Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)

Turn 88 - Enjoy The Silence

LordSunhawk

Das BOOT (literally)
Owner
Administrator
Staff Member
Founder
Turn 88 - Enjoy The Silence

Meta Event37
Dynasty Luck96
Successes
Imperial Approval5
Approval Change-4
Political Event2
Successes
Imperial Economy0
Economic Event-1
Research Event-1
GriffonEcon5
Health1
Event3
Nowa WarszawaEcon4
Health1
Event2
Calliope IVEcon3
Health0
Event1
TTPEcon4
Health0
Event1
New CapricornEcon2
Health2
Event5
Nowy ŚląskEcon2
Health12
Event3
EdelsteineEcon2
Health0
Event3
Nowy WroclawEcon5
Health0
Event0
Griff's LeapEcon1
Health0
Event3
New PhoenixEcon4
Health0
Event5
New EdenEcon2
Health0
Event1
New CastorEcon12
Health4
Event0
OkusawaEcon14
Health8
Event4
New PolluxEcon4
Health3
Event3
New Port RoyalEcon1
Health0
Event4
KaingaEcon1
Health0
Event5
ChumaEcon0
Health0
Event3
StahlfurtEcon6
HealthN/A
Event3
BariEcon10
Health2
Event3
SkalaEcon0
Health0
Event3
PiekloEcon10
Health1
Event4
Nya KöpenhamnEcon4
Health0
Event5

QM NOTE - Slightly differing format as we are welcoming a new planner to the ranks!

Plan: Don't be mean to the Sub
- Procurement [$798,159,543]
-- Lay Down Major Unit [Construction-$195,652,917] (95)
--- 23 Long Beach [95]
Target - 95
Roll – 53
Result - SUCCESS

--- 50 Bainbridge [95]
Target - 95
Roll – 31
Result - SUCCESS

--- 30 Saipan [95]
Target - 95
Roll – 30
Result - SUCCESS

--- 11 Canopus [95]
Target - 95
Roll – 82
Result - SUCCESS

--- 757 PPG-001 [95]
Target - 95
Roll – 10
Result - SUCCESS

-- Lay down Jumpship [Jumpship Construction-$17,213,512] (75)
--- 15 Windjammer [75]
Target - 75
Roll – 99, WhisperingMonk Reroll - 33
Result - SUCCESS

-- Lay down Warship [Warship Construction-$492,308,143] (80)
--- 20 Fletcher II [80]
Target - 80
Roll – 20
Result - SUCCESS

--- 6 Wichita [80]
Target - 80
Roll – 78
Result - SUCCESS

--- 2 Exeter [80]
Target - 80
Roll – 95, Jarow reroll - 9
Result - SUCCESS

-- Purchase New Units [$92,984,970] (90)
--- 0 Fighter Wing [auto]
--- 30 Heavy Carrier Wing [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 25
Result - SUCCESS

--- 3 Standard Mech Regiment [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 14
Result - SUCCESS

--- 6 Assault Mech Regiment [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 87
Result - SUCCESS

--- 12 Medium Mech Regiment [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 33
Result - SUCCESS

--- 12 Medium Scout Regiment [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 31
Result - SUCCESS

--- 12 AirCav Regiments [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 30
Result - SUCCESS

--- 24 Light Armored Regiments [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 84
Result - SUCCESS

--- 12 Light Mechanized Regiments [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 56
Result - SUCCESS

--- 18 Garrison Regiments [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 42
Result - SUCCESS

-- Increase Militia Rating of System [$7,500,000] (85)
--- 15 Militia Regiments [85]
Target - 85
Roll – 43
Result - SUCCESS

- General [$19,608,056,875.2]
-- Economic Focus-Core - New Port Royal
Target - 70
Roll – 76
Result – Bare FAILURE (auto success next turn)

-- Economic Focus-Periphery - New Pollux
Target - 70
Roll – 74
Result – Bare FAILURE (auto success next turn)

-- Invest in Edelstein
Target - 90
Roll – 74
Result - SUCCESS

-- Major Economic Investment - New Capricorn
Target - 75
Roll – 38
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial Zones
--- New Pollux [85]
Target - 85
Roll – 28
Result - SUCCESS

--- New Castor [85]
Target - 85
Roll – 38
Result - SUCCESS

--- Edelstein [85]
Target - 85
Roll – 84
Result - SUCCESS

--- Nya Copenhamn [85]
Target - 85
Roll – 5
Result - SUCCESS

--- Kainga [85]
Target - 85
Roll – 24
Result - SUCCESS

-- Expand Military Industrial Infrastructure
--- Chuma [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 88
Result - SUCCESS

--- Bari [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 55
Result - SUCCESS

--- Skala [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 83
Result - SUCCESS

--- Pierlo [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 6
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build New Commercial Space Station* [auto]
-- Build Logistics Factories New Port Royal x9 [95]
Target - 95
Roll – 18
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Logistics Factories New Pollux x20 [95]
Target - 95
Roll – 73
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build ASF Factory Complex (95)
--- <Okusawa> [95]
Target - 95
Roll – 33
Result - SUCCESS

--- <New Pollux> [95]
Target - 95
Roll – 68
Result - SUCCESS

--- <New Castor> [95]
Target - 95
Roll – 66
Result - SUCCESS

--- <Chuma> [95]
Target - 95
Roll – 26
Result - SUCCESS

--- <Edelstein> [95]
Target - 95
Roll – 79
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build New Material Factory (90)
--- Build New Factories in Okusawa
---- Build New DHS Factory [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 39
Result - SUCCESS

---- Build New Endosteel Factory [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 26
Result - SUCCESS

---- Build New Ferro Fibrous Factory [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 52
Result - SUCCESS

---- Build New Ferro Aluminum Factory [90--- <Okusawa> [95]]
Target - 90
Roll – 80
Result - SUCCESS

---- Build New Naval Armor Factory [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 64
Result - SUCCESS

--- Build New Ferro Aluminum Factory Edelstein [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 73
Result - SUCCESS

-- Expand Production Endo Steel
Target - 80
Roll – 91, General reroll - 39
Result - SUCCESS

-- Expand Production Ferro Fibrous
Target - 80
Roll – 26
Result - SUCCESS

-- Expand Production DHS
Target - 80
Roll – 2
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Light Warship Yard New Port Royal [80]
Target - 80
Roll – 9
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Light Warship Yard Nowa Warzsawa [80]
Target - 80
Roll – 92, General reroll - 29
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Medium Warship Yard Calliope [80]
Target - 80
Roll – 24
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Medium Warship Yard Griffon [85]
Target - 80
Roll – 5
Result - SUCCESS

-- Upgrade Refit & Repair Yards [105]
Target - 105
Roll – 61
Result - SUCCESS

-- Colonize Bauernparadies [75]
Target - 75
Roll – 52
Result - SUCCESS

-- Jump Point Defenses – Bauernparadies [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 62
Result - SUCCESS

-- Establish System Government – Bauernparadies [80]
Target - 80
Roll – 99, Event reroll - 24
Result - SUCCESS

-- Establish Legal System – Bauernparadies [80]
Target - 80
Roll – 74
Result - SUCCESS

-- Designate Bauernparadies a Garden World [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 82
Result - SUCCESS

-- <Culture> German Cultural Festival
Target - 70
Roll – 33
Result - SUCCESS

-- <Justice> Rationalize Legal Codes
Target - 85
Roll – 71
Result - SUCCESS

- DoME [47,545,000,000]
-- Construct O'Neill Cylinder Complex on Stahlfurt* [75]
Target - 85
Roll – 83
Result - SUCCESS

-- DOME - Megafactory Griffon* [auto]
-- DOME - Megafactory Nowa Warzsawa* [auto]
-- DOME - Megafactory Calliope* [90]
Target - 85
Roll – 32
Result - SUCCESS

- Research [35,145,000,000]
-- Advanced Naval Combat Doctrine* [70]
Target - 70
Roll – 17
Result - SUCCESS

-- Advanced Small Pulse Lasers [60]
Target - 60
Roll – 76, ShadowArxxy reroll - 64
Result – Bare FAILURE (auto succeed next turn)

-- Materials Research Lvl 7 [95]
Target - 95
Roll – 97
Result – Bare FAILURE (auto succeed next turn)

-- Optimized Warship Design [75]
Target - 75
Roll – 17
Result - SUCCESS

-----

You have decided that life can be epicly unfair. Here you are, about to get married, and you have no time to enjoy yourself because you are also now the Empress. This is supposed to be a time of relaxing with your friends and anticipating the wedding, perhaps trolling your grandfather a bit, and generally being happy. Instead what already was a huge event has become something even larger, and you are far too busy handling paperwork to truly enjoy it.

You’d suspected when you took command of your battalion that the Empire ran on paper, now you have confirmed it, in triplicate, with memos and endorsements. You barely had time for your bachelorette party, for Heaven’s sake. But you put on a smile, wave, and grumble privately with your closest friends that plan A, a crawl through all of the soldier bars on the planet, had been vetoed by the Imperial Guard. Instead you had to pick one bar, from a list of pre-approved bars, and stick with it. And keeping in mind your public image you couldn’t even pick one of the good ones, with the strippers, instead you had to be more ‘wholesome’. Not that you had a problem with Captain Jack’s, it was actually one of your favorite hangouts when on planet, but still!

You do smile a bit when you learn that your fiance had canceled the traditional bachelor party in favor of something more dignified, without any prompting or hints whatsoever. Then again, Markus had excellent social instincts, and converting his bachelor party into a fundraiser for the survivors of the Battle of Oculus Venetus was rather inspired, and certainly gained the two of you some excellent press coverage.

Your grandmother is still in mourning, as is your mother, but they are all smiles at the wedding, a lavish ceremony held in the main cathedral in Griffsport. You had initially planned on wearing your mess dress uniform, but had been quite solemnly assured that such a choice would cause a civil war by enraging every dressmaker in the Empire to a murderous frenzy resulting in a bloodbath unseen since ancient days. The fact your grandmother could barely keep a straight face while saying that led to all of your breaking up laughing, but in the end the only concession to comfort were your shoes. The dress? While you are sure that generational feuds had been triggered among the dressmakers of Griffsport, the final result was exceptionally elegant in its simplicity and perfection of lines, with no wasted decoration or frills. You’d appreciated that a great deal.

Your ‘honeymoon’, and yes, it was an alleged honeymoon, consisted of a cruise aboard SS United States, where you would never be more than 30 seconds away from secure comm equipment. Apart from a few hours every evening, meals, and sleeping you spent the entire time working. Not that you didn’t enjoy those few hours, the meals, and the ‘sleeping’.

You didn’t get much sleep.

You didn’t care either.

You do find out why Admiral Fisher was protected by your grandfather and Aunt Thanh. While he’s abrasive, iconoclastic, a bit bombastic, without a filter or any sense of social niceties, he is undoubtedly intelligent. Your first meeting with him includes a very detailed examination of what he considers to be the failings of the Navy.

In short, too many teeth, not enough tail, divergent design philosophies that ensure that making coherent fleet formations that actually are mutually supportive is nearly impossible, and far too many egos in the mix. Smaller warships are being designed as oversized dropships rather than as specialized units in their own right.

As an example he cites the Dagger, which he considers a poorly designed atrocity that is almost more dangerous to their own crews than the enemy. At the other end, he dislikes the Fletcher Flight II as being too expensive for their capability, while acknowledging that they are indeed deadly ships. What he disputes is whether or not it is worthwhile building them, when for the same cost as a single Fletcher Flight II you could have two Stiletto class destroyers, which are lighter, cheaper, have more extreme range firepower, and equal speed. So long as the Stiletto captain kept the range open, the smaller, lighter, and cheaper vessel was actually deadlier than the Fletcher Flight II, it was only when you closed to medium combat ranges that the larger ship regained the advantage.

He lays out to you what he feels would be the best light unit design. A laser focus on extreme range firepower with sufficient acceleration and performance to keep an enemy at that range, sufficient close in defense armament to dissuade ASF strikes, an advanced sensor suite for battlespace awareness, a single drop collar to carry a single Saipan and facilitate logistics, and nothing else. Other ships in the formation would carry the HPGs and the mass drop collars needed for parasite dropship escorts, the destroyer is part of the screen, and needs to be optimized as such.

You spend hours with him as he lays out his views, on things like the latest classes of heavy warships (the Exeter is good, the Kongo shows some promise but is too small for the job, and the proposed Furious is ridiculous and has no place in the line of battle) to logistics (the Supply-class is a good start, but you need more optimal logistics dropships, and a larger logistics design to support fleet ops). He believes that you need more production of escort class ships, that the current paradigm is too top heavy. He wants to sell off the Tramp, Caravel, and Monolith class jumpships still in naval service as they are ‘not suited to military use’. Once you have enough Windjammers in service he’d push to retire the Brig design as well. He also wants to streamline the inventory of dropships, retiring older designs that are no longer, in his terms, ‘militarily viable’, such as the Colchester, the Shannon and the Royal Sovereign. He’d like to transfer them, plus the PGL-50s, the Langleys and the Lancers to the NRI or NRR.

A bureaucratic ‘perfect storm’ has struck the offices responsible for focused development, both of core and peripheral systems. A gadfly activist group filed a blizzard of lawsuits alleging failure to adequately review development grant submissions. The suits themselves were, to be blunt, frivolous as can be, as the activist group in question was a neo-Luddite group of idealists just one step removed from becoming tenured faculty at the department of peripheral studies. However a computer glitch, in which the judge who was assigned the cases intended to dismiss them with prejudice due to their not only being utterly frivolous but also lacking even the slightest standing accidentally instead denied the dismissal, resulting in several weeks of confusion and consternation. The error was rectified, tracked down to a software bug, but both focused development projects have been delayed until Q1 of next year.

The troubles in the focused development office did not affect the investment teams, thankfully, and Edelsteine sees a significant boost in economic growth thanks to carefully targeted Imperial investments in deserving small businesses in the system. Similarly the massive investment in infrastructure and such on New Capricorn has a wonderful effect on the growth of the newly minted Core world.

After your honeymoon, you attend a blizzard of commissioning ceremonies and even take the time for a short cruise around the Griffon system on board the newly commissioned HMS Kongo on her maiden voyage. You do sign the crew register and are listed as a plankowner. Markus had to explain that one to you, since you’ve never really been much of a navy person.

You are on firmer ground, no pun intended, when attending the ceremonies celebrating the activation of the new mech and tank regiments in the Army. You are a bit jealous, in fact, as a few of your classmates are serving as XOs of the new mech regiments. You’d been slated for one of those slots when your grandfather died.

You manage to keep from tearing up at that reminder.

Elizabeth comes to your office to brief you on the results of the various infrastructure projects across the Empire. All completed on schedule and budget, and are showing positive returns in their respective systems. The expanded military infrastructure projects have shown similar success, showing substantial benefits in the peripheral systems selected this year.

The clusters of new Logistics plants on New Port Royal and New Pollux have eased logistics strains and have met with positive reactions from the local economies as economic growth is boosted in both systems.

The new ASF factory complexes are online, and with the completion of the upgrades to your ASF forces will be available for new production starting in Q1, allowing for a substantial boost in ASF production.

Strategic materials production has surged across the Empire, with corresponding economic benefits, especially in the Okusawa and Edelsteine systems as new factories come online, boosting employment substantially. Likewise the new warship yards have been completed.

You do get a pleasant surprise, a private company in the New Capricorn system, during the celebrations surrounding the granting of Core status, builds out a full Medium rated shipyard and gifts it to the Empire as a wedding present to you. You are rather floored by it, most girls get trinkets and gift certificates, somebody gave you a shipyard able to build up to one and a quarter million ton warships. Nice.

The colonization of Bauernparadies is quite successful, as is the designation of the system as a dedicated agricultural world. The announcement of the name during the German Cultural Festival was seen as a nice touch, and is generally very well regarded by the German community within the Empire. (QM note - +1 Approval Change for the synergy)

You get a report from Martina concerning the rationalization and streamlining of the Imperial regulatory and legal codes. The work has been completed and they are hopeful that it will be around five to six years before they have to do this again, less if Parliament gets overly ambitious, more if you can keep them from cluttering it up too much.

No pressure.

The O’Neill Cylinder complex in the Stahlfurt system has been completed, allowing for more growth in the system at the doorstep to the Bourbons. Thankfully Nouvelle Picardie is too busy licking its wounded pride to cause any trouble, although you’ve gotten a private warning from your ambassador to the Bourbons that they are not happy with you and will try and cause you trouble.

Three new Megafactories have been completed, significantly boosting your production capacity for heavy and assault mechs. With the focus on naval affairs there have been proposals to focus the mech factories on sustainment for the next couple years, bringing all of your older equipment fully up to date over and above what the DURF is able to do organically. It’s something to consider, even if your Mechwarrior soul whines about it.

Work on Advanced Naval Combat Doctrine has been completed, with theorists, strategists, and tacticians all working together to develop new doctrines for your naval forces. The end result will hopefully improve your combat performance significantly, especially against opponents like the Black Steel.

Work on optimizing warship design has also concluded, and you are somewhat amused at how closely the recommendations of the R&D teams seem to track with Admiral Fisher’s. Unfortunately it will not be possible to simply refit the affected designs, only new construction of new designs built to the more optimized standards would be possible.

The R&D teams for the Advanced Small Pulse Lasers project and the Materials Research are both finding themselves behind schedule due to unexpected complications in their work. The Materials Research people are finding it unexpectedly difficult to stabilize a theoretical metallic crystalline alloy which, it turns out, is needed for the Advanced Small Pulse Lasers project. The researchers believe that they’ll be able to crack this by no later than Q3 of next year.
 

mmgaballah

Well-known member
I have an idea for dealing with Blacksteel and getting off the defensive , they are a nomadic faction so that means they have things we can target , the systems they stop in to harvest resources and the NewGrange yard ships they use to build new ships , but to attack first we need a target , that is were my idea comes in , stealth ships based on the null signature system equipped with the most overpower sensor suit possible , they would jump out side of sensor range just beyond the edge of solar system before going in using conventional drives to scout the system ,if they find a Blacksteel operation they sneak back out and call home m if not they move on to the next system

eventually the constant loss of their resource harvesting operations hampering their expansion plus the danger to their yardships which I am semi sure they can't replace will force them to seek out greener pastures , hopefully setting out to go bother the Inner Sphere instead
 

Yacovo

Occasionally spouting nonsense
Huh, no failures and a large boost to the economy and military now and next turn. Thanks for the plan The Whispering Monk.
 

Jarow

Well-known member
the proposed Furious is ridiculous and has no place in the line of battle
While there are some good points about that ship, can't really disagree. There's a reason we don't have any yet, despite having options to build them for a while now.

the systems they stop in to harvest resources and the NewGrange yard ships they use to build new ships , but to attack first we need a target , that is were my idea comes in , stealth ships based on the null signature system equipped with the most overpower sensor suit possible ,if they would jump out side of sensor range just beyond the edge of solar system before going in using conventional drives to scout the system
Few problems with that:
1. We don't have null sig, and even if we did I don't think it can be applied to space assets
2. This is really slow, especially if you want to make sure they aren't hiding themselves
3. If they're nomadic, targets like those are not going to be soft targets, but be surrounded by the main body of their fleet. And we recently lost a very big chunk of ours, including the vast majority of out big ships.
 

mmgaballah

Well-known member
1. We don't have null sig, and even if we did I don't think it can be applied to space assets
pretty sure it can , since in space optical and visual detection is out of the question except if the ships involved are at knife fighting distances , the distances involved are to great for anything other than using dedicated deep space sensors , so null sig would work to prevent a ship from showing on them at least until it does something to get sensor locked like use the KF drive or open fire or get in visual sensor range
2. This is really slow, especially if you want to make sure they aren't hiding themselves
3. If they're nomadic, targets like those are not going to be soft targets, but be surrounded by the main body of their fleet. And we recently lost a very big chunk of ours, including the vast majority of out big ships.
it will take plenty of time to figure out null sig , design a stealth ship and recover our recent losses and expand the fleet as it stands so we have nothing but time
 
Turn 89 - Madman Drummers Bummers

LordSunhawk

Das BOOT (literally)
Owner
Administrator
Staff Member
Founder
Turn 89 - Madman Drummers Bummers

Admiral Fisher, and the new head of BuShips, Vice Admiral Andrea Sims, comes to your office early in January. He looks as annoyed as he usually is, while Admiral Sims, a petite woman who barely tops 5 feet in height, looks… about as zen as a Buddha, until you see the fire in her eyes.

Admiral Sims is carrying a briefcase, which she opens and from which she takes out a number of briefing folders for you.

Admiral Fisher, meanwhile, looks impatient, then once the folders are distributed begins in that somewhat annoying tone of his. “BuShips has been relying too much on the private designers and builders and not enough on our own staff, so I’m changing that.” He pauses for a moment at a lifted eyebrow from you, colors a bit, then tacks on a ‘Your Majesty’ to the end of that sentence.

You’d been warned by your previous interactions last year with the man, and the files, that he tends to be this way.

“Sims?” he grates, glaring at his subordinate, who seems to allow her superior's attitude to roll off of her back.

“Your Majesty, under Admiral Fisher’s direction we’ve prepared the Fubuki class Destroyer to his personal specifications.” her voice is utterly neutral, its very neutrality showing that she doesn’t agree with said specifications in their entirety. “Unlike all previous designs we have not involved any outside concerns in the work.”

She brings up an image, a sleek and lethal looking design is displayed, looking somehow far more predatory than anything else you’d yet seen. “The tonnage is the same as the Haida and Fletcher classes, however there are significant differences in design philosophy. Unlike the Fletcher and Haida designs, the Fubuki has a more optimized and streamlined structure, saving significant tonnage while slightly reducing the armor carried by the vessel without compromising survivability. Maximum thrust is increased to 4g, with 2.5g sustained thrust. Extreme range capital armament is concentrated in the nose, being all-energy based with a mix of naval lasers and naval PPCs. I would also bring your attention to the extremely heavy batteries of class 3 subcap lasers, with a total of 15 quad batteries spread across the sides and stern of the vessel providing superb long range anti-fighter firepower and excellent anti capital missile defensive capability. I would further bring to your attention the massive banks of class 40 Hyper Assault Gauss weapons, rotary type autocannons, and enhanced extended range PPCs mounted in those same locations.”

As she talks she is highlighting areas on the 3d model of the new warship design. “There are only two drop collars, a compact long range sensor array, and no HPG communications system. Compromises did have to be made in order to fit the heavy conventional firepower…”

She is interrupted by Admiral Fisher. “Yes yes, we took away the extra recreation rooms, the multiple mess decks, and cut the personal cargo allotment of the enlisted crew. Our existing vessels are far too gold plated, with superfluous luxuries that cut into actual combat capability to an unacceptable degree. The NRI has shown just what can be accomplished by being completely ruthless about combat efficiency, but we are not proposing to go nearly that far. But we don’t have to coddle them either.”

Admiral Sims clears her throat slightly. “We also had to reduce the lateral batteries of naval lasers from class 55 to class 45 weapons, Your Majesty.”, earning herself a venomous glare from her superior. “Regardless, this is still among the most powerful units available, and fully suitable for the fleet escort role.” She doesn’t seem to react at all to Fisher’s ire, which only seems to goad the irascible man.

You smirk a little, figuring that Fisher deserves a little shit from his subordinates to keep him on his toes, much like he gave all of his superiors shit with the protection of Auntie Thanh and granddad. You’ll just have to keep an eye on things to ensure he doesn’t retaliate against Admiral Sims, although according to the notes you have about him he’s not the sort, preferring to vent his spleen verbally, while respecting those with the gumption to call him out just as he called out others. He’d never shown any signs of retaliating against… opinionated subordinates… in the past.
NameCostMaterialsHPA//DSpecials
Fubuki-class Fleet Destroyer$8,845,016.00DHS, LFC63135903
  • Armored 16
  • AMS 100
  • Capital AMS 190
  • Capital
    • 2/2705
    • 4/589
  • Command 3
  • 2 Collars
  • Swift

You do have to handle your first actual crisis of your reign. The enormous economic opportunities available in the New Pollux system is causing a serious issue as people are flocking there in hopes of cashing in on the prosperity. Transport companies are cashing in, but this is leading to a shortage of and commiserate increased cost of civil transport in the rest of the Empire. Plus the landing fields of New Pollux are at their absolute limit, with transports waiting up to three weeks in orbit for a spot in the landing queue.

Industry representatives have come to you requesting emergency assistance from the Empire to rectify this situation. The sheer volume of demand is causing a supply shortage, which could become a serious economic liability if not addressed appropriately. Their requests, along with the requests from the New Pollux authorities, are quite reasonable, if a bit expensive.

Specifically it comes in two parts. First, the transport industry has a great deal of additional capacity under construction in civilian yards, they have negotiated with the yards deals to expedite the completion of new vessels and are bearing 100% of the cost for doing so. They aren’t requesting any financial support in that area, but they are asking for you to increase the number of inspectors available to clear the new ships for regulatory safety approval in an expedited manner. This would require you hiring tens of thousands of new inspectors across the Empire and forming them into teams with experienced inspectors while accepting that on the job training would occur. Commercial insurers are willing to accept the increased risk factors this would cause, as by their estimates they would be within an acceptable range.
[]ActionArguments for ActionEffects
[]Commerce is the lifeblood of Empire, accept the riskThe economic lifeblood of the Empire rests in our shipping fleets, without them our goods cannot get to market and our economy would stall.

Our current safety record for interstellar transportation is nearly spotless. Now. When we first began, however, we accepted higher risks than we do today as par for the course. The estimates of the delta between current standards and the temporary drop caused by the large number of new inspectors is significantly less than the delta between the standards of just ten years ago and today. Moreover, by biting the bullet today we future proof ourselves for any future ‘gold rush’ type scenarios.
  • Costs $10,000,000,000.00
  • +2 Econ Event
  • +2 Approval Change
  • +1 Approval
  • -2 Politics
  • -1 Economy Rating
  • Sets Trade Efficiency to 4.45 (from 4.5)
[]Maximum safety is the highest priority and must never be compromisedThe safety of our citizens should be our only priority, anything at all which increases the chances for accidents and failures is utterly irresponsible, no matter the costs to the Empire. We have a moral duty to our citizens to keep them safe at all costs.

Reducing inspection standards through the introduction of inexperienced inspectors is utterly irresponsible, morally corrupt, and an insult to all respectable and right-thinking citizens of this Empire and must not be permitted.
  • -2 Econ Event
  • -2 Approval
  • -1 Approval Change
  • +1 Politics
  • +1 Approval
  • Sets Trade Efficiency to 4 (from 4.5)

The second part is a request to deploy Pathfinder regiments to New Pollux to clear temporary landing zones and provide enhanced aerospace traffic control services in order to more efficiently handle the massive traffic. While this would be a valuable training opportunity for these units, as such things are certainly within their usual operational remit, it would be an unexpected expense.
[]ActionArguments for ActionEffects
[]A wonderful idea, do itAn opportunity to gain valuable operational training and help with a major issue at the same time, giving the military invaluable PR benefits while helping the Empire’s economy? What’s not to like?
  • Costs $10,000,000.00
  • Adds .1 to Trade Efficiency
  • +1 Approval Change
  • Prevents Certain Events
[]Our military shouldn’t be used like thisThis is ridiculous, no military units should ever be deployed merely to help with civilian traffic control. Screw ‘em.
  • Allows Certain Events
 

ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
[X] Commerce is the lifeblood of Empire, accept the risk

It's a *very small* risk which does not actually involve changing safety standards, and the disruption of commercial shipping is *a big deal* for our economy.

[X] A wonderful idea, do it

This is excellent training for civil disaster deployments of the military, particularly in making sure that the military knows how to interoperate with civilian procedures and standards.
 

Yacovo

Occasionally spouting nonsense
[X] Commerce is the lifeblood of Empire, accept the risk
[X] A wonderful idea, do it

As long as the regulations as lessened “temporarily” I think it is an acceptable risk given the crisis. Plus all the new inspectors will mean tighter regulations in the future.
 

LordSunhawk

Das BOOT (literally)
Owner
Administrator
Staff Member
Founder
The actual regulations are not being changed in any way, the risk comes from inexperienced inspectors missing things while learning on the job. Notably, the insurance companies consider the risk small enough that they aren't raising rates.
 

Rukatin

Malfunctioning NPC at Best.
I say no. I mean, I get the risk versus rewards, it's just we have never been anybody to compromise on safety, and I'd like to keep it that way.
 

The Whispering Monk

Well-known member
Osaul
I say no. I mean, I get the risk versus rewards, it's just we have never been anybody to compromise on safety, and I'd like to keep it that way.
Totally get it, but we are in a war with a technologically superior foe that wants to exterminate us.

The Terminators are coming for us.
 

ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
I say no. I mean, I get the risk versus rewards, it's just we have never been anybody to compromise on safety, and I'd like to keep it that way.

That's ridiculous. It's not "compromising on safety", it's literally hiring new inspectors to not bottleneck and choke *literally the driver of our entire economy*.
 

The Whispering Monk

Well-known member
Osaul
[X] Fubuki-class Fleet Destroyer
[X] Commerce is the lifeblood of Empire, accept the risk
[X] A wonderful idea, do it

For those against the idea of hiring more inspectors, @kelgar04 @Thors_Alumni @AlphaOmega @Rukatin @Val the Moofia Boss, you may be overthinking this.

The risks is there that our newly minted inspectors miss something and something bad happens. However, as previously mentioned, in no way are we lowering our standards of safety.

What we're doing is ensuring that we have the manpower to deal with greater demands of production. This is absolutely necessary as we're facing a Terminator threat that wants to exterminate us. I'd rather we get ahead of the curve now, with a minor amount of risk vs suddenly facing huge production demands where we HAVE TO ACCEPT an almost complete lack of inspection b/c we're suddenly hitting full production demands to fight a war in our own systems.

It's coming chaps. We've just been very lucky the BS hasn't hit one of our truly core production systems.
 

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