"Halberd"-Electromagnetic Coil Cannon Battletank ECCB-60:
The Halberd is a new generation of battle tanks that utilizes a revolutionary new technology to become even more powerful, magnets!
The scientist at the lab have finally divined a new vehicle that will horrifically change the way we interact with the battlefield. It may at first glance just look like a modern battletank that was imported from Cannala, but it has a new tool on its sleeve, a heavy magnetic cannon that will surely penetrate and destroy any surface it can punch through. The heavy coilgun it utilizes is more of the importance here, powered by a larger and more powerful SynthOil battery that can be supported by the rear of the tank, it allows the main cannon to electrically charge a 120 mm bullet or of greater size out of the main cannon that has a lot more velocity and power coming behind it. As the heavier explosive shell is charges through a linear motion through the barrel that is fitted with coils, it will project the explosive shell projectile at greater power and velocity resulting in more power behind its boom and better at longer ranges.
The battletank is still outfitted with traditional technology that a tank should have from a radar sensor, guided weapon system, and thick armor plating of about 120mm of plating. As well as room for heavily armored machine guns on two adjacent mounts and a flanking .50 cal in the back that they can utilize for anti-personnel needs. As well as some smoke Grenade launchers like our APC, in case those ever need to be utilized in combat. Finally the entire tank as well as the Coil Cannon utilizing a SynthOil battery, has a large SynthOil battery back in a heavily armored part in the center of the tank that essentially functions as the vehicle's powerful engine to allow it to run. Since it is a giant electric battery that is powering the entire vehicle their are no need for things like turboshafts or mufflers, rather the heavy electric battery will power the thing if it can silently but that isn't the priority of the design.
Conclusively, a modernized battletank that utilizes a Coil Cannon and SynthOil battery pack as it's engine to revolutionize warfare.
Design: "Halberd"-Electromagnetic Coil Cannon Battletank ECCB-60Hard: (2+4)-1 = 5: Average
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Halberd Battletank is its silence. The SynthOil battery (while still flawed) is completely without noise. The only way to hear a Halberd approaching is either by its treads rolling over the ground or putting your ear on its chassis and listening to the internal, non-engine, machinery. The Halberd is actually technically based off of the Raider APC we have. Without any Cannalan tanks to base our design off of, we had to improvise a bit, mostly using the Raider and knowledge gleaned from public information from outside Aratam. That contributed a significant bit to the difficulty.
It's a large construction and the main turret juts out of an otherwise smooth hull with a
very long barrel.
Its speed is fine for a tank, and has standard medium armor covering all of it, with a bit of extra plating at the front. The coilgun fires 120 mm shell at frankly insane speeds. The shell is nothing more than a hunk of metal - packing explosives in coilgun shells is quite difficult as the friction with atmosphere quickly degrades it. But the speed of the shell means that it's still
extremely destructive without the planned explosive component. The turret is powered but doesn't have any special guidance system - it's more-or-less manually moved and aimed by a gunner inside the Halberd. We expect great anti-armor capabilities, but moving infantry (including their power armor users) will be tough to shoot at with the main cannon.
Now, we don't actually
have a .50 cal gun. The only guns we have are the Pursuit, the Machete, the Osprey, and now the main coilgun. The Raider has some more guns, but those are provided directly by Cannala for the sole purpose of arming it. So the secondary weapon is a bit of a... situation.
We've managed to include an armored Osprey on a coaxial mount with the main coilgun. The Osprey is unpowered but has a
basic auto-loading system. Most of our effort in the area of secondary turrets went into jury-rigging the Osprey so we didn't have time for additional turrets.
We didn't include a radar system. It didn't offer a significant advantage and was still a bulky addition. The SynthOil battery's continuing issues plague the tank. We just barely improved our SynthOil batteries to extract enough power to run the tank and everything needed for it, but it wasn't
really enough.
The Halberd is actually powered by
two SynthOil batteries. One for powering movement and just general parts of the tank, and the other for exclusively powering the coilgun. The coilgun is
big and is entirely magnetic, meaning it takes a lot of power. We can get about six Coilgun shots out of the battery. The main battery can power full throttle for four hours, and a more reasonable travel speed of about ten hours. Running out of power in combat is certainly an issue, but it has enough of a charge to not be a crippling flaw.
The Halberd will cost
5 Ore and
4 Oil/color], making it just about Very Expensive. Its SynthOil battery reduces the material requirement for engines, but is fairly oil intensive.
Cannalan Embassy ‘The Brewery’
This converted warehouse on the docks has been turned into a brewery for the purpose of fermenting the distilled spirit Arachaca from sugarcane. Arachaca is the most popular booze in Aratam, where the locals frequently combine it with various chemical additives. The brewery makes use of modern pumping systems and metalized piping to make efficient use of space, allowing the creation of much more Arachaca than would normally be possible in the available space as the various machines involved take up much less space and therefore more can be fit in. Furthermore, the staffing requirements are relatively modest as much of the work has been automated or is directed by a centralized control console.
The embassy living quarters are built up on top of the brewery. Transparent flooring sections allow staff and visitors alike to enjoy the process of booze being created beneath their feet. The bar on the premises naturally has an Arachaca tap that connects directly to the Brewery below.
Embassy Design: The BreweryNormal: (5) = 5: Average
The Cannalan diplomats really couldn't be happier with their new embassy. They're quite impressed with our interesting novel methods of brewing alcohol as well as the alcohol itself. There's already a start of Arachaca being exported to Cannala, where it's a new and exciting drink. Apparently the police force in the local area had to be given a massive increase in budget to deal with the sudden increase in alcohol-related crime, but hey. Sacrifices.
The Brewery is a fairly impressive piece of engineering, and is certainly the highest-tech brewery in all of Aratam. Through the use of some
very basic electronics, the Brewery employs less than one may expect it to. Just the use of electronics to manage occasional small details such as ensuring the right ingredients being put in at the right times (though larger ingredient additions are still done by hand) can help a lot.
Some engineers point out that these improvements could be applied to the CryoStat as well. Just the general improvements can greatly reduce the space needed in the CryoStat to properly mix and monitor chemicals, and we can also apply the automation to potentially reduce the needs for external technicians during the healing process. Though the differences between a Brewery and the marvel that is the CryoStat are enough that these improvements can't be "automatically" brought over. Any revision focused on bringing these improvements (and potentially more) to the CryoStat would likely be a very easy task.
Aid and funding from Cannala ensured that the embassy project went smoothly and left no chance for failure.
Transport Capacity: 1
Resources: 3 Ore,
2 Oil,
2 Rare ChemicalsWeapons- "Pursuit" Rifle: An 20-round magazine automatic rifle with mediocre accuracy at Medium range (and useless accuracy further).
[Cheap] 1 Ore - "Machete" Pistol: A 6-round semiautomatic pistol semi-accurate up to Short range. Reliable.
[Cheap] 1 Ore - "Jumper" EMA Grenade Launcher: The Electromagnetically Assisted Grenade Launcher "Jumper" is roughly the shape of a very noticeably thicker bazooka-like assembly. It uses inefficient brick-sized SynthOil batteries that provide enough charge for one shot per battery. Once a battery is inserted, the Jumper has to "charge" for roughly thirty seconds before being able to fire, and can fire 1.5 inch specially-made grenades with "average" radii and okay accuracy, silently. It's fairly bulky. The manufacturing of the coilgun adds severe complexity.
[Expensive] 2 Ore, 1 Oil, Complex - HMKR-59 'Osprey': Hybrid Magnetic Kinetic Rifle; a variant of the Pursuit rifle that houses coilgun components to increase the velocity of bullets after conventional firing. Has a slot in the back for a single SynthOil battery, which has enough charge for 10 powered shots (soldiers carry 2 batteries total). Powered shots are accurate to Medium range (unpowered shots to Short range) and have increased lethality and armor piercing capabilities.
[Cheap] 1 Ore, 1 Oil
Land Vehicles- M3T1A1 Raider: 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.
[Cheap] 3 Ore 2 Oil - Privateer 1 1/2 Ton Truck: Cannala's first truck, it's a cabover on an antiquated 3-cylinder, the transmission only has a forward and reverse setting. It's still better than horses, though.
[Cheap] 2 Ore, 2 Oil, Provides 1 TC - "Halberd"-Electromagnetic Coil Cannon Battletank ECCB-60: A large silent tank armed with a 120mm coilgun and a coaxially-mounted unpowered auto-loading Osprey. Has a respectable speed for its size, and the Coilgun turret is powered but manually aimed. Powered by two SynthOil batteries - one provides enough power for six Coilgun shots, the other provides enough power for four hours of full throttle movement and ten hours of less-fast "travel" movement.
[Very Expensive] 5 Ore, 4 Oil
Air Vehicles- 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.
[Cheap] 3 Ore, 2 Oil - M1942 A-5B 'Spearhead-B' 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. A heavy Can Shredder sits in the nose. 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). 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. The Can Shredder can do serious damage to bombers from a safe distance. A hardpoint for 500lb bombs or missiles has been added under each wing.
[Very Expensive] 4 Ore, 4 Oil
Navy- Corsair Destroyer: The Corsair is a moderate sized ship with light (for a ship) steel hull armor. It has a light cannon armament of two hydraulic-equipped Nightwind cannons and four Can Shredders. However, its main armament is its Shark Torpedo launchers (it has a couple on each side) and newly-invented Seahorse mines, which use the same warheads as Shark torpedoes but rest on the sea surface, detonating on cpntact with ships. It is powered by steam turbines and easily outpaces battleships like the Kalmar, Kraken and Kurokami.
[Expensive] 4 Ore, 3 Oil - Santos-Class Naval Aircraft Support Vessel: 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]
[Very Expensive] 5 Ore, 4 Oil
Chemicals & Drugs- Spice: An extremely potent manufactured drug resulting in extreme schizophrenia, delusions of power, frequent seizures, and eventually death. Extremely addictive. Those who undergo the week-long "Goldeneye" treatment in a CryoStat tank become accustomed (and permanently addicted) to low dosages of Spice, enabling very high awareness of surroundings and mildly increased reaction and thinking speeds when under the influence of the drug.
[Very Expensive] 5 Rare Chemicals, Complex. - Combat Drug 'Fury': A Spice-based drug that massively decreases reaction time, and lasts for ~2 hours. Also incites rage, decreasing soldier effectiveness at range and chances of occasional friendly fire. Mild hallucinations are common, preventing users from being effective at recon/espionage/etc. roles. Makes veins much more apparent and red. Addictive, and takes effect >5 minutes after injection.
[Expensive] 3 Rare Chemicals - Metal Recominators: A special mixture that separates pure metal from ore, obsoleting a large part of Aratam's refining industry. A variant can also be used to fuse metal with (likely) any other matter.
Provides 1 Ore.
Other- Standard Uniform: A plain red featureless uniform. The red's mild enough that it doesn't really stick out.
- CryoStat Tank: A large three-meter tall "coffin" with a small glass vertical slit inside showing a tank. Dozens of tubes connect it to the other machinery required for operation, taking up ~36 square meters of space total. Trained technicians monitor and operate it and prepare subjects for submerging. Subjects are put into "stasis" via a numbing solution they're submersed in, and medical drugs are constantly pumped into their body via dozens of injection sites prepared pre-submerging. Once taken out, subjects are put into a machine to recover from the effects of the tank. A day stabilizes minor life-threatening wounds, and a week stabilizes near all wounds. A month starts completely healing scars and generally brings up health status to pristine, and a year can restore lost limbs. Also used for life-extending "rejuvenation" processes by important people.
[Very Expensive] 4 Rare Chemicals, Complex - SynthOil: SMRO-58 "SynthOil" is an advanced form of oil - it's made using a combination of oil and other chemicals, making a much more stable and energy-dense solution. Has a peculiar property - with the right tools, it can directly produce electricity.
Provides 1 Oil
Infrastructure- The Refinery: An extremely secretive facility hidden under the canopy in a remote part of the rainforest, identifiable only by its smoke. Contains large liquid storage tanks and refineries for the production of chemicals, well-equipped laboratories, cells for test subjects, a steady supply of test subjects from Aratam's prisoners, and more. Useful as a base for chemical research.
Provides 1 Rare Chemical - Division of Biological Manipulation: An abandoned set of rooms on top of the Refinery; originally intended for biological manipulation research but was never finished due to a sudden test subject escape.
- Embassy "The Brewery": An embassy for Cannalan diplomats that doubles as a highly advanced brewery of Aratam's signature drink, Arachaca. The Cannalans can see the brewing process below through their glass flooring and taps straight form the brewery are available for Arachaca straight from the source. Uses basic electronic systems for very limited automation in conjunction with its general advanced brewing systems.
Author
Topic: Mad Arms Race - Aratam Design Bureau (Fall 1965 - Final Design Phase) (Read 61459 times)