Attempting to Fulfill the Plan MNKh Edition

[Blackstar]

Turn 89 (January 1st, 1977 - January 1st, 1978): Industrial Energy

Resources per Turn(RpY): Base 12400 -150 Rocketry -5440 Plan Commitments -20 Commitments Cost Modifier = 6790 with 45 in storage

Spoiler: Last Turns Vote:

[X]Plan Is that a Metal Gear reference
-[X]Listen to the Housing Commission
-[X]Prioritize Knowledge Transfer
-[X]Anatoly Mikhailovich Zubov
-[X]Veniamin Sergeevich Sokolov

Internal Politics:

Political maneuvers have finally somewhat quieted with more typical Supreme Soviet sessions that were reminiscent of the Kosygin era. Both Ryzhkov and Vorotnikov have seemingly come together with common sense moderate policy, at least openly. The two are still somewhat competing for influence through lower party campaigns alongside a focus on out-mobilizing the other in the upcoming election through improved development of the economy. Practical considerations from the lower party have been more focused on the general economy rather than exact responsibility, but the angle has been somewhat good for the ministry. A sudden elevation as the topical expert on what to do to further the economy has somewhat formalized the MNKh as the third chair in government even if formal efforts to retain the position are likely to take longer.

A combination of the LASV crisis and the increase in youth factions of the party have somewhat pushed it towards Ryzhkov's line from a surface level perspective. Conversely, the inclusion of more older workers that tend towards a conservative position with a greater degree of participation may make it lean more towards Vorotnikov leading to a degree of uncertainty for the 79 elections. Recent economic instability has been defining the upcoming political situation as the Union cannot truly afford to endure a recession, especially one that comes from seemingly nothing but current economic policies. Both sides have already asked questions on how to prevent it, presenting a unified front but it is almost certain that the ministry will receive the majority of the blame if it does happen.

Recent financial reports from Cherepovets Steel have highlighted a worrying trend as demand has reduced with several mills starting to reduce employment. The situation is not yet at a crisis point but a strong increase in domestic steel demand is going to be critical to avoid a spiral. At the current economic state a small downturn is almost certain to come as employment is shed from the less efficient sectors of the industry but a deeper recession can be prevented through decisive action. Underfunding of the heavy industrial sector has caused the problem and the only logical way out of the problem is a strong increase in funding alongside further technical development. While reports have not shown the spread of increasing unemployment coming to the broader industrial sector, these are somewhat delayed in practice and sign of a more fundamental concerning trend.

Industrial employment is unlikely to be able to sustain the rapidly growing proletariat with the currently available energy and material resources that are present. Increasing technological sophistication has reduced the economic workforce just as quickly as increasing economic wages. Both factors have started to crush the industrial workforce with most enterprises losing employment through modernization. New funding will somewhat compensate for the loss but that is not going to be efficient from a mass employment perspective. Heavy industry cannot be ignored as it is foundational and critical but it cannot also be relied upon to supply work for millions of Soviet Workers as it once had.

In the order of crises facing the Soviet economy, the heavy industrial one is the most politically sensitive by far. Heavy industry is practically tied into the party and the planning system with a notable decline being a practical guarantee of political collapse. Further, a strong industrial sector underpins national defense and the general construction of socialism domestically and abroad. The Union must resolve this fundamental difference if it is to maintain strong growth as demand must be increased alongside increasing productivity to even maintain the current state of the economy. If the manufacturing industry is allowed to fall, it will take everything politically connected to it. To resolve the issue aggressive demand centric and energy policies can somewhat compensate but the solution itself can only be found in new technical developments.


Military Equipment Part 2(Airforce):

Direct modernization of the now somewhat problematic Mig-23 has failed as Mikoyan has reported that the airframe itself cannot handle the necessary changes to move to a fly by wire model alongside improving engine power. The plane itself is still being fitted with the D-30 turbofan but its long-term modernization potential is unlikely to result in any further gains in performance. Increasing standards of American fighters have already overcome the design with current attempts considered aerodynamically suboptimal for digital system integration. Plans for the Mig-23M have also been cut short due to severe deficiencies in material sciences compared to lightweight American fighters. A related modernization package with the Mysl-M HMD, improved radar, ECM, and countermeasures will still be mounted to provide weapons compatibility but work has shifted towards an entirely new airframe with derivative hardware.

Taking the functional concepts remaining from the Mig-23M and redeveloping it for a high-capability fighter capable of overmatching American developments has begun. The new Mig-27 design program has shifted previous ideas for the fighter, somewhat incorporating lessons learned from the Mig-23B, M, and K. A new composite airframe has significantly reduced empty weight while a fully solid state flight computer directs a fully traversable active canard and rear wing surface to radically improve agility. The delta wing itself has been somewhat expanded to improve carry weight with the intakes moved to a more conventional position so as to provide four additional stations for ordinance. Outside of an entirely reworked electronics suite the new design is somewhat iterative, but represents significant gains in tactical capabilities. A ground attack tracking capable pod is being integrated from the start though the capability remains an option only in situations of mixed or better air superiority.

Modernizations to the Mig-25 airframe have somewhat been taken better as the aircraft was as a baseline more modern and non-dependant on Mig-21-derived components. Some lightning with a new skin has been achieved alongside improved air resistance performance. Conversion to a computerized control system has achieved mild improvements in agility but nothing radical or comparable to more advanced designs. Integration of the Mysl onto the platform with a degree of radar slaving is expected to be key for the mid-range dogfight, enabling the radar to be targeted by sight. Air-to-ground capability integration has been achieved with the integration of Kh-15/25/29s as possible hardware, if only contrast guided variants. Upgrades in capabilities have featured a new high-precision RWR system to improve SEAD performance alongside strong jamming pods capable of screening other assets for use in a tactical support role.

Finalized production versions of the Su-15bis have started being issued to PVO units with twin R25 engines ensuring that the fighter can achieve high-speed interceptions. High power mode for both engines is only sustainable for five minutes but enables a terminal intercept acceleration to Mach 2.4, taking advantage of a more reinforced airframe. A new wing form has been incorporated into the design to reduce air resistance and provide for improved takeoff capabilities in a rapid interception profile. The layout of either three drop tanks and two each of R40A and R60M is expected to be standard for most duties with the option to double missile armament or to replace missiles with R40T's when necessary. Frontline fighter conversions to the use of R13M double mounts have been proposed for export but so far not authorized for lack of reliable customers.

With modern developments in airpower alongside the rapidly improving scale of electronics, avionics, and ordinance the program for a multirole light frontline fighter has started. A single airframe capable of replacing the Su-7, Su-17, Su-24, Mig-23, Mig-27, and Il-42 is technically ambitious but necessary to meet prospective military-tactical missions. Radar capability to sustain four missile datalinks has been a core demand of the program alongside flexible tracking and compound data-sharing between squadmates and downlink from rear echelon radar craft. A single engine capable of delivering 180kN at reheat has already started development with a larger turbofan expected to offer significant efficiency benefits to the airframe. Ordinance compatibility with all next-generation systems has been demanded alongside a maximum number of stores for use in a close support strike role. Prototypes are not expected for a few years as the technical challenges involved are still significant.

The next primary fighter-interceptor has significantly shifted in role from the Mig-25 to a dedicated aircraft focused on air-superiority work both outside and inside defensive zones. The new medium frontline interceptor program has thus accompanied work with several techniques developed to improve air-to-air combat capabilities. A phased array radar is the main goal of the program, integrating simultaneous target tracking with squadron networking and frontal coordination across the battlefield. Reductions in aircraft radar returns can be achieved through improved flight geometry while a new generation of high-power turbines, thrust vectoring, and a solid-state control system will provide unparalleled agility to the airframe. Pilot awareness aids and electronic integration are so far the primary focus of the program as true networked defensive systems will fundamentally revolutionize current concepts of air combat.

Strike aircraft have tended towards heavier airframes for the use of high dive speed ordinance but air defense networks are only improving. This leaves the tactical strike role preferred for a lighter more capable aircraft that can surmount air defenses more so than one capable of carrying the heaviest ordinance. An internal bay with the capability to carry at least three new generation Kh-41 AShM or extended range air-to-air ordinance for over-arctic interception. The agility of the aircraft is not expected or demanded, only that it offers a reduced radar signature from below, as patrol profiles will focus on high-altitude flight more so than low-altitude penetration. The radar system from the MFI has been recommended for the far heavier patrol interceptor when used in the role but systems integration is heavily dependent on technological availability. Practical use cases will see the plane replace the Su-15Bis, Tu-22, and Tu-26 in interception and heavy anti-shipping roles.

A true second-generation semi-active missile with improved kinematic performance and tracking systems has failed to materialize in the new R23. Increasing motor size and a move to solid-state electronics has somewhat improved engagement characteristics of the system with better rejection of chaff and ECM but not significantly so. The largest improvement if anything for the new generation of missiles is an improvement in terminal and kinematic performance, allowing for engagements to be conducted further and against targets maneuvering at up to 8g in most profiles. New double mounting brackets have somewhat been standardized and are expected to be used for wing stores, increasing engagement capacity in dense air environments alongside interception missions.

Lacking interception capability of lighter systems alongside the requirements for long range fires from interceptors has led to a series of improvements in missile development. A new generation of missiles derived from the R-40A has been warranted with a low diameter variation entering testing. Miniaturization of the active seeker has only been partially achieved with a next generation seeker made more capable rather than smaller with improved ECM rejection, continuous data-link updates in TWS modes, and enhanced terminal maneuverability at a moderate cost in kinematic performance. Initial testing of the new R33 system has only started on the Mig-25 but cross compatibility with the Mig-27 is expected upon its entry into service. These features have minimized possible mass reductions with the new missile still expected to be 350kg. Significant improvements in performance have in effect canceled the R40A modernization program with a new significantly improved general purpose system.

To provide a contemporary dogfight missile work has had to shift away from previous attempts at the production of shorter range gun replacements. It is currently believed that the new generation of American missiles will radically improve countermeasure resistance and those efforts need to be paralleled alongside improvements in all aspects of flight performance. The use of a higher energy motor alongside gains in weight are one part of the program, but direct vectoring of engine thrust when combined with Mysl based targeting can enable a nearly total frontal cone of engagement. Seeker improvements are in practice directly copied off the Igla with a dual bandwidth seeker optimized to reject countermeasures and theoretical IRCCM systems expected to be seen on American assault aviation. When combined with a significant narrowing of sensor view, a near absolute resistance to conventional countermeasures is expected outside direct front aspect fire. Practical deployment of the new R73 system is unlikely to start at scale before 1982 but it will provide a means to match and exceed enemy platforms.

Development applications for the Su-24 have been delayed due to issues in the AL-21 engine as modernization has failed to produce notable gains in maintenance duration. The airframe itself has also fallen short of the capabilities expected for a ground attack craft, coming ahead in unloaded surface speed but significantly behind expectation in payload alongside presenting significant safety concerns during takeoffs and landings. Compatibility with both the Kh-25/29 system is still expected alongside the ability to fit ECM and detection hardware for use in SEAD but the upgrade is not enough to offer unique advantages compared to Mig-25s with similar hardware. Advancing adversary air defense capabilities are expected to restrict strike missions to low altitude supersonic attacks, limiting what can be done and demanding an entirely new generation of hardware outside of current developments.

Subsonic attack modes have met significant opposition from the military especially with the results of comparative evaluations. Strike aircraft performing loitering missions over any air defense of significance will have an exceedingly poor survival rate, especially in areas of significant opposition. Improved standoff ordinance is going to somewhat compensate as even subsonic planes can fling missiles from a distance away but that significantly limits operations and raises costs. The Il-42 itself is an adequate plane for the role but the heavy armor incorporated into the fuselage has itself been proven to be part of an obsolete design concept as engagements within AA gun envelopes are deeply unlikely in case of any European confrontation. Work in areas entirely lacking or equipped with obsolete AA can still be conducted but that pigeonholes the aircraft into a series of very limited deployments.

Further development on the Kh-15 system has seen it advanced into a dedicated anti-radar platform capable of long distance attack. High velocity trajectories alongside a terminal inertial stage in case of beam interruption is expected to achieve significant kill rates on hostile SAM and radar systems. Practical limitations of the anti-radar use case has limited the platform to approximately 250 km of range in the attack but even this is expected to be sufficient to counter new and prospective anti-aircraft systems. Minimization of aircraft inside the operational area when breaking into defensive zones is expected to be necessary until the point that sufficient suppression of enemy defenses is achieved. Practical wartime use is expected to take advantage of nuclear warheads to enhance effect, with a co-developed 300 kt warhead made to aid suppression of air defenses. Bomber use as a softening system of Canadian and British air defense networks is expected for the nuclear version, limiting damage to strike formations performing nuclear attacks.

Deriving off initial work in guided ordinance on the Kh-23 platform a new duplex of heavy guided ordinance has been developed for a number of operational tasks. Both the Kh-25/Kh-29 systems share the same practical guidance packages with the former using it on a 300kg system while the latter is a heavier 700kg complex containing a 300 kg warhead. The Kh-25 is expected for lighter front line work alongside anti-tank strikes with options for laser, contrast, and anti-radiation guidance available on the same platform. Range expectations on the lighter missile are in practice at best 15km outside of the anti-radar MP which can cruise for up to forty kilometers alongside having limited inertial guidance for use in a light SEAD role. Kh-29 variants are in practice built with similar seekers but significantly greater more conventional warheads for attacks on hardened targets, significantly expanding strike capabilities on all targeting pod equipped airframes.

Test operations of the new Tu-30 have been successful with the supersonic bomber expected to replace the M3 over time as the principal nuclear strike asset. The variable geometry lifting body has somewhat verified initial estimates of the project even if deficiencies in engine efficiency have caused it to fall short of expected supersonic cruise range targets. Capabilities to maintain cruise speeds of mach 2.4 at 20 km for 8000 km are in excess of any opposition aircraft and make interception of the Tu-30 challenging for conventional enemy fighters. Standard armament is expected to consist of either four still in development Kh-80 nuclear cruise missiles or 4 Kh-41 anti shipping missiles. Replacement of the somewhat obsolete Tu-26 is likely to technically be prioritized first as there are some concerns of the new airframe being economically sustained in a long distance patrolling role like the M3 currently is. Production on the prototype aircraft has come at significant cost in funding and further examples are only likely to be somewhat cheaper, leading to some criticism of the program as a waste of money compared to investments into missile forces.


Free dice to allocate 6 Dice.

Infrastructure: (14) 5 Dice

[]Expanded Metro Systems: Metro areas built out by Malenkov and Voznesensky have served hundreds of Millions of workers but further expansions are warranted in cities experiencing rapid growth. Additional routes need to be added in rapidly growing cities in Central Asia and Ukraine, expanding capacity and destinations significantly. More moderate work in several new cities that are expected to connect to the HSR system will be done to provide direct linkages, improving the transfer of passengers. Transportation efficiency improvements will be minor but notable as an increasing number of workers can avoid driving to work. (-1 Petroleum Fuels) (175 Resources per Dice 0/200)

[]Western Local Roads(Stage 1/3): The development of roads is once again in a critical state with significant shortfalls present in the development. Guidance by previous ministers somewhat under-stated the problem as the adoption of automobiles and trucks was persistently and consistently underestimated through the use of obsolescent modeling. Current roads are insufficient, susceptible to wear, and generally inadequate for even a small portion of demanded economic activity. Strong programs to improve them in the west are just a first step in development as the road system across the entire Union must be radically expanded and developed. (150 Resources per Dice 187/275)

[]Automotive Infrastructure(Stage 1/5): The Union was not prepared for its newfound wealth and manufacturing capabilities as the development of cars has put the fact into stark awareness. Moscow is practically a permanent 20 hour traffic jam without much hope in sight while cars litter the micro districts that would otherwise be allocated for green spaces. Developing further parking for the flood of cars alongside provisions on where to store them when not in use can reduce the overall strain on the system. Further work will involve the expansion of urban roads and improvement of traffic throughput through electronic systems, enabling faster transportation without massive increases in spending. (150 Resources per Dice 0/175)

[]Urban Sewage Systems: Sewage transportation by truck is the predominant form of sewage management for much of the Union's land mass. Urban systems exist but capacity limitations have posed significant development concerns outside of Moscow with severe limits placed on what can be done. Current programs focus on the urban issue as trucks, while inefficient, are not a direct health hazard that current management practices are. An expanded and modified program can be undertaken for large-scale urban renewal, integrating processing systems and greatly expanding capacities. This will take time and balloon the program above old standards but it will provide room for the economic centers of the Union to grow. (200 Resources per Dice 16/450) (-34 CI4 Electricity)

[]Water Processing Plants: Water quality in areas of industrial breakthrough has moderately degraded with standards for heavy metals only partially implemented on the industrial end. To ensure that drinking water remains potable an increased number of facilities can be established for the purification of drinking water and improvement of quality of life in industrial zones. This is most notable on the Volga, but secondary water purification facilities for home use water will be required in several key areas. Funding will keep levels to those compatible with long-term health, in effect offering some savings on net medical expenses. (200 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-26 CI3 Electricity)

[]Modernization of Heating Infrastructure: Working to improve the thermal efficiency of structures and re-coating heat pipes is a major infrastructural effort but one that needs to be undertaken to reduce waste. Current practices for grid heating are efficient but still lose a significant amount of heat in transportation and from the localization of thermal plants away from urban areas. Part of this will continue the localization of heating units to building natural gas systems in lower-density areas but most of the upgrades will be in the form of improved piping and insulation. (150 Resources per Dice 0/200) (-2 Petroleum Fuels, +1 Petroleum Gas)

[]Building Cladding Modernization: Improving the cladding on older buildings and increasing insulation standards to modern ones can provide somewhat immediate gains in general efficiency. Gas use for heating has been rapidly increasing in scope and taking minimal measures to prevent it can be somewhat less expensive than increasing the extraction of gas when accounting for the demands of further provisioning infrastructure. Insulation itself will improve the aesthetic appeal of most older buildings, providing a way to break up skylines that are otherwise considered boring for a further minimal cost relative to impact on population morale. (120 Resources per Dice 0/250) (-4 Petroleum Gas)

[]HVDC Grid Islands: High-power thyristors have made direct current electrical transmission somewhat viable if limited in implementation. To improve the economic factors of large-scale hydroelectric facilities along with concentrated peat and lignite-burning thermal stations significant investments can be placed into the field. The long-distance transmission of power for between five hundred and a thousand kilometers can reduce losses and provide a significant improvement in area grids if not local ones. (175 Resources per Dice 0/200) (+45 Electricity)

Heavy Industry (10) 4 Dice

[]Krasnoyarsk-Irkutsk Metallurgical Complexes(Stage 1/3): Lower-grade local ores in combination with the exploitation of new deposits and improved railway access are expected to significantly improve domestic steel production. The area has practical free electricity from the massive available hydro potential making it uniquely suited to large-scale steel processing and recycling. The proximity of natural gas sources of reduction has favored the area as one of the largest test cases for the primary DRI-EAF method with expectations for significant gains to local work and productivity. Much of the steel produced would go West, lowering local prices and further improving domestic productivity. (220 Resources per Dice 0/225) (-10 Steel -1 Non-Ferrous +1 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (Hydroelectric Powered)

[]Secondary Metallurgical Complexes: Secondary steel can be salvaged to a large extent from the current steel economy. Despite strong export pressures, the domestic sector for steel utilization is strong and produces an excess of scrap steel. To meet domestic steel demand and minimize the need for reducing agents in production an expanded program for recycling steel can be started. Effective waste filtering has already been established and combustion processing inherently involves the separation of metal products. This will also yield some limited aluminum and copper, but those are secondary and far harder to filter from garbage streams. (240 Resources per Dice 0/125) (-61 CI8 Electricity -6 Steel -1 Non-Ferrous +1 General Labor)

[]Amur Electrolysis Plants: Mass production of aluminum from imported Indonesian Bauxite can start in the Far East to form a key industry and a basis for further development. Plentiful coal and easy logistics on the Amur leave the site optimal for the construction of a major electrolytic complex and the environment is well suited to the import of materials. Intensive development can directly supply the local industry and form a viable component of a complete domestic aluminum-production system as funding and technological sophistication improve. (240 Resources per Dice 0/100) (-76 CI8 Electricity -8 Non-Ferrous +1 General Labor)

[]Coal Power Plants(CPSC): Coal is still a necessary part of the energy mix and one that cannot be ignored as it forms an essential basis for increasing energy production. Programs towards radically increasing the throughput of coal power are shortsighted before mining programs can achieve improved yields and an adequate barge route is developed. Still, coal is currently viable and prices of coal are expected to crash once heavier barges can be used, radically changing the entire economic principles of power in the Union. (300 Resources per Dice 0/100) (+150 Electricity +3 Coal) (Repeatable)

[]Virgin Coalfield Exploitation: Test digging at the massive Tunguska, Minusinsk, and Irkutsk deposits and some of the limited far eastern reserves can be started to access previously ignored coal-bearing areas. These programs will focus primarily on the location of hard coals in underground formats to provide high-quality metallurgical coals to specialty industries in the Far East. Avoidance of significant semi-coking processes will be key to reducing the energy demand of the coal industry and maintaining the viability of production until river reversal can be completed. (150 Resources per Dice 0/100) (-21 CI4 Electricity -5 Coal +1 General Labor)

[]Kansk-Achinsk Coal Liquefaction(Stage 1/2): Collaborating closely with German efforts and transferring the technology or domestic applications offers something of a solution to the oil crisis. A series of integrated plants capable of processing 50Mt of coal per annum can be established alongside the expansion of pit mining to increase transportability. This coal will be converted to fuel at a high rate, securing significant gains in energy security even if current petroleum prices would necessitate operating slightly at cost to maintain prospective capacity. Only so much liquefaction can be developed but it at least offers a way to use domestic resources to meet the needs of the energy crisis. Energy demands will be met with local coal resources while reduction supplies can be obtained through the use of natural gas without economic issues. (220 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-16 CI4 Electricity -3 Petroleum Fuels +2 Petroleum Gas -2 Petrochemicals +1 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (Non-Profitable)

[]Atomash(Stage 4/4): Continued expansions of the Atmomash production complex have been deemed important to achieve energy independence. Additional metallurgical facilities alongside a second full oven capable of sintering wholesale cores will be essential alongside the infrastructure required for the turbines to be constructed. At the current rate of development, it is expected that a stable energy system can be achieved by 1990 with new reactor designs accompanied by a rapid increase in production throughput. Replacement of non-grid resources will take longer alongside general modernization but current prospects for atomic energy offer a way out of the current energy crisis. (300 Resources per Dice 125/250) (-80 CI8 Electricity +2 Steel +1 Non-Ferrous +1 Educated Labor)

[]CNC Machine Building Plants: Domestic direct microcomputer-controlled machinery has been somewhat in shortage due to the limitations on production but now that common lithographic machinery is available that trend can be reversed. Standard model NC machinery can be modified and modernized to bring it to true computational control to improve precision and production speed on common parts. Every industry is expected to be revolutionized but only so many chips can be made so quickly as the fabrication machinery is in high demand across every sector. (300 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-45 CI3 Electricity +1 Steel +2 Non-Ferrous +1 Educated Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Vladivostok Shipyards: The naval yards in the Far East have some of the cheapest labor and a significant market for merchant shipping between all CMEA members. Expanding the construction of large hulled container and tanker ships domestically will be essential to keep up with current American standards. If the Soviet merchant fleet is to be modernized it needs to be funded now and expanded now to compensate for deficiencies in block-wide production. An entirely new generation of ships will have to be built to break with old standards and the dogged obsolescence that has remained a major part of naval construction. (240 Resources per Dice 0/200) (-54 CI4 Electricity +5 Steel +2 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (High Profitability)

[]LuAZ Automotive Plant: Lower relative labor costs alongside an environment with easy access to energy and steel resources represents a prime location for the establishment of a heavier vehicle plant. A focus on heavier and larger vehicles can improve market saturation of an otherwise lightly produced category and provide increased consumptive pressure. In more rural areas heavier chassis with an integral 4x4 drive will improve performance and enable a degree of upselling. Export opportunities are further significant as the American industry is currently struggling to produce a modern competitive car for the segment. (240 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-62 CI4 Electricity +5 Steel +2 Non-Ferrous +1 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (Extremely High Profitability)

[]UMAZ Automotive Plant: Tapping the vast steel production complexes of the Ural region alongside additional materials from local aluminum plants offer significant opportunities for a new generation of vehicles. Ultralight unibodies are expected to be more efficient and capable of urban operation compared to more contemporary vehicles and establish a plant pioneering the new techniques as a breakaway of VAZ. Subcompact designs are increasingly necessary to navigate busy urban streets and the use of innovative techniques will enable lower fuel use across the passenger fleet. (240 Resources per Dice 0/175) (-50 CI4 Electricity +4 Steel +4 Non-Ferrous +1 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (Very High Profitability)

[]Mass Commercialization of UAZ: The current series of 4x4 designs has enjoyed significant popularity in rural areas as a standby vehicle capable of navigating the worst terrain. Models out of military service are already typically resold but designated production of civilian models has not been adequate. Providing a wealth of funding for mass expansion and modernization can bring the typical 4x4 design into common utilization with improved popular trims offered for those that do not want a classical UAZ. Most vehicles will trend lighter to improve popularity but a rural focused light vehicle can garner a considerable market. (300 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-67 CI6 Electricity +6 Steel +2 Non-Ferrous +1 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (Extremely High Profitability)

[]ZIL Branch Plants: Luxury and sports vehicles represent a high profitability segment inherently and the expansion of ZIL and its associated plants has been significant just from incentive funds. To improve economic activity further funding can be allocated on the expansive production of luxury cars so as to improve general economic conditions. As the population gets wealthier the demand for luxury has only risen with significant demand placed on providing the most capable trims available. Close cooperation with Nissan is expected with some technical transfer promised as long as sufficient funding is allocated, driving the domestic sports car industry forward by approximately five to ten years. (260 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-47 CI8 Electricity +3 Steel +3 Non-Ferrous +1 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (Extremely High Profitability)

Rocketry (4) 2 Dice (Cannot Use Free Dice)

[]Cancel Project(Does not take a Dice)(10<Projects<15, -2 Dice) (150/160 R/y Funding Cap)
-MAKS Program (-10 RpY)
-Communication Satellites (-10 RpY) Constant Program
-Atmospheric Data Satellite Program (-10 RpY) Constant Program
-Positioning System Programs (-10 RpY)
-Orbital Telescope Program (-10 RpY)
-FGB-VA Crewed Exploration (-10 RpY) Constant Program
-Expanded Station Program (-15 RpY)
-2nd Gen Luna Program (-20 RpY) Constant Program
-Mars Program (-10 RpY) Constant Program, Rover Focused
-Mercury Program (-5 RpY)
-Outer Planets Program (-15 RpY) Active Phase finished 1979
-Long Term Orbital Nuclear Power (-10 RpY)
-Nuclear Drive Program (-15 RpY)

[]Open a New Moon Program: A theoretical program to upstage American achievements in orbit of the moon can be undertaken for comparatively little cost. Launching an FGB-VA is a matter of attaching a stage to it and performing an orbit as the duration of travel is expected to be unexceptional the same as the mass involved. This would encourage expensive domestic spending programs on the American end, especially as a landing is still believed to be technically infeasible in any configuration of proposed launchers available. (-5 RpY Expected) (1 Dice)

[]Superheavy Launcher: With the limited capabilities of the RLA new systems have to be developed if a new moon program is even to be considered. A high-power hydrogen lift stage can still be paired with legacy RLA cores produced as cheaper boosters but new engines will have to be developed to enable a degree of reusability. Recovery of comparatively short-duration boosters will be key for lowering costs and on a heavy core hydrogen state the flight profile can be well suited for further launches. Mixed cryogenics will be a major issue but the limitations of hydrogen and transport diameters somewhat prevent any other approach. (-30 RpY Expected) (1 Dice) (Subvote)

[]New Heavy Launcher: An all-hydrogen lift vehicle promises to significantly reduce the requirements for a rocket and enable a lower general mass of dry components to be used. The design is planned around a six-hundred-ton liftoff vehicle built on a two-stage basis using a hydrogen lower and upper stage with the options for mounting the already developed high-energy third stage for geostationary launches. A six-meter core diameter would enable fairing diameters up to nine meters, enabling far larger payloads to be launched in a single flight and starting the way toward retiring the RLA-3. (-25 RpY Expected) (1 Dice) (Subvote)

[]Light Bulk Launcher: The RLA-1 is frankly excessive for most missions it has been considered for as a simple crew rotation does not require fifteen tons of lift mass. Improved electronics on most satellite buses have also eliminated the need for the heaviest launches due to the shrinking size of vehicles. Working off existing hardware by consolidating the lower stage to a half-power engine alongside a more efficient fuselage can provide approximately eight tons to orbit on a reliable platform. This would involve some configurational changes but could create a highly capable launch vehicle for lighter payloads to avoid the full cost of an RLA launch. (-15 RpY Expected) (1 Dice) (Subvote)

[]Bulk Launch Methods: The rocket has historically been the only way that payloads and humans have gotten into space, but several other concepts deserve exploration. Everything from structural and design elevations on orbital cable elevators to rocket sleds must be considered. This program itself is only expected to be theoretical and focused on making designs for the possibility along with several small-scale models for scientific viability. Some plans have already been dismissed but investing in the future potential of orbit and easy delivery to space has always been a cornerstone of the program. (-5 RpY Expected) (1 Dice)

Light Industry (12) 12 Dice

[]Air Conditioner Plants(Stage 7/7): Continued developments in the air conditioning sector are required to maintain the development of comfortable domestic housing. Smaller homes and older apartments are being modernized but at an inadequate pace with the acceleration of conventional construction. Further programs to increase the throughput of cooling systems can ensure that the oldest housing stock is modernized and brought into a comfortable state of living over the next decade. Once sufficient production capacity is established efficiency improvements are expected to provide a sufficient demand impetus to maintain profitability, solving the standard of living crisis compared to the Americans. (140 Resources per Dice 133/250) (-74 CI6 Electricity +2 Steel +2 Non-Ferrous +1 General Labor)

[]Microcomputer Plants(Stage 3/4): Increasing domestic production of the new integrated 6um node for both memory modules and conventional silicon has finally been achieved at scale. The production of new lithography machines is still somewhat questionable as lines are still in the process of conversion but steady amounts have become available. Improvements in wafer size or leaps in machine capability are unlikely to be made this decade but improvements in photomasks have already started and are likely to achieve gate reductions to 3.5um without radical machinery changes before 1980. (300 Resources per Dice 75/150) (-54 CI5 Electricity +2 Non-Ferrous +2 Educated Labor) (Very High Profitability)

[]Consumer Electronics Plants(Stage 3/3): Cheap easy to use personal electronics have been an untapped sector with home radios and simpler systems generally under-produced. Expanding the industry into Central Asia alongside several new plants in the Ukrainian and Belorussian SSR can provide vast numbers of well paying jobs all while improving domestic electronic production. Demand for solid state electronics can be minimized through the preferential use of transistors for simpler systems as quantity can be somewhat prioritized over quality for many devices. (200 Resources per Dice 93/300) (-50 CI8 Electricity +2 Non-Ferrous +2 Petrochemicals +3 General Labor) (Very High Profitability)

[]Modernization of Home Electronics Gorky era industrial standardization programs have been key and heavily influential in nearly every element of the electronics industry but they need to be brought to modern standards. Power supply minimum efficiencies, indicators for efficiency, and several component standards need to be updated and improved. More advanced techniques have revolutionized the industry and it is time to move most consumer items to them. Changeovers are planned for the next five years with the majority of funding going to bureaucratic enforcement and incentive funds to ensure that enterprises can change over with few disruptions. (240 Resources per Dice 64/100) (+10 CI2 Electricity +1 Non-Ferrous +1 Petrochemicals) (High Profitability)

[]Third Generation Food Programs(Stage 1/3): The chemical industry has delivered the Union several major victories in the production of shelf-stable enhanced foods that have practically broken from old traditions. These are capable of long-term storage on shelves and can in effect reduce food wastage and contamination significantly through a mixture of new chemical compositions and plastic packaging. Production expectations will be major as several new types of drinks, meals, and even fast-consumption products will be brought to every soviet grocer. Current efforts are expected to modernize the soft drink industry along with sectors of the confectionary industry, contributing capital to bring manufacturing to new standards. (160 Resources per Dice 0/200) (-41 CI3 Electricity +4 Petrochemicals +3 General Labor) (Very High Profitability)

[]Secondary Plastics Industries: Plastics are objectively superior to any contemporary product produced in the Soviet Union and current shortages of non-ferrous metals can be somewhat compensated for through the rapid adoption of plastics. Increased production of containers and several other thermoplastic products for use in general use of durable goods will be key to lowering the demand for metals and conserving them for more important sectors. In practice, the reduction in metal use will be minimal if only due to the likely rapidly rising demand for new goods overtaking any savings. (180 Resources per Dice 0/200) (-36 CI3 Electricity -2 Non-Ferrous +6 Petrochemicals +2 General Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Textile Industry Overhauls: Current labor standards are reducing efficiency for the general textile industry as the massive profusion of labor is increasingly more scarce. Enterprises have asked for funding for further modernization as cheap labor is not available for use in the textile industry and machinery must be used to compensate for the deficiency. Limitations in immigration and a strong domestic growth pattern have consumed easy-to-mobilize labor leaving little that can be done. Increasing mechanization for common goods will compensate but the general sustainability of the industry must be considered. (200 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-48 CI9 Electricity -2 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (Very High Profitability)

[]Mixed Textile Industries(Stage 3/3): Rapid chemicalization of the clothing sector promises to direct water towards more useful industries while improving general domestic growth. Synthetic fibers are superior to natural ones in most ways and adapting industrial methods to primarily produce them will practically eliminate any dependence on imports of materials. Programs to achieve increased industrialization have run into minor issues in sourcing labor but a few workers can still be offered sufficient wages to increase textile production and processing. (150 Resources per Dice 83/250) (-41 CI5 Electricity +4 Petrochemicals +2 General Labor) (High Profitability)

Chemical Industry (6) 4 Dice

[]Exploitation of the East Siberian Basin(Stage 1/2): Several previously untapped petroleum reserves exist in the Far East with exploratory drilling already started on several identified fields. Most reservoirs that have been found are a combination of small and remote reserves without massive capacity for new production, but they are existent and worth extraction in a primary and secondary recovery sense. Continued operations are unlikely to produce any radical increases in petroleum production but even mild gains can assist in stabilizing economic activity. (150 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-28 CI4 Electricity -4 Petroleum Fuels -1 Petroleum Gas +1 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Development of the Southern Turgay Basin(Stage 1/2): Expansive extraction operations in the Kazakh SSR are expected to stimulate the local economy and provide a mixture of gas and petroleum resources for rapid development. Local reserves are comparatively small and somewhat challenging to access but intensive production can provide rapid and significant gains for the local economy. Construction of several new oil towns alongside the intensive expansion of local refining infrastructure is expected to produce thousands of new high-paying jobs and tens of thousands of jobs supporting them. Operations are going to be limited by the conditions of the reserves in place but some gains are still expected. (150 Resources per Dice 0/125) (-25 CI4 Electricity -4 Petroleum Fuels -3 Petroleum Gas +1 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (Very High Profitability)

[]Intensive Development of the Caspian(Stage 2/6): The caspian basin still has a vast quantity of oil all around it in both the littoral waters and the ground around the sea. Further increases in on-sea production will tap the remaining deposits on the water with further efforts focused on increasing recovery and conventional extraction on the rest of the reserve. Improvements in production will somewhat increase in price due to the more advanced techniques put into use but that is to be expected to sustain the requirements of new oils. (180 Resources per Dice 79/125) (-15 CI6 Electricity -5 Petroleum Fuels -3 Petroleum Gas +1 Educated Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Modernization of Oil Fields(Stage 1/4): Moving towards the newest techniques and implementing tertiary recovery measures at scale for the West Siberian deposits will generate rapid returns on investment. Bringing older depleted wellheads into functionality and expanding the utilization of active fracking techniques is expected to radically reshape the petroleum industry. Well, recovery rates can be nearly expected to double, especially for some heavier oils with techniques raising profits across the board for essential state enterprises. Current approaches will focus on increasing recovery from already tapped wells but continued programs can be expanded towards general improvements in petroleum recovery. (160 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-39 CI4 Electricity -5 Petroleum Fuels -4 Petroleum Gas) (High Profitability)

[]Continued Synthetic Rubber Programs: Continued deep modernizations and expansions of the domestic rubber industry offer a way to significantly improve domestic incomes while increasing independence. Direct expansions of the industry are technologically possible through improved techniques, providing flexible and higher-performance polymers to several other critical industrial areas. Work on the overall rubber industry is only expected to increase as the automotive and general industrial sectors reach maturity with the demand for improved sealants and synthetic products rapidly increasing. (240 Resources per Dice 0/125) (-41 CI6 Electricity +2 Petroleum Fuels +2 Petroleum Gas -5 Petrochemicals +1 Educated Labor) (Very High Profitability)

[]Next Generation Plastics Programs: Expanding the production of specialty and engineering plastics is somewhat of a distraction with the strong growth of the industry but one that still needs to be addressed. New and improved feedstocks and a rapidly developing chemical industry driven by cheap energy is a viable export industry and one that can significantly contribute towards domestic growth. Increasing funding for the more experimental applications of new plastics including the wholesale replacement of stainless steel in some applications will be key to improving domestic competitiveness and technological sophistication. (240 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-41 CI6 Electricity +4 Petroleum Gas -4 Petrochemicals +1 Educated Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Continued Exploitation of Volga-Ural: The tapping of massive reserves at an accelerated pace can provide for a cheap and fast increase in petroleum production to compensate for depletion in other areas. The massive formations are steadily decreasing in productivity as exploitation continues to deplete reserves despite improved recovery methods and the continuous development of new methodologies. These initiatives would in practice accelerate the depletion of deposits in the region, yielding plentiful cheap oil from the massive formations but causing a faster loss of total production as oil becomes uneconomical. (120 Resources per Dice 0/100) (-23 CI5 Electricity -8 Petroleum Fuels -2 Petroleum Gas +1 General Labor) (Very High Profitability)

[]West Siberian Gas Wells(Stage 1/10): Vast gas reserves exist in the West Siberian petroleum formations and outside of efforts for capture from primary wells the development of dedicated local gas infrastructure has not yet begun at scale. Technical programs to tap new gas wells and significantly increase production capacity represent the best means for reducing oil use across the Union. Initial programs will focus on tapping newly discovered reserves and proving the techniques involved more than direct extraction but far larger and more productive efforts are sure to follow. (180 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-32 CI8 Electricity -6 Petroleum Gas +1 General Labor+1 Educated Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Heavy Oil Experiments: There are approximately six million tons of recoverable heavy oil and bitumen that are somewhat economically and technically recoverable. Current upgrading facilities have proven that it can be refined into usable oil products but not at significant rates and not without costs. Accepting that the technologies developed for refinement will not be mature for this plan, some funding can still be transferred over to improve the production of new oil products and open the processing of energy reserves previously considered unusable. (200 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-43 CI5 Electricity -2 Petroleum Fuels -4 Petrochemicals +1 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Intensive Cracking Infrastructure(Stage 2/2): Direct upgrading infrastructure can be constructed to take advantage of the current surpluses of heavier oils. Instead of direct combustion or the production of more valuable synthetic lubricants, production can go somewhat to direct upgrading. New compounds will inherently be produced from cracking to maintain a high-value production chain but some of it can easily be allocated towards fuels instead of a true multi-stage processing approach. Improved refinery infrastructure past this point can provide some minor technical gains but that is miniscule compared to improved extraction. (240 Resources per Dice 3/175) (-56 CI3 Electricity -4 Petroleum Fuels -4 Petrochemicals +1 Educated Labor) (High Profitability)

Agriculture (6) 4 Dice

[]Domestic Meat Programs(Stage 7/10): Meat independence outside of beef requires a concentrated effort to increase and optimize the production of pork. Pig stocks have rapidly increased for the production of specialty goods but general-purpose pork has only moderately expanded during the previous plan. A concentrated effort to radically increase the number of pigs raised and slaughtered in the Union will be essential to overcoming any shortcomings of the domestic meat industry. Initial concepts will continue the caloric optimization of the pig with breeding programs initiated to produce pigs that can more efficiently take on calories, grow faster, and efficiently use lower-grade feeds without excessive loss of productivity. (120 Resources per Dice 6/225) (-34 CI1 Electricity +1 General Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Development of the Middle Volga: Irrigation in the great bend of the Volga has historically been inconsistent and problematic but with the additional flow of water south significant improvements can be made. Direct control of water levels up north is expected to stabilize agricultural yields and eliminate any dry years in the basin, improving Soviet agriculture. Current efforts will focus on the increasing allocation of water and the use of more intensive irrigation allowing a final decisive separation from the climate issues that have historically plagued local agriculture. (120 Resources per Dice 147/200) (High Profitability)

[]Development of the Dnieper: Every drop of fresh water that enters the Black Sea is a drop that is stolen from the Soviet worker. Seizing back the water and constructing a reservoir system with diversions off the river combined with the management of solar evaporation can preserve local water resources and significantly improve growth capacity. Solving any risk of drought through hydrological means has long been a goal and a target for development and with one series of cascades and expansions to the current water infrastructure a major river can be tamed and brought to useful production. (120 Resources per Dice 150/200) (High Profitability)

[]Water Efficiency Programs: The defining factor of the agricultural industry is the inputs put into the soil with the material acting more so as a temporary storage medium than an inherent factor. Continuing to provide improvements in water efficiency will stabilize the supply of one essential part of the equation as the chemical industry hammers away at feedstock shortages from the other direction. Drip irrigation requires a vast amount of plastic to implement and sustain but given the domestic industry that can be met to entirely solve issues of water accessibility. We now have the opportunity to break away entirely from the cycle of droughts that has plagued Russia and the Union, all that is needed is a final decisive effort. (120 Resources per Dice 0/350) (+6 Petrochemicals) (High Profitability)

[]Solve the LASV Problem: Instead of hesitating with the liquidation of rats and mice, new measures can be put in place to reduce their populations and incidents of LASV. A program working with second generation anti-coagulation agents can be started and expanded massively with the distribution of vast amounts of poisonous pellets conducted to cut down on local populations. Ecological damage is expected but stopping excess deaths should come well before over-sensitive ecologists that are more focused on admiring greenery then saving people. Exact attritional rates are somewhat untested but cuts at the food supply level will steadily reduce populations and ideally prevent a summer viral peak. (200 Resources per Dice 0/150) (+2 Petrochemicals)

Services (16) 11 Dice

[]Transportation Enterprises(Stage 5/5): Further increases to local truck stocks will increase the demand in the rapidly growing automotive industry but for once it can mostly need the demand. Production of cabover vehicles has increased nearly twenty-fold in the last decade with further gains expected as large and small transportation enterprises are expanded. Work towards improving throughput and efficiency can still be done in collaboration with further road construction to bring the Union into the modern era of internal transportation. (180 Resources per Dice 79/250) (+5 Petroleum Fuels +4 General Labor) (Locked Until Western Local Roads is Completed) (Very High Profitability)

[]Expansion of Domestic Media Production(Stage 1/2): Current film and animation enterprises have significantly expanded into the vast demand for cultural production but more funding can be transferred over to further increase them. A series of films from the state sector can be commissioned on several important topics alongside the adaptation of several literary works into the film format. This will be accompanied by improving the facilities for art schools and providing a series of scholarships for young authors willing to study the craft further and continue developing high throughput cultural production. (150 Resources per Dice 0/100) (-18 CI2 Electricity +1 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) ( High Profitability)

[]CNG Distribution Programs: Shortages of petroleum fuel are nearly expected given the current limitations in production and the physical reality of requiring a six times price increase to make the arctic fields viable. Efforts to start tentative conversions of transport in cities to natural gas focusing on dual fuel systems for cabovers and buses. Easy conversion targets are expected as local transit can be converted using current infrastructure with a relatively minimal commitment of funds and technical efforts. None of the systems are in themselves novel and a pilot program now can demonstrate the concept for future use. (150 Resources per Dice 0/100) (-1 Petroleum Fuels, +1 Petroleum Gas)

[]Expansion of Assistive Services: Some mild deficits exist in the care for pensioners that is available as the health system has so far almost entirely prioritized work for working populations. Shifting some resources away from sectoral growth towards skilled nursing and assisted retirement services is a waste but one that can be justified with shifting population demographics. Longer general lifespans are expected to stress current pension schemes much less future healthcare resources and heading off the upcoming political firestorm with a token effort can sidestep much of the criticism. (150 Resources per Dice 0/175) (-16 CI2 Electricity +2 Educated Labor)

[]Restaurant Assistive Funding: Expansions of public eateries can significantly improve profitability and support a key high-return sector. The public demand for pre-cooked food has strongly increased with accompanying increases in incomes and it is essential to meet that demand. Funding programs for the largest organized enterprises and supportive partial funding for several key expanding private chains can be coordinated to increase sectoral throughput. Massive and radical expansions of these enterprises can consume labor at a prodigious rate, mobilizing the population to sell minor conveniences to more relevant workers. (140 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-21 CI2 Electricity +3 General Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Second Wave Hotel Programs(Stage 1/3): Current business supporting infrastructure is deeply lacking compared to the West as there are in practice two centralized hotel-focused enterprises of mediocre quality. Developing a further three hotel enterprises with one targeting the high-end sector and two aiming to be as inexpensive as possible will improve support for travelers and significantly aid local incomes. Business infrastructure will readily apply to general tourism such that improving both will provide local areas with more access alongside gains in general economic efficiency. (150 Resources per Dice 0/125) (-16 CI2 Electricity +1 General Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Expanding Roadside Logistics(Stage 2/2): Fuel provisions for the most common vehicles are still lacking in effect limiting the mobility of passenger vehicles. Extended-range operations and staying in the inhabited belt have somewhat ameliorated current problems but further expansions are still needed to fully support the rapid increase in consumer car ownership. Reinforcement of urban gas stations alongside those in smaller cities will be essential for the program to ensure that queues are minimized and transportation access is improved. (120 Resources per Dice 85/150) (-15 CI2 Electricity +3 Petroleum Fuels +2 General Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Expansion of the Postage System: Higher speed postage has imposed several requirements on the postage system and ones that can only be partially met. Increased commercial activity has accompanied a significantly increased demand for the postage system, especially for accelerated delivery. Working to address the matter requires a multi-faceted approach with some conversions of HSR trains to mail transporters during the low utilization periods proposed. This will accompany a major expansion of postal services, increasing population access to the service and ensuring that high-speed mail can be sent both faster and cheaper. (140 Resources per Dice 206/225) (-26 CI2 Electricity +1 Petroleum Fuels +2 General Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Storage-Distribution Networks(Stage 2/2): Continued developments of the transportation and distribution system can be extended towards commercial services. Enterprises and smaller businesses have an endless demand for the transportation of goods and expanding services to meet that demand can significantly improve overall economic function. Programs started now will directly target the expansion of commercial mail services ensuring that packages are rapidly and competently delivered across the Union. This infrastructure will not fundamentally change the economy, only providing alternative transportation services to provide for smaller scale operations. (100 Resources per Dice 71/200) (-16 CI2 Electricity +2 General Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Distribution of Professional Services: Expansions of the professional service sector need to be conducted to the point that standardized legal and general consultations are available to the average worker. The development of the program will be key in stabilizing the environment for smaller enterprises to be competitive and receive adequate guidance on the navigation of the system. Comprehensive developments would in effect prioritize providing more junior graduates as something of a training program, ensuring that professions outside of direct state control are adequately trained. (120 Resources per Dice 129/150) (-16 CI2 Electricity +2 Educated Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Population Distribution Programs(Stage 3/5): The comprehensive expansion of store fronts and general distribution stores to mixed use and urban areas has been somewhat neglected due to the somewhat integrated nature of the housing program. Older constructed areas have ended up constructed to lower standards with corner and grocery stores focused on to the exclusion of more specialty goods. Demolishing some lower floor living areas for conversion into vibrant commercial areas is expected to improve overall economic turnover and expand general demand pressure. New structures can be modified to include some commercial spaces for the next generation of housing programs, further providing gains in both availability and population density. (120 Resources per Dice 154/200) (-18 CI2 Electricity +3 General Labor) (High Profitability)

Bureaucracy 8 Dice

[]Dedicate Focus Towards a Project(): (1 Bureau Dice for +5 per dice on a project, +15 in Chemical Industry) (Unrolled)

[]External Outreach Enterprises: New types of enterprises will be needed to ensure an adequate influence over oil production in foreign nations. In-practice control by Soviet officials is one line, but steps must be taken to increase power and influence through the limited provision of more advanced drilling equipment. Closing the supply chain in foreign nations can produce additional petroleum and provide a high-capability diplomatic arm that will guarantee a steady supply of oil. The MFA disagrees somewhat on the policy, but their remit is not the economy and nothing they can do will solve the energy crisis short of bumbling into a nuclear war. (1 Dice)

[]Restart a Labor Commission: Verifying the developments of Voznesensky and expanding the assessments of labor can help to continue to provide a scientific basis for improved productivity. Current work hours are optimized for a mixed productive-demand state but can likely be shifted to optimize other aspects essential to economic activity especially now that labor demand has rapidly increased. Maintaining a balanced demand state will be key for stable economic growth especially now that the baby boom is slackening and newly graduating students are available in lesser quantities. (1 Dice)

[]Work Around Ryzhkov: The supreme soviet has so far accomplished little of economic relevance with a focus around the modification of work practices more so than tangible economic issues. Ensuring that Ryzhkov is left out of the decision loop of essential ministry work by directly communicating with Vortnikov is expected to provide some advantages politically as the council of ministers is technically empowered to make most economic decisions. This separation of decision making from the Supreme Soviet is technically a power grab, but a minor one and one that would greatly narrow the degree of necessary maneuvering required for attaining a higher position. (1 Dice)

[]Army-Ministry Budget Requests: The MoD has had too much of a budget for too long and cutbacks are going to be needed to stimulate economic growth. Economic growth forms the basis of the military and the technologies involved rendering it a higher priority to achieve instead of the development of some new overpriced weapon system. Belik is currently somewhat politically weak and not the best liked, providing an opportunity to intercede on the next budget to allocate surplus funding, stopping the growth of the defense budget. (1 Dice)

[]Expanding Health Ministry Funding: Taking a strong stance against a disease is well and good but funding for the process can come from other aspects of state development. Maintaining the economy under the stress of the disease is already a major problem and further reductions in funding will only degrade productivity. Moving the supreme soviet to expand funding by taking from less important ministries will make some enemies but it will also be a decisive response to the crisis and start the process towards solving it. (1 Dice)

[]Retaliations against the Lazy: Those who have refused modernization orders are somewhat in their right to do so, but the lack of willingness to follow orders must in itself be punished through examples. Allocations of new employees can be prioritized around non-compliant departments with political appointments steadily increasing the work alongside ordering more loyal management to alter local conditions. If they are unwilling to follow orders the least they can do is do the proper work expected of them for the sake of the ministry. (1 Dice)

[]Stimulus Measures: The combination of the Virus alongside flagging growth in conventional industrial sectors can be justified as a sign of the somewhat expected delayed economic downturn. Using that to justify increased funding may result in it getting applied too early but the increased growth demands present will require further allocations of resources and material. A partial increase will be asked for and likely granted, increasing state debts so as to avoid a significant economic downturn. (1 Dice) (Immediate 3000R, Repaid at 500/y for 7 years)

[]Gas Implementation Commission: Committing funding towards the mass gasification of the economy is necessary with the current and expected price balances. Local reserves of gas are far more notable and easier to extract when compared to available oil reserves. Increasing an emphasis on gas alongside funding several new applications in automobiles, aircraft, and general energy use can be done now to prepare the techniques for future implementation. Energy access will define the future of the superpower competition and it is imperative to secure it for victory. (1 Dice)

[]Automotive Reforms: Automotive demand is a core part of heavy industrial growth but slow increases in production have plagued the sector, especially with the lack of allocated enterprise funding. Reversing this will take more time but first reforms can be instituted to open the roads to more motorists, incorporating infrastructure to increase the density of car use and provide for expanded registration. Unified examination standards that do not require as much of an educational basis will increase accessibility and ensure a steady demand base that will further drive economic expansions. (1 Dice)

[]Housing Sector Reform: Current housing programs are working to maintain housing stocks but the massive risk of the Mikoyan era housing decaying has remained a national concern. The homes themselves have held up better than expected but they need to be replaced at an accelerated time frame. Improved apartment models have already been sufficiently developed to reduce costs per unit with current plans simply needing modification. This will commit the Union to the largest housing program in history but in a decade the communal housing form and wartime emergency housing can be left in the past. (1 Dice)

[]Expand Ministry Personnel: Expanding the extent of the ministry further and increasing the extent of the office alongside outreach state capacity can be expanded. The economy has only steadily grown more complex and the ministry needs an expanded investment arm to ensure that the Soviet economy stays modern. Delegation to the enterprises has minimized bureaucratic overheads but the complexity of the economy is still a major burden on the ministry that more personnel can solve, at least for a time. (1 Dice) (Subvote) (Options to Gain more Dice)

[]Brief Lyudmila: Current politics is a pit of vipers that is not well suited to someone prone to emotional outbursts. Working with her to ensure that she knows what reliable figures there are in politics will ensure that the ministry is well run and having a deputy with a softer touch can be a key asset. If nothing else, she is capable of managing significant areas of infrastructure development and can be confined to the area until a more competent deputy can be found. So far the woman has avoided doing anything idiotic with focused work in the development of local infrastructure with little administrative necessity, enabling a possible state of benign neglect so as to let her focus on important work over any impossible ambitions. (1 Dice)

[]Expand CMEA Collaboration: If the energy crisis that is clearly coming to the view of everyone with a brain is to be surmounted, closer cooperation with CMEA must be started. Euro implementation is a good first step but further improvements in energy infrastructure must be pushed through. Vast quantities of gas practically too cheap to meter will be made available soon and providing agreements that set a low price for it in advance will enable governments to start investments now. Hookups to primary pipelines will not be sufficient to entirely shift energy and heating away from oil but the first steps can be made to circumvent economic instability. (1 Dice)

[]Stop Ecological Complaints: Several university graduates have produced prolonged and absolutely useless reports on the excess development of industry alongside associated sacrifice zones. In their misguided view the policy is susceptible to over reach as the areas involved have increased in scale alongside prevalence in the last ten years of intensive industrial development. To undermine them and ensure that the topic of discussion is eliminated at the source efforts can be made to increase the correct study of the phenomenon alongside implementing guidelines for maximum population impacts allowed in non-sacrifice zones so as to better use the Union's vast wealth of land. (1 Dice)

[]Discredit Ecological Programs: Those who talk of greening and slowing the engineering of nature until it bends to the workers' whim only want to go backward towards primitive capitalist accumulation. Current green energy efforts are being continuously propagandized as an utter failure in the development of a technique utterly incompatible with maintaining industrial efforts but the program can be taken a step further. Ecological programs can be directly undermined at every step with studies pushed to counter any narrative of devastation and undermine the delusional approach towards nature honoring the untouched wild for no other reason than boredom with urban life. (1 Dice)


Current Economic Prices(Domestic/CMEA/International): (How this will work is that every action above except for electricity modifies the internal price of the commodities below. They also vary on their own and are sorted into abstracted 1-100 ranges. Modifiers from the rest of your economy are displayed below with each category of goods. When you shift between 20-sized ranges, there can be significant modifiers to the general economy that come from changing prices of core commodities. CMEA prices determine the price in CMEA, though transportation of goods will be a problem with international prices representative of the West.)

Coal Price (46/36/62) Massive Import (41-60 No Effect)
+4 CPSC Power Plants
+2 Fuel Oil Conversions (Finished 1979)
+4 Western Deposit Depletion
-2 Nuclear Power (1975-1979)
-1 Net Civilian Spending

Steel Price: (25/35/62) Moderate Export (21-40 -20 RpD Infrastructure, Increased HI Growth)
+1 Construction Industry Expansions
+3 Net Civilian Spending
-6 Decoupling of American Trade(Decreases by two a turn)

Non-Ferrous Price: (59/55/43) (41-60 No Effect)
-3 Hydroelectric Cascades(Until 1979)
+2 Net Civilian Spending

Petroleum Fuels Price: (37/37/37) (Middle Eastern Imports(Net 4)) (21-40 Strong Increase in Economic Growth, Fuel Use, and Chemical Development)
+12 Net Civilian Spending
+5 Fields Depletion
-6 Field Modernization

Petroleum Gas Price: (18/NaN/NaN) (Significant Movement Impossible) (11-20 Start of Fuel Experiments, Preferred Heating Fuel, Vast Expansion of Use)
+8 Net Civilian Spending
+8 CCGT Power Plants
-6 Field Modernization

Petrochemicals Price: (37/37/39) Massive Export (21-40 Massive Demand Increase, LI Growth Increase, Mild CI Growth Increase, and Strong Plastic Use Increase)
-4 Net Civilian Spending

General Labor Price: (49/32/77) (41-50 Slight Increase to Domestic Demand +10 RpD Universal)
+1 Net Civilian Spending
-15 New Graduates
-2 Immigration

Educated Labor: (61/43/86) Moderate Imports (61-70 Moderate Increase to Domestic Demand, Moderate Reduction to Domestic Competitiveness, Project Cost Increases)
+0 Net Civilian Spending
-9 New Graduates
-1 Immigration

Electricity: 56 CI 18
+714 Plan Programs
-284 CI16 Net Civilian Spending

Spoiler: Plan Effects:

Housing Construction Efforts: Admitting that the housing issue is developing into a problem would involve several degrees of political discomfort. Instead, work can be done to augment the housing stock with new buildings constructed to the latest styles along with renovations and lifespan extensions for any viable older structure. The share of the population living in cooperative housing can be reduced in half by the end of the plan as the construction program increases in scale along with mechanization. Lacking prison labor will suit more advanced designs better, with the latest in composite housing focused in areas of increased density and high economic activity. (-5 Infrastructure Dice) (-850 RpY Modified by Steel Prices) (Reduction in Communal and Barracks Housing Forms to 5% of the adult non-student population by 1980)

Passenger Rail Network(Ural Region): To move the network further East developing a Northern and Southern high-speed corridor with interlinks down into the Caucuses and a unified line for further development into the Far East. This would link Siberia tightly to the Western economic regions and provide a wealth of movement in the region. Long transitory routes are never expected to be popular but an increase in local commuting will provide something of an economically stimulating effect. Reductions in prices for transport will also reduce aviation demand, saving some funding through fewer terminal expansions. (-2 Infrastructure Dice) (-350 RpY Modified by Steel Prices) (Slightly Slows Petroleum Fuels Demand Increases 1980-1990)

Rail Electrification: Continuing low-scale electrification with a direct focus on the most profitable lines for conversion will limit implementation but continue the effort at the previous pace. New equipment will not be needed and the accelerated retirement of older traction will not be necessary. Current plans for modernization will focus on primary freight corridors, enabling the majority of travel to be conducted on electric traction before final processing by switcher engines. (-1 Infra Dice) (-140 RpY Modified by Steel Prices) (Estimated 50 RpY Return)

Krasnoyarsk-Irkutsk Hydroelectric Zone: With lagging iron mining and the lack of development across the Union, building a new high-potential electrical and industrial zone to augment the general plan can be a major asset. The Bakchar deposit represents some of the largest reserves of iron ore available to the Union and its development will enable a further increase in conventional industry and steel production. The zone itself is mostly swampy and poorly inhabited, limiting the costs of relocating people and ensuring that development can proceed without issue. Some local aluminum plants in both Omsk and Irkutsk are expected to be founded, ensuring that power supplies are available and ensuring that the Union can keep up with the West in the production of Aluminum. (+60 Electricity -3 Non-Ferrous per Year 1974-1979) (Three -10 Steel Steel mills available)

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 use-ability 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 downstream 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)

Power Plant Construction(Nuclear Systems): Expanding the throughput of conventional cores to a massive point with supporting infrastructure prepared in advance for next-generation reactors will take a massive amount of funding. The primary program will focus on the development of twenty VVER-500 crores to replace old-style combined cycle heating and generate further power in remote areas to minimize coal haulage. Two new liquid metal-cooled fast reactors will be constructed along with a set of four experimental VVER-1000 cores. Further centralized facilities for processing nuclear fuel and storing waste will be developed to minimize the burden on current temporary storage systems. (64 Electricity -2 Coal per Year 1975-1979)

Power Plant Construction(Nuclear VVER-1000): A maximum technical pace of reactor construction can be undertaken to entirely use the constructed capacity. Some delays and overruns are expected as the plant continues full-scale construction with the planned criticality of sixty nuclear cores in the 11th five-year plan. Unconventional designs will inherently be de-prioritized due to the acute energy demands as current LEU prices do not necessitate any efforts for conservation outside efficient core design. (-3 Heavy Industry Dice) (-920 RpY) (270 Electricity -1 Coal per Year) (Completion across 1980-1984) (Estimated 90 Rpy Return)

Power Plant Construction(CPSC): Maintaining the development of coal energy at a slightly reduced pace will avoid significant industrial shocks, take away demand from more technologically intensive gas deposits, and synergize well with improvements in logistics. The avoidance of significant disruption in reducing the extent will still reduce the demand for new coal fields and provide a model for a stable transition into the next decade. (-2 Heavy Industry Dice) (-620 RpY) (240 Electricity +4 Coal per Year)

Power Plant Construction(CCGT): A committed program to use all the turbine building capacity available for industrial production is prudent and sensible. Current efforts have matured the industry and some surge capacity has been built up that can be taken advantage of. The plan would be to continue the development of new facilities at a moderate pace, ensuring that demand stays stable and providing the cause for a moderate expansion of domestic gas extraction. (-1 Heavy Industry and -2 Chemical Industry Dice) (-1000 RpY) (350 Electricity +8 Petroleum Gas per Year)

LASV Crisis Effects: Additional funding provided to the health ministry has come from a composite of government sources so that adequate equipment can be provided and the infectious disease managed. Further funding has focused on the extermination of rodents in the affected areas while stockpiles are moved to create an effective disease response. Somewhat lower rates of infection in winter have provided something of a break but that in itself is unlikely to last as the summer arrives and further waves of the disease continue to rage. (-400 RpY)

Healthcare Expansion: Imported testing and diagnostic techniques are likely to form the basis of improving the treatment and detection of chronic diseases. Moving funding away from the creation of small clinics and towards the development of expanded biochemical laboratories will be essential to improve care. It is currently theorized that an increase in diagnostic capabilities will save overall money across the entire health system. Clinic capacity is unlikely to be expanded but at the current state, the health system has some spare capacity relative to population demand. (-2 Services Dice) (-360 RpY) (Completes Expanded Diagnostic Services, Rural Testing Systems, Rural Primary Care Expansion, and National Screening Programs)

Education Expansion: Instead of radical programs to strengthen the education system the easiest unrealized gains are likely to be achieved through the salvaging of underachieving students. Almost a tenth of students are unable to make it in standardized educational tracks, even the simplest ones. By moving them towards intensive programs more focused on mastery of basic materials sufficient to complete a secondary education something economically useful can be salvaged. Some mild expansions of the mainline education system will be conducted but only as a secondary initiative to maintain throughput capacity. (-3 Services Dice) (-300 RpY) (Completes Stage 10 Polytechnic, Stage 1-5 Remedial Education, Equalization of Tier 3 Schooling, and Universal Secondary Schooling) (Cuts Workforce Expansion by ~1/6)

12 Hour Moratorium(Vote by Plan)

 

[Blackstar]

Turn 89 (January 1st, 1977 - January 1st, 1978): Industrial Energy Results

Spoiler: Last Turns Vote:

[X] Plan Demand for MFPG
-[X]6830/6835 Resources (5 Reserve), 41 Dice Rolled
-[X]Infrastructure (5/5 Dice, 850 R)
--[X]Western Local Roads(Stage 1/3), 1 Dice (140 R), 53%/68%
--[X]Urban Sewage Systems, 2 Dice (380 R), 0%/0%
--[X]HVDC Grid Islands, 2 Dice (330 R), 33%/47%
-[X]Heavy Industry (9/5 Dice, 2460 R)
--[X]Coal Power Plants(CPSC), 1 Dice (310 R), 41%/56%
--[X]Virgin Coalfield Exploitation, 1 Dice (160 R), 41%/56%
--[X]CNC Machine Building Plants, 2 Dice (620 R), 77%/86%
--[X]Vladivostok Shipyards, 1 Dice (250 R), 0%/0%
--[X]UMAZ Automotive Plant, 2 Dice (500 R), 65%/77%
--[X]Mass Commercialization of UAZ, 2 Dice (620 R), 83%/91%
-[X]Rocketry (1/2 Dice, 0 R)
--[X]Cancel Project(Orbital Telescope Program)
--[X]Cancel Project(Expanded Station Program)
--[X]Superheavy Launcher, 1 Dice
-[X]Light Industry (5/12 Dice, 1070 R)
--[X]Microcomputer Plants(Stage 3/4), 1 Dice (310 R), 66%/81%
--[X]Modernization of Home Electronics, 1 Dice (250 R), 100%/100%
--[X]Third Generation Food Programs(Stage 1/3), 3 Dice (510 R), 92%/96%
-[X]Chemical Industry (4/4 Dice, 760 R)
--[X]Intensive Development of the Caspian(Stage 2/6), 1 Dice (190 R), 100%/100%
--[X]West Siberian Gas Wells(Stage 1/10), 3 Dice (570 R), 100%/100%
-[X]Agriculture (2/4 Dice, 260 R)
--[X]Development of the Middle Volga, 1 Dice (130 R), 88%/100%
--[X]Development of the Dnieper, 1 Dice (130 R), 91%/100%
-[X]Services (10/11 Dice, 1430 R)
--[X]Expansion of Domestic Media Production(Stage 1/2), 1 Dice (160 R), 41%/56%
--[X]CNG Distribution Programs, 2 Dice (320 R), 98%/100%
--[X]Expansion of Assistive Services, 2 Dice (320 R), 56%/69%
--[X]Expansion of the Postage System, 1 Dice (150 R), 100%/100%
--[X]Storage-Distribution Networks(Stage 2/2), 2 Dice (220 R), 89%/95%
--[X]Distribution of Professional Services, 1 Dice (130 R), 100%/100%
--[X]Population Distribution Programs(Stage 3/5), 1 Dice (130 R), 95%/100%
-[X]Bureaucracy (8/8 Dice, 0 R)
--[X]Dedicate Focus Towards a Project(UAZ, Caspian, West Siberian Gas), 3 Dice
--[X]External Outreach Enterprises, 1 Dice
--[X]Gas Implementation Commission, 1 Dice
--[X]Brief Lyudmila, 1 Dice
--[X]Expand CMEA Collaboration, 1 Dice
--[X]Stop Ecological Complaints, 1 Dice

External Politics:

In a shift away from expected Democratic party politics and a somewhat radical pivot against the traditional patronage bases of the party, President Brown has started his administration with strong changes in budgets. New Deal era programs have been entirely cut out of any funding alongside a rationalization of general aid budgets so as to produce an immediately balanced budget. As a compromise to measures, federal interest rates have been increased so as to cut monetary supply generation on what has been campaigned as a tough but fair way to exit the current stagflationary conditions. In the immediate consequence a recession has come fairly quickly with markets reacting strongly, but the administration has continued on its course. A balanced budget amendment is currently being drafted to further cut down federal and state spending, providing for increased "budgetary responsibility." Assuming that the measures work through restricting active monetary supplies and the economy weathers the recession, it is expected that radical and decisive measures will serve to augment the American economy and at least somewhat restore competitiveness.

The developing Argentine civil war has expanded in scope to an armed conflict between military factions aiming to seize the government. What was likely an attempt to induce a regime change initially failed to seize sufficient state capacity or be put down, leading to the separation of army politics and the start of organized fighting. Isabel Peron still controls Buenos Aires and the majority of the Pampas region while military forces have primarily taken charge in the countryside, facing significant civil resistance. Actual fighting has been limited by the near complete lack of supply lines with the Americians currently declaring the Peronist state as illegitimate. Support in any practical sense is unlikely to make it through, with only Chinese networks on the ground at all capable of affecting current circumstances.

EAF forces have appreciated expanded military aid alongside significant commitments in training as Ethiopian units have struggled to respond to the demands placed on a them by a vast combat-front. Deliveries of somewhat obsolete American equipment have increased to Ethiopian formations but it has proven challenging to operate in the conditions involved. Current preferences of the local forces have come down to a mixture of lighter technicals and general infantry portable weapon systems over conventional armor, leading to some successes on the Sudanese front. South Sudan is expected to soon attain independence practically, if not legally as Ethiopian intervention has so far failed to make significant inroads. Continued economic development in the EAF itself is expected to significantly improve living standards with the nation embarking on vast campaigns of rail building and internal unification, utilizing available Soviet credit to transform the domestic economy.

Practical French intervention in Algeria has started reducing in scope and scale with the French government declaring that the conflict has been won and can be transferred to civilian authorities. The broad pacification of the countryside has only been mostly achieved but the coast itself has been consolidated and can be considered to be firmly and irrevocably in French control. US backed Libya has conversely experienced reversal after reversal with a poorly thought out escalation, crossing into Chad with major mechanized units. Locals armed with local arms alongside vast quantities of provided missile systems were able to blunt the armored offensives, destroying a significant number of older T52 models alongside mechanized equipment. Local light motorized forces with otherwise nominal armament have continued to be able to counter heavier mechanized forces, indicating some viability of lighter units and systems away from the European context.

Development in Nigeria has increased in scope with both Soviet and British enterprises taking the lead in expanding domestic oil production alongside mining interests. The British have so far been measured in their expansions, focused on securing and modernizing their older wells compared to more adventurous investments for new wells or general infrastructure. Modernization programs for Nigeria and the gold coast in general have expanded the nation's debt balances with agreements made through Gosbank but conventional heavy industrial infrastructure has still been constructed. Railway systems are expected to be instrumental in improving local economies and a vast commitment to local tracklaying and the production of railway stock has been the priority of foreign outreach. Infrastructure and education will support a modern industrialized economy and thus must be constructed first for any productive local developments to be made.

Continued stabilization in the Middle East has been achieved through a strong increase in oil production as vast quantities of money have flowed into the region. Practical zero tax extraction states have become somewhat standard for the region with major oil producing states shifting towards generous development programs. Intensive development of Saudi Arabia is expected to start across the next decade with plans for the development of vast cities and significant coastal infrastructure. OPEC limits have been nearly unilaterally raised with prices expected to be moderately high, but not cripplingly so as production gains have become their own contest. As comparative limits have been planned as a part of local reserves, all nations involved have reported strong increases in reserves both declared and expected though these claims are uncertain and not externally verified to any extent.

Strong economic growth has somewhat become the norm across Europe with a French boom following the end of the Algerian war. Peace dividends have somewhat been limited by investments in defense with a modernization of the French army started alongside a vast expansion of nuclear forces to a practical five thousand warheads expected by 1985. English economic prosperity has come somewhat slower with the election of the right wing of labor expected to somewhat reform the economy to improve growth over the next few years. Increasing market access and an increase in trade will likely somewhat stimulate growth across the country, and provide a basis for further mild, if measurable economic gains. Tightening integration with the French economy has already started, using the inspiration of the Euro to propose a common approach to several matters and further strengthening Western European energy supplies.

Implementation of the Euro and the availability of a new series of banking institutions have served to significantly increase trade across European CMEA. Practical economic integration and the implementation of a common market are still underway but the effects are already being felt. Increased exports from the conventionally poorer European states into Germany and the USSR have started to become a significant factor, driving industries and lowering domestic consumer prices. Some changes in the character of domestic industries are expected, but the displacement will primarily impact low labor cost sectors that provide generally undesirable work. Further gains in the heavy and extractive industries are expected with significant synthetics and synthetic oil programs undertaken by the Germans. HSR interconnects have also finally been constructed, enabling travel across Eastern Europe to be efficient, fast, and practically without borders.

German military readiness has advanced faster as remilitarization and production of new armored assets has only rapidly increased. German forces in primary operational and reserve deployments are expected to reach and exceed a million, providing for the defense of socialist against a French incursion. Stocks of new Mig-23M's and T76s have been authorized for export and ordered in large quantities as the German army modernizes and comes into its own, with significant exercises starting to be conducted as a combined general force. No attempts have been made for the Germans to produce their own nuclear weapons, but the capability for breakout is in practice expected rendering them in practice too independent to take a direct second chair in alliance affairs. Collaboration with the smaller members has also been extended, if in a far less relevant military capacity as Germany remains the primary force for socialism in Europe.


Rocketry

Military programs to develop a carrier aircraft for the MAKS have been pushed forward thanks to several political victories alongside the demands for the international deployment of armor. Domestic D-18T engines have been designed as somewhat derivative techniques from the RB211, providing increased power while maintaining fuel efficiency alongside similar maintenance timetables. Commercial engines of the 240kN class have provided the means for military modernization, driving a new generation of airframes capable of taking advantage of the capability. The next generation of heavy cargo airframes have somewhat come from the program with the Il-80, An-124, An-225, and An-335 complex of derivative cargo airplanes taking advantage of the increase in available engine power. MKAS itself is expected to be carried by the An-335, itself only a An-225 with a reduced fuel load and the use of eight engines to increase both cargo capacity and provide a high altitude launch platform for the MAKS itself.

Planning for the MAKS itself has mandated the use of an engine with incorporated kerosine "afterburner" when operating in a mixed mode. An effective tripropellant regime can be simplified somewhat through the unification of components alongside a degree of pre-mixing especially as the engine is expected to be entirely recoverable and re-usable. Technical work for it will involve an initial launch using Kerosine-Hydrogen mixture oxidized by LOX following the use of a pure hydrogen operational mode once outside of the lower atmosphere. Practical payload expectations are anywhere from five to ten tons, depending on the achievable extent of fuselage mass reduction efforts. The majority of the fuel would in effect be stored outside the orbiter, forming a large drop tank with the orbiter itself primarily present for the recovery of what are expected to be expensive engines, considerably lowering the cost of launch for lighter payloads.

Improvements to modern solid state systems have continued to make gains in current generations of communication systems, providing television for every location across the USSR. Public broadcasting alongside an enlarged set of national channels is now available direct to home with the purchase of an antenna, demonstrating a significant commercial victory for the space program. Continued launches for enterprises are expected to improve the capabilities of the service as resolutions improve alongside clarity with service to all of CMEA, Middle East, Africa, and Japan expected to be established by 1985. Now when RLA-1s are launched with sub-optimal payloads, a third generation satilitie with a hypergolic boost stage can be added on as standard, economizing launch tonnage. These are in practice more outreach then monetarily effective programs, but the expansion of Soviet media is in itself critical to expand foreign influence programs.

Global surveys of weather and atmospheric behavior have expanded as quickly as additional space launch capability has been made available with a constellation of 18 satellites required to achieve global monitoring of weather conditions planned. Duration of stays for new 3rd generation systems are approximately ten years before further generations of satellites will replace them. Practical integration of scanning light and infrared radiometers, ozone mapping, ranging equipment, and radio-reflectors are expected to transform weather prediction and provide for a continuous updating picture of the planetary climate. Information has further been made available to all CMEA nations with foreign meteorology utilized as a means of diplomatic influence with nations unable to access other meteorological networks. Technologies associated with visual mapping have come as a part of military cooperation, with launches in parallel to digital planetary surveillance satellites expected so as to ensure a continuous survey of major American military infrastructure.

The manned program has been somewhat more challenged as the failure of an RLA booster has forced the use of the LES on the VA capsule, achieving a successful pull away. Post-escape tumbling caused several injuries for the crew, but none were in critical condition during recovery and all were in somewhat good spirits in spite of the g forces involved. Alternative supply programs for the continued evaluation of orbital hardware have been somewhat required as the current crewed program, while important for international prestige, has only achieved limited results. A more capable series of modules and larger capsules is going to be necessary to meet near future requirements for space launch.

Both the Luna and Mars programs have continued development with a true second generation surveying vehicle landed on the moon with the capability for independent exploration. A heavier chassis has been utilized to expand the scope of the program, traversing several areas of the moon and documenting craters. Ground surveys have found a significant degree of variation in the regolith, achieving several scientific victories even if further landings with sample recovery systems will be necessary to confirm any new findings. Current plans for the space program have steadily shifted back towards manned exploration, leaving the rover program somewhat unneeded, as the basis for a new complex of mobility vehicles and landing systems. The already designed and pioneered landers are expected to form the proverbial electronic core of more advanced manned systems, greatly improving their safety and reliability.

The mercury program in itself has achieved little practical result, melting due to the intense thermal radiation it was exposed to well before a practical approach. A new craft is being designed for another launch attempt with a more refined nuclear rocket but the budget for such a program is not expected to be available given other political goals. Functionality of both grand tour spacecraft has been confirmed with an expected sub 200,000 km encounter with Ganymede, Amalthea, Io, and Europa expected by the end of February 1978. Saturn orbit will be reached by approximately 1980 with Pluto itself encountered in 1986 if all trajectory calculations are accurate. The majority scientific potential is going to be obtained from the initial Galilean flybys, as the bodies are somewhat more relevant but the overall potential of the trajectory is still massive. Follow-on launches will survey Uranus and Neptune, achieving a likely close encounter with Triton.

President Brown has committed to the space program to an extent that was neither expected nor originally believed to be politically viable. It is expected that the American space-budget has practically doubled with a further allocation of funding expected across the next five years once certain targets of development have been met. The bulk of the program has been taken from the armed services, consolidating it into a unified organization based on a Soviet model. This alongside ambitious plans towards increasing general launch capacity with the development of modular cryogenic stages and a strong drive to increase launch tempo. Missions to the moon, outer planets, and the development of landers to match and exceed current capabilities have been budgeted for already. The largest of these programs is in itself radical, with President Brown declaring to the world that an American lunar settlement will be constructed by 1984 with a subsequent allocation of funding.

Infrastructure:

Western Local Roads(Stage 1/3): The development of roads is once again in a critical state with significant shortfalls present in the development. Guidance by previous ministers somewhat under-stated the problem as the adoption of automobiles and trucks was persistently and consistently underestimated through the use of obsolescent modeling. Current roads are insufficient, susceptible to wear, and generally inadequate for even a small portion of demanded economic activity. Strong programs to improve them in the west are just a first step in development as the road system across the entire Union must be radically expanded and developed. (150 Resources per Dice 255/275)

Deep systematic inadequacies in funding over the last twenty years have not been entirely resolved as only primary transportation routes have received any funding with local infrastructure mostly relegated to a deeply secondary priority. To address the issue a new radical series of programs must be initiated to overcome issues in development and decisively modernize the Soviet Union towards a more population centric model of transportation through the rationalization of older systems. Automobiles represent a major economic segment and significant source of heavy industrial production along with a high demand consumer goods and there is little practical reason to ignore them. Current infrastructure can be rationalized for more efficient funding alongside housing modernization to improve spaces available for automotive transport. Breaking with the urban-first model in itself will be essential as the countryside stands as a near eternally neglected sector of the transportation industry centered on raw extraction more so than the development of its workers.


Urban Sewage Systems: Sewage transportation by truck is the predominant form of sewage management for much of the Union's land mass. Urban systems exist but capacity limitations have posed significant development concerns outside of Moscow with severe limits placed on what can be done. Current programs focus on the urban issue as trucks, while inefficient, are not a direct health hazard that current management practices are. An expanded and modified program can be undertaken for large-scale urban renewal, integrating processing systems and greatly expanding capacities. This will take time and balloon the program above old standards but it will provide room for the economic centers of the Union to grow. (200 Resources per Dice 246/450)

Sewage capacity shortfalls have started being addressed at a large scale with several improved treatment and recycling facilities entering construction. In-city plumbing renovations are only now starting and expected to progress slowly over the next five years as expanded systems with significant margin are put in place to replace sometimes pre-revolutionary ones. The priority for the current project is the removal of sewage from dense areas of urban development more so than processing, as processing is only necessary in water scarce areas without localized zones for direct dumping. Funding has so far made the urban traffic situation worse through the massive replacement of pipes but that in itself is expected to resolve as funding is shifted over towards necessary programs. Continued funding for reprocessing outside water scarce areas has also been rationalized to focus on more critical infrastructure for economic development, accepting the realities of current funding.


HVDC Grid Islands: High-power thyristors have made direct current electrical transmission somewhat viable if limited in implementation. To improve the economic factors of large-scale hydroelectric facilities along with concentrated peat and lignite-burning thermal stations significant investments can be placed into the field. The long-distance transmission of power for between five hundred and a thousand kilometers can reduce losses and provide a significant improvement in area grids if not local ones. (190+10 Omake/200) (+45 Electricity)

Linkages with the Amu-Darya complexes alongside improved transmission infrastructure from the Ob and Yenisei has significantly improved local grid balancing and provided for greatly reduced costs of power. The large installations are still deeply wasteful due to the sheer distances and lack of consistency in water access necessitating a more capable grid. These technical efforts represent the first deployment of thyristors outside an experimental context, improving the economic circumstances of DC power to the point of quasi-viability for larger scale utilization outside small hydro-electric facilities. Proposals for a more grid centric solution capable of moving energy between grid-regions is still theoretical but expected to be developed over the next five years if current techniques prove viable.

Heavy Industry

Coal Power Plants(CPSC): Coal is still a necessary part of the energy mix and one that cannot be ignored as it forms an essential basis for increasing energy production. Programs towards radically increasing the throughput of coal power are shortsighted before mining programs can achieve improved yields and an adequate barge route is developed. Still, coal is currently viable and prices of coal are expected to crash once heavier barges can be used, radically changing the entire economic principles of power in the Union. (300 Resources per Dice 87+15 Cannon Omake/100) (Stage Completed 2/100 next stage) (+150 Electricity +3 Coal) (Repeatable)

Stabilizing the electrical grid through proven and reliable methods has been achieved somewhat ahead of schedule and for the expected budgetary allocation. Improvements in coal production are not really expected as current pulverised supercritical coal is still far more capable than large portions of the electrical grid. Experiments in gasification followed by combined cycle utilization have started on a low scale but are deeply unlikely to come to anything this decade, leaving power options practically restricted to the mass production of coal. Power compensation for rapid industrial growth has started with future coal energy only somewhat expected to decline with the next plan as nuclear energy starts becoming available.


Virgin Coalfield Exploitation: Test digging at the massive Tunguska, Minusinsk, and Irkutsk deposits and some of the limited far eastern reserves can be started to access previously ignored coal-bearing areas. These programs will focus primarily on the location of hard coals in underground formats to provide high-quality metallurgical coals to specialty industries in the Far East. Avoidance of significant semi-coking processes will be key to reducing the energy demand of the coal industry and maintaining the viability of production until river reversal can be completed. (132/100) (Completed) (-21 CI4 Electricity -5 Coal +1 General Labor)

Poor coalfields alongside increasing labor prices have left the exploitation of new coals far more challenging than previously. More technical work has been required to establish mines in each area and the reserves themselves have been poorly studied to an extent. Assessments in the region have continued alongside the construction of mines with some additional capacity expected if not currently available. Extraction is going to be done primarily underground targeting bituminous and better coals to provide any relative value compared to the vast flood of brown coals from Kansk Achinsk. Local lignite and subbituminous reserves are significant with an expected production potential of 150Mt/y once sufficiently developed, enabling more sub-bituminous coals to be sent West.


CNC Machine Building Plants: Domestic direct microcomputer-controlled machinery has been somewhat in shortage due to the limitations on production but now that common lithographic machinery is available that trend can be reversed. Standard model NC machinery can be modified and modernized to bring it to true computational control to improve precision and production speed on common parts. Every industry is expected to be revolutionized but only so many chips can be made so quickly as the fabrication machinery is in high demand across every sector. (245/150) (Completed) (-45 CI3 Electricity +1 Steel +2 Non-Ferrous +1 Educated Labor) (+60 RpY)

Funding towards a new generation of machines infinitely more capable then the last and able to directly interact with mainframes has been authorized and approved. Large scale manufacturing of a combined multi-axis milling system alongside several new computerized applications has started. Modernization kits for older machinery in practice consist of smaller microcomputers capable of interfacing with old numerical control systems, steadily bringing legacy machine stocks to modern standards. Practical domestic designs are not competitive with US machines outside specialty sectors and are not expected to be, but the vast improvement to general industrial processes alone is expected to radically change the very character of industrial production. Machinists are increasingly becoming machine operators, shifting in skillbase to professionals working with computers more so than precisely handling parts. Combination approaches with computer aided design have already been funded, further changing production to enable the rapid production of parts and the rationalization of current engineering practices.


Vladivostok Shipyards: The naval yards in the Far East have some of the cheapest labor and a significant market for merchant shipping between all CMEA members. Expanding the construction of large hulled container and tanker ships domestically will be essential to keep up with current American standards. If the Soviet merchant fleet is to be modernized it needs to be funded now and expanded now to compensate for deficiencies in block-wide production. An entirely new generation of ships will have to be built to break with old standards and the dogged obsolescence that has remained a major part of naval construction. (240 Resources per Dice 130/200)

Expansive industrial efforts aimed to increase domestic shipbuilding capabilities have been initiated to take advantage of current steel surpluses. Local labor has been preferred for the construction and the further operation of the yards with tens of thousands of direct jobs created alongside significant local stimulatory effects that will further increase labor allocation to the area and raise wages. Construction of new domestic containers and tankers will come far later than originally expected but American construction capacity has also failed to grow to a significant extent. A moderate increase of funding into the sector can achieve rapid and significant political gains as domestic naval production continues to rapidly increase so as to continue general development. Rapid increases in domestic production can be supplied by cheap steel driven by vast Siberian coal reserves, enabling a practical revolution in global shipbuilding if the initiative can be seized.


UMAZ Automotive Plant: Tapping the vast steel production complexes of the Ural region alongside additional materials from local aluminum plants offer significant opportunities for a new generation of vehicles. Ultralight unibodies are expected to be more efficient and capable of urban operation compared to more contemporary vehicles and establish a plant pioneering the new techniques as a breakaway of VAZ. Subcompact designs are increasingly necessary to navigate busy urban streets and the use of innovative techniques will enable lower fuel use across the passenger fleet. (188/175) (Completed) (-50 CI4 Electricity +4 Steel +4 Non-Ferrous +1 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (+90 RpY)

Technically a deviation from standard frame cars, new more advanced vehicles with mixed body frames alongside improved small engines have provided a new form of light urban transport. Somewhat inspired by foreign designs a small 1.2L I4 has been developed and is expected to be implemented on scale to provide the basis for a series of two and four door hatchbacks meant for urban operation. Compared to some German cars the vehicle is still more sizable but further technical work on improving efficiency will provide some equivalence. Most significantly, the design has cloned unibody approaches to construction from LAZ achieving a reduced weight and improvement in safety. Shifting towards urban vehicle development is expected to be the next frontier for the domestic automotive industry, expanding demand and the fundamental demand base.


Mass Commercialization of UAZ: The current series of 4x4 designs has enjoyed significant popularity in rural areas as a standby vehicle capable of navigating the worst terrain. Models out of military service are already typically resold but designated production of civilian models has not been adequate. Providing a wealth of funding for mass expansion and modernization can bring the typical 4x4 design into common utilization with improved popular trims offered for those that do not want a classical UAZ. Most vehicles will trend lighter to improve popularity but a rural focused light vehicle can garner a considerable market. (177/150) (Completed) (-67 CI6 Electricity +6 Steel +2 Non-Ferrous +1 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (+120 RpY)

Off road developments from previous UAZ designs have primarily gone to military tasks but with expanding demand and a richer countryside a new demand base has emerged. Previous off road vehicles have developed a reputation for reliability and extending funding programs have achieved significant gains in demand and production. Investments in UAZ have combined with strong drives to improve automation and improving production line techniques with significant further gains expected past the current program. Rural and near-rural demand is going to be the principal driver even if some in cities will purchase heavier cars on the chance that worse roads will have to be traversed. To accompany more off-road specialized frames, an adjacent AWD series of more conventional passenger cars has entered development, aiming for a middle sector of the domestic demand base.

Rocketry

Superheavy Launcher: With the limited capabilities of the RLA new systems have to be developed if a new moon program is even to be considered. A high-power hydrogen lift stage can still be paired with legacy RLA cores produced as cheaper boosters but new engines will have to be developed to enable a degree of reusability. Recovery of comparatively short-duration boosters will be key for lowering costs and on a heavy core hydrogen state the flight profile can be well suited for further launches. Mixed cryogenics will be a major issue but the limitations of hydrogen and transport diameters somewhat prevent any other approach. (-30 RpY Expected) (20) (Subvote)

Initial developments into a new superheavy launcher have been severely disrupted by American declarations and funding allocations. A near doubling of immediate funding towards space based applications has been authorized through Congress with further follow on funding expected across the next year. The Americans have boldly committed towards the establishment of a permanent lunar presence alongside several large scale security commitments in orbit to change the balance of power on the planet. Under-investment has at this point become politically impossible, requiring the defense of the last decades victory in space based development. Rocket designs for a new heavy carrying vehicle will inherently be defined by the program objectives prioritized, as ambitious demands for systems capable of sending over 150 tons to orbit have gone from scientific curiosities to mainline priorities.

[]Militarize the Program: According to Sergey Aleksandrovich Afanasyev the current American provocation demands more so an armed response than chasing pacifist goals which will accomplish little more scientifically then current lunar missions. Funding can be shifted away from the development of the Weather, Luna, Mars, and Mercury programs alongside an agitation for close work with the military. A third generation of space platforms centering around comprehensive global navigation, networked oceanographic survey, and anti-satellite impactor-interceptors will be developed. These will be accompanied by strong developments in terrestrial military forces demands for a carry-on heavy launcher with a wide core essential for the launch of capable laser systems to defeat possible American escalations in orbit. (Many New Options, additional two Dice) (Superheavy Launcher Energia-Adjacent(Vote Next Turn)) (+100 RpY) (+100 RpY Cap) (Cancels Atmospheric, Luna, Mars, and Mercury Programs)

[]Next Generation Launch Vehicles: Coming from a younger basis and as one of Koralev's proteges Yuri Pavlovich Semynov advocates for the renewal of domestic launchers and breaking away somewhat from the shadow of the RLA system. Current promising developments in cryogenic and moderately cryogenic fuels are expected to provide significant returns in capabilities for a new generation of systems if the funding is available to pursue them. Domestic methods to match a military response can be developed in parallel, but the civilian one is somewhat more relevant outside of near-nuclear confrontation. To that end focus will come towards a new high capability carrier rocket on a new 6m standard stage powered by either hydrogen or methane aiming to achieve a lunar landing before 1984. Current proposals involve the combination of modular cores, but single monolithic hydrogen cores with boosters have also been proposed. Cutbacks in electronic programs will accompany a strong increase in funding, driving towards an ambitious program of hardware development towards a reliable lunar-landing system. (Many New Options, additional one Dice) (Superheavy Launcher(50 RpY Cost))) (+60 RpY) (+60 RpY Cap) (Cancels Atmospheric, Luna, Mars, and Mercury Programs) (Downsizes Mars Program)

[]Advance Conservative Solutions: Staying with the strongest advocate of the RLA system and the maintenance of conventional technologies, Anatoly Ivanovich Kiselyov advocates for the revival of the old RLA-8H design using newly developed hydrogen engines for a powerful central core. This would in practice shift the RLA modules to being used as disposable boosters on a heavy hydrogen core and provide an estimated 120 to 130 tons to LEO, enabling most conceived of lunar operations without much new hardware. Further technical work will be focused on the current goals of the program, maintaining several scientific programs as a somewhat hedge against the Americans not achieving what they set out to do again. The Lunar program still must be supported but there isn't that much reason to develop entirely new hardware to go there when the modernization of older systems is sufficient. (Some New Options, additional one Dice) (Superheavy Launcher(30 RpY Cost))) (+30 RpY) (+60 RpY Cap) (Cancels Atmospheric and Luna Programs)

[]Nuclear Upper Stages: Instead of playing around with the techniques that subsequently failed to reach the moon, new radical technical solutions can be pursued. Vladimir Nikolayevich Chelomei has proposed the use of a two stage hydrogen-nuclear core paired with 8 RLA-1 modules to achieve almost three hundred tons to LEO to radically transform the character of the current contest. Nuclear engines are somewhat functional and larger ribbon core designs are already in the works so as to improve performance, leaving the question one of politics and authorizations. There is nothing preventing the launch of a heavy nuclear rocket system outside of some ineffectual uninformed ecologists leaving the option attractive to achieve a soviet victory. The massive payload to orbit alongside possible stretch of the third stage as a TLI and Capture option for a heavy craft leaves a direct ascent high cargo profile viable without significant modifications. If a lunar base is to be constructed then the atom is likely to be necessary to get us there. (Many New Options, additional one Dice) (Superheavy Launcher(50 RpY Cost))) (+60 RpY Cap) (Cancels Atmospheric, Luna, Mars, and Mercury Programs) (Downsizes Mars Program)

Light Industry

Microcomputer Plants(Stage 3/4): Increasing domestic production of the new integrated 6um node for both memory modules and conventional silicon has finally been achieved at scale. The production of new lithography machines is still somewhat questionable as lines are still in the process of conversion but steady amounts have become available. Improvements in wafer size or leaps in machine capability are unlikely to be made this decade but improvements in photomasks have already started and are likely to achieve gate reductions to 3.5um without radical machinery changes before 1980. (171/150 Stage 3 Completed) (21/150 Stage 4) (-54 CI5 Electricity +2 Non-Ferrous +2 Educated Labor) (+60 RpY)

Standardized improved photomasks have already somewhat entered production with state efforts at funding capitalizing on the increased production of machinery and more advanced designs. Domestic production is expected to increase more than tenfold by the end of the decade if counting discrete transistors. Current system gains are somewhat only an intermediary compared to the potential of the technology as in almost all processing applications new solid state circuitry offers vast advantages. Improved photomasks will allow current generations of machines to achieve downscaling to approximately 2um if current trends continue. Lower feature size memory modules have already started to enter scale production with the following technical program for an 3um circuitry process started and likely to be available soon after the turn of the decade. Current efforts have already produced millions of new jobs at enterprises and promise automation of labor well beyond current standards.


Modernization of Home Electronics Gorky era industrial standardization programs have been key and heavily influential in nearly every element of the electronics industry but they need to be brought to modern standards. Power supply minimum efficiencies, indicators for efficiency, and several component standards need to be updated and improved. More advanced techniques have revolutionized the industry and it is time to move most consumer items to them. Changeovers are planned for the next five years with the majority of funding going to bureaucratic enforcement and incentive funds to ensure that enterprises can change over with few disruptions. (122/100) (Completed) (+10 CI2 Electricity +1 Non-Ferrous +1 Petrochemicals) (+10 RpY)

A new series of standards that universalize the three prong plug have been universally implemented alongside a general series of energy efficiency standards for most appliances. A rolling current production manufacturing end standard has also been implemented, if with some additional funding allocated to improve enterprise reception. Practical impacts are likely to be seen over the next decade as the efficiency of domestic machinery improves and household energy consumption is reduced to more manageable extents. Several industry boards are more mixed, expecting that purchases of appliances are only going to increase, but practical opinions are mixed on the matter. Improvements in electronic efficiencies are expected to be implemented alongside the strengthening of building electrical wiring, providing housing capable of supporting the Soviet workers' consumption.

Standard guides must be updated to discourage and dissuade the general public from removing the third ground pin as a means of using legacy outlets. This only serves to undermine the public safety of new systems and reduces the efficacy of newly implemented electronic standards for protecting against building fires. Already over thirty cases of fires have been reported by those altering their electronic connections to use legacy outlets without modernization, cutting the central pin off with any available tool and then using a high power plug in a legacy outlet. Informative broadcasts have been drafted and are expected to be implemented in the next year to discourage the practice and improve public safety. -Fire Safety Commission.


Third Generation Food Programs(Stage 1/3): The chemical industry has delivered the Union several major victories in the production of shelf-stable enhanced foods that have practically broken from old traditions. These are capable of long-term storage on shelves and can in effect reduce food wastage and contamination significantly through a mixture of new chemical compositions and plastic packaging. Production expectations will be major as several new types of drinks, meals, and even fast-consumption products will be brought to every soviet grocer. Current efforts are expected to modernize the soft drink industry along with sectors of the confectionary industry, contributing capital to bring manufacturing to new standards. (325/200 Stage 1 Completed) (125/200 Stage 2) (-41 CI3 Electricity +4 Petrochemicals +3 General Labor) (+60 RpY)

High shelf life food products have been a mainstay of American markets, taking a predominant role as advertised goods and a larger portion of shelf space, enabling the extension of most store inventories. Domestic programs undertaken under Voznesensky have somewhat replicated them but to a lesser extent than demanded. To supply the Soviet worker a half dozen new enterprises have been established for the production of a multitude of foods believed to be high in demand. Preserved pastries of every variety have been the largest item, as it is expected to both be infrequent in demand, and essential for providing variety to the average consumer. Further programs towards improving the throughput of basic cereals, oats, and higher consumption products have also started, incorporating new packaging standards to greatly improve shelf life in consumer-facing formats and thus raising demand pressure.

Chemical Industry

Intensive Development of the Caspian(Stage 2/6): The caspian basin still has a vast quantity of oil all around it in both the littoral waters and the ground around the sea. Further increases in on-sea production will tap the remaining deposits on the water with further efforts focused on increasing recovery and conventional extraction on the rest of the reserve. Improvements in production will somewhat increase in price due to the more advanced techniques put into use but that is to be expected to sustain the requirements of new oils. (178/125 Stage 2 Completed) (53/100 Stage 3) (-15 CI6 Electricity -5 Petroleum Fuels -3 Petroleum Gas +1 Educated Labor) (+100 RpY)

Previous extraction around the Caspian reserves has been somewhat defined by a lack of technology and poor implementation. Current programs have entirely reversed that with the intensive development of oils offshore Baku alongside the modernization of older wells with enhanced recovery techniques. Flooding of reserves alongside mixed fluid injection is expected to revive the local industry and greatly increase yields through the better application of chemistry. The Central Asian fields themselves have also started large scale extraction, though with only the first few tentative drilling efforts. Space program infrastructure development has been key for prospecting and exploitation of local resources, likely bringing more than a hundred thousand jobs to the region and enabling vast increases in local wealth. Improved water access from RR channels is expected to further enhance production through lowering effective prices, enabling more of the Union's vast resources to serve the workers.


West Siberian Gas Wells(Stage 1/10): Vast gas reserves exist in the West Siberian petroleum formations and outside of efforts for capture from primary wells the development of dedicated local gas infrastructure has not yet begun at scale. Technical programs to tap new gas wells and significantly increase production capacity represent the best means for reducing oil use across the Union. Initial programs will focus on tapping newly discovered reserves and proving the techniques involved more than direct extraction but far larger and more productive efforts are sure to follow. (313/150 Stage 1 Completed) (163/125 Stage 2 Completed) (38/150 Stage 3) (-52 CI8 Electricity -12 Petroleum Gas +2 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (+60 RpY)

Absolutely vast reserves of gas have always been available even if the technology and techniques for its proper utilization have been more limited. Current drilling programs have followed on initial already drilled wells to improve throughput of material, immediately and cheaply seizing vast quantities of gas that was otherwise dumped or under exploited. Further funding efforts will involve the increase of working populations alongside the increase in infrastructure to transport gas liquids to industrial sites as that still remains the principal concern. The establishment of new towns on the vast deposits will be aided by the steady environmental changes enabled by the deposits, further increasing economic activity as a side-effect of increasing extraction. Even better, as the deposit is still somewhat unexplored, significant further reserves are expected to be found, stabilizing the Union on gas for at least the next century.

Agriculture

Development of the Middle Volga: Irrigation in the great bend of the Volga has historically been inconsistent and problematic but with the additional flow of water south significant improvements can be made. Direct control of water levels up north is expected to stabilize agricultural yields and eliminate any dry years in the basin, improving Soviet agriculture. Current efforts will focus on the increasing allocation of water and the use of more intensive irrigation allowing a final decisive separation from the climate issues that have historically plagued local agriculture. (270/200) (Completed) (+20 RpY)

Secondary damming of the Volga has been completed to stabilize local water levels and provide for direct control of reservoirs during periods of low rainfall. Practical allocations of water to farmers have in effect increased as regional prices on non-aquifer water have dropped massively, enabling further modernization of crop harvesting. The region has a limited growing period, but the planting of ever larger wheat crops is expected to revitalize the local economy and further establish domestic food independence. Practical supplies of grain are an ever growing element of domestic agricultural infrastructure and have increasingly become a foreign policy tool as a mechanism of food aid. Current projects are still insufficient to reverse a true deep drought, but most minor droughts can now be surmounted, finally breaking away from the old cycles of privation that plagued the land.


Development of the Dnieper: Every drop of fresh water that enters the Black Sea is a drop that is stolen from the Soviet worker. Seizing back the water and constructing a reservoir system with diversions off the river combined with the management of solar evaporation can preserve local water resources and significantly improve growth capacity. Solving any risk of drought through hydrological means has long been a goal and a target for development and with one series of cascades and expansions to the current water infrastructure a major river can be tamed and brought to useful production. (207/200) (Completed) (+30 RpY)

Improvements in local water access have come as a product of intensive canal building across much of the black soil area. Improving access to water enables the planting of far more water hungry crops and a general intensification in the production of local meat reserves alongside supplying further away farms operating using ruffage. Increasing damming efforts are expected to steadily reduce water losses going into the black sea, capturing as much water as is possible for the advancement of the local economy. Agriculture itself is not a major source of employment but it is the bedrock on which society is built and organized, leaving it critical to support and subsidize. Gains in productivity are expected to be paired with an increased intensification of farming and more fertilizer sensitive cultivars, improving uptake of local resources to further improve production and lower general population-facing costs.

Services

Expansion of Domestic Media Production(Stage 1/2): Current film and animation enterprises have significantly expanded into the vast demand for cultural production but more funding can be transferred over to further increase them. A series of films from the state sector can be commissioned on several important topics alongside the adaptation of several literary works into the film format. This will be accompanied by improving the facilities for art schools and providing a series of scholarships for young authors willing to study the craft further and continue developing high throughput cultural production. (150 Resources per Dice 47/100)

The domestic film producing industry has been compared unfavorably as the cheap, low-budget, and folksy version of the American one with strange obsessions but further funding can serve to transform it. Throughput and students established as far back as the Malenkov era can be increasingly utilized to provide the basis for higher budget productions alongside capable enterprises working in the area. State centric broadcasting and film has somewhat reduced in overall share with the growth of the private industry but it need not be uncompetitive. A series of large scale films and shows have been funded to provide entertainment as a service to be consumed and increase domestic turnover.


CNG Distribution Programs: Shortages of petroleum fuel are nearly expected given the current limitations in production and the physical reality of requiring a six times price increase to make the arctic fields viable. Efforts to start tentative conversions of transport in cities to natural gas focusing on dual fuel systems for cabovers and buses. Easy conversion targets are expected as local transit can be converted using current infrastructure with a relatively minimal commitment of funds and technical efforts. None of the systems are in themselves novel and a pilot program now can demonstrate the concept for future use. (197/100) (Completed) (-1 Petroleum Fuels, +1 Petroleum Gas)

Mixed fuel use vehicles have been a niche application but wider testing has warranted a strong increase in funding, especially as LNG is expected to become the primary domestic fuel in a number of other sectors. Road vehicles that use diesel engines have a comparatively easy convection requirement, turning into multi fuel vehicles when a steady supply of gas is provided. Pressurized gas kits have been evaluated for buses and are expected to become standard over the next decade to somewhat reduce fuel demand while cab-over options with a mixed fuel system have entered development. A new prototype Tu-154 running on LNG has been ordered with British design cooperation on engine systems with the lessons learned expected to be evaluated on an all domestic Tu-204 next decade. Transport level adoption of gas as a principle fuel will not happen, but the replacement of diesel and kerosine with gas is a possibility for the near future.


Expansion of Assistive Services: Some mild deficits exist in the care for pensioners that is available as the health system has so far almost entirely prioritized work for working populations. Shifting some resources away from sectoral growth towards skilled nursing and assisted retirement services is a waste but one that can be justified with shifting population demographics. Longer general lifespans are expected to stress current pension schemes much less future healthcare resources and heading off the upcoming political firestorm with a token effort can sidestep much of the criticism. (239/175) (Completed) (-16 CI2 Electricity +2 Educated Labor)

Carehomes for pensioners have received a flood of funding and expansion, improving the care of the retirees beyond the scope of previous practices. The majority of funding has come in the form of regular household assistance programs to improve participation and quality of life. Practical use of labor in the area has somewhat required educated personnel capable of working in a medical field contributing more towards economic activity that is somewhat outside of plan goals. Still, improvements in care are expected to be significant relative to the near complete lack of it from before. Further funding in the area is unnecessary and can instead be spent towards productive ends improving overall economic activity so as to enable a more improved general quality of life.


Expansion of the Postage System: Higher speed postage has imposed several requirements on the postage system and ones that can only be partially met. Increased commercial activity has accompanied a significantly increased demand for the postage system, especially for accelerated delivery. Working to address the matter requires a multi-faceted approach with some conversions of HSR trains to mail transporters during the low utilization periods proposed. This will accompany a major expansion of postal services, increasing population access to the service and ensuring that high-speed mail can be sent both faster and cheaper. (317/225) (Completed) (-26 CI2 Electricity +1 Petroleum Fuels +2 General Labor) (+40 RpY)

Primary goals for the expansion of the postage system has come in faster general delivery of mail on a two to three day timeframe, enabling packages to rapidly cross the Union. General population use of the system is not expected to be that significant but business mail where high speed is a priority remains a significant use case of the improvements made. Package handling has been modernized through the universal use of barcodes for all applications being implemented by 1980 in parallel to other commercial areas. Increasing electronic efficiency and consistency is expected to make the tracking of packages easier and most handling systems more capable in adopting new techniques for the transportation of goods. Business and enterprise level shipping alone promises to become a significant segment, further improving economic performance.


Storage-Distribution Networks(Stage 2/2): Continued developments of the transportation and distribution system can be extended towards commercial services. Enterprises and smaller businesses have an endless demand for the transportation of goods and expanding services to meet that demand can significantly improve overall economic function. Programs started now will directly target the expansion of commercial mail services ensuring that packages are rapidly and competently delivered across the Union. This infrastructure will not fundamentally change the economy, only providing alternative transportation services to provide for smaller scale operations. (253/200) (Completed) (Nat 100) (-16 CI2 Electricity +2 General Labor) (+40 RpY)

Standards for adoption of barcodes as a universal and impartial identifier have been previously experimented with but new technical developments and availability of electronic goods have driven their industrial adoption. Storage and distribution networks based on standard scannable products with known codes have been nothing new but their implementation is expected to steadily reduce errors in all aspects of product handling. To that end, enterprise level transportation of goods is expected to shift to the universal use of barcodes by 1979, with scanners implemented at most rail yards to improve the tracking of products. Standardization of GOST codes and categories is expected to follow shortly afterward to provide every single product an easy to use rapid identifier and reduce errors. Adoption outside of shipping enterprises is expected to be somewhat slower, but no less revolutionary as an effective secondary verification system.


Distribution of Professional Services: Expansions of the professional service sector need to be conducted to the point that standardized legal and general consultations are available to the average worker. The development of the program will be key in stabilizing the environment for smaller enterprises to be competitive and receive adequate guidance on the navigation of the system. Comprehensive developments would in effect prioritize providing more junior graduates as something of a training program, ensuring that professions outside of direct state control are adequately trained. (202/150) (Completed) (-16 CI2 Electricity +2 Educated Labor) (+50 RpY)

State enterprises responsible for general legal and contracting advice standards have been significantly expanded alongside general consulting work. Professional services have still been a significant shortfall domestically as the economy has typically relied on enterprise level expertise to navigate matters, favoring larger more established enterprises. Work towards improving the standard of these workers alongside improving the scope of effort will take the rest of the plan but that in itself will significantly improve other aspects of the economy. Further developments of major urban businesses centered around the task have also started with several smaller ones organized for the implementation of electronics on the enterprise level so as to improve economic performance.


Population Distribution Programs(Stage 3/5): The comprehensive expansion of store fronts and general distribution stores to mixed use and urban areas has been somewhat neglected due to the somewhat integrated nature of the housing program. Older constructed areas have ended up constructed to lower standards with corner and grocery stores focused on to the exclusion of more specialty goods. Demolishing some lower floor living areas for conversion into vibrant commercial areas is expected to improve overall economic turnover and expand general demand pressure. New structures can be modified to include some commercial spaces for the next generation of housing programs, further providing gains in both availability and population density. (120 Resources per Dice 230/200 Stage 3 Completed) (30/225 Stage 4) (-18 CI2 Electricity +3 General Labor) (+30 RpY)

Store system expansions alongside the modernization of several aspects of their implementation have served to continue increasing the domestic demand base. The availability of domestically made goods going to domestic consumers is the primary driver of economic activity that is not export dependent and marks something of an important point in general economic activity. Increasing the scope of domestic centered stores alongside stocking a vast quantity of items produced through domestic and CMEA enterprises has in effect provided a new demand base for the economy. Current efforts in development have provided some jobs, but by encouraging the Soviet Worker to purchase goods significant economic growth is possible as a mechanism of demand driven stimulation of activity.

Bureaucracy

External Outreach Enterprises: New types of enterprises will be needed to ensure an adequate influence over oil production in foreign nations. In-practice control by Soviet officials is one line, but steps must be taken to increase power and influence through the limited provision of more advanced drilling equipment. Closing the supply chain in foreign nations can produce additional petroleum and provide a high-capability diplomatic arm that will guarantee a steady supply of oil. The MFA disagrees somewhat on the policy, but their remit is not the economy and nothing they can do will solve the energy crisis short of bumbling into a nuclear war. (46)

Working around the MFA has achieved significant gains with enterprises somewhat formally allowed to do business across borders in CMEA without significant intervention. This was in practice already allowed in Germany and Czechoslovakia but further implementation has allowed for the continued rapid development of local economic structures. Intensive development of Greek and Yugoslav bauxite has already started with plans on improving local economic activity through the development of large cooperative enterprises. Significant productive gains are expected through the mobilization of local labor as a form of diplomatic outreach as increased wages and thus increased demand for Soviet goods will enable continuous economic growth and social development.


Gas Implementation Commission: Committing funding towards the mass gasification of the economy is necessary with the current and expected price balances. Local reserves of gas are far more notable and easier to extract when compared to available oil reserves. Increasing an emphasis on gas alongside funding several new applications in automobiles, aircraft, and general energy use can be done now to prepare the techniques for future implementation. Energy access will define the future of the superpower competition and it is imperative to secure it for victory. (32)

Getting the energy commission to do anything involving a transition towards alternative sources of thermal energy has been a consistent exercise in futility. Funding for the evaluation of gas based designs has been granted after hours of ineffectual arguing over the traditional state of industry alongside current economic factors influencing energy prices. It can now be concluded that none on the actual energy commission or that are remotely responsible for it on the supreme Soviet know what they are talking about. For all that the crisis can be solved with intensive expansion of gas and coal, the techniques and processes need to be developed so that the transmission is smoothed. The ministry is on its own to resolve the many issues facing the Union and assistance from the government is not going to come before something sets off one of the many oil-producing problem areas.


Brief Lyudmila: Current politics is a pit of vipers that is not well suited to someone prone to emotional outbursts. Working with her to ensure that she knows what reliable figures there are in politics will ensure that the ministry is well run and having a deputy with a softer touch can be a key asset. If nothing else, she is capable of managing significant areas of infrastructure development and can be confined to the area until a more competent deputy can be found. So far the woman has avoided doing anything idiotic with focused work in the development of local infrastructure with little administrative necessity, enabling a possible state of benign neglect so as to let her focus on important work over any impossible ambitions. (61)

Working with the woman has been something of a consistent and persistent experience with stubbornness and intransigence. Organized meeting schedules were met but on a purely punctual basis instead of a more typical early appearance to discuss the topic of the day. Still, she has delivered adequate performance in infrastructure and somewhat proven that she can manage the men of the department without any significant problems. In her view the current ministry is primarily facing a deficiency in infrastructural development funding as so much has gone to large scale projects over more directly applicable ones, becoming a strong advocate for prioritizing infrastructure during the next plan to aid overall industrial development. Incorporating her into the general administration has gone smoothly as her notes are decent alongside an acceptable ability to work around or proverbially bludgeon down stubborn political figures, proving that she can be trusted with the actual work of a deputy.


Expand CMEA Collaboration: If the energy crisis that is clearly coming to the view of everyone with a brain is to be surmounted, closer cooperation with CMEA must be started. Euro implementation is a good first step but further improvements in energy infrastructure must be pushed through. Vast quantities of gas practically too cheap to meter will be made available soon and providing agreements that set a low price for it in advance will enable governments to start investments now. Hookups to primary pipelines will not be sufficient to entirely shift energy and heating away from oil but the first steps can be made to circumvent economic instability. (68)

Using practically free energy as a political bludgeon has brought success faster and more comprehensively than nearly any measure before it. Economic opening to imported goods alongside the expansion of enterprises to improve local conditions has been authorized quickly as a means of improving economic growth and energy access. The importance of gasification has been emphasized with the high cost of oil for less developed economies still significant and a concern for many. Some criticism of the project has come but that has been nothing relative to the practical greed of local officials and enterprises to secure enough gas to accelerate development. An aggressive general plan for the modernization of CMEA and the utilization of natural gas for energy and heating has been proposed to improve the environment and local conditions.


Stop Ecological Complaints: Several university graduates have produced prolonged and absolutely useless reports on the excess development of industry alongside associated sacrifice zones. In their misguided view the policy is susceptible to over reach as the areas involved have increased in scale alongside prevalence in the last ten years of intensive industrial development. To undermine them and ensure that the topic of discussion is eliminated at the source efforts can be made to increase the correct study of the phenomenon alongside implementing guidelines for maximum population impacts allowed in non-sacrifice zones so as to better use the Union's vast wealth of land. (40)

The domestic ecological movement has received some reforms for the importance of preserving the health of urban workers, limiting smog burdens on the population. Factories with significant emissions have been tasked with either reduction or relocation while a board of scientists has been organized to determine what chemical releases are concerning and provide plans for their minimization. For the intransigent little other response has been provided as commissions have supported the measures involved overwhelmingly even on the supposed ecological side of the scientific establishment. Expansion of industrial sacrifice zones to work around primary areas of sensitive activity has been mandated due to the demands placed on production but for the vast majority of the population the policies implemented will cause a notable decrease in effective doses of pollutants. Discussions with Vorotnikov and Zemyanin have failed to materialize a provision for the enhanced persecution of those charged with sabotaging progress towards communism but if persistent academic resistance is not quelled it may be necessary.

Malthusianism is a foreign capitalist cancer that strikes at the workers of the third world like a persistent yet intractable hydra that can only be beheaded time and time again. At first it moved with famine and colonial oppression, damaging the development of material conditions to avoid allowing any to advance towards capitalist accumulation, leaving entire nations stuck with little to show for it. As the international proletariat broke that chain of imperialism new more insidious chains were created, oppressive in the same ways as the capitalist-imperialists have been determined now to take the potential of the colonies they can no longer have out of pure spite. Ecological movements that advocate for the sabotage of development are just one such arm of a wider international capitalist effort towards the neutralization of proletarian forces of the third world so as to leave it dependent, weak, and easily exploited. Agitation in Western discourse over birth rates and family planning only serves to steal the future of billions all to provide the children of oligarchs the means of easy oppression. The Soviet Union has long opposed imperialism abroad, and this new type of imperialism is no different. It is the duty of every worker and working class party to resist the imposition of supposed environmental controls and to fight the Malthusian cancer imposed by above through an economic system only wanting to perpetuate exploitation. Growth and the development of material conditions will be what constructs Communism and any attempt to slow it is a direct strike against workers power and the workers themselves.
-1977 Balakirev Speech on Development in Berlin


12 Hour Moratorium

 

[Terminator57]

After some worries and a writing breakdown, here is a new omake nammed "Kabuki, Economic Growth and Mangas: the economic-cultural relations of Japan and the Soviet Union from the Civil War to the 1970s" as a Christmas present and to start the year off right. I hope you will enjoy it as it was complicated for me to write it.

Over the course of the 20th century, relations between Japan and Russia fluctuated considerably: initially cordial, they deteriorated as the Far East became a territory of rivalry between these two powers seeking to extend their zone of influence at the expense of China and Korea.
Relations between these imperial powers reached a low point with the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905, before rising again during the First World War, when the two empires became allies. An example of this renewed cordiality in relations was the plan to deploy Japanese troops on the Russian front against the Austro-Hungarians and Germans.

The collapse of the Russian Empire and the ensuing civil war reconfigured Russian-Japanese relations, severely damaging them for the eventual victors of the Russian Civil War, the Bolsheviks.

In fact, in order to curb or even destroy the young Bolshevik regime, Japan intervened in Eastern Siberia and Transbaikalia in the service of Kolchak's White armies. At the end of 1918, the Consul General Sat in charge of the Japanese troops stationed in Siberia proposed to Kolchak's government the opening of Japanese bank branches in Irkutsk and Novonikolayevsk.

Nevertheless, it would be wrong to reduce Russian-Japanese relations to those of a purely diplomatic nature, since they also influenced population movements and the economic development of Siberia.

During the period of good Russian-Japanese relations prior to 1904, for example, the number of Japanese in Siberia rose to over five thousand. They came as representatives of culture and entertainment, small traders and spies. Generally speaking, this can be closely linked to the increase in Japanese emigration to Russia at the end of the 19th century.

Nevertheless, this Japanese immigration did not take place without the approval of the two powers concerned, as the legal foundations for the development of the Japanese community in Russia were laid down in a bilateral agreement signed in 1895, covering trade and shipping between the two countries.

Subsequently, with the civil war and the withdrawal of Japanese troops following the Gongota Agreement, and under intense diplomatic pressure from the Americans (who suspected them of wanting to annex Siberia and the Russian Far East) and the British, as well as mounting domestic public opposition concerned about the growing human and economic cost, virtually all Japanese left Siberia. An example of this exodus is the fact that almost all members of Irkutsk's large Japanese community were evacuated at the same time as the Japanese troops stationed in Siberia. Nevertheless, the fear of the remaining Japanese that the Bolsheviks would dispossess them of their possessions and send them to a labor camp in Siberia was quickly dispelled, as the new authorities made an exception for Japanese merchants in their policy of expropriating exploiters. Indeed, the Soviets had no interest in the complete disappearance of this foreign presence in the region, nor did they wish to see complications arise in their relations with Tokyo.

Despite this deterioration in diplomatic relations between the two Asian powers, it was not until a few years later that relations were revived, following Japan's official recognition of the Soviet Union on January 20, 1925, with the signing of the Peking Convention. Thereafter, it was not until 1928 that the two states made a concrete effort to improve their relations, rather than merely acknowledging the existence of their two countries.

Nevertheless, it would be wrong to believe that this desire to improve bilateral relations was simply the result of a passionate desire to bring two different peoples and cultures closer together, since this convergence of will was explained by strategic imperatives on both sides, especially since neither Tokyo nor Moscow had any illusions about their new-found friendship proclaimed to the international community.
For Tokyo, it's a question of responding to economic considerations by widening outlets for its products and meeting its need for raw materials, which the archipelago is sorely lacking, while seeking to diversify its economic partners and secure its western flank in the context of latent rivalry with the United States. Moscow, for its part, wanted to re-establish good-neighborly relations with its eastern neighbor, to reduce the risk of war, so that it could concentrate on industrializing the country and benefit from Japanese technology transfers to "catch up with and overtake" the capitalist countries.

As mentioned above, this new friendship did not prevent the two countries from pursuing their respective obsessions. In Japan, this took the form of the "Peace Protection Law", designed to combat "dangerous thinking" and passed in the wake of the Peking Convention, which gradually placed the Japanese Communists in a worrying position. The Soviet Union, which had pledged not to engage in any propaganda in the archipelago, nevertheless wished to continue extending its influence over the Japanese proletarian parties, albeit with little room for manoeuvre.

Under these conditions, "cultural relations are one of the few ways of improving our relationship with Japan", as Alexander Troyanovsky lucidly put it in June 1928. Kabuki thus quickly came to the minds of the state apparatuses of both countries, as well as local artistic circles - such as the famous actress Okada Yoshiko or Japanese theater directors like Osanai Kaoru, Senda Korenari and Hijikata Yoshi - a leading figure in shingeki ("new theater"), who called for the abandonment of kabuki in favour of realistic theater, and whose future Japanese theater would emerge from the combination of Western and Eastern traditions, and kabuki in particular, in a fruitful emulation of these theatrical traditions - as a means of improving relations. Indeed, by the end of the nineteenth century, Japanese theater was already arousing a veritable craze in Russia and the rest of Europe.
With this desire to smooth relations and win over progressive Japanese circles, the Soviet Union translated this into the implementation of a veritable cultural offensive towards Japan, intending to win over Japanese opinion on the very basis of its declared ability to welcome the culture of this prestigious country.

This can also be seen in the role given to Japanese artists by the Soviet authorities. In fact, the Bolshevik leaders considered that artists in Japan were generally held in high esteem and enjoyed great popularity, and that famous artists like Sadanji Ichikawa were national heroes, and therefore of great importance in influencing the Japanese population to promote a positive image of the Soviet Union, both culturally and politically. To carry out its cultural offensive, the Soviet Union set up the Pan-Soviet Association for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (VOKS) in 1925, following its Russian acronym, and made full use of it by offering Japanese artists the opportunity to tour the Soviet Union as part of the tenth anniversary celebrations of the October Revolution.
This was done in 1927, thanks to the wish expressed in the press on both sides of the Sea of Japan by the above-mentioned well-known artists - and then taken up by their respective governments - to organize a theatrical tour of the Soviet Union.

However, obstacles soon arose to prevent the event from taking place. The extreme right reacted violently against the initiative, fearing that Bolshevism would contaminate the national theater, and did not hesitate to launch press campaigns against the Japanese participants, threatening them with the worst punishments to dissuade them from taking part in the tour. In addition, Shochiku (the kabuki theater and film production company founded in 1895 and employing the artists to be mobilized for this Soviet tour) points to the financial loss incurred by the long absence of the troupe's best actors from Japan, and is therefore reluctant to commit to the show. She also added that the Soviet demand for authentic kabuki required a special and, of course, costly stage set (ten sets designed in Tokyo had to be transported by ship and then by train, and the stages of Moscow's Art Theater No. 2 and Leningrad's Little State Opera, where the kabuki would take place, had to be transformed): on the order of a hundred thousand rubles.​

What's more, this artistic initiative is also encountering difficulties on the Soviet side. Indeed, the potentially staggering costs of this initiative were a reason for Soviet reluctance to implement the project, since the Soviet side, as the inviting power, would bear all the expenses associated with the tour, and these were considerable according to the organizers.
Nevertheless, Japanese public opinion and strategy of influence eventually brought the theatrical tour project to fruition. Indeed, as the question of a kabuki tour of the Soviet Union became more and more widely publicized in the press, and as the Japanese public became more interested in the issue, the project became not just an artistic issue, but a national one: for the government and its citizens, it was a question of defending Japan's image, which had become a major preoccupation for the Japanese authorities, as well as defending the country's reputation and its culture. For the Soviet authorities, the unhoped-for opportunity to take a step towards Japanese progressive circles and thus gain influence in Japan, but also to ease tensions, will soon silence all reservations about this project, all the more so as, according to the Soviet authorities, the failure of this project would cause a huge scandal that would distance the Soviet Union from Japanese progressive circles and seriously damage it on a political level.

And so, after this obstacle course, the tour came to fruition: the troupe played for two weeks (August 1 to 17) at Moscow's Art Theater No. 2, then spent a week in Leningrad, where they presented the same program at the Little State Opera.
It's worth noting that the Soviets made a real effort to educate the Soviet public: illustrated brochures with synopses of the plays were printed in Russian in Tokyo and delivered in June. In addition, a presentation of the plays before curtain-up was organized, two booklets on kabuki (a small volume of around 30 pages and a collection) were distributed, and numerous articles in Soviet periodicals were published to educate the Soviet public about this Japanese art form. This educational effort was also evident in the plays themselves, which were designed to appeal to the audience: works with lots of action, pantomime, dance and little dialogue were given pride of place, and performances were shortened to three hours.

Despite the loss-making nature of these shows - as Troyanovsky said of the tour, "It made us lose a lot of money, we made a loss, whereas the tour could have resulted in no or minimal financial loss" - the success of the tour was immense: the shows filled theatres, fascinated artists and theatre-goers alike, and inspired Eisenstein to make some famous reflections.
This cultural encounter marked only a brief lull in Japanese-Soviet relations, for with the invasion of Manchuria by the Empire of Japan in 1931, diplomatic relations deteriorated once again, only to pick up again after the Second World War and Japan's transformation from a militaristic expansionist power to one under American influence.

In the post-war years, and particularly with the death of Stalin in 1947 and the change in the soviet leadership allowed by this event, diplomatic relations between Japan and the Soviet Union were resumed, with the signing of a joint declaration on October 19, 1956, providing for the restoration of diplomatic relations and putting an end to the war.

The two sides also agreed to continue negotiations on a peace treaty, including territorial issues. In addition, the Soviet Union pledges its support for Japan's membership of the UN, and renounces all claims for reparations from the Second World War. The joint declaration was accompanied by a trade protocol granting reciprocal treatment on a most-favored-nation basis and providing for the development of trade.
The resumption of diplomatic relations is also reflected in a resumption of commercial and cultural relations. In the former case, the signing in 1950 of an agreement on fishing zones marked the beginning of an improvement in USSR-Japan relations. As for cultural relations, these took the form of cultural exchanges "from above", with cultural diplomacy carried out by individuals with strong cultural capital or state structures.

Nevertheless, a "bottom-up" dimension to these cultural exchanges would gradually emerge and develop in parallel with the growth in economic exchanges, following the establishment in 1962 of a Bilateral Economic Committee tasked with facilitating these economic exchanges, and then in 1968 with the first joint infrastructure projects passed through the committee, culminating in the signing in 1974 of the Agreement on the Development of the Nakhodka Bay Ports establishing the foundation for the gateway of a new generation of USSR-Japan trade.
Indeed, despite the ideological divisions of the Cold War, this economic rapprochement once again enabled the two countries to bridge the respective gaps in their economies: a lack of raw materials for the Land of the Rising Sun, and industrial and technological underdevelopment for the Land of the Soviets.

However, compared to the previous motivations, a new one was added in the case of Japan: a desire to redirect Japanese outlets from the United States to the Soviet Union, following the introduction of tariffs on Japanese products by the American government in the 1970s, on the grounds of unfair competitive practices on the part of the Japanese government and companies: this enabled American producers to win market share from Japanese producers who had become less competitive in relation to their competitors, thus reducing Japanese exports to the United States in terms of both value and volume.
This reorientation towards the Soviet Union was all the more appealing to Japanese business circles given that, compared to the early post-war years, the Soviet population had grown considerably richer, and represented consumers with high purchasing power likely to buy large quantities of these goods.

Japanese industry's search for raw materials took the form of massive capital injections and managerial exports - rather than technology transfers, as the Soviets would have preferred, in order not to upset the American government - to Siberian raw materials extraction and processing companies. This strategy also enabled Japanese industries to gain a competitive edge over their Western rivals, as they benefited from the lower cost of Soviet raw materials, as well as a workforce educated and disciplined - but also cheaper than Japanese workers - by decades of Soviet-style management. Economic cooperation developed rapidly in the 1960s, despite unresolved territorial issues (the northern territories illegally militarily occupied by the Soviet Union, according to Japan). In fact, as we saw earlier, the two economies were complementary: the Soviet Union needed Japan's capital and technology, while Japan needed Soviet natural resources such as oil, gas, coal, iron ore and timber. The importance of these bilateral economic exchanges can be seen in the fact that in 1977, total trade reached $14.4 billion a year, making Japan, after the United States and Great Britain, the Soviet Union's most important non-socialist trading partner.

However, it would be wrong to believe that Japanese exports to the Soviet Union consisted solely of industrial products, since the emigration of Japanese managers and the liberalization of trade in cultural goods from the 1970s onwards also saw the emergence of modern Japanese culture (by which we mean Japanese culture that emerged after the Second World War) in Siberian cities, and its appropriation by Soviet youth. This was reflected in the gradual spread from Vladivostock and along the East-West communications routes of the Trans-Siberian Railway to the western cities of the Soviet Union of numerous Japanese mangas such as Ashita no Joe and Goldorak, by pioneers of Japanese publishing in the Soviet Union like Akutagawa Ryunosuke and Kawabata Yasunari, aided by Soviet publishing greats such as Aleksandr Tvardovskiy and Vsevolod Ovchinnikov.

From a cultural point of view, what can be described as a subculture within the Soviet Union is still today a niche culture, existing and spreading only through the intermediary of Soviet fans or specialized meeting places organized by these same fans in cities such as Khabarovsk or Krasnoyarsk.

However, it would be wrong to believe that the adoption of Japanese culture "from below" is limited to new literature that has recently arrived, since a broader Soviet enthusiasm for Japanese arts was already evident in the late 1960s. Indeed, from the 1970s onwards, we can see the emergence of a more general Japanophilia through the dissemination of classics of Japanese culture and works that projected a flattering image of Japanese culture - although with a certain orientalist vision of Japanese culture - such as The Branch of Sakura: The Story of What Kind of People the Japanese are, Japan's Artistic Tradition, The Japanese, and The Fifteenth Stone of the Ryoan-ji Garden by a number of renowned journalists, reporters and academics such as academician Lidija Ginzburg or international reporter Vladislav Listiev or journalist Anna Mazepa. These texts varied in terms of style, factual accuracy, and level of sophistication, but all were devoted to depicting Japan's unique culture and national character.

This popularization of Japanese culture among the Soviet population resulted in a progressive fascination with Japanese traditional arts such as ikebana (flower arrangement), martial arts and literature, which swept the Soviet Union. Additionally, Informal clubs and groups devoted to studying and practicing Japanese traditional arts emerged in various towns and cities throughout the Soviet Union. Particularly Japanese martial arts proved to be popular. Karate for example, at its peak had over six million followers across the USSR. A final element showing this interest in Japanese culture in the Soviet Union may be the fact that Translations of Japanese classics as well as modern authors were published in large print-runs of around 100,000 copies throughout the 1970s–1980s and were sold out in a matter of days.

This cultural evolution was all the more viewed with a benevolent eye by the Soviet authorities - despite the opposition of the neo-Stalinists present in the Supreme Soviet - because it allowed the Soviet government to present their country as a country that was Japanese-loving and open to other cultures: thus facilitating all the more the arrival of Japanese investments in the Soviet Union as it flattered Japanese financiers to see their culture held in such high esteem by the population and reassured them concerning the security of their investments - no risk of anti-Japanese protests.

Despite the cultural liberalization policies undertaken by the Soviet government in recent years, like kabuki in its time, this craze of Soviet youth for Japanese book culture must be taken with caution because this line is always, like kabuki in its time, likely to evolve according to the decisions of the top of the state apparatus and the international context: thus leaving the question of the hybridization between Soviet and Japanese culture in suspense - uncertainty also linked to the youth of this Japanese cultural penetration.

Thus, over the decades, we see that Siberia has continued to play this role of economic and cultural frontier between the Soviet Union and Japan and that this will continue to be the case in the years or even decades to come in the best case scenario in all likelihood.

Excerpts from "The Katana and the Sickle: Japanese-Soviet Relations from the Russian Civil War to the 1970s" (1980) by the argentinian historian of international relations Hans Gruder (1926-2014)​

 

[Traveller76]

Raj Kapoor entertaining fans, Moscow, 1967​

​

Indian Films in the USSR​

As part of his efforts to promote Indian culture, Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava invited Soviet delegations to India and arranged for Indian films to be shown in the Soviet Union. In addition to promoting films, Narayan also sought to foster cultural exchange between India and the Soviet Union. This cultural interaction included the exchange of films, books, and other forms of media. These movies would either hold subtitles for the Soviet crowd or be completely dubbed. Through these efforts, Narayan helped introduce Indian cinema to Soviet audiences and lay the foundation for its eventual popularity in the country.

Nimai Ghosh's Chhinnamul was the first Indian film to be released in the USSR, but it was Raj Kapoor's Chaplinesque roles that truly resonated with the Soviet audience. His performance in Awaara was particularly well-received. Eight hundred prints each of Dev Anand's "Rahi" and "Awaara" were released in all the languages of the 15 Soviet republics, Kapoor, a slightly goofy smile in place, with a comical walk and trousers that didn't go past the ankles, was a symbol of optimism. His roles saw him as an innocent do-gooder, impractically romantic but beloved nevertheless.

Story lines that predictably swirled around the themes of sympathy for the oppressed, socialist egalitarianism and the triumph of good over evil resonated with Russians whose only other option at the cinema was propaganda movies. When Kapoor, and his later counterparts, romanced their heroines, they did so surrounded by Swiss Alps and pretty flowers, in a manner that was depicted as wholly sustainable, even essential, in the pursuit of true love. It allowed a sweet path to escapism for a population otherwise fed on the state's idea of love for the motherland, ideas that were relentlessly driven down by propaganda movies that showed only what the people saw on the streets, at work and lived in their homes anyway. Also, the visual spectacle of Indian films and their use of vibrant colours created an atmosphere that was appealing to the audiences in the Soviet Union.

The values of Indian society have long been intertwined with those of the USSR, with a clear distinction between good and evil and a strong belief in the power of rags-to-riches stories. As pure escapism, these movies ran to full houses for weeks at best, or to fairly full houses, at their worst. Indian films, always Hindi, not those in other languages, were encouraged because they were seen as protection for the Russian film market against Hollywood films. Though Hindi was never officially a "national language" in India, the film industry in that language was the biggest in those years. Not surprisingly, art films, those of Satyajit Ray and others of his ilk, failed miserably at the box offices. These tackled poverty and issues that affected real lives.

It perhaps helped that in the 1950s both India and Russia were in similar situations — the former, newly free, the latter, reeling under losses from WWII. It helped to be able to sit in a dark hall for up to four hours and laugh and cry and escape from the drudgery of life outside. This enduring optimism, which is a hallmark of Socialist realist utopianism, has been a source of inspiration for many in India and the USSR alike. Indian movies were also in stark contrast to the bleak and severe films that dominated Soviet cinema at the time, which often featured heavy political themes and strict censorship.

"In early fifties, just after the devastating war with Germany, the country was still in ruins we were poor and our life was full of privations and shortages," said the old lady during 'Retrospective of Raj Kapoor films' organized in the provincial city of Tver, 200 kms from here.

But when we saw greater hardships being faced by the poor from the country (India) with a smile, it gave us optimism. So after watching Awara and Shri 420, Raj Kapoor became a symbol of optimism for the Soviet people, she added.

How Indian Cinema won Russian Hearts

References:

The Rise Of Bollywood In Soviet Union

Bollywood Affair: How Indian Cinema Arrived in the U.S.S.R.

Bollywood films became available across the Soviet Union in the 1950s as an alternative to western cinema.

www.themoscowtimes.com

https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/tv/ram-kapoor-says-rich-dad-didnt-talk-to-him-for-10-years-for-choosing-acting-101736231552279.html

 

[General_Urist]

Remember those silly omakes I wrote with Magnitogorsk as a giant anthropomorphic personification that personally yeeted a mountain at the nazis? Well lately I tried my hand at pencil drawing after a long time and figured visualizing MegaMag-chan would be good practice. Behold:

I am not sure if my shading is THAT bad, or it's just my scanner that makes everything look washed out. And yes I realized that sun position doesn't make any geographical sense, I realized that too late.

I wanted to also draw close-up Mikonyan standing on her shoulder and boldly pointing, but these two panels took my atrophied skills long enough as is. Perhaps later.

 

[Blackstar]

Turn 90 (January 1st, 1978 - January 1st, 1979): Questions of Urban Development

Resources per Turn(RpY): Base 13150 -125 Rocketry -5440 Plan Commitments -20 Commitments Cost Modifier = 7565 with 5 in storage

Spoiler: Last Turns Vote:

[X]Advance Conservative Solutions

Internal Politics:

Domestic politics has been stabilized with the center the by far largest victor as both Vorotinkov and Ryzhkov have tempered their mutual conflict in favor of a somewhat tense degree of cooperation. Even leading into the elections neither has made significant moves to undermine the other, focusing attacks outward to provide an image of increasing stability and confidence in the other. This will not last and one of them will make the first move but it, alongside strong economic growth has managed to more than stabilize the political environment present in the Union. Common sense reforms with the same backing have passed, improving pensions alongside funding towards improving the state of the healthcare services.

Unity in the center has led to a converse weakening of the factions outside of it as they have proven somewhat incapable of finding ways to attack the coalition. The simple popularity of keeping a steady hand while enabling economic growth has under-written policy and continues to do so. Economic stability is absolutely critical for it with a common understanding between the current center to that extent, providing a somewhat free hand to act politically as long as no disruptions to the economy come. They cannot afford a significant crisis before an election any better than anyone else, and better some compromises towards stability then Zimyanin or worse Ashimov getting anywhere near actual power. Electoral plans have centered around it as a means to legitimize the government more so than any radical change, making the reliable assumption that the average worker wants to avoid significant and radical change.

Viral spread has also been managed through the cooperation of the Ministry of Health and local authorities, managing to stop the summer season's spread. Continuous cycles of infection are still expected as a vaccine is not expected to be ready until the next year but that can be somewhat managed. Foreign cooperation on containing the virus has been in practice almost a negative as the Americians and the French have both in practice cut off any research support as a part of cold war conflicts. WHO coordination has somewhat managed to enable a global response but with the current state of the world the process of dealing with the spread of LASV has become yet another ideological struggle. Increased outreach as a part of CMEA is expected to help combat spread in less developed regions alongside the reduction of rodents but in practice only so much can be done.


Free dice to allocate 6 Dice.

Infrastructure: (14) 5 Dice

[]Western Local Roads(Stage 1/3): The development of roads is once again in a critical state with significant shortfalls present in the development. Guidance by previous ministers somewhat under-stated the problem as the adoption of automobiles and trucks was persistently and consistently underestimated through the use of obsolescent modeling. Current roads are insufficient, susceptible to wear, and generally inadequate for even a small portion of demanded economic activity. Strong programs to improve them in the west are just a first step in development as the road system across the entire Union must be radically expanded and developed. (150 Resources per Dice 241/275)

[]Caucuses Local Roads(Stage 1/2): Negligent construction practices have strongly undermined regional infrastructure and avoided the implementation of more productive means of transport. Through intensive programs involving the paving of tens of thousands of kilometers of mountain roads alongside general modernization programs, local infrastructure can be brought up to standards appropriate for the post-war era. The current situation is decidedly inadequate and even the proposed changes are marginal compared to the significant demand for roads experienced by smaller rural and urban communities. (160 Resources per Dice 0/175)

[]Ural Region Local Roads(Stage 1/2): Lack of stable terrain due to freeze thaw cycles, lack of technological confidence, and a lack of general will to construct local roads have significantly undermined regional economic activity. Strong growth is dependent on the increase in extent of local urban and rural infrastructure with paving campaigns paired with the construction of a vast number of urban boulevards. Many cities have been somewhat negligibly designed away from proper transportation concepts, requiring further funding for demolition work so as to rationalize current practices and improve local logistical throughput for last mile movement off railheads. (180 Resources per Dice 0/250)

[]Central Asian Local Roads(Stage 1/3): Out of a likely sense of utter ignorance ranging on severe discrimination, the development of infrastructure in Central Asia has been practically left to primarily extractive means. Previous developments centered only on railways with which to move products out of the region alongside infrastructure only built for extraction rather than local utilization. To amend this a vast program of road construction has been planned to provide essential interlinks in difficult terrain and improve the local economies directly. Funding will go towards the rapid increase of local transportation networks in an urban and near urban context for the major cities and will be followed by the significant renovation and expansion of bridges and mountain roads so as to enable easy local transportation. (150 Resources per Dice 0/300)

[]Automotive Infrastructure(Stage 1/5): The Union was not prepared for its newfound wealth and manufacturing capabilities as the development of cars has put the fact into stark awareness. Moscow is practically a permanent 20 hour traffic jam without much hope in sight while cars litter the micro districts that would otherwise be allocated for green spaces. Developing further parking for the flood of cars alongside provisions on where to store them when not in use can reduce the overall strain on the system. Further work will involve the expansion of urban roads and improvement of traffic throughput through electronic systems, enabling faster transportation without massive increases in spending. (150 Resources per Dice 0/175)

[]Urban Sewage Systems: Sewage transportation by truck is the predominant form of sewage management for much of the Union's land mass. Urban systems exist but capacity limitations have posed significant development concerns outside of Moscow with severe limits placed on what can be done. Current programs focus on the urban issue as trucks, while inefficient, are not a direct health hazard that current management practices are. An expanded and modified program can be undertaken for large-scale urban renewal, integrating processing systems and greatly expanding capacities. This will take time and balloon the program above old standards but it will provide room for the economic centers of the Union to grow. (200 Resources per Dice 262/450) (-34 CI4 Electricity)

Heavy Industry (10) 4 Dice

[]Krasnoyarsk-Irkutsk Metallurgical Complexes(Stage 1/3): Lower-grade local ores in combination with the exploitation of new deposits and improved railway access are expected to significantly improve domestic steel production. The area has practical free electricity from the massive available hydro potential making it uniquely suited to large-scale steel processing and recycling. The proximity of natural gas sources of reduction has favored the area as one of the largest test cases for the primary DRI-EAF method with expectations for significant gains to local work and productivity. Much of the steel produced would go West, lowering local prices and further improving domestic productivity. (220 Resources per Dice 0/225) (-10 Steel -1 Non-Ferrous +1 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (Hydroelectric Powered)

[]Secondary Metallurgical Complexes: Secondary steel can be salvaged to a large extent from the current steel economy. Despite strong export pressures, the domestic sector for steel utilization is strong and produces an excess of scrap steel. To meet domestic steel demand and minimize the need for reducing agents in production an expanded program for recycling steel can be started. Effective waste filtering has already been established and combustion processing inherently involves the separation of metal products. This will also yield some limited aluminum and copper, but those are secondary and far harder to filter from garbage streams. (240 Resources per Dice 0/125) (-61 CI8 Electricity -6 Steel -1 Non-Ferrous +1 General Labor)

[]Amur Electrolysis Plants: Mass production of aluminum from imported Indonesian Bauxite can start in the Far East to form a key industry and a basis for further development. Plentiful coal and easy logistics on the Amur leave the site optimal for the construction of a major electrolytic complex and the environment is well suited to the import of materials. Intensive development can directly supply the local industry and form a viable component of a complete domestic aluminum-production system as funding and technological sophistication improve. (240 Resources per Dice 0/100) (-76 CI8 Electricity -8 Non-Ferrous +1 General Labor)

[]Kansk-Achinsk Intensification(Stage 1/4): Brown coal is the solution to the vast majority of energy problems in the far east and cheap brown coal will provide more than enough energy for local industrial development. Low-cost energy access is a fundamental basis of industrial development and increasing the scale of coal extraction will greatly aid with that. A new generation of heavy machinery is available to expand the scale of the pit mines alongside more efficient partial processing for regional exports. This renders the coal only somewhat cheap but the energy yields are more than economical. Further, intensive acid rains and the development of sulfurous fogs have been judged acceptable in the Southern Krasnoyarsk sacrificial zone, as local forestry is a negligible concern enabling the rapid expansion of coking projects. (180 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-39 CI4 Electricity -6 Coal +1 General Labor)

[]Localized Lignite Programs: Vast quantities of easily accessible lignite exist in the east and formalizing their use as a local source of energy and thermal coal can significantly reduce energy demands. Instead of working with a direct electrical demand in the planning system cogeneration with industry can become a formalized practice. Kuzbas and Kansk-Achinsk are both vast in reserves and can easily meet local energy demands through the intensification of extraction. Initial efforts will focus more so on logistics and increasing the production of basic turbines but a significant portion of energy demand can be atomized as a secondary concern. (180 Resources per Dice 0/250) (Projects East of the Urals no longer demand energy or coal with it auto-constructed as a part of the projects price.) (+50 Electricity +5 Coal +3 General Labor)

[]Stabilization of Donbass Mining: Declining yields in the Donbass alongside the narrowing of seams is a prolonged and systematic problem that has yet to be solved. Intensification of the local industry and an expansion of labor power has only gotten so far with more advanced techniques required to extract the high value coals. Pushing for the adoption of an increased tempo of production alongside a deep modernization of machinery stocks will be an expensive but important bridge towards the general stabilization of coal demand for long enough to get trans-ural mining functional. (200 Resources per Dice 0/100) (-32 CI3 Electricity -4 Coal +2 General Labor) (Slows Deposit Depletion)

[]Coal Power Plants(CPSC): Coal is still a necessary part of the energy mix and one that cannot be ignored as it forms an essential basis for increasing energy production. Programs towards radically increasing the throughput of coal power are shortsighted before mining programs can achieve improved yields and an adequate barge route is developed. Still, coal is currently viable and prices of coal are expected to crash once heavier barges can be used, radically changing the entire economic principles of power in the Union. (300 Resources per Dice 2/100) (+150 Electricity +3 Coal) (Repeatable)

[]Kansk-Achinsk Coal Liquefaction(Stage 1/2): Collaborating closely with German efforts and transferring the technology or domestic applications offers something of a solution to the oil crisis. A series of integrated plants capable of processing 50Mt of coal per annum can be established alongside the expansion of pit mining to increase transportability. This coal will be converted to fuel at a high rate, securing significant gains in energy security even if current petroleum prices would necessitate operating slightly at cost to maintain prospective capacity. Only so much liquefaction can be developed but it at least offers a way to use domestic resources to meet the needs of the energy crisis. Energy demands will be met with local coal resources while reduction supplies can be obtained through the use of natural gas without economic issues. (220 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-16 CI4 Electricity -3 Petroleum Fuels +2 Petroleum Gas -2 Petrochemicals +1 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (Non-Profitable)

[]Atomash(Stage 4/4): Continued expansions of the Atmomash production complex have been deemed important to achieve energy independence. Additional metallurgical facilities alongside a second full oven capable of sintering wholesale cores will be essential alongside the infrastructure required for the turbines to be constructed. At the current rate of development, it is expected that a stable energy system can be achieved by 1990 with new reactor designs accompanied by a rapid increase in production throughput. Replacement of non-grid resources will take longer alongside general modernization but current prospects for atomic energy offer a way out of the current energy crisis. (300 Resources per Dice 125/250) (-80 CI8 Electricity +2 Steel +1 Non-Ferrous +1 Educated Labor) (Last Turn to have Effects Next Plan)

[]Vladivostok Shipyards: The naval yards in the Far East have some of the cheapest labor and a significant market for merchant shipping between all CMEA members. Expanding the construction of large hulled container and tanker ships domestically will be essential to keep up with current American standards. If the Soviet merchant fleet is to be modernized it needs to be funded now and expanded now to compensate for deficiencies in block-wide production. An entirely new generation of ships will have to be built to break with old standards and the dogged obsolescence that has remained a major part of naval construction. (240 Resources per Dice 130/200) (-54 CI4 Electricity +5 Steel +2 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (High Profitability)

[]LuAZ Automotive Plant: Lower relative labor costs alongside an environment with easy access to energy and steel resources represents a prime location for the establishment of a heavier vehicle plant. A focus on heavier and larger vehicles can improve market saturation of an otherwise lightly produced category and provide increased consumptive pressure. In more rural areas heavier chassis with an integral 4x4 drive will improve performance and enable a degree of upselling. Export opportunities are further significant as the American industry is currently struggling to produce a modern competitive car for the segment. (240 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-62 CI4 Electricity +5 Steel +2 Non-Ferrous +1 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (Extremely High Profitability)

[]ZIL Branch Plants: Luxury and sports vehicles represent a high profitability segment inherently and the expansion of ZIL and its associated plants has been significant just from incentive funds. To improve economic activity further funding can be allocated on the expansive production of luxury cars so as to improve general economic conditions. As the population gets wealthier the demand for luxury has only risen with significant demand placed on providing the most capable trims available. Close cooperation with Nissan is expected with some technical transfer promised as long as sufficient funding is allocated, driving the domestic sports car industry forward by approximately five to ten years. (260 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-47 CI8 Electricity +3 Steel +3 Non-Ferrous +1 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (Extremely High Profitability)

Rocketry (5) 4 Dice (Cannot Use Free Dice)

[]Cancel Project(Does not take a Dice)(5<Projects=<10, -1 Dice) (125/220 R/y Funding Cap)
-MAKS Program (-10 RpY)
-Superheavy Launcher (-30 RpY)
-Communication Satellites (-10 RpY) Constant Program
-Positioning System Programs (-10 RpY)
-FGB-VA Crewed Exploration (-10 RpY) Constant Program
-Mars Program (-10 RpY) Constant Program, Rover Focused
-Mercury Program (-5 RpY)
-Outer Planets Program (-15 RpY) Active Phase finished 1979
-Long Term Orbital Nuclear Power (-10 RpY)
-Nuclear Drive Program (-15 RpY)

[]Launch Pad Expansions: Current systems are somewhat unable to launch a rocket over 2kt and future lunar boosters are already exceeding that standard. Moving strongly to increase local capabilities while building up the processing and storage facilities needs to be done now before any form of booster enters testing. This will in effect produce two pads and storage for two assembling LVs so as to provide the basis for future missions and a degree of reserve capability. (200 Resources per Dice 0/75)

[]Lunar Evaluation Areas: Developing a dedicated area where techniques to be used on the moon can be adapted and evaluated is somewhat challenging but not overtly so. This program will in effect be an intermediary towards starting a new generation of space suits for general purpose use based on the current Kretchet-94 design. As the system was already meant for lunar use, few modifications are likely to be necessary but some optimizations can still be made. (-10 RpY Expected) (1 Dice)

[]Lunar Upper Stack Programs: An entirely new landing system capable of a rendezvous alongside a transfer mission from LEO is going to have to be developed for the lunar mission. The stack remains of a primary concern as the space suit is going to be at least functional if deeply unexceptional, but a rendezvous mission without a reserve will involve a vast commitment of technical capabilities. Current proposals are somewhat diverse as they range from the use of a nuclear stage to achieve the TLI burn and capture to a conventional cryogenic transfer engine followed by a hypergolic landing system. (-25 RpY Expected) (1 Dice) (Subvote)

[]Long Term Habitation Program: Developing entirely new station hardware capable of sustaining a human presence in orbit remains key for establishing a moon base. If effective recycling and power production systems are not made, a lunar base will demand a consistent stream of material and energy that cannot be met through conventional means. The nuclear reactor program has already produced cores in the range of demanded capabilities but the questions of regolith processing and support for infrastructure on the lunar surface still remains a pressing question. (-20 RpY Expected) (1 Dice) (Subvote)

[]Alternative Chemical Propellants: Ammonia-fluorine represents a new standard in efficiency of propulsion and solves several issues inherent to the use of fluorine-hydrogen. Engines on the scheme have already been developed even if test firing has been somewhat mixed, but they hold immense promise for delivering larger cargoes to the lunar surface and beyond. Evaluation engines can reach vacuum impulses of nearly four hundred seconds with none of the storage issues of conventional cryogenics. Use will be limited to the upper stages but the capability on offer makes them too tempting a proposition to ignore. (-10 RpY Expected) (1 Dice)

[]Orbital Operations Concepts: Refueling of the upper stack of a lunar mission in LEO or even using a partial capture trajectory with a nuclear stage as a tug can radically increase payload fractions. Developing a modular nuclear tug and then fueling it remains an open question of capabilities but it is not beyond current techniques to design. Refueling of the tug can be done through the use of propellant depots with several proposals made to develop them on the lunar end to further increase the efficiency of missions. This will be accompanied by a program to develop local sourcing of propellent on the moon, stabilizing supplies and enabling a sustainable long term presence. (-25 RpY Expected) (1 Dice)

[]Non-Rocket Launch Methods: Rockets can only bring mankind so far in the exploration of space and further technological developments can bridge the gap. There are several concepts for launch ramps, elevators, loops, and a series of higher mass proposals. Constructing one would involve a massive commitment of funding well beyond the scope of availability but a smaller scale evaluation program can evaluate the immediate technological viability of some of the proposals. Large scale habitation of space cannot be done without abandoning the tyranny of the rocket equation and cheap launch mass can ensure that the American program is reduced to an obsolescent side-note. (-15 RpY Expected) (1 Dice)

Light Industry (12) 12 Dice

[]Air Conditioner Plants(Stage 7/7): Continued developments in the air conditioning sector are required to maintain the development of comfortable domestic housing. Smaller homes and older apartments are being modernized but at an inadequate pace with the acceleration of conventional construction. Further programs to increase the throughput of cooling systems can ensure that the oldest housing stock is modernized and brought into a comfortable state of living over the next decade. Once sufficient production capacity is established efficiency improvements are expected to provide a sufficient demand impetus to maintain profitability, solving the standard of living crisis compared to the Americans. (140 Resources per Dice 133/250) (-74 CI6 Electricity +2 Steel +2 Non-Ferrous +1 General Labor)

[]Microcomputer Plants(Stage 4/4): Mass production of new solid state devices is necessary to meet current computing demands much less future ones. Current production is still somewhat in shortfall as the production of new machinery has struggled to meet the sheer climb in demand of new circuitry. Current expectations for the program have already been entirely overcome with future funding almost certainly necessary to continue to raise both production and technical sophistication. Exports of integrated circuits are steadily expected to become far larger as they are in demand across all CMEA, finally providing an item through which trade balances can be addressed in spite of the change in character of previous resource and consumer goods exchanges. (300 Resources per Dice 21/150) (-49 CI5 Electricity +3 Non-Ferrous +2 Educated Labor) (Extremely High Profitability)

[]Consumer Electronics Plants(Stage 3/3): Cheap easy to use personal electronics have been an untapped sector with home radios and simpler systems generally under-produced. Expanding the industry into Central Asia alongside several new plants in the Ukrainian and Belorussian SSR can provide vast numbers of well paying jobs all while improving domestic electronic production. Demand for solid state electronics can be minimized through the preferential use of transistors for simpler systems as quantity can be somewhat prioritized over quality for many devices. (200 Resources per Dice 93/300) (-50 CI8 Electricity +2 Non-Ferrous +2 Petrochemicals +3 General Labor) (Very High Profitability)

[]Third Generation Food Programs(Stage 2/3): Modern foods are appropriate for a modern century especially in that many otherwise treated foods can become common staples that keep for months to years. Industrial production of sealed container foods with improved stabilizers entirely works outside the old canning industry and can enhance domestic developments. Current programs will be aimed at funding several new carbonated drinks with novel fruity flavors to take advantage of the advancing chemical industry. Further work on shelf stable meals can be somewhat copied from the Japanese market, as freeze dried foods are somewhat easier to produce than other forms of long shelf life products. (160 Resources per Dice 125/200) (-34 CI3 Electricity +3 Petrochemicals +3 General Labor) (Very High Profitability)

[]Secondary Plastics Industries: Plastics are objectively superior to any contemporary product produced in the Soviet Union and current shortages of non-ferrous metals can be somewhat compensated for through the rapid adoption of plastics. Increased production of containers and several other thermoplastic products for use in general use of durable goods will be key to lowering the demand for metals and conserving them for more important sectors. In practice, the reduction in metal use will be minimal if only due to the likely rapidly rising demand for new goods overtaking any savings. (180 Resources per Dice 0/200) (-36 CI3 Electricity -2 Non-Ferrous +6 Petrochemicals +2 General Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Textile Industry Overhauls: Current labor standards are reducing efficiency for the general textile industry as the massive profusion of labor is increasingly more scarce. Enterprises have asked for funding for further modernization as cheap labor is not available for use in the textile industry and machinery must be used to compensate for the deficiency. Limitations in immigration and a strong domestic growth pattern have consumed easy-to-mobilize labor leaving little that can be done. Increasing mechanization for common goods will compensate but the general sustainability of the industry must be considered. (200 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-48 CI9 Electricity -2 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (Very High Profitability)

[]Mixed Textile Industries(Stage 3/3): Rapid chemicalization of the clothing sector promises to direct water towards more useful industries while improving general domestic growth. Synthetic fibers are superior to natural ones in most ways and adapting industrial methods to primarily produce them will practically eliminate any dependence on imports of materials. Programs to achieve increased industrialization have run into minor issues in sourcing labor but a few workers can still be offered sufficient wages to increase textile production and processing. (150 Resources per Dice 83/250) (-41 CI5 Electricity +4 Petrochemicals +2 General Labor) (High Profitability)

Chemical Industry (6) 4 Dice

[]Exploitation of the East Siberian Basin(Stage 1/2): Several previously untapped petroleum reserves exist in the Far East with exploratory drilling already started on several identified fields. Most reservoirs that have been found are a combination of small and remote reserves without massive capacity for new production, but they are existent and worth extraction in a primary and secondary recovery sense. Continued operations are unlikely to produce any radical increases in petroleum production but even mild gains can assist in stabilizing economic activity. (150 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-28 CI4 Electricity -4 Petroleum Fuels -1 Petroleum Gas +1 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Development of the Southern Turgay Basin(Stage 1/2): Expansive extraction operations in the Kazakh SSR are expected to stimulate the local economy and provide a mixture of gas and petroleum resources for rapid development. Local reserves are comparatively small and somewhat challenging to access but intensive production can provide rapid and significant gains for the local economy. Construction of several new oil towns alongside the intensive expansion of local refining infrastructure is expected to produce thousands of new high-paying jobs and tens of thousands of jobs supporting them. Operations are going to be limited by the conditions of the reserves in place but some gains are still expected. (150 Resources per Dice 0/125) (-25 CI4 Electricity -4 Petroleum Fuels -3 Petroleum Gas +1 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (Very High Profitability)

[]Intensive Development of the Caspian(Stage 3/6): Petroleum resources around the Caspian make up the larger basin and they have been somewhat under-developed relative to other fields. Increasing the scale of extraction is going to primarily yield gas due to the mixture present but that in itself is sufficient to achieve continuous improvements in industrial development. A constant improvement in drilling techniques alone is expected to revolutionize the production of energy and provide stability for the Union. (150 Resources per Dice 53/100) (-15 CI6 Electricity -4 Petroleum Fuels -5 Petroleum Gas +1 Educated Labor) (Very High Profitability)

[]Modernization of Oil Fields(Stage 1/4): Moving towards the newest techniques and implementing tertiary recovery measures at scale for the West Siberian deposits will generate rapid returns on investment. Bringing older depleted wellheads into functionality and expanding the utilization of active fracking techniques is expected to radically reshape the petroleum industry. Well, recovery rates can be nearly expected to double, especially for some heavier oils with techniques raising profits across the board for essential state enterprises. Current approaches will focus on increasing recovery from already tapped wells but continued programs can be expanded towards general improvements in petroleum recovery. (160 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-39 CI4 Electricity -5 Petroleum Fuels -4 Petroleum Gas) (High Profitability)

[]Continued Synthetic Rubber Programs: Continued deep modernizations and expansions of the domestic rubber industry offer a way to significantly improve domestic incomes while increasing independence. Direct expansions of the industry are technologically possible through improved techniques, providing flexible and higher-performance polymers to several other critical industrial areas. Work on the overall rubber industry is only expected to increase as the automotive and general industrial sectors reach maturity with the demand for improved sealants and synthetic products rapidly increasing. (240 Resources per Dice 0/125) (-41 CI6 Electricity +2 Petroleum Fuels +2 Petroleum Gas -5 Petrochemicals +1 Educated Labor) (Very High Profitability)

[]Next Generation Plastics Programs: Expanding the production of specialty and engineering plastics is somewhat of a distraction with the strong growth of the industry but one that still needs to be addressed. New and improved feedstocks and a rapidly developing chemical industry driven by cheap energy is a viable export industry and one that can significantly contribute towards domestic growth. Increasing funding for the more experimental applications of new plastics including the wholesale replacement of stainless steel in some applications will be key to improving domestic competitiveness and technological sophistication. (240 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-41 CI6 Electricity +4 Petroleum Gas -4 Petrochemicals +1 Educated Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Continued Exploitation of Volga-Ural: The tapping of massive reserves at an accelerated pace can provide for a cheap and fast increase in petroleum production to compensate for depletion in other areas. The massive formations are steadily decreasing in productivity as exploitation continues to deplete reserves despite improved recovery methods and the continuous development of new methodologies. These initiatives would in practice accelerate the depletion of deposits in the region, yielding plentiful cheap oil from the massive formations but causing a faster loss of total production as oil becomes uneconomical. (120 Resources per Dice 0/100) (-23 CI5 Electricity -8 Petroleum Fuels -2 Petroleum Gas +1 General Labor) (Very High Profitability)

[]West Siberian Gas Wells(Stage 3/10): Vast quantities of gas exist all across Siberia and they are absolutely critical for maintaining the current energy markets. The transition to the use of gas will not come without radical changes and by ensuring the price remains near the well-price enterprises can be encouraged to switch and take pressure away from the oil sector. Any deficiency in energy will have to be overcome through the intensification and expansion of gas extraction and there is a practically unlimited quantity under the Siberian basin. Experiments with enhanced recovery methods will be further trialed, expanding the reservoirs that can be tapped. (180 Resources per Dice 38/150) (-30 CI8 Electricity -7 Petroleum Gas +1 General Labor+1 Educated Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Heavy Oil Experiments: There are approximately six million tons of recoverable heavy oil and bitumen that are somewhat economically and technically recoverable. Current upgrading facilities have proven that it can be refined into usable oil products but not at significant rates and not without costs. Accepting that the technologies developed for refinement will not be mature for this plan, some funding can still be transferred over to improve the production of new oil products and open the processing of energy reserves previously considered unusable. (200 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-43 CI5 Electricity -2 Petroleum Fuels -4 Petrochemicals +1 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Intensive Cracking Infrastructure(Stage 2/2): Direct upgrading infrastructure can be constructed to take advantage of the current surpluses of heavier oils. Instead of direct combustion or the production of more valuable synthetic lubricants, production can go somewhat to direct upgrading. New compounds will inherently be produced from cracking to maintain a high-value production chain but some of it can easily be allocated towards fuels instead of a true multi-stage processing approach. Improved refinery infrastructure past this point can provide some minor technical gains but that is miniscule compared to improved extraction. (240 Resources per Dice 3/175) (-56 CI3 Electricity -4 Petroleum Fuels -4 Petrochemicals +1 Educated Labor) (High Profitability)

Agriculture (6) 4 Dice

[]Domestic Meat Programs(Stage 7/10): Meat independence outside of beef requires a concentrated effort to increase and optimize the production of pork. Pig stocks have rapidly increased for the production of specialty goods but general-purpose pork has only moderately expanded during the previous plan. A concentrated effort to radically increase the number of pigs raised and slaughtered in the Union will be essential to overcoming any shortcomings of the domestic meat industry. Initial concepts will continue the caloric optimization of the pig with breeding programs initiated to produce pigs that can more efficiently take on calories, grow faster, and efficiently use lower-grade feeds without excessive loss of productivity. (120 Resources per Dice 6/225) (-34 CI1 Electricity +1 General Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Fruit Expansion Program: Increasing the focus on new fruits will provide a vast number of jobs to otherwise under-served communities and improve the overall economy. Agricultural profitability will not be raised by further expansions of grain but through a strong commitment to alternative means of production. In effect enterprises in more Southern areas will be provided benefits in water allocation alongside regular tax benefits for the localization of fruit production. Practical impacts will be limited as the trees grow but significant profits can be realized in the next few years. (150 Resources per Dice 0/175) (-11 CI1 Electricity) (High Profitability)

[]Funding for Local Beef: Small farms producing beef from a bedrock of general production alongside producing the highest grades of domestic stocks. Continuing to expand them will be essential for increasing the productivity of agriculture as there are still significant gains to be made. New beef areas can be opened while more conventional ones are shifted towards supporting and expanding the industry. It is likely going to be impossible to produce enough to meet theoretical domestic demand, but high quality cuts can be made available to all domestic workers for only a nominal cost. (120 Resources per Dice 0/125) (-15 CI1 Electricity +1 General Labor) (High Profitability)

[]New Preserved Meats Program: Initial processed meat programs came out of a mixture of under-development and a significant lack of refrigeration but follow on ones do not necessarily have to be. Recycling for lower grade meats into highly processed mass consumption products can be copied from the Americians while mid grade cuts too poor for general sale can be allocated towards the production of a new generation of sausages. German experiences have already produced a number of flavorful standardized recipes while further international developments can also be made domestically. A variety of preserved meats can provide more variety in general at a somewhat minimal cost while expanding the use of cheaper pork. (150 Resources per Dice 0/125) (-28 CI1 Electricity +2 General Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Water Efficiency Programs: The defining factor of the agricultural industry is the inputs put into the soil with the material acting more so as a temporary storage medium than an inherent factor. Continuing to provide improvements in water efficiency will stabilize the supply of one essential part of the equation as the chemical industry hammers away at feedstock shortages from the other direction. Drip irrigation requires a vast amount of plastic to implement and sustain but given the domestic industry that can be met to entirely solve issues of water accessibility. We now have the opportunity to break away entirely from the cycle of droughts that has plagued Russia and the Union, all that is needed is a final decisive effort. (120 Resources per Dice 0/350) (+6 Petrochemicals) (High Profitability)

Services (16) 11 Dice

[]Transportation Enterprises(Stage 5/5): Further increases to local truck stocks will increase the demand in the rapidly growing automotive industry but for once it can mostly need the demand. Production of cabover vehicles has increased nearly twenty-fold in the last decade with further gains expected as large and small transportation enterprises are expanded. Work towards improving throughput and efficiency can still be done in collaboration with further road construction to bring the Union into the modern era of internal transportation. (180 Resources per Dice 79/250) (+5 Petroleum Fuels +4 General Labor) (Locked Until Western Local Roads is Completed) (Very High Profitability)

[]Expansion of Domestic Media Production(Stage 1/2): Current film and animation enterprises have significantly expanded into the vast demand for cultural production but more funding can be transferred over to further increase them. A series of films from the state sector can be commissioned on several important topics alongside the adaptation of several literary works into the film format. This will be accompanied by improving the facilities for art schools and providing a series of scholarships for young authors willing to study the craft further and continue developing high throughput cultural production. (150 Resources per Dice 41/100) (-18 CI2 Electricity +1 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) ( High Profitability)

[]Restaurant Assistive Funding: Expansions of public eateries can significantly improve profitability and support a key high-return sector. The public demand for pre-cooked food has strongly increased with accompanying increases in incomes and it is essential to meet that demand. Funding programs for the largest organized enterprises and supportive partial funding for several key expanding private chains can be coordinated to increase sectoral throughput. Massive and radical expansions of these enterprises can consume labor at a prodigious rate, mobilizing the population to sell minor conveniences to more relevant workers. (140 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-21 CI2 Electricity +3 General Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Second Wave Hotel Programs(Stage 1/3): Current business supporting infrastructure is deeply lacking compared to the West as there are in practice two centralized hotel-focused enterprises of mediocre quality. Developing a further three hotel enterprises with one targeting the high-end sector and two aiming to be as inexpensive as possible will improve support for travelers and significantly aid local incomes. Business infrastructure will readily apply to general tourism such that improving both will provide local areas with more access alongside gains in general economic efficiency. (150 Resources per Dice 0/125) (-16 CI2 Electricity +1 General Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Expanding Roadside Logistics(Stage 2/2): Fuel provisions for the most common vehicles are still lacking in effect limiting the mobility of passenger vehicles. Extended-range operations and staying in the inhabited belt have somewhat ameliorated current problems but further expansions are still needed to fully support the rapid increase in consumer car ownership. Reinforcement of urban gas stations alongside those in smaller cities will be essential for the program to ensure that queues are minimized and transportation access is improved. (120 Resources per Dice 85/150) (-15 CI2 Electricity +3 Petroleum Fuels +2 General Labor) (High Profitability)

[]Expanded Barcoding(Stage 1/3): Use of scanned codes on every surface and platform represents a radical improvement in precision across a wide variety of industries. Initial proposals to modernize the railway system with them can be accelerated through an expanded use of computing to simplify loading and somewhat save on labor. Scanning of information from simple codes will verify goods that are shipped and provide a cross-intelligible system of regulations. Mainframes on each end of the shipping network can act according to standardized shipping codes further simplifying the railway system. (180 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-21 CI2 Electricity -1 General Labor) (Very High Profitability)

[]Modernization of Catering: Workers that are served food by associated enteprrises have had several complaints about the quality and degree of products served. By working nationally to create a standardized formulary of high durability products and ensuring their wide distribution these problems can somewhat be fixed. High shelf life foods are becoming common and providing the options to many workers can significantly improve the perception of food quality available. Work to modernize old kitchens and implement health standards will accompany the general modernization, improving overall standards through focusing on the worst enterprises. (120 Resources per Dice 0/150) (-23 CI2 Electricity +1 General Labor)

[]Population Distribution Programs(Stage 4/5): Continued expansions of stores into specialty areas has demonstrated significant demand pressures but far more is needed. Constructing a series of general purpose large stores to improve the supply of bulk goods is necessary to improve living standards and is somewhat helped that these are the cheapest format of store. Ensuring that most workers with road access can purchase their goods in bulk will raise demand and lower transportation overheads, improving overall economic efficiency. Further efforts beyond that will return towards the development of the countryside, finalizing the means with which to supply the strong increase in domestic demand. (120 Resources per Dice 30/225) (-20 CI2 Electricity +2 General Labor) (High Profitability)

Bureaucracy 8 Dice

[]Dedicate Focus Towards a Project(): (1 Bureau Dice for +5 per dice on a project, +15 in Chemical Industry) (Unrolled)

[]Restart a Work-Hours Commission: Verifying the developments of Voznesensky and expanding the assessments of labor can help to continue to provide a scientific basis for improved productivity. Current work hours are optimized for a mixed productive-demand state but can likely be shifted to optimize other aspects essential to economic activity especially now that labor demand has rapidly increased. Maintaining a balanced demand state will be key for stable economic growth especially now that the baby boom is slackening and newly graduating students are available in lesser quantities. (1 Dice)

[]Work Around Ryzhkov: The supreme soviet has so far accomplished little of economic relevance with a focus around the modification of work practices more so than tangible economic issues. Ensuring that Ryzhkov is left out of the decision loop of essential ministry work by directly communicating with Vortnikov is expected to provide some advantages politically as the council of ministers is technically empowered to make most economic decisions. This separation of decision making from the Supreme Soviet is technically a power grab, but a minor one and one that would greatly narrow the degree of necessary maneuvering required for attaining a higher position. (1 Dice)

[]Consolidate Zimyanin: With a somewhat weakening position alongside several issues keeping the conventionally conservative wing on side, Zimyanin has presented an opportunity. Moving strongly and aggressively against him and ensuring the support of the stalinists can provide an effective political base gathered from nothing. They are somewhat ideologically flexible and the ministry is well suited towards working at their biases especially with current commitments. Automatization and computerization is coming and as long as that is emphasized alongside correct promotions the faction can be brought under wing. (1 Dice)

[]Form a Commission on Labor: Current work standards are still somewhat lagging behind those in capitalist countries due to a partially inadequate standard on safety. Working to do something about it can secure some support from workers while also forming an organization capable of acting against the worst managers in a political and social sense. Targeting them under the cover of the workers struggle can enable several to be sidelined and replaced, with the program likely to improve conditions for the average worker if all goes well. (1 Dice)

[]Organize a Strategic Petroleum Reserve: Developing a somewhat shallow reserve of oil will provide a supply to stabilize out a disruption, at least for a moment and will involve the somewhat deliberate non-extraction of several fields. This will not be popular in the slightest as it will increase imports but adopting a formal reserve strategy can be a hedge against international instability. It is essential for the economy to maintain a stable price of energy and increasing the buffer of time to act can only help with that. (1 Dice)

[]Subvert Gulyam: Gulyuam has continued to stumble in failing to do anything for the enterprises despite claiming to represent them and he is somewhat of the weakest link in Soviet politics. Bringing the enterprises under a new banner will involve some compromises but they can be done from a position of strength as their puppet has only weakened. As long as the economy is strong they can be kept in line with nearly nothing making it important to subvert the faction before any significant weakness can creep into the system. (1 Dice)

[]Publicize Space Targets: The Union is going to the moon, that is somewhat unquestionable now that the target has been set by the Americians. Increasing the publicity of the program is a gamble but one that can be taken through the funding of a vast number of films on space and the science of exploration. If a new generation of youth and their more politically relevant parents can be excited about the ministry and what it is doing then that can be the basis of a higher political career. An approach to the chair of the Supreme Soviet cannot be done without a basis of public support and the public is primed to back a successful scientific-technical campaign. (1 Dice)

[]Army-Ministry Budget Requests: The MoD has had too much of a budget for too long and cutbacks are going to be needed to stimulate economic growth. Economic growth forms the basis of the military and the technologies involved rendering it a higher priority to achieve instead of the development of some new overpriced weapon system. Belik is currently somewhat politically weak and not the best liked, providing an opportunity to intercede on the next budget to allocate surplus funding, stopping the growth of the defense budget. (1 Dice)

[]Expanding Health Ministry Funding: Taking a strong stance against a disease is well and good but funding for the process can come from other aspects of state development. Maintaining the economy under the stress of the disease is already a major problem and further reductions in funding will only degrade productivity. Moving the supreme soviet to expand funding by taking from less important ministries will make some enemies but it will also be a decisive response to the crisis and start the process towards solving it. (1 Dice)

[]Retaliations against the Lazy: Those who have refused modernization orders are somewhat in their right to do so, but the lack of willingness to follow orders must in itself be punished through examples. Allocations of new employees can be prioritized around non-compliant departments with political appointments steadily increasing the work alongside ordering more loyal management to alter local conditions. If they are unwilling to follow orders the least they can do is do the proper work expected of them for the sake of the ministry. (1 Dice)

[]Stimulus Measures: The combination of LASV alongside flagging growth in conventional industrial sectors can be justified as a sign of the somewhat expected delayed economic downturn. Using that to justify increased funding may result in it getting applied too early but the increased growth demands present will require further allocations of resources and material. A partial increase will be asked for and likely granted, increasing state debts so as to avoid a significant economic downturn. (1 Dice) (Immediate 3000R, Repaid at 500/y for 7 years)

[]Automotive Reforms: Automotive demand is a core part of heavy industrial growth but slow increases in production have plagued the sector, especially with the lack of allocated enterprise funding. Reversing this will take more time but first reforms can be instituted to open the roads to more motorists, incorporating infrastructure to increase the density of car use and provide for expanded registration. Unified examination standards that do not require as much of an educational basis will increase accessibility and ensure a steady demand base that will further drive economic expansions. (1 Dice)

[]Housing Sector Reform: Current housing programs are working to maintain housing stocks but the massive risk of the Mikoyan era housing decaying has remained a national concern. The homes themselves have held up better than expected but they need to be replaced at an accelerated time frame. Improved apartment models have already been sufficiently developed to reduce costs per unit with current plans simply needing modification. This will commit the Union to the largest housing program in history but in a decade the communal housing form and wartime emergency housing can be left in the past. (1 Dice)

[]Expand Ministry Personnel: Expanding the extent of the ministry further and increasing the extent of the office alongside outreach state capacity can be expanded. The economy has only steadily grown more complex and the ministry needs an expanded investment arm to ensure that the Soviet economy stays modern. Delegation to the enterprises has minimized bureaucratic overheads but the complexity of the economy is still a major burden on the ministry that more personnel can solve, at least for a time. (1 Dice) (Subvote) (Options to Gain more Dice)

[]Discredit Ecological Programs: Those who talk of greening and slowing the engineering of nature until it bends to the workers' whim only want to go backward towards primitive capitalist accumulation. Current green energy efforts are being continuously propagandized as an utter failure in the development of a technique utterly incompatible with maintaining industrial efforts but the program can be taken a step further. Ecological programs can be directly undermined at every step with studies pushed to counter any narrative of devastation and undermine the delusional approach towards nature honoring the untouched wild for no other reason than boredom with urban life. (1 Dice)


Current Economic Prices(Domestic/CMEA/International): (How this will work is that every action above except for electricity modifies the internal price of the commodities below. They also vary on their own and are sorted into abstracted 1-100 ranges. Modifiers from the rest of your economy are displayed below with each category of goods. When you shift between 20-sized ranges, there can be significant modifiers to the general economy that come from changing prices of core commodities. CMEA prices determine the price in CMEA, though transportation of goods will be a problem with international prices representative of the West.)

Coal Price (51/35/64) Massive Import (41-60 No Effect)
+4 CPSC Power Plants
+2 Fuel Oil Conversions (Finished 1979)
+4 Western Deposit Depletion
-2 Nuclear Power (1975-1979)
-1 Net Civilian Spending

Steel Price: (34/34/65) Moderate Export (21-40 -20 RpD Infrastructure, Increased HI Growth)
+1 Construction Industry Expansions
+1 Net Civilian Spending
-4 Decoupling of American Trade(Decreases by two a turn)

Non-Ferrous Price: (67/56/42) Moderate CMEA Import (61-80 Reduction in Aluminum Use, Increase in Domestic Power Use, Increase in Petrochemical Use, Slight Reduction in Economic Growth)
-3 Hydroelectric Cascades(Until 1979)
-4 Net Civilian Spending

Petroleum Fuels Price: (38/38/38) (Middle Eastern Imports(Net 9)) (21-40 Strong Increase in Economic Growth, Fuel Use, and Chemical Development)
+14 Net Civilian Spending
+6 Fields Depletion
-6 Field Modernization

Petroleum Gas Price: (14/NaN/NaN) (Moderate Export) (11-20 Start of Fuel Experiments, Preferred Heating Fuel, Vast Expansion of Use)
+8 Net Civilian Spending
+8 CCGT Power Plants
+4 CMEA Utilization (Increasing by 2 Per Turn until +16)
-6 Field Modernization

Petrochemicals Price: (38/38/40) Massive Export (21-40 Massive Demand Increase, LI Growth Increase, Mild CI Growth Increase, and Strong Plastic Use Increase)
-6 Net Civilian Spending

General Labor Price: (48/34/79) (41-50 Slight Increase to Domestic Demand +10 RpD Universal)
+1 Net Civilian Spending
-15 New Graduates
-2 Immigration

Educated Labor: (62/45/88) Moderate Imports (61-70 Moderate Increase to Domestic Demand, Moderate Reduction to Domestic Competitiveness, Project Cost Increases)
+0 Net Civilian Spending
-9 New Graduates
-1 Immigration

Electricity: 239 CI 18
+714 Plan Programs
-322 CI16 Net Civilian Spending

Spoiler: Plan Effects:

Housing Construction Efforts: Admitting that the housing issue is developing into a problem would involve several degrees of political discomfort. Instead, work can be done to augment the housing stock with new buildings constructed to the latest styles along with renovations and lifespan extensions for any viable older structure. The share of the population living in cooperative housing can be reduced in half by the end of the plan as the construction program increases in scale along with mechanization. Lacking prison labor will suit more advanced designs better, with the latest in composite housing focused in areas of increased density and high economic activity. (-5 Infrastructure Dice) (-850 RpY Modified by Steel Prices) (Reduction in Communal and Barracks Housing Forms to 5% of the adult non-student population by 1980)

Passenger Rail Network(Ural Region): To move the network further East developing a Northern and Southern high-speed corridor with interlinks down into the Caucuses and a unified line for further development into the Far East. This would link Siberia tightly to the Western economic regions and provide a wealth of movement in the region. Long transitory routes are never expected to be popular but an increase in local commuting will provide something of an economically stimulating effect. Reductions in prices for transport will also reduce aviation demand, saving some funding through fewer terminal expansions. (-2 Infrastructure Dice) (-350 RpY Modified by Steel Prices) (Slightly Slows Petroleum Fuels Demand Increases 1980-1990)

Rail Electrification: Continuing low-scale electrification with a direct focus on the most profitable lines for conversion will limit implementation but continue the effort at the previous pace. New equipment will not be needed and the accelerated retirement of older traction will not be necessary. Current plans for modernization will focus on primary freight corridors, enabling the majority of travel to be conducted on electric traction before final processing by switcher engines. (-1 Infra Dice) (-140 RpY Modified by Steel Prices) (Estimated 50 RpY Return)

Krasnoyarsk-Irkutsk Hydroelectric Zone: With lagging iron mining and the lack of development across the Union, building a new high-potential electrical and industrial zone to augment the general plan can be a major asset. The Bakchar deposit represents some of the largest reserves of iron ore available to the Union and its development will enable a further increase in conventional industry and steel production. The zone itself is mostly swampy and poorly inhabited, limiting the costs of relocating people and ensuring that development can proceed without issue. Some local aluminum plants in both Omsk and Irkutsk are expected to be founded, ensuring that power supplies are available and ensuring that the Union can keep up with the West in the production of Aluminum. (+60 Electricity -3 Non-Ferrous per Year 1974-1979) (Three -10 Steel Steel mills available)

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 downstream 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)

Power Plant Construction(Nuclear Systems): Expanding the throughput of conventional cores to a massive point with supporting infrastructure prepared in advance for next-generation reactors will take a massive amount of funding. The primary program will focus on the development of twenty VVER-500 crores to replace old-style combined cycle heating and generate further power in remote areas to minimize coal haulage. Two new liquid metal-cooled fast reactors will be constructed along with a set of four experimental VVER-1000 cores. Further centralized facilities for processing nuclear fuel and storing waste will be developed to minimize the burden on current temporary storage systems. (64 Electricity -2 Coal per Year 1975-1979)

Power Plant Construction(Nuclear VVER-1000): A maximum technical pace of reactor construction can be undertaken to entirely use the constructed capacity. Some delays and overruns are expected as the plant continues full-scale construction with the planned criticality of sixty nuclear cores in the 11th five-year plan. Unconventional designs will inherently be deprioritized due to the acute energy demands as current LEU prices do not necessitate any efforts for conservation outside efficient core design. (-3 Heavy Industry Dice) (-920 RpY) (270 Electricity -1 Coal per Year) (Completion across 1980-1984) (Estimated 90 Rpy Return)

Power Plant Construction(CPSC): Maintaining the development of coal energy at a slightly reduced pace will avoid significant industrial shocks, take away demand from more technologically intensive gas deposits, and synergize well with improvements in logistics. The avoidance of significant disruption in reducing the extent will still reduce the demand for new coal fields and provide a model for a stable transition into the next decade. (-2 Heavy Industry Dice) (-620 RpY) (240 Electricity +4 Coal per Year)

Power Plant Construction(CCGT): A committed program to use all the turbine building capacity available for industrial production is prudent and sensible. Current efforts have matured the industry and some surge capacity has been built up that can be taken advantage of. The plan would be to continue the development of new facilities at a moderate pace, ensuring that demand stays stable and providing the cause for a moderate expansion of domestic gas extraction. (-1 Heavy Industry and -2 Chemical Industry Dice) (-1000 RpY) (350 Electricity +8 Petroleum Gas per Year)

LASV Crisis Effects: Additional funding provided to the health ministry has come from a composite of government sources so that adequate equipment can be provided and the infectious disease managed. Further funding has focused on the extermination of rodents in the affected areas while stockpiles are moved to create an effective disease response. Somewhat lower rates of infection in winter have provided something of a break but that in itself is unlikely to last as the summer arrives and further waves of the disease continue to rage. (-400 RpY)

Healthcare Expansion: Imported testing and diagnostic techniques are likely to form the basis of improving the treatment and detection of chronic diseases. Moving funding away from the creation of small clinics and towards the development of expanded biochemical laboratories will be essential to improve care. It is currently theorized that an increase in diagnostic capabilities will save overall money across the entire health system. Clinic capacity is unlikely to be expanded but at the current state, the health system has some spare capacity relative to population demand. (-2 Services Dice) (-360 RpY) (Completes Expanded Diagnostic Services, Rural Testing Systems, Rural Primary Care Expansion, and National Screening Programs)

Education Expansion: Instead of radical programs to strengthen the education system the easiest unrealized gains are likely to be achieved through the salvaging of underachieving students. Almost a tenth of students are unable to make it in standardized educational tracks, even the simplest ones. By moving them towards intensive programs more focused on mastery of basic materials sufficient to complete a secondary education something economically useful can be salvaged. Some mild expansions of the mainline education system will be conducted but only as a secondary initiative to maintain throughput capacity. (-3 Services Dice) (-300 RpY) (Completes Stage 10 Polytechnic, Stage 1-5 Remedial Education, Equalization of Tier 3 Schooling, and Universal Secondary Schooling) (Cuts Workforce Expansion by ~1/6)

12 Hour Moratorium(Vote by Plan)

 

[plotvitalnpc]

Red Pioneers
3 Stars, Science Fiction, 151 Minutes, R, 1979
Roger Ebert, 14 Oct. 1981

I sometimes find myself torn two ways about a movie, enjoying it greatly while recognizing reasons I really shouldn't. Red Pioneers is, I think, an example of that experience. I rarely have any chance to watch films from the Soviet bloc - quite frankly, they didn't use to make many of them, and they hardly ever left the bloc. If it had only been that they weren't good, I would have been perfectly happy to let that be known, but the truth is that I'm simply not familiar with that body of film. I imagine I was of a common mind with many of you in assuming that anything filmed in the USSR would surely just be propaganda justifiably left within its borders. In this, Red Pioneers is only a partial surprise - the captioned edition that reached the big screen stateside is, assuredly, a propaganda piece. However, barring a few points where director Vasily Numerov allows for socialist political thought to override narrative logic and solve minor problems in its own right, I find it a captivating and worthwhile piece of near-future science fiction.

The film opens by welcoming us into the not-too-distant year of 1990, as a man takes morning tea not in any city on Earth, but in the habitats of a Soviet research station on Mars. He gazes out a window toward the distant blue dot of earth, where he will soon return home to see his wife and daughter while another team of researchers flies in for their stay on the Red Planet. An alarm goes off - the man, who we learn to be a biologist, goes to his intercom. Their return to earth has been postponed - the recently reported discovery of Martian microbial life has prompted an American embargo of returnees, supposedly to prevent a xenobiological plague. What's more, with the next research crew already well underway, the base will soon be drastically overstaffed. In this trying time, they must all muster their fullest efforts to expand the habitability of the base, preserve good order, and continue their research until such a time as they are allowed to return home. All of this is established in the first eight minutes of the movie, and with 143 more to go, there is plenty of time to deliver on the promise.

For all that the film asks us to accept that the Soviet Union will settle Mars by the end of the current decade, with a US competing colony nowhere in sight, the science fiction component of the movie is excellent, as are the practical and special effects. Eschewing fantastical technologies in favor of speculative forward developments, the martian colony feels like a real machine assembled through human industry and intelligent labor and straining as circumstance forces it beyond its specification, and the labors of its wardens to keep it functioning feel no less real. The red planet, the movie makes clear, is no natural home for humanity, and the only way to survive her surface is through hard work, teamwork, ingenuity, and in service to the film's originally propaganda oriented creation, Marxism, which one might assume if their only context were this film was something akin to the Force from Lucas' Star Wars.

If there is one thing which truly drags the film down, aside from the shoehorned in propaganda element, it would be the characters. Whereas the research base, Soyuz Station, could almost be seen as a fully fledged character with its own development arc, the actual actors in the movie are static, stoic, serious, and altogether not very interesting. In fact, none of the men and women of Soyuz Station are named beyond their vocation, seemingly for the specific purpose of cutting the audience off from investing in them as people. Perhaps this was a communist cultural mandate to glorify the collective rather than the original, or perhaps the screenwriter was simply more a scientist than conversationalist, but the result is that there are scant few moments where the characters are as interesting as what they're doing.

I said similar things of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, but because of their greater prevalence and particularly in light of the clearly political message of the film, the overall experience of watching this movie is just good, not great. It certainly has great parts, but characters who sometimes feel more robotic than their rovers and the moments where political pressure pushes easy solutions to hard problems hold them back. I'm sure to the audiences in Moscow, this will be seen as one of the greats, but for an audience stateside it's best saved for those who prefer their Science Fiction richer than usual in science and don't know where else to look or those who can find humor in the moments of contrived non sequitur and appreciate it as something it wasn't meant to be: a satire about the near-religious elevation of ideological conflict.

 

[Vehrec]

And on Mars there will be apple blossoms

Soviet 'Zine culture and homoeroticism.

Published and distributed by hand in early 1980, the Zine Reddest Pioneers featured a number of fanworks in a mimeographed format, including several hand-drawn sketches of the actors, speculative articles on technology shown in the movie, and it's most famous or infamous work, the early Soviet fanfic 'And on Mars there will be Apple Blossoms.' The author of Apple Blossoms, who was never identified, opens the story with two cosmonauts who are identified only by their patronyms, though these map onto the names of the actors who played the characters (The Biologist and The Machinist) in the movie. The two cosmonauts receive a message that their wives, as per the tradition of their friendship, have taken the children on vacation, back on earth. The two men grouse a bit about how their wives have forgotten them, before the subject turns to how they would always arrange to get laid on these fishing vacations, often with the cooperation of the other man to keep a cabin clear of children. Alas, there are no wives on mars, but there is the best friend who has been steadfast, loyal and true.

The story then takes a rather odd diversion, concerning two problems with the men's new plans. Firstly, can they be arrested for Martian Sodomy upon return to Earth, and secondly, can they find a safe lubricant? The answer to the second question is yes, but takes some rummaging through supplies while they discuss the first question. For legality's sake, the two men agree that they should do the deed 'outside of any structure that could be considered an aircraft, sent from earth, as those spaces are aircraft in international airspace, and under the laws of the Soviet Union.' The only place they can do this, obviously, is the Martian-built greenhouse, where three pages of intimate and affectionate pornography ensue. The young plants in the greenhouse are repeatedly used throughout the passage as an image of the hopeful and delicate romance of the two cosmonauts and their feelings. The story concludes with the men considering their wives, and hoping that the women on earth are enjoying their company as much as the men on Mars.

Reddest Pioneers was distributed mainly at conventions and a second printing in 1981 was made from evidence of surviving copies. While it was also censored in 1981, no effort was made to recover perviously sold copies. Digitized versions show up with file dates on soviet computer networks as early as 1984, and survive down to this day, with at least three extant manuscript traditions typed up at different universities. Even today, the majority of Red Pioneers ship-fic follows the tradition of Bio-Machinery, with their not-appearing-in-the-film wives being the largest F/F pairing in the fandom on modern archives.

 

[Terminator57]

As something to read while waiting for the next update, here's a new obituary omake from me. It's called "The paragon of proletarian internationalism: In memory of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (1906-1981)". I hope you will enjoy it.

On November 10, 1981, Lieutenant General Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev died of old age, having worked tirelessly to fulfill the Party's internationalist duty. This worthy proletarian son of a Russian metallurgist was born in Kamenskoye. Under the auspices of the Party, he received a technical education in land management and metallurgy. After graduating, he became an engineer in the eastern Ukrainian metallurgical industry. In 1923, he joined the Communist Party's youth organization, the Komsomol, then the Party itself in 1931.

In 1935-1936, he did his compulsory military service. Initially enlisted in an armored corps, he took courses on tanks, thanks to the Party's voluntarist policy of training proletarian cadres.

During the Great Patriotic War, faced with the sneak attack of the German fascists and their lackeys, he answered the call of the Motherland in Danger by being assigned to the defense of the southern front with the rank of brigade political clerk.

After many heroic deeds over the following years, and a steely resolve in the face of enemy fire that earned him the Order of the Red Flag, the Order of the Red Star and the Order of Alexander Nevsky for holding his position in the face of a local counter-attack by a German tank group, it was with the Fourth Ukrainian Front that he and his unit entered Prague after the German surrender. In recognition of his exemplary conduct during the war, he was awarded the rank of Colonel and the decoration of Hero of the Soviet Union in August 1946.

After the war, he was stationed in Prague among the units responsible for the military occupation and denazification of this former territory of the fascist Reich. After the proclamation of a socialist Czechoslovak government in 1947, he helped reorganize the country's military forces in terms of equipment, doctrine and unit organization.

On the strength of his military combat experience, his experience in military training and his facility with foreign languages - during his stay in Czechoslovakia, he learned the language of his country of posting - he was assigned, along with other Soviet counterparts committed to fulfilling the Soviet Union's internationalist duty as proclaimed by Lenin, to the training and organization, from 1954 onwards, of the maquis of the fledgling Armée de Libération Nationale (National Liberation Army) fighting against the French occupiers. After Algerian independence in 1962, he continued this work with the newly-created People's National Army (L'Armée nationale populaire), training its officers in Soviet equipment and concepts of warfare to make it an army capable of standing up to the French imperialist government's army eager for revenge. It was during this mission that he was able to add Arabic to his repertoire of spoken languages.

In recognition of his work in fortifying a new ally in the socialist camp, Leonid Ilyich was promoted to lieutenant-general in 1965, before being assigned to head the newly-created 165 training camp until his retirement from the Soviet armed forces in 1975. Under his supervision, tens of thousands of professional fighters were trained and formed the backbone of the national liberation armies of Third World countries, making a major contribution to the advancement and future victory of international socialism and the Soviet Union over capitalism.

Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev will be remembered by his compatriots, his brothers-in-arms and the anti-imperialist fighters who knew him as a paragon of proletarian internationalism, endowed with unfailing courage, whose achievements are a credit to the Soviet armed forces and will serve as an example to future generations of soldiers defending socialism and the proletariat.

Obituary published by the military newspaper "The Red Star"
​

 

[Blackstar]

Turn 90 (January 1st, 1978 - January 1st, 1979): Questions of Urban Development Results

Spoiler: Last Turns Vote:

[X]Advance Conservative Solutions

External Politics:

Harsh anti-inflationary policy has met with some success in the US, breaking the back of the current inflationary wave through an increase in state interest rates to 22%. This has rapidly contracted both the monetary supply and the economy as unemployment has mildly increased but with an accompanying far faster drop in monetary supplies. Stagflation is likely to have been broken as the inflationary tendency brought on by permissive monetary policy has stopped but the recession that it has caused is unlikely to be fast to recover from as a lack of industrial growth has continued to have major impacts on the economy. Failures of the new deal programs themselves look to be immensely costly for the Democrats going into the election as funding towards unproductive ends is popular but railed against as an attack on sensible budgeting.

Fighting has started to spill over from Argentina into Chile with strong Chinese support going into local Maoist groups, likely to little practical effect. Several militias have started fighting in the area in spite of strengthened US security commitments and moves to increase presences in the periphery. President Brown has so far avoided the decisive step of involving significant aviation or forces to reverse the gains with a domestic consensus of significant geopolitical weakness blatantly obvious to all. Domestic analysis of the situation is somewhat unreliable in that it is uncertain if this is a symptom indicating lack of political will, personal failures, or just accounting that the sphere of influence has stopped being economical. Domestic funding towards the rebel forces are if anything, an escalation that is going to achieve nothing as whoever follows the president is certain to resolve the situation.

Korean economic stagnation has steadily mounted through a lack of investment into areas outside of heavy industrial growth alongside a strong focus on intrinsic development to the avoidance of integration. Free movement of peoples into the Union has somewhat removed domestic intellectual potential from the nation but that is not the sole factor affecting Korea. Lack of energy resources alongside a plan that has over-emphasized the substitution of imports and lack of CMEA integration has stifled growth with MFA support steadily shifting towards candidates willing to modernize the state. At its current pace a lack of social development is likely to bring down the nation, especially as the population compares themselves to both the Japanese and Chinese. Intervention forces are unlikely to be able to decisively turn the situation in any way, but elements have been prepared for an uncertain leadership struggle to maintain stability.

Libya has at the current best estimates managed to lose decisively to Chad and some allied states on the gold coast, losing vast quantities of supplied equipment to lighter motorized forces. The embarrassment of losing otherwise modern armored forces has been somewhat tempered by the sheer incompetence on display by the Libyan state. Formal backing and equipment shipments from the West will replace the losses without much issue but the defeats to an under-equipped force with modified trucks is unlikely to be reversed. French oppression in Algeria has somewhat ended any active phase of conflict with the coast formally maintaining its ties to the Mainland while the countryside has entered a phase of "reconstruction." The area is now under total French military control with settlement and integration programs planned to integrate the land directly back into the metropole over the next decade with armed resistance wavering.

Fighting on the East African front has stagnated with the question of Sudan somewhat failing to be decided in any real way. Increasing Western aid to Ethiopia has stabilized the front line without much movement expected in the near term. Continued support for the East African Federation is going to ensure that the lines do not shift, but a formally separated Sudan in the arms of separate blocks is going to be near-guaranteed. South African fighting has secured significant areas of Angola and pushed further into Mozambique but with little ability to hold ground. Helicopter and light infantry units have managed to secure significant areas of ground but they have otherwise made little relevant progress at winning the war against anti-apartheid forces as even President Brown has been hesitant to provide any support.

With the linkage of cheap energy and the stabilization of Soviet coal prices there has been something of a commercial boom in Eastern Europe. A rising tide of Soviet consumption has lifted all boats as consumer industrial production across Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria has served to supply local consumers. Instead of the constant flight of labor the cheap energy prices and permissive Soviet credit have led to wide investments in new industries so as to improve economic integration. Polish growth has somewhat lagged but new reforms favoring a continuation of economic openness alongside increased cross-border traffic have allowed for steady economic improvements. All of this however pales in comparison to Germany with its own consumer sector rising in prominence as industries are repurposed towards new technologies and the manufacturing of specialty equipment. The German-Soviet duopoly of CMEAs economic institutions is a consensus for the good management of the bloc's economies, enabling growth to continue on the basis of mutual assistance through trade.


Rocketry:

Advancement of the An-335 complex has accompanied significant developments in domestic rocketry as the first test firings of the RD-701 tripropellant engine have succeeded. Kerosine afterburner performance has been somewhat limited due to the inherent limitations of the design but design specifications have been met. The design of the MAKS itself has gone somewhat slower as new composites have had to be developed for both the drop tank and the re-entry plating required for reuse. Comparatively the superheavy variant of the RLA has gone nowhere as the inherent conservatism of the program has continued to sabotage itself from within. A new core stage has failed to produce engines powerful or stable enough to run hydrogen in a closed cycle system while the tank itself is still overweight. Instead of rewarding failure, the program has been canceled, refocusing all development on more ambitious and capable landing plans.

Commercial launches of television satellites have enabled a continuous message to be sent to the far corners of the USSR and planet. Standard satellite television is now available for use across Africa and the developing world as a part of global outreach, ensuring that low cost transmission as a means of developing propaganda. Practical signal quality is poor and the receivers necessary are still significant but for many nations this represents some of the first major color television programs available around the clock. Integration into domestic broadcasting has been somewhat slow by lack of technology but that can be solved over time. Navigational systems and their re-designs have gone ahead, abandoning the standard bus in favor of a far heavier and more capable triangulation system that can sustain itself for a decade, if at a mildly reduced capability. It is currently likely that American developments will launch first but domestic launch tempo advantages will overcome the limitations inherent to a later start.

With the funding allocated the first successful nuclear launch towards Mercury has been achieved with a subsequent circularization burn. This has planted the light spacecraft directly into orbit of the planet and provided a somewhat unmatched scientific opportunity. Technical development on the nuclear engine has finally reached the point that the flight was conducted without failure as the engine has stood up to a continuous burn of nearly 1400 seconds to perform the interception. Adjustments to internal cooling and a slight compromise of fuel efficiency was the only cost for the program, achieving a somewhat stable nuclear stage that can be used for nearly any mission. Already several proposals have been made and denied for a more expansive unmanned program, especially as pressure for lunar exploration mounts.

American efforts have instead gone from success to success with the development of a new superheavy launcher constructed through the use of heavy solid rocket boosters. Superior experience with the use of solid rockets has enabled the construction of a first stage powered and assisted by eight of them, in effect creating an ultra heavy kerosine rocket without any of the pretension of the RLA. This has come with a successful test launch on an accelerated timescale and already several noises about its capability to put men on the moon. The system is deeply primitive but current estimates place it as capable of launching one hundred and forty tons to LEO, more than sufficient for a lunar mission. Work on the upper stack has been separated between several corporations but that in itself has not so far slowed the project significantly as spending has increased sufficiently to enable a high degree of parallelism.

Infrastructure

Western Local Roads(Stage 1/3): The development of roads is once again in a critical state with significant shortfalls present in the development. Guidance by previous ministers somewhat under-stated the problem as the adoption of automobiles and trucks was persistently and consistently underestimated through the use of obsolescent modeling. Current roads are insufficient, susceptible to wear, and generally inadequate for even a small portion of demanded economic activity. Strong programs to improve them in the west are just a first step in development as the road system across the entire Union must be radically expanded and developed. (Stage 1 Complete 407/275) (132/400 Stage 2)

With the improved state of Western infrastructure immediate fixes to the road system that was present have started implementation. The initial expansion of fast autobahns to link cities has started with a standardization on 3+3 low density ones and 4+4 high density ones linking Moscow, Leningrad, Kharkov, and Kiev so as to provide a steady improvement in external transport capacity. Further programs to develop local areas directly off the major road systems have started as a part of the overall program, working to improve the general state of interlinking roads so as to improve economic throughput. Limits in economic production from poor roads are going to be essential to address to increase growth and more population facing projects are both far more involved and with a somewhat lower state of return. Once derivative roads are fully funded, paving of direct population facing roads can start at scale, modernizing the countryside to a state that would be adequate for the Union of 1970.


Central Asian Local Roads(Stage 1/3): Out of a likely sense of utter ignorance ranging on severe discrimination, the development of infrastructure in Central Asia has been practically left to primarily extractive means. Previous developments centered only on railways with which to move products out of the region alongside infrastructure only built for extraction rather than local utilization. To amend this a vast program of road construction has been planned to provide essential interlinks in difficult terrain and improve the local economies directly. Funding will go towards the rapid increase of local transportation networks in an urban and near urban context for the major cities and will be followed by the significant renovation and expansion of bridges and mountain roads so as to enable easy local transportation. (150 Resources per Dice 214/300)

Complaints from deputies from Central Asia have only just now started being addressed to a lesser scope than expected due to the significant infrastructural challenges facing the program. Their view that the old road infrastructure has been aimed at extraction more so than development has some validity and only through the most intensive of programs can that gap be closed. Any domestic insufficiency in the road industry must be overcome through funding and the focused development of supporting industries as the Union is at best twenty years behind where it should be in the construction of significant roads in the West with a far worse state in the East. Infrastructure must thus be subordinated to fix the deficiency so as to reduce the gaps in development and overtake the Americans especially as domestic car production is expected to nearly double theirs by 1990.


Automotive Infrastructure(Stage 1/5): The Union was not prepared for its newfound wealth and manufacturing capabilities as the development of cars has put the fact into stark awareness. Moscow is practically a permanent 20 hour traffic jam without much hope in sight while cars litter the micro districts that would otherwise be allocated for green spaces. Developing further parking for the flood of cars alongside provisions on where to store them when not in use can reduce the overall strain on the system. Further work will involve the expansion of urban roads and improvement of traffic throughput through electronic systems, enabling faster transportation without massive increases in spending. (Stage 1 Complete 396/175) (Stage 2 221/300)

Making good on the significant gaps present in automotive development has happened in leaps and bounds as a series of parking garages and rest stops have been constructed. Funding allocated to the program has allowed for the modernization of streets through the construction of several above and under-ground parking areas for the new fleet of cars in Moscow and other major cities. Continued efforts to reduce congestion through limitations of street parking and the modernization of older developments to incorporate automobiles in lower density areas has offered an important compromise in areas of lower development. Domestic automotive infrastructure will need radical funding and a far increased scope to make good on the idea of a convenient and well connected small town centered on a few apartment towers, but it can be done.

Heavy Industry

Stabilization of Donbass Mining: Declining yields in the Donbass alongside the narrowing of seams is a prolonged and systematic problem that has yet to be solved. Intensification of the local industry and an expansion of labor power has only gotten so far with more advanced techniques required to extract the high value coals. Pushing for the adoption of an increased tempo of production alongside a deep modernization of machinery stocks will be an expensive but important bridge towards the general stabilization of coal demand for long enough to get trans-ural mining functional. (200 Resources per Dice 64/100)

Expanded funding of narrow seam mining techniques has had results if ones that are still too slow to consider the program completed. Increasing depletion of the Donbass deposits has been a core concern but with past intensification of extraction both the depth and narrowness of deposits has rapidly increased. Continued efforts to improve the technical sophistication of the process has had some results but ones that are insufficient for the current demand for metallurgical coals. Only a strong increase in extraction of Eastern coals can provide for the energy demands of the Union alongside re-negotiation of trade ties to conventional coal exporters. It is at this point considered a national priority to work with the Austrialians so as to import coal into the Black sea. Immediate stabilization will provide the time necessary to pivot towards the use of thermal and brown coals, ensuring continuous growth.


Atomash(Stage 4/4): Continued expansions of the Atmomash production complex have been deemed important to achieve energy independence. Additional metallurgical facilities alongside a second full oven capable of sintering wholesale cores will be essential alongside the infrastructure required for the turbines to be constructed. At the current rate of development, it is expected that a stable energy system can be achieved by 1990 with new reactor designs accompanied by a rapid increase in production throughput. Replacement of non-grid resources will take longer alongside general modernization but current prospects for atomic energy offer a way out of the current energy crisis. (290/250) (Completed) (-80 CI8 Electricity +2 Steel +1 Non-Ferrous +1 Educated Labor) (4 Dice Nuclear Unlocked)

Finalization of nuclear core production infrastructure has been funded and authorized with the expectation of it allowing for an even more rapid rate of construction. With the development of river reversal and further petroleum resources the funding is mostly wasted on a somewhat propagandistic project, but an important propagandistic project. The American program has already somewhat failed, stillborn from bearing the costs of construction much less the inherent inefficiencies of financialization. At the current pace, construction lots across the 80s are liable to be authorized to return some value from the factory before inevitably stopping any modernization so as to enable a clean minimally burdensome shutdown of production capacity. Collapsing costs of coal and gas industries have already shifted the domestic energy market entirely away from nuclear power with the trend almost certain to continue. Remote area use will still see some demand, but that can be better met through lower throughput systems.


Vladivostok Shipyards: The naval yards in the Far East have some of the cheapest labor and a significant market for merchant shipping between all CMEA members. Expanding the construction of large hulled container and tanker ships domestically will be essential to keep up with current American standards. If the Soviet merchant fleet is to be modernized it needs to be funded now and expanded now to compensate for deficiencies in block-wide production. An entirely new generation of ships will have to be built to break with old standards and the dogged obsolescence that has remained a major part of naval construction. (238/200) (Completed) (-54 CI4 Electricity +5 Steel +2 General Labor +1 Educated Labor)

Funding for the development of local industries has finally been authorized with major shipbuilding installations starting development. Domestic production of heavy container ships and tankers has always been somewhat deficient but with focused funding, three new high capacity yards have been developed and funded. Production of standard ships designed around Panama canal maximums has been funded with eight expected to be laid down in the first two years of operation as production further accelerates. Increasing experience with the yard will not be sufficient to make up the significant shortfalls of domestic shipbuilding but continued funding and technical efforts will close the gap. Local work in shipbuilding and involved industries is further expected to help the economy in the region, providing high paying jobs and an even larger number of supportive positions.

Rocketry

Launch Pad Expansions: Current systems are somewhat unable to launch a rocket over 2kt and future lunar boosters are already exceeding that standard. Moving strongly to increase local capabilities while building up the processing and storage facilities needs to be done now before any form of booster enters testing. This will in effect produce two pads and storage for two assembling LVs so as to provide the basis for future missions and a degree of reserve capability. (107/75) (Completed)

Simple construction of two superheavy pads and their accompanying support infrastructure near the coast has not taken significant commitments of funding. The approach has resulted in the development of infrastructure to move rockets from barge to a launch configuration, allowing for a smooth transition towards the use of heavier launch vehicles. These will of course still need to be developed but the basic infrastructure for their operation has been constructed without issue.


Lunar Evaluation Areas: Developing a dedicated area where techniques to be used on the moon can be adapted and evaluated is somewhat challenging but not overtly so. This program will in effect be an intermediary towards starting a new generation of space suits for general purpose use based on the current Kretchet-94 design. As the system was already meant for lunar use, few modifications are likely to be necessary but some optimizations can still be made. (Completed) (2)

Lunar dust issues alongside the limitations in operational capabilities of the Kretchet-94 in lunar environments have left the back entry concept somewhat questionable due to the inherent contamination of living areas. If a base is to be created then the suits must in effect be kept entirely isolated instead of pursuing any advanced concepts of their use as a second stage airlock so as to minimize contamination during normal operations. Technical solutions to the issue will have to be designed into base structures more so then organically developed as the program does not have the time to produce a more capable system. Even a disposable suit is sufficient for beating the Americans and on-site cleaning/spraydown measures are expected to be sufficient for most lunar surface operations in support of a base.


Lunar Upper Stack Programs: An entirely new landing system capable of a rendezvous alongside a transfer mission from LEO is going to have to be developed for the lunar mission. The stack remains of a primary concern as the space suit is going to be at least functional if deeply unexceptional, but a rendezvous mission without a reserve will involve a vast commitment of technical capabilities. Current proposals are somewhat diverse as they range from the use of a nuclear stage to achieve the TLI burn and capture to a conventional cryogenic transfer engine followed by a hypergolic landing system. (17) (Subvote)

The reality that the RLA derived design is a complete dead end was originally somewhat proposed and mentioned but current events have further only supported the conclusion. A remotely capable lunar stack cannot be launched through a combination of RLA boosters and a heavier core stage and there is no way to amend the situation favorably. Cancellation of the heavy booster program in favor of expedient alternatives has already been proposed as the old Glusnko era design is too incapable of supporting more than a simplified landing mission. A political defeat is further inevitable if harsher measures are not taken over inept conservatism in engineering, demanding that teams produce something capable instead of either squabbling uselessly or attempting to take advantage of hardware long past its prime. The RLA is only adequate in the role of a cheap heavy booster, but it is not usable in its current form for a lunar mission.

[]RLA-3 Minimal Stack: Combining a nuclear transit stage with an additional fuel reserve and a forward crew section, a series of RLA-3 launches can conduct a full lunar mission. The nuclear assembly will in effect perform the full transfer, orbit, and capture burn before being discarded into the lunar surface. The surface stack will in itself only need to land and perform the takeoff operation, placing down three men onto the surface before returning back as an integrated module. An assembly in LEO leaves the greatest chance for an abort, and as long as the hardware does not fail in the process it can form a viable route towards the moon. (-40 RpY)

[]Heavy Direct Lander: With the expectation that a 150 ton capable launch vehicle is developed a far heavier lander can be designed without much attention to alternative configurations. Orbital propellant depots introduce a significant technical vulnerability alongside several other factors compared to a sufficiently sized rocket. Criticism from the current engineers of a superheavy design can be ignored as a lunar landing is politically necessary, especially one conducted before the Americains. This will start the program while the LV is still being worked on, ensuring that a complete functional upper stage is made available by 1982 no matter the costs inherent to the project. (-50 RpY)

[]Separated Lander: Placing an immense technical risk on an orbital rendezvous promises to significantly lower the mass costs of any rocket platform and it can enable the use of two RLA-3 systems to achieve the launch profile without any new hardware. The lander itself will have to be more developed, but the Luna program has already somewhat pioneered the systems required to achieve a landing on the moon without issue. An initial transfer stage will be combined with a smaller upper stage vehicle that will remain in orbit while a single man lands on the surface to plant the flag. The achievement is meaningless in future capabilities but if the domestic program is to overtake American progress then radical measures must be taken. (-40 RpY)


Orbital Operations Concepts: Refueling of the upper stack of a lunar mission in LEO or even using a partial capture trajectory with a nuclear stage as a tug can radically increase payload fractions. Developing a modular nuclear tug and then fueling it remains an open question of capabilities but it is not beyond current techniques to design. Refueling of the tug can be done through the use of propellant depots with several proposals made to develop them on the lunar end to further increase the efficiency of missions. This will be accompanied by a program to develop local sourcing of propellent on the moon, stabilizing supplies and enabling a sustainable long term presence. (-25 RpY Expected) (75)

Proposals for a series of hydrogen depots and a nuclear stage for transiting between them have been authorized with design work approved for an orbital tug to move between modules in orbit. Launches of the RLA-3 can be used to bring up a two-stage transit bus for movement from the moon and to orbit. A nuclear engine module can be paired with an independently launched tank of hydrogen to provide the transit mass for the lunar stack, ensuring that it can reach the moon. Conducting a launch in effect across three vehicles is in itself a source of major risk but one that can be borne to allow for a rapid program. Further work will have to focus on the development of the tug concept alongside the modularity of refueling so as to provide more flexible capabilities outside the initial landing program.

Light Industry

Microcomputer Plants(Stage 4/4): Mass production of new solid state devices is necessary to meet current computing demands much less future ones. Current production is still somewhat in shortfall as the production of new machinery has struggled to meet the sheer climb in demand of new circuitry. Current expectations for the program have already been entirely overcome with future funding almost certainly necessary to continue to raise both production and technical sophistication. Exports of integrated circuits are steadily expected to become far larger as they are in demand across all CMEA, finally providing an item through which trade balances can be addressed in spite of the change in character of previous resource and consumer goods exchanges. (Stage 4 Complete 252/150) (-49 CI5 Electricity +3 Non-Ferrous +2 Educated Labor) (+80 RpY)

Domestic electronic programs have finally reached the point that adequate quantities of 6um density processors and memory modules are available for general production utilization. Implementation into a series of personal computers has followed as a logical extension of the capabilities even if the chips are primarily expected to be used for industrial uses instead of office ones. Digital means of organization are superior to analog ones in a number of factors and the mass production of systems that can replicate American advances, if at a slower rate and slower speed represents vast gains for domestic industries. Inferiority in hardware can be compensated for on a programming level with the gap expected to steadily close as domestic industry improves. Further shrinks on a non-stepper node is going to be challenging but those programs are somewhat secondary to maintaining the pace of development. Export agreements for microelectronics alone represent a vast gain for the domestic industry and as long as significant outbound trade can be maintained the industry can partially self fund.

Coming to an electronics store near you on February 21st 1980, the Iskra integrated desktop computer! Now with a cassette reader, 45x30 character color display, 4-12 KB RAM, and a fast K6806VS 1.1 MHz CPU. External storage capacity is available for a nominal fee, allowing programs to be kept on a discrete floppy compatible drive. Peripherals are available both as discrete units, with an expansion card paired with a device, or universal expansion cards with standard ports for expanded graphical, storage, or workplace use. A software compiler is included as standard alongside basic programs on two additional casetes with further options offered for office use.
-Dec 1979 Iskra, The Iskra Computer


Third Generation Food Programs(Stage 2/3): Modern foods are appropriate for a modern century especially in that many otherwise treated foods can become common staples that keep for months to years. Industrial production of sealed container foods with improved stabilizers entirely works outside the old canning industry and can enhance domestic developments. Current programs will be aimed at funding several new carbonated drinks with novel fruity flavors to take advantage of the advancing chemical industry. Further work on shelf stable meals can be somewhat copied from the Japanese market, as freeze dried foods are somewhat easier to produce than other forms of long shelf life products. (Stage 1 Completed 382/200) (Stage 3 182/225) (-34 CI3 Electricity +3 Petrochemicals +3 General Labor) (+60 RpY)

Preserved foods form the basis of slow moving goods in grocery stores and expanding them in both type and category has significantly improved agricultural turnovers. Everything from domestic versions of instant freeze dried foods to sterile prepared fast cooking oat and rice meals have been developed for common use. Carbonated drink production has also increased with both machines and cheap bottles allowing for a significant expansion in utilization across most common grocers. Shelf stable grains of a variety of fruity flavors are expected to be the main product purchased, as the convenience of a fast to make meal is significant especially for workers, with domestic efforts somewhat separating from American developments to focus on complete-easy to heat shelf stable meals.


Textile Industry Overhauls: Current labor standards are reducing efficiency for the general textile industry as the massive profusion of labor is increasingly more scarce. Enterprises have asked for funding for further modernization as cheap labor is not available for use in the textile industry and machinery must be used to compensate for the deficiency. Limitations in immigration and a strong domestic growth pattern have consumed easy-to-mobilize labor leaving little that can be done. Increasing mechanization for common goods will compensate but the general sustainability of the industry must be considered. (228/150) (Completed) (-48 CI9 Electricity -2 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (+40 RpY)

Cutbacks in labor utilization in favor of larger scale mechanization have started in the textile industry so as to sustain the industry. Previously direct handcrafts have been increasingly replaced with standardized templates produced in vast quantities by a machine with improvements to work-efficiency funded so as to sustain the industry. Cheap clothing is essential to maintain and even with lagging competitiveness relative to Indian and Chinese imports their increased transportation and inputs cost have not yet closed the gap. Further funding into the industry is considered to be non-viable from a profitability perspective with a likely slight cutback in production now projected before the end of the century.


Mixed Textile Industries(Stage 3/3): Rapid chemicalization of the clothing sector promises to direct water towards more useful industries while improving general domestic growth. Synthetic fibers are superior to natural ones in most ways and adapting industrial methods to primarily produce them will practically eliminate any dependence on imports of materials. Programs to achieve increased industrialization have run into minor issues in sourcing labor but a few workers can still be offered sufficient wages to increase textile production and processing. (Stage 3 Completed 330/250) (-41 CI5 Electricity +4 Petrochemicals +2 General Labor) (+40 RpY)

Synthetic fibers are key to overcoming the inherent agricultural shortfalls in cotton production relative to the vast demand for new clothing. Modern styles have been developed by both enterprises and private businesses with vast state concerns funded to provide all the necessary synthetics for their production. Cotton fiber has become a minority of all production of fibers with the synthetic component only likely to increase in scale as the public demands greater comfort and usability. Costs of end-state production have increased but there are still plentiful workers in poorer republics that are able to profitably produce domestic clothing.

Chemical Industry

Intensive Development of the Caspian(Stage 3/6): Petroleum resources around the Caspian make up the larger basin and they have been somewhat under-developed relative to other fields. Increasing the scale of extraction is going to primarily yield gas due to the mixture present but that in itself is sufficient to achieve continuous improvements in industrial development. A constant improvement in drilling techniques alone is expected to revolutionize the production of energy and provide stability for the Union. (Stage 3 Complete 259/100) (189/125 Stage 4 Complete) (Completed) (-32 CI6 Electricity -8 Petroleum Fuels -9 Petroleum Gas +2 Educated Labor) (+160 RpY)

The vast gas fields of the Caspian basin have started development aimed at improving local production and aiding in the recovery of currently estimated reserves. Mild issues have come from the program in that the expectations of significant oil bearing rocks in the area have proven to be somewhat based on over-estimations, shifting what was initially assumed as fifteen billion tons of reserves to a more realistic five billion tons. Much of this has come as a part of increasing ambition in recoverable fractions and sequential optimism but the result remains the same. Aggressive development of reserves in the region has reached a practical end, restricted by current drilling techniques and current economic standards. Gas recovery can still somewhat proceed from the significant Central Asian extension of the field, but oil projections have been strongly reduced.

[]Modify Recoverability Information: Adjusting down reserves can provide an immediate shock to the domestic petroleum market that may be hard to bear without programs put in place to ameliorate instability. In an election year this would be political suicide and cannot be considered. Instead of publishing the information that local governments found a fictitious 10 billion tons of oil, recovery fractions of in place oil can be adjusted. This will avoid significant shocks outside those informed on the oil market and will somewhat cool expectations.

[]Provide No Information: Saying nothing on the state of the fields and starting intensive oppositional committees to discredit poorer finds will make the issue a controversy and one that does not have to be resolved at any pace. A moderate adjusted value will likely be decided on in a few years but by that point the matter will not be an immediate issue. Oil production in the area can be shifted towards gas without much issue, ensuring investment remains continuous and development is not disrupted.

[]Reclassify Strategic Reserves: Keeping the reserves classified as a series of hard to extract emergency strategic reserves will improve confidence in the current energy market and more importantly avoid disruptions. This will involve the greatest extent of lies, but that in itself should not be challenging given the previous transfers of ministry personnel. As long as the coming energy crisis doesn't get bad enough no one will expect the extraction of the oil to start at scale, and if it does then the Union is facing worse issues then a few lies.


Modernization of Oil Fields(Stage 1/4): Moving towards the newest techniques and implementing tertiary recovery measures at scale for the West Siberian deposits will generate rapid returns on investment. Bringing older depleted wellheads into functionality and expanding the utilization of active fracking techniques is expected to radically reshape the petroleum industry. Well, recovery rates can be nearly expected to double, especially for some heavier oils with techniques raising profits across the board for essential state enterprises. Current approaches will focus on increasing recovery from already tapped wells but continued programs can be expanded towards general improvements in petroleum recovery. (Stage 1 Complete 169/150) (19/175 Stage 2) (-39 CI4 Electricity -5 Petroleum Fuels -4 Petroleum Gas) (+60 RpY)

New equipment is going to be instrumental to solving the current issues facing the domestic oil sector. Older methods for limited primary extraction with the aid of hydro flooding are limited in recovery and have already caused several wells to become nearly irrecoverable. More advanced secondary recovery techniques have started being implemented in wells judged as at risk of production stoppages to maintain current levels of production and increase gas recovery. The latter in practice has come with improved equipment to avoid flaring and expand recovery, storing and shifting gas liquids towards productive uses. Improvements in technology are still going to be essential to keep up with the sector but a strong funding program can overcome any technical challenge.


Heavy Oil Experiments: There are approximately six million tons of recoverable heavy oil and bitumen that are somewhat economically and technically recoverable. Current upgrading facilities have proven that it can be refined into usable oil products but not at significant rates and not without costs. Accepting that the technologies developed for refinement will not be mature for this plan, some funding can still be transferred over to improve the production of new oil products and open the processing of energy reserves previously considered unusable. (135+15 Cannon Omake/150) (Completed) (-43 CI5 Electricity -2 Petroleum Fuels -4 Petrochemicals +1 General Labor +1 Educated Labor) (+40 RpY)

Bitumen cracking programs have expanded in scope with the funding of several high throughput catalytic systems. While conversion directly to oil is somewhat uneconomical, the production of vast quantities of high quality lubricants is economical and viable. Shifting towards the direct production of lubricants from cracked feedstocks has several viable routes of economic return, enhancing turnover and allowing for an increased overall rate of recovery. Improvement of available lubricants is expected to significantly improve the automotive industry, allowing for engines to function better while utilizing otherwise worthless petrochemical resources. Further programs will involve an increased production of fuel from heavy oils, but those currently remain somewhat uneconomical.

Agriculture

Funding for Local Beef: Small farms producing beef from a bedrock of general production alongside producing the highest grades of domestic stocks. Continuing to expand them will be essential for increasing the productivity of agriculture as there are still significant gains to be made. New beef areas can be opened while more conventional ones are shifted towards supporting and expanding the industry. It is likely going to be impossible to produce enough to meet theoretical domestic demand, but high quality cuts can be made available to all domestic workers for only a nominal cost. (115+10 Omake/125) (Completed) (-15 CI1 Electricity +1 General Labor) (+30 RpY)

Development of local beef farms has provided a significant portion of domestic high grade beef alongside the majority of specialty milk products leaving them a high priority for funding. Regional designation of products has already produced significant gains in economic development and funding allocated towards improving production has been met with wide support. Expansion of beef farming in new areas supported by the Northern Rivers alongside the planting of food for cattle has served to improve the farming sector further through adding to internal turnover. Beef imports are unlikely to ever be entirely reversed but attempts to chip at the edges of the quality gap present in domestic rearing approaches can be taken without much risk and at a good rate of profit.


New Preserved Meats Program: Initial processed meat programs came out of a mixture of under-development and a significant lack of refrigeration but follow on ones do not necessarily have to be. Recycling for lower grade meats into highly processed mass consumption products can be copied from the Americians while mid grade cuts too poor for general sale can be allocated towards the production of a new generation of sausages. German experiences have already produced a number of flavorful standardized recipes while further international developments can also be made domestically. A variety of preserved meats can provide more variety in general at a somewhat minimal cost while expanding the use of cheaper pork. (156/125) (Completed) (-28 CI1 Electricity +2 General Labor) (+20 RpY)

Imported preserved meats from CMEA have come as a part of the modernization program so as to offer more variety to the Soviet worker. Test programs evaluating which foreign dried meat is attractive to the market have combined with an intensive industrial program to replicate artisanal production methodologies at scale. Current approaches have found almost twenty varieties of preserved and dried meats that can be produced at scale and sold directly to consumers, as the long shelf life of the products favors an increasing variety. General purpose preserved meats are expected to be one of the strongest sectors for growth in the meat industry as store demand is high. The new product's resistance to wastage alone is a major factor, ensuring that it is not prohibitive for most stores to stock a wide variety of flavors that would otherwise be unavailable.

Services

Expansion of Domestic Media Production(Stage 1/2): Current film and animation enterprises have significantly expanded into the vast demand for cultural production but more funding can be transferred over to further increase them. A series of films from the state sector can be commissioned on several important topics alongside the adaptation of several literary works into the film format. This will be accompanied by improving the facilities for art schools and providing a series of scholarships for young authors willing to study the craft further and continue developing high throughput cultural production. (Stage 1 Completed 225/100) (125/125 Stage 2 Completed) (-30 CI2 Electricity +2 General Labor +2 Educated Labor) (+50 RpY)

The resumption of direct state funding to the media enterprises has already started to produce results with domestic animation and general filmmaking increasing in scope. Sectoral performance has always been decent but with new state funding alongside a rapidly increasing domestic demand has produced significant results. Most of the funding has gone off-target from original expectations in that the enterprises have prioritized profitability, but the general approach is still a significant net benefit. High budget filmmaking has mostly not been done as a matter of course due to the conditions of other domestic industries but with an increase of funding several new films have been proposed. Hollywood is still undisputed in media production but over the next twenty years it is conceivable that domestic alternatives will close the gap.


Restaurant Assistive Funding: Expansions of public eateries can significantly improve profitability and support a key high-return sector. The public demand for pre-cooked food has strongly increased with accompanying increases in incomes and it is essential to meet that demand. Funding programs for the largest organized enterprises and supportive partial funding for several key expanding private chains can be coordinated to increase sectoral throughput. Massive and radical expansions of these enterprises can consume labor at a prodigious rate, mobilizing the population to sell minor conveniences to more relevant workers. (166/150) (Completed) (-21 CI2 Electricity +3 General Labor) (+40 RpY)

Moving into the somewhat private dominated eateries sector has involved partnering with a series of enterprises that made it through the fifties and sixties. These have focused primarily on a series of simplified staples and the adaptation of foreign recipes to local diets as a part of cosmopolitanism. Investments into them have enabled the rapid scaling of new locations across the Union, allowing most urban areas to have access to quickly cooked moderately tasty foods. Ignoring the health hazards inherent to the process and the somewhat induced lack of home cooking significant returns are expected. Expanded funding is likely to be somewhat necessary to ensure that the sector grows into smaller towns, providing a basic standard of cooking for both laborers and students.


Population Distribution Programs(Stage 4/5): Continued expansions of stores into specialty areas has demonstrated significant demand pressures but far more is needed. Constructing a series of general purpose large stores to improve the supply of bulk goods is necessary to improve living standards and is somewhat helped that these are the cheapest format of store. Ensuring that most workers with road access can purchase their goods in bulk will raise demand and lower transportation overheads, improving overall economic efficiency. Further efforts beyond that will return towards the development of the countryside, finalizing the means with which to supply the strong increase in domestic demand. (Stage 4 Completed 464/225) (239+15/250 Cannon Omake Stage 5 Completed) (-36 CI2 Electricity +6 General Labor) (+50 RpY)

Construction programs aimed to close the demand gap with general purpose goods alongside the development of a new series of local small town shops has met with a degree of success. Common distribution points for more specialty goods have accompanied a less focused but important secondary program for improving the lives of those in lower density areas. To that end, general purpose retailers with competitive prices have been implemented on a somewhat state backed model, trading away some profitability for the improvement in local living standards alongside the creation of a local demand base. For many villages just a few stores have turned them somewhat livable as goods are generally available, and those that arent can be ordered in within a week for all but the most remote locations.

Bureaucracy

Work Around Ryzhkov: The supreme soviet has so far accomplished little of economic relevance with a focus around the modification of work practices more so than tangible economic issues. Ensuring that Ryzhkov is left out of the decision loop of essential ministry work by directly communicating with Vortnikov is expected to provide some advantages politically as the council of ministers is technically empowered to make most economic decisions. This separation of decision making from the Supreme Soviet is technically a power grab, but a minor one and one that would greatly narrow the degree of necessary maneuvering required for attaining a higher position. (42)

A temporary bout of weakness alongside close cooperation with both the Stalinist and Central Aisian flank is all it took to hammer forth an independent Supreme Soviet presence. Both factions have in effect allied to subvert significant external attention and pressure placed on the military, working together to start undermining Ryzhkov's position. The fact that the man is somewhat correct on what political lines to take doesn't make him less of a political threat and ensuring that the ministry has the independence to act is critical. Pressure in the election is going to be significant but if the combination of forces can carry forward a strong position the supplantment of Ryzhkov can be guaranteed. Later governance as a part of Vorotnikov's left flank can provide a means to consolidate the party while Vorotnikov becomes Chairman, forming a solid basis for further advancement.


Consolidate Zimyanin: With a somewhat weakening position alongside several issues keeping the conventionally conservative wing on side, Zimyanin has presented an opportunity. Moving strongly and aggressively against him and ensuring the support of the stalinists can provide an effective political base gathered from nothing. They are somewhat ideologically flexible and the ministry is well suited towards working at their biases especially with current commitments. Automatization and computerization is coming and as long as that is emphasized alongside correct promotions the faction can be brought under wing. (76)

Working with the Stalinists has enabled a consensus on the necessary economic policies for the development of socialism. They do not entirely agree with the course of the ministry but most are willing to shift somewhat in exchange for a degree of higher level support of their own ambitions. The faction has been somewhat dispersed from the inclusion of high level backing with internal structures disrupted but as long as Zymyanin is properly disposed of there will not be an issue. A harder line on labor alongside the disciplining of the errant enterprises can provide for more production and the increase in propagandization will be an essential stabilizing influence for further economic growth. Material conditions will not build themselves and some compromises towards party posts can provide an effective means with which to pivot against the enterprises so as to bring them in line.

The liquidation of internalized social parasitism remains the highest priority for enforcing labor discipline as previous lax food policies have served to systematically undermine the revolutionary potential of the workers. Committed programs to eliminate foreign intrusions and encouragement of an inherently parasitic and socially toxic lifestyle must be met with the harshest of responses. Criminalization of self-enabled sloth must be accompanied by the reversal and forced repayment of any food benefit provided to non-workers which will be necessary to enable the transition back towards a socialist economy. Those who do not work will be made to work to expand the constructive potential of the Union, shifting them to otherwise productive tasks so as to provide the means to replicate the period of most rapid economic growth. Only through the most decisive measures can the imported stain of labor parasitism be removed from the Union and its history. -Mikhail Zimyanin, Private Conference on Labor

[]Prioritize Internal Unity: Consolidations before a major election will come with costs but they are necessary to be borne to ensure that those backing the ministry are both committed and loyal. Initial stages will involve the sequestration of support and ensuring that those with the most to benefit from a new direction are dominant inside of the faction, in effect seizing structural control. Zimyanin will be exiled to a fringe flank, painting his views as inherently idealistic and delusional with the coming crisis facing the Union. This will not do good things in the election especially if the man chooses to fight it out, but unity in the ranks is more important then some trifles.

[]Pause Internal Conflicts: The entire factional internal fight is somewhat meaningless if half the faction disappears to Vorotnikov or worse Ashimov and taking a pause on internal consolidation can enable that. It's deeply unlikely that Zimyanin will move from a weaker position especially with an election coming up and taking a conciliatory stance can somewhat keep the more normal delegates content with the power grab. This is a show of weakness or pragmatism depending on predispositions and is not expected to cause any immediate issues.

[]Formalize the Alliance: Zimyanin is a delusional lunatic that wants a form of socialism that has not existed and almost certainly cannot exist. While this makes him annoying, that does not make him fundamentally useless as a radical in the right place makes an effective attack on Ashimov. Allowing a somewhat formalized duopoly to form with him attacking Ashimov for his even more radical views while consolidating common sense conservatives can be a potent source of power. Zimyanin will of course expect some positions on the party side but if a bid for power is successful in the aftermath of the likely to come petroleum crisis then that is a small price to pay.


Form a Commission on Labor: Current work standards are still somewhat lagging behind those in capitalist countries due to a partially inadequate standard on safety. Working to do something about it can secure some support from workers while also forming an organization capable of acting against the worst managers in a political and social sense. Targeting them under the cover of the workers struggle can enable several to be sidelined and replaced, with the program likely to improve conditions for the average worker if all goes well. (73)

Hiring a few hundred professionals capable of forming lists of enterprises that were both the most exploitative and opposed to current measures was a somewhat simple exercise. Close cooperation with state union bodies was enabled through Zimyanin's connections allowing for significant gains to be made. Already attacks against managers that have failed to toe the line have begun, agitating for the direct improvement of conditions on their balances without the need to allocate state resources. The worst of the safety concerns have already been fixed but simple matters such as wage theft represent a prime concern of common workers and one that is most easily addressed by supervisory bodies. Continued work will provide the justifications to restructure the ministry and enable political gains on the backs of a successful series of labor reforms.


Organize a Strategic Petroleum Reserve: Developing a somewhat shallow reserve of oil will provide a supply to stabilize out a disruption, at least for a moment and will involve the somewhat deliberate non-extraction of several fields. This will not be popular in the slightest as it will increase imports but adopting a formal reserve strategy can be a hedge against international instability. It is essential for the economy to maintain a stable price of energy and increasing the buffer of time to act can only help with that. (76)

Declaring reserves that would not be tapped alongside providing significant funding for the above ground storage of oil has been authorized without too many complaints. A reserve is optically a short term stabilization measure and one that is unlikely to even achieve that but it has still been organized to smooth the worst of price shocks hitting the economy. As long as an acute shortage can avoid becoming a dire run and supply shock domestically it can somewhat be weathered. Guarantees that the reserve is exclusively only for domestic use have been necessary to expand the program into something actually relevant but the compromise is not a problem when it comes to finally moving the Supreme Soviet towards doing something.


Publicize Space Targets: The Union is going to the moon, that is somewhat unquestionable now that the target has been set by the Americians. Increasing the publicity of the program is a gamble but one that can be taken through the funding of a vast number of films on space and the science of exploration. If a new generation of youth and their more politically relevant parents can be excited about the ministry and what it is doing then that can be the basis of a higher political career. An approach to the chair of the Supreme Soviet cannot be done without a basis of public support and the public is primed to back a successful scientific-technical campaign. (107)

Space is the new area of supposed peaceful competition, if one that has massive impacts on planetary security policy and one that has produced a vast amount of optimism for the future. Tying in that optimism with political gains is going to be essential towards any significant political career and expanding the scope of propaganda in that aspect is essential for strengthening the scientific basis of the Union. Media in the area has been funded with the ministry of culture in effect shifted towards the creation of a series of shows and films depicting the necessary scientific steps for both current programs and the theoretical colonization of the solar system. Speeches on the necessity of going further and the comparatively small funds produced compared to the revenues generated through licensing alone represent a major factor with several critical figures shifting towards viewing it as a development program. This view is going to be critical to maintain, especially as a development program is something far harder to defund then a new series of circuses.


Retaliations against the Lazy: Those who have refused modernization orders are somewhat in their right to do so, but the lack of willingness to follow orders must in itself be punished through examples. Allocations of new employees can be prioritized around non-compliant departments with political appointments steadily increasing the work alongside ordering more loyal management to alter local conditions. If they are unwilling to follow orders the least they can do is do the proper work expected of them for the sake of the ministry. (48) (-2 Experience Dice Modifier)

Those willing to refuse direct orders have been reallocated to several special departments instead of a simple firing to minimize the overall disruption to ministry functionality. Loyal personnel have supported the change ensuring that each of them was provided with a sufficient task load that could be completed with a computer that they were opposing. A few protests were lodged with an abortive move in party bodies to crack down on excesses somewhat trivially stopped, allowing a continuation of a policy of informal pressure from above. Enforcement of a semi-mandatory 100 hour workload on the old men was sufficient to break those most resistant to changes and bring the rest into line from a fear of retaliation. The Supreme Soviet has had an ineffectual vote on the matter, but the internal threat to modernization has been resolved.


Expand Ministry Personnel: Expanding the extent of the ministry further and increasing the extent of the office alongside outreach state capacity can be expanded. The economy has only steadily grown more complex and the ministry needs an expanded investment arm to ensure that the Soviet economy stays modern. Delegation to the enterprises has minimized bureaucratic overheads but the complexity of the economy is still a major burden on the ministry that more personnel can solve, at least for a time. (108) (Subvote) (-2 Experience Dice Modifier)

Expansive hiring programs have provided a wealth of somewhat experienced personnel that are capable of undertaking the necessary modernizations facing the ministry. Hiring of personnel with experience in programming alongside a multitude of engineering and economics disciplines has been prioritized as a precursor to ministry development with the current crop of graduates providing no shortages. All across the vast industries of the Union workers have been sourced through the application of decent wages and the somewhat guarantee of a stable career in state work. Replacing those lost to clearing off the rust will take a few years as new cadres are trained but the ministry itself is finally heading in the right direction. For all the issues in personnel the ministry is finally acting as a unified cooperative whole instead of the fractious mess left over from Voznesensky.

[]Stabilization of Infrastructure: The infrastructural sector is the one most in demand for personnel and with the current crisis situation it is one that can meet significant demands of otherwise uneducated labor. Expanding the construction industry will create a somewhat temporary labor and cost bubble but institutional experience cannot be constructed any other way. Further, decisive work towards expanding the economy will be under-written by the infrastructural sector as a strong commitment there will drive growth. (+6 Infrastructure Dice)

[]Long Term Growth Emphasis: The infrastructural and energy sector underwrite all growth and as much as it is a conventional and somewhat expected approach, there is no reason to radically shift away from it. Increasing extraction of coal is expected to power the Soviet Union of the future and through securing cheap energy economic growth can be enabled. Comparatively strong spending on infrastructure in the next two decades can eliminate current bottlenecks and significantly expand general throughput. (+4 Infrastructure Dice +2 Heavy Industry Dice)

[]Balanced Industrial Emphasis: Energy availability alongside industrial commitments towards stabilizing the oil situation are the only solution to weather a near term petroleum crisis. With funding split away from the more acute infrastructural criss towards the development of the energy industry the domestic sector can avoid being overloaded while buttressing petroleum prices. Intensive and massive extraction is the only solution for the current crisis but the burden does not have to just fall towards the petroleum industry. Improving general infrastructure while broadly raising extraction of oil and coal can provide an important margin. (+2 Infrastructure Dice +2 Heavy Industry Dice +2 Chemical Industry Dice)

[]Support of Consumer Industries: General initiatives towards consumer industries offer a durable mechanism for increasing employment and general contentment of the Soviet people. A steady program expanding production will form a basis for further economic development while aiding in general economic stabilization. The energy situation is not salvageable in the near term and instead of a direct pivot moving primary employment away from heavy industry can allow for an increased emphasis on extractive industries. Plastic production can be increased further to improve economic returns, providing a means to stabilize the economy, if on a temporary basis. (+2 Infrastructure Dice +2 Light Industry Dice +2 Chemical Industry Dice)

[]Addressing the Labor Problem: There are too many workers that are too uneducated to fulfil any role asked of them. The issues inherent to early construction alongside an industrialization that was too fast relative to generation trends has left significant imbalances. To address them the best path is an aggressive program centered around increasing spending in labor-consumptive sectors over a more general economic program. Labor costs will be what defines the quality of life of the average worker and providing the means to increase wages will subsequently increase demand more effectively than anything else if energy markets can stay stable. (+2 Infrastructure Dice +2 Light Industry Dice +2 Services Dice)


12 Hour Moratorium(Vote by Plan)