GDIOnline Q2 2062
Subforum: Nodwatch.
Leadership Changes in the American South.
Alexander McLeod
According to official sources, Gideon, the leader of the Brotherhood in the American south has been deposed in what appears to be a special operation by some party. While nobody has yet come forward declaring their control, I have a set of suspicions and concerns.
First, the heraldry. While nothing from either Osint, Rumint, or Ofint, have published clear pictures of shifting heraldry, there have been changes. From the current images, it looks like there are no longer two scorpion tails on the allegiance, but only one, and the lack of stars, both of which suggest that this is not a domestic coup, and one that has less affiliation with the Black Hand.
Second, the changing tactics. In recent clashes, the Brotherhood has appeared far more willing to give territory, and the new Georgia holdings have not been attacked in over a month, suggesting that the new leadership is not driving on the same force basis as Gideon was.
Third, the propaganda outlets. Gideon preferred to use the symbols of American protestantism and more broadly the patterns of religious text and speech in his propaganda. The new person has shifted tone quite dramatically, offering promises of food, peace, safety, and prosperity. The art style has shifted as well, although I would rather somebody with more of a background in art history tackle that.
Now, between those three, I am guessing that this is probably affiliated to some degree with Stahl, as the only warlord to consistently win victories in the regency war. I would not expect it to be Stahl trying for direct rule from Rio, too far and with too many GDI ships in between.
FloatingWood
Yey?
I mean, the madman who thought it was a good idea to hit Indianapolis Junction with tib missiles is now gone, which is yey. But if Stahl took over? I'm not so sure that's a good thing.
MajorMiner
IF it is Stahl, that's a good thing for our Red Zone abatement operations, since he seems to recognize that "hey, let's not let the green rock eat the whole planet" is an argument with some merit.
LastLizard
On one hand, anyone who replaces Gideon is going to be more sane. On the other hand, anyone who replaces Gideon is
going to be more competent. So it's probably going to be a mixed blessing in the long term. In the short term, it's probably a good thing because the stupids seemed to be associated with aggression.
GDIWife
They're both Nod, neither of them are sane. I don't know much about the warlords but if one of them is now dead due to the other I'm hardly going to shed a tear.
AccomplishingProvidence
Dear me, while I suppose it's good to hear that this Gideon fellow is no longer in charge, has Intelligence verified he has
no authority or troops any more? It seems worrisome if he tried some sort of suicidal charge just to prove himself to their so-called Messiah.
#GDIWife: It's easy to dismiss people we disagree with, or fight wars with, as "insane", but it's a dangerously casual step to take. I recognize you essentially loathe Nod and dislike non-Blue-Zoners, but try to keep in mind people can have at least generally-rational reasons for choosing that alignment.
At any rate, if Stahl is in charge now, it's highly likely that, direct or indirect, he's going to have orders for people to play things cautious, as #MajorMiner noted.
Solan
I think it would be both easier and harder for the people running operations in the Americas because with how InOps and military intelligence can get tight lipped on any Nod banners and their meanings. It's a given because warlords can have different banners on different occasions and the status of the warlord in question can be implied from this. There are a lot of things those in the field of intelligence would know about but some of the art feel more inspired by critical styles compared to the extremely religious ones Gideon and his ilk preferred. Either way I doubt Stahl can directly rule but the choice of vassals would always be suspect because publically released information about his subordinates consider themselves less as working under him than working to undermine him since he doesn't have the will and position like Krukov and Bintang who lead the more conventional Armies and Navies of Nod.
Living in the Stars: Columbia Resident AMA
Cas Robinson
Hi, Cas here, new resident on GDSS Columbia! Very excited, just moved in a few days ago. So while I can't answer a lot of stuff, come on and ask me just about anything.
JamesandBonesy
Are pets allowed up there? Bonesy wants to know.
Cas Robinson
Not currently. We are still in the process of human proofing the environment, and nobody wants a cat or dog accidentally letting themselves out of an airlock. There are plans for eventually having all kinds of pets in space with us, but that is for the future, not the now.
FloatingWood
… How aren't these things animal-proofed already? I mean, you'd think that airlocks and the like already have physical and electronic locks that make it impossible to accidentally open an airlock on both sides of the lock.
Cas Robinson
Among other things, because the Space Force tends to assume a certain baseline level of competence. We had to talk to them about putting more than a locking wheel on their doors.
FloatingWood
I dunno, that sounds pretty pet safe already.
On a different subject, do you guys have any good restaurants up there?
GDIWife
#FloatingWood As a pet owner you might be surprised at the ingenuity of pets when it comes to getting where you don't want them.
#Cas Robinson, what is the accommodation like compared to various places on earth?
Cas Robinson
#GDIWife
Well, when comparing it to a bunker, it is really pretty similar so far. Rooms are a bit more spacious, but it has not really had the time or the energy invested to make it a home yet. Still a lot of work left to do there.
MistakesWhereMadeForTheUmpteenthTime (Cosmic Plaything)
How are the noise levels? With all the machinery that goes into keeping folk alive up there I can't imagine that it's ever truly quiet.
Cas Robinson
#MistakesWhereMadeForTheUmpteenthTime (Cosmic Plaything)
Well, there is quiet and then there is quiet. A lot of the machinery gets to be background noise. Certainly nothing like you get on Enterprise.
Solan
#Cas Robinson Do you have anyone in Columbia who has experience mining in the Red Zones there? If there are then how is it compared to their previous life by replacing hell on Earth with the unfeeling void? Had a few stints there not something you want unless you're insane like ZOCOM.
Q2 2062 Results
Resources: 1125 + 125 in reserve (-30 from Reconstruction commissions) (-15 from Bureau of Arcologies) (-15 from Consumer Industrial Development) (100 in Reserve for Banking)
Political Support: 75
SCIENCE Meter: 2/4
Free Dice: 7
Erewhon Dice: 1
Dice Capacity 59/60
Tiberium Spread
23.96 (+0.39) Blue Zone
0.04 (+0.00) Cyan Zone
0.27 (-0.39) Green Zone
23.11 (+0.65) Yellow Zone (94 points of mitigation)
52.62 (-0.65) Red Zone (80 points of mitigation)
Current Economic Issues:
Housing: +58 (23 population in low quality housing) (+1 high-quality housing per turn)
Energy: +35 (+4 in reserve)
Logistics: +10 (-2 from military activity)
Food: +17 (+24 backed reserve, +5 unbacked reserve) (-3 per turn from increasing population)
(Perennials: +1 on Q4 2062, +1 on Q1 2063, +1 on Q4 2063)
Health: +13 (-3 from Wartime Demand) (-10 from refugees)
Capital Goods: +20 (+2 per turn from Distributed Industrial Authority) (+188 in reserve)
STUs: +10
Consumer Goods: +117 (-5 from demand spike) (+3 per turn from Private Industry) (+3 per turn from sub-departments) (+2 per turn from perennials. -1 per turn Q2 2063, -1 per turn Q1 2064) (Net +8 per turn)
Labor: +43 (+3 per turn from medical care) (+2 per turn from Immigrant qualifications) (-2 per turn from private industry) (-1 per turn from other government) (Net +2)
Tiberium Processing Capacity (2535/3350)
Taxation Per Turn: +60
Space Mining Per Turn: +100
Maintenance Reductions: +50
Green Zone Water: +5
Status of the Parties
(strong support, weak support, weak opposition, strong opposition)
Free Market Party: 228 seats (0; 55; 33; 140)
Market Socialist Party: 486 seats (200; 155; 81; 50)
Militarist: 754 seats (250; 274; 140; 90)
Initiative First: 335 seats (0; 0; 25; 310)
United Yellow List: 176 seats (110; 40; 20; 6)
Starbound Party: 461 seats (300; 90; 50; 21)
Socialist Party: 426 seats (200; 190; 26; 10)
Homeland Party: 50 seats (25; 25; ; 0)
Biodiversity Party: 34 seats (9; 5; 20; 0)
Reclamation Party: 12 Seats (9; 3; 0; 0)
Developmentalists: 1038 seats (460; 278; 250; 50)
Military Confidence
Ground Forces : High
Air Force : High
Space Force : Decent
Steel Talons: Low (Trending to Decent)
Navy: Low (Trending to High)
ZOCOM: Decent
Plan Goals
Provide 104 Consumer Goods points from the Treasury
Provide 40 Consumer Goods from Agriculture
Increase Income by 785
Increase Tiberium Processing limit by 920
Increase population in space by 19.25k
Provide 28 Points of Red Zone Abatement
Provide 30 Resources in grants
Spend at least one die on Steel Talons projects every turn
Projects
Complete Karachi Planned City by end of 2065
Complete Chicago Planned City by end of 2065
Deploy Medium Tactical Plasma Weapons
Depoy Orca Wingman Drones by end of 2065
Deploy Services AEVA
Complete North Boston Phase 5
Develop and deploy Governor-A refit
Develop and deploy Conestoga class
Complete Electric Vehicle Factory by end of 2065
Complete at least 3 Blue Zone Inhibitors by end of 2065
Compete Dairy Ranching Domes Phase 2 by end of 2065
Complete 1 of Nuuk, Reykjavik, Bergen
Complete all phases of Red Zone Border Offensives before 2064
Complete SADN Phase 4
Complete at least 7 Ground Forces Zone Armor factories
Complete all of the following projects:
Advanced ECCM Development,
Stealth Disruptor Development, Zrbite Sonic Weapons Development, Ultralight Glide Munitions Development, Transorbital Fighter Development or follow on heavy ship development, Combat Laser Development,
Modular Rapid Assembly System Prototypes, Buckler Shield Development, and Unmanned Support Ground Vehicle Development
Complete 2 phases of Reforestation Preparation
Complete Gravitic Shipyard Bay
Promises to Litvinov:
Do not activate Free Dice (except for Tiberium) unless all Department Dice are active.
Spend no more than two free dice per turn on Military.
Activate Munitions Department
Activate Refit Department
Hand off at least 20 points of Capital Goods to market over the course of the plan.
Complete Improved Hewlett Gardener Refits before end of plan
Diplomacy
Negotiations have continued between GDI, Qinglian, Bintang, and the Bannerjees. While currently foundering on mutually incompatible red lines, neither side has walked out of negotiations yet; GDI is demanding verifiability, tonnage restrictions, and a relatively narrow view of civilian goods, while the representatives of the warlords look for guarantees of safety, and transit rights along the GDI controlled straits without needing an Initiative pilot and inspection.
Politics
While currently it is in the lull of the post reallocation period, it has been a time of personal scandal. While the personal lives and values of the politicians are relatively private, the breakdown of a pair of polyamorous relationships in the Developmentalist party has been a serious political drama, or as close as it gets in the Intiative's media environment.
Brotherhood of Nod
In the short, early June night, the moon black, as Gideon's Havana fortress slept, feet crunched over fallen palm fronds, a remnant of an age before as shadows slipped through the darkness. Towering over the city is one of Gideon's temples. Far from being the grandiose affair that Tampa once played host to, this is a much smaller and humbler complex, yet still a symbol of a man who liked the sound of his own voice, and desired a pulpit to preach from.
Havana had been reborn in the last fifty years, from the capital of yet another failed attempt at communism, to a headquarters of the Brotherhood of Nod. Airbases and port facilities ring the urban core, one of the few still beating hearts that allow Gideon to dominate the American south. While Cuba itself is not an industrial powerhouse by any serious metric, it is an entrepot. The last place where Gideon could import goods effectively unharried by GDI, and then carry them in smaller submarines to the Florida ports that he had come to rely on.
The team was small, a mere half dozen, who had snuck across the island from a landing on the southern side. Bypassing Gideon's outer defenses, they had found their way to the central space, and there, below the floor, Gideon's private quarters. Small, but luxurious, they were at the deepest part of the entire facility. The guards outside died quickly by all reports, and then Gideon himself, hauled out into the open, and executed, broadcast live, with a secondary team taking over the broadcast systems Gideon had installed.
Stahl's hold on North America is best thought of as tenuous and kinetic. Operating on a shoestring supply line of many of the same submarines that had been filling Gideon's ports before, they now carry supplies for Stahl's men. For the vassals, there were really only three options. Pledging loyalty to a new overlord, death, or retirement. A wave of leading figures decided that their time was better spent in quiet communion or at some isolated monastery pondering the meaning of the words of Kane, rather than trying to resist the takeover.
Military Priorities
Looking at the next plan, Ground Forces expect to see a general drawdown in direct military investments, with focus shifting to ecological and economic development. With the Brotherhood weakened by war, it is time to focus on developing and iterating new technologies, pushing the material edge, rather than mass deployment of new technologies, especially given the crushing superiority demonstrated a mere year ago.
The Steel Talons are looking to the future, with plasma weaponry and distributed fires being priority actions for them. While the Brotherhood of Nod is currently on the back foot, the Talons are envisioning a radically new way of war, focused on expanding Initiative expeditionary capabilities and leveraging industrial advantages.
For the moment, while finishing the Wingman drone project is a high priority, the Air Force is reconsidering its force structure. While many elements are quite capable, some are getting quite long in the tooth, and will need fundamental upgrades to remain relevant in a battlespace primarily opposed by xenotech fighters.
For the Navy, in preparation for Karachi, ship timelines are simply too long for a serious further expansion. However, the need for escorts will last long after the port is completed, with the near constant threat of Brotherhood air and missile attack from the subcontinent along massive portions of the proposed routes to any other blue zone. Continued work on area defense upgrades, and other programs to improve the availability of shipping will be a significant portion of what is needed not just for the invasion but a significant period afterwards.
The discovery of Visitor remnants in the Jovians has radically reoriented the Space Force's desires. Preparing trans-orbital combat assets and preparing for combat in the depths of space have rocketed up the priority list, to some extent displacing the needs of supporting Earth. However, doing that will require significant investments in orbital manufacturing, lift capacity, and off-Earth resource utilization.
At this time, ZOCOM sees no major operational freedom in the immediate future, between the losses incurred during the red zone offensives, and the need to train Ground Forces units in Zone Armor tactics. Currently, the problems are more meat than metal, meaning that while upgraded zone suits, and improved equipment are fundamentally useful, they are not an immediate solution to the command's problems.
[ ] Communal Blue Zone Arcologies (New)
While not a universal solution, communally structured arcology buildings will provide some degree of cheap to construct high quality housing for GDI populations. While it is not going to be universally popular, some groups are going to actually be happier built into their own small communal organizations, separated by a degree from the more atomized mainstream.
(progress 328/400: 15 resources per die, +6 High Quality Housing, +2 Consumer Goods, +1 Energy Reserve, -1 Energy) [67, 43, 56, 18]
Communal arcologies are in many ways fairly similar to the standard models. What they do to make themselves cheaper is centralize. Take water for example. In a high rise apartment building, pumping water to the highest floors requires massive arrays of expensive pumping equipment, and more expensive maintenance. By taking some of the most water expensive elements of cooking and cleaning, and moving them to not only central locations, but central locations down deep in the arcology, it dramatically reduces the overall need for water, especially on the upper floors, where average consumption is under ten liters per person a day, while concentrating the water intensive work on the lower floors, which are radically simpler to manage water systems for. When repeated across many of the other utilities of modern living, a communal style arcology can make substantial savings, while also giving people a small but noticeable increase in space, especially given that they can also increase the amount of open floor planning and unify the space allotted to each individual apartment.
Construction has gone relatively smoothly, with few major hiccups. While recruiting has started, there have been relatively few sign ups, especially due to the stratification of Initiative housing. Many of the people who live in houses that they would rather move out of simply don't have the mental and social qualifications for living in the kind of communal environment that is being created. Curation of the population appears to be a critical element in maintaining effective communal housing arrangements, rather than forcing populations into close quarters with little in the way of connecting principles, values, or lifestyle.
[ ] Blue Zone Apartment Complexes (Phase 10)
With many of the urban cores now furnished with pods of apartment buildings, expanding them will still be noticeably logistics expensive, but continue to provide additional housing and settlement spaces, leaving GDI in a strong position to fully claim the regions on a more permanent basis.
(Progress 201/160: 10 resources per die) (-3 Logistics, +6 High Quality Housing) [78]
This last round of apartment construction is complete, even with its stress on logistics as the new apartments are both further from existing industrial construction, and need significant construction of new amenities to support them. With the flow of refugees all but cut off, despite some last handful coming across the lines during Stahl's seizure of power in the American South, the goal has been to move major populations out of low quality housing. While the buildings will still be upkept, and there are going to be significant populations still living in the buildings for one reason or another, they are no longer housing a significant fraction of the Initiative population. Cheap or negative rents are a significant incentive for populations that either don't need much space, or simply prefer the location to available housing possibilities elsewhere.
Future programs are primarily going to be focused on the arcology model, especially with the revelations of just how bad the situation with subterranean tiberium has become. With outbreaks becoming ever more of a problem, disruptions in global and even regional logistics networks become a near inevitability, which makes growing urban areas problematic, especially with the potential for permanent disruptions to key nodes.
"I think I may have been put up in the most remote town in the world. I was told the rent at Petermann Fjord was cheap, and I expected something in BZ3 or BZ-15. Instead, I found my ticket punched to the far north of BZ-17, further north than Thule! There's nothing out here, nothing at all, except our little row of a single street of apartments and a road running along the cliff edge. Other than that, the only public amenities are a library and a train station."
[ ] U-Series Alloy Foundries (Phase 1) (New)
Large scale use of the STU alloys will affect not only structural work, but a substantial number of other projects, ranging from blades and cutting devices, to various forms of highly conductive wiring. These alloy foundries will be a substantial investment into the future of the Initiative, and a baseline to add additional metallurgical advancements to.
(Progress 600/600: 40 resources per die) (-4 Energy, -2 STUs) (5% discount on many projects)
(Progress 116/600: 40 resources per die) (-4 Energy, -2 STUs) (5% discount on many projects) [94, 80, 97, 60, 47, 60, 45]
The alloy foundries are massive complexes, using some of the most advanced technologies known to man. While alloy is technically a simple mixing of elements, the U-series alloys require a substantial amount of interference and catalyzing to ensure proper crystal formation, among other features. Properly tempered and treated, U-0451 is a singularly good high tensile steel. Improperly however, and a test billet can be shattered into a thousand pieces by a single strike from a hammer. The same applies to every other line. The microstructures of the materials – often only visible under an electron microscope – fundamentally matter significantly.
It is also far more than just steel. While the vast majority is steel, there are a number of other alloys being produced on a small scale, such as lightweight titanium alloys. While none have the hardness of the steel alloys, they are also noticeably lighter, a significant advantage in areas like aerospace engineering, shipbuilding, and a wide variety of other fields.
The efforts made are a tiny fraction of the Initiative's total need, and are really only a small trickle compared to what is being used every day not just for building new materials, but also upkeep and maintenance. While most versions are incredibly corrosion-resistant, and noticeably tiberium-resistant (especially compared to their STU-free cousins) the overall problem is frankly that there is nowhere near enough production compared to the masses of material required every day for the Initiative to continue functioning. While the impacts overall are small, only about a four percent decrease in the amount of work needed on average, on the scale that the Initiative works at, that represents a significant amount of saved man hours and material.
[ ] Personal Electric Vehicle Plants
While production of commercial scale trucks is sufficient, there are a substantial number of people who need or want a variety of smaller vehicles for a number of reasons. Ranging from small cooperatives who need minivans and microvans, to families wanting personal transport, these small vehicles are, for the most part, currently out of favor but in great demand.
(Progress 175/300: 10 resources per die) (-2 Labor, -4 Energy, -2 Capital Goods, +8 Consumer Goods, +4 Logistics) (+10 Political Support) [30]
Progress on electric vehicles has been noticeably slow. While progress has continued to be made, there have been a number of major stumbling blocks, with the most important being with maintaining a steady supply of electric motors in the correct specifications. While they are a standard part, they are not one in sufficient production currently, and the electric vehicle plants will require an increase in production of over one hundred percent.
Beyond that, there is the problem of driver certification. While there are plenty of people with certifications on various commercial and military vehicles, commonplace civil driver certification was last in existence about fifteen years ago. The simple fact of the matter is that large portions of the civilian population, even those few percent which would use these vehicles as personal transportation, have forgotten in many cases how to drive safely, and are running into problems recertifying due to a lack of vehicles. While this is a self fixing problem to some extent, it is not one that will resolve itself quickly.
Politically, personal vehicles represent a degree of symbolic freedom in much of the world. While few seriously consider owning one, and the costs that go with it, the opportunity is what makes it popular. The idea that one can, without putting in the effort to go through the much streamlined request processes to get a ticket on an Initiative train or potentially even a military flight, get in a car, and take off to parts unknown is in and of itself a freeing fantasy, despite only existing in any practical sense for a few short decades in the mid 20th century. Under most circumstances, putting in travel forms needs to be done 24-48 hours ahead of time, especially for long distance routes. Partially this is a holdover from periods where GDI's transit infrastructure was noticeably more irregular, partially, it is to ensure that schedules can be reshuffled without disrupting traffic too much, and part of it is a control mechanism for the overall state.
[ ] Civilian Ultralight Factories
With reduction in the need for military development, civilian ultralight aviation has quite a bit of potential, both practical and more recreational. For practical uses, it offers options for long range specialist deliveries, as well as short ranged vertical delivery capacity. Recreationally, it is a regaining of personal flight.
(progress 244/190: 15 resources per die) (+8 Consumer Goods) (-1 Energy) [71, 91, 13]
The civilian ultralights do make use of the Brotherhood derived electroactive materials, but not as a structural element, unlike the wingsuits and glide packs that are entirely constructed of the material. This is for three simple reasons. A civilian ultralight is likely to be moving significantly faster, for significantly longer, and at significantly greater wing loading. None are particularly confidence inspiring in the structural capacity of the materials. Rather, they are used as a means of efficiently warping and reshaping the wings, offering significantly greater maneuverability, and, depending on the profile, improved performance at certain speed and altitude regimes.
While the aircraft are universally significantly larger and heavier than most previous regimes of ultralight aircraft, primarily due to the need to carry the life support augmentations for a specialized environmental suit, they are simple in design – mostly biplane designs, with a skeletonized tail, a single motor, and (on most designs) a twin prop pusher, primarily to increase maneuverability at low speeds, and to make them harder to modify into high performance units.
There is significant civilian demand for practical uses of the machines. However, one of the first users is actually going to be the Tiberium department, which has placed an order for several thousand units, primarily to serve in survey roles. While much of the work can be handled by satellites and drones, rough terrain, and other features can actually conceal Tiberium outbreaks, and with speed of response being critical, the department wants to be able to put people up anywhere in the world with minimum warnings, and maintain regular patrols in areas like the gullies of Georgia, or the backwater wilds of scandinavia.
[ ] Artificial Wood Furniture Plants (New)
Wooden furniture was at one point a commonplace feature of homes and kitchens, yet decades of war and the ravages of Tiberium have left only carefully guarded antiques and a handful of examples of once common products. While the artificial wood incorporated in these new pieces is only as strong as cheap particle board, replicas of 20th century furniture made with these materials will still be in high demand as ways to demonstrate one's wealth and power, given the extremely high demand for wood.
(Progress 33/100: 10 resources per die) (+4 Consumer Goods) [10]
Artificial wood furniture has run into a number of significant issues, most noticeably with the design. While most natural wood furniture is relatively skeletonized, a combination of attempting to keep weight down, while also working within the confines of the shapes and sizes that natural wood draws on, this makes artificial wood mimics simply too fragile, with multiple breaking at several points when used as test seats. While some of the elements, like picture frames are coming along without too many difficulties, larger pieces are still something of a work in progress.
Another issue that has arisen is the tooling. Take a band saw as a unit of measure. For metal, there is a need for many smaller teeth, while for wood, the band needs to have larger teeth. And GDI simply does not make all that many bands of the proper type. Beyond that, there are also the glues and resins designed to hold pieces of wood together. While the processes used to make the artificial woods mean that these are less needed, as the pressings can make single pieces where traditional wood-shaping would use several, it is not perfect, and most pieces do need to be set and sanded before completion.
[ ] Home Robotics Development (New)
While robots in the home are far from a new thing, with the Electrolux Trilobite, the first robotic vacuum cleaner, releasing only a year after the fall of Tiberium to earth, and home mechanization being far older than that, development has in many ways stalled out. While some smart home systems have proliferated, many more failed, as they were in most cases curiosities rather than something intended to practically improve home life. Taking a hard look at home robotics, there is significant potential for new and exciting ways to make life easier for large sections of the initiative population.
(Progress 70/60: 10 resources per die) [42]
While not quite taking the early 21st century idea of the smart home to its reasonable, or unreasonable conclusions, advances in robotics technology are in many cases relatively simple transfers from other fields, most notably hospitals and military bases. The biggest problems are actually in adapting them to home use. Effectively every GDI hospital is essentially different arrangements of the same set of buildings, and extensively marked. For rough navigation, it is as simple as loading in the right map, and from there, letting the robot follow the indicators laid on the floor and walls. In a family home however, it is a very different matter. Even in the most cookie cutter apartments, there are noticeable differences in internal layout. One family may have arranged a room to focus on a screen or a window, while another may have put things into a rough ring to allow for better interaction, or built around a table. Making robots that can effectively navigate these often chaotic environments, without the standardization that a more institutional setting can provide is in and of itself a challenge, but one that can be understood and overcome.
Beyond the challenges of mobile robotics, there are stationeries, such as autofridges and autofreezers, where the food is stored in standardized bins, and a series of conveyors can present requested foodstuffs quickly, allowing for much deeper and more importantly more preserving fridges and freezers. With a standard upright freezer, the cold air tends to fall out of the front every time it is opened, leading to significant swings in temperature, leading to much quicker food spoilage than is possible with an autofridge that keeps the vast majority of the cold air inside the unit at all times. Similarly, automation of ovens, cooktops, and similar are certainly possible, although there are still noticeable debates over how much of the automation is actually useful and viable.
When it comes to integrating robotics into the home of the available housing pools, it is actually easiest to integrate them into the immediate post war housing blocks, built to an extremely standardized pattern, with little space given to reconfigurable areas. While people still manage to make them more homey, there are significant amounts of fixed areas, where a robot can manage without a significant array of expensive sensors and processing units. The worst are actually the duplex homes, which, while not huge by pre-tiberium standards, have substantial amounts of reconfigurable space, making mobility around the rooms noticeably more difficult.
Looking into the future, the biggest area where further practical development is needed is actually with human interaction robotics, ranging from nurse units, designed to engage with babies and provide general care in assistance of a mother, to elderly assistance robots, which, in many cases, are likely to be more needed, especially with an Initiative population significantly below replacement rates.
[ ] Wadmalaw Kudzu Plantations (Phase 3)
A final and substantial upgrade to the system of Kudzu production will see a finally sufficient level of caffeination returned to the Initiative. While not as important as many other things, having a hot caffeinated beverage serves as a social lubricant and does noticeably improve overall outcomes on the macro scale. (Plant Genetics)
(Progress 430/450: 10 resources per die) (+8 Consumer Goods) (+1 to all dice) (Will Complete Q4 2062) [40, 9]
Completing the Wadmalaw Kudzu plantations has run into a number of complicating factors. While none of them are particularly significant, they do range from Brotherhood infiltration, to hacking attempts, to a failure of containment in multiple experimental crops, leading to a significant amount of crops needing to be destroyed. The Brotherhood introduced an experimental prion based bioweapon to the crops, turning them into a serious threat to any human that consumes them. While the prion itself is relatively harmless to the plant, it would produce lead like effects, and in the macrodoses that the kudzu produced, would be near instantly and surely lethal if ingested.
"Listen, I need you to go down to the vehicle bay, Harls, I need you to get that flame tank that they captured. I need you to fuel it up, drive it over to bay 12, and I need you to light that sucker up. Yes, I know I called the Bay 12 plants my babies hon, just do it. They really didn't like whatever bioweapon the NOD infiltration team released into the fertilizer system. No wait, the other thing. They like it too much. That's why the NOD team are dead.
...
Harleen, if you don't burn that bay, I'm gonna have to cancel our date."-Doctor P. Isley, containing a prion-bioweapon outbreak.
[ ] Blue Zone Aquaponics Bays (Phase 5)
With refugees swarming GDI's borders, and the population expected to increase by some substantial number of percentage points across the next year, massive new and expanded aquaponics bays are going to be a core element in being able to feed that population. While other facilities can help, these will be the backbone of what can be done.
(Progress 140/140: 10 resources per die) (+6 Food) (-1 Labor, -1 Logistics)
(Progress 18/140: 10 resources per die) (+6 Food) (-1 Labor, -1 Logistics) [15, 69]
The new build aquaponics bays, rather than entirely focusing on producing bulk calories or nutritionally complete meals for humans, are instead far more focused towards dual use crops for the vast array of animals that GDI expects to raise in the near future. Take, for example, the sunflower. While for humans it is a nice snack, and a good source of cooking oils, for animals, especially cattle and chickens, it is a very useful means of providing large amounts of protein in their diets, and serving as a relatively dense food source, especially compared to trying to feed them various human foods as had been done previously. Similar can be said of soy, cottonseed, and other seed-bearing dual use crops, but many of those either do not take well to aquaponic conditions, or are already in such broad use (like soy) that their growth is effectively unremarkable.
While there have been proposals to grow alfalfa, hay, or other such crops in large bulk, there are significant problems with the proposal, most notably the sheer amount of space required. Even though many of them are relatively fast growing, they still require a substantial amount of room in aquaponics bays due to the lack of energy density and the need for drying after harvest.
[ ] Poulticeplant Development (Tech)
A kudzu derivative like the teas currently being produced, poulticeplants are genetically engineered to carry topical medication and clotting agents in order to provide a steady supply of basic medical goods with little to no specialized equipment. While a dedicated chemical works can produce more antiseptics and with better results, they also require specialized staff and treatment plans in a way that these genetically engineered plants do not. (Plant Genetics)
(Progress 69/50: 20 resources per die) [31]
Poultices are some of the oldest known medicines, with many of the earliest ones being little more than a warm, wet mass to apply pressure to a wound, or help relieve aches and pains. However, modern versions are primarily a means of passing medicine into the system, a combination of topical antiseptic, coagulants, and painkillers. The poulticeplant is an attempt to take that core idea, and build it all into a single plant, rather than needing to be compounded in a sterile environment, and then remain sealed until use.
As one of Dr. Bora's first projects with the Initiative, it was a chance for him to demonstrate his skills, and he has substantially succeeded, producing a fast growing, easy to care for plant, that can be turned into useful medicine with nothing more than a blender and some clean water. (distilled is preferable, but nearly anything works, so long as it has even basic filtration applied)
[ ] Tiberium Vein Mines (Stage 2) (Updated)
With the concept proven, vein mines are a fairly expensive but functional way of attacking underground Tiberium, and providing for a long term abatement strategy, while also not stressing military deployments. While they do have their problems, these are of limited import compared to their advantages.
(Progress 195/195: 20 resources per die) (Additional Income Trickle [25-35]) (+1 Yellow Zone Abatement) (-1 Capital Goods)
(Progress 195/195: 20 resources per die) (Additional Income Trickle [25-35]) (+1 Yellow Zone Abatement) (-1 Capital Goods)
(Progress 60/195: 20 resources per die) (Additional Income Trickle [25-35]) (+1 Yellow Zone Abatement) (-1 Capital Goods) [51, 7, 9, 63, 40, 47]
Income 2d3: [2, 2] = +60 RpT
Surging resources into the vein mines has been the Treasury's solution to the need for slack in ZOCOM's forward formations. With many located deep in the blue zones, they simply do not need nearly as much in the way of security, especially with how few entrances there are. While the vast majority of the security can be trusted to Home Guard and Initiative security, due to their strategic nature, some units from InOps or the military are going to be needed as quick response forces for political reasons if nothing else.
Politically, the vein mines are not particularly complicated. While the results are noticeably worrying, the overall response is that it is at least better to know than to suspect. While they do have some problems in terms of tailings, as not even sonics can fully disrupt tiberium all the way through the tons of rock being dug up, and the need to put those tailings somewhere that won't leach into the groundwater too badly, it is more of a concern for observation and ecological study groups, rather than a problem for the treasury to concern itself over. And with the tailings mostly going into pre-designated pooling sites, they can effectively be turned into Tiberium farms – by simply waiting for the crystal to overtake a particular load, and then harvesting it.
In terms of overall conditions underground, it is, in a word, bad. In the last three months, there have been four major collapses, and sixteen minor ones, with significant parts of the mine shafts being cut off from the surface. While the mines are very heavily automated, with each individual having a full suite of life support systems whenever they are down in the mines, there have been over twenty people killed during the initial digs. A significant part of this is Tiberium outbreaks, and Tiberium undermining, where a given crystal vein compromises part of the structural reinforcements in and around the shafts of the vein mines.
[ ] Improved Hewlett Gardener Process Development (Tech)
While larger changes are likely to be needed in the near future, minor changes are already being suggested by the scientists rescued from the Brotherhood of Nod. These will be far from a revolutionary change, only nibbling around the edges, but is likely to make a small but noticeable difference in the pace of xenotech deployment.
(Progress 173/160: 20 resources per die) [84, 3]
When it comes to improving the Hewlett-Gardener process and making it produce more stable transuranic materials, much of the problem is not in the actual transformation of the Tiberium, but in the separation of stable materials from their unstable cousins efficiently, especially for the lower end of the spectrum. With Elerium for example, it is relatively simple to get, as the normal form – Moscovium – in its most stable isotope has a half life of merely 0.65 seconds, degrading fast enough that simply isolating it and then reprocessing can allow for a significant amount of material to be procured. On the other hand, Uranium is significantly more problematic, as its primary outputs have both uses of their own, and a decay rate measured in years.
Beyond that there are the problems on the Tiberium end. The Brotherhood has been experimenting with arrays of repulsorplates to manipulate the Tiberium as it is refining, creating vortices and high density masses that seem to produce marginally more STUs. While for the Brotherhood, this is a safety mechanism as opposed to standard APK process approaches, that can be both notoriously volatile and have a number of pressurized containers to produce the large quantities of STUs that the Brotherhood has come to rely on. Adapting the methods are going to be substantially less efficient currently with the limits of GDI's gravitic manipulation technologies, but as progress is made there, much greater efficiencies can be achieved.
[ ] GDSS Columbia (Phase 1) (Updated)
The development of a first stage of orbital habitats offers a testbed for further evacuations of the most devastated areas. While expensive, stations like this one could be the future of human habitation. These prototypes will not be fit for long term human habitation, but any issues that emerge here are ones that can be solved before trying to live in space. (Station)
(Progress 65/65: 20 resources per die) (5 Political Support)
(Progress 135/135: 20 resources per die) (.25k Permanent residents) (7 Political Support)
(Progress 275/275: 20 resources per die) (.5k Permanent residents) (+1 available Bay) (8 Political Support)
(Progress 138/555: 20 resources per die) (1k Permanent residents) (+2 available Bays) (9 Political Support) [47, 37, 24, 92, 59, 20, 68]
Work on the Columbia has been incredibly rapid. Around the clock, the Enterprise's forges have burned, while a constant drumbeat of launches from GDI spaceports. From ground to the heavens, contrails have been a near constant presence, and the vapors of the launches have meant that some settlements see near constant artificial rain as condensation falls from the sky. But the work actually began in many cases nearly a decade ago. Columbia had, for as long as it was conceptualized, been the great shining beacon of hope for humanity.
A key element of preparation has been Project Trailblazer. A secret program – as much as anything with thousands of civilians involved can be called secret, intended to prepare a first wave of candidates for space habitation, it has finally at long last been activated. Many have already passed out of the program, waiting for funding to be available to build the stations.
For most among Project Trailblazer, the last decade had been mostly a series of fun games. Learning the ins and outs of spaceborne living in a safe environment, and learning a wide array of science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills.
In terms of impact however, it has not had the hoped for effects. While part of this may be a matter of time. It is simply not apparently as exciting as many have hoped for. While Starbound affiliated families have been seeing fertility specialists more often, that is the sum of the actual impact so far.
"When you walk the halls of Columbia, it is austere, sterile. A thing of bare walls and brightly lit hallways. The marks of construction work are everywhere. Rushed welds, hammer marks, rivets, and sharp edges. It may be a house, but it has not yet become a home. Our trailblazers, those first brave people to take the steps into space, must not only overcome the difficulties of a new and hostile environment, but take that and make it their own."
[ ] GDSS Shala (Phase 1) (Updated)
While agriculture on the ground is still capable of sustaining life on Earth, Shala, named after the Sumerian goddess of grain and compassion, is aimed at taking this to the skies. While at this point plans are for an entirely experimental station, capable of doing little more than feeding its inhabitants, work done here will be invaluable as the orbits, and eventually other worlds, are colonized. (Station)
(Progress 65/65: 20 resources per die) (5 Political Support)
(Progress 50/135: 20 resources per die) (.1k permanent residents) (+1 Food) (5 Political Support) [17, 60]
Shala has been a fundamentally lower priority project, but one that has made substantial progress. Currently it is a snowflake in space, a nearly flat plane, with hallways to be skeletonized out across a rough circle nearly a kilometer across. While only the very core has begun to be prepared for human habitation, the first bays standing ready for pressurization, and the biocycler hookups standing ready for algae pods to be slotted in for producing oxygen, it is a substantial feat, with the vast majority of the remaining work being simply hauling water up the gravity well in massive quantities. Even at maximal efficiency, it requires a large starting stockpile of water to begin grow operations. Beyond that there are all the other materials needed in much smaller quantities: carbon, nitrogen, phosphates and all of the other elements that allow plants to grow. While these can be found relatively simply, either through processing biomatter, or from Tiberium conversion, it is a serious question for the long term desire to colonize space.
[ ] Orbital Cleanup (Stage 11)
With much of the largest and slowest of the debris collected, all that remains is the increasingly small and fast dust and sand remaining in the orbitals. While still significantly problematic, it is unfortunately much less profitable to mine, as there is not enough material left to save launches.
(Progress 85/85: 10 resources per die) (10-15 resources) (Unlocks Orbital Power Stations)
(Progress 109/85: 10 resources per die) (10-15 resources) (+5 Political Support) (20 progress discount on earth orbit satellites) [21, 75]
Income 2d2: [2, 1] = +25 R
The last stages of cleaning up the orbitals is as much about ensuring sustainable cleanup as it is anything else. While far less dramatic than the vast swarms of debris from the Philadelphia, or the remnants of decades of satellite launches, GDI's attempts to colonize space are fundamentally dirty. Every fusion ship leaves a trail of water molecules that agglomerate and form into ice. Every bolt lost and every chip of paint represents an orbital hazard. While space is mostly empty, as GDI prepares for the long term there has to be a sustainable way to manage the problem. Magnetic and more recently developed gravitic nets are certainly a part of the solution, as are the gravitic drive systems that leave much less in the way of trails of ejecta. But as a whole, space debris is a problem that is going to continue to have to be solved in the long run.
However, at the same time, the near-Earth orbitals are cleaner than they have been since before the Apollo program. Old satellites have been either scrapped or sent to museums. Fragments of the old Philadelphia and Ion Cannons sent to a thousand memorials, or churned into a brighter future. The detritus of the old world converted into the homes of a new one.
[ ] Gene Clinics
While operations are going to be relatively cheap, and the fundamentals are simple, opening a tranche of dedicated gene clinics within the medical system will speed gene therapy rollout, and act as preparation for both the cosmetic and practical gene editing that will come in the future.
(Progress 138/120: 10 resources per die) (-1 Labor) [13]
A safe, reliable, effective genetic therapy is a bit more complicated than any vaccine. Making it safe, reliable, and universal is a step beyond that. For much of the history of genetic editing, the options were simple. Keep to areas where the immune system is effectively inactive like the eyes, use massive doses of immunosuppressants, or kill patients. That has changed.
Most of the work this quarter has been basic. Finding the resources to make genetic treatments available to the masses. While most are still noticeably short staffed, they are opening up more services by the day. While there are still noticeable safety concerns over the long term consequences of human genetic engineering, the limited pace of deployment and limited goals has allayed some fears of attempts to create genetically engineered superpeople, among other fears. On the other side of the discussion however, groups lobbying the research and development of treatments for life threatening or severely debilitating genetic diseases have accused the opposition of slowing down the roll-out towards the finishing line, as in some cases weeks or months can be the difference between life or death for those afflicted by muscles atrophy or Huntington's disease.
Looking into the future, the projects are going to be a combination of cosmetic and practical. While cat ears, functional and otherwise may not do much to aid in humanity's survival, the idea has some noticeable appeal for many. Similarly, on the more practical side, there are proposals to work on various forms of regenerative and reconstructive technologies, leading towards a greater ability to heal people without leaving scar tissue.
[ ] Kamisuwa Optical Laboratories
While the Model 2061 ocular implants are functional, they are clunky, obviously cybernetic, and highly invasive. However, building a longer term set of specialized laboratories in Nagoya Prefecture will be the first step towards building optical implants that are less invasive and more functional.
(Progress 79/250: 20 resources per die) (-2 Labor, -2 Energy) [4, 13]
An optical laboratory begins with a simple bed of concrete. Like most things, it is a foundation, sharing its nature with a thousand other buildings. But this one is special. It will grow to house some of the most precise machines on earth. In an eye, the cornea is a mere five to seven cells thick, approximately fifty micrometers, or about three of the finest hairs on record. Those cells are one part of a machine to create vision. One that can fit inside a human skull, provide information that can be interpolated by a mass of fat and neurons the size of a grapefruit, and provide around a hundred degrees of peripheral vision, and refocus anywhere from a few centimeters in front of it, to the horizon tens of kilometers off. To call the task daunting would be a dramatic understatement.
The mere laying of concrete will not do. Seismic events are common in Japan, and much of this quarter's effort went into surveying fault lines, searching for alternate sites, and ultimately, designing a new foundation. This is no mere 'bed' of concrete, but instead a three-layer cake of seismic dampers that ensure that the laboratories will be in effect permanently suspended.
[ ] Ocular Implant Deployment
While there are not currently long waiting lists for the new Model 2061 ocular implants, they are still going to be useful as a stopgap between no implants and better ones. With the Initiative working against neuroplasticity, and the need to keep exercising the parts of the brain that deal with vision, small scale production will help the currently blinded keep those parts of the brain functional, rather than having it reallocated to other senses.
(Progress 201/200: 25 resources per die) (+1 Labor, -1 Health) [34, Natural 100]
The Initiative always expected backlash from its work on cybernetic eyesight. The scars of CABAL, of the Marked, of Brotherhood cybernetic agents run deep. Beyond that, the helmets themselves are far from perfect. Invasive, scarring, deeply problematic, with a tendency to cause seizures if not properly calibrated, the current generation of implants are very much an absolutely minimum viable product. The thing is that while the first wave of recipients were few and far between, the social backlash has simply not appeared. While there is still likely some level of conscious or unconscious bias, things like complaints to the labor bureaus have, to this point not had a single complaint over a firing due to cybernetics, and no actionable complaint of hiring discrimination.
Looking longer term, there are noticeable problems with the system as implemented. To begin with there are the bolts that will hold the helmet in place, permanently affixed to the skull. Beyond that, the helmets are potentially very problematic for the neck muscles. There are also the long term implications of chronic use of neurohelmets. While Firehawk pilots have been using them for years, the average Firehawk pilot only gets a few hundred hours of active flight time out of the eight thousand, seven hundred and sixty in the year, with the rest of the time allowing their brain to rest. Many, if not nearly all of the recipients are likely to be spending thousands of hours in the helmets, potentially not even taking it off to sleep regularly.
[ ] Railgun Munitions Factories (Phase 1)
Railgun munitions to begin with will be issued in small numbers. A handful of shells per tank, and likely below five percent of the load of most other munitions. Even this limited supply will increase the tactical flexibility of the weapons by a great deal.
(Progress 200/200: 10 resources per die) (-1 Labor, -1 Energy) (Very High Priority) (Projected 1 quarter to begin, 6 quarters to complete)
(Progress 89/200: 10 resources per die) (-1 Labor, -1 Energy) (Projected 1 quarter to begin, 6 quarters to complete) [8, 79]
Some of the first serious deliveries of railgun rounds have begun to be made. So far most of the rounds have been expended in training exercises, with, for example the high explosive rounds offering a very different ballistic trajectory, being both lighter than the fluted dart, and offering significantly more air resistance. Beyond that, it has given tank crews much more of a reason to use the power dials on their vehicles, rather than simply firing at maximum power under nearly all circumstances (to the point where one of the common field modifications was putting a box around the controls so that they could not be accidentally tweaked.) However, some portion of the rounds are already being held back, with about one in twenty being stockpiled in bases around the Indian ocean.
[ ] Stealth Disruptor Development (Tech)
The research to create improved sensor systems for detecting stealth also produced a method of actively disrupting it via feedback. However, current systems are quite bulky and require significant deployment to work beyond extremely short ranges. With development however, an improved model is likely possible, and potentially a key tool for blocking fixed positions, rather than relying on battle nets.
(46/40: 15 resources per die) [11]
The Stealth Disruptor is designed to create destructive interference with the Brotherhood of Nod's stealth fields. While the description is simple, the execution is anything but. Effectively, it is a multispectral active sensor array, using a combination of radio, infrared, and other forms of active projector to disable and disrupt Brotherhood stealth systems.
While all Brotherhood systems are based on essentially the same lineage, when trying to disrupt them, they actually need a decent range of harmonics options, especially if the goal is to damage the stealth field generators that are being used. And here, the precise nature of the generators is problematic. Take, for example, Mehretu and Stahl. Mehretu's version is designed to deal with significantly higher ambient temperatures, while Stahl's is far more cold-resistant, and has been seen operating in subzero temperature ranges that would make even most stealth tanks show up like brilliant pinpricks on GDI sensors. The differences mean that a different combination of attack vectors are required to disrupt the stealth field that surrounds the target vehicles.
The base of the design is simple enough, as with most other things, cutting open a Guardian APC and using the crew compartment as open space for installing equipment is a practical starting point. The biggest external difference is on the top of the vehicle, a combination of mobile, fixed, stealth sensor, and a folding down pannable dish for the disruptor. While able to detect Brotherhood stealth units on the move, the vehicle will have to be stationary while using its disruptor. While there were proposals for a fixed version, the problem is that the unit only has a maximally effective range of under a kilometer, with the infrared portions of the system beginning to lose effectiveness due to the atmosphere.
[ ] Ground Forces Zone Armor (Set 1) (Phase 3) (Very High Priority)
The Initiative's Ground Forces are ready to begin refitting to an entirely zone armored force. The refit will create a leaner, harder, and drastically more lethal force, one that can engage the best that NOD has to offer, and come out on top. While this first wave of factories will only be enough to equip the tip of the spear, that is the area with the most vital set of requirements. A reorganization has permitted the Treasury to more effectively pursue this project, which allows for resources that were earmarked for a factory that completed ahead of schedule to be easily shifted to a factory lagging behind.
New Sevastopol (Progress 180/180: 20 resources per die)(-2 Labor, -2 Energy, -1 Capital Goods) (Projected: 2 quarters to begin, 10 quarters to complete)
Tokyo (Progress 155/180: 20 resources per die) (-2 Labor, -2 Energy, -1 Capital Goods) (Projected: 2 quarters to begin, 10 quarters to complete) [53, 75]
The overall program is still going poorly, even as GDI forces drive deep into the Red Zones, losses have remained far beyond replacement rates, with ZOCOM training cadres stretched to their limits drilling new troops while the existing forces bleed white on the front lines. In many cases, training has been curtailed to reorient those assets towards training more ZOCOM recruits, and getting them into the Red Zones as quickly as possible.
Similarly, the disputes on organization have continued, with the rank and file caught between two doctrines. While the debate over maintenance and upkeep continues, a new front has opened, with the return of tank desant as a proposal. Essentially, rather than needing large formations of APCs, Initiative Ground Forces have proposed new armored infantry formations riding tanks into battle, before dismounting and providing high speed support as the heavy spearhead slams into the enemy.
[ ] GD-3 Rifle Development (Platform)
The GD-2 has served well for almost thirty years. However, in the modern day it is no longer serving GDI's overall needs as well as it once did. Between the need to counter the ever more common biomechanical creatures, the hoped for switch to Zone Armor, and the potential of laser and particle beam weapons a new system is required to serve in a set of very different roles than the GD-2.
(Progress 110/30: 10 resources per die) [75]
In the decades leading towards the foundation of the Global Defense Initiative the American military was once again looking for a new rifle. Amid the goals was an attempt to find a technological solution to the problems of poor marksmanship under combat conditions. This would lead to a wide array of weapons, ranging from hyperburst weapons like the G11, to extremely high velocity weapons like the Steyr ACR, which fired bursts at such a high velocity so as to nearly eliminate the need for offsetts at practical combat ranges. But the one that is the most important here is actually the Objective Individual Combat Weapon. A combination of a grenade launcher and an assault rifle, it used a sizable computerized sight to attempt to create airbursts from that grenade launcher over enemy positions, while retaining a standard rifle as a personal defense weapon integrated into the system.
This work all died off as GDI standardized around conventional arms and ultimately the Cobretti Raptor, seeing a need for deep magazines and sustained automatic fire, and the need for a weapon simple enough to produce and equip forces of wildly varying levels of professionalism after the First Tiberium War.
In the modern day however, the design has risen once more from the grave, although from a very different direction. Rather than wanting to give soldiers a grenade launcher for its ability to reduce the need for accuracy, it is the ability of the grenade launcher to load armor piercing rounds that is the key element. A weapon that can fight the heavy Afancs, Zone Armor, and other heavy systems, without breaking the user. A 20mm autocannon or heavy rifle can punch through without significant issues, but runs into problems of being thirty to fifty kilograms as a starting point, rather than something that can be fired from the shoulder.
But there is also room for something that weighs considerably more, as the GD-M3 has shown. Building machine guns to match new rifle ammunition is an old tradition, almost as old as machine guns and smokeless powder. The issuing of the GD-3 certification at a time when many infantry are expecting to move into power armor creates a need for a power-armor sized weapon. The -M3 is exactly that weapon, being encased and ruggedized for use by power armor, but retaining the same core mechanisms as it's smaller cousin. Where it is superior is sustained fire, ammo capacity, and rapid selection of alternate ammo.
[ ] Modular Rapid Assembly System Prototypes (Tech) (High Priority)
With the Initiative going on a large-scale offensive, more of its supporting assets need to be moved to smaller units, to give them greater freedom of movement and increased striking power. Shrinking down the system used by various Initiative buildings even more than they already are should allow the ability to cram significant portions of the utility of a full base into a mobile platform.
(Progress 171/125: 20 resources per die) [80]
While none of the three systems have passed their tests with what could be termed flying colors, all have seen significant revision in the past three months and are at least minimally functional.
The Chicago team has focused primarily on mobile organic repair capacity. While still slow and limited, their pass through system has been successfully demonstrated under field conditions, with units south of Chicago being used as test cases as they rotated off the front lines, passed their armored complements through the test crawlers, and then had them checked again by qualified technicians and engineers for faults. While still noticeably slow-working – under half the pace of a fully featured maintenance depot – it is still a maintenance depot that can effectively keep up with advancing forces, at least for the first few hundred kilometers. However, the problems of range and flexibility are still quite distinct, and cannot really be resolved without significant further development away from the MARV baseline. Building a MARV Mark II is one potential outcome of this program, but as things stand, it is an interesting, if not entirely useful, course of events.
The Oslo program has been slower, focusing as much on the platform to be moved as it has the chassis doing the moving. With a more modest set of capabilities than the Chicago team, Oslo has been constantly asked a simple question: Why not use an MCV? In the end, 'go-anywhere' has become the watchword, and as one might expect for the Steel Talons, this has been done with a series of legged mecha that push up right to the very limits and in some cases overload what the design paradigm can bear. Thus, every addition to the cargo to be carried must be carefully weight-balanced and assessed for its utility.
The Seoul program has run into significant issues, primarily with the engines. The Orca command vehicles of the Second Tiberium War ran their engines hot and hard, and even the ones that did get preserved have massive problems, between engine components cracking, and the simple fact that nobody in the Initiative makes those specific parts anymore. The team has stripped every boneyard and storehouse in the circum-Pacific for Orca command vehicle engine components, and has still often been coming up short, leaving the system running well behind schedule. One experimental flight however, has garnered ample interest from the Air and Space force for continued testing, though the Steel Talons are trying to keep the project in house for the moment.
[ ] Security Reviews (Agriculture)
GDI has often faced problems with infiltration by the Brotherhood of Nod. A full security review of one department of operations can mitigate or discover infiltration, however it will take a significant amount of effort. (DC 50 + 1 operations die) (197) [55, 86]
When it comes to agriculture, one of the biggest infiltrators is not so much the Brotherhood, (although there are noticeable traces that Initiative investigators believe to be Brotherhood agents and patsies who have since been pulled out) but rather the various private businesses. Nearly every grain of wheat, corn or rice comes out of the Initiative's field after field of aquaponic farms. Beyond that, while some crops are beginning to come out of private hands, most of these are more in line with cash crops than food. For example, cotton has begun to be grown by a relatively small handful of companies. On the other hand, it will be years before most varieties of berries come from anywhere besides the Global Defense Initiative itself.
One of the more interesting, if not precisely threatening groups trying to gain privileged access to the Agriculture department's information is actually recipe writers, test kitchens, and chefs. All of whom want access to both information on which projects the Initiative is actively funding towards public use, but also keeping tabs on projects that are not yet ready, like the fast growing and nutritious quillar, and more importantly to many, various projects aiming towards lab grown meat. While Entari for example is now a generally well known product, the chefs and recipe writers who got their hands on it first had a usually small, but very significant edge on their competitors, unleashing a swarm of recipes for mock chicken, mock duck, and even mock steak using the product.
[ ] Security Reviews (Military)
GDI has often faced problems with infiltration by the Brotherhood of Nod. A full security review of one department of operations can mitigate or discover infiltration, however it will take a significant amount of effort. (DC 50 + 1 operations die) (52) [24]
The military, on the other hand, has been a chronic target of Brotherhood infiltration. While currently little appears to be actively stolen, (although there are a couple of notable exceptions, such as over a square kilometer of electroactive fabric,) much of the infiltration is actually focused on the Initiative's research projects. In some cases, it is simply keeping an eye on what is being produced, especially from the Steel Talons, or stealing samples, such as the Initiative's various energy shield programs.
While getting access to the programs themselves is difficult, they have to interface significantly with the rest of the Initiative logistical system, and, for example, there are very few processes that take large amounts of gallium nitride outside of sensors and communications work. There are similar compounds across the system that make actually hiding projects difficult, and much of it passes through central clearinghouses, where a simple private can, without too much effort correlate routing numbers and delivery codes. While InOps has maintained a near constant presence at such sites, even their argusian eyes cannot see everything, and in some ways, the practices of a spy make them better at such jobs.
While a number of agents have been caught, InOps believes there are still more in place, with their heads firmly down. While another sweep is unlikely to catch many if any, giving some time may well be enough to get some of the agents to poke their heads out again.
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