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[Man of Paper]

CHAPTER SIX: CORPS-À-CORPS


Part I: En-Garde

While our LEA-14s have proven effective at providing some level of effective aid in artillery spotting, their usefulness as an Early Warning System and Observation Post cannot be understated. Enemy attempts at scouting for a landing were often met with a hasty Charybdis response. The introduction of the Abberan St. Thaddeus alongside the rest of their Anti Air suite has finally turned the tasks our Charybdises have into something of a challenge. The varied Orleans-based ships began to probe and challenge our mountain fortifications. The base Orleans was once again able to bring heavy artillery into a battlefield otherwise without it. The Charybdises were able to scramble and intercept the attack ships, but now had to contend with the St. Thaddeus variant and it's pair of double-barrel 60mm autocannons. While far from perfect, the effect of the Charybdis was also heavily diminished by the enemy's newfound ability to coordinate. While before the enemy relied on their own eyes to watch for order signals, much too slow for modern warfare, their airships have now provided themselves the ability to begin retreating hastily and orderly with radio suites. This also means the anti-air airships can coordinate fire and defense of the air fleet. Our Charybdises consistently ran into issues when attempting to take out a bombarding Orleans task force, as getting in close meant subjecting themselves to organized fire from St. Thaddeuses as well as the much less effective (but at least effective with some communications) St. Maries. While the 105s are more than capable of sniping enemy ships, we're more constricted in the air war by ammunition now that the 40s are being designated as ground attack guns. At least until we can reliably engage an air target with them.

Both air forces suffered heavy losses in these early engagements as new strategies needed to be learned. Our pilots were able to quickly adapt to a more ground-attack role, at least once surface targets became available.

Without additional support however, the Charybdises that engaged the enemy fleet over the strait began to run into serious issues. The all-around increase in enemy water craft since their last assault, coupled with the previously mentioned increase in aerial effectiveness, meant it was even harder to diminish their offensive capabilities before landing. Luckily, even though they'd pounded the mountains with shells, it was still well-defended by a vast network of bunkers, tunnels, and an underground network of defenses. They were able to pound a few landing zones clearer than we'd like, but overall the initial impact of their artillery ships was minimized for the time being.

As Neptune and Nodens craft approached their designated landing zones our Scylla bunker guns opened fire. They put holes in the Nodens' and managed to sink a handful of them after taking out vital components. While most were in shallow enough waters to not completely submerge, they wound up becoming obstacles for further incoming ships attempting to land at one of the very limited areas available. This slowed the invasion and made the ships more vulnerable to fire as they worked around their own wreckage or were forced to abandon landing zones entirely.

Our bunkers opening fire gave the enemy airships clearer targets and eventually their artillery began to fall effectively. Enemy ships hit the shores and their hatches dropped forward. Inside were crammed as many men as possible, having replaced everything related to their Gendarmes with more infantry. This made it all the more tragic as Abberan infantry attempted to approach and overcome our defensive positions. Gatling weaponry covered every pass and approach, and the Senapang and it's scoped variant really shined in the defense of the landing areas.

The Abberans that got close enough began launching their Wickerman grenades out of cup launchers and towards our defenses. While not effective enough to dramatically turn the battle, it was the little bit they need to give them hope of breaking through our lines.

A group of Nike troops had managed to land in a cliffside trench overlooking one of the passes through the Salviosi line. They used the Draco to great effect, shredding our men in close quarters from one end and puncturing anyone who got too close with the other. These trench raiders put down a number of good Salviosi men and women before the lack of any supporting equipment caught up with them. While the Orleans could hit a surface target, they had no means of bypassing underground obstructions - even locked steel doors proved to be obstacles. This led to the underground becoming a veritable shifting maze of ambushing Salviosi.

Landing forces managed to force a beachhead and pushed inland a bit before the Abberan attack was called off. As the majority of forces had no means of escape many had to choose between surrender or death. Being Abberan, most chose to fight to the death.

The Abberan invasion was repelled, resulting in a Salviosi Victory! We maintain 100% control of the North Peaks.

Part II: Esquive

Combat this season in the Savannah began with a heavy rain of artillery from both sides. The LEAs aided from rearward positions in providing intel on the largely flat terrain, allowing our artillery to more accurately hit Abberan key positions. It wasn't long into the season before The Sky Tyrant made it's presence known in the form of a rain of fire and ice that fell on our positions. With the enemy having made significant gains in the past year we dedicated ourselves to a strategy of "defense in depth" in this sector. Our forces, more mobile than the enemy in almost all cases, offer strong resistance to Abberan assaults, but withdraw to defenses further back before their position is overrun.

The Abberan forces dedicated themselves to a midseason offensive. Their attack made gains and began to gather steam, though this was largely by design.

Forces from the South Crossing launched a swift strike into the exposed and overextended Abberan flank. Even with the aid of The Sky Tyrant and the command and communicatons center it provided, the Abberans were unable to divert enough forces to their exposed side to repel the attack. With the battle on the ground and in the air practically even in this theater, the sudden attack on an already exhausted army was devastating. The Abberans parted before our thrust and by the end of the season we'd pushed through to the sea. A large force of Abberans is now cut off and, unless they do something drastic soon, are poised to fall readily before us.

We managed to successfully defend against the Abberans and launched a devastating assault of our own, resulting in a Salviosi Victory! We now control 85% of the Savannah, restoring control of the third resource node, and are prepared to make massive gains next season should we be successful.

Note also that it seemed to be colder this season in the Savannah than usual. While not necessarily an issue yet, you expect the frozen wastes left behind by The Sky Tyrant may be to blame.


----------------


While our allies weren't too keen on us renegotiating their offer, having paid for the design themselves, they did see the logic in the argument presented by Salviosi engineers. As such, they decided they would only require the Tectonic for One Season of combat testing and usage. The Tectonic sees it's use in Volksfeld against, of all possible enemies, the Selicates. It's noted that a few of our allies vehicles utilize a hybrid Gav/Combustion Engine thanks to our technology sharing. A small number of Orleans fly among the enemy number, and while they're certainly a thing to behold for the standard human being, they're fairly unimpressive to the Salviosi. This seeming fearlessness and bravado went over well with allied soldiers. That was, until the gas attacks. While largely ineffective, it was shocking to see people willing to kill so gruesomely. Even the horrid Abberan Rime shells kill quickly. Eventually the Tectonic returns, and thanks to insights offered by the crew and very fucking important mechanics as they traveled abroad, we have gained a Research Credit.

This season could not have gone much better. The Abberans threw themselves at our mercy in the East and West, and we hope to make this a trend. Let's crush these Abberans and take our homes back!

IT IS NOW THE DESIGN PHASE.

[NUKE9.13]

So, Powder suggested reconsidering this proposal, which I can agree with. I'm by no means locked in, but it would be pretty useful, I think:

Ambrosia:
It is a fact well known to those who know it well that Salviosi merchants could once be found in every port in the world (the recent war has seen them restricted to merely most). As a result, Salviosi cuisine has always featured a melange of exotic spices, brought home from distant continents. Salviosi chefs are experts at the preparation and use of pretty much any (formerly) living thing on the planet. However, one thing has always eluded them- the holy grail of cooking: to make Ambrosia edible.
Ambrosia is extracted from the nectar of a flower native to a tiny island far, far removed from Salvios. Those who have tasted it proclaim it to have the most heavenly flavour, and profess having no regrets. They proclaim this for about a minute before they start coughing up blood, expiring shortly after. Yes, Ambrosia is, in addition to being delicious, intensely poisonous (and, indeed, venomous and toxic). Countless methods have been tried to alleviate the deadly effects- it has been mixed with almost every chemical under the sun, heated to 400C, dessicated, rehydrated, dessicated again- none of which worked (without destroying the flavour). Until now.
The answer, as it turns out, is surprisingly simple. It was discovered by an eccentric chemist who decided to try combining Ambrosia with Depleted Gavrilium. To his astonishment, the lab mice he fed the result to did not die of Ambrosia Poisoning. They died of Depleted Gavrilium Poisoning within an hour, but this was still amazing progress. As it turns out, the Gavrilium itself is unnecessary- the key is an extremely low temperature. For whatever reason, the extreme cold changes the chemical makeup of Ambrosia slightly, preventing it from wildly rearranging living cells.
However, Salviosi gourmands will have to wait until the war is over before they can try an Ambrosia-flavoured meal, as the research was immediately bought out by the military. Not because of soldiers' complaints that their rations taste like cardboard, but because of what Ambrosia does instead of wrecking living tissue. For Ambrosia's ability to manipulate cells like clay remains intact- but instead of activating randomly, it now meekly follows along with whatever the cells were already doing, causing an effect that scientists have dubbed 'Ridiculously Expedited Growth Executed Neatly'. Which is to say, it regrows cells, repairing damaged tissue, and does so almost flawlessly.
It is not a panacea- it works best to cure injuries, and should absolutely not be applied to one suffering from cancer-, but for military purposes... well, the number of lives it could save is almost uncountable. Deadly wounds sealing up in a matter of moments, just from a soldier slapping some Ambrosia Gel on themselves? Who needs K-Wool armour, when you don't care about getting shot? (Note: soldiers should still care about getting shot. Not all wounds can be treated, they will not have infinite Ambrosia, and at some point they will get lead poisoning from all the bullets stuck in their body)

(The aforementioned Ambrosia Gel is simply a harmless gel with Ambrosia mixed in.)

[Twinwolf]

So thinking about this turn.

To start off with, I'm going to think about the espionage credit - we can do a few things with it I think. My immediate thought: We can sabotage the Sky Tyrant. Maybe manage to take it out for a turn, maybe more. Then, while we have a decisive advantage (having our NE while they don't have theirs), we can push them out of the savannah, or push into their crossing. Alternatively, we can try and steal the plans for something of theirs - specifically, something with their gravity shield, or the shield itself. That way, we can possibly learn of how it works and either make our own or effectively design a countermeasure. A third is to somehow use it to prepare for an invasion of their mountains or crossing.

Now, the design is something to think about. I'm of two minds about it. Having a mech - something like the Compound Interest - would be great, giving us a widespread tank-equivalent. While the Apibaru is somewhat filling the role, I don't think it's quite the same. Advantage here is also in that, given it's basically purely tech we already have, an easy roll. On the other hand, a special resource could be a real curveball for Abbera - suddenly, our troops won't fucking stay dead, or we're rolling out some kind of laser cannon, or other things.Another idea is to create some kind of infantry heavy weapons instead of relying on machine guns with the melting rounds. Or, we could design some kind of anti-aircraft weaponry to shut down their growing parity in the air, or a better transport than the Perahudara (capable of moving the Tectonic or other vehicles). I'm honestly leaning to the mech, but the research credit should be reserved for something that isn't likely to be easy anyway - if we do the mech this turn, we shouldn't use the credit on it. If we do a resource, then we definitely should use the credit.

For the revision later, while it may be a bit early to think about, we can either fix whatever we design or do something else. Let's assume the design works, either due to ease or the research credit. First idea - we can try and fix the bridge again. While it puts us a bit behind in revisions, if it works we can almost certainly push into the crossing, especially if we've used the espionage credit to prepare it somehow. If we don't do that, we can try and revise the Perahudara to be capable of transporting the Tectonic or other vehicles - it can't exactly walk through the water. Or, we can try to turn the Scylla into an anti-aircraft gun, or we can revise the uniform to finish the damn design already. I'd lean to the transport revision, to help us actually get troops where they need to go.

[Madman198237]

Personally for a revision I would prefer to revise the ECR...OR instead revise up some rifle nades. Or we could revise the Scylla into an airship-killer. Or we could revise the LEA to be a superior spotting platform of some sort...or we could revise a Perahudara into an immobile, floating artillery battery. One 105 or 150 mounted to the side of a stripped-down Perahudara with a radio would be immensely useful. If the LEA's a good spotting post, then adding artillery can only make it better, right?

As for a design, well, sadly some form of air power would be smart. I REALLY would prefer to make a walker. Something like the AR-RT (two-legged clone scout walker) but a little bigger, packing a 40mm field gun or pair of machineguns in a small, highly-mobile platform capable of awesome jumps and such to maneuver around battlefields and reach enemy defensive lines.

In fact, something like this:

ATW-17 'Velociraptor'
Based on the incredible success of the Tectonic program, a new, smaller, more... reasonable walker is designed. Named Velociraptor, this new walker is bipedal, and has no arms. This radical change is implemented to reduce crew requirements to just two. A pair of legs with a steel box on top, the [naming failure] is protected with Caelium Steel against 40mm AT fire but nothing larger, intending to dodge as much as possible. The driver sits just behind and slightly above the gunner, who operates the 40mm LFG or two (mounted so they move as one) GGG-12s in the front of the walker. The guns can point almost straight down and have reasonable side-to-side traverse, but generally the driver needs to rotate the vehicle to fire at targets off to the sides.

The legs are powered as usual, by a Myomers and a powerful Gavrillium Engine mounted under the armor in the back of the walker. Heating is provided via a linkage to the guns as well as a normal heater if required. The Myomers in the legs are immensely powerful, and the legs themselves are constructed not like a human's, but rather in a way designed to absorb the shock of falling most efficiently. The walker is intended to be able to execute great leaps in any direction and land on its feet, thanks to a smaller version of the Tectonic's stop-falling-over-you-blasted-machine system, also known as the gyroscope with a Collision system attached to it.

Or this, because hilarity:

AHB-17 Assault Hoverbike 'Red Day'
We were told that horses are no longer useful on a modern battlefield. That's OK, we don't need any puny mortal horses. The AHB-17 is a fully armored and Caelium-lifted GravEngine. With some skids for when you actually want to stop moving. As usual it is powered by a very powerful GavEngine, powerful enough to give the bike (via the GravEngine) a top speed best described only as ludicrous. The main GravEngine can swivel side to side somewhat to give basic turning, while a pair of forwards-facing GravEngines (one on each side of the CoM) allows for increased turn control (and "braking", whatever that is and for whatever reason you'd want to stop going really fast) at the expense of some speed.

The vehicle is protected against rifle fire up to ~20mm or so, but not anything bigger because honestly if you can manage to get one of those ridiculous 40mm "rifles" pointed at this thing for long enough to line up a shot you deserve the kill. Further protection is provided by spreading out the Caelium lift system and making it so that losing a single Caelium lifter won't drop the vehicle. Try not to lose two, though. And maybe don't drive over any hand grenades, there's not any armor on the bottom.

An integrated pair of GGG-12s in the lengthened, aerodynamic "nose" of the bike allows for the user to spew an appropriate amount of death over anything in front of him. More important (of course), is the solid Caelium steel lance usable by the bike's riders. Intended for skewering pretty much anyone who needs skewering, the lance sits in a lance holder until the user grabs it and levels it. The lance is supported by the user's lance rest, which, while providing less impact than a mechanical holder fixed to the vehicle, allows the user to drop the lance if it gets stuck in something, like a particularly stubborn tank. It also provides more precise aiming at things the enemy does not want skewered by an archaic weapon carried by a lunatic on a hoverbike...which really could apply to most things the enemy possesses, but that's hardly the point.

[Taricus]

Air Power, I have a few revisions in mind for that, so long as we're willing to up-armour the Charybdis. This does leave us options for our design action without having to direct it towards air supremacy.

SAR-16 Automatic Rifle
With the advantages Abbera's infantry hold over our own become far more apparent after the fighting spread outside of Harren, a rather radical step has been taken to address this. Learning of the concept of an 'Assault Rifle' from our Forenian compatriots, the SAR-16 is promised to revolutionise warfare by being able to provide every one of our soldiers with an automatic weapon. With a new 6.8mm cartridge, a 30-round magazine and the ability to fire on full automatic (Albeit at an RPM of around 500), and using a long-stroke gas operating system ensures less recoil affects the user whilst still maintaining a high level of reliability. Furthermore, the use of a 42cm barrel keeps the length of the weapon

The SAR program also has a derivative included in it's documents, with a much larger weapon intended to be developed for the use by our power armoured troopers. While the general characteristics stay the same, the size of the weapon is increased to deal with the increased forces of the 15mm gavpowder round the weapon fires. Given the designation of SAR-16-A, this weapon is intended to be handled by our Power Armour troopers, and used judiciously against anything.

Ambrosia:
ATW-17 'Velociraptor':
SAR-16 (1): Taricus

[Madman198237]

How about we not fix what ain't broke, and thus not do the SAR since stabbing things is a clearly superior means of killing them anyway?

A light recon/assault vehicle would be useful in breaking through enemy lines and getting past artillery barrages (and the hoverbikes could travel over water whenever we want to start assaulting enemy territory again), while a direct air power upgrade would, well, make our air forces better. A revision is probably not going to cut it---we don't have a heavy air support platform available. Though a revision may be able to sufficiently upgun what we do have to improve our position enough that added power on the ground would allow us to make some breakthroughs. And we should of course again start a flanking maneuver from the South Crossing...or possibly (if we do the bikes) a waterborne assault from Harren itself to cut off their supply lines and disassemble their command and communications structure from behind the front lines.

Oh, also, I really, really, really could use a better name for the "Velociraptor", and "Red Day" is, well, it's a functional Tolkien reference but not really anything better than that.

Ambrosia:
ATW-17 'Velociraptor':
SAR-16 (1): Taricus
AHB-17 'Red Day': (1) Madman

[Taricus]

A revision to the Charybdis would ensure that their air support is denied. And if we're going to do a hover vehicle, we may as well do a full tank, instead of a bike that's going to be useless in melee due to trench warfare being in effect on all fronts. Even the Apibaru being modified to hover would be a better transport and fire support option.

[Jilladilla]

Honestly, the only one of these ideas (that are in full proposal form) I could back (other than the one I am voting for) is the 'Velociraptor', even if I think that it is perhaps a little too conservative.

The SAR solves basically none of our issues. It may help our infantry punch through a K-Wool vest a little more easily, but I doubt it could do so reliably; as in it having to utilize our SMG's 'empty a good chunk of the magazine to try and overload it' 'strategy'. We'd be better served with a larger bullet rather than more bullets. The version for our soldiers in Armored Lifting Suits is even worse, as they already have serviceable weaponry in the portable gatling guns; and quite frankly feel a bit too extreme a leap compared to the 'normal' assault rifle to be grouped together. If we wish to go for new infantry weapons, might I suggest instead giving our standard troops a (semi-auto) high-caliber rifle, and then give our ALS troops an assault rifle variant of it?

The Red Day is crazy, and not in a good way.

Ambrosia: (1) Jilladilla
ATW-17 'Velociraptor':
SAR-16 (1): Taricus
AHB-17 'Red Day': (1) Madman

[Taricus]

The gatlings need a lot of rounds, and a weapon with a larger would would need far fewer to actually kill an enemy. And it also opens up the potential to develop a GGG-12 in the larger calibre too. That'll cut down the amount of ammunition we need to effectively kill their regular infantry, and we'd make life a living hell for their armoured troops too.

As for the auto-rifle thing being a difficult leap, I'd say it isn't. The BAR was developed in 1918 and was perfectly serviceable, so a version that's shorter and more easily used is very much doable from a technical perspective.

As for the SMG, they do, on average, not have a lot of force behind a bullet, and the round itself, whilst wider, is shorter and therefore not as much energy to disperse and a larger area to disperse it with.

[Jilladilla]

You do know that my 'too big a leap' complaint was not about the automatic rifle part; right? The difference in caliber, Taricus, was my complaint. The two guns you proposed had such a caliber difference that they'd be two entirely different beasts, that we couldn't just say that one is simply a larger variant of the other.

And yes, your SAR would likely be a bit more effective for our ALS troops; but for our basic rank and file? No. The caliber of their rifles wouldn't be enough to outright penetrate a K-wool vest, so once more they're looking for bullet spam or a shot to an unprotected part of their body. While the increased rate of fire would help a fair bit, it's still an automatic rifle firing 6.8mm rounds. Keeping that gun under control to make accurate shots at range is going to be a challenge. We don't have enhanced strength for them yet, remember. Accounting for the inevitable misses, just how many rounds would we need to break through a single vest? And just using it as a semi-auto to keep it under control wouldn't lead to that much of an improvement over the Senapang.

And those reasons are part of why I am suggesting that if we go down the path of 'Infantry+ALS Weapon Design' that we make a semi-auto high-caliber rifle and its fully automatic sibling. Basically, have two sufficiently similar weapons that they can both thematically be placed in the same design; and a way to have our basic infantry be able to decisively put down their basic infantry with a single shot. It'd even still have a rate of fire improvement over the Senapang due to semi-auto-ness!

[Taricus]

We can't give our infantry any one-shot weapon systems against their body armour that won't impact their overall combat effectiveness, a round larger than what the Senapang is chambered for is going to be impractical for our regular infantry to use comfortably against the enemy, and it is going to be more bulky as well.

We might get away with such a weapon being a squad support gun, but we won't be able to do it as a primary arm. Size of the bullet is not too important; the amount of force per bullet is.

[Jilladilla]

Mayhaps, Taricus, mayhaps. But if such a rifle would be the superior arm in most open field engagements... Would you really call that a drop in overall combat effectiveness? Yes, it'd almost certainly be bulky; make it so we can clip the thing to our uniform exoskeletons so the soldier doesn't have to actually carry the thing everywhere.

And also Taricus? If two bullets have the same net force, wouldn't their recoil be equivalent regardless of the difference in bullet size? The smaller bullet would also need a significantly longer cartridge to hold the propellant needed to give it that same force of a larger bullet.



You know, thinking about this; I wonder if we're approaching this from the wrong angle. K-wool obviously doesn't absorb *all* kinetic energy; it'd be damn near inflexible and impossible to move without overloading the stuff if it did. Therefore, there must be a lower threshold that if we slide under we'll only have to deal with effectively ordinary wool; and last I checked their uniform is technically only basic clothing once you remove all the special k-wool properties. Any thoughts on how we could possibly exploit this?

[Taricus]

Incendiaries mayhaps? Given it's wool, we might want to start countering all the frost the Tyrant is setting up (And I have a very... nasty idea on how to not only do that, but make Abbera feel the pain for doing so as well >:D). Either that, or the wool does actually slow their soldiers down in combat, just not enough to make it a meaningful impact on combat.

And a two round burst wouldn't produce as much recoil given the time for the first round's recoil to dissipate. While it'll be felt on full auto, short bursts will be fine. As for attaching the larger weapon to the exosuit, that's not optimal at all, given the potential mass and weight of it, not to mention splitting the amount of ammo a trooper can carry. Combine that with a lesser overall effectiveness means that, even if it was a one-shot capability, I wouldn't take it. That, and we already have scoped Senapangs for sniper duty.

[Rockeater]

You know, thinking about this; I wonder if we're approaching this from the wrong angle. K-wool obviously doesn't absorb *all* kinetic energy; it'd be damn near inflexible and impossible to move without overloading the stuff if it did. Therefore, there must be a lower threshold that if we slide under we'll only have to deal with effectively ordinary wool; and last I checked their uniform is technically only basic clothing once you remove all the special k-wool properties. Any thoughts on how we could possibly exploit this?

[Insert Dune reference here]
But in all seriousness, an idea, in the fort of the bullet we put a small nail like thing with the tip pointing inward toward a charge of gravillium, when the bullet hit the nail stop and the tip hit the charge, activating it away from the wool letting it expand.

[Powder Miner]

Ambrosia: (2) Jilladilla, Powder Miner
ATW-17 'Velociraptor':
SAR-16 (1): Taricus
AHB-17 'Red Day': (1) Madman