Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Madman198237]

I'm voting C, for the funny, and obviously we need some form of intelligence design to use our bonus. Some form of chameleon nonsense would be useful,  However, we also need to do something else. For the navy side, a better battleship than theirs is my personal favorite option; for the non-naval side a standard-issue Mutant Rose-based infantry improvement would be really, really good. Harder bones, tougher skin, stronger muscles, better eyesight, innate poison resistance for when the gas gets going (so we don't need to bother with masks that can obstruct sight and such), the options are nearly endless. I'd say "personal healing factor" but that's basically what HAX does anyway.

Or we could do, y'know, an APC so that our soldiers don't have to walk literally everywhere. That might be helpful.

Varspit-class Battleship
In order to combat the battleships of the enemy, we've engineered our own battleship to counter them, while being better in every conceivable way.

The Varspit is a fast battleship akin to the enemy's, with GavReactor powerplant driving four propellers to give it a top speed of 28 knots, matching the enemy's most prevalent battleships. The use of the GavReactor vastly reduces the size of our engines compared to previous generations of ships. Unlike previous ships, however, soundproofing is omitted from all aspects of the ship (except in places where it's necessary for the function of the engine or sonar system or whatnot).

It carries an extremely powerful Wellsonar system to locate targets even in adverse weather conditions, and a substantial amount of work went into the long-base rangefinders located on the mast, aft superstructure, and on each turret. This ship is meant to have a range advantage over enemy ships in every conceivable condition. The torpedo defense system is also backed with Wellmoss to help seal up any breaches. As undoubtedly expensive vessels, the Varspits are meant to be flagships, and thus carry enhanced communications suites and quarters for an admiral and their staff plus an admiral's bridge to command the fleet from.

For weaponry, the ship is armed with four twin turrets carrying 380mm/15in guns (4x2 380mm, in short), giving it eight substantially longer ranged and more powerful guns capable of dealing meaningful damage to the enemy's battleships. For a secondary battery, it carries 16 twin 120mm dual-purpose mounts, the same gun and turret used in the Silada and Mukebaza (16x2 120mm). There are actually eight torpedo tubes, two on each side aimed about 45 degrees away from the forwards line of travel, two forwards (aimed forwards, surprisingly enough), and two aft, aimed, you guessed it, aft. These torpedo tubes are meant to give the battleship a last-ditch option against, say, quickly-closing enemy suicide destroyers.  A battery of our preexisting 20mm autocannon slapped down where there is space rounds out the armament.

The battleship has a 330mm thick armored belt, 250mm thick barbettes, 330mm turret armor, and a 75mm thick armored deck. The torpedo protection system uses space saved by the GavReactor propulsion system to allow the TPS to move inside the hull instead of being comprised of external bulges, reducing drag but requiring significant use of internal space. The conning tower is not armored, and instead a more substantial bridge structure is utilized since most commanders don't use the constricted views and small spaces of armored conning towers anyway...and there are reports that when struck with a heavy shell that detonates without penetrating the armor, everyone inside a conning tower would die anyway due to the blast effects and/or spalling. So we've added enough armor to proof the bridge against splinters and left it at that.

[frostgiant]

Gobe APC

Xinmals body after having undergone the supersoldier process is a veritable Eden of scientific discoveries.

The new Gode apc developed is designed to take advantage of one of these Discoveries that the biology team has been busy attempting to replicate.
Features a fully enclosed passenger compartment meant to fit 10 Embralish soldiers in full gear In relatively protected comfort, a Compartmentalized drivers cab Featuring a set of simple periscopes in order to allow vision at starnge angles along with your standard Armoured vehicle viewports similar to those in the katarani.
The soldier compartment features a Roof hatch allowing access to the Shielded muslika machine gun in order to protect itself from infantry. Aside from the musalika on the roof and the soldiers inside, The Tracked Vehicle relies on speed and armour to keep itself alive on the battlefield as it moves the infantry inside of it in position to engage the enemy and provide cover with its roof-mounted MG.

The main advancement, as many things do these day, are derived from Xinmal. In this case her Unbreakable bones.
Samples were taken via Voluntary and Humane Fnger amputation. This proved neccesary as no matter what was attempted, The biologists of the Expeditionary force proved unable to take samples, Or in fact even damage, The bone thus requiring them to cut it off in places without bone.

The samples taken proved... amazing, Many of the biologists seemed astounded at the material when put through testing. While attempts to replicate Xilmal were impossible, attempts to replicate her bodily funtions are not and are a primary concern these days.

In teh case of Xilmals bone, It's less a case of... Replicate and more a case of Growing. Through the Intrudtuion to of more Mutant rose extract and... after a good deal of experimentation, the introduction of various kind of flora tissue, The Team was capable of promoting a mutation in the still living, and relatively indestructible finger bone. The marrow with  the bone began to grow, seemingly using the plant samples to grow itself roots and intake the required nutrients, moisture and sunlight.

The result was a rather gruesome looking "Tree" with branches like fingers and a truck like bone, all stark bone white.
Attempts to take samples were difficult, But unlike the original sample, Possible due to the use of heavy explosives .
Cuttings were taken, and more of the so-called "Dread Trees" after Sui centurion xinmals nickname among the staff and soldiers were grown From the cuttings taken from the tree, WHile the rest would go towards treatment and processing.

Upon harvest, And with the application of various industrial strength solvents, The biology team were capable of curing the Bone and forming it into the shape desired.
The end result is the Gobe APC Internal armouring. Aside from featuring similar armoring to the Katarani, possessing a metal outer layer to prematurely detonate Refocyte rounds, The inner layer is formed out of a Layer of Dread Tree  "Bark", which although not
unbreakable like that it originated from, is still many times stronger than the normal armor we still use.

During testing, many soldiers claimed to find it unnerving as their bullet fire and ap weapons tore awway the outer layer of metal spaced armour and revealed the Stark white bone underneath.

The Desired Outcome of the Gobe is a rapid, Decently armoured apc Capable of traversing rough terrain with its tracks, conveying the soldiers inside where they need to be, as well as a test platform for the relatively cheap testing of our new armouring material that has been derived from Xinmals bones and Mutant rose extracts.

[Naturegirl1999]

I’d like to join. IRL I prefer heat over cold, so I’ll pick this side. Also, the Dread Trees are interesting, do they photosynthesize? Or are they heterotrophs, must read post more carefully since I’m unsure whether they are human tissues convergently evolving into a tree like shape or some fungi that convergently evolved bone like and muscle like tissues. Either way, they are interesting specimens. Note. Did not read OP. Will do that soon
Reread Dread Tree Armor Gobe APC post and am +1ing it

[Man of Paper]

There was a flurry of activity at our Caelium site in The Mesas.

The Glas Bolg transporter briefly flicked to life as a single hand popped through the reflective haze, released a paper that fell to the floor, and withdrew in the blink of an eye. It seemed someone on the northern island was getting cheeky.

The note reads:

[The following message is in poorly translated Embrallish]

"I understand if this message is not trust, there is much blood at this point

Something to understand: Pact spokesman for Inithar say to Inithar that all manpower and all resource and all attention need for Pact own war after our war.

Pact spokesman for Inithar say to Inithar that after war there is no future for Inithar home islands, is not our concern anymore until after they eventually defeat their own strange enemies.

I do not presume to tell you what to do, and I do not think I even suggest much of anything because I do not know that there is an answer here, but be warned that this will almost certainly be the case for you too. There is no come back after and defeat your enemies instead."

[NUKE9.13]

A point of clarification from MoP on Discord: the lack of vehicle combat in the Mountain regions is a hard rule. The Gobe would have zero impact there (as would a hypothetical hover-APC that I was considering). Gods only know how we're moving stuff through mountains that are literally impassable for vehicles, but them's the rules.
As such, I'm no longer interested in the Gobe. And actually more interested in the skinsuit.

Plus, this:

Khabha Irregular Traversal Equipment
Dreams of flight have long fascinated mankind. There was a brief dalliance with heavier-than-air vehicles in the earlier parts of the century, but we all know how that turned out. But we need not give up on our dreams. Planes may have broken our hearts, but the Khabha is here to heal our souls, and convince us that the March of Progress can enable flight.

The Khabha is a back-mounted apparatus that broadly speaking consists of two parts: a Caelium device that reduces the effective weight of the user, and a pair of living wings controlled by the user directly.
The Caelium device is "simple"- quotes added on behalf of the Expedition's physicists, who have written a 46-page report on how it actually makes things lighter. It has no settings, just on or off. When on, it reduces the strength of gravity in a spherical radius. It is powered by a battery, the charge of which is displayed by wrist-mounted device with several small lights installed, which progressively turn off as the battery depletes. This is pretty baseline behaviour for Caelium, as we understand it.
The wings are bat-like, capable of folding up when not in use, but stretching to a full 3-meter wingspan when deployed. These are acquired by taking a bat and hooking it up to a series of injectors, electrodes, and a force-feeding device. A Mutant Rose-derived serum is pumped into the bat, which is fed a diet of nutrient-rich slurry (also laced with Mutant Rose extract), and carefully stimulated by electrodes to encourage growth in the right areas (namely the wings). Once the wings reach the appropriate size, most of the bat is redundant, and consequently gets removed and discarded. The remaining organs and spinal tissue are placed in a life-support vessel which keeps them alive using a modified form of HAX. The wings are now ready, and can be attached to the Khabha. A port connects the bat's spine to the user's (through a previously installed access point), allowing the user (after some training) to manipulate the wings as if they were their own limbs.
The Khabha can be taken off, although it is recommended that this only be done in the presence of a medic, just to be safe.

The end result is, well, flying soldiers. Though not capable of long-distance or sustained flight, the Khabha allows soldiers to leap incredibly high, slow their descent to easily survivable speeds, and glide across large gaps- along with many other short aerial manoeuvres. It requires both battery power and the HAX-derivative as fuel, likely rendering its use restricted to a select number, but those lucky few will have their mobility increased by an inconceivable amount.

[Naturegirl1999]

Skinsuit? What post is that?

[frostgiant]

Skinsuit? What post is that?

That would be the Jagpal Stealth suit, So-called because its a Mutant rose Based piece of equipment that was derived from Xinmals own skin. Hence skinsuit

[Naturegirl1999]

A stealth suit sounds useful. I wonder what other biotech we can make?

[Madman198237]

I kind of wanted to play with the stealth suit concept and also make it sound like the ramblings of a perhaps slightly less-than-sane mad scientist, so here we go. I was going to come up with something else to do but it's really late, actually. Maybe tomorrow. Er, later today. Whatever.

'Second Skin' Stealth Suit
Unquestionably the creepiest thing Embral has ever (admitted to having) done, the 'Second Skin' is, uh, well, y'see, it's a skin. That you wear. Making it a second skin, unless you're part of a very strange minority who for some reason doesn't have a first skin. Oh, right, on with the design.

So we took a chameleon-like creature we found out in the wastes, right, and then we poked at it and prodded it and tested different things that come out of the Mutant Rose on it. And eventually we made a "creature" that came with no brain and few organs and lives entirely off of a processed "food" that is effectively pre-digested and therefore it needs no stomach and, well, suffice to say it's basically a skin with a circulatory system and a heart, no lungs, it's thin enough to get its oxygen through osmosis and yes, it's really creepy.

And tiny eyes. Did I mention the tiny eyes?

These tiny eyes no longer occur in one definable place because the creature is basically just a repeating pattern of sections of skin, and they serve to provide control over the chameleon properties of the, y'know, skin, your second one not your first one, so that it matches the patterns around you. They can't see very far, I mean, they are tiny after all, so they only ever mimic things within a few feet of the user.

So this suit is basically a living skin that does very little except get delivered a solution of """food""" and change colors, but because of our Mutant Rose shenanigans it changes colors very quickly, requires relatively minimal energy or effort to grow (it IS, after all, nothing but some skin in the shape of a cloak with a heart and a hole poked in it), and stays alive so long as you give it the """""""food""""""" it eats. If you want it to live in colder temperatures, make the food warm so it doesn't get any ice crystals inside its cells. Other than that, whatever, it doesn't have a brain or most of its sensory neurons anyway, it doesn't feel things.

That sounded psychopathic, actually, can we delete this record?

[Naturegirl1999]

I kind of wanted to play with the stealth suit concept and also make it sound like the ramblings of a perhaps slightly less-than-sane mad scientist, so here we go. I was going to come up with something else to do but it's really late, actually. Maybe tomorrow. Er, later today. Whatever.

'Second Skin' Stealth Suit
Unquestionably the creepiest thing Embral has ever (admitted to having) done, the 'Second Skin' is, uh, well, y'see, it's a skin. That you wear. Making it a second skin, unless you're part of a very strange minority who for some reason doesn't have a first skin. Oh, right, on with the design.

So we took a chameleon-like creature we found out in the wastes, right, and then we poked at it and prodded it and tested different things that come out of the Mutant Rose on it. And eventually we made a "creature" that came with no brain and few organs and lives entirely off of a processed "food" that is effectively pre-digested and therefore it needs no stomach and, well, suffice to say it's basically a skin with a circulatory system and a heart, no lungs, it's thin enough to get its oxygen through osmosis and yes, it's really creepy.

And tiny eyes. Did I mention the tiny eyes?

These tiny eyes no longer occur in one definable place because the creature is basically just a repeating pattern of sections of skin, and they serve to provide control over the chameleon properties of the, y'know, skin, your second one not your first one, so that it matches the patterns around you. They can't see very far, I mean, they are tiny after all, so they only ever mimic things within a few feet of the user.

So this suit is basically a living skin that does very little except get delivered a solution of """food""" and change colors, but because of our Mutant Rose shenanigans it changes colors very quickly, requires relatively minimal energy or effort to grow (it IS, after all, nothing but some skin in the shape of a cloak with a heart and a hole poked in it), and stays alive so long as you give it the """""""food""""""" it eats. If you want it to live in colder temperatures, make the food warm so it doesn't get any ice crystals inside its cells. Other than that, whatever, it doesn't have a brain or most of its sensory neurons anyway, it doesn't feel things.

That sounded psychopathic, actually, can we delete this record?

+1 to the living skin

[NUKE9.13]

An idea. Not sure if it's a good idea, but here it is. Note that we do not currently possess man-portable radios.

Caelophone
Potential uses for Caelium were being discussed when someone pointed out that gravity is an unstoppable force of nature, which travels through air, water, and even solid rock without blinking an eye. What if we could use it to communicate, the way radios use electromagnetism to communicate? This idea led to several physicists in the expeditionary design bureau having mental breakdowns, but we ignored them and gave it a shot.
Turns out that if you alloy WellBronze with Caelium in the right way, it totally works. We have dubbed the phenomenon 'Gravitational Sound', to the intense frustration of the aforementioned physicists. The Caelophone features a Vibro-Caelium (the aforementioned WellBronze/Caelium alloy) sphere. This sphere creates tiny oscillations in the gravitational field corresponding to an input signal. A second, similarly tuned Vibro-Caelium sphere can detect these tiny oscillations, and convert them into a readable output signal.

Okay, cool. Why bother with this when we could just make better radios? Well, two reasons.
First, as mentioned above, gravity is unstoppable. Where radio signals cannot pass through solid rock, deep water, or faraday cages, Gravitational Sound can do so with literally no effort (though the signal is diluted as it travels further). The only exception to this is Caelium- Gravitational Sound can be blocked or distorted by sufficient quantities of the material. This shouldn't be too much of an issue to deal with, though.
Second, opsec. Initially, neither Inithar nor the Pact will even possess the technology to receive our messages (well, the Pact might, actually- who knows what sort of secrets those monsters are hiding). Even if they do get their hands on it, here's the kicker: Gravitational Sound 'echoes' when it hits a Vibro-Caelium sphere tuned to its frequency. While not present on smaller kits, large Caelophone stations will have a specialised receiver that is connected to a sonar-esque piece of kit that can count the number of returning signals, thereby letting us quickly detect any attempts at listening in. If such an eavesdropping attempt is noticed, a seemingly innocuous codeword lets all (authorised) users know the frequency is compromised- they will subsequently tune their kits to the next frequency in their codebook. False info will continue to be broadcast over the compromised frequency.
Of course, this security system is not foolproof- a captured kit could be used to eavesdrop for a period before we realise it has been captured, and perhaps there is some way of creating a non-echoing receiver that could be developed, so baseline encoding of messages will still be performed.

Caelophones will be produced in several sizes. Large facilities with many Caelophones (and intruder-trackers) will be established across our territory. The Leviathan will also be equipped with a respectable array, allowing it to remain in contact even at max dive. Versions for installation on board normal ships and submarines will be created also. Most importantly, 'man-portable' kits (portable when broken down into several pieces, but easily reassembled in the field) will allow orders and information to be exchanged much more rapidly than before.

In summary:
-Combination of Caelium and WellBronze
-Better coverage than radio
-Better security than radio
-Ship, stationary, and field versions

E: Another idea. I'm pretty sure this isn't a good idea- it's impractical, too difficult & expensive for too little gain, I think. But I wrote it anyway, so here:

Vespertilio Auxiliary
Medical Tribune Vaitara likes bats. Like, an unhealthy amount. Almost as soon as Mutant Rose became available, she started pestering us to let her try it out on some of her pets. However, with no actual proposed use for a mutant bat, we prioritised using our limited supplies on human test subjects.
So she started to send us proposals. The idea of attack bats... even a huge bat would be no match for a gun. Scout bats... it'd be hard to teach a bat how to draw a map. Bats with embedded WellQuartz, acting as mobile morale boosters... not everyone is as big a fan of bats as you, Vaitara. A giant bat with embedded Caelium to allow it to lift heavy loads... hang on, this one has some promise.

So, take a bat. What species of bat? Well, Vaitara has quite the selection. For our purposes, we've gone with the Greater Flying Fox, as they start out quite large already.
Now then. Strap this bat down, and inject it with a Mutant Rose extract named "Biology Expansion Elixir (Green)" (as the name suggests, it is rendered from green Mutant Rose petals). Watch in abject terror as the bat begins to grow before your eyes (slowly, but noticeably). Apply electrodes to certain areas of the bat's body to encourage growth in those areas (primarily the wings and flight muscles).
Next, stick a tube down the bat's throat to force-feed it with highly nutritious slurry to fuel this growth. Also mixed in is the Mutant-Rose/Caelium compound [NAME], which uses blue Mutant Rose petals to allow the uptake of Caelium into the body, where it will integrate with cells giving the bat gravity-defying abilities (not especially strong ones, especially as the bat will have minimal to no control over them, but tests suggest the bat will be able to instinctually generate an anti-grav field around itself when flying).
Keep the bat constrained (periodically adjusting the bindings as it grows) until its growth stops, having reached the limit of what our current Mutant Rose technology can achieve (Painted Rose aside). Now with a wingspan of over four meters and a mass of 50kg (the weight is for obvious reasons a lot harder to pin down), the newly-minted Greatest Flying Fox is a true monster- with a serious grudge against the scientists responsible for tormenting it for several days.
Thus the final step: a group of Embralish soldiers burst into the lab, and "kill" (read:shoot with blanks) the evil scientists (who have been wearing Inithari uniforms the whole time), rescuing the poor bat and bringing it to safety. The grateful bat can subsequently be trained to accompany Embralish soldiers, and follow orders from handlers- "pick me up", "fly over there", "put me down on the ground", for example. The bat is officially considered an Auxiliary, because classifying it as equipment seems a bit weird.

These monster bats provide a unique boost to mobility, as they can carry soldiers up (or down) sheer cliffs, across large gaps, and even (in dire circumstances) just fly them across flat terrain faster than soldiers can run.

[NUKE9.13]

Okay, so. A really boring design, doubly so since Inithar just created a HMG- but given we intend to go with C, we will need ways to counter the Pact, and an automatic weapon firing powerful explosive bullets is just what the doctor ordered in regards to those flying suits of plate armour (as well as being useful in defensive roles everywhere, and for potential future aircraft).

Hulara Autocannon
While Embralish tactics tend to shy away from "More Dakka" as an answer to all problems, there comes a time when you just need Dakka. That time is now.

The Hulara is a belt-fed 17mm autocannon with a target RPM of 360. The firing mechanism is entirely ordinary- as is almost everything else about the weapon itself. It does borrow the Caelium-based weight-reduction system from the Jarha, making it surprisingly portable.
The real fun is in the ammunition. While the option for bog-standard explosive rounds is included for low-cost deployments, the more favoured type is the Thagava shellet. These contain a Gavrilium-based explosive (triggered on impact) to really ruin the day of the target. The explosive force of a Thagava shellet is equivalent to a conventional HE shell twice the calibre, and is certainly sufficient to wreck the armour of Wikiwikis or Pact flying soldiers.
(While our attempts to reproduce FMJ/GE went nowhere, dissecting the bullets (carefully) and analysing the components is at least a point of reference for this project)

And now, votebox. I didn't include all proposals in the votebox, because I couldn't be bothered to list them all. If someone wants to add them all in, feel free- but probably easier to just add ones that get voted for.

PACT DECISION
A (Total Submission):
B (Meek Surrender):
C (Honourable Resistance, The Only Option That Lets Us Truly Defend The Homeland And Our Way Of Life): (1) NUKE9.13


DESIGNS (pick 2)
JagPal Stealth suit: (1) NUKE9.13
Hulara Autocannon: (1) NUKE9.13

[Strider03]

PACT DECISION
A (Total Submission): (1) Strider03
B (Meek Surrender):
C (Honourable Resistance, The Only Option That Lets Us Truly Defend The Homeland And Our Way Of Life): (1) NUKE9.13


DESIGNS (pick 2)
JagPal Stealth suit: (2) NUKE9.13, Strider03
Hulara Autocannon: (1) NUKE9.13
Caelophone: (1) Strider03

[frostgiant]

PACT DECISION
A (Total Submission): (1) Strider03
B (Meek Surrender):
C (Honourable Resistance, The Only Option That Lets Us Truly Defend The Homeland And Our Way Of Life): (2) NUKE9.13,Frostgiant


DESIGNS (pick 2)
JagPal Stealth suit: (3) NUKE9.13, Strider03, Frostgiant
Hulara Autocannon: (1) NUKE9.13
Caelophone: (1) Strider03
Gobe APC: (1) Frostgiant

Voting for the Jagpal for obvious reasons, and the gobe because I really do want some form of Better armour to contest all the firepower being thrown around

[NUKE9.13]

I'm tentatively moving my vote to the Gobe. I do think we'll need greater firepower to deal with the Pact, but we could try a less-ambitious explosive bullets revision as a temporary measure.

PACT DECISION
A (Total Submission): (1) Strider03
B (Meek Surrender):
C (Honourable Resistance, The Only Option That Lets Us Truly Defend The Homeland And Our Way Of Life): (2) NUKE9.13,Frostgiant


DESIGNS (pick 2)
JagPal Stealth suit: (3) NUKE9.13, Strider03, Frostgiant
Hulara Autocannon: ()
Caelophone: (1) Strider03
Gobe APC: (2) Frostgiant, NUKE9.13