Victoria Falls: A Post-Collapse American Nation Quest [Down With Victoria!]

[4WheelSword]

thread policy Discussion of politics that does not directly relate to the Quest or to Quest votes are banned from hereon out. This thread policy will be enforced by the Moderation team. Do not ignore it.

 

[Karnax626]

Honestly it could be a better idea to put 2 dice into boats than one dice each into boats and expansion.
At least then boats get completed.

 

[Splashcat]

I considered that, but again, Expansion is unlikely to be completed in one turn even with 2 actions invested, so I'm thinking it might be better to at least set up to hopefully finish Expansion next turn than to finish boats this turn. We can only afford to put Expansion off for so long.

 

[Pittauro]

Honestly it could be a better idea to put 2 dice into boats than one dice each into boats and expansion.
At least then boats get completed.

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that's fair actually. Good point.

 

[nothingtoseehere]

I'm good with [ ][PLAN] Win the Peace aswell. Refugee crisis isn't as vital as other voters think it is in my opinion - and the fact we get a "free" partial reroll on it means the marginal returns from the second AP are less than on Expand the Department.

 

[Luminous]

A turn is only (roughly) three months, just to put how long it actually is to delay an action for a turn. Unless something is truly time critical, I think we can afford to delay things by three to six months.

Edit: Six months, apparently. Still, I think we can get most things we want still finished within the year.

 

[Splashcat]

I'm good with [ ][PLAN] Win the Peace aswell. Refugee crisis isn't as vital as other voters think it is in my opinion - and the fact we get a "free" partial reroll on it means the marginal returns from the second AP are less than on Expand the Department.

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The difference between 2 progress on Department and 1 progress on Department is losing out on 1 AP next turn. We can fix that failure in one turn. The difference between 1 progress in Refugee Crisis and 0 progress on Refugee Crisis is the bill failing outright. We can't fix that failure. We get political unrest from disenfranchised refugees, we leave Unionist policies in place, we make the country a less attractive place to come to... I'm not willing to take that risk. Period.

 

[Thebigpieman]

We've been going from crisis to crisis for the past 5 turns and will continue to do so until either we die or have enough resources at our disposal to throw dice at everything.

Expanding the state department is like trying to build a dam while the river is flooding, while it would be nice the best option is take your shit and leave at the first opportunity. We cannot leave important short term actions for later because either the opportunity passes or the consequences of delaying outweigh the benefits of putting it off till later.

The MSR and Traverse City do not like each other and were hoping to align with us against the other. We cannot assume either will remain cordial for long and choose to cutout the middle man that is us.

The Minnesota issue is a lot simpler in comparison but just as important, the sooner we get that squared away the longer the resultant government has to build influence and centralize resources between the two of them.

The sticking point for both however is that we chose to get involved. We could have told the land of Two Minnesotas to sort it out themselves. We could have told the MSR and Traverse City that we weren't going to get involved in their grudge match. And yet we did. We chose to involve ourselves in the affairs of others and we cannot force them to wait on us to handle their disputes for them.

 

[PoptartProdigy]

When I asked how bad the headline would look, on Discord, that was not a rhetorical question. It was in earnest. How bad do you think it looks? I'm not implying anything with it. That's just the judgement you have to make.

@PoptartProdigy
Just curious, but is Little Nicky blond and fond of using a lot of bronzer?

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Hah! That would be amusing, wouldn't it?

@PoptartProdigy the wording on the Refugee Crisis is a little unclear to me - is the DC 70 hail mary for the bill getting through Congress only something that happens if we don't put any AP in, or do we also get a hail mary if we put in AP but fail?

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Tell you what, I'm misfiring today. I'll look over it again in a bit to nail it down properly.

Is Detroit not already integrated, or do we need to complete the Census Office first?

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It has been. Thus, the DC is 20.

A turn is only (roughly) three months

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Six.

 

[Whenyouseeyou]

You know in one of those blank USA states maps or Nations here got to be a USA remnant nation that is at least official but gone into hiding since no one has mention it

 

[Luminous]

Six.

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Is it? My mistake.

 

[aceraptor]

I'm good with [ ][PLAN] Win the Peace aswell. Refugee crisis isn't as vital as other voters think it is in my opinion - and the fact we get a "free" partial reroll on it means the marginal returns from the second AP are less than on Expand the Department.

Click to shrink...

Do you not understand why Refugee crisis is really bad?

At *least* 10% of our current population, probably much more, are refugees. If you read back through the thread you'll realize that the god damned Unionists managed to fearmonger enough to disenfranchise refugees. Having a massive glut of second class citizens is really a bad thing. Especially since this will likely be our only chance in a while that we'll be able to push this through. If this falls through we'll have to deal with the massive unrest from disenfranchised refugees as well as our political parties that are annoyed from the bill falling through on top of the lost political capital.

This is not something that we can just try to put another AP at next turn. This has to be done successfully this turn or we risk being stuck with a large underclass of disenfranchised population *as well as* give whats left of the Unionists and other reactionaries like them a win that they can rally around to try to once more be a political force in the Commonwealth. Remember that the Unionists and those like them are defeated only for the moment. They only need a chink in our societal armor to try to slink back into the limelight.

Not to mention that such an group of second-class citizens would be a extremely fertile ground for Victorians and others to recruit agents and create terrorist cells in.

The refugee situation must be solved no matter what this turn. If it is not successful this will be a festering rot that'll be a huge action sink from now on.

With that in mind, Expand the Department is not more important that decisively solving the refugee issue.

 

[Largo]

-You cannot secure the Mississipi without the active cooperation of the tens of millions of people along its several thousand kilometer course.
Which is again, a function of diplomatic outreach.
One set of problems can solve another. Just like Detroit helped solve the Victoria problem.

Click to shrink...

The Minnesotas aren't along its course, that's the point. They're upstream from us. Our focus needs to be downstream, towards Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico, and maybe east given the St. Lawrence Seaway. We can't send envoys in all directions and expect to pick up allies like one picks up nickels from the sidewalk. I'm more sympathetic towards Michigan because I'd like to be able to link up our two separate territories judging from the map, but I see no reason to head north. And while the map may indicate it, I highly doubt there's just nothing in Arkansas, Mississippi, and so on.

I am of the belief that over the median term, time is on our side as we prepare and Victoria continues to tear itself apart. While some diplomacy will be necessary, we must promote our domestic resources for that median term period.

After thinking it over, here's my plan ultimately.

[]Plan Consolidate and Prepare

1 AP for Gunboats.
1 AP for Michigan Mediation
1 AP for Census
2 AP for Refugee Crisis
1 AP for Economic Legislation
1 AP for Midwest Economic Summit
3 AP for Green Energy
2 AP for Farming Equipment
1 AP for Into Victoria
1 AP for Organize the Libraries


Obviously, not all of this is going to work. But we'll have a better idea of our capabilities, will mollify the refugees, and be in a stronger position to be able to continue to build. We get food, we get power, and we can really make things better for the repair and improve our potential.

 

[Pittauro]

The Minnesotas aren't along its course, that's the point. They're upstream from us. Our focus needs to be downstream, towards Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico, and maybe east given the St. Lawrence Seaway. We can't send envoys in all directions and expect to pick up allies like one picks up nickels from the sidewalk. I'm more sympathetic towards Michigan because I'd like to be able to link up our two separate territories judging from the map, but I see no reason to head north. And while the map may indicate it, I highly doubt there's just nothing in Arkansas, Mississippi, and so on.

I am of the belief that over the median term, time is on our side as we prepare and Victoria continues to tear itself apart. While some diplomacy will be necessary, we must promote our domestic resources for that median term period.

After thinking it over, here's my plan ultimately.

[]Plan Consolidate and Prepare

1 AP for Gunboats.
1 AP for Michigan Mediation
1 AP for Census
2 AP for Refugee Crisis
1 AP for Economic Legislation
1 AP for Midwest Economic Summit
3 AP for Green Energy
2 AP for Farming Equipment
1 AP for Into Victoria
1 AP for Organize the Libraries


Obviously, not all of this is going to work. But we'll have a better idea of our capabilities, will mollify the refugees, and be in a stronger position to be able to continue to build. We get food, we get power, and we can really make things better for the repair and improve our potential.

Click to shrink...

honestly, take one point out of Green Energy and put it on Minnesota, then we can complete the 3rd AP of Green Energy next turn.

After all we get an extra turn after we reach the 2nd success in Green Energy before the action becomes unavailable, and we don't need the extra energy that urgently. Certainly not as much as we need to keep to our diplomatic promises


EDIT: maybe even 1 ap out of farming. We're NOT at risk of a famine right now, we can buy food if it fails

EDIT THE 2ND: and at least this way we could complete gunboat, which helps a LOT

EDIT THE 3RD: ...and with that, I think I'm basically back to the other plan 😂

 

[Simon_Jester]

Intervening in Victoria is trivial. You make an announcement, send over a few SpecOps teams and annihilate the couple of militias with shotguns the opposition has. Once Nikolai decides too, it will be done.

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Well, the details are a bit different because I suspect Nicholas will be intervening to wreck the Crusaders, not the Inquisition side. I'm pretty sure he and Alexander would have had a conversation or two about this given how long the war's been going on, and I suspect Nicholas, like anyone else, would agree that the biggest problem with the Vicks as proxies for Russia is that the Vicks are a bunch of unstable ideologically demented dipshits. I doubt he's going to want to resolve the civil war in the Crusaders' favor because then he has to deal with the Crusaders.

That is not how it works.

If the Refugee Crisis action isn't taken -- or if it fails -- the bill must pass a DC 70 check to make it through Congress anyway. If you succeed in the DC 35 check, you get the bill through Congress. There's no end state where the bill gets through on a DC of 12.

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I think they were using "DC of 12" as a proxy for saying the more complex and subtle "if we roll two dice against DC 35 there is only a 12% chance that both of them fail at the same time."

Famine, no. Domestic food shortfalls, yes. Basically, very soon you will not be producing enough food to feed everybody in your territory. The good news is that the Seaway opening up means cheap foreign food exporters who don't feel like charging highway robbery prices like your neighbors (or, indeed, you) did are now available. So, you can buy food, and you can pay for it with the rest of the trade you're now conducting with Victoria. You'd still feel more comfortable strengthening your farming sector, mind; you'd rather be producing enough food that you can make it an asset rather than something you can financially cover. But no, you are no longer at imminent risk of famine.

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OK yeah. So I still want to put 2 AP on Farming Equipment, but I feel comfortable not putting THREE on it because a double-failure doesn't mean immediate disaster or thousands of deaths.

 

[Simon_Jester]

As time critical as Gunboats are...I think the other options are more strictly time critical, so we can afford to let Gunboats tick once.

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I disagree. Gunboats is the thing where we're explicitly likely to run into immediate problems because we just don't have enough little murderbotes in enough places, period end of sentence. Everything else will probably be fine waiting 12-18 months because we're not planning around fighting another war immediately.

If we spend 1 we're admittedly keeping our options open, but it also means we're NOT getting our entire grid modernized right now, which would help in case Nikolai does something that doesn't allow the CAF to help us as easily in the future.

About Farming, 1 ap is a must, 2 is nice but not necessary when we can buy food thanks to our new trade access. Better not to overspend on options when we don't need to.

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By the same argument that says two dice on Farming Equipment is nice but not necessary, greening our electrical grid is nice but not necessary if we're no longer bound by a diplomatic commitment.

Read @huhYeahGoodPoint 's posts. Agricultural exports are going to be a big deal for us, and conversely being dependent on food imports is crippling when we're a low-income country scrambling for every bit of foreign exchange we can find to buy vital capital goods and expertise that we need if we're going to industrialize. It's worth pushing hard on farm actions periodically to keep us comfortably in the black on food production and agriculture in general.

When I asked how bad the headline would look, on Discord, that was not a rhetorical question. It was in earnest. How bad do you think it looks? I'm not implying anything with it. That's just the judgement you have to make.

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Yeah. I think it'd be kinda bad, but not exactly terrible, especially with all the other giant news bombs we'd be dropping to make it very clear that the Commonwealth is busy.

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Hm. I'm convinced on doubling down on the refugee crisis being more important than doubling down on the census.

[] Plan Chill Out Kids, You're Safe Now
-[] More Gunboats (Defense fixed die)
-[] Expand the Department (State fixed die)
-[] Michigan Mediation (free die)
-[] Intervention in Minnesota (free die)
-[] Census Office (Domestic Affairs fixed die)
-[] Refugee Crisis (free die)
-[] Refugee Crisis x2 (free die)
-[] Economic Legislation (free die)
-[] Farming Equipment, Part 2 (Development fixed die)
-[] Farming Equipment, Part 2 x2 (Development fixed die)
-[] Green Energy (Development fixed die)
-[] Midwest Economic Summit (free die)
-[] Into Victoria (Security fixed die)
-[] Organize the Libraries (Technological Recovery fixed die)

 

[Largo]

I'm interested in going all out on green energy now because my interpretation is that we don't know if it's going to stay as an auto-win in subsequent turns - I could see the new Czar messing with CAF or something like that. So if we say, do one green dice now, but then the DC goes up to 30 next turn, that essentially means we have outright lost 0.6 of a dice.

If my interpretation is wrong, I'd be happy to edit it. Frankly, I'd be willing to put two die into gunboats now just to get it over with. Gunboats will be useful not just in the Great Lakes, but in securing control of the Mississippi. As I touched on earlier, there are surely tribes and such living in Arkansas, Northern Louisiana, and such. We could use our gunboats to get a better idea of what's over there and I'm much more interested in making diplomatic contacts over there as opposed to Minnesota.

 

[Pittauro]

When I asked how bad the headline would look, on Discord, that was not a rhetorical question. It was in earnest. How bad do you think it looks? I'm not implying anything with it. That's just the judgement you have to make.

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well, when I really think about it it makes us look less competent than we'd like I think.

By the same argument that says two dice on Farming Equipment is nice but not necessary, greening our electrical grid is nice but not necessary if we're no longer bound by a diplomatic commitment.

Read @huhYeahGoodPoint 's posts. Agricultural exports are going to be a big deal for us, and conversely being dependent on food imports is crippling when we're a low-income country scrambling for every bit of foreign exchange we can find to buy vital capital goods and expertise that we need if we're going to industrialize. It's worth pushing hard on farm actions periodically to keep us comfortably in the black on food production and agriculture in general.

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Fact is, Failing farming equipment is not the end of the world (certainly much less problematic than failing refugees), so risking to not complete it (and it's only a risk, because we only need 1 success) is acceptable to me.

The agreement with RUSSIA is not there anymore, true, but we're still getting the funding from CAF, and we sort of HAVE to take it in the coming turns. hopefully the new energy power sources would be cheaper than what we currently have anyway, and in any case keeping the commitment to green energy would make us look better to most everyone.

After all, it was the ONE thing everyone in the world agreed on.. and "The Boy" just proved how much of an idiot he is by breaking an agreement that he had zero reasons to break...


...what I was saying... ah, yes: putting 1 ap on farming basically means taking a bet of "30% chance you'll have to buy food for one semester" in exchange for "get 1 extra ap to put somewhere else".

When the consequences of failure are not THAT bad, to me it's a worthy bet. I understand why you don't think that, but that's really down to how much risk-prone/risk-averse the single player is.

Yeah. I think it'd be kinda bad, but not exactly terrible, especially with all the other giant news bombs we'd be dropping to make it very clear that the Commonwealth is busy.

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on the other hand, all the "good" news being put together build a more enchanting narrative, don't you think?

 

[Pittauro]

I'm interested in going all out on green energy now because my interpretation is that we don't know if it's going to stay as an auto-win in subsequent turns - I could see the new Czar messing with CAF or something like that. So if we say, do one green dice now, but then the DC goes up to 30 next turn, that essentially means we have outright lost 0.6 of a dice.

If my interpretation is wrong, I'd be happy to edit it. Frankly, I'd be willing to put two die into gunboats now just to get it over with. Gunboats will be useful not just in the Great Lakes, but in securing control of the Mississippi. As I touched on earlier, there are surely tribes and such living in Arkansas, Northern Louisiana, and such. We could use our gunboats to get a better idea of what's over there and I'm much more interested in making diplomatic contacts over there as opposed to Minnesota.

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about this, even if it got to the point it requires rolls... well, it would be annoying, but not totally devastating as long as we took at least the first of the three successes now. After all, while getting the third success is nice, the important one right now is the second one.

THe expansion is just a bonus.

 

[Rockeye]

I don't think "Commonwealth mediation talks delayed" is a particularly bad headline.

 

[Pittauro]

I don't think "Commonwealth mediation talks delayed" is a particularly bad headline.

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It's all in the presentation.

"Commonwealth doesn't keep its promises" obviously sounds worst. We have to worry about the bad (but realistic) interpretations, not the neutral ones.

 

[uju32]

The Minnesotas aren't along its course, that's the point. They're upstream from us. Our focus needs to be downstream, towards Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico, and maybe east given the St. Lawrence Seaway. We can't send envoys in all directions and expect to pick up allies like one picks up nickels from the sidewalk. I'm more sympathetic towards Michigan because I'd like to be able to link up our two separate territories judging from the map, but I see no reason to head north. And while the map may indicate it, I highly doubt there's just nothing in Arkansas, Mississippi, and so on.

I am of the belief that over the median term, time is on our side as we prepare and Victoria continues to tear itself apart. While some diplomacy will be necessary, we must promote our domestic resources for that median term period.
After thinking it over, here's my plan ultimately.

Click to shrink...

The Minnesotas are sitting astride one of two routes for grain exports and trade good imports to and from the Farmer Federation of the Dakotas.
That matters to our economy and ability to make money by tariffing people's trade.

Even more importantly, they are right next to the port city-state of Superior, Duluth, which is explicitly stated to have a faction with Revivalist sympathies in a faction of its population, but which has a faction with strong enough Vic sympathies that the city sent a Vic trader as representative to the conference we just had.

There are realpolitik and economic reasons for us to be acutely interested in the region even before we can expand that far.
Getting sympathetic parties in there to flank Duluth will help neutralize them as a factor in the mediumterm without our having to pick a military solution.

Yes we can. Go around picking up friends, that is. We are Revivalists in the Old Country. Revivalists that kicked Victoria in the teeth, rammed through a trade treaty that gave everyone access to the international trade and are currently sitting on the most profitable trade nexus in the Midwest.Money and ideology. That buys us a LOT of friends if we ask. But we have to ask.

I assume that time is on our side as long as we continue to reach out to the rest of the country(and the world) and Little Nicky stays on his side of the pond. Unfortunately, Imperial Russia is a factor that cant be predicted.
And depending on how much treasure he is willing to throw at Victoria, assuming that we can grow faster than they can arm is not a safe bet.

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Yeah. I think it'd be kinda bad, but not exactly terrible, especially with all the other giant news bombs we'd be dropping to make it very clear that the Commonwealth is busy.
Hm. I'm convinced on doubling down on the refugee crisis being more important than doubling down on the census.

[] Plan Chill Out Kids, You're Safe Now
-[] More Gunboats (Defense fixed die)
-[] Expand the Department (State fixed die)
-[] Michigan Mediation (free die)
-[] Intervention in Minnesota (free die)
-[] Census Office (Domestic Affairs fixed die)
-[] Refugee Crisis (free die)
-[] Refugee Crisis x2 (free die)
-[] Economic Legislation (free die)
-[] Farming Equipment, Part 2 (Development fixed die)
-[] Farming Equipment, Part 2 x2 (Development fixed die)
-[] Green Energy (Development fixed die)
-[] Midwest Economic Summit (free die)
-[] Into Victoria (Security fixed die)
-[] Organize the Libraries (Technological Recovery fixed die)

Click to shrink...

I'd also double down on Gunboats, at the expense of Expand the Department if necessary. It needs 2 successes to come online fully.
Sudden access to the products of international trade flooding down the arterials of the Midwest for the first time in decades is bound to draw plenty of pirates and warlords who will attempt to claim jurisdiction over the waterways.

We're gonna need gunboats for deterrence. Yesterday. Or they will choke the river trade and our economic payoff.

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Basically, I'd go for something like this

[] Plan Surge
-[][Defense] More Gunboats (Dedicated AP x1)(Free AP x1)
-[][State] Michigan Mediation (Dedicated AP x1)
-[][State] Intervention in Minnesota (Free AP x1)
-[][Domestic Affairs] Census Office (Dedicated AP x1)
-[][Domestic Affairs] Refugee Crisis (Free AP x2)
-[][Domestic Affairs] Economic Legislation (Free AP x1)
-[][Development] Farming Equipment (Dedicated AP x2)
-[][Development] Green Energy (Dedicated AP x1)
-[][Development] Midwest Economic Summit (Free AP x1)
-[][Security] Into Victoria (Dedicated AP x1)
-[][Technological Recovery] Organize the Libraries (Dedicated AP x1)
-[][Total] 8x dedicated AP + 6x free AP = 14 AP

[][SCHEDULE] Seven years.
[][MEET] Yes.

 

[Rockeye]

"We're currently occupied with our many domestic projects as a result of the recent war, and expect to be able to provide the care and dedication that the responsibility of mediation requires within the next six months."

 

[Thebigpieman]

"We're currently occupied with our many domestic projects as a result of the recent war, and expect to be able to provide the care and dedication that the responsibility of mediation requires within the next six months."

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Then we shouldn't have taken on the responsibility in the first place! We literally could have said no and should have if we were going to put it off like this.

 

[uju32]

"We're currently occupied with our many domestic projects as a result of the recent war, and expect to be able to provide the care and dedication that the responsibility of mediation requires within the next six months."

Click to shrink...

A lot of diplomacy has fleeting time windows when things are possible and deals can be cut.
Look at the deal we made with Katrina for a green power grid; if we'd put it off for a turn, it would be gone.
Or the peace treaty we made with the Vics; there's no guarantee we'd be able to make anything so good six months hence.

We cannot interpose ourselves into a diplomatic situation and then tell them to sit down and wait till an opportunity opens in our schedule.
Events have a life of their own.

 

[Ikacprzak]

[ ][SCHEDULE] Ten years. Large military, Plurality domestic arms with full domestic ammo and parts production. Stretch goal of majority domestic arms. Maximizes capabilities at the cost of giving the Vicks more time.

I think we'll have plenty of time to build up our army, whoever wins the civil war gets to rule a nation with devastated infrastructure, a depleted army, a population dwindling from war, famine, plague and refugees, plus having to pacify whoever's left. Even with the Tsar intervening, setting up the military will still take time

[ ][MEET] Yes. Risks are made to be taken, and the potential gains are nearly priceless. Besides, Nikolai has already shown that he intends to be antagonistic.

[ ] Military Training Reform: With staff concerned, you must now implement Ron's programs in full. DC: 30. Successes Required: 2 (1 of 2 complete). AP Limit: 2. Effect: Raise army base training level to 2/5 (Trained) from 1/5 (Green), level out air force air-to-air training level to 2/5 (Trained) to match its ground attack level. New forces deploy at this level.
We should have quality over quantity

[ ] Expand the Department: You have several demands on your government going into the future, and among them is affairs of state. Your position requires great diplomatic effort to maintain, and you must maintain it. Yet, you cannot continue to dump resources into State when Defense and Development are so much more pressing. Nicest in an expansion of the Department so that it can manage its duties without needing help from the rest of the government so often. DC: 35. Successes Required: 2. AP Limit: 2. Effect: Gain 1 additional Department of State AP per turn.

More AP will pay for itself in the long term

[ ] Economic Legislation: You plan on a very aggressive expansion of your domestic industry, and the Department of Development does not, legally, have the tools required to properly organize that effort. Free enterprise is a wonderful thing, but you need specific things developed on a very rapid timescale. It's not that you have no ability to make this happen -- the relevant laws mostly need specificity and clarification -- but it will make things far easier if you can get laws passed regarding what exactly DoDev is permitted to do. With your recent address to Congress, they are ready to make this happen; it'll be less legwork if you do it now. DC: 25. Successes Required: 1 (Rises to 2 next turn). AP Limit: 1. Effect: Push Congress to approve additional and clarified powers for the Department of Development regarding their ability to control the economy, lowering all DCs relevant to your development and rearmament by 5.

Cost effectiveness will have higher dividends

[ ] Midwest Economic Summit: Congress is debating their preferred timeline for the next war with Victoria, but while they work, you must begin laying the foundations for them. Repurpose your plans for an industrial conference, but broaden the aim. This isn't just about the Midwest anymore; you need to attract an international audience. DC: 15. Successes Needed: 1. AP Limit: 2. Effect: Organize business interests at home, in the broader Country, and abroad who are interested in being involved in your economic development plans, lowering all DCs relevant to your development and rearmament by 5. With your control of trade down the St. Lawrence, this should catch attention far and wide.

[ ] Infrastructure Projects: The Collapse utterly ruined the United States' old infrastructure networks. Now you are faced with the necessity of restoring them, and it's a damn nightmare. With Detroit, and their engineers, now a part of the CFC, you have easy access to them in planning out your infrastructural initiatives. DC: 10. Successes Required: 2. AP Limit: 3. Effect: Acquire the aid of Detroiter civil engineers in assessing the state of the Commonwealth's infrastructure and what needs to be done as you move forward. Unlocks infrastructure initiatives.

[ ] Farming Equipment, Part 2: Burns's initiative to supply the worst-off with the best you can make fed your population once. With a renewed surge of refugees, you should be able to do that again. There's a wide gulf between those you supplied and the best of the best. Take advantage of better industry and a more integrated refugee population since then, and build for them. DC: 30. Successes Required: 2 (1 of 2 complete). AP Limit: 3. Effect: Subsidize the construction and distribution of additional farming equipment for your new least-advantaged rural population, shoring up your food situation and preempting another starvation crisis.

[ ] Into Victoria: The -- for now -- trickle of Victorian refugees, along with your nearly unheard-of regular contact with Victoria in Buffalo and the Inquisitors' often-fatal distraction with the war give you the perfect opportunity to make contacts that reach deeper into Victoria than the very borders. This is a priceless opportunity. DC: 10. Successes Required: 1. AP Limit: 1. Effect: Gain meaningful penetration inside Victoria with your intelligence service.

Know thy enemy

[ ] Arms Design: You currently field an assortment of whatever firearms your industry can produce, centralized around a few different kinds of cartridges, and that's not a very efficient way to run things. Your situation is fairly unprecedented; do something unprecedented. DC: 35. Successes Needed: 2. AP Limit: 2. Effect: Taking lessons from your various existing weapon designs, design armaments built with your rather unique circumstances in mind, making your logistics yet-more-superior to anybody else on the continent.