Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen of SV to a quest that has been on my mind for a long time. Which is an AU of Mass Effect where instead of playing as the boring canon Alliance, we get the much more exciting GDI of Command and Conquer.
I have played a lot of CK2 quests on this forum but feel that I'll need a lot more experience before I could start a proper one that won't get abandoned in a month. So this is sort of a practice CK2 quest, where it will mostly be you guys playing as General Williams as he builds Shanxi to a thriving colony.
Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen of SV to a quest in an AU of Mass Effect where instead of playing as the boring canon Alliance, we get the much more exciting GDI of Command and Conquer.
I have played a lot of CK2 quests on this forum but feel that I'll need a lot more experience before I could start a proper one that won't get abandoned. So this is sort of a practice CK2 quest, where it will mostly be you guys playing as General Williams and defending Shanxi from the Turians.
Since Shanxi is a frontier outpost, the higher tier tech for GDI like Ion Cannon stations, Mammoth Tanks, Juggernauts, Dreadnoughts, and Carriers are locked out for you.
We'll get into the specifics on what you have access to later. For now lets establish what happened in between First Contact War and C&C4.
Yes I know the C&C community do not speak of it. But it is much easier to just borrow the major plot points of C&C4 and just roll with it. Which Kane Ascended through the Tower, the Brotherhood fractures again, TCN gave GDI huge amounts of power and resources for free, and GDI knows that the Scrin are going to come back at some point so military build up is up to US military spending in the scale of the whole world.
For those of you who aren't familiar with Command and Conquer lore I'll put in 2 great videos made by Jethild on youtube about the major factions of Command and Conquer, which is GDI and the Brotherhood of Nod in Spoiler tab and will try to do my best to make it so that you don't need to know the full history of Command and Conquer to enjoy the quest.
Now the Introductions out of the way, lets start with world building.
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The 21st century has been the bloodiest century in human history. An extraterrestrial mineral that poisoned the planet, 3 World Wars, and an Alien Invasion, has brought Humanity to the brink of extinction. Now on the eve of the 22nd century, Humanity is united under the banner of GDI and has started to spread its influence across the Solar System with colonies.
However GDI is only half of the story of Humanity, with Kane and many of his most loyal followers Ascending through the Threshold Tower and leaving planet Earth, many of the remaining Brotherhood of Nod that were left behind splintered into many different factions and each with a differing ideology. Some continue their extremist ways and constantly try to undermine GDI however they can, few have surrendered to GDI authority, and others have disappeared all together deep within Nod's underground tunnel network. In the years after what is known as the Ascention Conflict, multiple Nod splinter groups are hunted down by GDI. Without Kane to unite them or the advanced technological know how of the Brotherhood elites, these Nod warlords not only have to defend themselves from well supplied GDI Commanders who hunt them down but also from rival Nod warlords who will pounce at any sign of weakness.
A significant event of note is the Confession, where an unknown Nod warlord, released an enormous amount of confidential Nod records detailing the many crimes against humanity the Brotherhood has committed, from being the cause of creating the Australian Red Zone by destroying GDI's secret Liquid Tiberium Research Lab, to engineering the 3rd Tiberium War and brought about the Scrin Invasion. This event shatters Nod support and influence among the world's populace as most of Nod's crimes are put to light by members of their own. With the Brotherhood's most devout members following Kane into the Tower, most that remain on Earth are those less devoted to the Brotherhood's cause and many abandoned the Brotherhood or willingly defected into GDI custody.
[] In the decade after the release of the Confession, GDI is able to gather detailed information on a majority of the Nod factions through disillusioned followers, giving GDI commanders the locations of a majority of the major Brotherhood faction's underground base of operations. In a series of underground skirmishes, GDI have successfully eliminated the Brotherhood as a major power with the deaths of many of Nod's warlords, the destruction of most of the underground network, and the occupation and relocation of many of the underground towns Nod has set up inside the tunnel network.
(Minimal to non-existent Nod presence in GDI space, GDI population extremely distrusts the Brotherhood of Nod, Advanced Nod technology non-existent in GDI arsenal, GDI gained experience in underground warfare and access to Nod Tunnel technology, Brotherhood splinter groups are being hunted down by InOps, ???)
[] Before the release of the Confession to the world, a Nod warlord, who is suspected to be a descendant of a Nod field officer during the 3rd Tiberium War, secretly offered a deal with GDI InOps. In return for amnesty, renouncing the Brotherhood of Nod religion, and signing a defensive alliance, the Liberated will help GDI hunt down rival Brotherhood splinter groups that continue to be loyal to Kane along with giving GDI access to various Nod technologies that they can use however they see fit. With the deal struck the new Liberated faction renounced Kane as an uncaring and ruthless mastermind that created the Brotherhood to serve his own plans, not the betterment on humanity. This caused the Brotherhood to have a massive schism with only a small number of minor warlords are antagonistic towards GDI. The rest either join the Liberated or surrendered into GDI custody.
(GDI gains access to Nod technology, the Liberated is a tentative yet public ally in helping GDI keep the peace, Friction between Liberated and GDI are common as 5 decades of conflict doesn't just go away, ???)
While this is a devastating blow to the Brotherhood's reputation, there are still remnant factions that buried themselves too deep within Nod's tunnel network for GDI to reach or found that do not believe the incriminating evidence released to the world and continued their operations against GDI with renewed fervour but very limited success. With the Brotherhood a shadow of it's former self, GDI looked to the stars as they know that the Scrin, the ones responsible for bringing Tiberium to Earth, will comeback to finish what they have started in the near future.
In preparation for their inevitable return, GDI launched a colonization campaign to grow and colonize the solar system. However, by the start of the 22nd Century, surveyors discovered trace amounts of never before seen element that seem to defy the laws of physics. Tracing these elements lead them to an alien ruin and what can be assumed to be a research lab. GDI is very quick to point out that this is not of Scrin origin as there are no traces of Tiberium detected anywhere in the ruin and that carbon dating manage to trace the age of the ruin to roughly 50,000 years ago. What GDI did not mention to the general public is the intact data cache inside the ruin along with a stockpile of the new element, named Element Zero, inside of various pieces of spacecraft and equipment.
GDI quickly secured the ruins and built a research lab over it to decrypt its data. This treasure trove of information lead to the emergent Mass Effect technology, jump starting GDI's colonization plan by several decades with a working equation for Faster Than Light travel. However due to the scarcity of this never before seen element now dubbed Element Zero, many avenues of research were deemed too expensive to be invested into. Thus GDI prioritized FTL and Materials research that can be created with this new technology.
Before long GDI has a working FTL drive and found a possible alien outpost on Pluto's moon of Charon. A future expedition on Humanity's first Frigate, the GDNS Parnu, visited Charon and discovered that it isn't a moon at all and is in fact a Mass Relay. A gargantuan construct that can be used to slingshot ships across vast distances to a Relay on the other side.
With Interstellar travel being handled by the Mass Relay, GDI quickly organized convoys of colonists and material to start colonies along the network. The Navy re-organized its command structure to better handle operating an interstellar military with countering the Scrin's space superiority at the forefront of their dorctrine. The Kodiak Battlecruiser while a powerful vessel, its original role is as a land bombardment vessel and not equipped to combat other space faring vessels. Thus GDI redesigned its navy to fit into its new roles and GDI designers looked at history for inspiration. With new technology reverse engineered from the alien data cache and lessons learnt from history, the Navy settled on creating Wolf Pack Formations of 4 Frigates with a Destroyer leader as their main Patrol group while Cruisers and Carriers are deployed at crossroads of Mass Relays to be able to quickly reinforce GDI defenders in case of a hostile invasion.
With the designs finalized, GDI shipyards can begin production of Humanities' Navy. The Relay beyond the Sol Relay, dubbed Arcturus, is found to be a nexus of several Relays and becomes a hub for strategic importance. Thus the GDI Navy, with approval from the GDI Board of Directors, commissioned the construction of a Space Station that will become the command and control center of GDI's Navy. The new Arcturus Station was based on the old Philadelphia Space Station design but modernized with current technology to become the military capital for GDI. Now that the GDI Navy have been set up and shipyards are working around the clock making ships, the Colonization Initiative can be put into action.
This is where you come in, Commander Williams. You have been re-assigned to oversee the colonization of Shanxi in the latest wave of Colonization. Now Shanxi itself is
[] Mountainous, plenty of tall mountains and hills that makes this an ideal mining colony. You'll most likely have to be careful with this one, Tanks can't jump over sheer cliffs like the infantry yet so I advise investing in Mobile Infantry, VTOL Aircraft, and Hover vehicles to be able to maneuver around the area effectively.
(+Mineral Wealth, +Cheaper Military Production, +Many Defendable Chokepoints, -Limited Build Space)
[] Heavily Forested, with lots of alien trees and wildlife that the scientist are itching to have a look at. I would recommend investing in Vehicles and Infantry for this planet due to the very tall tree canopy making Air Strikes nearly impossible with how thick these trees are.
(+Cheap Wood source, +Possible Xenobiology research, +Receive Research Lab, -Possible Hostile Wildlife)
[] A Plains world, relatively flat with a few forests and mountains here and there, this is a really close substitute for Earth and a lot of colonists volunteer to live there. Shanxi is going to be that sector's bread basket thus I would recommend investing in Vehicles and Aircraft for long range patrols.
(+Cheaper Food Production, +Receive Additional Population, +Receive Additional Military Units, -Very Little Natural Defensive positions)
Your job will be to make sure the Colony is thriving within 5 years. After that, a Wolfpack will escort a survey team through the 2nd Relay for the next Colonization wave in 10 years. Good luck, General Williams.
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AN: For now, this is just general world building with very minor immediate advantages but will probably bring tangible benefits further down the line. The choices here is more of a survey on what people would want the narrative to be like, what direction you want the quest to be like and what stuff do you guys want me to give you. Either with GDI being a strong independent faction who don't need no Nod, or someone willing to work together with Nod and risk the chance of getting backstabbed by Nod, again, for their advanced technology. Granted GDI would still research some of Nod's general technology like Lasers, Stealth, and Prosthetics but they will not have working examples to speed up the process or even touch any of Nod's Tiberium research.
Now to keep thing fair for the Citadel Races, GDI will get a nerf in Mass Effect technology in the form of Eezo scarcity. Eezo is really rare in their area of space and thus every little bit of Eezo will be stockpiled for military projects like FTL drives and naval grade weapons. Technology like Kinetic Barriers are going to be replaced with GDI's own Firestorm shields on their ships. It is tougher but it can't be miniaturized because it guzzles energy like nobodies business. To compensate, GDI employ all sorts of C&C tech, like Zone Armor, Sonic weapons, Heavy Tanks, and many more. There will be a 3 day moratorium as I set everything up for what you'll bring with you in establishing Shanxi.
The 2nd choice will be much more impactful, as it will be what type of planet Shanxi is. The wiki doesn't have a description on what the planet is like so I'll let you guys choose what do you want to play around with. You could trade your excess resources for more money in all of these as that is the reason they are being colonized anyway. That money could be used for a lot of things in the shop every year.
A Mountainous planet means that there will be a lot of cliffs and rocky terrain on a majority of the planet. It won't be everywhere but there are flat areas that tanks would be fine in but Infantry with Jump Packs and Aircraft will have a much easier time moving around than ground vehicles. Because you're getting your metal locally, a lot of your military equipment gets a discount. Because there are a lot of mountains an invading army will have to go through them unless they tunnel or airlift their army over the mountains. Because most of the continent is mountains you will have a similar situation to Japan, you could build underground cities which will be really well protected but will be expensive and take a lot of time to build so it will be up to you to balance that out.
A Heavily Forested planet will have really tall canopies that makes Attack Aircraft have a hard time operating there since there are trees in the way, again not in all areas but enough for it to be problem unless you terraform the area with massive deforestation, do note that this also means that any invading army will have to deal with the same problem. The Cheap Wood trait would mean that civilian projects are much cheaper, but the Research Lab would be your real source of early game income, until you can set up farms or mines, because Sirta Foundation, yes that Sirta Foundation, is paying you to protect their research teams when they go on expeditions into the forests to search for samples. It won't be a lot of money but it is a constant supply of money that can be used to get the colony up and running much faster.
The Plains would allow for all forms of unit types to work effectively but you'll have to build your defenses from scratch. Since it is a fertile world, GDI has a vested interest in keeping this colony running smoothly as they will supply food for this sector of space and any future colonization efforts to simplify logistics. And since it is almost Earth like, many colonist chose to come here so you'll have a much higher population to work with which means more actions. To help with that you'll get additional military assets to help defend the colony in case of a Scrin invasion. You'll have to build all of your defense from scratch but that's what you get when the continent is like the American Great Plains.
I should mention that since this is a frontier colony you will not get access to the really high end stuff in GDI's arsenal. So, Commandos, Ion Cannon Satellites, and Mastodons are locked out of your build tab until you get authorization to use them which likely wouldn't happen until Shanxi gets invaded or you found something that is worth the higher level of tech like a Protean ruin. But GDI is under the assumption that the Scrin could invade at anytime so getting colonies set up to gather raw materials and increase the number of possible soldiers is better than turtling up on Earth waiting for a Scrin invasion fleet to come out of the Threshold Tower. So you will have plenty of tier 1 and 2 units to choose from. Each turn is 6 months so you got 10 turns before GDI sent the team that will trigger contact with the Turians.
So yeah, 3-Day Moratorium while I write up the stuff you'll get to bring for Shanxi and 3 days to Vote. I'll probably start making Info posts about what GDI has in their arsenal after the next update but I am happy to answer any questions you might have in the meantime. Let me know if I missed anything or if you have an idea that would make the quest more fun.
You are General Williams and you have been given a month to prepare for your long term assignment as the Commander-In-Chief of a Frontier Colony. You are currently in your office at home; the Missus is currently downstairs preparing dinner. She also said that she will stay with her family for the time being at least until the colony is up and running. Right now, you are currently debating on what to requisition for Shanxi.
The Colonization Office sent you a list of available assets that you are authorized to bring with you. Due to the wide variety of planets that the Colonization Office has to deal with, they have been offered a lot of flexibility in their options from GDI High Command. Of course GDI doesn't have infinite resources so the Office decided to use a point system to keep things simple. However there is also a limit to what you can bring with you due to the space limit on the colony ships, which are just 3 GSTs with an FTL drive crammed in there. You'll only be able to use 2 of them however as that 3rd GST are filled with the colonists you will be protecting.
Looking it over again, the list is broken down into 3 categories; Military Assets, Infrastructure, and Technology.
Military Assets are the professional GDI soldiers that will be reassign to Shanxi with you. They have volunteered for colony duty and have been organized to work in a single group. This way you'll have an army ready to patrol and defend your colony from any local wildlife without having to spend 6 months training a militia from local population. They take up a moderate amount of space but are fairly expensive on points.
Next is the Infrastructure list, which is a list of the equipment and tools you'll need to build an economy, like specialized mining equipment, a Power Plant, or a hydroponics farm and etc. They take up a large amount of space and are moderately expensive on points.
The last is Technologies, which are specialized technology that GDI allowed you access to but your colony will have to build themselves, like Zone Armor, Sonic technology, Laser technology, and etc. They take up a small amount of space but are also very expensive on points since they are a database of GDI's accumulated public research and various blueprints of said devices. Stored in a Black Box and protected by InOps's various anti-tampering software, including an E-War EVA, this database is cannot be hacked by unauthorized personnel. This database will be installed inside your HQ or MCV, once you have established a base of operations on Shanxi.
Luckily you don't have to manage the civilian side of things as someone well trained in that department will handle that. You take a 2nd look at the form before deciding what you'll bring with you.
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P/S= Points/Space
Points to Spend: 2500 Available Space: 1000
Military Assets:
[] 140th Infantry Regiment: a Regiment of Riflemen armed with Railgun Rifles and accompanying Missile Trooper armed with FGM-150 Missile Launchers to provide Anti-Armor and Air support. The regiment wears the new standard issue exo-skeletal body armor which is much slimmer than the Zone series heavy armor but is still an exo-skeleton it just noticeably weaker yet cheaper to make. They are also trained in deploying Infantry Bunkers, to provide additional protection. (+3 Infantry Battalion) 200/150
[] 109th Zone Battalion: A Battalion of Zone Power Armored infantry with access to Jump Packs, Ionized Railgun Cannons, and shoulder mounted heavy weapons. Each suit has an array of advanced sensors and communications equipment making them ideal for patrol work and combating anything they find while on patrol. The armor also enhances the users strength, speed, and reflexes like previous generations of Zone Armor, along with an aim assist to better inform the user where their round will land. (+1 Zone Infantry Battalion) 200/50
[] 99th Engineering Corp: A Corp of Engineers, there isn't much to say about them, they can make basic defences like Watchtowers, AA Turrets, Trenches, Bunkers, Minefields, and etc. They can also help with civilian construction if you feel that you are sufficiently protected. (+1 Engineering Corp & +2 Construction Action) 150/100
[] 52nd Sniper Platoon: A Platoon of Snipers, armed with an Ionized Railgun Rifle, the same technology used in the Main cannon of the Hunter AFV allowing it to have extremely high penetration. Sniper teams are also equipped with a stealth cloak to hide in plain sight. (+16 Sniper Teams) 150/20
[] 82nd Armor Company: A Company of Hunter Mk.2 AFVs, by combining the Predator's cannon on top of an APC's chassis, the Hunter have the firepower of a Predator but the speed of a Pitbull with its Hydrogen Turbine Engine and Adjustable Computer Controlled Suspension in a Vanadium Steel alloy body keeps it well protected. It is also armed a Coaxial machine gun, close range laser point defense, and a deployable scout drone (+1 Hunter AFV Company = 25 Hunters) 500/200
[] 91st Orca Air Squadron: A Squadron of Orca Mk.6 Multirole Strikecraft, the new Mk.6 Orca combines the firepower and versatility of the Orca Mk.5 with the Stratofighter Booster of the 3rd Tiberium War Firehawks, giving it the ability to fly over most AA defences with ease by going near orbital. (+16 Orca Strikecraft) 400/160
[] 21st Firehawk Air Squadron: A Squadron of Firehawks Mk.3 Air Superiority Fighter, with the Orca Mk.6 taking the Firehawks usual role of a Multi-role fighter, the new Mk.3 is designed to be an air superiority fighter due to how the 1st generation Firehawks were extremely effective against Scrin ships. The Mk.3 uses a reverse engineered Nod Stealth Module from a captured intact Cobra Gunship which allows it to close in on enemy air targets and deliver a first strike that the enemy will rarely see coming. (+16 Firehawk Fighters) 400/160
Infrastructure:
[] MCV: The Mobile Construction Vehicle has been in the GDI arsenal since it's very founding and while it has gone through many iterations, its core purpose stays the same. The MCV supplied by GDI are based on the old MCVs of the 3rd Tib War but has been modified for Colony use. You are only allowed 1 MCV for now as they are in high demand with other colonies too. (+1 MCV & +4Construction Action) 300/200 (only 1 allowed)
[] Barracks: Ready-made housing that can be unfolded into a Barracks in a couple of minutes for you base personnel. A Construction Yard can create more using raw materials gathered locally but having these already made means that your Conyard can focus on more important things like a Perimeter Defense or a Factory, saving you precious time. (+1 Housing Block for your troops) 100/100
[] Mining Equipment: While everyone agreed that Tiberium is a poison and caused the most deaths in history, they do also admit that it made extracting minerals from the earth incredibly easy. Now that Tiberium is contained on Earth with GDI Navy feeding asteroids to be processed by the TCN, the colonist will have to mine resources the old fashion way. With drills, explosives, a mining truck. (+1 RA1 style Ore Mine) 150/100
[] Smelting Equipment: Once you have a supply of ore, you'll need a location to smelt it so that it can be useable in many different applications. Using lessons learnt from Tiberium refining, a single refinery can process multiple different types of ores and separate them into their component elements and transformed into ingots for easy storage. (+1 RA2 style Refinery) 100/150
[] Factory: To turn those ingots into useable parts you'll need a factory to process the raw materials into useable products like vehicles, guns, and missiles to trucks, tools, and batteries. The Factory can be reconfigured to produce a wide variety of products and is required to produce the more high-tech pieces of equipment. (1+ War Factory) 150/150
[] Logging Equipment: When Tiberium covered most of the Earth, trees either becomes Blossom Trees that help spread Tiberium growth or heavily mutated into something alien. By the time of the 3rd Tib War, Tiberium becomes so toxic that it kills faster than it can mutate, trees become a rare luxury as large swathes of them died out. GDI have managed to document and preserve many different species of trees, both mutated and non-mutated and are currently in the middle of a tree replanting program on Earth. For the colonists trees provide a wood supply for cheap construction and furniture that could be sold to other colonies too. (+1 Sawmill) 150/100
[] Farming Equipment: While the colony have a store of rations that can last for a year, getting locally produced food will be essential to long term survival. Creating conventional farms can is a fairly cheap source of food, however it may be vulnerable to pests or weather that will damage the yield. The advantage is that it is fairly easy to make and expand. (+1 Conventional Farm & +500 tons of Excess Food/Year) 50/100
[] Hydroponics Farm: With the much of the world's farm land becoming Tiberium Wastelands, Hydroponics helped prevent millions of people from starving both in Blue and Yellow Zones. Having your own Hydroponics Farm should help provide a steady food supply for your colony that won't be affected by pests or weather at the cost of being more expensive, takes up more space, and produce less food. (+1 Hydroponics farm & +250 tons of Excess Food/Year) 150/100
[] Power Plant: The blood of any city is electricity and its heart is the Power Plant. A Power plant is required to operate automated defences and have all of your production structures operating at maximum efficiency. An MCV can construct a Power Plant fairly easily enough, but you never know what you would prioritize. (+1 Power Plant & +10 Power Generation) 50/100
[] Tech Lab: While Battles are won in the field, Wars are won in the Lab. Without R&D, GDI would not have the Sonic technology needed to beat the Scrin, the Ion Cannon, the Mammoth Tank, Walkers, and etc. Having your own would allow you to analyse and study the technology that GDI has available as well as make prototypes to see if they are viable to be produced. (+1 Tech Lab & Unlocks Tech Tree Research) 200/100
Technologies:
[] Sonic Tech: Through the use of sonic crystals, GDI is able to project a wave of sonic energy that can vibrate any target to piece. This is instrumental in abating the spread of Tiberium on Earth and while Tiberium isn't a threat to Earth anymore, with the Tiberium Control Network up and running; Sonic technology still has a place in GDIs arsenal. (Unlocks Shockwave/Shatterer, Sonic Grenades, Sonic Cannons) 200/10
[] Zone Armor: While it doesn't hold a candle to the stuff currently in use by the military, GDI does supply a variety of upgrade packages to make Colonial Militia Zone Troopers a combat effective fighting force. (Unlocks Basic Zone Trooper Armor, Zone Upgrade Packs, Zone Heavy Weapons, and Jump Jets) 200/10
[] Laser Tech: While you won't be able to make your own Obelisk of Light since there isn't any blueprints for it, you do have access to Laser based upgrades to your equipment from Laser Rifles to Laser Countermeasures for your vehicles. You will likely need to research how to make large lasers yourself or get the clearance necessary to access Large-scale Laser technology. (Unlocks Laser Small Arms, Laser Countermeasures, Laser Slingshot, Laser Cannons, Laser Turrets, Laser Fences, & Advanced Laser Tech Research) 350/10
[] Stealth Tech: Even though the main GDI Research Facility tasked with reverse engineering Nod Stealth technology was lost in Australia, GDI does keep backup records in other parts of the world. Even with those records GDI have not managed to recreate the ability to create a cloaking field however, and GDI Commanders always target Nod Disruption Towers first in every engagement thus very few of them are recoverable or functional enough to study, it doesn't help that all Disruption Towers are designed to self-destruct when heavily damaged rendered too damaged to function. So the best GDI can do with this technology is to cloak individual units with very expensive equipment. (Unlocks Personal, Vehicle, and Aircraft Cloaking) 300/10
[] Energy Shield Tech: The Firestorm Shield has been around since the 2nd Tiberium War, it can produce an impenetrable wall of energy for a minute whilst requires a long recharge time, however it has proved useful in protecting GDI bases from Nod Missile Strikes. Now, the technology has been made much more energy efficient and offers a full area protection at the cost of not being impenetrable anymore. It has been put in use on GDI vessels and designs of a City shield has been developed and deployed in many major cities. Having a shield over your city would cut the risk of orbital bombardment down at the cost of an enormous amount of energy to keep it running. Captured Scrin Stasis technology has resulted in an upgrade to convert the energy shield into a stasis field which turns everything inside the shield indestructible for a short period of time. (Unlocks Firestorm Barrier, Crystal Shield, and Stasis Shield) 300/10
[] Robotic Drone Tech: GDI have rarely used Robots in their arsenal, mainly due to the dangers of an enemy taking control of your own robots, the control signal being jammed due to interference, and study done decades ago that proves Humans supported by AI is superior than AI controlled armies. However, robots have found a niche for themselves as patrol and scout units. A recent robotic addition to GDI's arsenal is the War Dog which is a scaled down Mastadon frame with a machine gun head. Advanced sensors and pack intelligence makes it an ideal scouting unit while being very cheap to produce. (Unlocks War Dogs, Drone Swarm, Repair Drones, Custom Drones Designs) 200/10
[] Hover Tech: While Hover technology has been around since the start of the 1st Tib War, the technology gained more prominent use in the 2nd Tib War as a weapons platform in the form of the Hover MLRS which allows it to hover over bodies of water and assist in amphibious assaults. By the 3rd Tib War, Hover vehicles begin to fall into specialist roles with the Slingshot and Shatterer due to their fragility, high production cost, and high maintenance cost compared to treaded vehicles. However, during the Ascension Conflict, the ability to hover over rough terrain, water, and even jump over cliffs have proven essential in protecting convoys of material for the construction of the TCN. Now it seems that Hover technology has found its niche as a versatile vehicle platform that sacrifice a bit of armor and being high maintenance for all terrain mobility. (Unlocks Hover Platform, Sandstorm, Shockwave, Shatterer, & Slingshot) 150/10
[] Subterranean Tech: During the 2nd Tib War, GDI ruled the heavens but Nod ruled the underworld and they do that through subterranean technology. Nod used this network to great effect as it is the only place where they are protected from GDI Air superiority and our Ion Cannons. By the 3rd Tib War, Tiberium has grown deep within the Earth's crust and tunnelling through Tiberium is too difficult and dangerous, thus the tunnels were abandoned until the TCN has been established and managed to clear most of the Tiberium, allowing Nod's global tunnel network to return to service. This technology is relatively simple and GDI saw potential in having a Tunnel Network in their colonies in the event the Scrin achieved orbital supremacy. It should be made aware however that unscrupulous individuals may make use of these tunnels if they are not properly supervised. (Unlocks Subterranean APC, Drill Pod, and Tunnel Network System) 200/10
AN: So here is your shopping list on what you can bring to the colony. Any excess Space will be padded out with a month of rations for every 10 spaces and excess Points will be converted into credits for the next shipment. The civilians will be handled by an NPC as calculating how many civilians will be going to Shanxi is too much work so I'll just leave it as a nebulous 'population'. The Colony Steward will be an NPC and her job is to get the colony up and running as smoothly as possible, and simplify things for me. Her GST will contain the all of the initial colonist along with several Pre-fab buildings like a Community Housing, a Power Plant, seeds, and the bare essentials needed to start a colony.
What you can do is help her along is by using your extra space and points into for example mining equipment so that the colonists can start a proper mine ASAP and not have to wait for the next shipment incoming shipment or for you to make some for them using your MCV.
That raw material produced by the colony will get stockpile and at the end of the year (every 2 turns), GDI will come by and drop of more colonist and buy the stuff you have in excess. In exchange for your stockpile of raw materials or food they'll pay you credits that can be used to buy other stuff, like a 2nd Orca Air Squadron or a 2nd MCV or excess food because you are scared there might be a famine, or Titan Mechs, and etc. The more your colony grows, the better tech you'll get.
I'll roll on what you'll get out of Steward NPC based on the various operations he is managing. So if you roll say 74 on your Iron mine you'll get x tons of extra iron, but on a farm if you get a low roll you lose resources. Resources can be further refined into better resources, that ore be sent to your smelter to be smelted into ingots and be used to make other stuff in your like trucks or be stored so it can be sold at the end of the year. You will have to pay some upkeep for your troops/colonist for their wages, maintenance, and etc.
Now to better explain what the 3 categories are in layman terms. Military Assets are professional soldiers; they are like Regiments of Renown and will be available to be ordered around immediately. Like Regiments of Renown you cannot have 2 of the same Assets, so you can only have one of each since there is only 1 91st Orca Air Squadron.
Infrastructures are pre-fab buildings that are already made and will build itself once you turn it on. So if you brought 3 Power Plants, at turn one you can deploy 3 Power Plants immediately. Its like having a building complete in your build queue, all you need is to plop them down. Having your MCV build it will take a Construction Action and a turn to wait while it is being made. Unlike Military Assets you can bring as much as you want just be sure to add (x "insert number here") so I know you meant multiples of this.
Technologies are tech trees that are locked in a pay wall. Once you have the blueprints you can make adjustments to the design if you feel like it. You may want to know that Zone armor is like a really watered down version of Warhammer 40ks Terminator Armor, it isn't as tough or strong but it is much easier to move in, have a jet pack, and a powerful sensors. The General Infantry get something similar to Call of Duty Advanced Warfare's Exo-skeleton with Mass Effect armor on top. They don't have shields since they don't have Kinetic Barriers and Firestorm shields need a lot of power for it to work so they rely on their armor and medical suite a lot more. Luckily C&C4 gave Nanotech repair from studying Scrin tech and that can heal infantry and repair tanks in the middle of combat. So it will be a much more even fight.
The navy is also delegated to someone else as I doubt an army general will be put in charge of a naval detachment. So orbital assets are out of your control, chances are they get shot down during an invasion anyway so I also won't have to deal with that too. You could contact him/her and request they do stuff like scan a nearby moon/asteroid for prospecting or transport an MCV to a new location to set up a new base or city. But for the most part, they will be running drills or combat sims or patrolling.
After this we'll go through actual Turns and you build up Shanxi into a fortified colony. How you do that is with Construction actions, 1 Construction action will result in getting building built but you will need to spend the resources to build it. You can order you Military assets to do a variety of things, from patrolling to surveying, to protecting a convoy. You can assign them to certain jobs and will keep doing that job until you tell them otherwise. I'll keep a list of all of the Military Assets you have and what their current assignment is in a spoiler tab. Also changing their assignments doesn't cost an action. For technologies, you'll need a Tech Lab to study the blueprints and research as well as making prototypes to make sure that it works before the new tech can be put to production. You could also research new technology or new unit designs yourself, just let me know and I'll add your suggestion to the list.
After Turn 10, GDI will send a survey team, an extra Patrol fleet, and a pair of Orbital Ion Cannons as reward for a job well done.
Moratorium in 2 days, Vote by Plan, and feel free to ask me any questions or let me know if I made a mistake somewhere.
Scheduled vote count started by Warmach1ne32 on Jan 5, 2021 at 4:35 AM, finished with 36 posts and 19 votes.
[X] Before the release of the Confession to the world, a Nod warlord, who is suspected to be a descendant of a Nod field officer during the 3rd Tiberium War, secretly offered a deal with GDI InOps. In return for amnesty, renouncing the Brotherhood of Nod religion, and signing a defensive alliance, the Liberated will help GDI hunt down rival Brotherhood splinter groups that continue to be loyal to Kane along with giving GDI access to various Nod technologies that they can use however they see fit. With the deal struck the new Liberated faction renounced Kane as an uncaring and ruthless mastermind that created the Brotherhood to serve his own plans, not the betterment on humanity. This caused the Brotherhood to have a massive schism with only a small number of minor warlords are antagonistic towards GDI. The rest either join the Liberated or surrendered into GDI custody.
[X] Mountainous, plenty of tall mountains and hills that makes this an ideal mining colony. You'll most likely have to be careful with this one, Tanks can't jump over sheer cliffs like the infantry yet so I advise investing with Mobile Infantry, VTOL Aircraft, and Hover vehicles to be able to maneuver around the area effectively.
[X] Heavily Forested, with lots of alien trees and wildlife that the scientist are itching to have a look at. I would recommend investing in Vehicles and Infantry for this planet due to the very tall tree canopy making Air Strikes nearly impossible with how thick these trees are.
[x] In the decade after the release of the Confession, GDI is able to gather detailed information on a majority of the Nod factions through disillusioned followers, giving GDI commanders the locations of a majority of the major Brotherhood faction's underground base of operations. In a series of underground skirmishes, GDI have successfully eliminated the Brotherhood as a major power with the deaths of many of Nod's warlords, the destruction of many of the underground network, and the occupation and relocation of many of the underground towns Nod has set up inside the tunnel network.
I made a mistake with the timeline, mostly cause I didn't write anything down. Here is the correct version
2100-ish: GDI settled their conflict with Nod and started to colonizing the Solar System and found ezo on Mars. GDI found the Prothean Archive after a year of searching.
2110: GDI finished testing an Ezo FTL drives from data and reverse engineering Prothean tech recovered from the archive and started making ships. Due to limited supply, any eezo found is put into a stockpile for ship FTL cores or using ME fields to forge ship plating.
2115: GDI activated Charon Relay and started exploring the Relay network. They also created the Colonization Office to manage and fund these colonies.
2120: After the 1st Colonization wave, GDI now have resources coming in from their 1st 3 extra solar colonies, Terra Nova, Eden Prime, and Benning. With these resources Arcturus station can begin construction along with the start of the 2nd Colonization wave.
2135: On the 3th Colonization Wave, General Williams is assigned to be the Commander in Chief of Shanxi and tasked with developing the colony into a self-sufficient colony.
2140: Relay 341 is scheduled to be activated and the system beyond to be surveyed for the 5th Colonization Wave.
And for comparison's sake:
Current Space Doctrine:
The one that GDI is currently operating under.
STRATEGIC ASSUMPTIONS:
Our baseline and needs.
-Security Environment:
What threats are we expecting?
--It has been a while since the Scrin attacked. We have not yet found any signs that the Scrin are around. This means that they either are not around anymore (not likely) or that they do not use the relay network that we use for FTL (if they even use FTL). This means that we need to be highly mobile and prepare for an strike on any of our colonies a any times, even if the colony is supposedly protected by chokepoints in the relay network.
--Single system/system pirates. It is difficult for pirates to gain access to a Relay FTL capable ship. This means that the majority of the hostile attackers will be confined in system. We need to have patrol in every system with a active civilian colony at the minimum.
--We do not know what the hell happened to the creators of the relay. We should be on watch as per the Great Filter Hypothesis (See associated information here and here), especially given the fact that SETI efforts that we have funded (in part to look for the Scrin) have not fund where the Scrin are nor any signs of high Kardashev tier civilizations.
-Fiscal Environment:
What resources do we get?
--Our economy is slowly growing. We should help support trade between the colonies and Earth. We should also extend our colonies to create a buffer zone.
STRATEGIC GOALS:
What it says on the can.
-Antipiracy.
-Exploration of new relays
-Growth of new colonies along the relay network.
-SETI search for other alien civilization (hostile and/or friendly)
-Colony defense against hostile forces (the necessity is debated by the civilian side of GDI. However, we believe that this is still necessary (reason))
FLEET MISSIONS:
-Service Roles:
What are we supposed to do? What are our responsibilities?
--Maintain an active force capable of responding to hostile attacks against our capabilities and/or the colonies
--Deter piracy and maintain trade.
--Exploration and preemptive search for hostiles.
-ConOps:
What is our concept of operations? In other words, how will we carry out our responsibilities (if we can carry them out)?
-We will maintain our three branches: Reserve, Interstitial, and Exploration. These branches will handle our three main roles.
-Posture:
How are we deployed? Forward to catch all threats and prevent them from getting close? Dispersed to slow down the enemy? Held back to surprise or protect our forces?
--The three branches within our force will have different postures.
--Home: Held back in strategic locations to either replenish losses (from needing to take ships off for maintenance or other wise) or deter attacks (thankfully this is extraordinarily rare.)
--Interstitial: This force conduct our day to day missions of protecting trade. It will be dispersed along the main trade route as well as conducting patrols in border regions.
It is also responsible for deterring/stopping/buying time in case of a serious attack.
--Exploration: This branch is heavily forward deployed and has a different logistical network. It focuses on system recon and opening new relays.
FORCE DESIGN:
What is our forces made out of?
-Capabilities:
What things does our force need to do in order to complete our goals?
--System fortification and picket outpost.
--Coms and recon
--Escort duty/screen
--Low levels (rampable if needed) of capital ships (from destroyers to battleships)
-Total force size:
This determines how much of our forces will be available to assign as well as our overall size.
-Home: Some what largish. This force holds some of our dated ships but also hold some of the largest and most advanced ships (in reserve for the Exploration branch and as deterrence(if needed)). The largest ships in this fleet tend to be on indefinite loan to the other branches most of the time (mostly to the Exploration branch),
--Interstitial: Largest branch in terms of numbers. However, this branch does not hold much of the highest tier ships. Also hold the largest support network out of the entire force in order to support it's activity.
--Exploration: Somewhat small in size but holds the most advanced ships that can be sent out.
-Force mix:
How much are we going to put emphasis on our various capabilities?
--The largest number of mobile assets(ships) is in the Interstitial force's patrol ships (destroyers and patrol ships). The Exploration force holds the most cruisers.
The Home fleet handles the most high end capital ships.
-Force location:
Where specifically are we going to put our forces in?
--Home: At the largest colonies, Earth, and strategic garrisons.
--Interstitial: Everywhere in the territories we control
--Exploration: On the boundaries and outside our traditional logistic network.
FORCE MANAGEMENT:
Logistics, maintenance, recruitment and other things are vital to maintain a force that can accomplish it's missions. How does this occur?
-Personnel Management:
How are we going to recruit the necessary people and keep them? What is our PERSTEMPO (personnel tempo)?
--Global: Task forces tend to cycle between all three commands (Home, Interstitial, Exploration) to become well rounded. There are not that many task forces (say six in total, two for each command).
--Home: Minimal PERSTEMPO except for the forces on loan to other forces and those that are on active alert(akin to US policy of always having 2 fighter at each base ready to scramble). Personnel here mostly focus on training, preparation, and mantience.
--Interstitial: Normal PRESTEMPO. Mostly focused on patrols.
--Exploration: Extended PRESTEMPO due to the distance and demands of this role.
-Logistics:
How are vital supplies going to be distributed?
--Home and Interstitial: We make use of preexisting infrastructure and supplement where needed with logistic bases.
--Exploration: What logistics? We bring and create our own logistics network. Later on Home/Interstitial forces make use of the network we leave behind.
-Level of readiness:
How "on alert" will our forces be? How prepared will we be for conflict and how prepared should we be?
--Home: Depends on what the assets are. If it the the reserve section, it is likely that they are at minimal alert. For the "on call" assets, they are ready to respond any time.
--Interstitial: Depends on the general state of the area and intelligence.
--Exploration: Always alert. Failure to be alert can cause mass-cass events.
-Acquisitions Strategy:
How will we get new technology into the force? What is our focus? How quickly do we need new tech/assets in the force and what can be done to meet the demand?
--Imagine the US military acquisitions but more efficient. (Eg. Darpa is a thing)
A/N: Note how the GDI is somewhat paranoid about what is going on (Great Filter Hypothesis, links here and here). I would not be surprised to see that some analysts presented the Idea that the Scrin are operating under Dark Forest assumptions and that tiberium did two things for them: remove possibly hostile civilizations (us) and resource extraction. This means that GDI is justifiably paranoid about the universe. However as hinted in this, the relative peace has caused the GDI to semi atrophy:
Instead of continuing the growth of forces, they are focusing more on patrolling the area and have to settle with recon and SETI searches. The home fleet right now is mostly a bunch of second rate screens other craft (albeit still fairly high end) surrounding a core of one to two task forces.
Ouch... typing this out is painful...
Anyways, let me know what you think about this.
[X] Plan Maxed Out
-[X] 140th Infantry Regiment: a Regiment of Riflemen armed with Railgun Rifles and accompanying Missile Trooper armed with FGM-150 Missile Launchers to provide Anti-Armor and Air support. The regiment wears the new standard issue exo-skeletal body armor which is much slimmer than the Zone series heavy armor but is still an exo-skeleton it just noticeably weaker yet cheaper to make. They are also trained in deploying Infantry Bunkers, to provide additional protection. (+3 Infantry Battalion) 200/150
-[X]99th Engineering Corp: A Corp of Engineers, there isn't much to say about them, they can make basic defences like Watchtowers, AA Turrets, Trenches, Bunkers, Minefields, and etc. They can also help with civilian construction if you feel that you are sufficiently protected. (+1 Engineering Corp & +2 Construction Action) 150/100
-[X]52nd Sniper Platoon: A Platoon of Snipers, armed with an Ionized Railgun Rifle, the same technology used in the Main cannon of the Hunter AFV allowing it to have extremely high penetration. Sniper teams are also equipped with a stealth cloak to hide in plain sight. (+16 Sniper Teams) 150/20
-[X]MCV: The Mobile Construction Vehicle has been in the GDI arsenal since it's very founding and while it has gone through many iterations, its core purpose stays the same. The MCV supplied by GDI are based on the old MCVs of the 3rd Tib War but has been modified for Colony use. You are only allowed 1 MCV for now as they are in high demand with other colonies too. (+1 MCV & +4Construction Action) 300/200 (only 1 allowed)
-[X]Mining Equipment: While everyone agreed that Tiberium is a poison and caused the most deaths in history, they do also admit that it made extracting minerals from the earth incredibly easy. Now that Tiberium is contained on Earth with GDI Navy feeding asteroids to be processed by the TCN, the colonist will have to mine resources the old fashion way. With drills, explosives, a mining truck. (+1 RA1 style Ore Mine) 150/100
-[X]Smelting Equipment: Once you have a supply of ore, you'll need a location to smelt it so that it can be useable in many different applications. Using lessons learnt from Tiberium refining, a single refinery can process multiple different types of ores and separate them into their component elements and transformed into ingots for easy storage. (+1 RA2 style Refinery) 100/150
-[X]Farming Equipment: While the colony have a store of rations that can last for a year, getting locally produced food will be essential to long term survival. Creating conventional farms can is a fairly cheap source of food, however it may be vulnerable to pests or weather that will damage the yield. The advantage is that it is fairly easy to make and expand. (+1 Conventional Farm & +500 tons of Excess Food/Year) 50/100
-[X]Tech Lab: While Battles are won in the field, Wars are won in the Lab. Without R&D, GDI would not have the Sonic technology needed to beat the Scrin, the Ion Cannon, the Mammoth Tank, Walkers, and etc. Having your own would allow you to analyse and study the technology that GDI has available as well as make prototypes to see if they are viable to be produced. (+1 Tech Lab & Unlocks Tech Tree Research) 200/100
-[X]Sonic Tech: Through the use of sonic crystals, GDI is able to project a wave of sonic energy that can vibrate any target to piece. This is instrumental in abating the spread of Tiberium on Earth and while Tiberium isn't a threat to Earth anymore, with the Tiberium Control Network up and running; Sonic technology still has a place in GDIs arsenal. (Unlocks Shockwave/Shatterer, Sonic Grenades, Sonic Cannons) 200/10
-[X]Zone Armor: While it doesn't hold a candle to the stuff currently in use by the military, GDI does supply a variety of upgrade packages to make Colonial Militia Zone Troopers a combat effective fighting force. (Unlocks Basic Zone Trooper Armor, Zone Upgrade Packs, Zone Heavy Weapons, and Jump Jets) 200/10
-[X]Robotic Drone Tech: GDI have rarely used Robots in their arsenal, mainly due to the dangers of an enemy taking control of your own robots, the control signal being jammed due to interference, and study done decades ago that proves Humans supported by AI is superior than AI controlled armies. However, robots have found a niche for themselves as patrol and scout units. A recent robotic addition to GDI's arsenal is the War Dog which is a scaled down Mastadon frame with a machine gun head. Advanced sensors and pack intelligence makes it an ideal scouting unit while being very cheap to produce. (Unlocks War Dogs, Drone Swarm, Repair Drones, Custom Drones Designs) 200/10
-[X]Subterranean Tech: During the 2nd Tib War, GDI ruled the heavens but Nod ruled the underworld and they do that through subterranean technology. Nod used this network to great effect as it is the only place where they are protected from GDI Air superiority and our Ion Cannons. By the 3rd Tib War, Tiberium has grown deep within the Earth's crust and tunnelling through Tiberium is too difficult and dangerous, thus the tunnels were abandoned until the TCN has been established and managed to clear most of the Tiberium, allowing Nod's global tunnel network to return to service. This technology is relatively simple and GDI saw potential in having a Tunnel Network in their colonies in the event the Scrin achieved orbital supremacy. It should be made aware however that unscrupulous individuals may make use of these tunnels if they are not properly supervised. (Unlocks Subterranean APC, Drill Pod, and Tunnel Network System) 200/10
You arrive at the colony of Benning's main Space Station in what looks like mid-day. The port is bustling with Freighters docking and loading up on food, dockworkers checking incoming cargo, and soldiers out patrolling the station.
You are here because GDI's Colonization Office is headquartered here and Benning is where the colonization wave will launch from. You can see a dozen GSTs being loaded with supplies and equipment, most likely the destined for the other 3 colonies to be established. The GST you had just departed from is currently being loaded with the equipment and MCV you requested.
"General Williams?" You see a corporal approach you from your left with a security guard right behind him. He wore the Standard GDI Vest but it is over a long sleeved shirt with a pistol in his belt holster. The security guard wears the standard BDU with helmet, vest, and hip holster. "Corporal Gibson, I'm part of the Colonization Office. I'll be your guide to the Colonization Office." As he introduced himself, he and the guard both saluted at you.
You return the salute, "Lead the way."
With the Corporal in front of you and the guard behind you, you are led through the space port and into the CO's HQ attached to the Benning Space Port. The HQ looked like your standard office with a secretary, GDI logo above the Colonization Office logo, potted plants, and waiting chairs across the secretary's desk. The Corporal nods at the secretary and continues toward an elevator. We descend into the lower levels before it opened into a sparse hallway with many doors. He eventually led you to one of the doors and then pressed a keycard on the panel. The door opens into an occupied conference room, the Corporal salutes and hands you the keycard. You accept the keycard, returned the salute, and enter the conference room.
As the door closes behind you, 5 people turned their head in your direction. 3 of the saluted while the other 2 nodded. Thanks to the briefing packet you have read on your way to Benning, you recognise these people as your future advisors for Shanxi. You return the salute and nod to toward the 2 that didn't salute, best to get official introductions out of the way.
"At ease, before we begin the briefing, I would like to know each and every one of you. I may have read your file but it does not replace a face to face meeting. I am General Alfred Williams and as you know I will be the Colonial governor of Shanxi. You can call me either as General, Williams, or sir but I will be relying on your help in developing and growing Shanxi into a self-sufficient colony it was meant to be."
You spent several minutes getting to know each of your advisors.
Colonel Markus Jackson is your Field Commander on Shanxi. He will be in charge of keeping the GDI Army a well-oiled machine. He came from a long line of Commissioned Officers and even graduated from GDI's new Commando Program. Much less lethal than the 2050 iteration but more varied than the 2070 version, by including vacuum and zero-g training along with naval boarding actions. He also has a fairly confident personality that is stereotypical among Commandos, but he assures you that he knows when to pull out of a bad situation. You have high hopes that he would be an excellent Commander.
Lin Zhong is your Colonial Steward and a graduate of the CO's Colony Resource Management Course. It's a 2 year program that trains applicants how to grow and maintain a colony. Her job will be to manage the civilian population and keep the economy running smoothly. There isn't much to say about her, she rose through the ranks of the Colonization Office and this will be her first major assignment managing a colony. She is polite and professional, if a little nervous, most likely wanting to make a good first impression. You aren't as confident that Ms. Zhong abilities due to her inexperience, but CO did sent a glowing recommendation of her performance so you'll give her the benefit of the doubt.
Dr. Shin Liang is you Colonial Researcher and a former scientist of Otani-Lincoln Laboratory. While Otani-Lincoln's 100-year contract ended decades ago, their pre-fab building designs are still in use today in the form of the MCV used in every GDI colony. Dr. Liang applied to be a Colony Researcher as a form of retirement so that he can settle down with his wife and be there for his kids, as a father yourself you understand his motivation. His job is to make various GDI technologies simple enough to be re-produced with off the shelf parts in a frontier colony. The man himself is calm and relaxed, maybe content would be a more accurate state of mind. You feel that Dr. Liang could be relied upon with what you have planned for Shanxi.
Lieutenant Samatha Strongarm is your Colony Engineer and will handle all of the construction and planning of the colony. She has been extensively trained in operating an MCV and had a degree in Colony City Planning. She is fairly cheerful and optimistic, said that both of her parents were engineers and wanted to follow in their footsteps. Being the head Engineer for a colony is a great honour and would put her in the history books. You can tell that she will give it her all in making sure Shanxi will be a successful colony.
The woman who introduced herself as Rachel West is your aide and is an InOps Intelligence Agent she will keep you updated on events in your backyard and behind closed doors. You aren't even sure that is her real name but GDI wouldn't place someone they couldn't trust to help a Frontier Colony so you'll give her the benefit of the doubt. You have to if she will be your eyes and ears.
Now that everyone is introduced, you all sit down and begin to be briefed on what Shanxi is like and pick a landing zone. Shanxi is fairly temperate world with a large super continent dominating the surface. This super continent was the result of several major tectonic plates crashing into each other, which is the main cause of its multitude of mountain ranges and hills. There are a variety of island around but they aren't worth mentioning for the time being.
After an hour, all that left is to pick a landing zone:
[] Mountainous Coast
Advantages
- Access to Ocean for transport and food
- Higher mining yield
Disadvantages
- Danger of Tsunamis
- Possibility of Amphibious Assaults
[] Lake
Advantages
- Plentiful supply of water results in increased farm yield
- River could be a source of Hydro-electric power and transport
Disadvantages
- Mountains are farther away
- Less mining yield
[] Valley
Advantages
- Increased mining yield
- Fewer chokepoints = more defendable
Disadvantages
- Reduced farm yield until the valley can be terraced
- Possible Rockslides
Everyone had their own opinions on where the Capital should be located. Markus wanted the Valley to create defensive fields of fire and reinforced chokepoints would make defending the capital easier. Lin feels that it would take a lot of effort to make the colony self-sufficient when the city eventually runs out of room. She prefers the Lake or Coast that would make expansion and feeding the colonist much easier. Dr. Shin admits that he wouldn't mind having a home on the coast where he can fish and maybe study the wildlife. Samantha would prefer the Lake and Coast as they have more space for her to work with. She did point out that the Coast could be vulnerable to a tsunami but that could be negated by protecting the city with a wall of Firestorm Shields. Rachel prefers the Valley for easy access to the mountains and being able to take cover inside them should the colony be invaded.
Ultimately the final decision is yours.
AN: I had a hard time making these landing zones interesting yet fair. Do note that all of the disadvantages can be negated with a bit of effort. And if you have an advantage for a region that I didn't think about let me know so I can add that in when Voting opens.
Moratorium in 2 days and then Voting will open for another 2 days.
Colonel Markus Jackson is your Field Commander on Shanxi. He will be in charge of keeping the GDI Army a well-oiled machine. He came from a long line of Commissioned Officers and even graduated from GDI's new Commando Program. Much less lethal than the 2050 iteration but more varied than the 2070 version, by including vacuum and zero-g training along with naval boarding actions. He also has a fairly confident personality that is stereotypical among Commandos, but he assures you that he knows when to pull out of a bad situation. You have high hopes that he would be an excellent Commander.
Lin Zhong is your Colonial Steward and a graduate of the CO's Colony Resource Management Course. It's a 2 year program that trains applicants how to grow and maintain a colony. Her job will be to manage the civilian population and keep the economy running smoothly. There isn't much to say about her, she rose through the ranks of the Colonization Office and this will be her first major assignment managing a colony. She is polite and professional, if a little nervous, most likely wanting to make a good first impression. You aren't as confident that Ms. Zhong abilities due to her inexperience, but CO did sent a glowing recommendation of her performance so you'll give her the benefit of the doubt.
Dr. Shin Liang is you Colonial Researcher and a former scientist of Otani-Lincoln Laboratory. While Otani-Lincoln's 100-year contract ended decades ago, their pre-fab building designs are still in use today in the form of the MCV used in every GDI colony. Dr. Liang applied to be a Colony Researcher as a form of retirement so that he can settle down with his wife and be there for his kids, as a father yourself you understand his motivation. His job is to make various GDI technologies simple enough to be re-produced with off the shelf parts in a frontier colony. The man himself is calm and relaxed, maybe content would be a more accurate state of mind. You feel that Dr. Liang could be relied upon with what you have planned for Shanxi.
Lieutenant Samatha Strongarm is your Colony Engineer and will handle all of the construction and planning of the colony. She has been extensively trained in operating an MCV and had a degree in Colony City Planning. She is fairly cheerful and optimistic, said that both of her parents were engineers and wanted to follow in their footsteps. Being the head Engineer for a colony is a great honour and would put her in the history books. You can tell that she will give it her all in making sure Shanxi will be a successful colony.
Rachel West is your aide and is an InOps Intelligence Agent she will keep you updated on events in your backyard and behind closed doors. You aren't even sure that is her real name but GDI wouldn't place someone they couldn't trust to help a Frontier Colony so you'll give her the benefit of the doubt. You have to if she will be your eyes and ears.
140th Infantry Regiment: a Regiment of Riflemen armed with Railgun Rifles and accompanying Missile Trooper armed with FGM-150 Missile Launchers to provide Anti-Armor and Air support. The regiment wears the new standard issue exo-skeletal body armor which is much slimmer than the Zone series heavy armor but is still an exo-skeleton it just noticeably weaker yet cheaper to make. They are also trained in deploying Infantry Bunkers, to provide additional protection. (+3 Infantry Battalion)
99th Engineering Corp: A Corp of Engineers, there isn't much to say about them, they can make basic defences like Watchtowers, AA Turrets, Trenches, Bunkers, Minefields, and etc. They can also help with civilian construction if you feel that you are sufficiently protected. (+1 Engineering Corp & +2 Construction Action)
52nd Sniper Platoon: A Platoon of Snipers, armed with an Ionized Railgun Rifle, the same technology used in the Main cannon of the Hunter AFV allowing it to have extremely high penetration. Sniper teams are also equipped with a stealth cloak to hide in plain sight. (+16 Sniper Teams)
MCV: The Mobile Construction Vehicle has been in the GDI arsenal since it's very founding and while it has gone through many iterations, its core purpose stays the same. The MCV supplied by GDI are based on the old MCVs of the 3rd Tib War but has been modified for Colony use. You are only allowed 1 MCV for now as they are in high demand with other colonies too. (+1 MCV & +4 Construction Action)
Ore Mine(1x): While everyone agreed that Tiberium is a poison and caused the most deaths in history, they do also admit that it made extracting minerals from the earth incredibly easy. Now that Tiberium is contained on Earth with GDI Navy feeding asteroids to be processed by the TCN, the colonist will have to mine resources the old fashion way. With drills, explosives, a mining truck. (+1 RA1 style Ore Mine)
Refinery(1x): Once you have a supply of ore, you'll need a location to smelt it so that it can be useable in many different applications. Using lessons learnt from Tiberium refining, a single refinery can process multiple different types of ores and separate them into their component elements and transformed into ingots for easy storage. (+1 RA2 style Refinery)
Conventional Farm(1x): While the colony have a store of rations that can last for a year, getting locally produced food will be essential to long term survival. Creating conventional farms can is a fairly cheap source of food, however it may be vulnerable to pests or weather that will damage the yield. The advantage is that it is fairly easy to make and expand. (+1 Conventional Farm & +500 tons of Excess Food/Year)
Tech Lab: While Battles are won in the field, Wars are won in the Lab. Without R&D, GDI would not have the Sonic technology needed to beat the Scrin, the Ion Cannon, the Mammoth Tank, Walkers, and etc. Having your own would allow you to analyse and study the technology that GDI has available as well as make prototypes to see if they are viable to be produced. (+1 Tech Lab & Unlocks Tech Tree Research)
Sonic Tech: Through the use of sonic crystals, GDI is able to project a wave of sonic energy that can vibrate any target to piece. This is instrumental in abating the spread of Tiberium on Earth and while Tiberium isn't a threat to Earth anymore, with the Tiberium Control Network up and running; Sonic technology still has a place in GDIs arsenal. (Unlocks Shockwave/Shatterer, Sonic Grenades, Sonic Cannons)
Zone Armor: While it doesn't hold a candle to the stuff currently in use by the military, GDI does supply a variety of upgrade packages to make Colonial Militia Zone Troopers a combat effective fighting force. (Unlocks Basic Zone Trooper Armor, Zone Upgrade Packs, Zone Heavy Weapons, and Jump Jets)
Robotic Drone Tech: GDI have rarely used Robots in their arsenal, mainly due to the dangers of an enemy taking control of your own robots, the control signal being jammed due to interference, and study done decades ago that proves Humans supported by AI is superior than AI controlled armies. However, robots have found a niche for themselves as patrol and scout units. A recent robotic addition to GDI's arsenal is the War Dog which is a scaled down Mastadon frame with a machine gun head. Advanced sensors and pack intelligence makes it an ideal scouting unit while being very cheap to produce. (Unlocks War Dogs, Drone Swarm, Repair Drones, Custom Drones Designs)
Subterranean Tech: During the 2nd Tib War, GDI ruled the heavens but Nod ruled the underworld and they do that through subterranean technology. Nod used this network to great effect as it is the only place where they are protected from GDI Air superiority and our Ion Cannons. By the 3rd Tib War, Tiberium has grown deep within the Earth's crust and tunnelling through Tiberium is too difficult and dangerous, thus the tunnels were abandoned until the TCN has been established and managed to clear most of the Tiberium, allowing Nod's global tunnel network to return to service. This technology is relatively simple and GDI saw potential in having a Tunnel Network in their colonies in the event the Scrin achieved orbital supremacy. It should be made aware however that unscrupulous individuals may make use of these tunnels if they are not properly supervised. (Unlocks Subterranean APC, Drill Pod, and Tunnel Network System)
EVA Files: GDI Navy Current Generation Vessels as of 2130
GDI Combat Doctrine emphasized the use of combined arms of a resilient frontline with mobile specialists that cover each other's weaknesses. This doctrine is kept in mind when designing the GDI Navy. However the limited supply of eezo in the Sol system during the early stages of development influences how the navy grew. Along with future plans of colonizing other systems after the Charon Relay was founded, influenced the Navy to maximize the quantity of vessels until a large supply of eezo could be founded. Eezo Research Labs are given a priority to create light and efficient drive cores, due to how eezo requirements increase exponentially the more mass the vessel has.
Thus GDI's navy are organized into 3 Branches, each with a different role and requirement. The Home Branch is the Reserve Fleet, where the most dated and most advanced ship are held in reserve, ready to respond to any nearby conflict. The Interstitial Branch is the Police Fleet, they patrol GDI colonies and protect freighters from pirates. The Exploration Branch is the Expeditionary Fleet, it is the smallest branch but contain our most advanced and powerful vessels that can be sent out to explore.
The GDI Navy mostly composed of Corvettes, Frigates, and Destroyers. These vessels are spread out among the Home Branch, Interstitial Branch, and the Exploration Branch. Cruisers are less common, but are exclusive to the Home and Exploration Branch. Battlecruisers and Carriers are exclusive to Home Branch but can be loaned out to the Exploration Branch to create a Counterattack Fleet.
- GDN Carter class Corvette: A 100-meter craft with a 60-man crew. It is equipped with a Gorgon Laser Cannon, 6 Viper MLRS, a Crystal Shield system, Oculus Sensor system, and Metallic Foam Armor Plating. Using the combined research of GDI and reversed engineered Nod technology, Future Tech developed the Gorgon Laser Cannon. The Gorgon fires a continuous beam that gets stronger the longer it it locks on to a target similar to GDI's Focus Beam, this is combined with Nod's Obelisk frame allows the Gorgon to lock on to target with only a small module at the nose of the Corvette instead of a large turret of the GDI Focus Beam.
The Gorgon system coupled with the Oculus Sensor system, GDI's most sophisticated naval sensor that can provide target acquisition, target identification, and 3D target tracking data to the EVA Module house in the Corvette, where it is processed and sent to the Gorgon Laser System. The Gorgon is capable of modifying its output and be precise enough to target enemy Strike Craft and Precision Guided Munitions while also be able to burn a hole on the hull enemy ships if left alone for too long. Multiple Carters can work together by linking their EVA units and have them focus their Gorgon's on a single target to devastating effect. The Oculus sensors are precise enough for survey and patrol work, resulting in the Carter being the most common vessel in GDI's arsenal for a relatively cheap cost.
The main drawback of the Gorgon however is the enormous amount of power required and the waste heat generated by the system. This results in little space in the energy budget for an FTL drive and more sophisticated equipment. Thus GDI returned to tried and tested technology to compensate. The Viper MLRS are meant as a low energy cost secondary armament, in case the Gorgon is overwhelmed with target, the Vipers release volleys of precision missiles that can intercept enemy Strike Craft and Naval grade Munitions. Each Viper contains a pod of 60 Missiles.
For defense, the Corvette uses the Crystal Shield System, a last generation shield system similar to the one used during the Ascension Conflict except improved to be more powerful and energy efficient at the cost of the Stasis Module. Metallic Foam Armor Plating is an old technology but its relatively high amount of protection for its mass against both ballistic and energy based weapons makes it the ideal armor plating for the Corvette especially when used with MEF forged alloys. To increase the battlefield stamina of the Corvette due to heat build up, a Heat Sink system has been installed that can be ejected should it reach capacity and replaced with a spare heat sink. The Corvette's main role is to survey, patrol, and support the Navy larger ships, they are the Infantry of the GDI Navy. GDI Corvettes are named after GDI Soldiers.
- GDN Andrews-Class Frigate: A 300-meter craft with a 200 man crew. It is equipped with a Sword Ion Cannon, 6 Dagger Ion Cannon Turrets, Aegis Firestorm Shield, and Metallic Foam Armor Plating. Over the years, GDI have further improved their Ion Cannon technology. The one used in the Andrews-Class Frigate is the latest 'Light' Ion Cannon, the Sword. Optimized for firing speed, the Sword can shoot a blast every 6 seconds with the power of a 1st generation Ion Cannon. The Sword achieves this rate of fire by having built in capacitors that can store up to 6 charges when the Ion Cannon is not in use. Recharging a capacitor requires a 10 second charge and 60 seconds is required to recharge the whole bank of capacitors.
A fairly powerful weapon, however Ion Cannons lose their charge the farther away the target is due to the particle beam diffusing itself. Thus it is recommended to be used in knife-fighting range, under 200,000 kilometers. The Sword could also function as ground support weapon to precisely take out enemies tagged by friendly units on the ground with minimal collateral damage as the Sword has variable settings.
To defend itself against strike craft, the Andrews have 6 Dagger Ion Cannon Batteries that can be used to intercept incoming torpedoes or enemy strike craft. It has a fairly slow rate of fire, about a shot every 4 seconds, but packs the punch of a Vehicle grade Ion Cannon. The Aegis Shield is GDI's latest naval shield system, the Aegis can temporarily put the ship in Stasis, making it invulnerable to attack for several seconds before needing a 3 minute recharge, even longer if it is in the middle of combat. However making yourself immune to damage for even a brief period could mean the difference between life and death. The Frigate's main role is to close in on enemy vessels and blast them with its Ion Cannons, they are the main battle tanks of the GDI Navy. GDI Frigates are named after famous battles.
- GDN Maus-Class Destroyer: A 350-meter craft with a 300 man crew. It is equipped with 2 Archer Torpedo Launchers, EVA EWar Module, 12 Viper MLRS, Aegis Shield, and Refractor Plating. With the Frigates slated to be the meat of the fleet, a support vessel was proposed to cover for any of the Frigate's weaknesses. Armed with Archer Torpedoes, each torpedo uses shaped charge to create a jet of molten metal into enemy ships on impact. Before launch, each Archer is given a Mirror Coating to increase its resistance to energy based countermeasures by refracting a majority of the energy away from the torpedo.
It's main defensive armament of 12 Viper MLRS can quickly eliminate enemy strike craft by weight of numbers with each missile being guided by the Maus's EVA unit. The EVA Electronic Warfare Module contain a gamut of ECM and ECCM equipment with the purpose of making it difficult for the enemy to get a lock on the fleet or to jam enemy guided munitions. Along with the Aegis, the Maus is also armored in Mirror Armor, the same armor used in the Refractor. This plating does severely increase the mass of the Maus and thus required a larger Eezo core and more energy to power the larger core.
With a larger FTL Drive, the EVA EWar Module, and Refractor Plating, the Maus does not have the energy to spare for Ion Cannons or Railguns and thus must settle for Missile and Torpedo weapons in exchange for being very hard to kill. It is also very expensive to field and maintain and thus only a small number of them are in service in the Exploration Branch with a couple in the Home branch in reserve. The role of the Destroyers are to provide indirect support through EWar, an additional source of missile countermeasures, or launch torpedoes on wounded enemy ships as a killing blow. GDI Destroyers are named after GDI Intelligence Officers.
- GDN Rome-Class Cruiser: A 600 meter craft with an 600 man crew. It is equipped with 2 Savior Ionized Spinal Railguns, 8 Viper MLRS, 4 Dagger Ion Cannons Turrets, Aegis Shields, Metallic Foam Armor Plating, Adaptive Armor System, and Railgun Accelerator System. Instead of having an Ion Cannon as a main weapon, the Rome-class Cruisers are armed with Ionized Spinal mounted Railguns. While it does not have the same destructive power of an equivalent sized Ion Cannon it can retain that destructive power over a longer distance, unlike the Ion Cannon. To compensate, the Rome is armed with 2 Savior Railguns. Capable of firing a shot every 4 seconds, the Savior Railguns are an incredibly deadly weapon.
The GDN Cruisers are designed to be the Mammoth Tank of the GDI Navy, tough while carrying lots of firepower. To increase it's toughness and firepower, GDI designers look to the past for inspiration. The Steel Talon's Adaptive Armor and Railgun Accelerator systems have been adapted for use in the Rome-Class Cruiser.
On defense the Rome can activate Adaptive Armor, increasing its defense at the cost of rate of fire. However on the offense, the Rome can activate its Railgun Accelerator and increase its Railguns' rate of fire to an absurd degree of a shot every second for each Railgun at the cost of quickly wearing down the Railgun and requiring time at a ship yard for maintenance
Overall, with its powerful main weapon, the various defensive systems, the Rome would be an immovable wall that is back bone of the GDN fleet. The Rome class is currently in the service of the Exploration Branch however 1/3 of their number are stationed in the Home Branch on major worlds. GDN Cruisers are named after Earth Cities.
- GDN Solomon-class Carriers: A 1 kilometer craft with a 5,500 man crew. It is equipped with an Internal Hangar Bay, a Magnetic Catapult, 80 F/A Firehawk 4s & other auxiliary space craft, 20 Dagger Ion Cannon Turrets, EVA Command Unit, 28 Viper MLRS, Orbital Drop Pod Launchers, Aegis Shields, Metallic Foam Armor Plating, and Adaptive Armor. Designed like its class would suggest, to be a mobile base of operations for any military conflict requiring large amounts of GDI assets. With it's main armaments being the strike craft inside it's hull, the new and improved F/A Firehawk 4. With an improved Brain-to-Machine Interface of the 1st Firehawk, Crystal shielding, advanced cloaking ability, a Rotary Ionized Coilgun, and a variety of GDI explosive payloads makes this version of the Firehawk the deadliest strike craft in GDI's arsenal.
To ready its air wing for launch, multiple elevators carry the strike craft from inside the hull to the surface, where it is then catapulted at high speed using the Carrier's magnetic catapult. The bridge is nestled deep inside the Carrier and it is there that the command staff and an EVA Command unit oversee the operation. There is a 2nd EVA unit that is responsible for making sure everything on board the Carrier is running smoothly, from refueling and rearming returning strike craft, being on the look out for enemy strike craft and shoot it down when necessary, or coordinating with other EVA units among the fleet.
A feature that no other vessel have is an Orbital Drop Pod Launcher, using the designs for the GST's Orbital Drop unit, it can drop an entire Battalion of Troops or vehicles into the middle of combat. A dozen drop pods unloading an army of Mammoth Tanks is an intimidating sight to see, and once the drop pods has touched down, it detaches its floor to release its cargo while immediately launching itself back into orbit to be reused. Each Solomon also have an MCV in storage along with the materials necessary to build a forward base on an enemy planet in minutes.
The Solomon is incredible expensive to build and only 1 of them are currently in service with another on the way thanks to the colony of Galcad's natural Ezo deposits, colonized in the 2nd Colonization wave of 2130. The role of the Solomon is to provide versatile Long-range support in the form of strike craft and transporting the GDI Army in any offensive campaign. GDN Carriers are named after famous GDI Leaders.
AN: This Informational got away from me as I kept adding more stuff in while I was typing it. I didn't notice that the Carter is basically a Protoss Void Ray until I started typing the MLRS system. Yes the MFAP sounds funny, no I did not intend for that to happen. The Andrews's Ion Cannon is based on the same Ion Cannon used by Zone Captains but with improved firepower. Yes, GDI doesn't have Dreadnoughts cause they spent a majority of their ezo on Frigates and Corvettes to patrol the every growing GDI border. They have plans sure but nothing other than blueprints.
I did have a plan for a Battlecruiser that was built around a spinal Ion Cannon that can almost 1 shot a Cruiser with 5 capacitors(magazine) and a 20 second recharge time for each capacitor but it was meant to lead the charge and blast enemy capital ships, but since it is an Ion Cannon, the Battlecruiser needs to get fairly close to the enemy. Requiring the Battlecruiser to close in at Short range while the Cruisers are capable of hitting enemies at medium and half-way into long range, while Frigates and Corvettes are only able to fight in Knife-fight range.
The Vipers are basically AM-RAM missiles and Daggers are Ion Cannon's for tanks slapped on to a ship for one shot-ing Stormriders and PAC's drones. The Ion Cannons and Railguns are for fighting Scrin Devastators and PACs. Galcad is from The Outsider's Comprehensive Guide to Human Affairs by Kajhe on Fanfiction.net that a friend of mine found for me.
After 3 days of travel, your convoy finally arrived at Shanxi. But before we can start landing procedures, the landing area needed to be secured. Jackson, the 140th, 52nd, and the 99th will use the GST's drop pod and secure the area so that the GST can land safely. You are currently in the GST command room where a hologram of the valley itself is shown in front of you. Strongarm, West, and Liang is standing nearby since they don't have much to do at the moment, while Zhong is busy organizing the colonists in the civilian GST.
The hologram table suddenly shows Jackson's drop pod landing in the Valley, which is currently in the night cycle but EVA merely brightened up the hologram to compensate. You see Jackson exit the drop pod along with the 140th while the 99th and the 52nd stayed inside before the 'All Clear' sounded.
"Alright people, you know the drill. 140th, split up into squads and secure the Valley, make sure there isn't any surprises waiting for us. 99th get started on that GST landing pad. 52nd, get on that drop pod and provide overwatch for the 140th." You listen as Jackson lead the ground mission smoothly and professionally. The 140th slowly revealed more of the valley as EVA used the helmet cams to build a detailed picture of the valley in real time. So far so good, you saw a river running along the valley, and most likely the one responsible for eroding the valley into existence, there are a lot of trees on the slopes and growing out of the valley cliffs itself, one of the snipers noted several heat signatures on the cliff trees about the size of birds and a couple of heat signatures hiding in the trees about the size of a horse, and all the while, the Engineers are building a landing pad for the GST since the valley is at an incline.
After a half hour a large perimeter is secured and Jackson ordered the 140th to dig in a build temporary trenches and keep an eye out. The engineers manage to set up lights to illuminate the area while the landing pad slowly unpacks itself. So far, everything is going smoothly.
=19
"Incoming Transmission
"General? this is Jackson, one of the Engies run a few tests on the river. They said the river is snowmelt so some basic filtering and a little fire and we have a stable drinking source. They also found silver particulates in the river and is certain that there is a silver vein up river, judging by the size and amount, he said it'll be a big one." Autopass Silver Prospecting Roll
"Sounds like we are off to a good start then. Any other news?"
"Depending on what it is like upstream, it may be possible to build a dam and that should be enough to supply the colony with power for a good while and prevent the risk of flooding the valley. Hard hats said that it would be expensive and should probably be shelved for the future. Other than that, this looks very defensible, I would hate to have to invade this place."
"Lots of trees and sheer cliffs that would make navigating in an armored vehicles a pain. It'll be a tight squeeze but with the Subterranean tech we should be able to expand below ground."
"Just got word that the landing pad is done. We'll have to unload the GSTs one at a time we'll probably finish by morning."
"Alright, hang tight soldier, we're on our way. End Transmission."
"Transmission Terminated."
---------------------------
It is currently sunrise and the civilian GST is currently being offloaded. Everyone is currently in the command center of the Construction Yard and ready to get started on building a colony. Strongarm already gotten the go ahead to place the farms, housing, and lab that was brought with us and suggested a couple of projects for your perusal. Liang is waiting for you to give the order to get started on researching, Jackson is ready to assign the duty roster so he can get some much needed rest, and Zhong is herding the colonist to their assigned roles and jobs.
Construction Materials: 5000
Power: 4/5
Population/Housing: 15/20
Space: 19/25
Primary Objective:
- 1 Barracks complexes by Turn 2
- Generate 2000 Food/Turn by Turn 3
- Build 2 Mines and 1 Refinery by Turn 3
Secondary Objective:
- Build Outpost to expand food supply
- Generate 3000 Food/Turn by Turn 4
Military Action: Jackson reported that his men are ready for duty.
140th Infantry Regiment: a Regiment of Riflemen armed with Railgun Rifles and accompanying Missile Troopers armed with FGM-150 Missile Launchers to provide Anti-Armor and Air support. The regiment wears the new standard issue exo-skeletal body armor which is much slimmer than the Zone series heavy armor but is still an exo-skeleton it just noticeably weaker yet cheaper to make. They are also trained in deploying Infantry Bunkers, to provide additional protection. (3 Infantry Battalions = 3 Actions)
[] [IR] Patrol Perimeter: Have your infantry patrol the perimeter of the colony to prevent any of the local wildlife from getting someone injured. (Negate Wildlife Attack Roll on Colony)
[] [IR] Build Basic Fortifications: Have your Infantry put their fortification training to work and build a basic perimeter defence of Bunkers and Walls. (Walls and Bunkers Constructed,-1 Space, Costs 500 M)
[] [IR] Explore Surroundings: The initial surveyors only did a flyby of the area, have your infantry explore the area around the colony to get a better lay of the land (Reveal surrounding environment)
[] [IR] Protect Prospecting Team: Have your infantry guard the people prospecting the mountains from getting attacked by the wildlife. (Negate Wildlife Attack Roll on Prospectors)
[] [IR] Write-In:
99th Engineer Corp: A Corp of Engineers, there isn't much to say about them, they can make basic defences like Watchtowers, AA Turrets, Trenches, Bunkers, Minefields, and etc. They can also help with civilian construction if you feel that you are sufficiently protected. (1 Engineering Corps = 2 Actions)
[] [EC] Build Basic Fortification: Have your Engineers put their fortification training to work and build a basic perimeter defence of Bunkers and Walls. (Walls and Bunkers Constructed, -1 Space, Costs 500 M)
[] [EC] Prospect Valley Mountains: Before you can mine the earth, you'll need to find an ore vein so you won't be wasting your time. (4/4 Tries Remaining, Rolls 10 D100 to see if you find any metals to harvest)
[] [EC] Help with Colony Construction: Have your Engineers be assigned to Strongarm to help with general Construction. (Exchange Engineer Actions to Construction Actions)
[] [EC] Write-In:
52nd Sniper Platoon: A Platoon of Snipers, armed with an Ionized Railgun Rifle, the same technology used in the Main cannon of the Hunter AFV allowing it to have extremely high penetration. Sniper teams are also equipped with a stealth cloak to hide in plain sight. (16 Snipers = 1 Action)
[] [SP] Overwatch the Colony: Have your snipers overwatch the colony to prevent any of the local wildlife from getting someone injured. (Negate All Wildlife Attack Roll on Colony)
[] [SP] Hunt Local Wildlife: Using Ionized Railguns on local wildlife might be overkill but you never know if they encounter something the only a Railgun can penetrate. (Gain information on local wildlife & receive bonus food income)
[] [SP] Explore Surroundings: Snipers are trained to move unseen in the wilderness and would attract much less attention from any local wildlife than a whole battalion of infantry (Reveal surrounding Environments + information on local wildlife)
[] [SP] Write-In:
Construction Options: Strongarm submitted a whole list of options that you could (4 Actions)
[] Build Housing Complex: The colonists need roofs over so their heads so they won't die of exposure and have access to basic amenities like water and electricity. (+1 Housing Complex, Houses 20 Population, -1 Power, -4 Space, Costs: 2000 M)
[] Build Barracks Complex: Your soldiers will also need a place to sleep, they could sleep outside but they wouldn't be happy about it. (+1 Barracks for your soldier, -1 Power, -1 Space, Cost: 500 M)
[] Build Conventional Farm: While the colony have a store of rations that can last for a year, getting locally produced food will be essential to long term survival. Creating conventional farms can is a fairly cheap source of food, however it may be vulnerable to pests or weather that will damage the yield. The advantage is that it is fairly easy to make and expand. (+1 Conventional Farm, Requires 3 Population, +500 tons of Excess Food/Year, -3 Space, Costs: 500 M)
[] Build Hydroponics Farm: With the much of the world's farm land becoming Tiberium Wastelands, Hydroponics helped prevent millions of people from starving both in Blue and Yellow Zones. Having your own Hydroponics Farm should help provide a steady food supply for your colony that won't be affected by pests or weather at the cost of being more expensive, takes up more space, and produce less food. (+1 Hydroponics farm, -3 Power, Requires 2 Population, +250 tons of Excess Food/Year, -1 Space, Costs: 1000 M)
[] Build Granary: A place to safely store your food so it doesn't spoil. (+1 Granary, -1 Power, Secures Food Surplus, -1 Space, Costs: 500 M)
[] Build Sawmill: When Tiberium covered most of the Earth, trees either becomes Blossom Trees that help spread Tiberium growth or heavily mutated into something alien. By the time of the 3rd Tib War, Tiberium becomes so toxic that it kills faster than it can mutate, trees become a rare luxury as large swathes of them died out. GDI have managed to document and preserve many different species of trees, both mutated and non-mutated and are currently in the middle of a tree replanting program on Earth. For the colonists trees provide a wood supply for cheap construction and furniture that could be sold to other colonies too. (+1 Sawmill, Requires 2 Population, -2 Power, +200 tons of Wood/Turn, -1 Space, Costs: 600 M)
[] Build Mine: While everyone agreed that Tiberium is a poison and caused the most deaths in history, they do also admit that it made extracting minerals from the earth incredibly easy. Now that Tiberium is contained on Earth with GDI Navy feeding asteroids to be processed by the TCN, the colonist will have to mine resources the old fashion way. With drills, explosives, a mining truck. (+1 Mine, Requires 2 Population, +250 tons of Ore/Turn, Costs: 500 M)
[] Build Refinery: Once you have a supply of ore, you'll need a location to smelt it. Using lessons learnt from Tiberium refining, a single refinery can process multiple different types of ores and separate them into their component elements and transformed into ingots for easy storage. (+1 Refinery, -2 Power, Refine Ore 500 tons of Ore/Turn into Metal Ingots, -2 Space, Costs: 1500 M)
[] Build Factory: Once you have a steady supply of metal, you'll need a Factory to transform the metal into useful components. Fabrication technology has come a long way and specialized fabrication equipment will open a large variety of useful possibilities. (+1 Factory, -2 Power, Unlocks Vehicle Production Tab + Airfield + Tech Lab + Tier 2 Defences, -2 Space, Costs: 2000 M)
[] Build Warehouse: You'll need a place to store all of the goods you plan to sell to GDI. (+1 Warehouse, Unlocks Inventory Tab Secures Resources, -2 Space, Costs: 500 M)
[] Build Power Plant: A growing Colony needs a lot of power best to get that up and running as soon as possible. (+1 Biomass Power Plant, +10 Power, Requires 100 tons of Wood/Turn, -1 Space, Costs: 800)
[] Build Wind Turbine Farm: Wind Turbines is a cheap and hassle free form of power, the drawback is that it isn't as consistent as other power plants and during an invasion, very obvious targets. (+1 Wind Turbine Farm, +10 Power, Costs: 1000)
[] Build Watchtowers: Automatic Perimeter Defenses should be able to shred any hostile wildlife. (+1 Watchtower Perimeter, -5 Power, Negate Wildlife Attack Roll on Colony, -1 Space, Costs: 1200 M)
[] Build Surveyor: It is essentially a miniature MCV, the Surveyor can construct buildings from materials like the MCV a Surveyor can unpack into an outpost once it finds a suitable location. (+1 Surveyor, +2 Construction Action, Costs: 1500 M)
Research: With the lab set up, Liang and his team are waiting for your order on what to start first. (1 Action)
[] Sonic Tech: Through the use of sonic crystals, GDI is able to project a wave of sonic energy that can vibrate any target to piece. This is instrumental in abating the spread of Tiberium on Earth. And while Tiberium isn't a threat to Earth anymore, with the Tiberium Control Network up and running, sonic technology still has a place in GDIs arsenal. (Unlocks Shockwave/Shatterer HFV, Sonic Grenades, & Sonic Cannons) (1 Turn Required)
[] Zone Armor Tech: While you don't have access to the current generation Zone Armor currently in use by GDI. It does supply a variety of upgrade packages to make Colonial Militia Zone Troopers a combat effective fighting force. (Unlocks Zone Trooper Militia Training, Armory, Zone Armor, Zone Upgrade Packs, Zone Heavy Weapons, Jump Jets) (1 Turn Required)
[] Robot Drone Tech: GDI have rarely used Robots in their arsenal, mainly due to the dangers of an enemy taking control of your own robots, the control signal being jammed due to interference, and study done decades ago that proves Humans supported by AI is superior than AI controlled armies. However, robots have found a niche for themselves as patrol and scout units. A recent robotic addition to GDI's arsenal is the War Dog which is a scaled down Mastadon frame with a machine gun head. Advanced sensors and pack intelligence makes it an ideal scouting unit while being very cheap to produce. (Unlocks War Dogs, Drone Swarm, Repair Drones, & Custom Drones Designs) (1 Turn Required)
[] Subterranean Tech: During the 2nd Tib War, GDI ruled the heavens but Nod ruled the underworld and they do that through subterranean technology. Nod used this network to great effect as it is the only place where they are protected from GDI Air superiority and our Ion Cannons. By the 3rd Tib War, Tiberium has grown deep within the Earth's crust and tunnelling through Tiberium is too difficult and dangerous, thus the tunnels were abandoned until the TCN has been established and managed to clear most of the Tiberium, allowing Nod's global tunnel network to return to service. This technology is relatively simple and GDI saw potential in having a Tunnel Network in their colonies in the event the Scrin achieved orbital supremacy. It should be made aware however that unscrupulous individuals may make use of these tunnels if they are not properly supervised. (Unlocks Tunnel Excavator, Subterranean APC, Drill Pod, and Tunnel Network System) (1 Turn Required)
-----------------
AN: You'll notice that there is no Intrigue or Diplomacy equivalent were this a standard CK2 quest. Well it's because I can't think of any. Now for Military Actions think of each unit having 1 action. Diplomacy and Intrigue will open up at Turn 4 once the colony has developed. There will be no rolls for successful actions, only cumulative progress and if you find any goodies.
Your objective at the moment is to get everyone housing and start up your mining economy. You'll get new objectives next turn, but expect it to be building more housing for the incoming colonist at turn 3 and get a food stockpile up. Construction Materials is an arbitrary number similar to money that you can spend for your MCV to build buildings. Power works like in Command and Conquer, if the left number (amount of power drained) exceeds the right number (power generated), you enter low power mode, that means that buildings that require power are less efficient or not function at all like your automated defenses. Housing is sort of like Starcraft's supply, they are where your colonists will be living in and not having housing for 6 months is terrible and may lead people to die of exposure if not given housing. Housing Complexes are several apartments which is why it is fairly expensive.
Currently you Mine and Refinery is still in a 'Packed' state and will stay that way until you find an ore vein after which they will unpack automatically. Until then they will not do anything. Wind Turbines doesn't need space because they will be built on hill tops where very few buildings can be built there so I feel it is alright to not bother with that. You can also make Construction Material from Wood by turning them into Wooden Concrete which is currently under going testing irl.
Let me know if a mechanic isn't clear enough or I missed a mistake.
Moratorium in 4 Days and Voting will open for 3 days after Moratorium. Vote by Plan
For those of you curious here is how the prospecting mechanics work. I haven't tested if this is a good system tho and it may change in the future.
10 D100 Rolls and each of them are rolled in order.
Copper 1: DC 20
Copper 2: DC 25
Copper 3: DC 25
Tin-Tungsten: DC 30
Iron 1: DC 25
Iron 2: DC 35
Iron 3: DC 35
Silver: DC 60
Gold: DC 75
Heavy Metals: DC 90
Heavy Metals include Platinum, Iridium, and Palladium.
If any of these rolls get a crit I'll roll on an event table to see what goodies you'll find.
1= Interesting Wildlife
2= Salt
3= Aluminium
4= Lithium
5= Fossil Fuel
6= Quarry Stone
7= Geothermal Activity
8= Gems
9= Radioactive Elements
10= Small Eezo Deposit
Some day later in first half of the second year at the colony.
Unknown person: Knock, knock.
General Williams: Come in.
Aide: There's another company that wants to enter a partnership with you sir.
Williams: Yes? What do they want?
Aide: Sir, they want access to some of our RND and terrain for testing of various items and technologies. In return, they are willing to help improve our infrastructure and let us test various technologies for no cost or low cost. The only problem is that the support in regards to such ill require us to sacrifice at least one lab to them. Ideally, we would also be working with them on various technologies. The technologies and assets that they are willing to provide us will be dependent on what we help them in RND. For example, if we were to help them design a new chassis for our military vehicles, we would be able to get access to more of said vehicles very cheaply for field testing. The contract also provides for free mantience by the corporation and we will be able to keep all provided assets and technologies.
Williams: So, what is the catch?
Aide: Again, we would have to at the minimum provide them with a lab for them to use (IN quest means that we lose control over that lab and we have to support said lab(power and etc.)). Ideally, we would also cooperate with their RND work (also divert some research actions for various gear by the company and etc,. may need to also field test some of the gear) to maximize our return on investment. However, the company is willing to help in various areas.
Just take a look at the briefing that I have handed you.
--Response to Request for Quotes--
Filer:
Vanguard Enterprises (hence force referred to as the Parent Corporation or PC) is filing a RFQ response on behalf of it's subsidiary companies, most notably Vanguard RND, Vanguard Frontier, and Vanguard Defense (Subsidiaries are henceforce referred to in order of which they are listed as VRND, VFront, and VDEF). Other subsidiaries may also with to participate.
Goal:
The PC wishes to gain access to a world that has mobility impaired terrain and that is setting up it's infrastructure. It will use it's access to test a wide variety of products, solutions, and novel technologies(henceforth referred to as IP). The provide information will help our subsidiary companies improve their products. In return, PC and it's subsidiaries will grant access to various products and technologies to the colony in question.
Requested Services/Goods:
The PC request access to a labatory and associated testing grounds that will be maintained by the colony. The PC also request a amount of space to construct addtional facilities.**
The PC's subsidiaries may also request collaborative research into various products and goods with the colony.***
All IP given to the colony will have a team of people to gain access to various IP use information. All IP associated information shall be kept confidential by the colony and GDI*.
Provided Services/Goods:
The PC will provide access to various services and products from it's subsidiaries at either no or at cost compensation by it's discretion.**** PC may require as a condition of gaining access to said IP to accompany the usage of said IP to improve upon it's IP.
The PC will also provide the results of any collaborative research to the colony (IP).
Finally, the PC may provide some additional materials and/or funds for the colony's development with no additional obligations.*****
* This means that we an GDI can have access to the testing data and blueprints but other entities (FutureTech and others) may not gain access to such data
**They want a lab that is powered and have Pops assigned to it along with 10 units of space in total reserved for them.
***Occasionally, some of the scientists/engineers at RND may have some research ideas that they want us to help with(use a research action). Helping them in their research will grant us access to things like minor efficiency increases and new units (or current units for cheaper).
****We may need to use the provided stuff to generate testing data. Said provided stuff may be slightly inferior to the standard stuff(not all provided gear though) and once the data has been collected, will be replaced with at the minimum standard grade stuff. TLDR: we may need to use slightly out o date stuff but the data collected will allow Vanguard Corporation to replace said stuff with standard equivalent or better grade stuff.
*****Depending on happy they are, we can request some (500 CM) free (no strings attached) resources or credits.
[Added flavor text and information in-quest]
You also see an added and thin folder. You notice a secret classification that you have access to. You open the folder. There is a single sheet of paper that gives you access to a hidden document in the GDI network. You enter in the additional per document password that was on that sheet of paper.
