If there's anyone who thinks the slush fund is a bad idea right now, or that Nephor II's factories are important enough to be a priority, I have a less-bandwagon option for that:
Budget: 445 R (230 RpT income)
Free Dice: 4
350/445 R
4/4 Free dice
[X] Plan Attempting to Rebuild The Factory Planet
-[X]
Infrastructure (4/4 Dice + 4 Free dice, -3 penalty, 100 R)
--[X] Korhal: Capital City Augustgrad (Phase 1) 25/300 (1 die, 10 R) (1/6 median)
--[X] Brontes: Orbital Cleanup (Phase 1) 149/300 (3 dice, 60 R) (44% chance)
--[X] Nephor II: Planetary Reconstruction (Phase 1) 0/600 (4 dice, 40 R) (4/12.5 median)
-[X]
Heavy Industry (3/3 Dice, -8 penalty, 45 R)
--[X] Vardona: Ardonin Heavy Vehicle Factory (Phase 1) 0/300 (3 dice, 45 R) (3/7 median)
-[X]
Light Industry (3/3 Dice, -8 penalty, 30 R)
--[X] Tyrador IX: Refugee Workshops (Phase 1) 82/400 (3 dice, 30 R) (3/7.5 median)
-[X]
Environmental (3/3 Dice, -8 penalty, 30 R)
--[X] Tyrador IX: Establish Farmsteads (Phase 1) 122/400 (3 dice, 30 R) (3/6.5 median)
-[X]
Services (3/3 dice + 1 Free die, -8 penalty, 40 R)
--[X] Re-Establish the Universal News Network 0/100 (2 dice, 30 R) (36% chance)
--[X] The Dominion Health Service (Phase 1) 0/300 (1 die, 10 R) (1/4.5 median)
-[X]
Military (4/4 dice, -3 penalty, 40 R)
--[X] Korhal: Eastcliff Military Academy 128/200 (1 die, 10 R) (26% chance)
--[X] Fort Horner Training Camp 0/200 (3 dice, 30 R) (8% chance)
-[X]
Research (3/3 dice, -8 penalty, 30 R)
--[X] Integrated Protective Ensemble 36/100 (3 dice, 30 R) (89% chance) (good chance of overflow into manufacturing)
-[X]
Bureaucracy (3/3 dice, -8 penalty, 15 R)
--[X] Refill the Upper Echelons 62/100 (2 dice, 10 R) (86% chance)
--[X] Truth and Reconciliation Committee (Idealistic) 0/200 (1 die, 5 R) (1/4.5 median)
-[X]
Personal (2/2 dice, -13 penalty, 10 R)
--[X] Hire a Personal Staff (2 dice, 10 R) (90% to hit DC 20, 79% DC 40)
My point is that we get shot even if we fulfilled or nearly fulfilled the reconstruction mandate. There is no win condition without murdering Mengsk or running away then come back with an army.
My gut feeling is that we could probably keep things wobbling along and keep Mengsk's paranoia
managed to
more or less fulfill the mandate while sucking up to the boss enough that we'd at least get through the current Five Year Plan.
The problem isn't that we couldn't do that much, it's that the position would still be unsustainable in the long run even if we made it out to the five year mark.
To be clear, I agree with you about the ultimate conclusion: we need to find a way to get rid of Arcturus Mengsk, or eventually it's game over. In theory
maybe Mengsk would be gracious enough to allow old Chuck Horner a peaceful retirement, but I'm betting no. The only point on which we disagree is that my gut feeling is that we might be able to spin things out into the timeframe of
Starcraft II, whereas you are effectively predicting that it would all fall apart and we'd get shot before the events of even
Brood War hitting us.
