It really isn't. Their greed is less pushing down others than pulling themselves up. War over one given chunk of the effectively limitless resources of space wastes productivity for no gain. And the idea of more easily-accessible resources is a joke. Once you get to orbit, you're halfway to anywhere; moreover, the most easily accessible spacebound sources of resources (the Moon for humans, Minmus and the Mun for kerbals) are far larger than any corporation--or even
corporation--could hope to exploit in a reasonable amount of time. There's enough to share.
Day 12 of Minmushot
The rocket arrived at Minmus today, at high velocity, due to an oversight leaving it completely without power. Jebediah Kerman Jr panicked and left the rocket before it impacted. It is generally agreed that there is no way he could have survived. A memorial service was held for him. This is truly a tragic accident. Jeb is the first non-Kommune kerbonaut to die in space.((Fun fact: While loading the save, Jeb fell a little. Somehow, he teleported up while we weren't looking. Another fun fact: The target is almost exactly as far from Jeb as the previous one was from...whoever we sent to Minmus.))
Day 14 of Minmushot
We heard back from Jeb.
"...is Jebed...unior. Can y...ear me?"
"...Holy krap, did I just hear what I thought I heard?"
"...ou can hea...lease respond. Send--"
"Jeb! How did you survive?!?"
"Rocket pa...easy. Flew to the pla...nly chance I had of fi...ocket or the source...gnal."
This will not end badly. I hope.
"Wasn...un."
I ended up bouncing a lot. Still better than the four-hour trek.
"What happened?"
"...nded. I started by going to the cr...ite of the rocket, scav...ces I could. Then, I w...ource of the signal."
"What is it?"
"A rocke...r what's left o...ne."
Woah.
"A...a rocket? What do you mean a rocket?"
"...ig metal th...uel, flies into space?"
"We know what a rocket is, what's one doing on Minmus?"
"Cra...ing. Don't understand the g...ink he just stopped vert-vel. So--"
"Wait. There's someone there?"
"Duh. Who wou...nd the signals otherwi..."
"Why would there be a rocket there? Who would send it?"
"The flag...arks...could b...ommune."
There is silence.
"Tell us more about what happened."
"Not much t...ll. I brou...tronics debris, from my roc...ned with his spare bits, I manag...rove his damaged radi...nal. That's why it's reach...now."
"So, you upgraded his radio...could you make a return vehicle for the two of you?"
Broken laughter comes from the radio.
"That's a no."
"Yup."
"Krap."
Quick history lesson (optional):
About a century ago, the world was at peace. Then, a dispute between Rosenburg and Guildenstein (originally based, so the story goes, over a rules dispute over the precise definition of "rhetoric" in a pivotal game of Questions) escalated into a war between Kain and Krabia, due to poorly-worded treaties. Imper tried to intervene, but this didn't help. Several places took this as the last straw and seceded. Soon, it was all-out war between the Southern Alliance (most nations south of Imper except Kalps and Krya, plus Jipt and Golya) and Imper and its allies (Bayn, Krain, and the Kukraine Union). Other nations got dragged in, some on one side, others forming the ironically-named Peace Union. Hundreds of thousands of kerbals died in what was easily the bloodiest war in kerbal history at that time. It was ended with the Treaty of Kares, which placed heavy restrictions on the Imperial Alliance and smaller ones on the Southern Alliance.
The Kukraine Union was left in shambles from the restrictions placed by the Treaty of Kares. One of the major parts was that none of the Imperial Allies could produce "military equipment"; APCs, artillery, assault rifles, and such were one of the Union's major exports. Converting those factories to ones for civilian goods was a time-consuming and expensive task, and some factories were simply abandoned, to be claimed by whatever private citizens bought the land they stood on. This lead to bankruptcy and a depressing number of organized crime groups with access to some amount of milspec hardware. Needless to say, this was a bad thing.
Then, in came Kadolf Kerdov, a charismatic speaker with a vision: A society where everyone gave what they could and took what they needed. It would be an efficient, utopian society, inspired by the mighty colonies of humble mite kommun. Everyone has work to do, no lazy nobility to drain and waste resources. These ideas spread fast; after a brief and surprisingly bloodless* revolution, the Kukraine Union was under the Kommunist Party's rule.
*Perhaps the nobles were terrified by the amount of military hardware available to the peasants.
The Kommune spread throughout the desert, and even took over Keast as the Eastern Kolony. This was...not appreciated.
Nations to the north of the Kommune's desert expanses united in the Northern Alliance. The Northern Alliance tried to pull the Imper-region nations into the war; they resisted, but when the Kommune tried to expand into Kandanavia, the old Southern Alliance finally entered the war. They lacked any kind of military, thanks to the Treaty of Kares, but they managed to convert civilian planes into war-planes remarkably fast. Imper itself did not involve itself until the Kandanavia and Krans invasions managed to largely wear out the Kommune's war machine, aided by a heavily-bombarded northern front and the new fighter aircraft blocking supply lines.
Before the Kommune could be firmly defeated, Kadolf died and a more moderate man, Kladmyr Kerdov, took control. The first thing he did was withdraw from the eastern front, followed quickly by suing for peace. Eventually, they got peace...
...and continued to prepare for war.
The Kommune was forbidden from keeping any armed forces, but they could arm allies. This lead to a sort of indirect was between the Kommune and Imper, which caused (among other issues) the so-called Kryan Civil War, the Bombing of Keesee, and a jump in technology as the Kommune raced against the rest of the world in technology. The Kommune got many achievements, such as the first computer, the first kerbal in space, and the first kerbal to remain in space for over a year (later revoked when it was discovered that a malfunction in the O2/CO2 balancing lead to a quick death from CO2 deprivation); the others got some others, such as the first video game, the first kerbal to return from space, and the first electric kar.
...Okay, the Kommune basically won the technology race, especially accounting for their relatively resource-parched homeland, but they suck at safety. It's less incompetence and more that kerbal lives are seen as no different from any other resource to them.
On that note, no one knows who's running the Kommune. An international stir was briefly raised when a rocket was fired into space, but it cooled when the Kommune explained that they were launching Kladmyr's tomb into space. Barring the possibility that Kladmyr is a zombie or vampire, the Kommune is clearly under new management, not unlike the old...including a desire to beat the rest of the world at space-based achievements.
I probably would have taken more pictures, but after heading back to the Space Center from Jeb, I discovered I couldn't select any craft in flight...or kerbals on EVA. I can focus on them, but I can't click anything relating to them (or focus on anything else). Restarting didn't help. I hope I can work around this.
Anyways, we have two kerbals to rescue. Assuming I figure out how to switch to them.
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Topic: (KSP LP) Bay12 Space Program: Conical Difficulties (Read 71865 times)