Turn 99 - Where the Hell Did That One Go?
General Jenkins, General Romanov and Admiral Fisher come in for a brief conference to brief you in on recent developments.
“Your Majesty, as the overall military establishment continues to grow it has reached a point where a separate joint Fortress Command is needed to manage our fixed defenses. In the past we have primarily involved the regular Civil Service personnel within the department to coordinate the procurement, construction, and staffing of defense stations. With the changes, we will be shifting to a similar procurement model as the one used by the Navy.” General Jenkins begins.
“As such some costs will need to be adjusted. For one thing, we will no longer be using multi-year contracts for the
Oasis II stations, shifting to the more expensive but quicker single year model used successfully for
Silver Towers and
Black Towers. In addition, we will be commissioning a range of new defensive installations, taking advantage of the greater flexibility that the procurement model gives us in order to maximize efficiency.” Admiral Fisher puts in. “The Navy will be the lead service in Fortress Command, in conjunction with the Aerospace Force. We already have initial plans in the works for small fighter platforms, auxiliary weapon platforms, and other such things.”
He frowns a bit then, then plows onward. “I am forced to admit that discussions with Kilburrough have been very helpful in this regard. We’ve had an opportunity to examine their aptly named ‘Doom Stations’ and that has given us some good ideas on building our own such networks.”
General Romanov then takes over. “Your Majesty, we will be letting out solicitations for a new heavy long-range patrol fighter for Fortress Command, once we have proposals in hand we’ll be submitting them for your approval.”
General Jenkins takes back over. “We have negotiated with the contractors working on the current in-progress
Oasis II platforms and they have agreed to accelerate completion of the current tranche, in exchange for preferential consideration on future tranches so long as all requirements continue to be met or exceeded. As a consequence, the four under construction
Oasis II stations should, god willing, complete this year at no additional cost.”
QM Note - orbital defenses (including jump point defenses, black towers, silver towers, and oasis IIs), no longer consume actions, freeing up those slots in the action economy. They are now part of Procurement, and should be budgeted under that heading. The current ones will complete this turn without any need for a roll and at zero cost to this turns budget.
The establishment of the new Core Office has gone without any serious hiccups, easing the strain on the Colonial Office, although you do get a memo advising you to continue expansion in order to ensure that the current margin isn’t depleted.
The elimination of Rouges Noir operatives has been completed by the Special Branch, with refugee and intelligence records confirming the clean sweep. The various radical groups that these operatives had formed are still around, but significantly reduced in capability. They are mostly concentrated within academia at the moment, but thankfully not in any sort of position of influence. Your great-aunt is monitoring the situation.
You spend several relaxing days on the beach with your family, taking time away from the stresses of rulership. Thankfully for once it appears that the universe agrees that you need time off, with no crisis waiting for you when you return, nor any emergencies interrupting your vacation time.
Well, apart from a wave demolishing your daughters ‘masterpiece sand castle’ before it was finished, but that’s just nature being mean. You are almost certain that your daughter will find the video of her ‘sternly lecturing’ the ocean to stop being mean intensely embarrassing in her teenage years.
And then it was time for the yearly budget meetings.
General Jenkins starts things off as usual. “Your Majesty, this year we will be starting Army procurement back up, albeit at a divisional rather than regimental level. We will also be continuing our strategic material production expansion as well as building more
Black Towers to stiffen our defenses. General Bradley?”
General Bradley takes the podium, looking her usual self. “Your Majesty, strategic materials continue to be the primary constraints that we are facing for military expansion. Under the SLEPP program we were able to upgrade our mech factories and optimize the conventional factory complexes. Strategic materials, especially endo-steel and ferro-fibrous armor, continue to be the primary limiter on expansion. Our current goal is to achieve a force structure robust enough to have an infantry division backing the garrisons on every planet, with additional units available for offensive operations.” She brings up several charts which show the issues graphically.
“It should be noted that Double Heat Sinks are used by everything apart from conventional vehicles and infantry, making that a highly stressed resource to begin with. The recent advances in Ferro Fibrous armor has resulted in lighter mechs making use of the material to improve their protection, placing additional strain on that resource. Endo steel has the least stress at the moment, however it is used by our most capable ground units, making it a priority as well.”
She then brings up the chart showing production and procurement requests.
- Imperial Griffon Army
- Production
- Strategic Materials
- Expand all DHS Orbital Factories
- Expand all Ferro Fibrous Orbital Factories
- Expand all Endo Steel Orbital Factories
- Procurement
- Conventional
- 2 Infantry Divisions
- 8 Garrison Divisions
- 8 Militia Divisions
- Battlemech
General Romanov is up next. “Your Majesty, we are still awaiting industry response on the patrol fighter requirement, until that time we propose to continue to expand to fill gaps within our force structure while also beefing up our fleet support units.”
- Imperial Griffon Aerospace Force
- 30 Heavy Carrier Wing
- 30 Medium Fighter Wing
- 30 Heavy Fighter Wing
Admiral Fisher positively saunters to the podium next. “Like always, the Navy wants it all, we want it now, and as we are the ferro carbide walls of the Empire, we probably need more than we can actually build. Some of our requests are in the nature of planning for the future, others are to hopefully build up enough capacity and strength to be able to go toe to toe with the Black Steel anywhere they might decide to strike.”
“That being said, I am happy to report that we have sufficient forces that, in an emergency, we should be able to cover two simultaneous Black Steel incursions, so long as they are no stronger than previous ones. This will leave us with no strategic reserve at this time, and would require us to neglect all of our other responsibilities, but we can do it if needed. The good news is that if the rotten bastards give us just another year we will be able to handle a pair of attacks and have a reserve.”
- Imperial Griffon Navy
- Production
- Orbital Shipyards
- New Shipyards
- Stahlfurt
- Olej
- Nox
- Calliope
- New Capricorn
- Glorreich
- Pryymenyy
- Novolar
- Expand all Existing Orbital Shipyards
- Refit & Repair Yards
- New Refit & Repair Yards
- Expand all existing Refit & Repair Yards
- Escort Yards
- Bohren
- Iskra
- Stahlfurt
- Skala
- Chuma
- Bari
- Glorreich
- Pryymenyy
- Novolar
- Grand View
- Medium Warship Yard
- Nowa Warszawa
- Okusawa
- New Port Royal
- Nya Kopenhamn
- New Capricorn
- New Phoenix
- New Castor
- New Pollux
- Edelsteine
- Kainga
- Large Warship Yards
- Procurement
- Standard Dropships
- 100 Bainbridge-class Parasite Destroyers
- 70 Trenton-class Transports
- 23 Queen-class Transports
- Large Dropships
- 30 Saipan-class Parasite Carriers
- 17 Meteor-class Parasite Missile Battleships
- 34 Aetna-class Parasite Missile Battleships
- 13 Canopus-class Parasite Battleships
- Jumpships
- Escorts
- 40 Fubuki-class Destroyers
- 30 Lyr-class Corvettes
- Small Warships
- 20 Dido-class Light Cruisers
- 10 Hosho-class Light Carriers
- Medium Warships
- 20 Prinz Eugen-class Heavy Cruisers
- Fortress Command
- Black Tower
- Stahlfurt
- New Port Royal
- Kainga
- New Pollux
- Nox
- Iskra
Elizabeth Lee takes the podium after the Admiral saunters back to his seat, looking just a trifle annoyed at the arrogant ass of an admiral. You can sympathize, he’s incredibly competent, and yet still makes you want to punch the smug off of him.
“Your Majesty, I have a lot of material to go over.” She begins, smiling a bit. “The economic situation in the Empire is solid, and growing more so. My contracts division is ready to support all of the requested new production facilities from the military, and our economic focus and investment teams have recommendations as well. In addition, we have five DoME teams ready and waiting for assignments.”
“To start with, the next system that is projected to join the Core worlds is Nowy Wroclaw, as such we are proposing to focus somewhat there in order to best prepare the system for the transition. Additionally we have been analyzing economic trends elsewhere in the Empire, which is informing our further recommendations.”
- Focus & Investment
- Economic Focus
- Investment
- Massive - Core
- Massive - Periphery
- Base Investment
“We have no major infrastructure investment targets this year. The volume of production facility improvement requests from the military will, unfortunately, preclude wider directed industrial expansion this year.”
She changes to the next display. “As I said earlier, we have five DoME teams available, Your Majesty. In consultation with stakeholders we have the following recommendations. These will support future expansion, improve the responsiveness of our military, ease logistics, and have significant positive economic impacts.”
- Department of Mega Engineering
- Establish Colony - Shin Tōkyō
- Construct Major Army Base - Glorreich
- Construct Major Army Base - Novalar
- Construct Major Fleet Base - Glorreich
- Construct Major Fleet Base - Novalar
She looks over at Leila, your Foreign Minister, then back at you as the other woman joins her at the podium. “Finally, Your Majesty, we both strongly recommend initiating a fresh campaign of major cultural venues throughout the Empire, we believe that the risks are worthwhile due to the benefits that we could gain.”
Elizabeth sits back down, leaving Leila at the podium. “In addition to the cultural venues, Your Majesty, the Foreign Office would like to recommend the normalization of relations with Kilburrough, including establishing a proper embassy there. While we may never be friends, the purpose of diplomacy is not merely to work with those you like, but also those you dislike.”
You are a bit suspicious as Tiberius is wearing a rather ordinary suit. Your suspicions are affirmed when he stands up, and he is wearing the most ridiculous shoes you’d ever seen, which play trumpet fanfares as he strides to the podium. His sense of humor will be the death of you… from laughter.
“Friends! Griffons! Your Majesty!” more laughter greets the rather over the top start. Tiberius grins and settles back to a more professional tone. “Us on the Political side of life have three projects we’d really like approval for, not to mention budget for. A Public Relations campaign, starring you, yourself, and your stunt double. The expansion of the Colonial Office to keep ahead of things by the widest margin possible, and a general expansion of the civil service to allow us to efficiently spend all of this money I am assured we are making.”
He then returns to his seat, to the dolorous sound of laments chanted by his footwear.
Grace takes over at this point, to the relief of everybody involved. “Your Majesty, we have six R&D teams eager and ready to get to work.”
- R&D
- Civilian
- Improved Elder Quality of Life
- Life spans are expanding, let’s make the most of it
- Military
- Advanced Compact Core Construction VI
- Advanced Compact Core Design VI
- Advanced Compact Core Theory VI
- Advanced Double Heat Sinks
- Advanced Sensors
General Messerschmidt is grinning, but doesn’t bother with the podium. “Your Majesty, I bring to you excellent news! There has been a new statue to Your Divinity unveiled, quite literally, on the new Roman colony world of Novae Libyae. I have not, alas, been able to source imagery of the new statue, but my agents assure me that it is quite tasteful and not at all featuring a 15 meter tall nude bronze centerpiece devoted to Your Majesty as a fertility goddess. I find that statement suspiciously specific.”
Meanwhile, behind him an image shows up on the screen of a fifteen meter tall nude bronze statue that is clearly you as a fertility goddess.
Martina isn’t present, as she is currently overseeing the wrapping up of the operations against the fake refugees.