Q3 2053 Results
GDI Online Q3 2053
QOL: Service improvements and new products
Willis Adams
So everyone, new thread, new issues. I hear GDI has been putting out new filtration units. Not for us, but for the Forgotten and people out in the deeper Yellow Zones. Hope it helps, even if it does not make my life better. As for what I have been seeing, the big one has been discussions, (although no movement quite yet) about the whole private services things. Now, what that means has usually been a question of which part of the web you end up on. On here, it has usually been things like restaurants, hairdressers and the like. Over there, it has been substantially more adult thematically, and since this is at least supposed to be a family friendly site, I can't say all that much.
On the other hand we have been getting some other major work done. Less housing, but more work being done on cleaning up some areas that have been fenced off during the war. Hope the poor souls doing the work stay safe. UXO is nasty business, especially with what NOD uses as weapons.
KroptokinsGhost
So glad to hear all this wonderful news! It slowly feels like pre-tib life is poking its head out of the shell crater. I'll be happy to get my hair cut professionally for once hah! And yes those brave men and women doing UXO cleanup know the risks and deserve all the respect for playing with explosives and ordnance all day. I did see a Indian spot getting renovated down the street. It'll be nice to be able to swing by and grab a bite to eat.
FloatingWood
"Not for us" he says. I'd say putting safe drinking water in their hands helps us, given what I've been hearing about the deeper Yellow Zones and the crazy guys doing the harvesting there. It's not just troopers, you know?
Stralyan1998
I'm real happy about these new developments. First the new craft facility opens up and now the restaurants and hairdressers are opening back up? We might not quite be at our goal of getting back to the pre-war normal just yet but this is a damn fine start. That it helps get the bureaucrats out of my hair some more doesn't hurt either. Now hopefully I can go get a nice burger every once in a while without having to...well nevermind what.
FloatingWood
I'm not sure what you mean. Well aside the whole 'fungus tastes just fine' thing. No it didn't, no it doesn't, and whoever came up with the 'how to spice your fungus bar' cookbook should be raised to sainthood.
At least it no longer tastes like shit. Well, not actually like shit. I hope. No experience tasting that.
YourFateCalls989
These new maker facilities can't make lab-grown organs yet right? Oh well, the current model will do for now I suppose.
MotorEnthusiast11
Privatising some stuff is fine, but what about everything else? The government has enough money to fund a colossal space program and I am still waiting for some state investment capital, so I can get my pre-eletric motor business up and working again. I just want a timeline for what we should expect when.
SpeakerToCustomers
I want to complain about this craziness going on in the yellow zones! Look at these pictures-
*pic*
*pic*
What the hell are we wasting money on these things for? Thats a solid meter of reinforced concrete, two meters of dirt *and* foamed glass? What the hell is this building supposed to do, resist a nuclear attack? But they're using it for a residential structure? If they were willing to spend this much on housing, we shouldn't have so many people in those ugly apartment blocks. Did some bean counter screw up a new bunker and build housing inside it?
YourFateCalls989
Hey, having a house that is also a fortified bunker is pretty nice actually.
Fireofunkownorigin
Isn't that like from proof of concept made prior to the war for advanced yellow zone housing? I think… my memory is foggy on that and it's not like I can find anything on it RN given that the Noddies liked to hit data centers as much as they liked to hit GDI bases.
Willis Adams
#YourFateCalls989 Lab grown organs are not something that is likely to ever be in the hands of the common consumer. Organs are hard generally, and take lab conditions to make functional anyway.
YourFateCalls989
#Willis Adams The tech is within reach. Maybe not right away but the GDI could probably have a fairly usable and easy to make version within a decade. Of course they will not make it available because they fear the true potential of humanity, but the street always finds its own uses for things.
SpeakerToCustomers
#fireofunknonworigin
I don't care who came up with it, this is a waste of money! They shouldn't be putting up fortresses in the Yellow Zones, just so they can do whatever with the budget. I can't get compensation for the lovely 500 square meter house I lost, but they can spend as much as they like on this?
FloatingWood
#SpeakerToCustomers, have you ever been to a Yellowzone? Or had to deal with tib infestation or something? I mean, sure, it's probably excessive, but I'd rather have the Yellowzoners alive in bunkers than dead of tib poisoning.
I mean, how well do you think your lovely little Blue Zone residence will fare, even in a relatively low contamination area?
#YourFateCalls989
Wait, if organ printing is in reach, why aren't printed organs a transplantation option?
Willis Adams
#SpeakerToCustomers
I want to live in one of those. Because unlike whatever you were living in, it is capable of getting hit by a barrage of NOD shellfire and leave me alive inside.
#YourFateCalls989
Look, kid, I am a doctor. I don't have the capacity to print organs in my clinic, the hospital I transfer the bad cases to does not, and the scientists are still figuring out the kinks. I can print a biocompatible pseudo-organ and implant that for flesh to grow over, but it still is not as good as an original.
ProfCollingsworth
Well, I heard that the classrooms in the building I may be teaching in soon were built with no windows or doors, so it sounds like the good engineers are busy building fortifications in the Yellow Zones. Given the historical fate of fortified towns on the frontiers, and their tendency to attract attacks that would otherwise vastly inconvenience squishy civilians in more central areas, I can't say I'm unhappy. Speaking as one of those squishy civilians.
YourFateCalls989
#FloatingWood
Within reach and widely available are two different things unfortunately.
#Willis Adams
Watch who you call kid. I have seen and learned things you cannot even imagine. I know that it is not yet available. I am saying that once it is (assuming GDI doesn't drag its feet on the research too much), it will likely not be available to create freely for the average person because the GDI is afraid of what their own people can truly do with such abilities.
Fireofunkownorigin
#SpeakerToCustomers
No, no what I mean is that those pics look almost exactly like an article I read years ago about a proof of concept house in the yellow zones. I think you got baited by some fake news.
AgathaH
Just a note for those who haven't tried it: leave UXO disposal to the professionals. Someone I know tried to do it on an amateur basis, and now has a lot less hair. And an annoying degree of hearing loss.
FloatingWood
That's pretty lucky. Not sure good or bad, but lucky.
Hatestheworld
I know what I want opening up.
Cooking Mama.
Charming #hatestheworld Just lovely. Thank you for that.
Stralyan1998
#Hatestheworld
*High fives you*
Johnny Mangoseed
My cousin's moved to the nearby California Terminus City to help with the new farms there. And he tells me that the new Yellow Zone farms will bring in 5% of the world's harvest this season. 5%, in only 6 months at that! These farms are in the middle of tiberium storms, using soil that keeps filling up with tiberium crystals, with machinery that needs to be serviced three times a day, water that's poison half the time, etc. etc. And because the new farming techniques are still a work in progress, people keep getting tiberium infections. One of my cousin's friends even got a green thumb- literally!
But the people of the California Yellow Zone are determined to make it work anyways. The plan is to make Yellow Zones grow enough food to be completely self-sufficient, despite living in a tiberium hellhole. I guess after so many years on rations and handouts, people are willing to do a lot for their food.
MeAndTheBoise
As someone from the 'darker' yellow zones, I can't help but be grateful that GDI actually does something like this. I'm well aware that we're respected by the higher ups as something useful, but a bit low on the priority side for development. To see GDI brass actually did an effort alongside this filtration units, I can't help but be hopeful about our future.
The Trial of Redmond Boyle
After nearly a year of discussion and the rituals of a just trial, Redmond Boyle has been convicted of a laundry list of crimes, ranging from the relatively innocuous corruption and fiscal malfeasance, to multiple counts of gross incompetence and one of attempted crimes against humanity. The current Director General of GDI, having been called to testify, described Boyle's orders across the Third Tiberium War as being "A civilian attempting to assume operational command" and the strike at Temple Prime "An operation that was more political theater than military sense."
The now retired Melissa Wu, former assistant treasurer, testifying about his activities as secretary of the treasury, revealed that he was not only a goldbug, placing outsized importance on a gold reserve that had primarily been a dumping ground for excess gold produced by Tiberium refining operations, but had also been influential in assigning contracts to his friends and business partners, granting a handful of major companies undue and nearly unfettered access to GDI's funds and funding. While none of these are precisely new accusations, Wu is the most highly placed accuser, and has been instrumental in making the case for corruption.
GDI does not typically use the death penalty, reserving it soly for those too highly placed to be left alive. Generally, it represents an acknowledgement that what the person knows is too important, too dangerous, to be left out into the general population, and as such is almost always used against the very highest ranking members of the Initiative's civil and military commands. Boyle, despite being a coward in life, went to his death well, choosing a firing squad, and facing it with courage.
As a case, this one is notably unusual. Instead of calling the accusations a NOD plant, or having been a case of Brotherhood misinformation. While far from a foolproof method for avoiding punishment, the Brotherhood does tend to muddy the waters enough for some of the otherwise guilty to sow enough doubt to escape punishment. However, in this case, while NOD is involved, it seems to be a clear cut case of picking their person to survive the Philadelphia attack, rather than a matter of misplaced guilt.
Political Working Group Report
GDI's departments have been sending a constant stream of lobbyists and "friends of the department" to the representatives to make their case.
Military Department Opinions.
The Ground Forces command has not been entirely happy with the direction the Treasury has taken. While they have certainly been more fortunate than most in GDI's military, there are still weaknesses from the war that have not been properly addressed. On the other hand, the allocation of railguns and artillery have been instrumental, although shells have continued to be a problem in high intensity campaigns.
The Navy is not particularly happy with the Treasury. Having been ignored for years, they have finally gotten some funding towards their goals, but do not see it as particularly likely that they will be getting new hulls in the near future.
Relatively happy with the Treasury, Zone Operations Command has primarily been asking for even more suits, as they can still not maintain operations at a high intensity.
While Granger has not yet funded Space Force priorities, he has begun investing in space, and so while it is feeling somewhat superfluous, it is looking forward to being the premier branch as more of GDI's interests turn towards the stars.
Welfare Department
Right now, the Treasury has done quite a bit to reduce the demand on medical services. This has allowed many doctors to go on break somewhat more regularly, and has made the Treasury quite popular with the branch. Similarly, the cuts to the labor force have made payments and other welfare supplies somewhat easier, although still stretching the resources of the department.
Resources: 435 + 0 in reserve (45 currently allocated to other departments) (15 allocated to the Forgotten)
Political Support: 70
Free Dice: 5
Tiberium Spread
14.37 Blue Zone
30.8 Yellow Zone (61 points of mitigation)
54.83 Red Zone (26 points of mitigation)
Current Economic Issues:
Housing: Sufficient but low quality (=) (5 in refugee camps)
Energy: Substantial Surpluses (+6)
Logistics: Substantial Surpluses (+6)
Food: Sufficient production, some inefficiencies in distribution (+5) (+2 stored)
Health: Substantially improved (+6)
Capital Goods: Significant Shortfalls (-2) (collapse in 20-24 quarters)
Consumer Goods: Titanic Shortages (-21)
Labor: Gargantuan Surpluses (115)
Yellow Zone
Water: Limited Surpluses (+1)
Status of the Parties
(strong support, weak support, weak opposition, strong opposition)
Free Market Party: 19 Seats (1; 2; 9; 7)
Hawks: 31 Seats (1; 5; 18: 6)
United Yellow List: 10 Seats (7; 3; 0; 0)
Independents: 7 Seats (0; 4; 2; 1)
Developmentalists: 53 Seats (34; 16; 3; 0)
Plan Commitments
95 Mitigation (2 remaining)
2 stages of space stations (1 remaining)
[ ] Blue Zone Reconstruction (Phase 2)
While much of the work has been spun off into its own projects, there are still many sites with battle damage. Ranging from ports in the north of France, to the surviving cities of the Australian and New Zealand Blue Zones, there are still tens of thousands of sites with remaining battle damage, from ships in need of refloating or on site salvage, to docks that need shell holes filled in, to trainyards that are currently manhandling freight. Once this is completed, a great deal of projects will be opened up that will benefit the blue zone populations greatly.
(Progress 291/450: 10 Resources per die) (+ Logistics, + Health)
Reconstruction of the Blue Zones has been slow this quarter, despite the amount of resources allocated. Primarily this has been due to having to clear tens of thousands of explosives. Ranging from unexploded GDI ordinance (at times, failure rates for bombs reached between .5 and 1 percent during the war) to NOD weapons (which often had and have a much higher failure rate) to various forms of leave behind IEDs and minefields. While the devices had been cleared from high priority areas years ago, locations not in immediate use have been left, as they were judged not worth clearing. However, this is also specialist work, requiring dedicated teams of explosives experts, rather than something that can be done with swarms of drones or locally hired work crews. While work has continued on clearing away the detritus of war, and many of the less damaged buildings have been brought back into use, either officially or unofficially, there is still much left to be done, especially to the port and rail infrastructure that has not yet been refurbished.
[ ] Yellow Zone Fortress Towns (Phase 1)
Much of the Yellow Zones are contested by the Brotherhood of NOD. While previous GDI leadership often wrote off yellow zone outposts in the cases of pitched warfare, current policy is that forces expended to reduce positions like this one are forces not being used to invade blue zones. While the manpower to station a sizable guard force is generally not available, much can be done to allow them to hold with a bare handful of men and sizable defensive works. Ranging from earth and concrete walls to turret guarded choke points and multiple overlapping fields of fire, one of these towns should be about as hard to crack as a position of their size could be. While expensive compared to how much housing they provide, the defensive attributes and their ability to hold a piece of a yellow zone is invaluable to GDI's military.
(Progress 124/200: 20 Resources Per Die) (+++ Housing) (Supports Yellow Zone Intensification)
Much of the work has been done on the habitation cores of the fortress towns. Usually a "pseudo-arcology" built from subdivided cells, the goal is to place habitation units underneath or inside a perimeter of ablative light industry, vehicle bays, and other less vital equipment in the case of NOD attack. However, far more work is required to bring the defenses to a prepared level. At this point, the construction of the earthworks and concrete sections has gone well, however the installation of artillery and other defensive systems has not yet been completed. With military needs consuming the vast majority of the available railguns and artillery tubes, only a handful of fortresses in mission critical areas under use by Initiative troops have had their complements allocated. While this is a problem that the military does want resolved, it will take more time and effort to procure and install the massive arrays of defenses that each fortress town requires.
[ ] Blue Zone Power Grid Reconstruction (Phase 3)
While there is still something of a power surplus, it is one in relatively rapid decline, and in need of substantial shoring up, especially as more high energy demands are soon to be in place, between additional chip fabricators, substantial new military foundries, and more domestic needs. While this will bring GDI's power production in line with prewar development, it will also lead towards future projects, both small and large, to continue to meet GDI's power needs.
(Progress 201/500: 10 Resources per die) (- Labor, +++++ Energy)
With GDI's power grid drastically insufficient to meet projected need, from the Rapier class alone, let alone all of the other demands expected in the near future, a massive new construction project has been initiated. The process has begun with a literal laying of foundations, with the concrete being poured for dozens of new nuclear plants already, and with even more planned for the near future. With none of the high tech components installed, the areas are being left to cure at this point, with future waves of construction work aiming to develop the positions into something that can be meaningfully called a power plant, rather than simply a concrete assembly.
[ ] Leopard Class Construction Yard
The Leopard is essentially an overgrown and overbuilt aircraft, necessary compromises when it comes to attempting to ride a column of plasma into orbit. However, this does mean that orbital engineering teams are not well prepared to handle this kind of construction on a large scale. However, the heavy industrial teams are. Building a construction yard for serial production will be both expensive in the immediate term, and a significant savings in the longer term. (Progress 218/180: 20 resources per die) (+1 Fusion Lift Die)
The Monrovia construction yard finally clanked into action on an early September day. While no units have yet come off the lines, massive arrays of machinery and work teams have been an ants nest of activity, assembling everything from reactor casings and plasma channels to the cladding of the aircraft. While there are currently minor shortages of skilled workforce, and not all of the robots that have been requested have arrived yet, that has not stopped work beginning on the first of many Leopards. When fully operational, the plant expects to produce a unit every six to eight weeks. While incredibly fast for space ship production, it is still far from enough for any serious development, let alone evacuation of the Earth. (Any putative evacuation would not be enough to keep up with even the depressed population growth of current events.) However, at least for now, it is more than enough to keep up with GDI's ever growing need for space lift. However, the Leopard does have to be extensively refurbished, averaging a launch every six weeks at absolute maximum rate, and GDI prefers to ensure that there is more give in the schedule than that, because mistakes in spacecraft turn into explosions that cripple programs in the court of public opinion.
[ ] Personal Water Purification Units
While large scale water purification is far more efficient, many people are currently too dispersed or isolated to bring water to in a reasonable manner. By building small scale hybrid sonic/graphene purification units, people can be guaranteed a steady supply of fresh water. While distribution will take further efforts, there is sufficient warehouse space to begin producing these now. (Progress 263/130: 10 resources per die) (++ Health)
The water purification plants are fundamentally relatively simple. A box with an internal graphene screen, and a series of sonic projectors emplaced in a circle around the screen. Plug it into any standard outlet, and it will begin processing water fed into it from a reservoir on top to a second reservoir on the bottom. Using a reverse osmosis process, the filtration unit cleans the water, while the sonics prevent the buildup of Tiberium crystals from particulate in the water. The filter section does have to be replaced somewhat regularly, as there is buildup on the surface. While requiring a substantial amount of power (enough to pressurize water to 280 kilopascals), these units are portable, and can be fed from the solar tarps that are usually provided with it, or from other power generating plants. Providing clean water to the people has been a long term project for many states, with no western state able to provide properly clean water to all of its citizens by the end of the 20th century. Instead, many still relied on lead pipes, or other methods that leached harmful chemicals into the water. Additionally, few treated the water for chemical runoffs, meaning that in the recirculating water system, increasing levels of water soluble chemicals became problematic. By the midpoint of the 21st century, it is still problematic to provide water to far flung habitats, or isolated bands, especially as water pipes tend to also be vectors for Tiberium spread when used over long distances. This has meant that personal, portable water filters have become the norm. These units are able to provide 3-5 gallons per unit per day. Far from enough for most industrial uses, but equally good enough to provide for at least the basics of hydration and cleaning.
[ ] Experimental Carbon Nanotube Plant
The carbon nanotube, an elusive target for 50 years, may finally be within reach of our production methods. Lab prototypes indicate that a median length of 1-meter nanotubes are possible, though quality and length control remain vexing issues. Building a full factory to test these problems in the wild is a necessary test of our ability to create these wonder-resources, and to begin to explore the properties of materials that can integrate them-most importantly, new armor and structural materials
(Progress 216/200: 15 resources per die) (++ Capital Goods)
Long chain carbon nanotubes are now available, and some production has begun. It is however low rate, as it is a very new material. Nearly every piece of equipment was built and designed with only having short chain or bulk nanotubes available to use, while the prototype plant is offering long chains. However, for the people who are ready to use the long chains, it has been a revolutionary material. One of the relatively well known but quite useful elements is its use as a laser resistant material. Rather than ablating away, the long nanotube offers the capability to protect the users, while also spreading the heat from the laser along its length, spreading the impact to hundreds if not thousands of times its initial burn area. While other uses will come in time, it is a new material and simply testing expected uses is a substantial investment at current rates.
[ ] Yellow Zone Aquaponics Bays (phase 2)
While some progress has been made towards developing an independent food supply for the Yellow Zones, water has become a critical issue, not just for food, but for the prospective industrial needs. However, there is still a sufficient surplus for a substantial increase in Yellow Zone agricultural developments. Still far from enough to feed its population, but one that can at least prevent rapid starvation in the case of a substantial breakdown in the logistical network.
(Progress 99/80: 10 resources per die) (++ Food, -- Water)
A series of additional farms have begun operations. While few Yellow Zoners are particularly knowledgeable about the processes and skills of aquaponic farming, a number of Blue Zone expatriates have moved out to run the farms. Mostly the children of farm management, they have looked to the rapid promotion opportunities as a good way to get ahead. This is due to modern high level aquaponics being developed under GDI auspices and primarily in and for the Blue Zones. While there were a relative handful of Yellow Zone managers who did know the work, that labor pool has effectively been tapped out in the previous wave of farm openings.
Focusing primarily on producing leafy greens and other vegetables that do not take to transport particularly well, GDI's newest crop of farm managers have quite a few yellow zone workers, but have not integrated quite yet, despite their best efforts, being alternately overly paranoid and not paranoid enough, with multiple losses to various forms of Tiberium exposure and other hazards of the Yellow Zones that the population that calls the area home are all too aware of. They have also been a substantial strain on the water supplies of the area. However, this is a small price to pay for a better local food supply.
[ ] Novel Crops Experimental Laboratories
While production methods have changed drastically in the last fifty years, the vast majority of the crops consumed by the Global Defense Initiative have been domesticated for millenia, and most of the rest have been domesticated for centuries. With the natural reservoirs that have provided most of the domesticated plant species destroyed by human exploitation or Tiberium, an ambitious genetic engineering program has been proposed to begin construction of a new generation of crops, ones that are cheaper and easier to grow, and more productive. While the program is likely to be expensive, and with uncertain results, growing for the future is likely to require truly novel crops, especially with the ongoing spread of Tiberium.
(Progress 183/200: 20 resources per die)
The novel crops laboratories have been erected on college campuses around the world. However they have not been fully staffed. A final round of hiring searches and finding the right people for the job will be required. Gene editing has a long history of opposition, primarily due to it being seen as unnatural, and playing god. Going back to the beginning, activism against GMOs has been driven by fears that are often not bounded by facts. While these early crops, such as Glyphosate tolerant corn and soybeans, at times had severe issues, such as overly restrictive end user agreements, no health problems have ever been linked with properly conducted GMO research. With the ambitious goals of the program, a new round of protests have been seen at these sites, with small assemblies at most of them. While the broader response has been positive, there are some small groups that have made it their mission to oppose these sites.
[ ] Coordinated Red Zone Perimeter Harvests (Phase 1)
While GDI's methods of attacking the Red Zones have typically relied on either loose perimeters of outposts or deep strikes towards the Glaciers, the Forgotten can move much more easily through the area. By coordinating with local tribes and establishing easy migration routes between harvesting outposts, the combined efforts can significantly slow the expansion of the Red Zones.
(Progress 441/200: 10 resources per die) (additional income trickle [10 Resources]) (3 points Red Zone Mitigation) (2 phases completed)
Rather than being a slow start to GDIs reborn relationship with the Forgotten, the prospect of coordinated harvests with the Forgotten have been kicked off in one of the largest campaigns since the Third Tiberium War. Nearly every easily accessible tribe and band has been at least contacted, and most have joined willingly, or at most after some small inducements.
The coordination has been going surprisingly well. While there have been a number of communications errors, and some incidents where GDI and Forgotten harvesting efforts have attempted to harvest the same patches of Tiberium, these are expected growing pains for one of the most integrated efforts in the history of the Initiative. While not as purely Tiberium efficient as other methods, it has substantially increased both GDI and Forgotten incomes, secured long stretches of the Yellow/Red borderlands, and beaten off multiple NOD raiding groups. While these groups were almost entirely light forces, mostly bands of buggies and bikes, they would have been dangerous to many of the smaller bands, but with GDI assistance seeing them off has become effectively routine. Much of this is due to the ZOCOM escorts having ever greater complements of Zone Armors for patrol purposes.
[ ] GDSS Enterprise (Phase 2)
To bring GDSS Enterprise to IOC, the key element is the completion of an initial industrial ring. While there is some workshop space already, GDI needs the ability to actually produce massive quantities of material in space, and more importantly refine and recycle materials in orbit, rather than hauling up everything in repeated bulk mass launches.
(Progress 117/200: 30 resources per die)
The first ring is nearly completed. While telescopes are somewhat rare in the modern day, at night, especially out in the deeper parts of the Yellow and the Red Zones, one could (assuming one did not mind a bit of Tiberium poisoning) stare up into the night sky and see a bright dot migrate slowly across it. Of course, it is very slow, being just short of geosynchronous orbit. The station itself has grown since the last quarter, having a fully completed first ring. Designed as a recycling center, it lacks the capability to fully process ores. However, it is very good at separating and processing refined metals and alloys. For example on an old Soyuz pod, up until the late 1980s, it ejected its orbital portion before beginning its descent burn. The pod is roughly a thousand kilograms of high quality material, along with some amount of long sterilized astronaut waste products. Similarly, there are decommissioned satellites, fragments of the Philadelphia, and tens of thousands of other pieces of orbital junk floating in space around the planet. That is what the first ring is intended for. And, as GDI's orbital infrastructure grows, it will become the final resting place of many of GDI's ships, although not the Leopard or the Union, or most of the other "class" ships, which are already earmarked for a future museum station.
[ ] Tertiary Schooling
A final wave of mainline school reopenings, Tertiary schooling is simultaneously the most and least important of the programs. While on one hand, it is a final stage towards developing a comprehensive learning system, it is also highly focused on learning dedicated specialist skills, ones that can also be taught at single purpose programs. However, what the college and university environment creates is a place where multiple disciplines can engage in a spirit of freewheeling debate and ongoing creative challenge. In addition to providing the next generation of specialists, these programs will also serve to support a new wave of research programs and technology labs.
(Progress 459/500: 5 resources per die) (--- Labor)
Another quarter of progress has been made on the development of the tertiary school system. While not a particularly bad quarter, it has also not been a particularly good one. Multiple potential crises were nearly averted, most notably a potential lack of good teaching assistants, and all the other staff that make a university system work. Additionally, the process of assigning classes and creating the learning assistance programs have become an expensive snarl. There have also had a number of substantial issues with substandard work by contractors, ranging from windows that would not properly seal, to windows that were sealed up too well, to various issues with doors and electrical systems. While none of the individual problems have been all too problematic, they have been enough to delay the finalization of the program by another quarter.
[ ] Technical School Program
While secondary schools are the main pipeline for an educated workforce, it is not for everyone. Some people work best with their hands, and there is always a need for skilled plumbers, welders, and other skilled labor. By opening a series of technical schools, GDI can offer an accelerated program to restore a pool of skilled labor that has been drained by war. While technical schools have often been a vehicle for discrimination, under the Treasury they will be entirely voluntary, and open to all ages.
(Progress 121/300: 5 Resources per die) (-- Labor)
Technical schools have never been a particular drive for the Initiative. In general thought, it is expected that most of the people who need these skills will either be part of a specialized training program, such as those run by the Ground forces for mechanics, or learn through an apprenticeship to an experienced craftsman. However, during and after the Third Tiberium War, the limitations of this model have become extremely apparent. While the schools have been constructed, there are two key problems before reaching the point of opening. The first is acquiring a sufficient supply of instructors. People who know the work are relatively common. People who can teach the work are somewhat less so. Second is providing for a steady supply of broken material for repairs. While teaching many of the basics can be done on little more than scrap metal, for more complicated elements actual broken items are required. Both will need to be resolved before the schools can properly open their doors.
[ ] Craft Shops and Maker facilities
Constructing a series of Craft Shops and Maker Facilities will both consume a negligible amount of resources, and allow people to begin custom making the items that GDI is currently not providing. Additionally, while not precisely a step towards a reduction in central planning, it is a movement towards a returned sense of normality and liberty. (Progress 208/180: 5 resources per die) (+ Consumer Goods) (5 Political Support)
Making things has always been a part of human life. However, dedicated makerspaces are a late 20th and early 21st century idea, a reaction to the development of 3d printers and an increasing decline in the need for any form of handicrafts. In the modern day they are a cheap replacement for filling supply lines with the dedicated components needed for day to day life. Much like any niche movement, the makerspace came with its own in jokes, one of which is the Newell teapot. First rendered in 1975, the teapot has become one of the ceremonial first objects printed in any new makerspace, and versions of it exist in nearly every programming library. In a ceremonial opening in Edinburgh, Dr. Granger printed off one such unit, in parallel with many other more local officials and leaders. Ranging from hooks and braces to hinges and spatulas, a makerspace is a publicly funded general purpose fabricator in essence. However many of the functions are somewhat arcane to the general public, leaving it, at least for now, the domain of the specialist and the schoolchildren. However, they are likely to be used as a basic market, with specialists selling their skills through making equipment, and everyone buying as they need to.
[ ] Shell Plants (Phase 1)
Artillery warfare is a matter of logistics in many ways. While GDI's existing shell production capacity was more than enough for the relatively limited previous deployment of artillery, it is nowhere near enough to supply the tens of thousands of guns that the current plans call for. By building additional shell plants, GDI can at least provide every gun a standard load, and a steady supply of ammunition for training.
(Progress 94/150: 10 Resources per die) (-- power)
In 1916, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle described a "miracle town" that had emerged in the Scottish Borders. "Only a little more than a year ago," Doyle observed, "it was a lonely peat bog fringing the sea, with a hinterland of desolate plain, over which the gulls swooped and screamed. Then the great hand of the Minister of Munitions was stretched out to this inhospitable waste, for it chanced to lie with good rail and water connexions and not too remote from centres of coal and of iron." Home to 25,000 residents, the instant town had a cinema, dance hall, and shops. The reason, HM Factory Gretna, produced cordite, a smokeless propellent used in munitions made by combining cotton waste, mineral oil, and nitroglycerin in large vats. Doyle was particularly struck by the factory's workforce: "smiling khaki-clad girls who are swirling the stuff round in their hands would be blown to atoms in an instant if certain very small changes occurred. The changes will not occur, and the girls will still smile and stir their devil's porridge; but it is a narrow margin here between life and death." Over a century later, nearly everything has changed. There are no smiling girls mixing guncotton, nobody falling asleep from the fumes as the propellant cures, and the devil's porridge is an even more noxious brew. However, much like at HM Factory Gretna, the line between life and death is a narrow one. Substantial progress has been made on a number of new shell plants around the world however none have yet gone into full production. More work is required before they can be staffed, and have the final elements installed, including the all important assembly machines, which put the fixed shells together before they are shipped out.
[X] Preliminary Service Privatization Discussions
One of the areas where GDI can look to privatize without needing to allocate substantial resources is the service sector. Rather than trying to build a privately owned industrial system, GDI can allow the private sector to begin with various forms of value added businesses, such as restaurants. While this will inherently produce some inefficiencies, and increase demand in some areas, it will not substantially strain GDI's overall resources. (194)
Services are an area that is both incredibly broad, and quite narrow. While it can refer to everything from law offices and programming to waiters and sex workers, the vast majority of the work is done by large numbers of low paid people selling their skills. Before the Third Tiberium War, the service sector had produced substantial wealth, but had typically not been of particular concern, especially compared to the high level worries about agriculture, or light and heavy industry. With the wave of nationalizations or closures that came with the war, many in the service sector began to freelance, often informally. While very little intentional misconduct has occurred, organizing and regularizing the service sector should help with increasing growth, and offering better protections to the workers.
The discussions of privatizing the sector have come down to two major questions. First, what kind of support is the Initiative willing to offer to help push startups? Second, what is the regulation scheme going to look like?
[ ] Broad Support
A widespread base of support will begin growing companies quickly, and provide best for a wide spread of new startups across the board. While relatively expensive, it is also one of the best ways to kickstart the new economy (-10 RpT, High Indicator Costs) (High regulation impact)
[ ] Limited Support
While providing for all of the elements the service sector is beyond GDI's current will, providing some smaller amount, and supporting them as needed will assist the creation of a spread of new companies, although with less support, the best positioned will be the first to reap the benefits of the program. (-5 RpT, Medium Indicator Costs) (Medium regulation impact)
[ ] No Support
While not offering support will not quite strangle the private enterprise initiative in its crib, it will drastically slow any potential growth, and ensure that only the groups who can find wealthy patrons will actually see any potential for growth. (Low regulation impact)
Regulation
[ ] Strongly Pro Worker
A substantial array of pro worker legal and policy choices, ranging from closed shops to preferring cooperatives or other collective ownership schemes, GDI can manage to head off the worst of potential capitalistic excess. This is also likely to ramp up consumption as the workers have more means to negotiate their pay.
[ ] Moderately Pro Worker
The service sector has often been a place where workers are exploited, usually worked against each other in a rat race to push productivity numbers up. By instituting strongly pro worker regulations, including the right to unionize, GDI can at least help in most of these cases.
[ ] Moderately Pro Owner
By emphasizing the role of the owner, we can assist them in finding the right people for the job, and with the massive labor surplus, any churn in the labor market can be worked through with the existing welfare systems.
[ ] Strongly Pro Owner
By taking a mostly hands off approach, and encouraging lawmakers to pass items like so called "right to work" laws, GDI can place ever more control into the owners and managers. While this will increase the efficiency of the sector, mostly by stepping out of the way and allowing people to do as they will, it also has the potential to increase incentives for rulebreaking.
Enforcement
[ ] Intensive Enforcement
With regular inspections, anonymous tip lines, and a well funded set of regulatory bodies, GDI can ensure that nearly any rule breaking is caught and punished appropriately.
[ ] Moderate Enforcement
Primarily waiting for a report of rule breaking to come in, moderate enforcement is substantially less costly to set up and maintain, however it is also significantly less effective, especially with lower levels of GDI involvement in the sector.
[ ] No Enforcement
Enforcement always brings with it a substantial degree of costs to both the initiative and the companies. Any problems can be dealt with by suits through the legal system.
A/N: Please be nice to each other. I know that you guys mean well, but this is something where I am touching very close to things that people care about deeply. I want this to be fun and engaging, not enraging.
] Plan there is no way this could go wrong
