Schwarzes Holz Design Phase, Early Autumn 1915D.I Adderbolt (1 die spent, 1 die rushed)Progress: 6+5+5 = 16/13. 6 PP spent
Work on the Adderbolt continues at blistering speed, partially due to the fact that the engineers where forced to sit down and stay up for many late nights working on the project. Still, they manage to finish their work on the project and have a week or so to spare, waiting for the response from the factory's to say they are ready and retooled to make the new craft...Said week was mostly spent with a few engineers "accidentally" misplacing ebony branches, planks, or logs on a few head engineers desks...
Project Complete! You can now deploy as many squadrons of D.I Adderbolt's as you can afford.
Revision: Dehnert Adderbolt Price Adjustment
While Andreas' enthusiasm was warmly accepted by the Luftjäger, and his plane, the D.I Adderbolt, passed all tests with flying colors, it, in its current form, is just too expensive for the contract given to AvD. Although they'd permit the ebony variant of the aircraft to be sold without armament and featuring a different radial engine for luxury needs, the reality of combat requires the plane to be relatively expendable - so that the Luftjäger can afford to replace its losses and better maintain their growing fleet. For this purpose, a request for a more common material to be used in the construction of the plane is made - under the condition that it does not hamper the capabilities of the airframe, which should be easy (the plane is small, currently made of much denser wood than what we'd optimally want and the latter is the only issue as of right now). What's more, analysts indicate that the reduced mass of the wood would further increase its top speed and maneuverability.
Efficacy: 4
The work on making the D.I Adderbolt not cost an arm and a leg because of excessive use of ebony was one that was kind of difficult to actually do and the engineers who really wanted it fought tooth and nail for it, arguing that the Ebony wood would increase the aircraft durability along with the additional moral and patriotism benefits, and they even managed to get the Pilots involved who, naturally, would indeed like a stronger aircraft. Eventually after some threats to cut pay along with pilots worry's being brushed aside ebony was removed for more easy to get wood, however this has not in fact improved the performance of the aircraft, just made it cost less. Though, that doesn't mean we cant do anything to improve its abilities later...The final effort results in the D.I Adderbolt being reduced to a purchase cost of 5 PP per squadron and 1 PP in maintenance.
Army Requisition: Artillery ShellsAs it turns out, the army isn't actually too willing or pleased to hand over artillery shells for a number of reasons, those being three quite simple reasons they need every shell they have, they still use most shells they have, even the outdated ones, and lastly, because they don't really want to. Still, they do in fact give you a shell, but its not outdated or obsolete, its a discontinued old shell that really was terrible known as the
M-08-45KG "Selbstmord-Hülse", the latter part of its name isn't actually official, its just a nickname that it was given and has stuck with it because as it happens it has a nasty tendency to explode violently when not handled as gently as a new born baby, and even then occasionally explodes. The shipment of plans and example shells was actually delayed due to the cargo and transport needing to be replaced after a bump in the road... Costs 1 PP
M-08-45KG "Selbstmord-Hülse": A shell that true to its nickname tends to explode, violently, at even the most minor of disturbance. Still, its a 45KG artillery shell, so there is that...Costs 1 PP
It is now the Revision Phase. You have 3 die remaining to spend on Revisions or Save for the next turn.Planes:
-BzL 1 Motte Biplane: A unarmed, single seater biplane bought from the start up Beham zivile Luft. The aircraft is stable in flight and the five-cylinder rotary engine powering the thing to a respectable speed doesn't cause any noticeable vibrations unless damaged making it easy to fly, with a wooden fuselage keeping it cheap. However, it is woefully inadequate for anything other than scouting or training. True to its name however, it is lightweight, and cheap. Cost 3/1
--BzL 1 Motte-SMT Biplane: A Motte variant powered by the AVD Motors Dehnert SMT 915 engine in place of the smaller five-cylinder one it originally had. Noticeably faster then the normal everyday Motte and replaces the old version of the craft.
-AvDD.I Adderbolt: A singe-seater tandem wing aircraft that instead of canvas and wood is purely made of wood with a Monocoque design and powered by the Dehnert 9B engine in the pusher configuration. The Adderbolt mounts two machineguns in front of the pilot for easy unjamming and aiming. It's quite fast and maneuverable due to its small size. Claiming the the aircraft should be or was made out of high quality ebony for moral and patriotism is a surefire way to get a pay cut. Cost 5/1.
Equipment:
-GL-11b Luftdonnerkanone: A open bolt air cooled machine gun that fires 7.62mm rounds at about 500 per minute. Costs 1 PP
-IluM-12M: An outdated radio that weighs 34 kilograms with the battery and 22 without that uses a spark gap transmitter and crystal receiver for Morse code at frequency's of 300 to 450 kHz. Costs 1 PP.
-M-08-45KG "Selbstmord-Hülse": A shell that true to its nickname tends to explode, violently, at even the most minor of disturbance. Still, its a 45KG artillery shell, so there is that...Costs 1 PP
Pilots:
-Diligent: Quality beats Quantity! Schwarzes Holz ground crews work round the clock and hard to make sure aircraft are in tip top shape before entering combat, and the pilots know their aircrafts limits.
-Uniforms: Dark charcoal grey with accents of crimson red. Pilots of rank are issued a fancy hat, though its ill advised to wear it when flying.
Technology:
-Basic biplane design
-Basic monoplane design
-Basic tandem wing design
-Basic pusher configuration design
-Wooden frame construction
-Simple Monocoque construction
-Basic control surfaces: ailerons, elevator and rudder
-Basic Radial Engine design
-Fördern Mount technology
-Basic crystal receivers, Morse code
-Basic spark-gap transmitter, Morse code
-Tracer ammunition
Resources:
-1 Basic Pilot Training School: Teaches new pilots what roll, yaw, and pitch is along with what the flight stick and rudder peddles are for. How to actually use this knowledge to take off is the final test.
-1 Prototype Airfield: The place where new aircraft and other air-related equipment are made and tested. Produces five dice worth of progress every turn.
-14 Production Points Base
Schurk Geschwader | BzL 1 Motte-SMT Biplane | GL-11b Luftdonnerkanone | Aerial Reconnaissance | Neophyte | No Aces | Maintenance Cost 1
Currently assigned to observe enemy shore defenses and troop movements near Dinas tywod
Rote Geschwader | BzL 1 Motte-SMT Biplane | GL-11b Luftdonnerkanone | Aerial Reconnaissance | Neophyte | Nicholas von Rheinbach | Maintenance Cost 1
Currently assigned to observe enemy frontline along the Nachtburg-Bont Gwyn Road
Gold Geschwader | BzL 1 Motte-SMT Biplane | GL-11b Luftdonnerkanone | Aerial Reconnaissance | Neophyte | No Aces | Maintenance Cost 1
Currently assigned to observe enemy frontline along the Sprungburg-Gwag du Road
1 GL-11b Luftdonnerkanone
2 IluM-12M
Prestige: Very Little “Have you heard of the Überkanonen Nicholas von Rheinbach?”
Status: Auxiliary Service
Army Relations: Neutral “Those planes might be able to help...Might.”
Navy Relations: Neutral “Remind me, what use do aircraft have in war again? They just replace horses right?”
Production Points: 11
Total Maintenance: 3