Year 1914 AC (After Colonization) Cold Season, Combat Phase
Salviosi Successes
As the temperature dropped our production rose as we have begun to extract various
Ore in the
Plateaus. We also began to prepare the
South River Crossing in anticipation of imminent Abberan assault,
raising Entrenchment to One(1).
As a result of the increase in our stores of
Ores the following changes to our armory have occurred:
The
GA-1 Cannon becomes
(CHEAP).
The
ASC-14a "Charybdis" Tactical Aircraft becomes
(EXPENSIVE).
Abberan Advancements
Proposal: RSN1914 "Icarus" Combat Superiority Flier
RSN 191X “Icarus” Combat Superiority Flier
The Icarus is derived from the technological advancements made by the Orleans Sky Corvette and improvements in gravitational manipulation to to construct an advanced new Flier .
The core of the Flier is its 5.85 meter long teardrop shaped fuselage made of aluminum and kinetic wool-resin plates, with C-Steel for extra armor. The pilot is in a cockpit with an enclosed bubble canopy of reinforced glass that is mounted forward the nose to provide maximum visibility. At the head of the fuselage 4 Scythe machine guns with 700 Rounds per gun, and twin Halberd AT rifles with 10 rounds of ammunition each. These are each rigged to separate triggers for cannons and machine guns for the pilot. Behind the pilot in the center of the fuselage is a bomb bay able to carry two loads 100 kg of bombs which can be released independently. Bomb-loads are comprised of hand grenades, or 80mm HE shells. Behind that in the center of the fuselage is the engine/power supply, using a Gavrilium Generator with spark pack supercharger to increase performance. Behind this is an electric turbine that feeds in air via an air scoop under the fuselage on either side and a C-Rod to help provide more lift.
The wings of the Flier are mounted double stacked and biplane configuration behind the cockpit. They are made of aluminium and C-Steel for structure, and covered in a kinetic wool-resin plates plus more C-Steel for armor to provide strength and protection. In the center of each wing is both an electric turbine and a Caelium Powder Rod gravitic drive. Caelium Crystal is also mounted in these engine pods to reduce the strain on the structure. These are mounted in teardrop shaped structures to protect their inner workings. The wings themselves also mount wire controlled maneuvering slats.
Other features of the Icarus include Kinetic wool and C-Steel protection of key components. Metallic surfaces on the wings and outer fuselage will be coated with C-Powder to further reduce weight. The cockpit also has a gun-sight for its weapons. The turbines are to be improved as well to increase speed.
The final feature of this design is the (non)optional launch mechanism: the Kinetic Impulse Transfer Engine. Using a launch cradle that mounts under the center of the Icarus attached to a 50m track that can be elevated from a 15 degree to 45 degree arc. This track is propelled by firing 1 to 3 430mm solid shot shell in the opposite direction to quickly and rapidly launch an Icarus Flier. the shell casing is fixed to the track, as to ensure transfer of force.
Goal statement for the Icarus
-Improve the power of the turbines
-Cost is aimed at being Very Expensive, don't cut corners for cost.
-Speed is the focus over maneuverability
-Intended to have VTOL capability
-Bomb bays can just be stuffed full of hand grenades or artillery shells.
Difficulty: Ludicrous
Roll: 0 (3+1-4) = Utter Failure
We reached for the sun and fell short. After weeks of debate between engineers regarding the feasibility of creating something smaller than what we have available, and after recovering from an accidental explosion at the factory responsible for making the parts for the Icarus, we finally managed to produce a single prototype. Which exploded on it's maiden flight after the SparkPack activated on it's own during warm-up maneuvers and the wings broke off the thing. An observer was quoted as saying "That boy's got weak bones". We know it was capable of getting airborne, but other than that it was a disastrous failure. We could produce more of them, but we have a hard time finding pilots for the thing.
The blast though...that was something. Not much larger than a fingernail rained down on observers, and anything that was of substantial size was molten.
Costs 6 Ore, 2 Wood, 4 Caelium, 4 Gavrillium, and 3 Kinetic Sheep, making the Suicideship Icarus a (NATIONAL EFFORT).
There was also a lot of discussion among the upper ranks about how to best utilize the newfound ability to communicate with distant, otherworldly entities. While the decision to attempt to ally with some faction we could, ah, utilize was practically unopposed, the many possible decisions made a vote difficult. Ultimately it was left to you, the people who we've trusted the defense of our nation to, to decide who would benefit us most in this Great War. After weeks of discussion and debate, hundreds of options filtered to a dozen, then two, and then...
CHAPTER ONE-C: TAPPING POTENTIAL
The Merchant Lords had joined their most trusted advisors in the chamber housing the Ancient Monument once safety was assured (or as assured as it can be with an interdimensional anomaly): a polished stone room with a strange pedestal sticking out of the center of the room on a slightly raised platform. Radio and communications equipment now also filled the chamber as men and women ran from machine to machine checking for clear signals and maintaining the ones they could find. It took a lot of manpower to maintain a connection without losing it, so it was decided that a single country should be focused on for the time being. As a result almost everyone in the room was working on securing an
Alliance with United Forenia. They spoke to both the political and military leadership, notably one Tereshkova known for her aerial combat capability, something of which we are only just now realizing is even a factor in warfare. As a result of collaboration among our generals we have
increased our general aerial capabilities. While some things don't transfer perfectly (they use things called
jets as opposed to our clearly superior gravengines, for example), many tactics, like having the sun at your back, and most general knowledge, like the importance of altitude in air-to-air combat, do.
Forenia, having already gone through a period similar to ours, had more advanced technologies, but our access to resources apparently fairly unique across multiple worlds, drew their interest. The Salviosi-Forenian Cooperation Accord stated that they would
share the designs for the UF-39-APC "Salamander" Pattern-B (
"blueprint" linked here), and if we could share anything they could duplicate in some manner and field against their foes we would be able to request more designs in exchange. Work will need to go into the development of our own model, but this alliance could prove to be very beneficial indeed.
CHAPTER TWO: WELCOME TO THE MEATGRINDER
Arina Marcia Jasso had been in this room before. Two months ago her unit was pinned down in this very apartment building by the Order of the Iron Hand, an enemy unit of
Crusaders who had begun to make a name for themselves even among the Salviosi forces, on the lower floors while an
Orleans circled overhead and saturated the area with
Scythe fire. A couple bodies from that battle still laid against walls and sprawled across floors, rotting and stinking. Scars of a few more fights in this building since Arina's last time here laid scattered about - corpses, bullet holes, casings, blast marks. The freshest were of the Abberans a few of Arina's squadmates had just cleared out that'd been trapped in the room for the better part of a day. One of them clung to life with rattled breaths for a few minutes, occasionally muttering softly to himself in his native Endicarian before expiring.
The snow-covered streets below were ensnared in brutal fighting. Jasso steadied her
Senapang S. and began to rapidly fire shots at enemy infantry caught out of cover. The first unlucky bastard caught a round in the chest and dropped backwards, but thanks to that damn special wool uniform survived the hit, only to take another round to the jaw as he pushed himself back up.
Hit. Miss. Kill. Kill. Miss. Hit. Hit. Hit. Reloa-
The walls around her exploded into fragments and dust as multiple Abberans returned fire simultaneously. Arina adjusted her position while her squad engaged forces both outside and within the building and peeked back outside. A squad of those
damn Iron Hand and their "Squires" had found their way onto the field and were in the process of providing some mobile cover and fire support for the rest of the infantry.
FMJ/G then.
Once the rounds were loaded Arina found a
Crusader in her sights pretty easily and squeezed the trigger. The first round slammed into one of their chestplates, as did the second one. By the time Arina readied her third shot the
Crusader had dropped his weapon and began beating his chest as smoke and light began to pour from the two pock marks in his armor. A Squire in their
Nike Jump Armor tried to put herself between her mentor and Arina and received a bullet in the collarbone for her efforts. The other Squire had been killed almost in the same moment, cut down by a burst of
LGG-13 fire. While the fighting had been going well, the Abberans had set up in seemingly every single building, street, and alley, and it was here that their own counter-effort began.
An
Orleans battlegroup flew out of the skies and began to rain gunfire down on the Salviosi trying to dislodge the Abberan forces. Emboldened Abberans began to move forward in the streets as their officers blew their command horns ordering a charge. The suppressing fire from the Abberans pounded the Salviosi to a stop and then a flash, followed by a massive explosion in the skies above the battlefield. And another. And another.
A large portion of the
Orleans fleet was in an instant burning, plummeting to the ground or, if their caelium crystals were still sufficiently powered and intact, slowly gliding until it lost enough altitude to hit something.
And it was only then that the
Charybdis flew overhead into view of Arina. Three groups of five zoomed past in loose diamond formations, their main guns still lighting up as they fired into ships that weren't already confirmable as kills while the 40mm cannon in the lower turret fired on Abberan positions and groups of enemies. There were rumors of a weapon in the works to help us fight against the enemy in the skies, but they had been insubstantial until this moment, the debut of the
Charybdis into the war. The enemy fleet outnumbered the Salviosi and yet...when you can only move a quarter of the speed of your assailant and can only lob shots at them, well, there isn't much contest. Arina had just witnessed the first true air to air kills in the whole of the Great War.
The enemy's counter-counter-attack near-was quickly snuffed out due to the extreme difficulty they had with dealing with the introduction of the
Charybdis, though training influenced by Tereshkova definitely helped to capitalize on their near flawless performance, and coordination with
LEA spotters only helped. With enemy air power all but neutralized we were once again able to transport troops into Harren with relative ease, and so we have managed to push Abbera back out of the territory they had taken from us. We shouldn't get too comfortable though, as we have heard rumors that the Abberans have begun experimenting with fast craft of their own, with results typical of Abberans. Our advantage in the air only holds for as long as they can't shoot us down, and then we could be right back to losing ground if we aren't careful.
----------------
Combat this season has resulted in a
Salviosi Victory! Salvios once again controls 50% of Harren City.
Once again we come to you to make the difficult decisions. Our artillery has gone unused in an effort to protect the homes of our newly acquired workforce of refugees. However as the enemy has made the same decision if we decide to implement the use of artillery we may be able to make greater gains in combat within Harren City.
Shall we begin using artillery in Harren City? While this decision wouldn't normally be
as intense, working conditions have been less than ideal and upsetting a nice slice of our newfound population could lead to strikes and interruptions of work in Salvios...
We also now have access to the
UF-39-APC "Salamander" Pattern-B blueprints and can use a design to attempt to recreate it. Note that you can and should modify it to fit what you have available to you or utilize your equipment. Think of these as Design actions where you get to revise a design you don't have while also being easier than outright designing it as is.
If you cannot provide us with a breakthrough in Harren City this season then we plan on devoting resources to crossing the river on either of the flanks. While we already have the ability to cross thanks to our aircraft, a design spent on something that could aid in this endeavor this season or next could be rewarded.
[GM Note: Yes, I see it damn it, you guys stumbled through the metagame so hard this turn. I have a timeline to follow and you line this up.]IT IS NOW THE DESIGN PHASE.
Poll
2 (14.3%)
Author
Topic: Industrialized Warfare: Salvios Thread / 1917 A.C. Cold Season (COMPLETE) (Read 101764 times)