We have a massive workforce surplus. Once it's brought to a more manageable level then we should worry about a slow ramp down on our investment efforts. When we have a ton of labor reserve people who would otherwise be unemployed, getting jobs for them is far more important.
Attempting to Fulfill the Plan MNKh Edition
- Thread starter Blackstar
- Start date
- Alt. History Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
How far advanced is our spy technology and training? Are we having the wacky hijinks of OTL Spy warfare?
I know it's not really the purview of the MNKH but we probably be making spy satellites in the future.
edit: SPY not SOY gosh me
I know it's not really the purview of the MNKH but we probably be making spy satellites in the future.
edit: SPY not SOY gosh me
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- Location
- UTC+0
- Pronouns
- He/Him/They
Nothing, we just slow economic growth a bit. The funds we have are used to build new plants or expand existing ones, they're not funding worker's salaries. That's the SoE's job. At worst some people will miss out some opportunities to earn money on the labor reserve, but that's hardly disastrous. Its not like we're using that money to invest directly in the private sector either, so a fall off won't cause much disruption there either.
- Location
- Italy
about coal plants: Well, unless the electricity problem is going to solve itself before the end of the plan, we'll have to add more coal.
There's also the fact that delaying project completion means we're also delaying the benefits. It could be worth it in some cases, but only if the benefits are actually worth less than the dice and resources spent on coal.
Really, there's not much we can do about coal. Next plan we can either expand or at least continue with autogas and autohydro (which should get better and basically gives us free energy), and maybe add auto-nuke. Worst case, we also add auto-coal and then simply wait until all not-coal energy sources grow up enough that we can start turning off the oldest coal plants (...again)
the extra smog is bad, but the consequences from not having the coal energy are worse, at least in the short to mid term.
About the sudden drop in investment: is it actually that bad? Most of the things we invest in go on to add to the economy, they're not one-off expenses.
As in, when we build a factory, that factory is going to hire people, buy and sell products, and so on. the money is no longer coming from us, as these factories become mostly self-funding, but they're still contributing to the economy.
Would the drop in investment actually be THAT bad, in this case?
There's also the fact that delaying project completion means we're also delaying the benefits. It could be worth it in some cases, but only if the benefits are actually worth less than the dice and resources spent on coal.
Really, there's not much we can do about coal. Next plan we can either expand or at least continue with autogas and autohydro (which should get better and basically gives us free energy), and maybe add auto-nuke. Worst case, we also add auto-coal and then simply wait until all not-coal energy sources grow up enough that we can start turning off the oldest coal plants (...again)
the extra smog is bad, but the consequences from not having the coal energy are worse, at least in the short to mid term.
About the sudden drop in investment: is it actually that bad? Most of the things we invest in go on to add to the economy, they're not one-off expenses.
As in, when we build a factory, that factory is going to hire people, buy and sell products, and so on. the money is no longer coming from us, as these factories become mostly self-funding, but they're still contributing to the economy.
Would the drop in investment actually be THAT bad, in this case?
...I hadn't read this yet, but it's basically my point, yeah.
- Location
- The great frozen north
If labor surplus is a crippling issue, I could shift a bunch of free dice to Services and knock out the next stage of State Retail.... But I don't think it's that bad. As for autonuke, my understanding was that it is a thing for the seventies. But if the Test Reactor goes well and we're allowed to build Atomash soon after it finishes, we just might get Autonuke before the sixties end.
As for the shock of investment drop: We had this discussion before without a conclusion. IIRC some people suggested that going from 2350 resources T64 to ~2000 T65 and the base ~1500 T66 would be slow enough. For those who think it's too fast: I would like explicit numbers on how slow and by how much we should reduce our spending.
As for the shock of investment drop: We had this discussion before without a conclusion. IIRC some people suggested that going from 2350 resources T64 to ~2000 T65 and the base ~1500 T66 would be slow enough. For those who think it's too fast: I would like explicit numbers on how slow and by how much we should reduce our spending.
- Location
- Northish
With the Cold War lacking many if it's flashpoints and closer economic ties with the West our intelligence division will probably be more focused inward than OTL. We have most of Europe to keep control of and a larger population to keep from getting...ideas.
Nervos Belli
Don't think this means you've won!
- Location
- Murica
We did move more reformist people into power as soon as Stalin and Beria died, and tried to cut down on more heavy-handed tactics. A few people had unfortunate plane accidents, but overall the internal security hasn't had too much to do, since people are broadly okay with a lack of political representation as long as we improve standards of living. No Hungarian Revolution or Czech Spring yet, thankfully.
- Location
- Northish
Quite, I doubt we are putting black bags over too many heads like in the 40s. Still we are the USSR and our domestic surveillance and security service, plus our tribute nations, will be consuming our espionage budgets. Some of it is probably even for the greater good of the people even, as we make sure Europe plays nice with each other for once.
We made an intentional point to break the NKVD after Stalin. The MGB was split off into a dedicated foreign intelligence service that is strictly forbidden from meddling in internal security. Internal security and counterespionage responsibilities were transferred to the Ministry of the Interior, which didn't totally dismantle the surveillance state obviously but was also headed by a candidate chosen for their break from the NKVD and focus on actually doing police work instead of internal oppression duty. Every time we get an update from them it's about prison reform or formalized detective training or forensics labs, not chekist squads. There's definitely a well developed internal security apparatus but our ruling class has a vested interest in never allowing another NKVD so the cartoonish excesses should be firmly banished to the past.
Once it does start to come online, it will be significanly less painful to keep the ball rolling, but starting the roll is going to hurt. In the future. improved reactors and improved manufacturing (e.g. Atommash) will make our investments more effective but I think that 5 year lag time will always be part of nuclear spending.
Assuming we finish the test complex on time, then the currently sketched out nuclear mechanics will allow us to start investing in grid scale power next FYP. Not Atommash, but we don't need Atommash to start spamming our first viable civilian reactors. The kicker is that we'll trade off HI dice for the FYP, like all the other automated options, but we don't actually get the electricity until the FYP after that. So whatever HI dice we sign away in the 1965-1969 FYP will just be a total sunk cost for that FYP, we won't get our first point of power from them until 1970.
Once it does start to come online, it will be significanly less painful to keep the ball rolling, but starting the roll is going to hurt. In the future. improved reactors and improved manufacturing (e.g. Atommash) will make our investments more effective but I think that 5 year lag time will always be part of nuclear spending.
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- Location
- Italy
I think I saw somewhere that it usually takes at least 4 years even today in the fastest countries in terms of nuclear build time.
But yeah, IF we get an option for autonuke next plan, it will be a pretty high cost that will only start to pay off in the FOLLOWING 5YP.
With that said... we'll probably want to take it anyway. Even as I think Blackstar mentioned it won't be exactly economically convenient in the beginning... but it will NEVER become economically convenient if we don't develop the expertise and start mass scale adoption.
Nuclear is important, and unless we want to expand coal and oil even more, it's our only other option to add to autogas and autohydro.
also, hopefully the growing bonus autohydro gets each year won't just go back to zero at the beginning of the next plan.
Pretty sure it will, that's not because we're getting better at building hydropower, it's just an easy way to abstract away reservoirs filling up and construction lag time on the big projects. Once the current slate of projects are finished and their reservoirs are filled up, we don't magically get more efficient the next time we make a big hole and wait for it to fill up with water, we start a new slate and the same spin-up will presumably trickle in.
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Chimeraguard
We do deserve to exist.
Well, I might as well post my plan draft if other people are posting theirs.
[ ] Plan I-Haven't-Had-Time-To-Think-of-a-Good-Name
-[ ] ?? Dice Rolled
Infrastructure, 5 Dice
-[ ] Passenger Rail Network(Western SU), 1 die (75 Resources)
-[ ] Construction of the Paved Road Network(Stage 4), 1 die (60 Resources)
-[ ] Telecommunications Infrastructure(Stage 3), 3 dice (180 Resources)
Heavy Industry, 8 Dice +1 Free
-[ ] Taganrog Metallurgical Plant Expansion, 1 die (100 Resources)
-[ ] Coal Power Plants, 2 dice (180 Resources)
-[ ] Test Reactor Complex Construction, 1 die (100 Resources)
-[ ] New Automotive Plants(Zaporozhye), 2 dice (150 Resources)
-[ ] Development of the ZIL Automotive Plant, 1 die (80 Resources)
-[ ] Bus Plant(Riga), 2 dice (140 Resources)
Rocketry, 3 Dice
-[ ] RLA Expansion, 1 die
-[ ] Development of the Stalingrad Plant(Stage 2), 2 dice (200 Resources)
Light and Chemical Industry, 8 Dice +4 Free
-[ ] Pre-Caspian Petroleum Basin Exploitation(Stage 1), 2 dice (60 Resources)
-[ ] Oil Cracking Plants, 1 die (75 Resources)
-[ ] Plastic Production(Stage 4), 2 dice (110 Resources)
-[ ] Fertilizer Plants(Stage 4/5), 4 dice (240 Resources)
-[ ] Medical Sector Modernization, 3 dice (300 Resources)
Agriculture, 5 Dice
-[ ] Agricultural Infrastructural Development, 1 die (60 Resources)
-[ ] Agricultural Institutes, 1 die (60 Resources)
-[ ] Housing Expansions, 2 dice (90 Resources)
-[ ] Development of Additional Fruits, 1 die (60 Resources)
Services, 2 Dice
-[ ] Film Studio Formation(Stage 3), 1 die (60 Resources)
-[ ] Pilot Rapid Food Systems, 1 die (30 Resources)
Bureaucracy, 5 Dice
-[ ] Dedicate Focus Towards a Project(Fertilizer Plants), 1 die
-[ ] Dedicate Focus Towards a Project(Medical Sector Modernization), 1 die
-[ ] Other Stuff
Resources Available:
Resources Used: 2420
Resources Remaining:
Infra is continuing the steady Rail + Road push, but with some project stages done, we can do a big push for Telecomms.
HI works on finishing up stuff that didn't complete last turn, as well as a doing the Reactor funding while we still have a surplus, and starting work on a new Bus and Car Plant (though I don't think either are likely to actually finish.)
Rocketry does the Expansion now that Consolidation is complete. It also develops the Stalingrad Plant since that'll be necessary to actually make enough rockets for our purposes, and it's expensive enough that we want to get it out of the way while we still have a Surplus.
LCI finishes Oil Cracking and Pre-Caspian for Gas (2 dice on Pre-Caspian because we need it done this turn and 1 die leaves too much a risk of not finishing.) 2 Dice on Plastic Production because that's another ongoing project (and Plastic is a Cap Goods and we're behind on that), 3 dice on Medical Sector Modernization, and 4 on Fertilizer to chemicalize Agriculture. 4 dice won't finish Fertilizer unless they all roll 90s, but it'll make good progress on the goal.
Agriculture does work on our ongoing projects to finish them up. Then 1 die on Agricultural Institutes and another on Fruits since those are 2 projects that can theoretically finish with 1 die.
Services is Film and Rapid Food Systems for additional labor sinks, and doing 1 die each because that's another one where 1 die could at least finish Rapid Food Systems on a good roll.
Bureaucracy I haven't figured out aside from some Dedicate Focuses. Fertilizer to take advantage of the 4 dice on it, Medical Sector because it's a good and important project that's also very expensive per-die.
[ ] Plan I-Haven't-Had-Time-To-Think-of-a-Good-Name
-[ ] ?? Dice Rolled
Infrastructure, 5 Dice
-[ ] Passenger Rail Network(Western SU), 1 die (75 Resources)
-[ ] Construction of the Paved Road Network(Stage 4), 1 die (60 Resources)
-[ ] Telecommunications Infrastructure(Stage 3), 3 dice (180 Resources)
Heavy Industry, 8 Dice +1 Free
-[ ] Taganrog Metallurgical Plant Expansion, 1 die (100 Resources)
-[ ] Coal Power Plants, 2 dice (180 Resources)
-[ ] Test Reactor Complex Construction, 1 die (100 Resources)
-[ ] New Automotive Plants(Zaporozhye), 2 dice (150 Resources)
-[ ] Development of the ZIL Automotive Plant, 1 die (80 Resources)
-[ ] Bus Plant(Riga), 2 dice (140 Resources)
Rocketry, 3 Dice
-[ ] RLA Expansion, 1 die
-[ ] Development of the Stalingrad Plant(Stage 2), 2 dice (200 Resources)
Light and Chemical Industry, 8 Dice +4 Free
-[ ] Pre-Caspian Petroleum Basin Exploitation(Stage 1), 2 dice (60 Resources)
-[ ] Oil Cracking Plants, 1 die (75 Resources)
-[ ] Plastic Production(Stage 4), 2 dice (110 Resources)
-[ ] Fertilizer Plants(Stage 4/5), 4 dice (240 Resources)
-[ ] Medical Sector Modernization, 3 dice (300 Resources)
Agriculture, 5 Dice
-[ ] Agricultural Infrastructural Development, 1 die (60 Resources)
-[ ] Agricultural Institutes, 1 die (60 Resources)
-[ ] Housing Expansions, 2 dice (90 Resources)
-[ ] Development of Additional Fruits, 1 die (60 Resources)
Services, 2 Dice
-[ ] Film Studio Formation(Stage 3), 1 die (60 Resources)
-[ ] Pilot Rapid Food Systems, 1 die (30 Resources)
Bureaucracy, 5 Dice
-[ ] Dedicate Focus Towards a Project(Fertilizer Plants), 1 die
-[ ] Dedicate Focus Towards a Project(Medical Sector Modernization), 1 die
-[ ] Other Stuff
Resources Available:
Resources Used: 2420
Resources Remaining:
Infra is continuing the steady Rail + Road push, but with some project stages done, we can do a big push for Telecomms.
HI works on finishing up stuff that didn't complete last turn, as well as a doing the Reactor funding while we still have a surplus, and starting work on a new Bus and Car Plant (though I don't think either are likely to actually finish.)
Rocketry does the Expansion now that Consolidation is complete. It also develops the Stalingrad Plant since that'll be necessary to actually make enough rockets for our purposes, and it's expensive enough that we want to get it out of the way while we still have a Surplus.
LCI finishes Oil Cracking and Pre-Caspian for Gas (2 dice on Pre-Caspian because we need it done this turn and 1 die leaves too much a risk of not finishing.) 2 Dice on Plastic Production because that's another ongoing project (and Plastic is a Cap Goods and we're behind on that), 3 dice on Medical Sector Modernization, and 4 on Fertilizer to chemicalize Agriculture. 4 dice won't finish Fertilizer unless they all roll 90s, but it'll make good progress on the goal.
Agriculture does work on our ongoing projects to finish them up. Then 1 die on Agricultural Institutes and another on Fruits since those are 2 projects that can theoretically finish with 1 die.
Services is Film and Rapid Food Systems for additional labor sinks, and doing 1 die each because that's another one where 1 die could at least finish Rapid Food Systems on a good roll.
Bureaucracy I haven't figured out aside from some Dedicate Focuses. Fertilizer to take advantage of the 4 dice on it, Medical Sector because it's a good and important project that's also very expensive per-die.
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Counter-point, if we taper off spending while there is still an under-employment crisis, we will cause a double-dip recession as the weak employment numbers translate into weak spending power which translates into a crisis for the less vital areas that are dominated by the private sector which translates into that sector sliding back into the crisis we are trying to help the Soviet people get out of, worsening the under-employment crisis and oh gee, we need to borrow even more money to end up back where we started.
Whether we should slow our investments or not should depend on the condition of the Soviet economy, and if we need to keep spending as fast as we can for longer, doing that and burning some political capital to get a loan to actually get out of the crisis is what we should do.
If the economy has recovered and we are overheating the labour market by pulling labour away from sound private enterprises to build roads to no-were, then yes, we should absolutely cut that down. But tapering spending should be based on what's needed.
So the question is, what is the state of the Soviet economy? My impression is that it is still very much in crisis, based on labour availability. But maybe the next figures through the door will change that picture.
Well, both of you keep in mind, every time we invest in some way, people are paid to do that work and those people then go on to buy goods and services. Construction workers, engineers and so on need to eat and get haircuts and travel to see family too.
Mmmmm. That's the timetable the US, UK and USSR followed in OTL - test reactors in the 50s, building a few in the 60s then planning mass construction in the 70s, and for all of them, the results were imperfectly undestood designs and serious nuclear accidents that led to the plug being pulled on mass roll-out.
I'd much rather "build at low rates over the 70s and early 70s, building up understanding" then "autonuke for after the mid-70s or 1980".
fasquardon
The two big safety issues are technical understanding of reactor design and engineering safety culture. The first is a risk that's lessened by more advanced engineering versus OTL, but I doubt that we're much better off than the OTL US. The second is... I think we're better off than the OTL USSR, but it's very hard to know how good we are. Poor engineering safety culture isn't very visible until industrial accidents happen, and even then can hide itself if it's pervasive through the investigating body. The level of power MNKh commands makes it hard to know if any deficiency exists.
plotvitalnpc
Once more walking the path of the catgirl.
Clearly what we need to do is steal the TRIGA fuel architecture from the USA - it exists already - and use it not for test reactors but for power reactors.
The hotter the fuel gets, the less reactive it gets, meaning that loss of coolant will just cause loss of criticality. Not very efficient as reactor designs go, but has almost total passive safety.
Nervos Belli
Don't think this means you've won!
- Location
- Murica
We already chose to develop VVER reactors over RBMK, which means a Chernobyl level fuckup is very unlikely to happen. Downside is they are more expensive and have longer refueling cycles, but that's well worth the trade off.
True, and to be fair to OTL Soviet engineering, I am not aware of any of their infrastructure-grade pressurized water reactors that had serious accidents.
And even three mile island or windscale (a particularly bad UK nuclear disaster) weren't too bad compared to all the crud a coal plant routinely belches out, if we thought we could ride out the political ructions of such a disaster happening in the quest and could be confident that bad safety practices didn't become institutionalized, we could afford such setbacks. So maybe I am worrying too much about going too early and putting the nascent nuclear power industry in a position where they destroy themselves politically and we are stuck building coal and gas into the 21st Century...
I'd really like if we could build our last coal plant in at least the 80s and the last gas plant in at least the 90s.
fasquardon
- Location
- Northish
Some of our more remote areas might need to stay on fossil fuels but I think that is reasonable if we get a decent progression of nuclear research an investment. My only concern is that we avoid the issue of improper storage of nuclear waste in the long term. Hopefully no one creates an issue with a Yucca Mountain-like facility or other political nonsense.
- Location
- Italy
It probably doesn't even need to be THAT long term. Aren't they finding ways to reuse the nuclear waste, which reduces both half-life and quantity? I think I've also read something about destroying nuclear waste with laser, though it's still kind of experimental.
If something like Yucca Mountain is necessary, the politics around the nuclear industry will have already turned cancerous.
Yucca Mountain exists to store forms of nuclear waste that have been deemed for various reasons to be politically and economically desirable. The reality is, the stuff that makes that waste to dangerous and difficult to store is also incredibly useful. But due mining new uranium being cheaper and more politically palatable in the US and there being the willingness to befoul the land with wastes if it is convenient to the owners of capital, the society opts to run an "open" nuclear fuel cycle, creating significant volumes of nuclear waste that could easily be recycled instead of being left to the thousands of generations hence who'll have to deal with the consequences.
In a system where the full costs of uranium mining and multi-thousand year waste storage can be weighed against the real costs of waste recycling, more rational options will be available.
Note that while there is plenty of nice words about what Yucca Mountain will be able to do once it is fully online, there has never been and probably will never be any real effort to bring Yucca Mountain up to the standard needed to safely store the wastes that the US produces earmarked for the site. It's a potemkin nuclear waste dump and an insult to all the generations of people who'll live in the region for the next 10,000 years who will have to deal with the consequences of the failure to make any serious efforts to bring the dump up to scratch.
fasquardon
A Fukushima-type of accident is still possible, where disaster or accident so disables the plant that it becomes impossible to cool the reactor. I'd imagine that the VVER will probably make similar mistakes as the second-gen US PWR and BWR designs and so be vulnerable in the same ways. This is ultimately an industrial safety issue and the same sorts of things certainly will happen in dozens of other places in the USSR, it's just more dramatic in an nuclear plant.
- Location
- The great frozen north
Probably a better plan than mine, good to to the expensive medical modernization early on. I realize I probably focus a little too much on getting completion chances high. Still a little nervous about making Soviet fast food, but I suppose it can't become a huge problem unless we roll a nat 1.
As for nuclear plants, that 5 year lead time is gonna sting. But we'll have to suck it up. Dice-wise having a bunch of HI dice locked into autonuke wont hurt I think- after this plan we probably won't be doing large HI expansions for a bit, and we've got 8 base dice. But I worry about the way it'll leave us with 5 years of resources being burnt for 'nothing' since they're pretty tight and there were hints we'll have spending ramped down on the next plan or two. Still, we have to go for it. If we want it to fully replace fossil fuels we'll need to get say 75 power per turn from nuclear, probably gonna be a while before we get there.
Speaking of dice, the automated education buildup is probably going to complete a stage of economics institutes soon. Which, if it has the same mechanics as when it was done manually, will make us roll to either lose two dice in a category, or get some political chaos on. Time to brace.
Also, for possible omake purposes: Does anyone remember what Voznesensky's job was before Stalin died and Mik made him HI minister with promise of being Malenkov's heir?
Turn 63 (January 1st, 1959 - July 1st, 1959): Peoples Struggle Results
- Location
- The United States
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Turn 63 (January 1st, 1959 - July 1st, 1959): Peoples Struggle Results
Internal Politics
Current interior politics have grown considerably less stable with a series of revelations that were likely either preemptively planned and planted by Kosygin or Barsukov had a temporary liquor-induced deficiency, making enemies of large portions of the party. Papers collected from the published economic reports have been presented to the Supreme Soviet to demonstrate issues in the party, with large networks of patronage noticed at all levels along with a massive amount of preferential dealings inside of the apparatus. Effective fixation of student placement was expected at some level, but the sheer extent of the issue was far larger than expected. Price levels have been found to have been fixed between large enterprises, and direct party involvement in the private and state sectors has also effectively been connected with lists of names. In the other areas of the state, Kosygin has furthered this declaration by presenting a list of letters, naming a number of irrelevant local officials, and pontificating at length on the necessity of party discipline.
Despite the damning evidence presented, the first panic that the Supreme Soviet engaged in was impractical towards doing anything, leaving the body split between arguing at length and discussing the dire implications of the population discovering anything about the issue. An immediate motion by one of Dudrov's allies to promote Dudrov to the post of Minister of Interior aired covertly, with a narrow defeat of the motion on the actual floor rather than through typical backroom dealings. Kosygin himself actively joined the debate and managed to at least direct it to moderately more productive ends. The initial action on the part of the party central committee has started to review the cases of those directly implicated in blatant corruption, with a high number of university academics set to go through the system. With a narrow margin of backroom agreement, an immediate vote towards the reformation of the Control Committee as an organ of the Central Committee has passed at all levels.
Days following the crisis, a number of essential perfunctory votes were performed, eliminating Dudrov's authority for investigation and transferring anything outside of a purely historic role to the Control Committee, confining the nature of Stalin to an internal party maner. Proposals to start bringing in new and better-educated workers have also finally reached the backroom support to be tabled and voted on, with all motions passing. Active party recruitment is expected to start through a planned massive expansion of the Komsomol and formalization of procedures for anyone to join the party at a low level for any student that can pass several necessary tests while maintaining an acceptable social history. The ministry system overall is expected to be impacted the most, as some older posts have emptied.
Replacements are, in theory, expected to come from the more junior members. Assuming no further revelations are extracted, the expected expulsions fall towards far older personnel, with the vast majority entering the overall governance of the state in the Stalin era. Predictably, as he is the easiest target to blame, Stalin received most of the blame, with secondary fault falling onto Malenkov for failing to act decisively. The current wave of investigations is likely to sweep through at least twenty members of the central committee and a massive number of local cadres. Work is expected to be spearheaded between Barsukov and Garbuzov, followed by a considerable degree of assistance from within the Ministry of Interior.
Actual retirements will be few in number relative to those investigated, with likely a tiny portion receiving criminal charges. Still, the current panic in the party has at least had a beneficial effect in taking attention off several internal ministry matters and towards higher-level corruption in political organs. Over the next few years, it is expected that independent investigations will intensify across the state sector. Assuming a moderate degree of problems in the ministry itself and that no other large amounts of information is revealed, our capacity to act is expected to moderately decrease along with several posts going to suboptimal personnel, degrading overall capacity. Recruitment drives as a ministry structure and the direct targeting of university students for respectable careers have already been proposed, but implementation hasn't yet started.
On a net effect, the recent political reorganization is expected to benefit Kosygin the most as he has effectively consolidated control over each organ with the practical removal of any vestiges of power the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet had. The radicals on both ends of the spectrum have also benefited, with Podgorny and Kleshchev even managing to tolerate agreeing with each other for long enough to decry corruption. Both sides' solutions are radically different, but the overall theme is the same general goal of intensive party investigation. Kleshchev got his win by depowering the investigative committee; even Podgorny's embattled party recruitment proposals have been partially implemented. It's uncertain how long the cooperation between the two will last, but they are now a sufficient block to be politically relevant and, in theory, capable of pushing through a limited degree of legislation while working entirely around Kosygin, assuming a degree of cooperation.
MNKh Investigation Stance:
[]Evade: The investigation will come for the ministry, and the only way to ensure that nothing too untoward comes up inside the essential cadre is to maintain a unified front. A few of the worst examples will be sent out, but everyone that can be will instead argue for a lower sentence while the investigations are dragged out, ensuring that the managers can internalize who they owe their positions to properly.
[]Equivocate: Acting the part of the politician that wants to be sure before accusing anyone and mixing in a few reminders of the Stalinist era should be enough cover for any caution. Instead of actively hindering investigations, the only point of the maneuver is to make an effort slow and inconvenient at every level, ensuring that most will have enough time to be encouraged into retirement without too much fuss, keeping their pensions in exchange for knowing when to give up.
[]Form Suspects: It is entirely clear to anyone with eyes that a number of managers are entirely guilty of every accusation and likely dozens more. They can, however, still be useful despite their problematic behavior. By holding up the worst cases early and voluntarily, it should be easy to justify most of the work being done with a minimum impact. Plus, the targeting of specific high-level personnel will do a lot to get the ministry in line and scrambling as the breakups are intensified under the guise of anti-corruption.
[]Act Decisively: Corruption has been found to be all over the place and too consistent for a small effort. Instead of waiting for the control committee to sort out its investigations, a call-up of any implicated member can be done internally. By subjecting them to a prolonged questioning and review session, their guilt can be determined individually and before anyone outside the ministry can act. These investigations may cause some issues, but an internal review is a perfect cover for dramatic and rapid reorganizations.
Voz's Stance in the Supreme Soviet:
[]Act like a Firebrand: Every letter and every speech must be made decrying the corruption inherent in the departure from correct party politics and management. Placing the blame on everyone immediately noticed in the initial reports, a hardline stance can be kept up. This will not be popular amongst the delegates, but by presenting the ministry as hard on corruption, many political impacts can be minimized. The core assumption would be that the causes of a strict anti-corruption course remain popular going into the next election, as if the tides change, it wouldn't help to be labeled a radical for nothing.
[]Start Accusing: Pointing fingers at those who are obviously corrupt and putting everything into attacking them is inherently the least risky option. They are almost certainly going to be asked to retire anyway, and pose a minimal risk of being able to say anything back. Sure, a few delegates may be personally offended, but as long as none remain in their posts and targets are carefully selected and prepared, there should be no negative consequences.
[]Stay Passive: Continuing to run the government as a responsible minister and member of the Supreme Soviet may not get a massive amount of praise, but it would be the most expected outcome. Keeping to this stance also means not taking a side in the debates and keeping things running. Overall, great for furthering the current structure and almost certainly the least impactful.
[]Exploit Podgorny and Kleshchev: The alliance of the radicals is a tempting option for the displacement of the current General Secretary through a combined vote of the Supreme Soviet. This wouldn't be the most stable of groupings, but with properly informed guidance, it can at least last long enough for someone appropriately mild to be found and crammed into the seat, with most of the powers being divided in the act of collective leadership. Both should be amenable, they could even maintain their public lines while upholding the principles of democratic centralism to implement policy.
Infrastructure
Secondary City Metro Lines(Stage 4): The development of further metro systems under the expanding industrial city of Dnepropetrovsk are a logical next stage in construction. This will be accompanied by several programs towards constructing a dedicated metro system under both Baku and Tbilisi, ensuring that the growing cities can efficiently transport personnel and further increase local worker throughput. Improvements made here will also serve as a model for the modernization of the core metros in the larger urban centers, ensuring a continued increase in transport efficiency. (172/150 Stage 4 Completed) (22/150 Stage 5) (-3 Electricity) (Pork Project)
The development of metros across the major urban zones has been entirely funded and started in construction. All three are planned to be constructed in a typical triangular scheme utilizing spare capacity freed up from initial efforts for other cities. Large-scale construction is expected to continue for almost half a decade for most of the locations, though initial progress has been rapid. After it is completed, high-productivity worker time can be further optimized towards labor rather than the tasks that are regrettably necessary in support of labor.
Passenger Rail Network(Western SU): Electrification is a fundamental improvement in the transportation of personnel at high speeds, as diesel locomotives are not properly optimized to run at such a pace. Utilizing a number of innovations in rectification and localized drives for passenger units, it is possible to provide similar or better speeds across the HSR network. These new units will require a large-scale modernization and be limited to just serving passengers, but as there is already a network specializing in the task, this optimization is more a question of specialized production. Electrification of the track itself will be done according to a 25kV AC catenary scheme, allowing a reduction in power loss across the vastness of the Union. (75 Resources per Dice 1359/2250)
Further construction towards the outer connections from Kiev to Riga and headed through Minsk have started construction along with the simultaneous electrification of the critical Leningrad-Moscow line. Work around the larger project has occurred in small areas, focusing on expanding station capacities at typically expected low throughput stations. Curiously, the populations there have taken to commuting on the train into Moscow and Leningrad in significant quantities. Due to this, a number of further projects have been proposed in order to further improve the rate of commuters and increase the availability of labor for major urban centers. Limitations in high-demand urban residences have likely further enlarged these numbers, driving a far faster than the expected movement of people toward the smaller urban zones around Moscow and Leningrad.
"Have you ever wanted to visit Leningrad but have never had the time or money? The new High-speed electric train can get you there in less than five hours! You have heard that right, five hours to get to Leningrad from Leningradsky Station. You can get a ticket at any rail station, above or underground! Come to your next vacation destination, look at the historic sites, or even travel to do business; what are you waiting for?" State Announcement of Moscow-Leningrad Line Opening, notable for having a televised component.
Construction of the Paved Road Network(Stage 5): Roads are a critical component of practically all local travel and most broader regional initiatives. To help ongoing development and assist the broader infrastructural network of the Union, the drive towards the construction of paved two-lane regional roads can continue. These routes are not expected to be of particularly high speed or quality, but their mere presence will open millions to new products and practically enable an entire base of small industries and consumers. Their construction will also assist in the further integration of the countryside by improving the rate of inter-relations between it and urban centers. (60 Resources per Dice 607/800)
Further development of road systems has occurred in the Western areas, with a continued emphasis on long-distance, regional roads. Construction of newly paved roads has been delayed by the need for climactic-induced repaving efforts, but nonetheless, it should soon be possible to entirely inter-link most major population concentrations with efficient transit assets. Most traffic on the network is expected to go from the small towns, but the advantages of linking major urban centers for even vehicle transport cannot be underestimated. Several private interests have also taken up the task of transporting small quantities of goods away from railway yards, enhancing the overall effect of the project.
Water Distribution Systems(Stage 5): Restarting the overall water effort now that there is a sufficient degree of electricity, the greatest priority has become the supply of clean water to rural homes rather than any form of sewage. Statistically speaking, the use of periodically drained pits for the storage of sewage is a far lesser concern than the utilization of water from wells located near these pits in permeable soils. To that end, the current initiative and the far broader next one will primarily focus on the construction of a massive network of water transportation infrastructure and water storage infrastructure, providing millions with reliable pressurized water. (448/400 Stage 5 Completed) (48/500 Stage 6) (-9 CI1 Electricity)
The development of further initiatives toward the supply of water in the countryside has succeeded beyond initial expectations. With a steady supply of clean water, more local initiatives have taken up the burden of linking into the overall system, ensuring minimal spending and the local funds used for the project. A continued effort towards improving accessibility has already been started with pressurization improved and the underground piping expanded. Urban water supplies have started modernizing with new equipment, ideally lowering per-capita costs for sustaining the general population.
Expansion of the Unified Grid(Stage 5): Now that power use is steadily climbing across the entire Union, further initiatives towards hardening and expanding the grid are necessary. There is still an acceptable margin of time for them to be initiated, but construction should be continued in order to ensure a smooth overall development of the grid system. The planned expansions so far involve the broadening of local connections along with the preparation of several dedicated sites for the construction of power plants. (497+10 Omake/500) (Completed)
Finalizing the massive grid project has ensured that the overall regional grids have been completed and partially integrated into super regional power systems. In Berlin, a standardization and synchronicity agreement has been created, with a full grid synchronization across the overall Warsaw Pact set to occur in the next few years. This will only synchronize with the European and Ural domestic grid, but it will ensure that power can finally be exchanged, if inefficiently and at a small scale. Further developments will involve the synchronization of the broader Siberian and Far East grids, following a drive towards ensuring that every power system in the nation can be interlinked, ensuring easy bridging.
Construction of the cross-Comecon unified power system was formalized by creating an International Central Dispatching Office(CDU) in Warsaw. 240kv linkages are expected to be constructed through all of CMEA, with full synchronization down to the Greek grid expected to occur before the end of the decade. A triumph of socialism can be seen in the cooperation and unified effort in the construction of the largest unified electric grid in the World. Further construction is only expected to make this difference even greater as the economies of Comecon continue to outspeed their capitalist counterparts. -Excerpt in Exported Engineering Textbook on the Mir Energy System(MES)
Heavy Industry
Taganrog Metallurgical Plant Expansion: Intensification of steelwork on the critical river estuary will serve to further increase the availability of domestic steel while offering an easy route toward the processing of imported Iron. New converters, harbor facilities, and a massive expansion in the plant will serve to save on the workforce and ensure a continued degree of development. A moderate number of infrastructural and extractive links will have to be constructed to ensure a steady flow of material at the necessary expanded capacity, but overall work is expected to be far easier than modernizing almost any other dedicated plants. (100 Resources per Dice 116/150)
Most efforts relative to Taganrog have occurred in the plant's converters, with new designs brought in and installed. The furnaces themselves have also been significantly changed over to improve the efficiency of production. It is expected that the actual construction of the plant will take more funding, as it is necessary to reconstruct a massive number of local facilities for the plant to meet modern standards. Further improvements have also been made in the logistics around the plant, with space for modern locomotives built out and expanded, ensuring a steady flow of material. Current projections expect that the project can be completed with just a bit more funding, ensuring a steady increase in steel production.
Coal Power Plants: Plans for the production of additional power have necessitated an emergency construction of coal facilities despite their inherent inefficiency. Several planned plants are set to be built near industrial sites as a temporary measure to stabilize the grid for industrial modernizations and ensure that it is not unduly disrupted by anything. Practical standardized designs from the last lot of plants will be revived and modernized, ensuring that they are more than capable of producing the necessary electrical supply. Some losses in power efficiency will be inherent due to the poor efficiency of coal systems, but such inefficiencies are tragically inherent to the fuel. (263/200) (Completed) (63/200 carryover) (-20RpT) (65C8 Electricity -20CI4 Coal -3CI1 Workforce)
Power shortages brought on by both economic growth and further intensification in a number of areas have been met with the rushed construction of further coal power. These plants represent a notable drop in efficiency as they cannot use any form of combined cycle combustion, limiting yields. Still, the continued import of Polish coal and steady improvement in domestic coal production has at least ensured that German brown coal could be mostly avoided. Construction is set to be completed over the next few months, with the power going to the grid in order to secure a number of critical industrial expansions, continuing the steady growth of the economy.
New Automotive Plants Ulyanovsk: More automotive production has practically been a direct translation towards growth in the export balance and domestic economic growth. Automobiles form a consumer product that the unique advantages of the Union further enhance the production of, enabling the planned massive steel surplus to go towards productive ends and workers across CMEA. By developing each of these plants, a genuinely wide selection of automobiles can be presented to every worker in the Union, allowing them to have a degree of choice and hopefully eventually lowering prices and profitability ratios to a reasonable level. (Ulyanovsk 226/225) (-24 CI2 Steel -11 CI2 Electricity -6 CI1 Workforce)
Dedicated models of novel automobiles are a critical segment for both domestic and foreign consumption. The new plant has been practically constructed around a discrete development team specialized in 4x4 chassis, with a planned model of a light cab-over planned for mass production and several state purchasers. Improvements in production methodologies have also further automated the production line, as while it is not yet built, it should greatly improve labor productivity at all levels. Primary consumptive sectors for the plant are expected to be government services, with specialized models designed for every application, replacing the wartime-era trucks pressed into improvised service as light cargo haulers.
Development of the ZIL Automotive Plant: The recently renamed Likhachov plant has long served to produce vehicles for the party, and it is time to expand it further. The pressing market for higher-end automobiles for both domestic consumption and export has so far been underutilized, and it is time for it to be properly established. By producing a sports car along with a number of sportier modernizations of conventional products, a high markup good can be made for domestic and foreign utilization. A number of models will also go towards a recreational workers' racing league, with a severe limitation on budgets and personnel, eliminating the bourgeois character of the sport. (80 Resources per Dice 142/200)
Further developments in sports vehicles have coincided with improvements in engine and chassis technologies. Unibody production methods pioneered in other plants have been adapted and scaled up towards industrial scales while also incorporating a standardized aerodynamics testing system. The goal of the program itself, though, is to produce a low-cost sports car capable of displacing others in both foreign and domestic markets, ensuring that low-cost further modifications can be made to improve performance. Engine development has been steadily shifted to V configurations, along with an improvement in overhead cam systems for additional power. Overall, costs per car are expected to be higher than conventional models, but the new cars should be able to easily compete with a number of Western European and American models.
Bus Plants(Riga/Lviv): Demand for buses across urban transportation is as dire as ever, as every size is needed to ensure that workers can be transported to their jobs and towards commercial zones. The proposed plant is expected to fill the demand for light buses and several models of lighter service vehicles. Still, as it and its previously constructed sister plant accelerate production, it should be more than possible to catch up with the current shortfalls. (Lviv 223+10 Omake/225) (Completed) (-25 CI2 Steel -10 CI2 Electricity -6 CI1 Workforce)
The finalization of the Lviv bus plants has been celebrated as the delays in construction have finally been pushed through in a decisive effort. The production of a massive series of mid-size buses is already expected to occur as the machinery has been moved in and a design standardized. Effectively based on a bed of a medium truck with a bus cabin placed on top of it, the new vehicle is expected to become a standard of urban transportation. Production backorders are massive and severe, with a considerable price premium thanks to the need for urban public transit, but the first steps of improvement have been completed. As production spools up in the next few years, standards are expected to further improve with several export opportunities already in negotiations.
Rocketry
Unify the overall Program: Now that the political firestorm has died down and Glushko has put his mind towards moving rocketry forward, he can be trusted with a degree of control. This will move him to be the formal leader of the entire initiative, ensuring that he can decisively end every argument in the lower bureaus and do what must be done in order to meet targets. In practice, the program itself will take on the role of a discrete enterprise system, combining the massive number of technical and scientific personnel under ostensibly one leadership structure. Glushko himself will thus be provided with a proper degree of scrutiny, ensuring that he will perform his job. (76) (Reduces Delay Chance) (Puts Glushko in Charge)
All resources in the ministry space program have now been consolidated under the scheme of OKB-1, with all engineering and production expertise formally moved under a single enterprise. This is expected to significantly streamline the overall program as assets are moved together and brought up to the same standards. Already, parallel leadership structures have been reduced, and engineers have been sectioned into discrete projects in order to improve the efficiency of design. Production enterprises have also formed their own branch of the structure, integrating the command so as to ensure a rapid cybernetic system can be maintained between all elements, further improving capabilities. These re-organizations are not expected to come without a degree of disruption, but once completed it should be possible to coordinate projects without any personality conflicts or excessive political intervention.
Modernization to the R7U Carrier: Extracting the designs from the army bureaus will be a challenge due to questions of cooperation, but the technologies inherent in the updated launcher are not that significant of a changeover. New engines have been designed primarily by core bureaus that stayed with the civilian side in the split and outside the structural-internal changes the design is entirely replicable on old tooling. The project itself will focus on the expansion of production capabilities for theoretical closed cycle hypergolic engines that are in development but technologically immature. Assuming that the engine specialized enterprises solve the issue before the rejects that Yangel has gathered, offering the designs could even serve as an excellent olive branch. (20) (Expected Project Cost 5RpT)
Due to a number of personality conflicts, it appears that the army has taken their program entirely independently of the civilian launch authorities, preferring internal engine designs instead of proper ones. This has regrettably led to a number of delays in both replication and manufacturing, but as the RLA is expected to overcome every technical aspect of their program, this isn't a major issue. Once Yangel completes his design with his own engine designs, assuming elementary mistakes are avoided he can hopefully design something functional. Manufacturing cooperation has thankfully been assured, even if the design itself is independent, with the program cost coming primarily from the refits to old equipment.
Venera Program: Starting a long range program on the basis of the R7U design, it should be possible to send a bit more than a ton in a combined package. First a flyby satellite will be sent, then as a lighter orbital satellite, and then a dual-unit system to enable a single dive into the atmosphere for close analysis of the layers with a number of scientific variations created to ensure redundancy. Optimistically the program is expected to finish out by the middle of the next decade, providing a considerable yield of scientific data and meeting a number of exploration goals. (75) (Project Cost 10RpT)
The January 1961 window for the launch of a Venus mission is perfectly placed for one of the first few flights of the R7U. While the booster itself will be relatively untested the opportunity for the launch of a moderate-weight system toward Venus cannot be ignored. Per the plan, an almost one-ton probe will be launched with camera instrumentation and a number of instruments in order to determine the status of space outside the earth's orbitals. A number of power redundancy components will be built in and integrated around the RTG generation system, as the journey is expected to be a challenge in a number of technical aspects. The odds are not great that everything will work perfectly on the first try, but the prestige of an interplanetary flight is more than worth it.
Mars Program: Similar to the Venera program, the Mars one involves a number of similar technologies with the primary challenge of distance. RTG based power systems will have to be used to last through the entire window while also necessitating a degree of electronics improvements in order to endure space conditions. If the project is undertaken now, it is expected that a simple flyby will occur in short order, but further steps will take a considerable amount of time due to the transit distance and the expected challenges of the planet's thin atmosphere. (53) (Project Cost 10RpT)
The fundamental development of a probe capable of performing a flyby operation of Mars is a challenge complicated by the sheer distance and duration of orbital travel. The major challenge in this application is the necessity of electronics being maintained in a pressurized vessel despite engineering efforts around it. The October 1960 window is in theory, possible with a very light craft as the R7U isn't expected to be entirely ready, but even then, a launch would be questionable. Actual efforts towards a launch in November of 1962 are far more practical, but given the sheer amount of time, we may be better served by ensuring that something is launched earlier, for the first achievement, if nothing else.
[]Rushed Minimal Probe: Constructing a fast-to-build minimal functionality probe capable of being launched by an extended quad-core R7M with its own stage for a transfer burn is in theory, possible. This probe would only weigh a few dozen kilograms and would barely be able to report much information back, but a few grainy images along with several EM readings is still far more than the Americans would be able to do. (60% Chance of Failure) (Program until 1961)
[]Focus on the 1962 Window: Getting a complete orbital probe designed for an R7U launch along with a developed power bus would be the safest option if the least ambitious. The goal of the program would involve the construction of a large orbital probe with a sufficient quantity of propellant for course corrections in flight, ensuring an accurate approach. The main test here would be of the probe bus itself, as the first vacuum-rated electronics would be pioneered along with a number of novel technologies for sourcing power. Several decent-quality images are expected along with a degree of atmospheric observations, providing data for further exploration. (40% Chance of Failure) (Program until 1963)
[]Impactor-Flyby Pair in 1962: Technically advanced, but nothing prevents the construction of a combined impactor and flyby system. The technology for both systems is there through the reduction of a number of features in the flyby bus. This would be compact and could partially fail, but the achievement of both an impactor and a space-based flyby will ensure that a wealth of information is retrieved. More likely to fail from the increased technological demands and more expensive, but also likely to push understanding far further. (50% Chance of Failure) (+5 RpT Program Cost) (Program until 1963)
Light and Chemical Industry
Pre-Caspian Petroleum Basin Exploitation(Stage 1): With the recent development of rail infrastructure around the Guryev rail hub, the development of the local oil basin is only rational. This basin is capable of both gas and oil production and is relatively local to the proposed refinery complex, offering lighter oil fractions instead of the fairly heavy crude of the northern basins. Efforts here already have the infrastructure to support them and would enable a considerable increase in the production of relevant fuel fractions with minimal cracking. (30 Resources per Dice 37/100)
Field development of the Pre-Caspian Basin has occurred at a steady pace, with worker housing set up along with a tentative local piping network. Current plans indicate a large basin to be exploited for both gas and oil, with early yields expected to be primarily oil based as the gas is set to be utilized to ease oil harvesting. Further efforts will steadily extract some of the gas from the deposits, with far more coming over time as hydro flooding becomes necessary for the optimized recovery of material. Further funding is necessary to even set up for the proper exploitation of the field, but the initial infrastructure for the task is now ready.
Samara Refinery Complex(Stage 1): With the planned location of both of the oil fields, a centralized refinery complex is both sensible and optimal. This complex is planned to be located in Samara, as it provides a centralized location that can easily link into any of the rail networks and is near a number of junctions in the overall pipeline network. The technology that will go into the facility will likely not be the best available, but it should be functional and reliable. (243/150 Stage 1 Complete) (93/100 Stage 2) (-15 CI1 Electricity -5 CI1 Workforce) (Supports Stage 1 Pre-Caspian and Volga-Ural 2 Gas Projects When done with both)
The rapid buildup of Samara has proceeded according to the initial plans, with entire petrochemical complexes constructed out of almost nothing. The demand for newer cracking equipment to be installed in the plants has caused a number of delays, but brave Soviet workers have managed to overcome them. With the first stage of the overall project already reaching completion, the further expansion of the refining plants has already started, though a bit slower. In the next year, it is expected that the facility will start refining its first petroleum into a usable fraction of fuel, supporting the further development of more oil-based power projects and a massive number of automotive works.
Oil Cracking Plants: Modernizations to the industrial infrastructure for the petrochemical industry initiated under Malenkov have had several beneficial results in the quality of proposals. Instead of practically repeating the old systems that were constructed during the war, new fluid catalytic cracking units can be built, driving efficiency to previously unheard-of levels. This unit will enable a far more complete recovery of the current petrochemical production while also ensuring that a steady improvement in the overall quality of fuel can occur. While not a true removal of lead from utilization in automobile fuel, the favorable composition of gasoline enhanced with cracking products will increase base octane, cutting down lead use significantly. (75 Resources per Dice 342/400)
Despite the focused effort on improving the structure of oil cracking, the degree of novel technological implementation has slowed the overall effort. The sudden demand for massive catalytic units with mobile beds and a number of larger chambers for the processing of mass quantities of heavy oil products have been slow to build. Still, a number of processing complexes have already had their foundation poured and been half constructed in a short effort. Production isn't expected to actually start for the better part of a year even if a sufficient degree of funding is allocated, but given the scale of a project, this is expected. Lead use is expected to decline to almost half as base octanes are expected to increase significantly as a larger fraction of conventional fuel can consist of shorter alkane chains and aromatics.
Luxury Goods Initiatives(Stage 2): Previous initiatives towards improving the availability of luxury products have already managed to secure a position of high demand. By further increasing productive throughput and constructing a number of further plants under similar schemes, further goods can be supplied domestically and abroad. Saturation for the basic market isn't expected to occur for a time, but more production can only help with trade balances and further development. Cosmetics can be made at a larger chemical-industrial scale, while the developments in NC milling can be applied into a number of specialty precision applications, exceeding the work of artisans for far cheaper. (213/150) (Stage 2 Completed) (63/200 Stage 3) (-8 CI3 Electricity -4 CI1 Workforce)
Watch and cosmetic production has been massively expanded along the previous design scheme, with almost two dozen new enterprises founded for the dedicated production of several goods. Partnerships with Western cosmetics firms have also been embraced in order to reduce the dependence on direct imports, ensuring local sourcing with similar branding and the domestication of the entire production loop. Industrialization in these areas has been accompanied by the application of modern tooling to the production of watches and other hand devices, improving precision and quality while reducing the necessity of professional labor. Already, it is expected that the watch supply will shift towards being entirely domestic as all but the most premium products are displaced by low-cost mid-quality domestic production.
Agriculture 5 Dice
Agricultural Infrastructural Development: Fundamentally, settlement follows infrastructure, and to that end, a series of discrete infrastructural efforts must be undertaken. The development of a double-tracked line South of the Trans-Siberian railroad, followed by a line from Kuzbass to Omsk. These linkages will ensure a steady increase in goods transported, all while providing thousands with access to cheaper goods from the factories in the West. (60 Resources per Dice 230/250)
Construction of the massive lines near the Kuzbass deposits and through Altai has proceeded at a rapid pace. Utilizing surplus non-electrified track equipment that has been diverted from other efforts, the project has practically been completed in a short period. Construction is still underway from both ends of the line, but in the next few months with just a bit of funding, it should be possible to bypass the central trans-siberian line through Kazakhstan, improving coal throughput and minimizing loadings for the central line segment, ensuring trains from the Far East have a far more flexible scheduling table. The increased presence of refrigerated carts is also expected to further improve access to vegetables across the Union as Virgin Lands products are exported en masse.
Housing Expansions: The previous proposal for the development of new cities has some merit, but its approach is suboptimal in the extreme. Instead of completely rebuilding areas so as to bring them into modernity, the core services can be constructed in town centers along with a series of medium-density residences. These will subsequently ensure that the population will slowly be pulled towards them due to the greater efficiency of services, enabling all forms of enterprise to further utilize these workers, ensuring a steady degree of economic growth. (45 Resources per Dice 141/285)
Standardized housing in a three-story scheme has been constructed in parallel with the mainline housing effort. In rural areas, these combined housing units capable of providing sufficient living quality have been rapidly populated. Instead of workers staying in conventional semi-rural homes, they are instead consolidated into tighter quarters, further improving housing and service efficiency. Already, the plan for these mid-density units involves the nucleation of new community centers and commercial neighborhoods at growing rural centers, ideally forming a number of small towns in the long term. Continued initiatives will further accelerate construction projects, ensuring that the rural renovation effort can be less over-loaded through reliance on new construction.
Services
Streetside Retail Integration: Small scale sales were a conventional and mostly ignored practice during the Mikoyan era, but as the retail sector has grown, there is now a need to adequately tax them. By forming the legislative environment necessary for the extraction of wealth and regulation of small retail businesses and ensuring that they can be integrated into urban planning zones, they can be optimally utilized to supply the proletariat with money and goods. Zones for renting out state property to enterprises will be established on a local level and left to the designation of local Soviets, ensuring that they can take responsibility for the development of communities, necessitating just a small degree of initial investments. (180/150) (Completed) (-16 CI2 Workforce)
Further construction of additional workspaces along with the rationalization of private-sector interactions, has served to yield a considerable degree of funds for the state. Through the marketized renting of commercial spaces underneath next-generation apartments, a significant yield of money from the private commercial sector has been effectively enabled. These have been accompanied by moderate turnover taxes for businesses that involve a degree of processing along standardized VAT lines, ensuring a further yield in revenue. Overall, the renting of spaces has already started a rapid transfer of enterprises from discrete stands to proper spaces, improving population supply efficiency and ensuring an easy eventual consolidation of various outdoor markets.
Bureaucracy
Elevate Political Allies: With the dramatic reorganization of the Politburo and Central Committee a number of older positions have been threatened. While some may disapprove over further disruptions to party structures, an opportunity is present to elevate a number of properly educated personnel to several critical internal party posts. Fundamentally, this will not do a massive amount towards changing the structure of the party itself, but the more personnel capable of doing basic math that are elevated, the fewer idiotic decisions will be made by the party. (13) (Internal Reform)
Recent political shakeups have rendered a number of candidates too politically toxic to have any chance of promotion. Replacements have been rapidly obtained from other ministries, but nothing worked to actually ensure that the correct choices were made. Instead, a mess of radicals insistent on striking at invisible corruption has been pushed forward into a number of essential bureau-level posts. The situation is too uncertain about finding if gains were made or even who exactly will go down from the investigations outside of the obvious suspects. Rapid sweeping of posts should at least have the result of far more educated university students with perspective moving into the party, ensuring a far more scientific lean over time.
Partial Cybernetic Implementation: The utilization of the inherent cybernetic mechanism in the modern planning system must be further extended and augmented. Cybernetic systems and metrics can be further prioritized in the conventional planning structure, enabling a faster and less dramatic change in fortunes across several enterprises. By utilizing a far shorter period of evaluation than the current plan-associated mechanism and combining the required financial reports with it, significant issues can be addressed before something along the lines of the current crisis occurs. (31) (Internal Reform)
The formal change towards using quarterly reports for the analysis of enterprise metrics rather than long-term reviews has revealed a degree of instability, but an acceptable one. Through looking at trends in the revenues over the course of a year and acting at a far finer degree of control cybernetically ensuring enterprise development and success. These trends and financial reports have been steadily compiled into sectoral and further economic data, lengthening the time needed to act on the information but greatly improving its quantity. A dedicated drive towards improving the response time can be a later matter when personnel shortages are less significant of an issue, but it is expected that anything like the last crisis can be prevented with prudent action.
Determine Coalitional Alignments: The current supreme Soviet may have just been re-seated, but already the closed-door debates have intensified. By taking time to personally discuss with several influential bureaus and members, it should be possible to obtain a general idea of the exact state of the various blocks present. The current poorly organized diaspora will only ensure that the ministry cannot operate with a proper idea for political margin, limiting capabilities at all levels. (49) (Updated for Pre-Crisis only)
Supreme Soviet Updated 1959H1 (Listed by Delegates, Unity, and Degree of Support) (None<Poor<Decent<Acceptable<Good<Excellent)
Podgorny's Faction: Around 100, Acceptable, Poor
Aristov's Faction: Around 40, Decent, None
Kosygin's Faction: Around 640, Good, Acceptable (Governing Coalition)
Voznesesnky's Faction: Around 190, Good, Excellent (Governing Coalition)
Shepilov's Faction: Around 430, Acceptable, Acceptable
Saburov's Faction: Around 140, Decent, Poor
Kleshchev's Faction: Around 40, Poor, None
24-Hour Moratorium (Apologies for any mistakes/bad English, large portions of this were written while on painkillers.)
Internal Politics
Current interior politics have grown considerably less stable with a series of revelations that were likely either preemptively planned and planted by Kosygin or Barsukov had a temporary liquor-induced deficiency, making enemies of large portions of the party. Papers collected from the published economic reports have been presented to the Supreme Soviet to demonstrate issues in the party, with large networks of patronage noticed at all levels along with a massive amount of preferential dealings inside of the apparatus. Effective fixation of student placement was expected at some level, but the sheer extent of the issue was far larger than expected. Price levels have been found to have been fixed between large enterprises, and direct party involvement in the private and state sectors has also effectively been connected with lists of names. In the other areas of the state, Kosygin has furthered this declaration by presenting a list of letters, naming a number of irrelevant local officials, and pontificating at length on the necessity of party discipline.
Despite the damning evidence presented, the first panic that the Supreme Soviet engaged in was impractical towards doing anything, leaving the body split between arguing at length and discussing the dire implications of the population discovering anything about the issue. An immediate motion by one of Dudrov's allies to promote Dudrov to the post of Minister of Interior aired covertly, with a narrow defeat of the motion on the actual floor rather than through typical backroom dealings. Kosygin himself actively joined the debate and managed to at least direct it to moderately more productive ends. The initial action on the part of the party central committee has started to review the cases of those directly implicated in blatant corruption, with a high number of university academics set to go through the system. With a narrow margin of backroom agreement, an immediate vote towards the reformation of the Control Committee as an organ of the Central Committee has passed at all levels.
Days following the crisis, a number of essential perfunctory votes were performed, eliminating Dudrov's authority for investigation and transferring anything outside of a purely historic role to the Control Committee, confining the nature of Stalin to an internal party maner. Proposals to start bringing in new and better-educated workers have also finally reached the backroom support to be tabled and voted on, with all motions passing. Active party recruitment is expected to start through a planned massive expansion of the Komsomol and formalization of procedures for anyone to join the party at a low level for any student that can pass several necessary tests while maintaining an acceptable social history. The ministry system overall is expected to be impacted the most, as some older posts have emptied.
Replacements are, in theory, expected to come from the more junior members. Assuming no further revelations are extracted, the expected expulsions fall towards far older personnel, with the vast majority entering the overall governance of the state in the Stalin era. Predictably, as he is the easiest target to blame, Stalin received most of the blame, with secondary fault falling onto Malenkov for failing to act decisively. The current wave of investigations is likely to sweep through at least twenty members of the central committee and a massive number of local cadres. Work is expected to be spearheaded between Barsukov and Garbuzov, followed by a considerable degree of assistance from within the Ministry of Interior.
Actual retirements will be few in number relative to those investigated, with likely a tiny portion receiving criminal charges. Still, the current panic in the party has at least had a beneficial effect in taking attention off several internal ministry matters and towards higher-level corruption in political organs. Over the next few years, it is expected that independent investigations will intensify across the state sector. Assuming a moderate degree of problems in the ministry itself and that no other large amounts of information is revealed, our capacity to act is expected to moderately decrease along with several posts going to suboptimal personnel, degrading overall capacity. Recruitment drives as a ministry structure and the direct targeting of university students for respectable careers have already been proposed, but implementation hasn't yet started.
On a net effect, the recent political reorganization is expected to benefit Kosygin the most as he has effectively consolidated control over each organ with the practical removal of any vestiges of power the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet had. The radicals on both ends of the spectrum have also benefited, with Podgorny and Kleshchev even managing to tolerate agreeing with each other for long enough to decry corruption. Both sides' solutions are radically different, but the overall theme is the same general goal of intensive party investigation. Kleshchev got his win by depowering the investigative committee; even Podgorny's embattled party recruitment proposals have been partially implemented. It's uncertain how long the cooperation between the two will last, but they are now a sufficient block to be politically relevant and, in theory, capable of pushing through a limited degree of legislation while working entirely around Kosygin, assuming a degree of cooperation.
MNKh Investigation Stance:
[]Evade: The investigation will come for the ministry, and the only way to ensure that nothing too untoward comes up inside the essential cadre is to maintain a unified front. A few of the worst examples will be sent out, but everyone that can be will instead argue for a lower sentence while the investigations are dragged out, ensuring that the managers can internalize who they owe their positions to properly.
[]Equivocate: Acting the part of the politician that wants to be sure before accusing anyone and mixing in a few reminders of the Stalinist era should be enough cover for any caution. Instead of actively hindering investigations, the only point of the maneuver is to make an effort slow and inconvenient at every level, ensuring that most will have enough time to be encouraged into retirement without too much fuss, keeping their pensions in exchange for knowing when to give up.
[]Form Suspects: It is entirely clear to anyone with eyes that a number of managers are entirely guilty of every accusation and likely dozens more. They can, however, still be useful despite their problematic behavior. By holding up the worst cases early and voluntarily, it should be easy to justify most of the work being done with a minimum impact. Plus, the targeting of specific high-level personnel will do a lot to get the ministry in line and scrambling as the breakups are intensified under the guise of anti-corruption.
[]Act Decisively: Corruption has been found to be all over the place and too consistent for a small effort. Instead of waiting for the control committee to sort out its investigations, a call-up of any implicated member can be done internally. By subjecting them to a prolonged questioning and review session, their guilt can be determined individually and before anyone outside the ministry can act. These investigations may cause some issues, but an internal review is a perfect cover for dramatic and rapid reorganizations.
Voz's Stance in the Supreme Soviet:
[]Act like a Firebrand: Every letter and every speech must be made decrying the corruption inherent in the departure from correct party politics and management. Placing the blame on everyone immediately noticed in the initial reports, a hardline stance can be kept up. This will not be popular amongst the delegates, but by presenting the ministry as hard on corruption, many political impacts can be minimized. The core assumption would be that the causes of a strict anti-corruption course remain popular going into the next election, as if the tides change, it wouldn't help to be labeled a radical for nothing.
[]Start Accusing: Pointing fingers at those who are obviously corrupt and putting everything into attacking them is inherently the least risky option. They are almost certainly going to be asked to retire anyway, and pose a minimal risk of being able to say anything back. Sure, a few delegates may be personally offended, but as long as none remain in their posts and targets are carefully selected and prepared, there should be no negative consequences.
[]Stay Passive: Continuing to run the government as a responsible minister and member of the Supreme Soviet may not get a massive amount of praise, but it would be the most expected outcome. Keeping to this stance also means not taking a side in the debates and keeping things running. Overall, great for furthering the current structure and almost certainly the least impactful.
[]Exploit Podgorny and Kleshchev: The alliance of the radicals is a tempting option for the displacement of the current General Secretary through a combined vote of the Supreme Soviet. This wouldn't be the most stable of groupings, but with properly informed guidance, it can at least last long enough for someone appropriately mild to be found and crammed into the seat, with most of the powers being divided in the act of collective leadership. Both should be amenable, they could even maintain their public lines while upholding the principles of democratic centralism to implement policy.
Infrastructure
Secondary City Metro Lines(Stage 4): The development of further metro systems under the expanding industrial city of Dnepropetrovsk are a logical next stage in construction. This will be accompanied by several programs towards constructing a dedicated metro system under both Baku and Tbilisi, ensuring that the growing cities can efficiently transport personnel and further increase local worker throughput. Improvements made here will also serve as a model for the modernization of the core metros in the larger urban centers, ensuring a continued increase in transport efficiency. (172/150 Stage 4 Completed) (22/150 Stage 5) (-3 Electricity) (Pork Project)
The development of metros across the major urban zones has been entirely funded and started in construction. All three are planned to be constructed in a typical triangular scheme utilizing spare capacity freed up from initial efforts for other cities. Large-scale construction is expected to continue for almost half a decade for most of the locations, though initial progress has been rapid. After it is completed, high-productivity worker time can be further optimized towards labor rather than the tasks that are regrettably necessary in support of labor.
Passenger Rail Network(Western SU): Electrification is a fundamental improvement in the transportation of personnel at high speeds, as diesel locomotives are not properly optimized to run at such a pace. Utilizing a number of innovations in rectification and localized drives for passenger units, it is possible to provide similar or better speeds across the HSR network. These new units will require a large-scale modernization and be limited to just serving passengers, but as there is already a network specializing in the task, this optimization is more a question of specialized production. Electrification of the track itself will be done according to a 25kV AC catenary scheme, allowing a reduction in power loss across the vastness of the Union. (75 Resources per Dice 1359/2250)
Further construction towards the outer connections from Kiev to Riga and headed through Minsk have started construction along with the simultaneous electrification of the critical Leningrad-Moscow line. Work around the larger project has occurred in small areas, focusing on expanding station capacities at typically expected low throughput stations. Curiously, the populations there have taken to commuting on the train into Moscow and Leningrad in significant quantities. Due to this, a number of further projects have been proposed in order to further improve the rate of commuters and increase the availability of labor for major urban centers. Limitations in high-demand urban residences have likely further enlarged these numbers, driving a far faster than the expected movement of people toward the smaller urban zones around Moscow and Leningrad.
"Have you ever wanted to visit Leningrad but have never had the time or money? The new High-speed electric train can get you there in less than five hours! You have heard that right, five hours to get to Leningrad from Leningradsky Station. You can get a ticket at any rail station, above or underground! Come to your next vacation destination, look at the historic sites, or even travel to do business; what are you waiting for?" State Announcement of Moscow-Leningrad Line Opening, notable for having a televised component.
Construction of the Paved Road Network(Stage 5): Roads are a critical component of practically all local travel and most broader regional initiatives. To help ongoing development and assist the broader infrastructural network of the Union, the drive towards the construction of paved two-lane regional roads can continue. These routes are not expected to be of particularly high speed or quality, but their mere presence will open millions to new products and practically enable an entire base of small industries and consumers. Their construction will also assist in the further integration of the countryside by improving the rate of inter-relations between it and urban centers. (60 Resources per Dice 607/800)
Further development of road systems has occurred in the Western areas, with a continued emphasis on long-distance, regional roads. Construction of newly paved roads has been delayed by the need for climactic-induced repaving efforts, but nonetheless, it should soon be possible to entirely inter-link most major population concentrations with efficient transit assets. Most traffic on the network is expected to go from the small towns, but the advantages of linking major urban centers for even vehicle transport cannot be underestimated. Several private interests have also taken up the task of transporting small quantities of goods away from railway yards, enhancing the overall effect of the project.
Water Distribution Systems(Stage 5): Restarting the overall water effort now that there is a sufficient degree of electricity, the greatest priority has become the supply of clean water to rural homes rather than any form of sewage. Statistically speaking, the use of periodically drained pits for the storage of sewage is a far lesser concern than the utilization of water from wells located near these pits in permeable soils. To that end, the current initiative and the far broader next one will primarily focus on the construction of a massive network of water transportation infrastructure and water storage infrastructure, providing millions with reliable pressurized water. (448/400 Stage 5 Completed) (48/500 Stage 6) (-9 CI1 Electricity)
The development of further initiatives toward the supply of water in the countryside has succeeded beyond initial expectations. With a steady supply of clean water, more local initiatives have taken up the burden of linking into the overall system, ensuring minimal spending and the local funds used for the project. A continued effort towards improving accessibility has already been started with pressurization improved and the underground piping expanded. Urban water supplies have started modernizing with new equipment, ideally lowering per-capita costs for sustaining the general population.
Expansion of the Unified Grid(Stage 5): Now that power use is steadily climbing across the entire Union, further initiatives towards hardening and expanding the grid are necessary. There is still an acceptable margin of time for them to be initiated, but construction should be continued in order to ensure a smooth overall development of the grid system. The planned expansions so far involve the broadening of local connections along with the preparation of several dedicated sites for the construction of power plants. (497+10 Omake/500) (Completed)
Finalizing the massive grid project has ensured that the overall regional grids have been completed and partially integrated into super regional power systems. In Berlin, a standardization and synchronicity agreement has been created, with a full grid synchronization across the overall Warsaw Pact set to occur in the next few years. This will only synchronize with the European and Ural domestic grid, but it will ensure that power can finally be exchanged, if inefficiently and at a small scale. Further developments will involve the synchronization of the broader Siberian and Far East grids, following a drive towards ensuring that every power system in the nation can be interlinked, ensuring easy bridging.
Construction of the cross-Comecon unified power system was formalized by creating an International Central Dispatching Office(CDU) in Warsaw. 240kv linkages are expected to be constructed through all of CMEA, with full synchronization down to the Greek grid expected to occur before the end of the decade. A triumph of socialism can be seen in the cooperation and unified effort in the construction of the largest unified electric grid in the World. Further construction is only expected to make this difference even greater as the economies of Comecon continue to outspeed their capitalist counterparts. -Excerpt in Exported Engineering Textbook on the Mir Energy System(MES)
Heavy Industry
Taganrog Metallurgical Plant Expansion: Intensification of steelwork on the critical river estuary will serve to further increase the availability of domestic steel while offering an easy route toward the processing of imported Iron. New converters, harbor facilities, and a massive expansion in the plant will serve to save on the workforce and ensure a continued degree of development. A moderate number of infrastructural and extractive links will have to be constructed to ensure a steady flow of material at the necessary expanded capacity, but overall work is expected to be far easier than modernizing almost any other dedicated plants. (100 Resources per Dice 116/150)
Most efforts relative to Taganrog have occurred in the plant's converters, with new designs brought in and installed. The furnaces themselves have also been significantly changed over to improve the efficiency of production. It is expected that the actual construction of the plant will take more funding, as it is necessary to reconstruct a massive number of local facilities for the plant to meet modern standards. Further improvements have also been made in the logistics around the plant, with space for modern locomotives built out and expanded, ensuring a steady flow of material. Current projections expect that the project can be completed with just a bit more funding, ensuring a steady increase in steel production.
Coal Power Plants: Plans for the production of additional power have necessitated an emergency construction of coal facilities despite their inherent inefficiency. Several planned plants are set to be built near industrial sites as a temporary measure to stabilize the grid for industrial modernizations and ensure that it is not unduly disrupted by anything. Practical standardized designs from the last lot of plants will be revived and modernized, ensuring that they are more than capable of producing the necessary electrical supply. Some losses in power efficiency will be inherent due to the poor efficiency of coal systems, but such inefficiencies are tragically inherent to the fuel. (263/200) (Completed) (63/200 carryover) (-20RpT) (65C8 Electricity -20CI4 Coal -3CI1 Workforce)
Power shortages brought on by both economic growth and further intensification in a number of areas have been met with the rushed construction of further coal power. These plants represent a notable drop in efficiency as they cannot use any form of combined cycle combustion, limiting yields. Still, the continued import of Polish coal and steady improvement in domestic coal production has at least ensured that German brown coal could be mostly avoided. Construction is set to be completed over the next few months, with the power going to the grid in order to secure a number of critical industrial expansions, continuing the steady growth of the economy.
New Automotive Plants Ulyanovsk: More automotive production has practically been a direct translation towards growth in the export balance and domestic economic growth. Automobiles form a consumer product that the unique advantages of the Union further enhance the production of, enabling the planned massive steel surplus to go towards productive ends and workers across CMEA. By developing each of these plants, a genuinely wide selection of automobiles can be presented to every worker in the Union, allowing them to have a degree of choice and hopefully eventually lowering prices and profitability ratios to a reasonable level. (Ulyanovsk 226/225) (-24 CI2 Steel -11 CI2 Electricity -6 CI1 Workforce)
Dedicated models of novel automobiles are a critical segment for both domestic and foreign consumption. The new plant has been practically constructed around a discrete development team specialized in 4x4 chassis, with a planned model of a light cab-over planned for mass production and several state purchasers. Improvements in production methodologies have also further automated the production line, as while it is not yet built, it should greatly improve labor productivity at all levels. Primary consumptive sectors for the plant are expected to be government services, with specialized models designed for every application, replacing the wartime-era trucks pressed into improvised service as light cargo haulers.
Development of the ZIL Automotive Plant: The recently renamed Likhachov plant has long served to produce vehicles for the party, and it is time to expand it further. The pressing market for higher-end automobiles for both domestic consumption and export has so far been underutilized, and it is time for it to be properly established. By producing a sports car along with a number of sportier modernizations of conventional products, a high markup good can be made for domestic and foreign utilization. A number of models will also go towards a recreational workers' racing league, with a severe limitation on budgets and personnel, eliminating the bourgeois character of the sport. (80 Resources per Dice 142/200)
Further developments in sports vehicles have coincided with improvements in engine and chassis technologies. Unibody production methods pioneered in other plants have been adapted and scaled up towards industrial scales while also incorporating a standardized aerodynamics testing system. The goal of the program itself, though, is to produce a low-cost sports car capable of displacing others in both foreign and domestic markets, ensuring that low-cost further modifications can be made to improve performance. Engine development has been steadily shifted to V configurations, along with an improvement in overhead cam systems for additional power. Overall, costs per car are expected to be higher than conventional models, but the new cars should be able to easily compete with a number of Western European and American models.
Bus Plants(Riga/Lviv): Demand for buses across urban transportation is as dire as ever, as every size is needed to ensure that workers can be transported to their jobs and towards commercial zones. The proposed plant is expected to fill the demand for light buses and several models of lighter service vehicles. Still, as it and its previously constructed sister plant accelerate production, it should be more than possible to catch up with the current shortfalls. (Lviv 223+10 Omake/225) (Completed) (-25 CI2 Steel -10 CI2 Electricity -6 CI1 Workforce)
The finalization of the Lviv bus plants has been celebrated as the delays in construction have finally been pushed through in a decisive effort. The production of a massive series of mid-size buses is already expected to occur as the machinery has been moved in and a design standardized. Effectively based on a bed of a medium truck with a bus cabin placed on top of it, the new vehicle is expected to become a standard of urban transportation. Production backorders are massive and severe, with a considerable price premium thanks to the need for urban public transit, but the first steps of improvement have been completed. As production spools up in the next few years, standards are expected to further improve with several export opportunities already in negotiations.
Rocketry
Unify the overall Program: Now that the political firestorm has died down and Glushko has put his mind towards moving rocketry forward, he can be trusted with a degree of control. This will move him to be the formal leader of the entire initiative, ensuring that he can decisively end every argument in the lower bureaus and do what must be done in order to meet targets. In practice, the program itself will take on the role of a discrete enterprise system, combining the massive number of technical and scientific personnel under ostensibly one leadership structure. Glushko himself will thus be provided with a proper degree of scrutiny, ensuring that he will perform his job. (76) (Reduces Delay Chance) (Puts Glushko in Charge)
All resources in the ministry space program have now been consolidated under the scheme of OKB-1, with all engineering and production expertise formally moved under a single enterprise. This is expected to significantly streamline the overall program as assets are moved together and brought up to the same standards. Already, parallel leadership structures have been reduced, and engineers have been sectioned into discrete projects in order to improve the efficiency of design. Production enterprises have also formed their own branch of the structure, integrating the command so as to ensure a rapid cybernetic system can be maintained between all elements, further improving capabilities. These re-organizations are not expected to come without a degree of disruption, but once completed it should be possible to coordinate projects without any personality conflicts or excessive political intervention.
Modernization to the R7U Carrier: Extracting the designs from the army bureaus will be a challenge due to questions of cooperation, but the technologies inherent in the updated launcher are not that significant of a changeover. New engines have been designed primarily by core bureaus that stayed with the civilian side in the split and outside the structural-internal changes the design is entirely replicable on old tooling. The project itself will focus on the expansion of production capabilities for theoretical closed cycle hypergolic engines that are in development but technologically immature. Assuming that the engine specialized enterprises solve the issue before the rejects that Yangel has gathered, offering the designs could even serve as an excellent olive branch. (20) (Expected Project Cost 5RpT)
Due to a number of personality conflicts, it appears that the army has taken their program entirely independently of the civilian launch authorities, preferring internal engine designs instead of proper ones. This has regrettably led to a number of delays in both replication and manufacturing, but as the RLA is expected to overcome every technical aspect of their program, this isn't a major issue. Once Yangel completes his design with his own engine designs, assuming elementary mistakes are avoided he can hopefully design something functional. Manufacturing cooperation has thankfully been assured, even if the design itself is independent, with the program cost coming primarily from the refits to old equipment.
Venera Program: Starting a long range program on the basis of the R7U design, it should be possible to send a bit more than a ton in a combined package. First a flyby satellite will be sent, then as a lighter orbital satellite, and then a dual-unit system to enable a single dive into the atmosphere for close analysis of the layers with a number of scientific variations created to ensure redundancy. Optimistically the program is expected to finish out by the middle of the next decade, providing a considerable yield of scientific data and meeting a number of exploration goals. (75) (Project Cost 10RpT)
The January 1961 window for the launch of a Venus mission is perfectly placed for one of the first few flights of the R7U. While the booster itself will be relatively untested the opportunity for the launch of a moderate-weight system toward Venus cannot be ignored. Per the plan, an almost one-ton probe will be launched with camera instrumentation and a number of instruments in order to determine the status of space outside the earth's orbitals. A number of power redundancy components will be built in and integrated around the RTG generation system, as the journey is expected to be a challenge in a number of technical aspects. The odds are not great that everything will work perfectly on the first try, but the prestige of an interplanetary flight is more than worth it.
Mars Program: Similar to the Venera program, the Mars one involves a number of similar technologies with the primary challenge of distance. RTG based power systems will have to be used to last through the entire window while also necessitating a degree of electronics improvements in order to endure space conditions. If the project is undertaken now, it is expected that a simple flyby will occur in short order, but further steps will take a considerable amount of time due to the transit distance and the expected challenges of the planet's thin atmosphere. (53) (Project Cost 10RpT)
The fundamental development of a probe capable of performing a flyby operation of Mars is a challenge complicated by the sheer distance and duration of orbital travel. The major challenge in this application is the necessity of electronics being maintained in a pressurized vessel despite engineering efforts around it. The October 1960 window is in theory, possible with a very light craft as the R7U isn't expected to be entirely ready, but even then, a launch would be questionable. Actual efforts towards a launch in November of 1962 are far more practical, but given the sheer amount of time, we may be better served by ensuring that something is launched earlier, for the first achievement, if nothing else.
[]Rushed Minimal Probe: Constructing a fast-to-build minimal functionality probe capable of being launched by an extended quad-core R7M with its own stage for a transfer burn is in theory, possible. This probe would only weigh a few dozen kilograms and would barely be able to report much information back, but a few grainy images along with several EM readings is still far more than the Americans would be able to do. (60% Chance of Failure) (Program until 1961)
[]Focus on the 1962 Window: Getting a complete orbital probe designed for an R7U launch along with a developed power bus would be the safest option if the least ambitious. The goal of the program would involve the construction of a large orbital probe with a sufficient quantity of propellant for course corrections in flight, ensuring an accurate approach. The main test here would be of the probe bus itself, as the first vacuum-rated electronics would be pioneered along with a number of novel technologies for sourcing power. Several decent-quality images are expected along with a degree of atmospheric observations, providing data for further exploration. (40% Chance of Failure) (Program until 1963)
[]Impactor-Flyby Pair in 1962: Technically advanced, but nothing prevents the construction of a combined impactor and flyby system. The technology for both systems is there through the reduction of a number of features in the flyby bus. This would be compact and could partially fail, but the achievement of both an impactor and a space-based flyby will ensure that a wealth of information is retrieved. More likely to fail from the increased technological demands and more expensive, but also likely to push understanding far further. (50% Chance of Failure) (+5 RpT Program Cost) (Program until 1963)
Light and Chemical Industry
Pre-Caspian Petroleum Basin Exploitation(Stage 1): With the recent development of rail infrastructure around the Guryev rail hub, the development of the local oil basin is only rational. This basin is capable of both gas and oil production and is relatively local to the proposed refinery complex, offering lighter oil fractions instead of the fairly heavy crude of the northern basins. Efforts here already have the infrastructure to support them and would enable a considerable increase in the production of relevant fuel fractions with minimal cracking. (30 Resources per Dice 37/100)
Field development of the Pre-Caspian Basin has occurred at a steady pace, with worker housing set up along with a tentative local piping network. Current plans indicate a large basin to be exploited for both gas and oil, with early yields expected to be primarily oil based as the gas is set to be utilized to ease oil harvesting. Further efforts will steadily extract some of the gas from the deposits, with far more coming over time as hydro flooding becomes necessary for the optimized recovery of material. Further funding is necessary to even set up for the proper exploitation of the field, but the initial infrastructure for the task is now ready.
Samara Refinery Complex(Stage 1): With the planned location of both of the oil fields, a centralized refinery complex is both sensible and optimal. This complex is planned to be located in Samara, as it provides a centralized location that can easily link into any of the rail networks and is near a number of junctions in the overall pipeline network. The technology that will go into the facility will likely not be the best available, but it should be functional and reliable. (243/150 Stage 1 Complete) (93/100 Stage 2) (-15 CI1 Electricity -5 CI1 Workforce) (Supports Stage 1 Pre-Caspian and Volga-Ural 2 Gas Projects When done with both)
The rapid buildup of Samara has proceeded according to the initial plans, with entire petrochemical complexes constructed out of almost nothing. The demand for newer cracking equipment to be installed in the plants has caused a number of delays, but brave Soviet workers have managed to overcome them. With the first stage of the overall project already reaching completion, the further expansion of the refining plants has already started, though a bit slower. In the next year, it is expected that the facility will start refining its first petroleum into a usable fraction of fuel, supporting the further development of more oil-based power projects and a massive number of automotive works.
Oil Cracking Plants: Modernizations to the industrial infrastructure for the petrochemical industry initiated under Malenkov have had several beneficial results in the quality of proposals. Instead of practically repeating the old systems that were constructed during the war, new fluid catalytic cracking units can be built, driving efficiency to previously unheard-of levels. This unit will enable a far more complete recovery of the current petrochemical production while also ensuring that a steady improvement in the overall quality of fuel can occur. While not a true removal of lead from utilization in automobile fuel, the favorable composition of gasoline enhanced with cracking products will increase base octane, cutting down lead use significantly. (75 Resources per Dice 342/400)
Despite the focused effort on improving the structure of oil cracking, the degree of novel technological implementation has slowed the overall effort. The sudden demand for massive catalytic units with mobile beds and a number of larger chambers for the processing of mass quantities of heavy oil products have been slow to build. Still, a number of processing complexes have already had their foundation poured and been half constructed in a short effort. Production isn't expected to actually start for the better part of a year even if a sufficient degree of funding is allocated, but given the scale of a project, this is expected. Lead use is expected to decline to almost half as base octanes are expected to increase significantly as a larger fraction of conventional fuel can consist of shorter alkane chains and aromatics.
Luxury Goods Initiatives(Stage 2): Previous initiatives towards improving the availability of luxury products have already managed to secure a position of high demand. By further increasing productive throughput and constructing a number of further plants under similar schemes, further goods can be supplied domestically and abroad. Saturation for the basic market isn't expected to occur for a time, but more production can only help with trade balances and further development. Cosmetics can be made at a larger chemical-industrial scale, while the developments in NC milling can be applied into a number of specialty precision applications, exceeding the work of artisans for far cheaper. (213/150) (Stage 2 Completed) (63/200 Stage 3) (-8 CI3 Electricity -4 CI1 Workforce)
Watch and cosmetic production has been massively expanded along the previous design scheme, with almost two dozen new enterprises founded for the dedicated production of several goods. Partnerships with Western cosmetics firms have also been embraced in order to reduce the dependence on direct imports, ensuring local sourcing with similar branding and the domestication of the entire production loop. Industrialization in these areas has been accompanied by the application of modern tooling to the production of watches and other hand devices, improving precision and quality while reducing the necessity of professional labor. Already, it is expected that the watch supply will shift towards being entirely domestic as all but the most premium products are displaced by low-cost mid-quality domestic production.
Agriculture 5 Dice
Agricultural Infrastructural Development: Fundamentally, settlement follows infrastructure, and to that end, a series of discrete infrastructural efforts must be undertaken. The development of a double-tracked line South of the Trans-Siberian railroad, followed by a line from Kuzbass to Omsk. These linkages will ensure a steady increase in goods transported, all while providing thousands with access to cheaper goods from the factories in the West. (60 Resources per Dice 230/250)
Construction of the massive lines near the Kuzbass deposits and through Altai has proceeded at a rapid pace. Utilizing surplus non-electrified track equipment that has been diverted from other efforts, the project has practically been completed in a short period. Construction is still underway from both ends of the line, but in the next few months with just a bit of funding, it should be possible to bypass the central trans-siberian line through Kazakhstan, improving coal throughput and minimizing loadings for the central line segment, ensuring trains from the Far East have a far more flexible scheduling table. The increased presence of refrigerated carts is also expected to further improve access to vegetables across the Union as Virgin Lands products are exported en masse.
Housing Expansions: The previous proposal for the development of new cities has some merit, but its approach is suboptimal in the extreme. Instead of completely rebuilding areas so as to bring them into modernity, the core services can be constructed in town centers along with a series of medium-density residences. These will subsequently ensure that the population will slowly be pulled towards them due to the greater efficiency of services, enabling all forms of enterprise to further utilize these workers, ensuring a steady degree of economic growth. (45 Resources per Dice 141/285)
Standardized housing in a three-story scheme has been constructed in parallel with the mainline housing effort. In rural areas, these combined housing units capable of providing sufficient living quality have been rapidly populated. Instead of workers staying in conventional semi-rural homes, they are instead consolidated into tighter quarters, further improving housing and service efficiency. Already, the plan for these mid-density units involves the nucleation of new community centers and commercial neighborhoods at growing rural centers, ideally forming a number of small towns in the long term. Continued initiatives will further accelerate construction projects, ensuring that the rural renovation effort can be less over-loaded through reliance on new construction.
Services
Streetside Retail Integration: Small scale sales were a conventional and mostly ignored practice during the Mikoyan era, but as the retail sector has grown, there is now a need to adequately tax them. By forming the legislative environment necessary for the extraction of wealth and regulation of small retail businesses and ensuring that they can be integrated into urban planning zones, they can be optimally utilized to supply the proletariat with money and goods. Zones for renting out state property to enterprises will be established on a local level and left to the designation of local Soviets, ensuring that they can take responsibility for the development of communities, necessitating just a small degree of initial investments. (180/150) (Completed) (-16 CI2 Workforce)
Further construction of additional workspaces along with the rationalization of private-sector interactions, has served to yield a considerable degree of funds for the state. Through the marketized renting of commercial spaces underneath next-generation apartments, a significant yield of money from the private commercial sector has been effectively enabled. These have been accompanied by moderate turnover taxes for businesses that involve a degree of processing along standardized VAT lines, ensuring a further yield in revenue. Overall, the renting of spaces has already started a rapid transfer of enterprises from discrete stands to proper spaces, improving population supply efficiency and ensuring an easy eventual consolidation of various outdoor markets.
Bureaucracy
Elevate Political Allies: With the dramatic reorganization of the Politburo and Central Committee a number of older positions have been threatened. While some may disapprove over further disruptions to party structures, an opportunity is present to elevate a number of properly educated personnel to several critical internal party posts. Fundamentally, this will not do a massive amount towards changing the structure of the party itself, but the more personnel capable of doing basic math that are elevated, the fewer idiotic decisions will be made by the party. (13) (Internal Reform)
Recent political shakeups have rendered a number of candidates too politically toxic to have any chance of promotion. Replacements have been rapidly obtained from other ministries, but nothing worked to actually ensure that the correct choices were made. Instead, a mess of radicals insistent on striking at invisible corruption has been pushed forward into a number of essential bureau-level posts. The situation is too uncertain about finding if gains were made or even who exactly will go down from the investigations outside of the obvious suspects. Rapid sweeping of posts should at least have the result of far more educated university students with perspective moving into the party, ensuring a far more scientific lean over time.
Partial Cybernetic Implementation: The utilization of the inherent cybernetic mechanism in the modern planning system must be further extended and augmented. Cybernetic systems and metrics can be further prioritized in the conventional planning structure, enabling a faster and less dramatic change in fortunes across several enterprises. By utilizing a far shorter period of evaluation than the current plan-associated mechanism and combining the required financial reports with it, significant issues can be addressed before something along the lines of the current crisis occurs. (31) (Internal Reform)
The formal change towards using quarterly reports for the analysis of enterprise metrics rather than long-term reviews has revealed a degree of instability, but an acceptable one. Through looking at trends in the revenues over the course of a year and acting at a far finer degree of control cybernetically ensuring enterprise development and success. These trends and financial reports have been steadily compiled into sectoral and further economic data, lengthening the time needed to act on the information but greatly improving its quantity. A dedicated drive towards improving the response time can be a later matter when personnel shortages are less significant of an issue, but it is expected that anything like the last crisis can be prevented with prudent action.
Determine Coalitional Alignments: The current supreme Soviet may have just been re-seated, but already the closed-door debates have intensified. By taking time to personally discuss with several influential bureaus and members, it should be possible to obtain a general idea of the exact state of the various blocks present. The current poorly organized diaspora will only ensure that the ministry cannot operate with a proper idea for political margin, limiting capabilities at all levels. (49) (Updated for Pre-Crisis only)
Supreme Soviet Updated 1959H1 (Listed by Delegates, Unity, and Degree of Support) (None<Poor<Decent<Acceptable<Good<Excellent)
Podgorny's Faction: Around 100, Acceptable, Poor
Aristov's Faction: Around 40, Decent, None
Kosygin's Faction: Around 640, Good, Acceptable (Governing Coalition)
Voznesesnky's Faction: Around 190, Good, Excellent (Governing Coalition)
Shepilov's Faction: Around 430, Acceptable, Acceptable
Saburov's Faction: Around 140, Decent, Poor
Kleshchev's Faction: Around 40, Poor, None
24-Hour Moratorium (Apologies for any mistakes/bad English, large portions of this were written while on painkillers.)
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- Location
- India
What is the situation in asia?
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
The English is pretty good, Blackstar.