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[RAM]

Zìyóu-52 Merchant Vessel (3): Wizgrot, Thanatos Russ, RAM
Xi-52 Gōn Zhísh (2): Jilladilla, Pavellius

I would rather get more experience with engines before hitting the heli.

[evictedSaint]

Zìyóu-52 Merchant Vessel

We need more. More fuel to power our hovercrafts, more bandages to heal our soldiers, more bullets to kill Nogranian scum. While our allies in Moscow want dearly to supply us, our fleet isn´t enough to bring those supplies here. If we want to solve this issue, we need to think big.

While the Conventions forbid any armed ship that is over 7,000 tonnes, we can top that number if we focus on building a merchant vessel instead of an armed one. Inspired by the Liberty Model used by the American dogs in the Atlantic, I am proud to introduce the Zìyóu-52.

The Zìyóu-52 is a 20,000 tonne ship, powered by three big gas turbines, which rely on the same principles as the turboshaft our engineers try to force on anything that moves. This should allow us to make use of our previous experience with them, as well as gaining more for our next designs. The gas turbines provide both propulsion and electricity to the ship.

The Zìyóu-52, like his inspiration, is designed to be cheap, quickly produced and able to take as much cargo as it can. For this reason, the crew accommodations should be as austere as possible, trimming living space as much as possible in order to make more room for the valuable cargo. The ship may be equipped with standard cargo bays for solid materials, tankers for oil and other liquids or it can be modified to serve as a kind of impromptu naval field hospital.

What we are basically aiming for her is a cheap design that it is able to grant us TC:+4 so we can make use of all the goodies we are receiving but can´t use. Count my vote for this.

Very Hard Difficulty: 6

The Zìyóu-52 Merchant Vessel is a little less than twenty times the size of our Dogbite destroyer at an unloaded displacement of 20,000 long tons.  This is makes it what our engineers like to refer to as "a very big ship" and larger than anything ever built on Serouda.

In order to provide adequate propulsion, the powerplant features three up-sized Type-51 turboshaft engines.  These massive gas turbines crank three separate screws, giving the ship just enough propulsion to get from place to place in a reasonable amount of time.  Living conditions are minimal and the crew size is rather small.  A separate variant of the Zìyóu-52 exists which features dedicated oil tanks.  DWT sits at approximately 18,000 long tons.  Requires docks with dedicated cranes to move cargo.  Features no armor and no guns and is extremely vulnerable to enemy action, if it sees any.  The size and upscaled gas turbines make it rather expensive.  10 Ore, 5 Oil, 1 Cobalt.  +3 TC (Sea).

[RAM]

Should we try for a scope as a revision?

[Pavellius]

Wǔshí'èr-52 Medium Rockets
These rockets are identical to the 80mm rockets fired by the Huā-Zi, except in two respects: They have a greater HE payload than their predecessor, as well as larger fins to improve their accuracy. If necessary, the Huā-Zi will be modified to allow for the rocket's larger fins.

Wǔshí'èr-52 Medium Rockets (1): Pavellius

[Jilladilla]

Right, here's a provisional upgrade to our rocket launcher.

“Jin Na” SMRL, Xi-52b
A proper contribution to our late war hero, the 1952 model of the Jin Na SMRL is a vast improvement over the failure of the original; it features a redesigned launch tube and rocket, allowing space for fins to be attached, the magneto spark ignition system is fixed, and the rocket itself is made slightly smaller to allow its poor thruster (which has also gained a rework) to achieve a better thrust-to-mass ratio and improve its range.

Wǔshí'èr-52 Medium Rockets (1): Pavellius
“Jin Na” SMRL, Xi-52b (1): Jilladilla

[Thanatos Russ]

Bleh, we should figure out a way of weaponizing our turboshafts. maybe having turboshaft propelled rockets?

[RAM]

Bleh, we should figure out a way of weaponizing our turboshafts. maybe having turboshaft propelled rockets?

Land-torpedoes...

[Wizgrot]

Wǔshí'èr-52 Medium Rockets (1): Pavellius
“Jin Na” SMRL, Xi-52b (2): Jilladilla, Wizgrot

I suggest we kidnap the previous researchers´families to assure our engineers they are safe while they continue their work free from any unnecessary distractions.

Should we try to get the Rabid to the court. I mean, their Full-Reset mode actually allows to shoot without releasing the trigger.

[Jilladilla]

To address the violation of the convention, we must address the convention itself. Article six has two main points. The first, and most clear, the technicality of the violation, that there must be but a single action per projectile. The second, and somewhat vague, that it must be granted no further input between targets. The primary subject of this prohibition is the "machine gun" which I shall be citing as an example.

To address the first point, internally, the "machine gun" performs many actions. Pulling in ammunition, ejecting casings, detonation charges... it is not the internal processes which are relevant, it is the actions performed by the operator. An operator performs a single action of deploying a trigger, or rotating a trigger, in order to deploy many bullets. That their trigger is a wheel and that the pressure must be rotational instead of depression changes nothing. How can one cite a "single" action of a wheel? A full rotation? While dramatic, there is no cosmic ordination of the full circle, it is an arbitrary measure. Our enemies could spend aeons trying to convey some religion of geometric perfection of circles, but it will never have any relevance to the weapon's rate-of-fire that is not artificially installed by its malevolent designers... One could just as easily argue for a half-turn, or a single centimetre progressed at its circumference, and one would fail at every attempt. Why? because it persists, it is endless, there is no discreet action to define until it ceases to rotate. The difference between a "machine gun" and a permissible weapon with a self-loading mechanism, is that it comes to a complete rest between shots. The trigger must stop. So long as the trigger does not come to a complete stop between projectiles, forced by the very nature of the firing mechanism, the weapon can fire more than once per activation, and is clearly a violation of article six. I invite the judges to visit the firing range and operate the weapon as swiftly as they are able, and then to guess how many bullets it fired. It will immediately become clear that the correlation between activating the thing and firing it is completely incoherent.

As to the second point. While vague, it is quite brief to address. The difference between a "machine gun" and a rifle is that the former will fire when it fires, and to end a row of human lives is a matter of sweeping the sites over them and watching them fall. The latter, however, requires each victim to be sited, and then the trigger to be pulled. First, the victim is identified, and then the choice to kill them is made. Or not! To separate the action is to invite a chance to see that they are civilian, or surrendering, or unarmed and helpless. With this new weapon of slaughter, the rate of death is decided by the spin of the wheel, relegated to the unconscious mind by the incessant motion. I again invite the noble minds who shall pass judgement to try this weapon for themselves. Rotate this "wheel trigger" until the motion is even and steady, then look down at the targets and ask yourself: Are you choosing to fire, or waiting to fire? Choosing to end a single human life, or watching as the inevitable slaughter takes place while merely choosing where it will range...

Our opponents will tell you that they must continue to apply force to this trigger of theirs, or that some internal mechanism separates the shots, and I tell you honestly that a "machine gun" is the same. They will say that they can choose each shot that they fire, and I tell you that the spin them like madmen with no such choice, and that restraint exercised by the operator has no relevance to these proceedings. To comply the ENTIRE weapon, convoluted triggers included, MUST come to a COMPLETE halt between discharges. No other state can be tolerated by a responsible society who wishes to avoid the mistakes of the past...

Haven't counted the words but it looks about right. Feel free to steal bits or ideas from this argument in the effort to end this outrage.

RAM, this is beautiful, but it needs to be trimmed. It's 677 words in length.

[RAM]

But trimming it would mean giving up my petty revenge for the grenade vote failing!

[Shadowclaw777]

Wǔshí'èr-52 Medium Rockets (1): Pavellius
“Jin Na” SMRL, Xi-52b (3): Jilladilla, Wizgrot, SC

[Pavellius]

Wǔshí'èr-52 Medium Rockets (0):
“Jin Na” SMRL, Xi-52b (4): Jilladilla, Wizgrot, SC, Pavellius

[Wizgrot]

But trimming it would mean giving up my petty revenge for the grenade vote failing!

Pretty please?

I will be frank. It´s great. Much more focused and to the point than mine ever was, and also more appropriate for the judicial environment of the Chamber. If you could spare the time time to trim it down, while keeping the essential points unmodified, we are sure to win this.

Do it and I promise my unconditional support for any one design or revision you want. Think of it as a personal favor for the effort put in.

Also, I would like to announce that I will be gone for three days. Count my vote for the strategy phase as:

-Using our Credit to bring down the cost of our hovercrafts to just expensive so we can transport troops equipped with their new Jin Na´s faster and saturate their lines.
-Attack in the sea and Badlands
-Bring the Rabid, and specially its Full Reset mode to the attention of the UN. It´s basically a crank but without with a trigger. I doubt they will pass this even if they let the Wiktor pass.

[Jilladilla]

Our Token won't reduce the expense of the Hovercraft. With our TC, we have 4 Ore, and the hovercraft costs 4 Ore... We need another Oil to drop it to Expensive. And the Token is for Ore.

[evictedSaint]

“Jin Na” SMRL, Xi-52b
A proper contribution to our late war hero, the 1952 model of the Jin Na SMRL is a vast improvement over the failure of the original; it features a redesigned launch tube and rocket, allowing space for fins to be attached, the magneto spark ignition system is fixed, and the rocket itself is made slightly smaller to allow its poor thruster (which has also gained a rework) to achieve a better thrust-to-mass ratio and improve its range.

Hard Difficulty: 3

The “Jin Na” SMRL, Xi-52b is much more befitting the Jin Na name.  The warhead is slimmed down from 105 mm's to our standard 80 mm's, giving it less of a "lollipop" shape that contributed to its poor flight characteristics.  The launch tube is also redone, padding the steel tube with a wooden sleeve and shoulder brace to keep the soldier from burning himself with the tube once fired.  The rear of the tube is flared out like a trumpet to help disperse exhaust, and a capacitor is added to the magneto spark ignition to fix the frequent failures.  Due to the tight fit of the tube to the rocket we aren't quite sure how to attach fins in a way that doesn't dramatically alter the shape of the launcher, so for now the rocket does not use fins for stabilization.  This means it is a bit inaccurate, and if the user moves at all while firing then the rocket will enter a corkscrew or curve.  Some engineers propose the possibility of fold-out fins, but we run out of time before we can test the idea.  1 Ore, 1 Oil.


It is now the strategy phase.  Please include a link to your War Crimes Council Statement in the vote box so I don't have to dig for all of them!