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Attempting to Fulfill the Plan: GDI Edition

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Simon_Jester said:
I mean, the post-time-skip version of GDI!Quest II would absolutely have different mechanics, because it would be focused on the aftermath of the TCN construction, development of many things, and interstellar travel being GDI's new frontier.
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Yes can imagine the Treasury being very involved in space colonization and industry like the asteroid belts have a lot of that potential in themselves and the military would also like us to help turn it into a defensive line practically as well.
 
A sequel is a good spot to do a mechanic scope and detail reset. Having to manage 60 dice is a bit of a hassle. I'll look forward to a more mechanically managable start.
 
If GDI has managed to subsume Nod and Tiberium is no longer a factor, basically all the game mechanics would have to be tossed out.

I don't think GDI would let Tiberium off Earth though. Not just trauma, all tiberium processing facilities are on Earth. Then there's Venusian Tiberium; depending on what technology GDI has access to by then offworld Tiberium would likely be a no-go on multiple dimensions.
 
Manowl said:
Yes can imagine the Treasury being very involved in space colonization and industry like the asteroid belts have a lot of that potential in themselves and the military would also like us to help turn it into a defensive line practically as well.
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Are you talking about a... 3 dimensional defensive line?
Edit: Like, a 3-d shell/sphere, rather than a 2-d line.
 
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Manowl said:
I don't know what you are saying, I just have the feeling that the Navy will certainly what some space station refueling/fortress in the asteroid belts.
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Oh, a staging point for patrols and such. Ok. That makes sense.

I had a mental image of a Maginot-line type thingy. BUT IN SPACEEEEE! Which would of course be ridiculous.
 
BeepSmile said:
Oh, a staging point for patrols and such. Ok. That makes sense.

I had a mental image of a Maginot-line type thingy. BUT IN SPACEEEEE! Which would of course be ridiculous.
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Yes more staging point and patrol but also to force the enemy to either attack it and get damaged and waste time or ignore it and leave a hardpoint for our ships to regroup and repair and resupply.
 
Some thoughts (and numbers) about the Orbital department for our next couple of turns:

Suffice it to say the most efficient way to hit our population target is with Aldrin 3 and two phases of Homesteads - Aldrin 4 takes more Orbital dice than we have left (22) just to get over a 50-percent chance of completion. The most pessimistic estimate for Aldrin 3 and Homesteads 4-5 is still less than ten dice.

We currently have 18 dice left in Orbital, without accounting for free or AI dice. The main projects left, and associated costs to get them above 50-percent completion chance, are:
(Mandatory)
Aldrin 3: 2 dice 99%
Homesteads 4-5: 5 dice 82%

(Optional)
Columbia SCOP: 3 dice 84%
Shala ExCrops: 3 dice (2 with addition of AA) 98%/74%
Shala Animals: 3 dice (2 with addition of AA) 98%/72%
Shala Void Crops: 2 dice 70%
Fluyts: 7 dice 58%

If we try and do all of these, it would take a median of 25 dice, or 23 if we can secure a minimum of two Administrative Assistance dice. That would require 7 free or AI dice (or 5 in the latter case), which we have 20 of for the remainder of the plan.
 
Strunkriidiisk said:
Some thoughts (and numbers) about the Orbital department for our next couple of turns:

Suffice it to say the most efficient way to hit our population target is with Aldrin 3 and two phases of Homesteads - Aldrin 4 takes more Orbital dice than we have left (22) just to get over a 50-percent chance of completion. The most pessimistic estimate for Aldrin 3 and Homesteads 4-5 is still less than ten dice.

We currently have 18 dice left in Orbital, without accounting for free or AI dice. The main projects left, and associated costs to get them above 50-percent completion chance, are:
(Mandatory)
Aldrin 3: 2 dice 99%
Homesteads 4-5: 5 dice 82%

(Optional)
Columbia SCOP: 3 dice 84%
Shala ExCrops: 3 dice (2 with addition of AA) 98%/74%
Shala Animals: 3 dice (2 with addition of AA) 98%/72%
Shala Void Crops: 2 dice 70%
Fluyts: 7 dice 58%

If we try and do all of these, it would take a median of 25 dice, or 23 if we can secure a minimum of two Administrative Assistance dice. That would require 7 free or AI dice (or 5 in the latter case), which we have 20 of for the remainder of the plan.
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The moon city critical likely made a lot more population room by the builders going ham or that some moon caverns were found I'm guessing.
 
[] Plan: Final Initiative

Infrastructure (5 dice, 1FD +27 bonus) 105
-[] Blue Zone Arcologies (Stage 5) (Progress 150/450: 15 resources per die) (+8 High Quality Housing, +4 Consumer Goods, +1 Energy Reserve, -2 Energy) 3D
-[] Japan-Korea Tunnel (Progress 0/350: 20 resources per die) (+3 Logistics) 3D

Heavy Industry (5 dice, +34 bonus) 100
-[] U-Series Alloy Foundries (Phase 6) (Progress 411/455: 40 resources per die) (-4 Energy, -1 STUs) (-10 progress requirement on tib mining projects) 1D
-[] Nuuk Heavy Robotics Foundry (Phase 4) (Progress 279/935: 20 resources per die) (+32 Capital Goods, -2 Labor, -8 Energy) (+1 to Infrastructure dice) 5D

Light and Chemical Industry (4 dice +29 bonus) 65
-[] White Goods Programs (Progress 182/200: 15 resources per die) (-1 Capital Goods, +4 Consumer Goods, +1 Energy, +1 Labor) AAD
-[] Laser Printing Plants (Progress 58/150: 20 resources per die) (-4 Energy, +2 Capital Goods) 2D
-[] Adaptive Cloth Factories (Progress 103/300: 15 resources per die) (+5 Consumer Goods) 2D

Agriculture (6 dice +29 bonus) 95
-[] Bioplastics Development (New) (progress 52/80: 20 resources per die) (Plant Genetics) 1D
-[] Terrain Retention Projects (New) (Progress 75/160: 15 resources per die) 2D
-[] Orchard Domes (New) (Progress 0/240: 15 resources per die) (+6 Consumer Goods) 3D

Tiberium (7 dice, 1FD +39 bonus) 190
-[] Enhanced Harvest Tiberium Spikes (Phase 4+5) (Updated) (Progress 123/360: 20 resources per die) (-10 Political Support) (+20 resources per turn) (+2 Underground Red Zone Abatement, +2 Underground Yellow Zone Abatement) 3D
-[] Tiberium Glacier Mining (Stage 14) (Updated) (Progress 194/660: 30 resources per die) (-5 Logistics, +1 Energy) (additional income trickle [45-65 Resources]) (1 point of Red Zone Mitigation, +1 point underground Red Zone Abatement) (5 Stages available) 4D
-[] Hewlett-Gardener Mothballing (Phase 3) (Progress 15/50: 10 resources per die) (+2 Energy, +1 Logistics, +1 Labor)(Mothballs 300 processing capacity) 1D

Orbital (9 dice, 1FD +34 bonus) 220
-[] Animal Husbandry Bay (Progress 0/215: 20 resources per die) (+6 Consumer Goods) 2D
-[] High Efficiency Void Crops Bay (Progress 0/180: 20 resources per die) 2D
-[] Lunar Mining Projects (Progress 0/155: 20 resources per die) (+15 resources per turn) 2D
-[] Lunar Homesteading (Phase 4) (Progress 42/220: 30 resources per die) (1000 residents) 2D
-[] Experimental Crops Bay (Stage 2)(Progress 2/215: 20 resources per die) (MS) (Unlocks new development projects) 2D

Services (4 dice +35 bonus) 150
-[] Fifth Generation Electronic Video Assistant Deployment (Phase 1) (New) (Progress 105/250: 40 resources per die) (+1 to all departments) 3D
-[] Wet AI Development (Tech) (MS) (Progress 206/240: 30 resources per die) 1D

Military (6 dice, 2FD, AAD +31 bonus) 200
-[] Unmanned Support Ground Vehicle Deployment (Progress 134/240: 20 resources per die) (-1 Capital Goods, -1 Energy) 1D
-[] Thunderbolt II Missile Development (Platform) (Munitions) (Progress 0/60: 15 resources per die) 1D
-[] Ground Forces Zone Armor (Set 2) (Phase 4) (High Priority) (Updated) (Progress 117/285: 20 resources per die) (-4 Energy, -2 Capital Goods, -2 Labor) 2D
-[] Governor-B Development (Platform) (New) (Progress 0/80: 20 resources per die) 1D
-[] Stealth Disruptor Deployment (Progress 0/160: 15 resources per die) (-1 Capital Goods, -2 Energy) (Projected 6 quarters to begin, 8 quarters to complete) 1AAD
-[] Next Generation Armored Vehicle Factories. (Updated) (Progress 85/450: 30 resources per die) (-6 Energy, -12 Capital Goods, -6 Labour, -3 STUs) 3D

Bureaucracy (4 dice +29 bonus)
-[] Administrative Assistance - White Goods Programs
-[] Administrative Assistance - Stealth Disruptor Deployment

Treasury Allowance
105 + 140 + 65 + 95 + 190 + 220 + 150 + 200
1350/1540+420
 
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Q2 2065 Results
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    • GDI Online Q2 2065


    The Mind Electric: Dot MARV thread

    Dot
    Hello everyone! Been a busy few months and want to give an update to what I have been up to now that the details can go public. I have been building TANKS! Giant ones, MARVs to be specific. Humanity certainly does have a very large number of very large tanks. Anyway.

    MARVs do not so much roll across the earths surface as eat their way across. Their treads even on prepared surfaces tear rock and concrete out of the ground, and on unprepared ground it leaves a stretch of debris that makes vehicular travel difficult.

    Then the Tiberium harvesting turns on.

    That is the ultimate purpose of the MARVs that GDI has been building. To harvest and destroy Tiberium in amounts sufficient to turn back the clock another second, another millisecond. So as they are deployed, I want everyone reading this to know that time will not run out soon.

    You have trusted me, a being not a year existent and only the 3rd of her kind, with the task of ensuring we all see the next dawn. Some I have heard say it is because humanity is desperate in doing so, that humanity and GDI is scared. I disagree.

    You all are hopeful. Grimly so in face of Tiberium and everything it has taken, but humanity continues to refuse to blink. If you did not have hope Erewhon, Deva, and myself would not exist.

    So that is how I want to close out this post and to start the conversation. Remember that you have hope. And very large tanks beating up Tiberium.


    Dr. James Granger

    MARVs have been a part of Initiative abatement strategy for decades, but never before have we seen this much investment, this quickly in the platforms. A significant part of this has to be placed directly at the feet of an initiative that sees the expansion of underground red zones to be the most clear and present danger.
    Looking, overall, at the program, the project is aimed at putting down as many clustered inhibitors as possible, containing red zone expansion on the surface, and hopefully, below the ground.
    There are, at the same time, significant challenges. We simply do not know how effective these will be, and I fully expect there to be repercussions in terms of maintenance and uptime as the new fleets encounter their teething issues. MARVs are some of the largest mobile land vehicles ever produced, and have the problems to go with that status.

    JamesandBonesy
    Hi Miss Dot! Thanks so much for helping with the Big Tanks! I hear they eat a whole lot of Tiberum. I saw some once, and made sure to hold on to Bonesy's leash tight, but he didn't want to go near it.

    InTheZONE
    Hey Dot, nice to know you're happy with what you've been up to. Personally I would say that humanity is desperate, it's hard not to be with what we can now see under us. I would also say that history has shown desperate people will fight their hardest for every inch of ground, for every person saved and for every slight chance of victory. This is our planet, not tiberium's. We will fight for it. Some might say we should instead look to space, try and move as many people as we can out of tiberium's reach, but I've seen the maths on that and I doubt we can all make it. I for one am staying here. I have hope of a planet where the ground is green with vegetation, not crystal, and while not religious I have faith that someday we'll rebuild that planet here.

    All that being said, I don't envy the poor sods in maintenance.

    FloatingWood
    How bad can it be? I mean, GDI has had MARVs for decades, what's a few more?

    InTheZONE
    A few more is perfectly fine (by which I mean every MARV is a maintenance nightmare but with enough engineer teams they can somehow keep them going) but I'm pretty certain this expansion just doubled the number we have in service. That means a lot of rapid expansion of the maintenance teams which means a lot of newbie maintenance workers and a MARV is the kind of beast where a new worker can sometimes be more of a liability than an asset.
    I imagine what they've probably done for this is split up existing teams to get some experienced workers in the new hubs, which has the benefit of meaning they can hit the ground running and the MARVs can actually be out doing abatement instead of spending 80%+ of their time in a hangar. This does have the downside that it means basically every MARV maintenance team will currently be trying to break in a bunch of rookies, which means the experienced workers will have to pick up the slack. It's one of the unavoidable problems with any dramatic expansion of specialist equipment, made worse by how this specific piece of equipment is a gigantic megatank that spends most of its time rolling through tiberium fields.

    KneeDeepInTheTib
    Oh hi there Dot! It's nice to hear from you - and my oh my have you given me a lot of work to do. My Raider unit has been dispersed all over Hell's back 40 covering the new hubs - not that any of us are complaining! It's a change of pace from normal RZ ops that keeps life interesting. Watching new MARVs cut into untouched tib is always a treat - old enemy, meet your newest nightmare. So, thanks!

    DrownedInTheBlue
    Those MARV's are huge! Glad To see they are on our side, I fear what Nof or even the Tib would do with one of those. I don't really understand why we need the MARV's though? Current abatement strategies are pushing The surface Tiberium back aren't they? Couldn't we skip the whole splitting the experienced teams by just using conventional strategies and building a fusion plant in the red zone to power the inhibitor?

    InTheZONE
    #DrownedInTheBlue The thing about building in the Red Zones is that you essentially have to build it like a fortress to protect against Tib, Ion Storms, Shard Storms, TibQuakes, Visceroids, etc. Basically, if you're already building a fortress in a Red Zone then you may as well stick some MARVs in it, especially as they can help keep the areas around it relatively clear.

    Q2 2065 Results

    Resources: 1510+885 in reserve‌ (-30 from Reconstruction commissions) (-15 from Bureau of Arcologies) (-15 from Consumer Industrial Development) (-10 Division of Alternative Energy) (-20 Department of Munitions)(-30 Department of Refits) (-240 InOps) (-60 General Pool) (100 in Reserve for Banking)

    Political‌ ‌Support:‌ 117
    SCIENCE Meter: 4/4

    Free Dice: 6
    AI Dice: 4 (full bonus)
    Dice Capacity 60/60

    Tiberium Spread
    Surface
    26.52 (+0.425) Blue Zone
    0.00 (-0.19) Green Zone
    0.07 (+0.00) Cyan Zone
    24.49 (+0.235) Yellow Zone (107 points of mitigation)
    48.92 (-0.37) Red Zone (101 points of mitigation)
    Underground Tiberium infiltration estimates:
    0.34 (+0.08) Blue
    12.73 (-0.04) Yellow (37 points of mitigation)
    86.93 (-0.04) Red (19 points of mitigation)


    Next Mutation Roll: Q2 2066

    Current Economic Issues:
    Housing: +97 (+88 LQ, +9 HQ) (1 high-quality housing per turn)
    Energy: +59 (+6 in reserve) (+5 per turn from sub-departments)
    Logistics: +25 (-14 from military activity)
    Food: +66 (+26 backed reserve, +5 unbacked reserve)
    Health: +45 (+6 Emergency Health) (-8 from refugees)
    Capital Goods: +71 (+2 per turn from Distributed Industrial Authority) (+567 in reserve)
    Consumer Goods: +60 (+10 per turn from Private Industry) (+3 per turn from sub-departments) (-15 from realignment) (Net -2 per turn)
    Labor: +11 (+3 per turn from medical care) (+2 per turn from Immigrant qualifications) (-2 per turn from private industry) (-3 per turn from other government) (-1 from graying population) (Net -1)
    Tiberium‌ ‌Processing‌ ‌Capacity‌ ‌(2990/4200)‌ ‌(640/1850 HG, 1350/1350 IHG, 1000/1000 X) (HG: 1 per 90, IHG: 1 per 80, X: 1 per 40)
    Tiberium Reserve (0/500)
    STUs: +15
    Taxation Per Turn: +240 (no change from economic turbulence)
    Space Mining Per Turn: +100
    Maintenance Reductions: +50
    Increased Refining Efficiency: +100


    STU Production and Consumption
    Net: +15 per turn
    Production: +49 per turn (6.5 HG, 15.9 IHG, 22.2X, 5 RZ SMARV)
    Consumption: -34 per turn
    27 Economy
    -6 Tiberium (2 Harvesting Tendrils, 2 Sonic Weapons, 2 T-Glass)
    -21 Other (8 Structural Alloys, 6 Hovercraft, 2 Gravitic Shipyard, 2 Microfusion Labs, 3 Caravel Shipyard)
    7 Military
    -4 Aircraft (2 Tactical Lasers, 2 Plasma Munitions)
    -1 Ground Vehicles (1 Mastodons [Shimmer Shields, Point Defense Lasers], 0 Havocs [Shimmer Shields])
    -1 Strategic Air Defense Networks
    -1 Navy (Lasers)

    Projected Fusion Power Plant Decommissioning
    -16 Energy, +1 Labor Q4 2065
    -16 Energy, +1 Labor Q3 2066
    -16 Energy, +1 Labor Q4 2066
    -16 Energy, +1 Labor Q2 2067
    -16 Energy, +1 Labor Q3 2067
    -16 Energy, +1 Labor Q4 2067
    -16 Energy, +1 Labor Q2 2068
    -16 Energy, +1 Labor Q4 2068


    Status‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌Parties‌ ‌
    (strong‌ ‌support,‌ ‌weak‌ ‌support,‌ ‌weak‌ ‌opposition,‌ ‌strong‌ ‌opposition)‌ ‌
    Developmentalist: 705 (200; 400; 75; 30) 17.6%
    Militarists: 629 Seats (300; 100; 200; 29) 15.7%
    Starbound: 618 Seats (400; 100; 100; 18) 15.5%
    Market Socialist Party: 555 Seats (300; 155; 50; 50) 13.9%
    Socialist Party: 493 Seats (250; 100; 93; 50) 12.3%
    Free Market Party: 405 Seats (50; 150; 100; 105) 10.1%
    Initiative First Party: 334 Seats (0; 34; 100; 200) 8.4%
    United Yellow List: 117 Seats(80; 30; 7; 0) 3%
    Reclamation: 99 Seats (50; 40; 6; 3) 2.5%
    Homeland: 41 Seats (20; 10; 5; 6) 1%
    Open Hand: 4 Seats (2; 2; 0; 0) .1%
    Total: 4000 Seats (1652; 1121; 736; 491)

    Military‌ ‌Confidence‌ ‌
    Ground‌ ‌Forces‌‌:‌ High ‌ ‌
    Air‌ ‌Force‌:‌ ‌High
    Space‌ ‌Force‌:‌ Decent ‌
    Steel‌ ‌Talons:‌ ‌Decent
    Navy:‌ Decent‌ (Trending to High)
    ZOCOM:‌ ‌Decent ‌

    Plan Goals
    Increase Income by 70
    Increase population in space by 7.05k
    Provide 4 Points of Red Zone Abatement
    Spend at least one die on Steel Talons projects every turn

    Projects
    Complete Karachi Planned City by end of 2065
    Deploy Governor-A refit
    Complete at least 1 Ground Forces Zone Armor factory
    Complete Post War Housing Refits

    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.


    Conestoga-class Gravitic Ship
    The name ship of the class came out of dock in June 2064, about a year ago now, followed by Hackney in September of that same year. Since then construction has picked up the pace a little as dockworkers and supply lines gain experience with the class, and 3 more have launched since. Herdic, the latest member of the class, is currently undergoing space trials as part of its certification.

    The ships are currently under the command of the SCED, where they have been used extensively for investigating various bodies in space, as well as placing and supporting a number of far flung manned and unmanned scientific outposts.

    The current plan is to build another 4 to 7 ships, this time equipped for war, and to refit the existing ships for the long-range nuclear missiles under development to provide a potent space combat force that can contest control of Jupiter's sphere of influence and permit an invasion of the Visitor holdings there, followed by establishing a long term garrison to deny a future attack a possible staging ground.


    SCED
    The SCED recently confirmed the discovery of an Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone of Epsilon Eridani, located 10.5 light years from Earth. The planet, for now having the temporary name, Epsilon Eridani-h, with a mass approximately 1.2 times that of Earth, boasts an atmosphere with 20% carbon dioxide, 79% nitrogen and 1% other gasses, with the pressure being somewhere between 0.8 to 1 bar. Crucially, the presence of liquid water has been verified using water vapor analysis, with atmospheric data indicating the existence of both oceans and solid landmasses. This groundbreaking discovery was made possible by SCED's Craterscope, a state-of-the-art telescope integrated into a lunar crater. Further studies are planned to explore the planet's characteristics and potential for hosting life.

    "This is a major step forward in our search for potentially habitable worlds beyond our solar system. Thanks to the Craterscope, we're gaining unprecedented insights into planets orbiting nearby stars", SCED officials said during their press release.


    Assassinations
    Two of the Initiative's own were assassinated this quarter, both seemingly random attacks, one on general Agembe in a blue on blue incident, one on Timothy Zdharan, an up and coming member of the Initiative First Party.

    General Agembe has had a relatively unspectacular career overall, leading a series of Initiative artillery units since the Third Tiberium War. What has made him notable is his advocacy for a hardline position, offering no quarter to Brotherhood units in engagements across southern Africa. His protege, Captain James, has been a common figure at strategy conferences in his stead, offering a vision of a hardline, unconditional-surrender-or-nothing faction of the military. While investigation as to the exact cause is still ongoing, his V-35 transport was shot down over Initiative airspace, which eliminated some possibilities. The question is where the failure lies. Two options remain. Either the IFF system on the aircraft was compromised, or the air defense system. At this time, it seems likely the Brotherhood subverted a short ranged infrared missile battery outside of Johannesburg, and used it to launch two Thunderbolt 10E missiles, which used their onboard targeting systems to pick out Agembe's aircraft and shot down the transport. In such a case, and with the amount of traffic around Johannesburg, it might not even have been targeted at the general specifically, instead aimed at sowing panic and fear at the thought of the SADN shooting down everything in the sky.

    Zdharan has been one of the more reformist members of the party, part of a newer wave of party membership that has a less objectionable overall set of positions, offering an extremely aggressive foreign policy, while cutting back on anti-Yellow Zone refugee rhetoric. A young man entered his office, shot him repeatedly with an Initiative service handgun that was identified as 'lost or destroyed' during the Third Tiberium War despite attempts to remove the serial number, and fled. The assassin has not yet been located and the motivation, if any, remains unknown.

    At the same time, Initiative Dagger and Ghost teams have carried out three major strikes on brotherhood assets, two successful, and one a significant failure. Part of a longer running campaign against Brotherhood intelligence handlers, the successful strikes included seizing the contact information for over fifty moles in the Initiative, many of which are in the process of either being siloed, turned, or silenced, depending on their placement. Most are lower ranked Yellow Zoners, who are simply passing along what they know as part of efforts to keep the Brotherhood informed of major Initiative projects and force posture. These are the ones being kept in place, in large part because they have little access to secure material, and what they do have is in some ways worth letting the brotherhood know about.
    On the other hand, the Shah of Atom, having his position revealed in the afghan mountains, has faced an unsuccessful strike, with the ghost teams assigned being forced to pull back under heavy fire. While they broke contact without losses in the Red Zone, the Shah is unlikely to make a similar appearance in the near future.


    [ ] Karachi Planned City (Phase 5) (Updated)
    A final serious push to secure the region, with two primary goals. First, to secure the flank, putting Initiative boots firmly against the Red Zone – producing a new front for major Red Zone harvesting activities – and second to firm up the logistical links between the mountains and the sea.
    (Progress 532/780: 20 resources per die) (+8 Logistics, +4 Housing, -2 Labor) (+India and Iran Stuff) (Can spend mixed Tiberium and Infrastructure dice, at least 1 die must be Tiberium)

    Work on Karachi itself has gone relatively smoothly, if slowly. The city itself is ringed in defenses. SAM sites, anti-aircraft railguns, and laser emplacements. The biggest limitation is its proximity to the Bannerjees. Building the longer ranged anti-missile railguns would likely be taken as a statement of intent – ultimately making both the defenses and Karachi more of a target, rather than effectively hardening the city against the increasingly less-potent forces available to the Shah of Atom. Thus, the defenses are thicker and more heavily layered than might otherwise be the case, ringing the city with multiple layers of short-range defenses to attrit over-flying targets long before they strike home.

    Beyond that, there is the refugee situation. There have consistently been fewer refugees being registered than GDI expected, many choosing to flee southeast, towards the waiting arms of the Bannerjees, rather than waiting for Initiative arms to come to them. In part, this seems to be something that was planned ahead of time, with the Bannerjees having prepared for large numbers of people fleeing the violence and pre-positioned pontoon bridges and ferries for rapid deployment. While this is not the same as no refugees, many of the new housing blocks in Karachi stand empty-enabling for the demolition of entire blocks of almost century-old soft-story apartments and buildings unsuited to the Tiberium contaminated environment.

    At this point, it is time to begin looking to secure GDI's gains. With the upcoming end of the plan, and a sea-change in Initiative political and military aims being formulated, the eastern front – facing towards the Bannerjees – is in something of a holding pattern. Fighting them would do little to advance Initiative aims, and potentially do serious damage. Working with them is politically expensive and opens the Initiative to criticism from Nod-hating hardliners, but with the retaliatory strikes from early in the operation still fresh in the public consciousness there is little appetite for more. The western, Iran-facing flank is by contrast a much more stable situation – and open to expanded operations as it becomes more and more obvious that Nod considers al-Isfahani irrelevant, and that the Shah himself has expended much of his arsenal. Theater Command has begun drafting plans to secure the region, put down the infrastructure to conduct a full scale offensive into the depths of the Red Zone, and begin chewing through the glaciers there for further abatement and raw materials.

    Finally, to the north, the Himalayan Blue Zone. For the first time since the Zone classification system's existence, it is not only possible but downright practical to ship substantial industrial equipment into the region. Up-teching, and bringing the Zone into line with the quality of life, and industrial capabilities of the rest of the Initiative is something of a priority.


    [ ] Postwar Housing Refits (Phase 2)
    Expanding the program and shifting yet more housing to higher quality models is something that large parts of the Initiative support in theory, and yet substantial groups oppose it in practice. While the housing is degrading at a noticeable clip, and will eventually either have to be torn down or refurbished, it is a much more complicated question than it first appears.
    (Progress 180/150: 10 resources per die) (-5 Housing, +3 High Quality Housing)
    (Progress 30/150: 10 resources per die) (-5 Housing, +3 High Quality Housing)

    Work on refitting the postwar housing has gone relatively smoothly, mostly because many of the buildings being refitted in this quarter are in need of serious repair. Many of them have had substantial civilian modifications, like hidden food stashes. Just in the refits done, over three thousand stashes have been found, located everywhere from hollowed out walls to people putting false backings into cabinets. These refits reflect the anxiety of the times, with many people seeing food supplies as a necessary surety, enabling them to go about their daily lives without worrying that there will be food on the table when they got home. While many of these anxieties have abated, that is only because others have taken the foreground.

    There are still substantial tensions however, and in many ways the Initiative's population, despite relative wealth at this point, are stressed and worried. It is only so much comfort to be well fed, to have seen the shield of the Initiative guarding you and your home, as underneath your feet, there is a green cancer undermining everything you know. It is a chronic, creeping stress, one that nearly everyone at this point is suffering from, and treatment seems uncertain to succeed as of yet.


    [ ] Nuclear Infrastructure Rebuilding
    While the nuclear strikes were, for the most part, aimed at military targets, the destruction of Hampton Roads and Seattle's port facilities, among others, are making noticeable pinch points for the Initiative's overall ability to transport goods.
    (Progress 239/200: 15 resources per die)(+4 Logistics) (Reconstruction)

    As infrastructure rebuilding efforts finalize, including serious work on dredging out port facilities, and repaving roads, eyes have begun to turn towards other aspects. The big substantial thing that still needs to be done is actually reconstruction of the naval facilities. However, there are open questions of whether they are still what the Initiative navy needs. The most major factor here is the shipyard for the Shark-class frigates that was wrecked in the strike, with some asking if by the time the shipyard is operational again it would even still be necessary, as the successor class would already be well into the design phase.

    While there would be some crossover, there is open debate as to what a Shark successor would look like, and whether or not the Initiative actually needs a new frigate, as opposed to some form of hybrid carrier design. In any case, the Shark yard may be relocated to more remote areas, separating military and civilian spaces more rigidly rather than combining them. The Initiative navy is adamant they need more than just a replacement for the lost shipyard, although their demands for an extra Shark shipyard, an acceleration of the rollout of Governor B's, and investment in submarines are likely to be addressed during the negotiations for next plan instead of waning days of the current one.

    Nuclear war has almost as many political implications as military ones, and the conflict between the Initiative and the Brotherhood of Nod has opened up a rather large can of worms. While nobody is eager to trade major cities for victory, the 'mutually assured' part of mutually assured destruction does not seem to be on the table at the moment. Rather than making the situation better, it has made things far more tense, with the Brotherhood starting serious efforts to find alternative ways to restore the balance. For example, Stahl has multiple nuclear artillery launchers somewhere close to completion by InOps accounts. Other warlords, such as Yao are relying on seaskimming missile systems, in this case most likely sourced from Bintang's supply. While far from immune to antimissile defenses, these are almost certainly hypersonic close attack missiles of some description.


    [ ] Second Generation Continuous Cycle Fusion Plants (Phase 6)
    With second generation plants a proven concept, GDI needs a relatively rapid pace of construction, with the first of the first generation plants expected to begin reaching serious failures in a matter of years, and the limitations on construction speeds meaning that total production is noticeably bottlenecked.
    (Progress 470/270: 20 resources per Die) (+19 Energy) (-1 Labor) (No more than five dice can be spent on 2nd Generation CCF per turn)
    (Progress 200/270: 20 resources per Die) (+19 Energy) (-1 Labor)

    With Bergen set to reach its designed production capacity soon, work on the fusion plants has been drastically simplified. While there remains a sizable backlog of orders, the completed factory can supply enough that only a few, hard-to-produce components bottleneck the process, a problem that will resolve itself soon enough. Production of the superconductor components is ahead of demand in most other areas, if by much less than other components, so most facilities do not have replacement parts on hand in case something breaks. Although this can produce longer blackouts, the Initiative is producing more energy than it needs across nearly all of its grids across the world, meaning that even if power plants go down until a replacement can be procured, there is a very low chance of blackout or brownout.


    [ ] Aberdeen Isolinear Fabricator (Phase 3) (Updated)
    With the completion of supporting industry, wastewater treatment and logistical connections, Aberdeen has already begun work on the A-wing of its isolinear fabricator. Largely devoted to memory cells and other low-complexity computing devices, the A-wing will serve both as a scale testing facility, and to train the workforce for the larger and more complex works to follow.
    (Progress 360/360: 30 resources per die) (+18 Capital Goods, -4 Energy)

    Aberdeen has seen yet more investment in isolinear construction. Refitting the Initiative's computer systems across the board is a significant investment, and while some tabs are being passed around, most are earmarked for various factors and projects. One project that is drawing in many of the memory units, because they are a very stable method of data storage, is making offworld backups.

    Around Aldrin, a number of vaults have begun construction under the direction of the Department of Archives and History, to act as final safekeeps for massive quantities of information. While none of them will be anywhere close to the sum total of human knowledge, each vault can store tens of thousands of terabytes of information, music, videos, basic scientific theorems, books, and so on.While the data they hold will not be the same for each vault, their contents will overlap, a data cache to shout to a galaxy that humanity was here and who humanity was in case it perishes from the face of the Earth and the Sol system entire, murdered by Tiberium, alien invasion or internal strife.

    Additionally the first efforts have been made to produce a dedicated set of hardware for AI, a modular unit that can host a small eva unit for enterprise or government work. In effect, this is the microcomputer of the AI world, promising to finally bring high-quality AI down to an affordable level for mass distribution, without relying on singular massive servers or unique and highly expensive chipsets.


    [ ] Bergen Superconductor Foundry (Phase 5)
    A fifth and final stage of expansions will see Bergen reaching its logistical and practical limits. While building inside of mountain ranges is certainly secure, it is far from ideal, with the final expansion to the facilities requiring a substantial investment in blasting new tunnels into other mountains. Additionally, it will require substantial investments in port infrastructure to move the massive quantities of superconductors out of the region.
    (Progress 1140/1140: 30 resources per die) (+8 Capital Goods, +16 Energy) (-3 Logistics) (+10 Political Support) Critical Success

    Coming out of the Initiative's research programs at the same time as Bergen finished are a number of new formulations for superconductors. While most of these are simply iterative improvements on the same pattern, differentiating only in fractional increments of performance, two are far more interesting – because they, unlike all previous forms, are flexible. While they do have their limitations, being notably behind the curve in terms of efficiency, these can simply be bent to fit a particular complex shape, or even move with a reciprocating action without fear of breaking, instead of needing to forge a large variety of complicated fittings to negotiate the much more rigid preceding materials.

    Militarily, their uses are manifold; slimming down the cables needed to supply infantry railguns with power is but one of them, offering considerable weight and cost savings in the process. On the civilian side, they have even more uses, most notably in the production of various orbital support assets, and making it so that it is viable to run superconductors into the home, rather than only being on the most high-use backbone elements.

    "So, we are going to need a name for this new, flexible super conductor, any suggestions?"
    "Caterium."
    "Absolutely not, we are not naming it after your newborn daughter."
    "First, she's adorable, second, I will bake you all brownies."
    "We will not be bribed and-"
    "The good ones, with actual cacao and milk."
    "Caterium it is."
    -Bergen Superconductor R&D meeting minutes, 12th of May, 2065


    [ ] White Goods Programs
    White goods are major home appliances. While the state of the art has progressed in the last fifteen to twenty years, nearly all of those appliances in GDI's houses are old models, designed before the Third Tiberium War, and in many cases significantly before then. While wholesale immediate replacement is not viable, looking at the progress in various fields, should allow for GDI to make some efficiencies and conveniences more readily available.
    (Progress 115/200: 15 resources per die) (-1 Capital Goods, +4 Consumer Goods, +1 Energy, +1 Labor)

    Building an effective dishwasher is not a particularly new problem. Nearly two centuries prior, in 1886, Josephine Cochranan patented an automatic dishwasher. While not the first of its kind, with at least two other American patents predating it, most modern dishwashers still follow the pattern, with the dishes being blasted with high-pressure hot water. While there have been improvements since that point – with the addition of more nozzles, and adding a second set of sprayers below the dishes being washed, for instance – the overall mechanism has remained basically similar. Improving on the design in a revolutionary (rather than simply evolutionary) way is a significant challenge. One of the simpler – and ultimately most effective – ways has actually been adding sonic projectors on some models to shake residue off the dishware. Too expensive for general deployment, but it is still an innovation that might find its way to space and other areas where water, space, and time are very much at a premium. A more widely successful option is a series of smart appliances, which individually scan each dish inside and modulate the spray to remove even heavily baked-on grease. These are generally more gentle, and less likely to also peel decorative glaze off ceramics or crack glass than sonics.

    While the white goods program has overall struggled between the need to make improvements and the need to make the objects cheap enough for mass production, it has made significant progress, with multiple new-generation goods reaching various prototype states, leaving the next leg of the journey to be deployment of multiple types of new and next-generation systems.


    [ ] Blue Zone Aquaponics Bays (Phase 6)
    Building more aquaponics bays at this point will do little to increase food diversity, instead building up a backlog of dual-purpose crops tentatively earmarked for livestock feed.
    (Progress 127/125: 10 resources per die) (+6 Food) (-1 Labor, -1 Logistics)
    (Progress 2/125: 10 resources per die) (+6 Food) (-1 Labor, -1 Logistics)

    Dual purpose foods, like corn, are actually reasonably significant, mostly because humanity has a very long history of preservation. A simple cabbage for example can be fermented to produce sauerkraut or kimchi, or a hundred other dishes, many of which last for years. While it does change the nutritional profile, it means that additional production capacity is not particularly wasteful as it can be moved directly into the long term stockpiles.

    Likewise are the bays being used for less immediately useful crops; vast harvests of barley, oats, sugarcane, potatoes and other high-calorie foods are being processed into livestock feed for GDI's slowly-growing herds, or to provide feedstock for medicine production. Or booze.

    Third, a number of facilities near the border are largely producing fresh products for sale or distribution to Nod as food aid, with an unspoken but well-understood agreement with warlords at the border and further out that attacks by Nod militia may cause an interruption of the food supply in Nod territory due to safety risks. These new facilities will also guard against slow-downs and loss of food diversity as a result of logistical disruptions.

    Beyond that, many of the bays are simply not being activated. Seeds are being kept on-hand in storage for their eventuality, and so long as there are any surviving fish ponds – in essence, so long as not all other aquaponics facilities are simultaneously compromised – the Initiative can activate these bays on a three- to six-month notice, for example in preparation for another major war.


    [ ] Dairy Ranches (Phase 3)
    Throwing together a final – at least for the moment – wave of dairy ranches, GDI will immediately mothball most of them, as there are currently not enough animals to justify operations. Caretaker staff and training will be needed however.
    (Progress 263/180: 20 resources per die) (+6 Consumer Goods, -3 Food, -1 Energy, -2 Labor) (+5 Political Support)

    The dairy ranches are churning out massive quantities of cheese, with the ratio shifting ever more significantly from quick-cured farmer's and acid cheeses (like paneer) to aged, fermented, and similar cheeses around the world. Cheese has historically been the way that the vast majority of dairy has been consumed, and it is a rare culture that does not develop a form of cheese almost as soon as a milkable animal is found.

    The growth of the Initiative's herds has hit its stride; while it was expected that this particular wave of ranching domes would sit empty for a long time as earlier waves filled up, it was delayed enough that the first (small) herds are already arriving, with the domes for now acting as quarantine facilities. This will not last forever, as the growth is proving rapid enough that there is every expectation that by the end of the decade the emphasis will shift from producing as many animals as possible to fill the domes to a more careful breeding program to weed out poor quality gene lines.

    Despite the impression this may give, this will not mean an exclusive emphasis on the production of milk. Careful husbandry is required to maintain the variety of breeds and ensure they do not develop genetic defects that leave them unable to live outside the ranching domes once Tiberium is driven back.

    "You call this slop cheese, you misbegotten imbecile? What pride do you have in your work?"
    - Robert Owen Dent


    [ ] Spider Cotton Plantations (Phase 5) (Updated)
    Continuing to expand Spider Cotton production is likely to see more uses found, but at the same time it is an expensive process running into diminishing returns, especially given the sheer quantities of spider cotton required for many of the more 'out there' proposals.
    (Plant Genetics)
    (Progress 277/185: 15 resources per die) (+1 Capital Goods) Critical success

    Work on spider cotton has taken a significant turn in two ways. First, and more practically has been the work on introducing carbon nanotubes into the fibers. Second, private industry has begun moving into the production space.

    The nanotubes are not produced by the spider cotton itself. Rather it is produced industrially, and then simply fed into the water supply for the plants. The nanotubes do two critical things: first is that the nanotubes are insulated, meaning that they are significantly less likely to cause a number of cancers and other damage compared to simply using naked nanotube weaves. Second, and even more important, is that it substantially increases the overall strength of the weave, making it practical to use thinner cables, and use it as low-rating soft body armor, among other things. Simply put, there are a lot of places where nanotubes help significantly.

    With GDI-headed production experimenting more with the industrially- and militarily-useful nanotube strains, private industry has thus been able to move into the space of civilian applications – mostly in specialist edge applications that Initiative textile factories don't. In particular, some have found early success in producing scarves, sashes, shawls, and the like – simple items that can even be worn on top of an environmental suit without issue, for those that want them. Others have begun producing specific cultural and religious apparel; home furnishing accessories like rugs, blankets, and pillow casings; and even raw fabric, thread, and other fibercraft supplies.


    [ ] Terrestrial Quillar Deployment (New)
    The expansion of quillar production is something that the Initiative does not strictly need at this point. However, it is a nutritious, easy to grow crop, something that can be offered to Nod as a show of goodwill – which will aid the Brotherhood's civilian populace, while not significantly impacting their overall military readiness. Funding a single wave of quillar for seedstock and providing the majority of the seeds to the Brotherhood will reduce overall population losses, while also establishing good faith with some of the scientists that the Initiative has acquired from the Brotherhood. While it could result in less ability to pressure the Brotherhood due to its increased ability to feed itself, the Diplomatic Corps does not believe it wise to hold food supplies hostage for such purposes.
    (Plant Genetics) (Progress 190/100: 10 resources per die) (+15 food)

    For the Initiative, quillar is not heavily represented in the food supply, for all its roaring success as a crop. Simply put, quillar is amazingly productive. Easy to grow, simple to maintain, while also almost twice as efficient as sweet potatoes and producing a staggering amount of seed besides - easily beating a twenty-to-one ratio, with test batches generally reaching between forty- and sixty-to-one. With GDI's supply of produce being currently glutted, domestic quillar production is instead mostly tooled for industrial uses and fuel-alcohols.

    The Brotherhood is certainly appreciative of its potential as a staple crop. Quillar represents a major increase in food production for them, as soon as they can get it deployed. Beyond that, the excess that was not needed for seed stock has significantly increased the size of a number of food shipments, preventing several developing food crises from escalating into starvation due to the increased calories in the packages being sent.


    [ ] Tiberium Inhibitor Deployment (Updated)
    Tiberium inhibitors have by now moved from experimental deployment to serial. While each will be significantly energy-expensive and require a major investment of resources, it is now one of the fastest routes to abate the Tiberian menace.
    -[ ] Blue Zone 15 (Progress 207/75: 30 resources per die (-3 Energy) (+2 Yellow Zone Abatement) (+2 Underground Yellow Zone Abatement) (1 Political Support)
    -[ ] Blue Zone 17 (Progress 132/75: 30 resources per die (-3 Energy) (+2 Yellow Zone Abatement) (+2 Underground Yellow Zone Abatement) (1 Political Support)
    -[ ] Blue Zone 2 (Progress 57/75: 30 resources per die) (-3 Energy) (+2 Yellow Zone Abatement) (+2 Underground Yellow Zone Abatement) (1 Political Support)

    Another wave of Blue Zone inhibitors have started operations. While their impact underground remains limited by their numbers, politically they are a significant statement of GDI's dedication to fight the crystal in every possible way. Driving Initiative investment is the knowledge that Tiberium has substantially undermined GDI territory, and, as underground encroachment increases, so too does the count of above ground outbreaks

    Initiative scientists project that if Tiberium manages to substantially progress into the underground Blue Zones to the point none are left, above ground abatement efficiency may decrease by up to sixty percent as it pushes not just laterally, but up towards the surface and down towards the mantle as it devours more and more of the Earth.


    [ ] Caravel-Class Impulse Shipyard (New)
    The Caravel is the smaller class of impulse craft. Designed around a hundred-ton Earth-to-Luna payload as a standard specification, the Caravel's primary selling point is its ability to operate off of standard airstrips and pre-existing airport facilities already serving GDI's fleet of fusion craft. Running off a pair of impulse engines mounted at the root of the wing, the craft is expensive – but a substantially more capable platform than the existing fusion craft, which cannot haul such payloads further than Earth orbit without refueling.
    (Progress 369/300: 40 resources per die) (-3 STUs, -6 Energy, -6 Capital Goods)

    Design-wise, the Caravel makes a lot of tradeoffs, primarily for the purpose of allowing the infrastructural savings of keeping it within the constraints of existing airstrips – mostly resulting in a much smaller cargo capacity than fusion impulse engines would ideally permit. The design is relatively simple: a wide-bodied flying-wing aerodyne, with a cluster of engines close by the central bulge. As the fusion reactor is towards the back of the aircraft, a pair of side loading doors in the middle and a front loading ramp permit access to the cargo bay.

    Although the popular understanding of impulse drives is that there is a distinction between 'fusion' and 'atmospheric' engines, the reality is that there is no such distinction. Rather, drives in atmospheric mode use a pusher plate at the front intakes to move a supply of air into the engine at low speeds, where the impulse drive accelerates it further to gain a low velocity, high thrust capability that is desirable around populated areas, then, when the situation is safe, the air intake closes and high energy plasma is provided directly to the engine as the power supply to the plates is cranked to maximum. This superheated matter is expelled from the engine at great speed and with great force, still slightly radioactive from the products of the fusion plant, where the pusher plates will keep pushing for quite a while yet.

    The Caravel looked awkward, parked amid a swarm of C-35s, V-35s, cargo and passenger aircraft at the New York airport. Big, bulky, a whale among a swarm of sharks. Watching it taxi, and then slowly, laboriously tilt its nose up and slowly lift its ponderous form at a speed that seemed slow if you did not remember just how large these craft are. The slope of the take off trajectory was oddly shallow as it turned towards the ocean, still slowly gaining altitude but not gaining any speed. Then it lit the fusion drives, and the dusk sky illuminated by a setting sun became like the dawn. The Caravel jumps forward, eagerly aligning itself upwards and it moves.

    A rumbling thunder hits the shore some time later as if a mere afterthought, the impulse craft long gone.
    - Ad Astra magazine


    [ ] Aldrin Planned City (Phase 3) (Updated)
    A ring around the landing site of Apollo 11, the first true city on the Moon will be an enduring symbol of GDI's claim to the stars. A dedicated spaceport, refinery, and industrial facility will begin producing a substantial quantity of capital goods. With the second phase completed and eagerly awaiting the first Moonborn GDI citizens, the third phase will substantially expand the habitation, industry and commercial sections, nearly tripling the city's population capacity once complete and providing plenty of local leisure options.
    (Progress 730/850: 30 resources per die) (5000 5500 Residents) (+3 Capital Goods)
    (Progress 0/1700: 30 resources per die) (10,000 Residents) (+6 Capital Goods)

    Aldrin has found spots for about five hundred more souls, a result of previously undetected hollows providing convenient locations for more housing and low impact businesses. For example, the landing pads for the Leopards, Unions and the Tyne-class orbital tugs that are starting to pour out of Enterprise are several kilometers away from the main city, connected by an underground tram line. While the plan was originally to have the workforce commute from the city, a cavern was discovered most of the way towards the landing pads that could be used to establish a servicing station and a neighborhood of a couple hundred souls.

    While living there would be something of a hardship posting, between the distance from Aldrin proper and the clamor of an active space port just a kilometer away, it is also very conveniently located for people working at that spaceport.

    The Tynes are already likely to be replaced fairly soon by the Venture-class, a re-engineered version designed to make the long trek to Mars. Replacing the fusion drive with a similarly-sized impulse model will not give them the capability to land and take off from Earth, but it will give them substantially longer legs; enough to make use of much less optimal Hohmann transfers that can offer shorter transit times or much wider transfer windows than the Tynes currently are capable of, making colonial efforts – and the exploration of anomalies found there – significantly more viable, rather than requiring the use of relatively scarce G-drive ship hours.


    [ ] Wet AI Development (Tech) (MS)
    While Wet AI, or Biological AI, is certainly not a new proposal, developing intelligent life is far from a comfortable idea for many in the Initiative. However, GDI does need means of providing for a graying population, and even if it shall fall, perhaps these beings may be a worthy successor.
    (Progress 171/240: 30 resources per die)

    Wet computing is something that was being experimented with long before Tiberium hit the earth. As early as 1988, scientists encoded an image into the genes of e. coli. The problem has always been making something that is practical to read, and has (so far) not been a particularly popular solution to storing masses of data, or for other computing uses – not least because it was seen as a less promising avenue than old standbys. What has changed here is the Gana – the biosynthetic and biomechanical war machines that have been used on the Initiative for years at this point. With their example to point to, it has become much easier to justify major spending on biological computing systems. Despite major investments and promising results, as of yet no success can be noted, although scientists remain optimistic that they are successfully addressing any issues that are discovered.
    Unfortunately, a significant number of these issues were uncovered by attempts to use the technology in ways significantly more advanced than the research project actually covers. Many of them have produced advancements in methodology, or otherwise made progress, yet there remains an open question as to how many mad science experiments have simply not come to light yet in the research groups.

    "Elmo, this is an intervention. We've noticed that your contribution to the project is…crossing a few lines. Now, nothing that will get our funding revoked but we wanted to sit down and make sure you understand how the rest of the lab feels about...her. You're not the only one who's worked on Project Eoria, and you're not the only one who has feelings of affection for her. But you are the one with the most obvious complex towards her. Like, you've done a great job with the cybernetic implants, training the neural tissue, and even with flash memory but…look, we're not here to resurrect your daughter. And even if she is your daughter, it's very strange to name your second child after your first!" -Dr. H. P. West


    [ ] Gene Clinic Expansions (New)
    While GDI has a number of gene clinics, and efforts to increase access for the population are ongoing, the Treasury can greenlight the funds for a substantially accelerated program. Expanding the services offered should substantially increase birth rates, especially with a dedicated public outreach effort to educate the population as to the benefits such genetic engineering has for off-Earth living.
    (Progress 134/240: 20 resources per die) (-2 Capital Goods, -4 Consumer Goods, -2 Energy) (+ Birthrates)

    There is nothing particularly new about what the gene clinics are doing. However, there are serious concerns, primarily about designer babies. Picking out specific features has risks, both because of the risks of further narrowing an already constricted gene pool, and because many of the gene fixes create new and unexpected vulnerabilities, because if some of the specific enhancements become too common, they become targeting surfaces for tailored biological warfare of the sort that parties like the Bannerjees are all too capable of. Additionally, there is a moral concern from the shadow of past eugenics projects. At the same time however, anything that makes potential mothers and fathers more comfortable having children at all, makes a significant difference.


    [ ] Stealth Field Generator Development (Tech)
    While decades behind the Brotherhood's state of the art, and desperately behind the times in other ways, there are still uses for their stealth field generators, both to provide functional red forces for various training exercises, and more broadly to provide another string for the Initiative's bows.
    (Progress 73/60: 15 resources per die)

    Stealth fields are, not to put too fine a point on it, bullshit. Developing one for the Initiative has produced a substantially higher rate of psychiatric referrals than an average project – somewhere between 2.5 and 3 times as of this point, and likely to go higher. Part of the problem is the security levels involved. While most Initiative scientific and technical projects exist in some level of classification-induced isolation, stealth technologies have a long history of Brotherhood sabotage, infiltration, and assassinations, seemingly regardless of the security measures enacted.

    With the Brotherhood hitting a high-ranking general and one of Initiative First's younger stars this quarter, the security measures went from 'overbearing' to 'oppressive,' and that has exacerbated the already-existing stress from the mind-bending work being done, with the devices having several extremely counterintuitive and fiddly elements.

    In terms of practical implementation, there are few plans to actually put a stealth field on a platform anytime soon. While GDI can build them now, and that is a significant edge in most cases, the Brotherhood of Nod often fights itself as much as it does anyone else, and thus has its own doctrines around detecting and circumventing stealth systems, as well as an encyclopedic awareness of the complications – most notably the fact that the firing signature breaks the stealth field. The former is, if anything, the bigger problem, with the arms race between stealth and sensors having left the generation of stealth developed here far in the dust. Initiative sensors can effectively find this version at visual range, and if anything, the Brotherhood's scanners are even better at it.


    [ ] Ferro Aluminum Armor Refits (Refit)
    Fe-Al armor offers a cheaper and more effective means of protecting some sections of GDI's more lightly armored forces. However, it will require some significant effort to make the deployment happen due to the sheer number of factories that require changes to their procedures to account for the new armor.
    (Progress 319/295: 5 resources per die) (Projected: 4 quarters to begin, 12 to complete)

    In a recent wargame at Sandhurst, envisioning the potentialities of a future Fourth Tiberium War, one of the more significant variables was the ability of Home Guard units to hold the line, and survive in an increasingly high tech battlefield. Predators, Guardians, and the like are simply not protected enough to be more than target practice for Avenger-IIs armed with plasma guns and protected by buckler shields. One of the most impactful variables for the Home Guard units was not the level of overall technology available to them, but rather the protection levels they can work with. Ferro-Aluminum armor packs are one significant part of this, primarily because they can be used, alongside ablat and other protective elements, to provide enough defenses to make a stand, rather than simply being rolled over in most cases.

    Ferro-aluminum armor packs at this point are more a life extension program than anything else. Looking forward to the next two decades of Initiative procurement, the MBT-6s, Guardians, Pitbulls (and assorted other assets that are in a position to have either ferro-aluminum armor either replace or add to existing defensive schema) are all on their way out. What that means is that most of the packs being produced, are slated to be upgrade packs during the refurbishment of equipment as they move from mainline to Home Guard units, with frontline units primarily waiting for future MBT-7 platforms and other members of the new generation of combat vehicles, which already have integrated ferro-aluminum armor – and superior STU-composites – at the design stage.


    [ ] MARV and Reclamator Hubs
    While Massive Armored Reclamation Vehicles proved themselves on the field of battle in the Third Tiberium War, they are difficult to construct and maintain in the field in significant numbers. Due to GDI's voracious appetite for more STUs, hubs constructed in Red Zones will service the Reclamator variant. By establishing regional hubs, MARV units can harvest and process more Tiberium, allowing for more units to be supported.
    (20 resources per die) (Tiberium dice can be used, each project requires at least two military dice before Tib dice can be used)
    -[ ] Reclamator Hub Red Zone 1 South (Progress 484/250) (Benghazi) (2 Points Red Zone Mitigation, 5 RpT) (+1 Energy, +1 STU)
    -[ ] Reclamator Hub Red Zone 2 West (Progress 265/250) (Matadi) (2 Points Red Zone Mitigation, 5 RpT) (+1 Energy, +1 STU)
    -[ ] Reclamator Hub Red Zone 2 East (Progress 281/250) (Dar Es Salaam) (2 Points Red Zone Mitigation, 5 RpT) (+1 Energy, +1 STU)
    -[ ] Reclamator Hub Red Zone 3 North (Progress 458/250) (Istanbul) (2 Points Red Zone Mitigation, 5 RpT) (+1 Energy, +1 STU)
    -[ ] Reclamator Hub Red Zone 3 South (Progress 531/250) (Port Said) (2 Points Red Zone Mitigation, 5 RpT) (+1 Energy, +1 STU)
    -[ ] Reclamator Hub Red Zone 8 South (Progress 223/250) (Eucla) (2 Points Red Zone Mitigation, 5 RpT) (+1 Energy, +1 STU)

    Doubling the number of active MARV hubs in only three months has been a substantial problem in many ways. Logistics has luckily not been one of them, most are port facilities – and even the one exception located at the former site of Matadi was placed in the hope that the Congo River can be cleared enough to eventually act as a route for ship access – meaning that they can ship their STUs out easily, but the overall program has been a nearly crushing burden on GDI's MARV supply line, stripping bare the stocks of spare parts built up over the years. At this point, there are zero spare barrels for the sonic artillery capstone in the Initiative inventory; an ever increasing backlog of deferred maintenance across the global fleets is poised to undermine availability and performance; two of the new hubs have only skeleton crews and are still waiting on several of the MARVs they were promised; all while the factories producing all this materiel are dramatically overstressed. These are temporary problems, with time the factory expansions will be certified, staff will be trained, and the supply chain will ultimately be able to compensate, but at the moment, the impacts are sweeping.

    However, there are positive impacts, most importantly, the hubs have become forward operating bases anticipating the immediate deployment of inhibitors in Europe and Africa to fight against the crystal. That they also provide beachheads for glacier mining operations is practically an afterthought.

    The nature of the MARV has also undergone a slow evolution since the days of the Super-MARV revision after the 3rd Tiberium War. Tib-glass grousers or track-pads bear the contact with Tiberium, and Zrbite-projectors cleanse each track as it lifts off the ground. Newly-forged turrets and armor glacis use STU materials as well, and Infernium lasers or even particle beam secondary turrets are not to be unexpected on these designs. Most visible of all, a buckler shield can be emplaced on the upper glacis, significantly reducing the effectiveness of NOD's plasma beams for hunting the aging megatank – though many argue that such an expenditure is unnecessary in the current era, so it remains an upgrade package rather than a fully integrated system. While this is more a kludge of patchwork and make-do fixes, the modular nature of the Super-MARV makes this more feasible than a similar rebuild on a Predator or Titan. Most importantly, internal changes have finally brought some theoretical refining solutions into active duty, producing mass quantities of STUs.

    "Well, it's obvious it's the first of April, there's 30 letters of intent in the inbox."
    "Yeah, I saw that too. They're not part of a prank, I checked."
    "What? What do you mean they're not part of a prank? Did some fool decide to build half a dozen new hubs?"
    "Just three, but basically, yes. Can we even meet this quota for barrel liners?"
    "No. Not even if we put everyone on 80 hour work weeks and that somehow does not cause everybody to walk off the floor."
    -Enfield Arsenal, weekly coordination meeting.


    [ ] Ultralight Glide Munitions Deployment (Phase 3) (Munitions)
    A final phase of glide munitions is primarily about ensuring lasting stockpiles. While GDI has enough munitions to maintain basic SEAD and DEAD projects, and some ability to strike hard targets using them, it still has the capacity to sling far more bombs than are currently budgeted for.
    (Progress 185/150: 10 resources per die) (-1 Energy) (Projected 3 quarters to begin, 9 to complete)

    Glide munition stocks are at a low point, with substantial numbers used against al-Isfahani throughout the Karachi campaign with significant effect. With the use of these munitions well proven in combat, Initiative air units are demanding that practicing the use of these munitions becomes part of their basic training regime, rather than a nice addition.. Staying out of range of short ranged Brotherhood surface to air missiles, ground based laser emplacements, and, most importantly, the Barghests that tend to hunt bomber groups, lobbing munitions from tens of kilometers out both greatly decreases crew and aircraft losses and makes it more possible to provide air support where needed due to limiting exposure to high threat environments.


    [ ] Orbital Nuclear Caches
    GDI has maintained an increasingly small nuclear stockpile in fortified strongpoints around the world. During the Third Tiberium War, as in previous wars, the Brotherhood of Nod expended significant effort to seize nuclear devices. In order to better secure that arsenal, building a number of small stations in orbit should place them well out of reach of the Brotherhood. Beyond that, adding and upgrading to the arsenal would be a stage of preparation to actually make them usable in politically acceptable ways. (Station)
    (Progress 149/140: 20 resources per die) (MS) (Will time out at end of plan)

    The Initiative's nuclear arsenal is, for the most part, safe. While there are still a few dozen warheads on the ground, they are the oldest types, and most of them are scheduled for decommissioning within the next eighteen months. This has resulted in the Initiative being able to shutter the expensive shell game being played between InOps and the Brotherhood, with few missing it.
    At the same time however, there are political concerns about a power grab by the Treasury and the Space Force. Most military figures see it as them reaching for any weapon that could plausibly blunt a future Visitor attack, especially with nuclear tipped missiles having been used with great effect on Visitor emplacements by the Brotherhood of Nod, but some are more paranoid, seeing it as the Space Force having a relatively cheap to maintain facility that they can use to scavenge even more of the budget. But that is really the extent of the grumbling.



    [ ] GD-3 Deployment (Phase 2) (High Priority) (Refits)
    While the GD-3 is a fundamentally simple and conventional design, there are still the challenges of time, and resources. While the most extensive rollout permits rapidly phasing out the GD-2 within Seo's time in office, even the most modest effort will supply the units that most need them.
    (Progress 185/180: 10 resources per die) (-1 Energy) (Projected 3 quarters to begin, 18 quarters to complete) (Refits)
    (Progress 5/180: 10 resources per die) (-1 Energy) (Projected 3 quarters to begin, 18 quarters to complete) (Refits)

    In terms of use, many soldiers still complain about the weight, finding the rifles large, bulky, and difficult to work with. At the same time however, casualties to fighting Gana at close range have gone substantially down. While the accuracy is suboptimal, especially from the shoulder, Gana are typically not small targets, and even poor hits tend to put a Gana out of action. Previously the go-to answer by the GDI footman when faced with Gana was to hit them with a Thunderbolt-5, which are always in high demand and low supply in the field, as well as gross overkill. With the GD-3 in the hands of soldiers who need them, they now have an effective answer to Gana that saves them the use of a valuable anti-tank tool.

    On the other hand, the armored infantry, especially those with Defender models are very much in favor of the GD-3, with far fewer complaints about weight, and, when using a backpack feed system, have found themselves quite able to suppress many times their number in Brotherhood soldiers through simple overwhelming fire superiority. In some cases, they have even been able to deploy walking fire tactics, advancing in a skirmish line, suppressing Brotherhood forces with constant fire from the advancing force. While these tactics do quickly deplete the munitions of the attacking force, bullets are cheap, bodies are not.


    [ ] Unmanned Support Ground Vehicle Deployment
    While the Talons will not require particularly many vehicles to see a large impact on their total deployable combat force, it will still be a reasonably expensive project simply due to the amount of automation that it requires.
    (Progress 134/240: 20 resources per die) (-1 Capital Goods, -1 Energy)

    Unmanned support vehicles have continued to be a problem. Most of the issues are in the industrial sphere, with multiple problems in terms of quality control and reliability, with sensors coming loose, connections failing, and early production being generally plagued with more than its share of bugs, flaws and bad fixtures. One prototype had to be hastily shut down with a railgun rather than let it engage a nearby Orca out on patrol.

    Otherwise, there have been problems of a lack of regular supply, mostly stemming from the fact that it is the steel talons asking for components that are not typical for them. Relatively few Talons vehicles are tracked, meaning that adding track pods to their requisitions has pulled them in many cases, from either local ground forces or home guard supplies, resulting in political wrangling, and significant inefficiencies there as well.

    [ ] Endorse a Candidate for Director
    Although many expect Seo to make a bid for the big chair, he would be relatively late in declaring his ambitions. Supporting another could make it more likely that whoever ends up winning will support Seo in turn, be it for a later bid for the big chair, or in the Treasury's operations.
    (Harrison Carter: 152/???)

    Harrison Carter has gone from a competitive candidate to a dominating one. Between the endorsement of the Treasury, a strong Militarist and Starbound coalition supporting him, and the fact that he has been active in the highest echelons of Initiative politics since 2050 in a way that few others can match. While it is likely that he will only have one or two terms as director, simply due to age, he is likely to be a firm hand on the tiller, albeit one that has his own challenges to face.

    In terms of Seo's own political future, Carter has been in the upper levels of Initiative government for a decade and a half, and is likely to serve only a couple of terms. In that time, Seo will likely, although not certainly, be able to turn his support for Carter into significant sway in terms of creating Initiative policy.


    A/N: Things are a little tight on my end, so I am going back to the usual e-begging routine. The masters program became too much, so I am a little between things at the moment, and hopefully I can finish things out on a more reasonable update schedule. Ko-fi.com/ithillid
     
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    • Well we can probably use an AA dice to tip over that one RZ hub that almost finished but should probably back off MARV spending after that to let our people train up. This does mean more inhibitors next turn, we should also do vein mines as we still have an income target and at some point from the description we will get underground mit from those. Otherwise a very good turn overall in results, lots of nice stuff done even if the gene clinics did not finish. We should be able to knock out most if not all of our plan goals with a good plan next turn to let q4 just be projects we want.

    Also Bergen finishing is very nice.
     
    Very nice! Mass MARV rollout is good for anti tib work, but by this point i think we really want to look into designing a next gen MARV equivalent. They may well he good for what's there, but they are probably our oldest design in the Super tank category.

    We very much need to get rolling on designs for next gen units and hardware. The GD3 is a good stop gap for infantry rifles, but next gen tanks, mammoths, walkers, all of it really does need work.

    And! We must remember it takes a Shit load of time for navy designs to be actually produced. Designing next gen ships could be started asap and then put down into water fast as well!
     
    Ithillid said:
    Initiative scientists project that if Tiberium manages to substantially progress into the underground Blue Zones to the point none are left, above ground abatement efficiency may decrease by up to sixty percent as it pushes not just laterally, but up towards the surface and down towards the mantle as it devours more and more of the Earth.
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    Without any more U-YZ abatement next turn, if the U-YZ rolls a 71 or higher, it'll break through to the surface. I think we really want to build a lot more Inhibitors next turn, pronto.
     
    Derpmind said:
    Without any more U-YZ abatement next turn, if the U-YZ rolls a 71 or higher, it'll break through to the surface. I think we really want to build a lot more Inhibitors next turn, pronto.
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    Do we need free dice in other categories? If not some in Vein Mines to unlock that mit tool and the rest in Inhibitors seems like a good idea between Free Dice and Tib Dice that is a lot of dice we can put into place.
     
    Well, 8 BZ Inhibitors left, very high chance we can get them online with only 8 Dice.
    Another 4 Dice in YZ Inhibitors.
    Not sure about RZ Inhibitors, definitely yes for future, but do we need them right now or is it better to focus on U-YZ abatement for now?
     
    Oleg-14191 said:
    Well, 8 BZ Inhibitors left, very high chance we can get them online with only 8 Dice.
    Another 4 Dice in YZ Inhibitors.
    Not sure about RZ Inhibitors, definitely yes for future, but do we need them right now or is it better to focus on U-YZ abatement for now?
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    Given that the more dice we put into a project the more likely it is to have a crit fail we probably dont want to go 8 dice on BZ inhibitors as a crit fail there would be quite costly. So some dice on BZ and some on YZ, some also vein mines and tib spikes to spread the dice around and give us multiple angles of underground tib attack. That and we avoid overly stressing any one section of the supply chain.
     
    I was amused by the Congo hub's river issues. After all, the current phase of RZ Harvesting Operations (that unlocks new "regular" glaciers) is the Congo River. So if we had done that phase first, the hub wouldn't be having port issues now. I believe the Amazon River hub would've been the same situation, except we had done the Harvesting and Glacier phases prior or around the same time and so the river was clear for use.

    --

    RZ Inhibitors are a hard yes. They push back the surface RZ's growth (which mind you is still covering nearly half the surface landmass of the planet), but also affects the underground tib and we need U-RZ mitigation desperately. We only have 19 points of U-RZ mitigation currently. It's not even a question. Mitigation has knock on effects because Tiberium is a "networked" entity. When we did the early RZ Border Offensives and the first Deep Red glaciers, tiberium got pulled from the "edges" on at least the surface in order to regrow the glacier as much as possible. Punching holes into RZ areas where Tiberium is lessened or removed weakens tib overall and makes it less likely it'll expand up onto the surface in areas we care about like populated BZ regions.

    Plus, I gotta wonder if there's some sort of bonus for getting past certain thresholds of inhibitors online, or certain clusters of inhibitors. I mean, if we get RZ-1 and 3 inhibitors online, that's the entire Med's RZ set online, which would be pretty concentrated effects in that central Med region. Side note - I wonder if we can get YZ-7 unlocked, or at least the inhibitor install, given that it's deep in Australian BZ now (if so, that'd give us YZ-7/10/11 inhibitors to work on).



    Also, I was right on my guess, the overflow went to south Australia rather than SE Asia/SW Pacific/north Australia.
     
    Ithillid said:
    "Elmo, this is an intervention. We've noticed that your contribution to the project is…crossing a few lines. Now, nothing that will get our funding revoked but we wanted to sit down and make sure you understand how the rest of the lab feels about...her. You're not the only one who's worked on Project Eoria, and you're not the only one who has feelings of affection for her. But you are the one with the most obvious complex towards her. Like, you've done a great job with the cybernetic implants, training the neural tissue, and even with flash memory but…look, we're not here to resurrect your daughter. And even if she is your daughter, it's very strange to name your second child after your first!" -Dr. H. P. West
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    Ah, right. That uh, that definitely sounds like things were going in a problematic direction. Hopefully this intervention was enough. We really don't want people getting funny and extremely unhealthy ideas about how to use this technology.

    Still, full speed ahead! Sounds like this is way ahead of my expectations for the project. I thought this was something like the computers from Stasis, not doing something like building a person. It's kinda ethically fucked, but no moreso then our other AI projects if you think about it.
     
    Nottheunmaker said:
    Ah, right. That uh, that definitely sounds like things were going in a problematic direction. Hopefully this intervention was enough. We really don't want people getting funny and extremely unhealthy ideas about how to use this technology.

    Still, full speed ahead! Sounds like this is way ahead of my expectations for the project. I thought this was something like the computers from Stasis, not doing something like building a person. It's kinda ethically fucked, but no moreso then our other AI projects if you think about it.
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    I'm sure that the scientists will figure something useful wet ai stuff that we can make to help gdi society, but I'm more hopefull that the as a side effect our scientists looking at the nod tech and doing some of their own experiments that it will help develop the medical field in a way that gdi didn't look and what to do before to help it's people,
     
    With the large amount of MARV Reclamator Hubs we've just built dramatically increasing our presence in the Red Zones, it might be worthwhile to put some dice into Red Zone Energy Refits to better support our efforts there. If we plan to put Tiberium Inhibitors in Red Zones, we should be making use of the Ion Storm Collectors to reduce their energy cost on the wider network, which means doing the Refits.
     
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