Combat PhaseSummer 1952Turn 6War Heroes: After some discussion and examining balance, I've decided to tweak the rules regarding Heroes. The chance to pop a hero will now occur
any time there's a tie. This chance is weighted in favor of whichever side has fewer heroes and/or is pressing the assault in that theatre. The exact weighting mechanism will be hidden, but it should help keep one side from getting lucky and stockpiling a supply of heroes. Additionally, multiple heroes can be stationed in a single theatre, but with diminishing returns. I would like to remind players that Heroes are squishy, and their bonus is
very modest.
The United Nations War Crimes CouncilThe UNWCC holds its second major trial since the end of WW2.
The trial concerns whether
Nogrania’s NAF-BC-51 "Rabid" is a violation of
Protocol VI on
Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Automatic Weaponry, of the
Geneva Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious, Have Indiscriminate Effects, or Greatly Enable and Encourage the Pursuant of Armed Conflicts Between Nations.
Toskesh is prosecuting, claiming that the use of the
NAF-BC-51 "Rabid" is a
War Crime and that the offending nation should bear the appropriate repercussions for their development and continued use of said weapon.
The article in question:
VI. Automatic Weaponry:
Protocol VI on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Automatic Weaponry prohibits the use of weaponry which fires greater than one projectile per activation of the device. This includes weapons which in the user is able to continue the firing of said weapon without further input or intervention. The reason is that such weaponry enables one user to rapidly cause the death of many in an indiscriminate fashion, needlessly accelerating the rate at which casualties are inflicted during the conflict.
The weapon in question:
NAF-BC-51 "Rabid" – A .280 caliber 30-round banana-magazine assault rifle, with Full-Reset, Half-Reset, and Semi-Auto firing options. Features rails on the perforated barrel shroud for grips and sights and a recoil spring in the wooden stock. Reliable, sturdy, and fairly accurate. Can be equipped with a solid stainless steel barrel shroud for preparing tea. 1 Ore. [Cheap].
The trial begins with opening arguments from both sides.
I have taken the liberty of preparing the firing ground in advance. Before you can see four weapons, welded into metal platforms. The outlawed MG 42 used by the Wehrmach in the previous war, and Nogranian´s Rabid, Wiktor and Kotow. I hold in my hand rubber bands that will help simulate the pressure of a finger pressing a trigger down. Now let´s apply them to the guns in question. As you can see, the Wiktor is only possible to trigger at all if you attach one side of the rubber to the crank and another to a pole a few centimeters forward and the Kowtow only triggers once, but BOTH the MG 42 and the Rabid shoot until their respective magazines are depleted.
The Nogranian prosecutor, Nuke, stated three months ago in the Wiktor´s case that the weapon was legal because it requires a multidirectional continuous output for each round to be fired and that opinion was later incorporated into the verdict. Every single quarter rotation of the circle counts as distinct movement, as it I performed in a different direction. However, as shown by the rubber band test, neither the Rabid or the MG 42 have this attribute.
Article VI bans “weapons which in the user is able to continue the firing of said weapon without further input or intervention”. It is apparent that, adhering by the legal precedents, that input cannot qualify as simply maintaining pressure over the weapon trigger, as that would include the MG 42 as a legal weapon, since it only needs its trigger to be pulled down continuously to start dispensing death.
But wait, the Nogranian defense might say, our weapon needs further input apart from pulling the trigger in order to function. It is actually two movements: first you pull the trigger and then it resets, allowing a soldier to pull again the trigger and start the cycle again. However, the resetting is caused by the weapon, not by the soldier firing it, making the reset irrelevant from a legal standpoint, as the conventions only consider input produced by human action, as legal artifitial input would allow machine guns like the MG 42, forbidden by the Convention. If the reset is irrelevant, then the continuous pressing of the trigger in order to expel many projectiles is no different from the one exercised in the MG 42, a single unidirectional movement completely different from the Wiktor´s multidirectional quarter revolutions.
They might also claim that the Full-Reset is one of the three possible modes of the gun, and it is the responsibility of the soldier to choose to violate the law or not and even then, we have no right to ban a whole gun for one illegal characteristic. This is all bogus, as the Nogranian nation holds the ultimate responsibility for letting automatic weapons find their way into their soldiers’ hands. Additionally, legal fire modes are irrelevant to the legal status of the weapon if they are accompanied by illegal ones like the Full-Reset.
-Wizgrot
Members of this tribunal, ladies and gentlemen of UN, observers. Once more Toskesh brings a case to this tribunal and once more they shall be proven false. It is evident that Toskesh does not seek justice with this court, but rather to gain advantage in its attempts to destroy a democratic and free country.
They have brought to this court Nogranian designed "Rabid" Battle Carbine 52. Their claim is that it violates Protocol VI. This can be, quite easily, demonstrated false. I invite, nay, challenge members of this court to fire the weapon in such a way, that they can fire more than a single projectile with but a single trigger pull. I challenge this court to successfully fire this weapon in a manner that can not be replicated by a semi-automatic weaponry.
It can not be done, for Rabid is not an automatic weapon. It is a semi-automatic rifle, just as Toskesh own Xi-52. A trigger is pulled, weapon fires a single projectile and a new trigger pull is required. No doubt our communist invader will claim that the assisted reset of the weapon somehow violates the protocol, yet it does not. Whatever the mode used in Rabid, a full trigger reset is required to make weapon capable of firing again. Should one manage to keep the trigger down through the cycling, the weapon will not fire. If it does fire, then you have either a tampered weapon in your hand or a malfunction.
As Rabid is nothing more than a semi-automatic weapon, it does not violate Protocol VI. The activation is clear: A trigger is pulled and activation starts. Weapon fires a single projectile and cycles. A reset is required. Once the reset is done, activation is over and a new trigger pull, a new activation, is required to fire the weapon. One projectile per one activation, no more, no less. If user does not actively pull the trigger again, the weapon will cease its operation. The assisted reset does not fire the weapon. It does not, in fact, even allow firing of the weapon unless the trigger fully reset, regardless of the mode. Only thing it does, as its name implies, is assist in resetting the trigger.
Indeed, this assistance actively counter-acts any attempt to fire the weapon, by forcefully ending the activation. By forcefully pushing the finger away, rather than allowing to keep the trigger to be kept down. It can, therefore, be argued that assisted reset is in fact enforcing Article VI, rather than circumventing it.
In the name of international law and justice, in defense against emotion and self-interest, I call this tribunal to observe and declare Rabid to be in compliance of Article VI and to condemn nation of Toskesh aggression and its attempts to abuse and demean this tribunal, to use this tribunal as yet another way to attack our free and democratic nation.
-Mandemon
Judicating the trials are representatives from the Soviet Union, the United States, China, France, and Britain.
As with the last trial, a fist-fight breaks out almost immediately and the court bailiffs must physically break it up. Once court resumes, both sides calmly present their cases. Again, much like the last trial, a large portion of the debate concerns what exactly counts as an "activation" between semi-auto and full-auto. Toskesh has brought in a number of similar weaponry to demonstrate for the court their argument, using a simple rubber band to explain the difference between full and semi automatic. Nogrania decries this as an additional modification to the weapon, and the court begrudgingly accepts their objection. Even despite this mis-step, Toskesh presents a rather moving case.
"...the resetting is caused by the weapon, not by the soldier firing it, making the reset irrelevant from a legal standpoint, as the conventions only consider input produced by human action," argues Chief Prosecutor Wizgrot. "[It is] a single unidirectional movement completely different from the Wiktor´s multidirectional quarter revolutions."
Nogrania surprises everyone by claiming that the full-reset functionality actually
enforces Article VI rather than circumventing it. "A reset is required. Once the reset is done, activation is over and a new trigger pull, a new activation, is required to fire the weapon," points out Chief Defendant Mandemon. "If user does not actively pull the trigger again, the weapon will cease its operation. The assisted reset does not fire the weapon...It can, therefore, be argued that assisted reset is in fact enforcing Article VI, rather than circumventing it."
As before, China and Russia side with Toskesh at the end of the trial. The United States and Britain side with Nogrania, and France is once again the tie breaker. “This is a ghost gun. This right here has the ability with a .280-caliber clip to disperse with 30 bullets within half a second. Thirty magazine clip in half a second," furiously spouts the French representative. While rate of fire is not a deciding factor and most of what the French representative said was gibberish, the rest of the court agrees that the gun does fire very quickly. Once the French representative has calmed down the court comes to its final decision.
“Building on the decision we've come to from the last court case regarding Protocol VI, France votes Aye – the Rabid
is in violation of Protocol VI. The nature of the Full-Reset function attempts to appear semi-automatic, but the fact remains that a consistent unidirectional pressure - the same thing required for a traditional full-auto - is all that is needed to continuously fire the Rabid. The weapon resets itself and prepares the next round, and the fact that the trigger moves itself does not make it dissimilar from a fully automatic weapon which requires without moving the trigger. The court reluctantly finds that the Half-Reset functionality is not in violation of Protocol VI, but the Rabid's ability to fire under Full-Reset makes the weapon a War Crime."
It was a close case, but ultimately the Rabid is found to be in violation of the Geneva Conventions. The weapon has been branded [Illegal] and Nogrania will not be allowed to use it in the field this turn. Starting this turn, the United Nations will withhold the 1 Ore and 1 Oil reparations it has been supplying Nogrania with for the duration of [2 turns], to account for the two turns of use.
Members of of this honorable Tribunal, once again my honorable and law abiding nation has been falsely and frivolously accused of war crimes by a group of desperate cowardly men attempting to gain any advantage they can. I have arrived here in this trail to demonstrate how this weapon operates, first I will show the how the rifle fires on the full-assist mode. As you can see when I pull the trigger the weapon resets itself each time, now if I hold down the trigger like you would a automatic you can not only see but hear how the weapon reacts, as this weapon isn't automatic all this accomplishes is to grind the mechanisms in the rifle like, and pardon my irish here, a bloody dumbass.
-Stabbymcstabstab
Ladies and Gentlemen. I intend to keep this defense short. If you would like to follow me to the firing range.
Here, we have arranged a test example of the Rabid Weapon. As you can see, it is secured properly to the firing stand, and this metal lever will trigger the gun by pressing and holding the trigger. This allows us to observe a scientifically valid demonstration of the weapon in action, without any risk of personal injury. For comparison's sake, we have also brought an example of the now illegal Vickers machine, so the difference in operation can be properly understood.
The demonstration is simple. First, the Vickers is tested. The metal bar is pulled back, activating the trigger, and bullets fly across the testing range. A few seconds later, the short ammo belt is exhausted and the gun falls silent.
Then, the Rabid goes onto the stand. Put into full assisted reset operation (the court is invited to verify this), the ammo is loaded and the metal bar put through the trigger. The lever is pulled back, moving the bar and depressing the trigger. As the bullet flies across the range, the gun begins to cycle. A new bullet is loaded, the trigger start to move forward and then smashes into the unyielding bar. Held firmly in place, the gun stops with a metallic clank, it's trigger still depressed, having fired just a single bullet.
As you can see, gentlemen and ladies of the court, a single trigger pull result in a single bullet fired, no more no less. In fact, if you look at the schematics, you'll find that we included a latch specifically to ensure that this is the case, even under mechanical malfunction. A phenomenon like out-of-battery-fire, can therefore not occur, as it could potentially with other semi-automatic weapons.
-10ebbor10
Fellow people of this forum, members of the UN of all associations, and spectators alike. The Nogranians continue their false-proclaimed rationalizations against their usage of automatic weaponry. They have repeatedly done so with the "Rabid" rifle of there's that deserves such interdiction. We do not challenge the “civilization” of freedom, but rather we challenge the heart of exploiters of the legal system. They believe they are a democracy when their prerogative is of conquest and not liberation, they do not have those values in mind when they bring their case.
The "Rabid" Carbine as of Nogranian design, violates the accordance of Protocol VI, that they hide their trickery in its mechanisms. The mechanisms they have indistinctly created that has allowed them to perform rapid-fire with their rifles. They call this mode, "Full Reset", in which the user of the respective rifle only needs to maintain a single finger on its trigger, and the rifle will continuous fire as it resets in this mode. This conclusively results in the factor that the rifle-carbine only needs one activation to unload its thirty round magazine, and also violates the segment of "further input" as they only need to activate the device once before it unleashes multiple projectiles down range. They have even created modes of half-reset and their tricky semi-automatic modes to try in hide the purpose, that it can indeed fire its entire magazine with one activation.
The Rabid if it were a semi-auto rifle, would need a manually-activated trigger to be condoned as a semi-auto rifle. However, the user only needs to hold pressure on the trigger for the mechanisms of this device to fire multiple projectiles. By definition this weapon is an automatic, as only one human activation needs to be utilized. The rifle resets each bullet while the individual is holding the trigger, consecutively this is only activation on the human’s behalf.
The assistance of the mechanism is indeed only created to circumvent and exploit the UN accordance, and attempting to do so results that the Nogragian military isn’t obligating to Article VI, but rather they are trying to find a loophole, so that they can give their soldier’s automatic weaponry for destructive purposes. The assisted form of reset for this rifle, means that it can fire multiple projectiles and it does further helps the individual of allowing the rifle-carbine to go full-auto.
If this is a international court of justice and law, how can the committee bring to the fact that a civilization, is trying to instinctively create a means of evasions against the accordance that they created? However, it would of been less laudable if they actually made an attempt to have the Rabid in compliance to the article. The Nogranian’s are seeking to pursue their own interests and sadistic aggression, by believing they have any justification to this design, but by definition, the design is against the accordance. The Toskesh people see that the Nogranian are delusional in having any belief that this gun is justified.
-Shadowclaw777
Author
Topic: Arms Race: Iron Behemoths - Toskesh - GAME OVER (Read 47283 times)