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[NUKE9.13]

You know what, you're totally right. I was being far too sane. Why shoot people when you can have the very earth swallow them up?

ATBM-57 "Mole Claw": (2) Hibou, FallacyofUrist
ME-EG-57 'Electrogel': (2) Madman, Jilladilla
SOIL: (2) Andrea, NUKE9.13

For our revision, I could go for underground navigation. Or, like I said, if we have to do power armour in two steps, do Electrogel as a revision.

[Jilladilla]

Right right, the people on the Discord told me I should post this here.

Do note that I am not suggesting we do this now, this is for the near future, and why I want to import the SARUKH.

Anyway, onto the Design:

Intense Chemical Endotherm (ICE) Rocket
One of the more civic minded members of the Division of Unusual Chemistry was working on a compound for refrigeration, during their free time, and well, according to the reports it was apparently very effective. Either way those of us with our minds working towards proper productive means have seen the obvious utility in freezing Aratam troops and equipment when they least expect it, and as a result, said member received funding to properly develop such a substance, hereby after termed as ICE.

ICE creates an endothermic reaction when exposed to the air, rapidly causing the temperature to plummet towards and beyond freezing. We've theorized on methods to get a proper amount of the ICE to the target location for useful effect, without it dissipating or being too scattered. However, our recent import from Forenia, the SARUKH Multiple Rocket Launch system, offers a solution. As Rocket Artillery is excellent method for sudden saturation bombardment, it'll fill the role we need nicely. After managing to find out methods for mass producing ICE, our engineers are to perform the simple process of making a SARUKH rocket with an ICE warhead, maybe do a fancy two-stage system where a tiny regular explosive is used to scatter the primary ICE payload. Either way, the ICE rockets should allow us to unleash the wrath of the tundra upon our foes.

..Ok, that got a little away from me, I think. Let me know what you think, any changes that need to be made, or whatever.

ATBM-57 "Mole Claw": (2) Hibou, FallacyofUrist
ME-EG-57 'Electrogel': (1) Madman
ME-PA-57 'Bear Armor': (1) Jilladilla
SOIL: (2) Andrea, NUKE9.13

[Madman198237]

The reason it's two different things is quite simple, and quite annoying:
Even though this is MAD SCIENCE tech, we don't have the electric motors or anything for it. The first design, the gel, gets super-powerful electric motors and a freakishly effective electricity-producing gel (I reiterate: MAD SCIENCE! Tell me you can't find another use for either of those things). Then the second design uses those (Which it needs to provide meaningful power) to make powered armor.

PA will work better than tanks in tunnels, where attack might come from the side and you can't turn the tank, it will work better in mountainous terrain, in thick jungles, in urban combat.

Also, we'll have ICE to deny area to the enemies.

[NUKE9.13]

super-powerful electric motors and a freakishly effective electricity-producing gel

Neither of these things is specified in the design. CW can't read minds; if you want something, state it clearly. I mean, I guess the anecdote about a guy punching through a wall is meant to show that, but you need to be clearer than that. Otherwise you'll get regular electric motors powered by moderately effective gel, even with a decent roll.
Regardless, I think it'd be better as a revision.

[Madman198237]

Sorry about that: I made it clear in the first draft, which was lost to internet shenanigans. I forgot to rewrite that part, but I've fixed it now.

[Jilladilla]

Right, let RNGesus take the wheel for this one, and RNGesus said to take it slow.

Maximum Spin is being lazy, yell at him if you object to him telling me over the Discord to 'Yeah, go ahead and add my vote if you will'. Huff. Lazy...

ATBM-57 "Mole Claw": (2) Hibou, FallacyofUrist
ME-EG-57 'Electrogel': (3) Madman, Jilladilla, Maximum Spin
ME-PA-57 'Bear Armor':
SOIL: (2) Andrea, NUKE9.13

[andrea]

As a final argument for SOIL:

First, it thematically fit with our burrowers. Creating a mad theme is I think important, rather than branching out in many thematically unrelated fields.

Second, a concern was raised about the ability of our tunneler to resume tunneling. Personally, I believe this is rooted way too much in the contepmporary tunneling techniques. If we do SOIL, our next burrower will be built to take account for it. In fact, that tech can be used for fast tunneling: liquefy the small portion of soil in front of you and suddenly all you need now is a pump instead of a drill. This system would also greatly reduce the noise produced by tunneling, although it poses a limit to the depth.
Furthermore, I fully intend to push for use in torpedoes at a later stage, I just doubt the first iteration will be suitable for that.

Third, there was a concern that it would be a war crime because we would drown people, which is bad. However, people float. they would get very much stuck, but they will be waist deep or so. Vehicles may fare a bit better or worse, depending especially if the tip over while sinking. A small inclination goes a long way toward making it unuseable.



Vote for mole men army today!

[Maximum Spin]

The #1 problem with soil liquefaction is that it is a better weapon against us (with our underground theme) than against our enemies.

We don't want to give them ideas.

[Chiefwaffles]

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.

Design: Electrogel
Easy: (4+1)+1 = 6: Above Average

Creating the Electrogel is easy. Well, easy with secret Forenian research scientists and engineers of our caliber. It's practically just a fancy battery. Surprisingly, the motors were the hardest part of this design.
Still easy, though. Just a bit less-so. By using the Electrogel inside the motor, we can actually skip out on a lot of parts while retaining the power of larger motors. This also makes it easy to integrate the motors with Electrogel - local Electrogel activation activates the corresponding motors directly; no need for complicated wiring.
Electrogel unfortunately can't be easily recharged: the process that creates the electricity is of course chemical, and when combined with the Electrogel's structure and nature we can't just add more stuff to keep the process going. A section of Electrogel can power its corresponding motor nonstop for about 8 hours at max-power, and needs to be replaced after running out.

The result is clearly impressive. Electrogel has been compared to nerves by some, in fact. We've constructed a very crude prototype "arm" that's remote controlled by nearby Electrogel in what's basically an extra-long glove. It manages to mimic human-like motions and gestures fairly easily. Though the tester's arm was strangely seemingly permanently given a blueish hue from interaction with the Electrogel. We could put a lot of weight on Electrogel Motors, and with some further R&D, could do great things with it.

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
• 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.

Infrastructure

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

The Revision Phase of 1957 has begun. Please also vote for what to Import in the year of 1958.

[FallacyofUrist]

Do you think we can use our new electro gel to make a better computer?

[Hibou]

WALK-TALK Mk. II

With our advances in electronics along with the handy new Electro-Gel we've created, our scientists set to work to make the WALK-TALK more compact, with a more powerful range, and have it be powered by a small phial of eletro-gel instead of the boring old batteries we used to use. With its addition, we can afford to cut down on the complex electronics and the complex unions that come with them.

Even better, since we've begin research into the wonderful world of geology we've worked to up its power output so it can transmit through several feet of dirt, allowing Burrower operators to communicate with surface crews for even better navigation potential.

[Jilladilla]

Alright, I tried to write up an underground navigation thingy... It needs a better name, I think... Better name get! Thanks Spin.

ME-SM-57 'Earth Ear'
Our Burrowers are the proof of concept of our future subterranean forces, an excellent proof of concept, yes, and it has fortunately highlighted one of the major issues with such a method of locomotion; namely that of navigating. Our latest development, the 'Earth Ear', intends to address this issue.
Based upon the theories behind both SONAR and seismometers; the Earth Ear sends out pings of vibrations through the surrounding earth, gaining a rough picture of the surrounding landscape; while it's not expected to be anywhere as good as even the Mk 1 Eyeball; it should be more than enough to forewarn our Tunneling Corps if they're about to, say, tunnel out of a cliff side, or into a cavern, or even if they're just very close to the surface. It's hopeful that large structures such as buildings and tanks (or similar equipment) will also be shown, allowing our tunnelers to attack from directly below if they so wish, or to deploy troops and vehicles in an area they really did not expect troops and vehicles to come from.

EDIT: Alright, given the lack of things, let's start with voting, to not delay things by too much. Hibou, given that you proposed the WALK-TALK Mk. II, I've added you to its vote.

WALK-TALK Mk.II (1) Hibou
ME-SM-57 'Earth Ear' (1) Jilladilla

[NUKE9.13]

Might I suggest we utilise our computer experience a little? Something like

"Vibrations are detected by several probes, which feed their information into a simple computer that processes it, eliminating (or reducing) noise, and then displays the resulting map (somehow)."

That's not critical though. It's good enough as is for me to vote for it.

Anyway, for our import... well, we know we want the Sarukh at some point so we can do ICE. Why not this turn? (Not rhetorical; if someone has a better idea, I'm all ears)

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. [1 Ore, 3 Oil]

Revision:
WALK-TALK Mk.II (1) Hibou
ME-SM-57 'Earth Ear' (2) Jilladilla, NUKE9.13

Import:
UF-MRL-40 'SARUKH'

[Madman198237]

We certainly need to import the Lightning Streak, getting a foot in the door on advanced jet engines would be insanely useful. GOFASTER *could* let us make do with rocketplanes, but I need to review the design. Hm, interesting. It *should* be more efficient WITH oxygen available, because then the fuel doesn't need an oxidizer in it. Probably worth a mention in a jet design, anyway.

After that, we could consider importing a lot of things, a basic carrier might be one of them...Or we use GOFASTER to provide a RATO/RAL system for our planes, wherein they use rockets to takeoff, and then more rockets to land. Basically, jump jets, without the complicated thrust vectoring.

[Maximum Spin]

Will vote for Earth Ear, no opinions on what to import, too much headache to copy votebox, tell Jilladilla to do it for me again