Warhammer 40 A New Hope

Using themselves as an attacking force, the [Arbitration Knights] caused considerable damage to the ships of the Mechanicus. One cruiser was destroyed and two cruisers were severely damaged.

The remaining enemy fleet even targeted the space station controlled by the Raven Guard. Some small frigates went straight ahead at full speed, crashed into the shield of the space station under intensive firepower, and then exploded.

Their crazy behavior forced the Mechanicus to block their ships in front of the space station and use their own ships to take on their crazy suicidal attacks - if this space station exploded, they would get nothing this time.

Even though the advantage had been established, the battle still lasted for three full days. Three days later, the last ship of the Arbitration Knights exploded into a string of flames in the universe, and the entire galaxy was finally clear.

Even though the Mechanicus had a considerable advantage, the several ships brought by them still suffered heavy losses. The fearless fighting style of the [Arbitration Knights] at the last moment left a deep impression on them - religious maniacs really are indispensable in that world.

On the other side, the [Unknown Hope], which was ordered by Zhang Yi to attack the firepower platform, also suffered considerable damage, but its solid armor, energy shield and arguably the most advanced weapons in the Empire made it in much better condition than the Mechanicus.

Just when Zhang Yi and the Mechanicus thought that the war was over, another unidentified fleet entered the galaxy through the jump point process and hyperspace.

Moreover, when they saw the floating fragments of the [Arbitration Knights] ships and the damaged ships of the Mechanicus that almost filled the area near the automatic space station, they attacked Zhang Yi and his men without much hesitation.

"It's the Overlord's fleet." Zhang Yi said, looking at one of the Offensive-class battleships with heavy armor and two thermal pulse cannons. "The fleeing Arbitration Knights fleet broadcast the coordinates and situation here."

"By the way, [Overlord], you guys are used to being bandits, right? You sneaked over here when you got a chance?"

"It's the same in the game. They come to check the use of the AI ​​core whenever they want. If you don't give them bribes, they will become hostile to you. They also use high-sounding excuses, such as preventing another AI rebellion."

"Look, have you seen any faction that is secretly using AI cores to boost their industries? A 10% or even 25% bonus, and it can also reduce the consumption of raw materials. Can you resist not using it?"

"No matter what you say this time, I'm going to beat your dog brains out!"

398. I can't do it any more.

If before, it was just the Mechanicus's strong desire for technology, then now, when the Overlord's fleet entered this galaxy and launched an attack on them, it reminded Zhang Yi of bad memories.

From this moment on, the matter became tainted with personal grudges.

This fleet may have heard the information broadcast by the Arbitration Knights when they were evacuating, and the Overlord fleet rushed here upon hearing the news. From the perspective of interests, there was indeed nothing wrong with their undeclared war.

The losses of the Mechanicus fleet at this stage are indeed quite heavy, so now is indeed a good opportunity to take advantage of the situation - a lot of lost technology can be salvaged from the vast fragments of the [Arbitration Knights] fleet!

Compared with this larger Overlord fleet, the few remaining Mechanicus ships did not seem to have much to be wary of except that they were 'a little bigger', not to mention that these large ships still had many scars from previous battles.

To sum up, the commander-in-chief of the Overlord fleet decided to launch an attack on this unknown force. As long as it can be annihilated, the remains of the entire galaxy and the precious technology contained therein will belong to the Overlord.

But as mentioned before, with the existence of Zhang Yi, who is extremely unreasonable and has cheats, the battle situation may not be as we see it.

The Overlord fleet launched a fierce attack on the battered Mechanicus ships. They adopted the tactics they had always used - quickly approaching the target and then launching a large number of missiles, causing the opponent to suffer a lot of damage in a very short time or overloading the opponent's shields.

Just as they focused all their attention on the damage to the huge Mechanicus ships, a huge white portal slowly opened, and a giant warship beyond their cognition sailed out of it.

[Hope]

If the size of the remaining Mechanicus ships was still within the acceptable range for the commander-in-chief of the Overlord fleet, then the sudden appearance of the Hope, which was the size of an entire continent, completely shocked and frightened him.

Clearly, they had messed with the wrong guy.

The general muzzle diameter of the Empire's warships is one hundred meters, which means that as a product of the Golden Age, the muzzle diameter of the Hope will only be larger, and it will be more than enough to cram in the Overlord's largest Offensive-class battleship.

The light spear array opened fire, instantly vaporizing the leading Offensive-class battleship, and then automatic drones like locusts were released from the Hope.

[Retreat! Retreat! ]

The commander-in-chief on the battleship was evaporated along with the ship. Upon seeing this, the captains of other ships fled in an instant and ordered their crews to leave this terrifying galaxy as quickly as possible.

The super-large battleship [Hope] appeared for only tens of seconds, but it completely defeated the attacking [Overlord] fleet. The huge hull that was beyond their cognition alone made more than half of the captains lose the idea of ​​continuing to fight.

This sudden battle ended as abruptly as it had begun.

but...

"Uh... (vomiting soul)..."

[You're asking for trouble. You forced me to come here just to get a meaningless 'revenge'. Look, I'm exhausted.] (Nozomi AI)

"...comfortable..."

[With your appearance, it's no surprise that your offspring behaves like that. They're exactly the same.] (Nozomi AI)

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After half a month, the matter of the Far Planet came to a temporary end.

The Mechanicus successfully gained control of the automated space station, and as they had expected, they excavated a large amount of complete technology and ship blueprints from it.

Of course, according to the agreement, Zhang Yi and the Pathfinder team will have a share of the technological drawings and subsequent production capacity, whether they like it or not.

Because of the two battles between [The Arbitration Knights] and [Overlord], the Far Planet world began to know that in an area far away from the central new domain, there existed such a mysterious and powerful organization, as well as a super battleship that was far beyond the imagination of most forces on the Far Planet.

While other forces were secretly delighted by the overlord's defeat, they also began to worry - is the appearance of such an unknown and powerful force in today's [Perseus] a good thing or a bad thing?

A series of forces such as the [Free Alliance], [Tachyon Technology] and [Perseus Alliance] have all considered sending their fleets to that galaxy to investigate the situation and see if there is any chance to steal or trade with it.

However, the target galaxy is far away from the central star field, and it is inevitable that some unpredictable situations will be encountered along the way. Moreover, they also know about the embarrassing escape of the Overlord Fleet that was the "first bird to stand out", so no force dares to act rashly at this stage.

On the other hand, Zhang Yi temporarily fell into a period of weakness due to excessive use of this ability. Moreover, after being busy for so long, he also needed some time to rest.

The entire empire has basically emerged from the post-war recovery period and has begun to try to develop.

Without the restraint of the four evil gods, the demons began to become less deadly and orderly, and attacks on each other occurred frequently. After all, even when the four gods were still there, their subordinates and even themselves disliked each other and had to fight from time to time. The situation has only intensified now.

The Mechanicus, especially the members of the Mechanicus on other worlds, began to act recklessly, researching various technologies without any consideration. Without the constraints of Tzeentch, many research projects could be put on a daily basis.

But because of this, the plan to restrict the Mechanicus must be put on the agenda.

If we say that before it was because the general environment did not allow it and there were so many things to do that there was no time and energy, so the Mechanicus had to act recklessly, then now the Four Gods have been temporarily sealed, and the Human Empire has now allied with several major forces in the galaxy. As a result, the war has been temporarily eased, and restrictions on the oil men also need to be planned.

Besides, the oil guys only did two bad things...

Naturally, this idea was told to O'Neill and Guilliman at the first time. The two had already had ideas about it, but how to proceed was a big problem.

Under the current circumstances, the [Crimson Accords] are still effective in managing and restraining abominable intelligence, but the other [Olympia Accords] are no longer suitable for the current situation.

As mentioned before, the previous empire had internal and external troubles, so they did not have the time, bargaining chips and manpower to risk falling out with the various Mechanicus Grand Magos to modify or abolish the agreement, and could only watch them mess around from time to time.

Now is undoubtedly a very suitable opportunity to revise the agreement and thereby abolish some of the unreasonable rights held by the Mechanicus, but on the other hand, if this issue is not handled properly, rash and inappropriate actions will cause a large-scale rebellion of the Mechanicus.

During the meeting, Archmagos Cawl, a representative of the Mechanicus, also joined in. He expressed his willingness to accept the modification or abolition of the Olympia Accords as long as some priority rights could be retained (such as staying on the Hope and developing and researching other worlds).

But he was pessimistic about the other great sages of the Forge World accepting this matter - Great Sage Cawl was a friend of the Emperor, he had followed the Emperor for thousands of years, and the things and status he had made him willing to give up some things to avoid possible and unnecessary wars - giving up these things was not a big deal to him anyway.

And his great sages may not be like that, but some would rather put some precious [Golden Age] relics at the bottom of their warehouse to gather dust than share them. Even if he doesn't understand them at all and wants to weaken their power and strength, they can fight you to the death!

Guilliman also delivered another piece of bad news at this time - the rapidly developing Human Empire was short of people.

A large number of elite troops were killed in the battle of the Solar System, and then there was the suppression of rebellions in various star regions, the resistance to attacks by the Tyranids that appeared in some areas, and the recovery and law and order management of some areas after the war.

The previous war caused heavy losses to the human empire. Although this loss is much less than the worst case scenario, it is still a considerable loss.

The return of the Primarch has indeed stabilized the current situation of the Human Empire to a great extent, but it is still not enough.

During the period of great development, manpower is needed everywhere. Guilliman has already, under pressure from the state religion and the nobility, dug out unregistered personnel and those whose mutations are not too serious at the bottom of each hive and used them. But this act itself requires a lot of manpower, and the people found cannot be used directly - who knows if there will be any strange objects mixed in among them.

In addition, some manpower will need to be allocated to the Ring World and the XCOM World for construction and exploration, not to mention the initial development of the Far Planet World and the Tree World jointly managed with the Necrons.

To sum up, the Human Empire really doesn’t have many people available nowadays and can no longer keep up with the pace of development.

"I can try to release Lorgar. He has been reading books for so long, maybe, possibly, he has turned over a new leaf," O'Neill said. "If that doesn't work, I can get Magurus' soul back and let him help you."

"Do you know where Tzeentch hid Magirus' soul? Don't make it sound as easy as taking a key out of your pocket." Zhang Yi said.

"Father, the current situation cannot be solved by adding one or two more Primarchs. What we lack now are ordinary people as manpower." Guilliman said. "Unless you want every Space Marine Chapter to learn from Dorn's [Imperial Fists] and go out to fight..."

"Um..."

"The current state of the empire is fine if we maintain the status quo, but if we want to develop rapidly, we don't have enough manpower."

"We need more people."

As they spoke, Guilliman and O'Neill simultaneously turned their eyes to Zhang Yi.

"There are still many planets in the Ring World that have not been explored. There should be a lot of people on them, and some of the work in that world can be handed over to the mechanical race. As long as the problem of rebellion is dealt with." Zhang Yi replied. "The same is true for the XCOM world."

"Don't worry about the Shubuzi world for now, and the distant planet world... that world has quite a few supernatural things, and I don't think there will be many people needed to conquer the entire [Perseus]. After all, the situation there is very similar to that of the Ring World, both of which belong to remote star regions..."

"Why don't you have two babies as soon as possible?" O'Neal suddenly asked.

"Can I just give birth to two children to solve this situation? And what do you mean by giving birth to two children quickly? If you can't wait to hold your grandchildren, go find Guilliman!"

"Ahem, Evelyne and I are innocent, there is nothing going on between us."

"I didn't say it was Evelyne. Is someone feeling guilty?"

"..."

Compared to the mess in the Human Empire right now, he didn't want to face the teasing of his brother and father - this rumor was about to spread throughout the entire Human Empire!

"Why the hell should I wake up..."

399. Dilemma

After some discussion, the places in the empire that most need people were counted.

First of all, the four fortress planets with artificial whirlpools near the Eye of Terror need to be continuously reinforced, and according to the plan, Guilliman intends to turn that area into a defense circle to resist the possible large-scale Chaos army emerging from the Eye of Terror.

Then the center of the human empire will be moved from the blockaded Solar Segmentum to Macragge. Of course, this does not mean abandoning the Solar Segmentum and its vicinity, which was originally the center of the human empire. Guilliman and Dorn plan to rely on the cages that imprison the gods, build monitoring stations and defense fortresses to deal with the chaos that may be caused by the four gods breaking free from their imprisonment in the future.

Dorn was even more crazy and wanted to build a so-called "Great Space Wall" to surround the solar system from all sides, thus providing all-round interception and attack - this proposal was rejected by Guilliman without hesitation.

Having said that, the transfer of population and various facilities and machinery, as well as the subsequent redivision of the functions of each planet, the redistribution of rights, and the investigation of hidden populations also require manpower, and not ordinary manpower.

This does not take into account the situation where some people are unwilling to leave and resist in various ways.

Then there is one thing that has been done all the time and is also very important - let a large fleet lead the [Demon Slayer] DOM to search for traces of demons throughout the galaxy and kill these demons.

DOM has the ability to absorb the power of beings killed by itself. Although this power has been weakened due to the fall of the Dark Lord and its distance from its own world, it still exists.

In other words, as long as he is given enough time and enough demons to kill, sooner or later, he will regain the power that could have allowed him to kill the God of Creation!

Although this will take a lot of time and may not always be smooth sailing, it is the only verifiable way to resolve the threat of the Four Gods once and for all.

Although due to the special nature of gods, killing them directly can be said to be the final option of mutual destruction, but in any case this is a trump card that can be turned over at the last moment and it is impossible to give up.

Therefore, DOM has been looking for traces of demons everywhere under the leadership of the Human Empire Army. He is also happy to kill some demons for fun after playing with rabbits.

Then, a part of the population will be transferred to the two worlds of XCOM and Ring World which have already established their foothold. Not only ordinary mortals, but also some elite troops will need to be stationed there.

The XCOM world has the subspace and weakened demons, while the Ring World has an empire that once had a vast territory, as well as a mechanical race with strong technological and combat capabilities. None of these can allow the Human Empire to sit back and relax and focus on development and existence.

"It seems that the manpower needed in other places is really very small."

Finally, the one who needs a large number of manpower is Zhang Yi.

As the current nominal ruler of the Human Empire, the 21st Primarch, the hope of humanity and even the entire galaxy, it is impossible for Guilliman not to prepare for the exploration missions he may undertake at any time.

In addition to the various personnel and equipment belonging to the Pathfinders Chapter, Guilliman also prepared at least one company of Space Marines and several Astra Militarum legions to deal with possible large-scale wars that might suddenly break out in another world, and to provide support or rescue operations for Zhang Yi and others.

"So you blame me?"

"Compared to the manpower and equipment required in the first three periods, this is already quite small," Guilliman said. "We have been conducting statistics and investigations on the hidden population at the bottom of each hive, but the speed is still too slow and can hardly keep up with the current development speed of the Empire."

"That's good, right?"

"It's a good thing, but it's also a bad thing." Guilliman held his forehead. "So I personally think it's best not to carry out the rectification of the Mechanicus in a big way. At this stage, we are not suitable for a large-scale war."

"You can only boil the frog in warm water, but will those oil guys really let you slowly cook them?"

"It's unlikely. After all, some sages are already at odds with the Empire at this stage." Great Sage Kaul said. "The reason they don't openly oppose the Empire is simply because they don't want to waste time and energy."

"But it's not impossible."

O'Neill, who had been silent, suddenly spoke and then looked at Zhang Yi.

"Two ways..."

"First, find a way to make them fight each other. The thing that can make them fight each other is what you know, the countless other worlds with all kinds of different technologies."

"Second, find a way to get them to leave their troops and Forge World, and take this opportunity to take back their troops and technology. The specific method is the same as above."

"It's easier said than done, but there are many problems when it comes to doing it," said Zhang Yi.

"I don't expect you to come up with any useful suggestions." O'Neill said without hesitation. "We will figure out how to do it. You can think about which worlds are suitable for these two plans."

"Now, get out of here!"

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Cyberpunk 2077 World

"So, you finally remembered to look for me?"