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Take your best shot

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When the Smileyface tribe decided to relegate all polluting industries in the name of happiness, factories offering products with high carbon footprint became a thing of the past. The policy of clean industry was implemented with an iron fist and a smile on the government's face.

This is probably why so many visitors to the tribe's territory are surprised to see that manufacturing and dirty industry still goes strong in one of the Smileyface towns named Trigger Happy. What is more, the facilities there produce weapons! Something that is definitely not clean. Neither in industrial nor moral sense...

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Technically, dirty industries are universally banned in the Smileyface economy. However, the tribe's history includes a period of a bitter military struggle for independence. This is the reason why defense sector is exempt from environmental limitations, and military preparedness is an important element of the tribe's pursuit for happiness...

The large factory complex that you can see in the Southern part of Trigger Happy, belongs to a Smileyface corporation named "Armacorp". It is a weapon manufacturer which specializes in production of firearms and certain types of munitions like missiles and torpedoes. Armacorp is officially a tribe-controlled company but it still enjoys considerable flexibility in its actions, especially when it comes to research and marketing.

I bet you are interested in the Armacorp's inner workings and their "campus". It's time to take a short tour around the factory. Of course, you will also have a chance to take a look at the town itself. Despite its small size, it is an interesting place with captivating tourist attractions!

 

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Armacorp's facilities in Trigger Happy have several distinct areas. Each of them is occupied by a different department which is responsible for different work. All visitors who arrive to the corporation's headquarters are greeted by a large company logotype, installed at the end of the Cat D'eyry Avenue.

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Any company, no matter their profile, needs administrative staff to function. Armacorp's Administrative Department fills this role. HR team, legal team, marketing staff, office maintenance workers and many more specialists are employed in this section. Their office work facilitates production processes and ensures that corporation finds buyers for its products. Administrative Department is located in an elegant, mid-sized skyscraper close to the factory entrance. The smaller building is used by maintenance and technical teams.

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Another part of Armacorp's campus is the Department of Research and Design. Here, engineers and constructors work on new weapon models, perform material testing and play with their drawing boards. Sarcastic people refer to this section of the factory as "Department of Finding New Ways to Kill Things". In all honesty, this is not far from truth!

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The third part of the company are the proper factory facilities. Here, firearms and weapons are being produced. The Manufacturing Department has versatile assembly lines which allow many weapons of different kinds to be produced simultaneously. Manufacturing Department is also capable of producing limited numbers of combat vehicles. However, these are usually produced in small quantities. Note that production facilities are separated by a tall earth embankment reinforced with concrete - a safety feature designed to compartmentalize damage in case of fire or mishandling of explosives.

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Of course, Manufacturing Department would not be able to make even a single bullet were it not for the Logistics Department, the task of which is to obtain resources required for production. It is in charge of rail terminals and storage sites on the factory grounds. One of them receives raw materials and the other ships finished goods out to the customers.

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Last but not least, there is Testing and Quality Assurance Department which is responsible for testing the produced weapons and making sure they are built according to industry standards. The Department has one small office building and is in possession of an impressive shooting range. Most of the staff of this section consists of retired soldiers and policemen. This minimizes the risk of accidents because the employees know how to safely handle weapons.

From the South, the shooting range is limited by a concrete-reinforced wall, coated with a high-absorption material. There is also some thick jungle forest on top of it. All to minimize the likelihood of ricochets hitting something (or someone) that they should not. Evening test shootouts look especially spectacular due to tracer rounds that blaze through the range.

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Despite the fact that Armacorp is still a young and comparatively small corporation, it has already gained renown in New Udanani. Although most production is reserved for the Smileyface military, some deals are also regularly struck with the armed forces of other tribes.

Some of them are also quite capricious when it comes to their orders. The case of Altruists, who wanted to supply their air force with environmentally-friendly missiles, shows that Armacorp's production processes are quite elastic and exotic designs are not a challenge for the company's Manufacturing Department.

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In general, marketing of the corporation is considered to be one of the most effective on the regional markets. Attractive advertisements definitely catch the eye of military officials who look for good and reliable weapons for their armies and national security services.

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Two weeks ago, Armacorp also announced that they secured two important deals outside New Udananian borders. The governments of Dimland, (represented by @mitsos) and Isla Bonita (represented by @Girafarig) later confirmed that new armaments were ordered from the company and some information regarding these orders was later disclosed to the press...

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As you can see Armacorp - the Smileyface's weapons producer - is an ambitious organization which is important for the tribe's defensive and economic stance. The income that it brings is certainly a nice bonus and gives a stable financial foundation to the town of Trigger Happy...

 

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...speaking of which, it is time to take a closer look on its streets.

Trigger Happy is a small town located on the Eastern coast of the Cat-Nilam Bayou. It has a population of around 4200 citizens. Most of the town's residential areas are located next to the bayou, providing nice views and refreshing cool air in the evenings. Housing is fairly condensed and centered around one of the main parks but the homes there are not fully developed yet in terms of population density. There is also a fairly big shopping area in the Eastern part of the town. Trigger Happy is divided into two parts by the Cat D'eyry Avenue, which leads to Armacorp's factory.

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Although the weapons factory is naturally the focal point of the town, Trigger Happy has three important tourist attractions which make it an interesting place not only for military and government officials.

One of them, is the beautiful Botanical Garden of Trigger Happy. This fenced-off area maintains a collection of numerous local and non-local types of plants, trees and shrubs and is a must-see for all nature lovers. It also directly feeds into the Smileyface principle of pursuit of happiness by the means of soothing, natural environment.

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The second important place is the Museum of Smileyface Tribe. This educational establishment collects various historic documents, memorabilia and artifacts of patriotic significance that are related to Smileyface history. Entrance to the museum is graced by the monuments of two important men - Kafel Homendru (a 9th century Smileyface general) and Khadliz Munherti (a 19th century Businesspeople statesman of Smileyface descent).

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Last but not least, visitors to Trigger Happy can visit the Kamberial Island. It is an island on which an 11th century Sulkourbanist monastery is located. The monastery is owned by the Kamberi order of Sulkourbanist monks. Those who wish to immerse themselves in spiritual tranquility are more than welcome to take a walk around the island and visit the monastery or one of the many shrines that are scattered around the island.

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A short sightseeing tour around Trigger Happy concludes our meeting for today. The town is an exciting place to be whether one is a tourist or a military technology enthusiast. It is hard to tell right now, but by the looks of it, Armacorp might develop facilities in other parts of New Udanani as well (will more botanical gardens follow, though?).

Before we part, however, be it known that the voting regarding the location of the Altruist high-speed rail terminus is now closed. Again, Revered Spirits of the St'ropoli Dimension arrived at a draw. :)

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Because of this, Sulka, the chief New Udananian diety ruled that variant "A" should be chosen but a short pendulum train should also be included to the terminus to at least partially reconcile both options that received the votes.

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Comment replies:

@Honolulu - Thank you!

@Tamijo - Thank you for your vote!

@TogaMasterJohn - Nice to hear it and I'm happy you like it. *;)

@JulioC - I'm happy you like the final effect. It took a lot of time to create it but I guess it was worth it. *:)

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Nice update, a bit sad that nice people like Smiley Faces have to make military equipment, but such is life. really like the details, in the review of the Armacorp departments.

   

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The Smileyfaces really do love their weapons. I wonder if the Udananians have an "Eve of Destruction"-like song that plays in (certain) radio markets! :D Hopefully the Smileyfaces aren't producing "Captain Trips" or a similar thing to it...

Despite the terrifying idea of an accidental catastrophe of some sort happening within or around the town's limits, Trigger Happy seems to be a fairly nice little area, almost akin to a military base-like area. Kamberial Island looks so peaceful... It's quite a drastic difference compared to the Armacorp's base! The botanical garden is also quite beautiful, too. I went to a (mostly indoor) botanical garden of sorts with some friends of mine last year in May, and it was a rather nice, peaceful (and fun) experience.

Anyway, tremendous job as always when it comes to the details and overall layout of each scene and area. I really do look forward to these, and I can't wait (as always) for the next entry! :8)

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Very pleasant chapter to read. I really like some of the public amenities. Nice work.


Can you tell me where I can find this building please?

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Hey @Honolulu! I decided to answer your question now, so you don't have to wait for the replies section in the next episode. *;)

Believe it or not, but this is a vanilla, Maxis structure which is a part of the "Andrew's Fashion Center". The whole building is cropped in the picture you refer to, so it probably looks more exotic than usual. *;) Here it is in its entirety:

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It is simply a mall-type BAT, which grows on large lots.

If you have any other questions regarding BATs used, don't shy away and ask. I think some unique growables will make it to the next episode, so keep your eyes open. *;)

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