Chapter 14 Steam and Steel
(All descriptions have been adjusted to the final plan that is more suitable for viewing, probably...)
Ji Lin has been carrying a 12mm muzzle-loading rifle for almost three hours. He is wearing a steel plate armor to protect the key parts of his body, and a large backpack with a blanket for sleeping.
He was lucky that he did not become a soldier fighting in the trenches on the front line.
He led a team of breastplate musketeers to march on the wilderness with the main force. Chongshan and Changheng became his musketeers. He had to take time to teach them how to load bullets and how to follow the combat logic of modern infantry. Although Changheng and Chongshan were stupid, the other musketeers who accompanied him looked like they had no desire to live.
They are not dead yet, but they are on their way to die.
A six-legged mechanical spider staggered along with their team. These car-sized mechanical spiders only had a simple shell, and you could directly see the pile of mechanical gears that kept biting and turning inside, and the steam boiler that was still sprinkling boiling water.
Ji Lin ordered his team to stay away from these steam spiders when marching. This was not sensational, but he saw with his own eyes that several people in the team next door were injured and burned by the super-high temperature steam sprayed by the steam spiders.
There are six such steam spiders, each standing next to a team of musketeers, moving forward with six mechanical legs.
These steam spiders are not so much protecting them during the march as preventing people from escaping.
Yesterday, the commander who led them shot another deserter, and the body was thrown on the ground, and everyone passing by could see it.
From the tactical manual distributed to everyone, Ji Lin could see that this unit called mechanical spider was part of their expeditionary force, similar to the positioning of cavalry.
And the tactical manual pointed out that this thing was not their priority target. Their task was to line up with the enemy's infantry units and shoot them, but if the order was issued, they must also fire at the enemy's mechanical units.
As for whether the 12mm muzzle-loading rifle in his hand can be effective against this thing, it depends on one's own opinion. Ji Lin felt that the 90 men under his command would be sprayed with steam in the face by this thing after firing at most two rounds.
Ji Lin glanced at the tactical manual and automatically filtered out the nonsense full of classical militarism. In summary, he just lay down and wait for death.
He could only pray that this thing would not rush towards him.
[Name]: Vika Musketeer
[Number]: 90
[Melee Defense]: 40
[Moving Speed]: 5km/h
[Armor Strength]: 25
[Ammunition Capacity]: 20
[Weapon Range]: 200
[Weapon Power]: 45
[Features]:
Military formation, cannon fodder,
Armor-piercing incendiary bombs: Vika Musketeers can be equipped with special incendiary projectiles to penetrate armor, +10 armor-piercing.
Slow Fire: Weapons using crystal ore powder are prone to high temperatures when shooting, and need to wait for natural cooling before reloading and shooting for the second time. The shooting speed is 1.2 times that of normal musketeers.
[Introduction]: For the glory of the kingdom! Wait, hey, I'm not cannon fodder!
Compared with ordinary soldiers, Vika musketeers have two additional attributes, 'ammunition capacity' and 'weapon range'.
Twenty of weapon ammunition means that ninety Vika musketeers can fire a total of twenty times, and each of them only carries twenty rounds of ammunition. Weapon range refers to the effective range of the muskets in the hands of these musketeers, which is 200. This is an additional attribute that only long-range units have.
The primitive slingers in the Dark Ages also have corresponding long-range power and ammunition capacity, but the attributes are completely incomparable to these Vika musketeers.
As expected of a musketeer close to the steam age, with a weapon power of 45 points, compared to his own pikemen of the classical age with only 15 points of weapon power, 45 points of weapon power is enough to penetrate all the plate armors in the normal age within the effective range. Although there are multiple slow-fire entries, it is completely worth it compared to this extremely high weapon power range.
Multiple hits will also pose a threat to special heavy infantry with up to 80 points of armor. As for the super iron can with 120 points of armor strength, that kind of soldier has to be made by yourself. The regular infantry without magic runes given by the system has a maximum armor strength of 40 points, and the infantry with magic bonus can have an additional armor strength.
The same reason as the plate armor he wears, limited by the vehicle platform.
That was a joke he often heard before he crossed over: Why can't our infantry firepower always be enhanced? Because the physical fitness of the human race is so weak that they can't hold 12.7 hip shots! They can't be full of level 6 plates and walk briskly!
As for the breastplate tied to his body, although it is a thickened steel plate, it is not very thick due to the physical performance of humans. It is difficult to block a direct hit from a muzzle-loading musket. It can only withstand a shot if you are lucky.
The attributes of the Vika musketeers have surpassed the ordinary musketeers given by the system in the colonial era, and have their own special bonuses.
And the cannon fodder in this feature...tsk.
But this feature is not wrong. These musketeers look very strong, but considering that the opponents of these musketeers are units such as the rampaging mechanical spiders, they are only worthy of being used as cannon fodder in front of them.
This characteristic is too hurtful. Fortunately, the cannon fodder attribute can be washed away through training later. Cannon fodder is not conducive to the upgrade of the army.
And the last armor-piercing incendiary bomb, the military manual says that it can [effectively] fight [armor], and it also needs a little for the glory of the kingdom.
He turned his head and glanced at the steam spider next to him.
[Name]: Mechanical Spider
[Number]: 12
[Melee Defense]: 15 (the larger the size, the lower the melee defense, and large units will return to zero)
[Movement Speed]: 35km/h
[Armor Strength]: 70
[Weapon Power]: 185
[Characteristics]:
Steam Jet: When the unit enters the melee state, it will randomly spray high-temperature steam in all directions.
Unstable Boiler: The unit can overload the boiler to launch a charge, and there is a risk of self-explosion as the boiler is overloaded.
Never Lose: This unit has no morale and will not be affected by morale.
Horrify the Enemy: This unit will cause continuous organizational damage to the surrounding enemy troops.
Anti-infantry unit: The unit can fight infantry well due to its special attack mode, and quickly output a lot of damage to any unit that is smaller than or equal to the horse.
Charge: The unit can launch a charge and enjoy a lot of charge bonuses.
Formation destroyer: This unit can remove the opponent's formation bonus after being caught in close combat.
[Introduction]: Zi - a small combat weapon driven by special fuel, with a built-in thinking circuit that can execute simple commands - don't get too close to them! If you don't want your skin to be melted!
Up to 185 points of weapon power! And 70 points of armor strength! With seven characteristic entries, it can scare the enemy and never be defeated. With multiple characteristics, it is a walking harvester when rushing into the enemy's formation.
It's so fragrant, it's ridiculous!
Compared with the Vika musketeers, the attributes of the mechanical spider are not ordinary strong.
Ji Lin held back the pain and sighed in his heart, why couldn't this be a unit he commanded? Even if he couldn't take it back, he could at least have some fun here. A team of twelve mechanical spiders was an invincible charging cavalry on the battlefield, and it was difficult for anything to stop their charging momentum.
Then he thought that he actually had to fight this kind of thing, and he suddenly felt annoyed.
He had completely given up on the fact that the tactical manual could effectively fight against armor. Kingdom glory, ha... It would be best if he could not engage in battle with this thing.