I look up at the artificial sky.
I was back here, in the realm of the System.
And, once again, I was getting fucked with.
God-dammit.
Updates to Economic Treaties
Economic treaties at the ISW scale are even simpler. These arrangements of financial or other non-military material support open the borders for trade between the allied realms, enabling both to improve their resource pools.
Due to this update, intra-realm Economic Treaties will be reduced by a factor of 10.
Which meant that my 4.4 bonus was now a .44 bonus.
Update, ERROR ERROR ERROR Indytech 3 provides 1.0 Multiplier instead of 0.8. Next turn User will receive one time 300 RP bonus.
Eeeeh... you win some you lose some.
At least I managed to keep the 1008 RP from before the update. At least the System didn't retroactively fuck me over. Still, I would need to wait until the next turn to get my bonus.
Total RP Turn 11 2991 + 1 Year 3 Months
36 RP 12×3 Ute Factory - 3x1.5 Regiments per Factory per Turn (108 vehicles)
24 RP 12×2 20 Ton Utility Truck Factory - 2x1.5 Regiments per Factory per Turn (108 vehicles)
24 RP 12×2 Commando 1B Factory - 2x7.5 Battlemechs per turn
24 RP 12×2 Griffin 1S Factory - 2×5 Battlemechs per turn
12 RP 12×1 Eagle R6 Factory - 1x1.6 Aerospace per turn
12 RP 12×1 Irrawaddy Factory - 14.5 Month Build Time
12 RP 12×1 Margaret Factory - 12.41 Month Build Time
12 RP 12×1 Una Factory - 16 Month Build Time
24 RP 12×2 DC3 Factory - 5.5 Month Build Time
RP Bonus Calculation = 0.8 (Indytech 3) + 0.3 (Lyran Bonus) + 4.4 (Economic Treaty) = 5.6
Turn 11 = 180x5.6 = 1008 RP
I had a lot of RP to spend.
I did promise to spend RP building the Revival Jumpship. Designed that for civilian duties I think. Not right now, but soon.
A discussion with people who understood logistics to a far deeper level than I ever would had convinced me that an even cheaper design was needed for the interior lines of logistics in the Commonwealth.
The DC3 was cheaper, true, but it also wasn't exactly the best of the designs available for civilian work.
The cost of a single machine was, quite high.
Actually, the Revival was more expensive.
The costs laid out were as followed from what I remembered:
Revival = 7,495,007,000 / 2 × 1.25 = 4,684,379,375 C-Bills = 4,262,757,231.25 Kroner
DC3 = 3,991,869,700 Kroner
Margaret = 2,238,718,300 Kroner
Una = 2,246,762,131 Kroner
Dakota = 2,238,154,669 Kroner
In other words, the costs weren't that bad overall.
Only half and a bit of the original!
Haha…ha… those numbers are actually pretty huge. Seriously, who was affording all of these?
Right, time to ignore that and time to actually focus on the 1008 RP that I needed to spend.
First, identify the priorities, second, identify the solution to them.
Priorities:
1: Safety. There is the threat of different factions that will want to destroy my infrastructure and ensure that nothing can be built there going forward.
1a: WMD weapons. The chances are high that weapons of mass destruction will be used to achieve the war aims of the different factions due to the number and dispersion of the factories in space compared to on the ground. It was also the easiest to deliver since they just needed 1 craft to deliver a payload.
1b: Overwhelming assaults by Aerospace/Dropship forces to overwhelm the forces and then to defeat all the facilities and defences in detail. Much less likely given just how much firepower and forces would need to be dedicated to the mission.
1c: Infiltration of special operations units to sabotage infrastructure.
1d: Spies to retard the development and deployment of factory production.
2: Production to support Alexander Slim's war aims.
2a: The increased production of ASF to meet the demand from the dropships.
2b: Increased production of dropships to fit onto the Jumpships.
2c: Starting production of infantry support equipment to assist soldiers in the fight, medical technology being of vital importance.
2d: A modification to the Jumpship design to allow it to carry more dropships on the exterior as that is the superior method according to a few members of staff.
3: The upgrade to Minor World to begin recruitment of personal (Graf) defence forces
All of that was a lot of, well, stuff that needed to be done.
The solutions should be simpler.
1: A Capital Grade Fortification would cost 250 RP. However, since I don't have the capability to recruit my own forces, I have to rely on the Randolph family, the Lyran forces, and so on to handle it. Like, I seriously didn't have anyone on my own, needed to get to Minor World first. The Capital Grade Fortification meant that the only way to breach it was to use a nuclear warhead or espionage. Which narrowed the vectors that could be used to attack.
2: I need to produce the Dropshuttle and Dropships to match the needs of the front. I think that there is going to need to be an adjustment in the production to account for the new model. Ah. Annoying. Though, that was more on me, I fucked up with the design.
3: Minor World upgrade. Needed. Urgently.
In total, my costs were going to be:
Minor World Upgrade: 576 RP. I needed to do that now while I still had the RP from that one time economic treaties bonus.
Capital Fortress on Consortium Slipway City: 250 RP
Yeah, I needed to protect that, if we wanted to bring the fight to the Combine, we needed the Jumpship capacity. Mount Utility could hold out right? It was inside a mountain?
Ding, Mount Utility counts as a Fortification. Can be upgraded to Capital.
Right, then do that.
Production RP: 96
That left me with… 88 RP of my starting 1008 RP to build.
The DC3s would be undergoing an adjustment in production model to have Dropships instead of Dropshuttles.
So 2 DC3 Slipways to refit then.
I should build the Dropships to fit onto the Jumpships then huh.
Hmmmm.
2 Kohima Dropship production lines for 24 RP.
3 Eagle R6 Production lines then for 36 RP.
I had 4 RP left…
The hell can I do with 4 RP?
I could resupply an army… if I had one!
Eh, I suppose the only thing to do here was to bank the RP.
I still needed to get the Revival Jumpships produced, but, well, I needed the Dropships to attach to the DC3s first. Otherwise what was the point of the things right? Producing an unfinished product just sat with me wrong, especially if it was a ship.
Like building a carrier and then not having the aircraft to sit on it.
Which is basically the problem with the jumpships as they were. I didn't have the aerospace to fill their hangers.
I needed a lot more of the things, more than that, I needed to have a solution to the problem of not enough production.
Ah, I was running into a production bottleneck.
Well, more like an RP bottleneck.
Fuck me, was this a first world problem huh.
Eh, I guess I could ask around.
I pressed the mental advance turn button.
Time to wake up.
+Break+
Ursula von Richards looked up from her office chair.
Graf Vu walked in looking exhausted.
"Ursula, I need to look at that revision for the DC3. We need to change its configuration to better suit the capacity of the LCAF." He said without preamble, staring at her in the eyes.
Ursula's hands moved as if by their own volition.
"Sir?" She asked, pausing to think it over. Was he actually saying that there was going to be modifications to the DC3 literally the day after they had commissioned the factory? Seriously?
"After the discussion with the the men and women of the LCAF who know a lot more about ships than I do, I have come to the conclusion that my idea is wrong. No more of the Dropshuttle since that means only my DC3 can use them. Better to have Dropships with dropcollars, free up the 7000 tons there for extra supply. So yes, I will be needing to modify the DC3. Ah, I fucked up." He muttered, at the end after his explanation.
Ursula couldn't help but think that when he fucked up, he fucked up majorly… but also minorly? If someone had designed a slipway for a wrong ship then the would likely be charged with treason. If Huu did it, that was a month of time wasted. Actually, she looked at the design.
"Do you need to retool the design? It's a slipway that can produce the docking collars anyway since the DC3 design has one. If you have a new ship design, it should fit in there unless there's major changes?" She asked, looking at the Graf with a raised eyebrow.
He paused, looked up seemingly at the sky before shouting "this dyslexic motherfucker!"
Ursula reared back slightly nonplussed.
"Sorry Ursula, turns out I can't read and just pushed forward the production of 2 more DC3 Slipways instead of a refit of the two we have. Aaaaargh, fucking brain." He complained as he turned to walk out.
"Right, before I forget, I need those plans to be sent to the Consortium partners, we're going to be going with the DC3 Block 2 design." He said as he walked right back in.
"Why don't you call it a DC3? It's not like the first one went into production anyway?" She asked, wondering why he wanted the first of the ships to be a Block .
"It's because I fucked up Ursula. I'm not ashamed to let others know that. After all, if all the people working for me see that I'm taking ownership of my fuck-ups (he was certainly swearing a lot today, the misreading clearly shook him), they'll take ownership of their own screw-ups. I don't want yes men, I want good men." He said resolutely before nodding at her and walking out the door again.
Ursula nodded to the empty doorway before turning and moving to the blueprints rack behind her head, the one that so many others in the Commonwealth would kill for. Yet Graf Vu just gave out the designs like candy to small children.
Others would have kept the Block 2 design in-house and let the Consortium members build the outmoded DC3, forcing them to rely on him for the Dropshuttles.
Instead he shared it all freely.
She sighed, he really did think differently from others.
"Right, forgot. Need to talk to you and the others about fortifications. We're going to be throwing some up soonish. Let you know soon." His voice caused her to jump as he walked back into the room. "Right, leaving now, probably, hopefully I haven't forgotten something again." He said as he walked right back out again.
She sighed.
Sometimes… sometimes she wondered if he was playing it up, or if he really did have short term memory issues.
+Break+
Christine felt her temples throbbing.
"Are you an idiot!?" She asked calmly.
Alexander next to her nodded.
Hauptmann-General Aurelius who had been pulled into this also nodded.
Ursula nodded.
The Clan members and LCAF officers who had been pulled into this as well nodded.
The LCAF soldiers guarding the room due to the number of important personages inside nodded.
The Consortium members nodded.
Huu, her fiance, the moron, just looked confused.
"What's the problem?" He asked, as if he hadn't just made the most boneheaded decision possible.
"You… you decided to place the strongest possible fortifications on the Slipways producing Jumpships right?" She asked him.
He looked worried but nodded anyway, "right? They're the most valuable thing for the Commonwealth right now. If we don't have lift, we can't fight a proper war right? So Hauptmann-General von Randt here and Slim need the slipways more than the-" He didn't get to finish before Christine was in front of him with a finger waving in front of his face.
"No you idiot! You're the most important 'thing' here!" She shouted, her fingers air-quoting the word thing.
"We can replace the Slipways, it takes you a month! A month! But where are we going to get another Huu Vu who can make a slipway in a month?" She demanded, glaring.
"Well, it's not that hard right? I mean if I can do it, why can't anyone else? Just get the people together in one place and they'll do the work. It's not that hard you know?" He said with a shrug, looking confused.
Christine knew why of course, he had made a decision he thought would be for the greater good, and instead they were getting angry at him over it.
"I know you had good intentions Huu, but you're literally the most important part of all of this right now. The entire reason everyone in this room is even here is because of you. If you die, what would happen?" She asked, glaring at him.
"Not much? I just put down the planning ideas? Like, anyone that had half a brain could do it."
She felt the urge to put him in a headlock.
He was being obstinate, hyperfixated on this idea that anyone could do what he did. That he wasn't that special.
She was going to need to break him from that foolishness.
It was a good thing then that there were so many people in the room with her. He responded better when everyone came to the same consensus and could be worked around to the same viewpoint.
Even if it was a pain in the ass that she had to get it into the head of the youngest and most prolific industrialist of the Commonwealth that no, he was, in fact, special.
Unique even.
Save her from oblivious good men, Christine thought to herself. They always think of others and make things worse when they do so.
"No Huu, don't say that again if you don't want to insult everyone in this room. Only you can do what you've been doing, do you think it was just a matter of intelligence that stopped everyone in this room doing the same?"
+Break+
So, it was a little hurtful when they decided to yell at me for putting the capital fortifications on the slipways in space.
I mean, like, I get it. A little.
Like, the System did things, but, really, it wasn't like anything here was reality breaking. Anyone who put in the effort could do what I do. Like, anyone who could talk to other people.
It's not like I'm special, I just have the System to compensate for what normal people can do anyway, call anyone up, talk to them, understand their emotions and feelings and facial expressions…
The System just puts me on the same level as the everyone else. Well, 75% of everyone else, 25% have some kind of mental divergence from the norm.
I'm just aware enough of the difference to feel incredibly irritated by it. Like a fish in a tank that knows it is in the tank but can't do anything to the giant glass walls that keep it locked in.
I sigh.
Yeah.
I guess the System does mean that I don't have to do the research about who to call, but some of these corporations are billionaires (I think). They can employ teams of people to do what I do. Surely it's not that difficult.
But.
Well.
Christine cared enough to tell me that I was being dumb.
And so did Alexander and even Hauptmann-General Aurelius! Can't believe he actually showed up and said I needed to take better care of myself!
Seriously.
And everyone else.
Which.
Yeah.
That many intelligent people together couldn't be wrong right?
I was the important one that needed to be kept safe here… I suppose.
I didn't feel like it, but I suppose that was how they saw me.
Which was a little nice.
Fuzzy and warm inside.
I actually felt lighter, like I could float even.
Haha, that's a great feeling.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I could upgrade the mountain's fortification to a Capital Fortification.
Right, maybe I should have done that.
+Break+
The Archon, Alessandro Steiner looked at the data that was coming into his office.
"How many jumpships is this man producing? When? Where? What do you mean I need to ennoble him? I haven't even met the man!"
FORTIFICATIONS
Some worlds have permanent fortifications. Fortifications will protect a defender from attack during a fight for the control of a world. The full effects are detailed in the Abstract Combat System rules (see p. 234). Due to the abstract nature of these rules, a single Standard Fortification in game terms may in fact represent dozens of improved positions or a single massive walled base.
Constructing Fortifications
There are two classes of fortifications, Standard Fortifications and Capital Fortifications. A Standard Fortification costs 50 RP to build and costs 2 RP per turn to maintain. A Capital Fortification costs 250 RP to build and costs 8 RP per turn to maintain. No world may have more than 5 fortifications total. Any turn that fortification's upkeep is not paid, roll 1D6 and apply +1 for each turn that maintenance has not been paid. On a result of 6, a Standard Fortification is destroyed and a Capital Fortification is mothballed. It costs one-half the total Capital Fortification RP (base RP plus RP for the level of the Fortification) to return a Capital Fortification to use.
Fortifications may be upgraded to improve their defensive ability. The higher the fortification value, the greater the defense offered, but the damage dealt by the defender within is similarly reduced. Upgrading a fortification costs 5 RP for a Standard Fortification and 25 RP for a Capital Fortification, to a maximum of four levels for Standard and five levels for Capital (Noted as
Fortifications in Combat Fortifications are limited as to the size of the Combat Command that may benefit from its defense. Standard Fortifications may hold one regiment (108 combat units) per level to a maximum of 4 regiments. A Capital Fortification can hold two regiments per level to a maximum of 10 regiments.
Fortifications can be reduced by the use of specifically-targeted attacks. Standard Fortifications can be reduced by concentrated artillery barrages. Capital Fortifications can only be reduced using Nuclear WMDs or concentrated Orbital Bombardments; Capital–5 Fortifications are immune to even these attacks. The rules for reducing a fortification are detailed in the Abstract Combat System (p. 234). Capital–5 Fortifications are exceptional in that they are immune to any attack. Capital–5 Fortifications may only be defeated through the use of espionage.
+Break+
Total RP Turn 12 2991 + 1 Year 4 Months
36 RP 12×3 Ute Factory - 3x1.5 Regiments per Factory per Turn (108 vehicles) - 18 RP in Use
24 RP 12×2 20 Ton Utility Truck Factory - 2x1.5 Regiments per Factory per Turn (108 vehicles) - 12 RP in Use
24 RP 12×2 Commando 1B Factory - 2x7.5 Battlemechs per turn - 2 RP in Use
24 RP 12×2 Griffin 1S Factory - 2×5 Battlemechs per turn - 2 RP in Use
12 RP 12×1 Eagle R6 Factory - 1x1.6 Aerospace per turn - 2 RP in Use
12 RP 12×1 Irrawaddy Factory - 14.5 Month Build Time - 12 RP in Use - Newly Built
12 RP 12×1 Margaret Factory - 12.41 Month Build Time - 12 RP in Use - Newly Built
12 RP 12×1 Una Factory - 16 Month Build Time - 12 RP in Use - Newly Built
24 RP 12×2 DC3 Block 2 Factory - 4.5 Month Build Time - 24 RP in Use (adjusting Production model) - Newly Built
Building
24 RP 12×2 DC3 Block 2 Factory
24 RP 12×2 Kohima Ersatz Factory
36 RP 12×3 Eagle R6 Factory
RP Bonus Calculation = 1.0 (Indytech 3) + 0.3 (Lyran Bonus) + 0.44 (Economic Treaty) = 1.74
RP One Time Bonus 300 RP Turn 12
Turn 13 = 300 + 264×1.74 = 300+ 459.36RP = 759.36RP