Post by aimway921 on Oct 12, 2022 2:27:22 GMT -5
The war against the Union of South Touli has been talking much, much longer than originally anticipated. UST was offering harsh resistance, and while it mostly consisted of throwing mass waves of bodies at Ashinaran machine guns and Franerri Gatlings, it was taking a toll on the Coalition forces as well. One of the avenues that the Royal Army has decided to approach to remedy the situation is by developing and employing new weapons.
First course of action was creation of a new artillery system. So far experience has shown that mortars were more instrumental than field guns, their longer range and more importantly - the arc of indirect fire - proving deadly against the enemy. The problem arose when at the Ferville Meatgrinder the UST has introduced a yet unknown new artillery system with a greatly superior range than anything Ashinara could offer.
The Royal Arms Arsenal of Ashinara was put to work on developing a new class of artillery, perhaps taking inspiration from the long range naval guns used both on battle ships and in coastal batteries, with the following minimum requirements put forth:
-Caliber of no less that 12 cm and no more than 200 cm
-Range of no less than 10,000 meters (6.2 miles)
-Weight of no more than 15,000 pounds
Since this project was currently of the highest priority, it would be given the most funding.
Next, an improvement to the mobile firepower system was needed. Tachankas were proving to be useful, but not enough. They had 2 big downfalls: their machine gun could only face backwards and they were completely unarmored, making them vulnerable to both artillery and rifle fire.
The Royal Army Engineer corps were given 5 of Ashinara's 50 supply trucks, with the task of creating an armored vehicle that could be used to safely advance at the enemy.
Several armor designs would be attemted, with 3 of the trucks made into prototypes:
First truck would have several plates bolted to the frame to protect the engine, the driver and the bed, into which a machine gun would be placed. This design, however, proved to be a complete failure, as it was clunky, prone to falling apart and provided minimal protection.
Second truck would have it's entire body removed, leaving only the frame, suspension and engine. A frame taking up as little space as possible would then be built around the engine and the driver seat would be then mounted, to which armor plates would be riveted. The area where the bed of the truck used to be would be fitted with a metal floor thick enough to hold the weight of 2 persons, a heavy machine gun and up to 2,000 rounds of ammunition, while thick enough to be as light as possible. A frame would then be constructed, giving enough space for two crew members to sit while in transport and to stand to shoot the machine gun - which itself would be placed in a fully-rotatable turret inspired by one of the tankettes purchased from UKUG. The end result would look something like this.
Third truck would also have it's entire body removed, however the armor placed onto it would be much simpler. Unlike the previous design, this would only have 2 sperate compartments instead of 3. The engine would be armored the same, while both the driver seat and the rear of the truck were made into one bucket or bathtub of sorts - with no roof. A swiveling mount for the machine gun would be placed in the middle, with a shield to to protect the gun crew. The end result would look something like this.
No additional designs would be deemed successful enough to try and turn any of the other 2 trucks into prototypes.
Finally, the Royal Army needed to relook the way it's soldiers were supplied. Corners had to be cut, but only there where it would not affect the performance of the equipment. Many of the leather webbing would be redesigned into canvas webbing. Ammunition pouches would be simplified from being 2 joint cells holding 10 rounds each into a single cell holding 20 rounds. The largest and most radical change would be redesigning the uniforms to a simpler cut. While existing soldiers would get to keep their old uniforms, new recruits would be issued the new pattern, as well as the existing soldiers who needed their uniform replaced due to wear and tear. But most important of all - the previous winter has shown that Ashinarans were drastically unprepared for winter conditions. They have been hoping that their natural fur would protect them, but they were wrong, and had to resort to fashioning ponchos out of blankets and bartering for warm clothes with the Tafatu civilians. A new greatcoat would be rolled out in preparation for the next winter.
First course of action was creation of a new artillery system. So far experience has shown that mortars were more instrumental than field guns, their longer range and more importantly - the arc of indirect fire - proving deadly against the enemy. The problem arose when at the Ferville Meatgrinder the UST has introduced a yet unknown new artillery system with a greatly superior range than anything Ashinara could offer.
The Royal Arms Arsenal of Ashinara was put to work on developing a new class of artillery, perhaps taking inspiration from the long range naval guns used both on battle ships and in coastal batteries, with the following minimum requirements put forth:
-Caliber of no less that 12 cm and no more than 200 cm
-Range of no less than 10,000 meters (6.2 miles)
-Weight of no more than 15,000 pounds
Since this project was currently of the highest priority, it would be given the most funding.
Next, an improvement to the mobile firepower system was needed. Tachankas were proving to be useful, but not enough. They had 2 big downfalls: their machine gun could only face backwards and they were completely unarmored, making them vulnerable to both artillery and rifle fire.
The Royal Army Engineer corps were given 5 of Ashinara's 50 supply trucks, with the task of creating an armored vehicle that could be used to safely advance at the enemy.
Several armor designs would be attemted, with 3 of the trucks made into prototypes:
First truck would have several plates bolted to the frame to protect the engine, the driver and the bed, into which a machine gun would be placed. This design, however, proved to be a complete failure, as it was clunky, prone to falling apart and provided minimal protection.
Second truck would have it's entire body removed, leaving only the frame, suspension and engine. A frame taking up as little space as possible would then be built around the engine and the driver seat would be then mounted, to which armor plates would be riveted. The area where the bed of the truck used to be would be fitted with a metal floor thick enough to hold the weight of 2 persons, a heavy machine gun and up to 2,000 rounds of ammunition, while thick enough to be as light as possible. A frame would then be constructed, giving enough space for two crew members to sit while in transport and to stand to shoot the machine gun - which itself would be placed in a fully-rotatable turret inspired by one of the tankettes purchased from UKUG. The end result would look something like this.
Third truck would also have it's entire body removed, however the armor placed onto it would be much simpler. Unlike the previous design, this would only have 2 sperate compartments instead of 3. The engine would be armored the same, while both the driver seat and the rear of the truck were made into one bucket or bathtub of sorts - with no roof. A swiveling mount for the machine gun would be placed in the middle, with a shield to to protect the gun crew. The end result would look something like this.
No additional designs would be deemed successful enough to try and turn any of the other 2 trucks into prototypes.
Finally, the Royal Army needed to relook the way it's soldiers were supplied. Corners had to be cut, but only there where it would not affect the performance of the equipment. Many of the leather webbing would be redesigned into canvas webbing. Ammunition pouches would be simplified from being 2 joint cells holding 10 rounds each into a single cell holding 20 rounds. The largest and most radical change would be redesigning the uniforms to a simpler cut. While existing soldiers would get to keep their old uniforms, new recruits would be issued the new pattern, as well as the existing soldiers who needed their uniform replaced due to wear and tear. But most important of all - the previous winter has shown that Ashinarans were drastically unprepared for winter conditions. They have been hoping that their natural fur would protect them, but they were wrong, and had to resort to fashioning ponchos out of blankets and bartering for warm clothes with the Tafatu civilians. A new greatcoat would be rolled out in preparation for the next winter.