Magpie: Shore-Landing Ship SLS-61:
The shore-landing ship is a versatile ship designed to transport infantry from water into amphibious assault. The vehicle is powered by four SynthOil 16-cylinder electric motor engines and two shafts to power the vehicle. It is equipped with two Can Shredder cannons and a derivation of our Storm missiles as a SAM-rail launched cannons, in which the ship is equipped with two of these small and lightweight rail-launchers. The Storm missiles on this vehicle is further refined with the ability to be shot out a rail and than rolls around its own longitudinal axis to stabilize its flight path, much like a bullet fired from a rifled barrel. In essence a precursory system of missile point defense.
As the Magpie nears to land, it engages its treads and climbs up a beach, pulls its large landing door onto land behind it before detonating explosive bolts to release the cables and hose, allowing any passengers on its barge freedom to debark.
Once separated or, indeed, if deployed on land, the Magpie carries its armament of Can Shredders capable of providing suppressive firepower and because it's a autocannon designed for ships and not a personnel rifle, it should easily be able to penetrate their power armor users, or they will suffer massive damage from the knock back of a ship-mounted gun . It can also launch its basic Storm missile point defense to give protection to the infantry and vehicles being deployed against swatting away aircraft like an insect to make it difficulty to position them for bombing runs. The Magpie is versatile and can hold a battalion of men, or armored support and less supportive men.
Revision: Magpie Shore-Landing Ship SLS-61Ludicrous: (3+4)-3 = 4: Below Average
The Magpie represents our attempt to design an entirely new landing craft with missile launching capabilities, improvements to Storm missiles, hold an armament of Can Shredders, hold a battalion of soldiers and/or vehicles, and do more, all from scratch.
In a revision.
Needless to say, this is very very very hard. Not impossible, but its difficulty could be described as ludicrous given our constraints. But we managed some degree of "pulling through".
First off, no missiles. That's just not practical with our time constraints.
It can carry a modest amount of infantry or a handful of vehicles that are delivered using a ramp and door on the bow, combined with
very basic (the ship can beach itself using propellers, then
just barely unbeach itself using these) treads. Can shredders were considered, but as we don't have the actual blueprints for them, spending a (normally small) amount of time to "rip them off" Cannalan designs isn't impractical given the context of this
design revision. So instead, we've included a handful of mounts for Ospreys at the front of the ship for basic covering fire.
It uses the same SynthOil engine (which, by the way, does not operate in cylinders - the way we use SynthOil for power isn't really similar to an internal combustion engine) as our tanks, and shares the fuel efficiency problem. This flaw has a significantly expanded presence here, as the nature of the Magpie combined with our current naval designs means the Magpie has to be able to go from port to beach all by itself, without assistance from other ships.
Now, if we were operating on a scale similar to World War 2, this would make traveling impossible. Luckily, we just have to cross a relatively small stretch of water. Unluckily, this still requires massive amounts of SynthOil to be stored inside where we
would keep soldiers and vehicles. If we had some more time, this could have been alleviated somewhat, but we just had none.
Ultimately, the Magpie can technically bring a number of troops (and potentially tanks) to the shores. It has just Thin armor, meaning it's quite vulnerable to fire from enemy positions. It can only deliver an alarmingly small number of troops/vehicles to the shores as most of its cargo space is taken up housing extra SynthOil for the engines to make the trip to the beach. It's at least not specifically unreliable and it at least transports some of our soldiers, but most of the military doesn't have much faith in them right now.
It costs
3 Ore and
3 Oil, making it
Expensive.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 - M1942 Missile, Auto-Guided, Infrared Camera (MAGIC) Mk.2 "Hellfire": The Hellfire Missile is an improvement over the original MAGIC Mk.1 in a few ways. The basic technology behind it as a rocket has improved, a specialized propellant is much more compact and powerful than the one adapted from infantry RPGs, so the rocket is lighter and faster. The structure has gotten lighter as well. The Hellfire includes an entirely new guidance system in the nose, and two sets of fins. Four rear fins are fixed stabilizers, and four fins close to the nose are controlled by servos, rather than solenoids, which gives them the ability to make partial turns. The sensor head consists of 13 individual sensors under a single lens in a diamond shape. There is a rotating circular shroud on top of the sensors, so that only a single "line" of sensors, including the center one and three or four others, can "see" at a time. A "tone generator" makes a noise in the cockpit to alert the pilot when one or more of the missiles on his plane has a target somewhere in his field of view, but doesn't alter based on how well-centered he is or other information. The missile's guidance is more accurate and reliable than the Mk.1, but the rotating shroud means that it might take a second to adjust to a chance in its target's direction, and it tends to slightly spiral around its intended course, a marked improvement from the Mk.1's violent zig-zags. It has a maximum flight time of about 25 seconds, and a maximum range of four miles in that time, and the seeker head can find a target from two to three miles on a good day. It has a 25lb warhead and the entire missile is 500lb.
[Very Expensive] 3 Ore, 3 Oil, Complex - "Storm" GMRL-ECP-61S: A 250lb active radar homing missile with a 6km range and 5m effective blast radius. Fired from 4-rail trucks (with radar) and aircraft mounts. It has a poor resolution, greatly decreasing the reliability of locking onto non-huge aerial targets and making locking onto surface targets next-to-impossible, though large ships prove easy targets. Equipped with an HE or ARC warhead, with the ARC warhead using a chain SynthOil reaction to generate arcing electricity frying electronics and melting metal as it jumps from conductor to conductor.
[EXPENSIVE] 3 Ore, 4 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 - "Hydra" Electric-Motor Flak Tank EMFT-61: A "tank" where the turret is an unarmored cage on top of the squat chassis where the gunner sits; four self-loading automatic cannons fire automatically consecutively flak shells to shoot down aircraft and infantry. The turret can be angled downwards effectively to shoot at infantry; limited ammo supply means the gunner has to be somewhat conservative with his firing patterns and can't just fill the sky with flak. Electric computer & radar guidance overlays a digital crosshair on a small sheet of "glass" in front of the gunner that is overlaid on top of the physical crosshair to maximize accuracy, allowing for decent accuracy as long as the aircraft isn't too fast or evasive. The commander and driver reside in the cramped interior and exit/enter largely via a door to the side, with the front of the tank being heavily angled downward for firing angle reasons. The turret is an open-air cage making the gunner vulnerable. Can travel for 10 hours on a full SynthOil battery, and the gun doesn't require power to operate.
[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
- Macaw Strike Craft: A variant of the Parrot with a turboprop engine hastily retrofitted in. Has a Short range and is faster+more agile than the Parrot but still significantly more sluggish than the Spearhead or any other jet aircraft. Equipped with five 100lb bomb/missile mounts but has no other weapons.
- 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 - SLS-61 Magpie: The Shore-Landing Ship is a basic landing ship with a bow able to open up with a ramp to allow vehicles and troops onto the shore, and has extremely basic treads to de-beach itself. Has Thin armor and a few mounts for infantry rifles on the top to provide basic covering fire. Powered by Generation 1 SynthOil engines, which requires it to use the majority of its cargo space to hold enough SynthOil to make it across the sea without running out of fuel. Normally has a modest capacity for soldiers (and capable of holding a few moderate-sized vehicles), but the fuel requirement limits it to only a small amount of soldiers and/or perhaps one tank at best.
[Expensive] 3 Ore, 3 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.
The Combat Phase of Summer 1961 has begun.