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[Kashyyk]

Choo choo!

POI Actions:
Take Over Westlan Broadcast Center (4): m1895, Powder Miner, Quarque, Kashyyk
Take Over North Point Observatory (4): m1895, Powder Miner, Quarque, Kashyyk

Resource Action:
Caelium to Frosty Mountains (1): m1895
Wood to Coniferous Forest (3): Powder Miner, Quarque, Kashyyk

[Man of Paper]

Strategy Phase

This season saw the creation of a Wood logging operation in the Coniferous Forest, bringing UNSA's total Wood to 3. This results in the following changed in the armory:

Briefcase Full of Money becomes (CHEAP)

After-Action Report

Agents working for the intelligence services of UNSA have quite easily made contacts within the upper management of the Westlan Broadcast Center, including everyone from mailroom clerks to editors to the CEO of Westlan Broadcasting itself. The Broadcast Center takes up a number of the upper floors in one of Harren City's recently developed commercial highrise buildings. With the faces and voices bringing the news to the people under their thumb, the UNSA should have a fairly easy time taking advantage of the multitudinous opportunities it should provide.

UNSA agents have also had success infiltrating the North Point Observatory. Research and studies performed at the facility are now wholly converted to UNSA-approved methodologies and will no longer teach the foul and corrupt ideologies and mindsets of the South. This should help increase the flow of proper UNSA-aligned intellectual minds into the workspace, and some extra funding by "shadow donors" means some control over the larger-scale research projects they undertake. 

While we seek to unify those within our borders the SGS is subtly beginning to move against us, spewing Communist lies in an attempt to brainwash the good people of the South against us. Loyalist civilians in the south have trickled rumors back across the border of unusual activity within the Loz and Sons Law Firm and the Harren University of the Sciences. As always, the SFS is strengthening their propaganda machine and corrupting intellectuals.

Credits will be added every turn, so will not be explicitly mentioned as being added to the spoiler in each report.

----------------

It is now the Design Phase. You have two designs to create once again. I'll continue providing estimates and feedback until I feel you've gotten the hang of things.


""""ART"""" CONTEST!

Propaganda! Who would ever expect such a thing!? Between the posters being slapped onto the wall, spray paint popping up everywhere, and government pamphlets upselling how good the government is, someone somewhere is always trying to make you think like them. Well, what sort of art is being pushed out to convince the people the SFS are bad? Quality of the art itself is minimally considered, with a larger emphasis on tone (memes are good, but they are unlikely to win the contest unless they're really good). You are allowed ONE SUBMISSION to be posted IN THIS THREAD. The winner as determined by me will become canon, and will face off against the SFS' best submission. The winner of that contest will receive a SECRET PRIZE while the loser receives a LESS IMPRESSIVE SECRET PRIZE! Both will be posted in the Core Thread by myself. Keep in mind that any hidden features of your armory or OPSEC revealed within the propaganda will not be censored should it win - it'll be considered a reveal for propaganda purposes.

Spoiler: UNSA Armory (click to show/hide)

Land
UNSA Model 1936A "Median" Self-Loading Rifle: A 4.5 kg, meter long semiautomatic rifle. It fires 7.92x57mm rounds fed into the weapon by a 20-round box magazine. It has variable sights and is effective to 600 meters. Costs 2 Ore and 2 Wood. (CHEAP)
-"Dallas" Sportsman Carbine: A 4kg, 900cm long semiautomatic rifle. It fires 7.92x57mm rounds fed into the weapon by a 5-round box magazine. It comes with a 2x scope with mildot markings. Effective to 600 meters. Susceptible to jamming in unfavorable conditions. Costs 2 Ore and 2 Wood. (CHEAP)
M1 Hand Grenade: A baseball-shaped hand grenade. Causes a lethal blast within 5m, and injures those within 15m. The shape allows for improved accuracy and distance with throwing, but is prone to rolling around until it detonates. Costs 2 Ore. (CHEAP)

UNSA Model 1941 "Combine" Machine Gun: Utilizes 7.92x57mm rounds on 60-round belts that can be linked together for sustained fire. The barrel rarely overheats even at it's 650 rpm fire rate, but effectiveness drops past 1000m. Costs 4 Ore. (EXPENSIVE)
M2 Lawless 120mm: A 120mm artillery piece capable of HE shells. Requires significant maintenance for the uncommon-but-not-uncommon-enough event of a jam, but otherwise works well enough. Can fire shells out to 15km. Costs 6 Ore. (VERY EXPENSIVE)


Sea
Herring-Class Destroyer: A 115m long ship with 120mm belt armor and 100mm elsewhere. Travels at 35 knots. Armed with a triple torpedo mount and 3x2 120mm rapid firing guns capable of firing AP and APHE. Costs 5 Ore and 3 Oil. (VERY EXPENSIVE)


Air
F-42 "Daedalus" Fighter: A three-bladed propeller aircraft capable of reaching speeds of 600km/h. Has a low rate of climb, but is incredibly agile. Armed with four 23mm cannons. Costs 3 Ore and 3 Oil. (EXPENSIVE)

B-43 "Barragan" Strategic Bomber: A large high-altitude bomber powered by four propellers for a maximum speed of 558 km/h. Can protect itself with 10 23mm cannons paired in four turrets and the tail barbette to provide almost total coverage. Can haul up to 6000kg of bombs or a nuclear device. Costs 4 Ore and 5 Oil. (VERY EXPENSIVE)


Other
Fabricated Papers: False identification papers that should allow relatively easy access to enemy territory across The Wall. Costs 2 Wood. (CHEAP)

Visas, Permits, and Biometrics: Color-coded paperwork denoting a person's time permitted within the city and to what ends. Visas also include hair and eye color and a fingerprint code Checkpoints at borders and throughout the Fortress-City, as well as important government facilities, provide stamps for people's visas, allowing law enforcement and military police to trace someones route to that point and more easily identify discrepancies. If issues are discovered, people will be held until they are either corrected or confirmed fraudulent. This process can take a little bit of time, but is very reliable. Deportation occurs soon after fraudulent papers are identified. Costs 2 Wood. (CHEAP)

Briefcase Full of Money: A briefcase with a hidden compartment full of money. Agents and operatives are given these as emergency funds and bribes for targets. Money is a little expensive, but access to the full range of worldwide currencies means the target's preferred cash will be of little issue. Costs 4 Wood. (CHEAP)

Enriched Uranium Bomb: A fission bomb utilizing 64kg of Uranium-235 in order to achieve an explosive blast equivalent to 15 kilotons of TNT. Can be deployed via Strategic Bomber. Two Available [Availability based on available Fissile resources].

Spoiler: Resources (click to show/hide)

Ore: 2
Wood: 3
Oil: 2
Fissiles: 2
Caelium: 2

Spoiler: Resource Nodes (click to show/hide)

Frosty Mountains: None x3
Coniferous Forest: Wood x1, None x2
Pine Barrens: None x3
Icy Peaks: None x3
Swamp: None x3
Farmlands: None x3
Northern Range: None x3
Northern Scar: None x3
Cratered Fields: None x3

Spoiler: Harren PoIs (click to show/hide)

UNSA
Abbera Central Allied Banking: A bank in the walled upper-class community in the east of the Fortress-City with ties to the defunct monarchy that ran the northern island for a few years. Provides and Expense Credit each turn. NEUTRAL
Westlan Broadcast Center: A tall building used for both radio and television broadcasts locally. Provides an Advantage Credit each turn. AFFILIATED
North Point Observatory: A building used to study the skies. Provides a Research Credit each turn. AFFILIATED
Tri-Dream Telecoms: A telecommunications business that provides service to the (northern half of the) Harren Islands. Provides a Sabotage Credit each turn. NEUTRAL

SFS
Tonngaza Refinery: A fuel refinery built on the southernmost tip of the Fortress-City. Provides an Expense Credit each turn. NEUTRAL
Loz and Sons Law Firm: A building housing all the knowledge of law (and peoples secrets) that one might need. Provides an Advantage Credit each turn. AFFILIATED
Harren University of the Sciences: The most prestigious education center on the island. Provides a Research Credit each turn. AFFILIATED
Glaza Private Detective Agency: A popular investigative service among locals. Provides a Sabotage Credit each turn. NEUTRAL

Spoiler: Credits (click to show/hide)

Advantage Credit x1
Research Credit x1

Spoiler: World Map (click to show/hide)

Key:
Red=SFS Territory
Green=UNSA Territory
Grey=Neutral Nations
Orange=Old World

Spoiler: Islands Map (click to show/hide)

Key:
Red=SFS Territory
Green=UNSA Territory
Dark Grey=The Wall
Blue=Ocean

TURNTURNTURN

[Quarque]

This should serve as a building block for future designs. I believe that spending both credits on this is worth it, because it will snowball into many later designs.

Design, uses 1 research credit and 1 advantage credit

Levisteel is an alloy of Iron, Chromium, Nickel, Carbon and Caelium. It is developed to have the following qualities:

• ultra-lightweight
• great yield strength
• great tensile strength
• rust resistant

The emphasis on finding a material with high tensile and yield strength while being reasonably ductile resulted in lesser shear strength, meaning it is not the best material for cutting edges. It is gleamy, with a faint aquamarine hue. It does conduct electricity, but not nearly as well as copper. It resists heat about as well as normal steel. Hitting a Levisteel object emits a surprisingly dull sound (and makes you chase it as it flies off).

[Kashyyk]

I want Nuclear powered warmachines, and so we need a Nuclear Reactor. We could be normal and use it for submarines, Warships and the like, or we could go fun and stick them in tanks, mecha and aircraft too.

Nuclear Fission has produces a spectacular amount of energy. Enough for even a single Reactor to make a significant contribution to the National Grid. The basic concept should be in the records somewhere as part of our research on the Enriched Uranium Bomb, so most of this work is maximising net positive energy whilst ensuring a safe and secure facility.

Our new Fission Reactor splits its fissile material with removable "breakers", that can be raised up and down to manage the self-sustaining Fission reaction. In the case of emergency shutdown, or a failure in Breaker control, they will be dropped and break the reaction (hence the name). The heat generated from the reaction is used to power a traditional steam turbine. Because that's what all power plants end up being.

[ConscriptFive]

Since we're leaning so hard on paper, let's get into underground leaflets and propaganda.

Unless our Northern Neighbor, the UNSA values freedom, especially Freedom of the Press.  However, that freedom cannot be exercised unless you have a press.  If we wish to extend freedom into Harren City and beyond, the "Gutenberg" ruggedized mimeograph is the way forward.

A desktop piece of unpowered office equipment, the hand-cranked "Gutenberg" mimeograph is a low-cost means of mass-printing hundreds of leaflets.  For those unfamiliar with how this decades old technology works, a stencil sheet is loaded into a typewriter.  The indented typed sheet is then affixed to the mimeograph drum, where it can be used hundreds of times to print duplicate leaflets.  For those with more artistic inclinations, a penlike stylus can be used to manual etch lines for illustration on the stencil.  The master stencil should store indefinitely so long as it doesn't get worn out.

The primary machinery of the "Gutenberg" system consists of the aforementioned hand-cranked mimeograph, and a common field typewriter.  With paper, ink, stencils and a stylus, the overall system wears under 25 kg and fits in a large water-resistant footlocker.  Whether it be the common school teacher, church pastor, student activist, or guerilla propagandist, all of them can get their message into sympathetic hands with the "Gutenberg."

Propaganda is always kinda esoteric in an AR, but it sounds like a great way to get Harren University into our hands in the near-future.

I concede this tech was relatively obscure unless you really love this period.  I actually though mimeographs and "ditto machines" were the same thing until I researched them today:



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimeograph

Boomers tend to have fond memories of them because all their school worksheets were mass printed by them.  Costing as low as 500 bucks in present day dollars, it was how a lot of indy small volume press got physically published back then: Beatnik poetry, sci-fi zines, feminist tracts, etc.  Of more relevance, the Resistance used them for underground newspapers during Nazi occupation.

Oh yeah, and here's how the CIA used them to overthrow the Commies of Guatemala in 1954 Operation PBSUCCESS:

https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000915367.pdf

[Quarque]

art submission

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Man of Paper]

Levisteel is Very Hard since, as with the Gravity Pellets, it's the first time you're working with caelium in the armory and you're heavily modifying it. Without anything specific attached as a design to get an idea of scope and scale of levisteel's initial aims your engineers will not have the easiest time figuring out what specific specifications they should be aiming for.

Project Hot Mess edges into Very Hard just under Theoretical. Cracking out a nuclear reactor without having issues can be a little problematic without prior successes.

Gutenberg is Easy, nothing especially complex or specialized with a mimeograph and typewriter or the "training" needed to use them (when compared to other things utilized by the military-industrial complex).

[Quarque]

I do want a nuclear power plant, but right now having one easy design to help purging enemy POI influence sounds perfect. Levisteel has good odds of coming out well with the credits.

Levisteel: (1) Quarque
Project Hot Mess:
"Gutenberg" Ruggedized Mimeograph and Typewriter: (1) Quarque

[Powder Miner]

This pistol awaiting Rafficacation by m later (in other words, replace my placeholder gun); I realized I had enough really vital specifics in mind for the espionage pieces of the pistol design we were talking about that it would be best to write them myself rather than hector him about the wording, but have him do the actual gun work because he's the engineer here

The North Harren Arms "Placeholder" 9mm pistol is a small pistol chambered in 9x19mm rounds; with a 15-round capacity manufactured by the North Harren Arms company (which is of course actually a UNSA front; who else would start a company called "North Harren Arms" with the wall fresh?). The primary characteristics of its rifle are its stopping power (which will suffice well for any civilian purposes, whether those be plain civilian, police, security, or criminal), its easiness to fire and fast rate of fire for a semi-auto gun, and above all else its discreteness and its reliability, even if its range and accuracy do slightly suffer.

The gun is designed to be a hit on the civilian market in ways that the Dallas never could have been, with a single Dallas serving an individual or organization well for several years with normal maintenance, on top of being tremendously easy to get around (and, you know... tremendously easy to smuggle). The intent for this is in fact somewhat sinister. Sure, the gun is meant to naturally spread itself into the hands of the civilians and police of North Harren City and Abbera, allowing for some level of security there (and in the second-to-worst-case scenario we could face), but it is also meant to be absolutely irresistible for criminal enterprises, most especially of all those criminal enterprises on the other side of the wall. Fortunately for them, the gun is meant to be eminently smuggleable, with the small size of the weapon allowing it to be concealed in all sorts of locations with secure ease, from clothing to cargo to even (as a funny hypothetical) the false compartments of briefcases. From the UNSA's perspective, the presence of this gun all over both sides of Harren City will allow a UNSA agent using one of these weapons to come off as a petty criminal - even in South Harren!

Of course, upon being confronted with the presence of such a brilliant and definitely independently civilian-manufactured pistol in their territory, with a very glaring lack of any sidearm in their inventory, UNSA peacekeeper forces in Harren will eventually work out a contract with the manufacturers for adopting the item into regular military usage. But only after sufficient public grumbling and hesitance - clearly, it is a matter of frustration for the UNSA that they had to rely on this North Harren company's incredible, superior gun instead of being able to make one of comparable quality themselves!

[Quarque]

The Levisteel above was put in rather technical terms, so here is a rewrite. It's still basically the same -- just rewriting it to make it more clear what it is and what it is for.

Design, uses one Advantage credit and one Research credit.

Our engineers are tasked to create an alloy that is perfect when you need plates to form an ultralight, but resilient and durable structure. The model example of an application is an airplane: the lower the weight, the better - but at the same time it needs to resist breaking or tearing. Other applications it would have include rockets (every ounce counts there too) or shiphulls (a low weight hull increases the load capacity).
If all goes well, the plan is to use it as the base for other large structures as well, but those are still just a dream at the moment.

Further requirements are that it should be at least fairly resistant to rust and that it should be possible to bend it a little bit without breaking - both also important in airplane design.

In technical terms, the goal is to find a material with high tensile and yield strength, while having the lowest possible weight, be reasonably ductile and resist corrosion. Of note is that it does not need to have good shear strength (i.e., it does not need to be good for sharp edges). Electrical and magnetic properties do not matter.

After frantic experimentation, engineers find that the best result is gained from an alloy consisting of 62% Iron, 24% Caelium, 9% Chromium, 3% Nickel and 2% Carbon. They dub the material "Levisteel". It has a faint aquamarine hue. Hitting it emits a surprising dull sound.

[Quarque]

Sorry I can't resist.. this is in every Bond movie so I just have to know how hard it would be.

A swimming pool. The water has to be filtered crystal clear, so that anyone taking a brief look is freaked out by the menacing piranha's swimming in it. The bottom of the pool is littered with cow bones without a shred of meat left. Captured enemy spies can be suspended above the pool with a pulley system, until they beg for mercy and spill their secrets.

[ConscriptFive]

Easy?  You think writing is "easy?"

Unlike our Southern Neighbor, the UNSA values freedom, especially Freedom of the Press.  However, that freedom cannot be exercised unless you have a press.  If we wish to extend freedom into Harren City and beyond, we'll have to give the oppressed a "Fourth Estate."

Inside a airdrop-capable crate rigged with a parachute, the basics of a underground newsletter can be found.

The core of the "Fourth Estate in a Box" is a desktop piece of unpowered office equipment, a hand-cranked mimeograph is a low-cost means of mass-printing hundreds of leaflets.  For those unfamiliar with how this decades old technology works, a stencil sheet is loaded into a typewriter.  The indented typed sheet is then affixed to the mimeograph drum, where it can be used hundreds of times to print duplicate leaflets.  For those with more artistic inclinations, a penlike stylus can be used to manually etch lines for illustration on the stencil.  The master stencil should store indefinitely so long as it doesn't get worn out.

Included with the mimeograph, is a common field typewriter, paper, ink, stencils, stylus, pencils, dictionary, and thesaurus.  The water-proof footlocker crate has a diagram printed on the inside how to convert it into a field desk with four provided legs.  (Lest the end-user prove completely unresourceful, another note points out that the parachute silk makes excellent bedding.)  Fully functional without electricity, the Fourth Estate can function in the most savage of environments: guerilla mountain hideaways, abandoned bomb shelters, or even freshmen dormitories.

Whether it be the common school teacher, church pastor, student activist, or guerilla propagandist, all of them can get their message into sympathetic hands with the Fourth Estate.

TLDR: Added some additional office supplies, stuck it in an airdrop-capable crate with a parachute that can be converted into a desk.

[Man of Paper]

Placeholder would be Easy, but it's riding Very Hard specifically due to the intent of setting up successful relatively large scale arms smuggling operations over a solid closed semihostile border. That ain't easy.

Levisteel II is indeed still Very Hard since it's just a rewrite of the original.

Swimming Pool Full of Piranhas puts the Fun in Functionally Useless. It's again a fun idea, but it doesn't do anything at all in terms of the game.

Fourth Estate is Ludicrous - it's not only airdropping relatively sensitive equipment, but it's doing so over enemy territory. Pulling it off successfully will be much harder than smuggling something on land across the border. Definitely not easy.

[Kashyyk]

In a Modern War, battlefields can be found anywhere.

With "moving pictures" now a familiar concept across the UNSA, the film industry is taking off like a storm. To ensure industrial standards, certify quality, and even reward those exceptional individuals within the industry, the International Film Board is formed, with their HQ in Lückovik County, Endicar.

Naturally film studios, skilled labour and wannabe film stars flocked to the region, until it became the defacto home of of the "Movies".  This influence helps ensure that anyone who wants to be anyone in film is at the very least ambivalent towards the UNSA, and those that put Endicar or its allies in a positive light will be well supported.

The films and newsreels produced here quickly spread across the UNSA and beyond, reaching the old world and the SFS. Even if unofficially. Everyone consumes UNSA media, and the culture that comes with it.

[Man of Paper]

IFB would be Theoretical. It's a megaproject/international phenomenon that'd be difficult to get right but could pay itself off significantly.