Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)
- Thread starter LordSunhawk
- Start date
[X] Let your son decide which of the sponsorships from the approved list to actually accept
-[X] make sure to go over his reasoning and the potential conferences with him.
-[X] Have someone at Justice make sure he isn't getting screwed.
[X] Plan: Growth and DEST hunting v2
-[X] make sure to go over his reasoning and the potential conferences with him.
-[X] Have someone at Justice make sure he isn't getting screwed.
[X] Plan: Growth and DEST hunting v2
PeaceMaker 03
Well-known member
After reading this I imagine the DC pirates landing in the mountains to avoid death-hippo stampede charges. The drop ship lands in a box canyon in the mountains.
Only to meet Grifftigers, Royal Jump Infantry( jump cavalry?), Grifftigers, with retractable vibes-claws.
- By royal decrew, a portion of all Royal Grifftiger Jump Cavalry (RGJC) action figure sales must be used for buying catnip for Grifftigers.
Look kids! the new RGJC action figures come with “Kung-fu Action Scratch“™️.
- The most memorable moment came when
Captain Sekhmet of the the RGJC was being interviewed by the obnoxious news reporter. It was obvious the reporter was biased and treating CPT Sekhmet like a small child by her tone and questioning. Sekhmet answers to the reporters questions started getting “snarky “, via the grifftiger translator device.
The news reporter asked “What it was like fighting the DC pirates“?
CPT Sekhmet pads at a half dozen buttons and a synthesized voice says, “Taste like chicken “. No one could have predicted the video of the reporter’s reaction to that question would go viral.
That moment when the reporter froze after digestion Sekhmet answer, the perfect comedic timing of the “lick”, The reporter obviously going white under the camera makeup.
- Recent tabloids have reported gossip that Prince Jeremy was the original creator of the video meme of CPT Sekhmet licking the reporter, and dubbed in “Taste- taste- taste like chicken “! While just a rumor and not confirmed at this time, the princes was recently seen at the Hover track and his hover racer had new paint and on the hover racer in bold painted letters read “Taste- taste- taste like chicken“.
Turn 17 - Results
Turn 17 Results
You decide to let your little man take advantage of a relatively harmless learning experience in regards to all the proposals for sponsorship. So you have him meet you in your office, then have him sit behind your desk in your chair.
It will be his someday, after all.
His eyes are wide as saucers, of course, you’d never let any of the kids sit in Mom’s chair… the day he stopped calling you ‘mommy’ is still a tad bittersweet as evidence that he’s starting to grow up.
At least your other kids still call you mommy.
You had already separated out the truly inappropriate proposals from the rest, and had vetted the remainder with Janet to make sure there was nothing dodgy about any of them.
“These are all the companies that want to sponsor you.” you tell your Jeremy. “Or at least the ones which have passed initial vetting. You are getting old enough to start making some of your own decisions.”
You smile proudly at that, and resist the urge to chuckle at the shell shocked expression on his face.
“Not on anything important, but someday your decisions will matter. Not just what you decide, but how you decide.” your face becomes perfectly serious. “So you have a decision to make, and I want you to consider it carefully.”
He nods, listening. He’s such a good boy.
“You need to decide what to do about sponsorships for your racer.” You step back, gesturing towards the stack of folders.
He gulps, then visibly steels himself to start reading through the folders while you look on, keeping a carefully neutral expression on your face while inside you are fit to burst with just how proud it makes you feel to see your beloved little boy looking so serious.
He takes his time, clearly thinking about each one, then looks up to you as he closes the last folder.
“Mom? Do I have to pick one of these?” he asks, tilting his head in query.
“No, are none of them to your taste?” you ask, arcing one eyebrow in question.
“It’s not that, mom. It’s just… these are all companies, big companies, and a lot of them are offering some great things for the sponsorship but… I’m the crown prince, doesn’t that mean I need to represent all of them, even those that aren’t sponsoring me?” he asks seriously.
It takes an enormous act of willpower to not swoop in and hug him, you restrict yourself to a nod. “It could be argued that they are sponsoring Jeremy Griffith, the racer, and not Crown Prince Jeremy Griffith.” you say, presenting the counterpoint.
“Yes, but, I’m the same person.” he says with a frown, then shakes his head. “I mean, I can be different people with family, but everybody else is going to see the Crown Prince and think that my wearing a logo is endorsing the product as Prince.”
He takes a deep breath while you continue to fight the urge to gleefully scoop him up for how mature he’s being.
“So how about this. I don’t want any of these…” he gestures towards the stack of folders. “But I heard that General Potter is wanting to increase recruitment. Maybe we could ask him to sponsor the racer, that way it’s the Royal Family supporting the military rather than any corporation?”
Your smile escapes your control and you come around the desk, opening up a drawer and setting a fresh folder with a blank sheet of paper in it in front of him.
“Why don’t you write that request up.” you prompt.
Bless him, but while he looks like any boy given dreaded paperwork (Blehhhh), he takes your pen and starts writing, asking you a few questions here and there about how to word things.
He suddenly looked up at you. “Mom, if I do this, Thanh and Sarah won’t be able to help decorate my racer, right?” he says, a bit out of the blue.
“No, dear. They probably wouldn’t.” you reply.
“Then I’ll make it a condition that they get to decorate the engine cover.” he says decisively.
SUCH a good big brother!
You wish that was all that was going on, but alas that isn’t the case.
There have been a number of injuries in training for the complex entry team that is training up, resulting in serious disruptions to the training schedule. You are quite familiar with the Demon Murphy, and all of them looked to you like just plain bad luck. The training is grueling and somewhat dangerous, so you are not at all surprised or truly upset at it all.
What does upset you is the news from the crews working on building out harbors on Castor. A wildcat strike by one of the unions in Griffsport somehow spilled over and delayed critical shipments to the work sites on Castor by so long that the schedule got seriously disrupted. Utter disaster was only prevented by Bridget laboring like Hercules to reset the schedule and get at least some work done.
That same strike also blocked a number of vital shipments to the Titanium resource area, and again Bridget did some excellent work in getting things back on track. At least there the delays were somewhat less consequential, and as a result you are expecting that project at least to complete in the first quarter of next year.
In other news of failure, you get word that an electrical fire in the building housing the Power Generation labs destroyed the experiments. The building maintenance contractor has been fined and replaced after it was discovered that their crews were violating safety guidelines for storing volatile cleaning supplies, resulting in them igniting in one of the electrical closets and totalling the floor that the lab was on. Structural damage, thankfully, was minimal enough as to not require rebuilding, but it is a vexing issue.
What is worse is that the same fire nearly destroyed the priceless samples of the DEST Infiltration Suits that were being reverse-engineered one floor up. As it was, the fire suppression system did its job and protected the recovered suits, but the damage had been done, causing the project to be significantly delayed and massively behind schedule.
And finally the captured DEST commando came within seconds of managing to get loose and kill himself after a momentary lapse of security. If he’d managed to grab something more lethal than a plastic spoon he’d probably have managed to do the deed and you’d be out one interrogation subject.
Thankfully, that was the entirety of the litany of woe this year.
It took until almost literally the last second, but the Planetary Resource Survey was completed five minutes before midnight on the last day of the year. With all of the scrambling and disruptions to Interior’s schedules this year, it’s a miracle that it got done at all.
And the results make you boggle. In the utterly frozen wasteland at the core of Phoenix, the northern continent, in a region of arctic desert so dry and desolate that it is estimated that it hasn’t seen so much as a drip of dew in over ten thousand years… there’s a gigantic deposit of germanium ore.
It will be absolute hell to exploit it, requiring mega-engineering at a level you aren’t even close to achieving. If it was anything less than Germanium, it would be pointless, the sheer expense of maintaining access, mining, refining, and transporting the ore will render it a massive blotch of pure red ink on any balance sheet. But it’s Germanium. You need it for Jumpships and Warships even if there is absolutely no economical way to extract it.
This is something for the future. It’s nice to know it is there, but… right now it’s a white elephant that would utterly bankrupt you.
The report from the continent survey of Castor and Pollux is a serious bright spot in the reports. The teams have discovered masses of strategic minerals all over the twin continents.
Moreover, they have extensive reports on the wildlife. After Capricorn and the Dire Penguins you braced for impact. But the report is remarkably tame. Nothing all that unusual. The apex predator was a flightless bird that was described as a toothed murderbird, you had to look the reference up, but they are only about the size of a large wolf and while they are pack hunters, they do not appear to be any more capable than a similarly sized pack of wolves.
The largest prey creature is very similar to the various ungulants that are familiar to most humans. The two teams report that some of them are quite tasty, tasting very much like beef, albeit a bit more stringy because they aren’t domesticated. There are also deer analogues in the forested areas, which apparently taste like venison, but a little more gamey.
The one bright spot from the University Labs this year is that while the Power Generation lab building was badly damaged, the Micro-Electronics Lab was unaffected and was able to complete their work on schedule. There are a number of prospective new systems on the horizon now thanks to their work.
You get word from the Intel people about a very frustrating breakthrough on the datadisk… it was the mission briefing for the DEST team. And there were two of them, with one assigned to make their way to Griffsport and gather intelligence. There were no images, no names beyond code designations.
This causes a brief panic.
Then there is a serious kerfuffle near the Parliament building as Dominique’s grifftiger companion ‘Minerva’ appeared to suddenly assault a number of people, swiping them into the closest walls with a single blow of one clawed paw, growling furiously and looking murderous.
People who turned out to have suicide teeth.
Several of them even managed to use them.
She’d smelled the poison on their breath, as well as the scent of the weapons they were concealing.
So now you had more prisoners, and had swept both DEST teams from the board.
Minerva was looking very smug, and Sekhmet was pouting that she hadn’t gotten to the terrorists first.
Tigers. Almost as bad as men.
Almost.
You still loved them.
You'd actually received your newly issued vibro-bayonet, replacing the standard steel bayonet you'd had since the beginning. It's a bit annoying to have to replace every one of your uniforms bayonet sheaths with new models to fit the bulkier blade, but after much grumbling you do so.
The training reports from 1st Armored are looking good, with the artillery boys starting to actually manage consistent rates of fire and accuracy coming up to almost acceptable levels. The AeroTraining Wing is also reporting progress, which you are glad to see.
Economic Roll - 0 Degrees of success
Health Roll - 3 degrees of success
Stability Change roll - 0 degrees of success
Stability Rolls
-Political - 0
-Research - 1 - reduce duration of 1 project, QM choice - Spheroid Dropships
-Economic - -1, -1% GDP
Meta Event Roll - 98, -15% GDP
Dynasty Luck Roll - 29 - What a GOOD boy you have!
Crown Influence Roll - 9
Lords Influence Roll - 6
Commons Influence Roll - 1 - SUCCESS - Check for positive.. CRITICAL SUCCESS
Health Roll - 3 degrees of success
Stability Change roll - 0 degrees of success
Stability Rolls
-Political - 0
-Research - 1 - reduce duration of 1 project, QM choice - Spheroid Dropships
-Economic - -1, -1% GDP
Meta Event Roll - 98, -15% GDP
Dynasty Luck Roll - 29 - What a GOOD boy you have!
Crown Influence Roll - 9
Lords Influence Roll - 6
Commons Influence Roll - 1 - SUCCESS - Check for positive.. CRITICAL SUCCESS
[X] Let your son decide which of the sponsorships from the approved list to actually accept
-[X] make sure to go over his reasoning and the potential consequences with him before a final decision is made.
-[X] Have someone at Justice make sure he isn't getting screwed.
Harden Factory 1 to 1
Target - 65
Roll - 61
Result - SUCCESS
Train complex entrance team
Target - 50
Roll - 87
Result - FAIL
Equip Infantry with Vibro-Bayonets
Target - 95
Roll - 37
Result - SUCCESS
Recruit company of Avenger AAA Hovertank for RRF, 1 platoon Ambush Light Mech for Aerie Cadre
Target - 60
Roll - 25 and 59
Result - SUCCESS, SUCCESS
Comprehensive Survey of the twin continents of Castor/Pollux*
Target - 60
Roll - 100, reroll due to Economist perk, 4
Result - SUCCESS
Establish Harbor on Castor*
Target - 55
Roll - 100, ShadowArxxy reroll (from Omake) 82
Result - FAIL
Build the Titanium mines and port w/Penguin Fighting Grip
Target - 75
Roll - 99, ShadowArxxy reroll (from ASF contest), 84
Result - BARE FAILURE, automatic success next turn
Planetary Resource Survey
Target - 45
Roll - 80 - Converted to Success due to Commons Crit
Result - SUCCESS
Power Generation lvl 2
Target - 85
Roll - 96
Result - FAIL
Electronics lvl 2
Target - 70
Roll - 25
Result - SUCCESS
Reverse Engineer DEST Infiltration Suit
Target - 50
Roll - 62
Result - FAIL
Interrogate POWs
Target - 65
Roll - 92
Result - FAIL
Decode recovered data drive*
Target - 35
Roll - 17
Result - SUCCESS
Hunt for possible additional DEST teams
Target - 35
Roll - 20
Result - SUCCESS
Training
-1st Armored
Target - 80
Roll - 79
Result - SUCCESS
AeroTraining Force
Target - 55
Roll - 4
Result - SUCCESS
-[X] make sure to go over his reasoning and the potential consequences with him before a final decision is made.
-[X] Have someone at Justice make sure he isn't getting screwed.
Harden Factory 1 to 1
Target - 65
Roll - 61
Result - SUCCESS
Train complex entrance team
Target - 50
Roll - 87
Result - FAIL
Equip Infantry with Vibro-Bayonets
Target - 95
Roll - 37
Result - SUCCESS
Recruit company of Avenger AAA Hovertank for RRF, 1 platoon Ambush Light Mech for Aerie Cadre
Target - 60
Roll - 25 and 59
Result - SUCCESS, SUCCESS
Comprehensive Survey of the twin continents of Castor/Pollux*
Target - 60
Roll - 100, reroll due to Economist perk, 4
Result - SUCCESS
Establish Harbor on Castor*
Target - 55
Roll - 100, ShadowArxxy reroll (from Omake) 82
Result - FAIL
Build the Titanium mines and port w/Penguin Fighting Grip
Target - 75
Roll - 99, ShadowArxxy reroll (from ASF contest), 84
Result - BARE FAILURE, automatic success next turn
Planetary Resource Survey
Target - 45
Roll - 80 - Converted to Success due to Commons Crit
Result - SUCCESS
Power Generation lvl 2
Target - 85
Roll - 96
Result - FAIL
Electronics lvl 2
Target - 70
Roll - 25
Result - SUCCESS
Reverse Engineer DEST Infiltration Suit
Target - 50
Roll - 62
Result - FAIL
Interrogate POWs
Target - 65
Roll - 92
Result - FAIL
Decode recovered data drive*
Target - 35
Roll - 17
Result - SUCCESS
Hunt for possible additional DEST teams
Target - 35
Roll - 20
Result - SUCCESS
Training
-1st Armored
Target - 80
Roll - 79
Result - SUCCESS
AeroTraining Force
Target - 55
Roll - 4
Result - SUCCESS
You decide to let your little man take advantage of a relatively harmless learning experience in regards to all the proposals for sponsorship. So you have him meet you in your office, then have him sit behind your desk in your chair.
It will be his someday, after all.
His eyes are wide as saucers, of course, you’d never let any of the kids sit in Mom’s chair… the day he stopped calling you ‘mommy’ is still a tad bittersweet as evidence that he’s starting to grow up.
At least your other kids still call you mommy.
You had already separated out the truly inappropriate proposals from the rest, and had vetted the remainder with Janet to make sure there was nothing dodgy about any of them.
“These are all the companies that want to sponsor you.” you tell your Jeremy. “Or at least the ones which have passed initial vetting. You are getting old enough to start making some of your own decisions.”
You smile proudly at that, and resist the urge to chuckle at the shell shocked expression on his face.
“Not on anything important, but someday your decisions will matter. Not just what you decide, but how you decide.” your face becomes perfectly serious. “So you have a decision to make, and I want you to consider it carefully.”
He nods, listening. He’s such a good boy.
“You need to decide what to do about sponsorships for your racer.” You step back, gesturing towards the stack of folders.
He gulps, then visibly steels himself to start reading through the folders while you look on, keeping a carefully neutral expression on your face while inside you are fit to burst with just how proud it makes you feel to see your beloved little boy looking so serious.
He takes his time, clearly thinking about each one, then looks up to you as he closes the last folder.
“Mom? Do I have to pick one of these?” he asks, tilting his head in query.
“No, are none of them to your taste?” you ask, arcing one eyebrow in question.
“It’s not that, mom. It’s just… these are all companies, big companies, and a lot of them are offering some great things for the sponsorship but… I’m the crown prince, doesn’t that mean I need to represent all of them, even those that aren’t sponsoring me?” he asks seriously.
It takes an enormous act of willpower to not swoop in and hug him, you restrict yourself to a nod. “It could be argued that they are sponsoring Jeremy Griffith, the racer, and not Crown Prince Jeremy Griffith.” you say, presenting the counterpoint.
“Yes, but, I’m the same person.” he says with a frown, then shakes his head. “I mean, I can be different people with family, but everybody else is going to see the Crown Prince and think that my wearing a logo is endorsing the product as Prince.”
He takes a deep breath while you continue to fight the urge to gleefully scoop him up for how mature he’s being.
“So how about this. I don’t want any of these…” he gestures towards the stack of folders. “But I heard that General Potter is wanting to increase recruitment. Maybe we could ask him to sponsor the racer, that way it’s the Royal Family supporting the military rather than any corporation?”
Your smile escapes your control and you come around the desk, opening up a drawer and setting a fresh folder with a blank sheet of paper in it in front of him.
“Why don’t you write that request up.” you prompt.
Bless him, but while he looks like any boy given dreaded paperwork (Blehhhh), he takes your pen and starts writing, asking you a few questions here and there about how to word things.
He suddenly looked up at you. “Mom, if I do this, Thanh and Sarah won’t be able to help decorate my racer, right?” he says, a bit out of the blue.
“No, dear. They probably wouldn’t.” you reply.
“Then I’ll make it a condition that they get to decorate the engine cover.” he says decisively.
SUCH a good big brother!
You wish that was all that was going on, but alas that isn’t the case.
There have been a number of injuries in training for the complex entry team that is training up, resulting in serious disruptions to the training schedule. You are quite familiar with the Demon Murphy, and all of them looked to you like just plain bad luck. The training is grueling and somewhat dangerous, so you are not at all surprised or truly upset at it all.
What does upset you is the news from the crews working on building out harbors on Castor. A wildcat strike by one of the unions in Griffsport somehow spilled over and delayed critical shipments to the work sites on Castor by so long that the schedule got seriously disrupted. Utter disaster was only prevented by Bridget laboring like Hercules to reset the schedule and get at least some work done.
That same strike also blocked a number of vital shipments to the Titanium resource area, and again Bridget did some excellent work in getting things back on track. At least there the delays were somewhat less consequential, and as a result you are expecting that project at least to complete in the first quarter of next year.
In other news of failure, you get word that an electrical fire in the building housing the Power Generation labs destroyed the experiments. The building maintenance contractor has been fined and replaced after it was discovered that their crews were violating safety guidelines for storing volatile cleaning supplies, resulting in them igniting in one of the electrical closets and totalling the floor that the lab was on. Structural damage, thankfully, was minimal enough as to not require rebuilding, but it is a vexing issue.
What is worse is that the same fire nearly destroyed the priceless samples of the DEST Infiltration Suits that were being reverse-engineered one floor up. As it was, the fire suppression system did its job and protected the recovered suits, but the damage had been done, causing the project to be significantly delayed and massively behind schedule.
And finally the captured DEST commando came within seconds of managing to get loose and kill himself after a momentary lapse of security. If he’d managed to grab something more lethal than a plastic spoon he’d probably have managed to do the deed and you’d be out one interrogation subject.
Thankfully, that was the entirety of the litany of woe this year.
It took until almost literally the last second, but the Planetary Resource Survey was completed five minutes before midnight on the last day of the year. With all of the scrambling and disruptions to Interior’s schedules this year, it’s a miracle that it got done at all.
And the results make you boggle. In the utterly frozen wasteland at the core of Phoenix, the northern continent, in a region of arctic desert so dry and desolate that it is estimated that it hasn’t seen so much as a drip of dew in over ten thousand years… there’s a gigantic deposit of germanium ore.
It will be absolute hell to exploit it, requiring mega-engineering at a level you aren’t even close to achieving. If it was anything less than Germanium, it would be pointless, the sheer expense of maintaining access, mining, refining, and transporting the ore will render it a massive blotch of pure red ink on any balance sheet. But it’s Germanium. You need it for Jumpships and Warships even if there is absolutely no economical way to extract it.
This is something for the future. It’s nice to know it is there, but… right now it’s a white elephant that would utterly bankrupt you.
The report from the continent survey of Castor and Pollux is a serious bright spot in the reports. The teams have discovered masses of strategic minerals all over the twin continents.
Moreover, they have extensive reports on the wildlife. After Capricorn and the Dire Penguins you braced for impact. But the report is remarkably tame. Nothing all that unusual. The apex predator was a flightless bird that was described as a toothed murderbird, you had to look the reference up, but they are only about the size of a large wolf and while they are pack hunters, they do not appear to be any more capable than a similarly sized pack of wolves.
The largest prey creature is very similar to the various ungulants that are familiar to most humans. The two teams report that some of them are quite tasty, tasting very much like beef, albeit a bit more stringy because they aren’t domesticated. There are also deer analogues in the forested areas, which apparently taste like venison, but a little more gamey.
The one bright spot from the University Labs this year is that while the Power Generation lab building was badly damaged, the Micro-Electronics Lab was unaffected and was able to complete their work on schedule. There are a number of prospective new systems on the horizon now thanks to their work.
You get word from the Intel people about a very frustrating breakthrough on the datadisk… it was the mission briefing for the DEST team. And there were two of them, with one assigned to make their way to Griffsport and gather intelligence. There were no images, no names beyond code designations.
This causes a brief panic.
Then there is a serious kerfuffle near the Parliament building as Dominique’s grifftiger companion ‘Minerva’ appeared to suddenly assault a number of people, swiping them into the closest walls with a single blow of one clawed paw, growling furiously and looking murderous.
People who turned out to have suicide teeth.
Several of them even managed to use them.
She’d smelled the poison on their breath, as well as the scent of the weapons they were concealing.
So now you had more prisoners, and had swept both DEST teams from the board.
Minerva was looking very smug, and Sekhmet was pouting that she hadn’t gotten to the terrorists first.
Tigers. Almost as bad as men.
Almost.
You still loved them.
You'd actually received your newly issued vibro-bayonet, replacing the standard steel bayonet you'd had since the beginning. It's a bit annoying to have to replace every one of your uniforms bayonet sheaths with new models to fit the bulkier blade, but after much grumbling you do so.
The training reports from 1st Armored are looking good, with the artillery boys starting to actually manage consistent rates of fire and accuracy coming up to almost acceptable levels. The AeroTraining Wing is also reporting progress, which you are glad to see.
Joyousmadman
Well-known member
Wow, I believe that’s the first time I’ve had a write in win. Gotta day I am very happy with the results.
Jarow
Well-known member
Very nice results - we got the combination of the best parts of the best two options (let him choose and fund it ourselves)
It is sad how many projects failed this turn though
At least the really hard intelligence actions both succeeded.
Also, hooray for finding another source of Germanium! Guessing we'll need to travel down the terraforming tree to get to it.
It is sad how many projects failed this turn though
At least the really hard intelligence actions both succeeded.
Also, hooray for finding another source of Germanium! Guessing we'll need to travel down the terraforming tree to get to it.
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Combined with some of the other accidents that have been happening (the guy who was mysteriously sabotaging samples/reporting false data for no discernible reason we had earlier for example) it's beginning to look like our R&D has been infiltrated in some manner.
Ridli Scott
Well-known member
To Hell with the yellow bird, the true enemy of the dragon is a grifftiger.
[X] Write-In: Denounce Strikes
The Queen addresses the nation, emphasizing that we all just saw firsthand how far the Combine is willing to go to subdue us, they did not even think twice about breaching the Ares Convention itself. That our brave pilots were able to blunt the second attack and the grifftigers finished it off with the death hippo stampede only bought us time, and Her Majesty is gravely disappointed and dismayed that ANY of her people are so selfish as to throw away that dearly bought time. This is not acceptable and cannot be permitted to happen again.
Do not make Us come over there. If We are forced to intervene directly, neither side of your dispute will enjoy the outcome.
[X] Write-In: BEST TIGER
We again owe much to our grifftiger citizens. Note to self, talk to the General about how best to pin awards and decorations on a grifftiger. We're granting her the (counterpart to the Presidential Medal of Freedom), the highest award that can be granted to a civilian.
The Queen addresses the nation, emphasizing that we all just saw firsthand how far the Combine is willing to go to subdue us, they did not even think twice about breaching the Ares Convention itself. That our brave pilots were able to blunt the second attack and the grifftigers finished it off with the death hippo stampede only bought us time, and Her Majesty is gravely disappointed and dismayed that ANY of her people are so selfish as to throw away that dearly bought time. This is not acceptable and cannot be permitted to happen again.
Do not make Us come over there. If We are forced to intervene directly, neither side of your dispute will enjoy the outcome.
[X] Write-In: BEST TIGER
We again owe much to our grifftiger citizens. Note to self, talk to the General about how best to pin awards and decorations on a grifftiger. We're granting her the (counterpart to the Presidential Medal of Freedom), the highest award that can be granted to a civilian.
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Turn 18 - Fluff
Turn 18 - Fluff
After the events of last year, especially the massive strike down at the docks that seriously messed up every schedule that relied on mass transportation, you decide to direct the Ministry of the Interior to dig into what was going on.
It’s a mixed bag and fairly complicated.
Before Huế mới was established and the new harbor at Vịnh Cam Ranh built, over ninety percent of all sea-going transport was handled by one massive shipping firm. They did excellent work, were able to keep profitable, had solid labor relations. None of the corporate directors or leaders were involved in the Gem conspiracy at all.
With the massive increase in shipping, that company saw a massive increase in profits and had, in fact, been one of the major leaders of the economic boom that followed the expansion onto Capricorn.
However this came at a price. New companies started up in the same sector, and because they didn’t have massive amounts of legacy infrastructure they were able to take better advantage of the new automation technologies. Many of these firms had payrolls less than a quarter as large as the old firm, but were rapidly able to come very close to the same level of cargo handling capacity due to the new technology.
Meanwhile, the older firm simply couldn’t take down its own infrastructure in order to modernize it, and they were locked into long term labor contracts with their union. While the news competitors also dealt with the same unions, they had been able to negotiate more favorable terms from the onset.
This turned into a devil’s brew, as the sheer volume of demand made it unfeasible for the company to automate properly because they wouldn’t be able to meet customer demands for months at a stretch, while the union refused to accept the potential downsizing that such automation would require.
So profitability for the massive company started to tank, until it was barely breaking even and, in the last several years, had started to see long-term projections of growing losses unless something was done.
Meanwhile the smaller firms would send their customers off to the big one every time they wanted to upgrade their infrastructure, and because of the far more advantageous contracts they were able to manage their workforce more aggressively. So once the newly automated systems came online, they were able to win back their customers through aggressively discounted pricing.
So the executives at the larger company decided to bite the bullet, accept a few years of serious losses, and push through serious automation work. They did so, while negotiating with the union for an improved contract.
The new automation had just come online, and the union was still refusing to renegotiate and was insisting that staffing remain at the same levels and, crucially, that all of the workers remain in the exact same jobs without activating any of the automation.
Corporate refused, and instead hired independent contractors to run the newly automated docks and cargo handling facilities and froze out the union workers, on the grounds that their union had insisted that they wouldn’t work with the automated systems.
There’s a note from Bridget that this is actually technically illegal strikebreaking under the relevant labor laws, however it is a section of the law that hadn’t ever been actually tested in court.
And it was effective, the union gave in on the automation provision, which should have at least cooled things down. But evidently corporate was now feeling its oats and insisted also on restructuring the contracts to bring them in line with those their smaller competitors enjoyed, stripping away most of the bargaining power of the dockworkers.
Who promptly went on strike, even before the union had officially responded, and the official union response was to triple down on demanding increased pay and job security.
Corporate and the Union were now not even talking to each other, both were ignoring their obligation under labor laws to place their dispute in front of a neutral arbiter prior to any sort of labor actions, and both sides' positions had hardened into Battlemech-grade armor.
The Union was demanding the complete dissolution of the board, the removal of all the executives, and for the company to become 100% employee owned, with incredibly generous pay and benefits while stripping all pensions and clawing back all pay from the executives for ‘malfeasance’.
Corporate was demanding that the Union be disestablished, all union workers be terminated and blacklisted from working in the field for ‘sabotage and wrecking’, that the Union leaderships company-paid for pensions and benefits be stripped from them and used to finance the automation efforts, and that all pensions, benefits, and vacation time for the terminated union members be forfeited.
This is getting bad. Both sides are refusing to budge, and despite having such serious cash flow and profitability problems due to automation and labor differentials with the smaller firms, this company still accounts for over half of all shipping assets on the planet, and 2/3rds of all very-high volume shipping capacity.
You are going to have to act.
[] Side with Corporate. They are doing what is in the best long-term interest of the company, and having the planet's biggest shipping company go bankrupt would be even more disruptive than this strike has already been.
[] Side with the Unions. If the leadership of the company had been more proactive in the past this wouldn’t have been as big of an issue now, moreover it would have been more appropriate to bring the in-equitable disparities between contracts afforded to the competitors and themselves to court. They failed to do so, and can’t now punish the workers for their own incompetence.
[] Side with neither. Let them work it out, this will cause severe disruptions in the economy until it is taken care of either way, but surely both sides will eventually see reason and be able to again work together.
[] Write-in.
In happier news, Jeremy is proving to be an extremely skilled hovercraft racer in the lowest division of the Junior League, with several top five and a podium finish (he came in second). For a kid his age, competing against kids a year or two older than himself with more experience, this is positively stratospheric.
The twins are still gleefully crashing into each other in the SuperSpec division of the Pee-Wee league and seem to be racing more for fun than serious competition. You are proud of them, though, as they take the time in between races to help other racers with their equipment and are generally cheerful ambassadors of the sport.
Thanh… is a complete prodigy on the track. She’s already posting times well below those Jeremy posted at a similar age and experience, and it is already becoming very common to see her bright pink glitter-racer charging across the finish line well ahead of anybody else.
Unlike the twins, she is extremely competitive, and is constantly tinkering with her racer between heats. You even catch her down in the palace motorpool after school (and after she’s done her homework, she insists… you check and she did indeed finish it to an acceptable standard) working on it some more.
You are rather proud, however, of how she insists that all of her winnings be given to the prize fund for the SuperSpec division.
After the events of last year, especially the massive strike down at the docks that seriously messed up every schedule that relied on mass transportation, you decide to direct the Ministry of the Interior to dig into what was going on.
It’s a mixed bag and fairly complicated.
Before Huế mới was established and the new harbor at Vịnh Cam Ranh built, over ninety percent of all sea-going transport was handled by one massive shipping firm. They did excellent work, were able to keep profitable, had solid labor relations. None of the corporate directors or leaders were involved in the Gem conspiracy at all.
With the massive increase in shipping, that company saw a massive increase in profits and had, in fact, been one of the major leaders of the economic boom that followed the expansion onto Capricorn.
However this came at a price. New companies started up in the same sector, and because they didn’t have massive amounts of legacy infrastructure they were able to take better advantage of the new automation technologies. Many of these firms had payrolls less than a quarter as large as the old firm, but were rapidly able to come very close to the same level of cargo handling capacity due to the new technology.
Meanwhile, the older firm simply couldn’t take down its own infrastructure in order to modernize it, and they were locked into long term labor contracts with their union. While the news competitors also dealt with the same unions, they had been able to negotiate more favorable terms from the onset.
This turned into a devil’s brew, as the sheer volume of demand made it unfeasible for the company to automate properly because they wouldn’t be able to meet customer demands for months at a stretch, while the union refused to accept the potential downsizing that such automation would require.
So profitability for the massive company started to tank, until it was barely breaking even and, in the last several years, had started to see long-term projections of growing losses unless something was done.
Meanwhile the smaller firms would send their customers off to the big one every time they wanted to upgrade their infrastructure, and because of the far more advantageous contracts they were able to manage their workforce more aggressively. So once the newly automated systems came online, they were able to win back their customers through aggressively discounted pricing.
So the executives at the larger company decided to bite the bullet, accept a few years of serious losses, and push through serious automation work. They did so, while negotiating with the union for an improved contract.
The new automation had just come online, and the union was still refusing to renegotiate and was insisting that staffing remain at the same levels and, crucially, that all of the workers remain in the exact same jobs without activating any of the automation.
Corporate refused, and instead hired independent contractors to run the newly automated docks and cargo handling facilities and froze out the union workers, on the grounds that their union had insisted that they wouldn’t work with the automated systems.
There’s a note from Bridget that this is actually technically illegal strikebreaking under the relevant labor laws, however it is a section of the law that hadn’t ever been actually tested in court.
And it was effective, the union gave in on the automation provision, which should have at least cooled things down. But evidently corporate was now feeling its oats and insisted also on restructuring the contracts to bring them in line with those their smaller competitors enjoyed, stripping away most of the bargaining power of the dockworkers.
Who promptly went on strike, even before the union had officially responded, and the official union response was to triple down on demanding increased pay and job security.
Corporate and the Union were now not even talking to each other, both were ignoring their obligation under labor laws to place their dispute in front of a neutral arbiter prior to any sort of labor actions, and both sides' positions had hardened into Battlemech-grade armor.
The Union was demanding the complete dissolution of the board, the removal of all the executives, and for the company to become 100% employee owned, with incredibly generous pay and benefits while stripping all pensions and clawing back all pay from the executives for ‘malfeasance’.
Corporate was demanding that the Union be disestablished, all union workers be terminated and blacklisted from working in the field for ‘sabotage and wrecking’, that the Union leaderships company-paid for pensions and benefits be stripped from them and used to finance the automation efforts, and that all pensions, benefits, and vacation time for the terminated union members be forfeited.
This is getting bad. Both sides are refusing to budge, and despite having such serious cash flow and profitability problems due to automation and labor differentials with the smaller firms, this company still accounts for over half of all shipping assets on the planet, and 2/3rds of all very-high volume shipping capacity.
You are going to have to act.
[] Side with Corporate. They are doing what is in the best long-term interest of the company, and having the planet's biggest shipping company go bankrupt would be even more disruptive than this strike has already been.
[] Side with the Unions. If the leadership of the company had been more proactive in the past this wouldn’t have been as big of an issue now, moreover it would have been more appropriate to bring the in-equitable disparities between contracts afforded to the competitors and themselves to court. They failed to do so, and can’t now punish the workers for their own incompetence.
[] Side with neither. Let them work it out, this will cause severe disruptions in the economy until it is taken care of either way, but surely both sides will eventually see reason and be able to again work together.
[] Write-in.
In happier news, Jeremy is proving to be an extremely skilled hovercraft racer in the lowest division of the Junior League, with several top five and a podium finish (he came in second). For a kid his age, competing against kids a year or two older than himself with more experience, this is positively stratospheric.
The twins are still gleefully crashing into each other in the SuperSpec division of the Pee-Wee league and seem to be racing more for fun than serious competition. You are proud of them, though, as they take the time in between races to help other racers with their equipment and are generally cheerful ambassadors of the sport.
Thanh… is a complete prodigy on the track. She’s already posting times well below those Jeremy posted at a similar age and experience, and it is already becoming very common to see her bright pink glitter-racer charging across the finish line well ahead of anybody else.
Unlike the twins, she is extremely competitive, and is constantly tinkering with her racer between heats. You even catch her down in the palace motorpool after school (and after she’s done her homework, she insists… you check and she did indeed finish it to an acceptable standard) working on it some more.
You are rather proud, however, of how she insists that all of her winnings be given to the prize fund for the SuperSpec division.
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Wageslave
Well-known member
[X] Write-in.
-BINDING ARBITRATION: If the Union and Corporate cannot come to a workable agreement within sixty days, the Government will exercise proper authority to ensure that shipping is maintained in the interests of national growth and security until such time as the two parties can come to an agreement. During that time all stock options, bonuses, pay increases, etc will be *frozen* at the lowest tier of sustainability for the Company, with any extra dividends being sent to the national treasury. If the Company cannot get it's act together, the assets will be auctioned off to competitors pay off any outstanding debts. This is very much the 'nuclear' option, and the two parties cannot agree in principle with the Sword of Damocles hanging over their head, then the partnership of the Corporation and Labor is at an end. Better to rip the bandage off and apply a tourniquet than sit here and slowly bleed either for an exec's 'golden parachute' or for a bunch of workers that are superflous (or both).
-BINDING ARBITRATION: If the Union and Corporate cannot come to a workable agreement within sixty days, the Government will exercise proper authority to ensure that shipping is maintained in the interests of national growth and security until such time as the two parties can come to an agreement. During that time all stock options, bonuses, pay increases, etc will be *frozen* at the lowest tier of sustainability for the Company, with any extra dividends being sent to the national treasury. If the Company cannot get it's act together, the assets will be auctioned off to competitors pay off any outstanding debts. This is very much the 'nuclear' option, and the two parties cannot agree in principle with the Sword of Damocles hanging over their head, then the partnership of the Corporation and Labor is at an end. Better to rip the bandage off and apply a tourniquet than sit here and slowly bleed either for an exec's 'golden parachute' or for a bunch of workers that are superflous (or both).
Lightwhispers
Well-known member
[x] Write-in: A proper compromise leads neither side happy. The union was locking the company into an unsustainable trajectory, and insisting on impossible demands. Corporate did break the law, and then mirrored the escalation. Utilize leverage to browbeat both sides back to the bargaining table, including the charges for illegal strikebreaking, and carrot-and-stick regarding government assistance in the future... if they do not actually try to work this out, you'll be taking names of people who certainly will not be getting any help later on.
Probably shouldn't bring Sekhmet along to look grumpy at them, but it's tempting.
Probably shouldn't bring Sekhmet along to look grumpy at them, but it's tempting.
[X] Write-In: Dancing Between Scylla and Charybdis
After reading through the executive summary, Her Royal Highness ponders that all of these people should certainly be added to the list of people who should be glad she wasn't empowered to banish people at will.
After reading through the full investigative report, Her Royal Highness kinda wishes that she could banish them all. Or at least send them on mandatory team-building exercises. Team-building exercises with deathopotamusauruses and dire penguins.
*sigh*
Obviously, allowing over half of all shipping on the planet to collapse is simply not an option.
Step 1: Have the brand-new Royal Grifftiger Mounted Police pick up all of the company executives and union representatives. By the scruffs of their suits.
Step 2: Lock them in a suitably equipped conference room with a neutral arbitrator and a grumpy-looking Sekhmet.
Step 3: Announce that if they don't come to a reasonable settlement within a reasonable amount of time, you will cut the Gordian knot yourself by nationalizing the company. And possibly also feeding them to the Royal Grifftiger Mounted Police.
After reading through the executive summary, Her Royal Highness ponders that all of these people should certainly be added to the list of people who should be glad she wasn't empowered to banish people at will.
After reading through the full investigative report, Her Royal Highness kinda wishes that she could banish them all. Or at least send them on mandatory team-building exercises. Team-building exercises with deathopotamusauruses and dire penguins.
*sigh*
Obviously, allowing over half of all shipping on the planet to collapse is simply not an option.
Step 1: Have the brand-new Royal Grifftiger Mounted Police pick up all of the company executives and union representatives. By the scruffs of their suits.
Step 2: Lock them in a suitably equipped conference room with a neutral arbitrator and a grumpy-looking Sekhmet.
Step 3: Announce that if they don't come to a reasonable settlement within a reasonable amount of time, you will cut the Gordian knot yourself by nationalizing the company. And possibly also feeding them to the Royal Grifftiger Mounted Police.
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
I like this one and so shall vote for it.
[X] Write-In: Dancing between Scylla and Charybdis
Tolack
Active member
This seems like where the fair deal was suppose to be before Corporate took their inch then pushed a mile.
If we can't just throw them to the courts and let Justice decide, then my initial thoughts are that all staff have equivalent pay to the roles they had before if they work the same or similar roles, and any employees laid off via automation get part or all of their retraining costs covered by the company.
Thors_Alumni
Well-known member
[X] Wageslave
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[X] Write-in.
-BINDING ARBITRATION: If the Union and Corporate cannot come to a workable agreement within sixty days, the Government will exercise proper authority to ensure that shipping is maintained in the interests of national growth and security until such time as the two parties can come to an agreement. During that time all stock options, bonuses, pay increases, etc will be *frozen* at the lowest tier of sustainability for the Company, with any extra dividends being sent to the national treasury. If the Company cannot get it's act together, the assets will be auctioned off to competitors pay off any outstanding debts. This is very much the 'nuclear' option, and the two parties cannot agree in principle with the Sword of Damocles hanging over their head, then the partnership of the Corporation and Labor is at an end. Better to rip the bandage off and apply a tourniquet than sit here and slowly bleed either for an exec's 'golden parachute' or for a bunch of workers that are superflous (or both).
-BINDING ARBITRATION: If the Union and Corporate cannot come to a workable agreement within sixty days, the Government will exercise proper authority to ensure that shipping is maintained in the interests of national growth and security until such time as the two parties can come to an agreement. During that time all stock options, bonuses, pay increases, etc will be *frozen* at the lowest tier of sustainability for the Company, with any extra dividends being sent to the national treasury. If the Company cannot get it's act together, the assets will be auctioned off to competitors pay off any outstanding debts. This is very much the 'nuclear' option, and the two parties cannot agree in principle with the Sword of Damocles hanging over their head, then the partnership of the Corporation and Labor is at an end. Better to rip the bandage off and apply a tourniquet than sit here and slowly bleed either for an exec's 'golden parachute' or for a bunch of workers that are superflous (or both).