Turn 27(1941 1st Half): The Calm Results
Resources per turn 1020+10+10+10-100+ULAG=950+ULAG with -10 in storage
Party Support 35+5+10+5-5-5=45
Current Status of ULAG:
Population: 1,184,000 (I'll round to the nearest 100k)
Attitude: Stable
Food State: Hearty Meals, -90 Resources Per Turn
Guard State: Intensive Monitoring, -30 Resources Per Turn
Resource Income: Construction focused, 180 Resources Per Turn, Additional Actions
Infrastructure
Road Programs(Stage 4): The construction of additional gravel roads in the countryside, along with the leveling of multiple dirt roads, will ensure the continued access of trucks into the farming interior. These road programs will be far broader in scope than the previous ones, but also far less involved per road, as the priority will be creating a stable route into and out of the countryside. As an added bonus, these routes will significantly improve rural areas' integration into the union and their ability to easily purchase supplies from cities. (511/500, Stage 4 Complete) (11/1500 Stage 5)
With a transfer of almost a dozen NKPS labor divisions, the road network is completed to an acceptable extent, with the Union's rural countryside is finally entirely tied into its industrial centers. No longer do people need to use old dirt roads to travel across the Union, now modernity has come to a large number of socialist towns and cooperatives. While the streets are simple gravel and leveled dirt streets, they are still sufficient for vehicles' movement in both directions, allowing for significantly improved logistics and transit to the areas. Fuel use has steadily gone up as personnel can now visit cities, but the current change in the usage of fuel is nothing that the Union cannot handle.
Begin Preemptive Industrial Relocations: The currently acquired industrial locations in the Baltics and in the newly acquired areas of Poland are located in vulnerable locations and are surrounded by unreliable workers. While it will not be domestically popular to start their relocations into Siberia, this would allow them to function un-interrupted by both a possible enemy advance and in case of local saboteur action. (266/200) (Complete) (-Capital Goods -Steel ---Consumer Goods, Temporarily) (-10 Resources)
While the initial waves of industrial relocation were focused on willing personnel, with the coming inevitability of the war, any industrially essential personnel are rapidly moved to the rear lines. Any forms of technicians and managers are given a single day to pack their belongings and then are quickly transferred to deep rear-line industrial cities to ensure that the Union can continue functioning in the case of Hiterlite advances. While these relocations have caused many politically unreliable personnel to be transferred to the rear lines, there is a sufficient number of NKVD observers to ensure that they stay loyal.
Dissent from relocation initiatives has been demonstrated on the individual level from a multitude of intellectuals. While the workers have proven to be statistically reliable compared to workers of other nationalities, intellectuals, especially those in the cultural sphere, have had a massive uptick in dissent. To remedy this, the relocation of social intellectuals should be discouraged as their industrial value is anyways questionable.
-Statistical Commissariat, Filtering of Novel Workflow Sources
Over-Build Rail Stock: While the current railroad networks have a set quantity of rail stock to operate on them, a considerable amount of these locomotives and cars could become damaged during wartime. Thus, before any possible hostilities begin, it would be prudent to construct a strategic reserve of rail stock to ensure that combat losses can be rapidly replaced. Most of these locomotives will likely just sit in storage, but it is far better to have them than to not. (214/200) (Complete)
With the upcoming war and the possible significant need for a large number of trains, a new series of large scale production orders are issued for 1600 horsepower diesel locomotives. While the units themselves are not constructed to military standards of reliability, they are still acceptable heavy cargo locomotives. Currently, they are prioritized towards replacing the older, venerable 1200 HP units running long distance cargos. These older units are then transferred into large warehouse stockpiles in Moscow and Stalingrad, ensuring that a large quantity of shock rail capacity is available to the Union in the case of the worst.
Heavy Industry
Stoylenskoye Planned City(Stage 2): With the construction of the housing district and the first basic mineshafts already done, the construction of the smelting complex's foundational level must begin. So far, the plans for this stage involve the construction of the first few furnaces to ensure that power can easily flow into the system, but massive expansions of the complex will have to occur at far later phases, as the infrastructure needs to be built up to support the projected coal and iron ore demand. (351/200, Stage 2 Complete) (151/300 Stage 3) (+++ Steel --Coal --Workforce) (+10 Resources per Turn)
As the city's initial basis is already constructed, many new labor and construction units are moved to the city alongside heavy machinery for the construction of the steel-making complexes. While the latest blast furnaces are of far higher quality than those used in Magnitogorsk's initial building, there are far fewer of them. However, these are also far larger individual furnaces that produce far more steel on an individual basis. This large size of refineries can create a far more consistent steel grade, but its production is relatively low, especially compared to the Magnitogorsk complex. The high-grade steel has currently been allocated to military applications, primarily focusing on producing new grades of anti-tank shells.
Kuznetsk Basin Mine Expansion(Stage 5): With the current deposit almost fully exploited, just one final push is needed towards its total exploitation. The current effort has dug at the near-surface deposits, but more manpower is necessary to dig out the coal. Thus, with the expansion of the effort to deep shaft mining, more coal can rapidly be dug out of the earth. While such mining efforts are likely to be costly towards manpower, they will secure a supply of coal that will not run out in the course of our lifetimes. (400/400, Stage 5 Completed) (+++++Coal ---Workforce) (+10 Resources per Turn)
With the current war preparations, the mining of yet more coal is needed; while the recent extraction has been sufficient, the industry's proposed increases have seen demand sore. However, in the case of these expansions, a good quantity of machinery and blasting explosives are transferred to the sites with the first few nearly all-female cadres moved into the sites. While they are all inexperienced with no exceptions, the apprenticeship system was designed for a far more significant labor influx. Despite the initial moderately heavy casualties from the mining effort, the losses are nowhere near that initially suffered at Donetsk. Still, coal is dug out with effort and the constant utilization of yet more explosives deep in the earth, securing as much coal as can be secured from the deposit.
The party man was happy to offer me a new job right out of school! It was advertised as a boring equipment operator and who would I be not to take it? Sure the location was a bit cold, but at least the job indicated that experience could be gained on site.
-Anya Sergeeva, Journal, Dead in Mining Accident
Current casualty rates have been found to well below the possible statistical maximum for the operation. Despite inexperienced female labor utilization, casualty rates have not been in statistically significant excess of male casualties with similar experience levels. With such information, the general department's recommendation would be to substitute female labor into mechanized mining labor to liberate manpower for other work.
-Statistical Commissariat, Report on Women in Coal Mining
Metal Recycling Centers: Given the massive material demands of the war and the need to secure additional resources, the re-use of old material may be needed. While there is already a degree of recycling the scrap made by many plants through the steel and aluminum production system, such processes do not apply to the civilian population. With a campaign of propaganda towards the recycling of metal and glass goods, and campaigns specifically directed towards their re-use, it should be possible to considerably improve civilian usage efficiency. (163/150) (Completed) (-Power ++Steel ++Aluminum -Workforce) (+10 Resources per Turn)
While the current is a surplus of metal goods, such a situation will not always be the case, and more refining capacity will be required. Instead of expensive refining capacity, however, a far simpler system is instituted with community recycling drives implemented and the sorting of trash incentivized. There are now moderate financial benefits for those who pick up and turn in scrap metal to depositories, with multiple posters and articles informing the population about the programs. While the material gains are relatively small, the effort's relative cost is even smaller and has dramatically improved the civilian sector's material turnaround efficiency.
Participation has shown a slow but statistically demonstrable up-tick over time in the first two months of the initiative, with far more personnel engaging in optimal behavior. Now, the rate has stabilized at a pessimistic but acceptable forty percent of discarded metals. To accomplish an increased recycling rate from the population, financial incentives must be incorporated, with material efficiency easily compensating for such pittances in payment.
-Statistical Commissariat, Approved proposal for Recycling Incentives.
Light and Chemical Industry
Tomsk Synthetic Rubber Plant: The production of yet more synthetic rubber is a critical need for the Union, as further expansions of mobile forces require a constant stream of more rubber. The current supply is mostly sufficient for most uses, but further progress needs to be made to allow for the massive expansion of the truck pool. Additional rubber production will also enable the projected uniform modernization projects to be initiated, allowing far better boots to reach the troops. (5 Party Influence) (266/250) (Completed) (+Consumer Goods -Workforce)
With the constant need for yet more rubber to maintain military production, yet another plant is completed. With another mass of NKPS labor and engineering units transferred to the city, the large scale petrochemical complex finishes construction. While the city is relatively remote, it is located deep in the interior and offers a well-connected site to produce more rubber and other war critical industries. The rubber complex has finally marked the point that a total shift away from rubber imports has been accomplished. There is sufficient domestic rubber to produce yet more trucks and aircraft, but further expansions may be needed to keep up the current pace of expanding production.
Agriculture
None Selected
Services
Expand Resources to Ailing Schools: Multiple school districts are far behind on standardized scores and performance, creating an immediate crisis in the countryside. While the initial teachers sent out were moderately qualified, they were far from perfect, creating a cascade of issues. While this will not cost much in terms of cost to sort out, more educated personnel need to be transferred to education, limiting industrial development. (157/100) (Completed) (-Workforce)
Despite the focus on the nation's militarization, a small number of resources are transferred over to under-performing schools. At this point, the only personel teaching students at the minimum has a university education in their field, allowing general knowledge to increase considerably. While the population is rapidly growing, the current levels of schools should be sufficient for another few years, as it will take time for many of the newborns to become of age. The school system's effects are already felt, as almost all students who enter the system are becoming literate in both language and mathematics.
Military
(Authors note: Most military efforts will have quality dice rolled after they are completed, which will affect the quality of the buildup/equipment/information)
Novel Anti-Armor Shell Trials: Given the large number of guns that have already been made, a general upgrading program would be a massive and expensive measure. Instead, with upgrades to various ammunition, improved anti-armor performance can be obtained with far less cost. While this program may not result in any radical breakthroughs, formalized testing of shells and later standardization can only help with anti-armor performance. (48/40) (Completed) (Military Dice: 17)
Multiple new entrants to the program to improve shells are trialed, with most of them displaying quite disappointing performance. A new type of Monroe effect shell is tried, but its performance is lacking, and due to the high manufacturing costs, it is rejected. Hardened tungsten subcaliber shells are also trialed, but current variants demonstrate a massive dropoff at any form of range, leading to rejection as well. Despite this, the research does manage to make some minor improvements, with a new solid slug, high powder charge HVAPCBC shell available to a multitude of tankers and anti-tank guns.
Medium Bomber Trials: With the projected loss in long-range and anti-naval bombing capability due to the replacement of the DB with the peshka, a replacement program is needed for a long-range strike bomber. While this plane will inherently be more costly to produce than the previous project, it will allow similar high speeds to be maintained while also striking at a long-range with far more payload and protection. Thus, creating the best of both worlds at the cost of far larger engines and a higher cost. (48/40) (Completed) (Military Dice: 25)
With the overall success of the far cheaper peshka, relatively little focus is given to the improvement of other strike bombers. Despite this lack of effort, Tupolev's entrant does prove to be a reasonably functional aircraft capable of fulfilling the role required of it. While it is powered by the same ASh-82 engines as the peshka, it has almost double the range and a considerably larger payload. However, to carry all of this, multiple structural elements are replaced by aluminum, and a larger wing is used, causing the aircraft to be a small amount slower than the peshka. Still, the armament and cockpit layout is similar enough that any gunners and pilots trained on the peshkas should quickly adapt to the new aircraft.
New Actions
Omsk Aircraft Plant: (40 Resources Per Dice 0/150)
Heavy Tank Modernization Trials: With the new advancements made in designing the new medium tanks, a new program for modernizing heavy armor all over the Union would be prudent. The program's first focus will be replacing the old turret and gun of the kv tanks, switching to a new, rounded, and all-cast turret. The gun will also be changed over to an adapted variant of the 85mm gun to ensure that anti-armor performance can be improved to the point of dealing with similar tanks. Due to any significant interruption in production being far too costly, massive overhauls of the hull are impossible with such a program, with effort instead directed to a new tank. (52/40) (Completed) (Military Dice: 93)
With multiple T43 engineering team members joining those from the KV team, a broad package of modernizations and improvements is made to the tank. While the in-production model could not be changed considerably, a multitude of components could. A new all-cast turret is introduced, mounting an 85mm gun, a commander cupola, and a roof-mounted commanders Berezin. In terms of the hull, the new engines have received a far improved supercharger and multiple improvements in filters, allowing average miles before the engine's failure to almost be doubled. The transmission and running gear still have issues due to the tank's weight. The hull itself has received some minor frontal reinforcement. Yet, too much cannot be done as it is necessary to keep the center of mass in a suitable position, needing a new heavy tank to truly mount heavier armor.
Shell Plants(Stage 3): While the shell shortages have steadily become a thing of the past as production has improved, the military still has a long way to go until there are enough shell reserves. Given the expenditures in artillery shells during the battles of khalkhin gol, current reserves are only sufficient for the first few months of any conflict involving the bulk of the Red Army. While this level of expansion will not guarantee that full-scale combat can be sustained indefinitely, it will ensure that enough shells are made to ensure a steady supply until the Rasputitsa, allowing a later replenishment. (346/200, Stage 3 Completed) (146/300 Stage 4) (Military Dice: 5) (--Energy -Coal -Workforce)
Despite the massive efforts invested in the production of shells, consistent issues still abound with the shells' actual quality. While production numbers could not be higher, the current crop of shells has had multiple reports of irregularities and accuracy problems, as the powder charges are not as accurate as before. A large commission is looking into the issue and should fix it in the following months, but such changes will take time. Still, the propellant charges' accuracy should only majorly affect long-ranged artillery, and having a supply of inaccurate shells is far better than not having any shells. Now though, the Union should have a sufficient amount of shells for all artillery pieces to last well into the winter, in case of a long-term war.
Komsomolsk Plant Retooling: The old production center of the DB-3 bomber has long served its purpose of providing combat aircraft for the front, but a general modernization is needed for the new peshka bomber. While the former plane has far more range, the new bomber is considerably faster and has far more crew protections, allowing the aircraft to perform far better near the front. This conversion will give up a large proportion of strategic bombing capability, but due to its lacking effects on production in Spain, such capability is unneeded. (39+10 Omake/50) (Completed) (Military Dice: 39)
While the DB-3 bomber does share many construction methods with the Peshka, their role and design could not be more different. Thus, with the transfer of additional personnel, the plant's old machinery is rapidly converted towards producing a far more modern aircraft. While there are some initial production delays as there is a minor shortage of new modified ASh-82 engines, the plant does manage to get to full production at the end of May. Despite the current shortage of level bombers, production has never been higher.
Peshka Plants: Given the current utter obsolescence of tactical bombers, especially those designated to be used in close support, the production of new and modern planes is a high priority. These new bombers will also be recon aircraft due to their high speed and range, allowing a far better view of the front line. However, production of them still has to be set up, as, without high-speed twin-engined aircraft, the army is half blind and unable to deliver heavy ordinance. (10 Party Influence) (Tbilisi 159/100, Military Dice: 48) (Leningrad 81+10 Omake/100, Military Dice: 37)
The military demand for more level bombers capable of tactical air operations has never been higher, leading to the construction of two new large scale plants. With their experience making beta wood planes, the la plants' crews are transferred over, production is rapidly initiated. At both plants, the priority is the production of more airframes instead of new higher quality ones, with the design thrown into production as it is, with only the minor upgrade of upgrading to the new turbocharged variant of the ASh-82 engine. While the upgraded aircraft's performance is better than the design would indicate, more time is needed to accrue sufficient airframes.
Yak 1 Plants: The new light fighter's production represents a further large scale improvement in military capability. These fighters may be more expensive than their competitors and require some aluminum, but the gains in agility and speed are considerable. Despite multiple minor teething issues in their flight and takeoff, these currently represent the best fighter aircraft available to the Union. At expected combat altitudes should be competitive with upcoming German aircraft. (Choose from: Saratov/Tatischevo) (40 Resources Per Dice 0/100) (Engels 84+10 Omake/100, Military Dice: 62) (-Aluminum -Workforce)
With the rush to produce more military equipment, many construction workers and their accompanying machinery are rushed to Engels. While the factory staff itself is split off from the la project to train the new staff. Still, despite the disparate work crews, the effort goes well with the plant online at the end of just six months. The production staff has also managed to attach a single-stage turbocharger to the engine, considerably improving high altitude performance. Simultaneously, many new measures improving the landing gear have been initiated, allowing the severe prop wash problems to be minimized. While production is currently slow, the projected spool-up will enable the yak to become a valuable and maneuverable fighter of the VVS.
Gorky and Moscow Aviation Plant Modernization(I-185): Despite the issues plaguing the new aircraft, its advantages in speed, climb, and armament by far favor it over the I-180. These factories will consume a large quantity of aluminum but will produce a fighter capable of fighting any prospective German aircraft at a quality advantage. Especially if the current problems with takeoff and landing can be fixed in the factory. (5 Party Influence) (94/100) (Rush Completed) (Military Dice: 49) (--Aluminum -Workforce)
With the amount of time that the aircraft was in refinement and the new technologies available, the engineers at Polikarpov have managed to make a considerable number of upgrades. The old engine has received a new single-stage supercharger along with a far higher tuning, and the airframe has gotten a new flap setting to allow for slightly less hairy takeoff and landings. While both upgrades have made the plane a small amount heavier, the speed increases have more than made up for the fact, with it able to set domestic speed records along with climb records. While it may not outrun the racing plane featured in German propaganda, the airframe is rugged, reliable, decently agile, and far better armed. While more time is needed for the plants to spool up, the fighter should be a massive upgrade to all VVS airframes.
Sukhoi Aviation Plant: A slightly more expensive and more radically designed CAS plane. The newly upgraded attacker features a somewhat lighter airframe and protection scheme, making up for it with twin 37mm autocannons. While the new aircraft is less protected than the Ilyushin model, the guns should enable it to deal with tanks far more easily than before. (Choose from: Kharkov/Moscow) (5 Party Influence on Completion, 40 Resources Per Dice 0/150) (Moscow 92/150) (-Aluminum -Workforce)
The construction of the new plant in Moscow starts off well with many cranes and personnel transferred to the city and set up outside of the outer ring. While the foundation and the multitude of construction halls are built rapidly, large tracts of the final assembling plants are not completed. Thus, while some airframes are being constructed around their steel armor plating already, a large amount of the finishing is not yet done, needing more time and resources.
Kharkov Plant Retooling: The development of the T43 is a demonstrable upgrade to all previous tanks, with it having superior frontal armor to the KV and similar armament. While the changeover from two distinct types of tanks cannot yet be done due to political limitations, assuming further refinement of the design should be possible. Compared to the old T34, though, the new T43 is superior in all aspects but price, with all of the board and Vasilevsky himself advocating a general change over medium tank production. (40 Resources per Dice 21/75) (Will modernize if taken concurrently)
The plant is shut down to implement the refits, and a considerable crew is transported to the site. While the conversions start well, work does not go on plan as the new tank, despite the relative simplicity, needs a large number of conversions that were far easier to accomplish on the T28 plant. Still, some minor progress is made as the engine and transmission lines are updated, but a large amount of work is still left to be done.
Bureaucracy
Extort the Germans: War is likely to be a certainty with the Hitlerites as the Union is all that stands in opposition to them on the continent. Still, the Hitlerites have a massive amount of technological assets that can be obtained by demanding them for paltry amounts of trade goods. While trading with them can cause some problems in that it will improve their material situation, extracting non-sabotaged technology and tooling will allow for many more improvements. (-5 Party Influence) (DC 50/100(195)) (Technology and Resources, depending on the roll) (-100 Resources per Turn)
A demand for a truly massive quantity of resources is sent over to the Germans, asking for multiple enterprises to be transferred wholesale for an utter pittance in food and oil. After the first sputtering by Ribbentrop that the offer is unacceptable, Litvinov continues to the same extent, merely passing the paper over with the list of demands over again. While the Hitlerite sputters and adjourns the meeting, the demands do not lower and stay the same. His rejection of mutually beneficial soviet diplomacy happens later, as, after a talk with his superiors, he flat out rejected the proposal along with the general treaty. Despite the disappointing development, the advance payments have already arrived, buffering out the impact.
Formalize Stockpiling: With the possibility of many factories getting cut off from their feedstock, the formalization of stockpiling production should be instituted by all enterprises in the rear areas. While these stocks will not be enough for them to run for more than a few months, the redundancy will buy enough time for economic re-allocation to ensure that feedstock can continue to be produced. Such a policy will not be popular and will demand far more of the workers making basic components, but it will be a massive help to the war-economy. (-5 Party Influence) (DC 50(60)) (No Immediate Factory Stops from Depletion)
Due to the massive possible needs in materials for many plants, heavier shift rotations are started at war critical plants. With newly updated guidelines, some minor non-essential work is skipped, enabling near the constant operation of a massive number of plants, building in excess the critical parts of the war industry, with them moved too far rear line stockpiles. So far, these efforts at overproduction have caused some over-work casualties, but stockpiles are already piling up at multiple war critical plants, ensuring that there is a buffer.
Gorky Next Target:
(Every turn, you will get the choice of what category to update with construction machinery first. For projects that are heavy on construction work, this will double the resource cost per dice and halve the target number. For industrial projects, this impact will be smaller but still reasonably notable.)
[]Infrastructure
[]Light Industry and Chemical Industry
[]Agriculture
[]Services
Current Economic Issues:
Rail: Major Surplus
Coal: Major Surplus
Aluminum: Minor Surplus
Steel: Minor Surplus
Energy: Meeting Demand
Food: Major Surplus
Labor: Moderate Surplus
Authors Note: Fun is coming next turn, along with rolls