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[Chiefwaffles]

Right, so. Your stuff's definitely understandable, but I do disagree. For convenience and to avoid the usual wall of text every single post of mine in this thread becomes, I'm separating the individual points into spoilers.

Spoiler: Power Consumption/Generation (click to show/hide)

The HA1 Mundane uses 3 A-size Aethergems to fire once every 3 minutes.

HA1-b "Mundane":  A variant of the HA1 for mundane use.  Features 3 A-level Aethergems that can be slotted in and out and specialized firechamber to produce PSF-C's on command.  1 round per 3 minutes. Expensive.

The CAF1 is a bit more vague in its power requirements:

Large copper scrolls for both the crystal design itself and the fabrication logic must be attached, along with D-level Aethergems and significant wiring.

I'd assume "2-3 Daethergems" from this one. And keep in mind a large part of the HA2 is the CAF2, which involves improved energy efficiency.


The Reactor Mk.2's power output:

It is roughly still the size of six adults standing in a tight 2x3 group, but the energy output is the result of a more finely developed and tightly-integrated Aethergem array system.  The Aethergems are constructed whole-sale out of our proprietary crystal glass with nickel and crystal wire components to hold the carefully-constructed spellwork for each, then arranged in a circle like the spokes of a wheel.  The circle allows each gem to work in tandem with its neighbor and opposing gem, which then amplifies the magical output.  These "wheels" are then stacked to about six feet tall and linked together.  The result is a single "axel"in which magical energy can be output and channeled away to other needs.

(In case anyone forgets, "Aethergem" from evicted means "A-Size Aethergem".)
The Mk.2 Reactor clearly has a lot of A-level Aethergems (it has "wheels" of Aethergems stacked to be six feet tall), and the way it's made amplifies the power output of these Aethergems over what you'd get from the same number of Aethergems linked together normally.


So I think it's safe to assume that a Mk.2 Reactor would be way more than enough for the power-consuming components. Especially considering it can effortlessly power a 20mm cannon and the KPD4. Remember that the F43 Interceptor fired at 4 PSF-Cs per second (initially using 2,400 AAAethergems), and I'm fairly certain its power never decreased. We revised better Aethergems to handle the power requirements, then the ASAF-F44 Avenger implemented the nozzle in order to solve stability problems. Then the ASAF-F45 Lightning increased power in order to make up for the loss in energy from losing the nozzle and then even add to overall speed.
And since then, we've upgraded the power supply. A Mark 2 Reactor should be able to effortlessly power the F43. Which fired at 4 PSF-Cs per second. For reference, the HA1 fires using 3x simultaneous PSF-Cs.

So it should be very possible to downscale the Reactor and still have enough energy left over. But even in the scenario where we can't downsize the Reactor, it's still Expensive. And an Expensive HA2 is still perfectly fine - that's been the proven level when artillery is really effective.

Spoiler: Pneumatics (click to show/hide)

our pneumatics are not that developed and are ill-suited to aiming a gun.

I think you're mistaken - here's where we initially developed Pneumatics:

Revision: Powered Turrets [6]

The Lightning Turret is overhauled.

...

Though we have never truly isolated the ability to levitate and move objects ("Autokinesis", as referred to by our Mathemagicians) from our conjuration magic, the turret still manages to make do through a system we like to call "Pneumatics".  A geared track runs around the edge of the blister and vertically along the slit, which is hooked up to a gear powered by a smaller version of the KPD Mk.2 - by generating exhaust perpendicular to the gear, we can exert enough torque to force it to rotate.

The system is a bit clunky, but works without issue.  The exhaust is vented outside of the cabin and makes a pleasant "whirrrr" noise when fired.  The turret is controlled by an orb in the gunners chair similar to the joystick orb in the pilots cockpit and can rotate a bit faster than a gunner could do by hand, and with more precision.

Basically, we know pneumatics works with guns because that was the very first use of pneumatics. Of course, it'd probably be slower, but that'd still be a huge improvement over manual aiming.

Spoiler: KPD4 as Propellant (click to show/hide)

The KPD4 is basically a directed continuous explosion. It doesn't have to "ramp up" and once it's on, it's immediately at full power. Take an explosion and make it continuous plus add some control over direction. You have the KPD4. And I mentioned in the Power spoiler that the KPD4 has increased power over KPD1.
The KPD1 fired at 4x PSF-Cs per second. For reference, the HA1 fires using 3x PSF-Cs. So increased power isn't an uncertainty luckily. Keep in mind the KPD4 is enough to propel the Lightning, a 2-man gunship, to speeds faster than Moskurg's jet engine vessels.

And we're not constrained in area for the KPD4. At least that has never been stated, implied, or hinted by evicted.

So we should be able to put the KPD4 in as propellant. We already know how to implement it, so it's just a matter of throwing some KPD4 circuitry onto the barrel and setting the area and direction accordingly. We don't have to make any modifications to the way it applies thrust because it's already great for guns. If anything, even better than an explosion because it would keep on going as the shell leaves the barrel, further increasing pressure.

Spoiler: CAF (click to show/hide)

I'm not quite sure of what you mean by this part, so I may be going about the wrong way of trying to convince you here.

The CAF2 is a pretty straightforward upgrade. The CAF1 had problems with complexity, energy costs (though that's only rreeaally if it has to be powered by its own power source and not a Reactor), and kind of[/o] fabrication speeds. The CAF2 is, again, straightforward in fixing this - it reduces complexity and energy costs while increasing speed by simplifying the CAF1 to the core essentials needed for only making a shell and nothing more complex/bigger/etc. than that.

So it increases fab speeds while reducing complexity (thus Expense/size) and power cost.

Spoiler: Bullet Material (click to show/hide)

I've compiled quotes from the CAF/Aerophobic crystal revisions of evicted telling us what's wrong with crystal as ammunition:

Revision: Aerophobic Shells [5]

Stopping power is still reduced due to the light-weight crystal, and the increase in cost and lack of diversified ammo types means the CAF is still unfeasible for battlefield conditions.

Revision: Crystal Ammo Fabricator [2-1]

Crystal is light, which makes it intrinsically unsuited as ammunition.  Weapons that use crystal shells experience a reduction in range and cannot use different ammo types.

He's been pretty clear that the notable flaws of crystal are weight and special ammunition.
Weight is solved with weightite, as you've seen in the design.
Special ammunition can be solved by just making crystal designs for them. Like I've said, the Blastshell can easily be made out of existing crystal components - a crystal shell (duh), the Magegem (made from Crystal Glass already), and crystal circuitry (which we already have as a revision; we just don't use it because of an issue long fixed by regenerative crystal and never bothered switching back). I'm considering putting this part in the HA2 design, but it could alternatively be a part of a revision for an upgraded Blastshell.

If Crystal suffered other issues that made it fundamentally unsuitable as ammo, then evicted would have told us. Considering he told us twice what prevents crystal from being actually effective.

Spoiler: Summoning Other Materials (click to show/hide)

And just a note on your "summon common lead ... or gold" - that seems too ambitious, honestly. Weightite should be easy because of how we've basically built our society on crystal. Our experience is less "conjuring of materials" and more "conjuring of crystal". Summoning lead would definitely be possible (it is just summoning a material) but I personally think it'd be overly hard/complex for the benefit.
Though it could work if we removed Weightite from the HA2 then revised in Lead as its own revision. But I think it'd be better to use the revisions for other things, personally.

[Andres]

We will be fighting in the city. The Firestorm will not help us fight in the city. Stop voting for the Firestorm and start voting for something which will actually help get Moskurg out of the city.

Glory to Arstotzka.

[RAM]

I dislike the Smasher shells because they rely upon a very small reactor that I do not believe that we have. I would suggest either using something else, and unfortunately we don't have gemerators, or make the projectile much larger, probably at least a metre in diameter, and not fire it out of a gun. Actually, firing unstable reactors out of guns is generally problematic...

Note: required assumption, we are capable of summoning antimagic charms, upon which our magems are based.
Metaconjuration: Conjbustion

The conjbustion spell is a combination of four elements: Summon Crystal Lance/webs, Fireball, Antimagic Charms. These are extremely familiar disciplines from which a myriad of other spellwork has been extracted.
 The summoning of webs is known to occur at a distance in order to bind retreating foes. It is simple to conjure crystals, and crystals are known to absorb magic when properly configured. Flames burn... By combining the magical suction of a crystal, it is easy to convert a flame to burn magic, it is a simple matter of directing the magic into the flames as fuel, and fires are all too willing to burn anything that they can grasp. Structuring the flames to absorb the magic is a bit of a trick, but with mathemagics being spawned by crystalline summoning, and so very much study occurring upon antimagic charms and their derivatives, it is should be simple to extract the precise signature of magical absorption, and while converting that from a crystal spell to a flame spell is a challenge, it is very much within flame's nature to absorb, and crystals and flames share a fascination with illumination and patterns, so the modification should not be that difficult. Thus it should not be so difficult to produce a flame that will spread to all things magical and burn until that magic is depleted. It is, in many ways similar to channelled fog, being a spell that consumes magic long after being cast, but so very much more insistent... Directing magic upon it would only serve to spread the flames to whomever made the attempt, mortal means of extinguishing would have little effect when the flames do not depend upon mortal fuel and magic burns by will in place of heat, and directing antimagic upon magical devices will not permit them to function. A single spark in a Kegger carpet-hold should spell doom for the whole vessel, regardless of size, whether the magic burns dry or is snuffed by antimagic, the craft's buoyancy will expire and it will perish upon the ground.

The difficult part is to get such a spell into the enemy's demesne. The matter of that is rather more complicated, and yet... We have conjured many things: Self-deterministic wasps, complex and terrain-adhering webs, all manner of magically active crystals... It is not so great a jump to conjure magic itself, especially if it is given a specific form... Thus, it should be possible for us to conjure spells, at a distance, at a specific point, with no need to traverse the intervening space. Thus is the entirely new, yet magnificently familiar field of metaconjuration. To conjure spells and purely magical constructs. For both conjuration and free-flung spells are both so very practised.

The design of the spell is hoped to be quite practical as far as such things can be. To form the bulk of the spell in advance and hold it within one's hands. then to clap one's hands together to finalise the spell's substance, and then to direct it's destination by pointing and willing. The unfortunate victim will then be instantly subjected to a spark of magical consumption that will not rest until the victim is consumed. It should be quite a simple matter to cast such magics from the relative safety of a protector or lightning as all that is required is knowledge of the subject's location, vision of the target should be sufficient. And with a single spark spelling doom for whatever it strikes, be it a mage, airship, or skiff, and striking with the speed of sight, there should be precious few things that can endure such an attack.

[Kadzar]

Defense is our highest priority, and machines guns are good at defense. A flak gun or shell might be slightly better suited for our current need,
 but such a thing could be done in a revision and might work with this design.

DESIGN

0 - CAF Regulator:
0 - Smasher Shell:
2 - AS-HA2 "Valiant": Chiefwaffles, Kadzar
0 - Arstotzkan Defense Grid:
2 - ASAF-B49 "Firestorm": FallacyofUrist, VoidSlayer

[Gwolfski]

DESIGN

0 - CAF Regulator:
0 - Smasher Shell:
3 - AS-HA2 "Valiant": Chiefwaffles, Kadzar, Gwolfski
0 - Arstotzkan Defense Grid:
2 - ASAF-B49 "Firestorm": FallacyofUrist, VoidSlayer

[Chiefwaffles]

I'd like to also note that I'm very willing to make any kind of change to the HA2. It could be our last design, so I'll gladly change it based on what people think.

Though I have two questions in particular:

• Should I include Blastshell capability in the CAF2 of the HA2? If not we can revise a new upgraded 100% crystal Blastshell. Swap Magegems for Aethergems, remove Blastball detonation in favor of Aethergems detonation, make it makeable by the CAF2. But it'd use a revision.
• Are there any parts of the HA2 that people think are too hard/complex compared to their benefit which I should take out?

[evictedSaint]

Seems like the valient is winning. Designs in a bit.

[helmacon]

DESIGN

0 - CAF Regulator:
0 - Smasher Shell:
3 - AS-HA2 "Valiant": Chiefwaffles, Kadzar, Gwolfski
0 - Arstotzkan Defense Grid:
3 - ASAF-B49 "Firestorm": FallacyofUrist, VoidSlayer, helmacon

[evictedSaint]

Well damn, a tie.  Coin flip in an hour or so.

[RAM]

DESIGN

0 - CAF Regulator:
0 - Smasher Shell:
3 - AS-HA2 "Valiant": Chiefwaffles, Kadzar, Gwolfski
0 - Arstotzkan Defense Grid:
4 - ASAF-B49 "Firestorm": FallacyofUrist, VoidSlayer, helmacon, RAM

Meh, I wanna see if that atmospheric thing is possible.

[andrea]

DESIGN

0 - CAF Regulator:
0 - Smasher Shell:
4 - AS-HA2 "Valiant": Chiefwaffles, Kadzar, Gwolfski, Andrea
0 - Arstotzkan Defense Grid:
4 - ASAF-B49 "Firestorm": FallacyofUrist, VoidSlayer, helmacon, RAM

Meh, I wanna see if that atmospheric thing is possible.

And I am getting convinced by the HA2.

[Chiefwaffles]

Just going to briefly state why I think the HA2 is better:

The HA2:
-Definitively makes the CAF2. The bomber does not.
-Can much more easily react. Bombers are isolated from communication and sorties cannot easily be assembled due to Moskurger wind magic. Then the Bomber has to still launch, go over to enemy lines, then fire.
-Will outrange Moskurger artillery and will thus give us a great advantage. Bombers can be shot down. Outranging artillery can just sit in the same place 24/7 while shelling enemy lines.
-Reduces our artillery dependence on mages. (The HA1-b is Expensive and fires once per three minutes.)
-Modernizes our artillery, which is in sore need of an update.
-Is better as a defensive weapon versus the bomber. We can just outrange them and shell them constantly versus the more offensive-oriented bomber. We're going to be defending our capital this turn.

[helmacon]

The reason I voted firestorm is because I felt like the HA2 was too ambitious. It would be great, if it works, but I don't think we can take the risk of ending up with a proto type this turn. We need hard and fast results.

[Chiefwaffles]

How's it too ambitious?

-Reactor: Actually trivial. The Reactor is easy to downscale (just remove a couple wheels and make a smaller shell) and right now it's "plug n' play" for integration.
-Pneumatics: Trivial, again. It's just the pneumatics system that we already developed for the exact purpose of moving around guns - the Lightning turret. We just take that pneumatics system and put it in here.
-KPD: Not as trivial, but still fairly easy. Benefits have already been stated, but it's just putting the KPD circuitry and changing some settings. The HA1 is already designed for Blastballs anyways, and the KPD4 is derived from Blastballs.

-CAF2: Not easy, but by far the main focus of the entire design.

[evictedSaint]

Design: ASAF-B49 "Firestorm" [2, 6-1, 2]

The Arstotzkan Air Force Bomber 949 "Firestorm" fills the role missing from the current air fleet.  Slightly smaller than a Lightning, the Firestorm features a bubble canopy for the pilot that wraps around from his head to his feet.  A crude cross-hairs is painted on the floor as a bomb sight, but is largely just for show.  A standard set of spherical controls allows the pilot to pitch, roll, and accelerate the aircraft, and a set of short, stubby wings and tail allow the craft better turning while moving forward, as we'd discovered with the Valkyrie.  The craft is propelled by a KPD4 propulsion spell-array, which in turn is powered by a single Aether Reactor.  The craft is entirely unarmored and any unnecessary weight is stripped free, allowing unprecedented heights to be reached.  The Firestorm is the first aircraft capable of flying above cloud cover.

The cockpit features a sealing hatch and a small circuit-controlled one-way air valve to ensure the compartment is air-tight.  A slight modification to our channeled mist spell - made easy thanks to our impressive knowledge of conjuration magic - allows it to produce breathable air rather than mist.  This provides the pilot with air, and the one-way valve keeps the air pressure at an acceptable level for human life.

The "bomb bay" is a circuit array borrowed from the crystalworks that is hard-wired to produce "blastgems" - another new invention necessitated by this design.  It is a crystalline sphere that features a very simple conjuration system contained within, along with a crystal magegem charged with enough power drawn from the reactor to produce a blastball.  The bomb is on a set timer that cannot be changed once the Firestorm has left the ground - usually it will be set for the same amount of time it takes the sphere to fall from max height to the ground below.

The bombs have a rather small radius, compared to our HA1 artillery shells.  It is about comparable to the blast radius of Moskurgs hand grenades, and rivals it in lethality.  Sadly, we ran out of time trying to figure out how to incorporate the HonestStrike module into a non-gun design, so the bombing zone below the craft is rather widely dispersed and can't be used for much more than bombing cities or city-sized targets.  Furthermore, we discover that at high altitudes ice tends to form on the Firestorm aircraft.  This ice formation obscures vision, slowly decreases the effectiveness of the KPD4, and can cause the blastgem manufacturing system to jam.  A jammed blastgem system will invariably cripple the craft, preventing furthering bombing action.  The small explosive power of the blastgem is usually unable to completely knock out the Aether Reactor, at least, and though the craft will be unable to continue fighting without repairs the pilot will usually be able to limp home.  Expensive.