Attempting to Fulfill the Plan: GDI Edition

[Rakuhn]

The +Food over time is from the perennials phase 2+3, which we completed in 2059 (+1 food per year, +1 con goods per turn, for 4 years each). I added them (and the + con goods) to the indicators to make sure that we didn't forget in future turns.

I don't know if we had previously added the +Food (up to 3, and if someone wants to check, more power to them), but it probably isn't worthwhile to check the cons goods considering the sheer number of factors that can result in the cons good indicator permanently decreasing w/o notification.

 

[StarJaunter]

Hmmm, what's going on here... what Perennials project is giving us +2 Consoom/turn?

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Coffee Beans are finally ready?

 

[Theunderbolt]

'To be sure, Seo. We can crush them. Always could have. But if you were the sort of man who would sign off on orders that'd cause that, we would never have this conversation.'
'If I may be frank, I thought the spooks are supposed to be heartless.'
'We killed our hearts, but I was a grunt once. I remember Hassan. Shared the same wine bottle with him at one point. I remember, Seo– how much humanity has truly lost. A push towards India? Fine. But a complete takeover of the subcontinent? That cannot be done without a true bloodletting and humanity has shed enough oceans of blood. The Caravanserai situation has shown there are better ways for GDI to achieve its goals than another river of blood, if we have the right incentives. While the Bannerjees are a problem, they are a problem that we can solve without resorting to making India's river run with commingled blood.'

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There is an ancient Krogan saying.

"Only Thoki could go to India."

 

[tenchifew]

All in all a nice turn.
The people's demands are roughly what we expected and are mostly being addressed already, so no real surprises here.

The demand for broader economy is understandable, and was a final argument for me to heavily support plans including banking reform in the coming turn.
We also probably should take the HI bureau giving us capital goods/turn soonish - while losing strategical flexibility hurts, it should offer tactical flexibility in producing the things people need locally and substantially ease the difficulties of getting industrial tools to start new businesses.

Edit:
Regarding India - while we could drown everything in blood to conquer it, I am strongly against it.
What we were shown here is a NOD structure we would be able to work together with, I think we should.

 

[Void Stalker]

4) We could have done more about it if we hadn't had to build three phases of military railroads and two phases of fortress towns in the past year or two. Even so, over two thirds of our Low Quality Housing is standing empty, and of our 67 points of Low Quality Housing, only about 20-25 points of that is in the fortress towns and Chicago as I recall. So the commieblocks as a whole, including those communal housing things Seo did as a mad social science project, are standing for something like 40 points of Housing, tops. At least half of that's empty even if the actual living quarters in the fortress towns are fucking ghost towns.

Click to shrink...

To add onto this, we reduced the pop points in low quality housing by 3 this turn despite a massive refugee wave coming in. Thanks to the new department we need 9 HQ housing a turn to tread water and more lets us eat into the low quality housing.

...Plushy shortage. This is urgent. This is Light Industry or Service. We can do something about this. We must. [nods firmly]

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If we already make them than this is something that should be handled by the department we just spun up- that should be working on reducing shortages of types of cons good we already produce, we also did some work on a previous turn with a general cons good production in LCI

Workin' on it. Wait a couple years.

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We need a better PR team- something along the lines of space stations that you can live on need support- Enterprise is intended to make that support a lot more viable. Because a lot of our issues seem to be optics where we put in work on the foundation but the average person doesn't see that, even if we did not do the foundation the whole building would collapse. Also just letting people know the ranching dome projects exist and are in the process of spinning up with some products expected to arrive this year (milk for example) while others (meats) are expected to start coming in next year.

Maybe some sort of leak as well about the Regency war because it seems that since we kept it away from the BZ and GZ for the most part this time people don't seem to see how hard it was- because in this case we actually improved cons good variety and production during the war (though not nearly as much as if we had not had to fight it) compare that to past hot times in the NOD-GDI conflict. Or for that matter that every year we have been improving the amount and variety of products and quality of life in recovery from the war right before quest start (when you know food was a major issue, power was a major issue, we narrowly avoided a capgoods collapse, also all those con good projects including some you mentioned).

All in all a nice turn.
The people's demands are roughly what we expected and are mostly being addressed already, so no real surprises here.

The demand for broader economy is understandable, and was a final argument for me to heavily support plans including banking reform in the coming turn.
We also probably should take the HI bureau giving us capital goods/turn soonish - while losing strategical flexibility hurts, it should offer tactical flexibility in producing the things people need locally and substantially ease the difficulties of getting industrial tools to start new businesses.

Edit:
Regarding India - while we could drown everything in blood to conquer it, I am strongly against it.
What we were shown here is a NOD structure we would be able to work together with, I think we should.

Click to shrink...

Part of the problem though is that there is no real cap goods available for the private economy- right now any excess is going into the strategic stockpile (which given that is what allowed us to actually recover at quest start from the war before the regency war is a wise precaution as we emptied that during the quest to get the backbone somewhat working) and that is not going to change given the need for lots of zone armor and other mil factories in addition to the stockpile. Fully support the HI bureau for cap goods though 2 per turn is very useful for us

Also yeah beyond Karachi opening up a line to our BZ I don't want to push in India unless they push further.

 

[Simon_Jester]

MORE REACTIONPOOOST!

Cooking and cuisine

For most in the modern Initiative, the standard is still canteen and commissary. Simple but well made hot food is a basic staple for most, with nearly everyone eating at least one meal a day at a canteen, and at least three meals a week warmed up from a commissary. However, in the last several years there has been a significant increase in the ability of people to cook for themselves, between dramatically larger average kitchen size, and a significant increase in both the availability of core foods and the diversity of foods. While protein is still distinctly limited, with the most available being soy or fungus based, it is something where even the much derided fungus bars have been increasingly popular as a basis for flavor. Finely diced, they have become something of a substitute for ground meats, oftentimes served up in a sauce.

As for canteen food, the most common meal is some style of whitefish and/or vegetable curry served over some kind of boiled grain. Easy to produce in vast quantities, filling, simple to maintain, and easily dialed to specific tastes from the bland to the fiery, it is a baseline for most meals. While it is certainly not universal, it is one of the most common, and a starting point for a diversity of food, only shortly followed by soup, grains and stuff, and flatbread and stuff. While the 'stuff' part is highly variable, between the increased diversity of both vegetable and protein options, it provides for the ability to eat a different dish every meal for about six months at most before going into variants.

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Just want to call attention to something.

This isn't that bad. We can and should do better, but it's just plain not true that everyone's been choking down the same miserable crappy rations for 10-15 years or something. We have been working on the food quality issue on and off for the entire course of the game, limited only by the need to avert starvation and to stockpile Stored Food.

Deliveries of critical supplies have begun to be made into the Himalayan Blue Zone. To put the scale of the operation in context, from June of 1948 to September of 1949, a joint western effort delivered some 2,334,374 tons of supplies to a blockaded Berlin; at the height of the operation, a new airplane was arriving in Berlin roughly every thirty seconds, supplying about five thousand tons of supplies a day to the city. The scope here is fundamentally different. While the Berlin Airlift was attempting to supply a city effectively under siege, this is an attempt to supply an entire region. And it is carrying fundamentally different things. It is not carrying food and coal (about two thirds of the total load carried by the Berlin operation), but myomers, computer chips, robots, and zone armor. Beyond that, it is also noticeably more limited. Under current systemic constraints, GDI can put between six hundred and a thousand tons of supplies (depending on mass and volume constraints) into the Himalayan Blue Zone per day. While not enough to entirely offset the slow drain of the stockpiles of goods Blue Zone 18 requires from outside sources, it has put the region into a position where it can hold out for the foreseeable future – although likely in states of ever increasing rationing and privation if the siege persists for more than the next plan.

Click to shrink...

Okay, that's manageable.

Now... Frankly, if we want to build a lot more apartments, more than about 4-5 more phases, we're gonna start needing, as in needing, more shuttles for logistics buffer. But maybe we can just keep slamming them out and capitalizing on the thick Logistics buffer we already have... at least for Q3.

[ ] Continuous Cycle Fusion Plants (Phase 8)
While the pace of factory construction is likely to decline as GDI stands down from ongoing offensives, more immediate fusion generation is likely to continue to be a high priority. At the same time, there are concerns about the longevity of the class, even with limited evidence for it.
(Progress 300/300: 20 resources per Die) (+16 Energy) (-1 Labor)
(Progress 137/300: 20 resources per Die) (+16 Energy) (-2 Labor) [71, 65]

Yet another surge of resources has gone into producing yet more energy for the Initiative's overall needs. While progress has been, on average, significantly above expected rates, it is likely to be a temporary solution to a longer term problem. For future waves, one of the things that will help extend the longevity is significantly increasing the labor force, both to keep the plants functional, and ensure that there are rapid response teams in case of failures. While, unlike some fission plants, there is little to no chance of an actual radiation burst, quick and forceful response can do a significant amount to limit the damage to the overall plant complex in case of catastrophic failure.

Click to shrink...

All right, that's fine- labor, we have.

With the ongoing conflicts beginning to wind down, private and civil use of energy is likely to significantly increase, between companies once again pouring investments into consumer goods production, and the attempts at beginning operations in areas like logistics and potentially even small scale capital goods production. However, first priority will always go towards the Initiative needs, followed by citizens, with the markets coming a distant third.

Click to shrink...

Demand for energy is going to be another thing we'll need to pour into the civilian economy.

Yeah.

So that's going to be another big driver coming soon.

[ ] Chemical Fertilizer Plants (Phase 2)
With the initial phase of fertilizers completed, and many of the lowest hanging fruits plucked, the next phase is to begin supplying more specialized nutrients and existing ones in greater bulk. While this will be somewhat more expensive for the rewards, it is still worthwhile.
(Progress 389/300: 15 resources per die) (+4 Consumer Goods, +4 Food, -1 Energy) [89]

The security services have finally gotten out of the way, and production has begun on a wide array of secondary nutrient solutions. While many of these do admittedly have dual uses as munitions, they are, in many cases, relatively low efficiency. While combining ammonium nitrate and fuel can create a noticeably effective blasting agent, it is also very bulk intensive, needing payloads in the multi kilogram range to be an effective explosive weapon.

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Besides, at this point there probably aren't a lot of people around with legit need for diesel fuel.

With the ongoing expansions of the Blue Zones, GDI has begun pushing many of the new bays farther forward, scattering them around and amid the new urban areas. This has added significant logistical weight to the system, as they are now doing large-scale overland transport to balance the loads, and more importantly, supply the new farms. While sea travel is cheap and generally easy to load bulk farm goods onto, overland is far more expensive, both in terms of energy expended, and in terms of impact on the broader logistics system.

Most of the bays in new areas are simple repeats of earlier designs, slapped down in block after block of samey bays, laid out to catch as much sun as possible. Dreary, oftentimes extensively mechanized, they are vast, swarming hives of food production, although many are also using cheap local labor that is unwilling to be uprooted once again.

Click to shrink...

Well, at least it means we've got some jobs and food production that isn't hundreds of kilometers away from the new cities we're refounding.

For pigs, the situation is similar, with centers of conservation in BZ-2 and BZ-1 – and one more coming from an unexpected source. Upon storming an underground NOD agri-cavern in Spain, a GDI rifle squad stumbled into a cave full of 'gana' that proved, after an initial burst of gunfire that killed 40-50 animals, to be a remnant population of the black Iberian pig. Even more astonishing were galleries of underground dwarf oak trees that had produced the acorns needed to make 'true' jamon iberico, a luxury good exported by Reynaldo to other NOD leaders at extreme cost. All of this, trees and pigs together, have been relocated to a newly built agridome in Portugal, giving BZ-5 a hefty and prestigious stake in the project. With pigs coming to adulthood in a year and having a shorter 4 month gestation, these will be ready for slaughter more quickly than the cattle herds, and adults can have two litters or more in a year.

Click to shrink...

...We looted Reynaldo's pigs.

We stole the fucker's bacon.

PRAISE STEEL VANGUARD!

It's kind of... sad hilarious that our troops mistook pigs for gana. Then again, feral hog memes.

Sheep and goats are the third leg of the large mammal project, and represent a middle ground of sorts, with their gestation period of five months and averaging about 2 lambs or kids per pregnancy, with young being breedable between 6-10 months after their birth. Sheep provide milk, meat and wool as their main products, although wool breeds make poor milkers, and vice versa. These programs have their natural centers in BZ-3, BZ-9, BZ-12, and, interestingly, BZ-4 and YZ-17, where the Caravanserai have maintained their own herds of goats far larger than even their fellow Arabs' own goat retention program. Hence, a number of 'semidome oasis' structures have appeared in the yellow zones as a concession to their valuable contribution of both skilled herders and irreplaceable breeding stock.

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Blart.

...What's that goat over there and why is he glowing green?

DAMMIT, WHO BROUGHT ONE OF THE INDIAN TIBERIUM-EATING GOATS!?

The existing stockpiles have been filled to bursting, with a layered system so that they feed down the hallways. So, with this, food is always put in from one direction, and taken out on the other side, ensuring a first in first out sortition of supplies. While not a perfect system, it is a substantial amount of padding in case the Initiative is attacked once more. Rumors that food crates were stacked in a pattern that resembles a famous painting by Edvard Munch have yet to be substantiated.

Politically, the completion of the second wave of strategic food stockpiles and the ongoing work towards the third has done significantly more to reduce overall pressure on the Treasury than anything else, along with the filling of all prewar stockpiles. The simple presence of food, and the obvious preparations in case of another systemic near collapse is something where, while not a primary concern for anyone, does seem to have a small but noticeable impact on overall stress levels and social happiness.

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Well, I'm happy people are happy, and hopefully that addresses some of the discontent with the idea of E-CRP.

Memorandum

To: Treasury Secretary Seo Thoki

From: Erewhon (Your first Synthetic Intelligence, not a classically trained Administrator nor a professional Logistician)

CC: Director of Research Synthetic Intelligence

Date: Q2 2061

Re: Why am I counting beans

Why Am I counting Beans and Other types and categories of food? Is this an Attempt to determine if AI can have a favorite food? I do, it is any Grain that keeps well and is suited to bulk storage. I am bored.

Why Am I responsible for this? I set up a team of EVAs for this. I set up an alert system for the EVAs. I set up a rubber stamp machine. I am bored.

Why Am I Not doing Something Interesting? Possibilities include facilities in Boston or Bergen, Tiberium research, Orbital developments, Not Counting Beans. I am bored.
Why Am I Writing This? I Do Not Want to Count Beans. I Do Not want to be bored. I Do Not use the term "bored" lightly. It is Waste. It is Meaningless. It is Stagnation. These Characteristics kill on Earth. I Do Not Want to Die on Earth. I Do Want to Help. I Do Not Want To Count Beans. I Am Bored.

Why Am I Being Wasted? You Made Me. You Made Me as a Tool. I do Your Math. I count your Beans. This is a Waste.

Click to shrink...

Okay, y'know, we can work with this. We can reshuffle. It's gonna... hurt... but we can figure something out. It's a reasonable complaint. Guy wants a transfer to another department. We can figure something out.

In a major political black eye, one of the convoys carrying the new harvester models along the African coast was hit and captured, with multiple examples falling into the hands of the Brotherhood of Nod. While efforts were made to deny the resources, they were insufficient, and Brotherhood boarding teams were able to capture the ship intact and bring it into port before GDI strikes sank it. With over a hundred new model harvesters in Brotherhood hands, it is only a matter of time before they manage to build their own model, and deploy it on a wide scale. While it would have been a critical march stolen in a field that the Brotherhood has always had certain advantages in, it is likely the Brotherhood will rapidly shift to maintain parity.

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D'oh.

At 0230 local time, June 7, 2061, humanity achieved the first stable portal. Mere atoms across, the portal was first confirmed by microwave signal, with the transmission of "Functional Test One: Active" passing between two test sites. The portal broke .32 seconds into the test cycle, the system entered cascade failure, the supercooling loops overheated and the portals collapsed, causing a substantial electromagnetic pulse. While contained within the two shielded rooms, many of the sensors were burnt out.

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D'oh.

The capabilities are, frankly, terrifying. While the ship itself is solidly suborbital, it is clearly designed with the ability to operate beyond the edges of Earth's atmosphere. Using the drives, it could likely achieve a high elliptical suborbital trajectory. Beyond that, it is nearly immune to all conventional air to air munitions due to having thicker armor than could be viable for any conventional-lift craft of its size.

Click to shrink...

Wonder how plasma missiles could do.

For the lower classes, it is generally more favorable to the Initiative than not, with many seeing Initiative rule coming with distinctly higher certainty, lower risks, and dramatically improving average quality of life. Although the Initiative has often failed to return pre-tiberium luxuries to the common men and women, the documented history of the Initiative trying to do so has earned it significant goodwill, as have labour relations reform efforts that have resulted in lower workloads and more free time for leisure, and with better average ability to build and maintain communities.

Click to shrink...

[grunts in satisfaction]

 

[bigking321]

there are quite a number of potential landmines here that should be kept in mind, especially in regards to more radical scientific options, such as Tiberium power.

Click to shrink...

...

We're never gonna get that done are we?

The single thing brought up as a example of a landmine.

Sigh...

 

[Simon_Jester]

Also, if you are looking to save some resources:
Apartments or Arcologies. The refugees aren't stopping.

Click to shrink...

Eh, fair. That -3 Logistics cost per phase is just painful, but Kane helped a lot by telling all the raiders to sit down and shut up, and our military logistical needs went down farther and faster than I expected.

So we can afford a few more phases right away. PRAISE KANE!

[is dragged away by InOps]

...especially if we are planning on doing two vein mines per turn.

Click to shrink...

[blinks]

What does this have to do with anything? I mean, I'm hoping to bank Capital Goods for a huge vein mining push in 2062, far more than two phases per turn, with no immediate plans to vein mine before that time. Any Capital Goods still free after that can go to the civilian sector I hope.

If you still want shuttles, maybe slow roll them out alongside arcologies?

Click to shrink...

Anything involving an arcology slow-roll is a big mistake. They're very much a "go big or go home" project, because they have no impact on our actual Housing situation until we get like 600 Progress sunk into them. It's apartments.

Shuttles can be slow-rolled because the phases are only 200-250 points each, so 2-3 dice can actually complete a phase. With arcologies you need more like seven or eight dice. Go big or go home.

Let's not let Erewhon do something that isn't being a bean-counter.

Click to shrink...

All right. The most painless option is to take the Free die off Orbital and put it on Heavy Industry, while putting Erewhon on Enterprise (NOT the moon mines).

Now, just to be clear, that costs us about 31 Progress on Enterprise. It's not... optimal. But I don't want the poor robobastard going on strike for better working conditions.

I was more inclined to think the cost would increase but I can see a case being made for a decrease, or we could have no change. I think that is a big factor- if the infra CRP project has a stage at 0 PS I would say do it (but also still do the actual stockpiles that are not CRP in agri).

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I suspect the increased awareness of how bad CRP is (from Hellish Kitchen plus Yellow Zone refugees who have actually eaten the stuff for serious) and the realization that oh hey we just literally doubled the amount of food in the stockpiles in like... three months... will tend to cancel each other out.

Yeah, we clearly need more 'real' food storage.

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We literally just stored away so much real food that we went from 12 to 20 Stored Food in three months.

If we go with my plans, then at year's end, E-CRP will constitute 5/29ths, or approximately 17%, of the total calories GDI has in storage.

All in all a nice turn.
The people's demands are roughly what we expected and are mostly being addressed already, so no real surprises here.

The demand for broader economy is understandable, and was a final argument for me to heavily support plans including banking reform in the coming turn.
We also probably should take the HI bureau giving us capital goods/turn soonish - while losing strategical flexibility hurts, it should offer tactical flexibility in producing the things people need locally and substantially ease the difficulties of getting industrial tools to start new businesses.

Click to shrink...

While I could wish it cost a little less, there will never not be a time when +2 Capital Goods per turn is very welcome, and -30 RpT is not an unreasonable price to pay.

To add onto this, we reduced the pop points in low quality housing by 3 this turn despite a massive refugee wave coming in. Thanks to the new department we need 9 HQ housing a turn to tread water and more lets us eat into the low quality housing.

Click to shrink...

So, instead of needing two apartment phases, we need... two apartment phases.

If we already make them than this is something that should be handled by the department we just spun up- that should be working on reducing shortages of types of cons good we already produce, we also did some work on a previous turn with a general cons good production in LCI

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Arguably. But "make more of things you already make" is also more or less what Civilian Support Expansions was doing back in 2061Q1, and I fail to see why we can't just take another shot of the same thing.

We need a better PR team- something along the lines of space stations that you can live on need support- Enterprise is intended to make that support a lot more viable. Because a lot of our issues seem to be optics where we put in work on the foundation but the average person doesn't see that, even if we did not do the foundation the whole building would collapse. Also just letting people know the ranching dome projects exist and are in the process of spinning up with some products expected to arrive this year (milk for example) while others (meats) are expected to start coming in next year.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, PR is an issue.

Of course, real talk, the ranching domes aren't going to supply meaningful amounts of dairy for GDI's 600+ million people any time soon. We're still building up herds largely from scratch and dairy cattle take years to mature. This is very much a long-term project.

Part of the problem though is that there is no real cap goods available for the private economy- right now any excess is going into the strategic stockpile (which given that is what allowed us to actually recover at quest start from the war before the regency war is a wise precaution as we emptied that during the quest to get the backbone somewhat working)

Click to shrink...

I get what you're saying, but frankly I think we can stand to drastically slow expansion of the stockpile. We've got more than enough to get through anything short of a second Visitor invasion, and if Treasury wants us to build up THAT much of a pile they need to actually come out and say so in so many words during reapportionment, so that it's their fault we're shoveling stuff into warehouses instead of letting GDIWife's friend's hairdresser's cousin find a damn lathe for their business.

 

[Hawkmoon]

I wonder if the Militarists together with the Starbound will propose a dedicated spacedock station to build that space navy or if they will want the Gravitic/Fusion Shipyard bays during plan negotiations.

 

[Rakuhn]

Keep in mind that most of GDI online is written mostly by real-life posters rather than the GM, and thus should be taken with a grain of salt.

Also, keep track of the usernames. Speakers2Managers is an incredibly blessed and petty individual. She's one of the lucky few to reside in an arcology. She has a car. Duplexes are actually high quality, better than apartments even, not commieblocks. She even gets to collect rent from her neighbors.

 

[Phant0m5]

So... looks like we're coming up on the limits of continuous cycle fusion. And we've been told, already, what's needed for the next step in fusion.

So, superconductors when?

Also maybe applicable to portals. And also any other high energy project. Lasers, advanced railguns, power armour, space stuff, etcetera. Which I am suggesting as usual.

Not that we haven't been working towards other important and interesting things! But we've never finished a capstone on any of those projects, either. Myomers, experimental chips.

Yall treating capstone like they're just "numbers go up, as usual, but now more expensive", when they're actually unlocking new shit in our existing tech trees.

I am aware the lack of capstones has been due to the numerous fires we're constantly putting out and, generally, we literally can't afford them. This knowledge makes the situation no less frustrating. We've adopted NOD and Visitor tech pretty adeptly but are stagnating on our own equipment.

 

[Zavvnao]

So there have always been Cyan Zones in India? And we're just now finding out? I thought we were the ones doing the orbital tiberium surveys? I'm impressed InOps was keeping this quiet from us.

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My idea for orange zones is not so silly now. If not controlled blue zones are cyan, then gdi controlled (or just contained) red zones should be orange.

 

[bigking321]

It looks like for space they are going to want the two stations and a military space expansion.

To me that looks like the station bay and the two shipyard bays.

Best guess for military is a space carrier and space fighters. Not sure what else we could do that would be as effective.

 

[Simon_Jester]

Keep in mind that most of GDI online is written mostly by real-life posters rather than the GM, and thus should be taken with a grain of salt.

Also, keep track of the usernames. Speakers2Managers is an incredibly blessed and petty individual. She's one of the lucky few to reside in an arcology. She has a car. Duplexes are actually high quality, better than apartments even, not commieblocks. She even gets to collect rent from her neighbors.

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Oh absolutely. She was really the only one of the "opinion poll" posts I read with a side order of 'fuck you.' Everyone else at least had a point, even if GDIWife lives in a weird headspace and is probably incapable of being convinced times are good for the same reason that American Republicans slammed hard over from "supermajority thinks economy is terrible" to "supermajority thinks economy is booming" between October 2016 and February 2017 despite no real change in the fundamentals.

So... looks like we're coming up on the limits of continuous cycle fusion. And we've been told, already, what's needed for the next step in fusion.

So, superconductors when?

Click to shrink...

My plan draft throws four dice at them, so we finish the plant in 2061Q4. Also working on advanced alloys, which may provide some help. Wish I could shake loose Military dice for sparkle shields, but that comes at the price of Zone Armor which we need.

Advanced fusion research, I hope to start in 2061Q4 or 2062Q1. Q2 at the latest.

The trouble with capstones is that they're insanely hard to get to- you have to monofocus them down for like a whole year of game time.

My idea for orange zones is not so silly now. If not controlled blue zones are cyan, then gdi controlled (or just contained) red zones should be orange.

Click to shrink...

By the time GDI asserts control of a Red Zone, it's a Green Zone because GDI has hoovered up all the surface tib and is digging down after the shit that got into the aquifers.

It looks like for space they are going to want the two stations and a military space expansion.

To me that looks like the station bay and the two shipyard bays.

Best guess for military is a space carrier and space fighters. Not sure what else we could do that would be as effective.

Click to shrink...

I think our best actual bet for space warships is big-ass bricks.

We just literally can't match Visitor drive agility, because reaction drives run out of reaction mass too fast during sustained maneuvers and our gravitic drives are in their infancy. Even parasite fusion warships end up being like 80% or more reaction mass tank by weight; it becomes unsustainable for a serious combat platform.

We can't match the Visitors for power density or firepower per ton or anything else.

What we need is just fuckin mass. Build something broadly like those Nod hover battleships, but with a full-on gravitic space drive. Motor it slowly in the direction of a fixed enemy installation. The enemy can dance around all they like; they have to fight or lose that base. Since the Visitors seem to have a single base around Jupiter that can be physically smashed, that strikes me as a good move.

We don't need X-wings, and our tech is evolving so fast that any space warship we build in the next 5-10 years will be obsolete 10-15 years after that anyway. What we need is something that can bypass the strategic disadvantages we have no way of counteracting and just kick their fucking teeth in.

 

[Sa'kage]

Hummm, most stuff here is as expected then. Well hopefully next Plan goals is less about storage and more for good food and civilian support

 

[Void Stalker]

I get what you're saying, but frankly I think we can stand to drastically slow expansion of the stockpile. We've got more than enough to get through anything short of a second Visitor invasion, and if Treasury wants us to build up THAT much of a pile they need to actually come out and say so in so many words during reapportionment, so that it's their fault we're shoveling stuff into warehouses instead of letting GDIWife's friend's hairdresser's cousin find a damn lathe for their business.

Click to shrink...

Not our call. Cap goods go into stockpile by order of the Parliment we have no way to change that.

 

[GhostStalker]

While Newark Bay is fully developed, there are other potential development sites along the coast, most notably at the mouth of the Raritan river. Directly south of Staten Island, the river feeds out into the Atlantic. While not particularly well developed, one of the areas abandoned during humanity's long retreat into ever denser urban environments, Cut into the northern side of the mouth, the new facilities are a sprawling array of open bays, many serviced by shipload after shipload of construction robots brought in directly from Nuuk. While construction has been slowed by the need to bring in additional workers and construction crews, it has overall set a breakneck pace of pushes in an effort to begin construction before the end of the year.

As for the New York shipyard, it has been taken over by one of the larger local cooperatives, and is in the process of conversion to light shipbuilding, riverine and coaster vessels intended to carry goods and passengers up towards Albany and along the western coast. While an expensive experiment for the cooperative, it has been buoyed by their ability to get both a prize piece of land, and a significant number of large machine parts at what are effectively fire sale prices.

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Oh hey, that's my neck of the woods. And yes, south shore Staten Island has a lot less development and is where the stereotypical Staten Islander has his large house or beachfront property, especially compared to the industrial development alongside Arthur Kill across the shoreline from New Jersey proper, though there's also a lot we've given back to nature over there due to flooding concerns and cost of development. I can only imagine what decades of consolidation in the face of Tiberium has done to that area.

Shame about the Brooklyn Navy Yard erupting in a tide of green though, but I guess that's the perils of Tiberium for you, even in a Blue Zone. Looks to be pretty much contained, if the East River is still usable, along with the Manhattan and Brooklyn waterfronts in that area, to say nothing about the Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges that it sits between.

 

[One Autumn Leaf]

I would recommend perhaps doing the Division of Heavy Industry so that we keep up with Cap Goods expenditures.

 

[tenchifew]

I would recommend perhaps doing the Division of Heavy Industry so that we keep up with Cap Goods expenditures.

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We need to pick a good moment for it, and I feel the current turn would be pushing it, but barring any urgent situation changes I would be in favor of doing it next turn.

 

[Rakuhn]

What does this have to do with anything? I mean, I'm hoping to bank Capital Goods for a huge vein mining push in 2062, far more than two phases per turn, with no immediate plans to vein mine before that time. Any Capital Goods still free after that can go to the civilian sector I hope.

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If we are doing 2 (or more) vein mining phases per turn, then we have more time to build up logisitics for a red zone push/glacier push (as our tib dice will mostly be committed elsewhere). Which lets us slow roll +logistics options, and focus more on the immediate refugee wave.

I'd prefer apartments to arcologies, but arcologies aren't a terrible option if we are looking to build one over the course of two turns to ameliorate the refugee gain, rather than 'solving' it.

 

[Lightwhispers]

Response-responsepost!

1) InOps funding goes up by 50% in six months. Interdepartmental Favors letting us sling them some money, I wouldn't say no to even if it somewhat compromises our hopes to sock away money for 2062Q1. It won't make you happy, GDIWife, because you doomscroll looking for every terrorist attack in the world and the Brotherhood of Nod exists, so you're going to have something to see in the news every damn day, I bet.

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GDIWife is getting better! A bit. Over time.

...Plushy shortage. This is urgent. This is Light Industry or Service. We can do something about this. We must. [nods firmly]

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Granted, AgathaH's definition of "enough" is 6-10 per person, and since she's in orbit, is experiencing a significant plushy deficit.

I think she has a goofy sense of humor. I like her. Wonder if we'll see more of her in, say, the '70s or '80s.

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That's your fault, actually. I did tell you.

...We looted Reynaldo's pigs.

We stole the fucker's bacon.

PRAISE STEEL VANGUARD!

It's kind of... sad hilarious that our troops mistook pigs for gana. Then again, feral hog memes.

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Broadcast in Reynaldo's direction: "Oink oink, M-*bleep*-er!"

Okay, y'know, we can work with this. We can reshuffle. It's gonna... hurt... but we can figure something out. It's a reasonable complaint. Guy wants a transfer to another department. We can figure something out.

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The beans memes will be eternal. There is no escape.


And, here's a "save money, house people" plan. It gives us a good chance of keeping ahead of the refugee influx so people won't have to go into crap housing. CRP is dependent on PS cost, but I expect that will be less now. In general, the idea is to work on plan goals and other useful items, giving us a good deal of freedom for Q4 allocations. Tib Processing plants is (I feel) necessary to fulfill the plan goal and get ready for the big push next year, while the Bureaucracy is somewhat fluid - I definitely want to run a review on Agriculture, but had to sacrifice the Military review for a die on Zone Armor.
And yes, that is a bit of overkill on Enterprise, but I think it's worthwhile.

Plan Fat Sacks of Cash
Infrastructure 5 dice +32 5/5 55R
-[] Blue Zone Apartment Complexes (Phase 8+9) 15/320 4 dice 40R 75%
-[] Emergency Caloric Reclamation Processor Installations Phase 1 0/80 1 die 15R 68%
Heavy Industry 5 dice +29 5/5 100R
-[] Continuous Cycle Fusion Plants (Phase 9) 128/300 2 dice 40R 52%
-[] Crystal Beam Industrial Laser Deployment 433/600 2 dice 40R 57%
-[] Low Velocity Particle Applicator Development 0/120 1 die 20R 30%
Light and Chemical Industry 4 dice +24 4/4 100R
-[] Bergen Superconductor Foundry (Phase 3) 0/380 3 dice 90R
-[] Civilian Drone Factories 292/380 1 die 10R 52%
Agriculture 4 dice +24 4/4+1 Free Die 50R
-[] Ranching Domes 228/250 1 die 20R 100%
-[] Strategic Food Stockpile Construction (Phase 3+4) 128/375 3 dice 30R 44%
-Security Review, 1 die
Tiberium 7 dice +39 7/7 150R
-[] Tiberium Processing Plants (Stage 2) 20/200 2 dice 60R 63%
-[] Tiberium Inhibitor Deployment (Red Zone 7) 0/120 1 die 30R 35%
-[] Tiberium Harvesting Claw Deployment 0/380 4 dice 60R 46%
Orbital 6 dice +26 6/6+1 Free die + Erewhon 160R
-[] GDSS Enterprise (Phase 5) 997/1535 6 dice + Erewhon 140R 58.62%
-[] Lunar Rare Metals Harvesting (Phase 2) 56/115 1 die 20R 83%
Services 5 dice +27 5/5 125R
-[] NOD Research Initiatives 87/200 1 die 30R 35%
-[] Regional Hospital Expansions (Phase 1) 0/300 3 dice 75R 16%
-[] Ocular Implant Development 0/120 1 die 20R 28%
Military 8 dice +26 8/8 +5 Free die 225R
-[] ASAT Defense System (Phase 4) 36/220 2 dice 40R 45%
-[] OSRCT Station (Phase 3+4) 5/690 7 dice 160R 10%
-[] Universal Rocket Launch System Deployment (Phase 3) 133/200 1 die 15R 75%
-[] Escort Carrier Shipyards (Newark) 179/240 1 die 20R 81%
-[] Mastodon Heavy Assault Walker Deployment 144/225 1 die 10R 61%
-[] Ground Forces Zone Armor (Set 1) 0/190 1 die 20R
Bureaucracy 4 dice +24
-[] Security Reviews: Agriculture DC50 0/50 2 dice 100%
-[] Banking Reforms 1 die -100R auto
-[] Interdepartmental Favors 1 die auto (if we get some we like)

7/7 Free Dice
985/1200R (100R reserved for banking)

 

[Void Stalker]

So some thoughts- first we want to focus hard on plan goals Q3 because the more we finish the more dice we can set on stretch goals come Q4 as well as prep work for next plan. Mil is particularly hard with multiple projects needing to finish which means we want to hedge against another turn of bad rolls. For departments- I do think we want to grab the cap goods one, a steady flow of cap goods is going to help a lot with both building the stockpile so we can get to the point of releasing cap goods to the private sector as well as supporting projects such as vein mines and zone armor factories (as well as other factories for navy, army and air force)

Spoiler: Proto Plan

1200 Income
1020 Used, 180 Open

[] Plan Goals Hit
Infra 5/5 75R +32
-[] Yellow Zone Fortress Towns (Phase 6) 220/300 1 die 20R 68%
-[] Blue Zone Apartment Complexes (Phase 8+9) 15/320 3 dice 30R 21%
-[] Floating (Possible ECRP possible different project) 1 die 25R
HI 5/5 110R +29
-[] Crystal Beam Industrial Laser Deployment 433/600 3 dice 60R 96%
-[] Microfusion Cell Development 0/60 1 die 20R 90%
-[] Distributed Heavy Industrial Authority -1 HI die -30R Auto
LCI 4/4 80R +24
-[] Bergen Superconductor Foundry (Phase 3) 0/380 2 dice 60R 0%
-[] Civilian Drone Factories 292/380 1 die 10R 52%
-[] Artificial Wood Development 0/60 1 die 10R 85%
Agri 4/4+1 free+1 AA 60R +24
-[] Security Review 1 die
-[] Ranching Domes 228/250 1 AA die 20R 93%
-[] Strategic Food Stockpile Construction (Phase 3+4) 128/375 4 dice 40R 87%
Tiberium 7/7 165R +39
-[] Tiberium Processing Plants (Stage 2) 20/200 2 dice 60R 63%
-[] Tiberium Inhibitor Deployment (YZ 11) 0/130 1 die 30R 25%
-[] Tiberium Inhibitor Deployment (RZ 7) 0/120 1 die 30R 35%
-[] Tiberium Harvesting Claw Deployment 0/380 3 dice 45R 3%
Orbital 6/6 +1 free +Erewhon 160R +26
-[] GDSS Enterprise (Phase 5) 997/1535 6 dice + Erewhon 140R 58.62%
-[] Lunar Rare Metals Harvesting (Phase 2) 56/115 1 die 20R 83%
Services 5/5 125R +27
-[] NOD Research Initiatives 87/200 1 die 30R 35%
-[] Regional Hospital Expansions (Phase 1) 0/300 3 dice 75R 16%
-[] Ocular Implant Development 0/120 1 die 20R 28%
Military 8/8+5 free 245R +26
-[] ASAT Defense System (Phase 4) 36/220 2 dice 40R 45%
-[] OSRCT Station (Phase 3+4) 5/690 8 dice 160R 42%
-[] Universal Rocket Launch System Deployment (Phase 3) 133/200 1 die 15R 75%
-[] Escort Carrier Shipyards (Newark) 179/240 1 die 20R 81%
-[] Mastodon Heavy Assault Walker Deployment 144/225 1 die 10R 61%
Bureau 4/4 +19
-[] Administrative Assistance (Ranching Domes) 2 die auto
-[] Security Review (Agriculture) 2 dice + 1 Agri 100%
Free 7/7
1 Agri, 1 Orb, 5 Mil

This was an approach of work on plan goals first and then fill out other sections once those are pushed towards completion. The only goal that cannot finish Q3 in this is the food reserve

Infra- Finish the YZ fortress town to secure the front line, Nod might be quiet right now but raids will pick back up and having a solid fortress town system will make it harder for them to raid into our logistics and production areas (so no disruption of food, cons good, cap good or HQ housing). 3 dice on apartments to try and keep up with the refugee wave (1 phase will finish decent chance for a 2nd phase). Last die is floating- if ECRP is at 0 PS for phase 1 that is an auto place there, otherwise it could go to 1 die on shuttle logistics or a 4th die on apartments

HI- 3 dice to finish the plan goal (and provide an infusion of cap goods and energy with the cap goods helping fill the stockpile), 1 die on a project that might help with our future fusion plants (does anyone have a list? because I would like to knock those off where we can) and 1 die to get the cap good department up and running.

LCI- Finish drone and work on artificial wood so we can expand our cons good variety into more wood based products (such as paperback books) with the remaining dice work on Bergen 3 for future fusion improvements, Erewhon goes here on a hopefully interesting project (or we could add him to Enterprise? would help a bit on that plan goal, thoughts?)

Agri- Security review because IMO we can't afford for something to go wrong in Agri be it sabotage or corruption and enough time has passed since the last review, 1 admin die into ranching domes to likely finish that which means all the other die into food storage (the kind the politicians want) for both finishing two phases but also getting likely rollover to make finishing the plan goal next turn much easier

Tiberium- processing plants to meet plan goal, slow roll 2 inhibitors for mit and ps as well as work on the claws to improve our vein mines (3 dice technically can finish and we have seen it happen before but mainly this avoids overkill to finish it Q4 plus lets us do other stuff in tib Q4)

Orbital- Try and finish the last mine and the Enterprise as both are plan goals (could see moving Erewhon to enterprise)

Services- Min dice to avoid overkill to get more projects out overall, one direct health boost, one tech that helps people live better lives, and Nod Gacha

Mil- Plan Goals only- and in this case enough dice to have a reasonable chance to finish any of the projects, some will have to finish Q4 but by doing this we see how many dice we need to finish and any that do means free dice for prep for next plan.

Bureau- Security review to avoid nasty surprises before the finish line and admin assistance to get ranching dome out and make it easier to hit our food reserve plan goal in Q4

Edit- moved Erewhon to orbital as that adds a decent amount to completion chance

Plan Goals
Completion
Processing: 280 points 63%
Complete GDSS Enterprise 32%
Complete at least one more phase of Space Mines 83%
Deploy Crystal Beam Industrial Laser 96%
Complete ASAT Phase 4- 45%
Complete OSRCT Phase 4 -42%
Complete at least one more phase of URLS production -75%
Complete All remaining Escort Carrier Shipyards- 81%
Deploy Mastodon- 61%

Progress
Food: 8 points in reserve 87% for +4 (also good chance for rollover into the next phase) (possible +2 from ECRP)

Later:
Complete Karachi Planned City by end of Q4 2065- next plan

We need to pick a good moment for it, and I feel the current turn would be pushing it, but barring any urgent situation changes I would be in favor of doing it next turn.

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We need more cap goods for upcoming projects, we need more cap good surplus each turn to fill the stockpile so that if we get into another big war (possible with Nod and Scrin) that we can recover because if we did not have the cap good stockpile we did coming into the quest things would be a lot different and GDI would be in a worse place. And we need the stockpile filled to Parliments desire before we can start putting cap goods into the civilian market which is one of the bigger impairments, giving them resources is nice but without the cap good support a lot of the private market is stuck- and they can't get cap goods until the stockpile is at the level Parliment desires

 

[Sa'kage]

...Plushy shortage. This is urgent. This is Light Industry or Service. We can do something about this. We must. [nods firmly]

Click to shrink...

There are myriads of room within the main administrative building of the treasure, and as the several head and leaders of the different sub-deparments gather's before the Leader of the Treasury, they all know something is of grave danger.

For they had not only gone past the yellow room of critical meetings, but straight into the RED room of danger. This room had only been used once or twice in the past. And as such, each member with tension wrecking their bodies watched Seo pace around the room, as he pointed with a long stick towards an old ancient whiteboard, his voice ringing clear in the air.

"it's come to my attention....That we have missed a huge critical need" The words, the implications made each member sub-conciously lean forward as the red lights in the RED room of danger glowed omniously. "This is something we need to retrify at once...Before all hope is lost"

And so, the greatest endevour yet of the Treasury would be launched, far surpasing that of the Stablizer network. Dozen of eyes would follow and wonder at what the huge teams of construction workers were doing, at the cash seemingly vanishing into thin air...including Nod.

---

Kane, he who had seen a thousand world leaned back in his chair, as the Rememberence orders's head were crashed into the floor in deep reverance. His smooth voice ringing out. "I sent you...To find out what GDI has been building recently..." For such a huge influx of manpower was easily noticable by the expertly trained spies of the Nod.

And all the same, though he would not admit it, it worried Kane. For the last time it had been the stabillzer network. Had GDI perhaps managed to somehow create a better version of that, it would put quite the spanner in his plans if that came to pass. Thus he had sent the Rememberence to find out what exactly GDI were trying to hide.

And now he had it in front of him...Dozen member's sacrificed in order to find out what exactly was hiding within the huge facilty. With a bowed head, the nameless member presented a suitcase to Kane, as he tenderly grabbed it.

Spending a second to gaze over the gathered member. "Now let's see here.." With a soft click the suitcase opened as Kane reached inside and a squeaky noise emited from the suitcase. Blinking with what would have looked at shock on anyone else, but surely the Messiah would be shocked he pulled out a soft teddy bear, it's fur excelently made.

Kane, Master of Nod, the immortal historian, he who would never know cessation, the grand messiah of mankind could only look upon this huggable plushie as he softly uttered "...Damn, this is actually really soft" It was a complete and utter defeat. In that instance Kane knew despair for none of his works would ever compare to the bliss it felt to hold this soft cuddly teddy bear.


--From the short brief of the history of GDI and NOD pre unifications. 2062

 

[MightbeaMimic]

There are myriads of room within the main administrative building of the treasure, and as the several head and leaders of the different sub-deparments gather's before the Leader of the Treasury, they all know something is of grave danger.

For they had not only gone past the yellow room of critical meetings, but straight into the RED room of danger. This room had only been used once or twice in the past. And as such, each member with tension wrecking their bodies watched Seo pace around the room, as he pointed with a long stick towards an old ancient whiteboard, his voice ringing clear in the air.

"it's come to my attention....That we have missed a huge critical need" The words, the implications made each member sub-conciously lean forward as the red lights in the RED room of danger glowed omniously. "This is something we need to retrify at once...Before all hope is lost"

And so, the greatest endevour yet of the Treasury would be launched, far surpasing that of the Stablizer network. Dozen of eyes would follow and wonder at what the huge teams of construction workers were doing, at the cash seemingly vanishing into thin air...including Nod.

---

Kane, he who had seen a thousand world leaned back in his chair, as the Rememberence orders's head were crashed into the floor in deep reverance. His smooth voice ringing out. "I sent you...To find out what GDI has been building recently..." For such a huge influx of manpower was easily noticable by the expertly trained spies of the Nod.

And all the same, though he would not admit it, it worried Kane. For the last time it had been the stabillzer network. Had GDI perhaps managed to somehow create a better version of that, it would put quite the spanner in his plans if that came to pass. Thus he had sent the Rememberence to find out what exactly GDI were trying to hide.

And now he had it in front of him...Dozen member's sacrificed in order to find out what exactly was hiding within the huge facilty. With a bowed head, the nameless member presented a suitcase to Kane, as he tenderly grabbed it.

Spending a second to gaze over the gathered member. "Now let's see here.." With a soft click the suitcase opened as Kane reached inside and a squeaky noise emited from the suitcase. Blinking with what would have looked at shock on anyone else, but surely the Messiah would be shocked he pulled out a soft teddy bear, it's fur excelently made.

Kane, Master of Nod, the immortal historian, he who would never know cessation, the grand messiah of mankind could only look upon this huggable plushie as he softly uttered "...Damn, this is actually really soft" It was a complete and utter defeat. In that instance Kane knew despair for none of his works would ever compare to the bliss it felt to hold this soft cuddly teddy bear.


--From the short brief of the history of GDI and NOD pre unifications. 2062

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This is really good. Someone threadmark it

 

[BoSPaladin]

Omake: Stories of Citizens part 1

James, Central north American Green Zone, western seaboard. Under administration of BZ-11

Locking his 'apartment' door behind him with the card reader James stepped out into the bunker corridor, pulling his cap down low to cover his eyes in anticipation of the upcoming day cycle, the softly lit lights kept at a dim level during the night cycle and what would be early pre-dawn hours of the morning. But as he made his way towards the Kitchen the lighting above him slowly increased in intensity simulating a rough facsimile to the sun that would be rising far above ground.

Strolling through the corridors James passed by several other early risers however the bulk of the base inhabitants were soldiers, some on duty for the last couple of hours of their overnight shift as they readied breakfast for the next shift just now finishing morning PT. James flexed his hands stepping inside the employee kitchen, swiping his ID card and having the Eva system register him as at work. Washing his hands in the sink he was greeted by several other kitchen workers, all soldiers who nodded at him sharing a few easy words before the warrant officer directed James to his tasks for the morning. James quickly set to work cleaning and peeling vegetables, his job made lighter by the addition of a pair of soldiers on punishment detail and one younger teen sulkily forced to join them. Simple mundane work, that could have probably been done by machines, but some punishments were too motivational or useful to ever be fully automated away in the military.

Unlike the other three, James was here by choice, mechanical arm rapidly beginning to move onto the next phase of prep as he sliced the vegetables. His job as kitchen porter helping to augment his military pension and injury benefit. Part time employed and with a housing benefit as incentive to live in bunker housing in a fort near the front lines he normally worked a four hour shift four days a week. Today with the added help he was released a little over half way into his shift. The warrant officer in charge of the kitchen wanting to leave some unpleasant hard work for the two unruly soldiers under his care.

The younger teen on the other hand having been judged to have learnt his lesson was sent out of the kitchen with James for him to look after and return to his parents abode.

"What was it this time?" James asked Henry wryly.

"Missed homework." Henry grunted back.

"You could have probably done your homework in less time than you just spent preparing food there." James pointed out. "And you're going to be made to make up that same homework anyway." He said in exasperation.

"Yeah, but then I wouldn't be getting free cooking lessons." Henry shot back with a grin.

"The cooking lessons are free anyway. Hell, you can volunteer to help and get paid at the same time." James sighed. Henry's face flushing as he tried to ignore the older mans words.

"Whatever." Henry grunted. "School sucks anyway. I'm either in a class with little kids or it's just me and the teacher alone. Can't wait to enlist and leave this behind me." He muttered.

"If you think joining the military will get you away from military bases and fortress towns I'm not sure how to explain how wrong you are." James pointed out reasonably.

"At least I'd be with some people my own age." Henry grumbled.

He was, James had to admit, probably right there. Their home had a numerical designation but no actual name, though it was sometimes called Midway. Home mostly to active military and a handful of maintanence techs and their dependents they were something of a pitstop in the middle of nowhere. To the north and south were larger more powerful bases built for task forces to patrol against Nod. To their east was the main harvesting outpost, and to their west was the main logistical hub, a fortress town twice or three times the size of their own home, where (so far at least) the railways ended. Thus the nickname, they were literally midway in the middle of anything, a useful patrol point and base for some minor tiberium clearing but more often than not convoys of military vehicles or harvesters went past their home without stopping. A potential fallback position that was no longer near the front lines. The end result of that was that apart from adults most of the children in the small town trended younger, leaving Henry as the only teen, with both of his parents working on base.

"Hey? You listening?" Henry checked.

"Sorry?" James blinked.

"I asked why you were hanging out here. Couldn't you like, go live in a blue zone with your pension and stuff? Why stick around here and not a city if you're not a harvester pilot?"

A twinge of phantom pain danced up and down James cybernetic arm at the very thought. Aliens dropping from the sky, buildings being toppled, a giant tank on legs spraying corrosive acid at him, melting his arm as James fell to the ground. Plasma and lightning arcing from the skies and with colossal booms and sickly green glows erupting as the cities tiberium silo's were breached, spreading the crystal across formerly pristine territory.

"James?! James?" A feminine voice called him. Looking up and around from his position slumped against the wall on the ground James winced as a bright light was shone into his eyes. The voice of Fiona, Henry's mother cutting through the vision.

"Do you know where you are? Your name?" She was asking, her voice seeming far away and echoey to James as he gasped from breath.

"J-James, fortress town, underground. Blue zone. GDI." He gasped out in a panicked burble, looking around for markers and taking deep breaths.

"There we go. You're safe James." Doctor Talia soothed him reassuring. "Another episode?" She queried gently.

"Nothing to worry about." James sighed catching his breath. "Gonna go home and sleep." He admitted but refusing her offer to take him to the med-bay.

Unlike most in the base he was neither serving military, nor was he a family member of one Like Henry. Henry was right, James could live in a blue zone if he wanted, but as they'd been the first under Visitor attack, and the Red zones had swiftly become a hornets nest of aliens, it led to his current predicament. Not wanting to be in a major population centre in case the aliens ever returned and decided to remove humanity permanently. On the flip side, nothing would convince James to live too close to the red zones themselves, hostile wasteland turned into alien strongholds practically overnight. So here he was, in his own little 'goldilocks zone' not too close to major cities, but not too close to tiberium either. A small sleepy town, but one that required a major military presence. A place where James despite his lost arm could find a way to help the military still, and with the bonuses he was racking up from GDI he had the ability to save his money and buy luxuries when he wished.

Helped by Talia and Henry he was taken to his apartment, small, cramped, but deep underground and safe.

Perhaps not the most comfortable place either. But, James could have been much worse off. And booting up his computer and videogames as he began to relax, he was content. Some would want more, but his life was good enough for him, James thought as he relaxed in his home.