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On the nature and formation of the United Australasian Worker's Republics, Part 3. The Australian government had no fallback protocols, no designated survivor programs. In an instant, the federal government was gone in nuclear fire. This had an immediate effect on the nation, broadcasts going out almost instantly, spreading news of the detonation over the nation's capital. Many thought it to be the first strike of a strategic nuclear war, others thought it the prelude to outright invasion by SEA comintern forces. Their reactions were swift and chaotic: thousands fled the cities into the countryside, Darwin broadcast a message of surrender to soviet-chinese forces that were nowhere nearby, the Australian army garrison seized Sydney. With civil unrest already at it's height, the incident caused the entire nation to descend into hysteria. Already-weak state governments collapsed when half the bureaucratic and elected apparatus disappeared overnight for various reasons. Governments in cities changed every week, provincial towns became refugee camps. However, this unstable situation did not last long. Out of the chaos five reasonably stable city-states formed: the Meanjin Commune, formed by an alliance between indigenous elders and socialist unions in Brisbane, the Liberal Coalition in Sydney, formed between conservatives and the Army Garrison, The sovereign State of Western Australia, which consisted mostly of Perth and a vast swathe of empty territory, The People's Republic of Adelade, which was an attempt to be the state government, but more "socialist," and finally, the Melbourne Labour Union, which was a syndicalist council formed from the victorious unions. Everywhere else, things collapsed back to the town level, except for Tasmania, which remained a coherent state due to it's small size and centralized nature, although civil war there did not end for another eight months. Despite common claims otherwise, their ability to project power outside of the cities was limited. Army units deserted, police did too. Even the short-lived attempts by the Sydney government to create a "mobile patrol force" (as seen in the acclaimed documentary, Mad Max), were completely unsuccessful in maintaining order. After the first year, the road wars began in earnest: lines of communication and transport were dependant on gasoline and whoever controlled that was in charge. Town councils fell to bandit kings, stations, farms and outposts were raided for food and gas by anyone who wanted them. People fled back to the cities in greater number than had left them. Within two years, the collapse was complete. Of the five governments, only the Meanjin Commune and the Melbourne Labour Union survived. Sydney fell apart due to the power struggles between the army and the civilian government, Adelaide collapsed into dictatorship, which was then overthrown by a new, democratic council, which then collapsed into dictatorship to be overthrown in turn, no less than three times. Finally, Perth attempted to place the blame for the Canberra detonation on the KGB and after attempting to crack down on socialists, was overthrown by them. This was the nadir: At the end of these two years, while world war three raged around them, the surviving governments would slowly begin to reunite the nation.
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Feb 22, 2021 10:58
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It's been a while, so Im not sure what's up with the political and social situation on the moon atm. But someone needed the roads free from patrols for a few hours, which implies they had to transport something that was not only in some way illegal, but also too big to be hidden on a person - or an irregular number of people. This might get ugly a few weeks or months down the road...
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Feb 22, 2021 11:06
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This whole Moon business seems spooky, perhaps the Moon is haunted. I suggest we send some Comintern troops, supported by a special squad of combat exorcists, to help our lunar comrades exorcist the ghost... of capitalism.
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Feb 22, 2021 11:16
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PurpleXVI posted:This whole Moon business seems spooky, perhaps the Moon is haunted. I suggest we send some Comintern troops, supported by a special squad of combat exorcists, to help our lunar comrades exorcist the ghost... of capitalism. Maybe offer the Papacy a TNE, combat capable, Popemobile if they're willing to send one of their more experienced of Battle clerics to carry out the exorcisms?
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Feb 22, 2021 13:04
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BwenGun posted:Maybe offer the Papacy a TNE, combat capable, Popemobile if they're willing to send one of their more experienced of Battle clerics to carry out the exorcisms? BATTLE BROTHERS
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Feb 22, 2021 13:05
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Moon's haunted, comrade.
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Feb 22, 2021 18:10
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Telsa Cola posted:Moon's haunted, comrade. By CAPITALISM!
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Feb 22, 2021 18:16
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A spectre is haunting the moon, the spectre of capitalism.
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Feb 22, 2021 18:21
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Okay, lot of stuff happening hereMister Bates posted:
Neat, we're well on our way to having effective TNE point-defense tech that will render conventional nuclear ballistic missiles near obsolete! Eat it, other nuclear powers of the world! quote:May 22, 1982 Hmm, do you think we can convince Japan to hand over the UK's GiE as well as America's? Frankly they seem to have more ties to these Gladio NATO remnants than The Joint Chiefs do. quote:June 13, 1982 This sounds really really bad, as comrade SavageGentleman asserts. This sounds like transporting something large and conspicuous and hideously illegal. I'm thinking smuggled warhead. HOW they got a nuke on the moon, I have no idea, we really gotta start checking shipping more thoroughly. Plus it's gonna be a pain finding the thing from orbit, it would be detectably radioactive but every habitable structure up there is rad-shielded. We may have to do a ground search. quote:June 21, 1982 This is at least some good news, we can finally evaluate some new colony prospects. Depending on what we find in the Gas Giants in particular may influence whether we go ahead with the joint Venus colonization project with the UN. It's been made abundantly clear to me that multiple states sharing a planet is a huge strategic handicap, but Venus stops being so strategically important if there are other richer sources of, say, Sorium. Asterite34 fucked around with this message at 18:52 on Feb 22, 2021 |
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Feb 22, 2021 18:29
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can we task a ship to do some scans of Luna?
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Feb 22, 2021 19:53
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Excerpts from LSDF Research Committee paper “Logistics and Methods of Hypothetical Lunar Warfare":quote:The first instinct in pacifying a planet-bound colony would be orbital bombardment, under the logic of ”taking the high ground.” This allows for a mobile assault that can easily select its targets from above. Being at the top of a gravity well also allows easily imparting kinetic energy into any ordinance (nuclear or otherwise) fired down at orbital velocities. Also on Luna, as well as any other airless body, lasers and similar energy weapons shouldn’t suffer from atmospheric attenuation. Asterite34 fucked around with this message at 20:58 on Feb 22, 2021 |
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Feb 22, 2021 20:53
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CURRENT STATUS OF THE LUNAR SOCIALIST REPUBLIC The Republic follows the governance of a single legislative body: the Lunar Assembly. It is composed of representatives from every collective on the Lunar surface, which have the right to send representatives contingent on their recognition of the jurisdiction of the various Committees of the Assembly, which serve as the executive and judicial wings of government. Their jurisdiction does not typically reach to the level of each collective's internal affairs, but this has exceptions: for instance, the Committee for Infrastructure, for example, has unlimited scope for the preservation of life support, and the Committee for Human Rights may hear cases regarding abuse, neglect, or inhumane treatment of citizens by their collective. One major committee, as mandated by the Lunar Recognition Act of 1979, is the Lunar Planning Committee, or LunPlan, which has the remit of preparing Luna for full-scale independence. This body is composed of 51 Lunar representatives, appointed by the Assembly, and 49 Comintern-appointed representatives. The range of political thought is varied and boisterous, to say the least, but falls into two major wings: the Autonomists, who see their role as the restraint of the Lunar Assembly and the concentration of power in the collectives; and the Cooperatives, who push for further integration and standardisation of the Lunar economy. These wings are broadly interpreted by extralunar commentators as anarchist vs communist, and while this is not exactly wrong, the truth is as always more complicated. Autonomist propaganda tends to focus on fostering the individual specialties of each collective and advancing diverse cultures in the greatest social experiment in human history, while Cooperative rhetoric uses phrases like "greater than the sum of our parts" and, increasingly, the word "synergising". The wings are mostly civil with one another, with no major deadlock. The terrorist threat known as "GLADIO" has been a subject of concern for Lunar authorities since even before the recognition of the Republic - the Station Six Incident was an early psychological scar for Lunar society, and the spread of GLADIO activity has only further exacerbated worries among the Security Committee (which liaises with the Lunar Self-Defence Force). Even terrestrial GLADIO incidents will set off weeks of uneasy buzz among the populace, and paranoia is growing - not to the level of witch-hunts, or the McCarthyist purges of the late American republic, but enough to make the political atmosphere uncomfortable. All of this is to say that the Lunar Socialist Republic hears your call for enhanced surveillance. The Cooperative wing is, fittingly, cooperative - GLADIO activity needs to be thwarted not just for the security of Comintern, but for the sanity of the Lunar people as a whole. The Autonomists are less convinced; they believe that surveillance is easy to begin and hard to stop, and worry that this sanction of state power will come back to haunt them. They point out that the Republic is not even fully independent yet, and already Comintern is seeking to expand its powers. As such, the Lunar Assembly wants guarantees that any surveillance measures will be used only for the monitoring and destruction of GLADIO, and that if future international security threats arise, Comintern will seek consent separately to employ such measures against them. We have no wish to obstruct, merely to safeguard our liberties.
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Feb 22, 2021 21:05
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The Lower Georgia United Workers' Front apologizes for our absence from Comintern proceedings. Inclement weather and continuing battles with reactionary forces have disrupted our lines of communication, but we are now in a stable enough position to resume something close to normal operations. We received briefings on the situations with Japan and India, and while the former provoked heated arguments around our campfires and in our aid tents, we have approached the latter with a nearly unanimous consensus. Presented here is a selection of minutes for the meeting of May 16th, 1982 of the Lower Georgia United Workers' Front Committee on International Relations. Objective: Provide a recommendation for our representatives to the Comintern on the Japanese deal Time: 9:37 AM Called by: Delegates Jackson, Rawls and Espinoza Facilitator: Delegate Ames (Ben Hill County) Location: Amphitheater of the former Georgia Southern College, now Statesboro People's School Attendees: Delegate Jackson (Irwin County), Delegate Rawls (Glynn County), Delegate Espinoza (Tattnall County), Delegate Rose (Decatur County), Delegate Torres (Dooly County), and Delegate Mungwena (Bulloch County) Note Taker: Angela Martens [Note: All meetings of the Lower Georgia United Workers' Front take place in public locations, and are open to all. In addition to the listed delegates, 219 observers were gathered in the upper levels of the amphitheater and the area around it] Delegate Ames: There is only one action item on today's agenda, and that is to determine the Workers' Front's response to the deal offered by Japan to engage in limited cooperation and the handover of several nuclear weapons in exchange for spacecraft and access to the stars. Let us begin, Delegate Espinoza, you have been randomly selected to speak first. Delegate Espinoza: Thank you, Ames. Our first and foremost concern in this matter is the nukes. Any deal that is reached must include them being handed over for disposal. The capitalists have enough weapons of mass destruction, any that they are willing to turn over to us without bloodshed is a victory in itself. [Note: Delegate Espinoza is a member of the Technical Union, a syndicate that specializes in electronics and especially on setting up and maintaining the Internetwork within the borders of the Front.] Delegate Rawls: The fact that they're willing to turn over the nukes is disturbing. No one is just going to hand over a loaded gun to their enemy without having some kind of backup plan. [Note: Delegate Rawls represents the Barrier Island Battalion, a group of socialist irregulars who have been engaged in protracted war with scattered reactionary militias. During the Great Revolutionary War they defected from the Coast Guard and suffered heavy losses at the hands of a National Guard unit sent to pacify their area.] [Note: Interrupted by shouts of agreement from the observers. Delegate Ames issues a call to order.] Delegate Rose: I'm not sure why we're even talking about this. The Japanese are capitalist pigs who are throwing up a smokescreen of reform to placate their people and are now extending an open hand to us while their other holds a knife behind their back. Why are we even considering taking this deal? No compromise with the oppressors! [Note: While technically unaligned, Delegate Rose is known to associate with several Maoist militias and worked alongside anarchist freedom fighters during the Great Revolutionary War, sometimes against leftist groups that are now part of the Workers' Front.] [Note: Further interruptions, a mixture of boos and cheers from the crowd.] Delegate Espinoza: Do we really want to risk another nuclear exchange just to spite the Japanese? What they want is short-term gain, like all capitalists. A few spaceships in exchange for continuing peace is a small price to pay. Delegate Torres: Sorry, are you seriously proposing that the Japanese would use nuclear weapons? I knew the former empire's education system was bad, but not this bad. [Note: The oldest person among the delegates, Torres fought in both World Wars and the Great Revolutionary War. He represents the more conservative Altamaha Farming Cooperative and People's Will, the largest militia group in the Front.] Delegate Rose: I'm aware of the history involved, and I'm sure Espinoza is too. But you'd be a fool to put anything past the capitalists. We all know what they're capable of, we shouldn't be cooperating with them. Delegate Mungwena: We already cooperate with the Hawaiians. And that's just the Comintern. How many member nations like ourselves have formal and informal agreements with capitalist powers? On more than one occasion the Front has made trades, for goods and hostages, with our capitalist neighbors. Let's not act like this is some Rubicon we'd be crossing. This would be business as usual, the dirty work of surviving. [Note: The youngest delegate by far at 21 years old, Mungwena was studying abroad in the United States when the Great Revolutionary War occurred, and now represents the Student League, a loose conglomeration of pre-war leftist student groups who now largely control campuses and educational facilities across Georgia, including the People's School.] Delegate Torres: Our young friend here makes a good point. This is nothing new. The Comintern has its ideals, but for people on the ground the reality involves compromise. And let's be honest, the Japanese are hardly a superpower. They themselves realize that the Comintern controls over half the planet and that they would lose a war against us. But I reckon they could hurt us greatly, and even if they would not deploy nukes... I'm less confident that they wouldn't just look the other way while others did. They have ideals that can be compromised too, just like us. Delegate Rose: I'm not proposing that we attack Japan and kick off a fourth world war. I just think we should reject their deal and let them claw their way into space with the Hawaiians. By the time they catch up to us, we will have an insurmountable lead and can dictate terms. Nukes will not reign supreme forever. Delegate Rawls: Try witnessing a mushroom cloud yourself and say that, Rose. I watched Fort Stewart go up, and I drat near didn't survive radiation sickness. A lot of my friends weren't so lucky. I say we take their deal and pack any spaceships we give them as full of surveillance equipment as we can get away with. Its clear they've riddled the Comintern with spies, we should do the same to them. Delegate Jackson: Yeah, that's a great idea. So when they discover our bugs we can look forward to no one ever trusting us again. Can you imagine the propaganda they could spin with that? I'm also in favor of taking the deal, but with a different angle. I have heard from friends of mine that there is a possibility of stipulating our cooperation with involving the Japanese in the Venusian colonization plan. If we could tie them up with that work, we could turn their attention away from Luna and Mars and also benefit from their contribution. Venusian colonization is expensive, but if they shouldered half the burden... it would be a win for us regardless of the outcome. [Note: A trained medical doctor, Delegate Jackson works out of the Satilla River Medical Center, and rose to prominence leading a traveling clinic convoy that saved thousands in the wake of the war.] Delegate Espinoza: I'm uncomfortable with going into any deal acting in bad faith, but if it gets the nukes out of the hands of the American government... Delegate Mungwena: It wouldn't entirely be in bad faith, though right? Colonizing Venus is a worthy goal. You want to talk about propaganda, I think helping the Japanese people into space would be a victory for us on that front. Show them that we are benevolent. Delegate Torres: We have to be careful that our benevolence isn't taken advantage of, though. I've lived through the worst of capitalism, I know how insidious it can be. They will do anything they can to tear us apart, no matter how many smiles they put on, so we should surveil them and infiltrate them. Turnabout is fair play. Delegate Rose: Maybe with proper collaboration we can mend the divide in the Japanese left and turn them into a real revolutionary force. And when they make their move, the Comintern will be waiting... [Note: Interrupted by shouts and jeers from the crowd, aimed at Delegate Rose. An empty glass bottle is thrown from above and shatters on Rose's desk. The delegate sustains mild cuts to the face and hands but declines to pause the proceedings. The attacker is taken away by other observers and then detained by public safety.] The meeting proceeded for another nine hours and sixteen minutes. By the time it was adjourned, the crowd of observers had swelled to over six hundred people and in the end, the following recommendation was voted on and approved by the Committee: 1) Any deal must include the nuclear weapons. Recognition by the UN and unrecogniton of the United States government in exile are unimportant. 2) We should consider including electronic backdoors into any systems on any spacecraft provided to the Japanese government, but they should be explainable as leftover bits of programming cruft, should they be discovered. 3) The Comintern should require that we establish an embassy in Japan, and efforts to collaborate with the Japanese left and place spies among the Japanese government should be initiated. 4) We consider the Venusian colonization offer, requiring that Japan cooperate with our efforts in exchange for spacecraft. ----------- On the issue of the Indian government representative's demand, there is a simple response that we recommend: The Comintern does not control the Naxalites or any other Indian leftist group, and we cannot "call them off" in any event. However, if the Indian government agrees to end the barbarous treatment of the rural Indian people and allows them to self-organize in a free and equitable fashion we will do our best to impress upon our Indian comrades that violence should be set aside in favor of seeing the reforms through. These reforms should be monitored by the Comintern and representatives from the Indian left and rural areas to ensure that they will be carried out in the intended spirit.
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Feb 24, 2021 16:25
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A bit disappointed none of those asteroids have more gallicite (which usually ends up causing a crunch), but the duranium is looking good. I forget if we already checked, but how are the comets in the system looking in terms of minerals? In my experience they can get more than asteroids and also have great accessibility. (Random note: In other star systems I've very rarely had asteroids spawn that are big enough to be colonized without LG infrastructure. Think even Ceres is too small for that though.)
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Feb 24, 2021 17:32
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June 30, 1982 The Skarbnik experiences an engine failure in deep space. The damage is attributed to normal wear and tear; the ship has been operating away from Earth for over a year now. Repairs are successfully carried out using available spares, and the Ministry elects not to scrub the Skarbnik's mission to Jupiter. July 2, 1982  PRCal citizen Larry Walters flies 16,000 feet above Long Beach, California in the homemade aircraft Inspiration One, constructed out of a folding lawn chair and several dozen helium-filled military surplus weather balloons. Although he has no training, no engineering background, no flight experience, and no permit, he survives the flight. July 3, 1982  Research into improved Trans-Newtonian mining techniques bears fruit. The new designs are more energy-efficient and the machinery is subjected to less strain. More importantly, a larger trans-dimensional portal can be opened, and it is more stable. The volume of TNEs that can be pulled into realspace increases substantially. The research teams working on the project immediately move on to applying this technology for orbital mining. July 5, 1982 Yuri Andropov, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ever since Brezhnev was removed in the 1969 coup, retires. This is mostly a formality, as the power of the position has eroded significantly in favor of the Politburo as a collective body, although it is still an important and prestigious position. Andropov's successor, is, surprisingly, 44-year-old Young Internationalist Stanislav Petrov. Petrov, a recently-retired officer of the Air Defense Forces, is twice a Hero of the Soviet Union for his efforts coordinating missile defense against American SLBM attacks in the latter days of the Great Revolutionary War, and is believed to have saved over a million lives. His elevation to the position further reinforces the Young Internationalist faction's dominance over the Soviet government. July 11, 1982  The Karzelek and Skarbnik rendezvous in the asteroid belt. Though they are both going to different planets, MOSA wants another ship to observe the Skarbnik in the wake of its recent engine failure, to make sure nothing is out of the ordinary. The rendezvous is the first operation of its kind beyond Mars orbit, and the fastest rendezvous in the history of human spaceflight. It goes without a hitch, and observations of the Skarbnik's exterior find nothing to worry about.  The Karzelek changes course for Saturn and sails off into the black. July 13, 1982   The exploration vessel CSV Skarbnik, Junior Officer 1st Rank LostCosmonaut commanding, becomes the first Comintern spacecraft to achieve stable orbit of the planet Jupiter. Her crew are the first human beings to ever see this view. They deploy the geosurvey sensor arrays, as well as the ship's array of other scientific instruments, and begin collecting data. The survey will take weeks, maybe months. July 18, 1982 The last, and easiest, of the year's diplomatic summits occurs in Riyadh. Although many of the Arab League nations retain absolute monarchical governments or other systems inimical to the Comintern, several of its member states are full Comintern members already, and so the atmosphere is much friendlier than the tense negotiations with India or Japan. The offer you bring to the table is that, if the League joins the Comintern en masse, they will receive the first Trans-Newtonian fuel refinery, and resources and engineers to develop a domestic sorium fuel industry, in order to ease the transition away from oil and ensure their economies do not suffer. July 22, 1982 The XCOM Cydonia field team accidentally accesses a chamber in the Face's wall that has an exterior breach, and much of the internal atmosphere is lost before they manage to seal it. This accidentally gives them an opportunity to learn much about how the structure's life support systems work, which will be included in the end-of-year report. July 25, 1982  CSV Karzelek, Ship Commander Grizzwold commanding, sights Saturn for the first time, another milestone in the history of human spaceflight. Like their sister ship, they begin to survey. August 2, 1982 A consignment of CO2 filters are reported missing from an outlying Lunar settlement, along with a slew of other assorted life support supplies. The storage bunker in which they are kept is not locked (why in the hell would it be, the local collective's spokesperson responds when LSDF questions them about it). August 12, 1982 The Arab League makes no official counter-offer, with a suggestion from the Saudi government that one be offered easily voted down. The body ultimately narrowly votes to accept the agreement as-is, with the non-Comintern states of Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Somalia, Tunisia, and Lebanon voting in the affirmative along with the Comintern bloc, and a few abstentions. The vote is far from unanimous and there is much anger among the 'No' voting states, who take issue with the political requirements of Comintern membership, which, rules as written, would require their governments to dissolve. A fistfight erupts on the convention floor, and security has to be called in to restore order. The Saudi Arabian delegation loudly denounces the entire affair as a rigged farce and formally leaves the Arab League minutes after the vote is concluded. Qatar, Jordan, Bahrain, Oman, North Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait follow suit. The Arab League functionally ceases to exist, with the member nations who leave immediately constituting a new mutual defense alliance. August 17, 1982 After a couple years in development, the 'compact disc' or CD, a new form of digital-optical storage media, enters full production. September 5, 1982 Skarbnik completes her survey of Jupiter. Although they find much of scientific interest, they find no economically exploitable TNE deposits. They do, however, find a thin, diffuse band of Trans-Newtonian particles in Jupiter's upper atmosphere, definitely artificial. Analysis points to vaporized remnants of refined metals and composite materials, conventional transplutonic fissionables, and trace amounts of refined sorium. Ministry scientists hypothesize that an aerostat or very low-orbit space station fell into the Jovian atmosphere, leaving traces behind in the atmosphere as it descended. Though the science of dating TNE artifacts is in its infancy, best guess is that this happened no less than forty and no more than one hundred years ago. It is added to the steadily-growing list of alien remnants in our solar system. The Skarbnik moves on to survey Jupiter's moons in sequence, starting with Metis. September 13, 1982  The Saturn survey report is complete. Vast quantities of raw sorium gas roil and swirl on the other side of the thin boundary between dimensions at the bottom of Saturn's gravity well. It'll take some effort to get at them, but the deposits are economically viable, and essentially end any fear of a fuel crunch anytime soon. Saturn's rings and upper atmosphere positively teem with artificial debris, in pieces averaging about 1mm and maxing out at about 15cm. A large and easily-detectable mass of refined sorium, in gaseous form, still drifts around the planet's upper cloud layer. This, combined with the depth of the planet's sorium deposits, leads our scientific community to hypothesize that Saturn was actively mined for sorium fuel, and what we are detecting are the remnants of what were once much larger and more accessible deposits. September 23, 1982  Skarbnik strikes pay dirt on Io, with enormous and easily-accessible deposits of multiple strategically important TNEs.  On the same day, the Comintern's second interplanetary shipping charter is issued. This one goes to a Comintern NGO, rather than a national government. The Association of Autonomous Astronauts is a self-organized collective of aspiring cosmonauts drawn mostly from the Comintern's smaller member polities, who have been attempting to gain official recognition for years. AAA members include retired American and Soviet cosmonauts, people on the waiting list for migration to Luna who have grown tired of waiting, MOSA cosmonaut candidates who didn't make the cut in the entrance exams or washed out of training, Interkosmos Academy dropouts, and sundry renegades, nomads, and free spirits. The group has been a nuisance for years, and they are issued a charter mostly to get them to shut up and go away. The charter comes with a small amount of hard currency from MOSA's discretionary budget, which the AAA use to lease yard time at the Hawaiian orbital shipyards. It is unclear what exactly they intend to build or when it will be completed, but they're happy as clams, and shouldn't be bothering us anymore. September 25, 1982  Karzelek locates alien ruins on a planetary surface for the second time. The collection of artificial structures on the surface of Titan is much smaller than the Mars ruins and is also quite thoroughly destroyed, with nothing remaining that looks intact or like it has retained any structural integrity. In addition, minor mineral deposits are located, of minimal economic value. September 31, 1982 The survey of the Saturn system is complete with nothing else of value found. Karzelek begins the long journey to cold, cold Neptune, which will take over a month. October 2, 1982 An attempted drive-by shooting of a parade in Rome by masked gunmen is stopped by local security forces, who were alerted to activities of a suspected GLADIO cell by Comintern orbital surveillance and intercept the vehicle as it approaches the parade. The five gunmen refuse to surrender and open fire, whereupon they are killed almost immediately in a fusilade of gunfire. October 26, 1982  The Comintern has been present at Cydonia for months now. Exploration of the ruins, though slow, continues. There has been no sign of the Martian 'zeppelin' ever since the initial sighting. The Cyclops and U-Boat survivors are gradually adjusting, and chipping in where they can. Keeping this operation running smoothly is a daunting task, and XCOM's team have more than risen to the occasion. The methods and practices being developed here will serve as a model for the organization to emulate for years to come. October 28, 1982 A joint PSOE-PCE left-wing alliance wins a landslide electoral victory in Spain. The Kingdom of Spain is not a Comintern member but is closely aligned with the alliance diplomatically, and the new government announces its intent to further this relationship, chiefly by at last recognizing, and normalizing relations with, the Basque People's Republic. November 1, 1982  A final test-firing of the latest railgun prototype is carried out to perfection, and the technology is declared complete. The new railgun, once a model enters full production, will be able to fire a burst of four 100mm ferromagnetic hypervelocity darts every ten seconds.  Laboratories are reallocated. November 5, 1982 The Skarbnik sets out for Uranus, having completed the survey of the Jovian system and found little else of note. November 24, 1982  MOSA Director Kuzmin spits out her morning coffee all over the printout of the Neptune survey report. She has to check with a subordinate to confirm there wasn't a zero added by accident. December 12, 1982   The Hawaiians deliver a ship to the AAA in record time, by finishing out a partially-completed hull they had already been constructing for their own use. The resulting ship, named after the ringleader of the mutineers aboard the battleship Potemkin in 1905, is larger than the Ministry's Berowras, but it's also much slower, and loads and unloads cargo at literally half the rate via its single cargo shuttle hangar. The crew elect retired Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov, formerly a professor at Interkosmos Academy, as captain. December 21, 1982 The Skarbnik completes a scan of Uranus and finds nothing of particular interest. Coincidentally, the Karzelek completes its survey of the Neptune system on the same day, finding nothing else of note. December 22, 1982 The People's Congress finally convenes, in Milan, Italy this year. So that, finally, concludes 1982! It's been a long time and a shitload of stuff has happened, so before we actually officially convene the Congress session, I'll be doing one more update, State of the World 1982. What legislation have you passed, and what effect is it having? What's the world look like? What territories are in the Comintern anyway? How are we doing economically, diplomatically, politically, technologically, socially? How are the Cydonia survivors doing? All this and more will be answered! Mister Bates fucked around with this message at 11:42 on Mar 1, 2021 |
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Mar 1, 2021 11:37
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And why has no one given me a railgun to smite fascists from orbit with yet? I'm sad. I'm sad.
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Mar 1, 2021 12:06
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Discussions in the State of Texas: (A Non-comintern southern-central former US polity) "Alright, we've kept him waiting long enough, show that commie in already." With those words, UAWR national and Comintern ambassador Timothy Wright was ushered into the room of the State of Texas's acting governor. Grey-haired, short-haired and gigantic, the man behind the desk was instantly familiar to anyone who knew their history. A glass already in his hand, filled to the brim with amber scotch under ice and flanked by two aides, he fixed Timothy with a penetrating stare as he told him: "Well, don't just stand there like some half-wit, take a seat!" He'd been briefed on the odd behaviour of the "acting governor," but that didn't stop him from frowning as he did. "Hello, mister Johnson-" He began, but was instantly cut off. "Do you work for me? Did you vote for me because there's no one else here worth it?" Johnson said, rhetorically, before answering his own question: "The answer is no. So don't give me that crap." Wright could do nothing but frown and shift in his seat uncomfortably as he tried to continue. "Alright, Johnson. I'm here about a proposal that's going to be put before the people's congress at the next meet. It will focus on increasing aid into the North American states above Mexico, including-" Johnson cut off with an open-palm slam on his oaken desk, making the diplomat sit up in alarm, eyes wide open. "That's nice. Get to the drat point." Coughing, then speeding up his spiel, Timothy said: "Okay, so the bill would involve massive amounts of aid and the formation of an "American Community," a forum to work on economic and political links between everyone in North America." Johnson tapped his fingers idly on the desk, waiting for him to finish this time before he responded: "Hell of an idea. Bunch of people around here, they might call something like that.. oh, I don't know, "a communist plot to subvert the last bastions of global freedom." At this, the diplomat was about to speak up, before a pointed look from a looming Johnson silenced him. "Of course, I'm not that stupid. If you wanted to do something like that, they'd have sent in some hardass ivan general with one eye and a million tanks to me and everyone with a shred of legitimacy north of the border with the offer: "join it or else." Not that I'm so sure your intentions are pure, but hey. Politics is all about getting what you want by pretending to be nice sometimes. I won't lie though, I'm not exactly jumping for joy here, but I'm not like those idiots up in the mountains or the jackasses who jumped ship to japan, thinking that by next year the US will be back and you'll be on the run." The acting governor let himself have a wry smile as he sat back in the seat, enjoying his drink. There was a painfully long pause, Johnson making a move every time the ambassador started, until he was red in the face. At which point Johnson started talking again: "So here's my deal: you reds love talking about how you'll help the workers, right? Always going on about uplifting the working man-" Wright, deeply annoyed, interjected: "The fifth internationale stands for the uplifting of everyone out of poverty, empowering them by creating a system where no one lacks the opportunity to fulfil their potential, surely you of all people can sympathise with that, especially considering-" This time, the interruption was a loud bark and a laugh from the acting governor, who stood up from his seat as he started to speak: "Well, if you're just gonna come in here and blow smoke up my rear end rather than get to the point, I'll just have to take the initiative: My offer: you send me the materials, the equipment and the technology and me and my men'll get to work. I don't want housing, medicine and food: I want housing, medicine, food, trade, a safety net, education, cleanup, restoration, technology, roads, trains, every drat thing on the list. Everyone's been suffering a second-rate existence here and that needs to end now. But don't you worry, I'll be good for me and good for you too. Everyone will see just how good it can be when we all stick together in solidarity or whatever and you won't look like a bunch of domineering jackasses who take everything back the moment someone says something you don't like." Sitting down again, he looked the ambassador straight in the eye as he told him: "There it is. Give me everything: and I do mean everything, everyone needs and sure, I'll play ball." With a shrug, he leaned back in his chair, taking a long drink from the glass, ice clinking on the bottom as he put it down and added: "You'd be surprised who I can get onside with this little community of yours." At this point, Timothy's rage was boiling over, and he started to raise his voice as he begain: "Now, I resent-" A sharp remark from Johnson cut him off once again. "Resent what? Resent a little rudeness? Resent me? That's the point. You know that's the point. That's why you walk in here to me, to all these people who at best give you the stink-eye and at worst don't want a drat thing to do with you. Because you want this sewn up all nice and peaceful like. Well, if you can't stand a little mud-slinging, then this will end in blood no matter how much you don't want it. Get a thicker skin, get comfortable with being uncomfortable and hey- things might just work out." Chastened, the colour draining out of his face, the ambassador sighed, telling the man: "I take your point, but, you're still asking a lot, m- Johnson." Wright said, defeated. "I'm only asking for what I need, son." The man replied, with a wink, while the ambassador shrugged. "Sure. I'll see what I can do." With that, they left, Johnson watching them disappear down the hall, waiting a few more moments before he turned to one of his aides. "Get that General in Fort Worth on the horn, tell him that "Wait and B. Johnson" wants to gloat at him." As the aide rushed off, leaving Johnson holding out his arm and waiting for the other aide to put a glass of scotch in it, the man paused, thinking, before yelling out the open door: "And get a good runner, put him on a boat to Carter! He's gonna wanna hear this!" NewMars fucked around with this message at 12:58 on Mar 1, 2021 |
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Mar 1, 2021 12:20
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Just caught up with my reading, nice to see another Aurora story. Enjoying the slow pace of exploring and exploiting the Solar System. Once we get into other systems, it will be a major event. I don't know if you have answered this question, but are you using real systems?
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Mar 1, 2021 12:50
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It is a shame to see the monarchists among the Arab nations cling to their outdated and oppressive forms of government. Thankfully, the decline of oil should force them to compromise eventually.
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Mar 1, 2021 12:54
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If we’ve researched the techs for it, we might as well research an actual railgun model. And if we’re researching an actual model, we might as well start planning out a ship that would carry it. And if we plan out a ship that would carry it, we might as well...
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Mar 1, 2021 13:02
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You know, with that immense well of Sorium (at that accessibility, too, god drat), I'm wondering how exactly gas giant mining in this game works? Is it colonizable like any other planet?
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Mar 1, 2021 14:43
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Gas giants can be mined with purpose-built gas giant sorium harvesters (which I'm not sure we actually have the tech or shipyard space for yet). You can't drop a traditional colony with population on the body but in the fluff a major sorium mining operation probably includes some people living in aerostats or whatever to work on the sorium mining platforms. Proper colonies with in-game populations and installations have to go on the nearby moon though if you want a fleet base in the Neptune system etc., the gas giants themselves can only have the sorium harvesters deployed "on" them.
Crazycryodude fucked around with this message at 15:12 on Mar 1, 2021 |
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Mar 1, 2021 15:10
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Well, at least we won’t have to worry about fuel anytime soon!
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Mar 1, 2021 16:03
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The new, C# version of Aurora introduced a system for Space Stations. You can flag a ship design as having no armor, which turns it into a space station design. A space station cannot have armor, military systems or engines installed on it. However, a space station can be built using a planet's construction factories instead of shipyards, which also means they can get very big since they're not capped by shipyard space. Note that, since they don't have engines, you need to tow them into position wherever you need them, requiring a dedicated tug with a tractor beam (tech we probably don't have yet) The usual way to do gas giant mining is building space stations with sorium harvester modules and huge fuel tanks, then towing them to the planet. Oh, note that sorium harvester modules directly refine the mined Sorium into space fuel, you can't get sorium for engine construction from gas giants. Then have a tanker periodically pick up the fuel they produce and deposit it somewhere else. You could also make sorium harvest ships in a shipyard that fly to the planet themselves and then hold position, but A) Sorium harvesters are BIG and take up valuable shipyard space and B) Those engines will spend 99.9% of their time doing absolutely nothing once they've reached their destination. Note that space stations can be used for other purposes as well, like orbital mining, terraforming, orbital habitats, serving as logistic hubs, etc.
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Mar 1, 2021 16:03
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Space stations are definitely the way to go for controlled space sorium harvesting, but having a handful of mobile harvesting fleet oilers available for forward-deployed forces can be useful.
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Mar 1, 2021 16:06
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Zurai posted:Space stations are definitely the way to go for controlled space sorium harvesting, but having a handful of mobile harvesting fleet oilers available for forward-deployed forces can be useful. I am not sure that's superior compared to simply bringing along a few tankers and fuelling your fleets from them. A baseline sorium harvest module has a size of 2500 tons and produces 40k liters of fuel per year (assuming sorium has an accessibility of 1, which I note is rather rare, but we're also neglecting any CO or admin command bonus here). 2500 tons of fuel tanks have a capacity of 2,500k liters of fuel. This means that bringing along a sorium harvester instead of a tanker of the same size is only better if you spend 62 years or more deployed, since 2500/40=62.5.
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Mar 1, 2021 16:34
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TDS posted:
Um, does the Arab League know that? Because it kinda renders that domestic Sorium fuel refining agreement obsolete if it comes out of the harvester already rendered down into ship-grade fuel. I guess they still have Earth's domestic Sorium deposits to work with, but Neptune has enough of the stuff for like ten thousand years, unless we strictly control its extraction the market will be flooded. I guess they can still work with the stuff for non-fuel industries, since the Gas Giants can't give us raw Sorium and you need that for engine construction? Also, boo on all the Gas Giant moons being a complete bust except for Io. I can't go ice-fishing on Io, it's 30% volcano! NOW where am I gonna go for a summer getaway?
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Mar 1, 2021 16:43
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A mobile harvesting fleet for forward deployed forces is a bad idea. Harvesting and processing takes time. This means that you need to plan and set up in advanced for any forward deployed elements so that a worthwhile amount of fuel is ready once the fleet elements arrive and the amount of time this takes ultimately depends on your tech level and the size of the fleet you need refueling. You also need to factor in maintenance life. These harvesters are going to need to be defended while they do their job, especially because they are forward deployed, and thats going to grind down the maintenance life of whatever we send out to keep an eye on them. This either means we have dedicated ships we swap in and out as needed, or we have to wrangle a bunch of MSP and yards to deal with eventual overhauling and repairs. Tankers attached and detached to fleets as needed is honestly the way to go. Easy to move and relatively easy to scale to the fleets needs. Asterite34 posted:Um, does the Arab League know that? Because it kinda renders that domestic Sorium fuel refining agreement obsolete if it comes out of the harvester already rendered down into ship-grade fuel. I guess they still have Earth's domestic Sorium deposits to work with, but Neptune has enough of the stuff for like ten thousand years, unless we strictly control its extraction the market will be flooded. I guess they can still work with the stuff for non-fuel industries, since the Gas Giants can't give us raw Sorium and you need that for engine construction? Earth based solarium is going to be cheaper/critical because we don't need to implement new tech,ships, and logistical chains to harvest it. It's going to remain the life blood of everything until we get regular shipments from the gas giants. Honestly depending on how your mineral generation goes we could very well not have to worry about any real mineral crunches. Telsa Cola fucked around with this message at 17:57 on Mar 1, 2021 |
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Mar 1, 2021 16:47
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Mister Bates posted:November 24, 1982 well that explains why there's so much alien interest in our little star system, right there
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Mar 1, 2021 16:57
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atelier morgan posted:well that explains why there's so much alien interest in our little star system, right there And yet that's the one with NO evidence of alien presence or Sorium harvesting, unlike Saturn and Jupiter with their traces of ET activity.  Also, given that we've largely completed a mineral survey of the currently accessible Solar System, should re re-evaluate the viability of the joint colonization plan for Venus? It would be a useful (and somewhat discounted) test-bed for working in planetary atmospheres, which could be applied to dealing with Saturn and especially Neptune. And it's not like Venusian Sorium is gonna be an important strategic resource. On the other hand, Venus seems to be our only substantial off-world source of Gallicite. How do we feel about this being shared with (and in the event of hostilities, possibly blockaded by) Japan?
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Mar 1, 2021 17:08
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Asterite34 posted:Um, does the Arab League know that? Because it kinda renders that domestic Sorium fuel refining agreement obsolete if it comes out of the harvester already rendered down into ship-grade fuel. I guess they still have Earth's domestic Sorium deposits to work with, but Neptune has enough of the stuff for like ten thousand years, unless we strictly control its extraction the market will be flooded. I guess they can still work with the stuff for non-fuel industries, since the Gas Giants can't give us raw Sorium and you need that for engine construction? The construction and running of a Sorium refinery is only part of the deal, the opportunity to gain experience and expertise in the field and basically become the ComIntern's go-to group for future operations is IMO the biggest carrot.
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Mar 1, 2021 17:16
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Asterite34 posted:Um, does the Arab League know that? Because it kinda renders that domestic Sorium fuel refining agreement obsolete if it comes out of the harvester already rendered down into ship-grade fuel. I guess they still have Earth's domestic Sorium deposits to work with, but Neptune has enough of the stuff for like ten thousand years, unless we strictly control its extraction the market will be flooded. I guess they can still work with the stuff for non-fuel industries, since the Gas Giants can't give us raw Sorium and you need that for engine construction? Given that sorium harvest modules have not yet been invented, I'll guess they have no idea. On the other hand, I don't think earth-based sorium refining will become totally obsolete anytime soon. For one thing, having it right here where we need it is convenient. Also, we probably don't want to be reliant entirely on shipping in fuel from the outer system or we're just begging to be blockaded.
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Mar 1, 2021 17:18
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TDS posted:I am not sure that's superior compared to simply bringing along a few tankers and fuelling your fleets from them. A baseline sorium harvest module has a size of 2500 tons and produces 40k liters of fuel per year (assuming sorium has an accessibility of 1, which I note is rather rare, but we're also neglecting any CO or admin command bonus here). 2500 tons of fuel tanks have a capacity of 2,500k liters of fuel. This means that bringing along a sorium harvester instead of a tanker of the same size is only better if you spend 62 years or more deployed, since 2500/40=62.5. Who said anything about instead of tankers? I'm talking about using mobile refinery ships in systems that are outside your fortified/militarized zone to shorten supply lines and reduce the number of tankers needed for extended operations.
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Mar 1, 2021 17:59
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Asterite34 posted:On the other hand, Venus seems to be our only substantial off-world source of Gallicite. How do we feel about this being shared with (and in the event of hostilities, possibly blockaded by) Japan? Maybe until Japan joins the comintern as full-members or in a extended version of provisional membership (it's being discussed in several comissions) the joint Comintern-Japanese Venus project should be handled by an NGO with a 50/50 split Commintern/Japanese personnel
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Mar 1, 2021 18:14
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Zurai posted:Who said anything about instead of tankers? I'm talking about using mobile refinery ships in systems that are outside your fortified/militarized zone to shorten supply lines and reduce the number of tankers needed for extended operations. I was comparing the same tonnage spent on tanker vs. a refinery ship, using a mix of both doesn't change the math that any tonnage spent on a refinery only 'pays off' after 62 years. Maybe a more concrete example makes it clear what I mean. Let's say you have a small task force you're sending out and you have the choice on how to ensure refuelling: Two tankers, each carrying 2.5 million tons of fuel or One tanker carrying 2.5 million tons of fuel and one refinery ship producing 40k tons each year. In that scenario, bringing two tankers will mean you have more fuel available until the break-even point of 62 years. That comparison makes a bunch of simplifications and assumptions, of course. In theory, the refinery ship could have smaller, less powerful engines to save on costs, etc. But my point is, sorium harvesters produce fuel pretty slowly for their total mass/cost. If you want to ensure you have fuel at point X, it's usually better to ship the fuel there unless you're planning to stay for a long time. And if you're going to stay for a long time, you might as well go all the way and tow a harvest station.
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Mar 1, 2021 18:21
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Asterite34 posted:And yet that's the one with NO evidence of alien presence or Sorium harvesting, unlike Saturn and Jupiter with their traces of ET activity. imagine how big the other deposits were if that's the leftovers
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Mar 1, 2021 20:06
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Aliens stole our mineral wealth!
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Mar 1, 2021 20:23
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Also for people who haven't tried C++ verison yet tankers and refuel works differently and you need an additional component to refuel ships AND an additional tech if you want to refuel on the move. Tankers refuel X amount of fuel per hour(this can increase with tech) and they only refuel one ship at a time. Underway replenishment (refueling on the move) only refuels a fraction (1/5) of your normal refueling rate. This also can increase through tech. There is a component called a refueling hub, which allows multiple ships to be refueled at once, but its 100,000 tons so its basically restricted to stations.
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Mar 1, 2021 20:32
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Developing Saturn or Neptune as our primary sources of Sorium is currently infeasible. While Sorium could be harvested and refined in a single step from the atmosphere of a gas-giant with some modifications to our current protocols under development, we are nowhere near having such infrastructure ready for use. Furthermore, to extract any industrially relevant amount we would need massive installations to house the machinery, store and transship the fuel as well as house the crews required for everything. We're talking about space-borne cities here, comrades. The Sorium-industry on earth will be secure for decades to come.
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Mar 1, 2021 20:34
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atelier morgan posted:imagine how big the other deposits were if that's the leftovers Alternatively: if that's what they left behind, imagine what made them leave.
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Mar 1, 2021 21:03
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