Design: AS-STV-1 "Restless" [3, 4-1, 4]
Your soldiers are intially skeptical when the Steam Transport Vehicle rolls out for the first time.
The Restless is a machine-printed crystal hull covering a pair of steam engines. It's essentially a large, squashed box with a few holes in the crystal frame, and a small hook on the back to drag another crystal box on steel grooved wheels. The main "engine" features four wheels, two of which are piston-operated and geared to the steam engine via large steel gears and locked in unison. These wheels are cast akin to our cannon barrels, but each wheel must be worked and tempered afterwards to ensure no defects or burrs exist that would disrupt the way they roll. The grooved wheels ride along a pair of steel tracks mounted on wooden ties, secured by a bed of gravel. The tracks don't sink into mud like wagon wheels do, which is a good thing - the entire thing is enormously heavy. The steam engines must be geared down to a large degree to provide enough torque to move the thing, and even then it can't climb hills more than 10°. On the up-side, the train will never have to deal with such a steep angle, as our workers can dictate the slope and path of the tracks.
The drivers compartment features a wide, open area that allows fresh air to whistle through, helping to cool the internal compartment which gets hot despite the cooling circuits. The driver is paired with an apprentice to repair fractures in the crystal frame and keep the (very hot) steam engines operating. The machine is controlled by two levers, one which acts as the "engage" for the steam engine and one which acts as a brake. Currently the lever only "engages" or "disengages" two secondary gears that connect the driving pistons to their respective steam engine. One secondary gear allows "forward" motion, and the other allows "reverse". Switching between directions when not at a full stop will shear the gears and require lengthy repairs. They must also be disengaged before braking, which is done by metal plates that use steam pressure to press against the wheels. Speed is otherwise controlled by how hot the Engine Apprentice runs the steam engines.
A small hook on the back allows a secondary vehicle to be hooked on. We've taken the liberty of creating a crystal wagon that can carry twenty Arstotzkan soldiers in full armor, albeit uncomfortably. It features four free-spinning grooved wheels and a canvas canopy to keep off the sun and rain. It also has another hook on the back, allowing additional wagons to be daisy-chained together. The entire train could be caught by a man on horseback, but unlike a horse it does not grow tired and can carry a modest load. This should solve our issues feeding ammo to the HA1, and help move around troops. We can hook maybe four wagons to the train before it becomes too heavy to run properly. Very Expensive.
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Topic: Wands Race - [Arstotzka] {COMPLETED} (Read 376923 times)