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[Jerick]

Well now that voting is locked let me suggest a design for when we start in earnest;

Spoiler: Armoured Sleeve (click to show/hide)

Most people would agree that without a weapon our soldiers are helpless. Their ability to defend themselves determines if they live or die. Yet we do surprisingly little to safeguard these weapons from damage in the field. We have a solution to this. For our rifle, machine gun and pistol we have crafted solid steel sleeves to encase the guns and welded them inside in order to protect them from harm and allow our soldiers to be able to depend on them in battle. Since the trigger is now safely protected we have added a lever on the right side of the cases, since most of our troops are right handed, that when pulled depresses the trigger. This is for ease of use. With this we can protect that which protects our soldiers.

[UristMcRiley]

Honest question Jerick, while I could understand a sleeve for cooling and protection of a more complicated weapon system. Like a machine gun it seems fairly useless in reference to the mainline infantry weapon and I believe it would be more effective to create weapons Witt higher tolerances to the elements then to create a certainly temporary fix that may exasperate certain problems and just complicate the use of the weapons we have

[Thanatos Russ]

big honking tank that doesn't have enough to run more than two at a time next?

[Jerick]

Honest question Jerick, while I could understand a sleeve for cooling and protection of a more complicated weapon system. Like a machine gun it seems fairly useless in reference to the mainline infantry weapon and I believe it would be more effective to create weapons Witt higher tolerances to the elements then to create a certainly temporary fix that may exasperate certain problems and just complicate the use of the weapons we have

Your wrong about the cooling. Welding guns inside steel boxes means all the heat from the gun stays in the air inside the box unless there are holes for the air to escape through. There aren't. So don't worry the guns in these things will most certainly overheat. As for it being useless for our mainline infantry weapon I'm guessing you missed that the design also calls for it to be applied to our sidearms as well for which it will be uniquely ill suited. This design will do nothing but hinder our troops as that's kinda the whole point of the game. The fact you could read my design and possibly think I had intended it to benefit the forces it's being designed for means I have written it correctly.

[UristMcRiley]

Well you got me there and i was suggesting i suppose not very clearly that if we filled the sleeve with water it would help so i mean maybe haha

[ConscriptFive]

A uniform might be a good starting point.  I present the beautiful, yet horrifying UHFU.

Design: Universal High-Visibility Field Uniform (UHFU)

Modern warfare requires a modern military uniform.  Under the fog or war, it's far too easy for our forces to misidentify their own, hampering command & control and risking friendly fire.  Thus our forces will be outfitted in Universal High-Visibility Field Uniforms (UHFU).

Colloquially pronounced "Uh, eff you," the UHFU is a truely modern field uniform, inspired by the traditional "red coat" dress uniform of the 19th century British Army.  (By embracing such a proud and victorious historical army, surely morale and recruitment will soar!)  The 1881 "jampot" style red wool tunic presents a crisp, professional silhouette, unspoiled by pockets.  A prominent half-forearm length cuff on the tunic is color coded to further designate the unit of the wearer.  To aid unit command and control, uniforms are color coded by rank as well: enlisted wear red tunics, officers flourescent yellow, and NCOs flourescent orange.  Even in the most panicked of battlefield conditions, our troops will have no difficulty identifying their own chain of command.

The UHFU includes an ultra-lightweight white tin helmet, to comfortably shield the wearer from rain and sun.  To inspire national pride, a highly polished national insignia is placed on the front center of the helmet, (brass for enlisted and silver for officers and NCOs).  The headband of the helmet is adjustable, to ensure the proper wear of the helmet with the insignia being centered exactly three inches above the wearer's eyes.  Any soldier who fails to maintain the high polish of his national insignia clearly lacks patriotism and discipline, and should be reprimanded as such.  The UHFU is finished with a pocket-less white trouser to match the helmet.

An army lives on its feet, thus the UHFU also features a sturdy knee-high combat boot.  The boot is tested to air tight standards to prevent the horrors of trench foot.  In accordance with our Slavic military heritage, naturally military portyanki foot wraps are used instead of Western style boot socks.

More than a Victorian-era dress uniform, the UHFU includes battlefield accoutrements as well.  Worn diagonally across the chest is a "Pancho Villa" style .30-06 cartridge open bandolier, enabling our forces the easiest access to their primary ammunition.  The belt features a large tin canteen, sealed with state-of-the-art lead-mercury solder for maximum durability.

To aid logistics and rapid fielding, the UHFU comes in a single universal "one-size-fits-all" pattern.  This also includes the wool undergarment layer, to protect our forces against harsh winter conditions.

In a nutshell, it's a parade uniform tragically unsuited for field use.

First off, it's deliberately a scout-sniper's dream.  The forearm cuff makes it super easy to tell what unit/s you're reconnoitering on the field.  Soldiers are color-coded by rank, including the highly reflective forehead aimpoint, letting you exactly know who you're about to headshot.

Speaking of the helmet, tin is barely effective as armor.

The footwear is actually really badly designed.  Air tight galoshes will keep the water out, but long-term lack of breathability will probably cause trench foot from your own sweat.  Of course, being Russian, we literally can't use real socks until 2014, so Portyanki foot wraps it is.

In terms of practicality, the shirt and pants entirely lack pockets.  Ammunition is tucked in single round notches worn openly on the chest Pancho Villa-style (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandolier#/media/File:Pancho_Villa_bandolier_crop.jpg).  Which seems like a great idea until the first prone dive due to incoming fire covers your entire combat load in mud.  Try feeding that into your rifle.  Similarly, try to keep the bandolier out of rain or snow to prevent general corrosion of your ammunition.  That kind of bandolier also notably lacks pockets, making it completely useless once the military forces us to upgrade to a clip-fed weapon system.

User maintenance is nightmarish, with easily stained white pants.  Don't forget shiny emblems you're required to polish probably daily. (The Russian military has an obsession with polishing belt buckles anyways.)

The canteen is rather low-key sadistic.  Heavy metal lead-mercury toxicity isn't really well known even academically until post WW2.  Probably getting plenty of other sources of heavy metal toxicity in a Great War battlefield, but putting in the canteen is about as direct as we can get.  Lead-mercury solder poisoned alot of early attempts at canned food, most notably the Franklin Northwest Passage Expedition (https://www.historytoday.com/archive/canned-food-sealed-icemens-fate).  On a long enough timeline, we're talking literal straight-jacket level of insanity in addition to other illnesses.  Must be the shell shock, amirite?

Wrapping up, "one-size-fits-all" means it probably fits half our troops well, and is either too big or too small on everyone else.  You'd think coarse wool underwear would be unbearably scratchy.  All-in-all, there's going to be some seriously interesting field-tailoring going on in the trenches.

[UristMcRiley]

Just +1

[Man of Paper]

The issue is it's an obvious intentionally bad play. Armies of the era were already beginning to move from the flashy colors of old uniforms to the duller ones. Sure France was a little slow to the party, but you know how they are. Nations had been realizing colorful uniforms were a hindrance the moment firearms became widespread.

No, an overly flashy uniform is a clear misstep. Love the name though.

I want to firstly not be boring and lame, But I also wanna wait for the initial report before I put much effort into a thing.

[NUKE9.13]

Nations had been realizing colorful uniforms were a hindrance the moment firearms became widespread.

I mean, I know what you're trying to say, but as written, this is, like, the opposite of the truth. It was only when armies started to grow in scale that uniforms were introduced in the first place. Colourful uniforms predominated through the matchlock, flintlock, and caplock eras.
What you meant to say was "Nations had been realizing colorful uniforms were a hindrance the moment smokeless firearms became widespread.". At that point, it became conceivably possible for soldiers to remain unseen, where previously the huge clouds of white smoke were a bit of a giveaway.

Anyway, the point stands. If this game starts in ~1925, then colourful uniforms won't really fly. We wouldn't have to do decent camo, but bright red would probably bring us straight up to the highest level of scrutiny, and the army probably wouldn't even adopt them.
I think there's still room to develop a terrible uniform, but we will have to be slightly more subtle about it.

[Jerick]

We could do things like issue 80 pounds of camping and survival gear and throw in stuff for environments they aren't even going to be in. Issue them stuff for every possible eventuality so that way they'll be prepared anything and impossible to move.

[NAV]

We should add a full face helmet to whatever uniform we choose. Sure it might severely restrict peripheral vision, have poor ventilation making it difficult to catch your breath, muffle verbal communication, and make it impossible to aim down sights, but thats a tiny price to pay for protecting our soldiers faces from shrapnel!

[BBBence1111]

Starting designs:

Main Infantry Weapon:

Type 0 Rei: [Stealth] The Rei is a very precisely crafted rifle. It has a long barrel, and is a single-shot bolt action firing 7x60 mm bullets out of a 6 round internal magazine. It has a simple wire sight for fine targeting. The unique feature, though, is that the barrel screws into place, and when disassembled, the gun fits into an inconspicuous business suitcase. [1 ore]

Sidearm

Type 4 Magistrate Pistol: This is a blowback-operated automatic pistol, firing new 10x25mm centerfire pistol cartridges. It is loaded from a 10 round single stack magazine. It has decent accuracy and stopping power at short to medium range, and usually cycles reliably, provided it is clean, dry, and cool. It is configured to fire as a semi-automatic weapon, though it can fire fully automatic with a pin removed. In this case, it fires about 1200 rounds per minute, with nothing to retard the fire, which is experienced to a shooter as the gun dumping its entire magazine and jumping out of their hands at a single trigger pull. This is fine, it was never meant to be fully automatic, except sometimes this pin cracks and it happens by accident. [1 ore]

Machine gun

MAR: The MAR is a selective-fire, air-cooled automatic rifle using a gas-operated, long-stroke piston rod actuated by propellant gases bled through a vent in the barrel. The bolt is locked by a rising bolt lock. The weapon fires from an open bolt. The spring-powered cartridge casing extractor is contained in the bolt and a fixed ejector is installed in the trigger group. The MAR is striker-fired (the bolt carrier serves as the striker) and uses a trigger mechanism with a fire selector lever that enables operating in either semi-automatic or fully automatic modes. It fires 13.2*100 mm rounds from a 20 round magazine, features a single stake as a monopod and has a foldable wire stock. [2 ore]

Grenade

A Mortar shell inspired by the Juraki Shogunate. Without any propellant, but full of explosives instead. Has a five second fuze started by pulling a pin. The pin can be pulled by hand or arranged into a trip with a length of wire included. In practice the fuze lasts anywhere from 4 to 6 seconds.

Melee weapon

Katana [Expensive]: A sword with perfect balance (heavy as hell), stainless and hard to break. Only officers and distinguished people are allowed to carry it.

Light artillery

Nafuan 15.2 cm cannon: A cannon with massive issues. Jams nearly every shot and has to be manually reset.  [2 ore]

Infantry transport truck

Privateer 1 1/2 Ton Truck: This is a truck, with a straight three-cylinder petrol motor. Like many early cars, the engine sticks in front of the cab in a compartment narrower than the rest of the vehicle, with a water-filled radiator in front. It has a short square cabin with a windscreen and open sides, and a bench seat for a driver (on the left) and a passenger, or two skinny passengers. The back of the truck is an eight by six foot bed with cleats to rope down cargo. It sits on six tall, narrow wheels with solid rubber tires and leaf spring suspension, the front two steer. The cabin has a only a steering wheel, throttle pedal, hand clutch and brake levers (which can lock open or closed) and forward/reverse selector. It isn't fast even on a good day, but when at its advertised load of 1.5 tons it can outrun (or outwalk) a team of half a dozen horses. It can carry two tons, in fact, if the road isn't too steep. On or near the battlefield, it can be made to carry whatever fits in its bed or can be towed behind on wheels, including cannons. [2 Ore, 2 Oil]

Light tank

Kadesh Armored Mechanical Chariot: Fitted with a 65 hp engine, 10 mm of armor all over, travelling at a maximum speed of around 50 km/h, and possessing a belt fed 41 mm autocannon in a cylindrical, hand-cranked turret. [2 Ore, 2 Oil]

Fighter-Bomber plane

A-1 Multi Purpose Aircraft "Barnacle": The Barnacle is a long, large biplane which seats a pilot and gunner/radio operator. It is powered by a 10 cylinder inline engine, which gives the plane a very long, skinny nose. Behind it is the pilot's seat, with the gunner's seat behind that, and a conventional tail. Two large pairs of wings give the craft a low stall speed, suitable for the engine which has a so-so power output for its weight, but very limited ability to aggressively climb, dive and bank. The pilot operates two front facing air cooled, belt fed MAR machine guns, which have a synchronization gear and fire through the propeller. The gunner has another air cooled MAR on a swivel. It has a sturdy airframe which is made from wood with metal at critical joints, and a 1/32 inch thick steel skin. It can carry one torpedo (about 180 kg)  or 2 90 kg bombs. [1 Ore, 2 Oil]

Small ship

Asennu-class Shunefu: It has three masts, all with sails, and it is armed with 26 guns, able to shoot port, starboard, and astern. The ship is fast in the wind, however, going against wind, as one would expect, its fairly slow.  [2 Ore]

[VoidSlayer]

What about doubling the armor of our light tank, calling it a medium tank, but not upping its weapons at all so its just slower?

[NUKE9.13]

Something to note about our "tank": I'm pretty sure it doesn't have treads. Anyway, we've been granted a wonderfully terrible arsenal. I can't imagine how we could make it worse. I think our first design will depend on how combat goes, and whether command directly asks us for something.

[Taricus]

Well, adding shitty treads to the armoured car would be a starter. Bt it's fortunate that we actually picked out a relatively decent tank and airplane.