>Damage control teams report to bio-research laboratory immediately!

OH GOD DAMN IT WHAT!? Alright well for one thing make sure that subject b stays AWAY from the blast area. I don't want to lose her before we can even put her in the power armor suit because of Garden team's mistakes!

>Damage control teams
...We have those?
I mean, of course Unit-02! Immediately! CH-10-255, report to bio-research laboratory at once!

>>818034
>Do I get a special gun? And better armour?
"Yes, you could say that."

>>818037 has a good idea about the obstacle course so let's do that.

>>818036
.....pfff HAHAHAHAHA!!!!! I'm sorry, I shouldn't be laughing but I can't help it! Those idiots over at Garden kept saying that their product was clearly superior and I even heard them making plans to have their clone kill our clone and report it as an accident!

But now look at them! Their project has blown up in their smug faces!

Hey, Garden, you need some help over there? Or do you think that Boiler is too inferior to provide adequate assistance?

But I again agree with >>818038 in keeping CH-10-255 far away from what's going on over there!

>>818039
No, you fool! She's too important to send over there! Let someone else handle it, in case there's another explosion! That way we don't lose CH-10-255 in an explosion!

Besides, I've heard how Garden was calling us inferior compared to them. So if they've got a problem, then they should be more than capable of fixing their own fuck ups!

>"Reporting for duty! I understand I have been selected as a candidate for a special trooper project? I said I didn't volunteer and they said I didn't have to! Back when I was a larva, I always wanted to be an Elite Pirate! I'm ready to be the best Space Pirate I can be. Do I get a special gun? And better armour? Do you have any concerns about my suitability for the project?"

Ok, good news bad news good news time.

The first good news is, yes you do get better armor, and (sort of) a special gun maybe, that's still in development, but you'll definitely have very good weapons of some sort! Also, you strike me as a female who prefers being alive! Well lucky you, then, because after this procedure your body will be capable of surviving extreme environments that any unprotected space pirate would find very briefly agonizing before being reduced to a lump of blackened carbon. They'll even be comfortable! Have you ever imagined taking a bath in some molten metals? As a bonus, you will also become capable of traveling through federation space without automatically attracting violent attention!

The bad news is, in order to achieve this, your new body will not resemble a space pirate very much. Ooooooooor at all, really. But it is theoretically possible that we would eventually be able to restore you to a space pirate body. If we have the resources. Which will mean you'll need to do your job very well.

The second good news is that we're going to test the procedure on other subjects before you. That's the five-star experimental subject treatment, CH-10-255. Do you mind "Chio"?

>Give her some make-work.

Here, ask the computer for information on the "Ignole" species and their culture. Unit-02 could you give her information which emphasizes Ignole capability as survivors and warriors? We want them to appeal to her.

>WARNING WARNING WARNING
>Containment breach in Volviti specimen tank.

Oh entities misidentified as divine by superstitious primitives! It's Project Metroid Hands again!! Flashbacks!!

No, no, keep it together. Cooling! We have hot stuff here! We must have a cooling system in place to keep the heat our clone needs from cooking the rest of us by convection. Do we have any spare liquid nitrogen to disable metroid biology with? Only if we have any spare, our clone comes first. In fact only if we have a lot of spare, we need to save some backup. We could give them a little spray can, maybe?

Oh for goodness sake, what have those idiots in over in Team Garden done now? Do we have any herbicide, or baring that a flamethrower?

>>818041
Agreed. We should keep Chio here where it is (relatively) safe.

We will provide some of our coolant to the response team and continue working on Project Boiler, under the assumption that Project Garden and Glasshouse are no longer viable.

For the brain case, I would suggest that instead of making it withstand heat, we make it repel heat. Specifically, some sort of heat transfer system that funnels any heat trying to get into the brain case to the heat dispersal weapon system instead. Reuse recycle reduce.

>>818064
>under the assumption that Project Garden and Glasshouse are no longer viable.
This is true. After all, we started these projects with limited resources and with Garden's literal big mistake of thinking that a bigger clone is better, we've got even less resources since whatever Garden had was destroyed in that explosion.

Meaning we don't have enough resources left to support Glasshouse. And even if Garden can somehow salvage whatever they were doing, they've given us a good example of "Bigger isn't always better".

So, under the assumption that Garden can't fix their mistakes, I recommend scrapping Garden and refocusing our remaining resources to perfecting Boiler.

With resources no longer being divided between two projects, we'll be able to make a better brain case for our clone and we can also make a power armor that can actually change size with our clone, seeing as we won't be needing to make it big enough to fit two pilots.

>>818076

We don't have enough data on their mishap yet. For all we know someone tripped and their thick head made a hole in the tube and that tripped the alarms.

>>818080
And the explosions?

>>818034
Very well, Subject B will acquire 'the biggest man-portable gun we have on board' and head to Project Garden's laboratory. Aim for the center of mass and avoid the tentacles, Subject.

I feel the need to remind everyone that both specimen tanks are in the same lab.

>>818096
Yeah, but we're safe in here. Hopefully.

>>818095
We are not sending her over there! If there's another explosion, then she could end up getting killed! Or if she lives, her brain will end up being damaged.

It's Garden's fuck up, let them fix it. We've got more important things to do, like making sure nothing happens to our clone or Subject B!

Okay let me continue to explain. The specimens are in the same lab, which means the Volviti could eat the Ignole. This means this is Boiler Team's problem too.

>>818103
Okay, you do have a point.

Quickly, then. We need to scrap together a Coolant Gun for Chio.

>>818125
But extreme cold could put our own specimen into a state of permanent hibernation!
No, drag out the Amplification Beam prototype, the one that induces temporary reduction instead of embiggening! This should let us restrain the specimen long enough to get another tube.

Why not send all available candidates in?
Casualties will be likely, so sending in the other candidates ahead of time will give us important data about our own capabilities, their project's capabilities, brain samples, etc.

Haha, had a feeling jamming still greatly unknown metroid physiology into a project like garden team did without extra caution would result in something like this. Betting the volviti has become gigantic, predatory, and feral and is eating all sources of electrical or "life" energy it can find. Wouldn't be surprised if the "life" energy results in anomalous effects on the volviti. I vote for maximum caution, lets assume the giant plant monster is going to wreck this facility so we should lure it into the least valuable portions first then grab and dash everything valuable we can while its busy and shove it all into some shuttles and get everything non-expendable a safe distance into space.

>>818324
You're just jealous she's smarter and has more initiative than your pot roast

1/1 IMO Unit-02 2017/07/26(Wed)06:52 No. 818548 ID: b27cac
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>Ok, good news bad news good news time.
>The first good news is, yes you do get better armor, and (sort of) a special gun maybe, that's still in development, but you'll definitely have very good weapons of some sort!
: "I am sort of glad to hear that."

>Also, you strike me as a female who prefers being alive!
: "Very perceptive, sir!"

>Well lucky you, then, because after this procedure your body will be capable of surviving extreme environments that any unprotected space pirate would find very briefly agonizing before being reduced to a lump of blackened carbon. They'll even be comfortable! Have you ever imagined taking a bath in some molten metals? As a bonus, you will also become capable of travelling through federation space without automatically attracting violent attention!
: "Afraid I don't have Science Team's imagination."

>The bad news is, in order to achieve this, your new body will not resemble a space pirate very much. Ooooooooor at all, really. But it is theoretically possible that we would eventually be able to restore you to a space pirate body. If we have the resources. Which will mean you'll need to do your job very well.
: "I'm sure a job done well is its own reward."

>The second good news is that we're going to test the procedure on other subjects before you. That's the five-star experimental subject treatment, CH-10-255. Do you mind "Chio"?
: "Glad to hear it sir! You can call me whatever you want."

>Here, ask the computer for information on the "Ignole" species and their culture. Unit-02 could you give her information which emphasizes Ignole capability as survivors and warriors? We want them to appeal to her.
Does this biocomputer look like an entertainment unit? ... Understood, compiling information.

: "I will familiarise myself with this material, Science Team!"

>>ALERT
>Oh entities misidentified as divine by superstitious primitives! It's Project Metroid Hands again!! Flashbacks!!
>No, no, keep it together. Cooling! We have hot stuff here! We must have a cooling system in place to keep the heat our clone needs from cooking the rest of us by convection. Do we have any spare liquid nitrogen to disable metroid biology with? Only if we have any spare, our clone comes first. In fact only if we have a lot of spare, we need to save some backup. We could give them a little spray can, maybe?
Since that time it has been standard policy to install quench systems in all bio-research laboratories which are intended for Metroid experimentation.

>Chio's too important to send over there! Let someone else handle it, in case there's another explosion! That way we don't lose CH-10-255 in an explosion!
>Agreed. We should keep Chio here where it is (relatively) safe.
: "Maintaining a state of readiness."

>No, drag out the Amplification Beam prototype, the one that induces temporary reduction instead of embiggening! This should let us restrain the specimen long enough to get another tube.
This Frigate is not equipped with any surviving Amplification Beam prototypes and the energy required is not available even if it was.

>Haha, had a feeling jamming still greatly unknown metroid physiology into a project like garden team did without extra caution would result in something like this. Betting the Volviti has become gigantic, predatory, and feral and is eating all sources of electrical or "life" energy it can find. Wouldn't be surprised if the "life" energy results in anomalous effects on the volviti. I vote for maximum caution, lets assume the giant plant monster is going to wreck this facility so we should lure it into the least valuable portions first then grab and dash everything valuable we can while its busy and shove it all into some shuttles and get everything non-expendable a safe distance into space.
Evacuation of Research Frigate Cacophane is not practical under the current circumstances.

>You're just jealous she's smarter and has more initiative than your pot roast
No bickering, Science Team. You will be bugs of science or you will be bugs with ration cuts.

>I've heard how Garden was calling us inferior compared to them. So if they've got a problem, then they should be more than capable of fixing their own fuck ups!
Excellent deduction, Boiler Team. Garden Team has already resolved the incident.

>Have Chio run an obstacle course so we can see how well she preforms both before and after the transfer to the clone. If nothing else should keep her busy.
Marking obstacle course layout in empty shuttle bay. Setup will be complete shortly. Diverting test subject to shuttle bay.

>For the brain case, I would suggest that instead of making it withstand heat, we make it repel heat. Specifically, some sort of heat transfer system that funnels any heat trying to get into the brain case to the heat dispersal weapon system instead. Reuse recycle reduce.
Maintaining a stable internal environment is essential to a standard brain case. However, the Ignole's natural propensity for absorbing heat and the heat purge system to be installed mean there can be rapid temperature shifts of several hundred degrees. It is already difficult to construct a compact heat pump that can operate under such high temperatures. One that can rapidly scale its capacity to deal with such sudden changes is even more difficult and, due to the Ignole's relatively small skull, simply adding a large thermal mass to smooth out such oscillations is not an ideal solution.

Due to these reasons, the approach of transplanting the test subject's unmodified brain into an environmental support capsule may exhibit undesirable side effects in the event of rapid temperature shifts and it would be fairly obvious that the Ignole clone has extensive brain implants.

Does Boiler Team wish to propose any modifications to the test subject's physical brain, the support structure or alternative formats for imprinting brain data to better suit the Ignole body it is to be implanted into?

Secondly, are there any other features that are desired to be integrated into the brain case? The ability to connect to and coordinate with the Project Garden trooper will be one feature. An early proposal called for a small drone body, such that the brain case would be able to survive outside of its host body if required. A more extreme proposal requested the ability to eject and then attempt to hijack other bodies. However this last option is high risk and would leave no time to research any other features.

Would it be possible to genetically engineer an ignole brain that we could imprint Chio's neural patterning onto? It would have to exhibit features of the ingole that make it able to work with the ingole body and resist heat, but also be close enough to a space pirate brain that our subject's cognitive patterns could be effectively copied over.

I'm afraid the idea for a "drone" brain that can be moved/move itself and hijack other bodies is beyond the reasonable limits of our available time and resources, now. We have too much else that needs work, so we would do better to focus on efficient and effective integration with the Ignole body.

Now, having decided that, we can make things simpler by leaving as much of the original Ignole brain in place as we can and using as little of the space pirate brain as we can, making the mass we have to protect smaller and easier to manage. We only need our trooper's personality, memories and skills, after all. When it comes to lower brain functions, which mostly have to do with the body, the Ignole brain will be better equipped to deal with those functions than a space pirates' brain is. Of course, brains are messy things... leaving the lower functions native will likely mean that our trooper will experience some of the Ignole's instinctual drives and baser emotional responses. However, the superior space pirate discipline that all our troopers possess is sure to be easily capable of overriding a primitive species' urges. We have put rehabilitation at a decent priority, so we might as well put it to use.

Speaking of being primitive, perhaps there are some inefficiencies in the Ignole brain that we can tidy up, to make space? We're already giving them cybernetic eyes - perhaps replacing the visual processing centers with cybernetics will save some room. We'd have to make sure not to interfere with the Ignole's thermal sense, of course. Though, if we're giving them cybernetic eyes that can manage thermal vision anyway, we could remove the part of the brain responsible for organic heat sensing?

And... hmmm. The Ignole's head seems to be the part that changes size the least, and that large shell/plate on top of their head is quite distinctive. If we replaced it with one that has a little more of a pronounced upper curve, it would add space inside the skull. Our Ignole would then maybe look slightly malformed to other Ignole, but we picked this species for its relative rarity in federation space and non-Ignole should hardly notice - they may even think it an improvement, aesthetically, if we make sure it fits well with the general curves of the clone's head and facial features, since flatter heads are considered more "brutish" in many cultures. We would need to make sure to maintain the structural integrity of the skull, of course, build the replacement part out of something sturdy, but it should be a decent way to add space.

Ignole are a recently intelligent species, after all. Enlargement of the space for the brain is a probable next stage in their evolution, as it was for many intelligent species in the transition from their antecedent species. If we bump our clone's evolution along a little, they'll just look like they're ahead of their time.

>>818548
The other suggestions about using ignole brains seem like a good idea. If neither of them work, we could try hybridizing the trooper's brain.

Alternative solution: Fully cybernetic brain, connected to the trooper's brain for remote control. Using quantum computing, we should be able to remove any 'lag' time. Or we could simply place the trooper's brain somewhere on the shuttle to reduce the distance between them - maybe even with the ability to control the shuttle! Good if our trooper needs emergency evac.

>>818548
>due to the Ignole's relatively small skull, simply adding a large thermal mass to smooth out such oscillations is not an ideal solution
Would it be useful to add a thermal mass outside the actual skull? Along the spine, say.

For that matter, given that ignoles are considered "relatively primitive," would extensive brain implants really be regarded as suspicious in their own right, in the context of an ignole piloting a single-seat interstellar craft and seeking employment as a bounty hunter? This would clearly be an anomalous individual.

>Does Boiler Team wish to propose any modifications to the test subject's physical brain, the support structure or alternative formats for imprinting brain data to better suit the Ignole body it is to be implanted into?
Well is their any way to either alter Chio brain to either be more resilient to heat as well or perhaps even find a way to transfer her personality/memories/skills/entire brain onto a Cloned ignole brain?

>Secondly, are there any other features that are desired to be integrated into the brain case?
Although I would prefer it if we could find a way to still use the brain case in some way as I was hoping with all the insulation we'd need to put in to make sure Chio's brain doesn't fry we could also use that insulation for the other extreme and counteract the negative Ignole trait of having their mental functions slow down while in incredibly cold environments. This way, should the subject ever find themselves in a cold environment without protection they'd still be able to think with 100% efficiency.

Hey, how does an Ignole brain handle large temperatures?

A headmaster unit is too complex.

Perhaps the brain's functions can be distributed to an external unit on the Ignole's back?

The proposal to make the Ignole a remote drone or hybridize an Ignole brain with Chio's are also intriguing.

Hey, did anyone check to see if Ignoles can speak? It'd suck if we successfully got Chio's brain the body only to find out that the Ignole's mouth/tongue prevents her from speaking.

Also, I thought we were low on resources? How can we have enough to support Garden basically redoing their clone from scratch? Do we even have enough to support a failed clone being rebuilt and Glasshouse?

Wouldn't it be better to just focus all remaining resources on the one project that hasn't fucked up yet? .....emphasis on the word "yet".

>Chio

God, I never thought I'd see my nickname on somewhere like here. It's bizzare.

Onto modifications... could we perhaps shorten synpatic response time, for faster reaction time? Some upgrades to the tissue of the Cerebral Cortex and the Cerebellum shouldn't be amiss either, allowing for Eidetic Memory as well as increased logical and decision-making capabilities.

>>818548
>Cooling the case
No.

Cooling the case means moving heat from inside the case to outside the case and A: that gets harder when the temp is significantly higher outside the case as it is fighting equilibrium in the dumbrst way, and B: it means we've already fucked up by letting heat into the case.

Insulation is the key here. We line the braincase with the same shit we put on landing craft to prevent burnup on re-entry. The shit that can be thousands of degrees hot and cool to the touch because it insulates so well it won't cunduct the heat to your hand.

And no, no fuckin' brain modification. Brain damage is the last thing we need. We take our fucking time, treat the brain extra carefully, and end up with a hunter that isnt retarded.

Garden got over-ambitious and it literally blew up in their face. Boiler won't make the same mistake.

>>818756
Oh, and the brain case is a hard shell. We can cut out and shave down parts of the ignole skull because we'll be replacing what we remove with artificial skull.

Hell, we could model the braincase after an ignole skull and just replace the original with a superior artificial one.

Actually, I do have a question for our incredibly advanced bio-computer: Why don't we just clone YOU and stick a smaller, dumber version of you in the clone body? Would it not be far more effective than using 'volunteers'? Not to mention it would probably decrease the risk of our bounty hunter going native and slaughtering us. Like the other times.

>>818756
>Insulation is the key here. We line the braincase with the same shit we put on landing craft to prevent burnup on re-entry.
That stuff is also functionally opaque to every wavelength from microwaves to vacuum UV, soundproof, and virtually impervious to electricity. Even assuming an incredibly compact self-contained life support system, how are you proposing to get sensory data in, motor commands out, and deal with the waste heat produced by whatever cogitation happens in between?

>>818548
We still have some successful research data from The Hunter's Varia Suit dont we? Maybe we can Apply that to the Braincase issue, Make a miniature suit for the brain and fill it with heat equalizing biogel. If we can mitigate to worst heat spikes, our normal procedures ought to be able to keep up with any other issues, correct?

>>818840
>research data from The Hunter's Varia Suit
>Apply that to the Braincase
That's an excellent idea! We've seen the Hunter's Varia Suit exposed to extreme temperatures, both hot and cold, and she isn't affected at all!

In fact, not only will the brain be protected from the Ignole's extreme body heat, the brain will also be protected from getting sluggish when the Ignole body is exposed to extreme cold!

>>818842
Wait, we have Varia Suit data? Man, we really need to paint our entire ship with that stuff. I burned my blades on a coffeemug just the other day.

>>818842
Of course we have Varia suit data. The hunter keeps getting it back from our associates. Do you think Kraid was just standing in front of the thing waiting for the hunter to show up and take it from him?

>>818877
>I burned my blades on a coffeemug just the other day.
Was it the "#1 Space Dragon" coffee mug? Ridley's been looking for that for a while and he really wants it back.

>>818937
Naw, it's the #1 Brain Mom cup we got IMO 02 for its birthday.

>>818813
You extend that insulation down the spinal cord out to a point where it fuses with the more robust Ignole nervous system. Perhaps add an additional tube in for the piping of coolant, to an unobtrusive implant in the back of the neck. Or that forehead ridge that was mentioned!

>>818969
>a point where it fuses with the more robust Ignole nervous system
A point where heat will get in, and need to be transferred back out by some sort of active cooling system. Also, what about the eyes? Trying to reroute optic nerves through the spine would introduce significant lag.

>>819050
>>818969
What are you two on about? We just need a synaptic connector to connect to the ignoles natural spine, theres no need to refit a new one. The creatures already built to withstand the temeperature on its own, otherwise none of this would have been necessary in the first place. And they Cyber eyes will be artificial anyway, we can just route them straight into the braincase.

>>819088
Honestly? I wish I knew.

1/1 IMO Unit-02 2017/07/29(Sat)20:19 No. 819420 ID: b27cac
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>Given that Ignoles are considered "relatively primitive," would extensive brain implants really be regarded as suspicious in their own right, in the context of an ignole piloting a single-seat interstellar craft and seeking employment as a bounty hunter? This would clearly be an anomalous individual.
This is true. A standard braincase will be included in the final selection.

>We still have some successful research data from The Hunter's Varia Suit don't we? Maybe we can apply that to the braincase issue.
Yes, of course. Why don't we take a shielding system from an incompletely understood power suit made with far more advanced technology than our own and then miniaturise it?

>We can make things simpler by leaving as much of the original Ignole brain in place as we can and using as little of the space pirate brain as we can, making the mass we have to protect smaller and easier to manage. We only need our trooper's personality, memories and skills, after all. When it comes to lower brain functions, which mostly have to do with the body, the Ignole brain will be better equipped to deal with those functions than a space pirates' brain is. Of course, brains are messy things... leaving the lower functions native will likely mean that our trooper will experience some of the Ignole's instinctual drives and baser emotional responses. However, the superior space pirate discipline that all our troopers possess is sure to be easily capable of overriding a primitive species' urges.
This should be viable, allowing tighter integration with the Ignole body with the cot of being more affected by that body.

>Speaking of being primitive, perhaps there are some inefficiencies in the Ignole brain that we can tidy up, to make space?
Brain optimisation is a complex subject, it's doubtful sufficient research can be done in the time available.

>The Ignole's head seems to be the part that changes size the least, and that large shell/plate on top of their head is quite distinctive. If we replaced it with one that has a little more of a pronounced upper curve, it would add space inside the skull. Our Ignole would then maybe look slightly malformed to other Ignole, but we picked this species for its relative rarity in federation space and non-Ignole should hardly notice - they may even think it an improvement, aesthetically, if we make sure it fits well with the general curves of the clone's head and facial features, since flatter heads are considered more "brutish" in many cultures.
Adding the option for cranial enlargement.

>Would it be possible to genetically engineer an Ignole brain that we could imprint Chio's neural patterning onto? It would have to exhibit features of the ingole that make it able to work with the ingole body and resist heat, but also be close enough to a space pirate brain that our subject's cognitive patterns could be effectively copied over.
Based on previous experimentation with such techniques, this should be feasible. The primary downsides are the risk of lossy translation and this would lose the clear-headedness an insulated brain case would have in low temperatures.

>Alternative solution: Fully cybernetic brain, connected to the trooper's brain for remote control. Using quantum computing, we should be able to remove any 'lag' time. Or we could simply place the trooper's brain somewhere on the shuttle to reduce the distance between them - maybe even with the ability to control the shuttle! Good if our trooper needs emergency evac.
This would be possible however extremely low communication delay is needed. Mental stress from feeling disconnected from the body is also likely.

>Onto modifications... could we perhaps shorten synaptic response time, for faster reaction time? Some upgrades to the tissue of the Cerebral Cortex and the Cerebellum shouldn't be amiss either, allowing for Eidetic Memory as well as increased logical and decision-making capabilities.
Specified neural tweaks will be performed.

>Actually, I do have a question for our incredibly advanced bio-computer: Why don't we just clone YOU and stick a smaller, dumber version of you in the clone body?
This biocomputer is designed to be a highly interconnected computational organism for massively parallel processing and analysis of large data sets as a research assistant. It is not designed to operate a body. In addition, a scaled down version would possess several orders of magnitude less processing power.

Options for brain transplantation have been finalised. Boiler Team, select how to proceed:

Standard Braincase: A braincase modified to survive high temperatures. Obvious cybernetics and may become disorientated in rapid temperature fluctuations.
Neural Hybrid: Using most of the lower brain of the Ignole to reduce environmental system footprint. Greater familiarity with the Ignole body but risk of instinctive behaviour.
Ignole Remapping: Overwriting the test subject's neural information onto a modified Ignole brain. Possible incomplete translation and as it is an Ignole brain, slowed thinking in cold environments.
Disembodied Remote: Braincase remote controls a cybernetic stub brain in the Ignole body. Brain 'survives' otherwise fatal experiences but possible impact to reflexes and risk of alienation.

Optional:
Cranial Enlargement: Increasing the size of the skull for additional internal capacity.

>>819420
Neural hybrid!

>>819420
>Yes, of course. Why don't we take a shielding system from an incompletely understood power suit made with far more advanced technology than our own and then miniaturise it?
That doesn't answer the question. Hop to it.

Let's go with Neural Hybrid. No opinion on cranial enlargement.

Neural Hybrid.

As long as the skills transfer over and there isn't outright rebellion, I don't really care how our agent acts. Heck, instinctive behaviour should help the undercover aspect of the whole thing.

Neural hybrid. We will be able to cover some of the downside during the rehabilitation.

A bit of modest cranial enlargement shouldn't create any real problems, so long as the expansion outwardly looks natural enough. As mentioned when suggested, it would just look like the ignole body is a little ahead of the genetic curve, it evolutionary terms. A little mutation isn't terribly rare, after all, and every little helps.

>>819420
Standard Braincase.

We're not trying to make the perfect warrior, we're building a hunter to infiltrate the federation to procure resources for the repair of the Cacophane.

Mental clarity and stability are more important than raw combat ability or whatever. And we don't want Neural Hybrid sending our hunter into heat (har har).

Cranial Enlargement also sounds workable. Most people won't notice it, and if they do, we can just claim it's a weird family thing or birth defect or something.

Neural Hybrid.

Avoid fatal experiences by not reducing reaction times. Cold environment exposure is one of the primary uses for independent Ignole action. Cybernetics already obvious on Ignole: see cyber-eyes, giant powersuit. Selecting Standard Brain-case. Predict thermal disorientation to be amusing to watch.
Medium cranial enlargement approved.

I didn't want to choose neural hybrid but really does seem like the best one when compared to the other options.

I vote for neural hybrid.

>>819420
Neural Hybrid makes sense.

Cranial Enlargement and these reasons: >>819427 , as a cover story.

>>819422
>That doesn't answer the question.
Agreed, that wasn't a very good answer and didn't really answer the question.

>Standard Braincase: A braincase modified to survive high temperatures. Obvious cybernetics and may become disorientated in rapid temperature fluctuations.
I doubt we'd be in a situation where our trooper would shift quickly and repeatedly between both it's forms for this to be a real big issue.

Disembodied remote. Alienation will ultimately be beneficial to strategic morale, motivating the subject to return in hope of transfer back to a standard trooper body rather than abandoning the mission and assimilating into Federation society.

Include spare remote interface stubs with other expedition equipment and teach Project Garden's candidate how to install them in various things (including, but not limited to, a partially-regenerated ignole body) as part of training and rehabilitation. Replace the courier craft's manual controls with a direct neural interface, thus freeing up space for bulkier power armor, reducing the time lag as a factor in piloting, and incidentally improving security by making the vessel practically impossible to hijack.

I think I may have overlooked the notes on Ignole instinct and behavior, could you bring them up for review?

neural hybrid, no cranial enlargement.

>>819420
Neural hybrid, the downside of having more Ignole instincts may cause inconvenience but could help in deflecting suspicions away from the subjects truer nature.

Neural Hybrid.

Any negative instinctual behaviors that would manifest are would be countered by, or at least easily would easily be controlled by the neural tweaks and the enhanced logic suite the brain is receiving.

Oh, and cranial enlargement as well. Making it look like a natural mutation, like the Ignole is just a bit ahead of the evolutionary curve as was suggested before sounds beneficial.

Neural hybrid, slight cranial enlargement.

>>819420

>We still have some successful research data from The Hunter's Varia Suit don't we? Maybe we can apply that to the braincase issue.
>>Yes, of course. Why don't we take a shielding system from an incompletely understood power suit made with far more advanced technology than our own and then miniaturise it?

You say that like we dont attempt that on a regular basis, and what we built our empire upon. Stop avoiding the question and gimme that data!

>>819420
I move for a Neural Hybrid. I have no opinion on Cranial Enlargement.

>>819487
This as well.

Yes to cranial enlargement. Neural hybrid seems like a popular choice, but I'm not sure how we're supposed to protect the parts of the brain that came from a space pirate if they'll be integrated into an ignole brain, which is itself presumably unshielded from heat.

Neural Hybrid. I would've suggested standard brain-case but the heat purge / directed energy weapon we added means the trooper will encounter the issue with that option more often, making it less desirable.

Also, going to vote for little to no cranial expansion. Keep the brain integration relatively simple since it is critical to the project.

Neural hybrid with cranial enlargement. Using the extra space, we could possibly create some sort of gradient to keep the brain at optimum temperatures.

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>That doesn't answer the question. Hop to it.
Conducting self test on sarcasm module. Test successful. Testing bio-research laboratory for atmospheric contaminants...

>I think I may have overlooked the notes on Ignole instinct and behaviour, could you bring them up for review?
It is much as you would expect in a primitive species from a highly seasonal world, Boiler Team. Energy conserving behaviours at low temperatures, greatly increased aggression when at extreme temperatures and they go into heat after sustained periods at those high temperatures.

>As long as the skills transfer over and there isn't outright rebellion, I don't really care how our agent acts. Heck, instinctive behaviour should help the undercover aspect of the whole thing.
Understood. Neural hybridisation will be performed. Initial testing using personnel from the 'Most Expendable' list is already looking quite promising.

>A bit of modest cranial enlargement shouldn't create any real problems, so long as the expansion outwardly looks natural enough. As mentioned when suggested, it would just look like the Ignole body is a little ahead of the genetic curve, it evolutionary terms. A little mutation isn't terribly rare, after all, and every little helps.
Noted, cranial enlargement will be performed. The additional working space has already increased survival rates by 57%.

Preparing Subject B for operation. This concludes the last activities for Project Boiler. Power suit design and rehabilitation will be conducted as part of Project Glasshouse.

END CHAPTER 1.5