Turn 85 (January 1st, 1974 - January 1st, 1975): Electoral Politics Results
- Location
- The United States
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Turn 85 (January 1st, 1974 - January 1st, 1975): Electoral Politics Results
External Politics:
President Ashbrook has so far been unable to provide a return to the old prosperity either real or imagined as the American economy has proven immutable on the rapid term. Tax reductions alongside increases in spending to stimulate economic growth have seemingly under-delivered with growth continuing but at a reduced place. Several novel economic theories can be written about the presence of high inflation alongside unemployment as the state is considered a major challenge of current theories. Drops in American demand pressure have caused a mild contraction of economic activity but nothing that will be relevant in the longer term. What likely will be is that the domestic race situation has continued to simmer with conflicts over civil rights forming a key issue towards the next election.
The total liquidation of the Chilean government has preceded as predicted, if later and with a political misapplication of force through a replication of Indonesian and Iraqi policies to the theater. Work towards the consolidation of Argentina and Brazil has continued in the same vein with broader security assistance provided to improve stability in the region and reduce Chinese operational successes. A weak transition of power to Peron's wife is expected to further undermine security due to a lack of temperament and the increasing extent of Maoist insurgency operations, with current views divided if the US is committing to stabilization or overthrow. Brazilian economic policies have continued to achieve significant growth with a YoY growth rate of almost eleven percent achieved through a rapidly ballooning debt alongside strong industrial investments.
Global instability has been somewhat dampened in Asia as the INC-led Indian government has continued consolidations and the signing of a new clearer standard for provincial and central powers. Indonesian economic efforts have started to peter out with the immediate increase in growth from expanded capital investment slowing, but not stopping with the economy more stable than previously. Increased military investment along with the mass purchases of modern anti-shipping arms by Indonesia has been denounced by the West, but Indonesian national defense has provided a significant market for modernized older munitions. Competition and a more capable environment have led to several enterprises starting the establishment of local branches as a part of diplomatic outreach, improving extraction and local production. Conflicts between Vietnam and its neighbors have somewhat flared but not terminally with several mild border incursions but no sign of general warfare.
The war in Algeria has continued without much to buffer or stop it as increasing mobilization of the countryside has enabled the partisan forces to continue inflicting attrition on French units. Mainline military resistance has collapsed in favor of continuous partisan strikes leading to mass retaliation on the part of the French. So far it has been identified that the French forces in the region have started the wholesale movement to a special village system, relocating Algerians to confined areas in the South of the country to utilize as labor assets. Resistance to the measures internationally has been fierce with even the British willing to make diplomatic notions about it but in effect do little to prevent the act. The unreliability of Libya has not helped, as conventional routes of arms import have required greater fees and local attrition to get through the country.
Eruptions of violence in Sudan have in effect separated the country into North and South has proved a key destabilizing factor and led both Ethiopia and the East African Federation to intervene. Compared to the initial wars of decolonization the increase in mobilization capacity has led to something approximating military action by organized formations rather than militia. Capabilities across both sides are lacking due to limited motorization, logistical trains, and poorly trained officers incapable of managing their forces. Aid missions to the East African Federation have increased focusing on the sending of capable trainers alongside surplus equipment on credit. An American pivot towards the wholesale backing of Ethiopia is unlikely, but loosening arms supply regulations has led to excess Western equipment being made available to the Ethiopian military.
In a shock to several diplomats sufficient to call an emergency UN meeting, South Africa has achieved a successful nuclear test. The underground test only had a yield of 9-12kt with a paltry release of radionuclides but the test has been seismographically confirmed. A near-universal CMEA response to strengthen the embargo has been implemented with the cooperation of much of the UN. France has imposed an embargo of weapons and delivery systems alongside the US but trade has not entirely ceased as both nations are unwilling to take the necessary steps for the preservation of global peace. Current military operations conducted by South Africa are expected to succeed to at least a nominal extent, securing Namibia's primary rail corridors despite a general Portuguese retreat. The nuclear test itself has likely been a show for international observers to limit intervention and secure local political gains.
Infrastructure
Civilian Airports(Stage 5/5): Continued work at expanding the regional airports to serve the local ones can start now that the general system of transit has been developed. Shortages of airframes are going to pose an issue for the rest of the decade but a combination of new models and new technologies will more than compensate for the deficiency. With the further development of local resources along with the focused expansion of regional hub airports, a new high throughput arial model can be constructed East of the Urals. (180/150) (Complete)
Delayed, underfunded, and damaging for the design of several airliners the general airport program has been pushed to something approximating completion. High throughput terminals in core areas have been built alongside a more advanced system of runway control and direction to cover the entire Union and avoid rough field landings for the heaviest aircraft. Utilization has already increased rapidly with vast crowds of passengers ready to move across the union. New aircraft are going to be needed alongside a continued increase in routes and throughput both in central and remote areas is only expected to accelerate with the effective collapse of ticket prices.
CMEA LNG Pipelines: Constructing a high-flow LNG pipeline through the Belorussian SSR and into Poland that is then linked further into Europe can stabilize local energy supplies. This would stabilize the local energy market, keep prices of fuel lower, and enable the steady transition towards the use of natural gas in the next decade as oil prices continue their expected steady rise. Flow rates will be enough for massive expansions of local resources and a partial shift away from petroleum across the block to provide another half a decade of relative energy stability. (197/150) (Complete)
The supply of gas to CMEA has been funded with construction started on both ends of all three pipelines to provide energy security for all of European Comecon. The Northern route crosses Poland with the expectation of supplying Polish and German cities with reliable heating fuel and stabilizing energy policies. The central route instead cuts into Czechoslovakia and then continues into Southern Germany, providing a stable flow of heating fuel. On the Southern approaches, the pipeline crosses through Romania and into Bulgaria with a branching line to Yugoslavia and Greece, stabilizing local energy policies. Actual construction off all three lines is likely to last until 1978 with the first flow of gas to start that year.
American denouncements of friendly energy policy are little more than a distraction from domestic issues and dogmatism that all policy must be zero-sum and for some imagined profits. President Ashbrook has in several statements denounced the project as creating dependency while himself facilitating a total dependency on major petrochemical exploitation of the Middle East without equity or respect. Further, his statements on the security issues directly stand against the common prosperity of comecon, sabotaging peaceful trade relations in a fit of misguided aggression to distract from issues at home. The American people need to know that homelessness is increasing as is crime, privation, and unemployment as the regime only continues to cement its so-called two-party system by changing nothing but the colors and labels.
-Radio Moscow US-Agitprop Division
Cargo Rail Modernization Program: Moving general cargo transport systems towards the use of containers as a universal system demands the production of new railway stock. The program will also include the modernization of several older lines that have been run down from a combination of utilization and inadequate maintenance. Most funding will go towards the expansion of railway stock and the general move towards the use of standard containers for most internal goods instead of more specialized wagons to increase shipping throughput. (193/150) (Complete)
New container cars have posed a critical issue for development but one that is less challenging than the current state of cargo rail stock. Legacy storage cars have so far been used in a vast number of applications with few measures taken towards expediting their retirements. Comprehensive modernization of the stock has started with the retirement through effective non-overhaul of a significant portion of available rail stock in favor of new, lighter, and more capable equipment. Line updates have consisted of a steady program to replace sleepers with more modern concrete ones to improve stability, reduce shake, and increase loadings. Far more work still needs to be done though as a more comprehensive program of bridge modernization will be required to standardize the use of double container cars on most routes.
Academic Network: With the availability of computing hardware and the constant developments on the Erebus systems the possibility of a wider network cannot be discounted. Scientific communications between mainframes have already been demonstrated with messages sent between computers. Expanding this capacity across several central computing centers in major institutes and allowing the direct transmission of information is expected to strongly increase domestic scientific capabilities. Further, as the network would effectively only involve the development of further university datacenters any funding allocated will contribute to the development of local computing power as well. (196/150) (Complete) (-16 CI4 Electricity)
Networking between Erbrus-6M units has been a major technical undertaking even with the most innovative technologies applied to the process. The primary goal of the program has been the formation of a series of hub and spoke systems capable of sending text and information electronically across the entire system between mainframes. Initial construction programs have been finalized in Moscow with pioneering protocols for the movement of files copied partially from American examples. New multiprocessor units breaking away from mainline Erbrus units have been increased in demand, bringing a lighter mainframe for network communications. Design for the network itself is expected to focus on a limited number of major technical-scientific cities with an extended branch to Saratov and Sverdlovsk planned. Throughput limitations at hubs have driven several novel technical solutions but little immediately implementable.
Heavy Industry
Kuzbas Deposit Exploitation(Stage 4/5): Current work at the Kuzbas deposit is of a mixed character with above and belowground efforts increasing in scope. The easy transportation of black coals West along with developed measures for processing brown coals has seen the deposit steadily become more economical. Extraction here is expected to come at a greater cost in labor compared to the larger Northern brown coal deposits, but the lower use of power and better grades of coal will reduce effective costs more. (368/200 Stage 4 Complete) (168/250 Stage 5) (-48 CI6 Electricity -12 Coal +2 General Labor +1 Educated Labor)
Digging deeper and expanding the labor allocation to the major anthracitic veins in Kuzbas has provided for the local energy industry and steadily shifted primary energy demands away from semi-coke products. More coal is still demanded across the union with local production shifting towards the use of lower-grade coals as higher-grade ones are preferentially moved West to reduce transportation costs. The fundamental issue is that there is not enough coal production to reach the thousand-megaton target set for the end of the decade as an idealized round number. Increased technical sophistication and funding can somewhat reach the target but economic coal is not going to be available for development by 1990 much less 2000. Gas will somewhat be able to substitute for raising coal demand across industry but outside of that the only way forward will be to increase funding and endure until enough gas reserves can be utilized.
Go East Young Proletarian!
Train after train can be seen going west with new semi-coke and black coals to supply the vast industries of the Union. Workers go East to produce the coal and with every drill and blast thousands of tons of coal are delivered to the workers in the West producing goods for the economic prosperity of the Union. The mines call for more workers still, for more technologies, and for more aggressive technical expansion to meet the energy demands of the Union. The planners have targeted a thousand megatons of coal to be delivered by the end of the decade and the workers must be ready to meet their call for the sake of the economy and general prosperity of the Soviet People.
-Article In Pravda, 1974
Atomash(Stage 3/3): Reactor production can still be increased through further funding as a larger hot forging area can be combined with a significantly expanded metallurgical complex. Improving the throughput of materials through the industrial system can raise reactor production as much as reasonably possible, supplying a massive modernization program in the next plan. Current increases will demand more resources and practically necessitate consistent maximum funding to keep the industry operational and competitive with other power sources, (325/200 Stage 3 Complete) (125/250 Stage 4) (-82 CI8 Electricity +2 Steel +1 Non-Ferrous +1 Educated Labor)
Completion of the massive assembly halls capable of forging reactors at a previously unheard-of scale has been finalized with low-scale production started in already completed areas of the complex. The demands for power production and the scale of the grid growth exhibited during this plan have already called for further expansions of the general productive complex with additional funding reallocated to further increase domestic reactor production. Nuclear energy offers a way to break the bounds of technical and resource limitations and it must be pursued to further accelerate industrial growth. Current provisions in production are sufficient for the production of twelve cores per year once the workers are sufficiently trained. Further expansions are thus entirely focused on the production of more standardized cores as improved technologies are not yet available to achieve greater power production.
Baltic Sea Shipyards: High-capacity container shipping is what the Union is most deficient in and the situation is not improving. River shipping can be built at any private yard to significant quantities much less in focused enterprises but the largest ships need dedicated labor. Massive expansions of yard space and capacity in the Baltic will start to overcome the deficiency. The region can receive thousands of high-paying jobs to compensate for local issues and provide for the Union. (326/200) (Complete) (-46 CI4 Electricity +4 Steel +2 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (High Profitability)
Construction of new high-capacity yards capable of building ships up to 3500 TEU as a standard heavy shipping asset has been authorized and funded. Current plans have provided for eight new slipways capable of producing massive container ships with an accompanying modernization of domestic transportation capacity. Panama Canal limits are still significant for global commerce, leaving the size targeted to provide for external customers in case of major shipping exports. Orders are expected to saturate the yards for the next few years as the merchant marine is brought up to modern standards. Further funding for large-scale shipyards and general modernizations for major ports will be necessary to keep up with the modernizing state of general shipping, but the initial steps to avoid the gap widening have been taken.
Expanded Semiconductor Production: An approximation of the six-micrometer node does exist domestically with laboratory examples but little practical equipment or production for it. Developing further enterprises to produce the equipment to produce the node at a high scale with a high wafer size is a priority to stabilize local supplies of precursors and semiconductors. Current production at the ten-micrometer node is increasing in scale but insufficient for both military and civilian demands, much less expected future demands. Industrial scaling of local semiconductors will steadily improve local production, continuing the move away from single transistors and towards solid-state circuits. (152/100) (Complete) (-34 CI5 Electricity +1 Educated Labor)
Efforts to standardize and provide capital for the high throughput production of the six-micrometer standard circuit design have reached several technical and political challenges. Chips can be made in the laboratory to a sufficient quantity but mass production of the new design is continuing to pose major technical and economic challenges. New K6806VS base model microprocessors in several variations alongside K5606RP memory modules are expected to be produced through domestic second-generation machines. Current production of the initial machine systems is expected to start by the end of next year with scale production of modern ICs not expected until at least 1977. Down-node production has gone better as more mature domestic machinery has been able to improve significantly, producing a two-and-a-half thousand-transistor microprocessor and accompanying 10-micrometer memory modules at scale. System integration and fabrication of discrete semiconductor elements still need far more funding but machinery development and production have been stabilized.
Volga Automotive Plant Modernization: Modernization of the Volga industries is necessary to keep up with global car markets and ensure that the domestic sector can continue to be developed. Luxury manufacturers do not inherently need the advantages offered by mass production as much as true mass manufacturers. The series of plants on the Volga directed by VAZ will be modernized and expanded, taking on more workers and further raising domestic car standards. There are still domestic automotive shortages and to fix them requires funding without taking distractions towards luxury vehicles. (250 Resources per Dice 72/175)
Technical work on expanding production at the VAZ plant has started late and in a generally inadequate manner compared to the demand for new vehicles. Cheap fuel supplies have continued to increase demand rapidly as the Soviet consumer has modernized in demand. The plant expansions now have focused on the increase of efficiency for the production of standard chassis along with improving the technical sophistication of production. Many of the cars currently produced have several features from the last decade with an inadequate use of modern materials, safety standards, or engines. Once current modernization efforts are completed a new car can be developed for the next decade, obsoleting those that came before and reducing costs enough to ensure that every Soviet worker can purchase one.
Rocketry
Orbital Telescope Program: With the capacity of the RLA for heavier launches a larger orbital telescope system can be launched to upstage the Americans. The plan calls for the development and launch of a heavy UV band telescope system able to observe space with far greater precision than American attempts. The primary goal of the program will be the discovery and analysis of new stars, as the field has so far been limited to either light orbital telescopes or terrestrial systems. (-10 RpY) (29)
Initial assessments of the orbital telescope program have pushed forward the idea of launching a series of novel X-ray telescopes to provide a unique view into the rest of the galaxy. Automated systems onboard the telescopes are expected to perform most of the typical functions involved in operations with several computational advancements still necessary for the full capability to be achieved. Sensor systems have been focused on increasing the scale and utilizing as much of the RLA payload capacity as available to increase initial system capability and decisively obsolete American telescope systems in capacity and clarity.
Expand Interplanetary Missions: The development and orbital testing of a high-energy nuclear stage represents a major step towards improving space-based capabilities. Nothing in the system is beyond the means of domestic scientific performance and the reactor itself has been tested terrestrially. Starting the project in short order may enable it to fly on probe launches occurring in the next two years, massively expanding the capacity for launch toward far interplanetary trajectories and opening the way towards several ambitious automated missions. Political costs are expected from the use of enriched material but that is nothing that cannot be overcome. (-5 RpY Additional Costs) (64)
The question of actually flying a nuclear boost stage has involved continuous discussions of its practicality, abort procedures, and the insistence on additional shielding on the lower stage to protect the engine in case of a breakup. Losses in mass efficiency have been judged as acceptable with the first mission expected to fly with a nuclear stage to mercury planned for the next year. Developments for a high capability upper stage have, if anything, posed more issues, in effect stretching the RLA-3 with the addition of a central 35m nuclear-hydrogen stage. If system testing confirms capability then payloads of up to 14 tons can be launched into either Jovian or Mercury intercepts. From there missions including orbiters or even landers can be conducted on most bodies in the inner solar system with several plans calling for the assessment of asteroids.
Positioning System Programs: The American space program is undertaking a system of global positioning that can directly provide information to military units on their exact location. Replicating it in a broad sense is going to be expensive and unlikely to be available before the end of the decade, but it can be done through leveraging heavier lift systems. These satellites would steadily be placed at a twelve-hour orbit to provide signals down to the ground at a consistent timing, using triangulation to provide navigational information. Developing timekeeping, terrestrial sensor units, and satellite buses capable enough for the task represents a major technical challenge but one that can be undertaken. (-10 RpY) (44)
Further industrial and technical work on a positioning system has started with work on high-precision timekeeping that can be used to compare relative positions. The concept itself is valid and only heavily depends on the localization of satellites into precise orbits and the development of receivers that can calculate the triangulation of signals. Army interest in the program is immense but they have moved towards the creation of a parallel program acting on the separation of civilian and military funding. One of the two is expected to be canceled by the time results are available but the system is too important to reduce funding.
Light Industry
Air Conditioner Plants(Stage 6/8): Air conditioning provides an essential factor towards quality of life in the massive number of unstable climates across the Union. Hot summers and cold winters are practically a universal feature of the climate and that needs to be tamed to accelerate settlement. Expanding the AC program further will be immensely popular as it is essential to start programs to ensure that Americans can be overtaken on general comfort. Local climate conditions strongly favor their employment and there is little reason not to increase their utilization until every apartment and home has at least a portable unit. (358/225 Stage 6 Complete) (133/250 Stage 7) (-60 CI6 Electricity +2 Steel +2 Non-Ferrous +1 General Labor)
Enough compressor units have been made to catch up with the rate of new construction of homes if not enough to supply the growing demand for new units entirely. Current programs have focused on supplying a vast and continuously expanding housing program more than they have on the public demand for systems. Expanded programs are going to be essential for continuing to improve living conditions for the average worker. The large plants have also partially expanded in specialization, working to produce an adequate quantity of refrigeration and cooling systems. Prospects for further production increases can be partially accomplished through the use of incentive funds but if a broader housing program is underway then decisive spending will have to accompany it.
Mixed Textile Industries(Stage 2/3): The greatest asset available to the Union has been its wealth of carbon resources but we cannot continue in that mode of production. Strengthening the further development of industrial chains towards finished products will improve domestic returns and strengthen local economies. Hundreds of smaller cities in the Union have a demand for low-skill manufacturing labor that has yet to be adequately met. Increasing the production of directly chemically derived fabrics and clothes from them will improve domestic self-reliance along with strongly increasing local turnover. (150 Resources per Dice 151/200)
Delays in the synthetic fiber revolution have been endemic with inadequate funding and a lack of focus on achieving total domestic independence in modern textiles. Cotton use is wasteful and inefficient as even the cheapest labor struggles to be competitive for domestic cultivation of cotton at a large scale. Current work towards the inclusion of synthetic fibers along with standards for a minimum percentage of synthetic fibers has come slowly as the Supreme Soviet has hesitated to implement effective policies to encourage it. Current funding programs have led to the establishment of four new enterprises to specialize in the chemical industry providing a stable quantity of new fibers capable of making clothing modern and more comfortable.
Expanded Paper Industries: Demand for paper goods has been mostly adequately met in the last decade as incentive funds have strongly improved production. Further funding efforts are still necessary to maintain low prices and stocks of all types of paper goods both for semi-permanent and immediate consumption. Increasing the scope of production will effectively copy over several luxury products that have remained the focus of the private sector and incorporate them into state circulation. Further, increasing the number of paper mills themselves will likely reduce commodity prices and allow for further development. (160 Resources per Dice 44/100)
Increases in paper goods demand has been partially met through the use of incentive funds but that in itself is an indicator of lacking investment. Paper goods of all varieties have been more expensive than comparative goods in the West as underfunding of the industry has reduced domestic competitiveness. Increases in the consumption of paper goods have been underestimated as new products have found a vast number of consumers in the domestic sector. Current plans have called for the establishment of a complex of nine new pulp mills and an expansion of forestry industries, providing local labor with jobs and industrial involvement. On-site pulping in heavily forested areas will reduce the runoff of production and enable high rates of efficiency in industrial production.
Expanded Furniture Industries: The next generation of salvaged wood furnishings has already started spreading across the West and the Union. Taking advantage of the craze to lower prices, more manufacturers can be set up to take advantage of the new segment. Most of these will be tied to current generations of manufacturing and lumber mills, ensuring that wood products can be adequately and efficiently utilized. The over-production of composite wood also offers an alternative to traditional hardwoods, significantly lowering prices without much degradation in quality. (89+15 Omake/100) (Complete) (-20 CI3 Electricity +1 Petrochemicals +1 General Labor) (High Profitability)
Several enterprises have already pioneered the techniques involved, re-utilizing waste wood and secondary quality wood products for the manufacturing of furniture. Composite wood materials with bindings have lowered manufacturing costs through standardization and molding allowing the lower-end furniture industry to be expanded and iterated domestically. Most homes do not need hardwood furniture of the highest quality and even those wishing for high-quality goods are fine with composite non-structural elements. This has led to the establishment of four dedicated enterprises to meet the demand as an enlarged housing project is expected with furniture forming a growing market sector.
Chemical Industry
West Siberian Petroleum Fields(Stage 5/6): Expansive development of local resources can continue towards the expansion of local gas wells along with increasing conventional oil yields. The deposit itself is reaching the limits that can be obtained with the last generation of petrochemical equipment partially necessitating modernization to increase yields of conventional fuel. Increased technical sophistication will enable larger gains in the future but a full-scale modernization is yet to be necessary. (276/175 Stage 5 Complete) (101/200 Stage 6) (-36 CI6 Electricity -5 Petroleum Fuels -3 Petroleum Gas +1 Educated Labor) (Very High Profitability)
Dedicated construction efforts to overcome local shortages of personnel, technical ability, and education have succeeded through the import of workers and machinery. The petroleum fields have presented a series of high-paying jobs that have served to improve local communities and increase financial turnover. Current plans have been primarily in the expansion to new fields with new techniques over modernization, bringing improved recovery rates for otherwise substandard deposits. Funding in the field any further will inherently involve the modernization of drilling and a strong improvement in extraction methods to stabilize energy supplies.
Volga-Ural Petroleum Modernization: Expanding the remit of the Volga-Ural program has been essential to increasing the yields of gas products that are expected to underpin the entire economy shortly. Wells that have previously focused on the enhanced extraction of petroleum can be tapped for gas all while inefficient flaring practices are eliminated to improve efficiency. This will take more funding than previously planned for the project along with expanded electricity use for the established towns and expanded machinery but it should serve to delay oil depletion. (275/200) (Complete) (-52 CI6 Electricity -8 Petroleum Fuels -6 Petroleum Gas +1 Educated Labor) (Very High Profitability)
Concentrated efforts to tap local gas supplies in the Volga Ural region have been combined with a general shift towards newer extraction methodologies. High-volume fracking has been brought over from the United States with the techniques applying well to the more complex local petroleum geology. Larger injections into the wells have so far only been conducted as a part of hydro flooding but improved methodologies have increased the recovery ability from wells believed to be already tapped. Full field application of the technique isn't expected until the end of the decade but domestic machinery is meeting the challenges of more advanced recovery methods. Horizontal shaft drilling remains outside the ability of experimental setups but that gap can be closed just as well across the next decade.
Plastic Industries(Stage 4/5): Plastic is practically the defining element of the socialist transition and one that promises to break domestic reliance on imported cotton faster than any ambitious hydrological program. Strong increases in plastic production have been historically insufficient to meet the entirety of demand. The industry needs to aggressively expand to the point that the Union can overcome the stupor of the agricultural past. New horizons of materials can be developed in the future but current demands for basic polyethylene and polypropylene still need to be met. (285/250) (Stage 4 and 5 Complete) (nat 100) (-65 CI5 Electricity +2 Petroleum Fuels +3 Petroleum Gas -10 Petrochemicals +1 Educated Labor) (+120 RpT)
The plastics revolution has in part finally come to the Soviet Union with rapidly increasing production of both fibers and conventional plastics across all sectors. Cheaper and more suited materials have formed the backbone of the industrial revolution and a practically limitless demand has been found for the production of plastic. Clones of goods from the Americans from those capable of improving food storage to cheap and reliable piping are now accessible to the average soviet worker. Compared to previous efforts of trying to process poorly suited petroleum products they can instead be made into plastics at a massive scale. The Union with a strong spending policy can complete the transition before the end of the decade, overtaking the Americans and expanding the export market. Current production methods are more than adequate with new fibers developed monthly, leaving the only limitation as allocated funding.
[]Revolution of Soviet Petroleum Industries: Massive programs in the next plan will be necessary to bring the domestic chemical industrial complex to a standard capable of international competition. Committed funding for the rubber, synthetics, and plastics complexes will be critical for overtaking the Americans in capability and sophistication. This would involve a large spending program coupled with the development of new technologies but by the end of the next plan, the Soviet economy will become the largest producer of new products. (CI Options Focused on petrochemical industries)
[]Commit to Plastics: The plastic revolution has arrived domestically and the massive quantity of available feedstocks makes the Union the prime place to become the global producer of plastic and plastic products. Focusing exclusively on plastics can achieve the largest results in growing domestic capabilities to dominate CMEA markets with local production. Final product production will likely shift to poorer members of CMEA, but the precursor products can be made locally at comparatively little cost. (CI Options Focused on plastics industries)
[]Let Enterprises Take Initiative: The current profitability of plastic production and the demand for plastics production is the best argument to allow incentive funds to do their work. Every enterprise is expected to surge funding into plastics development and increasing production with only simple regulations needing to be cleared to enable significant gains in production. As long as investment is constant the ministry can focus on other matters through the next plan, working primarily on the development of other areas of production and energy security. (Locks out CI Focus)
Intensive Cracking Infrastructure(Stage 1/2): Under-refined heavy petroleum products have remained viable products for refinement if with a requirement for improved infrastructure to process. This has resulted in the majority of production being burned to recover some of the energy involved but by expanding the capability oil use can be made more efficient. Previously power-generating heavy fuel oils can be cracked to lighter fractions for the supply of plentiful synthetic lubricants and several useful oil products. (153/150 Stage 1 Complete) (3/175 Stage 2) (-40 CI3 Electricity -6 Petrochemicals +1 Educated Labor) (High Profitability)
Processing systems for runoff oils from the Saratov refineries and some of the facilities to the north of Novokuznetsk have achieved significant gains in fuel utilization efficiency. The heaviest fractions of fuel oil can now be cracked instead of being directly combusted creating novel technical solutions for previously not undertaken issues. Easier-to-refine factions that are cracked using thermal products from impossible-to-refine factions that must be burned for any usable production. Waste products from cracking are expected to be sold into the chemical industry as demand shifts with plentiful synthetic materials used in several industrial areas to expand and improve production.
Power Plants(CCGT): Current turbine manufacturing capacity is sufficient for a strong increase in electricity production. The development of further gas systems will go a long way towards improving the energy sector and reducing any reliance on conventional oil. Coal production is likely to become more limited in the future with natural gas remaining the one power source capable of currently powering Soviet Industry. Plans call for the establishment of several plants to increase yields, providing a stable base for further grid-scale deployment of gas power. (240 Resources per Dice 343/150) (2x Completions) (+240 Electricity +10 Petroleum Gas)
To compensate for grid under-spending and the rapid growth of core industrial indices a comprehensive program of new combined cycle plants has entered construction. These are large-scale turbine units capable of supplying thermal recovery units to salvage significant quantities of otherwise wasted heat. Natural gas production has only steadily climbed as the demand for fuel has increased rapidly to meet the energy demands of the Union. Current reserves of easily accessible gas are vastly larger than the reserves of oil, enabling continued economic growth even in an otherwise energetically limited model. If the Union is to break the cage of material and energy then gas will provide the stepping stone to a future beyond the current scarcity through more expansive and more automated programs.
Agriculture
Domestic Meat Programs(Stage 5/10): Dependance on meat imports is likely to remain a factor for as long as the agricultural industry cannot be adequately chemicalized to meet domestic demand. The mass production of chickens offers something of a solution as they are compact, can be grown on less optimal feeds, and produce plentiful secondary products when utilized in high-yield arrangements. Improvements in breeding have already significantly grown the weight of the average chicken, increasing turnover and labor efficiency for conventional facilities. (262/200) (62/200 Stage 6) (-29 CI1 Electricity +2 General Labor) (Very High Profitability)
Efficient sorting and processing of hundreds of tons of chicken production waste along with improvements in both variety and feed efficiency have continued. Localized mass production facilities are adequate for the production of lower-grade fertilizers as a bulk processing system with runoff maceration yields cooked into food to increase protein content along with soy scraps. New varieties of chicken have steadily gained in weight, allowing a more compact and higher throughput model of producing both eggs and meat to provide for the growing demand of the public. Tight integration with farming and farming waste processing is expected to achieve an improvement in the yields of meat in local areas, bringing the cheapest forms of meat to every home.
Local Meat Production Grants: A portion of meat production comes from smaller farms of under ten hectares that are established on more marginal lands. These farms originally grew conventional feed crops but have struggled to convert as the hydrological environment has shifted, leaving few options but to expand land under grazing. By providing funding for these conversions along with some improvements in general agricultural policy meat production can be improved without significant losses to primary yields. Further, much of the beef produced through grazing methods is a higher grade than conventional mass production, improving qualitative standards in the industry. (207/150) (Complete) (High Profitability)
Allocations towards local small meat farmers and agriculture on otherwise subpar land have been implemented to improve local production of higher-quality meats. The majority of industrial meat has been seen as something of a lower quality with a significant sector leftover for higher quality varieties. Increases in sales from a mixture of misguided moralism or lack of capability to use garlic and herbs are expected as smaller farmers are expected to move into the segment at scale. Much of the production is expected to start up in areas with worse land otherwise unsuited for agriculture, bringing more of the Union into agricultural productivity and adequately modernizing the countryside.
Vegetable Production Modernization: Grain production has kept the Union fed and provided a steady supply of agricultural products to a rapidly growing population but it is inadequate to avoid significant imports of other food products. Current working programs will focus on the improvement of vegetable and fruit cultivation in the parched areas of the Southern Virgin Lands. These crops have comparatively minimal water load to avoid excessive regional stress before larger diversion projects and can continue to yield viable produce. Local low-cost labor and water efficiency improvements can take the program a step further, starting the long process of greening the republics where it is most needed. (277/250) (Complete) (High Profitability)
Increasing hydrological efficiencies through a dual campaign of improved irrigation and a shift towards crops that demand less from the soil than conventional varieties of wheat have achieved some success. Onions, Peas, Beans, Cabbage, and Soy have all been typically used as bulk crops with the latter forming the principal protein supplement for mixed-factor meats and several meat industry products. Continued efforts and a focus on increasing tillage along with the provision of farmers with new varieties have steadily worked to move wheat cultivation to more hydrologically favored regions while the Southern belt has received a greater drive towards efficiency. The improvements in rail and shipping infrastructure are expected to secure further gains, likely resulting in cheaper general commodities, especially in meat varieties that demand high protein feeds.
Services
Development of Population Services(Stage 1/3): The rural workers have considerably been ignored by any development in general services and practically left in the dust outside a small set of tepid handouts. This needs to be overhauled and amended to bring the countryside into some sense of modernity. The lower density in the countryside cannot be fixed at any rapid pace and will inform conditions but that does not mean that daily bus routes cannot be established or even some basic service officers. The program itself is large and ambitious but it represents something of a first step towards equalizing town and country. (439/250 Stage 1 Complete) (189/250 Stage 2) (-15 CI2 Electricity +2 General Labor +1 Educated Labor)
Starting the ambitious program of expanding services to the countryside and ensuring that even the smallest towns have access to a grocer, bureaucratic services, and reliable postal services is a massive and comprehensive project. All three are essential for daily functionality and for many villages, these have been entirely unavailable to any extent with current funding essential for overcoming the limitations of lower-density construction. Little of the effort will yield a profit and some in the ministry have argued that it will maintain a loss but the improvement of rural life cannot be ignored. If the countryside is abandoned the same excuses will be used for smaller cities in a decade or two.
Bureaucracy
Shift Refrigerants: Moving to non-fluorinated refrigerants is expected to reduce direct damage to ozone formation and can serve as a capable political move to undermine the narrative of the ecologically obsessed. The Union committing itself largely and decisively can be easily played up to any number of student groups as doing something for their misguided perception of the environment. It can be conducted for a meaningless and minor cost from ministry funding. The international impact would further allow the Union to produce a bludgeon towards the capitalist nations as those unwilling to follow science, a progressive system of organization, or listen to their ecologists. (73)
A five-year program to eliminate long-chain fluoroalkanes has started with the expected result of modernizing domestic industries away from them as primary refrigerants. Several fluoromethanes and ethanes have remained as they are believed to have a negligible potential for ecological harm with the victory treated as a significant step forward for general ecological progress. Already the effort has achieved both international and domestic attention from important cadres popularizing the view that the Soviet system is willing to decisively act on ecological causes. Practical effects or costs from the ban are expected to be negligible with minor drops in efficiency for several cooling units but nothing noticeable on the grid or personal scale.
Agricultural Land Reassessment: Going out into the countryside and determining the exact value of the land available has not been done at scale since the immediate post-war plans. Local assessments exist of course but a comprehensive Union-wide one does not. Taking the steps to amend it will not be that much of an allocation and it can be used to proverbially wave the flag for rural party interests. (22)
Formal assessments of agricultural lands on quality, water access, and several other factors have started to improve the capacity of farming and farming enterprises. Instead of the original goal of using the program to boost rural interests and increase the focus on them, many local farmers have seen the inspectors as something invasive instead of helpful. Accurate and comprehensive assessments of course would only help them, but due to the previous experiences involving the ministry, the benefit of the doubt has generally not been provided. Even when talking to the farmers, several have only seen the program in the light of increased taxes instead of increasing agricultural efficiency.
Expand Town Classification Codes: The tiers of cities and the distinctions between types of towns are an obsolete system that is a holdover from the limited mobility of peasants. Now that the situation has changed, small towns and agricultural areas can move to a more district-based model, allowing for party and state leadership to be consolidated. The program is comparatively popular amongst rural interests and will allow for far better representation without too many complaints. (70)
Large-scale changes in the countryside have passed as a compromise with rural interests and Ryzhkov himself spearheaded the change. No longer are towns in the countryside separated due to a series of classifications but now districts are generally unified in administration with the district authorities given equivalent capability. This has increased the scale of governance with several new positions opened but it has created a massive reform in the organization of the provinces that has been taken up as a case of equivalence between the rural and urban party and state organizations. Local administrative divisions in towns are not going to be equivalent to the massive ones in cities, but regional-level authorities can now manage all necessary day-to-day tasks with few exceptions.
Clarify the River Reversal: Party members across the Central Asian republics have continuously championed the cause of river reversal to revive the parched steppe and to solve the coming agricultural crisis. Getting together a block of concerned representatives and party functionaries now will smooth the path toward the adoption of the total plan for river reversal, ensuring that it will be approved and encouraged. There will be some opposition from those from the Urals, but that will be comparatively minor given the rest of the Supreme Soviet. (-5)
It can be said that a significant number of party members do not understand the scale of the undertaking involved nor the science behind it as the initial proposals for the redirection of the Northern Rivers have if anything been amplified. Instead of moving with the project as a sensible scheme to divert some of the Yenisei into the Ob and five percent of the Ob to the South, the project has been significantly amplified in scale. Demands for the implementation of programs to divert a full tenth of the Yenisei into the Ob with ten percent of the now unified river proposed as essential to recharge the parched lands of Central Asia. Conversion of the mistake of nature to a local reservoir is planned along with major local hydrological works to begin greening and stabilization of soils, shifting the runoff to the already useless Caspian for use as a waste reservoir.
[]Send it to Committee: The program has escaped from the control of the ministry and taking measures now to reduce the scale will be prudent. Referring the entire initiative towards a combined ecological-technical committee will certainly kill it at the cost of support from rural workers and the likely political loss of any connections to party members from the Central Asian republics. Theoretically, the ecologists may come to a line in support of the program but purchasing a decade on implementation can direct resources towards more important areas. (??? Effects)
[]Reversal of the Northern Rivers: Starting the program in the next plan will involve the construction of the fully proposed Ob-Irtysh hydroelectric cascade as a first step with the further preparation of canal work. The heavy construction program would continue at full pace for the next few years to link the rivers as the project itself was initiated in full in approximately 1985. This in total would be the largest industrial measure ever undertaken by a nation and would redefine the use of energy and water across a broad region of the planet. Transfer potential is expected to be in the order of forty cubic kilometers of water per annum, transferring demand away from the Aral and providing enough water to maintain current levels of industrial activity. Additional efficiency programs would be implemented to continue growth, effectively avoiding major disruptions. (3 Infrastructure dice across the 10th and 2 the 11th Plan) (-380 RpY Modified by Steel Prices) (+300 Electricity -8 Non-Ferrous in 1980) (+2 Petroleum fuels per Year 1977-1981)
[]Modified River Reversal: The expanded program faces several risks in the form of environmental pollutants from the majority of the Ural industrial belt, funding the program in its entirety is less of an issue than the useability of the water. Implementing stricter standards across the Ob can be done in the first two years through the allocation of funding to clean up the water as it is washed out to the ocean. These measures would be treated as starting preparatory ones and come at a significant cost but one that can be met by current industries. As the plan is being implemented the infrastructure can be built up to adequate amounts with the damming of the Ob used to stabilize local access to freshwater sources. The redirection of pollutants to the upstream Ob will involve some additional funding but it would offer an effective compromise between the ecologically misguided and the radical expansion of the project. (3 Infrastructure dice across the 10th and 11th Plan) (-500 RpY Modified by Steel Prices) (+240 Electricity -6 Non-Ferrous in 1980) (+2 Petroleum fuels per Year 1979-1983)
Campaign: Working with Ryzkov directly on a combined economic and social platform will be time-consuming and discussing it with local party members even more so. Visiting all the various local allies and associates will take time and hundreds of flights but coordinating messaging will be essential for forming a functional government. Semyonov is at his weakest points and taking an opportunistic but partially conciliatory line with him can yield massive results. (128/4 Dice)
Campaigning work has been a consistently tiring series of travel using the old ministry Tu-126 to fly to several destinations. Priority airfare has at least allowed several smaller towns to be visited with local party members reacting in surprise that someone from Moscow made it out. The conversion of the ministry aircraft as a personal vehicle for campaigning was met with some grumbling but making important political connections is a critical part of ministerial work anyways. Many of those talked with were enthusiastic, but support in the small towns no matter how absolute only contributed a small amount to the election. For once the Ministry and more broadly Ryzhkov has the support of those working in the countryside and small towns, with the favor immediately repaid through the formalized continuation and confirmation of the ministerial post.
12 Hour Moratorium
