And this additional processing capability not income if I recall the bonus from the new process right so not worth spending dice on, better to build new plants for the transuranic and keep the old ones running.
Attempting to Fulfill the Plan: GDI Edition
Dmol8
The Undead Unhinged Lunatic of the Web
- Location
- Belgrade,Serbia
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
And a Stage of Tiberium Processing Plants nets us:
600 Processing Capacity. OK so we build up 2 Stages of the Processing plants and then do the refit while also building up our income. Parallel to that we should still research the better Silos for war conditions storage so Nod doesn't add as much Tiberium with the next war.
Q4 2057 Results
- Location
- The Underdark
GDIOnline Q4 2057
By the Rocket's Red Glare: General Initiative Rocketry Thread XXII
Nightingale_Dreams
So, another quarter, and somebody has decided to give out Christmas presents in the theme of SPAAACE! The Stabilizers, a new station that we are pretty sure is for ASAT, more exploration, and even more cleanup operations. Looks like Granger decided to drop a finale on the Starbound Party.
NyaNyaCat
Hm, what are the requirements for joining the Space Force again? It sounds more and more like the easiest path to get to space.
Nightingale_Dreams
If you want to be actually in space, start with a degree in applied mathematics, engineering, or similar. Probably want to go for at least one postgraduate level. While it is the Space Force, a lot of the manpower is still here on the surface.
NyaNyaCat
Too bad.
Time to watch the SCED documentaries on the NASA space program again.
Illelian
Watched the Pathfinder launch, what a time to be alive. A few months ago the second moon landing was hot shit and now we are only a few weeks away from landing on Mars.
YellowZon3r
Wait, did the Grangers just spend 8 years as Director and Treasury sec to pull a "Build a network of Tiberium abatement satellites, refuse to elaborate, leave." Meme on us?
AgathaH
First, SPAAAACE!
Second, called it! Although I have no idea how it works to get Tib to behave from orbit. Digitized whip and chair? Catgirl memes?
Third, woohoo for Pathfinder! A "new form of space drive"? Sounds like someone may have either figured out the alien's propulsion, or maybe adapted something from those reactionless Nod fighters we've been getting rumors about. Some of my friends with contacts in SCED are getting bouncy, so either it's good news for them, or they managed to break into the coffee stash.
FloatingWood
Apparently 'fucking magic' is a valid way of affecting tib from outer space.
Also, I'm hoping the Space Force manages to work on the Moon bases some more. I'm not trusting tib to remain well behaved.
Dr. James Granger (Treasury)
#YellowZon3r
Not quite. A lot of it is classified to various levels, and there are things even I don't know about the operations besides funding it. Because when it comes to something like this. "I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you" definitely applies.
YellowZon3r
This just in, fascist authoritarian leader part of shadowy deepstate and threatens to kill random citizens. Wait, well, not fascist, they extended the Franchise for voting rights...
FloatingWood
You say that like the information office would've informed him of the particulars of the functioning of the stabilizers instead of 'I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you'.
Just because you are high ranked doesn't mean you have the security clearance for everything you want. Wouldn't be the first time high ranking officials got told 'you do not need to know this information' even if it'd be useful.
KryptosAdept
Echoing what FloatingWoof said. Some things are need to know and will not be revealed even if you are higher up and have a higher security clearance. OPSEC is vital, especially with something as critical and serious as tiberium mitigation. Loose lips sink ships and all that.
MermaidKyoto
#NyaNyaCat, you can always try to get a job on the Philadelphia II, though generally that requires either winning a senior elected office, or being one of the most senior and successful members of the bureaucracy.
Speaking of which, #Dr. James Granger, congratulations on your imminent retirement, I hope you find time to enjoy yourself now that you are stepping down.
FloatingWood
Given some of the… let us remain polite and call them individuals, have as 'qualities' as elected officials I would say that getting onto the Philadelphia is not that difficult.
If you manage to get on there though, send us some pictures? The view must be incredible.
Dr. James Granger (Treasury)
#MermaidKyoto
I fully intend to. Probably going to have a lot more time to spend here and might start getting into doing some model painting again. Going to stay busy though.
FloatingWood
Anyone know if Admiral Carter posts in threads like this? I want to know what he's planning with Pathfinder.
AgathaH
#FloatingWood - Wonderful Things
Q4 2057 Results
Resources: 660 + 40 in reserve (15 allocated to the Forgotten) (35 allocated to grants)(5 from Taxes)
Political Support: 80
Free Dice: 6
Fusion Dice: 11(+1 per turn)
Tiberium Spread
16.81 Blue Zone
4.61 Green Zone
22.31 Yellow Zone (86 points of abatement)
56.35 Red Zone (59 points of abatement)
Current Economic Issues:
Housing: Significant Surplus (+6) (34 population in low quality housing) (2 points of refugees)
Energy: Noticeable Surpluses (+4) (+2 in reserve)
Logistics: Major Surpluses (+6)
Food: Major Surpluses (+21) (+8 in reserve)
Health: Showing Strain (+5) (4 consumed by emergency refugee healthcare)
Capital Goods: Gargantuan Surpluses (+10)
Consumer Goods: Significant Surpluses (+21) (+5 from private industry)
Labor: Significant Surpluses (+26) (+2 per turn)
Tiberium Processing Capacity (1305/1600)
Yellow Zone
Water: Notable Surpluses (+6)
Status of the Parties
(strong support, weak support, weak opposition, strong opposition)
Free Market Party: 125 seats (0; 10; 20; 95)
Market Socialist Party: 331 seats (161; 122; 30; 15)
Militarist: 237 seats (53; 150; 20; 14)
Initiative First: 178 seats (0; 0; 78; 100)
United Yellow List: 73 seats (65; 8; 0; 0)
Starbound Party: 155 seats (85; 70; 0; 0)
Socialist Party: 50 seats (34; 16; 0; 0)
Developmentalists: 640 seats (360; 210; 70; 0)
Independents 11 seats
-Biodiversity Party (2 seats: Weak Support)
-Dominion Party (1 seat: Strong Opposition)
-Reclamation Party (5 seats: Weak Support)
-Homeland Party (3 seats: Weak Support)
Military Confidence
Ground Forces : Decent
Air Force : Decent
Space Force : Decent
Steel Talons: Low
Navy: Low
ZOCOM: Decent
Politics
The politics of the Initiative at this time are seeing the ritual bloodletting of reallocation play out. With the Developmentalists holding a plurality, and the rest of parliament too divided to actually contest their decisions, especially with the socialists unwilling to coalition with the Free Market or Initiative First parties, it is looking likely to be a very civilian focused plan, and one that is likely to involve significant expenditures towards space development.
The people who believe that they are going to get the best deal however are the Militarists, as they believe that their policy planks are likely to see significant concessions due to no side wanting them to lose ground to the Initiative First Party. Al-Jilani is on record saying "While we believe that the first priority of the Initiative must be defense, we also cannot forget that our mandate is not just to survive, but to live"
Elections
On December 1, in a closely run campaign, Emiliana Litvinov won her seat as director of the Global Defense Initiative, and in a surprise turnaround, selected Arthur Hackett, her main opposition, as the Deputy Director. While the two are unlikely to make a particularly strong pairing, they are likely to be stable, with one representing each wing of the Initiative's political spectrum.
Part of Litvinov's victory came from Bennett dropping out of the race and endorsing her. While Bennett will retain his position as Secretary of Archives and History, this is likely the end of his broader political ambitions. It is expected that Litvinov will be supporting many of his positions and goals, especially as they overlap her own.
The most surprising result was actually for Harrison Carter, who severely underperformed expectations, primarily due to going out of his way to reject the support of the Initiative First party, and went so far as to publicly reject the endorsements of the few who did offer their support. Beyond that, he published multiple direct policy positions that would offer broader support to Yellow Zone populations, including direct evacuation plans that gave the Terminus Cities the same evacuation priorities as Blue Zone assets
Markets
While workforce is still cheap, the markets are anticipating a rapid onset labor crunch in the near future, with many of the smallest companies actually beginning to fold, or be acquired by larger companies attempting to ensure that their workforce stays with them. While the actual crunch is potentially a year or more out, it is shaking confidence in the markets, especially as many of GDI's branches are gearing up for mass recruitment campaigns.
Beyond that, preparations are being made to request large scale allocations of capital goods from the Treasury, as they are likely desperately needed to free up workforce from the private sector, and to avoid a spiraling price of labor.
With the rapid oncoming end of masses of surplus labor, unionization has gone from being a proposal to a rapidly forming reality. While currently unions only represent some fifteen to twenty percent of the workforce, that has jumped from ten percent in the last quarter, and Parliament has begun moving on pro union regulation, barring companies from firing workers for being in a union, and expanding the rights of unions to operate on company property.
Tiberium Research
Having been conducting a long term study of the health risks involved in Tiberium Infusion technologies as practiced by the Brotherhood of Nod. , the results are a mixed bag. In the short term, especially as a response to Tiberium exposure, the results are stunning. Significant increases in strength, speed, and reaction time with immediate side effects less impactful than any combat drug any military has ever tested. However, the long term effects are far more dangerous. After between one and two decades, the subjects begin to form painful growths around joints as microcrystalline tiberium begins to cluster there. After two decades, the subject begins to see significant degradation in organ function and begins requiring substantial medical care. While very few of the Qatarites being studied received their treatments before the mid 2030s, those who have are seeing significant organ failure problems, chronic bleeding, and a host of other issues, and many have expired under GDI care. While this will likely be the fate of all who have taken the treatments, it is not yet entirely certain.
For those who have advocated in the past for some form of Tiberium infusion treatment this has been discouraging, but not unwelcome news. Although far from free of side effects, most point to the fact that it does not produce an exposure problem until time comes to dispose of the corpse, and beyond that, the Tiberium infusion treatments offer a much longer lifespan, and a much more comfortable one, than tiberium exposure and diseases like Rock Lung.
Looking into the future, the Tiberium Research Labs are likely to be assisting in the ongoing study of the Delta Variant Forgotten, not only Mr. Atreides, but a handful of others who have come forward, along with developing new methodologies to treat surface tiberium exposure, which is one of the most common forms of exposure.
Military
Ground Forces
The Ground Forces have seen a generally quiet quarter, with much of the north settling into winter standpoints, the South has been in the middle of summer, in both cases not particularly good times for operations without significant pushes from one side or the other. This has left them able to focus heavily on preparing for future operations, with shells being stockpiled in warehouses and Ablat being held in reserve as much as possible. While the stockpiles of both are still desperately short compared to the need in the case of general action, they are still growing. But even without significant offensive action, neither will be to the military's satisfaction until the end of the next plan.
Navy
While funding had started near the beginning of the plan, the Navy, in a stunt intended to sway parliament towards their perspective, commissioned six new carriers. With each one taking years to construct, especially with the damages to many of the shipyards still not being made good by the Treasury's efforts, they have only now, at the end of the plan, reached a point where the Navy is happy enough with the ships to conduct commissioning ceremonies. A similar number of battleships is expected in the first months of next year, bringing the totals to somewhere approximating the total number of capital ships that GDI will be using for decades to come.
Air Force
The Air Force, while still waiting on its new Orca refits, is already engaging in more aggressive patrols. Air to Air configuration Venoms, while no longer new, have become an ever increasing share of the formations fielded by the Brotherhood of Nod. With a pair being captured, it is clear that they are using much the same AIM-9 Sidewinder derived technologies that GDI does. While the warhead is substantially different, using a Tiberium core to increase the effective blast radius in air to air actions, the rest of the systems could almost be slotted into older type GDI produced Rattlesnake missiles on a one to one basis.
While confidence in maintaining air supremacy has certainly not returned, the URLS and the hoped for Orca refit do mean that GDI is unlikely to ever have to concede air superiority barring massive Nod concentrations of forces.
Steel Talons.
While the military more broadly has seen a quiet quarter, the Talons have been able to scrape together enough forces, beyond their standard fare of guarding the sites of many of GDI's research institutions, to carry out a series of reprisals across southern africa. While small in number and desulatory in scope, they are some of the first actions that GDI has been able to take in response to the assassination. It has also redoubled their requests for funding for a wide range of developmental projects.
Zone Operations Command
With the pace of Red Zone operations having slowed to a near halt, ZOCOM has been prowling the halls of power, pushing both for universal zone armor deployment, and more specialized weapons, such as sonic artillery, that are designed to fight in and make use of a Tiberium infested environment. Widespread deployment of sonic weapons should, in theory, both bring the price of the systems down, and substantially increase the combat power of all involved. With them looking at opening the next plan with a further mass surge of Red Zone expansions, not only in Central Africa, and the Egyptian Red Zone, but around the world, significantly greater support is high on their priority list as GDI heads into the battle over budgeting for the next four years.
Military Priorities
Currently, the provision of vehicles is generally sufficient. However, many of the existing designs lack the space or other requirements for enhancing capabilities and will require replacements during the coming years.
Brotherhood of Nod
Krukov and Stahl both unveiled new weapons this quarter, both of which offer strong indications of a worrying level of coordination between far flung warlords. Krukov unveiled a new probe/sensor system. Intel suggests that this is primarily a spotter system, designed to coordinate with a separate launch platform to guide longer ranged missile systems to the target in substantial volleys. While so far only seen on Venoms and various forms of buggy, it is a worrying increase in coordination capacity. Stahl on the other hand revealed a new twin arm heavy missile launcher. While not examined closely enough to be entirely sure, it seems to be a relatively short ground launched cruise missile. What is known is that it is a submunition dispenser, unleashing some 12-15 (reports are somewhat contradictory) heat seeking glide munitions. His system seems to use a set of small beacon UAVs, launched from forward deployed forces to call in strikes from missile batteries placed well back from the battlefield.
Gideon meanwhile, has displayed a worrying revolutionary new technology. Calling it a "shield of faith" it is some form of heavy, emplaced, arc perimeter, forcefield technology. While still clearly in the prototyping stage, it does mean that Gideon now has a substantially tougher set of base defenses, somewhat reminiscent of GDI's Firestorm barriers, although almost certainly inferior in performance.
While Nod does seem to be scrambling for some weapon that can blunt or stop GDI offensives, it is almost certain that GDI needs to be pushing ahead on new technologies that can push Nod's developmental resources to the extremes. There are many technologies currently awaiting funding that can continue pushing the edges of the technical and systematic limits.
[ ] Blue Zone Arcologies (Stage 2)
Investing in constructing new arcologies reflects a major and ongoing investment in providing not only livable environments but genuinely pleasant ones. These facilities are not just about comfort however. If needed, these are the hardest structures politically feasible to build in the blue zones, and the most resistant to the spread of Tiberium.
(Progress 409/600: 15 Resources per Die) (++++ Housing, +++ Consumer Goods, -- Energy) (High Priority)
A surge of further resources were poured into arcology construction, and across the initiative the stubby step pyramids are rising from the ground, every day adding flesh and nerves and blood vessels to their bones. While political pressure has not exactly let up, it is slacking, with people looking at a round completing in months rather than years. However, this is not license to slack off. Even with the coming reallocation, and the reduction in budget slated for Treasury, significant progress is likely to be an expectation for every quarter to come, not just from the people, but from their representatives in Parliament. However, significant splits have occurred within the people demanding arcology construction. One side, a smaller but more vocal minority, demand continued rapid construction, no matter what else must be pushed aside. On the other hand, a larger and more moderate group simply asks that a phase be completed before elections, and two more phases after elections, along with whatever the Treasury needs to do in order to maintain a housing surplus of any form.
More broadly, the housing situation in the Initiative has continued to spiral, with many blue zone blocks filled not only with bachelors, but families living out of cramped accommodations. Across the social media sphere, there are stories bouncing back and forth of parents of adult children deciding to move out of duplexes and back into the postwar concrete towers to free up a home for yellow zone families. While overall these are rare, the number has been increasing as the stories make the rounds and other parents make the decision to move.
Beyond that, in the yellow zones, the population has been moving into many of the least desirable houses available, the fortress towns. While they are not yet filled, there are increasingly few spots available, and at current rates, GDI is likely to require more extreme measures in no more than nine months, and likely as little as six before housing moves from being simply undesirable, to actively unavailable.
[ ] Medina Planned City
With the projects to restore Mecca and Jeddah completed, and with them the original spectrum of the Initiative's work in the region, there is one area that still needs attention, the holy city of Medina. With many of the Initiative's potential leaders involved, this is likely to be a high priority project beginning next plan.
(Can spend mixed Tiberium and Infrastructure dice, at least 1 die must be Tiberium)
(Progress 598/640: 20 resources per die) (-- Labor, - Logistics) (10 Political Support) (+2 Red Zone Abatement, +2 Yellow Zone Abatement, +5 RpT, +120 Processing Capacity)
About a hundred and fifty kilometers away, the port of Yanbu has become a bustling supply depot. While the site is only half the distance, and in another direction, from the combined Mecca and Jeddah supply routes, it is substantially easier to bring in supplies by ship than most other means. Around the site is a significant fortification, layers of concentric defences, with dozens of 203mm gun batteries providing a full fortified perimeter. The complex exists to defend the port, and supply dozens of harvesting sites both across the region, and many more to the north. While not expected to hold long term in the case of an outbreak of violence across the sector, there are no warlords in the region who have the demonstrated capacity to storm it, and it is effectively impossible to siege due to its nature as a port, and GDI's ability to sail cruisers in to cover any evacuation.
In Medina itself, a long layered curtain wall has been erected across the site. In front is a layer of sonic fencing, and behind that, a series of sonic projectors. Taking up nearly a week's worth of global production, it has turned the city into something of a bastion against Tiberium. Inside the city, construction work is going well, with most construction teams having moved up from Jeddah and Mecca.
Over the region as a whole, there is definitely an air of discontent, as GDI has not quite yet finished the city programs and has continued to pour resources into the area. With the Red Sea now effectively a GDI lake, it is not exactly safe, but it is far safer than many of the routes that GDI asks its merchant marine to take.
[ ] Continuous Cycle Fusion Plants
First wave continuous cycle fusion plants are still somewhat under development. However, they are ready enough for mass roll out, with only a few kinks in the connection systems remaining before they can be linked to the grid as a whole.
(Progress 333/350: 20 Resources per Die) (+++++ Energy) (High Priority)
Around the world, sixteen major complexes are in the process of being erected. However their opening has been unfortunately delayed by a few final rounds of issues, and a number of safety checks. While, in total, the consequences are not likely to be particularly severe. A major milestone has been left for Seo Thoki to reap the rewards of.
These power plants will offer a heady mix of capabilities. Not only are they as capable of supplying baseload power as a nuclear plant, they are far more scalable, with fewer risks and greater responsiveness than even GDI's most modern nuclear power systems. While still significantly more expensive than a comparable output of nuclear designs, they are also far more capable.
"Had an unexpected safety test failure the other day with one of the new test reactors, when the crew, instead of shutting it down, accidentally brought the power output above the maximum safe level and flash-heated the superconductor loop above its critical temperature. Obviously, the entire magnetic trap is a loss, but I'm amazed that this was even possible. I know we're not working with the best engineers for delta-shift, but that even they could screw up this bad indicates major trouble in design and training. We need to go back to the basics with all our crews, and also code some new lock-outs for the system to stop power spikes when the temperature in the superconducting loop is dangerously high." - Oral Testimony by Juan Hernandez, B2 Fusion Plant Test Supervisor
[ ] Reykjavik Myomer Macrospinner
With the Johannesburg plant proving the point, Reykjavik will be a good site to expand production and increase output, providing for mass production of the material, and hardening the supply in case of sabotage or destruction of the Johannesburg plant.
(Progress 81/80: 20 resources per die)
The first phase of the macrospinner assembly has gone relatively well. Few major problems have cropped up, aside from the first shipment of fungal spores going badly. While a second shipment made good on the problem, it did mean some delays in completion of the initial round of bioreactors. Future phases will begin setting up the ropeworks and the other systems, repeating many of the processes of the Johannesburg plant. Work has been noticeably more efficient than the Johannesburg plant, as GDI is not repeating some of the mistakes of the past. With this, a general hardening of the supply of myomer bundles is possible, a vital step, as they have shot towards being one of the most demanded products in the Initiative's supply chains due to their light weight, low power demands, and high strength.
[ ] Pharmaceutical Synthesis Centers
A variety of high-end medications, ranging from insulin, chemotherapy, psychopharmaca, vaccines, antiviral and antibiotic substances are difficult to produce in sufficient quantities without the right equipment. Building additional synthesising centres will bolster the supply of critical medications and help with the increased demand by the growing population under GDIs umbrella.
(Progress 220/250: 15 resources per die) (+++ Health, -- Energy)
While the Synthesis centers have made significant movement towards completion, a number of critical systems are not yet up to standards. For one thing, ensuring end to end cooling is absolutely vital, and multiple test loads (although they were some of the longest routes) failed during transit. Similarly, strategic storage sites are still under construction, with only a relative handful actually complete. A further surge of funds should finish these elements and allow the factories, which have been completed to the satisfaction of the Initiative, to be brought fully online.
To look more broadly at the Initiative's medical system, there are broadly a set of major rates. At the top there is generally trauma care. Below that falls various critical chronic conditions, and below that there are increasingly less immediately vital conditions. Where the synthesis centers are focused is on those chronic conditions. For example, there are relatively few facilities remaining after the third tiberium war that are certified to produce antiandrogens and other medicines for HRT making that treatment effectively unavailable. Similar situations exist across the Initiative. While current medical surpluses help significantly, providing a steady supply of medication is vital.
[ ] Agricultural Support
Providing support to the Forgotten is something that should be a relatively simple affair, moving experts and material into the settlements is something that will likely closely mimic what has been done with Yellow Zone settlements and should see similar impacts to nutrition and food availability.
(Progress 234/150: 10 resources per die)
Rather than simply giving shipments of construction materials, GDI began shipping entire MCV packages. Building GDI specification buildings from scratch is not exactly the cheapest option, but one that can work, and was the best use of the funding given to the project. In case of war, there are now dozens of forward deployed MCVs in friendly territory that can be used for spoiling attacks or defending the Forgotten depending on the overall strategic situation.
They have been set to construct GDI type buildings on the pattern of the barracks system. Each can sustain four runs, in a 2x2 layout. While not long enough for continuous production of some of the longer growing crops, they can provide masses of high nutrition crops, including a small production of Entari. While this is only supplementary at this point, if conflict comes, relatively minor ramp ups of production can begin supplying the Forgotten almost exclusively, and more efficiently than their current production methods.
The liaisons are likely to stay for another six months to a year, in increasingly superfluous roles, but still critical ones aas GDI cannot afford to allow these systems to break down.
[ ] Tiberium Stabilizers
A low orbit satellite network stretching around the world, each stabilizer is a lotus of panels and transmitter systems. With the system needing to come online all at once, the entire network will have to be launched before the Initiative can make use of it.
(Progress 2077/2000: 30 resources per die) (---- Capital Goods) (Increases time between mutation rolls from 1d4 to 1d4+1) (+25 PS) (Fusion)
While the pace slowed from the last quarter's breakneck drumbeat, the Tiberium Stabilizers, at 093002.031 Zulu Time, December 17th 2057, in perfect synchronicity began to transmit. At 1030, Doctor Granger spoke to the people, in what would be his last public appearance before his retirement.
"A year ago, GDI scientists announced that Tiberium itself was beginning to change. To alter itself into forms that made our existing methods of control increasingly less effective.
An hour ago, a network of satellites built to stop tiberium's ongoing mutation activated. Today marks the greatest blow struck against Tiberium in all of human history. But I cannot take credit for this. It was the work of millions around the globe, a joint, concerted effort. Not only those few brave men and women who made launch after launch to bring the network online. Not only to those who worked tirelessly to build the satellites. Not only the brave souls in Chicago and Jeddah braving attack time and again to supply the materials for the satellites. But to every working citizen of the Initiative. Whether you grew the crops, refined the Tiberium, or filed the paperwork, the network of lights in the sky is your work, and your sacrifices."
While it is not a permanent solution to the problems of mutation, and does not solve the Tiberium problem as a whole, it buys decades for other solutions, other methods, and for GDI's scientists to try and find a means to either escape it, defeat it, or live with it in some form.
[ ] GDIS Pathfinder
The gravitic drive has met initial use testing, and it is ready for a more thorough test. A relatively small testbed ship is the next step towards granting the Initiative the ability to use the drive system practically. While it will be a major project, and require construction of many of the tools to make the tools, it is a first step towards a mass producible drive design.
(Progress 321/300: 30 resources per die)
The Pathfinder made its maiden voyage two days after the completion of the stabilizer, as a test run took them to the moon and back entirely on gravitic power. Marking the first manned voyage by gravitic drive, the news has been mostly buried under the thunder of the fusion launches carrying the stabilizer network into orbit, and the other launches. However, with it, the solar system is fully unlocked for GDI's use, with only the timeline being under debate.
While future systems are likely to be somewhat significantly less expensive, they are likely to remain significant line items for GDI's overall budget, and one that is heavily constrained by the number of Hewlett-Gardener method refineries that GDI is supporting.
Currently, the plan for the future begins with building either an expansion to Enterprise, or a dedicated orbital shipyard that can handle a 500 displacement ton ship, and likely a number of Pathfinder repeats to provide the logistical backbone for Martian colonization. Beyond that, everything depends on the pace of discoveries and development. GDI sincerely hopes that increases in speed and decreases in cost can be managed in the near future, with rapid development towards a significantly better design.
"Ever since humans could look up to the stars in the night sky, we have asked what could be up there. At first much of it was subject of myth and legend, but as human society and science advanced so did our understanding of the cosmos. Little by little, invention by invention, great minds mapped out the solar system and the stars with nothing more than simple instruments and the mathematics of their time. By the late 1960s, as part of the space race between the United States of America and the USSR, mankind put a man on the moon, bringing the stars finally within our reach. These discoveries lead to our imaginations being filled with stories of what could be discovered out there, of interstellar empires, worlds filled with strange life and other wonders, but they also lead to a painful realization. The void between the stars and planets is a cold ocean, dark and hostile to life, with the rare islands separated by unimaginably great distances. And yet we pushed on, our drive for discovery enabling us to send out small ships across this great ocean. We stand on the shoulders of those who have brought us this far. For them, for us and for those that will come after, I can proudly say that we made the ocean between the stars a little smaller today." - Admiral Harrison Carter
[ ] Orbital Cleanup (Stage 7)
With much of the largest and slowest of the debris collected, all that remains is the increasingly small and fast dust and sand remaining in the orbitals. While still significantly problematic, it is unfortunately much less profitable to mine, as there is not enough material left to save launches.
(Progress 103/90: 15 resources per die) (Opens new Space Projects) (20-25 resources) (Fusion)
The work on cleaning up the orbitals has continued. While magnetic sweeping has caught significant portions of the materials, much of the remainder is not magnetic and won't get caught by that means. At this point, one of the most effective means is simple catchment sails. However, progress is still very slow, as much of this is increasingly small pieces. This has been a relatively slow and expensive process, although the sails, woven from somewhat elastic materials, are quite reusable. This is likely to be the theme for much of the remaining debris, assuming new and more efficient methods are not developed, although some GDI scientists believe that there is potential for gravitic drives to be able to sweep larger areas, given the distortion in orbits in the asteroid belt. This proposal may see small scale funding, but currently the price of even a single unit is far too expensive.
[ ] NOD Research Initiatives
While the lowest hanging fruit has been plucked, there is still much more on the tree. Following up and authorizing another major round of funding, grants, and research programs will provide the impetus for more research into the Brotherhood's so called "technologies of peace"
(Progress 100/160 : 30 resources per die)
While the previous round was primarily derived from the work of the Qatarite defectors, the serious developments with this call for funding have primarily come from GDI research groups from across the Initiative. Ranging from cybernetics, stealth, and lasers, to biological systems and Nod's so called "divination" proposals have poured in. While all need funding, research assistants and test subjects, few are likely to pan out even to the point of collecting enough evidence to begin pushing towards full development, and even fewer are likely to prove revolutionary. However, this does not mean that GDI will not absolutely require their assistance. Right now, many projects simply need further allocations of funding to provide initial results, and perhaps lead into novel developments.
[ ] Scrin Research Institutions
While the Scrin material has provided substantial advantages already, Initiative scientists believe that there is still more that can be gained by studying the remnants of the invaders. While it will be expensive, the last round of research has already more than paid off.
(Progress 160/350: 30 resources per die)
With the easiest options already well and truly picked over, there are still high hopes for the remaining materials. With assistance from the Forgotten, requests for resources and more importantly pieces of Scrin technology have come pouring in. With teams attempting to do everything from translating Scrin records to cracking their Tiberium harvesting and processing methodologies, to their ships and hover technologies. Work has already begun on some, and applications are still pouring in. However, none are particularly close to having results, and few are likely to actually produce useful breakthroughs. However, hopes are still high for revolutionary technologies that can break the tactical paradigm of modern warfare, or the economic paradigm of the modern Initiative. Even so, many of the applications are for basic research, attempting to understand some of the base principles and expand GDI's understanding of the natural world.
[ ] Prosthetics Deployment Initiatives (Phase 1)
While deployment of the prosthetics will primarily be the domain of the welfare department, building dedicated factories and clinics focused on the working population will speed deployment and ensure a steady increase in the effectiveness of GDI's workforce.
(Progress: 80/80: 15 resources per die) (- Health, + Labor per turn)
(Progress 160/160: 15 resources per die) (- Health, + Labor per turn)
(Progress 2/160: 15 resources per die) (- Health, + Labor per turn)
Contrary to the fears of large sections of GDI's mobility impaired, deployment of the new advanced prosthetics has been global and rapid. In a combined effort from both the Treasury and Welfare departments, most major hospital complexes have established specialty prosthetics units staffed to handle installation of the new prosthetics, and a steady stream of long term disabled civilians and military veterans alike are beginning to walk out of their operating rooms and back into offices, workshops and factories. While waiting lists remain long, managers of the rollout in both Treasury and Health are confident that it will reach the entire population in need given enough time. However, there is a limit to what the existing infrastructure can reach, as many components need maintenance every 1-3 years on average. At the same time, it has been instrumental in returning increasing numbers of mobility impaired individuals to the workforce. The new prosthetics have proven to be of disproportionate interest to inhabitants of the Green Zones, where the routine hazards of environmental exposure to Tiberium, and the prevalence of unexploded munitions after six decades of war have resulted in a limb impairment rate several times that of even GDI military veterans. While this is only one of the myriad of health problems that recent immigrants and refugees present with, the availability of free advanced prosthetics serves as a significant quality of life improvement that helps the afflicted individuals care for themselves, relieving some of the strain on GDI's social services. Classified InOps YZ bulletins also report a measurable improvement in the Initiative Loyalty Index indicators in YZ communities where recipients are known to reside. What, if anything, that portends, remains to be seen.
The quiet success of this program has not gone unnoticed, with other patient and research groups beginning pressure campaigns whether directly or through their Parliamentary representatives to secure Treasury funding for medical research programs. Particular standouts include veterans groups pushing a variety of vision replacement treatments for soldiers who lost their sight to combat injury, and a coalition of groups attempting to secure more funding for the xenograft organ program. While the former has been found to be nonviable under the advanced prosthetics program, the latter has more possibilities, some of which may serve to assist the former at a later point.
[ ] ASAT Defense System (Phase 3)
Further development of the ASAT system requires a second control hub for increased redundancy, and a means of bringing the full system online in case the ground base is destroyed. While this will not bring any more ASAT equipment online, it will prepare the system for further expansion with new weapons, and novel methods.
(Progress 225/225: 30 resources per die) (Fusion) (high priority)
(Progress 36/225: 30 resources per die) (Fusion)
After four years of no progress, the ASAT system finally got a much needed upgrade. A second orbital station has been assembled and crewed. At this point, the ground base is fully redundant. Beyond that, it has significantly increased the complexity of any operation to destroy the ASAT system. Inops expects that any attack with conventional technology will be defeated by the system as it stands. However, the risks when facing the Brotherhood have never been conventional. Massive laser installations, plasma weapons, Ion disruptors, and other systems still have potential to defeat the ASAT network by main force, while gravitic drives and stealth could potentially bypass the system entirely, and allow the Brotherhood to stab the entire system in the back. While currently all are believed to be little more than the paranoid dreams of the Department of Information, it is something to be severely concerned with.
For the immediate future there are two further steps that can be taken. First, building in additional control redundancy, and second beginning to substantially diversify the network. Current systems are primarily reliant on the Ion Cannon, and for good reason. An Ion Cannon simply does not have to hit. Even a relatively close miss can destroy incoming munitions, or throw them far enough off course that it lacks the DeltaV to make its target. Conversely, the other two legs of the ASAT network are quite secondary. Existing orbital laser systems, while more than marginally effective, are also slow firing, and have a somewhat limited spectrum of targets that they are effective against. Finally, there are kinetic impactor arrays on many orbits, but these have both a time to target problem, and an accuracy problem, as they are some of the oldest pieces of the current system, with some pods dating back to the late 90s.
"What's living and working on ASAT-O-II like? Pretty unexciting. It's exactly like down in Greenland if not for the fact that our shower time is rationed and you can't exactly go outside. My shifts consist of doing warm-up tests for the weapon arrays and calling Maintenance if one of them is sickly to do a check up. Have not fired the damn thing once so far. The thing that keeps me sane up here is the view. Earth is beautiful from up here, even covered by Tiberium. I could spend hours on the observation deck. I will try to send you some pictures. Lets hope InOps does not classify them after dissecting my emails for secret communication attempts or something. Hope to see you soon." - LT Jenna Higgs to Cora Lebadjev
Office of Information Security internal communique: Right, so what is the SOP for stuff like this again? Given that this is a critical military installation that everybody with a decent backyard telescope can find, I think it is 'no e-mails, no pictures of the equipment, nothing that can be used to figure out who works for the ASAT office', so pictures of Earth from the observation deck should be fine, as long as we get to look through pictures on the datastick to check.
[ ] Governor Class Cruiser Shipyards
Rebuilding some of GDI's battleship docks into half sized cruiser sections will save on resources, however they will require major investments in capital goods. These yards will take some significant time to begin major developments however, with a cruiser taking months to construct, and longer to fit out for service. (Very High Priority)
- [ ] Rosyth (Progress 155/185: 20 resources per die) (- Capital Goods, -- Energy, - Labor)
The Rosyth yard has run into chronic problems. With the project lead falling ill shortly after the deputy retired, the project was left in the hands of lower ranking individuals, many of which were not quite as aware of the whole project as they probably should have been. The total result has been significant misallocation of resources, slowdowns in overall work, and poor coordination between working groups leading to even more slowdowns, and chronic other issues. While some progress has been made, it is far from the finalizing of the project the way it was planned.
More broadly, the Governor program as a whole is somewhat behind schedule, with fewer ships completed or commissioned than hoped for. While certainly impactful, and the navy likely to reach its prewar number of ships in the coming years, they have not yet reached a point where total combat capabilities are anywhere near the same. While the Governor program, even at a relatively slow rate, will be completed by the end of the coming plan, leaving the Navy in a strengthening but still precarious state, even with new carriers and battleships filling in holes in the existing order of battle. Fortunately, the Brotherhood navy is itself a limited commodity, with no indication of new surface warships. While this is certainly not the same thing as no new surface warships, it does mean that anyone who does have them is not using them either against GDI or against the other warlords.
[ ] Security Reviews
GDI has often faced problems with infiltration by the Brotherhood of Nod. A full security review of one department of operations can mitigate or discover infiltration, however it will take a significant amount of effort. (DC 55 + 1 operations die) (86)
GDI's Orbital services are still quite paranoid about infiltration, although they have slacked off somewhat about launching Nod infiltrators into red zones. However, the Intelligence services have found a handful of small scale infiltrations into the procurement services. While these (unlike the infiltrations found in the military early in Granger's career) are look only, jacking onto some of the auditing systems, they do indicate that the Brotherhood of Nod has been aware of the massive efforts put into the stabilizer network, and more broadly into space development.
By the Rocket's Red Glare: General Initiative Rocketry Thread XXII
Nightingale_Dreams
So, another quarter, and somebody has decided to give out Christmas presents in the theme of SPAAACE! The Stabilizers, a new station that we are pretty sure is for ASAT, more exploration, and even more cleanup operations. Looks like Granger decided to drop a finale on the Starbound Party.
NyaNyaCat
Hm, what are the requirements for joining the Space Force again? It sounds more and more like the easiest path to get to space.
Nightingale_Dreams
If you want to be actually in space, start with a degree in applied mathematics, engineering, or similar. Probably want to go for at least one postgraduate level. While it is the Space Force, a lot of the manpower is still here on the surface.
NyaNyaCat
Too bad.
Time to watch the SCED documentaries on the NASA space program again.Illelian
Watched the Pathfinder launch, what a time to be alive. A few months ago the second moon landing was hot shit and now we are only a few weeks away from landing on Mars.
YellowZon3r
Wait, did the Grangers just spend 8 years as Director and Treasury sec to pull a "Build a network of Tiberium abatement satellites, refuse to elaborate, leave." Meme on us?
AgathaH
First, SPAAAACE!
Second, called it! Although I have no idea how it works to get Tib to behave from orbit. Digitized whip and chair? Catgirl memes?
Third, woohoo for Pathfinder! A "new form of space drive"? Sounds like someone may have either figured out the alien's propulsion, or maybe adapted something from those reactionless Nod fighters we've been getting rumors about. Some of my friends with contacts in SCED are getting bouncy, so either it's good news for them, or they managed to break into the coffee stash.
FloatingWood
Apparently 'fucking magic' is a valid way of affecting tib from outer space.
Also, I'm hoping the Space Force manages to work on the Moon bases some more. I'm not trusting tib to remain well behaved.
Dr. James Granger (Treasury)
#YellowZon3r
Not quite. A lot of it is classified to various levels, and there are things even I don't know about the operations besides funding it. Because when it comes to something like this. "I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you" definitely applies.
YellowZon3r
This just in, fascist authoritarian leader part of shadowy deepstate and threatens to kill random citizens. Wait, well, not fascist, they extended the Franchise for voting rights...
FloatingWood
You say that like the information office would've informed him of the particulars of the functioning of the stabilizers instead of 'I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you'.
Just because you are high ranked doesn't mean you have the security clearance for everything you want. Wouldn't be the first time high ranking officials got told 'you do not need to know this information' even if it'd be useful.
KryptosAdept
Echoing what FloatingWoof said. Some things are need to know and will not be revealed even if you are higher up and have a higher security clearance. OPSEC is vital, especially with something as critical and serious as tiberium mitigation. Loose lips sink ships and all that.
MermaidKyoto
#NyaNyaCat, you can always try to get a job on the Philadelphia II, though generally that requires either winning a senior elected office, or being one of the most senior and successful members of the bureaucracy.
Speaking of which, #Dr. James Granger, congratulations on your imminent retirement, I hope you find time to enjoy yourself now that you are stepping down.
FloatingWood
Given some of the… let us remain polite and call them individuals, have as 'qualities' as elected officials I would say that getting onto the Philadelphia is not that difficult.
If you manage to get on there though, send us some pictures? The view must be incredible.
Dr. James Granger (Treasury)
#MermaidKyoto
I fully intend to. Probably going to have a lot more time to spend here and might start getting into doing some model painting again. Going to stay busy though.
FloatingWood
Anyone know if Admiral Carter posts in threads like this? I want to know what he's planning with Pathfinder.
AgathaH
#FloatingWood - Wonderful Things
Q4 2057 Results
Resources: 660 + 40 in reserve (15 allocated to the Forgotten) (35 allocated to grants)(5 from Taxes)
Political Support: 80
Free Dice: 6
Fusion Dice: 11(+1 per turn)
Tiberium Spread
16.81 Blue Zone
4.61 Green Zone
22.31 Yellow Zone (86 points of abatement)
56.35 Red Zone (59 points of abatement)
Current Economic Issues:
Housing: Significant Surplus (+6) (34 population in low quality housing) (2 points of refugees)
Energy: Noticeable Surpluses (+4) (+2 in reserve)
Logistics: Major Surpluses (+6)
Food: Major Surpluses (+21) (+8 in reserve)
Health: Showing Strain (+5) (4 consumed by emergency refugee healthcare)
Capital Goods: Gargantuan Surpluses (+10)
Consumer Goods: Significant Surpluses (+21) (+5 from private industry)
Labor: Significant Surpluses (+26) (+2 per turn)
Tiberium Processing Capacity (1305/1600)
Yellow Zone
Water: Notable Surpluses (+6)
Status of the Parties
(strong support, weak support, weak opposition, strong opposition)
Free Market Party: 125 seats (0; 10; 20; 95)
Market Socialist Party: 331 seats (161; 122; 30; 15)
Militarist: 237 seats (53; 150; 20; 14)
Initiative First: 178 seats (0; 0; 78; 100)
United Yellow List: 73 seats (65; 8; 0; 0)
Starbound Party: 155 seats (85; 70; 0; 0)
Socialist Party: 50 seats (34; 16; 0; 0)
Developmentalists: 640 seats (360; 210; 70; 0)
Independents 11 seats
-Biodiversity Party (2 seats: Weak Support)
-Dominion Party (1 seat: Strong Opposition)
-Reclamation Party (5 seats: Weak Support)
-Homeland Party (3 seats: Weak Support)
Military Confidence
Ground Forces : Decent
Air Force : Decent
Space Force : Decent
Steel Talons: Low
Navy: Low
ZOCOM: Decent
Politics
The politics of the Initiative at this time are seeing the ritual bloodletting of reallocation play out. With the Developmentalists holding a plurality, and the rest of parliament too divided to actually contest their decisions, especially with the socialists unwilling to coalition with the Free Market or Initiative First parties, it is looking likely to be a very civilian focused plan, and one that is likely to involve significant expenditures towards space development.
The people who believe that they are going to get the best deal however are the Militarists, as they believe that their policy planks are likely to see significant concessions due to no side wanting them to lose ground to the Initiative First Party. Al-Jilani is on record saying "While we believe that the first priority of the Initiative must be defense, we also cannot forget that our mandate is not just to survive, but to live"
Elections
On December 1, in a closely run campaign, Emiliana Litvinov won her seat as director of the Global Defense Initiative, and in a surprise turnaround, selected Arthur Hackett, her main opposition, as the Deputy Director. While the two are unlikely to make a particularly strong pairing, they are likely to be stable, with one representing each wing of the Initiative's political spectrum.
Part of Litvinov's victory came from Bennett dropping out of the race and endorsing her. While Bennett will retain his position as Secretary of Archives and History, this is likely the end of his broader political ambitions. It is expected that Litvinov will be supporting many of his positions and goals, especially as they overlap her own.
The most surprising result was actually for Harrison Carter, who severely underperformed expectations, primarily due to going out of his way to reject the support of the Initiative First party, and went so far as to publicly reject the endorsements of the few who did offer their support. Beyond that, he published multiple direct policy positions that would offer broader support to Yellow Zone populations, including direct evacuation plans that gave the Terminus Cities the same evacuation priorities as Blue Zone assets
Markets
While workforce is still cheap, the markets are anticipating a rapid onset labor crunch in the near future, with many of the smallest companies actually beginning to fold, or be acquired by larger companies attempting to ensure that their workforce stays with them. While the actual crunch is potentially a year or more out, it is shaking confidence in the markets, especially as many of GDI's branches are gearing up for mass recruitment campaigns.
Beyond that, preparations are being made to request large scale allocations of capital goods from the Treasury, as they are likely desperately needed to free up workforce from the private sector, and to avoid a spiraling price of labor.
With the rapid oncoming end of masses of surplus labor, unionization has gone from being a proposal to a rapidly forming reality. While currently unions only represent some fifteen to twenty percent of the workforce, that has jumped from ten percent in the last quarter, and Parliament has begun moving on pro union regulation, barring companies from firing workers for being in a union, and expanding the rights of unions to operate on company property.
Tiberium Research
Having been conducting a long term study of the health risks involved in Tiberium Infusion technologies as practiced by the Brotherhood of Nod. , the results are a mixed bag. In the short term, especially as a response to Tiberium exposure, the results are stunning. Significant increases in strength, speed, and reaction time with immediate side effects less impactful than any combat drug any military has ever tested. However, the long term effects are far more dangerous. After between one and two decades, the subjects begin to form painful growths around joints as microcrystalline tiberium begins to cluster there. After two decades, the subject begins to see significant degradation in organ function and begins requiring substantial medical care. While very few of the Qatarites being studied received their treatments before the mid 2030s, those who have are seeing significant organ failure problems, chronic bleeding, and a host of other issues, and many have expired under GDI care. While this will likely be the fate of all who have taken the treatments, it is not yet entirely certain.
For those who have advocated in the past for some form of Tiberium infusion treatment this has been discouraging, but not unwelcome news. Although far from free of side effects, most point to the fact that it does not produce an exposure problem until time comes to dispose of the corpse, and beyond that, the Tiberium infusion treatments offer a much longer lifespan, and a much more comfortable one, than tiberium exposure and diseases like Rock Lung.
Looking into the future, the Tiberium Research Labs are likely to be assisting in the ongoing study of the Delta Variant Forgotten, not only Mr. Atreides, but a handful of others who have come forward, along with developing new methodologies to treat surface tiberium exposure, which is one of the most common forms of exposure.
Military
Ground Forces
The Ground Forces have seen a generally quiet quarter, with much of the north settling into winter standpoints, the South has been in the middle of summer, in both cases not particularly good times for operations without significant pushes from one side or the other. This has left them able to focus heavily on preparing for future operations, with shells being stockpiled in warehouses and Ablat being held in reserve as much as possible. While the stockpiles of both are still desperately short compared to the need in the case of general action, they are still growing. But even without significant offensive action, neither will be to the military's satisfaction until the end of the next plan.
Navy
While funding had started near the beginning of the plan, the Navy, in a stunt intended to sway parliament towards their perspective, commissioned six new carriers. With each one taking years to construct, especially with the damages to many of the shipyards still not being made good by the Treasury's efforts, they have only now, at the end of the plan, reached a point where the Navy is happy enough with the ships to conduct commissioning ceremonies. A similar number of battleships is expected in the first months of next year, bringing the totals to somewhere approximating the total number of capital ships that GDI will be using for decades to come.
Air Force
The Air Force, while still waiting on its new Orca refits, is already engaging in more aggressive patrols. Air to Air configuration Venoms, while no longer new, have become an ever increasing share of the formations fielded by the Brotherhood of Nod. With a pair being captured, it is clear that they are using much the same AIM-9 Sidewinder derived technologies that GDI does. While the warhead is substantially different, using a Tiberium core to increase the effective blast radius in air to air actions, the rest of the systems could almost be slotted into older type GDI produced Rattlesnake missiles on a one to one basis.
While confidence in maintaining air supremacy has certainly not returned, the URLS and the hoped for Orca refit do mean that GDI is unlikely to ever have to concede air superiority barring massive Nod concentrations of forces.
Steel Talons.
While the military more broadly has seen a quiet quarter, the Talons have been able to scrape together enough forces, beyond their standard fare of guarding the sites of many of GDI's research institutions, to carry out a series of reprisals across southern africa. While small in number and desulatory in scope, they are some of the first actions that GDI has been able to take in response to the assassination. It has also redoubled their requests for funding for a wide range of developmental projects.
Zone Operations Command
With the pace of Red Zone operations having slowed to a near halt, ZOCOM has been prowling the halls of power, pushing both for universal zone armor deployment, and more specialized weapons, such as sonic artillery, that are designed to fight in and make use of a Tiberium infested environment. Widespread deployment of sonic weapons should, in theory, both bring the price of the systems down, and substantially increase the combat power of all involved. With them looking at opening the next plan with a further mass surge of Red Zone expansions, not only in Central Africa, and the Egyptian Red Zone, but around the world, significantly greater support is high on their priority list as GDI heads into the battle over budgeting for the next four years.
Military Priorities
- Ground Forces
Currently, the provision of vehicles is generally sufficient. However, many of the existing designs lack the space or other requirements for enhancing capabilities and will require replacements during the coming years.
- Steel Talons
- Air Force
- Navy
- Space Force
Brotherhood of Nod
Krukov and Stahl both unveiled new weapons this quarter, both of which offer strong indications of a worrying level of coordination between far flung warlords. Krukov unveiled a new probe/sensor system. Intel suggests that this is primarily a spotter system, designed to coordinate with a separate launch platform to guide longer ranged missile systems to the target in substantial volleys. While so far only seen on Venoms and various forms of buggy, it is a worrying increase in coordination capacity. Stahl on the other hand revealed a new twin arm heavy missile launcher. While not examined closely enough to be entirely sure, it seems to be a relatively short ground launched cruise missile. What is known is that it is a submunition dispenser, unleashing some 12-15 (reports are somewhat contradictory) heat seeking glide munitions. His system seems to use a set of small beacon UAVs, launched from forward deployed forces to call in strikes from missile batteries placed well back from the battlefield.
Gideon meanwhile, has displayed a worrying revolutionary new technology. Calling it a "shield of faith" it is some form of heavy, emplaced, arc perimeter, forcefield technology. While still clearly in the prototyping stage, it does mean that Gideon now has a substantially tougher set of base defenses, somewhat reminiscent of GDI's Firestorm barriers, although almost certainly inferior in performance.
While Nod does seem to be scrambling for some weapon that can blunt or stop GDI offensives, it is almost certain that GDI needs to be pushing ahead on new technologies that can push Nod's developmental resources to the extremes. There are many technologies currently awaiting funding that can continue pushing the edges of the technical and systematic limits.
[ ] Blue Zone Arcologies (Stage 2)
Investing in constructing new arcologies reflects a major and ongoing investment in providing not only livable environments but genuinely pleasant ones. These facilities are not just about comfort however. If needed, these are the hardest structures politically feasible to build in the blue zones, and the most resistant to the spread of Tiberium.
(Progress 409/600: 15 Resources per Die) (++++ Housing, +++ Consumer Goods, -- Energy) (High Priority)
A surge of further resources were poured into arcology construction, and across the initiative the stubby step pyramids are rising from the ground, every day adding flesh and nerves and blood vessels to their bones. While political pressure has not exactly let up, it is slacking, with people looking at a round completing in months rather than years. However, this is not license to slack off. Even with the coming reallocation, and the reduction in budget slated for Treasury, significant progress is likely to be an expectation for every quarter to come, not just from the people, but from their representatives in Parliament. However, significant splits have occurred within the people demanding arcology construction. One side, a smaller but more vocal minority, demand continued rapid construction, no matter what else must be pushed aside. On the other hand, a larger and more moderate group simply asks that a phase be completed before elections, and two more phases after elections, along with whatever the Treasury needs to do in order to maintain a housing surplus of any form.
More broadly, the housing situation in the Initiative has continued to spiral, with many blue zone blocks filled not only with bachelors, but families living out of cramped accommodations. Across the social media sphere, there are stories bouncing back and forth of parents of adult children deciding to move out of duplexes and back into the postwar concrete towers to free up a home for yellow zone families. While overall these are rare, the number has been increasing as the stories make the rounds and other parents make the decision to move.
Beyond that, in the yellow zones, the population has been moving into many of the least desirable houses available, the fortress towns. While they are not yet filled, there are increasingly few spots available, and at current rates, GDI is likely to require more extreme measures in no more than nine months, and likely as little as six before housing moves from being simply undesirable, to actively unavailable.
[ ] Medina Planned City
With the projects to restore Mecca and Jeddah completed, and with them the original spectrum of the Initiative's work in the region, there is one area that still needs attention, the holy city of Medina. With many of the Initiative's potential leaders involved, this is likely to be a high priority project beginning next plan.
(Can spend mixed Tiberium and Infrastructure dice, at least 1 die must be Tiberium)
(Progress 598/640: 20 resources per die) (-- Labor, - Logistics) (10 Political Support) (+2 Red Zone Abatement, +2 Yellow Zone Abatement, +5 RpT, +120 Processing Capacity)
About a hundred and fifty kilometers away, the port of Yanbu has become a bustling supply depot. While the site is only half the distance, and in another direction, from the combined Mecca and Jeddah supply routes, it is substantially easier to bring in supplies by ship than most other means. Around the site is a significant fortification, layers of concentric defences, with dozens of 203mm gun batteries providing a full fortified perimeter. The complex exists to defend the port, and supply dozens of harvesting sites both across the region, and many more to the north. While not expected to hold long term in the case of an outbreak of violence across the sector, there are no warlords in the region who have the demonstrated capacity to storm it, and it is effectively impossible to siege due to its nature as a port, and GDI's ability to sail cruisers in to cover any evacuation.
In Medina itself, a long layered curtain wall has been erected across the site. In front is a layer of sonic fencing, and behind that, a series of sonic projectors. Taking up nearly a week's worth of global production, it has turned the city into something of a bastion against Tiberium. Inside the city, construction work is going well, with most construction teams having moved up from Jeddah and Mecca.
Over the region as a whole, there is definitely an air of discontent, as GDI has not quite yet finished the city programs and has continued to pour resources into the area. With the Red Sea now effectively a GDI lake, it is not exactly safe, but it is far safer than many of the routes that GDI asks its merchant marine to take.
[ ] Continuous Cycle Fusion Plants
First wave continuous cycle fusion plants are still somewhat under development. However, they are ready enough for mass roll out, with only a few kinks in the connection systems remaining before they can be linked to the grid as a whole.
(Progress 333/350: 20 Resources per Die) (+++++ Energy) (High Priority)
Around the world, sixteen major complexes are in the process of being erected. However their opening has been unfortunately delayed by a few final rounds of issues, and a number of safety checks. While, in total, the consequences are not likely to be particularly severe. A major milestone has been left for Seo Thoki to reap the rewards of.
These power plants will offer a heady mix of capabilities. Not only are they as capable of supplying baseload power as a nuclear plant, they are far more scalable, with fewer risks and greater responsiveness than even GDI's most modern nuclear power systems. While still significantly more expensive than a comparable output of nuclear designs, they are also far more capable.
"Had an unexpected safety test failure the other day with one of the new test reactors, when the crew, instead of shutting it down, accidentally brought the power output above the maximum safe level and flash-heated the superconductor loop above its critical temperature. Obviously, the entire magnetic trap is a loss, but I'm amazed that this was even possible. I know we're not working with the best engineers for delta-shift, but that even they could screw up this bad indicates major trouble in design and training. We need to go back to the basics with all our crews, and also code some new lock-outs for the system to stop power spikes when the temperature in the superconducting loop is dangerously high." - Oral Testimony by Juan Hernandez, B2 Fusion Plant Test Supervisor
[ ] Reykjavik Myomer Macrospinner
With the Johannesburg plant proving the point, Reykjavik will be a good site to expand production and increase output, providing for mass production of the material, and hardening the supply in case of sabotage or destruction of the Johannesburg plant.
(Progress 81/80: 20 resources per die)
The first phase of the macrospinner assembly has gone relatively well. Few major problems have cropped up, aside from the first shipment of fungal spores going badly. While a second shipment made good on the problem, it did mean some delays in completion of the initial round of bioreactors. Future phases will begin setting up the ropeworks and the other systems, repeating many of the processes of the Johannesburg plant. Work has been noticeably more efficient than the Johannesburg plant, as GDI is not repeating some of the mistakes of the past. With this, a general hardening of the supply of myomer bundles is possible, a vital step, as they have shot towards being one of the most demanded products in the Initiative's supply chains due to their light weight, low power demands, and high strength.
[ ] Pharmaceutical Synthesis Centers
A variety of high-end medications, ranging from insulin, chemotherapy, psychopharmaca, vaccines, antiviral and antibiotic substances are difficult to produce in sufficient quantities without the right equipment. Building additional synthesising centres will bolster the supply of critical medications and help with the increased demand by the growing population under GDIs umbrella.
(Progress 220/250: 15 resources per die) (+++ Health, -- Energy)
While the Synthesis centers have made significant movement towards completion, a number of critical systems are not yet up to standards. For one thing, ensuring end to end cooling is absolutely vital, and multiple test loads (although they were some of the longest routes) failed during transit. Similarly, strategic storage sites are still under construction, with only a relative handful actually complete. A further surge of funds should finish these elements and allow the factories, which have been completed to the satisfaction of the Initiative, to be brought fully online.
To look more broadly at the Initiative's medical system, there are broadly a set of major rates. At the top there is generally trauma care. Below that falls various critical chronic conditions, and below that there are increasingly less immediately vital conditions. Where the synthesis centers are focused is on those chronic conditions. For example, there are relatively few facilities remaining after the third tiberium war that are certified to produce antiandrogens and other medicines for HRT making that treatment effectively unavailable. Similar situations exist across the Initiative. While current medical surpluses help significantly, providing a steady supply of medication is vital.
[ ] Agricultural Support
Providing support to the Forgotten is something that should be a relatively simple affair, moving experts and material into the settlements is something that will likely closely mimic what has been done with Yellow Zone settlements and should see similar impacts to nutrition and food availability.
(Progress 234/150: 10 resources per die)
Rather than simply giving shipments of construction materials, GDI began shipping entire MCV packages. Building GDI specification buildings from scratch is not exactly the cheapest option, but one that can work, and was the best use of the funding given to the project. In case of war, there are now dozens of forward deployed MCVs in friendly territory that can be used for spoiling attacks or defending the Forgotten depending on the overall strategic situation.
They have been set to construct GDI type buildings on the pattern of the barracks system. Each can sustain four runs, in a 2x2 layout. While not long enough for continuous production of some of the longer growing crops, they can provide masses of high nutrition crops, including a small production of Entari. While this is only supplementary at this point, if conflict comes, relatively minor ramp ups of production can begin supplying the Forgotten almost exclusively, and more efficiently than their current production methods.
The liaisons are likely to stay for another six months to a year, in increasingly superfluous roles, but still critical ones aas GDI cannot afford to allow these systems to break down.
[ ] Tiberium Stabilizers
A low orbit satellite network stretching around the world, each stabilizer is a lotus of panels and transmitter systems. With the system needing to come online all at once, the entire network will have to be launched before the Initiative can make use of it.
(Progress 2077/2000: 30 resources per die) (---- Capital Goods) (Increases time between mutation rolls from 1d4 to 1d4+1) (+25 PS) (Fusion)
While the pace slowed from the last quarter's breakneck drumbeat, the Tiberium Stabilizers, at 093002.031 Zulu Time, December 17th 2057, in perfect synchronicity began to transmit. At 1030, Doctor Granger spoke to the people, in what would be his last public appearance before his retirement.
"A year ago, GDI scientists announced that Tiberium itself was beginning to change. To alter itself into forms that made our existing methods of control increasingly less effective.
An hour ago, a network of satellites built to stop tiberium's ongoing mutation activated. Today marks the greatest blow struck against Tiberium in all of human history. But I cannot take credit for this. It was the work of millions around the globe, a joint, concerted effort. Not only those few brave men and women who made launch after launch to bring the network online. Not only to those who worked tirelessly to build the satellites. Not only the brave souls in Chicago and Jeddah braving attack time and again to supply the materials for the satellites. But to every working citizen of the Initiative. Whether you grew the crops, refined the Tiberium, or filed the paperwork, the network of lights in the sky is your work, and your sacrifices."
While it is not a permanent solution to the problems of mutation, and does not solve the Tiberium problem as a whole, it buys decades for other solutions, other methods, and for GDI's scientists to try and find a means to either escape it, defeat it, or live with it in some form.
[ ] GDIS Pathfinder
The gravitic drive has met initial use testing, and it is ready for a more thorough test. A relatively small testbed ship is the next step towards granting the Initiative the ability to use the drive system practically. While it will be a major project, and require construction of many of the tools to make the tools, it is a first step towards a mass producible drive design.
(Progress 321/300: 30 resources per die)
The Pathfinder made its maiden voyage two days after the completion of the stabilizer, as a test run took them to the moon and back entirely on gravitic power. Marking the first manned voyage by gravitic drive, the news has been mostly buried under the thunder of the fusion launches carrying the stabilizer network into orbit, and the other launches. However, with it, the solar system is fully unlocked for GDI's use, with only the timeline being under debate.
While future systems are likely to be somewhat significantly less expensive, they are likely to remain significant line items for GDI's overall budget, and one that is heavily constrained by the number of Hewlett-Gardener method refineries that GDI is supporting.
Currently, the plan for the future begins with building either an expansion to Enterprise, or a dedicated orbital shipyard that can handle a 500 displacement ton ship, and likely a number of Pathfinder repeats to provide the logistical backbone for Martian colonization. Beyond that, everything depends on the pace of discoveries and development. GDI sincerely hopes that increases in speed and decreases in cost can be managed in the near future, with rapid development towards a significantly better design.
"Ever since humans could look up to the stars in the night sky, we have asked what could be up there. At first much of it was subject of myth and legend, but as human society and science advanced so did our understanding of the cosmos. Little by little, invention by invention, great minds mapped out the solar system and the stars with nothing more than simple instruments and the mathematics of their time. By the late 1960s, as part of the space race between the United States of America and the USSR, mankind put a man on the moon, bringing the stars finally within our reach. These discoveries lead to our imaginations being filled with stories of what could be discovered out there, of interstellar empires, worlds filled with strange life and other wonders, but they also lead to a painful realization. The void between the stars and planets is a cold ocean, dark and hostile to life, with the rare islands separated by unimaginably great distances. And yet we pushed on, our drive for discovery enabling us to send out small ships across this great ocean. We stand on the shoulders of those who have brought us this far. For them, for us and for those that will come after, I can proudly say that we made the ocean between the stars a little smaller today." - Admiral Harrison Carter
[ ] Orbital Cleanup (Stage 7)
With much of the largest and slowest of the debris collected, all that remains is the increasingly small and fast dust and sand remaining in the orbitals. While still significantly problematic, it is unfortunately much less profitable to mine, as there is not enough material left to save launches.
(Progress 103/90: 15 resources per die) (Opens new Space Projects) (20-25 resources) (Fusion)
The work on cleaning up the orbitals has continued. While magnetic sweeping has caught significant portions of the materials, much of the remainder is not magnetic and won't get caught by that means. At this point, one of the most effective means is simple catchment sails. However, progress is still very slow, as much of this is increasingly small pieces. This has been a relatively slow and expensive process, although the sails, woven from somewhat elastic materials, are quite reusable. This is likely to be the theme for much of the remaining debris, assuming new and more efficient methods are not developed, although some GDI scientists believe that there is potential for gravitic drives to be able to sweep larger areas, given the distortion in orbits in the asteroid belt. This proposal may see small scale funding, but currently the price of even a single unit is far too expensive.
[ ] NOD Research Initiatives
While the lowest hanging fruit has been plucked, there is still much more on the tree. Following up and authorizing another major round of funding, grants, and research programs will provide the impetus for more research into the Brotherhood's so called "technologies of peace"
(Progress 100/160 : 30 resources per die)
While the previous round was primarily derived from the work of the Qatarite defectors, the serious developments with this call for funding have primarily come from GDI research groups from across the Initiative. Ranging from cybernetics, stealth, and lasers, to biological systems and Nod's so called "divination" proposals have poured in. While all need funding, research assistants and test subjects, few are likely to pan out even to the point of collecting enough evidence to begin pushing towards full development, and even fewer are likely to prove revolutionary. However, this does not mean that GDI will not absolutely require their assistance. Right now, many projects simply need further allocations of funding to provide initial results, and perhaps lead into novel developments.
[ ] Scrin Research Institutions
While the Scrin material has provided substantial advantages already, Initiative scientists believe that there is still more that can be gained by studying the remnants of the invaders. While it will be expensive, the last round of research has already more than paid off.
(Progress 160/350: 30 resources per die)
With the easiest options already well and truly picked over, there are still high hopes for the remaining materials. With assistance from the Forgotten, requests for resources and more importantly pieces of Scrin technology have come pouring in. With teams attempting to do everything from translating Scrin records to cracking their Tiberium harvesting and processing methodologies, to their ships and hover technologies. Work has already begun on some, and applications are still pouring in. However, none are particularly close to having results, and few are likely to actually produce useful breakthroughs. However, hopes are still high for revolutionary technologies that can break the tactical paradigm of modern warfare, or the economic paradigm of the modern Initiative. Even so, many of the applications are for basic research, attempting to understand some of the base principles and expand GDI's understanding of the natural world.
[ ] Prosthetics Deployment Initiatives (Phase 1)
While deployment of the prosthetics will primarily be the domain of the welfare department, building dedicated factories and clinics focused on the working population will speed deployment and ensure a steady increase in the effectiveness of GDI's workforce.
(Progress: 80/80: 15 resources per die) (- Health, + Labor per turn)
(Progress 160/160: 15 resources per die) (- Health, + Labor per turn)
(Progress 2/160: 15 resources per die) (- Health, + Labor per turn)
Contrary to the fears of large sections of GDI's mobility impaired, deployment of the new advanced prosthetics has been global and rapid. In a combined effort from both the Treasury and Welfare departments, most major hospital complexes have established specialty prosthetics units staffed to handle installation of the new prosthetics, and a steady stream of long term disabled civilians and military veterans alike are beginning to walk out of their operating rooms and back into offices, workshops and factories. While waiting lists remain long, managers of the rollout in both Treasury and Health are confident that it will reach the entire population in need given enough time. However, there is a limit to what the existing infrastructure can reach, as many components need maintenance every 1-3 years on average. At the same time, it has been instrumental in returning increasing numbers of mobility impaired individuals to the workforce. The new prosthetics have proven to be of disproportionate interest to inhabitants of the Green Zones, where the routine hazards of environmental exposure to Tiberium, and the prevalence of unexploded munitions after six decades of war have resulted in a limb impairment rate several times that of even GDI military veterans. While this is only one of the myriad of health problems that recent immigrants and refugees present with, the availability of free advanced prosthetics serves as a significant quality of life improvement that helps the afflicted individuals care for themselves, relieving some of the strain on GDI's social services. Classified InOps YZ bulletins also report a measurable improvement in the Initiative Loyalty Index indicators in YZ communities where recipients are known to reside. What, if anything, that portends, remains to be seen.
The quiet success of this program has not gone unnoticed, with other patient and research groups beginning pressure campaigns whether directly or through their Parliamentary representatives to secure Treasury funding for medical research programs. Particular standouts include veterans groups pushing a variety of vision replacement treatments for soldiers who lost their sight to combat injury, and a coalition of groups attempting to secure more funding for the xenograft organ program. While the former has been found to be nonviable under the advanced prosthetics program, the latter has more possibilities, some of which may serve to assist the former at a later point.
[ ] ASAT Defense System (Phase 3)
Further development of the ASAT system requires a second control hub for increased redundancy, and a means of bringing the full system online in case the ground base is destroyed. While this will not bring any more ASAT equipment online, it will prepare the system for further expansion with new weapons, and novel methods.
(Progress 225/225: 30 resources per die) (Fusion) (high priority)
(Progress 36/225: 30 resources per die) (Fusion)
After four years of no progress, the ASAT system finally got a much needed upgrade. A second orbital station has been assembled and crewed. At this point, the ground base is fully redundant. Beyond that, it has significantly increased the complexity of any operation to destroy the ASAT system. Inops expects that any attack with conventional technology will be defeated by the system as it stands. However, the risks when facing the Brotherhood have never been conventional. Massive laser installations, plasma weapons, Ion disruptors, and other systems still have potential to defeat the ASAT network by main force, while gravitic drives and stealth could potentially bypass the system entirely, and allow the Brotherhood to stab the entire system in the back. While currently all are believed to be little more than the paranoid dreams of the Department of Information, it is something to be severely concerned with.
For the immediate future there are two further steps that can be taken. First, building in additional control redundancy, and second beginning to substantially diversify the network. Current systems are primarily reliant on the Ion Cannon, and for good reason. An Ion Cannon simply does not have to hit. Even a relatively close miss can destroy incoming munitions, or throw them far enough off course that it lacks the DeltaV to make its target. Conversely, the other two legs of the ASAT network are quite secondary. Existing orbital laser systems, while more than marginally effective, are also slow firing, and have a somewhat limited spectrum of targets that they are effective against. Finally, there are kinetic impactor arrays on many orbits, but these have both a time to target problem, and an accuracy problem, as they are some of the oldest pieces of the current system, with some pods dating back to the late 90s.
"What's living and working on ASAT-O-II like? Pretty unexciting. It's exactly like down in Greenland if not for the fact that our shower time is rationed and you can't exactly go outside. My shifts consist of doing warm-up tests for the weapon arrays and calling Maintenance if one of them is sickly to do a check up. Have not fired the damn thing once so far. The thing that keeps me sane up here is the view. Earth is beautiful from up here, even covered by Tiberium. I could spend hours on the observation deck. I will try to send you some pictures. Lets hope InOps does not classify them after dissecting my emails for secret communication attempts or something. Hope to see you soon." - LT Jenna Higgs to Cora Lebadjev
Office of Information Security internal communique: Right, so what is the SOP for stuff like this again? Given that this is a critical military installation that everybody with a decent backyard telescope can find, I think it is 'no e-mails, no pictures of the equipment, nothing that can be used to figure out who works for the ASAT office', so pictures of Earth from the observation deck should be fine, as long as we get to look through pictures on the datastick to check.
[ ] Governor Class Cruiser Shipyards
Rebuilding some of GDI's battleship docks into half sized cruiser sections will save on resources, however they will require major investments in capital goods. These yards will take some significant time to begin major developments however, with a cruiser taking months to construct, and longer to fit out for service. (Very High Priority)
- [ ] Rosyth (Progress 155/185: 20 resources per die) (- Capital Goods, -- Energy, - Labor)
The Rosyth yard has run into chronic problems. With the project lead falling ill shortly after the deputy retired, the project was left in the hands of lower ranking individuals, many of which were not quite as aware of the whole project as they probably should have been. The total result has been significant misallocation of resources, slowdowns in overall work, and poor coordination between working groups leading to even more slowdowns, and chronic other issues. While some progress has been made, it is far from the finalizing of the project the way it was planned.
More broadly, the Governor program as a whole is somewhat behind schedule, with fewer ships completed or commissioned than hoped for. While certainly impactful, and the navy likely to reach its prewar number of ships in the coming years, they have not yet reached a point where total combat capabilities are anywhere near the same. While the Governor program, even at a relatively slow rate, will be completed by the end of the coming plan, leaving the Navy in a strengthening but still precarious state, even with new carriers and battleships filling in holes in the existing order of battle. Fortunately, the Brotherhood navy is itself a limited commodity, with no indication of new surface warships. While this is certainly not the same thing as no new surface warships, it does mean that anyone who does have them is not using them either against GDI or against the other warlords.
[ ] Security Reviews
GDI has often faced problems with infiltration by the Brotherhood of Nod. A full security review of one department of operations can mitigate or discover infiltration, however it will take a significant amount of effort. (DC 55 + 1 operations die) (86)
GDI's Orbital services are still quite paranoid about infiltration, although they have slacked off somewhat about launching Nod infiltrators into red zones. However, the Intelligence services have found a handful of small scale infiltrations into the procurement services. While these (unlike the infiltrations found in the military early in Granger's career) are look only, jacking onto some of the auditing systems, they do indicate that the Brotherhood of Nod has been aware of the massive efforts put into the stabilizer network, and more broadly into space development.
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Should probably continue increasing ASAT defenses as things go on, maybe work on anti-ship/Spacecraft defenses too now that the purpose of the networks been announced as the entire thing will be a target for the more fanatical elements of NOD.
Other than that i'm really hoping the Scrin/Nod research finishes up next quarter, hopefully we'll gain enough options for suppressing Tib that Kane won't be able to bend us over a barrel when he reveals the plans for his TCN.
Other than that i'm really hoping the Scrin/Nod research finishes up next quarter, hopefully we'll gain enough options for suppressing Tib that Kane won't be able to bend us over a barrel when he reveals the plans for his TCN.
- Location
- USA
Well there is a ton to process in this- once again NOD is ramping up and we will need to do the same. Orbital laser defense also seems a must next year.... we need more dice and the ability to activate them is the biggest takeaway I have given all the various tasks that need to be done. Also I really like Carters evac plan and hopefully that is picked up by the new Director. Also Carter smacking Initiative even if it cost him votes is a nice touch.
So many tasks to do so little time... but plan and overcome we will!
Prosthetics adding to YZ loyalty is an unexpected but welcome effect.
So many tasks to do so little time... but plan and overcome we will!
Prosthetics adding to YZ loyalty is an unexpected but welcome effect.
For ASAT we want to do orbital defense laser dev so that is incorporated in Phase 4 and 5 first and should be done this coming plan, when depends on how quickly we recover income to fund all these tasks. As for research at 30R a pop that really reduces what we can do in Q1. Q2 and Q3 are when we are likely to see dice on research and hopefully finish them off.
- Location
- Africa
we should do both shimmer shields and orbital defense laser developments first , that way they will be integrated into the ASAT phase rather than us having to do new actions for them specifically
- Location
- Estonia
Hmm... should we have InOps check Navy next? When was the last time we did that? And maybe Steel Talons too, for good measure? Those are the two services most likely to be generally disgruntled by the chronic lack of Treasury attention.
Seems like NOD is improving its missile systems, perhaps in response to our Universal Rockets and RWS (trying to overwhelm?). Possible counters would be to improve our own recon and counter-recon abilities - Long Range Sensors, Recon Support Drones, Airborne Lasers (may lead to more portable laser defences to fry spotter drones?), Tube Developments (more accurate artillery = blow up scouts better?), PD refits (shoot down missiles and fry drones) and Scout Mechs.
If Gideon's shield is anything like the Firestorm, then it is weak to top-attacks. Suggest plasma to overwhelm (maybe), all forms of artillery to shoot over, OSRCT to bypass and Orbital Lasers to shoot down.
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We don't get to tell InOps to target a specific branch or anything, the most we can do is let them audit the Treasury's portion of the military procurement bureaucracy. Which we probably should get around to doing early next FYP, with NOD suddenly getting their hand on suspiciously similar missiles to our shiny new ones and the cruiser program being plagued by delays. But this isn't ordering InOps to go investigate the political loyalty of the Talons, it's inviting them to go over our own bureaucrats that are on Treasury payroll doing Treasury things. Any investigation into specific branches of the military is well beyond our remit, we just run the factories.
The Governor program is behind schedule because we did not complete all the shipyards and a number were finished behind schedule due to poor dice rolls.
- Location
- Estonia
Ah, fair enough. I binged through the quest over this past week, and have been largely skipping over the options in vote posts, since I couldn't vote or make plans anyway. The intermittent nature of InOps reports on different departments made me think it was something that gets voted on.
- Location
- Fort Worth, TX
Has anyone thought of submarines that can fight the NOD transports?
It is something that gets voted on... but that's having InOps do security checks of departments of the Treasury, not of GDI as a whole.
The Navy doesn't want subs, since they are not something that fits into their strategic posture. More likely for anti-sub operations are the Governor cruisers, hydrofoils for scouting, and the future Escort Carriers for air-based anti-submarine operations.
In other news: Consumer Goods supply is quite happy, at +21.
Parliamentary support:
Strong Support: 758
Weak Support: 596
Total support: 1354 seats
No. Navy doesn't want subs.
1. Simplifies the situation- There's a something underwater out in the ocean? Nod sub. Sink it.
2. Navy hasn't had serious submarine arm for decades. It would cost a shit ton to build up a submarine arm.
3. Navy has its priorities in finishing the Governor cruisers, escort carriers, frigates and amphibs.
God. Damn. It. Rosyth. FINISH WOULD YA?
Pleeeeease, would ya kindly finish so we can do PD refits and start checking and seeing if its our end or someone elses that got NOD our new missiles.... if not I hate Cthulhu Dice Rolls XD
- Location
- Outside the Box
- Pronouns
- She/Her
On the one hand, this basically says we have eight turns to finish this phase of the arcologies, which is waaaay more than we'll need. But on the other hand, it looks like we're facing a potential housing crisis since there doesn't seem to be any slowing of our refugee immigration. We might be pressed to do other, low quality housing projects just to keep up.
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NOD definitely stole the universal missile system, the chance of them coincidentally just happening to independently invent their own missiles that happen to be literally compatible with our own universal system is basically zero
- Location
- USA
Yeah looks like we will need to do frequent security reviews
Oh I know, def probably yoinked some from somewhere via Shadow Teams, than reverse engineered to fit their usages and platforms etc. still needs Cthulhu to roll a deception and pilfering roll or some BS XD
I think NOD just got really lucky rather than us slacking on the security reviews tbh, Military last got checked 8 turns ago that's not a long time at all. If we tried to keep every sector at 8 turns or less we'd basically be paralyzing Bureaucracy forever and imposing a noticeable drag on our productive ability in all the other sectors, it's not really feasible. Sometimes NOD just rolls well in the background and manages to get past InOps, not much to be done except go back and plug whatever holes the missiles leaked through now that we can pretty easily conclude what happened. But I don't think it's a mistake on our part, just we don't win every dice roll.
trooperist
Cinnamon Roll AI
Time for the final Granger politics post.
Looks like the Stabilization Network and other big projects completing got support from just about everyone. Even Initiative First decided to hate Granger just a little bit less.
Free Market Party: +5 Weak Support, -5 Weak Opposition
Market Socialist Party: +10 Strong Support, -5 Weak Support, -5 Weak Opposition
Militarist: +6 Strong Support, -6 Strong Opposition
Initiative First: +8 Weak Opposition, -8 Strong Opposition
United Yellow List: +5 Strong Support, -5 Weak Support
Starbound Party: +10 Strong Support, -10 Weak Support
Socialist Party: +2 Strong Support, -2 Weak Opposition
Developmentalists: +10 Strong Support, +5 Weak Support, -15 Weak Opposition
Final Approval Rating: 75.39%
Error found: Market Socialists lost 3 seats. Their number is still listed as 331 but only count 328 representatives. Nobody else gained seats so I guess there's 3 representatives lost in limbo somewhere. Fixed.
Looks like the Stabilization Network and other big projects completing got support from just about everyone. Even Initiative First decided to hate Granger just a little bit less.
Free Market Party: +5 Weak Support, -5 Weak Opposition
Market Socialist Party: +10 Strong Support, -5 Weak Support, -5 Weak Opposition
Militarist: +6 Strong Support, -6 Strong Opposition
Initiative First: +8 Weak Opposition, -8 Strong Opposition
United Yellow List: +5 Strong Support, -5 Weak Support
Starbound Party: +10 Strong Support, -10 Weak Support
Socialist Party: +2 Strong Support, -2 Weak Opposition
Developmentalists: +10 Strong Support, +5 Weak Support, -15 Weak Opposition
Final Approval Rating: 75.39%
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- Location
- The Underdark
It is something that gets voted on, but you don't get to tell InOps to go and look at things outside of the Treasury itself. Which includes the Steel Talons.
Also, I noticed in the discussion that I had made an error. It is now fixed. I had intended the comparison to be not with the newer but with older type missiles.
The Air Force, while still waiting on its new Orca refits, is already engaging in more aggressive patrols. Air to Air configuration Venoms, while no longer new, have become an ever increasing share of the formations fielded by the Brotherhood of Nod. With a pair being captured, it is clear that they are using much the same AIM-9 Sidewinder derived technologies that GDI does. While the warhead is substantially different, using a Tiberium core to increase the effective blast radius in air to air actions, the rest of the systems could almost be slotted into older type GDI produced Rattlesnake missiles on a one to one basis.
- Location
- USA
Oh that makes a major difference. Still want to do a mil review soon (maybe q1) but phew they do not have URLS.
- Location
- Ohio
I do enjoy the fluff in the result post awhile ago about the former NOD militia now on our side in the yellow zones.
All of the good we do not only makes things better, it puts pressure on NOD.
It is a numbers and attrition game at this point, which is why I think the next war is coming to try and change that.
With us growing the blue and green zones, and the retreat of nod closer to the red zones, along with defections from the return of basic necessities and places to live, nod is going to feel the pressure of low numbers worse than we are feeling the strain of higher population.
Unless I am looking at this wrong, since I am not smart in this type of way.
All of the good we do not only makes things better, it puts pressure on NOD.
It is a numbers and attrition game at this point, which is why I think the next war is coming to try and change that.
With us growing the blue and green zones, and the retreat of nod closer to the red zones, along with defections from the return of basic necessities and places to live, nod is going to feel the pressure of low numbers worse than we are feeling the strain of higher population.
Unless I am looking at this wrong, since I am not smart in this type of way.
- Location
- Africa
that is only a drop in the ocean , it was mentioned on discord that we have had close to 10 million people from Node controlled yellow zones switch to the GDI side while that sounds like a big number its not all that when you remember that Node territory has a pop count of over 990 million to the GDI's 510 million and unless we fix the housing crises soon we can expect further defectors numbers to drop drastically as we are simply lacking the capacity to house them adequately