Q2 2059 Results
- Location
- The Underdark
Q2 2059 Results
Resources: 810 + 0 in reserve (15 allocated to the Forgotten) (35 allocated to grants)(+20 from Taxes)
Political Support: 70
SCIENCE Meter: 4/4
Free Dice: 7
Tiberium Spread
18.55 Blue Zone
2.91 Green Zone
23.84 Yellow Zone (83 Points of Abatement)
54.70 Red Zone (70 Points of Abatement)
Current Economic Issues:
Housing: Major Surplus (+30) (17 population in low quality housing)
Energy: Major Capacity Surpluses (+8) (+4 in reserve)
Logistics: Limited Surpluses (+7)
Food: Major Surpluses (+21) (+8 in reserve)
Health: Steadily Improved (+12) (2 consumed by emergency refugee healthcare)
Capital Goods: Marginal Surpluses (+5)
STUs: Massive Surpluses (+13)
Consumer Goods: Significant Surpluses (+43) (+5 from private industry)
Labor: Significant Surpluses (+38) (+3 per turn)
Tiberium Processing Capacity (1770/2370)
Green Zone
Water: Notable Surpluses (+6)
Status of the Parties
(strong support, weak support, weak opposition, strong opposition)
Free Market Party: 125 seats (0; 14; 21; 90)
Market Socialist Party: 331 seats (150; 115; 50; 13)
Militarist: 237 seats (53; 141; 34; 9)
Initiative First: 178 seats (0; 0; 28; 150)
United Yellow List: 73 seats (60; 13; 0; 0)
Starbound Party: 155 seats (80; 70; 5; 0)
Socialist Party: 50 seats (30; 20; 0; 0)
Developmentalists: 640 seats (310; 245; 85; 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 : High
Air Force : Decent
Space Force : Low
Steel Talons: Low
Navy: Decent
ZOCOM: Decent
Plan Goals
Capital Goods: 47 Points
Consumer Goods: 94 (18) Points
Food: 20 points in reserve
Income: 260 Points
Stations: 2108 Points
Abatement: 19 Points
Processing: 430 points
Projects
Complete ASAT Phase 4
Complete OSRCT Phase 4
Prototype Plasma Weapons Development
Railgun Munitions Development
Tactical Plasma Weapons Development
Complete at least two more phases of Shell Plants
Complete at least two more phase of Ablative Armor
Complete at least two more phases of URLS production
Complete at least two phases of Wadmalaw Kudzu Plantations
Complete at least one more phase of Blue Zone Arcologies
Complete GDSS Enterprise
Complete GDSS Philadelphia II
Complete at least six phases of Space Mines
Complete Perennials Phase 3
Complete at least four phases of Karachi Planned City
Develop Tactical Ion Cannons
Develop and Deploy Mastodon
Deploy Havoc
Politics
The defeats of the Brotherhood of Nod this quarter have given the Developmentalists and the ruling coalition a noticeable boost in the polls. While the militarists are complaining about the defeat handed to the 13th Armored Division, it is a war, and losses are to be expected. Defeating two warlords' offensives in the same quarter is a significant boost to the prestige of the Initiative, and has weakened both of them.
More broadly, Initiative politics have been primarily a continuation of the campaigns, with even Litvinov focusing her efforts on supporting the soicalist parties. Without a severe crisis, and with the bureaucratic parts of the Initiative having things well in hand, it is primarily about a series of long term complaints, food, housing, and a litany of more minor issues.
Breakthrough
One of the labs that was not selected for final development funding has, using its standard allocation, achieved a significant breakthrough. The Scrin used massive numbers of crystals for their computing architecture. These are a modular solid state computing architecture, with each crystal being a solid state volumetric computer. With most modern chip designs, the basic tool is a chip or disc, with information stored on a 2 dimensional medium. However, one of these isolinear computing devices instead stores memory and processing capability in a three dimensional volume, etching layer upon layer of switches one on top of the other, all working on the same problem at the same time.
Brotherhood of Nod.
Krukov has continued to gather strength, drawing in a number of the peripheral warlords that nominally had held allegiance to Reynaldo. However, he has also been significantly more cautious, beginning to move factory components to parts unknown. While InOps has attempted to make headway in finding the new locations, they have so far eluded detection.
Stahl is also beginning to gather noticeable support. While attacking Rio de Janeiro is currently beyond Initiative capabilities, shipping into and out of the port city has at least doubled, with numerous cargo submarines surfacing, rather than coming into the deepwater moon pools that they would normally operate from.
Both the Barghest-bis and what is being termed the Vertigo-bis, have had shootdown samples captured. The Barghest Bis is an extended version of the existing Barghest design, adding a single centerline turbofan engine, and a pair of over the shoulder missile hardpoints, in addition to the extant pair of plasma cannons. Approximately as fast as the Firehawk, it is a significant upgrade in terms of air to air firepower, especially as it still has a noticeable maneuverability edge on any aircraft fielded by the Initiative.
While the captured Vertigo-bis wreckage was badly damaged, there are some clear elements of pre-Tiberium designs. As a flying wing, it has a low radar cross section, but is most effective at subsonic speeds. A pair of conventional turbofans are the main propulsion system, making it a relatively cheap aircraft to build, and one that can carry a substantial bomb load, likely in the range of fifteen tons internally and some unknown amount externally. Much of the wreckage suffered severe damage from a post crash fire, which has rendered significant portions unrecognizable.
Ceasefire
A brief and uneasy ceasefire occurred in China in early April. While it was only a forty eight hour period, set aside so both sides could tend to the graves of their ancestors, it is a significant victory for the negotiation corps, and offers the potential for future combat limitations. However, these are so far not particularly popular with the Initiative, as many see it as being little more than a chance for the warlord to make maneuvers without harassment by the Initiative. With the specter of the Tet offensive, and the failures of previous attempts to court warlords, this kind of holiday ceasefire has long been out of favor.
Ration Board
The Initiative Ration Board has opened proposals for the next decade of Initiative rations, beginning with the 24 hour ration packs. With a spread of 90 meals planned for variety as an initial run and the potential to add more, it is an ambitious project to revitalize the ration for the common soldier. Over the past decade, the ration board has revised the ration effectively every other year as the Treasury has managed to put more food diversity and greater supplies to hand. In the early years of the decade, it had dropped to a mere seven meals, none of which were particularly inspiring, and one, Fungus Bar with Gravy, was actively despised.
With these rations, the key elements are primarily volume and taste. With most GDI vehicles equipped with a boiling vessel weight is not a particular concern, as infantry is unlikely to need to carry these rations while on dismounted patrol and dedicated rucksack survival rations for such circumstances do exist.
Green Zone Food and Housing
Currently, with the expanding Blue Zones and the mass evacuations back to more secure regions, the Green Zones are low in population, and most of the former Terminus cities are now safely in the Blue Zones. At this point it is only a handful of scattered fortress towns in the Green Zones at the leading edge of previous construction campaigns, and many of them have become operations bases for GDI mechanized units rather than civilian populations.
Ammunition
Current artillery ammunition stockpiles in the Americas have been significantly depleted by ongoing operations, both during and after the offensives this quarter. However, global stockpiles have been barely impacted, and while there is still a significant need for greater volumes of more specialized rounds, at current production rates GDI is not expecting to face lasting shortages as the American stockpiles are refilled. Overall, ammunition consumption has begun to significantly drop as the new guns are rolled out to more batteries, and older models are relegated to the back lines. While potentially problematic for a wartime scenario as they would spike shell consumption when GDI needs them most, the guns will also serve among the Initaitive's final lines of defense as Blue Zones are overrun like they were in the Third Tiberium War.
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. Though these will require replacements during the coming years, they are currently sufficient, and available in sufficient numbers
- Steel Talons
- Air Force
- Navy
- Space Force
[ ] Integrated Cargo System
GDI has done a number of patchwork programs, ranging from civilian shipbuilding to rail, road and aircraft networks. However, a full integrated cargo system will bring previously unimaginable efficiencies to the cargo system. A combined system of shipping ports, rail lines, and aircraft can deliver anything, anywhere in the world with reasonable speed. While working within the political and physical realities of the post Third Tiberium War world means that it cannot work on the same efficiencies as the cargo systems of the late 20th century, it is as close as it is practical to get barring revolutionary new technologies.
(progress 307/800: 15 resources per die) (+18 Logistics, -2 Labor, -2 Energy, -2 Capital Goods)
[88, 19, 10, 45, 10]
Work on the ICS so far has been primarily theoretical. With GDI operating a global logistics network, there are thousands of potential pitfalls involved in such a radical restructuring. While local logistics are generally good enough, and in some places better than that, they are also relatively inefficient, with local planners and administrators often placing greater emphasis on keystone projects rather than the general needs of the population. In Boston for example, there are significant concessions made towards the North Boston Chip Fabricator, which creates turbulence for other needs and demands. Similarly in Helsinki, the C-35 factory has a direct route to the airport, a concession to the need to transport to a launching site, but one that is distinctly inefficient from both growth and traffic flow perspectives. This kind of problem is a result of insufficient communication between central and local planners, and the need for prompt resumption in economic growth after the war.
[ ] Continuous Cycle Fusion Plants (Phase 3)
Mass production of modern fusion systems has substantially replaced the older nuclear systems. While not an immediate need, it is likely to be critically needed as GDI's power needs scale up. Additionally, establishing a reserve of generation capacity will help ensure that damage to the system can be made good more easily.
(Progress 258/300: 20 resources per Die) (+16 Energy)
[37]
The projects have slowed this quarter, reaching a stage where they can be more or less safely left to rest on standby. While they have not yet been tested and inspected, the plants are complete, standing ready for the Treasury to perform the needed tests and inspections to start them up. While there is always the chance of catastrophic failure due to a problem that was not detected by line checks, these are less dangerous, and usually less difficult than traditional fission developments.
These plants are however likely needed in the near future, as military and economic development continues to devour energy, and there are likely energy demands coming from other fields, especially private services and industry.
[ ] Blue Zone Heavy Industrial Sectors
The Initiative has an ever increasing need for heavy industrial products, ranging from heavy stampings and pressings, to synthetic crystals and tooling. While specialized areas are often more efficient, they are less capable of sheer bulk compared to setting aside large areas of the cities towards the production of capital goods.
(Progress 336/500: 25 resources per die) (+8 Capital Goods, -4 Labor, -8 Energy)
[72, 7, 45]
Work on the heavy industrial sectors has plowed ahead, over the objections of locals as the Initiative searches for desperately needed supplies. With the war looming, hardening has become an ever more important piece, and these heavy industrial sectors are a key part of it. Mixed industrial parks, like Puerto Madryn, are a key part of the overall Initiative economy, producing thousands of goods that the Initiative needs for day to day life.
Take, for example, an armored car, as used for many of the Initiative's elite (although Guardian APCs and Pitbulls are in many cases more common, this was introduced with the age of the two Grangers) It requires six to eight panes of Aluminum Oxynitride, a mix of foamed aluminum, wire mesh, more foamed aluminum, and molybdenum/chromium steel plates for defense, and then an overbuilt chassis and engine to hold them all. Beyond that there are thousands of other widgets and components required to maintain the car, from an array of sensors on the engines, to the computers needed to keep the engines at high efficiency.
[ ] Reykjavik Myomer Macrospinner (Phase 3)
Serious expansion, bringing the macrospinner plant to a point where it is not only supplying capital goods, but noticeably cutting GDI's energy demands. This will bring it closer to parity with the Johannesburg Macrospinner, providing serious expansions to GDI's ability to produce high thickness myomers, such as those used on the Titan and Havoc mechs.
(Progress 340/320: 20 resources per die) (+2 Capital Goods, +1 Energy)
[63]
A further surge of construction has seen Myomer bundles pour out of Reykjavik in a flood. All across Europe factories are beginning to be able to replace wearing pneumatic and electric assembly arms with myomer bundle based systems. While marginally less flexible in some ways, they are also capable of being significantly more nimble in others. Similarly, the Talon's factory in Brest has been seeing shipment after shipment arrive, loaded to the gills with myomer bundles ready for installation.
If the factory is further expanded, it will reach a point where military projects that use myomer in the region can simply rely on shipments from the factory, rather than having their own growth laboratories. While it will be somewhat more vulnerable to disruption in some ways, it will also be a noticeable reduction in overall costs to construct.
[ ] T-Glass Foundries (Stage 1)
T-Glass, or Tiberium Resistant Transparent Aluminum is a fundamental change and improvement in Tiberium resistance technologies. A very strong, very resistant transparent plating, it has thousands of uses across multiple areas. However, it will need to be produced in vast quantities, with everyone demanding large amounts of the material. The savings in replacement losses alone will cut maintenance demand for everything from windshields to anchors.
(Progress 117/350: 15 resources per die) (-1 STUs, -2 Energy) (additional income trickle [15 Resources])
[7, 17, 42]
Progress on the T-Glass Foundries has been slow. While Aluminum Oxynitride (ALON) is a known technology, and a relatively common one, the STUs are anything but. To produce a standard piece of ALON, standard aluminum nitride and aluminum oxide are blended, pressed into a shape, and fired, producing a usable form. So far construction has focused on the more conventional side of the technology, with standard reaction systems, furnaces, and a dozen presses to shape the ALON. However, there is a lot more work to be done, and much of it is being slowed by GDI's institutional paranoia. When effectively every atom of STUs must be tracked and kept to a chain of custody, it is difficult to work with on anywhere near an industrial scale.
"I don't mind telling you that this is not what you might call a known technology. Sure, the viewports on tanks and lenses of some military optical equipment use ALON, but we're fabricating it in massively larger quantities. The retorts alone to bring it up to pressure and heat are enormous. And then there's the other stuff. Half our staff aren't even cleared to know what that other-stuff is but apparently it's the most expensive stuff on the planet, given the guards watching us. It's one thing to know INOPS is watching you. It's another to have them send bi-weekly demands for inventory and then have ZOCOM breathing down our necks about when the stuff will be ready. The pressure to get this right is intense, so we're taking every precaution."
- Dublin Site Manager Henry Bryant
[ ] Perennial Aquaponics Bays (Stage 3) (updated)
A final major phase of Perennial plants, built around the vast demands for spices, and luxury foods is currently under construction. While it will at this point be producing well into next plan, GDI can supply an increasing amount of its population with high demand consumer goods in the near future.
(Progress 207/350: 10 resources per die) (+4 Food over 16 turns, +16 Consumer Goods over 16 turns)
[2, 8]
With this planned to be the last phase of Perennial Aquaponics in the immediate future, investment has been slow, with few resources to spare from other priorities. Further expansion of the greenhouses has gone on with little ceremony or public interest. With most of the high demand crops already slated to shortly enter public supply, these are going to primarily make them more available. With what is projected to be a five to seven year backorder for coffee, a nine year backorder for vanilla beans, a two year backorder for licorish, a six year backorder for tea, and similar across dozens of other keystone luxury goods, it will be needed, especially as the population is still slated to expand despite low birthrates, due to refugees coming in from the Yellow Zones.
Beyond that, these keystone luxury goods, or at least the promise of supplies, is making the Negotiator Corps very happy. The ability to serve actual coffee (rather than hoping for chemically produced substitutes) is likely to provide a significant amount of goodwill in negotiations, although with current supplies being limited, it is not likely to produce actual leverage, as diverting tons of high demand consumer goods to non-Initiative actors is a political nonstarter at this time.
[ ] Wadmalaw Kudzu Development
A hybrid of Kudzu and Camellia sinensis, this is intended to brew, and more importantly taste and be processed like tea. Rather than requiring years, and an extensive grow operation to be producing tea, the vines will grow anywhere, on nearly anything, and will provide an extensive source of caffeinated beverages for the Initiative once produced in mass.
(Progress 67/40: 20 resources per die) (High Priority)
[45]
The problem with kudzu is that it is overwhelmingly fast growing. With an average growth rate of up to 30 centimeters a day, it can overtake any environment where it is planted in a matter of weeks. While this makes a crop of its leaves overwhelmingly productive, it is also a problem for flavor. With almost all of the plant's energy going into growing, early iterations produced incredibly bland teas, even once it has been fermented.
Revised versions are significantly improved, growing at merely ten centimeters a day, and producing significantly more flavorful leaves. With it being potentially incredibly prolific, it will be problematic to control, although for at least a few years it will be in absolutely incredible demand as it will be the only form of caffeinated beverage that is widely available.
Caffeine content however is low, about 20 milligrams per eight ounce serving of brewed tea at the highest, and more processed versions are about as caffeinated as decaffeinated tea from traditional tea leaves.
[ ] Offshore Tiberium Harvester Stations
While the first attempt at offshore Tiberium harvesting was a spectacular failure, a more dedicated system may well have significantly better results. Built on floats, these stations are likely to be little more than Tiberium Spikes on the end of long poles running down towards the sea floor.
(Progress 201/200: 20 resources per die) (-5 PS per die) (+20-30 resources per turn)
[23] [Income: +25]
The Offshore Tiberium Harvester stations, despite their political problems, have been a rousing success story. Operating in the near shore littorals, out to about a hundred and fifty meters deep, the stations have begun hauling in a significant load of Tiberium. However, they do have problems. Most notably the limited number of areas that they can effectively operate. As they are large flat bottomed craft that need to remain relatively still during a harvest, they cannot effectively operate during significant storms, or fast moving ocean currents. Beyond that, they are also vulnerable to attack. With the Brotherhood of Nod stepping up their naval activities, it is only in secure areas, like the Baltic Sea, North Sea, Sea of Japan, or the Sea of Okhotsk, which are surrounded by blue zones, and have constricted accessways that GDI can lay defensive lines across, where they can be deployed. This means that in total, there may be more construction, but it will be a limited supply, not a long term strategy for development.
[ ] Liquid Tiberium Power Cell Development
Liquid Tiberium has a tendency to decompose if exposed to significant amounts of energy. While it is the basic principle of a Liquid Tiberium Bomb, it is also a potentially significant power supply, as demonstrated by the Brotherhood of NOD. With GDI currently running on the edge of available energy reserves, it is a politically problematic, but relatively simple means of providing mass amounts of energy.
(Progress 60/50: 30 resources per die) (-5 Political Support)
[25]
The Liquid Tiberium Power Cell as developed is a small scale power supply. Fifty liters of liquid Tiberium is wrapped in a Tiberium Glass containment cell. As needed, electricity is fed into the containment unit, which then produces approximately three times the energy fed into it as the Tiberium inside decomposes. While the decomposition is slow, it is noticeable, with the reactant needing to be replaced about every six months as energy output declines and there is a buildup of toxic and potentially highly reactive substances in the chamber. The cell is wrapped in stator coils which harvest the decomposition energy from the cell. While a far cry from the Brotherhood's version with hundreds of liters of Liquid Tiberium and having some 100 to 400 megawatts of power pumped into it, it is also far safer. T-Glass provides a noticeable safety improvement over the glass or ALON that the Brotherhood uses. Beyond that, the plant can be safely contained within a sonic fence, and an armored bunker that would contain and channel a detonation to prevent widespread contamination. With a footprint little larger than a backup power generator or substation, these can be a useful secondary source of power, one that can be deployed at significant political cost, but a limited economic one.
[ ] GDSS Philadelphia II (Phase 5) (Updated)
The construction of a grand parliamentary dome, able to house a full ten thousand man Parliament, plus aides and other support staff will be a massive undertaking. However, once complete, it will be a powerful symbol of GDI's commitment to government of and by the people, rather than an unelected array of bureaucrats. More practically, the complex will also provide plentiful space to move yet more critical government functions offworld, directly aiding the Treasury's efforts to manage a global economy.
(Progress 1227/1425: 20 resources per die) (+4 to all dice, +1 die to each category) (15 Political Support)
[96, 67, 93, 31, 19, 87, 89, 31, 42]
The dome itself has been completed, however there is far more work to do. Pressurizing a space like this one is a carefully controlled process, especially as it is the largest open space ever constructed by the Initiative in orbit. To reach a pressure of thirty four kilopascals, roughly the equivalent of the pressure at the peak of Mount Everest in the Himalayas, is projected to take two more weeks. Reaching full pressure (of approximately 100 kilopascals) will take a month or more. The biggest reason for this slowness is that it is a massive space, and there are millions of potential points of failure. While some proposals for the design included producing giant optical sapphires or other means of producing vast sheets of transparent material, it is currently impossible to produce them and transport them to the station. There are certainly options to produce giant sheets of pressure rated transparent materials, there are certainly means to move giant objects to the station, but the set where the two cross over is nonexistent. In the coming quarter, it is expected that GDI will complete pressurization, and then finish, furnish, and prepare the station for inspection and habitation.
Beyond the admittedly mostly ceremonial dome structure, there is the rest of the station. Expansions of the life support bays, office spaces, solar panel arrays and heat diffusers have been ongoing as the rings of the shimmer shields reach completion. While not yet online, the final components are already scheduled, and will be installed as the station is finalized.
[ ] Advanced Electronic Video Assistant Development
With the Edinburgh EVA Research Centre working on improved models of the EVA units common across the Initiative, a potential improved model will increase the efficiency of general systems management, and will likely lead to significant advancements in combat and in the civilian sphere. (Progress 81/60: 20 resources per die)
[21]
Despite not having as much to work with as the Artificial Intelligence design groups, the EVA team has produced a significant step forward. While an iterative model on previous designs, it is noticeably faster, more capable, and includes a key new feature: an iterative learning heuristic. When paired with a person, a new model EVA adapts to their needs, their voice commands, and how they prefer to operate. Similarly, while most activities have mathematical optimization patterns, they can adapt to real world conditions on the fly, especially as they gather more information.
With the AI development team largely spinning their wheels waiting for more funding, several experts were borrowed from that team to help ensure that the increased adaptability will not result in these new EVAs "waking up". This has largely been fine-tuning of existing restrictions, and so should not impact the performance improvement. However, it is running a significantly more accepting risk profile than previous development plans.
[ ] Tissue Replacement Therapy Development
While still far from being able to properly assemble large complex structures from scratch, smaller scale items, such as tissues and skin segments is a first stepping stone towards general replacements. While still potentially traumatic, being able to use a person's own cells as a baseline is a starting point for more complex systems.
(Progress 77/60: 20 resources per die)
[8]
While some of the problems of bulk cell culturing have not been solved, a scaled down version has been. By applying seed clusters of artificially created pluripotent stem cells layers of tissue can be effectively regrown. While it does tend to create areas of hypo and hypertrophic growth, it has been shown to work, with good binding to existing skin and muscle mass. At this point, it is not a cosmetic procedure but a lifesaving one.
While actual deployment will be the responsibility of the healthcare system and the Welfare Department, pushing ahead with funding has been a good investment, as it will begin to alleviate the problems being faced by the members of the Qatarite defectors that underwent Tiberium infusion treatments. It is now far more possible to undertake exploratory surgery to remove tiberium shards growing in their bodies, and provide rapid healing through stem cell seedings, easing recovery and reducing the risks involved.
[ ] Shell Plants (Phase 4)
While new artillery pieces would provide for more accuracy, current mainline artillery platforms are unlikely to leave service this decade. To cover them vastly more shell production is required, primarily the standard selection of shells, but also a smaller number of specialist rounds.
(Progress 327/300: 10 resources per die) (-2 Energy) (High Priority)
[87, 23, 32]
While the two major battles, and hundreds of smaller conflicts occuring around the world have depleted tactical stockpiles, shells have continued to flow into operational and strategic stockpiles. Analysts are still deeply concerned about the strategic supply situation in the case of a protracted global war, but it is much less acute than before the completion of the most recent phase. Although shell production is still likely to be vastly outpaced by consumption, the cupboard is not likely to be bare for some time. Everything depends on how long it will be until the war comes. If it is in six to nine months, it is likely that it can last for four to six months before stockpiles are run dry. If it is in two or more years, the stockpiles are likely to be full, and GDI will be able to prosecute the war for over a year before shells become a limited commodity, and likely two more before the shell supply runs dry.
[ ] Orbital Defense Laser Development
Much like surface forces, lasers are likely to serve important roles in space. GDI needs improved defense systems for both local control and protecting important assets. Lasers, while lacking the power of the Ion Cannon network, can also be effective at much smaller scales.
(Progress 107/40: 20 resources per die) (High Priority)
[83]
Lasers, primarily fiber lasers, have been a key part of GDI's ASAT network almost since its founding. Found on both independent platforms and on third generation Ion Cannon satellites, they serve both as a facilitator for offensive operations, and as a means of defending GDI from attack. However, they have rarely been good enough. The Crystal Beam Laser is significantly more powerful within the same weight, volume, and energy restrictions, and when bundled, can serve as a powerful defensive option.
With the defensive laser development there are two key systems. First is the defensive satellite. A five petalled flower, the satellite is mostly a series of solar panels, linked to batteries and capacitors. In the central core, a set of three large CBLs are the striking weapon. When fully charged they can fire all three rounds over the course of about six seconds. While it will take hours to fully recharge, and is unlikely to stop more than one or two missiles in that time, it is a fairly capable system, especially with how much of it is simply coolant circuits there to keep the crystals from warping and cracking.
The other half is a station mounted design. With the destruction of the ASAT control center showing the potential flaws of the system, a similar design has been drawn up to serve as a bolt on gunpod, locally controlled using the sensors of an existing space station, and working from its power supply. While it is capable of much higher rates of fire, and has substantially more coolant to work with, it is also burst limited, with bursts of nine to twelve shots being the limit before any particular mount needs to cool down.
[ ] Aurora Strike Bomber Development
A variant of the existing Apollo fighter, the Aurora will be a means of penetrating even the most fortified of Nod territories with near impunity, striking targets near the front, and escaping before the Brotherhood can scramble a response. While likely more lightly armed than the Firehawk, it will be able to remove key elements of Brotherhood defenses.
(Progress 42/40: 15 resources per die)
[8]
The Aurora sacrifices everything for speed. While it shares much of its design with its Apollo cousin, there are many notable differences. For one the engine arrangement. While the Apollo has pretensions of being able to operate at lower speeds, the Aurora does not. This has meant a redesign of the engine arrangement. While the Apollo uses a pair of low bypass Turbojets, the Aurora adds to them with a third Scramjet engine between the other two. In normal operations, the Aurora will come onto its axis of attack well short of enemy positions at a mach 3 supercruise, and then initiate the scramjet to send it screaming well over mach 4, and can even push mach 5 under certain circumstances, at least in early test flights.
Beyond that, there is the weapons arrangement. While the Apollo technically can, and sometimes does, carry a substantial load of external armament, the Aurora is a significantly more specialized aircraft, and so every external hardpoint that does not absolutely need to be there (such as a pair of external drop tank points to extend the range) has been deleted. Instead, it is wrapped around two modular bays rated for three tonnes each, each able to carry a pair of heavy bunker busters– ones suitable for cracking through mountainous terrain with little collateral damage– or a suite of smaller payloads, such as 100kg inertial guided bombs or munitions sleds. These sleds are relatively simple affairs, equipped with a set of delayed release drogue chutes, used to bring the missiles down into their usable airspeed ranges, as attempting to launch at too high velocities can produce problems with the guidance system.
The reason for this is a fundamental problem with air defense in the modern world. It is unfortunately short ranged. At a speed of over a kilometer per second during combat operations, an Aurora can cross through the entire threat envelope of any modern defense system, likely before the system can reorient to launch, and has enough speed that some defensive systems, at times cannot retarget fast enough to get an angle for more than a split second. When paired with glide bombs, it is nearly immune to any weapon the Brotherhood of Nod has in its current arsenal.
[ ] Havoc Scout Mech Deployment (New)
Rapidly mobile attack units have often been a hole in GDI's forces. However, with the Havoc, that is no longer the case. Two factories, one in Brest, and one in Seoul will provide the penny packets of the Steel Talons with a significant increase in force available, and begin supplying the Zone Operations Command with a sizable number of units of their own.
-[ ] Brest (Progress 178/110: 10 resources per die) (-2 Energy)
[82]
The Brest factory has opened its doors and begun making deliveries. While the Talons have not yet proven their use in combat, it is only a matter of time before they find their place in the battle line. However, even as they are being delivered to units, morale has begun to soar, as they are not only getting revisions to existing assets, but expanding towards new designs.
In the field, they have proven to be a significant maintenance problem. The jump jets burn out quickly, and repeated impacts rapidly wear the knee and hip joints. Beyond that, there is the shimmer shield. While it is relatively useful, especially in reducing the incoming damage from laser weapons, it is also a significant tuning problem. It often decoheres rather than retaining tune, at least with the current models. However these were not unexpected problems as this is a radically new platform. While some are likely to be worked out in the field, others are likely to remain until the second or third generation of the platform.
Despite the maintenance problems, they are well liked by the troops, at least when they are working, as they are one of the few assets in GDI's arsenal that can effectively push the Brotherhood of Nod's light recon assets in a running fight, and have meaningful protection while doing so. Both Steel Talon and ZOCOM formations are looking forward to increased deliveries of the platform and spare parts as production ramps up.
"Morale soared to unprecedented heights on base today as a living legend came by to give his namesakes the once-over. Colonel Havoc himself down to my base, to see the Havocs! We've graduated our best Wolverine pilots to run these things, and they're taking to them like ducks to water. Lieutenant Inazuri has been working his ass off getting his platoon into fighting shape. The only problem is, now all the other units are green with envy-I saw Captain Inazuri watching the Lieutenant a little more closely than I liked. And not in her normal 'I want to bang my husband but we're on the clock' way, more like 'my husband is an idiot and I will punish him for it.' Just hope she does it off the clock, I do not need an anti-fraternization review in this unit. Too many people sleeping around on this base."
- Colonel Adrian Keynes, Steel Talons, Lisbon Garrison.
[ ] Reclamator Hubs
While Massive Armored Reclamation Vehicles proved themselves on the field of battle in the Third Tiberium War, they are difficult to construct and maintain in the field in significant numbers. By establishing regional hubs, MARV units can harvest and process more Tiberium, allowing for more units to be supported.
(20 resources per die) (Tiberium dice can be used, each project requires at least two military dice before Tib dice can be used)
-[ ] Reclamator Hub Yellow Zone 6a (Progress 183/125) (Savannah)
[80]
While the Savannah hub was completed before the battle, it was a close run thing. With the designs being some of the most modern available, it includes a number of features that previous ones do not. However, the military advisors were significantly conservative, which found its way into design considerations across the fortress. One of the more important and influential ones is the selection of 203mm guns as the primary battery. While the new rifled 152mm guns are an improvement across all effective ranges in most circumstances, they are simply too new for many in the military to fully trust, especially with how long their smoothbore cousins stayed in service.
With Gideon's attack defeated, however, the Savannah hub is unlikely to be retrofitted, and the defensive networks erected before the offensive likely left as they are. With the current march of the Blue Zone Border, it is more likely that Savannah will be restored, the mines cleared, defensive lines erected south and west of the city, with the MARV hub simply serving as a final citadel for the region.
-[ ] Reclamator Hub Blue Zone 2 (Progress 58/125) (Richmond)
The Richmond to Washington area has long been an important core for GDI administrative work. While it has been deemphasized in the decade since the Third Tiberium War, it has not seen an end to its importance. The Pentagon is still one of the keystone administrative and recordkeeping centers for GDI. The old American Library of Congress and the Smithsonian collections are still one of the most complete records of pre Tiberium civilization in the world. This MARV hub is built with one purpose. Not to mine Tiberium but to ensure that some of the last remnants of the time before do not vanish from the earth, at whatever cost must be paid. It is a final holdfast, a fortress unlike nearly any other on earth. Ringed not only with artillery and railguns, it plays home to some of the only land based antimissile systems that have a reliable chance of working. While its ability to defeat Brotherhood Strategic arms targeted anywhere beyond the immediate environs of the MARV base is limited at best, the base itself is likely to be able to stop most strikes short of actual saturation fires.
[ ] Reclamator Fleet RZ-7 South
Wth the hub completed, there are two good options for the fleet.
-[ ] Super MARVs
An improved model, conceptualized after examining the destruction of MARVS before and during the Third Tiberium War, the Super MARV is substantially more expensive, but offers equally improved rewards
(progress 210/210: 20 resources per die) (3 Points Red Zone Mitigation, 25 RpT)
[8, 27, 68, 40, 36, 55]
While Katherine Manley's fleet was badly damaged during the fighting, it was able to defend the hub quite ably. However, it has now returned to the Red Zones, doing its primary job. With the mining fields defended, the Super MARVs are primarily staying close to home, clearing out smaller patches that grow up after the miners have done their work, be it from stray rockfall or breakthroughs of buried Tiberium veins to the surface in the region. Already, average contamination has dropped by 2.5 percent, and with the concentration of abatement resources in the region, a sizable yellow zone is likely to form, although currently efforts are focused in the north and west, rather than east, as the Red Zone barrier is actually an important strategic barrier against the Brotherhood of Nod.
There are two other key security concerns however: Cuba and Florida. The Caribbean was, before the Third Tiberium War a Brotherhood sea, with chains of islands providing cover for the Brotherhood and, at least before the massive expansion of the Red Zones, served as a key supply line, moving with low profile transports between North and South America. Today, many of the inhabitants have moved their emphasis to piracy and supply raiding, forcing the cargo ships that use these two areas to run with a heavy escort. While there are now enough ships to make the journey quite safe, it is a lasting strain on the Navy's resources, and is likely to be an early target for offensive naval landings, if those ships are funded.
[ ] Reclaimator Fleet YZ-6a
-[ ] Super MARVs
An improved model, conceptualized after examining the destruction of MARVS before and during the Third Tiberium War, the Super MARV is substantially more expensive, but offers equally improved rewards
(progress 182/210: 20 resources per die) (3Points Yellow Zone Mitigation, 15 RpT)
The Savannah MARV fleet did not, unfortunately, receive a number of critical components, most notably the loads of remote weapons stations and the main guns. With these missing, they failed to make an appearance in the main battle of Savannah. A further infusion of resources will both secure the environs and finalize the fleet.
However, the fleet is seen as a deeply secondary priority at this point, as with the Brotherhood beaten off for now, it is unlikely to come under threat in the near future, even in the case of a general war. At the same time, as stormclouds continue to gather, a fleet in Savannah will protect the region and provide tools for warfare across the American South.
[ ] Rationalize Yellow Zones (New)
During the Initial drawing of Yellow Zone lines, GDI often saw them as being little more than afterthoughts, large swathes of the earth that were beyond immediate help. With ever more focus however, a more concentrated set of lines, and a more granular set of zones can be used to help ensure that resources concentrating on those zones are well spent.
(DC 50/70/90) (218)
[22, 84, 61]
The growth of the Red Zones has carved apart the vast majority of the yellow zones, and while many are still connected, they are fundamentally different regions. India, as the apparent new heartland of the Brotherhood of Nod was selected as the new YZ1, and from there, each distinct range of Yellow Zone, working from north to south and moving in an easterly direction was given its own designation. With three times as many Yellow Zones, despite the massive shrinkage, each refers to its own range, and while some are titanically larger than others, with, for example the North American Yellow Zones holding vast amounts of territory, while the Horn of Africa is a relative speck, and others, like Hawaii are simply alone because they are so distant from any other territory.
Politically, this has been relatively well accepted, with only the Initiative First making even pro forma complaints about the rescheduling. With masses of physical evidence, and the vast stretches of Red Zone in between, the new scheduling is long overdue, not least to better reflect the situation on the ground.
YZ-1: India
YZ-2: Indochina
YZ-3: China
YZ-4: Philippines
YZ-5: Oceania
YZ-6: Western Australia
YZ-7: Eastern Australia
YZ-8: Hawaii
YZ-9: America West
YZ-10: America East
YZ-11: Colombia
YZ-12: South America South
YZ-13: West Africa
YZ-14: South Africa
YZ-15: Europe
YZ-16: Horn of Africa
YZ-17: Arabia
YZ-18: Russia
Last edited:
.
