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[RAM]

Is there any reason to believe that small arms will be useful? Cannons can be weighed down enough to survive a tornado, somewhat, especially if they regenerate. Infantry lack the range, mobility, power, and survival to do anything about a high-altitude airship with tornadoes. We could beuilf a high-speed vehicle to close range and evade tornadoes. We could build something heavy and slow and hope that the airships just sit still and wait to get into range. We could attack the underlying principals of their flight and let gravity exterminate entire armies. We could try to fight them in the air where they have all the advantages, but at least we could, theoretically reach them.
...
We could even try digging tunnels and hiding underground in the hopes that they don't have enough fire to expend all the oxygen at the entrances, not that oxygen depletion can be relied upon to exist...

But a handgun?

[andrea]

Their army is not entirely on airships, and their tornadoes are not so deadly.
Infantry is not obsolete yet. And if it becomes obsolete, I guess we will not design the rifle.

[Andres]

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.

Too fiddly in practice and ultimately not worth the increased reload speed.

Is there any reason to believe that small arms will be useful? Cannons can be weighed down enough to survive a tornado, somewhat, especially if they regenerate. Infantry lack the range, mobility, power, and survival to do anything about a high-altitude airship with tornadoes. We could beuilf a high-speed vehicle to close range and evade tornadoes. We could build something heavy and slow and hope that the airships just sit still and wait to get into range. We could attack the underlying principals of their flight and let gravity exterminate entire armies. We could try to fight them in the air where they have all the advantages, but at least we could, theoretically reach them.
...
We could even try digging tunnels and hiding underground in the hopes that they don't have enough fire to expend all the oxygen at the entrances, not that oxygen depletion can be relied upon to exist...

But a handgun?

Handguns in sufficient numbers would murder their carpets. Snipers let us kill their officers and mages. There are not tornadoes everywhere, always, and infantry still plays a role in combat. Buffing our infantry makes us win fights more easily.

Also, I really wish everyone would stop talking about avoiding or withstanding their tornadoes. They are not some ultimately unstoppable weapon that we should veer away from. Any sufficiently powerful explosion would destroy them. Just deploy the explosion thing at tornadoes when they appear and that's it. This apparent policy of treating them like they're going to be a permanent part of warfare is useless and wrong.

Glory to Arstotzka.

[andrea]

An explosion won't make tornadoes go away. it may or may not disrupt them if strong enough and cause them to reform in the same place or somewhere nearby, but there is also a good chance of it making the tornado worse by adding energy to it. Especially if you add hot air at the bottom.
There is some research on the matter, but overall it is not so optimistic regarding how easy it is to destroy a tornado .

That said, I agree on not making the tornadoes a tragedy before it happens. Right now they are nice, but not a super murder weapon that kills our armies.

[RAM]

Order: Shoot the willy-willies.(S.W.W.)
Apprentices should attempt to employ B.B.s against whirlwinds.

0 S.W.W.:
0 Don't S.W.W.:

Let the vote-wars commence.

* RAM gets popcorn.

[Chiefwaffles]

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.

1.) The AS-R1 is called "Hybrid Rifle". I'm just keeping the name.
2.) They have magic powering the rifle's mundane way of shooting projectiles. Hybrid.

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.))

1.) I'll think about the magazine part. I still don't really like it though.
2.) When did he say that regarding the SPSF-C? We have extreme experience in this kind of thing, and it's just a very small revision within the scope of the design directly intended to improve an aspect of the design.

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.

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.

I still like my idea of weighted crystal shells. It's a minor crystal tweak (trivial) + material swap (trivial). Reduces the expense of our shells while potentially even making all of them a bit better. Also kind of helps with our supply lines, since mages could summon shells. (It wouldn't be that effective, but summoned shells > no shells and we'd still be relying on actual machined shells.)


EDIT: In response to RAM's earlier quote.

Is there any reason to believe that small arms will be useful? Cannons can be weighed down enough to survive a tornado, somewhat, especially if they regenerate. Infantry lack the range, mobility, power, and survival to do anything about a high-altitude airship with tornadoes. We could beuilf a high-speed vehicle to close range and evade tornadoes. We could build something heavy and slow and hope that the airships just sit still and wait to get into range. We could attack the underlying principals of their flight and let gravity exterminate entire armies. We could try to fight them in the air where they have all the advantages, but at least we could, theoretically reach them.
...
We could even try digging tunnels and hiding underground in the hopes that they don't have enough fire to expend all the oxygen at the entrances, not that oxygen depletion can be relied upon to exist...

But a handgun?

Infantry will never be obsolete.
It hasn't been much of a factor recently due to the fact that Moskurg only had an extremely tiny advantage plus how much better our artillery is. If Moskurg actually had a real advantage then we would be feeling it. Combat Armor gives us enough of an advantage combined with crystal weaponry that it's actually playing a factor again.

And regarding things like tornadoes, that's a counterable thing. If they do somehow obsolete an entire section of combat with tornadoes, we can just out-counter them. Sure, they can counter our counter, but if we want infantry combat to be useful again we can push through it.

And even with the state of tornadoes now, I want to make a move towards mechanized infantry. See that vehicle I last posted - in addition to an AS-HAC-1 and HC1-E, it can hold 10 people total. Contrary to what one may expect, every single component in that vehicle is Expensive or below, so making an Expensive APC isn't particularly difficult. With APCs, we can make them too heavy to be picked up by Moskurg's weak tornadoes and have enough armor to shrug off debris impacts (which I believe are the main killer) from the tornadoes. Infantry can ride in them up until they hit Moskurg infantry, where tornadoes can't be used.

[RAM]

But a minor tweak to crystals will have a minor effect. It will be extremely lucky if it is as heavy as steel. It may well have an advantage of being extremely difficult to deform, but you get some of that from high density too. I would rather go for a dramatic attempt at something absurdly heavy that can be used with other materials to make shells with light casings and heavy penetrators, and can also be used to make absurdly heavy shells if we can find a way to propel them, and also have a very low-volume high-focus ballast for ships and foundations along with being able to ignore what it is hit with through brute mass.

Tweaking crystal with a good roll will still be something relatively light. Making a new, ultra-dense material will get something that is definitely heavy, and may have extremely good additional properties to boot. Crystals are good because of their low weight, we should focus on that with crystals and try something new for our extreme resilience material rather than trying to stretch crystals to cover all instances. Crystals have done their part, now we need something better, and we can still integrate the lessons that we have learned on materials from crystals, it is not starting from scratch, just drawing up an original design using our existing experience rather than trying to convert an old design into something new. It is like trying to convert an A.P.C. into a tank. You can use your armoured vehicle experience to build a new tank, or you can try to build a tank out of something that has the wrong weight-distribution, inappropriate armouring, no allowances for a large turret and no support for proper seating arrangements along with different agility demands, stability considerations... ... ... You end up with a bad outcome if you try to get one design to do everything.

[Andres]

1.) The AS-R1 is called "Hybrid Rifle". I'm just keeping the name.
2.) They have magic powering the rifle's mundane way of shooting projectiles. Hybrid.

1. The R1 shouldn't have had "Hybrid Rifle" added to its name. The R2 shouldn't have it just because the R1 had it and in fact it should be excluded.
2. Magic is how we propel all our guns. None of our guns use non-magic propellant. Please stop sticking "hybrid" on anything that does not purely use magic. It's really annoying to see it included in the names of all our guns and I really hate the idea of looking at our list in the future and seeing "hybrid tank, hybrid rifle, hybrid helicopter, hybrid cannon, etc." all because they happen to use fireballs to power them. Please, just drop the name and save it for when it would be actually meaningful. Just as an example, using "hybrid" in the name of a gun that is also a sword would be a meaningful use of the term.

1.) I'll think about the magazine part. I still don't really like it though.
2.) When did he say that regarding the SPSF-C? We have extreme experience in this kind of thing, and it's just a very small revision within the scope of the design directly intended to improve an aspect of the design.

1. What's not to like about it? It simplifies the reloading process. That meaning less moving parts - meaning greater reliability and higher chance of design success - and increased reload speed. We could incorporate magazines into things besides bolt-action rifles, such as pistols, assault rifles, and submachine guns. It's logistically easier, because instead of having to make, transport, and keep track of two separate types of clips, you just have one kind of magazine.

By the way, I forgot to mention last time, but I hope you don't mean to make our combat armour have pockets. It would make more sense to give our soldiers stuff to wear over the armour - like bandoleers and vests - instead.

2. Read here for my question and this was his response:

1)  No.

I still like my idea of weighted crystal shells. It's a minor crystal tweak (trivial) + material swap (trivial). Reduces the expense of our shells while potentially even making all of them a bit better. Also kind of helps with our supply lines, since mages could summon shells. (It wouldn't be that effective, but summoned shells > no shells and we'd still be relying on actual machined shells.)

Our blastshells are bottlenecked by the cost of magegems. If all our magegems were cheap, our blastshells would be cheap. Making blastshells out of crystal would still have them be Expensive because a vital component in their design - magegems - are Expensive.

Another thing to consider is that summoned crystal disappears in the presence of anti-magic. Only machined crystal is immune to it. The idea of conjuring crystals is a good one, but the Conjuration magic needed to make it work wouldn't be summoning, it would be teleportation. They'd need to get already-made machined crystal ammo rather than make it themselves.

All that said, I support the idea of a kind of heavier crystal, but only if it's heavy as a compromise to increase its durability. Even then, we currently have little need for crystal of a more durable quality and there are more pressing things which require a Revision.

Glory to Arstotzka.

[Chiefwaffles]

1. The R1 shouldn't have had "Hybrid Rifle" added to its name. The R2 shouldn't have it just because the R1 had it and in fact it should be excluded.
2. Magic is how we propel all our guns. None of our guns use non-magic propellant. Please stop sticking "hybrid" on anything that does not purely use magic. It's really annoying to see it included in the names of all our guns and I really hate the idea of looking at our list in the future and seeing "hybrid tank, hybrid rifle, hybrid helicopter, hybrid cannon, etc." all because they happen to use fireballs to power them. Please, just drop the name and save it for when it would be actually meaningful. Just as an example, using "hybrid" in the name of a gun that is also a sword would be a meaningful use of the term.

1. Well in my opinion it should have.
2. Yes, and our guns are hybrid because they use magic propellant and mundane projectiles/whatever. And as for "hybrid tank, hybrid helicopter, etc.": In the real world, we (mostly) don't name our vehicles after their engines. While the steam engine may be hybrid (magic -> mechanical energy), the vehicle isn't. It just runs off of a hybrid engine. And yes, the steam engine probably would have been called hybrid if I suggested it.

It's not a big deal. I just like having names that are more than one word. "AS-R2 Rifle" doesn't have the same ring to it.

1. What's not to like about it? It simplifies the reloading process. That meaning less moving parts - meaning greater reliability and higher chance of design success - and increased reload speed. We could incorporate magazines into things besides bolt-action rifles, such as pistols, assault rifles, and sub-machine guns. It's logistically easier, because instead of having to make, transport, and keep track of two separate types of clips, you just have one kind of magazine.

By the way, I forgot to mention last time, but I hope you don't mean to make our combat armour have pockets. It would make more sense to give our soldiers stuff to wear over the armour - like bandoleers and jackets - instead.

2. Read here for my question and this was his response:

1)  No.

1.) It's still more complicated involving the process of recharging Magegems. While it is possible to make a single magazine/clip containing both Magegems and bullets, remember that Magegems are reusable while bullets are not. We can make the Magegems detachable/removable/whatever, but in the end it's still adding complexity and still rigid if we ever upgrade our magegems/improve efficiency.

2.) Evicted wasn't responding to a question about an included revision to it. He was answering to this:

With the blastshell, there are two in-design revisions that could've been done, one of which we tried to go for. The first in-design revision could've been making magegems more powerful so we could outfit smaller shells with the designs or make the HA1 ones cheaper. (We did not try to go for this one.) The second in-design revision that could've been making the PSF-C exert a constant force rather than a brief force. (We did in fact try to go for this one.)

If adding an explosive payload would've made the shell too expensive, couldn't the excess success of the 6+1 have gone to achieving one of these two revisions? (The R1 got a 2 to effectiveness but we still got the Fireball revision.) If not, which stats and in what circumstances allow for these in-design revisions to be completed or to spontaneously happen? (A low complexity/ambition design might be it, but to my understanding high complexity/ambition designs just result in lower bonuses/higher DCs.)

First, Evicted also said that the "6+1" is the same as a "6". Your revisions here are also way more ambitious than the "revision" I want to include in mine.
I want to make the SPSF-C slightly more efficient and less powerful (made up by optimizations in the barrel) to allow for 1 Magegem = 2 Charges instead of 1 Magegem = 1 Charge. You wanted for a shell design to improve our magegems or to make a new variant of Blastball that the shell did not need.

And the pouch thing is mostly fluff. It's an extremely tiny """buff""" to Combat Armor if it gets through, and it's minor enough to not increase the complexity of the revision + to just not be included if we get bad rolls.

Our blastshells are bottlenecked by the cost of magegems. If all our magegems were cheap, our blastshells would be cheap. Making blastshells out of crystal would still have them be Expensive because a vital component in their design - magegems - are Expensive.

We already talked about this in the Discord, and evicted said this (and you even responded to it):

Honestly, the expense system is a load of crap.  A wooden shield runs the risk of being a NE and a top-of-the-line ship has the chance to be Cheap.
It'd be easier to make judgement calls, but now we wind up with things using Expensive components that somehow end up cheap.
You can just "make rifles cheaper", yeah.  They'll get cheaper despite the gems.

And this obviously doesn't just apply to rifles.

Another thing to consider is that summoned crystal disappears in the presence of anti-magic. Only machined crystal is immune to it. The idea of conjuring crystals is a good one, but the Conjuration magic needed to make it work wouldn't be summoning, it would be teleportation. They'd need to get already-made machined crystal ammo rather than make it themselves.

All that said, I support the idea of a kind of heavier crystal, but only if it's heavy as a compromise to increase its durability. Even then, we currently have little need for crystal of a more durable quality and there are more pressing things which require a Revision.

Glory to Arstotzka.

Well, the conjuration point is true, but it's not the focus of the design. Our mages can already very easily make crystals of any shape. A part of the design is that mages would be able to conjure these crystal shells without any notable amount of effort from us regarding this specifically.
The shells are vulnerable to anti-magic, yes, (and I touched upon this in the Weighted Crystal Shell revision), but that's not the point. Crappy anti-magic vulnerable shells >>>> No shells.

And the point of the revision is not weighted crystal. I don't really care about that. The entire point of the weighted crystal is so we can make our shells crystal without sacrificing anything. Considering we made Crystal Glass as easily as we did with literally zero drawbacks, doing something as minor as making crystal a bit heavier as the main focus of a revision should be easy to do without purposely sacrificing anything.

And we'll see about the revision. The point of Weighted Crystal Shells is to decrease the expense level of all our special shells. We'd get Cheap Range/Explosive ammunition, Expensive Range+Explosive ammunition, and Expensive Equalizers.

[Andres]

It's not a big deal. I just like having names that are more than one word. "AS-R2 Rifle" doesn't have the same ring to it.

It shouldn't be called an "AS-R2 Rifle", it should just be called an "AS-R2" and that actually has a pretty good ring to it. ((The AK-47 is not called an "AK-47 Assault Rifle" or anything like that, it's just called an AK-47 and it's better for that.))

I am willing to trade you a favour to drop "Hybrid" from your designs and revisions unless it's in an actually meaningful way, i.e. in a manner similar to how I described.

1.) It's still more complicated involving the process of recharging Magegems. While it is possible to make a single magazine/clip containing both Magegems and bullets, remember that Magegems are reusable while bullets are not. We can make the Magegems detachable/removable/whatever, but in the end it's still adding complexity and still rigid if we ever upgrade our magegems/improve efficiency.

I don't see how it would make it any more complicated to recharge. Instead of taking out the magegem clip from the gun to recharge the magegems, you take out the magazine from the gun to recharge the magegems in it. That magegems are reusable and bullets aren't doesn't really matter. Our men wouldn't be forced to throw away their magazine just because they once held bullets or anything.

Our mages can already very easily make crystals of any shape.

This, to my knowledge, is not true. As I understand it, they can only make lances, axes, and caltrops.

Future Revision: Crystal Weight/Durability Selection

This is a revision of our crystalworks. Since we invented transparent crystal, our crystalworks has made different kinds of crystal. Transparent crystal was the first crystal variant, but the crystal now used to make our magegems is another example. Now, we give our crystalworks a new capability - allowing it to change the weight of our crystal to alter its durability and vice-versa.

Let's say, for example, that 10 cm of our crystal weighs 10 kg and has 10 units of durability. Currently, our crystalworks can only make that kind of crystal. With this revision, our crystalworks can now make that crystal weigh less or more for less/more durability. It could, for example make crystal where 10 cm weighs 5 kg and thus has only 5 units of durability, or it can make that crystal where 10 cm weighs 20 km and has 20 units of durability. It's not limited to those types, being capable of making 10/3/3 crystal, 10/7/7 crystal, 10/15/15 crystal, and more.

Glory to Arstotzka.

[Chiefwaffles]

It shouldn't be called an "AS-R2 Rifle", it should just be called an "AS-R2" and that actually has a pretty good ring to it. ((The AK-47 is not called an "AK-47 Assault Rifle" or anything like that, it's just called an AK-47 and it's better for that.))

I am willing to trade you a favour to drop "Hybrid" from your designs and revisions unless it's in an actually meaningful way, i.e. in a manner similar to how I described.

Sure. But I'm still finding a word to replace Hybrid.

This, to my knowledge, is not true. As I understand it, they can only make lances, axes, and caltrops.

Okay, let me change that.
Our wizards can very easily summon crystal objects once we make the shape. Which is very easy to do, but we still have to do it. The shape's covered by the material swap of the Weighted Crystal Shell revision.

Future Revision: Crystal Weight/Durability Selection

This is a revision of our crystalworks. Since we invented transparent crystal, our crystalworks has made different kinds of crystal. Transparent crystal was the first crystal variant, but the crystal now used to make our magegems is another example. Now, we give our crystalworks a new capability - allowing it to change the weight of our crystal to alter its durability and vice-versa.

Let's say, for example, that 10 cm of our crystal weighs 10 kg and has 10 units of durability. Currently, our crystalworks can only make that kind of crystal. With this revision, our crystalworks can now make that crystal weigh less or more for less/more durability. It could, for example make crystal where 10 cm weighs 5 kg and thus has only 5 units of durability, or it can make that crystal where 10 cm weighs 20 km and has 20 units of durability. It's not limited to those types, being capable of making 10/3/3 crystal, 10/7/7 crystal, 10/15/15 crystal, and more.

Seems... unnecessary.
Precedent (Combat Armor) has shown we can very easily modify crystal as needed. A revision like this wastes an action doing nothing when we can already modify the nature of crystal easily.

[Andres]

Sure. But I'm still finding a word to replace Hybrid.

That defeats the purpose of my request. I'm not going to give you any favour if you do something like swap the name to something equivalent like "Combination" or something.

Seems... unnecessary.
Precedent (Combat Armor) has shown we can very easily modify crystal as needed. A revision like this wastes an action doing nothing when we can already modify the nature of crystal easily.

We can only modify the crystal to a single set as is. For example, if we were revising our plate armour to use crystal and to use a heavier, more durable version of crystal, our crystalworks would from them on be able to produce that new heavier, more durable crystal but that's it for new types of crystal. Similarly, if we want to revise something to use crystal instead of metal and we want the crystal to be lighter, we would get a new kind of lighter crystal, but that's the only new kind of crystal we get.

This revision obsoletes that kind of revision, giving us crystal of any weight or durability we want. It means anything which uses crystal would be improved by using whatever type of crystal would be optimal for them. This is best for guns and engines as they could user lighter or heavier crystal for their parts, resulting in a design with optimal weight/durability no matter what.

It also means we need to do less when we make designs and means we need to revise less. Right now, if we design a tank and we want to make its crystal armour more durable than our standard crystal, doing that crystal would increase design complexity. With the crystalworks revision, we'd waste no time on developing a new type of crystal, we'd just find the optimal weight/protection for its crystal armour and apply it. This crystalworks revision also means that designing/revising faster/more durable tanks wouldn't be required - we'd just make the same kind of tank but with lighter/heavier crystal for its armour.

Glory to Arstotzka.

[Chiefwaffles]

That defeats the purpose of my request. I'm not going to give you any favour if you do something like swap the name to something equivalent like "Combination" or something.

Not combination. "AS-R2 Infantry Rifle" or "AS-R2 Precision Rifle" or "AS-R2 Self-loading Rifle". Something like that. I want a more formal name to use in situations, even if "AS-R2" is used the majority of the time.

We can only modify the crystal to a single set as is. For example, if we were revising our plate armour to use crystal and to use a heavier, more durable version of crystal, our crystalworks would from them on be able to produce that new heavier, more durable crystal but that's it for new types of crystal. Similarly, if we want to revise something to use crystal instead of metal and we want the crystal to be lighter, we would get a new kind of lighter crystal, but that's the only new kind of crystal we get.

This revision obsoletes that kind of revision, giving us crystal of any weight or durability we want. It means anything which uses crystal would be improved by using whatever type of crystal would be optimal for them. This is best for guns and engines as they could user lighter or heavier crystal for their parts, resulting in a design with optimal weight/durability no matter what.

It also means we need to do less when we make designs and means we need to revise less. Right now, if we design a tank and we want to make its crystal armour more durable than our standard crystal, doing that crystal would increase design complexity. With the crystalworks revision, we'd waste no time on developing a new type of crystal, we'd just find the optimal weight/protection for its crystal armour and apply it. This crystalworks revision also means that designing/revising faster/more durable tanks wouldn't be required - we'd just make the same kind of tank but with lighter/heavier crystal for its armour.

If you make immediate benefits clear and explicit, then maybe. I'm sure Evicted isn't a particularly big fan of getting nebulous improvements and being expected to apply benefits wherever it seems to apply.

[RAM]

Let's say, for example, that 10 cm of our crystal weighs 10 kg and has 10 units of durability. Currently, our crystalworks can only make that kind of crystal. With this revision, our crystalworks can now make that crystal weigh less or more for less/more durability. It could, for example make crystal where 10 cm weighs 5 kg and thus has only 5 units of durability, or it can make that crystal where 10 cm weighs 20 km and has 20 units of durability. It's not limited to those types, being capable of making 10/3/3 crystal, 10/7/7 crystal, 10/15/15 crystal, and more.

I would just like to say that those numbers are terrible. I assume that they are just hypothetical examples, but it needs to be nipped in the bud before anyone starts citing the specific numbers mentioned.
As for the theory? It is not terrible. Adjusting crystals would help. I doubt that we would get a fair trade. We are probably already pushing the limits of how light it can get with anywhere near this level of strength, but who knows. As for heavier? I feel that heavier would be better done with other things.

 If we could get a material that is, say, four or five times as dense as steel, then that would be useful for ammunition and ballast. Assuming that it has any half-decent material properties, then it would also be great for heavy armour and extreme-resistance needs. And given that this is all based upon conjuration, and we have already seen how easy it is to tweak things with the wasps into fire wasps, it should be no more than a design to get a superior original material. The hard work of making it permanent has already been addressed so it should be easy.

Crystal on the other hand would be based upon the original crystals. Getting them to the density of steel would be difficult, and they would not necessarily keep their proportional strength. No dount it would be an excellent replacement for steel, but we do already have steel, and the lack of depleted uranium bullets and titanium armour is more of a hole than the lack of rigid steel.

[Chiefwaffles]

Future Design: Regenerate
Currently, the survival rate of injured soldiers is not great. Our methods of surgery are iffy at best. If you('re somehow out of your Combat Armor and) get an arrow lodged in your chest or get bludgeoned or electrocuted or another one of the very standard battlefield injuries, you're practically out of luck. We may have great protective measures, but our practices when those measures fail leave much to be desired.

Introducing Regenerate, a spell based off of our old life magic.
Regenerate is an over-time spell targeted at a nearby individual. When an individual is targeted with the spell, their wounds and ailments will begin to heal and patch themselves before the person's very eyes. Bones will mend, flesh will regenerate, and more. Even wounds and ailments not visible to the eye or unable to be diagnosed by our physicians can be healed with this spell.

The spell is largely time-based. A number of seconds can heal scratches and help a critical patient survive a bit longer. Minutes can be used to heal minor but notable bleeding wounds and stabilize critical patients. At around ten minutes, we can begin healing more moderate wounds. After half an hour, most will be ready to fight again and critical patients will be able to be reliably left alone. An hour is where the serious stuff happens. Organ damage will see regeneration, bones will begin to come back together, and more.
Someone with minutes or even seconds to live can be placed under constant Regeneration-based care for most of a day and be able to walk around and talk by the end of that day. Disabled patients and those with more long-term wounds are to be placed under Regeneration therapy on-and-off over several days.

As our apprentices aren't unlimited, Regeneration care in controlled settings such as clinics and field hospitals is priority based. Critical patients will be tended until stabilized, and those with long-term but non-serious injuries will be waiting for quite a while. Most with non-life-threatening wounds are expected to be cleared for duty by the end of the day. Critical patients and those with very serious wounds are expected to stay overnight for as long as needed, even up to a week. People with disabilities and similar injuries will be tended as manpower becomes available and can expect stays of at least one week, if not more.
Unless someone has a life-threatening injury at one of our (field) hospitals, they can expect to receive periodic on-off care when apprentices become available.

On the field, Regeneration is a different story. Our apprentices and wizards will be trusted to use it as they see fit depending on how much time they have left. In emergency situations, someone can be stabilized then brought back to the nearest field hospital for further care. In places such as trenches or long-term deployments, wizards are expected to heal others to the best of their capabilities.
Regeneration on oneself is possible, provided the self-healing mage is able to sufficiently concentrate.

Regeneration is also hoped to be used sparingly in civilian hospitals. Those unable to be helped by our mundane doctors will be handled by apprentices doing their civic duty as part of the academy. Critical patients will be stabilized and some of the more lucky disabled/long-term-injury individuals can have long-term regenerative therapy scheduled.

Regeneration should be a game-changed on the battlefield. It may not directly counter anything, but using it will reduce the impact of literally any weapon the enemy has. Sure, they may have lightning or tornadoes, but what use is it if we can simply heal the victim right back up and send them out again? It may not be all that impressive, but it'll help us immensely in every field.

TL;DR: A healing spell. Can heal simple wounds + stabilize critical patients fairly quickly, and can do miracle-like work over the course of hours. To be used by our field hospitals and in the field, as well as in our cities.
Difficulty - It's a new thing, sure, but we really shouldn't be getting many if any penalties for it. It's based off of life magic. Sure, magically provoking the growing of plants isn't the same thing as flesh, but that's the point of the design. We're not venturing into the unknown or trying a completely new field of tech. This shouldn't really be hard. But I'm not expecting boosts, of course.