No, I'm pushing back on this ridiculous claim that portals will take decades to see real returns. We went from demonstrating the first human built portals to currently building a ground-to-geosynchronous orbit link in only two years. Q2 2061 to the current Q3 2063. We are definitely going to see returns within this decade with the current fast pace that we're making.
At 0230 local time, June 7, 2061, humanity achieved the first stable portal. Mere atoms across, the portal was first confirmed by microwave signal, with the transmission of "Functional Test One: Active" passing between two test sites. The portal broke .32 seconds into the test cycle, the system entered cascade failure, the supercooling loops overheated and the portals collapsed, causing a substantial electromagnetic pulse. While contained within the two shielded rooms, many of the sensors were burnt out.
However, despite the problem, it was a groundbreaking event, and one where the test is aimed to be repeated in the near future – likely in October or November of this year, and then the next wave of projects are going to be years in the future. With proof of concept in hand however, they are likely to request funding from one of GDI's black budgets. Within the process of reallocation, there are many portions where funding is "black" or otherwise nondisclosed. While this will require dropping the siloing of the project to some degree, the Brotherhood already has broken the shroud of secrecy, and cut their way through the bodyguard of lies.
So, the parameters seem to be:
-size
-duration
-distance
-cost
-reliability (i.e. the previous generation required 3-4 months to rebuild after a single use)
-material transit (i.e. energy, simple objects, complex objects, living things, etc.)
So, our next gen seems to be significantly improving our distance covered, at about 2.25x the cost, but no mention is made of the size, duration, material, or reliability.
To me, pinhole communications with orbit are likely to be below the Logistics rate of return on railroads at a similar R price point (and the railroads would be in use for the entire period where we're waiting for that gen of Portals to proc, and don't cost STUs). But let's say they're equivalent after ignoring the intervening time.
With all the parameters that need improvement, I'm not seeing reliable pinhole communications as something we'll have within the decade, much less more impactful material transit.
So, these take opposite approaches to the problems revealed in our housing last turn.
Portals takes the approach that it is better to tear down and rebuild the low quality housing as soon as possible to reduce the amount of time that people are displaced (upon completion, we'll have torn down 10 more LQH, and built 9 HQH, not including the arcology bureau).
Apertures takes the approach that it is better to build a surplus of HQH prior to continuing the housing refits (and makes more effort to complete the long-running Shuttles project).
Of the two approaches, I think I prefer Portals'. More at an aesthetic level though, as well as a small suspicion that completing phase 5 of housing might have more of an affect on arcologies than other areas (I think alloys make novel architecture more viable?).
Personally I'm not a fan of radically tearing down everything and, importantly, displacing everyone all at once.
Based on the numbers we've heard, a unit of population is something vaguely like two million people. Each phase of housing refits displaces five units of population and gives three of them better housing in the same general area, forcing the other two to relocate.
If we try to slam out 2-3 phases of refits in the same turn, that's 20-30 million people displaced and 8-12 million people displaced to find homes well outside their current neighborhood, all in a three month period. I would argue that that makes things worse than a slow-walk on the project does. Because GDI has a dedicated system for reshuffling people and helping them move, and that system is a lot more likely to be overwhelmed by a sudden sharp shock than by a gradual program that takes a year or more to finish the work.
Portals Heavy Industry
Apertures Heavy Industry
Second Generation Continuous Cycle Fusion Plants +1 Die, +20 R, +11% CoS Phase 3
U Series Alloy Foundries +5 Dice, +200R, +91% CoS
Second Generation Repulsorplate Factories +2 Dice, +50 R
Portals HI available dice: 5->0
Apertures HI available dice: 5->6
It should be noted in fairness that if my plan wins, unless we beeline to North Boston next turn, we'd still end up in about the same situation anyway as far as "available dice" are concerned. There was always a good chance we'd wind up doing something in Heavy Industry apart from the quasi-mandatory combination of alloy foundries, fusion plants, and North Boston. Repulsorplate factories were high on the list.
Apertures, on the other hand, aims to get us a small boost in income next turn, but accelerates the Coordinated Abatement Programs. I'd really rather continuing putting only a single die in there until the first phase completes, to avoid potentially causing an incident out of haste. Moving a die from there to EHTS would seem ideal.
I don't think that rolling two dice on that project is a bad idea. On the one hand, we don't want to cause hasty incidents.
On the other hand, we don't want to give the Nod warlords the impression that we're slow-walking our efforts to carry out our promises, and we do want to impress Nod warlords with the might and sophistication of GDI's industrial base and (importantly) the uses this industrial base can be put to for purposes other than warfare. Our technology of peace can outdo their technology of peace, that sort of thing.
Given that the project seems to be off to a fairly smooth start, I think rolling two dice doesn't represent the kind of hasty 'swarm' effort likely to actually cause problems, and an endless one die per turn trickle might give the impression that we're holding back on purpose to give Nod a harder time of it.
I guarantee we will get snippets about the treasury losing its mind for dumping 400 resources into a speculative science project. Not putting the resources to better uses. The director is doing mad science again. And so on.
Given that the project seems to be off to a fairly smooth start, I think rolling two dice doesn't represent the kind of hasty 'swarm' effort likely to actually cause problems, and an endless one die per turn trickle might give the impression that we're holding back on purpose to give Nod a harder time of it.
RE: EHTS, Would it be possible to take a die off Vein Mines instead? I think the budget can take pushing the vein mine back a turn, but I could be wrong.
So I've made an edit to my plans, because I've come around to 'ZOCOM needs a break'. Both plans have swapped out their Glacier Mine phase for a dice each on Forgotten Experimentation and Enhanced Tib spikes, for all your mad science needs. They've both also moved their 1D on Hospital Bays to Columbia, to give it better odds of finishing this turn.
Alloy Assault said:
[X] Plan Alloy Assault
-[X] Infrastructure (5/5 dice, +27, 95R)
--[X] Suborbital Shuttle Service (Phase 2+3) 159/380 3 dice 75R 70%
--[X] Postwar Housing Refits (Phase 1+2) 114/320 2 dice 20R 21%
-[X] Heavy Industry (5/5 dice + 6 Free, +34, 400R)
--[X] U Series Alloy Foundries (Phase 5+6) 136/965 9 dice 360R 27%
--[X] Second Generation Continuous Cycle Fusion Plants (Phase 2) 263/310 2 die 40R 100% Phase 2, ~2/3rds Phase 3
-[X] Light and Chemical Industry (4/4 dice, +29, 75R)
--[X] Reykjavik Myomer Macrospinner (Phase 5) 883/1100 3 dice 60R 76%
--[X] Adaptive Clothing Development (New) 0/60 1 die 15R 90%
-[X] Agriculture (6/6 dice, +29, 50R)
--[X] Reforestation Campaign Preparations (Phase 1) 252/815 4 dice 20R
--[X] Agriculture Mechanization Projects (Phase 2) 83/230 2 dice 30R 74%
-[X] Tiberium (7/7 dice, +39, 185R)
--[X] Red Zone Border Offensives (Stage 5) 158/210 1 die 25R 100%
--[X] Tiberium Inhibitor Deployment (Blue Zone 4 Southeast Arabia) 52/85 1 die 30R 100%
--[X] Tiberium Inhibitor Deployment (Blue Zone 9 East Australia) 59/85 1 die 30R 100%
--[X] Enhanced Harvest Tiberium Spikes 0/180 1 die 20R (1/2 median)
--[X] Forgotten Experimentation 0/260 1 dice 30R
--[X] Tiberium Field Refinery Development (Tech) 0/80 1 dice 25R 78%
--[X] Coordinated Abatement Programs (Phase 1) 82/190 1 die 25R 47%
-[X] Orbital (7/7 dice + 2 AA + E dice, +34, 210R)
--[X] GDSS Shala (Phase 4) 486/520 2+2AA+E dice 100R
--[X] GDSS Columbia (Phase 5) 643/1030 4 dice 80R 53%
--[X] Life Support Processor Development (Tech) 0/80 1 die 30R 75%
-[X] Services (4/4 dice, +35, 75R)
--[X] University Program Updates (New) 137/250 1 die 15R 38%
--[X] Library Enhancement Programs (New) 0/180 2 dice 30R 56%
--[X] Cosmetic Biosculpting (New) 0/350 1 dice 30R
-[X] Military (7/7 dice, +31, 135R)
--[X] Strategic Area Defense Networks (Phase 4) 125/365 3 dice 60R 65%
--[X] Orca Wingmen Drone Deployment (Phase 2) 56/230 2 dice 40R 54%
--[X] Unmanned Support Ground Vehicle Development 0/80 1 die 20R 72%
--[X] Governor A Development 0/40 1 die 15R 100%
-[X] Bureaucracy (4/4 dice, +29)
--[X] Administrative Assistance: GDSS Shala x2
I'd be hesitant to take chances. For example, a Natural 1 on North Boston could extend the project's completion time. I'd be happier doing North Boston first and Alloys Phase 6, which is entirely optional, some time in 2065 after North Boston is finished.
RE: EHTS, Would it be possible to take a die off Vein Mines instead? I think the budget can take pushing the vein mine back a turn, but I could be wrong.
Going 1-1 on vein mines and the growth accelerators just means we have a puny chance of finishing the vein mines and zero chance of finishing the accelerators. We'd be better off going 2-0 this turn and 0-2 next turn.
The budget can take not having the vein mines, to be clear, but it depends on what you mean by "can take." Red Zone Border Offensives Phase 5 gives us 15-35 RpT under my plan, so we have about 1190 plus or minus 10 RpT income to work with and a 25 R cash reserve. I'm hoping that the extra 25-35 RpT from a vein mine phase will make it easier to find a way to squeeze in two portal dice instead of just one next turn, and that would be a lot harder to do without the vein mine money.
I think rushing coordinated abetment has some narrative risk, scaling to 2 dice from 1 last turn is fine but this is one project where I think baby steps are correct.
I like finishing mechanisation but also that we should keep eroding that great edifice of reforestation over aquaponics or chasing lab meat.
I think the consequences of quitting the coordinated abatement "to avoid skirmishes" will be pissing off the Nod leaders who negotiated the coordination in the first place. Because they're actively struggling to restrain their own troops because they want that tiberium stopped, and if we stop delivering the "stop tiberium" then they're just wasting their time.
Okay, so the plans are very different this time, and I actually like a lot of the differences. And since I actually like different things about the plans, I think I'll inject a bit of commentary this time:
Plan Thinking with Portals vs Plan Attempting to Science the Apertures
Portals Infrastructure
Apertures Infrastructure
Postwar Housing Refits +4 Dice, +40 R, +100% CoS Phase 1, +98% CoS Phase 2, +22% CoS Phase 3
Blue Zone Arcologies (Stage 4) 1/480 (3 dice, 45 R) (3/6 median)
Suborbital Shuttle Service +1 Die, +25R, +18 CoS Phase 1, +12% CoS Phase 2
So, these take opposite approaches to the problems revealed in our housing last turn.
Portals takes the approach that it is better to tear down and rebuild the low quality housing as soon as possible to reduce the amount of time that people are displaced (upon completion, we'll have torn down 10 more LQH, and built 9 HQH, not including the arcology bureau).
Apertures takes the approach that it is better to build a surplus of HQH prior to continuing the housing refits (and makes more effort to complete the long-running Shuttles project).
Of the two approaches, I think I prefer Portals'. More at an aesthetic level though, as well as a small suspicion that completing phase 5 of housing might have more of an affect on arcologies than other areas (I think alloys make novel architecture more viable?).
Portals Heavy Industry
Apertures Heavy Industry
Second Generation Continuous Cycle Fusion Plants +1 Die, +20 R, +11% CoS Phase 3
U Series Alloy Foundries +5 Dice, +200R, +91% CoS
Second Generation Repulsorplate Factories +2 Dice, +50 R
Portals HI available dice: 5->0
Apertures HI available dice: 5->6
Portals moves us slightly ahead on the Energy track, and gets us started on the very popular RepulsorPlates Factories.
Apertures invests 2 free dice into the department tries to secure us the 6.25% discount this turn, as well as the Alien Structural Materials capstone (which is phase 5, phase 6 is a different tech).
Considering that I really want to be able to stop doing discount math, I very heavily prefer Apertures in this case.
Portals Agriculture
Apertures Agriculture
Reforestation Campaign Preparations +5 Dice, +50R, +100% CoS Phase 1
Agriculture Mechanization Projects +2 Dice, +30R, +74% CoS
Portals Agri Available dice: 43->46
Apertures Agri Available dice: 43->41
Portals is using Agriculture as a dice dumping ground to be able to afford Portals. On one hand, I'm actually quite excited for more biosphere restoration, and the sooner we do so the better. I also don't think it'll have any rush penalties at this level of investment. On the other, putting free dice into Agriculture seems very questionable, with how tight our available dice are in HI and Orbital (some would also argue Tiberium or Military).
Apertures tries to finally complete the Agriculture Mechanization Projects, which is frankly boring but practical, especially as our Labor indicator continues to tighten. I think there've been rumors that completing that project would open up new similar options elsewhere, but I'm honestly doubtful that'll have a noticeable impact.
Portals Tiberium
Apertures Tiberium
Enhanced Harvest Tiberium Spikes +1 Die, +20R
Tiberium Vein Mines +2 Dice, +40 R, +91% CoS
Forgotten Experimentation +2 Dice, +60R, +10% CoS
Coordinated Abatement Programs +1 Die, +25R, +99% CoS
Portals Tiberium Available dice: 43->39
Apertures Tiberium Available dice: 43->44
In this one, both plans make me uncomfortable.
I really like that Portals gets us started on EHTS this turn considering what we learned about inhibitors last turn, but I'm concerned on the optics of doing Forgotten Experimentation the turn after they gave us a very nice boost. Moving away from that project to something else would also free up a lot of resources that could be used to upgrade some Reforestation dice.
Apertures, on the other hand, aims to get us a small boost in income next turn, but accelerates the Coordinated Abatement Programs. I'd really rather continuing putting only a single die in there until the first phase completes, to avoid potentially causing an incident out of haste. Moving a die from there to EHTS would seem ideal.
Portals Orbital
Apertures Orbital
GDSS Columbia +1 E Die, +20R, +17% CoS
Hospital Bay +2 Dice, 1 E Die, + 60R, +12% CoS
Portals Available Dice: -4->-2
Apertures Available Dice: -4->-4
Portals in this case goes for the fairly straightforward approach of paying down our Orbital dice debt, and makes it much more likely that we'll complete Columbia by the elections.
Apertures invests more heavily in Orbital, and gets us closer to establishing medical facilities in orbit, reducing our injury and mortality rates.
Both approaches have something to speak for them. I know I'd definitely prefer Apertures' if they had similar CoS on Columbia, but I'm not actually convinced that making that change would be a net benefit.
Portals Services
Apertures Orbital
Primitive Prototype Portal Construction +3 Dice, +300R, +48% COS
Cosmetic Biosculpting +1 Die, +30 R
Library Enhancement Programs +1 Die, +1 AA Die, +30 R, +26% CoS
Portals Services Available Dice: 38->3429
Apertures Services Available Dice: 38->28
Portals invests heavily in its namesake Portals. I honestly don't get it, as the time adjusted rate of return looks very poor compared to a slower rollout. This is a project that is going to take decades before we start seeing real returns, and paying a heavy price to complete it a turn or two earlier doesn't compute. Reducing it by a single die would allow for the three agriculture free dice to be upgraded to almost anything else, so this is incurring a very heavy opportunity cost. That said, there is one area where investing this many dice makes sense, and that's if we assume that Kane is coming right after the elections to offer a deal (but if we're making that assumption, more inhibitors would probably be a better investment).
Portals also promises to eventually complete both library enhancement programs, which we should honestly intend to do.
Apertures heavily draws down on our available Services dice pool to further us down the transhuman path, and aims to slightly head off our upcoming labor crunch by improving our education.
Unmanned Support Ground Vehicle Development +1 Die, +20R, +72% CoS
Portals Military Available Dice: 13->13
Apertures Services Available Dice: 13->14
Portals starts the MRASP factory, which will start upgrading our MARV hubs once it is finished.
Apertures slightly accelerates our naval deployment, and instead focuses on improving our drone technology.
Portals Bureacracy
Apertures Bureacracy
Make Political Promises
-Developmentalist: Complete both Library Enhancement Programs
-Militarist (Wardens): Begin Karachi after SADN Phase 1 is fully deployed (Q3 2064)
AA Die Sharks
Trade Programs 3 dice
-Sell Consumer Goods x3
AA Die Library Enhancement Programs
For Portals, the Developmentalist and the Militarists aren't my favorite parties, but at least they edge out some of the more extreme parties. Both promises make sense, and the Karachi promise will significantly reduce arguments going forward, so I think I like it. The trade programs... are insane? We'll be giving up 15% of our consumer goods right before elections, which will strengthen the Xenophobic factions a lot. And we've never done this before to we can expect a lot of mistakes to happen, from the diplomatic, espionage, and counter-espionage sides. This is something that needs to be slow-rolled, not used as a dice sink.
Apertures goes for the fairly straightforward AA dice on the Military and Education.
For Portals, downgrading the Forgotten research and instead putting an AA die on Reforestation would be a massive improvement.
For Apertures, I'd personally prefer putting the AA die from Sharks on Columbia, or doing a combination of Make Political Promises and setting up one trade route.
No, seriously, 3x Trade programs two turns before the elections deserve more discussion than they've gotten.
To respond to this:
Infrastruture: I'd prefer to see more investment on Suborbital Shuttles, but also in Housing Refits, so neither quite makes me happy. Vehrec's Sensible Medians plan is more to my taste here, but it's in a distant third.
HI: I want to stop doing discounting math, so I want to push for Alloys Phase 5. I also appreciate the push for repulsorplates, but I think that can wait.
LCI: Everything seems to be the same.
Agriculture: I don't have strong feelings here, aside from that I agree that dumping free dice here is sub-optimal.
Tiberium: I'm not as concerned about putting 2 dice on Coordinated Abatement Programs causing problems as I am about Forgotten Experimentation, although that line of research might lead to better medicine for the Forgotten... or so I hope.
Orbital: I definitely prefer putting effort towards finishing the core stations rather than working on bays, so... this is another area I prefer the Sensible Medians plan
Services: 4 dice on Portals is too much. We're still in the realm of pinhole portals that can transfer maybe a few drops of water, or a radio signal, for a few seconds.
Military: I'm not particularly unhappy with either, but I think the Orca drones will be more immediately useful.
Bureaucracy: I would like to do the trade with Nod at some point, but doing it just before the election, and spending 15 PS on that, seems like a very risky idea for not much return. Also, I think that it still would only require 1 die for 3 selections of the same thing.
So, for a slightly-less-crazy version, since people seem to want to push for the memeplan:
Puts a die more on Suborbital Shuttles, many more on Repulsorplates, cuts a few from reforestation, cuts out Forgotten Experimentation in favor of Enhanced Spikes, puts a die on starting a High Density Housing Bay, drops the Portals project to 3 dice, and cuts the trade down to a far saner 10 Consumer Goods sent off to Nod.
[X] Plan Thinking With Portals, with a dash of sanity -[X] Infrastructure 5/5 dice 80R
--[X] Suborbital Shuttle Service (Phase 2+3) 159/380 2 dice 50R 12%
--[X] Postwar Housing Refits (Phase 1+2) 114/325 3 dice 30R 76% -[X] Heavy Industry 5/5 +4 free dice 210R
--[X] Second Generation Continuous Cycle Fusion Plants (Phase 2+3) 263/595 3 dice 60R 11% (100% Phase 2)
--[X] Second Generation Repulsorplate Factories 0/560 6 dice 150R 30% -[X] Light and Chemical Industry 4/4 dice 75R
--[X] Reykjavik Myomer Macrospinner (Phase 5) 883/1100 3 dice 60R 76%
--[X] Adaptive Clothing Development 0/60 1 die 15R 90% -[X] Agriculture 6/6 +AA dice 35R
--[X] Reforestation Campaign Preparations (Phase 1) 252/815 6 dice + 1 AA die 35R 40% -[X] Tiberium 7/7 175R
--[X] Red Zone Border Offensives (Stage 5) 158/210 1 die 25R 100%
--[X] Tiberium Inhibitor Deployment (Blue Zone 4 Southeast Arabia) 52/85 1 die 30R 100%
--[X] Tiberium Inhibitor Deployment (Blue Zone 9 East Australia) 59/85 1 die 30R 100%
--[X] Enhanced Harvest Tiberium Spikes 0/180 2 dice 40R 72%
--[X] Coordinated Abatement Programs (Phase 1) 82/190 1 die 25R 47%
--[X] Tiberium Field Refinery Development (New) 0/80 1 die 25R 80% -[X] Orbital 7/7 +2 free +1 Erewhon dice 210R
--[X] GDSS Columbia (Phase 5) 643/1030 3 dice +1 Erewhon die 80R 19%
--[X] High Density Housing 0/315 1 die 20R (1/3.5 median)
--[X] GDSS Shala (Phase 4) 486/520 4 dice 80R 100% (4/11.5 Phase 5)
--[X] Life Support Processor Development (Tech) 0/80 1 die 30R 75% -[X] Services 4/4 315R
--[X] University Program Updates 137/250 1 die 15R 38%
--[X] Primitive Prototype Portal Construction (New) 0/400 3 dice 300R 2% -[X] Military 7/7 dice 120R
--[X] Strategic Area Defense Networks (Phase 4) 125/365 3 dice 60R 65%
--[X] Infantry Recon Support Drone Deployment 0/170 2 dice 20R 58%
--[X] Shark Class Frigate Shipyards (Seattle) 0/240 1 die 20R (1/3 median)
--[X] Modular Rapid Assembly Prototype Factory 0/280 1 die 20R (1/3.5 median) -[X] Bureaucracy 4/4 dice
--[X] Make Political Promises 1 die auto
---[X] Developmentalist: Complete both Library Enhancement Programs
---[X] Militarist (Wardens): Begin Karachi after SADN Phase 1 is fully deployed (Q3 2064)
--[X] Trade Programs 1 dice auto
---[X] Sell Consumer Goods 1x +5 RpT
--[X] Administrative Assistance 2 dice auto (Reforestation Campaign) -[X] Total: 1215R/1225R, -5 PS
6/6 Free dice
...and, because it tickles my funny bone, an alternate, which swaps Free Dice on Repulsorplates for Lunar Mines.
[X] Plan Thinking With Portals, with a dash of lunacy -[X] Infrastructure 5/5 dice 80R
--[X] Suborbital Shuttle Service (Phase 2+3) 159/380 2 dice 50R 12%
--[X] Postwar Housing Refits (Phase 1+2) 114/325 3 dice 30R 76% -[X] Heavy Industry 5/5 dice 110R
--[X] Second Generation Continuous Cycle Fusion Plants (Phase 2+3) 263/595 3 dice 60R 11% (100% Phase 2)
--[X] Second Generation Repulsorplate Factories 0/560 2 dice 50R (2/6.5 median) -[X] Light and Chemical Industry 4/4 dice 75R
--[X] Reykjavik Myomer Macrospinner (Phase 5) 883/1100 3 dice 60R 76%
--[X] Adaptive Clothing Development 0/60 1 die 15R 90% -[X] Agriculture 6/6 +AA dice 35R
--[X] Reforestation Campaign Preparations (Phase 1) 252/815 6 dice + 1 AA die 35R 40% -[X] Tiberium 7/7 175R
--[X] Red Zone Border Offensives (Stage 5) 158/210 1 die 25R 100%
--[X] Tiberium Inhibitor Deployment (Blue Zone 4 Southeast Arabia) 52/85 1 die 30R 100%
--[X] Tiberium Inhibitor Deployment (Blue Zone 9 East Australia) 59/85 1 die 30R 100%
--[X] Enhanced Harvest Tiberium Spikes 0/180 2 dice 40R 72%
--[X] Coordinated Abatement Programs (Phase 1) 82/190 1 die 25R 47%
--[X] Tiberium Field Refinery Development (New) 0/80 1 die 25R 80% -[X] Orbital 7/7 +6 free +1 Erewhon dice 290R
--[X] GDSS Columbia (Phase 5) 643/1030 3 dice +1 Erewhon die 80R 19%
--[X] High Density Housing 0/315 1 die 20R (1/3.5 median)
--[X] GDSS Shala (Phase 4) 486/520 4 dice 80R 100% (4/11.5 Phase 5)
--[X] Lunar Mining Projects (New) 0/210 4 dice 80R 100%
--[X] Life Support Processor Development (Tech) 0/80 1 die 30R 75% -[X] Services 4/4 315R
--[X] University Program Updates 137/250 1 die 15R 38%
--[X] Primitive Prototype Portal Construction (New) 0/400 3 dice 300R 2% -[X] Military 7/7 dice 120R
--[X] Strategic Area Defense Networks (Phase 4) 125/365 3 dice 60R 65%
--[X] Infantry Recon Support Drone Deployment 0/170 2 dice 20R 58%
--[X] Shark Class Frigate Shipyards (Seattle) 0/240 1 die 20R (1/3 median)
--[X] Modular Rapid Assembly Prototype Factory 0/280 1 die 20R (1/3.5 median) -[X] Bureaucracy 4/4 dice
--[X] Make Political Promises 1 die auto
---[X] Developmentalist: Complete both Library Enhancement Programs
---[X] Militarist (Wardens): Begin Karachi after SADN Phase 1 is fully deployed (Q3 2064)
--[X] Trade Programs 1 dice auto
---[X] Sell Consumer Goods 1x +5 RpT
--[X] Administrative Assistance 2 dice auto (Reforestation Campaign) -[X] Total: 1195R/1225R, -5 PS
6/6 Free dice
And, because I do still like Vehrec's plan:
[X] Plan Sensible Medians and Extra Space+Portal dev.
I think the consequences of quitting the coordinated abatement "to avoid skirmishes" will be pissing off the Nod leaders who negotiated the coordination in the first place. Because they're actively struggling to restrain their own troops because they want that tiberium stopped, and if we stop delivering the "stop tiberium" then they're just wasting their time.
[X] Plan Thinking With Portals
[X] Plan Thinking With Portals, with a dash of sanity
[X] Plan Alloyed Portals, budget edition
[X] Plan NovaHawks, Governors, Portals and APC's
To respond to this:
Infrastruture: I'd prefer to see more investment on Suborbital Shuttles, but also in Housing Refits, so neither quite makes me happy.
Shuttles investment kind of inevitably takes a back seat if you're trying to pay for portals at all, and we still clear Phase 2 even with just one die spent on the project.
As to the housing refits, again, I really, really think (in hindsight) that it's a bad idea to displace something like 20-30 million people in a single quarter without having good places for them all to move into. Bad political move, bad just on a "messing with people's lives" level. GDI's going to have enough trouble resettling all those people as it is without trying to do it all in one big burst.
If we were building housing I'd be all for it, but for demolish-and-remodel you don't want to do it all at once unless you've already built the places they're moving into.
Military: I'm not particularly unhappy with either, but I think the Orca drones will be more immediately useful.
For example, a Natural 1 on North Boston could extend the project's completion time. I'd be happier doing North Boston first and Alloys Phase 6, which is entirely optional, some time in 2065 after North Boston is finished.
Main argument for pushing Alloys 6 early is the income increase might apply only to future projects. So getting them ASAP = bigger profits.
But we can manage without it.
Shuttles investment kind of inevitably takes a back seat if you're trying to pay for portals at all, and we still clear Phase 2 even with just one die spent on the project.
As to the housing refits, again, I really, really think (in hindsight) that it's a bad idea to displace something like 20-30 million people in a single quarter without having good places for them all to move into. Bad political move, bad just on a "messing with people's lives" level. GDI's going to have enough trouble resettling all those people as it is without trying to do it all in one big burst.
If we were building housing I'd be all for it, but for demolish-and-remodel you don't want to do it all at once unless you've already built the places they're moving into.
The impression I'm getting is that the wingman drone production takes a long, long time to spool up properly, so I'm not sure.
[X] Plan Thinking With Portals
[X] Plan Insert Clever Plan Name Here
[X] Plan Attempting to Science the Apertures
[X] Plan Think of the Meat.
[X] Plan Alloy Assault
[X]Plan Space mines
Main argument for pushing Alloys 6 early is the income increase might apply only to future projects. So getting them ASAP = bigger profits.
But we can manage without it.
Worst case we'll have to retrofit. In which case there'd already be a gigantic retrofit project, and it'd just be, like, 10-15% bigger.
Hell, I'm not even opposed to trickle-feeding dice to Alloys Phase 6while we work on North Boston, I just think we need to get started on North Boston proper. And North Boston is a project with low cost per Heavy Industry die, which synergizes well with the fact that we'll be wanting to work on portals and Bergen (both expensive per die) very soon.
Eh. With the Navy it's not even about immediate payoff. In a contest to see which projects are most immediately impactful the Navy always loses because their stuff takes so long to build, so it's never time to build shipyards and we saw how that ends in the Regency War.
I'm in favor of doing Navy projects because it's been a long time since we did any serious shipbuilding projects and I don't want to wait now that the bulk of the heavy SADN spending is done.
Okay, I have noticed something actually worth my ire.
[ ] Trade Programs
While gray and black market trade with the Brotherhood of Nod and its various fronts around the world have never really closed, there have been few times when an active trade can be carried out in a legitimate manner. While GDI is near completely unwilling to make significant concessions, there is some trade that can be conducted, especially through channels opened by recent talks.
(-5 PS per option taken)(Options can be taken multiple times)
-[ ] Sell Consumer Goods: +5 Resources per Turn, -10 Consumer Goods
-[ ] Sell Energy: +5 Resources per Turn, -2 Energy
-[ ] Sell Capital Goods: +5 Resources per Turn, -1 Capital Goods
-[ ] Purchase STUs : -80 Resources per Turn, +1 STU per Turn.
What is this? This is not trade, especially the congoods one. Didn't know "GDI is near completely unwilling to make significant concessions" meant subsididzing Nod with GDI luxury items. We ought to be able to get a better price for that. At rates like this I'd rather trade Nod some railgun shells, at high speeds. Energy is like fine, Capital goods is meh, STU's is interesting, but where is the option to exchange congoods for STUs? That one I might actually argue for depending on the exchange rate. We give Nod chocolate and in exchange we hemmeroage their STU supply. How about Health for STUs? Ithillid, pls fix.
