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Author Topic: CWAR: UNSA Thread // Revision Phase // Warm Seasons 1947  (Read 11297 times)

Man of Paper

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Re: CWAR: UNSA Thread // Design Phase // Spring 1946
« Reply #15 on: January 17, 2023, 11:08:52 pm »

Visas and Permits Arstotzka Version is solidly Theoretical due to the scale of the entire project with no supporting experience. 
Individually the planes were Easy, but trying to engineer a design and variant revision in a single action is going to make it Very Hard, although I'm tempted to bump that up further to deter these types of actions more without making them impossible outright (especially since you have two of each action anyways). Doing this sort of thing should still exist as an emergency measure if you really, really need to fill gaps with some disregard for the final result.
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Powder Miner

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Re: CWAR: UNSA Thread // Design Phase // Spring 1946
« Reply #16 on: January 17, 2023, 11:33:00 pm »

Quote from: votebox
M1 Scythian
P1 private airplane (firefly)(Non-Caelium version): (1) Powder Miner
Visas and permits: (3) Quarque, m1895 , Funk
Briefcase full of money: (3) m1895 , Funk, Powder Miner
Collapsible Pistol: (1) Quarque
Ankle Breaker
P-46 Private Aircraft 'Firefly' (version 2): (1) Kashyyk
Visas and Permits (version 2): (1) Kashyyk
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ConscriptFive

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Re: CWAR: UNSA Thread // Design Phase // Spring 1946
« Reply #17 on: January 18, 2023, 12:22:20 am »


Quote from: votebox
M1 Scythian
P1 private airplane (firefly)(Non-Caelium version): (1) Powder Miner
Visas and permits: (3) Quarque, m1895 , Funk
Briefcase full of money: (3) m1895 , Funk, Powder Miner
Collapsible Pistol: (2) Quarque, ConscriptFive
Ankle Breaker: (1) ConscriptFive
P-46 Private Aircraft 'Firefly' (version 2): (1) Kashyyk
Visas and Permits (version 2): (1) Kashyyk

Quarque

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Re: CWAR: UNSA Thread // Design Phase // Spring 1946
« Reply #18 on: January 18, 2023, 07:20:35 am »

My last designs this phase - I don't want to overdo the spamming, but would like to get a better grasp on what's possible in this universe.

Quote from: privatization
Institutions must be free to generate profit and be shielded from influences of the state.

Therefore, a legal reform is implemented to start a wave of privatizations in all UNSA territories. They happen to apply to the four points of interest in Harren: the ACB, WBC, NPO and TDT. Each one of them is redefined as a private company and sold to an investor in an auction behind closed doors.

The auctions are rigged organised by UNSA to guarantee fair competition, to ensure they're won by a firmly controlled puppet the bidder with the objectively best and most profitable bid.

Quote from: gravity pellets
Small particles of unipolarly magnetised Caelium that can be mixed into an alloy. As professor singlerock discovered, gravity isn't really a force but a distortion of spacetime and gravity pellets interfere with it to make any substance they reside in heavier.

As a prove of concept, UNSA will create bullets made of lead enriched with gravity pellets. Such gravity bullets will necessarily have a shorter reach, but the target will be affected and be more prone to crash if it is a plane, to get stuck if it is a tank, or to sink if it is a ship.

If all goes wrong well they might be used in bombs as well in the future, allowing us to kill people in a much more humane way.

Quote from: briefcase full of dynamite
A briefcase that contains a load of dynamite. The briefcase makes it look less like a bomb and easier to transport into a building without attracting attention. The fuse is attached to a timer. It has to be activated to a preset time of detonation, but think twice before doing so. Once the timer is activated it can only be deactivated by following a procedure that involves cutting the correct combination of 6 out of 13 colored wires and sweating intensely. A slight mistake will result in early detonation.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2023, 07:24:15 am by Quarque »
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UristMcRiley

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Re: CWAR: UNSA Thread // Design Phase // Spring 1946
« Reply #19 on: January 18, 2023, 07:26:19 am »



Quote from: votebox
M1 Scythian
P1 private airplane (firefly)
Visas and permits: (4) Quarque, m1895 , Funk, UristMcRiley
Briefcase full of money: (1) m1895 , Funk
Collapsible Pistol: (1) Quarque
Ankle Breaker
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Kashyyk

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Re: CWAR: UNSA Thread // Design Phase // Spring 1946
« Reply #20 on: January 18, 2023, 09:19:25 am »

I'm not gonna flood with more proposals either, so I'll just vote on something sensible. I've also merged UristMcRiley's vote in to the latest copy of the votebox. Don't forget we have 2 designs this phase, so you can vote for a second thing if you want.

Quote from: votebox
M1 Scythian
P-46 private airplane (firefly)(Non-Caelium version): (2) Powder, Miner, Kashyyk
Visas and permits: (5) Quarque, m1895 , Funk, Kashyyk  UristMcRiley
Briefcase full of money: (3) m1895 , Funk, Powder Miner
Collapsible Pistol: (2) Quarque, ConscriptFive
Ankle Breaker: (1) ConscriptFive
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Man of Paper

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Re: CWAR: UNSA Thread // Design Phase // Spring 1946
« Reply #21 on: January 18, 2023, 07:38:20 pm »

I'm having a hard time parsing what privatization would do that taking control of the place during the strategy phase wouldn't. It's essentially just a description of a way you'd take the places over, except covering them all in a single design instead of doing so properly in the strategy phase.

Gravity Pellets are Very Hard as a natural result of being your first Caelium project.

Briefcase full of dynamite is Hard on account of actually being a disguised bomb with a high level of difficulty to defuse.
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Quarque

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Re: CWAR: UNSA Thread // Design Phase // Spring 1946
« Reply #22 on: January 18, 2023, 08:12:29 pm »

Quote from: votebox
M1 Scythian
P-46 private airplane (firefly)(Non-Caelium version): (2) Powder Miner, Kashyyk
Visas and permits: (5) Quarque, m1895 , Funk, Kashyyk  UristMcRiley
Briefcase full of money: (4) m1895 , Funk, Powder Miner, Quarque
Collapsible Pistol: (1) ConscriptFive
Ankle Breaker: (1) ConscriptFive
« Last Edit: January 19, 2023, 10:19:32 am by Quarque »
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Man of Paper

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CWAR: UNSA Thread // Revision Phase // Spring 1946
« Reply #23 on: January 22, 2023, 04:47:23 pm »

Design Results

Proposal: Visas and Permits
Difficulty: Easy
Result: (6+4)+1=11, Masterwork

With a hard border separating UNSA and SFS territories, and attentions now turning outwards for both, it has become clear to us that we must ensure the people who are here belong to be here. Anyone who is not a natural-born citizen of North Harren has to apply by mail or in person through their local embassy in order to begin the entry process. Paperwork is filled out and multiple forms of identification requested to verify someone is who they say they are. Most applicants are given a range of time during which they are allowed to operate within the city based on what they are in the city for. The visas and permits provide this information in text as well as by the color of the papers - yellow for industrial and construction work, blue for government, pink for civilian/leisure, and green for commerce and trade (military is not included as they have their own entire set of identification and paperwork). White papers identify someone working or residing within the Fortress-City on a permanent basis. All papers include a watermark of the UNSA emblem and are stamped with the Agent Number of the employee who processed their application and handled any interview process, and each employee is responsible for maintaining an accurate record of their received applications for ease of reference. Anyone coming in from abroad is also required to show a passport in numerous locations to further facilitate the ability to trace their steps and verify their identity. Unique stamps are used at the various ports of North Harren as well as the ports of the Fortress-City itself. Government facilities also provide their own stamps upon admittance, and a number of checkpoints divide the Fortress-City into districts to further break down someones route through the city.

Military Police and, to a lesser degree, local law enforcement are trained to identify valid paperwork. Invalid or out of date visas or being somewhere without a stamp denoting their entry are all grounds for holding until an investigation is performed. If it is discovered that they entered the city illegally in any way, the foreigner will continue to be held until the next opportunity for deportation.

Visas and Permits costs 2 Wood, making it (CHEAP).


Proposal: Briefcase Full of Money
Difficulty: Easy
Result: (5+3)+1=9, Above Average

Briefcases are pretty simple things - they're just fancy rectangular containers with a handle and latches or locks. It's what goes inside of them that's important.

A latch on either side of the face with the handle keeps the briefcase closed and secured. In order to open the briefcase the two 3-digit combination locks are turned to the same number. Fancy. If, however, a separate 6-digit number is inputted, the briefcase will open up a second slightly smaller chamber hidden beneath the first. Fancy. Some fabricwork on the inside keeps any odd seams from view, although someone taking a thorough look at one of these briefcases will likely figure out there's a discrepancy between external appearance and internal size.

These briefcases are given to agents to make them appear very official, as well as grease the necessary palms to get into or out of trouble as needed. Connections to international banks and exchange services means denomination of currency is of little issue when it comes to a target's preference.

Briefcase Full of Money costs 4 Wood, representing in part the, uh, cost of money, making it (EXPENSIVE).


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


It is now the Revision Phase. You have two revisions to existing entries in the armory to make, whether they are improvements, fixes, or variations. As with the Design Phase, I will continue to provide input on the difficulties of your proposals and why.

Spoiler: UNSA Armory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Resources (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Resource Nodes (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Harren PoIs (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Credits (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: World Map (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Islands Map (click to show/hide)
TURNTURNTURN
« Last Edit: January 22, 2023, 04:49:48 pm by Man of Paper »
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Kashyyk

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Re: CWAR: UNSA Thread // Revision Phase // Spring 1946
« Reply #24 on: January 23, 2023, 04:18:32 pm »

Those two went quite well, so I was at a bit of loss as to what we should revise. I had a couple of ideas though.

Quote from: Improvised Freedom
We have some experience with things that undertake rapid and violent self-disassembly. Enough that even the interns know how to do it with some degree of reliability. Whilst we go do something more useful, the interns are tasked with creating a number of recipes for explosives, incendiaries, and the most awful stink bombs, all using commonly available ingredients.

This should allow our agents easy access to whatever mischief they tend to get up to on foreign soil, and we only have to provide the genuinely uncommon parts, like remote triggers, or timers.

Quote from: Lawless Lawmaker
We've diagnosed the fault with the jams to a semi-consistent failure in the die presses for the 120mm shells. Unfortunately the cost of replacing every single press is prohibitive, so instead we've adjusted the mechanisms around the firing chamber. The jams will still happen, but they should be clearable in the field with negligible reduction in overall rate of fire.
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ConscriptFive

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Re: CWAR: UNSA Thread // Revision Phase // Spring 1946
« Reply #25 on: January 23, 2023, 04:29:06 pm »

Quote from: Revision: Sporterized UNSA "Median" Rifle - the "Dallas" Sportsman Carbine

It's time to take a peace dividend with all these old service rifles.  The "Dallas" Sportsman Carbine sporterization turns an old battle rifle into modern sporting carbine, suitable for civilian hands.

To comply with the Civilian Fireams Act of 1942, the length of the rifle has been brought down to a civilian legal 900 mm.  (When cutting down the barrel, the front bayonet lug also is discarded, fulfilling another legal requirement.)  Legal 5 round box magazines are supplied as well.  (Mechanically, the magazine well is unchanged so legacy 20 round magazines are still compatible.)  Shortened and with a smaller ammo load, the mass of the Dalllas Sportsman Carbine is a full half kg less than its military counterpart.

But wait, there's more...

The carbine is fitted with a 2x telescopic sight.  To further aid civilian marksmanship, the crosshairs on the sight are notched for bullet drop compensation.  While the carbine length barrel is technically ballistically inferior to its original rifle length specification, this does not account for human factors.  With the magnified sight vs iron, a competent civilian hunter can still hit a bullseye at 700 meters (a significant improvement over the military rifle.)

See it's civilian legal, so it won't raise world tension.  You could probably carry it into a book depository if you really wanted.

Quarque

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Re: CWAR: UNSA Thread // Revision Phase // Spring 1946
« Reply #26 on: January 23, 2023, 05:43:37 pm »

Quote from: heavy metal bomb
This is a revision of the enriched uranium bomb.

One of the most difficult parts of getting critical uranium mass that leads to the explosive nuclear chain reaction has been how to squeeze the uranium together tightly enough. It requires a complicated fuse mechanism and conventional explosives.

This design exploits the fact that uranium is a heavy metal and uses a Caelium allow to make it an even heavier metal. This has two advantages and one small disadvantage.

Advantage 1: it becomes easier to squeeze the uranium into a critical mass, allowing for considerable simplification of the fuse mechanism
Advantage 2: the chain reaction keeps going for longer before it dissipates, increasing the yield
Small disadvantage: there may be a risk of accidentally setting off a nuclear explosion prematurely while testing the design

Quote from: duplicated papers and costume
This is a revision of Fabricated Papers.

Having a fake ID helps getting into enemy terrain, but what if they keep a list of their residents? They might notice that the person doesn't exist.
So instead, we duplicate the papers of an existing person - preferably a loner without friends or family, to minimize the risk of discovery.

In addition, we add a costume that looks like something that the real person might wear.

Quote from: Visas, Permits and Fingerprints
This is a revision of Visas and Permits.

While the commies are obviously intellectually inferior, they might have figured out how to fabricate papers.
We must close the hole even tighter. To prevent forgery, we demand that every citizen visits the local authority, inks their left thumb and presses a fingerprint onto their ID card. If someone wants to cross the border, they have to make a fingerprint that will be checked, especially if they look like they might be a dirty communist.

Quote from: Homerun Handgrenade
This is a revision of the M1 Hand Grenade.

Where the M1 casing is made out of steel, the M2 is made out of an Caelium-steel alloy. This makes them unnaturally light and allows them to be thrown an amazing distance, so much so that it is jokingly named the Homerun.

Quote from: Briefcase full of dynamite
This is a revision of the Briefcase full of money, but with a very different purpose.

Instead of filling the hidden area of the briefcase with money, it is filled with dynamite and a simple fuse on a timer, so that it may be smuggled into a building and explode at an inconvenient moment.
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Man of Paper

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Re: CWAR: UNSA Thread // Revision Phase // Spring 1946
« Reply #27 on: January 24, 2023, 10:31:46 am »

The Lawless Lawman Lawthing is a Very Easy fix.
Improvised Freedom is…not quite valid. “Covert explosives production lines made of household supplies” isn’t really going to have much impact as a revision of grenades (which is a stretch I’m not quite willing to justify either) and as a design will fall far short of the capabilities of a design action. Im going to be a bit restrictive when it comes to revising concepts into other concepts with loose or no direct ties to the armory in the early game when you’ve got no real experience and a barebones kit.
The Sporterized Median rides the Easy/Normal line. It’s a bit of a rework but nothing too intensive.
Heavy Metal Bomb skirts the line of Theoretical/Ludicrous. It’s technically possible, but using some of the most completely engineered weaponry as the foundation for your first technical applications of caelium is going to be excruciatingly complicated.
Duplicated Papers and Costumes is Hard/Very Hard, as things have gone from a little lie to full-on identity theft, with all the complications that could come with it.
Visas, Permits, and Fingerprints is Simple, since it just adds a singular unintensive step to the visa and permit process,
Homerun is Easy. It’s a first caelium use but it isn’t tied to any complex mechanisms or engineering, and nothing about the base grenade is otherwise being heavily augmented.
Briefcase Full of Dynamite is grounded in the briefcase design, but this is equivalent to the revision of battleships to transport variants back in the day: it is an extreme deviation from the intent of the design. Dynamite might be easier to work with than the entire hull of a battleship, but it’s still going to get hit with a Very Hard to simulate figuring out appropriate volumes of dynamite as well as apply appropriate explosives training to anyone who’d use one.
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Quarque

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Re: CWAR: UNSA Thread // Revision Phase // Spring 1946
« Reply #28 on: January 24, 2023, 11:22:06 am »

I love the sportsman carbine.

I'm on the fence about my second pick for a vote. The briefcase full of dynamite is very hard, but also very useful. It would directly help to frustrate enemy control over their POI.
The designs we have will help us gain and maintain control over our own POI, so together it will give us a great opening with a bit of luck on the dice.

On the other hand, the easy Homerun Handgrenade revision would be a nice way to gain more experience in working with Caelium and explosives. Starting early would help to build the battle mech of our dreams eventually.

Quote from: votebox
Lawless Lawmaker: (0)
the "Dallas" sportsman carbine: (1) Quarque
Duplicated papers and costume: (0)
Visas, permits and fingerprints: (0)
Homerun Handgrenade: (1) Quarque
Briefcase full of dynamite: (0)

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ConscriptFive

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Re: CWAR: UNSA Thread // Revision Phase // Spring 1946
« Reply #29 on: January 24, 2023, 12:08:14 pm »

Quote from: votebox
Lawless Lawmaker: (0)
the "Dallas" sportsman carbine: (2) Quarque, ConscriptFive
Duplicated papers and costume: (0)
Visas, permits and fingerprints: (1) ConscriptFive
Homerun Handgrenade: (1) Quarque
Briefcase full of dynamite: (0)
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