Proposal: Engineering Teams

[cosmicfish]

I think there is some confusion here between engineering and construction.

Engineering can be done with pretty small groups, especially with advanced computing resources and some pre-designed solutions that simply require modification. Engineering is mostly slowed down by outside assistance unless it is usefully skilled.

Construction needs a small amount of management, a cadre of skilled workers, and a lot of relatively unskilled workers. A construction team would still be relatively small and would recruit from local Project or populace to get the additional manpower.

[dragoon500ly]

Think of the State teams as more on the line as a Sapper Team, they can blow stuff up, move most stuff out of the way, repair a bridge with field expedient material, dig ditches, make (very) makeshift dirt roads, etc.. They would have access to lots of plans and their caches may contain material such as mixers and concrete, lots and lots of nails, screws, bolts, maybe a portable sawmill.

The National/Regional Teams seem to be more along the lines of your construction engineers. Able to bring an airport back online, clear a harbor, repair a railroad, etc..

[ChalkLine]

And added to that construction these days uses less and less workers. One of the reasons that many workers are still employed is that 'plant' (heavy construction equipment) requires skilled operators and will take some time to wear out and be replaced. A late era Project might sequester drone plant that only needs a program to run.