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Ministry of Truth
Ten additional staff members are hired on to assist in writing and editing TPP and TPG.
The Russian ambassador would certainly like to assist in low-level communization efforts. Obviously a lot of these efforts would involve laws, and so the Ministry of Criminality would probably have to be involved; however, for the time being Russia could assist in what Minitrue believes to be the most pressing issue currently. The government of Russia has already authorized $200,000 to be spent at the ambassador’s discretion, with potentially up to $6,000,000 over the next year depending on progress in Apland. The ambassador suggests that the people take priority, with the levelling out of wages (through decreasing higher wages, increasing taxes on the 1%, and increasing the payment to poorer laborers, whilst increasing employment).
Russia invites one of your staff members to Moscow, where Karsthum has an embassy. He is enroute and should be there by the end of the week.
As your paper has become the dominant source of news in the Capital, the number of businesses selling it has skyrocketed. Demand hasn’t kept pace with the number of businesses supplying it, but has certainly increased with the increased reach. Total businesses selling TPP has more than doubled, reaching 190, while the number of businesses selling TPG has risen to 65. There have been limited advertising deals for TPG, as is to be expected (same deal as when TPP first started advertising). The capacity of the Royal Printing Press is 500,000 pages per day, which equates to 25K copies of TPP per day or 62.5K copies of TPG per day. As a rule of thumb, the number of issues of TPP printed on Sunday will be [(printed/week)/(2.5 to 3)],while the number of issues of TPG printed on Sunday will be [(printed/week)/(4 to 5)]. As you can see, the demand for TPP on Sundays is nearly as high as the rest of the week combined, while demand for TPG is more evenly spread out throughout the week. Should the 500K cap be reached, you’ll have hit your supply ceiling on Sunday - but not necessarily for the rest of the week.
One hundred fifty soldiers are hired and combined with fifty under your employ to form the Arbiters of Truth (AoT). Two avatars are elected to lead the groups; one of them (Avatar 1) seems very competent, while the other (Avatar 2) was elected primarily due to his charisma (that isn’t to say he is devoid of skill; but he is certainly not the top of the pack). Ten seekers are elected to lead twenty-man groups. The Arbiters had somewhat conflicting viewpoints on their needs, but agreed on some basics. Weapons [sidearms + rifles (Avatar 1) or pistols + smgs (Avatar 2)], Uniforms [black flak jackets (A1) or suits (A2)], Training [military training (A1) or “political” (talking to people, lying) training (A2)], Provisions [$10 - $30/week, depending on quality], Vehicles [armored vans (A1) or tinted black sedans (A2)], and various other supplies (lockpicks, crowbars, combat knives, binoculars, field radios, etc.). Avatar 1 favors turning the Arbiters into highly-trained military operatives, while Avatar 2 favors a more...subtle approach. Both bring up good points, and their suggestions can be seen above. Note that you don’t necessarily have to choose; you can certainly take both (or neither) suggestions in certain cases.
A gift (of art? didn’t specify) is sent to Debril; they reply cordially, and offer a reciprocal gift of a beautiful, specialized Z-54 Assault Rifle, which they hope may serve your Commander-in-Chief well. Your Debril embassy can provide limited reports, but this is obviously limited to newsworthy stories or happenings in the capital. As of yet, nothing obviously important is happening; there seems to be some nationalist fervor in their papers (even non-state ones), but the actual information is uninteresting.
Polkia is connected by waterway. A strip of land belonging to Palushka separates the two of you, but the small country has refrained from taxing or blocking trade along the Danube, which allows for extensive trade northward. Polkia as of yet seems uninterested in any of the three goods you’re offering; or atleast, the state is uninterested. Perhaps there’s some private buyers, but your government is producing little that they desire. They have no mercenaries for sale, though have a strong military vehicle industry (they are the headquarters of ARO, whose military vehicles [tanks, halftracks] are much more impressive than their civilian ones). Tatra (mentioned Turn 5, ctrl + F) is also based in Polkia, producing high-quality vans, trucks, and jeeps.
Palushka would be interested in a joint military training program, though obviously troops would be kept in their own barracks (separated by nationality). This is all implying a defensive pact is formed; otherwise, they’re not sure they would be open to the idea.
Farms around the capital mostly produce wheat; maize is another big one, and only a few farmers mentioned other crops as important. The number of crops produced by each varied wildly due to different farm sizes, but some quick and dirty calculations estimated (at a tiny sample size) a harvest of 15 Bushels Wheat/Acre (per year). At an average estimated farm size of 14 acres/farm (~4 bushels/week) and a wheat price of $9/bushel, this means each farm might generate an average of $1900/year ($36/week). Keep in mind that only a handful of the several hundred/thousand farms around the Capital were surveyed.
Fifty additional WoA are auctioned off for a total of $40,500.
Five unemployed individuals are employed ($30/week), focusing on more sociable and street-savvy citizens, to gauge public opinion of campaigns and the government. According to them, the most recent campaign was quickly forgotten by the majority of citizens but had a major impact on certain groups of people. The first group were people who really took the message to heart, and valued the work the government was putting into re-education. The second group were people who were sickened by the singular source of news, and were presumed to be searching for different sources of information. The new employees also inform you of a new newspaper being launched, “Self Thought”. The reach of this new paper is yet unknown.
$21,250 is delivered to the Ministry of Corruption and Graft for use in construction of their compound, $15,000 is delivered to the Ministry of Advanced Defense for a barracks, and $21,635 is sent to the Ministry of Engineering for a total of $57,885.
A written campaign encouraging patriotism and requesting volunteers (we want YOU!) to join the fight against the loyalist scum is launched. Your writers believe it is the best piece they’ve ever written; the multiple-page articles (over the week) generate nationalist fervor as powerful as during the revolution according to your street rats. Over a thousand employed and unemployed citizens volunteer to join the military, and $6000 AD in donations arrives at your ministry. There’s obviously some who view this campaign as a publicity stunt, but for the most part the people (who read your paper) are highly motivated (partly out of fear, partly out of nationalism) by the campaign.
Germany agrees to exchange embassies. Your ambassador finds through reading the prominent newspapers nothing of particular interest, but a decent amount of articles talking about French relations and with hints of nationalism thrown into everything. Germany’s government is authoritarian, and all news is state-controlled; which is probably the explanation to all the nationalism in the news.
Tanks are... expensive. The cheaper ones might go for at LEAST $70,000 to $100,000, while more expensive tanks may cost upwards of $200,000; and this is at the base price, if they don’t increase it any further. They don’t sell Russian technology to every power that wants it, and to consider selling to Apland some certain agreements would have to be made, and relations would have to be pretty warm. If the two powers eventually form these warm relations and Apland agrees to terms set forth by Russia, than they would agree to selling these tanks and lending the use of instructor crews (probably for around $500/week per crew). The terms would mostly involve promises not to use the tanks against Russian allies, not to copy the tech, and not to resell them.
Ministry of Transportation
Five additional ARO cars are purchased for $18,000. One is transferred to the Ministry of Criminality, while the remaining four are split between your constables and scouts.
Radios aren’t produced domestically, but a corporate entity offers radios capable of transmitting and receiving for $750 apiece. Three are purchased for the cities, one for the Port Authority, and three at the borders (Karsthum, Trebon, Palushka) for a total cost of $5250. Civilians are permitted to send and receive messages for $3 apiece; as of yet, there have been no requests, but several civilians have expressed their relief that the system is in place incase of emergency.
The airfields are inspected; in total, there are only three public airfields to your knowledge, one in each of the major cities. The two outside the capital have fallen into disrepair, and even the one in the Capital isn’t in the best of shape (it’s under the control of the Ministry of Advanced Defense).
Forty more scouts are recruited and put to work on the map [80 - map, 20 - airfields].
Bicycles are common among middle and upper class citizens (above $60/week) but very few poorer folk can afford the cost or maintenance. Multiple businesses and corporations manufacture them.
$39,500 in import tariffs is collected. 540 additional cars, 2 locomotives, and 40 railroad cars are registered for an income of $4600.
There’s some questions that need to be answered when addressing the question of river vehicle registration. First off, how do you determine “river vehicle”? Do canoes have to be registered? Fishing boats? Yachts? Motorboats? A precise definition should be decided upon. Second, how are you determining what boats have to be registered? A lot of boats that go up and down the river aren’t from Apland; and quite a few belong to international merchants and corporations. What of these? Do you force registration upon foreign nationals? What about those who claim a different port of origin? Do you simply demand registration from every boat that travels through your territory?
See above. The constables in question assist with registration for the time, kickstarting the train registration process and boosting the number of cars registered.
Architectural experts are somewhat of a rarity in Apland, with many in the Capital already being employed elsewhere (many with higher pay than you’re offering). You manage to recruit 10 architects who have professional experience, and pay them $50/week. 120 laborers are also recruited for $25/week. They begin work on constructing structures at the borders [barracks, gates, customs stations, watch towers, warehouses, etc]. Raw materials have thus far cost $4500, with effort split between the three borders.
The facilities at the commercial port are adequate, but lacking. Many private companies and merchants have partitioned parts of the docks for their own boats, equipped with high-quality equipment for loading and unloading. Smaller merchants and others without their own docks are left with shoddy yet functional equipment (these make up about 20% of imports).
Two hundred census takers are recruited for $30/week. They begin conducting the national census. Without formal leadership and organization, the entire affair will be sluggish (overlap, inefficient routes, missing houses, etc.). They will require supplies and the like, and more direct instructions than “conduct the census” should be given (they are recruited at the end of the week since they didn’t do anything [didn’t have to pay them this turn]).
The constables in the city are tied up with other duties at the current time, but when they have time they begin producing a map of the Capital showing roads, waterways, and landmarks. A rudimentary design should be done in a week or two.
Ministry of Criminality
First week pay raises are phased in. Police [$10 --> $18.75 (+$8.75/week)], Commandos [$15 --> $22.5 (+$7.5/week)]. Judge pay is set to $100, with Senior Judge pay being set to $150.
The following costs are incurred upon expanding the Minimum Security Workshop into a Factory large enough to accommodate all minimum security prisoners:
- Factorization [$50/prisoner], 180 [+40, see below] Prisoners Max. Total Cost [$11,000].
- Security Measures [$10/prisoner], 180 [+40, see below] Prisoner Max. Total Cost [$2200].
- Property Purchases, 2 Structures [$2500, $8000]. Total Cost [$10,500].
- Prison Restructuring. Free Labor, Hired Experts [$1000]. Purchased Materials [$1500]. Total Cost [$2500].
- Factory Equipment [Tools]. Cost [$65/prisoner]. 180 [+40, see below] Prisoner Max. Total Cost [$14,300].
In all, the total cost of restructuring and factorization was pegged at $40,500 [$184/prisoner (this is higher than initial estimates due to expansion costs)]. The total capacity of the minimum security prison was also raised to 220 prisoners, the reason for the higher costs. Factory construction is under way, and should be complete within three weeks. All equipment, property, and building materials have been purchased and are present on the prison grounds, and the firm hired is being paid $50 per day (5 days a week) for their services. The labour of atleast one hundred prisoners should be reserved for construction efforts; in the first week, a heavily watched group of mentally stable maximum security prisoners were used. There will be NO MORE costs incurred during construction; the $40,500 and four weeks should be all that is required.
A law section has been added to your character sheet.
Pavol disagrees with the Drug laws you have indicated; is alcohol, a drug, not regularly consumed legally? He believes that personal liberty should be allowed to the greatest extent possible without endangering the lives of others. More severe drugs, those truly capable of destroying a man’s life (to an extent; alcohol is capable of this too), should be illegal. But certainly not all. The supplying clause makes sense, but what if it was inside his residence? They may simply be stockpiling it for later consumption. He also believes that the path to reducing the use of illegal drugs lies in rehabilitation rather than the armored gauntlet of the law. Centers should be set up as soon as funds allow in order to bring those afflicted by such addictions back into the embrace of society. All other touchy laws are looking fine (disregarding the ones you plan on sorting out later and ones that weren’t mentioned).
A senior judge is elected, a rather stern, old fellow. Seems he was also an important member of the government before the revolution; he was involved in quite a few important cases, though none pertaining to the revolution (the reason he passed the screening). He’ll act as advisor on all matters related to law. The Senior Judge’s name is Stanimir Zoric.
Construction on the Museum of Revolution is finished.
A motor vehicle arrives at the prison courtesy of the Ministry of Transportation.
Ministry of Engineering
$30,000 is spent on repairing vital infrastructure. This cost includes material costs (cement, timber, steel, etc.), contractors (several construction companies), and rentals (trucks, equipment, etc). The process of patching up this dangerous infrastructure is hastened by the amount of external help (in the form of contractors) acquired; all told, it should be done within the next week.
Several experts are dispatched to assist the MoAD, but only a handful; the rest are needed in the infrastructure efforts. Five architects and construction foremen are sent to the MoAD.
Presently, you are not charging anyone for electricity, water, or waste. Current market prices vary wildly, though are currently low in the Capital thanks to your providing of free utilities; upper class citizens tend to rely on private utilities only if they are higher quality. In the other major cities, a sense of the market prices is acquired. It’s impossible to get a sense of exactly how much you could charge for utilities while still having them be affordable, since there will always be some who would not be able to afford them. Lower class (<$40 per household) would unlikely to be able to afford utilities at nearly any price outside of $1-$3 per week. Middle class ($40 to $65) would be able to afford utilities at around $5 per week. Upper class ($65 to $100) would be able to afford around $15 to $20 per week. Any higher than that isn’t worth thinking about, since they make up a tiny fraction of the population and likely use private sources. Keep in mind all of these estimates were hastily conducted by rushed experts; but they might provide you with a sense of how much people can afford for utilities. The old government didn’t charge for utilities under a certain threshold, and after the threshold charged a rather high amount.
The electrical grid is managed in part by the government power plants and in part by the private power plants. It’s really all a wash, with parts of the grid overlapping yet with some of it being only government-run and some of it only being privately run. There is no official “grid”, with repairs or new lines being developed on a case-by-case basis. The workers at the power plants spend some of the upkeep on repairs and expansion of the grid, and are the ones who conduct the work. The whole system’s a giant mess - but it works.
A few offices at the Government HQ are moved into.
Jankovic makes a few points regarding the Power Plant’s true value and who it really belongs to; the fact that you are a separate organization (from the original government), and that it’s only worth as much as it is now thanks to the work put into it by the privatized workers. However, they acknowledge your claim on the building and offer to meet you in the middle at 90% of the building’s worth, as well as the value of any equipment seized originally. Any new equipment or value in the structure or staff will not be paid. They thank you for cooperating, rather than simply seizing the structure. They allow one of your experts to visit and conduct an appraisal; he estimates that Jankovic owes you approximately $110,000. At low interest rates and weekly payments of $2000, this brings the total owed amount to $120,000 if paid within (at $2000 weekly) 80 weeks. They agree to these terms and conditions, and send the first payment at the end of the week. [Quick note: keep in mind Jankovic only has ONE power plant; the other plant is another privatized one, though much less successful - they are unlikely to be as commendable as Jankovic, but may actually agree to merging with you if played right].
Staff are stretched thinly at the time being, so the chart of power plants to put online is delayed.
$15,000 arrives from the Ministry of Agriculture and $21,635 arrives from the Ministry of Truth.
The Ministry of Finance’s tax collection force is strong-armed into supplying you with $15,000 of the inactive ministry’s tax income.
Ministry of Advanced Defense
Your economic advisors meet with the foremen of the factories, and discuss with them about business theory and the acquisition of additional contracts. A few theories proposed by the American economist are adopted, raising WP by 0.04. The Russian economist proposes several measures to raise worker morale, raising WP by 0.02. There’s a potential partnership with Karsthum that the Russian arranged; they are willing to pay top dollar for high-quality weapons. Trebon has recently embargoed the militaristic nation, cutting off the largest source of military goods from them. The Russian hasn’t yet agreed to anything, and awaits your approval. The American set up a partnership as well, to a group of corporations which ARO is part of (Jedinstven). They need weapons as well, primarily low-key weapons such as SMGs and pistols. This partnership is unlikely to generate as much demand as the Karsthum one, but is certainly worth consideration.
Defense Force:
A speech is delivered to the soldiers and five hundred (there are twelve hundred by the end of the week, but weren’t there in time for the battle) combat volunteers. Women and men, employed and unemployed, young and old; they all showed up to help drive off the enemy. Morale is raised among those arrayed, and they seem primed to fight off the Loyalist scum.
Three additional foreign drill instructors are hired at a cost of $1500 total. The fifteen drill instructors split up three companies into thirty-man training units, and begin conducting basic drills. Training will take twelve weeks. Until the training grounds, barracks, and canteens at Reiderts Base are completed, the three companies will perform basic training [half speed toward training].
Construction costs are broken down as outlined below. $30,000 was spent on the projects; $15k from you, and $15k from the Ministry of Truth. Experts provided by the Ministry of Engineering speed up times and decrease the costs.
+ Compound Expansion, Building Construction [Barracks, Canteen, Training Grounds].
- Material Costs ($15,000).
- Contractors ($11,000).
- Equipment Costs ($4000).
Fort Reiderts was expanded to make room for the new structures; very little of the cash went into it, requiring only an increase in the size of the defensive fortifications. These expansions were all horizontal instead of vertical to decrease costs. The Canteen and Barracks were both made in such a way that they could service the same number of soldiers; ten 30-man Barracks, and three 100-man Canteens were built. These costs required a great deal of lumber and steel, and bore a large portion of the contractor and Expert requirement. The Training Ground was rather inexpensive, its expenses primarily in the form of contractors and equipment. It’s mostly just a flat, grassy field with a few target ranges and obstacle courses. All constructions were built with cost-efficiency in mind, and thus all are of the lowest quality possible whilst still being safe and usable. The barracks are uniform, tight, and uncomfortable, the Canteens are crowded and ugly, and the Training Grounds have just enough equipment to qualify. However, they have a decent capacity of three hundred soldiers and are infinitely better than nothing; and all for a meager cost of $30,000. Construction will be finished next week.
Five hundred volunteers and about six hundred soldiers (-450 at Fort Reiderts, -150 lost contact) launch an assault on Loyalist positions further up the mountain. An initial charge proved devastating to your forces, but made way for an advance which made progress on the Loyalists. About halfway up the mountain, a torrent of machine gun fire mowed down the vanguard and killed the company commander in charge of the battle. Another one quickly took over, but he was unable to force his way upwards and was forced to call a retreat. Ultimately, the rough terrain, height advantage, and defensive positions allowed the Loyalists to repel the host. Fifty soldiers and ninety volunteers were killed, as were an unknown number of Loyalists. It is possible they may be running low on supplies, but this is only speculation; there is no information on how many weeks of supplies they have.
Air Corps:
Your pilots assist the postal masters in development of a postal system. The postal masters focus on the Capital only, aiding the Constables’ work.
It’s difficult finding a van for only $3000, but you find one on sale from Tatra. It’s an older model, and could certainly benefit from quite a few repairs, but it should function (probably). Postmen begin delivering around the Capital; as of yet, there are only a handful of requests, mostly due to the crippling unemployment situation and low demand for same-city-postal. There just aren’t very many people who want to pay to have something delivered when they could just walk a few blocks to deliver it themselves. $140 is made through deliveries.
Navy:
Sixty marines agree to transfer to Development, while two hundred twenty are let go. In a show of solidarity, another one hundred and ten marines leave your employment in protest. The remaining marines are a mix of unsociable loners and/or suffering from low morale. The unexpected loss of marines stopped the transfer of ninety marines into the Defense Force. Two hundred twenty civilians are hired on as Technicians. What’s especially unfortunate about the departed marines is that they took their weapons with them; attempting to force the relinquishment of the weapons may have incited a civil war in the middle of the Capital while much of the army was away, so it wasn’t done.
Whilst searching through old records, the marines searching for the royal heir discover something! The line of succession was completely broken with the deaths of almost the entire royal family, and so was traced back to a cadet branch. One Bogdan Milovanović, father to an advisor unofficially employed by the Ministry of Criminality, seems to be the heir to the Royal Family. The marines have yet to confront him, awaiting orders from you. The other forty marines are occupied with patrolling the docks.
Advanced Research:
The labs are inspected, and you meet with the Joint Chief and project leads about progress in the division. There hasn’t been much solid progress in BEL or ICL, though a number of small developments and advancements in theory (particularly queuing theory and material development) have been made in ICL. ATL hasn’t made very many new developments, though they continue to make progress on the SMG prototype; this progress has also advanced weapon theory, which will allow for faster research and development of the other weapons.
Development:
145 technicians are hired.
Foremen coordinate with the economic advisors to develop several new methods and motivational techniques in order to boost production (recorded above, +0.06 WP total). The advisors also assist them in acquiring two potential trade partners: Karsthum and Jedinstven.
Next:
$15,000 is spent on purchasing a small Printing Press capable of printing roughly twenty thousand pages per day. Transportation and installation of the press at your NEXT HQ should be finished within two weeks.
Coalite:
25 Loggers are transferred to become Technicians.
Three of your forestry inspectors stop surveying and begin issuing licenses. Since there is little to no enforcement and no shortage of woodland, no businesses have yet purchased any licenses. It is more cost-effective at current to simply log outside your reach than purchase licenses in order to log where you can see them. Your inspectors COULD actively search out logging operations, but there is simply too much area to cover and other work to be done for them to realistically do this.
A cheap, heavy-duty truck is purchased for $6000. It’s not the most reliable truck, but it’s certainly more sturdy than the truck purchased for Airpost. $1000 in cheap axes and saws are purchased, and your loggers begin operations. The raw logs are brought into the city and sold as-is; very little profit is made off of this, as the demand for raw logs is low. A corporation picks them up at a deal in order to process them for themselves. $1100 is made off of the deal (Last Turn I had the wrong information on your Ministry Sheet, but the right information on your Action).
Ministry of Education
You move into a few additional rooms in the Government HQ (already moved into one; make sure to check your ministry sheet each turn) to serve as your base of operations. A staff of ten (make sure to be specific; “staff” could mean literally anything to me, and you also didn’t designate WHO you wanted to hire or HOW much you wanted to pay them) citizens are hired, paid a wage of $40/week each (this is baseline, just below middle class - designate if you want to pay them more/less, or if you want them to have certain skills). The staff begin assessing the status of shutdown educational structures; they find that there are around forty primary schools [elementary through middle for reference] and thirteen secondary schools [middle through high school for reference], and two specialty schools [college] that were government-owned structures. There are another twenty-one primary schools, nine secondary schools, and eight specialty schools that are privately owned and still operating. They tend to either be nonprofits (as is usually the case for primary schools) or for-profit businesses charging high entrance rates. Currently, they are the only operational schools in the Capital and only a small fraction of the population receives even basic education.
A re-education program would be possible. Perhaps the Ministry of Corruption and Graft or the Ministry of Criminality would be willing to coordinate with you?
Ministry of Agriculture
Twenty more staff members are hired on for the survey team, increasing their potential speed. One cheap vehicle is also purchased from ARO for $3000.
Thirty employees are hired on to maintain parkland; they should be directed toward a park in particular to manage (there is no “list” of parks, but what kind of park and how large? Playground, plaza, wooded park? Near lower-quality housing or higher-quality? The more specific, the better). The “park managers” are paid $30/week.
$15,000 is delivered to the Ministry of Engineering.
Ministry of Corruption and Graft
Control of the Royal Mint and Press is transferred to the Ministry of Finance.
Access to the Compound is extended to the Ministry of Truth’s arbiters.
$21,250 arrives from the Ministry of Truth.
The Ministry of Finance increases your tax amount this turn by $4000 to help keep you afloat.
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Topic: Foundations of Government (IC) (Read 11426 times)