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 The exciting world of Aurora! Yes this game. The space 4x made in Visual Basic by a poker player. As bgreman’s excellent ongoing LP has shown, this game is both great fun and essentially a spreadsheet simulator. The best way to describe the game is a Turn-Based Dwarf Fortress in space. Where the game shines, is the story telling. The game includes something called Spacemaster Mode where you can tailor the game to your exact desire. Any lame premise can be explored for your own, or the internet’s enjoyment. Now with that segue, here is a brief overview of my lame premise. (The rest is further down if you really want to read the whole thing). In late 2014, the world was focused on Ebola rampaging throughout Africa which claimed near 5000 deaths. By 2029, 6 billion died to Venezuelan Hemorrhagic Fever, better known as the Scarlett Plague. Europe, the Americas and most of Central Asia have completely collapsed, leaving a small block of surviving powers. The People’s Republic of China, the Australasian Confederacy and the African Union, make up the new United Nation Security Council. Despite excellent relations and prosperity, tensions rose in 2048 amongst the new powers when the Confederacy took it upon itself to recolonize old western nations. In the resulting trade embargo and sanctions, Australasia was forced to concede the colonies and the United Reconstruction Charter Colonies was formed. Today’s world in 2061 is a very different world from 2014. The People’s Republic of China is widely considered the pre-eminent superpower. It has nukes, the world’s largest army and is an industrial giant. China’s discovery of the plague vaccine has won it significant goodwill amongst members of the UN, even 30 years after. But it lags greatly behind the Australasian Confederacy in terms of technology and wealth. In return for dropping the remaining sanctions, Australasia promises to share access to its revolutionary Trans Newtonian Physics. The world hasn’t forgotten the West’s meddling and the attempt at recolonizing old NATO lands unilaterally has damaged their reputation. The United Reconstruction Charter Colonies cover almost the entire landmass that made up the old NATO alliance. Presently it is weakest of all the new powers, yet with the help of the Confederacy and China it is rapidly building new state of the art Mines and repairing 50 year old heavy industry. Finally the African Union, the most populous nation on Earth. If you took the other three powers and combined their populations together, the African Union would still be almost double the other three. With the help of the Australasia and China, the African Union has been rapidly industrializing but is still trailing behind. With the 2061 General Assembly of the United Nations rapidly approaching. It has to been seen whether this uneasy peace will continue as Australasia and the UCCR begin to rapidly over take China and the African Union. Relations have normalized lately, but with new technology opening up the solar system and the limited Trans Newtonian minerals on Earth it is only a matter of time before competing off planet interests will cause tension. Viewer Participation First off, you will be picking the nation we play. There are 4 choices:- Australasian Confederacy, the United Reconstruction Charter Colonies, People’s Republic of China and the African Union. There will be much more information in the posts below. Secondly, there will be regular votes on how we will continue. I will present some options and you can all choose the path forward you want to do. Lastly, I will be taking names and suggestions for Ships and Commanders. Voting? Yep, it is the single most enjoyable part of any LP I take part off. More importantly it adds uncertainty to the game. All 4 powers on earth will be controlled by me directly and I’ve disabled NPRs (Non-Player Race. It’s the AI. I can’t control them with Spacemaster mode) for the time being. So to avoid the game playing out like a novel, I will give a few options for you all to vote on. The other way I will be keeping the game interesting will be to try and randomize the opposing powers. I will explain how when I get to it. So what now? You work out what particular country you want to see play and then vote on it. I’ll leave it for a little while and then we can get going on the game proper.
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Oct 30, 2014 13:32
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Western Media was focused on 3 new cases of African Ebola in New York when it struck. A young boy from Caracas was admitted into a local hospitals quarantine room overnight, only to be sent home to recover when the Ebola tests came up negative. By weeks end, the same hospital was overflowing with cases of Venezuelan Hemorrhagic Fever, better known now as the Scarlett Plague. One month later, Western Media was reporting on horrendous losses in Europe, China and America as the deadly plague spread throughout the world. In 2020 social order completely collapsed throughout all the America’s and Europe. In China, a strict quarantine put in at the last minute reduced the death rate to a mere 80% of the pre-plague population. Australia and New Zealand were mostly been able to escape any large loss of life thanks to the Tyranny of Distance. By the time the effects of the plague were well understood, a no fly zone was established and any boat heading to Darwin or another port succumbed to the fever long before it arrived. Africa, the epicenter of Ebola, by a small quirk of fate mostly escaped the effects of the plague. Sub-Saharan Africans enjoy some resistance to the plague and recover at a rate of about 50%. March 2029, the University of Beijing create the first viable vaccine to the Scarlett Plague, ridding the world of its devastation. In the end, 6 billion humans die to the plague. Three power blocks emerged from the aftermath. The Australasian Confederacy, the successor to NATO, Australia and New Zealand represented the remaining power of the west. In the flight from the West, millions of refugees flooded in from Europe and North America, granting the Australasian a huge arsenal of weapons and technology left over from NATO. The People’s Republic of China was the only sovereign nation to remain completely unchanged. Mostly depopulated now, it still had the largest industrial base in the world and enjoyed the status of the world’s only nuclear power. Finally the newly federated African Union. The largest nation, albeit non-industrialized and poor, enjoyed a thriving population. Stability and government had been established with the help of both the Australian Confederacy and Republic of China, who required the manpower and resources of Africa to fuel their economies. Massive infrastructure projects, western advisors and second hand Chinese factories rapidly closed the gap. The United Nations situated itself in the rebuilt city of Hanoi. The new UN was far more effective than the previous. With only 3 major powers and a dozen minor nations it was easier to build a consensus. Dismantling of the old US nuclear arsenal, the declaration of South America as a world park and credit transfers to Africa all came together with mutual co-operation and the world fell into an easy peace. The first test of the new world order came in 2048, when the Confederacy unilaterally declare, at the insistence of refugees from America, Canada and Europe, to recolonize old NATO lands. Eight million Australasian’s landed in the old state of California and a further three in France. This was done despite the protests of leaders from Africa and China. The Australasian Confederacy initially called a halt on the colonization to explore options to cooperate with the African Union and China. For a year, the three nations talked before finally the Union Party of the Confederacy lost its first election since 2024 amidst mass protests. The Australasia First Party won on a platform of refusing to kowtow to foreign interests and promised to restore the West’s position as the only superpower on the planet. Talks were immediately suspended and colonization outside of the coasts of America and Western Europe began to proceed. Billions of dollars was poured into infrastructure projects as investments into the African Union were pulled out. Angered, Africans and Chinese drafted sanctions and embargos against Australasia and its colonies. The Confederacy, facing severe resource shortages with the loss of product from African mines began to crack. Living standards, once the highest in the world slipped. Noted physicist, Alexander Andrews, was given the go ahead to research into new areas of Physics. Despite his work in the field, discovering a new fuel source called Sorium, demonstrations and highly visible defections from the Australasian First Party caused the Governor General to sack the government and invited the Union Party to form a new government. The new government immediately capitulated on all Australasian colonies in the Americas and Europe, handing control over to the UN. March 2051, Africa and China resumed normal trade relations. An emergency session of the UN was held, and by 2053 the question of the colonies was answered. A United Reconstruction Chartered Colonies was drafted, and self-rule was offered to the colonies. A corporate government was established and it began to mold the disparate colonies together. A major portion of the Charter dealt with co-operation towards the Three Powers. Resources extracted must be sold at favorable rates. It must freely accept colonists from any nation. Research was to be outsourced to the Charter to run for them, then licensed to the powers. Finally, it was not to have any military. Instead, it was guaranteed by the United Nation. Experimental new mines set up by the Andrew’s institute accelerated the production of minerals. 2057, the new research begun by Andrew’s was formerly introduced to the world. In return for the last of the sanctions to be lifted ahead of schedule, Australasian promised to share the new ‘Trans-Newtonian’ knowledge freely with the world. Huge quantities of new minerals were discovered below the crust of the earth, and with the backing of the Three Powers, additional mines were set up in the Charter Colonies to exploit the new minerals equitably. Australasian Industry transforms almost completely in the space of a year as its industry begins to retool. Despite assurances, China and Africa lag greatly behind the Confederacy and the Charter Colonies. The notes sent by Andrew Institute are far more technical than any would expect, requiring more time than expected to decipher. Despite 3 years of research, neither nation have managed to train enough of their scientists to make much use of the new technology. The Confederacy has promised to send more scientists and aid, but tensions are rising once again as China suspect that the Australasian’s are hindering efforts to expand their Trans Newtonian knowledge. Africa, still totally reliant on trade and industry from China falls in step but it is still to be seen if they will stand behind them if sanctions are re-issued. The AU may pressure the Charter Colonies to sell them all newly reactivated industry from North America at reduced prices instead of relying on China and align themselves with the technologically superior Australasian Confederacy. The Charter Colonies themselves are struggling. Required to sell the majority of resources they recover to the hungry Three Powers at a third of the market rate, they are struggling to reconstruct the old world. Their only saving grace are the research centers transferred to the rebuilt Detroit. The License fees enable them to buy back industry and equipment from the same countries they sell to; for a profit of course. The year is now 2061 and in a few days there will be a general assembly of the United Nations to drop the final sanctions on Australasia. Given the tension, is it possible for peace to prevail or will talks break down once again?
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Oct 30, 2014 13:33
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Australasian Confederacy (Confederacy) Brief History: The Australasian Confederacy is the successor of the West. After the devastation of the Plague the nations of New Zealand and Australia banded together with refugees from North America and Europe to create a new nation. Australasia retained the power from the west, with the American Aircraft Carrier fleets and all the technological advantages brought across the ocean by industry magnets and fleeing university staff. In 2029 Australasia was a signatory to the new United Nations and joined the African Union and the People’s Republic of China on the Security Council. Along with China, it provides technological expertise and industrial assets to Africa in an attempt to modernize the continent. Relations remained excellent until 2049 when the nation attempted to recolonize Europe and North America. Despite attempts at negotiation a new government was elected in the Confederacy which immediately called off the talks. Embargoes and sanctions hit the nation hard, despite Alexander Andrew’s ground breaking research into Sorium the Governor-General sacked the government and Australasia immediately surrendered it’s colonies to the UN. A new round of talks held in Hanoi resulted in the United Reconstruction Charter and all colonies were turned over to them. In 57, Andrew’s discoveries in Trans-Newtonian Physics was released to the public and in return for freely sharing the technology with the world the final sanctions against the Confederacy were dropped. Current State: Australasia is a nation of 96 million people. Its industry, while relatively small is the most advanced in the world and enjoys very few commitments to Africa. Despite poor relations with neighbors, the Confederacy is confident that it can regain trust of the UN. It is the largest producer of Sorium Fuel on the planet. In the upcoming meeting of the Security Council, Australasia is looking to avoid sending Andrew’s to China or Africa while still repair relations with the two other Powers. Points of Interest: Head of State:- Governor General Aaron Wallace Political Leader: Prime Minister Arthur Deschanel Party in Power: Unity (56% of seats) Pros: +++Researched Trans-Newtonian Physics ++Well Staffed Research Centres ++Moderately Converted Industry +No industry commitments Cons: ---Small Population ---Tiny Industry --Bad Relations with other nations -Credit Commitments to the AU Peoples Republic of China (PRC, or China) Brief History: The People’s Republic of China is the only sovereign nation on Earth to have gone through no major internal changes during the plague. Despite losing 80% of its pre-plague population, a well educated population numbering in the hundreds of millions was more than enough to maintain a status of superpower. In an effort to prevent further citizen deaths to Scarlett Plague, a landmark treaty was signed with forming African Union to provide manpower to Chinese Factories in return for PRC aid in industrializing African States. The creation of the vaccine was a major political victory for the Chinese and solidified the position as first among the three powers. Using this clout, it brought Australasia to the table and in return for Australasia joining the new UN as a member of the Security Council, it would help share the load in developing the African Union. This new era was a golden age for China. The colonization of Europe and North America was a shock for China, who saw this as an attempt by the Confederacy to annex territory and place the west back into first. The threat of sanctions by both China and Africa brought Australasia to the table for a time, but the victory of the Australasia First Party saw them disregard the threat of sanctions. After several years of sanctions and embargoes, they forced Australasia back to the table. In the biggest political win since the Vaccine they took the colonies away and created a neutral Charter subservient to the UN. Complacency was endemic, it came as a shock to everyone when the Confederacy completed a paper on Trans-Newtonian Physics. Being forced to end the last of the Sanctions early to secure access to Australasian researchers and physicists, the Politburo remains wary of Australasian intentions. Current State: China is wary of Australasia and blames them for their failure to complete research into Trans-Newtonian Physics. They are the world’s largest industry and with 527 million citizens, one of the largest nations on earth. They maintain a massive army and have decent relations with everyone except for Australasia. Acutely aware that it is possible for them to lose their position as the world’s superpower, they are intent on getting concessions out of Australasia in the next UN general assembly meeting. Ideally, they would like to end all industry transfers to Africa or restart Australasia’s. Points of Interest: Head of State: Jia Mei Zhen Premier: Shao Hui Qian Party in Power: Chinese Communists Pros: +++ Huge Industry ++ Large Army ++Large Population + Nukes Cons: --- No Research Completed --Few Research Centres --Industry Commitments to Africa -Credit Commitments to Africa United Reconstruction Charter Colonies (URCC, Charter Colonies) UCCR began life as western refugees in Australia and New Zealand. Having left Europe and Northern America to escape societal collapse, they joined together with locals to create the Confederacy. Content to ride out the plague in the relative safety of Australasia, the US and European Union continued to hold local elections in their host country, ensuring that there would be a clear path of succession when they returned. The concentrated effort to return only began after the Vaccine became freely available. The Union Party refused to offer any assistance in the return, fearing the reaction from China if they rocked the boat by rebuilding the United States, Canada and the European Union. It wasn’t until 20 years later that under the threat of losing an election to the Australasia First Party, who called for a return to Western dominance, that the gave the go ahead and resources to make a mass resettlement of North America and Europe. Life was not easy in colonies. Despite the enormous effort on the part of the Australasian Confederacy, the embargo and sanctions from the rest of the UN made it difficult to rebuild the western states. By 2051, a short 3 years since the return the colonies were reverted to UN control. Political representation from all the major powers and the colonies drafted up a charter that would govern the colonies moving forward. The United Reconstruction Charter stated exactly how the Colonies would be governed moving for. Each colony would have its own government and political representation in the UN, but a special Charter Company would be established to tax, develop and protect the colonies themselves. The Company would be made up of citizens from each of the colonies and the Three Powers. In theory this was meant to ensure that the reconstruction of the colonies went smoothly, quickly and without unfair favoritism from the powers. In Practice, unfair demands were made of the Charter Colonies to fuel the industrialization of the African Union. Resources were to be sold at a third of the market rate, recovered industrial assets could be sold at the request of any the Three Powers and it had to send regular shipments of the two to the African Union regardless. The Confederacy, worried that the Charter would be unable to maintain the grueling payments to the AU lobbied the UN General Assembly to allow them to build and deliver new state of the art mines and research facilities to the Charter Colonies. In a major win, the Chinese and African Union not only supported the move, they offered to ship off expensive research facilities to the Colonies to take advantage of the cheaper wages and technical knowhow of old Confederate citizens. The UCCR is now the world’s major researcher and is breaking even for the first time since in its existence. Trans-Newtonian Physics will soon be taught in every university, college and school throughout the colonies and may soon actually overtake Australasia’s position as one of the Big Three. Current State: The UCCR is made up of 47 million people, 60% Western, 25% African and 15% Chinese. For its size, it has a small industry but the real gem are the massive new mining complexes and research facilities that the UN have constructed. The Charter Colonies have excellent relations with everyone, but in particular with Confederacy. In the upcoming UN General Assembly, its members are hoping to reduce the handicaps its industry is faced with and stop the unfair payments to the African Union. Points of Interest CEO: Adam Murray Board of Directors: Charter Colonist Majority, Confederate Minority Pros: +++Completed Trans-Newtonian Physics ++Excellent Research Centres ++State of the Art Mines +Chance of randomly recovering Industrial Assets Cons: ---Tiny Population --Small Industry --Must sell resources and some recovered assets. African Union (Africa, AU) Brief History: The worlds gaze was on Africa for the wrong reason. Ebola was raging out of control in West Africa, and rather than deal with the problem head on the west simply allowed African nations to deal with the epidemic largely alone. Ironically, had they worked to contain Ebola they might have had the assets to deal with the far more deadly Scarlett Plague. Still, the same continent that was struggling with one disease found a reprieve from another far more deadly. By some quirk of fate, Sub Saharan Africans had resistance to the Plague. China, having lost a massive proportion of their population to the Plague needed replacement workers to run vital factories in plague hotspots. In a unique position, the African nations under the African Union negotiated generous credit and aid in industrializing the continent. They crewed the cargo ships, grew the food, mined the minerals and worked in the factories. As their lot in life improved, political overhaul and campaigns against corruption transformed the AU. By the time the new UN was being formed, the AU was presented as a single political entity. It had earned its right as one of the Big Three. Unwilling to jeopardize vital aid, the AU sided with China in the Colony tensions. It came as a relief when the Confederacy came back to the table and the United Reconstruction Charter was drafted. It was seen as political win when the option to purchase cheap industrial assets and outsource expensive research centres came up. The Confederate Trans-Newtonian advancement did not come as a shock to the AU. The Australasian’s had been exporting Sorium fuel for years and expected them to come out ahead of the Australasians. Promises of shared technology from the Australasian’s and licenses from the Charter Colonies is all the nation needs while it industrializes. Current State: The African Union, a collection of African States with a population numbering over 1.1 billion. For a nation the size it is, it has a poor population and tiny industry. Overall, it is still above the Confederacy and Charter Colonies in important factors but with new technology they expect this lead not to last forever. In the upcoming General Assembly, they are looking to minimize any reduction in aid or look for a compromise that will leave them better off. Points of Interest: Leader of the African Union: President Kanika Muthee Political Party in Power: Nigerian League Pros: +++Enormous Population ++Industry and Credit Transfers ++Moderate Industry +Excellent Relations Cons: ---Not completed any research --Poor Population --Poor Research capability
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Oct 30, 2014 13:33
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Seems like a cool premise, lets play the the United Reconstruction Charter Colonies and recolonize America, Europe and eventually the stars!
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Oct 30, 2014 14:25
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This sounds interesting. Bgreman's LP is excellent but it does get very difficult to follow so I hope this will be a bit better in that regard. Anyway, let's play as the African Union.
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Oct 30, 2014 14:27
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This sounds like a good setting. I vote we play as Australasia. Being upside-down doesn't matter when you're in space! Windy, are you using v6.4.3?
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Oct 30, 2014 16:12
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The United Reconstruction Charter Colonies. Any nation headed by a board of directors is bound to be a great one!
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Oct 30, 2014 16:46
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The United Reconstruction Charter Colonies, because who doesn't like the underdog?
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Oct 30, 2014 22:09
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mods rear end posted:This sounds like a good setting. I vote we play as Australasia. Being upside-down doesn't matter when you're in space! Yep I am using the latest version.
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Oct 30, 2014 22:21
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I'll be interested to see how this progresses. I've tried a couple of times to get into Bgreman's LP, but it's just way too impenetrable. So hopefully this will make some sort of sense  Anyway, URCC I guess...
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Oct 31, 2014 00:17
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Australasia! We better name our first jump ship the Harold Holt 
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Oct 31, 2014 00:22
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I know it isn't 24 hours, but I'll be ending the vote after I get back from work in 4~5ish hours and start the LP proper. The vote currently stands at: 4 for the United Reconstruction Charter Colonies 2 for the Australasian Confederacy 1 for the African Union
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Oct 31, 2014 02:12
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Zulu will ride again Africa
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Oct 31, 2014 02:16
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 Eternal is the glory of the peace loving peoples of China 
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Oct 31, 2014 02:25
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Africa will leverage its vast population and superior Monolith access into world domination. Of all the worlds.
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Oct 31, 2014 03:14
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Veloxyll posted:Zulu will ride again Africa The world shall know its new master, and that master is based in Lagos! Africa!
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Oct 31, 2014 03:18
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My hat's off to you Windy, I wish you luck in this game. I vote for Africa.
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Oct 31, 2014 04:30
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Africa, so we can replicate the accomplishments of east-central Africa in Poseidon's Children.
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Oct 31, 2014 05:12
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VOTING CLOSED I got home earlier than expected. Voting Tally 6 for the African Union 4 for the United Reconstruction Charter Colonies 2 for the Australasian Confederacy 1 for the People's Republic of China Africa is the victor, I didn't expect to see such a turnaround and had already been writing an update as if the UCCR had won. So there is some really good news for Africa from the rolls I did and I need to go rewrite some stuff. I will do an overview of the nation shortly and go with the first update. Lord Windy fucked around with this message at 05:51 on Oct 31, 2014 |
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Oct 31, 2014 05:42
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I assume you mean the Colonies. Since Africa only had 1 vote when you posted before
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Oct 31, 2014 05:50
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Veloxyll posted:I assume you mean the Colonies. Since Africa only had 1 vote when you posted before I guess I have Africa on the brain
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Oct 31, 2014 05:51
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Oh come on! I haven't even finished the first one! In fact, the percentage of 'finished' seems to decrease given how fast it's progressing. And while I HAD intended to vote, apparently voting's closed,
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Oct 31, 2014 06:55
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 “When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the lands.” Desmond Tutu Ours are the people who have been wronged. We have been enslaved, murdered, robbed and broken. Not since Mali, Egypt and Carthage has there been an empire on our continent that the world could envy. Our gold and our blood have been stolen since days long since forgotten. But we are no longer the worlds wiping boy. Africa has earned its position in this new world. The plague was a blessing in disguise, its presence forced us to work together and our resistance gave us the one thing the world lacked.  Manpower. Once again the sweat and blood of our people was needed, but this time it was our decision. The African Union manned the factories, crewed the ships and rebuilt the cities. In return, we have won our complete freedom. Famines are a thing of the past and corruption is a word you will only see in a history book. Every year more factories are built and more people are employed. Our friends in the People’s Republic of China have been good to us in this regard, we are now the second largest nation on earth in terms of heavy industry.  It wasn’t that long ago where 70% of all minerals mined in the world came from Africa. Our progress in extracting these new minerals Australasia discovered is slow. If the UCCR did not exist, I would have no idea how we could hope to mine enough to fuel our industry in the near future.  No longer can any nation take Africa piecemeal. We have the second largest army in the world and all the resources we need to construct a Nuclear Arsenal if there is ever the need. Any nation who hopes to hurt us will be crushed under the heel of African infantry and tanks.  Our greatest minds are working hard to instruct the new generations of scientists in Andrew’s new Trans Newtonian physics. Our government jumped at the chance to offload African research laboratories to the UCCR in an effort to expedite the construction of heavy industry. The great scientist Linidiwe Ndebele has been lobbying the government for years to return the research facilities to Africa to speed this process up. The people and the cultures of what is known as Africa are older than the word 'Africa.' According to most records, old and new, Africans are the oldest people on the face of the earth. The people now called Africans not only influenced the Greeks and the Romans, they influenced the early world before there was a place called Europe. – John Clarke
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Oct 31, 2014 07:25
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aerion111 posted:Oh come on! There will be a second vote very shortly. Just wrapping up that update.
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Oct 31, 2014 07:25
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United Nations General Assembly – January 2061 “I hear they are going to ask for Andrew to come head the program directly.” “Do you really think Australasia cares enough about luxury cars and holidays in Bali to put a halt to their supposedly ‘revolutionary’ nuclear reactor design?” Scoffed Shah. “You listen to far too many rumors.” Nkosi shrugged and continued to stare at the murals on the ceiling. The year of the Metal Dragon was rapidly approaching and the Chinese wanted to put this whole mess behind them before the New Year celebrations dominated the news. It was the only reason he could come up with to explain why they would be holding this assembly on January 1st of all times. Nkosi’s watch still said 3am in Nairobi. The nightlife would be going strong for another few hours. Shah reached over and shook Nkosi to attention. “It’s starting, get the Camera rolling.” Yawning, Nkosi centered the Camera on Melinda Shah and the podium. “Welcome back, this is Melinda Shaw from Sunrise News greeting you live from the UN General Assembly in Hanoi. Today we have been covering the event which is widely believed to result in the end of sanctions against the Australasian Confederacy. In a moment Ambassador Park will address the Assembly” Nkosi panned the camera to see the sharply dressed Park emerge from behind the Security Council bench. “This last few years have been ones of great progress for the human race. A brand new branch of physics has opened up, we are rapidly rebuilding the old world and according to our scientists we can expect man to land on the moon again in just another few years.” A team of Chinese rushed to set up visual aids. “Resolution 573 written directly after the United Reconstruction Charter dealt directly with sanctions on the Australasian Confederacy. The sanctions had been planned to expire in 2073 but there has been a change of situation.” Park stopped to point to a pie chart showing Australasian foreign aid. “Australasia has offered substantial aid to the 54 states of the African Union in addition to guaranteeing loans. Not to mention their generosity in making the Trans Newtonian Physics public domain. With this in mind, we ask the assembly to vote on ending Resolution 573.” Ambassador Brown from the Australasian delegation rose. “Clearly we will not use our veto here.” Chuckles came from the back right corner. Brown’s face reddened. “We do wish to thank Ambassador Park for his efforts on our behalf.” Park nodded and gestured towards Ambassador Mkuu. Standing, she clearly stated. “We want to thank our esteemed colleagues from China and Australasia. This aid goes above and beyond our wildest expectations and we would like to make….” VOTING TIME Pick one or the other and in 12 to 24 hours I will close this and we can really get started. 1. “… an amendment. With the additional funds we no longer need to burden the Charter Colonies with paying for our reconstruction. Currently the UCCR provides us a portion of their reconditioned industrial assets. With the unexpected bounty we can cease this program and allow the Colonies to use the aid to build up their own city.” +Relations to Australasia, China and the UCCR. Can no longer buy and take Conventional Industry from the UCCR 2. “… an announcement. This unexpected boon goes above and beyond what we were expecting. With this in mind, we now have the ability to industrialize our nation further than we could ever have hoped. So I am pleased to announce that we will be bringing our Research Centres back to Lagos.” -Relations to UCCR and Australasia. +2 Research Centres Current Relations China:- +150 Relations and no tension Australasia:- +96 Relations and no tension +50 UCCR:- +25 Relations and no tension Relations are very simple. Consider it like a Paradox Game, high relations will make it very unlikely the other will go against you and vice versa. But just because you have very bad relations doesn't mean they will go to war with you. Tension is what comes into play there. The higher the tensions the closer to war we come. As all out war is basically a death sentence for now, it will mostly involve greater and greater acts of espionage and sabotage. EDIT: Sorry I had to wait this long. Someone hit my car and had to deal with that.
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Oct 31, 2014 11:29
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I vote for 2. The hit to relations will suck, but right now we really need research so we're not too late to the Trans-Newtonian party. And Australasia probably can't get too mad at us since their goal here is to repair relations.
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Oct 31, 2014 12:10
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2. We will not lose the space race!
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Oct 31, 2014 15:00
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1. We will astonish the world with our gratitude.
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Oct 31, 2014 15:37
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2. We'll be the top of the gravity well this time.
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Oct 31, 2014 17:59
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2. Two research labs and we can still buy CI.
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Oct 31, 2014 20:41
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2 Right now we could REALLY use some more brains.
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Oct 31, 2014 21:44
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There is nothing like Aurora for errors. I got an overflow error that broke the game. I am glad I had backups of the original database so I didn't have to restart completely. VOTING IS OVER Option 2 has won. I am sorry it was a bit of a lame choice. Now to explain how this CI industry works for us. There are two ways the AU are being industrialised. The first is getting industry directly from UCCR. At the moment they are rapidly rebuilding Europe and North America’s industry to the tune of 1d4-1 (IE, they roll a 1, you take one away which gives them a score of 0) a month. That gives them a maximum of 3 a month or 36 a year. The fun part of this is we get 1 of these a month even if they don’t roll anything, in return we reimburse them 1200 credits or $120 billion a year. Now you can see why they don’t particularly like us. The 1d4 goes on for another 5 years or until the UCCR converts away its last Conventional Industry. Once that happens CI industry transfers stop to us stops. The second way is through foreign aid. China has pledged to increase our industry by 6% a year and Australasia by 4%. For every percent they pledge it costs 2% for China and 3% for Australasia to maintain or 12% each. Basically this just means until they stop the aid the industry they use for this will go towards nothing. This gives us 32 free industry a year, or 2.6 a month. 2.6 doesn’t go evenly to 2 one month and 3 the other so I will add an extra 2 industry at the end of the year to make up for it. This will not last forever and will become a cause for tension in the future unless we play relations just right. Africa does lag behind everyone, yet we are the player so I think we can make up any shortfalls. Options for the PRC: 1. Request Andrews in return for dropping sanctions 10% 2. Request Australasia to restart Industrial transfers to Africa, reduce their own and drop sanctions 40% 3. Request Australasia to restart Industrial Transfers to Africa, don’t reduce their own commitments and drop sanctions 30% 4. Drop Sanctions and request nothing 10% 5. Don’t drop sanctions.10%  Options for Australasia: 1. Accept without complaint 50% 2. Accept and give more industry than asked 20% 3. Accept but ask Africa to stop buying Industry off the UCCR 20% 4. Refuse 10% 
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Nov 1, 2014 03:08
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Lecture 01: The Beginning of the 2nd Space Race 2061-January-2nd to 2064-May-16th Good morning all, I am Professor Baxter and I will be taking you through the Post Plague History 2001, or the 2nd Space Race. Ordinarily I would welcome new students to the University of Zambia and give an overview of the semester but our lectures hours have been cut. So let’s get started.  Obviously everyone here recognizes Mrs. Mabuza from primary school. I suspect some of your great grandparents remember her very fondly. In January 2061 her administration had just started after replacing the incumbent President Muthee. The Nigerian League was in freefall after the scandal of 59, where the President was cheating on her wife with an intern. The unexpected boon of the UN Summit, and yes it was unexpected, don’t listen to granny when she says it was all because President Mabuza applied pressure to the Confederacy and China. That victory fell into her lap, China and Australasia were in the middle of a pissing contest over which country was top dog. The Premier of China wasn’t going to be reduce commitments to us just because Australasia could take up slack. No, Ambassador Mkuu was too busy creating a Charter crisis by relocating Union research labs back from Detroit. You don’t have to look hard to find people who are still pissed about that.  Don’t think for one second that I believe President Mabuza is undeserving of the praise she is given. Overseeing an annual economic growth rate of 10% for as long as she did is astounding. In 3 short years the African Union constructed more factories than the Confederacy converted to Trans-Newtonian materials. But we don’t care about her right this second, we are more concerned about what she did after the space race had started.  This man we do care about. In March 2062, the father of TN became the father of intergalactic travel. Alexander Andrew’s completed work on his revolutionary Pressurized Water Reactor. This right here is why we don’t pay for electricity anymore. It was so efficient that the government had to buy out electric companies and provide the service themselves. Nobody was sad to see them go. To Andrew’s this was only the beginning. The sheer power these babies pumped out had applications to space travel and he successfully lobbied his government to fund…  The Nuclear Thermal Engine. He completed this in 2063 but it was kept so well hidden nobody else knew about it. Luke Yates from the URCC was designing the exact same thing, it’s just a shame that he didn’t finish his until 2064 otherwise we would be learning about him rather than Andrews. The Australasian government kept this so hush-hush for a reason. Back in the 50’s the soviets launched a satellite named Sputnik. The little machine captured the imagination of the entire world. The Unity Party wanted to do the same thing, but justified the expense to themselves by promising hesitant party members to do as an exercise in geographical surveying. Nobody had been in space since the plague started. It only seemed right to do something good with all this technology.   Andrew’s spent the next 12 months paving the way for Australasian Space Agency. As an aside, he married in the preceding months and had changed his name to Andrew-Wellington. Just if you were wondering why you had no clue who this Wellington person is. Moving on, the governments of Africa and China knew exactly what the Confederacy was planning. The Confederacy weren’t idiots, behind closed doors they let the two of the Big Three in on the secret. Nobody wants an ICBM greeting when China misinterprets the massive missile taking off as a warhead. As the event drew closer, members of the media and local governments got informed. The date, 11th of May was picked to launch. Exactly 2 days after the paint dried on the brand new ASA Launch Centre up in the Kimberlee.   At the stroke of midnight the first rocket was launched. It was the fasted rocket man had ever made. Two minutes into the flight radar stations were reporting a maximum speed of 700km/s. In five minutes, it was halfway to the moon  6 minutes in the second rocket was launched. Flying high into the sky, the AI onboard the rocket decided to completely ignore the target of Mars and go sightseeing over the planet. Don’t ask me why, we still don’t have sentient AIs and these rockets were certainly not powerful enough to develop free will. There are countless theories and explanations you can read in your own time. Thinking the missile was lost, the Mercury bound rocket was reprogrammed and the Venus rocket pushed forward.  At 11 minutes exactly the first rocket landed at the moon. Celebrations started up everywhere, kids were woken by parents to watch the first new pictures of the moon on TV. Nobody even cared that the second rocket had failed to leave towards Mars.  Everyone was really confused at this point. 20 minutes past midnight the remaining rockets all launched. Mercury and Venus had no issue following orders, but even the second Mars rocket refused to go to Mars. Instead it met up with the first rocket and did nothing together.  And as bizarre it was, both rockets decided to leave together towards Mars. Everyone put your hands down. I don’t have time for crackpot theories. We don’t have much time left. Data was streaming in the Moon and all there was left to do was anxiously wait for the other rockets to arrive.   Venus and Mercury arrived on the 12th and the 13th respectively. To the utter surprise of everyone including Andrew’s who made the survey probes, the new TN materials held up under the extreme environments of the planets. There had not been any time to test the probes before being sent out.  Finally on the 16th, the two Mars probes landed safely to the utter shock of everyone who expected them to go do their own thing.  5 short days completely changed the course of humanity. Before the plague visiting Mars would take a minimum of 6 months. Now the journey could be done in less time than a cruise of the Caribbean. If your great grandparents are around make sure you ask them. If they are old enough to remember then they will tell you all anyone wanted to talk about afterwards was Space. Before then it wasn’t on anyone’s minds. It was considered something that was over. Now the African Union and China had to deal with angry constituents wondering why they weren’t the first nation back in space.  Entering stage left was President Mabuza. Remember her? This is where she actually trumps the economic miracle she was leading. For the past 6 months the Chinese had been defaulting on their payments to the African Union. Recently declassified documents show they were reeling from the discovery of the ASA back in late December. Instead of producing the industry for Africa, China was going full speed ahead on trying to catch up to the Australasian Confederacy. Despite not matching Australasia and the URCC in Trans-Newtonian physics they were attempting to build a shipyard in space with conventional rocketry. President Mabuza’s inaction was being called to attention in Congress. Politician’s already furious that the AU was being left behind in the space race were certainly not going to suffer the indignity of also losing their nation welfare. They seemed to have forgotten that the AU were only 6 months away from being officially TN ready and the Chinese still had at least another two years. And that is where we are going to leave it for today. Tutorials start on Thursday and I expect you all to read chapters 1 through 3 and answer the questions below. VOTING TIME Question 1: What did President Mabuza discuss with her Chinese counterpart? A: President Mabuza asked that the Chinese restart the industry transfers. Economic development is vital to the AU and the PRC beating the Australasians in the long run. A chance of relations change, both negative and positive. Industry delivery restarts. B: In closed talks, President Mabuza and the Chinese agreed to a secret deal. In return for dropping Industry repayments, the African Union and the Chinese would enter into a technology sharing deal and the Chinese would build a second slipway in their Shipyard for the African Union. +Relations with China, an excellent chance of getting a free shipyard C: Despite the close relations to the PRC, they made an issue of the industry transfers. Today we know that is because a secret agreement with the Australasian’s to force the issue with the Chinese creating disharmony and the AU would immediately receive license-free technologies from the Confederacy. +Tensions with China, -Relations with China. Immediately get TN Tech, Thermal Engine, the Reactor and Geological Survey Sensors Question 2: How did President Mabuza attempt to close the gap in the Space Race? A: The charter of the URCC granted the right for all nations to license its technology. Despite the difficult relations between the two, President Mabuza asked for an Authorization from Congress to license all technology from the URCC. A chance of tech sharing deal, a chance to improve relations B: The tensions between URCC and the African Union would make licensing expensive. The Union offered instead to reverse the flow of aid as an attempt to lower the price of licenses. ++relations with URCC. Definite chance of tech sharing deal C: Australasia was in the lead technologically. President Mabuza asked the representatives of the 54 states for a mandate to agree to any deal the Confederacy offers. +Relations with Australasia. A chance of a tech sharing deal D: President Mabuza made the case to the Union Senate to purchase and privately build 2 new Research Centres from the Republic of Japan. In two years we get another 2 research centres. It will cost us 60000 credits, or $6 trillion dollars. Question 3: True or False? President Mabuza called for a meeting of the Security Council. There the leaders attempted to create a pact to freely share all nonmilitary technology together to further the human race. Nothing yet, a chance of sharing all technology between partners. Chance of creating bad tension between partners. Relations China:- +150 Relations and no tension Australasia:- +71 Relations and no tension -25 UCCR:- 39 Relations and no tension -64 How to vote! Simply format the vote as such: AAT or BBF (T for True, F for false and the letters for the option you want). Lord Windy fucked around with this message at 10:44 on Nov 2, 2014 |
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Nov 2, 2014 08:47
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CBT. We have to close the tech gap.
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Nov 2, 2014 11:00
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CCF For the first vote, I think the instant tech gain is too good to turn down at this stage, although I think we'll have to avoid increasing tensions with China any more than this since they are still the military superpower and we don't want to get too much on their bad side. The second vote is less obvious, but I think it makes sense to improve relations with Australasia if we're going to distance ourselves a bit from China. B sounds good just from the bolded bits but I don't like the sound of reversing the flow of aid. As for the last vote, I chose F because after the first two choices I don't think we'll be in desperate need of further tech-sharing and avoiding more tensions (especially with China) could well be more important.
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Nov 2, 2014 11:11
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BBF A free shipyard is basically TN industry we get for free. Plus if we can get a tech sharing deal with the Ozzinauts, we'll get those techs anyhow. And probably more.
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Nov 2, 2014 12:59
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BDT- This gets us some quick industry, some better short-term research speed, and much better long-term research.
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Nov 2, 2014 14:47
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CBF.
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Nov 2, 2014 18:08
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Slaan posted:BDT- This gets us some quick industry, some better short-term research speed, and much better long-term research. This.
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Nov 2, 2014 18:34
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I hope our version of Space Africans is better than other depictions of Space Africans
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Nov 2, 2014 23:02
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