Marsgate

"The saddest aspect of life right now is that science fiction gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom."

- Isaac Asimov

Marsgate is a Hard Mystery storyline in .

Overview
An unknown object of artificial origin has been detected to be inbound towards Mars from Earth. We have contacted our partners back on Earth, but have so far received no insight on this mysterious object. Observations at this level suggest an artificial origin but flight schedules indicate no inbound science mission.

Eventually, one of Earth's largest tech conglomerates, EsoCorp, has confirmed ownership of the mysterious craft and has issued a warning to stay away.

Mission Control's received a direct communique from EsoCorp, one of Earth's largest tech conglomerates. It reads:

"Please be advised that Object 6Ez-3 will be operating within a respectful distance of your mission. You are not to approach Object 6Ez-3 under any circumstance, under threat of legal and other punitive measures.

Nothing further was added and no effort to even mimic adherence to standard protocol guidelines was made. Our Earth partners are giving their best to question EsoCorp and get to the bottom of this."

Who do these guys think they are!?

Recommended sponsors and mission commanders
This mystery is a military heavily oriented scenario and will put your ability to handle renegades and a possible chance of a hostile drone attack. As a result of your efforts however you will unlock a new defense system that costs less power and resources than the the laser array.

Marsgate: A Silent Invasion
"We detect and monitor four more objects as they parachute down and make landfall, every one of them bearing a resemblance to Object 6Ez-3.

EsoCorp is totally silent about this second batch of what we believe to be some sort of surveying rovers.

More Colonists have witnessed the landings and are openly concerned about what they perceive to be an invasion."

This event triggers automatically at the beginning of the storyline and leads into the next one.

Marsgate: Take It or Leave It
"EsoCorp has broken the silence and has offered us a handsome reward for repairing one of its vehicles. They propose a deal - we fix one of their malfunctioning rovers and they provide a generous (as they put it) funding injection. Their legal team has also warned that any mission should be strictly for repairs and further inspection of the vehicle will be taken as an illegal act.

In other words, if we wish, we can send drones to fix their rover but nothing that can evaluate its purpose - like a rover - and we will be paid for the effort."

This event fires when the strange rovers break down for the first time. Malfunctioning EsoCorp rovers can now be repaired by Drones. Do so.

Marsgate: Fixing a Perfect Design
"EsoCorp is having obvious issues with their mysterious rovers as they seem to be malfunctioning one after the other. Instead of admitting the faults in their predictions about the rough Martian conditions, the EsoCorp team has sent us a message which, quote, "gives the Martian Colony Command the rare privilege of sending one of our more analytical vehicles to look into the most certainly small miscalculation that causes these temporary annoyances." End quote.

Furthermore - they go on to remind us that, by choosing to analyze their broken vehicles, we have an understanding not to dig beyond any obvious logistical shortcomings in their design and agree to full and utter discretion."

An Anomaly appears next to a malfunctioned vehicle. Analyze it with an RC Explorer to advance the storyline, but be sure to prepare your colony in advance and have a good supply of resources in reserve.

Marsgate: The Path Splits
"A quick scan of the mysterious vehicle was enough to encounter several design flaws that made it comically ill-equipped for Mars. However, the scan also revealed a poor attempt to disguise the true nature of these rovers. Despite having remained a mystery so far, the effort to hide its military origin could not hold up under a close examination. These rovers seem, without a doubt, weapons most probably tasked to use Mars as a testing ground - setting an extremely dangerous precedent, among other obvious problems.

By allowing us to analyze their vehicles, EsoCorp are also without a doubt issuing us a threat, and they seem comfortable enough with the notion that we will feel threatened enough to comply and keep our findings a secret. For, as issue-riddled as these rovers are, they are numerous and still pack enough fire power to disrupt our Colony, which has its hands full surviving Mars as it is.

As cynical as this all seems to be, we must take into consideration that we have no military capacity whatsoever, and choosing to challenge them might put the lives of everyone on Mars in danger."

This is the decision point in the storyline. You have three options:
 * This breaks all international, not to mention interplanetary treaties! We're going to expose it! (this starts the Confrontation path)
 * I say we call their bluff and make them buy our partnership. (Blackmail)
 * Our mission is too great to jeopardize this way. We'll weather it out, just like we would a regular dust storm. (Ignorance)

Marsgate: Whistleblower's Pride
"We mixed it with the atmospheric and topographical data of Mars, the basic stuff you'd base your rover design on, so we know we're safe from EsoCorp digging it up even if they do intercept the transmission.

Although this puts us at a momentary disadvantage, we're all proud to have done the right thing. This is the message we've sent to the power-hungry conglomerates back on Earth - we are leaving the old ways behind and the future will not be built on our capacity for war."

This fires upon choosing confrontation and leads to a combat-focused chain of events.

Marsgate: The Day We Feared
"They're all built to EsoCorp's specs. Just with some subtle differences thrown in. Our running hypothesis is that they're some sort of advanced prototype. EsoCorp's decided they want to shut down all communication, which means we can't confirm nor deny the following:

Their movements are scattered. Dangerous. That means it's likely a rush job aimed at hurting us for blowing the whistle on the whole " Marsgate" thing. That's to say EsoCorp's got a hankering for revenge.

We've put forward several proposals as to how we might deal with the impending attack. We'll need our scientists working full steam on this. We cannot stress strongly enough the need to shift resources towards this end. We've got a word for situations like this. Critical."

This event marks the start of the attack by EsoCorp. You gain the ability to Research and then build Defense Turrets - highly recommended.

Marsgate: The First/Second Wave
This is an event that demarcates the two waves of rovers sent against your colony. Eventually you unlock the next event...

Marsgate: Using Their Own Stones Against Them
Eventually you get the ability to repair destroyed enemy rovers and put them to use or salvage them. They are essentially mobile meteor defenses.

Marsgate: The Fall of EsoCorp
"An attack from Earth. Never thought we'd see the day. Has this caused a rift between our two worlds? Wounds are too fresh to tell how deep they go. Might we have a chance we can walk them off and move forward together? Too early to tell, really.

Back on Earth, EsoCorp executives have been arrested and the company has been shut down in many major nations. This will certainly cause economic upheaval, but the ruling parties have deemed it necessary to send a message for all future warlords: Space is neither up for military conquest nor a test ground for weapons. Developing space-oriented war machines still remains against the rules, and we will continue to pretend that this was just a fluke. Humanity has shed its need for war with grace.

Looking at the smoking battlefield, so far from Earth, we can't help but wonder if this is indeed the case. This, however, brings us to our next question. Do we destroy the prototype weapons made for the Martian environment and salvage what resources we can from the rovers, or do we keep the technology in anticipation of another " fluke" ?"

This fires upon defeating all the waves. You get to decide what to do with the rovers: And get a new tech.
 * Put 6Ez-3 on display, destroy the rest.
 * We would be fools to be caught so defenseless once again.

Marsgate
"Governments and international organizations are furious with EsoCorp's subterfuge and forbidden military experiments and people were fast to dub the scandal " Marsgate" . As the blame game is unraveling, we can't help but notice that all channels EsoCorp barely used to communicate with us have now been totally taken offline. Our sponsors from Earth are promising us compensation and guaranteeing protection from EsoCorp, but we fear they may not be able to help fast enough if EsoCorp decides to take revenge.

This being said, you will have to take part in an upcoming UN trial as the main witness to this whole gruesome affair."

When this event fires, you won't be able to repair any remaining EsoCorp rovers.

Marsgate: The Trial of the Century
During the trial, you have two options: ''EsoCorp put the lives of people, who brave an unforgiving world in the name of humanity, in danger with nothing more than profit in mind. A harsh verdict today will stand as testament to humanity reaching the maturity needed to spread amidst the stars.'' ''We of Mars, who have denounced any militarization, have chosen to move on from the ways of the past and shape our new home into a place where military conflict is a thing of myth and legend. In doing so, we place our trust that this idea will resonate with all people back on Earth, our home world, and bring humanity not only to another planet, but to another level of evolution. Yet this incident has shown us that we may not do so without help from Mother Earth, and this trial today has renewed our hope that our vision for the future is not entirely wishful thinking.''
 * Humanity can do better. (Harsh, gives you extra applicants with rare traits):
 * The risk was great, but we did the right thing. (Hope, give you extra Funding)

Marsgate: Sealing the Deal
"" State your terms:"

Never gotten a response that fast before. Most likely they thought we'd just take an insult lying down. Not to mention the risk. Though I'm pretty sure we'll be on the wrong side of history if this gets out."

Fires automatically when you blackmail EsoCorp.

You can choose one of the following: Eventually, however, one of your colonists will turn whistleblower.
 * More funding
 * Rare Metals
 * A random Breakthrough Tech

Marsgate
"The lengths he has taken to circumvent our detection not only by EsoCorp, but that of Mission Control as well, shows us painstakingly that we have failed him and probably many others like him. In their eyes we were playing for the other team. It puts us all to shame. Many citizens are showing their discontent with our Colony now that our own actions have been exposed, and back on Earth this whole ordeal is blowing up to mind boggling proportions. It has been dubbed " Marsgate" and we are accused of being compliant in the breaking of international and interplanetary treaties by the UN.

Popular pressure has prompted that a trial start as quickly as possible. You will be required to defend our actions via satellite link."

At this point, the ability to repair other rovers is disabled.

Marsgate: Wrong Side of History
"Joining the legal proceedings against the entity known as EsoCorp by satellite link is the head of the Mars Colony Project as a representative of  and the main victim in " Marsgate" other than the total disregarding of international and interplanetary treaties. The treaties, which are in place to discourage the militarization of any human endeavors in space, are held to be of utter importance by all present parties, except the defendant, and thus the transgression is seen as most grievous.

Because communication with Mars is not at its peak at this time and will take too long for a proper discussion, know that our sponsors have shared your overall stance on the whole affair. Still, as the final verdict draws near we have decided it best if you say in your own words the implications of EsoCorp's secretive and illegal military testing operations on Mars."

You will have two options and statements to make: ''EsoCorp put the lives of people, who brave an unforgiving world in the name of humanity, in danger with nothing more than profit in mind. We at Mission Control, on the other hand, are tasked with protecting the mission and the lives of all people taking part in it, so we did what we saw fit in order to see our duties are met. With guns pointing at our life support equipment and the closest help 3 million miles away, we were left with little choice and we stand by our decision. Why EsoCorp was able to send these rovers all the way to Mars without being detected from Earth is beyond us and we, the people of Mars, feel let down by Earth today.'' ''EsoCorp came to Mars with force, deployed in our vicinity, breaking every law and basically putting a gun to our heads. It was a classic story of the strong bullying the weak, or in this case, someone completely unprepared for such an event. In a way it was a stab in the back, as we idolized Earth as a source of safety while we had to wrestle with the unforgiving calamities of Mars. ''
 * At the end of the day, it is Earth that has failed us by allowing this whole thing in the first place. (The Blame Game)
 * You want the truth? You can't handle the truth! (What Can Change the Nature of Man?)

''We did not like it, but we came to the realization that it was only a matter of time before this happened and that it was better to have a strong ally. We are pioneers on a new frontier, opening countless possibilities and space for humans to be, well, humans. If it was not EsoCorp today, it would have been someone else tomorrow, I assure you. And that someone else might have come at different circumstances and not offered us, albeit indirectly, a way to stay on their good side. At the end of day, we may have changed planets, but we are still humans, with all the blessings and curses this fact carries in itself.''

Both options result in Renegades forming.

Marsgate: Silence of the Lambs
"We have sent EsoCorp our report on the rovers design flaws while carefully playing dumb to our having found out the rover's true nature. EsoCorp's sent us some funds as a reward. They're also trying to pretend there's a million-in-one chance we didn't see right through their half-assed... Er, insufficient attempt to conceal military vehicles.

To recap - we've shown our willingness to keep EsoCorp's secret safe and they have acknowledged that their blunt threat was received as intended."

Fires automatically. Effectively disables the storyline.