The Machine Question *spoilers*

[Patriot]

So the machine, what I assume is a life support system, can be given to the church/protectors/brotherhood. I was hoping I could give it to The Pit is this possible or is there another alternative i'm aware of?

[skaudus]

You can change your mind later and give it to the ECLSS monks. Alternatively, there will be a "screw everybody and their mum" path. The details I leave to the reader's imagination.

[khargal]

Originally posted by Patriot:

So the machine, what I assume is a life support system, can be given to the church/protectors/brotherhood. I was hoping I could give it to The Pit is this possible or is there another alternative i'm aware of?

To add to the comment above, Pit is weak. It won't be able to protect such a machine, nor it would have enough people wanting to protect it. Also the benefit of owning it is debatable.

[Patriot]

Originally posted by khargal:

Originally posted by Patriot:

So the machine, what I assume is a life support system, can be given to the church/protectors/brotherhood. I was hoping I could give it to The Pit is this possible or is there another alternative i'm aware of?

To add to the comment above, Pit is weak. It won't be able to protect such a machine, nor it would have enough people wanting to protect it. Also the benefit of owning it is debatable.

The life support system in the ship is failing it's can barely produce enough oxygen to keep everyone alive. It's only a matter of time before it fails completely. So the benefit of owning it is great. It's akin to holding to lifeline to the entire ship. Should one destroy it they'd be killing everyone onboard. Should one use it to deny oxygen to certain other sectors they can kill their enemies without firing a shot. This alone would give them the power to demand the unconditional surrender of the other groups. So its benefit is immense.

[Vernon Roche]

Originally posted by Patriot:

Originally posted by khargal:

To add to the comment above, Pit is weak. It won't be able to protect such a machine, nor it would have enough people wanting to protect it. Also the benefit of owning it is debatable.

The life support system in the ship is failing it's can barely produce enough oxygen to keep everyone alive. It's only a matter of time before it fails completely. So the benefit of owning it is great. It's akin to holding to lifeline to the entire ship. Should one destroy it they'd be killing everyone onboard. Should one use it to deny oxygen to certain other sectors they can kill their enemies without firing a shot. This alone would give them the power to demand the unconditional surrender of the other groups. So its benefit is immense.

The machine doesn't work, and the Pit can't get it working. The Pit doesn't have enough people to protect it if one / all of the factions decide to wage all out war for it (they would). Giving the machine to the Pit would do them about as much good as finding gold and diamonds did for the Transvaal - they got annexed

[khargal]

Originally posted by Patriot:

Originally posted by khargal:

To add to the comment above, Pit is weak. It won't be able to protect such a machine, nor it would have enough people wanting to protect it. Also the benefit of owning it is debatable.

The life support system in the ship is failing it's can barely produce enough oxygen to keep everyone alive. It's only a matter of time before it fails completely. So the benefit of owning it is great. It's akin to holding to lifeline to the entire ship. Should one destroy it they'd be killing everyone onboard. Should one use it to deny oxygen to certain other sectors they can kill their enemies without firing a shot. This alone would give them the power to demand the unconditional surrender of the other groups. So its benefit is immense.

No, it would just lead to a total war to conquer the Pit and will likely lead to both Pit and Machine destruction. And Pit is the settlement for outcasts or those who don't want to deal with Habitat and its factions anymore, so its likely they will just leave to Mission Control f.e. instead of dying for stupid machine.
Also, its a spare life support, not the only one. Who knows what lies in the depot behind the elevator in Armory

[Vince]

Originally posted by Patriot:

Should one use it to deny oxygen to certain other sectors they can kill their enemies without firing a shot. This alone would give them the power to demand the unconditional surrender of the other groups. So its benefit is immense.

While the potential benefit is indeed immerse, the situation is not that simple.

Turning it on won't magically deny life support to other areas of the Ship. The central systems will keep on it working. If they were to be damaged, it would be a different story, but the Pit can't reach that far and even if they could, would they? It would start an exodus from the Habitat so within days the Pit will be overcrowded and out of control.

The machine isn't an instant 'I win' button. It does have a potential to control life and death, but only a major power can reach that potential and protect the machine and itself while doing so. The Pit barely managed to fight off the Brotherhood (and not a full force attack either) and only because the Protectors decided to interfere. Against a combined attack the Pit won't last an hour.

[khargal]

Originally posted by EvilBean:

Pah, you people are such human-chauvinists. I've been around humans my entire life, I am in fact a human. And I for one say "Shane they bought there tickets, they knew what they were getting into... I say let em crash."

Current generation never chose to live on that ♥♥♥♥♥♥ ship

[1ttffsse]

Originally posted by khargal:

Originally posted by EvilBean:

Pah, you people are such human-chauvinists. I've been around humans my entire life, I am in fact a human. And I for one say "Shane they bought there tickets, they knew what they were getting into... I say let em crash."

Current generation never chose to live on that ♥♥♥♥♥♥ ship

reminds me more of when and how England colonized Australia. People would only go on that ship if their choices and prospects at home were few and far between.

[khargal]

Originally posted by EvilBean:

Originally posted by khargal:

Current generation never chose to live on that ♥♥♥♥♥♥ ship

You throw em on a alien planet, they'll probably butcher and enslave most of the aliens, if they have the power to do so, then recreate all the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ problems earth has/had. Better for them all to all die in the cold vacuum of space.

Well, there are still "people" like monks who sacrificed a lot to keep all those people alive, or Faythe who never killed till the recent events

[xarfaks]

Originally posted by EvilBean:

Originally posted by khargal:

Well, there are still "people" like monks who sacrificed a lot to keep all those people alive, or Faythe who never killed till the recent events

Good people simply enable bad people, their hard work will go to perpetuating whatever crimes the monsters who run the ship do or whatever monstrous crimes the player wants them to do. Most players pick up Faythe then use her to murder whoever they perceive as their evil enemies or whoever is advantageous to kill for loot and she doesn't complain for the most part. She is just a tool to be used just like the monks.

Even, if by some miracle they go against all human history and human nature and are complete angels and treat the aliens decently they'll still destroy the alien world through the introduction of the alien equivalent of zoonotic diseases, obviously not stuff like viruses because of the necessity of virus-receptor interactions in their pathogenesis, but ya introduced fungii & bacteria will be devastating. Just introducing alien fauna and flora will be totally awful. It'll be a lot more devastating than the Columbian exchange no matter how the humans behave, unless the environment on the planet is so inimical life from Earth that it can't survive exposure.

Well actually probably the other way around the local biosphere will kill the colonists XD
Dont forget they lost most of their fancy tech and smart people and no help coming from earth.....

[Patriot]

I just spoke to Silas. He seems like a reasonable man. If something can be done about the executive committee perhaps they'd be the best faction to control "The Machine"

[khargal]

Originally posted by Patriot:

I just spoke to Silas. He seems like a reasonable man. If something can be done about the executive committee perhaps they'd be the best faction to control "The Machine"

Check what your companions would say. 2 out of 3 think that Protectors are the best guys to give the machine

[Vince]

Originally posted by Patriot:

I just spoke to Silas. He seems like a reasonable man. If something can be done about the executive committee perhaps they'd be the best faction to control "The Machine"

He means well but taking out the executive committee (i.e. the power structure) might have unintended consequences.

[skaudus]

That sounds exactly like someone else's problem!

[HuggyBear]

Originally posted by khargal:

Originally posted by Patriot:

I just spoke to Silas. He seems like a reasonable man. If something can be done about the executive committee perhaps they'd be the best faction to control "The Machine"

Check what your companions would say. 2 out of 3 think that Protectors are the best guys to give the machine

Some of them then express concern after talking to Sheffield, chief Protector spy.