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Attempting to Shatter the Skies: An Ace Combat Plan Quest

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Yeah, we're just having some good-hearted ribbing at our name. The actual project is neat, we both making the joke voted for it after all.

You did good in designing, naming and whatnot, and I'm looking forwards to seeing how it goes!
 
Well, I'm flattered that you think so, and I hope to be able to micro-omake Dr. von Killinger popping in and out through the course of the story.
 
Once we get big laser weapon ready to blow some asteroid fragments and whatever politics we will have to maneuver post-Ulysses I have a few cool concept ideas for big plane projects! Hopefully everything goes well before we can do that tho
 
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Organization Creation Final: Location & Director
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    • [X] Plan: With The Aid Of My SECRET WEAPON!
    -[X] Project JOYEUSE
    -[X] Scope: Huge
    --[X] Core Moderate laser tower project plus supplementary laser launch, reflector satellite, and beam upgrade projects
    -[X] [Antarc] Extend Ulysses mitigation efforts to Aurelia
    -[X] [Chaldea] Establish world-class research institutions
    -[X] [Joint] Expand GDI

    June 24th, 1996.

    Project JOYEUSE has been selected by the Global Defense Initiative as their primary method of mitigating the damage done by Ulysses. The plan specifications are considered to be ambitious, but far from impossible, and especially feasible considering that two national economies have essentially been taken over to construct it in a scant three years. Considering the nature and scope of the weapons system, it is viewed as eminently reasonable and practical for it to extend to Aurelia, and additionally that research institutions would be both valuable for and interested in many of the novel technologies. Additionally, as a 'generous' defense system, it provides innate reason for other states to buy-in to the GDI project, and hopefully further extend the supranational entity with enough time to put the added resources to good use.

    There are now only two questions facing GDI, both of paramount importance.

    The first is a matter of location for JOYEUSE itself. While the plan documents specified that they were seeking the most reasonable non-sacred mountaintop within GDI's preexisting administration, the Antarc Council of Shamans have approached Secretary-General Kane with an offer. The tallest mountain within the range is a semi-active volcano, venerated by traditional Antarc belief structures as the physical embodiment of a totemist god-spirit whose portfolio includes the furnance, forge, hearth, and other similar devices - but more importantly also the defense thereof. To use the blood of the mountain in defense of the people would, to them, not be sacrilege, but instead the most devout act of worship possible.

    However, they request that holy mountain remain open to pilgrimage - though not the physical JOYEUSE installation itself.

    [] Accept, this is precisely what we need
    [] Decline, we cannot jeopardize our secrets like this

    Additionally, the Secretary-General cannot be expected to directly oversee the project - and its prerequisites - by himself. The purpose of the Directorate for Disaster Risk Reduction is to handle those day-to-day responsibilities, but currently it lacks a Director. This must be rectified. Those not selected will still serve in the Directorate, but in lesser roles and accordingly with lesser impact.

    [] Dr. Einar Cherdenko
    A leading member of a Chaldea research Bureau, Dr. Cherdenko is a consummate bureaucrat-scientist, a creature of the technocratic state that serves as either indictment and endorsement of the entire system, depending upon your exposure to university political infighting. Equally at home writing a proposal for funding or in the lab, he is considered both a genius and an insufferable bore - the latter made far worse by his sheer arrogance.

    Modifiers if selected as Director
    • +5 to all Research dice
    • +5 to all Administration dice
    • -5 to Foreign Affairs dice
    • +10 to starting Chaldean Political Support
    Modifiers if not selected
    • +5 to all Research dice

    [] Lieutenant-General Morgane Ardern
    The Antarc military is a loose and non-centralized organization, owing to its origins as a collection of warbands only tenuously operating together under the auspices of the tribal confederation that eventually gave birth to the Celestial Dominion. With most of their ancestral land frankly worthless and their most common enemies being themselves, there was very little pressure for this to change until the arrival of dedicated Antarctic colonization missions in the 1900s. Born in Aurelia, General Ardern was a leading proponent of military centralization efforts, hoping to ensure that the Antarcs would be prepared against Estovakian and later Chaldean incursions, and has worked for years analyzing the low-level conflict over the disputed islands.

    Modifiers if selected as Director
    • +5 to all Military dice
    • Bonus to starting relations with Aurelia
    • +10 to starting Antarc Political Support
    Modifiers if not selected
    • +5 to all Military dice

    [] Gideon Raveshaw
    While many members of the Brotherhood of Nod are currently scattered across the world on behalf of the inscrutable whims of the Secretary-General, Raveshaw remains at hand to assist GDI with this most important of tasks. A devotee of Kane, and one of the very few people who can be said to understand him, he is also clearly experienced with large-scale construction projects - especially subterranean ones - despite being either unable or unwilling to detail what he actually helped to build in anything besides the vaguest of generalities.

    Modifiers if selected as Director
    • +5 to all Infrastructure dice
    • +10 to all dice on [ESPIONAGE] projects
    • ???
    • Kane Political Support is known instead of estimated
    Modifiers if not selected
    • +5 to all Infrastructure dice

    [] Colonel Brunhild Raskova
    Most Belkans who were close to Kane and the Brotherhood either left with the Secretary-General in disgust before the outbreak of the Belkan War, or are currently working under less than consensual conditions in either Osea or Yuktobania. Colonel Raskova is a rare exception to this trend, having fought in, survived, and escaped the war before making her way back to Kane's side. An expert in the actual functional systems of both Excalibur and V2, chronic injuries suffered after being shot down by a Yuktobanian ace near the end of the war and a cancer diagnosis place her in constant pain and suggest she may not have much longer to live.

    Modifiers if selected as Director
    • +10 to all dice on [LASER] projects
    • +10 to all dice on [NUCLEAR] projects
    • +10 to all dice on [DEPLOYMENT] projects
    • Global reduction to starting relations
    • Chance of death at the end of every turn
    Modifiers if not selected
    • +10 to all dice on [LASER] projects
    • Lower chance of death at the end of every turn


    This took longer than I had hoped because I kept fiddling with the numbers. At the end of the day I decided to be generous because I do want a giant laser beam shooting asteroids out of the sky to happen - that's the entire point! No need to plan or think of write-ins for this one, so I'll just open the vote now. Also, a brownie point to anyone who can point out every reference in these names.
     
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    • [X] Accept, this is precisely what we need
    [X] Lieutenant-General Morgane Ardern

    It's the General for me. Less because of the military bonus, and more on the bonus relations to Aurelia. The faster we can get them in the fold, the sooner we can nab Leasath too.

    Aurelia is extremely rich, and Leasath has amazing talent for weapons research. The sooner we get both, the sooner we can finish our giant laser, and it works towards accomplishing our mandates too.
     
    grimely said:
    The first is a matter of location for JOYEUSE itself. While the plan documents specified that they were seeking the most reasonable non-sacred mountaintop within GDI's preexisting administration, the Antarc Council of Shamans have approached Secretary-General Kane with an offer. The tallest mountain within the range is a semi-active volcano, venerated by traditional Antarc belief structures as the physical embodiment of a totemist god-spirit whose portfolio includes the furnance, forge, hearth, and other similar devices - but more importantly also the defense thereof. To use the blood of the mountain in defense of the people would, to them, not be sacrilege, but instead the most devout act of worship possible.

    However, they request that holy mountain remain open to pilgrimage - though not the physical JOYEUSE installation itself.

    [] Accept, this is precisely what we need
    [] Decline, we cannot jeopardize our secrets like this
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    Dr. von Killinger "Ah-ha-ha, ah-ha-ha-ha-YESS!"

    [develops sudden enthusiasm and interest in Antarc shamanistic belief systems, albeit probably a heretical one given that he is a mad scientist down to his toenails, and not remotely considered for directing the overall project, let alone the DDRR as a whole, see below]

    [X] Accept, this is precisely what we need

    [] Dr. Einar Cherdenko
    A leading member of a Chaldea research Bureau, Dr. Cherdenko is a consummate bureaucrat-scientist, a creature of the technocratic state that serves as either indictment and endorsement of the entire system, depending upon your exposure to university political infighting. Equally at home writing a proposal for funding or in the lab, he is considered both a genius and an insufferable bore - the latter made far worse by his sheer arrogance.
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    Hm. Interesting choice. Has real pluses and minuses. Hard to get a sense for just how valuable Chaldean political support versus Administration dice are. The malus to Foreign Affairs is probably bad for two reasons. First, because Foreign Affairs projects are disproportionately likely to be "just roll one die, get a quality result" outcomes where the malus cannot be compensated for by throwing more dice at the problem. Second, because we are certainly going to want to bring in Aurelia on the project, which by definition is foreign affairs.

    [] Lieutenant-General Morgane Ardern
    The Antarc military is a loose and non-centralized organization, owing to its origins as a collection of warbands only tenuously operating together under the auspices of the tribal confederation that eventually gave birth to the Celestial Dominion. With most of their ancestral land frankly worthless and their most common enemies being themselves, there was very little pressure for this to change until the arrival of dedicated Antarctic colonization missions in the 1900s. Born in Aurelia, General Ardern was a leading proponent of military centralization efforts, hoping to ensure that the Antarcs would be prepared against Estovakian and later Chaldean incursions, and has worked for years analyzing the low-level conflict over the disputed islands.
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    Sort of the anti-Cherdenko. We get no dice bonuses at all for picking him versus not picking him, but the starting bonus to Aurelian relations helps us towards one of our mandates, and a mandate particularly likely to grant us more resources and also potentially help towards yet another mandate, namely the "research institutions" mandate. Since the Aurelians have good tech themselves, as I understand it.

    [] Gideon Raveshaw
    While many members of the Brotherhood of Nod are currently scattered across the world on behalf of the inscrutable whims of the Secretary-General, Raveshaw remains at hand to assist GDI with this most important of tasks. A devotee of Kane, and one of the very few people who can be said to understand him, he is also clearly experienced with large-scale construction projects - especially subterranean ones - despite being either unable or unwilling to detail what he actually helped to build in anything besides the vaguest of generalities.
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    Hm. This is definitely interesting. A major black box option, and one that leans into the Nod angle.

    It's unclear how beneficial the boosts to [ESPIONAGE] will be, but knowing how Kane feels about things is almost certainly a big advantage.

    [] Colonel Brunhild Raskova
    Most Belkans who were close to Kane and the Brotherhood either left with the Secretary-General in disgust before the outbreak of the Belkan War, or are currently working under less than consensual conditions in either Osea or Yuktobania. Colonel Raskova is a rare exception to this trend, having fought in, survived, and escaped the war before making her way back to Kane's side. An expert in the actual functional systems of both Excalibur and V2, chronic injuries suffered after being shot down by a Yuktobanian ace near the end of the war and a cancer diagnosis place her in constant pain and suggest she may not have much longer to live.
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    Very interesting.

    My thinking is that she may well be to our advantage to not appoint.

    First, because our project doesn't rely quite as critically on nuclear weapons or nuclear power as some might, so the [NUCLEAR] bonus is of reduced value. Especially if we can, say, set up a giant geothermal plant on the volcano base we can vote to build!

    Second, because a boost to [DEPLOYMENT] is likely to become more and more valuable as time goes on, since I'm pretty sure [DEPLOYMENT] refers to things we have already fully designed and prepared. But since Raskova's presumably got a respectable chance of dying in just the first year or so of the game for this to be worth mentioning, we may not get as much mileage out of the [DEPLOYMENT] bonus.

    Third, because the malus to international relations will tend to undermine some of our other mandates, of course, and make it harder to bring in more support and resources for the project.

    Fourth, because if her chance of death is lower, she lives longer, and we get to keep her [LASER] bonus longer!


    Effective bonuses for each choice:

    Cherdenko
    +5 to all Administration dice
    -5 to Foreign Affairs dice
    +10 to starting Chaldean Political Support

    Ardern
    Bonus to starting relations with Aurelia
    +10 to starting Antarc Political Support

    Gideon
    +10 to all dice on [ESPIONAGE] projects
    ???
    Kane Political Support is known instead of estimated

    Raskova
    +10 to all dice on [NUCLEAR] projects
    +10 to all dice on [DEPLOYMENT] projects
    Global reduction to starting relations
    Greater chance of Raskova dying at the end of every turn, with associated loss of all bonuses including the [LASER] bonus we'd have anyway

    ...

    [X] Lieutenant-General Morgane Ardern
    [] Gideon Raveshaw

    I can go either for Diplo-General (who sounds like exactly the kind of guy who'd join a Strangereal version of proper!GDI), or for the Peak Noddism guy who's got that black-box mojo.

    EDIT: The revelation that Gideon's ??? is a negative, implied by remarks Grimely made later, eventually swayed me.
     
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    grimely said:
    [] Lieutenant-General Morgane Ardern
    The Antarc military is a loose and non-centralized organization, owing to its origins as a collection of warbands only tenuously operating together under the auspices of the tribal confederation that eventually gave birth to the Celestial Dominion. With most of their ancestral land frankly worthless and their most common enemies being themselves, there was very little pressure for this to change until the arrival of dedicated Antarctic colonization missions in the 1900s. Born in Aurelia, General Ardern was a leading proponent of military centralization efforts, hoping to ensure that the Antarcs would be prepared against Estovakian and later Chaldean incursions, and has worked for years analyzing the low-level conflict over the disputed islands.
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    Well, Dame Jacinda Ardern was prime minister of New Zealand for six years or so, and the island we'll be building Joyeuse on looks suspiciously similar to a colder version of New Zealand.

    Morgane is, uh, I'm not actually sure if that's a boy name or a girl name in context, but either way it definitely plucks the Arthurian vibes associated with the Excalibur project, which Joyeuse is a direct descendant of.

    [] Gideon Raveshaw
    While many members of the Brotherhood of Nod are currently scattered across the world on behalf of the inscrutable whims of the Secretary-General, Raveshaw remains at hand to assist GDI with this most important of tasks. A devotee of Kane, and one of the very few people who can be said to understand him, he is also clearly experienced with large-scale construction projects - especially subterranean ones - despite being either unable or unwilling to detail what he actually helped to build in anything besides the vaguest of generalities.
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    'Gideon' is of course a classic Noddist name and there is a Nod antagonist by that name in Command and Conquer 4, an ultra-fanatic who rebels against Kane to continue fighting GDI after Kane joins forces with them.

    But Gideon Raveshaw, himself, is the first leader of the Noddist elite special forces element, the Black Hand, in Command and Conquer: Renegade, of course.
     
    [X] Accept, this is precisely what we need
    [X] Gideon Raveshaw

    Forget the mystery box. The real prize here is being able to know Kane's Political Support. Kane is a mystery box vending machine, and knowing his actual PS score instead of just relying on vibes means we can best get more ??? from him.
     
    Hopefully there's an action to ensure the safety of the holy site and any structures of worship on the mountain. Very important we Do Not Fuck Up here.
     
    Thebigpieman said:
    Hopefully there's an action to ensure the safety of the holy site and any structures of worship on the mountain. Very important we Do Not Fuck Up here.
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    To be clear this is a native religion the leaders of which heard you wanted to build a spear of light atop a mountain to pierce the heavens and prevent devastating tsunamis, and then one of their kids with an engineering degree pointed out that they could use the earth-blood of a volcano god to power it, and they literally couldn't volunteer fast enough. They are fully cognizant and accepting of the dangers here, they're just also fully convinced that this is exactly what holy mountains are for.
     
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    [X] Accept, this is precisely what we need
     
    grimely said:
    To be clear this is a native religion the leaders of which heard you wanted to build a spear of light atop a mountain to pierce the heavens and prevent devastating tsunamis, and then one of their kids with an engineering degree pointed out that they could use the earth-blood of a volcano god to power it, and they literally couldn't volunteer fast enough. They are fully cognizant and accepting of the dangers here, they're just also fully convinced that this is exactly what holy mountains are for.
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    Yeah. Like, we should probably make sure to distribute anti-flash goggles to pilgrims so they aren't accidentally blinded by sidescatter from a beam test or something.

    But never let it be said that the Antarc clergy don't know and respect an very metal idea when they see one.
     
    I'm kind of surprised no one's brought this up, and maybe it was just obvious to the point no one's felt the need to do so, but Morgane is the only choice who doesn't have a negative as Director to make up for the fact that her bonuses are one time boosts.
     
    grimely said:
    I'm kind of surprised no one's brought this up, and maybe it was just obvious to the point no one's felt the need to do so, but Morgane is the only choice who doesn't have a negative as Director to make up for the fact that her bonuses are one time boosts.
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    [eyes narrow]

    This suggests that the "???" is a negative.

    Someone who thinks of a ??? as a positive would see Gideon as a "no explicit negatives" candidate. And in with him there in that sense, Ardern doesn't stand out as much, thus explaining why people weren't commenting on it.
     
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