- Location
- Fort Worth, TX
[X] Plan: Training Approved
East Africa 1930: An ORBAT Quest
- Thread starter 4WheelSword
- Start date
- Original Alt. History
I'm somewhat skeptical that the tripod would ever be mobile on its own.Yeah, and they're adorable, which is very important!
The tripod mounting is, as far as I can tell, is this one, scaled down even further to take a single gun:
Given that it's only 160 kg, I think there are opportunities for creativity here once we've gotten to look at them a bit and seen what other countries are doing with their AA guns as well (e.g., detachable or collapsible wheels on two of the legs so that the crews can lift the third leg at a mechanical advantage and wheel it into and out of position). If we want something to fill the same niche as the DP mounting right away, I bet we could remove the legs and bolt that to the bed of a low wooden cart and it'd be better than the current one in terms of rapidity of setting up - keep in mind that for effective AA defence with the DP mount, you've got to correctly orient the MG (and if you don't know where the planes are coming from, that means setting up a full battery).
With only a dozen guns, is it even worth the price? Our crews will have to train to operate strip fed guns anyways because of the Type 3s, they can reuse strips so there isn't added logistical burden, I think the strip feeds probably produce a higher sustained rate of fire anyways (you can feed them in directly instead of needing to remove a spent magazine), and we can always throw them to a separate org like mounting them on riverboats or something where the lack of commonality is a non-issue (and the tripod mounting would be undesirable for a riverboat anyways).
Huh, I wonder what solutions there are. The SNLF probably has some thoughts on this, given their expectation of jungle fighting in a future war, and there may be things being adopted in current fighting.
I wonder if we could do some sort of, like, single-use field telephone cable line throwing shell for a Type 89 grenade discharger?
A tachanka setup could work as a sort of grass-fed SPAAG, but it would take even longer to setup as a ground emplacement.
It's optimising for AA at the expense of the ground role.
Which, yes, AA is important and an HMG is never going to be particularly speedy to move around, but...
DP mounting I figure people can tweak the arc by grabbing the legs and hauling it around.
For the refit, there's two dozen. Seems like an unnecessary hassle having two types, with different feed mechanisms with different spare parts. Plus the dust issue. While it may cost a bit... does it really cost more than buying all those extra guns?
Though I guess the current unmodified guns could equip the current battalions as specialised AT weapons until something better enters service.
I mean...
(not that we're supposed to know about these)
Those are all heavier guns on tripod mounts that can be wheeled around, and in two of the cases aren't significantly mechanically different from our tripod. Edit: You could bolt a wooden or metal tube axle to two of the legs and stick removable wheels on it; the crew would just have to pick up the rear leg (with leverage, probably equivalent to the gun crew deadlifting 80 kg), remove the wheels (or put them back on), and then lower the rear leg and you're in or out of action.
I don't think any of the unique feed parts are particularly high wear. I'm thinking we could just throw them on the river boats and not worry about it; we need guns for things like the Carabinavy and spare parts anyways.
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I think optimising for AA is the superior option anyways. From OOC knowledge we know that you absolutely can make AA guns in AA mounts do AT work just fine, even if theyre not particularly mobile, and from IC knowledge the initial observations from the Chaco war suggests that tanks are not particularly decisive in the numbers and organisation we are likely to face; while jungle is very different from bushlands both have short sightlines and great infantry terrain, and much worse tank country.
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So I managed to nerd-snipe myself in an attempt to figure out how the Hotchkiss 13.2 mm took feed strips, since every resource I have (which generally focused on the AA version) had no indication of how it'd function, and seemingly wouldn't work with feed strips - they have a top-mounted magazine, with the casings ejecting out the side of the gun; a rigid feed strip would be impossible without major changes to the operating mechanism. I wanted to figure out what the strip-fed guns looked like, because if they were arranged a certain way, it is possible that they'd be a surprise tool that will help us later.
Of course, I am an idiot; we were already given a picture of the strip-fed gun in the turnpost:
I am very, very smart. For a picture of it with a strip, wikipedia has this:
You can see the strip protuding from the left side of the gun near the top. Based on the location of the feed strip above the barrel, and comments form other sources that most Hotchkiss guns worked via almost identical mechanisms, I think internally it's a scaled up version of the Hotchkiss Mle. 1909, possibly mirrored:
View: https://youtu.be/fU1xzzyugew
You can see how the strip feed mechanism is very similar to, say, the feed of a Maxim, except without the need to use a pull-out belt. The Mle. 1909 also came in a belt-fed variant, where the belt is just a really long feed strip that's able to bend (shown briefly at the end of the video).
As for why this is significant, having the strip-fed hotchkiss means we can hopefully make a belt-fed variant simply by manufacturing new belt pawls and feed slides (at the scale of only two dozen sets, this is a trivial expense and should be doable very quickly by a skilled machinist), and then dropping them into our existing guns (there may be belt pull issues but with how energetic the 13.2 is, we can surely tweak the gun to get enough energy). Why would we want that? Well, the magazines are better in cases where we're using it as crew-served weapons, but there are specific niche applications where a belt feed is useful. Long-term, it'd be helpful for aircraft, but the short term potential use is in river boats for the Carabinavy. If the guns are belt-fed, you don't need to provide space on either side of the firing position for a loader to access the guns, and instead can have the guns on a ring mount that's just wide enough for the gunner to sit in. This means we save on the weight of armour - a barbette proof against rifle-calibre bullets for a single person to stand in is around half a ton; the smaller we can make it, the better for the Carabinavy.
Of course, I am an idiot; we were already given a picture of the strip-fed gun in the turnpost:
I am very, very smart. For a picture of it with a strip, wikipedia has this:
You can see the strip protuding from the left side of the gun near the top. Based on the location of the feed strip above the barrel, and comments form other sources that most Hotchkiss guns worked via almost identical mechanisms, I think internally it's a scaled up version of the Hotchkiss Mle. 1909, possibly mirrored:
View: https://youtu.be/fU1xzzyugew
You can see how the strip feed mechanism is very similar to, say, the feed of a Maxim, except without the need to use a pull-out belt. The Mle. 1909 also came in a belt-fed variant, where the belt is just a really long feed strip that's able to bend (shown briefly at the end of the video).
As for why this is significant, having the strip-fed hotchkiss means we can hopefully make a belt-fed variant simply by manufacturing new belt pawls and feed slides (at the scale of only two dozen sets, this is a trivial expense and should be doable very quickly by a skilled machinist), and then dropping them into our existing guns (there may be belt pull issues but with how energetic the 13.2 is, we can surely tweak the gun to get enough energy). Why would we want that? Well, the magazines are better in cases where we're using it as crew-served weapons, but there are specific niche applications where a belt feed is useful. Long-term, it'd be helpful for aircraft, but the short term potential use is in river boats for the Carabinavy. If the guns are belt-fed, you don't need to provide space on either side of the firing position for a loader to access the guns, and instead can have the guns on a ring mount that's just wide enough for the gunner to sit in. This means we save on the weight of armour - a barbette proof against rifle-calibre bullets for a single person to stand in is around half a ton; the smaller we can make it, the better for the Carabinavy.
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The issue there is that we don't have many of those and the ones we have are busy.
I mean, when I was on university design teams, these were the kinds of parts that you'd bang out in an afternoon. They'd basically be tool-room prototypes at the scales we're currently looking at, there's no fixed tooling or anything. It'd be orders of magnitude more effort setting up the machines to produce stamped ammunition belts.
I'm also being conservative in assuming that you couldn't just immediately use a suitably-designed belt in the guns.
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Vote closed
- Location
- Yes
This is great, I think this is the most split vote we've ever had. Clearly we should be asking more questions about mounts and carriages.
Turn 16 News, Rumours, & Updates: October-December 1933
- Location
- Yes
Turn 16 News, Rumours, & Updates: October-December 1933
Project Development
Ongoing Projects
[X] Send Observers: Paraguay - Send a military attaché to learn from the Paraguayan army's experiences on the Chaco front. (Until recalled or conflict ends)[X] Construct a naval base - Currently the RMCF is based out of the commercial port facilities at Kismayo, but this state of affairs is not acceptable in the long run. We have little secure storage for arms and ammunition, we don't have proper facilities for the effective routine maintenance of our ships, and the port fees are shocking. If we established a proper naval base, all of these problems would go away, although drydock facilities would still be provided by the private sector. (3 Months remain) ☑☑☑◻
[X] In Kismayo, the largest port city
[X] Establish an Officer Academy - Our officers are currently trained in an ad-hoc fashion. The establishment of a proper Academy would allow us to educate more officers, and provide a centre for spreading doctrinal advances across the military by running a series of advanced courses and bringing able officers back as instructors. (6 Months remain) ☑☑◻◻
Completed Projects
[X] Marksmanship Training - With an average of twenty rounds per man per year, marksmanship is of very poor quality. Regular range training will begin to improve this, not only for the infantry but for the cavalry and artillery too.[X] Request Japanese support for this program, improving impacts and benefiting from IJN institutional knowledge. Project Complete ☑☑☑☑
[X] Establish an Infantry School - Our riflemen are currently trained in an ad-hoc fashion. The establishment of a proper School would allow us to drill our soldiers in more advanced tactics and provide a single baseline for all of our forces, so that officers can more easily assume command of troops they have not trained with. Project Complete ☑☑
[X] Optional: Request Japanese support for this program, improving impacts and benefiting from IJA institutional knowledge.
[X] Ask to de-emphasise aggression, discipline and bayonet training somewhat, as our troops are not ready for such rigors.
[X] Purchase Heavy Machine Guns. Project Complete. ☑
[X] 250x Single Hotchkiss M1929 on Fixed Tripod using box magazines.
Kismayo-Turkana Line:
Progress, Marsabit-Turkana: 100% (Est. completion October 1933)
Weapon Orders, and Production:
Progress, Rifle Factory: 3 rifles per day for Reewiin, continuing. 12 rifles per day delivered to Japan under the terms of the 1932 agreement, to end in April 1935.
Progress, LMG Deliveries: 55%, (Est. Completion June 1934).
Progress, LMG Factory: 1 gun per day, full rate.
Progress, HMG Deliveries: 0%, (Est. Completion October 1934)
Type 3 HMG Project:
Progress, Reverse Engineering: Experiencing delays
October-December 1933
International Headlines of Note
- A 16-day battle is conducted between Japanese Army troops and Korean Nationalist Rebels. Several hundred Koreans have been killed.
Local Rumours
- Carabinieri operations have been delayed in recent months, with patrols and reports completed late. This is due to a combination of the off-season harvest, and both the lambing and camel calving seasons depleting carabinieri numbers significantly.
- Marches have been conducted by multiple political organisations in Reewiin, including a continuation of the Reewiin Internationalist parties campaign against Japanese 'political occupation'.
Reports
Marksmanship Training
A group of Japanese infantry officers have spent the last twelve months establishing a regular shoot schedule for the Army, with every man from the lowliest enlisted soldier to the most senior field officer in the Cavalry expected to attend the range at least once a quarter, with frontline infantry shooting more often than that. Now, these instructors are returning to previous duties and have empowered a mixed group of Reewiinite NCO's to continue this vital work.However, this more regular marksmanship training has uncovered a greater issue. Ammunition stocks are depleting faster than they're being rebuilt by the hand loading industry Reewiin currently maintains. It may be worthwhile considering either expanding this sector or buying in ammunition from elsewhere.
Infantry School with Japanese Characteristics
A new set of buildings have been completed on the outskirts of Buur Gaabo and with that the new Infantry School has been established. Part of the effort to professionalise the Army, this new infantry school will take both existing units and any newly raised ones and push them through a one-year course that includes:- Basic training, athletics, squad cohesion exercises and outdoor living in the first 5 months.
- Platoon and company manoeuvres, field fortification building and route marches across the Reewiinite countryside for four months.
- Two months of battalion level exercises as well as further required skill training for specific roles and oddities such as learning to swim. This period also includes basic bayonet training and counter-assault drills.
- The last month of the training year is used for mass manoeuvres alongside full trained, regular units. Officers engage in war games in the field during this period.
Observations from the Chaco War
Our observers in the Gran Chaco have spent some time with the Paraguayan Navy. Despite this sounding like an odd thing to do in a country without a coast, the Rio Paraguay is a key part of the national economy and is proving crucial to Paraguayan logistics in the Chaco. Boats of all types are employed to carry supplies forward and casualties back, and the heroes have been the two Humaitá-class gunboats recently delivered to the Paraguayan Navy. Constructed in Italy, the Humaitás are the largest and most powerful riverine combatants ever built, able to go toe to toe with most destroyers, but their real benefit to Paraguay right now is their strong AA armament of 3" guns and 40mm pom-poms. This armament allows them to act as AA escorts for other ships, or to perform fast self-escorted runs of critical supplies while driving off any attempted Bolivian air interdiction. They are also so powerful that the Bolivians have not even attempted to contest control of the river. The Humaitás are much too large to be operable on the Jubba, but our liaisons see clear parallels between the Paraguayan use of riverine power and our strategic situation against Ethiopia, who occupy the upper reaches of the Jubba in the national hinterland.The naval arsenal in Asunción is working at extreme pace, making ammunition, bombs, mortars and spare parts for Paraguay's ships and floatplanes. They are also constructing things that are a little less usual. One area is devoted to coachwork for trucks - Paraguay is using a lot of trucks for logistics in the Chaco despite the very poor conditions because they are still far better logistical prospects than a horse or ass, and Bolivia seems to be doing the same. Both sides are buying almost all of their trucks from the United States, but Paraguay is buying them as bare chassis and drivetrain combinations and then building all of the bodywork and the load bed to domestic designs. This appears to be noticeably cheaper.
Two Carumbe'i, one as received and one partially assembled.
The other thing being made in the naval arsenal is the Carumbe'i hand grenade, and a number of samples have been shipped back to Reewiin, disassembled and carefully packaged. These grenades are extremely simple to make, having a multi-part cast body that is filled with explosives and capped with a simple wooden plug. The plug contains the detonator and has a pyrotechnic igniter, with the end of the grenade covered in phosphor material like a matchhead and struck against a piece of sandpaper sewn to the wrist of one's uniform or carried on a wristband. These grenades are obviously very primitive and likely to pose a significant danger to the user, but if they were to be copied in Reewiin it would be possible to manufacture them using only cottage industry, not further stressing the industrial capacity of the nation.
Marsabit-Turkana Rail Line Completion
The President has opened the rail extension from Marsabit to Loiyangalani in a small ceremony and trains are now running, taking dried fish from the lake to the mining communities. The train line has been a long time coming, punching its way through the harsh semi-desert between the mines and the shore, but now that it is here the region is much better linked to the rest of Reewiin economically - and militarily.Defence Council Investment - January 1934
The Defence Council currently has one investment point available to be spent in the Ordnance area and one investment point available to be spent in any area.Industry and Logistics
Armaments
[ ] Weapon Testing: Sub-Machine Guns - The Ordnance Office will buy a handful of sub-machine guns and machine carbines from around the world and test them until they break. Afterwards, they will make recommendations to the Defence Council on the topic of portable assault weapons. (6-Month Investment. Recommendations will be made at the end of this process.)
[ ] Weapon Testing: Heavy Anti-Air Weapons - The Ordnance Office will research a handful of high angle anti-aircraft artillery pieces from around the world. Afterwards, they will make recommendations to the Defence Council on the topic of heavy AA weapons. (6-Month Investment. Recommendations will be made at the end of this process.)
[ ] Weapon Testing: Anti-Tank Weapons - The Ordnance Office will research a handful of field guns and large calibre rifles from around the world. Afterwards, they will make recommendations to the Defence Council on the topic of AT weapons. (6-Month Investment. Recommendations will be made at the end of this process.)
[ ] Weapon Testing: Grenades - The Ordnance Office will buy a handful of grenades from around the world and test them. Afterwards, they will make recommendations to the Defence Council on the topic of grenades and other handheld explosives. (6-Month Investment. Recommendations will be made at the end of this process.)
[ ] Weapon Testing: Mortars - The Ordnance Office will buy a handful of mortars from around the world and test them until they break. Afterwards, they will make recommendations to the Defence Council on the topic of mortars. (6-Month Investment. Recommendations will be made at the end of this process.)
[ ] Weapon Testing: Light Artillery Weapons - The Ordnance Office will research a handful of field guns and pack howitzers in the 3" class from around the world. Afterwards, they will make recommendations to the Defence Council on the topic of artillery weapons. (6-Month Investment. Recommendations will be made at the end of this process.)
[ ] Weapon Testing: Artillery Weapons - The Ordnance Office will research a handful of field guns and howitzers in the 4" and possibly larger classes from around the world. Afterwards, they will make recommendations to the Defence Council on the topic of artillery weapons. (6-Month Investment. Recommendations will be made at the end of this process.)
[ ] Emergency Purchase - Buy weapons directly from any available source. Write in the weapon and quantity. Emergency purchases that the government views as overly large, precipitous or having been made without due consideration may have consequences. If the requested weapon is not approved for export by the selling country you could get nothing. (3-Month Investment. Variable delivery time. Can be selected multiple times.)
[ ] Increase Funding: Type 3 - By funnelling additional investment towards the Type 3 project, it may be possible to have a prototype ready faster. (6-Month Investment.)
[ ] Cancellation: Type 3 - If the problems with the Type 3 are insurmountable, cancelling the programme could free up much-needed national resources for the design and production of other arms. This does not cost an investment point and can be done at any time. (Free.)
[ ] Increase Funding: Arisaka Type 38 - By funnelling additional investment towards the Type 38 production line, it may be possible to increase rifle production above the current rate. (3-Month Investment.)
[ ] Cancellation: Arisaka Type 38 - We have enough 6.5mm rifles to cover all of our needs and our order is complete. Stop purchasing them from the factory. This does not cost an investment point and can be done at any time. (Free.)
[ ] Increase Funding: 6.5x50mmSR - By funnelling additional investment towards the ammunition production line, it may be possible to increase ammunition production sufficiently to maintain current stockpiles even with the increased training burden. (3-Month Investment.)
[ ] Expand Production: 6.5x50mmSR - Ammunition production is less demanding than weapons production and it would be possible to rapidly train more workers and acquire more tools to produce sufficient ammunition to maintain our current stockpiles without adversely affecting the production of weapons. (6-Month Investment.)
[ ] Restructure the Ordnance Office - Reduce staffing in the Ordnance Office to retain oversight of programs in progress and free up capital for investment elsewhere. This does not cost an investment point and can be done at any time. (3-Month Wait.)
Breeding and Working
[ ] Restructure the Veterinary Oversight Office - To reduce operational costs the Veterinary Oversight Office has been shrunk significantly. Funding and personnel would allow the Office to perform specialised tasks. (3 Months, Constant Investment)
Doctrine and Organisation
DCIRRO[ ] Establish the Information Review Team - This group will be tasked with drafting reports on various arms of the internal structure of Reewiin. (12-Month Investment. Will enable additional work in this specific area, including write-in Information Review requests.)
[ ] Information Review: Government - Determine what the civilian government wants out of their armed forces. (3-Month Investment.)
[ ] Analysis: Ethiopia - Long-term analysis of the optimal army to defend Reewiin against our eternal enemy, Ethiopia. (6-Month Investment.)
[ ] Analysis: Britain - Long-term analysis of the optimal army to defend Reewiin against our eternal enemy, Britain. (6-Month Investment.)
[ ] Analysis: Italy - Long-term analysis of the optimal army to defend Reewiin against our eternal enemy, Italy. (6-Month Investment.)
Reforming the Carabinieri
[ ] Re-Implement the Carabinieri Office - Re-allocate staff to the Carabinieri Office in order to return Defence Council oversight to the national militia. Funding and personnel would allow the Office to perform specialised tasks. (3 Months, Constant Investment)
Reforming the Army
[ ] Manoeuvre Training - The Army Review has determined that Reewiin's standing military is not currently fit for the task. Field manoeuvres will begin to improve this. (6-Month Investment.)
-[ ] Optional: Request Japanese support for this program, improving impacts and benefiting from IJN institutional knowledge.
-[ ] Optional: Request Japanese support for this program, improving impacts and benefiting from IJA institutional knowledge.
[ ] Cavalry Training - The Cavalry are loath to conduct operations en-masse, leaving them poorly equipped for the field. Regular deployments into central Reewiin will begin to improve this. (6-Month Investment.)
-[ ] Optional: Request Japanese support for this program, improving impacts and benefiting from IJA institutional knowledge.
[ ] Artillery Training - Our artillery capability is doctrinally obsolescent, with all firing conducted over open sights. More realistic training will begin to improve this. (6-Month Investment.)
-[ ] Optional: Request Japanese support for this program, improving impacts and benefiting from IJN institutional knowledge.
-[ ] Optional: Request Japanese support for this program, improving impacts and benefiting from IJA institutional knowledge.
[ ] Enlarge the Officers Corps - The Army of Reewiin lacks many things, one of which is junior officers. While this is not a significant issue at the high level, it leaves the junior officers seriously overworked. Beginning a major drive to recruit and train new officers will shift this issue towards the positive. (12-Month Investment.)
[ ] Enlarge the Army - Currently, Reewiin maintains a standing Army of 6,000 men organised into six effective battalions. There are several options for enlarging this, and we can create formations and units that we do not currently have the equipment for if we want. It's perfectly possible to specify an artillery division is to be formed and only then start looking for an artillery piece to equip it. Select one or more:
-[ ] Establish a more formal reservist force from those claiming their pension. - Write in the desired force size and structure. (12-Month Investment)
-[ ] Increase recruitment and expand existing formations - Write in the desired force size and structure. (Variable Investment, 6-12 months)
-[ ] Increase recruitment and create entirely new formations - Write in the desired force size and structure. (Variable Investment, 12-24 months)
-[ ] Increase recruitment and split up current formations as cadres for the new recruits - Write in the desired force size and structure. (Variable Investment, 6-12 months)
-[ ] Institute conscription - Write in the desired force size and structure. (6-Month Investment)
-[ ] Write in.
[ ] Confine Idle Soldiers to Barracks - We can't have the Army tarnishing its image by gambling and causing trouble on the streets! Confining the soldiers to their barracks when they don't have leave will keep them from being a nuisance. (3-Month Investment).
Maritime Carabinieri Force
Equipment and Logistics[ ] Prepare to acquire new large ships - A temporary committee will be formed to investigate options for the procurement of large ships, whether that involves purchasing ships that are in service, having them built abroad or attempting to build a ship in Reewiin. For our purposes, large ships are those of destroyer escort/high endurance cutter size and above. (3-Month Investment.)
[ ] Prepare to acquire new small ships - A temporary committee will be formed to investigate options for the procurement of small ships, whether that involves purchasing ships that are in service, having them built abroad or building ships in Reewiin. For our purposes, small ships are torpedo boats, coastal patrol vessels and associated types. (3-Month Investment.)
[ ] Prepare to refit the Kutulo - A temporary committee will be formed to investigate options for the refit of RRCS Kutulo, which could be a deep refit to modernise her into an acceptable cruiser for the 30s and 40s, or could be a shallow refit to rapidly improve her reliability and suitability for purpose. (3-Month Investment.)
[ ] Establish a national fuel reserve - Reewiin is not rich in coal or oil, the lifeblood of navies. The purchase of a significant reserve of fuels would allow us to continue to operate the RMCF under blockade conditions for longer than usual, as well as allowing the government to smooth out price shocks to fuels. (9-Month Investment.)
Doctrine and Organisation
[ ] Improved Training - The RMCF is completely new and knows very little, institutionally, about policing or combat at sea. More realistic training will begin to improve this, although it may be a long process. (6-Month Investment.)
-[ ] Optional: Request Japanese support for this program, improving impacts and benefiting from IJN institutional knowledge.
[ ] Establish a Naval Officer Academy - Our officers are currently drawn from the merchant marine and trained in an ad-hoc fashion. The establishment of a proper Academy would allow us to educate more officers, and provide a centre for spreading doctrinal advances across the military by running a series of advanced courses and bringing able officers back as instructors. (12-Month Investment.)
-[ ] Optional: Request Japanese support for this program, improving impacts and benefiting from IJN institutional knowledge. (Reduces to 6-Month Investment.)
[ ] Establish a Sailing School - Our sailors are currently drawn from the merchant marine and trained in an ad-hoc fashion. The establishment of a proper School would allow us to drill our sailors in better seamanship and especially the art of fighting at sea. (12-Month Investment.)
-[ ] Optional: Request Japanese support for this program, improving impacts and benefiting from IJN institutional knowledge. (Reduces to 6-Month Investment.)
You are more than welcome to ask questions about what is acceptable as a write-in vote, and you are also welcome to ask the Council Liaisons for in character advice on decisions.
There will be a 6-hour moratorium on voting to encourage discussion. The vote will close in three days.
- Location
- USA
For ammunition:
[ ] Expand Production: 6.5x50mmSR - Ammunition production is less demanding than weapons production and it would be possible to rapidly train more workers and acquire more tools to produce sufficient ammunition to maintain our current stockpiles without adversely affecting the production of weapons. (6-Month Investment.)
More local ammunition that is not able to be cutoff due to blockade or recession seems like a good idea and doesnt cut into existing weapon manufacturing
[ ] Expand Production: 6.5x50mmSR - Ammunition production is less demanding than weapons production and it would be possible to rapidly train more workers and acquire more tools to produce sufficient ammunition to maintain our current stockpiles without adversely affecting the production of weapons. (6-Month Investment.)
More local ammunition that is not able to be cutoff due to blockade or recession seems like a good idea and doesnt cut into existing weapon manufacturing
Do we expand the Army and Reserve now? We still have a deadline to meet and all that. Also, agree on expanding ammunition production.
- Pronouns
- He/They
I hadn't seen the ammunition issue coming but it makes sense. It might be best for us to start Expanding Production now, or after a quick field gun buy, because even if we could stretch the current facilities to cover current needs, we're going to be increasing demand a lot soon. We might pull off grenade trials first, but doing so and then buying some - unless we want to go straight into cottage grenade territory - might be a long time to wait.
The key decision for this turn, I think, is conscription. I'm definitely in favor of it, and for it to be ready for fast expansion as soon as the officer school is done we'll need to implement it now.
The key decision for this turn, I think, is conscription. I'm definitely in favor of it, and for it to be ready for fast expansion as soon as the officer school is done we'll need to implement it now.
Oh it's such a bad, bad idea to create a cottage industry for small bombs, making it available for anyone willing to throw those bombs at Japanese or the government...
Look, early 20th Century Anarchists are a feature, not a bug.
Aesthetically maybe, but appeasing the Japanese after the "incidents" is pretty expensive. And stable-ish government is more likely to fund our activities. So mebbe let's not do that.
A long update, and lots of thoughts.
For reference, this is the Humaitá:
13 mm of armour over the vitals, 18 knots, 4 120 mm guns, as well as the aforementioned 3" and 40 mm guns. Sadly, the draught is about twice what we can do on the lower Jubba, and who knows how much we can do on the upper Jubba. Once we get our carabinavy slot, though, riverine combatants would be great.
As for what we should pick, IMO:
For reference, this is the Humaitá:
13 mm of armour over the vitals, 18 knots, 4 120 mm guns, as well as the aforementioned 3" and 40 mm guns. Sadly, the draught is about twice what we can do on the lower Jubba, and who knows how much we can do on the upper Jubba. Once we get our carabinavy slot, though, riverine combatants would be great.
This is interesting. I'm not sure if we can do this, but buying diesel drivetrains from abroad and then building the trucks ourselves could be neat in the future?
We've got poorly-trained soldiers. I don't want to give them a grenade they're likely to kill themselves with. If the troops can't trust their equipment they'll not use it, and it's a waste.
As for what we should pick, IMO:
- [] Emergency Purchase - 81 mm Brandt Mle 27/31 mortars; 80 this year; 40 each year after it for a period of 4 years
- They're doing good work in the Chaco, so we could just do a straight purchase of them.
- [] Expand Production: 6.5x50mmSR
- I mean, it's obvious. That said, could it wait 3 months so we can do mortars first?
- [] Institute conscription
- We need to make the army bigger. Putting the free slot on this, now that we have our infantry school set up, makes sense. The big debate, IMO, is how long the service period should be, and by extension, how many people get conscripted every 6 months/year.
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Yeah, sorry, edited to make that clear. I'm personally leaning towards mortars, but if not that, then ammo production.
- Location
- an unseen void
- Pronouns
- Any
Conscription and ammo production would be my favored choices here. Gotta cover fundamentals.
Not for this turn but I'm still eyeing the sailing school and Japanese help with it; keeps with our general practice of favoring them for practical general soldier skills and being more protective of influences in our officers, and taps into something they especially have much more practical experience with than us.
Not for this turn but I'm still eyeing the sailing school and Japanese help with it; keeps with our general practice of favoring them for practical general soldier skills and being more protective of influences in our officers, and taps into something they especially have much more practical experience with than us.
Not against getting help from Japan with the sailing stuff, sort-of concerned that we would inherit their Damage Control that ended up blowing Taiho.
Especially agreed. Cross-training is particularly important for small ships where you can't have a dedicated damcon team.
Honestly, I think we could do well by hiring the experienced crews of riverboats from the Jubba to crew ours. They're familiar with the river, and it's not like Japan has done a lot of brown-water fighting recently (I think?).
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Was their damage control training notably bad, or just not as good as the US? That kind of seems like something we wouldn't do better at ourselves without learning the hard way.
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I want to point out that if you asked the crew of the Kutulo as it exists to set Condition Zebra they would try to find a stripey horse. Current damage control training consists of a short briefing on where the lifeboats are. While Japanese damage control procedures are a popular figure of fun amongst the thalassocognoscenti, they beat the hell out of what you have now.
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KlavoHunter
THOU SHALT WORSHIP NO GODS ABOVE ENTERPRISE!
Much as I want to snag mortars sooner rather than later; running out of bullets for the marksmanship program would be devastating. And apparently we have to start conscription nowish if we want to meet plan goals, so....