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[evictedSaint]

Awesome! Exactly what we set out out do. I'll post my thesis soon.

Evicted, two questions:
I'm assuming we can't equip all our Expensive HA1s with Expensive Blastshells?
And was there enough size reduction so we can equip the Expensive Blastshells in smaller cannons?

Oh, and we needed two A gems to power a SPSF-C before, right?

You can equip enough to matter, but some will fire regular shells due to supply issues.

Smaller HC1-E's can use Explosive or Long-range shells, but not both.  HAC-1's and R1's can't work properly with the bulky gems and will not be using them.

Yes, but now a single AA gem should be good for a single shot.

[helmacon]

Hmm...
Long bows may be more used now, but sooner or later they are going to up their armor to match ours, and then our guns can really shine. They are essentially a pre-emptive counter to their armor. I think the last report even talked about them punching through armor or something.

I think our thesis ought to be about calculating fire trajectories for our artillery. Perhaps introducing the ideas of bracketing or other artillery techniques. It would make it much more accurate, and thus more useful.

[RAM]

We already lost the chance to incorporate our thesis into our design...

Our heir is currently regarded as "overworked" and "used as a battery". A thesis should probably be focused on something a bit less stressful... Magic employed in farming?

[Kadzar]

Maybe aethergems or some other sort of magical power generator? It seems like he wants mages to not have to be used to power things so much.

[Chiefwaffles]

Behold!

The Connection between Sub-Reality and Reality and the Application of Sub-Reality Ambient Energy in Magegems

Magegems were a frequent topic during my learning at the Academy. In every new project from the senior Mathemagicians, one may often find an attempt at making Magegems truly useful. It was only with the introduction of the AS-R1 Hybrid Rifle that Magegems found a use, yet their expense and consumable nature makes Magegems an obstacle to the rifle. I [Bjorn] have experienced, in my year of training, the strain that powering Magitechnology puts on mages. I believe there’s a better way to accomplish our goals.

Another topic prevalent in the Academy is the theory of the “Aether” – a place below reality, officially deemed “Sub-Reality” in technical parchments. The Aether was first discovered in the year 911 with the introduction of the Magic Lance, a precursor to the now-ubiquitous Crystal. Little research was done into this Aether, and focus was instead spent on other pursuits.

In 921, research was performed into anti-magic charms ultimately resulting in the establishment of the field of Mathemagics, the cornerstone of Arstotzkan society. This research discovered a way to dissipate magical energy via sound, but additionally pointed to a mysterious connection between this humming and the recently-discovered Aether.

The year 918, three years before the introduction of Mathemagics, bore witness to a significant discovery regarding the then-temporary Crystal and the Aether. Specifically, Arstotzka’s researchers made significant headway in the connection between Crystal and the Aether. Crystal was discovered to, in the words of the report, “witness a slight vibration” before “desynchronizing from reality.”

The Aether isn’t some unknown place that Arstotzka never utilized. The Magic Lance in 911 summoned Crystal from the Aether. Conjuration magic exploits this poorly-understood link between Reality and the Aether to operate. With enough understanding, we can use this link for more than just conjuration.

With the knowledge of our past projects, we can discern the relationship between Reality and the Aether. The link is, after all, two-ways: We summon from the Aether and magic dissipates into the Aether. Summoned Crystal is already linked to the Aether, and as of 921, Anti-Magic Charms are partially linked to the Aether. This leads to the conclusion that as magic flows in this two-way link, there must be a way to reverse that flow.

My research has discerned the exact nature of the link. In my lab at the Academy, I had crates of nearly-expiring summoned crystal and anti-magic charms brought in. With our best measuring equipment, I studied how exactly this link manifests: how Crystal desynchronizes, and how anti-magic charms use humming to dissipate magic into the Aether; where does Magic go when it’s “used”? Our research in 918 already brought a light to how Crystal is linked, but my research delves further.

Ultimately, my research would reveal the presence of another aspect of the link. Study of the path of dissipating magic reveals a specific “channel” for magical energy to flow through. It was this channel that would sap the magic sustaining Crystal, causing summoned Crystal to experience the desynchronization from reality discovered in 918. When the link is present between a summoned object and the Aether, magic naturally flows back into the Aether. Magic dissipates naturally via this channel; our anti-magic charms exploit this.

The knowledge of this channel lead to another breakthrough in my research. Careful examination was performed of Mage test volunteers practicing various forms of magic. Mages too exploit the magical channel to the Aether – they’re a living conduit. I believe this conduit alone allows wizards to be able to practice magic. The presence of this conduit is what makes a wizard.

With the appropriate knowledge, I can replicate this link. Through further intense studying, a way to mimic human mages using Magegems was found. A kind of spell maintained via circuit scrolls wrapped around a Magegem can combine the knowledge I’ve discovered and use our existing experience with summoning to “summon” magical energy from the Aether. It takes energy to artificially maintain this link, but the energy pulled in is far greater.

With proper research, we can create a practical version of this – an “Aethergem” – that naturally charges itself or connected Magegems. The prototype I’ve constructed is impractical, large, and expensive. But I trust our Mathemagicians to use my research to create something allowing our mages to begin practicing true magic again, instead of being relegated to the position of a human battery. Finally, I and our mages can be at the front line in the fury of battle where we belong.

Glory to Arstotzka.
 
 
911 – Magic Lance
918 – Crystal Permanence
921 – Mathemagics (Design) (Revision)
 

2 - The Connection between Sub-Reality and Reality and the Application of Sub-Reality Ambient Energy in Magegems (Chiefwaffles' Thesis): FallacyofUrist, Chiefwaffles

[Kadzar]

3 - The Connection between Sub-Reality and Reality and the Application of Sub-Reality Ambient Energy in Magegems (Chiefwaffles' Thesis): FallacyofUrist, Chiefwaffles, Kadzar

[Andres]

The Wand of Fireballs: Revisited

In the early decades of the war between Arstotzka and Moskurg after magic had been produce, Arstotzka's wizards were powerful, dangerous assets. Their presence was the difference between victory and defeat and through them we won many great victories against the Moskurg filth. Then, with the introduction of anti-magic, their significance dwindled and Arstotzka subsequently followed a path of research that would leave our fighting capabilities unaffected by anti-magic. This path of research has made it so that our wizards are now little more than human batteries. Their job on the battlefield is relegated largely to recharging our war machines and guns. This is a waste of their potential.

Ultimately, the problem is not that our generals have been misusing our wizards. As much as it pains me to say, as it currently is, their usage as human batteries is legitimately the best thing they can do. The reason why they are not direct battlefield assets is not because they are being misused. There are two reasons - linked to each other - why they cannot be used to their full potential. The first reason is the reason why Arstotzka moved away from using wizards in a direct fashion in a first place - Moskurg's anti-magic. The second reason is that our wizards have no spells which are of use in the face of Moskurg's possession of anti-magic.

In order to fully utilise our wizards, we should look to the most venerable and well-researched of all our spells - the Fireball. We have refined it so much that the Wand of Fireballs from which we got the spell is obsolete. We have developed more variations of the spell than all of Moskurg's spell variations combined. We know the Fireball inside and out. With the Fireball, our wizards will not only once more reach the height of their glory, but exceed it. We will do this by going back to where it all began: The Wand of Fireballs.

Over the past year I have researched the most researched and studied spell in history for a way to surpass its limitations and turn it into something more glorious than it already is. I looked to find ways to expand its capabilities and not only that, but also make it useful despite Moskurg's anti-magic. To that end, I have arrived where I am now, having studied the Fireball spell and all its variants (those obsolete in addition those in use) as well as the original Wand of Fireballs itself, with a new, prototype Wand of Fireballs.

The first thing I did was attempt to expand its capabilities. Our current line of Fireballs is limited by the constraints of the spells themselves. The difference between an apprentice's Powerful Streamlined Fireball and a full-fledged wizard's Powerful Streamlined Fireball is that the latter's is cast faster, with no difference in power in the fireballs despite the difference in power between the mages. My research has gone into unlocking the Fireball's potential so that the limiting factor would always be the casting wizard, not the spell itself. The wand I have made has inefficiencies. The PSF a certain full-fledged wizard casts is only a little more powerful than my own, despite him outclassing me by a significant margin. Still, the proof of concept is there.

Having achieved success and proven the concept, I moved on to the next task: immunity to anti-magic. This took an inordinate amount of time to achieve due to less research being done in this area. Knowledge of Fireball helped a little in working through this problem, but meant that only Fireball and Fireball variants could be immune, but success was found. The effect is not total and it faces reliability issues, flickering on and off at times, but when active the effect of anti-magic is noticeably reduced and the spell can be cast, albeit with a greater charge time and reduced effect.

With more funding and dedicated effort to improving upon my prototype, a more reliable, more effective version of the wand can be produced. Fully developed, the wand will greatly enhance our wizards' capacity for destruction while being unaffected by Moskurg's anti-magic. With our great experience with the Fireball, we can even perhaps do more than that, allowing for concerted efforts to create more powerful Fireballs, increasing the range of the Fireballs, or making them follow the enemy. All that is known for sure is this: Arstotzka will win glory, Moskurg shall burn.

Glory to Arstotzka.

3 - The Connection between Sub-Reality and Reality and the Application of Sub-Reality Ambient Energy in Magegems (Chiefwaffles' Thesis): FallacyofUrist, Chiefwaffles, Kadzar
1 - The Wand of Fireballs: Revisted: Andres

Glory to Arstotzka.

[Chiefwaffles]

While we wait for (Moskurg probably) the next update, I shall post designs!
(Near-)Future Design: AS-R2 Hybrid Rifle

The AS-R2 is the actual rifle. The actual weapon of the future. Really, the AS-R1 is a prototype. Meant to test the effectiveness of a handheld infantry weapon.

The first improvement of the AS-R2 is simple. Improved accuracy. The AS-R1 possesses remarkable range, but its accuracy hurts this greatly. The rifle actually has a range of Extreme range, but at as little as Medium ranges, it accuracy begins to fall off. By expanding the barrel and streamlining the bullet to reduce disruptive drag, we have increased the accuracy to the point where hopefully the AS-R2 should remain accurate to Extreme range.

(Change this if we do Crystal Optics beforehand)
Next is also simple - a scope. We tweak the structure of Crystal Glass by just a bit to have it create an effect magnifying distant targets. The scope is made out of this magnifying Crystal Glass in a cylinder-resembling shape and placed on top of the AS-R2. We carefully place a crosshair onto the crystal glass scope to indicate where the bullet should hit if one was looking into the scope while firing.
The scope is designed to be able to be detached and reattached as needed, as to not bother the forces fighting close-up with the AS-R2.


Finally, is a groundbreaking improvement: the ability to load multiple bullets at a time.
The AS-R2 uses our knowledge of mechanics learned over decades of use with our many steam engine and steam engine-using designs, the AS-HAC-2, breech-loading, and much much more in order to allow for this innovative feature.

A magazine is placed inside the AS-R2 in order to store 4 bullets at a time. After a bullet is shot out, we use our bolt-action breech-loader to have a lever arm be flipped by the user, forcing a new bullet from the magazine into the barrel to be then fired out when ready.
Ammunition is loaded via a clip. Four bullets are bundled together via being clipped onto a thin and small crystal bar. Clips are stored on the person and are small+light. They can be very easily and quickly loaded into the magazine from a slot in the top of the gun. The bullets are pushed downwards into the magazine while the crystal bar stays outside, and is then discarded.
Clips are stored in a stylish crystal ammunition "pouch" that will now come standard in Combat Armor. Hopefully.

The Magegem clip has been modified to allow for 2 AA Magegems, and we have optimized both the barrel to maximize pressure and the Blastball's energy usage to allow for 1 AA Magegem to support two SPSF-Cs. We use both our extensive Fireball experience here, and use a slightly less powerful Blastball thanks to the barrel optimizations allowing for increased muzzle velocity from the same pressure.
We considered combining the Magegem and bullet clips, but doing so would make reusing Magegem clips after recharging harder.

The AS-R2's operation is simple. A soldier clips in the Magegem and bullet clips. They can then fire once, quickly pull the lever in roughly two seconds, then fire again. They can repeat this to fire four bullets per clip. They then take out the Magegem clip to store it on their person for later recharge then insert new clips.
The new scope combined with greater accuracy will allow for sniping of the likes we've never seen before. At Extreme range, their commanders will be nearly instantly hit by a sniper using the scope on their AS-R2. Our advances can be shielded from ballistae by having AS-R2 users snipe the ballistae operators. Lightning (and tornadoes) can be easily stopped by sniping the mages. The extremely improved rate of fire will make our longbows effectively obsolete wherever they can be replaced. The AS-R2 will be an extremely versatile weapon of many users, from standard ranged to close combat to sniping to much more.

TL;DR: A bolt action clip-fed rifle equipped with a scope and greater accuracy compared to the AS-R1. Useful for replacing the longbow (disregarding Expense) due to its greater range, accuracy, and rate of fire. Useful for sniping because of its scope and greater accuracy. Useful for close combat (disregarding anti-magic for now) because of its RoF. And other things I haven't thought of.
Accuracy - Increase the accuracy via a longer barrel and more aerodynamic bullet, reducing disrupting drag. The AS-R1 has a max range of Extreme and an effective range of Long because its accuracy begins dropping off at medium range. We make it accurate up to Extreme.
Scope - Use Crystal Glass + modifications (tons of Crystal experience + crystalworks!) to make a scope for the AS-R2. Can also spot for artillery if we don't have that yet. Can be detached.
Clip-loading/Bolt-action - We already essentially have bolt action for breech loading. We just add an internal magazine loaded via clips of 4 bullets. A bullet is pushed into the breech every time the bolt is opened by the user. Drastically[/I] increasing rate of fire.
2x Magegem Clip/Improved SPSF-C Effiency - We make a single clip holding two wired-together AA Magegems. By decreasing the power needed for the same muzzle velocity through optimizing the barrel and increasing the efficiency of the SPSF-C in general via our experience with fireballs, we make each AA Magegem power 2 firings. So one Magegem "clip" should power 4 bullets being fired out, matching our 4-bullet clip.


Our AS-R1 isn't that useful yet, but it still has immense amounts of potential. The AS-R2 realizes that potential and makes it actually useful. I definitely think we should do this soon.
Alternatively, I'm thinking maybe a tank or an entirely blastball-rocket-powered aircraft that uses blastballs for UFO-like maneuverability. Something like that.

[helmacon]

Sooooo, I read back over some of my replies yesterday, and I just wanted to say sorry.
I was playing X-Com 2 with Long war, and I tend to get a bit, uh... emotional when I play x-com. Sorry for the salt everybody.

[VoidSlayer]

What if we just summon wasps directly inside their armor.

[helmacon]

What if we just summon wasps directly inside their armor.

What if we just summon wasps directly inside of them?

[VoidSlayer]

What if we just summon wasps directly inside their armor.

What if we just summon wasps directly inside of them?

I mean, this is how one uses teleportation as a weapon.  You just teleport to you a sliver of organic material, that being part of the brain, causing death.  If we summon small bits of something directly into the brains of enemies, even if it was a shorter range mage only spell it would be devastating.

[RAM]

Mathemagics first came into being from crystals. I imagine that we can do a LOT with the basic elements of the crystal spells. I am inclined to think that we could summon somethign with a much higher density than anything related to our current crystals. I wouldn't preclude that it could be a form of crystal, but crystals have a massive tendency to be low-density. I am inclined(And I promise I had this idea last night, before C.W.'s heavy crystals, I am not just making a copy proposal for antagonism, not that there is anything wrong with making proposals inspired by other proposals, just please avoid making them objectively worse versions of the same thing and then take all the votes...) to propose weightite, and extremely dense and hopefully rigid material that is produced from its own version of the crystalworks. I would expect it to be at least twice as heavy as lead. The main point of this would be to use as ballast. We could build ballast beams for ships and cannon-platform foundations to secure our stuff to such that it wouldn't fly off during inclement weather. A tornado would have trouble lifting a lead beam, something with two or three times the density ought to be able to act as ballast enough to chain whatever we want to it and just wait for the nades to pass. It'd also work great for ammunition but we would probably spend two revisions going from steel munitions to weightite core-crystals body, then going all the way to discarded sabot ammunition using some sort of distance-triggered conjuration effect. I very much doubt that we would want to shoot anything much heavier than lead without reducing the launch-heft somehow.

As to summoning wasps inside of things? I have been trying to set up long-range, coordinate-based summoning rituals for ages now. If you want I could dig up the wasp ritual. I packed in a lot of self-amusing extras that may not be to everyone's tast. Or maybe I can find the metaconjuration thing for conjuring fireballs spontaneously at long range?

[Andres]

Future Design: AS-R2 Hybrid Rifle

Don't call it a "Hybrid Rifle". Just call it an R2. The R stands for Rifle. The simplicity makes it a much more aesthetically pleasing name. Putting Hybrid in the name just because it uses more than a single kind of technology would be pointless, otherwise we'd have to call our axes "hybrid axes" for being part stick and part chopping edge. Same goes for the cannons. Just call them cannons and maybe what kind of cannons they are, such as heavy or medium or light.

A magazine is placed inside the AS-R2 in order to store 4 bullets at a time. After a bullet is shot out, we use our bolt-action breech-loader to have a lever arm be flipped by the user, forcing a new bullet from the magazine into the barrel to be then fired out when ready.
Ammunition is loaded via a clip. Four bullets are bundled together via being clipped onto a thin and small crystal bar. Clips are stored on the person and are small+light. They can be very easily and quickly loaded into the magazine from a slot in the top of the gun. The bullets are pushed downwards into the magazine while the crystal bar stays outside, and is then discarded.
Clips are stored in a stylish crystal ammunition "pouch" that will now come standard in Combat Armor. Hopefully.

The Magegem clip has been modified to allow for 2 AA Magegems, and we have optimized both the barrel to maximize pressure and the Blastball's energy usage to allow for 1 AA Magegem to support two SPSF-Cs. We use both our extensive Fireball experience here, and use a slightly less powerful Blastball thanks to the barrel optimizations allowing for increased muzzle velocity from the same pressure.
We considered combining the Magegem and bullet clips, but doing so would make reusing Magegem clips after recharging harder.

The AS-R2's operation is simple. A soldier clips in the Magegem and bullet clips. They can then fire once, quickly pull the lever in roughly two seconds, then fire again. They can repeat this to fire four bullets per clip. They then take out the Magegem clip to store it on their person for later recharge then insert new clips.
The new scope combined with greater accuracy will allow for sniping of the likes we've never seen before. At Extreme range, their commanders will be nearly instantly hit by a sniper using the scope on their AS-R2. Our advances can be shielded from ballistae by having AS-R2 users snipe the ballistae operators. Lightning (and tornadoes) can be easily stopped by sniping the mages. The extremely improved rate of fire will make our longbows effectively obsolete wherever they can be replaced. The AS-R2 will be an extremely versatile weapon of many users, from standard ranged to close combat to sniping to much more.

Clip-loading/Bolt-action - We already essentially have bolt action for breech loading. We just add an internal magazine loaded via clips of 4 bullets. A bullet is pushed into the breech every time the bolt is opened by the user. Drastically[/I] increasing rate of fire.
2x Magegem Clip/Improved SPSF-C Effiency - We make a single clip holding two wired-together AA Magegems. By decreasing the power needed for the same muzzle velocity through optimizing the barrel and increasing the efficiency of the SPSF-C in general via our experience with fireballs, we make each AA Magegem power 2 firings. So one Magegem "clip" should power 4 bullets being fired out, matching our 4-bullet clip.

Bolt-action is fine. The rest, less so.

Instead, make it a magazine. Magazines are generally more useful than clips, but that's not all. In the magazine are bullets. Simple. The bottom of the magazines will contain AA magegems.  Connecting those magegems are circuits. The circuits go up to the top of the magazine, not connected to anything. When the magazine is loaded into the gun, the circuits connect with the gun. When the trigger is pulled, the gun - using the connection attained via the circuits - takes energy from the magegems to fire a bullet. When there are no more bullets, remove the magazine and store it. Take note of how in the firing of the gun, the soldier has to put in and take out only a single magazine, compared to putting in and taking out two clips (one with bullets, the other with magegems). This reduces design complexity and makes reloading faster.

The revision of the SPSF-C is unnecessary and will probably result in failure. ((GM said no to this kind of revision.))

Mathemagics first came into being from crystals. I imagine that we can do a LOT with the basic elements of the crystal spells. I am inclined to think that we could summon somethign with a much higher density than anything related to our current crystals. I wouldn't preclude that it could be a form of crystal, but crystals have a massive tendency to be low-density. I am inclined(And I promise I had this idea last night, before C.W.'s heavy crystals, I am not just making a copy proposal for antagonism, not that there is anything wrong with making proposals inspired by other proposals, just please avoid making them objectively worse versions of the same thing and then take all the votes...) to propose weightite, and extremely dense and hopefully rigid material that is produced from its own version of the crystalworks. I would expect it to be at least twice as heavy as lead. The main point of this would be to use as ballast. We could build ballast beams for ships and cannon-platform foundations to secure our stuff to such that it wouldn't fly off during inclement weather. A tornado would have trouble lifting a lead beam, something with two or three times the density ought to be able to act as ballast enough to chain whatever we want to it and just wait for the nades to pass. It'd also work great for ammunition but we would probably spend two revisions going from steel munitions to weightite core-crystals body, then going all the way to discarded sabot ammunition using some sort of distance-triggered conjuration effect. I very much doubt that we would want to shoot anything much heavier than lead without reducing the launch-heft somehow.

As to summoning wasps inside of things? I have been trying to set up long-range, coordinate-based summoning rituals for ages now. If you want I could dig up the wasp ritual. I packed in a lot of self-amusing extras that may not be to everyone's tast. Or maybe I can find the metaconjuration thing for conjuring fireballs spontaneously at long range?

Revising crystal for the purpose of making a heavy material is a waste of a revision. The revision can instead be going into improving our Fireballs to blow up the tornadoes, not only dealing with that specific threat, but also giving us bigger Fireballs.

Summoning is a field we don't have much experience in and we have several goals we'd like to complete first, like removing our designs' reliance on wizards to power them and making it so our designs are not too expensive, buggy, or both. (Our AM shells are still VE, for example.)

Glory to Arstotzka.

[andrea]

have you thought about a fire selector?
as in, a dial or  control that allow us to change the power of the blastball used.
when sniping at long range they would use maximum setting, but at lower range they may want to reduce magic enery consumption, to get more shots while they don't need extreme muzzle velocity.

Clearly, doesn't work well with the integrated magazine.