Turn 2 Design Phase ResultsM11 80mm platoon mortar "Artemis"
the somewhat... lacking range of the rifle grenade has forced us to develop the M11, a fairly standard mortar with a variety of ammunition. The ammo types being HE, Smoke, Star shell, incendiary, and most notably plasma shells, an enlarged version of the PRG. We've greatly improved crew survivability when using the plasma warhead by adding a secondary inertial fuze that activates the contact fuze. Thusly, preventing accidental discharge. it can also be broken down into several pieces, allowing a 3-man crew to transport it quite easily
Trivial (2+2)+3 = 7 (Poor Performance)
The M11 works, and that's not the best thing we have to say about it this time. It's bigger than expected, much bigger than 80mm, moving from light weaponry into artillery; it's closer to 200mm. We achieved decent range, and have almost completely stopped the accidental detonation of plasma shells prematurely by adding an inertial fuze before the contact fuze. We've used the same system in the other ammo types too. We still have to be careful transporting them, as too quick a drop can set off the inertial fuze, but that only happens when they fall off of a very tall shelf, or some lazy soldier chucks them out the window instead of hauling them down the stairs. And the inertial fuzes can be reset if the contact fuze still fails to fire.
Range is decent. We can fire to long range, and the firing arc is fantastically high. But, accuracy leaves much to be desired, with troops hoping to hit something valuable instead of being able to consistently aim at a spot - the practice grounds are pockmarked and scarred, with only a single shell having struck the 200 meter diameter target. The wild winds up high play havoc with the trajectory, and residual heat from launching the shell makes it visible enough that enemy troops theoretically have quite a bit of time to avoid or intercept it; they take nearly a minute from launch to strike, with a regular launch. A second, medium range propellant charge is available and can be swapped with the regular charge, which has slightly more accuracy and less time from launch to landing, but as implied by it's name, has much reduced range.
The High Explosives warhead functions nominally - transport troops feel a little unease at the yields, especially when hauling them great vertical distances, but explosions harming our troops have been limited to one casualty so far. Much, much better than the PRG. Speaking of, the new Plasma warheads, being upscaled, have our troops wetting their pants. Crew training has improved, and not one of the new warheads has been dropped, but test fires indicate if the initial explosion doesn't kill the nearby plantlife, then the residual radiation will kill it in months or a couple years. The unstable explosion is exponentially bigger with the increased size - to avoid radiation sickness, it's advised these aren't used at medium range, despite being reassured that the radiation shouldn't reach that far.
The smoke ammo didn't work out. We wanted to expel large clouds of gasses into the air to obscure vision, but they wound up igniting from friction heat being aerosolised. It resulted in a stationary flamethrower, usually belching it's jet of flame straight into the ground underneath where it landed. This did stay hot and on fire for many hours, so if we had a way of saturating an area with them, they would be effective area denial, but a smoke screen they are not. The incendiary shell project wound up getting merged with the smoke shell, due to time constraints, upping the volatility of the chemicals it sprayed out.
The star shell is probably the least destructive, even considering the incendiary/smoke shell. It's purpose is to scatter brightly burning "shrapnel" that illuminates the area around them, so we went with an aluminum and phosphorus compound for the stars, which last for a moderate amount of time, burning a pale pink and casting white smoke into the air for their light to reflect off of. The payload that scatters these on impact is compressed inert gasses and the same compound used in the HE shell, just less of it; much less. You would have to throw yourself on top of the star shell to be upgraded from treatable injury to casualty - let's not get ourselves wrong, the explosion is definitely enough to rupture the gas chamber and throw the stars a very commendable distance, but it has to be small enough not to obliterate them too.
Break down and redeployment is about how it was expected. Three men can carry the parts between them, and a couple of shells each, or a full crate of shells if they each take a corner. The parts can be clipped to the RCBD/S webbing and not be too much of a strain, which leaves a soldier's hands free for either carrying shells or another weapon.
All in all, an effective weapon, if we could just get the darn thing to hit where we aimed it. Much better than the PRG. It costs 3 Ore, 2 Oil, making it Expensive.
Accelerated Programme for Engineering, South Harmon Institute of Technology
The South-Harmon Institue of Technology had the most complete technical libraries left once the initial post-displacement chaos settled down. This, along with the fact that the institute still had working plumbing and air conditioning made it a natural choice for coordinating Rayleigh's engineering work.
APESHIT, or the Accelerated Programme for Engineering, South Harmon Institute of Technology, is a programme designed to jumpstart Rayleigh's industrial development by pooling technical knowledge from surviving engineers, rebuilding a functional industrial base to actually make shit, and passing on knowledge of how to be an engineer to the next generation before all of our engineers die of old age, in that order. Surviving machine tools and other equipment was brought together and set up in the warehouses next to the campus, and through the combined efforts of engineers and machinists working out of the South Harmon Institute of Technology, the APESHIT program more-or-less recreated all the infrastructure needed to make modern technology in limited quantities.
Easy (6+6)+1 = 13 (Above Average)
Remodeling the South-Harmon Institute of Technology as a industrial base wasn't so hard - people were surprised that the building actually existed, as several important someones had assumed that reports that this building was within Rayleigh's borders were a joke, and when they were shown it in person and toured around the campus they were - initially - flabbergasted. Despite the very informal way the school had been run on Earth, it had actually started to become a respectful school with a leading edge in engineering; for those who knew that it was not just a fictional location out of an old movie, at least.
In it's new location, the machining shop got expanded, the recreational areas were... left in tact, nobody could bring themselves to tear down the old skateboard halfpipe. But the classrooms were improved with scavenged, and eventually new, monitors and smart boards. It's computers were scoured for any information from Earth left behind, and the records were surprisingly intact - somebody had downloaded most of wikiindex.org; about twenty five thousand pages of links to wikis that couldn't be accessed due to the wikis linked from the index not being downloaded. But several other documents, from useful math textbooks, to slightly more useful engineering texts and various classic literature; it's a lot to sift through, but with time we have all we need to train future generations.
The school's headmaster and several students abducted from Earth gleefully help with remodeling, as space was cleared for warehouses and industrial spaces, and tools were brought from around the city to make a stable work environment with enough redundancies to replace anything that breaks quickly. And the relaxed atmosphere helps keeps nerves from fraying.
This is a great place to jumpstart research into lost technology from home, and to break free of strict Earthly ideology.
Transport Capacity: 0 (
1 Oil available)
Resources: 2 Ore,
1 Oil (0/1 imported)Credits: 1 Research Credit, 1 Alien Credit
Weapons- Makeshift Earth Rifle (Cheap): Based on designs from home, cobbled together from native materials with remaining architecture. Mediocre accuracy at Long Range, good Accuracy at Medium. 1 Ore
- SA-2 GPMG (Cheap): General purpose machine gun, automatic fire (in bursts or continuous) only, accurate at Medium and Short range. 2 Ore
- Scrap Pulse Pistol (Cheap): Barely understood alien tech you were able to reconstruct after some difficulty. Firing modes basically break down into "Painful Burns", "Stun", and "Seriously Maim"; no "Kill" mode, though enough exposure to any of the three modes will do it. It's battery powered but the pulses of hot... stuff (maybe plasma?) use a lot of energy. Accurate up to short range, prone to malfunction. 2 Ore, 1 Oil
- Plasma Rifle Grenade (Expensive): Throws up a huge pulse of ionizing energy, and lots of heat. Causes acute radiation sickness, but the range leaves much to be desired, and it's on a hair trigger, causing lots of self inflicted casualties. 2 Ore, 2 Oil
- M11 200mm Mortar "Artemis" (Expensive): Takes three men to carry and fire, but the 4 varieties of warhead are versatile and effective. Plasma, like the PRG, is almost a mini-nuke. High Explosive doesn't have the radiation problem, but the yield is still worrying. Incendiary can burn through the ground around it, and the Star Shell creates many little smokey beacons that illuminate nearby enemies. Poor accuracy at long range, slightly better at medium. 3 Ore, 2 Oil
OtherStandard Uniform: A plain uniform with very little decoration or utility. There is a space for rank insignia, and some colored markings but it's rather plain.- RCBD/S: Ill fitting but functional, with a webbing vest practically anything can be attached to, three varieties of camouflage that seem to work, a practical but comically large steel helmet, and polarizing sunglasses. A good uniform if you don't mind being uncomfortable.
- Fear and Loathing BCEE (Expensive): A kit with about 200 meters compressed concertina wire, a multipurpose entrenching tool, two Ted Torpedoes for clearing obstacles, and a straight up Claymore. 3 Ore 2 Oil; the wire and entrenching tool count as Cheap.
Infrastructure- A.P.E.S.H.I.T A reformed school with a database where engineers pool their knowledge, train future generations, and manufacture new technologies. Boosts engineering research by making things less difficult.
It is now the second turn Revision phase. The end of the turn will be the end of the year 11AA, and the first wave of lore will be judged.
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Topic: Absolutely Absurd Abductee Arms Race: Rayleigh Confederation (Turn 4 Revi phase) (Read 6415 times)