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[Chiefwaffles]

So I'm going to start discussion for revisions while we wait for the design to be done.

I'm thinking these possibilities:
1.) Fixing Magegems
2.) Fitting Magegems onto existing designs (if the design doesn't do this)
3.) Improving Falcons (bigger, more lethal, etc. - important to completely prevent their cart pets from doing any damage)
4.) Cheaper HA1s - Their sparseness is very obviously hurting us.
5.) And a lot more.

[helmacon]

Falcons can probably be done as a revision. We ought to use the design on something else.

I'm down with mage gems for this design phase, unless I hear anything better.

As for the meteor, I haven't heard any ideas I really like so far (even my own) so i'm gonna throw something else out there.

Beacon of magic. A small staff made of the meteor metal, it responds strongly to magic of any kind. In the hands of a very talented mage, it can be tuned to specific spells, drawing the relevant magic towards itself. 
We can use this to direct our frost towers (tune it to the frost towers and put it in the area where we want it cold), or use the lucky strike against them. (tune it to lucky strike and put it in a bunker. Ballista are all drawn towards the bunker and not the intended target.)

It's a pretty basic concept, not really classifiable as any "field" of magic, so it would probably just be a standard roll (with the innate +2), but it would let us control the engagement as we like in any front we deploy it on.

[evictedSaint]

Design: Magegems [5, 5, 5]

"Anti-Magic" is a bit of a misnomer, when it comes to our anti-magic gems.  They don't stop magic, exactly - they absorb magic in the surrounding area and convert the magical energy into a harmless, annoying hum.  It stands to reason, then, that if we make it stop humming, the gem will store the energy instead.

We still run into the same problem with exploding gemstones, but we've pretty much hammered it out.  Depending on the size and quality of the stone we can empirically figure out how much energy it can safely store - a bit of clever magic shows this as a glow in the crystal that diminishes as the magic is used up.  This glowing display is represented as a "fluid" that drains down, giving a quick visual display of how much energy is left.

Magegems are quantified by size; A is currently the largest we can manufacture, AA is slightly smaller, and AAA is the smallest we can make.  An A magegem could concievably power a couple flare spells, although smaller gems hooked in series could allow more continuous effect to persist for longer before they're exhausted.

Magegems do not passively pull from the air like anti-magic gems, but are also immune to anti-magic gem effects.  Each gem must be charged by a mage over a period of an hour or so before they're at full capacity, but can be recharged once spent.  They are fully compatible with your solid-gold circuitry, and can be slotted in and out as needed.

AAA gems are Cheap.
AA gems are Expensive.
A gems are Very Expensive.

[Andres]

3.) Improving Falcons (bigger, more lethal, etc. - important to completely prevent their cart pets from doing any damage)

Making them bigger would require a design as it would require an entirely new spell, but we might be able to increase lethality in a Revision phase if we give them the same fire damage as our wasps. Ultimately however, I think there are better things we can do with a Revision.

4.) Cheaper HA1s - Their sparseness is very obviously hurting us.

No, it very obviously isn't. The two big problems - which were explicitly mentioned, by the way - were that they're difficult to target and that they don't have exploding ammunition. It's the sparseness of the HC1-Es that are hurting us, and IIRC this has also been explicitly mentioned.

It should be noted that a big part of the expense of the HC1-E comes from the gold etching. Making that cheaper might make other things using that gold etching cheaper as well, such as our steam engine.

Glory to Arstotzka.

[evictedSaint]

Your HC1-E's are merely Expensive now, and about as plentiful as would be practical.  Making them Cheap would mean you have one for every mage, apprentice, and wizard in your army, but some would sit by idly because you have some mages operating your larger HA1's.

[Andres]

Your HC1-E's are merely Expensive now, and about as plentiful as would be practical.  Making them Cheap would mean you have one for every mage, apprentice, and wizard in your army, but some would sit by idly because you have some mages operating your larger HA1's.

Ah. The list in the update still has them as Very Expensive. Revising the gold etching would still make the steam engine cheaper, though, right?

[evictedSaint]

Yes - that is a mistake, sorry. And yes.

[Chiefwaffles]

That's an awesome outcome for Magegems.

I'll make some actual revision proposals later today. First one will probably be refitting artillery to work with Magegems. Really, I'm mostly open in regards to revisions this time.

Though I don't think increasing the size of he Falcons would be a design. Our spells already modify the falcon's mind. We just need it to modify its body as wel. The size increase would be something like 50-100% - enough to make them big and thus more dangerous but definitely not notably giant. Still within the realm of realism for birds.


EDIT: Also cheaper circuits is a good thing. Not able to actually look at it now but it could cheapen HA1s and steam engines. And maybe we should do the meteor design before the revision.

[Chiefwaffles]

Revision: Magegem Refitting

Our Magegems are proof of amazing Arstotzkan engineering. Now the only remaining step is to fit it to our existing designs.

We incorporate slots for Magegems in the designs of the HA1, the HC1-E, and our steam engines. In steam engines our Magegems simply maintain the spells running he engine. As our circuitry already does most of the work, the required Magegems can be hopefully AAA size.

HC1-Es are fitted with AA Magegems. The fitted Magegems will allow apprentices to manage their time recharging the Magegems of many cannons at once, allowing our mages to spend much more time in other positions.

HA1s are fitted with A magegems, allowing for one wizard to manage more artillery at once.

TL;DR: Make our artillery and boats compatible with Magegems. Allowing many more wizards in the field.
It's really easy since our Magegems are already compatible with our circuitry. We've already used circuitry to passively maintain spells (steam engine) so that's not really a problem. Just make slots for the Magegems, connect them to existing circuits.

I'm not too sold on it though. I think Magegem fitting would be better done as a supplementary part of revisions or designs for new things. Like include Magegems when we make Crystalclads or improve our artillery in any way.

Lemme know if I missed any designs that'd use Magegems.

[evictedSaint]

I feel the need to point out that an A magegem could power 2 or 3 flares in a single charge, and is Very Expensive.  An AA gem could power a single flare before needing recharge. 

PSF's would require several A gems each, and your HA1 operates off of three simultaneous PSF blasts at once.

[Chiefwaffles]

Oh, I misread that as AAA.

Scratch Magegem fitting then. I'd say a simple revision for increasing Magegem power then.

[Chiefwaffles]

Revision: Hgher Powered Magegems

Our mathematicians are tasked with optimizing the energy storage of our Magegems without increasing the size or expense.
The material can be tweaked to optimize the wavelengths of magic it keeps stored. More magic can be "fit" into the same space without compromising the gem's integrity. Cheap and small or tiny "heat sinks" can be attached to allow more power stored without any kind of risk of explosion. (And the heat sinks would be small enough that there's no risk of them independently failing.)

These modifications would be made to every tier of Magegem. As a result, every type of Magegem would store more without increases in cost.


Alternatively, we can decrease their expense by making it out of a more stable crystal.

[Andres]

I'm of the opinion that we should refine our old technology first. Either make the frost towers cheaper or make the gold etching cheaper. The former would give us an advantage in every ground theatre of war, the latter will allow many future designs to be cheaper and better than they'd otherwise be. In terms of immediate effect, it would give us a naval advantage as we'd be able to add as many HC1-Es as we want to the ships.

Glory to Arstotzka.

[Andres]

Wait, GM, do we get two Revisions this turn for getting the meteor iron? It did mention a Revision Credit.

[RAM]

Crystal Cartridges
We distribute heavy ball-bearings and standard ammunition-backings to our guns in addition to conventional ammunition. Wizards use their wealth of crystal knowledge, along with the abundance of bullet-shaped examples to summon crystal shells. These shells last for a very specific time that can be measured by expending a ma'ge'gem, summoning something else as a timer, or just using an hourglass. The shells spend a while in the air, and it only really matters that they are in the air when the shell expires, so timing shoiuld not be an issue.

It is a crystal, filled with metal balls, backed with a metal plate. The rifling effect makes the balls scatter when the crystal subsides, scattering shrapnel around an area.
It is, of course, horribly inaccurte, but we can't see what we are shooting at, or it is high-speed carpets at long range, so...

Brace for them to use electricity against our birds...