Yes. I thought that was a move that basically had to happen, so I put in the 50 Supply Chain people into, you know, managing the supply chain, and moved the logisticians to aircraft procurement.
@huhYeahGoodPoint
How much Focus would it cost to put out feelers/offer a hand to those four kingdoms, or is that something we can even do, since all of the Belka stuff is happening on Osea, not Usea?
As always, the more Focus you put in, the better your results. In order to get even the most basic meeting set up is probably going to run you something like 25 Focus, though.
I don't really see Vahlen being away from being a problem, since we do have communications with her team, and she has just finished her research there, so by the next time we're getting reports from our departments, she should be well back here already.
So I still recommend we create 4th research division and designate the Department heads.
Sorry for the breakdown of coordination and timing, but basically I decided to designate department heads (with an acting head if we need a head of research before Vahlen gets back). I still oppose the fourth research division because I don't want to dilute our efforts until I'm confident our new mob of recruited scientists are performing as we hope.
You're talking about the Confederation of Nordland, but they don't have border with Belka. Aside from Osea, the countries that share border with Belka are the kingdoms of Ustio, Recta, Gebet and Fato. We could pull put some Focus there and take some away from searching for talent -action, since the absolute minimum it would need to find the best of the best is 25.
Point of order, I was thinking of the overarching East Osean Mutual Defense Organization; they'd be our obvious point of contact for coordination with the Belkans' immediate targets. I'm budgeting 50 Focus because I want to do it right and that's... at least enough to have a good chance.
-[X] Disposition of the scientists
--[X] Send 70 scientists (no Grunder please) to join Research Division Alpha (Xenobiology), now working on Sectoid xenobiology in Osea.
--[X] Send 70 scientists (mix of regular and Grunder) to join Research Division Beta (Alien Technical Analysis) under Charlie Burns, now working on the analysis of the alien six-gun ship
--[X] Assign 110 scientists (mix of regular and Grunder, including all Grunder laser scientists) to form Research Division Gamma (High Energy Physics) under Audrey Jones to research Cyclonic Accelerators
--[X] Assign 100 scientists (mix of regular and Grunder) to form Research Division Delta to research Strange Machinery [0/???]. -[X] Disposition of the engineers:
--[X] 85 engineers (mostly regular) to join Engineering Division Able (General Engineering) under Dr. Shen to help with Backfill Documentation.
--[X] 85 engineers (mostly regular) to join Engineeering Division Baker (Stonehenge) under Maria McGuiness and Avril Mead to help with the Stonehenge analysis.
--[X] Assign 110 engineers (mostly Grunder) to form Engineering Division Charlie (Aerospace Engineering) under Siegfried to work on Streamlined Construction Practices. -[X] Disposition of the five consultant teams: 2 for the Emergency Relief Organization, 1 for Special Requisitions, 1 for Aircraft Procurement, 1 to help XO Bradford with the administrative and command staff work. -[X] Focus Expenditures:
--[X] Organize X-COM (100 Focus):
---[X] Restructure Engineering and Research divisions to funnel reports and chain of command through their respective directors (Shen and Vahlen). Audrey Jones, our least busy senior researcher, will serve as Acting Research Director until Dr. Vahlen returns from Osea.
---[X] Make sure the directors get a staff and aren't drowned in paperwork. We don't want Vahlen getting grumpy that the job is cutting TOO much into her autopsy time.
--[X] "Now come on, let's grab a burger or something. I'm hungry, and I'm betting you are too." (10 Focus, probable stress reduction)
--[X] Search for talent among the new-hire scientists and engineers (40 Focus)
--[X] Outreach to EOMDO and indicate willingness to provide some degree of support against a joint Belkan-alien attack. (50 Focus)
This is otherwise same as the plan by @Simon_Jester , but it also forms a fourth science division to start researching the Strange Machinery that Charlie found in the bulb ship.
In that case, how would you feel about assigning Gamma to work on Airborne Nuclear Reactor rather than Cyclonic Accelerators?
I'm thinking that before we start deploying energy intensive systems like that we should have a power source on hand that can handle the loads. And these can also be used on the ground to power advanced AAA systems.
In that case, how would you feel about assigning Gamma to work on Airborne Nuclear Reactor rather than Cyclonic Accelerators?
I'm thinking that before we start deploying energy intensive systems like that we should have a power source on hand that can handle the loads. And these can also be used on the ground to power advanced AAA systems.
In that case, how would you feel about assigning Gamma to work on Airborne Nuclear Reactor rather than Cyclonic Accelerators?
I'm thinking that before we start deploying energy intensive systems like that we should have a power source on hand that can handle the loads.
We already do: toroidal energy storage. Yes, it's storage, not a reactor, but it would almost certainly enable us to power an energy weapon for at least a limited number of shots given that we can already power airborne tactical lasers on a fighter-sized chassis
And these can also be used on the ground to power advanced AAA systems.
It would probably be a bad idea to use a specifically airborne nuclear reactor (which is likely to be less well shielded and optimized for weight reduction over safety and operational lifespan) for ground-based power needs where we can just, y'know, build normal nuclear reactors.
Also we are X-COM Usea, so, uh, Lighthouse, at least for now.
Also also we know that Cyclonic Accelerators leads to other particle manipulation technology including the APS shielding technology.
The problem is, the obvious choice for Chief of Research is Vahlen, and Vahlen is currently on another continent, so I kiiiind of want to wait on that until she gets back.
We might be able to appoint a unified head of R&D. Or appoint the two heads with one action, I'm not entirely sure. Given that mixed engineer/scientist teams are a thing, though, it's possible that would mean a combined head of both groups.
OK, but I want to spend SOME focus putting out feelers to our allies in Osea. Not so much XCOM OSEA as the uh, the alliance I forget the name of, the one of eastern Osean nations that border Belka and will probably be targeted after the February 14th deadline expires. Y'know, the one that Cipher works for now.
Those guys are likely to wind up fighting another battle on the same scale as the Battle of the Grenada Plains, with hopefully fewer aliens but a whole mess of Belkans taking the field. It's gonna get ugly and they may be chewed up badly without our help.
We worked well together with them at the Grenada Plains, and I don't want to see them destroyed or conquered by alien-dominated Belkans. Or for that matter Belkan-dominated aliens.
Seconded. Even if Cipher is fairly likely to mulch a good chunk of what comes at him, there's still Flowing Guard Unbreakable to worry about. Even though they probably can't manage to take him down, they can almost certainly keep him busy, which is almost as good as shooting him down, in a way. So I think they might just need a little bit of backup.
In the medium to long haul that will definitely be a good plan. Right now I've got Charlie running a research teamand Siegfried running an engineering team, and they may trade off or merge groups at a later time.
I don't want to do that right now because Charlie's still working on alien craft analysis and I don't want to change horses in the middle of the stream. Plus we still have some fairly 'mundane' aerospace engineering projects left, that might be worth doing, that are more or less purely a job for engineers and not scientists. Such as:
1a) Develop an F-35D multirole fighter that uses Siegfried's VTOL expertise to give us a 'super special weapon' stealth fighter suitable for fighting both the aliens and the Belkans/Eruseans. An F-35D-EML and F-14X-EML mix might be useful
1b) Develop an F-22C variant air superiority fighter with 'super special weapon' capability, see previous, maybe deprecated as an option now that we have Siegfried, the man who designed the XFA-31, on-side. As others have pointed out, maybe he can tinker with the F-35 in hopes of giving it the supermaneuverability it lacks coming out of the original box.
2) Develop superheavy lift VTOL aircraft if no suitable models exist to serve as our heavy 'carryalls.' Given that we're retrieving very heavy alien wrecks and may want to suddenly construct very large scale structures in remote locations, this would be desirable... aaand we now have a guy who can do this.
As cool as chasing the shiny hover tech would be, I think we need to focus on our other projects first. We kinda have a tendency to get distracted by new stuff fairly easily. Plus, it might be best to save that project for until we can assign a project lead. We are about to search for any stand-out individuals in our ranks, after all.
We might be able to appoint a unified head of R&D. Or appoint the two heads with one action, I'm not entirely sure. Given that mixed engineer/scientist teams are a thing, though, it's possible that would mean a combined head of both groups.
Right now a unified head would probably work, but in the future we may have 5-6 teams in science and engineering, each. At some point it's going to become a bit much to manage even for the head of R&D.
Seconded. Even if Cipher is fairly likely to mulch a good chunk of what comes at him, there's still Flowing Guard Unbreakable to worry about. Even though they probably can't manage to take him down, they can almost certainly keep him busy, which is almost as good as shooting him down, in a way. So I think they might just need a little bit of backup.
I also think we should offer EOMDO the use of some high-end aircraft for their elite aces. While we don't have a surplus of F-14X-EMLs, we have several pilots who fly F-14X-EMLs off duty this week, we have a sizeable shipment coming in and can easily continue ordering them... and if nothing else, we do have an Su-37 and an F-35 just lying around as reserve planes. There's no reason a pilot like Elcero should be stuck in a stock F-15C armed with QAAMs while we've got supermaneuverable 4.9th and 5th-generation fighter aircraft sitting on the ground doing nothing.
Much as I really hate dropping a story in the middle of a vote, this one has a limited shelf-life, and it does kinda relate to some of our discussion. I haven't touched up the dialog as much as I'd like, but hey, maybe Siegfried was playing up the accent with the Commander to help convince him he'd come from Leasath. Thanks as per usual @Simon_Jester and @huhYeahGoodPoint for beta-reading an earlier draft, and @Icipall for the inevitable corrections.
Rambling aside, I present:
Birds of a Feather
Charlie Burns pursed his lips in a silent whistle as he watched the incoming aircraft land. It was beautiful, how smoothly it managed that vertical landing. Came down like a feather. Barely even a bump in the landing gear's suspension. Either that pilot is insanely good at what he does, or that plane is incredibly well made. And how exactly does that VTOL work, anyways? Well, I guess there's only one way to find out... Charlie was already grinning as he made his way down to the landing pad, looking forward to having a talk with the pilot. Hopefully, they knew their plane well enough to answer his questions.
----
Siegfried von Drache turned the engines off as he finished taxiing into the hangar, then relaxed into the piloting chair he'd been in for the last several hours and closed his eyes with a sigh. Nearly home free, now, he thought to himself tiredly. Despite his rest-stop at the facility his cousin ran, Siegfried was still not the best of shape, after months of intense work and a flight that long. Just one last hurdle to overcome. I need to convince them I'm worth keeping around, even if Leasath puts pressure on them. Shouldn't be too hard, between the dirt I have on Navarro and my resume.
He smiled to himself at that thought. It was a fairly impressive resume. Project leader on four different aerial warships, and on one next-gen super-plane. Fairly exceptional, for a 29 year old college "dropout" who was abducted before he could get his degree. Might even be able to get some references, if any of his coworkers from Estovakia were still alive. God, he hoped they were okay...
Enough stalling, Siegfried. The sooner you leave this cockpit, the sooner you can get yourself into a bunk.
----
Charlie managed to time things well, apparently. He'd made it to the hangar in-time to catch the pilot taking his flight helmet off. The pilot shook out his shaggy mane of platinum-blond hair, likely relieved to finally let it breathe a bit after the long flight. The man's face was all flat planes and sharp edges, extending even to the sharp, almost feral look in his eyes. Not an old man, by any means, but not quite a young man, either. Something about the face rang a faint bell in his memory. He'd seen that face somewhere before, or maybe one close to it...in a book, perhaps? Well, it would probably come to him.
Charlie walked up to the man, ignoring the glares from the security guards silently telling him to get out of their way and let them escort this person of unknown origin to a cell. While Charlie did understand their point, the best place to talk about a plane's design was when you could take a look at it. Who knew how long it would be before the big-wigs would let this guy be in the same place as this magnificent aircraft? Besides, XCOM weren't about to fire their lead aircraft designer in the middle of a war. They couldn't afford to. That meant he could usually get away with the occasional stunt.
"Damn, but that is a sleek design," Charlie said, trying to break the ice. Pilots usually liked bragging about their planes, if you gave them a reason to. He stuck out his hand to the pilot. "That landing was slick, too. I'm Charlie Burns, I design planes for XCOM. How exactly did you manage a maneuver like that, Mister...?" Burns trailed off, his tone inquiring.
The man took up Charlie on the offered handshake. "von Drache. Siegfried von Drache. And the landing function is automated, so I can't really take credit for that," he said, then flashed a small grin. "Well, I guess I did do a touch of work on it, albeit most on the hardware and simulation side. So I guess I can take some credit. We added it as a standard, pre-programmed vocal command, at Navarro's request. Said it would really help wow potential customers and sponsors."
Another designer! Charlie'd hit the jackpot. "Huh. I guess I can see that-wait, " Charlie said, as what Siegfried has said finally registered "'von Drache'? As in Drachen Works?" Charlie Burns realized where he'd seen Siegfried's face before. He looked remarkably like his grandfather, Gunther von Drache, whose designs had pushed the limits of plane endurance to extreme heights, for his time, setting several records. Charlie had seen a photo of him before, one taken to commemorate the first successful non-stop flight from Estovakia to Aurelia, in several of his textbooks back in college.
Siegfried laughed. "You betcha. My dad's Siegmund von Drache, in-fact. And yeah, I know, he and his family are all supposed to be dead. It's a long story."
"Siegmund von Drache? The one who worked on the Hresvelgr?"
"Against his will. But yes. I haven't seen him in years, though. Haven't had a chance to go home, ever since I left for college after the winter break. Years ago, now. Without delving too deeply into it, I got...drafted, shall we say, for a project in Estovakia during spring break."
That, too, set off a faint recollection in Charlie's mind. "Estovakia...you said your name was Siegfried, right? You wouldn't have happened to have worked with a young woman named Bernadine von Hildebrand on the Gyges, by any chance?"
Charlie didn't even see Siegfried move. Suddenly, he found his shoulders in an iron grip, and a pair of blazing ice-blue eyes staring into his. He heard the clicks of safeties being flicked off all around them, but Siegfried didn't seem to notice. "How do you know her? Is she alive? Safe? Free? What happened to the rest of them that worked on that project?
"I worked with her once, when I was at Macmillan," Charlie said, carefully. "She's one hell of a project manager. Said she learned a lot of it from that project, and that you were central to it. She joined the company after the war. Everyone who worked on the Aigaion and related projects could basically take their pick of aeronautics companies after the war. She chose Macmillan. As far as I know, she's doing just fine. From what I've heard from an old friend of mine, pretty much all of the people involved in the Aigaion project have been hired by XCOM ANEA for a project to produce more aerial warships, to fight the aliens. So she's probably working at a secure black site, guarded by some of XCOM's best soldiers. Bernadine, and the others you worked with, are arguably safer than we are. Especially given all the guns pointed at us right now. Might be a good idea to let go of me, before either of us get shot."
Siegfried let out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob as he let go of Charlie and leaned back against his plane, one hand covering his face. "Alive. They're alive. And probably making a damn good living off their knowledge and training, to boot!" The relief in Siegfried's subsequent laughter was palpable, and the tears that leaked past the hand covering his face were equally of released stress and of joy.
By the time Siegfried got a hold of himself, Charlie had somehow managed to reassure the guards that Siegfried was not a threat, and that it would be fine for them both to stay in the hangar a while longer. Siegfried was grinning from ear-to-ear when he finally turned to look at Charlie again, and the sharpness in his gaze was almost entirely gone. "I was abducted and taken to Leasath shortly after the Aigaion went down," he said, answering Charlie's unsaid question. "For all I knew, they'd been executed or enslaved by the Emmerians, or by our Estovakian overlords. Me and them had a rocky start, admittedly, but the lot of us had all become as close as family by the war's end. Navvie kept me too busy to spend much time investigate what had happened to them. Thanks, Mr. Burns. I really needed to hear that."
"Charlie, please. Mr. Burns is my father. And if you want to thank me, you could start by explaining how exactly that VTOL system works."
"Oh, it's a simple enough bit of engineering, mate. It's only a combination of 3D thrust vectoring on the left and right turbines, and a way of redirecting the output of the central thruster into a pair of vents on the bottom of the plane. Vectoring the thrust on those bad boys enables some rather impressive tricks. I can't say it can stop and turn on a dime, but you can get damn close if you use the bottom vents to break, switch to hover mode, turn, and then exit hover fast enough.
"How the hell did you manage to pull that off? Stopping that suddenly would put a lot of stress on the frame, especially on the wings."
Siegfried chuckled. "That was certainly a tricky problem. The secret's underneath the outer paneling at the base of the wings. We'll need to take her apart a bit if you want to take a gander at it. If you've got the tools, though, I'd be willing to have a go at opening it up."
Charlie was already looking for a toolbox before he finished his sentence.
----
Several days later...
Charlie Burns yawned as he made his way to his workspace from his quarters. He'd been up late last night, filling out and filing paperwork. Admin might not have been able to fire him over the episode with Siegfried and the XFA-31, but they sure as hell seemed determined to drown him in paperwork over it.
Given all the uproar over the incoming armies of refugees, it took over 16 hours for XCOM's leadership to realize that Siegfried hadn't been moved to a holding cell. By that point, the two of them had disassembled the XFA-31 down to a skeletal frame, though the parts had been very carefully laid out in such a way that it was easily reassembled by Engineering in a couple of hours.
He and Siegfried had been found slumped and asleep in a set of reclining chairs that they'd somehow found and brought into the hangar. While it was all a bit of a blur at that point, he thought they'd both passed out around the same time, during a conversation about...the merits and drawbacks of using off-the-shelf hardware? Something like that. They'd taken "breaks" for food (and caffeine), which they'd had to leave the hangar to get, but they usually spent those breaks talking shop. Without the aid of schematics, of course. They were both too experienced to make such a rookie error as to mix food and documents, and risk damaging their notes.
And boy, had they taken notes. According to one of the engineers that was called in to clean up after them, "it looked like a small blizzard of paper had blown through the hangar." They'd been so busy disassembling, examining, brainstorming, and bouncing ideas off one another that they'd ended up leaving hand-written notes and roughly sketched design schematics on just about every convenient flat surface in the hangar. This was mostly due to the lack of tablets and other design tools in the hangar, which had forced them to go old-school.
Still, they'd produced a lot of material...which was a mixed blessing. Charlie whistled timelessly to himself as he unlocked the door to his work area. Which currently rather resembled that vivid description of the hangar. Apparently, due to the refugee crisis, they didn't have anywhere else to put all the notes and schematics. Allegedly. He suspected this was mostly another subtly attempted punishment on one of his superiors' part. But since Charlie would have wanted to keep an eye on them himself anyway, he wasn't going to complain.
The largest and most detailed of the schematics was currently occupying a table next to his volumetric display, which he used for 3D modeling. One side, the one he was currently working with, illustrated the current design of the XFA-31, both external and internal. In the margins of that schematic, and on the back of the large piece of butcher paper were a number of possible changes and improvements. Their main focus had been improving the plane's currently lackluster armament. In his idle moments, he'd been trying to translate the schematic into a 3-D model, which would be the first step in modifying the weapon mounts. While the display did make things a lot easier, modeling was still taking him longer than he'd have liked, at least partially because he was doing it in his free-time. Still, translating the 2D schematics into 3D was more difficult than he'd expected. Especially since Siegfried was currently busy elsewhere, and thus unable to spare much time to help out.
He'd organized the other sketches into two basic groups. One was for the sketches they'd made of possible improvements to the F-14X based on the VTOL-system derived breaking and hovering capabilities of the XFA-31. They were admittedly rather rough sketches, but he was fairly sure they could pull it off, and keep the production process fairly simple to boot. Wouldn't be quite as agile as the XFA-31, of course, for multiple reasons, and it might require some control system alterations and programming work, in addition to the obvious airframe alterations. But it could be done. Similar ideas could probably be applied to modify most any other plane, too.
Other designs bore some resemblance to the Aigaion and its sister craft, but with a number of structural alterations. Many of them having been produced by Siegfried, he wasn't entirely sure what all of the alterations were meant to improve on or do, and he was pretty sure they'd either screwed up on the scales they wrote down on several of the sketches, or they were feeling...ambitious, to be kind to their over-caffeinated selves.
The written notes were generally either innocuous (reminders, tangential ideas), or incredibly cryptic. The latter category contained phrases like "with sufficient velocity, anything is possible", or consisted of a set of complex equations about sheering forces and stress, followed by the phrase "air-cushioned VTOL will not save your stupidly massive plane from the square-cube law" circled several times. The records of their feverish and often somewhat unhinged brainstorming sessions were of widely varying coherency and legibility. Some of the papers were basically unreadable, or had large sections crossed out. Once he actually managed to fill out all the paperwork needed to request forming a joint team with Siegfried, and get the Commander's attention for long enough, Siegfried might be able to decipher some of his own sloppily written notes, but until then, they went to the "possibly trash" pile. Of course, getting him in here to work on that might take a little while.
When the two of them had finally woken up around half a day later, they were both in hot water. Charlie had gotten more heat than Siegfried, since Siegfried wasn't an XCOM employee yet. Given all the work they'd produced, however, Charlie's official punishment didn't go much beyond a major chewing out for revealing XCOM designs to an unknown individual of somewhat dubious origins, taking a serious risk in talking to someone who hadn't been cleared yet, and various other issues. Admin was making his life harder than it needed to be, of course, but that was par for the course, and he was well aware that his antics often made his superiors' jobs harder.
Still, Charlie really hoped he could manage to get Siegfried's help on his projects at some point soon. The guy might be a bit grim and intense at times, but he was an absolutely brilliant designer, with a wealth experience in designing and troubleshooting cutting-edge systems. There were very few people in Charlie's generation that he considered to be his peer in aircraft design, but Siegfried was definitely in that club.
After their brainstorming session, Siegfried had been moved to a holding cell while he was sleeping. While he was passed out, the base's security personnel followed up on the mutual acquaintance who was mentioned. Ms. von Hildebrand was, after seeing a picture and hearing some audio of his voice, quite willing to vouch for Siegfried's identity and tell them about his past in Estovakia. Several others involved were also called, all of whom corroborated her story, and vouched for his identity. Shortly thereafter, the base received a notice from XCOM ANEA that, should they decide not to hire Siegfried, ANEA's Science Division would greatly appreciate sending him their way. Shortly after a meeting with the Commander, he'd been hired to work for XCOM USEA.
Unfortunately, he wasn't currently available to sort through his notes. He was currently the only one on the base that really understood the complexities of the XFA-31's controls. As such, Siegfried was currently tied up teaching another, more experienced pilot how to fly it, and also demonstrating what it could do in mock combat. He'd picked up some interesting maneuvers from the test-pilots, apparently. The XFA-31's extreme maneuverability was enough to narrow the gap between Siegfried and some more experienced pilots, though certainly not enough to let him take on anyone much more skilled. Still, he was currently the only one who could pilot a plane that even remotely matched the X-Ray fighters' maneuverability.
I wonder how he's doing over there? Charlie thought idly.
----
Siegfried was in a real bind at the moment. His opponent had been a mercenary for as long as Siegfried had been alive, if not longer, tempered in one of the bloodiest wars in living memory, and wingman to one of the most famous pilots in history. Siegfried might have the more maneuverable plane, but his opponent could make even a mediocre or out-of-date plane perform like a current-gen model. And he was flying Charlie's damn modernized F-14. It wasn't the XFA-31's equal on a technical level, but it was more than good enough for his opponent to have him on the ropes, and keep him there.
While the Gram he was flying might be able to dance through sky, its weaponry was, frankly, anemic. Terrible at long distances except against ships or ground targets, with good options at medium range and minimal options at close range, it left much to be desired. Up against opponents like this one, his best bet was to try and take advantage of his maneuverability and evade long enough line up a perfect shot. That was the only way he'd be hitting this particular foe, as he'd learned on previous encounters. Getting drawn into knife-range was a losing proposition. He wasn't sure if he could evade much longer, though. The enemy was pushing hard, damn him...
And that was when his opponent pulled a seemingly impossible maneuver, hauling the nose of his plane through the air in a way that simply shouldn't be possible, ending up coming at him from head-on and above. His opponent splattered Siegfried's plane with virtual paintballs, painting the plane on his HUD with several dozen splotches of red. Had they been real bullets, he'd be full of holes right now. Damn. At least I lasted 5 minutes this time, he thought to himself. That was better than he'd ever managed before. He made for the ground, and threw his plane into hover before landing on the tarmac like a butterfly landing on a flower. At least something he'd designed worked well.
His opponent's landing was smooth as silk, even if it wasn't VTOL. That red wing of his flashed in the sunlight. That damn paint-job...those flashes of red had almost been taunting him during their practice sessions. He was sure Pixy was doing it deliberately, just to make the point that Siegfried would need to get a lot better if he wanted to even scratch that red wing. Like he didn't already know that. That taunting, like much of what the opposing pilot did, was meant to test how Siegfried reacted, and correct any mistakes made...usually by the same method a fencing tutor would demonstrate a hole in a student's guard.
"You're getting better, kid," Pixy said, once they'd both gotten onto the pavement and gotten their helmets off. "At evasion, anyway. That plane of yours really does move impressively well, even if the missile loadout isn't up to snuff."
"Which, of course, is why you usually take me out with only your bloody guns," Siegfried said, frustrated with his performance. "If you were in a more advanced plane, like Trigger and Mobius' Nosferatus or the Ragriz's Wyverns, I wouldn't last a minute up there, even with you taking it easy on me."
"Now that's just selling yourself short, kid," Pixy said, grinning. "You'd last at least 90 seconds, minimum. Not more than 120, though."
"Oh, thanks. That makes me feel so much better."
Pixy laughed at that, then sobered. "Seriously, kid. If you had more combat experience, you'd be a real terror in that plane. As it stands, I'd bet on you, if you went up against most of Mobius Squadron's members, one-on-one. Not Baker or the Ribbon, of course, but the rest of them just wouldn't be able to keep up with you and your plane. You clearly understand it. Hell, I think you likely know it better than pretty much anyone else on this base can claim to know their plane."
"Thanks. But the Gram will still probably shine more in more experienced hands," Siegfried said, then sighed. "I wish we could have made the controls more intuitive. I wouldn't be having to take so long to teach you how to work them."
"You really are prone to being too hard on yourself, Siegfried," Pixy said, shaking his head. "It's an incomplete test plane that wasn't meant to be flown without serious computer aids. Of course the controls are complex. And I'm fairly sure I'll be confident in taking it for a test flight in a few more days. That should make it easier for you to shift over to R&D. I do hope you'll come back to the combat side from time-to-time, though. You've got talent, even if you're still green. And, in my experience, aircraft designers and engineers who can fly are often pretty scary in the air."
"I know. My piloting teacher over in Estovakia was admittedly a better pilot than he was a designer, but he knew his way around a wrench as well as a cockpit. Got shot down over the Round Table by Cipher, actually, but managed to survive it."
"Really?" Pixy seemed a bit interested. "Might have been a part of that fight, actually. Who taught you?"
"Lorenz Riedel. Better known as Gault 7 at the time, though he went by Feniks in the Estovakian Civil War and Emmerian-Estovakian War. He got shot down a second time, trying to defend the Aerial Fleet from Talisman. Not sure if he managed to evade Ol' Man Death a second time, or..."
"Ah...Gault 7, huh?" Pixy's gaze became distant, lost in his memories. "I remember him. Met him once before the war, actually. Seemed like an incredibly loyal man. So he ended up in Estovakia after the war, huh? I'd heard rumors in Belkan ex-pat circles about a former pilot gathering experts for some big project there. That was him, I'm guessing?"
"Yes. He kept us together, lead us, made us all feel like one big family. The gang has gotten back together over in ANEA, or so I'm told. I'll admit, I was considering going back to them. But I think I'll stay here, at least for now."
"Really?" Pixy said. "Why might that be? Sounds like you and them are close."
"Oh, we're as tight as can be. But, frankly, I think I've taught them enough for them to get by, and I think you guys need my expertise more. I'll keep in-touch with them, maybe advise if they need it, though I doubt they will. I've already taught them most of what I know about large-scale flight, and what little I picked up in Leasath isn't worth mentioning. I didn't give that project my all. Mostly coasted on my experience, especially since the guys I was working with were utter drongos. Maneuverability is my passion, not aerial warships. I know how to make them, but they're not quite as fun to design. Though making them maneuverable is certainly a challenge worth my time."
"Besides," he said, smiling as he remembered his recent episode with a certain aircraft designer, "Charlie Burns is damn good. I haven't met many blokes outside my family, blood or adopted, that can keep up with me as well as he can. And they all had years to get to know me. He's a bit of a mouthy git, but I think he and I make a good team. Our different viewpoints and experiences make our collaboration greater than the sum of its parts.
"No, so long as the Commander is willing to let me stay here, I will. Between learning from you, and being able to work with Charlie, I think this is where my skills are needed most. Besides," he said, grinning, "you buggers here at USEA have the one of the biggest budgets in XCOM, and access to the Lighthouse. Who else is going to be willing to fund my experiments with that heat-shedding platinum-iridium alloy I came up with ages ago?"
----
I pretty much knocked most of this out over the course of ten or so hours, shortly after the game started by up, though I've had to do so rewrites over time, especially on the second half. Still, this one really grabbed my muse and refused to let go. Enough that it also jumped the queue.
The Bernadine von Hildebrand mentioned is actually a character from a story stuck in limbo at the moment. The stories keep mutating and shifting away from her, for some reason. But I'll figure out a good story involving her and the others working on Project Gaia at some point. I hope.
Siegfried and Pixy have a slightly odd relationship, since Lorenz, Siegfried's mentor in piloting, was a part of AWWNB, and had mentioned Pixy on various occasions. Throw in Pixy's status as Cipher's ex-wingman, (Siegmund, Siegfried's father, feels he owes Cipher for taking down the Hresvelgr), and it's not surprising that Siegfried feels a fair amount of admiration for him. Pixy, meanwhile, finds Siegfried reminds him of his past mistakes, but does his best not to let that color their relationship too much.
The Gram going to Leasath does neatly free Siegfried up to work on projects. I mostly write this before that decision, as a "this is what Siegfried got up to while assigned as a High Alert pilot" sort of thing.
Charlie had seen the photo of him taken to commemorate the first successful non-stop flight from Estovakia to Aurelia in several of his textbooks back in college.
By the time Siegfried got a hold of himself, Charlie had somehow managed to reassure the guards that Siegfried was not a threat, and that it would be fine for them both to stay in the hanger a while longer.
By that point, the two of them had disassembled the XFA-31 down to a skeletal frame, though the parts had been very carefully laid out, in such a way that it was easily reassembled by Engineering in a couple of hours.
"it looked like a small blizzard of paper had blown through the hanger." They'd been so busy disassembling, examining, brainstorming, and bouncing ideas off one another that they'd ended up leaving hand-written notes and roughly sketched design schematics on just about every convenient flat surface in the hanger. This was mostly due to the lack of tablets and other design tools in the hanger, which had forced them to go old-school.
After their brainstorming session, Siegfried had been moved into a holding cell while he was sleeping. While he was passed out, the base's security personnel looked up the mutual acquaintance who was mentioned.
Terrible at long distances except against ships or ground targets, with good options at medium range, and minimal options at close range, it left much to be desired.
Leveraging work done on airborne nuclear reactors in the late 1950s, the YB-350 "Firebird" strategic projection aircraft was designed for extremely long-duration missions. Whereas conventional bombers were designed to sortie, strike a target, and hopefully return, the Firebird was intended to exert continuous pressure. Propulsion was provided by a set of six contra-rotating propeller pairs, powered by electric motors that ran off the aircraft's nuclear reactor. Needing no conventional fuel, the YB-350 was capable of remaining airborne for days if not weeks, and armed with exceptional ability to disrupt and penetrate air defense networks. Intended for eventual mass production, this class of outsized flying wings prefigured a variety of other heavier aerial cruiser designs, such as the vastly larger Belkan XB-0 command cruiser.
Although capable of dropping conventional bombs, the Firebird was mainly designed to deploy a variety of tactical air-launched cruise missile weaponry, including the beam-riding "Artemis" and television-guided "Argus" missile, but its most prominent weapon system was the distinctive "Jupiter" missile. These multistage missiles were designed to devastate air defense radars over a wide area, creating vulnerabilities in enemy defense networks. After an initial rocket boost, their ramjet sustainer engines would carry them to speeds and altitudes that made the Jupiter nearly impossible to intercept. This would be followed by an extreme high-altitude zoom climb. At the apex of this climb, the Jupiter's powerful burst warhead, modified to generate an electromagnetic pulse, would detonate, damaging or disabling radars and other electronics over a wide area.
Obviously, such a formidable craft presented a valuable target for enemy interceptors and long range surface to air missiles. As such, the YB-350 carried a variety of defensive capabilities.
Firstly, the sheer size of the bomber permitted the 'parasite fighter' concepts investigated by the Osean Air Force in the 1940s and '50s to be brought to fruition, in the form of a six-ship squadron of F-5 Tiger IIs that flew directly off the Firebird. This escort force could discourage enemy dogfighters from approaching. However, Firebirds did not always operate with their F-5 escorts, as adverse weather circumstances could make retrieval of the fighters extremely hazardous.
However, the YB-350 also had defensive capabilities of its own. For crude close-in self-defense, the Firebird carried several remotely controlled .50 caliber and 20mm autocannon turrets, as well, but the most formidable capability aboard the Firebird was its maser system The electrical energy budget of the Firebird's reactor permitted testing and installation of an exotic maser antenna grid. The maser, while only moderately effective at inflicting structural damage on aircraft and missiles, could be tuned to utterly jam nearly any known radar system.
This enabled the Firebird to defend itself very effectively against actively emitting radar systems, foiling most known long range AA missiles. It was found in combat that not only did radar-guided missiles suffer against the maser jamming system, but heat-seeking missiles almost exclusively homed in on the nuclear reactor's coolant air exhausts, which ran significantly hotter than the motors driving the propellers. Since the exhaust ports were ruggedly constructed, highly insensitive to damage, and protected by reinforced gratings, they acted in effect as a pair of thermal decoys.
Combat performance in the 1970 "Hot War" against Yuktobania initially suggested that the Firebird, promoted by President Francis as part of his vaunted secret plan to win the war in Kaluga, was every bit as effective as expected. Cruise missile attacks caused great disruption to Yuktobanian defensive positions and military fleets. The Jupiter missile was especially effective at paralyzing enemy air and naval assets, opening holes that could be exploited by conventional forces.
However, the tide of war began to turn as the Yuktobanians developed more effective counter-strategies for fighting the YB-350. Four of the massive strategic projection aircraft were shot down during the war, and a long-range air raid flying off one of the surviving Yuktobanian aircraft carriers, led by infamous Yuktobanian ace Marina Popova, destroyed the Ypsilon Plant that manufactured the aircraft.
The Osean Air Force might have resumed production if not for unrelated events, even so. After the disastrous radiation release caused around Mount Spearhead by General Poe's unilateral and reckless launch of an XK-Pluto missile, President Francis opened peace negotiations. Journalists soon discovered and revealed the true nature of XK-Pluto, though, causing an explosive scandal. As peace talks proceeded, the rising Osean pacifist faction made abolition of nuclear-powered weapons platforms one of the core demands of their movement, along with the end of conscription and a withdrawal from the war in Kaluga. As a result, the surviving YB-350s were grounded in 1971, and officially retired and scrapped over a three year period from 1973-76 under the McGruber Administration. Components of Firebird #6, designated OAS Eagle, are on display at the Air Force Museum in Kalifia Province, approximately 100 kilometers northeast of November City.
Ah yes, one of the most aggravating of errors: the consistent use of a homonym. Thanks. Same with all the other edit suggestions. Though that last one would actually change the meaning of the sentence, so it (and a few others) is probably getting left out. Still, I appreciate it.
...Gonna need more detail on that one. I'm guessing my first thought of "it homes in on TV broadcasts?" is wrong, so my best guess is a TV signal is used somehow, possibly to transmit video data.
That aside, I dig it. Seems like a cool precursor to modern aerial warships.
Might be that other people's enthusiasm gets others interested in posting their own stuff. Especially stuff they have lying around in a doc or two somewhere, and haven't touched in months. I personally have two other stories pretty much finished, and one other most of the way there, and a set of story fragments that I plan to turn into another collection of shorts.
Mind you, I usually try to wait for a lull in discussion before posting. Sort of a way to try and keep people engaged. So having completed stuff in the pipeline is ideal. I just needed to get this one out before things went much further, for obvious reasons.
...Gonna need more detail on that one. I'm guessing my first thought of "it homes in on TV broadcasts?" is wrong, so my best guess is a TV signal is used somehow, possibly to transmit video data.
Yes. Television guidance is basically that- it was one of the earlier ways of designing a precision guided munition to emerge. The munition transmits TV signals back to the launching aircraft, where a controller guides the weapon in using a joystick and/or other instruments. Real life examples include several World War Two prototypes, the Walleye bomb, versions of the Martel antiship missile, and some subtypes of the Kh-29 ground attack missile.
Meanwhile, on Strangereal...
The AGM-60 'Argus' ALCM had a fairly long range and was extremely accurate when it could be used effectively along with the very large, sensitive antenna arrays on the Firebird to receive its signal. On the other hand, it was also extremely sensitive to any surviving active ECM in the area of operations, because it relies on a television broadcast link.
Unlike the 'Jupiter' EMP missile, the 'Argus' and 'Artemis' variants were not seen as excessively destabilizing and provocative by the McGruber administration, and so were not retired from service. The Osean Air Force continued to field the AGM-60 in active service aboard B-52 and B-1 bombers up until 1989, when it was fully supplanted in operational service by the significantly less bulky AGM-86. Part of the remaining Argus stockpile was expended during the Belkan War when production bottlenecks prevented manufacture of the AGM-86 in sufficient quantity to keep up with the pace of the Allied strategic bombing campaign.
Yes. Television guidance is basically that- it was one of the earlier ways of designing a precision guided munition to emerge. The munition transmits TV signals back to the launching aircraft, where a controller guides the weapon in using a joystick and/or other instruments. Real life examples include several World War Two prototypes, the Walleye bomb, versions of the Martel antiship missile, and some subtypes of the Kh-29 ground attack missile.
The work I've done imagining Ace Combat Negative One: The Hot War has caused me to spend significant time adding to my mental roster of advanced military technology that was viable in the 1960s.
[X] Plan The Bureaucracy Is Expanding -[X] Disposition of the scientists
--[X] Send 100 scientists (no Grunder please) to join Research Division Alpha (Xenobiology), now working on Sectoid xenobiology in Osea.
--[X] Send 100 scientists (mix of regular and Grunder) to join Research Division Beta (Alien Technical Analysis) under Charlie Burns, now working on the analysis of the alien six-gun ship
--[X] Assign 150 scientists (mix of regular and Grunder, including all Grunder laser scientists) to form Research Division Gamma (High Energy Physics) under Audrey Jones to research Cyclonic Accelerators -[X] Disposition of the engineers:
--[X] 85 engineers (mostly regular) to join Engineering Division Able (General Engineering) under Dr. Shen to help with Backfill Documentation.
--[X] 85 engineers (mostly regular) to join Engineeering Division Baker (Stonehenge) under Maria McGuiness and Avril Mead to help with the Stonehenge analysis.
--[X] Assign 110 engineers (mostly Grunder) to form Engineering Division Charlie (Aerospace Engineering) under Siegfried to work on Streamlined Construction Practices. --[jk] For symmetry, propose to rename Research Division Beta "Siegfried." No, seriously, don't do that. -[X] Disposition of the five consultant teams: 2 for the Emergency Relief Organization, 1 for Special Requisitions, 1 for Aircraft Procurement, 1 to help XO Bradford with the administrative and command staff work. -[X] Focus Expenditures:
--[X] Organize X-COM (100 Focus):
---[X] Restructure Engineering and Research divisions to funnel reports and chain of command through their respective directors (Shen and Vahlen). Audrey Jones will serve as Acting Research Director until Dr. Vahlen returns from Osea.
---[X] Make sure the directors get a staff and aren't drowned in paperwork. We don't want Vahlen getting grumpy that the job is cutting TOO much into her autopsy time.
--[X] "Now come on, let's grab a burger or something. I'm hungry, and I'm betting you are too." (10 Focus, probable stress reduction)
--[X] Search for talent among the new-hire scientists and engineers (40 Focus)
--[] Informal statement of intent: At the appropriate voting time, plan to vote for "Outreach to EOMDO and indicate willingness to provide some degree of support against a joint Belkan-alien attack." (50 Focus)
The burger place was a little unusual for Long Caster; he was used to burger places being one or two stories tall, not part of a much bigger skyscraper shopping complex. Still, he had heard that this place had some pretty good burgers, and with international money starting to flow through the city, some burger places were still operating for Osean expats. Supposedly.
The burger wasn't half bad either; despite the size of the patty the inside was still fairly juicy without undercooking the inside or overcooking the outside. The rest of the burger was nothing to write home about; certainly, Long Caster had tasted better and more innovative sauces on the burger.
For what it did, though, it was pretty good.
Next to him, Adam quietly ate his own burger, sneaking glances over at Long Caster as Adam demolished his own burger.
"You must've been hungrier than I thought," Long Caster neutrally remarks, chewing another bite of the burger.
"Ah, no, well, sir, it's just a thing I do," Adam sheepishly said. "I can eat slower if you want?"
Long Caster shrugged. "It's not that important to me, Adam. Eat however fast you want."
"Oh, uh, alright, sir," Adam said.
"Actually, that reminds me. Adam, we're off duty right now. Why do you keep calling me sir?" Long Caster asked.
"That's because, uh, oh, right," Adam said, suddenly blinking.
"Oh right what?" Long Caster asked.
"I forgot that you were Osean, and that Oseans do things differently," Adam sheepishly said.
"Wait, so what did you think I meant?" Long Caster said, lightly surprised.
"I, uh, thought that you meant you wanted to tell me I did a poor job in a semi-public setting - it's sort of an Usean business thing, where you want to tell someone off politely but you also want to make a point, if you can sort of understand what I'm getting at?"
"Oh, no, this isn't that at all. I just thought that you looked stressed and tired, and I knew that getting a good burger with friends always helped with me out with that," Long Caster said, gesturing with his burger.
"Oh, thank goodness," Adam said, relaxing. "That's a relief."
"Don't worry about it," Long Caster said, waving him off.
Both of them chewed on their burgers in silence.
"Hey, Long Caster?" Adam said.
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
"No problem."
A casual cross-reference of names to news articles reveals nothing earthshattering; only a few names that really showed up news articles. Mavis Theodora, who was the lead engineer and project manager on Grunder's recent Gigafactory. Van Gonzalez, responsible for putting a portion of the Verusan Warren Network, which as she explains it, was a network of trains and depots punching through the infamous Verusan mountain ranges. Gilbert Carlson, one of the few nuclear engineers around in the age of the Lighthouse's boundless solar power.
Really, Long Caster can't help but feel somewhat disappointed, despite objectively finding quite a few good people and reallocating accordingly. Somehow he just expected, more? XCOM's standards for good work were really starting to screw with him.
The first thing Daniel Snow surprises Long Caster with is a beard. Long Caster didn't know that Daniel Snow grew a beard, nor that it would be so...wispy.
"Right, boss, we got a few things done," he said, rubbing his beard. "We got some of the defenses set up for our sector of Selatapura, and while I wouldn't say it's completely invurenable - wait, no, impenegarble, gah, whatever," he said, wildly gesturing his hands," I'd say it's pretty good. We got the planes in, even with a little bit of a mix-up when I was going a little loopy last week," he said, making a cuckoo motion with his fingers, "so all of our pilots are equipped with a 5th gen plane or the XCOM Hellcat. The other thing we've done in the past week is put up housing for about five hundred thousand people - well, I say put up, but that's not quite right, what we really did was some patch renovations here and completely bulldozing other houses to put in prefabs there, whatever - so we're on track to complete most of our goals, assuming we keep things up. Any questions, comments, concerns, boss?"
Long Caster simply looks at Daniel Snow, whose eyes are unfocusing snapping back to attention every few seconds. Long Caster looks at Daniel Snow, whose fists are clenched tight enough to turn his dark skinned hands sheet white.
Yeah, Long Caster's got something to say to Daniel Snow.
Logistics time! This week you have 74,000 General IC, and 2,400 Planes IC. Selatapuran Base Defenses are set to complete this week with already invested IC.
Vote by plan on procurements, IC Budget, Time Budget, and Directives. Unspent IC will be spent by nations contributing to the XCOM project.
I also fixed the problem where your F-14X purchases didn't show up; they did, I just forgot to update the front page.
Next to him, Adam quietly ate his own burger, sneaking glances over at Long Caster as Adam demolished his own burger.
"You must've been hungrier than I thought," Long Caster neutrally remarks, chewing another bite of the burger.
"Ah, no, well, sir, it's just a thing I do," Adam sheepishly said. "I can eat slower if you want?"
Long Caster shrugged. "It's not that important to me, Adam. Eat however fast you want."
"Oh, uh, alright, sir," Adam said.
"Actually, that reminds me. Adam, we're off duty right now. Why do you keep calling me sir?" Long Caster asked.
"That's because, uh, oh, right," Adam said, suddenly blinking.
"Oh right what?" Long Caster asked.
"I forgot that you were Osean, and that Oseans do things differently," Adam sheepishly said.
"Wait, so what did you think I meant?" Long Caster said, lightly surprised.
"I, uh, thought that you meant you wanted to tell me I did a poor job in a semi-public setting - it's sort of an Usean business thing, where you want to tell someone off politely but you also want to make a point, if you can sort of understand what I'm getting at?"
"Oh, no, this isn't that at all. I just thought that you looked stressed and tired, and I knew that getting a good burger with friends always helped with me out with that," Long Caster said, gesturing with his burger.
"Oh, thank goodness," Adam said, relaxing. "That's a relief."
"Don't worry about it," Long Caster said, waving him off.
Poor Adam. Hopefully we can let him relax now that we've got a huge blob of personnel to work on things.
A casual cross-reference of names to news articles reveals nothing earthshattering; only a few names that really showed up news articles. Mavis Theodora, who was the lead engineer and project manager on Grunder's recent Gigafactory. Van Gonzalez, responsible for putting a portion of the Verusan Warren Network, which as she explains it, was a network of trains and depots punching through the infamous Verusan mountain ranges. Gilbert Carlson, one of the few nuclear engineers around in the age of the Lighthouse's boundless solar power.
Really, Long Caster can't help but feel somewhat disappointed, despite objectively finding quite a few good people and reallocating accordingly. Somehow he just expected, more? XCOM's standards for good work were really starting to screw with him.
Well, frankly, we were in the process of working our "a few good men" to death, so huge numbers of merely good people is probably an improvement.
Theodora may be someone we should throw at the Streamlining Construction Practices project- will she be chipping in on that, @huhYeahGoodPoint ?
Carlson will be helpful if we decide to build any superheavy aircraft. Airborne nuclear reactors will be a must if we want to operate outside Usea, because outside Usea we can't draw on Lighthouse power. The Oseans must be going (back) to that for their new Arsenal Bird production run, for instance.
Van Gonzalez sounds like someone with a gift for engineering megaprojects, and a potential asset for the Stonehenge construction work- or for setting up new Stonehenge batteries.
The first thing Daniel Snow surprises Long Caster with is a beard. Long Caster didn't know that Daniel Snow grew a beard, nor that it would be so...wispy.
Let me guess, he didn't decide to grow a beard, he just quit shaving.
"Right, boss, we got a few things done," he said, rubbing his beard. "We got some of the defenses set up for our sector of Selatapura, and while I wouldn't say it's completely invurenable - wait, no, impenegarble, gah, whatever," he said, wildly gesturing his hands," I'd say it's pretty good. We got the planes in, even with a little bit of a mix-up when I was going a little loopy last week," he said, making a cuckoo motion with his fingers, "so all of our pilots are equipped with a 5th gen plane or the XCOM Hellcat. The other thing we've done in the past week is put up housing for about five hundred thousand people - well, I say put up, but that's not quite right, what we really did was some patch renovations here and completely bulldozing other houses to put in prefabs there, whatever - so we're on track to complete most of our goals, assuming we keep things up. Any questions, comments, concerns, boss?"
Long Caster simply looks at Daniel Snow, whose eyes are unfocusing snapping back to attention every few seconds. Long Caster looks at Daniel Snow, whose fists are clenched tight enough to turn his dark skinned hands sheet white.
Yeah, Long Caster's got something to say to Daniel Snow.
Something like "You've done amazing things. Now go to sleep and don't go back on the job until the tiredness is mostly gone." comes to mind...
Logistics time! This week you have 74,000 General IC, and 2,400 Planes IC. Selatapuran Base Defenses are set to complete this week with already invested IC.
Vote by plan on procurements, IC Budget, Time Budget, and Directives. Unspent IC will be spent by nations contributing to the XCOM project.
I also fixed the problem where your F-14X purchases didn't show up; they did, I just forgot to update the front page.
OK, now @huhYeahGoodPoint , because the way you want us to talk about planning for all these different things is still new to us and I'm not psychic and I don't know exactly what you want the procurement plan to look like or what it is realistically feasible for us to even do...
I just want you to express your thoughts on how reasonable, legible, comprehensible, and internally consistent the following very much a rough draft of a plan is:
...
[] Plan Still Working On The Plan Name
-[] Directives:
--[] Logistics personnel are to begin planning requirements for their own activities based around a 40-hour workweek, with variable amounts of overtime. Between now and February 14th, Logistics personnel are forbidden from working more than 10 hours of overtime. Overtime is under no circumstances to be considered mandatory during this timeframe.
--[] Daniel Snow, personally, is ordered to take tomorrow off, sleep, see a doctor, and sleep. Snow is expressly forbidden from taking overtime between now and February 14th. -[] IC Budget:
--[] Combat Aircraft Procurement:
---[] Up to 16000 IC for 4 F-35C before February 14th. Cost overruns acceptable to avoid delay.
---[] 9600 IC for 4 F-14Xs. Delays acceptable.
---[] 12000 IC for 6 EMLs. First two needed ASAP, delays acceptable on the others. --[] Base and Logistical Expansion:
---[] 7200 IC for Build Industry (Planes). Delays acceptable.
---[] 5000 IC for heavy-lift cargo aircraft capable of rough field or VTOL operations, to support engineering projects. Get a large tranche of craft by the end of the week; delays acceptable in getting the rest in.
---[] 2500 IC for backup power generating capacity and fuel/parts stockpiles to run it. Minor inefficiencies tolerable. Significant delays tolerable. Priorities for the equipment, in order:
----[] Selatapura Air Command
----[] Fort Grays Air Base
----[] Defense-critical installations throughout Selatapura city --[] Development and Relief Aid:
---[] General Directive: As a practical matter, all these projects should be considered in terms of "just get the funds out and keep the balls rolling as best you can." Inefficiency in actually banking IC towards completion of the project is acceptable, as long as nobody starves to death because of it. This is to prevent our people working themselves to death trying to micromanage everything.
---[] 16000 IC to the Dashau Resurgence Project.
---[] 2400 IC for Build Industry (Estovakia)
---[] 2400 IC for Build Energy Production (Estovakia)
---[] 3000 IC for Build Industry (Voslage)
Notes:
F-35s normally only cost 3000 IC. I am willing to sacrifice IC to get them fast because we may need the extra stealth fighters (and high performance reserve planes) against the Belkans much sooner than I'd like. In the medium term I'm planning to sic Siegfried on designing us an uprated F-35 derivative, but there's no way to get that done in a week even with all the magic we've got going on.
The F-14X procurement is so that we have reserve planes to give new pilots, which we will need to keep up our numerical strength given that we've got like 1/3 of our forces on leave at any given time and are rotating them between bases thousands of kilometers apart. In the short term pilots can share planes, but having some reserve aircraft with proper weapons is important, among other things because it lets us do things like donate aircraft if someone (like EOMDO) badly needs them.
We need two more EMLs for Azdaha 1 and 2, since @huhYeahGoodPoint still has them flying without EMLs. The other four are for the reserve planes.
...
I want backup generators for our bases, explicitly, because while the aliens have so far not attacked the Lighthouse, there is actually nothing stopping them from doing so at any time so far as I know. The lights could go out all over Usea all over again, and us having the means to keep our own bases running without drawing on external power grids could make a huge difference.
I want heavy lift cargo capability because it sounds like they're gonna need it for Stonehenge repairs.
...
I'm proposing to send aid to Estovakia because they've been supplying a lot of our advanced weaponry, and Anea is just plain too small and poor to really rebuild a country like that fully. Having their gratitude will tend to strengthen our so far very profitable tied to XCOM ANEA and Anea in general.
we need to somehow work on stress magement and get more ppl to help out with support things because i`m pretty sure that side of things is about to snap
Im pretty sure she is, so if she isn't in about eight to twelve hours when I next wake up and eat breakfast and start imitating a functioning human being, ping me again.
OK, now @huhYeahGoodPoint , because the way you want us to talk about planning for all these different things is still new to us and I'm not psychic and I don't know exactly what you want the procurement plan to look like or what it is realistically feasible for us to even do...
The burger place was a little unusual for Long Caster; he was used to burger places being one or two stories tall, not part of a much bigger skyscraper shopping complex. Still, he had heard that this place had some pretty good burgers, and with international money starting to flow through the city, some burger places were still operating for Osean expats. Supposedly.
The burger wasn't half bad either; despite the size of the patty the inside was still fairly juicy without undercooking the inside or overcooking the outside. The rest of the burger was nothing to write home about; certainly, Long Caster had tasted better and more innovative sauces on the burger.
[] Plan Still Working On The Plan Name
-[] Directives:
--[] Logistics personnel are to begin planning requirements for their own activities based around a 40-hour workweek, with variable amounts of overtime. Between now and February 14th, Logistics personnel are forbidden from working more than 10 hours of overtime. Overtime is under no circumstances to be considered mandatory during this timeframe.
--[] Daniel Snow, personally, is ordered to take tomorrow off, sleep, see a doctor, and sleep. Snow is expressly forbidden from taking overtime between now and February 14th. -[] IC Budget:
--[] Combat Aircraft Procurement:
---[] Up to 16000 IC for 4 F-35C before February 14th. Cost overruns acceptable to avoid delay.
---[] 9600 IC for 4 F-14Xs. Delays acceptable.
---[] 12000 IC for 6 EMLs. First two needed ASAP, delays acceptable on the others. --[] Base and Logistical Expansion:
---[] 7200 IC for Build Industry (Planes). Delays acceptable.
---[] 5000 IC for heavy-lift cargo aircraft capable of rough field or VTOL operations, to support engineering projects. Get a large tranche of craft by the end of the week; delays acceptable in getting the rest in.
---[] 2500 IC for backup power generating capacity and fuel/parts stockpiles to run it. Minor inefficiencies tolerable. Significant delays tolerable. Priorities for the equipment, in order:
----[] Selatapura Air Command
----[] Fort Grays Air Base
----[] Defense-critical installations throughout Selatapura city --[] Development and Relief Aid:
---[] General Directive: As a practical matter, all these projects should be considered in terms of "just get the funds out and keep the balls rolling as best you can." Inefficiency in actually banking IC towards completion of the project is acceptable, as long as nobody starves to death because of it. This is to prevent our people working themselves to death trying to micromanage everything.
---[] 16000 IC to the Dashau Resurgence Project.
---[] 2400 IC for Build Industry (Estovakia)
---[] 2400 IC for Build Energy Production (Estovakia)
---[] 3000 IC for Build Industry (Voslage)
I have few recommendations. We already have two F-35s, so we should only buy two and instead buy a Nosferatu for Pixy (15 000 IC, delay's acceptable). It would also mean that we'd not need to buy one extra F-14X and EML, and our best aces in superplanes have been extremely devastating against the aliens, and our Hammer and Nail doctrine heavily emphasizes the usage of Aces. Nosferatus can also have three EMLs put into them, in case they prove more devastating against the aliens than AMMDs.
Also, Snow is about to ready to keel over, and he did say that Building Industry/Energy is very time consuming and stressful job, so I'd say we keep building in Usea for this week. After Snow and other shave gotten some sleep and rest and are used to the new schedule we can start supporting Estovakia. That way we'd have enough IC for Nosferatu and 2200+300 overflow, and if we took 300 IC more from somewhere else and put it all into acquiring cargo aircraft, we'd have enough either to one C-17A Globemaster or three V-22 Ospreys. I dug up the info we have of cargo planes down below.
C-130 Hercules
Cost: 1100 IC
Carrier Capable: No
Cargo aircraft.
One of the other great workhorses, it's quad-propeller design allows it to keep costs relatively low for the amount of cargo shipped, but on the other hand, it remains a propeller-driven aircraft.
C-17A Globemaster
Cost: 7800 IC
Carrier Capable: No
Cargo aircraft.
The C-17A Globemaster's four jet engines enable the Globemaster to carry a greater load for longer at higher speeds, in exchange for being a more pricey package throughout its service life. Projects have been considered to enable airlifting troops out of the back, but have ultimately been disregarded in favor of helicopter-borne assault teams.
C-5 Galaxy
Cost: 6000 IC
Carrier Capable: No
Cargo aircraft.
One of the predecessors to the Globemaster program, this twin-jet engined cargo aircraft is quite common, albeit expensive in comparison to its older relatives.
Il-76
Cost: 1800 IC
Carrier Capable: No
Cargo aircraft.
One of the competitors to the other cargo planes, the Il-76 boasts a fantastic price for a four jet engined craft.
V-22 Osprey
Cost: 2500 IC
Carrier Capable: Yes
Cargo aircraft.
A tiltrotor aircraft capable of taking off and landing like a helicopter, while flying like a plane. Due to this functionality, the cargo capacity is low, but it can travel nearly anywhere.
XC-01
You've only heard rumors about this one, but it seems like it might be a 767 derivative?
