REDCON

[SETTING OVERVIEW]

REDCON is a universe of total positional confrontation, cyclopean fortification gigantomania, and fatal military-industrial determinism. The world is frozen in a grotesque combination of First and Second World War technologies, the early nuclear era, and destructive doomsday systems. Ground armies, front lines, and maneuver formations have ceased to exist — war has been reduced to positional duels between autonomous cyclopean fortress-monoliths separated by dozens of kilometers of radioactive and chemical desert. There is no concept of peace here: war has stopped being a political instrument and has become the physiology of civilization, the 'Engine of Prosperity,' outside of which society is doomed to instant economic and social collapse.

[ONTOLOGY AND ECOLOGY: THE SCORCHED CRADLE]

The planet has suffered an irreversible anthropogenic collapse during the endless 'War of Unification':

• Biosphere: Completely destroyed. Open space is a gray, lifeless plain pitted with craters of cyclopean calibers. The atmosphere is saturated with toxic soot, radioactive ash, smoke, and heavy aerosols. The soil is poisoned by century-old layers of neurotoxins; bodies of water are dead or have become sludge settling ponds.
• Deurbanization: Traditional cities do not exist. The only centers of civilization are either deeply echeloned military-industrial metroplex-bunkers (the government enclave of Pompey, sheltered by the colossal hydrotechnical dam 'Damocles'), or isolated fortress-monoliths. All geography has been reduced to strongpoints, heights, airship approach corridors, and artillery fire sectors.

[POLITICAL ARCHITECTURE AND THE SIMULATION OF WAR]

On the visible level, the world is split between the Empire State under Fuhrer Adler Grimm and the Krux Rebellion led by the disgraced Master General Franz Erhard Kranz. This conflict is systemically managed, but not because Krux is fake:

• Sincere rebellion: The Krux uprising is a genuine revolt. Franz Erhard Kranz truly hated Grimm and was ready to blow the Damocles dam to drown Pompey and decapitate the junta. Krux supply relies on captured bases and underground factories, not on secret direct shipments from the metropolis.
• Instrumentalized opposition: Grimm's regime uses the rebellion as a systemic function. Any imperial commander who comes too close to final victory is fabricated or forced into the role of 'traitor' and becomes the new leader of the opposition, restarting the cycle. This is how the system removes successful generals; Kranz is the clearest example.
• Function of the 'Enemy': Grimm's regime desperately needs an existential enemy to justify poverty, camp life, twelve-hour shifts at the presses, and suffocating smog. Any commander who comes too close to final victory is immediately fabricated by the metropolis as a 'traitor' and declared the new leader of the opposition, restarting the cycle of slaughter.

[SOCIETY: THE HUMAN SERVOMECHANISM]

In the world of REDCON, human subjectivity has been reduced to the limit of a utilitarian biological node:

• Civilian population exists: The concept of a civilian person is not abolished. Billions of civilian workers labor in factories, depots, and supply chains; Pompey is an elite resort and casino enclave for the upper caste and officials; worker quarters and slums exist, and uprisings there are part of the setting.
• Expendable biological mechanism: Soldiers in compartments are deprived of individuality and personal records. Their task is to manually ram multi-ton shells, hold cooling switches, smother flames with their bodies, and burn in casemates when phosphorus hits. The value of an operator is strictly equal to the cost of his training and the time of transfer by transport airship.

[TECHNOLOGICAL DETERMINISM: THE DIESEL-ATOMIC PARADOX]

Scientific thought has taken the path of absolute militarization: green-phosphor cathode-ray monitors, punch cards, pneumatic drives, riveted joints, and hydraulic valves coexist with stationary nuclear microreactors, beam heat guns, kinetic barrier generators, and intercontinental ballistic missiles with neurotoxin.

[DOCTRINE OF ARTILLERY WARFARE]

1. Nature of combat: A duel of fortresses at direct and indirect visibility ranges (5–50 km). Victory is achieved by reducing the enemy citadel to structural, energy, or personnel collapse.
2. Layered structure of the fort: Outer compartments serve as armor and impose an accuracy penalty on attacks against inner vital nodes (reactors, radars, command posts). This is not absolute: elevated direct-fire barrels can hit inner rooms over outer compartments when line of fire permits; high-angle mortars and precision weapons can bypass outer layers. Breaching the plating opens access to the fort's core.
3. Resource loop:

• Energy: Absolute priority. An unpowered casemate is dead (guns do not fire, shields fall, radar goes blind).
• Ammunition: A deficit does not stop fire, but critically slows reloading.
• Crew: A fragile, irreplaceable resource in real time of battle. Concentration of people under bombardment means guaranteed losses.

4. Doctrinal maxims:

• Synchronized salvo is more important than firing at readiness: Lone shells are devoured by AA and shields. Fire is accumulated and released in a single wave to overload anti-missile turrets and drain the shield before a heavy-caliber strike.
• The target is not the gun, but the infrastructure node: One should strike generators, radars, arsenals, and medical blocks. Destroying one gun does not decide the outcome of battle; destroying the energy node shuts down the entire fort.
• Repair under fire is pure mathematics: Sending engineers into a zeroed-in compartment is justified only when the gained seconds of gun operation outweigh the inevitable death of the crew.

[FORT ARSENAL: 19 COMBAT SYSTEMS]

I. DIRECT-FIRE BARREL ARTILLERY:

1. BASILISK Cannon: A compact rapid-fire gun. Constant fire wear on the enemy, disrupting repairs, draining shields and AA.

• General-purpose shell (LEX Shell): Small-caliber high-explosive against lightly armored casemates and exposed crews.
• Doubleshot: Forced burst of two shots to punch a window in the AA contour.
• Flashbang: Magnesium-acoustic shot; blinds and deafens the compartment garrison.

2. ALASTOR Siege Cannon: Universal 50-ton medium siege gun for direct-fire combat.

• Armor-piercing high-explosive shell (CRU Shell): Hardened core with a base delay fuse; detonates inside the casemate.
• Incendiary Shell: Pyrohexane mixture; provokes a heavy fire in ventilation and gaps.
• Neurotoxin Shell: Volatile military-grade gas; exterminates personnel through filters while preserving the gun mechanisms.
• Flash Grenade: Heavy shock munition causing prolonged paralysis.

3. TYPHON Heavy Cannon: Two-block ultra-powerful siege howitzer for breaking deep fortifications.

• Heavy Shell: Ultra-high-density armor-piercing siege shell; destroys outer plates, transmits a seismic impulse into adjacent compartments, causing structural collapse.
• Incendiary Heavy Shell: Thermobaric volumetric composition, instantly melting wiring and insulation.
• Neurotoxin Heavy Shell: Ultra-dense neurotoxin capsule, making the module deadly for a long time.

4. ARCHON Precision Cannon: Long-barrel high-velocity sniper gun.

• Sub-caliber kinetic core: Hypersonic tungsten rod; minimal flight time, impossible for AA to intercept; surgically knocks out radars, shields, and embrasures.
• Concussion Grenade: Barotraumatic shock shell.

5. HYDRA Assault Cannon: Three-barrel assault rotary autocannon.

• Armor-piercing incendiary shell cassettes: Burst modes of 6, 9, or 12 shots; creates a wall of kinetic fire, overloading AA, knocking down landing airships, and cutting down repairmen.

6. OMEGA Capital Destroyer: Four-slot cyclopean relic of the War of Unification era for super-heavy SHS (Super Heavy Shell) shells. Monstrous load on the power grid and long reload.

• SHS Kinetic: Torpedo-shaped siege slug; tears a casemate out of the frame and destroys adjacent compartments with a seismic strike.
• SHS Incendiary: Pyrogel tank; turns the target compartment and adjacent decks into an inextinguishable hell.
• SHS Neurotoxin: Strategic poison reservoir; floods entire tiers of the fort with gas.

7. KRANZ CANNON: Unique white-phosphorus cannon of Master General Franz Erhard Kranz, the 19th weapon system of REDCON. A personal modification and symbol of the Krux Rebellion; fires white-phosphorus shells that burn through casemates, ignite compartments, and leave persistent smoke and fire.

II. SIEGE MORTARS FOR INDIRECT FIRE: 8. TALOS Siege Mortar: Single-module light mortar for steep indirect fire, striking through the roof into inner niches.

• Siege Bomb: Breaks through casemate ceiling decks.
• Shredder Bomb: Thousands of steel balls; does not damage mechanisms, but turns the garrison into mincemeat.
• Flash Bomb: Magnesium flash above the enemy position.

9. TARTARUS Heavy Mortar: Heavy two-section siege indirect-fire bell, firing vertically into the upper smog layers.

• Heavy Bomb: Accelerates by gravity, pierces the roof, and crushes deep lower decks (reactors, operator halls).
• Heavy Shredder Bomb: Clears open artillery yards of crews.
• Incendiary Heavy Bomb: Napalm flowing down the fort's technical shafts to the lower levels.

III. MISSILE COMPLEXES AND ICBM SILOS: 10. PYTHON Missiles: Three-charge inclined direct-fire launch rail.

• Fragmentation high-explosive missile: Solid-fuel contact ram for overloading AA and breaching casemates.

11. VIPER Fire Missiles: Three-charge inclined precision-guidance cassette.

• Incendiary thermochemical missile: Directed micro-explosion presses pyrohexane into instrument panels.

12. TAIPAN Toxin Missiles: Three-charge salvo chemical complex.

• Neurotoxin missile: Aerosol dispersal of pale green gas, instantly killing personnel.

13. NEMESIS Tactical Nuke ICBM: Two-tier vertical silo for tactical nuclear strike.

• Sub-kiloton thermonuclear warhead: Vaporizes the target compartment, destroys adjacent modules, and contaminates the epicenter with radiation.

14. NYX Neurotoxin ICBM: Strategic vertical silo missile for indiscriminate damage.

• Strategic liquefied poison warhead: Floods several adjacent compartments with toxic fog for a long time.

15. CHARON Impact-Landing ICBM: Heavy ballistic kinetic boarding capsule.

• Manned assault module: A drill breaches the wall of an enemy casemate, delivering two heavily equipped infantrymen to clear and sabotage the compartment from within.

IV. ENERGY AND PULSE SYSTEMS: (They do not require shells and consume reactor energy; variability is set by capacitor charging.) 16. SOLARIS Heat Ray: Single-section focused continuous-action laser. Speed of light, ignores kinetic shield and AA; instantly burns through armor and ignites wiring. 17. SIRIUS Scorcher Beam: Two-block heavy thermonuclear emitter. A coherent beam melts metal, explodes equipment within seconds, and turns the crew to ash. 18. ORION EMP Blaster: Single-seat pulse gun. Fires an EMP plasma clot; overloads fuses, temporarily de-energizing AA turrets, radars, or specific guns. 19. HYPERION EMP Blaster: Two-module cascading EMP disintegrator. Discharges the capacitor bank; causes cascading shutdown of generators, collapse of power shields, and burnout of instruments in neighboring sectors.

[ACTIVE DEFENSE SUBSYSTEMS — COORDINATED BY ACTIVE DEFENSE CONTROL, NOT COUNTED AMONG THE 19 ARSENAL SYSTEMS]

• LASER TURRET: S-shaped hinged mount on a round flange base with a spherical articulated emitter head, cooling radiator rings, and a cylindrical focusing barrel; a thick corrugated power/coolant conduit runs along the rear of the arm. The most accurate defense system (100% aiming accuracy): locks a beam onto a target and heats it until detonation; especially effective against missiles and light artillery shells. Requires no ammunition but drains heavy reactor energy.
• AA TOWER: A monolithic armored pylon topped by a rotating dome cupola with a short conical-flared barrel. Works like an anti-air 'shotgun,' spreading a fan of explosive flak mini-bombs into a dense fragment cloud; indispensable against heavy single shells (Typhon, Omega) and massed mortar barrages. CANONICAL EXCEPTION TO THE ENERGY RULE: the AA Tower is a chemical/mechanical flak system and does not draw reactor energy, but each shot consumes ammunition and it has a noticeable reload time.
• AUTOCANNON: A stepped platform with a tall twin-rail frame, a large handwheel elevation clamp, and a compact rapid-fire cannon with a conical flash hider on trunnions. Delivers continuous machine-gun bursts against airships, missiles, and straight-trajectory shells inside its firing sector. Requires both energy and ammunition, but noticeably less than the laser turret or AA tower.

[SERVICE NODES AND FORT INFRASTRUCTURE]

1. ENERGY AND SUPPLY:

• Nuclear Reactor: Colossal energy output for lasers, shields, and Omega/Hyperion guns. Autonomous. Fatal vulnerability: at critical damage it detonates, blowing away half the fort.
• Blast Engine: A steam machine burning granulated powder. Requires manual labor from stokers. Reliable, does not explode catastrophically, but loses power when people die.
• Munitions Depot: Fortified ammunition storage and distribution node; speeds up shell supply and reduces reload time for all guns and missile silos of the citadel. The actual factories lie underground in the rear.

2. RECONNAISSANCE, EW, AND AA:

• Ballistic Radar & EWS: Scans the horizon through the smog, introduces automatic corrections, sharply increasing accuracy and grouping of the entire fort battery.
• Scrambler Signal Relay: Hacks guidance and navigation blocks of enemy missiles and ICBM warheads, turning them back in flight. In game abstraction it spoofs ballistic telemetry so that all enemy shells — even 100% accuracy shots and Archon precision rounds — miss the fort. It is not merely a dispersion increaser.
• Active Defense Control: Bunker for coordinating AA turrets (flak, autocannons, lasers); optimizes interception sectors for incoming shells and missiles.

3. COMBAT SURVIVABILITY AND PERSONNEL:

• Kinetic Shield Core: Force-field generator. Intercepts kinetic shells and missiles at the cost of energy. Overloads under dense fire. Useless against beam lasers.
• Medical Ray Station: Azure light stimulates regeneration, blood clotting, and relieves concussion in fighters inside the casemate.
• Armory: Storage of heavy armored suits and automatic weapons; turns gun crews into infantry capable of repelling boarding by Charon stormtroopers.

4. TACTICAL CONTROL AND SPECIAL OPERATIONS:

• Fleet Command: Airship headquarters; enables calling transport airships with garrison reinforcements directly during the duel. The canonical term is Airships, not Zeppelins.
• Clandestine Operations: Counterintelligence node. Activates sleeper agents in the enemy fortress (reactor sabotage, shield-panel demolition, poison insertion at a critical moment).

[DRAMATIS PERSONAE AND PHILOSOPHY OF POWER]

• Fuhrer Adler Grimm: Supreme Commander of the Empire State. A bloated, pampered sybarite and hedonist in a gold-embroidered uniform. A born sociopath and architect of endless slaughter. He runs the war from casinos and palaces of the closed resort of Pompey under the protection of the Damocles dam. He is convinced that peace would destroy the empire faster than rebellion. He personally fabricates victorious generals into 'traitors to the motherland' or forces them into the Krux role in order to endlessly feed the flywheel of conflict.
• Master General Franz Erhard Kranz: Leader of the Krux Rebellion, former Supreme Master General of the Empire, author of the 'Long-Range Artillery Doctrine.' A lean, gray-haired veteran in an austere greatcoat with a black cross ('X'). A stoic, brilliant tactician, and creator of the modified Kranz gun. He rebelled after realizing that Grimm holds humanity in a cyclical hell. His hatred of Grimm and the Krux uprising are genuine; to break the system, he is ready for any sacrifices — up to blowing the Damocles dam and flooding Pompey. Yet Grimm's system instrumentalizes even this sincere rebellion as the next function of the endless war.