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Ministry of Truth
Both the USA and Russia’s embassies accepted your diplomats graciously, and talked at length of their desire for building up relations with Apland. There were many vague promises and the like, but neither of them straight up offered to send Apland money for nothing. The USA is willing to send alot of money (one discussed sum was $300,000/week) for allowing an American military base to be constructed, while the Russians desire policy changes and the like to adopt a more communist system. They’d be willing to provide funding and experts (no sum was discussed).
Forty-eight Works of Art were auctioned, for a total value of $34,000.
A campaign targeting the masses and promoting productivity is added into TPP; to your knowledge, no noticeable effect can be seen (though this “knowledge” is backed by nothing but intuition and speculation).
Employees are sent to Trebon and Palushka to act as diplomats. They detect little to no interest for TPP in either country; unsurprising, considering that it’s a foreign government’s newspaper. In Trebon, there are currently riots protesting low wages in state-owned businesses. In Palushka, there is little of note happening. The state-owned gun manufacturers were contacted on gun prices; weapons are relatively expensive right now, as many countries are gearing up for a possible war (there are a large variety of weapons; ask for details - as low as $25/unit for cheap, outdated weapons and as high as $600/unit for high-tech, well-made weaponry).
Very few weapon purchasers are found in neighboring states; the weapons produced by the Ministry of Defense are of lower quality and higher price than gun manufacturers in states such as Trebon and Germany (or the states prefer to build up their own weapon industries). Research is, for the most part, heavily protected. It is an era of espionage and technological greed, and nations tend to share research only with their closest allies - and sometimes, not even then.
TPP continues to expand, though the rate of expansion has slowed down somewhat. The Capital’s population consists largely of the poor masses, who are unable to afford the paper ($2 is a big deal when you make $25/week). A rough estimate is that about four to ten percent of the population in the capital can probably afford the paper without dipping too deeply into their finances; a pool of roughly 30,000 to 100,000 people. There are more potential customers you could reach, but they aren’t exactly the target audience (The Peoples’ Paper; the wealthy bourgeoise don’t seem too excited to read such news). The number of papers sold has risen to roughly 25,000 papers per week; with an average paper waste of 15% and earnings of $1 per paper sold, this has led to a profit of $21,250. There are some talks about advertisement, though demand is still low; what would the cost of such ads be?
Managing the agricultural exports to Trebon is unlikely to be profitable for all parties involved (especially considering tariffs, low food prices, and the inadequate transport vehicles - cars don’t act well as trucks), so the action is bypassed for now. Trebon is still interested, but a more...formal arrangement will have to be established, with quotas and large-scale shipping.
Soldiers are dispatched to the other major cities in Apland; one of population 550,000, and one sized 240,000 people. It’s difficult to exert too much influence in these cities, who have yet to fully realize the rebellion’s completion and takeover of the ministries. There are no loyalist/government printing presses in these cities, being privately owned or nonexistent since the government lost control of them. The larger city is roughly three hundred miles from the capital, while the smaller city is only about ninety miles from it. The private presses can certainly be seized, though this may incite some...dissatisfaction. They may also be constructed, though this would certainly be rather pricey. Telegraph communications are possible; lines between the major cities already exist.
Research into possible royalist pockets doesn’t get far - who are you asking? What employees are doing the research? It is a difficult task, especially without proper manpower. Coordination with the Ministry of Advanced Defense might be wise - they have dispatched five hundred soldiers to the countryside on patrols.
Constructing a massive factory in the Capital would be pricey. To have enough presses and room to provide even just a few hundred thousand papers per day ranges in the millions or even tens of millions; the weekly cost of running it in the tens of thousands. The distribution cost would be problematic; and there would be a transportation delay. It is unlikely to be more economically efficient than simply having satellite presses, due primarily to the extensive transportation costs and infrastructure that would be required.
Ministry of Criminality
Sweatshops Workshops are established in the minimum and medium security prisons. Work is mandatory, and primarily consists of producing simple goods. These goods tend to consist of clothes, furniture, and basic tools. The cost to set up the basic workshops (which have basic functionality; no smelteries or the like) was $3000. Goods worth roughly $0.5/work hour are made. Earnings can be increased through increasing work hours, training prisoners, adopting a more factorized system (with trained foremen and the like), and improving the workshops into proper factories (the cost would be in the tens of thousands of dollars). At current, the workshops have a capacity of three hundred prisoners [150 each prison] (cost to expand is $10/prisoner, but would require additional cost of expansion due to limited building capacity). The two hundred twenty nine prisoners are working 20/hours week each by default, raking in $2290 worth of goods per week, which are sold on the open market.
One of the cases is solved, though the other ones are deemed impossible due to loss of evidence during the revolution. The vandal has been arrested; he claims he is innocent, and he merely scrawled anti-government graffiti on buildings. The records claim he is wanted for “High Treason” and “Assault”, though don’t seem to be much more specific than that.
The training officers get smaller class sizes; they tend to prefer on-the-job training, patrolling and the like accompanied by lessons in two-hour sessions (for a total of five sessions) of classes sized four people. This enables them to train twenty people each at a faster pace.
Many of the warehouses and the like could go for a few thousand dollars, perhaps more. Few are high-quality real estate, and close to none are expensive structures such as factories or manors. This is on top of the dirt-cheap real-estate; the seizing of so many structures has bottomed out the market, for fear of further “legal” seizures. Sales could go from $500 to $10,000, depending on location; on average, they should sell for about $1500 a piece; though selling them all at once will flood the market and decrease prices.
The warehouses aren’t exactly designed for housing accommodation; any work done on that front would really be a barracks without complete structural renovation, which will require experienced builders and architects. Hire some from the private market or seek assistance from another ministry (or continue with the plans for barracks; the officers are unlikely to be happy with such a situation).
The cost of refurbishing structures into housing would be, as touched on above, expensive. The material cost would be in the thousands to tens of thousands per house (depending on quality), while the labor cost is variable depending on speed, skill, and source (private or ministry-paid). To build one high(ish)-quality housing unit in a week using private contractors, the cost might be up to $25,000 or more. A medium-quality housing unit could be built using this method with about $17,000 to $20,000. Low quality housing can be built using as little as $5,000 (though this is bare necessities - any lower would lack sewage, water, electricity, etc.). As for cost...it depends. At current there is a housing crisis, but this is due in large part to the unemployment problem. Middle-class workers make from about $35/week to $80/week; though most of these are already housed comfortably. Very little profit can be seen coming from this in the current situation (though providing free and/or dirt-cheap housing could certainly improve the situation of the people!)
A handful of the loyalists on the list are wealthier individuals; by your estimates (which may not be entirely accurate; not enough research has been done), only one makes over $1000/week, 61 make over $100/week, about half of the remaining make over $40/week, and the rest make under that (or nothing). The one who makes over $1000/week is a “loyalist” (or so it’s thought) businessmen who escaped the warehouse purge with his goods intact; there is no evidence he provided material support to the previous regime outside of taxes. Looking over ONLY those who make over $100/week, there is ‘evidence’ (not completely solid, but probably true) that twelve of them financially backed or supported the old government or employees of the old government. Upon being approached, a few displayed fright - that they’d be branded a loyalist, while several of them denied all allegations. Four have been coerced to pay $20/week; the Intelligence Taskforce is sure they can increase blackmailing patriotism profits if given additional time and resources.
Intelligence Officers visit the dissidents; the first one visited seems a polite enough fellow. He was put on the watchlist for disagreeing with the form of government, and speaking publicly of republican ideals. He even says as much; he’s an intelligent fellow, and quickly catches onto the purpose of the visit (he never openly says so - this is all speculation on the part of the officers). Yet despite this, he doesn’t seem terribly surprised - though perhaps just a bit frightened. He seems to actually get a bit excited when he (once again: speculation) realizes he’s speaking to government officials. The second dissident visited is a bitter guy, and refuses entry outright into his house. He is a businessman who was wiped out when his buildings were seized by your ministry; he was openly speaking out against the (current) government.
One large building is granted to the Ministry of Graft and Corruption.
The Ministry of Graft and Corruption has granted control of (none currently operating) the Courthouse, five police stations, and the crumbling ruins of the previous prison to your Ministry. They have also transferred one hundred pistols over to you.
The assorted goods are sold off for $65,000.
Ministry of Advanced Development
The state factories are reopened, and weapon manufacturing begins. Only two of the factories were designed for this; so the other four are still closed (though they may be furnished with the proper equipment for ~$25,000/each [or used as weapons workshops without refurbishing them; this will slow production greatly]). Bolt action rifles are produced in one of the factories (which is designed for such), and munitions in the other (which is also designed for such). One hundred fifty workers are assigned to each; the maximum capacity of each factory is two hundred employees. Each factory’s output will be represented in WP (weekly production), with whatever they are producing having a specific cost. WP/worker can be increased through training, improving equipment (these two factories are already well-equipped for their purpose), or increasing output/worker in some other way. The WP production of each factory is currently 150 each (1/worker). The WP cost of this model of bolt-action rifles is 1/WP, and the material/factory running cost is $20/unit (at current market prices). 150/week are being made at a cost of $3000/week (with 150 workers at $15/week, the manpower cost is about $2250/week for weekly cost of roughly $5250). Similar Trebonese weapons, as noted by the Ministry of Truth, might sell at current market price for about $80/unit (roughly $12,000 worth of weapons per week, or $6750 in effective profit). Ammunition for the weapons is calculated in daily requirements, with each day being a day in battle. The WP cost is about 2/WP for ammo, meaning 300 units can be produced per week. The cost is $5/unit, or $1500/week. Ammo is rather inexpensive, and there is not much profit to be had in it outside times of warfare/violent crime (though one could expect to sell ammo for $15/unit currently).
There is no patent system currently in place in your country to deal with the private sector, and other countries aren’t likely to respect your patent demands.
The rifles and ammo are sold to the private sector for reasonable profit margins; demand is currently high in the region, allowing sales to flourish. Demand will probably start to drop eventually, but for now the weapon markets are hot.
The remaining assorted goods are finally sold to a merchant from Italy, who takes the lot off your hands for $130,000.
Three project leads are hired from abroad; $1000 each up front, and $80/week. The Trebonese War Hero is hired for $2000 up front, and all Joint Chief pay is raised to $120/week. Scientist wages are raised to $65/week; they seem to appreciate this very much! Word seems to spread of your generosity and forgiveness among their peers-in-hiding, who approach you wishing to rejoin their previous teams (38 in total). They and another sixty foreign scientists are hired - costing you $6000 ($100/each). Both parties are screened to ensure they won’t leak state secrets.
One hundred fifty tax collectors and fifty auditors are hired, at $15/week and $20/week respectively. The auditors are received mostly from the Ministry of Corruption and Graft, who dispersed all captured state employees last week. They will be transferred to a financial ministry upon its establishment. They will get to work immediately; most of the week is spent drawing tax maps and the like to prevent duplication on collection routes. Three hundred soldiers (two per collector) will guard the tax collectors on their routes.
Five hundred soldiers are split into one hundred man units, who begin patrolling the countryside. They keep within a hundred miles of the capital, on the lookout for any armed forces or potential enemies.
Workers from other divisions aid in the factories temporarily, increasing profits (they will continue to work in the factories until told otherwise).
Most royal structures in the countryside (whatever few there were) were seized or destroyed already by local revolutionaries, as the “final battle” occurred after a weeks-long siege over the Capital (before the Ministries were established). You could still lay claim to what few there are (a handful of forts scattered around the countryside, a supply station or two).
Joint drills are held between remaining marines, pilots, and soldiers.
RESEARCH: For my sake, please develop an organized “research section” spoiler equipped with current tasks and focuses. It’ll be copy pasta’d into each turn, with any breakthroughs or discoveries being highlighted. Little progress on the tasks has been made after one week (without any project chiefs, who arrive at the beginning of next turn), unsurprisingly. The Joint Chief directs his team to focus their research on a modern submachine gun based off of the Trebonese model; they were close to a working prototype before the Capital fell.
Ministry of Health
$6,000 from the Ministry of Truth and $4,000 from the Ministry of Advanced Defense arrive, and are quickly assigned to the Medical Services Fund. $2400 is withdrawn immediately (see previous turn; the red action occurs now), and $720 is withdrawn by the hospital staff to pay fifteen doctors and twenty one nurses $20 earch (see below). The Hospital will need roughly $500 a week at minimum to prevent shortages, though could certainly stand to have more than that. The doctors and nurses will also have to be paid (see below, again).
Healthcare outside the Capital collapsed long ago, after being cut off from any government for months. As such, the situation is...unfavorable outside the Capital, particularly in large cities. Right now, most healthcare is performed either by homeopathic “doctors” (in other words, largely useless) or private clinics - which tend to be incredibly expensive due to the lack of alternatives. Getting a bad illness outside the Capital is essentially a death sentence unless you can afford treatment.
The doctors and nurses understand that they won’t be earning top dollar,, but you have yet to even designate a wage - they are essentially working for nothing right now, which they cannot afford due to requiring bare necessities such as food and shelter. They draw $20/each out of the fund as an act of necessity; they inform you the decision was not made lightly, but that there was no other choice. A wage that they could live off of uncomfortably would be $20/week; doctors would prefer wages of up to $100/week, but they understand the current necessity and are hoping for $50/week each.
The state of education in the country is nonexistent; schools closed down without government funding and because of the war.
$10,000 arrives from the Ministry of Corruption and Graft.
[ Keep in mind that the doctors you’re training are unlikely to qualify as “doctors” (doctors meaning medical professionals) until they take years of formal education and a lot of on-the-job training. Don’t be surprised when you haven’t gained any ‘doctors’ (though they will certainly not be trainees) by turn 10 and even longer. Having a formalized education system will decrease training times. ]
Ministry of Corruption and Graft
The Royal Mint and Press has been seized from the Ministry of Security. They have yet to lodge a formal complaint. The Mint is put back into printing money, currently $70,000/week and with a maximum amount of $140,000/week at its current size (staff should be atleast ten).
All wages are set to $80 (I won’t try to decipher “around $80” - if you wanted something different, please correct me).
The Police Stations, Prison, and Courthouse are transferred to the Ministry of Criminality.
All fire brigades are kept under your jurisdiction; a total of eighty-eight firefighters manning four stations and being paid $80/week each, for a total cost of $7040. Each station is equipped with atleast one fire engine, though the two larger ones are equipped with two. The stations will require roughly $1000/week in maintenance costs as well (assumed to be paying).
One hundred pistols are transferred to the Ministry of Transportation for use by their constables, with another one hundred pistols being given to the Ministry of Criminality.
One large warehouse is granted to your ministry from the Ministry of Criminality.
Armed goon squads begin collecting taxes...without organized tax routes or collection systems, they’re essentially just armed thugs. Going from house to house, they demand taxes - without actually knowing how much is required, they tend to just estimate based on the quality of the house, the owner’s statement on their finances, and the tax rate. They collect a total of $90,000; a rather decent sum, owed primarily due to their brutal efficiency. Despite lacking collection routes, they are well-led and intelligent, and their knowledge of the Capital combined with their fantastic ability to communicate between squads actually does make them pretty decent at this task.
Any leftover wealth from the Mint is split evenly between the Ministry of Agriculture, Engineering, and Health; about $30,000 in total.
Two hundred ten new volunteers are recruited into your Ministry. They are all ex-soldiers; a rather common commodity thanks to the war. Deemed skilled enough to handle their own but lacking the proper knowledge and...stance, each volunteer unit accompanies each regular unit for the time being. The hope is that within a few weeks, they’ll get a good idea of what and how to function - and will then be able to get the rest of their training on the job. The officers, however, are trained privately by the current crop of officers; every day, one of the experienced ones leads a one to two hour class to teach them how they should be leading (it is assumed that these units in training are also earning $80/week; correct me if this is false).
Ministry of Engineering
The foremen of the power plants are eager to share information with you; they are probably the most knowledgeable people regarding them at the moment. The plants are five and thirteen years old, with the closed one being nine years old. They were constructed recently as an effort by the Monarchy to increase power output to adapt to rising electricity demand. They are well-built and designed, and there are very few major problems; though minor ones could certainly stand to be fixed, at an estimated cost of $22,000. Running costs vary, but the current maintenance cost (all plants total) per week is about $3000/week - not including material costs (there is a stockpile for the next three weeks), which rise and fall with consumption but are currently about $12,000/week. The current level of manpower should be manageable, as well. Even without the third plant, they should be fine unless consumption rises rapidly; they’re covering about twenty to thirty percent of the Capital’s power, with the rest being handled by private plants. They do warn that power outages might start happening across the country if the Turstonkzy Hydroelectric Power Plant isn’t kept running; it’s located on the Turstonkzy River, about eighty miles outside the Capital (the river runs through the third largest city, though the dam isn’t in the city itself). Wages could temporarily be dropped to $25/week; though this would have to be a very temporary measure. Bringing wages up to atleast $45 to $50/week should be done as soon as possible to prvent worker dissatisfaction; having to retrain a whole new crop of workers would not be easy-going.
The waterworks’ employee situation is similar. The running cost is about $8000/week, though the material costs are close to non-existent. The facility itself could certainly use an upgrade, or perhaps even a replacement - it is very outdated. Simply upgrading it could cost several hundreds of thousands, while replacing it altogether will track into the millions. There is also no sewage treatment or water purification - all of it is drawn directly from the river and pumped into the ocean (though there are basic decontamination processes).
The cost of garbage disposal depends entirely on how extravagant the system is; dumps could be made pretty easily, though the real cost is in whether you transport it from households or not. Is the trash left to rot or incinerated? Covered over? Recycled? The manpower costs can change based on decisions made as well; do they have garbage trucks? Do they go from house to house? Are there collection sites? How often do they pick up trash? Generally, solid waste disposal was neglected even before the war broke out - most trash was taken care of by private citizens and industries...usually poorly. A barebones system might cost only a few thousand dollars (consisting of a few hastily cleared areas for dumping trash).
Infrastructure assessment in the Capital continues; the examination of critical roads and structures should be complete within two weeks, perhaps one. A more in-depth examination should probably take place, though is unnecessary (it might take fifty experts ten weeks or so to complete).
$10,000 arrives from the Ministry of Corruption and Graft [note: for clarification, NO money was spent on upkeep/materials/wages this turn with the exception of your experts; but that should probably be a priority in your upcoming actions].
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Topic: Foundations of Government (IC) (Read 11386 times)