In the beginning, there where a large number of earth-analog nation-states fighting upon, and for, an earth-analog world. Or atleast parts of it.
One of these nation states, The Monarchy of [Group A] was nearly successful in taking over much of its sub-contenent. Recently, however, its hold has been slipping, allowing one of its vassals to complete a successful revolution against it, retaking lands captured for centuries in the process.
Now, The Monarchy of [Group A] and this newly styled Republic of [Group B] find themselves in a bit of a predicament. More or less evenly matched with the other, surrounded by smaller states that dont like either party, and now learning that weapons technology in the rest of the world has started to pass them by.
Well, good thing you group of state-sponsored engineers are hanging about to design whats needed.
There are few rules. The main one to follow is not to break physics too badly.
Also, remember that I am only human, I may make mistakes and as such reserve the right to change things in hindsight.
-Pistols are typically revolvers
-Rifles are mostly single-shot breach loading designs using metallic cartridges, although there are some repeaters on the market, which almost all use tube magazines
-Shotguns are mostly pump-action and load from a tube magazine, atleast where they arent break-action single shot designs
-Metallic cartridges utilize black powder and rounded bullets. They are also quite large. Some very new designs use "smokeless" powder, which is typically guncotton mixed with a solvent and a wax
-Ships, trains and the like use steam engines, while cars are almost universally battery powered(what few exist, anyways). There are also electric trams and the like, but in limited numbers. Internal combustion vehicles are severely limited, and are chain driven
-Telephones and telegraphs are in most places, although the telephones do have a limited range
-Radios are new, very large, and can only do Morse code
-Machine guns are manually operated and have a number of barrels. They are also quite large, often the size of field guns
-Uniforms are mostly in bright colors still, and armor is all but non-existent, excepting ceremonial pieces
-Aircraft consist of early lighter-than-air craft, some gliders, and balloons. Balloons dont count as lighter-than-air craft, as they are typically tethered to the ground
-Most
All in all, it is roughly 1900's technology
[spoiler]
[spoiler=How the game works]
There are three phases, the design, the vote, and the action.
In the design phase each person can make a number of suggestions for what to design. These are then voted on during the vote phase, with the majority winners being rolled for to see how they do. There is no set number of designs per turn, this instead being determined by the number of engineers that can be assigned.
Also during the design and vote phases actions can be taken to do things such as determine local production of stuff, try to buy things from elsewhere, get more engineers, build stuff, train engineers, etcetra.
Just because something is designed does not mean that it is produced. Some things, such as trucks, engines, and munitions, can be made by abstracted factories. However, to make new things quickly they must be produced on site. Some things, such as ships, tanks, and aircraft can be made without a factory assigned, but for true mass production a factory line muse be set aside and tooled for production, which takes time. The time that it does take can be shortened by things such as assigning workers or engineers to help, provided they arent working elsewhere anyways.
Anyways, in the Action phase I get around to writing everything up, telling you what happens elsewhere, etcetra.
Long linen tunic
Britches
leather suspenders/belt combo
Leather shoes
Cloth leg wraps
Woolen greatcoat
Woolen blanket
Wooden canteen
Tin mug
Hat (exact details vary from unit to unit. Most are cloth, but there the similarities end)
-Standard soldier-
Service rifle
Bayonet
50 rounds ammunition
Leather cartridge case
Leather bayonet sheathe
-Officer-
Leather Holster
sidearm
50 rounds sidearm munitions
Sheathe
Sword
DESIGN DUMP AHEAD!
Starting Designs:
Obsoleted by the Pattern 801 Revolving Rifle.
Updated by the Pattern 804 STR
A rolling block rifle firing the black-powder 10x60mm cartridge. Provisions are made for a bayonet to be mounted, and there are crude iron sights. However, there is no safety, indicators to show if the weapon is loaded or cocked, and almost no effort at making the weapon "nice" to use.
The weapon is 6ft long, although shorter variants do exist for cavalry, engineers, naval forces, artillery, mounted infantry, and military police. Each are differing lengths.
The weapon weighs 7lb unloaded.
Costs .5pp each
Obsoleted by the Pattern 800 Jupiter Automatic Pistol
A five shot revolver firing the black-powder 10x35mm cartridge. There are simple iron sights fitted. The weapon is loaded one round at a time from a loading gate on the left side of the weapon, as it is intended for cavalry and officers, who still ride horses in combat. Officers are granted single action versions, while the rank and file who are granted one are only given double action weapons.
The weapon possesses a 6inch barrel, weighs five and a half pounds unloaded, and is typically an officer-only weapon.
Costs .5pp each
Our latest design, a six barreled, manually operated cannon firing a 37mm, 16oz projectile. Each turn of the handle fires a round, loads another, and ejects a third. While the crank can be turned continuously, the barrels do not turn for the entire cycle, which allows better accuracy.
The weapon loads from a 10-round clip.
This weapon is use as secondary armament on our warships, and as our main field gun.
Costs 10pp each
Obsoleted by the 10x60mm RS, unless in use with the Pattern 782 Troop Rifle
A large shell used by the Pattern 782 STR and its many, many, many differing length variants. Not nearly as powerful as it could be, thanks to its black powder loading
A rather oversized and yet weak(thanks to its black powder propellant) round used in the Pattern 784 revolver and much disliked by our troops. For whatever reason, only ball ammunition is available for military use
A large shell that fires a 37mm warhead weighing 16oz, used in the Pattern 793 Revolving cannon. Comes in HE and AP variants
Varies from service to service, with no exact specification in any
Designs of 800
Obsoleted by the Pattern 803 Jupiter Automatic Pistol
Chambered in the 12.5x30mm pistol cartridge
9in barrel, 8rd internal box magazine, weighs 2lb loaded
Faulty magazine
Cheap to make (.5pp each)
High power
Expensive to produce
Designs of 801
A fire barreled, hopper fed, hand cranked weapon using the new 10x60mm rifle round. Weighs in at only 15kg, almost never fails to fire when it needs to, and well liked by its testing crews, who have worn out the two prototypes in gleeful abandon stresstesting it.
Costs 9.5pp each
First thing to consiter is that there are two forms of this lever action rifle, that chambered for the 10x60mm rifle round and that chambered for the 10x30mm "Special". Both are lever action, weigh around 8lb, are about 46 inches long, and have a 10-round rotating magazine wherein the projectiles are held in place via clips and pushed into the gun by the lever action. In the 10x60mmRS version the fired round is pulled back into place after firing and is removed via a hinged port on the right side of the gun and is fed into the gun from 5-round chargers (inserted into the same space). In the 10x30mm version the gun is loaded almost exactly the same way (the chargers are different), though it does not need to extract rounds. provisions are, of course, made for mounting a bayonet.
Oh, out of the ten rifles made (five of each type) we only know what has happened to seven of them, all of which have, quite simply been shot to death. Infact, the (now idle again) factories have had their workers making up rounds just to keep up with the demand.
Costs .6pp each
10x60mm centerfire cartage
A centerfire, smokeless, rimmed rifle cartridge used in the Pattern 801 LRC and the Pattern 801 RR Mk1. About as best as it can be for the time, though it is still a round-nosed round.
A caseless centerfire round used only in certain versions of the Pattern 801 RR Mk1 (notated with a "B" after its name), this round is surprisingly powerful for what is in effect a pistol round that has to carry its case with it. However, its light weight and surprisingly low cost excite many of the officers who have seen it shoot.
Designs of 802
Obsoleted by the Pattern 803 Torpedo/Launcher, 15.7"
A bronze-built torpedo using wet guncotton as an explosive, powered by an internal tank of compressed air. The weapon has a range of about 1.8 kilometers, a remarkable achievement for the method of propelling it. It weighs in at a little over 680lb and travels at 25 knots. Reloading a launcher (and then charging the torpedo with compressed air) takes nearly a quarter of a hour per launch.
Launchers cost 16pp each
Obsoleted by the Pattern 803 Trench Broom Auto Weapon
A mostly sheet-steel weapon, the Trench Broom is a high capacity, low weight, theoretically high rate of fire weapon firing the 10x30mm special round, kept in a paper belt, itself stored within large drums that reside around the sides of the weapon. These belts have been determined to be one of the main reasons for the jamming.
In any event, the weapon weighs about 3lb unloaded and is just over a foot and a half long.
One of these costs 1.2pp each
Designs of 803
Obsoletes the Pattern 802 Torpedo, 14"
A bronze-built torpedo using wet guncotton as an explosive, powered by an internal tank of compressed, hot air. The weapon has a range of about 2.4 kilometers. It weighs in at a little over 661lb and travels at 28 knots. Reloading a launcher (and then charging the torpedo with compressed air) takes less time than the old style, although the launchers have changed a fair deal.
Launchers cost 16pp each
Obsoletes the Pattern 802 Trench Broom auto weapon
A pattern 802 trench broom with the magazine replaced by a spring-fed stick magazine, sticking out the side, thus solving almost all the jamming issues with the gun. The testers loved it and the prototypes are missing or worn out by constant fire.
One of these and a few spare magazines costs 1.4pp each
Obsoletes the Pattern 800 Jupiter Automatic Pistol
Chambered in the 12.5x30mm pistol cartridge
9in barrel, 8rd internal box magazine, weighs 2lb loaded
The older pattern 800 version, now with detachable box magazines that feed correctly! As expected, all prototypes are now missing, as the testers loved them to bits and demand more.
Cheap to make (.5pp each)
Designs of 804
Obsoletes Pattern 782 Standard Troop Rifle
A modification allowing use of high power smokeless ammunition in limited amounts, along with standardizing the length and updating their ironsights for flatter trajectories. Modifying existing pattern 782 rifles costs .02pp each, new build rifles cost .5pp each.
Designed for use in the Revolving Rifle, Pattern of 801(Type A) and is as modern as anything else in the world. Can also be used in the Pattern 804 STR.
Design of 805
Swordfish Torpedo Boat Destroyer
Armament:
-1x twin-mount pattern 793 revolving cannon
-2x single-mount pattern 793 revolving cannon
-2x single-tube Pattern 803 15.7" torpedo launcher, with 30 total torpedoes and 6 held in readiness at any given time
-A number of mounts for heavy machineguns along the sides of the vessel(typically 6x Pattern 806 HMG)
Communications:
-signal flags
-electric lights
Propulsion:
-2x power plants consisting of single steam turbine, four water-tube boilers and two electric generators each turning one screw
Top speed: 32 knots
Range: 3000nmi
Equivalent Cost(in PP):102 for armaments(not counting modifications or smallarms)
Designs of 806
Pattern 806 75mm field gun
A 2000kg, rapid fire artillery piece with recoil suppression and a split trail carriage. Tad heavy for horses, and is able to fire at targets out to 10km.
Costs 10pp each
For the Pattern 806 Field Gun
There are two types of ammunition, HE and AP. HE is low powered. AP shatters on impact with hard targets.
A 28kg (48kg with all its kit) belt fed and air-cooled heavy machinegun with some issues with its action and no problems elsewhere. In fact, in all other respects it is significantly above average. Uses 10x60mmA rounds.
Costs 5pp each (Yes, 5pp. Its that cheap)
Designs of 807
Pattern of 807 Battlehelmet
Able to protect against 10x60mm rounds at medium and long ranges. Slightly encumbers used due to "spongyness". Built in camouflage w/ ability for end user to add more.
Costs .05pp each
Pattern of 807 Gasoline Engine
Produces 55hp
Extremely light weight(Dont ask howmuch, apparently motorcycle engines dont get their weight listed anywhere)
Costs 1pp each(!)
Pattern of 807 80mm Mortar
Maximum range of 2km
Weighs 60kg total, designed to be split into three parts for transport
Shockingly accurate at medium to short ranges(under 1k)
Costs 2.5pp each
Pattern of 807 75mmR shells
For the Pattern 806 75mm Field Gun "Ratio", now with greater penetration(for AP) and far larger explosive damage.
-HE, choice of impact or timed fuse
-APDS
-Illumination(lasts 150 seconds)
Pattern of 807 80mmM shells
For the Pattern 807 80mm Mortar
Consists of warhead(HE or Fragmentation) and finned section
Up to four total propellant charges(with all, able to be fired out to 2km)
Warheads are low powered and complex to produce
Swordfish Type B
(Variant of the 805 Swordfish Torpedo Boat Destroyer)
Armament:
-1x single-mount pattern 806 "Ratio" Field Cannon(NOTE, SEVERELY REDUCED TURRET SPEED. BASIC RANGEFINDER EQUIPPED)
-2x single-mount pattern 793 revolving cannon
-2x single-tube Pattern 803 15.7" torpedo launcher, with 30 total torpedoes and 6 held in readiness at any given time
-A number of mounts for heavy machineguns along the sides of the vessel(typically 6x Pattern 806 HMG)
Communications:
-signal flags
-electric lights
Propulsion:
-2x power plants consisting of single steam turbine, four water-tube boilers and two electric generators each turning one screw
Top speed: 32 knots
Range: 3000nmi
Equivalent Cost(in PP):92 for armaments(not counting modifications or smallarms)
The factory icon is where you lot are.
Want more games like this? Mostly ones that are dead? Check out this thread for info! (This is also for me to find it faster so I can shamelessly rip off study and emulate past games)