Per Aspera (Space Agency Plan Quest)

[Ash19256]

I don't think we can have two omakes on the same project?

Click to shrink...

At the time, we'd both tasked an omake on the Rocket Boxes. That said, at this point they aren't needed at all according to Shadows. Speaking of which, @Shadows I intend to move the bonus I'd put on Rocket Boxes up to Expand the Assembly Complex, now that the reroll means bonuses aren't needed on Rocket Boxes anymore.

 

[Vehrec]

At the time, we'd both tasked an omake on the Rocket Boxes. That said, at this point they aren't needed at all according to Shadows. Speaking of which, @Shadows I intend to move the bonus I'd put on Rocket Boxes up to Expand the Assembly Complex, now that the reroll means bonuses aren't needed on Rocket Boxes anymore.

Click to shrink...

I know that- and I really don't think we can assign two omake bonuses to a project to finish it.

 

[Shadows]

I know that- and I really don't think we can assign two omake bonuses to a project to finish it.

Click to shrink...

You can't.

Also, sorry for the longish wait. Everyone who's on the discord knows why, but uh

I kinda became obsessed with a new-to-me anime right after I finished the last update and have been busy with being an absolute nut about it. (For those curious: Witch from Mercury.)

 

[KNakamura]

You can't.

Also, sorry for the longish wait. Everyone who's on the discord knows why, but uh

I kinda became obsessed with a new-to-me anime right after I finished the last update and have been busy with being an absolute nut about it. (For those curious: Witch from Mercury.)

Click to shrink...

Good choice!

 

[chaotic-logic]

GUNDAM!!!!

 

[Shadows]

So, new omake policy:

All omakes are now a standard +15 bonus rather than the ladder system of 5/10/15 I had before. It's too hard for me to keep track. If I didn't think it'd discourage omake-ing I'd copy Ithillid's GDIquest policy of 'just assume you've got a +15 to your roll if you land within 15 points of completion on a project'. Verdict is still out on that one.

 

[Shadows]

Spoiler: Winning Plan

[X] Plan: Prior Naming Scheme Got Old; New One Pending
-[X] Construct an R-4 Dawn (97/120) (2 dice, -70R)
--[X] And launch it (1 die)
---[X] Curiosity-B-class Satellite (1 die, -25R)
-[X] Expand the Assembly Complex (243/350) (2 dice, -40R)
-[X] Build a Mission Control Center (0/250) (3 dice, -75R)
-[X] Tracking and Communication Station Construction (Phase 2) (94/250) (3 dice, -75R)
-[X] Human-rated Rocketry (4/8 turns) (1 die, -20R)
-[X] Nuclear Power Plant Design Studies (3/8 turns) (1 die, -25R)
-[X] Strap-on Boosters (0/250) (2 dice, 20R)
-[X] Vacuum Nozzles (94/200) (2 dice, -20R)
-[X] Photovoltaic Investigations (2/4 turns) (1 die, -20R)
-[X] Closed-Input Life Support Systems (0/200) (2 dice, -20R)
-[X] All-Sky Survey (Phase 1) [PHYS] (0/300) (2 dice, -20R)
-[X] Rocket Boxes (Phase 5) (0/250) (4 dice, -20R)

For the first time, Penelope felt sad that she had to go back to work as December drew to a close. The plane ride back to Mogadishu was bumpy and loud, despite the plane itself being the pride and joy of the Seattle Aircraft Collective, the SAC-707, otherwise known as the Globetrotter. It was well-appointed, and was outfitted throughout in what a decade ago would have been termed 'first class'; the little pamphlet she'd been handed on boarding told her that all of the 707s would be delivered from the factory as such. It was, she thought, a pretty plane.

But between the woman holding her hand and the sleeping toddlers in both of their laps, she simply wished she could turn the plane around and go back to the little cabin she and her fian-

My wife -

- had shared for the last few weeks. It still seemed quite surreal. Ten years ago the mere thought of marrying the woman she loved would have been only a wistful, painful dream, yet the ring on her finger, the ceremony, the New England General Collective paperwork in her bag, were all proof that she wasn't dreaming.

She closed her eyes and she was back in the chapel again, her sister and her brother on either side of her as they approached the door. Her heart was in her throat. "Relax," her sister had chided her gently as her shaking made her nerves known. "You're just marrying your best friend. Besides, what does this actually change in your life?" The question had calmed her down, some - nothing worth mentioning was changing, after all.

But still, there was just… something about it. The reason they had decided to be wed in the first place.

Then her sister had pushed the door of the chapel open, and Penelope's world stopped for the shortest, most infinite moment of her life as she looked up the aisle and caught sight of her beloved, stunning in a black dress that managed to evoke a tuxedo while looking nothing like one whatsoever, and her love wore a heartbreakingly beautiful smile that was directed at her.

Penelope would never quite remember how she wound up next to her - she had to have walked, of course, but she had no memory of doing so. She could barely remember the minister talking through his part in their wedding; she had eyes, thoughts and attention only for Ruby. Only the fact that her love's 'I do' was first reminded Penelope that she, too, had a part to play.

"I do."

Then that first searing kiss and the sound of cheering and clapping from their gathered friends and family, and Korolev revealing his gifts of alcohol and several others besides, amongst which was a picture frame made of the same alloy the new rocket motors would be, engraved with rosevine designs and heat-treated to an iridescent sheen. Turing was also there, and so many others besides, all there to wish the happy couple the best.

She'd never particularly wanted a big wedding, but in hindsight it just wouldn't have been the same without everyone there either. She'd not change it for the world. Or the two uninterrupted weeks of alone time with Ruby afterward, either…

But neither time nor Council cooperatives wait for anyone, and she found herself having to get mentally prepared for the most stressful part of her job right after the best month of her life. C'est la vie.

HEADLINES FROM AROUND THE WORLD​

NEW ENGLAND GENERAL COLLECTIVE - IEC Director Penelope Carter celebrated her marriage to her wife, Ruby Carter (former family name withheld from this publication) in a ceremony attended by their family and a who's who of the world's brightest scientists...

NEW ORLEANS - A late-season hurricane battered New Orleans a week before Christmas, killing 37 people and displacing upwards of 10,000. Rebuilding efforts are already underway and expected to take up to half a year...

NEW DELHI - The IEC physics institute in New Delhi is approaching the completion of the test reactors the Council cooperative intends to use to 'prove the efficacy and safety of nuclear power', say Cooperative spokespeople...

Resources:
10R (+475R/turn + 5R/turn from Connections - 35R/turn from payroll/dice purchases = +445/turn net)
100 Political Support
1 R-2 Gale
2 Curiosity-class Satellite

Spoiler: Council Liaison Reports

Objectives of the World Communal Council
Complete Post-War Reconstruction (45000/200000)
Defeat Partisan Forces

Spoiler: World Council Departments and Cooperatives

Department of Agriculture (5%)
-Forestry Commission
-Aquaculture and Fishing Commission
Department of Transportation (9%)
-Sea Travel Commission
-Road and Rail Commission
-Air Travel Commission
Department of Industrial Coordination (5%)
-Occupational Health and Safety Administration
Department of Energy (8.2%)
Department of Reconstruction and Disaster Relief (28.0%)
Department of Health and Welfare (24.5%)
Department of Education (17.2%)

Discretionary Funding (2.6%)
Council Standards Commission (Negligible)

Interplanetary Exploration Cooperative (1.0%)
Antarctic Exploration Cooperative (0.1%)
(Others)

State of the World
(Updated at the end of every Quarter)

Mediterranean/Saharan Africa
Education: 8 (+)
Electrification: 7
Industry: 7
Infrastructure: 8 (+)
Security: 2
Partisan Activity: 3

Sub-Saharan Africa
Education: 8 (+)
Electrification: 8 (+) (Councilors bothered)
Industry: 7 (+)
Infrastructure: 8
Security: 4
Partisan Activity: 4

Eastern Asia
Education: 12 (+)
Electrification: 10
Industry: 10
Infrastructure: 11 (+)
Security: 6
Partisan Activity: 5

Western Asia
Education: 12 (+) (LIMIT REACHED)
Electrification: 11
Industry: 11
Infrastructure: 11
Security: 6
Partisan Activity: 4

Australia and New Zealand
Education: 8 (+)
Electrification: 7
Industry: 7
Infrastructure: 8
Security: 4
Partisan Activity: 3

Europe
Education: 11 (+)
Electrification: 10
Industry: 10
Infrastructure: 11
Security: 5
Partisan Activity: 3

North America
Education: 9 (+)
Electrification: 9
Industry: 9 (+)
Infrastructure: 9
Security: 6
Partisan Activity: 3

South America
Education: 9 (+)
Electrification: 8
Industry: 8
Infrastructure: 9 (+)
Security: 4
Partisan Activity: 2 (-)

Pacific Islands
Education: 7 (+)
Electrification: 6
Industry: 5 (LIMIT REACHED)
Infrastructure: 6
Security: 1
Social Unrest: 1

Spoiler: Facilities

1 Launch Stand (0-5 tonne) (+1 Operations dice)
1 Heavy Sounding Rocket Launch Pad (5-30 tonne) (+1 Operations dice)
1 Assembly Complex (+1 Build Capacity)
1 Engineer's Hall (+2 Engineering Dice)
1 University Affiliate (+2 Science Dice)
1 Materials Lab (+5 bonus to projects tagged [MATSCI])
1 Chemical Plant (+5 bonus to projects tagged [CHEM])
1 Electronics Cooperative (+5 bonus to projects tagged [AVIONICS])
2 Construction Union Halls (+2 Facilities die)
1 Publications Office (+1 to all science and engineering fields; coinflip each year to get an additional +1)
1 Hardened Tracking and Observation (T&O) Complex (+3 to Operations)
1 Engine Test Stand (+2 to PROP projects)
1 Isotope Separation and Nuclear Science Facility (Enables Nuclear Technology tree) (fully unlocks 1954Q1)
1 Computational Research Facility (+3 to all rolls)
1 Model 1952 'Stormchaser' Mobile Rocket Launch System (+1 Operations dice)
Advanced Concepts Office (unlocks experimental new programs from time to time)
1 Wind Tunnel (+3 to AERO)
1 Flight Complex (+2 Operations dice, enables the construction and launch of air- and spaceplanes.)
Dnipro Aerospace Metallurgy Centre (+9 MATSCI, +1 Education in Europe)
Sao Paolo Aerodynamics Centre (+10 AERO, +1 Education in South America)
Long Beach Propulsion Research Complex (+7 PROP, +1 Education in North America)
Mombasa Computer Science Institute (+10 COMP, +1 Education in Sub-Saharan Africa)
Beijing Institute for Chemical Research (+7 CHEM, +1 Education in Eastern Asia)
New Delhi Institute for Physics (+9 PHYS, +1 Education in Western Asia)
Equatorial Tracking System (Provides communications and guidance across the equator)
Big Ear Radiotelescope (+2 PHYS)
Cosmonaut Training Facilities (Allows for crew and crew training)

Scientific Advances

Spoiler

Improved Instrumentation - Gain +1d2 bonus to a random field every 2 launches. Gain +1 to AVIONICS immediately.) (Made obsolete by First Satellite)
Regenerative Cooling - Starts down the path to more powerful and advanced rocket engines.
Second Stages - Can now build 2-Stage Rockets.
Combustion Instability Research - Turns the initial success roll for a rocket from a >60 to >50.
Engine Cycles - Enables Early Orbital engines.
Mobile Launch Operations - Can launch Sounding Rockets without the need for a launch pad.
Improved Stringer Alloys - New (expensive) alloys improve the performance of structural tanks. (+5 to R cost of Heavy Sounding Rockets and above)
Copper-Chrome combustion chamber alloys - New combustion chamber alloys with higher heat transfer efficiency allow for hotter (and thus more efficient) chamber temperatures, leading to the ability to produce more powerful engines. (Future rocket designs will be higher performing.)
Aluminum-Lithium monolithic tanks - New tank alloys enable lighter, higher performing tankage to be produced for new rocket designs. (Future designs that use Al-Li tankage will be more performant, but more expensive in R terms.)
First Satellite - With the launch of the Curiosity I, the IEC and the world have entered a new era of spaceflight, and the horizons of science and engineering broaden ever further. (+10PS, Improved Instrumentation bonus deactivated. Gain +1d2 bonus to a random non-CREW field per two satellite launches.)
Van Allen Belts - An area of charged particles from the Sun, trapped by Earth's magnetic field. These belts have caused several minor hiccups with the Curiosity I satellite, and given the transmitted radiation readings, care must be taken if the IEC intends to launch humans through them. Staying for any significant length of time would be... ill advised.
Inconel turbine parts - Enables higher-performance rocket engines to be constructed.
Hastelloy-N reactor parts - Enables higher-performance nuclear reactors and nuclear engines to be constructed.
Rudimentary Heat Shielding - An ablative heat shield made of a pourable elastomer laid over a resin-impregnated hemp honeycomb, rimmed with a carbon cloth that together made an effective protection against the heat of Low Earth Orbit re-entries. (Enables return of film, sample, and crewed capsules/craft)
High-Carbon Carbon Fiber Composites - Useful both for you and for general civilian industry in applications where high strength and/or high-temperature conditions are found, produced from an initial rayon feedstock. Examples: Rocket fuel tanks, airplane wings, bicycles, light boats, etc.
Turbine enamel formula - A ceramic enamel formula ideal for protecting rocket engine turbines from being attacked by their oxidizers. Enables high-performance Staged Combustion engines. (IRL: This is how the Soviets worked their space magic. It's probably also how Raptor is made.)
Isogrid/Orthogrid manufacturing - A different way of forming tankage, pressing or milling out a grid of equilateral triangles in the tank material chosen, in order to reduce its weight while maintaining compressive and lateral strength. Orthogrid is very similar, except it uses a grid of squares or rectangles. Enables higher-performing tankage, improving rocket payload performance.
Stainless Steel Mass Manufacturing - A collection of techniques and technologies centered around improving the production of stainless steel, including argon-oxygen decarburization processes (to remove sulfur and carbon), hot rolling, continuous casting, and more. Primarily good for civilian applications. Enables stainless steel tankage, stainless steel parts for use in applicable applications such as probes.
Alternative Launch Systems - A series of high-technology or infrastructure-intensive launch systems projects that may or may not come about in the future.
Lightweight Foamed Alloys - offers an expensive but potentially worthwhile method for lightening spacecraft or providing shock absorption for landings.
Aramid - an aromatic polyamide fiber that shows great promise for any application where a tear-resistant, fire-resistant, strong and elastic material would be of use. Such as spacesuits, parachutes…
Kapton - a tape-like film with excellent insulation properties for various space and ground-side applications, largely under your level of abstraction but providing a small buff to reliability for spacecraft built after 1955Q3.

Scientific/Engineering Specific Field Bonuses
AERO - +19
AVIONICS - +11 (+)
CHEM - +18
CREW - +3
COMP - +13
MATSCI - +17
PHYS - +18
PROP - +14

IEC Leadership:

Director of the IEC:
Penelope Carter [The Director] - [+10 to Politics rolls, +2 Politics die, +5R/turn in funding from Connections, reroll 1 failed politics roll per turn]

Assistant Director of the IEC:
Sergei Korolev [The Engineer] - [+5 to Science and Engineering rolls (unless researching [HGOL][FUEL] projects, then it becomes a -15), +1 Science dice, +1 Engineering Dice. Request: Build and launch a 2nd Generation Orbital Rocket within 5 years. Demonstrate crewed orbital spaceflight within 5 years.]

Chief Scientist of the IEC:

Assistant Director of the Cosmonaut Assembly:

Passive Effects

Rocket Reels - Adds a coinflip for 2 gained political support per quarter; gain an additional flip for every successful orbital rocket launch. [UPGRADED]

Nuclear Power Authorization - The World Council has been successfully convinced to support the IEC conducting peaceful, power-generating nuclear experiments. (Current WC approval status: Given, Apprehensive; Current public approval status: Apprehensive)

Promises Made (Expires Q1 1956 unless otherwise stated):
Launch a Venus probe before 1960Q1. (+2 to Dnipro Aerospace Metallurgy Centre's bonus on completion) (Int(M-L)
Launch a probe to Mars by 1960Q1 (+2 to Long Beach Propulsion Research Complex's bonus on completion) (Int(D)))
Conduct Nuclear Power Plant Design Studies (FWW) (Does not expire as long as the dice is locked)
Build 2 points of Industry or Electrification in the Pacific or Africa (FWW)

Rocket Construction (1 R-4 built)

The '9 month Dawn' finally managed to make it out of the assembly facility in late December, after the expansion work was done, just in time to loft the first Curiosity-B into orbit. You were in no way upset at the slower pace of construction this year as opposed to last year - that had been truly awe inspiring but obviously unsustainable - but you did hope they would find a good balance to strike between making progress and not overworking the teams.

(Overflow 18 progress)

Rocket Launches (1 successful launch, deployment)

The first of the IEC's Curiosity-B satellites launched atop a pillar of fire and thunder on a humid November evening, the timing of the event causing a gorgeous and as-yet unseen atmospheric effect to materialize: the plume, catching the light of the sun over the curve of the earth, lit up brilliantly, wowing onlookers below and drawing significant amounts of attention from people across the region, many able to see it directly because of its great altitude.

The launch was as smooth as could be wished for and the satellite's deployment equally so, the new model unfolding a prototype deployable directional antenna and pointing it at ground stations below as it passed them by, relaying the imagery captured by the satellite's onboard television camera down to the ground. The images were relayed worldwide, the first live view of the Earth from low orbit.

The limited battery life of the satellite meant that it was little more than a curiosity (though a useful stepping stone, hopefully soon superseded), but during the month and a half it stayed online it would catch the formation of several storms out to sea, one of which ended up forming an early-season typhoon that crashed into Jakarta. The International Forecasters' Union and the Department of Agriculture's Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expressed great interest in using satellites to monitor weather in the future, once they had sufficient lifespan to be useful.

(+1 to Avionics from First Satellite)

Expand the Assembly Complex (351/350)

The Assembly Complex expansion finally completed right on the tail end of December - right before you were due to come back from your vacation-slash-honeymoon, in fact. The gleaming new expansion housed enough machines and floorspace to work on several projects in parallel, opening up the possibility of keeping a constant flow of rockets and payloads under construction for repeat projects, such as future communications and weather satellite programs. Hopefully, its completion would also break the Assembly teams from this year's malaise.

(+1 Program slot)
(+1 Build Capacity (can now build two different rocket types at once))

Build a Mission Control Center (133/250)

Somewhat away from the launchpads, but in full view of them, a new building began construction this quarter. The Mission Control Center, modeled after the current launch bunker but on a far larger scale, would be the nerve center of IEC space operations in the coming years. A large cleared area in the lee of the building (in case of rocket explosions) began to be filled in with radio dishes, the better to communicate with passing satellites or departing probes with. The initiative to build it was informed by the increasing claustrophobia of the launch bunker on the one hand - each new, larger launch, and now the satellites, too, imposed their own personnel requirements, and packing people in shoulder to shoulder was neither comfortable nor safe - and a desire to proof the IEC against the future on the other, with several control rooms available for launch operations and orbital control.

The building's pad-facing side was hardened in much the same way as the launch bunker - a sloped face of concrete, now faced with an artistic touch of stainless steel cladding, meant to divert the blast wave of a laden rocket significantly larger than an R-4 exploding on the pad up and over the structure without allowing dangerous pockets to form where the concussive force could be amplified enough to damage the hardened structure. Hopefully that precaution would be unnecessary, but it was going to be built ready for the possibility regardless.

Tracking and Communication Station Construction (Phase 2) (288/250)

The second ring of tracking stations was installed above the 45th parallel across the course of the quarter, opening up the possibility of polar-orbiting satellites for a variety of uses. Such orbits were primarily going to be useful for weather observation, but communications satellites for higher latitudes would be important as well, especially for arctic or antarctic scientific endeavors. There were orbits that could all but hover over the North Pole, in theory, extremely eccentric polar orbits that would come down low and fast over the South Pole before departing to spend days or weeks going in an arc over the North.

Plus, it dispersed still more IEC infrastructure across the world, which was never a bad thing, you thought.

Human-rated Rocketry (5/8 turns)

The rocket design work began in earnest, with the first test articles for actual physical hardware coming out of the fabrication rooms in Mogadishu in late November. Virtually all of those pieces were subscale demonstrators meant to verify processes, but they represented an important step, nonetheless. Just as important was the lock-in of the design of the R-4a, a significantly improved design over the R-4, based on in-progress work being done across the IEC's laboratories.

R-4a 'Dawn-A' (Q4 1955)
Weight: 30.3 tonnes
Payload (LEO): 1.2 tonnes (12 Payload)
Payload (GEO): ???
Payload (Lunar): ???
Lower stage:
Aluminum-Lithium isogrid tankage
4 liquid propane/liquid oxygen expander-cycle engines
Structural reinforcement for booster attachment points (2-6 booster configurations)
Upper stage:
Aluminum-Lithium pressure-stabilized isogrid tankage
1 liquid propane/liquid oxygen gas-generator vacuum-optimized engine
Optional kick-stage
Costs: 30RpD, (0/100)


Nuclear Power Plant Design Studies (4/8 turns)

The test reactors in New Delhi are coming along swimmingly, and the first shipments of fissile materials are being containerized in Mogadishu. Given the small size of the reactors, they are expected to be finished and ready for operation next quarter, which, conveniently, is roughly when the total fuel requirement will be available on-site. The Space Reactors group is finished preparing a device of their own design at Mogadishu - a cylindrical, multi-finned assemblage that will turn radioactive heat directly into power by means of a thermocouple, which should be ideal for outer-system probes. The total power provided isn't large, but that was to be expected out of a first-generation design.

Strap-on Boosters (157/250)

The concept of the strap-on booster was quite simple: it was all in the name. Take a solid rocket or a liquid-fuelled secondary core, attach to the outside of your center, payload-carrying core, and burn the whole rocket stack in such a way as the secondary boosters burnt out before the central one, and then detach them so the center core could take advantage of a large boost to its capabilities and put a larger payload into orbit, or the same payload it would normally carry into a more energetic one. All well and good. They just had to figure out how to get the boosters to separate from the central core reliably, which proved to be slightly more time-consuming than anticipated on their subscale demonstration rockets.

Vacuum Nozzles (269/200)

The vacuum nozzle research finished with a trip to Long Beach, where the research team set up a test motor in a very curious device:

A vacuum chamber.

These were not new devices - far from it - but this was a novel usage of one. Immense pumps sucked the air out of the room-sized chamber, the inlet of one of which was directly downstream of a rocket engine test stand. This setup would allow for the testing of vacuum engines on Earth in realistic conditions, as calculations indicated that flow instability around the thin, extended nozzles of vacuum engines could cause a resonant flex to set up in the nozzle and tear it apart inside of Earth's atmosphere otherwise.

The engine fired successfully, and the performance increase the team had been hoping to register showed up, exactly as planned.

With their concept proven, they returned home - with the first testing of R-4a hardware done behind them.

Photovoltaic Investigations (3/4 turns)

New cell formulations have undergone testing at Dnipro, using suggestions and materials provided by Beijing. The new dopant materials have the potential, according to longevity testing performed at Dnipro, to allow the solar cells to operate at full capacity for roughly a year, with a five year lifespan before power outputs drop to unusable levels. It's not ideal, but for a first generation cell it should be quite useful. There is a need to confirm the results, which will take another quarter, but should those confirmations pan out the Curiosity-C satellite should be available in Q2 with the new panels.

Closed-Input Life Support Systems (126/200)

One of the biggest problems with regards to crewed spaceflight was getting the cosmonaut inside the capsule back home alive. The aerodynamicists and aeronautical engineers had their hands full with designing the craft that could make it happen; the doctors, biologists, chemists and a dozen other specialties besides were needed to give them the systems that could keep the cosmonaut breathing. Enter the Closed-Input Life Support System, or CILSS. This basic mechanism provided breathing air by means of a canister of compressed air with a backup 'oxygen candle', which was exactly what it sounded like: a candle that, when burned, released oxygen. It was of inherently limited duration, and both the air tank and candles themselves weren't particularly light, so endurance would be a problem, but it had the advantage of being a simple stopgap while something better was sought. In addition, the crew's exhaled carbon dioxide had to be dealt with, which was done by means of passing the air in the cabin over a calcium substrate, forming calcium carbonate and removing the carbon from the air.

All of these things combined to mean the CILSS system was fairly heavy, but it would work well for short stints in space - potentially as long as a week.

All-Sky Survey (Phase 1) [PHYS] (124/300)

The first phase of the All-Sky Survey was authorized, and the International Astronomers' Union was more than happy to help begin setting up the grand effort when contacted. Working with them, your Astronomy and Planetary Science department, until now a nascent thing only buoyed by the existence of the Big Ear, began putting together a series of meetings with the directors of existing observatories to coordinate viewing time and other support. Meanwhile, your Facilities crews began work on a series of new, large telescopes in the Atacama Desert of Chile, that high, dark location deemed a favorite for observing the plane of the Milky Way. Additional sites were selected in the Northern hemisphere, primarily in what had been Spain and New Mexico, where dark, pristine skies could be found readily.

Rocket Boxes (Phase 5) (273/250)

The final phase (for now) of the Rocket Box rollout was completed across Europe by the end of the quarter. The distribution of Boxes saw the number of entrants to the University Rocketry Competition increase accordingly, though the competition was still half a year away. Already, there were ideas among the Outreach staff regarding more advanced kits and programs that could be instituted to further stimulate interest, but as it was you were more than satisfied with the progress the IEC had made in presenting itself to those who would one day, hopefully, work alongside you.

(+1 to Education worldwide)

 

[BurnBright]

Nice!! I feel like everything is going well.

 

[Space Murica]

Just in time for Yuri's night too.

 

[Shadows]

Just in time for Yuri's night too.

Click to shrink...

Yuri in a space quest on Yuri's night. It's Yuri all the way down.

 

[General_Urist]

The Space Reactors group is finished preparing a device of their own design at Mogadishu - a cylindrical, multi-finned assemblage that will turn radioactive heat directly into power by means of a thermocouple, which should be ideal for outer-system probes.

Click to shrink...

Huh, can thermocouples manage sufficient throughput to be the power convertors for a nuclear reactor, at volumes of power large enough that you'd actually need a reactor rather than just decay heat? Or do we not have production of short half-life isotopes needed to try that yet?

 

[Rockeye]

R-4a 'Dawn-A' (Q4 1955)
Weight: 30.3 tonnes
Payload (LEO): 1.2 tonnes (12 Payload)

Click to shrink...

Original R-4 was 28t and had a payload of 200kg (0.2t/2 Payload). 6x the payload.

Original R-4 was 35/die and /120. At 30 and 100, this one costs on average about 70-75% as much.

Progress! Science! Technology!

 

[blankmask]

Long live Yuri's night.

 

[Traveller76]

I understand the push for manned spaceflight but I would want to encourage the improvement of the life, cost and reliability of weather satellites. If we are able to better predict the path of storms and weather patterns the number of lives saved would be immense. Also it may give us a bonus regarding launch windows and landing operations.

 

[Shadows]

Huh, can thermocouples manage sufficient throughput to be the power convertors for a nuclear reactor, at volumes of power large enough that you'd actually need a reactor rather than just decay heat? Or do we not have production of short half-life isotopes needed to try that yet?

Click to shrink...

They're essentially developing an RTG. They're just also the same group that wants to make proper space reactors.

 

[10ebbor10]

Huh, can thermocouples manage sufficient throughput to be the power convertors for a nuclear reactor, at volumes of power large enough that you'd actually need a reactor rather than just decay heat? Or do we not have production of short half-life isotopes needed to try that yet?

Click to shrink...

It was done historically.

TOPAZ nuclear reactor - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

BES-5 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

To do a quick comparison.
The BES-5 creates 3kw of electrical power with a mass of 130 kg (30 kg of fuel).
TOPAZ-1 creates 5-6 kw power using a mass of 300 kg (with only 12 kg of fuel).
For comparison, the RTG's used in the Voyager probes weighted 37 kg to provide 0.15 kw.

Biggest problem is that it's only really worth it if you use weaponsgrade material.

 

[C_Z]

I understand the push for manned spaceflight but I would want to encourage the improvement of the life, cost and reliability of weather satellites. If we are able to better predict the path of storms and weather patterns the number of lives saved would be immense. Also it may give us a bonus regarding launch windows and landing operations.

Click to shrink...

For the most part, they're similar programs. We've got solar panels, so now most of the improvements to be made are things like spacecraft stabilization and electronics reliability (and eventually, CCD detectors in the '70s). Aside from that it's just making satellites bigger and more elaborate.

Meanwhile, the biggest hurdle for the manned program is getting sufficient reliability out of the R-4/a. The more weather satellites we launch, the more bugs we can iron out. Our 1960 target is just "woman in can in orbit", and for that, the spacecraft itself isn't really that hard. We'll have to come up with good heat shielding but that's important long term anyways.

Edit: to be clear, IMO the first priority is weather satellites. It's just that weather sats indirectly help our other programs.

 

[Shadows]

All good things had to come to an end, and that included your honeymoon, unfortunately. There was something to be said for consistency: you took December off every year like clockwork, and you'd managed to wrangle everything important to you into respecting that. Unfortunately, that did not include the World Council meeting, which, also, had the virtue of consistency in that it was always the first thing you took care of when you returned from your vacation, as it was always right after the new year began.

This year seemed to be a… calmer World Council than those prior. You couldn't put a finger on why you felt that way, only that you did; roughly the same number of fist fights between the SDL and… everyone else occurred as had been the norm for the last several years. Still… hmm.

Regardless, that meant a somewhat more relaxed negotiating environment, for good and ill - without as much political pressure as had been the norm, there was less to be gained from politicking as no one felt a particular need to wheel and deal.

1956 World Council​

The Internationale (Marxist-Leninist) - (The Internationale's Marxist-Leninist wing, primarily formed from the former Soviet Union. They lean more authoritarian than most of the other major factions, given their ideological bent, but are also heavily pro-industrialization and trending towards shedding the -Leninist side of their ideology.

The M-Ls are currently running a campaign to electrify Eastern Europe fully, and seeking allies in the endeavour. Their push for additional resources devoted to the Health Department was successful, and they are now pushing for a number of new research universities to be founded across the world, devoted to promoting medical research. They now regularly collaborate with the Debsists on projects of mutual importance, and others besides.

The Internationale (Debsist) - The Internationale's Debsist wing, primarily popular in Anglosphere regions and particularly in America. Less authoritarian than the M-L wing, they are also somewhat reserved on the topic of transitioning to a fully non-hierarchical society due to their roots as a socialist movement.

The Debsists have emerged battered from their engagement with the Free States, but are on the whole riding a victory high after the closing months of the war. They are still engaged in efforts to root out the last holdouts of FAS diehards in North America, but they are very likely to be interested in restarting and accelerating the now-doubly post-war reconstruction efforts. The Debsists and the M-Ls are on good terms, the two wings of the Internationale behaving as a significantly more aligned bloc.

The Internationale (Councilist) - The Councilists are the largest faction of the Internationale by a small but significant margin, advocating for the devolution of power into the hands of locally- and trades-based councils, thus their name. This is the faction most comfortable with non-hierarchical society and anarchist teachings.

The Councilists are currently focused mainly on building up the productive forces in Eastern and Western Asia, as well as South America, as those are the bases of their power. They are interested in a high-tech industrialization effort driven by a space center akin to Mogadishu in order to diversify the industry in either South America or Asia.

United Workers' Front - The UWF is something of a vanguard party, regularly getting into brawls with SDL members. Their numbers include many of the people fighting to keep the forces of capital and authoritarianism from rising again, and as such their main focus is maintaining enough security funding to allow local community defense organizations to fend off guerrillas and partisans, which are still active in much of the world. They are relatively non-hierarchical in bent, but tend also to be somewhat more socially conservative. They are the smallest of the major parties, but they are not without weight. Geographically, their strongest base of support is South America.

Freed now from the needs of supporting a war, the UWF have returned to their homelands and lent considerable weight to reconstruction effort in South America and elsewhere. They are still calling for the expulsion of the SDL, and with a year now past the end of the FAS war some of the bloodthirstier Front members are clamoring behind the scenes for less tolerance of the 'reactionaries' (both real and perceived) in the SDL.

Free Workers of the World - The FWW formed from the Industrial Workers of the World following the end of the Revolution. Growing to encompass all trades and occupations, from steelworkers to chemists to prostitutes, the FWW relentlessly campaigns for greater rights and protections for anyone performing work that society values.

The Free Workers are, as befits their scattered nature, somewhat concerned with everything everywhere. Most of their efforts are social - they are fighting to enshrine the rights and respect for people of orientations other than straight, for one thing, which is why Dr. Turing is a card-carrying member - and less concerned with physical infrastructure as a general rule. They are, however, still largely comprised of factory workers, and as such are firmly in favor of getting additional industry and electrical infrastructure built, as they can recruit from those workers easiest.

Social Democratic League - Having the middlemost numbers of the major parties, the SDL draws under its banners everyone who wants a seat at the table but isn't aboard with either a transition to full communism or socialism, wishing to see a limited return of capitalist thought. Some members are considerably more extreme, to include monarchists and populist authoritarians.

The SDL is under a great deal of internal and external strain, as the ideological social democrats come to clash with those using the party name as a fig leaf to sow doubt as to their actual intentions. A split is likely in the near future.

Colonized Peoples' Advancement League - The CPAL is another middleweight party focused on providing restitution and assistance to those peoples crushed by the weight of Imperial (and imperial) oppression across the world. Their major foci are on building equality of opportunity, infrastructure and industry in places that had been extracted from by the world's powers.

The CPAL is currently trying to keep too much funding from being hovered up for use in rebuilding the colonizer nations. With the end of the FAS conflict, they are requesting renewed focus on building infrastructure and providing services to previously-colonized lands. Their current concerns remain building up Africa and the Pacific Islands.

Total Councilors: 5000
Stances on IEC (Strongly Favor/Somewhat Favor/Somewhat Oppose/Strongly Oppose)

Int(M-L): 80/470/308/0
Int(D): 20/230/170/0
Int(C): 58/770/180/0
UWF: 0/287/63/25
FWW: 20/383/296/0
SDL: 0/400/438/15
CPAL: 27/408/189/0
Minor: 10/30/30/30

Council Liaison Reports:
Objectives of the World Communal Council

Complete Post-War Reconstruction (45000/200000)
Defeat Partisan Forces

State of the World

Total Education: 84 (+14)
Total Electrification: 76 (+4)
Total Industry: 74 (+5)
Total Infrastructure: 81 (+7)
Total Security: 38 (-5)
Total Partisan Activity: 27 (-7)
Total Social Unrest: 1 (=)

Spoiler: World Council Departments and Cooperatives

Department of Agriculture (5%)
-Forestry Commission
-Aquaculture and Fishing Commission
Department of Transportation (9%)
-Sea Travel Commission
-Road and Rail Commission
-Air Travel Commission
Department of Industrial Coordination (5%)
-Occupational Health and Safety Administration
Department of Energy (8.2%)
Department of Reconstruction and Disaster Relief (28.0%)
Department of Health and Welfare (24.5%)
Department of Education (17.2%)

Discretionary Funding (2.6%)
Council Standards Commission (Negligible)

Interplanetary Exploration Cooperative (1.0%)
Antarctic Exploration Cooperative (0.1%)
(Others)

Spoiler: Stats

State of the World
(Updated at the end of every Quarter)

Mediterranean/Saharan Africa
Education: 8
Electrification: 7
Industry: 7
Infrastructure: 8
Security: 2
Partisan Activity: 3

Sub-Saharan Africa
Education: 8
Electrification: 8
Industry: 7
Infrastructure: 8
Security: 4
Partisan Activity: 4

Eastern Asia
Education: 12 (LIMIT REACHED)
Electrification: 10
Industry: 10
Infrastructure: 11 (+)
Security: 6
Partisan Activity: 5

Western Asia
Education: 12 (LIMIT REACHED)
Electrification: 11
Industry: 11
Infrastructure: 11
Security: 6
Partisan Activity: 4

Australia and New Zealand
Education: 8
Electrification: 7
Industry: 7
Infrastructure: 8
Security: 4
Partisan Activity: 3

Europe
Education: 11
Electrification: 10
Industry: 10
Infrastructure: 11
Security: 5
Partisan Activity: 3

North America
Education: 9
Electrification: 9
Industry: 9 (+)
Infrastructure: 9
Security: 6
Partisan Activity: 3

South America
Education: 9
Electrification: 8
Industry: 8
Infrastructure: 9
Security: 4
Partisan Activity: 2

Pacific Islands
Education: 7
Electrification: 6
Industry: 5 (LIMIT REACHED)
Infrastructure: 6
Security: 1
Social Unrest: 1

Here you can spend and gain PS advocating for policies, pursuing programs, and performing tasks for the WCC.

Funding Wars, Episode V: The Beancounters Strike Back

Current WCC Budget: 46,000RpT//184,000RpY
Current IEC Budget (without extras): 460RpT//2400RpY (1%)
Current PS: 100

[ ] [FUND] 0.25% - Returning to your initial funding percentage would seriously constraint the pace of operations you've become accustomed to, so, realistically, it's not an option. Politically, that's another matter. (-345R/turn, +55 PS)

[ ] [FUND] 0.5% - Reducing your funding share to half a percent will be somewhat less constraining to your ambitions than a quarter of a percent, while still being painful, but could buy you some needed goodwill for any major asks. (-230R/turn, +25PS)

[ ] [FUND] 0.75% - Cutting your funding level in half would be an excellent way to buy some goodwill and allow the IEC to take fewer promises this year, allowing somewhat more flexible planning. (-1150R/turn, +15PS)

[ ] [FUND] 1% - Maintains your current level of funding.(+-0R/turn)

[ ] [FUND] 1.5% - Going back to 1.5% of the budget would be a difficult sell, but you could point to the ongoing human spaceflight program as justification for it. That didn't mean it'd be easy, of course. Just easier. (+230R/turn, -55PS)

[ ] [FUND] 2% - If you've got big plans and a desire to put them into action, two percent of the Council's budget will get you there - but be prepared to fight for it every millimeter of the way. (+460R/turn, -120PS, must take at least two promises from all parties (except SDL, who will oppose your budget in any case here) and complete them. Failures cost twice as much PS. Failing more than half will lock out any budget allocation higher than 1% for 5 years, and may lock down to .75%.)

Promises
All promises, unless stated otherwise, are intended to be kept within the year - from Q1 to Q1.

Kept in 1955:
All promises kept.

Failed in 1955:
None.

Ongoing:
Launch a Venus probe before 1960Q1. (+2 to Dnipro Aerospace Metallurgy Centre's bonus on completion) (Int(M-L)
Launch a probe to Mars by 1960Q1 (+2 to Long Beach Propulsion Research Complex's bonus on completion) (Int(D)))
Conduct Nuclear Power Plant Design Studies (FWW) (Does not expire as long as the dice is locked)

Must take at least two.

Internationale (Marxist-Leninist)
Stances: Industrialist, Scientific, High Centralist, Soft Pro-Nuclear

[ ] Conduct Supersonic Jet Research (Phase 3) (Int(M-L) moves 2d5 steps towards Favor, SDL moves 2d5 towards Oppose)

[ ] Build a Launch Facility in Eastern Asia before 1957Q1 (+10PS) (Int(M-L) moves 2d10 steps towards Favor)

[ ] Deliver a Weather Observation Satellite covering Asia and Europe. (+10PS) (Int(M-L) moves 3d10 steps towards Favor)

[ ] Complete Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Applications Studies by 1957Q1. (-5PS, FWW and Int(M-L) will move 2d5 steps towards Favor) (PS cost of promise replaces PS cost of project) (Grants Nuclear Propulsion Authorization)

[ ] Build 2 points of Industry or Infrastructure in Western or Eastern Europe (Int(M-L) moves 2d5 steps towards Favor)

[ ] Build 2 points of Industry or Infrastructure in North America (+5 PS, Int(M-L) moves 2d5 steps towards Favor)

[ ] Campaign for the Marxist-Leninists (Unlocks a political action) (Int(M-L) moves 2d5 steps towards Favor per project completion)

Internationale (Debsist)
Stances: Industrialist, Militaristic, Moderate Centralist, Nuclear Agnostic

[ ] Conduct Supersonic Jet Research (Phase 3) (+5 PS) (Int(D) moves 2d5 steps towards Favor, SDL moves 2d5 steps towards Oppose)

[ ] Complete Exploratory Propellant Research (Phase 3) by 1957Q1. (+5PS) (Int(D) moves 2d5 steps towards Favor)

[ ] Build a Launch Facility in North America by 1957Q1. (+10PS) (Int(D) moves 3d5 steps towards Favor)

[ ] Deliver a Weather Observation Satellite covering North America. (+5PS) (Int(D) moves 3d10 steps towards Favor)

[ ] Build 2 points of Industry or Infrastructure in North America (+5 PS, Int(D) moves 2d5 steps towards Favor)

[ ] Campaign for the Debsists (Unlocks a political action) (Int(D) moves 2d5 steps towards Favor per project completion)

Internationale (Councilist)
Stances: Developmentalist, Moderate Localist, Nuclear Agnostic

[ ] Build a Launch Facility in Asia by 1957Q1. (+10PS, Int(C) moves 2d10 steps towards Favor)

[ ] Deliver a Weather Observation Satellite covering Asia and South America. (+10PS) (Int(C) moves 3d10 steps towards Favor)

[ ] Launch a Lunar Impactor before 1957Q3. (+5PS, +2 to New Delhi Physics Institute bonus)

[ ] Build 2 points of Industry or Infrastructure in Asia (+5 PS, Int(C) moves 2d5 steps towards Favor)

[ ] Campaign for the Councilists (Unlocks a political action) (Int(C) moves 2d5 steps towards Favor per project completion)

Free Workers of the World
Stances: Industrialist, High Localist, Pro-Nuclear

[ ] Conduct Prototype Spaceplane research (+5PS, FWW moves 2d5 steps towards Favor, SDL moves 2d5 steps towards Oppose)

[ ] Build a Launch Facility in the Pacific Islands by 1957Q1. (+10PS, FWW moves 2d10 steps towards Favor)

[ ] Commit to building a telescope on the Moon by 1975. (+15PS, FWW will move 20d10 steps towards Favor on completion.)

[ ] Complete Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Applications Studies by 1957Q1. (-5PS, FWW and Int(M-L) will move 2d5 steps towards Favor) (PS cost of promise replaces PS cost of project) (Grants Nuclear Propulsion Authorization)

[ ] Build 2 points of Industry or Electrification in the Pacific or Africa (FWW moves 2d5 steps towards Favor per project completion) (can be taken multiple times)

[ ] Campaign for the Free Workers(Unlocks a political action) (FWW moves 2d5 steps towards Favor per project completion)

United Workers' Front
Stances: Moderate Localist, Militaristic, Soft Anti-Nuclear

[ ] Back the creation of a Council-bound standing military formation. (+10PS) (UWF moves 2d20+5 steps towards Favor, SDL moves 4d10+2d20 steps towards Oppose)

[ ] Build a Launch Facility in South America by 1957Q1. (+10PS, UWF moves 2d10 steps towards Favor)

[ ] Complete Exploratory Propellant Research (Phase 3) by 1957Q1. (UWF moves 2d5 steps towards Favor)

[ ] Build and test-fly a spaceplane before 1957Q3. (+5PS, +2 to Sao Paolo Aerodynamics Centre's bonus)

[ ] Campaign for the Front (Unlocks a political action) (UWF moves 2d5 steps towards Favor per project completion)

Social Democratic League
Stances: Moderate Centralist, Industrialist, Hard Anti-Nuclear

[ ] Build the Sydney Microelectronics Research Centre by 1957Q1. (+5PS, SDL moves 1d10 steps towards Favor)

[ ] Conduct All-Sky Survey (Phase 3) by 1957Q1. (+5PS, SDL moves 2d5 steps towards favor)

[ ] Build 2 points of Industry or Infrastructure in industrialized regions (+5 PS, SDL moves 2d5 steps towards Favor)

[ ] Campaign for the League (Unlocks a political action) (SDL moves 2d5 steps towards Favor per project completion)

Colonized Peoples' Advancement League
Stances: High Localist, Developmentalist, Soft Anti-Nuclear

[ ] Conduct Transistor Computing Investigation in Mombasa by 1958Q1. (+5PS, CPAL moves 2d10 steps towards Favor)

[ ] Build a Launch Facility in South America by 1957Q1 (+10PS) (CPAL moves 3d5 steps towards Favor)

[ ] Help sponsor the construction of 2 points of Industry or Infrastructure in colonized regions (+5 PS, CPAL moves 2d5 steps towards Favor) (Requires you to take at least that many Redirect Funding to Africa requests, or using the Bother Councilors option during the year for other locations)

[ ] Campaign for the Colonized Peoples (Unlocks a political action) (CPAL moves 2d5 steps towards Favor per project completion)

Requests

[ ] Research Support - You have a network of scientific institutions to whom you send a variety of data and perform experiments for. By putting a little extra pressure on those institutions, you can get some help for your internal purposes. (-5PS, +3 to all Science and Engineering dice until 1955Q1)

[ ] Demil Locker Access - In the future, your scientists may come up with ideas for spacecraft that may require access to the kind of parts that can really only be found ready-made within the stockpiles of military equipment lying about. By acquiring pre-emptive permission, you can gain access to things like rocket motors, artillery barrels and the like before they're turned into scrap steel once more. Given the current situation, the giving of this permission may be grudging. (-30PS, eases some Alternative Launch Systems research)

[ ] Request Negotiation Aid - The most time-consuming part of locating appropriate sites for new launch complexes is negotiating with local interests, some of whom are opposed to such projects for a variety of reasons. By asking the regions' Councilors for help, the IEC may find itself in position to more quickly advance its plans in a way that is beneficial for everyone involved. (Lowers progress requirements on Launch Sites, slightly increases R costs) (-10PS)

[ ] Redirect Funding to the IEC - By pulling on the right strings, you can get funding redirected to the IEC beyond the percentage allotment.
-[] Write-in PS cost (1PS=5R/turn)

[ ] Redirect Funding to Africa - The homeland of the IEC is ever in need of further investment, industrialization and modernization. The stench of centuries of imperialist exploitation can only be washed away with the wealth that was stripped from it being returned. (Adds extra rolls per turn for Stat increases)
-[] Write-in stat category (e.g., Electrification) (-5 PS per time taken, can be taken multiple times)

Graduates
Each Graduate pick adds 1 dice to the sector you picked. You have a maximum of 8 6 picks this year. Picking fewer Graduates than are available will add additional background rolls per quarter to increase the world's stats, such as Industry or Electrification. E.g., taking 1 fewer dice adds 1 additional roll per quarter for stats. This directly influences the world's Reconstruction rate and thus your baseline budget update during the next WC.

Each can be picked up to two times. Each pick comes with a cost of -5R/turn.

(2 GRAD picks removed due to North American reconstruction)

[ ] [GRAD] Operations
[ ] [GRAD] Facilities
[ ] [GRAD] Engineering
[ ] [GRAD] Science
[ ] [GRAD] Politics

 

[KNakamura]

.. Why does the SDL hate spaceplanes so much? >_> (I can't really square the circle with that.)

 

[Ash19256]

[ ] Complete Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Applications Studies by 1957Q1. (-5PS, FWW and Int(M-L) will move 2d5 steps towards Favor) (PS cost of promise replaces PS cost of project) (Grants Nuclear Propulsion Authorization)

[ ] Conduct Transistor Computing Investigation in Mombasa by 1958Q1. (+5PS, CPAL moves 2d10 steps towards Favor)

Click to shrink...

Both of these seem very tempting.

.. Why does the SDL hate spaceplanes so much? >_> (I can't really square the circle with that.)

Click to shrink...

Not 100% sure, but running theory is that the thinking of the SDL is that spaceplanes are somehow easier to militarize than rockets would be - or otherwise easier to use for purposes that they don't approve of.

 

[KNakamura]

Both of these seem very tempting.

Not 100% sure, but running theory is that the thinking of the SDL is that spaceplanes are somehow easier to militarize than rockets would be - or otherwise easier to use for purposes that they don't approve of.

Click to shrink...

.. I mean, I guess at that time, rods from god are still seen as a great orbital bombardment weapon. I could see that logic.

 

[Rockeye]

We only have 4 years for two probes. I hesitate to load up on tons more promises given that we haven't even revealed the option to start designing those yet.

 

[C_Z]

A preliminary plan. I haven't done the math to know if it's optimal yet, but I wanted to get something out for discussion purposes

[] Plan: SICKO MODE
-[] [FUND] 1.5% - Going back to 1.5% of the budget would be a difficult sell, but you could point to the ongoing human spaceflight program as justification for it. That didn't mean it'd be easy, of course. Just easier. (+230R/turn, -55PS)
Ops:
-[] Deliver a Weather Observation Satellite covering Asia and Europe. (+10PS) (Int(M-L) moves 3d10 steps towards Favor)
-[] Deliver a Weather Observation Satellite covering North America. (+5PS) (Int(D) moves 3d10 steps towards Favor)
-[] Deliver a Weather Observation Satellite covering Asia and South America. (+10PS) (Int(C) moves 3d10 steps towards Favor)

Facilities:
-[] Build a Launch Facility in Asia by 1957Q1. (+10PS, Int(C) moves 2d10 steps towards Favor)
-[] Build a Launch Facility in Eastern Asia before 1957Q1 (+10PS) (Int(M-L) moves 2d10 steps towards Favor)
-[] Complete all stages of Tracking Facilities by 1957Q1 (+10PS, CPAL moves 6d5 steps towards Favor)
-[] Build the Sydney Microelectronics Research Centre by 1957Q1. (+5PS, SDL moves 1d10 steps towards Favor)

Engineering:
-[] Launch a Lunar Impactor before 1957Q3. (+5PS, +2 to New Delhi Physics Institute bonus)
-[] Complete Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Applications Studies by 1957Q1. (-5PS, FWW and Int(M-L) will move 2d5 steps towards Favor) (PS cost of promise replaces PS cost of project) (Grants Nuclear Propulsion Authorization)

Science:
-[] Complete Exploratory Propellant Research (Phase 3) by 1957Q1. (+5PS) (Int(D) moves 2d5 steps towards Favor)
-[] Complete Exploratory Propellant Research (Phase 3) by 1957Q1. (UWF moves 2d5 steps towards Favor)
-[] Conduct Transistor Computing Investigation in Mombasa by 1958Q1. (+5PS, CPAL moves 2d10 steps towards Favor)

-[] Research Support - You have a network of scientific institutions to whom you send a variety of data and perform experiments for. By putting a little extra pressure on those institutions, you can get some help for your internal purposes. (-5PS, +3 to all Science and Engineering dice until 1955Q1)
-[] Demil Locker Access - In the future, your scientists may come up with ideas for spacecraft that may require access to the kind of parts that can really only be found ready-made within the stockpiles of military equipment lying about. By acquiring pre-emptive permission, you can gain access to things like rocket motors, artillery barrels and the like before they're turned into scrap steel once more. Given the current situation, the giving of this permission may be grudging. (-30PS, eases some Alternative Launch Systems research)
-[] Request Negotiation Aid - The most time-consuming part of locating appropriate sites for new launch complexes is negotiating with local interests, some of whom are opposed to such projects for a variety of reasons. By asking the regions' Councilors for help, the IEC may find itself in position to more quickly advance its plans in a way that is beneficial for everyone involved. (Lowers progress requirements on Launch Sites, slightly increases R costs) (-10PS)

 

[MSH]

[X] Budget: Microchips, Jetplanes, and the Weather Channel
-[X] [FUND] 1.5% - (+230R/turn, -55PS)
-[X] Build the Sydney Microelectronics Research Centre by 1957Q1. (+5PS, SDL moves 1d10 steps towards Favor)
-[X] Build a Launch Facility in the Pacific Islands by 1957Q1. (+10PS, FWW moves 2d10 steps towards Favor)
-[X] Conduct Transistor Computing Investigation in Mombasa by 1958Q1. (+5PS, CPAL moves 2d10 steps towards Favor)
-[X] Deliver a Weather Observation Satellite covering North America. (+5PS) (Int(D) moves 3d10 steps towards Favor)
-[X] Conduct Supersonic Jet Research (Phase 3) (Int(M-L) moves 2d5 steps towards Favor, SDL moves 2d5 towards Oppose)
-[X] Conduct Supersonic Jet Research (Phase 3) (+5 PS) (Int(D) moves 2d5 steps towards Favor, SDL moves 2d5 steps towards Oppose)
-[X] Request Negotiation Aid - (Lowers progress requirements on Launch Sites, slightly increases R costs) (-10PS)
-[X] Research Support - (-5PS, +3 to all Science and Engineering dice until 1955Q1)
-[X] [GRAD] Facilities
-[X] [GRAD] Engineering
-[X] [GRAD] Engineering
-[X] [GRAD] Science
-[X] [GRAD] Science
-[X] [GRAD] Politics

Ongoing:
Launch a Venus probe before 1960Q1. (+2 to Dnipro Aerospace Metallurgy Centre's bonus on completion) (Int(M-L)
Launch a probe to Mars by 1960Q1 (+2 to Long Beach Propulsion Research Complex's bonus on completion) (Int(D)))
Conduct Nuclear Power Plant Design Studies (FWW) (Does not expire as long as the dice is locked)

IEC Budget (without extras): 660RpT
PS: 60

Dice, dice, and more dice. That's what's important to our climbing the tech tree, especially with the effect that locked dice have. One more facility die will give us a divisible by 3, engineering and science are self-explanatory, politics is the lagging sector.

We haven't been activating all our dice already, so a budget expansion is necessary as well. This will be a year for running up the score - half of this stuff we were going to do no matter what. As for the rest, I continue to think Pacific Islands is the logical spot for a second launch facility. We can do all sorts of irresponsible scientifically bold experiments if they're happening over the open ocean. Those transistors are a foundational tech as well, so there's no reason to delay at all.

I'm not concerned with expanding our nuclear experiments right now, we've already got a good slate there.

 

[Etranger]

[] Plan: The IEC Must Always Advance
-[] [FUND] 1.5% (+230R/turn, -55PS)

Operations
-[] Deliver a Weather Observation Satellite covering Asia and Europe. (+10PS) (Int(M-L) moves 3d10 steps towards Favor)
-[] Deliver a Weather Observation Satellite covering North America. (+5PS) (Int(D) moves 3d10 steps towards Favor)
-[] Deliver a Weather Observation Satellite covering Asia and South America. (+10PS) (Int(C) moves 3d10 steps towards Favor)
-[] Build and test-fly a spaceplane before 1957Q3. (+5PS, +2 to Sao Paolo Aerodynamics Centre's bonus)

Facilities
-[] Build a Launch Facility in Asia by 1957Q1. (+10PS, Int(C) moves 2d10 steps towards Favor)
-[] Build a Launch Facility in South America by 1957Q1. (+10PS, UWF moves 2d10 steps towards Favor)
-[] Build the Sydney Microelectronics Research Centre by 1957Q1. (+5PS, SDL moves 1d10 steps towards Favor)

Engineering
-[] Complete Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Applications Studies by 1957Q1. (-5PS, FWW and Int(M-L) will move 2d5 steps towards Favor) (PS cost of promise replaces PS cost of project) (Grants Nuclear Propulsion Authorization)
-[] Launch a Lunar Impactor before 1957Q3. (+5PS, +2 to New Delhi Physics Institute bonus)
-[] Conduct Prototype Spaceplane research (+5PS, FWW moves 2d5 steps towards Favor, SDL moves 2d5 steps towards Oppose)

Science
-[] Complete Exploratory Propellant Research (Phase 3) by 1957Q1. (+5PS) (Int(D) and UWF move 2d5 steps towards Favor)
-[] Conduct Transistor Computing Investigation in Mombasa by 1958Q1. (+5PS, CPAL moves 2d10 steps towards Favor)

Politics
-[] Back the creation of a Council-bound standing military formation. (+10PS) (UWF moves 2d20+5 steps towards Favor, SDL moves 4d10+2d20 steps towards Oppose)

Requests
-[] Research Support (-5PS, +3 to all Science and Engineering dice until 1957Q1)
-[] Demil Locker Access (-30PS, eases some Alternative Launch Systems research)
-[] Request Negotiation Aid (-10PS) (Lowers progress requirements on Launch Sites, slightly increases R costs)

Graduates
-[] Operations x2
-[] Facilities
-[] Engineering x2
-[] Science

I'm in favor of the funding increase, but I think we can be a bit more ambitious with our promises.