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Glorious Arstotzka

17 (16%)

Glorious Moskurg

13 (12.3%)

Ingloriously Didn't Play

76 (71.7%)

Total Members Voted: 106

[VoidSlayer]

Wait, can we not mount the 300mm cannon on the cruisers?  Lets just waste another turn revising the radar.

[Madman198237]

The problem is that a 300mm cannot do what a cruiser is meant to do--that is, sink smaller vessels or unarmored cargo ships. It's too big, too slow to turn, and too slow to reload.

[Light forger]

With the ice giant I would strongly suggest going for a proper metal frame and possibly mounting four large engines instead of six small ones. For the metal frame we need to talk about what the plane is doing outside of increasing our TC. Which is dropping armored vehicles and artillery for our paratroopers to use. You can make a huge-ass wooden plane but, by it's very nature it going to be slow as wood can't handle high speeds and, it also going to be much weaker then metal if the plane is hit with flak rounds. As long as we don't hit NE the price of the plane isn't going to affect it's TC so we should make a plane that doesn't fall out of the sky when sneezed on and is faster. The total cost of the plane would need to be over 14(aka 7 ore, 7 oil) to make it NE. For the engines making them bigger rather then using more would help any other aircraft we make. After all during this period it's a race to see who can make a proper full size jet engine.

[evictedSaint]

The turboprop is supposed to be bridging the engine gap, but you are otherwise right, light.

I strongly, strongly urge people to support the aluminumn frame, because wood will present problems for what we're trying to do with this plane.

[Funk]

We would also give our motorcycles parachutes, and might actually see them mentioned as a factor for the first time in the thread.

If we gave them parachutes then we could also give them rockets and use the parachutes as brakes. And if we give them rockets then we may as well give them wings...

What like this?

[RAM]

We would also give our motorcycles parachutes, and might actually see them mentioned as a factor for the first time in the thread.

If we gave them parachutes then we could also give them rockets and use the parachutes as brakes. And if we give them rockets then we may as well give them wings...

What like this?

According to your document that wasn't put into production until 1982. So we would need something less refined, sofisticated, and professional-looking...

[NAV]

Could we paradchute our vehicles while the soldiers are in them?

[RAM]

Could we paradchute our vehicles while the soldiers are in them?

I was thinking about that earlier. Well, notthat, but actually transporting them empty as opposed to loaded. The upside of transporting them empty, is that it reduces the weight. I mean, sure, 15 tonnes of lizard + half-a-tonne of soldiers is not such a big difference, but it is still significant...
But then I realised that if we don't have dropships carrying APCs carrying a full compliment of marines then we can't recreate that scene from Aliens and that would be terrible!

[NUKE9.13]

With the ice giant I would strongly suggest going for a proper metal frame and possibly mounting four large engines instead of six small ones. For the metal frame we need to talk about what the plane is doing outside of increasing our TC. Which is dropping armored vehicles and artillery for our paratroopers to use. You can make a huge-ass wooden plane but, by it's very nature it going to be slow as wood can't handle high speeds and, it also going to be much weaker then metal if the plane is hit with flak rounds. As long as we don't hit NE the price of the plane isn't going to affect it's TC so we should make a plane that doesn't fall out of the sky when sneezed on and is faster. The total cost of the plane would need to be over 14(aka 7 ore, 7 oil) to make it NE. For the engines making them bigger rather then using more would help any other aircraft we make. After all during this period it's a race to see who can make a proper full size jet engine.

Whilst I agree with you about the engines, the wooden frame I will defend. Transport aircraft in WWII were made of wood on multiple occasions, even ones designed to land in hostile territory. It isn't meant to enter combat; the size and speed means that if it does, it isn't going to survive no matter what it's made of. As for flak, hopefully our experience with the Reckless will let us build a plane that can still fly with a few holes in it.
For TC purposes, yes, it could be VE and still work. But if we want to launch serious airborne invasions, we need to be able to deliver lots of men and materiel quickly, which means having lots of transport aircraft. I'd really like for these to be merely Expensive.
Besides, it's not all wood. We will still use aluminium where necessary.
The engines, though, I would rather be regular piston-engine propellers. Whilst turboprops are a lot more efficient than turbojets, I don't believe they are as efficient as piston engines (in this time period). Also, it may add difficulty to the design. 

[10ebbor10]

I included the Geodetic structure from the HAFB. So, instead of a single load bearing structure it has a lattice framework that distributes the forces. In practice, that means that even if you loose the structure on one side, the other side will take the load. So, combined with it's size I think it should be able to survive a direct hit from a flak shell.

However, the enemy has a jet equipped with 32 mm cannons which already devastates our HAFB bombers. We can't outrun it, and cladding it in aluminum will do nothing to stop bullets of that calibre. Numbers and escorting jets are the only solution.

The engines, though, I would rather be regular piston-engine propellers. Whilst turboprops are a lot more efficient than turbojets, I don't believe they are as efficient as piston engines (in this time period). Also, it may add difficulty to the design.

They aren't. Even today, pistons are more fuel efficient.

Turboprops have the advantage of greater power, however.

[Sheb]

I included the Geodetic structure from the HAFB. So, instead of a single load bearing structure it has a lattice framework that distributes the forces. In practice, that means that even if you loose the structure on one side, the other side will take the load. So, combined with it's size I think it should be able to survive a direct hit from a flak shell.

However, the enemy has a jet equipped with 32 mm cannons which already devastates our HAFB bombers. We can't outrun it, and cladding it in aluminum will do nothing to stop bullets of that calibre. Numbers and escorting jets are the only solution.

The engines, though, I would rather be regular piston-engine propellers. Whilst turboprops are a lot more efficient than turbojets, I don't believe they are as efficient as piston engines (in this time period). Also, it may add difficulty to the design.

They aren't. Even today, pistons are more fuel efficient.

Turboprops have the advantage of greater power, however.

And of develloping potentially usefult tech.

[Sensei]

UFAF-HAT-41 "Ice Giant" Model B

This enormous cargo plane used for strategic transport of resources as well as deployment of heavy vehicles. It uses a wooden geodetic airframe (as used on the HAFB) liberally reinforced with aluminum where useful. Power is provided by a new type of engine, the turboprop. Derived from our jet engines, it's expected that this design will not incur any problems. Each wing carries three of these powerful engines. The nose of this enormous plane can fold open, which combined with the rear cargo door allows loads of all sizes to be transported, with the target being the transport of a fully loaded Salamander, or 12 tonnes of material, whichever is heavier. A series of rocket engines mounted beneath the wings can be fired not only to allow the vehicle to take off on remarkably short runways, but also allowing it to land on those same runways. Rockets mounted in the nose can be ignited to forcibly slow the vehicle down and stop it near instantly. The plane can be defended through the installation of AC-18 turrets and machine guns, at a small weight penalty.

Very Hard: 6
UFAF-HAT-41 "Ice Giant" B: This is an enormous transport aircraft, powered by eight turbo-prop engines. Each of these engines is based on the aT-J04b, but drives a shaft which powers a propeller, which is more efficient for low-speed applications. The final result is engines which are relatively efficient, but each of them is small, as designing larger turbines would have taken too long. Most of the effort is poured into the enormous airframe, constructed largely of wood. The wing spar and some important reinforcements use aluminum beams. The majority of the frame is arranged in a geodetic structure, but it's still much less resilient to damage and fire than a metal frame. It can carry a single fully loaded Salamander, or about 13 tons of cargo. Compared to smaller bombers, it's slow and flies with the grace of an emu. It lands on eight large, partially-retracting wheels to support its weight. There are two points on the sides for AS-AC18 guns, but they are removed at full load. Provides 2 TC. [6 Ore (1 Al), 2 Wood, 7 Oil] [/b]

Notes: Y'all have 2 Wood. I considered rocket-assisted takeoff, but since I kinda stopped with the short/long runway dichotomy and it will never, ever take off from a carrier, I omitted it here since it wouldn't really be useful to the design.

[somemildmanneredidiot]

Flawless Victory

[evictedSaint]

Revision: UF-RTS-41 'Long Shot' Pattern A

An adaption of the Deadlier Ray for gun targeting, the Radar Targeting System 'Long Shot' is an intermediary system between the radar and the gun designed to place long-range artillery shots with greater precision, specifically for the Overcompensator.  Basically, by connecting our existing radar system to the Overcompenstor Shore Defense System the Long Shot allows the elevation and angle of the artillery cannon to be dictated for it.  The system can be thought of as a scaled-up version of the targeting system in the Bumblebee flak cannon and will replace the manual compass-and-paper shot calculations done by the artillery crews currently.

Oh, and we also put the generators in underground bunkers so they're not a big obvious "shot me here" sign.

[RAM]

grace of an emu.

We all know of The Emu War. The plane is officially unstoppable.