Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)
- Thread starter LordSunhawk
- Start date
AlphaOmega
Well-known member
Turn 90 - May Good Fortune Be With You
Turn 90 - May Good Fortune Be With You
You travel to Calliope to attend the Opening Ceremonies of the Pan-Griffon Games aboard the Imperial Yacht HMY Renown, docked to HMS Exeter. Admiral Fisher and Rear Admiral Sims were along, and Admiral Fisher, at least, looked uncommonly pleased.
“I get a ton of shit from spacers about not caring about crew comfort.” he comments as he takes you on a tour of the heavy cruiser. “But look at this crap. Less than two tons per crewmember in stores and recreation space, and these bozos claim that the six times greater stores, recreation, and office space allotment I insisted on in the Lyr-class corvettes was ‘too little’, I managed more than this in the Fubuki, and those are bloody destroyers intended for fleet actions, not a heavy cruiser that supposedly is a flagship.” He rolls his eyes. “Less than two tons, Your Majesty. This ship is tied tighter to the logistics teat than a bloody destroyer half her tonnage, just for simple things like fresh food and potable water. And I’m the one who doesn’t care about the common spacer.” He throws his hands up, shaking his head.
“We do have a proposal for a better balanced million ton heavy cruiser, Your Majesty.” Admiral Sims puts in.
Fisher snorts. “And tell Her Nibs what you wanted to call it!”
Sims just chuckles. “The Kamchatka class.” She admits with a slight smile.
“See what I have to put up with?” Fisher declares. “I’ll be blunt, giving it sufficient crew space, enough stores to last more than a week between resupply, and sufficient defensive fire did seriously cut into the on-paper firepower of the ship, and even then I wasn’t able to completely cut out the missile armament. And I’m not naming it after the most unlucky ship in history, damnit.”
You can’t help but laugh. The heavy cruiser did seem rather cramped, with narrow corridors and the wardroom where you’d had dinner with the ship’s officers had been extremely tight, with next to no room to spare.
“We settled on calling it the Canarias-class.” Sims informs you. “As Admiral Fisher alluded to, these ships would not be nearly as heavily gunned as this one, but would have far greater endurance and habitability, while still fulfilling the heavy cruiser combat role. They’d also carry 20 parasites, not 16, which contributes significantly to the higher cost per unit but increases the actual combat power of the formation”
You check the deployment history and find that HMS Exeter requires nearly constant resupply and has never deployed more than a single jump away from a logistics node due to that requirement. Even a mechwarrior like you can tell that this is not precisely a desirable quality in a warship. After discussions with both Admiral Fisher and Rear Admiral Sims you agree that it appears that the privately designed ships the Navy is currently using have very sharp teeth, but completely lack any sort of integral ‘tail’, making them very short-legged indeed regardless of what the paper statistics say. Sure, they don’t need to refill their fuel tanks all that often, but the stores lockers are something they shouldn’t need to refill on a daily basis.
Tamara is a very good baby, although she does keep you and Markus awake at night at times since both of you are insisting on being fully involved in her, rather than leaving her to nurses and nannies. When you arrive on Calliope IV the crowds do seem to appreciate her, judging by the wildly enthusiastic cheering.
The 3020 edition of the Pan-Griffon games are off to an exciting start, with athletes from across the Empire competing for positions on the 3022 Olympic Team. The added spice of competition from an actual rival, rather than the friendly competition that had been a feature of the games from the beginning, is quite intoxicating, leading to a great increase in both enthusiasm and energy.
The Bourbon public whining about the ‘indignity’ of the one naked event, the volleyball, has given late night comedians tons of material and has vastly increased support for it. You find it rather amusing.
Parliament forwards a pair of bills to you for your consideration.
First, they are ‘strongly urging’ you to establish New Phoenix as a new fleet and army base, supporting future expansion in that sector of the Empire. Normally this would be something coming from your advisors, but the bill in question also allocates funds for local industrial, commercial, and residential expansion over and above the normal DoME project, citing the chaotic hyper-growth in the New Pollux system as a reason.
General Jenkins, General Bradley, and Admiral Fisher are all in agreement that such a facility would be highly desirable and serve the interests of the Empire’s military.
The other legislation concerns anti-poverty measures in the Core Worlds. While internal migration has helped blunt the issue over the years, with programs in place to subsidize the transit fees for the poorest citizens of the Empire seeking new beginnings, the significantly lower growth rates in the Core do result in an excess of intergenerational poverty. The social safety net is perfectly adequate, as far as it goes, to prevent starvation and health issues while preserving the dignity of the poor. But there are now entire regions in the Core that pretty much exist on the dole, with little hope for local economic growth. The low-wage work is more efficiently done with automation or out in the Periphery, leaving people behind.
Analysis shows that the few successful areas in the Core which have managed to escape the poverty trap have done so through refocusing on artistic and artisanal crafts, rather than chasing the dwindling number of industrial jobs in the Core. The problem is that regulatory regimes which are perfectly adequate for mass production in fully automated factories, where billions of identical products are made every month, are incredibly burdensome on a small shop handcrafting custom products. While the major corporations can devote trivial percentages of their income to compliance, the exact same regulatory regime is more expensive than a small shop could possibly afford.
Local artisans have pooled resources together into co-ops in an effort to afford the costs associated with regulatory compliance, and in those successful areas local governments have gotten behind the process. Unfortunately many others have not, leading to other efforts fizzling out and failing.
The legislation before you would regularize the best practices found to already be successful in those areas where they’ve been tried and create model programs to hopefully duplicate said success on wider scales.
You travel to Calliope to attend the Opening Ceremonies of the Pan-Griffon Games aboard the Imperial Yacht HMY Renown, docked to HMS Exeter. Admiral Fisher and Rear Admiral Sims were along, and Admiral Fisher, at least, looked uncommonly pleased.
“I get a ton of shit from spacers about not caring about crew comfort.” he comments as he takes you on a tour of the heavy cruiser. “But look at this crap. Less than two tons per crewmember in stores and recreation space, and these bozos claim that the six times greater stores, recreation, and office space allotment I insisted on in the Lyr-class corvettes was ‘too little’, I managed more than this in the Fubuki, and those are bloody destroyers intended for fleet actions, not a heavy cruiser that supposedly is a flagship.” He rolls his eyes. “Less than two tons, Your Majesty. This ship is tied tighter to the logistics teat than a bloody destroyer half her tonnage, just for simple things like fresh food and potable water. And I’m the one who doesn’t care about the common spacer.” He throws his hands up, shaking his head.
“We do have a proposal for a better balanced million ton heavy cruiser, Your Majesty.” Admiral Sims puts in.
Fisher snorts. “And tell Her Nibs what you wanted to call it!”
Sims just chuckles. “The Kamchatka class.” She admits with a slight smile.
“See what I have to put up with?” Fisher declares. “I’ll be blunt, giving it sufficient crew space, enough stores to last more than a week between resupply, and sufficient defensive fire did seriously cut into the on-paper firepower of the ship, and even then I wasn’t able to completely cut out the missile armament. And I’m not naming it after the most unlucky ship in history, damnit.”
You can’t help but laugh. The heavy cruiser did seem rather cramped, with narrow corridors and the wardroom where you’d had dinner with the ship’s officers had been extremely tight, with next to no room to spare.
“We settled on calling it the Canarias-class.” Sims informs you. “As Admiral Fisher alluded to, these ships would not be nearly as heavily gunned as this one, but would have far greater endurance and habitability, while still fulfilling the heavy cruiser combat role. They’d also carry 20 parasites, not 16, which contributes significantly to the higher cost per unit but increases the actual combat power of the formation”
| Name | Cost | Materials | HP | A/D | Specials |
| Canarias-class Heavy Cruiser | $28,443,578 | LFC, DHS | 3613 | 2258 |
|
You check the deployment history and find that HMS Exeter requires nearly constant resupply and has never deployed more than a single jump away from a logistics node due to that requirement. Even a mechwarrior like you can tell that this is not precisely a desirable quality in a warship. After discussions with both Admiral Fisher and Rear Admiral Sims you agree that it appears that the privately designed ships the Navy is currently using have very sharp teeth, but completely lack any sort of integral ‘tail’, making them very short-legged indeed regardless of what the paper statistics say. Sure, they don’t need to refill their fuel tanks all that often, but the stores lockers are something they shouldn’t need to refill on a daily basis.
Tamara is a very good baby, although she does keep you and Markus awake at night at times since both of you are insisting on being fully involved in her, rather than leaving her to nurses and nannies. When you arrive on Calliope IV the crowds do seem to appreciate her, judging by the wildly enthusiastic cheering.
The 3020 edition of the Pan-Griffon games are off to an exciting start, with athletes from across the Empire competing for positions on the 3022 Olympic Team. The added spice of competition from an actual rival, rather than the friendly competition that had been a feature of the games from the beginning, is quite intoxicating, leading to a great increase in both enthusiasm and energy.
The Bourbon public whining about the ‘indignity’ of the one naked event, the volleyball, has given late night comedians tons of material and has vastly increased support for it. You find it rather amusing.
Parliament forwards a pair of bills to you for your consideration.
First, they are ‘strongly urging’ you to establish New Phoenix as a new fleet and army base, supporting future expansion in that sector of the Empire. Normally this would be something coming from your advisors, but the bill in question also allocates funds for local industrial, commercial, and residential expansion over and above the normal DoME project, citing the chaotic hyper-growth in the New Pollux system as a reason.
General Jenkins, General Bradley, and Admiral Fisher are all in agreement that such a facility would be highly desirable and serve the interests of the Empire’s military.
| [] | Action | Arguments | Effects |
| [] | Sign the Military Expansion Act of 3020 | We have already seen on New Pollux how designating a system as the site of a major base supercharges the local economy. The military considerations alone make New Phoenix the perfect site for a major facility, especially in light of the recent skirmish in the New Eden system. The challenge is that such supercharged growth requires extra planning, which for understandable reasons did not occur on New Pollux. We have a responsibility to learn from the past and be proactive in the future. While the DoME teams construct the base, incentivizing local and Imperial industry and commercial interests to build up the surrounding infrastructure is of vital importance. The Delegates and Senators from New Phoenix are therefore proposing that the Empire assist the local system government in this effort. |
|
| [] | Veto the Military Expansion Act of 3020 | Sure, building a new base out that way would be useful and the military wants it, but who cares what they want. We spend too much on the military anyways, and they should learn we don’t jump to their goddamn bugle. We can use those DoME projects on something useful for real people, not mindless warmongering myrmidons. And why should we let some Senators and Delegates have any say whatsoever, they’re just stooges of the military-industrial complex out to line their own pockets at our expense. |
|
The other legislation concerns anti-poverty measures in the Core Worlds. While internal migration has helped blunt the issue over the years, with programs in place to subsidize the transit fees for the poorest citizens of the Empire seeking new beginnings, the significantly lower growth rates in the Core do result in an excess of intergenerational poverty. The social safety net is perfectly adequate, as far as it goes, to prevent starvation and health issues while preserving the dignity of the poor. But there are now entire regions in the Core that pretty much exist on the dole, with little hope for local economic growth. The low-wage work is more efficiently done with automation or out in the Periphery, leaving people behind.
Analysis shows that the few successful areas in the Core which have managed to escape the poverty trap have done so through refocusing on artistic and artisanal crafts, rather than chasing the dwindling number of industrial jobs in the Core. The problem is that regulatory regimes which are perfectly adequate for mass production in fully automated factories, where billions of identical products are made every month, are incredibly burdensome on a small shop handcrafting custom products. While the major corporations can devote trivial percentages of their income to compliance, the exact same regulatory regime is more expensive than a small shop could possibly afford.
Local artisans have pooled resources together into co-ops in an effort to afford the costs associated with regulatory compliance, and in those successful areas local governments have gotten behind the process. Unfortunately many others have not, leading to other efforts fizzling out and failing.
The legislation before you would regularize the best practices found to already be successful in those areas where they’ve been tried and create model programs to hopefully duplicate said success on wider scales.
| [] | Action | Arguments | Effects |
| [] | Sign the Artisanal Regulatory Reform Act of 3020 | We have for the longest time focused our economic efforts on the ‘big guys’, on the major corporations that are the engines of our economy. Our regulatory system is superb, efficient, and effective. But it is also complex at times, and compliance can be expensive without economies of scale. The regulations already differentiate between industrial scale and artisanal scale, however local offices of regulatory agencies have a distressing habit of downplaying those differences and denying artisanal concerns the benefits of the more streamlined processes already built into the system. This act would mandate that all offices of Imperial regulatory agencies adhere strictly to these regulatory differences, empowering small artisanal concerns to appeal local agency decisions to an ombudsman capable of overruling the local bureaucrats. It would also establish a commission to apply best practices from across the Empire, with an eye towards local conditions. |
|
| [] | Veto the Artisanal Regulatory Reform Act of 3020 | ‘Artisanal goods’? Bahh, mass produced goods are perfectly fine, and only rich idiots care about ‘artisanal’ anything. Encouraging such garbage is just empowering failures and morons. If anything we should eliminate any considerations in the law that allow such crap, if a robot can’t build it, it shouldn’t be built. The only solution to those failures littering the Core worlds is forced immigration, get rid of them and you get rid of the problem, and we can use the real estate they squat on for more useful purposes. They don’t want to leave? Screw ‘em. |
|
Thors_Alumni
Well-known member
[X] Sign the Military Expansion Act of 3020
[X] Sign the Artisanal Regulatory Reform Act of 3020
[X] Sign the Artisanal Regulatory Reform Act of 3020
AlphaOmega
Well-known member
[X] Sign the Military Expansion Act of 3020
[X] Sign the Artisanal Regulatory Reform Act of 3020
[X] Sign the Artisanal Regulatory Reform Act of 3020
Jarow
Well-known member
[X] Sign the Military Expansion Act of 3020
I'll have to remember to reduce parliamentary influence, but it's in a reasonable location to serve as a base for the northwest side of our Empire. New Pollux is effectively our anti-Bourbon base now (should we need such a thing)
[X] Sign the Artisanal Regulatory Reform Act of 3020
Core GDP is never a bad thing, they already by definition make up a large portion of our total GDP.
I'll have to remember to reduce parliamentary influence, but it's in a reasonable location to serve as a base for the northwest side of our Empire. New Pollux is effectively our anti-Bourbon base now (should we need such a thing)
[X] Sign the Artisanal Regulatory Reform Act of 3020
Core GDP is never a bad thing, they already by definition make up a large portion of our total GDP.
[X] Sign the Military Expansion Act of 3020
[X] Sign the Artisanal Regulatory Reform Act of 3020
I'm on board.
Just need to make sure we don't overdo it with welfare/uplift maintenance costs. Things like that have a way of growing to rediculous levels.
Also, we should really look at a built in Sunset on all of these kinds of laws. Maybe hold a vote on them every 5 or 10 years to force the legislature to review them and possibly revise them.
[X] Sign the Artisanal Regulatory Reform Act of 3020
I'm on board.
Just need to make sure we don't overdo it with welfare/uplift maintenance costs. Things like that have a way of growing to rediculous levels.
Also, we should really look at a built in Sunset on all of these kinds of laws. Maybe hold a vote on them every 5 or 10 years to force the legislature to review them and possibly revise them.
darkcloudt2
Well-known member
[X] Sign the Military Expansion Act of 3020
[X] Sign the Artisanal Regulatory Reform Act of 3020
[X] Sign the Artisanal Regulatory Reform Act of 3020
mmgaballah
Well-known member
[X] Sign the Military Expansion Act of 3020
[X] Sign the Artisanal Regulatory Reform Act of 3020
[X] Sign the Artisanal Regulatory Reform Act of 3020
Val the Moofia Boss
Well-known member
[X] Sign the Military Expansion Act of 3020
[X] Sign the Artisanal Regulatory Reform Act of 3020
[X] Sign the Artisanal Regulatory Reform Act of 3020
hellspawn023
Active member
[X] Sign the Military Expansion Act of 3020
[X] Sign the Artisanal Regulatory Reform Act of 3020
[X] Sign the Artisanal Regulatory Reform Act of 3020