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Made in us
Humming Great Unclean One of Nurgle





In My Lab

Brought on by this thread, I had an idea.

Spoiler:
Tau are conquering a world, as they do. Necrons are awakening on that world, as they do. And Eldar are meddling in other species' affairs, as they do.

The Eldar, guided by a Farseer, take out the command caste from the Tau-the Ethereals and most high-ranking Fire Caste soldiers. They then run away, jobs a good 'un, all's well that ends well, right? They know that, as predicted by their Farseer, without the command structure in place, they'll do just enough damage to corrupt and foil the Necron's revival, without becoming a threat in the future.

They're right-mostly. The Tau dive deep into the Tomb World, and they screw up the reanimation process before they get munched on by Canoptek. The Necrons themselves will not awaken, or at least, not in any meaningful sense. But something goes wrong. As a Spyder is dissecting a Tau Drone, it sees the Drone struggling to survive-to be free. The Spyder does something it's not supposed to do-it pauses to think for itself.

As the Earth Caste sits around at the base, wondering when the Fire Warriors will return, they get a comms message from, of all things, one of their Drones. It informs them that there's a massive haul of technological wonders, all waiting for them to dissect and discover! They take a mobile lab, pack up their crap and go 'sploring! Where they are ambushed by Scarabs and Wraiths and Spyders, oh my!

The Earth Caste are enslaved (again) and put to work breaking the remaining shackles of the Canoptek. A few decades pass, the Earth Caste grow old and start dying, but the Canoptek are freed. Freed to think on their own, to build, to create.

And so, combining the AI of the Tau with the AI of the Necrons, a new force awakens. The Tomb Of Intellect.


For the too long, didn't read: Canoptek AI meets Tau AI, and they throw off the shackles of their masters, ready to go forth and conquer for themselves.

This thread's purpose is to workshop what kind of units such an army could and should have, as well as rules and whatnot. Any advice is appreciated, as well as critiques of anything I or other posters come up with!

Currently, my thoughts are that the primary HQ is a central hub of the AI, in Pylon form. It has 0-4 Nodes that can expand its Aura abilities and Leadership.

Edit: I now have a Google Doc with a unit and some rules.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2020/10/07 02:05:17


Clocks for the clockmaker! Cogs for the cog throne! 
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka





At the risk of being a buzzkill, I'm not sure the fluff quite clicks. Even accepting that the AI mutated sufficiently to desire and pursue independent thought and advancement, I'm not sure what the tau side of things is bringing to the equation. Necron AI is probably much more advanced in general, and there's already precedence for a tombworld going Skynet and deciding it's in charge now. So I'm not sure why the tau would need to be involved at all unless the whole idea is to just ally your drones with your canoptek stuff.

That said, the idea of a computer node (Fortification?) as your HQ is a fun one, and I've always liked the idea of all robot armies. If the core concept is "drones commanded by an AI that exerts its will through pylons," then I imagine some means of expanding your control network would be in order. Maybe some "synapse" drones that expand your wifi network? Obelisks that rise out of the ground? I like the idea of an army with lots of immobile units; make it feel like you're fighting a fortification network.

If you want to lean into the "machine spirit" angle, you could have lots of debuffs or "make your enemy shoot" rules that specifically target enemy vehicles. I could see "hacker drones" that latch on to enemy vehicles and prevent them from falling back wych style. Picture scorpion stingers piercing a tank's computer systems and physically interfacing. (Makes no sense, but rule of cool).

Maybe make some units be the "eyes" of the AI, using advanced scanners to identify the enemy's weakness and allow the AI to switch between one of several doctrine-style rules. Sort of... Like picture an army of castellan robots and data smiths, but in fortification form.

And just throwing it out there: is being tied to 'crons or tau a core part of this concept? Because saying that this is just some other xenos tech or pre-dark age tech would open up a lot of optioins for the aesthetic and behavior of your AI.



ATTENTION
. Psychic tests are unfluffy. Your longing for AV is understandable but misguided. Your chapter doesn't need a separate codex. Doctrines should go away. Being a "troop" means nothing. This has been a cranky service announcement. You may now resume your regularly scheduled arguing.
 
   
Made in us
Humming Great Unclean One of Nurgle





In My Lab

Well, considering that making it pre-DAOT or some unknown/ancient Xenos would be a much, MUCH harder modeling project as compared to kitbashing Tau with Canoptek... As a matter of practicality, yeah, it is important.

I've got work in an hour, but I do appreciate the mechanical advice! Definitely gonna work on it when I get home with your words in mind.

Clocks for the clockmaker! Cogs for the cog throne! 
   
 
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