[DRAFT] Military Congestion

[Resalt]

Heya. Saw that you can submit new issues to be looked at, given a look over, and maybe be added to the game if they're good. So I wanted to put forward an idea I've had kicking around in my head for a while and see what people think.
Was looking through the list of issues earlier and didn't see one quite like this, but I might've just missed it if there is something like it.

EDIT: There's been a bunch of edits now, changed the purpose of the issue. Now it's less about the military being idle and more about there being so much military it's clogging everything up.

[TITLE] Congested Military in @@NAME@@

[Validity] Requires an absolutely massive military. Nations with a small military - or even none - wouldn't get this problem.

[Description] Your commute to the office today was stopped several times by military convoys passing through carrying tanks and other fine weapons. As well, your work was delayed by the sheer amount of new military equipment you had to sign off on. There was also a minor earthquake when the newest and biggest rockets were demonstrated at a test site, but none of that compared to the noise when several people burst in demanding you do something, as always.

Option 1:

"I can't stand seeing all these guns, grenades, and rockets everywhere!" Cries @@RANDOMNAMEFEMALE@@, the neighborhood cranky old lady. "Or the artillery cannons, or the fighters overhead, or the armored cars, or the stealth bombers, or the battleships..." She says, going on and on before @@RANDOMNAME@@, your Minister of Problem Solving chimes in. "@@LEADER@@, the best way to deal with a problem is at the source. If there's too many weapons, then maybe there needs to be a few less."

Effect: military weaponry is melted into coinage

Option 2:

"LESS weapons!? Are you CRAZY!?" Shouts out ex-sergeant @@RANDOMNAME@@, discharged for insanity. "If you're worried about us soldiers having no use for all these guns, then maybe you should look into giving us a few things to do with them! Think of all the guns, tanks, and rocket launchers just sitting and rotting away in storage. We'd happily make use of them all if you let us!"

Effect: neighboring nations routinely have the latest weapons tested on them

Option 3:

"@@LEADER@@, if you don't want our transports to be in the way, maybe there could be other ways for us to transport them." Private @@RANDOMNAME@@ says, saluting you. "We could move them by train, or aircraft. Maybe even use ships for coastal bases. We can try all sorts of alternative methods."

Effect: military hardware is transported by rockets

Option 4:

"You know, all those munitions factories gives me an idea." Says @@ANIMAL@@ Corp. CEO and @@MAJORINDUSTRY@@ mogul, @@RANDOMNAME@@. "I can think of a million different things we could do with those old factories and their equipment if you'd sign them over. Think about it. It'd be great for the economy."

Effect: old tanks are routinely repurposed as tractors

Option 5:

"You know, everything everyone said is all well and good, but you're all ignoring the main problem!" Cries your Minister of Defence, @@RANDOMNAME@@. "I'm not going to do the paperwork for another gun in my life! I've had enough of these, and I'm betting you have too, @@LEADER@@! Why should it be OUR jobs to give approval for all these weapons!?"

Effect: new recruits study for and fill out a 23 page essay detailing the weapon they want

[Australian rePublic]

Wait what? Why would a military test weapons in the middle of a city? Even Singapore doesn't do that, and they're the size of a ten cent coin. And the only solution you can think of, in order to prevent weapons from being tested in the city is to ban weapons, as opposed to, say, moving your operations to the middle of nowhere?

[Resalt]

The idea is that the military has gotten so large scale that it's all over the place, that they're run out of middle of nowheres to use the weapons and now they're in the cities. There's so much weaponry that they have nowhere else to put it.

Although yeah, the setup is kinda garbage and I was reaching with it. It's supposed to be that the military has grown out of proportion, way beyond its purpose given a lack of present war giving it something to do. So the options are to downsize it somehow or make use of it.

And the effect being "ban weapons" is taking the option to an extreme, as all of them are. Too many weapons? Get rid of them all. Need somewhere to test them? Invade your neighbors. Decomissioning military sites for private use? Turn the tanks into bulldozers. That sort of thing.

[Australian rePublic]

The idea is that the military has gotten so large scale that it's all over the place, that they're run out of middle of nowheres to use the weapons and now they're in the cities. There's so much weaponry that they have nowhere else to put it.

Although yeah, the setup is kinda garbage and I was reaching with it. It's supposed to be that the military has grown out of proportion, way beyond its purpose given a lack of present war giving it something to do. So the options are to downsize it somehow or make use of it.

And the effect being "ban weapons" is taking the option to an extreme, as all of them are. Too many weapons? Get rid of them all. Need somewhere to test them? Invade your neighbors. Decomissioning military sites for private use? Turn the tanks into bulldozers. That sort of thing.

But Singapore doesn't even have that problem, but they're the size of a ten cent, and have conscription. I don't think this will work, sorry

[Resalt]

Alright, well I've edited the premise to be more about the amount of weaponry the military has, rather than the size causing them to intrude on public life. It's still reaching, but hopefully it makes more sense now.

[Australian rePublic]

If you have that much new weaponry, why are you signing off on it? Why can't that be your military minister? Or even a bureaucrat?

[Resalt]

Because most of the issues establish that whenever something goes slightly wrong it's up to the player to handle it? Because there's so many weapons and the expenses are too great to allow for delegation? Because the ruler of the nation is the direct head of the military and thus equipment is one of their jobs?

The point is supposed to be that the military has gotten so large that it's at the point of even interfering with the player's rule of the country. I don't know very many ways of expressing that, other than it being something like the military being so large that in order to keep the economy running the soldiers are taking second jobs in other industries.

I'm sorry if I come off as upset, but if you see something wrong in it I'd like some advice on how I could change it to be better.

[Australian rePublic]

Fair enough. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I should have helped you solve this problem. From here on in, I shall be direct, and to the point. That is a reflection of my personality, not of your work. As weapons would need to be transported from factory to base, and between bases, something which you said earlier was good- too many military convoys passing through cities. This could cause excessive traffic jams either in cities, or on highways linking factories with bases, and linking bases with eachother. Now it's a leader issue. Here are your options:

-Transport weapons by train- this might clog the rail network, but not significantly. The main issue here is that, according to Wikipedia, it's easy for an enemy to destroy rail lines
-Transport weapons by plane- this is expensive, causes noise pollution, and (for those who allow civilian planes) unnecessarily wastes stupid amounts of airspace
-Transport the weapons by ship- good luck doing that in the desert and/or through mountains. Also, this is very slow. May potently congest inland waterways if they're narrow
-Continue to use the system you have now, with the extreme traffic jams. Also, in rural areas, if there is only one route linking one military base to another (or if it is difficult to switch between routes), you might end up with the same problems you had with trains
-Scale back the military
-Move the factories closer to the bases (this won't solve the entire problem, as you would still need to transport between bases, and it would probably make the problem worse for those routes, as not every base would have a factory)
And finally- build more infrastructure specifically for the military (like the USA did with their interstates). If the roads can be used by civilians, more roads=more driving, which will see the problem repeat itself, on a much larger scale

[Resalt]

Took a bit of liberty with it, but incorporated that sort of thing in. Mostly in changing the issue since that sounds pretty good, changing a couple options, and adding a new one. What do you think of it now?

[Trotterdam]

The idea is that the military has gotten so large scale that it's all over the place, that they're run out of middle of nowheres to use the weapons and now they're in the cities. There's so much weaponry that they have nowhere else to put it.

There are more nowheres than cities.

[The Sakhalinsk Empire]

Laconic: Option 1 is better with a peace protestor, while Option 2 and Option 4 can be merged. Option 3 needs to expanded and Option 5 can be left out.