But I don't want a repeat of the hell that we had over the ranching domes and whether to do them in 2061Q2 or Q3 or Q4 and me being accused of being some kind of monster for delaying nice things for people, so whatever. Further pushes on this point will cause me to fold because I'm tired.
No one is accusing you of being a monster. And I don't think anyone wants to win an argument by pushing you to exhaustion, either.
If you find discussion to be tiring, or stressful, or something similar, the best advice I can give is to take a step back. Stop engaging in the thing that's making you tired and do something else. This thread should just be for fun, so if it's causing you to get tired instead than something's preventing you from enjoying it like you should be.
For me personally, I no longer make plan votes for this quest. I realized that putting in all the effort to advocate for my plan vote to win, and getting super concerned over the specific projects I thought were important, was really stressful for me. I started dreading the next turnpost because of how much stress I would put myself under trying to push another plan vote. I enjoy this quest a lot more now just as a participant in discussions than I used to as a plan maker.
But I don't want a repeat of the hell that we had over the ranching domes and whether to do them in 2061Q2 or Q3 or Q4 and me being accused of being some kind of monster for delaying nice things for people, so whatever. Further pushes on this point will cause me to fold because I'm tired.
I don't want you to feel like you are getting attacked. I like your comments and posts and plans. Its nice to have a sort of base idea to talk around since plan quest plans are complicated.
Like last turn I was super focused on Occult, it was a make it or break it sort of choice, but fruitculture and such is not that here. Honestly I am more dedicated to repuslorplates than fruiticulture. But I do want that too.
I'm talking about back in July or so, at this point. Basically, I'm trying to avoid a repeat of the debate over the ranching domes, precisely because that was exhausting.
And of course the whole debate over the good stuff in general has been a mess for me more completely.
Making plans doesn't tire me out and I don't normally get anxious over them- I managed to lose the 2062Q4 turn vote with no anxiety or stress over it whatsoever! But there are specific issues where I try to work out where the third rail is and avoid touching it if at all possible. And my sense of "danger, this subject may be electrified" happens to be tingling on this issue.
I don't want you to feel like you are getting attacked. I like your comments and posts and plans. Its nice to have a sort of base idea to talk around since plan quest plans are complicated.
Like last turn I was super focused on Occult, it was a make it or break it sort of choice, but fruitculture and such is not that here. Honestly I am more dedicated to repuslorplates than fruiticulture. But I do want that too.
It's not that any one person is attacking me. It's that I want to avoid a situation where by persistently insisting on what I believe to be the correct course of action, or an acceptable compromise for the sake of a greater goal, I come under attack.
And since that's happened before more than once in debates involving the good stuff, I'm trying to avoid conflict here by not fighting projects that tend to have very fierce defenders.
It's the same reason I even bothered putting five alloy dice in any plan drafts this time around, only squared and cubed with bells on.
Yeah, guys, please stop asking about the Fruticulture Bay. It's been started. It'll get done soon enough. We don't need to try and shoehorn it in - finishing the Grav and Fusion yards is more important, as is continuing progress on the station cores proper. We can get something of a freebie, bay-wise, because Erewhon can knock out the last tiny bit of progress on the Medium Housing Bay (and Ithillid has hinted at some really neat narrative stuff if we do and it does finish the project).
The Fruticulture bay can be knocked out next turn. I do happen to think it's important (because I'm an appleholic) which is why I started it... but it's half finished. We can slow walk it.
I mean when you agree with 90something of a plan the only thing you an do is nitpick on the one thing you find missing. Otherwise its "cool plan, I like" and there you go.
It has the fusion stuff and the repulsorplate stuff and the rest of the orbit and also actual farms from those that we researched and all the other developments. Its a good plan.
You're not wrong, but again, the problem is that there's a ton of speculative aspects to "how long will it take to design our new land battleships, anyway?" The question at hand is whether we should postpone all further MARV hub construction indefinitely until the new design is available, but I for one say the perfect is the enemy of the good.
As I've said, if we need to build a SMARV hub before we can design and build a next generation MARV, which will probably start at SMARV level at least, then we do that. I've simply stated my preference and thoughts. I don't think perfect will be the enemy of good in this case, but that's just me.
Still think we should do the MRASP factory sometime next year. Don't want to let that sit around too long and have the Talons stick ALL the bells and whistles and kitchen sinks on their new toy again. (I love the Mastodon, but my word is that thing overbuilt.)
-10 PS / +5 / (Net -5)
+5 Housing
+16 Food / 6 Used / +2 Food in Reserve (Net +10)
+28 Consumer Goods
+16 / 7 Used / Capital Goods (Net +9)
+5 / 2 Used / Logi (Net +3)
+27 / 4 Used / Energy (Net +23)
+450 Processing Capacity
-8 Labor
-2 STU
Updated: Added NG AFV and CLD in place of Stealth Disruptors
Updated 2: Removed NG AFV for more SADN, Removed RZER, Added in Alloys, removed Second Gen Repulsors, Agri was shuffled to start building stockpiles again to head off anymore complaints, and start getting more stockpiles for future shenanigans.
Updated 3: Mil, Tib and Orb getting Sec Sweeps
I haven't been following the discussion, but I got curious and found out that we are currently in the CnC 4 times, and nothing happened. I wonder if and when the fourth tiberium war will start.
I haven't been following the discussion, but I got curious and found out that we are currently in the CnC 4 times, and nothing happened. I wonder if and when the fourth tiberium war will start.
Outbreak of the Fourth Tiberium War in canon was a result of the Tiberium Control Network and a schism in Nod led by Gideon, so if we do have one it'll probably look nothing like CnC4.
Outbreak of the Fourth Tiberium War in canon was a result of the Tiberium Control Network and a schism in Nod led by Gideon, so if we do have one it'll probably look nothing like CnC4.
Also Also, we kinda-sorta did have a Tib War 4 in the form of the Regency War. It wasn't full scale, thank your deity of choice, but it certainly wasn't business as usual for the interbellums.
Unless Karachi kicks anything off, which it shouldn't if the Diplo Corps performs well, we'll hopefully not see Tib War 4 for a bit. We should get some positive or negative sign of Karachi's provocativeness in the coming results post. While time isn't particularly on our side because of Tiberium, it is even more against NOD, and the peace continues to benefit us. The Regency War itself was a reaction by the NOD warlords to how the GDI's economic engine was recovering faster and building up both its population and its industrial might. That is why they made that concerted effort when normally it take Kane wrangling them like a sack full of cats to even try to get them moving in the same direction.
On one hand, I'd love to do more Tib Science to get the timers for their followups started. On the other, for the following turn at least, it really does feel like Vein Mines, Refining Refits, and Inhibitors are all higher priority than them.
I'm definitely looking forward to us learning what the result of the meeting and our research into metanormal stuff was. Its going to be an interesting turn.
I am working on things, but had a super busy last week basically. At about 4.5k words, and still have a lot left to do. Looking at my schedule going forward, I don't think I am going to have an option to post really much before Christmas, because there is a fair amount of stuff left to do.
[X] Plan Digging the Ms Instrumentally v1.0: -[X] Earthside Facilities (Unlimited Dice, +5 bonus)
--[X] Isolinear Computing Center Phase 1 134/200 25 CpD, 1 Die = 25 C 40% DC 61 -[X] Earth-Orbit Facilities
--[X] Enterprise Orbital Assembler (Phase 4 of 4) 0/80 +80 IP -[X] Lunar Facilities (4 Dice available, +25 to lunar dice):
--[X] Craterscope Final Assembly and Testing (New) 0/900 2 IPpD, 4 Dice 8 IP 4/13 Median ADC N/A -[X] Martian Facilities (13 Pathfinder days)
--[X] Martian SCED Research Base (Phase 2) (Northern polar region) (10/20 Facilities, 5 IP per Facility) (Max 10 parts per Pathfinder trip) (-3 Astrotech Team) 50 IP 13 Pathfinder days -[X] Venus Facilities (12 Pathfinder days):
--[X] Venus Research Station (5/20 Station Parts; 10 IP per Part) (Max four parts per Pathfinder trip) 2 Parts Free -[X] Assembly
--[X] Tick Digger Vehicle Rollout 21/80 IP +59 IP -[X] Development (7 Dice, +35 bonus)
--[X] Experimental Lunar Fission Reactor 166/200 (20C/Die +10IP) (Updated) 1 Die 20 C 100% DC 1
--[X] He-3 Fusion Prototype 0/400 (35C/Die + 15IP) (New) 2 Die = 70 C 30 IP 2/5 Median ADC N/A
--[X] Lunar Metallurgy 0/400 (4IP/Die) (New) 4 Dice 16 IP 17% ADC 65 -[X] Space Command Mission Planning (4 Dice, +10 bonus)
--[X] Mission: Orbital Scan (Tittania) (Requires one Die) 1 Die
--[X] Mission: Manned Landing (Titan) (Requires one Die) 1 Die
--[X] Mission: Manned Landing (Charon) (Requires one Die) 1 Die
--[X] Mission: Manned Landing (Pluto) (Requires one Die) 1 Die -[X] Missions
--[X] Mars (13 Pathfinder days)
---[X] Edit: Rover Delivery-Mars (Required for activation: 4IP per Location) (22/50 locations surveyed) 4 IP
---[X] Mars Pathfinder Survey (Required for activation: 20 Pathfinder days) (Max 2 surveys per pathfinder trip) (22/50 locations surveyed) X4 80 Pathfinder days
SCEDQuest Q3 2062 Results
Isolinear Computing Center Phase 1 199/200 (Auto-completed, Phase 2 Updated)
After thousands of credits, months of negotiations, and no small amount of bureaucrats personally wined and dined by Commander Cim Turry, SCED has almost gained the many isolinear (and related) components needed for its new computer center. Fortunately, SCED's in-house isolinear chip printer will be able to hand-assemble the remainder, though it will take a significant amount of manufacturing time to do so.
Enterprise Orbital Assembler Phase 4 +80 80/80 IP
Similar to the one on Gagarin Station, SCED has a second zero-g laboratory bolted onto the Enterprise, this time specialized in material testing. A relatively small area in the Station Bay has been allocated to SCED, and it is crammed full of manufacturing tools and scientific equipment. The zero-g lab next door, meanwhile, tightly clings to the side of the far larger Station Bay. When not needed for science team projects, the manufacturing center will be operated by SCED engineering teams to maximize the usage of SCED's limited equipment. Unfortunately, due to the noise of the endless work in the larger Station Bay, SCED personnel are currently bunked on the other side of the station.
(+10 IP, research projects require less progress)
Craterscope Final Assembly and Testing 404/900
The final steps in the craterscope's construction are arduous and complicated. Thousands of expensive components need to be assembled in the most inhospitable of locations, in unwieldy space suits and under much pressure from Space Command and the SCED leadership. One of the more unique challenges has been updating the SCED site on the GDInet for the public to access the declassified images from the Craterscope, a webtechnical effort that caused the entire site to crash multiple times during development.
Martian SCED Research Base (Phase 2) 20/20 Facilities (Northern polar region) (-3 Astrotech Teams)
The byword for the martian outpost's second phase is more. More prefabs, more solar collectors, more wind turbines, more storage space. Astronauts are hardened frontiersmen and -women of the void with extensive and broad fields of expertise and can endure working and living for months at a time out of basic prefab structures, but their number is limited. If SCED wants to expand the base further, they will need to do so with astrotechs. In this regard the base expansion is unique, as the circumstances are very different to the previous Lunar outpost. Curiosity Base, named for a planned rover mission that never happened, cannot expect resupply and crew exchanges with the same regularity. The added facilities are thus first and foremost meant to provide additional amenities to the occupants. This goes from proper socialization, relaxation, and workout spaces, to facilities to provide medical services with a dedicated astrotech doctor on site. With all of this completed, and the new staff on site, what follows now is the development and research into a proper base with standing structures to enable an environment suited for the proper investigation of martian space science.
Event! Project Removed: [-] Martian Particle Mining Base (Phase 2)
After 6 months of operation, the astrotechs stationed at Schmitt Base have all but revolted. The base is a bare-bones set of prefab structures with little else but the basics and a fleet of mobile sand-sifting minings rigs. The three astrotech teams, operating in three shifts constantly day and night, have no real amenities and little space to their own. Their work conditions are harsh even compared to the lunar mining crews, and combined with the months-long work rotations they have been stretched past the limit. Although SCED astronaut teams will be willing to tolerate these conditions, for it to be staffed by astrotechs would require expanding Schmitt Base to incorporate the same facilities Curiosity Base has recently inaugurated. (+3 Astrotech Teams)
Venus Research Station 7/20 Station Parts
While there was little left in terms of resources to fabricate parts for the Venusian station, SCED engineers were able to refurbish a rejected module from the construction of Shala into a greenhouse and recreation space which can provide both food augmentation and water recycling, as well as give the crew a place to relax, though the high humidity and temperature will likely cause some issues. Now attached to the rest of the station, it awaits more scientific and habitation spaces.
Tick Digger Vehicle Rollout 80/80 IP
SCED now has a large garage where the Tick Digger Vehicles are stored, ready for deployment. The Lunar-specialized diggers have already been shipped up to Conrad Base. The rest will be deployed by SCED over time as new off-Earth bases or other projects will require.
(+5 to all off-Earth construction rolls) (Nerfed the bonus a bit)
Experimental Lunar Fission Reactor 232/200
SCED's Lunar base is powered by RTGs, Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators. They are an extremely reliable and compact (lowering required cargo space) power source, able to operate for decades with no maintenance whatsoever, as the famous Voyagers 1 and 2 demonstrate. Launched in 1977, they maintained power and kept radio contact well into the late 2020s, even after leaving the Sun's heliosphere. Their flaw, however, is that they do not output much power. Rather than build an extensive (and very cargo expensive) solar panel array, as the Treasury did for the lunar mines, SCED will build the first lunar fission reactor, designed to operate in the Moon's 0.166 gs of gravity. While fission is a mature technology, with GDI having arguably over a century of experience, the unique environment of the Moon introduces new variables to be tested and experimented with. Though there have been concerns raised about how the designers made the reactor somewhat overbuilt, with excessive safety features and redundancy, SCED's leadership sees this as an important intermediary technology between current power systems and future fusion reactors.
He-3 Fusion Prototype 168/400 168/380
The beginning of SCED's fusion reactor design this quarter has fortuitously coincided with a far larger Treasury effort to refine fusion technology. While the Treasury has settled on a conventional design that can be implemented at scale with only minimal use of STU materials, SCED has been able to pick up many of the ideas and prototypes discarded on account of cost: Elerium catalysts in the plasma stream, Infernium ignition lasers, Ultrachrome alloy heat exchangers, Sparkle shield containment fields, and a wide variety of other devices and techniques that will make for a far more compact and energetic design. While production model He-3 reactors will likely do away with the many STU elements, due to SCED's easy access to STU materials and GDI's massive (and growing) demand for superconductors, these methods will actually reduce the expense for the Exploratory Division's test reactor.
Past the technological looting, work has begun on the magnetic containment bottles meant to catch and convert the wild protons a Helium-3 reaction produces. Experimental testing of the bottle field structure and how to effectively shape it to safely bleed the high speed protons of their energy will be the main goal of the prototype reactor.
Lunar Metallurgy 384/400 384/380
(Auto-completes Q4.)
A plethora of sample alloys produced at the Ore Electrolysis Test Facility has been shipped to SCED's labs aboard Gagarin Station, Enterprise, and downwell to Earth. Full materials testing and analysis is already mostly finished, but further number crunching from various supercomputer clusters is still ongoing. Additionally, a full Lunar Metallurgical Complex has been designed as an expansion on the current test facility, though it will require far more power than is currently available.
Treasury Communal Housing Evaluation 199/200 (Auto-completed) (Quality: 67 SCED staff, 79 general population)
SCED's normal quarters are cramped, with little room for personal effects or privacy. They are also an astronaut's and astrotech's sole refuge from their fellow humans in the often tiny enclosures of space stations, space vessels, and research bases. So the idea of anything that might infringe upon this sacred space is practically taboo, causing the project to be nearly rejected outright by SCED senior staff.
After several mock-ups were constructed, however, it quickly turned out that the many of the Treasury's more compact Communal Housing designs were essentially SCED's, but better. The result of the Treasury's years of extensive testing is a massive technical document full of numerous optimization tweaks, from slightly larger doorways in certain hallways, to a certain defined number of shower stalls per unit, even down to the exact number and variety of toothbrushes in stock. After some further examination, buried in the research notes were citations from SCED's own design department.
SCED staff have grudgingly given the stamp of approval to the improved designs, and expect to incorporate it in further constructions. Meanwhile, the general public's response, including sizable numbers of Project Trailblazer members still waiting for the further construction of GDSS Columbia, was decently positive. Though the personal quarters are much smaller than those currently being built on Columbia, the communally shared facilities provide much larger areas and more amenities than many had feared, including actual showers. (Though the showers will be in considerably high use.)
A final design integrating the housing improvements with green architecture is now much anticipated, both by SCED and many residents aboard the rapidly-expanding Columbia. However, this still requires the completion of the Pollen Free Decorative Plant Development project.
Mission: Orbital Scan (Titania) (Requires one Die) 1 Die
Mission: Manned Landing (Titan) (Requires one Die) 1 Die
Mission: Manned Landing (Charon) (Requires one Die) 1 Die
Mission: Manned Landing (Pluto) (Requires one Die) 1 Die
An itinerary has been established for scanning Titania at Uranus, while the planning bureau has also gone through the data for Titan at Saturn to determine the best options and equipment for landing, as its thick and cold atmosphere are likely to cause some issues. Planning for the manned landings on Pluto and Charon would be almost mundane in comparison, were it not for the sheer distance from Earth causing a few issues of its own.
With the planning for Titania's future scan finished, Mission Planning has a file on all major bodies in the solar system for orbital operations. While not a requirement, finishing these scans was one of the initial reasons for the Space Command Exploratory Division program getting the greenlight for official establishment, and will be a major milestone.
Rover Delivery-Mars + Mars Pathfinder Survey x4 27/50
Work has resumed on the survey of the red planet. While most usable resource deposits found were only in trace amounts, vistas of the vast, rusted desert remain moderately popular. Of particular note, astronaut Xavier Morales used his personal mass allocation on the Pathfinder to bring painting supplies, and has made the first landscape painting created on Mars with martian iron oxide paint. Though there have been several generous offers for its acquisition, it currently hangs in pride of place in the Pathfinder's galley.
SCEDQuest Q4 2062
This Side Quest was allowed by Ithillid and is supposed to be fun. Things happening in SCEDQuest will be affected by the main one, but unless Ithillid says otherwise it is only semi-canon.
Budget: 186 C (+100 Capital per turn)
Industrial Capacity: 240 IP
Pathfinder Time: 90 Days
Astronaut Teams: 5 (+1 per year, +1 per Plan)
Astrotech Teams: 9 (+1 per turn, +5 per year)
Zero IP Station Parts: 2 per turn
Earthside Facilities (Unlimited Dice, +5 to Earth dice)
[] Isolinear Computing Center (Phase 2) (Updated)
A fully dedicated isolinear computing center will allow the SCED to not only run more simulations, but will host a dedicated AEVA cluster to aid research teams. (Though this will be decidedly more limited than the full AEVA rollouts seen on the space stations.) While almost all needed supplies are ready for installation, the last few isolinear chips must be produced in-house. As SCED's temperamental isolinear printer currently has nine failed chips for every good one, it will take extra effort to finish final assembly than previously expected.
(0/60 IP) (+5 to Development dice)
Earth-Orbit Facilities
--Locked while GDSS Columbia and GDSS Shala are under construction--
Lunar Facilities (4 Dice, +30 to lunar dice):
[] Craterscope Final Assembly and Testing
The Craterscope is ready for many months of testing, tweaking, tuning, turning, and even more testing after that. With thousands of ultra-high precision components, dozens of incredibly intricate instruments, and hundreds of kilometers in power and data cabling, it is a massive project even before taking into account that it must all be done by a mere handful of astrotechs in the vacuum of space.
(404/900, 2 IP per die) (-2 Astrotech Teams)
[] Lunar Imaging Seismic Array (Phase 2 of 10)
LISA can be deployed from orbit, the pods landing and burying their sensors by themselves. The SCED will expand the array region by region, scanning each for available volcanic caves.
(0/10 Sensor Pods, 4 IP per Sensor Pod)
[] Lunar Fission Reactor Assembly (New)
While in principle, the Lunar Fission Reactor's design is substantially similar to small base-load reactors used by GDI bases around the world or the larger civil gigawatt reactors, there are modifications made to use local materials, and then meet the unique challenges of lunar surface operations. Most obvious of these are the radiator fields that take the place of the reactor's normal cooling towers, slowly turning throughout the lunar day to minimize solar heating. The coolant used must also be stable in this secondary loop through the full range of lunar temperature swings, or must be actively heated or cooled when the radiators shut down for maintenance. Superconducting power cables can be used to keep the reactor at a safe distance from the facilities they will power, but will require a measure of cooling themselves during the hot lunar day.
(0/300, 5 IP and 20C per die) (-2 Astrotech Teams)
Martian Facilities (13 Pathfinder days)
[] Particle Base Restaffing (New)
A simple solution to the particle base's bare-bones construction is to staff it with hardened, expert Astronaut teams. However, given the base's lack of significant science and exploration equipment, this will not make them happy if the current setup is not updated soon.
(-3 Astronaut teams) (Particle mining continues, will finish in two turns) (Base's next phase modified)
[] Martian Particle Mining Base Expansion (New)
In a mirror of Curiosity Base, an expansion will fill in many more prefabricated base parts, and create an environment relatively suited for long-term work by normal humans.
(0/20 Facilities, 5 IP per Facility) (Max 10 parts per Pathfinder trip) (-4 Astrotech Teams) (Particle mining continues, will finish in two turns) (Base's next phase modified)
Mercury Facilities (13 Pathfinder days)
[] Mercury Comsat/GPS Network
Before permanent facilities can be manned on Mercury, a network of communication and positional satellites has to be completed to facilitate communication with Earth and allow for accurate positioning on the planet for the scientists. This includes relay satellites to enable communications when the sun blocks line of sight to earth, thus the need for larger transmitters and receivers.
(0/10 CSATs) (5 IP per CSAT)
[] Mercury SCED Research Base (Northern polar region)
The initial base will follow a similar pattern to the lunar one. A number of prefabricated habitat units, connected to life support and power. The plan is for an underground base in a crater near the poles as it is easier to deal with constant cold temperatures than the large swings in temperature that are present away from the poles.
(0/15 Facilities, 5 IP per Facility) (Max 10 parts per Pathfinder trip) (-1 Astronaut Team)
Venus Facilities (12 Pathfinder days):
[] Venus Comsat/GPS Network
Before permanent facilities can be manned on Venus, a network of communication and positional satellites has to be completed to facilitate communication with Earth and allow for accurate positioning on the planet for the scientists. As with Mercury, relays to communicate when occluded are a required part of this network.
(0/10 CSATs) (5 IP per CSAT)
[] Venus Research Station
A station in orbit of Venus has been requested to safely study tiberium samples collected there as they can easily be returned to the surface if needed. The station will float in the upper atmosphere with oxygen-nitrogen as a lifting gas. A second goal of the station would be a study of Venus's unique weather phenomena
(7/20 Station Parts; 10 IP per Part) (-2 Astrotech Teams) (Max four parts per Pathfinder trip)
Assembly
[] Pathfinder Modernization Refit 0/150 IP (Updated)
In the years since the Pathfinder was first built there have been several research breakthroughs that can be applied to the ship, not least of which is the new G-Drive design. Replacing the engine on the Pathfinder will take months and a large part of our workshops supporting the effort. But doing so will not only speed the Pathfinder's travel, but will allow time to replace and upgrade several important components around the ship, such as better superconductors, a new sparkle shield array, shimmer-shield airlocks, and more. Allowing these new components to be evaluated for their performance.
(60 Pathfinder days to install) (IP can be partially or fully paid before doing the installation)
Note: Includes +3 days for (current) maintenance requirements.
Mercury 12 -> 11 days
Venus 12 -> 11 days
Mars 13 -> 12 days
Ceres/Asteroid Belt 16 -> 16 days
Jupiter 23 -> 21 days
Saturn 29 -> 27 days
Uranus 39 > 37 days
Neptune 48 -> 45 days
Pluto 54 -> 51 days
[] Pathfinder Science Refit 0/50 IP (Updated)
The Pathfinder is currently designed to do everything the SCED needs from science missions to construction of space stations. With the Treasury's promise to give SCED a Conestoga this plan we can reduce the Pathfinder's cargo space to increase the size of the onboard labs, sensors, and crew quarters.
(40 Pathfinder days to install) (Pathfinder can only carry five station/facility parts per trip. Surface Scans take 2 days instead of 4 days, Pathfinder Surveys take 10 days instead of 20 days, and can do unlimited Pathfinder Surveys per trip.)
Development (7 Dice, +35 bonus)
[] Expedience Shuttle Prototype 0/190 (40C + 20IP/Die) (Updated)
With work on new variations of the Leopard underway the research department has asked permission to build a testbed variant for new technology. The plan is to start with one of the new VIP Leopards and refit it with a hover landing system and artificial gravity. Other planned additions include large sensor arrays, an isolinear EVA, and extensive monitoring systems to study the craft while it is flying.
[] He-3 Fusion Prototype 168/380 (35C/Die + 15IP/Die)
GDI's current fusion reactors use Deuterium-Deuterium or Tritium-Deuterium fusion. (Hydrogen isotopes with one and two extra neutrons respectively). These cycles have several limitations as these release a radical neutron that needs to be stopped by radiation mass shielding in the form of metal, concrete or energy shielding. Helium-3 Fusion, in addition to its availability in space mining, has the potential to allow for smaller fusion reactors as the cycle releases a free proton instead. A proton has a positive charge and can thus be manipulated and tapped for energy via magnetic fields, reducing the need for hard shielding. While SCED does not have the funds to produce an energy net-positive reactor, it can still operate and build a prototype test reactor to lay the groundwork.
[] Europa Deep Ocean Sample Extraction Drone 0/190 (4IP/Die)
It has long been theorized that Europa contains oceans of liquid water under its icy surface, heated by geothermal forces. If this should prove to be the case, there may be life in some form huddled around the energy providing deep sea volcanoes on Europa. A specialized, disinfected robot would have to be designed to take samples without contaminating any potential ecosystem already in place.
[] Gravitational Wave Observatory Assessment 0/145 (4IP/Die)
The theory of gravitational waves has long existed in scientific literature and has gained some increased attention with the discovery of the Gdrive. New advancements in Laser-, sensor- and computing technology have brought new options to the table to facilitate the construction of such Gravitational Wave Observatories on or off Earth.
[] Void-compatible Ultra High Albedo Coatings 104/145 (No cost per die)
White surfaces had been used to protect space equipment from the sun's heat ever since the early days of space exploration, but since then space coating technology has barely evolved. By going through the chemical literature and papers on high albedo pigments and coatings since then, maybe an improvement can be made.
[] Pollen Free Decorative Plant Development 0/95 (No cost per die)
Plant pollen causes two issues in spaceborn environments: Allergies and increased maintenance for the air-exchangers' particle scrubbers. Since the environment they are in is entirely artificial and controlled they have no need for reproductive functions. Removing the ability to produce pollen for a number of flowers, bushes and trees meant for decorative greenery should be a relatively easy affair.
[-] Lunar Metallurgy 384/380 (Auto-completes this turn)
With the experimental refineries in place, practical work on producing Luna alloys can begin. Lunar soil consists of primarily light metals like silicon, calcium, aluminum, magnesium, titanium with a good percentage of heavy metals like iron. The purpose of the project will be to produce a variety of alloys and metal components entirely made from local materials to figure out the limitations of lunar industry using primarily lunar materials.
[] Advanced Martian Research Base Development 0/570 (2IP/Die) (New)
As a technological exercise and as a proof of concept, much of the proper martian research outpost will be built from local resources. Doing so will require researching the technologies to make that possible; from producing construction materials from on-site resources to drawing water from the thin atmosphere of the red planet.
[] Astromech Development 0/380 (20C/Die + 15IP/Die) (New)
With a name blatantly stolen from the Star Wars movies, the general concept of the astromech droid is to place an advanced isolinear-based EVA in a mobile and multifunctional robotic droid. A "mech" is intended to be able to assist astronauts and -techs in a variety of tasks out in the depths of space.
[] Reusable Lunar Imaging Seismic Array 0/95 (2IP/Die) (New)
The LISA design, intended to search for underground volcanic caves suitable for future exploration and habitation, has proven too expensive for SCED to deploy in full. To remedy this, the current hover rover design will be modified to include a reusable drill and modified LISA deployment system.
Space Command Mission Planning (4 Dice, +10 bonus)
[] Mission: Manned Landing (Write-in) (Requires one Die)
[] Mission: Survey Mission (Write-in) (Requires one Die)
-Mercury
-Titan
[] Mission: Research Base (Write-in) 0/150
---
Missions
Total Pathfinder Time: 90 days
Current Maintenance time: 3 days
Note: Does not include the maintenance time. Sorry if it's a bit confusing.
Mercury: 9 days
Venus: 9 days
Mars: 10 days
Asteroid Belt: 13 days
Jupiter: 20 days
Saturn: 26 days
Uranus: 36 days
Neptune: 45 days
Pluto: 51 days
Mercury (12 Pathfinder days)
---
Venus (12 Pathfinder days)
---
Mars (13 Pathfinder days)
[] Rover Delivery-Mars
(Required for activation: 4IP per Location) (27/50 locations surveyed)
[] Mars Pathfinder Survey
(Required for activation: 20 Pathfinder days) (Max 2 surveys per pathfinder trip) (27/50 locations surveyed)
Asteroid Belt (16 Pathfinder days)
[] Rover Delivery-Ceres
(Required for activation: 4IP per Location) (2/15 locations surveyed)
Other
[] Eris Surface Scan
There is little practical benefit of scanning a dwarf planet this far away but it would be the most distant object visited by the Pathfinder.
(Required for activation: 85 Pathfinder days, 6IP or 4 Pathfinder days)
[] Voyager Visitation
The Voyager probes were the first and only of Mankind's creations that reached the Interstellar void between the stars. Their position has been extrapolated and, using Pathfinder, the SCED could catch up to their theoretical position to place a higher power beacon next to them and secure the probes inside a protective, armored shell.
(Required for activation: 90 Pathfinder days)
-[] Mission: Surface Exploration (Write-in) 1 die auto
-[] Mission: Manned Landing (Write-in) 1 die auto
-[] Mission: Research Base (Write-in) 0/150 2 dice 26%, 3 dice 73%, 4 dice 94%
My thanks to the many people of the Discordium who gave me suggestions, wrote entries, and generally helped a bunch. This update wouldn't have happened without you.
Vote by Plan. Comments and critiques are welcome and appreciated.
In Lunar Facilities, we may want to split dice between Craterscope work and Lunar Fission Reactor Assembly, because I'm pretty sure being able to do serious metal refining on the moon is gated behind that and/or the He-3 reactor project... and there's probably an assembly project in Lunar Facilities for He-3 reactors anyway.
Taking the time to expand the particle mining base on Mars seems important. I certainly didn't want to trigger our first off-planet labor strike but we seem to have done so.
Investing some IP in preparation for Pathfinder Modernization Refit seems wise, not least so we're in a good position to quickly update to a 'Block Two' Conestoga-class design (the first Conestoga's design may already be locked in).
For development, two dice on He-3 Fusion Prototype seems quasi-mandatory. One die apiece on Void-Compatible Ultra High Albedo Coatings and Pollen Free Decorative Plant Development sounds good. One die on Reusable LISA sounds very good, because reducing costs on that project to take advantage of new technology makes it a lot easier for us to fit it in. That leaves two dice...
I'm thinking in terms of the Expedience-class shuttle or astromechs, probably astromechs because "difficulty doing giant construction projects in space" is a huge part of our collective difficulties.
Budget: 186 C (+100 Capital per turn) (90 spent)
Industrial Capacity: 240 IP (233 spent)
Pathfinder Time: 90 Days (45 days spent)
Astronaut Teams: 5 (+1 per year, +1 per Plan)
Astrotech Teams: 9 (+1 per turn, +5 per year)
Zero IP Station Parts: 2 per turn
Lunar Facilities (4 Dice, +30 to lunar dice):
[X] Craterscope Final Assembly and Testing 2 dice
(404/900, 2 IP per die) (-2 Astrotech Teams)
[X] Lunar Imaging Seismic Array (Phase 2 of 10) (80 IP = 20 pods)
(0/10 Sensor Pods, 4 IP per Sensor Pod)
[X] Lunar Fission Reactor Assembly (New) 1 die
(0/300, 5 IP and 20C per die) (-2 Astrotech Teams)
Martian Facilities (13 Pathfinder days)
[X] Martian Particle Mining Base Expansion (New) 100 IP, 2 (13+3 day) trips
(0/20 Facilities, 5 IP per Facility) (Max 10 parts per Pathfinder trip) (-4 Astrotech Teams) (Particle mining continues, will finish in two turns) (Base's next phase modified)
Venus Facilities (12 Pathfinder days):
[X] Venus Research Station (Free station parts) (1 purchased part) (12+3) days)
(7/20 Station Parts; 10 IP per Part) (-2 Astrotech Teams) (Max four parts per Pathfinder trip)
Development (7 Dice, +35 bonus)
[X] He-3 Fusion Prototype 168/380 (35C/Die + 15IP/Die) 2 dice
[X] Void-compatible Ultra High Albedo Coatings 104/145 (No cost per die) 1 die
[X] Pollen Free Decorative Plant Development 0/95 (No cost per die) 2 dice
[X] Advanced Martian Research Base Development 0/570 (2IP/Die) (New) 2 dice
Space Command Mission Planning (4 Dice, +10 bonus)
I've got no plans here.
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