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[Taricus]

Holy shit we just blitzed the plains. We know those fucks aren't gonna be taking that back unless they definitely try to replicate or counter our teletalk rods and horse archers. And the push on the jungles is heartening news as well.

Weather Control: A new spell formed from our experiences with wind magic. Effectively akin to the gust of wind but on a much larger scale and timescale. It's primary use is to clear the skies, letting our troops fight under the shining sun or light cloud cover. However, it is able to be used to summon storms and whirlwinds, literally blowing away the enemy. Given the ambitious scale of the spell it is expected that only our better wizards are capable of pulling it off.

Magic Potion: Based off the tales of a small village holding off a vast army and the effects of the wand of heroism, the magic potion (For lack of a better name) is effectively a consumable augmentation that, once imbibed by the user, increases their strength to superhuman levels (and the ability for their bodies to handle this increased strength) making them faster and stronger. The choice to try replicating the wand of heroism' effect via potion is two-fold; it stops the arstotzkans from sniping the mage who has to prepare the magic, and makes distribution among the soldiery much easier.

EDIT: Are the arstotzkans actually designing things, because from the looks of it they're doing fuck all.

[Kashyyk]

We definitely need to spend a revision to make teletalk that cheap permanently.

[Taricus]

Judging by the wording of the expense credit thing, I think it might be cheaper permanently. Could you clarify if this isn't the case Iituem?

[Iituem]

Yes, Teletalk is permenantly Expensive now.

[NUKE9.13]

Praise be for our glorious, well-earned victory!

I think we should do something for our navy this turn, as taking control of the seas would entrench our advantages in the east and west. I figure the mountain/desert border can hold on for a while. One way we could help the navy is with an

Enchanted Ballista: Using the techniques used to make recurve bows, we construct a substantially scaled-up version- a ballista. But we don't stop there- we put two enchantments on it, from our two schools of magic; a blessing of wind that is applied to bolts before they are fired, ensuring they fly straight and true towards their target, and a divination-powered rangefinder, allowing the wizard overseeing the ballista to predict where shots will land, greatly improving accuracy.
These would serve best mounted on ships, though wheeled versions could be deployed on land. They would require an attendant wizard along with its regular crew, but that should be doable.

Alternatively, the previously described Weather Control- with the primary use being to give our ships clear sailing, whilst directing/summoning storms to theirs.

[Taricus]

...Fukken SCORE!

Not that teletalk being even cheaper wouldn't be handy, though we'd probably need to start reforming the army to take advantage of that level of co-ordination.

[S34N1C]

Man, that expense credit was a godsend. Whoever came up with the teletalk rods deserves a commendation.

Now, on to business.
@Nuke: I like the idea if the ballista, but I'm afraid you're plan is too ambitious for a single project. Maybe we should make the base ballista first, and improve it later on? Even a regular ballista will help a lot, particularly with taking back the mountains.

EDIT:

If Moskurg can hold the plains, they will receive extra resupply and a reduction in expense for items or effects that rely on manpower in some way, due to the plentiful population on the plains.  I may change that if it's too weak or too powerful, but the other options were too overpowered or nonsensical (research bonuses due to libraries were flat out overpowered, cavalry bonuses would probably help Moskurg too much versus if Arstotzka took the plains, double resupply was OP as well).

Guys, we have to hold the plains. We have to. This is not optional.

[NUKE9.13]

@Nuke: I like the idea if the ballista, but I'm afraid you're plan is too ambitious for a single project. Maybe we should make the base ballista first, and improve it later on? Even a regular ballista will help a lot, particularly with taking back the mountains.

I actually doubt that a ballista would help in the mountains, as it would probably only be deployed in large-scale warfare, whilst our problem in the mountains is not being able to reach the battlefield.
And, yeah, maybe it is too ambitious. Maybe you're right, and we should just try for a regular

Ballista: Using our knowledge of composite materials and tension, we build a giant bow-like weapon capable of launching thick bolts or stones into enemy troops/vessels. Due to the large and cumbersome nature, they would work best mounted on the deck of a ship, though portable varieties could also be used on land.

If there are no hitches in developing it, we could use a revision to add things like the divination rangefinder or bolt-blessing enchantment.
Despite how useful that would be, though, I feel like developing Weather Control would be more useful still. It would help both at sea and the mountains.

[S34N1C]

I figured it would be useful in the mountains as a siege weapon, but I see your point.

+1 to weather magic

[Taricus]

That'd be Nirur and nuke for starting that little train that's basically made us more deadly than the mongols. As for the plains bonus, the higher population things has got me thinking that we could use it to make anything that needs large amounts of labour and/or skilled craftsmanship cheaper, so we might be able to get more of... well, just about anything non-living.

[evictedSaint]

The ballista is a good thought, but based on experience I think constructing a brand new piece of seige equipment (which would be vulnerable to fireballs) and layering multiple enchantments on it would be asking for trouble.

The key here is incrimental developments.

[Taricus]

Catapult first then? Especially since we can go to town launching whatever.

[Kashyyk]

I think we should accept the fact that anything we design will not be revised over the teletalk wands this turn. Arstotzka is almost certainly going to try something to slow our advance in the plains, and combining that with the teletalk wands not being cheap might cause us to lose our hold there.

[evictedSaint]

 
Teletalk wands are simply Expensive, which means we can outfit all our wizards and most of our apprentices with them.  We aren't losing the expense credit.

I think the weather magic is a good idea, though. +1

Design: Storm Strike
This spell is Moskurgs first foray into weather magic that uses more than wind, and their first serious Main Battle Spell.  A massive, roiling storm is called forth overhead, clouds dark and imposing, striking fear into the hearts of the enemy.  Pouring rain leaves fields nothing more than pits of mud, making marching difficult and snuffing out fireballs.  Winds scream across the land, leaving backs bent and even blowing careless men from mountain tops.  Awe-inspiring pillars of white-hot plasma strike the ground with thunderous booms, crashing down amongst enemy troops like the hammer of God.  This spell is the righteous fury of Moskurg incarnate.

Priorities in order of most to least important:
1)  Lots of rain. Lots of lightning. Lots of wind.
2)  Controllable enough not to harm friendlies.

Tentative Order?
Move al-Mutriqa to the plains.  DO NOT CEDE GROUND.  MOSKURG DEPENDS ON YOU.

[NUKE9.13]

I think we should accept the fact that anything we design will not be revised over the teletalk wands this turn. Arstotzka is almost certainly going to try something to slow our advance in the plains, and combining that with the teletalk wands not being cheap might cause us to lose our hold there.

Based on the description provided, I'd say they're cheap enough. Making them even cheaper wouldn't offer much more of an advantage- what is the common soldier going to do with a Teletalk rod, even if he could use it?
I think our lead in the plains is so substantial that unless they can come up with some sort of jamming device for our Teletalkers, we should be able to hold on.

The ballista is a good thought, but based on experience I think constructing a brand new piece of seige equipment (which would be vulnerable to fireballs) and layering multiple enchantments on it would be asking for trouble.

The key here is incrimental developments.

You're right. Design a basic ballista first, then add enchantments later.

Catapult first then? Especially since we can go to town launching whatever.

Whilst technically a simpler design, I feel like our experience designing the recurve bows may aid us more in the creation of a ballista. They don't work in exactly the same way, but there are similarities.

Design: Storm Strike
This spell is Moskurgs first foray into weather magic that uses more than wind, and their first serious Main Battle Spell.  A massive, roiling storm is called forth overhead, clouds dark and imposing, striking fear into the hearts of the enemy.  Pouring rain leaves fields nothing more than pits of mud, making marching difficult and snuffing out fireballs.  Winds scream across the land, leaving backs bent and even blowing careless men from mountain tops.  Awe-inspiring pillars of white-hot plasma strike the ground with thunderous booms, crashing down amongst enemy troops like the hammer of God.  This spell is the righteous fury of Moskurg incarnate.

Priorities in order of most to least important:
1)  Lots of rain. Lots of lightning. Lots of wind.
2)  Controllable enough not to harm friendlies.

This seems a bit ambitious. Creating such a powerful storm from whole cloth would probably be beyond our abilities. I was thinking more along the lines of blowing existing storms away from our forces and towards the enemy, and maybe creating small storms if we roll well when designing it.
I especially think the bit about lightning is going too far. Lightning Bolt* would be its own spell, I feel, one that would be equivalent to their fireballs.

Tentative Order?
Move al-Mutriqa to the plains.  DO NOT CEDE GROUND.  MOSKURG DEPENDS ON YOU.

Hmm. Maybe. That would be a basically free way to reinforce the plains.