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[NUKE9.13]

It seems to me that Bear Armour could be great with just a few tweaks.

Bear Necessities: Early trials of Bear Armour are promising, but reveal the need for more work. Primarily the motors could use an upgrade. A slightly more complex chemical formula produces a more potent version of electrogel, with a longer lasting charge, more power, and a slightly smaller profile. This in turn allows for slightly thicker armour plating, whilst also increasing the Bear Trooper's effective strength and speed.
Whilst we're at it, a review of the armour's structure will reveal any flaws or redundancies, letting us reinforce weak spots and make it slightly less cumbersome to get in and out of.
We've also put some more work into the helmet, upgrading the viewing slit into a proper (bulletproof) visor, which will not limit the user's range of vision (as much).
Oh, and slap some armour on the boots, for crying out loud. How is it even possible to have unarmoured feet?
(Note: the intention here is to increase the Oil cost by 1 in order to make improving performance easier.)

Let me know if you think of any other small tweaks that could improve it.

Anyway, I'd like to import something to let regular infantry kill tanks.

-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. Requires 2 ore, 1 oil.

Revision:
Bear Necessities: (1) NUKE9.13

Import:
AS-RPG28 A: (1) NUKE9.13

[FallacyofUrist]

Currently, the feet and hands aren't plated. If you could fix that... maybe throw in some Bear Claws for the hands to use as melee weapons, I'd go for it.

[Madman198237]

We can't plate hands immediately, too much work to mix that in with the other revisions. The feet SHOULD be armored, are they not actually protected? I can't find anything that mentions it.

As for the rocket, yes we should do that, and our first revision should be ICE-rockets for those things.

Revision:
Bear Necessities: (2) NUKE9.13, Madman

Import:
AS-RPG28 A: (2) NUKE9.13, Madman

[NUKE9.13]

He's right, the feet are... somehow... unarmoured. Like, apparently the entire weight of the armour rests on unaugmented human feet? That should be an easy fix.

Armouring the hands, though, is trickier. We still want Bear Troopers to be able to wield weaponry, after all.

[Jilladilla]

Don't really have an opinion on the import, so here.

Revision:
Bear Necessities: (3) NUKE9.13, Madman, Jilladilla

Import:
AS-RPG28 A: (2) NUKE9.13, Madman

[Maximum Spin]

I don't have strong opinions on the import either, but I react to this with "sure, let's go with that" instead of not voting.

Revision:
Bear Necessities: (4) NUKE9.13, Madman, Jilladilla, Maximum Spin

Import:
AS-RPG28 A: (3) NUKE9.13, Madman, Maximum Spin

[NUKE9.13]

Whilst we wait, a future design to shore up our inevitably weak naval game:

ME-DD-6X "Chillwind": The Cataphract is a fine ship and all, but she has two main problems: one, she is expensive as all getout. Two, she is 20 years old.
So... time for a new ship. We need something smaller and cheaper than the Cataphract, something that is capable of patrolling the waves and taking out any threats to our control of the sea, and something that will make the world consider Mereth's navy to be cutting-edge. Meet the Chillwind.
The Chillwind is a destroyer, 150m long, with a primary armament of 2x2 125mm guns, based on those of the Cataphract but slightly smaller. She is also equipped with three missile/rocket launch areas, which are currently all taken up by modified Sarukh racks firing ICE rockets, but are designed to allow future weapon systems to be easily integrated. Naturally she also has several Velociraptors mounted in various locations, and we've made sure that there is space left over in case we ever want to install more (small) weapon systems.
What is noteworthy about the Chillwind is her hull. For rather than being armoured in steel, the Chillwind is armoured with ice. Or Pykrete, to be precise. Yes, she has a solid steel frame, which holds together a frozen hull. ICE-based refrigeration ensures that melting is even less of a problem than usual. Worth noting is that our Pykrete has been worked on by the DUC to ensure it is as strong as possible. This provides thick, solid armour, that is easy to repair even whilst underway, and is (thanks to ICE providing efficient refrigeration) relatively cheap. The Ore savings have been passed on to the rest of the ship, with critical systems armoured with high-quality alloys, so even if weaponry pierces the Pykrete, the ship will keep sailing.
The Chillwind has three GOFAST-burning turbines driving two shafts for propulsion.

Pykrete is just a cool material. IRL, the main problem making it was the cost of refrigeration (they calculated that the steel required to build the freezers needed to make the Habbakuk would be more than it would take to build the ship itself out of steel), but thanks to ICE, we can freeze things on the cheap. I'd estimate the cost of this destroyer at 3/3 (That'd be Expensive). I really want to capture the sea's Oil and use a design/revision to improve our native Oil production, since our chemistry-based weaponry needs a lot of Oil- I'd like to get our Oil production up to 3 relatively soon.

[FallacyofUrist]

Wasn't there a project in real life to build boats out of pykrete?

I'd go for that if we aren't being heavily pressured where it wouldn't help.

Revision:
Bear Necessities: (5) NUKE9.13, Madman, Jilladilla, Maximum Spin

Import:
AS-RPG28 A: (4) NUKE9.13, Madman, Maximum Spin, FallacyofUrist

[Jilladilla]

Wasn't there a project in real life to build boats out of pykrete?

I'd go for that if we aren't being heavily pressured where it wouldn't help.

Habbakuk was a Canadian proposal for a floating airbase made of pykrete during WW2. Yes, floating airbase; as Habbakuk was just that big, the smaller proposals made the largest battleships and carriers look tiny.

IIRC, it was proposed fairly late in the war, so ran into the 'So why do we need this?' issue.

Still, our only Naval Asset is the Cataphract, and one of the 2 lanes has a naval focus, so maybe shelve the Moletank for the Chillwind. Ah right, maybe see about mounting an Earth Ear for use as a crude SONAR system. It won't be ideal of course, being built for underground navigation, but it'd likely be better than nothing if they went the more sneaky route navally.

[Maximum Spin]

Freezing a ship-shaped chunk of water (and wood) with ICE? Thinking too small.
Try freezing a city-shaped chunk of water with ICE.

[NUKE9.13]

I mean, yes, that would be cool. But we need a cheap-ish ship to cover the seas with. Although, once we have that, if we still need more naval power...

ME-FF-6X "Black Ark": The Black Ark is not a ship. It is a Floating Fortress. A towering citadel constructed of steel and Pykrete, ICE pumping through the whole thing like the blood of a great leviathan, the Black Ark is approximately 1500 meters long. Yes, one and a half kilometers. It is also 800 meters wide, and has a draft of 35 meters (meaning it cannot actually 'dock' at any port in Mereth).
I won't go into the armaments in detail. Suffice it to say that it bristles with every sort of gun we can build, including many 300mm upsized Cataphract cannons, and can easily be refitted to use anything else we can possibly imagine. It also has a full-length runway, and two shorter runways. Its fully outfitted command center is the envy of military HQ back in Mereth's capital. It even has a drydock capable of performing total repairs on Chillwind-class destroyers, not to mention the wet docks all around it, where Cataphracts and even larger ships can moor up to resupply and perform minor repairs.
The Black Ark is self-propelled, albeit at a crawl. Massive engines deep within the bowels of the Ark drive a multitude of propellers located all across the 'vessel'.
We do not expect the Black Ark to be anything short of a National Effort. Indeed, it is designed such that it can be expanded (or shrunk) arbitrarily, meaning it always costs just short of Theoretical, with new wings and weapons added on as our resource base improves and new technology is designed.

[Chiefwaffles]

Bear Necessities: Early trials of Bear Armour are promising, but reveal the need for more work. Primarily the motors could use an upgrade. A slightly more complex chemical formula produces a more potent version of electrogel, with a longer lasting charge, more power, and a slightly smaller profile. This in turn allows for slightly thicker armour plating, whilst also increasing the Bear Trooper's effective strength and speed.
Whilst we're at it, a review of the armour's structure will reveal any flaws or redundancies, letting us reinforce weak spots and make it slightly less cumbersome to get in and out of.
We've also put some more work into the helmet, upgrading the viewing slit into a proper (bulletproof) visor, which will not limit the user's range of vision (as much).
Oh, and slap some armour on the boots, for crying out loud. How is it even possible to have unarmoured feet?
(Note: the intention here is to increase the Oil cost by 1 in order to make improving performance easier.)

Revision: Bear Necessities
Normal: (2+3) = 5: Average

First: The person that was in charge of armoring the feet was fired. Then the person who hired him was fired. Then a person was picked off the street to do the job instead. They have done a stellar job in ensuring the feet are just as armored as the rest of the body.

But other than that, the new version of Bear Armor is very competent. We've done some tweaking to the Electrogel motors that, when combined with pouring more oil into the Electrogel vats more complex Electrogel formulae, increase motor strength and Electrogel charge. A fully-charged suit will now last 16 hours at consistent high-power usage, but in reality it won't be used nearly as much as that because our men will have to guess what the charge is at, leading to low confidence in it keeping a good charge. Speed remains the same - as it's a bit more than just "higher-powered motors", we felt it was best to focus our efforts in the armor and strength department. So Bear Armor users now have roughly twice the strength of a regular soldier and once again their toughness is similar to that of the Tiger armor. Their strength still isn't anywhere near enough to lift tanks (we've already sent an apology to the family of the Bear Armour soldier that was crushed by a tank in testing), unfortunately.
The improved Electrogel adds an additional 1 Oil to the overall cost.

The addition of some connecting parts and switches for those connecting parts has also improved disembarking and embarking times. It's still by no means an easy or quick process, but soldiers no longer have to manually take apart the suit to enter and exit it; we estimate about 30 seconds for those trained in it. In addition, occupants can now exit themselves, though it'll take a relatively significant amount of time.
Bulletproof glass in the visor has increased visibility to the point where it's no longer a significant disability, though awareness is still down compared to unarmored soldiers and the glass isn't anywhere near as strong as the rest of the armor.


Import: AS-RPG28 A
The last import arrives as scheduled. The Forenian representative informs us that Forenia wishes everyone luck in the coming battle, and promises that Forenia will continue (indirectly) supporting Mereth in their just cause for battle. Whatever it is.

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. Requires 2 ore, 1 oil.

The AS-RPG28 A is Cheap with our current resources.

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
• 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.
  [Expensive] 1 Ore, 3 Oil
  
  • ICE (Intense Chemical Endotherm) Rocket: A rocket for the Sarukh equipped with an ICE non-explosive warhead that induces extreme cold. 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.
  [Expensive] 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

Armor

• 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
• ME-PA-59 'Bear Armour: "Infantry" armor based off of the Tiger suit. Boasts full (barring hands) body coverage, albeit with fairly frequent gaps in the joints; armor toughness is identical to Tiger Armor, with insulating fur inner lining. Armor plating is semi-manually removed from the outside through a series of switches to enter/exit/perform maintenance, and the suit must have its Electrogel very routinely replaced to maintain full charge. Lasts 16 hours of consistent high-power use, but use is carefully rationed due to no tracking of the charge. 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, and have their skin dyed blue from the Electrogel. Has mounts for a WALK-TALK and larger ICE Thrower tank, and a velcro strip for maximum pilot comfort.
  [Expensive] 4 Ore, 2 Oil

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. Equipped with the ME-SM-57 'Earth Ear' for basic subterranean navigation.
  [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.

Air Vehicles

• UFAF-F-41 Lightning Streak: A single-engine jet fighter, with a large aT-J20 jet taking up most of the fuselage. The aT-J20 is a low-bypass turbofan; some of the air taken in by the compressor blades passes around the engine core and is not combusted; the bypass system provides useful cooling. The Lightning Streak has a relatively fat fuselage, which widens out in the middle after the intake and narrows again at the exhaust, there there is a rudder and two tail wings directly on the fuselage. With the round glass canopy (using 15mm of heavy laminated glass) the aircraft has sort of an egg shape, with thin swept wings. The wings have no bomb mounts and are as light as possible for speed and maneuverability, it is armed solely with three AC41 Velociraptor cannons in the nose above the intake, with somewhat limited ammo. It also includes airbrakes on the body near the tail, and hydraulic controls. Since it was designed as an absolutely dedicated fighter the speed and maneuverability are remarkable.
  [Very Expensive] 5 Ore, 4 Oil

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

• 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.
• UF-SM-57 'Earth Ear': A set of small attachments to be put on all available sides of a subterranean vehicle. Vibration pings allow it to present a map of "where stuff is" and "where stuff isn't" via a very basic 3D projection in a small gas-filled glass cube. Only useful at recognizing the terrain and notable landmarks, and has a range of 10km in every direction from the device.

Infrastructure

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

The Combat Phase of 1960 has begun. The offensive will begin shortly.

[Chiefwaffles]

Combat Phase 1960
Link to Combat Report (Core Thread)

Our funding luckily hasn't been impacted, but the rest of the military is annoyed with the recent losses to Aratam. But hope is far from gone.

The Mountains
The generals in the military are absolutely livid with the recent loss in the mountains. How the hell can Aratam already pierce Bear Armour?! The entire offensive relied on Bear Armour!
While it's still a substantial advantage, Bear Armour did represent the bulk of our infantry's advantage. They're the only new thing our infantry has and have the only new weapon our infantry has. According to intelligence, Aratam's rifles can only fire twenty armor-piercing shots and these AP shots are rarely lethal. But the fact that they can reliably hurt our Bear Armour soldiers if they're out of cover means our one advantage is no longer the steamroller we relied on it to be.

Our lessened advantage against Aratam's upgraded rifle, enhanced troopers, and (to a much lesser extent) Raider APCs will result in us losing. Our best hope for next year are the ICE missiles which almost prevented the Aratam advance and will likely prevent any advance next year, but the military suggests doing anything that directly benefits the infantry.


The Sea
The admirals are "understandable" of their loss.
We have a few really good ships, they have many more okay ships but, more importantly, they have airplanes. The Cataphract can't go one-on-one with their carriers, and it also has Corsairs to worry about.

Not all is lost. While they do have airplanes, their navy still consists of two ship types and one - the Corsair - is quite outdated. If we were to create a carrier (which wouldn't be particularly hard with the Forenian assistance our R&D gets) we could leverage our superior air force, or we could go in some other direction.

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
• 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.
  [Expensive] 1 Ore, 3 Oil
  
  • ICE (Intense Chemical Endotherm) Rocket: A rocket for the Sarukh equipped with an ICE non-explosive warhead that induces extreme cold. 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.
  [Expensive] 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

Armor

• 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
• ME-PA-59 'Bear Armour: "Infantry" armor based off of the Tiger suit. Boasts full (barring hands) body coverage, albeit with fairly frequent gaps in the joints; armor toughness is identical to Tiger Armor, with insulating fur inner lining. Armor plating is semi-manually removed from the outside through a series of switches to enter/exit/perform maintenance, and the suit must have its Electrogel very routinely replaced to maintain full charge. Lasts 16 hours of consistent high-power use, but use is carefully rationed due to no tracking of the charge. 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, and have their skin dyed blue from the Electrogel. Has mounts for a WALK-TALK and larger ICE Thrower tank, and a velcro strip for maximum pilot comfort.
  [Expensive] 4 Ore, 2 Oil

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. Equipped with the ME-SM-57 'Earth Ear' for basic subterranean navigation.
  [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.

Air Vehicles

• UFAF-F-41 Lightning Streak: A single-engine jet fighter, with a large aT-J20 jet taking up most of the fuselage. The aT-J20 is a low-bypass turbofan; some of the air taken in by the compressor blades passes around the engine core and is not combusted; the bypass system provides useful cooling. The Lightning Streak has a relatively fat fuselage, which widens out in the middle after the intake and narrows again at the exhaust, there there is a rudder and two tail wings directly on the fuselage. With the round glass canopy (using 15mm of heavy laminated glass) the aircraft has sort of an egg shape, with thin swept wings. The wings have no bomb mounts and are as light as possible for speed and maneuverability, it is armed solely with three AC41 Velociraptor cannons in the nose above the intake, with somewhat limited ammo. It also includes airbrakes on the body near the tail, and hydraulic controls. Since it was designed as an absolutely dedicated fighter the speed and maneuverability are remarkable.
  [Very Expensive] 5 Ore, 4 Oil

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

• 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.
• UF-SM-57 'Earth Ear': A set of small attachments to be put on all available sides of a subterranean vehicle. Vibration pings allow it to present a map of "where stuff is" and "where stuff isn't" via a very basic 3D projection in a small gas-filled glass cube. Only useful at recognizing the terrain and notable landmarks, and has a range of 10km in every direction from the device.

Infrastructure

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

Spoiler: Known Aratam Designs (click to show/hide)

Transport Capacity: 1
Resources: 3 Ore, 2 Oil, 2 Rare Chemicals

Weapons

• "Pursuit" Rifle: An 20-round magazine automatic rifle with mediocre accuracy at Medium range (and useless accuracy further).
  [Cheap] 1 Ore
• "Machete" Pistol: A 6-round semiautomatic pistol semi-accurate up to Short range. Reliable.
  [Cheap] 1 Ore
• "Jumper" EMA Grenade Launcher: The Electromagnetically Assisted Grenade Launcher "Jumper" is roughly the shape of a very noticeably thicker bazooka-like assembly. It uses inefficient brick-sized SynthOil batteries that provide enough charge for one shot per battery. Once a battery is inserted, the Jumper has to "charge" for roughly thirty seconds before being able to fire, and can fire 1.5 inch specially-made grenades with "average" radii and okay accuracy, silently. It's fairly bulky. The manufacturing of the coilgun adds severe complexity.
  [Expensive] 2 Ore, 1 Oil, Complex
• HMKR-59 'Osprey': Hybrid Magnetic Kinetic Rifle; a variant of the Pursuit rifle that houses coilgun components to increase the velocity of bullets after conventional firing. Has a slot in the back for a single SynthOil battery, which has enough charge for 10 powered shots (soldiers carry 2 batteries total). Powered shots are accurate to Medium range (unpowered shots to Short range) and have increased lethality and armor piercing capabilities.
  [Cheap] 1 Ore, 1 Oil

Land Vehicles

• M3T1A1 Raider: The Raider is a Diesel-Electric tracked APC designed to serve as a base platform for many roles. It has light RHA armor with a sloped front, plus slats. It holds ten passengers and three crew, making it look like a large metal box. It has an interchangeable turret, which is very wide and flat with medium armor. Default armament is a Can shredder, plus 6 external Thumper barrels for smoke grenades and an RPG, these can only be reloaded from the outside. It's also chemical warfare protected, and last but not least, amphibious, with a trim vane and two electric powered propellers. Exits are on large rear hatch and one small top hatch, only latter can be used while afloat.
  [Cheap] 3 Ore 2 Oil
• Privateer 1 1/2 Ton Truck: Cannala's first truck, it's a cabover on an antiquated 3-cylinder, the transmission only has a forward and reverse setting. It's still better than horses, though.
  [Cheap] 2 Ore, 2 Oil, Provides 1 TC

Air Vehicles

• M1938 A-3 'Parrot': The Parrot is a low-cost air superiority fighter, designed to counter the Yellowjacket. It looks very similar to the Falcon, but without the complicated prop system and reduced to a 10-cyclinder, normally aspirated power plant. It too is fully aluminum, and contains most of the little features like retractable gear, an oxygen system, and a reflex sight. It is actually quite heavily armed with two Muerte heavy machine guns and two Can Perforators, though the perforators don't have a lot of ammo.
  [Cheap] 3 Ore, 2 Oil
• M1942 A-5B 'Spearhead-B' Air Superiority Fighter: Following Forenia's Thunderbird design, the Spearhead is an aluminum-built fighter with two turbojet engines. It features a rounded canopy, swept wings, pointy nose, and the engines are under each wing, but hug the body closely; the inlets are flush with the fuselage. A heavy Can Shredder sits in the nose. Two Morei turbojets burn kerosene and take some advantage of experiences of the Bull tank's turboshaft, it includes a water-cooling system (the shared radiator creates a third intake under the body). Despite carrying more weight, it's very nearly as fast as the Thunderbird, but it does have trouble recovering from stalls. On the other hand, when it's keeping good speed it can make impressive turns thanks to its hydraulic control system; the pilot can pull the relatively large control surfaces with ease. The Can Shredder can do serious damage to bombers from a safe distance. A hardpoint for 500lb bombs or missiles has been added under each wing.
  [Very Expensive] 4 Ore, 4 Oil

Navy

• Corsair Destroyer: The Corsair is a moderate sized ship with light (for a ship) steel hull armor. It has a light cannon armament of two hydraulic-equipped Nightwind cannons and four Can Shredders. However, its main armament is its Shark Torpedo launchers (it has a couple on each side) and newly-invented Seahorse mines, which use the same warheads as Shark torpedoes but rest on the sea surface, detonating on cpntact with ships. It is powered by steam turbines and easily outpaces battleships like the Kalmar, Kraken and Kurokami.
  [Expensive] 4 Ore, 3 Oil
• Santos-Class Naval Aircraft Support Vessel: The Santos is a large aircraft carrier. It is about the size of the Khorne but not armored. It's powered by four oil-burning steam turbines, which are more powerful than coal ones. The hangar deck stores two dozen fighters, moved to the flight deck by a hydraulic lift. On deck is an Eagle Eye Radar system, con tower, a few Firecracker AA guns and a miscellaneous autocannons wherever there's spare room. It also has a decent sized flight deck, with an arrester cable for landing aircraft, and two overlapping runways with room for ready aircraft on deck. It also has a steam catapult, which allows it to launch some planes which could not normally take off from its short runway. [5 Ore, 4 Oil]
  [Very Expensive] 5 Ore, 4 Oil

Chemicals & Drugs

• Spice: An extremely potent manufactured drug resulting in extreme schizophrenia, delusions of power, frequent seizures, and eventually death. Extremely addictive. Those who undergo the week-long "Goldeneye" treatment in a CryoStat tank become accustomed (and permanently addicted) to low dosages of Spice, enabling very high awareness of surroundings and mildly increased reaction and thinking speeds when under the influence of the drug.
  [Very Expensive] 5 Rare Chemicals, Complex.
• Combat Drug 'Fury': A Spice-based drug that massively decreases reaction time, and lasts for ~2 hours. Also incites rage, decreasing soldier effectiveness at range and chances of occasional friendly fire. Mild hallucinations are common, preventing users from being effective at recon/espionage/etc. roles. Makes veins much more apparent and red. Addictive, and takes effect >5 minutes after injection.
  [Expensive] 3 Rare Chemicals

Other

• Standard Uniform: A plain red featureless uniform. The red's mild enough that it doesn't really stick out.
• CryoStat Tank: A large three-meter tall "coffin" with a small glass vertical slit inside showing a tank. Dozens of tubes connect it to the other machinery required for operation, taking up ~36 square meters of space total. Trained technicians monitor and operate it and prepare subjects for submerging. Subjects are put into "stasis" via a numbing solution they're submersed in, and medical drugs are constantly pumped into their body via dozens of injection sites prepared pre-submerging. Once taken out, subjects are put into a machine to recover from the effects of the tank. A day stabilizes minor life-threatening wounds, and a week stabilizes near all wounds. A month starts completely healing scars and generally brings up health status to pristine, and a year can restore lost limbs. Also used for life-extending "rejuvenation" processes by important people.
  [Very Expensive] 4 Rare Chemicals, Complex
• SynthOil: SMRO-58 "SynthOil" is an advanced form of oil - it's made using a combination of oil and other chemicals, making a much more stable and energy-dense solution. Has a peculiar property - with the right tools, it can directly produce electricity.
  Provides 1 Oil

Infrastructure

The Design Phase of 1960 has begun. Also vote on the Embassy design for the "Diplomatic Relations" challenge.

[NUKE9.13]

:/

Well that could've gone better.

Question: what the hell are Rare Chemicals and why don't we have them?

Anyway. To help both at sea and in the mountains, I suggest we design a plane. Specifically, one with an extremely long range, so that it can patrol well out to sea without needing a carrier. Something like

ME-LRMRA-60 "Blizzard": The Blizzard is a Long-Range Multi-Role-Aircraft, designed with Forenian assistance to be the last word in aerial superiority.
Striking about the Blizzard is the unusual X-shaped wing profile. Conventional wisdom suggests that X-shaped wings don't work (well). Conventional wisdom is wrong; correctly designed, they provide increased lift and manoeuvrability due to some weird, recently discovered aerodynamic effects. Combined with two aT-J60g engines (the al-Tawrbinat company's latest creation, specifically designed to utilise GOFAST fuel to the fullest), the Blizzard is slightly faster than the Lightning Streak, more manoeuvrable, and- thanks to Forenian doctrines of double-redundancy (the plane can fly with two wings missing, and there are backups for every critical system)- sturdier.
Less immediately obvious, but no less important, are the large GOFAST fuel tanks, which give the Blizzard incredible flight times, letting them patrol far away from base for hours on end.
The Blizzard is armed with four Velociraptor autocannons (one on each wing). It has bomb mounts capable of holding one tonne of bombs (the Forenians seemed incredibly divided over the decision to add this feature). It also mounts 8 ICE rockets (modified Sarukh ones).
To preserve pilot sanity, a very rudimentary autopilot has been installed, capable of flying in a straight line and nothing more. Computer systems also provide aiming assistance. We shall endeavour to include rudimentary radar as well.
Not described: all the other basic aeroplane stuff. We're MAD engineers here, we can leave the boring details to subordinates.
The Blizzard will tear through Aratam's outdated Cannalan planes like paper, then continue to devastate targets both on land and at sea with barrages of bombs and rockets.
Despite its superiority to the Lightning Streak, the advances in technology since '42 mean that the Blizzard is not expected to cost any more than its predecessor; more efficient engines and better metallurgy reduce the cost even as superior range and construction increase it.

For our embassy design, well, clearly Forenia wants their embassy to be just as secure as our Design Devision HQ- ie, constructed deep underground. They also want it up and running ASAP. So it makes total sense that we invest heavily into underground construction equipment to help build it:

Vast Underground Forenian Embassy: Tastefully decorated with marble statues, rich wooden panelling, and thick carpets, the Forenian Embassy is a luxurious home for our ally's ambassadors. It is also located 200ft below the surface, for security purposes. In order to quickly excavate the vast underground facility, we have upgraded the Burrower into the ME-UT-60 "Excavator", a larger vehicle capable of digging substantially deeper, equipped with an upgraded Earth-Ear system with increased range and accuracy- to facilitate more precise digging, because we wouldn't want our esteemed friends to reside in a wonky embassy.
Someone suggested installing a Velociraptor on the Excavator, in case Aratam insurgents attack the building site... but that would be a silly waste of our ally's money.
Once the project is completed, we will try to find some use for the remaining construction equipment- to show our allies that we are conscientious with our resources, and don't just throw things away once we're done with them. Perhaps the mining industry would appreciate the ability to dig deeper and faster as well? And, I mean, I suppose we could deploy Excavators in combat, now that you mention it.

[FallacyofUrist]

So Bear Armor users now have roughly twice the strength of a regular soldier

This isn't listed in the designs section.
~~~
If Aratam does catgirls before we do...
~~~

Normal Design:
ME-LRMRA-60 "Blizzard" (2): NUKE9.13, FallacyofUrist

Embassy Design:
Vast Underground Forenian Embassy (2): NUKE9.13, FallacyofUrist

One alternative to the underground embassy would be one made out of pykrete, if you like.

For our revision, I'd suggest something like...

Polar Bear Armor:
We make several more improvements to our Bear Armor. In order of priority:
1. Camouflage. A version of Bear Armor is now available that heavily resembles a polar bear. This allows the armor's wearer to hide in snow with extreme ease. Sure, the enemy has those weird psychic people, but they can't be everywhere. Comes with increased insulation.
2. Improved armor. Those armor-piercing rounds are bad news. The increased strength of a Bear Armor wearer allows us to replace the alloy used for Bear Armor plating with a heavier but tougher alloy at no additional cost.
3. Cheaper Electrogel. We work on cheapening our Electrogel formula. If that happens to increase the dyeing effect, we're fine with that.
4. Claws/hand armor. For crying out loud, armor the hands too! By using a set of very small connected metal plates, we can armor the hands while retaining flexibility. Think something like chainmail. To improve our Bear Armor melee abilities, the hand armor comes with a set of vicious metal claws.

Alternatively,

Moore's Law:
Several businessmen have seen the possibilities of our MXETE computer. Led by Edward Moore, each year they'll shrink and improve the power of our computers in exchange for the right to sell to us.

Because computer stuff has the potential to be really awesome.