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[andrea]

Or you could have falcons carrying loaded magegems

[FallacyofUrist]

Okay, now we have working equalizers. Yay. We can probably make exploding shells pretty easily now(fireball knowledge plus shell knowledge).

For this turn, we do still need to decide on the expense credit... and I'll change my vote to Frost Towers, considering they'll be deployed in the desert and the desert wind will push chilled air into the lands we fight in. That said, we will probably need to increase our naval advantage next turn in some manner. I suspect the Moskurgs will continue to work on their ships. Some sort of water-freezing shell, maybe.

MYARK
3 - Jungle: Andres, Chiefwaffles, FallacyofUrist, Kadzar

EXPENSE CREDIT:
4 - Frost Towers: Andres, Chiefwaffles, RAM, FallacyofUrist
1 - Crystalclad: voidslayer

Hypothetical plan for the next year:

Design: Freezing Shell or Dreadnaught MK I Armored Transport
Revision: Magegem Tech(if we actually need it), Improved Crystalworks otherwise.
Thoughts?

[andrea]

MYARK
3 - Jungle: Andres, Chiefwaffles, FallacyofUrist, Kadzar

EXPENSE CREDIT:
4 - Frost Towers: Andres, Chiefwaffles, RAM, FallacyofUrist
1 - Crystalclad: voidslayer
1 - Magegems: Andrea

[FallacyofUrist]

Wait, what? Um... that's interesting. If it's permanent... and the revision to make the magegems more powerful won't remove the expense credit... that's also a neat idea. Hm.

[andrea]

My understanding is that a revision will not remove the credit.
If I am correct (will ask Es), expensed magegems will be very useful.

If wrong, it would be a wasted credit. Again, will ask.

[Chiefwaffles]

I think we could definitely get away with doing the APC1 Pursuer as a design next year. Maybe AP shells as a revision since I'm still worried about their armor and AP shells could be pretty cheap. 

[Andres]

While the Pursuer would be useful, it should hardly be considered the highest of our priorities. Explosive ammunition has been asked for by our commanders for multiple turns now and their magic carpets are still a threat. If we're not doing the MDF to cancel out their missile attacks, we should focus on one of those two things instead.

Since giant falcons would allow for better scouting and harassment as well as provide a counter to their explosive ammunition, I'm going to lend my support to that. If we make it an "Enhance Size" spell, we could apply it to humans as well as the falcons which would also have its own uses.

Glory to Arstotzka.

EDIT: Enhance Size would actually have a bunch of uses. It'll make our horses bigger which makes them tougher, faster, and stronger. That improves their use in battle but it also makes them better logistics vehicles as they can carry more stuff for longer and faster.

[Chiefwaffles]

Design: Explosive Ammunition
Revision: Bigger/Better-in-some-way Falcons
Design: APC1-Pursuer
Revision: Better Magegems?

That sound good?

[Andres]

Design: Explosive Ammunition
Revision: Bigger/Better-in-some-way Falcons
Design: APC1-Pursuer
Revision: Better Magegems?

That sound good?

The first two sound good. It means we'll have to wait a minimum of two years before we get giant falcons, but the Revision should put us in a better position when we try for it.

It's the Pursuer that I have misgivings with. Our current steam engines are ludicrously big and are a problem when applied to something as large as ships. Making a steam engine as small as what the Pursuer requires in a single turn would, from what I can tell, be quite overambitious.

As a mid-way point, I would suggest one of two things.
1. A better ship whose main design goal would be to get smaller engines. Our current crystalclad has problems and this'll let us quickly get them ironed out.
2. Some kind of large ground locomotive that travels on tracks to quickly move a large amount of men and materiel. It would be a large logistics improvement, improves our steam engine design, and gives us experience with steam-powered land vehicles.

Glory to Arstotzka.

EDIT: I have another way we can fight against Moskurg's flying carpets: anti-aircraft fireballs. I'm not sure how they would work, exactly. Current ideas are a) a fireball with increased blast area but decreased damage; b) a fireball that explodes into smaller fireballs; c) a fireball that explodes when it gets close to a target; or d) a homing fireball. They all benefit from our experience with the fireball spell.

EDIT: That last one could in future be incorporated into our shells and other projectiles, using its origin point as a fireball variant to avoid the usual malus that comes with developing a new kind of spell.

[FallacyofUrist]

I'm not sure about explosive shells. I think freezing shells would be a better idea, mainly because of the naval applications. If an exploding shell misses a Sirroco, nothing happens to it. If a freezing shell misses, suddenly it's encased in ice. More margin for error. Also it goes with the frost theme we have.

It shouldn't be much more complicated, and in a revision, we can make the energy we absorb to freeze stuff turn the shell into a bomb.

Better falcons would be good. Messengers, sentries, very good anti-air... bombers...

I like the idea of the troop transport, but I do think we may need to do some prerequisite work first. Unless we make the troop transport as huge as a battleship... there's an idea.

I do think we should do the Crystal Spyglass soon. Better spotting is a must for apprentice longevity. Either that or flare wands for our mundane troops.

[Chiefwaffles]

Evicted, How big are our steam engines?
I've seen them as big and really heavy but not particularly huge since we can fit two of them on our current ships.

EDIT:
Future Design: AS-STV-1 "Relentless"
(Steam Transport Vehicle 1)

The Relentless is the first of its kind: A steam land vehicle. In order to facilitate its large size, large cargo capacity, and large steam engine, we've built tracks - kind of like roads - to allow it to travel on. The tracks will be built as needed and as we move forward in theatres.

The vehicle is divided into cars attached together, and we can hook many cars up to the engine. These cars will range from passenger to goods transport to even weapon carts. This train will be able to move massive amounts of people and goods between the battlefields and Arstotzka at great speeds, greatly improving our performance in battle.

Additionally, the Relentless shall possess a limited HA1 armament to provide occasional fire support and for self defense.

In order to create this design, our Mathemagicians will aim to greatly decrease the size of the steam engine in order to fit it on the engine and driver car without complications. This is a high priority aspect of the design.

Thoughts?

[FallacyofUrist]

One of the courses I just finished was U.S. History I, in which I learned the importance of railroads in the Union's victory in the American Civil War.

Seriously, if we get that, we win on infrastructure and troop transport, period. If we ever get another culture challenge, we win. Also, this makes the supplying of ammunition for our HA1s trivial. We might even get economic bonuses based on our extremely rapid transporting of ore. We don't even have to pollute the atmosphere by burning coal because we are wizards!

I like it.

Especially once we magic up sea trains. Or trains that don't need tracks and have more guns. Battle trains. HAHAHAHA! We'll see what Moskurg things of our magitech when we send in a trackless train into the middle of their lines, firing HC1-Es at them the whole time, then deploying a ton of troops and sentry turrets(yet to be designed)!

I'll vote for it if you change the intended HA1 armament to a HC1-E, because I don't think fitting a HA1 on a train is practical.

[Andres]

I'm not sure about explosive shells. I think freezing shells would be a better idea, mainly because of the naval applications. If an exploding shell misses a Sirroco, nothing happens to it. If a freezing shell misses, suddenly it's encased in ice. More margin for error. Also it goes with the frost theme we have.

This "frost theme" you speak of does not exist. The only such magic or technology we have that's frost-themed are our frost towers and they work on a very different scale to shells. Frankly, developing freezing shells means applying a kind of magic we've put little study into in a form it's never been applied in twice over (as both a destruction spell and as a shell).

Explosive shells, on the other hand, merely requires us to use Streamlined Fireball or Powerful Streamlined Fireball - spells we have great experience in and which have been used in our cannons for ages, if as a propellant rather than payload.

Future Design: AS-STV-1 "Relentless"

It's a good design. The mounting of HA1s will help with that artillery piece's lack of mobility.

Glory to Arstotzka.

[FallacyofUrist]

We have plenty of experience with temperature magic. See all the fireballs, flare, and whatnot. Inverting it shouldn't be much trouble, especially considering our frost tower knowledge. Though I'll admit we can do a fireball shell very easy, I think a frost shell will be of more use and still be comparably easy to create.

Do you think an HA1 can fit on a train? And fire without serious recoil problems? If yes, than okay. If not, let's go with an HC1-E instead.

We can probably transport the pieces of our HA1 on a train, though, and assemble it where we need to use it.

[Andres]

Do you think an HA1 can fit on a train? And fire without serious recoil problems? If yes, than okay. If not, let's go with an HC1-E instead.

A HA1 is only the size of three HC1-Es and HC1-Es are relatively small, so yes, I think we can fit one on a train and have it fire without serious recoil problems, so long as the train is stationary.

Glory to Arstotzka.