Chimeraguard
We do deserve to exist.
Oh hey, we have a harvest roll as well. 76, so good this year. Still, something to keep an eye out for and maybe have an omake in reserve if it rolls poorly.
Attempting to Fulfil The Plan: ISOT Edition
- Thread starter garphield
- Start date
- Alt. History
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- Tags
- plan quest
A decent harvest this year should make it pretty easy to coast into next year as the new education and tools roll out for hopefully another good harvest next year. I'm wary of getting too frisky with agriculture still due to the high tax burden we selected, but we should be clear of any real shortages and still have a little buffer to absorb bad luck in the future.
Also does anybody have an up to date link to the Discord? I tried the one earlier in the thread but I think it's expired.
Chimeraguard
We do deserve to exist.
OH! Something I just noticed. The per die cost of the canal went up from 5 to 10. So we actually only have 75 R reserves, not 85.
EDIT:
EDIT:
Here, try this.
Last edited:
- Location
- The Middle of the Howling Wilderness
Infrastructure, 4 dice
-[ ] Derveni-Zapantis Canal, 2 dice (10 Resources)
-[ ] Port Facilities (Stage 1), 2 die (10 Resources)
Heavy Industry, 3 + 1 Free = 4 dice
-[ ] Kópos Coal Mine (Stage 1), 2 dice (20 Resources)
-[ ] Thríambos Ironworks (Stage 1), 2 dice (20 Resources)
Light Industry, 3 dice
????
Chemical Industry, 2 dice
????
Agriculture, 3 dice
-[ ] Village Educational Cadre Instruction, 3 die (15 Resources)
Services, 3 + 2 Free = 5 dice
-[ ] Primary Schools (Stage 1), 5 die (25 Resources)
Military, 4 dice
-[ ] Fortification Improvements, 4 die (20 Resources)
Bureaucracy, 2 dice
-[ ] Recruit Downtimers To Bureaucracy 2 dice (10 Resources)
130/190 Resources used. 3 Light + 2 Chemical dice left to activate.
Extremely rough draft of a Primary School/Services-heavy plan for next turn. Light and Chemical industries are pretty up in the air atm as we've finished most of the presently available projects in Chemical, and the low-hanging fruit in Light. Leaning towards going hard on a hypothetical Mills Stage 2 in Light Industry.
We could also shift Agriculture dice to working on Dams to take advantage of corvee labor, but we've already started Village Cadres. Maybe a 2 Dams and 1 Cadre split in Agriculture towards dams? If Mills Stage 2 remains at 5 resources per die we'd be left with 45 Resources for 2 Chemical dice, which would let us do 2 dice in Sulfuric Acid production, or another similarly expensive project.
Primary Schools seem like the best long-run value in Services at the moment, although we will be unlocking Nursing Education next turn as well. Depending on the costs, we might switch to 3 Primary schooling dice and 2 Nursing dice.
Military works on Fortifications to take advantage of corvee labor. I figure we finish out the fortifications while rural labor is around then work on another round of arquebuses and cannons, potentially along with our new rifles.
-[ ] Derveni-Zapantis Canal, 2 dice (10 Resources)
-[ ] Port Facilities (Stage 1), 2 die (10 Resources)
Heavy Industry, 3 + 1 Free = 4 dice
-[ ] Kópos Coal Mine (Stage 1), 2 dice (20 Resources)
-[ ] Thríambos Ironworks (Stage 1), 2 dice (20 Resources)
Light Industry, 3 dice
????
Chemical Industry, 2 dice
????
Agriculture, 3 dice
-[ ] Village Educational Cadre Instruction, 3 die (15 Resources)
Services, 3 + 2 Free = 5 dice
-[ ] Primary Schools (Stage 1), 5 die (25 Resources)
Military, 4 dice
-[ ] Fortification Improvements, 4 die (20 Resources)
Bureaucracy, 2 dice
-[ ] Recruit Downtimers To Bureaucracy 2 dice (10 Resources)
130/190 Resources used. 3 Light + 2 Chemical dice left to activate.
Extremely rough draft of a Primary School/Services-heavy plan for next turn. Light and Chemical industries are pretty up in the air atm as we've finished most of the presently available projects in Chemical, and the low-hanging fruit in Light. Leaning towards going hard on a hypothetical Mills Stage 2 in Light Industry.
We could also shift Agriculture dice to working on Dams to take advantage of corvee labor, but we've already started Village Cadres. Maybe a 2 Dams and 1 Cadre split in Agriculture towards dams? If Mills Stage 2 remains at 5 resources per die we'd be left with 45 Resources for 2 Chemical dice, which would let us do 2 dice in Sulfuric Acid production, or another similarly expensive project.
Primary Schools seem like the best long-run value in Services at the moment, although we will be unlocking Nursing Education next turn as well. Depending on the costs, we might switch to 3 Primary schooling dice and 2 Nursing dice.
Military works on Fortifications to take advantage of corvee labor. I figure we finish out the fortifications while rural labor is around then work on another round of arquebuses and cannons, potentially along with our new rifles.
Turn 3 (10AE Trimester 3): The Womb of Victory Results
Turn 3 (10AE Trimester 3): The Womb of Victory Results
190+10-10+10=200 Resources Per Turn, 75 In Storage
51-1+5-5-5 = 45 Political Support
Infrastructure
Derveni-Zapantis Canal: A navigable canal to connect the Gulf of Corinth to the city of Mycenae and the Aegean as a whole will massively decrease the difficulty of transporting goods to our capital. Work has begun on a series of locks, reservoirs, and pumps to enable the movement of small barges between the Derveni and Zapantis rivers, but this requires a vertical climb of close to a hundred meters. However, even with its massive cost, it must be worth it for the Cretans to have built a similar canal. (10 Resources per dice (350+40+15=405/1050), loss of political support if less than 50 progress/turn) (Makes most other projects cheaper)
An acceptable amount of further progress has been made on the canal. The new issuance of large amounts of fully steel shovels has caused work to speed up considerably, due to their much better performance compared to earlier tools.
Port Facilities (Stage 1): While sporadic improvements to ports have been made since the establishment of the Republic, a nationwide effort is badly needed. This would expand and improve ports in all major cities, helping trade and fishing and potentially allowing for the creation of a real navy. (5 Resources per dice (48/125))
Work has begun on expanded harbors, docks, and other facilities in Mycenae, Tiryns, and Dyme. While moving massive amounts of rock and rubble for breakwaters is taking some time, all three ports have already had new steam-powered cranes installed for handling heavy loads.
Mycenae Storm Drains: With a basic network of water and sewage pipes complete, the time has come to build a system of storm drains to prevent flooding. Already mostly complete, after this stage other cities like Tiryns and Dyme will receive similar systems as exist in Mycenae. (10 Resources per dice (85+63=148/100 complete)) (Secondary Cities Utilities 48/125)
With the completion of a storm drain network in Mycenae, work has begun on deploying running water, sewers, and storm drains in Tiryns and Dyme. This time, all three are being installed at the same time so that a trench only needs to be dug once, reducing the disruptions caused by their construction.
Heavy Industry
Kópos Coal Mine (Stage 1): With an exploitable deposit of coal being found at last, exploitation must start immediately. While lacking machining capability means that the use of steam engines is restricted, being right next to so much coal means that even extremely inefficient and simple steam engines are still practical for use in pumping out water and bringing up coal from the depths of the mine. (10 Resources per dice (55/125))
The first lignite has begun being produced from the Kópos mine, if in miniscule quantities compared to what it will produce after this first stage is completed. Due to the fact that you do not have a single person with actual mining experience, work has been slowed down and miners are given some basic instruction to hopefully reduce the risks involved, although they will still be massive.
Thríambos Ironworks (Stage 1): Now that we have working examples of blast, puddling, and cementation furnaces for iron production, we can begin massively scaling up the production of iron and steel. Located just outside the walls of Mycenae due to the availability of nearby ore, labor, water, limestone, wood, and coal, this will be the beating heart of our industrialization from now on. While the blast furnaces will still require charcoal, puddling and cementation furnaces work in such a way that the fuel and charge never actually come into contact, allowing us to use coal for those parts of the process (50/100)
Construction has continued on the planned ironworks, but workers there have ran into significant issues. Not one, but two of the six massive steam hammers used to work the blooms produced by the puddling furnaces into wrought iron have already catastrophically failed, and must be entirely rebuilt, significantly delaying the completion of the facility.
Machine Tools: Our machining capability is massively limited, and will be for the foreseeable future. However, we can at least make more tools such as lathes and trip hammers, even if they need constant maintenance and have horrible precision. (15 Resources per dice (58+81=139/100 Complete)) (+5 Political Support on completion) (+10 Resources per turn)
Facilities for producing machine tools have been massively expanded. Nearly every day, a lathe, steam hammer, drill press, or other piece of heavy machinery comes out of the machine shop in Mycenae. While this is still nowhere near enough production, further expansion will have to wait until more metal is available.
Light Industry
Farming Tool Production: Improved ploughs, reapers, and other farming equipment will allow for massive improvements in agriculture. While the limited supply of iron does cause some issues, setting up more workshops will still help a lot. (10 resources per dice (74+87=161/100 complete))
With recent expansions being completed, everything from axes and scythes to ploughs and seed drills are now being produced in far greater numbers than ever before in the Republic. Far more is still needed, but the limited state of the iron industry means that production cannot be increased much more from current levels.
Hand Tool Production: Setting up workshops additional to make hand tools will be a massive help to work in mining, construction, and many other industries. This includes not only tools such as hammers, picks, and saws, but also measuring instruments such as rulers and calipers. (10 resources per dice (56/50 complete))
Investments into various workshops for making hand tools of all sorts. The proliferation of steam hammers has allowed for the cheap production of high-quality shovels and picks by first forging wrought iron into shape, then case hardening it for increased durability. Smaller and more accurate machine tools from the expanded plant have allowed for the reliable production of Vernier calipers of acceptable quality, massively increasing the level of accuracy that can be achieved.
Mills (Stage 1): Anywhere with a decently sized stream can be home to mills for grinding grain, cutting wood, and more. This will decrease the cost and increase the quality of goods such as flour and lumber, and free up large amounts of labor. (5 resources per dice (32+93=125/100 complete)) (25/150 Stage 2)
Several dozen mills have been built, mostly for grinding grain but some for sawing lumber or crushing rocks. Plans have already been drawn up for even more mills, including some with rotary lathes for plywood production.
Chemical Industry
Sulfuric Acid Production: Pyrite will slowly be oxidized to ferrous sulfate in the presence of air and water, which in turn can be heated to decompose it to iron oxide and sulfuric acid. While this is extremely slow and inefficient, sulfuric acid is invaluable for essentially all chemical processes. (5 Resources per dice (32+67=99/50 complete)) (Unlocks Glucose Syrup Plant)
With the equipment for distilling ferrous sulfate finally complete, production of sulfuric acid on the scale of several tons per day has commenced. This gives us a critical feedstock for other areas of chemistry, however due to the generally undeveloped state of that industry the main immediate use will likely be for the hydrolysis of starches to produce a sugar-rich syrup to substitute for cane or beet sugar.
Alternative Feedstock Production Routes: While salt is the main solute in seawater, there are sizeable amounts of magnesium chloride and sodium sulfate present in the bitterns, or the solution left over after it has been evaporated down to produce salt. These can be used to make hydrochloric acid and sodium carbonate, which can be converted to a whole host of other chemicals. Most interesting of these is potassium chlorate, which can be used to make gunpowder and is not limited by the amount of nitrogenous waste we can procure like saltpeter is. However, this has never been done on a large scale before, so it may have unexpected problems. (10 Resources per dice (67/30 complete)) (Quality dice 22) (Unlocks Dyme Salt Evaporation Pond and Chloroalkali Plant)
Efforts to work out methods for the mass production of common chemical feedstocks have given acceptable results. Although it is not incredibly efficient, requires massive amounts of stainless steel for various parts of the chemical reactors involved, and is fairly unsafe, most of the planned processes work in some capacity. Hydrated magnesium chloride in bitterns can be heated to decompose it into magnesium oxide and hydrochloric acid. The hydrochloric acid is then mixed with air and heated over a copper chloride catalyst in order to produce chlorine gas, needed for everything from bleach to chlorate-based explosives. Left with the magnesium oxide is residual sodium chloride and sodium sulfate, which can then be separated via recrystallization. The sodium sulfate can then be heated with silica sand and carbon to reduce it to sodium silicate, which can be used directly in glassmaking or easily converted to sodium hydroxide or carbonate. Plans have been already been drawn up for a larger-scale plant using these processes, as well as a series of dams and canals to convert the Prokopou lagoon just southwest of Dyme into a massive salt evaporation pond.
Agriculture
Agricultural Education: Many farmers are still using downtime crops and livestock, and adoption of more modern farming techniques is even more slow. Sending out more education teams will likely help with this, although the purge of the priests has damaged our relationship with them. (5 Resources per dice (5 Resources per dice (92+147=239/150 complete))
Many more peasants have been given further instruction on improved agricultural techniques, with significantly increased yields expected next harvest. Much of the material focused on improved methods of crop rotation as well, hopefully slowing down the rate of soil depletion caused by the introduction of nutrient-hungry uptime crops.
Village Educational Cadre Instruction: Previous literacy programs have been focused almost exclusively in cities. This program would recruit volunteers from rural areas to learn how to read and write, and provide them with paper, writing materials, and a few books on subjects like agriculture and basic medicine before sending them back to their villages with an increased ration of food and clothes for them to teach others how to read and write on a part-time basis. This will come nowhere close to eliminating rural illiteracy, but making sure that at least one person in every village knows how to read is a first step. (5 Resources per dice (19/200)) (+5 Political Support on completion)
Several hundred peasants have been enrolled in literacy programs over the winter, to hopefully provide a link between the state and their villages after returning. The issue of non-Greek speakers living in our territory has started to become an issue because of this. A sizeable minority of our population, especially in more remote areas, speaks the non-Indo-European Korakou language, distantly related to the language spoken on Greece. While a few pamphlets on agriculture and medicine have been translated, it is clear that far more works need to be translated if any progress is to be made in education in those areas. (Korakou Translations 0/35 5 Resources per dice)
Services
Primary Schools (Stage 1): While we have taught thousands of urban citizens how to read and write, we still lack a true education system. This would establish a series of schools in all of our cities, teaching a 4-year program to children whose parents decide to educate them, with free lunches being given to pupils to encourage this. They will graduate with knowledge of reading, writing, basic arithmetic, and some education on the basics of things like germ theory, geography, and how the Republic is surrounded on all sides by reactionary feudalist and capitalist states bent on enslaving us all. (5 Resources per dice (54+66=120/150)) (+5 Political Support on completion)
Enough massively underqualified "teachers" have been hired and enough schoolhouses have been built to educate over fifteen hundred students at once. While this is still not nearly enough for Mycenae, let alone the whole Republic, it is still a massive step forwards.
Vocational Education: Several thousand workers already know how to read and write, but more education will increase their productivity further. This consists of both purely practical instruction in areas such as blacksmithing and pottery, as well as teaching more advanced mathematics to people such as carpenters and masons. (5 Resources per dice (21+106=127/100 complete) (27/80 Nursing School)
Night classes are now being held for everything from cooking to masonry in the major cities of the Republic. Already, several facilities have already recorded increases in productivity and decreases in accidents, even if nearly every single worker is still massively underqualified for their job.
Military
Arquebus Production (Stage 3): While still made of iron pipes, the switch from matchlocks to caplocks has significantly increased the effectiveness of our crude arquebuses. This would more than double the production of firearms of all types, a necessity if the planned mass adoption of arquebusier units is to become a reality. (10 Resources per dice (13+91=104/100 complete)) (4/150 Stage 4) (Quality dice 63)
Production of arquebuses has increased to over a hundred per month, with many matchlocks also being brought in for conversion to caplocks. However, it will still take over a year for enough to be produced to arm every soldier in the recently reorganized army, and production must be increased even further if the Revolution is to be protected and spread. Work has already begun on expanding production even further, with a projected capacity of nearly ten per day when complete.
Cannon Production (Stage 2): While tin for making bronze is extremely expensive, cannons are still indispensable weapons. We need more foundries to produce them in even larger amounts to ensure the safety of the Republic. (15 Resources per dice (43+7=52/50 complete)) (2/100 Stage 3) (Quality dice 81)
The new foundries are now producing everything from small breech-loading swivel guns to twelve-centimeter cannons to a massive siege bombard capable of launching balls weighing over a hundred kilograms at enemy fortifications. Yet, this is still not enough to secure victory against any imaginable opponent, and work has begun on expanding the foundries even further.
Rifle Trials: Current guns are extremely inaccurate, however, it may be possible to produce better ones. With caplocks being more reliable, faster to reload, and mechanically simpler than matchlocks or caplocks, all proposed designs now use percussion caps. Producing a few dozen of these would establish if larger-scale manufacture is practical at this time. While they probably cannot be issued to every single soldier, they would be invaluable in the hands of more professional units. (5 Resources per dice (84/30 complete)) (Quality dice 69) (Rifle Production (Stage 1) 0/50)
The most promising design for a rifle produced so far has been the Model 10 "Geráki". While still a muzzle-loader, it has decent ergonomics and is useful up to ranges of 350 meters. Due to the need for far more accurate machining, each rifle will take substantially more time to produce than a pipe gun, but being able to actually hit something a decent distance away makes this extra cost worth it in many situations. Early production will likely be given to scouting and skirmishing units, with a wider rollout several years away.
Bureaucracy
Creation of Mobile Units: While the People's Army was created as a collection of guerilla and garrison units meant to bleed any invader enough to force them to withdrawl, this was a temporary measure simply meant to give us some capability to fight back until a more capable force could be fielded. As we now have the capability to produce enough arquebuses, ammunition, bayonets, and other "modern" equipment on a large enough scale to arm thousands of soldiers, and our neighbors to the north have become even more of a threat, the time for change is now. (DC 15, -5 Political Support to attempt, -10 Resources per turn if successful) (Arquebus Production (Stage 3), Cannon Production (Stage 2), and Rifle Trials must be complete within 2 turns of taking) (Massively increases the military capabilities of the Republic in the long term, reorganization takes 2-3 turns) (55/15 Passed)
With the recent increases in military production and promises of even more progress in the near future, a deal has been made to convert most of the People's Army from peasant guerillas to actual mobile infantry units. Each military district has been converted into an infantry brigade, mostly consisting of arquebusiers drilled during the winter when they are not needed for farming. Each also has one company of chariots for reconnaissance and screening, as well as one or two companies of artillery. A system for mobilizing not only soldiers but carts and pack animals is being put into place, ideally capable of mobilizing all forces within twenty days. The city garrisons have also seen some changes, being renamed to the Home Guard and given responsibility for smaller-scale defense in the countryside as well as in cities themselves.
Influence Central Committee Appointments: The Constitution of the Popular Republic of Mycenae requires that by the end of 10 AE, either elections must be held or the Central Committee must be expanded to be at least 60% downtimers. Since elections are obviously not going to be held this year, the Central Committee will therefore have to be expanded. It only makes sense to try your best to ensure that these new appointees are as committed to the Revolution as you are. (-5 Political Support) (Max 1 die) (Subvote will be held in Results) (93)
Your political maneuvering has been quite successful in recent months, with the moderates being essentially locked out from getting any of their preferred candidates into the Central Committee. With your faction, the Intensificationists, and the Agrarians needing to come to some sort of compromise in order for any candidates to get enough votes to be accepted into the Central Committee, the only question is what the best way to approach it is.
[]Play Them Off Each Other: In exchange for supporting a few candidates from both factions, each can likely be made to agree to appoint one or two downtimers who are committed students of Mao Zedong Thought. However, this will come at the cost of burning much political capital (-10 Political Support)
[]Support the Agrarians: Even if they are far too soft on religion, sometimes push for the diversion of funds from industrialization towards increasing rural quality of life, and have no party discipline to speak of, some of the more militarist Agrarians are still broadly in agreement with you on most issues. With you supporting them, more Agrarians can be appointed to the Central Committee at the expense of the Intensificationists.
[]Support the Intensificationists: Gordon has promised to back you up on multiple policy issues in exchange for you allowing several more cadres aligned with him to join the Central Committee. While this would give you more room to maneuver in the short term, him gaining even more control over the Central Committee may cause even more issues in the future (+20 Political Support)
2 Hour Moratorium
190+10-10+10=200 Resources Per Turn, 75 In Storage
51-1+5-5-5 = 45 Political Support
Infrastructure
Derveni-Zapantis Canal: A navigable canal to connect the Gulf of Corinth to the city of Mycenae and the Aegean as a whole will massively decrease the difficulty of transporting goods to our capital. Work has begun on a series of locks, reservoirs, and pumps to enable the movement of small barges between the Derveni and Zapantis rivers, but this requires a vertical climb of close to a hundred meters. However, even with its massive cost, it must be worth it for the Cretans to have built a similar canal. (10 Resources per dice (350+40+15=405/1050), loss of political support if less than 50 progress/turn) (Makes most other projects cheaper)
An acceptable amount of further progress has been made on the canal. The new issuance of large amounts of fully steel shovels has caused work to speed up considerably, due to their much better performance compared to earlier tools.
Port Facilities (Stage 1): While sporadic improvements to ports have been made since the establishment of the Republic, a nationwide effort is badly needed. This would expand and improve ports in all major cities, helping trade and fishing and potentially allowing for the creation of a real navy. (5 Resources per dice (48/125))
Work has begun on expanded harbors, docks, and other facilities in Mycenae, Tiryns, and Dyme. While moving massive amounts of rock and rubble for breakwaters is taking some time, all three ports have already had new steam-powered cranes installed for handling heavy loads.
Mycenae Storm Drains: With a basic network of water and sewage pipes complete, the time has come to build a system of storm drains to prevent flooding. Already mostly complete, after this stage other cities like Tiryns and Dyme will receive similar systems as exist in Mycenae. (10 Resources per dice (85+63=148/100 complete)) (Secondary Cities Utilities 48/125)
With the completion of a storm drain network in Mycenae, work has begun on deploying running water, sewers, and storm drains in Tiryns and Dyme. This time, all three are being installed at the same time so that a trench only needs to be dug once, reducing the disruptions caused by their construction.
Heavy Industry
Kópos Coal Mine (Stage 1): With an exploitable deposit of coal being found at last, exploitation must start immediately. While lacking machining capability means that the use of steam engines is restricted, being right next to so much coal means that even extremely inefficient and simple steam engines are still practical for use in pumping out water and bringing up coal from the depths of the mine. (10 Resources per dice (55/125))
The first lignite has begun being produced from the Kópos mine, if in miniscule quantities compared to what it will produce after this first stage is completed. Due to the fact that you do not have a single person with actual mining experience, work has been slowed down and miners are given some basic instruction to hopefully reduce the risks involved, although they will still be massive.
Just two months and I've already seen people nearly killed more times than I can count... breaking cables, tunnels at risk of collapse, idiots using open flames underground, our luck won't hold forever. - Lewis Carson, former carpenter and foreman of the mine.
Thríambos Ironworks (Stage 1): Now that we have working examples of blast, puddling, and cementation furnaces for iron production, we can begin massively scaling up the production of iron and steel. Located just outside the walls of Mycenae due to the availability of nearby ore, labor, water, limestone, wood, and coal, this will be the beating heart of our industrialization from now on. While the blast furnaces will still require charcoal, puddling and cementation furnaces work in such a way that the fuel and charge never actually come into contact, allowing us to use coal for those parts of the process (50/100)
Construction has continued on the planned ironworks, but workers there have ran into significant issues. Not one, but two of the six massive steam hammers used to work the blooms produced by the puddling furnaces into wrought iron have already catastrophically failed, and must be entirely rebuilt, significantly delaying the completion of the facility.
Hearing that massive machine scream as it tore itself apart, metal being twisted with ten times the force needed to tear a man in half, was one of the most terrifying things I have seen in my life. - Citizen Lukios, steelworker
Machine Tools: Our machining capability is massively limited, and will be for the foreseeable future. However, we can at least make more tools such as lathes and trip hammers, even if they need constant maintenance and have horrible precision. (15 Resources per dice (58+81=139/100 Complete)) (+5 Political Support on completion) (+10 Resources per turn)
Facilities for producing machine tools have been massively expanded. Nearly every day, a lathe, steam hammer, drill press, or other piece of heavy machinery comes out of the machine shop in Mycenae. While this is still nowhere near enough production, further expansion will have to wait until more metal is available.
Light Industry
Farming Tool Production: Improved ploughs, reapers, and other farming equipment will allow for massive improvements in agriculture. While the limited supply of iron does cause some issues, setting up more workshops will still help a lot. (10 resources per dice (74+87=161/100 complete))
With recent expansions being completed, everything from axes and scythes to ploughs and seed drills are now being produced in far greater numbers than ever before in the Republic. Far more is still needed, but the limited state of the iron industry means that production cannot be increased much more from current levels.
Hand Tool Production: Setting up workshops additional to make hand tools will be a massive help to work in mining, construction, and many other industries. This includes not only tools such as hammers, picks, and saws, but also measuring instruments such as rulers and calipers. (10 resources per dice (56/50 complete))
Investments into various workshops for making hand tools of all sorts. The proliferation of steam hammers has allowed for the cheap production of high-quality shovels and picks by first forging wrought iron into shape, then case hardening it for increased durability. Smaller and more accurate machine tools from the expanded plant have allowed for the reliable production of Vernier calipers of acceptable quality, massively increasing the level of accuracy that can be achieved.
Mills (Stage 1): Anywhere with a decently sized stream can be home to mills for grinding grain, cutting wood, and more. This will decrease the cost and increase the quality of goods such as flour and lumber, and free up large amounts of labor. (5 resources per dice (32+93=125/100 complete)) (25/150 Stage 2)
Several dozen mills have been built, mostly for grinding grain but some for sawing lumber or crushing rocks. Plans have already been drawn up for even more mills, including some with rotary lathes for plywood production.
Chemical Industry
Sulfuric Acid Production: Pyrite will slowly be oxidized to ferrous sulfate in the presence of air and water, which in turn can be heated to decompose it to iron oxide and sulfuric acid. While this is extremely slow and inefficient, sulfuric acid is invaluable for essentially all chemical processes. (5 Resources per dice (32+67=99/50 complete)) (Unlocks Glucose Syrup Plant)
With the equipment for distilling ferrous sulfate finally complete, production of sulfuric acid on the scale of several tons per day has commenced. This gives us a critical feedstock for other areas of chemistry, however due to the generally undeveloped state of that industry the main immediate use will likely be for the hydrolysis of starches to produce a sugar-rich syrup to substitute for cane or beet sugar.
Alternative Feedstock Production Routes: While salt is the main solute in seawater, there are sizeable amounts of magnesium chloride and sodium sulfate present in the bitterns, or the solution left over after it has been evaporated down to produce salt. These can be used to make hydrochloric acid and sodium carbonate, which can be converted to a whole host of other chemicals. Most interesting of these is potassium chlorate, which can be used to make gunpowder and is not limited by the amount of nitrogenous waste we can procure like saltpeter is. However, this has never been done on a large scale before, so it may have unexpected problems. (10 Resources per dice (67/30 complete)) (Quality dice 22) (Unlocks Dyme Salt Evaporation Pond and Chloroalkali Plant)
Efforts to work out methods for the mass production of common chemical feedstocks have given acceptable results. Although it is not incredibly efficient, requires massive amounts of stainless steel for various parts of the chemical reactors involved, and is fairly unsafe, most of the planned processes work in some capacity. Hydrated magnesium chloride in bitterns can be heated to decompose it into magnesium oxide and hydrochloric acid. The hydrochloric acid is then mixed with air and heated over a copper chloride catalyst in order to produce chlorine gas, needed for everything from bleach to chlorate-based explosives. Left with the magnesium oxide is residual sodium chloride and sodium sulfate, which can then be separated via recrystallization. The sodium sulfate can then be heated with silica sand and carbon to reduce it to sodium silicate, which can be used directly in glassmaking or easily converted to sodium hydroxide or carbonate. Plans have been already been drawn up for a larger-scale plant using these processes, as well as a series of dams and canals to convert the Prokopou lagoon just southwest of Dyme into a massive salt evaporation pond.
Agriculture
Agricultural Education: Many farmers are still using downtime crops and livestock, and adoption of more modern farming techniques is even more slow. Sending out more education teams will likely help with this, although the purge of the priests has damaged our relationship with them. (5 Resources per dice (5 Resources per dice (92+147=239/150 complete))
Many more peasants have been given further instruction on improved agricultural techniques, with significantly increased yields expected next harvest. Much of the material focused on improved methods of crop rotation as well, hopefully slowing down the rate of soil depletion caused by the introduction of nutrient-hungry uptime crops.
Village Educational Cadre Instruction: Previous literacy programs have been focused almost exclusively in cities. This program would recruit volunteers from rural areas to learn how to read and write, and provide them with paper, writing materials, and a few books on subjects like agriculture and basic medicine before sending them back to their villages with an increased ration of food and clothes for them to teach others how to read and write on a part-time basis. This will come nowhere close to eliminating rural illiteracy, but making sure that at least one person in every village knows how to read is a first step. (5 Resources per dice (19/200)) (+5 Political Support on completion)
Several hundred peasants have been enrolled in literacy programs over the winter, to hopefully provide a link between the state and their villages after returning. The issue of non-Greek speakers living in our territory has started to become an issue because of this. A sizeable minority of our population, especially in more remote areas, speaks the non-Indo-European Korakou language, distantly related to the language spoken on Greece. While a few pamphlets on agriculture and medicine have been translated, it is clear that far more works need to be translated if any progress is to be made in education in those areas. (Korakou Translations 0/35 5 Resources per dice)
Services
Primary Schools (Stage 1): While we have taught thousands of urban citizens how to read and write, we still lack a true education system. This would establish a series of schools in all of our cities, teaching a 4-year program to children whose parents decide to educate them, with free lunches being given to pupils to encourage this. They will graduate with knowledge of reading, writing, basic arithmetic, and some education on the basics of things like germ theory, geography, and how the Republic is surrounded on all sides by reactionary feudalist and capitalist states bent on enslaving us all. (5 Resources per dice (54+66=120/150)) (+5 Political Support on completion)
Enough massively underqualified "teachers" have been hired and enough schoolhouses have been built to educate over fifteen hundred students at once. While this is still not nearly enough for Mycenae, let alone the whole Republic, it is still a massive step forwards.
Alright, the bad news is that none of you know how to multiply two numbers. The good news is that multiplication won't be taught for two more years, so you should be able to teach yourself from the textbook before then. - Lynnete Bush
Vocational Education: Several thousand workers already know how to read and write, but more education will increase their productivity further. This consists of both purely practical instruction in areas such as blacksmithing and pottery, as well as teaching more advanced mathematics to people such as carpenters and masons. (5 Resources per dice (21+106=127/100 complete) (27/80 Nursing School)
Night classes are now being held for everything from cooking to masonry in the major cities of the Republic. Already, several facilities have already recorded increases in productivity and decreases in accidents, even if nearly every single worker is still massively underqualified for their job.
Military
Arquebus Production (Stage 3): While still made of iron pipes, the switch from matchlocks to caplocks has significantly increased the effectiveness of our crude arquebuses. This would more than double the production of firearms of all types, a necessity if the planned mass adoption of arquebusier units is to become a reality. (10 Resources per dice (13+91=104/100 complete)) (4/150 Stage 4) (Quality dice 63)
Production of arquebuses has increased to over a hundred per month, with many matchlocks also being brought in for conversion to caplocks. However, it will still take over a year for enough to be produced to arm every soldier in the recently reorganized army, and production must be increased even further if the Revolution is to be protected and spread. Work has already begun on expanding production even further, with a projected capacity of nearly ten per day when complete.
Cannon Production (Stage 2): While tin for making bronze is extremely expensive, cannons are still indispensable weapons. We need more foundries to produce them in even larger amounts to ensure the safety of the Republic. (15 Resources per dice (43+7=52/50 complete)) (2/100 Stage 3) (Quality dice 81)
The new foundries are now producing everything from small breech-loading swivel guns to twelve-centimeter cannons to a massive siege bombard capable of launching balls weighing over a hundred kilograms at enemy fortifications. Yet, this is still not enough to secure victory against any imaginable opponent, and work has begun on expanding the foundries even further.
Rifle Trials: Current guns are extremely inaccurate, however, it may be possible to produce better ones. With caplocks being more reliable, faster to reload, and mechanically simpler than matchlocks or caplocks, all proposed designs now use percussion caps. Producing a few dozen of these would establish if larger-scale manufacture is practical at this time. While they probably cannot be issued to every single soldier, they would be invaluable in the hands of more professional units. (5 Resources per dice (84/30 complete)) (Quality dice 69) (Rifle Production (Stage 1) 0/50)
The most promising design for a rifle produced so far has been the Model 10 "Geráki". While still a muzzle-loader, it has decent ergonomics and is useful up to ranges of 350 meters. Due to the need for far more accurate machining, each rifle will take substantially more time to produce than a pipe gun, but being able to actually hit something a decent distance away makes this extra cost worth it in many situations. Early production will likely be given to scouting and skirmishing units, with a wider rollout several years away.
Bureaucracy
Creation of Mobile Units: While the People's Army was created as a collection of guerilla and garrison units meant to bleed any invader enough to force them to withdrawl, this was a temporary measure simply meant to give us some capability to fight back until a more capable force could be fielded. As we now have the capability to produce enough arquebuses, ammunition, bayonets, and other "modern" equipment on a large enough scale to arm thousands of soldiers, and our neighbors to the north have become even more of a threat, the time for change is now. (DC 15, -5 Political Support to attempt, -10 Resources per turn if successful) (Arquebus Production (Stage 3), Cannon Production (Stage 2), and Rifle Trials must be complete within 2 turns of taking) (Massively increases the military capabilities of the Republic in the long term, reorganization takes 2-3 turns) (55/15 Passed)
With the recent increases in military production and promises of even more progress in the near future, a deal has been made to convert most of the People's Army from peasant guerillas to actual mobile infantry units. Each military district has been converted into an infantry brigade, mostly consisting of arquebusiers drilled during the winter when they are not needed for farming. Each also has one company of chariots for reconnaissance and screening, as well as one or two companies of artillery. A system for mobilizing not only soldiers but carts and pack animals is being put into place, ideally capable of mobilizing all forces within twenty days. The city garrisons have also seen some changes, being renamed to the Home Guard and given responsibility for smaller-scale defense in the countryside as well as in cities themselves.
The new world will be born like anything else - screaming and covered in blood.
- Orestes son of Alektruon
- Orestes son of Alektruon
Influence Central Committee Appointments: The Constitution of the Popular Republic of Mycenae requires that by the end of 10 AE, either elections must be held or the Central Committee must be expanded to be at least 60% downtimers. Since elections are obviously not going to be held this year, the Central Committee will therefore have to be expanded. It only makes sense to try your best to ensure that these new appointees are as committed to the Revolution as you are. (-5 Political Support) (Max 1 die) (Subvote will be held in Results) (93)
Your political maneuvering has been quite successful in recent months, with the moderates being essentially locked out from getting any of their preferred candidates into the Central Committee. With your faction, the Intensificationists, and the Agrarians needing to come to some sort of compromise in order for any candidates to get enough votes to be accepted into the Central Committee, the only question is what the best way to approach it is.
[]Play Them Off Each Other: In exchange for supporting a few candidates from both factions, each can likely be made to agree to appoint one or two downtimers who are committed students of Mao Zedong Thought. However, this will come at the cost of burning much political capital (-10 Political Support)
[]Support the Agrarians: Even if they are far too soft on religion, sometimes push for the diversion of funds from industrialization towards increasing rural quality of life, and have no party discipline to speak of, some of the more militarist Agrarians are still broadly in agreement with you on most issues. With you supporting them, more Agrarians can be appointed to the Central Committee at the expense of the Intensificationists.
[]Support the Intensificationists: Gordon has promised to back you up on multiple policy issues in exchange for you allowing several more cadres aligned with him to join the Central Committee. While this would give you more room to maneuver in the short term, him gaining even more control over the Central Committee may cause even more issues in the future (+20 Political Support)
2 Hour Moratorium
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Chimeraguard
We do deserve to exist.
For reference, here's our current Central Committee lineup:
Okay so, while the Maoists are our faction and Play Them Off Each Other sounds nice, there is a bit of playing on the margin with PS. We currently have 45 Political Support and are planning on taking at least two more -5 PS options soon (Diplomacy and SSD.)
We have a buffer (Below 30ish is when we start running into issues), but it would bring us rather close to it. We could recover quickly with Schools Stage 1, but we'd be hanging around the margin for quite a while. It is more doable than I first thought though.
Intensificationists I'm very much leery of though, since Gordon is our main political rival (besides the Moderates, and Gordon's way more influential ATM.)
Agrarians meanwhile seem likely to split between the pacifists and militarists sooner or later, and are also the weakest faction currently.
Turning it to 60% Mycenaean would mean another 8 members.
Okay so, while the Maoists are our faction and Play Them Off Each Other sounds nice, there is a bit of playing on the margin with PS. We currently have 45 Political Support and are planning on taking at least two more -5 PS options soon (Diplomacy and SSD.)
We have a buffer (Below 30ish is when we start running into issues), but it would bring us rather close to it. We could recover quickly with Schools Stage 1, but we'd be hanging around the margin for quite a while. It is more doable than I first thought though.
Intensificationists I'm very much leery of though, since Gordon is our main political rival (besides the Moderates, and Gordon's way more influential ATM.)
Agrarians meanwhile seem likely to split between the pacifists and militarists sooner or later, and are also the weakest faction currently.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
The Popular Republic getting it's act together Military wise at this stage is a big change compared to Canon.
On vote. My preference is either Intensificationists or Playing them off each other. The former gives us a rare and very real chance to have a greater voice on the Central Committee. It's risky yes but it's a risk we can overcome fairly easily and I think it's worth it for the opportunity we have on hand. If we're not will to take a risk, I'd rather give us some padding politics wise then ally with a politically split faction,
On vote. My preference is either Intensificationists or Playing them off each other. The former gives us a rare and very real chance to have a greater voice on the Central Committee. It's risky yes but it's a risk we can overcome fairly easily and I think it's worth it for the opportunity we have on hand. If we're not will to take a risk, I'd rather give us some padding politics wise then ally with a politically split faction,
indeed so we can get info or maybe some warning on when invasion will happen and help make invasions of other countries easier too
Cannon Omake: High-ho, High-ho
- Pronouns
- he/him
On a flat space on the slope of a mountain, listening to the workers sing in a language they still had trouble holding conversationally, two managers were preparing for the lunch break along with about ten more cooking staff. "You know, with how short they are, and their beards they, look like dwarves." Ronald Smith said. His coworker, Jim Hard, looked at him a bit aghast.
"Ron, dude." He admonished, pausing in rolling up the joints he was preparing to hand out for the lunch break. Jim had set up a little weed farm with some help from a Mycenaean hemp farmer and a little modern seed he'd gotten from a scavenger ship. This year they had bloomed enough to consistently hand out some for a few weeks for the winter months. Not a joint for every mouth, but a puff puff pass set up got everyone good and high for the mind numbing work of digging holes uphill.
In the tradition of construction workers everywhere, the corvee took to it with aplomb. Jim has fond memories of a worker named Pheraktos complaining that two hits wasn't even enough hemp to get buzzed, taking a good, long drag, then being useless for the next four hours after coughing up his guts. And the best part is that the other workers still give him shit.
The workers have taken to calling Jim's weed Dragon's Smoke, which he has to admit is a good strain name.
"What? They look like dwarves Jim… They're stocky. It's not racist." Ronald says, slightly sheepish. He was working on preparing meat filled bread rolls called… meat rolls. Nice and greasy and lightly salted. Perfect food for people swinging their shiny new steel shovels and picks all day.
"If you have to say it's not racist, it is racist. They're not even that short, dwarves are four foot max, these guys are 4'5" minimum. They're short kings, Ron." Jim said deadpan. Ronald barked out a laugh.
They both really miss the internet.
Ron finished pinching the bun together, passed it to the oven crew, grabbed some meat, grabbed some dough, and started making another.
They continue with their tasks, waiting until the shadow stick is as short as it'll get, and call the crew in for their break. About fifty cheers rang out when Jim pulled out his whistle and blew. They rushed to the cook's counter, and grabbed their meat buns, then eagerly went over to Jim.
Ekhinos took his savory salted meat bun, and eagerly took a bite of it as he walked over to get his joint of dragon's smoke from Citizen Jim. Ekhinos, while unfamiliar with him, rather liked Citizen Jim, his tall, reedy stature and long hair made him look like a sort of wise man, and his generosity in providing his hemp blossoms was endearing. He was very concerned with making sure his crew had 'as good a day as back-breaking labor can be.'
And Ekhinos genuinely appreciated that. Sure, he wasn't really working a full day, only eight hours, but not having to do so sober is excellent since they weren't allowed to be drunk on the job. Not following that rule is how Nikostratos died, he was helping carry a big boulder and staggered and feel because he was cherry-red drunk.
Sure, Ekhinos didn't get along with him, but no one deserves to die like that. Hemp, however, while it made you slower in the head, didn't make you nearly as uncoordinated, and so was allowed by the Canal Construction Committee.
And it was, as Citizen Jim proclaimed, "good shit." Ekhinos didn't exactly know what gudshit meant in English, but the way it was said did sound right.
When Ekhinos sat with his lunch group, Drakokardos, Hektor, Glaukos, and Poimen one of them was already using a piece of flint and his new shovel to start some tender. When he sat down Poimen looked over, "Friend Ekhinos these new shovels are great! Not only do they pierce the ground better than our old wood ones, but they can be used with flint to make fire!"
"Well, light this up, then!" Ekhinos said excitedly. He handed over the joint of dragon's smoke and involuntarily wrinkled his nose at the overpowering skunk smell that started overtaking the camp. They all took a toke, each saying 'gudshit' with ritual seriousness afterwards, and started eating with vigor. Ekhinos could feel his eyes start squinting with the harsh smoke from the paper and hemp filling his lungs.
As he ate his meat bun it started somehow tasting better, as usual. "How do dey make dese so good?" Poimen asked, mumbling around the food in his mouth.
"It's the salt and the fat. It soaks into the bread." Hektor replied. They were all still amazed that the Americans insisted the construction crews eat at least one meal with meat and salt a day. Drakokardos remembers corveeing for the wanaxes before the Americans and they'd get hard bread and a beating.
They spent the next small while talking, speculating what the canal will be like when it's finished, talking about their families, and praising the relaxed management of the Americans.
"To Citizen Jim!" Glaukos lifted the joint up and took the final toke.
""""To Citizen Jim!"""" The rest raised the last of their meat buns, then stuffed their mouths, lifted their shovels, and got back to work, having enjoyed their break.
Back to singing and digging, while red-eyed and sweating.
"Ron, dude." He admonished, pausing in rolling up the joints he was preparing to hand out for the lunch break. Jim had set up a little weed farm with some help from a Mycenaean hemp farmer and a little modern seed he'd gotten from a scavenger ship. This year they had bloomed enough to consistently hand out some for a few weeks for the winter months. Not a joint for every mouth, but a puff puff pass set up got everyone good and high for the mind numbing work of digging holes uphill.
In the tradition of construction workers everywhere, the corvee took to it with aplomb. Jim has fond memories of a worker named Pheraktos complaining that two hits wasn't even enough hemp to get buzzed, taking a good, long drag, then being useless for the next four hours after coughing up his guts. And the best part is that the other workers still give him shit.
The workers have taken to calling Jim's weed Dragon's Smoke, which he has to admit is a good strain name.
"What? They look like dwarves Jim… They're stocky. It's not racist." Ronald says, slightly sheepish. He was working on preparing meat filled bread rolls called… meat rolls. Nice and greasy and lightly salted. Perfect food for people swinging their shiny new steel shovels and picks all day.
"If you have to say it's not racist, it is racist. They're not even that short, dwarves are four foot max, these guys are 4'5" minimum. They're short kings, Ron." Jim said deadpan. Ronald barked out a laugh.
They both really miss the internet.
Ron finished pinching the bun together, passed it to the oven crew, grabbed some meat, grabbed some dough, and started making another.
They continue with their tasks, waiting until the shadow stick is as short as it'll get, and call the crew in for their break. About fifty cheers rang out when Jim pulled out his whistle and blew. They rushed to the cook's counter, and grabbed their meat buns, then eagerly went over to Jim.
Ekhinos took his savory salted meat bun, and eagerly took a bite of it as he walked over to get his joint of dragon's smoke from Citizen Jim. Ekhinos, while unfamiliar with him, rather liked Citizen Jim, his tall, reedy stature and long hair made him look like a sort of wise man, and his generosity in providing his hemp blossoms was endearing. He was very concerned with making sure his crew had 'as good a day as back-breaking labor can be.'
And Ekhinos genuinely appreciated that. Sure, he wasn't really working a full day, only eight hours, but not having to do so sober is excellent since they weren't allowed to be drunk on the job. Not following that rule is how Nikostratos died, he was helping carry a big boulder and staggered and feel because he was cherry-red drunk.
Sure, Ekhinos didn't get along with him, but no one deserves to die like that. Hemp, however, while it made you slower in the head, didn't make you nearly as uncoordinated, and so was allowed by the Canal Construction Committee.
And it was, as Citizen Jim proclaimed, "good shit." Ekhinos didn't exactly know what gudshit meant in English, but the way it was said did sound right.
When Ekhinos sat with his lunch group, Drakokardos, Hektor, Glaukos, and Poimen one of them was already using a piece of flint and his new shovel to start some tender. When he sat down Poimen looked over, "Friend Ekhinos these new shovels are great! Not only do they pierce the ground better than our old wood ones, but they can be used with flint to make fire!"
"Well, light this up, then!" Ekhinos said excitedly. He handed over the joint of dragon's smoke and involuntarily wrinkled his nose at the overpowering skunk smell that started overtaking the camp. They all took a toke, each saying 'gudshit' with ritual seriousness afterwards, and started eating with vigor. Ekhinos could feel his eyes start squinting with the harsh smoke from the paper and hemp filling his lungs.
As he ate his meat bun it started somehow tasting better, as usual. "How do dey make dese so good?" Poimen asked, mumbling around the food in his mouth.
"It's the salt and the fat. It soaks into the bread." Hektor replied. They were all still amazed that the Americans insisted the construction crews eat at least one meal with meat and salt a day. Drakokardos remembers corveeing for the wanaxes before the Americans and they'd get hard bread and a beating.
They spent the next small while talking, speculating what the canal will be like when it's finished, talking about their families, and praising the relaxed management of the Americans.
"To Citizen Jim!" Glaukos lifted the joint up and took the final toke.
""""To Citizen Jim!"""" The rest raised the last of their meat buns, then stuffed their mouths, lifted their shovels, and got back to work, having enjoyed their break.
Back to singing and digging, while red-eyed and sweating.
- Pronouns
- he/him
[X]Play Them Off Each Other
[X]Support the Agrarians
[X]Support the Agrarians
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X]Play Them Off Each Other
[X]Support the Agrarians
Chimeraguard
We do deserve to exist.
[X]Play Them Off Each Other
[X]Support the Agrarians
We are planning on going hard on education starting next turn and continuing for some time, so I think we can afford to spend some PS now.
[X]Support the Agrarians
We are planning on going hard on education starting next turn and continuing for some time, so I think we can afford to spend some PS now.
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- Pronouns
- He
[X]Support the Agrarians
Cannon Omake: People's Army ORBAT c. 11 AE
- Location
- The United States
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Popular Republic Army-Mobilization Plan
Preamble on Structure:
To provide the capacity for a significant mobilization for the military, formalize command structures, and utilize the massive human potential available to us, a broad scale reform of the army has been proposed. Instead of relying on poorly controlled and not commanded guerilla formations, an overhaul has started to provide command and control capability to the broader military. The largest of these changes has been the full scale adoption of a transferred rank structure while adapting the available formations to the assets that are available. The division between the trained and standing army and the mobilized workers and peasants is significant, but even this can be used with the constraints of our capabilities.
Copied over rank structures have so far been made to range from E-1 to E-5, as the practicality of long serving NCO's is questionable in relation to the harvest pattern. Officer ranks have also been rationalized to form a spread from O-1 to O-7 in order to rationalize that. A theoretical O-8 rank is expected to be needed if far larger formations are ever raised, but that will likely be decades down the line rather than anything immediate. E-1's are more an organizational rank as it was for the old army, with almost all that complete basic drill expected to advance to E-2. E-2's are expected to form the bulk of the forces, with those that stay in military drill structures expected to advance to E-3 as proof of time in rank and an eligibility for promotion towards NCO ranks.
An E-4 is expected to be promoted by the company commander(O-3), with a confirmation of the promotion at the battalion command level(O-4) to avoid any shenanigans. E-5 is thus a more formalized rank showing experience in grade as an NCO and an increased pay scale, making the soldier eligible for a promotion into officer ranks and an accelerated guaranteed path into an officers collage to maintain a steady flow of trained personnel. From the point that enlisted personnel reach E-5, they could be considered to be experienced in grade and more than capable of conducting maneuvers. It is recommended that they are trained with an overlap for O-1 and O-2 ranks, but current educational capacity will have to be expanded to accomplish that.
Officer ranks themselves are expected to be selected out of long serving professional personnel, rendering much of our lower command staff as O-2's immediately, but for fresh graduates from officer academies the O-1 rank will represent a lacking time in grade. From there, the higher command staff is expected to be promoted on the recommendation of those immediately above them, with the high command selecting the officers in charge. O-5 and O-6 ranks are both to have the higher authority be the party military confirm their recommendation rather than any officers, establishing civilian control over the army. The one O-7 flag post will be entirely appointed from qualified and peer-recommended O-6's representing the most experienced officers and those more than able to command the full forces of the Republic.
The mobilization scheme itself will be separated into three districts, optimized for the fast recruitment and raising of soldiers along with local drill stations. Higher officers are expected to organize their lower professional commands to fill their formations from local villages, with authority for press gangs and levees in times of war. Limitations in mobilization will mean that we can technically call up men faster than training or equipping them, with a practical schedule likely taking a few months for a call up and training of all units across the republic, especially if new conscripts need to be replenished. This may resemble a press-gang, but given the situation and lack of bureaucratic capacity, the simple recruitment of men from the village in wartime should be sufficient.
Infantry Units:
General equipment for every infantryman that will be provided from the state will be a standardized cap-lock rifle, a powder satchel, a number of lead shot, a set of boots, several foot wraps, shovel, pack, mountable bayonet, and blouse for easy identification. Training itself for the formations is expected to occur over a few weeks of the winter season to drill them in basic formations, maneuvers, digging trench works, and an understanding of marksmanship of their rifles mixed in with short bayonet drill. Actual shock from levee troops is expected to be minimal with poor coherency, but exercises can at least maintain morale for those involved in such action.
Any significant work that will be done by our forces will rely heavily on the massive raised levee of infantry. They are expected to be under trained, but being able to be organized into blocks by their officers and with a rudimentary capability to maneuver is invaluable compared to any downtime forces. The core unit formed will be the infantry squad, comprising 15 men and drilled in forming ranks with the broader platoon. An E-5 or E-4 is expected to take command of the squad itself, with a second in command selected from the various E-3's expected to take up the role in case of casualties.
Two of these enlisted squads will each form a single rank in a field engagement providing for coordination on the broader platoon level. An integrated command staff with an O-1 or O-2 as high command for each platoon will exist, with a lower officer or E-5 as an aid, along with a pair of runners will provide the coordination staff for each platoon. These improvements in coordination should significantly contribute to line stiffening and ensuring that a larger unit can manage to maneuver.. Main field formations will involve a series of two squads in the first rank and two squads in the second rank, providing firepower supremacy and coordinated fire on a sixty four man unit.
At the higher step comes the infantry company, and the most relevant unit for broader organizational maneuvers and command. Made up of three platoons and with a command staff made up of a single O-3 along with either an O-2 or O-1 as an assistant, four messengers, a small kitchen unit, quartermaster, and a single experienced carpenter or nurse. The company is expected to be the smallest unit that can be moved between conventional formations, being mostly self sufficient and containing two hundred men. Expected to be organically organized by the officers involved, on the battlefield they are the main bulk of the force and expected to be used heavily for positional work.
At the yet higher step is the infantry battalion and in effect the largest purely infantry unit that is expected to be in use. Made up of two to three infantry companies, with an ideal recruitment target of three, these are the smallest groups capable of independent, if limited action in the field. Command is expected to be distributed amongst three officers, with an O-5 taking charge. A second in command in the form of an O-4 and an O-3 adjunct are further expected to distribute the duties of command. Two quartermasters along with a full supply train are expected to be formed at this level, with several wagons assigned. A signals officer of a O-2 grade will form the core of a signals unit, allowing for a set of nine runners to coordinate the broader formation. Medical staff will also be coordinated under an O-2, ensuring the prompt treatment of evacuated casualties. In a reduced two company formation, the overall unit size is expected to be around five hundred men, with an expanded idealized company consisting of almost seven fifty incorporating an expanded logistical train.
Supporting Units:
The army has two relevant artillery pieces to distribute, the 12 pounder cannon and a siege bombard. The latter is far more of a specialized weapon, only existing in the form of an organic battery that can be attached to the regiment. The former however forms the mainstay of our artillery corps and will form a core weapon for the destruction of the enemy at range. Both are expected to be organized into batteries of six guns. Each gun crew is expected to consist of ten men, with an incorporated O-1 or O-2 in the leadership role. While in theory capable of independent operation, outside of dedicated attached siege bombard batteries, ammunition is expected to be supplied at the battalion level.
At the company level, three batteries will be combined under the command of a two officer team along with a supply train consisting of at least three carts per gun. One to transport the cannon, one the limber and some powder, and one to move the shells and the remaining powder. The carts are expected to be accompanied by a small provisioning unit consisting of two men, to ensure that the formation can operate semi-independently. These will be combined with an expanded command staff consisting of an O-3 and an assistant O-2. Overall, the largest expected organic artillery unit, it lacks in some elements compared to the infantry battalion, but is expected to form an essential component of every combined arms mobilized regiment.
The reality that we have no horses capable of doing conventional cavalry work serves as a constant major limitation, but one that will be eventually overcome. For now the chariot has to form the majority of our open field reconnaissance strength. These units are not expected for either contact or actual dedicated action outside of skirmish, and in rough terrain should be trained for dismounted combat. Only recruiting from E-3's and higher, each chariot team will be made up of two men, with each platoon having two chariot teams of two, one commanded by an E-4 and one by an E-5. At the company level, three conventional platoons will be combined with a dual-use command-runner platoon. Leaving the formation with sixteen chariots, one containing a pair of officers, ideally an O-3 and an assisting O-2. These are pure recon attached formations, not expected to sustain long contact, and only consisting of a theoretical thirty six men with four comprising the logistical section on carts.
On the note of the professional forces, they are expected to be attached as a supporting unit classified as skirmishers rather than serve in standardized infantry formations. Equipped with rifles and a heavier loading, along with a more intensive coordinated drill, rank and file infantry are expected to be E-4 equivalent specialists with a E-5 leading a small condensed 11 man squad. Conventional four squad platoons are expected to be the highest level of organization, with a full O-3 and a command team of two messengers taking charge of each to eliminate chain of command issues and ensure that a similar prioritization is given to them as as any other attached unit, a further small supply train and provisioning section of three men will also be attached to ensure a consistent degree of support and a theoretical independent supply train.
Practical Example(Western Regiment):
Assuming wartime mobilization, the Western regiment represents our rear-most conscription zone and one of the ones likely to have time to organize. To take advantage of this, a theoretical greater recruitment burden has been placed on the formation, with a maximum size of two thousand men theoretically possible with far more guns. In practice, at least for the next two years a more practical size of around fifteen hundred men is expected. On the declaration of a mobilization by the central military commission, the command team for the Regiment(O-6, O-5, and the O-4 Adjutant) are expected to implement the peacetime mobilization plan. Calling up personnel from the villages and cities.
This is expected to take a fairly short period of time with the cooperation of local party cadres, with centralized drill to begin shortly after. The practical limitations of recruiting will likely see squad command roles given to people with insufficient experience, but some experience is better than nothing. From there, a simultaneous series of runners will call up the officers, with all reporting to several central gathering posts organized by company. Each command team is expected to take on the responsibility of drilling their men in basic taught maneuvers, ensuring that they are up to standard for formation work. Similar organization is expected to occur for battery officers and reconnaissance officers.
Depending on the urgency of mobilization, this time-frame could be cut short if believed to be unnecessary or with a steady supply of experienced personnel. These men will then form up at the regimental command point, at which point the unit will be prepared to march to the front to engage, with the standard TOE for the Western Regiment expecting to consist of a "narrow" infantry battalion and a "wide" one. These twelve hundred fifty men are expected to be paired with a company of cannon and a company of reconnaissance troops, leaving a mainline manpower requirement of fifteen hundred men. Support units are expected to come from secondary personnel, with supply train coordination occurring more at the staff office than the individual units.
Depending on the views and planning of the high command, the unit will be attached with an additional company of cannon, a battery of mortars, or even several platoons of professional skirmish troops. Under the directives of the staff office headed by the O-7 and the central military commission, these will then deploy to the front when available, with options for regrouping at several hard points. Officer recruitment in lieu of established traditions will have to be done under the auspices of the high command, but ideally it will be possible to establish an experienced and trained core of officers.
Preamble on Structure:
To provide the capacity for a significant mobilization for the military, formalize command structures, and utilize the massive human potential available to us, a broad scale reform of the army has been proposed. Instead of relying on poorly controlled and not commanded guerilla formations, an overhaul has started to provide command and control capability to the broader military. The largest of these changes has been the full scale adoption of a transferred rank structure while adapting the available formations to the assets that are available. The division between the trained and standing army and the mobilized workers and peasants is significant, but even this can be used with the constraints of our capabilities.
Copied over rank structures have so far been made to range from E-1 to E-5, as the practicality of long serving NCO's is questionable in relation to the harvest pattern. Officer ranks have also been rationalized to form a spread from O-1 to O-7 in order to rationalize that. A theoretical O-8 rank is expected to be needed if far larger formations are ever raised, but that will likely be decades down the line rather than anything immediate. E-1's are more an organizational rank as it was for the old army, with almost all that complete basic drill expected to advance to E-2. E-2's are expected to form the bulk of the forces, with those that stay in military drill structures expected to advance to E-3 as proof of time in rank and an eligibility for promotion towards NCO ranks.
An E-4 is expected to be promoted by the company commander(O-3), with a confirmation of the promotion at the battalion command level(O-4) to avoid any shenanigans. E-5 is thus a more formalized rank showing experience in grade as an NCO and an increased pay scale, making the soldier eligible for a promotion into officer ranks and an accelerated guaranteed path into an officers collage to maintain a steady flow of trained personnel. From the point that enlisted personnel reach E-5, they could be considered to be experienced in grade and more than capable of conducting maneuvers. It is recommended that they are trained with an overlap for O-1 and O-2 ranks, but current educational capacity will have to be expanded to accomplish that.
Officer ranks themselves are expected to be selected out of long serving professional personnel, rendering much of our lower command staff as O-2's immediately, but for fresh graduates from officer academies the O-1 rank will represent a lacking time in grade. From there, the higher command staff is expected to be promoted on the recommendation of those immediately above them, with the high command selecting the officers in charge. O-5 and O-6 ranks are both to have the higher authority be the party military confirm their recommendation rather than any officers, establishing civilian control over the army. The one O-7 flag post will be entirely appointed from qualified and peer-recommended O-6's representing the most experienced officers and those more than able to command the full forces of the Republic.
The mobilization scheme itself will be separated into three districts, optimized for the fast recruitment and raising of soldiers along with local drill stations. Higher officers are expected to organize their lower professional commands to fill their formations from local villages, with authority for press gangs and levees in times of war. Limitations in mobilization will mean that we can technically call up men faster than training or equipping them, with a practical schedule likely taking a few months for a call up and training of all units across the republic, especially if new conscripts need to be replenished. This may resemble a press-gang, but given the situation and lack of bureaucratic capacity, the simple recruitment of men from the village in wartime should be sufficient.
Infantry Units:
General equipment for every infantryman that will be provided from the state will be a standardized cap-lock rifle, a powder satchel, a number of lead shot, a set of boots, several foot wraps, shovel, pack, mountable bayonet, and blouse for easy identification. Training itself for the formations is expected to occur over a few weeks of the winter season to drill them in basic formations, maneuvers, digging trench works, and an understanding of marksmanship of their rifles mixed in with short bayonet drill. Actual shock from levee troops is expected to be minimal with poor coherency, but exercises can at least maintain morale for those involved in such action.
Any significant work that will be done by our forces will rely heavily on the massive raised levee of infantry. They are expected to be under trained, but being able to be organized into blocks by their officers and with a rudimentary capability to maneuver is invaluable compared to any downtime forces. The core unit formed will be the infantry squad, comprising 15 men and drilled in forming ranks with the broader platoon. An E-5 or E-4 is expected to take command of the squad itself, with a second in command selected from the various E-3's expected to take up the role in case of casualties.
Two of these enlisted squads will each form a single rank in a field engagement providing for coordination on the broader platoon level. An integrated command staff with an O-1 or O-2 as high command for each platoon will exist, with a lower officer or E-5 as an aid, along with a pair of runners will provide the coordination staff for each platoon. These improvements in coordination should significantly contribute to line stiffening and ensuring that a larger unit can manage to maneuver.. Main field formations will involve a series of two squads in the first rank and two squads in the second rank, providing firepower supremacy and coordinated fire on a sixty four man unit.
At the higher step comes the infantry company, and the most relevant unit for broader organizational maneuvers and command. Made up of three platoons and with a command staff made up of a single O-3 along with either an O-2 or O-1 as an assistant, four messengers, a small kitchen unit, quartermaster, and a single experienced carpenter or nurse. The company is expected to be the smallest unit that can be moved between conventional formations, being mostly self sufficient and containing two hundred men. Expected to be organically organized by the officers involved, on the battlefield they are the main bulk of the force and expected to be used heavily for positional work.
At the yet higher step is the infantry battalion and in effect the largest purely infantry unit that is expected to be in use. Made up of two to three infantry companies, with an ideal recruitment target of three, these are the smallest groups capable of independent, if limited action in the field. Command is expected to be distributed amongst three officers, with an O-5 taking charge. A second in command in the form of an O-4 and an O-3 adjunct are further expected to distribute the duties of command. Two quartermasters along with a full supply train are expected to be formed at this level, with several wagons assigned. A signals officer of a O-2 grade will form the core of a signals unit, allowing for a set of nine runners to coordinate the broader formation. Medical staff will also be coordinated under an O-2, ensuring the prompt treatment of evacuated casualties. In a reduced two company formation, the overall unit size is expected to be around five hundred men, with an expanded idealized company consisting of almost seven fifty incorporating an expanded logistical train.
Supporting Units:
The army has two relevant artillery pieces to distribute, the 12 pounder cannon and a siege bombard. The latter is far more of a specialized weapon, only existing in the form of an organic battery that can be attached to the regiment. The former however forms the mainstay of our artillery corps and will form a core weapon for the destruction of the enemy at range. Both are expected to be organized into batteries of six guns. Each gun crew is expected to consist of ten men, with an incorporated O-1 or O-2 in the leadership role. While in theory capable of independent operation, outside of dedicated attached siege bombard batteries, ammunition is expected to be supplied at the battalion level.
At the company level, three batteries will be combined under the command of a two officer team along with a supply train consisting of at least three carts per gun. One to transport the cannon, one the limber and some powder, and one to move the shells and the remaining powder. The carts are expected to be accompanied by a small provisioning unit consisting of two men, to ensure that the formation can operate semi-independently. These will be combined with an expanded command staff consisting of an O-3 and an assistant O-2. Overall, the largest expected organic artillery unit, it lacks in some elements compared to the infantry battalion, but is expected to form an essential component of every combined arms mobilized regiment.
The reality that we have no horses capable of doing conventional cavalry work serves as a constant major limitation, but one that will be eventually overcome. For now the chariot has to form the majority of our open field reconnaissance strength. These units are not expected for either contact or actual dedicated action outside of skirmish, and in rough terrain should be trained for dismounted combat. Only recruiting from E-3's and higher, each chariot team will be made up of two men, with each platoon having two chariot teams of two, one commanded by an E-4 and one by an E-5. At the company level, three conventional platoons will be combined with a dual-use command-runner platoon. Leaving the formation with sixteen chariots, one containing a pair of officers, ideally an O-3 and an assisting O-2. These are pure recon attached formations, not expected to sustain long contact, and only consisting of a theoretical thirty six men with four comprising the logistical section on carts.
On the note of the professional forces, they are expected to be attached as a supporting unit classified as skirmishers rather than serve in standardized infantry formations. Equipped with rifles and a heavier loading, along with a more intensive coordinated drill, rank and file infantry are expected to be E-4 equivalent specialists with a E-5 leading a small condensed 11 man squad. Conventional four squad platoons are expected to be the highest level of organization, with a full O-3 and a command team of two messengers taking charge of each to eliminate chain of command issues and ensure that a similar prioritization is given to them as as any other attached unit, a further small supply train and provisioning section of three men will also be attached to ensure a consistent degree of support and a theoretical independent supply train.
Practical Example(Western Regiment):
Assuming wartime mobilization, the Western regiment represents our rear-most conscription zone and one of the ones likely to have time to organize. To take advantage of this, a theoretical greater recruitment burden has been placed on the formation, with a maximum size of two thousand men theoretically possible with far more guns. In practice, at least for the next two years a more practical size of around fifteen hundred men is expected. On the declaration of a mobilization by the central military commission, the command team for the Regiment(O-6, O-5, and the O-4 Adjutant) are expected to implement the peacetime mobilization plan. Calling up personnel from the villages and cities.
This is expected to take a fairly short period of time with the cooperation of local party cadres, with centralized drill to begin shortly after. The practical limitations of recruiting will likely see squad command roles given to people with insufficient experience, but some experience is better than nothing. From there, a simultaneous series of runners will call up the officers, with all reporting to several central gathering posts organized by company. Each command team is expected to take on the responsibility of drilling their men in basic taught maneuvers, ensuring that they are up to standard for formation work. Similar organization is expected to occur for battery officers and reconnaissance officers.
Depending on the urgency of mobilization, this time-frame could be cut short if believed to be unnecessary or with a steady supply of experienced personnel. These men will then form up at the regimental command point, at which point the unit will be prepared to march to the front to engage, with the standard TOE for the Western Regiment expecting to consist of a "narrow" infantry battalion and a "wide" one. These twelve hundred fifty men are expected to be paired with a company of cannon and a company of reconnaissance troops, leaving a mainline manpower requirement of fifteen hundred men. Support units are expected to come from secondary personnel, with supply train coordination occurring more at the staff office than the individual units.
Depending on the views and planning of the high command, the unit will be attached with an additional company of cannon, a battery of mortars, or even several platoons of professional skirmish troops. Under the directives of the staff office headed by the O-7 and the central military commission, these will then deploy to the front when available, with options for regrouping at several hard points. Officer recruitment in lieu of established traditions will have to be done under the auspices of the high command, but ideally it will be possible to establish an experienced and trained core of officers.
- Location
- A haze of forgetfulness
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X]Play Them Off Each Other
I'm not even looking at any discussion on this. Maoists all the way.
I'm not even looking at any discussion on this. Maoists all the way.
[X]Support the Agrarians