((Note -- Logistics will now be done on a per-theatre basis. Rather than an overarching logistics report, you'll get a report for each theatre that's affected by the (logistics, mostly) designs deployed there and the environment of the theatre. Logistics designs will be deployed and attached to platoons like other designs. You can have platoons dedicated to logistics, attach logistics designs to existing platoons, or do both. Logistics load is now a measure of spent resources per theatre, not across every theatre. The OP's Logistics section has been adjusted to reflect this.
Largely unrelated note, but it's possible for costs to change between now and the end of Year 0. Ideally not, but it's possible.))Game Update: Design Results, Year -3 TURNTURNTURN
Design: "Finger Trap" Imperial Arsenal Revolving Rifle(Hard) 6: Above ExpectationsThe first thing of note here is that hoping our civilian industries have already produced something we can
steal use for the glory of the Empire turns out to not be the best strategy. Especially when what we wanted to take from the civilian sector is a flat-out firearm with no particular connections to anything else beyond general metalworking and chemistry. Still, we've managed to make something useful even if the civilians did not develop our weapon for us already.
The "Finger Trap" brings firepower and speed of firepower to one's hands. One must of course be careful if they wish to keep those hands through usage of this new weapon. It works via a central revolving -- hence the "revolving" in the name -- cylinder containing five separate chambers each loaded with one cartridge working in conjunction with a single barrel. The cylinder revolves into place such that a loaded chamber is in line with the barrel to fire. The chambers are naturally breech-loading, with full reloading of the weapon requiring the user rotating the cylinder manually and inserting a cartridge and single-use percussion cap into each chamber. The firearm is... ostensibly double-action. To fire, the hammer must be cocked, the cylinder rotated, and the hammer must strike the bullet. Pulling of the trigger should in theory cock the hammer back and rotate the cylinder after the bullet has left the weapon.
This is where the problem with the Finger Trap presents itself: the cylinder is fickle in its revolving. The automatic revolving of the cylinder is far too likely to end in a position where a chamber does not line up with the barrel, requiring the user to manually and precisely rotate the cylinder and remedy this. Due to what we suspect to be compounding imprecision and imperfections, it's more likely that this will happen if the user did not manually cock the hammer before-hand.
Users are cautioned to keep fingers firmly
AWAY from the cylinder during operation. As impressive as this example of the Empire's power may be, having flesh sheared off from fingers is generally not considered an enjoyable experience.
The .45 caliber bullet gives large stopping power but as the design proposal predicted, relatively low velocity. This is aided by the carbine construction though. The "Finger Trap" possesses a
Mediumrange.
It's a solid piece of Imperial engineering. Cylinder rotation problems or not, its rate of fire is far beyond anything currently wielded by the military.
Its cost is a bit on the high-side, as the precise manufacturing required is quite wasteful with resources. But nothing insane.
"Finger Trap" Imperial Arsenal Revolving Rifle: [0][2][1]Design: "Tortoise" Protected Train, Colonial Duty(Easy) 5: Meets ExpectationsThe "Tortoise" was quite easy to design and engineer given that it's largely just adding armor to existing trains. But this is a nice change of pace to inventing new firearms. At its core, it's just bolting metal plates on existing rail cars and scaling up the power provided to operate to compensate for increased weight. Hopeless unity-hating rebels and insurrectionists will have to work a lot harder to stop transport of cargo by these trains.
Armoring every centimeter of every cargo car is illogical, but less illogical is a heavily armored engine car, armored passages for soldiers and passengers across the entire train, and reinforced connections between the cars. Every car possesses viewing and firing holes, though currently no weaponry is included in this design. Soldiers will have to use their own weapons if they want to shoot back. Of course, if we were to design train-specific weaponry in the future the Tortoise would be the ideal platform.
Regular boilers still work in the engine, but we've provided a Steam Core variant that will result in
massively increased speed and/or maximum effective load (and less coal usage).
Testing has found practical invulnerability against rifle fire to protected parts. We expect loss of cargo to minimal without disruption of the entire train. Blasts and explosions have a tough time damaging the car, though the risk of derail is still quite present. Somewhat lowered due to increased mass and thus inertia in the train, however.
Regarding the deployment of the Tortoise: attaching a Tortoise as a part of an existing platoon will generally have the train prioritize supplying the platoon (and the rest of the theatre as much as it can within the scope of the platoon's duties). In a dedicated platoon, it'll generally serve as theatre-wide logistics support.
Importantly, when deploying the Tortoise and any other theoretical train designs, one must consider more than just the engine car. Relevant train designs will work in conjunction together. For example, if you just want the armored engine car driving a regular train, then just deploy the Tortoise design. If you want armored cargo as well, then deploy both the Tortoise design and the Tortoise Cargo design. This will work with any future potential designs that need to be attached as part of a train.
"Tortoise" Protected Train, Boiler Engine Car: [0][2][3]"Tortoise" Protected Train, Steam Core Engine Car: [1][2][0]"Tortoise" Protected Train, Cargo Cars: [0][2][0]Firearms- "Finger Trap" Imperial Arsenal Revolving Rifle: .45 caliber revolving breech-loaded caplock carbine that uses a revolving cylinder with 5 chambers working in conjunction with a single barrel. Once each cylinder is manually loaded, they can all be fired in sequence via revolving the cylinder between shots. Pulling trigger does cock hammer and rotate the cylinder automatically, but the cylinder often doesn't land in-line with the barrel requiring user intervention. This happens more often if the hammer was not cocked manually. Be careful where you put your fingers. Powerful, but low-velocity. Medium range.
[0][2][1] Precise manufacturing causes excess metals waste.
Logistics- "Tortoise" Protected Train, Colonial Duty: Series of armored train cars impervious to rifle fire and resistant to blasts (with decreased but not-minimized risk of derail) against the car connections, engine car, and passageways across all the cars. Firing and viewing holes are present for return fire.
- "Tortoise" Boiler Engine Car: Tortoise engine car that uses standard coal boilers upscaled beyond regular engine cars to compensate for weight of armor plating. Completely armored.
[0][2][3] - "Tortoise" Steam Core Engine Car: An engine car variant that completely ditches the boiler and operates entirely off of a single steam core for high speeds and/or weight loads. Completely armored.
[1][2][0] - "Tortoise" Cargo Cars: (Partially) armored cargo cars best used with a Tortoise engine car. The cargo itself isn't directly protected, but a lesser chance of train disruption is more than enough to increase cargo safety.
[0][2][0]
It is now the
Revision Phase of Year -3. Submit revision proposals and vote on one to be used as this year's revision.
Author
Topic: Steam Empire, an Arms Race: Year -1, Internal Affairs Phase (Read 19656 times)