NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: No killing anyone, just be sensible.

The former Farminan Major stood in the auditorium looking up at the crowd.

“I’d like to thank you for all coming to this public lecture. As you know I am Major Johnson from the Farminan army and served in Sinear under General Jefferson. I’m sure there are people with questions, so I’ll get to those shortly. All questions allowed, be it on tactics, history, purity or different types of wine. However my specialty is artillery, so I will show you Farmina’s latest weapon.”

The projector came up with an image of a large tank with an extremely long barrel.

“This is the Fast Firer IV. Real technical name I know. They haven’t actually been used in combat yet. Releases a fast barrage of six inch shells. This device is designed for bombardments, particularly quick ones, but isn’t the best for precise strikes. It doesn’t mean it isn’t capable of precise strikes, every third shot should hit the target.”

The projector began to play footage of the FFIV in action. Three shells were fired within the first second.

“The auto-loading technology makes this one of the most efficient artillery pieces around. Cooling tubes prevent the barrel from overheating, too much. Most controls are computerized. However let me show you the Fast Firer in its full force.”

Another video reel began to play. There was now a small battery of FFIVs. Then the barrels began to swing around. The camera angle changed to show the landscape from above. There was a clear target area marked which the barrels were now pointing at.

“Watch this bit,” said the Major.

The artillery pieces began to move left or right. Then shells flew up into the air. Several of the pieces switched directions, but all continued firing.

“The moving perpendicular to the target and the direction change; make it very hard for the artillery to be targeted.”

Another aerial short showed the target area being turned to a soil fountain. After a minute of mixed footage the tape ended.

“Well some of you look bored to tears. Any questions on anything? I’d rather talk about what you want to hear than what I think you want to hear.”

Captain Serj Velki had been given a week off from his duties in the Northern Serbian Armed Forces, a rarity due to the rehauling of the S.P.A. (Serbian Peoples Army) into the actual Standing army, and he had used half of it traveling to, and attending this conference. He decided that he wouldget all he could out of it.

He Raised his Hand and spoke in thickly Serbian accented Farminan.

"You've already answered my first question about anti-artillery targeting, but How much maintenance and manpower does this Machine actually require? A Vehicle like that must not be of a very simple design."

The Major looked up.

"Good question. The Model IV is optimal with 3 operators, but can actually be run by 1 operator. The three roles are gunner, driver and overseer. However gunning can be fully automated but this can cause minor technical difficulties, especially if the overseer is not on the ball.”

“To the other part of the question, maintenance is more problematic than on most Farminan machines. The barrel will wear, but it will be no faster than the usual rate. Machines are very busy, but we do use very solid but simple computers. This makes repairs simpler. However it is fairly resilient to time and itself. Enemy weapons, that’s a different story. The armour isn’t heavy, because speed is important.”

He looked around.

“Other questions.”

The former Major decided since no one had put their hand up, he would continue to talk on his choice of topics.

“When I was in the defense of Farmina, we had these little babies protecting us.”

An image came up showing a small odd device with a lot of tubes.

“Nowhere Place was trying to bomb out all the Fast Firer III positions, these and jets were all that protected us. They aren’t our only anti-air but their impressive against anything low flying.”

The crowd continued to look bored.

“Let me explain. This releases a series of unguided rockets at once, while the next volley is quickly packed in. It was the war of economics. We made the most budget rockets ever and filled the sky with them. It proved extremely effective against the massed low flying Babhian bombers.”

“Well what do you guys want to talk about? I get paid no matter what I say.”