Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)
- Thread starter LordSunhawk
- Start date
QM Notes - Thanks to @Jarow 's feedback there have been improvements to the data presentation on the Economic Overview tab. Jarow, you may specify one roll category next turn for a single reroll on a failure.
There is an open contest in Discord for a tank design, see the Design Bureau channel for details.
There have been adjustments to IND and ART rules for ground combat in order to strengthen artillery while un-cheesing LRMs.
There is an open contest in Discord for a tank design, see the Design Bureau channel for details.
There have been adjustments to IND and ART rules for ground combat in order to strengthen artillery while un-cheesing LRMs.
[X] Economic Steps
Turn 2 vote closed
Vote is CLOSED
[X] Economic Steps wins
Write up incoming
[X] Economic Steps wins
Write up incoming
Turn 2 Results
Turn 2 Results
----------
Another year down and progress is occurring on all fronts. You always wanted to say that. A phrase up there with ‘maybe a bayonet charge is what’s needed, chaps’.
You sip your coffee as you read the end of the fiscal year reports and can barely restrain the urge to pump your fist in victory. A number of Crown properties had unexpected financial windfalls this year and you’d pumped the funds into the treasury, earning you more than one impressed look from people in the know about it.
The stars seemed to be aligned for you, you reflect. From far stronger than expected economic growth as rebuilding continues unabated to a distinct lack of bad news.
You discretely knock on the wood of your desk, not wanting to tempt fate with that thought.
General West had reported that the new tracked missile carriers had passed their trials, the first crews had been trained, and you had a full platoon in service. Not much, but it gives you something other than lucky laser shots to take down enemy aerospace assets along with the long range indirect fire you are certain your troops will appreciate.
You had spent plenty of time with your platoon this year as well and your advisors were slowly becoming used to the thought that if they hunted you down for an impromptu meeting they might have to go out in the field and give you their reports while ankle deep in mud or on guard duty somewhere. You felt it kept them humble.
While shivering around a fire on an arctic training evolution, Corporal van Lustbader had regaled the platoon with the history of the assault rifles you all used. Evidently they were a truly ancient design, dating back not only before the Star League, but also to before humans had set foot on Luna for the first time. It had changed names a few times, had a few upgrades here and there, but the Standard Assault Rifle you were carrying had a direct design lineage straight to the M-16 rifle of even before the Terran Alliance.
You’re not sure, but you think it might be time to consider an upgrade? Maybe once the labs were up for it you could unleash some eager young engineers and budding gunsmiths to the project.
The STILL un-defenestrated Tyler Lee is still smirking at you, and at seemingly every meeting brings up yet another of his THIRTY FIVE grandchildren you really ought to meet. He’s taking far too much pleasure out of this. So is Sergeant Ngô, the traitor. She has taken to mentioning some of her still unmarried brothers and offering to enlist her grandmother’s matchmaking services.
But still you should do something.
[] Grab Janet and go out clubbing together. She’s single again, BTW, boyfriend number 4 crashed and burned.
[] Agree to meet some of Tyler’s grandkids. What could possibly go wrong?
[] Agree to meet Sergeant Ngô’s family. How hard could it be?
[] Ask your advisors for more advice. Completely foolproof plan! Punt! Procrastinate! You can do it!
Dr Young has managed to get the deadwood out of the Foreign Ministry and the organizational planning is complete, along with a series of plans and protocols for likely situations. With no real data to work from this is all purely academic work, brushing off plans and ideas that previous generations of diplomats had come up with.
The design of the memorial to the victims of the attack is even more stunning in person than you’d expected from the design briefs. A circular park surrounded by a six foot tall dense hedge that, in the climate of the capital, is covered in flowers nearly year round. .There is a lush lawn on the inside of the hedge, and radiating out from a circular fountain in the center are five transparent slabs of armor-grade glass with the names of every single victim of the attack suspended within it on laser-etched strips of silver.
The only blip in the total success of the year comes in the form of a memo from Juanita, the sheer number of candidates for the Commons at this point has delayed the investigation enough that it will take a few months longer. Not a major deal, with Parliament not meeting for another few years yet, but still a tiny fly in the ointment.
Janet is her ever far too rambunctious self. If it weren’t for the fact that she brews better coffee than even the best of your cooks you’d strangle her. But she cheerfully informs you of the enormous success of the expanded public defender’s office and legal aid efforts. You’re happy about this. Really. After you get a second cup of liquid life. Then you’ll be awake to deal with this shit.
This shit being Tyler showing up unannounced again carrying cigars, proudly announcing that he’s about to be a great-grandfather in several months. Followed by him hitting on Sergeant Ngô again, then bouncing out the door before Enraged, Sergeant, One. Calling over his shoulder a report on how exceptionally well the infrastructure expansion project has been going.
Economic Roll - 6 degrees of success +1 = 12% GDP Growth
Health Roll - 7 Degrees of success +1 = 8% GDP Growth
Stability Change roll - +3
Stability Rolls
-Political - 5 degrees of success - 5 positive event rolls
--Modifier Roll - 92, 100, 26, 86, 91
--Roll - 1 possible event at +0. Roll for event = 4
--Result - +10 Stability next turn
-Research - 4 degrees of success, 4 positive event rolls
--Modifier Roll - 99, 78, 88, 68
--Result - No possible events
-Economic - N/A due to status
--Roll -
--Result =
Meta Event Roll - 8 - all ratings rolled at +15 this turn (factored above)
Dynasty Luck Roll - 15 - +2000 cash windfall
Health Roll - 7 Degrees of success +1 = 8% GDP Growth
Stability Change roll - +3
Stability Rolls
-Political - 5 degrees of success - 5 positive event rolls
--Modifier Roll - 92, 100, 26, 86, 91
--Roll - 1 possible event at +0. Roll for event = 4
--Result - +10 Stability next turn
-Research - 4 degrees of success, 4 positive event rolls
--Modifier Roll - 99, 78, 88, 68
--Result - No possible events
-Economic - N/A due to status
--Roll -
--Result =
Meta Event Roll - 8 - all ratings rolled at +15 this turn (factored above)
Dynasty Luck Roll - 15 - +2000 cash windfall
Purchase Tracked Missile Carrier Platoon
-Skill Target = 70
-Roll = 27 SUCCESS
Foreign Affairs Planning
-Skill Target = 60
-Roll = 35 SUCCESS
Build Memorial to Victims of Pirate Raid
-Skill Target = 85
-Roll = 36 SUCCESS
Investigate potential MPs
-Skill Target = 65
-Roll = 67 BARE FAILURE, will auto succeed next turn
Expand Public Defender's Office
-Skill Target = 85
-Roll = 27 SUCCESS
Improve Infrastructure
-Skill Target = 70
-Roll = 9 6 degrees of SUCCESS
-Skill Target = 70
-Roll = 27 SUCCESS
Foreign Affairs Planning
-Skill Target = 60
-Roll = 35 SUCCESS
Build Memorial to Victims of Pirate Raid
-Skill Target = 85
-Roll = 36 SUCCESS
Investigate potential MPs
-Skill Target = 65
-Roll = 67 BARE FAILURE, will auto succeed next turn
Expand Public Defender's Office
-Skill Target = 85
-Roll = 27 SUCCESS
Improve Infrastructure
-Skill Target = 70
-Roll = 9 6 degrees of SUCCESS
----------
Another year down and progress is occurring on all fronts. You always wanted to say that. A phrase up there with ‘maybe a bayonet charge is what’s needed, chaps’.
You sip your coffee as you read the end of the fiscal year reports and can barely restrain the urge to pump your fist in victory. A number of Crown properties had unexpected financial windfalls this year and you’d pumped the funds into the treasury, earning you more than one impressed look from people in the know about it.
The stars seemed to be aligned for you, you reflect. From far stronger than expected economic growth as rebuilding continues unabated to a distinct lack of bad news.
You discretely knock on the wood of your desk, not wanting to tempt fate with that thought.
General West had reported that the new tracked missile carriers had passed their trials, the first crews had been trained, and you had a full platoon in service. Not much, but it gives you something other than lucky laser shots to take down enemy aerospace assets along with the long range indirect fire you are certain your troops will appreciate.
You had spent plenty of time with your platoon this year as well and your advisors were slowly becoming used to the thought that if they hunted you down for an impromptu meeting they might have to go out in the field and give you their reports while ankle deep in mud or on guard duty somewhere. You felt it kept them humble.
While shivering around a fire on an arctic training evolution, Corporal van Lustbader had regaled the platoon with the history of the assault rifles you all used. Evidently they were a truly ancient design, dating back not only before the Star League, but also to before humans had set foot on Luna for the first time. It had changed names a few times, had a few upgrades here and there, but the Standard Assault Rifle you were carrying had a direct design lineage straight to the M-16 rifle of even before the Terran Alliance.
You’re not sure, but you think it might be time to consider an upgrade? Maybe once the labs were up for it you could unleash some eager young engineers and budding gunsmiths to the project.
The STILL un-defenestrated Tyler Lee is still smirking at you, and at seemingly every meeting brings up yet another of his THIRTY FIVE grandchildren you really ought to meet. He’s taking far too much pleasure out of this. So is Sergeant Ngô, the traitor. She has taken to mentioning some of her still unmarried brothers and offering to enlist her grandmother’s matchmaking services.
But still you should do something.
[] Grab Janet and go out clubbing together. She’s single again, BTW, boyfriend number 4 crashed and burned.
[] Agree to meet some of Tyler’s grandkids. What could possibly go wrong?
[] Agree to meet Sergeant Ngô’s family. How hard could it be?
[] Ask your advisors for more advice. Completely foolproof plan! Punt! Procrastinate! You can do it!
Dr Young has managed to get the deadwood out of the Foreign Ministry and the organizational planning is complete, along with a series of plans and protocols for likely situations. With no real data to work from this is all purely academic work, brushing off plans and ideas that previous generations of diplomats had come up with.
The design of the memorial to the victims of the attack is even more stunning in person than you’d expected from the design briefs. A circular park surrounded by a six foot tall dense hedge that, in the climate of the capital, is covered in flowers nearly year round. .There is a lush lawn on the inside of the hedge, and radiating out from a circular fountain in the center are five transparent slabs of armor-grade glass with the names of every single victim of the attack suspended within it on laser-etched strips of silver.
The only blip in the total success of the year comes in the form of a memo from Juanita, the sheer number of candidates for the Commons at this point has delayed the investigation enough that it will take a few months longer. Not a major deal, with Parliament not meeting for another few years yet, but still a tiny fly in the ointment.
Janet is her ever far too rambunctious self. If it weren’t for the fact that she brews better coffee than even the best of your cooks you’d strangle her. But she cheerfully informs you of the enormous success of the expanded public defender’s office and legal aid efforts. You’re happy about this. Really. After you get a second cup of liquid life. Then you’ll be awake to deal with this shit.
This shit being Tyler showing up unannounced again carrying cigars, proudly announcing that he’s about to be a great-grandfather in several months. Followed by him hitting on Sergeant Ngô again, then bouncing out the door before Enraged, Sergeant, One. Calling over his shoulder a report on how exceptionally well the infrastructure expansion project has been going.
Jarow
Well-known member
So I don't have a strong opinion here, and will be happy to join anyone else's bandwagoning, but here's my initial thoughts and opinion
[] Grab Janet and go out clubbing together. She’s single again, BTW, boyfriend number 4 crashed and burned.
Don't really know how this might work, but guesses:
Mechanically: political?
Problems: higher chance of short term relationship?
[X] Agree to meet some of Tyler’s grandkids. What could possibly go wrong?
Mechanically: economic, business connections
Problems: connected to Tyler, possible similarities in personality
[] Agree to meet Sergeant Ngô’s family. How hard could it be?
Mechanically: likely military
Problems: can't think of any - this was my second initial thought
[] Ask your advisors for more advice. Completely foolproof plan! Punt! Procrastinate! You can do it!
Mechanically: do nothing
Problems: does nothing
Of course, there may be no benefits at all except in mechanics free story terms, but I'm a lot better at mechanical thoughts than relationship ones
[] Grab Janet and go out clubbing together. She’s single again, BTW, boyfriend number 4 crashed and burned.
Don't really know how this might work, but guesses:
Mechanically: political?
Problems: higher chance of short term relationship?
[X] Agree to meet some of Tyler’s grandkids. What could possibly go wrong?
Mechanically: economic, business connections
Problems: connected to Tyler, possible similarities in personality
[] Agree to meet Sergeant Ngô’s family. How hard could it be?
Mechanically: likely military
Problems: can't think of any - this was my second initial thought
[] Ask your advisors for more advice. Completely foolproof plan! Punt! Procrastinate! You can do it!
Mechanically: do nothing
Problems: does nothing
Of course, there may be no benefits at all except in mechanics free story terms, but I'm a lot better at mechanical thoughts than relationship ones
Bear Ribs
Well-known member
[X] Agree to meet some of Tyler’s grandkids. What could possibly go wrong?
I think continuing to procrastinate risks irritating our advisors. Clubbing hasn't established a track record for success. Ngô is my second choice but I think we still need to focus on the economy over the military for now.
I think continuing to procrastinate risks irritating our advisors. Clubbing hasn't established a track record for success. Ngô is my second choice but I think we still need to focus on the economy over the military for now.
[X] Grab Janet and go out clubbing together. She’s single again, BTW, boyfriend number 4 crashed and burned.
Based on personal experience, Asian Grandmother Matchmaking is a deeply terrifying borderline-eldritch art and I am staying far, far, far away from it. I'm going to be a little selfish and go for clubbing as personal time.
Last edited:
[X] Agree to meet Sergeant Ngô’s family. How hard could it be?
PsihoKekec
Swashbuckling Accountant
[x] Agree to meet some of Tyler’s grandkids. What could possibly go wrong?
A test pilot whose grandfather still acts like hormonal 14 year old? Why do I get the Jovica Danger (from Legostar Galactica) vibes? I'm always in for hilarity at the expense of fictional characters.
A test pilot whose grandfather still acts like hormonal 14 year old? Why do I get the Jovica Danger (from Legostar Galactica) vibes? I'm always in for hilarity at the expense of fictional characters.
Jarow
Well-known member
Hey @ShadowArxxy, quotes aren't collected in vote tally, you might want to pull it out of the quote (not that it seems like it'll really matter, given current 3-2-1 vote spread, but it's still better to have your vote count)
Lightwhispers
Well-known member
[X] Agree to meet Sergeant Ngô’s family. How hard could it be?
Because I suspect the results will be hilarious.
Because I suspect the results will be hilarious.
Inserted tally
Turn 3 Romance, Advice, what is this Dear Abby?
Turn 3 Available Actions and Advisor Advice (plus some romance on the side)
((QM Note - looks like the lech’s grandkids won out over asian tiger grandma by one vote. In thanks for you forcing me to write romance when you could have been kind and punted… you will be punished by seeing both?))
Willis Alexander Lee looks much like you’d expect Tyler looked in his mid-20’s. Tall, handsome, with a winning smile… a handsome young man. Who doesn’t act at all like his grandfather. Where Tyler is all flash and energy, Willis is simply quietly competent. Indeed, it takes most of an hour before anything at all happens in the meeting beyond a serious professional giving you a detailed and surprisingly interesting briefing on several prototypes under development as a next generation aerospace fighter to replace the Falcon.
And that is when Tyler breezes in and promptly starts making inappropriate comments like he’s wont to do, and immediately getting shut down by his own grandson before you have a chance to do more than start to twitch.
“Gramma gave me permission to tell… that… story if you didn’t behave yourself, Gramps.” he simply said, causing the old lech to pale a bit and beat a hastier retreat than you’d ever managed with glares, dire threats, or references to windows.
And then Willis proved to be just as insufferable as his grandfather by refusing to tell you the story since the old man had ultimately behaved! How DARE he keep such juicy gossip away from you!
And he immediately returns to discussing g-limits, cockpit ergonomics, and variant escape systems like the Tyler Lee Interrupt had never happened.
MEN!
You still schedule a second briefing with him a week later.
You complain to Sergeant Ngô for hours after the meeting, causing her to laughingly remind you that the offer to meet with her grandmother is still open.
The next meeting is nearly the same. It should have been dreadfully boring, but somehow he manages to make it all extremely interesting.
And that afternoon finds you at the capital airfield wearing a flight suit and being helped into a Falcon trainer after you, for some reason you can’t explain even to yourself, accepted the offer of a check ride in the trainer so he could demonstrate some of what he’d been talking about.
Professional curiosity only, of course. As a ruler you should understand what all of your military people do so that you can best use their skills and equipment in the future. That’s your story and you are sticking to it.
You complain to the good sergeant afterwards that Willis STILL refuses to spill the beans on this story.
And you schedule another meeting.
In the meantime you finally get to meet Sergeant Ngô’s family and that goes exceptionally well. Within an hour you were sitting at a large table with all of the sergeants siblings with somewhat exotic porcelain spoons and chopsticks consuming Phở and engaging in small talk. You’d already been sternly ordered by the eldest lady present to call her bà, which had caused the sergeant to actually look a bit embarrassed for a moment.
You leave with strict orders to return once a week for a proper home-cooked meal and to ‘bring that young man with you next time!’.
You complain to the sergeant about that the entire trip back to the palace.
The next week you obediently appear at the Ngô family home with Willis in tow.
He’s better with chopsticks than you.
You complain to Sergeant Ngô about that all the way home.
Your advisors are oh-so-carefully not mentioning your regular meetings with him, even Tyler is being unusually professional. The bastard. Willis still hadn’t told you that story and you needed the blackmail material to keep the walking hormone under control! That’s your story and you are sticking to it!
Janet at least commiserates with you over the situation, usually over either her excellent coffee in the early morning briefings that she enjoys or over beers in the evening. Of course, you then find a stack of bridal fashion magazines neatly stacked in your Inbox.
Sergeant Ngô gets to hear you complaining about that too.
Then Willis gets called away by his bosses for something he can’t talk about, and the meetings stop for over a month. You still talk by phone a few times and you can tell he really wants to tell you what he’s up to but he’s been ordered by his bosses not to.
Then you find out what it is when a massive 200 ton boxy abomination of an aerospace craft rolls out of an assembly hangar. An hour later it’s in orbit, and Griffin’s Roost finally has the ability to quickly and cheaply transport cargo to orbit and back. And Willis was the pilot-in-command.
You shamelessly take advantage of being the ruler of the planet to be at the field when the craft lands, elbow your way past the journalists covering the opening of the hatch, and intercept Willis as he’s getting out.
You are told that you spent almost ten solid minutes kissing the insufferable man. Even with video evidence you are certain it was no more than a few seconds and very dignified.
It wasn’t.
You complain to Sergeant Ngô about that too, before asking if she’d be willing to be one of your bridesmaids at the wedding if he ever actually asks.
Despite all the drama (and the wonderful phở of the Ngô’s) you still have a great deal of work to do. Things are going smoothly enough that you are starting to really believe you’ll be able to pull this off.
General Wolf is extremely pleased with the new tracked missile launchers. It’s not much, but it returns some indirect fire capacity to the small army that could prove vital. With the reopening of the labs a few years off he recommends against any new research initiatives for now, but that if the budget can support it to consider rebuilding the armored forces and ASF squadrons. If he had a free hand, he tells you, he’d want at least 2 more flights of Falcons operational this year along with 2 more platoons of Hoplite tanks.
Tyler only sends you an email with his itemized recommendations, which earns a snort of laughter from you. Then the old pervert pops his head in, grins at you, and disappears before you can do more than start to glare. The recommendations are mostly to stick with what is going on right now, but also noting that there are a number of small companies that would love to do business with the government providing new military equipment. It is a great surprise (note the sarcasm!) that you discover that this ‘Tank-X’ is partially owned by yet another of his grandkids. On the other hand, looking at the test footage of their ‘Chasseur’, or as a painfully young pimply faced engineer earnestly tells the camera ‘HOVERTANK!’ (you can hear the exclamation point), makes you really want one, because that looks fun to race around at speed ‘yes’.
Dr Young informs you that the foreign ministry is quiet for now, there are some ideas percolating around for cultural events but right now they are simply waiting to see if anything comes up. Like, say, a royal wedding.
Professor Chapman cheerfully informs you that the rebuilding of the government is going extremely well and might finish a bit ahead of schedule, and certainly below budget. She’d like to conduct some PR campaigns for the crown ahead of the first elections, in hopes of promoting candidates to the Commons and the elected portion of the Lords who more closely align to your policies and plans. She also mentions the prospect of a royal wedding, and then proceeds to completely discombobulate you with a cheerful earful of advice for how to get her young man to realize that you are genuinely interested and that a ring would be rather nice.
You think you’re going to try some of that with Willis. After complaining to Sergeant Ngô about it first.
Dr Palmer thankfully doesn’t bring up anything to do with weddings, romance, or boys in general. She gushes over the progress with the labs and all of the wonderful research that can be done once they are finished. She also spends a few hours enthusiastically explaining about how it would be possible in the future to upgrade and improve the labs to make research even easier.
When it comes time for your intelligence briefing and planning session you are surprised when Juanita Bailey slaps a small folder on the desk marked for your eyes only. Opening it you find a small dossier on Willis which causes you to promptly slam it closed. The cover image being from a swim meet showing him wearing speedos and goggles and nothing else… you favor your intelligence chief with a fulminating glare worthy of Tyler Lee himself, but you don’t hand the folder back. For… research purposes.
Once you get over your blushes and are able to get to the actual meeting, you find that the intel division would like another crack at interrogating the POWs. She’s certain that there’s more she can extract from them before leaving them to the tender mercies of Janet and the headsman.
Janet bounces in far too early, saved once again by her mastery of the coffee bean, and spends the meeting cheerfully gossiping about Willis, boys, her latest crash and burn on the dating scene (boyfriend number 5 AND 6) and, oh, could you PRETTY PLEASE authorize the background checks for both nobility and MPs? With a cup of espresso on top?
((QM Note - looks like the lech’s grandkids won out over asian tiger grandma by one vote. In thanks for you forcing me to write romance when you could have been kind and punted… you will be punished by seeing both?))
Willis Alexander Lee looks much like you’d expect Tyler looked in his mid-20’s. Tall, handsome, with a winning smile… a handsome young man. Who doesn’t act at all like his grandfather. Where Tyler is all flash and energy, Willis is simply quietly competent. Indeed, it takes most of an hour before anything at all happens in the meeting beyond a serious professional giving you a detailed and surprisingly interesting briefing on several prototypes under development as a next generation aerospace fighter to replace the Falcon.
And that is when Tyler breezes in and promptly starts making inappropriate comments like he’s wont to do, and immediately getting shut down by his own grandson before you have a chance to do more than start to twitch.
“Gramma gave me permission to tell… that… story if you didn’t behave yourself, Gramps.” he simply said, causing the old lech to pale a bit and beat a hastier retreat than you’d ever managed with glares, dire threats, or references to windows.
And then Willis proved to be just as insufferable as his grandfather by refusing to tell you the story since the old man had ultimately behaved! How DARE he keep such juicy gossip away from you!
And he immediately returns to discussing g-limits, cockpit ergonomics, and variant escape systems like the Tyler Lee Interrupt had never happened.
MEN!
You still schedule a second briefing with him a week later.
You complain to Sergeant Ngô for hours after the meeting, causing her to laughingly remind you that the offer to meet with her grandmother is still open.
The next meeting is nearly the same. It should have been dreadfully boring, but somehow he manages to make it all extremely interesting.
And that afternoon finds you at the capital airfield wearing a flight suit and being helped into a Falcon trainer after you, for some reason you can’t explain even to yourself, accepted the offer of a check ride in the trainer so he could demonstrate some of what he’d been talking about.
Professional curiosity only, of course. As a ruler you should understand what all of your military people do so that you can best use their skills and equipment in the future. That’s your story and you are sticking to it.
You complain to the good sergeant afterwards that Willis STILL refuses to spill the beans on this story.
And you schedule another meeting.
In the meantime you finally get to meet Sergeant Ngô’s family and that goes exceptionally well. Within an hour you were sitting at a large table with all of the sergeants siblings with somewhat exotic porcelain spoons and chopsticks consuming Phở and engaging in small talk. You’d already been sternly ordered by the eldest lady present to call her bà, which had caused the sergeant to actually look a bit embarrassed for a moment.
You leave with strict orders to return once a week for a proper home-cooked meal and to ‘bring that young man with you next time!’.
You complain to the sergeant about that the entire trip back to the palace.
The next week you obediently appear at the Ngô family home with Willis in tow.
He’s better with chopsticks than you.
You complain to Sergeant Ngô about that all the way home.
Your advisors are oh-so-carefully not mentioning your regular meetings with him, even Tyler is being unusually professional. The bastard. Willis still hadn’t told you that story and you needed the blackmail material to keep the walking hormone under control! That’s your story and you are sticking to it!
Janet at least commiserates with you over the situation, usually over either her excellent coffee in the early morning briefings that she enjoys or over beers in the evening. Of course, you then find a stack of bridal fashion magazines neatly stacked in your Inbox.
Sergeant Ngô gets to hear you complaining about that too.
Then Willis gets called away by his bosses for something he can’t talk about, and the meetings stop for over a month. You still talk by phone a few times and you can tell he really wants to tell you what he’s up to but he’s been ordered by his bosses not to.
Then you find out what it is when a massive 200 ton boxy abomination of an aerospace craft rolls out of an assembly hangar. An hour later it’s in orbit, and Griffin’s Roost finally has the ability to quickly and cheaply transport cargo to orbit and back. And Willis was the pilot-in-command.
You shamelessly take advantage of being the ruler of the planet to be at the field when the craft lands, elbow your way past the journalists covering the opening of the hatch, and intercept Willis as he’s getting out.
You are told that you spent almost ten solid minutes kissing the insufferable man. Even with video evidence you are certain it was no more than a few seconds and very dignified.
It wasn’t.
You complain to Sergeant Ngô about that too, before asking if she’d be willing to be one of your bridesmaids at the wedding if he ever actually asks.
Despite all the drama (and the wonderful phở of the Ngô’s) you still have a great deal of work to do. Things are going smoothly enough that you are starting to really believe you’ll be able to pull this off.
General Wolf is extremely pleased with the new tracked missile launchers. It’s not much, but it returns some indirect fire capacity to the small army that could prove vital. With the reopening of the labs a few years off he recommends against any new research initiatives for now, but that if the budget can support it to consider rebuilding the armored forces and ASF squadrons. If he had a free hand, he tells you, he’d want at least 2 more flights of Falcons operational this year along with 2 more platoons of Hoplite tanks.
Tyler only sends you an email with his itemized recommendations, which earns a snort of laughter from you. Then the old pervert pops his head in, grins at you, and disappears before you can do more than start to glare. The recommendations are mostly to stick with what is going on right now, but also noting that there are a number of small companies that would love to do business with the government providing new military equipment. It is a great surprise (note the sarcasm!) that you discover that this ‘Tank-X’ is partially owned by yet another of his grandkids. On the other hand, looking at the test footage of their ‘Chasseur’, or as a painfully young pimply faced engineer earnestly tells the camera ‘HOVERTANK!’ (you can hear the exclamation point), makes you really want one, because that looks fun to race around at speed ‘yes’.
Dr Young informs you that the foreign ministry is quiet for now, there are some ideas percolating around for cultural events but right now they are simply waiting to see if anything comes up. Like, say, a royal wedding.
Professor Chapman cheerfully informs you that the rebuilding of the government is going extremely well and might finish a bit ahead of schedule, and certainly below budget. She’d like to conduct some PR campaigns for the crown ahead of the first elections, in hopes of promoting candidates to the Commons and the elected portion of the Lords who more closely align to your policies and plans. She also mentions the prospect of a royal wedding, and then proceeds to completely discombobulate you with a cheerful earful of advice for how to get her young man to realize that you are genuinely interested and that a ring would be rather nice.
You think you’re going to try some of that with Willis. After complaining to Sergeant Ngô about it first.
Dr Palmer thankfully doesn’t bring up anything to do with weddings, romance, or boys in general. She gushes over the progress with the labs and all of the wonderful research that can be done once they are finished. She also spends a few hours enthusiastically explaining about how it would be possible in the future to upgrade and improve the labs to make research even easier.
When it comes time for your intelligence briefing and planning session you are surprised when Juanita Bailey slaps a small folder on the desk marked for your eyes only. Opening it you find a small dossier on Willis which causes you to promptly slam it closed. The cover image being from a swim meet showing him wearing speedos and goggles and nothing else… you favor your intelligence chief with a fulminating glare worthy of Tyler Lee himself, but you don’t hand the folder back. For… research purposes.
Once you get over your blushes and are able to get to the actual meeting, you find that the intel division would like another crack at interrogating the POWs. She’s certain that there’s more she can extract from them before leaving them to the tender mercies of Janet and the headsman.
Janet bounces in far too early, saved once again by her mastery of the coffee bean, and spends the meeting cheerfully gossiping about Willis, boys, her latest crash and burn on the dating scene (boyfriend number 5 AND 6) and, oh, could you PRETTY PLEASE authorize the background checks for both nobility and MPs? With a cup of espresso on top?
Jarow
Well-known member
[X] Limited Orbital Entry
-[X] Military
(kinda wish to build at least ASF, but we're kind of cash strapped right now)
-[X] Interior
--[X] Public Assistance for Rebuilding*
--[X] Upgrade Power Infrastructure*
-[X] Diplomatic
-[X] Political
--[X] Reorganize Government (Const.)*
(ongoing)
-[X] Research
--[X] Rebuild Academy Labs*
--[X] LOSTECH - Industrial Exoskeletons lvl 1*
--[X] Orbital Survey
(definitely want defense platforms by 10, but don't want to research until after labs. Might as well get a better idea of what we're doing now)
-[X] Intelligence
--[X] Investigate potential MPs*
--[X] Interrogate POWs
--[X] Investigate potential Nobles
(All of these have a cost of 50, why not?)
-[X] Justice
--[X] Background Screening for MP candidates
--[X] Background Screening for Noble candidates
("prevents certain events" scares me a bit, also advice)
-[X] Military
(kinda wish to build at least ASF, but we're kind of cash strapped right now)
-[X] Interior
--[X] Public Assistance for Rebuilding*
--[X] Upgrade Power Infrastructure*
-[X] Diplomatic
-[X] Political
--[X] Reorganize Government (Const.)*
(ongoing)
-[X] Research
--[X] Rebuild Academy Labs*
--[X] LOSTECH - Industrial Exoskeletons lvl 1*
--[X] Orbital Survey
(definitely want defense platforms by 10, but don't want to research until after labs. Might as well get a better idea of what we're doing now)
-[X] Intelligence
--[X] Investigate potential MPs*
--[X] Interrogate POWs
--[X] Investigate potential Nobles
(All of these have a cost of 50, why not?)
-[X] Justice
--[X] Background Screening for MP candidates
--[X] Background Screening for Noble candidates
("prevents certain events" scares me a bit, also advice)
[X] Walk Before You Run
-[X] Military
--[X]Build 1 Flight of Falcon ASF
-[X] Interior
--[X] Construct Planetary Surveillance Network Level 1
-[X]Diplomatic
--[X] Infrastructure Improvements
-[X] Political
--[X] Build Press Center
-[X] Research
--[X] Research Infantry Small Arms Level 1
-[X] Intelligence
--[X] Investigate potential MPs*
--[X] Interrogate POWs
--[X] Investigate potential Nobles
-[X] Justice
--[X] Background Screening for MP candidates
--[X] Background Screening for Noble candidates
-[X] Military
--[X]Build 1 Flight of Falcon ASF
-[X] Interior
--[X] Construct Planetary Surveillance Network Level 1
-[X]Diplomatic
--[X] Infrastructure Improvements
-[X] Political
--[X] Build Press Center
-[X] Research
--[X] Research Infantry Small Arms Level 1
-[X] Intelligence
--[X] Investigate potential MPs*
--[X] Interrogate POWs
--[X] Investigate potential Nobles
-[X] Justice
--[X] Background Screening for MP candidates
--[X] Background Screening for Noble candidates
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