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[VoidSlayer]

That's more of a caste system than guilds. We want some form of social mobility; bigger manpower base for recruitment and we can get more of it by offering the potential to climb up the social ladder.

Yes, you are put in a caste based on your skills, become a better warrior or otherwise more useful to the war effort (in a civilian capacity) and you get promoted.

[Taricus]

The problem is that working towards being a better warrior in that system would mean neglecting your current duties, which isn't a good thing for stability.

[helmacon]

Maybe a system where the guilds function more like modern corporations, relegated by the crown to a single sector of society. So, you can join whatever you like, wherever you like, and move up as far as you can manage. The noble family's function like social guilds, recruiting the most talented of society into their families via marriage to strengthen themselves, and playing favorites with the true guilds to exercise their power/ political maneuvering.

[Draignean]

Edit: Question @Draignean, you contribute that our Crossbow is pretty accurate or relatively accurate compared to the flint-lock rifle and pistol, but how good is the range on the weapon. Does it have superior range than the rifle or what's it's maximum range potential?, because maybe this weapon can outrange our enemies. Another question, how difficult would it be tech-wise to develop some sort of revolver?, whether or not utilizing aether energy, as it seems the revolver was developed some time after the initial gunpowder age of muskets to the bolt-action rifle.

For rough, potentially nearly arbitrary, numbers the Witch-Hunter has an effective range of about 80 meters, and the flintlock rifle has an effective range closer to 95-100 meters.

Revolver... quite difficult for the gunpowder version. There are a number of small, fiddly parts in there that could take a beating if made from bronze. Not to mention how those fiddly bits would react if made from shrouded metal that rotted internally.

For aetheric, it's not really needed. The problem the revolver is designed to solve isn't present.

[VoidSlayer]

I say we equip a fully loaded combat ship and a well equipped 2 squad team.

Skyskiff, RKN Daliboz (Skiffs named after mythological creatures: breeds of horses) (Total Cost:5 wood 12 Ore 9 Crystal 4 Silk)

5w 2o

Armament
2 Light Aether Cannon+ (Kettle Gun). One on each side. 2c 2o
Requires:
1 Basic Core Crystal (Up to Very Small in size) 3c
1 Basic Lift Crystal (Up to Very Small in size) 2c 2o
4 Basic Trim Crystals 2c
2 reams of basic webbing 4s
Light Copper Ship Plating (2?) 6o

Marine squad Heretic (8 wood 20 ore)
Every Man: Witch Hunter Crossbow 8w 8o
                 Bronze Breastplate and Helm 10o
                 Bronze Cutlass 2o

Marine squad Royal (4 crystal 7 ore 16 silk)
Every Man: Aetheric Gauntlet 4c 4o
                 Aethersilk Vest 16 s
                 Bronze Cutlass 2o
                 Grappling Gear 1o

The Sky Skiffs are pretty cheap actually compared to equipping marines.  This setup for marines uses up all the ore we have incoming and in reserves but will give us a really good idea about how the new tech works.

With our ore intensive tech we will need more soon.

It looks like we can only make 2 ships and 2 marine units this year, right?

[helmacon]

We start with 10 sky skiffs and 15 marine squads.

[VoidSlayer]

Are the sky skiffs fully paid for?  I do not see them listed anywhere, sorry.

In that case with 10 marine squads, I guess spread the crossbows out a bit then.

[Shadowclaw777]

2x Transport Barge (W/Small Core Crystal, Small Lift Crystal, 2 Trim Crystals & 1 ream of webbing) [Total cost: 14 wood, 8 ore, 20 crystal, 4 Silk]
(32 Silk, 20 Crystal, 32 Ore, 28 wood)

4x Bronze Breastplate and Helm (Ranking Officer only), 1x Bronze Breastplate and Helm (Full Unit), 6x Witch Hunter Crossbows (Squad), 3x Bronze Cutlass (Full unit), 1x Aethersilk Vests (Everyone) [Total Cost: 32 Ore, 12 Wood, 16 Silk]

-10 Ore from removing 1 Ranking Officer with Bronze Armor, and Bronze Cutlass Units, and converted a Bronze Squad Leader Armor Set into an entire Unit of Marines to be equipped with Bronze Armor. Having an entire unit be equipped with Bronze Armor will ensure much survivability and aggression. Having an Assault Marine with full-on Bronze Armor will be very beneficial for taking over one of the Belt Spires, like the Three-Captains. Taking over Spires that produce Ore is very much in our interests

[Taricus]

We start with ten skiffs and 15 marines IIRC, so the we do have some units to deploy. A revolver needs titanium or other strong, non-ferric metal for it's structural components. And the skiffs are free to produce, we may want to save up resources for a larger ship class.

And we'll need more than two squads of marines to secure the demi-spires effectively. Not to mention also getting the transports to actually get out troops over there; marines can't do much if they can't get to a demi-spire.

In regards to the corporations; monopolies are at odds with a capitalistic economy, I was thinking that while a few companies are controlled by the crown, the rest is essentially not too controlled by the government. So, say a couple of industries alongside the defence industry being owned by the crown and everything being effectively a free market with occasional interference and regulation.

The nobles I was thinking are a mix of the old noble families from before the spires and the families of those exceptional officers whom managed to claw their way into the upper class from the middle class via the officer corps (And maybe in a scant few cases, their fathers/mothers being enlisted and hitting sergeant to get the money needed for them to enlist into officer training.)

EDIT: Skiffs have NO cargo capacity, we can't transport marines on them.

[helmacon]

I don't think the demi spires actualy have resistance at them yet. We ought to be able to take them with anything.

I wasn't suggesting that the crown owns those corporations, but merely keeps them heavily regulated. For example, a single corporation (or guild) may control the entire agricultural sector, but they have a large amount of smaller companies underneath them that they manage in competition with one another. If they should move away from this, to the detriment of the people, the crown steps in and swaps out the people at the top. If they step off in the other direction in that productivity begins to fall, the crown also steps in. The best of the corporations are very wealthy individuals and constitute our middle class (roman middle class, not modern middle class), the workers at the bottom are obviously the lower class, and the noble families (effectively social guilds) are the upper class and have arbitrary power of regulation. The nobles themselves are kept in line by the power of competition. Fail to keep your corporations (guilds) in line and you piss off the people. This makes it hard to recruit out of the general populace for talent, and creates opportunity for rival families.

Essentially, while commoners don't vote, the extremely talented can influence the balance of power by choosing which family they join, which gives them influence over the corporations. If you refuse to recruit plebs who want to help thier people and regulate, you fall behind in terms of talent and support, and someone else will exploit that opportunity.

In the end though, it's all just fluff, and probably won't affect the game at all. Personally, I feel like the victorian esq steampunk setting calls for a bit of brutality and imperfection in our society.
 

[Taricus]

The centre spires do have resistance: It's only the spires closest to us that have no resistance to our forces.

And I'll agree about the imperfections, but a monopoly, regardless of whether it's regulated or not isn't particularly conductive to a free market atmosphere, and makes us too damn bureaucratic like those damned Wrethans! More to the point, there's just far too many noble families for each to have a guild; while many would own estates these are only a small part of the economy, to some particularly powerful nobles may have large estates. Too much power to the nobles dilutes the military's effectiveness. More to the point we require a modern middle class; all that engineering and other intellectual work required to keep society running doesn't come from no-where.

Now, in regards to the democracy, while everyone CAN vote, how much a person's vote is worth is skewed based on class, gender/sex and profession, a commoner may have a single vote but a noble may have as much as a hundred or a thousand, effectively meaning the upper class can keep parliament under control and favouring them, though the chancellor of parliament, and by extension cabinet, is appointed and answers to the monarch effectively favouring the parties that try to keep the status quo (Though more than a few upsets have happened by a monarch with more reformist tendencies or whom just had a grudge against some members of the nobility)

[helmacon]

How about we just do straight feudalism, but the local lords are elected every 5 years? Basically just a republic, but your representative has a lot more influence in your life.

The actual monarch/matriarch is not up for election though, of course.

[Taricus]

Feudalism doesn't really work with a formal military, mostly because then the monarch is able to bludgeon the nobles into submission with it.

[helmacon]

Why are wet so set on a formal military though? 11 nobel houses of the spire, each fielding 2 marine squads of their best to the queens army, 3 squads from the royal line itself. The royal line controls access to the academy and dockyard which each Nobel family needs access to to compete with its neighbors. 

Plus this gives us a starting point in the fluff that we could improve our military capacity by standardizing and consolidating or forces.
We would get to write some really cool stuff about our government structure changing mid game, plots and drama as a feudal society collapses into an empire...

[Taricus]

Because militarism doesn't work well without officers or a formal, central structure. And said formal, central structure doesn't work with powerful nobles. And I'd rather write about more interesting things about government reforms than  'queen bludgeons nobles into submission with standing army'.