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[NUKE9.13]

But what if we engined more?

GGPRO High Pressure:
Yeah, the GGPRO Engine is good. But we must not rest on our laurels. We can always improve.

How to improve the GGPRO? Add more Gavrilium. Significantly increasing the pressure in the motor chamber, and making the appropriate adjustments to the other components in order to withstand the heightened intensity, allows us to make a "high pressure" version of the GGPRO that can go a lot harder, or a lot faster, or a fair amount both harder and faster, as compared to the "standard pressure" version. This naturally has an increased cost, but provides an even better power/weight ratio.

This one is probably outside of our jurisdiction (since it's basically training, which hasn't been a feature), but I have to check. I was trying to write an improved passports revision, but kept realising that the people checking the passports are much more important. 

Bolstering Basic Borderguard Behaviour:
Papers, please.

Being a border guard is not a thrilling occupation. Checking IDs day in, day out can get tiresome. Small wonder that it's so easy to fake an ID that will get you past the zoned-out guard.
To rectify this, we've set aside a modest amount of resources to train guards to be better. Better at recognising the nervousness in someone's eyes, that merits checking their papers a bit more thoroughly. Better at asking simple questions as they check papers (where are you staying, what is your purpose, do you have anything to declare) that an unprepared spy might mess up the answers to. Better at being present in higher numbers at key crossings, so that more attention can be paid to each traveller (okay, this one isn't actually an improvement on the guards' part, but on those assigning posts). Better at cycling tasks frequently (eg checking IDs, checking bags, standing around looking menacing, drinking coffee in the break room), so as to reduce the boredom of sitting at a post for hours at a time.

Will this make it impossible for UNSA spies to cross our border? No, of course not. But it will make it harder, and catching even a single spy can pay dividends- they might have information that could lead to other spies or espionage operations. Worth establishing the improved protocols and training.

Edit:

No.4 Smoke Grenade:
We have smoke shells, we have grenades. Why don't we have smoke grenades?

A No.4 Smoke Grenade is what it says on the tin. Has the trigger mechanism of the No.3, but instead of exploding, it releases a billowing cloud of dense white smoke. A non-lethal way to create a distraction, disorient enemy forces, or obscure a retreat.

Edit 2: I wonder if this is possible:

Gavrilium Evaluator:
A Gavrilium Evaluator is a neat little trick that you can do with a small piece of Gavrilium. Attach three wires to it, with a piece of carbon between the third wire and the Gavrilium. Run a current through wire 1, and it flows through to wire 2. Run a current through wire 3, and the current between wire 1 and 2 is interrupted. Amazing, well done, you managed to replicate a switch. Vacuum tubes have been doing this for years, and telegraph switches for decades before that.
Here's the thing, though. A telegraph switch is big and slow (relatively speaking). A vacuum tube is fast, but still big. A Gavrilium Evaluator can be made really small, and is faster than a vacuum tube. When we realised what we had our hands on, suddenly a wealth of possibilities was laid out before us. None of which we have time for at the moment, but it's nice to lay the groundwork.

[TricMagic]

By condensing then freezing the Depleted Gasified Gavrilium inside a mold, we can form a diamond-shaped crystal that amplifies radio signals. Send a charge and frequency through it, and that frequency can travel far further than normal, in a tighter broadband. The mechanics of this are that the frequency gets wrapped up in the energy, keeping the packet from dispersing and giving it greater longevity as the signal draws on that energy. The main drawback is of course it needs to be pointed at another Gav Crystal to properly unpack it, but that helps in keeping information out of enemy hands. Gav Crystal Radio is a potent force behind enemy lines, letting us transmit information beyond the wall with relative safety. The crystals are good for around 3 to 6 months, or 1 month of continual use, until they go flaky and need replacement.

[frostgiant]

Gavrillium, For all its seeming Perpetual Power, is not truly infinite, the same as every other substance to grace the face of the galaxy. Even the endless heat and energy of gavrillium depletes at some point. Depleted Gavrillium however, has a much… more dangerous and temperamental form than many substances once it has run its life and become depleted, drained of power.

Depleted gavrillium, Instead of being Inert like a majority of Fissible’s, Because extremely Cold seemingly drinking in the heat around it in a desperate attempt to fill back its endless reserves of power once more. As of yet The Amount of thermal energy it is theorized to return Gavrillium to it natural, Undepleted state is Staggering, Let alone a process that would theoretically take years, despite its constant Freezing aura, on the same level as liquid Nitrogen.

Despite the fact that depleted Gavrilium can theoretically return from its depleted state when it has taken in enough heat energy from its surroundings, The military sees potential in the freezing substance, unaffected by heat in any form of tactical or even strategic timeframe.

In this case, The Rime rounds project is designed to create a new munition type for both our ships 120mm and our 108mm guns. Powdered Depleted Gavrilliumis added to the shell, subdividing a standard HE shell into two powder compartments, one containing standard Explosives and the other containing the Sub-zero Powdered D-Gavrillium. Designed to Detonate in flight, The shell explodes Covering a large area in the frozen powder, swiftly freezing the environment and the powder settles. Mud Freezes, Plants wither and die and soldiers unlucky enough to get the powder on their skin, let alone in their mucus membrane swiftly suffer from severe Frostbite.

Big goal of mine is to bring back Depleted Gavrillium in some form, I like Freezing weaponry and Rime rounds were fun.

[Man of Paper]

GGPROHP is an Easy revision. It's not doing any strenuous or drastic reengineering and willingly offers a trade-off for the gains it aims for.
The No.4 is Easy as well. It takes two concepts you're at least moderately familiar with and slaps them together with a bit of engineering.

The Evaluator, B4, Radio, and Rime Rounds are all better off as designs, I think. With the Evaluators and B4 this is because they're kicking off new developmental paths without solid ties to anything in the armory specifically (even though they might not be difficult actions themselves), and with the radio and rime rounds it's more the scope of the revision on things that don't necessarily have an entry in the armory but can be assumed to exist in some manner. If either was targeting, say, a specific type or certain vehicles radios, or a particular caliber of ammunition, then I'd be more willing to give an estimate for a revision.

As time goes on revisions will get more relaxed since you'll have more direct experience to draw from, but early on it's safe to assume that most conceptual concepts will have to be concepted in the design phase.

[Taricus]

Pulemet No.5

This venerable MG is showing its age as time marches on. Insufficient for use as an MG and with a round that is potentially surplus to requirements, work has been mandated for a series of improvements to the weapon.

Thus, the No.5 Pulemet gun is converted to use 7.7mm ammunition, with work being input to lighten the bolt both to facilitate the new round's lesser recoil and to improve rate of fire. Both these changes mean that the Pulemet's range is liable to be decreased, but the tradeoff is considered worthwhile given the weapon's intended role. Moreover, the Pulemet No.5 is built to accept feed from ammo belts, ensuring that the machine gun can be used in a general role.

[Man of Paper]

Pulemet is Hard, it’s a not insignificant level of retooling but isn’t overly demanding.

[NUKE9.13]

For the Pulemet, I don't think changing the calibre to 7.7mm is worth a difficulty of Hard. Sure, it would simplify logistics a little, but if it rolls badly, we might end up with two versions in use, which would actually make things more confusing. We will still probably want a machine gun with a decent RoF at some point, though, so I figure we should just bite the 8.5mm bullet.

Pulemet No.6
This venerable MG is showing its age as time marches on. Given the low rate of fire and limited capacity, work has been mandated for a series of improvements to the weapon.

The Pulemet No.6 gun uses an improved firing mechanism to allow for a greatly increased rate of fire, at the cost of slightly decreased accuracy and more demanding metallurgy (the mechanism must be produced to higher standards to prevent jamming, whilst the barrel has to be able to handle the heat). Moreover, the Pulemet No.6 is built to accept feed from ammo belts, ensuring that the machine gun can be used in a general role.

And now, a votebox. I've not included the proposals that MoP said aren't viable.

GGPRO High Pressure: (1) NUKE9.13
No.4 Smoke Grenade:
Pulemet No.5:
Pulemet No.6: (1) NUKE9.13

[TricMagic]

GGPRO High Pressure: (1) NUKE9.13, TricMagic
No.4 Smoke Grenade: (1) TricMagic
Pulemet No.5:
Pulemet No.6: (1) NUKE9.13

For whatever reason, I'm imagining ninjas using smokebombs to escape.

[Taricus]

GGPRO High Pressure: (3) NUKE9.13, TricMagic, Taricus
No.4 Smoke Grenade: (1) TricMagic
Pulemet No.5:
Pulemet No.6: (2) NUKE9.13, Tarocus

[TricMagic]

Wool over their Eyes
The Mahou-class pirate vessel is a stripped down version of our destroyer, boasting less armor and a single pair of firing guns, with only AP rounds supplied. They make use of the GGPRO engine and their light weight to be the most agile ship around the islands, outmaneuvering the competition and being very skilled at running away when needed. Naturally we deny any connection to these vessels, referencing a faked security breach which saw the prototype of our new engine stolen. These vessels run harrying operations on our foes' trade routes, forcing more of their attention outward for our spies inside to act. And if war starts in earnest, a quick renaming and supplying them with ammo will see them serve as a successful screen for our larger ships, making use of their speed to give advance warnings.

[Man of Paper]

Pulemet No.6 is Easy, it's some solid improvements that don't require a huge reconfiguration of the entire system. Accepting a reduction of accuracy outright knocks it down from being closer to Normal.
Wool Over Their Eyes is outright Impossible as a revision at this point. It's not just revising a ship, but using it to introduce a whole entire angle involving "piracy" and plausible deniability, made infinitely harder by using your special resource in it, made even harder because you've never used the engine or even the resource in anything else that'd make it more plausible that things slipped into someone else's hands.

[TricMagic]

GGPRO High Pressure: (3) NUKE9.13, TricMagic, Taricus
No.4 Smoke Grenade: ()
Pulemet No.5:
Pulemet No.6: (3) NUKE9.13, Taricus, TricMagic

Move along, nothing to see here UNSArcastic voters.

[Man of Paper]

Revision Phase

Proposal: GGPRO High Pressure
Difficulty: Easy
Result: (6+3)+1=10, Superior

Power is good. More power is better.

Increasing the thickness of the chamber walls allows a much greater density of Gasified Gavrilium to be stored in the Fuel Chamber and pumped into the Motor Chamber. The pumps are also upgraded to increase flow, allowing for more rapid changes in power provided than a standard GGPRO. With increased density of GG in the Motor Chamber, much higher levels of power output can be achieved. While the fuel efficiency of the GGPRO HP is less desirable than the base GGPRO, it provides a significant amount of power over the GGPRO with a negligible increase in engine weight. As with the GGPRO, the larger the HP is the more efficient it gets, but the size to power ratio also improves with the HP's size. As an added bonus, the thicker chambers improve survivability against, say, sudden violent impacts.

The GGPRO High Pressure can be used in lieu of an internal combustion engine or the GGPRO. Ore costs for designs from the GGPRO HP will fall between and ICE and GGPRO, but will tend to fall more toward the cost of an ICE. A GGPRO HP requires twice as much refueling than the GGPRO, but will still generally be cheaper than the Oil cost of a basic ICE. Actual Cost and power both scale based on the size of the engine.


Proposal: Pulemet No.6
Difficulty: Easy
Result: (4+4)+1=9 Above Average

The Pulemet No.6 is a remodeling of the old No.4 that seeks to address the issues made apparent over the last war or two. Improved quality of basic materials means less wear and tear on moving parts, and this opened up the potential for a more "aggressively" tuned weapon while still improving reliability. Tighter springs, smoother action, and properly hardened mechanisms let the No.6 chamber and send rounds downrange much quicker, improving rate of fire from 450 RPM to 800 RPM. To aid in actually achieving this rate of fire, the receiver is modified to accept both the standard magazines as well as belts. Recoil isn't mitigated as well as everything else, especially while sustaining fire, so an overall loss off accuracy drops the effective range closer to 1000 meters.

Due to increased manufacturing costs of the components as well as how much ammunition this gun can eat through (compared to its predecessor) it ends up costing 6 Ore.

----------------

It is now the Strategy Phase. You can choose two places to take over on your half of the city, and beginning next turn you will be able to instead choose to purge enemy locations or defend your own. You will also be responsible for choosing a Resource to add to your pool and which of your controlled regions it will be placed in.

Spoiler: SFS Armory (click to show/hide)

Land
"Temnaya Vintovka" Semiautomatic Rifle: A 110 cm, 4 kg dark wood rifle. 7.7mm rounds are fed via 15-round box magazine, and can also be loaded with rounds individually through an open bolt. It has an adjustable rear sight with 100 meter increments. Effective out to 800m. It also has a bayonet lug and comes with a bayonet. Padded for operator comfort. Costs 2 Ore and 2 Wood. (CHEAP)
No.3 Fragmentation Grenade: A fragmentation grenade with a lethal radius of 5m and debilitating within 15m, but can cause injury out much further if you're (un)lucky. Has a cap that can be pulled off for a 7 second fuse or twisted and pulled for impact. Shaped like an egg, but can have a stick screwed into the bottom if desired. Costs 2 Ore. (CHEAP)
"Nebolshoy" Pistol: A light, easy to conceal 8.8mm handgun. Sturdy, reliable, and easy to fix when it isn't. A suppressor helps facilitate covert actions. Costs 3 Ore. (CHEAP)

Pulemet No.4: An 8.5mm automatic machine gun utilizing 20- or 40-round box magazines. Rate of fire is sacrificed for an effective range of 1200m. Costs 4 Ore. (EXPENSIVE)
-Pulemet No.6: An 8.5mm automatic machine gun utilizing 20- or 40-round box magazines or fed by belts. Rate of fire increases from 450 to 800RPM, but effective range drops down to 1000m. Very reliable but has a bit of a kick. Costs 6 Ore (VERY EXPENSIVE)
Bol'shoy 108mm: A 108-mm artillery piece on a split-tail carriage and easily towable with a barrel that can be pulled back to reduce profile. Currently fires HE and smoke rounds out to 16km. Has a gun shield for some protection. Costs 6 Ore. (VERY EXPENSIVE)

Salviosi Jacks: Steel beams welded together to provide obstacles for vehicles. Only usable during defense. Costs 2 Ore. CHEAP


Sea
Okhotnik-Class Destroyer: A 115m long ship with 120mm belt armor and 100mm elsewhere. Travels at 35 knots. Armed with a triple torpedo mount and 3x2 120mm rapid firing guns capable of firing AP and APHE. Costs 5 Ore and 3 Oil. (VERY EXPENSIVE)


Air
Sakonet Fighter: A three-bladed propeller aircraft capable of reaching speeds of 690km/h. Has a high rate of climb, but suffers when it comes to horizontal maneuverability. Armed with four 23mm cannons. Costs 3 Ore and 3 Oil. (EXPENSIVE)

Lizing Li-4 Strategic Bomber: A large high-altitude bomber powered by four propellers for a maximum speed of 558 km/h. Can protect itself with 10 23mm cannons paired in four turrets and the tail barbette to provide almost total coverage. Can haul up to 6000kg of bombs or a nuclear device. Costs 4 Ore and 5 Oil. (VERY EXPENSIVE)


Other
Gasified Gavrilium Perpetual Revolution Output Engine: A multi-chamber engine that uses Gasified Gavrilium to power an electric motor. Depleted GG can be pumped out of the fuel tank. GGPROEs are lighter than ICEs of equivalent size but many times more efficient, and much easier to take care of. Power is modulated by controlling the fuel-air mix in the motor chamber. Relative to an ICE, will reduce Ore Cost and replace Oil Cost with a significantly discounted Gavrilium Cost.
-GGPRO High Pressure: A more thickly lined engine capable of utilizing much higher densities of Gasified Gavrilium than the GGPRO. Ore Cost will lean closer to ICE costs, and Gavrilium Costs will replace Oil at a less discounted rate, but provides much greater power than either an ICE or the GGPRO. High performance pumps and valves allow for much more rapid changes to power in the engine. Also has improved resilience!

Fabricated Papers: False identification papers that should allow relatively easy access to enemy territory across The Wall. Costs 2 Wood. (CHEAP)

Enriched Uranium Bomb: A fission bomb utilizing 64kg of Uranium-235 in order to achieve an explosive blast equivalent to 15 kilotons of TNT. Can be deployed via Strategic Bomber. Two Available [Availability based on available Fissile resources].

Special Resource
Gasified Gavrilium: A gaseous form of gavrilium that is slightly heavier than helium and equally flammable. Sustains and amplifies currents passing within it while not conducting currents itself.
-Depleted Gasified Gavrilium: A neutrally air-buoyant inert gas created as a result of Gasified Gavrilium being used to sustain a current.

Spoiler: Resources (click to show/hide)

Ore: 2
Wood: 2
Oil: 2
Fissiles: 2
Gavrilium: 2

Spoiler: Resource Nodes (click to show/hide)

Dusty Mesas: None x3
Lowlands: None x3
Desert: None x3
Volcanic Heights: None x3
Hills: None x3
Badlands: None x3
Southern Range: None x3
Southern Scar: None x3
War-torn Savannah: None x3

Spoiler: Harren PoIs (click to show/hide)

SFS
Tonngaza Refinery: A fuel refinery built on the southernmost tip of the Fortress-City. Provides an Expense Credit each turn. NEUTRAL
Loz and Sons Law Firm: A building housing all the knowledge of law (and peoples secrets) that one might need. Provides an Advantage Credit each turn. NEUTRAL
Harren University of the Sciences: The most prestigious education center on the island. Provides a Research Credit each turn. NEUTRAL
Glaza Private Detective Agency: A popular investigative service among locals. Provides a Sabotage Credit each turn. NEUTRAL

UNSA
Abbera Central Allied Banking: A bank in the walled upper-class community in the east of the Fortress-City with ties to the defunct monarchy that ran the northern island for a few years. Provides and Expense Credit each turn. NEUTRAL
Westlan Broadcast Center: A tall building used for both radio and television broadcasts locally. Provides an Advantage Credit each turn. NEUTRAL
North Point Observatory: A building used to study the skies. Provides a Research Credit each turn. NEUTRAL
Tri-Dream Telecoms: A telecommunications business that provides service to the (northern half of the) Harren Islands. Provides a Sabotage Credit each turn. NEUTRAL

Spoiler: Credits (click to show/hide)

None

Spoiler: World Map (click to show/hide)

Key:
Red=SFS Territory
Green=UNSA Territory
Grey=Neutral Nations
Orange=Old World

Spoiler: Islands Map (click to show/hide)

Key:
Red=SFS Territory
Green=UNSA Territory
Dark Grey=The Wall
Blue=Ocean

TURNTURNTURN

[Light forger]

Glorious Communist Seizures
Loz and Sons Law Firm (1): Lightforger
North Point Observatory (1): Lightforger

Glorious Communist Resources
1 Ore to Lowlands (1): Lightforger

[Taricus]

We can't seize anything on the UNSA side of the border. We can deny it to the UNSA but that's it.