Remove ads

Valkyria Chronicles: Drums of War

Reader mode
Two dice on recruiting an administrator is a interesting choice and I'm not sure I agree with it. We've been doing decently enough so far with just one die when finding them with the quantity roll and I don't think we're that desperate for finding someone to lead the L&CI section.
 
Fireiy said:
Two dice on recruiting an administrator is a interesting choice and I'm not sure I agree with it. We've been doing decently enough so far with just one die when finding them with the quantity roll and I don't think we're that desperate for finding someone to lead the L&CI section.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I'd rather not leave it to chance. All it takes is a 1 on the quantity roll and a 10 or lower on the quality and we've got a nobody office drone or nothing to pick from.
 
For reference here is how many dice we would require on average to complete the dockyards entirely by ourselves without contractors (because my brain is suffering at the thought of figuring out accounting for them as well).

Hunter's Point: 3 dice median
Shikaakwa: 4 dice median
New Amsterdam: 17 dice median

Now keeping in mind we also have contractors contributing that aren't included in these medians like Shikaakwa likely able to be completed entirely by the contractor alone, we have 9 heavy industry dice every turn and 5 turns to the end of the plan. To do the dockyards entirely by ourselves would require 24 dice out of the 45 we have available. This is a fairly comfortable margin we have available and I would expect us to be able to complete them all or have them on track to be finished by the contractors in 3 turns time if we dedicated all dice to the dockyards in the next two turns.

This does mean we have room to be able to take other projects like the steel lab and the naval gun factory as well if those are desired to be done before working harder on the dockyards, those projects both having a median requirement of 4 dice. I think work can be started on it next turn.
 
Last edited:
Fireiy said:
For reference here is how many dice we would require on average to complete the dockyards entirely by ourselves without contractors (because my brain is suffering at the thought of figuring out accounting for them as well).

Hunter's Point: 3 dice median
Shikaakwa: 4 dice median
New Amsterdam: 17 dice median

Now keeping in mind we also have contractors contributing that aren't included in these medians like Shikaakwa likely able to be completed entirely by the contractor alone, we have 9 heavy industry dice every turn and 5 turns to the end of the plan. To do the dockyards entirely by ourselves would require 24 dice out of the 45 we have available. This is a fairly comfortable margin we have available and I would expect us to be able to complete them all or have them on track to be finished by the contractors in 3 turns time if we dedicated all dice to the dockyards in the next two turns.

This does mean we have room to be able to take other projects like the steel lab and the naval gun factory as well if those are desired to be done before working harder on the dockyards, those projects both having a median requirement of 4 dice.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Accounting for the Contractors, and assuming average rolls, we need 1-2 dice median for Hunters Point (2 dice is actually 91%), and 9 dice median for New Amsterdam. On the other hand, New Amsterdam's contracts are really expensive for minor benefits so we might want to rush them down...
 
Vehrec said:
Accounting for the Contractors, and assuming average rolls, we need 1-2 dice median for Hunters Point (2 dice is actually 91%), and 9 dice median for New Amsterdam. On the other hand, New Amsterdam's contracts are really expensive for minor benefits so we might want to rush them down...
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Thank you for calculating the numbers with the median contractor results involved as well.

I think our resource reserves are doing fine honestly, particularly with our income growth offsetting how quickly we're spending it down. I also think we should probably avoid sending all of our dice at trying to complete New Amsterdam at maximum speed to avoid the problems inherent to trying to rush the completion of a extremely large project like that with all the technologies of the early 1900s.

My plan will remain the same for this turn, but I will definitely be looking at starting work on the steel lab next turn and possibly the naval gun factory as well. I want to avoid getting into the territory of using shock labor to complete a project and if we can finish New Amsterdam with only 9 dice I think starting with 2 on this turn and then working steadily away at it with perhaps 3 to 5 dice will get us comfortably to the finish line while earning us some savings on the contractors.
 
Questions came up in the discord about shock labor and what and when shock labor happens.

First off, if you have not been following planquests shock labor is a term that originates with the first planquest, referring to an array of rushed work consequences from essentially taking peasants and shoving them into mass construction jobs, especially in the winter. I basically didn't use the mechanic in GDIquest, but it does apply here. Largely, this is because shock labor's problems emerge out of the social, cultural, and technological context of the time. Soviet Union is doing shock labor, because it has a lot of people, and not a lot of time/money/capital goods to spare.
So, I won't go into the details of what the breakpoints are, or what the consequences are. I am instead going to say that there is a pretty high ceiling as far as how far you can go before hitting shock labor breakpoints.
 
Vehrec said:
I would honestly rather invest Bureaucracy dice into getting more dice in LCI and hope for a small project to produce experimental hand grenades, landmines, Ragnite Filler Explosives, or something else, than investing 2 a turn into buying more munitions.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I am amenable to this.

I also think it's a mistake to focus on Hunter's Point or Cold Springs right now. We have a millstone on our heavy industry and it's in New Amsterdam.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Clearing out Hunter's Point and subsequently focusing down New Amsterdam is not a problem, as long as we don't overinvest dice. Which I don't propose to do. And I don't want to force Ithillid to keep coming up with blurbs for Hunter's Point again and again as we slowly trickle the project out until 1904H2.

Cold Springs is part of our overall +Artillery goals and a fairly important one, plus it's our R&D center for future artillery that we're going to need to develop. I think it's worth putting one extra die on it to increase chance of completion.


[X] Plan 1902H2 Attempting to Churn Out Munitions
-[X] Infrastructure (4/4 Dice, +5 bonus, 50 R)
--[X] Electrification - Old Vins (Stage 3) (221/250) (1 die, 15 R) (77% chance)
--[X] Electrification - Daylit (Stage 1) (177/250) (1 die, 15 R) (33% chance)
--[X] Post Road Expansions (Phase 1) (76/400) (2 dice, 20 R) (2/6 median)
-[X] Light Industry (4/4 Dice, +0 bonus, 45 R)
--[X] Eddystone Shell Plant (3 dice, 30 R) (complete partnership)
--[X] Naugatuck Valley Munitions Complex (1 die, 15 R) (1/5 to completion)
-[X] Heavy Industry (9/9 Dice, +15 bonus, 225 R)
--[X] Artillery Tractor Procurement (0/150) (3 dice, 45 R) (82% chance)
--[X] Cold Springs Artillery Foundry (232/350) (2 dice, 30 R) (63% chance)
--[X] Hunter's Point Shipyard (Level 3) (228/400) (2 dice, 40 + 5 R) (33% chance)
---[X] Contract Verrault Navigation (5 R)
--[X] Shikaakwa Shipyard (Level 3) (164/400) (0 dice, 0 + 20 R) (~2.5 turns remaining)
---[X] Contract Shikaakwa Shipbuilding Company (20 R)
--[X] New Amsterdam Shipyard (Level 5) (488/1600) (2 dice, 40 + 45 R)
---[X] Contract Charles and Tredegar (20 R)
---[X] Contract Federated Shipyards (25 R)
-[X] Raw Materials (6/6 Dice, +0 bonus, 60 R)
--[X] Dettah Ragnite Mines (Phase 1) (0/125) (3 dice, 30 R) (70% chance)
--[X] Thebacha Ragnite Mines (Phase 3) (100/400) (3 dice, 30 R) (3/6 median)
-[X] Bureaucracy (4/4 Dice, +10 bonus, 0 R)
--[X] Recruit Sectional Experts: Light and Chemical Industry (1 die, 0 R)
--[X] Minesweeper Design Studies (1 die, 0 R)
--[X] FSO: Poison Squad (1 die, 0 R)
--[X] Lobby Congress: Malnutrition Programs (1 die, 0 R)

I think it's premature to spend Bureaucracy dice on Barbed Wire Purchases, as I'm not at all sure we actually need to do that right away in order to hit the Munitions target. Frankly, I think Foreign Munitions Purchase might be the better choice for clearing the Munitions target anyway, because with all the ragnite mining we're doing, we are very likely to finish the plan with a large Resource surplus and be easily able to afford the purchases we need. I'd rather conserve Bureaucracy dice for all the cool stuff we want to do, than conserve Resources when we are, so to speak, rolling in money.
 
Last edited:
We are currently on track to make 125 units of artillery with a target of 118. Hitting that particular army demand will be done just fine with existing production. I think avoiding overkill and wasted resources is more important than trying to make sure Cold Springs finishes this turn.

And I've said this already but I do not want to bet on another munitions project becoming available when we're already approaching projects that are scraping the barrel of what counts and have the emergency completion option visible. It's not like barbed wire is something we're not going to need bales and bales of anyway.

To provide the math on munitions here are the figures I'm working off of. We have a goal of 132 munitions and 5 turns to achieve it. Current production of 6 gets us 30 of that leaving 102. The Shell plant provides 8x5 munitions, 40 more and 62 short. Naugatuck Munitions Complex done next turn is 10x4, another 40 leaving us with a shortfall of 22. If the tractor plant is done this turn that's 3x5, 15 more and a shortfall of 7. If it finishes next turn it is instead 3x4 and a shortfall of 10. Getting two barbed wire right now gets 2x5, exactly the 10 we need for the tractors failing this turn and more than the insufficient 5 that only one gets.

EDIT: And while it may only be a small shortfall, I think Congress will look at least a little more favorably at us planning on trying to meet the target entirely domestically rather than already planning on buying from foreign stocks.
 
Last edited:
Fireiy said:
We are currently on track to make 125 units of artillery with a target of 118. Hitting that particular army demand will be done just fine with existing production.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Oh? You're sure?

Well, okay, in that case I'd shift the die to New Amsterdam.

And I've said this already but I do not want to bet on another munitions project becoming available...
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
My bet is on the foreign munitions purchase, not on extra random projects.

Us buying some shells from overseas because we didn't get the shell factory to spool up until 1903 is a fairly routine thing by the standards of the period. It's really not a big deal.

Bruhmoment said:
[] Plan 1902H2 Attempting to Churn Out Munitions
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Be advised that I'm doing as I describe above, moving a die off the artillery plant at Cold Springs (which I no longer feel we must rush-complete, and will probably finish anyway) to New Amsterdam (which needs a metric ton of dice by plan's end anyway)
 
Last edited:
I just...fine here is my plan for this turn then:

[X] Plan Remember to Feed People:
-[X] Infrastructure (4 Dice, +5 Bonus) 50 R:
--[X] Post Road Expansions (Phase 1) 76/400 10 RpD 2 Die 20 R 2/6 Median ADC N/A
--[X] Electrification Daylit (Stage 1) 177/250 15 RpD 1 Die 15 R 33% DC 68
--[X] Electrification Old Vins (Stage 3) 221/250 15 RpD 1 Die 15 R 77% DC 24
-[X] Light and Chemical Industry (4 Dice) 45 R:
--[X] Naugatuck Valley Munitions Complex (Updated) [Partnership] Hartley and Graham (1/5 dice, 15 Resources per die, 20 percent ownership stake, 12 months)(+10 Munitions) 15 R
--[X] Eddystone Shell Plant (Updated) [Partnership] Excelsior Munitions (3/3 dice, 10 Resources per die, 25% ownership stake, 12 months)(+8 Munitions) 30 R
-[X] Heavy Industry (9 Dice, +15 Bonus) Head: Thomas Goldfeather, 195 R:
--[X] Artillery Tractor Procurement (New) 0/150 15 RpD 3 Dice = 45 R 82% ADC 35
--[X] Dockyard Expansion Level 3 Hunter's Point Shipyard 228/400 [Contract] Verreault Navigation, (5 Resources per Turn, 1d40 Progress) 20 RpD 2 Die = 40 R 33% ADC 48 GDC 70
--[X] Dockyard Expansion Level 3 Shikaakwa 164/400 [Contract] Shikaakwa Shipbuilding Company, (20 resources per turn, 3d60 progress)
--[X] Dockyard Expansion Level 5 New Amsterdam 488/1600 [Contracts] Charles and Tredegar (20 Resources per Turn, 3d30 Progress), Federated Shipyards (25 Resources per Turn, 3d40 Progress)) 20 RpD 2 Die = 40 R 2/16 Median ADC N/A
--[X] Cold Springs Artillery Foundry 232/350 15 RpD 2 Die = 30 R 63% ADC 44
-[X] Raw Materials and Exploitation (6 Dice, +10 Agri) Head: Fiona Harris, 60 R:
--[X] Thebacha Ragnite Mines (Phase 3) 100/400 10 RpD 3 Dice 30 R 3/6 Median ADC N/A
--[X] Federal Agricultural Research Centers 0/125 10 RpD 2 Die = 20 R 47% ADC 53
--[X] National Forest Centralization 0/200 10 RpD 1 Die = 10 R 1/4 Median DC N/A
-[X] Bureaucracy (4 Dice, +10 Bonus) Head: Emily Finch, 0 R:
--[X] Food Safety Office
---[X] Poison Squad 3/? 1 Die
---[X] Pharmacy Enforcement Teams 10/? 1 Die
--[X] Bureaucratic Reorganization (Updated)
---[X] Appoint Section Administrators Light and Chemical Industry 1 Die
---[X] Recruit Sectional Experts Light and Chemical Industry 1 Die
-[X] Budget: 50+45+195+60+0 = 350/550 R = 365+185

Alright so this is my attempt at doing what we can the best this turn both in plans and general improvement.

My Infrastructure is the same as everybody else's doing 2 Die on Post Roads and a Die each on the remaining Electrification Goal.

My Light Industry is also the same 1 Die on Naugatuck so we can finish it next turn and 3 Dice to get Eddystone completed.

My Heavy Industry is 3 Dice on Artillery Tractors because everyone is doing that, 2 Die on Hunter's Point so that it gets done for sure by the end of the plan, 2 Die on New Amsterdam to push that a little bit closer to completion and 2 Die on Cold Springs because 1 Die can't complete it.

My Raw Materials and Exploitation has 3 Dice on Thebacha Ragnite Mines to get it on average halfway to being completed, I put 2 Die on Federal Agricultural Research Centers to finish that this turn and improve at least somewhat the quality of our food and 1 Die on National Forest Centralization so we can finish it next turn and improve our food quality even more.

My Bureaucracy has focused on FSO and LCI this turn. In the Food Safety Office I throw a Die each at the Poison Squad and the Pharmacy Enforcement Teams because both of those are marked as visible and as such more of a political priority than Preparation Standards. In the Light and Chemical Industry I continue with 1 Die each on Appointing Section Administrators and Recruiting Sectional Experts so we can expand our LCI because we have a lot of stuff we will need to do there and getting an early start just means focusing down Rayon if there is nothing else to do.

Edit: Forgot to Bold the Budget line in the vote 😓
 
Last edited:
For a summary of the plans: All of them except for Remember to Feed People are identical in the main parts of the plan except for differing bureaucracy. This plan opts to not start Dettah and instead begins work on Fiona's unique projects, Federal Agricultural Research Centers and National Forest Centralization. It also goes for recruiting both experts and an administrator for L&CI, filling it out completely this turn as well as assists the FSO with getting personnel for the poison squad and pharmacy enforcement teams.

The current leading plan 1902H2 Attempting to Churn Out Munitions opts to recruit experts in search of more dice for L&CI over a section administrator. It requests a design studies for minesweepers, providing the dockyards at least something to do with upgrades and replacements to minesweeping ships. It also goes for lobbying Congress about malnutrition and assisting the poison squad with recruiting more personnel.

My own plan Barbed Wire is a Munition Too tries to get enough munitions production so that foreign munitions purchases do not need to be made at the end of the plan. It otherwise works to find an administrator for L&CI and recruits for the poison squad.

Planning Targets First and Food Quality/Food Safety both go for putting two dice on looking for a L&CI administrator, trying to ensure that we find a better person or at least not be stuck with only bad choices. Food Quality then goes for ration trials and lobbying Congress on malnutrition, while Food Safety works on the poison squad and pharmacy enforcement teams.
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top