The Great War OOC

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Name:
Second Lieutenant Charles Davidson
Age:
28 (as of 1914)
Gender:
Male
Class:
Commanding Officer
Nationality:
Scottish||British Empire
Unit:
Highland Light Infantry
Weaponry:
Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III (Primary Weapon)
2x S&W No 3 Revolver (Dual Sidearms)
Bastard Sword (Personal Melee Weapon)
Vehicle:
None (yet)
Personality:
Charles Davidson can be described as a jolly and suave individual. He comes off as a bit of a showboat, but has spent enough time at the practice range to know what he's doing. He is well known for his ambidextrous gunslinging, able to shoot on target from the hip, easily plugging all twelve shots in a rushing squad before they can get too close for the versatile Lee-Enfield to be effective. He takes a great amount of pride in his shooting, and will commonly show off his marksmanship to improve morale.
History and Service:
Charles Davidson grew up in Scotland and received a good education to supplement his budding future in the military. He joined the Officers Training Corps as a cadet, and in October of 1914, he had been placed as a temporary Second Lieutenant in the Highland Light Infantry. Before 1916, he would be moved to the No. 14 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps to work as an Observer, but until then, he would fight from the ground, gallantly protecting the trenches he occupied against enemy assault.​
 
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Arcadius said:
I intend to make Austro-Hungarian characters, but that basically excludes meeting any French or British characters. I guess this would be the point where some historical bending and poetic license would have to come into play.
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An Austro-Hungarian would be fighting Russians and Balkans at the Battle of Tanenberg. In addition, European peacekeepers could be present in the African Conflict, or you could even be an African serving with Austria-Hungary, which will not only face Entente Aricans and their own European peacekeepers, but can also be transferred at some point to other Austro-Hungarian fronts. And, since you did make a good point about not meeting French or British, I think I'll allow Austro-Hungarians to mix in with Germans as a sort of Supplementary or Expeditionary Force or Reinforcement (just like how the BEF mixed in with the French), so if you'd like, you can have your character (and, should you specify it, their squad or part of their unit) fight on the Western Front.
Arcadius said:
As for the tech level, does it mean all characters have to start as infantry? That one still confuses me a bit, since you have pilots coming in, but the tech tree has no pilots in there.
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Starting out, yes, all DEPLOYED soldiers will be infantry. Vehicle crews can still be created to wait in the wings until their respective vehicle enters production - that said, pilots can still pilot recon aircraft, such as the British B.E.2, although they will be fundamentally unarmed and honestly kinda boring to play at first. Still, if that's your style, I won't stop you.

The tech tree is meant to track RP-specific advances, things that fall outside the purview of researchable history. Things like classes, Anthropod tanks, and determining when "waiting in the wing" characters and units will be deployed. I do use it to keep track of when individual conflicts happen, but I'm hoping we can come together to share research and developments to keep each other in check on the historical accuracy we're trying to keep up. Also, friendly reminder to keep checking back at the tech tree, I plan on adding to it frequently as the RP progresses - for now, I'm still not quite sure when Anthropods should be introduced (although it will likely be before the first Tractopod is).
InfiniteBellum said:
If you don't mind me asking, when will the RP be up?
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As soon as we have at least, I'd say, three characters on each side - three Entente (done) and three Central (none yet)
 
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VerbalAbuse said:
As soon as we have at least, I'd say, three characters on each side - three Entente (done) and three Central (none yet)
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Well, if we need some Central I can rolplay as one and when I post switch P.O.V if both charachters have been affected by a post or needed in advancement of the RP. Kinda like how you yourself have posted two characters. @VerbalAbuse
 

Name:
Second Lieutenant Britannia O'Shea
Age:
19 (as of 1915)
Gender:
Female
Class:
Combat Medic
Nationality:
Ireland||British Empire
Unit:
No. 14 Squadron RFC
Weaponry:
Winchester Model 1907 (Primary Weapon)
Webley Mk VI Revolver (Sidearm)
Mills Bomb (Grenade)
Field Dressing Supplies (Kit)
Vehicle:
Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2 Two-Seater Reconaissance Biplane
Pilot - Personal Rifle (Winchester Model 1907)
Observer - Turret-Mounted Lewis Gun
90hp RAF 1 Powerplant
Personality:
Britannia defers from most people living under the crown in that she is an Atheist, something that causes a number of problems between her and her people, both Catholic and Protestant. Despite this, Britannia finds herself aligning more politically with the Protestants. While not a mindless follower of the crown, she does possess some loyalty to it, as London-born father's own military service spurred her on to serve her Queen and Country. Beyond her allegiances, she is a rather mellow individual, sometimes seeming indolent, but in action, she is quite the opposite. She hates talking about politics and religion, both topics that are destroying her home.
History and Service:
Britannia was raised in Belfast to a Protestant mother and a London-born veteran of the Fashoda Incident and the Second Boer War. Despite being raised Anglican, Britannia quickly developed an interest in British secular writers and politicians, namely the likes of George William Foote, although she was more adherent to the ideas of Charles Bradlaugh due to his more liberal ideas. She began reading The Freethinker in 1911, much to her parents' dismay, but despite this, they remained ever supportive of her budding intellectualism. In 1912, her parents joined with the Ulster Volunteers, although she had been following the Daughters of Ireland (also known as "Inghinidhe na hÉireann") in direct opposition. The resulting schism between her loyalty to the crown and her family and her loyalty to her liberal ideals made her withdraw from social life for some time until John Redmond called for the Irish Volunteers to join the war effort. The Split that resulted solidified her loyalty to the crown and her family, and while she didn't join either side in the political discourse (resulting in her distaste for talk of politics), she signed up with the British Imperial Armed Forces. Her public Atheism denied her a spot in any of the regular Irish divisions, as both the Protestant Ulster divisions and the Catholic Irish divisions would outcast her, but after she showed intellectual aptitude in basic training, she was sent to be trained as a pilot, and would later become an ace for the No. 14 Squadron fighting in Gallipoli. She would become a pupil under her CO, Charles Davidson, who would then support her as an Observer for most of the war.​
 
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InfiniteBellum said:
Mills Grenade. (I believe these might've actually been made in 1915, Please tell me if this is a problem.
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Aye, you'd do better with the No. 1 Grenade until the Mills Bomb is introduced.

Also, if you'd like to play multiple characters, you're welcome to. It'd be hard not to in such a far reaching conflict.
 
VerbalAbuse said:
Aye, you'd do better with the No. 1 Grenade until the Mills Bomb is introduced.

Also, if you'd like to play multiple characters, you're welcome to. It'd be hard not to in such a far reaching conflict.
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Ok, I'll go back and change it. I'll create a second character when I have the time.
 
Craft Name:
Jammy Jacko
Craft Type:
Superiority Fighter
Squadron:
No. 14 Squadron RFC
Craft Armaments:
Airco DH.1A Two-Seat Fighter Biplane
Pilot - Personal Rifle (Winchester Model 1907)
Observer - Swivel-Mounted Lewis Gun
2x 120hp Beardmore Powerplant
Painted Vermillion with a Goldenrod chevron on the fuselage, twin stripes near the end of each wing, and, on the left side of the vertical stabilizer, a Flag of Ulster, with a St. Andrew's Cross on the right side.
Crew Members:
Pilot - Second Lieutenant Brittania O'Shea
Observer - Captain Charles Davidson​
 
(And since they both transfer to No 111 Squadron with better planes...)

Craft Name:
Jammy Dodger
Craft Type:
Superiority Fighter
Squadron:
No. 111 Squadron RFC
Craft Armaments:
Bristol F.2 Two-Seat Fighter Biplane
Pilot - 2x Fuselage-Mounted Vickers Guns
Observer - Swivel-Mounted Lewis Gun
275hp Rolls-Royce Falcon Powerplant
Painted Vermillion with a Goldenrod chevron on the fuselage, twin stripes near the end of each wing, and, on the left side of the vertical stabilizer, a Flag of Ulster, with a St. Andrew's Cross on the right side.
Crew Members:
Pilot - Lieutenant Brittania O'Shea
Observer - Major Charles Davidson​
 
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Name: Oberleutnant (Lieutenant) Adalard Weber
Age: 19 (Year of Deployment: 1914)
Gender: Male
Class: Combat Medic
Nationality: Germany, German Empire
Unit: 3rd foot guards.
Weaponry: Mondragon (With suppressor), Luger Pistol, Knife, Gas Mask, a mix of medicines and other aids mostly for large cuts (Bandages), and a bottle of water to clear eyes.
Vehicle: NA
Personality: Adalard (Sometimes called Al) is a prankster and quiet. As a kid he would often trick people or sneak up on them, he tended to be great at hide and seek. Now in the army due to his father wanting him to he fears for his life and will stay hidden at all costs. (Also refuses to take off the gas mask while fighting so people cannot see his face and he is afraid of gas)
History and Service:
1894: Born
1914: Joined army as infantry

(Side note: He will go to the edge of the battlefield and take out men silently with his knife instead of attacking with a gun, the Luger Pistol is for emergencies.)
 
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I have formally approved all characters so far, I will be getting any last minute issues out in this post as well, just some things you can change to perfect your character.

@Beowulf could you give McKinley a Sidearm and some piece of equipment? I imagine it's implied, but considering your choices, it'd be best for you to specify.
@InfiniteBellum I understand Lieutenant Adalard is either focused more on being a Medic, or on night raids. However, despite this, he would be relatively useless to the Germans without a service rifle. Oliver's perfect, I hope you'll keep him updated as the war goes on.
 
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VerbalAbuse said:
Starting out, yes, all DEPLOYED soldiers will be infantry. Vehicle crews can still be created to wait in the wings until their respective vehicle enters production - that said, pilots can still pilot recon aircraft, such as the British B.E.2, although they will be fundamentally unarmed and honestly kinda boring to play at first. Still, if that's your style, I won't stop you.
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Needless to ask then, the tech tree is lacking airships (and ships in general) as of now. The German Imperial Army commissioned their first Zeppelin made airship in 1909 (LZ3), and the German Imperial Navy in 1912 (LZ14), not to mention the British investigation into possible air-landing of troops in 1908, and Austro-Hungarian complete decommission of their four airships in June of 1914. As such, at least Germany should have airships entering into the war (same with Brits and French and Russians, really. It was the cool thing to have back then.) Naturally, none of these have had much of a weapon load to speak of, they were intended for reconnaissance.

I suppose I am asking two questions:
First, if it is simply by the RP design that everyone starts with an infantry man or a pilot or a small plane?
Second, how does the alternate setting differs from the actual one? It seems to me that at this point, it is simply WWI with steampunk mechs added. It is correct assumption?
 
Arcadius said:
is simply by the RP design that everyone starts with an infantry man or a pilot or a small plane?
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Nah, I just wanted a plane. You're welcome to use any vehicles available at the time, including zepps and battleships, so long as you specify the crew and such

Further, Zeppelins are getting a classic steampunk overhaul - instead of just being for recon and the occasional bombing run, there will be full naval-style flying ships with broadside artillery guns and bombing capabilities to go alongside the classic scout zepps. That's something I'll be tying onto the tech tree now that I'm thinking about it.

The one downside to zeppelins as opposed to naval craft is that in order to maintain a low enough weight to float, they would have to be made of wood and light metals like older ships. They might could take a bit of a pounding, but they're at a major risk at low altitude. I'm going to say that a popular tactic for these zeppelins is to fly primarily over open water so if they were forced down by fire, they could safely fall to the sea and, if not attacked by the enemy navy, retreat to port to be repaired and put back in the sky.
 
Well, I suppose you could easily equip a larger airship with a smaller battery of recoilless cannons. That would actually be historically semi-accurate, since it was invented in 1910 by Commander Davis , but the higher echelons disliked a weapon that could possibly sink a battleship, so the introduction was slow. As for airship construction, Zeppelin's rigid airships had superstructure made of duralumin from day one, and Parseval's semi-rigids had it made from wood.

As for flying, well, the German Imperial Army used them for scouting runs mostly, as they correctly identified the possible bomb load as too small to be of use at the frontlines. Initially, just flying high enough was sufficient to avoid ground fire and even aircraft, since the planes were unable to reach airship altitude. The German Imperial Navy had other issues, as weather over the seas was treacherous and could easily either take the airship off course (the engines were too weak to push the large cross-section baloon directly against wind), or just crash it directly in really bad weather.

Invention of incendiary machine-gun bullet in 1915 is, obviously, another huge problem. Ultimately, you want to keep the airship away from the fighting. The hydrogen per-say is not THAT flammable (the impregnated hull is more of a problem, the hydrogen in nacelles has ideally no access to oxygen to burn) to be lit by a stray bullet, even the incendiaries had to pepper the airship properly to lit it on fire.

I think there are two possible options here. You can't make the airship into a battleship, unless you completely abandon hydrogen (or helium, or even vaccuum) as a source of lift. Indirect fire support with a battery of recoilless cannons is a good option, I think, because you have height advantage and could easily fire over obstacles. Second option is an airship aircraft carrier, like the US did in the '30 with USS Macon. Just bigger. I'd imagine carrying a Jasta of Gothas to the coast of England, letting them loose a sortie over London and returning to motherships would make the terror bombing campaign actually effective.

...I'll go make a character.
 
Craft Name:
The Crusader
Craft Type:
Air Superiority Zeppelin.
Squadron:
Festungsflieger-Abteilung; Fortress Flier Detachment.
Craft Armaments:
(Include all guns and their positions, as well as their powerplants)
Crew Members:
(All crew members must be named, ranked, and roled, although heavy air superiority zeppelins can organize their crew like a navy.)
 
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