The Launch of the Fleet is an event for the history books. Thousands of citizens turn out of watch the soldier board the ships and sail out into the aether. The filling in the air is one of bittersweet exultation. This is the beginning of one of the great stories, a moment that will define Spire Kasgyre, but is also one of mourning. Sons and Daughters, Mothers and Fathers, husbands, wives, and lovers all march when called, and all leave a different kind of pain in their absence. Most will never return, there are no illusions about that, and so the memory of this moment -the memory of the beginning of a new era- will be only thing so many have to hold on to.
Poets, storytellers, and artists work day and night after the ships leave, competing for the finest rendition of the fleet's launch. It'll be a scene recopied onto murals and cut into block presses for years to come.
Left Local SpireThe Mercury makes steady time in getting to the first of the demi-spires which Wreth burned on that fateful night of betrayal. The marines sent here have simple tasks ahead of them: locate survivors, salvage whatever is left behind, and begin clearing ground so that civilian transports can arrive and begin reconstruction.
Dinghies land a squad at the spire to begin clean-up. It's bitter work, and firsthand observation of the destruction wrought by their senseless aggression fosters a considerable hate among the soldiers. This cannot be allowed to happen again. Not here, not anywhere else.
Kasgyre Gains Territory in their Left Local Spire
((You should really name this spire.))
Right Local SpireThe Hermes similarly arrives at its destination without incident, running a squad of marines down to demi-spire. They're over-equipped for their work, but the survivors they encounter seem to appreciate the feeling of preparedness that surrounds the soldiers.
The work is straightforward. Sadly, whatever infiltrators the Wrethan bastards had among the residents have either fled, or they're damn good at hiding themselves.
Kasgyre Gains Territory in their Right Local Spire
((You should really name this spire.))
Three CaptainsIt's at Three Captains that the first real engagement occurs.
Wreth ships had already made it to the Three Captains by the time the Kasgyre Skyskiffs arrived. Five skyskiffs of their own, escorting a transport barge. The transport barge was already in the process of ferrying marines into the demi-spire, providing no opportunity to keep Wreth from getting boots on the ground, and little opportunity to stem the flow.
The Skyskiff captains acted quickly, and well in accordance with their training. They climbed high, and maneuvered in order to dive out of the sun. The set-up was perfect, and the ships weren't spotted until their dive had already begun. By the time the Wreth ships had begun raising shroud and priming weapons, the Kasgyre captains were already firing. A skyskiff that hadn't brought its shroud up in time was reduced to Cinders on the first pass, and another had its shroud buckled completely within a split second of getting it raised. Best of all, the transport failed to get its shroud up in time, letting a Skiff captain catch it with a raking shot that burned open her belly and sent the remainder of her marine complement on a one-way trip to the surface.
Return fire from the Wreth vessels hit the webbing on one of the skiffs, dropping it out of formation as the other Skiffs sped by to make a wide turn in preparation for another pass. Which is where things began to go wrong. The Wreth vessels were faster than expected, faster than the Kasgyrite Skyskiffs. They caught the Skiff that the other ships had left behind, and destroyed it in a group salvo.
The return of the remaining four Kasgyre Skyskiffs saw the battle joined, and their Kettle Guns briefly pushed the Wreth ships onto the defensive. The Wreth ship that had lost its shroud early went down quickly, but by then the Kasgyre guns had burned through their water reserve- and it became painfully obvious that Wreth had made upgrades to their cannons as well. They dropped shrouds in two shots more often than three, and they had a considerably faster sustained fire than the Kasgyre ships. The reporting officer's best estimated pegged their rate of fire, once hot, at about a quarter faster than the Kasgyre cannons- with the power being equivalent or slightly greater.
Following the loss of another Kasgyre Skyskiff, the remaining captains regrouped and pulled back to lick their wounds, cutting down into the mists in order to fight another day.
Confirmed Kills: 2 Wreth Skyskiffs
Enemy Ships Damaged: 1 Transport Barge
Losses: 2 Skyskiffs
The UnfinishedThe report from the unfinished is quite similar to that from the Three captains, except worse. Wreth, once again, was already offloading marines onto the spire. The last of their dinghies was already on their way into the frame of the Unfinished by the time the Kagyre ships arrived.
From the action report, it would seem the only thing that redeemed the incompetency with which the Skyskiffs completed their ambush maneuver was the incompetency of the Wreth captains. As at the Three Captains, the Kasgyre ships were able to get a volley off before some of the Wreth ships could get shrouds up, including the transport. Due to poor angling, no Wreth Skyskiffs were destroyed in the initial volley, and Wreth return fire took out the web of the Skyskiff who'd been aiming to make a run on the transport barge.
His ability to maneuver gone, the captain fired is cannons into the barge before crashing into the vessel like a meteor. Stunningly, this wasn't enough to completely down the vessel, and the Wreth Skiffs immediately gave chase to the Kasgyre Skiffs. The superior speed, and slightly superior maneuverability, turned the fight into a chase, where the Kasgyre ships used their kettleguns to burn the noses of the pursuing Wreth vessels.
It did not go well.
One Wreth ship was brought down by retreating fire, but two Kasgyre ships were lost in the retreat.
Though the captain admits some of the responsibility is due to bad luck and a poorly executed maneuver, he notes that the hit and run tactics taught at the academy are only successful when the employer is able to control timing of the engagement. Against a faster vessel, the doctrine breaks down after the first surprise volley.
Confirmed Kills: 1 Wreth Skyskiff
Enemy Ships Damaged: 1 Transport Barge
Losses: 2 Skyskiffs
The Calm: The calm is a region of the aerosphere with almost no wind beyond fleeting turbulence, and absolutely no aetheric currents. It's frigidly cold, and filled with fine red 'snow' that barely moves. Traversing it with a conventional vessel is impossible due to the lack of energy to fuel the lift and trim crystals.
The Everstorm: As the name suggests, the everstorm is a region of the aerosphere dominated by an enormous and eternal thunderstorm. It's a chaotic region of raging winds and surging aetheric energy that manifests in terrible bursts of prismatic flame. No conventional vessel could hope to survive the nightmarish storm conditions.
Kasgyre Territory Leftmost Demi-spire Marine Presence: K 1/14 | W 0/14
---> Marine unit 6: Proto. Bronze armour (Squad Officer), Aethersilk vest (Team Leaders), Aether Gauntlet (1 per team), Cutlass (full squad)
Territory: 1/4 | 0/4
Resources: 1C, 5O, 2W, 0S
Conditions: Rocky, large caverns, very dark
Middle Demi-spire Marine Presence: K 0/10 | W 0/10
Territory: 4/4 | 0/4
Resources: 1C, 2O, 1W, 4S
Conditions: Spider Nursery, narrow and twisting tunnels
Rightmost Demi-spire Marine Presence: K 1/20 | W 0/20
--->Marine unit 3: Proto. Bronze armour (Squad Officer), Aethersilk vest (Team Leaders), Crossbows (1 per team), Cutlass (full squad)
Territory: 1/4 | 0/4
Resources: 1C, 2O, 6W, 1S
Conditions: Verdant galleries, significant bio-luminescence
The BeltThree Captains Marine Presence: K 0/20 | W ?/20
Territory: 0/4 | ?/4
Resources: 1C, 6O, 2W, 6S
Conditions: Kinetoluminescent Ores, Heavily Infested
Wrackspire Marine Presence: K 0/12 | W ?/12
Territory: 0/4 | ?/4
Resources: 3C, 4O, 4W, 2S
Conditions: Unstable Aetheric Phenomena, Broken Spire
Burned MountainMarine Presence: K 0/24 | W ?/24
Territory: 0/4 | ?/4
Resources: 1C, 10O, 1W, 0S
Conditions: Inexplicably Molten Core, Hundreds of narrow tunnels and small galleries.
The UnfinishedMarine Presence: K 0/45 | W ?/45
Territory: 0/4 | ?/4
Resources: 8C, 0O, 6W, 2S
Conditions: Unfinished infrastructure, Massive open rooms and halls.
Skiffs With No Name - Skyskiff Class (x3)
Loadout
2 Light Aether Cannons+ (Kettlegun).
1 Very Small Basic Core Crystal
1 Very Small Basic Lift Crystal
4 Trim Crystals
2 reams of webbing
Location: Three Captains
Status: Shipshape
Skiffs With No Name - Skyskiff Class (x3)
Loadout
2 Light Aether Cannons+ (Kettlegun).
1 Very Small Basic Core Crystal
1 Very Small Basic Lift Crystal
4 Trim Crystals
2 reams of webbing
Location: The Unfinished
Status: Shipshape
Hermes - Transport Barge
Loadout
1 Small Basic Core Crystal
1 Small Basic Lift Crystal
2 Trim Crystals
1 reams of webbing
Carrying: 4/6
--->Marine unit 1: Bronze armour (Squad Officer), Aethersilk vest (Team Leaders), Crossbows (full squad), Aether Gauntlet (1 per fireteam)
--->Marine unit 2: Bronze armour (Squad Officer), Aethersilk vest (Team Leaders), Crossbows (1 per team), Cutlass (full squad)
Location: Right demi-spire, Kasgyre
Status: Shipshape
Mercury - Transport Barge
Loadout
1 Small Basic Core Crystal
1 Small Basic Lift Crystal
2 Trim Crystals
1 reams of webbing
Carrying: 4/6
---> Marine unit 4: Bronze armour (Squad Officer), Aethersilk vest (Team Leaders), Crossbows (1 per team), Cutlass (full squad)
---> Marine unit 5: Bronze armour (Squad Officer), Aethersilk vest (Team Leaders), Proto. Crossbows (1 per team), Cutlass (full squad)
Location: Left demi-spire, Kasgyre
Status: Shipshape
It is the beginning of 354 AR.
Spire Kasgyre's production stands at,
11/y Crystal, 25/55 Banked
10/y Ore, 12/50 banked
11/y Wood, 31/55 banked
9/y Silk, 11/45 banked
It is the beginning of the Design Phase and Project Maintenance Phase. You have 6 Dice to spend.
Medium Core Crystal: 12/15 | 4 Crystal | Rushed 0 Times | 4 Crystal Invested
Current Technology
Infantry
Flintlock Pistol: Cost: 2 ore to give one of either to every fireteam in a squad, 8 to give to every man. Inaccurate beyond spitting distance, incapable of dealing significant damage against hard armor, and liable to explode when used regularly even when given the most expert maintenance, the primary advantage of these weapons is that they can punch straight through shrouds like they didn't exist, and they're slowed by aethersilk officer's coats as much as by an ordinary silk shirt.
Flintlock Rifle: Cost: 3 ore to give one of either to every fireteam in a squad, 12 to give to every man. Reasonably accurate, but slow to reload and still incapable of dealing significant damage against hard armor or ship hulls. These weapons still require expert maintenance to keep them from being single-use weapons, and sustained use still makes these weapons terrifyingly unreliable as service weapons. Still, an excellent choice for shooting through silk shirts and ignoring shrouds.
Grappling Gear: Cost: 1 ore to give to every member of a squad. Standard issue ropes and hooks for boarding vessels or climbing the outside of spires. Cumbersome if you're not going to use it.
Aetheric Gauntlet: Cost: 1 Ore, 1 crystal to give one to every fireteam in a squad, 4 of each to give one to everyone. A gauntlet (usually left handed to keep the right hand free) of copper and leather with a tiny weapons crystal locked into the palm. Capable of firing dozens of low energy blasts of aetheric energy at the user's discretion, but is difficult to aim and the copper cage used to draw heat from the crystal has the unsettling tendency to leave disfiguring gauntlet burns, melt, or set the user on fire if used too frequently.
Bronze Cutlass: Cost: 2 Ore to give to every member of a squad. A simple, heavy blade of bronze attached to a wooden handle. Simple, and brutally effective in close quarters.
Aethersilk Vest: Cost: 1 Silk to give to a squad's ranking officer, 5 silk to provide to ranking officer and team leads, 16 silk to give to every member of a squad. A double layer vest of dense aethersilk, capable of absorbing a considerable amount of Aetheric energy. Can stop multiple point-blank shots from a gauntlet, but doesn't cover the arms, legs, or head. Does nothing against physical weapons or projectiles.
Witch Hunter Crossbow: Cost: 2 wood 2 ore to give one to every fireteam, 8 wood 8 ore for every man.The cranequin mechanism is much swifter than many similar designs (though that isn't saying much), and is integrated directly into the weapon in order to avoid a cumbersome stage of attaching and reattaching. A trained infantryman operating the weapon can crank back that 175 pound arms and fire in approximately 45 seconds. The bolts themselves are typically made with a bronze broadhead point to better shred infantry, and have passed every performance test asked of them- and engineers are confident that they could go through light infantry armor if modified with a chisel point. Includes an escessive amount of brass ornamentation, as well as an ornate identification plate for Division markings.
Bronze Breastplate and Helm: Cost: 1 ore for the officer, 3 ore for squad leaders, 10 ore for every man. Whilst a little on the heavy side, all of that weight is put into protection rather than ornamentation. The new design is thick over the vitals, well sculpted around the arms to allow freedom of motion, and flared at the sides to rest on the hips and keep the weight off the soldier's shoulders. Tests against pistols have shown that the armor has an excellent chance of absorbing shots from beyond point-blank range. Witch Hunter Crossbows penetrate much more readily. Comes with a pair of rip-buckles for quick removal, useful when the armour overheats from repeated aetheric blast strikes.
Ship Tech
Light Aether Cannon+ (Kettle Gun): 1 Crystal, 1 Ore for one. A small cannon, capable of being mounted on deck without reinforcement. Fires powerful blasts of aetheric energy, and uses a removable block of copper as a heat-sink. Relatively inaccurate, short ranged, hot, power hungry, and prone to exploding violently if hit directly by enemy fire. Still, it can blow wood into flaming cinders and will melt through light plating in a few shots.
---> Kasgyrian modifications to use water based heat sinks for the cooling block and additional pipes for the barrel have reduced cannon weight and increased the initial volley the cannon can make before becoming dangerously hot. Causes the cannon to make a distinctive whistle during the first volley, akin to that of a kettle.
Basic Core Crystal: [VS 3 Crystal | S 6 Crystal] A massive rough gem, grown in vats and used to transduce aetheric energy into electric current. This particular model is relatively inefficient, both as a transducer and as a storage unit. It can generate a defensive shroud around a vessel, but more than a single shot from a light Aether cannon on the same point will knock a hole in the shroud. Will explode spectacularly if hit directly.
Basic Lift Crystal: [VS 2 Crystal, 2 ore | S 3 Crystal, 2 ore for one] A chunk of crystal the size of a bathtub, heavily reinforced so that it can be locked into a ship's spine. When fed electricity, it will progressively invert gravity's effect on itself, flying upwards and pulling anything attached up with it. This basic model is incredibly power hungry, produces only enough lift for a small ship and internal flaws mean that extreme maneuvers could easily cause it to crack.
Basic Trim Crystals: 1 Crystal for two. Head sized chunks of crystal, similar to lift crystals, though of greater refinement. These produce directional gravity when powered, allowing a ship to make finer maneuvers. Like the basic lift crystal, these are power hungry and prone to fracture of used for rapid maneuverability.
Basic Webbing: 2 Silk per ream. Aethersilk webbing, designed to catch hold of aetheric currents and shunt them into a ship's core crystal. Particularly susceptible to fire from aetheric weapons, which will rapidly cause overloads that burn out whole sections of webbing.
Light Copper Ship Plating: 3 ore per section. Nearly pure copper plates, heavy, but with good thermal conductivity. Useful for spreading out the heat generated by an aether blast. Low melting point does mean that repeated impacts will melt the armor and set fire to the wood beneath.
Ship Hulls
Skyskiff 5 wood, 2 ore for one.
At her heart, the Skyskiff is an 18ft long frame of sleek timber and brass reinforcement, built from the ground up to be light on the air and quick to handle. Her basic design is quite old, dating back before the perfection of trim crystals, and she still sports a rudimentary mast that a sail can be run from in addition to the normal spars to run out web. In service, she's typically run by a crew of four. Two gunners who worked crouched in the middle of the ship, a pilot who spends their time practically laying on top of the core crystal in order to manipulate the power control, and the spotter who usually stands at the rear of the ship and calls out directions and threats. Generally, the captain of the vessel is the spotter, due to their superior vantage point and ability to see the entire local theatre.
A notable problem with the Skyskiff is that despite her speed, her web is cumbersome to replace, and without it she's painfully slow. In addition, both her Core Crystal and Her Lift Crystal slots are only designed to fit small crystals. Her small lift crystal means a lot of the burden for vertical maneuvers is still placed on the power hungry trim crystals, which in turn puts more demand on her small core. As a result, her shroud is weak, and a single light cannon blast will knock a hole in it. It still takes two or three more shots before her shroud will buckle entirely, but if another shot comes in the same spot swiftly enough- that's the end of the skiff. Except in the most fortunate of circumstances, a single cannon blast to an unshrouded skiff will destroy it.
She has no usable cargo capacity.
Armament
2 light cannon mounts. One on each side.
Requires:
1 Core Crystal (Up to Very Small in size)
1 Lift Crystal (Up to Very Small in size)
4 Trim Crystals
2 reams of webbing
Transport barge 7 wood, 2 ore for one.
In times of peace, this was the vessel most frequently seen going to and from Spires. She's little more than a wooden oval with a few metal bands designed to support the lift crystal. She's got capacity for crew and cargo, but she's quite slow when fully loaded, and her lack of significant trim crystals means that she can't maneuver with any speed. Her only real defense against attack is to dive down into the mist layer and hope that the attacking vessel loses her trail before the mistmaw comes lurking.
She can hold six units of cargo.
Armament
None
Requires:
1 Core Crystal (Up to small size)
1 Lift Crystal (Up to small size)
2 Trim Crystals
1 ream of webbing
Basic Dinghy (Special, used automatically by Marines to embark/disembark transports)
A very small boat, technically capable of transporting eight people as long as they aren't too broad, don't have a fear of heights, and their legs aren't too long. Her core crystal is about the size of a housecat, and kept powered by a fixed ventral web. She's solid wood, unarmed, and has the tendency to tip alarmingly as she doesn't actually use a lift crystal, but makes do entirely on a trio of small trim crystals. It's a slow and terrifying way to travel. Though she's the primary lifeboat of transports, your chances of survival are alarmingly small if you find yourself alone in a dingy .
When used by marines, she's typically crewed by five, with the squad leader acting as an extra member in every set of three boats. When going into a hostile spire, one marine steers, the other four act as spotters or (if one or more has a gauntlet or rifle) shooters. She's such a small vessel that it doesn't take more than a dozen gauntlet shots for her to break apart completely, and a single shot to her ventral web will (at best) cripple her.
Her core crystal is, technically, capable of generating a shroud. However, the limited energy the miniscule core crystal can process limits the crew to picking two of three options: Maintain Altitude control, maintain thrust, raise shroud. For obvious reasons, raising the shroud is something of a last resort. Worse, even when powered, the shroud can be penetrated by sustained gauntlet fire. This is to say nothing of a shot from a light cannon. The shroud will buckle completely after a single shot from a light cannon, though to its credit, that's one more cannon shot than the Dinghy would have survived normally.
Marines
Massed Fire and Charge: When engaging, Marines will bunch up to focus fire with their ranged weapons until they run out of ammunition or become too hot to use (depending on weapon type), at which point they will charge in with melee weapons.
Ships
Close Aggressively: Ships will attempt to close distance with enemy vessels and engage at close range, firing all cannons until the enemy is destroyed.
Hit and Run: Ships will attempt to ambush enemy vessels from either high above or far below. Instead of remaining in engagement distance after the first volley, the vessel will retain speed and attempt to disengage before turning for another pass.
Small Docks: Relatively simple affairs of wood jutting out into the void, capable of servicing a relatively small number of light craft. These docks are best suited to peace time usage, and are ill-equipped to service or build true warships. Light defensive cannons have been mounted in strategic positions, and will be upgraded automatically when needed.
Provides a single production line that can be used for any small or smaller production pattern.
Marine Academy: The basic and unaugmented marine academy, where men and women are transformed from milksop civilians into hardened marines.
Provides a single production line to be used ONLY on Marine production.
Production Patterns
Basic Marine Training: [Max: 25 | Rate: 2]
Generates Marine units at the spire. These marines are capable in hand-to-hand combat, but are not provided any initial weapons. You might want to buy them swords, at the very least.
Skyskiff Pattern A: [Max: 10 | Rate: 2]
Creates two Skyskiff units per turn, up to a max of 10. Each skyskiff is outfitted with
2 Light Aether Cannons.
1 Very Small Basic Core Crystal
1 Very Small Basic Lift Crystal
4 Trim Crystals
2 reams of webbing
Buyback cost: 9 crystal, 6 ore, 5 wood, 4 silk
Author
Topic: Arms Race: War of the Cinder Spires | Spire Kasgyr (Read 153725 times)