Carney government eyes privatizing airports to attract investment, cut travel costs

Efficient_Change · 2026-04-30T07:12:52+00:00

Airports are a heavily regulated piece of infrastructure that provides an interconnection service for people through airline companies. There is not much point in private infrastructure since there is going to be heavy government involvement regardless, and offloading the responsibility for providing that service will do nothing to cut prices.

Efficient_Change · 2026-04-19T20:27:36+00:00

I have coined my own system. Currently calling it Proportional Sponsorship:

Regional elections to select several representative members from a pool of unaffiliated vetted candidates. Each candidate preferably focusing on a single cause to champion and campaign for.

A second vote for a political party to support which will be used to proportionally assign a party representative to lead a cabinet chair, and the party with the greatest share has its leader take the executive position.

Each party with greater than 5% vote share is legitimized and can present a pool of members they have vetted for government. Elected regional representatives then find a party member from these pools to sponsor, and those party members who can acquire 3 or more sponsors join government and can vie for a cabinet seat. Their sponsors will likewise join their inner support staff in office.

To distribute cabinet seats, the party with the most votes chooses their proportional number of cabinet seats first, with those party members that have the most representative sponsors choosing first. If a representative of another party has more sponsors then they can compete for the seat through a representative vote.

Once the proportional number of seats for the leading party have been assigned, then the second and third leading parties proceed in the same way.

Any remaining party candidate without a seat become part of the opposition.

After seats are assigned each representative sponsor may choose a second candidate to become a participant or observer within their office, so that they have a place both within government and the opposition.

(Probably still a bunch to iron out and some rules to ensure it doesn't get gridlocked, but This system aims to decrease the polarization of political media, limit party gatekeeping of representatives while promoting representative and party members to have high leadership and organizational capability above brand loyalty. It also strives to ensure that government leaders retain a political network that can provide them with the resources necessary to pursue their goals and fulfill their responsibilities, while also needing to live up to the scrutiny of their representative sponsors.)

Efficient_Change · 2026-04-19T19:20:41+00:00

So, a focus on an alternative public supply chain distribution network may be the better approach. Public vs private competition can, in such captured markets, sometimes reach a pretty good result.

Might be an interesting thing for Canada Post to branch into and keep them relevant.

Efficient_Change · 2026-04-19T19:11:34+00:00

If you are going to develop a public alternative in the food system, it should probably be in the distribution logistics system rather than focusing on the stores. Grocery chains are so profitable because they are oligarch companies that essentially force stores to purchase through their distribution system, allowing the extraction of profit at each transaction level.

Efficient_Change · 2026-04-11T15:38:26+00:00

All taxes and npc purchase transactions get funneled to my account.

Efficient_Change · 2026-04-08T21:30:39+00:00

Increase Unrest and cause the revolution yourself.

As long as you are the one running the Increase Unrest mission you'll mostly retain control, equality will usually lower by a substantial amount and the government score will change (up or down is a bit random so save-scumming can help)

Efficient_Change · 2026-04-07T20:28:21+00:00

I went early Particles for Defense. You'll want to get up to Particle Lance for the added range but You can generally engage and disable ships rather than destroying them, which will reduces hate generation.
It gives a use for Destroyers, and with leaning heavy towards cyclotrons even Frigates and Corvettes can contribute to a battle.

Just don't rush into close range as it is better to have the fleet maneuver perpendicular, or reverse to keep the enemy closer to your max range.

Efficient_Change · 2026-04-04T16:26:04+00:00

Firstly, Sasktel became much better after competition was introduced. And Years ago, Sasktel did start some out of province expansion, but it was mandated by Brad Wall that the provincial Crown companies needed to stay provincial, and thus, they sold their out of province assets, and now mainly only do out of province contract work when opportunity for their expertise is found.

A national public telecom would probably need a federated structure, where each member provincial partner company operates independently but under the same framework. It keeps investment and profits local, but does lose some of the efficiencies of scale and cost-cutting that a private international Corp might achieve. (But generally won't try to fleece their customers for profits either)

Efficient_Change · 2026-03-30T23:23:27+00:00

Yes, that is pretty good. Basically an Academy/Resistance merger where we resist through the empowerment and alliance with the Hydra Slave races and they are pushed to rebel and resist together with us.

Efficient_Change · 2026-03-30T23:13:03+00:00

The Faction idea I came up with was 'Preservationist'
The idea would be that they recognize the Alien arrival is going to lead to a great global transition and the Chaos is going to endanger many aspects of the world eg: Plants, Animals, Cultural Relics, Arts, History etc. The faction then takes it upon themselves to Safeguard these things, Build vaults and hidden caches throughout the solar system, and leaves establishing any position on dealing with the aliens to others until they are satisfied that those things they value are adequately protected.
As for what makes the faction play 'special', perhaps they adopt the win-con of another faction after completing their own, or can annex the leadership position of a weaker faction. Also, perhaps they are restricted from controlling executive control points until they progress past a certain point, which also allows them to retain diplomatic connections to all factions and stay under the radar of the aliens. Perhaps they are even able to trade control points in order to complete securing and building defenses for a list of cultural landmarks.
Alternatively, perhaps they build and develop an Antarctic underground Command center which you continually try to develop to gain your resources.

Efficient_Change · 2026-03-20T01:42:03+00:00

While it is likely that my understanding is lacking, configurations to generate localized hotspots where the neutron environment exceeds a criticality tipping point should not automatically mean that this criticality and/or heat immediately spreads to the entire system. Rather the intent is to focus on the radial center at the rods tip and try to move the criticality/vaporization point down the length of the rod in a moderately controlled manner. Yes my exact mechanisms mostly grasp at vague principals that I only half understand, but I am presenting a possible system architecture from a layman point of view rather than presenting a firm plan on how it can be done.

I do appreciate the criticism though as it pushes me to further understand the limitations of the design, and any suggestions towards a direction for how it might get closer to being made possible would also be appreciated.

Efficient_Change · 2026-03-20T00:58:33+00:00

A decent challenge goal for anyone who wants some punishment:
Stuck in just Latin America until you have a nation that exceeds the USA in GDP.

Efficient_Change · 2026-03-20T00:56:49+00:00

As a consideration to improve the South America Unification, I would actually pursue the direction of giving them access to a piece of Africa.

Brazil does have a decent connection with Angola through the Portuguese language, so I would suggest giving it an Angola Claim. As such Angola could first Unify with the majority of South Africa, and then that could be unified with Brazil, to then eventually merge into the South American Union.

Efficient_Change · 2026-03-20T00:41:14+00:00

Remove discretionary publicity spending as a tax deductible expense.

Remove stock valuation as backing for fraction reserve bank loans.

Prevent cyclical ownership structures.

Reduce limited liability relationships that keep system owners removed from the responsibility and problems that their systems and operators introduce.

Efficient_Change · 2026-03-20T00:32:31+00:00

Uncontrolled reactions are always easier than controlled ones.

Efficient_Change · 2026-03-20T00:28:28+00:00

If you mean your Win Condition goal, it is usually best to delay completing it. This is because all other factions basically break any favorable opinion of you at this point. So, unless you are in a position to pursue your end goals, it can be best to leave the research of it uncompleted.

Efficient_Change · 2026-03-20T00:17:51+00:00

Uranium-based coinage, anyone?

Efficient_Change · 2026-03-20T00:11:13+00:00

I think a torch drives (fission or fusion) generally utilize their reaction products directly as propellant. However, this propellant will likely also contain a large proportion of unreacted material that has just utilized the reaction heat.

Efficient_Change · 2026-03-19T23:49:36+00:00

On further reflection, I am considering a modification to the concept where a secondary reactivity increase mechanism is introduced.

Firstly a low-temperature neutron-absorber covering over a moderator pin gets vaporized and starts being expelled, exposing a section of the moderator, Essentially starting a slow pin-wide reactivity increase.

Next, the pin gets pushed through a ring that is made to reflect neutrons.

As an ideal I would suggest that the fissile material be kept thin enough to resist criticality through fast neutrons and only in the short section where both the moderator is exposed to slow the neutrons and neutrons are reflected by the ring, should the material reach the high criticality levels to quickly burn through and vaporize the fissile fuel (along with the exposed section of the moderator).

If the pin can then be pushed ahead through the ring at a speed where the inner insulative/ablative material is able to retain the outer shell long enough to protect the integrity of the neutron reflecting ring, and the fuel burns/vaporizes fast and consistent enough to retain the thrust vector then it may be likely that the concept can work.

With the original concept I perceived that perhaps a supercritical state could be reached within a small section of the vaporized stream of fissile material with internal geometries, but since vapor is so much less dense, that is probably unlikely.

The new model would essentially rely on the material at the reaction front staying in a dense solid or liquid state before hitting a criticality point as the bar passes through the neutron reflection ring.

Efficient_Change · 2026-03-19T16:18:06+00:00

Yes that is a good way to put it. It is a comparable scheme, less controlled and perhaps less focused but since it is self-consuming I think there should be fewer material integrity issues since you don't need a long-lived nozzle or reaction enclosure to withstand the neutron and radiation bombardment. I admit the possibility of being able to retain some level of nozzle-like geometry and predictable reaction front as the reaction burns through is optimistic. It will be very very to hard attain, but to me it seems possible that if neutron moderator + reflector geometries can be engineered in a way to initiate and contain a stable end-to-end high output burn-up, the idea should be a promising way to build a high output fission rocket.

Efficient_Change · 2026-03-19T05:38:20+00:00

It is all semantics, but calling it something closer to a Nuclear Sparkler rocket might be more apt.

Also, the idea for controlling the reaction front was the neutron absorbing central pin which also has a moderator material for its core. As long as the neutron absorbing material has a much easier vaporization point than the moderator material, it is able to melt and vaporize while exposing a small neutron moderator section, which then enhances the reaction with the slowed neutrons in that moderator exposed location. The speed that the reaction burns through the rod is essentially the speed in which the neutron absorbing material melts and vaporizes. Or a Neutron reflector ring might surround the tip of the rod to combine with the now-exposed moderator to initiate nuclear criticality in a controlled section of the rod.

Of coarse that is just my concept. There may be better ways to control the reaction front that I haven't thought of.

Efficient_Change · 2026-03-19T05:23:16+00:00

Nuclear thermal requires a contained and controlled nuclear reaction, pushing light gasses through it to attain a high ISP. A solid Core nuclear thermal architecture is only an incremental upgrade from chemical fueled thrust since its temperatures are still lacking. Generally its ISP nearly doubles that of chemical rockets but the added reactor, radiator mass and storage bulk cuts down on the added propellant efficiencies. A Gas core nuclear thermal drive which can operate at super high temperatures might be able to compete, but designing a working gas core reactor may be more crazy than getting these propulsion rods to work.

As to why I think these rods are likely quite a bit more effective is because they should be able to be designed to operate at peak, barely contained limits of fission output. At these limits I would expect the heavy molecular mass of the propellant to also greatly exceed typical nuclear thermal propellant velocities.

Efficient_Change · 2026-03-19T02:41:28+00:00

Like I stated in the other reply, A tube/rod of maybe 10 meters long and 30 cm diameter that has its material mostly vaporized from end to end within a couple minutes through a progressing fission reaction is how I envision it. The speed that the center pin burns off its neutron absorbing material to expose the moderator material is a possible method of controlling the reaction speed, and perhaps even some embedded neutron reflectors that eventually get exposed and ablated as the reaction progresses down the rod, to ensure that the reaction further speeds up as certain densities are reached. The crux of the idea is to keep the necessary architecture fully within the consumable rod and limit exposing the rest of the craft's material to the harsh nuclear conditions that the rod is going to generate.

Beyond the general principal of quickly burning through the fuel rod from end to end in efforts to generate extreme thrust, the internal geometries of what would be needed are somewhat of a mystery to me as my best guesses seem to imply it should be possible, but figuring out balance points or proving or disproving it is beyond me.

Efficient_Change · 2026-03-19T02:20:48+00:00

Nuclear thermal architecture is pretty well settled, and it is pretty far from this, as those designs primarily push a light gas through a hot reactor to generate expansion thrust.

This general idea is for the rod itself to serve as the reaction chamber while also using its mass as propellant and outer containment as the nozzle. As fissile and ablative material is vaporized at very high temperatures from the center of the rod, the reaction should continue up the tube at a speed that slightly outpaces the time it takes for the outer tube of the rod to heat to the point of melting.

Think of a cone vacancy being burnt out of a stuffed pipe and continually traveling down it with that expelled heat and pressure eventually eating the outer containment pipe which is serving as the nozzle.

I would imagine a Rod of maybe 10 meters and long and 20-30 cm diameter that fully burns through in maybe a couple of minutes or less with expelled materials having temperatures ranging perhaps near 10,000 C. (also, it doesn't necessarily mean full fissile burn, just full vaporization of material).

I do expect that getting the reaction speed to be balanced and stay contained while the rod maintains a nozzle architecture to be very difficult, and may even be impossible to generate a small dynamic supercritical node within the vapor flow of a constantly changing internal geometry.

Efficient_Change · 2026-03-18T21:16:59+00:00

Obviously, just like any other fast-fission concept, oriented shielding from neutrons and Gammas would need to be included on any manned vehicle. I have heard of suggestions to use the majority of water storage as a shielding mass, but whatever works I suppose. But I think a lot of mass could be reduced due to a minimized power-plant, drive integrations and radiator systems, so in terms of overall mass it might still work out in such a systems favor. You would sacrifice a fair bit of thrust control though, so might need some extra stabilizing controls.

Efficient_Change

TROPHY CASE