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[Kashyyk]

Now, I'm not entirely sure if this first design is in keeping with the game's meta, but it's worth suggesting at least. The R-5 Shrapnel Cannon might be possible as a revision (especially if we were able to get the Hammer and Dozer from the Trephine). The Mega-Moles is an attempt to deploy infrastructure to other planets. I dunno if this will thus be a unit we need to maintain, or whether it just kinda happens, but we definitely want to keep upping our SPP/GPP income. Finally, a way to bump us up to speed-3 would massively help our logistics, as we could then get our troops and ships between the The Hub and the Front Line in a single turn, aiding refitting and repair. Again, this one might be revision-grade.

At just over 100m long, the Hephaestus cuts an imposing figure. Ironic as it has no direct combat capability. Instead, it is focused entirely on supporting our forces in the void, repairing damage and even applying technical upgrades when possible.

The belly of the Hephaestus is actually a large internal hanger, allowing it to air-dock a Logos for rapid repair and refitting without the engineering teams having to fumble in vacc suits and zero-G. Their actions are supported by the fusion furnaces and automated workshops that recycle damaged and outdated components (supplemented by some minor asteroid/wreckage mining) to produce new parts in the field. When a ship is too large for the Hephaestus's hanger, it can instead open wide and clamp onto the side of a ship like a giant limpet, using large rubber seals and sheets to maintain an atmosphere against one piece of a ship at a time. This is all powered with a pair of large Tokamak reactors with plasma drives, designed so that the ship can maintain engines and life support on just one reactor if necessary.

Finally, the ship can even refit outdated ground equipment, although it is not able to produce new ships or gear.

Based on the R-4 Railgun, the R-5 is very similar in shape, however the barrel is shorter and broader. This allows it to fire canisters that break open and release a cloud of titanium ball bearings and packed sand. These attacks, whilst shorter range than the solid slugs of the R-4, will allow us to scour the near area with high velocity projectiles, eliminating small targets such as missiles and fighters whilst sandpapering larger, better armoured targets. The cloud of titanium and sand will also obscure sight lines, reducing the effectiveness of laser weaponry.

Built like a small tank, the Mega-mole Driller has a modular front hardpoint, which can be fitted with a large drill, bulldozer plate, grabbing claws or a loading hopper. Working in teams, these vehicles will then efficiently harvest raw materials from the ground, sort them and then haul them back to the surface where they can be used. These units will be deployed to the surface of other planets, such as Alpha, Charlie and Echo, to maximise their SPP resources.

By accelerating the emitted particles with magnetic fields, similar to a railgun, we are able to eke an extra burst of speed when in an otherwise low-energy situation, such as travelling between planets.

Now, have a votebox

(1) Hephaestus-class Support Vessel: Kashyyk
(1) Mega- Mole Driller Teams: Kashyyk

[Rockeater]

(2) Hephaestus-class Support Vessel: Kashyyk, Rockeater
(1) Mega- Mole Driller Teams: Kashyyk
(1) Accelerated Fusion Torch: Rockeater

[Madman198237]

Mid-phase "The GM Screwed Everything Up" Mini-Update
While working on the many issues the Technate has had with one poorly judged design (my fault), I realized I had made a minor rules/setting and clerical error that affected both sides equally, so your fusion reactor should be providing 2 SPP *and* 2 GPP, instead of just two SPP. I've edited the previous post with all the spoilers to reflect this.

[Carefulrogue]

(3) Hephaestus-class Support Vessel: Kashyyk, Rockeater, Carefulrogue
(1) Mega- Mole Driller Teams: Kashyyk
(2) Accelerated Fusion Torch: Rockeater, Carefulrogue

I'm inclined to cast a vote for the sandcaster R-5, though perhaps we can get away with a revision on that.  For the sake of consensus though and assessing our other needs, I like the Hephaestus and faster ships just give us so much more freedom.

[ConscriptFive]

We probably should do some kind of cruiser soon, but I'm always a sucker for support units.  Also, building better engines first seems like a good idea.

(4) Hephaestus-class Support Vessel: Kashyyk, Rockeater, Carefulrogue, ConFive
(1) Mega- Mole Driller Teams: Kashyyk
(3) Accelerated Fusion Torch: Rockeater, Carefulrogue, ConFive

[Madman198237]

Turn 6 Design Phase: The Network

'Hephaestus' class Support Vessel
At just over 100m long, the Hephaestus cuts an imposing figure. Ironic as it has no direct combat capability. Instead, it is focused entirely on supporting our forces in the void, repairing damage and even applying technical upgrades when possible.

The belly of the Hephaestus is actually a large internal hanger, allowing it to air-dock a Logos for rapid repair and refitting without the engineering teams having to fumble in vacc suits and zero-G. Their actions are supported by the fusion furnaces and automated workshops that recycle damaged and outdated components (supplemented by some minor asteroid/wreckage mining) to produce new parts in the field. When a ship is too large for the Hephaestus's hanger, it can instead open wide and clamp onto the side of a ship like a giant limpet, using large rubber seals and sheets to maintain an atmosphere against one piece of a ship at a time. This is all powered with a pair of large Tokamak reactors with plasma drives, designed so that the ship can maintain engines and life support on just one reactor if necessary.

Finally, the ship can even refit outdated ground equipment, although it is not able to produce new ships or gear.

'Hephaestus' class Support Vessel
Difficulty: Hard
Roll: 4 + 4 - 1 = 7 Exceptional Craftsmanship

An excellent addition to our forces, the Hephaestus looks very much like a large cylinder, as one would expect of what is, in effect, a very large pressure vessel. Two large plasma drive arrays, two reactors, and numerous holding tanks for both the working atmosphere and fuel cap one end. Ahead of the cylinder is the furnace section and a bridge with two wide wings that extend past the edges of the cylinder and allow the command crew to watch the ship they're collecting move towards the bay. Some maneuvering thrusters and manipulator arms dot the surface. Two massive doors are outlined, where half the cylinder splits apart and allows ships to enter.

The Hephaestus uses its large furnaces and workshops to produce new parts out of wreckage salvaged from battle, a supply of metal, or from other sources, like asteroids. This is primarily useful for starship repairs, since armor plate that's been melted by laser fire can't just be hammered back into shape, not really. However, we managed to sneak in an additional feature, and that is utilizing the Hephaestus' forging capabilities to make alterations to groundside equipment. This obviously requires the presence of an ITC and its shuttles, prevents the ship from doing any other work, and takes the equipment out of combat for a turn as it all has to be loaded into the Hephaestus, altered, and shipped back down, which adds up to basically depriving a unit of its equipment for a turn. However, it is capable of updating most things provided the updates are not too complicated. A more specialized system that was capable of reproducing delicate circuitry and the like and that was generally geared towards altering infantry equipment would no doubt be much better, but for the purposes of bolting on additional armor plates to a tank or re-barreling rifles, this is quite suitable.

Repair System:
As a ship takes damage, it takes longer and longer to repair it (when away from your extensive shipyard setup at your home planet). This will be represented with a cost in "repair points", a totally arbitrary item I just invented, required to repair the item from its damaged state to "Undamaged". Thus, each value below represents how many repair points you have to allocate to get a single ship functioning again.

Undamaged: 0 RP
Lightly Damaged: 1 RP
Damaged: 2 RP
Badly Damaged: 4 RP
Crippled: 8 RP

So if a ship is Crippled and you have a repair vessel that provides 2 RP per turn, it takes 4 turns to repair it. If the ship is badly damaged, 2 turns, and so on. You can split repair points between ships. This is probably going to be useful mostly in cases where, say, you have 2 RP and 2 Lightly Damaged ships, each of which needs 1 RP of repair effort to get back to an Undamaged condition. In this case, you can split the one ship's attention between the two and repair both in one turn. The first ship to be repaired would fight in the late phase of the report as an Undamaged ship, the second to be repaired would fight in the early phase as a Lightly Damaged ship.

The Hephaestus will provide 3 RP per turn, allowing you to completely repair a Crippled ship in a mere three turns, an advantage the enemy may find it hard to match without Bitforms and which will grow as we get closer to the enemy's capital.

'Hephaestus' class Support Vessel: A giant cylinder with extra bits on it, the Hephaestus is capable of small updates to ships or ground equipment and serious repairs to Logos-sized vessels due to its enclosed hangar. It is not armored and its only defense is being large. Uses a lot of Bitforms, two reactors, and plenty of materials and is generally a fairly large ship, so it's expensive. However, it provides a huge capability for our fleet to stay functional on long deployments.
Cost: 4 SPP
Provides: 3 Repair Points per turn for Logos-sized vessels, 1 Repair Point for larger vessels that will not fit within its hangar.

Accelerated Fusion Torch
By accelerating the emitted particles with magnetic fields, similar to a railgun, we are able to eke an extra burst of speed when in an otherwise low-energy situation, such as travelling between planets.

Accelerated Fusion Torch
Difficulty: Very Hard
Roll: 3 + 1 - 2 = 2 Utter Failure

In trying to make a new reactor capable of acting as a fusion torch drive, we've had some problems. Well, more correctly, we set another laboratory on fire and vaporized our progress in the high-energy exhaust of a rocket firing hydrogen out of a 7 million degree Kelvin reactor chamber. Um, we're pretty sure that this qualifies for the pile of slightly burned and unusually radioactive papers labelled "events that never happened". However, we're reasonably sure that it IS possible to achieve higher speeds in interplanetary travel, and that a fusion torch drive should work for that goal. We were, however, unable to maintain a stable fusion reaction in the reactor when attempting to use it as a torch drive.

This...will not be going in the equipment list.
Cost: Would you PLEASE stop setting laboratories on fire!?

----
It's the REVISION phase and you have two REVISIONS and there has not been any suggestion of this phase being otherwise.
----

Spoiler: The Network Control (click to show/hide)

The Hub: 10/0/0 (YOURS/UNCLAIMED/ENEMY)
  -  Nothing
A: 10/0/0
  -  Nothing
B: 10/0/0
  -  ITC-05
    -  BMU-2
    -  3x Dozer
C: 10/0/0
  -  Logos-06-TDC, Logos-07-TDC, Logos-08-TDC
D: 8/0/2
  -  BMU-4, BMU-5, BMU-1 (Emergent), BMU-3 (Emergent)
  -  Logos-02
  -  ITC-01-LIFT
  -  ITC-02-LIFT
E: 10/0/0
  -  BMU-6, BMU-7
F: 0/0/10
  -  Logos-03-TDC, Logos-04-TDC, Logos-05-TDC
G:
H:
I:
Planet 2: 0/0/10

Spoiler: The Network Logistics (click to show/hide)

Ship Production Points: 27
  6 points: 3x ITC
  2 points: 2x LIFT
  2 points: 1x [old] Logos
  9 points: 3x [old] Logos with TDC
  9 points: 3x Logos with TDC
  2 points: 1x DESTROYED Logos (Available in Turn 7 Strategy Phase)
  1 points: Unassigned

Ground Production Points: 31
  14 points: 7x BMU
  7 points: 7x Trephine
  2 points: 2x Hammer
  6 points: 2x Emergent
  4 points: 4x Dozer
  2 points: Unassigned

Units
BMU-1
  -  Trephine, Emergent, Hammer
  -  Location: Delta
BMU-2
  -  Trephine, Dozer
  -  Location: in ITC-05
BMU-3
  -  Trephine, Emergent, Hammer
  -  Location: Delta
BMU-4
  -  Trephine
  -  Location: Delta
BMU-5
  -  Trephine
  -  Location: Delta
BMU-6
  -  Trephine
  -  Location: Echo
BMU-7
  -  Trephine
  -  Location: Echo

Ships
ITC-01-LIFT
  -  Location: Delta
  -  Contents: Empty
  -  Condition: Undamaged
ITC-02-LIFT
  -  Location: Delta
  -  Contents: Empty
  -  Condition: Undamaged
ITC-5
  -  Location: Bravo
  -  Contents: BMU-2, 3x Dozer
  -  Condition: Undamaged

Logos-02
  -  Location: Delta
  -  Condition: Crippled, Outdated
Logos-03-TDC
  -  Location: Foxtrot
  -  Condition: Undamaged, Outdated
Logos-04-TDC
  -  Location: Foxtrot
  -  Condition: Undamaged, Outdated
Logos-05-TDC
  -  Location: Foxtrot
  -  Condition: Undamaged, Outdated
Logos-06-TDC
  -  Location: Charlie
  -  Condition: Undamaged
Logos-07-TDC
  -  Location: Charlie
  -  Condition: Undamaged
Logos-08-TDC
  -  Location: Charlie
  -  Condition: Undamaged

Spoiler: Map (click to show/hide)

Planetary Contents:
1 & 2: Earthlike planets just as you’d expect. Take your opponent’s homeworld to win, lose yours and you die.
A: Riddled with caves and with a mineral-rich crust, this airless world is ideal for the production of spacecraft components. 1 GPP, 3 SPP.
B: A volcanic world with a caustic atmosphere and lava flows on the surface, B is full of minerals that can be easily acquired…if you can deal with the, quite literal, heat. 3 GPP, 1 SPP.
C: Icy, barren, rather flat in most regions. It has rather a lot of those things humans need to live sitting on and under its airless surface. 3 GPP, 3 SPP.
D: A surface-wide ocean is the defining trait of this planet, providing an interesting combat environment and also plenty of interesting life forms that can be studied….if you can build a big enough boat to catch one, anyway. 4 GPP, 2 SPP.
E: Another Earthlike planet, ideal for habitation….or, y’know, fighting a good old fashioned war over! 4 GPP, 4 SPP.
F: A world of highlands and mountains, the lower parts of the planet are filled with most of the planet's already scarce water. However, the mountainous regions have high mineral contents and plenty of good spacecraft launch sites above the majority of the atmosphere. 2 GPP, 4 SPP.
G: Deserts cover the surface of this planet. Deserts made, in fact, of a curious sand with abnormally high metal and mineral contents. It has an atmosphere that serves to stir up the sands into occasional sandstorms. 3 GPP, 3 SPP.
H: An airless, small rock in space, H is heavily cratered and not a great place to live. Good place to build spacecraft, though. 1 GPP, 3 SPP.
I: A world covered in wide stretches of windswept terrain covered in something that we’re going to call grass, I is ideal for large-scale industrial activity. Nobody cares if you do irreparable damage to a huge tract of grasslands here, after all, there are a hundred more huge tracts of pristine grasslands you haven’t ruined yet. 3 GPP, 1 SPP.

Spoiler: The Network Tech (click to show/hide)

Ships
ITC (Interplanetary Transport Craft): A less-than-stellar spacecraft, the ITC is a version of the ships landed on your planet when you first colonized it. It is prone to malfunction, slow, and generally unpleasant. The rocket shuttles used to get equipment from the ITC to the ground have a limited capacity, meaning that with the exception of troops and things that can be broken into much smaller parts, the ITC cannot carry any equipment of a size greater than 1TC. It has 4TC capacity in total and uses chemical engines for propulsion. It has no armor or armaments.
Cost: 2 SPP

FASS Mk1. Logos: A reasonably quick, reasonably agile, fairly effective light ship of about 45 meters long with Light armor and three R-4 railguns for weapons complement.
Cost: 2 SPP

Logos Thermal Defense Citadel upgrade: An internal ceramic armor layer on the Logos which is actively cooled to reduce damage from thermal weapons. Raises Logos armor to Medium, cost increases by 1 SPP, agility and speed decreased.
Applied To: FASS Mk.1 Logos
Cost: Increase Logos cost by 1 SPP

'Hephaestus' class Support Vessel: A giant cylinder with extra bits on it, the Hephaestus is capable of small updates to ships or ground equipment and serious repairs to Logos-sized vessels due to its enclosed hangar. It is not armored and its only defense is being large. Uses a lot of Bitforms, two reactors, and plenty of materials and is generally a fairly large ship, so it's expensive. However, it provides a huge capability for our fleet to stay functional on long deployments.
Cost: 4 SPP
Provides: 3 Repair Points per turn for Logos-sized vessels, 1 Repair Point for larger vessels that will not fit within its hangar.

Units
Basic Military Unit: (you may rename this if you so wish) A capable group of soldiers trained to operate any equipment you can give them. Field training allows them to keep up to date on the best way to operate the newest deathtraps and self-destructing gizmos you send them even after they’re deployed.
Cost: 2GPP

Ground Weapons
Printed Pistol: Issued to security guards on the colony ships, the only real weapon both colonies have. They are 3D-printed out of plastic, a process which is not entirely reliable, meaning the gun has a tendency to break after prolonged use... or any use, really.
Cost: Cheap

Trephine Magnetic Sabot Rifle: A very effective weapon for Medium- to Long-ranged engagements, the Trephine is a 12mm APFSDS weapon with a 10mm projectile, capable of firing with damage roughly equivalent to a high-caliber rifle or, at maximum power, a light cannon. The projectile tends to fragment on piercing Light armor, doing even more damage than usual to the underlying target. Fireworks displays included with every order of 1000 or more.
Cost: 1 GPP

'Hammer' Magnetic Flechette Rifle: A carbine version of the Trephine, the Hammer fires exclusively lighter-weight discarding-sabot flechette rounds which are very accurate and deadly. The rifle is lighter, shorter, and faster than the Trephine, and has a four-round internal magazine and a bolt-action style chambering (being a railgun there is not really a semiautomatic function). It is accurate and deadly out to Medium range, and can lay down suppressive fire at Long range with minimal chances to hit.
Cost: 1 GPP

'Dozer' Magnetic Cannon: A functional combination of 40mm grenade launcher and mortar. Sights are basic but it has a Medium-Long range in mortar configuration with higher launching powers and Short-Medium range when shoulder-fired. Shells are basic explosives with a moderate payload. Functions as an auxiliary weapon.
Cost: 1 GPP

Ground Equipment
Basic Space Suit: A civilian space suit, totally unarmored and cumbersome to walk in. At least it works well enough, and has a self-sealing lining meaning a single shot isn't an immediate death sentence... most of the time. Necessary for deployment to worlds without breathable atmospheres.
Cost: Cheap OBSOLETE

MultiEnvironment Tactical Armored Suit: A slight improvement to the Basic Space Suit in every way, METAS is a hair less cumbersome, has magnetic boots and some armor so it won't (usually) explode the minute somebody looks at the oxygen tank funny. That usually happens the second minute that somebody remains looking at the tank funny.
Cost: Cheap

Ground Vehicles
"Emergent" Assault Aircraft In-Field Assembly Kit: A fault-ridden aircraft more prone to disassembling itself than flying, and when it does fly it tends to do so in a rather wobbly-looking way. However, it does carry two Trephines, a pilot, a gunner, and six combat units around at reasonably fast speeds. Er, we think it does, anyway, given that the most recent prototypes haven't been tested, since all our test Units are too good at probability-of-death-or-maiming calculations.
Cost: 4 GPP
Weight: 2 TC (requires 1 shuttle TC)

"Emergent" AAIFAK 1.1: Still not a great aircraft, this new version of the Emergent suffers from unbalanced engine thrust which is quite effective at hamstringing maneuverability, but it is capable of something that resembles proper flying. It is still more expensive than it needs to be due to the engine problems. It can carry two Trephines (in a single turret), a pilot, a gunner, and six combat units around at reasonably fast speeds.
Cost: 3 GPP
Weight: 2 TC (requires 1 shuttle TC)

Command Radio: Essentially just a very big radio set, capable of reliable communication between planets, ships, and/or other planets. Currently only useful for taunting your enemy. The transmitter dish comes in a single piece and cannot fit in an ITC shuttle.
Cost: 2GPP
Weight: 1TC (requires 2 shuttle TC)

Spacecraft Components
Tokamak-Powered Plasma Drive: A matched set of self-melting components, the TPPD is generally regarded as having been a bad idea.
Cost: A large amount of expensive alloys and electromagnets we're willing to throw away, all of High Command's good will.

Plasma Engine: A Speed 2 interplanetary drive, capable of producing fairly acceptable changes to velocity in combat conditions. Very power hungry at combat-use sizes.

Gen. 2 Tokamak-Powered Plasma Drive: A slightly more efficient, powerful, and compact set of reactors and plasma drives for a warship. It works just a little better than the previous one, and is far better than the original TPPD. Not that that's much of an achievement. Provides a lot of power both in terms of electrical and maneuvering ability.

R-4 Railgun Turret: An amazing weapons system, the R-4 is an externally mounted 50mm railgun loaded with 20 round drums capable of firing a three-round burst on a single capacitor charge, while a loading arm loads the drums into the weapon from the storage bay in the ship proper. The turret is lightly armored for protection. Requires a ship to mount it on.

Large Item Flight Transport (LIFT): An upgrade to the ITC's basic shuttles, capable of moving 4 TC objects to and from orbit. Has advantages and disadvantages, minor mechanical issues, but primarily is something of an "all your eggs, one basket" situation when deploying into combat conditions. Raise the cost of an ITC when attached.
Cost: 1 SPP (equips an ITC with a full set of LIFT shuttles)

LIFT Intraplanetary Plasma Engine (IPE): An upgrade to the LIFT shuttles, capable of moving 4 TC objects to and from orbit. Faster and more maneuverable even than basic shuttles, and come with some amount of reinforcement and protection against attack. Raise the cost of an ITC when attached.
Cost: 1 SPP (equips an ITC with a full set of LIFT shuttles)

Art3mis Precision Targeting System: An upgraded targeting suite that allows a Logos substantially more information and hitting capability against targets as compared to the baseline. Very effective against unknowing targets and capable of a limited degree of predictive firing and precision-coordinated shots amongst multiple weapons. Requires a refit.
Cost: None.

Infrastructure
Colony Defense Grid: The reason you can't instantly invade the enemy homeworld. A series of surface-to-orbit missile launchers, the only real concession to defense the planners of the colony made. How they work is a mystery now, and no one wants to risk taking them apart to find out.

Semi-Autonomous Industrial Facilities: A network of interlinked incredibly well-connected modern factories capable of production of unparalleled efficiency and scale.
Provides: 2 GPP

Orbital Reclamation Centers: Satellites in orbit around the Hub that reprocess damaged and destroyed units and other bits of metal and plastic into spacecraft parts.
Provides: 2 SPP

Tokamak: Nuclear Boogaloo: A functioning nuclear fusion reactor, producing on our first attempt, no prior attempts being on record. It requires much less expensive fuel than nuclear fission plants and so its more complicated construction does not increase its cost beyond that of a fission plant, and therefore is automatically retrofitted into any ships that are refitted or any new builds. Provides a substantial increase in power generation to any ship and removes any issues with power generation.
Provides: 2 SPP and 2 GPP

Spoiler: Credits (click to show/hide)

Array

[Kashyyk]

I think we can definitely do the Shrapnel Cannon, but I somehow suspect a revision isn't gonna be enough to fix the Fusion Torch.

[Rockeater]

Yeah, in that rate I think plasma is just beyond our understanding.

Anyway, what second revision idea you have?

[ConscriptFive]

Revision: 'Steamroller' 80mm Magnetic Cannon Mortar
The 'Steamroller' is a 80mm medium mortar system for ground combat.
Our 40mm 'Dozer' cannon is great for squads on the move, but we still lack an option for true external fire support.  The answer is to upscale the Dozer into a dedicated medium mortar system.  80mm is large enough to provide enough a boost in range and payload, while still being small enough to not require a entire rework of the proven Dozer system.  Naturally, the shoulder-fired option of the Dozer has been stripped from the Steamroller.
The larger shells have some additional capabilities as well.  VT-type proximity fuzes can be fitted, instead of contact fuzes, for airburst capabilities.  Smoke rounds can mark targets and provide concealment.  Parachute illumination flares can be used for battlefield illumination or other visual signaling.

[Kashyyk]

The only significant issue with the Emergent now is the engines. By reworking the wiring, tightening tolerances and ensuring a well controlled fuel input and thrust output, we can solve the issue of engines giving random amounts of thrust. Hopefully this should also reduce their cost as well.

The Trephine, Hammer and Dozer all use the same bolt-action system for chambering the next projectile, due to a lack of gas exhaust to power an automatic system. However, we're already packing a vast a mount of electrical potential in order to power the weapon, so adding an electronic autoloader that scoops a new round from the attached magazine/drum/hopper should be simple.

[Rockeater]

R-5 Shrapnel Cannon (1) Rockeater
Railgun Autoloaders (1) Rockeater

[Kashyyk]

R-5 Shrapnel Cannon (2) Rockeater, Kashyyk
Railgun Autoloaders (1) Rockeater
Emergent 1.2 (Engine Overhaul) (1) Kashyyk

[ConscriptFive]

Assuming we're doing big ships next design, nailing down the R5 as secondaries/point-defense is a solid move.

The other revision is a tough call. 

Unless their inevitable fighter-interceptor is complete shit, it going to be somewhat effective against the Emergent no matter how much we revise it.  "Speed is life" is the way to go if we want to keep the Emergent flying.  It'll also give us more experience towards building a fighter-escort.

At the same time, converting all our guns to semi-auto is a pretty powerful move, that'll push our ground forces to further dominance and let us at least threaten enemy fast-movers.  Assuming we want an autocannon fighter soon, this is also a good step.

As much as the Emergent will need help, the guns are a broader effect revision.

R-5 Shrapnel Cannon (3) Rockeater, Kashyyk, ConscriptFive
Railgun Autoloaders (2) Rockeater, ConscriptFive
Emergent 1.2 (Engine Overhaul) (1) Kashyyk

[Carefulrogue]

R-5 Shrapnel Cannon (4) Rockeater, Kashyyk, ConscriptFive, Carefulrogue
Railgun Autoloaders (3) Rockeater, ConscriptFive, Carefulrogue
Emergent 1.2 (Engine Overhaul) (1) Kashyyk

I remain a little digressive on the R-5 design description,but it's an oh well sort of thing at this point. 

The question of the autoloaders vs the engine overhaul has me on the side of the overhaul somewhat.  Essentially, if the Technate brings to bear any sort of working aircraft or anti-air, the design is simply screwed.  I'm not sure weather or not the autoloaders would be capable of overpowering the disadvantage of ineffectual airsupport

The autoloaders might just be able to do enough in terms of sheer firepower to negate the advantage of whatever they are going to bring to bear.  The argument of it being broader inclines me to the argument that once we have these subsystems created it'd be fairly cheap to include them in further designs, even those scaled up or down from what we currently have.  These guns are going to stay for a long while.  The emergent might just need to be suicided into a fortress while we deploy something to replace them outright.  Perhaps the idea of carrier fighter/bombers from space might be an idea to push ahead with.

[Madman198237]

Turn 6 Revision Phase: The Network
 

R-5 Shrapnel Cannon
Based on the R-4 Railgun, the R-5 is very similar in shape, however the barrel is shorter and broader. This allows it to fire canisters that break open and release a cloud of titanium ball bearings and packed sand. These attacks, whilst shorter range than the solid slugs of the R-4, will allow us to scour the near area with high velocity projectiles, eliminating small targets such as missiles and fighters whilst sandpapering larger, better armoured targets. The cloud of titanium and sand will also obscure sight lines, reducing the effectiveness of laser weaponry.

R-5 Shrapnel Cannon
Difficulty: Easy
Roll: 4 + 4 + 1 = 9 Unexpected Boon

The basic design of the R-5 goes as you would expect. We've engineered a conductive sabot that contains a whole lot of debris. Now, this isn't really effective since distances in space are large and the material would tend to disperse far too early, but for final-fire against missiles we project it to be effective, and if we ever build something, perhaps a ground vehicle of some kind, that used a comparable railgun, it would be lethal against soft-skinned vehicles and infantry alike. The R-5, being a shorter and higher-caliber railgun, has a much faster cyclic rate since it needs a smaller bank of capacitors. It fires projectiles slower and is thus less dangerous to spacecraft, but against missiles it is very capable, especially with Artemis targeting. The rails suffer less wear and the weapon fires projectiles with a larger payload, and indeed at this lower velocity it's easier to add computer systems to the round, as indeed we had to. Solid shot is available, of course, for the R-5, and makes a bigger hole, but is far less effective against armored spacecraft, which the enemy Chord is. Their missile corvette, however, is not so well protected. The cost and magazine/capacitor space was not changed, since the increase in bore size was mostly offset by the shorter barrel and the capacitor size decrease offset by the increased size of ammunition.

However, we also managed to add an explosive core to the projectiles and add a variable fuse, either a timed fuse (set by the targeting computer) or a proximity fuse, selected before firing. The explosive content is not huge, but it scatters the bearings regularly and can be used to disperse chaff (not sand, sand doesn't interfere with enough classes of sensor, but chaff does) effectively to defend where the vessel will be, rather than where it is. The combination rounds (chaff and bearings) are not common, but each ship carries a small supply of chaff rounds to temporarily ward off laser damage (space is big and chaff doesn't have engines, therefore it can never be a long-lasting or super effective defense) in dangerous situations, and a somewhat larger supply of missile-destroying canister/shrapnel rounds. We've also created the same types of munitions for the R-4. We do have a larger R-5 railgun as well now, but the projectiles are also now provided as standard ammunition for R-4-equipped spacecraft.

R-5 Shrapnel Cannon: A bigger but lower-velocity railgun capable of firing chaff rounds, shrapnel or canister shot, and of course solid shot. Fires faster than the R-4 with less armor piercing capability due to its lower velocity, but lower energy requirements. Can lay down a laser- and radar-reflecting chaff barrage to interfere with weapons and sensors both, capable of shooting down missiles with great precision when paired with Artemis tracking. Same cost as the R-4.

Railgun Autoloaders
The Trephine, Hammer and Dozer all use the same bolt-action system for chambering the next projectile, due to a lack of gas exhaust to power an automatic system. However, we're already packing a vast a mount of electrical potential in order to power the weapon, so adding an electronic autoloader that scoops a new round from the attached magazine/drum/hopper should be simple.

Railgun Autoloaders
Difficulty: Normal
Roll: 2 + 4 - 0 = 6 Above Average

This is indeed a reasonably simple addition to all our railguns. Each is now fed from a four-round magazine basically identical to the Hammer's. This makes the Dozer somewhat bulky and much heavier, reducing the amount of ammunition the individual soldier can carry, but it's generally regarded as a positive, since now any soldier equipped with a Dozer is not completely helpless after firing a single shot. Either way, the upgrades are pretty simple and don't increase the cost of the weapons, but will require the issued versions to be updated. One final adjustment was the use of a much larger magazine for the Trephines onboard our present aircraft so they can fire a meaningful burst between reloads. This, again, requires a refit to the aircraft to apply.

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Strategy phase, please strategize. Also, this is your polite reminder to weigh in on the different options for logistics changes in the core thread, please.
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Spoiler: The Network Control (click to show/hide)

The Hub: 10/0/0 (YOURS/UNCLAIMED/ENEMY)
  -  Nothing
A: 10/0/0
  -  Nothing
B: 10/0/0
  -  ITC-05
    -  BMU-2
    -  3x Dozer
C: 10/0/0
  -  Logos-06-TDC, Logos-07-TDC, Logos-08-TDC
D: 8/0/2
  -  BMU-4, BMU-5, BMU-1 (Emergent), BMU-3 (Emergent)
  -  Logos-02
  -  ITC-01-LIFT
  -  ITC-02-LIFT
E: 10/0/0
  -  BMU-6, BMU-7
F: 0/0/10
  -  Logos-03-TDC, Logos-04-TDC, Logos-05-TDC
G:
H:
I:
Planet 2: 0/0/10

Spoiler: The Network Logistics (click to show/hide)

Ship Production Points: 27
  6 points: 3x ITC
  2 points: 2x LIFT
  2 points: 1x [old] Logos
  9 points: 3x [old] Logos with TDC
  9 points: 3x Logos with TDC
  2 points: 1x DESTROYED Logos (Available in Turn 7 Strategy Phase)
  1 points: Unassigned

Ground Production Points: 31
  14 points: 7x BMU
  7 points: 7x Trephine
  2 points: 2x Hammer
  6 points: 2x Emergent
  4 points: 4x Dozer
  2 points: Unassigned

Units
BMU-1
  -  Trephine, Emergent, Hammer
  -  Location: Delta
BMU-2
  -  Trephine, Dozer
  -  Location: in ITC-05
BMU-3
  -  Trephine, Emergent, Hammer
  -  Location: Delta
BMU-4
  -  Trephine
  -  Location: Delta
BMU-5
  -  Trephine
  -  Location: Delta
BMU-6
  -  Trephine
  -  Location: Echo
BMU-7
  -  Trephine
  -  Location: Echo

Ships
ITC-01-LIFT
  -  Location: Delta
  -  Contents: Empty
  -  Condition: Undamaged
ITC-02-LIFT
  -  Location: Delta
  -  Contents: Empty
  -  Condition: Undamaged
ITC-5
  -  Location: Bravo
  -  Contents: BMU-2, 3x Dozer
  -  Condition: Undamaged

Logos-02
  -  Location: Delta
  -  Condition: Crippled, Outdated
Logos-03-TDC
  -  Location: Foxtrot
  -  Condition: Undamaged, Outdated
Logos-04-TDC
  -  Location: Foxtrot
  -  Condition: Undamaged, Outdated
Logos-05-TDC
  -  Location: Foxtrot
  -  Condition: Undamaged, Outdated
Logos-06-TDC
  -  Location: Charlie
  -  Condition: Undamaged
Logos-07-TDC
  -  Location: Charlie
  -  Condition: Undamaged
Logos-08-TDC
  -  Location: Charlie
  -  Condition: Undamaged

Spoiler: Map (click to show/hide)

Planetary Contents:
1 & 2: Earthlike planets just as you’d expect. Take your opponent’s homeworld to win, lose yours and you die.
A: Riddled with caves and with a mineral-rich crust, this airless world is ideal for the production of spacecraft components. 1 GPP, 3 SPP.
B: A volcanic world with a caustic atmosphere and lava flows on the surface, B is full of minerals that can be easily acquired…if you can deal with the, quite literal, heat. 3 GPP, 1 SPP.
C: Icy, barren, rather flat in most regions. It has rather a lot of those things humans need to live sitting on and under its airless surface. 3 GPP, 3 SPP.
D: A surface-wide ocean is the defining trait of this planet, providing an interesting combat environment and also plenty of interesting life forms that can be studied….if you can build a big enough boat to catch one, anyway. 4 GPP, 2 SPP.
E: Another Earthlike planet, ideal for habitation….or, y’know, fighting a good old fashioned war over! 4 GPP, 4 SPP.
F: A world of highlands and mountains, the lower parts of the planet are filled with most of the planet's already scarce water. However, the mountainous regions have high mineral contents and plenty of good spacecraft launch sites above the majority of the atmosphere. 2 GPP, 4 SPP.
G: Deserts cover the surface of this planet. Deserts made, in fact, of a curious sand with abnormally high metal and mineral contents. It has an atmosphere that serves to stir up the sands into occasional sandstorms. 3 GPP, 3 SPP.
H: An airless, small rock in space, H is heavily cratered and not a great place to live. Good place to build spacecraft, though. 1 GPP, 3 SPP.
I: A world covered in wide stretches of windswept terrain covered in something that we’re going to call grass, I is ideal for large-scale industrial activity. Nobody cares if you do irreparable damage to a huge tract of grasslands here, after all, there are a hundred more huge tracts of pristine grasslands you haven’t ruined yet. 3 GPP, 1 SPP.

Spoiler: The Network Tech (click to show/hide)

Ships
ITC (Interplanetary Transport Craft): A less-than-stellar spacecraft, the ITC is a version of the ships landed on your planet when you first colonized it. It is prone to malfunction, slow, and generally unpleasant. The rocket shuttles used to get equipment from the ITC to the ground have a limited capacity, meaning that with the exception of troops and things that can be broken into much smaller parts, the ITC cannot carry any equipment of a size greater than 1TC. It has 4TC capacity in total and uses chemical engines for propulsion. It has no armor or armaments.
Cost: 2 SPP

FASS Mk1. Logos: A reasonably quick, reasonably agile, fairly effective light ship of about 45 meters long with Light armor and three R-4 railguns for weapons complement.
Cost: 2 SPP

Logos Thermal Defense Citadel upgrade: An internal ceramic armor layer on the Logos which is actively cooled to reduce damage from thermal weapons. Raises Logos armor to Medium, cost increases by 1 SPP, agility and speed decreased.
Applied To: FASS Mk.1 Logos
Cost: Increase Logos cost by 1 SPP

'Hephaestus' class Support Vessel: A giant cylinder with extra bits on it, the Hephaestus is capable of small updates to ships or ground equipment and serious repairs to Logos-sized vessels due to its enclosed hangar. It is not armored and its only defense is being large. Uses a lot of Bitforms, two reactors, and plenty of materials and is generally a fairly large ship, so it's expensive. However, it provides a huge capability for our fleet to stay functional on long deployments.
Cost: 4 SPP
Provides: 3 Repair Points per turn for Logos-sized vessels, 1 Repair Point for larger vessels that will not fit within its hangar.

Units
Basic Military Unit: (you may rename this if you so wish) A capable group of soldiers trained to operate any equipment you can give them. Field training allows them to keep up to date on the best way to operate the newest deathtraps and self-destructing gizmos you send them even after they’re deployed.
Cost: 2GPP

Ground Weapons
Printed Pistol: Issued to security guards on the colony ships, the only real weapon both colonies have. They are 3D-printed out of plastic, a process which is not entirely reliable, meaning the gun has a tendency to break after prolonged use... or any use, really.
Cost: Cheap

Trephine Magnetic Sabot Rifle: A very effective weapon for Medium- to Long-ranged engagements, the Trephine is a 12mm APFSDS weapon with a 10mm projectile, capable of firing with damage roughly equivalent to a high-caliber rifle or, at maximum power, a light cannon. The projectile tends to fragment on piercing Light armor, doing even more damage than usual to the underlying target. Fireworks displays included with every order of 1000 or more. Now includes 4-round magazine and semiautomatic function.
Cost: 1 GPP

'Hammer' Magnetic Flechette Rifle: A carbine version of the Trephine, the Hammer fires exclusively lighter-weight discarding-sabot flechette rounds which are very accurate and deadly. The rifle is lighter, shorter, and faster than the Trephine, and has a four-round internal magazine and a bolt-action style chambering (being a railgun there is not really a semiautomatic function). It is accurate and deadly out to Medium range, and can lay down suppressive fire at Long range with minimal chances to hit. Now includes 4-round magazine and semiautomatic function.
Cost: 1 GPP

'Dozer' Magnetic Cannon: A functional combination of 40mm grenade launcher and mortar. Sights are basic but it has a Medium-Long range in mortar configuration with higher launching powers and Short-Medium range when shoulder-fired. Shells are basic explosives with a moderate payload. Functions as an auxiliary weapon. Now includes 4-round magazine and semiautomatic function.
Cost: 1 GPP

Ground Equipment
Basic Space Suit: A civilian space suit, totally unarmored and cumbersome to walk in. At least it works well enough, and has a self-sealing lining meaning a single shot isn't an immediate death sentence... most of the time. Necessary for deployment to worlds without breathable atmospheres.
Cost: Cheap OBSOLETE

MultiEnvironment Tactical Armored Suit: A slight improvement to the Basic Space Suit in every way, METAS is a hair less cumbersome, has magnetic boots and some armor so it won't (usually) explode the minute somebody looks at the oxygen tank funny. That usually happens the second minute that somebody remains looking at the tank funny.
Cost: Cheap

Ground Vehicles
"Emergent" Assault Aircraft In-Field Assembly Kit: A fault-ridden aircraft more prone to disassembling itself than flying, and when it does fly it tends to do so in a rather wobbly-looking way. However, it does carry two Trephines, a pilot, a gunner, and six combat units around at reasonably fast speeds. Er, we think it does, anyway, given that the most recent prototypes haven't been tested, since all our test Units are too good at probability-of-death-or-maiming calculations.
Cost: 4 GPP
Weight: 2 TC (requires 1 shuttle TC)

"Emergent" AAIFAK 1.1: Still not a great aircraft, this new version of the Emergent suffers from unbalanced engine thrust which is quite effective at hamstringing maneuverability, but it is capable of something that resembles proper flying. It is still more expensive than it needs to be due to the engine problems. It can carry two Trephines (in a single turret), a pilot, a gunner, and six combat units around at reasonably fast speeds.
Cost: 3 GPP
Weight: 2 TC (requires 1 shuttle TC)

Command Radio: Essentially just a very big radio set, capable of reliable communication between planets, ships, and/or other planets. Currently only useful for taunting your enemy. The transmitter dish comes in a single piece and cannot fit in an ITC shuttle.
Cost: 2GPP
Weight: 1TC (requires 2 shuttle TC)

Spacecraft Components
Tokamak-Powered Plasma Drive: A matched set of self-melting components, the TPPD is generally regarded as having been a bad idea.
Cost: A large amount of expensive alloys and electromagnets we're willing to throw away, all of High Command's good will.

Plasma Engine: A Speed 2 interplanetary drive, capable of producing fairly acceptable changes to velocity in combat conditions. Very power hungry at combat-use sizes.

Gen. 2 Tokamak-Powered Plasma Drive: A slightly more efficient, powerful, and compact set of reactors and plasma drives for a warship. It works just a little better than the previous one, and is far better than the original TPPD. Not that that's much of an achievement. Provides a lot of power both in terms of electrical and maneuvering ability.

R-4 Railgun Turret: An amazing weapons system, the R-4 is an externally mounted 50mm railgun loaded with 20 round drums capable of firing a three-round burst on a single capacitor charge, while a loading arm loads the drums into the weapon from the storage bay in the ship proper. The turret is lightly armored for protection. Requires a ship to mount it on.

Large Item Flight Transport (LIFT): An upgrade to the ITC's basic shuttles, capable of moving 4 TC objects to and from orbit. Has advantages and disadvantages, minor mechanical issues, but primarily is something of an "all your eggs, one basket" situation when deploying into combat conditions. Raise the cost of an ITC when attached.
Cost: 1 SPP (equips an ITC with a full set of LIFT shuttles)

LIFT Intraplanetary Plasma Engine (IPE): An upgrade to the LIFT shuttles, capable of moving 4 TC objects to and from orbit. Faster and more maneuverable even than basic shuttles, and come with some amount of reinforcement and protection against attack. Raise the cost of an ITC when attached.
Cost: 1 SPP (equips an ITC with a full set of LIFT shuttles)

Art3mis Precision Targeting System: An upgraded targeting suite that allows a Logos substantially more information and hitting capability against targets as compared to the baseline. Very effective against unknowing targets and capable of a limited degree of predictive firing and precision-coordinated shots amongst multiple weapons. Requires a refit.
Cost: None.

R-5 Shrapnel Cannon: A bigger but lower-velocity railgun capable of firing chaff rounds, shrapnel or canister shot, and of course solid shot. Fires faster than the R-4 with less armor piercing capability due to its lower velocity, but lower energy requirements. Can lay down a laser- and radar-reflecting chaff barrage to interfere with weapons and sensors both, capable of shooting down missiles with great precision when paired with Artemis tracking. Same cost as the R-4.

Infrastructure
Colony Defense Grid: The reason you can't instantly invade the enemy homeworld. A series of surface-to-orbit missile launchers, the only real concession to defense the planners of the colony made. How they work is a mystery now, and no one wants to risk taking them apart to find out.

Semi-Autonomous Industrial Facilities: A network of interlinked incredibly well-connected modern factories capable of production of unparalleled efficiency and scale.
Provides: 2 GPP

Orbital Reclamation Centers: Satellites in orbit around the Hub that reprocess damaged and destroyed units and other bits of metal and plastic into spacecraft parts.
Provides: 2 SPP

Tokamak: Nuclear Boogaloo: A functioning nuclear fusion reactor, producing on our first attempt, no prior attempts being on record. It requires much less expensive fuel than nuclear fission plants and so its more complicated construction does not increase its cost beyond that of a fission plant, and therefore is automatically retrofitted into any ships that are refitted or any new builds. Provides a substantial increase in power generation to any ship and removes any issues with power generation.
Provides: 2 SPP and 2 GPP

Spoiler: Credits (click to show/hide)

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