Where in the Multiverse Would You Build an Empire?

[FireNexus]

I'd bring a Culture GSV to the Star Trek alpha quadrant, have them start building contact units and orbitals and watch the show.

[Solauren]

I want working (and bug free) examples of all demonstrated or mentioned-it-worked-off-screen Star Trek franchise tech. In a nice big fully automated and artificial crewed ship. Genesis technology will be useful for setting up industry.

As for where to build, well, I happen to know a planet with 6 billion potential labor/slaves, that can't even get into orbit without their rockets blowing up....

[Crossroads Inc.]

Question:
Could I bring aTARDIS To Earth?

Because call me old fashion, but when it comes to "Setting up an empire" or "Conquering a planet" OUR Earth usually comes first. Given how screwed up this planet and it's history is, every day I can't help but look at the huge wasted resources, potential, loss of history, culture and lives. The thought of taking a TARDIS Sledgehammer to our current history has something I have spent years fantasizing and pondering in terms of how to make THIS world better.

Because the thing about fictional universes, is, well, they are fictional. Magically make one "real" for purposes of a RAR still feels empty to me.. It's not MY world. How do I decided what I should conquer, or where to live? or what to do?

I'll be honest the ONLY Fictional universe I've ever had an interest in exploring in any sort of long term basis, is "Gaia" from the anime "Escaflowne"
It's a 'steampunk-isn" world same size and shape as our. About level buildings and tech (said from a magic "levistone flying rock" tech they have, oh and magic energy crystals that let them build working Giant Robots...

[Eternal_Freedom]

Why is it that your plans always involve traveling to a place where literal gods exist and desire to mess with you because of "why not" and than doing things to draw their attention?

Because when you can challenge Gods and have a reasonable (but not assured) chance of victory, you have a real fun struggle that lets you feel tremendously smug if you win. I'd rather have something that will be an actual challenge rather than a near-automatic "I win." Incidentally, I think bringing Culture vessels to ST/B5/ME universes may be disallowed by the OP, same with the "bring a TARDIS to Earth" idea.

Oh, Purple? At least my plans don't normally involve inflicting pointless suffering on others "just because I can" as yours so often do.

[Purple]

Because when you can challenge Gods and have a reasonable (but not assured) chance of victory, you have a real fun struggle that lets you feel tremendously smug if you win. I'd rather have something that will be an actual challenge rather than a near-automatic "I win."

That's an interesting angle to take. Personally I'd much prefer a place where whilst challenged I can't really lose unless I mess things up royally. And the Homeworld universe is high tech enough to give me such a situation. That way I could devote my self to doing what I love most. Oppressing and exploring the strange and mystical precursor lore that seems to be all around that place. Maybe I'd even get to meet the beast. How cool would that be?

Oh, Purple? At least my plans don't normally involve inflicting pointless suffering on others "just because I can" as yours so often do.

Well it's not really pointless. It makes me feel good. That is a point.

But to be perfectly honest I'd actually not do that much actual harm as much as I'd just keep them very scared.
The first thing I'd do is set up a voice changing device that alters everything I say to replace all pronouns with IT and removes all emotion from my voice to make me sound like an empty soulless voice. And of course I would address my self as IT. Combine that with me newer showing my self to be human, just a mindless swarm of machines centered around a battle station and it'd not take much actual killing to satisfy my god complex.

Just imagine it. A massive ship of war resembling a fleet cobbled together by some sort of insane engineer enters a star system and starts consuming the local asteroid fields and dwarf planets for resources. A fleet is dispatched. Being the good guys, the fleet attempts communications. And they receive a response.
"[name of faction fighting me] refuses it to feed. [name] bring conflict."
"It desires no conflict. It regrets loss of flesh."
"It accepts offering of metal in exchange for flesh. Flesh abandon metal and return to homes."
"Refuse and be consumed."

Given their experience with the beast this would be priceless. And if they do abandon their ships I'd let them live. If not, I'd probably release all but a few of my captives anyway and only keep those worth interrogating and/or "interrogating".

[Eternal_Freedom]

Yeeeees....

Anyway, the thing with the "high tech but small fleets" view of Homeworld is that it doesn't really hold up, not in the first game at least. You have a relatively small fleet because you can't support much more than that. The fleets you face are also small precisely because your ships are following an evasive course to avoid contact with heavy enemy fleets. That's why you go through that asteroid drift, theGarden of Kadesh, and the Sea of Lost Souls.

When you do finally reach Hiigara, you have to attack the least defended hyperspace inhibitor, wich still has 100+ ion cannon frigates, two carriers, a heavy cruiser and multiple destroyers. The remaining forces you face at Hiigara itself is what they have on hand (which still includes at least six heavy cruisers, triple the number you can build) because other forces are off fighting that Rebellion that Captain Elohin talks about.

So, yeah, small fleets isn't really true for the Homeworld universe.

[Purple]

So, yeah, small fleets isn't really true for the Homeworld universe.

I admit I was wrong there. I was thinking HW1 instead of HW2. As HW2 is... strange. But even so for the size of fleets and resource base they have the Homeworld universe seems to not really pack a lot of firepower on a per weapon basis. Their fighters still use mass driver weaponry and atomic weapons are still a big deal. They also lack appreciable shielding technology. So overall they would find a hard time damaging an imperial grade warship. And if they can damage my ships, well I can just build more. And churn out a robot fleet to feed IT metal.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Oh Homeworld ships are certainly weaker than Imperial-grade vessels, that's not in doubt. And yes they lack shielding (or rather, they lack shielding that is commonly employed). But as Halo showed, ships armed with purely kinetic weaponry and lacking shields can still be a threat to shielded vessels with numbers and solid tactics. And since the Taiidan Empire of HW1 spans a good chunk of the galaxy, numbers are something they can do quite easily.

So while you would still most likely win, it may not be anywhere near as easy as you intially expected. This is why in my plan I sit there for five thousand years building up my strength and adapting to the more unusual aspects of the 40K setting before I launch my offensive.

[Purple]

Well my plan is basically to roam the outer rims, random asteroid belts and such and avoid contact at all costs until such a point that my world devastator has upgraded it self into a Jupiter sized death star. And given that these things can apparently eat up planets I don't think that would take too long. Than I get to advance on and play with the empires of HW.

[OmegaChief]

Y'know, it always annoys me that "Still using mass drivers" is considered a point of weakness, kinetic weapons are not to be sniffed at, and from what we know they require much less power and are presumably more robust then energy weapons, at least this is my assumption based off reality.

Of course the Homeworld Galaxy does have directed energy weapons, Plasma Bombs on Bombers and Assault frigates, and of course Ion Cannons. Also depending on the time period that Purple shows up, he may have the Bentusi to deal with, and they're no slouches, they have proven intra-Galactic travel abilities after all, that's a hell of a lot of energy they can reliably manipulate.

Funny he mentions The Beast too, since even post cataclysm there are still beast ships kicking around, wouldn't it be a shame if you ran into one of them? Science Logs on it do indicate that it subverts technology just fine after all, but given we never see it infect any unmanned units... well it'd be interesting

[Purple]

Y'know, it always annoys me that "Still using mass drivers" is considered a point of weakness, kinetic weapons are not to be sniffed at, and from what we know they require much less power and are presumably more robust then energy weapons, at least this is my assumption based off reality.

That's all fine and well. But the mass drivers we are talking about are essentially rotary EM machine guns. And whilst this is perfectly fine for taking out unshielded in universe threats it's nothing fancy compared to stuff from the SW universe. The same goes for the rest of their kit.

That's why I love the HW universe. I would have the advantage of firepower and shielding but not much more. And that means it's a real challenge but not a suicide mission.

Of course the Homeworld Galaxy does have directed energy weapons, Plasma Bombs on Bombers and Assault frigates, and of course Ion Cannons. Also depending on the time period that Purple shows up, he may have the Bentusi to deal with, and they're no slouches, they have proven intra-Galactic travel abilities after all, that's a hell of a lot of energy they can reliably manipulate.

My ideal entry point is right in the middle of the galactic civil war, just after the Bentusi leave but the war is still undecided. That way I could avoid having to deal with the major factions until such a point that I have built up my world devastator. The entire plan after all is to bide my time and grow. And once I am big become this new looming threatening force in the galaxy that scares people but does not actually do much.

Funny he mentions The Beast too, since even post cataclysm there are still beast ships kicking around, wouldn't it be a shame if you ran into one of them? Science Logs on it do indicate that it subverts technology just fine after all, but given we never see it infect any unmanned units... well it'd be interesting

The beast IIRC infect ships by virtue of infecting the entire crew and than merging them with the ship it self in a sort of alienesque goop. So no organic crew means no infestation.

[Starglider]

If the tech difference rule is 'you can't have stuff that would make a ship-to-ship versus scenario a no-brainer', then I would go with the Labosphere from Commander Kitty and take it to the NewBSG universe, just to show all of the assorted idiot engineers in that series how to actually do artificial life properly. The weapons & defences (of the CK universe) are fairly low-powered, but the iKnows and uploading technology are excellent. Which is to say, they are roughly equivalent to nBSG Cylon technology in peak theoretical capability, but vastly more reliable, easy to produce, easy to use and generally work like actual technology rather than semi-biological semi-mystical bizarrely-restricted bullshit.

[OmegaChief]

The beast IIRC infect ships by virtue of infecting the entire crew and than merging them with the ship it self in a sort of alienesque goop. So no organic crew means no infestation.

The Beast repurposes any organic matter or technology in order to serve its own needs, the simple fact is the crew makes an easy source of 'spare material' to be converted into a new control system, based on how it works it wouldn't be beyond belief that it could subvert things without organic crew, the few reports we have about what the inside of infected ships looks like indicates there is very little recognisable of the crew left just 'bio-circuitry'.

I mean the virus itself is described as "techno-organic" some kind of horrific abomination both technological and organic in equal parts. Heck the probe that started infecting the Kuun-Laan had no organic material on it at all (It was noted as having had a semi-organic layering at 'some point'). Also of note is the Beast's ability to build things, exemplified in the Cruise Missile, it can easily convert raw resources into both new technology and biomass, there's no surefire way you can know your ships would be immune

[Purple]

If I recall correctly the probe it self was not in fact infected. Infection only occurred when it was brought into the hull of a very much crewed ship. So I should be fine as long as I am the only living crew member on the only crewed ship in my fleet. Worst comes to worst no crew means no qualms about installing a remote self destruct.

[Crossroads Inc.]

SO I have a Question to everyone...
If I am Going TOO A world of "steampunkish" tech level, (with magic energy rocks that can somehow allow Giant robots to work)
What sort of Base/station Can I pick? Because it cannot be anything too advanced if I would go to such a "low tech" environment ...

[Borgholio]

I would actually choose the Aliens-verse as the universe to inhabit. Why? It's sparsely populated, and I can set myself up as a potential benevolent leader to the people of Earth by eliminating the Xenomorphs and dismantling the corporations that are risking the safety of the entire planet.

I would choose a large space station with factory facilities (Death Star, ST Earth Spacedock, etc...) and plop it a few hundred light years from Earth in a mineral-rich star system. Since the Aliens-verse is rather low-tech compared to ST or SW, parts of the stations could be decommissioned as needed (provided the manufacturing capabilities are still mostly intact). I would then start manufacturing terminators. Lots of them. Terminators would be more loyal than other droids we've seen. Once programmed, we've never seen a Terminator successfully override it's own programming. They've even shut themselves down and over-rode their base termination directive to follow their new programming...so they would be insanely loyal.

I would build enough terminators to guard my base and provide manual labor for farming or resource processing. I would then build (or steal, as per the OP's allowance) hyper-capable starships to move armies of terminators across the galaxy to eliminate the Xenomorphs. Terminators would be the best possible military asset to use against them. They can't be infected, they're strong, durable, and are not afraid. I would send them to find and eliminate every Xenomorph they can find, then trace them back to the Engineers who built them. If the Engineers are hostile, destroy them too. Depending on which film you look at, the Predators would exist here as well. They're not a wide-scale threat to humans so I'd pretty much leave them alone. Might even work out a deal with them to provide them with weapons if they hunt the Xenos or the Engineers for me.

Finally, I would use flesh-equipped terminators to infiltrate some of the larger and nastiest corporations (such as Weyland Yutani) and expose their involvement in trying to bring Xenomorphs to Earth.

So in the end, I'd have several worlds full of factories and manned by ultra-loyal cyborgs. I would have eliminated one (or two) major threats to Earth, exposed and brought down several corporations who could have turned Earth into a giant hive through their actions, and I'd have practically an entire galaxy to myself for further expansion.

[Starglider]

Finally, I would use flesh-equipped terminators to infiltrate some of the larger and nastiest corporations (such as Weyland Yutani) and expose their involvement in trying to bring Xenomorphs to Earth.

The ability to manufacture realistic android duplicates of people has been around since the first movie, so I am pretty sure measures are in place to detect this (at least for sensitive positions).

[Borgholio]

Finally, I would use flesh-equipped terminators to infiltrate some of the larger and nastiest corporations (such as Weyland Yutani) and expose their involvement in trying to bring Xenomorphs to Earth.

The ability to manufacture realistic android duplicates of people has been around since the first movie, so I am pretty sure measures are in place to detect this (at least for sensitive positions).

Yeah I wouldn't doubt that, but it depends on the method they use for detection. A synthetic has different internals than a terminator does. Plus, a terminator is designed to infiltrate and has no qualms breaking the 3 laws of robotics if needed.

[Corvus 501]

As for me, I, personally would settle down in the Stargate universe. In terms of technology, I would use a mix of Halo (UNSC), Babylon 5, Mass Effect, BattleTech, nBSG (drives mostly) and a bit of Star Trek, along with whatever local tech that I could scrounge up.
The reason that I would pick this franchise is because Stargate has both a lit of space, and it is chock full of useful technologies and materials. Take a Halcyon-class light cruiser, and slap on a shield, trinium alloy armor and frame, a nBSG jump drive, B5 style plasma cannon upgraded with goa'uld technology, a goa'uld hyper drive, an interceptor grid built around phasers, disruptors, and compressors, and maybe a Centauri or Minbari gravity shield to supplement the goa'uld shield, and mayby a few hybrid gravitic engines. Take this, and you cam shoot down any Ha'Tak in exsistence down.

[Simon_Jester]

The same could be said of basically any spacecraft ever envisioned by man, probably including a Gemini capsule.

I mean, you're only replacing the entire hull, the engines, the other engines, the other other engines, the guns, the other guns, the other other guns, and adding multiple layers of shielding that previously did not exist.

You might as well just design a new ship...

[Corvus 501]

Edit: Looks like the above situation is a case of building an upgraded Warlock class destroyer on a Halcyon light cruiser's hull, with a MAC gun, of course. Point being that there is no need to stick to any single sci fi franchise, and you just need to make good use of existing tech to punch far above your weight. This is generally how I would design any ship whose primary job is to shoot at other ships, carriers, and other ship types would be designed differently.

For ground forces, I'd use large numbers of small BattleMechs, aerospace fighters, and a mix of foot, mobile (countergrav APC based) and power armor for operations through the gate, with heavier equipment used for more conventional war.

This, obviously, would take centuries to set up, but with all the medical science available to me, living that long would not be hard. After I get set up, I start hitting minor goa'uld, and a few system lords on lightly garrisoned worlds, grab everyone and everything of value there, and settle them somewhere out of the way with the reascorces to set up a colony and some advisors. Give it a few decades, and I've got dozens of planets full of people ready to set up a government more advanced than an inter village trade agreement, and than here I am, the guy who set up this whole deal in the first place giving them a few pointers. Give it another century or two, and I've got a confederacy, alliance, or whatever nation up and running, and a rather advanced one at that.

[Corvus 501]

re: Simon_Jester: There's an old joke that goes, " How do you refurbish a plane?You peel off the tail number and slide a new plane in underneath it."

[Purple]

Also, in my efforts to scare the homeworld universe I would randomly appear above planets and demand they deliver tithes in form of various luxury goods (fine cloth, rare earths etc.), virgins and terminally ill children. And I would attempt to cure and return the children. Just to make them confused.

[Corvus 501]

Then people decide that you are A: crazy and B: too powerful to beat normally, so kamikaze via mothership becomes a viable plan. A world devastator probably cannot take multiple motherships performing .c fractional kamikaze strikes, especially with a Jupiter sized station. Given that much mass, the whole thing probably collapse from its own gravity, and shoring it up with structural integrity fields takes power, something easy to disrupt via said kamikaze strikes.

[Purple]

A Jupiter sized death star is very likely to have quite enough firepower to completely obliterate anything attempting to approach it. Most of the insides would be dedicated to shipyards though. That way I can build a supporting fleet to protect my station.