MECHANICS 2

MECHANICS

YOU

You are Elodie Rosetta Zumwalt, the first (and only) freshman Naval Studies Officer aboard the Lafayette Girls Academy. You will have to find time to balance your Tankery career, and your Naval Studies career as well. Elodie’s a smart girl, so don’t get too worked up about doing everything at once. Trying to focus on one will result in the other suffering from neglect. Like all things in life, it’s all about balance.

Here are the basics:

NAVAL STUDIES OFFICERSHIP

As an Officer aboard LGA, you have direct authority over other Naval Studies students. Your main task at hand is to manage a SHIFT.

A SHIFT is a work crew that can consist of anywhere between 10 girls to over 100 on busy days. SHIFTs are timed by the hours, and when their work is done, the next SHIFT takes over. Depending on the workload, you can expect to be done with a job from half an hour to probably an entire day if you’re not lucky.

Every morning there will be jobs posted on the Naval Studies Officer’s forum. To claim a JOB is a simple as… well, voting for one. You can also opt to take the day off if you feel too tired and need to perhaps spend the day on tankery practice or just spend it with one of your friends.

When you claim a JOB, you are obligated to see it done. If you cannot, at least make sure it’s passed on to someone responsible. Upon completion of a job, your performance is noted by the Naval Studies Advisor Commission (made up of actual US Navy, Merchant Marine, and Coast Guard personnel).

At the end of each week, thanks to your perfect grades and your family’s lower income status, you receive a WEEKLY WAGE. The starting salary for you is 200 DOLLARS. And these monies can be spent on anything from Tankery parts and mods, to gifts for your friends, or something for yourself. All up to you. Your WEEKLY WAGE can be increased by ranking up. The WEEKLY WAGE is fixed, so you can stand to miss an entire week of working and still make money. Just don’t make it a habit.

You start as a RANK FOUR Officer. Ranks go in order from FOUR to ONE. As you continue to impress your superiors and earn the respect of your subordinates, you will advance through the ranks in steady fashion.

- RANK FOUR Officers are line officers, overseeing one shift at a time at best. Generally the big sisters to the little sisters.
- RANK THREE Officers are special overseers of multiple shifts in a day, and can be counted on to guide not just the Officers below them, but also the hundreds of girls they may have to oversee in a single day.
- RANK TWO Officers are in charge of an entire block. Because Academyships are built in block sections, each section will have one RANK TWO Officer not just overseeing all shifts working in the block, but also everything that happens in the block as well, from Law Enforcement Studies patrols, to logistics, everything.
- RANK ONE Officers work exclusively in the Command Tower, and can be analogous to flag officers. Not only do they get fancy all white uniforms, but they also oversee operations of ALL Naval Studies Students aboard the Lafayette Girls Academy, all 25,000 odd students. They also direct the ship on where to go, and also are in direct communication with US Navy escort craft. These are the finest lot of the litter.

As you rank up, you will also receive certain perks and benefits. Perhaps vacation days, or a pay raise, or other benefits. Mostly in nice uniforms and hats too.


THE CREW AND THE TEAM

Each member of your crew is a unique girl with their own sets of skills and their own strengths and weaknesses. It’s up to you to manage their strengths and weaknesses as you learn about their characters over the course of the Quest.

Each member of the crew has a specific MORALE, which can be raised by good things happening or lowered by bad events. The MORALE of all four crewmembers is averaged out into the CREW MORALE. If the average MORALE drops below 10%, the crew will DISBAND.

Each crew member has two specific skillsets known as STRENGTH and TALENT. Strength measures the actual physical and athletic ability of a crewmember, and thus their efficiency. Examples of STRENGTH coming into play include:
- Recovering from STUNNED states.
- Repairing tanks between matches and during matches.
- Loading speed.

Examples of TALENT coming into play include:
- Recovering from FRENZIED states.
- Accuracy with main and secondary armaments.
- Navigation and agility with the tank.

There will be more situations which require a Crew Member with either TALENT or STRENGTH, but these are just a few examples.

To increase STRENGTH, consider exercises which train the body and train with the tank as well.

To increase TALENT, consider studying on the strengths of tanks, and performing mental exercises.

YOUR CREW WILL NOT LEARN STRENGTH OR TALENT AT THE SAME SPEED. It is up to you to balance their training and bring out the best in them. If you were to gain their LOYALTY, they may even begin learning faster or perhaps give the crew a beneficial PERK.


THE TANKS

Unlike the International Tankery League and the Japanese Senshadou Federation and other smaller European Leagues, the newly established North Atlantic Tankery Organization (NATO) directed by Commissioner Dottie Durocher has a bit more lee-way on what tanks specifically are allowed, which is to say almost all of them are allowed. The standard mainline turreted tanks from the M4 Sherman to the Panzer V Panther and more are the mainline, but you have seen nothing yet under new NATO rules.

SELF-PROPELLED ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS
- SPAAGs such as the Ostwind, Wirbelwind, M19 MGMC, Kugelbltiz, etc. are often considered "flashy but impractical" to use. Make no mistake however, their rapid-fire autocannons are nothing to shake a stick at, especially if you're lightly armored. And for the heavily armored, that intense firepower can shake and deafen the inside of the tank, possibly STUNNING your entire crew all in one go. If sustained fire is laid down, eventually something is going to be CRITICALLY DAMAGED as well. SPAAG are amazing in support, and will be an annoying threat.

SELF-PROPELLED ARTILLERY GUNS
- SPAGs such as the M7 Priest, the Hummel and Wespe, and other heavy artillery mounted on tank chassis are considered "heretical" and downright insulting to use in the JSF and ITL (sort of like the Designated Hitter). Make no mistake, just because they're at best worthless in a close quarters fight and often have very little armor to protect themselves doesn't mean they're easy prey. SPAGs have extreme range and extreme firepower to more than compensate for their weaknesses. Close hits may STUN your crew from shellshock. Direct hits can probably wipe your tank entirely (old tanks aren't known for having particularly thick top armor). If their extreme range is supported by spotting vehicles, a properly built team of SPAGs can be nigh-unstoppable.

OPEN-CABIN TANK DESTROYERS
- Traditionally, the Marder series of tanks along with its equivalents in the Archer tank, the Semovente da 90/53, and other tank destroyers with open compartments were disallowed due to obvious safety concerns. With improvements to the carbon-layer shock absorbent combined with protests from lower funded schools who can only afford such tanks, NATO is now considered the only league in the world to allow such tanks to operate. These tanks do not operate like classic assault guns such as the StuG III. While the StuG III can be used in ambush and in long range slugging, these tank destroyers perform the role much better, capable of sniping enemy tanks from greater distances while being sneakier as well. The only drawbacks are usually low armor (the originally exposed parts are paper thin) and poor mobility.