Kolechia Revision Phase, Late Winter 1915Tracer Rounds
Our pilots will have an easier time aiming if they can clearly see their bullets. We will add pyrotechnic materials to special hollow 7.65x53 mm Argentine bullets, using our experience from our flare guns, and use these rounds in ratio of 1 tracer round for every 4 normal rounds.
We'll try using phosphorous as the charge, to burn our foes out of the sky.
Efficacy: 3
With their experience in pyrotechnics, Kolechian engineers design tracer rounds in the 7.63mm calibre for the Type 11 LMG. When fired, these bullets burn bright red out to around 250m, with similar ballistic characteristics as normal bullets, allowing pilots to see where their fire is going. However, they don’t seem to have much of an incendiary effect, rarely igniting the canvas that is used for plane skins.
Revision: Oracle Camera (other names accepted)
The Oracle Camera is a Lvoc camera modified to have a tri-lens system allowing it to take multiple photos at different angles of the land below, to allow convenient overlaying of photos onto existing maps. It has a multiple-plate "magazine" allowing for taking multiple sets of photos at once before manual changing, and comes with a "holder" and primitive remote trigger so pilots can get the optimal angle photos at the perfect times without being distracted.
Efficacy: 5
The new Oracle Camera is a Lvoc Camera heavily modified to be deserving of a new name: it now takes photographs from three lenses, offset at a 35-degree angle. These individual photographs, when developed, can be later stitched together to form a larger photograph similar to that taken by a wide-angle lens, and overlaid onto existing maps or augment them. A mounting bracket under the cockpit is also developed, and the camera is accessed through a hole in the cockpit floor, triggered by a lever in the cockpit. However, the proposed glass-plate magazine system, while capable of holding exposed and unexposed plates, is not able to load them into the camera, and pilots must still change the plates manually.
Oracle Camera: A new camera based off the existing Lvoc Camera, and possibly made of three of them merged together. It takes separate photographs from three lenses offset at a 35-degree angle, producing a wide-angle view of the ground. Is mounted under the cockpit and accessible through a hole in the cockpit floor, while being remotely triggered. The glass plate magazine doesn’t work, and pilots must still change the plates manually. Cost 2 PP.
Revision: Tactical Escape Parachute
The Tactical Escape Parachute, which will of course be used tactically and is not at all a tool of cowardice no sir, is a parachute based around the novel idea of increasing pilot survival rate. It's actually just a modification of the existing "parachute" used in the Hykib observation balloons. It's convenaniently packed in a backpack-style configuration for wearing by the pilot, and features a "ripcord" that allows the escaping pilot to deploy the chute after he's cleared the craft. It features some other improvements as well to make it generally more reliable compared to its predecessor.
The Tactical Escape Parachute should hopefully increase pilot morale, and a much greater pilot survival rate means we lose skilled pilots less frequently.
Efficacy: 6
The so-called ‘safety ropes’ on the Hykib don’t offer much basis for the development of an actual parachute, but the Kolechian engineers make great strides anyway. The new Tactical Escape Parachute, or TEP, is a backpack parachute which actually works to slow a fall. It’s a round parachute designed for a single person with little excess weight, deployed by a ripcord that releases points around the circumference of the canopy in tandem, allowing the parachute to inflate and slow the rate of fall. However, the TEP is heavy, weighing in at 17kg, and while soft, it is too bulky to be worn while in flight, squashing the pilot up against his controls. Instead, it is stored under the seat, necessitating that in an emergency, the pilot retain his presence of mind to grab the TEP, strap it on, bail out from the stricken plane, and pull the ripcord after a short while. Deploying the TEP immediately upon bailing out often results in the canopy being entangled in the aircraft, with predictable results, so the manuals warn against this. Nevertheless, introduction of the TEP should see pilot survivability much improved.
Tactical Escape Parachute: A backpack parachute deployed by a ripcord system, which slows the rate of fall enough for a pilot to survive bailing out from a plane, at reasonable altitudes. Is somewhat heavy and too bulky to be worn in flight, instead being stored under the seat. Cost 1 PP for 2 squadrons.
Engine Performance Improvement:
We've learned a lot about machining over the course of our synchronization gear design, and this has led to us taking a second look at the way we build the engines for the Equilibrium. Using more finely machined pistons and engine blocks, and reviewing designs for extra weight, we should be able to improve piston compression and reduce engine weight across the fleet.
Efficacy: 1
A look-over of the Equilibrium’s rotary engine is planned, but unfortunately the suggestions on how to improve it are uniformly terrible, ranging from thinning the cylinder walls to crafting the parts by hand instead. After a test model of a seven-cylinder rotary built entirely from pine wood explodes on the first ignition, the whole initiative is shelved.
It is now the Production & Deployment Phase, Late Winter 1915. You have 20 production points remaining.Planes:
-Feather-1914 Scout Plane: A unarmed, single seater biplane. High stability makes it easy to fly, but also woefully inadequate for anything other than scouting. Lightweight wooden fuselage combined with a five-cylinder rotary engine gives it good speed in the air. Now comes with ailerons for improved roll capability. Cost 3/1
-Equilibrium Fighter Monoplane: A single-seater monoplane with a 7-cylinder rotary engine and correspondingly good speed. It’s armed with a Type 11 LMG firing forward through the propeller arc with the aid of a rudimentary synchronisation gear, which reduces the fire rate but allows easier aiming. The synchronisation gear prevents the blades from being shot off, but pilots are reminded not to shoot more than two belts of rounds anyway. Cost 5/2.
Balloons
-Hykib Observation Balloon: A single-pilot hydrogen balloon designed for aerial observation. Its elongated and finned shape helps it remain stable even in high winds. The basket has an inbuilt telephone to relay messages from the pilot to the ground, and what can charitably be described as a very rudimentary parachute. Painted a glorious red throughout. Cost 2/1
Equipment
-Lvoc Camera: A glass plate medium camera with a 150mm focal length, coincidentally about the size and shape of a 150mm artillery shell. Requires manual changing of the plate for each photograph taken and is moderately durable. Cost 1 PP.
-Oracle Camera: A new camera based off the existing Lvoc Camera, and possibly made of three of them merged together. It takes separate photographs from three lenses offset at a 35-degree angle, producing a wide-angle view of the ground. Is mounted under the cockpit and accessible through a hole in the cockpit floor, while being remotely triggered. The glass plate magazine doesn’t work, and pilots must still change the plates manually. Cost 2 PP.
-Type 11 machinegun: An air-cooled light machine gun firing 7.65x53 mm Argentine rounds at 600 RPM. Sometimes overheats after prolonged use. Cost 1 PP.
-Artillery Spotter Equipment: A set of good binoculars with range markings and a Kolechian ‘comtant’, a combination of compass and sextant for taking precise bearings. Questions of whether a sextant is really necessary for doing so are met with offended looks. Cost 1 PP for 2 squadrons.
-K-09 “Dogbite” Mortar Round: A 155mm high explosive mortar shell, carrying 45kg of high explosive. Is very temperamental when roughly handled. Cost: 1 PP.
-KF-15 Signal-Illumination Flare Pistol: The K-15 fires up to eight Rainbow flares in colours from red to purple for signalling, and a bright white for illumination, allowing planes to signal to the ground. Each pistol is single-shot only but are cheap enough to be issued in bulk.
-KTW-15: A trench radio set with a spark-gap transmitter and crystal receiver, which sends and receives Morse code. Weighs 60kg, with a 60m aerial assembly and has a range of up to 4km. Suffers from bad interference if operated too close to another set on the same frequency. Cost 2 PP.
-Tactical Escape Parachute: A backpack parachute deployed by a ripcord system, which slows the rate of fall enough for a pilot to survive bailing out from a plane, at reasonable altitudes. Is somewhat heavy and too bulky to be worn in flight, instead being stored under the seat. Cost 1 PP for 2 squadrons.
Pilots:
-Coordinated: Strength in numbers! Kolechian pilots work well together and are better coordinated in combat.
-Uniforms: Red with silver accents. Pilots are issued a thick, flowing red cape which flutters gloriously in the wind, inspiring the men on the ground.
Technology:
-Basic biplane design
-Basic/Intermediate monoplane design
-Basic/Intermediate balloon design
-Wooden frame construction
-Basic control surfaces: wing warping, elevator and rudder and ailerons.
-Foster mount technology
-Rudimentary synchronisation gear
-Pyrotechnics
-Basic spark-gap radio, crystal receivers
-Tracer rounds
Resources:
-1 Pilot Training Institute: Teaches new pilots what each lever does. When to pull each lever is up to the student.
-1 Developmental Airfield: Designs new planes and other air-related equipment. Produces five dice worth of progress every turn.
-22 production points base
Squadron 1 | Equilibrium Fighter Monoplane | No Equipment | Air Superiority | Rookie | Piotr | Maintenance Cost 2
Currently assigned to secure air superiority along the Estwice-Dreidansk Road
Squadron 2 | Feather-1914 Scout Plane | Type 11 LMG | Bomber Escort | Rookie | No Aces | Maintenance Cost 1
Currently assigned to escort Squadron 5 at Basselton
Squadron 3 | Feather-1914 Scout Plane | Lvoc Camera, Type 11 LMG | Air Superiority | Neophyte | No Aces | Maintenance Cost 1
Currently assigned to secure air superiority along the Derboise-Demisonne Road
Squadron 4 | Feather-1914 Scout Plane | Lvoc Camera | Aerial Reconnaissance | Rookie | No Aces | Maintenance Cost 1
Currently assigned to perform aerial photoreconnaissance along the Estwice-Dreidansk Road
Squadron 5 | Feather-1914 Scout Plane | Type 11 LMG, K-09 "Dogbite" Mortar Rounds | Level Bombing | Neophyte | No Aces | Maintenance Cost 1
Currently assigned to bombing support at Basselton
Crimson Eagles | Feather-1914 Scout Plane | Type 11 LMG, Lvoc Camera | Air Superiority | Rookie | No Aces | Maintenance Cost 1
Currently assigned to secure air superiority over Basselton
Observer 1 | Hykib Observation Balloon | Artillery Spotter Equipment | Artillery Spotting | Rookie | No Aces | Maintenance Cost 1
Currently assigned to artillery spotting along Estwice-Dreidansk Road
Observer 2 | Hykib Observation Balloon | Artillery Spotter Equipment | Artillery Spotting | Rookie | No Aces | Maintenance Cost 1
Currently assigned to artillery spotting at Basselton
Observer 3 | Hykib Observation Balloon | Artillery Spotter Equipment | Naval Artillery Spotting | Neophyte | No Aces | Maintenance Cost 1
Currently assigned to naval raiding
1 x Artillery Spotter Equipment
Prestige: Little
Status: Auxiliary Service
Army Relations: Mostly Friendly
Navy Relations: Lukewarm
Production Points: 20
Total Maintenance: 10
A quick reminder:
Event: Inspired by the use of British aircraft over Gallipoli, the Ottoman Aviation Squadrons are looking to purchase better aircraft and equipment designs from a neutral nation to break the stalemate. You may opt to send one aircraft design and up to two equipment designs for their consideration. Explanations of how exactly the new equipment might be useful to their current situation will increase the chances of success. If the deal goes through, the winning side will receive a payment of +2 PP for 3 turns.
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Topic: Knights of the Skies: Kolechia Thread - Early Summer 1916, Production Phase (Read 54502 times)