Battle Report 16: Spring 1941Well it's been a while!I can't promise updates with any rapidity, I'm still working nights and rarely feel up to writing. But the game shall remain Technically Not Dead for as long as I continue to have a stubborn demeanor!
New Equipment:This turn, the Forenians have designed the
RDN-41-3 Deadliest Ray, an attempt at a small and portable radar using a cavity magnetron. It doesn't work. For their revision, they've re-drafted the stolen Cannalan Victoria designs, for the ship they're calling the
Vodka: The plans for the Victoria have been completely drafted over by a proper Forenian design team. Asburd, inconsistent Imperial units have been replaced with proper Metric ones, rum and coffee stains have been removed by a special document restoration team, and incredibly unprofessional last-minute notes and design changes have been worked into to plans instead of left scrawled in the margins. The Vodka is no longer [Complex], and it will make its first appearance this turn.
Cannala has spent their design on
Project Railway, which is still under wraps. For their revision, they've revised their gast-type guns to be lighter, make good use of mixed ammo belts, and have an adjustable fire rate. The most notable effects of this are that their planes have capacity for some more ammo, and infantry-pushed gast carriages are much lighter.
The Forenian Army currently has the following equipment, not including legacy equipment which can be found near the OP:
UF Weapons:
UF-MRL-40 'SARUKH': The Sarukh is a multiple rocket launcher, which fires rockets one meter long to deliver 6kg warheads at a maximum range of 12000 meters. The rockets have impressive destructive power, compared to shells they do not need thick metal casings, so most of the weight of the rocket is either warhead or propellant. The rockets are launched electrically off of rails, and the rails are in a 4x2 array. The rockets can be fired all at once, but it takes about four minutes to reload the whole launcher, so the sustained rate of fire is not better than regular artillery. However, a rocket array is extremely light compared to a cannon, and can move very quickly, firing all at once and retreating before fire is returned from the enemy. Accuracy is poor compared to shells; to reliably hit a single target with a volley they should be used within 8km. Currently available as a truck trailer. [1 Ore, 3 Oil]
UF-ASA-40 "Overcompensator" Coastal Artillery System: [Expensive] This is an enormous 30cm gun, made specifically for covered ground emplacements. Like a ship gun, shells and powder casings are stored below the barrel itself and lifted up by an electric hoist and ramming system, which fires a little over twice a minute. The shells weigh about 350kg and reach a range which is greater than existing artillery, but not extremely impessive for their size- except the rocket propelled shells, which can go almost 30km. It normally sits in a reinforced concrete bunker with a wide aiming slit, on the shore to aim at ships. It lacks any advanced fire control as much of the time was spent developing a barrel and breech which could withstand the pressure necessary, so commanders must find a firing solution by pen, paper and slide-rule alone, and correct their aim based on visual observation. It also needs a large steam power generator on site or nearby, which needs a bunker of its own, and the generator or power lines are a potential vulnerability. [5 Ore, 3 Oil]
UF-RTS-41 'Long Shot' A: This is a radar fire-control system, which allows radar operators to directly control the Overcompensator gun by its electric motors. This is based on the entirely-mechanical Bumblebee aiming system, the radar operator simply aligns a metal ring which slides on rails on two axes over the radar blip on his screen. With manual calibration for each unique gun and radar position, this sets the gun to a firing solution. It is crude, and imprecise to the point where it almost never hits. It has only found practical use as a means of moving the gun near where it will need to be aimed while a firing solution is calculated the old fashioned way, on pen and paper.
UF-AC-41 Velociraptor: This autocannon is a revision of AC18, with several improvements. The gun is a little more tolerant of different ammo weights and the shells have been modified so that mixed ammo belts are possible. The use of more advanced materials has allowed some parts to become lighter, while a heavier bolt and stronger spring allows a rate of fire of 750 RPM, with a final gun weight of 48kg. In infantry use, it has noticeably more recoil, but this is less of a concern on vehicles.
UF Other Equipment:
General Tereshkova: The Forenian army is led by General Tereshkov, an expert pilot. With experience spanning back to the days of the terrifying AS-19 aircraft which pilots believed to be haunting, he trains Forenian pilots to quick witted and always on guard, and out-fly their enemies.
RDN-39-2 "DEADLIER RAY" [Expensive] The "Deadlier Ray" is a more sophisticated radar than the old Death Ray, using an array of antennae on a rotating swivel, a single unit can get the direction and range of enemy aircraft to about 150km, and ships to within about 30km. It's huge though, and requires a building or an entire dedicated CV-22 ship to manage all the equipment. The operator can see contacts on a CRT display with a circular progression, it looks really cool and goes beep. [Complex]
UF-R4-39 'Tigers Roar': This dramatically named radio is very similar to the Model 3, but fits in a single backpack and supports voice or morse over FM. When communicating in morse code, it can be attached to a separate Tiger's Whisper machine for coded messages.
Binoculars: Cheap binoculars are available to all soldiers.
Flashlights: The UF standard flashlight uses leak-resistant zinc-carbon batteries, in an aluminum frame. It fits on weapon rail mounts, or on helmets. It's rather heavy though, so soldiers prefer to hold them by hand when they can, possibly with a pistol in the other hand. Also includes colored lenses for signalling.
UF-PAR-41 'Trustfall': These are large, circular nylon parachutes, capable of supporting cargo crates on wooden pallets, or supporting some vehicles on a two-parachute rig with specialized wooden pallets under the wheels.
UF Ground Vehicles:
UF-39-APC "Salamander" Pattern B: The Salamander is a large amphibious APC, with a wide body to keep itself stable on the water. It is covered in medium armor, and the body is in a "hexagonal cross-section" shape, which means that any point on its sides or front is either sloping up or down, with the front being long and narrow while the sides are flatter. It has 8 large wheels, the front and rear axles both drive and steer, while the middle two axles are dummies. Water propulsion is from two small propellers. This was a necessary compromise to keep transmission weight down, but land performance isn't amazing. It holds about fourteen soldiers, or a few less if they're bringing heavy weapons and Tiger Armor. Soldiers exit double file through a watertight rear door/ramp and there's a top front crew hatch. It is armed with an AS-AC18 turret and coaxial Sorraia. [5 Ore 3 Oil]
UF Air Force:
TPD 'DOLPHIN' 38b: This is an aerial torpedo, weighing in a bit more than half a ton. It is powered by a wet heater motor, and stabilized by a gyroscope. The revised 'b' version includes a magnetic detonator to explode beneath ships, and can be dropped from considerable height and speed without failure. [2 Ore, 1 Oil]
UFS-BL-38-A 'Firecracker': This bunch of letters followed by a word denotes a 2.5kg finned bomblet, with a either a HEAT+Fragment warhead, or an incendiary warhead. These come in pods of 100 which fit on standard bomb mounts, and release their bomblets at an experimentally-determined altitude which causes them to cover a 50 meter square with roughly one bomb every 5 meters- enough to hit a group of armor, or more forgiving of error than a single 250kg bomb when trying to hit a single target.
UFAF-MTA-38 'Reckless Effect': [Expensive] The MT stands for Military Transport Aircraft, but nobody is sure what 'Reckless Effect' is supposed to mean other than sounding cool. This is a large cargo aircraft with four V12 engines, normally aspirated with an eye towards fuel efficiency. It has a broad wingspan with a high wing, ample cargo space, and adequate power to take off from a long runway with a four ton load, just don't expect much in the way of evasive maneuvers. Befitting its role as a dedicated cargo craft, the body terminates is a large cargo door/ramp at the rear. The frame is largely aluminium for weight. Even an L-1 Tiger truck or AS-MV-21-AL just barely fit within the size and weight limits! The door can also be opened in flight for paratroopers, or for an emergency cargo jettison. It's remarkably durable, and can keep flying even through two engine failures. [4 Ore (1 Al), 4 Oil]
UFAF-F39-W 'Haast': The Haast is a single-engine heavy fighter. It has a single supercharged, fuel-injected V12 petrol motor with a notably bigger displacement than those on the Falcon or Stinger. It's about at the limits of what V12 is capable of without more elaborate induction, different fuel or more cylinders. It is very heavily armed with two M3 Sorraia nose guns, and four wing-mounted AC-18's. The cabin is armored with a manganese-alloy "bathtub". It has deep ellipse wings to create the lift necessary for its considerable weight, plus that of bomb mounts- it can wrangle 1000kg of bombs on three mounts, potentially holding two Dolphin torpedoes. It doesn't outmaneuver existing fighters, and it's relatively slow. It has a large wingspan, but can fit on Wasp Nest carriers thanks to folding wings, and the large control surfaces are easier to control thanks to servo tabs. It also includes some other new features: foam-lined fuel tanks act to self seal in the event of leaks, and a new Oxygen Regulator which safely controls the pilot's oxygen supply. It can't take off of a Wasp Nest with bombs, the runway is just a little too short. [5 Ore (1Al, 1Mn), 4 Oil]
UFAF-F-40 "Thunderbird": This is a jet aircraft, powered by two of Forenia's first functional turbojet engines. It is a relatively small fighter, the pilot sits in a round glass cockpit with two AS-AC18 cannons and a Sorraia in the nose. The wings are as narrow as possible, low-mounted and swept back, and have small wing fences to prevent sweep-related instability. The tail is relatively high-mounted to put it outside the jet wash from the wings. It also features air brakes. The Thunderbird's revised aT-J04b engines are relatively small, axial-flow turbojets, and they are somewhat crude in nature. The interior of the turbojet becomes extremely hot, the moving parts are made of complicated nickel alloys, and they burn lean using excess air for cooling. The two engines burn kerosene, and lots of it, and they sit in nacelles under the wings- each generates almost as much power as a Haast engine. Overall the aircraft has a speed a significantly faster than the Stinger (though much less than what these new turbojets are theorized to be capable of), and its jet engines have a higher altitude ceiling. The air brakes are a good choice, because the jet engines must maintain a lot of thrust at their minimum speed to avoid a flame out, so landings and slower combat engagements benefit from them. Requires a long runway for takeoff. [5 Ore, 4 Oil]
UFAF-HAT-41 "Ice Giant" B: [Very Expensive] 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. [6 Ore (1 Al), 2 Wood, 7 Oil]
UFAF-F-41 Lightning Streak: This is a single-engine jet fighter, with a large aT-J20 jet taking up most of the fuselage. The aT-J20 is a low-bypass turbofan; some of the air taken in by the compressor blades passes around the engine core and is not combusted. A planned afterburner system wasn't prepared, but the bypass system provides useful cooling. The Lightning Streak has a relatively fat fuselage, which widens out in the middle after the intake and narrows again at the exhaust, there there is a rudder and two tail wings directly on the fuselage. With the round glass canopy (using 15mm of heavy laminated glass) the aircraft has sort of an egg shape, with thin swept wings. The wings have no bomb mounts and are as light as possible for speed and maneuverability, it is armed solely with three AC41 Velociraptor cannons in the nose above the intake, with somewhat limited ammo. It also includes airbrakes on the body near the tail, and hydraulic controls. Since it was designed as an absolutely dedicated fighter, and the aT-J20 is larger and with better weight-specific performance than the J04b, the speed and maneuverability are remarkable. [5 Ore, 4 Oil]
UF Navy:
UFS-DD-38 Pattern E 'Archer': The Archer is Forenia's first combat ship. It is relatively small, and made of steel but unarmored, with two 90mm Bumblebee guns, complete with targeting system, in covered turrets on either side of a center con tower. There are also two more Bumblebees not in covered turrets, as the ones in the turrets were supposed to be larger originally. It is powered by two steam turbines, and it is relatively fast. Auxiliary weapons include an AS-AC18 on each side, and some Sorraia machineguns on railing mounts. There are also four Dolphin torpedo in launchers on deck: These are basically wooden chutes which can be aimed on a swivel, before the torpedo is released by untying a knot. [3 Ore, 2 Oil]
UFS-CV 'Wasp Nest' 38, Pattern A: Forenia's first aircraft carrier, and their biggest ship by far compared to the CV22 cargo ship and Archer. Its hull contains four of the turbines used to power the Archer, and is unarmored except for a torpedo belt. ABout a dozen planes stored belowdecks are lifted by a single hydraulic lift. The command center is below-decks, so that the wooden flight deck almost completely covers the ship, giving it a low, flat appearance. There are two Bumblebee AA guns on each side, one deck below on exposed platforms, plus several AC18's for point defense. The last important feature is a set of arresting cables on deck allowing planes to land safely, these catch hooks on the planes themselves, and are lowered out of the way for takeoff. [4 Ore, 2 Oil]
UFS-CV-40 'Zheleznogorod' B: [Very Expensive] This is Forenia's biggest ship yet; an aircraft carrier with two vertically stacked flight decks. Each deck is longer than those of the Wasp Nest, and built of steel. The lower flight deck is directly connected with the hangar deck, and can only launch aircraft. The upper flight deck can launch and recover aircraft with an arrester, which are transported from the hangar deck with a lift. Each flight deck terminates in a "ski ramp". Between some space on the top flight deck, the hangar deck's floor, and cable winches from the hangar deck ceiling, the Zeleznogorod can carry about 36 planes, but only 20 are able to quickly deploy. However, planes stored on the ceiling are prone to swinging about and often damaged during ordinary ship maneuvers. There is a launch assist system, on the lower and longer flight deck only, for heavier aircraft: a "catapult" is loaded with disposable solid-propellant rocket motors. This system, broadly speaking, works: heavier aircraft are accelerated enough to take off, but a launch fills the hangar deck with smoke for a few minutes and the rocket motors are lot more expensive than a steam system. There is a con tower as well, but no radar. The space taken up by the two flight decks, hangar, and living quarters leaves fairly little space for the engines. The ship is armed with a few AS-AC18's for point defense only, and armored with a moderate torpedo belt. It is top-heavy, and neither fast nor maneuverable. [6 Ore, 5 Oil]
UFS-CV-50b 'Sea Lift': [Expensive] This is a ship based on the Zheleznogorod hull, but used instead to transport cargo. It includes its own crane and is lightly armed with a Bumblebee and some AC18's. It provides 3 TC, and serves for general purpose logistics such as moving tanks and soldiers to areas with docks. [6 Ore, 4 Oil]
UFN-CA-41 Catraphract: The Cataphract is a cruiser built to rival Cannala's ships. It is armed with 3x3 150mm gun turrets, each using a fully electrified loading system based on the moderately-performing Overcompensator, except that the 60kg shells are moved in one piece. Each gun can fire 8 times a minute. It has an armored citadel with 300mm of nickel-steel armor (Heavy), and a torpedo belt as well. The deck is also heavily armored, at 120mm (Light) to defend against plunging fire, plus an extra splinter deck. The turrets are similarly armored but take advantage of mangalloy for greater durability. There is a central director in the con tower which controls all the electrically-driven turrets, though there is no advanced firing calculator. Additionally there are three turrets with two bumblebees on each side of the ship, capable of firing on aircraft or ships, and miscellaneous autocannons wherever there is room. It is powered by oil-burning steam turbines, and there are a lot of them though with its considerable armor it only musters moderate speed. [5 Ore (1Mn), 4 Oil]
UFN-BB-41 Vodka: [Expensive] This is a direct copy of the Cannalan Victoria Battlecruiser, from stolen plans. The radar system is not included, and it uses gun turrets derived from the domestic Overcompensator design. Like the Victoria, it has three turrets with two 30cm guns each, a gun control system, heavy citadel armor, and under-performing diesel-electic engines. [7 Ore 4 Oil]
UF Design Doctrines:
Vehicle Radios: Most vehicles are equipped with a Model 3 Radio set, in a configuration suitable to the size and power source of the vehicle.
Retractable Landing Gear: Unless noted otherwise, aircraft are fitted with retractable landing gear.
Oxygen Regulators: Aircraft are equipped with oxygen systems which are self-regulating and allow the crew to operate at a significant altitude.
Fuel Tank Liners: Unarmored combat vehicles have foam fuel tank liners which can stop or slow leaks if the tank is punctured.
Warheads: Missiles, shells and bombs of various sizes can have various types of warhead attached, such as high-explosive, HEAT, incendiary, and so on. Developing a new warhead type means it will be available in other applications where it could easily apply, and new sizes of shells or bombs are available with various warheads.
Pintle Mounts: Following old Arstotzkan design doctrine, machine guns are placed on pintle mounts where possible, to give them a good verticle aiming range capable of hitting ground and air targets.
UF Resources:
Transport Capacity: 1 by land, 3 by sea (-1 for naval disadvantage), 1 by air
(note: consider re-instating trains to arms list if ground transport becomes a concern)
5 Ore, using 1 TC by air, and receiving 1 from the Axis
4 Oil, using 1 TC by sea, and 1 TC by air
1 Aluminum
1 Manganese
The Cannalan army currently has the following equipment:
CANNALAN WEAPONS:
4" MSLAAC "Daybreaker": The Mechanical Self-Loading Anti Armor Cannon is an application of a complicated mechanical system to quickly load rounds. Most of the system sits in the tank turret. Rounds are stored in a carousel in the body of the tank before being lifted up to the turret. An electric motor drives the system which rotates the carousel, lifts a new shells into the turret while ejecting the old casing out a flap on the top of the tank, then rams the new shell into the gun- even with 30° inclination or 10° declination, as the shell slides along a set of inter-meshing rails. Turrets containing the autoloader are smaller, longer and much flatter than normal ones, though the 4" cannon and autoloading equipment still isn't lightweight. The system fires 10 times per minute, which is slower than a very skilled crew but still impressive. Replacing the 18-round carousel takes almost a minute, and the carousel can be stopped if a special round needs to be used (such as switching from anti-tank to anti-infantry) which takes about twice as long as a normal load. [+1 Ore if retrofitted to vehicles with a smaller gun]
M1939 "La Sierra" GPMG: The La Sierra is gas-operated open bolt machine gun for the BRC1913 rifle cartridge. It fires from 50-round belts, which can be strung together. It has mounts for a bipod, standard tripod/pintle mounts, or an optical sight, but it's normally used with iron sights. It's relatively light at 21 pounds. [2 Ore 1 Oil]
Gast Autocannon Modernization Revision: This is an update to Cannala's Gast-style autocannons, the Can Shredder and its smaller derivative the Can Perforator. Weight has been saved by altering the alloys used in parts of the gun and replacing some heavy cast parts with smaller stamped ones. The barrels are closer together and the guns are more compact. The weight saving on vehicle mounted guns is minor (though beneficial to aircraft), but carriages have been lightened significantly with hollow aluminum frame construction. All autocannons can easily fit belts or drums, and mixes of ammo types are standardized into anti-infantry, anti-armor and anti-aircraft belts, as well as general purpose belts. Vehicle-mounted guns use electric triggers. There is also a gas bleed valve to tweak rate of fire; normally vehicle rate of fire isn't tampered with but infantry prefer a low rate of fire (and recoil) except when firing up at aircraft. Recoil felt by users has been reduced slightly.
CANNALAN NAVY:
Santos-Class Naval Aircraft Support Vessel: [Expensive] The Santos is a large aircraft carrier. It is about the size of the Khorne but not armored. It's powered by four oil-burning steam turbines, which are more powerful than coal ones. The hangar deck stores two dozen fighters, moved to the flight deck by a hydraulic lift. On deck is an Eagle Eye Radar system, con tower, a few Firecracker AA guns and a miscellaneous autocannons wherever there's spare room. It also has a decent sized flight deck, with an arrester cable for landing aircraft, and two overlapping runways with room for ready aircraft on deck. It also has a steam catapult, which allows it to launch some planes which could not normally take off from its short runway. [5 Ore, 4 Oil]
Victoria-Class Battlecruiser: [Very Expensive] The Victoria is built to carry her three gun turrets, each of which mounts two 12" cannons, a vast increase in size over the Nightstorm guns. Each gun (for now called a Victoria Cannon) fires shells weighing about 800 pounds out of a built-up barrel nearly 50 feet long, to a distance much greater than the Nighstorm (though moderate for guns of this class). Shells and powder charges are rammed in separately by a complicated hydraulic lift system, the guns can fire once about every 25 seconds. Each gun is controlled by a more advanced version of the fire director from the Khorne: Various information is fed by spotters on deck to the fire control room, where mechanical calculators aid a team to form a firing solution, which they feed back to the guns, and the system also helps to fire the guns when the ship is exactly level. This is necessary to effectively aim at the ranges the guns are capable of. There is a Heavy armored citadel, a torpedo belt with empty compartments, and large diesel-electric engines. They are the first diesel engines of this size in Cannala, and are less powerful than steam turbines but easier to fit within the safety of the citadel armor, the Victoria is a slow and lumbering beast. Extra armaments include six Firecracker-style AA turrets, on a separate director system, about a dozen Can Shredders, and a few Type 45 Torpedo launchers on deck where there was room. It has a radar system as well; the deck is crowded between the turrets, armaments and other features. [7 Ore, 4 Oil]
Keres-Class Cruiser: The Keres is essentially a Victoria variant designed to be cheaper. Is has only 2x3 batteries of 9" guns, and the armor around the citadel is less but it has gained an armored deck. It has the same engines, but it's a bit faster for the lost weight. [6 Ore, 4 Oil]
CANNALAN LAND VEHICLES:
M3T1A1 Raider: [Cheap] Daybreaker Variant: [Cheap] The Raider is a Diesel-Electric tracked APC designed to serve as a base platform for many roles. It has light RHA armor with a sloped front, plus slats. It holds ten passengers and three crew, making it look like a large metal box. It has an interchangeable turret, which is very wide and flat with medium armor. Default armament is a Can shredder, plus 6 external Thumper barrels for smoke grenades and an RPG, these can only be reloaded from the outside. It's also chemical warfare protected, and last but not least, amphibious, with a trim vane and two electric powered propellers. Exits are on large rear hatch and one small top hatch, only latter can be used while afloat. [3 Ore 2 Oil] Daybreaker Variant: [4 Ore 2 Oil]
M3T1A3 "Dragon" Flamethrower Raider: The Dragon is a raider turret which spews flame over a long distance, it occupies most of the passenger space with fuel. To work the raider must be stopped, and a lever thrown to connect the engine to the pump instead of the transmission. Fuel can be pumped out to medium range over a pilot light, burning everything in its path. Operators need to watch the pressure of their tanks very carefully, as they grow hotter while the Dragon flames. It is best to operate only in short bursts. +1 Oil over regular Raider cost.
M3T3A1 SPAAG "Firecracker": The Self-Propelled AA Gun is placed on a Raider chassis, although it was found far easier to operate with the entire roof of the Raider removed and some of the passenger space taken up by the weapon than fitting in the existing turret place. It relies on a specially modified Daybreaker system, the section which lifts rounds out of the carousel is curved to match the gun's movement range. It has a fuze system for air-burst rounds, where the gunner sets the altitude on a dial and the actual fuze time is determined based on that and the angle of the gun. [4 Ore 2 Oil]
M4A1 "Bull": [Expensive] The bull is a main battletank powered by a novel turboshaft engine. It carries a Daybreaker in a heavy-armored turret with heavy front armor, and medium armor over the rest of the tank. Secondary armaments include a coaxial MG and pintle MG, and 14 smoke grenade launchers (6 on the turret 8 on the body), arguably a result of interference from contractor Al's Fireworks and Parlor Tricks. The bull's kerosene-fueled turboshaft engine is the first example of a self-compressing gas turbine motor in Cannala, and relies on high-temperature alloys to allow the turbine blades to function downstream of the combustor, and it's watercooled to keep it from getting too hot. The turboshaft is small, mainly because only a small design was found to be reliable, but it it allows the tank a relatively low profile and generates as much power as a Blackhawk engine. It sucks in air through small scoops on top of the rear tank body, and exhausts through vents on the back, which cause a fairly large weak spot in the armor. It's also dangerous to stand behind, the exhaust can cause first degree burns in just a few seconds. It's uncomfortable hot inside the tank as well. [6 Ore (1 Ti), 4 Oil]
CANNALAN AIR FORCE:
M1938 A-3 'Parrot': The Parrot is a low-cost air superiority fighter, designed to counter the Yellowjacket. It looks very similar to the Falcon, but without the complicated prop system and reduced to a 10-cyclinder, normally aspirated power plant. It too is fully aluminum, and contains most of the little features like retractable gear, an oxygen system, and a reflex sight. It is actually quite heavily armed with two Muerte heavy machine guns and two Can Perforators, though the perforators don't have a lot of ammo. [3 Ore (2Al), 2 Oil]
M1940 A-5 'Spearhead' Air Superiority Fighter: Following Forenia's Thunderbird design, the Spearhead is an aluminum-built fighter with two turbojet engines. It features a rounded canopy, swept wings, pointy nose, and the engines are under each wing, but hug the body closely; the inlets are flush with the fuselage. It's also fairly heavily armed: Each wing has a double-barrel Can Perforator, and a heavy Can Shredder sits in the nose, so the whole thing is built a bit beefier than the Thunderbird. The two Morei turbojets burn kerosene and take some advantage of experiences of the Bull tank's turboshaft, it includes a water-cooling system (the shared radiator creates a third intake under the body). They use the same easier manufacturing process too, and the performance of the plane is only slightly worse for the added weight of the cooler. Despite carrying more weight, it's very nearly as fast as the Thunderbird, but it does have trouble recovering from stalls. On the other hand, when it's keeping good speed it can make impressive turns thanks to its hydraulic control system; the pilot can pull the relatively large control surfaces with ease. It has good killing power too: The smaller cannons are good for dogfighting and the Can Shredder can do serious damage to bombers from a safe distance. It has very little ammo, but also needs very little: pilots must simply be careful not to waste it all on a quick burst. [4 Ore (1 Ti, 1 Al), 4 Oil]
H-1 "Twinblade" Combat Synchrocopter: [Expensive] The Twinblade is a synchropter (I checked the spelling twice), which is a helicopter with two closely intermeshing rotors, each with two blades, separated on the roll axis. Each one is powered by a turboshaft, on either side of the fuselage. Adjusting the pitch and relative torque of these rotors allows the Twinblade to pitch and yaw, and additional control is provided by control surfaces on the tail, it has a rudder and elevator like an airplane. It is operated by two crewmembers who sit in the centerline, in the higher rear part is the pilot and the lower front part is the gunner, who controls a can-perforator on a turret below him. The turret gun is controlled by a hydraulic joystick and also move a gun sight to show where the gun is aiming, it has about a 120 degree lateral range and 60 degree declination/15 degree inclination. There are also two winglets which support 250lb bomb mounts. It has a relatively large body which provides room for up to four passengers. The Twinblade now has light armor over some critical components and the pilot/gunner to make it less vulnerable to rifle fire. A further re-adjustment of the maneuvering controls brings it to the somewhat underwhelming pinnacle of what is possible without a redesign: To really maneuver, it needs get some forward speed and rely on its control surfaces. Otherwise, its abilities to stop, strafe, and roll are tolerable, but it's still slow to yaw which is troublesome when tracking ground targets while hovering. [5 Ore (1 Ti, 1 Al), 4 Oil]
CANNALAN COMMUNICATIONS AND OTHER:
General Cortez: General Cortez is a storied pirate sailor, and under him the Cannalan Navy has an inherent advantage in battle.
M1938 HEAT: These shells contain a shaped charge, like with the antitank RPG warheads. At 100mm, they are effective against heavy armor. These are still fairly basic, like Forenian rounds.
M1938 APDS: A long and narrow kinetic penetrator fired from cannons in a sabot. Unlike HEAT, they're good against spaced armor but poor against sloped armor. Currently accuracy is poorer than conventional rounds. Made from hardened steel, they're cheaper than existing full sized hardened steel rounds.
Drunken Pirate Encryption: The Cannalans have adopted a slightly modified One-Time-Pad encryption system. Paper sheets with a unique encryption key are distributed by courier before important orders are read aloud but in code over radio. There are a couple other simple steps to obscure the message, and decoy couriers are also sent with fake pads, but it still has the inherent drawbacks of OTP. There is a delay in sending pads and confirming they have arrived safely, and then since the pads are only used once, encryption is reserved for important and long-term orders.
Eagle Eye RADAR: [Expensive] The Eagle Eye is a relatively advanced radar system which can identify an aircraft at significant range, showing the range, direction, and approximate altitude. This is accomplished with an array of antennae in a metal frame, which rotates on a turntable. It has a CRT display with a rotating refresh line which the operator can read. It can be mounted on ships, where it takes up about a turret's worth of space including the magazine below deck, or in a temporary installation of four trucks, which takes a few hours to set up. There is also a separate version which looks identical, but can only identify sea-surface contacts. [Complex]
'Immortal' Armor: This alternative armor set replaces the chest and back piece two back plates, and four chest plates of thin molybdenum steel alloy. The splitting of chest and back coverage into multiple plates gives soldiers the ability to crouch, crawl and maneuver in relative comfort. The plates are in a "carrier vest", allowing them to be easily removed and replaced. However the important feature is that soldiers in immobile positions, such as aircraft crews, some tank crew members, and machine gunners can double-layer the chest and back armor. [3 Ore]
1941 Infrared Sighting System "Aswang": [Expensive] This is a night vision device, consisting of an infrared spotlight, a scope which allows the user to view infrared light, and a rechargeable battery. The spotlight is simply filtered, so that only invisible infrared light passes through. The scope contains a small cathode ray tube, operated by power transformed from the battery to several kilovolts. The battery is in a backpack and makes up the bulk of the system's weight, at 32 pounds it is man-portable but uncomfortably heavy. The large spotlight and scope are normally attached to the weapon, whether the weapon is a sniper rifle or machine gun, and these add seven pounds to weapon making it unwieldy without a bipod. The scope looks bulky and the seven-inch spotlight looks enormous on top of it, and there are some wires running along the outside and a cable to the backpack, as well as some adjustment dials and an on/off switch visible along the side of the scope. The Aswang's spotlight illuminates targets up to a little over 100 yards, without revealing the user's position. [Complex]
CANNALAN DESIGN DOCTRINES:
Vehicle Radios: Most vehicles come standard with a Bureaucrat's Wife radio system, with broadcast range appropriate to the size of the vehicle and its power source.
Slat Armor: Ground armored vehicles are retrofitted with slat armor over their normal armor, to help defeat HEAT warheads.
Retractable Landing Gear: Unless otherwise specified, aircraft have retractable wheeled landing gear.
Oxygen Systems: Aircraft come with an oxygen system for the crew.
Filters: Enclosed armored vehicles come with the necessary equipment to seal themselves and filter the crew's air in case of a gas attack.
Warheads: Missiles, shells and bombs of various sizes can have various types of warhead attached, such as high-explosive, HEAT, incendiary, and so on. Developing a new warhead type means it will be available in other applications where it could easily apply, and new sizes of shells or bombs are available with various warheads.
Compartmentalization: Large ships are separated into many compartments which can be sealed individually if one begins flooding, to prevent the flooding from spreading to the rest of the ship.
CANNALAN RESOURCES:
Transport Capacity: 1 by land, 3 by sea, 1 by air.
2 Wood
4 Ore, using 1 TC by sea
4 Oil, using 1 TC by sea, and receiving 1 from the Allies
2 Aluminum, Using 1 TC by sea
1 Titanium, using 1 TC by air
1 Magnesium
Poll
17 (16%)
Author
Topic: Intercontinental Arms Race: Finale (Read 603213 times)