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[Madman198237]

You, uh, don't really have enough laser experience to just shove a powerful laser in a box in a revision. Industrial-grade lasers (like what you're presently using to generate power using angry rocks) generally aren't going to produce the sort of result you're looking for out of Evrasium. I'm also assuming you want just a few shards of Evrasium, because set up like this you don't know where each "punch" is going to be aimed, so you need multiple angry rocks to punch things in multiple directions.


I will tell you, however, that you can totally get one massively powerful explosive, or a set of different grades of explosive in different forms, using a design like this. One-shot lasers are definitely easier than something that must actually survive the lasing process, also.

[TricMagic]

I point out the viable grenade that should be cheap and effective.

[Madman198237]

The AER Shockwave grenade isn't really viable either, for the same reason. It's also basically the same thing, except less well-written. The Shockwave grenade also misunderstands how Evrasium releases kinetic energy---it's a single directional "punch", not a symmetrical burst.

[flabort]

I'd just like to point out this video here, which was the inspiration for my (and now ChiefWaffle's simplified/superior) design:

Kerbal Space Program - 'Orion' Nuclear Pulse Rocket

The pusher plate takes the kinetic energy of the NUCLEAR EXPLOSION behind it, and springs store that energy up. The springs then decompress, launching the ship forward into space, taking advantage of Newton's Second and Third Laws. The momentum of the pusher plate is preserved by pushing it into the spaceship, while the differing masses (force=mass*acceleration, the 2nd law) of the two objects yields less acceleration on the spaceship due to it's higher mass, BUT the acceleration is applied over a longer time through the springs rather than all at once from the bomb.

AER-KSD would use the same principle, but instead of exploding bombs outside the ship, the pusher plate is able to be inside the ship, launched into it by Evrasium. This means no exhaust ports needed, and no earthshattering kaboom and years of toxic fallout.

[Madman198237]

OK, yes, that makes sense. Though admittedly you probably won't need the pusher plate/spring setup unless you're using a lot of Evrasium or outright destroying a moderately-sized chunk of Evrasium with a laser. Evrasium is just not as powerful as a nuke, sorry

[Doubloon-Seven]

Revision Choice 1:
Metal Printing: (1) TricMagic
AER Grenade:
Kinetic Storage Engine
RKI-1 Thunder From Down Under
Civet - BSR1: (1) SC777
Combat EVA Suit:
Printed Carbine:
AER-KSD: (1) DoubloonSeven
Revision Choice 2:
Metal Printing:
AER Grenade: (1) TricMagic
Kinetic Storage Engine
RKI-1 Thunder From Down Under: (1) SC777
Civet - BSR:
Combat EVA Suit:
Printed Carbine: (1) DoubloonSeven
AER-KSD:

Get voting, scrubs design team guys.

[Wozzy]

Lore:
Chiefwaffle's: (1) Wozzy
Revision Choice 1:
Metal Printing: (1) TricMagic
AER Grenade:
Kinetic Storage Engine
RKI-1 Thunder From Down Under
Civet - BSR1: (1) SC777
Combat EVA Suit:
Printed Carbine:
AER-KSD: (2) DoubloonSeven, Wozzy
Revision Choice 2:
Metal Printing:
AER Grenade: (1) TricMagic
Kinetic Storage Engine
RKI-1 Thunder From Down Under: (1) SC777
Civet - BSR:
Combat EVA Suit: (1) Wozzy
Printed Carbine: (1) DoubloonSeven
AER-KSD:

[NUKE9.13]

Okay, so, I don't think we're going to get a good engine out of this, but I guess we can get some experience, at least.

Lore:
Chiefwaffle's: (1) Wozzy
Revision Choice 1:
Metal Printing: (1) TricMagic
AER Grenade:
Kinetic Storage Engine
RKI-1 Thunder From Down Under
Civet - BSR1: (1) SC777
Combat EVA Suit:
Printed Carbine:
AER-KSD: (3) DoubloonSeven, Wozzy, NUKE9.13
Revision Choice 2:
Metal Printing:
AER Grenade: (1) TricMagic
Kinetic Storage Engine
RKI-1 Thunder From Down Under: (1) SC777
Civet - BSR:
Combat EVA Suit: (1) Wozzy
Printed Carbine: (2) DoubloonSeven, NUKE9.13
AER-KSD:

PS: the votebox format here is kinda problematic. I mean, what if I wanted to vote for the EVA Suit and the Carbine? It really makes more sense to merge the two and take the two top voted items.
That said, I'm not going to mess with it now. But for the next phase, I'd suggest a regular votebox.

[Shadowclaw777]

Lore:
Chiefwaffle's: (1) Wozzy
Revision Choice 1:
Metal Printing: (1) TricMagic
AER Grenade:
Kinetic Storage Engine:
Civet - BSR1:
Combat EVA Suit:
Printed Carbine:
AER-KSD: (4) DoubloonSeven, Wozzy, NUKE9.13, SC777
Revision Choice 2:
Metal Printing:
AER Grenade: (1) TricMagic
Kinetic Storage Engine
Civet - BSR:
Combat EVA Suit: (2) Wozzy, SC777
Printed Carbine: (2) DoubloonSeven, NUKE9.13
AER-KSD:

The entire purpose of the system is so that you don’t have a third vote somewhere, and allows you differentiate votes better, e.g Design A and B have four votes, and design C has five votes on one VoteBox, and so you can’t tell whether Design A or B is the one to be done, this system could separate that Choice 1 has the 4-vote and 5-vote so one design is chosen and Choice 2 has a leading 4-Vote. But yes fine, the system doesn’t really finagle well with ties that well that better compared to a regular one, so a normal one is probably preferred.

Also at this point why not just go in and spending that design on the standard infantry weapon and give it special features and whatnot, while we are improving our starting designs to be more... acceptable.

[TricMagic]

Lore:
Chiefwaffle's: (1) Wozzy, TricMagic
Revision Choice 1:
Metal Printing: (0)
AER Grenade:
Kinetic Storage Engine:
Civet - BSR1:
Combat EVA Suit:
Printed Carbine:
AER-KSD: (4) DoubloonSeven, Wozzy, NUKE9.13, SC777
Revision Choice 2:
Metal Printing:
AER Grenade: (1) TricMagic
Kinetic Storage Engine
Civet - BSR:
Combat EVA Suit: (3) Wozzy, SC777, TricMagic
Printed Carbine: (2) DoubloonSeven, NUKE9.13
AER-KSD:

I need to write-up the engine, don't I...

[flabort]

Lore:
Chiefwaffle's: (3) Wozzy, TricMagic, Flabort
Revision Choice 1:
Metal Printing: (0)
AER Grenade:
Kinetic Storage Engine:
Civet - BSR1:
Combat EVA Suit:
Printed Carbine:
AER-KSD: (5) DoubloonSeven, Wozzy, NUKE9.13, SC777, Flabort
Revision Choice 2:
Metal Printing:
AER Grenade: (1) TricMagic
Kinetic Storage Engine
Civet - BSR:
Combat EVA Suit: (4) Wozzy, SC777, TricMagic, Flabort
Printed Carbine: (2) DoubloonSeven, NUKE9.13
AER-KSD:

[Happerry]

Lore:
Chiefwaffle's: (3) Wozzy, TricMagic, Flabort
Revision Choice 1:
Metal Printing: (0)
AER Grenade:
Kinetic Storage Engine:
Civet - BSR1:
Combat EVA Suit:
Printed Carbine:
AER-KSD: (6) DoubloonSeven, Wozzy, NUKE9.13, SC777, Flabort, Happerry
Revision Choice 2:
Metal Printing:
AER Grenade: (1) TricMagic
Kinetic Storage Engine
Civet - BSR:
Combat EVA Suit: (5) Wozzy, SC777, TricMagic, Flabort, Happerry
Printed Carbine: (2) DoubloonSeven, NUKE9.13
AER-KSD:

[Madman198237]

Revision: AER-KSD (Aggravated Evrasium Reactor - Kinetic Storage Drive) (Works off the same principle that Flabort uses in his ITC revision, so thanks)

A ship propelled by springs may not sound fun, but boy is it fun to make reality cry. Or at least imagine reality crying. That's what's keeping us going here.

So, we have the Reactor, referred to as the AER. Right now it generates power by spinning a turbine with its metaphorical punches. We figure that we can same time, money/resources, and effort by using this same reactor to generate thrust in our ships.
The Kinetic Storage Drive is basically an add-on Module for the AER. It's... not that fancy. A bank of springs meant to store as much kinetic energy as possible. In addition to creating the term "military-grade springs", the Kinetic Storage Drive will be placed adjacent to the turbine module for an Evrasium reactor and will be able to have the punches directed at it rather than the turbine. Kinetic energy from the aggravated Evrasium is dumped into the springs which then naturally extend back, moving the ship by Newton's third law. We should hopefully be able to get the reactor to switch as needed between power and thrust by changing very precisely how the lasers are applied (as it was already a science there to get it to punch in a given location with the current setup, so it shouldn't be too much of a push to get it to output in one of two places); if we can't, we can move the turbine/KSD themselves to gather the energy of the remaining-static-in-position punch, or we can just have a reactor setup for a turbine and another new one for just the thrust.

So in other words, put a box of some non-crappy springs next to a reactor and let the angry rock inside punch the springs instead of the turbine every now and again. Springs store kinetic energy and as they extend themselves releasing it they move the ship via Newton's 3rd Law.

AER-Kinetic Storage Drive (AER-KSD)
Difficulty: Normal
Roll: 1+2-0 = 3 = Buggy Mess

Well, we made it. To the end of the testing cycle, that is. And boy, has it been so amazingly unfun. Half the interns quit, right after the other half were killed by angry rock induced brain punches. But we have an AER-KSD, and it looks just like you'd expect!

An addon to the AER power system, the KSD is composed, ideally, of a set of plates capable of being "punched" by the ship to propel the ship in any direction, including turning if the reactor providing power is offset from the centerline. However, we've had some...issues.

Turns out, the original batch of interns decided to use some super-stiff springs in their design, and then overcorrected by oversizing the reactor and overcharging the Evrasium. The overcorrections resulted in a loss of control of where the punches were happening, reactors were breached, interns were punched, and we generally do not advise using the AER-KSD at all, though technically it will sometimes do what you want it to.

Civilian EVA suits are quite obviously not suited to combat. The least we can do is to try and make them better, or at least give the wearer some time to try and evacuate or patch themselves up.

The proportion of aramid fabric to other materials in the suits has been increased, allowing the suit to take at least a few shots from a Printed Pistol. The life support backpack's casing is slightly thicker metal, and added pockets on the suit's chest area allow for the placement of protective ceramic plates. The polycarbonate visor is slightly thicker as well.

We have also included a basic patch kit, consisting of a tube of quick-dry resin and a few latex patches.

Combat EVA Suit
Difficulty: Easy
Roll: 2+4+1 = 7 = Superior Craftsmanship

This project, luckily, went substantially easier for our interns. The insertion of ceramics, more ballistics fabric, and reinforced backpack went well. The improved patching kit likewise wasn't a problem. Adding ballistics material to the visor took less than a day. For most of the project, the interns instead worked on innovative ways to reduce the weight of the suit so that it was still useable on planetary surfaces. Weight may not be a problem in space, but this suit is also meant to equip those working on the ground.

Lightweight ballistics fiber, highly effective and thin ceramic plates, a somewhat closer to formfitting suit, and a slightly smaller backpack with the same EVA time allowance all pushed the suit to be as light as possible in the time given---we believe the new Combat EVA Suit to be even more wearable than the regular EVA suit, though not by much, while being far better protected and more durable.

The suit's many alterations due leave it with a small cost of 1 GPP to equip soldiers with it.

It is now the Turn 0 Design Phase. You have two designs.

Spoiler: Side Two 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

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

Infantry 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

Combat EVA Suit: A ballistics-resistant well protected and maneuverable and relatively light EVA suit.
Cost: 1 GPP

Spacecraft Components
Eyebite MCLC: A self-destroying tank of fluoride compounds. Warning: DO NOT USE, DEATH OR SERIOUS INJURY MAY OCCUR.
Cost: You have got to be kidding me, right?

Kinetic Storage Drive: Remarkably effective at occasionally self-destructing. Use not recommended, requires a ship (which you don't have).

Other
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)

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.

Aggravated Evrasium Reactor: Using the remarkable properties of Evrasium, this device extracts kinetic energy by shining laser light on a crystal matrix, which then punches the hell out of a set of turbines, generating power.
Provides: 2 SPP

Spoiler: Side Two Logistics (click to show/hide)

Ship Production Points: 18
  16 points: Unassigned.

Ground Production Points: 20
  20 points: Unassigned
 
Units
Nope, nothing to see here.

Ships
Your shipbuilders have been really lazy lately, haven’t they?

[Wozzy]

Prototype Evrasium Precision Rifle
After careful testing (and more broken noses), we have found out that by bending the light using a lense, we could focus the kinetic output of the Evrasium crystals onto a precise target, particularly one of a bullet nature.
The PEPR is the first attempt at weaponizing Evrasium. On the outside, it is a bulky, bullpup style rifle, with an incredibly short barrel. Inside, it is an intricate, yet mechanically simple, device that holds a much smaller version of the Evrasium crystal we use in our reactors. Upon pulling the trigger, an array of lasers around the center of the gun fire at a lense, and the electromagnetic radiation is focused to a precise point on the crystal, triggering a kinetic reaction that fires the bullet in the chamber. As there is no need for gunpowder, we fire the whole bullet, that's 65% more bullet per bullet there is no need for casings or concerns of jams. There is also no concern for buildup, like those ancient guns, making the PEPR much more reliable. Additionally, the precise nature of the crystal's 'kick' is much better at forcing the bullet to travel exactly where we want it, meaning the length of the barrel (a source of high heat generation) is only long enough to hold the round in place before firing.
A secondary laser fires at the exact right time, causing the crystal to fire at a turbine in the stock causing three seperate actions. First, the turbine reduces the kick from the gun, improving stability. Second, the turbine generate enough power to recharge the batteries powering the lasers. Finally, it rechambers the next round, allowing it to function in automatic and semi-automatic, even in 0g.
The PEPR of course does not come without drawbacks. The Evrasium crystals have to be cut down to a precise shape in our factories, and don't last forever. Thankfully, a hatch has been built into the side of the gun that allows the crystal to easily be extracted and replaced with a fresh one that fits perfectly into place. The operator needs to take care to not overexert the crystal's durability, as increased damage to the Evrasium matrix reduces accuracy and leads to a messy cleanup inside the system.

[Doubloon-Seven]

The OEIGR (Pronounced "Ogre") is a weapons system intended for use in all environs, which mostly just means that you can shoot it in space without flying backwards due to reaction forces. This is thanks to the fact that the bullets are propelled by an integrated solid rocket, where the expanding gases are released from angled ports in the casing to gyro-stabilize it. Gas in the barrel is released from ports in the receiver, dispersed enough as to not harm the shooter.

The OEIGR draws its 10mm ammunition from a 18-round box magazine. Due to the fact that the bullets need time to speed up, the barrel is fairly long. Given that this property makes it a good marksman rifle, optical scopes are included. Operators can fire in semi-automatic, or 3-round bursts.

That's Easy, apparently, so...

The SIAERA (Pronounced "Sierra") is a weapons system intended for use in all environs, which mostly just means that you can shoot it in space without flying backwards due to reaction forces. This works due to a two-stage propellant system in the cartridges. Firstly, you've got a standard smokeless propellant charge that imparts some initial kick, and then a secondary stage where the "Gyro" part kicks in. A rocket charge ignites, further accelerating the round while in flight.

Of course, that isn't all. One looking at a SIAERA round would find it to be unusually large, and this is because the round, is in fact, "smart", capable of performing course corrections by gimballing its rocket motor, and raising or lowering control surfaces on the bullet itself. With a wireless communication chip, the bullet can communicate with an infrared scanner mounted on the weapon itself, and change course to hit a target. This can range from increasing the effective range of a marksman's shot, to turning a mindless spray of bullets into a deadly volley.

The SIAERA feeds 20mm rounds (packed with guidance control and tipped with lead-well, not actually lead but you get the idea) from a 9-round box magazine. Operators can choose between semi-automatic, 3-round burst, and fully automatic.

Hm.
An idea, given that madman said that the PEPR is Ludicrous.

Edit:

More ideas!

Most of our notes on the Eyebite are now disintegrated to the molecular level, but we did manage to recall what some of the exotic chemicals we used were from a scientist who was out getting a snack on the evening the lab melted. With some trauma counselling, we've managed to draw up a design for a laser done properly.

The Oculus HMCL is mounted into a ball turret, capable of rotation in all directions and axes. Targeting is done by either ship sensors or an infrared sensor array mounted on a rotating boom beside the turret, which distinguishes ships by their radiating heat and exhaust. This data is run through a targeting computer, which aims the turret and tracks accordingly. Finally, images are delivered to a remote human operator, who can then give the order to fire. When this order is given, gas pipes supply the aforementioned exotic compounds to a reaction chamber, and as they begin to excite, a beam is created and focused through an array of mirrors and heat-tolerant lenses to temper it into a powerful, antiship red laser.