Valkyria Chronicles: Drums of War

Chapter 1: Countdown

Stepping off the train in Roosevelt was an experience. A wall of cold slammed into you as snow covered the ground, partially melted with a generous application of salt. You saw a kid pacing along the edge of the station, scattering salt with abandon. Your office building would not be a long walk. Heading along the sidewalk, fairly recently poured but already spattered with tobacco juice stains, you could see a bustle of city life, not like out west where you had been assigned to one of the small towns on the silver route.
Your destination was a particularly nondescript brownstone office building, indistinguishable from the outside from any others on the blocks preceding it along the National Road that lead to the White House. Stepping inside, it smelled new, of pine sap and sawdust, paint and plaster in a way that had not yet been cut by cleaning products and ink. To your left, there was a constant click clack of the autotelegraphs and the tap tap of the typewriters hooked up to them, hammering out messages as fast as they could.

- - - -

Your office was a bit bigger than the rest of the offices in the building, but that was mostly taken up by machinery and filing cabinets. Across the front of the desk was your nameplate, Chester Adams.

Sitting down at your desk, a newspaper has been laid out before you, the Roosevelt Daily Tribune. A good paper, one that took its job as the news source for the nation's lawmakers seriously. Blazoned across its top reads the headline "Smith's Hyperborean expedition fired upon by Imperial forces! Ambassador claims breach of territorial integrity! Smith claims driven south by storm!" and another incident. Joy. They kept coming, and sooner or later, some damn fool would get shot, and the whole world would plunge headfirst into the fire. And Vindland was far from ready. One only had to walk by the naval shipyards downriver to see that. Antiquated, creaking things designed for wooden ships a half century ago, not modern war machines. Anther headline grabs your eye "Future of rifles revealed, Walt Repeating Arms company demonstrates Model 1900! Fires as fast as you can pull the trigger!" and you can't hold back a snort. Walt's gun was a range toy at best. The stock was fragile, and the damn thing kicked harder than an angry mule on a good day. And trying to run a military round through it broke the action two times out of three. The rest were, for the most part, fluff pieces. A couple of ones praising the new administration, not that the incoming president needed a bigger head.

- - - -

A knocking at your doorframe pulls you out of your newspaper, and the head is instantly recognizable. Ká:nien,your assistant in this department, dressed, as usual in a heavy formal jacket, and reinforced moccasins. "Sir, the carriage for your 10 o'clock budget meeting is here to take you to the legislative building."
Pushing your chair back, and getting up from behind your desk "Good, please, join me for this one. I have a feeling that this is going to be when we finally make a deal, and you are going to need to send a lot of telegrams when we get out."

"Of course sir, I already have my bag packed for just such an occasion" replied Ká:nien, chipper as ever.

Tracked Statistics

Civil Morale: Very High
Taxes are low, butter is flowing, and for the average citizen, conflict is a distant affair. While there is substantial unrest from labor organizing, the temperance movement has cut down apple orchards across a couple of states, and there are a hundred other minor fires, right now, things are, on average, getting better. People feel like there is more money in their pockets than there was this time last year, and the year before that.

Political Support: Medium
At this point, you are an experiment, and are being rushed into service. Most of your staff is pillaged from other government offices, the machinery is pulled from spares, and the mandates are loose to say the least. So right now, you need to hit the ground running with a program, the more aggressive the better.

Status of Factions

Status of Factions is less parties in power, and more factions within those parties. There are strong bonds between the parties at this point in history, and oftentimes a faction is heavily regionally associated. For example, the Progressives are strong in the northeastern cities, while the Agrarianists are strong in the southern plantation belt. However, Progressives and Agrarians are part of the same Federalist Party.

Federalist Party
Progressives: Strong Support
The progressive party is a relatively elitist and reformist party. While not noblesse oblige, the core of the progressive movement is middle and upper class old money that sees the conditions of sweatshops and factories and of lower class life in general and feels a desire to help, more than it comes from the lower class themselves.

Agrarianists: Weak Support
The Agrarianists or the grange as they refer to themselves are reformist smallholders for the most part, looking for a lax monetary policy, and federal intervention in agriculture to make it more sustainable, alongside setting up farming cooperatives, and other means for small farmers to maintain crop prices at a living wage.

Proletarians: Weak Support
Proletarians are a bottom up group, largely in favor of workers rights, unionization, regulations on business and a host of other issues largely relating to workers power. You are likely to do little to address many of their issues, aside from producing large numbers of well paying government jobs.


Democratic Party

Jacksonians: Weak Opposition
Jacksonians as they term themselves largely build their position on opposition to the federal government. While building army and naval strength is, as they see it within your remit, other activities should be largely left to the states.

Fiscalists: Ambivalent
The Fiscalists are, more than anything else, budget hawks. While happy to spend money on pet projects, they usually tie these projects to tax increases, particularly tariffs intended to protect their businesses.

N/B: These are the most prominent groups right now, there are others, but I am trimming them back to get this update out in a reasonably short order.

Readiness of Forces
(Readiness of forces is on a 5 point scale, Low, Mediocre, Medium, High, Very High)

Army: Low

Vinland's army is far more of a pro-forma force than an actual military. Only a few tens of thousands strong, and the vast majority of them dotted in penny packets around the periphery, mostly manning various naval fortresses, the Army lacks in nearly all aspects of modern warfighting, with rifles, uniforms, fixed artillery (mostly Dahlgren pattern naval rifles in casemates) and little else.

Navy: Medium

Vinland's navy is a solid, professional force. At its core is an oversized fleet of battleships of a relatively modern class and type, displacing just over ten thousand tons, and carrying 13 inch naval rifles, with an array of different calibers of secondary and tertiary armament. Beyond that, much of the navy is of an older pattern, steel hulled hybrid rigged ships, slow and cumbersome under sail, and underpowered under steam.

Current‌ ‌Economic‌ ‌Issues:‌ ‌
Energy:‌ ‌Limited Infrastructure 3/21 zones energized

• Coal: +6
• Oil: +4
• Ragnite: +2

Logistics:‌ Plentiful

• Rail: +7
• Naval: +2
• Road: +1

Food:‌

• Quantity: Plentiful
• Quality: Low to Mixed

Health: Mixed, Plentiful in some areas, poor in others.
Capital‌ ‌Goods‌: +6
Consumer‌ ‌Goods:‌ Plentiful and highly varied
Labor:‌ ‌+4, +1 per turn

Promises
Must pick at least 3, picking and completing more than 3 is beneficial. Push goals count as two promises.

[ ] Highway Administration
Vinland's road network is, a mess to put it lightly. While major cities like Roosevelt have modern macadamized roads, signals in intersections, and assorted other improvements, just a few miles outside and things go from prepared road to dirt track in short order. Beginning to build a modern, standardized network of post roads, connecting major cities would do a significant amount to both ease mobilization efforts, and provide avenues for economic development.
(Build at least 24 points of road capacity across the four year span)

[ ] Army Preparedness Initiatives
Vinland's army is in a notably poor state. In some ways, it has always been in a poor state due to chronic underfunding. And it will take time to turn that military into something that is ready to fight a modern war. Investments in bringing new technologies to readiness, modernizing equipment, and simply expanding resources for shells, machine guns, body armor, and the like,
(Bring army readiness to mediocre) Push: (Bring Army Readiness to Medium)

[ ] Ragnite Exploitation
Ragnite is a wonder material, used in everything from power generation, to medication, to armor. Vinland, overall, is behind the curve. While Federal Alchemic and a number of other companies have small scale Ragnite extraction operations, substantially more investment will both increase economic activity, and help bring Vinland to a substantially better position.
(Bring at least 20 points of ragnite onto the market)

[ ] Energy Infrastructure Improvements
Electrification is a long term process, and one that will take a long time, even with all levels of government working together smoothly, and it being a priority. However, it is also a vital necessity, as electrification allows for improvements in both productivity and quality of life.
(Electrify at least 5 regions) Push: (Electrify at least 10 regions)

[ ] Dockyard Upgrade Projects
Vinland requires major investment into its docks, especially as every ounce of equipment will have to be transported across the ocean on its warships and merchant marine. Dockyard expansions are the first step in making that happen. While substantial dockyard infrastructure does exist, much of it will need to be modernized or upgraded to meet the challenges of the new century.
(Expand at least two docks to Level 3, and at least 1 dock to level 5) Push: (Expand at least two docks to Level 5)


Project References

Expected Budget
250 resources per turn
4 Infrastructure dice (+5 bonus)
4 Light and Chemical Industry dice
4 heavy industry dice (+10 bonus)
4 Raw materials and exploitation dice
3 Bureaucracy dice



[ ] Regional Electrification
Regional Electrification is going to be highly variable, from a minimum of approximately 500 points of progress, at an approximate 15 resources per die cost, to over 1500 points of progress at a cost of over 20 resources per die, depending on region and and methodology.


[ ] Dockyard Expansion
-[ ] Level 1
Level one dockyards are small, designed to construct small boats, fishing vessels, and assorted lightweight craft. While important for coastal trade, the coast guard, and sporting and similar. These, are best suited for building a new skill base, rather than practical production. (Progress 0/100)
-[ ] Level 2
Level 2 shipyards are the home of midsized shipbuilding, up to about two and a half thousand tons of displacement. (Progress 0/200)
-[ ] Level 3
A serious shipyard, Level 3 shipyards are capable of building anything but the largest ships afloat. While throughput limited, these are best suited to building cruisers, larger merchant vessels, and similar. (Progress 0/400)
-[ ] Level 4
Level 4 shipyards are substantially larger and more capable. Designed to be able to build anything currently afloat, these shipyards are designed for limited throughput, but can even build battleships and some of the largest bulk carriers, such as the haulers that carry Vinland's grain to Valois and Edinburgh. (Progress 0/800)
-[ ] Level 5
A level 5 shipyard is a modern wonder of mass production, designed to put ships in the water at a rapid pace, and built with modernization in mind, as ships continue to grow. Machine shops, massive cranes, and the capacity to fabricate nearly anything from raw materials makes these an all in one stop for truly modern shipbuilding. (Progress 0/1600)


A/N1: Take two hours for debate, and a couple days for voting.
A/N2: The tip jar very much does help me stay able to do things like this. Ko-fi.com/ithillid