Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Chiefwaffles]

Accuracy isn't a problem. Having more accuracy would be nice, sure, but it's not a problem that needs fixing.
Our problem is range.


The HA1, our best weapon, fires to BLOS+1 with Blastshell+R. But ultimately, it only fires at Extreme range with the Moskurg wind debuff. Worse yet, this range is where it hits the ground. Disregarding angling, a HA1 can only shoot at a Moskurger airship if it is at Long range.
Moskurg's Ballista can reach Extreme range when placed on ground. When on an airship, a Moskurger ballistae can fire up to BLOS range when we can only fire at airships at Long range. Most of their ballistae are on Skyhawks at this point.

So, to sum it up.
Moskurg can shoot us from their airships at BLOS range.
We can shoot at their airships when they're at Long range. Their airships are never at long range.

Moskurg severely outranges us due to the range debuff and their aerial superiority.


Because of this, Moskurg is doing to us what we did to Moskurg back when we got the HA1 working. They're beating us in artillery because of their aerial superiority. Accuracy isn't a problem. Range and aerial superiority are the problems. If we can shoot down their Skyhawks using the Lightning, then the problem is solved. If we outrange them again (or at least match them in range), then the problem is solved. If we can undo the debuff then accuracy would be a bit more relevant, but still not a huge issue.

[andrea]

Lucky shot would help the avenger more reliably hit the weak parts of enemy ships. It is mentioned that hitting the engine is a kill.
Plus, it might help hitting their small ships even with the slow turret.

[RAM]

Our shots are not hitting the ground at extreme range, they are just hopelessly inaccurate at extreme range. The range reduction is basically a way to shorthand that they have a reduced "effective range" due to the enemy's inaccuracy spell. If we had an accuracy spell that applied(and it is questionable how much it would apply when the accuracy is reduced by pushing it off course, but I could easily see one ship pushing a bullet off-course to protect itself but the bullet consequently being redirected into a different target because it was lucky. There is only so much that they can do to protect themselves from things that aren't aiming at them until their trajectory is changed...) then it would direct our projectiles into the enemy and hit effectively.

On thing that would be fatal to use if it really were a matter of range, however, would be to use crystal ammunition. The same low density that makes it suited to heavily-armoured aircraft(large ballistae can go through a surprising amount of armour) cripples its ability to receive and maintain inertia. IF we were really having our range suppressed to such a degree, ten crystal bullets would be about the worst thing that we could do. If we could summon something heavier than crystals then it would be a decent idea...

Lucky strike, however, could benefit from mentioning heavy guns. We are unlikely to rely upon it in our small arms and while the spell doesn't mention archers, they were sort of what was applied to when it was first listed, so... Well, it wouldn't hurt to mention that it works with heavy guns. But I do think we could benefit from making it clear that we actually have the spell. It not being in a usable form will likely count against our future designs.

[Chiefwaffles]

After some questioning on Discord, Evicted drew this little diagram:

Spoiler: Image (click to show/hide)

Our HA1s can fire BLOS, but that's only if they hit the ground. So when at BLOS, our HA1s cannot hit their airships. If we were to fix this, we could effectively deploy the HA1 at sea.

So it turns out the problem is not optics or angling. It's mostly just range.
Hence I think the +Range Blastshell is the best choice now. Increased range is helpful just in general, it increases the range of every cannon, and it gives us explosive ammunition. Alternatively, we could do the AM Resistance one then upgrade the range of the HA1 in a revision, but that seems wasteful.

[VoidSlayer]

We have +range blast shells that can hit air ships at beyond line of sight.  That is the whole reason we built the blastshells in the first place, that diagram.  The problem is we can not actually target them.

[Chiefwaffles]

Combat for 942

This year sees Moskurg spend their entire turn to refine their control over the storm even further with a new spell titled "Winds of Ruin".  The spell essentially works by lending the intent of the casters to the storm itself, allowing the rain, snow, wind, tornados, and lightning to be focused and cast Beyond their Line of Sight.  Most importantly, the spell allows the mages to focus on enemy shells flying through the air and attempt to blow them off course.  This manages to blunt Arstotzka's artillery range by two levels...when the wizards casting can maintain focus long enough to use the spell to their advantage.  Thankfully, unlike many of their first attempts at ambitious spells, Winds of Ruin doesn't kill their mages or drive them insane.

This came after the diagram.

[VoidSlayer]

Oh right, it is a complete hard counter to our cannons... I thought it just made some of them not hit... well forget that then.

[andrea]

Blastshell - Extreme Range (ER)

Our current blastshells use a single burst magegem powered blastball to propel themselves. Clearly, this is now inefficient considering our recent advantages.

The ER shell replaces the magegem with a new generation aethergem and the blastball with the continuous effect currently in use in our aircrafts. The walls of the shell are made of crystal as well, making the entire thing light and able to fly on its own power for a considerable time. The safety circuit on the aethergem is deactivated shortly after firing, providing an in built explosive payload.

Target size is HA1 shells, but I like being surprised.



Basically, we use aethergems and KPD to turn our +R shell into a +RRRRRRRRRRRR shell. Accuracy will suffer at long ranges, although not as much as it would with the impulsive blast we currently use, I suspect. Being spin stabilized,  on continuous thrust deviations should compensate each other.

[evictedSaint]

I see a lot of proposals, but not really any votes.

[RAM]

Combat for 942

This year sees Moskurg spend their entire turn to refine their control over the storm even further with a new spell titled "Winds of Ruin".  The spell essentially works by lending the intent of the casters to the storm itself, allowing the rain, snow, wind, tornados, and lightning to be focused and cast Beyond their Line of Sight.  Most importantly, the spell allows the mages to focus on enemy shells flying through the air and attempt to blow them off course.  This manages to blunt Arstotzka's artillery range by two levels...when the wizards casting can maintain focus long enough to use the spell to their advantage.  Thankfully, unlike many of their first attempts at ambitious spells, Winds of Ruin doesn't kill their mages or drive them insane.

This came after the diagram.

The diagram applies to bullets that lack range. They do not travel far enough. Our bullets do travel far enough, the problem is them being blown off course.
As is made abundantly clear, the problem is accuracy, more specifically, our weapons are being blown off course, by wind. Flying machines are loiterers, they are very much subject to being blown around. reducing the density will make our projectiles more vulnerable to wind. An aircraft is much heavier than a bullet, but much more vulnerable to wind because it has a larger surface-area compared to its mass, thus lower density. The way we beat their current range reduction spell is to increase mass and reduce travel-time(or implement some sort of guidance, preferably both), and it is easier to increase mass.

Reducing the weight of our bullets will not increase their effective range against a wind-based deflection spell.

1 Crystal Ammunition Fabrication(summoned crystal bullets): Chiefwaffles
0 KPD4(make our aircraft move slightly better somehow):
0 Weightite Works(Summon Very Heavy material):
0 Large Mundane-Nests of Power(combine reactors with mundanes):
0 Small reactors(reactors for infantry):
1 Lucky Strike(figure out the foreign spell): RAM
0 Blastshell - Extreme Range (ER)(better propellants in lighter rockets):
0 :
0 :
0 :

[VoidSlayer]

1 Crystal Ammunition Fabrication(summoned crystal bullets): Chiefwaffles
0 KPD4(make our aircraft move slightly better somehow):
0 Weightite Works(Summon Very Heavy material):
0 Large Mundane-Nests of Power(combine reactors with mundanes):
0 Small reactors(reactors for infantry):
2 Lucky Strike(figure out the foreign spell): RAM, voidslayer
0 Blastshell - Extreme Range (ER)(better propellants in lighter rockets):
0 :
0 :
0 :

If we get lucky strike we can incorporate it directly into the next cannon or specialized cannon ball we make.

[Chiefwaffles]

Don't remove my votes and don't put negative descriptions of my proposals in the votes box please, RAM.

1 - Crystal Ammunition Fabrication(summoned crystal bullets for automatic weaponry): Chiefwaffles
1 - KPD4(Greatly improve acceleration and ability of Lightning): Chiefwaffles
0 - Weightite Works(Summon Very Heavy material):
0 - Large Mundane-Nests of Power(combine reactors with mundanes):
0 - Small reactors(reactors for infantry):
2 - Lucky Strike(figure out the foreign spell): RAM, Voidslayer
0 - Blastshell - Extreme Range (ER)(better propellants in lighter rockets): 

[FallacyofUrist]

Infrastructure will win the day!

Train-Deployed F45: We've realized that we can deploy the F45 Lightning from our trains with a little adjusting and specialized train cars. This means we can rapidly move F45 interceptors to wherever the enemy is, provided we have track infrastructure, then deploy the Lightning interceptors wherever we need them. Basically: aircraft carrier trains. There may be difficult due to the weight of the Lightning craft, but at this point we have the IDE and whatnot, which I don't think needs a revision to be installed in the Restless... right?

REVISION:
1 Crystal Ammunition Fabrication(summoned crystal bullets): Chiefwaffles
0 KPD4(make our aircraft move slightly better somehow):
0 Weightite Works(Summon Very Heavy material):
0 Large Mundane-Nests of Power(combine reactors with mundanes):
0 Small reactors(reactors for infantry):
2 Lucky Strike(figure out the foreign spell): RAM, Voidslayer
0 Blastshell - Extreme Range (ER)(better propellants in lighter rockets):
1 Train-Deployed F45: FallacyofUrist

SPARE EXPENSE CREDIT:
1 - Use on Lightning: FallacyofUrist

We'll be able to deploy swarms of Lightning aircraft(from Very Expensive down to Expensive and now to Normal) from our fast-moving trains. More improvements to our Restless trains may be in order if we do this.

I do agree we should get Lucky Strike, but I don't think a revision is something that'll work for something we can't even cast yet.

[andrea]

WHat is the point of an aircraft carrier like that, if the thing has infinite fuel and can probably land anywhere thanks to its drive?

[FallacyofUrist]

How fast is the Lightning? That's one.

Second is the fact that the trains they ride on won't be as much affected by Moskurg's wind control, stopping them from just blowing our Lightnings out of the sky before reaching their destination.