NationStates Jolt Archive

The Merkar Republic is looking for a good line of land combat vehicles. Currently, we have experience building starcraft, and are satisified with our own designs in that area. However, we do not want to go on any risky ventures designing ground vehicles that we have no experience making. Here are the categories of equipment that we need:

1. An APC to transport 2-meter tall Cyborg conscripts
2. Several stealth tanks/mechs
3. A few heavy tanks or mechs, mainly for defence
4. An excellent artillery system

Here are our priorities, listed in descending order of importance, for our systems:

APC:

1. Must be cheap (does not have to be survivable or carry weapons)
2. Preferably be amphibious (must be able to float in coastal waters and travel on its own power)
3. Preferably, it will carry some kind of advanced transportation equipment that allows it to burrow underground, hover, etc.

Stealth tanks/mechs
1. Must be undetectable to all but very potent battlefield sensors
2. MUST BE RELIABLE and able to operate in hostile environments without breaking down
3. Its weaponry should be able to penetrate most battlefield armors, and should also have a decent anti-infantry capability
4. Keep the price under $10 million, and vehicle must be suitable for mass-production
5. Should not be too slow (armor is not important as the tank is stealthy)

Heavy tanks/mechs
1. Must be able to penetrate almost all battlefield armors
2. Must be reliable and able to operate in all environments (no repeats of WWII Konigstiger situations where the tank sinks into mud just as you're launching your major offensive)
3. Armor should be well-designed, preferably well-sloped, but does not have to be all that thick; speed is not important
4. Keep price under $100 million

Artillery

1. Must be able to deliver a large ammount of semi-accurate firepower in a short time. And I mean a LARGE ammount of firepower.

The contract will go to the lowest bidder with the highest quality. We are capable of making our own logistics and command-and-control vehicles and aircraft, but would like to see your designs if you consider them very good. Above all, all of our equipment must be reliable, cheap, and mass-producible, with heavy firepower.

The Amazonian Dominion would like to submit one homemade design for the Heavy Mech/tank and a single design for the artillery piece.

For the heavy armor:

Armored Tactical Destroyer (ATD)

Length: 16.7m
Height: 7.7m
Width: 3.1m
Max Speed: 60 kph
Transportation Method: Six armored leg units
Power System: Interior fusion battery units for each system
Armor System: 2-inch thick energized durasteel
Crew Requirements: 7; 1 main pilot, 1 co-pilot, 1 main gunner, 3 secondary gunners, 1 loadmaster
Troop Capacity: Twenty human-sized* soldiers in moderate-sized battlefield armor and standard equipment
Primary Armament: 1 top-mounted energy projectile cannon, twin-barreled
Secondary Armament: 2 forward-facing turret-mounted laser cannons, 2 rear-facing turret-mounted laser cannons, 3 forward-facing rapid-fire laser cannons

The ATD is a heavy craft constructed for frontal assaults on heavily fortified positions in nearly all environments. The most innovative design on the ATD is the energized armor concept, which gives the ATD a great deal of protection and flexibility. The durasteel armor is coursed with a light energy field when the walker is activated, allowing the foot units to cut through terrain with ease (for example, thick vegetation is simply mown down, while mud slides off as that closest to the feet are liquified). The armor also makes it so projectile or energy attacks are met with fiercer resistance. The main cannon, mounted above and slightly behind the forward command cockpit, armed with twin barrels, fires 65mm projectiles through a plasma-coating chamber located at the beginning of the barrel. Through this chamber, the energy coates the explosive slug, providing penetration ability surpassing standard energy or mass driver attacks. The durasteel slugs can be filled with a variety of compounds, from explosives to solid mass to chemical or biological payloads. As the cannon utilizes twin barrels, the gun can fire projectiles at a fast rate of one shell per 2 seconds. The triple rapid-fire cannons, located slightly below the cockpit, allow the ATD to quickly clear out enemy infantry, while the four turret lasers engage light armor, scouts, or slower air platforms.

Cost: 77 million USD

*-human average size in the Dominion is 6'7"


Artillery:

Heavy-Artillery-Cannon-Platform (HACP)

Length: 41.8m
Height: 12.2m
Width: 8.0m
Max Speed: 40 kph (legs), 25 kph (repulsors)
Transportation Method: 3 Repulorlift hover units, 12 leg units
Power Systems: Fusion battery units charging each system
Armor Systems: 2-inch crystalline durasteel alloy
Crew Requirements: 19: 1 pilot, 2 co-pilots, 10 secondary gunners, 4 main gunners, 2 power operators
Primary Armament: Triple-stage hyper-powered laser beam
Secondary Armament: 12 turret-mounted laser cannons, 2 forward-facing light ion rocket launchers, 2 fore-mounted static cannons

The HACP is a monstrous, devestating design, wreaking shear havoc in terms of artillery. In order to navigate difficult terrain, the HACP introduces a revolutionary propulsion system. In level or easy to navigate terrains, the HACP deploys its somewhat faster 12 legs to walk over ground. When faced with obstacles such as mountain, swamp, or unstable terrain, the HACP initiates a hover-repulsor field and retracts the legs into the body. This cuts speed by 15 kph, but prevents unfortunate accidents. The primary weapon of the HACP is the heavy laser cannon that sticks out on top of the large walker. The main construct of the cannon is a three-staged, heavily-powered laser cannon. Powered by twelve individual fusion batteries in the laser focusing, the beam before passing through the three-staged charging process is already on par with light capital ship guns. Passing through the cannon barrel, the beam is further combined with energy particles to strengthen and solidify the beam, also having the effect of lengthening the range. Emerging from the beam barrel, the weapon now has more strength than capital ship turbolaser cannons. Enemy positions are flattened instantly; armor is vaporized in nanoseconds. Enemy fortifications or bases fall nearly as quickly to the sheer power output of the main weapon. The beam lasts for 2 seconds, and with a recharging system where half the batteries powering the cannon interchange with the other half on firing shots, the beam fires at a moderate rate of 1 shot per 12 seconds, though the time is certainly offset by the destructive power of the shot itself. The twelve laser turrets spread along the artillery exterior deal with light armor or infantry, while the ion rockets deal with armor attacks. The static cannons have unique effects: upon impact with electronic systems, they not only pierce and penetrate armor, causing damage, but also short out electronics or droids. Due to the power requirements of the cannon, the energized armor of the ATD is not utilized on the HACP.

Cost: 182 million USD

Funny, we've had a war before and now it's time for me to buy weaponry from you!

Amazonian Beasts,

We are considering your offer. The primary concerns we have relate to the reliablility and cost of your weapon systems. Also, we very much dislike lasers because the beams dissipate quickly in dusty atmosphere. What we are looking for is a very primitive system that has heavy firepower and high reliability, and can be mass-produced with a minimum of factory overhaul (so that civillian factories can be turned over to war production in time of conflict). Most of what we are looking for has to do with economics and logistics, although the HACP looks appealing. We will discuss more of this as more competitors offer their designs.

my nation would be happy to supply you linear guns or even type 73 Linear Tanks and Type 81 Linear Artilery

stats on way

OOC: Gotta love changing political climates...

IC:

Official Reply:

We thank you for your consideration of our two designs. As to the problem of dissipation, the ATD negates that with it's long range gun in the form of a projectile. If you wish to seek information about a simpler, though slightly less capable, artillery unit, we would be glad to provide specs for our Heavy-Artillery-Projectile-Platform (HAPP) missile system.

Type 73 Linear Tank
Unit type: tank type 73
Armament: 475mm Linear cannon x 4
speed: 70Kph
crew: 3
power: compact fusion reactor

The Linear Tank has been used by the Nation of Spit break for a Long number of years and the newest model is the Type 73 its 4 Linear guns can make swiss cheese of almost any armor and is now on the production lines

Price $50 million for a Division (why so cheap? big production line)

Type 81 Linear Artilery
Unit type: mobile artillery type 81
Armament: 700mm linear cannon x 2
Speed: 65Kph
Crew: 4
Power: compact fusion reactor

The linear artilery is the standered artilery to support the Type 73 its weapons can take down fortress's bunkers and many other stuctures and artilery crews still trust it to this day

Price: $65 million for 1 division

also both vehicles can be out fitted with tracks or small legs to make it a walker or if you want for a extre $3 million we can out fit them with repulser lifts

IC:
We are willing to sell you some of our Vehical Designs. Please follow the following blue prints of the vehicals which we've created.

OOC:
I realise you don't like lasers too much, but I have a few mixes of both Plasma weaponery (SW tech, often confused as lasers) and "bullet" like weapons (40k tech).

If you wish, I can have my gov. ICly reconfigure some of the weaponery to your liking since it uses both.

Linky:
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=432762


I also have a bunch of 40k stuff to be put up on the Land Assault Store Front which you'd probably be interested in. It definitly fits your type of prefference.

Modeled after Hammer's Slammer -- David Drake
Cost $25 million dollars.
Weight 65 Tons
Length: 10 Meters
Height : 3 Meters
Width: 4 Meters
Crew: 4
Armor: Internal liquid cooling gel layer and air conditioners. 3 inches of Iridium and Tungsten Steel alloy. Iridium functions as a heat sink, so does tungsten steel, this limits the effectiveness of plasma and laser weapons. We have to mine the iridium from low orbit asteroids. Over this is an inch of bioceramic and carbon nanotube spray on lightweight polymer. The final coating is an inch of energy refractive heat absorbent coating designed to counter lasers and disperse plasma-- mirror shielding. The inside has ABC and EMP hardening-- atomic, biological, chemical and EMP hardening
Equipment: 125 MM Rifled Railgun Designed to fire four shells, a caseless superheated magma glass round with carbon nanotube core penetrator rods at 3000 m/second, a high explosive antitank round, a thermobaric explosive round, or a chemical or biological containment shell. 50 Shell magazine.
High Power Microwave Gun-- This gun will fry electronics in all but the most heavily shielded vehicles. It can be set on automatic intercept mode to fry the homing control on missiles.
Swivel Mounted Fusion Torch: Short range continuous cutting beam-- 60 feet long. This will cut through practically anything. It can cut an incoming tank in half.
Antipersonnel Skirt with detection suite: When activated this system detects foot soldiers within 40 meters and fires antipersonnel shredder charges at them.
Point Defense: 3 swivel mounted electromagnetic tribarrel coil gun point defense machine guns. These guns can knock out incoming missiles. They are slaved to an onboard radar, motion, infrared ferrometallic, and satellite detection system that can track missiles and shells in the air and blow them to bits.
1 Metalstorm Quad Barrel 40 MM HEAT Grenade Launcher.
1 Missile cell box with 12 hard point penetrator EMP charges.
Engine: This tank supports triple table top sonofusion bottles. This gives it tremendous power. It is as fast as a Maglev bullet train. Underneath the tank are six armored nacelles with supercharged turbolift fans. It can go 800 KPH and has a normal lift clearance of 3 meters. It can for moments be supercharged to 9 feet of lift clearance. On water in supercharged mode it can go 200 KPH.
Detection Suite and Electronics: This tank has built in rangefinders and an advanced detection suite. Inside is a 360 degree view panel. It combines GPS, video, radar, ferrometallic, infrared, motion, laser, and satellite detection systems which are slaved to a fast diamond space manufactured computer system-- 100 GHZ. This allows for both automated defense with the guns and highly accurate targeting. All tanks are linked through a wireless satellite and tank computer system. This allows coordinated fire control, and monitoring of every tank in the units location.

Commonalitarianism, your Slammer tank interests us. How much would it cost to triple the armor?

We have placed a few questions about the Huntarian Nightbringer and Vindicator vehicles in their storefront. Of course, we are still looking for better deals.


We thank you for your consideration of our two designs. As to the problem of dissipation, the ATD negates that with it's long range gun in the form of a projectile. If you wish to seek information about a simpler, though slightly less capable, artillery unit, we would be glad to provide specs for our Heavy-Artillery-Projectile-Platform (HAPP) missile system.

This HAPP system seems interesting indeed. We would like to ask how much cheaper they would be without armor added on. Also, is it possible to equip them with more automation and reduce crew size? If not, we have a strong digital industry that can do the job, but if you offer to add automated systems for a low price we will probably let you install them.


Type 73 Linear Tank
Unit type: tank type 73
Armament: 475mm Linear cannon x 4
speed: 70Kph
crew: 3
power: compact fusion reactor

The Linear Tank has been used by the Nation of Spit break for a Long number of years and the newest model is the Type 73 its 4 Linear guns can make swiss cheese of almost any armor and is now on the production lines

Price $50 million for a Division (why so cheap? big production line)

Type 81 Linear Artilery
Unit type: mobile artillery type 81
Armament: 700mm linear cannon x 2
Speed: 65Kph
Crew: 4
Power: compact fusion reactor

The linear artilery is the standered artilery to support the Type 73 its weapons can take down fortress's bunkers and many other stuctures and artilery crews still trust it to this day

Price: $65 million for 1 division

also both vehicles can be out fitted with tracks or small legs to make it a walker or if you want for a extre $3 million we can out fit them with repulser lifts

Spit Break, how many vehicles are in the division you refer to? And are your vehicles reliable? What is their armor?

usually a Division has about 130 tanks and 98 Artilery and there vary reliable infact there used by my armor crop and the armor is about 100mm thick and extremly strong

This is the updated version with heavier armor. It costs $10 million dollars more due to extra armor, to maintain speed and maneuverability, two new heavy lift fans and a sonofusion bottle were added.

Modeled after Hammer's Slammer -- David Drake
Cost $35 million dollars.
Weight 80 Tons
Length: 11 Meters
Height : 3.5 Meters
Width: 4.5 Meters
Crew: 4
Armor: Internal liquid cooling gel layer and air conditioners. 9 inches of Iridium and Tungsten Steel alloy. Iridium functions as a heat sink, so does tungsten steel, this limits the effectiveness of plasma and laser weapons. We have to mine the iridium from low orbit asteroids. Over this is 3 inches of bioceramic and carbon nanotube spray on lightweight polymer. The final coating is three inches of energy refractive heat absorbent coating made from a crystalline matrix designed to counter lasers and disperse plasma-- mirror shielding. The inside has ABC and EMP hardening-- atomic, biological, chemical and EMP hardening
Equipment: 125 MM Rifled Railgun Designed to fire four shells, a caseless superheated magma glass round with carbon nanotube core penetrator rods at 3000 m/second, a high explosive antitank round, a thermobaric explosive round, or a chemical or biological containment shell. 50 Shell magazine.
High Power Microwave Gun-- This gun will fry electronics in all but the most heavily shielded vehicles. It can be set on automatic intercept mode to fry the homing control on missiles.
Swivel Mounted Fusion Torch: Short range continuous cutting beam-- 60 feet long. This will cut through practically anything. It can cut an incoming tank in half.
Antipersonnel Skirt with detection suite: When activated this system detects foot soldiers within 40 meters and fires antipersonnel shredder charges at them.
Point Defense: 3 swivel mounted Metalstorm tribarrel point defense machine guns. These guns can knock out incoming missiles. They are slaved to an onboard radar, motion, infrared ferrometallic, and satellite detection system that can track missiles and shells in the air and blow them to bits.
1 Metalstorm Quad Barrel 40 MM HEAT Grenade Launcher. (Look up Metalstorm it is an amazing real technology.)
1 Missile cell box with 12 hard point penetrator EMP missiles.
Engine: This tank supports four table top sonofusion bottles. (This is in the current news.) This gives it tremendous power . Underneath the tank are eight armored nacelles with supercharged turbolift fans. It can go 800 KPH and has a normal lift clearance of 3 meters. The French Aerotrain a heavy lift hovercraft train built in 1965, a precursor to this tank was tested at a maximum speed of 430 KM/PH. It never touched the tracks. (Again a real technology.) The Slammer can for moments be supercharged to 9 meters of lift clearance. On water in supercharged mode it can go 200 KPH.
Fuel: The Sonofusion bottles are one foot round spheres which run off of deuterium which is easily extractable from sea water. Here is a bit about them. http://www.spacedaily.com/news/energy-tech-04zzzv.html . This is much cleaner, cheaper and more readily available than standard fusion.
Detection Suite and Electronics: This tank has built in rangefinders and an advanced detection suite. Inside is a 360 degree view panel. It combines GPS, video, radar, ferrometallic, infrared, motion, laser, and satellite detection systems which are slaved to a fast diamond space manufactured computer system-- 100 GHZ. This allows for both automated defense with the guns and highly accurate targeting. All tanks are linked through a wireless satellite and tank computer system. This allows coordinated fire control, and monitoring of every tank in the units location.

Note: This tank is partially space manufactured. Iridium is only available in quantity in asteroid fields. The crystalline mirror armor is grown in zero gravity to insure that there are no impurities in the matrix. The electronics and computer chips are manufactured in a zero g vacuum environment to insure utmost quality.

All of this technology should be available by 2030. It is hard science fiction. It would be both PMT and FT.

Pale Rider Arms would like to submit its Shade Main Battle Grav-Tank for your review.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v652/bla...k/HoverTank.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v652/blaesa/PRA%20junk/HoverTank.jpg)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v652/bla.../HoverTank2.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v652/blaesa/PRA%20junk/HoverTank2.jpg)

Crew: 2 (Driver, Gunner)
Length: 12 meters
Width: 7.6 meters
Height: 5.1 meters
Mass: 280 tonnes
Armor (Average): 350mm carbon-reinforced duralloy
Main Armament: Dual 150mm Railguns
Secondary Armament: Underslung Anti-Personnel Graser, Side-Mounted Multi-Purpose Guided Missile Launchers
Main Ammunition: 100 shells
Secondary Ammunition: Effectively unlimited (graser), 24 (MPGML)
Top Speed: 300 kph
Propulsion: 4 PRA Counter-Gravity Units
Power Generation: Fusion Generator
Cost: 55,000,000 USD

The main grav tank of the Otagian Regular Army, the Shade is fast, heavily armed, and versatile. Armed with a pair of 150mm railguns, the Shade's main turret is completely automated, allowing for increased ammunition storage for its main guns. In addition, the turret can be quickly and easily reloaded using a specialised machine, completely refilling the ammunition stores within ten seconds.

The Shade is primarily intended for use in rural areas, where it can use its speed and agility to maximum effect. Although still effective in urban areas, the underslung anti-personnel graser is next to useless against targets above street-level, forcing the tank to rely on its limited store of railgun shells and missiles.

Pale Rider Arms is currently in the process of designing several more grav-tank variants, and will happily submit them for review by your military as soon as they are completed.

usually a Division has about 130 tanks and 98 Artilery and there vary reliable infact there used by my armor crop and the armor is about 100mm thick and extremly strong

This is somewhat like what we are looking for- a very cheap "tank destroyer" kind of vehicle that can pulverise anything but is not too big on armor.

But the up-armored Slammer tank looks like a good choice for a heavy tank. As Merkar has yet to fight a land war with armor, we are going to opt for a mix of medium and light tanks. The heavy armor of the Slammer makes it a good weapon for the price (not to mention that you obviously put a lot of work into the specs and know what you're talking about, which dosen't hurt).

We still have interest in the HAPP, as it appears to have capability that no other system possesses. But the very cheap Spit Break artillery also looks like an excellent choice. How much would we save on the HAPP or HACP if the secondary armament was not included? And how long do these artillery systems take to set up before firing?

As for Pale Rider Arms, your Shade MBT is too expensive for our tastes, but can you build a fairly cheap stealth hovertank (armor and armament don't have to be too heavy)?

oh you want thinker armor ill throw in a extra 200mm of armor for $4 million and add some MG spots to and then its perfect for any thing

We thank all of the nations for submitting their designs, and now wish to do some testing with them. Following is a list of the vehicles that we are interested in:

- Spit Break Linear Tank (uparmored variant) and Linear Artillery
- Huntaerean Nightbringer and Vindicator
- Commonalitarianism Slammer tank w/triple armor
- Amazonian HAPP and HACP

We request that the nations offering these designs for sale send them to the Army proving grounds in the Merkar system. There, they will undergo our quality control progress. Here is what this process involves:

- Vehicles will be frozen for 6 months at -30 degrees celsius, and then heated for 6 months at 100 degrees celsuis (this was actually done with the Eurofighter prototype, so it's not that big of a challenge). At the end of this test, core systems of the weapon should be functional.
- Vehicles will be submerged in mud for one hour and extracted. Functionality will then be tested.
- The obstacle course, consisting of several elevation and trench obstacles, must be navigated by the vehicles. The ability of the vehicle to scale 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 foot tall obstactles will be tested, along with its ability to cross anti-tank ditches 5 and 10 feet across.
- The weapons course will then test the armament of candidates (which will be allowed to replace their vehicles if they where disabled by the previous reliability tests). For tanks, a 10-foot-thick cube of titanium-yterrbium alloy will recieve 10 hits from both primary and secondary armament at 4,000 yards, 10 hits at 2,000 yards, 10 hits at 1,000 yards, and ten more at 500 yards from each weapon (if the weapon does not have the range to do this, it will not be fired). Sensors will be standing by to monitor how deep the weapon penetrated. For artillery, twenty of these cubes will be spread out along a 5X5 mile area. The artillery will have an hour to destroy, or at least damage, all of these, using accurate fire.
- Finally, a sample of different parts of the vehicle's armor will be subject to fire by a 100mm railgun with armor-piercing rounds at ranges of 2,000, 1,000, 500, and 0 meters.

It's up to you guys to RP what happens to your vehicles in these tests. Describe what happened in each test, how long it took, and other important details.

roger that sending

OOC: now to just find the right thread

Unfortunately as we are PMT-- up to 40 years in the future, we do not have FTL ships. We will have to carry two of them to where they can be transferred to a future tech armed merchant cargo ship. They should arrive shortly. We do have a Bell Ansible to communicate with you based on Bells Theorem of simultaneity and quantum tunneling. They will arrive shortly.


Note: Just an afterthought-- http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Ansible

Might you be interested in a very light vehicle with heavy weapons?

Vehicle: HWAC (hover wing attack craft)
Crew: (remote) 2 (Driver & Gunner) OR AI
Length: 3.5 meters
Width: 14 meters
Height: 2.3 meters
Armor: Light, energy conducting plating dissipates energy fire; optional light shielding
Main Armament: dual energy cannons (for light targets) OR dual plasma cannons (for heavy armor)
Top Speed: 250 kph
Propulsion: Anti-grav. device
Description: Basically a flying wing with a central turret pod situated on top. Very agile and expendable, two great advantages over a conventional enemy with slow expensive vehicles. The turret pod has a 360* turning radius and may either be mounted with the heavy plasma weaponry or lighter rapid fire directed energy weaponry. They are cheap and easy to mass produce, making replacement of battle losses simple while putting your pilots at no risk due to the remote control operation. Advanced AI linked to a central prioritized targeting base also makes a great option when personnel are sparse.
Cost: 2,000,000 USD
Cost (AI system, one time expence): 100,000,000 USD

Kazecistan, your hovercraft is very appealing to us. It is cheap, well-armored, and deals with our personnel shortage by using computers. Please send one with and one without the advanced AI to our proving grounds.

Should any nation not be able to transport their vehicles to Merkar, our navy is standing by to do the task. Simply ask, and a commercial freighter with light military escort will be dispatched instantly. A Class I transport has been chartered and is currently heading for Commonalitarianism to pick up the tank.

Edit: Spit break, what do you mean find the right thread? Just post the results here or TG me.

when they arrived they started the first test first -30

Shipment confirmed. Thank you.

As for Pale Rider Arms, your Shade MBT is too expensive for our tastes, but can you build a fairly cheap stealth hovertank (armor and armament don't have to be too heavy)?
While we don't currently have a tank that would meet the requirements for your stealth tank design (notably cost), we could provide you with either the Spectre LBT or a modified version. By stripping down the armor of the Spectre, we are confident that it could easily reach speeds in excess of 700 kph, making an excellent fast attack vehicle. Admittedly, the frame is not overly stealthy, but we feel that its sheer speed makes up for this fact.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v652/bla...%20junk/LBT.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v652/blaesa/PRA%20junk/LBT.jpg)

Crew: 2 (Driver, Gunner)
Length: 10 meters
Width: 5.6 meters
Height: 4.3 meters
Mass: 150 tonnes
Armor: 280mm Carbon-Reinforced Duralloy
Main Armament: Dual 100mm Railguns
Secondary Armament: Quad 80mm mortar
Tertiary Armament: 2 Anti-Personnel Masers
Main Ammunition: 100 shells
Secondary Ammunition: 80 shells
Tertiary Ammunition: Effectively Unlimted
Top Speed: 600 kph
Propulsion: 4 PRA Counter-Gravity Units
Powerplant: Fusion Generator
Cost: 20,000,000 USD

Developed for lightning fast attacks and warfare in congested areas, the Spectre is intended to excell where the Shade does not. With its smaller frame and wider arc of fire, the Spectre is a capable combatant in nearly every arena. Although its main armament is lighter than that of the Shade, its higher speed and excellent agility make the Spectre an excellent pack hunter.

They are both on the way and it should be noted that they each have a different turret, which they can trade, so that your testing can be more comprehensive. Although they are both yours to keep, it should also be noted that these models contain several anti-reproduction devices.

While we don't currently have a tank that would meet the requirements for your stealth tank design (notably cost), we could provide you with either the Spectre LBT or a modified version. By stripping down the armor of the Spectre, we are confident that it could easily reach speeds in excess of 700 kph, making an excellent fast attack vehicle. Admittedly, the frame is not overly stealthy, but we feel that its sheer speed makes up for this fact.

Nice rendering. :D

This design interests us, although it seems a bit pricey. We dislike middle-of-the-line tanks with moderate armor and armament. Is there any way you could reduce the price of this vehicle while maintaining armament and speed? And how long can it maintain high speeds?

Edit: People, feel free to post the test results whenever you want. If one RL day=one NS year, then a year or so of testing in NS time should have already taken place.

All Otagian grav tanks can maintain their maximum speed until the fusion reactor runs out of hydrogen, a period normally measured in weeks.

By removing a portion of the Spectre's armor (down to 180mm), we should be able to trim the price by approximately 30% (14,000,000 USD), as well as increasing its maximum speed to approximately 800 kph.

((nice, a tank that travels as fast as modern commercial jet planes))

Test results (it is as advertised):

Maximum effective combat speed: ~185 kph (anything faster and it's off the battle field before it can fire and calculating how to hit a target when moving that fast also poses issues)

Weapon effectiveness:

Dual, light, rapid-fire, energy cannons (DLRFEC):
Personnel: high, good for mowing down large groups of infantry
Light vehicles: Medium, requires multiple hits in same spot (not hard to achieve with its rapid fire capabilities)
Heavy vehicles: low, incapable of penetrating heavy armor without long periods of sustained fire.

Dual, heavy, plasma cannons (DHPC):
Personnel: Low, designed for a localized powerful punch to armor, slower rate of fire
Light vehicles: High, easy prey
Heavy vehicles: Medium high, vehicles with especially thick armor may require a second hit, (not much of an issue as the cannon is double barreled)

AI VS Human ratios (all subject to the quality of pilot, veteran pilots will score higher than what is shown):

Accuracy: 98% : 85%
Target prioritization: 99% : 45%
Survivability: 76% : 43%

Thank you for the test information, Kazecistan, it seems that your aircraft is a good buy. All that we need to know, however, is its testing results on the reliability examinations.

Otagia, is there any way you could trim the price down to $10 million? The armament should be kept as it is, but a decrease in speed, armor, and whatever "frills" have been incorporated into the design should do the trick.


We request that the nations offering these designs for sale send them to the Army proving grounds in the Merkar system. There, they will undergo our quality control progress. Here is what this process involves:

- Vehicles will be frozen for 6 months at -30 degrees celsius, and then heated for 6 months at 100 degrees celsuis (this was actually done with the Eurofighter prototype, so it's not that big of a challenge). At the end of this test, core systems of the weapon should be functional.
- Vehicles will be submerged in mud for one hour and extracted. Functionality will then be tested.
- The obstacle course, consisting of several elevation and trench obstacles, must be navigated by the vehicles. The ability of the vehicle to scale 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 foot tall obstactles will be tested, along with its ability to cross anti-tank ditches 5 and 10 feet across.
- The weapons course will then test the armament of candidates (which will be allowed to replace their vehicles if they where disabled by the previous reliability tests). For tanks, a 10-foot-thick cube of titanium-yterrbium alloy will recieve 10 hits from both primary and secondary armament at 4,000 yards, 10 hits at 2,000 yards, 10 hits at 1,000 yards, and ten more at 500 yards from each weapon (if the weapon does not have the range to do this, it will not be fired). Sensors will be standing by to monitor how deep the weapon penetrated. For artillery, twenty of these cubes will be spread out along a 5X5 mile area. The artillery will have an hour to destroy, or at least damage, all of these, using accurate fire.
- Finally, a sample of different parts of the vehicle's armor will be subject to fire by a 100mm railgun with armor-piercing rounds at ranges of 2,000, 1,000, 500, and 0 meters.

Test results:
Reliability:
-No part of a HWAC vehicle has ever been known to fail while in good repair (not one that's been left sitting exposed to the elements for years and not battle damaged)
-If the anti-grav. unit is damaged, it may still function as a stationary turret on the battle field.
-Contents of the atmosphere (water vapor, dust, etc.) have negligible effects on flight or fire (range of plasma weaponry is slightly lessor in very high humidity and dust can impair targeting very slightly) short of extreme saturation. (it doesn't function if submerged in water [rinse it off after the mud test and it should function properly.] but works just fine in rain, for example.)

- Finally, a sample of different parts of the vehicle's armor will be subject to fire by a 100mm rail gun with armor-piercing rounds at ranges of 2,000, 1,000, 500, and 0 meters.

Expect to see high damage ratios, the vehicle is meant to evade fire (light chassis + big guns = low armor), not withstand it. Its features lend themselves to expendability.

Otagia, is there any way you could trim the price down to $10 million? The armament should be kept as it is, but a decrease in speed, armor, and whatever "frills" have been incorporated into the design should do the trick.


Well, we could trim off all but one of the counter-gravity units, and reduce the armor slightly (250mm or so). This would reduce speed to approximately 300 kph and improve the chances of a lucky hit to the undercarriage knocking it out of the sky. However, the fire power of the tank will not be reduced.

the tank and artilery completed the first test they were let to sit to cool down to the point were the hatchs were not extremly hot then the firing test

the linear tank fired off rounds from its guns other then the expected problem that the barrels might have a fracture it was designed to take it, it wold take over 40 years for the berrel to brack but the berrel is to be replaced every 20 years

next was the Artilery

the artilery fired both its guns the calibration of the left gun was of by 5 and the right one hit the target

they now were ready for the next test...... the mud

Here is a format that everyone testing must fill out in some way:

1. Temperature tests
- What systems where non-operational after the freezing?
- What was not operational after the heat test?
2. Mud
- What systems where not operational after the mud test?
3. Obstacles
- Was it immobilized by any of the 1,2,3,4 or 5 foot vertical obstacles or the 5 or 10 foot antitank trench?
4. Weapons
- For non-artillery units: How far did each weapon (or just the main weapon if you want) penetrate the 10-foot titanium cube at the different ranges? What was the accuracy?
- For artillery units: How many shots did it take to destroy each of the titanium cubes? What was the accuracy and how big was the blast area?
5. Armor test
- What ranges where the armor penetrated at by the 100mm railgun?
6. Anything else of note?

This is all just because I'm a realism nazi and want to know exactly what my equipment can do. If you think that this list is too long, tell me, and you won't have to fill it out.

Otagia, here are the minimum requirements for our tank:

- 10mm armor
- 600 kph speed
- One 100mm cannon

Basically, we want to keep these core features, and make the tank as cheap as possible. If you can design a vehicle like this, that would be excellent and can be shipped to the testing grounds. If not, then your other $10 million variant looks good and should be submitted.

The following is a prototype design, and as such remains a simple primer grey.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v652/blaesa/PRA%20junk/ULBT.jpg
Wraith Ultra Light Battle Grav-Tank
Length: 12 meters
Width: 7.2 meters
Height: 4.08 meters
Mass: 110 tonnes
Armor (Average): 35mm carbon-reinforced duralloy
Main Armament: Single 120mm Railgun
Secondary Armament: 2 turret-mounted spotlight masers (90 degree arc of fire)
Main Ammunition: 80 shells
Secondary Ammunition: Effectively unlimited
Top Speed: 1300 kph
Propulsion: 4 PRA Anti-Grav Units
Power Generation: Fusion Generator
Cost: 10,000,000 USD

The lightest tank manufactured by Pale Rider Arms, the Wraith is very lightly armored, ranking similarly to an armored personnel carrier in armor scheme. Still, the Wraith is exceedingly fast, capable of breaking the sound barrier, and mounts a powerful 120mm railgun. Ideal for use in large packs, the lightning-quick Wraith outmaneuvers the competition, moving past its target and firing at their vulnerable rear armor before their turrets have a chance to traverse. Antipersonnel functions are limited to specialist rounds for the railgun and a pair of spotlight masers mounted on the roof of the turret.

((would you like me to reformat my results, I personally think mine are a bit more descriptive of the capabilities, but it's your choice.

BTW, Otagia, what's the point of your insane top speeds? I don't mean to criticize, I just want to understand. To underestimate the KPH:MPH ratio, I'll say 2:1. If we use this, we see that this prototype can travel at over 650MPH. The cruising speed of a modern commercial jet liner is ~ 509 MPH. Where would one go with a land vehicle at that speed? How is it of any use anywhere other than a few very wide open battle fields? Just wondering if you've got some super brilliant idea that I'm missing.))

Armor Test: The mirror armor is not designed to stop railgun bolts. At 2000 meters it stops the railgun bolt. At 1000 It penetrates the mirror armor, but stops it from going completely through. At 500 meters it goes through. The mirror armor is designed to deflect lasers and plasma weapons. The 3 inches of carbon nanotube layer stops the railgun bolt at all ranges except for point blank where the bolt is stuck deeply into the armor and has about 1/2 an inch before it would have gone through. The same holds true for the iridium tungsten alloy which is very hard. It has about 4 inches of clearance. This is with dead on hits. When done together here is what happens at 2000 meters the bolt is deflected because of the multiple angles of the armor. There is about an inch of scoring. At 1000 meters there is a large gouge in the mirror armor going through almost to the carbon nanotube layer. At 500 meters the bolt sticks in the armor going an 1/2 inch into the carbon nanotube layer. At 100 meters the bolt is stopped leaving an 1 inch score into the carbon nanotube layer. At point blank it gets 2 inches into the carbon nanotube layer. You need a 200 mm railgun. You may want to do a laser and plasma test.

Freezing problems: The reactive gel in the metalstorm guns does not take cold very well it jams the guns. The chemical composition needs to be upgraded. There is some problem with the missile systems as well. 3 of the 12 missiles won't fire. They need to be upgraded. Otherwise all of the systems work well. Some of the detectors like infrared need to be powered higher, the cold interferes with them.

Heat problems: The high power microwave gun needs to be insulated against heat better, it shorts out. This can be fixed. The short range fusion torch starts running hot. It might explode if you run it too long. It needs some kind of refrigheration unit to keep it from overheating in super hot temperatures.

Mud Problems: The communication equipment gets messed up. It needs to be better protected. The AP skirts get mud in them. Some of them won't fire. When turned off, the armored nacelles around the turbofans close up protecting them from damage. The metalstorm guns need baffles to protect them, they get gunked up.

Everything is fixable.

Obstacle course. The tank with 3 meters of turbofan clearance easily goes over all the obstacles. The tank pit is not deep enough to stop the tank. A 10 foot drop would have stopped it. It probably should be deeper for the grav tanks as well. The next run it rams the non-steel obstacles knocking them down or breaking them in half.

The guns-- The artillery results. The carbon nanotube penetrator rods are 15x times the strength of titanium, 2x as strong as the highest grade steel alloy. They are not explosive. With the acceleration on the first shot it penetrates deeply into the titanium block the magma causes the holes to expand and crack the titanium. On the second shot, the cube breaks in half but is not destroyed. The inside of the cube is white hot and partially melted. The HE rounds take 7 shots to destroy the cube completely. They are filled with porous silicon http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn1103. The fusion torch with a 60 foot continuous beam attached to its own sonofusion bottle at 40 feet cuts the titanium cube in half in 10 seconds. A foot a second. The hellbore missiles hit the cube they penetrate in with carbon nanotube heads. The cube looks like it is surrounded by a blue nimbus of electricicity for several seconds but it doesn't destroy the cube. The Metalstorm guns open up. They have a tremendous rate of fire. Chips start flying off the block. It can't really destroy the block but does leave gouges in it.

TR500 Templar MBT (http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/6448/templar1yh.png)


Specifications:

Dimensions: 18 metres long, 8.7 wide,5.3 metres high (including turret) 3.9 metres high (body)

Wieght: 385 tons.

Crew: 4

Cruising Speed: 80 Km/h

Maximum Speed: 120 km/h

Powerplant:

2 SCAPA Mk.VII cylinderical Matter Decay 45 Gallon reactors

1 SCAPA PP-98 contra gravity assisted implosion fusion pulse reactor

Main Armament:

VN-3999 100mm coil driver (maximum conventional fire power 2 kilotons with a 15 kilogram slug at a muzzle velocity of 747 km/s , maximum unconventional fire power (electron compression demolition charge) 3 megatons.

Secondary Armament:

Co axial General Data Technologies 1.2 Gigawatt contra gravity rotation mechanism gas cooled counter light armour / dazzler XASER


Tertiary Armement
3 Pintle standard remote operation enabled heavy infantry portable weapons mounts.

4 “slide on” side mounted defence mount points.

2 Heavy Turret Sponson mounts.

1 Turret Top autonomous powered mount.

Price: 9,800,000 Million Rungs 1 rung = 1 rung = $2.09


The TR-500 Templar main battle tank was designed as the replacement for the ageing TR-220 Trenchant. Using a heavily augmented variant of the Mk.VIII Drexel Engineering Tanks running gear which features high capacity treads capable of withstanding most equivalent technological base infantry portable conventional light and medium weapons. The Templar was to be built around the new SCAPA VN-3999 100mm coil driver kinetic projectile cannon. The VN-3999 had previously been developed for the ZMSF’s failed low signature urban combatant tank destroyer program, unable to find an economically viable recoil compensation system for the project the VN-3999 was shelved for 3 years until the start of the Templar program. With a far higher power consumption than the Trenchant’s single Henk Power Systems (HPS) Mk.III HT 30 Gallon Matter Decay Reactor could supply the Templar was equipped with 2 laterally mounted cylindrical SCAPA Mk.VII 45 Gallon reactors slaved to the drive trains and a single SCAPA PP-98 contra gravity assisted implosion fusion pulse reactor primarily slaved to the weapons system and battle screen. Given the nature of the pulse reactor the Templar can operate on a much wider range of power outputs than the Trenchants HPS HT’s.

The Templar is designed to house a four man crew, the commander, the driver, the main gunner and the secondary gunner (who handles defensive fire and battle screen operations). It features hull down two blow out escape hatches and one hull up, and three conventional hatches all equipped with ZMSF standard remote operation enabled heavy infantry portable weapons mounts usually fitted with ultra light infinite repeaters, flechette rifles, grenade launchers, or micro smart missile launchers. The turret top hatch features a secondary power feed for a heavier weapon, usually a shoulder fired anti aircraft HVM carried by the gunner who is the only crew member in the turret. The Templar does not feature any blow out systems in its main ammunition storage racks (located in the turret bustle) as it in usual operation carries inert kinetic rounds.

The Templars main armament the VN-3999 100mm coil driver can fire a variety of penetrator rounds, hot dust (battle field denial radioactive/toxin mix) rounds, tactical nuclear or electron compression demolition charges, “canister” anti light combatant smart rounds, a MV “sawn off” Starslam Hyper Velocity Missile for takeing out heavy aerospace threats or engaging at extreme range and a highly efficient and lethal counter-power armour (Flechette) round which features a 20 degree spread and has also proven useful against lightly armoured personnel carriers and “winging” aerospace craft. The VN-3999 standard SCAPA conductive synth alloy / DU round impacts with a maximum force of 2 kilotons. The VN-3999 is coupled to an autoloader with a 8 round revolver magazine, the revolver magazine allows a rate of fire of 8 rounds in the first 28 seconds of combat with 4 being “full velocity” shots with 12 further rounds fired “full velocity” at an interval of 31 seconds between rounds, after this the barrel must go through an LN2 gauss purge cycle lasting no less than 1 minute or risk misfire and barrel fouling and distortion.

The Templars secondary armament is a co axial General Data Technologies 1.2 Gigawatt contra grav rotation mechanism gas cooled counter light armour / dazzler XASER which has remarkably effective useful in its secondary role as XIDAR fire control for the main armament, effectively finding weak spots in enemy armour.

The Templar has a wide variety of modular attachments that can be mounted on its main turret, and body including a 15 ton capable crane with grapnel field generator, an ultra light armoured pilon mounted CIWS ultra light infinite repeater, offensive turret sponson pod multipurpose heavy 4 cell HVM launchers, defensive turret top mounted HVM 12 cell launchers with an independent targeting system, heavy turret sponson mounted gun pods featuring twin medium rotary infinite repeaters and twin 15mm coil guns and hull mounted automated “slide on” sponson point defence/anti personnel light infinite repeater mounts. A mine plow, and excavator are also available for frontal mounting.

The Templars turret is equipped with 8 35mm Multi purpose grenade launchers and the main forward body is equipped with 12 60mm counter measure tasked grenade launchers.

The Templar’s armour consists of military grade ground combat variant synthetic alloy varying from 630mm (Turret), (430mm)Forward zone and rear) to 350mm (Sides) to 220mm (underside) with an equivalent Tensile Strength (MPa) of 5,450 a density (g/cm3) of 5.86 grams a Specific Strength (MPa-cm3/g) of 930 covered in a 1.3 mm thick layer of super conductor covered with an ablative 15mm to 40mm layer of advanced silicon based plastic with a melting point of 23,700 C designed to resist local environmental conditions. The Templars running gear armoured sections are 230mm thick and equipped with reactive armour. The Templars Battle Screen is rated to a maximum of 2.3 Kilotons equivalent force with an 85% absorption rate for hyper velocity kinetic rounds when drawing the Templars entire power output. It is vulnerable to resetting if exposed to star drive or other highly exotic high energy fields.

Further Templar variants are to be tested with low calibre hellbores a heavy tactical airspace defence infinite repeater variant but the wide variety of munitions the coil gun is capable of delivering make it the most tactically useful of weapons while still retaining all the lethality of a hellbore against armoured targets without the radioactive side effects (unless the Templar utilises its electron compression shells, tactical nuclear shells or counter biological hot dust shells).

The manned variant of the Templar features a GDT combat hardened internal optic data sharing network with multiple redundant processing/storage units dispersed at 12 points capable of 0.3 of human baseline. The Templar in this mode is capable of autonomous combat and tactical “survival” action. The Templar in SI operated mode features a single energy state processing module which takes up most of the unused crew space and is rated for 4.8 of human baseline. Templar features 42 2mm passive optic pick ups with limited LIDAR capacity and 5 high capacity optic pick ups along with a wide array of mission variable EM active and passive sensors. The Templar usually carries and supports 6 scouting drones. The Templars 2 multipurpose scanning masts can be extended up to 23 metres. The Templar features standard ZMSF developed recycling and biological support systems.

Post Script


1. Temperature tests
- What systems where non-operational after the freezing?

Vehicle remains fully operational in vacume at near absolute zero.

- What was not operational after the heat test?

Infinite Repeaters, external secondary optics, telescopic booms.

2. Mud
- What systems where not operational after the mud test?

Coil driver has high preassure counter fouling LN2 purge cycle, infinite repeaters are solid state and cannot be fouled by mud, secondary optics are fouled but can be cleansed by scout drones, primary optics have integral cleansing systems.

3. Obstacles
- Was it immobilized by any of the 1,2,3,4 or 5 foot vertical obstacles or the 5 or 10 foot antitank trench?

No.

4. Weapons
- For non-artillery units: How far did each weapon (or just the main weapon if you want) penetrate the 10-foot titanium cube at the different ranges? What was the accuracy?

Line of Sight for primary coil driver and secondary XASER, total vaporisation of target capable with both, 5 kilometres in 1 atmosphere in wet conditions for infinite repeaters with melting of target.

5. Armor test
- What ranges where the armor penetrated at by the 100mm railgun?

Depends on KE explosive TNT equivlent of rail weapon, unless it exceeds 2 kilotons equivlent energy it will not penetrate the battlescreen. Synth alloy composite armour is rated at 930 for specific strenth when compared with high cost real world modern light weight titanium based armour Ti-6Al-4V MIL-A-46077 which is rated at a specific strength of 220 and in comparison to RHAs specific strength of 150. 100mm Rail Gun penetration cannot be estimated unless the inherent actuall KE output of slug is known.

Post Post Script

ZMI variant Infinite Repeater (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Infinite_Repeater)

From: Military Phalli Inc.
To: The Merkar Republic
Subject: Military Phalli - APC Proposal

Having noticed your general invitation regarding this contest a little late (But, hopefully, still in time), we would like to submit the following design (Non-DA-standard, Military Phalli Inc. products, export-biased):

APC:

Designation Infantry-Scale Combatant Transportation System
Manufacturer Military Phalli Inc.
Crew Adaptive Subsapient Combat-Biased algorithm (May achive full sapience through adaption); Control via mindstate-upload, neural interface or by hand possible.
Length 5 m
Width 2.5 m
Height 2.5 m
Mass 15 tons
Propulsion Blue Sphere SL 256 EM Drive ('Hovering')
Max. Speed 300 km/h
Max. Altitude 300 m
Armour 15- 30 mm; two-layer EM/ kinetic specific; Hard kill@1MJ/cm^3 incoming
Sensors Fullband EM & Seismic/ Sonic coverage.
Weapons
Standard One 14.6 mm 10 MW railgun OR one 35.7 mm 10 MW Charged Particle Beam Cannon OR one 11.3 mm 10 MW UV laser OR one 357mm 10 MW maser.
Optional 1 x 10 137 mm tactical missile rack OR 1 x 127mm mortar
Carrier Capacity Eight Equipped Passengers (Assuming initial 200 cm Cyborg Specification)
Environments Full NBC protection; Max. temperature limit 500 K; Min. Temperature limit 100 K
Price 1.1 mio Universal Standard Units; Type B.
Notes: A relatively small vehicle, meant to be able to penetrate in complex terrain (Sure, it can fly. But flying makes it an easy target), rather than carrying 'Assloads' of cargo. Emissions are kept minimal (And can be directed, to an extend, anyway) to reduce observability. Of course, this is still rather far away from 'Stealth', but it's the best that is manageable with such a vehicle.

The drive allows 1. hovering and 2. 'Anchoring' (If one knows how to deal with field polarities), this avoiding nasty shoot-and-fly-backwards scenarios due to recoil or the momentum of incoming ordnance - equal to the friction effect for, say, a tracked vehicle (Though more energy-intensive). The velocities and altitude are relatively low for a 'Flying' object - the reason is that it's still an APC, and thus has the aerodynamics of one.

And sadly, the drive is a little prone to maintenance issues. Nothing catastropic, certainly - but on occasion performance-reducing.

Power is provided by way of microfusion (Maintenance is, again, not utterly perfect).

Obviously, it can dive. We're not sure why it should be able to do such, but depths of down to 30 m ought to be manageable without problems.

I hope that you'll consider our proposal - we considered a full offer, but to be frank, our tanks aren't something to be proud of - and wish you a nice day (And qualified competition regarding this issue, too!).

Likewise, should you have any desires regarding changes or specialisations, we're your friend - customer service above all else.

Sincerely,

~ Richard Lynx, Military Phalli Inc.

The proposal was made. Of course - it certainly didn't include something resembling a DA-milspec design (The APC was roughly diplo-scale, all things considered, merely lacking field projectors), but this wasn't so much because there were restrictions on exports to the potential customer - its society, history, political system and present mainstream-philosophies checked out as 'vaguely acceptable, though they should tell their conservatives to piss off'.

Just, a near-milspec APC would cost more like eleven, rather than 1.1 mio. USUs (Which was enormously cheap to begin with - the advantage of second-hand-but-useful parts). And this was suspected to be a little much for the Merkar Republic.

Well, that, and Military Phalli Inc., though relatively big on exports, wasn't really large enough to manage milspec production of vehicles.

In any case: If the Merkar Republic could be interested in testing a prototype (As said, the APC wasn't milspec standard, or to be more precise, it was a construction that'd been designed shortly after the initial news about a potential customer came in, with the prototype rolling out a 'lil while later), the basic tests would've results along the following lines:

As far as temperatures went, no problems: The APC was meant to survive rather greater differences. As such, more than just the core systems would be left functional. Specifically, all of them would be.

Putting it on Venus would result in rather greater problems, though.

The mud would prove to be a somewhat greater problem: Granted, with the weaponry safely encased, it would remain functional (Without, not so much... Railgun and particle gun would need extensive cleaning, though maser/ UV laser would function without any real issues), but the EM floatyness that was used for propulsion would need a while to get rid of the mud - It could be done by simply leaving it switched on, its energies eventually cleaning it, so it really wasn't a problem per se - except when you need the drive to be on full capacity, immediately.

But then, this was still better than what would happen with tracks.

That obstacles weren't something a hovering APC would have issues with was sort of a given.

The weapons test itself would hardly be relevant for an APC-design, and even the particle cannon would need something like three days to vaporise such a cube (About seven hours to melt it), but, well...

And being fired upon - well, this would depend entirely on how much KE the projectiles would carry. But generally speaking, it was unlikely to survive hits at a distance of less than a thousand metres.

Still, it should be reasonable.

Well, there was this little thing about mass production and Military Phalli Inc. having issues with it, but a few hundred, or maybe even a few thousand (Given enough time) should be manageable.

oocness: Universal Standard Unit Type 2 == Euro.

Athiesism, I've updated the prices for my huntarian vehicals. Buy when you're ready.

Der Angst,

Your very cheap APC interests us. It seems decently reliable, and as you have already given us enough information it will be uneccesary to test it. We are interested in the maser-equipped variant, and will certainly purchase it if no better APC candidates offer themselves.

Zepplin manufacturers,

Nice post, lots of detail on the vehicle.

What is the price on your tank? It looks interesting, but we still want to also know about its armor penetration capability and armor

Commonalitarianism,

Your tank seems to have satisfactory armor, but we now realize that we made the target too soft for the weapons test. What we are concerned with is what would happen if we encountered enemy superheavy tanks and would not be able to penetrate the armor at all.

The reliability issues must be fixed if the Slammer is to accepted into service. Keep the price at $10 million, but get these problems fixed. Also, we don't want the missile launchers, as missiles can be decoyed- eliminate them and put the money into adding a larger gun.

Otagia, your Wraith looks like an excellent choice. Please send it to the testing grounds so that we can gather information on its reliability (weapons and obstacle tests aren't necessary).

Kazecistan, your results are good. It seems almost certain now that your cheap hovercraft will go into service if you can assure us that the remote control datalink will not be jammed by the enemy.

OOC: Calculated by DA the Templar MBT main gun fires a 15 kilogram slug (8 kilogram ultra dense penetrator core) traveling at 747 km/s to achieve a 2 kiloton blast. This is enough to completely vaporise a 10 x 10 X 10 titanium block three times over.

From: Military Phalli Inc.
To: The Merkar Republic
Subject: Military Phalli - APC Proposal

Wonderful news, then! We'd of course need to know how many we're supposed to produce (I suppose that production in licence is a possibility as well, but such would likely be more expensive), and over which timeframe.

The maser-variant it is, then - should be easy enough to handle. Should any issues arise, as always, we're there to help. Likewise, should you desire more detailed introductions, we've the necessary personnel to handle them.

As is standard, spare parts and the likes can be ordered in considerable quantities as well.

This said, the contest isn't yet over - we'll see, I guess. But I'm confident.

Sincerely, Richard Lynx, Military Phalli Inc.

oocness: Of course, the calculations ZMI mentioned are based on rather rough assumptions, and kinetic energy distribution and specific impact effects most likely mean that the impact wouldn't actually vaporise all of it - but it shouldn't be too far off

Modeled after Hammer's Slammer -- David Drake
Cost $35 million dollars.
Weight 82 Tons
Length: 11 Meters
Height : 3.5 Meters
Width: 4.5 Meters
Crew: 4
Armor: All environment internal seals. Basically it is like a space capsule inside the tank with refrigeration and heat maintenance units. You could run this tank on the moon. 2 day air supply. 9 inches of Iridium and Tungsten Steel alloy. Iridium functions as a heat sink, so does tungsten steel, this limits the effectiveness of plasma and laser weapons. We have to mine the iridium from low orbit asteroids. Over this is 3 inches of bioceramic and carbon nanotube spray on lightweight polymer. The final coating is three inches of energy refractive heat absorbent coating made from a crystalline matrix designed to counter lasers and disperse plasma-- mirror shielding. The inside has ABC and EMP hardening-- atomic, biological, chemical and EMP hardening
Equipment: Heavier gun (155) MM Rifled Railgun Designed to fire four shells, a caseless superheated magma glass round with carbon nanotube core penetrator rods, a high explosive antitank round, a thermobaric explosive round, or a chemical or biological containment shell. 50 Shell magazine. Nanobattery ultracapacitors added to increase electrical
charge to gun barrel 4000 meters/ second.
High Power Microwave Gun-- This gun will fry electronics in all but the most heavily shielded vehicles. It can be set on automatic intercept mode to fry the homing control on missiles.
Swivel Mounted Fusion Torch: Short range continuous cutting beam-- 80 feet long. This will cut through practically anything. It can cut an incoming tank in half. Includes heat sink and cooling gel. (Taking out missile box allows more power conduits to fusion torch).
Antipersonnel Skirt with detection suite: Upgraded with newer system. At 50 meters will fire a variety AP grenades at target. Plascrete barrier foam superglue grenades or HEAP grenades.
Point Defense: 3 swivel mounted Metalstorm tribarrel point defense machine guns. These guns can knock out incoming missiles. They are slaved to an onboard radar, motion, infrared ferrometallic, and satellite detection system that can track missiles and shells in the air and blow them to bits. Includes barrel seals for when the gun is off.
1 Metalstorm Quad Barrel 40 MM HEAT Grenade Launcher. (Look up Metalstorm it is an amazing real technology.) New reaction gel that will fire in any environment. Includes barrel seals for when guns are off.
(This is in the current news.) This gives it tremendous power . Underneath the tank are eight armored nacelles with supercharged turbolift fans. It can go 800 KPH and has a normal lift clearance of 3 meters. The French Aerotrain a heavy lift hovercraft train built in 1965, a precursor to this tank was tested at a maximum speed of 430 KM/PH. It never touched the tracks. (Again a real technology.) The Slammer can for moments be supercharged to 9 meters of lift clearance. On water in supercharged mode it can go 200 KPH.
Fuel: The Sonofusion bottles are one foot round spheres which run off of deuterium which is easily extractable from sea water. Here is a bit about them. http://www.spacedaily.com/news/energy-tech-04zzzv.html . This is much cleaner, cheaper and more readily available than standard fusion.
Detection Suite and Electronics: This tank has built in rangefinders and an advanced detection suite. The detection system is now encased in environmentally stable bioplastic with seals to avoid mud and other problems. There are thermal controls on all electronics to maintain constant temperature. Inside is a 360 degree view panel. It combines GPS, video, radar, ferrometallic, infrared, motion, laser, and satellite detection systems which are slaved to a fast diamond space manufactured computer system-- 100 GHZ. This allows for both automated defense with the guns and highly accurate targeting. All tanks are linked through a wireless satellite and tank computer system. This allows coordinated fire control, and monitoring of every tank in the units location.

Note: This tank is partially space manufactured. Iridium is only available in quantity in asteroid fields. The crystalline mirror armor is grown in zero gravity to insure that there are no impurities in the matrix. The electronics and computer chips are manufactured in a zero g vacuum environment to insure utmost quality.

All of this technology should be available by 2030. It is hard science fiction. It would be both PMT and FT.

Note: In the book Hammer's Slammers -- by David Drake, it was supposed to be close to the top end tank in the galaxy and very expensive.

I probably shouldn't state this but a 155mm high power railgun, has a range of 500 miles. This is the estimated range for the railgun being built for the DDX destroyer planned to be used in future naval warfare by the United States navy. The gun is incredibly powerful.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*snip*
Kazecistan, your results are good. It seems almost certain now that your cheap hovercraft will go into service if you can assure us that the remote control data-link will not be jammed by the enemy.

Jamming is very difficult to do, considering the system used for the connection. Furthermore, each craft is equipped to pick up a secondary broadcast, if need be. Both of these can be modified with limitless encryption and frequency modifications, making finding, and in turn bocking, the signal much more difficult. There are many things you can do with the relay system to add redundancy on the battle field. Assuming worst case scenario (very unlikely) and both channels are somehow blocked, the AI is capable of functioning independently of the network (though admittedly at a lower efficiency). Thus, it is recommended that if you fear the most minute of possibilities, you load the AI onto your human controlled units as a backup.

BTW, Otagia, what's the point of your insane top speeds? I don't mean to criticize, I just want to understand. To underestimate the KPH:MPH ratio, I'll say 2:1. If we use this, we see that this prototype can travel at over 650MPH. The cruising speed of a modern commercial jet liner is ~ 509 MPH. Where would one go with a land vehicle at that speed? How is it of any use anywhere other than a few very wide open battle fields? Just wondering if you've got some super brilliant idea that I'm missing.))
1) It's not a land vehicle, it's a grav tank. Thus, it can double as an attack aircraft with extreme ease.
2) With DNI and QUETZAL assist (both standard with all Otagian tanks, although we can remove either if you wish), it's quite possible to take hairpin turns or weave through dense terrain at close to maximum speed.

after the mud test a problem came up the berrel of the Linear tank got cloged with mud so did most of the weapons but it could still move then they went on to the obsticle course the artilery passed it all but did not get past the 10 foot tranch with ease as for the tank....one of the shocks broke after the fiths drop and it got past the 5 foot tranch and it took a shot time for the 10 foot

This is the updated version with heavier armor. It costs $10 million dollars more due to extra armor, to maintain speed and maneuverability, two new heavy lift fans and a sonofusion bottle were added.


No, we didn't want heavy armor, we said that it was good like it was. But the Space Marines have been looking for an extreme-environment vehicle to fight on special planets, and they might order some. The Slammer's strong points are heavy armor and armament, but it is too expensive for army use. This means that it will probably fill our heavy tank requirement if it is accepted.

Sorry to give you the run-around with all this extra development, Commonalitarianism. Maybe I'll give you an extra tip to compensate for R&D expense.

The TR-500, Der Angst APC, Linear Tank, and Linear Artillery, Kazecistani aircraft and Otagian Wraith seem to be our best options at present, and are probably all going to be purchased in at least some quantity. The contest is still open, of course.

Zepplin Manufacturers, how much money would be cut off the price if some "frills" like the telescopic booms (not the secondary sights, though), AI, etc. were removed?

Templar Systems Price Sheet

Base Systems
TR500 Templar Base Price: 8,000,000 rungs

Inclusive of primary and secondary armament and integrated grenade launchers, drive train, hull, support systems, fire control, all integrated EW and sensor systems, distributed solid state optical data system, basic spares package, Battle Screen and life support systems.

Spares and specialist tools package: 800,000 rungs

SCAPA Mk.VII 45 Gallon Reactor: 980,000 rungs

SCAPA PP-98 Reactor: 758,000 rungs

Battle Screens:

SCAPA HARK-V99 : 2,400,000 rungs (2 Kilotons, Integral Base Unit)
SCAPA HARK-V45 : 845,000 rungs (0.8 Kilotons Optional Secondary Unit)
SCAPA HARK-NM4 : 400,000 rungs (0.5 Kilotons Optional Budget Module)
NM4 replaces V99 for a saveing of 2 Million rungs on base price

Optional Systems:

Single Use Gravitic Drop Pack: 380,000 rungs

Energy State processing node: 3,000,000 rungs


Forward Mounts:

GDT Advanced Sub Surface Scanning System:230,000 rungs
Mine Plough: 120,000 Rungs
Dozer Blade: 15,000 Rungs
Mine Flail: 45,000 Rungs
Gravitic Demolition Ram: 340,000 rungs

Turret Top autonomous powered mount modules

15 ton capable crane with grapnel field generator: 34,000 rungs
CIWS Ultra light infinite repeater: 30,000 Rungs
HVM 12 cell launchers with an independent targeting system
GDT Advanced Electronic Warfare Package: 328,000 Rungs

Commanders Hatch Weapon Mount

TIW "Shriek" Dual Counter Aerospace HVM: 80,000 rungs
TIW 30mm 540 megawatt UV LASER :30,000 rungs
TIW 50mm Multi Purpose Rail Driver: 21,000 rungs
TIW NI-140 Heavy Needler : 18,000 rungs
TIW HARP Micro Missile Launcher : 35,000 rungs
TIW PN-80 40mm Automatic Grenade Launcher: 14,800 rungs
TIW LF-12 20mm Flechette Rifle: 16,000 rungs

Drivers Hatch Weapon Mount

TIW 50mm Multi Purpose Rail Driver: 21,000 rungs
TIW NI-140 Heavy Needler : 18,000 rungs
TIW HARP Micro Missile Launcher : 35,000 rungs
TIW PN-80 40mm Automatic Grenade Launcher: 14,800 rungs
TIW LF-12 20mm Flechette Rifle: 16,000 rungs

Turret Sponson Modules

Multipurpose Heavy 4 cell HVM launchers: 200,000 Rungs
Gun pods featuring twin medium rotary infinite repeaters and twin 15mm coil guns:180,000 Rungs

Slide on lateral modules

"Baton" Active counter PA scale combatant explosive module: 15,000 Rungs
TIW Ultra light self contained Infinite repeater: 21,000 rungs



OOC:

The telescopic masts cost little as there deemed open to high rates of attrition and as such there just pick ups, there is no active processing going on in them. None the less

Multi Purpose Scanning Mast: 18,000 rungs

I like the price breakdown idea, it makes it easier to customize equipment. Maybe I'll try that on my designs.

In case you where curious, Zepplin Manufacturers, we're most interested in the following arangment for the TR-500. We're not yet absolutely certain that we are going to buy it, but this is a heads-up should you need to prepare your production lines. Prices are approximated in USD.

Templar Base Price w/V99 armor: $16 million
Advanced Sub-Surface Scanning System: $460,000
Mine plow: $240,000
Dozer blade: $30,000
15 ton capable crane with grapnel field generator: $64,000
"Shriek" Dual Counter Aerospace SVM: $160,000
50mm Multipurpose Rail Driver: $42,000
Multi Purpose Scanning Mast: $18,000

Total cost: $17,008,000 (about 8,137,799.05 rungs)

edit: Plus Infinite Repeaters

finally the last two tests

the artilery and tank both passed the weapons test it took 2 shots from the tank and 1 from the artilery

then the armor test

a section from the front of the tank and artilery was taken then had the rail run fired at it the tanks armor got a dent...a big one but still was not breached the artilery got a small hole

The integral management system linked to the range finder on "non lethal" setting should vary the discharges accordingly however it carries the same hazards as heavy tazer use with its high megaelectronvoltage neccesary for effective ranged use.



OOC: I wish I had made up the word "megaelectronvolt"

OOC: Oops, I'm behind on this one...

IC: The Amazonian Transports arrived late with HAPP and HACP units, which were immediately sent to testing runs. Both were first sent to the temperature trails to test the withstanding in different temperatures...but the Dominion units were well-prepared for this.

Due to the fact that we require equipment soon in order for our "plans" to proceed smoothly, not to mention the fact that I'm going on vacation for spring break starting saturday and won't be back for a week, the Merkar Republic is going to name its purchases for armored vehicles, APCs, and attack aircraft.

These selections are by no means intended to insult the designers of these fine weapons. It was a hard decision to make, as every competitor offered up some excellent designs.And I'm not just saying that- I mean it. However, we have come to the point where we have to make the choice.

Here are our orders:

91,000 Infantry-Scale Combatant Transportation System w/Maser, $100.1 billion
1,143 Hammer's Slammer ($35 million "space capsule" model), $40 billion
100,000 Hover Wing Attack Craft w/AI for $200.1 billion
10,000 Wraith, $100 billion
2,000 TR-500 w/ all of the features specificied in previous post plus Infinite Repeater, $34.1 billion
R&D Reimbursement to Commonalitarianism and Otagia, $30 billion each

The artillery purchases have yet to be announced, as the competition is still going on between Amazonian Beasts and Spit Break. But we would most certainly like to thank everyone for offering their designs up for review. We would like all of them to give us some information on their candidate vehicle's production. How much would it cost to buy the production rights? How long does it take to build, and what resources does it use?

Saying that Richard Lynx was surprised would've been an understatement. Oh, sure, he had expected being choosen - he hadn't really expected this number of vehicles, though.

While a number of engineers with alcohol problems and construction-biased minds/ drones with more AI-biased addictions cheered and improvised a little party/ orgy (Military Phalli Inc. wasn't going to have serious financial troubles for the forseeable future, so it was perfectly justifiable), Richard Lynx was checking on Military Phalli Inc.'s manufacturing capacities, both, with regards to actual capacities, and influx of the necessary materials.

Almost seven thousand a year. More than thirteen years until completion.

Uh-oh.

Well, at least it settled the in-licence production issue.

From: Military Phalli Inc.
To: Whom it may concern, Athiesism/ The Merkar Republic
Subject: APC contract

Thank you for choosing our proposal (Although I believe that there weren't any other APC proposals, so this might have made the choice a little easier).

As far as in-licence production goes, we're very much in favour of such a solution - While we expect to increase our production capacities, we're unlikely to do such to the extend you might desire. At present, it'd take us almost fourteen years to actually complete all ninety-one thousand APCs/ ISCTS', which I suspect isn't quite what you had in mind.

As such, production-in-licence for a fee equivalent to what our profit margain [10% of production costs, I.e. 110000 USU2 per vehicle] would be is perfectly acceptable and, indeed, encouraged by us. Assistence with regards to setting up the facilities and getting the production running would be rendered by us for a nominal fee.

This said, in order to produce the ISCTS at the costs we've mentioned before, DA-internal material supplies are necessary, however, this very supplies are also limited. We imagine that production in the Republic would therefore be rather more costly than DA-native production - we estimate an additional 10%. This is, of course, disregarding the profit margain of whoever is going to manufacture them in licence.

However, if this is acceptable to you, we see no reason not to do so.

As far as building time goes, this is of course entirely dependent on the available manufacturing resources, and as far as the materials used in the production goes, an infosheet is attached to this message.

Oh, and last but not least - APC and/ or ISCTS are somewhat awkward terms. I've taken the liberty of officially calling the product the MP-MR Mk I (M) ISCTS (Military Phalli - Merkar Republic Mk I (Maser) Infantry Scale Combatant Transportation System).

Yes, I like overly long abbrevations.

Sincerely,

~ Richard Lynx

[Attachement: Infosheet]

oocness: A few details I didn't know how to throw in ICly: Armour's supposed to be made of assorted exotics - heavy alloys plus ceramics and maybe a few crystalline minerals, too. I'll spare myself any more detailed descriptions - it's made-up to begin with. Essentially two layers: One inner anti-kinetic, and one outer anti-EM biased one. The (Made-up, but eh) numbers have, after all, been given earlier.

The maser itself fires/ beams out at a wavelength of 1cm, this giving it a coherent range of 25 metres - this is assuming a 357mm aperture, though, not the 35.7mm aperture I mentioned ICly. I forgot/ was too lazy to do the math, and a coherent range of 25 cm is... Well, lets just assume I wrote 357mm. I'll edit the original post with the more appropiate number. Effective range - I'm using 100 joules/ cm^2 beam area as benchmark, that should be lethal or near-lethal to unprotected humans - should be ~ 250m. I suppose that effects along the lines of intense pain are manageable to up to perhaps 800m out, though. Noticeable, probably about 2500m, but a soldier saying 'Hey, that must've been a maser hitting me!' doesn't really fall under effective.

Nevermind jamming assorted communciations/ detection devices - that should be simple.

The maser itself will have variable pulselength - down to about a millisecond - which is neat when masering during multihundred-km/h-transit, as it ensures the appropriate energy density on target. It'll also have a burstfire option - whatever holds the energy (Ludicrously effective capacitor banks or whatever) can be loaded up to hold, say, 100 megajoules, allowing a rather greater energy density/ effective range. Of course, it takes ten seconds to load it up, and it is suggested to not fire that in a millisecond-long pulse. Maintaining the aperture can be annoying.

Mrm. That should be it, I think. Oh, right - I don't subscribe to day = year, and my fluid-time average, counting from registering on NS, seems to be roughly two weeks ~ year. I suppose that calling it week ~ year for the purpose of this transaction is fair, so seven weeks until completion, assuming no licenced production.

Hello,
We have just finished building three massive orbital space factories from hollowed out asteroids. Production has started on your order. We will be delivering them to the outer edge of our system using X-100 sonofusion thermal hydrogen transport system a massive conical ship. We currently have three transports. These were used to supply the materials to build the orbital factories, which are one to two miles wide. It will take exactly three trips for the full delivery. These will be escorted by three stealth X Delta 2 Flying Triangles with MPDT sonofusion drives. We thank you for doing business with us. Until now we have not shown the existence of these craft. The original craft was designed to destroy Godzilla when he was attacking Neotokyo. Your delivery is ready.

Regards,

Strategos Sharp

Note: I actually built one of these nutty craft to take out Godzilla but Neotokyo didn't respond.
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=471049&highlight=commonalitarianism

Due to our current stocks and rate of production, your order will be filled with unused, out-of-the-box units from our own military. You should receive shipment within 48 hours of payment. It's been a pleasure doing business with you.

A link to the Merkar Republic factbook is in my sig, in case you wanted to know a little about my country and it's intentions.

Comrades,

The Merkar Republic is honored to have such generous fellow nations to help it in its time of preparation. Your cooperation will be rewarded in due time. Already, the military-industrial complex is preparing itself for licensed construction of vehicles and spacecraft from those nations willing to sell us production rights. We would still like all of the nations that we have ordered tanks or hovercraft from to sell us production rights, as our own land vehicle industry would benefit greatly from the experience provided in building these excellent designs.

As for Der Angst, we are very interested in buying the production rights for $10.01 billion. Our largest defence nanofactories are already preparing for the order, as we are sure you will accept the offer. Thank you for offering assistance, but we believe that we can convert our industrial base to APC production by ourselves.

The artillery contest continues, and we hope that it will come to a conclusion soon. Artillery is the most important of the arms of destruction, and the Merkar military is always looking for new candidate systems to fill this branch.

That is all for now, apart from a few closing words. All of you will no doubt be willing to come to our side when our Plan takes effect. There will be plenty of use for our newly reformed army, and if what we have heard so far about its capability is true, our triumph is inevitable.

Long live the Merkar Republic! Long live the Mainframe!

OOC: my artilery part is already done

From: Military Phalli In.
To: Whom it may concern, Merkar Republic
Subject: MP-MR Mk I (M) ISCTS Production Rights

Nanofactories... Erm, nevermind, though personally, I'd suggest more conventional method to increase cost efficiency... but anyway.

10.1 (Rather than 10.01) bn should be sufficient, though this depends on your intentions - Do you desire to produce as many as you which, or a specific number (The 10.1 bn would be for the latter)? And of course, we'd like to know if the original 91000 production still stands, or if you'd take over some of it.

Oh, and we'd of course keep the right to produce them ourselves - there'd merely be more entities producing them, specifically, you.

This said, apart from this questions, everything checks out.

Sincerely,

~ Richard Lynx

After the temperature tests finalized, the HAPP and HACP were removed into normal temperature and started again. The HACP performed admirably, the weapons systems, drive units, computer systems, and reactors all performing at standard functionality. The HAPP's two forward-most anti-infantry laser turrets were sputtering, but everything else, including the main torpedo boxes, were all operational. The vehicles were next to be submerged in the mud for the next test.

Der Angst,

We'd prefer to be able to produce as many as we wish. What would the price be for that? If you are willing to give us these production rights, we will produce the entire 91,000 unit order ourselves.

Kazecistan, Commonalitarianism, and Zepplin Manufacturers,

How much would it cost to buy the production rights to the vehicles you offered us?

From: Military Phalli Inc.
To: Whom it may concern, Merkar Republic
Subject: MP-MR Mk I (M) ISCTS Production Rights

In this case, I believe that a few slight changes are necessary, as far as monetary compensation is concerned.

In the end, I'd think that 11.1bn USU2's should be sufficient to partially transfer production rights to you - as mentioned before, you'd be free to produce however many you want, while we retain the right to produce them ourselves. Which is unlikely to happen, but still.

if this is acceptable, perfect.

Sincerely,

~ Richard Lynx

oocness: As I suck in writing legal contracts, I'd say that your confirmation to this offer equals the contract being written, signed, and the money (As well as the necessary design details) being transferred. Until specifically noted otherwise, anyway.

Oh, and a note: This thing consists of roughly 2e30 molecules (= individual parts, 's far as nanoscale construction is concerned). Manufacturing it with nanomachines wouldn't exactly be... Fast...

We'll manage. :D Besides, this is the future, isn't it?

Your terms are acceptable, Der Angst. $11.1 billion has already been wired to you. We await your transmission of the blueprints.

And don't worry about legal matters. Here in the Merkar Republic, we hate lawyers.

Hello,
It would cost the cost of producing 1000 tanks or $35 billion. We will include an additional technology for the armor layers. The tungsten steel and iridium layer can be electromagnetically polarized. When liquid metal hits this layer it spreads out over a wide area diminishing the impact, also metal rounds are slowed down slightly.

Regards,

Strategos Sharp

BounceBounceBounceBounceBounceBounceBounceBounce

Photons - energy - are provided, photons are absorbed by electrons, photons are remitted by electrons, carrying with them information about slight changes in the energy states of the electrons that have emitted them, statistical values of orbital configurations and molecular binding probabilities...

BounceBounceBounceBounceBounceBounceBounceBounce

The slight changes of electron energy states and orbital configurations are information, not binary, but rather more complex.

Ok. A lot more complex.

BounceBounceBounceBounceBounceBounceBounceBounce

The information is transferred, leaving the confines of pico- and femtoscale 'circuitry' (Really not the appropriate term, but it has to suffice. Tradition) and bouncing through the EM spectrum, the echoes of its relativistic-space properties resounding in the between, and, once received by a Between-stationary satellite, accelerating to sufficiently high velocities to do the handful of lightyears to the Merkar Republic in a handful of seconds, constantly echoing back into relativistic space as a spread of ZPE radiations containing the original information, to be received by the Merkar Republic's standard EM receivers.

A bit complex, yes, but it does the job. And FTL communications that aren't complex would be a 'lil odd, anyway.

The content? Oh, just a few design details.

Point to point encrypted text only transmission

From: ZMI MilIndCom Directorate

In reply to your enquiry of the XX/XX/XX we are pleased to inform you that 438 units of the TR500 are presently available for immediate shipment and that further production to fulfil your order can be allocated to standard manufacturies located in Orbital Industrial Nodes Coppertown and Oberths Drift within 54 days.

If express delivery is required two primary mil manufacturies are at present available in Megacity Two for contract at an added 23% per unit but a drop in production time to 15 days.

Pertaining purchase of licensed production rights including all integral systems for uses related to the TR500 Templar MBT can be granted however such systems as the TIW Infinite Repeater and GDT optic networks are necessary separate licences.

Pertaining to the production of the TR500

The base materials necessary for synth alloy armour production necessary for one TR500 are as follows: 14 tons of iron, 433 tons of mercury, 166 tons of depleted uranium, 19 tons of aluminium and 23 tons of carbon.

The base materials necessary for systems manufacture are too numerous to mention and some require exotic manufacture processes and have non standard atomic make ups but primarily include 54 tons of silicates if production methods are followed.

Pertaining to the necessary manufacturing expertise the vehicle systems must be within nanometre tolerances and vehicle structure within .1 of a millimetre.

TR500 production licence base cost presently stands at 14 billion rungs per 1000 units produced with TIW batch licences for infinite repeater production at 539 million per thousand units and GDT systems production sub licence at 5.3 billion per thousand units.

All licences are in the eyes of the Incorporated State are seen as legally binding ratified treatise.

Please find an attached further data on involved liaison staff and contacts for further negotiations. Should you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me personally.

Director MilIndCom
Laurel Phelps HSR

Commonalitarianism, if you didn't notice we've already sent you a $30 billion R&D compensation. If we give you an additional $35 billion, would you be willing to sell us the rights to build as many Slammers as we wish?

ZMI, express delivery will not be necessary. We would like you to continue building the order yourself. The tank seems too complicated for us to mass-produce in times of war, which is why we are not interested in the production rights. However, would you be willing to sell us the rights to produce as many infinite repeaters as we want for $3 billion?

Point to point encrypted text only transmission

From: ZMI MilIndCom Directorate

In relation to the Tactical Infantry Weapons Incorporated Infinite Repeater charged particle beam weapons application system "ultra light" magneticly suspended barrel variant featured in the TR500 production licence previously mentioned.

The full unlimited production licence for the "ultra light" Infinite Repeater can be purchased from TIW for the stated $3 billion with a variety of mounting options and the understanding that the "ultra light" can use virtually any source of electrical power.

Director MilIndCom
Laurel Phelps HSR

Your terms are acceptable. The Infinite Repeater design has been bought.