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Good lord.
From what I understand we're an arms designer, meaning we design weapons. Do we only do that or do we basically control all military technology, including armour?
In addition to firearms, you will be responsible for armor and vehicles. Of course, for now you can only do one project each year, so choose wisely.
1910 Battle ReportArstotzka's army now contains the following:
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: [Obsolete] 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).
-AS-1910 Machine Gun: Arstotzka's first belt-fed machinegun, firing the same 7.62mm rifle rounds already produced for the Nosin-Magant. The belt-feed mechanism is robust, making it heavy but very reliable. Each round has good stopping power. The machinegun is operated with two handles due to its recoil, making it incapable of aim as precise as a rifle, but when the barrel is cool, bullets generally fly straight. It is air-cooled, and the barrel tends to overheat somewhat quickly. Your engineers have compensated for this by giving each crew two detachable barrels- when one overheats, it can be removed and thrown in the snow. It is heavy- it must be in place on a tripod or other mount to fire, and requires three men to move. It also requires three men to operate continuously. Due to the complexity of the feed mechanism, it is Expensive.
-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.
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.
-Belt-fed loading [Expensive]
-Changeable Barrels
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.
-M1 Stallion: This is a belt-fed machine gun using the enormous, thundering .60 caliber round, exactly twice the diameter of the .30 caliber or 7.62mm rounds. It is a lumbering dinosaur of a weapon, with a large box for the mechanism, and a 42 inch water-cooled barrel. The range and stopping power of the .60 caliber round is undiminished, but the gun only fires about 180 times a minute, relatively slow for a machine gun- because of its size, it might be better described as an autocannon. The gun hits in very tight groups for a machinegun, but it is very heavy and can only be pivoted slowly, meaning only very skilled and strong gunners can be accurate at long range. It must be moved by horse and mounted on a small wagon, and is crewed by a team of four or five men. It is both complex (expensive) and uses a lot of metal (moving it to Very Expensive), special M1 Stallion crews will need to operate it in the field.
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.
-Belt-Fed MG [Expensive]
-Water-Cooled Barrel
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: [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.
-Model 52 Steam Engine: The engines have been converted to oil-burning, which should make them cheaper to operate. Several key failure points have been re-engineered. This should enable more resources to be gained from our mines.
-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.
1910 was an impressive year for both countries. Both successfully designed machineguns, though infantry are mostly armed with single-shot weapons. The AS-1910 is a sensible belt-fed machinegun, suitable for emplacements, and operated by a crew. It suffers from a little bit of difficult operation due to heat. The M1 Stallion is an enormous machinegun firing the less sensible .60 caliber round. It has to be drawn behind a horse, so it's less mobile, and it also has a low rate of fire. However, it has more effective range and some ability to penetrate cover. The Arstotzkans also introduce the Nosin Single, an accurate, simple, bolt action rifle for general infantry use without the Nosin-Magant's magazine. The Moskurgians also created the Model 52 steam engine, converting their old engines to oil burners.
The war continues on all fronts.
In the east, on the wide-open plains, the sudden availability of both sides to deploy machine guns ruins the previously favored tactics of infantry lines and cavalry charges, on both sides. Fights stall to trench warfare. Over the no-man's land, Arstotzkan soldiers have an advantage due to their ability to deploy more machineguns, and hide them in sandbags. Arstotzkans gain ground by disabling Stallion crews, and then charging forward. Within trenches, the swords and shotguns of Moskurg soldiers gives a tremendous advantage. Many Arstotzkans die due in close combat to their unreliable sidearms. The Arstotzkans gain ground, overall, until hitting areas of abandoned british colonial towns. Fighting building to building, Moskurg's sword-n-shotgun soldiers have the advantage, and the M1 Stallion can easily kill soldiers hiding behind brick walls. The AS-1910's advantage in rapidity of fire is diminished somewhat as crews sometimes have to wait for hot barrels to cool down.
In the mountains, engagements happen at longer ranges, and both sides have difficulty deploying machineguns. Arstotzkans favor the tactic of ambushing enemies at range, and the Nosin Single gives common soldiers the advantage over Moskurgians wielding less accurate Horsekiller rifles. Both sides have difficulty deploying machine guns here, so battles for mines almost always go to the defending faction, who have the advantage of an established road.
In the west, in the warm jungle, both sides have reliability issues. The Stallion M1 has a tendency to get its wagon stuck in the mud, and the AS-1910 and Nosin-Magant tend to jam in the heat. There is not much fighting here, but a small advantage goes to Moskurg.
On the Moskurg homefront, the new Model 52 oil burning steam engine is proving more economical to operate due to the wide availability of oil. However, nearly every operational Model 52 eventually suffers a cabin fire due to an emergency pressure value which spilled oil into the cabin, instead of out of the train, having been assembled backwards. Moskurg will not gain any additional ore for 1911.
The 1911 Design Phase has begun.
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