1845
Feeding the Machine
Forgive me, countrymen, for it has been a long time since the last State of Uristia address. It has been a busy, critically important couple of years. Cutting-edge military technology has been emerging from the intelligentsia frequently: as important as it is that we possess said advancements, they come with a heavy price tag. Keeping our budget balanced, while attempting to modernize the military and develop infrastructure, has been quite a headache. But we have managed to do so.
Although we were riding a high from our territorial acquisitions back in 1840, the perceptive economist-statesman could perceive that Uristia was in fact, entering a stall. Why? Because we were starving for steel. Once again, as happens repeatedly during the cycle of Imperialism, our nation found itself bottlenecked by a shortage; In this case it was of iron ore and coal. Our steel production was tied on a short leash to our domestic iron mine in the Ironblood mountains, our two coal mines in the center of Uristia, and the Penian iron supply.
So fortunate for us, then, that Oleikale has proven rich in iron and coal. I saw that it was critical to our continued imperialist regimen that the ore deposits in our new territory were swiftly accessed. This took a large sum of cash away from the military-modernization (almost $15,000) but, as you shall see, it has been a vital boon to our economy.
Speaking of steel, we have the Bessemer technology now:
We purchased the breech-loading arms technology in 1841, at a cool $12,000.
Once the Oleikale Railway Project was finished in 1843, our steel production was
doubled. Have a look at our current internal economic manifest after the Oleikale ore came online:
The increased output of arms and cash revenue from sales of manufactures has been invested directly into modernizing the military. This is turning out to be a slow, tedious and exceedingly expensive task, as one Andrea noted some time beforehand. I have chosen only to equip our elite regiments with the new breech-loaders, rifled cannon, etc. and to leave the static overseas defense contingents in their increasingly obsolete condition for now. Itīs not ideal, but our finances are stretched to the limits by this modernization project.
We have a new admiral, one Zrk2, who volunteered a few years ago for the honor of any command should one come up. And we have raised a number of new Ships of the Line. Question: does anyone know if thereīs a strategic advantage to mixing more frigates into the mix? Iīve been trying to get the most bang for our buck, but perhaps we should diversify the navy...?
(Elfeater, youīre in line for the next generalship but we only have two for now.)
Oh, also consider that we have massive stores of lumber and textiles (they havenīt sold very well) so laying down ships is actually very affordable for us right now (They do not cost cash to build, only the resources of timber, textiles, and armaments). Raising land troops is expensive but we could keep punching out ships at a good clip if we think thatīs more beneficial than a huge land army. Let me know what you think.
In 1844 we had a particularly good fiscal year because we sold everything but the kitchen sink, in order to purchase these babies:
Now we are no sooner out of the former resource bottleneck and into a new one - coal. We must have more. Without surplus coal we cannot build steam-powered warships like LordSlowPoke has suggested. We cannot obtain any through international trade (Question to the knowledgeable: if I offer large trade subsidies to the other Powers, would they be persuaded to sell us some?) Iīm afraid weīre going to have to go out and steal it.
EuchreJack is right, it would be reckless of us to break a long-standing alliance without a damn good reason. However, Yubah has coal. We are closest in military power to the Siss. Iīm not sure how modernized their military is, though I would guess very much so since theyīre so filthy rich.
In other news, Iīve been spending even more cash, keeping us in the red most of the time, by purchasing up all of Peniaīs resources - timber mostly, and a wool-producing operation. Our overseas profits are growing quickly because of this, and that has been providing some significant income, larger every year.
I hear a tremendous amount of patriotic war-hawking which is admirable, but we must choose the right adversary at the right time - of course we may not be the ones to make the choice. By the way, Nanzenalo and Krorko have gone to war, which doesnīt affect us or our two allies.
Lastly, Iīm delighted to announce that by Imperial decree, beards and all manner of goats, chops and outrageous burns are in fact BACK in fashion and will remain so until decreed otherwise.
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BTW, sheb, we are playing on the Normal setting, and I still feel inept compared to the AI.
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Topic: Letīs play Imperialism! Hail Uristia - We have colonies. (Read 29798 times)