I'd still prefer Crystalworks and will try to convince you/people otherwise, but I'm very much open to making a direct use of the Magegem next turn.
Because in a way, the Crystalworks does have direct combat use - it makes our crystal weaponry (and caltrops) useful again. Which is like two designs in one!
Copying+pasting Magegems from its last post.
Design: MagegemsWe've begun to explore the new areas of magic without the presence of our mages. Magegems are gems (or crystals) based on the anti-magic charm. But where the anti-magic charm actively absorbed ambient energy, a magegem does nothing of the sort. Energy can be actively input into the gem by a mage of any skill level, then the gem can be safely handled by anyone; mundane or not.
A magegem does nothing on its own other than storing energy. But when inserted into a compatible device, circuits on the device can actively draw energy from the magegem, allowing for items with much more drastic effects. Without a magegem, circuits are limited to sustaining low-power existing spells. But with magegems, circuits can actually cast spells and enact significant changes to the surrounding reality. HA1 and HCx series weapons will be able to fire without a mage casting the required spells. Steam engines will be able to start, stop, and last longer without a magician. And more!
Converting our current designs to work with magegems is a simple task. Most modern designs utilize circuits, which means all that has to be done is to configure the circuits to draw power from the magegem instead of a mage. Non-circuit based devices can also be converted fairly easily, as the lack of a circuit suggests making one wouldn't be a complicated task for that particular device. For example, the HA1 already utilizes circuits, so a slot can be very easily added to it and the circuits configured to draw energy from an input magegem.
Magegems at the moment are planned to be only distributed in bulk to sites making use of them, like artillery. But if our soldiers ever require them, they can be issued with a handful of magegems to use on the field to power equipment. Magegems are designed to be reusable - soldiers are instructed to safely store depleted magegems until an apprentice is available to recharge them. But even if there are no apprentices available, the energy stored in magegems should last for long enough. Artillery configured to use magegems, for example, may ultimately require apprentices to charge the magegems, but as each artillery piece won't require the constant attention of apprentices, a single apprentice can be assigned to many different artillery pieces with the simple task of recharging depleted magegems.
As a part of this design, HA1 Onslaughts and HC1-E's have been tweaked to accept magegems. Considerations were made to equip steam engines and other devices with compatibility for magegems, but that was deemed out of scope for now. Future iterations of those devices can be made compatible and the ease of converting likely means adding magegem compatibility can be done as part of a larger revision.
TL;DR: Magic storage. Potentially not immediately useful but has extreme number of possibilities. Mundane artillery, engines, etc. freeing our mages, Crystalworks, Magic Rifles, Grenades (Revision - add a priming mechanism to make them explode), and more.
Design
1 - Magegems: Chiefwaffles
Meteor Design
1 - Tower of Frost: Chiefwaffles
Author
Topic: Wands Race - [Arstotzka] {COMPLETED} (Read 393070 times)