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Jérémie
Does anyone remember how widely (and when) it was known that UCAS President asked the UCAS Army to take juridiction of the issue about Seatlle the Renraku Arcology ?

That was january 3rd 2060, but I need to know if it was disclose to the public and I can't check that now frown.gif
Demonseed Elite
I don't think it's ever really said explicitly when it was disclosed to the public. My guess is that it was probably announced to the public about when the troops came rolling in. So sometime within the first week of January or so, I'd guess.
Backgammon
Yes, everyone knew about it. Kinda hard to hide a cordon around the pyramid with trucks and APC and mobile command centers and soldiers running around everywhere with UCAS army painted on them.

Of course no one told the public their primairy goal is to secure the TWO nuclear reactors in the basement that Deus can set off at any time to turn Seattle into fine radioactive dust.

Nor how fucked up the people they rescued from the Arc are. Or much of anything. But the people know the UCAS took over.
Kagetenshi
Deus would not have difficulty activating the third reactor to blow it at the same time.

~J
Pthgar
Just an opinion: I see this event as the begginning of the erosion of megacorp power.

The national governments of some of the more powerful nations seem to be at their limit with the megas. To be sure, the megas still have immense power and totally rule some areas/nations, but the trend seems to be a reasertion of national power (at least in the U.C.A.S.).

In real life this could be seen as a shift from the hardcore cyberpunk theme to a sort of neo-cyberpunk. In the game one could see it as a politcal move by a group of polititions or interest groups or perhaps a grass roots reaction to megas (everything has a pendulum swing).

This may have been helped along by Big D's campaign and election. The public looked to government leadership once again.

I also take into account that secret org from Threats 2 that wants to reunify the U.S. (no doubt keeping the parts of Canada annexed to the U.C.A.S.).
Crimsondude 2.0
Yes, but who benefits the most from having the army re-take the Arc instead of Renraku?

Renraku, because they don't bear the majority of the casualties, and can blame the Army if anything goes wrong.

The other corps, who can use the Army to facilitate their own attempts to collect toys and intel from the arcology for their own uses, and with whom it would be easier to get someone into the Arc than if Renraku just kept the whole thing confined to their own operations.

The corps also win because their Seattle offices aren't going to be irradiated for the next thousand years.

The corps always win, even when they don't.
Kagetenshi
Renraku fought tooth and nail to keep the army out. I think we can count them out as being significant beneficiaries, though as you say the results aren't unreservedly negative. The other corps do, however, win, and I wouldn't be surprised if a little bird was reminding whoever gave the order for the troops to go in about the reactors in the basement.

~J
Garland
QUOTE (Kagetenshi)
Renraku fought tooth and nail to keep the army out.

Perhaps they doth protest too much. But you're right, as far as corps go, Renraku has the most to lose by letting the Army in. They let the Americans one-up them, and let all sorts of non-security cleared people tromp through what used to be the holy-of-holies for them.

In the campaign I'm running, where the characters in high school, we recently had a scene where some of the characters we enjoying a day downtown shopping and saw a UCAS Army convoy roll down the street headed for the Arc. Just sort of a "setting" type moment.
Backgammon
Well, the excuse was that they wanted to secure the reactors. But really, Deus could have set them off AT ANY TIME. It was painfully clear he simply chose not to, re-capture efforts or not.

I think the UCAS army in there really was just a power play. Renraku fucked up. The UCAS took much pleasure in raiding their arc... all those nice toys and databases... Anyway, it's a complicated matter for sure.
Endgame50
I think an erosion of Corp power is overstating the case a bit. If I remember correctly, Renraku couldn't keep the UCAS military out because the Corporate Court backed the UCAS on this issue--Even AAA Megas need to tread carefully when the court's involved--which is of course, corp power.
mfb
well, yeah. he chose not to because doing so would have destroyed himself, and because there would be no gain for him in doing so. just because you're equipped with a grenade doesn't mean you're going to stuff it into your own mouth and pull the pin.
Endgame50
QUOTE (mfb)
well, yeah. he chose not to because doing so would have destroyed himself, and because there would be no gain for him in doing so. just because you're equipped with a grenade doesn't mean you're going to stuff it into your own mouth and pull the pin.

Oh? Well, then.

*takes the grenade out his mouth*

Thanks for the timely intervention. smile.gif
Crimsondude 2.0
QUOTE (Kagetenshi @ Feb 25 2005, 10:44 AM)
Renraku fought tooth and nail to keep the army out. I think we can count them out as being significant beneficiaries, though as you say the results aren't unreservedly negative.

Pardom my french, but...

My Ass...

When it came down to who the Medusae, etc. were going to butcher whomever led the charge inside the Arc, I would bet everything in my pockets to everything in yours that the UCAS Army suffered a near-monopoly on casualties.

In that event, Renraku sure as shit came out the winner.
Cynic project
Renraku is going into deep into the red over the bill. Renraku Is has one to the worst PR debacles ever. They are not likely to get many of the big contracts that they would have gotten. WHo would want to have Renraku set up their the LPG or RPGs? Do you think UCAS is going to give them any moneyto Renraku anytime in the near future?
Kagetenshi
QUOTE (Crimsondude 2.0 @ Feb 25 2005, 04:11 PM)
When it came down to who the Medusae, etc. were going to butcher whomever led the charge inside the Arc, I would bet everything in my pockets to everything in yours that the UCAS Army suffered a near-monopoly on casualties.

In that event, Renraku sure as shit came out the winner.

Disagree. All the casualties aren't worth the loss of face and non-cleared personnel tromping through the innermost workings of the Arc.

Unrelatedly, who wants to bet that Renraku's insurance company invoked the "Acts of God" clause and refused to pay out?

~J
durthang
QUOTE
Unrelatedly, who wants to bet that Renraku's insurance company invoked the "Acts of God" clause and refused to pay out?


Somehow I don't see an AAA corp. having a separate insurance company.
BitBasher
QUOTE
Renraku is going into deep into the red over the bill.
Do you have a quote to back that up? because it sure doesn't make sense. They ended up a world leader in drone technology and nanotech as a result, and it's not like a mojority of their resources were in the arc. They have many, many facilities on the planer, of which that was only one. The long term profits from thechnology now only they have access to far outweighs the short term impact of the arc problems.
FlakJacket
I think we could probably re-state that as Renraku North America is going to be in some serious financial trouble. They're the ones that are going to be liable for all the assorted costs and hassles. If Renraku itself, the central holding company, have got even half a brain they'll have funneled all the new research to divisions a long long way away and out of the public gaze.
mfb
they also took a serious, serious, serious PR hit. sure, they're putting out new drones, but fewer people are buying them. in the long-term, yes, they'll gain--if they survive the short-term. the arco fiasco alone won't be enough to kill the corporation, but the massive drop in stock prices, the loss of assets that could be used in other areas, the costs of cleaning out and rebuilding the arco, the costs of rebuilding the corporation's public image--these could easily bring the corp to a point where another, carefully-engineered incident could break it apart like fuchi.
DocMortand
QUOTE (mfb)
they also took a serious, serious, serious PR hit. sure, they're putting out new drones, but fewer people are buying them. in the long-term, yes, they'll gain--if they survive the short-term. the arco fiasco alone won't be enough to kill the corporation, but the massive drop in stock prices, the loss of assets that could be used in other areas, the costs of cleaning out and rebuilding the arco, the costs of rebuilding the corporation's public image--these could easily bring the corp to a point where another, carefully-engineered incident could break it apart like fuchi.

Sounds like a good plot for an adventure book..."The destruction of Renraku." I like...

What kind of engineered holocaust would bring this about, though? Or should that be in a seperate thread?
Kanada Ten
QUOTE
Renraku is going into deep into the red over the bill.

QUOTE
Do you have a quote to back that up?

SotA64 says they have to give the Arcology to Seattle because they can't afford to clean it up. Of course, that's probably only a shadow of the truth.
mfb
eh, i liked that story better last time, when it was called Blood in the Boardroom. all i'm saying is that Renraku's got a ways to go before they're back on top of their game, and it's not a sure thing (from their perspective, if not necessarily from a narrative perspective) that they will get back on top of their game.

edit: really? huh. must check SOTA:64 tonight.
Cynic project
QUOTE (BitBasher)
QUOTE
Renraku is going into deep into the red over the bill.
Do you have a quote to back that up? because it sure doesn't make sense. They ended up a world leader in drone technology and nanotech as a result, and it's not like a mojority of their resources were in the arc. They have many, many facilities on the planer, of which that was only one. The long term profits from thechnology now only they have access to far outweighs the short term impact of the arc problems.

Well, let's see you could look at SOTA 2064. You could take the fact that the UCAS could theroteticlly prevent Renraku from getting most if not all useful data from the site.

By the way buildings on the scale cost at least hundreds of millions to make. Most likely in the billions and I wouldn't be shocked to hear it costed in the ten of billions. They cost so much money that they are built to make that money back over time, by just being. So, shuting it down stopped Renraku from making the money from the building. We do not know if they had made their money back when it shut down. So besides the fact that they may have not really even broke even on the building. One of their major braches does not have enough money to pay the bill to the UCAS. Now the UCAS has contracts with Renraku, and these contract do not go on indefinitely. Who really thinks that the UCAS is going to hold Renraku as trading patern, if they can't pay their own bills? And what about the other contacts they have around the world?
Crimsondude 2.0
Novatech is going under in SOTA64. Renraku's still just chugging the eff along.

Like it said in CD, to Renraku losing the Arc was like Neil the Ork Barbarian losing a pinky: It hurts, but he'll live. Same difference.
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