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[3_14159]

This thread is thought for discussion about The Glorious Design Bureau of the People, to avoid crowding the main thread.

Have fun!

Notice: I am thinking about putting the latest turn in here, but this will make this post far longer - spoilers within spoilers seem not to work.

[Patrick Hunt]

Ok so as an island nation our key threats are air and sea. I have a project for both.

First I want to take a standard pickup truck then reinforce and stabslize it and bolt an AA gun on a rotating platform to the bed on the back as a cheap and efficient mobile AA. We can modify the truck later once the basic version is functional. It's only a small project if we use pre existing vehicles.

Second I want to design a mine ideally with a proximty sensor for deployment by ship as a coastal defense.
That can pretty easily be shrank down later to make AI/AT mines for beaches once the initial mine is designed though it'd need a different trigger.

I think those 2 things together are cheap, small projects and have a major benefit.

Oh and for strategy I wanna add look out posts on the mountain, well supplied infantry can get across it on foot so we need a warning system. Plus we can map it incase we ever invade our neighbour to allow us to cross it.

[Aseaheru]

We dont have pickups.
We dont have AA guns.
We dont have prox sensors.

And you are confusing me.

We however have trucks.
And MGs
and fighters
and some ships
and are going to have a rocket testing range that we can make SAMs from in a decade or so.

[Ukrainian Ranger]

Ok so as an island nation our key threats are air and sea. I have a project for both.

We are peninsula nation, so neglecting land army is a bad idea even if we have naval war at hand

First I want to take a standard pickup truck then reinforce and stabslize it and bolt an AA gun on a rotating platform to the bed on the back as a cheap and efficient mobile AA

our 15mm machine gun is bassically alight AA gun, I am surprised that it is that light.... Anyway, truck + quad 15mm is very easy to do. But it is needed for mobile land warfare, if you want to defend from enemy air raids, towed > mobile

Second I want to design a mine ideally with a proximty sensor for deployment by ship as a coastal defense.

We have naval mines by default. But mines as in RL have a nasty tendency to do friendly fire and complicate own navigation

and are going to have a rocket testing range that we can make SAMs from in a decade or so.

Nope, no electronics=no SAMs

[Patrick Hunt]

So we map the mine fields and give captains a map to counter friendly fire.

I can design the mobile AA for rotation and elevation to be used for AI and AA it'll just need some armor for driver and gunner. Turn it into a kind of light APC. The mobility and lack of a set up time is handy, I can add a tow bar so it can drag a stationary one into place as well. The mobile variant can drag them into place then move around as enemy attacks come in for rapid response.

[3_14159]

Well, we have a truck, and we will possibly have an AA truck next turn or the turn after. This would increase our mobile anti-air power - in the island defense role, however, the AA gun alone should have the desired effect. Maybe use it with a to-design armoured transport vehicle?

On the mines, I have a different, more critical view. We already have basic naval mines (the cruiser from the beginning has mine laying equipment which I assume to be contact detonated ones). More advanced ones, operating for example with a magnetic proximity sensor, would need new technology and therefore be new projects, while contact mines will be - for island defense - very useful.
There are two usages I can see for mines: Mining sea ways and mining island coasts. The former will mostly impose strategic disadvantages to our enemy - the need to clear those mines. Useful, but commerce raiders and submarines should be more efficient. The second will mean to mine the approaches they have to take to the shore, so they have to clear the mines under fire from coastal guns. That's more useful, but our current ones should suffice.
Additionally, they shouldn't be that similar to anti-infantry and anti-tank mines. Basically, naval mines are heavier and use different detonation mechanisms - and don't need hollow charges or shrapnel. It's probably like developing a motorcycle or a tank - different parts, but some small are the same.

Oh and for strategy I wanna add look out posts on the mountain, well supplied infantry can get across it on foot so we need a warning system. Plus we can map it incase we ever invade our neighbour to allow us to cross it.

Do you mean lookout posts to look for invaders, or to map the land they can see from there? The former is useful, and will probably be done along with scout flights to see them before they're only an hour away, the second one will probably not work for any meaningful distance between the island and mainland.

and are going to have a rocket testing range that we can make SAMs from in a decade or so.

We'd need guidance modules, among other things, before that. That might take a while, more like two decades. They will be needed, but I myself prefer better aircraft...

What I'd like for next turn are four things:
- A better torpedo
- A better torpedo boat - using the newly developed engine (2301) and torpedo (see 1) we can probably see pretty good commercial raiders from a forward base - like crow island.
- A fighter plane - we need some air cover, and it's either that or a heavier naval patrol and torpedo aircraft, which should probably come next year.
- A tank. Honestly, last time we developed one in 1920 ;-) It should provide us with anti-tank and anti-infantry firepower that we can use to either squash pretty much a sea invasion without enough artillery and air cover (a.k.a. what probably awaits us) and use them on a land-based war. We sadly lack a highly armour piercing design, and would need to use the 40mm cannon for now, but we could also develop a high-speed variant of that.

Oh, and a question to AseaHeru: What exactly should the planned combat role for the APC? I principally like such a role, but I can't get me an opinion without things like armour strength and armament. Plus, I believe that for the next turn, a  real tank is more important.

[Aseaheru]

It depends on the guidance. Germany had rocket AA in the works in WWII using timers. Then you have gyroscopes used for most of the things. But yes, we will need better electronics at some point.

[Patrick Hunt]

I'll use something like an APC for the mobile AA so you can just pull the gun and put on whatever you want instead. I just want some mobile AA in case they launch a surprise attack. Mobile can intercept fast and doesn't need time to be set up. No need for large numbers of it just a few strategicly deployed groups for rapid response.

I'll drop the the naval mine and focus on a mine for beaches. AI or AT first? I'd go AI since for now tanks ain't in huge numbers.

As for lookout. Kind of both. 1 on every pass over the mountain to hold a dozen men with a signal fire until we geta good radio to signal if enemies are spotted.
Scouts can be sent out from it to map the mountain so we can attack over it if the time ever comes,

[10ebbor10]

On a side note, I need some names for our nation and it's neighbors.

[Aseaheru]

The Glorious Council of Other for us, The United Regions of New Banking for one foe?

[3_14159]

I'll use something like an APC for the mobile AA so you can just pull the gun and put on whatever you want instead. I just want some mobile AA in case they launch a surprise attack. Mobile can intercept fast and doesn't need time to be set up. No need for large numbers of it just a few strategicly deployed groups for rapid response.

Of course, that interception can only occur after one or several attacks have already been made. A bombing run would have an hour maximum between entering and leaving our borders - that's too few to reorganize the fixed AA defences.

I'll drop the the naval mine and focus on a mine for beaches. AI or AT first? I'd go AI since for now tanks ain't in huge numbers.

Anti-infantry will probably be more necessary for now, but I'd concentrate on other things first. An infantry mortar, for example, can probably be much more efficiently used than mines. Basically, we want them to not land at all, then we want to crush them on the beaches, and if that doesn't work, let them run over our mines ;-)

As for lookout. Kind of both. 1 on every pass over the mountain to hold a dozen men with a signal fire until we geta good radio to signal if enemies are spotted.
Scouts can be sent out from it to map the mountain so we can attack over it if the time ever comes,

I think I've found the misinformation from which that stems - we don't have to fear attacks over the passes:

While our mainland shares no land border with them, we do have sovereignty over a few island for their coast. Local troops have been reinforced. The government fears they're planning an attack on Crow's Isle, threatening our nations Gold supply. It's expected that [Yet another name here] will remain neutral, due to tensions between the two countries. Therefore, we don't have to fear a major land invasion yet. Most likely, the attack will come over sea.

Basically, it looks something like this: [Neutral country] Mountains [We] [Sea] [Crow's island] [Less sea] [Enemy]
(Though enemy means tensions only, currently.)
@10ebbor10: Could you give us a few measurements (unless abstracted away), like the size of Crow's island, its distance from the mainland and from us?

On a side note, I need some names for our nation and it's neighbors.

Well, I'd propose we take Capia for the enemy, again, that worked quite well. For ourselves... how about The People's Republic Of Varnus? And maybe Morovia (again) for the neutral neighbour?

[Patrick Hunt]

Manning the pass is still worth it, Neutral can turn to war in a hurry and we don't wanna be hit by surprise. Plus it's a tiny job requiring a few hundred workers max and 12 soldiers per position. Your looking at maybe 200 men tops once it's completed.
A very minor cost to secure a border against invasion don't you think?

Ok I'll design the mine anyway then just see how the votes go for it, it's only a small job anyway so we might be able to fit it in otherwise it can just be bumped back until we have time for it.
I'm aiming for something like a bouncing betty. Spring loaded prongs on top that are depressed by being stood on, they go down hitting a spring causing the mine to jump into the air with a timed detonator 2-3 seconds long so it detonates in the air at about chest height sending a fan of shrapnel in a 360 degree ark.
In essence, I'm designing a mine to wreak havoc on packed infantry forces like you see on a beach. I'll design something like a claymore once this is complete to use as a defense on fixed infantry positions.

I'll need to find the current APC design then if it fits my needs I'll just retrofit it a little otherwise I'll go from scratch.

[Aseaheru]

What one, 6 wheeled or another one?

The 6 wheeled one has a driver, behind a gunner with a single MG (for now) in an open turret. Two seating /cargo areas on the sides for 8 troops.

[Patrick Hunt]

Not sure yet, I'm cooking dinner then I'll look, I'm more interested in the armor and engine then the size anyway.

[Aseaheru]

Ah. Well, the side parts would be relatively open, the powerplant would be our best diesel and the armor perhaps 3in sloped except on front and bottom, the bottom being 1.5 in and the front 5in