Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

Glorious Arstotzka

17 (16%)

Glorious Moskurg

13 (12.3%)

Ingloriously Didn't Play

76 (71.7%)

Total Members Voted: 106

[Sensei]

Strategy votes are locked.

[Kot]

[Parsely]

Granted, but there would be issues of mobility of long-range artillery and acceleration tolerances of complex warheads...

Well, Nazis thought the same about proximity fuzes, and then Americans made them... I think vacuum tubes are way more resilent than one would think.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proximity_fuze

Just based on the basic info from the wikipedia page it looks like first size and then resilience of vacuum tubes were the primary limiting factors in developing these, so definitely an issue we'd need to overcome, but one that would have a lot of useful applications beyond something as niche as anti-tank artillery shells.

E: IIRC weren't proximity fuzed AAA shells already developed at some point, or am I crazy?

[Kot]

Just based on the basic info from the wikipedia page it looks like first size and then resilience of vacuum tubes were the primary limiting factors in developing these, so definitely an issue we'd need to overcome, but one that would have a lot of useful applications beyond something as niche as anti-tank artillery shells.

E: IIRC weren't proximity fuzed AAA shells already developed at some point, or am I crazy?

Cannalans did. We probably could scrap some form of it from the missile.

[Olith McHuman]

Whirligig

The whirligig is our first helicopter. Sadly, the lead engineer forgot his glasses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_XFY_Pogo

[Kot]

Update when?
 

[NAV]

Infantry weapon comparison hype!

[Sensei]

Battle Report 28: Spring 1944

You guys play any video games lately? I've been playing Wreckfest since it got out of Early Access, it's pretty fun.

New Equipment:

The Forenians have decided to guarantee their traditional control of the skies with a piece of ground (or ship deck) equipment: the UF-GAM-44 "Noose", a 'Ground to Air Missile' which uses active radar homing like the Saltseeker. This represents to greatest achievement in Forenian radar in some time, de-complexifying their traditional Deadliest Ray radar and providing a much smaller (but narrow focused) radar for the missile seeker. It doesn't do any fancy tracking techniques other than seeing a radar contact and pointing its nose towards it, but the long missile (typically on a rack of four) can seek a radar contact from 30km, and fly that far too thanks to a two-stage rocket booster, and has a proximity fuze based on readings from the seeker. For their revision they've made the UF-SPAAS-44-2 "Garlic", a Salamander with a Sewing Machine turret mounted and a radar system for identifying targets (though the gunner still has to aim manually, speaking to the radar operator for information). What really gives it its name, though, is an optional IR seeker: the guns' electric motors can track the gun to an IR signature in 360 degrees.

Cannala has also made a missile to preserve their traditional advantage, on the sea, with the M1944 Missile, Anti Ship, Seeker Active GuidancE (MASSAGE) "Stingray", an AShM which is a considerable improvement over the Saltseeker, by and large, thanks to Cannala's considerable missile experience. Powered by a ramjet after a rocket launch, the Stingray reaches speeds near the sound barrier to deliver a 650lb warhead (about 300kg compared to the Saltseeker's 500kg) to a range of 40 miles. It has a radar seeker, though the lock range is less than the missile's maximum flight range. Its flight is regulated with a radar altimiter, cruising extremely close to the sea surface for the duration of its flight, but not only can it be launched by ships, it can also drop out of a Vengeful Charlotte bomber. For their revision they've made the M1944 Semi-Active Radar Guided Cruise Missile (SARGCM) "Barracuda", which is simply a Stingray with a SARH seeker head. It's intended to lock onto the signal from a Hornet target painter, allowing ground troops to call in a cruise missile and direct it to its target, though it struggles with locking on to the relatively weak radar signal.

The Forenian Army currently has the following equipment, not including legacy equipment which can be found near the OP:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

UF Weapons:
UF-MRL-40 'SARUKH': The Sarukh is a multiple rocket launcher, which fires rockets one meter long to deliver 6kg warheads at a maximum range of 12000 meters. The rockets have impressive destructive power, compared to shells they do not need thick metal casings, so most of the weight of the rocket is either warhead or propellant. The rockets are launched electrically off of rails, and the rails are in a 4x2 array. The rockets can be fired all at once, but it takes about four minutes to reload the whole launcher, so the sustained rate of fire is not better than regular artillery. However, a rocket array is extremely light compared to a cannon, and can move very quickly, firing all at once and retreating before fire is returned from the enemy. Accuracy is poor compared to shells; to reliably hit a single target with a volley they should be used within 8km. Currently available as a truck trailer. [1 Ore, 3 Oil]
UF-ASA-40 "Overcompensator" Coastal Artillery System: This is an enormous 30cm gun, made specifically for covered ground emplacements. Like a ship gun, shells and powder casings are stored below the barrel itself and lifted up by an electric hoist and ramming system, which fires a little over twice a minute. The shells weigh about 350kg and reach a range which is greater than existing artillery, but not extremely impessive for their size- except the rocket propelled shells, which can go almost 30km. It normally sits in a reinforced concrete bunker with a wide aiming slit, on the shore to aim at ships. It lacks any advanced fire control as much of the time was spent developing a barrel and breech which could withstand the pressure necessary, so commanders must find a firing solution by pen, paper and slide-rule alone, and correct their aim based on visual observation. It also needs a large steam power generator on site or nearby, which needs a bunker of its own, and the generator or power lines are a potential vulnerability. [5 Ore, 3 Oil]
UF-RTS-41 'Long Shot' A: This is a radar fire-control system, which allows radar operators to directly control the Overcompensator gun by its electric motors. This is based on the entirely-mechanical Bumblebee aiming system, the radar operator simply aligns a metal ring which slides on rails on two axes over the radar blip on his screen. With manual calibration for each unique gun and radar position, this sets the gun to a firing solution. It is crude, and imprecise to the point where it almost never hits. It has only found practical use as a means of moving the gun near where it will need to be aimed while a firing solution is calculated the old fashioned way, on pen and paper.
UF-RTS-43 'Long Shot' B: The Longshot B uses a more precise cavity radar, and the operator now controls the gun's position with two dials rather than a sliding bracket, which is actually capable of enough precise aim to hit something. This gives fine control over the gun, but any more complicated factors such as wind or moving targets must be accounted for manually.
UF-AC-41 Velociraptor: This autocannon is a revision of AC18, with several improvements. The gun is a little more tolerant of different ammo weights and the shells have been modified so that mixed ammo belts are possible. The use of more advanced materials has allowed some parts to become lighter, while a heavier bolt and stronger spring allows a rate of fire of 750 RPM, with a final gun weight of 21kg. In infantry use, it has noticeably more recoil, but this is less of a concern on vehicles.
UF-AMR-43 Horsekiller II: Heir to the name of the venerable Moskurg Horsekiller .60 caliber rifle, the AMR-43 is at its core a bolt-action rifle with similarly enormous rounds for use as a heavy sniper rifle and anti-materiel rifle. The rifle itself could be described as "chubby", with a heavy 1.2m barrel and multi-lug bolt made of manganese-steel, while the furniture and accessory mounts milled from aluminum adding up to a 1.8m length in all. The barrel is tipped with a muzzle brake. It a purpose-made 15x120mm cartridge, typically with a hardened steel bullet. Despite its size being similar to the old Horsekiller round, the modern powder in these is considerably more potent. Each round is labeled "DO NOT INSERT INTO ORIGINAL HORSEKILLER - FATAL INJURY MAY OCCUR". These are loaded into an 8round box magazine, which makes the rifle rather tall. They are issued standard with the Eagle Sight MkIII on an accessory rail, a critical part of the rifle's performance (description separate). Other accessories include a padded cheek rest and rubber stock-end to absorb the absurd recoil, as well as an adjustable bipod which is necessary to keep the magazine off the ground when shooting from prone. Lastly, it is painted in theater-appropriate camo (green, desert, or urban gray) and as a matter of tradition it includes bayonet lugs, although the primary use of bayonets on this rifle is in posing for photos. It is never recommended to shoot from a standing position, though it is quite tall making prone shooters a more noticeable target than they would be with a normal rifle. While it's powerful enough to injure inexperienced shooters, the ballistic performance is excellent and it is has an effective range of more than one and a half kilometers. [4 Ore (1 Al), 3 Oil]
UFN-ASM-44 "Saltseeker": [Expensive] The Saltseeker is an anti-ship missile which is powered by a jet engine after a rocket assisted launch, and uses active radar homing. Its guidance system, based on a simplified the Deadliest Ray radar with a comparatively low resolution to the ordinary plane-spotting version, steers it towards the radar contact of the greatest intensity ahead of it, which is determined by some combination of the size of the target and distance to it. Normally this will steer it to the closest large ship but it also gets confused by shorelines. The altitude is controlled not by the angle to the contact, but by a conventional altimeter, and the distance to the target (it flies high at first, then when the target is only a few hundred meters away, descends to sea level). Depending on the weather this can be imprecise enough to miss above the target or impact a wave. The missile is 5 meters in length and has stubby wings with elevons (the missile will only roll to keep itself level) and a rudder in the tail. The jet engine has an intake under the missile, keeps it at a speed of around 800kph, to its maximum range of 48km. The size of the radar system necessitates that the entire missile is larger than ideal, but it does carry a lot of fuel and a 500kg shaped charge warhead. [5 Ore, 5 Oil]
UF-GAM-44 "Noose": [Expensive] The Noose is an active radar homing ground-to-air missile. It has a long, slim shape, with a diameter of 32cm and a length of 5.5 meters. as the motor comprises the great majority of the missile's overall mass, with a seeker in the nose, guidance fins close to the front and rear stabilizer fins, which is quickly becoming the "standard" guided missile configuration in the Archipelago and the world. It fires from a truck bed on a four-mount which includes a radar display which shows what the next missile ready to fire is looking at, so the operator can tell which target it will follow when launched. Crucially, this can be coordinated with a Deadliest Ray radar to identify the exact angle the missile should be pointed in, which is no longer [complex] thanks to the work on this project. The missile can, impressively given its size, lock on to a target and reach it at a maximum range of 30km, to which it is propelled by a first solid booster stage and a second oxidized-kerosene liquid booster stage, at around mach 1.7 close to the end of its flight. It uses its radar as a proximity fuze, detonating when it is a meter from the target or if the target reaches the edge of the missiles view and is within 10 meters. The explosive is cylindrical, and surrounded by metal rods, which are welded together in an alternating pattern to from a "ring" of somewhat thick metal rod around the perimeter of the missile, hopefully damaging aircraft even off to its side. It is the single greatest leap forward for radar in Forenian history. [4 Ore, 5 Oil]

UF Other Equipment:
General Tereshkova: The Forenian army is led by General Tereshkov, an expert pilot. With experience spanning back to the days of the terrifying AS-19 aircraft which pilots believed to be haunting, he trains Forenian pilots to quick witted and always on guard, and out-fly their enemies.
RDN-39-2 "DEADLIER RAY" [Expensive] The "Deadlier Ray" is a more sophisticated radar than the old Death Ray, using an array of antennae on a rotating swivel, a single unit can get the direction and range of enemy aircraft to about 150km, and ships to within about 30km. It's huge though, and requires a building or an entire dedicated CV-22 ship to manage all the equipment. The operator can see contacts on a CRT display with a circular progression, it looks really cool and goes beep. [Complex]
RDN-42-4 "DEADLIEST RAY": [Expensive] The Mk. 4 version of the Forenian Radar Defense Network drastically reduces its size and power consumption using a cavity magnetron. This generatres high-frequency radio waves, which can be interpreted by much smaller receiving antennas, reflect clearly off of smaller objects, and generate a clearer image in inclement weather. It can interpret the range and altitude of ships and aircraft with enough resolution to make out how many aircraft are in a group, and their relative size. It can be operated off a dedicated truck using power from the truck's motor, as well as be mounted on a ship using the ship's generator, or used in camps and bases with a power source. It has a rotating antenna array which is about two meters across. [Complex]
UF-R4-39 'Tiger's Roar': This dramatically named radio is very similar to the Model 3, but fits in a single backpack and supports voice or morse over FM. When communicating in morse code, it can be attached to a separate Tiger's Whisper machine for coded messages.
Binoculars: Cheap binoculars are available to all soldiers.
Flashlights: The UF standard flashlight uses leak-resistant zinc-carbon batteries, in an aluminum frame. It fits on weapon rail mounts, or on helmets. It's rather heavy though, so soldiers prefer to hold them by hand when they can, possibly with a pistol in the other hand. Also includes colored lenses for signalling.
UF-PAR-41 'Trustfall': These are large, circular nylon parachutes, capable of supporting cargo crates on wooden pallets, or supporting some vehicles on a two-parachute rig with specialized wooden pallets under the wheels.
UF-ERA-42 'Blood Eagle': The Blood Eagle is a system of Explosive-Reactive Armor plates. These provide significant protection against shaped-charge HEAT warheads, the armor explodes on contact and the warhead becomes deformed, making it much less effective. The Blood Eagle armor tends to detonate all at once, so that all of the ERA on one side of the tank or the entire tank will be expended after one hit, causing minor damage to the tank. Blood Eagle plates cannot be quickly replaced as they destroy their mounts, requiring a mechanic to weld new ones. It's not very effective against traditional AP rounds. It can be retrofitted to existing armored vehicles, though retrofits will have noticeable gaps in their coverage. [Complex] [+1 Oil]
UF-RJ-42 'Fair Fight Module': The Fair Fight Module based on the Tiger's Roar radio system, but instead of modulating the signal's amplitude for communication, it sends a loud signal on the frequency used by Cannalan M1942 Proximity Fuzes. The radio includes a different capacitor for the frequencies it requires, making it incapable of resonating on voice frequencies, and a small, umbrella-shaped antenna array. When powered on, it fools proximity fuzes into detonating early. This is effective to about 300 meters. Unfortunately, putting more power into the system causes it to quickly overheat, so longer ranges aren't possible right now.
Eagle Sight MkIII: A refractive telescopic sight designed with the Horsekiller II in mind. It's quite large, like the rifle it sits on, with a 54mm objective lens that provides a clear, bright picture with lots of eye relief, and a rubber guard around the eye piece. It is adjustable from 4-8x magnification with a dial, and includes a very fine crosshair with elevation and windage markings, as well as range-finding markings ("find the circle that a standing pirate fits into completely"). It also has a long sunshade, which contributes to making the already large scope look enormous. Most of all though, it and the Eagle Sight MkII are cheap to produce. [2 Ore 1 Oil]
UF-APS-44 "Burning Tiger": The Burning Tiger is a decoy flare launcher which can be integrated easily into airframes without aerodynamic issues, so it can more readily be used on fighters, and drops a lot of flares quickly using a small rocket on each one. The flares burn hot, bright, and long, so they're a good distraction from a plane's engines. Also included is a chaff launcher, which deploys rolls of aluminum foil ribbons to confuse radar. [2 Oil]

UF Ground Vehicles:
UF-39-APC "Salamander" Pattern B: The Salamander is a large amphibious APC, with a wide body to keep itself stable on the water. It is covered in medium armor, and the body is in a "hexagonal cross-section" shape, which means that any point on its sides or front is either sloping up or down, with the front being long and narrow while the sides are flatter. It has 8 large wheels, the front and rear axles both drive and steer, while the middle two axles are dummies. Water propulsion is from two small propellers. This was a necessary compromise to keep transmission weight down, but land performance isn't amazing. It holds about fourteen soldiers, or a few less if they're bringing heavy weapons and Tiger Armor. Soldiers exit double file through a watertight rear door/ramp and there's a top front crew hatch. It is armed with an AS-AC18 turret and coaxial Sorraia. [5 Ore 3 Oil] Now retrofitted with slat armor intended to defend against tandem charge HEAT.
UF-MBT-42 'Bjorn': [Very Expensive] The Bjorn is a heavy tank, with Very Heavy frontal armor and Heavy armor on the rest of the tank and turret. It is very wide and flat, to give the armor a shallow slope on all sides which extends over the top of the tracks. The armor is well-covered with ERA, and the material itself is a manganese alloy. The turret is a shallow conical-section shape which comes nearly flush with the flat top of the hull, and sits towards the rear of the tank. The tank is so shallow that the crew must crawl about the tank, and performing many simple tasks like moving ammo from storage to the cannon is difficult. The driver even lays on his stomach. It includes wet ammo storage, which spills water over rounds if it is damaged to prevent fires, and lensed periscopes which allow for view ports which don't break up the slope of the armor. It's powered by a twin-charged diesel V12 engine, which takes up much of the tank's front (theoretically protecting the crew), and has intakes and exhaust cutouts in the top armor. This gets the enormously heavy tank to an acceptable speed, and powers electric motors for the turret. It is armed with the 100mm L/55 sliding-breech Bjorn cannon, the 5.5m barrel extends shortly beyond the front of the tank in a forward position. This cannon is slow to load, partly owing to the tank's layout, but has impressive range and power. It is also armed with an M3 Sorraia coaxial to the main gun and on top of the turret, and smoke grenade launchers shamelessly stolen from Cannala's designs. Costs 8 Ore (1Mn), 5 Oil.
UF-39-APC "Salamander" Pattern F: F stands for Fire. Instead of an autocannon, this Salamander has a flamethrower powered by a strong electric pump. It fires "Napalm", a thickened fuel substance, up to 100 meters. This napalm is stored in a large tank so the weapon can be used in prolonged engagements, which reduces passenger capacity. In addition, this design includes armor slats which fit above the ERA and are not destroyed when the ERA detonates, providing additional protection against Cannalan twin-charge warheads, although its exact performance is unproven. This applies to all Salamanders.
UF-MLRS-44 "Artemis": The Artemis is a mobile rocket launcher, on an amphibious truck chassis. The truck itself slightly resembles a Salamander, but lacking armor, with the same hexagonal cabin, but which cuts short for a bed. The motor is directly below the cabin, between the front two steering wheels, and powers four drive wheels and two small propellers towards the rear. The wheels have large, wide tires and sit on portal axles for clearance. The weapon system sits in the bed of the truck, and consists of a 4x10 array of 40 rocket tubes. In each rocket tube is a 120mm rocket, 3 meters in length, which rotates 360 degrees and elevates to 90 degrees (which is used for the reload process) under hydraulic power from the motor while the vehicle is deployed. The fin-stabilized rockets are accurate to 12km, and at can be fired to 15km at maximum. Each carries a 20kg warhead, comparable to a much wider artillery shell, and weighs 60kg in total with its body and solid propellant. The missiles are reloaded an entire rack at a time, while the aiming apparatus is in full vertical position, from a second truck with a hoist. To reload or fire, the Artemis must deploy stabilizers which takes about 90 seconds, and the same time to prepare to move again. Lastly it has a device called an "air conditioner" which somehow makes cold air inside the cabin through some pressure valve parlor trick, which the crews are absolutely in love with despite its lack of specific combat value. [4 Ore 4 Oil]
UF-SPAAS-44 "Sewing Machine": [Expensive] if using radar, [Cheap] otherwise. The Sewing Machine is a quad-mount turret for 30mm Velociraptor guns, mounted on an Artemis truck. An optional second truck carries a radar array which can control the gun (through hydraulic motors) based on a system similar to the Longshot. Like the Longshot, the control over the motors isn't terribly precise, and it's especially not precise enough to aim at aircraft. For this reason it's controlled manually by a gunner, the automatic-aim system moves the entire gunner seat and the gunner aims relative to where the radar is pointing the run, trying to estimate for lead and drop as well as general inaccuracy. Unfortunately this is quite hard to do. At least gunners get Horsekiller-style optical sights to help them out. When the radar is not in use, the gun can simply be aimed manually. [Complex] if using radar. [5 Ore, 2 Oil]
UF-SPAAS-44-2 "Garlic": IR Variant: [Expensive], Regular: [Cheap] The Garlic is a Salamander with a Sewing Machine turret- plus a few extra features. For aircraft awareness, it has a reduced-sized Deadliest Ray radar similar to that found in planes, with a rotating radome. The other notable feature is a sensor based on the Piracy Warning, which when turned on detects infrared light sources near the vehicle and rotates the gun towards them automatically, hopefully homing in on IR lamps used in Cannalan night vision, or helicopter exhaust. Like the truck mounted version the turret is more sluggish than what would be ideal. Almost all of the passenger space is occupied by radar-related systems (including a radar operator seat) and much larger ammo bins for the quad-mount 30mm turret. [Complex] If equipped with the IR sensor system. [5 Ore, 3 Oil]


UF Air Force:
TPD 'DOLPHIN' 38b: This is an aerial torpedo, weighing in a bit more than half a ton. It is powered by a wet heater motor, and stabilized by a gyroscope. The revised 'b' version includes a magnetic detonator to explode beneath ships, and can be dropped from considerable height and speed without failure. [2 Ore, 1 Oil]
UFS-BL-38-A 'Firecracker': This bunch of letters followed by a word denotes a 2.5kg finned bomblet, with a either a HEAT+Fragment warhead, or an incendiary warhead. These come in pods of 100 which fit on standard bomb mounts, and release their bomblets at an experimentally-determined altitude which causes them to cover a 50 meter square with roughly one bomb every 5 meters- enough to hit a group of armor, or more forgiving of error than a single 250kg bomb when trying to hit a single target.
UFAF-MTA-38 'Reckless Effect': The MT stands for Military Transport Aircraft, but nobody is sure what 'Reckless Effect' is supposed to mean other than sounding cool. This is a large cargo aircraft with four V12 engines, normally aspirated with an eye towards fuel efficiency. It has a broad wingspan with a high wing, ample cargo space, and adequate power to take off from a long runway with a four ton load, just don't expect much in the way of evasive maneuvers. Befitting its role as a dedicated cargo craft, the body terminates is a large cargo door/ramp at the rear. The frame is largely aluminium for weight. Even an L-1 Tiger truck or AS-MV-21-AL just barely fit within the size and weight limits! The door can also be opened in flight for paratroopers, or for an emergency cargo jettison. It's remarkably durable, and can keep flying even through two engine failures. [4 Ore (1 Al), 4 Oil]
UFAF-F39-W 'Haast': The Haast is a single-engine heavy fighter. It has a single supercharged, fuel-injected V12 petrol motor with a notably bigger displacement than those on the Falcon or Stinger. It's about at the limits of what V12 is capable of without more elaborate induction, different fuel or more cylinders. It is very heavily armed with two M3 Sorraia nose guns, and four wing-mounted AC-18's. The cabin is armored with a manganese-alloy "bathtub". It has deep ellipse wings to create the lift necessary for its considerable weight, plus that of bomb mounts- it can wrangle 1000kg of bombs on three mounts, potentially holding two Dolphin torpedoes. It doesn't outmaneuver existing fighters, and it's relatively slow. It has a large wingspan, but can fit on Wasp Nest carriers thanks to folding wings, and the large control surfaces are easier to control thanks to servo tabs. It also includes some other new features: foam-lined fuel tanks act to self seal in the event of leaks, and a new Oxygen Regulator which safely controls the pilot's oxygen supply. It can't take off of a Wasp Nest with bombs, the runway is just a little too short. [5 Ore (1Al, 1Mn), 4 Oil]
UFAF-F-40 "Thunderbird": This is a jet aircraft, powered by two of Forenia's first functional turbojet engines. It is a relatively small fighter, the pilot sits in a round glass cockpit with two AS-AC18 cannons and a Sorraia in the nose. The wings are as narrow as possible, low-mounted and swept back, and have small wing fences to prevent sweep-related instability. The tail is relatively high-mounted to put it outside the jet wash from the wings. It also features air brakes. The Thunderbird's revised aT-J04b engines are relatively small, axial-flow turbojets, and they are somewhat crude in nature. The interior of the turbojet becomes extremely hot, the moving parts are made of complicated nickel alloys, and they burn lean using excess air for cooling. The two engines burn kerosene, and lots of it, and they sit in nacelles under the wings- each generates almost as much power as a Haast engine. Overall the aircraft has a speed a significantly faster than the Stinger (though much less than what these new turbojets are theorized to be capable of), and its jet engines have a higher altitude ceiling. The air brakes are a good choice, because the jet engines must maintain a lot of thrust at their minimum speed to avoid a flame out, so landings and slower combat engagements benefit from them. Requires a long runway for takeoff. [5 Ore, 4 Oil]
UFAF-HAT-41 "Ice Giant" B: [Very Expensive] This is an enormous transport aircraft, powered by eight turbo-prop engines. Each of these engines is based on the aT-J04b, but drives a shaft which powers a propeller, which is more efficient for low-speed applications. The final result is engines which are relatively efficient, but each of them is small, as designing larger turbines would have taken too long. Most of the effort is poured into the enormous airframe, constructed largely of wood. The wing spar and some important reinforcements use aluminum beams. The majority of the frame is arranged in a geodetic structure, but it's still much less resilient to damage and fire than a metal frame. It can carry a single fully loaded Salamander, or about 13 tons of cargo. Compared to smaller bombers, it's slow and flies with the grace of an emu. It lands on eight large, partially-retracting wheels to support its weight. [6 Ore (1 Al), 2 Wood, 7 Oil]
UFAF-F-41 Lightning Streak: This is a single-engine jet fighter, with a large aT-J20 jet taking up most of the fuselage. The aT-J20 is a low-bypass turbofan; some of the air taken in by the compressor blades passes around the engine core and is not combusted. A planned afterburner system wasn't prepared, but the bypass system provides useful cooling. The Lightning Streak has a relatively fat fuselage, which widens out in the middle after the intake and narrows again at the exhaust, there there is a rudder and two tail wings directly on the fuselage. With the round glass canopy (using 15mm of heavy laminated glass) the aircraft has sort of an egg shape, with thin swept wings. The wings have no bomb mounts and are as light as possible for speed and maneuverability, it is armed solely with three AC41 Velociraptor cannons in the nose above the intake, with somewhat limited ammo. It also includes airbrakes on the body near the tail, and hydraulic controls. Since it was designed as an absolutely dedicated fighter, and the aT-J20 is larger and with better weight-specific performance than the J04b, the speed and maneuverability are remarkable. [5 Ore, 4 Oil]
APS-42 "Reality Check": This "Active Protective System" is a module bolted on to the outside of planes, which deploys 25mm magnesium flares, to distract infrared guided missiles. Each canister contains 25 flares. There are five fuses, each of which lights off five flares (and causes them to drop from the plane) at half-second intervals. The fuses are ignited electrically by the pilot. The APS is a bit of a large box which mounts on the outside of a plane and isn't aerodynamic, which is a small concern for bombers but a larger one for fighters.
Piracy Warning: [Expensive] A derivative of the Cannalan Hellfire Missile. [Complex][3 Ore, 3 Oil]
UFAF-RF-43 "VV Frightening": [Very Expensive] [With radar: National Effort] The "Very Very Frightening" fighter jet is Forenia's attempt to make the fastest conceivable jet aircraft.  It's a slightly large fighter compared to the Lightning Streak. The fuselage houses two engines under the swept, anhedral wings, which themselves run much of the length of the plane giving it a wide and flat appearance, and the canopy bulges out of the top, extending past the space necessary for the pilot to create room for extra equipment. The tail is unconventional: The fuselage forks at the rear terminating in two engine outlets, and there are two vertical stabilizers supporting two rudders, each directly in the path of the engine exhaust, as a form of crude thrust vectoring. Also close to the rear, a swept "flying tail", a horizontal stabilizer which moves to serve as an elevator extends off each side of the fuselage. The engines are new aT-J30's, developed with the aid of Leipzig University, which are large engines with a low-bypass which burn a new high performance fuel blend of of kerosene and hydrazine, equipped with afterburners. Internal components and the rudders rely on rare metals to withstand the engine's intense heat. Its equipment includes two 30mm Velociraptor-based cannons in the top of the nose, with the main portion of the nose contains a severely down-powered "Deadliest Ray" Mk4 radar system connected to a display in the cockpit, the range and resolution is limited. It also contains three hardpoints, one center and one under each wing, capable of holding half a ton of ordnance or fuel in total. Behind the pilot is additional equipment space, which by default carries integrated flare modules and a Fair Fight module, as well as part of the radar equipment. It's a heavy aircraft but incredibly fast, capable of approaching the sound barrier under afterburner power. Its large power-assisted control surfaces let it make some tight maneuvers, but careless use can harm the pilot or threaten the structure of the craft. It's amazing to see in action, but wait until you see the price tag. [Complex if using radar] [6 Ore (1 Al), 6 Oil]
UFAF-RF-43-Q "VV Frightening-Q": Maintaining performance while reducing fuel use is an incredibly hard task, but even for merely reducing fuel use the aT-J30-Q fails to meet expectations. After Leipzig-based consultant Gottfried Q. Wolfram left the project, claiming an engineer had horribly insulted his family, Forenian engineers were only able to cobble together a half-completed version of the project which runs on plain kerosene to reduce fuel costs and even omits afterburners to save fuel. With the altered fuel blend, the engines are prone to flameouts at low speed (which in the two-engine design invariably leads to a dangerous flat spin). VV-Frightening-Q Variant: [6 Ore, 5 Oil]

UF Navy:
UFS-DD-38 Pattern E 'Archer': The Archer is Forenia's first combat ship. It is relatively small, and made of steel but unarmored, with two 90mm Bumblebee guns, complete with targeting system, in covered turrets on either side of a center con tower. There are also two more Bumblebees not in covered turrets, as the ones in the turrets were supposed to be larger originally. It is powered by two steam turbines, and it is relatively fast. Auxiliary weapons include an AS-AC18 on each side, and some Sorraia machineguns on railing mounts. There are also four Dolphin torpedo in launchers on deck: These are basically wooden chutes which can be aimed on a swivel, before the torpedo is released by untying a knot. [3 Ore, 2 Oil]
UFS-CV 'Wasp Nest' 38, Pattern A: Forenia's first aircraft carrier, and their biggest ship by far compared to the CV22 cargo ship and Archer. Its hull contains four of the turbines used to power the Archer, and is unarmored except for a torpedo belt. ABout a dozen planes stored belowdecks are lifted by a single hydraulic lift. The command center is below-decks, so that the wooden flight deck almost completely covers the ship, giving it a low, flat appearance. There are two Bumblebee AA guns on each side, one deck below on exposed platforms, plus several AC18's for point defense. The last important feature is a set of arresting cables on deck allowing planes to land safely, these catch hooks on the planes themselves, and are lowered out of the way for takeoff. [4 Ore, 2 Oil]
UFS-CV-40 'Zheleznogorod' B: [Expensive] This is Forenia's biggest ship yet; an aircraft carrier with two vertically stacked flight decks. Each deck is longer than those of the Wasp Nest, and built of steel. The lower flight deck is directly connected with the hangar deck, and can only launch aircraft. The upper flight deck can launch and recover aircraft with an arrester, which are transported from the hangar deck with a lift. Each flight deck terminates in a "ski ramp". Between some space on the top flight deck, the hangar deck's floor, and cable winches from the hangar deck ceiling, the Zeleznogorod can carry about 36 planes, but only 20 are able to quickly deploy. However, planes stored on the ceiling are prone to swinging about and often damaged during ordinary ship maneuvers. There is a steam catapult launch assist system, on the lower and longer flight deck only.. This system, broadly speaking, works: heavier aircraft are accelerated enough to take off, but a launch fills the hangar deck with smoke for a few minutes and the rocket motors are lot more expensive than a steam system. There is a con tower as well, but no radar. The space taken up by the two flight decks, hangar, and living quarters leaves fairly little space for the engines. The ship is armed with a few AS-AC18's for point defense only, and armored with a moderate torpedo belt. It is top-heavy, and neither fast nor maneuverable. [6 Ore, 5 Oil]
UFS-CV-50b 'Sea Lift': [Expensive] This is a ship based on the Zheleznogorod hull, but used instead to transport cargo. It includes its own crane and is lightly armed with a Bumblebee and some AC18's. It provides 3 TC, and serves for general purpose logistics such as moving tanks and soldiers to areas with docks.  [6 Ore, 4 Oil]
UFN-CA-41 Catraphract: The Cataphract is a cruiser built to rival Cannala's ships. It is armed with 3x3 150mm gun turrets, each using a fully electrified loading system based on the moderately-performing Overcompensator, except that the 60kg shells are moved in one piece. Each gun can fire 8 times a minute. It has an armored citadel with 300mm of nickel-steel armor (Heavy), and a torpedo belt as well. The deck is also heavily armored, at 120mm (Light) to defend against plunging fire, plus an extra splinter deck. The turrets are similarly armored but take advantage of mangalloy for greater durability. There is a central director in the con tower which controls all the electrically-driven turrets, though there is no advanced firing calculator. Additionally there are three turrets with two bumblebees on each side of the ship, capable of firing on aircraft or ships, and miscellaneous autocannons wherever there is room. It is powered by oil-burning steam turbines, and there are a lot of them though with its considerable armor it only musters moderate speed. [5 Ore (1Mn), 4 Oil]
UFN-BB-41 Vodka: [Expensive] This is a direct copy of the Cannalan Victoria Battlecruiser, from stolen plans. The radar system is not included, and it uses gun turrets derived from the domestic Overcompensator design. Like the Victoria, it has three turrets with two 30cm guns each, a gun control system, heavy citadel armor, and under-performing diesel-electic engines. [7 Ore, 4 Oil]
UF-LST22-42 "Wooden Spear": This is a lander based on the AS-CV22 hull, which has large clamshell doors on the bow and a keel capable of beaching safely. On the lower deck with direct ramp access, there is space for four vehicles, and above there are living quarters to support infantry. The clamshell doors are prone to being wedged shut on the sand when the ship beaches itself, which can make exiting the ship extremely difficult. They also leak constantly and require pumping, if the pumps fail for any reason the ship is endangered.
UFN-MAM-43 Whalesong Acoustic Mine: The Whalesong is a huge bomb floating off an underwater tether. It's triggered by sound received into a piezoelectric quartz device instead of direct contact, and can be configured to be sensitive to different frequencies, with the intent of targeting smaller or larger ships (or both), and it also has a delay fuze. Its large explosive charge and acoustic trigger mean can be effective some meters away from its target. (2 Ore, 3 Oil)


UF Design Doctrines:
Vehicle Radios: Most vehicles are equipped with a Model 3 Radio set, in a configuration suitable to the size and power source of the vehicle.
Retractable Landing Gear: Unless noted otherwise, aircraft are fitted with retractable landing gear.
Oxygen Regulators: Aircraft are equipped with oxygen systems which are self-regulating and allow the crew to operate at a significant altitude.
Fuel Tank Liners: Unarmored combat vehicles have foam fuel tank liners which can stop or slow leaks if the tank is punctured.
Warheads: Missiles, shells and bombs of various sizes can have various types of warhead attached, such as high-explosive, HEAT, incendiary, and so on. Developing a new warhead type means it will be available in other applications where it could easily apply, and new sizes of shells or bombs are available with various warheads.
Pintle Mounts: Following old Arstotzkan design doctrine, machine guns are placed on pintle mounts where possible, to give them a good vertical aiming range capable of hitting ground and air targets.

UF Resources:
Transport Capacity: 1 by land, 3 by sea, 2 by air
5 Ore, using 1 TC by air, and receiving 1 from the Axis
4 Oil, using 1 TC by sea, and 1 TC by air
1 Aluminum
1 Manganese

[Sensei]

The Cannalan army currently has the following equipment, not including legacy equipment which can be found near the OP:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

CANNALAN WEAPONS:
4" MSLAAC "Daybreaker": The Mechanical Self-Loading Anti Armor Cannon is an application of a complicated mechanical system to quickly load rounds. Most of the system sits in the tank turret. Rounds are stored in a carousel in the body of the tank before being lifted up to the turret. An electric motor drives the system which rotates the carousel, lifts a new shells into the turret while ejecting the old casing out a flap on the top of the tank, then rams the new shell into the gun- even with 30° inclination or 10° declination, as the shell slides along a set of inter-meshing rails. Turrets containing the autoloader are smaller, longer and much flatter than normal ones, though the 4" cannon and autoloading equipment still isn't lightweight. The system fires 10 times per minute, which is slower than a very skilled crew but still impressive. Replacing the 18-round carousel takes almost a minute, and the carousel can be stopped if a special round needs to be used (such as switching from anti-tank to anti-infantry) which takes about twice as long as a normal load. [+1 Ore if retrofitted to vehicles with a smaller gun]
M1939 "La Sierra" GPMG: The La Sierra is gas-operated open bolt machine gun for the BRC1913 rifle cartridge. It fires from 50-round belts, which can be strung together. It has mounts for a bipod, standard tripod/pintle mounts, or an optical sight, but it's normally used with iron sights. It's relatively light at 21 pounds. [2 Ore 1 Oil]
Gast Autocannon Modernization Revision: This is an update to Cannala's Gast-style autocannons, the Can Shredder and its smaller derivative the Can Perforator. Weight has been saved by altering the alloys used in parts of the gun and replacing some heavy cast parts with smaller stamped ones. The barrels are closer together and the guns are more compact. The weight saving on vehicle mounted guns is minor (though beneficial to aircraft), but carriages have been lightened significantly with hollow aluminum frame construction. All autocannons can easily fit belts or drums, and mixes of ammo types are standardized into anti-infantry, anti-armor and anti-aircraft belts, as well as general purpose belts. Vehicle-mounted guns use electric triggers. There is also a gas bleed valve to tweak rate of fire; normally vehicle rate of fire isn't tampered with but infantry prefer a low rate of fire (and recoil) except when firing up at aircraft. Recoil felt by users has been reduced slightly.
M1943 Multiple Use Rocket Device - Explosive, Ranged (MURD-ER-43): This is a 4" wide, 42" long rocket tube meant to be fired from the shoulder. The tube itself is thin metal, which is relatively lightweight, with a shoulder rest and foregrip/trigger assembly of aluminum, which comes from the factory in theater-appropriate camouflage, and is then field modified with rude phrases painted on by the soldiers using it. It also features a carrying sling for easy transport, and a sight railing capable of supporting included adjustable iron sights, as well as an optical scope or night scope. It fires rockets using a newer propellant than the old Juraki RPG, for an effective range of 200-300 yards depending on the skill of the user. Rockets are dropped into the rear of the tube and lock in place by a spring-loaded pin until fired. In addition to supporting existing warheads, the biggest accomplishment of the weapon is is tandem-charge HEAT warheads, which look like a cylinder with a small cone extending almost a foot off the front. On the cone is a small explosive designed to eliminate explosive-reactive armor, before the bulk of the warhead contacts its target a split second later unobstructed by reactive armor. Presently the tandem charge warhead is available only in rocket form. (2 Ore, 2 Oil)
M1943 Anti-Tank Semi-Active Radar Guided Missile (ATSARGM) "Hornet": Never to be referred to by its unpronounceable acronym, the Hornet is a guided missile designed to strike ground targets. It consists of three components: The first is the radar-seeking missile. Similar to the Hellfire, it flies towards a radio source, instead of IR sensors it has an array of antennae and steers until the signal is strongest in the center using a series of comparators. It has a range of up to one mile, weighs 40lbs, and is about 6 inches in diameter by 24 in length. It comes with a variety of warheads, typically TCHEAT. The second is the disposable launch tube. It's made from leftover wooden palettes and a metal bracket. The bracket can mount on a tripod for infantry use, or on a vehicle (particularly the RPG mount on the Raider and its variants). The third part is the radio transmitter: The size of an ordinary radio used for communications (it can be carried as a single backpack) and has a "gun" connected by a wire, which resembles a tiny radar dish with a pistol grip. This has a "total range" of two miles, which is the distance from the transmitter, to the target, to the missile. Simply pointing the "gun" will send radar signals in a straight line to the target, which then reflect in all directions to attract the missile ("painting" the target). The radar gun can itself be mounted on a tripod to ease the use of an optical sight, including night vision sights (not included in the price). [2 Ore 1 Oil]
M1944 Anti-Materiel Rifle: Loosely adapted from the M1913, but having almost no metal parts commonality due to the size, this is a bolt action rifle for .50 caliber Muerte rounds. It holds three cartridges, one in the chamber and two in a magazine similar to the that of the stripper-clip loaded M1913, but they are inserted singly. The barrel is thick, with a much thicker section close to the base to withstand the initially high chamber pressure. It lacks iron sights, being issued standard with an M1944 Service Rifle Scope, and it lacks any ancillary features except a bottom tactical rail which accepts a La Sierra bipod. It has a simple wooden stock, and weighs 24 pounds. The recoil is awful and it is difficult to shoot accurately, though it provides reasonable groups in vice testing. [3 Ore 1 Oil]
M1944 Rifle Module, Grenade Launcher (RMGL): A lightweight aluminum version of the Thumper grenade launcher, designed for mounting below a rifle. It lacks a stock and is shorter, but still weighs a few pounds and is very cumbersome.
M1944 Missile, Anti Ship, Seeker Active GuidancE (MASSAGE) "Stingray": The Stingray is a ramjet-powered anti-ship missile, with active radar guidance. It can be fed a compass heading on launch or acquire a lock before launching if possible. At launch two large rocket boosters on the sides are activated to bring it up to cruising speed, and then the ramjet ignites, keeping the missile just under Mach 1. It has a radar altimeter which keeps to a very low altitude of 30 feet for most of its flight. The ramjet has a square intake underneath the body of the missile, which is about 18 inches in diameter. The nose of the missile contains the radar transceiver, behind which is a 650lb shaped warhead, then the control system and wings, then fuel, engine, and stabilizer fins. It can fly to a maximum range of 40 miles, though the radar lock range is shorter. It can be launched from a ship-deck launch tube (which are arrayed in pairs), a truck, or even an aircraft such as the Vengeful Charlotte on a special launch rack. The Stingray weighs four tons. [4 Ore, 4 Oil]
M1944 Semi-Active Radar Guided Cruise Missile (SARGCM) "Barracuda": This is a Stingray missile, which instead of using active radar homing, is tuned to Hornet radar target painters. For over-land use it has been configured to fly at 1000 feet so as to avoid obstacles, but still lacks any situational awareness which might help it avoid mountains or other obstacles. Once it acquires a radar signal it ignores the altimeter and attempts to center on the target both horizontally and vertically. It struggles to reliably pick up on the relatively weak target painter signals, often causing it to simply overfly the target, or may only notice the signal late enough that it struggles to descend from its cruising altitude for a hit (with the original Stingray not having been intended to dive steeply). Price equal to Stingray.


CANNALAN NAVY:
Santos-Class Naval Aircraft Support Vessel: [Expensive] The Santos is a large aircraft carrier. It is about the size of the Khorne but not armored. It's powered by four oil-burning steam turbines, which are more powerful than coal ones. The hangar deck stores two dozen fighters, moved to the flight deck by a hydraulic lift. On deck is an Eagle Eye Radar system, con tower, a few Firecracker AA guns and a miscellaneous autocannons wherever there's spare room. It also has a decent sized flight deck, with an arrester cable for landing aircraft, and two overlapping runways with room for ready aircraft on deck. It also has a steam catapult, which allows it to launch some planes which could not normally take off from its short runway. [5 Ore, 4 Oil]
Victoria-Class Battlecruiser: [Very Expensive] The Victoria is built to carry her three gun turrets, each of which mounts two 12" cannons, a vast increase in size over the Nightstorm guns. Each gun (for now called a Victoria Cannon) fires shells weighing about 800 pounds out of a built-up barrel nearly 50 feet long, to a distance much greater than the Nighstorm (though moderate for guns of this class). Shells and powder charges are rammed in separately by a complicated hydraulic lift system, the guns can fire once about every 25 seconds. Each gun is controlled by a more advanced version of the fire director from the Khorne: Various information is fed by spotters on deck to the fire control room, where mechanical calculators aid a team to form a firing solution, which they feed back to the guns, and the system also helps to fire the guns when the ship is exactly level. This is necessary to effectively aim at the ranges the guns are capable of. There is a Heavy armored citadel, a torpedo belt with empty compartments, and large diesel-electric engines. They are the first diesel engines of this size in Cannala, and are less powerful than steam turbines but easier to fit within the safety of the citadel armor, the Victoria is a slow and lumbering beast. Extra armaments include six Firecracker-style AA turrets, on a separate director system, about a dozen Can Shredders, and a few Type 45 Torpedo launchers on deck where there was room. It has a radar system as well; the deck is crowded between the turrets, armaments and other features. [7 Ore, 4 Oil]
Keres-Class Cruiser: The Keres is essentially a Victoria variant designed to be cheaper. Is has only 2x3 batteries of 9" guns, and the armor around the citadel is less but it has gained an armored deck. It has the same engines, but it's a bit faster for the lost weight. [6 Ore, 4 Oil]


CANNALAN LAND VEHICLES:
M3T1A1 Raider: [Cheap] Daybreaker Variant: [Cheap] The Raider is a Diesel-Electric tracked APC designed to serve as a base platform for many roles. It has light RHA armor with a sloped front, plus slats. It holds ten passengers and three crew, making it look like a large metal box. It has an interchangeable turret, which is very wide and flat with medium armor. Default armament is a Can shredder, plus 6 external Thumper barrels for smoke grenades and an RPG, these can only be reloaded from the outside. It's also chemical warfare protected, and last but not least, amphibious, with a trim vane and two electric powered propellers. Exits are on large rear hatch and one small top hatch, only latter can be used while afloat. [3 Ore 2 Oil] Daybreaker Variant: [4 Ore 2 Oil]
M3T1A3 "Dragon" Flamethrower Raider: The Dragon is a raider turret which spews flame over a long distance, it occupies most of the passenger space with fuel. To work the raider must be stopped, and a lever thrown to connect the engine to the pump instead of the transmission. Fuel can be pumped out to medium range over a pilot light, burning everything in its path. Operators need to watch the pressure of their tanks very carefully, as they grow hotter while the Dragon flames. It is best to operate only in short bursts. +1 Oil over regular Raider cost.
M3T3A1 SPAAG "Firecracker": The Self-Propelled AA Gun is placed on a Raider chassis, although it was found far easier to operate with the entire roof of the Raider removed and some of the passenger space taken up by the weapon than fitting in the existing turret place. It relies on a specially modified Daybreaker system, the section which lifts rounds out of the carousel is curved to match the gun's movement range. It has a fuze system for air-burst rounds, where the gunner sets the altitude on a dial and the actual fuze time is determined based on that and the angle of the gun. [4 Ore 2 Oil]
M4A1 "Bull": [Very Expensive] The bull is a main battletank powered by a novel turboshaft engine. It carries a Daybreaker in a heavy-armored turret with heavy front armor, and medium armor over the rest of the tank. Secondary armaments include a coaxial MG and pintle MG, and 14 smoke grenade launchers (6 on the turret 8 on the body), arguably a result of interference from contractor Al's Fireworks and Parlor Tricks. The bull's kerosene-fueled turboshaft engine is the first example of a self-compressing gas turbine motor in Cannala, and relies on high-temperature alloys to allow the turbine blades to function downstream of the combustor, and it's watercooled to keep it from getting too hot. The turboshaft is small, mainly because only a small design was found to be reliable, but it it allows the tank a relatively low profile and generates as much power as a Blackhawk engine. It sucks in air through small scoops on the back and exhausts hot air through the top, which cause a moderate weak spot in the armor. It's been revised with an air conditioner and heater so it's comfortable inside the tank in all environments, and a filter system to keep dust and sand from gumming up the engine or anything else. [6 Ore (1 Ti), 4 Oil]
M3T2A1 6" Automated Self-Propelled Gun Heavy Ground Barrage Unit (M3T2A1 6’’ ASPGHGBU) "Firebrand": The Firebrand is an M3 (Raider) chassis retooled with an open top, to carry a modified auto-loading 6" Nightstorm Howitzer. The gun itself benefits considerably from an autoloader system, packing completed shells into the gun at full inclination 8 times a minute, a considerable improvement over manual loading. It is aimed with hydraulic controls powered from the main motor, with 120 degrees of horizontal rotation and a minimum of 20 degrees vertical inclination. It must deploy stabilizers to load and fire, which takes about 30 seconds. The auto-loader can change ammo types on the fly because it pulls from six vertical racks each of which holds six shells, crew members can pre-load racks with separate shell types and change which rack the autoloader will draw its next shell from. [4 Ore 2 Oil]


CANNALAN AIR FORCE:
M1938 A-3 'Parrot': The Parrot is a low-cost air superiority fighter, designed to counter the Yellowjacket. It looks very similar to the Falcon, but without the complicated prop system and reduced to a 10-cyclinder, normally aspirated power plant. It too is fully aluminum, and contains most of the little features like retractable gear, an oxygen system, and a reflex sight. It is actually quite heavily armed with two Muerte heavy machine guns and two Can Perforators, though the perforators don't have a lot of ammo. [3 Ore (2Al), 2 Oil]
M1940 A-5 'Spearhead' Air Superiority Fighter: [Expensive] Following Forenia's Thunderbird design, the Spearhead is an aluminum-built fighter with two turbojet engines. It features a rounded canopy, swept wings, pointy nose, and the engines are under each wing, but hug the body closely; the inlets are flush with the fuselage. It's also fairly heavily armed: Each wing has a double-barrel Can Perforator, and a heavy Can Shredder sits in the nose, so the whole thing is built a bit beefier than the Thunderbird. The two Morei turbojets burn kerosene and take some advantage of experiences of the Bull tank's turboshaft, it includes a water-cooling system (the shared radiator creates a third intake under the body). They use the same easier manufacturing process too, and the performance of the plane is only slightly worse for the added weight of the cooler. Despite carrying more weight, it's very nearly as fast as the Thunderbird, but it does have trouble recovering from stalls. On the other hand, when it's keeping good speed it can make impressive turns thanks to its hydraulic control system; the pilot can pull the relatively large control surfaces with ease. It has good killing power too: The smaller cannons are good for dogfighting and the Can Shredder can do serious damage to bombers from a safe distance. It has very little ammo, but also needs very little: pilots must simply be careful not to waste it all on a quick burst. [4 Ore (1 Ti, 1 Al), 4 Oil]
M1942 A-5B ‘Spearhead-B’ Air Superiority Fighter: [Expensive] The B version of the Spearhead has the heavy Can Shredder autocannon removed. A bunch of stuff the American wind tunnel engineer tried to explain about votrexes or teeth or whatever was ignored, it didn't make any sense. The empty space where the Can Shredder was has been used for a little more Can Perforator ammo and fuel, and a hardpoint for 500lb bombs or missiles has been added under each wing.
M1942 Spearhead-C 'Super Spearhead': The Super Spearhead has had its twin Morei engines replaced with a single newer Vengeance engine, the one designed for the Charlotte bomber. It has two intakes on the fuselage below the wings (in a quarter-circle shape flush with the rest of the plane), and the larger single engine has its one exhaust in the tail. Its performance is comparable, but new metal additives allow this to be accomplished without the use of titanium, a resource now in short supply. As an additional minor change, the cannons have been moved next to the cockpit on either side (creating two small bulges) leaving empty space in the nose for future equipment additions. Pilots remark that the single-engine Spearhead-C has a quicker roll rate but somewhat slower climb and top speed than the Spearhead-B, but overall it's surprisingly similar. [4 Ore (1 Al), 4 Oil]
H-1 "Twinblade" Combat Synchrocopter: [Expensive] The Twinblade is a synchropter (I checked the spelling twice), which is a helicopter with two closely intermeshing rotors, each with two blades, separated on the roll axis. Each one is powered by a turboshaft, on either side of the fuselage. Adjusting the pitch and relative torque of these rotors allows the Twinblade to pitch and yaw, and additional control is provided by control surfaces on the tail, it has a rudder and elevator like an airplane. It is operated by two crewmembers who sit in the centerline, in the higher rear part is the pilot and the lower front part is the gunner, who controls a can-perforator on a turret below him. The turret gun is controlled by a hydraulic joystick and also move a gun sight to show where the gun is aiming, it has about a 120 degree lateral range and 60 degree declination/15 degree inclination. There are also two winglets which support 250lb bomb mounts. It has a relatively large body which provides room for up to four passengers. The Twinblade now has light armor over some critical components and the pilot/gunner to make it less vulnerable to rifle fire. A further re-adjustment of the maneuvering controls brings it to the somewhat underwhelming pinnacle of what is possible without a redesign: To really maneuver, it needs get some forward speed and rely on its control surfaces. Otherwise, its abilities to stop, strafe, and roll are tolerable, but it's still slow to yaw which is troublesome when tracking ground targets while hovering. [5 Ore (1 Ti, 1 Al), 4 Oil]
M-1942 Missile Auto-Guided Infrared Camera (MAGIC): The MAGIC is a guided missile, controlled by a system of five infrared sensors. With five lenses on the front of the missile, the sensors detect the presence or absence of a heat source in quadrants above, below, left, right, and within a narrow angle center of the missile's nose. Each of these sensors is tied to a vacuum tube which deflects (or locks straight) the missile's four tail fins, which steer the missile up, down, left, or right respectively. The fins are actuated by two solenoids, one for the vertical fins and one for the horizontal fins, which are always either straight or fully deflected in one direction, and a battery provides power for up to 20 seconds after launch. The missile is a fat, straight cylinder, the control system adds a lot of bulk. It is propelled by solid propellant for up to 25 seconds (a little longer than the battery life). It weighs about 700 pounds total, with a small-for-this-missile, impact-detonated 50 pound warhead which is more than enough for any air targets. It's not particularly fast as missiles go and tends to snake inaccurately through the air, it can't hit anything faster or smaller than a bomber. It locks on at about one mile on a good day, but can fly two miles. It has a noticeable dud rate due to vacuum tube failures. [Complex] [3 Ore, 3 Oil]
M1942 Missile, Auto-Guided, Infrared Camera (MAGIC) Mk.2 "Hellfire" Rev2: The Hellfire Missile is an improvement over the original MAGIC Mk.1 in a few ways. The basic technology behind it as a rocket has improved, a specialized propellant is much more compact and powerful than the one adapted from infantry RPGs, so the rocket is lighter and faster. The structure has gotten lighter as well. The Hellfire includes an entirely new guidance system in the nose, and two sets of fins. Four rear fins are fixed stabilizers, and four fins close to the nose are controlled by servos, rather than solenoids, which gives them the ability to make partial turns. The sensor head now consists of 13 individual sensors under a single lens, in a diamond shape. There is a rotating circular shroud on top of the sensors, so that only a single "line" of sensors, including the center one and three or four others, can "see" at a time. This system reduces the number of necessary vacuum tubes to a fraction of those needed if all sensors were viewing all the time, and the output is reduced to merely the approximate angle to which the target is off-center of the missile. The direction is interpreted based on the position of the shroud, by a rotating electro-mechanical apparatus, which determines the power delivered to the four servos. This seeker head is much heavier than the Magic Mk.1 and includes a larger battery as well. The last new feature is a "tone generator", which makes a noise in the cockpit to alert the pilot when one or more of the missiles on his plane has a target somewhere in his field of view, but doesn't alter based on how well-centered he is or other information. This is a simple retrofit to any planes which might carry the Hellfire missile. The missile's guidance is more accurate and reliable than the Mk.1, but the rotating shroud means that it might take a second to adjust to a chance in its target's direction, and it tends to slightly spiral around its intended course, a marked improvement from the Mk.1's violent zig-zags. It has a maximum flight time of about 25 seconds, and a maximum range of four miles in that time, and the seeker head can find a target from two to three miles on a good day. The warhead has been reduced to 25 pounds, and the total missile weight is down to 500 pounds. Costs 3 Ore, 3 Oil.
B3A-1 Vengeful Charlotte Strategic Bomber: [Expensive] The Charlotte is a large, swept-wing bomber aircraft intended to fly faster and higher than enemy craft which would intercept it. It's powered by two new JAB.42 Vengeful turbofan engines, with a low bypass that serves to keep the engine cool. They're larger than those on the spearhead, but more powerful and get better performance at altitude. The engines are flush to fuselage with a broad semi-circular intake. The wing surface is very long and broad, almost resembling a delta wing, with a low aspect ratio, and include strakes and a reduction in sweepback angle down the length of the wing. It also has a tall, swept T-tail. The aircraft is constructed from aluminum as much as possible, to reduce its weight. It has a total bomb carrying capacity of eight tons, which can be entirely within the bomb bay or on the four wing hardpoints which support two tons each. The cockpit is entirely pressurized, and the bomb bay is is pressurized while the doors are closed, with oxygen masks available for all crew (a pilot, co-pilot, radio operator, bomber, and bring-your-kid-to-work-day seat) in the event of depressurization while dropping bombs or any other reason. Durability is aided by segmented fuel tanks, and redundant hydraulic control lines. [5 Ore (2 Al), 5 Oil]
M1934 Missile, Auto-Guided, Infrared Camera (MAGIC) Mk. IIIb "Balefire": The Balefire is a smaller missile designed to hit fighter aircraft. It uses a seeker head which combines principles of the Magic MkI and MkII, in that it only has a few sensors, but these sensors rotate on a gimbal, under a glass dome. The seeker head has five sensors like the MkI, and when a target is found the gimbal head swivels until the center sensor reads a target. The angle of the gimbals is used to guide the missile. However, rather than rotating until the seeker head is centered relative to the body of the missile, it only steers while the gimbal is in motion, and doesn't steer if the gimbal remains in place, at any angle. This benefits from an old sailor's trick: If you're moving towards another ship and the angle between you and the other ship doesn't change, you're on a collision course. This allows the missile to aim for where the target will be when the missile closes distance, "leading" the target. It's accomplished with a clockwork apparatus which translates the speed of the gimbal's motion to potentiometers, which control the steering motors. With an improved rocket fuel over older MAGIC versions, the Balefire's hollow-core solid booster propels it to a range of three miles in about ten seconds. Some fuel and battery weight is lost bringing it to a total of 425lbs, and like the previous version is has four steering fins in the front and four stabilizer fins at the rear (now with rollerons). It features a 25lb warhead and an electrostatic proximity fuze, or an impact fuze, which can be swapped by ground crews. The gimbal has another function where it scans over a 120 degree field of view until it can stay on a target, this takes some time to "lock on" which creates a sound in the cockpit as long as it is on target. The "violet" edition includes a second center sensor which is behind a UV lens. It ignores targets with a strong UV signature, such as the sun. The updated missiles have a purple band painted down their length. [3 Ore, 3 Oil]
M1944 H-2 Synchropter Assault Gunship "Chupacabra": [Expensive] After an initial failed prototype, the final Chupacabra airframe was completed with advice from Igor Sikorsky himself. It is based on the same synchronized-rotor principle as the Twinblade. It accomplishes the considerably difficult task of carrying considerable armor (medium on the bottom "tub" of the cockpit and around a few important spots, and light on the rest of the aircraft) while flying in a controllable fashion. It has a pilot and gunner in closed-canopy cockpits in the nose, with the gunner below and in front of the pilot. Instead of a crew compartment it houses a radar similar to that in the Spearhead, which can find air targets or, newly, create a ground image, which with some training can can allow a user to interpret obstacles, landmarks and targets on the ground in front of the Chupacabra from very blurry images. It carries up to a ton of weaponry on winglet hardpoints, including new MURD-ER rocket pods which each weigh 250lbs and carry six rockets which fire sequentially, as well as existing missiles and bombs. Also like the Twinblade it has a Can Perforator turret below the gunner, who aims it with a hydraulic joystick and spots targets through a periscope. It's powered by two turboshafts, and has a tail boom with a rudder and elevator. With its considerable weight of armaments armor and radar, it is a clumsy flier, cruising much slower than an airplane. It has a lot of inertia in any direction and is particularly slow to yaw or climb, but it is indeed controllable unlike the Twinblade. Pilots just need to think in advance about where they're coming to a stop- for example turning 90 degress to the right means pushing the yaw pedal hard right, but then hard left after turning 60 degrees or so. [5 Ore (1 Al), 4 Oil]
M1933 'Javelin' Air Superiority Fighter (A-6F): [Very Expensive] The Javelin is a twin-engine fighter intended to fight enemies at extremely high speeds using its missile armament and new afterburning engines. The body blends into the wings which are a wide, cranked delta wing design (the angle of the wings widens out at the rear adding stability) with dog tooth close to the edge and a leading edge extension nearly up to the nose, where the elevated cockpit sits. Its equipment includes two can perforators and a radar in the nose, like on the Spearhead. The wings contain segmented fuel tanks and four hardpoints each, it can carry a two-ton load of ordnance, normally in the form of eight Balefire missiles. The JAB-44 engines are large and located below the wing close to the fuselage, and the rudders and stabilizers are located directly above them. Their afterburners have suffered significant problems, specifically, the heat can cause turbine bearing failures which will effectively decommission the engine in entirety during flight. As such, pilots have been ordered to use afterburners only when absolutely necessary, mainly takeoff. The afterburners are indeed absolutely necessary during takeoff, the plane with its large wings, ordnance, and the structure to the support them is quite heavy and the delta design gives it a high minimum speed. In flight it's fast but not maneuverable, it must keep its speed up and makes wide turns in general. It's a very large fighter, owing to the need to support large engines and lots of ordnance and the wings which provide lift for all that weight. [6 Ore (2 Al), 6 Oil]


CANNALAN COMMUNICATIONS AND OTHER:
General Cortez: General Cortez is a storied pirate sailor, and under him the Cannalan Navy has an inherent advantage in battle.
M1938 HEAT: These shells contain a shaped charge, like with the antitank RPG warheads. At 100mm, they are effective against heavy armor. These are still fairly basic, like Forenian rounds.
M1938 APDS: A long and narrow kinetic penetrator fired from cannons in a sabot. Unlike HEAT, they're good against spaced armor but poor against sloped armor. Currently accuracy is poorer than conventional rounds. Made from hardened steel, they're cheaper than existing full sized hardened steel rounds.
Drunken Pirate Encryption: The Cannalans have adopted a slightly modified One-Time-Pad encryption system. Paper sheets with a unique encryption key are distributed by courier before important orders are read aloud but in code over radio. There are a couple other simple steps to obscure the message, and decoy couriers are also sent with fake pads, but it still has the inherent drawbacks of OTP. There is a delay in sending pads and confirming they have arrived safely, and then since the pads are only used once, encryption is reserved for important and long-term orders.
Eagle Eye RADAR: [Expensive] The Eagle Eye is a relatively advanced radar system which can identify an aircraft at significant range, showing the range, direction, and approximate altitude. This is accomplished with an array of antennae in a metal frame, which rotates on a turntable. It has a CRT display with a rotating refresh line which the operator can read. It can be mounted on ships, where it takes up about a turret's worth of space including the magazine below deck, or in a temporary installation of four trucks, which takes a few hours to set up. There is also a separate version which looks identical, but can only identify sea-surface contacts. [Complex]
Bureacrat's Wife Radio Equipment: This is a portable radio system with a variety of new features. First, the entire system fits in a single backpack, with a battery good for about an hour and a hand crank charger (it can also charge off a truck). A two-way voice handset or morse transmitter can be attacked. It also has a "scrambler" which comes in a separate backpack-sized box- the vaccuum tubes necessary to make it work couldn't fit in the first. On this are three dials which set a "scramble pattern" and buttons for "wait" and "start". While in the "wait" state, the radio does not begin working until hearing a three-second "start tone" from another scrambler. Then both both begin switching frequencies multiple times per second in sync with each other, on an arbitrary pattern determined by the setting dials, making the voice or morse communication impossible to listen in on.
'Immortal' Armor: This alternative armor set replaces the chest and back piece two back plates, and four chest plates of thin molybdenum steel alloy. The splitting of chest and back coverage into multiple plates gives soldiers the ability to crouch, crawl and maneuver in relative comfort. The plates are in a "carrier vest", allowing them to be easily removed and replaced. However the important feature is that soldiers in immobile positions, such as aircraft crews, some tank crew members, and machine gunners can double-layer the chest and back armor. [3 Ore]
1941 Infrared Sighting System "Aswang": [Expensive] This is a night vision device, consisting of an infrared spotlight, a scope which allows the user to view infrared light, and a rechargeable battery. The spotlight is simply filtered, so that only invisible infrared light passes through. The scope contains a small cathode ray tube, operated by power transformed from the battery to several kilovolts. The battery is in a backpack and makes up the bulk of the system's weight, at 32 pounds it is man-portable but uncomfortably heavy. The large spotlight and scope are normally attached to the weapon, whether the weapon is a sniper rifle or machine gun, and these add seven pounds to weapon making it unwieldy without a bipod. The scope looks bulky and the seven-inch spotlight looks enormous on top of it, and there are some wires running along the outside and a cable to the backpack, as well as some adjustment dials and an on/off switch visible along the side of the scope. The Aswang's spotlight illuminates targets up to a little over 100 yards, without revealing the user's position. [Complex]
1942 Infrared Sighting System "Aswang II", 2nd Revision: The Aswang II is based on the original Aswang night vision system, but the entire thing is smaller and more efficient. The system is down to about 22 pounds for the same lifetime, and the spotlight is only four and a half inches. Vehicle-powered spotlights are larger, at ten inches, and illuminate to about 250 yards. The viewing scopes are also a bit shorter. The system is no longer Complex as of Winter 1943.
M1942 Proximity Fuze, Radio Detection: This is a fuze which projects a radio signal, and detonates if the radio signal is reflected off of an object which is close enough. It can fit in shells or missiles with at least a 3 inch diameter. The distance from a solid object at which is detonates is configurable, from 2-10 yards.
M1943 Proximity Fuze, Electrostatic: Like the radio fuze, this detonates some yards away from the target. It's adjustable but the exact distance depends on humidity as well. However it is immune to radio jamming.
Tandem Charge HEAT: Cannon shells derived from the MURD-ER RPG, with a tandem-charge warhead.
R1M1943 NJEC 'Viking' RADAR: The Viking is a multi-functional radar system build on extremely high-frequency signals produced by a traveling-wave tube amplifier. This is received by an array of very small antennae in front of an amplifying dish, which are delicate but shielded under a plastic dome. It can be arranged in a direction and display contacts within its 30-degree field of detection (such as on the nose of an aircraft), it can rotate about its base horizontally to scan the horizon (such as on a ship), it can scan conically to display contacts in the entire airspace around it, but with a slow scanning time (such as on a truck looking for air contacts) and it can even track a moving target using technology inspired by the MAGIC missile, but it gets confused if other contacts come near the tracked target. As an added bonus, it can even heat rations placed in front of it. Information from the radar is displayed as dots on a green circular CRT screen, which vary in angle and distance from the center of the screen as well as size. The exact interpretation of this depends on the mode the radar has been configured to operate in. [3 Ore, 1 Oil]
M1944 Service Rifle Scope B: The function of the original Service Rifle Scope is unchanged (fixed 3.5 magnification, short eye relief) but it has been rendered inexpensive and is rail-ready making it easy for soldiers to affix in the field.

CANNALAN DESIGN DOCTRINES:
Vehicle Radios: Most vehicles come standard with a Bureaucrat's Wife radio system, with broadcast range appropriate to the size of the vehicle and its power source.
Slat Armor: Ground armored vehicles are retrofitted with slat armor over their normal armor, to help defeat HEAT warheads.
Retractable Landing Gear: Unless otherwise specified, aircraft have retractable wheeled landing gear.
Oxygen Systems: Aircraft come with an oxygen system for the crew.
Filters: Enclosed armored vehicles come with the necessary equipment to seal themselves and filter the crew's air in case of a gas attack.
Warheads: Missiles, shells and bombs of various sizes can have various types of warhead attached, such as high-explosive, HEAT, incendiary, and so on. Developing a new warhead type means it will be available in other applications where it could easily apply, and new sizes of shells or bombs are available with various warheads.
Compartmentalization: Large ships are separated into many compartments which can be sealed individually if one begins flooding, to prevent the flooding from spreading to the rest of the ship.
Tactical Rails: Cannalan small arms and mounted machine guns are outfitted with rails which allow optics and attachments to be added and removed in the field. Iron sights which come with the gun are mounted on the rail, and removable.

CANNALAN RESOURCES:
Transport Capacity: 1 by land, 3 by sea, 1 by air.
2 Wood
4 Ore, using 1 TC by sea
4 Oil, using 1 TC by sea, and receiving 1 from the Allies
2 Aluminum, using 1 TC by sea
1 Magnesium
1 Uranium, Transported by air

[Sensei]

The War This Turn:
This season, Forenia is trying to make a push once again on Tereshkova, to interrupt the Cannalans' ore supply. They're also making an attack to force them out of Forenia itself. Cannala is making an attack on Vlanlados, as well as trying to advance on Forenia.

The Battle at Sea
Thanks to the Noose, Forenia won't even let Cannalan aircraft near their ships. The Noose has a reasonable enough hit rate, for being on a four-mount, that Cannalan aircraft (especially the large Vengeful Charlottes) can't come near Forenian ships. Up in the air the Forenians' cheaper radar has had an immediate effect. The Very Expensive VVF and the Expensive VVF-Q planes are all equipped with radar, giving the Forenians a pretty comprehensive view of the airspace around them, limited mainly by pilots' ability to coordinate their communications. It even allows Forenian ships to make better use of their Saltseeker missiles at the end of their range.

There is an issue with this, however: The Cannalan Stingray missiles fly further, and faster. In fact, they have more than twice the range of Forenia's Noose missiles. Consequently, if Cannala gets into a missile exchange with Forenian ships, they tend to win: While the Stingrays have a considerably smaller warhead and it might take multiple hits to reliably cause damage which will disable a well-armored ship, Cannala's missiles are cheap, longer-ranged, and hit more often. What's more, a Vengeful Charlotte can deploy a Stingray from so far away that even Forenia's extremely fast VVF fighters, with radar to help them, struggle to reliable intercept them before they can fire and retreat. Tereshkova herself curses them as cowards, but it's an effective tactic.

As for Cortez, he also regards the missiles as cowardly, though he relies on them: So much fighting is done over the horizon now. Buccaneer boats sit unused and the gun operating crews are growing lazy. Missiles aren't totally relied on: The simply fact that every ship on the water was designed for guns and retrofitted with missile mounts where they could fit is the reason for that; once missiles are fired it takes a while to get more on deck. Even though, it's clear that the age of fighting ships with cannons is coming to an end.

Missile interception is also a growing tactic: Both anti-ship missiles in use right now tend to fly very close to the water which makes them difficult to pick up on radar, but with some skill and luck they can be shot down by a plane, particularly the slower Saltseeker, as the Cannalans' Stingray goes so fast that it takes a VVF on full afterburners just to get a short attack window. An occasional lucky shot with on-deck autocannons has also recorded some missiles destroyed, but this is also extremely difficult.

Cannala has an advantage at sea

The Battle for Vlanlados
Attacking: Cannala

Having been defeated here before, Cannala is relying on their newly recovered naval advantage and Barracuda missiles, which can attack ground targets, to give them a victory. Early in the fighting it also becomes clear that the current state of anti-ship missiles makes shore defences rather effective: Although Forenia's missiles lack the range and speed of Cannala's, they can shoot at assaulting Cannalan ships while Cannala can't fire missiles from ships to the shore, at least, not if they expect to hit anything without getting a target painter there first. This means that despite Cannala's naval advantage, the advance to shore is costly, and several Walrus landers (which somewhat suffer the problem of putting a lot of eggs, or tanks, in one basket) are lost.

A Cannalan squad is pinned down, just a few hills past the beach. Ahead of them, a Bjorn tank and some autocannon positions are destroying everything that advances, and it's only a matter of time before the Forenians push back. Major Cuellar, relatively green, is in command. "How's it look up there?" "Not good!" Says his subordinate. "They had one of those sewing machines roll up too, it's even worse now!" "Listen up," says Cuellar, "we got a dispatch from Command before moving out, we can call for something called a Barracuda, they say it's the biggest god damn missile Cannala every built, it'll fuck up the whole lot of them at once!" He looked to his radio operator. "Call up CNS Ugly Dolphin with our coordinates and tell them we need one, and fast!" After a moment of turning around and shouting into the radio set to be heard over the gunfire, the radio operator looked back at Cuellar. "They say it'll be here in sixty seconds! And we need our Hornet guy painting for it!" "Well grab a painter and get up there, we want to be ready!" Cuellar looked at the seconds pass on his watch, it was going to be a long minute of hoping not to get hit by a mortar shell. After a while (or what felt like a while) he looked up to see his radio operator nearly in position, but writhing in pain from some injury. "Someone drag him back to safety!" Cuellar shouted, and crawled as fast as he could to take control of the target painter. By the time he reached the edge of the hill and got the painter in his position, his watch showed just ten seconds left. He peeked over the hill and held the painter on target. The roar of the Barracuda's ramjet could be heard clearly even from far away as it approached, the Forenian soldiers looked up and it and dived for cover or scattered in fear. The missile veered down towards them... then, not having veered steeply enough, flew over them, lost its radar contact, and began to return to its cruising altitude automatically. Cuellar watched in despair for a few seconds as the missile turned into a tiny dot in the distance in a matter of seconds, before some trees obscured his view. Then the Forenians started shooting again. Cuellar knew what to do in this situation: "Retreat! Get back! Everyone run away!"

Once on land, the Barracuda missiles aren't the game changer which the Cannalan army had hoped. While it constitutes a lot of firepower in one place for sure, the promise of actually hitting its target is one on which it often falls short. Despite some occasionaly spectacular displays of destroying or disabling a few vehicles are once, it's just not reliable enough to make a real difference. The Forenians also deploy their Garlic Salamanders in an anti-air role here. They're preferred considerably by soldiers over the old Sewing Machine trucks for the additional protection they afford. Besides having defenses, the radar system makes it much easier to identify targets. It's quite effective against Chupacabra helicopters, but still a bit sluggish to be a real threat for fixed wing aircraft. It's effective against Raider APC's as well, but the gun itself is somewhat vulnerable and slow enough still that common Velociraptor turrets are still best in this role.

With Cannala not having any especially good tricks up their sleeve, Forenia continues to win battles here. However, it's also of note that their Noose Ground-Air-Missiles are tested more here. While they're reasonably effective against fast-moving targets like planes, with a moderate hit rate (best against Charlottes), they're actually rather difficult to bring to bear on Chupacabras. Being remotely near any ground clutter such as trees or hillsides confuses the missiles immensely and the first solid rocket booster stage means the missiles tend to only be accurate against targets at least a few kilometers from the launch site anyway. For close-in defense, a SPAAS (Sewing machine or Garlic) is a better option.

Forenia holds Vlanlados. [Cannala 0/1, Forenia 1/1] Forenia has claimed their second Uranium resource- if they do not spend some next turn, they cannot stockpile more.

The Battle for the Tereshkova Jungle
Attacking: Forenia

Cannala's new weapons have little effect this season. The anti-ship missiles are for targeting ships, and the Barracuda is often simply not an option due to tree cover preventing the already weak Hornet radar target painter's signal from being detected by a missile thousands of feet in the air.

The Forenians however, have quite a bit of fun with their Garlic. As noted before it's decent against ground vehicles and good against Chupacabras but none of this is enough to be a game changer on its own. The IR tracking doesn't do a very good job of following even a slow Chupacabra, so it's easy for gunners to just aim manually with the periscope. That's fine. That was never the point of IR tracking... not really. What is the point, is sitting back on a warm night, relaxing with your crew, enjoying your beverage of choice (or as close as you can get in the field, often a jug of kvass fermented in camp) while swapping jokes and stories, watching the stars out of the top hatch, and waiting for the beep of the IR sensor alarm. This means that there is an IR source- an Aswang IR lamp, likelier than not- and the gun will automatically track it. This is only vaguely accurate, but when the gunner depressed the switch to fire four 30mm Velociraptor cannons loaded with high-explosive fragmenting shells at once, generally anywhere within a few meters of the intended target is good enough. Then, when you're sure they're all dead, it's back to drinking and joking.

From the Cannalan side this presumably looks something like "Why is the turret turning? They can't see us, right? Right?" but, there's not many Cannalan witnesses to tell the tale.

In fact, this is probably not nearly as good a solution to fighting Cannalan night vision soldiers as Forenia just developing their own night vision, especially with it being expensive, but just going from having no answer to Cannala's night vision for fully three years to having something to blow them up with somewhat reliably is a huge slash in the effectiveness of Cannala's night vision tactics. Now, every night vision operation (in the interest of stealth, largely carried out without vehicles) is a matter of making sure that there isn't a Garlic in the area of operations, or the mission is probably a bust- at least, it doesn't justify the inherent logistical challenges of sneaking around at night and peering through night vision scopes to navigate.

In light of this, some of the other Forenian advantages can come to the fore. Their flame weapons, both a flamethrower and the Salamander-F, made a considerable difference, and they make good use of their air superiority with a plethora of weapons, particular the two variants (incendiary and shaped charge-fragmenting) of their Firecracker bombs, commonly delivered by Haasts for more precise strikes or over a blanket area from the venerable Arstotzkan 1931-HAFB bomber. Well, "blanket" being two tons of bombs to the Haast's one ton, out of a large three-engine bomber. Furthermore, the Salamander APCs still tend to have an advantage over Raider APCs- being able to use an autocannon to good effect against light Cannalan armor while the Cannalans are required to rely on a full size cannon. The Horsekiller MK II, as well, is an... acceptable solution to anti-armor operations. The Artemis artillery is also considerable, for its good mobility and enormous firepower and range.

The Chupacabra is one advantage of the Cannalans which is great here, and will probably never be completely negated by the variety of defenses now arrayed at it. They also have better rocket launchers, in the light MURD-ER and heavier painter-guided Hornet. But, altogether, it's definitely not enough.

Forenia advances. [Cannala 3/4, Forenia 1/4] Cannala has once again been robbed of their ore here.

The Battle for the Forenian Jungle
Attacking: Both

Having already advanced in the Tereshkova jungle, the outcome seems determined here, but it's well past time to take a closer look at small arms for any advantages one side may hold. Most of them have been in service since before the Cannala-Forenia war, but there are changes here and there, and it's important to keep track of how they are used in any case. You can skip reading this section if you like, but it will be here as the most recent re-assessment.

Both sides' most widely deployed infantry weapon is an assault rifle- a weapon which fires bullets in between the size of a rifle or pistol, and is capable of automatic fire or single fire based on a selector. The Forenians use the AS-AR34, firing '7.62L' cartridges (similar to, although predating, the 7.62x33 in the American M1 Carbine) from either a 24-round magazine or 40-round drum. It's rather large and heavy actually, despite its aluminum furniture, being as long as a full-size rifle and weighing about 5kg. The fire selector knob is also very stiff, sliding forward several centimeters, making it not very handy in the fight, but the weapon's front and rear vertical grips make it controllable and the weight does help some with recoil, so besides being heavy it's an accurate weapon. It also features a tactical rail which often has magnifying sights attached by squad marksmen, or flashlights. The Cannalans use the M1933 QFW Mk2 SSRA- a word salad of which the most important part is, "Standard Service Rifle, Automatic". It feeds from a 40 round mag only (also necessarily making it quite a heavy weapon to carry around) and, much like AS-AR34, it weighs 9 or 12 pounds despite minimalist aluminum furniture, depending on whether it's the long or short barrel variant. Curiously, the magazine is a helical feed, looking like a long cylinder along the rear length of the top of gun, it's compact but clumsy to reload. There is another thing that makes it different, it's in a bullpup configuraration, which is much more convenient for close quarters and makes the gun a little easier to handle as the weight isn't far from the shooter. It too features a tactical rail, although optical the sights in use by Cannala aren't as nice as the Forenian ones, plus the additional curious feature of a belt adapter, which can make it into a full light machine gun in a pinch. It also has reasonable ballistic performance. In conclusion, both assault rifles perform well but are heavy and slightly unwieldy, and make some simple operations difficult (changing mags for Cannalans, and changing firing modes for Forenians) though the Cannalan one is shorter which is good in close quarters. The belt adapter isn't very useful except in mountain environments, when it can offer the role of an LMG with low ammo weight, but also less range.

For longer ranges, both sides have a 'normal' rifle. The Forenians have a choice between the less-accurate semi-automatic AS-F14A, a rifle which fires from an open bolt and a 12-round box magazine, and the M2 Osprey, a more accurate rifle which has a bolt action and a 10-round magazine- both are well made, but the open bolt action makes the AS-F14 less accurate and usually it is replaced by the AR34 except odd circumstances where a soldier strongly desires the range of a full sized rifle with a semi-auto action. The Cannalans have a similar choice, between the M1928J Sushi Rifle which is semi-automatic and the M1913 Standard Service Rifle, which is bolt-action. Both are loaded hot and deliver a large kick, but because the M1913 SSR loads from a stripper clip, soldiers strongly prefer the M1928J. The Cannalans' M1928J is the slightly more accurate semi-auto rifle, but on the other hand, the M2 Osprey is the better bolt-action for extreme ranges. On the whole, since assault rifles dominate the mid-ranges, the Forenians have an advantage here- but again their better optical sights make a greater difference than the guns themselves.

Portable machine guns are used by both sides: The Forenians have the M3 Sorraia, fed from 50-round belt segments (which can be strung together) and equipped with a portable belt box and folding bipod, or a tripod for immobile use. It's cooled with copper heat sinks under a shroud which allows it impressive endurance. The Cannalans entered the war without a 'proper' light machine gun and made the M1939 La Sierra, which has an extremely similar feature listm and just relies on an ordinary barrel which can be changed. Very marginal advantage to Forenians here for their cooling system but really, the guns are both competently executed with the same feature list and there's few differences noticeable in the field.

Each side has a heavy sniper/anti-materiel rifle as well, the Forenians being the first, with their Horsekiller Mk. II which fires absolutely obscene 15mm rounds loaded hot enough to destroy an antique Horsekiller if they're loaded into it. It weighs an obscene 21kg/46lbs, and loads from an unnecessary 8-round box magazine. It's obligatory to fire the weapon from prone using the bipod, and it takes a skilled shooter to handle the weapon although it is accurate to an extreme range. The Cannalans have the M1944 Anti-Materiel Rifle, which fires slightly more sensible .50 caliber rounds, of which three (plenty) can be loaded at a time to the in-body magazine including a round in the chamber. It's not as well-made, however, as the Horsekiller II and it's not as accurate, its primary purpose was really just to force the Forenians to stop using Tiger armor on a regular basis, a goal in which it succeeded. The Horsekiller Mk II is definitely the better weapon, although its weight means transporting it is a challenge.

For close ranges, the two sides have different solutions. The Cannalans have the QFS, Quick-Fire Shotgun, a fully automatic gun firing small shot shells, based directly on the bullpup, helical mag and all. Unfortunately this is its downfall, the shotgun shells are soft and get stuck in the helical feed. While anecdotally it's quite effective with its ability to saturate an area with shot, it's largely fallen out of service. The Forenians have a close-range weapon that sees regular service though, the AS-MC16A. Though the documents issued with it have long since been changed, old veterans will tell you that the A stands for Andres, a legendary Arstotzkan who disappeared in the Battle of the Embassy and is rumored to hiding somewhere, be plotting an Arstotzkan revolution to this very day. The gun itself is a sub-machinegun, chambered for pistol rounds, at a total length of only 35cm with a pistol grip, foregrip, and hollow-frame aluminum shoulder stock which extends no further than the back of the action. 30-round drum or 54-round double-drum magazines insert from the left, and it fires at about 400-rounds per minute (dumping an entire magazine in 5 or 9 seconds), quickly becoming hot. It isn't very accurate, nor does it need to be. The lack of any dedicated close-range weapon gives Forenia a definite advantage in very close range fights when they do occur, although Cannala has the option of reinstating the (somewhat poor-performing) Juraki Type 5 SMG.

Each side has some explosive ordnance as well (besides anti-tank weapons which have been discussed regularly in recent turns). For hand grenades, Cannala has the "thumper" hand grenade, a slightly-awkward adaptation of a grenade launcher shell with a three-second fuze, and Forenia has the AS-G27, a grenade which is easier to throw but has a four-second fuze which usually requires soldiers to 'cook' it a bit to prevent enemies from throwing it back or avoiding it. Both are available in variants such as smoke or incendiary. The Cannalans have a grenade launcher called the Thumper (from which the hand grenade is derived), which is large enough to be a soldier's main weapon and holds a 1.5-inch launched grenade (loaded break-action), with a bullpup-style trigger for some reason, with a heavy recoil spring to make the weapon manageable. There's an under-barrel variant as well which is so heavy is almost never sees use. The Forenians don't have a grenade launcher, but instead have a tube-mortar called the AS-1911 which is placed on the ground to fire. The Cannalans have the Kurosaka mortar as well, but it's less accurate. The result is that the Forenians have the longer-ranged explosive weapon but Cannalans have the better close-to-medium range weapon.

Both sides make actually quite a lot of use of landmines, for how little they're spoken of. Forenia has the button-activated LM20 and M34 Viper, for infantry and vehicles respectively, the Viper is intended to do both by being modular (stack two or three for a larger explosion) but they don't get used singly since the LM20 is a bit lighter for the same amount of explosives anyway. Cannala has the rather more advanced Bouncer landmine, which goes off a short time after being triggered and explodes in mid-air, and the shaped-charge Surprise landmine for vehicles. Cannala definitely has the better landmines.

Forenia, uniquely, has a flamethrower, a significant advantage in jungle environments and sometimes around bunkers and similar chokepoints. It's very simple, consisting of a nitrogen canister and a fuel canister, a valve between the two, plus a pilot light- it looks disturbingly like something which could be made in a garage out of inconspicuous industrial equipment. Nonethless, for all its simplicity it is very effective.

Both sides have old heavy machine guns, but generally prefer autocannons when a fixed-position defense is called for, the Forenians using their light and effective 20mm Velociraptor and the Cannalans using their .75-cal Can Perforator, with the larger 30mm Velociraptor and 1.25-cal Can Shredder being available for heavier targets, but the smaller guns are easier to control and usually preferred. Notably the Cannalans use a gast-style system with two barrels, keeping them cooler for longer with a great fire rate, but the Forenian ones perform admirably as well and their Velociraptor is even light enough that a couple people can handily backpack it around if a couple other people carry enough ammo for it.

Forenia and Cannala each have uniforms with helmets and optional armor plates, as well as convenient rigs for carrying ammo and equipment at the ready, although it can't be stressed enough that Forenia's are better looking.

Both sides have a cheap, easily available radio, about the size of a backpack so still usually only issued one per squad. The Cannalans use AM radios with a second box which can encrypt important messages, and the Forenians use FM radios, their communications are secure simply because the Cannalans don't have FM radios.

Last but not least, each side's sidearm is quite venerable. While they're not main weapons, most soldiers who carry a specialized weapon such as a light machine gun or anti-tank weapon need one, as do vehicle crews (though the AS-MC16A can stand in for a sidearm as well). The Forenians use their AS-SP30, a 10-round semi-auto pistol which is generally decent, and the Cannalans use their 1911 Mano Derecha, usually just referred to by soldiers as a "Six-Shooter", a single-action revolver which holds six rounds. The Mano Derecha is famously reliable and has good stopping power, and it's generally better than the Arstotzkan sidearm when mud and sand are a serious problem (they say you can find one submerged in a shipwreck and it will still fire) although to this day the bullets themselves sometimes have defective primers. In theory it should be the better weapon when one is forced to use a sidearm at medium range, but the limitation of the single-action and occasional bad ammo means that the Forenian sidearm is almost always better in practice.

Oh, and officers from both sides still haven't been completely convinced to stop bringing their swords- Cannalans have the option of a cutlass, and Forenians a scimitar. Both of these weapons can be useful in a pinch, but unless that pinch is "I've run out of ammo or lost my gun, but also the enemy hasn't seen me yet" then they're likely to be more of a liability than an asset, doubly so considering they weigh as much as backup pistol and bullets while being much larger so you'd brought that instead of your fancy sword, you wouldn't be in that particular mess. If it comes down to it, the cutlass is more convenient to carry for attacking an enemy bunker or ship because of its shorter length, but that same trait is a significant disadvantage against the longer, cavalry-oriented scimitars, as demonstrated by Tahaani al-Mian when she defeated a Enrique Cavallero in single sword-combat, and proceeded to take him hostage and demand ransom from his family, in direct violation of Forenian prisoner-of-war policy and probably international law, which was overlooked because the military tribunal thought it was 'hilarious'.

IN CONCLUSION: The biggest real difference is still the Forenian scopes, but the Forenians also have better close-range weapons generally, and benefit from their flamethrowers. The Cannalans benefit from their grenade launchers even though they're probably a lot heavier than ideal, and their better landmines are worth some advantage in the jungle as well. Both sides' most common weapons, their assault rifles, have some flaws and could really benefit from losing a few pounds. On the whole, the Forenians fare slightly better in infantry combat much of the time including in the jungle, but the difference isn't a lot. Generally, it's no surprise that vehicles and heavy munitions have received more attention from design teams so far, but if it comes to urban fighting infantry weapons will be especially relevant.

Forenia pushes the Cannalans all the way back to the beaches. [Cannala 0/2, Forenia 2/2]

Events outside the War:

The Outside World:
Erwin Rommel, the famous military general, has died of medical complications. Aachen is invaded by Allied troops, the first German city to fall. Operation Market Garden, an Allied paratrooper invasion, ends in defeat, prompting chiding from Forenian paratroopers. The Red Army moves into Estonia, capturing Tallinn, and bombing ships with evacuating civilians. In Greece, a civil war breaks out between communists and royalists. Musician Glenn Miller disappears when his USAAF utility aircraft leaves from the United Kingdom but fails to arrive in Paris. The Battle of the Bulge begings, continuing through the new year. In the United States, the Women Airforce Service Pilots are disbanded, which is shown as an example of "evil capitalist culture" in Arstotzkan newspapers. In the Pacific, Allied forces including Filipino guerillas invade Leyte, in a resounding victory which kills almost fifty thousand Japanese soldiers.

Local Events:
In Forenia, unsanctioned riots are a real problem for the first time in what seems like ages, as the public is uncertain about the future of Forenian government and rumors fly that the state is planning the seize assets in preparation for a change to a communist economy, although in fact not even the Forenian Communist Party (newly above-ground albeit with a newly-acquired habit of wearing sunglasses no matter the weather) has actually proposed something like this is congress. Forenian Secret Police has been redirected from searching for traitors to frantically trying to censor all information which leaves the country from revealing the now-very-public information that Russia is sponsoring the Forenian war effort. Although the Soviets have a vested interest in earning an ally in the Pacific so close to America, they don't want the Allies to know they're actually funding a war against them. This may be a lost cause, as Forenia is more chaotic than ever right now. In good news, Forenian newspapers are now free to use any typeface of their choosing, the old press letters have been melted down as a symbol of the rejection of Nazi occupation. The Astronomers' Society has been dissolved, as well, simply becoming Jewish people again.

In Cannala, Juraki citizens are of mixed feelings about the war in the Pacific. Japan is their mother country, but also one which spurned them. Some feel a distant kinship and are hurt by the news of air raids on Japan, others are scornful and relish knowing that Japan is suffering. Still others are hopeful that if Japan is defeated, there will be an opportunity to return there under whatever new government forms. The Red Mask Murders still are in the center of public attention the next having been targeted at two TORCH brothers who suggested delaying the advance of more pro-Juraki laws. Despite a doubling of guards around the House of Brothers with assistance from Cannalan Secret Police, the debate hall carpet was even found one morning brazenly vandalized with the phrase "YOU ALL DESERVE THE RED ROT". The TORCH party has taken additonal flak from the public after failing to establish a crop of sugarcane in Cannalan-occupied Tereshkova after ground was lost to Forenia this season, so their promise of alleviating the rum ration has been unsuccessful, and they've failed to pass any of their proposed bills this season. There has been an influx of new immigrants in Cannala, this time from Vlanlados, and as close ethnic cousins to the Arstotzkans they're even more distrusted than the Juraki, mostly being assigned to undesirable farm and mining labor. In addition, Cannalan citizens fear that their tumors may be contagious. A program set by El Presidente to hire Juraki citizens for a navy construction corps to move to Vlanlados to assist in the mining efforts there when it is recaptured, although essentially successful in gathering a lot of desperate Juraki workers, been widely regarded as an insult to the Juraki community who resent the idea of living somewhere alleged to be cursed.


Turn 29, Commence!

You may now begin voting for your design phase!

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

So, anything anyone has ideas for using the uranium for?  Seems a waste to not be using it if we are at max stock...

[Kot]

I don't think it is a good idea. Cannalans seem to be just a hair of getting Vlanlados back, and if they get it back we won't be able to make a nuke anyway. If we want a nuke we need to first establish a... "buffer zone" at least, so they don't just conquer us conventionally while we're making a nuke.

[andrea]

There is no possibile buffer for vlanlados

[Powder Miner]

I suggest that we wait until we've taken a piece of the plains territory anyway -- the front diversification I've been harping on about only matters worth a damn if we actually get out of double-jungle-attack range, and dropping a piece of our turn this turn is a potential obstacle to that.

[Kot]

There is no possibile buffer for vlanlados

Yeah, but they're in better position - they can put pressure on us both through Vlanlados and through conventional warfare. Sensei mentioned double territory gain if game drags out, so I'm just afraid if we waste turns on making a nuke, and they conquer Vlanlados now, we might not get a chance to reconquer it and make the nuke.