Man, you Arstotzkans can get awfully salty for someone who's got a foothold in their enemy's homeland. Any time things don't go according to plan or Moskurg gets an advantage you seem really confident it must mean I've messed up.
I'd like the balance discussion to be ongoing, and it will probably have gone on for a while while I'm writing this turn, but for now, here is what I'm doing:
-If weapons CAN be built, they can be built by you. No penalty for magical foreknowledge of a weapon's tactical value. My main problem with this is actually that you already know what's conventionally effective(See: Wiki Reading) and it's not likely you'll try the weird stuff, but I can't think of a better way to administrate it.
-Extra spies replaced with Espionage Credits. Arstotzka gets an Espionage Credit for enduring the Tiger Terror.
-Going to do resource prices the logical way. New stuff going forward might have a bit higher base cost though.
-Tiny revisions and tactical improvements for free will be a thing. I'm calling them Orders, and the rule is that if it's an engineering improvement a soldier can do in the field, it will just happen. At least, if it doesn't contradict High Command.
-Moskurg will get .60 Incendiary rounds when they move past beverage-based incendiary technology. Smoke and fragmentation rounds are of course not available in this caliber.
-Moskurg RR might get less portable or range reduction, still thinking about it, would also like to hear from more Moskurgs. I'm not convinced it's a monstrosity that shouldn't exist but either of those changes would hurt it significantly, and are probably sensible.
(effectively, it had a long reload time and even a horse could only carry a couple shots).
Hold on, it needs a horse just to carry two shots? How in the bloody hell is it even usable in the Mountains!? It would've made some amount of sense if it was 1/4 in Arstotzka's favour, but if horses can now cross the Mountains then why not motorbikes? Why not trucks?
I've stated before, mountains are not accessible by wheeled vehicles, and a single RR is man portable.
1923 Battle Report:Arstotzka's army now contains the following:
AS 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. 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: [Updated Below] 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. Costs 2 ore.
AS-1910 Mag: This updated AS-1910 replaces a belt feed with a large 50-round detachable drum magazine, which fits to the side of the gun where the belt feed was. While not capable of continuous fire like belts, this requires less crew to manage. The two handles used to control the weapon are replaced with a pistol grip and overhead handle, which is a marginal improvement in control. Costs 2 ore.
-Nosin Single: [Obsolete] 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-1911 8cm Mortar: This is a light mortar, consisting of a simple tube mounted on a tripod, and mortar shells which are dropped into the tube and fire off when they hit the bottom. The shells themselves are the more important part of the weapon. They are sort of like rocket-propelled grenades, consisting of a metal shell around some explosive, and a primer and propellant at the back.No longer suffers from horrible jamming.
-AS-1912 Artillery A: A field gun firing 80mm shells, loaded through a sliding bolt. The action is not dissimilar to a bolt action rifle, where the old casing is ejected when the bolt is opened. It is large enough (and its ammunition large enough) to be Expensive, and is drawn by horse on two big wheels. It can fire about 12 times a minute, and has a hydro-pneumatic suspension system: it doesn't go off target between shots, and the barrel moves into the frame every time it is fired. Aims between 0 and 90 degrees vertical. It has several kilometers of range. Costs 3 ore.
-Sawed-off Shotgun: General infantry sidearm. Most officers use this instead of the unreliable pistol. Fires twice before breech loading, very effective at short range, ineffective otherwise. Poor armor penetration. Uses 12 gauge shells. Expensive due to requiring imperial equipment.
-AS-F14: [Obsolete] A 7.62mm, semi-automatic rifle. It is an open bolt blowback action, and holds seven rounds in its internal magazine (resembling that of the Nosin)- with more than that, clip loading became unwieldy. Unlike the Nosin, the bolt has a small, non-rotating handle on the side of the gun. It has adjustable iron sights. The weight of the moving action makes the gun difficult to control compared to the Nosin, and it has shown some problems with the mechanism becoming dirty in field testing.
-AS-F14A: A 7.62mm, semi-automatic rifle. It is an open bolt blowback action, and uses a 12-round box magazine which protrudes below the gun. Unlike the Nosin, the bolt has a small, non-rotating handle on the side of the gun. It has adjustable iron sights. The weight of the moving action makes the gun difficult to control compared to the Nosin, but this is mitigated by using a full size and weight barrel compared to the original carbine version. The blowback action is now more reliable, though still open bolt. Also available as a carbine.
-AS-MC16: This is a sub-machine gun, firing the 9mm pistol round. It uses a new, closed-bolt blowback system perfected from the AS-F14. This system is reliable and keeps dirt out of the gun. The bolt system takes up about fifteen centimeters, all of which is past the trigger, then a magazine, a 30 round drum, inserts into the receiver from the left. The barrel after the receiver is short, about twenty centimeters, and has a slotted metal hand guard. The stock is wooden and stops at the receiver, where brass is ejected from the bottom of the gun. The short barrel gives poor accuracy, especially when hot, and the 9mm bullets have much less range than a rifle or machine gun. The system fires about 400 rounds per minute. Its complexity makes it Expensive.
-AS-AC18: An advanced primer ignition autocannon, which ignites cartridge primers before the round is fully chambered. It fires the new, large, 20x100mm round, fed from a top-mounted 25 round C-shaped magazine with a powerful spring, usually armor piercing, about 600 times per minute. The weapon is quite large with a simple action but heavy barrel, weighing over 40 kilograms, and it requires being mounted to a carriage, foundation, or vehicle to fire with accuracy, although recoil is reduced by the nature of its action. It is dependent on a careful balance between the force of the shell and the force of the action, which means that different ammo types cannot be interchanged without recalibrating the gun. It has a terrifying ability to punch through armor and emplacements. Costs 3 ore due to its size and the size of its ammo.
-AS-LM20: A landmine! Consists of an explosive, metal shell and button. Armed by removing a key. The mines are cheap and simple, and reliably kill or dismember infantry who step on them.
AS Technology:
-Metric system. Meters, kilograms, liters!
-Breech-loading
-Muzzle-loading
-Bolt action
-Clips and Magazines
-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.
-20x100mm Autocannon round
-Armor Piercing Steel Bullets
-Flak Shells
-Flares
-Incendiary Rounds
-Belt-fed loading
-Changeable Barrels
-Solid Explosives and Propellants
-Light Mortars
-Artillery
-Hydro-pneumatic Suspension
-Vehicle Armor
-Treads
-Detachable Magazines
-Petrol Motors
-APIB Action, compatible with belt feed
-Crude Batteries (Lead-Acid)
-Aluminium production
-Armor (Light and thinner)
AS Soldiers:
-Patient: Arstotzkan soldiers excel at waiting in ambush, and carefully shooting from afar, giving them and advantage in long-range engagements.
-Uniform AS-GU23: The new 1923 Arstotzkan uniforms come in patterned camouflage colors, grey/white, beige and olive. In order to completely placate High Command's thirst for glory and keep the dice in the dice bag, the inside of the uniform is sewn red and gold with Arstotzkan flags. A soldier can simply fold their uniform inside-out and convert it from battle camouflage to parade regalia (you advise soldiers NOT to do this on the battlefield). The armor plates and helmet are made from Glorious Aluminium, which reduces their weight. Includes all the pockets and bandoliers a soldier could ask for, and one right on the elbow that nobody asked for. Costs 2 ore.
-Andrei Zhuyev, ace pilot. Lost track of his kills.
AS Ground Transportation:
-Horses: [Obsolete] Soldiers sometimes ride horses to battle, but prefer to fight on foot in cover.
-AS-51 Steam Engine: [Obsolete] The heart of the south! Built in Arstotzka, this engine pulls trains of food, ammo, and resources.
-AS-51 S: A new steam engine, based on the original model 51, includes a superheater system, where steam from the boiler is routed through the furnace to be heated further before being used. This is considerably more efficient than the old design and offers more power for the same amount of coal. In preparation for war, the trains are fitted with armor around the boiler, and the cabin window are fitted with hatches that can closed, and have narrow slats for viewing.
-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.
-AS-M17A: A motorcycle which seats one passenger, and a second in a sidecar. The petrol motor is Arstotzka's first, with three in-line cylinders. The motor is cheap, small and relatively powerful. On its own, the bike is capable of more than 80 kilometers per hour, cross country, and 110 on a road. The bike is was previously notorious for being difficult to ride and having structural failures, but these problems have been ironed out. The sidecar is available with an AS-1910, sometimes on a pintle mount to aim at aircraft. Costs 1 Oil, 2 Ore.
-AS-HV19: A heavy truck, built for logistics. Uses a cabover design, giving it a short, tall and square cabin- drivers climb up three steps to enter it. Includes six large, pneumatic tires- two wheels under the cabin steer, and four close to the back of the bed drive. A simple spring suspension system makes a very bouncy ride, amplified by the height of the cabin. Under the cabin is a fairly large eight cylinder engine, which belches black smoke from two exhaust stacks that go over the back of the cabin. The bed is five meters long and consists of a simple frame that can hold a hopper, tanker, or trailer hitch. Other things might easily be built to fit there, but engineering didn't get around to that. Gets up to 80 kph on a good road, and can carry eight tons without too much trouble. Unarmored. Conveys a 1 logistics bonus. Costs 2 ore, 3 oil.
-AS-MV21-AL: This is an armoured car, designed to be maneuverable in tight quarters and offroad. The frame, armor and engine block are all built from aluminium for reduced weight. It sits on four big tires, the rear ones shrouded by armor, on hydropneumatic suspension. It is powered by a V-6 motor, which gets it up to 70 KPH on a good road. Its shape is tight and rectangular around the crew cabin, which holds only a driver and gunner, to minimize the quantity of armor needed. The engine is in the rear, and includes the lightest (thin) armor in the slats over the radiator. The front armor is medium and most of the armor is light. A belt-fed AS-AC18 gun fires from the top of car, with the gunner's hatch open. The gunner hatch acts as armor to each side when open, but the gunner is still somewhat exposed compared to a tank turret. The car costs 4 ore and 2 oil.
AS Air Force:
-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-A19C: Several staff members were fired and replaced. The new C model of the AS-A19 makes up for its heavy frame with sturdy, lightweight aluminium brackets, and some metal parts are replaced with aluminum. This and larger control surfaces make the plane much more steady, and not prone to suddenly pulling in one direction or the other, without being heavier. For good measure, a cross is added to every joystick to exorcise malevolent spirits. Control surface trim is added as well, which corrects for the effect of the rotary engine and makes the plane easier to fly in general. The aircraft remains heavy and a bit ungainly, but is much more safe to fly and should perform better in dogfights. Now costs 2 ore, 2 oil.
-AS-DB-HF-23: An airplane built entirely from aluminium. This lighter, sturdier frame allows the plane be reasonably fast with a 9-cylinder radial engine and make aggressive dives and recoveries for bombing, with half a ton of bombs. The radial engine is designed entirely around an AS-AC18 which fires through the prop shaft, necessitating a relatively heavy and thick prop shaft. It has decent maneuverability, with its metal design allowing for strong forces on the wings and tail, and large control surfaces, but it is best at dogfighting while not carrying a bomb load. Costs 4 ore, 3 oil.
AS Navy:
-AS-CV22: A steam-powered ship, worthy of sea travel. Uses two AS-51 S steam engines, which each power one screw. The vessel is around 60 meters long, and carries cargo enough to provide +1 logistics. It mounts an AC-18 on the bow for air defense, an an AS-1910 on top of the con tower. Costs 6 ore.
AS Resources:
1 Unyielding Thirst for Glory
X Ministry of Integrity. Provides X spies. X is classified.
3 Ore. Tanks are Expensive, typically.
2 Oil. Products which use more fuel than a car are expensive.
Moskurg's army now contains the following:
MK Weapons:
-Horsekiller 1912: General infantry weapon. A breech-loading rifle with a long 60-inch barrel, which fires enormous 60 caliber rounds. Has great stopping power, and is heavy and cumbersome. 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. Now updated with good sights, a comfortable foregrip and no bayonet, but the shotgun-style breech-loading prevents quick follow-up shots
-Horsekiller Carbine 1912: 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 questionable accuracy. Now with good iron sights, and a better grip, but the barrel is a little short for the heavy bullet and it's often fired from a galloping horse anyway.
-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 cumbersome weapon, with a large box for the mechanism, and a narrow water-cooled barrel with copper heat sinks. 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 heavy and can only be pivoted slowly, meaning only very skilled gunners can be accurate at long range. It normally moved by horse on a small wagon, although the new lighter model can be carried in parts by a crew, and is crewed by a team of four or five men. Sometimes mounted on a raised stand to aim at aircraft. It is complex, and costs 2 ore.
-Bombardier: A 3.6 inch howitzer. This is a simple artillery piece with few more bells and whistles than a medieval cannon, modernized with a breech load (a hatch on top of the barrel swings open) and rifling, so as to fire pointed shells with brass cartridges accurately at range. The spent brass is ejected manually, with a lever. Its size makes it horse-drawn. A skilled crew can fire about 10 times a minute, through the gun moves a little when fired, so it can bombard inaccurately at its full rate of fire or (with a skilled commander) come close enough to often hit trenches and emplacements at about half the rate of fire. It can out-range any rifle on the field, but not accurately. Costs 3 ore.
-Model 1 Service Rifle: A .30 caliber rifle, loaded from a 5-round clip much like the Mosin-Nagant. However, early experiments with bolt action suffered from difficult chambering new rounds, and the engineering team instead opted to make a lever-action rifle. Moskurg shooters favor this design, which keeps their hand close to the trigger. Includes iron sights, with an accuracy and stopping power very similar to the Nosin. It can fire somewhat faster, however, at the cost of some accuracy. Includes bayonet lugs.
-M2 Brumby: The Brumby is an air-cooled, .30 caliber machinegun designed to be carried by one man. It is operated by a gas piston under the barrel, and feeds from a belt. It includes a tall rear post sight, the barrel is cooled with shining, unconcealed copper heat sinks, and an innovative "belt box" for use on the move. Unlike previous machine guns, it uses a pistol grip instead of a pair of handles. It shoots around 400 rounds a minute with an effective range of around 300 yards, and weighs 26 pounds with a loaded belt box. It can be operated by a single soldier, ideally prone, or a crew to string belts together for continuous fire. The complexity of its mechanism makes it Expensive.
-Cascade Sub-Machine Gun: This is a sub-machine gun, firing the .35 cal short pistol round. It uses a new, closed-bolt blowback system. This system is reliable and keeps dirt out of the gun. The bolt system takes up about six inches, all of which is past the trigger, then a magazine, a 30 round drum, inserts into the receiver from the left. The barrel after the receiver is short, about 8 inches, and has a slotted metal hand guard. The stock is wooden and stops at the receiver, where brass is ejected from the bottom of the gun. The short barrel gives poor accuracy, especially when hot, and the .35 cal short bullets have much less range than a rifle or machine gun. The system fires about 400 rounds per minute. Its complexity makes it Expensive.
-Rhino Recoilless Rifle: This is a rifled tube designed to fire a 2.2 inch shell, without creating significant recoil. It is five feet in length and portable by a single man, weighing about 25 pounds, but sits on a tripod to fire. The recoilless effect is achieved by firing a "wad" of rubber-lined cement, equal in mass to the 2.2 inch shell, out the back of the rifle. Tubes are manufactured loaded, and discarded after firing. It is accurate out to medium range. It fires the normal variety of artillery shells. Costs 2 ore.
MK 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.
-.35 caliber short pistol bullets. For the Cascade Sub-Machine Gun.
-3.6 Inch Artillery Shell. Now also available in Smoke, Shrapnel and Extra Spicy Incendiary
-Howitzer
-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
-Flamethrower [Partial]
-Petrol Engine
-Portable Radios [Less Crap] with Audio
-Batteries II
-Brushed Electric Motors
-Airplanes
-Armor Thickness (Light and thinner)
-Recoilless Rifle
-Spaced Armor
-Crayons
MK Soldiers:
-Fierce: Moskurg soldiers have an advantage in melee combat and close quarters.
-Moskurg 1914 Armor: Moskurg soldiers wear flowing blue linen with a scimitar stitched onto the chest. Steel vests and helmets are added, to protect against shrapnel. Blue-and-silver glory improved with silver cape.
-Model 3 Radio: Another vacuum tube radio, still Expensive due to complexity, which now comes as a pair of 30 pound boxes (one of batteries and one of the radio itself). Each box is man portable on its own, and has to be assembled together to work. It also includes a light, flexible antenna instead of a radio mast, which can either be erected up a tent pole or worked into the frame of a vehicle. The result is that it takes up two mens' primary weapon slots instead of a wheelbarrow, making it portable by a mobile squad and useable after about a minute of setup. Alternatively, it can fit into most vehicles without affecting performance. Also importantly, it can now transmit and receive audio instead of just morse code, making communication faster in general.
MK Ground 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. Now with 95% less explosions! Uses 2 or 3 oil, I don't even know.
-Struunk I: Your engineers have managed to build a motor on par with the ones used in the (rather outdated) civilian vehicles you've been confiscating. As before, it gets up to 30 MPH on roads and 15 cross country. It has thin mild steel armor all around, slightly angled, with light armor on the front of the engine and cabin. The thin armor is still dubious protection against normal rifle rounds. It includes a Brumby in the passenger seat and an M2 Stallion in the turret, which is now pintle mounted to aim at aircraft. The turret has a DC electric motor running off of the car's double capacity battery, and a backup hand crank (the turret will drain the battery if rotated constantly). Costs 3 ore, 2 oil.
-SPAT: A self-propelled gun vehicle consisting of a petrol engine, caterpillar tracks, and a forward-facing Bombardier howitzer with just enough armor plating to hide the crew behind. The motor here is the same one as the Struunk I. The treads are a new development, and fit over a four-wheeled system with two driving wheels. They are prone to coming loose from the wheels from time to time. The armor is light, with a gap in the middle for the gun to rotate, rise and lower. Ammunition sits in racks behind the armor. The vehicle has a top speed of about 8 mph. The gun is just a Bombardier, fixed to the SPAT on a frame which pitches and yaws on a pair of hand cranks. The SPAT has a set of jacks to use when firing, which improve accuracy considerably by preventing the vehicle from shaking. Costs 3 ore, 2 oil.
-T1 Smasher Mk II: Based on previous experience with the SPAT and the Struunk I, this is Moskurg's attempt to make a completely armored fighting vehicle with a turret. The frame is based on the SPAT. The vehicle will be heavier though, so it is powered by a 10-cylinder motor. Has improved treads, more capable of climbing through obstacles and over trenches. It is armored all around with light armor, of mild steel, in a trapezoidal shape over the chassis with the treads exposed. The front, sides and turret have an additional thin piece of spaced armor. The turret is a cylinder protruding out of the top of the front part of the tank, which includes the exit hatch. It does not include the planned coaxial machine gun but instead has a pintle-mounted Brumby which can be used when the top hatch is open. The turret rotates with an electric motor, without backup hand crank because the batteries are easily drained. The main gun is a shortened Bombardier with narrow vertical aim. Crewed with a driver, loader and gunner/commander. Can get up to 8 mph on a good day. Costs 4 ore, 2 oil.
-L-1 Tiger: The Tiger is, despite its fierce name, a truck. It has a long, narrow nose in front of the cab containing a twelve cylinder engine, and the steering wheels are next to it under round cowls. It has a bed where a hopper, tanker, seats, trailer hitches or other things can easily be attached. There are six rear drive wheels, on independent suspension. Costs 3 ore, 2 oil. Provides +1 logistics.
MK Air Force
-Model 1 Biplane: A biplane mostly design around the heavy an awkward Model 2 Radio. Research into aluminum framing was conducted, but a good source could not be secured this year. As such, the airplane consists mostly of a wood-and-canvas frame, with pretty conventional ailerons, elevators and rudder. It can immediately be distinguished from a normal plane by the four foot radio mast sticking out. It weighs about half a ton and is powered by a new motor with six opposed cylinders. Most of its spare weight and space is taken up by the Model 2 radio, which is powered by the motor and operated by a co-pilot. Despite it not being in the design requirements, the plane comes with a center-mounted Brumby, complete with interrupter gear, and a couple yards of ammo. Maneuverability is somewhat poor. Costs 2 oil.
-Model 2 Hornet: A wide, heavy, wood-framed biplane. To serve its purpose of carrying bombs, it is heavy and sturdy (as much as a wooden plane can be) with bomb racks beneath the wings. It is powered by a big ten-cylinder motor (your biggest yet) and weighs a ton on its own, and carries half a ton of bombs. The bombs are simply artillery shells with fins attached, and are available in every variety. The gunner's seat has an M1 Stallion which can rotate in a full circle and carries seven yards of ammo. Costs 3 oil.
-M3 Wasp Fighter: Using some aluminum structure, Moskurg is able to create their first sturdy cantilevered monoplane. Most of the aluminum is used to support the wings while the tail and body are made of (mostly) wood. The wings mount in the middle of the fuselage, with the pilot sitting between them and a fat radial engine in front. Due to its single pair of wings and lack of struts, than previous airplanes. The engine is also a bit of a monster, a 14 cylinder radial engine in two rows of 7 cyclinders. This makes it really quite fast. It mounts an M1 Stallion with interrupter gear. The plane pitches and rolls quickly on its single wing, but needs to be going faster than a biplane and this tends to make fast-but-wide turns. At its top speed, its fixed landing gear causes instability and its wooden tail structure warps one way and the other, threatening to break. Costs 2 ore, 3 oil.
MK Resources:
6 Captured Tigers. Don't stick your hand in the cage.
1 Overwhelming National Pride
X Bureau of Cleverness. Provides X spies. X is discussed at private dinner parties, to which the truly loyal are invited.
2 Ore. Most Vehicles or carriage-mounted weapons are Expensive.
2 Oil. Products which use more fuel than a car are Expensive.
This year, both nations introduced new planes. The Arstotzkan AS-DB-HF-23 is built almost entirely out of Aluminium and three hyphens. It is a fighter-bomber designed for dive bombing, it's fast and maneuverable, at least when not carrying bombs. It had a radial engine and an autocannon that fires through the prop shaft, and is a low-winged monoplane. It's Expensive. Moskurg designed the M3 Wasp, a dedicated interceptor made out of wood but with Aluminum reinforcement to allow a cantilever wing design. It's armed with a Stallion, and its huge engine allows for it to go fast but its wooden structures are unstable at full speed. It's also Expensive, but Moskurg spent an expense credit on it this year. Arstotzka finally sorted out their uniform situation, convincing High Command to remove the little flags in exchange for the inner face of the suit being red and and gold. Moskurg designed the model 3 radio, portable by a mere two people, and on foot! This will benefit their vehicles mostly.
The war in the air is rapidly changing due to Aluminium, and the construction of metal planes. Arstotzka's industry has allowed them to build a fully metal airplane, the AS-DB-HF-23, which is meant to be a dive bomber and heavy fighter. These are Expensive, while Moskurg's partially aluminum gas guzzler the M3 Wasp is cheap this year. There are a few Model 1 biplanes as well, which are maneuverable, but just outpaced in dogfights by the new planes. M3 Wasps are the fastest things in the sky, but a little unstable- their wooden structure is vulnerable to Arstotzkan autocannons. The Wasp pretty much spells doom for AS-19C's, which can't keep up. Despite the speed advantage, M3 Wasps generally lose to sturdier and more stable AS-DB's, IF the DB's aren't carrying bombs. This leads Arstotzka to launch squads in which some DBs carry bombs and some don't, as escorts. M2 Hornets can no longer keep up with DB's, and neither can M1 Biplanes, so they depend on Wasps for cover to do their thing. Superior numbers on the Moskurg side compared to full Aluminium on the Arstotzkan side make it about an even fight, both sides periodically succeed in having superiority to attack ground targets. The AS-DB-HF-23 is rather effective against ground targets, and less vulnerable to Brumby fire due to its sturdy structure (Stallions of course will still cause problems.)
In the desert, both sides now have similar bombing capabilites. Armor remains dangerously vulnerable to night bombing, but it happens to Moskurg groups about as often as it happens to Arstotzkan ones. Moskurg uses their new audio radios to good advantage, coordinating their troop movements with greater efficiency. Good use of tactics means that Moskurg troops often outnumber Arstotzkan ones, but the AS-MV21 remains a thing of terror, which moves quickly, kills quickly, and is vulnerable mainly to innaccurate, slow Bombardiers and controversial Rhino Recoilless Rifles. When Arstotzkan armored cars DO get hit by Rhinos, any survivors in the crew get really angry about it. Motorcycle assaults continue to be a high-casualty affair, as do horse-mounted ones, though the portable machine guns on Arstotzkan motorcycles still typically have the advantage. The Arstotzkan advance stalls in the face of unusually well-organized troop movements, bombing and artillery. (Arstotzka 2/4, Moskurg 2/4)
In the mountains, Moskurg troops have now encountered Arstotzkan mines. Arstotzka gets some good use out of their armored cars, artillery and mortars to defend themselves, and now generally has the benefit of machine guns as well. Camouflaged troops make ambushes use AS-F14 and Nosin rifles, and generally outgun Model 1 riflemen, and will even kill squads that outnumber them if they manage to get the Brumby users first. The Moskurg advance stalls (Moskurg 3/4). On the north side of the mountains, new metal dive bombers assault Moskurg trains. The tactic is terribly effective, when a good number of Arstotzkan planes do get that fire while still carrying bombs. The tracks themselves are vulnerable as well, and some of the slack is picked up by Tiger logistics trucks.
In the jungle, Arstotzka makes especially good use of their new camouflage. While they lack CQC ability, they use ambush tactics to pick their own engagement range. Superior Arstotzkan rifle use, with the benefit of semi-automatic AS-F14's where needed, is valuable. AS-MV-21's continue to be ambushed by RR's enough that Arsotzkan troops no longer use them as vanguard units, sending infantry to scout instead and saving their armor for fortifications. This is a reasonably effective tactic, and scouting is again helped by camouflage. Arstotzka gains ground (2/2).
In the capitols, rebellion continues. Rebels light fires and disappear into the darkness. Executions of anyone suspected of rebellious behavior, perplexingly, only seem to make it worse.
Both nations will suffer -1 oil next turn due to arson on their industries.
A German engineer, who insists that he is NOT in Forenia if anyone asks, is interested in learning about your weapons technology. He is willing to share some of his notes. The nation to submit the best
picture of a piece of equipment, be it small arms, armor, plane, boat or whatever, will receive one Design Credit. Submissions are wide open. Pictures drawn/otherwise created by you only, please, not photos grabbed off of Google.
1924 begins.
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Topic: Arms Race, OOC [Completed] Now with Arms Race III, against another forum! (Read 234816 times)