The admirals also knew this before we made the CVL promise. If what they really wanted was frigates and only frigates first and CVLs second, they could have said so. Instead, they put us in a position where we specifically promised CVLs, and where they are reliant on our good judgment and common sense to continue building frigate yards too.
[shrug]
You are misremembering.
We had to make the CVL promise because we wanted to build merchantman conversions, and they wanted hard guarantees that we wouldnt just leave them with those things in the long run. Our choice, not theirs, just as it was our choice to make the deadline Q4 2061(High Commitment, -10PS) instead of Q4 2063(Low Commitment, -15 PS).
To quote the QM:
Yeah. The concerns are, in order.
1. We really absolutely do not want to be stuck with these things.
2. Losses are going to be high, because flattops are very high priority targets for the Brotherhood.
3. They are not going to be nearly as effective as proper carriers.
4. We really absolutely do not want to be stuck with these things.
So if you build the conversions, and finish the rest of the yards by the end of the plan, or at least by the end of 2063, they will grudgingly accept that needs must.
Thats been what I've been working off.
More, better escorts faster both mitigates losses of carrier hulls and crews and allows us to potentially winnow Brotherhood hunter-killer taskforces as they attempt to hunt the new flattops.
I don't like it when people use the fact that we can lose battles as proof that they're right that we have to do exactly what they think we should do.
We can in theory lose future battles because one third of the frigates are delayed by three months.
We can in theory lose future battles because one third of the escort carriers are delayed by three months.
When you, or I, or anyone, overinvests in the "we could lose a battle because this didn't get done" line, it comes across as implying that the speaker is the only one who knows or cares about the possibility of losing battles or the need to actually do things in the military category.
Whatever. Take it up with @Void Stalker , he's the one who convinced me to do it this way. I am now too tired of you telling me that things mean exactly what you say they mean, or that we have a quasi-mandatory need to ignore a plan promise because admirals want multiple things at the same time, and that this is the only way to avert disaster that will totally happen if we don't do as you say, but that clearly can't happen if we do do as you say, even though the only real difference is which class of ships gets a three-month delay to a certain percentage of its available hulls, relative to what would happen if it were given higher funding priority at the other's expense.
Im sorry you feel that way, wasnt my intent.
Still, my point stands. We add 30x flattops in the next 12 months, and at least 12x more in the year after that.
We have already gone to the trouble of implementing enough of a flattop buffer to see a transition through, and the coming implementation of wingmen for Orcas and Hammerheads means that there's a built-in firepower upgrade to toggle in a year.
Furthermore, the Navy's hard deadline for finishing CVE/CVL shipyards was
end of 2063.
There's a reason Im not fussing about the pace of construction as long as we finish the carrier shipyards in 2061.
I mean, its worth remembering that Im
not arguing against escort carriers here.
I was one of the people who advocated for designing them from the beginning with capacity for wingmen drones.
Im a fan of the concept.
But Shark frigates build faster than even the merchantman conversions apparently, something that was not evident before we had the design finalized. And critically, in addition to all the normal convoy escort and ASW duties, we also need escorts to improve the survivability of carrier groups against undersea attack.
Given the imminent 30 flattop pulse in the next year, and total 42+ flattop surge in the next 24 months, there's a certain urgency here. Because carriers are priority naval targets.
Gee, I wonder how long it would take a bunch of pollsters and bureaucrats to realistically sort through the implications of a massive worldwide collective opinion survey and turn that information into clear recommendations and results that can inform us before the vote?
I strongly suspect that what will happen is that on turn T we'll vote to do the surveys. In the turn T Results post we'll get the information that the surveys have proceeded to completion. In turn T+1 we'll actually see information added to our display on what the surveys told us.
I want that information on our display and in our brains before we make reallocation promises, not after. And that means, given that this is a game which makes a good faith effort at simulationism, that we probably shouldn't put off the surveys until November and then go do Plan renegotiation in the last two weeks of December.
1)The QM has been pretty good about letting us know what projects require lead time to see effects. This is not one of them.
I expect that if we did the Survey in Q4 2061 we'd see the results and any relevant data before reallocation, because our staff defaults to competence and will proritize as necessary.
2)Its a game set in an AU where we have artificial intelligence algorithms as standard software packages and preternaturally competent bureaucrats. Where we build arcologies in three months. Where there has been, most incredibly of all, an actually non-evil police state as the security arm of a wartime democracy for at least the last decade
The game calibrates for fun and convenience over realism.
I mean, in any halfway realistic simulation, we wouldnt be able to run indepth counterintelligence sweeps of sections of a civil service department that spans seven continents and employs hundreds of thousands of people in three months without disruption of service. And thats something we do so often that we take the scale of the endeavor for granted.
If we had unlimited numbers of Military dice, I'd agree with you. As it is, we have 28 dice of Military Plan commitments, or for your purposes 32 because you consider the frigate yards more important than some of the actual Plan commitments. And we do genuinely want as much of that done in three quarters as possible.
As such, we can ill afford to waste dice, which makes slowrolling certain projects considerably more attractive than would otherwise be the case.
I agree that we can ill-afford to waste dice.
I even agree that there are targets that might be worth slowrolling. I just dont think that any of the projects here is one of them, or that the timing is right.
Getting some zone armor out this plan would be ideal, lots of moving parts- part of the reason I am keeping 5 dice on mil is because that sets us up to hit optional targets this plan as part of a Karachi prep as well as general overhaul. We are going to be getting an action for a new version of the Apollo soon as well to incorporate the upgrades such as lasers so something we probably want to hit the turn it drops. Also would mean hitting one or both of the additional Apollo factories once that upgrade dev is done.
I want at least one ZA factory this FYP, but its a stretch goal for Q4 2061, if we can get our plan goals done by Q3.
Alternatively, Q2 2062.
You'll probably see upgrades like the ferro-aluminium refit, but a new Apollo is probably a couple years away, given the introduction of Apollo drones.GDI is not going to be looking at new aircraft until they figure out how the new drones affects the aircraft meta.
Only thing likely to change that is some major breakthrough that is affordable and mass producible.
I see no reason not to release them now.
We have 101 in reserve, and we'll be at +18 when the electronics and stuff we are diverting from Consumer Goods goes back to being Consumer Goods.
I'd probably prefer to wait till the generals officially declare the Regency War is over.
Then I'd keep 5 Cap Goods trickling into the reserve until we hit 150-200 in reserves.
But thats my first inclination.
I'd like to see numbers, and see if it affects our PS levels to release the Con Goods back into circulation early.
We are already running into problems with the new airframes NOD is running, getting the Apollo bis out sooner than later is important since it takes time to roll out the new airframe across the board.
Not especially.
We have both Apollo wingmen and Firehawk wingmen entering full rollout, which are on track to balloon our effective air strength in those aircraft types by anything from 2-6x times, depending on on what doctrine determines is the optimal force composition. Which both reduces pilot losses and increases Nod aircraft and pilot losses.
Furthermore, what the Air Force is asking for is more wingmen, not new aircraft models.
Q4 2060 said:
With technological upgrades ready, the highest priority now is delivery to the field, and preferably in great volume.
For the Air Force, the wingman drones are a near requirement as soon as possible in order to maintain air superiority, especially with the rapid intensification of the air war, and the sheer punishment that the Varyag class can take. While current deliveries are helping, and will substantially reduce overall casualties in the long run,
further investment in the field will help further increase GDI's capability in the air war.
That means rolling out the Orca and Hammerhead wingmen as soon as we can make space for them in the budget.
I'd also slot Inferno Gel into Karachi preparations, just to hard counter the buzzers. Zone Armor is great for taking a lot of the bite out of them, but it won't kill them on it's own.
Shouldnt be necessary.
Nod buzzers are a terror weapon against soft targets, not a significant military threat against conventional forces. We have sonic and EMP grenades as standard loadout for our infantry; they worked quite well against OG Scrin buzzerswarms, so I dont anticipate the Nod knockoffs getting a better matchup against GDI troops in composite suits and power armor.
Also, you cant use napalm in close proximity to friendly infantry, which is where any attempt to use Brotherhood knifeswarm things would happen. So it wouldnt really be of utility in that role.
Besides, I still worry about the collateral risks of putting hypernapalm into the toolkit as a GDI weapon
I am not convinced that the juice is worth the squeeze, both from the PR angle and all the military considerations of having to carry a pyroclastic payload like that when conventional explosives are likely to be just as effective and safer.
And with hints that some of the Gana might be sapient, the only acceptable targets for getting napalmed are in question anyway.
