Ad Astra ex Lutum

[Captainwolf]

[]Refined Material Sales: Increasing the production of rare earth metals along with several refined terrestrial products. Expanded mining operations will be funded in collaboration with the civilian government focusing on heavy refining and chemical processing industries. An export of high-grade plastics along with several rare earth elements in their refined format will come at some ecological cost but the gains in technology are likely to be worth it. (-200B Or) (-100B Maintenance) (+40B XCU per budget)

Click to shrink...

Does maintence cost happen this turn or following turns.

In other words, do I need to budget 300B Or, or just 200B Or for an action like this?

 

[MSH]

[] Plan: Welcome To Dannan, We Are Not Plotting Against You
-[] Budget Allocations
--[]Formally Resign:
--[]Civilian Recommendations: (10T Or Available)
--[]Moderate Cutbacks: (-4000B Or) (Cannot Equip anything larger than Four Million Army)
--[]Four Million Army:
--[]Return Pre-War Standards: (1.5M Or Cost per Soldier)
--[]Exercising Army: (0.7M Operational Cost per Soldier)
-[] Combined Government Programs
--[]Establishment of LDO Infrastructure: (+500B Or) (Requires Orbital Launch Ring, Re-Establishment of Orbital Shuttles, Restart Orbital Cleaning Efforts, and Establishment of Orbital Manufacturing)
--[]Domestic Competitiveness Programs: (+950B Or) (Requires Civilian-Military Partnerships, Expanded Military Scholarships, Formalized Tech Transfers, Superconductor Plants, and Inertial Fusion Test Facility)
-[] Space Infrastructure
--[]Orbital Launch Ring: (500B Or) (Halves all Space Infrastructure Costs Next Budget) (Eliminates Orbital Capacity Limits)
--[]Re-Establishment of Orbital Shuttles: (100B Or)
--[]Restart Orbital Cleaning Efforts: (150B Or)
--[]Establishment of Orbital Manufacturing: (400B Or) (Reduces all LDO Costs by Half Next Budget)
--[]Diamondoid Plants: (300B Or) (High Chance of One Matsci Tech Roll, Moderate Chance of Two)
-[] Groundside Infrastructure
--[]Civilian-Military Partnerships: (250B Or) (Moderate Political Gains) (Increased Chance of Technical Leaks)
--[]Expanded Military Scholarships: (200B Or) (100B Or Maintenance)
--[]Formalized Tech Transfers: (300B Or) (Moderate Political Gains) (Greatly Increased Chance of Technical Leaks)
--[]Superconductor Plants: (600B Or) (+300B Or Profits per Budget)
--[]Inertial Fusion Test Facility: (300B Or) (50B Or Maintenance) (Expands Fusion Tech Category) (1 Guaranteed Fusion Tech Roll, Possibly More)
--[]Reorganization of Disaster Relief: (50B Or) (-150B Or Maintenance) (Severe Political Cost if not Taken) (Will Lose Responsibility for Disaster Relief if not Taken)
--[]Department 6 Expansion: (100B Or) (-100B Or Maintenance) (Gain Two Internal Espionage Rolls(Base One Dice))
--[]Optical Computing Programs: (450B Or) (+100B Or Profits per Budget) (Expands Computing Tech Category) (1 Guaranteed Computing Tech Roll, Possibly More)
--[]Pre-Construction of Orbital Components: (200B Or) (Space Infrastructure Cost Reductions)
--[]Soldier-Genetic Modification Program: (150B Or) (Moderate Political Cost)
--[]Expansion of Inventory Management Systems: (100B Or) (Possible Automation Tech Roll)
--[]OFAC to AFCC Yard Conversions: (400B Or) (Reduction to Space Infrastructure Costs) (Space Infrastructure Limit Increases by 500B Or)
--[]CLP Standard Spaceports: (250B Or)
--[]Department 4 Consolidation: (150B Or) (-100B Or Maintenance) (Gain Two External Espionage Rolls(Base Zero Dice))
--[]Weaponry Development Department(Department 10): (400B Or) (-100B Or Maintenance) (Changes Tech Allocations) (Additional Tech Roll)
--[]Next Generation HEA Plants: (250B Or) (+50B Or Profits per Budget)
--[]Reserve Preservation Program: (750B Or)
-[] Foreign Exchange
--[]Refined Material Sales: (-200B Or) (-100B Maintenance) (+40B XCU per budget)
--[]Foreign Student Funding: (-15B XCU)
--[]Hire Technical Professionals: (-5B XCU)
--[]Hire Professors: (-20B XCU)

20B Or remaining

The usefulness of our groundside military is about what it can foreseeably be, spend to have the Doom Stockpile and place all other efforts on space reclamation and technical speedrunning. The benefits of letting technology out into the civilian market is worth more in inhibition of fascism than any ultimately futile concerns about technical leaks.

The cryptocurrency thing is stupid and whoever suggested it should be investigated for undesirable connections and other wrecker behavior. Relatively minimized contact between us and the enemy is acceptable for now and will buy time for less self-destructive means of profitmaking in the near future.

A strategy of some appeasement and isolation will be necessary for the near future, with the overwhelming force arrayed against us. That being said, it is more essential to simply not be impatient and rip apart the homeworld for minimal benefit when an entire system is available beyond the orbits for that purpose.

 

[Adronio]

[]Plan Winning The Peace

Click to shrink...

Okay, to start explaining this plan and why I made it, going down the list:

Formally resign is the obvious choice, unless we do something to piss the current civgov off. Given that this plan does the civilian suggested budget of 8%, which any plan should do really, this is not a concern. Civgov loved Ricky before the war, they loved him during the war, and unless we have a big brainwave they should love him after the war.

Then we do 8% gdp budget as said because the economy desperately needs to recover. Our armed forces are good enough to fight off any non-state actor on the ground, and a higher budget would do too much economic and political harm for a temporary increase in readiness. We can also expect pretty massive economic growth for a short period of time as the economy bounces back from shrinking, and with the civilians promising 8% gdp budget the next cycle aswell a 50% increase in our funding would actually be a very pessimistic prediction.

Following that, hard cutbacks. As I said the ground army is as strong as it needs to be for non-state actors that want to land on the ground for some reason, but everything we can build now is horribly obsolete even by our own standards. Save the budget, and modernize what we can for the cheap. We can still have a larger army then 2 million btw, its just that the extra people would have older stuff. This is, again, not a serious concern since non-state actors would not be able to handle the army we have now, while state actors can crump us if they wish no matter what we do.

That gets us to the personnel choices, and here is the big thing this plan aims for: keeping 4 million men and women in the army. Now, after what I said about us not needing to worry about groundside readiness, this might seem weird. However, the point of this is not actually to increase the heft of the groundside army, it's to keep a "large" high quality cadre in the army. Remember the early part of this quest when we were having serious personnel issues, which kind of just faded away as automation caused huge unemployment? Those fertile hiring grounds will now dry up as the civilian government has a path towards solving unemployment, and are doing it by creating high paying, low hour jobs in massive amounts. Basically, civilian jobs are going to be able to outcompete us super fucking hard now and we need to act now to migate it. If we go down to 2 million soldiers not only are we giving up a lot of high quality manpower that, for the most part, will not return to the army, we are also making it much harder for ourselves when we try to build the army back up in size again and have to compete with the civilian job market. You can see just how much money is going into paying personnel with only the middle ground option; 6 trillion Or with the 4 million soldier plan. If we increased it to actually good wages that would be 8 trillion, which is absolutely horrific. Keeping these people around would be much easier then trying to expand after shrinking it, and would play into our strategy of stability to encourage people to stay in the army despite only having middling benefits. Hell, even the sallies are having recruitment issues, so by all accounts this is a problem thats going to haunt us if we arent careful:

This is something of the elite spearhead of the entire polity and is currently in a mixture of a recruiting and corruption crisis with several generals standing before the senate.

Click to shrink...

There are also some side benefits to keeping more people around, including softening the demobilization shock somewhat, and having more soldiers to provide security in case of civil unrest. Otherwise, pre-war standards to continue our original policy and keep stability for payment and encourage these soldiers to stay in the army. Peacetime army is just to save budget during the big budget crunch; they'll still do lower level training to stay sharp, but big exercises can wait. We already had the greatest exercise in the SDA's history.

Then we get to the big plan of spending our now quite limited spare budget, and this plan is going all in on planet side recovery. Both Domestic Competitiveness Programs and Technical Jobs Programs should absolutely supercharge both technical development and economic and industrial recovery, which is by far the most impactful thing for our budget and the government as a whole. I wont go through each program, but all of them are really good, and importantly the civgov is willing to significantly increase our budget so we can actually pay for it.

There are two big sacrifices here in order to make all this work. Firstly, procurement basically gets cut. Assuming there isnt a huge PSC upset we can probably beg the government for a little spending money after the election, as a reward for being a good military that did not steal all the money to build tanks. However, I do think this is a particularly bad time to focus on new procurement anyways. There is so much other stuff that need to be done, and we still have piles of reverse engineering tech dice to roll. There is a significant chance that things we try to procure now will become obsolete before they even finish procurement.

Second, space has been cut to the bone. I barely managed to fit in what I think is the two most important things to get started early, and thats sacrificing the third most important thing of shuttles for normal maintainance operations. I think we can survive without it for 5 years- the original spaceforce managed in much worse conditions after all. However getting sattelites up for communications is a must to prevent a slowdown of recovery, and we need to start cleanup sooner rather than later. We can surge funding next budget cycle- we dont actually need to rush back to space for security anymore since we can (and should!) buy salamander combat ships and retrofit them instead. As a silver lining, less stuff in space now means we have less stuff that a random pirate shitlord with a frigate can destroy while we cant prevent them from doing so.

Some other minor compromises which I think are fine: Department 6 expansion is something I really wanted, but given how much this improves recovery I dont think its desperately needed. Curach garrison not being done will get people killed, but if we are being cynical thats actually going to harm the PSC politically, even if it might give us some minor egg on face. Finally, letting disaster relief go is fine. The political cost isnt from us just ignoring it and having it dragged away from our grip or anything, I think its us deliberately saying we dont want to do it anymore and the civilian government being disappointed by it. Given how much clout we have with the civilian government that is not a big issue politically, and arguably the civilian government might actually be better at it since, unlike us, they wont treat it as a side job they really dont want to do.

Finally for Forex I basically did the civgov plan even if they arent paying us for it; all the education and technical stuff is absolutely critically important groundwork to allow us to catch up to the rest of the galaxy. That leaves me with 25 XCU, which im putting into the Courier Craft. It sounds like a very problematic ship, however it is a tech transfer package on its own and does give us a fast FTL capable modern ship. I wont go overly into all the things we can do with it, but being able to finally get the owl ambassador over to Dannan and becoming familiar with modern salamander ship systems in preparation for buying actual combat ships is some of the very useful things that we can do with it.

 

[Blackstar]

[] Plan: Welcome To Dannan, We Are Not Plotting Against You
-[] Budget Allocations
--[]Formally Resign:
--[]Civilian Recommendations: (10T Or Available)
--[]Moderate Cutbacks: (-4000B Or) (Cannot Equip anything larger than Four Million Army)
--[]Four Million Army:
--[]Return Pre-War Standards: (1.5M Or Cost per Soldier)
--[]Exercising Army: (0.7M Operational Cost per Soldier)
-[] Combined Government Programs
--[]Establishment of LDO Infrastructure: (+500B Or) (Requires Orbital Launch Ring, Re-Establishment of Orbital Shuttles, Restart Orbital Cleaning Efforts, and Establishment of Orbital Manufacturing)
--[]Domestic Competitiveness Programs: (+950B Or) (Requires Civilian-Military Partnerships, Expanded Military Scholarships, Formalized Tech Transfers, Superconductor Plants, and Inertial Fusion Test Facility)
-[] Space Infrastructure
--[]Orbital Launch Ring: (500B Or) (Halves all Space Infrastructure Costs Next Budget) (Eliminates Orbital Capacity Limits)
--[]Re-Establishment of Orbital Shuttles: (100B Or)
--[]Restart Orbital Cleaning Efforts: (150B Or)
--[]Establishment of Orbital Manufacturing: (400B Or) (Reduces all LDO Costs by Half Next Budget)
--[]Diamondoid Plants: (300B Or) (High Chance of One Matsci Tech Roll, Moderate Chance of Two)
-[] Groundside Infrastructure
--[]Civilian-Military Partnerships: (250B Or) (Moderate Political Gains) (Increased Chance of Technical Leaks)
--[]Expanded Military Scholarships: (200B Or) (100B Or Maintenance)
--[]Formalized Tech Transfers: (300B Or) (Moderate Political Gains) (Greatly Increased Chance of Technical Leaks)
--[]Superconductor Plants: (600B Or) (+300B Or Profits per Budget)
--[]Inertial Fusion Test Facility: (300B Or) (50B Or Maintenance) (Expands Fusion Tech Category) (1 Guaranteed Fusion Tech Roll, Possibly More)
--[]Reorganization of Disaster Relief: (50B Or) (-150B Or Maintenance) (Severe Political Cost if not Taken) (Will Lose Responsibility for Disaster Relief if not Taken)
--[]Department 6 Expansion: (100B Or) (-100B Or Maintenance) (Gain Two Internal Espionage Rolls(Base One Dice))
--[]Optical Computing Programs: (450B Or) (+100B Or Profits per Budget) (Expands Computing Tech Category) (1 Guaranteed Computing Tech Roll, Possibly More)
--[]Pre-Construction of Orbital Components: (200B Or) (Space Infrastructure Cost Reductions)
--[]Soldier-Genetic Modification Program: (150B Or) (Moderate Political Cost)
--[]Expansion of Inventory Management Systems: (100B Or) (Possible Automation Tech Roll)
--[]OFAC to AFCC Yard Conversions: (400B Or) (Reduction to Space Infrastructure Costs) (Space Infrastructure Limit Increases by 500B Or)
--[]CLP Standard Spaceports: (250B Or)
--[]Department 4 Consolidation: (150B Or) (-100B Or Maintenance) (Gain Two External Espionage Rolls(Base Zero Dice))
--[]Weaponry Development Department(Department 10): (400B Or) (-100B Or Maintenance) (Changes Tech Allocations) (Additional Tech Roll)
--[]Next Generation HEA Plants: (250B Or) (+50B Or Profits per Budget)
--[]Reserve Preservation Program: (750B Or)
-[] Foreign Exchange
--[]Refined Material Sales: (-200B Or) (-100B Maintenance) (+40B XCU per budget)
--[]Foreign Student Funding: (-15B XCU)
--[]Hire Technical Professionals: (-5B XCU)
--[]Hire Professors: (-20B XCU)

20B Or remaining

The usefulness of our groundside military is about what it can foreseeably be, spend to have the Doom Stockpile and place all other efforts on space reclamation and technical speedrunning. The benefits of letting technology out into the civilian market is worth more in inhibition of fascism than any ultimately futile concerns about technical leaks.

The cryptocurrency thing is stupid and whoever suggested it should be investigated for undesirable connections and other wrecker behavior. Relatively minimized contact between us and the enemy is acceptable for now and will buy time for less self-destructive means of profitmaking in the near future.

A strategy of some appeasement and isolation will be necessary for the near future, with the overwhelming force arrayed against us. That being said, it is more essential to simply not be impatient and rip apart the homeworld for minimal benefit when an entire system is available beyond the orbits for that purpose.

Click to shrink...

That plan doesn't work, your spending the entirety of the budget just by going for 4 million+moderate cutbacks+return to pre war standard

 

[Captainwolf]

[]Orbital Launch Ring: The development of a massive launch ring around the planet and the construction of two stations at equatorial points can begin without much issue. The structure is expected to keep itself aloft on its weight with few issues in construction. This would represent an immeasurable increase in the ability to launch payloads to orbit at a low cost and would entirely obsolete the launch ramp for civilian purposes. Cheap fusion power at the base of the elevators will provide easy launch capability while the long tracts around the planet serve to maintain their positions and accelerate payloads. (500B Or) (Halves all Space Infrastructure Costs Next Budget) (Eliminates Orbital Capacity Limits)

[]Establishment of Orbital Manufacturing: Building a series of new cylinders capable of manufacturing large parts for spacecraft would save on costs and allow for new ships to be built cheaply. This would involve dedicated high throughput HEA printers being placed into orbit along with crews of several thousand to operate them at full capacity. The older equipment has at this point been exposed to vacuum and is not expected to significantly help with new construction. (400B Or) (Reduces all LDO Costs by Half Next Budget)

Click to shrink...

How would taking orbital manufacturing and Orbital Ring stack in terms of space costs next budget?

 

[Blackstar]

Does maintence cost happen this turn or following turns.

In other words, do I need to budget 300B Or, or just 200B Or for an action like this?

Click to shrink...

Following turns, Forex is partially the exception/am letting you spend ahead so to say there.

How would taking orbital manufacturing and Orbital Ring stack in terms of space costs next budget?

Click to shrink...

Cuts them to a quarter as long as its in low Dannan Orbit.

 

[Captainwolf]

Forex is partially the exception/am letting you spend ahead so to say there.

Click to shrink...

You mean that technically we are spending this turn acquiring the XCU then next turn using the XCU?

Edit: last question before I post my plan:

[]Civilian-Military Partnerships: Working directly with civilian industries from the private to the state sector to bring in dual-use technologies from abroad is going to be essential. There are currently more theoretical techniques available to the military than the actual ability to pursue many of them and directly partnering with companies can reduce some costs. Implementation will focus on new superconductor devices and several aspects of electronics and materials, bringing in much of the civilian sector. (250B Or) (Moderate Political Gains) (Increased Chance of Technical Leaks)

Click to shrink...

What is the impact of technical leaks? Who is the technology being leaked to?

 

[Josiah]

Curach garrison not being done will get people killed, but if we are being cynical thats actually going to harm the PSC politically, even if it might give us some minor egg on face. Finally, letting disaster relief go is fine. The political cost isnt from us just ignoring it and having it dragged away from our grip or anything, I think its us deliberately saying we dont want to do it anymore and the civilian government being disappointed by it. Given how much clout we have with the civilian government that is not a big issue politically, and arguably the civilian government might actually be better at it since, unlike us, they wont treat it as a side job they really dont want to do.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, this is where I disagree. I think as much lifes as possible should be saved, Curach has already been a disaster and there is no need to make it worse.
It's a moral duty of the military to bring the order and safety to the people in danger. Leaving them at discretion of fascist paramilitaries makes the elf leadership not better than said paramilitaries.


(I'll also add the another variant plan in the previous post that does some unhealthy betting but brings the Departments 6 and 4)

 

[Vi'Talzin]

What is the impact of technical leaks? Who is the technology being leaked to?

Click to shrink...

To the CLP.

I would not worry about it.

 

[Adronio]

[]Plan Winning The Peace Cheaply
-[]Formally Resign
-[]Civilian Recommendations
-[]Hard Cutbacks
-[]Four Million Army
-[]Stay on Reduced Benefits
-[]Peacetime Army
-[]Domestic Competitiveness Programs
-[]Technical Jobs Programs
(Leaves 3800B Or for infrastructure and procurement, ignoring civgov deals)
Forex (-350B Or)
-[]Refined Material Sales
-[]Cryptographic Currency Program
-[]Mass Media Sales
-[]Foreign Student Funding
-[]Hire Technical Professionals
-[]Hire Professors
-[]Textbook and Database Contracts
-[]Itzcuih Class Courier Craft
Space Infrastructure (-1500B)
-[]Orbital Launch Ring
-[]Re-Establishment of Orbital Shuttles
-[]Restart Orbital Cleaning Efforts
-[]Recolonization of the Inner Moon
-[]Establishment of Orbital Manufacturing
-[]Restoration of Satellite Networks
Groundside (-1800B after civgov deals)
-[]Expanding Trade Infrastructure
-[]Curach Garrison Program
-[]Department 4 Consolidation
-[]Department 6 Expansion
(Trade and Security)
-[]Civilian-Military Partnerships
-[]Expanded Military Scholarships
-[]Formalized Tech Transfers
-[]Superconductor Plants
-[]Inertial Fusion Test Facility
(Competativeness)
-[]Optical Computing Programs
-[]Dedicated Military-Electronics Plants
-[]Next Generation HEA Plants
-[]Pre-Construction of Orbital Components
-[]High Throughput CNT Production
(Jobs Program)
-[]Expansion of Inventory Management Systems
(More automation lmao)

2000/2000B extra spent. This is my previous plan but cheaping out on personnel costs this year to get more infrastructure done. This will lose us a noticable amount of our higher quality cadres, but should still prevent the worst case scenario with downsizing, and increasing pay next budget cycle should then stop the bleed and maintain most of the benefits as argued for with my effortpost. It'd still lose us part of our highest quality cadres but I think its a powerful compromise.

50B is still left as a slush fund.

Edit: Colour coded the changes.

 

[General_Urist]

Twelves months of hellish nuclear war, but Danaan is finally at peace and free! All this, in exactly one IRL month. That is an impressive rate of quality writing. You have cooked well @Blackstar

...It took until now for our elves to realize a war can have limited objectives instead of inherently escalating to a total war of annihilation. ...We really are the crazy lads of the galaxy.

 

[Captainwolf]

This plan cuts back the military to 2 million, but maintains regular exercises. The money freed up is used to rapidly establish orbital infrastructure, including building an orbital launch ring, and significant amounts of economic investment, achieving every combined government program except for Redevelopment of Terrestrial Infrastructure (Missing only Pre-Construction of Orbital Components)

Spreadsheet used to calculate costs here
Remaining Budget: 150B Or, 60M XCU

[] Plan Orbital Economy
-[] Formally Resign
-[] Civilian Recommendations
-[] Hard Cutbacks
-[] Military Choices
--[] Two Million Army
--[] Return Pre-War Standards
--[] Exercising Army
-[] Government Programs
--[] Domestic Competitiveness Programs
--[] Technical Jobs Programs
-[] Foreign Exchange
--[] Refined Material Sales
--[] Cryptographic Currency Program
--[] Foreign Student Funding
--[] Hire Technical Professionals
--[] Hire Professors
--[] Textbook and Database Contracts
--[] Itzcuih Class Courier Craft
-[] Space Infrastructure
--[] Orbital Launch Ring
--[] Re-Establishment of Orbital Shuttles
--[] Restart Orbital Cleaning Efforts
--[] Recolonization of the Inner Moon
--[] Establishment of Orbital Manufacturing
--[] Restoration of Satellite Networks
-[] Groundside Infrastructure
--[] OFAC to AFCC Yard Conversions
--[] Expanding Trade Infrastructure
--[] Reorganization of Disaster Relief
--[] Curach Garrison Program
--[] Department 4 Consolidation
--[] Department 6 Expansion
--[] Civilian-Military Partnerships
--[] Expanded Military Scholarships
--[] Formalized Tech Transfers
--[] Superconductor Plants
--[] Inertial Fusion Test Facility
--[] Optical Computing Programs
--[] Dedicated Military-Electronics Plants
--[] Next Generation HEA Plants
--[] High Throughput CNT Production
--[] Expansion of Inventory Management Systems
--[] Consolidation of Weapons Plants

 

[Nervos Belli]

[]Plan Winning The Peace Cheaply
-[]Formally Resign
-[]Civilian Recommendations
-[]Hard Cutbacks
-[]Four Million Army
-[]Stay on Reduced Benefits
-[]Peacetime Army
-[]Domestic Competitiveness Programs
-[]Technical Jobs Programs
(Leaves 3800B Or for infrastructure and procurement, ignoring civgov deals)
Forex (-350B Or)
-[]Refined Material Sales
-[]Cryptographic Currency Program
-[]Mass Media Sales
-[]Foreign Student Funding
-[]Hire Technical Professionals
-[]Hire Professors
-[]Textbook and Database Contracts
-[]Itzcuih Class Courier Craft
Space Infrastructure (-1500B)
-[]Orbital Launch Ring
-[]Re-Establishment of Orbital Shuttles
-[]Restart Orbital Cleaning Efforts
-[]Recolonization of the Inner Moon
-[]Establishment of Orbital Manufacturing
-[]Restoration of Satellite Networks
Groundside (-1800B after civgov deals)
-[]Expanding Trade Infrastructure
-[]Curach Garrison Program
-[]Department 4 Consolidation
-[]Department 6 Expansion
(Trade and Security)
-[]Civilian-Military Partnerships
-[]Expanded Military Scholarships
-[]Formalized Tech Transfers
-[]Superconductor Plants
-[]Inertial Fusion Test Facility
(Competativeness)
-[]Optical Computing Programs
-[]Dedicated Military-Electronics Plants
-[]Next Generation HEA Plants
-[]Pre-Construction of Orbital Components
-[]High Throughput CNT Production
(Jobs Program)
-[]Expansion of Inventory Management Systems
(More automation lmao)

2000/2000B extra spent. This is my previous plan but cheaping out on personnel costs this year to get more infrastructure done. This will lose us a noticable amount of our higher quality cadres, but should still prevent the worst case scenario with downsizing, and increasing pay next budget cycle should then stop the bleed and maintain most of the benefits as argued for with my effortpost. It'd still lose us part of our highest quality cadres but I think its a powerful compromise.

50B is still left as a slush fund.

Edit: Colour coded the changes.

Click to shrink...

What's the purpose of keeping a 4 million strong army if Hard Cutbacks means we can only properly equip half of them? It seems logical that if you go for Hard Cutbacks you should also go for 2 million.

 

[Illusion of Eris]

What's the purpose of keeping a 4 million strong army if Hard Cutbacks means we can only properly equip half of them? It seems logical that if you go for Hard Cutbacks you should also go for 2 million.

Click to shrink...

Because we really want to keep all that experienced manpower, but we currently don't give a shit about keeping them equipped with the latest and greatest military hardware that's probably going to get obsoleted ten times over before the end of this FYP.

 

[Adronio]

What's the purpose of keeping a 4 million strong army if Hard Cutbacks means we can only properly equip half of them? It seems logical that if you go for Hard Cutbacks you should also go for 2 million.

Click to shrink...

See my big wall of text above this post, but in short its about getting ahead of the future recruitment woes we are going to experience, not about actual military readiness. Also we have piles upon piles of perfectly okay Type-36Cs.

 

[Manowl]

We can buy outright buy a factory that will make a upgraded version of the enemy tank that was such a menace during the war because it is considered obsolete, so trying to produce a lot of our current stuff doesn't make much sense right now.

 

[Simon_Jester]

Yeah. Honestly, the only conceivable reason to keep our current defense plants for weapons open is as a highly inefficient jobs program, and it would probably be more cost-effective to just pay the factory workers the same salaries to randomly dig holes in the ground and fill them in again.

Well, apart from the ones manufacturing systems like the OFACs or orbital defense laser batteries that might be relevant if, say, actual pirates show up literally a year from now. We should keep those running.

 

[Manowl]

Yeah. Honestly, the only conceivable reason to keep our current defense plants for weapons open is as a highly inefficient jobs program, and it would probably be more cost-effective to just pay the factory workers the same salaries to randomly dig holes in the ground and fill them in again.

Well, apart from the ones manufacturing systems like the OFACs or orbital defense laser batteries that might be relevant if, say, actual pirates show up literally a year from now. We should keep those running.

Click to shrink...

Yes, but don't know if this concern about pirates is realistic right now because it doesn't make sense for them to just destroy our stuff for fun especially since it would just put them higher into The wanted list for no gain at all.

 

[Kirai]

Omake - Formation of the Liberation Faction

Post by: Cadhla Mac Síthigh

Comrades, we stand having learned a terrible truth. With the release of the databases from the Investigator, we can confirm the existence of interstellar oligarchy. With the damned invaders of the Coalition of "Liberated" Planets, we have learned of the Xolotan Sovereignty. A sham democracy where votes are literally bought and sold. They're not alone either, with a whole host of other imperialist and oligarchic powers.

These powers, who would have claimed us for slave labor, dwarf us in scale. Inconceivable populations, nearing the trillions. Hundreds of worlds, all over the galaxy. And armies that would outnumber every person on Dannan.

Some would say we need to hide and hunker down. Remake Dannan an even greater fortress, a lone bastion of Communism. However, anyone who truly realizes the danger we're in would say otherwise. We need to leap forward and take the technical prowess of the rest of the galaxy. We must be a bold and active power, that strikes against these imperialist oligarchs.

There number dozens of worlds like those of our Lirrir allies on Kuriuq. Populations destined to never reach the stars, to stay trapped working subsistence agriculture to their own oligarchs and slave masters. We must free them and show them that an utopian post-scarcity is here. With such a spike in the surplus via endless fusion energy and the mechanization of agriculture, we can show them a better world is possible. We will help them overthrow their masters and take national sovereignty into their own hands.

By uplifting the destitute and downtrodden and taking the fight to the oligarchs, we can form an anti-imperialist front! To those who seek to enslave us under capitalism, or to claim our space as their "birthright", we say this. Your days are numbered. Through tireless effort, we will free the galaxy and usher in an era of post-scarity, where the working class will no longer need to toil!

To do this, we announce the formation of the Liberation Faction of the Workers Party, a truly revolutionary formation who aims to liberate the stars. All who are interested please message us using the form down below!

Spoiler: Authors Note

Wanted to write something on the Interventionist wing of the WP. While I'm not sure if the WP permits explicit internal factions, these people are probably just a chunk of a larger interventionist wing.

 

[Manowl]

Well how about helping us kill the fascists that are currently trying to take over before trying to the "totally" ""painless"" and "quick" uplifting of aliens that will ""totally"" share compatible cultural values and conventional biology as well.

 

[Captainwolf]

Well how about helping us kill the fascists that are currently trying to take over before trying to the "totally" ""painless"" and "quick" uplifting of aliens that will ""totally"" share compatible cultural values and conventional biology as well.

Click to shrink...

We don't need 4 million soldiers to deal with the fascist elements in our population

 

[Manowl]

We don't need 4 million soldiers to deal with the fascist elements in our population

Click to shrink...

I was responding to the omake said nothing about army size.

 

[Blackstar]

Spoiler: Massive Map

A quick post on the map of the local cluster that for the sake of my sanity I partially copied off of the local stellar volume around earth because it was the most convenient/please ignore that. Descriptions of the species involved are listed under this, also, warning, the map is really really really big.

Sentient Species of the Known Galaxy:

Seelie

On average growing to a height of 1.9 to 2 meters and weighing approximately 100-150kg the Seelie is what all other species can be compared to with most coming in far lighter in their unmodified forms. A typical Seelie is a dark-skinned biped with two arms for the manipulation of objects along with a distinctive flat face and teeth adapted for an omnivorous lifestyle. Their lifespan is effectively unlimited in most respects with most mortality originating from either privation or war with few issues concerning disease. The favorable start granted from their genetics has been contrasted by the warlike temperament and the poor environment on Dannan, their homeworld. With the rigors of industrialization and severe nuclear use what was assumed to previously be a garden world has been damaged extensively, making it challenging for any other species to inhabit it.

The average Seelie incorporates several redundancies and a generally higher degree of regeneration than seen on anything short of combat-specialized biomods. All organs are capable of independent operation in case of a lack of CNS signals, maintaining a setpoint rate in any condition. Further, regenerative capacity is extended to all tissues through the extensive generation of totipotent stem cells by all organs and systems, maintaining the organs and allowing even an associated organ to start the regeneration of a destroyed one. Most internal organs have a degree of dual capacity, blood filtration organs can also perform the tasks of bulk protein synthesis and vice versa with some redundant internal ducts to maintain survival. The extremophile chemistry of the species is also notable in that sulfur is used as a mainstream chemical component of several bioprocesses, extending the capacity for biological reactions.

Extreme internal chemistry and a significant capacity for redundancy extend into the very genetic structure with disulfide bonds preferred over dehydration ones, stabilizing base pairs with each one having negligible cross-compatibility. Seelie genetics are novel in several ways, intron segments practically do not exist and with few exceptions every fifty base pairs there is an automatic kill sequence that immediately recruits the strand for destruction along with the generation of compounds of which sufficient amounts trigger apoptosis. Coding segments are specific with no replication, coding for the thirty-two acids that make up all in-body proteins, further reducing mutations. Error-checking structures are also capable of digesting chromosome pairs and actively cross-comparing them to practically eliminate the rate of mutation.

Lirrir

On average growing to a height of 1.2 to 1.5 meters and weighing up to 35kg if healthy the Lirrir are one of the smaller species in the general galaxy, though also uniquely the only sentient species that is capable of unassisted flight on worlds with the combination of sufficiently dense atmospheres and lower than average gravities. A typical Lirrir is a small bipedal frame with wings separate from their front arms which are then used for the majority of manipulation. The preferred mobility style is by flying though individual Lirrir can walk using their lower appendages, it is generally not preferred for any significant distance. Coloration varies across the species with several colors of plumage feathers and coats generally being seen as a sign of cultural distinction or ethnic group.

Genetically conventional with an average lifespan of up to forty years without radical genetic modification they are in line with common galactic standards. They are exceptional in rate of reproduction as one of the three egg-laying sentient species known to the galaxy, with the by far largest production of offspring per mother. Physically their most distinctive feature is the ability to fly in most environments, with many states built around the ability instead of more conventional means of transportation. Manipulation across their primary "arms" is fairly weak and most bodies are composed of fragile and hollow bones limiting their ability to sustain physical impacts. The Lirrir are mesocarnivores even if the vast majority consume a mostly vegetarian diet without significant health impacts.

The Lirrir exist across the Counter-Spinward part of the local cluster with several colonized worlds founding more than a dozen larger states across the galaxy. This distribution along with the relative degree of tolerance for high SH2 atmospheres have made them the second most populous species of the local cluster. This has been only confirmed as their ancestors before the calamity have steadily spread across many worlds that would otherwise be considered uninhabitable, choosing planets for their low gravities and at times importing atmospheres in areas where they would otherwise not be present. Cultures for the Lirrir tend communal but this is nowhere near universal and there are a significant number of exceptions. The number of poor planets colonized has the majority of primitive civilizations in the counter-spinward part of the sector with most others managing to achieve industrial breakout due to colonizing better worlds.

Ascads

On average growing to a length of 2 to 2.5 meters from head to tail and weighing approximately 80-100 kg when healthy the Ascads are some of the largest sentients in the galaxy. They are built on a quadrupedal frame that prefers to travel quadrupedally but can use tools if moving in a bipedal way using their tails as balance. Both are generally seen as normal ways to move around with the species generally preferring quadrupedal locomotion. They are obligate carnivores with significant food requirements and a comparatively small variety of internally synthesized nutrients. This is conversely related to a generally cold-blooded lifestyle massively lowering caloric requirements for most environments and helping in the exploration of space. Scale color is one of the most common biological modifications across the species, with basic biological modification considered as a means of self-identification.

General preferences for environments for the species include a water-covered world with powerful tail muscles used for locomotion in water. This helps the species to be the second fastest swimmer with bone and metabolic structures suited for ambush hunting from watery bodies. The modern species keeps to terrestrial environments with some limited swimming preferred for health, but few can access the luxury. Reproduction is more limited compared to the Lirrir with a normal clutch of three to five eggs that are more independent and capable of managing themselves. The young are technically sub-sentient in a lot of ways and are left to fend for themselves until around three years of age at which point the frontal cortex finishes its rapid growth stage.

Due to the degree of adaptability and if not preference for arid worlds but a strong tolerance of low water worlds and a minimal demand for imported water resources Ascads have spread across the entire known stellar area. They are mostly densely concentrated slightly rimward of the core with several worlds there rebuilding rapidly from the aftermath of the calamity. This has led to several highly populated core worlds that make up the second largest state in terms of population if one that has several issues reaching from the dispersal of its worlds and significant efforts of STL colonization early in the species' history. There is no unified Ascad culture and for most of the first and second wave of colonization, worlds are practically their distinct cultural centers within a greater state.

Baslu

Smaller than most and maintaining a length of approximately 1.5 to 2 meters in a small frame the Baslu were the first species uplifted by the Volnay Empire when it was at its height with all others following them. They have a novel hexapedal body plan with two forward manipulators for fine movement of objects. Despite their insectoid looks, they are warmblooded mammals, comparable to most species, and with a dense fur coat that makes them well suited for their tundra homeworld. The species used to be poisonous and the modification has come back to prominence after some time, but in the initial uplift, the capacity was removed. Their diets are entirely carnivorous without much of an ability to digest plant matter, even if the majority in modern times eat a pre-compounded protein mixture.

This has led to an environmental preference for far colder worlds and despite their more insectoid body plan, their reproduction rates are slow, leading to only a few planets on the rimward side of the arm being settled. This leaves them as the second least populous species and one without a state, including a wide diaspora across the local sector as they were used heavily by the Volnay as a slave labor species. They struggle with significant issues in reproduction as while the number of children produced is high, every mating is a high risk to the mother as they are barely compatible with their own young. This has led to several avoidances of the practice and for several Baslu dominant worlds to invest heavily in artificial wombs.

Politically the formation of a unified Baslu state on the rimward direction in the areas of densest settlement has formed a reclusive if strongly unified power. The revolts and further movement of peoples have been the major event for the last two hundred years of development with much of the local sector fighting in the worlds around their small sector. Through heavy fighting the situation has now calmed down with a unified state formed, calling to all Baslu across the sector to travel to it and settle on the massive number of planets available further rimward. The diaspora is heavily split, with most of those remaining forming opposed opinions on returning or integrating.

Sallies

The species with the most varied range of height and body shape ranging from 1.3 to 1.7 meters along with further variation introduced through genetic engineering. The Sallies are bipedal with large tails used as a balance organ, allowing for locomotion on land and a powerful ability to swim through water. This is combined with a semi-permeable membranous skin, allowing for the absorption of water and oxygen without direct respiration. This has varied significantly across several different biological strains with several academics believing that the permissive attitude to genetic modification is actively causing speciation. Omnivorous but preferring crops to meaty goods along with having a short reproductive cycle initially led to their uplifting by the Volnay but in the aftermath of the calamity they have rapidly spread across the last thousand years to encompass most of the Spinward sector.

Omnivorous and preferring high moisture environments that are comparatively unpolluted, the species further strongly prefers warmer climates. Reproduction rates in an uncontrolled population are massive but are in practice severely limited to avoid excess demands placed on state capacity, with severe taxes placed on any second child. Biologically, the species has a degree of morphological differences based on temperature and stressful circumstances, with a set of colors as natural for each of these. Three conventional expressions are all reproductive with a degree of recombination while the dark green color only predominates under periods of immense stress. Diets are omnivorous with a preference for meat though not a requirement due to the vast majority of the population having modifications to reduce the impact of poor nutrition.

As the second power to recover from the calamity and start efforts for recolonization, the entire effort has been defined by their homeworld's poor condition. The planet was polluted far more through the entire second industrialization process which made it markedly worse to the point that conditions on the surface require genetic modification to live. To solve the problem the Xolotlan Sovereignty was formed to move off the homeworld and secure the stars as quickly as possible along with being a representative species-wide government. This degree of unity allowed the Sallies to stay as a single coherent state if one that is loosely associated. They represent the largest portion of inhabitants of the Spinward part of the sector and over ninety percent of the species is in the Sovereignty.

Volnay

The average Volnay is a 1.4 to 1.6m tall hexapod lifeform covered in a mild coat of fur, moving on four legs and using two arms to manipulate objects. Their primary movement is atypical for most quadrupeds and some comparisons have been made to insects even if they are mammalian. Biologically there are over ten variations of Volnay that exist and are partially distinct species, even if they are not treated as such politically or anthropologically. Predominant plating on the upper arms along with mandibles for the consumption of food is distinctive across all types with coloration, width, and even the exact endings of appendages varying by subspecies.

Strictly herbivorous and preferring to settle on planets that are slightly under the freezing point of water, the Volnay remains partially adaptable. All variations are sensitive to environmental contaminants to an extreme degree with several common compounds causing major immune system issues. To solve these problems the original species has worked tirelessly on genetic modification but in practice for the settlement of much of the cluster a series of other species were uplifted in short order, making up seven of the known species. In the fires of the cataclysm, their hold on various junior races was shattered along with the majority of the core rendered lifeless. Recolonizing from a mixture of bunker networks, the Volnay were the first in the cluster to again reach for the stars if far more slowly due to slow reproductive habits.

Politically the Volnay are distributed across the core of the sector and several secondary worlds that were re-exposed in the aftermath of the calamity. These core states are all deeply multispecies, if typically led by a Volnay as they are considered the most experienced. All five of the core states are in a discrete league of mutual defense and trade, holding some of the most developed areas of the galaxy and many of the known ruins of their civilization. Relations outside the core are frosty as for all that the Volnay are the technical leaders of the galaxy, the history of old conflicts and the deeply paternalistic attitude towards the rest of the sector has remained even in the aftermath of calamity. Relations towards the Ascad states are the best but generally remain cold.

Cepal

Cepals are atypical of all other known life with a body plan that is built for both quadrupedal and bipedal operation. Height while standing bipedally is approximately 1.4-1.6 meters with most manipulation of complex objects coming in that state. Requiring vast heating due to shifting biochemistry radically towards the use of fluorocarbons in a sulfur atmosphere, they are entirely unconventional and poorly studied. Uplift attempts by the Volnay were still conducted with modification to poorly understood biology imparting sentience but with several secondary effects. The front appendages are the main source of manipulation with a semi-retractable system of individual manipulators to compensate for high living temperatures. Food consumption occurs through a long digestive tract with the fixation of fluorine essential for life.

Habitating sulfurous and fluorinated worlds at least 120 Celsius in temperature very few worlds are colonized by the species. They are technically herbivorous without the ability to consume any form of meat nutrition and several have severe digestive reactions to any form of conventional food product. Almost all nutrition comes from a vast number of local exotic plant species with their worlds a primary subject for the study of exotic biological systems. Digestion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to oxygen forms viable reduction potential, technically leaving a mild oxygen atmosphere that would be breathable if not for all the other gasses involved.

Pre-cataclysm they were seen as a solution for the Volnay empire to settle sulfurous and hot worlds as Cepals have a practically unlimited thermal tolerance of up to two hundred and fifty degrees. These ambitions ended with the cataclysm, leaving the few settled worlds counter-spinward as near-abandoned examples that have only now reached back into space. There are currently only thirty worlds that are colonized with the majority forming independent planet-states with a small combined republic existing counter-spinward. The species is tiny in population numbers, forming the least populous living species in the galaxy if not counting the Seelie.

Onnet

Four-legged with almost all travel being conducted on four legs, the Onnet are up to three meters in length when accounting for their tails. Uplifted early on in the wartime period of the calamity for their ability to rapidly reproduce and general durability in all matters. Standing positions are secondary in locomotion in comfort for the species with their most notable factor compared to the Volnay baseline being the ability to reproduce asexually with few issues. Health issues persist late into adulthood with shortages of nutrients considered as acceptable when the old empire created them. Forming the default soldiers of the old Volnay empire they were distributed amongst a vast number of words with the Onnet's modern incarnation coming through their mass production from remaining Volnay bunker networks post calamity. The short war of independence has only finished recently with free movement allowed for all populations in the modern Volnay compact, but with nowhere for them to go.

Entirely carnivorous though built to eat a sustained nutrient paste instead of nutrition with compensation for all other elements built into their metabolism. Some ability exists for them to eat typical Volnay meals across the empire, but their nutritional value is considered to be negligible from a health perspective. Colonization ranges for the species are practically any warmer world, with their cold-blooded nature helping to conserve food. Any vulnerability of the skin is considered acceptable to increase oxygenation surface area when used in powered armor. Derisively the Onnet is considered a bulkier and dumber version of the Sallies, with several unfavorable comparisons made to their supersoldier projects. Due to the close correlation of their neural structure to the Volnay, the comparison is officially discouraged, as their brains are practically identical in all manners.

Politically the situation for the Onnet is generally poor with most worlds at least mildly discriminating against them with constant concerns over them spreading and taking over local planets. This has left the majority of the species as an underclass on Volnay worlds without real estate to call their own. Several colonization attempts have been made for far-off worlds with the last three failing due to committed resistance by several states avoiding what was seen as a new threat. Current politics have seen them limited to staying around the empire with a few worlds under the auspices of the greater trade league. Several movements exist to break away from the Volnay but the political debate is ongoing.

Ulmea

Ulmea are tall bipeds that reach up to 2.3 meters in height if properly fed even if the majority of the species remains at a height of less than 1.6m. Based on a fairly normal bipedal layout with all four limbs capable of opposable manipulation of several objects. Most of the planetside living Ulmea prefer to use their upper limbs for most manipulation with any not raised in space tending to strongly prefer them. They are covered in fur and are well adapted to colder climates with many of the worlds colonized by the few ice worlds without liquid water. The color of the exterior fur is typically decorated through several ways with modern biological modification offering a step further degree of customization. Typical forms vary across several layouts as the heavy use of cybernetics has become something of a normalized factor.

Omnivorous and capable of consuming anything for nutrition, in practice they have strict dietary requirements that depend on precise nutritional balancing. Their homeworld before uplift was something of a managed ecosystem that depended on remaining in balance with the species post uplift rapidly destroying several of the critical plants that would be needed to maintain nutrient balances. For the modern state, enough substitutes are produced to ensure an adequate healthy lifespan and few direct health issues but the problem has continued. Massive losses taken through the calamity reduced the species to only a few worlds that could at all rebuild after it with most of the planets lost through the first assault waves before a coordinated response could be made. The majority of the pre-calamity species died in four and a half months of fire, leaving only two bunker complexes in its wake.

This has left them the only polity partially backed by the Volnay despite arduous protests and embattled on all sides located moderately coreward and anti-spinward. Military socialism has brought them fairly far with the rapid liberation of several planets in the early days, driving forward uplifts based on loans from the Volnay. This has carved out an effective multi-species trait that has overwhelmingly poured resources toward the military to continue the struggle for liberating their territories in the dead zone. According to the documentation presented by the Peoples Republic of Liberty and Mobilization, they have an absolute claim towards the entire dead zone for the suffering of their species at the hands of the Vehnens. After the turn towards socialism, the Volnay loans were repudiated, as any transfer of assets was considered to be giving in to foreign business interests but relations continued.

Vehnens

Dead in the crisis and war that caused the calamity, the Vehnens were the ones who caused the fall and the destruction of the original Volnay empire. The species is believed to be reptilian with short snouts and a body plan overall comparable to those of the Sallies. Habitats are unknown but primarily exist inside the tattered remnants of megastructures of which the most famous is the Dyson swarm in BD 36 which is under a focused program of investigation. Most of the swarm has long been destroyed in part by their very creations but some elements exist with a significant portion of the Volnay battlefleet deployed to contain errant remnants of the calamity.

The species itself rose to fame in the wars preceding the calamity with massive battles for incursions into the sector starting due to the start of construction of a new Dyson sphere along with attempts to seize what was believed to be at the time a precursor Shkadov thruster. This led to several territorial conflicts with the Volnay Imperium that spiraled into a cluster-wide war with worlds in the crossfire burned to ash time and time again. Several great structures were destroyed in the relentless advance of the superior Volnay but the tide was eventually turned. Automated production and entire star systems of mobilized material were able to reverse the gains and continue the war. From there, a critical mistake was made that ushered in the calamity and the end of industrial civilization.

The calamity proper did not come from the war but the means with which it was won. Using their remaining resources and choosing to commit to a final victory, self-replicating wartime machinery was used in greater numbers with simple pre-programmed orders. One of the initial probes that was sent off had a corrupted IFF of some kind, or some error in targeting, leading to the initial cluster surging in, destroying their homeworld and the few colonies that they had established in short order. Following that the rest of the complex fought off any fleets that incurred into their borders, forcing a quiet phase of the war before a sufficient number of naval assets were produced to seize the galaxy. The Ulmea were the first to fall with their march continuing well into the Volnay core worlds, burning any industrial civilization in its wake.

The calamity would last approximately six hundred and forty years after that with automated machinery hunting down any signs of advanced or industrial civilization. Millions hid in bunkers hoping that a stay of execution could be avoided while entire colony worlds rejected any semblance of technology to stay under detection. The former overwhelmingly perished as the machines would not turn off for the full six hundred and forty years, dooming any who attempted to re-establish civilization. From the de-industrialized worlds though, civilization would spring anew and with all of the destroyed bunker complexes a few still survived, waiting for the probes to shut down or leave the local sector. For the part of the manufacturing complex, the day of the final termination order it is believed that every berzerker that received it readily threw itself into local stars, destroying the entire production system in hours.

 

[qazcdewsx]

[]Plan Industry, Cruisers and HEA MIlls
-[]Formally Resign
-[]Civilian Recommendations
-[]Hard Cutbacks
-[]Four Million Army
-[]Stay on Reduced Benefits
-[]Peacetime Army
-[]Domestic Competitiveness Programs
-[]Technical Jobs Programs
(Army costs 6200B )
Forex (-850B Or)
-[]Refined Material Sales
-[]Expansive Material Sales
-[]Cryptographic Currency Program
-[]Mass Media Sales
-[]Foreign Student Funding
-[]Hire Technical Professionals
-[]Hire Professors
-[]Hire Military Experts:
-[]Textbook and Database Contracts
-[]Ehecatl Class Light Cruisers
-[]Itzcuih Class Courier Craft
-[]Next Generation HEA Powder Mills
Space Infrastructure (-1500B)
-[]Orbital Launch Ring
-[]Re-Establishment of Orbital Shuttles
-[]Restart Orbital Cleaning Efforts
-[]Recolonization of the Inner Moon
-[]Establishment of Orbital Manufacturing
-[]Restoration of Satellite Networks
Groundside (-1450B after civgov deals)
-[]Curach Garrison Program
-[]Department 4 Consolidation
-[]Department 6 Expansion
(Trade and Security)
-[]Civilian-Military Partnerships
-[]Expanded Military Scholarships
-[]Formalized Tech Transfers
-[]Superconductor Plants
-[]Inertial Fusion Test Facility
(Competativeness)
-[]Optical Computing Programs
-[]Dedicated Military-Electronics Plants
-[]Next Generation HEA Plants
-[]High Throughput CNT Production

There is absolutley no money left with this plan so we won't be doing any procurement.
I put the main differences betwween this and Plan Winning The Peace Cheaply in bold.

Staying on reduced benefits is probably worth getting out the extra infastructure faster. We'll lose some people but we'll be able to increase pay later so it should be manageable.

I think the Next Generation HEA Powder Mills could be very valuable. Whilst it might not work its giving us a chance jump much further ahead in this field. If it works it gives us a highly valuable export and if it doesn't I dont think its a huge deal since, its a relatively small investment and we'll still have the regular next Gen HEA for our own industries. To afford that alongside the education stuff and the courier ship more forex was needed so I added Expansive Material Sales. I also grabbed the pair of light cruisers and the military experts. I think having something that can defend our space assets is valuable if this much is getting invested in it and it will be a while before we can build our own warships. We might not need them in the mean time but if we do we'll be really glad we have them. They'll need refitting with weapons but its suppossed to be easy and the milatary experts I've gotten with the last 10 Forex can help with that and also teach us how best to use them.

 

[Crazycryodude]

MAP!!!