ME-GWS-61 'TALON' (Tank Application of Laser OrdiNance)
Based on the CLAW, the TALON laser system is basically a scaled-up version capable of delivering millisecond pulses of laser energy, enough that the target's surface explodes into plasma, short enough that the resulting cloud doesn't waste (too much) of the pulse's energy. The intent is to make a Grizzly arm mount that is capable of producing a devastating pulse to flash large amounts of armor or flesh into an expanding cloud of deadly-hot plasma. It does not need to be capable of sustained fire or rapid fire, instead being used like an actual tank cannon, single shots capable of destroying an entire tank, but fired only every few seconds, rather than "continuous fire til the battery's dry".
Revision: ME-GWS-63 'TALON' (Normal) (7) = 7: Superior Craftsmanship
We tried plenty of approaches to what was described as a "laser tank cannon" with explosive amounts of power.
It turns out the best way to do this is a flagrant disregard for safety and common sense. Who knew? In its simplest description, the TALON is an upscaled CLAW. Very heavy -- too heavy to be practically mounted onto aircraft and definitely too heavy to be held by infantry. In a more complex description, the TALON is more or less what happens when we overload a CLAW then send the explosion towards the enemy, rather than ourselves.
The weapon has a larger Magmagel tank and a significantly larger capacitor array. Other than that, the internals are remarkably similar to the CLAW. What differs is how we use them. The entire assembly works through a state of "controlled" overcharging/meltdown. For five seconds. When the entire assembly is on the verge of, as our scientists call it, "destroying itself and everything the gunner loves", we fire a very brief, and very powerful, laser pulse.
It makes some fun sounds, from a nice whine and concerning grinding sound as it charges, and a very satisfying pulse sound as it fires.
While the pulse is fired at the speed of light, it's very visible to everyone. It turns all the air it touches into plasma and turns its target into -- also -- plasma. This is very nice to see. But we advise gunners to warn everyone else before firing, else they too get turned into plasma.
Overheating is naturally a huge concern -- without proper heating, the TALON tends to very violently explode taking the surrounding area with it. So in addition to the 5 second charge-up time, the weapon needs 30 seconds to cool down between shots. STABIL-ICE coolant tubes run through the weapon. And if they get damaged, the weapon should hopefully not allow firing attempts. Hopefully. We're telling Grizzly pilots equipped with TALONs to be very careful with them if any battle damage at all is experienced.
It can only shoot 10 times without the Magmagel needing to be recharged. It can be charged in field -- either from an external connection or by using the power supply of whatever the weapon is equipped on. Though even just 10 shots can be extremely effective.
It costs
4 Magmatite,
3 Ore, and
1 Oil. Making it
Very Expensive. It'll be equipped onto Grizzlies as deemed necessary. We predict great effectiveness (albeit at a risk) wherever the TALON is deployed.
((Reminder: Weapons' expenses aren't directly added onto vehicles equipped with them. Their expense just determines how many vehicles can carry them. Expensive vehicle Expensive weapon means every vehicle has a weapon. Exp vehicle VE weapon means only a few get them. Etc.))
Transport Capacity: 2/3 (2/2 Oil, 0/0 Ore Imported)
Resources: 4 Ore,
3 Oil,
1 MagmatiteWeapons- ME-CLAW-63: A Magmagel-using laser gun. Bit unwieldy for regular soldiers, but easy to carry (and can be duel-wielded) by Bear soldiers. Uses Magmagel canisters inserted into the barrel to fire. Has a beam mode and pulse mode, with the beam capable of cutting unarmored people in half. Can easily melt through current Aratamite infantry armor, though not instantly. Damage is precise; it can do a lot of damage in very small areas -- it's best used against vital organs. Beam mode, when concentrated on the exact same spot of a Tank/heavy armor for a few seconds, can melt through the armor and damage whatever's directly behind it. Has a(n unused) port to pump in/out Magmagel for continuous use. Terrific accuracy at any range, though damage scales with distance (making it Long-ranged). Comes with 3x scope for sniping.
[Expensive] 2 Ore, 1 Oil, 2 Magmatite - ME-GWS-63 'TALON': A variant of the ME-CLAW-63 with expanded Magmagel tanks and capacitor arrays, that works on a controlled overload. Takes 5 seconds to charge a laser pulse which turns everything in its path to plasma, then a large chunk of its target to plasma. Needs a 30 second cooldown period between shots, and has an extensive STABIL-ICE cooling system. If cooling is damaged or overheated otherwise, weapon explodes violently. Can shoot 10 times before recharge (which can be done in-field by external connection or by using its host's power supply) Very heavy, and currently only fit for deployment as the primary weapon of a Grizzly.
[Very Expensive] 3 Ore, 1 Oil, 4 Magmatite - "Stalwart" Rifle: A semi-automatic rifle with mediocre accuracy at Long range and good accuracy at Medium (and useless accuracy further).
[Cheap] 1 Ore - "Heartstopper" Pistol: A 2-round semiautomatic pistol semi-accurate up to Short range. Has enormous stopping power. Pride of the Merethan army.
[Cheap] 1 Ore - UF-AC-41 Velociraptor: This autocannon is a revision of AC18, with several improvements. The gun is a little more tolerant of different ammo weights and the shells have been modified so that mixed ammo belts are possible. The use of more advanced materials has allowed some parts to become lighter, while a heavier bolt and stronger spring allows a rate of fire of 750 RPM, with a final gun weight of 48kg. In infantry use, it has noticeably more recoil, but this is less of a concern on vehicles.
[Cheap] 3 Ore
- AS-AC18: An advanced primer ignition autocannon, which ignites cartridge primers before the round is fully chambered. It fires the new, large, 20x100mm round, fed from a top-mounted 25 round C-shaped magazine with a powerful spring, usually armor piercing, about 600 times per minute. The weapon is quite large with a simple action but heavy barrel, weighing over 40 kilograms, and it requires being mounted to a carriage, foundation, or vehicle to fire with accuracy, although recoil is reduced by the nature of its action. It is dependent on a careful balance between the force of the shell and the force of the action, which means that different ammo types cannot be interchanged without recalibrating the gun. It has a terrifying ability to punch through armor and emplacements. Lighter materials have slightly decreased the weight from the previous 40kg.
[Cheap] 3 Ore
- UF-MRL-40 'SARUKH': The Sarukh is a multiple rocket launcher, which fires rockets one meter long to deliver 6kg warheads at a maximum range of 12000 meters. The rockets have impressive destructive power, compared to shells they do not need thick metal casings, so most of the weight of the rocket is either warhead or propellant. The rockets are launched electrically off of rails, and the rails are in a 4x2 array. The rockets can be fired all at once, but it takes about four minutes to reload the whole launcher, so the sustained rate of fire is not better than regular artillery. However, a rocket array is extremely light compared to a cannon, and can move very quickly, firing all at once and retreating before fire is returned from the enemy. Accuracy is poor compared to shells; to reliably hit a single target with a volley they should be used within 8km. Currently available as a truck trailer.
[Cheap] 1 Ore, 3 Oil
- ICE Rocket: A rocket for the Sarukh equipped with an ICE non-explosive warhead. Instant lethalities within 5m, very high fatalities within 10m, serious injuries (and occasional fatality) along with (usually temporary) vehicle non-operation to 50m. The cold dissipates quickly outdoors.
- ICE Thrower: A 20m-ranged pressurized ICE thrower that can rapidly cool an area in front of the operator to (eventually) lethal levels or outright kill/severely harm those directly hit by ICE. The ICE doesn't naturally react until roughly 10m out from the barrel, though it can hit other things in its way and react with whatever it hits. Prolonged use is discouraged, due to close proximity with ICE and ICE-affected areas being very dangerous even with the extensive insulation operators wear.
[Cheap] 2 Ore, 3 Oil - AS-RPG28 A: A rocket-propelled grenade, fired out of a launch tube. The grenade itself consists of a conical shape with a narrow tube of propellent out the back, and twisted fins in the middle of the tube. The launch tube is 3cm wide, a meter long and the rocket fits in up to the fins, and is just a metal tube with a handle. To ignite the propellant, soldiers remove a pin, on the rocket, which is first clipped by a short chain to a trigger on the handle. The tube itself and each grenade each weigh 3kg. It is accurate enough to hit a tank out to almost 100 meters, after which it drops quickly. Rockets are available with warheads based on each type of grenade, including a HEAT conical shaped charge.
[Cheap] 2 Ore, 1 Oil - ME-GVM-61 "Penguin": A 500 kg 33cm diameter 3.5m long black and white missile with long and stubby wings. Controlled remotely via an embedded television camera, and contains basic onboard transistor-based guidance allowing for a relatively straight course when jammed. Two missiles are carried in basic launcher trucks. Has a range of 50 km and a lethal radius of 50m; it can fit an ICE warhead or a HE warhead.
[Cheap] 3 Ore, 3 Oil - M3 Sorraia GPMG: A 7.62mm machine gun fed from a belt. 50-round belts can be strung together for extended fire or stored in a belt box attached to the Sorraia, which for practical purposes is similar to a magazine. It uses a recoil action, and is configured to fire around 800 rounds per minute, achieved with the help of a muzzle booster (which looks like a flared end on the barrel). Weighs 22 pounds. Comes with a bipod, or tripod for emplacements. It uses copper heat sinks, which are now shrouded. It has a changeable barrel, which is necessary for emplacement use. It is effective to about 800 yards when mounted.
[Cheap] 2 Ore - ME-MO-62 "Nameless Death": A larger-than-normal mortar that uses rocket-propelled ammunition to give it a more than respectable range, with the ability for ICE or HE warheads. Its advantage lies in its versatility and ease-of-use: it can be mounted on Bear Armor's rear mount, deployed on the ground, and an automatic version exists for mounting on the Grizzly. Though the infantry version is somewhat hard to use without Bear Armor. Bear Troopers can fire their rear-mounted mortar at any time, without deployment, using a button on the suit's arm, though they have to aim through their posture, and the mortar has to be manually reloaded by another person. Grizzly mech versions are fired via the CAT interface, but are harder to aim and the CAT interface can't do anything other than "fire".
[Cheap] 2 Ore - ME-AEM-63 'Shrike': A 100kg missile with a 15kg ICE/HE warhead. Its associated "Birdbrain" computing pod allows for real-time target detection/analyzing, giving pilots a simple holographic reticule overlay in the cockpit and allowing effective tracking of any kind of target. Its warhead can be adjusted in real time by the computer for optimum damage against the selected target (air-bursting, shaped charge, etc.) and it has high-res sensors with a relatively-thin viewing angle to find targets. On-board missile computer is simple and enacts out orders given by Birdbrain pre-launch, but can wirelessly receive new orders/communicate intel. Not specifically long-range.
[Cheap] 2 Ore, 2 Oil
Armor- Standard Uniform: A plain blue featureless uniform. The blue's mild enough that it doesn't really stick out.
- ME-PA-59 'Bear Armour': "Infantry" armor based off of the now-obsolete Tiger suit. Boasts full body coverage, albeit with fairly frequent gaps in the joints; the breastplate/taces can block rifle bullets at nearly all ranges and most of the armor can stop pistol bullets at point black. It has insulating fur inner lining. Armor plating is semi-manually removed from the outside through a series of switches to enter/exit/perform maintenance. Lasts 8 hours of consistent high-power use, and charge is monitored by a dial in the helmet. Embarking/disembarking from the outside takes about 30 seconds, and disembarking without assistance takes a few minutes. It stands at [~7 ft/~2m] tall, and uses a smallish bulletproof glass visor for limited visibility. Pilots boast slightly increased speed and slightly decreased agility (but same strength) over regular unarmored individuals while in the Armour, twice the strength of average soldiers, and have their skin dyed blue from the Electrogel. Has mounts for a WALK-TALK and larger ICE Thrower tank, and a velcro strip in the helmet for maximum pilot comfort. Contains advanced shock/recoil-dampening capabilities in gauntlets. Fit with Magmagel, and equipped with a charging port that can finish charging in one minute.
Equipped with COMBAT plating.
[Cheap] 4 Ore, 2 Oil, 1 Magmatite - Bear Armour Shield: A
slab of metal shield roughly the size of a riot shield, made out of thick metal, for wielding in one hand. Limits visibility and two-hand operations' effectiveness (like reloading), but doesn't restrict mobility and can be used with one-hand weapons. - "Drop Bear" Armor: A suit of Bear Armor with two relatively large fuel tanks attached to the back, with nozzles places around the suit. Can launch a Bear Trooper high into the air 50 meters forward, where they land with a noticeable (albeit minor) shockwave and no harm to themselves. Single-use, and prohibits use of heavy weaponry and especially the ICE Thrower.
[Expensive] 4 Ore, 3+1 Oil, 1 Magmatite
- ME-MAS-62 'Grizzly Armor' v2: A ~4m-tall mechanized combat suit, based vaguely on Bear Armor. Heavy COMBAT plating covering the chest - where the pilot resides nearly integrated in the armor connected via a Cerebral Action Translator looking at a fiberscope connected to the head - protects the pilot, and that COMBAT plating is covered by further Mangalloy plating to protect more effectively against small arms. Faster than most/all soldiers, but still relatively slow in vehicle standards. Pilot has basic sense of "touch" from the suit, allowing for a good degree of coordination. Can generally tank a single Hydra cannon shell with no internal damage -- just a moderately-sized patch of damaged COMBAT plating. A second shell in the same spot would pierce front armor and embed itself in the back, potentially causing internal damage (most notably severing of Electrogel conduits to some motors), and a third shell - also in the same spot - would destroy the suit. Has 8 hr of charge using Rechargeable Electrogel, and a backup battery providing another 8 hr of charge but that has to spend time charging the Electrogel while not moving. Can equip any vehicle-suited or heavy weapon held by Mereth, an upscaled Bear Shield, or a 6-rocket Sarukh pod in either(/both) of its two arm modules. Fit with Magmagel, and a charging port that allows charging in five minutes. Charge monitored by dials in the cockpit.
Equipped with COMBAT Plating.
[Expensive] 6 Ore, 3 Oil, 1 Magmatite
Underground Vehicles- UT-60 Excavator: A tracked medium-sized heavily-modified tunnel boring machine, most notably using GOFAST-fuel. Can go down to Moderate and Shallow depths, moves at Very Slow speeds while underground and at Moderate speeds aboveground. Possesses limited (but notable) agility underground. Contains space for 6 soldiers and small amounts of equipment of the equivalent amount of cargo in the back, in addition to the 2 crew in its cockpit. Light armor. Equipped with the ME-SM-57 'Earth Ear' for basic subterranean navigation.
[Cheap] 3 Ore, 3 Oil; Provides 1 Ore.
- ME-CM-56 'Instant Roads': A very fast-acting sprayable concrete mixture very useful for reinforcing tunnels when sprayed by trailers hooked to a Burrower. Has to be re-applied occasionally to maintain integrity. Allows for use of Burrower tunnels for force movement and logistics.
Provides 1 TC.
Air Vehicles- ME-LRMA-60 "Blizzard": A two-engine jet "Long-Range Multi-Role-Aircraft" based off of the Lightning Streak that uses a 4 "X"-shaped wing configuration via the "Tereshkova Effect" for slightly increased aerodynamics, improved redundancy, and greatly improved coolness. Its two aT-J60gi ICE "freezing stovepipe" ramjet engines allows it to be a fair bit faster than the Lightning Streak. Has one large GOFAST tank and a small STABIL-ICE tank allowing for Long range. Equipped with a single 15° rudimentary CLAW turret integrated with Birdbrain (and a small amount of Magmagel "ammo"), and 8 Shrike missiles.
[Expensive] 5 Ore, 4 Oil, 1 Magmatite - ME-EAP-63 "Skyranger": A two-multimodal-propulsion-unit suborbital transport craft. With four wings. It can propel itself out of the atmosphere and "fall" towards its destination at extremely fast speeds, making it a practical fireball (the heat of which is mostly countered through ICE circulation cooling). It can hold a full Bear squad or the equivalent weight in cargo/personnel, and using its suborbital travel method it can arrive anywhere on the continent in ~30 minutes. Its landing is extremely obvious and it requires heavy maintenance, and unless handling very light loads it has to take the long way back home, not using suborbital travel. Uses Magmagel-powered fans mostly in the atmosphere, and Magmatite-GOFAST Rockets/Ramjets at higher speeds and to get sufficient suborbital velocity. Has a CLAW hardpoint, but this hardpoint cannot be used if suborbital travel is expected.
[Very Expensive] 6 Ore, 2 Oil, 3 Magmatite
Navy- UFN-CA-41 Catraphract: The Cataphract is a cruiser built to rival Cannala's ships. It is armed with 3x3 150mm gun turrets, each using a fully electrified loading system. Each gun can fire 8 times a minute. It has an armored citadel with 300mm of nickel-steel armor (Heavy), and a torpedo belt. The deck is heavily armored, at 120mm (Light) to defend against plunging fire, plus an extra splinter deck. The turrets are similarly armored. Additionally there are three turrets with two bumblebees on each side of the ship, capable of firing on aircraft or ships. It is powered by oil-burning steam turbines yielding a moderate speed.
[Expensive] 5 Ore, 4 Oil
- ME-MV-61 "Makeshift": A modification of the Cataphract with shooty-bits and unnecessary "crew livability" components removed.
Provides 2 TC
- ME-DDG-61 "Chillwind": A Guided Missile Destroyer equipped with a 2x-Bumblebee turret, eight Velociraptors divided amongst both sides of the hulls, all slaved to a 150km aircraft/30km ships radar system. Uses a Mostly Vertical Launch system to house 40 Penguin missile launch tubes - 20 each side - angled 30 degrees down vertically. Crew and equipment requirements mean that only four missiles can be launched and guided at a time. Has a very thin metal hull covered by Pykrete and crisscrossing pipes of STABIL-ICE to keep the Pykrete layer cool and supposedly repair any damage, though it proves ineffective at damage repair and the STABIL-ICE often runs out quickly enough such that a Chillwind's first engagement is usually without any Pykrete armor still intact.
[Cheap] 3 Ore, 3 Oil
Other- GOFAST-Fuel: A special type of more energy-dense and stable fuel. Greatly increases fuel efficiency of anything it's in, doesn't require an oxidizer, and can rarely leak out of compromised containers.
Adds 1 Oil to cost. - WALK-TALK: The Wireless Audio Local Kommunicator-Transistor Assistance Lowers Kost Radio. A small hand-held two-way transistor radio. Production is hampered by the ever-persistant Union of Electronics Workers, making it Complex.
[Cheap] 1 Ore - Electrogel: A very thick blue gel that creates and transmits electrical current corresponding to the amount of pressure applied to it. Comes with the "Electrogel Motor" - a very small motor with embedded Electrogel that works with power corresponding to Electrogel pressure. A patch of Electrogel can last roughly 8 hours when powering its corresponding motor nonstop at max power.
- Rechargeable Electrogel: A variant of Electrogel that can be charged with very precise pressure applied. As a general rule, the time needed to charge is 3x of how long it was used at max power usage.
- Magmagel: Electrogel enhanced with specially-ground Magmatite that allows very-fast charging.
- UF-SM-57 'Earth Ear' Mk. IV: A set of small attachments to be put on all available sides of a subterranean vehicle. The use of precise vibrations sent through the earth and analyzed by an onboard computer allow for identifying of earth and entities in a 20km area. A basic Cube-contained 3D-projected interface in red and blue shows the layout of the land and distinguishes between earth, buildings, vehicles, and infantry (all allied and enemy). Magnetic disks store gathered data to also be fed back to the ORACLE.
- GASOLINE: The Great Acoustic/Seismic Oil Location Initiative and Extraction device, which fits onto an Earth Ear systems allowing for relative easy surveying of underground oil deposits. Merethan regulation forbids surveying underneath Mereth for alleged safety reasons, meaning oil found as a result of GASOLINE has to be imported using our transport capacity.
Provides 1 Oil (Import)
- ICE: A chemical that very quickly reacts with the air to massively reduce heat in the surrounding area, often to the point where nearby things are frozen (ones in the epicenter frozen brittle), vehicles disabled or destroyed, and people killed.
- STABIL-ICE: A variant of ICE that relies on an added catalyst to only react when it's above a target temperature, specified during synthesization of the STABIL-ICE. Useful for ice cream and also maybe cooling of machinery and the like. Tends to slowly decay over time in storage, making it unsuitable for anything that can't expect routine maintenance.
- C.O.M.B.A.T. Plating: Composite armor plating using a thin manganese layer and a ceramic layer sandwiching a Tungsten-Bronze/Molybdenum-Bronze layer arranged to, in layman's terms, convert kinetic and electric energy into heat. The outer layers easily melt when tanking particularly impactful hits such as coilgun shots and Lvl3 Tesla blasts, but prevent death or (usually) injury in the process.
Adds +0 Ore to cost. (+1 cost nullified by ME-RID-61 'SERF") - Cerebral Action Translator A system wherein a series of jacks are implanted into the upper spine and lower brain -- roughly the neck and lower half of the back head, from the outside -- to allow for communication between computers/machinery and the human brain. Use of Electrogel as very-primitive "neurons" allows a bridge between the Electrogel and actual neuron growths, providing a channel to receive input from the neural system and a channel to send information to the neural system. It has low bandwidth, meaning it can't do a huge number of things at once, but what it does do, it does nearly seamlessly.
- ME-RID-61 'SERF': An unmanned thinner skeletal suit derived from Bear Armor, with near-human dexterity and a camera-like head. Remote controlled via cable connection to a pilot elsewhere hooked up via CAT, seeing via a television monitor and hearing via speakers. Focused on reducing the cost of COMBAT plating from 1 Ore to 0.
Infrastructure- Division of Unusual Chemistry: A fully funded department & lab under the Design Division specializing in more unusual chemistry.
- M.A.G.M.A.: A giant borehole made and maintained using Excavators, Bear Armour, Earth Ears, and many more instances of our tech. Uses ad-hoc STABIL-ICE cooling systems fitted onto Bear Armour and excavators to maintain suitable temperatures. The deepest borehole in the world, and brings up notable amounts of ore from existing land.
Provides +1 Ore - ORACLE-A: A microprocessor-based STABIL-ICE-cooled supercomputer with >100 MB of RAM and >1,000 MB of storage space using magnetic disks, and relatively blazing fast speeds using a generally advanced CPU with other cores handling peripheral tasks. Input is primarily via keyboards, and output is via vector-drawn screen graphics. When given adequate intelligence regarding known enemy activity in an area, the ORACLE-A can compile a prediction of future enemy activity over a set time period up to a week. However, we must have really good intelligence in an area for the best predictions, and the ORACLE-A can only handle a relatively few areas at a time (that must be chosen in advance by humans) due to processing power limitations. Despite this, its predictions are (when given adequate intelligence) very effective.
- Embassy "Vast Underground Forenian Embassy": An extensive and mildly luxurious underground Forenian embassy dug underneath around the center of Mereth using improvements in excavation technology designed 100% solely for civilian use and definitely nothing else.
Author
Topic: Mad Arms Race - Mereth Design Division (Fall 1965 - Final Design Phase) (Read 83466 times)