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[Chiefwaffles]

3x HC1-Es are as heavy as 1x HA1.
It's not going to take significant advancements in technology to fit a HA1. Our Fog-O-Wars come close to sinking from carrying one HC1-E and one steam engine.

Also again our cannons fire upwards into the angle where the shot then begins arcing down. This was explicitly mentioned when we made the HC1-E. So having the HC1-Es in the same configuration as traditional cannons in historical vessels would likely severely limit our range.

[Andres]

3x HC1-Es are as heavy as 1x HA1.
It's not going to take significant advancements in technology to fit a HA1. Our Fog-O-Wars come close to sinking from carrying one HC1-E and one steam engine.

I think they come close to sinking because we rolled badly on the actual ship part of the design. A decent roll should get us something that doesn't completely suck, so we should think bigger than a mere 3 cannons.

As for a HA1, maybe we'll be able to mount one on a ship, but I don't see why you want them so much. Due to their BOS range, the only targets HA1s are effective against are static targets, and ships aren't static targets. At any closer range, our HC1-Es are better due to their higher rate of fire.

Also again our cannons fire upwards into the angle where the shot then begins arcing down. This was explicitly mentioned when we made the HC1-E. So having the HC1-Es in the same configuration as traditional cannons in historical vessels would likely severely limit our range.

I already showed you a picture that will let us have a traditional cannon configuration while allowing arcing. Did you not see it?

[Chiefwaffles]

I primarily want them to allow their use at sea and for shelving troops on land. And as a form of future proofing. Like what if we develop a better est of spitting or a more accurate HA1? I'd want to be able to fit it on the ship without another designs or revision.

I assumed by that picture that you meant set the cannons up in a mortar configuration which is what I've done with it the design. Did you mean something else with it?

[Andres]

I primarily want them to allow their use at sea and for shelving troops on land. And as a form of future proofing. Like what if we develop a better est of spitting or a more accurate HA1? I'd want to be able to fit it on the ship without another designs or revision.

It's ok for us to have more than just a single model of ship. This ship we're going to be designing is likely not going to be the last we ever do anyway.

I assumed by that picture that you meant set the cannons up in a mortar configuration which is what I've done with it the design. Did you mean something else with it?

No, the blue stuff was the hull of the crystalclad. It's just a traditional configuration where there are holes in the hull to allow the cannons to stick out, but oval instead of round to allow the cannons to be pointed upwards instead of just straight horizontally.

[evictedSaint]

Design: Crystal-Nickel Circuits [5]

Actually, it's easier to just make the circuits out of plain nickel rather than getting crystal involved.  We attempted it, producing machine-grown crystals and grinding it up into a powder to mix into the nickel, but it resulted in a rather non-homogeneous, granular metal.

Nickel is relatively more common than gold, more resistant to heat and stress, and is decent for magical circuits. 

The weight of the actual circuit is rather negligible, so using nickel doesn't really reduce weight.  It does make circuits cheaper and more reliable, though - as a nice byproduct, our HA1's are now merely Expensive.

What do you wish to sell the Merchant?

Where do you wish to send Myark?

[evictedSaint]

After some thought, it seems arbitrary and unfair to say your existing crystal structures require a revision to be compatible with your new crystal manufacturing process.

All existing crystal structures (namely your lances and your axes) are now machine-made, and gain the mild brittle feature of machine-made crystals.  Your Crystal Caltrops, being spikey, random jagged crystals that tend to be bulky and difficult to move, remain as apprentice-made (as it making them machine-made is more effort than it's worth and would increase the cost).

[Chiefwaffles]

Cool! Thanks, Evicted.
I'm assuming we're closer to cheaper HC1-Es and steam engines, but just not enough for a decrease in expense?
Also, are we getting any other benefits from the new circuits? Like does the HA1 have a better rate of fire and are circuit-using designs more resistant to fire because of the meting point?


So, the merchant.
He is fairly experienced in magic thanks to the academy, so can we teach him any spells?
Some machine crystal weapons? He really liked the weapons before but they were only temporary. We could give him some permanent lances and axes.
Magegems are cool but I'm not sure he'd like them due to the fact that they aren't used in anything else we could give him. 

[andrea]

Can he operate a cannon?
for simple spells, we could get him the flare maybe. or a streamlined fireball. Unelss he already got them in the academy.

Maybe a few pet mindwashed falcons?

[Andres]

GM, didn't you say our HC1-Es and steam engines would also be made cheaper by not having their circuitry be Expensive any more?

For the merchant, we should remember that we set up magic in his country. We can give him stuff that requires apprentices now. For stuff, I'm thinking some falcons, some crystal weapons (we should tell him we're only MOSTLY sure they're permanent), and some of our Fogs of War. Those ships would be good for a trader, as it has cannon, it's faster than any other ship, and it can sail despite wind.

We also have cheap plate armour. Plate armour before the year 1000. He could make money from selling that back in his home.

EDIT: The cannons themselves could be of interest to him. They need nothing more than water, ammo, and magegems to function. He has apprentices in his country, so he can always recharge.

[evictedSaint]

Sure, your steam engines are now Expensive and your HC1-E's are now Cheap.

The Cheap HC1-E's will have minimal effect, because your wizards and apprentices will be pulled for flares and HA1 operations, etc.

The steam engines being Expensive will have no effect, because your ships were Very Expensive to begin with, even without the engines (and you haven't gotten around to building tanks yet).

[Andres]

What do our circuits even do, anyway? I've long since forgotten and they're not on the list.

Glory to Arstotzka.

[Chiefwaffles]

I don't think the cannons work with magegems. It should be extraordinarily easy to do so as a very minor part in a revision or design but without any action they still require direct magical input.
The cheap HC1-Es and steam engines is good news, though. It may have minimal effect now but it helps in the future.

Now, for actions.

Jungle - With continued naval supremacy, our commander says we should be able to push Moskurg back here.
Mountain - I'm not worried here as it'd probably take several intentionally-made Moskurger designs to legitimately conquer the mountains.
Plains - The new HA1s should help a lot here. We should still invest in explosive ammo at some point though. But maybe it's possible to make some minor explosive ammo with a revision? Like "stick a magegem in it" with nothing else.
Seas - We just have a general advantage here, but I think we need help here the most until we get Crystalclads. If we lose the sea we lose any chance at the jungle, so...
Send Myark to the Western Sea.

For the trader, I'd say basically what Andres said.
Give the trader a few falcons, some crates of crystal weaponry, and enough Fog-O-Wars to replace his current ship(s). We're upgrading his ship and giving him a ton of stuff too.

MYARK
1 - Send to Western Sea: Chiefwaffles

MERCHANT
1 - Give few falcons + crates of crystal weapons + Fog-O-Wars to replace his current ship(s): Chiefwaffles

@Andres: Basically our circuits are ways of manipulating and harnessing magic without a human presence. We first used them on the magical condenser to maintain an enchantment without a mage present. (Basically at first they were just our fancy magitech version of enchantments) But now we can clearly use them to autonomously cast spells (Crystalworks) in addition to enchantments. They're very multi-use and I also think we can do some extraordinarily basic logic with them.

[VoidSlayer]

+1 to trying to get him to take the crystal axes again.  They are permanent now for reals this time 

Sell him the OLDER weaker cannon version with the nickel circuits and crystals and all that.  We might not produce these for ourselves anymore but nO need to give him our top of the line.

[Andres]

I don't see Myark as being capable of helping out in the Western Sea. Our wizards just don't have much to do in that theatre of war besides power the cannons. Their spells are too short-ranged. Better to send him to the Jungle where he can more directly help out.

As for what we should give him, I'm going to include creates of plate armour, I'm going to give him cannons, and I'm going to remove "replace". We're not exchanging ships, we're giving ships.

MYARK
1 - Send to Western Sea: Chiefwaffles
1 - Send to Jungle: Andres

MERCHANT
1 - Give few falcons + crates of crystal weapons + Fog-O-Wars to replace his current ship(s): Chiefwaffles
1 - Give few falcons + crates of crystal weapons + Fog-O-Wars + crates of plate armour + HC1-Es: Andres

Glory to Arstotzka.

[Chiefwaffles]

Personally, I don't think giving him a cannon is a great idea. It's not that I care about him having the cannon, but rather I want to be a bit conservative in what we give him. We want to keep some of our designs in case he comes again and we haven't developed anything else that could be sold. There's no point in giving him everything but the sink when just a few things or even one thing would suffice.

Also, the Wand of True Light should work wonders at sea. It affects an entire theatre and comes with Myark.