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[milo christiansen]

+1 for a redesign of the 75mm shells, also a ~120mm mortar and shells for same.

A helmet and truck engine would be good side projects...

[3_14159]

Some of the projects written together.

M2 Battlehelmet
Each soldier receives a steel helmet which features a neck protection and a small sun shade, and has a chin strap (imagine basically a Stahlhelm).
In addition, bags at leather straps form load-bearing equipment, allowing soldiers to store ammunition and equipment. A comfortable backpack is also issued, as are sturdy boots.

75mm field gun shells
This project aims to design a total of five shells for the Ratio field gun: An impact-detonated HE shell, a time-fuzed shrapnel shell, an AP shell for use against ships, a smoke round, and an illumination round in order of priority.

40kW Truck engine
A 40kW engine made for a truck.

I must admit preferring a lighter, 80mm mortar which would be inherently infantry-carryable. That would look something like this:

80mm Mortar
A simple steel tube mounted on a steel plate. Its angle can be changed using a bipod (which includes a rudimentary sight).
A finned mortar shell is dropped into the tube, and is fired by an impact detonator on the bottom of the tube.

80mm mortar shell
A finned mortar shell, it includes both warhead and propellant. An additional three powder charges can be fit, though, extending its range.
The warhead is available in impact-detonated HE and a smoke round.

[VoidSlayer]

That battlehelmet is more like a complete redesign of the uniform, which I support but should be a separate project maybe.

I would limit the designs for the shells to a HE shell and time fuzed shrapnel one, the other three seem limited use right now.

I like the mortars and truck engine.  Maybe we could design the truck/tractor this turn as well?

How about we start producing the crappy torpedo and design a better one?

We could also make a heavier ship that can mount our 75mm cannon.

[Aseaheru]

 That helmet is three actions, one for the helmet, one for the boots'n stuff and one for the load bearing gear.

[shoulderboulder]

v1 mortar
a metal tube with a metal plate it angle is changed with a bipod
it has a impact detonator on the plate,it uses the v1 bomb

v1(meteor)bomb
a 80mm mortar bomb,it has a warhead and propelant,it can have three extra charges for extra range
it comes in a HE version and a smoke version and a illumination version

[milo christiansen]

An illumination round would be a big help for our troops, both for harassing the enemy and (once) for a critical suprise attack.

It would need to be used carefully though, as it would be really obvious, and so quickly copied...

Hey, if we design a truck and a mortar it wouldn't be at all hard to make mechanized mortar platoons... Generally it isn't a good idea to fire the mortar from the truck, but it would make 120mm mortars far more useful than 80mm. 80mm should probably come first, since a 120 is simply the same thing but bigger (so once the 80 is perfected a 120 would be trivial).

In any case 75mm shells, and possibly a better torpedo, should have priority.

Would it be a good idea to assign a few engineers to a generic "torpedo boat improvement" assignment? This *should* give us a small but measurable amount of minor fixes and improvements to various parts of the torpedo boat and its munitions each turn... A similar 1-2 engineer group assigned to the field gun would also be a cool idea. These small "tweak teams" would never produce anything spectacular, but it would be a good way to file rough edges off a design. This may be a good use for untrained engineers, give them some experience working on an existing design so they are better once we need them for something else.

[3_14159]

That helmet is three actions, one for the helmet, one for the boots'n stuff and one for the load bearing gear.

Hmpf. Then I misunderstood you.
Just to be clear: That means we have three different design actions: a) Helmet, b) Load Bearing Equipment, c) uniform and boots. Correct?

v1 mortar
a metal tube with a metal plate it angle is changed with a bipod
it has a impact detonator on the plate,it uses the v1 bomb

v1(meteor)bomb
a 80mm mortar bomb,it has a warhead and propelant,it can have three extra charges for extra range
it comes in a HE version and a smoke version

I'd definitely also add an illumination round (night fighting is useful), other than that, I believe that's what we'll need.

Hey, if we design a truck and a mortar it wouldn't be at all hard to make mechanized mortar platoons... Generally it isn't a good idea to fire the mortar from the truck, but it would make 120mm mortars far more useful than 80mm. 80mm should probably come first, since a 120 is simply the same thing but bigger (so once the 80 is perfected a 120 would be trivial).

Hm. This might be an idea, true. Depends on how the truck works out - and its main priority, if you ask me, would be logistical support.

In any case 75mm shells, and possibly a better torpedo, should have priority.

I'm not quite sure we need a better torpedo - our current one (design quoted below) seems pretty good, actually. We just need to produce it. *whistles innocently*

-Pattern 803 torpedo, 15.7"
 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

Would it be a good idea to assign a few engineers to a generic "torpedo boat improvement" assignment? This *should* give us a small but measurable amount of minor fixes and improvements to various parts of the torpedo boat and its munitions each turn... A similar 1-2 engineer group assigned to the field gun would also be a cool idea. These small "tweak teams" would never produce anything spectacular, but it would be a good way to file rough edges off a design. This may be a good use for untrained engineers, give them some experience working on an existing design so they are better once we need them for something else.

Not sure. You'd probably need to ask Aseaheru whether they'd like to deal with the possible large number of variants that'd produce.
But I am thinking about modifying the torpedo boat to remove the double 37mm cannon, and install a navalized 75mm Ratio instead. Thoughts on that?

[Aseaheru]

 Super generic actions (which include things like blue sky research and that gradual ship research thing) are not allowed.

 @Pi, yes indeed. Three designs that is.

 Swapping out the the main turret for a different design is a design action, but a minor one.

[VoidSlayer]

If we are going to do anything with the ship I would make a heavier version that can mount the 75mm cannon instead of torpedoes.

So 40kM engine + an artillery tractor this turn and we can make a heavy truck next turn?

So far I am seeing:

Helmet
Boots
Straps and Backpack
Mortar
Mortar shells
Artillery shells
40kM truck engine
Truck Chassis/Tractor Chassis?
Torpedo improvement?

[3_14159]

@Pi, yes indeed. Three designs that is.

Thanks.

If we are going to do anything with the ship I would make a heavier version that can mount the 75mm cannon instead of torpedoes.

Actually, my original torpedo boat destroyer design was already intended to mount both the 75mm cannon and torpedoes (c.f. HMS Hornet, which mounted a 76mm cannon and two 57mm ones). So I'd hope it'd be possible.
Aseaheru: What does the naval engineer tell us about mounting Ratio on the torpedo boat? Plug-and-play, easy, difficult, or capsize? (I'm assuming "easy" from your answer above, but wanted to make sure).

So 40kM engine + an artillery tractor this turn and we can make a heavy truck next turn?

Only the 40kW engine so far. I was thinking that a truck could double as an artillery tractor, and wanted to wait for the engine. Do you think designing them at the same time would be better?

Helmet
Boots
Straps and Backpack
Mortar
Mortar shells
Artillery shells
40kM truck engine
Truck Chassis/Tractor Chassis?
Torpedo improvement?

Yup.
Also probably including refitting a Ratio onto the Swordfish.
I was also thinking about a 40mm fast-firing smokeless cannon, but the only thing it'd be useful for right now would be our TBDs, and we'd have to design both the ammo and gun.

We should probably also think about what to build. We could build more artillery factory lines (more artillery is always better), a bigger drydock (to design a bigger vessel next turn) or a small-arms factory (for faster replacement of our old rifles). We'll definitely have to spend next turn building an engine/vehicle factory complex, so we should plan a bit ahead.
Personally, I'd like either the artillery or drydock. Thoughts?

[Aseaheru]

 It would take some work but wouldn't be that hard. They could probably do it while trying to design a new turret for the main gun.

[Aseaheru]

 So, any consensus on what to do besides a nine-item list, with some things listed as maybe? What to have those new factories and dockyards churn out, perhaps?  Detailed design specifications for that nine item list?

[VoidSlayer]

We should certainly start making the artillery and torpedo launchers, maybe make a new factory instead of one of the designs also.

[3_14159]

So, any consensus on what to do besides a nine-item list, with some things listed as maybe? What to have those new factories and dockyards churn out, perhaps?  Detailed design specifications for that nine item list?

Working on it.

Spoiler: Designs (click to show/hide)

M2 Battlehelmet
Each soldier receives a steel helmet which features a neck protection and a small sun shade, and has a chin strap (imagine basically a Stahlhelm).

75mm field gun shells
This project aims to design a total of five shells for the Ratio field gun: An impact-detonated HE shell, a time-fuzed shrapnel shell, an AP shell for use against ships, a smoke round, and an illumination round in order of priority.

40kW Truck engine
A 40kW engine made for a truck. It uses Diesel.

80mm Mortar
A simple steel tube mounted on a steel plate. Its angle can be changed using a bipod (which includes a rudimentary sight).
A finned mortar shell is dropped into the tube, and is fired by an impact detonator on the bottom of the tube.

80mm mortar shell
A finned mortar shell, it includes both warhead and propellant. An additional three charges can be fit, though, extending its range.
The warhead is available in impact-detonated HE and a smoke round.

120mm Mortar
A simple steel tube mounted on a steel plate. Its angle can be changed using a bipod (which includes a rudimentary sight).
A finned mortar shell is dropped into the tube, and is fired by an impact detonator on the bottom of the tube.

120mm mortar shell
A finned mortar shell, it includes both warhead and propellant. An additional three charges can be fit, though, extending its range.
The warhead is available in impact-detonated HE and a smoke round.

Swordfish Early Life Upgrade
Mount a 75mm Ratio cannon instead of the two bow 37mm cannons. Include mounting points for the M1 HMG.

Available Designs:
    D1: M2 Battlehelmet
    D2: 75mm field gun shell upgrades
    D3: 40kW truck engine
    D4.1: 80mm mortar (requires D5.1)
        D4.2: 120mm mortar (requires D5.2)
    D5.1: 80mm mortar shells (requires D4.1)
        D5.2: 120mm mortar shells (requires D4.2)
    D6: Swordfish Early-Life Upgrade
    D7: Build another small-arms factory, 8x300pp lines

Doing the engineer assignment below, I realized we have enough people to do everything - so unless anyone's against it (or has more proposals), the only vote would be whether to go with a 120mm heavy mortar, or an 80mm infantry-portable mortar. I vote for the latter.

My engineering assignment tries to distribute the engineers mostly-equally. Since the 75mm munitions upgrade is so important, I'm giving them the ammo engineer. The truck engine, since it's the first such engine and we can probably use it for some time, gets a few more people assigned. The Swordfish upgrade should be fairly easy, and so gets only two. The small-arms factory gets a total of five engineers (two specialized), since it's probably the best fit for the firearms engineers. This should give us a pretty big small-arms factory, so we can use our General slots for something else.

@Aseaheru: Is it acceptable to use that action to also upgrade our current specialized factory from 575 to 600pp as a (book-keeping) priority? Makes everything easier to handle due to round number (i.e. 1000 instead of 958 1/3 rifles per turn).

Possible engineering assignments:
    M2 Battlehelmet (2N 2B)
        2x newbies
        2x basic engineer

    75mm field gun shells (2N 1U 2B, 1xS)
        2x  Newbies
        1x untrained munitions engineer
        2x basic engineer

    Truck engine (2N 4B)
        2x newbies
        4x basic engineer

    80mm mortar (2N 2B)
        2x newbies
        2x basic engineer

    80mm mortar rounds (2N 2B)
        2x newbies
        2x basic engineer

    Swordfish early-life upgrade (2B, 1S)
        1x basic naval engineer
        1x basic engineer

    Small-arms factory (3B, 2U, 2xS)
        3x basic firearms engineers
        1x amazingly talented but untrained firearms engineer
        1x untrained architect


As for production, this should hopefully cover all of our needs. What it does is a very high number of heavy weaponry (120 artillery guns per turn, 175 HMGs per turn), plus a smaller number of more specialized designs (Trench Broom and Pistol)


Production:
    On-Site factory complex
        - General (300pp): Torpedo (18.75 launchers/turn)
        - General (300pp): Jupiter Pattern 803 Automatic Pistol (600/turn)
        - General (300pp): 75mm field gun Ratio (30/turn)
        - General (300pp): M1 HMG (115/turn)
        - Small-Arms (575pp): M1 HMG (60/turn)

    On-Site Artillery Complex
        - Artillery (300pp): 75mm field gun Ratio (30/turn)
        - Artillery (300pp): 75mm field gun Ratio (30/turn)
        - Artillery (300pp): 75mm field gun Ratio (30/turn)

    Off-site (dispersed)
        - 3x General (250pp): Revolving Rifle (1250/turn)
        - General (250pp): Pattern 803 Trench Broom (~180/turn)

    On-site Naval
        - Dockyard (300t): Swordfish TBD: 1.3/turn
   
    Off-site Naval
        - Dockyard (300t): Swordfish TBD: 1.3/turn

Produces:
    75mm Pattern 806 Field Gun Ratio: 120/turn
    M1 Pattern 806 HMG: 175/turn
    Swordfish TBD: 2.6/turn
    Revolving Rifle: 1250/turn
    Trench Broom: ~180/turn
    Torpedo: 18.75 launchers/turn
     Jupiter Pattern 803 Automatic Pistol: 600/turn

[Aseaheru]

You can have a few engineers upgrade something already built.