SCP-1401 — SCP-1401 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-1401 Euclid ~ medium confidence

SCP-1401

Expected annual

$12.7M

One-time setup

$405.5M

Annual recurring

$12.5M

Personnel

One-time capital expenses are dominated by civil infrastructure (alternate highway construction) and secure facility buildouts, while recurring costs are driven by personnel (MTF/SMU/research/analysts), contracted aerial shadowing, surveillance operations, and contingency/reserve allocations. Baseline annual operations are estimated in the low tens of millions; full civil works push one-time costs into the hundreds of millions.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $405.5M

Facilities $395.1M

[#1, #10, #11, #17, #20] Includes permanent termini closures/barriers (#1: ~$300k), secure recovery/forensic bay construction (#10: ~$1,150,000), long-term storage & study compound buildout (#11: ~$1,500,000), alternate highway civil-construction midpoint estimate (#17: ~$392,000,000), and remote power/site hookups (#20: ~$125,000).

Contingency Fund Initial $5.0M

[#18] Initial contingency reserve (one-time) recommended for catastrophic incidents (midpoint of $2M–$10M).

Equipment $2.2M

[#4, #9, #14, #19, #25] One-time purchase & install of fixed remote surveillance array (#4: ~$750k), spotting UAV fleet purchase (~#9: $225k), immediate replacement of 31 test vehicles (~#14: $930k), secure communications setup (#19: ~$225k), and vehicle-interdiction hardware (#25: ~$30k).

Cover Story Initial $2.0M

[#16] Initial covert/legal/cover-up seed funding and government liaison reserve (one-time portion of #16: $500k–$5M; midpoint used).

Initial Research And Lab Setup $750K

[#12] Laboratory buildout and specialized instrumentation for research into demanifestation mechanism and experimental tests (midpoint of $500k–$1M).

Public Relations Initial $500K

[#24] Initial public-relations / compensation reserve for affected civilians and missing-persons mitigation (one-time reserve portion).

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $12.5M/yr

Staff Wages $6.8M/yr

[#3, #5, #6, #7, #12, #26] Salaries & fully-burdened personnel costs: plainclothes security teams (12 × $55k ≈ $660k) [#3], analysts/operators (≈$500k) [#5], MTF Kappa-101 salaries (30 × $110k ≈ $3.3M) [#6], SMU staffing/readiness (~$800k) [#7], research personnel (10 staff × ~$140k ≈ $1.4M) [#12], archivist/compliance staff (~$180k) [#26].

Contingency Reserve Allocation $1.0M/yr

[#18] Recurring allocation to contingency/reserve fund for emergency large-scale response (annual set-aside ~$1,000,000).

Contracted Aerial Shadowing $600K/yr

[#8] Contracted aerial assets (helicopter/fixed-wing on-call) preferred baseline approach for shadowing/documentation (~$600k/year, midpoint of $400k–$800k).

Research And Monitoring $550K/yr

[#12, #23] Experimental/operational research budgets: D-class test operations, experimental losses (~$300k) and forensic/materials testing contracts (~$250k).

Cover Story And Legal $500K/yr

[#16] Ongoing covert legal/coverup budget, government liaison, and legal settlements (~$500k/year as baseline ongoing legal/cover costs from #16).

Medevac Retainer $500K/yr

[#7] Medevac helicopter availability/retainer costs (recurring option rather than aircraft ownership).

Replacement Budget $500K/yr

[#14] Annual budget for replacement of lost Foundation test vehicles & attrition (~$500k/year).

Facilities Maintenance $335K/yr

[#2, #11, #20, #21] Annual maintenance of barriers/gates (#2: ~$50k), long-term storage security/utilities (#11: ~$150k), remote power/battery replacements & grid power at gates (#20: ~$35k), and vegetation/road upkeep (#21: ~$100k).

D Class Program $300K/yr

[#13] D-class recruitment/management, housing, transport, medical screening and program overhead (~$300k/year midpoint).

Mtf Training $250K/yr

[#6] MTF Kappa-101 specialized training and exercises (~$250k/year as noted under #6).

Supplies And Consumables $230K/yr

[#27, #25] Operational consumables and transport (fuel, vehicle maintenance, PPE, batteries) (#27: ~$225k) plus small consumables budget for interdiction hardware (#25: ~$5k).

Logistics And Transport $200K/yr

[#10] Annual secure vehicle recovery, tow, and forensic processing operations budget (~$200k/year).

Amnestic Program $200K/yr

[#15] Class-A amnestic inventory, administration, and memetic treatment reserve (~$200k/year midpoint).

Training Programs $175K/yr

[#22] Cross-discipline training & exercises between MTF, SMU, analysts, and law enforcement (~$175k/year midpoint of $100k–$250k).

Surveillance Operations $100K/yr

[#4] Network/maintenance/cloud storage/power for fixed remote surveillance array (~$100k/year).

Public Relations $100K/yr

[#24] Ongoing PR/compensation and FOIA mitigation activities (~$100k/year).

Uav Operations $60K/yr

[#9] Spotting UAV fleet maintenance & replacements (~$60k/year midpoint).

Communications And Data $50K/yr

[#19] Bandwidth, satellite comms, secure archival storage, and maintenance (~$50k/year).

⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $12.5M/yr

90.0% probability / year

Normal year with steady operations: surveillance, contracted aerial shadowing, research, MTF/SMU readiness, and routine maintenance with no major incidents.

routine_operations no_major_manifestation_events

🚨 Minor Incident $12.8M/yr

8.0% probability / year +$300K vs baseline

Single notable SCP-1401-1 manifestation requiring MTF/SMU deployment, medevac use, vehicle recovery and modest legal/PR expenditures.

single_pursuit_and_recovery medevac_and_forensics localized_PR_amnestics

🚨 Major Breach $22.5M/yr

2.0% probability / year +$10.0M vs baseline

Multiple simultaneous manifestations or public exposure event requiring large-scale amnestic campaigns, legal settlements, major PR effort, and drawing on contingency reserves.

widespread_public_exposure multi-vehicle_incidents large_scale_amnestic_campaign

👥 Personnel 67 total

Role	Count	Notes
Security Officer / Plainclothes Security	12	[#3] Two staff per shift per terminus, 3 shifts/day = 12 individuals; fully burdened cost included in staff_wages.
Analyst / Operator	5	[#5] Nighttime/regional police communications monitoring analysts; midpoint of 4–6 operators.
MTF Agent / Mobile Task Force Kappa-101	30	[#6] Dedicated 30-person response team for SCP-1401-1 (salaries included in staff_wages).
SMU Medical Staff	8	[#7] Special Medical Unit readiness and on-call medical responders; staffing & readiness costs included in staff_wages.
Research Scientist / Technical Staff	10	[#12] Multi-disciplinary research team (physicists, engineers, memetics specialists) accounted for in research personnel costs.
Archivist / Records & Compliance	2	[#26] Archivist/record-keeping and compliance staffing (1–2 staff; midpoint used).

📋 Confidence Notes

Inputs are drawn from analyst ranges and SCP text but include several large-range and discretionary line items (notably alternate highway construction and contingency sizing). Chosen midpoints and a contracting-over-purchase approach drive the estimate; significant uncertainty remains for civil-construction decisions and rare high-impact incident frequency.

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