Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)

Joyousmadman · Aug 9, 2023

[X] Purchase 12 sets of Laser Turret Drone stations, 4 each for Arvum, Pryyemnyy, and Highland

I’m for spending treasure rather than blood.

Brogatar · Aug 9, 2023

[X] Purchase 12 sets of Laser Turret Drone stations, 4 each for Arvum, Pryyemnyy, and Highland

LordSunhawk · Aug 9, 2023

Scheduled vote count started by LordSunhawk on Aug 8, 2023 at 4:51 AM, finished with 10 posts and 10 votes.

10 people have voted
[X] Purchase 12 sets of Laser Turret Drone stations, 4 each for Arvum, Pryyemnyy, and Highland

LordSunhawk · Aug 10, 2023

Turn 139 - Now I Have Everything

You receive word from Admiral Fisher that production has started on an expedited basis for the first tranche of drone Laser Turrets. He also informs you that the majority of those on the project have been referring to them as Lasersats, but that isn’t an ‘official’ name due to the previous 8cm armed system that proved to be a failure. If and when these prove themselves operationally they may ‘inherit’ that name.

After all, a 55cm laser is just a little more… authoritative… when it comes to demonstrating an objection to uninvited guests crashing the party than a piddly little 8cm system.

In addition, if the Lasersat, and now that name is in your head and won’t leave, proves itself in battle Admiral Fisher has informed you that the Navy will be commissioning a variety of related systems based around different weapon systems, ranging from heavy naval particle cannons to heavy capital missiles since, as he is happy to inform you, these drones are unmanned and thus their magazines do not constitute a clear-and-present threat to the lives of their non-existent crews. He does note that for the latter he’d prefer to have drone supply dropships to service their magazines, with one proposal that he included in the write-up being a system where the entire magazine for the launcher is actually mounted in a drone dropship, when it is exhausted the dropship detaches and a filled one docks while the previous one returns to a logistics dump to resupply.

Clever.

Your anti-piracy forces have encountered a pirate slave depot. Thankfully the 1st Corps was still in theater and were able to immediately strike at the location within days, catching the pirates with their proverbial pants down and freeing tens of thousands of victims. They also discovered a very crude cloning facility in the depot, using techniques and equipment long considered not merely obsolete but actively dangerous. About a hundred ‘products’ of this facility were among those liberated and they are in very poor condition due to the grotesquely flawed cloning technology used to create them.

Upon hearing this the Kilburroughan embassy sends you a note practically begging you to allow them to send teams to provide assistance in this matter. Your own geneticists inform you that despite all of the progress you’ve made in the field Kilburrough is still the gold standard. Apparently the ‘utter hack job’ committed by ‘failed butchers and incompetent tinkerers’ has thoroughly offended every single sense of propriety of the Killburroughans, and they are practically frothing at the mouth for the opportunity to correct things.

[]	Action	Result
[]	Accept Kilburroughan Offer	Improves relations with Kilburrough Kilburrough will fully assume the cost for the treatment and rehabilitation of the victims Unlocks next level of Genetic Engineering research
[]	Reject Kilburroughan Offer	Harms relations with Kilburrough Will cost $520,000,000.00 in total expenses to assist the victims

The Pinball militia is able to deflect a number of potential asteroid strikes on the colony thanks to excellent diligence of the incredible number of such bodies in the system. One of the asteroids is somewhat intriguing to scientists, as it is completely unlike any of the others in the system in terms of its chemical composition and albedo. Their preliminary conclusion is that it originated from outside the system, based on backtracking the orbital trajectory of the object it appears to have originated to the galactic southeast, although the astronomers caution that this is highly subjective as the object had been repeated perturbed by other gravitational fields so it might have originated from just about anywhere.

There is a massive scandal in the Nox system involving the elected system government. Allegations of bribery, vote fraud, ballot-box stuffing, and general shenanigans are raging around a series of highly disputed elections. Local authorities are denying that anything illegal took place, but opposition figures are hotly disputing that characterization. Initial investigations by the Imperial Grifftiger Mounted Police and Special Branch are inconclusive, as there were irregularities and issues with the election but there is no certainty as to whether or not there was actual fraud or illegal activity.

According to the reports, the issues involve the voting registration lists and hardware issues with in-precinct check-in systems. The election systems had recently been upgraded with new hardware from a new vendor, and while that vendor’s systems had worked well in testing and in smaller scale local elections there were failures when scaled up to a system-wide plebiscite. The vendor has fully cooperated with authorities on the issue, and they appear to simply be the sort of growing pains that any software and hardware based system goes through. The IGMP reports that the vendor has been 100% transparent on all of the issues and that a full audit of the code reveals no malicious elements, however they also note that the adoption of the new system was expedited by the system government rather than adopted through the full review process.

Sector authorities are handling the issue, with assistance from the Justice Ministry. The political climate in the system is frosty to say the least. Ironically, both parties involved nominally support the throne, both have elected both Senators and Delegates who have been, in your experience, honest and competent supporters of your policies and positions even when their colleagues have gone around the bend. Their differences are purely local matters, not anything Imperial in nature.

Parliament is in session and has been hard at work, which occasionally means that you’ll need to search for the legendary Fountain of Aspirin. In this case they appear to be simply doing their jobs and not doing anything to cause you any real headaches.

The big bit of legislation this year for your consideration is the Environmental Protection Act of 3069. The Environmental Board has been doing a stellar job balancing ecological protection and economic interests, despite the inevitable conflicts that such a balancing act produces. In many ways the board operates on the basis of ‘good compromises’ where neither side is ever completely happy, but both are able to live with the results. The legislation in question is the result of the desire of the Environmental Board to expand their remit to include operating public-access nature reserves in appropriate areas. These reserves would be acquired through donations and purchase agreements rather than through governmental designation and the revenues derived from these reserves would be reserved for the economic development of the systems which host said reserves.

While there is some opposition to this, mostly from academics, it is still a broadly popular proposal amongst actual stakeholders.

[]	Action	Argument	Result
[]	Sign the Environmental Protection Act of 3069	Balancing environmental protection and economic growth has long been a delicate situation, especially considering the critical need for economic growth in order to finance the ongoing war with the Black Steel. The current Environmental Board has been doing a sterling job of maintaining this balance ever since its inception. Unfortunately, as currently constituted the only ‘tool’ in the Board’s arsenal when it comes to protecting ecological sites is government fiat, declaring areas off-limits to development by the power of the state. This is a very useful tool, and has been wielded with great effectiveness and discretion by the Board, avoiding both insufficient set-asides to protect delicate ecosystems as well as heavy-handed designations which cripple economic growth. This proposal would add a new tool to their arsenal, the ability, and budget, to purchase additional public lands for the purpose of both environmental protection and public enjoyment. This proposal would allow for greater protection of ecosystems and public lands, while also satisfying private landowners and businesses that they are fairly compensated for the lands in question. One of the weaknesses of the current setup is the discovery of emergent ecosystems in need of protection, as currently all such set-asides occur during the initial colonization survey of the system. If there are unexpected discoveries after colonization within areas designated for private development, the Board generally finds itself in a difficult position of either having to seize the lands by legal fiat, or seeing ecosystems vanish underneath the demands of economic progress. This gives a third option, one that satisfies the needs of all stakeholders.	Increase Environmental Board level to 2 Doubles current maintenance cost, which stands at $8,800,000,000.00 Increase economic growth of systems by approximately .01% per year. +1 Approval +1 Politics +1 Imperial Economy Unlocks certain event chains
[]	Veto the Environmental Protection Act of 3069	Argument One We already spend a great deal on environmental protection to begin with, all this is a giveaway to those interests who endlessly desire ‘moar’. Our current system is fully sufficient, it handles the actual cases where it is important well enough, and otherwise leaves both industry and the environment alone. Not one cent more for this, and no expansion of authority! Argument Two This is utterly insufficient. All lands are, by definition, public lands and at no time should any private individual or corporation have any ‘ownership’ of them, all are part of the common patrimony of the people and the greedy plutocrats and grasping capitalists need to come to terms with this. This ridiculous proposal fails to enforce this truth by allowing private interests to persist in sucking the lifeblood out of the land for filthy lucre, instead we should use Imperial authority to seize all ‘private’ lands and manage them all solely for the public good.	+1 Economic Event -1 Politics Locks certain event chains

Rukatin · Aug 10, 2023