To Boldly Go... (a Starfleet quest)

[Sightsear]

I'm sorry, with Trump's near certain victory, I can't bring myself to care. Perhaps tomorrow.

Click to shrink...

Right there with you. Worse, I'm in Alaska

Welp, that's enough about politics for the night...

[X][REPAIR] Gaeni Manufacturing Coop (+5pp, Gaeni closely study the Excelsior design)

But I do want to see what these guys would do with an Excelsior! Can only be hilarious

 

[Briefvoice]

Some comments while we debate plans.

"'Had'? Did you get anything from the raid?"

The other woman bobs her head. "Yes, Admiral, we did. We have confirmed that this was a mix of Orion and Klingon technology."

Click to shrink...

It looks like the Courageous got hit on the way out, not the way in. So at least something came of it, even if it's a high price to pay for this sparse information.

• NEW Establish a Sydraxian Border Zone north of Apinae and Amarkia Sectors, 30pp

Click to shrink...

Has it really come to that? Even if the Sydraxians are purely in the Cardassian corner these days, I still don't know what they hope to gain from attacking us. Like, what would their war aims be? What could convince them to make peace? Damn it, Federation Diplomatic Service, do your jobs! Find us a third party we can use to talk to these guys.

Even if we had the pp, we don't have the ships to cover a new border zone right now. We may be forced to it, however. Just need to hold on one more year. We'll have two Excelsiors coming out for garrison duty, and those four Centaur-As will be out as well. Just need a little more time.

Federation Council:
President - Jorlyth sh'Arrath, Expansionist Faction (2308-2314)

Factions -
Expansionist (Human, Andor) - 35%
Pacifist (Vulcan) - 30%
Hawkish (Amarki) - 15%
Development (Tellar) 20%

Click to shrink...

Doesn't look like the percentages have changed since the Betazoids integrated fully.

Current Federation Affiliates:
Caitians 500/500 - Pending close of War with Dawiar
Apiata 339/500 + 18 = 357/500
Rigellians 343/500 + 20 = 363/500
Indorions 341/500 + 8 = 349/500
Orions 259/500 +20 = 279/500
Risa 250/500 + 15 = 265/500
Caldonians 318/500 + 19 = 337/500
Gaeni 240/500 + 37 = 277/500

Click to shrink...

That was a hell of a roll for the Gaeni. Another +25 event would make them +300 Affiliates. The Orions are close too, and if we pick the option to go after the Orion Syndicate I expect lots of those events (if successful) will result in relationship bumps for the Orions.

 

[kyuden]

I think people might want to slow down on the "must have 4 diplomatic push" bandwagon, whilst I'm a relatively recent reader of this thread one thing that I have noted in the more recent updates are subtle warnings about the stresses expansion is placing on the Federation.

Possibly a sign that we might want to look at slowing down the headlong charge to get more affiliates and more members.

 

[Binge-Reader]

How important is another research team? don't we risk having to deactivate them?

 

[Nix]

So I suppose people voting for a plan not including a tech team are fine with using the Weapons Fabrication Division for Starship Construction again this year?

 

[Theunderbolt]

Yeah I don't want the Gaenai anywhere near our ships.

 

[Binge-Reader]

I think people might want to slow down on the "must have 4 diplomatic push" bandwagon, whilst I'm a relatively recent reader of this thread one thing that I have noted in the more recent updates are subtle warnings about the stresses expansion is placing on the Federation.

Possibly a sign that we might want to look at slowing down the headlong charge to get more affiliates and more members.

Click to shrink...

true the only pushes I think we need are
Request focused Diplomacy on Bajorans, 10pp (cause the spoon heads will attempt to fuck with em and we now how important it will be in a few decades
Request focused Diplomacy on Dawiar, 10pp (helps end the war)

 

[Nix]

How important is another research team? don't we risk having to deactivate them?

Click to shrink...

Not unless the rules change again or the event table is changed drastically (as in, more or less remove +rp events completely). We have 110 fixed income as of now, probably 120 by the end of the year, so we only need 32 rp per year from events and starting new ship class projects to run 19 teams. And our rp income will continue to grow. Realistically getting more teams means fewer generic teams, not danger that one of them will need to sit out a turn.

 

[Binge-Reader]

Not unless the rules change again or the event table is changed drastically (as in, more or less remove +rp events completely). We have 110 fixed income as of now, probably 120 by the end of the year, so we only need 32 rp per year from events and starting new ship class projects to run 19 teams. And our rp income will continue to grow. Realistically getting more teams means fewer generic teams, not danger that one of them will need to sit out a turn.

Click to shrink...

So its more practical to sacrifice some pushes and get a tech team then hold it off. *huh*

(fuck the election is getting to me too)

 

[Nix]

So its more practical to sacrifice some pushes and get a tech team then hold it off. *huh*

(fuck the election is getting to me too)

Click to shrink...

I don't see why you would sacrifice pushes for it, but getting more research teams should be a priority.

 

[SynchronizedWritersBlock]

Thing is, we're pushing them to 100. That's nowhere near the kind of cultural tension problem that our current affiliates at ~300 or at ~500 are giving us. Once they're at 100, we have much better control over how quickly we either integrate them or leave them be. But before then, they can easily be sucked into the Cardassian faction.

 

[nocarename]

I'm going to speak in favour of slowing down bringing new species in as well.
From a purely logistical view point, even the Federation needs time to build new ships to meet our defense requirements.

Thing is, we're pushing them to 100. That's nowhere near the kind of cultural tension problem that our current affiliates at ~300 or at ~500 are giving us. Once they're at 100, we have much better control over how quickly we either integrate them or leave them be. But before then, they can easily be sucked into the Cardassian faction.

Click to shrink...

If we can sit on the impulse to bump them again, then maybe, but I'm feeling like the fleet is increasingly stretched trying to keep all these plates spinning and having any reserve at all.

 

[UberJJK]

[][INTEL] Decline the Resignation (-25pp)

Losing 25PP just isn't something we can afford right now. Besides as much as I hate to say it zh'Rhashaan resigning is the right move. She knows that without a scapegoat Starfleet will take the blame and her career is already over, this incident killed any chance of her ever getting the top job, so it's better that she takes the fall to protect Starfleet. What's more having this incident hanging over her head would make her remaining Head of Starfleet Intelligence difficult since everyone, most notably anyone she sends on missions, will remember that she got one of Starfleet's raising stars killed.

@Nix - I'd vote for your plan but you have the Couragous being repaired by the Gaeni when, as per @Briefvoice we have to cancel a ConnieBee to afford the repairs at all.

 

[AKuz]

I'm going to speak in favour of slowing down bringing new species in as well.
From a purely logistical view point, even the Federation needs time to build new ships to meet our defense requirements.

If we can sit on the impulse to bump them again, then maybe, but I'm feeling like the fleet is increasingly stretched trying to keep all these plates spinning and having any reserve at all.

Click to shrink...

I really enjoyed your omake BTW.

I also favour us bringing species up to 100 then letting the rest coast in on their own terms.

 

[Nix]

@Nix - I'd vote for your plan but you have the Couragous being repaired by the Gaeni when, as per @Briefvoice we have to cancel a ConnieBee to afford the repairs at all.

Click to shrink...

That's not part of the plan, you can vote for the council plan and whatever you want for repairs, it's not like I include the pp for it. I assume that if we don't cancel the build in Q2 either we will go into (acceptable) debt like after the battle of Kadesh or one of the later builds will be delayed by 1 quarter. repairing the Courageous at Gaen wouldn't be an option if it wasn't legal.

 

[Artemis1992]

Losing 25PP just isn't something we can afford right now. Besides as much as I hate to say it zh'Rhashaan resigning is the right move. She knows that without a scapegoat Starfleet will take the blame and her career is already over, this incident killed any chance of her ever getting the top job, so it's better that she takes the fall to protect Starfleet. What's more having this incident hanging over her head would make her remaining Head of Starfleet Intelligence difficult since everyone, most notably anyone she sends on missions, will remember that she got one of Starfleet's raising stars killed.

Click to shrink...

Fuck that. The Syndicate got that rising star killed and we will not dishonor her memory by blaming anyone else for it.

She will keep her position until she has, together with the other relevant parts of the Starfleet, shattered that group and everyone responsible is imprisoned or dead.

 

[lbmaian]

Federation Grading:
Current Minimum Science = 50 [Now 85]
Current Maximum Combat = 250 [Now 110]

<snip>

120 Defence by 2312 (Currently 93)

Click to shrink...

@OneirosTheWriter

Unless I'm missing something, isn't the current fleet stat totals in 2309.Q2 now:
combat: 117-6 = 111
science: 94-5 = 89
defense: 105-6 = 99

This is based off BriefVoice's spreadsheet at 2309.Q2, minus an Excelsior.

What you currently have looks like a copy&paste from the 2308.Q2 snakepit.

 

[SynchronizedWritersBlock]

That's not part of the plan, you can vote for the council plan and whatever you want for repairs, it's not like I include the pp for it. I assume that if we don't cancel the build in Q2 either we will go into (acceptable) debt like after the battle of Kadesh or one of the later builds will be delayed by 1 quarter. repairing the Courageous at Gaen wouldn't be an option if it wasn't legal.

Click to shrink...

I feel that argument is kind of thin, because you could say the same thing about accepting the resignation while still spending in full, when it seems obvious that's not the case, or at least, going into the negatives in PP wouldn't be recommended.

 

[Nix]

@OneirosTheWriter could you clarify what will happen resource wise if we don't use the write-in option for repairs? Presumably the non-write-in options are intended to be legal in some way or another. Are we going into allowed debt, are later builds delayed/canceled automatically if necessary, are we supposed to combine them with a write-in doing it ourselves or what?

 

[OneirosTheWriter]

@OneirosTheWriter could you clarify what will happen resource wise if we don't use the write-in option for repairs? Presumably the non-write-in options are intended to be legal in some way or another. Are we going into allowed debt, are later builds delayed/canceled automatically if necessary, are we supposed to combine them with a write-in doing it ourselves or what?

Click to shrink...

Repair takes precedence for costs. You can go into negatives for a turn, but you must not let it go back to negative for the next couple turns.

 

[Void Stalker]

So for the Seyek, a push has a 88.75% chance of getting them to 100 or more at which point the both contribute crew and get annual rolls. As for four pushes, we have six races between us and Cardassians that are not affiliates and the longer we take to bring them into our sphere the greater the chance of them going to the cardassians. I do not think we can afford to not pursue all 4 pushes

 

[Nix]

Repair takes precedence for costs. You can go into negatives for a turn, but you must not let it go back to negative for the next couple turns.

Click to shrink...

Does turn mean year or quarter in this context? Would the debt be what happens by default if we don't specify otherwise, and can we specify otherwise with e. g. the Gaeni option? Would going into debt in Q4 due to the impact of the repairs have negative consequences other than needing to be more careful about debt for a while afterwards?

 

[lbmaian]

Fuck that. The Syndicate got that rising star killed and we will not dishonor her memory by blaming anyone else for it.

She will keep her position until she has, together with the other relevant parts of the Starfleet, shattered that group and everyone responsible is imprisoned or dead.

Click to shrink...

Uh, you are aware that multiple entities can be blamed? Obviously the Syndicate is fault. So is Starfleet Intelligence for sending that mission. So is the Courageous' crew and captain for not being careful enough (it was an event roll, recall). So is Starfleet ship designers for not having a refit available for the Excelsior that would have improved its chances. So is the Council for constraining our fleet, ship design, research, and operations. And on and on.

 

[OneirosTheWriter]

Does turn mean year or quarter in this context? Would the debt be what happens by default if we don't specify otherwise, and can we specify otherwise with e. g. the Gaeni option? Would going into debt in Q4 due to the impact of the repairs have negative consequences other than needing to be more careful about debt for a while afterwards?

Click to shrink...

Sorry, was thinking of shipbuilding turns. Consider it yearly.

 

[Nix]

Sorry, was thinking of shipbuilding turns. Consider it yearly.

Click to shrink...

What about the other questions? Personally I'd trust something reasonable to happen and wouldn't really need to know the details, but apparently people are determined to see the non-write-in options as traps to get us dismissed for mismanagement unless explicitly told otherwise.