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Author Topic: Wands Race - [Arstotzka] {COMPLETED}  (Read 393422 times)

Chiefwaffles

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #4065 on: July 24, 2017, 10:43:05 pm »

Most of their floaty-ness comes from their war pegisi scrolls.

They have floaty scrolls, we have spell circuit scrolls. If we steal them, we will have the ultimate scrolls. (Plus, we could use those to make the protector a pod-racer like thing)

I vote we steal their floaty scrolls.

It'd be pretty stupid if we could steal their scrolls.

Their scrolls are the culmination of an extreme amount of actions. It'd be like if they could just steal the HA1 or the IDE immediately. We could try stealing some basic wind magic and try to use it to improve the KPD, sure, but that's not really the best move.


Also, their scrolls aren't the same as our scrolls.
For Moskurg: "Scroll" = "Jet engine"
For Arstotzka: "Scroll = Flexible circuit".
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Quote from: RAM
You should really look to the wilderness for your stealth ideas, it has been doing it much longer than you have after all. Take squids for example, that ink trick works pretty well, and in water too! So you just sneak into the dam upsteam, dump several megatons of distressed squid into it, then break the dam. Boom, you suddenly have enough water-proof stealth for a whole city!

VoidSlayer

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #4066 on: July 24, 2017, 11:15:59 pm »

Vote for stealing Lucky Strike.
Quote
ESPIONAGE
2 - Use Wand of True Light on crew+captain just enough to make them like Arstotzka a biiit more than Moskurg; agree to deal: Chiefwaffles, FallacyofUrist
1 - Do not use the wand of true light and risk an unnecessary order: helmacon
3 - Attempt to "steal" Lucky Strike: Chiefwaffles, FallacyofUrist, voidslayer
1 - Attempt to steal the floaty scrolls: helmacon
2 - Do not use an Espionage Credit we don't yet have: Andres, RAM

ORDERS
2 - Don't deploy the Avenger yet: FallacyofUrist, RAM
4 - Deploy the Avenger: Chiefwaffles, voidslayer, helmacon, Andres
2 - Denounce Moskurg on the world stage: Andres, RAM
3 - Do not denounce Moskurg and risk an unnecessary order: helmacon, FallacyofUrist, voidslayer

Gwolfski

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #4067 on: July 25, 2017, 05:50:54 am »

me too
Quote
ESPIONAGE
2 - Use Wand of True Light on crew+captain just enough to make them like Arstotzka a biiit more than Moskurg; agree to deal: Chiefwaffles, FallacyofUrist
1 - Do not use the wand of true light and risk an unnecessary order: helmacon
4 - Attempt to "steal" Lucky Strike: Chiefwaffles, FallacyofUrist, voidslayer, Gwolfski
1 - Attempt to steal the floaty scrolls: helmacon
2 - Do not use an Espionage Credit we don't yet have: Andres, RAM

ORDERS
2 - Don't deploy the Avenger yet: FallacyofUrist, RAM
4 - Deploy the Avenger: Chiefwaffles, voidslayer, helmacon, Andres
2 - Denounce Moskurg on the world stage: Andres, RAM
3 - Do not denounce Moskurg and risk an unnecessary order: helmacon, FallacyofUrist, voidslayer
[/quote]
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Andres

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #4068 on: July 25, 2017, 02:17:05 pm »

Quote
ESPIONAGE
2 - Use Wand of True Light on crew+captain just enough to make them like Arstotzka a biiit more than Moskurg; agree to deal: Chiefwaffles, FallacyofUrist
2 - Do not use the wand of true light and risk an unnecessary order: helmacon, Andres
5 - Attempt to "steal" Lucky Strike: Chiefwaffles, FallacyofUrist, voidslayer, Gwolfski, Andres
1 - Attempt to steal the floaty scrolls: helmacon
1 - Do not use an Espionage Credit we don't yet have: RAM

ORDERS
2 - Don't deploy the Avenger yet: FallacyofUrist, RAM
4 - Deploy the Avenger: Chiefwaffles, voidslayer, helmacon, Andres
2 - Denounce Moskurg on the world stage: Andres, RAM
3 - Do not denounce Moskurg and risk an unnecessary order: helmacon, FallacyofUrist, voidslayer
1 - Focus the Wand of True Light on a Moskurg to see if it can turn it into an Arstotzkan: Andres
GM said we could use the Espionage Credit as soon as we get it so I don't see why not.
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VoidSlayer

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #4069 on: July 25, 2017, 03:10:56 pm »

As a note, what we would be looking to steal would be a copy of the spell written down or a kidnapped apprentice who knows the spell.  We just tell the crew that is what we are looking for and they can be the ones who figure out how to get it.  We dont really need a detailed explanation of how we are stealing it.

Chiefwaffles

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #4070 on: July 25, 2017, 03:27:09 pm »

Quote
ESPIONAGE
1 - Use Wand of True Light on crew+captain just enough to make them like Arstotzka a biiit more than Moskurg; agree to deal: FallacyofUrist
2 - Do not use the wand of true light and risk an unnecessary order: helmacon, Andres

5 - Attempt to "steal" Lucky Strike: Chiefwaffles, FallacyofUrist, voidslayer, Gwolfski, Andres
1 - Attempt to steal the floaty scrolls: helmacon
1 - Do not use an Espionage Credit we don't yet have: RAM


ORDERS
2 - Don't deploy the Avenger yet: FallacyofUrist, RAM
4 - Deploy the Avenger: Chiefwaffles, voidslayer, helmacon, Andres

2 - Denounce Moskurg on the world stage: Andres, RAM
3 - Do not denounce Moskurg and risk an unnecessary order: helmacon, FallacyofUrist, voidslayer

1 - Focus the Wand of True Light on a Moskurg to see if it can turn it into an Arstotzkan: Andres
1 - Do not do the above order: Chiefwaffles

I still think we should use the wand of true light a bit on the crew, I don't care enough and am just going to remove my vote for it to get this over with. I'll probably re-add my vote if someone else votes for it though.

I also tidied up the votes a bit to reduce likely GM frustration.
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Quote from: RAM
You should really look to the wilderness for your stealth ideas, it has been doing it much longer than you have after all. Take squids for example, that ink trick works pretty well, and in water too! So you just sneak into the dam upsteam, dump several megatons of distressed squid into it, then break the dam. Boom, you suddenly have enough water-proof stealth for a whole city!

FallacyofUrist

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #4071 on: July 25, 2017, 04:48:49 pm »

Evicted's confirmed that the Espionage Credit can be used the turn we acquire it on the Discord.
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helmacon

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #4072 on: July 25, 2017, 05:06:41 pm »

Eh... Fine. I'll drop my anti true light vote
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FallacyofUrist

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #4073 on: July 26, 2017, 04:54:48 pm »

Have some ideas.

Before that, though, the F44 is very expensive... and probably won't help us at all because of that... we're going to have to spend our next turn on it again, seriously. We really shouldn't be deploying it this turn, not when it has a big gaping weak point vulnerable to lucky strike. The reactor.

We do have a spare expense credit(maybe), but that would be better spent on the F45.

Spoiler: Rocketshell (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Stable Aethergems (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Lynx Armor: (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Microquake: (click to show/hide)

Updated voting.

Quote
ESPIONAGE
2? - Use Wand of True Light on crew+captain just enough to make them like Arstotzka a biiit more than Moskurg; agree to deal: FallacyofUrist, Chiefwaffles(presumably, if he just wanted to get it over with, but would prefer this option, he would put his vote back on)
1 - Do not use the wand of true light and risk an unnecessary order: Andres

5 - Attempt to "steal" Lucky Strike: Chiefwaffles, FallacyofUrist, voidslayer, Gwolfski, Andres
1 - Attempt to steal the floaty scrolls: helmacon
1 - Do not use an Espionage Credit we don't yet have: RAM


ORDERS
2 - Don't deploy the Avenger yet: FallacyofUrist, RAM
4 - Deploy the Avenger: Chiefwaffles, voidslayer, helmacon, Andres

2 - Denounce Moskurg on the world stage: Andres, RAM
3 - Do not denounce Moskurg and risk an unnecessary order: helmacon, FallacyofUrist, voidslayer

1 - Focus the Wand of True Light on a Moskurg to see if it can turn it into an Arstotzkan: Andres
1 - Do not do the above order: Chiefwaffles
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VoidSlayer

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #4074 on: July 26, 2017, 09:46:52 pm »

To add to Lynx armor list: Heat Resistance system and lighting protection.

evictedSaint

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #4075 on: August 06, 2017, 12:04:39 am »


Combat for 945

Arstotzka scraps their project from last year and starts again this year learning from their past mistakes.  Known as the ASAF-F44 "Avenger", it was conceived as a weapon to rival Moskurgs so-far uncontested air superiority.  Two years of development went into the engine (proudly referred to as the "Kinetic Propulsion Drive" Mk. 2) and power source (known as the "Aether Reactor"), which required a fair amount of fine-tuning to get it working.  The Avenger is prone to capsizing, and the Aether Reactor lives up to the name - it "reacts" quite explosively when damaged, necessitating rather thick crystal shielding.  The KPD Mk. 2 is a heavily modified variant of their "Blastballs" spell, in that it uses an on-going continuous explosion inside a crystal "cup" to provide thrust.  This bell-shaped cup can be tilted with spherical controls in the cockpit, allowing the Avenger to move left, right, forwards, and backwards (although turning is done through banking).  The pilot sits up front in a clear crystal canopy and a gunner in the rear works an unpowered ball turret equipped with an HAC-1, though he has a field of view limited primarily upwards.  The entire contraption is shaped roughly like an arrowhead and can move quite fast, though it has terrible acceleration and requires the pilots full focus to keep from going into a deadly capsizing event.  For their revision Arstotzka finally fixes the "anti-magic" problem that's been plaguing their devices for decades, to an extent.  Their circuits are now "hardened" against anti-magic, meaning their devices that do not rely on mages (such as the HA-1b "Mundane", R1 and Avenger, specifically) can operate successfully in anti-magic fields.

Moskurg likewise works on their air force this year with the introduction of the "Skyhawk", the next-generation air-borne artillery platform design to obsolete their Alsamma Safina.  Much like the Phoenix, it is powered by four Adamantium engine clusters that provide lift and movement.  It is equipped with two ballistas and a large supply of explosive ammo, but has difficulty engaging nearby targets and relies on the crew to take care of threats.  It is skinny like a canoe, making it difficult to hit from a distance, but that also means it can "capsize" if the pilot isn't careful.  For their revision they upgrade their Adamantium War Pegasi Scrolls to flat-out Adamantium jet engines.  Using multiple inter-linking scrolls of varying size, it can provide even more thrust than the previous generation of flight-capable rugs.  This only really benefits the Phoenix and Skyhawk, as smaller aircraft are already fast enough that the limiting factor is the ability of the pilots to see through the wind and perform maneuvers successfully.



The Taiga continues to burn, but not nearly as much.

The Avenger is Arstotzka's shaky step into the world of directly contesting Moskurg's air superiority, and it shows.  The unpowered turret makes lining up shots on the faster Skyskiffs virtually impossible, and the primary focus is the large, lumbering Phoenix ships.  If an Avenger can get close enough, the HAC-1 can punch through the Adamantium armor plating.  Hitting the fuel tank doesn't really do much besides make the crew nervous; the ammo isn't explosive or heated, and Adamantium doesn't spark when hit as the temperature is constant.  What is vastly more effective is hitting an engine cluster.  It only takes a couple of shots before output begins to falter in a cluster, and hitting two on the same side will cause the ship to list and capsize.  This tends to be unfortunate for the crew and anyone underneath, but Moskurgs Skyskiffs do a fair job at keeping them at bay and the Phoenix is usually escorted by Skyhawks.  If nothing else can be said about the Avenger, then the crews will admit that the damn thing is hardy.  Ballista rounds can't crack the crystal hull, and the lightning-resistive crystal requires a few lightning strikes before holes can be blasted through.  Once the armor on the Aether Reactor is worn through, though, then the brilliant explosion will send shrapnel at everything in a fifty foot radius.  All-in-all, it's not really good for much other than hitting the vulnerable-yet-deadly Phoenix airships and keeping them from running freely overhead.  Anti-Magic Hardened Circuits are about equally as helpful, able to allow the aircraft and some of the artillery on the ground below to operate regardless of the glowing "No-Fun" field.  Mages still can't cast, though, but Aethergems and circuits operate just fine. 

More helpful for Moskurg than their anti-magic is their Skyhawk, which has double the rate of fire of the previous generation Alsamma Safina.  Able to hit from beyond anything Arstotzka can reach, Moskurg doubles down on their "pick and chip" philosophy.  Avengers are a concern though, as it takes a few lightning strikes to knock them out of the sky.  If they're too close then mages need to strike at the pilot or gunner, as the explosion would damage the Skyhawk.  Thankfully, their massive control of the weather makes it hard for Arstotzka to scramble interceptors or launch sorties, as it's nearly impossible to maintain formation in such inclement weather, so they don't really do much on that end.  Moskurgs newer, better engines also allow them to fly through and over Arstotzka's field of anti-air fire, putting them out of range of gun crews on the ground below. 

Arstotzka still has the advantage when it comes to melees, as more and more of their troopers begin favoring the R1 and its ability to firmly knock out an enemy soldier from range without a fight, but it still suffers from firing rate and cumbersome reloading.  The Protector still suffers from the poor locomotion issues that have plagued it since conception, and like the jungle these are exacerbated by the dense pine forests.  It can at least operate as a pillbox once it - inevitably - breaks down, though.

Despite the Phoenix no longer being the "kill everyone" weapon it was last year, Moskurg still has an overwhelming air advantage.  As the pine forests get denser, though, this becomes less and less of a factor and battles begin to rely primarily on hand-to-hand combat.  Even worse for Moskurg is the fact that Arstotzka has naval superiority in the surrounding waters (although just barely).  Troops can be landed behind Moskurg lines, and with their superior infantry Arstotzka can win battle after battle.

It's a hard-fought battle, and though Moskurg is dominating in the air it's not quite enough.  Arstotzka manages to push the invaders out of their homeland - but just barely.

Arstotzka regains the Taiga.


Air superiority dictates much more of the battle in the plains, however.

With close air support and the ability to hit trenches with (little) Arstotzkan opposition, Moskurg continues their roll from the desert to the north.  The Avenger shines with the ability to drop explosive artillery shells, though the bombing runs are often inaccurate and limited in effect compared to Moskurgs air superiority.  Combined with their navy hitting from the shores and their air force hitting from above, Arstotzka is forced to abdicate a section of ground here and give Moskurg a foothold.  The R1 and Protector both show promise here, but the problems that have plagued them limit what they can do.

Moskurg gains a section of the Plains.


The Mountains surprise everyone when Moskurg storms up the slopes and regains a foothold.

Small airships shine here, most notably the Avenger and Skyskiff.  With strongholds being all but obsoleted, most battles are proceeded with days of artillery barrages and air raids on choke points and defensive emplacements before being stormed.  Moskurg's explosive ammo and Skyhawk put them on par with Arstotzkan artillery (which unfortunately must be lugged from one place to another by cart on the treacherous mountain trails), so the battles are decided by the better air support - which must go to Moskurg.  If nothing else, the Skyskiffs are merely Cheap while the Avengers are Very Expensive, meaning that even if they were worse they would still vastly outnumber their aerial competitors.  The Protector is useless in the steep inclines and narrow, rocky paths, and the Phoenix is too easy to hit from concealed positions in the mountainous ground below.  Melees are infrequent, but the R1 proves to be quite useful here with its ability to shoot without standing up and flat trajectory.  That doesn't decide the major battles though, so Moskurg manages to gain foothold on the mountains once again.

Moskurg has gained a section of the Mountains.


Arstotzkas Avenger struggles against the larger and better-armed Skyhawks, and the smaller and faster Skyskiffs.  Moskurgs faster engines and new artillery platform lets them shell Arstotzkan ships from a safe distance, and one by one the crystal ships sink below the waves in the frigid northern seas.  This is especially bad for Arstotzka - this means that next year they will not be able to use their naval support to increase the effectiveness of their ground forces, but at least Moskurg doesn't have naval superiority.

Moskurg gains a section of shoreline in the Northern Seas.  Arstotzka loses naval support for next year.


Espionage Credit!!!

Both sides make good use of their Espionage Credit this year. 

Arstotzka manages get a hold of an educational scroll relating to Lucky Strike...we think.  Very few of our Mathemagicians can read Moskurgian, and deciphering the religious mumbo-jumbo and separating it from the actual spellwork is a task all on its own.  It'll take some time to figure out how to make it work for us, but at least now we have the blueprints for the spell.

Moskurg manages to steal a thing, which will let them do a thing if they spend some time figuring it out.


Design Credit!!!
Bjorn has been tinkering with his Aethergems for the past year, and believes he has developed something new and exciting related to that field that he wants to share with the design team.  The King has agreed to finance the little venture, so this year we gain an extra Design Credit - so long as it deals with our Aethergems.


It is 946, the Design Phase.

Spoiler: State of Forenia, 946 (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Arstotzkan Elite Units (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Arstotzkan Spells (click to show/hide)



Behavior Rules.  Please Read.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Chiefwaffles

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #4076 on: August 06, 2017, 12:39:10 am »

Okay.
This is actually really good. The Aethergem design credit. This means we can make a much more powerful device.

I say we use our design credit first, then we can use it in our actual design.


Design: Aether Reactor Mk. 2 (Using Design Credit)

Really, "Mark 2" is such a paltry name for such a huge improvement. The Aether Reactor is the realization of our Aethergems' potential. It's, of course, based off of the titular Aether Reactor currently located inside the Avenger.

Spoiler: Fluff (click to show/hide)
Fluff TL;DR - We use the Magegem technique on anti-magic charms to get the ability to make anti-magic charms using crystal glass. Then with this we make a large new "Aethergem" that's both the Magegem and AM Charm components in one object instead of the kludge-y original Aethergem that has the AM charm+circuitry attached on the exterior. This should remove a huge bottleneck (the connection between charm and gem and circuitry), reduce expense (expensive AM charms), and greatly increase power/size ratio (generator component now is a part of the actual gem and scales up directly with it).
Fluff SuperTL;DR - Instead of making Aethergems out of "Magegem + glued-on AM Charm" we just make a single crystal-glass (large) Aether"gem". Which should be a huge improvement.


Armor - Standard layered crystal armor roughly equal to the Mark 1 reactor.
Size & Appearance - "Default" size is generally the shape (sphere) and size of the Mark 1 reactor to allow for autoretrofitting. But since it's made out of crystal the shape should be able to change for its demands easily.
Weight - Variable? All that really matters is that we're getting much more power compared to the same weight.

Power Generation - Grreatly increased over the Mark 1. Like greatly so.
Power Storage - Low priority but general goal is at least equal to the Mark 1 reactor. The greatly increased generation should mean we don't really have to focus on storage, but we aren't trying to explicitly sacrifice storage here. It's just not a focus of the design.
Expense - As we will no longer be using the Expensive Anti-magic charms, expense should optimistically be Expensive instead of Very Expensive.

TL;DR: - Make a large single (hopefully Expensive) Aethergem to use as a central reactor in our magitech and to hopefully be refitted into the Avenger for a huge improvement in acceleration (increase power to the KPD!).

If our designs go well, then we should use our revision on our shells. If we theoretically eliminate their artillery hard counter, then we will start winning. They only outrange us because of the range debuff they're giving us. Alternatively we can fix the Protector as it can bypass that limitation if it actually works. We just need to fix its transmission/etc. issues for it to actually be a useful weapon.

The Reactor can actually be a really useful design. Can be used for new/better guns, aircraft, vehicles, and much much more.


Quote
DESIGN
1 - Aether Reactor Mk. 2: Chiefwaffles  (Use Design Credit)


EDIT: Unsure about what to do regarding Lucky Strike. I don't think it's a good idea to (this turn at least) spend a design or even revision (dunno how hard it'd be) just to get Lucky Strike. Our main problem isn't hitting the enemy with the bullet, but rather our main problem is the process of getting the opportunity to even shoot at the opponent in the first place.
Maybe if we make a new gun we can try incorporating lucky strike into it?
« Last Edit: August 07, 2017, 12:30:06 am by Chiefwaffles »
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Quote from: RAM
You should really look to the wilderness for your stealth ideas, it has been doing it much longer than you have after all. Take squids for example, that ink trick works pretty well, and in water too! So you just sneak into the dam upsteam, dump several megatons of distressed squid into it, then break the dam. Boom, you suddenly have enough water-proof stealth for a whole city!

RAM

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #4077 on: August 06, 2017, 04:21:07 am »

Lucky strike works by having the bullet happen to hit something important. This is really good because currently they are deflecting our rounds. It ought to get our bullet deflected from one thing and into another. Worth a revision I expect.

"I told you so". So be fair, I said that wind would be a huge problem for our aircraft, and it was not mentioned once. I... I really don't understand that at all, but such is life in WandRWorld... But still, we tried to beat them in the air and it crashed and burned. We coulda worked up some high-density munitions and been keeping them at bay but, oh well. We are neck deep into this mess now and may as well try to break even with yet another design sent after the two bad ones we already lost. Agree on getting the gem design first though, might have some relevance to the design...

Gemerators
We have some really intense magic consumers with very low storage requirements. The "universal magic activation device" philosophy of the aethergem just doesn't even slightly match our practical needs. Fortunately, this is easily rectified. We completely remove the magems from the apparatus and instead densely layer the accumulation devices in an array with almost no space between them(Hopefully they have a nice diamond shape that interlocks perfectly, even if they have to have alternating orientations.). This will, by itself, remove the propagation of explosions as there is no stored magic to detonate. Further, it will massively increase the density of magic generation per a unit of volume, possibly by an order of magnitude, because it no longer requires a bulky magem and is no longer a compound shape of multiple units that cannot fit together precisely.

 At this point we get clever. In addition to circuitry that links all the magems to a single magical outlet to be passed onto other circuits, we also add a linkage system so that multiple gemerators can be inserted into one another to create an almost seamless single unit with redundant connections. But most impressively, we are working on a method to synchronise the magical absorption. By activating them in a progressive "pulse", combined with their extremely dense packaging they create a very sudden and powerful suction "burst" with no prior precedent. We hope that this will pull much "deeper" into the great beyond to pull magic from much denser "regions"(dubbed "The World Tree" though the source of that term eludes us) to produce a much greater magical output.

- Man-transportable boxes.
- Interlocking to produce cohesive gemerator arrays of any size.
- much denser packaging of magical generation than aethergems can ever offer.
- No magical storage to explode.
- uses more concentrated effect to "penetrate deeper into more dense magic" to multiply the effectiveness of its already greatly concentrated generation apparatus.

This is the design we should have had ages ago. There is no reason to have a room full of batteries on an aircraft which runs most of its equipment constantly. A single magem on the gun an a couple here-and-there to smooth over usage fluctuations would be plenty. We don't need a whole room and this will get us far more generating efficiency than any battery-based design could ever hope to achieve.

Castals
We formalise a technique for imprinting a known spell into a circuit and integrating an aethergem into it. This allows us to put any castable spell into a gem(of sufficient capacity to cast it once) and then allow anyone to cast that spell. This can be given to common soldiers to allow them to operate flare spells and such, or given to our mages they can cast a spell through the castal instead of castign it personally, allowing them to cast within antimagic fields.


Living magic
Mathemagic was born from our crystal magics, which were derived from our basic conjurations. These included a wasp spell. The power to summon forth a spontaneously thinking being is nothing short of miraculous, and with our mathemagical expertise we can go back and unravel the basic elements of this ancient spell, which we already have experience of altering.

 We essentially take an aethergem and summon into it a pure mind, with none of the physical manifestations of such weighing it down so it is composed of pure magic. Once this mind is summoned, it can perpetuate its own spell from the energies of the gem into which it was summoned. When the gem it inhabits is connected to circuitry, it can then spread into that circuitry and direct magic through it as it pleases, granting it the ability to operate any circuitry-based device it is attached to.

Initially, we only expect to attain an increase in efficiency, as it will e able to precisely control the amount of energy provided to any given component of a circuit thus near-perfectly attuning usage to desired effect, and negating overkill. In the longer term, we hope to produce magical devices that rely upon such fine control that would not otherwise be operable. and to have fully-automated systems with no human intervention required.


Broad Absorption Spectrum System
We take the common aethergem, and apply our old antimagic charm knowhow, in reverse. In addition to operating as an aethergem, it can also absorb heat and sound and convert it into magic. Want a fire snuffed? Point the B.A.S.S. at it and press the button. Presto! Flash-frozen flames(Why yes crying physicist, that IS frozen plasma, a wizard did it!)! Want a silent artillery position? Just point the B.A.S.S. at the barrel and *Conspicuously absent boom!*! Need a mid-flight top-me-up? Just jump onto an enemy airship, stick the B.A.S.S. onto a piece of perpetually-warm adamantium, and find out what happens when you extract all the heat-energy from an infinitely-warm object!(Vacating the local atmosphere is advised)


The Unicaru
We have seen the horrible stability of the misguided "avenger". and the solution was blindingly simple. Anyone who has held a suit of armour knows that it is far more easily held upright when grasped from the top than the bottom. The Unicaru features a "mohawk" of crystal along its top-central line, attached to a "cowl" of crystal containing the propulsion effect, which constantly pushes the cowl upwards, lifting the craft. The weight of the remainder of the craft ensures its lower position.

To achieve this, we refine our existing propulsion into a pure "force film" that perfectly conforms to a surface and pushes that surface without any other interaction. There is no exhaust typical of an explosion, instead the surface will be pushed away from this film regardless of its surroundings. This in turn allows the ceiling cowl to fit very snugly around the vessel.

Force-film panels around the rear of the craft allow rapid steering. The main-body is tear-drop shaped with the "ball" at the front and a tube sticking into the tail, with the tail being geometric rather than rounded, to ease the steering operation. (A more precise control over the circuitry would be required to make use of a curved steering surface.) As nice as it would be to have the full efficiency of a force-film "sail" providing thrust, such just isn't practical with the available surface area. Instead, inverted force-film is projected into the "tube" with minor ventilation to allow air to pass through the film, in one direction only due to the film's effects. This forces a great air-flow into the tube which is propelled backwards along the craft's centre. In addition, a handful of magems are stored in the tube to power brief bursts of the outdated Kinetic Propulsion Drive which, while horribly unstable and inefficient, would provide a great burst of power when operated within a tube like that. granting brief bursts of speed when needed.

The pilot lays down near the underside of the craft, on a leather hammock with leg-braces with their head raised due to a mild incline. They operate the rear steering panels with a four-way lever, and have a pair of two-way levers to control the force of the lifting cowl and main thrust, with a big red button to activate and deactivate the burst-propulsion. The pilot enters through a hatch on the floor of the gunner's booth, in which the gunner stands, wearing a leather harness hanging from the ceiling. the harness is on a simple weighted pulley, with a weighted anchor on a leather strap going through a pulley. this is very simple, being a rope through a hole with things attached to either end to stop it being pulled through. The anchor goes into its own separate shaft and thus cannot enter the cabin. Thus the harness reduces the gunner's effective weight, easing their ability to stand and bracing them against falling. The gunner shoots a standard hac one that is forward-mounted through a hinge(derived from our steam-transmission mechanisms) at its centre-of-gravity allowing it to be easily and quickly aimed. Communication between pilot and gunner is achieve through a simple string mechanisms where identically-labelled tabs are attached to the same string, allowing a pull on one to be seen upon the other. The power systems are mounted behind the gunner, around the central thrust-tube.


I encourage people to submit adjusted or added-to redesigns of this proposal. I would be rather off-put, however, by objectively inferior redesigns of this proposal. And example would be submitting a less ambitious summoning to counter a summoned vulture spell of mine. And example of an objectively inferior proposal, would be replacing an ambitious monster-vulture summons with a hawk-taming project when we have experience in summoning monsters and no experience in taming wild animals, experience in making summons more dangerous and no experience in making tame animals more dangerous, and the end result is a tiny, low-altitude hawk instead of an already large vulture with insane altitude tolerances and the only possible reason to favour hawks would be a slavish devotion to real-world limitations. When a project is more difficult, provides less effect, provides less exploitable discoveries, and has fewer prospects for further development, then it is objectively inferior.
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Kadzar

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #4078 on: August 06, 2017, 04:50:21 am »

Quote
DESIGN
1 - Aether Reactor Mk. 2: Chiefwaffles  (Use Design Credit)
1 - Gemerators: (Use Design Credit)
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andrea

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #4079 on: August 06, 2017, 04:50:49 am »

One small thing RAM: it is not the magic storage that explodes: our magegems are not prone to explosions. It is the magic collecting part itself that causes problems.

edit: also, not sure about the pule and synchronization thing. saying we reach deeper to get more power nice, but forcing ourselves in a pulsed acquisition is concerning. Especially having removed the power storage.

edit2: also, magegems are the smallest part of it. until the last revision, AAA aethergems were generating just as much power as the bigger ones, while mounting a simple AAA magegem that is as big as a button. Yet aethergems were still bulky, showing that we won't get an order of magnitude reduction just by removing the magegem
« Last Edit: August 06, 2017, 04:57:24 am by andrea »
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