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[Aseaheru]

 We could also make a version of it that is armed...

[andrea]

like this?

Spoiler: NG-IB51 (click to show/hide)

NG-IB51
A small, unarmed, diesel powered landing ship. Designed to quickly drop off a unit of soldiers or a vehicle unto a beach. It's main way of unloading soldiers is a massive lowering ramp or for infantry two larger side ramps allowing them to unload with some cover. It carries a mounted AS-1924 machinegun for defense and support.
Target cost: 1 ore, one oil
Transport Capibility: 1/16 a Infantry unit or One Vehicle and 1/32 of infantry
size:very small
type:ship

[RAM]

Feature creep is a thing, there needs to be a reason why arming it would be better than not. Providing AA cover would be nice, but ideally you do not use these when air is a major threat. Suppressing beach defences would be nice, but if you have a tank in front with some troops behind, then the tank can do a lot of suppressing and some troops can probably climb on top of the tank and provide some extra supporting fire, or fall off and drown after losing a leg in the propeller... These things will probably have a more significant engine compartment than the classic W.W.II landing boxes in movies, looking more like a miniature barge than a bucket, so potentially there would be opportunity for a raised turret overlooking the contents of the boat.

On the other hand, adding a pair of flak turrets to the back would make it a very nice cheap air-defence asset to coastal fleets, they could be towed and still provide a large amount of fire support due to their numbers and cheap cost. But then you are dealing with a part that you probably want to upgrade in time...

Spoiler: I looked for some pictures... (click to show/hide)

The sort of thing I think of when I hear "landing craft". Still capable of carrying very light vehicles apparently. But I imagine that it would have difficulty island-hopping under its own power. There really isn't a lot of space for armaments.

I imagine ours being more like this or the next one, except many times smaller, but with a much larger engine-room at the back when compared with the previous image.


This seems too expensive to me, we want something more disposable. I feel that this, while clearly possible, is far too much expense and maintenance.

This seems just a little larger than we want, I imagine that landing under fire would be hazardous for such a large target and the tank certainly couldn't shoot out of it, also extricating it after use would probably be very difficult without some very specific conditions at the landing site, but it seems pretty close to the sort of thing that we want.

Spoiler: ... what about this? (click to show/hide)

NG-IB51c "Cockle"
A small, diesel-powered boat capable of travelling between islands under its own power in clear weather.
The boat should be long enough for a single T-25 with two dozen infantry behind it and a small cargo area behind that with room enough for a week's worth of food, water, and ammunition rations for the infantry and a fully enclosed engine-room/bridge/crew's quarters/pilot position.
 The walls should be low enough that a T-25 tank can fire over them from within.
 Affixed with a collapsing ramp at the front for a medium tank and collapsing ramps at the sides for infantry.
 In front of each of the side-ramps is a semi-spherical small-arms-proof compartment extending from the craft and mounting a single open-turret with a forward-facing shield and a pair of AS-1924 guns converted to be belt-fed and with an off-set to one of their firing mechanisms so as to alternate the fire of the two guns.
 A single open(with shield) Bumblebee turret atop the engine room.
 A half-dozen under-side sleds with a series of wedge-clamps. An included sled with matching clamp-grooves and a serrated wooden track underneath designed to go forwards easily but resist sliding backwards. The clamps are locked in place by a single locking-beam that is held in place by a pin accessible from the cabin. If the pin is released while the boat is under pressure to move backwards then all the climps will release and the upp-sled will slip free from the lower and allow the boat to slide more easily into the water and the lower sled will be left behind. When not under pressure, due to floating, the clamps can be applied, the beam reset, and the lower sleds thus reattached. The cabin contains carpentry supplies, glue, nails, templates, and instructions enough to effect repairs and replacements on the wooden parts of the sleds.
Target cost: 2 ore, one oil
Transport Capibility: two-dozen infantry packed like sardines and a tank living in luxury(or an additional tank's worth of infantry).
size:very small
type:ship

It should be able to provide substantial support to landing forces, a good(for its size) ability to defend itself and allies from air attacks, and be able to be reused with little in the way of support facilities or time, allowing a single force to perform multiple raids along a coast independently. Although, really, we probably want something cheap that we can use now, our income is miniscule...

P.S.
 Ninja: you appear to have specified an unarmed boat to have an armament.

P.P.S.
 Since there is no interest in my aeroplane, I won't bother updating it for the nonexistence of the 20mm cannons...

[andrea]

I was thinking something like your first picture. Your design seems good,  should serve us well for a long time.  It has many systems which could go wrong,  but the way problems are assigned by rolling it just means that it is less likely that critical systems will be affected. I am voting for that.
+1 to ram's boat

[Aseaheru]

 Whats the craft in the penultimate image?

[andrea]

by the way, we should also start discussing revisions. I was thinking one revision on the landing craft, one on the assault rifle.

[Aseaheru]

One on the assault rifle for sure, but if the landing craft goes well I would like to see the tank improved a bit.

[RAM]

I got it from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_craft
It was labelled "Landing craft flak". I didn't look closely enough the first time, apparently the ramp is sealed and it is just a support craft in this configuration, and doesn't actually land anything. I haven't had much luck figuring out what the base model is, but I need to sleep so I am not trying very hard.

[Aseaheru]

 Looks like its a version of the LCT, the thing in the last image.

[andrea]

well, if the landing craft goes well I would support improvements on the tank. I just don't trust the dice to make it go well.

[stabbymcstabstab]

well, if the landing craft goes well I would support improvements on the tank. I just don't trust the dice to make it go well.

Same

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

People are wanting to utilize the craft RAM came up with, correct?

[Aseaheru]

 Dosent look like anyone is opposed to it.

[andrea]

Nobody opposing, some supporting, lets get it done.

[RAM]

I would like to get a nice neat minimum-digit ammunition scheme. Something like 4mm, 8mm, 16mm, 32mm for small arms and 4cm, 8cm, 16cm, 32cm for artillery. But it is no doubt far to much effort to justify changing from the 7.62mm which clearly works well and is already in circulation...

But just in case, would changing the calibre of weapon and ammunition be within the realm of a revision?

Given that it is difficult to switch between single and automatic, perhaps we could lock it to three-round bursts?

It'd e nice to try to get some shock-absorbency in the stock, but that sounds like far too much complexity...

Maybe we could try to refine the ammunition to give it a notable ability to reliably and quickly reload?