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Sturgeon's House

Competition Suggestions


Sturgeon

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14 hours ago, N-L-M said:

Well, that disadvantages large turrets that hold stuff relative to small ones that cram it all in the hull.

Consider the case of a K2 turret, vs the turret of a T-72.

Perhaps simply mandate a certain amount of stuff? IE:

 

"Requirements:

- At least 40/30/20mm (F/S/R) armour, at least 15mm roof armour.

- At least one hatch

- Suitable mounting for {selected} main gun and at least 1 coaxial MG, mounting must have at least +20/-5 degrees elevation.

- At least 1 gunner's sighting device, suitable for directly engaging targets out to at least 500m, with a minimum FoV of 25 degrees and a minimum magnification of 1.5x.

- Space for at least two crew members (commander and gunner).

- At least 20 rounds of {selected ammunition} stored in either the turret or basket (if provided), at least 10 of which are ready to hand to the crewman performing loading of the main gun.

- At least 600 rounds of MG ammunition stored to hand for the crew in either the turret or basket (if provided).

- Seating arrangements provided for the turret crew during travel.

- Storage for at least 50dm3 of miscellaneous stores in the turret or basket (if provided)."

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Perhaps, what if there is no downselect in the first two rounds? IE, everyone designs guns, but all guns are then available for turret designs, which are then all available for hull integration?

Gives a bit more freedom to pick and choose the components you want to integrate, and as there is no downselect there's no penalty before the vehicle is complete.

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1 hour ago, N-L-M said:

Perhaps, what if there is no downselect in the first two rounds? IE, everyone designs guns, but all guns are then available for turret designs, which are then all available for hull integration?

Gives a bit more freedom to pick and choose the components you want to integrate, and as there is no downselect there's no penalty before the vehicle is complete.

Is there then a bonus of some sort for using the winning design from the previous design round?

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5 hours ago, N-L-M said:

Perhaps, what if there is no downselect in the first two rounds? IE, everyone designs guns, but all guns are then available for turret designs, which are then all available for hull integration?

Gives a bit more freedom to pick and choose the components you want to integrate, and as there is no downselect there's no penalty before the vehicle is complete.


I thought this was the basic thinking of the whole competition. 

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

Mini-competition suggestions, for consideration some time next year:

 

1. Design an AT gun (2239)

 

In this mini-competition, contestants would be asked to design a conventional, WW2-era AT gun for use by one of the post-apocalyptic US polities. The gun would be designed with an understanding of how weapon and armour technology would be likely to develop, and should include a description of the gun itself, its mounting and its ammunition.

 

2. Design a ATGM (2247)

 

In this mini-competition, contestants would be asked to design an ATGM for use by the Texans, in a project running parallel to their first forays into MBT building. The contestants would have to simulate the overall configuration and aerodynamics of the ATGMs using OpenRocket, and would have to provide a coherent explanation for the warhead layout and control scheme. Submissions would be in the form of ORK files and a brief description.

 

3. "Fix a tank" 2 - France, 1946

 

The second "fix a tank" competition, this time to try and fix the problems that the French had with their post-war Panthers. The contestants would not be allowed to radically re-design the vehicles (or, at least, would have to provide better and better justifications for each new change), but would try to work with what they had to fix as many issues as possible. The goal would be to produce a vehicle that the historical 501st and 503rd armoured regiments could operate into the 1950s.

 

4. "Fill in the blanks" - design the Californian heavy from the first (2239) competition

 

The Californian heavy tank (which was very obviously an expy of the WW2-era Tiger) was the vehicle which kicked off the entire arms race that has become the dominant narrative of the post-apocalyptic competitions. A cryptic beast, it was described as weighing 50mt, having 76mm of armour and being armed with an 89mm gun that can penetrate ~140mm of RHA at 1000m.

 

This competition would involve contestants filling in the blanks to create a tank that fits these criteria (ie: not inventing a vehicle with a better gun, massively thick armour etc). The submissions would be done using a formula approach (for which, see here) with the contestants being asked only to model the hull/turret armour layout in detail (ie: in terms of mass). Everything else (the gun, ammunition, suspension, engine, optics etc.) can be simply a visual representation with standard weights being applied for variable-weight components. The submission would be in the form of drawings (front, side, top view) and a description to follow a standard format.

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Upgrade a tank - 1970’s (based on Fix a tank - 1943) 

 

It’s the middle of the Cold War, and tensions are high throughout the world. 3rd world countries are trying to buy tanks to protect themselves from foreign aggressors. Pick a tank built and produced before 1952, and upgrade it with equipment and technology available by 1970. First gen LRF’s, second gen i2, and ERA are available (NERA is not). Completely replacing the turret is an option, though expensive. 
 

Available vehicles: 

 

M46 

M26 

M41

M36 

M4A3 

 

Centurion Mk.3 

FV4101 Charioteer

A34 Comet 

A30 Challenger 

A30 Avenger


T-54 

IS-3 

IS-2 Mod.44 

T-44 

T-34 

 

Panzer 4 

StuG 3 

Jagdpanzer 4

Jagdpanzer 38

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1 hour ago, Toxn said:

How improvised? If we're talking 1920s tech then I'm all for it.

 

I'm thinking a "serious" tank (whatever that means) made out of like bits and bobs. Haven't thought much further than that.

 

It would be set in the most "falloutish" period of the SHCU so it would be very mad max.

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50 minutes ago, Sturgeon said:

 

I'm thinking a "serious" tank (whatever that means) made out of like bits and bobs. Haven't thought much further than that.

 

It would be set in the most "falloutish" period of the SHCU so it would be very mad max.

Give it a think - we've got time to chew over this stuff in any case.

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On 6/14/2021 at 5:34 PM, Lord_James said:

Upgrade a tank - 1970’s (based on Fix a tank - 1943) 

 

It’s the middle of the Cold War, and tensions are high throughout the world. 3rd world countries are trying to buy tanks to protect themselves from foreign aggressors. Pick a tank built and produced before 1952, and upgrade it with equipment and technology available by 1970. First gen LRF’s, second gen i2, and ERA are available (NERA is not). Completely replacing the turret is an option, though expensive. 
 

Available vehicles: 

 

M46 

M26 

M41

M36 

M4A3 

 

Centurion Mk.3 

FV4101 Charioteer

A34 Comet 

A30 Challenger 

A30 Avenger


T-54 

IS-3 

IS-2 Mod.44 

T-44 

T-34 

 

Panzer 4 

StuG 3 

Jagdpanzer 4

Jagdpanzer 38

I'd maybe set the date as 1960-65.

 

Other than that - I actually had a friend in varsity who ended up doing this in the mid 2000s for T-62s...

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On 6/14/2021 at 11:34 AM, Lord_James said:

Upgrade a tank - 1970’s (based on Fix a tank - 1943) 

 

It’s the middle of the Cold War, and tensions are high throughout the world. 3rd world countries are trying to buy tanks to protect themselves from foreign aggressors. Pick a tank built and produced before 1952, and upgrade it with equipment and technology available by 1970. First gen LRF’s, second gen i2, and ERA are available (NERA is not). Completely replacing the turret is an option, though expensive. 
 

Available vehicles: 

 

M46 

M26 

M41

M36 

M4A3 

 

Centurion Mk.3 

FV4101 Charioteer

A34 Comet 

A30 Challenger 

A30 Avenger


T-54 

IS-3 

IS-2 Mod.44 

T-44 

T-34 

 

Panzer 4 

StuG 3 

Jagdpanzer 4

Jagdpanzer 38

 

The problem with this as described is that every tank becomes a Sho't Kal Dalet.

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  • 2 months later...

My opinion has expressed elsewhere, but not here.

 

I think it would be really interesting to do planes. My favorite are late WW2 superpro stuff, but you need to go specially deep into the engine autism as well and propellers, those things were crazy optimized. Earlier jets, for me aren't as interesting, but they are simpler, add power and it flies... see the Vampire, Salamander, those wacky Yaks and other abominations. We could perhaps bridge the gap with turboprops for COIN or something.

 

Alternatively It would also be interesting to see ships of some sort, albeit the amount of detailing autism for even smaller ships is daunting. Perhaps a PT boat of sorts... just throwing ideas.

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2 hours ago, Sten said:

My opinion has expressed elsewhere, but not here.

 

I think it would be really interesting to do planes. My favorite are late WW2 superpro stuff, but you need to go specially deep into the engine autism as well and propellers, those things were crazy optimized. Earlier jets, for me aren't as interesting, but they are simpler, add power and it flies... see the Vampire, Salamander, those wacky Yaks and other abominations. We could perhaps bridge the gap with turboprops for COIN or something.

 

Alternatively It would also be interesting to see ships of some sort, albeit the amount of detailing autism for even smaller ships is daunting. Perhaps a PT boat of sorts... just throwing ideas.

Lots of us want to do a planes competition more or less exactly like you described, but judging is an issue.

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On 9/14/2021 at 8:47 AM, Toxn said:

Also: the next minicomp is definitely scheduled for whenever Sprocket unfucks its gun designer. I just made a 9mt tank (think an unholy amalgam of PzIII and T-34) that rolled all of the team challenges, and I'm keen to see what people with actual skills can do.

 

Some new changes have improved how guns work, but we're not at the level of a full cartridge designer yet. Sprocket also habitually under-estimates vehicle mass by 10-15%, which I put down to more or less the same issues that we've encountered in our competitions.

 

I think it's functional enough to build a mini-competition around, though.

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Since I'm thinking about it, here's my suggested format for a Sprocket-themed mini-comp (to be considered seriously when interest picks up again):

 

Filling in the background: 2239

 

In this competition, entries would be asked to fill in a background detail from our ongoing series of competitions centred around a post-apocalyptic post-USA:

 

On 8/15/2018 at 12:52 AM, LostCosmonaut said:

California is heavily industrialized, possessing significant air, naval, and armored capabilities. Their technology level is comparable to the Cascade Republic's, but their superior industrial capabilities and population mean that they can produce larger vehicles in greater quantity than other countries. Intelligence shows they have vehicles weighing up to 50 tons with 3 inches of armor, though most of their tanks are much lighter.

 

Contestants are asked to submit a design for the DPRC's heavy tank, subject to the following constraints*:

  • The vehicle should be designed in Sprocket using the "early war" era setting.
  • The mass of the vehicle should be less than 42.5mt (to account for Sprocket under-estimating vehicle masses).
  • The vehicle width (including tracks and fenders) should be less than 3.6m.
  • The vehicle should have at least 76mm LoS armour across the frontal arc.
  • The vehicle should be capable of going at least 25km/h across rough ground, and should top out (without blowing up the engine) at at least 30km/h on a level road.
  • The vehicle should have a gun capable of penetrating at least 120mm of RHA.
  • The gun should also ideally conform to the following sanity-check requirements: at least half-calibre base thickness, base length at least equal to nominal case length (note: not the same as "shell length" in-game, as this supposedly measures cartridge AOL), the rest of the gun tube at least a quarter calibre in thickness. Argued exceptions vis-a-vis working pressure, barrel tech etc can be made.
  • The vehicle should be capable of climbing a 25 degree slope on the sandbox test course, and should be able to navigate the obstacles there.
  • The vehicle should have a fuel load sufficient to give it a nominal range of 200km.
  • The vehicle should have the vision ports and components needed to make it a working, usable vehicle for the purposes of playtesting.
  • The vehicle should look suitable for a society with hindsight, a late-1930s to early-1940s industrial base, and an affectation for the aesthetic of totalitarian hypermodernism. The official base colour of the DPRC is haze grey, which should be worked into the paint and/or camo scheme.

Submissions should be in the form of a short write-up on the competition entry thread (including a picture or two), as well as a link to the blueprint file for the vehicle. Submissions will be judged on the following three categories:

  • Function: does the vehicle meet or exceed all of the listed requirements? How well does it work? Does it have any interesting extras that would improve performance in the real world? This may include playtesting in scenarios against AI opponents.
  • Cost: how expensive would the vehicle be to produce when compared to the other entries? This would be graded on a curve, and would look at weight, engine power, transmission design, suspension design, and other major components.
  • Aesthetics: how well does the vehicle capture the aesthetic of the DPRC? How pretty is it?

These would be weighted to favour function, then cost, then aesthetics.

 

The competition would run for a full calendar month, and would feature a small cash prize (distributed via paypal) for the winner. 

 

 

* Constraints may be added to or modified a bit as updates and new features get added.

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