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[Kashyyk]

I'm labouring under the completely unfounded assumption that a crystal's power is based on it's volume, thus the size increase from small to medium is cubed to get the resultant power output.

Thus, a ship twice the size of a skiff will be eight times as powerful. If reality is even remotely like this assumption, I think a larger ship is thus definitely worth investing in.

[Jerick]

helmacon makes some excellent points. We've damaged two of their transports and killed some of their starting marines this is great for us in the long run. We've severely limited their early capturing potential and they can't possibly have landed anything on their local spires. The earliest they can land troops on their local demi spires is next turn. Provided there are no surprises we'll have two of our demi-spires secured for a full two turns before they can secure anything, to say nothing of the resource cost of repairing the damaged transports. The only way around this for them is for them to spend precious resources on more transports. Also if we can convince them to dedicate their infantry forces to the belt next turn rather than securing their local spires our future resource advantage will last even longer. Hence I think we should push with our infantry in order to make the most of what we have achieved in the opening battles.

To this end I am proposing spending a dice on a new tactic; Stealthy Insertion
A spire is extremely tall and it is almost impossible to patrol the area around one completely. This tactic instructs captains to fly low and close to the mists in an effort to avoid detection. Once the transport has reached the spire it finds an unguarded access point and unloads the marines quietly and stealthly before retreating from the spire.

Hopefully, we can use this tactic to land troops on the belt spires without immediately being noticed and be able to use those troops to contest the belt spires (or even one of the belt spires) which will likely cause the cursed Wrethians to send reinforcements. During the revision phase, I plan to use a revision to combine stealthy insertion and hit and run into a unified ambush tactic where our forces attack from both above and below catching the enemy between them and finishing them with a proper engagement. After the opening engagements, the enemy will likely be looking up for skyskiffs diving down on them so let's use any such expectations against them.

Also modifying the Corvette design for a more frontal attack is something I'd certainly be in favour of but regardless of it's changed or not I think a new better hull is a must.

Now if we want to go infantry tactics I vote we go full sneaky bastard guerilla with it. Our crossbows are much quieter than rifles and lend them well to quiet sneaky tactics.
Infantry Ambush Tactics
Marines forces don't focus on holding terrirtory in the spire instead they focus on stealthly whitling down the enemy numbers by picking off isolated groups with quiet weapons or coordinated ambushes on larger groups of enemies. Marine forces are to be encouraged in this doctrine to take weapons and equipment of fallen enemies to supplment their own supplies.
Basically it's a tactic where we can deploy a bunch of marines where we mightn't be able to directly supply and leave them to cause merry hell on the enemy. If our objective is simply dening them a capture like in the belt this tactic should work brilliantly and hey we might even be able to recover some enemy infantry equipment to suppliment our own stores.

Leftmost Spire Name:
[1] Orevein: Shadowclaw
[4] Blackstone: Kashyyk, Taricus, Blueturtle, Jerick
Rightmost Spire Name:
[1] Lumberock: Shadowclaw
[4] Glowcove: Kashyyk, Taricus, Blueturtle, Jerick

Plans:
[1] Corvette Hull(3 dice) + Tri-Crystal(1 die + 4 crystal) + Hold 2 dice : Kashyyk
[2] Corvette Hull(3 dice) + Hold 3 dice :  Taricus, Jerick
[2] Crystal Linings (3 dice) + Tri-Crystal (1 die + 4 crystal) + Infantry Tactics (unspecified, 1 die) + Hold 1 dice: Helmacon, Blueturtle

Designs:
Aetheric Hydraulic Repeater Cannon "Vanguard"
Crystal Linings (Longtrim for name maybe?)
Corvette Class Hull

[Draignean]

I'm labouring under the completely unfounded assumption that a crystal's power is based on it's volume, thus the size increase from small to medium is cubed to get the resultant power output.

Thus, a ship twice the size of a skiff will be eight times as powerful. If reality is even remotely like this assumption, I think a larger ship is thus definitely worth investing in.

Though that would normally be an excellent assumption, it's not true. Mostly in order to prevent runaway costs one one end of the spectrum, and clear advantages to a certain class or size on the other.

If the core progress increased by exponential factors, their costs would increase be similar numbers. For instance, the power of a core crystal increases in cost by a cubic while its cost increase by a quadratic, then the medium core would cost 36, and the large core would cost 1296- at ballpark. You might be able to by medium core crystals, but then you run into an interesting problem. If the small core crystal, can block, say 8 light cannon shots, then the medium should be able to block 512 (8^3), right?

You see the problem. Exponents are a PITA to work with and balance.

In general, a crystal will will several multiples more costly, and several multiples more powerful, but the progression isn't as simple or as radical as a doubling of each dimension.

EDIT:

As a PSA, do not vote for you revisions and designs at the same time. Splits votes too many ways. For example, the plan that Jerick is voting for is functionally identical to Taric's, which means I come  down to this really messy point where I have to choose between the letter of your votes or the spirit of your votes.

Don't make me make choices. You wouldn't like me when I make choices.

[Jerick]

Right sorry, for some reason I forgot that tactics are revisions rather than full designs. I'll edit that, give me a moment.

Still doesn't fix the split in the votes though. And in other news Nuke in the core thread has let slip that they lost a few guys in three captains. I wonder how many?

[Kashyyk]

Personally, I think finishing the tri-crystal would be better done now than later, as we can afford the delay if we fail our progress roll this turn. Jerick/Taricus, care to convince me otherwise?

And Helmacon/blueturtle, what makes the longtrim crystals a better choice than the corvette?

[Jerick]

Indeed we can afford the delay, in fact the crystal only becomes useful when we have to mount it in. The Corvette hull will likely take a couple of turns of progress to complete whereas the crystal is on the cusp of being finished. It grants us no benefit to finishing it now. However that last battle reveal numerous short comings with our forces that need to be rectified quickly and for that we need dice.

[Kashyyk]

Is it just tactics you want to work on, or equipment revisions as well?

[helmacon]

Long trim will be applicable to any ships we make in the future. It's also a first step towards shaped crystals, which are all kinds of useful.

Despite what it looks, the engagement went in our favour. We were out numbered. The transports may not have been shooting at us, but they were soaking up shots that could have been frying additional skiffs. Now that the numbers are even, I recommend we re engage at the 3 captains.

[Jerick]

Is it just tactics you want to work on, or equipment revisions as well?

Mostly fixing our tactics but I'm sure many people here have some good ideas for equipment revisions that'll help keep the Wrethians at bay while we develop the Corvette.

[Draignean]

DM Admission: Did a bit of a tech-check on you guys. I made a mistake on your Witch-Hunter. The draw weight for that bow is based on the wrong bow. Specifically, I had a shitload of tabs open and I based it and I got my columns mixed up. To get the same performance in the Victorian era, your crossbow has to have a draw weight of ~650 pounds. Because you're using a cranequin, and because I fucked up originally, it doesn't actually change anything, but if you're worried about the numbers- that's it.

[Taricus]

Putting all our guns forward when we don't have turrets is a bad idea; it leaves the ship vulnerable to flanking and means in order to get the firepower onto the enemy we have to be pointed stright at them. Not something we should be doing unless we get much stronger hulls for ramming.

Long trim could well be accomplished in a revision though Helmacon, it seems pointless to use three dice on it as a design when we do need larger ships with more firepower now.

[blueturtle1134]

Long trim could well be accomplished in a revision though Helmacon, it seems pointless to use three dice on it as a design when we do need larger ships with more firepower now.

I disagree; growing long crystals is waaay different than growing round crystals and revisions are only to correct a flaw in the original design, not improve it by changing it.

[Taricus]

Then we can save it for another time then; we won't be able to update our skiffs easily with the new crystals. We need to revise the ones they have to match the Wrethi skiffs.

[Kashyyk]

Leftmost Spire Name:
[1] Orevein: Shadowclaw
[4] Blackstone: Kashyyk, Taricus, Blueturtle, Jerick
Rightmost Spire Name:
[1] Lumberock: Shadowclaw
[4] Glowcove: Kashyyk, Taricus, Blueturtle, Jerick

Plans:
[] Corvette Hull(3 dice) + Tri-Crystal(1 die + 4 crystal) + Hold 2 dice :
[3] Corvette Hull(3 dice) + Hold 3 dice :  Taricus, Jerick, Kashyyk
[2] Crystal Linings (3 dice) + Tri-Crystal (1 die + 4 crystal) + Infantry Tactics (unspecified, 1 die) + Hold 1 dice: Helmacon, Blueturtle

Designs:
Aetheric Hydraulic Repeater Cannon "Vanguard"
Crystal Linings (Longtrim for name maybe?)
Corvette Class Hull

Okay. I think that having a new hull will be of greater benefit to our situation, despite being more costly for us.

[NAV]

True, having all the guns pointed forward isn't good because it leaves the sides and back vulnerable. So yes, we should add a couple to the back and sides for defense.

An airship with cannons in the front simply has double the firepower than a normal ship of the same cost. And it is much easier to maneuver to point your ship's front at the enemy that it's sides. And, it can actually make good use of our hit and run tactics.

Ramming isn't really a concern if your ship can turn effectively.

Pointing the cannons to the side makes it a better defender. Side cannons aren't even that useful for defense though when you're fighting in a 3d space and the enemy can come from above or below. Pointing cannons in front makes it better for attacking.




Arrowhead class corvette.
The arrowhead corvette is a ship shaped, unsurprisingly, like an arrowhead.
It has 10 cannons pointed forward for attacking (along the blades of the arrowhead), and a few more pointed backwards and to the sides as point defense.

The ship is as fast and streamlined as reasonably possible. Designed to make use of our hit and run tactics but on a larger scale with more firepower. It can support light plating on the front.