Welcome, Bay Twelve, to the Arms Race Forum Game.(Inspired, as were many, by
Kingfisher's old weapon design game).
This game has ended, but its sequal has just started! (Apr 29, 2017)
Join now!Here, you will join one of two nations, and attempt to design guns to shoot at the other one.Arstotzka:
Thread!Moskurg:
Thread!The year is 1910, and these two nations having been warring over the small continent (they both insist that you call it a continent) of Forenia in the south pacific. The British Empire is strong, and the art of war is changing rapidly in America and Europe. Forenia has, in terms of global politics, been mostly irrelevant. The British Empire established a colony on Forenia, quickly subjugating the natives of both countries who wielded swords, bows and metal armor at the time. It was abandoned in time because, even after being conquered, the plantation workers were continuously at each other's throats with knives, farming tools and stolen rifles. In fact, Arstotzka and Moskurg have been at war to conquer the entire continent as long as anyone can remember, and as far back as any history book is written. The reasons for this are much debated, but the debates universally end in fisticuffs. Now that the two nations have regained their sovereignty, they've industrialized, but are back to vying for control of the continent, same as ever.
Gas lamps burn in the streets and smoke from factories fills the sky over cities. You are meeting around a drawing board, in an office above the factory floor. After a while of stalemate fighting, the old weapons design team has been
executed fired, and you have been chosen to replace them.
THE NATIONSArstotzka resides in the cold south of Forenia, much of which is frozen taiga. Moskurg has its capital in the hot sands on the north end of Forenia. In between them is a range of mountains, through which passage is difficult by foot or horse, and there is no train track. Around the mountains to the west is a warm, wet jungle region, terminating in swamps rather than beaches. To the east are relatively exposed plains, some areas including trenches that have been in place since the colonial war. Train tracks lead through here, straight from Arstotzka's capitol to Moskurg's, when they aren't blockaded, which they currently are. The sea all around is prone to sudden and treacherous storms that make naval excursions risky, and threaten any ship not in a bay (there is one on the north, south, and west sides of Forenia each). Therefore, ships can only operate in zones adjacent to a friendly bay.
Each region in Forenia has four sections of ground (including an East, West, and Central Desert and Taiga, for a total of 9 regions). A region is controlled when a faction has gained all four sections, and holds them for a turn.
Map of Forenia:
For reference the current state of the art technology in Europe and the Americas is this:
-Sidearms are semiautomatic pistols, often double action, with quickly changeable magazines.
-Rifles are usually bolt action rather than automatic, with clip-loaded magazines holding several cartridges, and iron sights.
-Shotguns are tube-loading pump action.
-Machine guns are heavy, and belt-fed. They are often water-cooled, and require three or more men to keep in operation, and are used in emplaced positions. Despite being inconvenient, these dominate the battlefield.
-Artillery includes relatively accurate howitzer cannons, mounted on carriages to be pulled by horse or truck.
-Hand grenades are usually on sticks, fragmenting shells are yet-uninvented.
-The notion of a tank on the battlefield is largely nonexistent.
Arstotzka starts with the following weapons and resources:
Weapons:
-Nosin-Magant: Officer weapon. A Russian Mosin-Nagant rifle, brand new ones roll off the assembly lines, and then a highly skilled team changes the letters with chisels. A bolt-action rifle with a five-round clip which fires 7.62mm rounds. Good accuracy, but with iron sights which have a post adjustable up to one kilometer, designed for long-range but inaccurate barrages. Good stopping power against infantry. It is Expensive, which means only enough have been made to supply Officers. Detachable bayonet.
-AS-1891: General infantry weapon. The first weapon manufactured in Arstotzka. This is a muzzle-loading rifle: it is loaded by disassembling a 7.62mm round for the mosin, pouring the gunpowder down the barrel, dropping the bullet down the barrel, and placing the primer. Stopping power and accuracy are poor. Unfortunately, most infantry are forced to use these.
-AS-1909: General infantry sidearm. An Arstotzka-made semi-automatic pistol, firing 9mm. It has a 10-round magazine and can fire quickly with moderate accuracy, at short range. Moderate stopping power. Unfortunately, if fired quickly, it jams about once a magazine (Shoddy, -1 Expense).
Technology:
-Metric system. Meters, kilograms, liters!
-Breech-loading
-Muzzle-loading
-Bolt action
-Clips and Magazines [Expensive]
-Cold Weather Engineering. Arstotzka-made equipment is designed and tested in the cold tundra, and does not become unreliable due to cold climates and snow.
-7.62mm Rifle rounds. Largish round for small arms with good stopping power.
-9mm Pistol rounds. Small rounds with moderate stopping power and not great range.
Soldiers:
-Patient: Moskurg soldiers excel at waiting in ambush, and carefully shooting from afar, giving them and advantage in long-range engagements.
-Uniform: Scarlet-dyed wool, with a golden star on the breast. Warm. Glorious. Doesn't stop bullets.
Transportation:
-Horses: Soldiers ride sometimes horses to battle, but prefer to fight on foot in cover.
-AS-51 Steam Engine: The heart of the south! Built in Arstotzka, this engine pulls trains of food, ammo, and resources.
-Some civilians have automobiles, but they are little use on snowy roads outside of cities.
Resources:
1 Research facility. You may initiate 1 new project each year.
2 Ore. Vehicles or carriage-mounted weapons are Expensive.
1 Oil. Products which use more fuel than a motorcycle are Expensive.
Moskurg starts with the following weapons and resources:
Weapons:
-Horsekiller: General infantry weapon. A breech-loading rifle with a long 60-inch barrel, which fires enormous 60 caliber rounds. Has great stopping power, middling accuracy with iron sights, and is heavy and cumbersome, including a bayonet. Famed to stop a horse in one shot, regardless of where it hits. Rounds will go very far, and can still kill far after they become inaccurate. This is useful when fired as a barrage.
-Horsekiller Carbine: General infantry weapon. A shorter variant of the Horsekiller, used by cavalry while riding horses. It has the same stopping power, but average weight and poor accuracy. Does not include iron sights.
-Five-Shooter: General infantry sidearm. A five-shot revolver firing large 30 caliber rounds. Single-action, with a lot of kick and trigger pull, means it has poor accuracy, but good killing power against infantry.
-Sawed-off Shotgun: General infantry sidearm. About half of soldiers use this instead of the five-shooter. Fires twice before breech loading, very effective at short range, ineffective otherwise. Poor armor penetration. Uses 12 gauge shells.
-Scimitar: Officer sidearm. Elite soldiers receive a scimitar, a deadly curved sword which can be used on foot or horseback. Of course, requires getting close to the enemy.
Technology:
-Imperial system. Inches, feet, miles, pounds! And especially calibers and gauges.
-Forged blades. Swords are a specialty!
-Breech-loading
-Revolvers, Single-action
-60 caliber bullets. Just enormous for small arms! Excellent stopping power. Loud, hot, and kicks hard.
-30 caliber bullets. Still really good stopping power, but much easier to control.
-Hot Weather Engineering. Moskurg-made equipment is designed and tested in the hot desert, and does not become unreliable due to hot climates and sand.
Soldiers:
-Fierce: Moskurg soldiers have an advantage in melee combat and close quarters.
-Uniform: Moskurg soldiers wear flowing blue linen with a scimitar stitched onto the chest. Comfortable in the heat, does not stop bullets. Or rocks.
Transportation:
-Horses: Moskurg soldiers are skilled cavalry, and ride close to the enemy to use their inaccurate weapons and swords.
-Model 51 Steam engine: A Moskurg invention definitely not stolen from Arstotzka. Large shipments of ammo, resources and supplies are moved by trains pulled by one or two of these engines. Has a bad habit of overheating, occasional boiler explosions.
-Some civilian automobiles are available which may be requisitioned for military use, if necessary.
Resources:
1 Research facility. You may initiate 1 new project each year.
1 Ore. Large weapons are Expensive.
2 Oil. Products which use more fuel than a car are Expensive.
Updated as of 1924 turn, based on testing and arguing.
In either nation's thread, you may suggest what to do each turn, and vote in favor other suggestions. Please stick to one nation, nobody likes a turncoat! Turns occur in two phases:
-In the Design Phase, you may suggest a new product (EG a brand new machinegun). I will secretly roll some dice, and depending how ambitious your new project is, I will assign an Expense to it, and possibly introduce Bugs. If you want, you can simply revise an old project instead of making a new one.
-Once you've seen the results of your efforts, we move to the Revision Phase- you can try to reduce the expense, remove bugs, or add features to a product (EG make the machinegun stop jamming, or making a new, carbine version of a rifle). This doesn't have to be the product you started in the first phase, if you're happy with it.
-Then the fighting happens! I'll provide a description of who has the advantage on which fronts, and roll some dice. Resources will be gained and lost sometimes. The next year will start, and we will move to a new Design phase.
Sometimes, you might earn a Design Credit or a Revision Credit, which will allow you one extra design or revision action in one turn.
Expense: Regular equipment can be given to everyone in your army. If a piece of equipment is difficult to produce, it has expense levels: 1 is Expensive, 2 is Very Expensive, and 3 is A National Effort. It doesn't matter how many different types you have, as you'll still only be making a total number of guns enough to equip everyone. Inexpensive equipment could be given to every soldier, if you want. Cheap vehicles means everyone can ride around in one instead of marching. Expensive equipment can be given to officers, or one per squad (5-10 soldiers). Expensive Vehicles means a pretty good number can be used for support. Very Expensive equipment can be used by special squads only, about 1 in 100 soldiers. Very Expensive vehicles are few and far between on the battlefield, or there are only a couple squads in total. Your nation can only deploy one National Effort at a time. It had better be an aircraft carrier, or a nuke, or a giant walking robot if you want this to be worth it. If you have multiple weapons at a price tier, then soldiers/squads choose one for the situation. Some weapons, EG crewed machine guns and artillery, don't benefit much from being Inexpensive because there aren't many situations where you'd want everyone using one.
You might gain an Expense Credit for a certain type of unit, reducing the expense by 1- for example, if High Command desperately wants an airplane, they'll offer an expense credit for it, which might reduce your new bomber from A National Effort to Very Expensive. Monetary gains from trade will be represented this way.
The expense of equipment is determined when you design it. The more new features, or the more ambitious, the more likely it is to be expensive. You can attempt to reduce the expense when revising equipment- this might introduce bugs, or it might permanently reduce the expense of that technology.
Resources: You can gain more Ore and Oil by gaining territory, and by designing better general transportation (trains, trucks and boats). If you lose it and a product becomes more expensive, then soldiers will cease to use it as they run out of ammo/replacement parts.
For example, a car might cost Ore 3, Oil 2. If your nation has Ore 2, Oil 1, a product which costs Ore 3, Oil 2 gains an expense level, because you're short 2 resources. If you're short 3 or more resources, it gains two expense levels (Very Expensive). If it's also Complex, that's three expense levels (A National Effort). Something that costs 6 or more resources than you have gains three expense levels right away (A National Effort). If something adds up to 4 or more expense levels, it is Theoretical and cannot actually be built. Ore represents total mining effort, so if you have a gun made of a rare or difficult to mine metal (let's say titanium) it might have an ore cost of 2 or 3 despite being only a rifle. If a large truck can be made mostly from low-quality steel, it might be cheaper. For now I'm ignoring train cost and assuming that new technologies are either cost effective or considered failures automatically.
The following resources are available in Forenia:
Each area must be completely controlled, except for the mountains, where the resources are located (relatively) close to the base on either side.
Desert: 2 oil, 1 ore
Mountains: 2 ore, 1 each side
Jungle: 1 ore, 1 oil
Plains: 1 ore, 1 oil
Taiga: 1 oil, 2 ore
There is a catch! Transport capacity. Oil and ore need to be moved back to the capitol for refining. At the start of the game each faction had a train system which supported a total of 3 resources, and has upgraded to 4 since then.
Espionage: Each nation has one spy. That spy has one action a year, and does the first thing PM'd to me or with the most votes if multiple people do suggest the same thing. Spies require a D6 dice roll (default about 50% chance) to do their work, and counter-intelligence prompts an opposed roll. If the counter-intelligence spy wins by 2, they kill the other spy, who won't be replaced for a year. Counter intelligence only works against spies who are doing something, spies taking no action are safe. Sometimes nations may be awarded an Espionage Credit, allowing your spy to act twice.
The war is over. We have come to the epilogue. Here is an index of our latest turns: (Thanks, Happerry)
1910 Battle Report1911 Battle Report1912 Battle Report1913 Battle Report1914 Battle Report1915 Battle Report1916 Battle Report1917 Battle Report1918 Battle Report1919 Battle Report1920 Battle Report1921 Battle Report1922 Battle Report1923 Battle Report1924 Battle Report1925 Battle Report1926 Battle Report 1927 Battle Report1927 Civilian Report1928 Battle Report1929 Battle ReportInterim Turn Announcements1930 Battle Report1931 Battle Report1932 Battle Report1933 Battle Report1934 Battle Report1935 Battle Report Final Battle ReportThe September Peace SummitThe Battle of the EmbassyEpilogue: A New ConstitutionEpilogue: The Future of ForeniaThe Next Game: Intercontinental Arms RaceWar MuseumObsolete Equipment is listed here.
-AS-1891: General infantry weapon. The first weapon manufactured in Arstotzka. This is a muzzle-loading rifle: it is loaded by disassembling a 7.62mm round for the mosin, pouring the gunpowder down the barrel, dropping the bullet down the barrel, and placing the primer. Stopping power and accuracy are poor. Unfortunately, most infantry are forced to use these.
-Nosin Single: A bolt-action 7.62mm rifle with no clip, based on the Russian Mosin-Nagant. It has comparable performance to the Nosin-Magant, except that a new round must be inserted to the chamber every time the weapon is fired. This is simple enough that it can be distributed to all of your troops.
-AS-F14: Replaced by the similar, improved AS-F14A due to jamming issues.
-AS-A19B: Arstozka's first airplane! You can kind of tell. It is a triplane based on Fokker's model, build of wood and canvas. The motor is an eight cylinder rotary engine. The frame has very thick columns in between each wing, which mostly mitigates testing issues in which the top wings, wider than the lower ones, would break off at high speeds. The plane is very prone to yawing one or or the other on the runway during takeoff and landing. It also perpetually rolls a little to the left, counter to the heavy rotating engine. Engine stalling is common as well, at altitude. Armed with two wing-mounted AC-18's, belt fed, which cross at 200m. The plane is generally awkward to fly and prone to suddenly pulling in one direction or the other. Arstotzkan test pilots, unfamiliar with anything more prone to flight than a motorcycle, suppose it to be pulled deliberately towards doom by malevolent spirits. Expensive due to the complexity of the control system and frame. Costs 2 oil.
-AS-T15: This is a steam-powered tank using the AS-51 S steam motor from Arstotzka's steam locomotive. In fact, it's mostly the enormous locomotive engine, which a rectangular armored shell. The armor is shaped in a half-cylinder, like an airplane hangar, except the front is cut at a 45 degree angle. Exit is through a hatch on top, which breaks up the smooth shape of the tank along with a couple chimneys. The armor is light mild steel throughout (1). The only open space inside is towards the front of the tank, the engine is located in back and the sides along the engine are used for storing coal. The front of the tank has a gunner on the right side firing an 80mm cannon with a narrow, tank destroyer-like arc of fire. There isn't room for a lot of ammo. The driver sits in the left front, and there is an AS-1910 gunner on each side aiming through slats in the armor. Packed in between all of these people is a coal shoveler. The tracks are set on six rigid train wheels and follow a flat shape on the bottom of the tank, with a large wheel in the front and back. The tank becomes incredibly hot inside due to the coal boiler, hot enough to cause weapon malfunctions and heatstroke. It can exceed 50 degrees celsius in prolonged use, and the soldiers assigned to test it nickname it "The pressure cooker". Being mostly engine, it can reach 13 kph. The track system is complex, making it Expensive. Costs 4 ore.
-Model 51 Steam engine: [Obsolete] A Moskurg invention definitely not stolen from Arstotzka. Large shipments of ammo, resources and supplies are moved by trains pulled by one or two of these engines. Has a bad habit of overheating, occasional boiler explosions.
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