Summer, 1895, Design Phase.Starting with the currently-in-use 3", 5" 6" and 12" calibres, each gun has been updated to sit in line with the major powers of the world. Hydraulics aligned with the weapon are used to absorb recoil, seeing the gun back in positron more quickly. Inserting a brass shell containing the projectile, a pre-measured portions of propellant and primer via the breech will reduce load times. Speaking of propellant, using smokeless powder will mean gun crews won't have to wait for smoke to clear before being able to relay the gun. All together it should make a substantial boost in performance.
Time: 6 | Progress: 3 | Expense: 5
The work on the guns is expected to be fairly cheep and fairly quick. After all, we have a fairly large industry for shipbuilding, so building a few guns to test out can be done for cheep and quickly with the Navy's influence and power. Really, the biggest issue is finding some place to test the guns out, specifically the twelve inch cannon, without anyone who shouldn't know finding out about it in one way or another. But, that too is quite simple. Just go to a out of the way military outpost on some backwater island under our control and use it there as part of a gunnery exercise. The transport is the biggest issue there, but even then it's not that bad. Regardless, the work is expected to be done sometime in autumn or winter depending how much is invested and provided nothing unexpected happens to delay our work.
Quick Fire Gun Series | 3/8 progress | 1 PP per die invested | Rushed 0 times | 1 PP invested
Effectiveness: 5 | Cost: 3 | Bugs: 6
Early testing of the guns, specifically the six inch cannon and below, shows that a fairly high rate of fire is completely possible, and best of all the loading mechanism devised by our engineers has shown to be extremely reliable. In fact the system was adopted in all variants made in the project, downscaled or upscaled accordingly, and so far we have yet to have an accident or jam in any of the cannons. Furthermore, the change of powder to a smokeless one is very helpful for getting greater range and effectiveness out of the guns and shells. Though, there is an issue in that we haven't exactly settled on what type of smokeless powder to use of those made. Still, it's expected that our six inch cannon should be able to have a theoretical max range of around 19k yards. It also should be mentioned that the 12 inch gun is not a quick fire one, for very obvious reasons. We don't have the mechanisms in place to load a shell big enough to use it that fast. Still, it's certainly better than our older gun. Lastly, the guns cost a decent bit to maintain, as the rifling wears out swiftly, and needs to be replaced. This isn't too bad, but it's noticeable. Though all that's really needed is for the rifling to be replaced after every battle or two to keep performance up and the rest of the gun should be good.
It is now the Revision and Refit phase of Summer, 1895. You have 3 dice remaining to spend on Revisions and Refits, or save for next turn.
Quick Fire Gun Series | 3/8 progress | 1 PP per die invested | Rushed 0 times | 1 PP invested
Naval
Early 2/3/4/5/6/7/9/10/12 inch guns
Triple-expansion engines.
Early steam turbine engines.
Steel hull construction.
Single Casemates.
Single and Double gun turrets.
Decent Rangefinder
Composizione B Steel.
Montagne Acciaierie Armor Steel
Basic Damage control techniques.
Marines & Installations
Defensive guns (Uses same calibers as naval guns)
Magdala N90 Fucile (Basic Bolt Action Rifle)
Sette d'oro 87 Rivoltella (Basic Revolver)
Lepidus class Light Cruiser: The Lepidus class is a blisteringly fast Light Armored Cruiser, or Light Cruiser, which has a good deal of armor that compliments it's speed. It's arguably undergunned but it's ability to pick it's fights, it's main prey being cargo ships, torpedo boat destroyers, and protected cruisers, should do enough to offset that. Especially with the addition of torpedoes. Costs 5/2, takes 4 seasons to build.
Pompey Magnus Class Battleship:Arguably a miniature battleship, one that could be payed with whatever is in ones pocket compared to the price of true battleships, the Pompey Magnus class is...arguably mediocre. Yet, mediocracy in many numbers is a good thing. The ship is quite well armored and armed, though in part due to this it is slightly overweight, which could cause problems. Only costs 7/2, takes 6 seasons to build.
Refits of the Pompey Magnus Class:
Belt and Magazine Adjustments (BMA): Modification utilizing the overweight nature of the ship to cut down on the lower section of the belt in order to add a inch of armor to the rest of it, along with modification to the magazine in order to add another inch to the turret's armor.
Lepidus Class
Pompey Magnus Class W BMA modification
CL - Light Cruiser
Lepidus Class, 13 ships, 26 Maintenance
Lepidus | CL | No Refit | Currently assigned to Peacetime Patrols | Crew are Trained | Undamaged | Eginardo Marino is captain, Trained, Aggressive
Vettius | CL | No Refit | Currently assigned to Peacetime Patrols | Crew are Greenhorns | Undamaged | Bindo Zocco is captain, Greenhorn, Aggressive
Curio | CL | No Refit | Currently assigned to Peacetime Patrols | Crew are Greenhorns | Undamaged | Verulo Di Miceli is captain, Greenhorn, Aggressive
Vitellius | CL | No Refit | Currently assigned to Peacetime Patrols | Crew are Greenhorns | Undamaged | Gianpietro Nocella is captain, Greenhorn, Aggressive
Bibulus | CL | No Refit | Currently assigned to Peacetime Patrols | Crew are Greenhorns | Undamaged | Alessandro Ferro is captain, Greenhorn, Aggressive
Cato the Younger | CL | No Refit | Currently assigned to Peacetime Patrols | Crew are Trained | Undamaged | Mattia Cason is captain, Trained, Aggressive
Brutus | CL | No Refit | Currently assigned to Peacetime Patrols | Crew are Trained | Undamaged | Ildefonso Santoli is captain, Trained, Balanced
Labienus | CL | No Refit | Currently assigned to Peacetime Patrols | Crew are Greenhorns | Undamaged | Azelio Guastella is captain, Greenhorn, Aggressive
Horatius | CL | No Refit | Currently assigned to Peacetime Patrols | Crew are Greenhorns | Undamaged | Cremenzio Parziale is captain, Greenhorn, Aggressive
Clodius | CL | No Refit | Currently assigned to Peacetime Patrols | Crew are Trained | Undamaged | Euclide Iantosca is captain, Greenhorn, Balanced
Virgil | CL | No Refit | Currently assigned to Peacetime Patrols | Crew are Trained | Undamaged | Ursmaro Battaglia is captain, Greenhorn, Balanced
Cassius | CL | No Refit | Currently assigned to Peacetime Patrols | Crew are Greenhorns | Undamaged | Bassiano Senatore is captain, Greenhorn, Balanced
Lucullus | CL | No Refit | Currently assigned to Peacetime Patrols | Crew are Trained | Undamaged | Beato Imondi is captain, Greenhorn, Balanced
B - Pre Dreadnaught Battleship
Pompey Magnus Class, 5 ships, 10 Maintenance
Pompey Magnus | B | BMA | Currently assigned to Peacetime Patrols | Crew are Trained | Undamaged | Rodolfo Colasurdo is captain, Greenhorn, Cautious
Crassus | B | BMA | Currently assigned to Peacetime Patrols | Crew are Trained | Undamaged | Donatello Cortesi is captain, Greenhorn, Cautious
Marcus Antonius | B | BMA | Currently assigned to Peacetime Patrols | Crew are Trained | Undamaged | Liberio Irene is captain, Greenhorn, Cautious
Octavius Augustus | B | BMA | Currently assigned to Peacetime Patrols | Crew are Greenhorn | Undamaged | Aronne Serianni is captain, Greenhorn, Cautious
Julius Caesar | B | BMA | Currently assigned to Peacetime Patrols | Crew are Trained | Undamaged | Corbiniano Ugolini is captain, Greenhorn, Cautious
10,000 Displacement Dry docks.
104PP, 36 Maintenance.