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[VoidSlayer]

So issues with the design:

Cabin Atmosphere Control - This seems like a more complicated addition then you realize and is unnecessary for a first generation version unless the goal is to counteract lighting strikes.

Weapons - The AS-HAC-1 and HC1-E both require crews of artillery soldiers to operate.  Fitting them all inside the vehicle and having passengers seems like a stretch.  Modern weapons have many streamlined parts compared to what we have, allowing one guy to operate multiple weapon systems, here we will have like 6 guys for the two guns alone.  We should cut it down to one weapon, the cheaper HC1-E.

Magegem Battery - Because of the armor and our streamlined fireball effects we can afford to drop an apprentice in here instead of mage gems.  This cuts out another expensive component.

Anti-Magic Resistance - I do not understand how this works, is it a new effect?

Anyway, cutting out the mage gem batteries and the AS-HAC-1 will remove the expensive components, probably allow it to be so cheap we can load all our infantry in them.

I will support the existing proposal either way.

Edit: If you want the stealthy feline night snipers to be stealthy feline night snipers you should put that as a summation to the proposal because that seems like what I am looking at.

[Chiefwaffles]

Aw, fine. I'll remove atmosphere control. I'm keeping cooling though, since that's something we have large amounts of experience for, requires no energy, and is just something we can throw in without having to add complexity to the design. But I suppose the air recycling part isn't important enough.
One day! One day we shall have our soldiers and vehicles be able to ignore water and fire. One day.

Weapons - Only the AS-HA1 has been known to require multiple people crewing it. The HC1-E miiiiiight be a bit slower with 1 person but even then we can get pasengers to do stuff like loading and whatnot. The AS-HAC-1 is explicitly designed to be used by one person.

Magegem Battery - This shouldn't really hurt the design. Best case scenario, we lessen reliance on apprentices and whatnot. Worst case scenario, it doesn't get implemented and nothing bad happens. (Or we get a +expense for a mundane version).

Antimagic Resistance - Disregarding the fluff, this is to make the vehicle able to operate in Moskurg (and our) anti-magic fields. An APC is pretty useless if the enemy can easily remotely shut it off.

Removing Expensive Components - I honestly don't trust that Evicted would ever be willing to make the Protector Cheap on the first design regardless of what we do. Also, usually Cheap/Expensive don't really make a difference for bigger things.


And what do people think of adding a Flare wand to the design? It can be powered with a Cheap AAA Magegem, casting spells with circuits is something we already do effortlessly, and the Flare is a very simple spell.
It lets the vehicle use flares regardless of whether it has an apprentice or not, making it easier on us if we want to make our stuff less dependent on mages. IT works for emergencies like if the Apprentice somehow dies. And it keeps an Apprentice from having to pop their head out to cast Flare.

[RAM]

I think that a flare wand would need to be mounted somewhere. Either it is another hole in the armour, or it is exposed and easily destroyed. Or it is workin through the armour and somehow involves completely covered circuits, but even thnen it would likely be limited to shooting in a single direction relative to the vehicle. It ought to be easy enough to just carry one inside and stick a head out to fire. I guess you could put one in a relatively harmless position and have it shoot straight up to only act as a warning or mayday...

I did not think of the catgirls as snipers so much as infiltrators. But snipers are good too. They are basically skirmish troops specially designed to be able to skirmish despite the difficulties that have largely killed off skirmishing lately. I figure they can stab commanders, shoot mages, hide an antimagic bomb under a catapult ready to go off in the middle of the ship just as they start warming up their lucky strikes... I didn't want to use the term "commandos"... If you still want night-snipers summary then I can add night-snipers summary. I guess I should add something about nocturnal operations, but it seems pretty implicit...

[Chiefwaffles]

The point is that the user doesn't need to expose themselves to shoot it. And why the hell would we need to shoot it anywhere but the sky?
It can also be mounted on the exterior of the vehicle, on the top. Crystal wiring (which is crystal and thus part of the armor) can allow for activation from within the hull. Destruction is possible, but they'd have to specifically target the top of the vehicle at that precise spot. And all it'd do is just mean it loses the capability to use flares.

[Kadzar]

If we eventually have the weapons to support cat-girl night snipers, I will then support cat-girl night snipers. As it is now, I'm not super confident about their ability to infiltrate enemy camps at this point, and they don't really do anything to protect our prince from enemy fire, so I can't support them at this time.

[FallacyofUrist]

But we have the R1! A revision can make it silent and hence more effective for our new assassins!

And what is an APC going to do to protect the prince? It's meant to charge at the enemy, exposing our prince to attack, yeh?

So. Objectively, what's wrong with Catgirl Assassins? As long as we revise the R1 to be silent, they should be amazing for sniping enemy mages! Also, good bodyguards. The kind of bodyguard you never see until it's too late and you're dead in front of your target, with no idea what went wrong.

[Kadzar]

Well, the APC should be good for transporting the prince safely around the battlefield. If we just want somewhere he can hang out the whole time and be safe, I could actually write up plans for a bunker, but I feel like we need to get him at least somewhat close to the action to get any sort of proper battlefield experience.

[evictedSaint]

Looks like the protector is winning.  Design rolled in an hour, unless that changes.

[Draignean]

DESIGN
4 - AS-LFV-1 "Protector": Chiefwaffles, voidslayer, Kadzar, helmacon
0 - AS-PSD-1 Kinetic Resistor "Blastshield":
1 - AS-R2: Andres
4 - Catgirl Assassins: RAM, FallacyofUrist, Andres(tentative), Draignean

What can I say, I enjoy ludicrous nature of the idea. Plus, catgirls.

PPE: Oh, damn. Sorry ES, but this is what I wanted to join up for.

Also, joining on a permanent basis.

[andrea]

DESIGN
5 - AS-LFV-1 "Protector": Chiefwaffles, voidslayer, Kadzar, helmacon
0 - AS-PSD-1 Kinetic Resistor "Blastshield":
1 - AS-R2: Andres
4 - Catgirl Assassins: RAM, FallacyofUrist, Andres(tentative), Draignean

Not on my watch

[Chiefwaffles]

So before Evicted rolls the designs, I'll ask one more time:
Does anyone have any last-minute feedback for the Protector?

[helmacon]

I think we ought to go with a second anti infantry cannon instead of the artillery cannon. They don't have any big/hard targets that the thing will be engaging, (they shouldn't be engaging airships. That's the artillerys job) so we ought to go for better close range support. Additionally, maybe some sort of cover inside for the Crystal glass? Visibility is nice, but I would like to have the option of keeping our assets secret before they deploy. For example, if we are bringing up a bunch of mage hunters with rifles to snipe enemy mages, we don't want them to be able to see them riding along. Just a bit of cloth or something should do it.

[Andres]

So before Evicted rolls the designs, I'll ask one more time:
Does anyone have any last-minute feedback for the Protector?

Give the cannons grapeshot. It's a very simple addition that gives them better close-range firepower. They're IFVs so they'll need it, especially since they won't have explosive ammunition.

Glory to Arstotzka.

[evictedSaint]

Design: AS-LFV-1 "Protector" [4, 3-1, 3-1]

This design is quite ambitious, but nothing our Mathemagicians can't handle.

Riffing off our experience with the Restless, the Protector is a large box-shaped vehicle on wagon wheels outfitted with an HC1-E and a HAC-1 that can carry up to 8 soldiers uncomfortably.

Standing at about a man-and-a-half tall, the Protector features a bubbled driver-side compartment on the left-hand-side, where an operator can control the output of the single steam engine that sits directly behind him.  This is done through three levers; one that controls whether the right-back wheel is receiving engine power, one that controls whether the left-back wheel is receiving engine power, and one that controls the brakes.  Through this innovative method the vehicle can go forward, right, or left (but not backwards).  The control devices that dictate power to the wheels and apply the mechanical brake are quite bulky and delicate, so they're encased in crystal with a steel-door hatch for repairs on the bottom of the Protector.

Power is provided through a brand-new innovation known as an "Internal Detonation Engine".  Originally a new design of the Steam Engine, the IDE is a new method of transferring power.  The original design would heat water to steam, and then put it through one of two chambers.  This caused a piston to slide in one direction; once the piston reaches its max extension, the steam exits the chamber and begins filling the sister chamber.  This caused a back-and-forth motion that could be used to turn a circular crank.  After one apprentice asked why we were even using steam at all, it was upgraded to Detonation powered.  This removes the bulky boiler and instead replaces it with a very complicated series of scroll-work that controls timing based on input, stress, and state.  Much like the R1 it can generate the combustion through a pair of crystal wires in each chamber, provided a nearby apprentice constantly powers the device.  A sizable array of AA magegems takes up a considerable amount of space, but at full charge will allow the device to travel for a minute before running out of power.  In the seat next to the driver is an HC1-E on a swivel and rail that pokes out of a small steel hatch in the crystal.  The cannon can be aimed and fired, deafening everyone in the vehicle, or pulled back and stowed.  Racks provide room for 12 explosive shots, or 16 if the gunner doesn't mind standing hunched-over.  The cannon, ammo, engine, gem array and control devices means there's next to no room in the forward compartment, and the only way in or out is a small hatch on the roof.

The rear can store eight soldiers in full gear standing up.  The rear door is a steel hatch that drops down into a ramp and is secured by a bolt on the inside.  The door is thoughtfully rubbed with tar, to prevent slipping.  A hatch in the roof leads to an HAC-1 mounted on the top of the vehicle, although the hatch is so narrow that a soldier can't wear armor.  The HAC-1 doesn't have a decent angle to shoot down, so is primarily aimed upwards for carpet riders.  Passive nickel circuitry lines the walls and engines, keeping everything at a comfortable temperature that is measured in Celsius, you pedantic pricks.

The wagon wheels the Protector rides on are quite thin compared to the incredible weight of the machine, and it's not uncommon for them to sink deep into the mud or crack when the Protector hits a bump.  Even then the ride is quite bumpy without any sort of suspension, so accuracy for the cannon and HAC are virtually non-existent while on the move.  The transfer of power from the engine to the wheels uses gears, which are prone to stripping from frequent changing at high speed.  Turning often involves stopping, disengaging a wheel, turning, stopping, and re-engaging that wheel.  The engine is more powerful than our standard steam engines, but the design is complicated enough that it can't be readily retro-fitted onto our existing ships and trains.  The entire device is heavy enough and enough power is lost from the conversion to the wheels that the Protector could probably outrun an unencumbered man on foot, but not a horse.

The Protector relies on two apprentices; one to power the engine, and one to operate the guns (although the engine-operator can pause to climb up to the HAC-1 in a pinch).  This device is Very Expensive.

[Chiefwaffles]

Promising!

So here's a list of the flaws I could see at a glance:

• It's Very Expensive!
• No anti-magic resistance?
• Poor propulsion - The engine's great, but the small wheels can easily crack and sink into the ground. The lack of suspension means no cannon fire on the move. The gears make turning a very slow + arduous process and are prone to breakage at high speed. And more. We could probably fix all this with a single revision.
• It's slower than a horse. Related to above (gears/suspension/wheels and the like) and could probably be fixed with a single revision along with the above.
• Magegem battery only allows up to 1 minute of unpowered operation
• AS-HAC-1 emplacement provides no protection to operator, requires an apprentice operating it, and doesn't support armor making the operator very vulnerable. Also only useful for anti-air.
• IDE can't be retrofitted to other designs. We should probably just implement it in future designs; I don't think a retrofitting revision is worth it.
• Small amounts of ammo. Not a huge deal since the HC1-E is a pretty big cannon and can do a lot with small quantities of ammo.
  

The ones in bold should probably be fixed first. I think we should prioritize the expense, but revisions fixing more than one problem would be great and may be possible. The Protector is (probably) useful as it is, and fixing a non-expense related part would probably not do much at Very Expensive.

Anti-magic resistance is annoying, but not the end of the world. Their anti-magic still needs to be consciously cast by a wizard with the spell and our soldiers can always just wait it out or depart the vehicle when disabled.

The wheels/gears/suspension/mechanical propulsion stuff is all annoying, but we can live with it. On the bright side, a single revision could potentially fix all of this and radically progress our knowledge of engineering in this area. Seriously. It's a huge opportunity - suspensions, gear turning, better wheels.
Maybe we could implement treads.