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That Time I Became A Dictator Of A Small Asian Communist Nation

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HeroCooky said:
Yes, in a nutshell.
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One more thing that I've been wondering: The way megaprojects are set up now encourages shocking production in order to minimize rep loss, but this leads to some fairly unrealistic narrative consequences. Gameplay and narrative seperation is definitely an answer to that, but I can't help that it might make more sense to go back to the way megaprojects were done the first time it came up?
For instance, we paid the rep cost for education reform all up front and that was it. Doing it that way lets us spread projects across multiple turns, which is more realistic and makes turn planning more flexible IMO. It might help generate more engagement if the mechanics allowed for more flex in the build plans so that there are less constraints on optimal pathways towards goals.

Tyrants does a neat job of discouraging shocking production for instance by limiting the number of bonuses that can apply to each project action after the first one. I'm not necessarily advocating to import that system, but it's one example we can look at.

#MechanicsRambles
 
I'm not against tweaking mechanics to better suit the narrative, but we're nearly 200 pages and almost 20 turns in and one of the more pleasing elements is how accessible the mechanics are.

I could put together a plan inside of an hour and be happy with it.

Another more mechanically-intense quest I spent four hours looking over a plan and at the end of it I still wasn't entirely happy with it. Narrative-fitting-simplicity is a beauty all its own.
 
One thing our turbines will be really good for in keeping up the pilot training. Minimizing maintenance hours per unit flight time is going to let our pilots spend more time in the cockpit.

Submarines have to wait until the next Plan.
 
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Sub-Vote - Airy Modernization
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    • [X] Military
    -[X] Airy Modernization (Mega-Project - 8/8) (+1 Reputation) (Triggers Sub-Votes)
    (8 + 6 + 7 + 2 + 2 + 9 + 6 + 1 = 41 / 8 = 5.125 = 5 - Optimal)

    It had been the work of several grueling years where scientists and engineers worked with old-fashioned human minds and hands coupled with the awesome might of computational power that dwarfed anything most other countries used, much less solely for their military programs. Yet, throughout these massive efforts, one thing became transparent above all else. That frightened and excited the people sequestered within Mingxiang more than anything, not only for what it suggested but also what it meant straight out the front.

    The budget had been, though not effectively, virtually limitless, with hundreds of projects being approved for testing and prototyping. At the same time, space and time were dedicated to working out any faults or finding what avenues were not to be pursued further to cut the losses of the program.

    And, within those years of testing, creating, prototyping, and slashing projects, one name gained as much infamy as it did a reputation of inevitability, the looming, yet not overshadowing, visage of one person inspiring every worker to do their hardest to ensure they would not receive the "Blue Envelope" as it was called. The envelope that carried with it reassignments and the cessation of a program, all at the behest of Director Wei.

    And yet, after much time, sweat, blood, nervous breakdowns, fights, broken bones, three marriages, two divorces (not related), a scandal that required therapy for fifteen engineers upon entering Doctor Su's office after she accidentally sent the drafted Tigermail instead of deleting it, and more than one metric ton of coffee being consumed in a day, their efforts had paid off.

    They had finished everything, every project had been pushed from the prototyping stage to production-ready, and all that needed to be done was to show off their projects to the Great Leader Jungming, Commander in Chief Mai, and the High Staff of the Military.

    Marx help them all.

    Developed:
    Principles of RCS Reduction - Done!
    Result: Permanently reduced radar signatures of all planes, incremental updates to signature reduction every year/design, got that snazzy stealth look for your aircraft!

    The Iron Phoenix X-Plane Program - Done!
    Result: EHA's, Fly-By-Wire, and prototypical Glass Cockpit tested and approved for further development (Glass Cockpit) or ready for implementation now. (EHA's and Fly-By-Wire)

    AWACS - Done!
    Result: You can now create AWACS. :V

    Designs:
    [] Jet Engine - (Description of capabilities/design/look)
    [] SRAAM - (Description of capabilities/design/look)
    [] MRAAM - (Description of capabilities/design/look)
    [] LRAAM - (Description of capabilities/design/look)
    [] ASCM- (Description of capabilities/design/look)

    AN: Look. It is a bunch of technical things. I got introduced to the concept that letters will be used in math and got left behind ever since. There's not much for me to write about for my smooth brain, especially as I can't throw up Eldritch Science Fantasy bullshit like in Cult Creator as to why things Just Work™.
     
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    • Point of order: Wei is non-binary, and they're not really the sort of boss people fear - damn, the lack of prequel is really hurting here. They're very much more of a velvet glove sort of administrator.
     
    Alternatively, it's possible that people's ire is misdirected and they have the wrong Wei.
     
    Barondoctor said:
    Alternatively, it's possible that people's ire is misdirected and they have the wrong Wei.
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    Lmao, I hadn't even considered the name confusion this would generate. :V

    What does this mean:

    EHA's, Fly-By-Wire, and prototypical Glass Cockpit tested and approved for further development (Glass Cockpit) or ready for implementation now. (EHA's and Fly-By-Wire)

    Is the glass cockpit ready or not?
     
    That's fine, some teething issues are honestly expected given the lack of previous experience.

    We'll probably spend a few actions every plan to modernize existing systems and make iterative improvements.
     
    Leaks From the Cocaineverse:

    The ADAAMS Family
    (ADvanced Air-to-Air Missile System)​

    Name: Short Range Anti Air Missile (SRAAM)
    Nickname: "Pugsley"
    Type: Short Range Anti Air Missile
    Branch: Airy
    Intended Role: WVR Air Combat
    Notable Quirks:
    • Off-Bore Sight
    • Consumable Thrust Vectoring
    • Stowable Fins
    • The Student Has Surpassed the Teacher (AIM-9)
    Fluff
    • Hydrazine/IRFNA liquid rocket. Hazardous, but not more hazardous than a solid rocket motor, just differently hazardous. Russian and American missile development locked into the solid fuel tech tree path before Inhibited (and thus safer to store) RFNA was developed.
    • L/D ratio of 20 to minimize drag.
    • Longer range and powered flight envelope due to higher specific impulse of hypergolic propellant.
    • Larger than the R-33 that it's based on, but same weight (due to less dense propellants).
    • Thrust vectoring via ablative jet vanes for close in maneuvers at low speed. These get ablated away as the missile picks up speed and aerodynamic control surfaces take over.
    • Stowable fins come standard because it's meant to be mounted in volume limited internal bays.
    • Comes in RADAR and thermal seeker variants meant to be fired in pairs in accordance with Soviet doctrine.
    • Off boresight is the major seeker improvement and applies to both RADAR and thermal seekers, but does not yet have all aspect seeking capabilities for the heat seeking version (sensors insufficiently developed).
    • Superior electronics to both the K-13 it's roughly based on, and to the AIM-9 that the K-13 is based on, but seeker sensitivity bottlenecks their effectiveness for the heat seeking version.
    • Blast-fragmentation warhead is not the ideal tool for every job, but it's an adequate tool for just about any job.

    Name: Medium Range Anti Air Missile (MRAAM)
    Nickname: "Wednesday"
    Type: Medium Range Anti Air Missile
    Branch: Airy
    Intended Role: WVR/BVR Air Combat
    Notable Quirks:
    • Off-Bore Sight
    • Large Powered Envelope
    • Stowable Fins
    • Datalink
    Fluff
    • A grown up version of the SRAAM that shares the same warhead, seekers, and actuators, but features more propellant and a larger engine.
    • Omits thrust vectoring in favor of aerodynamic control and a throttleable engine that lets it reduce thrust after the initial burn, letting it cruise more efficiently in sustainer mode and maintain a larger powered flight envelope.
    • Mounts a data link that allows for mid-flight course corrections from the launching aircraft, as well as to retarget or remotely detonate the missile. Can't talk to other missiles (yet).
    • RADAR seeker is somewhat larger and more capable compared to the SRAAM to allow for better performance in BVR scenarios, but thermal seeker is identical.

    Name: Long Range Anti Air Missile (LRAAM)
    Nickname: "Morticia"
    Type: Long Range Anti Air Missile
    Branch: Airy
    Intended Role: BVR Air Combat
    Notable Quirks:
    • A Real Chonker
    • Stowable Fins
    • High Speed, Low Drag
    • Datalink
    Fluff
    • Throttleable kerosene fueled ramjet with an underslung ramp inlet, and a solid rocket motor first stage integrated into the combustion chamber.
    • Mach 5 sprint/Mach 4 cruise designed to chase down high speed American recon planes, or hit tankers/AWACS from long range.
    • Beefier transceiver for its datalink compared to MRAAM to account for longer ranges, but otherwise identical. Can't talk to other missiles (yet).
    • Takes up the same space as 2-3 MRAAMS even with the stowable fins. :(

    Name: Anti-Ship Cruise Missile (ASCM, 'askim')
    Nickname: "Gomez"
    Type: Anti-Ship Cruise Missile
    Branch: Airy
    Intended Role: Anti-Ship
    Notable Quirks:
    • Stealthy
    • Datalink
    • Very Long Range
    • Dual Seekers
    • Rolling Takeoff
    Fluff
    • More of a suicide drone than a missile.
    • Tailless delta wing with in a high wing configuration creates a flat top surface for radar from airborne planes to bounce away from. (It looks like it's flying "upside down.")
    • Engine inlet and outboard stabilizers are both mounted below the wing so that it shadows them from above.
    • Sea skimming to make it harder to detect and reduce engagement from close in defenses.
    • Efficient medium bypass turbofan gives it good fuel consumption, coupled with large fuel tanks to let it travel far, far out to sea.
    • Slow, and relies on its datalink to get mid-course correction from other assets that are tracking its target.
    • Meant to swarm its target, and use ECM and penaids instead of speed to penetrate its defensive perimeter - taking advantage of superior electronics.
    • Larger size means it mounts both a thermal and radar seeker, making it harder to fool with ECM and flares.
    • Somewhat uniquely, it's designed to do a rolling takeoff from a road or airfield using a disposable tricycle sled. In theory it could also be thrown out the back of a cargo plane, but that's not yet been implemented.

    Name: Common Aircraft Engine
    Nickname: "Faster"
    Type: Low Bypass Turbofan
    Branch: Airy
    Intended Role: Fighter/Transport Powerplant
    Notable Quirks:
    • Reliable A.F.
    • I'm a Big Fan
    • On The Verge of Greatness
    Fluff
    • Based on R-35-300.
    • Inconel turbine blades drastically increase the reliability and time between overhauls.
    • Built in starter and electrical generator. ('More Electric' Engine)
    • Full Authority Digital Electronic Controller (FADEC) manipulates engine parameters to keep it performing at its peak for a given condition without requiring human input. It also keeps tabs on engine health to assist the maintenance schedule.
    • Electromechanically actuated vanes (and con-div nozzle in the fighter version) remove the need for an engine hydraulic system (lower weight, less maintenance).
    • 95 kN dry thrust fighter variant, a whole 10-12 kN higher than its parent. If you showed this engine to a Soviet engineer they would think this was meant to go on a small strategic bomber, not a fighter.
    • Why is it so overpowered? Because Guang aerospace engineers seemed to have a single-engine boner, and were planning on eventually creating a more affordable single engine version of the then-under-development MiG-29. Cost considerations also mean that the transport aircraft and fighter developed as part of Airy Modernization had to share an engine core so the turbine and compressors had to be able to deliver enough power to get a fat pig of an AWACS airborne.
    • While better metallurgy and control systems compared to its Soviet parent bumped the thrust up a respectable amount, and Mingxiang's engineers eventually gave in and let the engine diameter grow, the performance still falls short of the targeted 100 kN of dry thrust. Further iterative design is required to perfect this engine to its final form.
    • Almost as an afterthought, the power that the Faster gives a MiG-23 derived plane means it can brute force its way into super cruising at Mach 1.1 - a shit supercruise that eats into operational range only slightly less than going full afterburner, but it was still the first aircraft that could do so!
    [] The ADAAMS Family
    -[] SRAAM - Pugsley
    -[] MRAAM - Wednesday
    -[] LRAAM - Morticia
    -[] ASCM - Gomez
    -[] Jet Engine - Faster
     
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    CyberEnby said:
    Medium Bypass Turbofan
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    No, bad. Bad cyberenby, medium bypass turbofans are not for fighter jets. Especially stealth aircraft. /bop (I'm joking, but more seriously this would get most companies laughed out of the bidding phase.)

    [] Jet Engine - It's a jet engine, there's a lot of pipes, blades and bits that the engineers have assured you are extremely important and weirdly sharp. As for capabilities, years ago you took the engine out of one of the few Soviet jets and ran it on the test stand. The first prototype pulled the test stand out the floor.
    An ultra-low bypass turbofan with the following features;
    - Non-linear variable geometry hollow fan blades
    - Axial, 3-stage low pressure compressor, 6-stage high pressure compressor with regeneration
    - Annular combustion chamber
    - Non-linear variable geometry single crystal hollow turbine blades with air flow heat shielding
    - 1-stage high pressure turbine, 1-stage low pressure turbine with regeneration
    - Reheat capability
    - 70kN dry thrust
    - 110kN wet thrust
    - Turbine inlet temperature of ~1,900C
    - Bypass ratio of 0.4:1
    - Pressure ratio of 30:1
    - Thrust to weight ratio of ~7-11 depending on afterburner
    - Length: 4m, Diameter: 0.75m, Dry weight: ~1Ton
    - EHA integration
    - IT derived frictionless bearings
    - Fully-scalable engine architecture

    [] SRAAM - it's a missile... you're not sure what you expected...
    - 90kg, 3m long, 452mm diameter, 12kg warhead
    - laser proximity & impact detonation, timed denial detonation
    - 24km+ range @ Mach 3+
    - High impulse solid rocket motor
    - IR 256x256 element focal plane array with lock-on after launch capability & inertial guidance


    (I will be editing the below to have actual details.)
    [] MRAAM - AIM7/AIM-120

    [] LRAAM - This is a big missile...

    [] ASCM- (Description of capabilities/design/look)
    This thing is called the Penguin and it is adorable. One of the engineers painted it so it kind of looks like it has a penguin suit on the extendable fins.
     
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    KhazintheDark said:
    No, bad. Bad cyberenby, medium bypass turbofans are not for fighter jets. Especially stealth aircraft. /bop (I'm joking, but more seriously this would get most companies laughed out of the bidding phase.)

    [] Jet Engine - It's a jet engine, there's a lot of pipes, blades and bits that the engineers have assured you are extremely important and weirdly sharp. As for capabilities, years ago you took the engine out of one of the few Soviet jets and ran it on the test stand. The first prototype pulled the test stand out the floor.
    An ultra-low bypass turbofan with the following features;
    - Non-linear variable geometry hollow fan blades
    - Axial, 3-stage low pressure compressor, 6-stage high pressure compressor with regeneration
    - Annular combustion chamber
    - Non-linear variable geometry single crystal hollow turbine blades with air flow heat shielding
    - 1-stage high pressure turbine, 1-stage low pressure turbine with regeneration
    - Reheat capability
    - 70kN dry thrust
    - 110kN wet thrust
    - Turbine inlet temperature of ~1,900C
    - Bypass ratio of 0.4:1
    - Pressure ratio of 30:1
    - Thrust to weight ratio of ~7-11 depending on afterburner
    - Length: 4m, Diameter: 0.75m, Dry weight: ~1Ton
    - EHA integration
    - IT derived frictionless bearings
    - Fully-scalable engine architecture

    [] SRAAM - it's a missile... you're not sure what you expected...
    - 90kg, 3m long, 452mm diameter, 12kg warhead
    - laser proximity & impact detonation, timed denial detonation
    - 24km+ range @ Mach 3+
    - High impulse solid rocket motor
    - IR 256x256 element focal plane array with lock-on after launch capability & inertial guidance
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Gah, yeah, that's a low bypass turbofan. Got confused by poorly written aviation articles.

    But also, whoa whoa whoa, turbine inlet 1900C? That's beyond even the American state of the art around this time. Keep in mind that we're building this with late 70s tech. Those T/W ratios are also off the charts. It's also really, really narrow, like, that's not a low bypass engine you've go there, that's straight up no bypass. :p

    Edit:
    Bypass ratio also seems kind of low, we want that higher because while Guangchou is small these planes have to venture over the ocean to actually intercept ships or enemy installations.
     
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