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[Andres]

For our next design, if we're not doing explosive ammunition, I really think we should do my Missile Defence Fireball idea. It would negate all of their ranged attacks and it uses a design we've done a lot of research with, so we'll get a large bonus when designing it.

As for our anti-magic shells, their effect is good, it's just that their reliability is a bit off. Get that and include some of our new crystal and everything should be fine and cheap.

Glory to Arstotzka.

[Chiefwaffles]

Basically I personally want to do:

1.) D: Crystalclad
2.) R: Equalizer/AP Shell/Blastgem
3.) D: Explosive Ammo?
4.) R: Blastgem (or problem fixing)
5.) D: APC1 Pursuer
6.) R: Fix APC's inevitable problems

Also, at some point, enlarged eagles or at least better falcons would help. Right now they're notably effective but they're obviously not a hard counter and by doing things like "give our guys better bows" or "make carpets outrun falcons" or "give our guys armor", etc., they could probably be countered. I think it's a good idea to upgrade our air forces before that happens so we're not taken by surprise.
Also, giant eagles fitting at least one mage would be the equivalent of an attack plane and it'd be awesome.

Magegems I think we should hold off on until we've actually used them a bit. An AA gem could probably power at least a Streamlined Fireball if not a PSF. With vehicles and the like we can simply wire them in series. We should probably wait until we know what we need to do with them. Since the Crystalclad will be our first magegem design, after all.

[Andres]

Chiefwaffles, what about my MDFs? Cancels their ballista bolts and cancels their arrows. That's their primary methods of attack gone.

Glory to Arstotzka.

[FallacyofUrist]

Deflecting their projectiles would be nice, but shooting something into the air that stays up, targets enemy projectiles, then shoots them out of the air? The fireball would have to calculate where the projectile will be, not where it is. It's a bit out of reach. Some sort of ground-based defense based on loads of projectiles might be good, though.

So two more designs.

Spoiler: Two more designs. (click to show/hide)

Skyfire Anti-Air Cannon: Now that we've increased the capacity of our Magegems((this should wait for until we've done that)), we can make a defensive turret. Basically, it's a manned turret that spams Streamlined Fireballs(pre-upgrade) at extreme speeds, drawing on Magegems to provide the catalyst for creating the fireball. It can be used to defend our bases against projectiles and fliers or mounted on vehicles and ships for an antipersonnel weapon.

Crystal Spyglass: We've removed the need for spotters, for the moment. We've discovered that crystal can bend light. By exploring and exploiting this property, we've had the Crystalworks create a "spyglass", or as our astronomers like to call them, "telescope". It's a telescoping device that focuses light towards the user's eye, effectively letting them see things from far away very easily. ((Basically a handheld refractor telescope using crystal lenses.))

Magegems I think we should hold off on until we've actually used them a bit. An AA gem could probably power at least a Streamlined Fireball if not a PSF. With vehicles and the like we can simply wire them in series. We should probably wait until we know what we need to do with them. Since the Crystalclad will be our first magegem design, after all.

Our best gem can only fuel a few Flares, as our equipment report details. Wiring them in series is an option, but it'll increase our expense by quite a bit. We need better magegems... for our revision after our Equalizer revision, maybe.

[Chiefwaffles]

The way expense work is most certainly not "2x AA Magegems = 1x A Magegem". For example, we're going to be using a ton of cheap crystal in the Crystalclad, but it's going to remain cheap throughout the whole process.  The power of magegems starts to really become a concern when we can't wire them in series or if we have to wire way too much of them in series.
Like if we were to ever do magic rifles, then Magegems may need to be addressed. But for now, no.

@Andres: It seems interesting and useful, but like Fallacy said, it seems a bit ambitious since the spell would be acting autonomously far beyond what we've ever done. Especially considering a fireball post-creation isn't actually magical. We'd basically be putting a computer and sensor package inside a fireball when all we've done is simple integrated circuits. That being said, if I did believe we could feasibly do it I'd support it a lot more.

@Fallacy's designs: I think for anti-air, we could design a new cannon and revise basic flak shells. I actually posted a design for this kind of cannon a while back, but it could be breech-loading, magegem powered, mounted on a swivel mount allowing for extreme angles of fire up/down and 360 degrees of freedom when turning side-to-side. Maybe give it two barrels and/or reduce barrel size to further emphasize lots of projectiles at once.
The Crystal Spyglass is definitely an interesting idea. It's simple and can increase the effectiveness of our BLOS artillery and extend the life expectancy of our apprentices.

[Andres]

Deflecting their projectiles would be nice, but shooting something into the air that stays up, targets enemy projectiles, then shoots them out of the air? The fireball would have to calculate where the projectile will be, not where it is. It's a bit out of reach.

It really isn't out of reach. Those kinds of calculations are basic compared to the higher level stuff our mathemagic requires. The 'staying up in the air' bit is already handled by both our Flare and in part by our Fire Wall, which is all about staying in one place.

The targeting of projectiles and shooting them out of the air bits are the only truly new things, but again, we have a lot of bonuses in this kind of spell.

Glory to Arstotzka.

@Andres: It seems interesting and useful, but like Fallacy said, it seems a bit ambitious since the spell would be acting autonomously far beyond what we've ever done. Especially considering a fireball post-creation isn't actually magical. We'd basically be putting a computer and sensor package inside a fireball when all we've done is simple integrated circuits. That being said, if I did believe we could feasibly do it I'd support it a lot more.

I really think you're overcomplicating it. This is magic, not science. We have a great deal of leeway we otherwise wouldn't have due to that fact. ((Seriously, not EVERYTHING we do has to be magitek. We can and should do some generic spellcasting. This, ultimately, is a simple design when looking at it through the lense of a wizard rather than through the lense of an engineer.))

EDIT: ((Seriously, just look at Moskurg's Lucky Shot. If Moskurg approached that spell with your attitude, they never would've got it. Think MAGIC, not science.))

[Chiefwaffles]

I mean, to be completely fair Moskurg didn't design Lucky Shot, they got it for free.
Regardless, I do still think the MDF is a bit overambitious just in its intention, regardless of how we do it. But I'm not completely against the idea and we'll see next design phase.

[Kadzar]

Crystal Spyglass: We've removed the need for spotters, for the moment. We've discovered that crystal can bend light. By exploring and exploiting this property, we've had the Crystalworks create a "spyglass", or as our astronomers like to call them, "telescope". It's a telescoping device that focuses light towards the user's eye, effectively letting them see things from far away very easily. ((Basically a handheld refractor telescope using crystal lenses.))

What a coincidence; I was just about to propose a telescope, too.

I mean, I am worried that flares might make them a bit redundant, but this way we wouldn't have to worry about our spotters getting targeted, and I don't think we can even use spotters at sea, currently, so it would be a big help there. It might even stack with flares, giving a straight accuracy boost. Plus, we have the manufacturing down pat, so we could possibly even get them for cheap, if there was somehow a need for such a thing. And it could eventually be used to make scopes for steam sniper rifles (how can you say no to that?)

[evictedSaint]

Design: AS-SPB2-Crystalclad [3, 5, 3]

The Crystalclad is based heavily off of our existing steamships.  The most notable change is that it's now almost entirely made out of crystal, featuring our most ambitious design yet.  The crystal hull is smooth and sloping, dictated by a complicated curve formula that occupies the majority of the crystalworks circuit for the design, but allows the ship to cut through water just as easily as our existing ships.  Because of the difficulty combining crystal with wood or steel, the majority of the ship is just smooth crystal with the occasional eyehole to mount hammocks, furniture, ropes, equipment, and the two steam engines that power the ship itself.  This has a tendency to make the floors slick, especially when wet.

The steam engine setup is pretty much just copied from the SPB1 Fog-O-War, being two steam engines hooked up to a four-blade paddle on the rear.  The armament has been upgraded, allowing either three HC1-E's or a single HA1 to be mounted above-deck.  Because shooting beyond line of sight is less helpful on the high seas and requires three apprentices to fire, the Crystalclad design instead features three HC1-E's that can all be fired by a single apprentice by themselves, as the higher firerate is more beneficial despite the decreased lethality of the individual cannons.  Thanks to the increased number of apprentices we have at our disposal, each ship features two apprentices; one to operate the steam engines, and the second to fire off the cannons.

It is relatively wide-berthed, allowing a decent amount of troops or cargo to be transported much in the way our current longships do.  The crystal is slightly heavier than wood (but not as heavy as steel), and though it is now fire resistant the ship is no faster than the Fog-O-War.

The steam engines generate a fair bit of vibration, which is a significant problem.  After a few days, microfractures begin appearing in the steam engine mounting and require magical maintenance to prevent cracking.  Even more problematic is the fact that being made of crystal changes the center of gravity on the ship, and rolling seas have a tendency to capsize the ship. 

Over all, the ship should be more resilient to damage without sacrificing speed, and has a higher damage output to boot.  The fact that the ship is primarily made out of crystal means it's merely Expensive.

[Andres]

The microfractures thing is expected and in line with expectations. Just needs some regular maintenance by the apprentice on board. The centre of gravity thing isn't good, but it's not catastrophic. Just can't use it when the sea is especially turbulent.

Make our Equalisers not suck and incorporate machined crystal in the design.

Use the Expense Credit on our frost towers. To give us an edge in all ground theatres and enable further advances into the Desert.

Send Myark to the Jungle. Better not have him on our ships until we get them fixed, but we need better shells more than we need safer ships. This at least ensures the Moskurgs are kicked out of the Jungle.

REVISION
1 - Equaliser fix + machine crystal: Andres

MYARK
1 - Jungle: Andres

EXPENSE CREDIT:
1- frost towers: Andres

Glory to Arstotzka.

[Chiefwaffles]

Huh. That's a pretty cool result, and it's extremely amplified by its expense. The Crystalclad is cheaper than any previous boat while still being a straight-up upgrade!

Got some questions, though.
Does the Crystalclad incorporate the layout I mentioned in the design? Like in terms of decks, etc. - are our crew (other than the people manning the weapons) mostly on the upper or inner deck?
Is there a Magegem Battery incorporated into the design?
We did not get crystal engines from this design, right?


But other than that, here's a revision to fix the number one bug which actually seems quite serious. We really don't want waves capsizing our ships.
Revision: Crystalclad Optimizations
Our Mathemagicians shall make adjustments to the formulas ran through the Crystalworks along with minor tweaks to the layout of the Crystalclad in order to create a much more secure and safe center of gravity ensuring the ship no longer capsizes at sea.

And the Equalizer revision.
Revision: SO2-AM Equalizer
The new SO2-AM fixes multiple complications with the previous design. The use of anti-magic charms has been replaced with solid anti-magic crystal. The crystal has been specifically tuned to not explode and retain the same qualities and advantages of the previous anti-magic charm version of the shell. This replacement means that the charms can no longer get loose, eradicating our problem of cannons jamming and exploding. The crystal is produced by the Crystalworks too, making it much cheaper than before.


Alternatively, we can just make a thicker/more secure metal shell. Metal bonus + fixes problem of charms getting loose.
@Andres: This is basically what you want, right?

[Andres]

@Andres: This is basically what you want, right?

Yup.

Glory to Arstotzka.

[Chiefwaffles]

Gotcha. I'll be moving your vote over to it then.

REVISION
2 - SO2-AM Equalizer: Andres, Chiefwaffles

MYARK
2 - Jungle: Andres, Chiefwaffles

EXPENSE CREDIT:
2 - Frost Towers: Andres, Chiefwaffles

[Andres]

Should we give an order for our falcons to have an anti-magic charm wrapped around one of their legs? That might be sufficient to make their carpets go crashing down.

Glory to Arstotzka.

[VoidSlayer]

Should we give an order for our falcons to have an anti-magic charm wrapped around one of their legs? That might be sufficient to make their carpets go crashing down.

Glory to Arstotzka.

They already do, to protect against wind spells.  We could train them to attack the carpets rather then faces.