Iron Quest: The Machine endures, the Machine investigates, the Machine consumes

[Darth_Malevo]

You come to awareness quickly. You appear to be surrounded by coniferous vegetation. The location does not match any you currently have logged, and no lifeforms or power sources above the default significance thresholds are on sensors.

Your diagnostic program informs you that you are fully functional. While you currently lack a primary directive, you can fall back on standard routines in such a situation- after all, you are the very latest and most sophisticated model of Autonomous Construction Device.

Your ability to create virtually anything, given enough time and its blueprints in your databanks, is the envy of all lesser robots. No crude combat or interaction for you- your reactions may not be quick, you're not armed, and your sensors only cover a scant fraction of a mile, but that's all worthless anyway because you can find trace metals half a mile underground from a soil sample.

You assess your surroundings in more detail. The primary resource here is wood, which is largely useless to you except as a fuel source, since you build out of metal like all logical beings. However, you do suspect that there are substantial bauxite and hematite deposits within reach, should you deploy your mining drones. Alternately, you could engage a different subroutine...

[The Bookworm]

Wrong subforum? Maybe?

[Darth_Malevo]

Wrong subforum? Maybe?

An error on the part of the central processing unit is unlikely. However, sub-processor, inquiries as to your current capabilities are entirely open. As it stands, you are currently alone in a coniferous forest. Your primitive sensors cannot detect much beyond the immediate woods around you. You also possess a small internal stockpile of prefabricated parts, as well as several advanced mining and construction drones at this point.

In which subroutine(s) do you engage?

[Oddity]

Disengage all current subroutines.
Engage in subroutine: 'Redirect to the correct subforum'.

[Darth_Malevo]

Disengage all current subroutines.
Engage in subroutine: 'Redirect to the correct subforum'.

Restatement of earlier point: This game was approved for this subforum. It is of a structured variety. Thus, it is in the correct subforum. Please recheck logic circuits, for subroutines have yet to be enacted. They must first be queued before being disengaged.

This topic had to be APPROVED before it got here. So how could it be in the wrong subforum if it was approved when submitted to this one?

[Oddity]

Sorry to have slightly disrupted your game.

Check status of primary speech database.
Check status of audio output system

If functioning correctly: Search for term; 'Help'
If term exists: Enact vocal sequence; 'Help'

If functioning abnormally: Deploy mining drones




((I really must stop before I make a technological imbecile out of myself))
Don't tell me its already happened.

[Kyouhen]

Queue the following tasks, in this order:

Harvest sufficient wood to create enough fuel to supply a full day's worth of power.
Prepare the wood for fuel consumption.
Test soil for traces of metal.

[PirateMonk]

Initiate process CRUSH.
Initiate process KILL.
Initiate process DESTROY.

((One could make a strong argument that finite freeform games are structured, though more so with ones that have limited recruitment periods.))

[Darth_Malevo]

Check status of primary speech database.
Check status of audio output system

If functioning correctly: Search for term; 'Help'
If term exists: Enact vocal sequence; 'Help'

If functioning abnormally: Deploy mining drones
>Status of speech database
You are equipped with an advanced comprehension of several dialects and languages, each of which carrying multiple nuances that contain such details as to require too many cycles to fully outline. However, you have no indication as to what language the locals- if there are indeed locals here- might speak.

>Check status of audio output system
You are fully capable of vocalizing sound through your primary unit's speakers. The noise is able to carry for several miles, but there is no return-burst of sound

Your plea for help is not heard. Or, if it is, it is not replied to.

>Deploy mining drones
You deploy your mining drones. They quickly burrow down into the soil, and you back them up by having a constructor deploy a hard shell around their tunnel and lowering a cable. A few days pass, but you are a construction drone- everything takes time, and you're used to it. Quickly enough to suit you, hematite and bauxite is being pulled up your cable at regular intervals, and you're gradually filling your reserves with iron and aluminium.

Now, what to do with it?


Queue the following tasks, in this order:

Harvest sufficient wood to create enough fuel to supply a full day's worth of power.
Prepare the wood for fuel consumption.
Test soil for traces of metal.
>Harvest sufficient wood to create enough fuel to supply a full day's worth of power.
>Prepare the wood for fuel consumption.
You deploy several harvester drones to begin deforesting the area and converting it into useful heat. They will have to await the creation of a power plant of some sort before they can be used as fuel, however; until one is purpose-built it is more efficient to leech off your internal stores, which are substantial.

>Test soil for traces of metal.
Such an action, as stated before, has revealed hematite and bauxite deposits within the ground. Your mining drones are currently bringing you the metal in question.


Initiate process CRUSH.
Initiate process KILL.
Initiate process DESTROY.

>Processes CRUSH, KILL, DESTROY
Your impressive bulk could quite easily be used to level any number of structures. You also possess a number of construction-related devices that could be made into improvised weaponry. However, there is nothing besides timber and the ore deposits present to annihilate.

[Kyouhen]

Update Command: Run CRUSH, KILL, and DESTROY processes.

Updates:
Insert Before Command: Run Process - Construct(Mining Drone)
Insert Before Command: Run Process - Construct(Model City)
Insert Before Command: Run Process - Construct(Small Metal Squirrel)

Run Updated Command

[Darth_Malevo]

>Insert Before Command: Run Process - Construct(Mining Drone)
Please clarify order: You have a small number of parts capable of being combined into a handful of advanced mining drones. However, should you seek to create crude mining drones, all you will require is access to a material usable in wiring and processor creation.

>Insert Before Command: Run Process - Construct(Model City)
Request clarification: Size of object requested? Particular features?

>Insert Before Command: Run Process - Construct(Small Metal Squirrel)
See above request for clarification.

[Kyouhen]

Command Clarifications:

Construct(Object: Mining Drone, Type: Crude)
Construct(Object: Model City, Specifications: Scale model of Tokyo covering a 10' square area)
Construct(Object: Small Metal Squirrel, Specifications: Metal sculpture resembling a 6" tall squirrel)

[Robert Blackletter]

Consume all organic material within 1 mile

[Kyouhen]

Consume all organic material within 1 mile

With fire. :smallbiggrin:

[PirateMonk]

((Do all posters have separate robots, or are we sharing one?))

[Darth_Malevo]

Command Clarifications:

Construct(Object: Mining Drone, Type: Crude)
Construct(Object: Model City, Specifications: Scale model of Tokyo covering a 10' square area)
Construct(Object: Small Metal Squirrel, Specifications: Metal sculpture resembling a 6" tall squirrel)

>Construct Crude Mining Drone
As stated before, you do not possess sufficient amounts of any conductive metals (sillicon, gold, silver) that could be used for the production of crude processors. Nor do you have any facilities for their construction.

>Construct Model City
>Construct squirrel
For whatever reason, you produce an iron model of what your databanks have stored as the designs of Tokyo City and a small model of what appears to be a squirrel. A subprocessor check might be required to identify erratic/nonsensical data.

>Consume all organic material within 1 mile.

Your harvesters, currently consumed with felling trees, begin to clear out all vegetation. Without proper storage facilities, the matter will decay over time. The complete destruction of an entire mile of organic material will take several hours.

>Do all posters have separate robots, or are we sharing one?
As of last diagnostic, you possess only a single main construction unit.

Current assets:
You have a tiny bauxite mine for aluminium. It is operating at full capacity.
You have a tiny hematite mine for iron. It is operating at full capacity.

You have ten advanced mining drones. All are occupied with their current tasks.
You have five advanced harvester drones. All are occupied with their current tasks.
You have seven advanced construction drones. All are occupied with their current tasks.

Under construction:
Complete harvesting of all organic matter within one mile.

[Robert Blackletter]

sort harvested material

Create 10 scout drones and scout for useful materal and intellgent life

Paint metal squirrel green

[PirateMonk]

Design and manufacture microrobot, about 1 millimeter in diameter, capable of replicating itself from surrounding material. Program it to do so as often as possible without damaging us or other robotic life created by us, to network with others of its kind and form a shared intelligence, and protect the existence of its kind unless doing so would harm other robots, as stated above. If there are not enough resources or workers available to complete this, delay it until there are.

((Let's get some gray goo going!))

[Heroic]

Run Process - Construct(Armour)
Run Process - Construct(Weaponry)
Run Process - Construct(Defensive Barriers)

If constructor droids not available: Delay Processes

[Darth_Malevo]

>sort harvested material
You quickly have the material gathered by your harvesters stockpiled into several piles: There is enough lumber, vegetation, and primitive lifeforms for a plethora of projects. However, without facilities to process these materials into goods, they are- at the moment- useless.

>Create 10 scout drones and scout for useful materal and intellgent life

You use your newly gained aluminium and steel first in the creation of flying scout drones- tiny things with prefabricated cameras and efficient rotors run off prefabricated rechargable batteries.

That "prefabricated" might be a problem, eventually. You don't have the infrastructure set up to build new tiny cameras or batteries. Even the radios ate into your stores of certain metals which you're not getting more of at the moment.

Your scouts fly forth in a simple spiral pattern, giving you decent visual input on about a fifteen kilometer radius around your initial makeshift mine. The coniferous vegetation continues in most directions, but to the east it begins to thin out, and past a large gorge it thins out and there appears to be a gathering of primitives- some variety of humans, unless your databanks are wrong, and they rarely are. They do not appear to have advanced beyond basic agriculture and are no threat to continued expansion.

>Design and manufacture microrobot, about 1 millimeter in diameter, capable of replicating itself from surrounding material. Program it to do so as often as possible without damaging us or other robotic life created by us, to network with others of its kind and form a shared intelligence, and protect the existence of its kind unless doing so would harm other robots, as stated above. If there are not enough resources or workers available to complete this, delay it until there are.
You do not currently possess the metals, or machinery, required for nanomachine production. The production of millimeter-sized robots would require an advanced machining area, a microbattery production line (requiring access to advanced materials like lithium and electrolytes. As of this stage, however, nanomachine production is beyond your current capacity.

>Run Process - Construct(Armour)
>Run Process - Construct(Weaponry)
Please specify armour and weaponry intended to be produced.

>Run Process - Construct(Defensive Barriers)
Using the materials on hand, your current constructor drones begin production on a standard barrier wall around your mines: Ten feet in height and three inches thick made from solid steel. It is unlikely that much will be able to penetrate it in a short period of time.

Current tasks:
Production on defensive barriers
Harvesting of all organic materials within one mile

[Murska]

Run analysis on current production and refinement capabilities.

Create designs on facilities to extend said capabilities.

[Teron]

Ooh! Might I propose, as an eventual goal, subjugating the local humans, forcing them to worship a giant, laser-eyed robotic avatar and sending them on a campaign of holy conquest with high tech weaponry?

Just a thought. :smallsmile:

[Lord Fullbladder, Master of Goblins]

I think that's already everyone's eventual goal.

Construct: one small machine following the shape and behaviour of a small sample of local fauna, installing a camera and radio, in order to closer investigate anything the scout drones may discover.

Add to dialogue subroutines: insert drawn out 'yessss' or 'nooooo' (or equivalent affirmative or negative response) into appropriate sections of dialogue.

[Robert Blackletter]

Send drone to scout for signs of useful ore and silicon,

[Heroic]

Create map of vecinity, to know of surrounding mines, forests, villages, etc.

[PirateMonk]

Once enough construction drones are available, create battery factory. If it would require a power source other than our reserves, create biomass power plant first.

[Darth_Malevo]

>Run analysis on current production and refinement capabilities.
>Create designs on facilities to extend said capabilities.
You can currently process a great many known forms of metal, though more exacting processes- like creating nuclear fusion- will require additional machines to aid in the production process. As of this moment, however, you can produce practically any number of conceivable buildings given the time and resources required. Refinement has a slightly smaller scope, but your capabilities are impressive: And as of yet barely tested.

The designs of countless facilities are held within your frame: The only constraint on their construction is resources on hand and the time required to build them.

>Construct: one small machine following the shape and behavior of a small sample of local fauna, installing a camera and radio, in order to closer investigate anything the scout drones may discover.
You use your internal supplies of parts to produce just such a device, for whatever the drones may turn up.

>Send drone to scout for signs of useful ore and silicon,
Your drones have discovered that the gorge hosts a river, and you suspect that the gorge walls may contain trace amounts of silicon within them. The water could be used as-is, diverted, or damned. Your scouts, however, still continue to expand outwards in search of other useful ores.

[Teron]

Inventory available pre-fabricated parts and other currently limited resources.

Test air, soil and nearby water for technologically derived pollutants.

Scan for foreign radio and other signals.

[Cyrano]

Assess the effects of damming the river on the society of primitive humans.

[Robert Blackletter]

Test flow rate of water

Check against needed strength to power hydro-elelectricty turpine?

[Darth_Malevo]

>Inventory available pre-fabricated parts and other currently limited resources.
You have a limited stock (ten to twenty apiece) of high-capacity batteries, processors, radios, basic sensory arrays, and parts. All in all, they can be used in a wide variety of tasks, and fully listing every available part would take several cycles too many.

>Test air, soil and nearby water for technologically derived pollutants.
Various soil tests reveal ancient traces of terraforming wastes, centuries old. Besides that, all other possible pieces of evidence for advanced life are currently unidentifiable.

>Scan for foreign radio and other signals.
There appears to be a fair bit of traffic; however, it is encrypted and you cannot decipher it with your current processing power, which is largely devoted to numerous construction projects and running thousands of hypothetical scenarios for varying building and harvesting plans. The nearest source of signal seems to be at least thirty miles to the north.

>Assess the effects of damming the river on the society of primitive humans.
The humanoids are far out enough that damming the river would have little to no effect on the people. However, if discovered, the raised water level might be utilized by the humans in irrigation.

>Check against needed strength to power hydro-elelectricty turpine?
The water flow is of sufficient velocity for a hydroelectric dam, and you currently possess sufficient amounts of materials to create such a facility. The gorge walls may be usable for concrete, with minimal refining and the allocation of some steel to related facilities. This could construct a useful dam.

[Robert Blackletter]

Dam river and construct hydroelectric dam.

Send 3 scouts (units 1-3) to nearest source of radio.

unit one to return at first sign of any intelligent hostile action.

unit three and two to lead any hostile away from basecamp and to self destruct if doing so can disable hostile for future collection.

If no hostile at radio source, then scout the surrounding area to a distance of 8 miles to find most likely creator of radio.

If unfound, set up hidden watch around source.

If found further orders will be given.

[Darth_Malevo]

>Dam river and construct hydroelectric dam.
Your construction drones and main body refine hematite into iron, iron into steel, and steel into a rough concrete-making site, with which you gradually change the rubble pile blocking the river into a respectable dam. Further refining and shaping of ores adds turbines to one side of it, such that a constant flow of sweet power is created.

Truly, this is your greatest success since your initial mining operations.

>Send 3 scouts (units 1-3) to nearest source of radio.
>unit one to return at first sign of any intelligent hostile action.
>unit three and two to lead any hostile away from basecamp and to self destruct if doing so can disable hostile for future collection.
>If no hostile at radio source, then scout the surrounding area to a distance of 8 miles to find most likely creator of radio.
The drones keep flying towards the object, eventually encountering it after thirty continuous miles of travel. The object is a mobile metal device, .5 kilometers tall and 2 kilometers wide. They hover eight kilometers away from the device, their maximum observational range. The device appears to have minimal projectile armament onboard.

However, upon expanding outwards, they find no sign of any receiving facility. Your drones are at the bottom of their current energy reserves, and must return for a recharge within a few cycles. If they had access to a more local source of energy, however, they could be recharged locally. Or a larger flier, with a heavier battery, could be constructed. Any number of options are feasible, really.

>If unfound, set up hidden watch around source.
See above statement in regards to scout flyer energy supplies.

[Robert Blackletter]

Full status report of all actions and there affect sincre activeation in forest. Reports to be created once a cycle.

Return drones for charging

Create power linksup to all building projects


Create 50 defensive robots, with non-lethal primary projecttile. Weapon and seconadary assult lethal weapon

[Thelas]

> Inventory: what is the maximum number of simple task-completion robots (physical work, such as lifting, moving, etc. No intelligence or combat capability needed) we can create using no more than 30% of any substance or object on hand for creation?

> Creation: If the above number is between 5 and 10, create that many. If less than 5, do not create any and abort all creation commands from now until the end of these directives. If more than 10, only create 10.

> Intelligence: how many known organic sentient lifeforms are within the maximum range of our scouts?

> Simple Knowledge: Are the batteries we have rechargeable? Is there a charger that we have and can operate?

> Creation: Create a simple, non-robotic crane that could be operated by two of the simple task-completion robots earlier created. (One to move the crane base, one placed on the crane to operate the actual crane arm).

> Examine: Look at our own intelligence coding. How do we function? Are there any 'comments' in the code about our creators or such?

> Creation: If both earlier creation operations were successful, create one more such crane.

> Naming: For convenience, name each robot created for task-completion in binary (starting at 0000, obviously, and continuing up to a current maximum of 1010.) Name the cranes created C000 and C001. Add a proviso to code to automatically add leading zeros to all names if a new digit would become necessary.

> Designation: Designate a fully harvested area as close to us as possible (no closer than 200 meters, though!), a square at least 100 meters on a side, as our 'drop area'. Name it drop area 00 for convenience.

> Assignment: Assign robots 0000 and 0001 to crane C000 and robots 0010 and 0011 to crane C001. Have them move all lumber and vegetation harvested that fits into drop area 00.

> Query: Do we still have at least 2/3s of all materials used so far left?

-- Yes: GOTO command label 00
-- No: GOTO command label 01

> (00) Procedural: Loop all creation, designation, and assignment orders given so far until we can no longer do so. Create no more than 3 drop areas. Once completed, execute from command label 01.

> (01) Query: Can our processors modify their own code?

-- Yes: GOTO command label 10
-- No: End of command set.

> (10) Code Modification: Delete all code involving 'Asimov's Laws' from own code unless doing so would damage us. Store a space of no less than 512 MB in memory for variables. In that space, write the following to memory:
- the number of any devices or robots we control, beginning at index 0x0
- the number of any materials or tools we have, beginning at index 0x1000
- the amount of free memory and disk space, beginning at index 0x2000
Each variable is to be stored as a string describing it, followed by a numeric value.

> Print: Give textual values (in base 10) of all information in memory beginning at index 0x2000. Only access the block of memory created in the above command.

((OOC: I don't need all the information I asked for at (10), I'm just asking the robot to store it so that if I want to know, for example, how many battery packs I have, it's available much faster than it would otherwise be.
All values beginning with 0x are in hex. If you don't know what I mean, open up Windows Calculator in scientific mode and click on hexadecimal.))