I love how my suggestion of actually using the Shattersaw Alliance authority we invested so much into getting in the first place to improve the situation on all fronts is just being completely ignored while voting commences without a consensus. Someone with less patience might become a little cross at that.
YARGLEBARGLE- we are not obligated to play into her traits. She got those traits in the first place from our decisions. We are controlling her, not the other way around. The attitude that we are beholden to her abstract list of broad traits in every situation needs to die in a fire.
That's not 'easily' really. "Hey, we can spend our entire surplus this year and then some on it" isn't *easily.*
Easily is, "I made a thousand dollars, so here's a twenty, kid."
Because note, you know who else is going to want to spend that money? Us! And you know what the public wants us to spend that money on? Making things better. I think we can have a lot more justification for the spending if we package it as a loan and then talk about opening markets up.
Recon in the woods costs 600C, and we should probably do that now that we know that plan "just keep out heads down" isn't going to keep the sadistic aliens -who are currently working on something they are fascinated with- from coming for us.
I am more interested in the political ramifications of offering to spot the machine heads then in the economic ones. I would rather have a friend and ally, then a debtor.
I'd rather tie down the polity most likely to try to kill them with a vested interest in keeping them alive while owning a double-digit percentage of their economy due to direct investment and securing ourselves the votes we need to lock in our command of Shattersaw.
The loan is positively Marshall plan level charity. It may be "reasonable" in terms of the burden they can bear, but it is far from reasonable in terms of economic assessment.
-of course, the Marshall plan and Mutual Security Act were coupled to conditions the lenders found favorable like formal alliances and removal of trade barriers, not just a handout.
I love how my suggestion of actually using the Shattersaw Alliance authority we invested so much into getting in the first place to improve the situation on all fronts is just being completely ignored while voting commences without a consensus. Someone with less patience might become a little cross at that.
You're slipping into being a bit passive-aggressive here.
As for consensus - I do realize you want to remove the effect of our new trait. However, people will have very different ideas on what to do. Pursuing a consensus is, beyond a certain point, futile. You have to accept that there are going to be disagreements that simply can't be reconciled, even if you hammer on one side until people start to give up in frustration.
Right now we have two choices that are about even in which people want. And I don't expect more then one or two more to change their vote.
Of course, your suggestion (which isn't a *bad* one, although Academia Nut hasn't said that it would work) might be better served by being less... well, abrasive.
[x] Spot the Machine Heads the entire 8500C (0.5+d.10x)
I'm in it for the soft power and the improved economic incentives (with a dash of hoping to bring them into the Confederacy). I do like the idea of buying forestry mechs off them as a form of economic incentive later, though. Even if it's just for civilian use, it'd help everyone's economy and provide a larger pool of mech pilots to draw on in case we need to militarize.
True, nobody's voting for something like, [] Charge them an extra 'diplomacy fee' on top of the 8500C they have to pay, and also talk to them about how the 504s are so much better than them.
So either winning isn't the end of the world, though like you, yep, I have preferences.
I do see the benefits of having a close friendship with the Machine Heads, and I'm not against that.
The main thing that bothers me is the that Dia is a head of state. In the 'Spot' option, she's essentially gifting the money, the entirety of our treasury, to another power for favors. It feels incredibly irresponsible for a leader to spend the money collected from the people on something so ambiguous. While treasury is in reality Dia's wallet, it still leaves a feeling of reluctance in me to so blatantly abuse that.
[X] Offer a loan with reasonable terms [600C a year for 20 years repayment schedule] (0.7+d.10x)
Yes, this is technically a horrible rate, but we haven't been given the option of investing in markets(only infrastructure), so this actually the move that makes the most economic sense. Also, interest is abstracted somehow, so future cash flows may not even be discounted.
Huh. This split mind deal seems like it will only matter on really close votes- in this case spotting the money would have needed to roll 8 more on a d10 than the loan to have changed the vote. Neat.
I wouldn't be so sure. If the multipliers had been swapped - that is, 25 x .6, and 16 x 1.3, the winner would've been Spotting.
The base modifier on Reasonable Rates being higher helped a lot, though. Still, if it'd been .6 + .1 vs .5 + .7, then it would be closer. The high base rate means that Loaning would still have barely won, but it would be close. If the base rates had been less favorable for Reasonable, and the dice less lucky, it could've been a problem.
[X] Offer a loan with reasonable terms (600C repaid for 20 years)
"Okay look, looking at this, the Machine Heads are never going to pay this in anything remotely resembling a reasonable time frame, especially if you two are too busy glaring at each other for trade to go through and thus the Machine Heads economy withers on the vine. That's a situation ripe for somebody picking a fight, which is something I want to avoid. So, in the spirit of peace and prosperity, I can extend the Machine Heads a loan to cover the damages," you explain, quickly getting back a calculation from the bureaucrats sitting nearby and shoving the offer over.
The Machine Head ambassador glances at it and his eyes bug out at the terms, which are honestly really good, but from their own economic estimators they also about what they can afford to pay and still have money kicking around to be able to expand their economy and thus pay things off in the long term. The ambassador asks the obvious question of, "How are you going to secure all of this?"
"How all sovereign debt is ultimately secured: guns. Oh, don't think I'm going to threaten you at the drop of a hat if things go sour, just that if you were to try to just run off to escape the debt I do have the means to either ensure compliance or seek restitution via the forcible seizure of assets, although I doubt it will go that far. More likely is that we will have to come to a new arrangement. The reason you are getting such a nice deal is because I would prefer you to have enough economy left over to be able to grow and thus pay me back quickly or reliably," you explain. After a moment you add on, "We can probably also come to other arrangements than purely in terms of money to help pay off the loan quickly."
The 504 ambassador is clearly not exactly happy about the situation, but after a moment he says, "I will have to consult with my superiors, but I think this sort of arrangement can be made beneficial to all of our people."
Turn 17 Results
Despite emptying out the treasury and then some, you keep the cash flow balanced enough that you keep your banks from throwing a fit before the receipts for the year come in. You are set to expand considerably, although with the large amounts of money coming in there are calls both from the people and from your advisers to start making some policy changes.
Government Income: 10885 Treasury: 3819 Personal Wealth: 305C Projected Net Income: 13440C
Rolled 31
Stable
Rolled 39 + 26 = 65
No problems
The big news intelligence wise this year is your getting your agents into the 504s secret police, finally, and doing it without getting caught. You know have access to their own internal networks, although obviously significant chunks are firewalled from each other. Still, you can bypass a lot of their security more easily if you want to do anything particularly nefarious. In other news, your agents just barely managed to squeeze the last of the information you can get out of the members of the Authority camped out in Shattersaw. In particular, it seems that they have issues with their technology, being particularly vehement about retrieval. From the sounds of things they at best have a very low production of anything particularly important, which is both good and bad. Good in that it will mean that the Authority probably has a point at which they will no longer be a primary threat through attrition, but bad in that it makes you a target to them and to the aliens.
Research wise, things went very well for you this year. While the AAA mounting didn't get done as quickly as you had hoped, your research into networking has finished up, and also the people poking around in the woods have managed to figure out the secrets of how to grow pile trees. The good news is that with a whole lot of tending you can grow (mostly) non-radioactive pile trees on your own densely enough to serve as extensions of your curtain walls. The bad news is that it will take years to grow them like that, and thus far your researchers see no way to accelerate the process with your current understanding. Perhaps if you understood more about how to grow Dandriss wildlife hydroponically you could accelerate the process, possibly even letting you replace the building armour, the armour of the vast majority of the wild trees being too radioactive to want to get anywhere near people.
UAM Design
364 + Rolled 20 + 42 + 5 WAT = 431/750
Networking I
207 + Rolled 99 + 42 + 5 WAT = 353/350
Joint Research Project
AAA Mounting
Rolled 80 + 42 + 13 + 14 + 5 WAT = 154/200
Random Roll
2d41 - 11, 29
Plasma Physics II
4 + Rolled 18 + 5 WAT = 27/1000
Pile Tree Cultivation
552 + Rolled 79 + 5 WAT + 25% Research Bonus = 552 + 105 = 657/650
Command Centre Design
121 + Rolled 34 + 46 + 5 WAT = 206/1000
5 years remaining
Attrition:
d5% - d5% - 2% = 4 - 1 - 2 = 1%
Pharmaceuticals I
As for everything else, there are a few more immigrants from the Free Volunteers and beyond, and also a bit of a scare with a windstorm that might have killed a number of people, but there was an initial gust that spooked everyone enough to get to cover before the main storm blew through.
Rolled 66
Maybe something a little interesting
Rolled 60
Extra immigration
Rolled 22
Major windstorm
4% attrition on tree and sap gathering
You know what, I screwed up and don't feel like going back and doing the numbers again because I'm tired from long days at work, so instead of casualties, we're going to go with everyone getting to safety
7
AN: This is Part 1 of the selection process, since things are getting unwieldy. It will include everything up to assigning Research projects. Part 2 will include the assignment of Research and Teaching Centres and the decision on personal actions.
Diplomacy
With last year's successes, you have a bit of breathing room. You have your increasingly tightly bound partners with the Dragonflies and 504s, even if they aren't the best of friends. You have the Free Volunteers communities further out on the lines that are becoming increasingly accessible with compact fusion powered vehicles. You have the Machine Heads who are now open for further trade. And you have the Authority still hanging out in Shattersaw, still fighting in the woods.
Select up to 2 actions
[] Seek more immigrants from the Free Volunteers populations
[] Coordinate with the Dragonflies
[] Coordinate with with the 504s
[] Talk with the Authority
[] Trade with the Machine Heads
Military
With your current projected budget, you could probably get around to a major upgrade in weaponry. Also, with the proving grounds now up and running you can potentially shove the command centre project off onto them to figure out, leaving you with more time to work on other military projects.
Select up to 2 options (Can reassign command centre design for 3)
[] Train Soldiers - Selecting the better candidates from the militia, train them up to your standards, creating four squads squad (40) of Soldiers (Jaegers). REPEATABLE (Repeats are individual votes, label as x2 or x3) Cost: 1400C per action (need to buy guns and armour now)
[] Upgrade Military (SAWs) - While you have a machine time bottleneck of about 5 SAWs a month and they are pretty costly, you can now start producing more SAWs for your troops. Current Inventory: 15 SAWs. Can purchase up to 60 additional SAWs at a cost of 150C per weapon (specify number of SAWs to buy)
[] Upgrade Military (Light Autocannons) - While there are no machine time bottlenecks, these weapons are a bit larger and require a bit more specialized knowledge to build if doing it without UAMs. Current inventory: 0 LAC. Can purchase up to 120 LAC at a cost of 100C per weapon (specify number of LACs to buy)
[X] Command Centre Design - With the completion of the proving grounds and military academy, your thoughts now turn towards the fact that as your military grows there will be even more needed, although the idea is a long term project
[] Hunt Aliens in the Woods - Well, you know what the Authority are hunting in the woods now, and they sound unpleasant, to say the least, so you suppose you could join in, although it would be dangerous. Cost: 600C. WARNING: Bad or no things can happen with this
Economic
Amethyst Gardens is starting to shape up, especially with a large influx of former residents who want to fix things up again. There is however something of an interesting issue. With the completion of your networking research, you can upgrade your Archival Tools to communicate with each other. They will need some further research into artificial intelligence to reach their true potential according to Sammael, but if you go through the effort of upgrading the network yourself instead of leaving it up to the free market, you would have control over the infrastructure.
Pick up to 1 options
[X] Building Industrial Fusion Reactor in Greengraft, will complete in 1 turn
[] Construct new building - You can copy an existing building now (please specify). Time required: Variable WARNING: Will be housed in locally sourced material building and can suffer attrition
->Multi-Purpose Teaching and Learning Centre desired in Amethyst Gardens
[] Build new Backup Fusion Reactor - It will take quite a lot of your industrial output, but you can build a new Backup Fusion Reactor to provide more power. Cost: 750C, 2 turns
[] Build new Industrial Fusion Reactor - It will take a huge amount of your industrial output, but you can build a new Industrial Fusion Reactor to provide more power, which is most desired in Glenshade Manor. Cost: 1200C, 3 turns
[] Build a Forestry Mech - These are complex machines requiring a lot of parts, so building one from scratch is not easy. Cost: 600C/mech, up to 2 mechs a year
[] Upgrade Archival Tools to be networked together. Cost: 600C + maintenance each turn (3% of population in C)
You can also commit to a project in Shattersaw. Your public would like improved defences in the city, which would be best done by a new barracks.
Pick 1 option [] Multi-Purpose Teaching and Research Complex (504s would like you to build this)
[] Chemical Refinery [] Barracks (own public and Dragonflies would like this)
[] Hunting Lodge
[] Proving Grounds
[] Military Academy
[] Machine Shop
[] Hydroponic Farm (Dragonflies likely to build one)
[] Manual Manufactory
Security
With the intelligence agency up and running, you don't precisely have more things to do, but you should be more successful at them.
Pick up to 2 options
[] Infiltrate the Dragonflies Secret Police - The Dragonflies have a sophisticated internal security network for keeping their own people in line, it might be a good idea to try to get your own operatives inside if you want to perform further operations with them
[] Dig into the 504s - The 504s have secrets, you just need to get at them
[] Destabilize the Dragonflies - You have agents in place, you know they have problems, and you have evidence of how screwed up nobility can be. Also, they have a lot of new 'citizens' who aren't exactly the nicest of people
[] Destabilize the 504s - With operatives inside their secret police, you can cause quite a bit of agitation
[] Investigate Dragonflies technology
- [] Specifically target Cloning Tank Design
[] Investigate 504s technology
[] Investigate the Machine Heads
Research
Select 1 project. Assignment of teaching and research centres, chemical refineries, and the proving grounds will occur in the next round of voting. New entries are highlighted.
Chemistry Combat Drugs I 0/500 - While the simplest combat drugs are stimulants to keep soldiers awake and alert, these go somewhat beyond that into the realm of enhancement, although at a cost Improved Fertilizer II 0/800 - By carefully altering the chemistry for the fertilizers used in your hydroponic farms you should be able to increase yield even further, although you are now pushing what conventional plant cultivars can tolerate Improved Explosives 39/250 - You know most of the chemical formulas for the basic explosives you might like to make, but you will need some actual practice at how you would make them Pharmaceuticals II 72/475 - More complex drugs can have more targeted effects and can greatly improve health care, and possibly also public morale Sap Filtrate Processing 50/400 - The sap from the trees is toxic due to dilute metals that you process out. Right now the filtrate is a mass of organometallic sludge that is uneconomical to process, but perhaps the processing could be made more efficient to capture valuable materials
Computing Artificial Intelligence I 23/500 - At this level of sophistication the programs produced are not true AI but limited AI (LAI) that are merely highly efficient programs rather than actually sentient ones AI, Computing Networking II 0/600 - The planet used to be highly networked, and while you still understand many of the principles involved there is a certain amount of practical knowledge that has slipped from your grasp, in particular now that you know a bit more, how to most efficiently coordinate the signals and communication so that it all doesn't become noise. Computing
Education Reform Improved Teaching Methods II 6/320 - Your current post-secondary methods are not subtle, intended to fill in for gaps in procedure left from when the world was more networked together, supplemented by new experience. Working out more effective and efficient teaching methods should reduce the amount of teaching staff you will need by about another fifth without any loss in knowledge gain.Social Teaching Hospitals 0/400 - Your doctors could probably teach more junior students in the process of their duties, allowing for your hospitals to also be little miniature schools.Social
General Aeronautics I 0/250 - Initial examinations of the wrecked Viceroy craft have shown that you don't know as much about flying as your databanks would suggest you do Plasma Physics II 27/1000 - You understand more than the basics of manipulating plasma and controlling fusion reactions, but so far your knowledge requires large industrial machines and isn't as efficient as it could be. You can improve on size and efficiency if you knew more about the fundamentals. Field Physics I 0/600 - You can compress a ball of hydrogen as if it had the weight of a star sitting on it, so what else can be done with those containment fields? EM Weapons Design Logic 0/500 - STC designs all tend to follow the same general logic for how they are laid out. If you can figure out this logic then you will be starting EM weapons design projects with some of the work already done. Laser Physics I 0/400 - The lasers in your industrial saws are potent indeed, but they are bulky and not necessarily very efficient. Having more than just the basics of how lasers work could help with improving on that and finding other applications. Materials Science I 0/300 - For the most part you know how materials are supposed to work, but just because you know the chemical composition of a material doesn't mean you can figure out how to get the fine grain crystal structure to form from a melt of the constituent elements. More basic knowledge is required. Miniaturization II 92/1100 - It is remarkable how much can be squeezed into a tiny space, if you know how. You don't anymore, and it looks like you're going to have to work most of this out from first principles.
Infrastructure Design UAM Design 519/750 - The designs for UAMs were hoarded by the colonial administration on and off world before the fall, so it is essentially impossible to build new ones until you either find a read out or do an indepth study of one of the ones you already have. Industrial Universal Healing Machine Design 87/2000 (Req. decomissioning) - An incredibly complex piece of medical technology, the UHM can nearly work miracles so long as it has a living brain and organic feedstock. Figuring out the design can also lead you to figure out how to build parts for biomedical technology. Biomedical Cloning Tank Design 460/1000 (Req. partial decomissioning) - While medically cloning tanks are typically used to grow replacement limbs, there are other uses of the technology. Figuring out the design can also lead you to figure out how to build parts for biomedical technology. Biomedical Cybernetic Surgery Design 0/1000 - This sophisticated suite makes the installation and integration of cybernetics quick and nearly painless. It does not however let you build cybernetics. Figuring out the design can also lead you to figure out how to build parts for biomedical technology. Biomedical Solar Plant Design 60/200 (Req. decommissioning) - A surprisingly sophisticated design, this automated solar plant includes both the regulation systems and power storage to even out the availability of power even when the sun is not shining at the required intensity. Research will not only allow for production of new solar plants, but also give clues in automation and power storage. Industrial Industrial Automation I 192/400 - Getting the machines to do the work has been a time honoured tradition since Terra, although your capacity to do so has slipped. Researching this will decrease your need for unskilled labour and also open up new avenues of research into robotics. Robotics Compact Power Cells 0/250 - With your new knowledge of miniaturization, you should be able to make smaller and much more energy for the same weight. Vehicle, personal
Local Adaptation Dragonfly Domestication 191/350 - The dragonflies of Dandriss are mostly predatory fliers that your academics tell you fill ecological niches similar to Terran birds of prey, and they suspect that they could be used similarly to the ancient art of falconry, and could be a boon to your jaegers Edible Grenade Fruit 169/300 - As crazy as it sounds, grenade fruit are the closest things to Terran food on the planet since they are among the least metallized material on the planet, and with a bit of breeding work they could sequester pure sugars and proteins in their flesh rather than explosives or toxins Fissile Material Harvest 0/400 - Now that you understand the biology of pile trees, you should be able to figure out ways to draw forth fissile and fertile isotopes from them without risking a small nuclear explosion. This will give you access to isotopes that you could use to accelerate the growth of cultivated pile trees, for your own power production, or even for crude fission bombs if you so desired. WARNING: Requires a minimum of 50 RP a turn to avoid a catastrophe Hydroponic Adaptation 68/250 - Grenade fruit respond well to being either grown hydroponically or parasitically, and with your knowledge of how to crossbreed and cultivate Dandriss flora you could work out how to grow other species hydroponically Local Wildlife Carapace Armour 173/400 - Some of the local fauna is better described of as AFVs than animals, and if you can figure out which species would work best and how to work bits of carapace you could have additional armour for your troops that would likely be able to turn aside anything short of EM SAW fire Medicinal Plants II 84/850 - There are some plants that are capable of being used for medicinal purposes, but there are a number of curious effects that suggest that they could be used for something even more Recreational Plants 55/300 - There are some chemicals in certain plants that, provided their source could be made less than immediately fatal to consume, could have a variety of recreational effects Roachrhino Domestication 220/300 - The roachrhino is a large herbivore that is relatively docile, all things considered, and should be a good first candidate for domestication as they would be useful as beasts of burden or as a reliable source of food. Underground Construction 0/400 - Building underground has risks and problems but at the very least it should provide the protection of an armoured curtain wall, along with experience in digging down on Dandriss.
Manufacturing None currently available
Military Concepts Command Centre 206/1000 - A centralized command and control centre for coordinating armies, this is an ambitious project but one that may be vital in the near future. Military
Personal Equipment Basic Cybernetics 847/1000 - Replacement limbs just as good as the originals and basic Mind-Machine Interfaces are the purview of this level, which leads to more advanced topics. Cybernetics Survey Monocle Design 87/600 (Unavailable for use while being researched) - A sophisticated miniaturized suite of sensors and measuring equipment, this is an extremely compact and advanced piece of hardware useful for military range finding and civilian purposes, and analysis can lead to more complex advances. Personal
Salvage Viceroy-class Low Orbital Personal Transport Design (Salvage x2) 31/1500 - A SSTO craft capable of repeated launches before refuelling, several sub-systems will likely require their own research projects to build, or even understand, but even just obtaining the design should open up aerospace projects. Vehicle, aerospace, exotic
Vehicles Flare Shield 102/10000 (Req. Field Physics V, Gravity Manipulation III, Miniaturization IV, Warp Physics II) - A mindbogglingly complex piece of machinery, you don't even know where to start in terms of researching it. You can still use it, but it will require at least a fusion reactor to run. Vehicle, Energy Shield Forestry Mech Militarization 0/200 - The forestry mechs are industrial tools first and weapons by improvisation. By reworking their design you would strip out their uses in forestry but make them much more effective weapons of war. Vehicle, Military Land Train 0/200 - Basically just an oversized truck with a compact fusion reactor to haul trailers, this should be a cheap and efficient way to get people and cargo moving in bulk quantities through the rail network without having to bother with fixing the damaged energy systems for the original maglevs.Vehicle
Weaponry AAA Mounting 154/200 - A combination of a fast tracking mounting to sit lighter weaponry in, modifications to the weapons to avoid over stressing them while swinging them about to track an airborne target, and the electronics to aid in tracking said targets Plasma Cutter Refinement 10/300 - The industrial plasma cutters you have access to can be used as brutal close combat weapons in a pinch, but they are very much not weapons by design. With your knowledge of plasma physics you could probably get them closer to being actual weapons. Plasma, personal Howitzer 0/300 - Experience with the field gun design allows for expansion to larger, more powerful weapons systems.Heavy, CK EM Field Gun Design 151/575 - Inspired by the Dragonflies project, you could combine together the principles from your SAW and grenade launchers and make a considerably more potent design than the one they have in mind. Heavy, EM
AN: I will update the build list with the pile tree curtain walls and the completed research list in the morning
