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[Sheb]

Yeah, we do, which makes their armor kinda ridiculous.

[andrea]

yes, although manganese steel seems to be amazing, if horrible to work with ( no machining!!). considering their highly sloped front, I guess much of our ineffectiveness comes from glancing, with steel tips unable to dent the armor enough to stick.

A bit unrealistic, sure. But at least it restricts their movement. They aren't going to advance anywhere if their infantry is widely equipped with this. Slow, cumbersome, can't take crouch, run. it is tiridng to wear. it does make defensive positions much harder to take however.

[Sheb]

Wouldnt be so sure, that kind of armor would be great for desantniks. Anyway, it advantage use more than them: If it's so great, we can copy it and we actually have the alloys to equip all our men with it.

[andrea]

equipping all our men with it would be an extremely bad choice. As said, it restricts mobility greatly. It is good in some cases, but not in all. We also want our infantry to have the ability to move quickly, take cover, etc.   This armor works best if given to specialized squads, or to some selected people who don't need to move much ( machine gun emplacements, etc).
I  don't see the point to make it less than expensive, unless we also manage to reduce the weight and increase mobility... at which point it loses the human tank status and its usefulness.
Or we could develope assisted motion systems, being our first step toward mech suits.

[10ebbor10]

The problem is that their steel is harder and thougher than our bullet, resulting in the bullet, rather than the armor being deformed.

[Sheb]

Well, thanks to our great espionage, we now have Manganese steel. And armor which is as cheap as their for next turn. Things are most definitely looking up. We already control half of their home province! Two more turns and we've won.

Now, the issue is to keep making progress in the desert. We are going to loose our bomber next turn (unless we spend our revision making it longer-ranged), on the other hand we will have plenty of HF again, so great fighter coverage. We still have an artillery lag though. I think our design should be a larger (120 mm maybe?) field artillery piece, optimized for long range artillery support.

Then for our revision, either longer-ranged plane (help in the desert, keep their mines shut), or Mangalloy ammo to defeat their armor.

[andrea]

we got the tech and we are advancing. However, the tech for us is still complex. So our armor is very expensive.

I propose the developement of an APC. I posted a design a few pages back. It would allow us to quickly deploy armored soldiers to combat zones, which would be very useful in the towns and cities. It also increases our overall mobility.

As for the revision, we need to make our use of manganese alloy better. They went the way of blacksmiths... but what about casting?  it manganese alloys seem to be cast rather well. if we refine casting processes to the desired tolerances, we can easily get our cheap super armor. A possibility would also be making most of the structure with ordinary steel, with manganese steel plates layered on top. that means that the complex shapes are made with more easily worked metal, while the top layer is covered by easily made straight plates of the better metal. Of course, this later method is likely better suited to tanks than infantrymen.

So, for the revision my vote is to either revise tank armor or directly revise infantry armor. It is a long shot, but I believe the casting way is easier than the forging way, even if lower quality overall.
Another possibility would be adding drop tanks to bombers, so we can keep enjoying their cover.

[Sheb]

Anyway, we are doing so well (what with them not having any ore) that we can afford to create suboptimal designs. They better have some great ideas though.

[Andres]

Since we're going for suboptimal designs, what about we trying making some V1 rockets? All it needs is a targeting computer (which Moskurg developed alongside their artillery) and some rocketry experience (which we have). We will be the first to send something into space and that will bring much glory to Arstotzka.

Glory to Arstotzka.

[andrea]

I think you mean V2 rockets? V1 were the ones flying like planes, with wings and pulse jets.

I fully endorse that course of action. Awesome before practical! also, first nation in space.
We have plenty of solid rocket experience. I wonder if we should still try to make a liquid rocket like the V2, or a fully solid rocket? solid launch vehicles for satellites are a thing, so it is definitely doable.

[10ebbor10]

Anyway, let's look at what our problems are :

Air

Range is a huge problem.

Jungle

Enemy Armor
Enemy Mines

Mountains

Enemy armor
Lost Sniping advantage
Enemy tanks

Plains

Caverns
Enemy Armor

Interestingly, Moskurg failed to retake the mines, so they remain in trouble.

[tryrar]

Huh, I'm actually wanting a longer ranged bomber so we can keep up the pressure in the air, as well as allow us to paradrop against enemy positions.

Spoiler: AS-B35 (click to show/hide)

A new, large long-ranged medium bomber with the fuel capacity to hit from our territory all the way to Moskurg. It features 2 new large, heavy turbo-charged fuel injected engines optimized for reliability and fuel economy, while keeping an acceptable speed, as well as a whole new low-drag wing and the ability to lift 2 tons of bombs at full combat load. It also has a ventral 20mm turret, a tail gun, and a new bombers sight that uses coated optics and a simple mechanical computer to aid in accurate bomb placing. Crew is pilot, bombardier, and 2 gunners.

[Aseaheru]

 You know, I think that grenade launchers or an IFV would be perfect right now. probably grenade launchers, because, well, armor.

 And then for revision, we can get better AP rounds for everything. Possibly tungsten core?We could also use their own metals against them...

 Im gonna draw up a design for a launcher, be back shortly.

-Ninja Edit-

 You mean the A4, which was the sixth in the series? I could support that... Just gotta keep our soldiers from drinking half the fuel.

-Secondary ninja edit-

 Armor is the issue, I agree. Grenade launcher design it is.

-NINJA EDIT THE 3ED-

 WHAT THE HELL GUYS

[10ebbor10]

I think you mean V2 rockets? V1 were the ones flying like planes, with wings and pulse jets.

I fully endorse that course of action. Awesome before practical! also, first nation in space.
We have plenty of solid rocket experience. I wonder if we should still try to make a liquid rocket like the V2, or a fully solid rocket? solid launch vehicles for satellites are a thing, so it is definitely doable.

Practical solid fuels have not been invented at this time, so all we can do with it is tactical weaponry. Which is good, as rocket artillery is a great and dangerous weapon.

And liquid engines is probably not going to succeed from the first try either, and if it will chances are it'll cost so much oil we can't run it.

[Andres]

I wonder if we should still try to make a liquid rocket like the V2, or a fully solid rocket? solid launch vehicles for satellites are a thing, so it is definitely doable.

Liquid rocket will be impractical since we only have 2 Oil. It'll have to be fully solid.

Anyway, let's look at what our problems are :

Air

Range is a huge problem.

Jungle

Enemy Armor
Enemy Mines

Mountains

Enemy armor
Lost Sniping advantage
Enemy tanks

Plains

Caverns
Enemy Armor

Interestingly, Moskurg failed to retake the mines, so they remain in trouble.

Obviously the answer is improved vehicle suspension!
Being serious now. Enemy tanks in the Mountains aren't a problem. Our new RPG has been reported to take care of them fairly easily and their tanks didn't even show up in the last report. Rereading the report and I can't think of a way around that.
We can't do anything about our planes' range due to our lack of Oil. Unless we make an aircraft carrier, that's a handicap we just have to live with.
The enemy mines don't really cause enough casualties that it's worth counter-acting.
The enemy armour is certainly the most vexing of our issues. Aside from getting a HMG or an AM rifle, I'm not sure how we'd solve that situation. Grenade launcher might work, as Aseaheru mentioned. If we can make it small enough to be underslung, all of our troops could be effective anti-armour soldiers, even against light vehicles.
We have a crap-ton of Ore. Ending the cavern stalemates is only a matter of loading a bunch of coal in one location and burning it until Moskurg suffocates in the caverns.

Glory to Arstotzka.