Headlines from Around the World
PEARL HARBOR, HAWAI'I - The last wreckages of Battleship Row have been removed, with the entombed sailors of the American battleship
Arizona retrieved from the ship's spaces. Repatriation efforts are underway, intending to return the dead to their surviving relatives on the mainland…
JOHANNESBURG - Clashes between white partisans and the local black populace have lessened after a running gun battle left dozens of partisans dead after running into a territorial defense militia's machinegun. Local leaders are calling on an end to the fighting, and sources say that the ringleaders of the inciting incident for the unrest may have been among those dead…
MOGADISHU, EAST AFRICAN AUTONOMOUS REGION - The city is undergoing an industrial renaissance, in large part due to supporting the Interplanetary Exploration Cooperative's spaceport. The center's prodigious need to expand is driving the construction sector, and through it its attached industries…
SPRINGFIELD, RED LAKES COMMUNE - Fighting in the RLC's heartland continues to be fierce, as the footsoldiers of capital make a doomed effort to push through the valiant defenders of the People! Aerial battles in the skies over Springfield left dozens of aircraft downed across the countryside, while tanks clashed in the fields…
MUNICH - The city was the scene of a mass surrender of Imperial partisans, following their surrounding by the forces of the free peoples of Deutschland. Among them was General Erwin Rommel, former commander of the Imperial Army Group West. For his many crimes, Rommel is currently slated to face a tribunal and is expected to be shot…
RIO, BRAZILIAN PEOPLE'S CONFEDERATION - The people of Rio celebrate six months since the last partisan attack in the area, having new hope that peace has finally returned…
–
You put the newspaper down and sigh. The Revolution was over - in most places - and yet the old world lingered on, too stubborn to admit defeat and costing blood and treasure to put down. You didn't know why, but you had somewhat hoped that being drubbed as badly as they had been during the main phase of fighting, that those who had so badly wanted the old system would realize that their time was over.
But then it wouldn't be real life, now would it?
There was a knock at your door.
"Come in!" you called, straightening up and slipping the paper into your side drawer. The handle turned, the door swung and in walked Korolev. The man was heavyset and somewhat balding, his hairline receding - though you did know full well that some fifteen years ago he had been quite handsome - and with a mind as sharp as a whip-crack. "Hello Sergei, what can I do for you?"
"Penelope," he replied with a slight smile and a gracious rumble. "I am in possession of an idea that may allow for … launch from anywhere we wish, at least with small rockets."
"Oh?" you asked, arching an eyebrow. "And what have you come up with?"
"Not just my idea, to be very truthful. You see, we may modify a flat-bed truck…"
Resources:
285 (+160R/turn)
40 Political Support
1 2-Stage Sounding Rocket
Council Liaison Reports:
Objectives of the World Communal Council
Complete Post-War Reconstruction (7500/200000)
Defeat Partisan Forces
State of the World
Fighting has cooled in Europe and in South America, though it has only escalated in North America. Rebuilding efforts continue at a nominal pace, on track to be complete at some time in the next few decades. The Council is rumbling about diverting more funds to industrialization schemes; defending the IEC's current allotment may be more difficult at the next Council budget meeting.
Mediterranean/Saharan Africa
Education: 5
Electrification: 3 (+)
Industry: 2 (+)
Infrastructure: 2
Security: 2 (+)
Partisan Activity: 4
Sub-Saharan Africa
Education: 4
Electrification: 3 (+)
Industry: 3 (+)
Infrastructure: 3 (+)
Security: 4 (+)
Partisan Activity: 9 (-)
Eastern Asia
Education: 8 (+)
Electrification: 5
Industry: 9
Infrastructure: 7
Security: 6
Partisan Activity: 10 (-)
Western Asia
Education: 8
Electrification: 10
Industry: 10
Infrastructure: 9
Security: 5
Partisan Activity: 11 (-)
Australia and New Zealand
Education: 5
Electrification: 5
Industry: 4
Infrastructure: 4
Security: 2
Partisan Activity: 6
Europe
Education: 8
Electrification: 10
Industry: 7
Infrastructure: 10
Security: 6 (+)
Partisan Activity: 7 (--)
North America
Education: 7
Electrification: 9
Industry: 9 (-)
Infrastructure: 7
Security: 11 (+++)
Partisan Activity: 17 (++)
South America
Education: 5
Electrification: 5
Industry: 3
Infrastructure: 3
Security: 4
Partisan Activity: 3 (-)
Pacific Islands
Education: 3 (+)
Electrification: 2
Industry: 2
Infrastructure: 3 (+)
Security: 1
Partisan Activity: 4
Facilities:
1 Launch Stand (0-5 tonne) (+1 Operations die)
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)
Scientific Advances (name TBD)
Improved Instrumentation (Gain +1d2 bonus to a random field every 2 launches. Gain +1 to AVIONICS immediately.)
Regenerative Cooling (Starts down the path to more powerful and advanced rocket engines)
Second Stages - Can now build 2-Stage Sounding Rockets
Combustion Instability Research - Turns the initial success roll for a rocket from a >60 to >50.
Engine Cycles - Enables Early Orbital engines.
Scientific/Engineering Specific Field Bonuses
AERO - +3
AVIONICS - +6
CHEM - +7
CREW - +0
COMP - +0
MATSCI - +5
PHYS - +0
PROP - +4
Penelope Carter [The Director] - [+10 to Politics rolls, +2 Politics die, +5R/turn in funding from Connections, reroll 1 failed politics roll per turn]
Sergei Korolev - [+5 to Science and Engineering rolls (unless researching [HGOL][FUEL] projects, then it becomes a -15), +1 Science dice, +1 Engineering Dice. Request: Build an Orbital Rocket within 5 years; build a Scientific Complex in former Ukraine within 10 years.]
Promises Made (Expires Q1 1953):
Complete Weather Studies (Phase 3) (+5 PS)
Build Computational Research Facility (+5 PS)
Complete Rocket Boxes (Phase 3)
Do not expand to more than 2 Facilities Dice
Do not pursue Spaceplane research
Operations (1 dice, +3 bonus)
[] Construct a Sounding Rocket - Standard Sounding rocket launches are now something of an old hat. Still perfectly useful, of course, and they're not actually that old, but the two stage rockets have stolen some of their thunder. (10R per dice, 0/35, costs 1 Build Capacity until complete)
-[] And launch it (free action for Sounding Rockets) (gains Scientific Data, launch experience, results to show the people funding you)
[] Construct a 2-Stage Sounding Rocket - The IEC's engineers and scientists have come up with a moderately reliable stage separation system for multi-stage rockets. Moderately as in "It worked the first time", anyway. It could use more development. (15R per dice, 2/45, costs 1 Build Capacity until complete)
-[] And launch it (free action for Sounding Rockets) (gains Scientific Data, launch experience, results to show the people funding you)
Facilities (2 dice, +0 bonus)
[ ] Construct a Hangar Complex - A group of pilots and engineers approached you with the idea of constructing a spaceplane. Such an endeavour would surely benefit the construction of normal aircraft as well, making it a potentially easy sell to the People's Forum. First, though, the IEC would need a place to actually, well, build them. (10R per die, 0/100, allows constructing spaceplane prototypes)
[ ] Construct a Runway - A 6 kilometer long strip of concrete and tarmac to launch and land air-and-spacecraft from, and the control towers and radars to supplement it. (10R per die, 0/150, allows for launching and landing air and spacecraft)
[ ] Construct a Heavy Sounding Rocket launch site - Your current launch stand isn't up to the task of launching a much bigger rocket than it currently does, being little more than a repurposed parking lot. The launch area could use reinforcement, thicker concrete and rebar and the like, maybe a flame trench to divert the rocket's exhaust away from it. Your engineers have enough guesstimates from the ones who want to make the Heavy Sounding Rocket that they feel confident enough to tell you they can make a pad that can handle it. (15R per die, 8/60, allows launch of the Heavy Sounding Rocket and theoretical derivatives up to 30 tons)
[ ] Construct a Wind Tunnel - In order to do advanced studies on the shape of air and spacecraft at various speeds, you'll need a safe space that you can push a lot of air into, quickly. You've been assured by literally everyone involved that this will be useful. Personally, you're half-convinced it's just the air/spaceplane research crowd looking for every possible excuse to acquire jet engines and jet engine parts. But… (10R per die, 0/80, +3 to projects labeled AERO)
[ ] Construct a Computational Research Facility - As you promised to build one for the WCC, your engineers and computer scientists have come to you with designs for a mainframe computing facility much like ENIAC, only far more powerful, utilizing magnetic tape to store programs that it would then execute. They promise that it will not only help the IEC improve computer technology, but it will also aid all the other research the IEC is doing. (20R per die, 103/180, +3 to all projects) (High Priority)
Engineering (3 dice, +6 Bonus to All)
[ ] Conduct Design Studies (Platform) (Heavy Sounding Rocket) [AERO] - Your small sounding rockets are, well, they work, but they're not as high-performing as you'd like. During the Third Great War, the Empire used a thirteen-tonne rocket as a terror weapon against civilians; that rocket is, approximately, thirteen times as large as the ones you are using, and able to fly at least three times as high, based on your people's calculations. They think they can recreate the design using notes seized from the ruins of the Empire's rocket complex. (5R per die, 49/80, unlocks Heavy Sounding Rocket (and a naming vote because that's unwieldy))
[ ] Conduct Design Studies (Platform) (Spaceplane Development) [AERO] - If you're going to be building spaceplanes, it would be a good idea to develop a working design to build in that hangar the spaceplane gang had wanted. Your engineers were talking about things like payload fraction and use cases and aerodynamic loading - all of which went more or less over your head but it certainly seemed they knew what they were about. (5R per die, 0/100, unlocks Prototype Spaceplane)
[ ] Conduct Design Studies (Alternative Launch Systems) [AERO, PHYS] - Still more of your engineers were talking about investigating different ways of potentially getting to space. Jules Verne stuff. Big guns and space towers and the like. You didn't think them likely to work, but having the knowledge wouldn't hurt. (5R per die, 0/300, ???)
[ ] Conduct Design Studies (Early Orbital Rocket) (Phase I) [AERO, PHYS] - The design and engineering teams in Mogadishu think that they can complete the design of an Orbital Rocket. This will be a relatively more involved process than the heavy sounding rocket design, including constructing demonstrators and test articles for the tankage, the engines and the avionics, as very little is shared in common with pre-existing designs. (15R per dice, 59/300)
(Phase II) (0/300)
(Phase III) (0/300) (Unlocks Early Orbital Rocket)
[ ] Advanced Concepts Office - A group of scientists and engineers have come to you asking to staff an Advanced Concepts Office, whose entire function seems to be dreaming up things you could do in space. Space stations, giant spacecraft, the works. (5R and -5 PS per die, 51/150, will occasionally provide a new Program to pursue based on brainstorming and priorities)
[ ] Mobile Launch Operations - Given that your weather scientists would like to study weather systems that just don't exist anywhere near Mogadishu, and the IEC lacking any other launch sites, some of your engineers propose a 'launch-site-in-a-box'; a mobile launch site that has all the necessary amenities. It might be worth a shot. (20R, 0/50, gain Launch Trucks for Sounding Rockets. Unlocks a Name vote for the system, as well as the sounding rockets.)
Science (3 dice, +6 Bonus to All)
[ ] Exploratory Propellant Research (Phase 1) [CHEM] - A group of chemists attached to the IEC came to you with a proposal to conduct an exhaustive campaign characterizing just about as many propellants as they could come up with. While expensive, and dangerous, and potentially deadly, the knowledge gained could also be invaluable for nailing down mixtures and ratios of fuels that could help the IEC achieve its objectives. (15R per dice, 0/150, unlocks fuel mixtures and further fuel development)
[ ] Tracking Station Surveys - In order to support tracking and communication with long-range and orbital rocketry and experiments, you would need a network of tracking stations placed basically across the world. A survey would be conducted to find the most opportune locations for tracking station placement, prior to construction. This could give you some leverage in the People's Forum, too. (5R per dice, 27/150, unlocks Tracking Station Construction project for Facilities)
[ ] Conduct Materials Research (Phase 1) - Better alloys would lead to higher-performing engines and lighter rockets, you were told. All you had to do was authorize the resource expenditure to start testing materials. (15R per die, 0/150, provides access to aluminum structures)
[ ] Weather Studies (Phase 4) - With the weather observation program started, keeping it going is now almost a given. The returns have been very valuable for the meteorological community at large, and the PAO has received numerous calls from various localities across the globe asking for the IEC to put up instruments where they are, each hoping to reap the rewards of more accurate weather prediction. (10R per die, requires a 2-Stage Sounding Rocket, requires Mobile Launch Operations, 14/240) (+5 PS on complete)
[ ] All-Sky Survey (Phase 1) - The Science Committee at the WCC put forward the proposal to perform an All-Sky Survey, mapping the entire night sky with telescopes across the world. The first such survey, the Carte du Ciel, had never actually finished, despite starting nearly three quarters of a century ago. With advancements in photography and optics, the science teams predict that they will be able to perform the task… in roughly a decade. First, though, you needed to wrangle observatories… (10R per die, 0/300) (+5 PS, ???)
[ ] Big Ear - The scientists working for the IEC have latched on to the opening the new broadcast regulations have given them, and are clamoring for funding to construct a radio telescope in a remote part of Africa. It might need a bit of infrastructure run out to it, and probably a security force of some sort to dissuade partisans, but it looked doable. Personally, you thought it was also a good excuse to help electrify somewhere that needed it. (20R per die; At least 1 dice must be Facilities, 0/300) (+1 Electrification and Infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa, +2 to PHYS)
[ ] Nuclear Power Studies - You now had a rather absurd amount of nuclear infrastructure making its way to Mogadishu. This included a number of nuclear physicists, some of whom had very big names, coming to join the IEC. While the world was still scarred by the horror of the atom's splitting, it was possible to use the technology for peaceful purposes - the IEC just had to show them. (15R per die, 0/400) (-15PS on completion) (Opens further nuclear research)
Politics (3 dice, +10 bonus, reroll 1 failure per turn)
Political
[ ] Branching Out - Now that you've got a much bigger Facilities department, you can afford to branch out into other locations. The only catch is, you have to get buyoff from the local communities around wherever you want to put a new facility. You'll need to devote personal time and Cooperative resources to getting this done. (10R per dice, 0/150)
[] Write-in location
[ ] Bothering Councilors - The year's budget is set, but next year's is very much not. You can influence investment priorities if you want to apply enough political pressure to the right people to convince them to fund, say, better roads out of Mogadishu… elementary and secondary schools in Africa… that kind of thing. (-10 PS, roll a quality dice to give options for influencing infrastructure funding, triggers subvote)
[ ] There is Power in a Union - The PAO says you should expand your physical footprint so more people can interact with the IEC. It sounds like a great idea, but to do that you'll need to contract another construction worker's union. (0/100, 5R per dice, -5 PS on completion. Gain +1 Facilities dice, +5 to Facilities rolls) (UNAVAILABLE UNTIL Q1 1953)
Outreach
[ ] Rocket Boxes (Phase 3) - The second of Rocket Box deployment has been just as successful as the first, and your Public Affairs Office wants to keep up the momentum by shifting their focus to Australia and New Zealand. The rocket motors will likely still be made near Mogadishu, but they plan to contact workshops across those two regions to supply everything else. (5R per die, 3/350. Gives Rocket Boxes to every middle-school, high-school and university or equivalent in Australia and New Zealand. Encourages future scientists and engineers - some of whom will even come work with the IEC.)
[ ] Rocket Reels - The test footage the IEC produces for scientific value can be easily copied and turned into high-octane spectacle for the purposes of swaying the public's opinion and imagination. The best part is, the more rocket launches you do, the better your reels get. (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.)
[ ] Space For All - The PAO survey revealed that most people just… don't think about space with any regularity, if at all. The best and most common way for people to get into it seems to be as children, getting their imaginations fired by comic books and science fiction and the occasional radio drama or movie. The PAO proposes developing a set of educational films and television shows aimed at all age groups to tell them about the amazing wonders of the universe and what we can accomplish in it. (5R, 0/120, +10PS on completion, ???)
