Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)

[LordSunhawk]

Turn 114 - Generation Swine

Spoiler: Event, Luck & Rating Rolls

Meta Event	11
Dynasty Luck	12
	Successes
Imperial Approval	0
Approval Change	-2
Political Event	-1
	Successes
Imperial Economy	2
Economic Event	-2
Research Event	6
Griffon	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	3
Nowa Warszawa	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	1
Calliope IV	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	3
TTP	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	3
New Capricorn	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	3
Nowy Śląsk	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	3
Edelsteine	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	3
Nowy Wroclaw	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	3
Griff's Leap	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	3
New Phoenix	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	1
New Eden	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	1
New Castor	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	3
Okusawa	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	1
New Pollux	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	5
New Port Royal	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1
Kainga	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	5
Chuma	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	5
Stahlfurt	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1
Bāṛi	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	1
Skała	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	1
Piekło	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	1
Nya Köpenhamn	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	3
Bauernparadis	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	5
Awha	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	1
Kaiyo	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	1
Bohren	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	1
Grand View	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	5
Iskra	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	5
Raj	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	1
Feurstern	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	1
Pinball	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	1
Catachan	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	1
Nox	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	5
Olej	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	1
Glorreich	Econ	10
	Health	4
	Event	0
Pryyemnyy	Econ	10
	Health	4
	Event	0
Novolar	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	5
Steingarten	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	5
Pustina	Econ	10
	Health	4
	Event	0
Kurortas	Econ	10
	Health	4
	Event	0
Arvum	Econ	10
	Health	4
	Event	0
Landprettig	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	1
Bellaterra	Econ	10
	Health	4
	Event	0
Nubifragio	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	1
Platzregensburg	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1
Shin Tōkyō	Econ	10
	Health	4
	Event	0
Porto Milano	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1
Nuova Fortezza	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1
Nowe Mazowsze	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	1
Neuthüringen	Econ	10
	Health	4
	Event	0
New Algiers	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1
New Clew Bay	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1
Nuova Tripoli	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1
New Libertalia	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1
Nuova Puglia	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1
Nuovo Abruzzo	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1
Nuova Lombardia	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1
Stenen Tuin	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1
Nouvelle Bourgogne	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1
Nyū Shikoku	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1
Neubayern	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1
Neuhessen	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1

Spoiler: Action Results

Plan: Research delays
- Procurement [$ 290,710,417,865.92 ]
-- Lay Down Major Unit [Construction - $11,032,019,346.00 ] (95)
--- 200 Shimakaze [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 95
Result - SUCCESS

--- 200 Spruance [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 94
Result - SUCCESS

--- 28 Lublin [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 95
Result - SUCCESS

--- 90 Normandy [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 93
Result - SUCCESS

--- 90 Mikasa [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 90
Result - SUCCESS

--- 7 Charleston [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 91
Result - SUCCESS

-- Lay down Jumpship [Jumpship Construction - $32,620,094.85 ] (90)
--- 7 Windjammer [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 70
Result - SUCCESS

-- Lay down Warship [Warship Construction - $23,995,881,900.00 ] (90)
--- 80 Battle [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 31
Result - SUCCESS

--- 100 Lyr [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 56
Result - SUCCESS

--- 40 Dido [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 50
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Guiseppe Garibaldi [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 39
Result - SUCCESS

--- 20 De Grasse [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 50
Result - SUCCESS

--- 1 Hosho [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 9
Result - SUCCESS

--- 20 Prinz Eugen [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 43
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Dreadnought [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 64
Result - SUCCESS

--- 2 Saratoga [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 5
Result - SUCCESS

-- Purchase New Units [Minor Unit - $ 26,649,246,525.07 ] (90)
--- 9 Regimental Combat Team Division [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 24
Result - SUCCESS

--- 22 Garrison Division [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 39
Result - SUCCESS

--- 22 Militia Division [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 37
Result - SUCCESS

-- Fortress Command [$ 229,000,650,000.00 ] (90)
--- Construct Black Tower
---- Kainga [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 100, Jarow reroll - 20
Result - SUCCESS

---- New Pollux [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 63
Result - SUCCESS

---- Chuma [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 80
Result - SUCCESS

---- Stahlfurt [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 100, ShadowArxxy reroll - 24
Result - SUCCESS

---- Bari [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 79
Result - SUCCESS

- General [$ 2,364,650,000,000.00 ]
-- Focus Development on Core World Okusawa [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 81
Result - SUCCESS

-- Focus Development on Peripheral World Iskra [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 75
Result - SUCCESS

-- Massive Core Investment Chuma [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 56
Result - SUCCESS

-- Massive Peripheral Investment Nyu Shikoku [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 26
Result - SUCCESS

-- Economic Investment Catachan [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 42
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Nuova Puglia [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 69
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Bohren [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 81
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Landprettig [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 39
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Nouvelle Bourgogne [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 63
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Arvum [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 100, ShadowArxxy reroll - 80
Result - SUCCESS

-- Expand Civil Service [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 83
Result – Bare FAILURE (auto success next turn)

-- Construct Escort Yard Nuovo Abruzzo [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 64
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Stenen Tuin [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 59
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard New Libertalia [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 59
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Neuthuringen [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 38
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Porto Milano [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 16
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nuova Triploi [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 80
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Awha [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 100, General reroll - 64
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Catachan [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 50
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Feurstem [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 36
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nowe Mazowsze [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 89
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nouvelle Bourgogne [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 45
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Platzregensburg [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 11
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Neubayern [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 65
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nyū Shikoku [90]
Target - 90
Roll – 100, General reroll - 22
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Landprettig [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 79
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Neuhessen [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 62
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nuova Lombardia [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 67
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nuova Puglia [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 73
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard New Algiers [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 46
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard New Clew Bay [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 75
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Bellaterra [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 64
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Bohren [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 48
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Iskra [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 32
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nubifragio [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 6
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nox [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 20
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build ASF Factory Complex (95)
--- Awha [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 93
Result - SUCCESS

--- Bari [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 52
Result - SUCCESS

--- Bellaterra [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 71
Result - SUCCESS

--- Glorreich [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 22
Result - SUCCESS

--- Landprettig [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 30
Result - SUCCESS

-- Upgrade Refit & Repair Yard [105]
Target - 105
Roll - 64
Result - SUCCESS

-- Expand Orbital Shipyards [105]
Target - 105
Roll - 30
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard Calliope* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 18
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard Nowa Warzsawa* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 5
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard Griffon* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 82
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard New Pollux* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 31
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard New Phoenix [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 37
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Okusawa [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 56
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard New Port Royal [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 32
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Nowy Wroclaw [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 54
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard New Castor [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 20
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Pieklo [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 80
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Bari [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 2
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Nowy Slask [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 80
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Chuma [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 46
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Glorreich [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 13
Result - SUCCESS

- DoME [$ 632,000,000,000.00 ]
-- Terraforming Nubifragio* [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 71
Result - SUCCESS

-- Terraforming Arvum* [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 3
Result - SUCCESS

-- Terraforming Pustina* [->1]
-- Terraforming Steingarten* [->1]

-- Planetary Optimization (Peripheral) - Steingarten* [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 67
Result - SUCCESS

- Research [$ 3,850,350,000,000.00 ]
-- Specialist Battle Armor* [75]
Target - 75
Roll - 67
Result - SUCCESS

-- Variant Autocannon Ammunition* [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 47
Result - SUCCESS

-- Advanced Terraforming Techniques Lvl 2* [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 57
Result - SUCCESS

-- Advanced Communications (Advanced) Tier 7 [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 37
Result - SUCCESS

-- Advanced Electronics (Advanced) Tier 7 [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 19
Result - SUCCESS

-- High Energy Physics (Advanced) Tier 7 [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 9
Result - SUCCESS

-- Improved Germanium Refining Lvl 4* [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 93
Result - SUCCESS

-- Commercial R&D [-]
-- Industrial R&D [-]

- Miscellaneous [$ 134,700,000,000 ]
-- Production Contract [->1][134,700,000,000]

---------------------

You have two bits of good news going into the Christmas season.

First, no Black Steel activity still, which is always excellent news as it gives you more time to rebuild your forces, beef up your production capacity, and hopefully finally turn the corner against the omnicidal bastards.

Second, the Department of Periphery Studies Orchestra has disbanded and is now exploring the possibilities inherent in fingerpainting. Sales of easels, paper, and fingerpaint are through the roof at the moment, and hordes of distinguished tenured faculty of the Department of Periphery Studies are thronging parks and the waterfront of Griffsport engaging in artistic endeavors. At the very least it is much quieter around the city, which is an enormous relief for everybody involved.

Unfortunately the orchestra didn’t dissolve early enough to save the civil service expansion effort, as the sheer cacophony drove off a distressing number of potential applicants who were unable to complete the mandatory testing period here in the capital due to their inability to sleep thanks to the gongs. A second round of testing has been arranged for those applicants, and hopefully the expansion project will be completed early next year.

There seem to be a large number of little gremlins affecting projects this year, although everything else finishes on time and budget, just with some amusing challenges at times.

Fortress Command, for example, almost faced serious delays on two of the Black Tower projects when their printers all decided to run out of toner at the same time, causing them to be unable to print out the inspection reports as required by regulation. Thankfully a rather industrious young officer was able to save the day, as it turned out the young man in question had stocked up on the same brand and model toner cartridges for his personal printer and was willing to donate them to the cause, since the local warehouse was actually out of the bloody things.

The infrastructure project on Arvum faced a bizarre threat of delay when one of the major road building contracts had a misplaced decimal point in it. The day was saved when the contractor, realizing that it was in error, brought it to the authorities attention while ensuring that the construction met the spirit of the contract, rather than the letter. The system governor personally thanked said contractor for their civic-mindedness.

Two escort yard expansion projects also ran into rather amusing challenges. Amusing in hindsight, of course, since they were overcome without any actual delays or cost overruns, but still. The project in Nyū Shikoku ran out of space-rated tape, but thankfully sufficient rolls were procured from a passing merchant dropship to keep the project on the schedule. Meanwhile, the Awha yard expansion received the wrong sized roller bearing races for some of the critical machinery, a quick-witted engineer and machinist solved the problem in the attached workshop, as the races they received were precisely 1 cm too long for the application required, and could be machined to fit perfectly and fully within all specifications.

Otherwise things go rather smoothly across the Empire in the 4th quarter, with a solid expansion to the Fleet, many new yards constructed, and general economic expansion across the board.

One very welcome development is the completion of research into more efficient terraforming practices. As a result, two additional terraforming projects were completed this year than initially expected, improving living conditions on multiple worlds within the Empire. Unfortunately no further improvement in this direction is expected for some time, but 3 years is still a very short period for some of these projects, and you are very impressed by the skill and capability of DoME.

The completion of work on specialist battle armor variants and specialized autocannon ammunition types yields potentially useful, at least in niche applications, benefits for the Empire. Nothing ground shattering, but if you need to field battle armor optimized for underwater operations, for example, now you can.

Work on more efficient germanium refining has yielded substantial benefits, allowing for even more jump cores to be produced each year. Likewise, foundational work on advanced scientific projects has yielded interesting results, although nothing truly concrete as of yet.

You receive some welcome news from General Romanov. The Aerospace Force has completed their refit cycle a year early and under budget, thanks to production assistance from the NRI and NRR in deferring their own Gripen production for your use. You make a point of sending your allies official notes of thanks for their generous assistance, even though you are pretty sure that they did this primarily to curry favor with the big dog in the region.

You also get a rather sheepish memo from the Navy. In all the rush constructing new transports, new warships, and new combat parasites a rather glaring omission was made. The ancient Sentinel-class recon dropships date back to your grandmother’s day and have received minimal to no updates since, leaving them woefully obsolete for the modern battlespace. This is a problem since you’ll be needing to perform system surveys in combat conditions, conditions which your current survey vessels are not at all suitable for.

They’ve let out emergency contracts to industry in hopes of getting viable designs as quickly as possible, despite Admiral Fisher's well known dislike of such measures. You suspect that quite a few of the old ‘players’ in the Dropship industry will be quite interested in this contract.

You get word from your diplomats in the NRI. Their equivalent to your DoME teams have completed a kilometer tall statuary group, centered on a heroic statue of your great-grandmother and your grandfather as well as yourself. You are a bit reticent about opening the image, knowing the NRI’s habits in this regard, but in the end you do so, only to find that, to your surprise, all three statues are wearing lorica segmentum armor, albeit the ‘muscle’ variant giving all three rather exaggerated abs. This is shockingly tasteful for the NRI.

 

[Yacovo]

FIVE 100s! Hopefully that means an equal amount of 1s are on the way, and those don’t get rerolled.

 

[LordSunhawk]

Turn 115 - Get Your Wings

You’ve changed your mind. The current fingerpainting craze in the Department of Periphery Studies is also very annoying, especially since they’ve decided to tape their ‘artwork’ all over the exterior walls of the Palace. You didn’t mind your kids adventures into artistry and fingerpaint, in fact you still have all of them safely stored away for a rainy day (and proper parental blackmail). But this is just an eyesore.

At least they are using painter’s tape, so there shouldn’t be any actual damage to the architecture. But still, you can’t go outside or you have to see the awfulness and, because you are the Empress and make a point to be kind, supportive, and friendly, you’ll have to pretend to actually like the drek.

Being Empress is suffering sometimes.

There is still no activity on the Black Steel front, and apart from increased fighting within Bourbon space the Rouges Noir haven’t tested you lately. It would be more relaxing if you weren’t absolutely certain that both forces are building up in anticipation of their next clashes with you. You’d be even happier without the realization that the next Black Steel attack will likely be bigger than the last, and you really don’t know if Admiral Fisher could survive another Battle of Arvum.

Admiral de Palo is drilling the Grand Fleet mercilessly, far harder than Admiral von Falkenrick ever did, but this is mostly because she has a different operational paradigm than the late Admiral and she wants to make sure all of her captains are fully up to speed with how she wants to do things.

You do gain some understanding of how your grandfather felt, though, as your daughter’s unit is one of those earmarked for operations against the Rouges Noir. She’s still only a Lieutenant, commanding an armored cavalry lance in the 3rd Regimental Combat Team Division, but that just means she’ll likely be in the thick of the fighting in a 55 ton medium mech, rather than a heavy or an assault.

The urge to shift her to a safer posting is very strong, but you grit your teeth and manage not to succumb to the temptation. Doing so would be disastrous for morale, after all, as it would show a profound lack of confidence in your soldiers and both their training and their equipment.

Your second daughter is now working for the Intelligence Ministry as a junior analyst, your third is in her final year at the Naval Academy here in the Griffon system, the twins have just started classes at Calliope Military Academy on the mechwarrior track. Only your youngest is ‘safe’, as she’s still in high school and has indicated no interest in a military career, instead wanting to go into medicine.

You’ve had a few sleepless nights worrying about it all, but you guess that just makes it easier for you to understand how millions of mothers throughout the Empire must feel with their children in harm’s way.

Dr Kamato and Agostina San Severino meet you in your office, both as part of the transition in the Foreign Ministry and also to discuss several topics. Dr Kamato lets his replacement handle most of it, she’s younger than you’d expected from reading her C.V., but you realize this is mostly because the anti-aging treatments have been exceptionally effective in her case.

“Your Majesty,” the academic who is now your Foreign Minister begins. “Both the NRI and the NRR have offered to assign forces to assist our own in the upcoming operations against the Rouges Noir.”

She checks her notes. “The NRR is offering four of their Infantry Corps. They will be of little use in the front lines, but are highly capable civil defense and rear area security troops. They don’t use power armor, so they are more similar to our garrison infantry than anything else, but having them along on this operation would free up substantial forces for front line combat. Thanks to the tech sharing arrangements we have we wouldn’t have to worry about them… borrowing… some of our kit, since they already have the same sort of kit.” She grins a bit at that. “Not that that will stop our security people from having fun, now will it.”

“The NRI, on the other hand, is offering four of their front line Legions, Your Majesty, and those are front line forces, if of a very different character to our own. I’ve read your file, so I’m aware that you’ve participated in exercises with the NRI Legions, so you are familiar with their peculiarities. What you may not be aware of is that their latest generation Legionnaire Mech makes use of a rather clever new myomer material that gains strength the hotter it is, thus they’ve designed the mech with the ability to shut off most of the heat dissipation arrays in order to make proper use of this material. With the NRI’s love of melee attacks, this makes these new mechs extremely lethal at close range.”

You remember just how intimidating seeing a thousand identical mechs in tight formations marching with shields, swords, and gauss rifles. Sure, they were slow and clunky, and you remember rather fondly being faster and more agile than them in your old Griffon assault mech. But it had been a very intimidating sight, and unwary opponents would wither away very quickly under the volleys of tightly disciplined gauss fire from those shoulder mounted cannons. God help anybody who got caught in melee range. With the increased strength that Agostina speaks of… you manage to resist the urge to shudder in sympathetic pain.

“Both are willing to provide their own transport and logistics support, they just request your blessing on them joining in.”

[]	Action	Result
[]	Approve	Gain NRI and NRR assistance in upcoming fighting with the Rouges Noir
[]	Disapprove	Harms relations with the NRI & NRR

“In addition, the Kilburroughans have continued working on the bioweapon cocktail that we’ve encountered from the Rouges Noir. They’ve informed us that they’ve nearly completed proper clinical trials on a prophylactic inoculation against the disease cocktail, and have a treatment method that has fully passed both clinical and ethical trials. They have indicated that they can provide a million doses of the treatment immediately, and expect that the inoculation will complete trials by next year.” Agostina looks up from her notes. “They’ve also indicated that due to the ‘savage butchery’ of the Rouges Noir they are willing to provide this at their own expense, and will provide our own scientists with all of their research results so that we can validate their work.”

That is a relief. Say what you will about the Blue/Orange morality of Kilburrough, they are amazingly good biochemists and genetic engineers. Moreover, while their ‘contract law is king’ attitude is grating, you also fully realize that if anything they have even more strict ethical laws regarding bioengineering than you do.

 

[ShadowArxxy]

[X] Approve

 

[KyranKandosa]

[X]

Approve

More help is always nice to have. We want to be DONE with the RN ASAP, so we can give the Black Steel our full attention at last.

 

[Rukatin]

Hell yeah get the gang together to curbstomp these dirty commies

[X] Approve

 

[Yacovo]

[X] Approve

Huh, apparently declaring war on everyone leads to everyone gaining up on you, who knew?

 

[Winter_Wind45]

[X] Approve

 

[The Whispering Monk]

[X] Approve

 

[Thors_Alumni]

[X] Approve

 

[darkcloudt2]

[X] Approve

 

[Brogatar]

[X] Approve

 

[kashim3]

[X] Approve

 

[namar13766]

[X] Approve
- Make sure the NRR and NRI have a good liaison system set up with each other as well as us.

 

[LordSunhawk]

Turn 115 - Same Old Song and Dance

Admiral Fisher is looking particularly dyspeptic when he comes in to brief you on the decision concerning the replacement recon dropship, like he bit into a particularly sour lemon or something.

“Private designers.” he growls. “I tell them no missiles, and both decide that this means ‘put as many missiles as can fit’. At least the ones who came up with the Star Scout design didn’t make it worse by making some of them obsolete sub-capital missiles, but they just had to put in such a massive sensor and electronics suite that the resulting ship cost more than full up battleships. Hell, it cost almost as much as a Saratoga class Fleet Carrier for God’s sake.”

You simply let him rant, it’s usually a good idea to let him get it off his chest so that the steam pressure reduces.

“I don’t have enough available design staff to redo them, and we can’t afford that. So we’re stuck with that abomination from Majeure Electrique with those damn useless Piranha missiles. It’ll do the job, sure, but I suspect that the crews would rather have the tonnage wasted on the magazines for improved accommodations since they’ll be in the black on their own for extended periods of time, and in combat would likely rather not get blown up because of a lucky hit on those same spaces. I swear, civilian designers just don’t seem to think about these things, because they don’t need to actually use the kit. If I had any choice at all, I’d send them back for redesign without that vulnerability and the germanium-plated sensor suites, but we need them in production.”

A ghost of a smile plays across his craggy face. “I am not, however, naming them the freaking Memphis class, they’re parasite scout cruisers, so they’re getting a more appropriate name, the Omaha-class. I can already hear the screams of frustration and irritation now.”

“Good.”

You look over the data. Thanks to the sensor suites, even these Omaha-class ships are extremely expensive, but that sort of capability is needed for the mission.

Other than a grumpy admiral, however, things seem to be going rather well. No reports of Black Steel activity for another quarter, economic reports are overall pretty positive.

There is one thing, however. There’s always one thing. And it isn’t Periphery Studies.

There is a raging dispute taking place in the courts, both those of law and those of public opinion, that is becoming… irritating. The Most Puissant Guild Of Candlestick Makers is in a full up donnybrook with the Ancient And Eternal Order of Bakers over, of all things, their respective heraldic devices. Both are accusing the other of stealing various aspects of the devices, and despite the various cases being regularly dismissed from court, they keep on suing each other on various grounds, and are not at all shy about bringing this up in the media on slow news days.

You decide it’s a very good thing that the Ye Olden Brethren Of Butchers aren’t involved, because then it would have all the makings of a horrible joke and you’d likely have a far greater headache. You immediately rap your knuckles on your desk in hopes of preventing such a thing from coming to pass.

Unfortunately, this has inspired all of the petty nobility of the Empire to start squabbling over their own heraldry. The courts are getting clogged up with empty-headed noble scions whining that some other empty-headed fool has a heraldic device ‘too similar’ to their own.

It makes you want to weep.

Equally unfortunately, at least from the paperwork side of things, Parliament has gotten involved to Solve This Problem. Your head and your desk have a passionate discussion about this that results in a minor headache.

Your husband, bless his soul, solves at least part of the problem by slipping a cushion onto your desk, preventing further injury while you continue to express your frustration. He also gives you a very relaxing shoulder massage.

OK, you can deal with this.

Parliament has pointed out that, in a horrific oversight that is clearly all your fault, naturally, there is no central repository for heraldic devices, nor any authority with the jurisdiction to adjudicate such disputes, nor prevent such disputes from occuring in the first place via appropriate registration procedures. The Copyright Office has completely washed their collective hands of this entire thing by declaring that heraldic devices do not qualify for copyright protections unless they function as a recognized corporate logo.

So they will helpfully correct this horrific lapse in judgment on your part by establishing a Heraldic Registry, empowering said registry with the authority to appropriately regulate heraldic devices, and requiring all existing heraldry to be reviewed by said office and appropriately registered and, if needed, changed to prevent duplication. All disputes involving heraldry would go through this office, rather than the civil courts.

The opposition seems to be having a great deal of fun at your expense on this, and even the Eldest is playing along with good humor. Honestly, you find it funny as well, because everybody involved in overacting like hell and clearly treating this as a bit of a farce. The image of the Eldest in a powdered wig and monocle will stay with you for the rest of your life.

[]	Action	Argument	Result
[]	Go along with the silliness and authorize the Heraldic Registry	While objectively speaking this is completely frivolous, it has become a definite morale boosting situation as people are able to use it to distract themselves from the ongoing wars and conflicts. Morale is important, and while it may be undignified, there’s no reason not to go along with the fun. It won’t even cost us anything significant.	Establishes a Heraldic Registry Upkeep of $1,000 per system in the Empire +1 Approval Change
[]	This is a total waste of time	This is wartime, this kind of frivolous garbage is disrespectful to the men and women on the front lines putting their lives on the line for the Empire. Wasting time and energy on this farce is criminal.	No Changes, you killjoy

 

[Thors_Alumni]

[X] Go along with the silliness and authorize the Heraldic Registry

 

[ShadowArxxy]

[X] This is a total waste of time

Also, Admiral Fisher is being completely absurd given that the scout cruiser class is named after USS Memphis (CL-13), the last of the Omaha-class scout cruisers.

 

[KyranKandosa]

[X] Go along with the silliness and authorize the Heraldic Registry

 

[kashim3]

[X] Go along with the silliness and authorize the Heraldic Registry

 

[Havalt300]

[X] Go along with the silliness and authorize the Heraldic Registry