Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[NUKE9.13]

I like the spray-on concrete. Stable tunnels would be well useful.

As for what to import... I actually like the idea of importing Tiger Armour.

-Tiger Infantry Armor: [L] Infantry armor made of a forged manganese steel alloy. All of the armor plates are relatively thick for infantry, and the full suit weighs in at 36 pounds. The helmet is particularly thick, and fits round and close around the head, low over the eyes and down to the neck with a little outward slope. It can be attached with a face mask, which when worn allows a wide but very narrow viewing slit between the mask and helmet, while even covering the neck. The breastplate is curved outwards for optimal armor angle, with appearance of a ridge down the middle. The backplate is thick, but flat. At the waist these plates end and there are flat curved single-piece taces to protect the upper legs, below the knee the armor has no coverage. The pauldrons allow comfortable shoulder motion, being made of three layered plates, and the upper arms are covered by rerebraces, which are round fitted plates to the outside of the arm. While the lower arms, lower legs, and sometimes gaps around the shoulders are exposed, most parts of the armor will stop a pistol bullet at point blank. The breastplate and taces will stop rifle bullets at all but very close range. AP Horsekillers easily penetrate at medium range. The armor is tiring and cumbersome, troops cannot effectively crawl and kneeling is difficult, as is aiming down rifle sights while using the mask. Costs 3 ore.

Revision
ME-IU-56 Infantry Uniform:
MXETE 2.0:
ME-CM-56 'Instant Roads': (2) Jilladilla, NUKE9.13
Division of Unusual Biology:
ME-MG-56 "Heartpopper" Modular Gun:
Import
UF-MRL-40 'SARUKH': (1) Jilladilla
Tiger Infantry Armor: (1) NUKE9.13

[FallacyofUrist]

Revision
ME-IU-56 Infantry Uniform:
MXETE 2.0:
ME-CM-56 'Instant Roads': (2) Jilladilla, NUKE9.13
Division of Unusual Biology: (2) Maximum Spin, FallacyofUrist
ME-MG-56 "Heartpopper" Modular Gun:
Import
UF-MRL-40 'SARUKH': (1) Jilladilla
Tiger Infantry Armor: (2) NUKE9.13, FallacyofUrist

[andrea]

Revision
ME-IU-56 Infantry Uniform:
MXETE 2.0:
ME-CM-56 'Instant Roads': (3) Jilladilla, NUKE9.13, Andrea
Division of Unusual Biology: (2) Maximum Spin, FallacyofUrist
ME-MG-56 "Heartpopper" Modular Gun:
Import
UF-MRL-40 'SARUKH': (1) Jilladilla
Tiger Infantry Armor: (2) NUKE9.13, FallacyofUrist

we are not doing cat people. Not now, not ever. Overdone, annoying and useless.

[FallacyofUrist]

Annoying to our enemies, not at all overdone(I've never pulled it off in any of the arms races I've played), and unlikely to be useless. At the very least a good stepping stone. Imagine all of our soldiers with super night vision and smelling powers.

[Madman198237]

ME-CM-56 'Sprayable Walls'
The Division of Unusual Chemistry is set to work once again, to take up the task of making a Fast Acting Concrete solution, originally meant to serve to stabilize Burrower tunnels, but other potential uses abound. Really, how it works is an unusual method: An aerosol accelerator mixture consisting of very finely ground Calcium Nitrates as well as some more non-standard and potentially flammable substances is sprayed with the concrete, catalyzing the process and greatly enhancing the rate at which it sets to mere minutes at most, with only mild concerns for flammability! A spraying rig and tank trailer is attached to the back of the Burrower tanks, which sprays concrete onto new tunnel surfaces as it goes.

Modified Nem's fast-acting concrete setting to work better---as it stands now, the Roads thing is going to only harden the surface, and that's not good enough for structural integrity.

Revision
ME-IU-56 Infantry Uniform:
MXETE 2.0:
ME-CM-56 'Instant Roads': (3) Jilladilla, NUKE9.13, Andrea
ME-CM-56 'Sprayable Walls': (1) Madman
Division of Unusual Biology: (2) Maximum Spin, FallacyofUrist
ME-MG-56 "Heartpopper" Modular Gun:
Import
UF-MRL-40 'SARUKH': (1) Jilladilla
Tiger Infantry Armor: (2) NUKE9.13, FallacyofUrist

FoU, this is a complete and total veto on cat-people forever. They will not be getting voted for, OK?
There are BETTER WAYS to make supersoldiers. FAR better ways.

[NUKE9.13]

So, to be clear, the sprayable concrete will
-Make it so we can use the Burrower tunnels. This is its main function.
-Possibly let us build field fortifications very quickly.
-Benefit industry in some small way?

Whether we do Madman's version or Jilla's version will almost certainly have no mechanical effect, so I'm not going to switch my vote, unless everyone else does.

[Chiefwaffles]

ME-CM-56 'Instant Roads'
The Division of Unusual Chemistry is set to work once again, to take up the task of making a Fast Acting Concrete solution, originally meant to serve to stabilize Burrower tunnels, but other potential uses abound.
Really, how it works is an unusual method: Instead of tampering with the normal concrete mix, an aerosol accelerator mixture consisting of very finely ground Calcium Nitrates as well as some more non-standard and potentially flammable substances is sprayed on the drying concrete, catalyzing the process and greatly enhancing the rate at which it sets to mere minutes at most, with only mild concerns for flammability! A spraying rig and tank trailer is attached to the back of the Burrower tanks, which sprays concrete onto new tunnel surfaces as it goes.

Revision: ME-CM-56 'Instant Roads'
Easy:  (3+2)+1 = 6: Above Average

It turns out making a fast-acting-sprayed concrete mix is quite easy with the right tools. While it doesn't look like traditional concrete when dried, it succeeds in giving a grayer hue to whatever it's applied to while notably reinforcing most materials. CM-56 is already being put to use reinforcing Burrower tunnels, opening them up for use after the fact. The tunnels are still inherently temporary - reinforcing them is a bit more complicated than just spraying concrete on it - but they should last for more than long enough to be useful. Any permanent tunnels can just be leisurely properly reinforced as we have time to do so, and routine applications of the mixture can keep a tunnel stable for years.

The immediate effect is twofold: We gain +1 TC from our Burrower as we can use it as a route to transport goods in, even if we don't have any proper vehicles for doing so. The second benefit is the safe and subtle transportation of our troops - our tunnels are secure enough to move forces in relative bulk. As long as nothing's bigger than the Burrower, that is. This means no ambushing, no environmental hazards, no air attacks, and more. Safe and relatively quick transport of a decent amount of our troops and anything fitting in a tunnel.
While theorized and somewhat tested, the use of CM-56 and the Burrower for secret paths and ambushing Aratam troops is likely not particularly practical - the Burrower is quite loud and its proximity to the surface means it's easy to detect and follow. It's also difficult to coordinate beyond our front lines as there are no landmarks underground.


CM-56 is only a bit cheaper than regular concrete and is easy to manufacture in mass quantities. However, while it's theorized to have many potential benefits with improvements, it's only useful for reinforcing Burrower tunnels at the moment. The mixture is designed for spraying and thus isn't actually good at construction, though we believe it'd be easy to modify it in other ways.

Import: Tiger Infantry Armor
Much to our dismay, Tiger Infantry Armor doesn't actually have anything to do with tigers. The Forenian representative tells us that's a common reaction. Fortunately, though, it is cheap with our ore supply.

-Tiger Infantry Armor: [L] Infantry armor made of a forged manganese steel alloy. All of the armor plates are relatively thick for infantry, and the full suit weighs in at 36 pounds. The helmet is particularly thick, and fits round and close around the head, low over the eyes and down to the neck with a little outward slope. It can be attached with a face mask, which when worn allows a wide but very narrow viewing slit between the mask and helmet, while even covering the neck. The breastplate is curved outwards for optimal armor angle, with appearance of a ridge down the middle. The backplate is thick, but flat. At the waist these plates end and there are flat curved single-piece taces to protect the upper legs, below the knee the armor has no coverage. The pauldrons allow comfortable shoulder motion, being made of three layered plates, and the upper arms are covered by rerebraces, which are round fitted plates to the outside of the arm. While the lower arms, lower legs, and sometimes gaps around the shoulders are exposed, most parts of the armor will stop a pistol bullet at point blank. The breastplate and taces will stop rifle bullets at all but very close range. AP Horsekillers easily penetrate at medium range. The armor is tiring and cumbersome, troops cannot effectively crawl and kneeling is difficult, as is aiming down rifle sights while using the mask. Costs 3 ore.

Spoiler: Designs (click to show/hide)

Transport Capacity: 1
Resources: 3 Ore, 1 Oil

Weapons

• "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.
    [Cheap] 3 Ore

Underground Vehicles

• UT-56 Burrower: A tracked medium-sized heavily-modified tunnel boring machine, most notably using GOFAST-fuel. Can go down to 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.
  [Expensive] 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.

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 based on the moderately-performing Overcompensator, except that the 60kg shells are moved in one piece. Each gun can fire 8 times a minute. It has an armored citadel with 300mm of nickel-steel armor (Heavy), and a torpedo belt as well. The deck is also heavily armored, at 120mm (Light) to defend against plunging fire, plus an extra splinter deck. The turrets are similarly armored. There is a central director in the con tower which controls all the electrically-driven turrets, though there is no advanced firing calculator. Additionally there are three turrets with two bumblebees on each side of the ship, capable of firing on aircraft or ships, and miscellaneous autocannons wherever there is room. It is powered by oil-burning steam turbines, and there are a lot of them though with its considerable armor it only musters moderate speed.
  [Very Expensive] 5 Ore, 4 Oil

Other

• Standard Uniform: A plain blue featureless uniform. The blue's mild enough that it doesn't really stick out.
• Tiger Infantry Armor: Infantry armor made of a forged manganese steel alloy. All of the armor plates are relatively thick for infantry, and the full suit weighs in at 36 pounds. The helmet is particularly thick, and fits round and close around the head, low over the eyes and down to the neck. It can be attached with a face mask, which allows a wide but very narrow viewing slit, while covering the neck. The breastplate is curved outwards for optimal armor angle. The backplate is thick, but flat. At the waist these plates end and there are flat curved single-piece taces to protect upper legs, below the knee the armor has no coverage. Pauldrons allow comfortable shoulder motion, and upper arms are covered by round fitted plates to the outside of the arm. While lower arms and legs, and sometimes gaps around the shoulders are exposed, most parts of the armor will stop a pistol bullet at point blank. The breastplate and taces will stop rifle bullets at all but very close range. The armor is tiring and cumbersome, troops cannot effectively crawl and kneeling is difficult, as is aiming down rifle sights while using the mask.
  [Cheap] 3 Ore
• 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.
• MXETE: Discrete transistor digital mainframe computer - 2 MHz CPU, 4 Mb of magnetic drum long-term memory, and an operating memory of 1200*32 bits. Takes up an entire (very big) floor on the Design Division and creating another one is immensely impractical. Punch card input, with a tightly-packed light matrix called a "screen" for output.
• 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.
  [Expensive] 1 Ore, Complex

Infrastructure

• Division of Unusual Chemistry: A fully funded department & lab under the Design Division specializing in more unusual chemistry.

The Design Phase of 1957 has begun.

[Maximum Spin]

ME-RP-57 'Firmament' Altitudinous Delivery Apparatus

Recent developments by the Division of Unusual Chemistry in the study of certain pyrophoric substances have finally provided us with the ability to propel mass upward through the coordinated effort of large quantities of explosion. 'Firmament' is our first platform to take advantage of this raw power, with the help of MXETE to calculate trajectories, to, hypothetically, deliver medium-sized objects to distant Earthbound locations or even low orbit. Assuming it doesn't just explode. Well, there's only one way to find out.

[Hibou]

ATBM-57 "Mole Claw"

The LBW-57 is a special kind of machine designed to compliment the Burrower. These are, effectively, self-laying mines. Or, as the design department calls them, Anti-Tank Burrowing Mines. They are approximately a foot in diameter and three feet in length, equipped with a small drill attachment at the front along with several kilograms of explosives and a fuel compartment in the rear. Running along its length are small tracks covered in hooked teeth to grab the walls of its miniature tunnel and pull it along. It uses a small single stroke motor to power itself, along with our GOFAST fuel. The exhaust is routed through a simple muffler to reduce noise output. The drill itself is modeled after the Burrower's, flat with several grinding wheels designed to move through stone and rock.

Its guidance moves in two stages, and is controlled by a timer and a simple attitude indicators to measure its angle of attack. For the first stage it burrows parallel to the ground before the adjustable timer runs out and the tracks switch speeds so that it begins turning to face the surface. Once it detects that it's perpendicular with the surface it cuts throttle to half, decreasing its noise output until it reaches the surface.

At the front of the drill there is a small rod with four pins attached via springs inside. As the Mole Claw burrows, the pins are held inside by the surrounding dirt. However, once the rod breaks the surface the springs on the pins let them spin outwards, which releases a latch inside the machine that turns off the engine and arms the device. The rod extends from the front of the machine about six inches, and the pins themselves extend from the rod at 45 degree angles, borrowing the style from other land mine trigger systems. If any are disturbed, either by contact or strong vibration, the entire device explodes violently.

They're intended to be used inside Burrower tunnels as a method of offensive mine laying. Once the machine as gone as far as it could without endangering itself too much, an operator can release these into front of the tunnel face and let them burrow the extra few hundred yards before arming themselves behind enemy lines to wreak havoc.

[FallacyofUrist]

ATBM-57 "Mole Claw": (2) Hibou, FallacyofUrist

[Madman198237]

Electrogel
When we heard of how the Division of Unusual Chemistry was making some sort of electricity-generating compound, we were intrigued. When we learned that it could generate electricity instantly when squeezed, we were *interested*. When we found out that it was capable of scaling output based on the strength of the squeeze, we were very interested. When the DUCK member mentioned the ability of the gel to power a miniaturized electric motor and make a fist-bump device punch through the cinderblock wall, we told him that it was coming out of his salary, but he was going to get overtime if he finished it and the motor in time for a review this year. Specifically, when squeezed the gel gives a measured electrical response, which can be extremely powerful. The motor is very efficient at converting it to motion, as well as being relatively small and very low-lying.

And then we use it next year, to power this:

ME-PA-58 'Bear Armor'
Based off of Tiger Armor, Bear armor is expanded to cover the entire body like a suit of medieval plate, with strategically-positioned electrogel blobs spread around underneath a rubberized inner liner. The gel patches are wired to the high-power low-lying electric motors at the joints via armored conduits. When the soldier moves and presses against the gel patches, there is an equivalent response from the armor, i.e., the armor moves more the harder you push on it. In addition, the motion is nearly instantaneous because of how fast electricity and the motors work. The armor itself is thick enough to stop 20mm cannon rounds to the torso and helmet (Which is heavily supported by the torso armor), and fifty cal rounds everywhere else. It is built somewhat like Gothic plate armor, in that, when standing still, the armor supports its own weight, preventing fatigue. Mostly.

ATBM-57 "Mole Claw": (2) Hibou, FallacyofUrist
ME-EG-57 'Electrogel': (1) Madman

[Jilladilla]

All in all? The most practical way to do power armor I'd think. We could likely figure out more uses for it later too.

For this turn's revision wise, I say we go for some sort of seismic sensor, which we'll need if we're going full underground stuff. Would open the door for 'Burrowing Torpedoes' too.

ATBM-57 "Mole Claw": (2) Hibou, FallacyofUrist
ME-EG-57 'Electrogel': (2) Madman, Jilladilla

[NUKE9.13]

Alright, a couple of things:
-Can we not put alphanumerical codes in front of everything? GOFAST doesn't have it, DUC doesn't have it, and frankly Instant Roads shouldn't have had it. Only equipment should have it. Electrogel should just be Electrogel.
-I reckon Electrogel would be Easy, and once we have it, Bear Armour would be Easy too. Now, there's something to be said for doing Easy things to guarantee some level of success,  but we must also consider action economy. I'd rather go straight for Bear Armour at Hard. If we must do them separately, can we at least do Electrogel as a revision?
-CW has given us some pretty big hints as to how we might improve the Burrower. If we put them together, we get something like

HUT-57 Excavator: Following on from our success with the Burrower, the Excavator is a more confident, impressive vehicle. With a strengthened drill, reinforced hull, and more powerful engine, it is capable of going deeper than the Burrower ever could, without losing much in the way of speed. A (relatively simple) navigation-computer uses heading and velocity information to calculate and display the craft's (approximate) position, allowing for longer stints underground without getting (very) lost.
The Excavator has a turret armed with dual Velociraptors, though it is left fairly modular such that other weapons could easily be installed. Underground, the turret is protected by a cowl. Above ground, the cowl folds away, and the turret extends upwards, giving the gunner a clear line of sight all around the vehicle.
Despite increased armour, we expect the Excavator to be capable of moving at a reasonable pace, thanks to its more powerful engines. And with its ability to go deeper than the Burrower, it should be possible to outflank enemy positions. We imagine the Excavator harassing enemy supply lines, hitting vulnerable command centers, or joining the main force as a flanking force- and then retreating underground before reprisal can be mustered.

[Jilladilla]

-Can we not put alphanumerical codes in front of everything? GOFAST doesn't have it, DUC doesn't have it, and frankly Instant Roads shouldn't have had it. Only equipment should have it. Electrogel should just be Electrogel.

Right right... You do have a point. Alright then; all in favor for only using the Forenian Naming Scheme for equipment?

Also... NUKE is right... Already the 'things we want to do' list is piling up, we need to consider the Action Economy a bit more... So how about this, we do Bear Armor this turn. For the revision? I was originally going to suggest and Advanced Seismograph Thingy to serve as a navigation thing for our underground units.. But maybe not?.. I think it'd be important enough to deserve it's own thing, and not be lumped in with something else, though.

Decisions, decisions...

[andrea]

Nuke, I agree that we should work more on our burrower tech!
However, I think that autocannons aren't a nearly MAD enough use for them.

therefore, I propose a weapon that can make use of our tunneling abilities, although it will probably need a new war tunneler to make full use of it.

SOIL - SOIL induced liquefaction
Sometimes, during Earthquakes  the shaking is such that the soil turns semi-liquid, offering no resistance to stress.
If earthquakes can do it, so can we! the SOIL is an acustic resonator which is able to induce soil liquefaction in the nearby area, causing everything to sink in the ground. After the deed is done and the resonator stops, the soil becomes solid again entrapping definitely the captured men and hardware. Ideally it would be small enough to fit in a sort of ground torpedo, but at this stage bulky burrower mounted options are viable.
Unusual chemicals can be used in the design to make the local ground more amenable to liquefaction, although their effect should be temporary.


If in the future we make it against rock as well, it would allow for very fast burrowing.


And if people want a power armor, do it directly. the gel alone seems an unnecessarily small step.

ATBM-57 "Mole Claw": (2) Hibou, FallacyofUrist
ME-EG-57 'Electrogel': (2) Madman, Jilladilla
SOIL: (1) Andrea

as for revision, I think we absolutely need an advanced seismographer for navigation and target acquisition.
With some mapping, we can get underground landmarks as well.