Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)

LordSunhawk · Dec 25, 2022

Turn 123 - Simoriah

Meta Event	33
Dynasty Luck	5
	Successes
Imperial Approval	4
Approval Change	0
Political Event	-1
	Successes
Imperial Economy	12
Economic Event	-1
Research Event	4

Griffon	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	0

Nowa Warszawa	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1

Calliope IV	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	0

TTP	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	0

New Capricorn	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	0

Nowy Śląsk	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	0

Edelsteine	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	0

Nowy Wroclaw	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	0

Griff's Leap	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	0

New Phoenix	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	2

New Eden	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	2

New Castor	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	0

Okusawa	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1

New Pollux	Econ	3
	Health	3
	Event	4

New Port Royal	Econ	2
	Health	4
	Event	1

Kainga	Econ	3
	Health	3
	Event	4

Chuma	Econ	3
	Health	3
	Event	4

Stahlfurt	Econ	2
	Health	4
	Event	1

Bāṛi	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	2

Skała	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1

Piekło	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1

Nya Köpenhamn	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	0

Bauernparadis	Econ	3
	Health	3
	Event	4

Awha	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	2

Kaiyo	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	2

Bohren	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	2

Grand View	Econ	3
	Health	3
	Event	4

Iskra	Econ	3
	Health	3
	Event	4

Raj	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1

Feurstern	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	2

Pinball	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	2

Catachan	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1

Nox	Econ	3
	Health	3
	Event	4

Olej	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	2

Glorreich	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	5

Pryyemnyy	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	5

Novolar	Econ	3
	Health	3
	Event	4

Steingarten	Econ	3
	Health	3
	Event	4

Pustina	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	5

Kurortas	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	5

Arvum	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	5

Landprettig	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1

Bellaterra	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	5

Nubifragio	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1

Platzregensburg	Econ	2
	Health	4
	Event	1

Shin Tōkyō	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	5

Porto Milano	Econ	2
	Health	4
	Event	1

Nuova Fortezza	Econ	2
	Health	4
	Event	1

Nowe Mazowsze	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	1

Neuthüringen	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	5

New Algiers	Econ	2
	Health	4
	Event	1

New Clew Bay	Econ	2
	Health	4
	Event	1

Nuova Tripoli	Econ	2
	Health	4
	Event	1

New Libertalia	Econ	2
	Health	4
	Event	1

Nuova Puglia	Econ	10
	Health	3
	Event	2

Nuovo Abruzzo	Econ	10
	Health	3
	Event	2

Nuova Lombardia	Econ	10
	Health	3
	Event	2

Stenen Tuin	Econ	10
	Health	3
	Event	2

Nouvelle Bourgogne	Econ	10
	Health	3
	Event	2

Nyū Shikoku	Econ	2
	Health	4
	Event	1

Neubayern	Econ	10
	Health	3
	Event	2

Neuhessen	Econ	10
	Health	3
	Event	2

Hot Mess	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	5

New Narnia	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	5

The Hub	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	5

Baddorando	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	5

Sturmland	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	5

Blár	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	5

Nueva Chiapas	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	5

New Kansas	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	5

Nowego Lublina	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	5

URIST!!!!!!
Plan: Deck the Halls
- Procurement [$ 745,634,928,326.20 ]
-- Lay Down Major Unit [Construction - $18,657,332,832.50 ] (95)
--- 300 Artemis [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 1
Result – Critical SUCCESS

--- 130 Wright [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 2
Result - SUCCESS

--- 107 Colt [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 11
Result - SUCCESS

--- 255 Mikasa [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 19
Result - SUCCESS

--- 30 Saipan [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 22
Result - SUCCESS

-- Lay down Jumpship [Jumpship Construction - $18,640,054.20 ] (90)
--- 2 Windjammer [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 40
Result - SUCCESS

-- Lay down Warship [Warship Construction - $431,846,179,250.00 ] (90)
--- 130 Battle [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 70
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Skjold [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 49
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Constellation [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 28
Result - SUCCESS

--- 50 Tarantul [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 86
Result - SUCCESS

--- 50 Asheville [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 38
Result - SUCCESS

--- 40 Belfast [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 83
Result - SUCCESS

--- 40 De Grasse [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 41
Result - SUCCESS

--- 6 Hosho [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 88
Result - SUCCESS

--- 20 Prinz Eugen II [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 50
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Algerie [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 53
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Kaiserin [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 47
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Saratoga [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 55
Result - SUCCESS

-- Purchase New Units [Minor Unit - $ 56,112,126,189.50 ] (90)
--- 0 Fighter Wing [auto]
--- 25 Carrier Wing [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 39
Result - SUCCESS

--- 100 CAP Wing [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 38
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Garrison Wing [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 11
Result - SUCCESS

--- 25 Garrison Division [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 74
Result - SUCCESS

--- 25 Militia Division [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 25
Result - SUCCESS

-- Fortress Command [$ 229,000,650,000.00 ] (90)
--- Construct Black Tower
---- Nuova Puglia [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 4
Result - SUCCESS

---- Nuovo Abruzzo [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 70
Result - SUCCESS

---- Nuova Lombardia [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 50
Result - SUCCESS

---- Stenen Tunin [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 3
Result - SUCCESS

---- Nuovelle Bourgogne [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 51
Result - SUCCESS

- General [$ 2,539,750,000,000.00 ]
-- Focus Development on Core World Griffon [85]
Target - 85
Roll – 96, Jarow reroll – 96, ShadowArxxy reroll – 99, General reroll - 1
Result – Critical SUCCESS

-- Focus Development on Peripheral World Catachan [85]
Target - 85
Roll – 98, General reroll - 76
Result - SUCCESS

-- Massive Core Investment Iskra [80]
Target - 80
Roll – 94, General reroll – 95, General reroll – 91, General reroll - 19
Result - SUCCESS

-- Massive Peripheral Investment Raj [80]
Target - 80
Roll – 94, General reroll – 95, General reroll - 26
Result - SUCCESS

-- Economic Investment Novolar [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 66
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on New Narnia [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 2
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Nouvelle Bourgogne [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 41
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Hot Mess [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 5
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Baddorando [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 76
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Nuova Puglia [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 14
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build ASF Factory Complex (95)
--- Glorreich [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 37
Result - SUCCESS

--- Shin Tōkyō [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 52
Result - SUCCESS

--- Kurortas [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 53
Result - SUCCESS

--- Raj [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 51
Result - SUCCESS

--- Pustina [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 65
Result - SUCCESS

-- Expand Civil Service [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 1
Result – Critical SUCCESS

-- Rationalize Legal Codes [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 2
Result - SUCCESS

-- Survey GX-Q19 [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 61
Result - SUCCESS

-- Survey GX-Q17 [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 8
Result - SUCCESS

-- Survey GX-Q15 [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 40
Result - SUCCESS

-- Survey GX-P14 [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 10
Result - SUCCESS

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

-- Construct Escort Yard Nyu Shikoku [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 75
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Stenen Tuin [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 71
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nuova Triploi [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 77
Result - SUCCESS

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

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

-- Construct Escort Yard Neuthuringen [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 3
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nowe Mazowsze [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 75
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nox [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 31
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Platzregensburg [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 70
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard New Algiers [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 40
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard New Clew Bay [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 56
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nubifragio [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 42
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Bellaterra [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 72
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Landprettig [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 24
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Porto Milano [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 53
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard The Hub [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 8
Result - SUCCESS

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

-- Construct Escort Yard Sturmland [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 14
Result - SUCCESS

-- Upgrade Refit & Repair Yard [105]
Target - 105
Roll - 49
Result - SUCCESS

-- Expand Orbital Shipyards [105]
Target - 105
Roll - 11
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard New Capricorn* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 20
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard Edelsteine* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 38
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard Nya Kopenhamn* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 36
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard Kainga* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 52
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard Calliope [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 61
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard Okusawa [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 46
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard Pieklo [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 69
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard Bari [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 69
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard Griffon [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 57
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard New Port Royal [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 36
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Nowa Warzsawa [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 33
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard New Castor [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 17
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Nowy Slask [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 66
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Chuma [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 4
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Awha [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 48
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Kaiyo [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 43
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Shin Tokyo [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 38
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Iskra [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 30
Result - SUCCESS

- DoME [$ 422,000,000,000.00 ]
-- Expand Shin Tōkyō Arcologies [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 87
Result - SUCCESS

-- Terraforming Feurstem* [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 36
Result - SUCCESS

-- Terraforming Steingarten* [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 53
Result - SUCCESS

-- Terraforming Olej* [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 1
Result – Critical SUCCESS

-- Terraforming Neubayern* [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 8
Result - SUCCESS

- Research [$ 19,250,500,000,000.00 ]
-- Micro ER Lasers* [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 73
Result - SUCCESS

-- Genetic Engineering Lvl 5* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 14
Result - SUCCESS

- Miscellaneous [$ 143,370,000,000.00 ]
-- Culture [$ 1,250,000,000 ]
--- Culture - Charity Concert [75]
Target - 75
Roll - 49
Result - SUCCESS

-- Production Contract [->6?][134,700,000,000]

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

December ends with the same sound you’d heard in January, the wailing of sirens. Only this isn’t the Party Police on patrol, but rather all of the fire alarms over in the Interior Ministry malfunctioning horribly, going off for no reason whatsoever thus forcing full evacuations of the building, then once reset, waiting an hour or so to do it again.

Technicians finally isolated the fault to a single junction box in the system where the wires were being munched on by a rather frazzled cuddlebear who's somehow gotten loose from their owner and decided that the insulation used on the control wiring for the fire alarm system was tasty. Much finger-pointing later, you find yourself the proud owner of a slightly singed genetically altered cuddlebear. You are quite sure your grandkids will be happy with this.

Ironically, despite what you might think, this insanity not only didn’t prevent the Interior Ministry from completing their investment work, it actually resulted in one of the workers involved in the Griffon Economic Focus group to have an idea so clever you could pin a tail on it and call it a fox. A complete line of animated plush toys based on the various fauna of the Griffon system, ranging from an adorifying dire penguin plushie that noms on any heat source in the area while making exaggerated ‘nom nom nom’ noises from an internal speaker to a two meter long plush grifftiger complete with LED glowing stripes which purrs when petted and a four meter long deathapotamusaurus plush that the grifftiger plush is programmed to recognize and pounce on.

While ‘plush toys’ of these critters were already common, nobody had ever hooked up an internal ‘skeleton’ and actuators to make animated plushies of this level of quality. A number of factories are quickly commissioned in the Griffon system to mass produce the toys, which quickly become a craze across the Empire. As a consequence the Griffon system economy is absolutely booming.

Hiring also goes extremely well for the civil service. The recent controversy ginned up by Parliament over the civil service has had a highly unintentional side effect, large numbers of highly qualified and motivated young people are so eager to sign on for the Civil Service that recruitment targets are hit two months early, but thanks to a fortunate communications breakdown the recruiters keep on signing up more people. As a result the Civil Service has grown substantially this year.

Likewise, the review and rationalization of the Imperial legal codex has gone exceptionally well this year. You’ve been informed that as a result you’ll likely not have to revisit this for an additional year next time, which is rather welcome news.

Construction of new ASF factories proceeds as planned, on time, on budget, and ready to produce an additional five wings of fighters a year. You have been getting regular memos regarding the systemic review of ASF performance, which appears to be proceeding quite well indeed.

The new Artemis planetary defense boats are getting rave reviews from the initial crews who’ve begun working with them while they are on the production lines. Despite how tight and cramped they are, the ergonomics of the control systems, the overall internal layout, and the comfort of the acceleration couches are considered some of the best, if not THE best, in Imperial service. The control interfaces especially are receiving enormous amounts of praise.

Other procurement, both of naval, aerospace, and ground forces, goes very well indeed. You spend quite a bit of time attending commissioning ceremonies for the newest battleships. You’ve also gotten the chance to tour the partially completed hulls of the Kaiserin-class vessels, which are very impressive indeed.

The four survey missions go off with nary a hitch. No sightings of the Black Steel, which is a relief.

GX-Q19 was, as expected, an enormous red supergiant verging on hypergiant territory. It is such a large star that, if it replaced Griffon’s primary, the star would engulf every single planet in the system. The survey crews took the time to make sure there weren’t any surprises lurking in the system, considering the white dwarf secondary star that is whipping around the red supergiant, but found nothing of interest. The system has joined the Waypoint family of systems, to be used for recharge purposes.

GX-Q17, however, proves to be an exceptionally interesting system indeed. There are two habitable worlds in the system, both with multiple large moons. Life hasn’t evolved very far on either, with the dominant species on the one being bony armored fish, and the other having primitive forests and a few extremely primitive amphibians. Mineral resources, however, are extensive, especially in the asteroid belts, and include substantial deposits of usable germanium ore. The survey crews dub the system Nowy Szczecin.

GX-Q15 has a single, technically habitable, world. Unfortunately the planet is exceptionally hot and only really habitable on the ‘dark’ side of the tidally locked planet. Equally unfortunate is the fact that the industrial metal deposits are exclusively located in the blazing hot light side of the planet. Temperatures are high enough to melt steel, and the surface is barely solid. Survey crews have dubbed the system Salamander, after the mythical fiery creature.

Finally, GX-P14 is a more pleasant world, with extensive oceans and a mild, temperate climate. It does tend to get heavy snowfall during the winter. There’s nothing special, mineral wise, in the system, but transport on the planet will be quite easy thanks to the massive oceans, rivers, and lake systems. Survey crews have dubbed the place New Portland.

Large numbers of new naval shipyards have been completed, increasing your production levels quite nicely indeed. It is hoped that within a year or so you’ll be able to resume offensive operations, hopefully before the Black Steel can do the same.

Terraforming work is going exceptionally well this year, especially in the Olej system where the experts from DoME are able to combine their terraforming work with a project to build the single largest petroleum processing and refining complex in the Empire, giving a significant boost to the economic prospects of the system while also reducing the dangers inherent to the massive free petrochemicals in the system.

Your researchers complete work on the extended range 1cm laser system. While far too small to be useful for anything other than battle armor, it is rather useful for them, giving nearly as much punch as a 3cm laser for those units on a fraction the mass. The loss of range inherent in the system is far less critical for infantry as well, as the battle armor version of the 3cm laser has the same range as the extended range 1cm system.

Work is also completed on the next tranche of genetic engineering techniques and innovations, with a substantial amount of assistance from Kilburrough. This has seen a massive boost to quality of life and health throughout the empire, as well as further boosting crop yields.

A massive Christmas concert is held in the Griffsport Symphony Hall that draws a great deal of attention. You rather enjoy the old standbys and carols, especially the choir performances. It is a wonderful evening of fun, music, and Christmas cheer.

LordSunhawk · Dec 26, 2022

Turn 124 - Angel

You receive some terrible news in early January. General Messerschmidt, Admiral Peterson (your Chief of Naval Intelligence, although you’d never met her) and Admiral Fanni, the CO of Strike Fleet were in the Arvum system when their dropship exploded rather spectacularly. There were no survivors of the passengers or crew, and no distress calls were ever made. The dropship had been on final approach to HMS Niobe, the Prinz Eugen-class flagship of Strike Fleet, when the explosion happened. Sensors aboard the warship detected no external cause for the detonation, and the ship itself did take minor damage from the debris. There was telemetry data, however, from the docking system. Five milliseconds prior to the explosion a spike in temperature was detected in the main fuel feed system for the transit drive, triggering an alarm. Detailed video of the explosion shows it starting in the transit drive assembly.

Investigators have already ruled out a maintenance issue, or defective parts, the dropship was fully current on all inspections and maintenance, had logged no issues for the rest of the trip prior to the detonation, and the heat spike occurred in a highly anomalous manner, most consistent with the detonation of explosives. The heat spike occurred in a damage control compartment that wouldn’t have been opened in ordinary operation, but had been logged as ‘inspected’ while the dropship was planetside. The inspector who signed off on this is wanted for questioning but is currently missing, her husband and daughter have not seen her since the morning of said ‘inspection’ as she didn’t come home after her shift at the drop port. A missing persons report had been filed the next day. The security officer who had been on duty at the time is also missing, as are the security tapes for the fifteen minutes the inspector had supposedly been working in that particular bay. It should be noted that she did not appear in any security footage that day, and her personal vehicle was never logged in in the employee parking area that morning. The digital tapes are currently in the process of being recovered. As both the inspector and the security officer would have been authorized to be aboard the dropship on official business, there is no indication of any security failure on the ship’s crew's end.

Three days laters there is an update, the inspector's personal vehicle was discovered, burned out and dumped in a canal. The inspector’s burned body was found in the trunk of the vehicle, cause of death has been determined to be two shots to the back of the head execution style, her hands were bound behind her back and her security credentials are missing. The security officer has been upgraded to being the prime suspect in the assassination and is still missing. A search warrant of his residence discovered evidence of a disturbing obsession with the Black Steel as ‘the next stage in human evolution’ and ‘transhuman supermen’. They also discovered materials consistent with building a thermite bomb, detailed schematics of the Queen-class transport, and a half-written manifesto ranting about the age of cybernetics and transhumanism.

The current theory is that the security officer murdered the inspector, used her credentials to gain access to the damage control locker, placed the bomb directly adjacent to the transit drive assembly, destroyed the security tapes of the bay to disguise his presence for as long as possible, and that he is now in hiding. The IGMP and Special Branch are on the case, both in the manhunt and attempting to determine how he passed security screenings to attain his position.

While the investigation proceeds, you’ll need to replace General Messerschmidt. Admiral Peterson had been the most likely candidate to succeed him, which complicates things somewhat. Thankfully the Navy is able to handle Admiral Fanni’s replacement on their own.

You do have several candidates for the position.

[]	Name	Short Bio
[]	Elizabeth Tompkins	Currently the intelligence director of the Special Branch, Elizabeth was ‘recruited’ into the organization, much like many other of their top people, out of organized crime, yet has proven to be quite effective, loyal, and dedicated. She does, however, have a tendency to recommend… creative and not exactly honorable solutions to problems.
[]	Levan Tumanishvili	Levan is the current intelligence advisor on Amaunet’s staff in the Ministry of Defense. He’s very young for his position, but had excelled as a field agent during the operations against the former Duc de Nouvelle Picardie where his list of verified accomplishments read more like a spy thriller than anything else. He does, however, have a reputation as a bit of a ladies man, in much the same mold as Tyler Lee had.
[]	Sina Day	Sina is the senior surviving aide to General Messerschmidt and had a solid career as an analyst prior to joining his staff five years ago. She’s given the occasional briefing when the General was unavailable and has always struck you as being a cold, focused, and efficient woman but one with a somewhat sneaky sense of dry humor.
[]	Awad al-Hassan	The Intelligence Director for the IGMP, working heavily in counterintelligence and support for law enforcement in general. Has a strong legal background as well as a distinguished history within law enforcement in general, having begun his career as a beat cop here in Griffsport.

In much happier news, there have been no major Black Steel attacks so far this year, just a few minor skirmishes around the frontiers. They continue their extremely spread out probes, but thankfully Home Fleet is rapidly building up forces which they are concentrating on the vulnerable area, relying on your allies for the rest of your frontiers.

You also continue to receive extremely positive news from the trials for the new Artemis-class Planetary Defense Boats. From the memos that have been forwarded to your attention, you get the impression that the navy is seriously considering backporting the interface systems used in this class of ships to other parasites, at least initially, and possibly to the entire fleet.

LordSunhawk · Dec 28, 2022

Turn 124 - Permanent Vacation

General Bradley asks you to meet her at the Imperial Guard’s training facility outside of Griffsport, which you are quite happy to do. Once there, she brings you over to the infantry training area where there are two suits of heavy battle armor displayed.

One is the current Mk II Heavy Battle Armor that has proven itself in action during operations against the Rouges Noir. The infantry-scale support PPC in the left arm, combined with the shoulder mounted hardpoints for a pair of the standard infantry pulse laser rifles and a backpack mounted four pack of advanced short-range missiles, combined with the heavy armor and solid mobility, make this suit a truly lethal combatant in both open field and closed terrain.

Next to it is a very similar suit, eschewing the PPC and the battle claw, but rather having standard manipulators and forearm mounted 1cm extended range lasers mounted over the wrists, such that they can be aimed and fired easily without risking hitting the hand manipulators.

“The new suits have several key advantages compared to the old ones, Your Majesty, but also some disadvantages as well. The two suits are completely equal in terms of overall predicted effectiveness, although the new pattern is somewhat more expensive. The largest difference is that the older model has significantly greater effective range, while the newer one trades that range for more actual damage potential once it is in range. The PPC can hit a target and deal at least a little damage out to almost a half mile before beam attenuation in atmosphere renders the weapon ineffective, while the 1cm laser can reach just a hair under a quarter mile in the same circumstances. In vacuum, of course, ranges go up to the limits of the targeting system, effectively line of sight. For long range engagements the weapons of choice have always been either the infantry gauss rifle or the missiles.” She smiles a bit coldly. “In typical engagement ranges, both the PPC and the 1cm laser would be effective, but the dual 1cm lasers have just over double the actual damage potential. The suits do give up the battle claw, but have two standard manipulators rather than the lone claw. So far the feedback from infantrymen assigned to test the suit has been rather positive. While the battle claw allowed for devastating anti-armor attacks, the heavy suits are far less well suited for that tactic than lighter suits due to their bulk.”

She then takes you to another area, again showing you two different suits. One is the older Mk V Standard Medium Battle Armor, equipped with a 3cm laser which encases the entire left hand, a battle claw on the right arm and a twin advanced missile launcher in a backpack mounting. THe other is once again the proposed replacement. This was features a 1cm pulse laser mounted in a similar manner to the 1cm extended range lasers on the heavier suit, as a forearm mount over a standard manipulator. Otherwise the suit appears completely identical.

“This is a more straightforward upgrade, Your Majesty. The 1cm pulse laser has an identical damage and range profile to the standard 3cm laser, thanks to the enhanced accuracy, while being 40 kilograms lighter. The great benefit of that is hidden.” She smiles slightly as you frown and look more carefully at the suit. “The myomer bundles on the legs are strengthened, giving the suit over twice as much speed on the ground. Jump ranges are identical. The new suits are also slightly more expensive than the older ones, but the increase in effectiveness is more than worth it.”

A pattern is developing here, you decide, as the general brings you to another room where, once more, a pair of battle armor suits are displayed. This time they are the light-weight scout suits that are oftentimes used by recon units. The current Mk III model has an identical munitions loadout to the heavier Mk V Standard Medium, albeit with just over half the armor and more advanced sensors. The newer suit matches the Mk VI, with the 1cm pulse laser, while also sporting the same sensor suite.

You preempt General Bradley, asking her if the new suit is slightly more expensive, significantly more capable, and faster moving than the old one, to which the pugnacious general laughs and agrees that you are absolutely correct in your surmise.

As you walk to the final room, undoubtedly for the assault suit, General Bradley explains while you walk. “This next one is the most radical departure. Of all of the infantry suits used during operations against the Rouges Noir the only one that failed to meet expectations was the assault suit used by the urban assault units. The jump capability was almost never used, the limited range of the jets used made it completely superfluous in all but niche situations. Worse, the armament mix was woefully inadequate. The support PPC gave solid performance at range, but was inadequate in urban combat situations due to inadequate damage output. The four pack of missiles proved inadequate as well, only having a single reload, and the grenade launcher was one of those ‘looked good on paper’ ideas that turned out to be next to useless in practice. The quad anti-personnel hardpoints likewise seemed like a good idea on paper, but in practice were very poorly implemented.”

As she speaks you arrive, the old hulking suit on one end, while a newer model is next to it. “The battle claws saw almost no use, the suits weren’t agile enough to force the enemy into melee and when they did the claws were completely overkill. So we went back to the drawing board completely.”

The new suit lacks the battle claws, lacks the bulky shoulder mounted PPC, lacks the equally bulky grenade launcher, and has only a pair of hardpoints for pulse laser rifles to be mounted. Instead it has a pair of 1cm extended range lasers in similar mounts to the heavy suit, a massive six tube missile launcher on the back, and a shoulder mounted anti-personnel gauss rifle. The suit itself has also been completely restyled, the nearly organic curves of the older suit replaced by hard, sharp angles and flat plates.

“These suits are much cheaper, Your Majesty, breaking the trend of the others. Moreover, these suits are designed for one other possible purpose.” She smiles slightly as you lift an eyebrow at that. “This is still extremely experimental. Several of the field techs have been tinkering around with fitting tube artillery to these suits. It’s only a 75mm pack howitzer similar to a model we have in the Artillery Museum here in Griffsport, but it is small and light enough for suits equipped with it to make indirect artillery attacks at a range of several miles. While it is nothing compared to the range of standard artillery, the sheer mobility afforded by battle armor allows for some very interesting tactical niches for the technology.”

Parliament is keeping their heads down, with only rather straightforward and ordinary bits of legislation coming to your desk. It’s nice to have them relatively on side for a change, but a bit worrisome as you are quite uncertain as to whether or not it will last. The Eldest assures you that he is keeping a paw on the situation, so you aren’t too concerned.

The manhunt for the assassin on Arvum continues, no individuals matching the suspect’s biometrics have attempted to leave the planet, and the IGMP and Special Branch are pursuing multiple leads. They are confident that they’ll have him in custody in the near future.

You meet with Sina Day to officially promote her to Intelligence Minister. She is quite typically reserved in her reaction, although you had caught her in an unguarded moment during the funeral for General Messerschmidt with suspiciously glistening eyes. She does get right to work, however, and you receive a number of memos within a few days laying out some plans that Day has for the Intelligence agency. For one she wants to focus more on HUMINT assets, arguing that old-fashioned Mk One Mod Zero Eyeballs are still the single best way to develop accurate intelligence. She also has some rather… innovative… ideas for how to best develop HUMINT capabilities. Wouldn’t it be nice to coordinate with them on training scenarios for HUMINT agents, allowing such agents to get hands-on experience while also providing training for counterintelligence assets.

According to the memo she has established dialogue with her counterparts in the NRI, NRR and among the Ikeans, and, through some strange alchemy known only to them and probably involving the Ikeans, the Black Pumpernickels are offering to provide ‘specialized stealth training’. You blink a few times at that, as Day rather dryly informs you that she is 90% sure that this will involve ‘stealth through audacity’ techniques. Her counterparts are cautiously in favor of the proposal, all it would require is your approval to formally propose it.

[]	Action	Result
[]	Approve HUMINT training plan	Begins HUMINT Training event tree Improves relations with NRI, NRR, Ikeans, and Black Pumpernickels
[]	Disapprove HUMINT training plan	No effect

LordSunhawk · Dec 29, 2022

Turn 124 - St John

The Black Steel cultist behind the assassinations was finally run down in an industrial area on Arvum. Attempts were made to take him alive, but in the end it came down to a gun fight between the cultist and the IGMP, and the cultist saved his last bullet for himself. The overall investigation continues, but so far all signs point to this being a lone wolf attack by a fanatic. There are absolutely no signs of a wider organizational structure supporting him, no signs of any active accomplices. The cultist took advantage of your own educational system to teach himself high-energy chemistry, allowing him to synthesize the chemicals needed for the bomb he built out of common chemicals.

There has been an uptick in Black Steel skirmishing activity along the border, primarily in the Northwest at this time. Small scouting groups of between twenty and thirty ships are regularly chased off by Home Fleet flotillas. So far they have not been pressing home attacks, settling with trading extreme range harassing fire and withdrawing as soon as they start to take damage.

Currently, Strike Fleet is holding position in the Arvum system, the Expeditionary Fleet is in Baddorando, and Grand Fleet is in Pryyemnyy. Thanks to the widespread nature of the Black Steel’s recon efforts it is still nearly impossible to predict where the main blow will land.

Pirate activity is rising to the galactic Northeast, but so far the NRI patrols are doing a superb job of protecting that frontier, allowing you to focus on the Black Steel. A new NRI Light Cruiser design is in service, the largest vessel in their fleet to date. The Quinquereme-class continues the NRI’s obsession with gauss weaponry, sporting massive batteries of that weapon type. So far you’ve only seen a half dozen of them, although Intelligence reports, along with the NRI’s own statements, confirm that there are twenty currently in service with a production rate of ten per year.

The NRI has requested assistance from the Empire, however. They would like access to your harjel deposits to provide the same self-sealing capacity to their warships as you have in your own. So far you are the only ones with deposits of the precursor organisms for harjel, making you the sole possible source for them.

[]	Action	Effect
[]	Honor the alliance, provide Harjel	Improves relations with the NRI +1 Trade Route
[]	Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine	Harms relations with the NRI

You do get some time to watch the Pan Griffon Games, mostly to watch your daughter compete. The competition has been going quite well. You do have word that the NRI, NRR and the Bourbons have all instituted their own versions of these games, which helps explain how much more competitive the Olympics are becoming.

And now it is your favorite time of year, budget time.

Amaunet leads off as always, lounging behind the podium. “Padrone, excellent news, in many ways, the military situation is looking relatively positive, we continue to grow in strength, and hopefully this will continue into the future.” She nods to General Bradley, who takes the podium.

“Your Majesty, we are going to be requesting a number of new units this year, purely to ensure that our Infantry Divisions continue to have sufficient strength to fully back up our garrisons and militias, while preserving an expeditionary capacity. The new battle armor suits are being rolled out as we speak.” She smiles slightly. “Of particular interest, the net difference in costs between the upgraded medium suits and the assault suits comes out to about even in our Infantry Divisions, which is a bit amusing.”

Imperial Griffon Army
- Procurement
  - Regular Forces
    - 10 Infantry Divisions
  - Garrison Forces
    - 25 Garrison Divisions
    - 25 Militia Divisions

General Perkins then takes over. “While we continue to need to increase our production numbers, Your Majesty, we are shifting focus slightly to our more offensive formations, namely Carrier Wings, to fill out the bays on our new fleet carriers. My staff is currently working with our operational commanders to work out whether or not we should continue to use integrated wings on the Saratoga-class ships, or perhaps deploy multiple more specialized wings. There are arguments both ways, ranging from efficiency to redundancy.”

He brings up the budget request displays then.

Imperial Griffon Aerospace Force
- Production
  - New ASF Factory Complexes
    - Glorreich
    - Shin Tōkyō
    - Kurortas
    - Raj
    - Pustina
- Procurement
  - 100 Carrier Wings
  - 25 CAP Wings
  - 15 Garrison Wings

Admiral Fisher is back and as grumpy and surly as ever, still looking uncomfortably like your grandfather in his final years with the deep lines on his face and the fierce expression in his eyes. “Yes, yes, we’re rebuilding our forces well, but this is no time to rest on our laurels.” He glares around the room. “The Black Steel have matched us so far, and for every step forward they hammer us. We can’t afford to fold under their blows, so we need to continue to be harder than them. We’ll hopefully be expanding this year to those three new systems, which will let us boost our dropship production if you approve funding for that.”

Imperial Griffon Navy
- Production
  - Orbital Shipyards
    - Construct New Orbital Shipyards
      - Nowy Szczecin
      - Salamander
      - New Portland
    - Expand All Orbital Shipyards
  - Refit & Repair Yards
    - Construct New Refit & Repair Yard
      - Nueva Chiapas
        
        Yes, I know, not as sexy as a production facility, but we need the repair space
    - Upgrade All Refit & Repair Yards
  - Escort Yards
    - Neubayern
    - Neuhessen
    - Nouvelle Bourgogne
    - Nuova Lombardia
    - Nuova Puglia
    - Nuovo Abruzzo
    - Nyū Shikoku
    - Stenen Tuin
    - New Libertalia
    - Nuova Tripoli
    - Catachan
    - Feurstern
    - Neuthüringen
    - Nowe Mazowsze
    - Nox
    - Platzregensburg
    - New Algiers
    - New Clew Bay
    - Nubifragio
    - Bellaterra
    - Bohren
    - Landprettig
    - Porto Milano
    - Hot Mess
    - New Narnia
    - The Hub
    - Baddorando
    - Sturmland
  - Small Warship Yards
    - New Castor
    - New Port Royal
    - Nowa Warszawa
    - Nowy Slask
    - Chuma
    - Awha
    - Kaiyo
    - Shin Tōkyō
    - Iskra
  - Medium Warship Yards
    - Griffon
    - Calliope
    - Okusawa
    - Pieklo
    - Bari
  - Large Warship Yards
    - Nya Kopenhamn
    - Kainga
    - Edelsteine
    - New Capricorn
- Procurement
  - Standard Dropships
    - 400 Artemis Planetary Defense Craft flotillas
    - 30 Wright-class Dockable ASF Platforms
    - 100 Colt-class Defense Blisters
    - 62 Lublin-class Transports
  - Large Dropships
    - 30 Saipan-class Parasite Carriers
    - 250 Mikasa-class Parasite Battleships
  - Jumpships
    - 6 Windjammer-class Jumpships
  - Escorts
    - 160 Battle-class Destroyers
    - 10 Skjold-class Missile Corvettes
    - 10 Constellation-class Corvettes
    - 50 Tarantul-class Missile Raiders
    - 50 Asheville-class Raiders
  - Small Warships
    - 50 Belfast-class Light Cruisers
    - 40 De Grasse-class Light Cruisers
    - 8 Hosho-class Light Carriers
  - Medium Warships
    - 20 Prinz Eugen II-class Heavy Cruisers
    - 10 Algerie-class Heavy Cruisers
  - Large Warships
    - 10 Kaiserin-class Battleships
    - 10 Jean Bart-class Battlecruisers
- Fortress Command
  - Jump Point Defenses
    - Waypoint 6
    - Nowy Szczecin
    - Salamander
    - New Portland
  - Oasis II
    - Waypoint 6
    - Nowy Szczecin
    - Salamander
    - New Portland
  - Black Tower
    - Waypoint 6
    - Nowy Szczecin
    - Salamander
    - New Portland
    - Nyū Shikoku

He stalks back to his seat, glaring as he goes. You are rather tempted to order him to take another vacation

Elizabeth looks a bit unsettled, but recovers quickly as she takes over the briefing. “Your Majesty, we have three worlds that would be ideal for colonization, so that is what I’d like to start with here.”

Colonization, System Government & Justice System
- Nowy Szczecin
- Salamander
- New Portland

“We have five DoME teams currently idle, and that is never a good idea.” She smiles slightly. “So we propose the following projects to keep them out of trouble.”

DoME Projects
- Expand Shin Tōkyō Arcologies
- Terraforming
  - Steingarten
  - Feurstem
  - Olej
  - Nyū Shikoku

“And finally the best part, our Economy teams are chomping on the bit and have the following recommendations that they practically begged for me to pass on to you.”

Economic Focus, Investment & Infrastructure
- Economic Focus
  - Core
    - Nowa Warszawa
  - Periphery
    - Raj
- Major Investment
  - Core
    - Iskra
  - Periphery
    - Raj
- Investment
  - Nox
- Infrastructure & Industrial Zone
  - Hot Mess
  - Baddorando
  - New Narnia
  - Nouvelle Bourgogne
  - Nuova Puglia

Dr Severino is off overseeing the Pan-Griffon Games for you, her office has sent you a memo noting that there is nothing on the horizon requiring extra budget authority this year.

Tiberius has you worried. He’s dressed properly in a quite nice suit and tie, he’s been keeping quiet, he’s been polite, there have been no chaotic outbursts, and… wait a second… that’s not Tiberius… it’s a cardboard cut-out of Tiberius.

Finding him hiding among the junior staffers leads to a ceremonial tossing through the Tyler Lee Memorial Window of Defenestration, much to everybodies amusement, even Tiberius’.

“Only thing I’ve got for you, boss, is to expand the civil service so we can build more of those shipyards that the old man wants.” If looks could kill, Fisher would have vaporized your political advisor.

Gloria is up next. “Your Majesty, if it weren’t for the large budget surplus that we had last year we wouldn’t request R&D work on Improved Agriculture, but we calculate that it should be affordable, and would be very valuable indeed. Other than that, our fundamental research teams are requesting permission to pursue work on structural materials.”

Sina Day is now up, in her first meeting as Minister for Intelligence. “Your Majesty, we have initiated the early stages of expanding our HUMINT training, as approved earlier this year. So far our allies have been quite willing to work with us in this regard. While we have no budget requests, as our normal operating budget is sufficient to maintain current operations, we do have several things to report.”

She checks her notes. “Keeping up the tradition set by General Messerschmidt, your family's cult is doing quite well in the NRI with no new embarrassing statues to report. The Bourbons are experiencing internal unrest with the great nobles bickering over who will control what of the four ex-Rouges Noir worlds. It is not to the point of violence, just loud shouting in council and a great deal of puffing of chests and flexing. We will keep you informed if the situation deteriorates. Other than that there is nothing of significance to report.”

LordSunhawk · Jan 2, 2023

Turn 124 - The Movie

Meta Event	29
Dynasty Luck	37
	Successes
Imperial Approval	2
Approval Change	-1
Political Event	-1
	Successes
Imperial Economy	5
Economic Event	-2
Research Event	0

Griffon	Econ	4
	Health	1
	Event	3

Nowa Warszawa	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	2

Calliope IV	Econ	4
	Health	1
	Event	3

TTP	Econ	4
	Health	1
	Event	3

New Capricorn	Econ	4
	Health	1
	Event	3

Nowy Śląsk	Econ	4
	Health	1
	Event	3

Edelsteine	Econ	4
	Health	1
	Event	3

Nowy Wroclaw	Econ	4
	Health	1
	Event	3

Griff's Leap	Econ	4
	Health	1
	Event	3

New Phoenix	Econ	5
	Health	5
	Event	1

New Eden	Econ	5
	Health	5
	Event	1

New Castor	Econ	4
	Health	1
	Event	3

Okusawa	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	2

New Pollux	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	2

New Port Royal	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	1

Kainga	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	2

Chuma	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	2

Stahlfurt	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	1

Bāṛi	Econ	5
	Health	5
	Event	1

Skała	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	2

Piekło	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	2

Nya Köpenhamn	Econ	4
	Health	1
	Event	3

Bauernparadis	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	2

Awha	Econ	5
	Health	5
	Event	1

Kaiyo	Econ	5
	Health	5
	Event	1

Bohren	Econ	5
	Health	5
	Event	1

Grand View	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	2

Iskra	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	2

Raj	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	2

Feurstern	Econ	5
	Health	5
	Event	1

Pinball	Econ	5
	Health	5
	Event	1

Catachan	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	2

Nox	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	2

Olej	Econ	5
	Health	5
	Event	1

Glorreich	Econ	4
	Health	4
	Event	5

Pryyemnyy	Econ	4
	Health	4
	Event	5

Novolar	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	2

Steingarten	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	2

Pustina	Econ	4
	Health	4
	Event	5

Kurortas	Econ	4
	Health	4
	Event	5

Arvum	Econ	4
	Health	4
	Event	5

Landprettig	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	2

Bellaterra	Econ	4
	Health	4
	Event	5

Nubifragio	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	2

Platzregensburg	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	1

Shin Tōkyō	Econ	4
	Health	4
	Event	5

Porto Milano	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	1

Nuova Fortezza	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	1

Nowe Mazowsze	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	2

Neuthüringen	Econ	4
	Health	4
	Event	5

New Algiers	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	1

New Clew Bay	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	1

Nuova Tripoli	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	1

New Libertalia	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	1

Nuova Puglia	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	3

Nuovo Abruzzo	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	3

Nuova Lombardia	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	3

Stenen Tuin	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	3

Nouvelle Bourgogne	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	3

Nyū Shikoku	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	1

Neubayern	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	3

Neuhessen	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	3

Hot Mess	Econ	4
	Health	4
	Event	5

New Narnia	Econ	4
	Health	4
	Event	5

The Hub	Econ	4
	Health	4
	Event	5

Baddorando	Econ	4
	Health	4
	Event	5

Sturmland	Econ	4
	Health	4
	Event	5

Blár	Econ	4
	Health	4
	Event	5

Nueva Chiapas	Econ	4
	Health	4
	Event	5

New Kansas	Econ	4
	Health	4
	Event	5

Nowego Lublina	Econ	4
	Health	4
	Event	5

Plan: Harjel Merchants
- Procurement [$ 946,924,981,671.80 ]
-- Lay Down Major Unit [Construction - $159,802,336,268.50 ] (95)
--- 400 Artemis [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 3
Result - SUCCESS

--- 30 Wright [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 9
Result - SUCCESS

--- 100 Colt [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 77
Result - SUCCESS

--- 62 Lublin [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 43
Result - SUCCESS

--- 250 Mikasa [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 14
Result - SUCCESS

--- 30 Saipan [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 19
Result - SUCCESS

-- Lay down Jumpship [Jumpship Construction - $27,960,081.30 ] (90)
--- 6 Windjammer [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 87
Result - SUCCESS

-- Lay down Warship [Warship Construction - $476,627,602,300.00 ] (90)
--- 160 Battle [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 13
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Skjold [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 54
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Constellation [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 76
Result - SUCCESS

--- 50 Tarantul [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 34
Result - SUCCESS

--- 50 Asheville [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 33
Result - SUCCESS

--- 50 Belfast [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 21
Result - SUCCESS

--- 40 De Grasse [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 61
Result - SUCCESS

--- 8 Hosho [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 12
Result - SUCCESS

--- 20 Prinz Eugen II [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 7
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Algerie [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 36
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Kaiserin [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 60
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Jean Bart [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 60
Result - SUCCESS

-- Purchase New Units [Minor Unit - $ 60,674,518,022.00 ] (90)
--- 100 Carrier Wing [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 54
Result - SUCCESS

--- 25 CAP Wing [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 50
Result - SUCCESS

--- 15 Garrison Wing [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 33
Result - SUCCESS

--- 25 Garrison Division [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 23
Result - SUCCESS

--- 25 Militia Division [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 88
Result - SUCCESS

-- Fortress Command [$ 239,792,565,000 ] (90)
--- Build Jump Point Defenses
---- Waypoint 6 [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 87
Result - SUCCESS

---- Nowy Szczecin [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 74
Result - SUCCESS

---- Salamander [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 78
Result - SUCCESS

---- New Portland [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 90
Result - SUCCESS

--- Construct Oasis II
---- Waypoint 6 [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 9
Result - SUCCESS

---- Nowy Szczecin [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 71
Result - SUCCESS

---- Salamander [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 12
Result - SUCCESS

---- New Portland [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 33
Result - SUCCESS

--- Construct Black Tower
---- Waypoint 6 [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 70
Result - SUCCESS

---- Nowy Szczecin [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 36
Result - SUCCESS

---- Salamander [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 45
Result - SUCCESS

---- New Portland [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 17
Result - SUCCESS

---- Nyu Shikoku [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 77
Result - SUCCESS

-- SLEP [$ 10,000,000,000 ] (100)
--- SLEP all Mech Units* [->5]
--- SLEP all Conventional Units* [->5]

- General [$ 2,500,850,000,000.00 ]
-- Focus Development on Core World Nowa Warzsawa [85]
Target - 85
Roll – 99, Jarow reroll - 71
Result - SUCCESS

-- Focus Development on Peripheral World Raj [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 43
Result - SUCCESS

-- Massive Core Investment Iskra [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 1
Result – Critical SUCCESS

-- Massive Peripheral Investment Raj [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 80
Result - SUCCESS

-- Economic Investment Nox [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 48
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on New Narnia [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 50
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Nouvelle Bourgogne [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 43
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Hot Mess [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 62
Result - SUCCESS

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

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Nuova Puglia [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 61
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build ASF Factory Complex (95)
--- Glorreich [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 60
Result - SUCCESS

--- Shin Tōkyō [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 54
Result - SUCCESS

--- Kurortas [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 19
Result - SUCCESS

--- Raj [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 49
Result - SUCCESS

--- Pustina [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 36
Result - SUCCESS

-- Establish Colony - Nowy Szczecin [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 7
Result - SUCCESS

-- Establish System Government - Nowy Szczecin [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 3
Result - SUCCESS

-- Establish Legal System - Nowy Szczecin [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 5
Result - SUCCESS

-- Establish Colony - Salamander [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 49
Result - SUCCESS

-- Establish System Government - Salamander [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 51
Result - SUCCESS

-- Establish Legal System - Salamander [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 46
Result - SUCCESS

-- Establish Colony - New Portland [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 85
Result - SUCCESS

-- Establish System Government - New Portland [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 20
Result - SUCCESS

-- Establish Legal System - New Portland [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 79
Result - SUCCESS

-- Expand Civil Service [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 25
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Refit & Repair Yard Nueva Chiapas [110]
Target - 110
Roll - 61
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Orbital Shipyard Nowy Szczecin [105]
Target - 105
Roll - 55
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Orbital Shipyard Salamander [105]
Target - 105
Roll - 59
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Orbital Shipyard New Portland [105]
Target - 105
Roll - 80
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nowe Mazowsze [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 28
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nox [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 22
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Platzregensburg [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 77
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard New Algiers [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 7
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard New Clew Bay [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 51
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nubifragio [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 8
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Bellaterra [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 75
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Landprettig [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 42
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Porto Milano [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 23
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard The Hub [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 21
Result - SUCCESS

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

-- Construct Escort Yard Sturmland [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 34
Result - SUCCESS

-- Upgrade Refit & Repair Yard [105]
Target - 105
Roll - 91
Result - SUCCESS

-- Expand Orbital Shipyards [105]
Target - 105
Roll - 93
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard New Phoenix* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 11
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard Nowy Wroclaw* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 79
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard Glorreich* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 66
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard New Pollux* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 21
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard Calliope [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 64
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard Okusawa [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 31
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard Pieklo [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 11
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard Bari [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 24
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard Griffon [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 85
Result - SUCCESS

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

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Nowa Warzsawa [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 86
Result - SUCCESS

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

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Nowy Slask [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 40
Result - SUCCESS

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

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

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Kaiyo [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 23
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Shin Tokyo [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 32
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Iskra [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 19
Result - SUCCESS

- DoME [$ 422,000,000,000.00 ]
-- Terraforming Pinball* [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 59
Result - SUCCESS

-- Terraforming Catchan* [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 36
Result - SUCCESS

-- Terraforming Nox* [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 27
Result - SUCCESS

-- Planetary Optimization (Peripheral) - Nox [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 7
Result - SUCCESS

- Research [$ 39,750,000,000,000.00 ]
-- Advanced Terraforming Equipment lvl 1* [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 91
Result - SUCCESS

-- Advanced ER 5cm Lasers* [70]
Target - 70
Roll – 95, ShadowArxxy reroll – 93, General reroll- 8
Result - SUCCESS

-- Structural Materials (Advanced) Tier 7 [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 75
Result - SUCCESS

-- KF Drive Theory Tier 5* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 80
Result - SUCCESS

-- Improved Agriculture Lvl 7 [100]
Target - 100
Roll - 92
Result - SUCCESS

-- Industrial Mechs Lvl 10 [105]
Target - 105
Roll - 94
Result - SUCCESS

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

- Miscellaneous [$ 143,370,200,000.00 ]
-- Culture [$ 200,000 ]
--- Local Olympics
-- Production Contract [->5?][134,370,000,000]

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

The first semi-major Black Steel activity in several years involves a raid on the Baddorando system by a large swarm of cruisers and destroyers. Fortunately for you, the Grand Fleet was in system exercising with their new contingent of Kaiserin class Battleships. Admiral de Palo was able to position the fleet between the Black Steel raiders and anything valuable, and after a few days of indecisive fencing the Black Steel retreated with minor losses. The Kaiserins proved quite capable in the engagement, their extreme range focus permitting them to score a few highly damaging hits from outside the enemies ability to effectively respond.

The Pan-Griffon Games wrap up successfully, and your youngest daughter will indeed be on the Olympic team in 2 years again, although she has promised that that will be her last year of competition much to your relief.

The new harjel trade route from Catachan to the NRI is already proving profitable, as in addition to the harjel precursors there is a brisk trade in exotic woods from the jungle world. Combined with the recent terraforming efforts on the planet, Catachan is experiencing a rather nice economic boom.

DoME work in general went very well this year, with successful optimization work in the Nox system synergizing quite well with the terraforming work, in addition to the aforementioned Catachan project. Of particular interest, the Nox terraforming effort primarily involves highly modified cargo dropships equipped with enormous ‘scoops’ composed of electromagnetic coils, which hoover up the thick interplanetary dust clouds in the system. The resulting materials are relatively rich in industrial metals, driving the systems refining industry. Work in the Pinball system likewise is mostly in space, with dropship based tugs redirecting large numbers of small asteroids into less dangerous orbits.

R&D work has been completed on a number of highly important projects. First, the modernized 5cm extended range laser has been fully developed, producing a highly compact and lethal weapon system. New agricultural technologies are centered around new strains of grain, which are faster growing, very nutrient dense, and with reduced gluten levels. Work on the new industrial mechs has been very successful, resulting in highly compact systems that are proving very useful in many industrial, agricultural, and commercial roles. Advanced KF theory has refined your scientists' understanding of the underlying mechanics of building yet larger compact cores, although translating theory to something useful will be extremely expensive.

Shipyard production has been very successful, however this has revealed a minor issue. The Griffon system is now pretty much at the limit for major shipyard capacity, with a 10 slip large shipyard and a 20 slip medium shipyard. Your industrial planners have informed you that there are several options for what you can do.

First, you could build a second large shipyard complex in the system, eventually giving you another 10 large slips. Second, you could build a second medium shipyard complex, with another 20 slips on offer for heavy cruisers and such. Finally, the third option is to focus on smaller yards for now, and once you need a heavy capital yard to build that.

[]	Action	Result
[]	Build a Large Shipyard	Will permit a second 10 slip large shipyard to be built
[]	Build a Medium Shipyard	Will permit a second 20 slip medium shipyard to be built
[]	Wait for a Capital Shipyard	Will reserve the slot for a single 5 slip capital shipyard

The new colony worlds are a study in contrasts. Nowy Szczecin is on one extreme. The initial colonization efforts went exceptionally smoothly across the board, with the initial colonists discovering several highly valuable uses for local timbers and materials resulting in an upgrading of the system's economic prospectus from ‘merely’ Rich to Ultra Rich. Likewise highly efficient and effective political and judicial systems are smoothly set up and are functioning precisely as such new systems are meant to, a textbook operation that will probably show up in training manuals for the foreseeable future.

Salamander, despite being an exceptionally hostile environment requiring domed settlements despite the lack of viable mining deposits, is about average across the board, with the initial settlement and such going well enough to not cause any headaches.

New Portland, however, decided to be… the opposite extreme. The initial landing site selected by the survey crews would have been perfectly acceptable… in the summer or winter. It is spring when the colony starts to land there, and as a result the ground is so soft that the first several dropships get so thoroughly mired that they’ll never launch again. THe system government establishes itself well enough, but no sooner does the first court open than there is a massive scandal when it is discovered that the judge assigned to it, the prosecutor hired by the city government, and the chief of police are all the same person, just that the computerized filing system had a pair of typos in different records. To his credit, the person in question had reported the issue, but thanks to a communications snafu and one department not knowing what the other was doing it wasn’t corrected. To his further credit the individual also resolved the entire situation on their own, but things are still a bit… chaotic.

In much more positive news, the various economic and investment projects go rather well, apart from some minor bureaucratic snafus in the Nowa Warszawa system that delayed the project by a few days. Iskra in particular benefited from a spectacularly successful infrastructure project.

Raj did experience some bureaucratic issues, mostly due to both economic focus activities and investment in infrastructure taking place at the same time resulting in crossed communications, but they were sorted out within the departments involved without actually resulting in any delays or cost overruns.

Naval production goes quite well, with Admiral FIsher informing you that the Navy is confident in their ability to engage in limited offensive operations next year. He’d love to wait a year for more ships, but he informs you that no admiral worth their rank is ever fully satisfied with their fleet and will always want more time to train and reinforce. His staff is preparing a list of potential targets for next year.

LordSunhawk · Jan 5, 2023

Turn 125 - Young Lust

While going over various reports you come across one that has your eyebrow raised almost to your hairline. With a population of just over three and a half million, and only being settled for less than a year, the New Portland system already has more strip clubs and ‘adult entertainment’ venues than the entire Griffon system, both per capita and absolute. You dig a bit deeper and find that a large number of the original settlers had come from New Port Royal, and they’d decided that the ‘entertainment’ culture there was too staid and boring.

So now there are every conceivable variety of ‘strip club’ establishments. From the reports, there are strip bars, strip restaurants, strip diners, strip fast food joints, strip coffee shops, strip book stores, strip convenience stores, strip grocery stores, strip law offices... The tourist trade to the system is booming far above what anybody had expected… and then your head impacts your desk a few times when you find the strip court…

You make a note that you are not bringing your grandkids there until they are older, and until you can embarrass your kids the most by doing so.

Speaking of grandkids, you are awash in them in the palace as all three of your married daughters are pregnant again. You are most certainly not ensuring that you send them back to their parents after feeding them loads of sugar and telling them that they should ‘help’ mommy and daddy with various projects. Not you, you would never do that. It’s obviously your (still) unmarried twin sons who are doing it. That’s your story and you are sticking to it like glue.

The fact that the palace walls are once again decorated with childish artwork rendered in crayons and fingerpaints is a welcome development, so much so that you bring out of storage your kids own artistic endeavors at that age to ‘inspire the creative muse’ in your grandkids, much to your kids’ mortification.

On a far more serious topic, your astronomers and analysts believe that they’ve located a highly probable location for a major Black Steel base at GX-D21, a blue supergiant that has all the characteristics typical of the sort of systems that the Black Steel prefer to place their bases in.

Admiral FIsher comes to you with a detailed operational plan, titled Operation: Bronze Gate, to strike at the system in a coordinated manner later this year. Grand Fleet, Strike Fleet and Expeditionary Fleet would all be involved in the attack, supported by the Logistics Fleet.

Strike Fleet would open the show, jumping in at a great distance, accompanied by the survey vessels and a large number of the Windjammer-class jumpships to create the illusion of a far larger force. The jumpships would go dark, while Mikasa-class dropships will do their best to masquerade as Tarantul and Asheville class raiders. As they burn into the system, they will monitor the Black Steel response, making use of the powerful sensor suites on the survey vessels to get a solid read on what the enemy is up to. They will transit observed force distributions back to the Arvum system, where the rest of the gathered force will be waiting.

Once the Black Steel force distribution is determined, the second phase of the operation will begin. Grand Fleet will target the strongest enemy defenses, while Expeditionary Fleet will target the weakest. Strike Fleet will retreat at this point, their part in the operation complete.

Ideally, the Black Steel will be caught in a vice, if they concentrate against the Grand Fleet then the Expeditionary Fleet will be able to destroy any infrastructure that the Black Steel has in the system, likewise if they concentrate against Expeditionary Fleet then the Grand Fleet would do the same.

It is, it must be said, a rather audacious plan. VIctory will deal significant damage to the Black Steel, but defeat would leave the Empire extremely vulnerable to any counter blows from the enemy. Admiral Fisher has confidence in the plan, but made a point to state that this will require the ENTIRE navy, outside of Home Fleet, to pull off. And he does not guarantee success.

[]	Action	Result
[]	Approve Operation: Bronze Gate	Operation: Bronze Gate commences next update
[]	Disapprove Operation: Bronze Gate	No change

LordSunhawk · Jan 6, 2023

Turn 125 - F.I.N.E.

Combat Report - Operation: Bronze Gate

Phase One

Survey Report -
Initial survey results showed the presence of a very large complex of shipyards and deep space storage facilities clearly associated with the Black Steel. The complex was at least twice as large as that seen in the Stahlkampfauge system. Extremely heavy Black Steel forces were noted, with the largest concentration towards the zenith jump point.

Initial scans showed the likely presence of extensive asteroid belts deep within the grav well, however such deposits are utterly useless to you due to the multi-month transit time from the nearest safe location for a KF jump. The Black Steel are taking full advantage of those deposits, however, as they evidently do not care about such things.

Initial Engagement -
Approximately 12 hours following initial insertion, Strike Fleet radically adjusted course as the Zenith Black Steel force was observed moving outside the KF Limit in an obvious precursor to an intercept jump. Two hours later the Black Steel forces indeed jumped to the location of Strike Fleet, but failed in their attempt to ‘KF bomb’ your forces. Instead a running extreme range duel commenced.

Due to this, operational plans were revised. The revised plan required Strike Fleet to turn on the Black Steel forces, accepting battle at a horrific disadvantage, in order to hopefully bait a trap. Expeditionary Fleet jumped in as originally planned, engaging the Black Steel’s nadir forces, while the Grand Fleet jumped to the assistance of Strike Fleet several minutes later.

Phase Two

Although significantly outnumbered, Grand Fleet was concentrated, while the Black Steel forces were spread out from their attempt to pursue and englobe Strike Fleet. Strike Fleet had already suffered severe losses, including the flagship along with Admiral Somer. Admiral de Palo took brutal advantage of her superior formation and command & control capabilities to focus down the heaviest Black Steel units present as quickly as possible before the enemy could reorient their forces to effectively engage her fleet.

The engagement was absolutely brutal at this point. The Kaiserin-class showed just how capable of a warship it was by pummeling significantly larger Black Steel battleships into wreckage. The new Belfast-class Light Cruisers also performed exceptionally, taking, proportionally, the fewest losses of all engaged ship types. ASF formations were shattered, and the parasite warships likewise took brutal casualties. In contrast to previous battles, the Black Steel aerospace and dropship assets were fully dealt with by your parasites and your own ASF formations, however, despite the heavy losses. This is a very welcome improvement over past performance. The new Colt-class defensive blisters proved their worth as well, although unfortunately many were attached to units which were destroyed in the fighting and thus were lost as well.

Casualties were very heavy, but by the end of the engagement the combined Grand and Strike Fleets stood bloodied, battered, and limping, but ultimately they were still standing and the Black Steel were not making this a victory. A bloody victory. A broken victory. A battered and bruised victory. But nonetheless a victory.

HMS Agincourt, the Dreadnought-class Flagship of Admiral de Palo, continues to live a charmed life. While she took severe damage, she survived the most brutal portions of the battle with very few crew casualties. While she was injured, Admiral de Palo herself also survived.

One truly unfortunate victim of the engagement was the loss of all five of your Miranda-class survey vessels. Until they are replaced you will not be able to efficiently survey for new colony worlds and such.

Phase Three

While the main battle is taking place, the Expeditionary Fleet clashes with the remaining defensive formations of the Black Steel. The fighting is just as brutal as the main engagement, but while the Expeditionary does take losses, they are not quite as severe as those of the combined Strike and Grand fleets.

Several hours after the engagement ends, Black Steel reinforcements arrive, immediately going in pursuit of the Expeditionary Fleet as they rampage through the Black Steel infrastructure in the system. Due to this, your forces aren’t able to do a truly thorough job, as the reinforcements are such that if the Expeditionary Fleet were to be caught they’d be annihilated, and the survivors of the main engagement are far too badly battered to change that equation.

Therefore, the main force jumps out to safety for repairs, while the Expeditionary Fleet does what damage they can while keeping ahead of the vengeful Black Steel reinforcements. Unfortunately a large number of ASFs are lost in this effort to deal as much damage as possible.

Conclusion & Analysis

Despite the heavy losses, the operation has been judged a success. While the Black Steel wasn’t annihilated, and there is still a functional Black Steel base in what has been dubbed the Shwartzstahlfriedhof system, or the ‘Black Steel Graveyard’, it is a pale shadow of what it once was. The overall exchange ratio was grossly in your favor as well, and while losses were heavy they weren’t truly crippling. Thoroughly unpleasant, yes, and heavier than you had hoped, but not nearly as bad as the worst case estimates had been. This engagement can be notched up as a victory.

Battle of Shwartzstahlfriedhof / Operation: Bronze Gate
- Casualties
  - Warships
    - Large Warships
      - 23 Dreadnought-class Battleships
      - 5 Kaiserin-class Battleships
      - 13 Jean Bart-class Battlecruisers
    - Medium Warships
      - 70 Prinz Eugen-class Heavy Cruisers
        
        NOTE - all 1st generation ships
      - 10 Algerie-class Heavy Cruisers
    - Light Warships
      - 40 De Grasse-class Light Cruisers
      - 60 Dido-class Light Cruisers
      - 10 Belfast-class Light Cruisers
      - 50 Guiseppe Garibaldi-class Light Cruisers
      - 5 Miranda-class Explorers
    - Escorts
      - 250 Battle-class Destroyers
      - 300 Lyr-class Corvettes
  - Dropships
    - Large Dropships
      - 384 Mikasa-class Parasite Battleships
    - Standard Dropships
      - 327 Spruance-class Parasite Destroyers
      - 564 Shimakaze-class Parasite Destroyers
      - 63 Colt-class Defense Blisters
      - 91 Wright-class Dockable ASF Platforms
  - ASFs
    - 250 Carrier Wings
    - 217 CAP Wings

-----

It is a victory, a costly one, but you’re willing to take it. You likely at least slowed down the Black Steel juggernaut for a while, which is a definite win considering your own growth curve.

It helps, a little. But a little is more than enough.

LordSunhawk · Jan 7, 2023

Turn 125 - Going Down

Repairs are underway for the surviving ships from Operation: Bronze Gate. With the severe damage to the refit & repair facility in the Arvum system fleet units are having to be sent further back for full repairs once the repair ships are done ensuring that they are completely safe to jump.

A number of small Black Steel raids, meanwhile, have begun hitting the frontier systems in that part of space. Home Fleet so far has been quite successful in running them off, mostly because the raids are primarily corvettes and raiders similar in tonnage to the Home Fleet assets. The Artemis wings are proving their worth as well the few times a Black Steel raid managed to use an uncovered transitory pirate point to try and hit the planets themselves.

Economists and political analysts have all agreed that the Steel March has grown far too large and unwieldy, stretching as it does all along your western border. Therefore it has been split, with a new Ruby March assuming control over the northwestern border, with the march capital placed in the Arvum system.

After this the Steel March still has 12 systems in it and it remains the largest, in terms of number of planets and spatial volume covered, but prior to this it had 20 systems under its jurisdiction. The new March has eight systems, making it the second smallest after the Diamond March which has seven.

In much more light hearted news, the Black Pumpernickels are back in the Griffon system, performing a truly hilarious comedic send-up of the very concept of theater which is so cheerfully narcissistic that you can’t help laughing uproariously. You even spotted Admiral Fisher in the audience, and the old admiral was laughing just as hard as you were.

In other positive news, your grandkids are truly a light in your life. With your daughters all pregnant with even more grand babies, you get to spend quite a few precious hours with the little ones. The palace raptors, grifftigers, and such all join in the fun, bringing flashbacks to your own kids' childhoods when they were that age and rampaging around the palace like a herd of cheerfully shrieking little hooligans. You do ensure that the oldest of them get proper swimming lessons from the Imperial Guard, much like you had as a child, and as your kids had had as well. There are so many ornamental pools, fountains, ponds, and streams around the palace that it would be criminally irresponsible to not do that as soon as possible.

And then it was time for the budget, one of your favorite times of year.

Amaunet is, as usual, laying on the dias behind the podium, the one place in the room where her massive bulk isn’t in the way of the others. “Padrone, the Ministry of Defense is pleased to report that despite our casualties and losses morale is at a ten year high in all services following the Battle of Shwartzstahlfriedhof. Recruitment is also going up, with us having to actually turn away prospective candidates for naval and ASF service, which is a nice problem to have. We are very proud to say that we’ve not had to even contemplate a universal draft to fill required positions within the military.” She then nods to General Bradley, who stumps up to the podium in her own inimitable imitation of the proverbial unstoppable force.

“Your Majesty, the Army remains in good shape, although we would like you to consider recruiting additional Infantry Divisions this year. Otherwise, we remain in an upgrade and hold pattern, with no prospective land-based enemies at this time.” She brings up the small budget request display.

Imperial Griffon Army
- Conventional Forces
  - 10 Infantry Divisions
- Garrison
  - 25 Garrison Divisions
  - 25 Militia Divisions

General Perkins looks more drawn, it’s obvious that the heavy casualties among his fellow pilots weighs heavily on his shoulders. “Your Majesty, there’s no easy way to put this but we got hammered, hard. We are still building up our production capacity, fighting in friendly space in the past is really biting us in the ass, Your Majesty, because it misled us as to how resilient our ASF wings were to the loss of their transports. In addition, Training Command is reporting difficulty in training new pilots rapidly enough, which is putting a further squeeze on our recovery.” He grimaces as he brings up the display.

Imperial Griffon Aerospace Force
- Production
  - New ASF Factories
    - Glorreich
    - Shin Tōkyō
    - Kurortas
    - Raj
    - Pustina
- Procurement
  - 20 CAP Wings
  - 25 Training Wings
  - 100 Carrier Wings

While Admiral Fisher and Admiral Sims are both present, neither move to take the podium, instead a much more junior officer wearing the insignia of a Commodore takes her position there. “Your Majesty, I am Commodore Kristina Savić, Admiral Fisher has asked that I handle this briefing this year.” She says formally. “Victory in the Battle of Shwartzstahlfriedhof is welcome, however it illustrates why it is critical not to rest on our laurels. The Black Steel installations are still present, if significantly damaged. We do not have a good handle on how long it will take them to restore them to full production capacity. This does not diminish the importance of this, indeed it only highlights it. Any industrial capacity that they devote to repairs is capacity they are not devoting to building up their offensive forces. This gives us a short window of breathing space to rebuild our own forces into an even more potent weapon.”

She pauses and checks her notes. “BuShips is continuing to work on a replacement for the Miranda-class to restore our scouting and survey capacity, Project Excelsior is well underway and should result in a very capable vessel. Otherwise, all vessels deployed performed well within expected parameters.”

She then brings up the budget request materials on the main display.

Imperial Griffon Navy
- Production
  - Orbital Shipyards
    - Upgrade all Orbital Shipyards
  - Refit & Repair Shipyards
    - Upgrade all Refit & Repair Shipyards
  - Escort Yards
    - Neubayern
    - Neuhessen
    - Nouvelle Bourgogne
    - Nuova Lombardia
    - Nuova Puglia
    - Nuovo Abruzzo
    - Nyū Shikoku
    - Stenen Tuin
    - New Libertalia
    - Nuova Tripoli
    - Catachan
    - Feurstern
    - Neuthüringen
    - Nowe Mazowsze
    - Nox
    - Platzregensburg
    - New Algiers
    - New Clew Bay
    - Nubifragio
    - Bellaterra
    - Bohren
    - Landprettig
    - Porto Milano
    - Hot Mess
    - New Narnia
    - The Hub
    - Baddorando
    - Sturmland
  - Small Warship Yard
    - Raj
    - New Port Royal
    - Nowa Warszawa
    - Nowy Slask
    - Chuma
    - Awha
    - Kaiyo
    - Shin Tōkyō
    - Iskra
    - Griffon
  - Medium Warship Yard
    - New Pollux
    - Calliope
    - Okusawa
    - Pieklo
    - Bari
  - Large Warship Yard
    - Glorreich
    - New Phoenix
    - New Castor
    - Nowy Wrocław
- Procurement
  - Regular Dropships
    - 400 Artemis-class System Defense Flotillas
    - 79 Wright-class Dockable ASF Platforms
    - 100 Colt-class Defense Blisters
  - Large Dropships
    - 30 Saipan-class Parasite Carriers
    - 276 Mikasa-class Parasite Battleships
  - Jumpships
    - 4 Windjammer-class Jumpships
  - Escorts
    - 140 Battle-class Destroyers
    - 10 Skjold-class Missile Corvettes
    - 10 Constellation-class Corvettes
    - 50 Tarantul-class Missile Raider
    - 50 Asheville-class Raider
  - Small Warships
    - 50 Belfast-class Light Cruisers
    - 30 De Grasse-class Light Cruisers
    - 8 Hosho-class Light Carrier
  - Medium Warships
    - 25 Prinz Eugen II-class Heavy Cruiser
    - 10 Algerie-class Heavy Cruiser
  - Large Warships
    - 10 Kaiserin-class Battleship
    - 10 Saratoga-class Fleet Carriers
- Fortress Command
  - Black Tower
    - Neubayern
    - Neuhessen
    - Hot Mess
    - New Narnia
    - The Hub

As Commodore Savić takes her seat Admiral Fisher looks over to you. “We’re experimenting with involving more prospective command officers in the administrative end of things, including giving these briefings.”

Elizabeth Lee then takes over. “Your Majesty, we only have three bored DoME teams waiting for something to do this year.”

You can’t help it, you start giggling like a schoolgirl.

This nearly sets Elizabeth off, but she’s able to continue. “So we intend to put them to work.”

Department of Mega Engineering
- Planetary Optimization
  - Kurortas
- Terraforming
  - Catachan
  - New Clew Bay

“Without survey ships we can’t do any further surveys.” She points out, reasonably enough. “But we do have the work from our economic teams.”

Economic Focus, Investment & Infrastructure
- Economic Focus
  - Core
    - Calliope IV
  - Periphery
    - Feurstem
- Major Investment
  - Core
    - Raj
  - Periphery
    - Novolar
- Investment
  - Novolar
- Infrastructure & Industrial Zones
  - Hot Mess
  - Baddorando
  - Salamander
  - Nouvelle Bourgogne
  - Nuova Puglia

Doctor Severino takes the podium at that point. “Your Majesty, there are no significant diplomatic needs this year that cannot be accommodated by our regular budget. With the upcoming Olympics in mind, however, we would like to recommend continuing to hold advanced sports training camps like we did during the last cycle.”

Tiberius then takes over. “I am going to sound like a broken record, therefore…” He hefts an obviously hand-made ancient style record player, the sort that plays from wax cylinders, up onto the table and presses play, with a scratchy voice that is noticeably his saying. “Expand the Civil Service please.”

Yours is not the only face to suddenly be impacted by a palm in a forbidden but loving embrace.

Grace clears her throat. “Your Majesty, our R&D teams have been looking over the studies being done in preparation for future work on larger warships and have determined the general parameters for a shipyard large enough to accommodate the work. Our budget is not nearly large enough to support the three major projects we’d need to accomplish to actually build such monsters, but we can lay the groundwork.”

R&D
- New Projects
  - Capital Shipyards
    - Build the massive yard complexes needed to build the largest possible warships
  - Advanced Terraforming Techniques lvl 2
    - Speeds up terraforming significantly
  - Advanced Terraforming Equipment lvl 2
    - Improved equipment means that superior techniques become available much more quickly
  - Genetic Engineering lvl 6
    - This project will focus on significantly improving our livestock yields
  - Thermal Dissipation (Advanced) Tier 7
    - Basic research on a highly advanced and vital area of development
  - Economic Forecasting lvl 1
    - With the growth of the empire standard economic forecasting models are no longer sufficient, this project would fund deep research into more capable and accurate projection models for use by industry and government, thus significantly boosting economic growth.

Sina Day then takes the podium. “Your Majesty, we have no budget requests this year, but we do have several reports. The Bourbons are experiencing a major economic boom but also extreme political infighting thanks to the new worlds, the Crown has declared them to be part of the Royal demesne, and the great nobles are objecting vigorously to that. It hasn’ reached the point of civil war yet, but we are seeing concerning trends. Both the NRI and the NRR are planning significant expansions in the near future, having brokered a treaty between themselves to accept a border line extending due south from their current border.”

LordSunhawk · Jan 8, 2023

Turn 125 - Monkey On My Back

Meta Event	38
Dynasty Luck	19
	Successes
Imperial Approval	0
Approval Change	4
Political Event	3
	Successes
Imperial Economy	5
Economic Event	0
Research Event	0

Griffon	Econ	5
	Health	6
	Event	4

Nowa Warszawa	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	1

Calliope IV	Econ	5
	Health	6
	Event	4

TTP	Econ	5
	Health	6
	Event	4

New Capricorn	Econ	5
	Health	6
	Event	4

Nowy Śląsk	Econ	5
	Health	6
	Event	4

Edelsteine	Econ	5
	Health	6
	Event	4

Nowy Wroclaw	Econ	5
	Health	6
	Event	4

Griff's Leap	Econ	5
	Health	6
	Event	4

New Phoenix	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	4

New Eden	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	4

New Castor	Econ	5
	Health	6
	Event	4

Okusawa	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	1

New Pollux	Econ	4
	Health	3
	Event	2

New Port Royal	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	2

Kainga	Econ	4
	Health	3
	Event	2

Chuma	Econ	4
	Health	3
	Event	2

Stahlfurt	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	2

Bāṛi	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	4

Skała	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	1

Piekło	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	1

Nya Köpenhamn	Econ	5
	Health	6
	Event	4

Bauernparadis	Econ	4
	Health	3
	Event	2

Awha	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	4

Kaiyo	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	4

Bohren	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	4

Grand View	Econ	4
	Health	3
	Event	2

Iskra	Econ	4
	Health	3
	Event	2

Raj	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	1

Feurstern	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	4

Pinball	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	4

Catachan	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	1

Nox	Econ	4
	Health	3
	Event	2

Olej	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	4

Glorreich	Econ	3
	Health	4
	Event	2

Pryyemnyy	Econ	3
	Health	4
	Event	2

Novolar	Econ	4
	Health	3
	Event	2

Steingarten	Econ	4
	Health	3
	Event	2

Pustina	Econ	3
	Health	4
	Event	2

Kurortas	Econ	3
	Health	4
	Event	2

Arvum	Econ	3
	Health	4
	Event	2

Landprettig	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	1

Bellaterra	Econ	3
	Health	4
	Event	2

Nubifragio	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	1

Platzregensburg	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	2

Shin Tōkyō	Econ	3
	Health	4
	Event	2

Porto Milano	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	2

Nuova Fortezza	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	2

Nowe Mazowsze	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	1

Neuthüringen	Econ	3
	Health	4
	Event	2

New Algiers	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	2

New Clew Bay	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	2

Nuova Tripoli	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	2

New Libertalia	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	2

Nuova Puglia	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	5

Nuovo Abruzzo	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	5

Nuova Lombardia	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	5

Stenen Tuin	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	5

Nouvelle Bourgogne	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	5

Nyū Shikoku	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	2

Neubayern	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	5

Neuhessen	Econ	2
	Health	1
	Event	5

Hot Mess	Econ	3
	Health	4
	Event	2

New Narnia	Econ	3
	Health	4
	Event	2

The Hub	Econ	3
	Health	4
	Event	2

Baddorando	Econ	3
	Health	4
	Event	2

Sturmland	Econ	3
	Health	4
	Event	2

Blár	Econ	3
	Health	4
	Event	2

Nueva Chiapas	Econ	3
	Health	4
	Event	2

New Kansas	Econ	3
	Health	4
	Event	2

Nowego Lublina	Econ	3
	Health	4
	Event	2

Nowy Szczecin	Econ	3
	Health	4
	Event	2

Salamander	Econ	3
	Health	4
	Event	2

New Portland	Econ	3
	Health	4
	Event	2

Plan: Actually enough actions?
- Procurement [$ 865,237,792,438.58 ]
-- Lay Down Major Unit [Construction - $83,960,717,812.25 ] (95)
--- 400 Artemis [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 72
Result - SUCCESS

--- 79 Wright [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 52
Result - SUCCESS

--- 100 Colt [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 5
Result - SUCCESS

--- 276 Mikasa [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 45
Result - SUCCESS

--- 30 Saipan [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 52
Result - SUCCESS

-- Lay down Jumpship [Jumpship Construction - $18,640,054.20 ] (90)
--- 4 Windjammer [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 35
Result - SUCCESS

-- Lay down Warship [Warship Construction - $471,233,438,016.67 ] (90)
--- 140 Battle [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 79
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Skjold [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 27
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Constellation [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 87
Result - SUCCESS

--- 50 Tarantul [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 83
Result - SUCCESS

--- 50 Asheville [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 86
Result - SUCCESS

--- 50 Belfast [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 5
Result - SUCCESS

--- 30 De Grasse [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 54
Result - SUCCESS

--- 8 Hosho [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 32
Result - SUCCESS

--- 25 Prinz Eugen II [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 26
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Algerie [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 27
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Kaiserin [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 39
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Saratoga [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 84
Result - SUCCESS

-- Purchase New Units [Minor Unit - $ 71,024,346,555.46 ] (90)
--- 100 Carrier Wing [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 62
Result - SUCCESS

--- 20 CAP Wing [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 82
Result - SUCCESS

--- 25 Training Wing [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 35
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Infantry Division [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 77
Result - SUCCESS

--- 25 Garrison Division [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 60
Result - SUCCESS

--- 25 Militia Division [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 14
Result - SUCCESS

-- Fortress Command [$ 229,000,650,000.00 ] (90)
--- Construct Black Tower
---- Neubayern [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 70
Result - SUCCESS

---- Neuhessen [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 75
Result - SUCCESS

---- Hot Mess [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 55
Result - SUCCESS

---- New Narnia [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 70
Result - SUCCESS

---- The Hub [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 75
Result - SUCCESS

-- SLEP [$ 10,000,000,000 ] (100)
--- SLEP all Mech Units* [->4]
--- SLEP all Conventional Units* [->4]

- General [$ 2,512,050,000,000.00 ]
-- Focus Development on Core World Nowa Warzsawa [80]
Target - 80
Roll – 98, Jarow reroll - 22
Result - SUCCESS

-- Focus Development on Peripheral World Raj [80]
Target - 80
Roll – 100, ShadowArxxy reroll - 61
Result - SUCCESS

-- Massive Core Investment Iskra [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 7
Result - SUCCESS

-- Massive Peripheral Investment Raj [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 72
Result - SUCCESS

-- Economic Investment Nox [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 22
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Salamander [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 51
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Nouvelle Bourgogne [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 14
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Hot Mess [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 41
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Baddorando [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 67
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Nuova Puglia [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 4
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build ASF Factory Complex (95)
--- Glorreich [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 40
Result - SUCCESS

--- Shin Tōkyō [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 91
Result - SUCCESS

--- Kurortas [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 13
Result - SUCCESS

--- Raj [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 3
Result - SUCCESS

--- Pustina [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 81
Result - SUCCESS

-- Expand Civil Service [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 86
Result – Bare FAILURE, auto success next turn

-- Construct Escort Yard Neubayern [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 82
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Neuhessen [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 44
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nouvelle Bourgogne [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 25
Result - SUCCESS

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

-- Construct Escort Yard Nuova Lombardia [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 30
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nuovo Puglia [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 88
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nuovo Abruzzo [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 13
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nyu Shikoku [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 67
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Stenen Tuin [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 55
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard New Libertalia [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 31
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nuova Tripoli [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 26
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Catachan [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 4
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Feurstem [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 33
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Neuthuringen [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 26
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nowy Szczecin [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 63
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nox [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 49
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Platzregensburg [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 23
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard New Algiers [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 49
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard New Clew Bay [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 8
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nubifragio [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 82
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Bellaterra [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 88
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Landprettig [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 42
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Porto Milano [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 77
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard The Hub [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 30
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Baddorando [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 24
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Sturmland [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 27
Result - SUCCESS

-- Upgrade Refit & Repair Yard [105]
Target - 105
Roll - 96
Result - SUCCESS

-- Expand Orbital Shipyards [105]
Target - 105
Roll - 94
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard New Capricorn* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 56
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard Edelsteine* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 54
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard Nya Kopenhamn* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 41
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard Kainga* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 85
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard Calliope [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 75
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard Okusawa [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 65
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard Pieklo [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 52
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard Bari [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 76
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard New Pollux [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 13
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard New Port Royal [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 58
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Nowa Warzsawa [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 11
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Griffon [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 6
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Nowy Slask [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 9
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Chuma [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 60
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Awha [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 36
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Kaiyo [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 44
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Shin Tokyo [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 32
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Iskra [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 62
Result - SUCCESS

- DoME [$ 422,000,000,000.00 ]
-- Expand Shin Tōkyō Arcologies* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 90
Result - SUCCESS

-- Terraforming Porto Milano* [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 48
Result - SUCCESS

-- Terraforming Nuova Fortezza* [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 25
Result - SUCCESS

-- Terraforming Neuthuringen* [85]
Target - 85
Roll – 97, Hellspawn reroll - 41
Result - SUCCESS

-- Terraforming New Algiers* [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 80
Result - SUCCESS

-- Terraforming Nox* [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 77
Result - SUCCESS

- Research [$ 28,250,000,000,000.00 ]
-- Thermal Dissipation (Advanced) Tier 7 [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 94
Result – Bare FAILURE (auto next turn)

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

- Miscellaneous [$ 136,370,000,000.00 ]
-- Culture [$ 2000000000 ]
--- Fund sports camps to improve performance in low performing Olympic sports [80]
Target - 80
Roll - 40
Result - SUCCESS

-- Production Contract [->4?][134,370,000,000]

-----

You are going over some paperwork and reports in your office when you get an alert, a massive fire has broken out on the campus of Griffin's Roost University, specifically in their thermal labs. As you were funding some high end research there this is of interest. You get word a few hours later that an experiment had proven, in the words of the report, ‘less than fully successful’ as the ‘experimental thermal dissipation technique proved excessively energetic’.

A few hours later you are trying very hard to keep from consigning the entire research team to Periphery Studies… After all… what sensible and sane person would think it’s a good idea to use LASERS to dissipate heat?

You make the mistake of saying that out loud, and promptly get buried in a slew of research papers discussing conversion of thermal energy into light via the excitement of photons draining the thermal potential. You understand maybe one word in ten, and that is including things like the word ‘the’ and ‘a’.

You also get some bad news on the bureaucratic front, the Civil Service informs you that they were unable to meet their recruitment goals for this round of expansion, likely due to how highly competitive the jobs market has become this year with the overall superb economic growth. They are unwilling to relax their standards, which is unfortunately slowing recruitment at the moment.

Other than some quality control issues reported on various parasite lines, especially the Colt lines, which have all been resolved to the satisfaction of the inspectors and the fleet, the rest of your reports are very positive. New production lines have been built across the empire, expanding your warship production numbers rather substantially.

There are three designs to be reviewed for the replacement for the Miranda-class. One is internal to BuShips, while the other two are from private industry.

The Beagle is the least expensive of the three as well as the lightest. It has the weakest offensive and defensive armament, however, being very lightly armed. While it technically meets all of the requirements, the Naval General Staff is highly negative on the design as it is essentially defenseless if faced with any decently armed enemy force, as even most pirate Jolly Rogers outgun it by a substantial margin.

The Shawnee is the middle of the road offering, being highly comparable to the old Mirandas in terms of survivability with greater sensor capacity and a more diverse weapons array. The rather innovative distributed weapons array is of questionable utility, however, as it consists of large numbers of small turrets with somewhat questionable fields of fire due to mutual interference.

The Spahkreuzer proposal from BuShips is the top end proposal, and the one endorsed by the Naval General Staff. While it is the most expensive of the three designs, it also possesses the most capable sensor suite, the best defensive armament suite and the greatest overall utility.

[]	Name	Cost	Materials	HP	A/D	Specials
[]	Beagle	$1,267,350,600.00	LFA, DHS	508	328	Armored 18 AMS 360 Capital 4/207 Capital AMS 36
[]	Shawnee	$1,590,101,800.00	LFA, DHS	1165	935	Armored 23 AMS 192 Capital 2/169 4/887 Capital AMS 115
[]	Spahkreuzer	$1,748,393,000.00	LFA, DHS	3710	3510	Armored 20 AMS 160 Missile 132 Capital 1/1928 2/254 3/332 Capital AMS 320

Terraforming work has been universally very successful this year. The reports are very positive about the improved economic prospects as a result of the efforts of DoME. It is due to their efforts, in many ways, that the empire is as prosperous as it is. You make a point of writing a rather sincere commendation for the entire department, praising them for their ongoing hard work.

Procurement has gone quite well this year, although you haven’t gotten anywhere near to the point of being able to replace all of your naval losses in the flash of an eye. Would be nice, but build times are rather inflexible.With the increase in ASF production and training assets the reports are quite confident that within several years your ASF losses will be made good.

All in all, this has been a very positive and successful year. You are looking forward to the Olympics next year, which should be a very welcome and exciting time for all.

LordSunhawk · Jan 11, 2023

Turn 126 - Water Song

You are en-route to Calliope for the 3056 Olympics when you receive word that the Black Steel has counterattacked in the Baddorando system. The local detachment from Home Fleet moved to engage as planned, and succeeded in blunting the attack enough so that the Black Steel retreated when the Expeditionary Fleet arrived. They did so, however, at grievous cost, with the entire local detachment being destroyed. The planetary defense craft were able to prevent damage to the orbiting shipyards, thankfully, and rescued survivors from the corvettes and raiders which were lost.

Only ten Battle-class destroyers from the Expeditionary Fleet were written off due to damage in the brief skirmishing that preceded the Black Steel’s retreat. However, one of the fleet’s Jean Bart-class Battlecruisers disappeared, appearing to have misjumped in some manner as it never arrived in the Baddorando system. An anomaly investigation is under way to attempt to determine what happened

The data you review shows that the Black Steel did suffer fairly heavy casualties in their raid, but withdrew in good order. In terms of total tonnage, losses were about equal. Since the Black Steel retreated before getting in range of the planet, the Artemis-class SDBs were never tested. Overall, it appears that the Home Fleet defensive doctrine is working, at least enough to prevent defeat in this case.

When you arrive at Calliope you get some more bad news, the economic situation on Grand View is far below expectations following a local investment bubble bursting. Tourist revenues are way down and, unfortunately, the local economy was heavily dependent on that trade rather than manufacturing or standard commerce. Large numbers of unemployed citizens are taking advantage of the various relocation subsidies to move to other systems in pursuit of employment and the local economy has taken a substantial hit to GDP growth this year.

On the other hand you also get some excellent economic news, the Awha system is experiencing an unexpected economic boom due to growth in the local export trade, as markets in the NRR or evidently purchasing large amounts of goods straight from Awha. Apparently nordic-themed snowmobiles are a thing, and a profitable one if the numbers are to be believed. You personally don’t see the appeal of the styling, but then again you also aren’t the target market so that makes sense.

The opening ceremonies for the Olympics are extremely impressive, both for the sheer artistry as well as the scale of the event. The entertainment for the ceremony is clearly based on a somewhat fanciful and artistic depiction of the history of the Calliope system, and the various dinosaurs of Calliope III are prominently featured. You are a bit puzzled at first, as while the various herbivores and raptors are prominently featured there is no sign of any of the Rexes.

Until the very end, when a pair of rexes enter the stadium with the Olympic torch held in a special harness. The two massive beasts take separate paths, passing off the torch as they pass each other. Then the larger of the two halts in the very center of the stadium before roaring a deafening challenge. Signs light up, encouraging spectators to roar back, but the initial response is quite tepid. The rex waits a moment, taps one claw on the ground, manages to look very disappointed, then roars again, even louder. This time the crowd gets into it, roaring back, although the rex still shakes his head before gathering himself and letting loose an ear-shattering roar that probably registers on the seismic scale. The crowd roars back, now fully into the moment. This goes back and forth for several minutes as the massive predator revs up the crowd to a fever pitch before, with one final roar, sprinting towards the massive staircase now rising towards the empty cauldron for the flame. At the top the rex turns again, letting out one final roar and getting one final thunderous response, before triggering the harness to send the flame into the cauldron, lighting up the night.

You are not too proud to admit that you got fully into the moment, along with the grandkids who are with you. At the very least you’ll never forget this particular moment. Future Olympics are going to have to work hard to even match this.

You are still rather pumped up when you get a memo from Admiral Fisher. The Admiralty would like your approval for plans for a rapid follow-up strike against the Black Steel in the Shwartzstahlfriedhof system. The oplan, dubbed Operation: Silent Cormorant, is for a series of raids, no serious invasions of the system, with the intent of disrupting and attriting the Black Steel. As such only the Expeditionary and Strike Fleets will be involved, while the Grand Fleet continues to build up strength for the eventual full bore punch at the system.

[]	Action
[]	Approve Operation: Silent Cormorant
[]	Deny Operation: Silent Cormorant

LordSunhawk · Jan 12, 2023

Turn 126 - Janie’s Got A Gun

Combat Report - Operation: Silent Cormorant

The combined Strike and Expeditionary Fleets ran into a buzzsaw of Black Steel forces when they jumped into the Shwartzstahlfriedhof system. It quickly becomes obvious that your attack force jumped in as a Black Steel attack force was preparing to jump out, and the ensuing melee at the Zenith jump point became a brutal free for all. It was fully automatic shotguns in a pitch black room with no cover, no protection, and no way to miss.

Fortunately, the OPLAN had the combined fleet jumping in in waves for precisely this contingency, and a frantic HPG message called off the follow on wave while the initial force fought against overwhelming odds. You don’t have solid intelligence, as no units from the initial strike force survived to retreat, but the Black Steel attack never materializes. The final transmission from the flagship of the wave indicated that they were concentrating fire on the Black Steel’s capital ships in hopes of crippling or destroying as many of those as possible.

In some ways it was a defeat, but in many other ways it was a victory as it did manage to spoil the potential Black Steel attack, and based on what reports you did receive the task force inflicted more damage than they received against a massively superior foe. Moreover, since no units from Grand Fleet were involved, your most powerful formation remains fully intact and ready to respond with extreme prejudice to any Black Steel incursions.

-----

You have a video conference with Admiral Fisher over a dedicated HPG link a few days later. The old admiral is looking even more like a war god than ever, but there is a hint of satisfaction in his craggy, fierce expression. He’d been the one to insist on contingency planning in the event that the first wave ran into a blender like they had, he’d been the one who required the planners to anticipate that the Black Steel might be planning a full assault of their own, over their more optimistic projections. He looks like some Old Testament prophet, in many ways, with his hooded gaze and blazing expression.

“Next year, Your Majesty, we should have sufficient forces to return and grind the Black Steel into rust.” He informs you. “Shwartzstahlfriedhof will fall, along with the yards and facilities located there.” When he speaks it is as if he were a prophet speaking of something inevitable. “Grand Fleet will be the most powerful it has ever been, with a solid core of the most lethal war machines we’ve ever fielded. The sacrifices of the Operation: Silent Cormorant task force will not be in vain.”

You take quite a bit of reassurance from that. This is a setback, not a disaster, but one that had been allowed for. You know that the old admiral still grieves for every lost spacer, but he is warrior enough to not let that affect him professionally.

Shwartzstahlfriedhof will fall.

-----

The early events of the Olympics reveal just how competitive things have become. Team Griffon is obviously still extremely strong, but they aren’t walking over their competitors. The NRI is still dominant in gymnastics, although your gymnasts give them a definite run for the gold. Team Griffon has won either gold or silver in every event so far, which makes for some very exciting times on Calliope.

In less enjoyable news, Parliament is at it again. While you are away from Griffon they are still in session, and have sent you several proposed pieces of legislation.

First is the Infrastructure Act of 3056, which is intended to help new colonies get their base infrastructure built more quickly. It would double the System Infrastructure subsidy from $100,000,000.00 per system infrastructure project to $200,000,000.00 per project.

[]	Action	Argument	Affect
[]	Sign the Infrastructure Act of 3056	System infrastructure directly impacts the GDP growth rates of our systems, with the greatest impacts felt in the poorest and newest worlds. The more rapidly we can improve our system infrastructures, the faster they can grow allowing us to support more economic growth. The System Infrastructure Subsidy has existed from nearly the beginning of the Empire, and in that time has proven highly effective at accomplishing its goals. By boosting the subsidy, we will allow for even faster development. Even after the increase, the total cost of the subsidy will still be around the average for the various Imperial subsidies for things like agriculture and education. This will not break the bank, this is not unaffordable, and will not require any new bureaucracies or administrative expenses.	Doubles the System Infrastructure Subsidy Raises the growth rate of Infrastructure Rating from 1 per turn (to a maximum of 100) to 2 per turn (to a maximum of 100) Note, the number of successes on the Infrastructure Rating roll determines the increase in the factory rating, which directly increases GDP growth +1 Approval Rating -1 Economic Event +5 Support Imperial Senate Chamber of Delegates
[]	Veto the Infrastructure Act of 3056	Why change what isn’t broken? The current subsidy is good enough, there’s no need to increase it. Sure, it would be ‘nice’, but we need to be responsible stewards of our resources, and just because such an increase is ‘affordable’ doesn’t mean we should do it. Besides, all of our current Core systems were developed using the old subsidy, and did just fine, the new ones don’t need it to grow.	-1 Politics +1 Imperial Economy -5 Support Imperial Senate Chamber of Delegates

The second piece of legislation is the Supply Act of 3056. Recognizing the growing upkeep costs for the military, especially the navy, Parliament proposes establishing at least two additional logistics hubs in order to help reduce costs. Currently Nowy Wroclaw and Kaiyo are your two logistics hubs, and they have been invaluable in supporting your military forces.

[]	Action	Argument	Affect
[]	Support the Supply Act of 3056	With the ongoing war against the Black Steel it is imperative that we provide the highest level of support for our brave men and women in uniform. It has been demonstrated that the concept of dedicated logistics hubs streamlines supply, increasing availability, and not only reducing costs but also boosting morale. Adding two more such hubs will significantly improve the logistics situation.	Reserves 2 DoME actions to convert systems to logistics hubs Steingarten New Libertalia +1 Politics +1 Influence Imperial Senate Chamber of Delegates
[]	Veto the Supply Act of 3056	Every factory dedicated to logistics like this is one that cannot, in the future, be dedicated to actual military production. We need to keep our options open for the future.	+1 Economic Event -10 Support Imperial Senate Chamber of Delegates

LordSunhawk · Jan 14, 2023

Turn 126 - Dulcimer Stomp

The Olympics continue to be quite competitive, apart from motor racing which Team Griffon utterly dominates like they seem to always do. It’s not that the other teams are bad, per se, it’s more that Team Griffon has a far more complete package year after year. Other competitions are much closer, although Team Griffon has still not failed to at least medal in everything which is truly making the home crowd quite happy.

Economic conditions on Grand View continue to be precarious. A major resort has been forced to declare bankruptcy during the tourist downturn, which is only deepening the local malaise. Conditions are not helped by multiple other, smaller, business failures along with a growing infrastructure crisis as local drop ports are running at or above capacity due to the mass economic migration out of the system. There haven’t been any major accidents so far, and local authorities are doing their best to mitigate the situation with assistance from the Navy and Space Guard.

The main destination for all of these people seeking work? New Libertalia, which is experiencing a major economic boom as their breweries, distilleries and wineries are at full production exporting hundreds of thousands of gallons of their products across the Empire. The system government there is scrambling a bit to manage the explosive growth, both in local GDP and in population, but has managed to stay on top of things quite admirably. This is all on top of the tremendous economic boost that the local economy is expected to experience with the new logistics hub being built here.

The IGMP and Imperial Intelligence have broken up a weapon smuggling operation that was supplying civilian grade weapons to pirates out of Nuova Tripoli. The criminal group running it was fairly small, but sophisticated enough, but hadn’t been able to get their hands on proper military equipment. Hunting rifles, pistols, and the like were all that they were smuggling.

Since you are away from the Palace the annual budget meeting is held in a conference room aboard the Imperial Yacht.

Amaunet, being a massive grifftiger too large to travel these days, is attending via HPG link. “Padrone, overall morale in the military is solid and we are in a good position. Operational planning is proceeding on the next strike at the Black Steel, Admiral Fisher has details for that.”

General Bradley, along with most of the military chiefs, remained on Griffon. “Your Majesty, the Army is continuing our service life extension programs with great success. In the process we are swapping out the old extended range 5cm lasers with the new models, as well as reconfiguring a number of platforms to use the new weapon. We have also initiated a rigorous war games and exercise schedule to maintain our abilities in ground combat. That being said, we have minimal new budget requests this year, primarily continued expansion of garrison and militia formations.”

Imperial Griffon Army
- Procurement
  - Garrison
    - 25 Garrison Divisions
    - 25 Militia Divisions

General Perkins comes up next. “We will be accelerating our production facility expansions this year, Your Majesty, as well as our training assets.” He looks… tired, not at all the confident officer he’d been when he’d taken over the Aerospace Force. “Skilled pilots do not grow on trees, Your Majesty, and we’ve been losing too many of them over the last several years.”

Imperial Griffon Aerospace Force
- Production
  - New ASF Factories
    - Glorreich
    - Shin Tōkyō
    - Kurortas
    - Raj
    - Pustina
    - Platzregensburg
    - Pryyemnyy
    - Awha
    - Bāṛi
    - Bellaterra
- Procurement
  - 25 CAP Wing
  - 25 Training Wing
  - 100 Carrier Wing

Commodore Kristina Savić is once again handling the Naval briefing, in person as she’d accompanied you to Calliope, while on the HPG link Admiral Fisher sits glowering ominously like he usually does.

“Your Majesty, naval production figures remain solid, with our projected force totals reaching those required for the resumption of offensive operations within the specified time frame. We are recommending the transitioning of the remaining Fubuki-class Destroyers to a full time training role in lieu of procuring additional Wolverine-class training vessels.”

[]	Action
[]	Approve
[]	Disapprove

She then brings up the budget requests, adroitly speaking of each line items.

Imperial Griffon Navy
- Production
  - Orbital Shipyards
    - Expand All Orbital Shipyards
  - Refit & Repair Yards
    - Expand All Refit & Repair Yards
  - Escort Yards
    - Nowy Szczecin
    - Baddorando
    - Sturmland
    - Neubayern
    - Neuhessen
    - Nouvelle Bourgogne
    - Nuova Lombardia
    - Skala
    - Stahlfurt
    - Grand View
    - Griff's Leap
    - Kurortas
    - Novolar
    - Olej
    - Pinball
    - Pryyemnyy
    - Pustina
    - Steingarten
    - The Hub
    - Nuova Puglia
    - Chuma
    - Nuovo Abruzzo
    - Stenen Tuin
    - New Libertalia
    - Nyū Shikoku
    - Nuova Tripoli
    - Catachan
    - Feurstern
    - Neuthüringen
    - Nowe Mazowsze
    - Nox
    - Platzregensburg
    - Porto Milano
    - Landprettig
    - New Algiers
    - New Clew Bay
    - Nubifragio
    - Bellaterra
  - Small Warship Yards
    - Raj
    - New Port Royal
    - Nowa Warszawa
    - Nowy Slask
    - Chuma
    - Awha
    - Kaiyo
    - Shin Tōkyō
    - Iskra
    - Griffon
    - Bohren
  - Medium Warship Yards
    - New Pollux
    - Calliope
    - Pieklo
    - Bari
    - Edelsteine
  - Large Warship Yards
    - Nya Kopenhamn
    - Kainga
    - Okusawa
    - New Capricorn
- Procurement
  - Standard Dropships
    - 400 Artemis-class Planetary Defense Flotillas
    - 100 Wright-class Dockable ASF Platforms
    - 100 Colt-class Defense Blisters
    - 31 Ensign-class Training Dropships
  - Large Dropships
    - 30 Saipan-class Parasite Carriers
    - 269 Mikasa-class Parasite Battleships
  - Jumpships
    - 6 Windjammer-class Jumpships
  - Escorts
    - 180 Battle-class Destroyers
    - 10 Skjold-class Missile Corvettes
    - 10 Constellation-class Corvettes
    - 50 Tarantul-class Missile Raiders
    - 50 Asheville-class Raiders
    - 5 Excelsior-class Explorers
  - Small Warships
    - 60 Belfast-class Light Cruisers
    - 20 De Grasse-class Light Cruisers
    - 10 Guiseppe Garibaldi-class Light Cruisers
    - 5 Hosho-class Light Carriers
  - Medium Warships
    - 20 Prinz Eugen II-class Heavy Cruisers
    - 10 Algerie-class Heavy Cruisers
    - 5 Sacramento-class Logistics Ships
  - Large Warships
    - 10 Kaiserin-class Battleships
    - 10 Jean Bart-class Battlecruisers
- Fortress Command
  - Black Tower
    - Neubayern
    - Neuhessen
    - Hot Mess
    - New Narnia
    - The Hub

Admiral Fisher doesn’t say a word, but there’s a hint of a smile on his face as the young commodore finishes the briefing.

Elizabeth Lee is up next, she also accompanied you to Calliope for the games, since her son is on the baseball team. “Your Majesty, DoME is ready for both Logistics projects, as well as various terraforming projects.” She brings up the display for them.

DoME
- Projects
  - Expand Shin Tokyo Arcologies
  - Make <system> a Logistics Hub
    - Steingarten
    - New Libertalia
  - Terraforming
    - Nox
    - Nuova Fortezza
    - Neuthüringen

“And for our economic goals and investments, our analysts have been crunching the numbers and have the following recommendations.”

Economic Focus, Investment & Infrastructure
- Economic Focus
  - Core
    - New Capricorn
  - Periphery
    - Nox
- Major Investment
  - Core
    - Raj
  - Periphery
    - Stahlfurt
- Investment
  - Pryyemnyy
- Infrastructure & Industrial Zones
  - Hot Mess
  - Baddorando
  - Salamander
  - Nouvelle Bourgogne
  - Nuova Puglia

Dr Severino is representing you in the various diplomatic meetings surrounding the Olympics at the moment, and Tiberius is back on Griffon overseeing the final details on getting the civil service expansion completed… finally. Reading the memos you are not sure if somehow Periphery Studies somehow got involved or not, because some of the shenanigans…

Gloria is overseeing the various R&D projects that are still outstanding, while Sina Day and Martina have gone off to oversee the trials and further investigations arising from the recent smuggling bust.

LordSunhawk · Jan 15, 2023

Turn 126 - The Other Side

Meta Event	29
Dynasty Luck	24
	Successes
Imperial Approval	0
Approval Change	-1
Political Event	-1
	Successes
Imperial Economy	3
Economic Event	2
Research Event	0

Griffon	Econ	2
	Health	4
	Event	0

Nowa Warszawa	Econ	1
	Health	3
	Event	2

Calliope IV	Econ	2
	Health	4
	Event	0

TTP	Econ	2
	Health	4
	Event	0

New Capricorn	Econ	2
	Health	4
	Event	0

Nowy Śląsk	Econ	2
	Health	4
	Event	0

Edelsteine	Econ	2
	Health	4
	Event	0

Nowy Wroclaw	Econ	2
	Health	4
	Event	0

Griff's Leap	Econ	2
	Health	4
	Event	0

New Phoenix	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	1

New Eden	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	1

New Castor	Econ	2
	Health	4
	Event	0

Okusawa	Econ	1
	Health	3
	Event	2

New Pollux	Econ	2
	Health	5
	Event	2

New Port Royal	Econ	4
	Health	3
	Event	1

Kainga	Econ	2
	Health	5
	Event	2

Chuma	Econ	2
	Health	5
	Event	2

Stahlfurt	Econ	4
	Health	3
	Event	1

Bāṛi	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	1

Skała	Econ	1
	Health	3
	Event	2

Piekło	Econ	1
	Health	3
	Event	2

Nya Köpenhamn	Econ	2
	Health	4
	Event	0

Bauernparadis	Econ	2
	Health	5
	Event	2

Awha	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	1

Kaiyo	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	1

Bohren	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	1

Grand View	Econ	2
	Health	5
	Event	2

Iskra	Econ	2
	Health	5
	Event	2

Raj	Econ	1
	Health	3
	Event	2

Feurstern	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	1

Pinball	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	1

Catachan	Econ	1
	Health	3
	Event	2

Nox	Econ	2
	Health	5
	Event	2

Olej	Econ	2
	Health	2
	Event	1

Glorreich	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	2

Pryyemnyy	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	3

Novolar	Econ	2
	Health	5
	Event	2

Steingarten	Econ	2
	Health	5
	Event	2

Pustina	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	2

Kurortas	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	2

Arvum	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	3

Landprettig	Econ	1
	Health	3
	Event	2

Bellaterra	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	2

Nubifragio	Econ	1
	Health	3
	Event	2

Platzregensburg	Econ	4
	Health	3
	Event	1

Shin Tōkyō	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	2

Porto Milano	Econ	4
	Health	3
	Event	1

Nuova Fortezza	Econ	4
	Health	3
	Event	1

Nowe Mazowsze	Econ	1
	Health	3
	Event	2

Neuthüringen	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	2

New Algiers	Econ	4
	Health	3
	Event	1

New Clew Bay	Econ	4
	Health	3
	Event	1

Nuova Tripoli	Econ	4
	Health	3
	Event	1

New Libertalia	Econ	4
	Health	3
	Event	1

Nuova Puglia	Econ	1
	Health	3
	Event	3

Nuovo Abruzzo	Econ	1
	Health	3
	Event	3

Nuova Lombardia	Econ	1
	Health	3
	Event	3

Stenen Tuin	Econ	1
	Health	3
	Event	3

Nouvelle Bourgogne	Econ	1
	Health	3
	Event	3

Nyū Shikoku	Econ	4
	Health	3
	Event	1

Neubayern	Econ	1
	Health	3
	Event	3

Neuhessen	Econ	1
	Health	3
	Event	3

Hot Mess	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	3

New Narnia	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	3

The Hub	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	3

Baddorando	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	3

Sturmland	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	3

Blár	Econ	1
	Health	1
	Event	3

Nueva Chiapas	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	2

New Kansas	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	2

Nowego Lublina	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	2

Nowy Szczecin	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	2

Salamander	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	2

New Portland	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	2

Plan: Ongoing Ship Works
- Procurement [$ 920,963,194,133.97 ]
-- Lay Down Major Unit [Construction - $83,828,122,911.00 ] (95)
--- 400 Artemis [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 91
Result - SUCCESS

--- 100 Wright [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 95
Result - SUCCESS

--- 100 Colt [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 91
Result - SUCCESS

--- 31 Ensign [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 63
Result - SUCCESS

--- 269 Mikasa [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 35
Result - SUCCESS

--- 30 Saipan [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 82
Result - SUCCESS

-- Lay down Jumpship [Jumpship Construction - $27,960,081.30 ] (90)
--- 6 Windjammer [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 39
Result - SUCCESS

-- Lay down Warship [Warship Construction - $531,955,894,766.67 ] (90)
--- 180 Battle [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 18
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Skjold [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 50
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Constellation [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 5
Result - SUCCESS

--- 50 Tarantul [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 54
Result - SUCCESS

--- 50 Asheville [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 46
Result - SUCCESS

--- 5 Excelsior [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 24
Result - SUCCESS

--- 60 Belfast [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 27
Result - SUCCESS

--- 20 De Grasse [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 48
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Guiseppe Garibaldi [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 17
Result - SUCCESS

--- 5 Hosho [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 83
Result - SUCCESS

--- 20 Prinz Eugen II [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 89
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Algerie [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 26
Result - SUCCESS

--- 5 Sacramento [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 21
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Kaiserin [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 21
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Jean Bart [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 8
Result - SUCCESS

-- Purchase New Units [Minor Unit - $ 66,150,566,375.00 ] (90)
--- 100 Carrier Wing [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 10
Result - SUCCESS

--- 25 CAP Wing [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 47
Result - SUCCESS

--- 25 Training Wing [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 2
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Infantry Division [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 72
Result - SUCCESS

--- 25 Garrison Division [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 56
Result - SUCCESS

--- 25 Militia Division [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 82
Result - SUCCESS

-- Fortress Command [$ 229,000,650,000.00 ] (90)
--- Construct Black Tower
---- Neubayern [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 61
Result - SUCCESS

---- Neuhessen [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 27
Result - SUCCESS

---- Hot Mess [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 22
Result - SUCCESS

---- New Narnia [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 25
Result - SUCCESS

---- The Hub [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 38
Result - SUCCESS

- General [$ 2,642,550,000,000.00 ]
-- Focus Development on Core World New Capricorn [80]
Target - 80
Roll – 100, Jarow reroll – 99, ShadowArxxy reroll – 100, Jarow reroll – 91, The Whispering Monk reroll – 96, Hellspawn reroll - 15
Result - SUCCESS

-- Focus Development on Peripheral World Nox[80]
Target - 80
Roll - 30
Result - SUCCESS

-- Massive Core Investment Raj [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 36
Result - SUCCESS

-- Massive Peripheral Investment Stahlfurt [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 2
Result - SUCCESS

-- Economic Investment Pryyemnyy [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 88
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Salamander [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 64
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Nouvelle Bourgogne [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 65
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Hot Mess [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 62
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Baddorando [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 47
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Nuova Puglia [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 65
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build ASF Factory Complex (95)
--- Glorreich [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 56
Result - SUCCESS

--- Shin Tōkyō [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 39
Result - SUCCESS

--- Kurortas [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 91
Result - SUCCESS

--- Raj [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 40
Result - SUCCESS

--- Pustina [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 35
Result - SUCCESS

--- Platzregensburg [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 11
Result - SUCCESS

--- Pryyemnyy [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 78
Result - SUCCESS

--- Awha [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 57
Result - SUCCESS

--- Bāṛi [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 87
Result - SUCCESS

--- Bellaterra [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 89
Result - SUCCESS

-- Expand Civil Service* [auto]

-- Construct Escort Yard Neubayern [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 41
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Neuhessen [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 31
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nouvelle Bourgogne [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 86
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nowe Mazowsze [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 70
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nuova Lombardia [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 78
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nuovo Puglia [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 5
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nuovo Abruzzo [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 73
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nyu Shikoku [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 61
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Stenen Tuin [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 53
Result - SUCCESS

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

-- Construct Escort Yard Nuova Tripoli [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 9
Result - SUCCESS

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

-- Construct Escort Yard Feurstem [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 87
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Neuthuringen [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 39
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nowy Szczecin [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 16
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nox [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 68
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Platzregensburg [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 74
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard New Algiers [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 49
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard New Clew Bay [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 33
Result - SUCCESS

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

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

-- Construct Escort Yard Landprettig [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 77
Result - SUCCESS

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

-- Construct Escort Yard The Hub [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 17
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Baddorando [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 72
Result - SUCCESS

-- Upgrade Refit & Repair Yard [105]
Target - 105
Roll - 91
Result - SUCCESS

-- Expand Orbital Shipyards [105]
Target - 105
Roll - 96
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard New Phoenix* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 14
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard Nowy Wroclaw* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 73
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard Glorreich* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 87
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard New Castor* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 12
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard Calliope [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 58
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard Edelsteine [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 4
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard Pieklo [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 65
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard Bari [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 82
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard New Pollux [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 35
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Raj [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 43
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard New Port Royal [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 86
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Nowa Warzsawa [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 28
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Griffon [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 22
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Nowy Slask [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 79
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Chuma [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 14
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Awha [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 43
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Kaiyo [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 39
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Shin Tokyo [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 8
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Iskra [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 60
Result - SUCCESS

- DoME [$ 582,000,000,000.00 ]
-- Terraforming Feurstem* [85]
Target - 85
Roll – 100, General reroll – 96, General reroll - 67
Result - SUCCESS

-- Terraforming Steingarten* [85]
Target - 85
Roll – 96, General reroll – 100, General reroll – 99, General reroll - 39
Result - SUCCESS

-- Terraforming Olej* [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 15
Result - SUCCESS

-- Terraforming Nyu Shikoku* [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 27
Result - SUCCESS

-- Planetary Optimization (Peripheral) - Kurortas* [85]
Target - 85
Roll – 97, General reroll - 69
Result - SUCCESS

- Research [$ 28,250,000,000,000.00 ]
-- Thermal Dissipation (Advanced) Tier 7* [auto]

- Miscellaneous [$ 134,370,100,000.00 ]
-- Culture [$ 100,000 ]
--- Real Olympics
-- Production Contract [->3?][134,370,000,000]

-----

You receive the latest contract offer from the industry group responsible for upgrading, expanding, and maintaining your strategic material production. Over the last twenty years this contract has been highly profitable for the industry as well as very helpful to the Empire as a whole. Thanks to the contract, the Empire actually has, in the opinion of some of your analysts, sufficient production capacity for your current and near future needs. The industrial group recognizes this, and is offering a further 10% discount on the contract extension, which will serve to keep them in business while also giving you a much deeper buffer against any production surge requirements.

On the one hand, the contract currently costs you a little under 135 billion a year. The discounted rate would save you a significant amount of money, and the industry in question have not only been loyal supporters of the Crown and the Empire, but have also already foregone profits that they could have gotten when they had you over the proverbial barrel, instead cutting their prices when all logic said they should have increased them, if greed was the only factor. They’ve even been spending their own profits on increasing quality control well above Imperial standards.

[]	Action	Result
[]	Approve Contract Extension	Discount Level would go to 2 80% of full cost Contract would last 20 turns (ending Turn 146) +1 Economic Event -1 Politics
[]	Deny Contract Extension	Discount Level would go to 0 Strategic Material factories and upgrades would need to be purchased separately and would consume actions

Meanwhile the Olympics continue to be quite exciting. Perhaps a little too exciting, as you get word that many staff members from the Interior Ministry who were supposed to be working on the economic focus project for New Capricorn instead spent several days in the drunk tank sobering up after a rather excessive celebration.

Your eyebrows threaten to lift off of your face and attain orbit on their own as you read the police report. In the course of one night, the Economic Focus staff managed the following.

43 counts of Gross Public Intoxication
Permanently banned from a dozen drinking establishments
The System Governor’s personal vehicle somehow wound up perched on the side of the tallest skyscraper in the city and painted a shockingly iridescent orange that seems to glow in the dark without being radioactive
They are not sure how it happened, but they would really like it if they’d please convince the local raptor population to stop humming manamana endlessly.
The cost of paying plumbers to re-reroute the water supply in a three block area back to, well, the water supply and not beer storage tanks will be assessed to the Interior Ministry

You realize rather quickly that DoME must have been involved in this mess. Specifically the teams involved in the Feurstem and Steingarten projects, who finished early enough to make it for the Olympics and might have been a bad influence on everybody else.

You take a bit of sadistic glee in denying their time off requests and making them keep their badly hungover noses to the grindstone in order to finish the New Capricorn project on time. Perhaps this will teach them not to get into epic drinking contests with DoME.

Overall, despite you wanting to throttle some of them, the various DoME terraforming and optimization projects do finish on time and budget. You are still constantly impressed with just how hard they work, so you guess you can forgive them in the silence of your own thoughts for their exuberance.

You’ll never admit that of course.

Overall, the construction of new orbital shipyards, warship yards, and the like goes quite well. The new ASF factories are also completed on time and budget, which should be very useful for the Aerospace Force.

Admiral Fisher sends you the initial planning documents for Operation: Golden Truth, the plan for Grand Fleet to strike at the Black Steel next year. It’s pretty straightforward, as the Admiral rather dryly notes that attempting to build ‘razzle dazzle’ into plans is undesirable. That being said, there is an element of extreme sneakiness there. A month before the operation, a lone Caravel-class Jumpship will make a jump to a point well away from either standard jump point, hopefully far enough out to not be detected before it finishes recharging. A pair of Omaha-class Scout Parasites will be detached to making a ‘naughty picture run’, using their HPG to report any Black Steel developments. A second pair of Omahas will also be released, drifting in under maximum stealth. All of the crews are volunteers, fully aware of just how dangerous this mission would be.

This briefing is just for initial information, the plan is still being finalized and is not yet ready for your approval, but the Admiral wanted you to know what they were planning.

Procurement has gone quite smoothly this year, which is a bit of a relief as you’d been worried about things in the build up to resuming offensive operations. The new battleships, cruisers, and such are all integrating well into the fleet, thanks to the extensive training infrastructure you’ve built up for the Navy. The transfer of the old, and it feels odd to refer to ships that you’d commissioned earlier in your reign as ‘old’, Fubukis to the training role is welcomed by the Aerie.

LordSunhawk · Jan 16, 2023

Turn 127 - My Girl

About a week into the new year Admiral Fisher sends you a memo requesting permission to initiate surveillance operations as a prelude for Operation: Golden Dawn. According to the memo, he has all-volunteer crews lined up for both the Caravel-class jumpship and the quartet of Omaha-class Parasite Scout Cruisers who have been fully briefed on the mission parameters.

It is a high risk operation, with a very high probability of losing at least two of the Omahas to the Black Steel, but it is a critical component of Operation: Golden Dawn, without the pre-strike intelligence provided by this preliminary phase, the rest of the operation would be exponentially more risky.

[]	Action
[]	Approve Recon Mission
[]	Don’t Approve Recon Mission

He also sends Commodore Savić over with the details of the latest proposal from Fortress Command.

Although intellectually you know that she’s not much younger than you are, Commodore Savić is a product of Kilburrough, one of the young girls rescued from pirates who’d sworn fealty to your family. She’d since gone into the Navy and was now a rising star in her own right. Therefore she looks younger than your own daughters, apart from her eyes.

“Your Majesty, Fortress Command, in coordination with BuShips, has proposed an adjunct station cluster concept intended to provide close-in defensive cover for the various Tower stations. The Spartoi Defense Cluster is composed of ten individual stations, little larger than a standard dropship, with an armament optimized for fairly close in defense along with high powered sensors and datalinking systems intended to optimize targeting for the defensive cluster.” She brings up an image of a fairly spherical shaped station with a rotating grav deck in the center, the largest visible weapon is a 55 cm naval laser mounted on one ‘pole’ of the station, and you can see clusters of 30cm sub-capital naval lasers mounted in all quadrants of the design. In addition, as the image is zoomed in, you can see clusters of extended-range PPCs and 8cm laser batteries.

“The armament is solely energy based, Your Majesty, in order to minimize the logistical footprint of the station. In addition it has the latest generation of sensors and datalink systems identical to those fitted on our latest generation of warships.” She clasps her hands behind her back as she speaks. “The primary downside to this system is the cost, as a full cluster of 10 such stations comes in at slightly less than a quarter of the cost of a full-up Black Tower, albeit providing slightly more than a quarter of the raw aggregate firepower. The main benefit to the arrangement is that Black Steel drone fighters and dropships would be engaged at a far more extended range than currently possible and that there is a much larger defensive footprint, making it more difficult for the Black Steel to avoid the orbital defenses for quick strikes.”

Name	Cost	Materials	HP	A/D	Specials
Spartoi-class Defense Cluster	$10,699,725,000	LFC, DHS	2570	1570	Armored 10 AMS 1200 Capital 2/637 4/138 Capital AMS 480 Command 3

The Department of Periphery Studies has been rather quiet as of late and you inquire of the staff as to the situation. Amusingly, the distinguished faculty are currently obsessed with the game of chess, and thus are spending all of their time in endless chess tournaments rather than anything loud and disruptive.

That’s a relief. However, for all of the occasional disruption, the Department of Periphery Studies does provide an enormous benefit to the Empire, especially as it grows. There will always be those with severe mental illnesses, either hereditary or brought on by circumstances. Keeping those people off the street, where they can get treatment in a positive environment and where their various neuroses and such can be dealt with without criminal activity or homelessness is a blessing. This strongly contributes to the exceptionally low homeless rates and helps significantly with keeping crime, especially petty crime, down. A crazy person hearing voices in their head telling them to kill people is far less dangerous when they are armed with a foam rubber sword and are also kept on their medications.

The weapon smuggling ring that was recently busted wide open is continuing to yield fruit as other criminal elements are being exposed. The most disturbing was a human trafficking ring in the New Algiers system which had extended tentacles of influence into Bourbon space as well as outside your own borders with the local pirates. The Special Branch took great pleasure in stomping on them extremely hard. Some might say it's too hard, but you are not among that number. You’ve already pre-approved authorization for capital punishment for those particular ‘people’.

General Perkins comes to meet you with a portfolio of the latest ASF upgrades, along with a brief presentation about the massive Quetzalcoatlus.

“Your Majesty,” he begins. “While the Quetz has been very effective, long term analysis has shown that the pilots primarily rely on their PPCs rather than on the HAG/40 in the nose, on account of the limited ammunition load. However it is very typical for a Quetz to RTB for fuel and minor repairs while still carrying the majority of the ammunition load for the HAG. An analysis of over three hundred engagements shows that in none of them did the Quetz fire the HAG more than 8 times, and that only ten times. In light of that, we are reducing the size of the ammo bins in favor of fitting advanced targeting electronics to maximize the potential of the rest of the armament.”

“That being said, Your Majesty, here are the latest specifications for the New Generation variants of our ASF designs, which are being rolled out to the Aerospace Force as we speak.”

Name	Cost	Materials	HP	A/D	Specials
Peregrine NG Interceptor	$451,138.80	FAA, DHS	32	22	Armored 1 AMS 1 Swift
Sparrowhawk NG Interceptor	$418,924.20	FAA, DHS	31	21	Armored 1 AMS 1 Swift
Stingray NG Dogfighter	$652,697.50	FAA, DHS	40	30	Armored 1 AMS 1 Swift
Eagle NG Aerospace Supremacy Fighter	$1,026,474.20	FAA, DHS	59	39	Armored 2 AMS 3
Goshawk NG Light Attacker	$565,778.60	FAA, DHS	37	27	Armored 1 AMS 1 Swift
Quetzalcoatlus NG Assault Fighter	$1,289,453.30	FAA, DHS	66	46	Armored 2 AMS 4

“We are also in discussions concerning a proposed upgrade to the Gripen ASF to bring it up to the latest state-of-the-art. However there is a roadblock here. Since development of this model is shared with the NRR, by contract any improvements we decide to make to the design will need to be shared with our allies. Since we are planning on mounting our latest 5cm extended range lasers, which are a substantial improvement on the previous model, we would require permission to release this technology.”

[]	Action	Result
[]	Approve the tech transfer	Improves relations with the NRR Allows for the upgrade to the Gripen to NG standards
[]	OUR PRECIOUS!!!!!	Harms relations with the NRR

LordSunhawk · Jan 18, 2023

Turn 127 - Don’t Get Mad, Get Even

You receive confirmation that the advance recon element of Operation: Golden Truth has departed on schedule. A short while later you receive confirmation of their arrival in the target system and that the recon operation is underway.

It will be some weeks before you get any useful data back, weeks where all you can do is wait, hope, and pray.

The NRR is very happy with the release of the data on the 5cm extended range laser, and very shortly after your engineers report that their collaborative work has developed a new standard configuration set for the Gripen ASF.

In other aerospace news, General Perkins comes to meet with you. “Your Majesty, based on data analysis and discussions with the pilots involved it has been determined that the Peregrine Light Dogfighter is to be relegated to militia use, with those squadrons which were equipped with it transitioning to the new configuration Sparrowhawk. Despite the paper advantages of the Peregrine, which traded raw performance for enhanced avionics, in practice this has proven to mostly be of utility against pirates and lesser enemies. Performance against the Black Steel has been poor at best, especially in comparison to the Sparrowhawk which has the raw performance capability to actually match the Black Steel’s drones, at least as long as the pilot avoids GLOC.”

He checks some notes. “We will be retaining the Peregrine airframes, however. Our scientists believe that they would be ideal test platforms for work on our own drone ASF designs. Such projects are still in their infancy, as it is an exceptionally challenging and complicated problem, but work is ongoing.”

A short pause then, and he continues. “The training pipeline for new ASF pilots is improving, and reducing the number of different airframes in use will have benefits in terms of training support personnel as well.”

You thank him for the report, the heavy losses taken by the Aerospace Force had been sobering, as until you’d begun offensive operations they’d been able to easily reconstitute their losses simply from equipment stockpiles due to not losing ASF bays or critical support crews. Losing pilots, equipment, and support crews had been a devastating blow to the ASF community, especially after their exceptionally low comparative casualties up to that point in the conflict.

In much happier news you discover that your youngest daughter is actually dating somebody, now that her volleyball career is officially over. You haven’t met the young man in question yet, but have already set your minions onto discovering what they can about him for proper motherly oversight. Which is much more important than proper Imperial oversight.

You know what your priorities are.

Meanwhile, Parliament is in session, which is always an experience as you wonder just what ridiculous idea they might have this time.

The first bit of legislation that is presented to you is the Veteran’s Relief Small Business Act of 3057. It had been some time since the last Small Business Act, and everytime Parliament introduces a new one there is always a catch.

This time it appears that they are wanting to fund loan guarantees for small business start-ups and expansion. Every citizen of the Empire who had served at least a single tour of active duty in the Imperial military would be eligible to receive such loans as part of their separation benefits. The loans would be guaranteed by the treasury, have a twenty year term and charge no interest. Veterans would be automatically qualified for the loan upon honorable discharge, and this benefit would be retroactively applied to existing veterans.

The price tag is a bit eye-watering, but this is mainly to fully fund the initial tranche of loans due to the retroactive nature of the program. Once fully in place the costs are far more reasonable due to the relatively small size of the military. Three cheers for advanced technology, you guess.

[]	Action	Argument	Action
[]	Sign the Veteran’s Relief Small Business Act of 3057	These men and women have served the Empire with honor and distinction, as such it is our duty to serve them in return. We have always had generous veteran’s benefits, and this has benefited the Empire enormously in both tangible and intangible ways. This act would further extend that proud tradition and harkens back to some elements of the original G.I. Bill of the 20th Century United States. Unlike the original, we have no need to further subsidize education as that is already fully subsidized, however many people do not realize that the original legislation also included loan guarantees for establishing businesses and farms. This act is intended to replicate that portion of the ancient law for the modern age.	Initial cost - $2,000,000,000,000.00 Raises Bonus Growth Level by 1 Increases Small Business Subsidy level by 1 +5 Approval +1 Influence Imperial Senate Chamber of Delegates
[]	Veto the Veteran’s Relief Small Business Act of 3057	What the supporters of this act deliberately fail to acknowledge are the provisions which effectively ensure that all credit for the enhanced benefits is rendered to Parliament and thus will substantially boost Parliament’s prestige and relative power, making them powerful enough to directly challenge you for control over the Empire. This is nothing more than a thinly veiled power grab from Parliament, taking advantage of their relatively strong position in an attempt to gain absolute power for themselves.	-10 Politics -25 Support Imperial Senate Chamber of Delegates
[]	Veto the Veteran’s Relief Small Business Act of 3057 but implement the provisions via Imperial order	We should fight Parliament with their own weapons. The Crown has the authority to establish such a program without involving Parliament at all, making use of the Crown Reserve and the executive powers granted to the throne. Parliament will be furious, but they will have no real ability to oppose this and it will serve to quite emphatically put them in their proper place, serving the Empire, not ruling it.	Initial Cost - $2,000,000,000,000.00 Raises Bonus Growth Level by 1 Increases Small Business Subsidy level by 1 +5 Approval -10 Politics -1 Influence Imperial Senate Chamber of Delegates -25 Support Imperial Senate Chamber of Delegates

LordSunhawk · Jan 20, 2023

Turn 127 - Hoodoo Voodoo Medicine Man

Parliament is absolutely livid about you shooting down their brilliant plan and then, to pile injury onto insult, used Imperial authority to implement it anyways and take full credit, while stripping out all of the lovely and oh so carefully crafted clauses intended to allow Parliament to use the legislation as a vehicle to eventually seize de facto, if not de jure, control over the Empire from you.

The Eldest is quite smug, and when you ask him he states that he’d warned them that you’d spot their traps and deal with them appropriately and that they had only themselves to blame for being so power hungry and greedy. They had not appreciated his bluntness, but since by seniority he’s still the head of the Senate there’s nothing that they can do about it beyond pouting and generally acting quite childish in the giant cat’s considered opinion.

The Opposition, meanwhile, is frantically attempting to spin the entire situation as being one great big misunderstanding on your part and that your actions are simply that of being a big meanie to their poor, misunderstood, selves. Why, you had forced them to react against you, if you hadn’t been so unwilling to cede power to Parliament then they’d never have been forced to try and sneak it past you, it’s all your fault!

Such protestations are met with the appropriate pointing, laughing, and mockery by everybody else.

Ironically one of your biggest supporters in pointing out the passive-aggressive nature of that response is a certain media conglomerate that used to be firmly in the Opposition camp. You pat yourself on the back for not overreacting years back when you first became aware of the current CEO of said companies actions on New Eden.

You receive both good and bad news from the preliminary recon mission against the Black Steel. The bad news is that the Caravel jumpship was caught while still recharging by the Black Steel and destroyed with all hands. The overt Omahas on their ‘naughty picture run’ are being pursued, but are sending back valuable data showing the state of repairs, disposition of enemy forces, and likely defensive stations. The covert pair are not, as planned, reporting in yet, but the overt vessels report no sign that the Black Steel even suspects that the covert ships are present.

Based on the data, Admiral Fisher is recommending a brief delay in Operation: Golden Truth to shuffle some forces around to address the discovery of those defensive stations. The eight Potemkin-class vessels that aren’t the historic HMS Morristown will be used to transport a large contingent of parasite missile battleships to the operation. The delay would last into next year, putting the start date of the operation in February of 3058. Since it is a rather sensible solution you give your approval for the delay.

But now it is budget time, which you are quite looking forward to.

Amaunet opens things up like she usually does from her position at the front of the room. “Padrone, military morale continues to be strong, production levels are rising, and our forces are chomping at the bit for Operation: Golden Truth. General Bradley?”

The pugnacious general takes the podium. “The Army remains in a holding pattern, Your Majesty, focusing on training and maintaining readiness in the event we do run into an enemy that requires ground forces. I am pleased to report that the latest series of exercises are going very well and the Army should be ready if we are needed.”

Imperial Griffon Army
- Procurement
  - Garrison Forces
    - 25 Garrison Divisions
    - 25 Militia Divisions

General Perkins is up next. “Your Majesty, we wish to continue to expand our production capacity as rapidly as possible. We are also still attempting to recover our losses and are hoping that Operation: Golden Truth will not compound our difficulties but rather be as successful as we hope.” You can tell that, for all the confidence most have, General Perkins is more worn down.

Imperial Griffon Aerospace Force
- Production
  - New ASF Factory Complexes
    - Glorreich
    - Shin Tōkyō
    - Kurortas
    - Raj
    - Pustina
    - Platzregensburg
    - Pryyemnyy
    - Awha
    - Bāṛi
    - Bellaterra
- Procurement
  - 25 Training Wings
  - 35 CAP Wings
  - 100 Carrier Wings

Admiral Fisher seems to be making it a habit to let Commodore Savić handle the actual briefs, while glowering from his seat. The young-looking officer takes the podium and smiles slightly. “Your Majesty,” she begins. “Your Navy is in solid shape across the board. We are wishing to start procurement of the Nevada-class Heavy Cruiser as a close-in escort for the Jean Bart-class Battlecruiser. The two ships share a nearly identical thrust profile and are highly complementary designs. We have sufficient medium warship production capacity to begin building such specialist designs. In addition, Fortress Command notes that the relative portability of the Spartoi clusters will enable them to be deployed where needed.” She checks her notes and brings up the budget request displays as she continues to speak.

Imperial Griffon Navy
- Production
  - Orbital Shipyards
    - Expand all Orbital Shipyards
  - Refit & Repair Yards
    - Expand all Refit & Repair Yards
  - Escort Yards
    - Nowy Szczecin
    - Baddorando
    - Sturmland
    - Neubayern
    - Neuhessen
    - Nouvelle Bourgogne
    - Nuova Lombardia
    - Skala
    - Stahlfurt
    - Grand View
    - Griff's Leap
    - Kurortas
    - Novolar
    - Olej
    - Pinball
    - Pryyemnyy
    - Pustina
    - Steingarten
    - The Hub
    - Nuova Puglia
    - Chuma
    - Nuovo Abruzzo
    - Stenen Tuin
    - New Libertalia
    - Nyū Shikoku
    - Nuova Tripoli
    - Catachan
    - Feurstern
    - Neuthüringen
    - Nowe Mazowsze
    - Nox
    - Platzregensburg
    - Porto Milano
    - Landprettig
    - New Algiers
    - New Clew Bay
    - Nubifragio
    - Bellaterra
  - Small Warship Yards
    - Raj
    - New Port Royal
    - Nowa Warszawa
    - Nowy Slask
    - Chuma
    - Awha
    - Kaiyo
    - Shin Tōkyō
    - Iskra
    - Griffon
    - Bohren
  - Medium Warship Yards
    - New Pollux
    - Calliope
    - Pieklo
    - Bari
    - Edelsteine
  - Large Warship Yards
    - Glorreich
    - New Phoenix
    - New Castor
    - Nowy Wrocław
- Procurement
  - Standard Dropships
    - 400 Artemis-class Planetary Defense Boat Flotillas
    - 109 Wright-class Dockable ASF Platforms
    - 109 Colt-class Defense Blisters
  - Large Dropships
    - 30 Saipan-class Parasite Carriers
    - 296 Mikasa-class Parasite Battleships
  - Escorts
    - 170 Battle-class Destroyers
    - 10 Skjold-class Missile Corvettes
    - 10 Constellation-class Corvettes
    - 50 Tarantul-class Missile Raiders
    - 50 Asheville-class Raiders
  - Small Warships
    - 60 Belfast-class Light Cruisers
    - 30 De Grasse-class Light Cruisers
    - 10 Guiseppe Garibaldi-class Light Cruisers
    - 8 Hosho-class Light Carriers
  - Medium Warships
    - 20 Prinz Eugen II-class Heavy Cruisers
    - 10 Algerie-class Heavy Cruisers
    - 5 Nevada-class Heavy Cruisers
  - Large Warships
    - 10 Kaiserin-class Battleships
    - 10 Jean Bart-class Battlecruisers
- Fortress Command
  - Black Towers
    - Baddorando
    - Sturmland
    - Blár
    - Nueva Chiapas
    - New Kansas
  - Spartoi
    - 5 Spartoi-class Defense Clusters

Once the Commodore is seated, Elizabeth Lee speaks up from where she’s sitting. “Your Majesty, the economy is doing well, and our building projects are likewise proceeding well. The new contracts for strategic materials production are in place, to general satisfaction all around. I do have one problem.” She pauses, then grins a bit as people start to look nervous. “I have five idle DoME teams, and you saw what happens when DoME teams are idle.”

There’s general laughter at that.

“So we have the following proposals to keep those mad lads and lasses busy.”

Department of Mega Engineering
- Planetary Optimization
  - Novolar
- Terraforming
  - Catachan
  - Steingarten
  - Nuova Tripoli
  - Nuova Puglia

“I also now know that we need to keep the economic teams equally busy, or they collaborate a bit too well with DoME, as we saw last year.” More laughter at that.

Economic Focus, Investment & Infrastructure
- Economic Focus
  - Core
    - Nowy Śląsk
  - Periphery
    - Grand View
- Major Investment
  - Core
    - Kaiyo
  - Periphery
    - Griff’s Leap
- Investment
  - New Libertalia
- Infrastructure & Industrial Zones
  - Hot Mess
  - Baddorando
  - Salamander
  - Nouvelle Bourgogne
  - Nuova Puglia

Doctor Severino then speaks up from her place as Elizabeth wraps up her presentation. “Diplomatically speaking, we are hosting several diplomatic meetings with our allies as usual, however Cultural Affairs would like to host an Empire-wide German Cultural Festival. It’s been a while since we’ve held one of those, and they think it would be a good idea. I did, however, draw the line at lederhosen promotion.”

Tiberius isn’t present, due to an illness in the family. He’s left a memo for you recommending the continued expansion of the Civil Service ‘if you feel like it’.

Grace is present, however. “Your Majesty, I only have the one R&D team available this year, and while they’re the same Real Men Of Genius behind the entire ‘use lasers to vent heat’ idea, they are genuinely intelligent, usually. I’d like to put them to work at something a bit less ‘out there’ in the theoretical sense, but rather more in the… practical sense. Specifically, have them work on improvements to our orbital infrastructure management techniques and methods.”

R&D
- Orbital Infrastructure lvl 10

Sina and Martina are in meetings with their NRR and NRI counterparts, respectively, and are not present in the Griffon system for this meeting. They’ve both left you memos stating that neither have any specific budget requests this year over and above their normal departmental budgets.

LordSunhawk · Jan 23, 2023

Turn 127 - What It Takes

Meta Event	35
Dynasty Luck	37
	Successes
Imperial Approval	-1
Approval Change	1
Political Event	0
	Successes
Imperial Economy	2
Economic Event	-1
Research Event	0

Griffon	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	1

Nowa Warszawa	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	0

Calliope IV	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	1

TTP	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	1

New Capricorn	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	1

Nowy Śląsk	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	1

Edelsteine	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	1

Nowy Wroclaw	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	1

Griff's Leap	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	1

New Phoenix	Econ	0
	Health	4
	Event	3

New Eden	Econ	0
	Health	4
	Event	3

New Castor	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	1

Okusawa	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	0

New Pollux	Econ	3
	Health	12
	Event	5

New Port Royal	Econ	1
	Health	2
	Event	4

Kainga	Econ	3
	Health	12
	Event	5

Chuma	Econ	3
	Health	12
	Event	5

Stahlfurt	Econ	1
	Health	2
	Event	4

Bāṛi	Econ	0
	Health	4
	Event	3

Skała	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	0

Piekło	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	0

Nya Köpenhamn	Econ	3
	Health	2
	Event	1

Bauernparadis	Econ	3
	Health	12
	Event	5

Awha	Econ	0
	Health	4
	Event	3

Kaiyo	Econ	0
	Health	4
	Event	3

Bohren	Econ	0
	Health	4
	Event	3

Grand View	Econ	3
	Health	12
	Event	5

Iskra	Econ	3
	Health	12
	Event	5

Raj	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	0

Feurstern	Econ	0
	Health	4
	Event	3

Pinball	Econ	0
	Health	4
	Event	3

Catachan	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	0

Nox	Econ	3
	Health	12
	Event	5

Olej	Econ	0
	Health	4
	Event	3

Glorreich	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	1

Pryyemnyy	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	5

Novolar	Econ	3
	Health	12
	Event	5

Steingarten	Econ	3
	Health	12
	Event	5

Pustina	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	1

Kurortas	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	1

Arvum	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	5

Landprettig	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	0

Bellaterra	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	1

Nubifragio	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	0

Platzregensburg	Econ	1
	Health	2
	Event	4

Shin Tōkyō	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	1

Porto Milano	Econ	1
	Health	2
	Event	4

Nuova Fortezza	Econ	1
	Health	2
	Event	4

Nowe Mazowsze	Econ	3
	Health	1
	Event	0

Neuthüringen	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	1

New Algiers	Econ	1
	Health	2
	Event	4

New Clew Bay	Econ	1
	Health	2
	Event	4

Nuova Tripoli	Econ	1
	Health	2
	Event	4

New Libertalia	Econ	1
	Health	2
	Event	4

Nuova Puglia	Econ	4
	Health	1
	Event	2

Nuovo Abruzzo	Econ	4
	Health	1
	Event	2

Nuova Lombardia	Econ	4
	Health	1
	Event	2

Stenen Tuin	Econ	4
	Health	1
	Event	2

Nouvelle Bourgogne	Econ	4
	Health	1
	Event	2

Nyū Shikoku	Econ	1
	Health	2
	Event	4

Neubayern	Econ	4
	Health	1
	Event	2

Neuhessen	Econ	4
	Health	1
	Event	2

Hot Mess	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	5

New Narnia	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	5

The Hub	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	5

Baddorando	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	5

Sturmland	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	5

Blár	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	5

Nueva Chiapas	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	1

New Kansas	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	1

Nowego Lublina	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	1

Nowy Szczecin	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	1

Salamander	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	1

New Portland	Econ	10
	Health	1
	Event	1

Plan: Regaining Hearts
- Procurement [$ 980,034,194,557.25 ]
-- Lay Down Major Unit [Construction - $84,507,362,869.75 ] (95)
--- 400 Artemis [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 52
Result - SUCCESS

--- 109 Wright [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 10
Result - SUCCESS

--- 109 Colt [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 12
Result - SUCCESS

--- 296 Mikasa [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 33
Result - SUCCESS

--- 30 Saipan [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 20
Result - SUCCESS

-- Lay down Warship [Warship Construction - $533,728,309,050.00 ] (90)
--- 170 Battle [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 78
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Skjold [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 18
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Constellation [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 73
Result - SUCCESS

--- 50 Tarantul [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 22
Result - SUCCESS

--- 50 Asheville [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 4
Result - SUCCESS

--- 60 Belfast [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 71
Result - SUCCESS

--- 20 De Grasse [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 38
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Guiseppe Garibaldi [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 53
Result - SUCCESS

--- 5 Hosho [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 71
Result - SUCCESS

--- 20 Prinz Eugen II [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 84
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Algerie [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 35
Result - SUCCESS

--- 5 Nevada [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 3
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Kaiserin [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 7
Result - SUCCESS

--- 10 Jean Bart [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 11
Result - SUCCESS

-- Purchase New Units [Minor Unit - $ 69,299,247,637.50 ] (90)
--- 100 Carrier Wing [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 89
Result - SUCCESS

--- 35 CAP Wing [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 17
Result - SUCCESS

--- 25 Training Wing [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 54
Result - SUCCESS

--- 25 Garrison Division [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 61
Result - SUCCESS

--- 25 Militia Division [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 47
Result - SUCCESS

-- Fortress Command [$ 282,499,275,000 ] (90)
--- Construct Black Tower
---- Baddorando [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 57
Result - SUCCESS

---- Sturmland [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 41
Result - SUCCESS

---- Blár [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 33
Result - SUCCESS

---- New Kansas [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 12
Result - SUCCESS

---- Nueva Chiapas [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 78
Result - SUCCESS

--- 5 Spartoi Clusters [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 55
Result - SUCCESS

-- SLEP [$ 10,000,000,000 ] (100)
--- SLEP all Mech Units* [->2]
--- SLEP all Conventional Units* [->2]

- General [$ 2,649,170,000,000.00 ]
-- Focus Development on Core World Nowy Śląsk [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 39
Result - SUCCESS

-- Focus Development on Peripheral World Grand View [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 73
Result - SUCCESS

-- Massive Core Investment Kaiyo [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 61
Result - SUCCESS

-- Massive Peripheral Investment Griff’s Leap [85]
Target - 85
Roll - 60
Result - SUCCESS

-- Economic Investment New Libertalia [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 27
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Salamander [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 12
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Nouvelle Bourgogne [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 5
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Hot Mess [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 43
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Baddorando [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 4
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Infrastructure and Industrial zones on Nuova Puglia [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 62
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build ASF Factory Complex (95)
--- Glorreich [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 1
Result – Critical SUCCESS

--- Shin Tōkyō [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 1
Result – Critical SUCCESS

--- Kurortas [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 4
Result - SUCCESS

--- Raj [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 75
Result - SUCCESS

--- Pustina [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 6
Result - SUCCESS

--- Platzregensburg [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 50
Result - SUCCESS

--- Pryyemnyy [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 79
Result - SUCCESS

--- Awha [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 92
Result - SUCCESS

--- Bāṛi [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 82
Result - SUCCESS

--- Bellaterra [95]
Target - 95
Roll - 68
Result - SUCCESS

-- Expand Civil Service [80]
Target - 80
Roll – 94, Jarow reroll – 96, ShadowArxxy reroll - 76
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Relations with Chamber of Delegates [60]
Target - 60
Roll – 76, General reroll - 16
Result - SUCCESS

-- Build Relations with Imperial Senate [60]
Target - 60
Roll – 93, General reroll - 7
Result - SUCCESS

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

-- Construct Escort Yard Neuhessen [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 58
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nouvelle Bourgogne [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 12
Result - SUCCESS

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

-- Construct Escort Yard Nuovo Puglia [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 13
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nuovo Abruzzo [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 53
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nyu Shikoku [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 23
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Stenen Tuin [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 37
Result - SUCCESS

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

-- Construct Escort Yard Nuova Tripoli [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 15
Result - SUCCESS

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

-- Construct Escort Yard Feurstem [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 31
Result - SUCCESS

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

-- Construct Escort Yard Nowe Mazowsze [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 75
Result - SUCCESS

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

-- Construct Escort Yard Platzregensburg [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 31
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard New Algiers [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 69
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard New Clew Bay [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 41
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Nubifragio [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 24
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Bellaterra [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 19
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Landprettig [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 49
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Porto Milano [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 51
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard The Hub [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 80
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Escort Yard Baddorando [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 88
Result - SUCCESS

-- Upgrade Refit & Repair Yard [105]
Target - 105
Roll - 98
Result - SUCCESS

-- Expand Orbital Shipyards [105]
Target - 105
Roll - 95
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard New Capricorn* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 47
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard Okusawa* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 72
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard Nya Kopenhamn* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 39
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Large Warship Yard Kainga* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 47
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard Calliope [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 37
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard Edelsteine [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 67
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard Pieklo [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 49
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard Bari [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 17
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Medium Warship Yard New Pollux [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 50
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Sturmland [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 11
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard New Port Royal [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 14
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Nowa Warzsawa [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 54
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Griffon [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 77
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Nowy Slask [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 30
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Chuma [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 72
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Awha [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 19
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Kaiyo [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 16
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Shin Tokyo [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 15
Result - SUCCESS

-- Construct Small Warship Yard Iskra [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 55
Result - SUCCESS

- DoME [$ 582,000,000,000.00 ]
-- Expand Shin Tōkyō Arcologies [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 40
Result - SUCCESS

-- Make Steingarten a Logistics Hub* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 8
Result - SUCCESS

-- Make New Libertalia a Logistics Hub* [90]
Target - 90
Roll - 50
Result - SUCCESS

-- Terraforming Kurortas* [85]
Target - 85
Roll – 96, General reroll - 13
Result - SUCCESS

-- Terraforming New Clew Bay* [85]
Target - 85
Roll – 100, General reroll - 73
Result - SUCCESS

- Research [$ 47,250,000,000,000.00 ]
-- Improved Agriculture Lvl 7 [100]
Target - 100
Roll - 92
Result - SUCCESS

-- Capital Shipyards* [70]
Target - 70
Roll - 59
Result - SUCCESS

-- Multi-Missile Launchers* [75]
Target - 75
Roll - 64
Result - SUCCESS

-- Economic Forecasting lvl 1* [75]
Target - 75
Roll - 10
Result - SUCCESS

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

- Miscellaneous [$ 210,370,000,000.00 ]
-- Culture [$ 76,000,000,000 ]
--- <Culture> German Cultural Festival [70]
Target - 70
Roll - 40
Result - SUCCESS

-- Production Contract [->2?][134,370,000,000]

-----

There’s a sense of anticipation in the air as the various fleet formations intended for Operation: Golden Truth gather, reinforced with all of the new construction that are completing their shakedown cruises as the year wraps up. Home Fleet is deploying to properly cover all potential targets for any retaliatory strikes, while the Expeditionary and Strike Fleets have fallen back a bit to continue to rebuild their strength in anticipation of future attacks.

You do now have a number of new survey vessels, however Admiral Fisher recommends that they initially be restricted to surveying in ‘safe’ directions until they’ve been fully worked up and had some operational experience under their belts.

Some very welcome reinforcements from the NRI and NRR show up for the operation as well, a mix of ASF units from the Rasalhaguians and flotillas of corvettes and destroyers from the Romans. The current plan is to use them to supplement the main screening elements of Grand Fleet.

In general economic news is very positive across the Empire for the year, and the various investment programs put together by the Interior Ministry have borne very good fruit indeed. The worlds of Nouvelle Bourgogne and Baddorando have shown a particularly excellent economic improvement from the latest rounds of investments, with a number of exciting new industries sprouting up in both systems and boosting the local economic prospectus ratings to ‘average’ and ‘poor’ respectively.

If only Parliament was as easy to deal with. The various leaders of both chambers are extremely intransigent with Tiberius, blowing him off constantly and even when they do deign to meet with him completely refusing to be anything more than perfunctory. There is some movement among the rank and file, but leadership is quite firmly opposed to you. Makes you rather glad that you made sure to cut them down to size, because you have every reason to believe that those bastards would sell their own mothers on the street corner if it got them just a little more power.

You receive a number of reports concerning R&D projects. The most intriguing is from the teams working on a proper ‘capital’ grade shipyard capable of building the largest possible warships. These are extremely involved facilities, mostly due to just how difficult it is to build cores of that size, not to mention the hulls, maneuver drives, and ancillary equipment required for moving over two million tons of fire and fury.

The new yard type has the following requirements

Capital Shipyard
- May only be built in a Core system that is either the Imperial Capital or possesses a full military base
  - Both Army and Navy
- System must have a fully developed Large and Medium shipyard complex, and at least 20 slips of Small Shipyard capacity
- No more than 1 per system
- Requires DoME teams to construct

Currently, the only system that fits all of the requirements is the Griffon system.

The new Multi-Missile Launcher system is rather clever, even if it is not compatible with the latest generation of long and short range missiles. Due to its use of obsolete ammunition stocks there is a proposal to sell the technology to your allies.

[]	Action	Result
[]	Like a good neighbor, Griffon Empire is there	Provides your allies with access to the MML system. +1 Trade Routes Improves relations with all allies -1 relations, Bourbon Empire -2 Approval Change +1 Politics
[]	Noooooo, our precious!	No change

Unfortunately, according to Grace, the hot launch systems that are so integral to modern ammunition types would damage the current MML design, rendering it nearly impossible to simply swap the ammunition feeds. You aren’t an engineer, so the reasoning is a bit obtuse, but evidently the ‘throat’ of the launcher is different enough to preclude hot launches.

That being said, Grace does inform you that the R&D team is furiously thinking about possibilities that would allow for more modern and capable missiles to be used, related to this development.

The new Economic Forecasting Bureau has been established as a result of the R&D work on enhanced economic forecasting techniques, the new bureau is housed in the Interior Ministry and is already producing highly valuable data which will boost growth across the Empire in the coming years.

New developments in ultra-high efficiency hydroponics and aeroponics have resulted in significant improvements in food availability, reducing costs without harming the bottom lines of food producers, processors and distributors. The improved variety, nutrition, and taste of products is highly welcomed.

DoME has accomplished a number of projects. First of all, their work on the city-planet project continues, with nearly the entire land mass of Shin Tōkyō now covered with arcologies. Future projects will focus on undersea structures as well as expanding existing arcologies even higher.

Their various terraforming projects are also bearing good fruit, boosting the habitability and comfort levels of the two systems they’ve been working on substantially. In addition they have completed the work on establishing Steingarten and New Libertalia as major logistics centers for the Empire, making your quartermasters lives much easier.

Massive numbers of new yards have been completed this year, boosting naval production to new heights and giving the prospect of hopefully being able to rapidly recover from any losses incurred in Operation: Golden Truth.

An exceptionally bright spot this year comes in the form of the continuing expansion of your ASF production capacity. On both Glorreich and Shin Tōkyō a number of commercial aerospace operations have converted their factories, at no cost to you, to increase your ASF production, nearly doubling the total number of new factories you will have access to next year. You make a point of hosting the owners of those facilities in the Palace over Christmas as a public thank you, they saved you an enormous amount of time and money and you know that the Aerospace Force is incredibly grateful for the support.

LordSunhawk · Feb 16, 2023

Turn 128 - Eat The Rich

A/N - I’ve been having severe computer issues, sorry for the delay in this update and this turn will likely go a bit slow. iI wanted to at least get a little something out this week though.

<Combat Report - Second Battle of Schwarz Stahl Friedhof>

Intelligence updates from the scouting force continue to come in, with the Black Steel declining to pursue the overt force at all. They report indications that the Black Steel is preparing to withdraw from the system. In hope of preempting that retreat, the Grand Fleet jumps in ready for battle.

The initial reports are quite positive, no ambush at the jump point, and the Fleet is moving in system. But then silence, no reports at all for days on end, multiple reporting checkpoints are missed. Days stretch to over two weeks, then finally contact is regained.

Somehow the Black Steel is able to jam HPG transmissions across a very wide area. The Grand Fleet had been drawn into an extended chase, attempting to catch up with the withdrawing Black Steel forces while all comms in the system were completely jammed. Thus they were unable to signal the Expeditionary Fleet with the projected escape vector for the Black Steel, preventing a full ambush.

Casualties were very light, but conversely only relatively light Black Steel forces were actually engaged as a rear-guard while the yardships and capital units jumped out to safety. The utility of the system for the Black Steel is obviously completely degraded, with the Grand Fleet currently sweeping the system for any remaining Black Steel installations.

The existence of the HPG jammers is extremely worrisome, as it eliminates one of the major tactical considerations you’d been hoping to use against the Black Steel in order to coordinate pincer movements and such. Your scientists have some ideas on how it could have been accomplished, but nothing concrete enough to be called a counter, for now you simply know it is somehow possible.

-----

Several days later you are participating in an HPG conference with the system governors in the Diamond March discussing rather routine affairs when suddenly an alert sounds in the office of the Neuhessen governor, followed moments later by the connection being completely lost. For almost an hour you are unable to reestablish any sort of connection until the Black Tower in the Neuhessen system establishes contact with its own HPG.

The situation is extremely chaotic and grim. Local system defense forces, with assistance from NRI units, have shot down and destroyed what had been thought to be a civilian Mammoth-class freighter used by some of the nomadic traders who do business around the periphery of the Empire. Said freighter had been on a landing approach to the drop port in Neuhessen’s capital when it suddenly started firing nuclear tipped unguided rockets indiscriminately. Initial estimates place the yields of these devices at 3 megatons each, and they had a cobalt liner leading to extreme radiation effects.

Upon being shot down, the dropship detonated in a massive fireball, obliterating itself and any evidence it may have contained. VIsual imagery shows that it was painted with an insignia that appears, according to historical files, to be an odd amalgam of the House Steiner and House Davion symbols. Moreover, communication logs from the Black Tower indicate that in every single radio communication with the vessel the crew emphasized rather strongly that they were with something called the Federated Commonwealth. Unfortunately the jumpship that transported that vessel had already departed when the attack occurred, although the sensor data for it has been logged.

Casualties are massive, with over sixty million dead and enormous economic devastation. Disaster response efforts have already begun, with significant assistance from your Roman allies. The enormous amount of radiological damage to the local ecosystem and the capital area pretty much will require DoME to step up to the plate, as it is of such a magnitude as to effectively require full terraforming efforts to rectify.

Sina Dey has reported that the jumpship in question had first been registered in the customs system two years ago as a free trader operating on that frontier, and had until now never been implicated in anything illegal or threatening. It is an Invader-class jumpship, appeared to be in good repair if rather elderly, and usually carried a few small freight dropships on trading missions. None of the dropships carried by it in the past were matches to the Mammoth involved in the attack.

The weapons used have been tentatively identified as ‘Asset Management Weapons’ based on the observed yield and the fragmentary sensor records of the ‘missiles’ that were used. From the historical records this sort of weapon had been first developed by the Free Worlds League, but had spread throughout the Inner Sphere according to data obtained from the Dracs. According to the data, they were very widely used during the First Succession War by every faction. There is nothing in any of the data about anything called the ‘Federated Commonwealth’ however, although it appears to be a portmanteau of the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth.

Regardless, this is a very worrying development, that quite possibly somebody from the Inner Sphere is now aware of you, and has highly hostile intentions towards you.

-----

With all of that, the opening of the latest edition of the Pan Griffon Games is almost a footnote. Your youngest daughter has kept her promise to retire from Naked Volleyball, which is a plus in your opinion. The Ratings so far are quite good as people seek an escape from the grim news from Neuhessen, as well as worries about the war with the Black Steel.

In much more positive news, your grandkids continue to be absolute delights, brightening your days in every way. In addition, all three of your eldest daughters have retired from the military, instead returning to school for advanced degrees and focusing their attention on their kids. This, of course, takes a massive load off of your shoulders.

General Bradley has indicated that she intends to retire soon and is grooming a replacement for her position as Chief of Staff of the Imperial Griffon Army. Considering that she’s been running the Army since you were a young 2nd Lieutenant… you check and she’s been in the Army for over a century at this point and is finally retiring.

Life extension therapy is excellent, but it does result in exceptionally long careers.

The tenured faculty at the Department of Periphery Studies are Up To Something again, this time apparently involving martial arts uniforms, giant foam weapons of truly impractical proportions (including a sword that requires two people to move, despite it being made out of foam rubber), and bombastic declarations of incredibly bizarre attack moves pronounced in loud voices, followed by ridiculously funny pratfalls as the tenured faculty manage to utterly fail at actually executing them.

It’s one of the more harmless obsessions, and rather amusing in a time when there is little to be amused at.

LordSunhawk · Mar 16, 2023

Turn 128 - Get A Grip

You receive additional intelligence updates concerning this ‘Federated Commonwealth’. Agents have been interviewing the small traders that serve the tiny little polities that seem to dot the galactic north and northeast and have begun piecing together a contradictory picture. Highly aggressive, brutal, and utterly intolerant according to some, mostly the larger of the little polities that are closest to you.

Your agents get reports of this Federated Commonwealth routinely responding with mass nuclear strikes to even the most minor of slights, in one case the tale is told of them nuking a trade station when they were given a less prestigious docking location. Or in other cases reacting with nuclear weapons if somebody decides not to buy a cargo they are selling, cargoes that usually consist of inferior goods.

But other traders have different stories, and those are the ones who roam all the way to the inner Periphery, not quite the Inner Sphere, but closer than most. They claim that the Federated Commonwealth has a reputation for fair dealing and restraint, with high quality products at fair prices, and fairly good-natured reactions to being out bargained. They report running into Federated Commonwealth anti-piracy patrols that were both restrained and courteous in their interactions, and none of them report the rampant use of high-yield nuclear weapons in the course of temper tantrums.

Your agents are building up a disturbing picture, the further away from the Inner Sphere the stories originate, the more brutal and aggressive the Federated Commonwealth is portrayed. There is ample evidence building up of ships painted with that insignia and identifying themselves as such engaging in mass nuclear attacks; your agents have been able to obtain video evidence and direct witness testimony.

One theory that is being propounded is that the Federated Commonwealth is showing their true face the further away from ‘home’ they are, where there are fewer repercussions for being brutal imperialist monsters. That would certainly fit the opinion most of the Periphery has about the Great Houses in general, after all. The further away from home, the less likely they were to care about keeping up a false image of civility.

Others posit that this is a false flag operation, similar to Bakkustabu in some ways. Somebody else was trying to paint the Federated Commonwealth as unstable murderous monsters out here in the deep periphery in hopes of tainting them and, perhaps, gaining allies for their own cause. It would take a certain ruthlessness and disregard for human life, but plenty of powers have those qualities.

If it is a false flag there is no shortage of suspects. Some analysts working on the issue think it could be a Kuritan operation, others a Capellan one, and some are pointing the finger at the Free Worlds League on the grounds that the weapon used was developed by them. Some enthusiasts think it may be the Taurians, pointing out that the historical files indicate that they were rather ‘nuke happy’. The problem is that you have extremely spotty and grossly out of date data on the Inner Sphere.

Right now, you are barely brushing against the edge of the extreme outer Periphery, information about the inner Periphery, let alone the Inner Sphere, relies on peripatetic traders who follow decades long trade routes between minor statelets throughout the deep periphery. The latest data you can reliably trace to the Inner Sphere dates back to the early 3020s and makes no mention of the existence of a ‘Federated Commonwealth’. That comes from a trader who last ‘touched’ in the Magistracy of Canopus in 3021. There are indirect rumors that are more recent, but those come about via extended ‘telephone’ games of ‘I heard from X who heard from Y who heard from Z who heard from A who heard from B’.

It’s rather maddening.

The worst part was that due to the sheer distance involved finding answers would be an incredibly long and involved process. The fastest method of travel to the Inner Sphere would take upwards of a decade one way thanks to the complete lack of recharge stations on the way. Assuming that nobody disturbed the HPG satellites left behind such an expedition, you’d not get news until at least 11 to 12 years down the road assuming the answer was right up front and easy to get. Creating such an expeditionary force would materially weaken efforts against the Black Steel, drawing out that conflict and potentially leading to increased losses on that front.

This, of course, was a best case scenario. More likely somebody would mess with the HPG satellites, resulting in a minimum 22 to 24 year turn around on data returning from such an expedition, or the need for a far larger one capable of actually controlling the systems with the HPG systems in them. Which would again massively distract from dealing with the Black Steel.

There are no easy answers here.

One bright spot is that the Neuhessen system is recovering well from the catastrophe. Disaster response teams are in place, the Space Guard is working miracles, and humanitarian aid is pouring into the system from across the Empire. There have been no sightings, no additional attacks, nothing even that looks suspicious. You have a bad feeling in your gut, though, that this merely means that the people behind the attack are far more skilled at such skullduggery than any opponents you’ve faced recently.

To compound matters, a small Black Steel scouting flotilla struck at the Arvum system, although there was no significant damage to the fleet or strategic facilities, a number of civilian ships were destroyed en passant by the raiders. Home Fleet was able to chase them off with no hull losses, destroying several of the enemy corvettes in the process, but it is still a sobering reminder that the Black Steel are certainly still a threat.

To top all of that off, the cherry on top of the shit sundae, so to speak, the Bourbons are making grumbly growly noises about how you are surrounding them and ‘denying them their rightful destiny’. So far this is just among the most annoying elements of the nobility, and the Bourbon monarch has privately assured you that not only will the Bourbon state do nothing concrete about the complaints but he is personally going to do what he can to sideline and silence the worst of the agitators. Thanks to the nature of their occupation of former Rouges Noir space, the Crown has managed to fully nationalize the space fleets of the lesser nobles, and the King has absolutely no intention of giving any of them back anytime soon lest they use them to get up to mischief.

He has also come up with a plan that you privately think is so clever that you should pin a tail on it and call it a fox. Specifically, he’ll order the fleets of the worst of his nobles to undertake a ‘daring raid’ to ‘prove’ their martial prowess and manly vigor and upstage those ‘uppity commoners’, that is, you. He’s even come up with a suitable target, a system that your analysts are fairly certain contains at least a minor Black Steel base in proximity to Arvum. As far as he’s concerned, this is a win-win situation. Either the fleets in question will be annihilated, allowing him to sigh mournfully and lament the lack of martial prowess and manly vigor on the part of his loyal vassals, or will actually accomplish something, in which case the Black Steel will be weakened and he’ll get the credit for a victorious display of martial prowess and manly vigor since he, technically, is in charge of the fleets in question, and being technically correct is the best kind of correct.

Considering the slapdash nature of the Bourbon fleets, you still can’t get over how they use honest-to-God flamers on some of their designs, you are fairly confident that it will be the former case. And while the King doesn’t mention it, and you are far too tactful to bring it up, the annihilation of these squadrons would clear out a great deal of dead wood and enable the Bourbon naval construction plan to move forward with less issue.

Still, if he’s to do this he’ll need some material support from you.

[]	Action	Argument	Result
[]	Support the ‘Devils Dressed In Blue’	If our ultimate goal is to conquer the Bourbons, this will strip away a good chunk of their fleet. On the other hand, it will allow them to rebuild stronger since we have intelligence that they’ve started building proper compact-core warships. On the gripping hand, this has the potential to at least weaken the Black Steel a little, perhaps merely by them laughing themselves to death.	Improves relations with the Bourbon crown
[]	Nope, not gonna risk it	Realpolitik is one thing, deliberately sacrificing thousands of lives on a futile gambit is something else. They may not be your citizens, but they are human beings and it would be immoral to simply feed them into a meat grinder for future political advantage	Improves relations with the Bourbon nobles

LordSunhawk · Mar 18, 2023

Turn 128 - Fever

With all of the major events happening you’ve not had much of a chance to enjoy the Pan Griffon Games this year, which is completely understandable. Unfortunately this means that you missed the start of the latest tempest in a teacup which has brewed up around the Olympics in general.

As has become almost ritualistic, during the planning meeting for the next Olympics in two years the Bourbon delegation once more proposed eliminating Naked Volleyball on the basis of ‘immorality’. As usual the NRI, NRR, and your own delegation outvoted the Bourbons. However, this year there is a new representative from the NRR who choses to take offense at the tone and conduct of the Bourbon representative and decides that the appropriate way to express her displeasure at the moralizing is to advance her own proposal.

Namely that apart from needful safety gear, all competitions in the Olympics would be carried out in the nude, citing the ancient Grecian Olympic Games as the basis for this rule change. The Bourbon representative, predictably, turns purple and nearly blows a few gaskets in response to this, the NRR rep laughs and seconds the proposal, rather smugly informing everybody that they certainly have no objection to showing off.

Your daughter is standing in for you at the committee meeting and, considering her chosen sport when she did compete, promptly votes in favor of the NRI proposal without consulting you after adding an amendment to specify that the same eligibility rule codicils used in Naked Volleyball would apply, namely that all competitors must be of legal age and permitting ‘shall issue’ exemptions for individual competitors with religious or moral objections to competing in the nude.

The Bourbon ambassador is officially livid and privately laughing his backside off. You found his delivering the formal protest absolutely hilarious, as he managed to keep a perfectly straight face for the entire time while his assistant held up cue cards noting that he was ‘shouting angrily’ and ‘shaking his fist’, while in reality he was sipping a glass of wine and giving a totally deadpan delivery. How you managed not to laugh while being ‘sternly yelled at’ is a testimony to just how experienced you’d gotten at the political and diplomatic game.

You also get a private letter from the Bourbon monarch expressing his thanks for your support in his little plan, as well as apologizing for the ‘total idiot’ he’d sent for the Olympics planning in order to get the moron out of his hair doing something mostly harmless.

That all being said, the competitions are going very well indeed. You have time to watch a number of highlight reels and you are quite satisfied with the level of competition heading into the Olympic cycle. Thankfully the new rules won’t be implemented this cycle, but they will be in the next.

The new Spartoi Defense Clusters receive a bit of a baptism by fire in the Arvum system when a small Black Steel raid is handily repulsed thanks to them. Apart from a slightly higher than expected thermal load, traced to software issues rather than anything in the hardware, the small platforms perform precisely as intended. What is mildly disturbing is that the raid was obviously targeting production infrastructure in the system, a departure from usual Black Steel practice of simply targeting the planet and military assets.

Thankfully you’d always planned for that, so all this does is mean your previous planning isn't useless. Which is a positive, you guess.

General Bradley does present to you a list of proposed replacements as Army Chief of Staff.

General Majed Tarik is the current head of Army Training Command following distinguished service in combat against the Rouges Noir. General Tarik brings a broad spectrum of experience to the table. Initially a Mechwarrior, General Tarik transitioned to command of an Infantry regiment, then to the Imperial Guard. He does have a bit of a temper, however.

General Jessica Harper is the current head of Battlemech development, liaising closely with various R&D organizations. She has a reputation as a bit of a technical maverick, embracing tech based solutions to problems. Prior to being promoted to staff work, Harper was a LAM pilot, and by all accounts a quite good one, with combat experience in the Rouges Noir campaign.

General Alfonso Zara is the current Quartermaster General of the Imperial Army and a mark of just how good he is at his job is the fact that you cannot recall there ever being any serious logistics issues since he’s taken command. He’s a peppery sort of fellow, but there’s no real heat to it at all.

General Gonothi is, despite her name meaning ‘Tall, slender person’, a tiny little elfin waif of an ebon skinned woman who looks like a strong breeze would blow her away. She’s also a highly decorated infantrywoman, having served in assault battle armor units during the Rouges Noir campaign while also being a completely qualified mechwarrior. She has also served in Imperial Special Forces, and in one incident during the Rouges Noir campaign when a group of the fanatics managed to use hidden tunnels to bypass the defensive front, she managed to take down a half dozen heavily armed lunatics while initially armed with a large butcher knife and a hot frying pan.

General Miyara Ichibei, by contrast, is a massive bear of a man who looks like he routinely bench presses assault mechs and, if you asked him for directions, would likely pick up a nearby tank to show you the way. His muscles have muscles, you are fairly certain that he knows the weather at least a half hour before anybody else considering that he tops seven feet in height, and his combat record is exemplary. He’s also an exceptionally gentle man who is the current CO of the Imperial Guard and whom you’ve trusted with looking over your grandkids at times.

[]	Choice	Affect
[]	Majed Tarik	Assigns Majed Tarik as Army CoS Gives +1 to unit survival rolls following combat
[]	Jessica Harper	Assigns Jessica Harper as Army CoS One time +1 Research Event points
[]	Alfonso Zara	Assigns Alfonso Zara as Army CoS Prevents ‘Logistics Problem’ events from firing
[]	Gonothi	Assigns Gonothi as Army CoS Once per combat, +1 success to ground forces combat roll
[]	Miyara Ichibei	Assigns Miyara Ichibei Constant +1 die to ground forces combat rolls

It is now budget time, which you always look forward to.

Amaunet is up first, as always, as the giant cat lounges on the dias. “Padrone, the military is in overall good shape. Since this will be her last briefing, I’ll keep it short and sweet and not steal any of her thunder, General Bradley?”

The pugnacious fireplug of a woman takes the podium. “Your Majesty, the Army remains in solid shape. We remain confident that our current force structure is sufficient for our requirements, outside of increasing our garrison and militia forces. The ongoing Service Life Extension Programs are serving to maintain our manufacturing base so that, if needed, we’ll be able to surge production at a moment’s notice.” She actually smiles slightly, which is unusual for her. “Of course, if you want to give us more toys we won’t object, but we don’t require them and the Imperial budget can better be spent elsewhere.”

Imperial Griffon Army
- Procurement
  - Garrison
    - 25 Garrison Divisions
    - 25 Militia Divisions

General Perkins then takes over. “Your Majesty, we continue to need to expand our ASF production numbers, along with constantly rebuilding our ASF strength. The good news is that our training capacity is at a point where we can focus on our combat strength for a time.” He grimaces slightly. “The bad news is that our losses continue to outweigh our production levels, although on a marginally positive note the gap is shrinking.”

Imperial Griffon Aerospace Force
- Production
  - New ASF Factories
    - Glorreich
    - Shin Tōkyō
    - Kurortas
    - Raj
    - Pustina
    - Platzregensburg
    - Pryyemnyy
    - Awha
    - Bāṛi
    - Bellaterra
- Procurement
  - 40 CAP Wings
  - 40 Fighter Wings
  - 100 Carrier Wings

Admiral Fisher is back, looking as grumpy and feisty as ever, but he once again sends Commodore Savić up to the podium to give the presentation.

“Your Majesty, the Navy continues to grow rapidly and we are pleased to report that our losses in the latest engagements with the Black Steel are actually below our replacement rate for the first time of any major combat engagements with them. The hard work, courage, and professionalism of both our combat spacers and the shipyard workers should be highly commended. That being said, this does not mean that we can take our feet off the gas pedal, Your Majesty, if anything we need to work even harder so as to capitalize on this advantage to the greatest extent possible.”

She checks her notes. “That being said…” she brings up a series of slides, going over the exact requests as she does so.

Imperial Griffon Navy
- Production
  - Orbital Shipyards
    - Expand All Orbital Shipyards
  - Refit & Repair Yards
    - Expand All Refit & Repair Yards
  - Escort Yards
    - Construct New Escort Yards
      - Nowy Szczecin
      - Baddorando
      - Sturmland
      - Neubayern
      - Neuhessen
      - Nouvelle Bourgogne
      - Nuova Lombardia
      - Skala
      - Stahlfurt
      - Grand View
      - Griff's Leap
      - Kurortas
      - Novolar
      - Olej
      - Pinball
      - Pryyemnyy
      - Pustina
      - Steingarten
      - The Hub
      - Nuova Puglia
      - Chuma
      - Nuovo Abruzzo
      - Stenen Tuin
      - New Libertalia
      - Nyū Shikoku
      - Nuova Tripoli
      - Catachan
      - Feurstern
      - Neuthüringen
      - Nowe Mazowsze
      - Nox
      - Platzregensburg
      - Porto Milano
      - Landprettig
      - New Algiers
      - New Clew Bay
      - Nubifragio
      - Bellaterra
  - Small Warship Yards
    - Construct New Small Warship Yards
      - Raj
      - New Port Royal
      - Nowa Warszawa
      - Nowy Slask
      - Chuma
      - Awha
      - Kaiyo
      - Shin Tōkyō
      - Iskra
      - Griffon
      - Bohren
  - Medium Warship Yards
    - Construct New Medium Warship Yards
      - New Pollux
      - Calliope
      - Pieklo
      - Nya Kopenhamn
      - Edelsteine
  - Large Warship Yards
    - Construct New Large Warship Yards
      - Bari
      - Kainga
      - Okusawa
      - New Capricorn
  - Capital Warship Yards
    - Construct New Capital Warship Yards
      - None at this time
- Procurement
  - Standard Dropships
    - 400 Artemis-class Planetary Defense Boat Flotillas
    - 135 Wright-class Dockable ASF Platforms
    - 135 Colt-class Defense Blisters
  - Large Dropships
    - 30 Saipan-class Parasite Carriers
    - 280 Mikasa-class Parasite Battleships
    - 8 Omaha-class Parasite Scout Cruisers
  - Jumpships
    - 5 Windjammer-class Jumpships
  - Escorts
    - 210 Battle-class Destroyers
    - 10 Skjold-class Missile Corvettes
    - 10 Constellation-class Corvettes
    - 50 Tarantul-class Missile Raiders
    - 50 Asheville-class Raiders
  - Small Warships
    - 60 Belfast-class Light Cruisers
    - 30 De Grasse-class Light Cruisers
    - 10 Guiseppe Garibaldi-class Light Cruisers
    - 10 Hosho-class Light Carriers
    - 1 Consultant-class Fast Logistics Ship
  - Medium Warships
    - 20 Prinz Eugen Flight II-class Heavy Cruisers
    - 10 Algerie-class Heavy Cruisers
    - 5 Nevada-class Heavy Cruisers
  - Large Warships
    - 10 Kaiserin-class Battleships
    - 4 Saratoga-class Fleet Carriers
    - 10 Jean Bart-class Battlecruisers
- Fortress Command
  - Black Tower
    - Nowego Lublina
    - Nowy Szczecin
    - Salamander
    - New Portland
    - Shwartzstahlfriedhof
  - Spartoi
    - Arvum
    - Baddorando
    - Sturmland
    - Blár
    - Waypoint 3

Elizabeth is up next, and is smiling a bit. “Your Majesty, let me start with DoME, since those maniacs need things to do before they convert the Palace into a giant battlemech or something.” General laughter greets that. “More seriously, they are prepared to begin intensive cleanup and remediation on Neuhessen in order to begin undoing the effects of the nuclear strikes there, along with their more usual work.”

DoME
- Terraforming Projects
  - Neuhessen
  - Hot Mess
  - Nueva Chiapas
- Regular Projects
  - Expand Shin Tokyo Arcologies
    - Final Expansion
  - Neuhessen Cleanup

“Now, on the economic front. The recent attack is a minor setback in the grand scheme of things, as while Neuhessen was an important part of the Diamond March, the Diamond March as a whole is a fraction of our total economic activity.” She looks a bit chagrined to have to say that, but you get the point of it. “That being said, we do think it would be useful to throw some extra investment that way this year.” She brings up the chart for investments and such.

Economic Focus, Investment & Infrastructure
- Economic Focus
  - Core
    - Edelsteine
  - Periphery
    - Novalar
- Major Investment
  - Core
    - Glorreich
  - Periphery
    - Stahlfurt
- Investment
  - Neuhessen
- Infrastructure & Industrial Zones
  - Hot Mess
  - Baddorando
  - Salamander
  - Nouvelle Bourgogne
  - Nuova Puglia

Dr San Severino is up next from the Foreign Ministry. “Your Majesty, we continue our routine activities, although we have been sending out small contact teams with the local minor traders to attempt to build relations with the minor powers that we know are out there. With the Pan Griffon Games ongoing this year there really isn’t anything for our Cultural Affairs department to do, but we would like additional funding for the outreach efforts to those statelets and such if possible.”

Foreign Ministry
- Imperial Outreach Project

Tiberius is attending the meeting remotely, as he is currently on Neuhessen working with the remnants of the system government to properly reestablish governmental operations there in that system. “Your Majesty, the only thing we could go for is the continued expansion of the Civil Service.”

Grace, meanwhile, is present. “Your Majesty, originally we’d hoped to be able to begin R&D work on the next generation of warships, however we have fully analyzed the budget situation and determined that it would be fiscally irresponsible to do so this year. Simply put, the margin would be very poor and even the slightest economic downturn would result in severe deficits. As such we have several other proposed projects.”

Research & Development
- New Projects
  - Prototype Lithium-Fusion Battery
    - We are very hesitant about this project, as such the first stage involves building a dedicated test facility in an otherwise empty system.
- Project Recommendations
  - Prototype Lithium-Fusion Battery
  - Advanced Damage Control (Parasite) II
  - Advanced Damage Control (Warship) II
  - Economic Forecasting Lvl 2

Sina Day is absent, as she is working closely with analysts to attempt to bring some level of coherence to the reports concerning this ‘Federated Commonwealth’ that you have been getting. She does send an aide who reports that they do not require any additional funding this year.

Martina is present, however. “Your Majesty, I have two things for you this year. First off, we’d like to get a jump on our work streamlining the legal and regulatory systems for the next decade. If we play our cards right, we’ll be able to keep control of things for a longer period than we have in the past. Second, we would like to request increased funding for the Special Branch in light of the recent attack.”

Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)

Das BOOT (literally)

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Turn 128 - Eat The Rich

Das BOOT (literally)

Turn 128 - Get A Grip

Das BOOT (literally)

Turn 128 - Fever