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Glorious Arstotzka

17 (16%)

Glorious Moskurg

13 (12.3%)

Ingloriously Didn't Play

76 (71.7%)

Total Members Voted: 106

[NAV]

If enriched/depleted uranium is so hard to make, then lets make regular uranium bullets. It will still have the same ballistic properties.

[ConscriptFive]

As much as I hate geeky shit, this is actually a good idea...

UF-EWS-45 "Tiger Shadow" Naval Electronic Warfare Suite
Wheter we like it or not, the proliferation of RADAR and guided munitions have ushered a new era in warfare.  Our naval forces must now engage in electronic warfare.  Our various sensors and countermeasures will be integrated into a naval system, the "Tiger Shadow" Electronic Warfare Suite.  Able to detect a RADAR or IR lock, a warning buzzer will cue the human operator to launch the appropriate integrated countermeasures: chaff or flares.  This should give our naval warfare combatants, cruiser or heavier, a means to thwart a crippling ASM strike.  Furthermore, by recognizing the standard signatures of the various RADAR and radio emitters on the battlefield, so called "Electronic Intelligence" (ELINT) can be compiled to passively locate enemy targets.  Also of note, this further development of IR sensors has de-complexed the IR sensors of the Piracy Warning and the Garlic.

So it's a "Slick 32" V2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AN/SLQ-32_Electronic_Warfare_Suite

Like Kot proved with the Garlic last turn, as high tech as it sounds, we already have all the tech needed to do this.  Our IR sensors are still the ripped off Canner ones, but luckily their ASMs are RADAR guided.  The Burning Tiger already gave us effective flares and chaff, and a ship gives enough space to make it bigger.  A RADAR is finally de-complexed enough that a dedicated countermeasures RADAR is sensible.  We sure as hell can triangulate AM radio transmissions if we wanted to.  The ELINT aspect actually makes it an offensive system as well, as we could have our fleet run full radio and RADAR silence and still locate theirs via passive ELINT.  It probably could fit in a destroyer, but in the event of bad dice I'd rather have a good system on a non-shit platform (sorry Archer) and decomplexed IR sensors.

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

UFAF-JB-44 "Hammer of Forenia"

The United Forenian Jet Bomber 1944 "Hammer of Forenia" (or just "the Hammer", as it's called in casual conversation) is a larger-scale and more up-to-date bomber than what has been available to us thusfar in the war.  Initial goals of converting the Reckless Effect of Ice Giant into bombers has proven unfeasible; the two aircraft are either too slow, too fragile, or simply unable to carry a "respectable" payload.

The Hammer is fitted with four aT-J40 turbofan engines attached to deep, swept wings.  Similar to the aT-J30's in the VVF, the aT-40 is simply a non-hydrozine burning engine that can maintain the same thrust output.  The cabin is sealed and pressurized for high altitude, and a radar dish sits in the nosecone (a more high-powered variant than what the VVF is equipped with).  The tailplane is likewise similar to the VVF in moving the entire horizontal stabilizer at once.

The payload has been described as "a lot" and the construction relies on aluminum rather than wood for reinforcement.  The bombload has been updated to match the new bomber; the automated internal bomb bay can carry conventional bomb munitions as well as canisters of napalm or even a couple Saltseeker or Piracy Warning missiles.

Crew consists of three: pilot, co pilot/bombardier, and radar/radio operator.  The cockpit comes with Forenia's patented Air Conditioning system and counter-measure suite.

I'm with kot.  Eat a turn of Uranium, buy some breathing room.

Don't forget the UF-RJ-42 'Fair Fight Module' and the UF-APS-44 "Burning Tiger".  They may be added in anyway, but having direct integration from the start should improve performance.  Also, don't forget to mention a payload size.

[helmacon]

I'm wary about making a bommer this turn. We just designed a SAM, and given their missle experience they can probably put out a pretty good one this turn. A bomber is playing right into that.

[Cnidaros]

If enriched/depleted uranium is so hard to make, then lets make regular uranium bullets. It will still have the same ballistic properties.

I'm pretty sure that counts as a war crime, although it hasn't been classed as one yet. Plus, I don't want to turn our soldiers into Vlanladosians.

Anyway, I think that now is a good time to go for a sub, to push back their naval advantage and hopefully land on the plains island. But I agree that a missile sub may be too ambitious for our first design. Thus, I have this plan:

Plan Das Boot
-This Turn Design: attack sub. We have passive sonar from the Whalesong and diesel-electric engines from the Vodka/Victoria.
-This Turn Revision: proper naval torpedoes (from the Dolphin), or something to help in the Tereshkova Jungle. Possibly napalm?
-Next Turn Design: missile sub. A sub able to launch the Saltseeker ASM. Bigger than the attack sub.
-Next Turn Revision: improve Saltseeker ASM for speed/range, or fix the sub if necessary.

I'm pretty sure that a working attack submarine would at least swing Naval Advantage back to neutral next turn, as the Cannalans don't have anything to counter it (can't hit it with ASMs after all). Then when they do a sonar/depth charge/guided torpedo/other antisubmarine weapon for next turn's design, we roll out the missile subs and completely bypass whatever they've come up with to counter torpedo-launching submarines.

PS. Sell the Uranium to the Soviets for ore. They've got spies in the Manhattan project, they definitely know how important uranium is about to become.

Also it just occurred to me that if we nuke the Cannalans/they nuke us, we could end up starting WWIII less than a year after WWII ends. What fun!

[evictedSaint]

-snip-

Don't forget the UF-RJ-42 'Fair Fight Module' and the UF-APS-44 "Burning Tiger".  They may be added in anyway, but having direct integration from the start should improve performance.  Also, don't forget to mention a payload size.

The last line is "countermeasure suite", which was a blanket statement meant to cover all those things.

I'm wary about making a bommer this turn. We just designed a SAM, and given their missle experience they can probably put out a pretty good one this turn. A bomber is playing right into that.

Fair point.  We are the only ones with any kind of countermeasure experience, though, so they're not totally vulnerable.  Plus, sensei has mentioned frequently that our bombers are very outdated and our bombing campaign is not helpful at the current capacity.  It lets us airdrop saltseekers like the Vengefuls do, and has a bigger radar to act as a pseudo-AWACs.

[ConscriptFive]

As much as I've been a lifelong sub nut, the conditions aren't particularly good for a sub yet.

1. What's the purpose of an attack sub?
Stealth munitions ambush on juicy targets: redundant with saltseeker for capital ships, fuzzy GM calculus for logistical targets.
Stealth insertion/extraction of special operations forces (SOF): we don't have SEALs (yet), fuzzy GM calculus for SOF raids.
Stealth recon and SIGINT/ELINT collection:  SIGINT and ELINT still aren't a thing (yet), fuzzy GM calculus for recon in general.

2. How do you find an attack sub?
Lots of small boat for patrolling and escorts: guess who has lots of small buccaneer boats with nothing better to do now.
Helicopters lowering hydrophones into the water: they have helicopters that could be revised for this.
Active Sonar: probably would need a full design at least.

3. How do you sink an attack sub?
Depth charges: a timebomb that sinks would be a trivial revision, plenty of small boats or helicopters to drop them from.
CAS ambush while on surface: diesel electrics need surface time and at least they really don't have a CAS or Naval bomber

So yeah, as much as I'd want a sub, we need to at least corral their small boats with a GOOD destroyer or our own small boats.  Otherwise our subs just won't have the open seas they need to operate.

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

PS. Sell the Uranium to the Soviets for ore. They've got spies in the Manhattan project, they definitely know how important uranium is about to become.

Also it just occurred to me that if we nuke the Cannalans/they nuke us, we could end up starting WWIII less than a year after WWII ends. What fun!

Hey...if we could do this, why not sell both Uranium for an Ore and Oil boost?  You know, achieve the objective of diversifying the fronts through the massive boost that would provide?

[Madman198237]

I like eS's idea, though I'd actually lean more towards modifying a Reckless to have a *substantially* more powerful radar (The tech from which can also be used on ships, though it needs a focus on "not being complex at all") and the ability to carry a Saltseeker or two, and/or our SAMs (for extremely long ranged antiaircraft work).

EDIT: For a revision we could slap a solid-rocket booster stage on the Saltseeker and refine the guidance systems a bit. That'd beat the Cannalan range and also make the guidance precise enough to beat them out. Or we could just attempt to fix the strange fact that our missile somehow doesn't fly as far as the Cannalan one despite using what is probably a more efficient engine at those speeds.

[Parsely]

So the Aswang is easily improved as a night fighting device. It doesn't help at all with actually making individual navigation easier at night, it only improves their ability as a unit to scout and engage in low light conditions because you can't equip everyone with the scopes, backpacks, and spotlights. So how about something that can not only be equipped by every man in an infantry unit, but also by tank crews, pilots, and sailors?

UF-NOD-45 "Pinhole" Powerless Imaging, Night
A wearable night fighting scope that uses ambient light to amplify vision and allow the user to see at night without needing batteries. It's primary function is to be worn directly on the non-dominant eye to allow infantry, air crews, sailors, and armored vehicle crews alike to use maps, operate equipment, and navigate terrain on foot without interfering with their ability to use their dominant eye to see down other sighting devices (like rifle iron sights). Can also be used as a monocular or attached in front of existing scope models to provide night fighting capabilities to marskmen.

[Madman198237]

Let the hatred from most/adoration from Kot commence.

UFAF-SNB-45 Grand Kotzar's One True Love 'Tubby Duckling'
Based on the Reckless Effect, the Tubby Duckling is a seaplane, which rests in the water on its body (now watertight, of course). The wings are remounted higher so two folding floats (they fold up to lay mostly flush against the bottom of the wing) can add stability when the plane is in the water. The nose has been reworked a bit to contain a radar system like the VVF's. The hull has been reworked to hold one Saltseeker ASM without the rocket booster or three to four Noose SAMs also without booster stages, or any amount of regular old high explosive bombs that will fit in there. All of them are deployed (one at a time) by being tossed out of the rear of the plane by a modified version of the "eject all cargo" option of the original Reckless. Simple timers on the missile engines and guidance prevent things like "accidental self-shoot-downs with missiles". The engines are swapped out for Haast V12s (if they're more powerful and not more expensive) or Ice Giant turbos (same deal, maybe use 2 instead of 4 if it increases power enough to meet the goals?). It has, of course, the standard flares and Fair Fight package, plus a neat invention that we call "paint that reflects some UV light". It's paint. That reflects a bit of UV light. Goodbye, Canner missile-guidance schemes.

Some things pending Sensei's responses in Discord, namely missile payloads and engine swapping.

So, we have a naval air arm, but it's not capable of lifting missiles to engage hostile vessels. Their Charlotte is slow despite using powerful engines, which implies that it burns a lot of fuel to carry itself. And the Charlotte is not capable of being launched from carriers, meaning that it probably can't cover the entire ocean theater. Enter the radar-carrying seaplane. Despite my dislike of seaplanes, they are useful when you need to cover large amounts of the sea without airfields available. There IS one other option, though.

All hail Sensei's Eternal Bias,

UFAF-NAS-45 'Helium Effect'
A naval airship, the Helium Effect uses a helium-filled nonrigid envelope to provide lift. Underneath the envelope at the bow is a pair of V12 engines, behind that is a gondola carrying a Deadliest Ray (full-size) radar set and the airship's small crew. Behind that is a rack that carries two Saltseeker ASMs minus rocket boosters, and behind those are the aft two V12 engines. The airship relies on friendly aircraft for protection, and mostly serves as a radar-carrier and missile boat behind friendly air screens. It is actually slightly heavier than air, relying on the engines (which can be vectored up and down, and left and right to control the aircraft) to make up the missing lift.

UFAF-SNB-45 'Tubby Duckling': (1) Madman

[RAM]

Could we benefit from an anti-missile missile? A short-range, High-speed, mostly-kinetic I.R. missile launched from behind ought to have a decent hit rate? If we can massively extend our missile interception rates...

I'd love to see some work done on automated turrets...

1 UFAF-SNB-45 'Tubby Duckling': Madman
1 Microprocessors: RAM

[Olith McHuman]

It seems like chaff cannons or decoy ships (with corner reflectors to make their radar signatures bigger) would all be much easier that hitting a missile with another missile. Easy enough for a revision even. Or maybe a radar jammer. It would never fool a human operator, but would likely break a missile lock.

[andrea]

So, we need something to act as a missile platform, that can avoid their ASM, that is hard to detect.

You are thinking sub, and that is fair. Bomber, somewhat fair too.
But you are missing another technology, with bigger payloads than bombers, harder to shoot down and more amenable to our tech base than sub: The ground effect airplane.

UF-GEV-45 "Ekaterina"
What if we made a plane which doesn't fly? as heretical as that sounds, it can actually be a good idea.
It is a well known fact that when flying very close to the ground, lift is vastly increased due to the ground effect. Most planes only fly through there briefly, but one specifically designed to fly in that altitude range with wings made to fully exploit that effect can achieve significantly greater performances... at the cost of never being able to actually fly. Using it on unever ground would be extremely risky, which is why we instead use it as a ship.

Ekaterina is a large plane with short stubby wings, made to fully exploit the ground effect to generate lift, with a high aft-placed horizontal tail to maintain stability. On top of the wings (near the hull) and on the tail there are 4 powerful turbofan engines powering it.
The top of the plane is flat, allowing it to house its weapon systems. Thanks to the ground effect , it is designed with a goal of 4 missile clamps for saltseeker missiles, plus a dorsal (unarmoured) turret housing a sewing machine and a pair of SAM missiles. Clearly it carries countermeasures and radar as appropriate for a plane, but mounted to be released on top rather than on the bottom. It also has a radar appropriate for its size. Its top is painted with UV reflecting paint.

Being unable to take off and limited to water use, it can in many ways be considered a ship. it uses a boat hull which allows it to take off and land from water, and it can be resupplied by carriers, meaning that even if we need to sacrifice a bit of range for the sake of payload it will still be able to follow and support the fleet.

The goal is a relatively small (compared to the large ships currently launching the saltseeker), fast ( very fast compared to any ship), low flying, high payload (compared to a plane) vehicle, able to sneak past enemy radars to deliver its deadly payload, then quickly come back. With its speed and size, it should be able to avoid the enemy ASM, while the turret provides protection against AAM, with the added bonus of the ocean below turning near misses into harmless duds.

UFAF-SNB-45 'Tubby Duckling' (1) : Madman
Microprocessors (1) : RAM
Ekaterina (1) : Andrea

[Kot]

UFAF-SNB-45 'Tubby Duckling' (1) : Madman
Microprocessors (1) : RAM
Ekaterina (2) : Andrea, Kot

I AM IN LOVE