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Space-Time

2 (14.3%)

Hammer Time

3 (21.4%)

Time...to die.

6 (42.9%)

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

3 (21.4%)

Total Members Voted: 14

[Shadowclaw777]

Conclusively?,
No one tried bipedal walkers during the competitive phase until the ending of the MAD and everyone got their own design and from review those things had minimal impact by that time, and sure we never saw mechs be used in action and only walker IFVs and the other side only utilizing a design credit to acquire them because the direct theme meant that walker’s had reduced complexity and increased efficacy compared to real life standards, while things like ACVs had to be penalized for not being in theme. I’m not even sure a hydraulic bipedal mech was possible or could even be effective, with a crew member of just the pilot you need computing at least of vacuum tubes, hell probably fancy transistors and hydraulic auto-loading mechanism that make the thing near-ludicrous in what is required for minimal payoff; we never seen one in actual action sure so yes it’s all hypotheticals and GM work to decide the actual efficacy of such a damn thing.

[NUKE9.13]

Minor note, the Megamule was also a walker, just not a combat-oriented one.

Anyway, yes, let's not do an Iron Behemoths where we try to stick to realistic things. The MAR model leads to far more interesting outcomes.

[Taricus]

Well, so long as we aren't going down psychic bullshit, I'm fine with that. Hell, I'd say we should try going for something like coilguns or lasers once we've gotten far enough for them.

Though I'm still sticking with Myomer or the like as our special resources; the ability to make our troops that much more stronger is an immense advantage, and we can definitely up armour them as a result, never mind that it solves the biggest problem of the mechs (Which is responsiveness.). And we'll likely get more special resources as the game progresses too, and myomer would probably be the most difficult of the lot to attempt.

[brightfractal]

Looks like I'm joining this side also I agree about the mechs being practical thing since this is soft scifi and so long as we don't delve into supernatural or psychic bullshit I'm game.

A resource for power generation will be useful as a base for future designs, cant have power-armor without the power in it.

[NUKE9.13]

So, given the point raised by Shadowclaw in the core thread, I'm rethinking my stance on rifles. If the difficulty system goes unchanged, it would probably be a good idea to aim for something more ambitious than a simple bolt-action (eg a simple semi-automatic). My thinking was that doing an Easy design would increase our chances of getting a really high-quality rifle as our primary firearm, but really a +1 bonus doesn't increase the quality that significantly, whilst conversely the risk of getting a shitty result with a Hard design isn't that high.

[Rockeater]

Probobly good to wait and see what MoP says

[FallacyofUrist]

I'm deathly afraid of anything that even vaguely approaches biotech (artificial musculature isn't really that close, but it's vaguely close) because we have Fallacy on our team.

It seems I've reached memetic status.

Anyways. I have to try...

Specialty Resource: Splice:
Splice is a compound found in the rare Whiskerberries. Naturally we've started farming Whiskerberries to get the most Splice we can.

What does Splice do, you ask? In short, it renders the genetic code of the recipient more flexible. Under the influence of Splice, people literally become what they eat. At least partially. Eating cat while under the influence of Splice can result in enhanced senses and dexterity, eating bear results in toughness... you see where we're going with this? This is because Splice integrates the genetic code of the consumed creatures with the genetic code of the Splice user.

Just think of the advantages! We can upgrade each and every one of our soldiers! Create horrifying abominations to terrify our opponents! Create creatures to create whatever compounds we need! Create upgraded war beasts!
~~~
I mean, nobody's going to vote for it because they're all terrified of me, but it would be awesome, y'know?
~~~

As the game progresses and the scope and scale of designs grows I'll likely opt to add in additional levels of difficulty. Initially however that's intentional - there are a lot of possible fields to advance in right now, and as many are untapped I dont want there to be fear of breaking new ground.

Well this is good.

[Man of Paper]

Clarification: This was brought up in the other thread. A uniform design is allowed to include a helmet. The armor restriction is to keep either side from building a standardized suit of body armor with a free action.

[NUKE9.13]

So, doing some more reading on semi-automatic rifles, specifically the Fusil Automatique Modele 1917 and the M1 Garand, I think that even though Hard designs aren't quite so hard, we might still want to go for a bolt-action. The Fusil was an unreliable & heavy weapon, that required frequent maintenance. And the M1 went through a decade of development, facing many problems along the way.
We don't want our infantry to go into battle with an unreliable rifle. An increased rate of fire is no use if your gun doesn't work half the time.
Therefore, I propose the following design for our primary weapon:

Senapang Pattern Rifle: Sometimes, you just need a simple gun to do a simple job. The Senapang is not a flashy piece of kit by any stretch- borrowing heavily from rifles deployed elsewhere in the world, it would not look out of place in anyone's arsenal. What distinguishes the Senapang is the craftsmanship our gunsmiths have put into it. It is reliable, easy to use, accurate, and relatively simple to manufacture.
The Senapang is a bolt-action rifle firing 7.7mm rounds from a 10-round internal magazine (reloaded with 5-round stripper clips, or one round at a time). It has fixed front sights, and an adjustable rear sight for longer-ranged shooting.
There isn't much else to say. We were asked for a primary firearm, here it is. The only unusual thing about it is how much time we spent polishing the design.

I could go for the Gavrilium Grenade or Gravite Shortsword for our sidearm.

As for our uniform, I think we want it to come in two varieties, one for hot weather, one for cold. The hot weather one should probably be khaki-coloured cotton, the cold weather one olive-drab-coloured wool- other than that they can be identical.
E: Shadowclaw's Watcher uniform would be fine if a khaki cotton variety was added.

[Parsely]

I'm not a huge fan of the Gavrilium grenade since having it disintegrate into submunitions makes it less accurate for lobbing into trenches or other fortifications or for use as an anti-tank or anti-material weapon. Being thrown at short range, hand grenades can be applied with great precision, which is the main advantage of hand grenades, submunitions sabotages that. If you need saturation you can just throw more than one grenade, or if it has a casing designed for fragmentation then shrapnel should do the same job of submunitions.

Other than that, having a really powerful grenade that's the same size and weight as your typical frag/HE grenade of the day is a fabulous idea.

The sword is a fun idea that suits the soft sci-fi premise and could be useful.

[Chiefwaffles]

What if the disintegrating was another thing you had to "prime"? So you could use it as a concentrated explosive or a spread-out explosive.

I definitely like the sword, but still prefer Gavrilium as a material which the sword does not work with.

[Parsely]

What if the disintegrating was another thing you had to "prime"? So you could use it as a concentrated explosive or a spread-out explosive.

Could do. In ambush or raid situations where an enemy would be in the open and you also have time to make that decision or prepare the right setting it could be useful to have the option. Hopefully it doesn't make the design more complex/difficult/expensive, and training and common sense in the design of the toggle prevails and we don't have accidents where the switch makes soldiers indecisive or they accidentally throw one on the wrong setting.

[Taricus]

The issue with the sword is that it's capabilities are far too limited. I wouldn't want our troops to be using them when there's far easier alternatives. Just because we have soft Sci-fi doesn't mean we can abandon practicality.

However, given the difficulty system, it'd be foolish not to try for a semi-automatic rifle. Especially since we have a free design for it. I mean really, soft sci-fi and you're saying we can't do something as simple as that?

[Taricus]

Alright, updating the votebox, and putting down myomer in full detail. I haven't put in votes for any other things aside from chief's since he's done the first iteration of the votebox. Anyway, to clarify MoP, we have four designs (Two of which must be spent towards the requests), along with a resource we can design and a uniform design? Or are the credits for the requested designs meant to be research credits?

Myomer:
A fibre that has no equal in regards to it's properties, Myomer fibres are effectively hyper-efficient muscles once an electrical current of sufficient power passes through them. A recent discovery that, with war seeming an inevitability, we could possibly use in ways to enhance our forces beyond what anyone has conceived so far.

Special Resource:
Gavrilium (1): Chiefwaffles
Gravite (0):
Myomer (1): Taricus

Designs
Infantry Primary Weapons
SA-SR-M3 "Heartpiercer" (0):
T1 Battle Rifle (1): Taricus
Senapang Pattern Rifle (0):

Offensive Equipment
'Exor' Grenade (1): Taricus
Gavrilium Grenade (1): Chiefwaffles
Gravite Short Sword (0):

Other:
“Sentry” General-Purpose Air-Cooled Machine Gun (0):
SA-CB-M3 "Deathbow" (0):

[Parsely]

The issue with the sword is that it's capabilities are far too limited. I wouldn't want our troops to be using them when there's far easier alternatives. Just because we have soft Sci-fi doesn't mean we can abandon practicality.

It seems some people think we're doing Dune while others think we're doing Star Wars.