Concerning the military:
Anything we order developed will then have to be produced. With Power, and probably with capital goods too.
Particularly Ablative plates and the rocket system sound like they need dedicated plants, not just refits. You need a lot of rockets for the shock value, at least if they're unguided. And the whole point of Ablative plates is to be expended so million-dollar tanks aren't.
I'd like to get at least get the Oslo Zone Suit factory out before we consider development work. Get our TOE decent before we try and reinvent the military again.
EDIT: And Toronto too.
Notably, the ablative plates are basically little sticky hockey pucks you glue onto existing armor. We'll need easily hundreds of milions of the things so they'll take production factories, but I doubt the process is going to be
that power-hungry.
The big industrial shipyards for the hovercraft and aircraft are uniquely power-hungry because you're working high performance alloys and/or very large quantities of heavy material. Note that Zone Armor factories only cost 2 Energy each, compared to four or six for a plane or ship factory.
By contrast, the point defense refit program isn't costing us
any energy. I doubt the ablative tech, the Orca refit, or the "remote weapon systems with tanks" refit will either; they'll probably be more or less Energy-neutral.
...
The rocket system is likely to involve a new factory system like the shell plants, though, so you're right about that.
The Toronto factory is questionable. I'd like to see what the next phase of power plant construction looks like before we go for it, because if it's gonna be the better part of a year before we can surge another +16 Energy, I'd rather
not finish the Toronto production line until we've at least explored the possibility of doing Orca refits. Because among the priorities for the refits is "give the thing some air-to-air capability," which is
exactly the kind of thing that reduces the strain on our air superiority efforts without having to double production of frontline high performance fighters.
Just Toronto, then.
I don't think we should sacrifice Toronto. We need the guarantee of air superiority too badly...
This isn't "sacrifice" we're talking about, it's "delay for like one turn to make sure we have the energy budget."
I'd like to at least
find out what the prospects from an Orca refit look like. It's quite possible that we could greatly improve the air situation that way
without consuming Energy.
I just remembered something terrifying. How soon until NOD gets the Mastermind technology? That one piece of tech is nightmarish in their hands.
Did they get their hands on it in canon? If not, they might never, but then again they might, you're not wrong.
The Military would obviously fine if they don't have to do more work, but they are already fine with the idea. When they themselves recommend supporting an expansion option, then it's wasting time and potential growth for an entire new city that could be focused on abatement and Tiberium for not doing it.
That's not what they said.
So Planned cities are advised by the military themselves.
Reading comprehension is important here.
Read what was actually said. I will helpfully underline some key passages for you.
Military
The military, in light of the significant expansion of funding that they have received in the previous quarters believes that it can once more carry out offensive operations against the Brotherhood of NOD, however these operations should generally be in the Yellow Zones, and quite geographically confined. Projects such as the planned cities are most advisable, while ones that will significantly expand shell expenditures, such as more waves of fortress towns or general Yellow Zone harvesting are not. However, any such operations must include continued full spreads of military funding, almost certainly including the provision of both more equipment, and more technological support, in order to keep pace with the Brotherhood of NOD.
"The military... believes that it CAN once more carry out offensive operations... however these operations should generally be in the Yellow Zones, and quite geographically confined."
They're not saying "we recommend that you go ahead with the planned cities." They're saying "We're now
capable of going on the offensive to cover your operations without
total disaster, but we strongly recommend that you stick to things that involve pushing forward only in Yellow Zones, and only in relatively small areas we can actually secure instead of all over the goddamn planet."
Shell Plants Phase 3
Work on the newest round of shell plants has gone about as well as could be expected. With the shell supply effectively stabilized, the new wave of plants and expansions is focused on bringing the shell stockpiles from their currently effectively bare state, to something that can actually survive more than a day of serious fighting. While the Treasury did not allocate enough resources to bring the facilities to full production, it has all but ensured that in the next quarter, with an additional infusion of funds, the shell situation can be substantially improved, and GDI can begin substantial offensive action, although likely not prolonged offensive action. That will require an even more substantial investment into producing not just enough shells, but the time to fill stockpiles and depots. To give a rough estimation of the need, in order to kill a single enemy combatant at Gettysburg, nearly 200 years ago, it required a man's weight in powder and shot, and the ratio has gotten worse since then. The same principle applies today, where in order to achieve fire superiority, a battery of artillery needs an absolutely massive stockpile of shells just so that it can keep firing.
"The new wave of plants and expansions is focused on bringing the shell stockpiles... to something that can actually survive more than a day of serious fighting. Treasury did not allocate enough resources to bring the facilities to full production... all but ensured that in the next quarter, with an additional infusion of funds, GDI can begin substantial offensive action, although likely not prolonged offensive action."
GDI is
approaching being able to sustain
limited military offensives. We need to do more, a lot more, to handle this with confidence, especially if Nod rolls well in a battle.
Please do not interpret this turn's results to mean "the military has stopped complaining so let's just go ahead and do whatever lol" or "the military specifically asked us to do the planned cities." Those would be
grossly disingenuous readings of the text, the sort of thing that would get one an F from an English teacher for failing to read the text or only skimming it, ignoring most of it, and cherrypicking evidence for one's preconceived conclusion.
Brotherhood of NOD
The development of new systems in the North American Theater has seemed to peter out this quarter, with many of Gideon's Penitent Engines being destroyed in a battle with one of his rivals. However, some of the other assets do seem to have become more common, notably more artillery being used for counterbattery fire. However, in order to do so effectively they have to drop their cloaks, meaning that positions have been repeatedly struck by air and GDI's own fire assets.
Since I've been playing
Tiberium Dawn lately, I'm just gonna put this out there...
Noddies:
"Ah, man, we need
Artillery? Shit, I think we're gonna have to build an Airstrip,
man that takes me back..."
"Wait. Oh no. Do our construction yards even have blueprints for those anymore?"
"Nah, it's okay, we can just go
one war back instead of two. Um. And build an annex for our war factory, something something 'mod.' Um... It says here... we have to build it... in direct contact with one of our other buildings?
WHAT THE FUCK!?"
