Hans turned slowly where he stood. The survey markers ran away from him in straight lines on every side, and the Command Center sat close on one flank, with the inner line of walls and Watch Towers just past it.
He had seen what he came to see.
He crossed the markers toward the service lane on the long side, where the Engineers kept their vehicles well back, and stopped a few steps beyond the survey line.
Hans opened the construction interface, and the map narrowed toward the plot until the whole rectangle filled his view.
The Strategy Center’s placement outline settled over the ground where the Engineers had marked it, with a thinner border running around the outside for the extra construction territory it would open once it stood. The survey markers and cable housings sat inside the outline without bothering it.
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[ Placement Valid ]
[ Strategy Center Ready for Deployment ]
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"Deploy."
The outline flashed once from edge to edge, and a grid of green light ran across the plot, dividing the footprint into sections.
The first change happened underground.
Hans felt it through his boots as the ground beneath the plot hollowed out and sealed itself, and the buried trunk lines lit up one after another at the marked points before disappearing under the surface.
Wide slabs of plating then slid together over the grid and locked edge to edge until the plot was a single flat deck.
The walls came next.
They climbed out of the deck along the outline in broad tiers, each level set back from the one below it, until the structure stood four levels above the ground.
The walls were thick and almost blank, broken only by narrow slit windows that looked more like gun ports than anything meant to let light in.
A single main approach formed along the front. It was a checkpoint lane with barriers rising across it before a hardened lobby entrance.
The service and data entries rose along the two narrower prepared lanes, each behind its own armored door.
Camera and sensor strips spread across the outer walls, and Hans noticed there were far more compartment doors than ordinary ones.
The roof finished last. Clusters of hardened antennas and dishes unfolded across the top tier and locked into their mounts one after another, and the final dish swung into position and stopped.
The vehicles along the lane shuddered as the ground settled.
A few seconds later the lights came on, and a steady hum started somewhere deep inside the building.
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[ Strategy Center deployed. ]
[ Strategy Center operational. ]
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Hans asked the System for a surprise. It gave him a bunker with an antenna farm on the roof, and the Command Center beside it now looked smaller.
The deployment notice slid aside for a second panel, and this one kept scrolling.
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[ Structure Name: Strategy Center ]
[ Structure Category: Primary Structure — Regiment Command and Strategic Planning ]
[ Energy Consumption: 950 EU ]
[ Expansion Radius: 750 meters ]
[ Strategic Systems ]
[ Strategic Operations Hall ]
Campaign-level command and planning across active regional operations.
[ Campaign Planning Cells ]
Concurrent Major Workspaces: 6
[ Global Strategy Doctrine ]
Search and Destroy
Effect: +20% Maximum Effective Range (including but not limited to weapon systems)
Hold the Line
Effect: +30% Effective Unit Armor / Endurance / Structural Resilience
Bombardment
Effect: +20% Offensive Attributes (including but not limited to weapon damage, strike effect)
Active Doctrine: None
Only one Strategy Doctrine may be active Commander-wide.
[ Delegated Production Authority ]
Authorized officers may execute approved production within Commander-set limits, budgets and production hubs.
[ Strategic Target Registry ]
Maintains strategic target records, source provenance and report age.
[ Standing Air Allocation ]
Allows Air support to be reserved against approved campaign requirements.
[ Exception-First Command ]
Authorized routine execution continues within established limits. Exceptions outside those limits return to higher command.
[ Strategic Headquarters Staff ]
Facility Establishment: 360
Nominal Active Watch: 120
[ Remarks ]
Command the war, Commander, not the battles.
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Hans read the whole panel once, then went back to the doctrine entries.
There were three choices, and only one could be active at a time.
"Should I... focus on Search and Destroy?"
He raised a brow and hovered a finger over the option.
The extra range would help his army, and the wording wasn’t limited to weapons. Maybe sensors, Radar and other systems could benefit too.
He selected Search and Destroy.
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[ Doctrine Selected: Search and Destroy ]
[ Doctrine Synchronization ]
60 minutes
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"Do I need to retrain anyone for this, or does it apply on its own?"
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[ No retraining required. Doctrine effects apply to all eligible units once synchronization completes. ]
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Hans smiled at the response. The System had made him wait nine days for this anyway, so another hour wasn’t going to kill him.
The doctrine notice disappeared, but another replaced it.
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[ Pending Strategic Authority Request Detected ]
[ Delegated Production Authority ]
[ Target ]
Battalion Commander Joseph Brandon
[ Operational Scope ]
Silverpeak Production Hub
[ Configuration ]
Default (can be changed)
Note:
Scope may increase as the target and the commander’s rank increases. Scope automatically adjusts according to System-based reasoning.
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The last line pleased Hans. He wouldn’t have to micromanage every change to Brandon’s Production Authority if Brandon became a Regiment Commander someday.
Hans shifted toward the Configuration and saw more options appear.
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[ Production Directive ]
[ Authorized Commander ]
Joseph Brandon
[ Gold Allocation ]
2,000,000 (Default)
[ Authorized Production Facilities ]
War Factories (by default)
Barracks (by default)
Airfield Bases (by default)
[ Restricted Assets ]
MCV (by default)
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"That’s more like it."
Hans grinned. The System felt a little convenient lately, and this was what he was looking for.
Hans started with the Gold allocation.
The Gold allocation worked like giving Brandon a spending limit. Whatever he ordered came out of that amount.
Once Brandon used it up, he’d have to ask Hans for more.
The [ Authorized Production Facilities ] section covered the War Factories, Barracks and Airfield Bases inside Brandon’s scope.
The scope would also grow with Brandon’s command. If he pushed farther out from Silverpeak, Hans wouldn’t have to update the directive every time his operating area expanded.
Restricted Assets blocked whatever Hans didn’t want Brandon producing. The MCV was restricted by default.
It was easier than some of the management mods Hans had played. He didn’t have to open every queue himself.
Maybe one day one of his officers would be running an entire planet while Hans was busy somewhere else.
"System, you’re the absolute best."
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[ ... ]
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Although the System answered with nothing but an ellipsis, Hans took it as shyness.
After he finished playing with the controls, Hans returned to Brandon’s Production Directive and approved it.
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[ Production Directive has been approved for: Battalion Commander Joseph Brandon ]
[ Initializing production protocols... ]
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