>>5831438The Arn Egilson expedition returns, telling of the new place. Arn Egilson himself names the system Eldingheim, with Eldingstiarna in the middle. It is nowhere near as prosperous as ours, but the talk of those tundra worlds certainly intrigues the Orms. Worlds that maybe could be settled, though with domes for the time being.
>Action 1: Develop Jordryster Atomic Tripod Mech (big, slow, heavy, nuclear powered, but also big guns).With the invention of the Conrad-Saskia Reactor, after its implementation into spacecraft, comes the desire to put one in a land vehicle. Early experiments in putting it on wheeled or tracked vehicles required so much size it made them unable to navigate terrain. However, not only did legs circumvent this, but legs were considered energy inefficient, which is not an issue when packing a large energy surplus from the reactor. Thus the Jordryster mech was made. The Jordryster is a tripod mech, able to stand on two legs while the third finds a new place to stand. It is slow, heavy and a big target, but it's hoped its armour and defensive systems combined with packing an entire artillery battery, will let them destroy any enemy first by overwhelming firepower.
>Action 2: INSIGHT Develop Malmeitar degenerator projectiles (ballistic projectiles that 'poisons' armour and structure, weakening them).As the Arn Egilson Expedition explored near the gas giant of Eldingheim, they were hit by a few stray chunks of meteorites. This was in no way a match for the armour plating of the exploration vessels... except when it caused it to crack. After retreating, an investigation showed that the armour, which hours before was as solid as the day it was forged, had instead crumbled. Further studies found that the gas giant had ionized the meteorites, causing changes in the metal inside them, so when they impacted the ship, the metal would start bleeding into the plating, creating degenerate alloys. Fortunately the Valknut construction meant that the important stuff was further inside, and parts from the neighbouring modules were used to recover the lost section.
But when this data was given back to the Lindheim scientists, with some samples, they soon managed to replicate this ionized metal. They performed tests and found it quite effective against alloyed armour, as it poisoned the metal, creating degenerate alloys that were so weak some even fail against their own contained atmosphere. The fact metal projetiles are often turned to plasma upon impact makes it even more effective in spreading the poison. This metal is called Malmeitar, metal/ore poison, and soon all warships would pack Malmeitar shells.
