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Paranid Plot 'Divine Retribution' SPOILERS (Work in Progress)
Introduction:
This is the walkthrough for the Paranid Plot, 'Divine Retribution'.
I happened to stumble across it whilst waiting for one of the other plots to finish, so I intend to record my progress here.
All contributions to the thread are welcome, either corrections for anything I got wrong or bits that I have missed.
Title: Divine Retribution
Synopsis: spoiler: Unknown
Difficulty: spoiler: Unknown
Ship Advised: spoiler: Probably multiple - need TP for first stage
Adverse Effects: spoiler: Unknown
Reward: spoiler: Unknown
How to find: spoiler: You should receive notification automatically, probably in a random sector (in my case Sector 611) There are probably Paranid race reputation requirements.
Overview: spoiler: Unknown
Part 1 spoiler: Urgent Luxury Transport
spoiler: Having scoured through the lowlifes, the Paranid have assessed you promising marginal competence, and invite you to transport the High Priest Hatibolanksolok from the Military Outpost in Pandora's Gate to the Paranid Trading Dock in Holy Pathway. Being Paranid, he expects a luxury passenger transport.
However, he dislikes use of jumpdrive, and insists on flying the old-fashioned way, so he can admire the scenery. So bring a good book to read.
Passing through Bean, he suddenly decides he wants to visit the Goner Trading Station, to chat to somebody there. After waiting there for a while, the journey resumes, with his contact, Tomes Selek, accompanying him now.
Mission difficulty indicated as "Easy".
Part 2 spoiler: Into The Unknown
spoiler: About half an hour later you are summoned back to Holy Pathway, as the Paranid are interested in various recently-opened sectors. However, they don't want you to explore them, merely to transport Tomes Selek back to the Goner Trading Station in Bean, to collect his ship so he can go exploring. Fortunately he's not so particular about his transport, an M5 worked for me, and perhaps jumpdrive would be acceptable too. Also it's not such a long taxi run as the previous one.
On arrival at the Station, Tomes informs you that although he is to do the exploring, he would like you to accompany him to "watch his back", and after picking up some stuff in Primeval Seas he will give you a call when he is ready to go.
The call comes after a couple of minutes - he's flying a Goner Penatron, and heading for Sector 1716 (which I knew was Xenon-infested in my game). Awkward ship to accompany, with its top speed of 170 mps, too fast for most escorts, but not quite fast enough to escape all the Xenon. Optimum would probably be to use a Split Chimera for the escort, alternatively a fast M5 keeping out of trouble would probably work well. I plodded along behind him in my Boreas.
Essentially carrying out a mineral survey, Tomes simply ignored all the surrounding hostile Xenon, dropping beacons to mark sports with high concentrations of ore, silicon and nividium.
Onwards to Sector 1718, where the large ice asteroid is examined then rejected. He investigates a dragon nest, and comes out roasted, sans ship, half way across the sector, so it's another "rescue the astronaut from hostile sector" scenario.
Having been rescued Tomes wants a closer look at an Argon Eclipse Vanguard which has been fighting off Xenon nearby, suffering remarkably little damage. It jumps out as you approach, at which point Tomes asks to be taken back to the Paranid Trading Dock in Holy Pathway.
Mission difficulty indicated as "Easy" again. It depends on the severity of Xenon opposition, and on the tactics you use, but I'd probably rate it as "Average".
Part 3 spoiler: Resource Management
spoiler: After another short wait, just over half an hour for me, you are invited back to Holy Pathway. In order to exploit the mineral fields discovered in the previous part, you are asked to deliver six mining ships, two to each beacon. Demeters, of course.
If Sector 1716 is swarming with Xenon (or possibly Kha'ak) then this might seem rather challenging.
On the other hand, if you have completed the "Enemy at the Gate" mission, you will have received an Asgard, heavily shielded, bristling with weapons, capable of carrying two ships of TS size or larger, and capable of point-to-point jumping, which makes the task rather easier.
Payment will be 150,000 credits plus ship value.
Indicated difficulty is "Average".
Rediscovering the restriction that Point to Point jumping only works in friendly sectors, I modified my plans and used my Boreas to start clearing away the Xenon from Sector 1716, allowing the Asgard to deliver the Demeter Miners unhindered. I led most of the Xenon defence forces away far to the northwest, then took advantage of their absence to jump back and destroy the Xenon Shipyard. At this point a small Paranid fleet entered and took care of many of the Xenon as they made their way back. I removed the last few, including an I, leaving the sector free of Xenon, and converted to "unknown" status", and collected the abandoned ships - a P and eight fighters of various types. Finally I took advantage of Tomes' mineral survey work, fitted my Boreas with an ore collector and ground up a few small nividium asteroids to supply nividium to my shipyard for repair of Kha'ak ships.
Part 4 spoiler: The Far Flung Reaches
spoiler: The storyline indicates that you will be needed for further exploration when Tomes has recovered from his dragon roasting. As reported by insolent1, Tomes is seen a short while later in a new ship in Holy Pathway, but the Plot does not appear to resume.
Part 5 spoiler: Diplomatic Solutions
Part 6 spoiler: When Diplomacy Fails...
Part 7 spoiler: Counterpoint
Part 8 spoiler: Final Reckoning
Loriel
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Originally Posted by SNav
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