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[Chiefwaffles]

At the moment you're building your ships in space without a shipyard. Someone chooses a place in orbit then shuttles bring up materials while workers in X112s work on constructing the ship.
It's a lengthy process but it can be used for just about any reasonable ship. Just don't expect high expense levels on big ships without a shipyard.

And your printers are actually more precise than the standard printer. It's just that they aren't precise enough to do what they were intended to do - print parts for bigger printers.

[Madman198237]

Then we're going to have to revise them soon (PLASTIC WARSHIPS LOL)...but we'd better be careful. Otherwise we're going to end up with a line of printers self-replicating, and then we're going to have to deal with the AI as well as the enemy.

[Draignean]

Uhhhhhhh.....our printers, from what I've heard and seen, don't have enough precision for that.
And oh by the way, plastic can't be used as a circuit. Unless you're using a REALLY freaky plastic. I'd be worried about fumes. And contamination.

Please read the thread.

Revision: Electronics Printing
6+1

Our Akhsoyrtam Printers may have seemed like a near-failure at the time, but even if we didn't accomplish our goals then, we now realize how much of a boon it has been to us. Thanks to the genius of our engineers both now and in the past, we have made serious upgrades to all the printers in the colony.

Electronics of all kinds of complexity and function can now be effortlessly printed in most materials by any printer through very easy-to-use functionalities. This isn't just "integrated circuits", but rather the ability to make computers without a mainframe; we can make our ships the computer, with redundant yet advanced circuitry built into the very hull. This circuitry isn't like anything else, too. It's a part of the material. People could walk through a ship built with printed electronics and never realize what any of the material actually does. Better yet, this new process doesn't harm the structural integrity of materials at all.
Of course, we can't 3D print everything, and printed circuitry is exclusive to 3D-printed materials, as it's built into the materials, not on top of them.

We've also included a basic tool that can identify damage in printed circuits and upload the information to a printer, allowing for easy repairing of damage. When holes are inevitably blown into printed materials containing circuitry, anyone can scan the damage and have a new piece made at a nearby printer. That being said, it would still require a skilled engineer to properly place in the new circuitry, but damage identification is easy.

Electronics printing is at the moment, not immediately useful to us. But it's an unexpected breakthrough that will greatly help in all our future endeavors.


It is now the Strategy Phase of 2208.

Then we're going to have to revise them soon (PLASTIC WARSHIPS LOL)...but we'd better be careful. Otherwise we're going to end up with a line of printers self-replicating, and then we're going to have to deal with the AI as well as the enemy.

A thing making larger things does not make it an AI. That's bonkers. Also, our printers print metal, as well as other materials.

[Madman198237]

Seriously, accept the joke. It's referring to the common issue of self-replicating things in sci-fi and such. If the printer is capable of printing other printers, we'd best be careful not to include any form of AI or similar high-level computing stuff, or we'll be killed by rampant copies of self-aware printers.

[Draignean]

Seriously, accept the joke. It's referring to the common issue of self-replicating things in sci-fi and such. If the printer is capable of printing other printers, we'd best be careful not to include any form of AI or similar high-level computing stuff, or we'll be killed by rampant copies of self-aware printers.

My apologies, I only find jokes acceptable when they're funny. It's a failing of mine.

For the revision, I propose

A-Team Bullets. (Adjustable-Timer Explosive Ammunition Matrix)

These use our ability to literally 3D-print a small timer circuit straight into each bullet. This timing circuit controls both detonation and propulsion of the bolter round. The timer restricts the strength of the explosion if the gun is fired at close range, thus ensuring people stop blowing their own hands of. The propulsion control allows the round to be used at long range, by extending the burn so that the projectile maintains controlled flight through it's entire trajectory.

Love the name, few comments.

Since we're firing a saboted projectile, we can include fins. Gyrojet projectiles didn't lose long range stability because their rocket fuel ran out, they typically lost stability due to minor thrust irregularities accumulating over time (iirc). So, in addition to having a straight timer or revolution counter that prevents early detonation, there's also a set of steeply angled (to allow spinning flight) fins with printed microelectronics that read pressure on the fins. If all fins read mostly equal pressure, great, that means the rocket is flying straight. If the fins get uneven pressure readings, then that means the projectile is starting to veer, and the fins can trigger a shift in the thrust stream to correct it.

If we're feeling cocky, we can then integrate a signalling system into each weapon, so that each rifle can send control signals to its bolts and direct their flight. The default setting, however, should always be straight and level flight.

[Nirur Torir]

I worry that making the A-Team Bullets too fancy will shift them into being a scarce new item.

[Draignean]

I worry that making the A-Team Bullets too fancy will shift them into being a scarce new item.

It's a revision, I don't (think) we can regress them in terms of the number that can be fielded. Besides, we're really just using our upgraded new electronics printers to redo existing castings.

He who dares, wins.

[Chiefwaffles]

Design: Iliad-Class Destroyer
4, 5-2, 3

After having "built" the currently destroyed IMW, we have come to the conclusion that we now have the experience to design a proper Destroyer.

The Iliad-Class Destroyer, according to some of our engineer, "abuses" redundancy. Printed electronics make up large parts of the ship's hull and provide many layers of redundancy. Vital systems such as life support and the reactor are stored in the very center of the hull (spaced apart, of course) to let armor and crew other sections shield them from damage.
All this plus enhanced armor builds on all this to make the most durable ship ever. One low-yield missile is almost guaranteed to only provide minor damage to the ship. Redundant systems are found, the breached hull is sealed off by airlocks, and the ship continues operation. Another low-yield missile in that seem spot can cripple the ship or destroy it, with another most certainly resulting in the ship's destruction.

We had wanted to include new Jormungandr Double-Bolter Turrets in the design, but this ended up proving to be too costly in terms of weight, complexity, and more. Central Command really likes that idea, though, and has asked for more general-purpose bolter-based turrets to be developed at some point in the near future.
Yet the ship contains Mk2 missile pods situated at the front. The IMW used large volleys with little ammo, but this uses quicker small volleys with large amounts of ammo. The Iliad can fire four missiles per volley, and automated reloading means it can fire a volley every 30 seconds (or can fire each pod independently). A secured magazine provides a supply of 48 missiles - enough for 12 volleys in total. The missiles themselves are the same we used in the IMW, and most of the improvement here was based on the missile launching capabilities. In addition, the missile pods are built to allow limited rotation, providing a firing angle of roughly 30 degrees in front of the ship, instead of the IMW's 0 degrees.
The Iliad-Class is able to use its missiles in a much more precise fashion than the IMW, making it significantly more effective in combat.

The Iliad also contains a long-range radio suite and a basic short-range radar system. The radar is sadly only capable of picking up enemies that could be seen via human eyesight, but its ability to scan the entire field at once and rapidly makes it well worth it. A long-range radio suite also is able to send and receive messages from Moerth. However, the nature of the system combined with the distance-based delay still means orders are somewhat sparse. Central Command is thrilled with finally having a long-range radio. Communication can also be relayed to the orbited planet, letting Central Command contact our forces on planets orbited by the Iliad-Class without sending couriers. Of course, this entire process is even more slow and kludge-y than contact between the Iliad and Moerth, so orders to troops are even sparser and more general.

The ship was designed to be our fastest ship yet, and required a greater amount of thrusters (and thus fuel storage) to do so. While we believed we managed to get it to be as fast as possible with our current propulsion techniques, it would appear that issues with fuel distribution and storage bottleneck the thrusters, making the Iliad notably slow - roughly a bit below the (slow) speed of an ITC. It's still practical without fixing, but until then the ship will have no kind of speed advantage when deployed.

We almost managed to streamline the production enough to the point of production in-orbit, but it ultimately proved to be too expensive and lengthy to do that. Consequently, we can still only field 1x Iliad-Class Destroyer at a time. But the production process is streamlined enough that with just a bit of dedicated effort, perhaps we could increase the amount fielded.

Iliad-Class Destroyer: A vessel a bit larger than the ITC equipped with 4 missile pods (1 missile each) and 48 missiles. The missile pods have a firing angle of 30 degrees in front of the ship. Reinforced hull along with redundant printed electronics radically increase the ship's survivability, guaranteeing the ability to "tank" at least one low-yield missile in a spot, with another partially crippling (or destroying it) if in the same spot, and if a 3rd missile impacts the same site, the ship will be destroyed. Inefficient and buggy chemical thrusters make the Iliad-Class slower than the already-slow ITC. A long-range radio allows for sending and receiving of basic messages to and from Moerth as well as relaying messages to and from ground forces on the orbited planet. A radar suite has only the practical range of human eyesight, but is always-on, reliable, and constantly scanning the entire proximity around the ship.
Expense: 1x
Resources: Metal, Exotics


It is now the Revision Phase of 2209.

[Nirur Torir]

We almost managed to streamline the production enough to the point of production in-orbit, but it ultimately proved to be too expensive and lengthy to do that. Consequently, we can still only field 1x Iliad-Class Destroyer at a time. But the production process is streamlined enough that with just a bit of dedicated effort, perhaps we could increase the amount fielded.

I'm guessing this means that we could fix that if we used our revise action to build surface-to-orbit cargo mass drivers.

That might just be more worthwhile than the bullet upgrade.

[Madman198237]

Could we do that in a revision? I'd say not, and it wouldn't be worth it. We don't have mass drivers yet. Speaking of which, I want a mass-driver sometime soon (UNSC, NOOBS!)

You can't send ship components to orbit like that. Armor plating tends to be non-perfectly-shaped (Not a sphere, cube, cylinder, or other fully-symmetric shape), and everything else is too delicate for mass-driver accelerations. When we have a functioning orbital production center, that will become worthwhile, as you shoot up spheres of raw material encased in an ablative shield of something cheap like mud and then process them on the station into usable components.

For the revision...I'd say revising the engines and Jormungandr Bolters onto the Iliad would be a nice idea. Next turn, I'd say make the shipyard. After that, magnetic accelerator technology, in two forms. One firing an unguided slug of metal at close to the speed of light, the other doing the same thing to shoot materials up to the station....in a safe manner. As in, safe to the point of testing with giant balls of plastic and/or hardened river mud, to ensure minimal damage to the space station that should be in orbit. Actually, design the material-launcher first, then, in that turn, revise it into a weapon.

[Nirur Torir]

You can't send ship components to orbit like that. Armor plating tends to be non-perfectly-shaped (Not a sphere, cube, cylinder, or other fully-symmetric shape), and everything else is too delicate for mass-driver accelerations

Er. We kinda have that tech now ...

Could we do that in a revision?

Given that we invented electronics printing in a revision, yes, we can. Please read the quest.

After that, magnetic accelerator technology, in two forms. One firing an unguided slug of metal at close to the speed of light

Just how many weapon tech trees do you want to pursue? Doing a bit of every weapons tech is really inefficient.

[Madman198237]

You have no idea what I'm talking about. Here's the thing: If you want to use a mass driver to send materials TO SPACE, it must be materials that can survive hundreds to thousands of G's of acceleration. Maybe I'm not entirely up to date on the specs of the tech in this game, but I don't think that our electronics and radios and missiles and everything else that must be supplied to a spaceship can survive the launch procedure. Also, it must be homogeneous in shape and density or the projectile goes off course and is never recovered...or worse, takes out the station itself. The all but necessitates the launch of raw materials using the rail system, and nothing but raw materials. Like a solid metal sphere, or a shielded lump of uniform plastic. Delicate components not assembled on our planet must be made in space. Delicates made on the planet, like our radios and radar, most likely, would have to be shipped up there by shuttle. As I understand it and read the equipment lists, we don't have anything but the shuttles for ground-to-space transport.

As for weapons, rail weapons are capable of longer-ranged engagement than missiles, as rail-launched projectiles travel much further and faster than missiles. Even when that doesn't matter, such as when the opponents are fast to maneuver, you can use smaller railguns in turret mounts for really high accuracy at close range.
Rail weapons can carry out orbital bombardment in a cheap way: A tungsten rod, of similar size to the ones portrayed in Call of Duty: Ghosts, gives about 10 kilotons of yield after falling from space. We can do better: We can give it additional velocity before even entering the gravity well of the planet. Granted, that is only on a planet like Earth with Earth-like gravity, but less atmosphere=higher speed=bigger explosion, even if the gravity is lower.

[Nirur Torir]

it must be homogeneous in shape and density or the projectile goes off course and is never recovered...or worse, takes out the station itself.

But we don't have a station :v
Tracking beacons and recovery shuttles solve packages going off course. Maybe stick engines on the packages for a bit more lift and course corrections.

it must be materials that can survive hundreds to thousands of G's of acceleration.

Are we using the same definition of mass drivers? I'm under the impression that a span of high-speed rail at an angle and with a launch mechanism at the end counts as a mass driver.

As for weapons, rail weapons are capable of longer-ranged engagement than missiles, as rail-launched projectiles travel much further and faster than missiles. Even when that doesn't mat

In space, missiles can easily have longer effective range than lasers. You can't really aim bullets at something ten seconds away that's making rapid course corrections.

Rail weapons can carry out orbital bombardment in a cheap way

So can an asteroid with engines, though that'd probably be considered poor form.

[Madman198237]

High-speed rail referring to what, a train track?


A "mass driver" or "magnetic accelerator" or "railgun" all refer, in general use, to the same thing. A set of parallel, electromagnetic rails, with a projectile between them. The ONLY purpose of this setup is to generate incredibly high accelerations in short periods of time in order to maximize velocity. Delicate things do NOT take kindly to high accelerations.

Tracking beacons and recovery shuttles are necessary regardless, but it needs to be accurate or you have to shoot it so far away from your station (For safety) that it would've made more sense to just shuttle it up in the first place.

And this technology would come AFTER the station, not before it. Hence the proposition that, in the intended use, we need to be careful of our station.

Lasers are near-instant-delivery, and so do not miss at combat range in space. Unless you're a bad shot. But seriously, you're playing a point-and-shoot game at that, well, point, so please don't screw it up.
Missiles are a fine weapon in space, but lasers and railguns are better (Depending on certain factors and your enemy's tactics) because lasers and railguns don't need to have delicate electronics that can freeze, they don't rely on being able to detect your enemy, and they don't run out of propellant at bad times.
Railguns, well, good railguns anyway, reach EXTREMELY high velocities. Significant fractions of the speed of light. This allows projectiles to cross distances near-instantaneously, improving accuracy against any target. Obviously, if they go for really-high-speed-spaceship antics, we just use the close-range railguns that, like lasers, don't need to lead their targets. Asteroids cause TOO MUCH destruction. An orbital strike with the CoD: Ghosts tungsten rod setup, though, is more like deploying tactical nuclear weapons. Without the radiation.

[Draignean]

Revision!

Advanced Jormungandr Rifle
While the mechanical features of the rifle remain untouched from the original design, the invention and advanced material integrated electronics has enabled our engineers to add a rather important feature once deemed beyond the scope of the original development project: Smart Ammunition.

The printed body of the Jormungandr has been revisited to house an integrated control unit, capable of selecting the tracking configuration of the projectile. Current models contain three tracking modes, but further design revisions can greatly advance this suite. Tracking mode 1 is a Linear Fire mode, and simply programs the missile to continue in a straight line and correct any turning. Tracking mode 2 is Indirect fire mode, which allows the soldier to set a range at which the missile will veer into a steep dive. Requires a bit of training to get right reliable, but allows firing on targets in cover, and firing without exposing a target. Tracking mode 3 slaves missile tracking to a laser sight embedded in the unit leader's weapon, allowing a fireteam to focus fire with pinpoint accuracy to destroy hard targets.

This tracking information is put into action through modifications to the Jormungandr ammunition, now dubbed A-TEAM (Credit to Engineer 10Ebbor10) rounds. While initial engineering concepts conceptualized fins to regulate flight, the micro-servos required to move them were deemed an unnecessary complication. Instead, electronics printed into the missile directly control the propellant stream to make course corrections dictated by the rifle's tracking settings. One important embedded feature is the presence of a timer in the missile detonator, which prevents the projectile from detonating if it hits a target near-immediately. 

A red button has been added to the bottom of the gun, shielded by a safety panel, and made VERY difficult to bang accidentally. In the event of weapon damage or tracking program corruption due to unforeseen ECM, the button flashes the integrated circuitry, essentially erasing all advancements added and rendering the weapon dumbfire once more. The mandatory ten hour training session on 'how not to blow your hands off' is now 'how not to press the red button that makes it possible to blow off your hands'.

Advanced Jormungandr Bolter: (1) Draignean

Justification: I'd like to hedge out their range advantage while giving us additional experience with smart munitions, and a bit of an edge to put THEM on the back foot. Starting now will allow for more advanced MIRV designs in the future, and when we (soon) revise the Illiad to take bolter turrets, we can slave them to the ship's sensors to give us homing micro-missile PD.


On the Matter of Railguns and Mass Drivers: I think we would be much better served doing design for improved thrust technology. Better engines gets our cargo get out of orbit faster. Better engines gets our ships where the need to be (and away from where they DON'T need to be) faster. Better engines gets our missiles to target faster.

We have no reason, at present, to pursue Mass Driver technology. Improved engines does pretty much everything we could hope mass drivers would buy us in the short run, and it's a simpler tech.