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[TricMagic]

Operations Setup
MARIA, Magmatite (4): TricMagic, m1895, Madman, Failbird, NUKE9.13

Turn Plan
Use ORACLE-A to bury/place GATES in strategic positions. (2): TricMagic, m1895

Additional Actions
Talk to 17 & Oracle a bit more about the N-dimension. (0):
Don't talk to 17 & ORACLE any more than we already do: (2) NUKE9.13, Madman

Subsidize the new TV Show Greater Lives (0):
No, why on earth would we do that: (1) NUKE9.13

Use New SERF-2 and cheap Claws, along with new Excavator-Ls to investigate(read capture/kill) the criminal Elements in the Underworld.(Depths of MAGMA) (0)
No: (2) Madman, NUKE9.13

Internal investigation into suspicious DUC activities: (2) NUKE9.13, TricMagic
No:

[Madman198237]

Operations Setup
MARIA, Magmatite (4): TricMagic, m1895, Madman, Failbird, NUKE9.13

Turn Plan
Use ORACLE-A to bury/place GATES in strategic positions. (2): TricMagic, m1895

Additional Actions
Internal investigation into suspicious DUC activities: (3) NUKE9.13, TricMagic, Madman
No:

[flabort]

Operations Setup
MARIA, Magmatite (5): TricMagic, m1895, Madman, Failbird, NUKE9.13, Flabort

Turn Plan
Use ORACLE-A to bury/place GATES in strategic positions. (3): TricMagic, m1895, Flabort

Additional Actions
Internal investigation into suspicious DUC activities: (3) NUKE9.13, TricMagic, Madman
No: (1) Flabort

Let the DUC continue making it's quacks, for now.

[dgr11897]

Operations Setup
MARIA, Magmatite (6): TricMagic, m1895, Madman, Failbird, NUKE9.13, Flabort, DGR

Turn Plan
Use ORACLE-A to bury/place GATES in strategic positions. (4): TricMagic, m1895, Flabort, DGR

Additional Actions
Internal investigation into suspicious DUC activities: (4) NUKE9.13, TricMagic, Madman, DGR
No: (1) Flabort

[Madman198237]

Lunar Exploration And Very Expensive Exploitation of All Resources THere (LEAVEEARTH)
Our present lunar operation is little more than a baby step, a tiny investment in the grand scheme of things. In order to go bigger, we need some advantages. Reformulated Sprayable Walls now capable of being sprayed directly into a permanent, air-tight, free-standing structure even in airless environments. Starknight flights bringing airlock door assemblies and, piece by piece, the equipment necessary to process small amounts of Ore into metal, and metal into the things required for sustained human life. Some Magmatite-to-Magmagel processing equipment. The DUC's newest hazardous, mildly radioactive, and extremely toxic abomination of nature invention, a means to make Magmagel into a surprisingly efficient solar-energy-absorbing chemical. A lot of plants, some greenhouse glass, and some lights to keep the planets growing through the night. A couple extra lunar Excavators for additional expansion work.

Bit by bit, everything will shape. We dig in, spray concrete all over the place, then install the first airlock. We start shipping in the air and CO2 filters, followed by the plants to take the filters' place. Then more tunnels, more plants, more people on permanent assignment. Beds, desks, chairs, food, all provided by Starknights for a bit. The surface is gradually covered with solar panels, and then the plants start moving underground, fields of grass planted on top of dirt-covered concrete lit by Magmagel-powered lights.

Then we ship in the industry, and can start going through the Excavator-extracted materials and processing them. It'll take everything we can extract to expand until we reach self-sufficiency (or close enough, anyway), but the Magmatite extracted powers the expanding colony, the Ore becomes new doors, structural supports, bits of technology, everything necessary for a steadily-expanding lunar colony. Eventually, the expansion will reach a point at which it doesn't need to consume all its materials, and it will start shipping extra Magmatite and processed Ore back to Mereth via Starknight. The industry being located on the Moon means that we only ship processed materials, which are vastly lighter than unprocessed materials.

As each region becomes self-sufficient, its dependence on Starknight transport is steadily diminished, allowing the next region to be exploited in the same way.

I felt like writing.

[flabort]

For a future turn.

HAUNTER Vision
In which a convoluted series of accidents and an attempt to synthesize additional Magmacite lead to a GATE upgrade and a new way to create sci-fi materials.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

After the discoveries of the experiment on Batch K-8802 were deemed insignificant and shelved in favor of the Cerebral Action Translator, the designs were just sitting on a shelf in the DUC gathering dust. These days, we understand significantly more of the N-Dimension, and when an accident happened in storage (something to do with a forklift and a Merethian Snowpanther in the building), many abandoned projects were brought back to their creator's attention, including the discovery of Pontemes.

The discovery of the first Pontemes were a stroke of luck. It's true they could be replicated, and had a bizarre property that allowed them to phase through solid matter, but on further human testing, the dimension that the Pontemic Gel transferred the experimental container to was in fact the N-Dimension, making the test subject go completely insane from the sights seen within. Further, pontemic gel is just too complex. Setting up the exact same sequence of unlikely events over and over again is just too expensive to keep doing, especially if we expect to outfit an army with equipment made from it. The Destroying Angel was a good idea, but likely will not see the light of day for a while longer.

The upshot of rediscovering Pontemes, though, is that scientists began looking at other molecules that might gain or have Pontemic Bonds. And at first, they looked for materials with similar properties to K-8802; low ability to carry charge, high mass discrepancy, and a rapid bonding process. Eventually, the first and third criteria were thrown out, and by exhaustive comparative analysis, we finally found a material in which there are naturally occurring Pontemes, and we have been working with it for over a year now. Magmatite contains a weak bond with an extradimensional molecule, hidden in it's complex structure. Attempts to replicate the slip between dimensions that K-8802 exhibited by breaking this bond failed to produce exciting results, merely transforming the Magmatite into a relatively ordinary (but still somewhat valuable, to the right people) amalgam of Platinum, Lead, Bismuth, Bromine, Silicon, and Calcium. Mostly Silicon and Calcium, actually. The theory that Magmacite can be formed by exact application of heat and/or radiation is correct, too - it's just that it turns out, the radiation required is not gamma, beta, or even alpha radiation, but N-radiation (which can luckily occasionally form by deeply penetrating gamma radiation randomly striking certain elements in a certain way, typically lead, hence the natural appearance of Magmacite veins deep underground), and the easiest way to create N-radiation is near an active GATE. This, again, is too unlikely for our more practical scientists (which is why they weren't invited to join the DUC).

Instead of using a full GATE setup, only a small portion of the GATE is necessary to create N-Radiation. Or rather, leak it into R-space. A single small Magmacite gel sack and some scary machinery create a fist sized device which is not nearly enough to open a full sized hole into N-Space, and it doesn't bother to first try and map local N-space, but it does attempt to open a hole when activated. This has been regarded as "very dangerous" and naysayers have described it as "outputting enough exotic radiation to kill someone", but that hasn't stopped us. The device does succeed in producing the purple sparks that a GATE creates before opening a tear into N-Space, but doesn't manage to get any further. What it does do is give off enough charged N-Radiation to encourage the formation of Pontemes in nearby matter - we were hoping we could recreate Magmacite with it, but alas, without knowing the exact ratio of materials when it forms naturally, we can't create it reliably enough to be worth it yet. And the unfocused tearing of space interferes with GATE use, so it has to be set up far from where we intend to use the GATE.

Ponteme materials are very unpredictable. And the radiation was dangerous enough that even DUC scientists decided to encase the small device into enough lead plating, with an access panel in the top to deposit materials for reacting, that overall the device now takes up the space of a large walk in closet.

All this convoluted science and experimenting means that we have a way to reliably create Ponteme compounds, although the behavior of each compound is unpredictable thus far. What we have discovered is that a Magnesium Sulfide compound, when put into the Ponteme Creation Chamber, creates a glassy clear material that N-Tuned individuals say looks foggy, but is clear to everyone else, and when exposed to N-Radiation, gives off an electric pulse. With this new material, we were finally able to make something analogous to a camera that functions in N-space, by creating a film with thousands of tiny N-MagSulfide crystals backed by a lead sheet so only radiation from one side strikes it, and coated with a porous membrane to protect the crystals from anything else. Radiation is able to pass through the membrane and activate the crystals. We then curved the sheet inside a spherical chamber with a single aperture, creating a structure similar to a human eye, and fitted two of these onto a HAUNTER.

Results were great. N-Tuned volunteers using the HAUNTER with the new eyes reported that although they were blind at first, once they passed into the GATE it felt just like seeing out of their own eyes, albeit still rather blurry. The landscape is still baffling, but the functional eyes allow the volunteer to navigate more quickly, identifying more solid areas to boost off of, and giving them the ability to actually identify what those patches of resistance actually are; the theory that they are patches of R-Tuned Pontemes from the N-Space is popular, but so far unconfirmed. The increased awareness of what N-space looks like allows a volunteer to keep the GATE open for longer. And finally, it allows the volunteer to identify their entry point into N-space, which allows a 50% recovery rating of deployed HAUNTERS - which is much better than the prior 0.001%, with only the remains of half a mangled HAUNTER being recovered from the original tests thus far.

[andrea]

Here is a proposal for a future moon operation

Magma furnace
On Earth, we extract ore from veins and deposits created by the action of geological and hydrological forces in millions of years. Those are completely absent on the moon, but that doesn't mean that metals are absent: in fact the crust of the moon is very rich of aluminum, iron, titanium and other useful things. However, they are spread out as simple rocks mixed with standard silicon minerals.
Another important point is that the remaining part of the lunar soil is made from another element which is currently precious: oxygen.

Enter the magma furnace. A big sealed cauldroun in which rock is fed, melted, and then separated by an electric current using special catalizing electrodes developed by DUC in order to choose the output metal according to our needs. A magma furnace, or a battery of them, is able to turn simple rock into metals ready for use or silicon. Furthermore, as waste product it produces heat for the cold lunar nights and oxygen to supply life support for our operatives on the moon. So much oxygen in fact, that if it is considered advantageous we could bring hydrogen instead of water, and combust it to get extra power and water.

As to how the furnace is powered, (here is a split: we can choose how when it is time)

- A small quantity of natively extracted magmatite is added to each batch to provide the energy to keep it molten. Waste heat is then recycled to generate electricity for the electrolysis process.

- An array of magmagel batteries and DUC boosted solar panels provides all that is needed for our smelting and life support needs.



This may be able to provide both an ore and an extra region rating. But to get access to more region rating we may need a spacesuit or a proper settlement first.

[TricMagic]

Ursa Major

The first in dedicated Laser Platforms, the Ursa Major is a self contained suit, sealed off from atmosphere, with multiple redundancies in the cockpit, including simple air tanks, scubbers, and Integrated CAT.

What makes it an advance over the Grizzly is it's size, easily reaching 20 Feet High on it's four legs, and 30 feet long, and capable of climbing mountains, bounding across the landscape, or thrusting through the sea.

It's weapon system is pretty simple, integrated CLAWs in it's front paws capable of mowing down infantry and tearing straight through tanks. And a newly revised Laser System integrated into it's back beside the spine.

The two Sakura Cannons on it's back can be fired in either pulse form while standing still to aim, or a continual fire as it charges forward. The ICE flow keeps it cool, and the GOFAST generator has been refined using our knowledge of combustion to leave no smoke left unburned.

On top of it all, the Ursa Major is armored to the teeth, if it had teeth instead of a dedicated Ursine Vison unit as it's bear-shaped head, along with Fiberoptics as eyes..

One last modification is it's turbojet thrusters located in the backside and back legs, rated for multiple bursts to jump, or a controlled burn for forward thrust both underwater, or on the moon.

Overall, the Ursa Major is big, fairly Expensive, and rated for Land, Sea, and Lunar Operations. Being able to swim is a fairly big plus, and not at all difficult for it, since the water reduces the weight it carries.

Rated for 1 hour of operation in full combat, with the time increasing to 2 to 6 hours outside of that. Most of the time in combat is mostly the lasers burning through it's fuel supply. For supply, it uses Energy Filters filled with GOFAST which can be removed and inserted easily, once the backside armor has been pushed aside.


CAT Revision, need to work with none-humanoid shapes. Pre-programmed skills to assist in movement/weapon activation? Or just special training..

Claws, note that they are revisions which are literally located in the Claws. Can sweep across to hit a wide area, or grasp metal directly to tear through it with a wave.

Sakura Cannons. Run by Magmagel-feed, and Ice-Cooling. Upsized Claws similar to the Talon, with pulse, and auto-fire.

Back Turbojets. Not meant to fly, but to assist with jumping on land and moon. Mostly either forward jumps, and sometimes upward. Bears can in fact stand up. So more maneuverability than most would first think. This also applies to water, since that maneuverability of the legs means it can move with some agility underwater. Just don't expect it to manage swimming for more than a couple of hours though, without the turbojets, it still sinks. For the shore, that really isn't a major issue.

Ursine Vision, obviously upgraded in some way.

Split it down. Designing Systems for the Ursa Major.
Materials Limit, 4-5 Ore, 3-4 Oil, 2-3 Magmatite.

Claws:
Built into the claws of the Ursa Major, a line runs down the legs to fuel them. When swiped across, a line of laser-light is sent out along that trajectory. Likewise, it's paws can also grip, for a short range laser that tears straight through Tank and Ship armor with laser power.

Sakura Cannons:
Based upon the original CLAWs, where the TALON focused on overload for a pulse, this version works with it's partner. When still, aiming is simple, so long as that direction is ahead. A blast of focused laser pulse is sent out, turning what lies in it's path to plasma. Being a Paired Unit, this can be charged in 3 seconds, rather than 5. Alone, if the other has been damaged, it still takes 5 seconds.
Other ability of the Sakura Cannons is Auto-fire, which sends out many bursts as the Ursa Major Charges, and can also be a continuous stream for a short amount of time.
 Being Paired together, the load on each is shared, improving it's reliability. Runs off Magmagel flow and GOFAST Generators, along with ICE cooling tubes.

Ursine Vision Viser
Based upon the Starknight's own capabilities, the Ursine Vision Viser is a noticeable improvement, making use of a computer to track friend and foe, and Vector-modelling in real time. See new CAT Model [NERVEGEAR] for more information. Primary Sensors are mounted on the head, though a number of them are also mounted around the body as well.

Fiberoptics
Used to transmit primary vision to new CAT Model [NERVEGEAR].

Energy Filters
Effectively a giant battery filled with GOFAST for easy switch in. This GOFAST is used to power a Generator. 2 are used in operation of the Ursa Major, and each Energy Filter grants 30 minutes of full-scale combat, with 3 hours of standard movement. Includes Magmatite for added energy Production on burn. See GOFAST variant [GOFASTER] from DUC records. Energy Filter slots are located along top of the back rear of the Ursa Major.

Turbojet Boosters
A single Turbojet Booster each in the back paws of the Ursa Major, fueled through those legs. The Rear holds two more above the hind of the legs. The Generators are located slightly forward of this.

Cockpit and NERVEGEAR
Standing at 20 Feet Tall, and 30 Feet Long, the Ursa Major is a beast worthy of it's name. And the only way in is through the bottom, into it's stomach. Here the pilot lies down and puts on the NERVEGEAR, which connects and overrides their central nervous system. It catches the data outgoing from the brain, and can input it's own signals. The user is placed into a virtual world. The NERVEGEAR has an emergency shutdown switch similar to the GATE, if the Pilot's Brainwaves become too erratic.
From here, the programs act, and the Ursine Vision Viser draws the wireframe, even as the Fiberoptics work to bring terrain to the user in this Virtual World.

It really is the centerpiece, NERVEGEAR. There are a number of options, from sitting down and directing the Ursa Major from above in some flying Chair, to controlling it with mental thoughts alone, shutting down imput from anything but the eyes and skin of the Ursa Major. The Possibilities are limitless.

In the end though, it is a way to control the Ursa Major. They don't have to see, for the NERVEGEAR already controls what they can experience. Whether they go for Full-Dive control, or let the programs do most of the work for them as they direct it.

The NERVEGEAR uses a special Jack to work properly, ad so needs pilots need to have it installed. Thankfully, it's just an add on of the CAT to catch their brainwaves, interpret them through the NERVEGEAR, and input data for VR. This also allows pure Vector Modeling, likely to render SEEMs Blackwell technique obsolete. And even if it still works, the NERVEGEAR will just kick the Pilot out of control once the erratic activity is noticed.

Bear Necessity, Maneuverability.

Spoiler: Bear Warning, and Bear this Image in mind. (click to show/hide)

Yes, Bears can in fact stand up. And their legs are quite maneuverable. This means climbing mountains, adjusting Sakura Cannon Aim, and even using the Turbojets to jump and thrust forward through the water, are all possible. The Bear truly is a marvel, isn't it?

[andrea]

Spaceranger interceptor
Our air force hasn't seen a chassis upgrade for years. Now the wait is over.

The spaceranger, as the name implies, takes heavy inspiration from the skyranger. However while the skyranger is a transport, the spaceranger is an heavy fighter and that shapes the design.

Gone is the cargo hold, allowing for a more streamlined and aerodynamic design. The fan part of the engines is removed, since it has no requirement of low altitude/speed flight nor vertical landing and take off from enemy territory. Instead, in addition to the powerful ramjets, it has a single auxiliary rocket engine based on the Starknight ones, used for take off and particularly demanding manoeuvres.
From the Starknight it also borrows the RCS system to assist in sharp turns and stability.

Thanks to its 4 wings ( in X configuration) providing extra lift and its take off boost, it can carry a significant payload, which is mostly dedicated to its weapon system. Inside the fuselage it can carry either 16 shrike missiles on a retractable pod, or an equivalent weight in bombs if desired. Furthermore, it has a birdbrain computer to assist targeting of its laser weapons: a claw module centrally mounted with a large firing angle, dedicated to point defense, and 2 turreted Talon cannons on the side.

To save on weight and cost, the heat shield is streamlined and toned down to just what is needed for high atmospheric flight, rather than full re-entry from orbital speed. 
During high altitude flight, less drag is encountered which together with the expanded fuel tank allows it to have a long range for its performance.

While it is not capable of the fast re-entry of the skyranger and the starknight, it is actually capable of getting to space and with its enlarged fuel tank it could even reach the moon. It is likely to be a one way trip for the craft, but it would be able to serve as a local weapon platform for the defense of our colony.

[TricMagic]

Tidal Class Aircraft Carrier

From the beginning of the war, we've lost at sea due to an inability to bring our Aircraft out to the ranges needed. This changes now. The Tidal Class Aircraft Carrier comes equipped with the latest in GOFAST Generators, it's turbocharger sending unburned GOFAST smoke back into the chamber. This gives it amazing efficiency. It also comes equipped with 2 systems. The ARC Reaction Plating, which uses uncharged Magmagel and the conductivity of metal enhanced by DUC to send the charge of their electricity where we want it. Most Specifically, to these batteries. This effectively removes their ability for indirect hits to do us in, and we can use it ourselves.

The second, is the TIDAL Anti-Air Laser Defense System. Making use of advanced trajectory tracking, the TIDAL can shoot missiles out of the air, as well as planes, with sweeping beams of Lasers. Perfect for preventing enemy aircraft from sinking us.

Beyond that, the Aircraft Carrier also has Missile launchers for Ship to Ship Combat, using info gathered real-time by Blizzards to strike precisely at very long range. The new Arctic Missiles are long, have a very big warhead, and use a turbojet along with the Tereshkova Effect to fly long distances. This is in addition to the Birdbrain computer in them, and the Vector Feed from our recent Spaceknights giving the computer data on where objects are. So long as we have coordinates on where the ship will be via Oracle and Blizzards, we can easily strike them. They are effectively derived from the best of the Shrike and Penguins.

Each ship is able to carry 20 Blizzards and supply them, with two TIDAL. This is mostly so we can mass-produce them, marking them Expensive at most.

[Chiefwaffles]

Combat Report Fall 1964

GATEs continue to confuse our scientists and engineers and literally everyone who knows about them.
But they work to a degree? So good? Maybe? We don't know?

The additional Magmatite clearly helped with the deployment of CLAWs and TALONs, and it was a crutch we relied on to have our infantry carry our offensives in the Mountains and Plains.
 

Spoiler: Designs (click to show/hide)

Transport Capacity: 2/3 (2/2 Oil, 0/0 Ore Imported)
Space Transport Capacity: 1/1 (1/1 Magmatite Imported)
Resources: 4 Ore, 3 Oil, 2 Magmatite

Moon Region Rating: 1
Moon Resources: 1 Magmatite (Succesfully imported Moon Resources are included in "Resources" as well)

Weapons

• 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.
  [Cheap] 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.
  [Expensive] 3 Ore, 1 Oil, 4 Magmatite
• 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
• ME-MO-62 "Nameless Death": A large 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. "Ursine Vision" system has 4 television cameras relayed to the pilot in the cockpit (who can choose to ignore them in favor of the fiberscope) as well as a dedicated Handler at the nearest ORACLE-A node, who points out important things, gives tactical advice, and relays intelligence to ORACLE-A. Cameras are obvious targets and delicate, but not essential to operation.
  Equipped with COMBAT Plating.
  [Expensive] 6 Ore, 3 Oil, 1 Magmatite

Spacecraft

• ME-STS-64 'Starknight': A larger completely unarmored variant of the Skyranger designed for space and lunar travel. A Turbopumped-GOFAST rocket combustion engine powers multiple thruster nozzles all over the craft, all with good vectoring, allows for very good manueverability, speed, and fuel efficiency. It can land and take off form/into space just using landing gear on its bottom and can hover, though that's not recommended due to fuel usage concerns. ICE-cooling and ablative plating allows for relatively-low-maintenance atmospheric re-entry. Power provided by engines during burns and auxiliary GOFAST generators in other times. Panoramic electric display screen replaces window in cockpit, showing large amounts of data derived by the Birdbrain-based "Swallow" guidance system. A cramped pressurized crew compartment allows for a maximum crew of 6 for up to 2 weeks on its life support, with integrated CAT stations leading into a central Datalink conduit for every crewmember. Much larger unpressurized cargo hold has 2 HAUNTERs and 4 SERFs, and 2 GOFAST generators (used to power the craft or anything else). Has covered ports on outside of hull and on inside of cargo bay to connect Datalink conduits to, for uploading/downloading information and flight plans with ORACLE-A and letting the crew control any plugged-in remote controlled robot using the craft's integrated CAT stations. Rest of cargo hold has enough space for about half a dissembled Excavator. Requires a comprehensive flight plan from ORACLE-A via Datalink wires for orbital navigation. Equipped with radio.
  +1 STU, +1 Moon Region Rating
  [Very Expensive 5 Ore, 5 Oil

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 that 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

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 fast-acting sprayable concrete mixture very useful for reinforcing tunnels when sprayed by trailers hooked to a Burrower. Allows use of Burrower tunnels for logistics.
    Provides 1 TC.
• UT-60-L Excavator-L: Variant of Excavator with 8-hour life support and a 2-person crew cabin designed to remain pressurized outside of Earth's atmosphere. Airtight door can be docked with a temporary inflatable connector.

Other

• GATE/HAUNTER: A large ring-shaped device with surrounding outer transparent chamber of Magmagel that, with assistance of N-Sensitive Volunteer, can create a tear in the fabric of reality (induces insanity if looked at) leading to the "N-Dimension". It must spend time "Locking" coordinates, where Volunteer forces section of the N-Dimension to be stable and known enough to lock it to a position in our dimension where we can enter it. Emerging point in N-Dimension can be up to a mile away from GATE, with instant travel time. Complete ORACLE-A coverage of or very recent Volunteer visit to target area required. 15 minutes required for a lock to an adjacent position, 2 hours for a mile away. SERF-based Datalink-controlled drone equipped with a sword and thrusters piloted by the Volunteer, the "HAUNTER", travels into the N-Dimension where Aratamite astral activity can be located and potentially an attempt can be made to stop or disrupt them. Tear remains open for 15m-1hr depending on how good Volunteer is at keeping the local landscape of the N-Dimension stable, though Volunteer can break the lock prematurely if needed. GATEs have to be constructed on site with premade parts shipped to site beforehand allowing construction in two days. HAUNTERs can not be recovered after deployment, making the design Complex.
  [Very Expensive] 3 Ore, 2 Oil, 4 Magmatite, [Complex]
• 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..
  [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. Slowly decays over time in storage, making it unsuitable for anything not expecting 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 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. The SERF-2 version makes it much more skeletal, cheaper, and allows it to compact itself into a small cube-ish square in about 30 minutes and uncompact in about 3 minutes; all autonomously.
  Reduces the cost of COMBAT plating from 1 Ore to 0.

Operation Plans

• MARIA: Set up a mining outpost with Starknight landing pads surrounding an unpressurized warehouse with space for ores, oxygen, and fuel that has underground docks for lunar Excavators. Resupplies Excavators and facilities transport of humans into Excavators for piloting. Two humans per Excavator accompanied by a SERF mine in underground tunnels and bring the ore back to the warehouse for transport to Earth.
  Potentially Provides 1 Ore OR [/color=darkred]1 Magmatite[/color]
  Lunar Operation, No cost, Unique, Takes up 1 Region

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.

The Design Phase of Fall 1964 has begun.

[TricMagic]

The Blue Whale

With the current issues, people are understandably concerned. It's all okay though. The Extra Funding let's us go full Whale on Space Colonization.


The Blue Whale is a massive undertaking, being NE, a National Effort to produce. Oh is it impressive though. With Artificial Synthesis of GOFAST using Carbon and Magmatite, storage for a 100 Starknights, the New Magmaskell Mechs for civilian industry, wherever you land. On top of a thriving artificial ecosystem, and top of the line air filters and recycling. It also comes with Impact Gel for crash landings, made by DUC from Magmatite and Oils, and blast shielding that is actually perfect.

With this, we can easily take 1000 people to the moon, and set up a Colony. Why stop there though? Why not Mars? It's flight systems and it's suitability long-term voyage, along with being very fast in space as well as being capable of launching straight up to exit Earth's atmosphere. The amount of cargo it can carry will allow us to set up a permanent city, and then return. It's perfect for those who want to get away from it all for a while.

That doesn't mean it's defenseless though. It carries a number of Laser Defense Systems against enemy actions. These are for the passengers safety.

Probably best to mention it also makes heavy use of the Magmatite Processors recently developed alongside it to upgrade Oracle.

[Failbird105]

Well, since we're not at the sea, and thus don't need to focus a design on such, Tremor Bombs are completely viable for this turns military design. Therefor, Tremor Bombs.

Tremor Bombs
This idea came about as something of an accident. A separate design meant to reduce Hellborer risks significantly, by using vibrations to find a frequency that drives them away, if not entirely than at least enough to make them less likely to stick around. In doing so, we did actually find a frequency which Hellborers simply hate, but uh, not in the good 'I don't want to be here' way. More in the 'DESTROY IT AND EVERYTHING ASSOCIATED WITH IT' way. Needless to say, it was far better at attracting Hellborers than repelling them. Then this idea came in. Simply put, it is a bomb, designed to hold a machine which vibrates the earth around it at that precise frequency, thus calling Hellborers towards it, significantly enraged.

That is not to say the method works perfectly of course. Hellborers dwell deep, deep underground. This isn't a problem when the machine is underground too, but when deployed via air it only makes it a short distance into the ground before starting. As such, it will take several bombs in close proximity adding to each-others vibrations to reliably call the angry Hellborers to surface level. Once it has been done however, only a slow but steady trickle of more Tremor bombs, or more hostiles to draw their attention, is needed to keep them at surface level. It should also be obvious that these won't work in the sea, what we are unsure about however, is the moon. We certainly haven't seen any Hellborers there yet, but we may just not be digging deep enough. Whatever comes of it however, if anything, our scientists are eager to find out.

This does, however, present the risk of potentially harming our own subterranean, and potentially surface operations in the area for a short time until the Hellborers decide to return to the depths from whence they came... if they return.

[TricMagic]

The Lunar Light: City on the Moon.
In this time of chaos and war, come to the Lunar City, see the Earth from a new perspective. Enjoy the sights and reduced gravity!

This is the slogan, though we do argue on how to do so. One Researcher puts an intern on finding the trail of regolith, perhaps they've come up with something.

Take sight, as a scientist has managed to create something. This dusty dirt appears to catch Co2 in it's own structure, and catch carbon in itself. This turns it rather black, though pouring water through it makes it wet, and the carbon slicks to the top, liquid carbon.

This stuff, based on preliminary testing, is perfect for both a source of carbon and oxygen, just from Co2 and water. That's air down, for the most part. Just need to make a recycler to get the proportions of air correct.

[FallacyofUrist]

Hope Design: Ursa Maximus:

After the last few assassination attempts, our president Nix Gelus decided that his personal Bear Armor suit just wasn't going to cut it. So he requested something developed specifically for him. What followed was a continuous process of him approaching more civilian governmental agencies to get a suit sourced, and getting sent ceremonial prototypes.

That's how Nix Gelus himself ended up on the Merethian Design Division's front door, obviously pissed. Nobody was in a position to say no to the obviously angry President of Mereth. "I want laser blasters! A direct connection to ORACLE-A! CAT integration! Invulnerability! Flight capabilities!"

We will not be making another Ursa Maximus suit. Ever. Nix Gelus insisted that he get the only one. (Also, another one would be way beyond our current budget). That said, we cannot help but admire this fantastic piece of hardware. We... managed... to fit everything required into the suit. Aside from the invulnerability, but we've managed something approximating that.

We've integrated compressed CLAW blasters into each of the suit's arms for high-intensity blasting. A direct radio connection to a trained team of "liaisons" who interpret ORACLE's output regarding inner Mereth and feed it to Nix Gelus through a voice modulator that makes their communication sound robotic. An adjusted Drop Bear pack using GOFAST-M fuel and deployable gliding wings cover flight. Finally, we made all of that controlled by an integrated CAT connection in the suit. All of that was... fairly easy, if expensive.

The most expensive and complex part of the Ursa Maximus suit would be the Barrier Against Turmoil - Magmatite Advanced Negator. Or as we call it, BATMAN. The extreme amount of Magmatite the BATMAN module costs is one of the main reasons it's impractical to make more. of the Ursa Maximus suit.  BATMAN is an effective cage of magnetic coils underneath the outer COMBAT armor of the Ursa Maximus suit. Said magnetic coils are made of a Magmatite-neodynium alloy we are calling Magnetite. The Magnetite coils are themselves powered via high-energy Magmagel. While BATMAN is powered on, intense magnetic fields shroud the Ursa Maximus suit, with more unusual properties than normal. This shroud is entirely repulsive in nature, and can deflect all calibers of bullets that we've tested, block electric blasts generated via a looted Tesla Rifle, and even diffuse the strength of a CLAW laser beam. The energy intensity of BATMAN is very high, however, and can't be powered on for more than around 30 minutes at a time before the Magmagel is completely drained. On top of that, the Magnetite coil magnets get hot quickly and have to be cooled via an integrated ICE cooling system.

We thought all this would be an immense waste of time. Then Nix Gelus took the Ursa Maximus armor out for a "test drive". After the resulting destruction of a criminal hideout, we must conclude that Nix Gelus is our world's very first... "superhero". A symbol of hope to the masses. A champion of all that is good. Under no circumstances will he be permitted to pilot the Ursa Maximus suit into battle. It's far too expensive to replace our hero's life must not be put in danger against the turmoil of war.

~~~
~~~
~~~

Hope Design: The Watchtower:

The threat of nuclear detonation hangs over the populace, like a tipping anvil ready to drop. The fear can be tasted like cinnamon ICE cream(not a good flavor). A team of Merethian engineers and scientists was put in charge of building something to protect Mereth against nuclear missiles. The Watchtower was the result. The Watchtower is a massive tower situated near MAGMA, easily visible from that area.

The Watchtower has three main modules. A floor for an ORACLE-A node, a floor filled with the best scanners Mereth can manufacture, and a giant laser emitter that's effectively a scaled-up TALON. The end result is this. The scanners constantly scan the skies for incoming projectiles, and feed the data to ORACLE. ORACLE processes the data and calculates how likely it is that there's an incoming projectile, and where it's coming from. If it thinks it's likely there's an incoming projectile, it'll send a warning to stationed operators and ask for them to analyze the processed data and give permission to fire.

If they don't respond, or there doesn't seem to be enough time for analysis, ORACLE-A is capable of firing the beam on its own. We calculate that the beam fired by the Watchtower could completely vaporize any and all missiles or incoming long-ranged bombers. We even tested this with some Skyranger drops, which performed as intended.

In an absolute emergency, the beam can also be aimed at the ground to devastate ground threats near MAGMA, something that we demonstrated to great applause on a captured Glaive tank.