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[milo christiansen]

Sure just wait a minute, but for now you can look over here.

The bane of hostiles everywhere the suppressor MK1 is a simple wooden crossbow with a top mounted bolt magazine and integrated cocking/firing lever.

The main body of the crossbow is wood, with brass runners for the string and bolt to slide along. The stock is designed to be braced against the body. The bow arms are recurved wood, preferably made of several laminated layers for extra strength.

The cocking lever is designed so that pushing it forward catches the string, and pulling it back draws the string back, then releases it. The top mounted magazine gravity feeds bolts, so that when the cocking lever is drawn back a new bolt drops into place. This magazine can hold about 5 bolts.

By pulling a few pins the magazine may be removed, and the lever inhibited from tripping the string release. This allows the crossbow to be fired in a single shot mode for more accuracy.

The SV (Sniper Variant) of the suppressor crossbow has bronze backed limbs and a stock designed for shoulder firing.

By default the magazine comes dismounted, and the cocking lever firing trip disabled. Both may be added back in, but the heavier bow and restyled stock make it really hard to fire in automatic mode. Automatic firing is much slower than the normal variant, but single fire accuracy and power is greatly enhanced.

[Madman198237]

No, we don't need to shoot through steel plate. However, I'm saying we can get MUCH better killing power than a repeating crossbow will offer, AND it will be at lower costs. If we need firepower or rates of fire greater than 4 to 16 guys with light crossbows ("Only" capable of shooting out to 300 or so meters, equal to a historical English longbow), then we consider an aetheric system mounted on the crossbow stock, so heat becomes less of an issue.


Actually, one of our designs ought to make weapon crystals tolerate heat a lot better, which would allow for stronger shots and/or higher rates of fire on the same cooling systems.

[milo christiansen]

There, edited my post with the design.

I tried to get the best of both worlds, the ability to rapid fire when needed, and the ability to single fire for accuracy. This thing should be trivial for a civilization that can make guns, the trickiest part would be the firing mechanism, and really that is kinda crude.

[Madman198237]

That is a solid repeating crossbow. From a weaponry point of view:
The magazine system means that the bolt is not rested against the string. You lose almost all your accuracy by the wild motion caused by the string suddenly "catching" the bolt and jolting it around. Also, bolts are not small, meaning soldiers have limited ammo. Greater impact per bolt will leave us with fewer enemies that need to die by the sword.

[NUKE9.13]

This thing should be trivial for a civilization that can make guns, the trickiest part would be the firing mechanism, and really that is kinda crude.

To me, this is the main question. Having the ability to lay down rapid fire, even if it's not the most accurate, is definitely worth the tradeoff in power- because yeah, we aren't facing knights in platemail, we're facing gunners in silk shirts. So the question is, is it worth the added complexity?

...I'm inclined to think you're right. A crossbow is fairly primitive. It's not like a repeater crossbow is gonna be game-breaking. Sure, I could get behind that for our next design.

[milo christiansen]

And more bolts per minute will mean less chance that we get overrun...

Did you see the single shot mode? That should fix your main objection.

[Madman198237]

Like I said: It still doesn't fix the fact that when the enemy realizes you can't actually intentionally hit them from long range, we'll get shot anyway.

Here's a nice compromise: A design for a repeating crossbow, which we then spend a revision on to make a heavier (Higher draw weight) version without auto-reload system.

[milo christiansen]

Sure, just drop the magazine, change the stock a bit, and add some bronze to the bow... That could probably be done in a revision.

[Draignean]

Unless something comes up soon (tm), you'll bank your two dice for next round.

[andrea]

No Revision: (3) NUKE9.13, Milo, Nirur Torir, Andrea

[milo christiansen]

I added a sniper variant proposal to the same post as the basic repeating crossbow design. It could be done as part of the main design if it seems simple enough, but it is currently styled as a revision.

[Draignean]

It is the beginning of 351 AR. All is well, and there is nothing exceptional to report.

Spire Wreth's production stands at,

11/y Crystal, 22/55 Banked
8/y Ore, 16/40 banked
18/y Wood, 36/90 banked
7/y Silk, 14/35 banked

It is the beginning of the Design Phase and Project Maintenance Phase. You have 7 Dice to spend.

Spoiler: Projects (click to show/hide)

Itshana Crystal Refinement: 2/15 | 4 Crystal + 2 of Ore OR Crystal | Rushed 0 Times | Nothing Invested

[milo christiansen]

1 die to existing project: (0)
2 dice to existing project: (0)
3 dice to existing project: (1) Milo

New Project:
Suppressor MK1 Repeating Crossbow (3 dice): (1) Milo

[Nirur Torir]

3 dice gives us about a one-in-four chance of a completion this turn, skipping the prototype phase entirely. I don't know whether or not this is a good thing, but 3 dice now will let us more easily coast on it later during these initial turns, using little enough dice that we don't waste any.

[NUKE9.13]

Hmm. What would we get out of having a prototype? We can always revise the finished product.

Yeah, I think let's rush (not mechanically) crystals, since if we complete that, it may provide some bonus to other projects.

1 die to existing project: (0)
2 dice to existing project: (0)
3 dice to existing project: (2) Milo, NUKE9.13

New Project:
Suppressor MK1 Repeating Crossbow (3 dice): (2) Milo, NUKE9.13