>>23884344
Ok, it is now time to start work on the new lifter module. We should also seek grants for the terminal guidance system, as that system's military value is impressive.

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Your current inventory consists of a single Mk2, you have room for 5 more mass units worth of rocket parts, you also have plans for the following components.

Mk2
>Type: Probe, Mass 1, Reliability 4/3
Mk3
>Type: First stage, Mass 1, Reliability 5/4
Camera Module
>Type: Mapper, Mass 1, Reliability 19/14
Guidance module
>Type: unmanned control system, Mass 1, Reliability 19/14
Radolight beacon
>Type: Waylight, Mass 1, Reliability 18/14

You have 10 RnD points and 1 luck point.
Building existing parts costs 1 point per mass,
Inventing new parts costs 3 points per mass,
Improving existing parts costs 1 point per mass per level, up to 5 points per part can be spent per turn.

This quest thread is using Space Core's What goes Up system.
http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=WhatGoesUp.WhatGoesUp
COPYLEFT www.robots-everywhere.com Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Sharealike

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>>23884344

Aw man missed a thread. Give me a second to see what I missed.

>>23884481
It's my fault, I told everyone I would be at work, only to find I was actually scheduled for Tuesday/Wednesday.

Ah yes, this thread. I heard good things about this thread.

To the archives i go.

2 on reliability of Mk3 and 1 on Boom for the Mk3.
construct another Mk3, this one should turn out better than the other one.

By the way, was the remains of the Mk3 checked over? maybe the sea air corroded some of the components or compromised the fuel lines?

Maybe research into some form of water displacement chemical is needed.

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>>23884481

Ok! So we finally proved that we're not the worst space princess in the history of space or princessing and we're riding high off our success. How do we capitalize on this? Maybe we can grab the morning headlines again?

>>23884594
Mister Luxon sees that you are still half asleep and tells you that the Mk3 made it into orbit the other day, you haven't been dreaming, you actually did it this time...

...by the way, there are an awful lot of people wanting to see you outside. The Royal Guards are keeping them at bay, but you are going to have to talk to them before you get to work.

>>23884454
We should drop 3 points on a heavy lifter, with sufficient grunt to carry a useful load into orbit in a single stage from a equatoral launch point. A further 5 points should be spent on the guidence module, as we need something to attract patronage from more military minded nobility.

>>23884642

They can wait until we make ourselves presentable. While we do not have a uniform (or do we?) something that looks professional, prim and proper is probably the best option. Cottonball can see if he can stay on our shoulder I guess?

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>>23884665

This, multi-stage rockets compound the chance for failure to catastrophic levels, and we aren't exactly in good graces with the dice gods.

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>>23884678
You do in fact have a Royal Rocketry Corps officer dress uniform. And cotton-ball can indeed stay on your shoulder, he is very well trained.

>>23884665
it's 3 points per unit of mass, the largest thing you could invent would be a first stage with mass 3, which would only be slightly better than the Mk3. Perhaps you should try to improve your budget first?

>>23884748
Sounds like it. So, once we have made ourselves presentable, we had ought to begin prioritizing audiences. See who is knocking.

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>>23884748

In the words of one of our wisest philosophers, "Cash rules everything around me". Now that we're in motherloving space and have a working naval cruise missile program we should have all the leverage we need to get funded. Cream, dolla dolla bill y'all.

>>23884748
We shall get ready for the day, by dressing in the RRC uniform.
Send Mr. Luxon out to see who is outside waiting for us, and their business, before we meet them.

>>23884849
That is a ballistic missile program. Cruise missiles keep a flatter trajectory. And an active guidance system would take it from working to terrifying. We may render obsolete full battleships.

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>>23884809
As soon as you open the door you are ambushed by a mob of flashbulbs. The press is here and wants to know EVERYTHING about the satellite. "Your highness, what do you have to say about your accomplishment," "What make this launch different from the previous one." "Is this what you've been working on for the past two weeks?"

>>23884925

Should we ask for a budget increase for our next endeavor, today of all days, we are likely to find friendly ears.

Let's go meet the people.

Whether we allow the rest of our family to weaponize this or not, that's for later, really.

It is important to move quickly however; the other nations will want to catch up.

Oh, and someone let the Astrological Society know that whever their press liaison is, they have an appointment with us.

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>>23884925
The Mk2 and 3 are ballistic missiles, the Mk1 is a cruise missile, but considered obsolete.

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>>23885026
>>23885038

We could use this moment to announce an even more ambitious program and all but blackmail the government into funding us. While we'd get what we want I don't think I need to explain why this would be an -extremely- dangerous idea. Thoughts?

>>23885026
"We hope it will just be the first, and least significant, of our accomplishments," "It didn't explode," "Yes."

>>23885026
Answer the press's questions enthusiastically, but don't reveal too many specific details or the fact that we tried out a naval ballistic missile.

Do ensure that we thank God(s) for this glorious achievement and make sure we mention the race to the moon against the Southerners!

>>23885026
We shall answer the Press quickly.
"Our accomplishment yesterday proves that orbital flight is not an impossibility or a pipe dream, but a reality and an endeavor that is within our grasp.
"This successful launch is what we at the Royal Rocketry Corps have been working day and night on in the past weeks to accomplish. From the minds and hands of Men, first we spread wings of paper and wood to soar into the skies, and now we have ridden upon a tower of metal and fire to take our first tentative step into the heavens."

>>23885098
Too dangerous at this time.
>>23885124
No, we should not mention the race against Suthland. That's overstepping our bounds.

>>23885026

"Piercing the heavens is no mundane feat, even though we proved ordinary men and women can do it. This took genius, coordination, resources and political will. We hope that turning our mightiest weapons of war into tools of exploration sends the right message to the world."

"We used essentially the same rocket, it was just more in tune with itself. These things require both theoretical speculation and practical experience, we feel our detractors leaned too far on the former."

"Why, we went on a wonderful cruise! Might as well get some work done while at it, no? We have a responsibility to the taxpayers after all."

>>23885146
How so?

It's the perfect thing to arose nationalistic feelings in the nation and get us a lot of new funding!

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>>23885147

Supporting this. Play up the momentousness of the achievement while stressing the linear steps needed to get where we are. Make sure people understand failure is part of the process.

>>23885167
It would set up huge expectation, and I think the party showed us how that can end. On the other hand if we wanted to do it this would be the time.

>>23885167
Because something like that will affect international relations, and we don't have the authority to go around mucking about in creating competition or any kind of animosity between our nations or their trade.

>>23885146

Th Suthlands will likely shoot something up soon. Let them challenge us, -then- we can talk the nationalistic fervor into more money.

>>23885147
I like this. We should add a statement about our intention to put a man into orbit.

"What are you planning to do next your highness?" "Do you know if the Huns have there own rocket corps?" "What do you have to say about the article published in the Royal Academic Journal the other week?" The press continue to hound you with questions, but Sir Pero pulls you through the crowd, pushing them aside and guiding you to the Motorcar.

>>23885230
If we don't want to announce the race to the moon, lets do this as the very least.

The people and parliament need to know what we are working towards, and how difficult this goal is.

>>23885230
>>23885275
No, we shouldn't. We don't have anywhere near the proper equipment, and the Press and People will lose interest if we don't continue to provide new achievements in a steady manner.

We don't even have any of the necessary components on the drawing board yet, or even of the new lifter required.

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>>23885259

Were we too slow? Also... what article? Was that something I missed or just a plot point drop?

>>23885230
"You heard it hear folks, Her Highness Princess Lydia Tannhauser the third is planning on sending a man int... SLAM!" The Drone of the press is shut off as the door closes and the car peels out of the courtyard.

>>23885259

Wait, this one we should answer. We stop, surely Piero will not yank us.

> "What do you have to say about the article published in the Royal Academic Journal the other week?"

"Why, it was a delight! Had me and Professora Minerva in stitches the entire time."

>>23885304
The Royal Astrological Society 'proved' it would take near-infinite thrust to put an object into orbit.

>>23885230
Oh you buffoon. Now the Press are going to say we will have a man in orbit by our next launch.

>>23885295
JFK announced that America would land a man on the moon years before the US had the capacity to do so.

It's an aspirational goal; something that we'll be striving towards for a while. If we make that clear, the people will remain interested in our progress towards it.

>>23885336

Technically sort-of-true if there is only one massive object in the universe and you are launching from it: if that is the case, the object's shere of influence is infinity and you can never reach escape velocity from it.

>>23885377
But we weren't achieving escape velocity, we're achieving ORBITAL velocity. There's a difference.

>>23885377

To be specific: if there are no other massive objects in the universe, and you are doing a Columbiad-type shot so that you cannot make a cricularization burn, it is indeed impossible to achieve orbital trajectory.

>>23885421
Well, yes, but Professora Minerva said that there were basic errors in the paper. I'm trying to imagine what they might have been :)

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>>23885314

Well spacebros, we're in it now.

>>23885492
Don't worry, we're pretty sure we've got all of the catastrophic explosions out of the way!

>>23885362

Not necessarily a bad thing. The scions of the nobility will tumble over each other to volunteer, and they can pay for their own training.

We should issue a list of very specific requirements (weight, athletic prowess, ability to keep cool under pressure, and work while holding their breath, endurance to avoid passing out during launch.... and let them train on their own.

The selection process can even be flavored as an old-fashioned tournment! Everyone loves those, and this one will have a real-world purpose, which hasn't happened in centuries probably.

>>23885364
JFK was also announcing it 4 years after Sputnik and after the USSR proved that it was possible to put a man into orbit by launching Yuri Gagarin.
We've barely gotten a satellite into space.

and you are saluted through the gate without fuss. Here you should be able to get work done without being accosted by the press.

Who shall you call first?

>>23885589
First we should call Colonel Smith, and have work done on the MK3 and Guidance Module. 3 to Reliability, 2 to Boom on the MK3. 4 to Reliability and 1 to Boom on the Guidance Module.
Then we shall call our Father to inquire as to when we may come before the Parliament to request an increase in our budget.

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>>23885589

Call Navy, see how much support we can expect? We need to rally everybody under our banner and then approach parliament to lobby directly for funds.

>>23885458
Assuming whatever object you're on isn't spinning either.

>>23885589

Mom?

>>23885653

So it's presumable that the Astroogers' paper oversimplified their model so that it'd be easy to explain to people, except they generated an inaccurate model doing so.

>>23885652
Yes, we must mooch some money off our dear brother. Promise him the ability to turn enemy ships into flaming confetti from halfway across the world, and the ability to have a bird's-eye view of literally anything within hours. That should secure his cooperation.

>>23885690
Perhaps if we can secure funds to be earmarked for guidance module development, we can get further interest from the navy. Further, requesting funds for both a new heavy lifter and for the mapping module would allow for much more accurate maps to be created.

>>23885690
Your brother answers your wireless, telling you that he's proud of you, and that he's excited to have the two services working together in the future, but that the NAVY is not the place to go looking for funding. He tells you only the Nobility and Parliament can give you money. But he would be glad to help supply a permanent base in the east isles, and any other logistical assistance.

>>23885785

I think everyone should appreciate a VALID excuse to set up a colony.

>>23885785
Excelent. So, time to pitch antishipping conventional ballistic missiles. They attack from a vector that most conventional ships of war are poorly armored. This may be sufficient to gain funds for the guidance module. Next would be pitching the usefulness of the mapping module. Then, if we can secure funds for these, we may start work on a heavy lifter.

>>23885833

The mapping module is the most interesting thing. Let's not be warmongers in public; while it has obious military applications, it's also something that has a lot of civilian uses. Plus, pretty pictures!

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>>23885785

I guess we'll have to take it for now. I was hoping they'd share their budget but oh well. I guess we're going to have to have, and I hate to say this, another party.

Now that the southerners are potential rivals we may need to reapproach the west. Alternatively we could use Harker's celebrity status to gin up public support for full government funding. Pros: Harker can do anything. Cons: Harker could do anything.

>>23885785
Then we must next contact the Prime Minister for when we can argue our case for increased funding from Parliament.
Also we must consider which nobles may be convinced to provide us with funds.

What is the present state of life support systems? Has the air force developed a cockpit or cabin anywhere near what we'd need?

>>23885818
Colonisation ho'!

Colonel smith tells you that the Air Force has done some research into high altitude flight. Right now this involves simply feeding the pilot oxygen through a tube. Space would require a bit more than that. A fully pressurized suit.

The prime minister agrees to schedule a hearing before Parliament requesting more funds for further space exploration. He leaves it to you to decide on what talking points to use, but warns you the ministers can be fickle beasts.

>>23886032
The first step is to get profiles on the especially important members of the subcommittee which will be handling our request, so we know what to emphasize.

>>23886083
Sounds like a logical first step. We should approach the King's royal advisors and get them to give us this information. We might also want to think about hiring our own political advisor in the near-future.

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>>23886032

Well anons it's time for me to leave you, which also means about 30 minutes until you blow something up with horrible dice rolls in my absence. Maybe we could skip that part tonight?

Last things. Try to get the airforce to help. Tell them they can either get on board now or get left in the cold when we're in space. Even they can appreciate self interest.

Work the political angle. Bust out every celebrity we have to get public support. Just try to keep Harker from.... well being Harker. Politicians will be much more apt to support something popular with the electorate.

Lastly work the nobility. We need friends in high places. We can't keep relying on our brother forever.

Good luck!

>>23886141
In regard to this, Harker seems to have friends in the nobility, if so, let's send him around with a donation platter.

>>23886032

a fully pressurized suit? Diving suits allow the wearer to breath in an airless environment, maybe it we start from there...

The defense minister is likely to be impressed with the possibility of spy satellites and long range ballistic missiles, but the current chair of the appropriations committee is currently crusading against military spending in the post-war erra. He'll oppose anything that seems frivolous or overly-militaristic. You'll also have to deal with the Royal Astrological society in person if you go before Parliament.

>>23886269
I don't want to know what the appropriations committee chair is against anywhere near what I want to know what he's for. What doesn't he consider frivolous?

>>23886269
We shall confer with Colonel Smith and Professora Minerva: what were some of the original hopes for the space program before they were put to use as the delivery system for the radio-reactive bomb?
Perhaps we can put forward weather prediction and more accurate mapping via satellite as possible uses for the Chair of the Appropriations Committee.
We shall also ask Colonel Smith if a relay satellite could be put into orbit, to allow for global radio communication.

>>23886032
Hmm. Until we have plans for EVAs, I think it would be much easier just developing a pressurised cabin.

>>23886250
A diving suit wouldn't be pressurized properly. But it's a start.

>>23886293
That's just the thing, he's been trying to downsize everything, already canceled the construction of a new Avalon class aircraft carrier, and two of the three flying fortresses the Air Force had planned. He'd have probably cut the entire RRC completely if it wasn't your pet project.

>>23886323
Colonel smith tells you the Rocket Corps split off from the Air Force, and that he had never imagined rocket propulsion before this. And Professora Minerva had been originally trying to make a steam turbine powered by radio reactive power before the military asked her to make bombs.
A few of the older engineers were working on jet engines, but they hadn't started thinking about the ramifications until after the MK2 was developed.

>>23886269

having image capturing and recording devices in orbit of our planet do not 'have' to face us. A camera in space would provide a much clearer image of the stars, and is not influenced by poor weather conditions.
If one were to face our planet, It could even provide information allowing for more accurate predictions of the weather, providing such information as the locations of storms, the direction in which they travel and the size of them. It could also be used as a novelty for nobles, such that they could have images of their place of residence taken from orbit!
That will certainly generate some interest, not to mention a little revenue!

>>23886389
So your saying he's against spending period and has no sense of wonder? Well, that means we'll need to get somebody else (or many somebody else's) on his committee to support it. Any likely candidates?

>>23886389
I wonder if we could get this committee chairman replaced somehow...

>>23885863
How useful would a mass 3 rocket (the largest we can currently desing) be?

>>23886464

This.

>>23886507

As long as it doesn't involve literal cloak and dagger... Some figurative cloak and dagger sounds fun, though!

>>23886447

We should get the nobility interested. Want to be the first man in space? Train hard, participate in our selections. Knightly tradition is that a knight pays for his own mount, of course that cannot be expected to happen in full, but whoever wins is likely to want to contribute.

>>23886540

Not very. It could carry a size 2 capsule (barely enough for one person) and a retro-rocket to reenter. You'd get the Vostok mission out of it and that's it.

>>23886540
It could put a mass one object into an equatorial orbit.

Mass 1 Payload
Mass 1 booster
Mass 1 guidance module
Mass 3 fist stage

It's sub optimal however as the booster will only be able to make one burn before lousing it's guidance system. The payload would then just sit there.

>>23886557
This too, the capsule would have only enough oxygen for one turn in orbit.

>>23886580
Would a spy satellite count as a one-mass object?

>>23886580

IRL, this was basically the point where direct military interest ended - it resumed only after spy sats became possible. There was a lot of drama between the USAF and NASA, and on the Soviet side, a lot of people ended up being very scared to answer their front door for a while.

>>23886557
>>23886580
>>23886596
Okay, so we really do need at least a 50% greater budget to continue easily (unless we could spread the designing over multiple turns). Good to know

>>23886612
the camera would be a one mass object, but it would also need a capsule to return the photographic plates, and either a control module or a human crew.

>>23886645

Now's the time to ask.

Incidentally, what are the Astrologers doing this week? We should pay an informal visit.

>>23886645
A larger budget and a bigger base. We can't build more than 6 mass worth of rocket parts at a time. That would be a mass 3 booster and 3 mass worth of payload.

>>23886651
Actually it sounds like we might be able to blackmail the appropriations committee with threats of running a highly inefficient space program which will both be more costly in the long run and take longer to accomplish things.

>>23886683

If we have this conversation RIGHT NOW on the coattails of sccess, maybe. However, keep in mind that IRL NASA's budget was cut basically the instant Armstrong stepped out of the LEM.

>>23886658
That's true. We need information before we go to this parliamentary hearing.

But I don't think we should visit the Astrologer's directly. We should request a neutral party; perhaps our Mother?

>>23886683
No, because if we did run such a program, that would only prove that we are unfit for leadership; the chairman would know that we couldn't go through with it without shooting ourselves in the foot as well.
Not to mention, if we did run the program into the ground, then princess or no, he would be in the right to ax the program.

>>23886683
I don't think our first move should be threatening the entire committee which controls our budget.

I second what the other anon said, while we figure out how we're going to get more money, lets pay a visit to the Astrologer Society.

>>23886718

Agreed on the budget bit.

>>23886721

Let's, it should be fun :) Who knows, they may be eager to get on board to avoid becoming irrelevant, and they have more of a hold on the purse strings than we do.

>>23886718
To clarify, I mean threatening to build a mass three rocket now, burning a bunch of money making it safe to use, using it to accomplish the next few objectives, and then using the better position after that to get the cash to build a mass 5 rocket. (As opposed to getting a larger budget increase now, and then building the mass 5 rocket now.)

>>23886756

We can put it as "We can plan for next month, or for the next decade. Our engineers assure us that a larger rocket now will make things that are more than propaganda victories possible."

>>23886749
I like that idea! We should come right out and say to then that we should both move past our previous animosity and join forces to help explore the Heavens for God, Crown and Country!

>>23886809

You forgot adventure. And cake.

That's a thing; while we will NOT have a pay to play system, would the nobility be willing to donate some money when their scions enter the lists? (I do think that the 'naut selection should be flavored as a tournment: if we want to allow commoners to participate is another matter)

>>23886827
I think that 'donations' from the nobility to have their children entered into the very selective lists of astronaut candidates should be heavily encouraged.

We should exclude commoners for now. We're being radical enough as it is, lets not jump into the debate regarding class conflict and social reform as well.

Okay it's getting late and I need to walk the dog.

I have work tomorrow and the day after, so I'll return on Thursday. You can continue discussing things until then.

>>23886873
Very well. Until then, GodMother.

It's too bad that I've missed the playing duration of this quest, but I love it a lot.

I say we're going to need a lot of political capital in order to get enough funding for space travel. How the hell do we do that?

>>23887030
I wonder if I should start something similar. As for political capital... that's part of why I propose to flavor the 'naut selection process as a tournment. At the least it'd keep up interest.

Come to think of it, what do we call out space travelers? USA has astronauts, Russia has kosmonaut, China has taikonauts... what do we put in front of 'naut?

>>23886873
thank you again!


captcha: limkDe Princesse

>>23887287
Nothing, they are Knights of the Void! Or alternatively, Void Knights!