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[Kashyyk]

I suggested this one a little while back. Obviously, feel free to tear it apart and design a better one though.

[Taricus]

Halving the power of an already light gun leaves us dangerously undergunned compared to the Wrethi guns. While I could support such a version for infantry use, we need a more powerful gun for our ships, not less.

[somemildmanneredidiot]

Alas, due to the necessity of the piping we aren't able to make revolver cannons out of our existing Kettleguns, so rotary cannons it is.

I suggested this one a little while back. Obviously, feel free to tear it apart and design a better one though.

I missed that entirely. The design reads effective to me, but as far as I can tell weapon crystals aren't a thing, so as long as we have 3 water canisters to rotate with the barrels we shouldn't need to worry about stressing anything, so running it at half power shouldn't be needed. If you can post a varient that fires at full power, I'd vote for it.

[Taricus]

The barrel heat is the main issue though, so a revolver cannon isn't going to help much. A fully water-cooled design with a single chamber and barrel would sustain far more shots than trying to use our existing cooling on a different action like a gatling gun or revolver cannon.

[FallacyofUrist]

Thing is, revolving cannons actually do help with heat.

Each time a barrel fires, it moves and has time to cool down while another barrel takes the shot.

[somemildmanneredidiot]

A rotary cannon aka a gatling gun involves changing the barrel while firing, which is what I was saying about how revolver cannons wouldn't work for us.

Doing some quick research, the original Maxim, Vickers, and Gatling all had similar rates of fire, so I am unable to determine what would be most effective to commit to. As we already have partially water cooled barrels, I can only guess that the relative improvement between going fully water cooled and going rotary would favor rotary. If we are able to change the coolant swiftly enough, the former may provide a longer period of attack compared to the rotary's potential higher rate of initial fire, but our current tactics favor short engagements anyway so that might be a moot point.

Ideally, we would combine the two methods but that would likely just make it intensely overengineered.

Thing is, revolving cannons actually do help with heat.

Each time a barrel fires, it moves and has time to cool down while another barrel takes the shot.

You're thinking rotary, not revolving. Revolving Cannons are like Revolver Pistols, in that the revolution is of the ammo.

[FallacyofUrist]

Ah.

A revolver cannon would still be an improvement, though. Faster firing times due to not needing to reload after every shot.

That said, heat does seem to be more of an issue. I think.

[somemildmanneredidiot]

We should be able to arrange for our water canisters to be more easily exchangable with the rotary system, if we don't just use a revolver system combined with the rotary system.

[Kashyyk]

as far as I can tell weapon crystals aren't a thing

Well then!

Aetheric Hydraulic Repeater Cannon "Vanguard"
Designed to fit the same mount as the Kettlegun, this weapon implements the Hydraulic Cooling mechanism High Command expressed interest in four years ago. It consists of a single weapons crystal, along with three barrels designed to rotate such that each barrel in turn lines up with the crystal. The hydraulic cooling (powered by a water pump), is responsible for the rotation of the barrels, but a hand crank is included in case manual action is required. The cannon is designed to fire once every two seconds, with each barrel being used once every six. As the weapon fires three times as fast, the overall heat generation is obviously also three times greater. Thus, the cannon comes with two slots for water canisters, both used for drawing water through the cannon before being deposited back into the canister. The pipes to each canister can be turned off with a simple valve, allowing an attendant to replace a canister whilst the cannon is active. The pumping system draws water from the available canister(s) through the body of the cannon and down the central spoke of the barrels, before splitting in three and moving down the outside of each barrel. Once the barrels lock in place for the next shot the pipes will be inline for returning to the canisters, but some water loss at this point is expected.

The most difficult parts here will be the hydraulic cooling and rotary barrels, but they are both logical next steps based on our current technology.

[Taricus]

Hydraulic cooling won't be that particularly useful. More to the point, a single barrel system would be easier to make and likely cheaper as well, which is something to take into consideration. The canisters need to also be able to be refilled if they are going to be useful at all, and a loading and feed mechanism for them will make the gun more expensive and difficult to manufacture.

[Kashyyk]

Command expressed an interest in it, so unless Draig is feeding us false leads for giggles I'm inclined to believe it's a good direction to take. Multiple barrels will also make cooling easier, and will not cost any more if designed well. The canisters are removable in the original kettlegun, just like the copper heat sinks before that, and so it should be simple to continue that feature forwards.

[somemildmanneredidiot]

We might want to try to set up a speedloader system, allowing us to exchange multiple canisters at once. We might also want to have 3 water canisters instead of 2, to allow for longer firing in case of emergencies and to allow for more time to reload between needing to cycle back to the original canister. Of course, we could also aim for a 6 canister system and not need to worry about exchanging them at all during combat.

Hydraulic cooling won't be that particularly useful. More to the point, a single barrel system would be easier to make and likely cheaper as well, which is something to take into consideration. The canisters need to also be able to be refilled if they are going to be useful at all, and a loading and feed mechanism for them will make the gun more expensive and difficult to manufacture.

Fair points on ease of manufacture and cost. Currently, I don't expect this to cost much more than 3 Kettleguns while operating in a similarly sized package, maybe 4 Kettleguns worth of cost. And while expensive, it'll allow us to pack a much strong punch on a smaller sized package, allowing us to solidly and consistently outgun Wreth, at least until we all start researching longer ranges of Aether Guns. So basically I'm saying that the price should be worth it.

Edit:
Buy some apples

[Taricus]

Well, I think it's more an interest in the gun having better performance and water cooling in general, rather than the specific method. Besides, by having a system where it can be refilled easily, and potentially with our own piss, means that our ships can devote less space to supplying the guns and more for everything else we need on the ship, like spare parts. Logistics is something we should also take into consideration.

@SMMI: That's is WAY too expensive to be effective. We need a system that's 3 guns cost at moist, and ideally at the cost of two guns. We get that at that level and we'll have an advantage for sure.

[somemildmanneredidiot]

As it would be offering up to three times the rate of fire for a minimum of the same amount of firing time, I feel like it would be effective. But you have a fair point that logistics and actual costs are important to account for.

Also, join the GM approved Discord

[Draignean]

It is now the Production, Deployment, and Tactics Phase.
When deploying ships and marines, please specify their active tactic. If you do not, I will continue using their tactic from the previous round.

You will automatically produce 2 skiffs this turn.
You will automatically produce 2 marines this turn.

Spoiler: Map (click to show/hide)

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

Blackstone
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: 2/4 | 0/4
Resources: 1C, 5O, 2W, 0S
Conditions: Rocky, large caverns, very dark

The Hive
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

Glowcove
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: 2/4 | 0/4
Resources: 1C, 2O, 6W, 1S
Conditions: Verdant galleries, significant bio-luminescence


The Belt

Three 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 Mountain
Marine 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 Unfinished
Marine Presence: K 0/45 |  W ?/45
Territory: 0/4 | ?/4
Resources: 8C, 0O, 6W, 2S
Conditions: Unfinished infrastructure, Massive open rooms and halls.

Spoiler: Ships (click to show/hide)

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: Wrethan Leftmost Demi-Spire
Status: Shipshape

[spoiler=Ships]
Skiffs With No Name - Skyskiff Class (x2)
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: Spire Kasgyre
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: 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: Spire Kasgyre
Status: Shipshape

Spoiler: Infantry (click to show/hide)

Marines x13

Spoiler: Misc. Equip (click to show/hide)

Medium Core Crystal, x1
Viper Hull, x1

Spire Kasgyre's production stands at,
11/y Crystal, 33/55 Banked
10/y Ore, 24/50 banked
11/y Wood, 21/55 banked
9/y Silk, 29/45 banked