|
Redeye Flight posted:This actually strikes me as a great idea. Eh, if they wanna try like mind-reading, empathic resonance, dreamviewing, etc etc they'll need access to at least one live alien, which means at least some access to Mars.
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2021 23:34
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 31, 2024 22:29 |
|
|
Why don't we set up XCOM on a base on Phobos? Conveniently near to Mars but far enough away not to step on anyone's toes at the dig site. They can play with weird science and alien relics in peace and safety.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2021 00:03
|
|
|
The arguments to start the people off on earth and to train them in archaeology/xenoarchaeology techniques until they are competent... sounds suspiciously like developing our own xenoarchaeology divisions. Y'all are trying to brute force a delicate situation with irreplaceable materials and artifacts for a quick profit. Its the equivalent of what people did early on in archaeology where they decided to dynamite sites because you got to quickly get to the fun parts. It's a fun idea but it's a textbook example of "Do you want small rewards now, or bigger rewards later". Telsa Cola fucked around with this message at 04:04 on Oct 5, 2021 |
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2021 04:01
|
|
|
Obliterati posted:Also IRL (ex-)archaeologist here - there's absolutely nothing stopping us from sending actual archaeologists along with the cranks immediately AND developing xenoarchaeology at the same time. The actual techniques and tools that will form the subdiscipline of xenoarchaeology can be built down on Earth, sure, but there is no substitute for fieldwork in building that theoretical structure. Plus last I heard we have an absurd amount of kit that can survey and catalogue non-destructively from space. Even Earth-focused archaeologists of this era could do incredible things with those - they're like OTL LIDAR and ground imaging techniques on cocaine. I'm in favor of this.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2021 07:10
|
|
|
So I've been thinking: Gorbachev isn't likely the mole. Far more likely is Alexander Yakovlev. This guy you may not know, but he and Gorbachev were the architects of perestroika. Now, while Gorbachev, aside from some mud-slinging is generally thought to have been wanting to reform and not destroy the union, Yakovlev straight up hated communism, got in charge and proceeded to dismantle it as ruthlessly as he could. He did this because he was that sort of person who upon seeing atrocity flipped right to the opposite end and as such he was the very model of a guy who thinks "markets make us free." Mind you, the worst of it only happened after the soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and he only really formulated plans after being made ambassador to Canada, but given the advent of WW3 instead, there's plenty of opportunities for a man like him to become radicalized. That said, there's basically no way to figure all this out in-universe: he was very good at keeping it quiet until he'd already won. Plus, maybe he went down a different path here? But that is speculation, what we know from the historical record paints a picture of a man who would not be happy in this world.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2021 20:25
|
|
|
In these trying times it's important to also look forward with optimism, because Venus Plan is a go
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2021 07:14
|
|
|
April 1, 1983 While Gorbachev is placed under additional surveillance, the evidence is insufficient to be actionable, especially during a major upheaval in the USSR's internal politics. The KGB will keep a close eye on him, just in case. April 3, 1983 As the Cydonia survivors continue to reintegrate into society, it is inevitable that there will be some difficulties, despite the efforts to educate them. One of the American survivors, a white sailor, makes a racist remark towards a black patron at a bar in Chicago and is badly beaten by the surrounding crowd. April 6, 1983  Project MORTICIA, an effort to develop a Trans-Newtonian signals intelligence suite, is completed. While the project did involve the development of a spacecraft module containing all the various antennae and computers required to listen for and intercept signals, the most impressive part of the project is actually on the ground, in the highly sophisticated TN supercomputers that will perform cryptographic analysis on intercepted signals. It's unlikely they'll be able to crack everything - not even magic rocks can break a one-time pad, correctly used - but they should revolutionize intelligence-gathering. The labs and teams working on the project are immediately reassigned to gravitational sensor research, which is considered the last remaining technology milestone standing in the way of deploying armed spacecraft. April 9, 1983 Interrogations of captured terrorists from the Lunagrad 'hidden colony' lead to identification of five more sleepers who remain in the general population. Dawn raids are initially planned, but the damage this could do to the LSDF's credibility among the civilian population is deemed too high, and an alternate solution is worked out. With LSDF forces on standby just in case something goes south (mostly to prevent lynch mobs from forming), the habitat collectives the sleepers are living in are alerted to their presence and identity, and drag them out of their beds in the middle of the night, turning them over to the troops. April 12, 1983 Haitian revolutionaries, in a three-pronged attack combining a conventional ground assault from outside the city, a mass civilian uprising inside the city, and a Cuban-supported naval landing, liberate Port-au-Prince, and, with it, Haiti. An offer of direct Cuban military assistance is politely declined; they merely provide the landing craft. It is important that Haiti be liberated by Haitians, and, in the end, it is. 'Baby Doc' is captured alive; his final fate is up to the revolutionaries. The Haitians, in repayment for their assistance, deliver to the Cubans twelve Cuban nationals who had been fighting in the foreign mercenary army that made up the majority of 'Baby Doc's remaining forces. April 15, 1983  The crews of the starships Skarbnik and Karzelek are unique even among the rapidly-growing ranks of humanity's spacefarers. Their two-year mission took them deeper into the uncharted vastness of space than anyone else has ever been. They were, for a time, the most isolated humans in history, trapped in tin-can spacecraft millions of kilometers from home, with death waiting just outside. They witnessed sights of indescribable wonder, made monumental scientific discoveries, and endured weeks of crushing, monotonous boredom at a time. They flew through the rings of Saturn and gazed down into the impossible vastness of Jupiter's Great Red Spot. They tested the limits of the human psyche, and of human technology as well. They earned some shore leave. Though they endured admirably, the experience has changed them. While they still have weeks of leave remaining, more and more of the small crews have been voluntarily requesting to return to the ship, to make sure this system or that one has been overhauled, to take care of this or that minor task, all sorts of things that don't really need to be done right now. They're already beginning to ask when the next mission will begin, where they will be called on to go next. Earth may be their base of operations, but home is out there now, and they're ready to go home. April 25, 1983 New England schoolgirl Samantha Smith is personally invited to the Soviet Union by General Secretary Petrov, in response to a letter she wrote about her experience growing up in the aftermath of nuclear war and her desire to see peace between the two nations. May 1, 1983 The traditional celebrations have a distinctly bittersweet edge this year. Not all of the damage from March has been repaired, and funerals are still ongoing. A German submariner, a great bear of a man who has found himself 60 years out of time, leads a ceremony at a small memorial in east Berlin, commemorating communists executed on that spot by the Freikorps during the German Revolution. On the list of names is his wife. As the television cameras roll, he salutes, and breaks down sobbing. Haiti is formally admitted to the Comintern. Once the ceremonies have concluded, the Socialist World Exhibition officially opens. Though channeling the spirit of the old World's Fairs, this will be a much different event. Both for security reasons and also because of the sheer size of the burgeoning world government, no one city could host such an event - instead, for the rest of the year, a rotating selection of events will be held worldwide, showcasing all the various unique characters of the Comintern's member bodies. There will be demonstrations of technology and industry, cultural performances, concerts, film screenings, political and history education, examples of local systems of governments, showcases of food and beverage from throughout the socialist world, rides and games, in dozens of cities (at widely varying scale and cost) throughout the worlds - there will even be a small convention on Lunagrad. At the same time, a multimedia blitz of television programs and moderated Internetwork discussions will carry the events into homes around the world. While enormous in scale, certainly dwarfing any previous World's Fair (and, indeed, it took months and months to plan and carry out), it pales in comparison to your ongoing industrial projects, and in the end it's easier than anyone expected. France, as the birthplace of the Revolution both in 1871 and in 1968, gets the honor of going first, opening the Paris exhibition a full hour before any of the other participating cities do. Paris - and the French delegations sent to other cities, to participate in their exhibitions - is a carnival of avant-garde chaos, the euphoria of having fought and won against the hated enemy a second time seeming to have sent the entire country into wild celebration. Even the trade unions, who normally act as a regimented and orderly counterbalance to the more...experimental...elements in French politics, loosen up a bit. Mister Bates fucked around with this message at 19:54 on Nov 3, 2021 |
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 09:43
|
|
|
And here comes haiti and the world's fair! World Socialist Exhibition, rather. Good to see things back.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 09:54
|
|
|
Oh, to be a interplanetary surveyor.. the romance of it all
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 11:54
|
|
|
The Republic of the Outer Banks welcomes Haiti to the Comintern!
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 15:59
|
|
|
Preceding Haitian delegate Raymond Jean-Baptiste's speech is a compilation video of the establishment of the Haitian Federation of Communes, summarized as follows. A military parade through the capital is shown, led by the first units to breach the city followed by Cuban, Polish (who seem to be the only white participants that aren't prisoners), and African Cominterp forces, in the middle Duvalier and his white officers, including the Cuban exile brigade 2506 are paraded before the crowd in restraints. It switches to Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Chairman of the new Federation, giving last rites to ex-president Duvalier before he is publicly executed. The final clip are excerpts from his inauguration speech, promising a new age for the country, rechristening the National Palace (the official residence of the president) to the People's Cathedral, and ending with Catholic and Vodou blessing rituals. Among those seated behind him include leader of the Cuban detachment, the heads of the Polish forces, leaders of the other coalition parties, and Apostolic Nuncio to Haiti. The speech commemorating Haiti joining the ComInterp starts out as they always do. Summarizing the history of their struggle and eventual victory, with plenty of applause lines. After detailing the state's goals for working with the Cominterp, and the anticipation for the development program Jean-Baptiste's face grows serious. Looking directly at the French delegate he demands a return of the slave reparations, with interest!, that they were forced to pay until less than 30 years ago. Jumping of off that he then goes into a broad ranging attack on western communism: ivory tower elitism; over intellectualism; nouveau-classism through vangardism; imperialism; the strain of hypocrisy that runs through all european ideology, they haven't forgotten how the first slave revolts were declared counter-revolutionary by the French before outlawing slavery, and then (trying to) reinstating it twice; and more. Though throughout it he reiterates that they are not anti Cominterp, they just do not take it as a given that it will uphold and follow through its ideals. Pausing to stare all across the stunned body, he gives the last line with a stony face, "Just because you live in the master's house that does not mean you are free, it just means you're the new master" before he leaves the stage without so much as the traditional thank you. Communist Zombie fucked around with this message at 19:48 on Nov 3, 2021 |
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 16:15
|
|
|
Communist Zombie posted:include Che Guevara Hold on, I thought the divergence point was in 68? Are we allowing for Creative License at other points?
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 16:47
|
|
|
Volmarias posted:Hold on, I thought the divergence point was in 68? Are we allowing for Creative License at other points? From the discord they mentioned he was still alive so I thought it was reasonable hed be involved. If Im wrong I can edit it out.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 17:04
|
|
|
I'm sure it's fine, I'm just confused on whether there's a time point we should accept as "definitive" or if we can just minor fluff whatever. Che not getting effectively sent to die by Castro would have had pretty big ramifications.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 17:20
|
|
|
Che was sadly already dead by the point the timelines diverged
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 18:09
|
|
|
Mister Bates posted:Che was sadly already dead by the point the timelines diverged That doesn't mean he can't be present! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjiT1ppXXq4
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 18:37
|
|
|
Mister Bates posted:Che was sadly already dead by the point the timelines diverged Dang, I edited him out of my post then.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 19:48
|
|
|
Kitfox88 posted:That doesn't mean he can't be present! Hey, if anything is possible with TN materials...
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 21:32
|
|
|
We can't prove that Che wasn't rescued at the last second and body swapped by aliens, so I choose to believe he's on Mars somewhere
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 23:13
|
|
|
So we have important updates on the nature of maoism.quote:it depends on which Maoism, IRL there's two substantially different but almost identically named ideological tendencies.
|
|
#
?
Nov 4, 2021 04:31
|
|
|
May 3, 1983 One of the centerpieces of the Exhibition is unveiled. 'Life', a six-part televised documentary series narrated by David Attenborough, showcases radiation cleanup and ecological restoration efforts around the world, and provides a comprehensive overview of how the natural world is adapting and recovering in the aftermath of nuclear war. Though certain areas will remain dangerously-contaminated exclusion zones for decades or centuries, even these are gradually being repopulated by plant and animal life, each one becoming a little wildlife refuge, a manmade patch of permanent wilderness. Most of the War's battlefields have been cleaned up to the point that there is little evidence there was ever a battle fought there, and thousands of square kilometers of contaminated land have been returned to habitability. It will take a very, very long time for everything to return completely to normal, and a lot of work besides - but life endures. May 5, 1983 Claiming to be inspired by the Japanese splitters, an organization calling itself the 'Workers' Revolutionary Party of India' announces its formation at a press conference in New Delhi, promising to contest future elections and pursue a vision of 'true, anti-authoritarian communism' in opposition to 'Comintern social imperialism'. The Communist Party of India denounces the new 'political party' as a government plot. May 12, 1983 Japan makes a surprise contribution to the ongoing Exhibition - at the San Francisco event, in the VENUSPLAN pavilion, a tiny, self-contained ecosystem encased in a geodesic dome, a little wetland environment with plants and arthropods and fish and a functioning water cycle, hermetically sealed and self-sustaining. They call the big terrarium 'the future of deep-space life support'. May 13, 1983 Work resumes at Interkosmos Station, with the ruined stump of the destroyed slipway sealed off. May 18, 1983  The Soviet air defense forces have spent the last couple months drilling, and drilling, and drilling again. They must never allow anything to slip through again. They will never. On the morning of May 18, an unmanned Buran-class orbiter, modified to serve as a test article filled with sensors and data recorders, is launched from Baikonur, on the same trajectory that the March attackers took. Surface-to-air missiles shoot it down before it reaches altitude. Never again. May 25, 1983 Principal photography on Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi concludes, and the film goes into post-production. It isn't slated for release for nearly a year and it's already hotly anticipated. The space-battle scenes, which were filmed with miniatures in orbit, in zero gravity, are being talked up in particular, and a new era of space filmmaking is being heralded in the press. This might be a bit premature, as the film is not even finished yet. May 29, 1983 The crew of Barsoom Outpost on Mars, on an areological survey mission, penetrate an unfathomably massive lava tube cavern, vast in length, width, and depth. An entire city could fit inside, easily. The footage, and the data, is well-received at Ascension Island; the crews there are happy to be doing some actual space science again.
|
|
#
?
Nov 4, 2021 09:15
|
|
|
I started writing little news updates to officially bring the fluff I've decided about Kalmar in the discord to the thread proper, and it kinda... ballooned a little. --- A recording from Sveriges Television archives, first broadcast early 1979 "Last night the Nobel Foundation chairman Sune Bergström held a conference where they announced their intention to resume the Nobel prize awards. Due to the unfortunate loss of several committee members they've started the selection process to replace them, but it is not expected to finish in time to process laureate candidates for next year. Instead they're announcing a special prize awarded for the discovery of TNE and related discoveries next year, with the normal selection of laureates and prize awards expected to resume the year after. This news is welcomed by many in the Kalmar Union as a sign of a return to pre-war stability." --- A recording from the CI PBS news archives, first broadcast late 1981 "...and the last item in our international news segment, a public vote in the Kalmar Union was held last week and the final results have now been announced. The principal issue that was voted on is in regards to the awkward situation that the Kalmar Union has been criticized on, where the Union was formed early in the GRW but the previous countries, most of which were parliamentary monarchies, were still extant and largely unchanged. Thanks to the popular vote passing the countries have officially joined the Kalmar Union not as separate nation states but administrative and cultural territories under the Union. The second major vote was for voting on the fate of their respective royal families, a large sticking point since monarchies are seen as counter to the ideals of the CI but the royals in the Kalmar Union have unusually large popular support among the local populace. After a lengthy and spirited debate the solution they've finally voted for is retaining the title and traditions of the various monarchies, but instead of heads of state they'll be folded into a new department in their respective Directorates for Cultural Heritage, as both living history and subject experts of the royal collection. The response from the rest of the CI has been mixed so far, but there is some hope that if this works it'll provide a path for other nations with a similar strong affection for their monarchies to fully join the CI." --- A recording from the CI PBS news archives, first broadcast late 1982 "Our main story in sports today, reports from the conference on youth sports in Monza, Italy confirm they've reached an agreement on several new initiatives with the goal of promoting a competitive spirit, healthy sportsmanship and bonds of friendship between the different peoples of the CI. This initiative has its roots in the collaboration between many sport clubs and organizations that collaborated in the aftermath of the GRW to give refugee and displaced kids some basic equipment to exercise and keep active, in addition to the food, clothes and other supplies donated. This then grew into a large volunteer program when the socialist aid and reconstruction programs began several years ago, helping build athletics fields, school gyms and small arenas aside from the homes, schools and hospitals the programs themselves were building. Representatives from the majority of CI polities have agreed to construct training camps where children from other parts of the CI can come to experience local athletic and cultural traditions, as well as establishing international tournaments, or expanding already-existing tournaments, to accept teams from all over the CI to meet up for friendly competition." [cut to a recording of an interview of two men in the conference hall, constant background noise of people talking. Names flash across the bottom identifying the two as "Harald Grønningen, Kalmar Union" and "Gary Addison, CWC". In a very thick accent the first man answers some unstated question] "Ya, so we have taken some mountaintop hotels that have been sitting not used since the war and turned them into ski camps. We've had some groups of kids already, danes and finns mostly, and it was good fun. We'll try and get some kids from further away before the winter ends, it's just the best watching children playing in the snow for the first time in their lives. Oh, and my niece loves playing soccer and is looking forward to the Kalmar Cup next year, the biggest one in the Union. I'm sure if we can invite teams from all the world it will be even more fun for her.” In a smoother californian accent the second man follows up. “We’ve also set aside some ski resorts, up near Lake Tahoe. You should come visit with the first group from Kalmar, I’ll give you the grand tour. We could even do a friendly rematch of the ‘68 Olympics 15km run.” The first man laughs and shakes hands with the second. “Hah, why not? We’ll put on a good show for the children.” --- From a larger PBS segment in early March 1983 on the public response to the attack on Interkosmos Station [The segment opens with a pair of youths, a boy and a girl, standing in a cathedral reciting a poem. The recital continues as a voice-over as the image changes to ceremonies in various Kalmar Union cities, with a commonality people dropping roses off a harbor, with a field of roses floating out to sea somewhat reminiscent of the field of shooting stars that’s been happening overhead since the attack. In addition to place names a translation of the poem is provided.] “War is contempt for life, peace is creation Death’s march is halted by determination We all deserve the world, harvest and seed Hunger and poverty are born of greed Don’t turn your face away from the needs of others Reach out a helping hand to all your brothers Here is our solemn vow, from land to land We will protect our world from tyrants’ hand” --- PBS news broadcast, early December 1983 “And in other good news, a ceremony in northern Kalmar Union was performed today which celebrated the successful radiation cleanup of the territory, and the transfer of the territory to the indigenous Saami people. They’ve given the territory the historical name of Sámpi, and is currently led by the 72-delegate strong Saami Council. They have chosen representatives to the upper council of the Kalmar Union, though discussions about full independence are expected to take place once the infrastructure rebuild is complete. A lot of the previously existing infrastructure had to be removed as part of the radiation cleanup or decayed after being abandoned for over a decade. Material contributions from the Kalmar Union, with support from the Socialist Aid Program, have enabled a thorough rebuilding of the territory, starting with the first fully completed city of Kaarasjoki, the new capital of Sámpi. Another source of excitement is the representative from COMRAIL, Nora Andersen, having just finished her speech and laying down the first brick in the train station for the line planned from Murmansk. High-speed rail has been highly anticipated, bringing the remote regions closer to the rest of the CI.”
|
|
#
?
Nov 4, 2021 12:54
|
|
|
You know, that Japanese exhibit really is quite impressive. Of course, stations will need artificial gravity or at least designs that generate gravity through spin to accommodate life properly, but planetside, it should work quite well. I can't help but wonder on the same note: would putting a city inside that magma tube actually help with colonization?
|
|
#
?
Nov 6, 2021 11:59
|
|
|
Mister Bates posted:Once the ceremonies have concluded, the Socialist World Exhibition officially opens. Though channeling the spirit of the old World's Fairs, this will be a much different event. Both for security reasons and also because of the sheer size of the burgeoning world government, no one city could host such an event - instead, for the rest of the year, a rotating selection of events will be held worldwide, showcasing all the various unique characters of the Comintern's member bodies. All Communists Are Beautiful.
|
|
#
?
Nov 6, 2021 12:27
|
|
|
NewMars posted:You know, that Japanese exhibit really is quite impressive. Of course, stations will need artificial gravity or at least designs that generate gravity through spin to accommodate life properly, but planetside, it should work quite well. I can't help but wonder on the same note: would putting a city inside that magma tube actually help with colonization? It really is impressive engineering on their part, putting together a mini-biosphere like that. Needs gravity of some sort, yes, but at least for VENUSPLAN that's taken care of. One of the pros of aerostats! Plus a lot of the tech can be applied back on earth for sustainable habitats (though probably impractically expensive for the time being). As for the Martian magma tubes, yes those are actually a boon for colonization for the same reason the Lunar lava tubes were: radiation shielding is expensive in terms of mass we have to ship, and these provide it for free on-site in the form of raw rocky bulk.
|
|
#
?
Nov 6, 2021 15:48
|
|
|
Plus living inside of an ancient magma flow is awesome as hell.
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2021 14:03
|
|
|
At the California exhibition, the Homebrew Computer Club unveil the latest in their Apple line of microcomputers, the Macintosh. Designed by Steve Wozniak and Jef Raskin, it has an innovative graphical user interface, built-in screen, and introduces the 'mouse' as an input device to everyone outside the PARC labs in Palo Alto. Other microcomputers had been growing in popularity as home and hobbyist devices, but this promises to be even more popular.
|
|
#
?
Nov 8, 2021 03:01
|
|
|
Currently, the Exhibitions put forward by the UAWR are not technological, but cultural. Demonstrations of the revival of Indigenous Australian culture and autonomy, Alongside those from Maori and Polynesian communities showcasing their overturning of and continuing opposition to colonialism and their reclamation of their heritage. Video recordings taken by councillors, paintings, crafts, demonstrations of community and wilderness reconstruction all abound. Part of it's intent is to show that the Comintern is not just a renamed suite of western nations, but a true, socialist successor, devoted to the destruction of colonialism and the empowering of the worldwide proletariat.
|
|
#
?
Nov 8, 2021 15:13
|
|
|
Just putting it out there, for the sake of future-proofing and inclusivity the next one should be called the Worlds Exhibition.
|
|
#
?
Nov 15, 2021 01:50
|
|
|
June 5, 1983 An expedition into the Martian lava tubes is led personally by Barsoom Outpost administrator Thatbastardken. A live (or as live as you can get from Mars, with the time delay) broadcast of the event is the main television event of the day back on Earth and Luna. In the mind-bogglingly enormous space, its seemingly infinite darkness barely penetrated by their floodlights, the cosmonauts raise a 'Socialist World Exhibition' banner, which has been defaced with a handwritten 'S', so it reads 'Worlds'. On the same day, Academician Kodos666 and their teams deliver plans for a miniaturized, lower-power Trans-Newtonian mining module. Small enough to be mounted on a spacecraft, the trans-dimensional 'drill' is suited for mining the accumulations of TNEs found in the smallest of celestial bodies, without requiring any surface infrastructure at all. June, 1983  Something truly shocking happens. Nothing. For over a week and a half, nothing happens. Oh, sure, there are plenty of things happening - the Hawaiian shipwrights work on the latest order for the AAA, the World Exhibition continues its slow tour of Earth and space, science is conducted, diplomacy carried out, industry churns on, FESTER satellites collect data, COMRAIL continues to lay lines of track connecting the cities of the world together in their increasingly-vast network. Nothing goes wrong. Nothing happens in any way except how it is supposed to. For the first time in this already-exhausting year, things feel really, truly normal. A day shift vs. night shift Mission Control soccer match at Ascension Island ends in a 3-3 tie. Director Kuzmin gets very drunk. June 20, 1983  A massive expansion to Interkosmos Academy is completed. More importantly, high-throughput Internetwork trunk lines, connecting Interkosmos to satellite campuses on every continent except Antarctica, are brought online, allowing the initial phases of cosmonaut selection and training to be conducted locally, significantly increasing the capacity of MOSA's cosmonaut training program. July 3, 1983 The Nintendo 'Family Computer' or Famicom goes on sale in Japan. July 8, 1983  A promising cosmonaut candidate graduates officer training at Interkosmos. In addition to ironclad political credentials and good reaction times, they're, most importantly, a holder of a degree in archaeology prior to their entry into the cosmonaut program. This fellow will be gooned as soon as there is something for them to do. July 17, 1983  Investigations into the March attacks continue, and the socialist world's intelligence agencies continue to question people, pore over data, investigate captured safehouses and hideouts and battle sites, and generally try to piece together what the hell happened, and where the hell the Joint Chiefs are. Some people find their loyalty called into question, and some of them pass that test with flying colors. A few of them, when placed under heavy scrutiny, actually come out of it looking better than they did before. Of particular note is Innocent Bystander, commander of the Lunar Self-Defense Force, whose actions in the lead-up to, and during, the Battle of Lunagrad are placed under the proverbial microscope. What could have easily turned into a witch-hunt ultimately ended in a formal commendation from the Interplanetary People's Army (although no medal, you'll have to award him one). July 22, 1983 A bored ice-miner in the city of Shackleton, on the Moon, using a maneuvering pack, takes a running jump into the city's eponymous crater, falls to the bottom, and lands safely. Another miner does the same, and another. Eventually, someone has the idea to put a target marker down there. People start scoring each other. By the end of the day, a new sport has been born. August 2, 1983 A Socialist World Exhibition event at Vostok Station in Antarctica becomes the furthest-South such event to be held. Dozens of people from the independent stations scattered about the ice, many of whom have been there since 1968, make the trek to Vostok to participate. August 9, 1983 In what is as much a publicity stunt for the Exhibition as a technology demonstration, a COMRAIL train drives from Madrid to Barcelona to Marseille to Paris to Berlin to Warsaw, with various other stops between, on a single uninterrupted line of modern track. August 18, 1983 Hurricane Alicia, a small but devastatingly powerful storm, hits the coast of Texas. Dozens are killed and the damage to infrastructure is extensive. Lyndon Johnson, in a move that surprises everyone, formally petitions the newly-formed North American Forum for aid. It will be the first real test for the Comintern-backed organization. August 19, 1983  A new Academician is formally certified. Lenoon is a promising Sensors and Fire Control expert, and is immediately put to work. September 1, 1983 A raid on a straggler GLADIO cell in Milan, Italy goes poorly - though no friendly forces are killed, the targets do successfully destroy their documents and communication equipment, then commit suicide. September 6, 1983  Academician Idhrendur achieves a major breakthrough. Gravity works differently in the dense, fluid-like not-quite-space of the Trans-Newtonian dimension. The specifics are quite technical and also largely wouldn't make sense to those without a foundational knowledge of TN science; over the last few years it's driven some of your scientific staff just a bit insane. The long and short of it is that you can, with the right Trans-Newtonian elements combined with the right conventional elements in the right configurations, create a device that, when an electrical current is run through it, effectively creates gravity disproportionate to its mass. You've been able to do this already - it is, indeed, a huge part of how Trans-Newtonian mining is even practical - but the systems involved were enormous, bulky, energy-intensive, and weak. That changes today. The miniaturized gravity generators Idhrendur's teams have unveiled can easily be fit in a spacecraft. The enormous energy requirements have been sidestepped a bit by creating a device that does not run continuously, instead sending out microsecond 'pulses' of gravity. Though this was not the intent of early research, the project eventually focused on this as an intentional goal, for they determined that these pulses send ripples through TN fluidspace - ripples that are deflected by existing gravitational fields, bounce off, and come back, in a way that is reliably detectable. The sensor arrays designed to 'listen' for these echoes are comparatively simple. When put together, the result is the most powerful sensor system humanity has ever devised. A large enough, powerful enough device could detect small objects millions of kilometers away, and can track them in real time, without lightspeed delay. The effect is remarkably similar to active sonar. Much like active sonar, the resulting sensors are the opposite of subtle - anyone who is even sort of listening will be able to detect their activation. It's like shining a flashlight in the dark - you can see, but everyone can see you, too. This technology also has other implications in the field of artificial gravity, which Idhrendur's team noted. Three different papers are working their way through peer review covering them, and other teams throughout the world are already putting the information to use. Labs all over the world are involved in a quiet race - the race for the first practical application of artificial gravity for life support purposes. They are all certain that the question is not if, but when, and who. September 18, 1983    The Hawaiian Royal Space Agency launches its latest ship, a freighter ordered by the AAA. Broadcasting over amateur radio, the AAA turn over the ship to the Fraternal Order of Mars, a mutual aid and benefit association formed by the Cydonia survivors shortly after their arrival. The AAA will, formally, operate the ship on their behalf, and it will technically be registered under the AAA's charter (unless you choose to grant the Cydonia survivors their own MOSA shipping charter). The Cyclops II is of an identical design to the existing ship Grigory Vakulenchuk. 35 of her 109 crew are Cydonia survivors; nearly 10% of the men who returned home board the ship. The captain of the original Cyclops, George Worley, runs for captain, but ultimately loses to experienced cosmonaut Guion Bluford, instead being selected as first officer. It will take some time for the crew to get their 'space legs', and the ship will spend some time in Earth orbit before setting out on its first voyage (a routine Earth-Luna cargo run, which, like all other such voyages, takes mere minutes of actual travel time). September 30, 1983  The Cyclops II lights off her engines for a comically brief maiden voyage, laden with life support infrastructure and construction materials for Lunagrad. In the minutes it takes her to arrive in the skies above Lunagrad, she travels further than any of the old sailors aboard her had journeyed in their entire careers on Earth. September 31, 1983  Your current research progress. Mister Bates fucked around with this message at 08:55 on Nov 25, 2021 |
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2021 08:44
|
|
|
quote:Some people find their loyalty called into question, and some of them pass that test with flying colors. A few of them, when placed under heavy scrutiny, actually come out of it looking better than they did before. Of particular note is Innocent Bystander, commander of the Lunar Self-Defense Force, whose actions in the lead-up to, and during, the Battle of Lunagrad are placed under the proverbial microscope. What could have easily turned into a witch-hunt ultimately ended in a formal commendation from the Interplanetary People's Army (although no medal, you'll have to award him one). It looks like Innocent Bystander was an... uninvolved eyewitness.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2021 08:58
|
|
|
Is there a plan for next steps? Or just continue researching and bringing earth into communism's warm embrace? Also, can I be dorfed as a scientist? The one researching turret tracking speeds looks good.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2021 12:59
|
|
|
C'mooon Excalibur railguns, lets gooooo.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2021 22:28
|
|
|
The World Today: Argentina Currently united by a unity government following the ideology of Peronism, Argentina has remained steadfastly neutral. Peronism, properly called justicialism, is, at it's core, an ever-shifting narrative marked by a combination of nationalism with popular laborism. With few definable characteristics besides these, the Argentine government has gained a reputation of playing up whatever aspects of their nation seem most favourable to their current diplomatic partner. Currently kept stable by the popular opinion boost of reclaiming the Malvinas (also known as the Falklands), Argentina stands at a crossroads. Who knows what the future holds?
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2021 08:46
|
|
|
I love that Cyclops II.
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2021 09:19
|
|
|
October 1, 1983 Life continues. Four ships unloading at Lunagrad at once sets a new record. The 'spaceport' at Lunagrad, a flat dirt pad with limited facilities and still mostly operated by manual labor, is stretched to its absolute limit offloading cargo and passengers. Landers cycle back and forth constantly between low Lunar orbit and the city, for hours and hours and hours. October 4, 1983 In the Union of Australasian Workers' Republics, Thrust-1, a duranium-alloy car powered by a sorium-turbine jet engine, attains a sustained speed of 982 miles per hour, shattering the previous land speed record for a wheeled vehicle (prototype maglevs have managed higher speeds on short stretches) and becoming the first automobile in history to break the sound barrier. October 6, 1983  The Matveyev Design Bureau in the Soviet Union presents a design for a new, more modern nuclear thermal engine. The design is evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Current nuclear thermal rockets are still basically conventional, pre-TNE designs that have been crudely modified to use Trans-Newtonian materials. This improved design takes lessons from new research into TN materials science and engineering, and years of experience using TN nuclear thermal engines, to develop an engine designed from the ground up to use the new materials. The result is a straight upgrade to engine performance in a similar profile. October 15, 1983   The AAA dedicates their next freighter to the Fraternal Order of Mars, as with their previous one. While the Odysseus welcomes any Cydonia survivors who wish to serve on her, only one of the over 100 crew is actually a 'Martian', and the dedication is more symbolic than practical. On the same day, Academician Matveyev, as a favor to another scientist, fast-tracks the approval process for a new fission reactor design. October 24, 1983  Interplanetary People's Army battalion commander Welfarestateofmind is diagnosed with cancer, presumably caused by their service in radiation cleanup efforts in years previous. While treatable, it will inevitably effect their long-term health. Thousands of 'liquidators' involved in cleanup and ecological restoration efforts have received similar diagnoses. October 30, 1983  Akratic Method, the first commander of the Luna, was promoted to a desk job soon after, and is currently serving at Ascension Island. A board of inquiry investigating possible GLADIO connections only strengthens their political credentials. November 2, 1983  After years of development and testing, the first true modern weapons system is ready for mass production and operational deployment. The EXCALIBUR is a massive thing. The barrel is almost fifty meters long, and encloses a pair of dense neutronium-alloy launch rails. Thick cables connect it to a bank of capacitors so bulky they have to be housed in a separate building, which are themselves connected to a nuclear fission reactor. The same reactor powers the enormous mechanical servos that control the gun's rotation and elevation. A mechanical autoloading system feeds the weapon ammunition in 'magazines' of four shots. When discharged, it launches the entire magazine in one burst, accelerating the 100mm-diameter solid duranium-sheathed ferromagnetic projectiles to relativistic speeds. It can do this every ten seconds, and powerful, high-efficiency active cooling systems and heat sinks ensure that it can do this for as long as the power and ammunition lasts and the structural integrity of the rails holds. While the rails will need to be replaced periodically, and it is recommended that this be done every 100-200 bursts, in a stress test the rails survived 400 bursts of continuous fire before catastrophically failing. Modifying the weapon for deployment in space should be fairly trivial, requiring no additional research, but as of now the gun is intended primarily for surface-to-orbit use.    In addition to the emplacements themselves, command centers capable of directing their fire are designed.  Academician Matveyev is put to work getting them in the field. This technically violates your legislation, which prohibits scientists from working outside of their area of expertise, but you have no Ground Combat specialists at all, so I am forced to choose between two contradictory instructions. I choose the one that will result in continued progress towards your research goals, and order Matveyev to work outside of his field.  In keeping with your legislative directives, additional ground forces training facilities are ordered. The Construction Factory conversions will be done in less than three months, so it is decided to let them finish first and then devote all available industry to the ground forces expansion. November 11, 1983 Stanislav Petrov becomes the first Soviet head of state to address the Japanese Diet. The Soviet delegation is warmly received. Communist Party paramilitaries help the police keep anti-Comintern left demonstrators away from the building for the duration of the visit. November 26, 1983 The tiny XCOM caretaker team at the Cydonia ruins, which has mostly been avoiding exploring the ruins further for fear of injuring themselves or breaking something, sends a detailed photographic catalogue of all symbology and iconography they've found in the explored part of the Face back to Earth for analysis. Some of the thousands of small geometric symbols and pictograms they've found on walls, floors, objects, clothing, everywhere really, may be a language; some may be art. Whatever they are, studying them could occupy a legion of academics for years and years. The two alien ships remain untouched and unopened; nearly all of the vast, sprawling complex remains unexplored. December 5, 1983  An emplacement capable of housing the weapon is designed. It is static, of course, and most of it is buried. The design is actually intended to make use of decommissioned ICBM silos as a foundation, although purpose-built structures can also be used. As you did not specify exact formation size or structure, I organize the weapons into three-gun batteries, with four of these batteries controlled by each orbital defense command - hypothetically, anyway, none of them actually exist yet. December 9, 1983 On the Moon, the Lunagrad-Shackleton COMRAIL line is inaugurated. The simple two-track line is the first operational, non-experimental rail line on a body other than Earth. The double-track line will be extended to three other communities, and smaller single-track spurs are already being planned to the smallest settlements. December 23, 1983   For the first time in a long time, the Hawaiians launch a Hawaiian-flagged ship. She is of an identical design to the multiple other freighters they have built for other clients. As with all others, she is immediately put into service on the incredibly busy Earth-Luna line, carrying construction materials and life support supplies for the growing Lunar settlements. December 31, 1983 After many months, the Socialist World Exhibition officially draws to a close, and with it, a year to remember. In Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the 1983 session of the People's Congress is officially called to order. The 1983 legislative session is now, finally, open!  Earth   Earth industry and shipyards  The Moon  Current research  Current overview The 1983 legislative session is now open! It has been one hell of a year, but it's over, and it's time to look forward. The results of last year's session can be found here: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3943978&userid=166604&perpage=40&pagenumber=3#post514523540 Orders of the day: - You have all the technology to design and build an armed spacecraft, and a legislative mandate to do so this year. - You have a legislative mandate to finalize, and present to the world for ratification, a final draft of the Ascension Accords, the draft of which can be found here: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3943978&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=38#post513634019 - Determine whether or not to establish the Psychonaut Corps as suggested by the director of MOSA, and how it should be structured. - If you wish to make any policy or legislation changes in response to the events of March, you should feel free to do so. - Anything else you wish, really. You are the supreme legislative authority, after all. - You have already voted to construct and deploy surface-to-orbit railgun emplacements as soon as practical, and no further legislation is necessary on this part unless you want to further clarify numbers or organization. Deliberations will remain open for 72 hours. All proposals require a second. Each representative is limited to three bills. Omnibus bills are permitted. Feel free to ask any questions you may have or request any additional information you need. Reminder that the Discord can be found here: https://discord.gg/Gy4fBH8W Mister Bates fucked around with this message at 10:52 on Dec 1, 2021 |
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2021 10:45
|
|
|
Hmm, currently I am considering a bill that would allow for the following: An expansion of the economic ministry to handle unorganized space settlements. An establishment of the ability for autonomous, not yet independent republics such as lunagrad to create their own organizations for economic development, alongside handing them the ability to draw up and implement plans for the handover of gradual economic autonomy. The creation of a committee to coordinate between MOSA and the economic ministry. The implementation of powers to this committee to hand out charters with the prerogative to grant one to the fraternal order of mars. And finally, the granting of the ability to designate sites for colonization to this committee. What do people think?
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2021 11:33
|
|
|
what's the current status of our in-system exploration efforts? and with the new engines/scanners could we design and build a cheap, long range exploration ship to investigate further out? Pending positive answers to those questions, I'm proposing a bill to fund and implement the Krusenstern Initiative, a systematic survey of all the major bodies in the solar system.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2021 11:59
|
|
|
sebmojo posted:what's the current status of our in-system exploration efforts? and with the new engines/scanners could we design and build a cheap, long range exploration ship to investigate further out? Is that like, an official proposal? I think those need to be bolded.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2021 12:05
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 31, 2024 22:29 |
|
|
NewMars posted:Is that like, an official proposal? I think those need to be bolded. yep, i mean it's possible it's already happening in which case i can withdraw it but after Mars i think we need to push hard to find out what else is in the system with us.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2021 12:09
|
|