Game Update: Design Reports, Year -1 TURNTURNTURN
Design: Orchestral Cannon Instrument 'The Waffle Iron'(Normal) 2d4 = 6: Above ExpectationsThe Waffle Iron is an elegant piece of machinery. It does not make huge leaps and bounds in any area of technology, but it represents a substantial improvement over the definitely-not-obsolete artillery currently employed by the Imperial Army. We advise an Imperial Engineer be present at all future Jean Von Pinkerton symphonies, for legitimate research purposes.
Most of the work after the prolonged legal battle went into deciphering the composer's notes. We have the exact specifications of the sound it makes but range and destructive power and the like proved more difficult to divine.
Range is best evaluated as
Long Range -- nothing impressive, as the original creator did not have desire to shell opposing composers. Accuracy is alright, as the shot will land in the general vicinity of where you want it. Destructive power is about what one would expect for a 3" bore, and no innovation was done there.
The innovation comes in with the operation of the cannon itself. As it fires, the bulk of the recoil is "caught" via compressing air in piston-driven pneumatic tubes; the cannon itself sharply rocks backwards while (mostly) preserving its original firing angle. In this state, the cannon can be loaded with a cartridge combining both shot and gunpowder for greater ease of use. Once finished, some levers are pulled releasing the air from the pneumatic tubes in an overly musical fashion and bringing the cannon back to its original firing position.
The Waffle Iron Orchestral Cannon Instrument shall become a solid mainstay of our colonial forces, which most certainly still exist. Easier to use, quicker to load, impressive retaining of original firing angles, and a musical nature that will undoubtedly increase morale. After all, what could increase morale of our boys at war more than some good music?
It can be mounted on the Walter-Wallace Steam-Powered Walker where it requires a gunner to sit rather exposed on the top of the machine to handle the weapon, or it can be mounted in a rudimentary horse-drawn field carriage. If mounted on the Walker, the recoil makes it impractical to use in extremely rough terrain, but otherwise the recoil dampening makes it quite versatile.
Orchestral Cannon Instrument 'The Waffle Iron': [0][2][0]Design: Imperial Armoury Power Assisted Combat Suit(Very Hard) 2d4 = 5: Meets ExpectationsThe first part of this design is simple. Deceptively so, compared to the rest. A chainmail shirt, covered by a steel cuirass covering from the thighs to the throat and shoulder. Some other steel armor covers the rest of the body, with a broad-rimmed steel helmet and detachable visor completing the ensemble. Heavy and restricting armor that while protective could very well be the death sentence of any soldier wearing it in the increasingly mobile battlefields of the modern day.
But that's where the
technology comes. A large integrated backpack includes a heavy-duty very-tightly-coiled spring that through some clockwork and pistons manages to relieve the soldier of a good amount of the armor's weight. This means the soldier can maintain a surprising amount of mobility wearing this armor, increasing survivability well past the point of someone not wearing the Power-Assisted Combat Suit.
It's not all good news though. Innovation as great as this doesn't come easily. While the mechanized capabilities of the armor are very helpful, they make movement rather strict. Little fine tuning of your limbs and muscles is allowed as you are forced to cooperate with the rigid machinery. We've included a hefty switch accessible to the soldier so they can connect or disconnect the gears and pistons of their suit with the backpack, allowing the choice between a heavy weight and low movement versus lower fine agility. Not a huge problem, but something to be wary of. A soldier with the PACS equipped would be absolutely useless in close-quarters combat.
The PACS' coiled spring lasts for about half an hour of use, and must be rewound via a piece of portable Steam Core-driven machinery. Manual operation is all but impossible, and while we looked into it we didn't have enough time to find a way to create a coal-driven machine that could have rewound the suit spring without proving too heavy or fuel-intensive to be used in the field. With the heavy armor in the suit and the precision required in the clockwork, metal cost is quite high too. As it uses only steam cores for the time being, there is no coal cost.
A platoon equipped with the Power-Assisted Combat Suit will have around 16 soldiers wearing the suits, with the rest tasked with supporting the wearers. Wearers can survive much greater dangers than those without and will be a great asset in the field, but are
nowhere near invulnerable. It is not a walking battleship.
Imperial Armoury Power-Assisted Combat Suit: [1][3][0]Firearms- "Old Reliable" Imperial Arsenal Revolving Rifle: .45 caliber revolving front-loaded caplock carbine utilizing a 5-chamber revolving cylinder working with a single barrel. Once each cylinder is manually loaded, they can all be fired in sequence via revolving the cylinder between shots. Cocking of the hammer pulls trigger back into position and revolves cylinder to bring next (ideally, loaded) chamber in line with the barrel. Mind your fingers. Powerful, but low-velocity. Medium range.
[0][1][1] - Orchestral Cannon Instrument 'The Waffle Iron': A
percussion instrument 3" bore field cannon. On firing, recoil-dampening piston&pneumatic tube system locks the cannon in a rocked-back state where it can be reloaded with combined-gunpowder-and-shot cartridges before being released back into firing position, retaining the original firing angle with a good deal of accuracy. Accuracy in firing shots is adequate, and destruction is on par with a 3" cannon. Can be mounted in a simple horse-drawn field carriage, or on top of a Walter-Wallace Steam-Powered Walker where it requires an exposed gunner sitting on the top with it, and can't be fired in extreme terrains. Long range.
[0][2][0]
Armor- Imperial Armoury Power-Assisted Combat Suit: Very heavy steel cuirass & broad-rimmed helmet w/ detachable visor on top of a chainmail shirt. Normally too heavy to be particularly practical, but clockwork and pistons driven by a tightly-wound spring in integrated backpack relieve most of the weight, albeit movement and agility is restricted to more rigid patterns. Clockwork can be disconnected from spring by wearer, allowing return to non-powered use. Useless in CQC, but otherwise very survivable but not invulnerable. Spring retains 30-minutes of operations worth of energy, and must be rewound by Steam Core-driven portable machine carried by the platoon. A platoon equipped with this will have 16 out of 50 soldiers wearing it.
[1][3][0]
Vehicles- Walter-Wallace Steam-Powered Walker: A mechanical marvel: 6m-tall 1.6m-wide bipedal steam core-powered contraption that uses pressurized steam-powered pistons to operate its two mechanical legs. A single trained technician pilot controls it from a cockpit sitting on top of the legs (which take up about half of the height) situated in front of the machinery and steam core housing. The cockpit, in addition to a dizzying array of dials and knobs and gauges and levers for managing steam levels, is shielded by heavy metal plating that can be hidden for higher visibility in times of low danger. Can theoretically fit a weapon on its top. Can traverse practically any terrain, beyond even what a human can do thanks to its scale. Rougher terrain requires slower speeds, though. Slow generally, Very Slow in particularly rough/treacherous terrain.
[1][3][2]
Aircraft- 'Victoria' Imperial Combat Dirigible: Rigid envelope steam airship carrying a single gondola and a crew of 12. Moderate payload for (inaccurate) bombs and/or cargo. Steam as a lifting gas is inefficient but with the boiler gives partial resistance to envelope damage. Steam boiler gives a Slow speed and can have other pieces of equipment attached to it in a modular fashion; can support a maximum of 2 extra coal usage from attachments. 8 ports each side allow for small arms fire out. Absolutely no armor on the gondola, but flies high enough to invalidate conventional fire from the ground.
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Logistics- "Tortoise" Protected Train, Colonial Duty: Series of armored train cars impervious to rifle fire and resistant to blasts (with decreased but not-minimized risk of derail) against the car connections, engine car, and passageways across all the cars. Firing and viewing holes are present for return fire.
- "Tortoise" Boiler Engine Car: Tortoise engine car that uses standard coal boilers upscaled beyond regular engine cars to compensate for weight of armor plating. Completely armored.
[0][2][3] - "Tortoise" Steam Core Engine Car: An engine car variant that completely ditches the boiler and operates entirely off of a single steam core for high speeds and/or weight loads. Completely armored.
[1][2][0] - "Tortoise" Cargo Cars: (Partially) armored cargo cars best used with a Tortoise engine car. The cargo itself isn't directly protected, but a lesser chance of train disruption is more than enough to increase cargo safety.
[0][2][0]
It is now the
Revision Phase of Year -1. Vote for a revision proposal to use for this phase's revision. Everything is okay and fine, and after this revision phase will just be the design phase for sure. Nothing will happen.
Nothing. Nothing will happen after this coming revision phase, and you will remain a part of the same eternally undivided Empire.
Author
Topic: Steam Empire, an Arms Race: Year -1, Internal Affairs Phase (Read 18258 times)