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[TricMagic]

Marine Airships

Take a barge made out of lightweight wood, and add supports for a balloon filled with helium. Two outriggers have side-sails which can be used to catch the wind and move it forward in the sky. The result is the first aircraft, flying through the sky, borne high aloft by it's balloon, soaring on it's wings.

They are fairly cheap to make, and are in fact capable of resting in the water or on land. Moreover, it can contain a group of 40 men besides the crew, allowing multiple to take islands more militarily. To help with this, we've also developed a simple parachute to let them jump down so our airships can stay out of harms way.

These airships will be able to carry cargo between islands as well, making them quite multipurpose.

[Aseaheru]

Spoiler: To Tric's "airship" (click to show/hide)

's not an airship(being not self-propelled), its a large helium(which hasent been discovered yet, would be discovered about oil production(which we dont have), and which we would need huge amounts of to refill the envelopes as it escapes, is released to allow for descent, etc.) balloon with extra drag to no useful effect... Since the envelope already acts as a sail...

 Anyways, since aerostats are apparently on the minds of a few of us, we got our 7kt ship getting designed, and I for one cant think of anything other than coastal defenses that would be handy currently, have reposted proposals for a observation balloon fer helping with spotting and a fortification scheme.

 

A small, one main balloon, with the man being in a harness affixed to the lifting ring. Purpose is for light observation, the "pilot" being equipped with binoculars, drawing tablet, and signal flags, along with a number of descender cylinders to pass down messages.
 The balloon, built of waxed silk, is filled with hydrogen gas, and is intended to allow accents to heights of some 5000 ft above sea level. This will allow for a theoretical observational range of some 86.6 Miles. In practical use, it is intended for accents of a maximum of 1000 ft, the length of the cable between it and the ground station(which may or may not be the deck of a ship). This still allows for observing targets at some 37 miles distant.

The Navy has long been both shield and blade to the Republic, which has always required compromises between defensive and offensive deployments of vessels. To help counter this, and to account for new threats looming, the Fortification Scheme, also known as [NAME]'s Scheme, was devised to free up some of our fleet to bring the war to the enemy.
 Within the scheme are no less than four major types of fortifications constructed in concert with eachother and depending on local conditions, listed as follows. All fortifications are constructed of reinforced concrete.
 
Type 1.1 is a garrison structure, intended to contain a battery of guns on garrison mounts, their gunners, and a marine unit ready to sally forth after enemy shelling and repel any enemy. This type is constructed entirely underground, and without means for fire on targets from itself.
Type 1.2 is a light "cigar box", intended to house a section of marines at most, along with a light field gun mounted to a firing slit. Said field gun is intended, tentatively, to be replaced with manual machineguns, rotary cannon, Maxim-Nordenfelt guns, or whatever else is selected.
Type 1.3 is a heavy "cigar box" of much the same utility, although armed with a 3.5" or 4" gun and a platoon of marines.
Type 2.1 fortifications are torpedo bunkers, mounting some eight torpedo launchers and intended to be situated at chokepoints, preferentially blind chokepoints.
The Type 2.2 replaces its torpedo armament for searchlights and a net boom system, catching and lighting torpedo boats for its associated Type 1s to destroy.
Type 3 fortifications are gun mounts, of which two subtypes are planned to exist. Each battery is able to fire both directly(within certain angles of fire) and indirectly, with fire directed by a Type 4.2 fortification.
Type 3.1 is a heavy battery, consisting of four 9" guns in disappearing mounts.
Type 3.2 is a light battery, containing six 6" guns in disappearing mounts.
Type 4 fortifications are command and control centers, and come in two types.
Type 4.1 is a command center, linked to all posts with field telephones and to other centers via telegram.
Type 4.2 is a fire control tower, directly linked to each type 3 battery, and typically constructed one to each pair of batteries. Their purpose is for correction of fire.

With Madman still against autocannon, the next best thing is make our 4" guns insane. Or, more insane. Have a gun rammer.

 

Designed to be fitted to any of our current artillery piece mounted not on a pedistal, the EHGR consists of a loading tray fixed to the gun's slide and is designed to be able to load at any angle and in under a second via its electronically activated hydraulic piston.
 

[Jilladilla]

A Madman's Guide to Night Warfare, And How To Counter It (Translated)
A series of documents written initially by a rather angry individual on the topic of Naval Night Warfare; now 'translated' to include significantly less rants which were quite honestly significantly getting in the way of and burying the actually good quality content and knowledge contained within.

Containing everything from a diet regimen to promote night vision as well as advice for night gunners to salvo fire on the strike of a bell to give warning to the watchmen to cover their eyes so that they can preserve their night vision; in addition to a series of shorthand messages for non-conspicuous warnings (as well as advice to fire a blank cannon round, or anything loud and different enough from the usual loud sudden signals for that matter for 'DODGE NOW'), it's expected that implementing the documents teachings into our training regimen for at least a portion of our recruits will enhance our ships general awareness while sailing in the darkness of night.

[Madman198237]

Spoiler: Salt Flavored (click to show/hide)

from: A Madman's Guide, Untranslated
Night Fights: Idiocy Prevention Measures
We remove everybody who allowed exclusively the blind, deaf, and dumb to serve as the night watch aboard our warships, so that ships can no longer be stalked in the dark for an entire night without realizing it, and so that ships cannot be torpedoed without warning like a bunch of idiots.

Nighttime Target Acquisition and Tracking System, Mark 1, 'Owl Eye'
The Owl Eye is a system of telescopes with no-magnification eyepieces arrayed around a ship's spotting platforms. The lightweight (you do not need much to gather more light than a human eye, even at full (normal) dilation a human pupil is only about five millimeters wide and thus a very small telescope is capable of greatly magnifying the amount of light gathered and making things relatively very visible at night, and since we're not trying to mount these to soldiers' helmets we've got no size restriction to require any sort of research effort) scopes will turn even the dark of a moonlit night into a sufficiently bright scene for visual identification of hostile warships against any background. The fairly small size of these scopes allows them to be stored internally, out of the way during daytime, and moved out to be mounted during nighttime for spotting, when they will be used constantly to scan the horizon given the enemy's preference for nighttime engagements.

A comparable system augments the daytime rangefinders, by adding an additional lens or two (sometimes you need two lens to ensure the light behaves properly on its way through the rest of the system) on the ends of the rangefinders' optical tubes. This lens is larger and thus gathers more light, again rendering the picture bright enough for the operator to utilize the rangefinder in dark conditions, without otherwise altering their functionality.

Wernar Mechanical Loading Apparatus
One of the less-well-known arms manufacturers on our island is the Wernar and Sons Cannon Foundry, which does just about what it says on the tin---they make guns. They're not the only gunsmithing company in our country, quite a few popped up after the rebellions as people with experience in making weapons for rebels went into business to replace the former weapons manufacturers. They're not the largest, either, but they do try to stay competitive even with the likes of [INSERT AMUSING NAME HERE], which has lead them to the field of rapid fire weapons, the idea being that more shots means more hits, and also that with more rounds a light gun can rival a heavy gun. Experience shows that range advantages really outweight the rate of fire advantage of light guns, but given the enemies' unhealthy obsession with light craft it is no surprise that Wernar's investment would eventually pay off.

In particular, the Wernar family has produced a variant based on our 4" guns, which utilizes an impressive mechanical setup to move the cased, one-piece (shell and projectile combined) projectiles from the magazine faster, mechanically ram them into the gun regardless of gun elevation, and extract the spent casings. It manages to produce fire rates well in excess of what a human could achieve, allowing us to have fewer people in the turret during combat conditions, which reduces the size of ships and the turret itself, it also allows for barrages of extremely deadly shells to be rained down on light vessels. Due to the use of a single-piece shell, the mechanism is not the most complicated piece of engineering we've ever tried to make, but it is not readily applicable to larger guns that really need separate shells and charges for hoisting and loading concerns. It also poses the issue of disposing of the cases, which is accomplished with a basket for now.

Projects:


Dice Allocation (6 total):
1 Project (3 dice), Progress Mark Two Eyeball (1 die in appropriate phase): (1) Madman

[Aseaheru]

Universal Electro-Hydraullic Gun Ram | (1) AseaHeru
Wernar Mechanical Loading Apparatus 4" gun | ()
Dice Allocation
One project, three dice reserved for later | (2) Madman, AseaHeru
Two projects, no dice reserved | ()
No projects, six dice reserved for later | ()

[Man of Paper]

We shoulda been night fighting marine pirates

[Madman198237]

Universal Electro-Hydraullic Gun Ram | (1) AseaHeru
Wernar Mechanical Loading Apparatus | (1) Madman
Dice Allocation
One project, three dice reserved for later | (2) Madman, AseaHeru
Two projects, no dice reserved | ()
No projects, six dice reserved for later | ()

[Vostok]

Universal Electro-Hydraullic Gun Ram | (1) AseaHeru
Wernar Mechanical Loading Apparatus | (2) Madman, Vostok
Dice Allocation
One project, three dice reserved for later | (2) Madman, AseaHeru
Two projects, no dice reserved | ()
No projects, six dice reserved for later | ()

[piratejoe]

Spring, 1890, Design Phase.

Wernar Mechanical Loading Apparatus
One of the less-well-known arms manufacturers on our island is the Wernar and Sons Cannon Foundry, which does just about what it says on the tin---they make guns. They're not the only gunsmithing company in our country, quite a few popped up after the rebellions as people with experience in making weapons for rebels went into business to replace the former weapons manufacturers. They're not the largest, either, but they do try to stay competitive even with the likes of [INSERT AMUSING NAME HERE], which has lead them to the field of rapid fire weapons, the idea being that more shots means more hits, and also that with more rounds a light gun can rival a heavy gun. Experience shows that range advantages really outweight the rate of fire advantage of light guns, but given the enemies' unhealthy obsession with light craft it is no surprise that Wernar's investment would eventually pay off.

In particular, the Wernar family has produced a variant based on our 4" guns, which utilizes an impressive mechanical setup to move the cased, one-piece (shell and projectile combined) projectiles from the magazine faster, mechanically ram them into the gun regardless of gun elevation, and extract the spent casings. It manages to produce fire rates well in excess of what a human could achieve, allowing us to have fewer people in the turret during combat conditions, which reduces the size of ships and the turret itself, it also allows for barrages of extremely deadly shells to be rained down on light vessels. Due to the use of a single-piece shell, the mechanism is not the most complicated piece of engineering we've ever tried to make, but it is not readily applicable to larger guns that really need separate shells and charges for hoisting and loading concerns. It also poses the issue of disposing of the cases, which is accomplished with a basket for now.

Time: 1 | Progress: 4 | Expense: 3

With work on the new gun, we quickly find that this might take a while getting up and running. The components involved along with us fine tuning the gun to be as effective as we believe it can be, combined with simply getting a few factories up and running which are tooled to actually make the gun will be our biggest hurdle. Additionally, the project is going to cost us a decent amount, but nothing too expensive. Despite this, the people assigned to the task have already done good work and gotten the project underway, though nothing particularly major about their speed or work. Still, every bit counts and its certainly not a bad start.

Wernar Mechanical Loading Apparatus | 4/20 progress | 2 PP per die | Rushed 0 times | 2 PP invested
Effectiveness: 6 | Cost: 5 | Bugs: 5

The Wernar Mechanical Loading Apparatus is a surprising and wondrous thing we've found out. It increases the ability to load and fire dramatically and all while being cheap partially due to its light design. On top of that, its reliable, and just as accurate if not more so than the old 4 incher gun we have, and should be able to turn to face an enemy even quicker, once again partially due to its light weight. Of course, its weight isn't everything, the boons from the design are also because of smart decisions in the design process, a streamlined plan for production, and a number of other more minor things like the material quality. Regardless, the idea of making the gun rapid fire has worked quite well, as it seems to not have any issues with overheating and the basket is designed to be able to contain a good amount of shells without them flying everywhere yet while remaining stacked to maximize the space it can hold. Honestly, all in all the gun is just allowing us to eat our cake and have it too.


It is now the Revision & Refit Phase. You have 3 dice to spend on the creation of new refits and revisions.

Spoiler: Projects (click to show/hide)

Mark Two A "Eyeball" Fire Control Computation Machine | 5/8 progress | 2 PP per die | Rushed 0 times | 2 PP invested
Wernar Mechanical Loading Apparatus | 4/18 progress | 2 PP per die | Rushed 0 times | 2 PP invested
Resolute Class | 0/2 Seasons to Completion | Armored Cruiser | 8/3 PP cost | 8 Season Construction Time

Spoiler: Technology (click to show/hide)

Naval
Early 2/3/5/7/10/12 inch guns
9"/45 M1890 'Gungnir' (9 inch gun, Fairly reliable unless damaged. Has a basic optical rangefinder. Max range of roughly 21,000 yards)
6"/45 QF M1890 (6 inch gun, Fairly reliable unless damaged. Has a basic optical rangefinder. Max range of roughly 18000 yards)
4"/45 QF M1890 (4 inch gun, Fairly reliable unless damaged. Has a basic optical rangefinder. Max range of roughly 12,000 yards)
W&S MLQF 4" (4 inch gun, Very Reliable. Has a basic optical rangefinder. Max range of roughly 12,000 yards. Especially fast firing.)
Triple-expansion engines.
Early steam turbine engines.
Early coal/oil hybrid firing.
Steel hull construction.
Compartmentalization.
Single Casemates.
Single and Double gun turrets.
Prototype Central Rangefinding
Harvey Bolstad Steel Armor
Early Damage control techniques.
Decent Anti Flash fire measures.
Early Central Rangefinding.
Ballistite.
Blackfoot torpedo (Reliable fast torpedo capable of 26 knots, and 1k yards

Marines
Defensive guns (Uses same calibers as naval guns)
4"/45 QF M1890 (Mobile Artillery piece with Gun shield.)
Rosemary 85 Rifle (Basic Bolt Action Rifle)
Holly 8 (Basic Revolver)

Spoiler: Ship Classes (click to show/hide)

Spear class Scout Cruiser: A blisteringly fast scout cruiser capable of 28 knots and armed with two 6"/45 QF M1890 main guns in both forward and aft gun mounts along with three four inch guns and four two inch guns. Is protected by an inch of armor in turtle back formation, and can carry a platoon of soldiers.
Costs 5/2 PP, 5 seasons construction time.
Refit's of Spear class:
QF 4"/45 QF M1890 refit: Costs 1 PP to refit, takes 1 season to complete. Shipbuild cost same as original.
Turbine Refit: Costs 1 PP to refit, takes 2 seasons to complete.  Shipbuild cost 4/2, time the same.
Dual Refit: Costs 2 PP to refit, takes 2 seasons to complete. Shipbuild cost 4/2, time the same.
CDFS Refit: Costs 1 PP to refit, takes 1 season to complete. Shipbuild cost same as original.
Modernization: Costs 3 PP to refit, takes 2 seasons to complete. Ship build cost 4/2, time same as original.

Niflung class Coastal Defense Ship: A heavily armored short range ship with 8 inches all around that has a main battery armed with 9 inch main guns in two turrets, along with a secondary armament of five 6"/45 QF M1890, one of which is in the Niflung iconic position in the back, meshing in with the superstructure.
Costs 6/2 PP, 7 seasons construction time.
Gungnir Refit: Costs 1 PP to refit, takes 1 season to complete. Shipbuild cost same as original
Turbine Refit: Costs 1 PP to refit, takes 2 seasons to complete.  Shipbuild cost 6/2, time the same.
Dual Refit: Costs 2 PP to refit, takes 2 seasons to complete. Shipbuild cost 6/2, time the same.
CDFS Refit: Costs 1 PP to refit, takes 1 season to complete. Shipbuild cost same as original.
Modernization: Costs 3 PP to refit, takes 2 seasons to complete. Ship build cost 6/2, time same as original.

Spoiler: Ships (click to show/hide)

CS - Scout Cruisers
Spear Class, 18 ships, 48 Maintenance.
Spear | CS | No Refit | Currently under refitting. 2 more turns | Crew are Greenhorns | Moderately Damaged (1 turns to repair)|Montgomery Finley is captain, Greenhorn, Aggressive.
Bill | CS | No Refit | Currently assisting in Bombarding | Crew are Greenhorns | Undamaged | Daniel Fletcher is captain, Greenhorn, Aggressive.
Fork | CS | No Refit | Currently Raiding and Scouting | Crew are Greenhorns | Undamaged | Anthony Palmer is captain, Greenhorn, Aggressive.
Earspoon | CS | No Refit | Currently assisting in Bombarding | Crew are Greenhorns | Undamaged | James Henderson is captain, Trained, Aggressive.
Partisan | CS | No Refit | Currently Raiding and Scouting | Crew are Greenhorns | Undamaged | Rory Williamson is captain, Greenhorn, Cautious.
Glave | CS | No Refit | Currently under refitting. 2 more turns | Crew are Greenhorns | Moderately Damaged (1 turn to repair)| Freddie Grant is captain, Greenhorn, Aggressive.
Pike | CS | No Refit | Currently under repair | Crew are Greenhorns | Heavily Damaged (2 turns to repair) | Charles Wilson is captain, Greenhorn, Cautious.
Bardiche | CS | No Refit | Currently under refitting. 2 more turns | Crew are Greenhorns | Undamaged | Jasper Griffith is captain, Greenhorn, Balanced.
Brandistock | CS | No Refit | Currently Under refitting. 2 more turns | Crew are Greenhorns | Undamaged | Arthur Barnes is captain, Greenhorn, Balanced.
Poleaxe | CS | No Refit | Currently assisting in Bombarding | Crew are Greenhorns | Undamaged | Owen Jefferson is captain, Greenhorn, Balanced.
Halberd | CS | No Refit | Currently Raiding and Scouting | Crew are Greenhorns | Undamaged | Andrew Wilkinson is captain, Greenhorn, Cautious.
Voulge | CS | No Refit | Currently Raiding and Scouting | Crew are Greenhorns | Undamaged | Brendon Morton is captain, Greenhorn, Cautious.
Falx | CS | Dual Refit | Currently Under construction, 1 seasons remaining, 4 PP per turn construction cost
Dory | CS | Dual Refit | Currently Under construction, 1 seasons remaining, 4 PP per turn construction cost
Rhomphaia | CS | Dual Refit | Currently Under construction, 1 seasons remaining, 4 PP per turn construction cost
Xyston | CS | Modernized | Currently Under construction, 2 seasons remaining, 4 PP per turn construction cost
Sarissa | CS | Modernized | Currently Under construction, 2 seasons remaining, 4 PP per turn construction cost
Kontos | CS | Modernized | Currently Under construction, 2 seasons remaining, 4 PP per turn construction cost



CDS - Coastal Defense Ships
Niflung Class, 6 Ships, 10 Maintenance.
Niflung | CDS | No Refit | Currently under refitting. 1 more turn | Crew are Greenhorns | Undamaged | Eddie Campbell is captain, Greenhorn, Cautious.
Gjúking | CDS | Modernized | Currently unassigned | Crew are Greenhorns | Undamaged | Bertram Faulkner is captain, Greenhorn, Aggressive.
Sigurd | CDS | No Refit | Currently Bombarding | Crew are Greenhorns | Undamaged | Russell Faulkner is captain, Greenhorn, Balanced.
Gunnarr | CDS | Modernized | Currently unassigned | Crew are Greenhorns | Undamaged | Markus Merrill is captain, Greenhorn, Balanced.
Hǫgni | CDS | No Refit | Currently Bombarding | Crew are Greenhorns | Undamaged | Elliot Burns is captain, Greenhorn, Cautious.
Gjúki | CDS | Modernized | Currently Under construction, 3 seasons remaining, Construction fully Funded |

Spoiler: Taskforces (click to show/hide)

CDF 1.1 (Coastal bombardment)
-Niflung (Currently not a part of taskforce)
-Sigurd
-Hǫgni
CDF 1.2 (CDF 1.1's Vangard)
-Poleaxe
CDF 1.3 (CDF 1.1's Vangard)
-Pike
-Earspoon
-Bill

CDF 2.1 (Refitting)
-Gjúking
-Gunnarr

FCF 1 (Raiding and Scouting)
-Spear
-Glave
-Bardiche
-Brandistock

FCF 2 (Raiding and Scouting)
-Fork
-Halberd
-Voulge
-Partisan

Spoiler: Unassigned Captains (click to show/hide)

Reece Foster, Greenhorn, Balanced.
Hayden Gardner, Greenhorn, Cautious

Spoiler: Land Instillation's, Schools, Dock Size, & Total PP and Maintenance (click to show/hide)

Nemorland Naval Academy's School of Nautical Engineering (Costs 6 PP Per turn to keep running)
Intensive Nautical Training School (Costs 5 PP per turn to keep running)
4,000 Displacement Dry docks. (1 turn remaining till 7,000 displacement) (4 to upgrade, takes 4 seasons to finish, increases by 3 each upgrade)
77 PP, 69 Maintenance (58 if only ships maintained)

[Madman198237]

Nighttime Target Acquisition and Tracking System, Mark 1, 'Owl Eye'
The Owl Eye is a system of telescopes with no-magnification eyepieces arrayed around a ship's spotting platforms. The lightweight (you do not need much to gather more light than a human eye, even at full (normal) dilation a human pupil is only about five millimeters wide and thus a very small telescope is capable of greatly magnifying the amount of light gathered and making things relatively very visible at night, and since we're not trying to mount these to soldiers' helmets we've got no size restriction to require any sort of research effort) scopes will turn even the dark of a moonlit night into a sufficiently bright scene for visual identification of hostile warships against any background. The fairly small size of these scopes allows them to be stored internally, out of the way during daytime, and moved out to be mounted during nighttime for spotting, when they will be used constantly to scan the horizon given the enemy's preference for nighttime engagements.

A comparable system augments the daytime rangefinders, by adding an additional lens or two (sometimes you need two lens to ensure the light behaves properly on its way through the rest of the system) on the ends of the rangefinders' optical tubes. This lens is larger and thus gathers more light, again rendering the picture bright enough for the operator to utilize the rangefinder in dark conditions, without otherwise altering their functionality.

[TricMagic]

Loki-class Sky Scouter

Loki Class ships come to about 30 feet long. What makes them very different from most of ours are two things.

The first is they are made up of wood. The second that their sails are placed on the sides of the ship at an angle. The third is that it has a balloon connected via an extension of the ships hull stretching up.

By using helium, these boats can use their various sails to cruise through the skies or the seas. They also carry high lumen spotlights and use sniper rifles as their primary arms. These ships are not meant to sit close to the sea at night but to soar above as needed to find the most likely places for ships to try and ambush the ones they escort. They can also use their position in the sky for communications at night, as lights can be flashed up from the ship rather than across the waves. And they also have flags during the day they can use.


The sniper rifles are mostly for the crews use for suppression, since they do have the ability to fly above most arms one can use. Though they don't hit that often as long as the enemy is cowering in cover. Keeps the decks clear however. These ships can also fly high over islands as well, scouting the lay of the land and tactical positions, though they can't go down if there is any AA or concentration fire.


These ships are new and light. They're meant to serve as eyes in the sky to help save ships from ambush, and are only fit for scouting islands and supply transport otherwise. Mostly due to being rather fragile, even if they are quite quick on their sails to take off. Unlike normal ships, their hull is flatter to save on weight and improve aerodynamics.

[Aseaheru]

 's not how sails work. Why not do things like, I dunno, remove the wooden dead weight, have a sane amount of lift capacity, stick a steam engine on the bugger with a prop, and call it a day?

[Madman198237]

REVISIONS:
Owl Eye Mark 1: (1) Madman

PROJECT PROGRESS? (can we progress last turn's project this phase? we all meant to and just forgot)
ONE DIE to Mark 2A Eyeball FCCM: (1) Madman

EXPENDITURE:
2 dice: (1) Madman

[TricMagic]

REVISIONS:
Owl Eye Mark 1: (1) Madman, TricMagic

PROJECT PROGRESS? (can we progress last turn's project this phase? we all meant to and just forgot)
ONE DIE to Mark 2A Eyeball FCCM: (1) Madman, TricMagic

EXPENDITURE:
2 dice: (1) Madman, TricMagic

[Aseaheru]

REVISIONS:
Owl Eye Mark 1: (3) Madman, TricMagic, AseaHeru

PROJECT PROGRESS? (can we progress last turn's project this phase? we all meant to and just forgot)
ONE DIE to Mark 2A Eyeball FCCM: (3) Madman, TricMagic, AseaHeru

EXPENDITURE:
2 dice: (3) Madman, TricMagic, AseaHeru