Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)

Thors_Alumni

Well-known member
[X] Disagree - -10 support in Lords and Commons, gives modifier ‘Prohibition Rejected’
-50 stab change, net -45 stab (-20% + -5%*5 from tax change)

[X] Plan: Constructing the future
 

CurtisLemay

Wargamer, Amateur Historian, Writer
Nuke Mod
Moderator
Staff Member
Founder
[X] Disagree - -10 support in Lords and Commons, gives modifier ‘Prohibition Rejected’
-50 stab change, net -45 stab (-20% + -5%*5 from tax change)

[X] Plan: Constructing the future
 

Lightwhispers

Well-known member
[X] Disagree - -10 support in Lords and Commons, gives modifier ‘Prohibition Rejected’

[X] Plan: Constructing the future

Prohibition-type plans are almost always a societal minority trying to legislate a moral position that they can't convince the majority to go along with otherwise.
 

Vilegrave

Well-known member
[X] Disagree - -10 support in Lords and Commons, gives modifier ‘Prohibition Rejected’
-50 stab change, net -45 stab (-20% + -5%*5 from tax change)

[X] Plan: Constructing the future

Something to consider is that this is a massive loss of support from both sides on top of the Stability loss, we've been vetoing both the Lords and the Commons quite a lot without doing much to regain the lost support so it's likely any long term plans we make are going to get flipped on their heads by sudden politics.
 

ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
I'm honestly surprised at how huge the loss of support is, especially when Sunhawk has clarified that our vote here would in fact apply the full sequence of follow-on bills to enact full-fledged Prohibition. Given that the *most moderate* foot in the door bill only narrowly passed, I would have expected that the more extreme follow-on proposals were quite unlikely to pass even if we didn't veto them; yet we're taking a massive hit to support as if we were vetoing something that had massive bipartisan and public support.
 

kelgar04

Well-known member
A good point has been made though we do need to shore up our support base, otherwise we will run into major problems. We can probably do some political actions next turn to help with this to avoid the tremors turning full earthquake on us.
 

Culsu

Agent of the Central Plasma
Founder
X] Disagree - -10 support in Lords and Commons, gives modifier ‘Prohibition Rejected’
-50 stab change, net -45 stab (-20% + -5%*5 from tax change)

[X] Plan: Constructing the future
 
Kelgar04 - Semi-Canon Omake - Parliamentary Blues

kelgar04

Well-known member
Omake - Parliamentary Blues

Reginald 'Regie' Whitehall sighed as he sat in the tea room with a bacon sandwich and a cup of tea as he leaned back in the chair engaged in one of his midday rituals of people watching. The most recent session in parliament had been rather frustrating, he was part of the Centrist Party which was a middle of the road loyalist party that had representation in both houses. Several of the more verbose members of the Commons had been giving their rather ill-informed thoughts on her majesty vetoing another one of there acts. This one though had come from a really stupid place though because some idiots had been caught with their mistress's and wanted to impose this farce as a form of ass-covering.

In fact, one of those idiots in question Baron Redcliff was entering looking rather flustered. He'd probably had to deal with his rather equally idiotic wife, he sighed as he watched him hurry to a table and wait for service. The man was one of the Griffport First party a bunch of reactionary old dodderers if he ever saw them but at least they supported the Armed Forces which was something positive to say about them. Baron Redcliff though was the worse an old leecher and a racist he'd heard several rumours that he'd been secretly sponsoring some groups who try to rough up Japanese decedent Griffporters.

The idiot would be caught eventually, heck he was collecting evidence on him to hand off to the police in the next few weeks. He went back to people watching until he saw the two people he'd been waiting for. Earl Sasha Pritchard, Earl of Pho on Capricorn and Sam Gras a Crown Loyalist.

"Hello my lady," he said, "Hey Sam."

"Aye' up Reggie," said Sam.

"Hello Regie," Sasha said, "how are you doing today?"

"Fine thanks," he said, "how did the session go in the lords judging by Redcliffs redface it didn't go his way?"

Sasha snorted, "no," she said as a cup of tea was set in front of her and shed nodded her thanks to the waiter, "him and his creatures trying to get their stupidity through us again, but considering no of are blind, deaf or dumb. Well, it didn't work still don't see why they made him their voice in the lords."

"Probably because their whips can easily manipulate," Sam said snorting into his coffee and they all chuckled.

"Aye," he said, "what about you Sam you were late today as well."

He sighed, "Smoothing some ruffled feathers in the party some of the members are mumbling about jumping ship and I had to help Bob and Li-Su smooth them out."

"Aye some rumblings in the Centrist," he said, "but nothing major it is worrying but nothing we can't deal with."

They all nodded and he smiled and decided to change the subject, "any way Sasha hows your brother last I heard he was working on that infrastructure project."

"Oh yes," she said, "he is working with Page&Sons Constructions on Castor last I heard they are laying out the new route but....."
 
Turn 19 - Results

LordSunhawk

Das BOOT (literally)
Owner
Administrator
Staff Member
Founder
Turn 19 - Results

Economic Roll - 0 degrees of success
Health Roll - 7 degrees of success
Stability Change roll - 2 degrees of success

Stability Rolls

-Political - add 10 to 1 difficulty (post on Pollux)
-Research - add 5 to 1 (Human Genome Project)
-Economic - -4% GDP

Meta Event Roll - 56 - no event
Dynasty Luck Roll - SECRET

Crown Influence Roll - 8 - FAIL
Lords Influence Roll - 10 - no roll
Commons Influence Roll - 2 - FAIL

[X] Disagree - -10 support in Lords and Commons, gives modifier ‘Prohibition Rejected’

Build Fortifications lvl 2*
Cost - 2000
Target - 75
Roll - 14
Result - SUCCESS

Advanced Tactical Training Annex - Infantry Training Center
Cost - 5000
Target - 75
Roll - 10
Result - SUCCESS

Advanced Tactical Training Annex - Dropship Crew Training Center [75]
Cost - 5000
Target - 75
Roll - 51
Result - SUCCESS

Recruit Ambush Light Mech Lance for Aerie Cadre, Gyrfalcon flight for Aeroforce
Cost - 1950 (1124+856)
Target - 60/60
Roll - 56/38
Result - SUCCESS/SUCCESS

Establish Harbor on Pollux*
Cost - 1000
Target - 60
Roll - 71
Result - FAIL

Planetary Resource Survey*
Cost - 100
Target AUTOMATIC

Build Dropship Factory Griffsport
Cost - 10000
Target - 95
Roll - 91
Result - SUCCESS

Advertise for colonists to Castor
Cost - 1000
Target - 60
Roll - 31
Result - SUCCESS (converted to FAIL due to event)

Appeal for calm in light of labor-management disputes
Cost - 10000
Target - 85
Roll - 80
Result - SUCCESS

Hold town hall forums on labor relations
Cost - 10000
Target - 85
Roll - 87
Result - Bare Failure (automatic next turn)

Improve Infrastructure
Cost - 1100
Target - 27
Roll - 22
Result - +1 Infrastructure

Reverse Engineer DEST Infiltration Suit*
Cost - 5000
Target - AUTOMATIC

Improved Communications Lvl 2*
Cost - 2000
Target - AUTOMATIC

Interrogate POWs
Cost - 50
Target - 65
Roll - 64
Result - SUCCESS

Meet with Business Leaders and Union Leaders to discuss labor laws
Cost - 10000
Target - 75
Roll - 14
Result - SUCCESS

Training
1st Armored Division
Target - 80
Roll - 15
Result - SUCCESS

1st Aerie Cadre
Target - 65
Roll - 15
Result - SUCCESS

AeroTraining Wing
Target - 65
Roll - 47
Result - SUCCESS

You still can’t believe that Parliament thought you’d ever go along with that latest bit of idiocy vis-a-vis prohibition and ‘taxing’ anything that a small clique considered ‘immoral’. It’s like none of them ever bothered to pay attention in history class. You make a note to have Professor Chapman in for a meeting about dealing with Parliamentary Stupidity.

In more interesting news, to you at least, Jeremy and Alita are still looking insufferably cute together, speaking as a mother. Although their competitive streaks haven’t faded considering the string of 1-2 finishes in the Junior League races, with the pair regularly trading victories.

You’ve already quietly stepped on a few proposals from various companies to take over sponsorship for Jeremy’s racer, he’s happy with representing the military. You’ve also had a few words with professional teams about just why Bastet had picked up their ‘recruiters’ and dragged them off by their collars. You do NOT appreciate them sending their teenage daughters in skimpy bathing suits to try and lure your boy into signing on.

You had referred that issue to Janet, and a proper investigation was underway. So far it looks like just a few rather over-enthusiastic family ‘pro’ racing teams are involved and there appears to be no real laws broken, just good taste.

Alita has far better taste, since the only swimsuits you’ve seen her wearing were ones you wouldn’t mind your daughters wearing if they were her age. Another checkmark in the good category, as far as you are concerned.

The brouhaha over at Griffin’s Run Shipping seems to have shaken itself out, with quite a few very red faces and people looking quite ashamed of themselves. So you are pretty confident that things should get back to normal soon.

Or at least you were confident.

A critical shipment to the new docks at Pollux failed to arrive, it departed on time, no distress calls were heard, but it never arrived. A search is launched and a few hours later wreckage is found, the ship had gone down so quickly that it apparently never managed to get off a distress call.

After several days a cause was determined, the ship had struck a previously uncharted seamount at full speed, which had ripped the bottom wide open sending the vessel into the depths like a diving submarine. There were no survivors.

Within hours of the news getting out there is a reaction. Sailors and shippers are refusing to leave port, pretty much shutting down commerce. This section of ocean was supposed to have been charted and nobody is willing to trust that there aren’t more hidden obstacles that nobody knows about.

You look into the situation and grimace, you had indeed formed the Coast Guard, but then never allocated any funds for it to procure any ships, and so they’d been unable to begin actually doing their jobs. Properly charting the waters along potential Sea Lines of Communication was explicitly one of their jobs, and so the scouting teams had never really done much of anything in that regard.

So now all shipping is frozen, and the economy is poised to take a massive hit.

According to their representatives, the sailors and shippers refuse to risk any of these routes until the Coast Guard is in actual operation and the charts have been validated.

General Potter is just that, a General, with no actual naval experience. He offers to resign due to his failure to push for the purchase of the Coast Guard Flotilla.

[] Accept - Need to select a new Military Advisor next turn.
[] Decline

QM Note - temporary modifier of Shipping Freeze is in effect. Any actions that would raise GDP automatically fails until this is removed. In addition, maximum GDP growth is 0% until such time as this is removed. Moreover, for each turn this remains unresolved the Crown will lose 1 influence starting next turn. Each subsequent turn without progress towards resolution will see the GDP penalty increase (1 turn without resolution progress, -1% GDP, 2 turns, -10% GDP, 3 turns, -20% GDP etc). Resolution conditions are the purchase of the Coast Guard Flotilla and 1 turn spent charting the SLOCs. Modifier will then automatically be removed.

You carefully review everything. The Coast Guard head you’d selected had been sending increasingly strongly worded memos through her chain of command about the lack of resources, but her superiors in the Defense establishment had absolutely no special competency with nautical affairs and so disregarded those memos. They’d never even made it to General Potter’s desk, let alone to yours. However, by the same token you had been fully aware from the initial plans given you at the time of Coast Guard establishment that this would have been a critical step before establishing new ports.

Granted there had been plenty of distractions since then which had drawn away attention, but it was still a serious mistake that was having detrimental effects now.

You gritted your teeth a bit. But no use crying over spilt milk.

At the very least some of your other plans were going quite well.

Most of the Rapid Reaction Force was finally out of the hospital or repair depot, so next year they’d be able to begin again at trying to train successfully for a change. If they weren’t so wickedly effective in actual battle you’d be worried about them.

1st Armored had gotten their artillery up to full competence with them gleefully blasting massive time on target barrages pretty much at will. It’s… terrifying, really.

The Advanced Tactical Training Annex has been completed and you are, quite bluntly, jealous that you didn’t have access to these training facilities when you were a cadet. Shiny, state-of-the-art, and extremely well thought out. In conjunction with the training cadres that had been established new units will now be at advanced states of readiness straight out of the gate.

The fortification expansion had been successfully completed. You’d gotten the chance to tour one of the complexes and are quite suitably impressed. The next time the Kuritans tried to invade they’d have a number of very nasty surprises indeed.

There is now a full company of mechs in the Cadre, and an additional flight of Gyrfalcons in the AeroForce. In combination with the new training facilities the new units are looking extremely crisp and professional.

As a result of now having a full company of mechs in the Cadre, it should now be possible for new designs to be developed.

The Planetary Resource Survey had made an interesting potential discovery, oil slicks are visible at places near a set of islands nicknamed the ‘Five Fingers’ (E3 in the map). You’d have to send survey teams to confirm, but such things are usually indicative of oil ‘seeps’ in the sea bed in the area, which would indicate a significant petrochemical find.

The new dropship factory has been completed in Griffsport. There were some fears that the shipping disruptions would delay completion, but in the end construction was completed and the massive facility was completed on schedule.

There have been incremental improvements to overall infrastructure throughout Griffsport and Capricorn which have led to a general improvement in conditions for citizens. New hospitals have been opened, roads and bridges have been brought up to the latest standards, and new mass transit and cargo distribution systems are in place within the cities.

The efforts to seek a long-term solution to labor-management relations issues are ongoing and have seen a very solid start. Ironically the town halls you’d had organized are a victim of their own success, with them proving so popular that additional sessions are scheduled as so many people appear to want to be heard. You’ve been hearing many excellent suggestions on how to create a truly equitable balance between the concerns of the workforce and the needs of management, and you are quite hopeful that a proper solution will be found.

If it isn’t it’ll not be because there aren’t enough ideas, that’s for certain.

Your scientists have been able to completely reverse-engineer the DEST Infiltration Suit, although the version they created has a bit less of the deliberate ‘ninja’ vibe to it (seriously, some of the detail work was so unneeded according to the engineers). It will soon be possible, in combination with future upgrades to the Aerie, to field special operations teams of your own.

Communications systems have been improved, with a set of new comm protocols reducing bandwidth overhead by 15% with higher security on both ends. You don’t understand any of the technical details, but your comms specialists are extremely excited about it so you take their word for how important this is.

You get word that the interrogation of the actual DEST commandos is proceeding with no hiccups of any sort, security is holding, none of them have managed to kill themselves are harm any of the guards, but unfortunately they appear to be highly resistant to every form of interrogation you’ve tried. Work is ongoing, however, and results are hoped for ‘soon’.
 

kelgar04

Well-known member
[X] Decline
-[X] This was a mistake on both our parts to that end I want you to out the head of the coast guard on your staff so we can get warnings on vital issues like this so we don't have a repeat.
 

Thors_Alumni

Well-known member
[X] Decline
-[X] This was a mistake on both our parts to that end I want you to out the head of the coast guard on your staff so we can get warnings on vital issues like this so we don't have a repeat.
 

kashim3

Texan, Mandalorian, Alabamian.
[X] Decline
-[X] This was a mistake on both our parts to that end I want you to out the head of the coast guard on your staff so we can get warnings on vital issues like this so we don't have a repeat.
 

Ridli Scott

Well-known member
Maybe we should show the new suit to the DEST only to make them mad (it's only a joke, I know it would be a bad idea).

[X] Decline
- [X] What we need to prevent this sort of thing from happening again is a full-fledged Joint Staff with representation from all military branches. instead of just a single military advisor. The heads of the Coast Guard and our aerospace force should be on this Joint Staff, with General Potter serving as the army representative and chairman. In the future, our space navy will have a representative as well, and given the unique nature of 'Mechs, it may be desirable to someday have a "Battlemech Corps" separate from the Army.
 
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ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
[X] Decline
- [X] What we need to prevent this sort of thing from happening again is a full-fledged Joint Staff with representation from all military branches. instead of just a single military advisor. The heads of the Coast Guard and our aerospace force should be on this Joint Staff, with General Potter serving as the army representative and chairman. In the future, our space navy will have a representative as well, and given the unique nature of 'Mechs, it may be desirable to someday have a "Battlemech Corps" seperate from the Army.
 

Jarow

Well-known member
[X] Decline
-[X] This was a mistake on both our parts to that end I want you to out the head of the coast guard on your staff so we can get warnings on vital issues like this so we don't have a repeat.
 

CurtisLemay

Wargamer, Amateur Historian, Writer
Nuke Mod
Moderator
Staff Member
Founder
[X] Decline
- [X] What we need to prevent this sort of thing from happening again is a full-fledged Joint Staff with representation from all military branches. instead of just a single military advisor. The heads of the Coast Guard and our aerospace force should be on this Joint Staff, with General Potter serving as the army representative and chairman. In the future, our space navy will have a representative as well, and given the unique nature of 'Mechs, it may be desirable to someday have a "Battlemech Corps" separate from the Army.
 
ShadowArxxy - Canon Omake - SPARKY! <in the style of James Kirk>

ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
The Periphery Studies Department was on the warpath again.

Specifically, several members of the tenured faculty had recently gotten into a bit of a manic focus on military hardware and had come up with what they firmly believed was a BRILLIANT out of the box solution to modern mechanized warfare. They'd even spent months in the University's well-equipped (and well-supervised) machine shop to craft a lovingly detailed, three-foot-long, partially functional remote-controlled scale model of their brainchild. Their plan was to present this to the Ministry of Defense along with the stack of papers (in super professional looking clear plastic binders!) detailing their proposals, which would then surely cancel all those stupid money-wasting Battlemechs and begin immediate mass production of their design instead.

And then a mere secretary at the Ministry of Defense coldly informed them that the Ministry was flatly not interested in 'unsolicited proposals off the street'. This hadn't been in their oh-so-carefully gamed out meta-tactical adoption strategy! They hadn't planned for such an arbitrary and capricious obstacle! This wasn't fair!

An emergency conference was called, and it was quickly and decisively resolved over the course of the next six weeks that they should pack up their beloved model and march to the Royal Palace, where the Queen would surely see the justness of their cause! Especially since the model was very fast, and everyone knew the Queen totally had a soft spot for fast vehicles. It was only the worst-kept insider secret in the entire history of Griffon's Roost.

Unfortunately, they got lost. They got very lost, and then they got hungry, and then they got even more hungry while debating -- with decreasing collegiality and increasing rancor -- what sort of food they should eat. By the time their trusty administrative staff took a vote and secured a narrow majority win for pizza, things were really quite dire. And then a second vote had to be called over pizza toppings, and a tertiary vote over sides, and. . . well, in the end they weren't hungry anymore, but the momentum of the thing had been completely ruined.

They ended up going home and filming a great deal of footage of their mighty General Amphibious Vehicle Mark 1-N model dashing at high speed across the University swimming pool and "assaulting" up the handicap access ramp, dramatically blowing up large numbers of hapless plastic toy Battlemechs with the potato cannons which served as notional substitutes for the brace of heavy recoilless rifles which the real version would wield. This clearly demonstrated its total superiority, and satisfaction was had.
 
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Bear Ribs

Well-known member
[X] Decline
-[X] This was a mistake on both our parts to that end I want you to out the head of the coast guard on your staff so we can get warnings on vital issues like this so we don't have a repeat.
 

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