Scenario Name: June 2010 GOTM: "Market Forces"
SMAC/ SMAX: SMAX
Author: bdanv and Rymdolov (w/ art by Buster's Uncle)
Date of original posting: 6/1/10
Original host site: WPC
The restaurant was expensive, possibly the most expensive on Planet,
but in an extravagant, rather than exclusive, way. The cutlery was heavy
with precious metals; the meals were large, even ones made up of
genuine, non-vat grown, meat and rare spices. The room was bright with
harnessed solar energy, leaving the dark Chiron night to those of lesser
means.
In Jeneba's mind, though, the primary source of light seemed to be the
smile of the man sitting opposite her, lighting a fine cigar.
"This, in fact", CEO Nwabudike Morgan said, indicating the cigar, "is a
good example of what I was talking about. If some other faction leader,
Lal for example, was to smoke one of these in public, there would be
talk of the leader setting a bad example by smoking unhealthy cigars
before the eyes of those poor helpless drones who can't think for
themselves. We, however, would think of it as inspirational. 'Look, he
is rich enough to smoke expensive cigars'! Then we leave it to the
individual drone to pursue his or her happiness in order to be able to
smoke one of these one day.
“Or, for that matter, buy a restaurant and turn it into a non-smoking area.
“The point is that we don't demand a certain behavior - all we demand is
that you work hard, by hand or by brain, whatever your assets are, to
be able to afford the behavior of your choice! And we don't need an army
of bureaucrats to make sure you don't put in more than you take out -
because you can't! That's the power of the Market!"
Morgan leaned back, obviously pleased with his speech, cheerfully
slapping the bottom of the waitress who had just brought him a glass of
brandy and laughing loudly at her wide-eyed surprise. He leaned forward
and winked at Jeneba.
"That would have been called 'sexual harassment', or perhaps 'adultery',
in several other factions; indeed it would have in much of our own.
However, in this restaurant, 'brief body contact with serving personnel'
is part of the deal we made when having this table reserved for us. We
paid good money for it and so it's ours!"
"And does the girl get extra money for providing this - service? ," Jeneba asked. Morgan raised his eyebrows.
"Why, if she was smart enough to negotiate for it! Her body is, of
course, protected as her private property under our property laws - the
only kind of laws you need - and may be sold or leased as she likes.
It's all a matter of supply and demand! It's all in her contract; signed
by her out of her own free will!"
"You see", Morgan continued, "the Market is good not only for organizing
the distribution of energy, minerals and other limited resources, but
also for organizing most human relationships. 'Human behavior is
economic behavior', to quote my own greatest role model. And it's not
just crude egotism, either. By striving to accomplish wealth for
yourself, you inevitably create a better life for everyone around you,
from the scientist getting rich from patenting a medical drug which
helps ill people all over Planet, to the actor earning sweet credits
pursuing his dream while at the same time entertaining his audience."
Jeneba considered her next move. Her boss had asked her to question The
Morganite lifestyle, so that he could defend it as a sort of
intellectual pastime.
"Well, but what about inherited wealth? Might that not be construed as unjust? Didn't you - "
"Yes, there's a point right there", Morgan interrupted. "We all know
that some - not all - who inherit wealth become lazy and passive.
However, the urge to provide for your offspring is such a strong driving
force that the benefits are greater than the costs. Market forces gain
their strength because they are tied to the deepest evolutionary drives
imprinted in our very genes. When you mess with the Market, you're
messing with a force of nature, which is why the non-market economies
are like people thinking they've grown wings when they're really
plain-old people in a plane that's about to run out of fuel."
Jeneba spread her hands, "Well, that's plain to see. But the elites of
the other factions have invested huge resources and much prestige in
their systems. They are not likely to listen to reason and some of them
are heavily armed, you know..."
Morgan leaned forward, lowered his voice and put on the
let's-get-down-to-business face that Jeneba had come to admire and fear
through the years of working for Morgan.
"Ah, this brings us to the reason we're here tonight. You see, I have a plan..."
DIRECTIONS
1) Download the zip file (at the bottom of this post):
-for Transcend difficulty download the file: 1006 Market Forces.zip
-for Librarian difficulty download the file: 1006 Market Forces-Librarian.zip
2)Place the archive into the scenarios directory. Usually you can find
it here: C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Alpha
Centauri\scenarios
3) Unzip it there.
4) Start up SMAX, then select "Scenario", "Play Scenario", and then go
to the subdirectory "1006 Market Forces" and choose the scenario.
SMAC/ SMAX: SMAX
Author: bdanv and Rymdolov (w/ art by Buster's Uncle)
Date of original posting: 6/1/10
Original host site: WPC
The restaurant was expensive, possibly the most expensive on Planet,
but in an extravagant, rather than exclusive, way. The cutlery was heavy
with precious metals; the meals were large, even ones made up of
genuine, non-vat grown, meat and rare spices. The room was bright with
harnessed solar energy, leaving the dark Chiron night to those of lesser
means.
In Jeneba's mind, though, the primary source of light seemed to be the
smile of the man sitting opposite her, lighting a fine cigar.
"This, in fact", CEO Nwabudike Morgan said, indicating the cigar, "is a
good example of what I was talking about. If some other faction leader,
Lal for example, was to smoke one of these in public, there would be
talk of the leader setting a bad example by smoking unhealthy cigars
before the eyes of those poor helpless drones who can't think for
themselves. We, however, would think of it as inspirational. 'Look, he
is rich enough to smoke expensive cigars'! Then we leave it to the
individual drone to pursue his or her happiness in order to be able to
smoke one of these one day.
“Or, for that matter, buy a restaurant and turn it into a non-smoking area.
“The point is that we don't demand a certain behavior - all we demand is
that you work hard, by hand or by brain, whatever your assets are, to
be able to afford the behavior of your choice! And we don't need an army
of bureaucrats to make sure you don't put in more than you take out -
because you can't! That's the power of the Market!"
Morgan leaned back, obviously pleased with his speech, cheerfully
slapping the bottom of the waitress who had just brought him a glass of
brandy and laughing loudly at her wide-eyed surprise. He leaned forward
and winked at Jeneba.
"That would have been called 'sexual harassment', or perhaps 'adultery',
in several other factions; indeed it would have in much of our own.
However, in this restaurant, 'brief body contact with serving personnel'
is part of the deal we made when having this table reserved for us. We
paid good money for it and so it's ours!"
"And does the girl get extra money for providing this - service? ," Jeneba asked. Morgan raised his eyebrows.
"Why, if she was smart enough to negotiate for it! Her body is, of
course, protected as her private property under our property laws - the
only kind of laws you need - and may be sold or leased as she likes.
It's all a matter of supply and demand! It's all in her contract; signed
by her out of her own free will!"
"You see", Morgan continued, "the Market is good not only for organizing
the distribution of energy, minerals and other limited resources, but
also for organizing most human relationships. 'Human behavior is
economic behavior', to quote my own greatest role model. And it's not
just crude egotism, either. By striving to accomplish wealth for
yourself, you inevitably create a better life for everyone around you,
from the scientist getting rich from patenting a medical drug which
helps ill people all over Planet, to the actor earning sweet credits
pursuing his dream while at the same time entertaining his audience."
Jeneba considered her next move. Her boss had asked her to question The
Morganite lifestyle, so that he could defend it as a sort of
intellectual pastime.
"Well, but what about inherited wealth? Might that not be construed as unjust? Didn't you - "
"Yes, there's a point right there", Morgan interrupted. "We all know
that some - not all - who inherit wealth become lazy and passive.
However, the urge to provide for your offspring is such a strong driving
force that the benefits are greater than the costs. Market forces gain
their strength because they are tied to the deepest evolutionary drives
imprinted in our very genes. When you mess with the Market, you're
messing with a force of nature, which is why the non-market economies
are like people thinking they've grown wings when they're really
plain-old people in a plane that's about to run out of fuel."
Jeneba spread her hands, "Well, that's plain to see. But the elites of
the other factions have invested huge resources and much prestige in
their systems. They are not likely to listen to reason and some of them
are heavily armed, you know..."
Morgan leaned forward, lowered his voice and put on the
let's-get-down-to-business face that Jeneba had come to admire and fear
through the years of working for Morgan.
"Ah, this brings us to the reason we're here tonight. You see, I have a plan..."
DIRECTIONS
1) Download the zip file (at the bottom of this post):
-for Transcend difficulty download the file: 1006 Market Forces.zip
-for Librarian difficulty download the file: 1006 Market Forces-Librarian.zip
2)Place the archive into the scenarios directory. Usually you can find
it here: C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Alpha
Centauri\scenarios
3) Unzip it there.
4) Start up SMAX, then select "Scenario", "Play Scenario", and then go
to the subdirectory "1006 Market Forces" and choose the scenario.