In fact, one of the key issues that Roland had mentioned before was air defense.
As a man who had experienced modern warfare, the importance of air superiority was almost ingrained in his mind. Due to the breadth and depth of the sky, the side with the advantage could choose to attack from any direction and at any time. Before the advent of radar, such an attack could be said to be impossible to defend against. Without reliable air defense, it would be no different from a fool's dream to establish an artillery position under the nose of the demons.
Roland was now sure that after Lorgar escaped back to Neverwinter, the demons had approached the border of the Western Region more than once. Otherwise, they would not have been able to determine that this was a city mainly inhabited by ordinary people and tried to use the threat of the first Battle of Divine Will to repeat the same trick.
However, neither the sentry posts on the Impassable Mountain Range nor the God's Punishment Witches who went out of the defensive line to carry out early warning and reconnaissance were aware of the demons. If Sylvie had not taken over the vigilance work, perhaps the First Army would not have been aware of this round of attack until the demons appeared outside the city wall.
This was sufficient proof that, with the current technological conditions, the vast sky would be the biggest loophole in Neverwinter's defensive line.
After all, for this era, an air force was really an unimaginable concept.
After knowing that the demons had Devilbeasts that could fly, Roland had been thinking about air defense. Unfortunately, no one had expected that the demons would appear so early, so the planned Impassable Mountain Range defense line, telephone network, and new weapon development had not been completed.
He was not surprised that the First Army could not achieve victory. As a transitional weapon, the revolving rifle was used to supplement the blind spots of artillery and machine guns, and it was useful for cleaning up the battlefield. However, its shortcomings were becoming increasingly obvious. The limited chamber pressure led to its low accuracy and short range. If not equipped with specialized loaders, the ammunition capacity of the five bullets per unit of time was very limited, which was not good for scattered soldiers. In addition, the shooting in the air had lost the usual stable fulcrum and could not be adjusted by judging the impact point, so it was easy to imagine the hit rate.
It was not impossible to improve this situation in a short time. The simplest way was to make changes to the above points.
It was already planned to gradually replace the revolving rifles and replace them with brand-new bolt rifles. Before that, some parts still needed to be processed by Anna, so only a small team of accurate shooters was equipped. However, as the new generation of machine tools was put into use, the workers gradually became familiar with the new manufacturing methods, so they could process and assemble without relying on witches. Once the conformity rate was guaranteed, it was not difficult to increase the production capacity.
However, it was somewhat difficult to rely on a few rifles for air defense. Compared with the revolving rifles, the former would have a higher accuracy and shooting range, but the firing rate would be reduced. Moreover, the complicated tracer bullets were too much for the bullet production line to bear. Even if they started to solve the technical problems now, the production would be stabilized.
Therefore, the bolt rifles could only be used as auxiliary weapons. The First, the First Army needed to have an air defense.
Roland reckoned that it was basically impossible for him to take the advanced fire control route, so the barrage became his only choice.
The most effective method was to modify the Mark I HMG into an anti-aircraft machine gun. This was also a common practice throughout history. There was no need to add any additional burden to the production and logistics. All they needed to do was to design a set of dual-purpose mounts and sights, and they would be able to achieve a certain level of low-altitude defense.
Previously, when he designed the Mark I gun, he did not use a water-cooled barrel. Instead, he used a lightweight air-cooled barrel. This was also in consideration of the subsequent modifications.
The heavy machine gun had a high firing rate, a long range, and a strong power. It was just enough to deal with the Mad Demons. If the demons had two Mark I Type I machine guns that could shoot in the air when they attacked the city wall, the result might have been completely different.
After the meeting was over, Roland did not return to his office immediately. Instead, he went to the Arithmetic Academy.
This new academy was located at the southern end of the Castle District and was connected to the chemistry laboratory next door. Most of its members were members of the Astrology Association. However, with the help of the School of Sages, many citizens who had completed their primary education courses chose to work in the Arithmetic Academy. The number of applicants was even 10 to 20% higher than the number of applicants from the Alchemist Workshop.
Roland speculated that it was probably because of the frequent explosions in the laboratory.
Astrologer of Dispersion Star greeted him in the hall.
After bowing, the Chief Astrologer excitedly expressed the profoundness and beauty of mathematics.
"Your Majesty, please forgive my rudeness. The book 'Analytic Geometry' that you gave me was simply a work of God! I never thought that one day the world would be so clear. It has nothing to do with the brightness of one's eyes, but the way one thinks. Even if I become so old that I can no longer look up at the stars, the world is still as clear as before. For example, in my eyes, your curly hair is pure numbers and symbols, and your robe and boots... "
Seeing that Dispersion Star could not stop, Roland had to interrupt him. "Have you mastered all the contents in the book?"
"I can't say for sure, but most of them should be fine." Dispersion Star calmed down. "In the past six months, apart from the calculation tasks you gave us, we have been busy with a huge task, which is to re-record all the stars we have observed in the form of equations. For this purpose, we have established the star coordinates and confirmed that the 'Star of Extinction', which is the Bloody Moon you mentioned, has not moved. "
In the past, Roland had paid attention to the Bloody Moon. After all, its arrival symbolized the beginning of the Battle of Divine Will. However, now that the demons had appeared, it was meaningless to pay attention to this star which was a countdown.
"I have a new calculation task for you to do as soon as possible." Roland went straight to the point. "But this time, it's not just simple arithmetic. You also need to cooperate with the First Army to solve a practical problem."
"Do you mean writing the firing table like last time?"
"It's more complicated." Roland shook his head. "With the help of the craftsmen, you have to make a device that can predict the target's movement. It is controlled by two interacting equations, one describing the horizontal displacement, and the other describing the vertical displacement. I have a general design idea here, but you have to confirm the specific parameters after you test it. "
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