The World Council session ended with some serious victories on the part of the IEC. You'd managed to draw more funding and even some new capabilities from the body politic, though you'd had to make more than a few promises to do so. Chief amongst those was the promise to build a computer science facility, which you were certain would make Dr. Turing very happy. Other things had been almost a matter of course - the weather studies, rocket boxes and the like. It had been a shame that the FWW had been ruffled badly by the deal acquiring the nuclear facilities - you still weren't one hundred percent sure what it was that had set them off more than anyone else, but they had certainly had the worst reaction. You would have to do some reading and see what the cause might be.
The CPAL and (surprisingly) the SDL had come out as the IEC's biggest fans, with the Debsists trailing them. Between the three of them you'd been able to wrangle a tripling of your budget, staving off the impending budget crunch that had been looming in the first year of the IEC's existence, and now you could comfortably contemplate rapidly expanding the Cooperative to meet all these fancy new promises and capabilities you'd acquired for them.
Resources:
220 (+160R/turn)
30 Political Support
Facilities:
1 Launch Stand (0-5 tonne) (+1 Operations die)
1 Assembly Complex (+1 Build Capacity)
1 Engineer's Hall (+2 Engineering Dice)
1 University Affiliate (+2 Science Dice)
1 Materials Lab (+5 bonus to projects tagged [MATSCI])
1 Chemical Plant (+5 bonus to projects tagged [CHEM])
1 Electronics Cooperative (+5 bonus to projects tagged [AVIONICS])
1 Construction Union Hall (+1 Facilities die)
1 Publications Office (+1 to all science and engineering fields; coinflip each year to get an additional +1)
1 Hardened Tracking and Observation (T&O) Complex (+3 to Operations)
1 Engine Test Stand (+2 to PROP projects)
1 Isotope Separation and Nuclear Science Facility (Enables Nuclear Technology tree) (fully unlocks 1954Q1)
Scientific Advances (name TBD)
Improved Instrumentation (Gain +1d2 bonus to a random field every 2 launches. Gain +1 to AVIONICS immediately.)
Regenerative Cooling (Starts down the path to more powerful and advanced rocket engines
Second Stages - Can now build 2-Stage Sounding Rockets
Combustion Instability Research - Turns the initial success roll for a rocket from a >60 to >50.
Scientific/Engineering Specific Field Bonuses
AERO - +3
AVIONICS - +6
CHEM - +7
CREW - +0
COMP - +0
MATSCI - +5
PHYS - +0
PROP - +4
Penelope Carter [The Director] - [+10 to Politics rolls, +2 Politics die, +5R/turn in funding from Connections, reroll 1 failed politics roll per turn]
Sergei Korolev - [+5 to Science and Engineering rolls (unless researching [HGOL][FUEL] projects, then it becomes a -15), +1 Science dice, +1 Engineering Dice. Request: Build an Orbital Rocket within 5 years; build a Scientific Complex in former Ukraine within 10 years.]
Promises Made (Expires Q1 1953):
Complete Weather Studies (Phase 3) (+5 PS)
Build Computational Research Facility (+5 PS)
Complete Rocket Boxes (Phase 3)
Do not expand to more than 2 Facilities Dice
Do not pursue Spaceplane research
Operations (1 dice, +3 bonus)
[] Construct a Sounding Rocket - Standard Sounding rocket launches are now something of an old hat. Still perfectly useful, of course, and they're not actually that old, but the two stage rockets have stolen some of their thunder. (10R per dice, 0/40, costs 1 Build Capacity until complete)
-[] And launch it (free action for Sounding Rockets) (gains Scientific Data, launch experience, results to show the people funding you)
[] Construct a 2-Stage Sounding Rocket - The IEC's engineers and scientists have come up with a moderately reliable stage separation system for multi-stage rockets. Moderately as in "It worked the first time", anyway. It could use more development. (15R per dice, 0/50, costs 1 Build Capacity until complete)
-[] And launch it (free action for Sounding Rockets) (gains Scientific Data, launch experience, results to show the people funding you)
Facilities (1 dice, +0 bonus)
[ ] Construct a Hangar Complex - A group of pilots and engineers approached you with the idea of constructing a spaceplane. Such an endeavour would surely benefit the construction of normal aircraft as well, making it a potentially easy sell to the People's Forum. First, though, the IEC would need a place to actually, well, build them. (10R per die, 0/100, allows constructing spaceplane prototypes)
[ ] Construct a Runway - A 6 kilometer long strip of concrete and tarmac to launch and land air-and-spacecraft from, and the control towers and radars to supplement it. (10R per die, 0/150, allows for launching and landing air and spacecraft)
[ ] Construct a Heavy Sounding Rocket launch site - Your current launch stand isn't up to the task of launching a much bigger rocket than it currently does, being little more than a repurposed parking lot. The launch area could use reinforcement, thicker concrete and rebar and the like, maybe a flame trench to divert the rocket's exhaust away from it. Your engineers have enough guesstimates from the ones who want to make the Heavy Sounding Rocket that they feel confident enough to tell you they can make a pad that can handle it. (15R per die, 8/60, allows launch of the Heavy Sounding Rocket and theoretical derivatives up to 30 tons)
[ ] Construct a Wind Tunnel - In order to do advanced studies on the shape of air and spacecraft at various speeds, you'll need a safe space that you can push a lot of air into, quickly. You've been assured by literally everyone involved that this will be useful. Personally, you're half-convinced it's just the air/spaceplane research crowd looking for every possible excuse to acquire jet engines and jet engine parts. But… (10R per die, 0/80, +3 to projects labeled AERO)
[ ] Construct a Computational Research Facility - As you promised to build one for the WCC, your engineers and computer scientists have come to you with designs for a mainframe computing facility much like ENIAC, only far more powerful, utilizing magnetic tape to store programs that it would then execute. They promise that it will not only help the IEC improve computer technology, but it will also aid all the other research the IEC is doing. (20R per die, 0/180, +3 to all projects)
Engineering (3 dice, +6 Bonus to All)
[ ] Conduct Design Studies (Platform) (Heavy Sounding Rocket) [AERO] - Your small sounding rockets are, well, they work, but they're not as high-performing as you'd like. During the Third Great War, the Empire used a thirteen-tonne rocket as a terror weapon against civilians; that rocket is, approximately, thirteen times as large as the ones you are using, and able to fly at least three times as high, based on your people's calculations. They think they can recreate the design using notes seized from the ruins of the Empire's rocket complex. (5R per die, 49/80, unlocks Heavy Sounding Rocket (and a naming vote because that's unwieldy))
[ ] Conduct Design Studies (Platform) (Spaceplane Development) [AERO] - If you're going to be building spaceplanes, it would be a good idea to develop a working design to build in that hangar the spaceplane gang had wanted. Your engineers were talking about things like payload fraction and use cases and aerodynamic loading - all of which went more or less over your head but it certainly seemed they knew what they were about. (5R per die, 0/100, unlocks Prototype Spaceplane)
[ ] Conduct Design Studies (Alternative Launch Systems) [AERO, PHYS] - Still more of your engineers were talking about investigating different ways of potentially getting to space. Jules Verne stuff. Big guns and space towers and the like. You didn't think them likely to work, but having the knowledge wouldn't hurt. (5R per die, 0/300, ???)
[ ] Engine Cycles (Tech) [MATSCI, CHEM, PROP] - There are, apparently, a great many ways to power a rocket. The basic function of all rocket engines is fundamentally the same - combine something that burns well with an oxidizer and combust them in such a way as to generate a great deal of pressure, and then force that flaming pressure wave out of the combustion area in a manner that causes it to impart force in a direction you desire. However, the specifics of how that all happens is, apparently, a wide-open field for the IEC to play in, and the teams have ideas. (10R per die, 114/250, unlocks further engine development options)
[ ] Advanced Concepts Office - A group of scientists and engineers have come to you asking to staff an Advanced Concepts Office, whose entire function seems to be dreaming up things you could do in space. Space stations, giant spacecraft, the works. (5R and -5 PS per die, 51/150, will occasionally provide a new Program to pursue based on brainstorming and priorities)
Science (3 dice, +6 Bonus to All)
[ ] Exploratory Propellant Research (Phase 1) [CHEM] - A group of chemists attached to the IEC came to you with a proposal to conduct an exhaustive campaign characterizing just about as many propellants as they could come up with. While expensive, and dangerous, and potentially deadly, the knowledge gained could also be invaluable for nailing down mixtures and ratios of fuels that could help the IEC achieve its objectives. (15R per dice, 0/150, unlocks fuel mixtures and further fuel development)
[ ] Tracking Station Surveys - In order to support tracking and communication with long-range and orbital rocketry and experiments, you would need a network of tracking stations placed basically across the world. A survey would be conducted to find the most opportune locations for tracking station placement, prior to construction. This could give you some leverage in the People's Forum, too. (5R per dice, 0/150, unlocks Tracking Station Construction project for Facilities)
[ ] Conduct Materials Research (Phase 1) - Better alloys would lead to higher-performing engines and lighter rockets, you were told. All you had to do was authorize the resource expenditure to start testing materials. (15R per die, 0/150, provides access to aluminum structures)
[ ] Weather Studies (Phase 2) - With the weather observation program started, keeping it going is now almost a given. The returns have been very valuable for the meteorological community at large, and the PAO has received numerous calls from various localities across the globe asking for the IEC to put up instruments where they are, each hoping to reap the rewards of more accurate weather prediction. (10R per die, requires a Sounding Rocket, 67/160) (+5 PS on complete) (High Priority)
[ ] All-Sky Survey (Phase 1) - The Science Committee at the WCC put forward the proposal to perform an All-Sky Survey, mapping the entire night sky with telescopes across the world. The first such survey, the Carte du Ciel, had never actually finished, despite starting nearly three quarters of a century ago. With advancements in photography and optics, the science teams predict that they will be able to perform the task… in roughly a decade. First, though, you needed to wrangle observatories… (10R per die, 0/300) (+5 PS, ???)
[ ] Big Ear - The scientists working for the IEC have latched on to the opening the new broadcast regulations have given them, and are clamoring for funding to construct a radio telescope in a remote part of Africa. It might need a bit of infrastructure run out to it, and probably a security force of some sort to dissuade partisans, but it looked doable. Personally, you thought it was also a good excuse to help electrify somewhere that needed it. (20R per die; At least 1 dice must be Facilities, 0/300) (+1 Electrification and Infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa, +2 to PHYS)
[ ] Nuclear Power Studies - You now had a rather absurd amount of nuclear infrastructure making its way to Mogadishu. This included a number of nuclear physicists, some of whom had very big names, coming to join the IEC. While the world was still scarred by the horror of the atom's splitting, it was possible to use the technology for peaceful purposes - the IEC just had to show them. (15R per die, 0/400) (-15PS on completion) (Opens further nuclear research)
Politics (3 dice, +10 bonus, reroll 1 failure per turn)
Political
[ ] Bothering Councilors - The year's budget is set, but next year's is very much not. You can influence investment priorities if you want to apply enough political pressure to the right people to convince them to fund, say, better roads out of Mogadishu… elementary and secondary schools in Africa… that kind of thing. (-10 PS, roll a quality dice to give options for influencing infrastructure funding, triggers subvote)
[ ] There is Power in a Union - The PAO says you should expand your physical footprint so more people can interact with the IEC. It sounds like a great idea, but to do that you'll need to contract another construction worker's union. (0/100, 5R per dice, -5 PS on completion. Gain +1 Facilities dice, +5 to Facilities rolls)
Outreach
[ ] Rocket Boxes (Phase I) - The initial run of Rocket Boxes to the schools in Mogadishu has been enough of a success to merit further deployment of Rocket Boxes abroad. With a bit of investment of resources, you can get enough Rocket Boxes assembled to expand the net to the rest of Africa. (5R per die, 175/200. Gives Rocket Boxes to every middle-school, high-school and university or equivalent in Africa. Encourages future African scientists and engineers - some of whom will even come work with the IEC.)
[ ] Rocket Reels - The test footage the IEC produces for scientific value can be easily copied and turned into high-octane spectacle for the purposes of swaying the public's opinion and imagination. The best part is, the more rocket launches you do, the better your reels get. (5R per die, 0/120, gain a coinflip for 1 additional Political Support per quarter; successful rocket launches give you an additional coin flip for each launch.)
[ ] Space For All - The PAO survey revealed that most people just… don't think about space with any regularity, if at all. The best and most common way for people to get into it seems to be as children, getting their imaginations fired by comic books and science fiction and the occasional radio drama or movie. The PAO proposes developing a set of educational films and television shows aimed at all age groups to tell them about the amazing wonders of the universe and what we can accomplish in it. (5R, 0/120, +10PS on completion, ???)
