Right, turns in, and boy, is it painful.
-End 802- This year did not go well. The development of the Heroism Torpedo Boat was either stalled or explosive (as in, it exploded) all year, as did the 4" gun intended to go on it. There where torpedoes developed for it(along with launchers) which actually function somewhat, but are not all that useful (they have something like a two-kilometers range, aren't particularly quick, cost a fair deal, take an age to reload and miss more than half the time when fired at stationary targets well within their range (Aka, the blockage in the harbor)). As for the Trench-Broom, well, in some ways it is a revolutionary design, and in others it makes the testing crew cry out for a stick to use instead.
So, anyways, first up we have the Heroism Torpedo Boat, which was only built as scale models or as bits on the docks, since there isint a drydock or a good space to build a full-scale model. However, what parts where worked on had a habit of exploding amazingly. The trio of engineers who worked on it all survived though.
The 4" cannon intended to be mounted on it, designed by three novice engineers, similarly has(or rather had) issues blowing up, mostly due to some strange design decisions on their parts (like using pure nitroglycerin as a propellant, or only having five threads in the breach).
The 14" torpedo system, however, works well enough, and our naval officers are looking forward for a few sets of launchers and torps to use in places where low range, speed, chance to actually hit the target and long loading times dont mean much (AKA, massed torpedo batteries in narrow points).
And now, out main event, the Pattern 802 Trench Broom, firing the new 10x30mm special caseless ammunition from paper belts kept in "drums" underneath and to each side of the weapon. There where many setbacks in the design of this weapon, and yet for every setback there was a small leap of amazing design. The prototype at years end jams after almost every successful shot, the drum takes roughly two-hundred eighty seconds to replace, and its a bit of a awkward thing to use, but its light, cheap(for what it is anyways), and can be hit with a hammer before it breaks. The belt in particular is a bit of a sticking point as it is either too fragile or too stiff for reliable use in the gun, and often jams the weapon with bits from the belt.
In other news, a directive has been received from the government to actually put something into production. It dosent say what to put into production, so long as something gets made and shipped out. Apparently elections are happening soon and the populace wants to know what this bunch of well paid engineers are doing out here besides making new guns our troops can use.
-Pattern 802 torpedo/launcher, 14"
A bronze-built torpedo using wet guncotton as an explosive, powered by an internal tank of compressed air. The weapon has a range of about 1.8 kilometers, a remarkable achievement for the method of propelling it. It weighs in at a little over 680lb and travels at 25 knots. Reloading a launcher (and then charging the torpedo with compressed air) takes nearly a quarter of a hour per launch.
Launchers cost 16pp each
-Pattern 802 Trench Broom auto weapon
A mostly sheet-steel weapon, the Trench Broom is a high capacity, low weight, theoretically high rate of fire weapon firing the 10x30mm special round, kept in a paper belt, itself stored within large drums that reside around the sides of the weapon. These belts have been determined to be one of the main reasons for the jamming.
In any event, the weapon weighs about 3lb unloaded and is just over a foot and a half long.
One of these costs 1.2pp each
Five off-site factories producing ammunition (2x 10x60mm(black) cartridge, 1x 10x30mm(black) cartridge, 1x 37mm cannon)
One on-site factory complex with four production lines, each with 300pp worth of production still sitting idle
One on-site workshop, for designing new things
One on-site design studio
One harbor, mostly blocked by sediment and the scuttled hulk of a wooden sailing ship(now partially damaged by torpedoes)
8 newbies
5 basic engineers
1 basic naval engineer
3 basic firearms engineers
1 amazingly talented but unskilled firearms engineer
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Topic: Design Engineers of The Republic (Weapon Design Game)-GAME DEAD (Read 58855 times)