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[VoidSlayer]

What if we add an aetheric beam generator into a bronze sword?  The sword can dissipate some heat and be extra hot when slicing into the enemy, basically making a flaming sword!

[Kashyyk]

If we switched to crossbows, I wouldn't be surprised if Wreth had the same idea,  so what if we design some armour for our marines? A bronze breastplate and helmet would give a good level of survivability without impeding movement.

[helmacon]

I'm willing to +1 an infantry armor.

[VoidSlayer]

What about large shields instead?  Phalanx tactics seem like they would be useful inside the spires and they could block aether blasts without cooking soldiers alive.  A burned hand is better then third degree burns over half your body.

[Kashyyk]

You make a good point,  but a man cannot fire a crossbow if he's burned his hand,  just as much as he can't after full body burns.  He also can't if he's holding a shield. Armour will allow him to shoot back at the very least.

[VoidSlayer]

Design: Focus Crystal Cutting

Our current crystals for directing aetheric blasts in cannons produce a lot of heat and drain a ton of energy but have little power output for the effort.  The primary reason are imperfections, uneven surfaces, micro fractures and other faults, created by poor tools and cutting techniques.  By refining the manufacturing process we can make crystals that use the same energy and produce the same heat but have superior damage and range.

[helmacon]

Design: Spire top vats

It is well known that the aether is stronger the higher into the atmosphere you go. By building or Crystal vats at the highest points in the spires we can grow crystals under much better conditions. The resulting crystals are formed with a much greater attunment to the aether, allowing for much faster and more precise control. Additonaly, the crystals grow with far fewer natural flaws, and grow much faster.

Also
Design: deep spire forges
aether naturaly degrades our strongest materials, and while this can be prevented by coating then with copper or other substances, the initial foraging proccess will still suffer. The solution to this is to forge the materials where the aether is almost non existent, and coat them with protective metals before bringing them to the upper layers. This provides us with much stronger materials and equipment, and allows us to create much more complex designs with traditional metals.

Thoughts on future airships
thinking of aether craft as ship analogues is inherently wrong. A traditional ship is built to sail in water. It expects far greater resistance in specific areas over others. It is designed to overcome these resistances. Additonaly, when building a ship, if you decide to make it 2 feet longer, you can expect an additional two feet of contact with the water. 2 feet of  buoyant force pushing back on the hull. With an aether craft, you can not expect that. The only upwards force you receive is centralized in your lift Crystal. An ideal ship design would not be a long rectangle, but a circle centered around the lift Crystal, with trim crystals lining the edges. The deck extends an equal distance in all directions from the lift Crystal, maximising deck area and minimizing strain on the frame, allowing for larger ships and more efficient use of materials. The ideal ship frame should be either a half sphere or a squashed cylinder.
Your webbing should be extended down underneath the craft, to keep it from obscuring vision, and place it out of the way of enemy fire.
The end result would be something looking some what like a jellyfish, trailing long tendrils of webbing beneath it, with a circular base at the top.
It would be just as fast as a traditional ship, but sturdier and more adaptable.

[VoidSlayer]

The problem with a saucer shape is they will require more trim gems and have less surface area on any side.  Also the trim gems are closer to the center of mass/lift gem and so will have less effective force/torque on turning.  We could compensate for this with trim gems on every side but then the thing will need four times the trim gems for the same speed.

[Kashyyk]

Designs
Aetheric Trigun (3 dice) :
Bronze Helm and Breastplate (3 dice) : [1] Kashyyk
Focus Crystal Cutting (3 dice) :
Spire top vats (3 dice) :
Deep spire forges (3 dice) :

Projects:
Witch-Hunter Crossbow (1 die + 1 wood) : [1] Kashyyk
Medium Core Crystal (1 die + 4 crystal) : [1] Kashyyk
Hold a die for later : [1] Kashyyk

[helmacon]

I mean, if anybody actually wants to vote for those, sure, but mainly I was just putting the ideas out there.

Also @ VS. You are still thinking of it as a traditional ship. Turning a symmetrical circle ship does not require you to re orientate the ship as a normal ship would. You simply need to change to direction of movement.
You make a good point about needing more trim crystals though.
I think the main restriction on cannons is not "space on the deck" but "weight of the ship"

[Shadowclaw777]

While improved infantry armor that can later be expanded into our ships armor is very tempting, I still am thinking that developing a improved warship is what's going to win the day. If we lose the war in the air, than it will result in less fielded troops against the enemies. We can utilize the previously mentioned Crab Warship and currently allow it field with Basic Core Crystals, but later on once we finished the project of Medium Core Crystals to allow for more power consumption to be permitted and have larger power reserves. Also the ship will provide a very important alpha strike with our refined cooling light cannons.

Also maybe we can develop better infantry armor next turn and have them be usable next combat round. If we don't attempt at a warship this turn, than it can't be deployed for this combat phase. Which will be very problematic.

Designs
Aetheric Trigun (3 dice) :
Bronze Helm and Breastplate (3 dice) : [1] Kashyyk
Focus Crystal Cutting (3 dice) :
Spire top vats (3 dice) :
Deep spire forges (3 dice) :
Crab Class SotL (3 dice): [1] Shadowclaw

Projects:
Witch-Hunter Crossbow (1 die + 1 wood) : [1] Kashyyk, Shadowclaw
Medium Core Crystal (1 die + 4 crystal) : [1] Kashyyk, Shadowclaw
Hold a die for later : [1] Kashyyk, Shadowclaw

[somemildmanneredidiot]

Designs
Aetheric Trigun (3 dice) :
Bronze Helm and Breastplate (3 dice) : [1] Kashyyk
Focus Crystal Cutting (3 dice) :
Spire top vats (3 dice) :
Deep spire forges (3 dice) :
Crab Class SotL (3 dice): [2] Shadowclaw, SMMI

Projects:
Witch-Hunter Crossbow (1 die + 1 wood) : [2] Kashyyk, Shadowclaw
Medium Core Crystal (1 die + 4 crystal) : [2] Kashyyk, Shadowclaw
Hold a die for later : [2] Kashyyk, Shadowclaw

[Kashyyk]

The issue is how many things we want to be doing next turn.

We'll want to finish the crystal, crossbows (if they somehow aren't done this turn) plus revise the skyskiff production line to use the kettle guns.  That's likely going to be three dice if not more, not including the thing we start work on this turn. If it's a ship it is bound to cost multiple dice worth of effort, which is why I wanted it to be the first thing we designed.

We'll also want to produce at least a couple of transports and equipment for our marines, which will all cost resources that would compete with the ship project and its manufacture.

I think a bunch of small designs is best, as that's the path we've chosen for the pre-war phase. With them we can get some rapid expansion that'll allow us to acquire a load of resources, which we can then spend on bigger projects. Doing half a long project will just put us behind.

[Happerry]

Designs
Aetheric Trigun (3 dice) :
Bronze Helm and Breastplate (3 dice) : [2] Kashyyk, Happerry
Focus Crystal Cutting (3 dice) :
Spire top vats (3 dice) :
Deep spire forges (3 dice) :
Crab Class SotL (3 dice): [2] Shadowclaw, SMMI

Projects:
Witch-Hunter Crossbow (1 die + 1 wood) : [3] Kashyyk, Shadowclaw, Happerry
Medium Core Crystal (1 die + 4 crystal) : [3] Kashyyk, Shadowclaw, Happerry
Hold a die for later : [3] Kashyyk, Shadowclaw, Happerry

[Jerick]

I disagree with the crab warship idea. I think we should focus on improving our fundamental technologies first. Things like power crystals and lift crystals will be the backbone of most of our ships and technology throughout the game and the earlier we can improve them the earlier we can get better ships. If we outpace them with these core technologies we'll be able to field ships they simply cannot match.

In terms of warship tactics, I think we should focus on small, fast hit and run vessels. In the early game at least, the silk webbing will be very vulnerable so even a larger ship can be taken down pretty easily by a couple of hits. Which is why we should build multiple smaller vessels to begin with, rather than trying to jump straight to a big clumsy warship. Our kettle guns work very well with a doctrine of hit and run attacks.

On infantry weapons; if we neglect airship tech we cannot win, if we neglect infantry tech we will lose. Airships play no role in combat once troops have landed and keeping troops from landing is difficult. It is important that we stay ahead in terms of infantry weapons perhaps moreso than in the sky.

Designs
Aetheric Trigun (3 dice) :
Bronze Helm and Breastplate (3 dice) : [3] Kashyyk, Happerry, Jerick
Focus Crystal Cutting (3 dice) :
Spire top vats (3 dice) :
Deep spire forges (3 dice) :
Crab Class SotL (3 dice): [2] Shadowclaw, SMMI

Projects:
Witch-Hunter Crossbow (1 die + 1 wood) : [4] Kashyyk, Shadowclaw, Happerry, Jerick
Medium Core Crystal (1 die + 4 crystal) : [4] Kashyyk, Shadowclaw, Happerry, Jerick
Hold a die for later : [4] Kashyyk, Shadowclaw, Happerry, Jerick