Why half the potato pile disappears and what the Ministry notices mean

Half the pile left on a night train

Open the requisition paper on the office desk. The second numbered paragraph says the Ministry took half the depot stock by night train to supply the Northern Front. Paragraph one explains why rail traffic continues during the storm. The road to the front has closed indefinitely. If the pile shrank around this notice, check the written order and your quota display before searching for a lost sack. A small shipment vanishing as you pick it up has a different cause from this large overnight removal.

Gameplay · night requisition, road closures and remaining stock ↗

The order for the stock left behind

Read clauses three and four of the requisition. Depot 5 must process the entire remaining pile. The Ministry forbids leaving it unprocessed and refuses requests about the shortage. Return to your operating line and compare its next delivery with your HUD. This order has no second crate to find and send after the night train. It gives no universal numeric target. Use the denominator on the current save.

Gameplay · clauses three and four of the requisition order ↗

Which destinations lost their regular shipments

Read the circular headed supply priority. Alongside the villages it explicitly includes the factories among the destinations that have lost food deliveries. Until the army is supplied, the potatoes are assigned to the Northern Front. The document calls anyone diverting them elsewhere a traitor. This explains the conflict in the cab. Western Industry exists on the panel even though it is outside the assigned route. Read the active objective before looking for a switch inside the depot.

Gameplay · four clauses of the supply priority circular ↗

Friday and Sunday are different dinner orders

Track the two meals by date and recipients. The Sunday order concerns families of the fallen and veterans and comes with carrots. The other notice concerns a Friday formal dinner for the regional executive council. Check the order attached to the crate before choosing what to do. When reviewing your run, pair the Friday health report with the council dinner. Using its date to identify the Sunday memorial mixes up the two sets of diners.

Gameplay · Friday dinner named in the confidential health notice ↗

Gameplay · Sunday memorial order and its recipients ↗

Read the confidential banquet health notice

On the pictured run the opening paragraph records three council members dead and two seriously ill after the Friday meal. The next paragraph says the official paperwork will attribute it to spoiled food. All food suppliers are under review, and an inspector may visit the depot. If you thought the authorities had identified an individual suspect, read that line about all suppliers. The final-route bulletin can later describe the disposition of the case.

Gameplay · Friday casualties, official explanation and inspection of suppliers ↗

Keep the production line moving during the council inquiry

Read the last numbered clause of the confidential health report. New council members have already taken up their posts and the quotas stay in force. Close the note and return to the current work objective. Waiting at the desk for a different quota or a replacement council will not advance the order described here.

Gameplay · replacements and unchanged quotas in clause four ↗

A separate bulletin reports the inspection sergeant’s death

Look for the Military Security paper with reference number 31 and security measures in its heading. It reports that a sergeant of the supply inspection department died on duty and the investigation continues. The remaining clauses prohibit unauthorized entry to closed areas and order suspicious materials to be handed to the authorities. The paper gives no cause of death or name of a killer. If you remember three deaths, check the Friday council report. These were separate incidents in the recorded shift.

Gameplay · Military Security paper about the deceased sergeant ↗

Gameplay · separate council health report ↗

Recognize the original assignment and the morale circular

The posting has two pages with similar letterheads. The short order names the worker, the depot and the written permission needed to leave. The personnel form identifies him as a fitter in the railway workshops and ties his posting to completion of the pile. A separate morale circular praises the worker without adding a railway or delivery interaction. Read the body under the seal when identifying a paper. The forms in this Russian-language run carry the year 1978 in their letterheads.

Gameplay · personnel form naming work in the railway workshops ↗

Gameplay · posting with written-permission clause ↗

Gameplay · the morale circular ↗

The first explosion notice keeps the shift open

Read the urgent incident notice at the desk after the event. It identifies a device in the potato delivery and warns that the pile can contain others. Its final numbered paragraph says production and quotas continue. If you have just returned to the depot after a flash, compare this notice and the active task with the later railway sequence. The urgent notice describes a supply incident during a continuing shift.

Gameplay · urgent incident notice and unchanged production directive ↗

What the appointment says about pay and deductions

Read the middle of the personnel order before putting it down. The terms specify piecework for each peeled potato. Housing, rations and upkeep of the tools are deducted in the calculation. They do not offer an hourly salary. On the workbench, use the actual receipt and the credited balance when deciding whether you can afford an upgrade. The document describes the terms of the appointment. It does not give a numeric breakdown of a rent charge on each individual batch.

Gameplay · work assignment, piecework pay and listed deductions ↗

Why the worker stays at the depot instead of the front

On the personnel form the health line marks Comrade 42 as unfit for front-line service. The posting still assigns him to the peeling station until completion of the pile. The sentence below says the appointment is final and cannot be appealed. Do not look for a medical-release option at the shop after reading it. The same form lists one dependent, a 17-year-old son in the graduating class at the Ministry boarding school. Its final paragraph makes that dependent’s education conditional on the worker’s performance. This explains why the school can appear in a military assignment before the first personal letter.

Gameplay · health classification, the 17-year-old dependent and the education condition ↗

Read the dependent line on the posting order

Look at the dependent entry above the depot assignment. This photographed translation lists one son, age 17, in his final school year at a Ministry boarding school. Use the personnel form for his age at assignment. Later letters and train epilogues describe subsequent events and do not carry the same date as this form.

Read the decision at the bottom of the personnel order

The posted order says the assignment is final, gives the duration as the time needed to peel the pile, and identifies the approving office. Put the paper back using its displayed control to continue the playable assignment. There is no appeal choice on the photographed form. Follow the active depot objective if you are trying to advance the story.

Related field notes

• Quota complete but Master Peeler still open?
• Resistance letters: when to hide the contents or report them
• How to finish the carrot and cucumber crate orders
• Send the Varenka crate for A Heart of Gold