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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

[Taricus]

Yet what we should be doing is BattleTech

[Man of Paper]

The first two designs, if they fulfill the requests, grant an additional two designs without restrictions to the type of design. Those two designs, if you guys decide to follow guidelines, will be created and voted on during the next phase of this turn (technically it'll be the revision phase, but these first turns aren't going to follow the rules too well).

The uniform is a design that is not rolled for but will be tweaked by myself if necessary in order to ensure the basics are included.

The Resource is a design that is also not rolled for, but is instead bruteforced into the world with alterations by myself where necessary to ensure it fits thematically.

As for the ongoing discussion on theme, the world is very much like ours at the start of the first world war, with this point being when new things are discovered and applied. Perfect example of how things are was actually just provided.

Take the myomer proposal. While this is a plausible option for a special resource, flavor text includes the fact that it's been used before. This would not be the case. The world, starting off, is very grounded. Obviously I want things to go off-rails as soon as possible, but if we start straying from science fiction to science fantasy I'll step in - Dune's usage of Spice would work in this universe while Aratam's in Mad Arms Race, as much as I love it, would not. If the concern is more the level of science fiction, it's honestly in the hands of the players at this point. 

[Taricus]

Okay, so the flavor text for myomer needs to be edited for that, and the design credits are usable in the next phase before the end of the turn. Thanks for clearing that up.

[NUKE9.13]

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?

I'm not saying we can't do it. I'm saying if we did it, it'd likely be ineffective.
Like, I can't read the GM's mind, but I'm 95% certain that his intentions by setting this as soft sci-fi was not "You can do OTL tech 25 years ahead of time". It is stated very clearly that we are starting around the equivalent of 1914. If the GM wanted us to deploy WWII tech and not WWI tech, he would've set the game later.
To get a good semi-automatic, I think we'd need an above-average result. Even if it's merely Hard and not VH, we'd still need to roll a 10 or higher to get that. I'd rather not bank on that for what could possibly be our most important piece of equipment for the next ten turns.

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.

Rule of Cool, man. It doesn't have to be totally practical, we can do slightly impractical things and get away with it if it's cool enough. Not saying we abandon practicality entirely, but we also shouldn't rigorously stick to it. I mean, the GM said it was acceptable.

Special Resource:
Gavrilium (1): Chiefwaffles
Gravite (1): NUKE9.13
Myomer (1): Taricus

Designs
Infantry Primary Weapons
SA-SR-M3 "Heartpiercer" (0):
T1 Battle Rifle (1): Taricus
Senapang Pattern Rifle (1): NUKE9.13

Offensive Equipment
'Exor' Grenade (1): Taricus
Gavrilium Grenade (1): Chiefwaffles
Gravite Short Sword (1): NUKE9.13
SA-CB-M3 "Deathbow" (0):

Uniform
“Watcher” Universal Standard Issue Uniform (0):

Other:
“Sentry” General-Purpose Air-Cooled Machine Gun (0):

Added uniform category. I'd like Shadowclaw to add a khaki cotton variety to his design before voting for it.

[Taricus]

There were functional semi-automatic rifles available around that time. They didn't work too well in the trenches but they were otherwise serviceable. Sure, it might be a bit of a leap of faith, but it's one we need to do in order to stay ahead in the infantry race. If they get a good semi-auto while we only have a bolt action, they're gonna secure the fortress before we can.

And rule of cool is no replacement for victory. I mean shit you're chewing me out for wanting a semi-auto rifles and here you are trying to do a sword that bounces back bullets or shit. Seems a little hypocritical in perspective

As for a uniform category, I think we're more or less in agreement about the uniform. Though I'll wait for the helmet to be proper steel, not ironclad. I mean, that's half the the name of the thing

[NUKE9.13]

There were functional semi-automatic rifles available around that time. They didn't work too well in the trenches but they were otherwise serviceable. Sure, it might be a bit of a leap of faith, but it's one we need to do in order to stay ahead in the infantry race. If they get a good semi-auto while we only have a bolt action, they're gonna secure the fortress before we can.

I know there were functional semi-autos at the time. I posted a link to the Fusil 1917 earlier. But like you said, they didn't work too well in muddy conditions such as trenches. Trenches which we are likely to encounter.
Yes, if they get a good semi-auto, we'd be at a disadvantage. My point is that trying for a semi-auto is much more likely to get a shoddy piece of kit than a good one.

And rule of cool is no replacement for victory. I mean shit you're chewing me out for wanting a semi-auto rifles and here you are trying to do a sword that bounces back bullets or shit. Seems a little hypocritical in perspective

So, clearly we see things differently. You think that soft sci-fi means "Do IRL tech 25 years ahead of time", whereas I think it means "Do tech that isn't possible IRL". Of course a magical bullet-deflecting sword is bullshit. But it's fun bullshit, which the game explicitly allows. The GM already said it was acceptable. So no, I don't consider my position even remotely hypocritical.

As for a uniform category, I think we're more or less in agreement about the uniform. Though I'll wait for the helmet to be proper steel, not ironclad. I mean, that's half the the name of the thing

GM already said the uniform isn't getting rolled for, and will be equivalent on both sides. So the material the helmet is made of doesn't matter- it'll either get downgraded or upgraded to be as effective as the enemy helmet.

[Taricus]

We'd need some pretty bad luck to get some shoddy piece of kit. Otherwise, we still do have a revision so if it does turn out a little less favourable we can fix it. But we can't really improve a bolt-action. There's no point in trying to stick what the other powers have because we WILL need better. And while the uniform isn't being rolled, I doubt the GM will bullshit it into being as effective as the enemy's. So we need to ensure it's up to scratch.

And a bullet deflecting sword is boring bullshit. Really. That shit is boring. If we want melee, we need to be a hell of a lot more effective at killing the foe than just deflecting bullets.

[NUKE9.13]

I think an average result (ie 6,7,8) would be the equivalent of the Fusil 1917, ie a shoddy gun.
If you want something better than a boring, high-quality bolt-action, I think you need to come up with a soft sci-fi way of designing an improved rifle.

Also, I obviously disagree about a bullet deflecting sword being boring. I mean, it's the only way I can think of to really make melee practical in any sense. And melee is interesting.

[Chiefwaffles]

Honestly, I would really like making melee useful. Just to mix things up a bit. The Gravite sword definitely gets closer to making melee more viable, but really all it is, is a shield shaped like a sword. It's a nice design, but I definitely doubt our soldiers will see any more (useful) melee combat with it.
But as much as I like the idea of effective melee combat, walker mechs are cooler. Both Myomer and Gavrilium work in this regard, but I generally prefer Gavrilium as it has more general potential. We can design other more specialty resources as we need it, but Gavrilium should be useful for a lot of things off the bat.

Anyways. Here's a modified version of the Gavrilium Grenade. Its main change is a secondary switch controlling the Gavrilium dispersal. Without it, it acts like a regular grenade.
Design: M1 Dispersion Grenade
Naturally, the first war-time use of Gavrilium our scientists came up with, was explosives.
Gavrilium processed in the right way becomes a tad bit unstable (something we never thought as useful beyond accidentally blowing up factories that had messed up refining). So we put this unstable stuff in a special casing and hook it up to a pin. The grenade is shaped as a stick with the explosives bundled on one end, to facilitate throwing.

A switch on the grenade casing, if switched on, causes the casing to start falling apart roughly around the time where a thrown grenade would reach max height. This causes the Gavrilium-U to fall out of the grenade, dispersing itself into a wide area. Once it hits the ground, it should explode quite volatilly for a wonderful area of effect. If the switch isn't messed with, the Gavrilium-U explodes all at once on a timer with the rest of the grenade.

Special Resource:
Gavrilium (1): Chiefwaffles
Gravite (1): NUKE9.13
Myomer (1): Taricus

Designs
Infantry Primary Weapons
SA-SR-M3 "Heartpiercer" (0):
T1 Battle Rifle (1): Taricus
Senapang Pattern Rifle (2): NUKE9.13, Chiefwaffles

Offensive Equipment
'Exor' Grenade (1): Taricus
M1 Dispersion Grenade (1): Chiefwaffles
Gravite Short Sword (1): NUKE9.13
SA-CB-M3 "Deathbow" (0):

Uniform
“Watcher” Universal Standard Issue Uniform (0):

Other:
“Sentry” General-Purpose Air-Cooled Machine Gun (0):

While I'd probably prefer a bit more exotic standard issue gun, I do agree with keeping the WW1 aesthetics and am voting for the  Senapang BR. Also, for the uniform, I would really like it if we weren't doing Stahlhems. Considering how associated it is with WW2 Germany.

[Taricus]

To make melee useful, we need to be able to make melee combatants that are able to reach melee fast, reach it relatively unharmed and able to kill the enemy faster than what we could with guns. The gravite sword does none of those effectively, effectively being like giving a tau a melee weapon. Gavrilium doesn't really have much in the way of melee potential though; what with it being more of a power source than an actual material that could get us in closer (Though it could fuel armour that does so.)

And with Myomer, we would have mechs that would be relatively agile enough to consider giving something choppy and send them running towards the enemy. THAT would be a nasty shock for them.

Moreover Nuke, the -1 is to the die result; a result of a 6,7 or 8 after modifiers would get us a relatively reliable weapon. Below that and we'd get something shoddy. It's more a matter of how we go about it rather than fearing a bad result. (Lets be honest, there's no way we'd get forenia's streak of ones, right?)

[NUKE9.13]

I understand the system, dude, I'm saying that the French didn't roll poorly with the Fusil 1917- they got an average result for the time period.

[Rockeater]

We are at 1914

[Taricus]

The Fusil 1917 is... not too supportive of your concerns though Nuke? They managed to fix most of the problems with it within a year, so I'd safely say we can bring it up to good condition with a revision should it get a below average roll.

[NUKE9.13]

Anyway, since Shadowclaw hasn't gotten around to updating his uniform yet, have an alternative:

Berani Standard Uniform: Made primarily of cotton dyed khaki (light brown-ish colour), the Berani Standard Uniform is relatively lightweight, in order to not hinder our troops as they bravely march forth. It has leather patches dyed a slightly darker brown on the elbows and knees, brass buttons, and plenty of pockets. It comes with a round steel helmet with a wide brim, and belts and satchels made from strong cotton webbing. An entrenching tool is included as well.
For deployment in colder weather environments, a thick woolen coat dyed olive drab is available.

Special Resource:
Gavrilium (1): Chiefwaffles
Gravite (1): NUKE9.13
Myomer (1): Taricus

Designs
Infantry Primary Weapons
SA-SR-M3 "Heartpiercer" (0):
T1 Battle Rifle (1): Taricus
Senapang Pattern Rifle (2): NUKE9.13, Chiefwaffles

Offensive Equipment
'Exor' Grenade (1): Taricus
M1 Dispersion Grenade (1): Chiefwaffles
Gravite Short Sword (1): NUKE9.13
SA-CB-M3 "Deathbow" (0):

Uniform
“Watcher” Universal Standard Issue Uniform (0):
Berani Standard Uniform (1): NUKE9.13

Other:
“Sentry” General-Purpose Air-Cooled Machine Gun (0):

[FallacyofUrist]

I must insist on Splice being in the votebox.

Special Resource:
Gavrilium (1): Chiefwaffles
Gravite (1): NUKE9.13
Myomer (1): Taricus
Splice (1): FallacyofUrist

Designs
Infantry Primary Weapons
SA-SR-M3 "Heartpiercer" (1): FallacyofUrist
T1 Battle Rifle (1): Taricus
Senapang Pattern Rifle (2): NUKE9.13, Chiefwaffles

Offensive Equipment
'Exor' Grenade (1): Taricus
M1 Dispersion Grenade (1): Chiefwaffles
Gravite Short Sword (1): NUKE9.13
SA-CB-M3 "Deathbow" (1): FallacyofUrist

Uniform
“Watcher” Universal Standard Issue Uniform (0):
Berani Standard Uniform (2): NUKE9.13, FallacyofUrist

Other:
“Sentry” General-Purpose Air-Cooled Machine Gun (0):

We're allowed to get soft here. Can't we do anything interesting?