Winter_Wind45
Well-known member
[X] Incorporate Kainga as a Peripheral world
Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)
- Thread starter LordSunhawk
- Start date
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
I think at this point the Black Steel have either the means to make new construction or are throwing away a lot of their fleet
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Yacovo
Occasionally spouting nonsense
[X] moderate limits
[X] Incorporate Kainga as a Peripheral world
Griffon Empire is a relatively laid back society when it comes to potential social taboos. Naked Volleyball being an Olympic sport, Aliens having high ranking positions, insane asylum patients LARPing in the Royal palace, defenestration of advisors on a regular basis, etc.
That said, low restrictions on genetic modification has the potential to go very wrong very quickly such as a genetic change making people accidentally exhale super bubonic plague due to unforeseen bacteria interaction or something. We should probably have the ability to say “stop that nonsense NOW” legally. Better to start with those restrictions and loosing them later than to not have those restrictions and have to impose them if something goes wrong.
The Kainga decision is basically me wanting more clay. That and there really is not much downside to incorporating them. No outside political considerations, no real resistance from the native population, we didn’t pick the advisor who wouldn’t like it, and we got the money.
[X] Incorporate Kainga as a Peripheral world
Griffon Empire is a relatively laid back society when it comes to potential social taboos. Naked Volleyball being an Olympic sport, Aliens having high ranking positions, insane asylum patients LARPing in the Royal palace, defenestration of advisors on a regular basis, etc.
That said, low restrictions on genetic modification has the potential to go very wrong very quickly such as a genetic change making people accidentally exhale super bubonic plague due to unforeseen bacteria interaction or something. We should probably have the ability to say “stop that nonsense NOW” legally. Better to start with those restrictions and loosing them later than to not have those restrictions and have to impose them if something goes wrong.
The Kainga decision is basically me wanting more clay. That and there really is not much downside to incorporating them. No outside political considerations, no real resistance from the native population, we didn’t pick the advisor who wouldn’t like it, and we got the money.
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Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
[X] Moderate Limits
[X] Incorporate Kainga as a Peripheral world
[X] Incorporate Kainga as a Peripheral world
Val the Moofia Boss
Well-known member
[X] Laissez Faire
I'm highly skeptical of human experimentation in real life, but whatever. This is a fantasy game. Bring on the catgirls!
[X] Incorporate Kainga as a Peripheral world
I'm highly skeptical of human experimentation in real life, but whatever. This is a fantasy game. Bring on the catgirls!
[X] Incorporate Kainga as a Peripheral world
[X] Moderate Limits
[X] Incorporate Kainga as a Peripheral world
[X] Incorporate Kainga as a Peripheral world
[X] Laissez Faire
I can see no convincing ethical justification for any other position. The arguments against it are unreasonably broad hypotheticals; if "the taxpayers might have to pay something" was a valid justification for government intervention, then the government should strictly regulate absolutely every aspect of everyone's life, prohibiting every "unhealthy" vice and risk in order to minimize healthcare costs to the taxpayer.
[X] Incorporate Kainga as a Peripheral world
This is really the only practical option. Integrating the TTP as a protectorate worked because they *still had a functioning government* which we did not wish to overthrow; Kainga has no functional government remaining.
I can see no convincing ethical justification for any other position. The arguments against it are unreasonably broad hypotheticals; if "the taxpayers might have to pay something" was a valid justification for government intervention, then the government should strictly regulate absolutely every aspect of everyone's life, prohibiting every "unhealthy" vice and risk in order to minimize healthcare costs to the taxpayer.
[X] Incorporate Kainga as a Peripheral world
This is really the only practical option. Integrating the TTP as a protectorate worked because they *still had a functioning government* which we did not wish to overthrow; Kainga has no functional government remaining.
Damn it Bob your shedding again! All over the damned new carpet too!
Yacovo
Occasionally spouting nonsense
Hey Sunhawk are the limits only concerning those who receive the genetic modification or those who receive and perform the genetic modification?
Someone stupid receiving gene mods is far less dangerous than someone stupid performing genemods. Probably either in Pollux or New Port Royale if I am a betting man.
My main worry is that this is a new science, and I want certain standards for those who receive and perform the operations. At least until all the potential pitfalls, legally and medically are sorted out.
Someone stupid receiving gene mods is far less dangerous than someone stupid performing genemods. Probably either in Pollux or New Port Royale if I am a betting man.
My main worry is that this is a new science, and I want certain standards for those who receive and perform the operations. At least until all the potential pitfalls, legally and medically are sorted out.
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Joyousmadman
Well-known member
[X] Incorporate Kainga as a Peripheral world
[X] Laissez Faire
Oh, I absolutely asked for this! Gimme that sweet sweet transhumanist research boost.
[X] Laissez Faire
Oh, I absolutely asked for this! Gimme that sweet sweet transhumanist research boost.
Turn 82 - The Event Is Never Small
Turn 82 - The Event Is Never Small
You have a somewhat pleasant surprise when the Black Pumpernickels not only call ahead, but they’re going to be in the Griffon system putting on a show that you are actually interested in. At least the teaser text of the flier they sent is interesting. Something called The Million Dollar Quartet, supposedly about some ancient musicians. When you express interest in tickets they offer to put on a full performance at the Palace, which you accept.
The show itself is incredible, the actor they have playing Jerry Lee Lewis is extremely talented, leaving you wanting to throttle the punk and loving the energy and confidence at the exact same time. And the voices, and the music, and… it was an incredible performance that you truly enjoyed.
You put together a tiger team to rapidly set up the basis for government in the Kainga system, combining experts from your political teams, Justice, and Interior. It’s expensive, but they are reporting excellent progress on getting things organized there. You will likely need to expand your Colonial Office soon just to keep up with the administrative overhead of the Empire, but that is a worry for budget time.
You settle on a balanced approach to the exotic genemods question. Licensed and trained providers would be required to maintain appropriate certifications, with proposed modifications being reviewed for overall safety prior to being added to the approved ‘menu’ of options. So far it seems that ‘Cat Person’, both incorporating elements of Grifftigers and not, along with ‘pointy ears’ and exotic hair colors are the most popular modifications. Extreme facial modifications to give fangs and muzzles and such have generally failed to achieve certification, the experts pointing out the significant ‘supporting’ modifications required to make such things work safely exceeding the guidelines set.
Interestingly there is some disgruntlement from those going for the Grifftiger look as it turns out that getting those glowing stripes is far more involved than expected. They are caused by bioluminescent bacteria that feed on oils released by the Tiger, after all, and trying to achieve that with human base physiology is not that easy. As a consequence ‘Grifftiger People’ are the single most expensive of the exotic genemods.
For the ‘animal person’ aficionados there is a further complication, fully functional animal ears are actually not possible without extensive brain modifications, which have not been certified. Cosmetic ears are quite possible, and are rather popular, but full functionality is not in the cards due to the extensive ‘rewiring’ that would be required of the brain's sensory interpretation functions. Tails, on the other hand, are almost trivially easy, as the ‘wiring’ so to speak is already present, just unused in humans.
So in order of popularity you have the hair color mods by a substantial margin being the most common, with metallic colors being the most popular choice, followed by pointed ears from both fantasy buffs and fans of ancient science fiction shows, ‘cat person’ modifications are in third, mostly due to the expense of getting the most desirable ‘Grifftiger person’ set rather than any lack of overall interest. Excluding hair color mods, less than 10% of the population are getting any mods whatsoever.
You have been tempted to indulge yourself in getting your gray hair removed, even if your wife insists it makes you look distinguished and has hidden every bottle of hair coloring she’s ever found. She, of course, looks truly stunning with her silver hair, at least in your totally unbiased opinion.
The Pan-Griffon Games are taking place, and to your utter mortification your second eldest granddaughter is actually competing on Team Griffon in the Women’s Naked Volleyball event. Your wife and daughter-in-law think it’s hilarious, your eldest granddaughter and heir has offhandedly commented that the only reason she’s not competing is that her class schedule precluded her trying out for the team. Considering that at 22 she’s pursuing two different post-doc degrees in Economics and Military Science in addition to her imminent commissioning as a junior Lieutenant in the Imperial Griffon Army… well, OK, you can’t argue that she’s busy but you would rather not have your grandkids displaying all the goods!
Well, if she insists on competing, at least she helped bring home the gold medal in the event. Overall the games are rather interesting, with New Port Royal actually taking the Men’s Athletics gold medal, and New Pollux winning gold in Team Gymnastics and Men’s Wrestling. It’s nice to see how diverse the winners are, in terms of system of origin, although Team Griffon does win the lion’s share of gold medals. Only Okusawa is unrepresented on the podium for any event, but considering that they only sent a single athlete to compete in Women’s Wrestling that is rather understandable.
Speaking of Okusawa, violence levels are down for the second year in a row, with a number of prominent busts of holdout ISF facilities and groups. Things are hardly ‘calm’, but mass casualty events are not nearly as common as they were, although the occasional mortar attack still takes place. An attempt by ISF radicals to blow up a water treatment plant was foiled by local security forces even before the IGA could respond, which is a hopeful sign that the corner may have been reached, if not yet turned.
The Chamber of Delegates elections take place, slightly increasing the number of supportive MPs in the Chamber. Legislative work is also proceeding, with nothing particularly objectionable coming out of either chamber, mostly, it must be said, due to the Eldest quite literally reducing one arrogant idiot to tears with a well timed growl that resulted in a hasty change of pants for the moron.
The main piece of legislation that does come out of Parliament this year is the Small Business Act of 3012. The Small Business Act would establish a fund to guarantee small business loans at favorable rates compared to the previous norm for such small business loans, an average discount of thirty basis points on said loans, backed by the Imperial treasury. This would reduce the risk of loans to small businesses, encouraging financial institutions to be more generous in extending such lines of credit. The actual amount is, on the surface, trivial, amounting to 30/100’s of a percentage point, but with the numbers usually bandied about on small business loans that would be eligible for the program this quickly adds up to significant savings in interest payments.
It is noted that this creates a bit of a bell curve to interest rate subsidies on business loans, with the small businesses and the largest corporations both getting advantageous rates, with a bit of a ‘hump’ in the middle of mid-sized businesses. However, when looked at in absolute terms, this flattens out the risk differential between small and mid-sized business loans, bringing the small business loans to only an average of ten basis points above the average for mid-sized business loans, rather than the current average of 40 basis point difference that currently exists. The twenty basis point average subsidy on the major corporation loans is actually only a fraction of the 140 basis point average differential between midsize and major business rates.
On average this should slightly reduce volatility in terms of small business failures, increasing the rate by which small businesses transition to midsize status, and in general stabilize and improve the overall economy, although the costs are significant in terms of the overall subsidies.
You have a somewhat pleasant surprise when the Black Pumpernickels not only call ahead, but they’re going to be in the Griffon system putting on a show that you are actually interested in. At least the teaser text of the flier they sent is interesting. Something called The Million Dollar Quartet, supposedly about some ancient musicians. When you express interest in tickets they offer to put on a full performance at the Palace, which you accept.
The show itself is incredible, the actor they have playing Jerry Lee Lewis is extremely talented, leaving you wanting to throttle the punk and loving the energy and confidence at the exact same time. And the voices, and the music, and… it was an incredible performance that you truly enjoyed.
You put together a tiger team to rapidly set up the basis for government in the Kainga system, combining experts from your political teams, Justice, and Interior. It’s expensive, but they are reporting excellent progress on getting things organized there. You will likely need to expand your Colonial Office soon just to keep up with the administrative overhead of the Empire, but that is a worry for budget time.
You settle on a balanced approach to the exotic genemods question. Licensed and trained providers would be required to maintain appropriate certifications, with proposed modifications being reviewed for overall safety prior to being added to the approved ‘menu’ of options. So far it seems that ‘Cat Person’, both incorporating elements of Grifftigers and not, along with ‘pointy ears’ and exotic hair colors are the most popular modifications. Extreme facial modifications to give fangs and muzzles and such have generally failed to achieve certification, the experts pointing out the significant ‘supporting’ modifications required to make such things work safely exceeding the guidelines set.
Interestingly there is some disgruntlement from those going for the Grifftiger look as it turns out that getting those glowing stripes is far more involved than expected. They are caused by bioluminescent bacteria that feed on oils released by the Tiger, after all, and trying to achieve that with human base physiology is not that easy. As a consequence ‘Grifftiger People’ are the single most expensive of the exotic genemods.
For the ‘animal person’ aficionados there is a further complication, fully functional animal ears are actually not possible without extensive brain modifications, which have not been certified. Cosmetic ears are quite possible, and are rather popular, but full functionality is not in the cards due to the extensive ‘rewiring’ that would be required of the brain's sensory interpretation functions. Tails, on the other hand, are almost trivially easy, as the ‘wiring’ so to speak is already present, just unused in humans.
So in order of popularity you have the hair color mods by a substantial margin being the most common, with metallic colors being the most popular choice, followed by pointed ears from both fantasy buffs and fans of ancient science fiction shows, ‘cat person’ modifications are in third, mostly due to the expense of getting the most desirable ‘Grifftiger person’ set rather than any lack of overall interest. Excluding hair color mods, less than 10% of the population are getting any mods whatsoever.
You have been tempted to indulge yourself in getting your gray hair removed, even if your wife insists it makes you look distinguished and has hidden every bottle of hair coloring she’s ever found. She, of course, looks truly stunning with her silver hair, at least in your totally unbiased opinion.
The Pan-Griffon Games are taking place, and to your utter mortification your second eldest granddaughter is actually competing on Team Griffon in the Women’s Naked Volleyball event. Your wife and daughter-in-law think it’s hilarious, your eldest granddaughter and heir has offhandedly commented that the only reason she’s not competing is that her class schedule precluded her trying out for the team. Considering that at 22 she’s pursuing two different post-doc degrees in Economics and Military Science in addition to her imminent commissioning as a junior Lieutenant in the Imperial Griffon Army… well, OK, you can’t argue that she’s busy but you would rather not have your grandkids displaying all the goods!
Well, if she insists on competing, at least she helped bring home the gold medal in the event. Overall the games are rather interesting, with New Port Royal actually taking the Men’s Athletics gold medal, and New Pollux winning gold in Team Gymnastics and Men’s Wrestling. It’s nice to see how diverse the winners are, in terms of system of origin, although Team Griffon does win the lion’s share of gold medals. Only Okusawa is unrepresented on the podium for any event, but considering that they only sent a single athlete to compete in Women’s Wrestling that is rather understandable.
Speaking of Okusawa, violence levels are down for the second year in a row, with a number of prominent busts of holdout ISF facilities and groups. Things are hardly ‘calm’, but mass casualty events are not nearly as common as they were, although the occasional mortar attack still takes place. An attempt by ISF radicals to blow up a water treatment plant was foiled by local security forces even before the IGA could respond, which is a hopeful sign that the corner may have been reached, if not yet turned.
The Chamber of Delegates elections take place, slightly increasing the number of supportive MPs in the Chamber. Legislative work is also proceeding, with nothing particularly objectionable coming out of either chamber, mostly, it must be said, due to the Eldest quite literally reducing one arrogant idiot to tears with a well timed growl that resulted in a hasty change of pants for the moron.
The main piece of legislation that does come out of Parliament this year is the Small Business Act of 3012. The Small Business Act would establish a fund to guarantee small business loans at favorable rates compared to the previous norm for such small business loans, an average discount of thirty basis points on said loans, backed by the Imperial treasury. This would reduce the risk of loans to small businesses, encouraging financial institutions to be more generous in extending such lines of credit. The actual amount is, on the surface, trivial, amounting to 30/100’s of a percentage point, but with the numbers usually bandied about on small business loans that would be eligible for the program this quickly adds up to significant savings in interest payments.
It is noted that this creates a bit of a bell curve to interest rate subsidies on business loans, with the small businesses and the largest corporations both getting advantageous rates, with a bit of a ‘hump’ in the middle of mid-sized businesses. However, when looked at in absolute terms, this flattens out the risk differential between small and mid-sized business loans, bringing the small business loans to only an average of ten basis points above the average for mid-sized business loans, rather than the current average of 40 basis point difference that currently exists. The twenty basis point average subsidy on the major corporation loans is actually only a fraction of the 140 basis point average differential between midsize and major business rates.
On average this should slightly reduce volatility in terms of small business failures, increasing the rate by which small businesses transition to midsize status, and in general stabilize and improve the overall economy, although the costs are significant in terms of the overall subsidies.
| [] | Support the Small Business Act of 3012 |
|
| [] | Oppose the Small Business Act of 3012 |
|
Winter_Wind45
Well-known member
[X] Support the Small Business Act of 3012
Yacovo
Occasionally spouting nonsense
Glad to see we went middle of the road on this. “Extensive brain modification” sounds like something we know how to do on paper with our tech level, but haven’t figured out all the consequences yet.
[X] Support the Small Business Act of 3012
Meh, it is an upkeep of about 160m a year and less potential economic growth in exchange for a more stable economy. Plus it throws parliament a bone, which we should remember to do now and then.