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[Kashyyk]

Previous Thread
OOC Thread
Greetings Engineers. I congratulate you on your successes. We are advancing on all fronts against the Atterton Monarchy, and our forces repelled the British with ease. However, we cannot allow them control over our waters. You must keep up the pressure against Atterton and strike back against the Loyalists.

Our spies were able to secure detailed blueprints of the Loyalist “Dover Class Transport”. Just in time for these trade offers as well.

[Ukrainian Ranger]

Kashyyk, I think you forgot to add our rightfully stolen wagonways to the stats. Also, I suspect that our artillery was less numerous becauase of that


Also, Coombe mini-Cannon disappeared from our tech list

[Sheb]

Ooooh, neato. (Yes, this is a PTW).

[LordArchibald]

Arms Race - 1783: International//OOC Thread

"our rightfully stolen" I love the sound of this sentence

Design, my suggestions (I'm not voting this time I need to get a hang of it first, just a suggestion)
- baloons on hot air, it's not very difficult design to make, no hydrogen needed or engine. These could be used for recon (both sea and land) and morale (look they can fly!) plus occassional dropping propaganda leaflets behind enemy lines. Also, even if tied to the ground by a line of some sort these could provide quite a significal local reconeissance/lookout. Obligatorily with a flags system (quickly passing the information to the ground).

- do we have a transportation bootleneck? If yes I would go for canals + river freighters system. These won't be obsolete even after railway since water is still the cheapest form of transport and there is an aboundance of rivers and lakes on the mainland.

- Whateley Cavalry Pistol MkII modification. Since cavalry is our strong point why not make them even stronger? Make it cheaper and allow removable ammo canisters (which is especially good since cavalry has a lot of spare carrying capacity on the horse, like could attach several of those to the saddle and then replace these when they retreat from combat, which again is easy due to superior mobility; also it counters the "less shots per tank" weakness of the MKII version). As we are at it how about some small horse powered air pump? It could be used on the field to replenish ammo canisters.

[Sheb]

My suggestion:

Design: We need to keep the pressure on Atterton: Better Artillery to out-range their Howitzers. A Von Karsten 12-pdr and explosive shots? Or an howitzer too?

Revision:Not 100% sure. Revising our gunboats for better attrition of the brits could be nice. Or maybe the transport.

Espionage: Steal that British Rifle. It's expensive crap, but the tech system (where things get cheap on their own) mean that the sooner we get it, the sooner we get cheap tech for a better rifle. The Victoria was great, but that is the next thing.

Alternatively, steal the Howitzer, design grenades.

[RAM]

Proposal: Powder Ammunition.
Take a standard Victoria round, drill through it, fill the hole with blasting powder, seal it over with wax.
If the ammunition bounces off of anything, say a rifle, or cannon, they it shakes violently and sprays the powder around its vicinity.
Needless to say, if there is live powder scattered around, it is risky to produce sparks...

Alternatively, do the same thing but with clay pellets so that they shatter if they hit pretty much anything, though these would be much less lethal if they struck the enemy. A mix of multiple ammunition types fired in succession might produce nice results...

Given that this ammunition would works best in bulk, to reach a critical mass at which it is no longer safe to ignite firearms, I propose a weapon that can deliver ammunition in bulk...
Haddam Cannon: Basically a scaled-up whately pistol. It comes with a two-man pumping apparatus designed to be sunk into the ground and operated as though rowing a boat. A third man operates monitors the pressure and ammunition, a fourth operator aims and uses a lever attached to a mechanism to seal the air supply and halt the ammunition-feed.
The rowing contraption is a spring-loaded bellows attaches to a rope with a pair(or two pairs for redundancy) of one-way valves that pulls air from inside as it is released and carried back by the spring, and forces air into the weapon's reservoir as it bellows is pulled closed by ropes attached to a board that is pulled back by the men in the rowing contraption.
 The pressure monitor is a simple bag that is compressed by the pressure and pushes a meter out along a sealed tube. and ammunition is open and visible and just dumped in the top, relying upon a tube and a reinforced rotary wheel to keep the ammunition orderly.
 The inability to pause firing is overcome by the brute-force that is applicable by scaling it up. A lever allows a single operator to apply enough force to clamp a vice around the ammunition feeding wheel and to crush the flow from the reservoir.

This should allow sustained high pressure and ammunition feeding. With some minutes of preparation, ideally including a shield to protect the additional operators at their stations and the aimer's lower torso and legs, it should be possible to establish an extremely lethal firing piece. The range would be a problem, but on boarding actions, in terrain that prevents long-range engagements, within prepared ambushes, or used to discourage charges, it should be extremely effective and with a bit of luck its pressure can be increase to allow for greater range. Not to mention that if all it needs to do is to shatter clay powder-rounds then it could probably do that over a still greater range.

Spoiler: some unused ideas from the old thread (click to show/hide)

I started cleaning these up, so prepare to be insulted by my edits. I also got lazy and gave up, so prepare to be infuriated by the lack of editing...

How about some compressed air powered transport? Is it viable?
1) Revising fishing boats to become cheaper to act as our transport
2) Breed new kinds of horse breeds (revision or design)
3) Get donkeys and mules
4) Improve road technology (any ideas?)

We could revive to Victoria to a carbine.

***Stolen by by fort Alton when they spied on our thread, we demand retribution!***

Shield-barrow:
 A metal panel just thick enough to stop small arms fire with a sturdy wooden backing to help with deformation.
 Tall enough to crouch behind and wide enough for two, with angled wings to protect against attacks from the side.
 A series of viewing slits at slightly different angles near the top that are narrower than current projectiles.
 Insets at the side to allow competent firing with minimal exposure.
 A pair of simple wide metal roller-wheels, one at each of the bottom corners.
 Two long wooden handles affixed near to the middle of the side edges for pushing the shield forward from a distance and levering it upright.
 A pair of wooden planks affixed under the handles to brace the shield against the ground at such an angle that the shield should fall backwards rather than forwards.

Hopefully this should account for the range issues that we are having with the Victoria.

I kinda like the steam engine, actually. We might not get railroads out of it this early, but we'll at least get basic industrial machinery, and the advantages that would bring us can't really be overstated.

2) Revise saddles, horseshoes and other equine equipment to give boost to our cavalry and maybe logistics

Crocodile river boat
Nimble river boat powered both by oars and single sail. Sturdy enough to withstand Brown Bess fire. Can carry either supplies or a fire-team armed with Victoria (I or II) or Brown Bess.

Intended uses are logistics, preventing enemies from crossing the rivers, aiding friendly forces in crossing the rivers, boarding enemy boats\ships that will dare to enter our rivers and delivering small groups behind enemy lines

We need second point of resources to allow ourself a proper artillery (or more 6lbses), island has enough rivers to make it useful, including several in the Bradford area that we need to defend.


PS. I want to get second point of ore and design 12 pounders next turn to assault the fort. We shouldn't assault it now. Designing 12 pounders now is pointless because their cost will be huge.

I suspect that the biggest obstacle to a steam tank is the temperature. You really can't have an internal engine. Even an open-top design would be oppressive. Still, if you don't mind it being one-sided, it should be easy enough to build something with a pair of big roller-wheels at the front, an armoured section in between and either side of the wheels with steam-pressurised air guns spilling streams of ball shot out of small portholes, which drags a steam engine behind it. But it is a lot of effort to go to just to produce what is, essentially, a piece of barely-mobile cover.

Flame throwers?
As we have compressed air we can easily build a flame thrower that uses turpentine or a pitch distillate.
now our would be more on the lines of a simple Hand-held projector
For attacking or defending forts such a weapon is ideal.

Armour?
While a full suit of armour is to heavy to be of use, cavalry could use cuirass and helms

Victoria III Air Rifle
We can probably improve it a little more.

If we're thinking pie in the sky type stuff observation balloons to use as artillery spotters might be interesting, but I don't really see those justifying their use of a design phase when the crews of the best guns we have can easily see targets at their maximum range.

Other more advanced forms of artillery like howitzers or a 4-6 pound mortar might be a little more useful, or just a lighter gun.

Trains and steam ships are much easier if we steal the other broken ones first, no one is getting a perfect steam engine first time.
Observation balloons have the problem of how do you commutate with the ground crew? use flags? 

What about useing air rifles to fire grenades?
spoiler=like this samurai gunner?]
/spoiler]

spoiler=Thunderbolt dart rife mk1]

The Thunderbolt dart rife consistes of 2 parts, a adapted Victoria II Air Rifle, and the explosive Thunderbolt.

The adapted Victoria II is bigger than stranded takeing a .70 ball also the magazine is removed converting the rifle to top a muzzle loader.
It's valves are adapted to use more air to counter the heavier shot.
The dart has a long wood shaft that fits in the barrel, The tip with a short cast iron head containing the gunpowder charge.
The head has a trio of stiff leather flights help guide it and a pair of slow match fuses to give a safe time delay to the gunpowder.
The dart weights 2lb loaded.
/spoiler]
By using a custom launcher we remove the risk that the dart fired from the less powerfull rifles.

We need some simple, effective heavy artillery.

spoiler=Libertat Field Gun]A 12-pounder, smoothbore cannon, with a barrel approximately 7 and a half feet long. A well-trained crew can fire approximately once per minute, with an effective range between 900 and 1000 yards. It can also fire canister shot, at approximately 80% of the round shot's effective range. The gun requires six horses to pull it, and is crewed by fifteen men./spoiler]

I doubt the armies on this island have hundreds of guns each, so, even if this is a national effort, it'll still be able to do some serious damage.

I am not a fan of trying 1880 year tech that early... Besides we have no dynamite to fire

I like the idea of 12 pounder now, when we have more ore.... But I have a counter offer.
My offer and vote goes to:

Sharpshooter 6 pounder gun
Long barrelled sturdy gun that is two times heavier than standard 6 pounder. Confederacy uses all its experience in compressed air to build a reinforced chamber that can tolerate larger amount of gunpowder than any other cannon. Main priorities of the gun is range and accuracy with 1000 yards being a max range and enough accuracy at 750 yards to reliably hit a moving ship. Being heavy it is meant to be used as coastal or siege artillery piece


And yet I think that ignoring navy will bite us in the ass. Can we consider revising gunboats to be cheaper and more boarding friendly?

Dynamite Gun: It was only produced in the 1880, but I don't see why we couldn't make one now. It's nothing but a very large Victoria after all. You're right that we'd also need some decent explosives too. We can probably roll them into the design, but then we should expect to spend our revision phase fixing defects.

Alternatively, we're going to get more ressources next turn. Why don't we design a cheap, 3 lbs. field gun/howitzer? Or a steam train, to get even more ressources (and eventually, armored trains).

I think this kind of cannon is a little... too ahistorical, but here one more idea.

Victorious Cannon
Large, heavy, long-barrelled stationary compressed air powered cannon that fires standard 6lbs cannonballs. The cannon is created for forts including coastal ones. Usually protected by a brick wall. Linked to a large underground compressed air reservoir that can be "charged" by a cannon crew by using special pumps. While relatively slow firing it is designed for a long range and accuracy. 

Main problem of air powered cannon is logistical nightmare because it need huge reservoirs that are hard to reload, by making it stationary we solve that. While it gives no help in offensive operations, but it does help us in defence, especially against loyalist's vessels. They will have serious trouble destroying a cannon that is protected by a wall and have no explosive gunpowder nearby.

What do you think?

Also, I have an idea for a revision.

Equip cavalry with cheap to produce cuirasses,  full helmets, gauntlets and some horse armor. One of purposes of armor is to block damage from exploded air pistols, another to resist shrapnel and be more deadly in melee. Also, add lances to standard equipment of cavalry

I still support the dart rifle. If we were going for a three pounder, then I would try for a rifled revolver.

spoiler=new proposal, nice bracelets]Alternatively, We could build domed structures with small openings at the apex. Within would be concentric circles of pure silver. Three consecutive generations of strong individuals would be combined in the centre and extinguished at a moment at which only blackness is visible through the hole above. The limitless unknown above would be compelled to replace the void left by the sudden loss of elemental vitality, physicality, and eternity(granted by consecutive generations and required to provide compatibility with the eternal nature of the unknown) and be bound within pure silver. A breach in the innermost circle of silver would be made by placing a trap across it, the bound essences will seek to expand beyond the innermost circle and enter the trap. The trap, obviously, will be a silver loop, preferably bound in leather to provide the rumour of a living will of containment, twisted such that it is open from an external perspective but from within is an unbroken loop. Once so contained, the unknown is delivered to the front lines...

By placing a limb within the trap the unknown is bound to the limb's former owner, at which point the trap is broken to release the unknown into the host. The host is then swiftly compelled to approach the enemy lines while they still retain the malleability of the host. Compelled to maintain its manifestation, the unknown will enhance the host's physical qualities to extreme proportions and do battle with the enemy, which are surely seeking to do harm to the manifestation. In the course of the battle the unknown will fully expend itself maintaining its manifestation against the enemy and thus dissipate harmlessly. Under no circumstances may a manifestation be permitted to survive a battle.../spoiler]

The specifics of the proposal were not consciously based upon anything specific.

spoiler=More from the Special Projects Division(S.P.D. is milfly threatening, but nothing special, if only it could have been S.M.I.L.E....)]
Combine a vitality agent, say, blood, with a combustion agent, concentrated alcohol should suffice, add a catalyst, mould would function in a pinch for the transition of vitality, although researching superior catalysts should be a priority for further progress in this field...

The mixture must then be ignited. The vitality will flow into the flame and produce a living flame, though the life within the flame will be dependant upon the inflow of new vitality. Multiple living flames must be brought together and stimulated, via a broad variety and abundance of fuels, to propagate additional flames. These propagations must be separated and analysed until a natively living flame is produced. This new flame will retain its wilful nature even in the absence of a sustained source of vital essences.

The living flame shal; then be trained, through repetition of stimuli, to be advised by experts in animal training and fire extinguishing, to effectively evade extinguishment, sow maximum strategic damage with minimum time elapsed, conserve its fuel when not under threat, and to evade containment. Efforts should be made to establish a retraction command, such that the flame will return to a manageable state and accept containment by friendly forces. Such efforts would allow it to be deployed in the field to seek enemy ammunition dumps and act as an aggressive incendiary agent against any flammable enemy assets. Failing effective control mechanisms it would be unwise to deploy within reach of friendly assets due to its great capacity to exceed containment, though if it could be stealthily deployed to a remote portion of the Loyalist lands it should be exceedingly difficult for it to escape from the island, and by the time that the loyalists became aware of it, it would most likely have spread to become a massive forest fire and be well beyond their means. The complete destruction of the Loyalist homelands would likely be the business of less than a month.The wonderful thing about this project is that it is so subtle. Foreign agencies would be very slow to detect the difference between simple misfortune and the agency of a trained attacker.
/spoiler]

Hrmm, it could probably be adjusted to, erhm... you need to stop the airflow and the ammunition... Honestly, leaving it as it is and just getting it to work properly would be my inclination. It is basically an S.M.G., in close quarters it should be able to take out about three opponents before they can shoot once. Of course, then you need a minute to reload the thing, but still...

spoiler=S.P.D.]
We should combine human ash, for its compatibility with humans, with rice, for its absorbency, and run it in dry channels through our vessels. We then require a living essence to be hosted by the vessel, some form of vine might work, perhaps with an alignment towards life, something with fruit... Grapes should prove effective, their tendency to fermentation enhances them with a tendency towards utility in death. The channels should attract the spirits of the fallen and the vines should attune those spirits towards the function of the vessel. The ability to retain some of the function of lost crew should grant our vessels a great resistance to canister shot and the attrition of long voyages. Not to mention the inherent difficulty of taking such a vessel as a prize.../spoiler]

My problem with the carabine that it is not useful at bad rolls and competes with already existing weapon.

My vote goes to:

Revise standard cavalry equipment. Add lance, gauntlets, a helmet and a cuirass. Test armor should be able to resists sabers, exploded air pistols and far away Victoria I shots.  Also, try to improve saddles, horseshoes and other equine equipment to make it more fitting for a heavier rider

Armored cavalry should be more willing to use the pistols... And lance attack is devastating for enemy morale

spoiler=It all be true I say! Indefatigable my reputation be!]They dun stole muh plans!

portable shields that work like a wheel-barrow with multiple long handles to deal with the weight and have a large metal shield with a sturdy wooden backing?

Shield-barrow:
 A metal panel just thick enough to stop small arms fire with a sturdy wooden backing to help with deformation.
 Tall enough to crouch behind and wide enough for two, with angled wings to protect against attacks from the side.
 A series of viewing slits at slightly different angles near the top that are narrower than current projectiles.
 Insets at the side to allow competent firing with minimal exposure.
 A pair of simple wide metal roller-wheels, one at each of the bottom corners.
 Two long wooden handles affixed near to the middle of the side edges for pushing the shield forward from a distance and levering it upright.
 A pair of wooden planks affixed under the handles to brace the shield against the ground at such an angle that the shield should fall backwards rather than forwards.

Hopefully this should account for the range issues that we are having with the Victoria.

The nation based out of Fort Alton produces a six meter by two meter bullet shield moved with carriage wheels mounted on either side and held up by two wooden legs in order to protect its soldiers so they may get into range of their Brown Bess muskets while under Victoria and Samara fire.

Between the metal facing with a wooden backing and the twin-wheel, twin handled design they were obviously inspired by the suggestion that I proposed in this very thread, that is clearly to be off-limits to representatives of other nations. The only meaningful variation is a simple matter of scale. Surely you, in your great wisdom, shall not be deceived by such petty effort to mask these nefarious activities.

I wish to bring formal charges against Fort Alton's leadership, They are clearly spying on our thread and must be punished. I humbly request that they be subjected to a private ceremony to extract their divine essences which might then be conveyed to the Special Projects Division for experimentation. The Special Projects Division has privately offered assurances that should they be granted the essence of a god that they shall not use such essences for anything that they unanimously agree to be excessively Evil./spoiler]

I want to steal the Monarchist revision.
I propose our spies be sent to the far corners of the world in the noble quest to acquire the fabled original Necronomicon and to make no small effort to acquire the services of whomsoever was in possession of the work prior to our intervention.

spoiler=New S.P.D. proposal.]
One in every thousand soldiers trained should, as early as possible in their training, be issued with a real weapon and live ammunition, without being informed, this event should be denied and ignored by all authorities. Further, the trainee in question should be marked to be subject to discriminatory practised including confiscation of possessions, insults, demeaning duties, physical assault, and lack of acknowledgement. Methods such as sleep deprivation and other approaches that inhibit the awareness and self-recognition may prove counterproductive, this aspect is a prime issue for further investigation as we seek an ideal mental state and spiritual environment(in lay terms, the projections of a person's identity, such as their influence upon others, their possessions, their reputation...) to achieve hostile imprintation.

 Such weapons should be retained and reissued in the same fashion until they coincide with an inconsistent elevation in hostility and violence. They should then be reviewed and filtered into "universally hazardous" at which point they should be distributed to our equipment reserves to discourage theft, and "Controllably hostile" which would have the weapon issued to individuals tested to be adept at focusing upon military objectives and resistant to suggestion.

The desired effect is to have the weapon imprinted with an inclination towards inflicting death. Many will simply encourage traitorous activities and attempts should be made to have them in high concentrations amongst equipment looted b the enemy. The looting of cursed items, along with threatening symbology at such locations, should encourage a sense that looting our forces will impart curses and discourage the practise, along with causes a degradation of enemy discipline as those enforcing discipline become the targets of those wielding cursed weaponry. Cursed weapons that can be controlled should confer noticeable good fortune in efforts to employ them towards violent ends.
/spoiler]

Given Zanz's difficulties, it is clear that our justified demands for sweet delicious G.M. soul are being processed, we eagerly await delivery of the associated research materials.

Once inflated the balloon should require very little support. The problem is applying that support to something else without using enough structural material to counteract the lift.
...
So you could get a much taller balloon but heating it faster than it loses air would be a problem and it would need weighty reinforcement or it would tear in half as the top pulls up and the basket pulls down.
...
Maybe if you could affix something half-way up to spread the load and apply more heat?
...
What if you had a scaffold structure half-way up double-height-balloons? The rigging only needs to travel half as far and you can provide extra heat half-way up and you are using your working platform to also do structural duty to separate the balloons at a more favourable location... It would be a brute of a thing to launch and land. It would probably require a specialised and very tall scaffold from which to launch and it probably would need to be partially rebuilt after landing, but the balloons themselves would just be cloth and the scaffold would probably be mostly wicker... Factoring in half-a-dozen double-height balloons I like to think that you could get something capable of lifting 20 times as much as a normal hot-air balloon and at a greater potential altitude. Maybe not a steam engine but you could probably mount some sails and a well-equipped observation and signalling tower hanging underneath. Or just a whole lot of ball-bearings...

[Sheb]

Mmmmmh, apparently "tech gets cheap over time" ain't a thing anymore.

[Ukrainian Ranger]

The Americans, wanting to solidify their position as a rising power, are looking for a design to improve their naval capabilities. This could be a ship, armament or something else relevant. In return, they offer 1 shipment of iron.

I am tempted to try and go for this with our first naval design\revision. Mostly to deny our enemies a chance to get it

Naval plan A
Design: 2 pounder light cannon
Uses the Van Karten system Comes in three variants: a) stationary, to give forts additional punch against assaulting infantry. b) in a two-wheeled carriage to be towed by a horse(s). c) Naval.  Optimize it to canister shot but try retain ability to fire cannonballs. Must be cheap.

With intention to revise Dover class brig into Montgomery class brig
Remove 6 pounders. Add one forward facing 8 pounder and 6 mobile 2 pounders.  Improve its sails to make it faster. keep the large cargo hold that. Vessel is meant to be used in 2 roles:  intended roles are transport ship that can outrun enemy and raider ship that can defeat undefended transports.

What I want to achieve:

a) Get more artillery experience before getting 10\12\16 pounder gun
b) Make our forces more mobile.
c) Make assaulting former fort Combe a suicide, making it a great centre of operation. d) Adapt the stolen design to our artillery because it is defenceless with original 6 pounders
e) Get a ship that is unpleasant to board by pirates or enemy factions. They may sunk it but fail to board.  2 pounders, coopers, Vicoria's Whateley.
f) In the same time this ship can sprint to the enemy and board him

[Sheb]

Maybe we should define what our goals are for now? I think we should use the leeway we have in the East to focus on taking the NPC.

[LordArchibald]

Strategy
I'm worried when I look at the map, we don't have a plan it seems. There are west and east parts of the island. West is the fighting ground with loyalists (eventually they will make a landing) while east is safe. Therefore east is more valuable. The big strategic thing would be to make loyalists land on the monarchy side of the island, let them kill each other. It can decide the whole campaign.

I would draw a line between Montgomery and Ft Cobe and defend it (I would be even willing to sacriface Montgomery if we were to gain Newton in exchange, but not Ft Combe, it must be our at all cost). Give some of the west territory to monarchy let them worry how to defend it from loyalists. Instead go for Newton or take care of Ft Alton which basically is in the middle of our territory. Our goal should be the east and taking control of the north of the middle lake (eventually making it our inner lake when we surround it).

Short term orders Bradford to Newton attack (priority), then maybe Bradford to Ft Alton (depending on diplomatic status, maybe we want to keep them neutral and harrasing monarchy a bit longer)?


Other interesting designs (previously suggested)
- flamethrower, it indeed makes sense and shares tech with our air technology, but do we have access to oil of some sort?
- "Get a ship that is unpleasant to board by pirates or enemy factions. They may sunk it but fail to board." - I like it, but we are talking about a merchant ship, right? Since that's what we need. The key is to not spend much on navy, just enough to secure some trade income.
- Haddam Cannon: Basically a scaled-up whately pistol - sounds great, but only if it has a range of 200-300 minimum. There is no point for a short range almost stationary machine gun. Remember it will be used against the imperial rifle so it absolutelly can't have a shorter range. The weight must be reasonable so it can still be used (team weapon of course, carried in parts, maybe towed by horses) by infantry not just in forts. It must be mobile.

[Sheb]

Well, we can't really get new resources, the only medium-term bonus I see us getting is invading Ft. Alton for their designs. They got a nice long-range gun and that shield might be marginally useful.

[Ukrainian Ranger]

NPC is not only our enemy but it is also an enemy for Monarchists. Note that our weapons are good enough to not fail badly should fort Combe decide to attack us. Not sure that same can be said about Monarchists because they lack cavalry weapon. I really want to keep pushing Monarchists on the western front.

I like it, but we are talking about a merchant ship, right?

It is more like a hybrid that can be used for "go close quickly and board bastard" . But yep, its main goal is trading.

The key is to not spend much on navy, just enough to secure some trade income.

While I don't mind focusing on land warfare, I think that 1 revision\design per 2-3 turns is essential to not lag behind horribly. Note that the ship we stole is nothing but undergunned version of the best loyalists' ship. If we wish we can catch up with a single design action.

They got a nice long-range gun and that shield might be marginally useful.

Not something to achieve in one turn. And monarchists can steal the frag.

[Sheb]

Agreed that revision on the trade ship for trade goods might be good. However, I for one am perfectly glad to let the British and Atterton fleet fight each others as planned.

How about a design for more resources (steam train) if we can't agree on what nee designing most? Also, I think we can expect Ft. Alton to attack us next turn, because the GM will want to avoid looking like he's targeting the Monarchy.

[Ukrainian Ranger]

GM can throw d2 for things like NPC attacks.

Steam train.... I doubt we can do it with zero steam experience. First steam locomotive was created in 1804 after all. Monarchists way is little more viable, but still. Also, if we want to play marginal navy strategy, then there are little reason to get steam engine.

[Funk]

- flamethrower, it indeed makes sense and shares tech with our air technology, but do we have access to oil of some sort?
- "Get a ship that is unpleasant to board by pirates or enemy factions. They may sunk it but fail to board." - I like it, but we are talking about a merchant ship, right? Since that's what we need. The key is to not spend much on navy, just enough to secure some trade income.

We can just use wood turpentine or Veg oil.

Strategy
- Haddam Cannon: Basically a scaled-up whately pistol - sounds great, but only if it has a range of 200-300 minimum. There is no point for a short range almost stationary machine gun. Remember it will be used against the imperial rifle so it absolutelly can't have a shorter range.

Does it have to?
How many of those rifle will actually get made? we face a 200 meter threat from it, and it's slow.
We can just rush in take the loss's from it first and least accurate shot and get in to range where our weapons are much better.


Can we make the Haddam Cannon smaller? it's just a little to large right now for anything other than fixed defence or artillery.
What about makeing it a Victoria/ Whateley Pistol combo for assaults, we just have to work out some kind of disconnect to prevent runaway auto fire.
Maybe it cam use two air reservoirs at once?

For more range we can:
A) use larger balls for greater range at the cost of less shots.
B) try to up the power of our shots, once more this will cost us shots and probable a few failed rifles.
C) shape the balls to try and cut down on drag.