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Per Aspera (Space Agency Plan Quest)

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I realize it's a little late for this, but 17 hours for voting isn't nothing, and in any case it's worth posting for discussion, I just wish I would be motivated to write about my general vibes for this quest sooner (and during the day). I don't agree with Casholox Rocket Engines because I think it takes an overly rosy view of our early rockets and overprioritizes a low-priority technical issue. My plan, Broad Front strips less important priorities to also emphasize institutions and outreach.


If we look at history, even the fairly high-turnover designs of this time, five years is at the low end of times to get a fundamentally new system flying. And this is fundamentally new - we haven't launched a rocket much bigger than a ton. We're behind the historical timeline, and have been acting implicitly as if we're going to make at least a credible attempt at an orbital launch before the historical timeline. This implies that a small, conservative, stopgap design. We also have chosen to invest dice in Shaking Trees, meaning that we'll probably get assets connected to outdated rocket weapons, which will be the basis for early sounding rockets/launch vehicles if we're going to realize that investment at all.

Given all that, and that we have many other priorities, I don't think Engine Cycles is something we really need. It'd be nice, but the most successful rocket in OTL history flies engines with a crappy early engine cycle to this day. More to the point, Juno I flew with a crappy V2-derived engine cycle and I think that or a little bigger is the kind of scale we need to be thinking in.

This plan diverts those dice to the Advanced Concepts Office, because I think one other thing we really need - and have stepped away from after the first turn- is to fill out the basic institutions of our space program. A die goes into continuing Research Program Outreach for similar reasons, to keep us rolling on the most basic institutional development rather than burying the program in its work before it's even fully established. Outreach is super important, accumulating bonuses is important and in any case I think it's fine if Combustion Instability research is completed later alongside the HSR.

Where I do diverge from this is in starting Rocket Boxes instead of Council Liaison Office. That's to maintain a commitment to the program 'giving back' even at this stage and doing grassroots outreach and education, while we already have a die on dealing with our more official backers in Outcome Surveys. The Liaison Office is important, but we're already taking an action this turn to get a lot of what it'd give us.

[X] Plan: Broad Front (70R)
Operations (1 Die, 15R)
-[X] Construct a Sounding Rocket (15R per dice, 0/40, costs 1 Build Capacity until complete)
--[X] And launch it (free action for Sounding Rockets) (gains Scientific Data, launch experience, results to show the people funding you)
Facilities (0 Dice, 0R)
Engineering (3 Dice, 20R)
-[X] Second Stages (Tech) [AERO, PHYS] (10R per die, 186/200, gain the ability to make 2-stage rockets)
-[X] (2 Dice) Advanced Concepts Office (5R per die, 0/150, will occasionally provide a new Program to pursue based on brainstorming and priorities)
Science (3 Dice, 20R)
-[X] Combustion Instability Research [PHYS, CHEM, PROP] (5R per die, 0/200, turns the initial success roll for a rocket from a >60 to >50.)
-[X] Research Program Outreach (10R per dice, 10/120, gives +2 bonus to 1d4 research areas (including engineering))
Politics (3 Dice, 15R)
-[X] Outcome Surveys (5R per dice, 63/120, get concrete goals to work towards)
-[X] Shaking Trees (5R per dice, 52/100, variable reward)
-[X] Rocket Boxes (Phase I) (5R per die, 0/200. Gives Rocket Boxes to every middle-school, high-school and university or equivalent in Africa. Encourages future African scientists and engineers - some of whom will even come work with the IEC.)
 
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@Dessard has converted me. They're on the ball. Our charter is after all to bring the Proletariet some benefit through our work, not to just simply sit on the side exploring space. So outreach and being an agent for education of the local peoples should help gain us some support. At any rate we need to give the people more than just the occasional frightening explosion in the distance from Mogadishu.

The vision I have is that our space program is not located in Somalia detached from the rest of the work being done there to repair the colonial era's damage. No, I want Somalia to be the land OF the space program, for it to be something the natives are proud of and engaged with. And outreach including the Rocket Boxes is the first step to that.

[X] Plan: Broad Front (70R)
 
I can see the thrust of the critique, but if the goal is to get us building a heavier LV, then the execution seems lacking. Here's how I'd do it:

[ ] Plan: Korolev's Mandate

Resources: 75/75 (+55R/turn)
65 Political Support

Operations
-[X] Construct a Sounding Rocket (15R per dice, 0/40, costs 1 Build Capacity until complete)
--[X] And launch it (free action for Sounding Rockets) (gains Scientific Data, launch experience, results to show the people funding you)

Facilities
-[ ] Construct a Heavy Sounding Rocket Launch Site - (15R per die, 0/60, allows launch of the Heavy Sounding Rocket and theoretical derivatives up to 30 tons)

Engineering
-[ ] Conduct Design Studies (Platform) (Heavy Sounding Rocket) [AERO] - (5R per die, 0/80, unlocks Heavy Sounding Rocket (and a naming vote because that's unwieldy))
-[ ] Second Stages (Tech) [AERO, PHYS] - (10R per die, 186/200, gain the ability to make 2-stage rockets)

Science (3 dice, +6 Bonus to All)

-[ ] (3 Dice) Combustion Instability Research [PHYS, CHEM, PROP] - (5R per die, 0/200, turns the initial success roll for a rocket from a >60 to >50.)

Politics
-[ ] Outcome Surveys - (5R per dice, 63/120, get concrete goals to work towards)
-[ ] Shaking Trees - (5R per dice, 52/100, variable reward)
-[ ] Rocket Reels - (5R per die, 0/120, gain a coinflip for 1 additional Political Support per quarter; successful rocket launches give you an additional coin flip for each launch.)

This does a few things.
Firstly we build a heavy sounding rocket launch pad and we research heavy sounding rockets so we're ready to launch them next turn.
We use three dice on combustion instability to almost guarantee it finishes in one turn as well.
All together that means we might be launching a heavy, two stage rocket, with regenerative cooling and with combustion instabilities tamed. That's a pretty impressive jump in capability.
This also swaps out Liaison Office for Rocket Reels to capture our achievement and hopefully get us more political support that we can spend on increasing out budget.
 
CyberEnby said:
I can see the thrust of the critique, but if the goal is to get us building a heavier LV, then the execution seems lacking. Here's how I'd do it:

[ ] Plan: Korolev's Mandate

Resources: 75/75 (+55R/turn)
65 Political Support

Operations
-[X] Construct a Sounding Rocket (15R per dice, 0/40, costs 1 Build Capacity until complete)
--[X] And launch it (free action for Sounding Rockets) (gains Scientific Data, launch experience, results to show the people funding you)

Facilities
-[ ] Construct a Heavy Sounding Rocket Launch Site - (15R per die, 0/60, allows launch of the Heavy Sounding Rocket and theoretical derivatives up to 30 tons)

Engineering
-[ ] Conduct Design Studies (Platform) (Heavy Sounding Rocket) [AERO] - (5R per die, 0/80, unlocks Heavy Sounding Rocket (and a naming vote because that's unwieldy))
-[ ] Second Stages (Tech) [AERO, PHYS] - (10R per die, 186/200, gain the ability to make 2-stage rockets)

Science (3 dice, +6 Bonus to All)

-[ ] (3 Dice) Combustion Instability Research [PHYS, CHEM, PROP] - (5R per die, 0/200, turns the initial success roll for a rocket from a >60 to >50.)

Politics
-[ ] Outcome Surveys - (5R per dice, 63/120, get concrete goals to work towards)
-[ ] Shaking Trees - (5R per dice, 52/100, variable reward)
-[ ] Rocket Reels - (5R per die, 0/120, gain a coinflip for 1 additional Political Support per quarter; successful rocket launches give you an additional coin flip for each launch.)

This does a few things.
Firstly we build a heavy sounding rocket launch pad and we research heavy sounding rockets so we're ready to launch them next turn.
We use three dice on combustion instability to almost guarantee it finishes in one turn as well.
All together that means we might be launching a heavy, two stage rocket, with regenerative cooling and with combustion instabilities tamed. That's a pretty impressive jump in capability.
This also swaps out Liaison Office for Rocket Reels to capture our achievement and hopefully get us more political support that we can spend on increasing out budget.
Click to expand...
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Some of what I said was kind of contradictory, between the comment about the R7 engines and what I said on the discord (for those not on it: that a good way to save money is making a rocket soon which can stay viable for a long time) but the idea of Broad Front isn't to push hard for a very capable first-generation orbital launcher, since doing so while also attempting Korolev's request on timing and other things seems too ambitious to me. Instead it's to plan on a conservative one which can still provide experience, meet the goal and lift small scientific satellites - pushing things we want like engine cycles and better propellants into the second, more mature generation so that we can spend those dice on building up the program's capacity in the short term.
 
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