"Resources exist to be consumed. And consumed they will be, if not by this generation then by some future. By what right does this forgotten future seek to deny us our birthright? None I say! Let us take what is ours, chew and eat our fill." -- CEO Nwabudike Morgan

"We hold life to be sacred, but we also know the foundation of life consists in a stream of codes not so different from the successive frames of a watchvid. Why then cannot we cut one code short here, and start another there? Is life so fragile that it can withstand no tampering? Does the sacred brook no improvement?" -- Chairman Sheng-ji Yang ,"Dynamics of Mind"

I would just point out that in SMACX, both Colonel Santiago and Chairman Yang generally have excellent police, resulting in very few problems with the drones.

And (especially with Yang) if there ever were a problem, he could brutally nerve-staple the problem down quite easily.

The upshot is that I think it would work. I would try it in the game.

BUT I should mention that my most successful games had shitty police and also no drone problems. Diverting even 10% of your energy resources (maybe 20% in the late game when you're stinking fucking rich) to psych, is way better. That also knocks the drones right out, replacing them with talents. Do things right and you'll get golden ages that Yang would never dream of.

Happy drones need not steal. If you bribe them, you don't have to surveille them.

"Resources exist to be consumed. And consumed they will be, if not by this generation then by some future. By what right does this forgotten future seek to deny us our birthright? None I say! Let us take what is ours, chew and eat our fill." -- CEO Nwabudike Morgan

What could possibly go wrong?!

Seriously: It'll start wars.

I do this all the time. Almost every time I play, I'm the one who first suggests we launch solar shades, because I love my coastal cities, especially my headquarters. (It's invariably at about sea level so that I can crawl energy resources from out at sea, and there are all sorts of economic secret projects that perform better the more energy is coming into the base. My HQ is always very rich and valuable.)

Anyway, all the terraforming eventually causes planet's caps to melt, and I'm usually the one who is first to try to stop it with shades. But unless I'm planetary governor, some assholes (usually Miriam or Santiago) always vote against me. If I can't get the votes, then I can't have it and that's very a serious problem because my HQ is so valuable. If I'm Morgan I might try to bribe them, but usually it requires military action. And my HQ is worth it.

Anyway, if you can't launch shades, then you can't. But if you have the tech and someone votes against it, that's going to cause major conflict.

Energy is the currency of the future.

And when at last it is time for the transition from megacorporation to planetary government, from entrepreneur to emperor, it is then that the true genius of our strategy shall become apparent, for energy is the lifeblood of this society and when the chips are down he who controls the energy supply controls Planet. In former times the energy monopoly was called "The Power Company"; we intend to give this name an entirely new meaning.

Planet's Primary, Alpha Centauri A, blasts unimaginable quantities of energy into space each instant, and virtually every joule of it is wasted entirely. Incomprehensible riches can be ours if we can but stretch our arms wide enough to dip from this eternal river of wealth.

-- CEO Nwabudike Morgan, "The Centauri Monopoly"

Humans: correct in making leap from wealth as currency to wealth as energy. But logic failure: wealth ultimately is extension of desires, fluctuating with emotions and state of mind. Desires: when all are supported in purely adaptable system, true wealth is achieved.

-- Usurper Judaa Marr, "Human: Nature"

"Resources exist to be consumed. And consumed they will be, if not by this generation then by some future. By what right does this forgotten future seek to deny us our birthright? None I say! Let us take what is ours, chew and eat our fill." -- CEO Nwabudike Morgan

Your units have been spotted in my territory. You are to leave and get your own gimmick account immediately.

What actually transpires beneath the veil of an event horizon? Decent people shouldn't think too much about that.

-- Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "For I Have Tasted The Fruit"

I looks like they would be charged with violating US Code Title 18, 2709 (C)(1)(a). The obvious defense is that the text on that page is not compatible with the first amendment to the constitution, and therefore isn't really the law. So obvious, in fact, that we can assume that someone has ... aha, Here we go. Looks like it .. is ...verr .. ry .. slow .. ly .. going .. through .. the .. sys .. tem.

Humans : correct in making the leap from wealth as currency to wealth as energy. But logic failure : wealth ultimately is extension of desire, fluctuating with emotions and state of mind. Desires : when all are supported in purely adaptable system, true wealth is achieved."

- Usurper Judaa Marr, "Human : Nature"

"I plan to live forever, of course, but barring that I’d settle for a couple thousand years. Even five hundred would be pretty nice." -- CEO Nwabudike Morgan, MorganLink 3DVision Interview

I noticed a couple of talents over at the University are making some kind of shared consensual AR game that runs inside of our Virtual World netnodes. Turn-based strategy. It's based on the idea of "What if we never went to Alpha Centauri, and instead, society had developed from the industrial base as it existed on Earth in the early 21st century?" They've got some wild ideas about how things might have gone, what the consequences might have been, etc. Some of their "predictions" are a bit fantasy-like, but it's mostly good hard science fiction.

I'll propose launching a solar shade it at the next planetary council meeting, but Dierdre is just going to vote against it again. I can't (cheaply) reach her yet. Someone wanna take her out for me?

It's one of those rare ones in the Discovery tech tree, where you don't get a new weapon or base facility, but it's a prerequisite to some other, totally kickass tech. That next tech doesn't seem to be the docs, though. Actually, I can't even find out if this tech makes a Secret Project available. It's all undocumented. You just have to play to find out what happens, I guess.