[X] Plan: We Can Into Space
-[X]
Locked in: Think Tanks Status Report (15 Focus)
--[X]
Locked In: Bulb Ship Analysis [40/120]
--[X]
Locked In: Fighter Analysis [40/80]
--[X] As soon as the TLS arrives, it is to be tested on the alien wrecks to see its effectiveness as an anti-alien weapon
-[X]
Locked in: Engineering Groups Status Report (15 Focus)
--[X]
Locked In: General Engineering Group Project: Stonehenge Project Estimations: [2/5-15]
---[X] McGuiness and Mead are to collaborate on leading this project. We have a repair expert and an electromagnetics expert, we need to repair some giant railguns. Match made in Heaven.
--[X] Project for Shen:
Project Neighborhood Watch. Launch a polar-orbiting spy satellite or series of spy satellites for (at least) one overflight of Belkan space. Launch can be from Comona, Tyler Island, or any other suitable facility. Use of commercial off-the-shelf hardware for the satellite is encouraged, because we're in a hurry. Long-term survival of the satellites is desirable but not necessary. Highest priority is to recover imagery from
at least one orbital pass per satellite launch. Objective is to gather intelligence on as many as feasible of the following, in descending order of priority:
---[X] Status and location of alien landing sites.
---[X] Status and location of Excalibur and V2 ruins sites, and any signs of reconstruction
---[X] Operational status of known uranium mines
---[X] Overall state of Belkan military and mobilization.
---[X] Hopefully this project can profitably utilize an IC budget this week. If so, it may draw up to 2000 IC; if not, the extra will be spent on Gunther Bay industrial aid at week's end.
-[X] Locked in: Logistics Division Status Report (15 Focus)
--[X] Locked In: Logistics Division Project: Industrial Market Manipulation [10/20-40]
--[X] Locked In: Building Industry: Planes (2400 IC invested) (1500/2400 completed)
--[X] Build order (49000 IC + 1500 IC)
---[X] 6x F-14Xs for Salamander Flight and Rigel Squadron (Rigel will keep their EMLs as their special weapons) (14400 IC)
---[X] 9x EMLs for our Hellcats (18000 IC)
---[X] 1xTLS (3000 IC)
---[X] Induction Furnace, Mk I (50 IC)
---[X] Construction Crane Set, Mk I (1000 IC)
---[X] Spy Satellite Project Provisional Budget (2000 IC, if needed)
---[X] Build Industry
----[X] Gunther Bay (2000 IC, or up to 4000 IC if the spy satellite project doesn't need IC this week)
----[X] Estovakia (4000 IC)
-----[X] If the Estovakian government prefers, this should be redsignated as "Build Energy Production" IC. Their choice.
----[X] Voslage (1000 IC)
----[X} Erusean Restorationist Forces (1000 IC)
---[X] Building static defenses around the Gunther Bay area (4050 IC)
----[X] Roughly 75/25 split on effort between air and ground defense; these defenses are
mostly anti-alien in intent
-[X] Pulford Status Report (15 Focus)
-[X] Bradford Status Report (15 Focus)
--[X] Create a liaison office that can coordinate with various national governments and factions in Usea
--[X] Work out chain of command for a base defense force. Plan around a few squadrons of fighters (including new hires), and land-based fortifications and air defenses. It's okay if there are some blanks in the org chart, but we need to have someone ready to command those defenses who isn't
Long Caster, personally.
--[X] Doctrinal clarification: any pilot or squadron grounded for any reason other than "plane not working" or "
personally injured, incapable of flying" may be scrambled in defense of the base. This includes, for example, Waltz Squadron. We'll be designating a formal base defense force once we've recruited a few more pilots.
-[X] HR Status Report (15 Focus)
--[X]
Locked In: Scientist and Engineer recruitment, prioritizing Grunder Industries.
--[X] Start hiring more pilots. Look for known veterans of the various Usean wars. A and B-rankers acceptable; S-rank and higher aces are to be hired if they can be brought on-side without unreasonable difficulty.
-[X] Mediate Disputes (100 Focus)
--[X] Pulford and Shen
-[X] Assist Project (35 Focus)
--[X] HR in hiring more pilots
---[X] Ask if your own pilots know any that they would recommend
-[X] Contact People/organizations for joint Orbital-Clearing Satellite Project (50 Focus)
-[X] Start Project (225 Focus)
--[X] Contact Stephen Pulford, Rosa Cossette D'Elise and the heads of Republic of Voslage and Erusean Restoration Forces. Start planning how to bring an end to the Erusean civil war and destruction of the Free Erusean Remnants without Erusea annexing the countries that have declared independence of them, like Voslage, so that you can concentrate on the alien threat together.
-[X] Organize XCOM: create a Training and Tactics Department. Get teachers, flight sim creators, air warfare theorists, and so on. Task them with systematization of all information on aliens and fighting them. Grant them permission to ask all pilots, AWACS, scientists and engineers for relevant info. (100 Focus)
--[X] Training and Tactics' first project will be to collate a handbook or series of handbooks on anti-alien tactics for ourselves and potentially other X-COM branches. Should include doctrine for fighters armed with relatively conventional missiles, and also for heavy axial weapons like the EML and TLS.
Yes. Set it as an engineering project and go.
Yes.
OK done.
Redirected a lot of IC to the spy project from the Gunther Bay industrial aid project, at least assuming Shen can get anything worth spending IC on ready to go within a week. Would have diverted from Estovakia too, but Estovakians are
literally starving as I understand it and need the help a lot more.
Aaaand plan renamed as "We Can Into Space." Dropped Project Fresnel for now at least; I don't want to start
more than one engineering project a week until we have more engineers.
Hmm. I've been going over nation statistics on the front page. With the availability of the "build IC" and "build energy production" actions, and the fact that economic aid to struggling nations can make them more supportive, we should probably think a little about the 'wealth of nations.'
It looks like a nation, to have even a Medium standard of living, needs at least 1 energy per 1000 people; the only Low-standard nations anywhere close to that are the Erusean Restorationist remnants (for whom the lights just came back on literally last week), and Estovakia (which just completed a major power plant).
Per capita IC consumption for population quality of life in Low standard of living nations ranges between 1666 and 3750 people per IC, with the high end being Kaluga and the low end being the Free Eruseans, which are ALSO still starving their people of electricity despite the Lighthouse being a thing. Like, they haven't even bothered hooking up the civilians' electrical grid to the rectennas that are consuming Lighthouse power. GRRRR.
Medium standards of living are a bit flexible, there's actually some overlap (Voslage and Gunther Bay have a Medium standard of living despite lower per capita IC consumption than Kaluga). Some Medium-standard countries go as high as 1 IC per 1000 people, which is exactly the same level required for a High standard, too.
Basically, as far as I can tell there is no obvious reason why Medium countries are Medium and High countries are High, based on the very VERY limited 'economic' metrics we currently have available. However,
every single Low-standard country has or very recently had lower-than-cap per capita energy consumption, and per capita IC consumption well below the 1-per-1000 cap found in High and high-end Medium countries.
Thus, development aid MAY be able to rapidly lift countries from Low to Medium standards of living, but the Medium/High transition is probably not so easy.
...
One possibility is that your standard of living declines as long as you're below cap in either IC or energy spent on civilians. If so, places like Gunther Bay and Voslage will gradually become poorer over time unless they can afford to dedicate more IC to civilian quality of life, and places like Kaluga, Leasath, and the Free Erusean remnants are in the process of spending their people (deeper) into poverty by deliberately routing industrial and even energy output to military applications.
