BlackstoneThe Transport and the Anguis are able to travel to Three Captains without issue.
Three CaptainsFor a little while it seems as though it might be almost peaceful at the Three Captains. The Hermes transport is able to successfully dock at a cave opening held by friendly soldiers and disgorge fresh soldiers. It's not a massive reinforcement, but every bit helps.
The attack comes later.
The captain of the Serpentis gets an inkling of what's to come as his men report seeing spots in or near clouds- not enough to engage on, but enough to be wary of. The attack itself comes out of the sun, much as the Kasgyrite's own initial raids had done. four Wreth ships, three skiffs and one new vessel, dive from above at breakneck speed. The new vessel is similar in layout to a skiff, a long graceful oval with a sloped belly and a single deck. her webbing spars are particularly long, and focused heavily in the rear of the vessel. Her hull is covered in a skin of shining copper, and she appears to have a belt of additional armor around her midline.
She's also damn fast.
The new vessel and her trio of escorting skiffs strike from the sky like lightning, getting off their initial volley before any Kasgyrite vessel has a chance to raise shroud. Both the Serpentis and the Anguis get damn lucky, only taking web strikes from the initial volley, but the Hermes takes a pair of critical impacts. Two shots from the Wreth lead vessel's four-gun broadside smash into her, blowing unexpectedly large holes in her structure.
The three attacking Wreth vessels then zoom off, leading the scratched Serpentis and the Anguis on a merry chase. Problematically, both the Skiffs and the Larger vessel are faster in a straight line than the Viper, and the Viper captains are too busy issuing pursuit orders and raising shroud to issue an effective counter barrage. They give a good chase, and the new Wreth vessel appears to lack guns in the stern, but they simply can't catch up.
Which is when the second trio of skiffs dives from above, not at the Vipers, but at the damaged transport they left behind. Calling that engagement a 'fight' would be an overstatement. Focused on their prey ahead, the Viper captains don't realize what's happening behind them until the Herme's shroud buckles in a spray of sparks. At that point it's far, far too late to do anything but watch as the second pair of skiffs sends the remains of the transport to the surface in a burning heap.
With the transport down, the three new skiffs move in and the the group the Vipers are chasing circle back to engage fully. Which is when the battle truly begins. The new Wrethan vessel has a ten gun total, same as the Viper, four on each broadside and two on the bow. Her cannon shot, however, hits like a suckerpunch. Kasgyrite captains have gotten used to Wreth cannons having a slight edge, but this is massive, with each shot seeming to carry at least half again as much power.
The skiffs are a constant annoyance, and the Kasgyrite vessels find themselves on the defensive more often than not. The Wreth skiffs exploit their superior maneuverability in order to whip cannon fire at the sides of the Vipers, staying away from its lethal front, while the enemy corvette keeps trying to edge under the Vipers, below the angle which they can tilt down and still allow the crew to keep their footing.
Heavens have mercy on the Serpentis, and despite operating for a sustained period at peak levels, her core does not desynchronize. Which is good news. Both Vipers are well designed to hit with concentrated bursts of firepower, which likely allow the pair to easily overmatch the Wreth vessel in a straight fight. The Wreth vessel is also substantially heavier in the air, and while her maximum forward speed outstrips the Viper, she's not as maneuverable laterally (though she's capable of striking sudden climbs and dives) and her inertia makes her movements easier to predict.
In the end, it's the six Wreth skiffs that present the biggest problem. Without any orders on target prioritization, the Viper captains constantly divert their firing orders onto the skiffs. The skiffs themselves are difficult to down to the slow speed of turret rotation combined with the Viper's own evasive maneuvers, and most volleys aimed at skiffs miss. Of course, on the occasion when they hit, the effects are devastating. Four skiffs are killed in this manner, but not before they severely weaken the shroud of both Vipers.
The fight with the new Wreth vessel highlights a weakness of the Viper's design, and that's that it tends to take all the enemy's weapon impacts with its face. While her shroud is strong, it doesn't take too many (about 9) frontal impacts from the new vessel's powerful cannon to open a hole in a Viper's shroud. While there was designed to be armor there for just that eventuality, that was an optional that neither the Serpentis nor the Anguis gained.
As the fight draws to a close, shrouds grow holes on both sides. The bizzare thing about the Wreth vessel is that the holes are not consistent. While it appears to only take a full volley to breach their shroud, there's often an odd flicker and the hole vanishes. Later in the fight, Viper captains notice there appear to be two 'sets' of holes, as though they're firing into two separate shrouds. Regardless, the new Wreth vessel is the first ship to experience a fully buckled shroud. The Serpentis strikes it down in a shower of sparks, and the Anguis hits it with part of a follow-up frontal assault. The shots slag a section of the new vessel's belt armor, but the retaliation broadside hits the less maneuverable Anguis square on the nose. Two shots go wide, and two hit squarely. The first smashes a wide hole in the front of the Anguis' shroud, and the second strikes the lower port section of the forward gunnery.
The shot itself rips a quarter off the Anguis' jaw, and the sympathetic explosions from cannons exploding rips apart the entire lower gun deck, obliterates half her forward trim crystals, and starts countless internal fires. To their absolute credit, the men on the top deck keep firing their four guns with composure of discipline.
Seconds later, before the hot and dry Viper cannons can manage another barrage, the shroud around the Wreth vessel pops back up, though in a tattered and disheveled state. She's lost a lot of web, and that last barrage tore open her side armor, but she rotates freely in the air to present her undamaged face to the pair of vipers. Her skiff escorts continue harrassing, distracting the already badly damaged viper into a spin that scatters embers from its nose. Sheer saturation of fire causes the Serpentis' shroud to buckle completely on the salvo from the new vessel, though nothing managed to get through
The Serpentis stays on task and delivers another full barrage into the shroud of the large Wreth vessel, ripping a hole in the damaged material and putting two shots into the armor and one blast firmly across into a deck guns. It's not much, but it's enough to buy time to back off and reevaluate. Hopefully, the enemy ships will decide to do the same.
All do, except for one- a particularly annoying skiff that seems both excessively tough and maneuverable compared to others of its kin. It managed to put a pair of aether cannon blasts into the spine of the Serpentis, burning its core web and setting the spectacularly on fire. Thankfully, the tail cannons of the Anguis manage to catch the offending skiff, and though the double blast isn't enough to pierce its shroud, its enough to burn its web to cinders and prevent it from giving chase.
Inside the SpireThe conflict inside the spire is... well, lacking in conflict. After the reinforcements are brought up to speed, the Wreth line is pressed firmly.
Which causes it to give rather anti-climactically.
Wreth troops have clearly pulled back from this region, which allows the Kasgyrite infantry to mostly advance freely. It's rather a nice change of pace.
Confirmed Kills: 4 wreth Skyskiffs
Enemy Damaged Vessels: One unknown ship, compromised broadside armor, compromised webbing, down 1 gun.
Friendly Damage Vessels: RKNV Anguis: Three destroyed trim webs, four destroyed LACs, heavy structural damage.
RKNV Serpentis: Minor Structural Damage, Compromised Webbing.
Losses: The Hermes
Kasgyrite Marines have gained ground at the Three Captains!
The UnfinishedThere's no one here- which is rather spooky in and of itself. There definitely was a Wreth presence here once, but there's nothing here now. Now ships, no infrastructure suggesting the Wreth took the Spire, nothing. The Unfinished Spire still looms out of the fog, a mute half-skeleton, not quite brought to Life by the builders, and clearly not claimed by the Wreth.
The Skiff hightails out of that creepy place as soon as possible.
Spyre KasgyreTwo additional squads of marines have been trained at Spire Kasgyre, and two new skiffs have been completed.
In addition, the frames for two new Viper class warships of have been laid in.
It is the Beginning of the year 358AR.
Spire Kasgyre's production stands at,
13/y Crystal, 31/65 Banked
17/y Ore, 20/85 banked
19/y Wood, 25/95 banked
10/y Silk, 38/50 banked
It is now the design and project maintenance phase. You have five dice to spend.
Viper Production Line: 1/45 | 7C + 5O + 5W + 2S, +15 From any combination of any resource | Rushed 0 Times | Nothing Invested
Vanguard Cannon: 9/18 | 2 Ore, 2 Crystal | Rushed 1 Times | 4 Ore, 4 Crystal Invested
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: 4/4 | 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: 4/4 | 0/4
Resources: 1C, 2O, 6W, 1S
Conditions: Verdant galleries, significant bio-luminescence
The BeltThree Captains Marine Presence: K 2/20 | W ?/20
--->Marine unit 1: Bronze armour (Squad Officer), Aethersilk vest (Team Leaders), Crossbows (full squad), Aether Gauntlet (1 per fireteam)
---> Marine unit 4: Bronze armour (Squad Officer), Aethersilk vest (Team Leaders), Crossbows (1 per team), Cutlass (full squad)
--->Marine unit 1b: Bronze armour (Squad Officer), Aethersilk vest (Team Leaders), Crossbows (full squad), Aether Gauntlet (1 per fireteam)
--->Marine unit 2b: Aethersilk vest (Squad Officer), Crossbows (full squad), Aether Gauntlet (1 per fireteam)
Territory: 2/4 | ?/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 (x5)
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: Glowcove
Status: Shipshape
RKNV Serpintus - Viper Class (x1)
Loadout
10 Light Aether Cannons+ (Kettlegun) [OUTDATED].
1 Medium Core Crystal [OUTDATED]
1 Small Basic Lift Crystal
12 Trim Webs
6 reams of webbing [[DAMAGE: Compromised Webbing | 6 Silk to fix]]
Location: Three Captains
Status: Damaged
RKNV Anguis - Viper Class (x1)
Loadout
10 Light Aether Cannons+ (Kettlegun) [[DAMAGE: Destroyed Guns | Four of the guns on the lower bow assembly are destroyed. 4 C, 4 O to fix.]]
1 Medium Core Crystal
1 Small Basic Lift Crystal
6 Trim Webs / 6 Trim Crystals [[DAMAGE: Frontal section damage, 1 Trim web and 2 trim crystals have been destroyed. 3 Crystal, 1 O to fix]]
6 reams of webbing
Location: Blackstone
Status: [[DAMAGE: Heavy Structural Damage| 5 W, 2 O to fix.]]
Mercury - Transport Barge
Loadout
1 Small Basic Core Crystal
1 Small Basic Lift Crystal
2 Trim Crystals
1 reams of webbing
Carrying: 0/6
Location: Spire Kasgyre
Status: Shipshape
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
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.
---> Further Modifications allow the cannon's water reserve to be refilled during combat. Still, this is a delicate operation that requires a degree of platform stability, provides at best one additional reload in a combat situation, and cannot be done at all on skiffs.
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.
Medium Core Crystal: [18 Crystal] Three small core crystals, fused together in a propietary process. While it shares the inefficiencies of its smaller cousins, she's approximately four times more powerful. Under stress, there is a chance that the core crystal will desynchronize, greatly reducing its power output. A desynchronized core can only be fixed by a refit action at the home spire.
---> Medium core crystals now come with a suite of tools designed to monitor its state and resynchronize it in the event something goes wrong. However, the monitoring tools are so effective that an engineer who is familiar with the 'heartbeat' of the core he or she works with can virtually eliminate any chance of desynchronization.
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.
Trim Web: Cost 1 Crystal, 1 ore, 3 wood to substitute for 2 trim crystals. A trim web essentially spreads out the power of a single trim crystal throughout a dozen or more smaller crystals networked together. While this network is of essentially equal power to a single trim crystal, it's ability to spread force out over a larger area allows for much higher acceleration without cracking the crystal. Sadly, it currently needs extensive and custom refit procedures relative to standard trim crystals.
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
Viper Corvette:12 wood, 5 ore for one.
A fifty foot long frame of wood and bronze reinforcement, her unusual structure reminiscent of the head of a pit viper. She's designed with forward firepower and incredible speed in mind, featuring eight bow mounts and two aft mounts, all of which integrate the mechanical hand-crank system to aim the cannons. She has a notable ability to keep up a good fight even when all of the webbing outside her shroud has been disabled.
She has no usable cargo capacity.
Armament
10 light cannon mounts | 8 in the bow 2 aft.
Armor
None intrinsic
Can mount two sections of armor on the head.
Requires:
1 Core Crystal (At least small, up to medium)
1 Lift Crystal (At least small, up to medium)
4/8/12 Trim Crystals for poor/avg/good performace
6 reams of webbing
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.
Defensive Fire: Instead of firing until charging, Marines will look for defensive positions, take cover, and then fire when able from behind said defensive positions. Includes methods for both staggered retreats and staggered advances.
Ambush+Stealth: Currently an abysmal failure of a strategic plan, as soldiers usually blow the ambush much to early and engage on first contact.
Flanking Tactics: Up to four squads of marines can be selected to work together and perform a flanking maneuver. One to three squads will attempt to engage the enemy, while the remaining squads will attempt to find a different venue of attack. The number of squads involved could be increased at a later date.
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.
Airborne Ambush Maneuvers: Similar to hit and run, except with slightly more refined tactics. The fleet using this maneuver will attempt to form a simultaneous two pronged attack from both above and below, and will remain to engage the enemy after the initial onslaught.
Gun Swivels: Rudimentary swivel mounts operated by hand cranks. These represent a first effort in the field, and are scarcely more effective than manual movement for light guns, except when trying to aim for a very precise point when still, but they can carry a decent amount of weight and serve as a reasonable proof of concept.
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
Skyskiff Pattern B: [Max: 7 | Rate: 1]
Creates one Skyskiff units per turn, up to a max of 7. Each skyskiff is outfitted with
2 Light Aether Cannons.
1 Very Small Basic Core Crystal
1 Very Small Basic Lift Crystal
4 Trim Webs
2 reams of webbing
Buyback cost: 9 crystal, 8 ore, 11 wood, 4 silk
Author
Topic: Arms Race: War of the Cinder Spires | Spire Kasgyr (Read 152061 times)