Since Rocketman takes place in a fictional, alternative time line which is the direct product of a time portal, some of the weapons and machines employed in the games are either anachronistic or simply fictious. The most obvious of these are Rocketman's rocket pack, the state of rocketry in general and the development of weaponry based on the work of Nikola Tesla.
Tesla developed a great many devices and theories, and these are not always easy to understand. A lot of his work remains obscure, and this is especially true of his wireless energy systems. The fact that so little photographic evidence exists to document his work only lends to the mystique. What is know is that Tesla himself described a weapon system which he called teleforce.
From Wikipedia; "Teleforce is a charged particle beam projector that Nikola Tesla claimed to have conceived of after studying the Van de Graaff generator. Tesla described the weapon as being able to be used against ground-based infantry or for anti-aircraft purposes".
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A more detailed description of the teleforce weapon can be seen here.
Energy weapons based on Tesla's ideas in Rocketman
Tesla died without ever having built his teleforce weapon, so its viability is highly debatable. It is entirely possible that the USA and USSR developed the technology in secret, and to some degree the ideas Tesla proposed exist today in the form of scientific instruments like HAARP, MARAUDER and the Large Hadron Collider. Tesla himself did not commit most of his ideas to paper however. Many of his ideas remain tantalisingly obscure and left to the imagination. This suits my needs perfectly.
In Rocketman, Tesla's teleforce weaponry is based on a set of ideas that can have multiple military applications. Having broken into Tesla's workshop at Wardencliffe and stolen note books belonging to his assistents, the secret Imperial Russian intelligence service had enough data for their own scientific mastermind; Yuri Grigoryevich Khalnikov to begin a research program looking at wireless energy transference. When the Bolsheviks took over and ONB7 was established in 1921, Khalnikov and his work were directed to work on the 'Goliath Plan' which had the aim of creating an energy weapon capable of destroying a city.
Khalnikov's work, which ultimately followed a different path to Tesla's, successfully produced two different versions of a direct energy weapon. The first was named the Static Energy Shield, and the second was named the Direct Energy Projector (a.k.a The Hammer). The static energy shield was capable of generating an area effect within which metallic objects were subjected to intense energy transfer. In practical terms this meant any metal object, such as a bullet, an artillery shell or an aircraft entering into the weapon's range would generate a wireless link to the weapon's dynamo. Using the Earth's electromagnetic field as a powerful source of latent power, the weapon would then transfer electrical energy into the target, heating it to thousands of degrees in mere seconds. The first few trials of this weapon were catastrophic failures but eventually it was realised that if the weapon was placed on an insulated pylon, several meters above the Earth, it would not interact directly with metal objects on the surface. This innovation allows tanks and troops to move about under an energy shield that protects them. Anything higher than the weapon though, church bells for example, are incinerated instantly. Another aspect of the energy shield is that it renders impossible all radio communications within its area of influence. ONB7 built several prototypes of the energy shield culminating in a portable design which was mated to a T-39 Goliath Tank.
The second weapon, the Hammer (shown on the game map above) was a bigger and more refined version of the energy shield. Far more complex this was Khalnikovs ultimate design. Using the ionosphere the Hammer could 'bounce' its energy transference to city sized targets over the Earth's horizon super heating all metal objects above ground level at the target location.
ONB7 built one operational version of the Hammer, but Rocketman destroyed it before Viktor Korsakov could use it to destroy Moscow.
ONB7 became a rogue element of the Soviet state and was declared an enemy organisation after Korsakov's attempt to destroy Moscow. With its own secret military wing, and well hidden technological research facilities, ONB7 fought back all through the late 1930s leading to a series of clandestine battles fought within the Soviet Union.
Yuri Khalnikov went missing in 1936.
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Neu Prussien - The Ordenstaat.
A loosely defined semi-autonomous region of Northern Brazil that has largely been taken over by German industrialists and members of the Brotherhood of the Black Cross, a neo-Christian religious fraternity whose origins are to be found in the defeat of the Teutonic Ordenstaat of 1410. Neu Prussien itself has never been officially declared, but its origins begin around 1890 when the first mining settlement was established by four members of the Brotherhood of the Black Cross. Their names were Karl Johanson (a Swedish geologist), Kurt Abel (a German engineer), Otto Meyer (a German industrialist) and Julius Overhoff (an Austro-Hungarian banker).
Neu Prussien in 1939 is an advanced, industrial centre, with extensive international connections. Its income comes largely from mining but with some manufacturing of advanced agricultural and military machinery to the South American nations, primarily Brazil. The Brazilian government tolerates Neu Prussia largely because the Brazilian government is in fact a puppet organ of the Neu Prussien leadership which used its wealth and influence to foster a military government of Brazil.
Neu Prussien is governed by a twelve man strong High Council, whose members are known as the Ritter Bruder (Brother Knights). The Council has its home in a complex and modern bunker fortress complex at Rorainópolis. Each member of the council has a specific role which they undertake for as long as they see fit, or until their bretheren vote to remove them. Leadership of the Council is held by the Hochmeister, which is a largely hereditory title of the noble Prussian Schöenberg family. The Hochmeister has a wide range of powers, but does not govern autocratically. In any executive decision, he must have a majority of support form the High Council. The current Hochmeister is Baron Gottfried von Schöenberg.
Installations and assets
JAMO.
The largest industrial entity in Neu Prussien, JAMO was formed in 1891 by Johanson, Abel, Meyer and Overhoff in order to build the machinary needed to operate their first mine. In 1921 they began to manufacture tractors and small commercial lorries and in 1929 they expanded their enterprise and began to build licensed military equipment. By 1939 they produce heavy military transport vehicles, armoured cars, and light tanks. They also have a research division currently building several new vehicles, including a medium tank with a high velocity gun and a half-track rocket launching tank destroyer. Approximately 25,000 people are employed in some capacity or other, either directly by JAMO and its affilated subordinate companies. With commercial and military customers all through South America, JAMO has become the continent's foremost military industrial corporation.
Rorainópolis.
The single largest urban area in Neu Prussien with a population of roughly 165,000. Rorainópolis is the political and industrial centre of the Ordenstaat. Adjacent to the city is the main JAMO factory complex, and the Ordensburg fortress ' Neuschloss' from where the High Council governs the region. This latter is an extensive and well armoured semi-underground installation capable of housing 260 men for a period of several months, and is modelled on the French Maginot Line. Its primary armaments are a battery of four heavy mortar turrets, eight anti-aircraft towers and some forty bunker hardpoints equipped with 20mm auto cannon or heavy machine guns.
The Guianan savanna.
An area of rolling upland plains on the Guiana Shield between the Amazon and Orinoco basins, a large portion of which falls in the territory controlled by the Ordenstaat and which, since the early twentieth century, has been gradually developed for agricultural purposes. Due to the policies of the Brotherhood of the Black Cross, most of the region, though under the indirect political authority of Rorainópolis, is controlled by local tribal leaders. This sharing of political power, with an emphasis on local authority has led to considerable good will on behalf of the indigenous population with regards to the Ordenstaat and has contributed to many local tribes seeking leadership from the Ordenstaat rather than Brazilian government.
Manaus
The largest port and industrial compex on the upper Amazon. Manaus has been extensively developed by the Ordenstaat, with the construction of port facilities, a small ship yard with a dry dock big enough to hold a submarine, an airbase (Ponta Pelada) and a float plane maintenance station. By 1939, the city also contains a JAMO factory producing small and affordable commercial vehicles for the Brazilian market. Since Manaus is outside of Roraima, it isn't technically considered to be a part of the Ordenstaat, and the local authorities are run by the Brazilian government, though with a lot of cooperation given how much investment the Prussians have sunk into the city.
Forces
Jagdstaffel 1
Comprised of eight Heinkel He51 fighters and two Henschel Hs-126 photographic observation aircraft. Attached to Ritterbruder Ganz's Armoured Brigade to provide air cover, ground attack and reconnaissance.
Jagdstaffel 2
Comprised of four Heinkel He51 fighters and fourteen Bücker Bü 131 trainer/interceptors. Jagdstaffel 2 is based in Rorainópolis and as part of the Auxilliary Home Defence Force, forms the Ordenstaat's air defences.
Transportgeschwader 1 / Trans-Amazonia
Comprised of seven Junkers W-34 light transport aircraft, three Junkers G-31 heavy transport aircraft and four Boeing 247 passenger airliners.
1st Airborne Battalion; ’Black Arrows’
Commanded by Hochmeister Von Schöenberg personally, the Black Arrows are the Ordenstaat's foremost elite infantry unit. They are based at Ordensburg Neuschloss and operate independently of Ritterbruder Ganz's command, but sometimes in conjuction. The battalion operates both as paratroopers and as mechanized infantry depending on the mission.
1 Neu Prussien Armoured Brigade
Commanded by Ritterbruder Brigadegeneral Hermann Ernst Ganz. Comprised of two panzer battalions, a panzer support battalion, three mechanized infantry battalions, a mobile HQ company, a field kitchen and a sanitation company. The brigade forms the bulk of the Neu Prussien armoured forces in Venezuela, with only a few armoured cars held in reserve positions.
2nd Brigade.
Commanded by Oberst Franz Karl Lohner. Comprised of six infantry battalions, an armoured car battalion, an artillery battalion, a mobile HQ company, a field kitchen and a sanitation company. The brigade is a part of Ritterbruder Ganz's field army.
3rd Brigade. 'Schattentroppen'.
Commanded by Ritterbruder Oberst Doktor Holst, the brigade forms the bulk of the Auxilliary Home Defence Force. It is comprised of three infantry battalions, a mounted ranger battalion, an armoured car battalion, an artillery battalion and an anti-aircraft battalion.
Komet and Blitz
Two 42 ton motor torpedo boats, built at Manaus in 1938 for the defence of the Ordenstaat's assets on the river. Both vessels are named after Prussian gunboats of the Second Schleswig War. Each carries a pair of 21 inch 'Zander' torpedoes, backed up by a 20mm auto-cannon and a heavy machinegun.
Maria-Anna, Wilhelmine, Alexandrine and Viktoria
Four 76 ton motor gun boats built at the Sociedad Colectiva Hansen y Pucchini ship yards at Tigre on the River Plate. They are each armed with a 40mm auto-cannon as their primary armament, and multiple heavy machine guns. All four vessels are named after Prussian princess.
Steinmetz,
A 162 ton screw steamer, converted at the Sociedad Colectiva Hansen y Pucchini ship yards at Tigre on the River Plate for use as a litoral gunboat. Named after a famous Prussian General of the Franco-Prussian War.
Werder
A 148 ton deep sea tug, converted at the Sociedad Colectiva Hansen y Pucchini ship yards at Tigre on the River Plate for use as an anti-aircraft vessel. Named after a famous Prussian General of the Franco-Prussian War.
Manteuffel
A 189 ton tender, converted at the Sociedad Colectiva Hansen y Pucchini ship yards at Tigre on the River Plate. Named after a famous Prussian General of the Franco-Prussian War.
Schönhausen
A Pavia class minelayer with a 1,235 ton displacement and a complement of 85 men and officers. She is 60m long and 12m wide. Schönhausen was captured at Guyana City in 1939 and renamed after Prince Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck-Schönhausen. Her armaments include a 4 inch forward gun, two 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns and two .50 heavy machine guns. She also has the capacity to hold 129 mines.
U-97 - Ägir
A type U-93 submarine, formely belonging to the Imperial German Navy. Reported to have been accidently sunk at the end of The Great War. U-97 was actually stolen and relocated to the hidden submarine pens on Farquhar Island where she was renamed after the Nordic God of the Sea. There she served for many years, defending the island until 1936 when she was relocated for overhaul at the Ordenstaat's purpose built dry dock at Manaus. Relaunched after an expensive two year refitting, Ägir was reassigned in the 1939 Venezuela conflict to guard the Orinoco estuary. Despite her refitting and overhaul, Ägir's combat worthiness is questionable. Twenty two years old, her pressure hull is no longer considered strong enough for deep diving and her primary tactic is to avoid warships and observe and report their movements rather than engage. Ägir is armed with two 10.5 cm SK L/45 naval guns, and carries sixteen Type VI torpedoes. In 1939, she is commanded by Kapitan Johan Fritzler.
U-156 - Bremen
A type U-151 Submarine merchant/cruiser, formerly belonging to the Imperial German Navy. Reported to have been lost in the Northern Passage with all hands lost, Bremen was actually taken by her crew to the hidden submarine pens on Farquhar Island. There she was used to move clandestine cargo back and forth between the Ordenstaat's three main facilities. Often using the cover of night to rendezvous with freighters and fuel tenders, she was eventually captured on the Amazon River by Daniel Mansfield's team working for British Intelligence - leading to the discovery and eventual loss of Farquhar Island. Handed over to the Brazilian authorities, she was soon repaired and refitted at Recifé. The Brazilians then promptly handed her back to the Ordenstaat, and she was put back into service, meeting freighters at sea and secretly bringing valuable supplies back to Manauas and Rorainópolis. By 1939, her age restricts her abilities to dive, and her efficiency as a clandestine freighter is becoming questionable. Bremen is armed with two 10.5 cm SK L/45 naval guns. She carries no torpedoes. In 1939 she is commanded by Kapitan Estban Lopez.
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