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[Draignean]

Three Captains

The full fleet moves to Three Captains in order to escort the relief mission, but the journey is not without incident. All seems well at first. The scout reports that the Wrethan fleet appears to have cleared out, leaving the Spire undefended and the airspace clear. The air is quiet, too quiet.

By the time the scout spotted the enemy skiff pair diving, it was too late to get off more than the briefest of flashsign warnings. The pair was fast, meteorically so, and they focused the full power of their attack run on Mercury and the Artemis- ignoring the combat vessels. Their cannons were clearly of the stronger variant of Wreth aetherics. A single well focused pair of shouts burned a hole in the Artemis shrouds, and a near graze through the same hole burned a scar along her hull.

Counterfire, with the aid of the scouts, was less effective than anticipated. Despite taking several impacts, the Wreth skiff shrouds held. A web burning shot slowed one on approach, but the second zoomed on by after its attack run. The one slowed attempted to follow at its reduced pace, and took more shots at transports instead of attempting to defend itself. The pursuit action against the pair was swift, but would have been greatly elongated were it not for the Natalie skiff. The slowed skyskiff was easy enough prey for the other skiffs and the cannons of the vipers, but its partner demonstrated remarkable maneuverability and the ability to out-speed every member of the fleet. Every member of the fleet, save the Natalie.

 The Natalie, with her upgraded crystals, is it's match in every way- with the exception of acceleration, at which she appears slightly superior. However, this strength is limited somewhat by the fact that the fullest use of her acceleration is actually a hindrance to her crew, which are forced to abandon labor and grip lifelines when the pilot pushes the vessel's limit. Still, with the enemy's shroud reduced by the defensive fire, the Natalie's cannons make relatively short work of it.

Which is when the second pair of Wrethan skiffs dives. As upgraded as the first pair, they move while the fleet is still out of position from dealing with the first wave, again aiming solely for the transports. Interestingly, this actually makes defensive fire from the vipers somewhat more effective, as they no longer have to angle quite as steeply to brings guns to bear, but the increase in range makes that advantage small. The focused fire from the new pair of Wrethan skiffs buckles the shroud of the Mercury, and more fire widens the hole in the Artemis, lancing through to strike her midline and bow. The Artemis lurches, rolls, and suddenly plummets towards the mist as something critical in her electrical system burns out.

Additional raking fire from the Wrethan skiffs as they complete their dive tears through the Mercury's webbing spars, but by then defensive fire is deployed in full. The wrethan skiffs dodge and juke, intent on fleeing rather than sustaining the fight. The Vanguard cannons, while sufficient to suppress and force the skiffs to spend much of their time dodging, lacks the precision to get kills, leaving that honor to the Natalie. Still, the Natalie is but one vessel, and by the time she's finished eviscerating another Wrethan skyskiff, the last has plunged into the mist.

The ambush has been thwarted, but the cost is high. Things could easily have gone worse, and an ambush in greater numbers, or merely with luckier fire, could easily have taken both transports. Still, the Artemis has survived.

Inside the Three Captains

Despite the losses of half the relief marines, the defenders are damn happy to see reinforcements. The medals are nice, but the mobile shroud cover is much, much better.

Unfortunately, it's not enough.

The wreth have stopped announcing their position with cannon fire, which prevents our men from choosing the battleground as cleanly. As for the front itself, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that the Mobile Cover is deployed in time, and its shroud is capable of defending the men. The bad news is that it very nearly isn't enough. At best, the engagements end in stalemates, but we're still steadily losing ground.

In general there are two ways for the encounter to play out. In tunnel fighting, the enemy usually forces two mobile cannons forward and strikes our mobile cover with a pair to a trio of shots. The shroud holds, but the corridor in between is now filled with superheated air and impedes any advance. The sniper team hails as many bolts as they can on the enemy, and it is their efficacy that determines whether we can win the day. If the succeed in getting a sufficient number of shots on cannon operators, we can force the enemy to retreat. If not, we are the ones who must flee in order to avoid taking another volley from their cannons. Judging by the gallery engagements, it would seem that the air heating effect of their cannons hinders them as much as us, as it prevents them from firing further shots and prevents their soldiers (with their shorter range weapons) from advancing on our men.

In gallery fighting, things get worse. The enemy is able to field all four of their mobile cannons against us, and the full weight of their numbers becomes apparent. Four shots from their mobile cannons is enough to tear a hole in the shroud if the shots are clustered, and severely weaken it otherwise. It also allows them to bring their numbers to bear against us, which are roughly 2:1 in favor of their forces.  The open area allows hot air to dissipate, but this merely allows their cannons to fire more quickly on the mobile cover and allows their men to advance more easily. While our grenades and our gauntlets are superior, their men seem to prioritize crippling shots with their envenomed bolts, shooting for legs and arms. This forces our men to either abandon their companions or divert themselves to dragging them back as we retreat. Grenades are useful here, forcing encroaching enemy forces back and buying us time. The mobile cover, likewise, is not perfect. Not every man can fit under it, and when our crossbowmen spread out for better fire, the cannon can annihilate them and their cover in a shot.

We lose people. They lose people. We slow the loss of ground, but we do not stop it. The only reason that they were unable to destroy our mobile cover during gallery fights appears to be that their cannons are draining the local aether at a sufficient rate to slow their fire significantly after the opening volley. Still, our field commander says that the men did damn well on the field, and that we can expect to be pushed back, and likely take heavier losses, if we try and stand again next year.

Confirmed Kills: 3x Skyskiff, At least one Wrethan squad.
Losses: Artemis, with all hands. Marine unit 'heavies', 25% of Sniper Squad, 25% of Marine Unit 1b.

Neither Side has gained ground at the tree captains


Spire Kasgyre

The new Natalie is constructed with the princess' blessing, and work begins on the next. The necessary small orders are filled, and life continues. The so-called AIM project discovered in the Savant's hidden archive, while bizarre and highly theoretical, is found to contain enough merit and groundbreaking work to warrant a more full investigation- though only time will tell what that investigation will bring.


It is the beginning of the year 368 AR.

Spire Kasgyre's production stands at,
13(+10)/y Crystal, 28/115 Banked
17/y Ore, 17/85 banked
19/y Wood, 89/95 banked
10/y Silk, 18/50 banked

It is now the design and project maintenance phase. You have 5 dice left to spend.

Spoiler: Projects (click to show/hide)

Viper Production Line: 1/45 | 7C + 5O + 5W + 2S, +15 From any combination of any resource | Rushed 0 Times | Nothing Invested
Vertical Envelopment 2/13 | 3 from each of COWS + 4 from Any combination of COWS | Rushed 0 times | Nothing Invested
AIM (Special Project) 0/40 | - | Rushed 0 times | Nothing Invested

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 0/14 |  W 0/14
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 0/20 |  W 0/20
Territory: 4/4 | 0/4
Resources: 1C, 2O, 6W, 1S
Conditions: Verdant galleries, significant bio-luminescence


The Belt

Three Captains
Marine Presence: K 2/20 |  W ?/20
Territory: 2/4 | 2/4
--->Marine unit 1b:  Bronze armour (Squad Officer), Aethersilk vest (Team Leaders), Crossbows (full squad), medals, 2 grenades per person [25%]
--->Sniper unit 1: Aethersilk vest (Officers), Crossbows (Full Squad) [75%]
---> Royal Heavy Unit 1: Bronze armour (Squad), Aethersilk vest (squad), Topaz Gauntlets (2 per team), Gauntlets (everyone without a topaz gauntlet), Witch-Hunter (1 per team), Topaz grenades (squad x1)
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)

One-Eyed Will - Skyskiff Class (x1)
Loadout
Communications Officer
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

RKNV Ophidian - Viper Class
Loadout
1 Communications Officer
1 Vanguard Cannon (forward Mount)
8 Light Aether Cannons+ (Kettlegun) [6 front, 2 rear]
2 Sections Light Copper Armor
1 Medium Core Crystal 
1 Small Basic Lift Crystal
6 Trim Webs
6 Trim Crystals
6 reams of webbing
Location: Three Captains
Status: Shipshape

RKNV Anguis - Viper Class
Loadout
1 Communications Officer
3 Light Topaz Aether Cannons+ (Kettlegun) [3 front]
7 Light Aether Cannon+ (Kettlegun) [5 Front, 2 Rear]
2 Sections Light Copper Armor
1 Medium Topaz Core Crystal 
1 Small Topaz Lift Crystal
5 Topaz Trim Webs
1 Trim Web
4 Topaz Trim Crystals
6 reams of webbing
Location: Three Captains
Status: Shipshape

Mercury - Transport Barge
Loadout
Communications Officer
1 Small Basic Core Crystal
1 Small Basic Lift Crystal
2 Trim Crystals
1 reams of webbing [DAMAGED WEBBING: 2 silk to fix]
Carrying: 0/6
Location:  Three Captains
Status: MINOR HULL DAMAGE: 2 Wood to fix

Skiffs With No Name - Skyskiff Class (x5)
Loadout
Communications Officer
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

Natalie I - Skyskiff Class (x1)
Loadout
Comms Officer
2 Light Topaz Aether Cannons+ (Kettlegun)
1 Very Small Topaz Core Crystal
1 Very Small Topaz Lift Crystal
4 Topaz Trim Webs
2 reams of webbing
Location: Three Captains
Status: Shipshape

Natalie II - Skyskiff Class (x1)
Loadout
Comms Officer
2 Light Topaz Aether Cannons+ (Kettlegun)
1 Very Small Topaz Core Crystal
1 Very Small Topaz Lift Crystal
4 Topaz Trim Webs
2 reams of webbing
Location: Spire Kasgyre
Status: Shipshape

Spoiler: Goods Stockpile (click to show/hide)

Viper Hull
Webbing x6
Topaz Trim Web

Spoiler: Infantry (click to show/hide)

Marines x20

Current Technology

Spoiler: Tech (click to show/hide)

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.

Aetheric Grenades: Cost: 1 Crystal, 1 ore to give one to every man in a squad, or four to every member of a fireteam. | Fist sized grenades carrying tiny precharged weapon and core crystals, capable of exploding after a delay of 5-ish seconds. Cheap assembly means that the soldier is never sure where in the realm of 5-ish that delay is. Roughly a quarter as powerful as an LAC blast, and operates primarily on the initial blast of plasma and burning metal. An ordinary marine can currently (safely) carry up to four grenades. Each round, every man in a fireteam has a 75% chance to use a grenade. This is evaluated per fireteam, not per man.

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.

Mobile Cover Platform 5 Crystal, 4 ore, 4 wood, 2 silk for one. Limit 1 per fireteam. Requires 1 TU. A floating chunk of wood and bronze with integrated VS core and trim crystals, capable of generating a shroud and resisting limited physical weapon's fire. Wide enough to provide concealment cover to a fireteam, and capable of generating a shroud large enough to protected a grouped squad. However, drains aether in the area rapidly, greatly limited the shroud's lifetime.

Ship Tech

Signal Flashers: Costs One squad of marines, 1 crystal, 1 ore, per set of 3 communications officers. Each ship needs only a single communications officer | A trained aeronaut with a handheld lightgun, capable of transmitting a considerable amount of information over long distance via military shorthand flashsign signals. Of course, to be understood, the reciever also needs to have a comms officer. All spires, by default, are considered to have comms officers on watch.

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.
--->  Lucky improvements allow higher energy projectiles from topaz weapons crystals to be channeled without loss of operation efficacy.

Vanguard Cannon (Medium-Small  Cannon)  5 Ore, 3 Crystal, Requires a Medium Mount | A triple barreled, water cooled monster. Her only significant issue is a slight issue with water leakage that impacts overall ROF slightly, but aside from that she can fire a full power LAC shot every two seconds, and can sustain that rate of fire nearly indefinitely.

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

Viper Corvette, Vanguard Variant: 13 wood, 7 ore for one. 3 wood, 4 ore to refit from basic Viper class.
A Variant of the Viper designed to handle four Vanguard mounts in the bow section. While specialization inhibits the bow from effectively mounting anything else, she's capable of mounting a Vanguard with relative ease and comfort.

She has no usable cargo capacity.
Armament
4 Specialized Bow Mounts, Vanguard Cannon
2 Aft Light Cannon Mounts
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

Webbed Skyskiff
Skyskiff 9 wood, 2 ore for one.
A heavily over-designed skiff designed to natively mount trim webs. Incurs no wood cost for mounting trim webs instead of trim crystals, bringing the unit web cost down to 1C 1O.

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)
2 Trim Webs
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.

Other Tech
Hanging Crystal Gardens: 2 Crystal, 2 Ore, 2 Wood, 2 Silk for one. Government subsidies and buyback programs for the common populace to launch portable vatteries from spire edge properties, gaining a net increase in crystal revenue. Each vattery increases a Spire's crystal production by one. Each spire can fly 5 of these or up to its normal crystal production limit, whichever is higher.

Spoiler: Tactics (click to show/hide)

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.

Fighting Retreat: Infantry will retreat, prioritizing their own lives, but will also take every opening provided by an advancing enemy to nettle them and inflict casualties. Tactical excellence also allows our captains to extend retreat actions, giving a small but significant chance to not lose ground even when in retreat.

Bait and Strike: Similar to a fighting retreat, except with less retreat and a lot more fight. Extremely good at holding territory against an enemy who has numbers but few other advantages, and is capable of inflicting dire casualties. Still, this is fundamentally based in false-retreats, and is largely ineffective at actually gaining ground.
--> Marines will also do their damnedest too use their spare time (if any) to reinforce and lay traps and slow future enemy advances. They're devilishly clever at it, but do much better when well supplied with materials and options.

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.

Blockade: Orders ships to form up around a spire, out of range of enemy emplaced guns, and attempt to prevent vessels from coming or going. However, a strong kasgyrite sense of honor all put prevents them from firing on unarmed civilian vessels.

Scouting: Orders a ship or ships to find an overwatch position, either to defend a fleet or to scope out a particular location. Currently uses cannon fire signals, but will switch to more efficacious methods when able. Quite effective.

Coordinated Fire: Ships will attempt to remember weak points on enemy ships, focusing fire on weaker sections of larger vessels, and using spread fire to attempt to overcome the evasion of small vessels. When paired with a scouting vessel, fire coordination can be down at a fleet level as long as all vessels also have communications officers. However, lack of fleet command experience and a simplistic chain of command make fleet fire control less effective than it could be.

Ambush+Coordinated Fire: A recopy of the ambush tactic, interlocked with coordinated fire. Ships running ambushes will now be aware of, and attempt to enforce, patterns and weakness called out by watching coordinated fire ships. Loses something in terms of communication efficacy and stealth assault capability, but still effective.

Spoiler: Infrastructure and Production Patterns (click to show/hide)

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 Vanguard Mount Conversion: 2 'adjacent' small mounts, 3 ore, 3 wood.  Converts over a pair of small mounts to be able to mount a Vanguard cannon. However, this mounting is, strictly speaking, too small. It's a bitch of an environment for the gunner, and the gun itself is incapable of moving from its fixed position.

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.

Imperial Topaz: Special Cost | Glorious crystal of deep amber hue, Imperial Topaz is the nickname for crystal grown by the princess herself in the Garden of Glass. Whatever the technique used by the princess, these creations are of peerless quality, effectively twice as good as a standard crystal. The princess, however, is no vatterer, and does not answer directly to... anyone. As such, production is eccentric. Every round, the princess will have 2d6+1 random crystal items that she can make. These items have normal cost, but are only available in the amounts specified.
--> With Imperial Funding, the princess always produces an additional 1d4 items.

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: 8 | 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, 9 wood, 4 silk

Skyskiff Pattern 'Natalie': [Max: 8 | Rate: 1]
Creates one Skyskiff units per turn, up to a max of 8. When this pattern is active, the princess' topaz production is cut to 1d4-2.  Each skyskiff is outfitted with
2 Light Topaz Aether Cannons.
1 Very Small Topaz Core Crystal
1 Very Small Topaz Lift Crystal
4 Topaz Trim Webs
2 reams of webbing
Buyback cost: 9 crystal, 8 ore, 9 wood, 4 silk

[Kashyyk]

Christ, we did not need to lose another transport. We have to move the Mercury back this turn, and send her back to TC next turn or we will lose control of the spire. I also really want to know where the rest of their fleet is.

In that regard, I'd be very tempted to put most of our dice into AIM, and then spend all our resources on kitting out additional reinforcements.

[Shadowclaw777]

I think some research needs to be done on both the ship-bases and personal combat side. I think we just lack the necessary infrastructure to support our designs, if we could deploy two Viper corvettes with a supplement of four vanguard cannons, than we would win dominate in the aerial ship combat. Also another problem is how resource intensive it is to have a squad fully equipped with weapons. If we could just have more bodies with infantry weapons, we would be much more of a threat in the marine combat phases.

Also just a note but it requires about 14 five from a d6 to accomplish that project, we would have to devote three turns into trying to complete that project. You could perform rush dice, but like the Vanguard cannon, it leads to losses of efficacy and bugs.

Anyways my design ideals would something like this: Aether Gatling Gun "Vigilante", an Aether Carbine, Chromium Electroplating for stainless steel, and an Military-Industry Docks so that we could support two production lines

[helmacon]

Lots of things to fix this turn.

I think it's clear that we need different aerial tactics for defense/escort and for attacking.

Some revision ideas.

Revision: Chain coverings
An addition to our heavy bronze armor. For a nominal ore cost, the armor sets also include light chain coverings over the arms, legs, and even chain gloves for those using weapons other than a crossbow. It's not nearly as thick as a bronze plate, but should prevent the minor cuts for which the venom relies on.

Revision: Guide wires
Just simple riggings strung across a skiff that a man can pull himself hand over hand along while the craft is under great speed.

Revision: Leather goggles
Simple leather goggles that can be worn to protect the eyes during high speed maneuvers. It keeps out wind and particulate, keeping our men fully aware even during the most intense maneuvers.

Revision: Lifeboat Dinghies
The dinghies for a transport are kept on deck, and can be boarded in a hurry by marine units if the transport is critically injured. When the skies are clear, they are picked up by other ships, or taken to land at the nearest spire if a ship is not available.

Revision: Peak fleet
When moving into a contested area, the fleet always travels as high as possible. This prevents sudden dives on our transports. Our ships only have to look down to spot approaching enemies. This will also allow more time for the crew of a wounded transport to evacuate to lifeboats and save our assets.

We may want to look into giving our transports some thicker shrouds or... camouflage...

[NAV]

Chain armour is really bad at defending from arrows or any piercing attacks. Thin bronze plate, boiled leather, or even laquered wood plates would do better.

Revision: Grenade Thrower:
After numerour failures at launching grenades from our crossbows, some soldiers have petitioned us to consider an  alternative method of based on a sport they play. The sport involves throwing a ball using a stick with a net on the end. If it lets them throw a ball farther, why not a grenade?

(Canadian soldiers used lacrosse sticks to throw grenades in WW1 and 2.)

[Shadowclaw777]

Military-Industry Docks: Infrastructure towards the Wrethian War needs to be revitalized, by nationalizing and switching civilian factories into military factories, and with the support of imperial funding into industrial efforts, we can perform an ambitious design towards improving our ship-docks. This ambitious improvements to our docks allows our production lines to field larger and larger ship-craft up to the larger medium-class of ships, something that would be larger than our small-medium size vipers. The main priority of this centralization and expansion of the docks is so that we can field multiple production lines at the given moment, recommended by the imperial government to support at least two production lines.

I believe we should focus on our infrastructure and industrialization; once we have 5 Crystal gardens in our three neighboring provinces, we will be getting +15 crystals per turn.

Designs:
Military-Industry Docks: 4 Die (+1 Die to Progress): (1) Shadowclaw
Progress:
AIM: (1) Die

[Kashyyk]

GM bat signal
Can we spend revisions to revise the resource cost of a project?

[NAV]

Designs:
Military-Industry Docks: 4 Die (+1 Die to Progress): (1) Shadowclaw
Progress:
AIM: (1) Die

No design: (1) NAV

I am voting for no design this turn because we need to spent as many resources as possible on a new transport and marines and mobile shroud covers these next two turns. Doesn't mean there will be no progress, we have 5 revisions and we can start a project next turn.

Military-Industry Docks is too similar to Viper Production Line, which we have on indefinite hold because of how expensive it is.
 

[Draignean]

Can we spend revisions to revise the resource cost of a project?

No.

[Kashyyk]

Well that's a shame. Looks like we'll never be making that Viper Production Line then.

Designs:
Military-Industry Docks: 4 Die (+1 Die to Progress): (1) Shadowclaw
Progress:
AIM: (1) Die

Hold five dice: (2) NAV, Kashyyk

The only way we're gonna do something like the a Viper Production Line is if we have enough dice to put two or three into both time and cost.

[Shadowclaw777]

Here's the thing for the Viper PL; if we refund we will only get 50% of the resources we invested in it (which is none) and 1/6 dice in its total progress. We have a 1/45 in progress; that means refunding he Project will net us 0 gain; that's right it's better for that project to either be forgotten forever in the project box or that we will eventually complete it.

You also don't even understand the improvements to the Docks, it's going to be way more cheaper compared to creating PL that completely ignores our shipyard's current requirements and tries to make our largest ship.. It will also allow us to larger ships, we can only go to the small-medium class. We can't ever build ships larger than that unless we make an improvement to our docks. Which is why it's really recommended

[Draignean]

Spire Kasgyre's production stands at,
13(+10)/y Crystal, 28/115 Banked
17/y Ore, 17/85 banked
19/y Wood, 89/95 banked
10/y Silk, 18/50 banked

It is now the revision phase. You have 5 dice left to spend.

Spoiler: Projects (click to show/hide)

Viper Production Line: 1/45 | 7C + 5O + 5W + 2S, +15 From any combination of any resource | Rushed 0 Times | Nothing Invested
Vertical Envelopment 2/13 | 3 from each of COWS + 4 from Any combination of COWS | Rushed 0 times | Nothing Invested
AIM (Special Project) 0/40 | - | Rushed 0 times | Nothing Invested

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 0/14 |  W 0/14
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 0/20 |  W 0/20
Territory: 4/4 | 0/4
Resources: 1C, 2O, 6W, 1S
Conditions: Verdant galleries, significant bio-luminescence


The Belt

Three Captains
Marine Presence: K 2/20 |  W ?/20
Territory: 2/4 | 2/4
--->Marine unit 1b:  Bronze armour (Squad Officer), Aethersilk vest (Team Leaders), Crossbows (full squad), medals, 2 grenades per person [25%]
--->Sniper unit 1: Aethersilk vest (Officers), Crossbows (Full Squad) [75%]
---> Royal Heavy Unit 1: Bronze armour (Squad), Aethersilk vest (squad), Topaz Gauntlets (2 per team), Gauntlets (everyone without a topaz gauntlet), Witch-Hunter (1 per team), Topaz grenades (squad x1)
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)

One-Eyed Will - Skyskiff Class (x1)
Loadout
Communications Officer
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

RKNV Ophidian - Viper Class
Loadout
1 Communications Officer
1 Vanguard Cannon (forward Mount)
8 Light Aether Cannons+ (Kettlegun) [6 front, 2 rear]
2 Sections Light Copper Armor
1 Medium Core Crystal 
1 Small Basic Lift Crystal
6 Trim Webs
6 Trim Crystals
6 reams of webbing
Location: Three Captains
Status: Shipshape

RKNV Anguis - Viper Class
Loadout
1 Communications Officer
3 Light Topaz Aether Cannons+ (Kettlegun) [3 front]
7 Light Aether Cannon+ (Kettlegun) [5 Front, 2 Rear]
2 Sections Light Copper Armor
1 Medium Topaz Core Crystal 
1 Small Topaz Lift Crystal
5 Topaz Trim Webs
1 Trim Web
4 Topaz Trim Crystals
6 reams of webbing
Location: Three Captains
Status: Shipshape

Mercury - Transport Barge
Loadout
Communications Officer
1 Small Basic Core Crystal
1 Small Basic Lift Crystal
2 Trim Crystals
1 reams of webbing [DAMAGED WEBBING: 2 silk to fix]
Carrying: 0/6
Location:  Three Captains
Status: MINOR HULL DAMAGE: 2 Wood to fix

Skiffs With No Name - Skyskiff Class (x5)
Loadout
Communications Officer
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

Natalie I - Skyskiff Class (x1)
Loadout
Comms Officer
2 Light Topaz Aether Cannons+ (Kettlegun)
1 Very Small Topaz Core Crystal
1 Very Small Topaz Lift Crystal
4 Topaz Trim Webs
2 reams of webbing
Location: Three Captains
Status: Shipshape

Natalie II - Skyskiff Class (x1)
Loadout
Comms Officer
2 Light Topaz Aether Cannons+ (Kettlegun)
1 Very Small Topaz Core Crystal
1 Very Small Topaz Lift Crystal
4 Topaz Trim Webs
2 reams of webbing
Location: Spire Kasgyre
Status: Shipshape

Spoiler: Goods Stockpile (click to show/hide)

Viper Hull
Webbing x6
Topaz Trim Web

Spoiler: Infantry (click to show/hide)

Marines x20

Current Technology

Spoiler: Tech (click to show/hide)

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.

Aetheric Grenades: Cost: 1 Crystal, 1 ore to give one to every man in a squad, or four to every member of a fireteam. | Fist sized grenades carrying tiny precharged weapon and core crystals, capable of exploding after a delay of 5-ish seconds. Cheap assembly means that the soldier is never sure where in the realm of 5-ish that delay is. Roughly a quarter as powerful as an LAC blast, and operates primarily on the initial blast of plasma and burning metal. An ordinary marine can currently (safely) carry up to four grenades. Each round, every man in a fireteam has a 75% chance to use a grenade. This is evaluated per fireteam, not per man.

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.

Mobile Cover Platform 5 Crystal, 4 ore, 4 wood, 2 silk for one. Limit 1 per fireteam. Requires 1 TU. A floating chunk of wood and bronze with integrated VS core and trim crystals, capable of generating a shroud and resisting limited physical weapon's fire. Wide enough to provide concealment cover to a fireteam, and capable of generating a shroud large enough to protected a grouped squad. However, drains aether in the area rapidly, greatly limited the shroud's lifetime.

Ship Tech

Signal Flashers: Costs One squad of marines, 1 crystal, 1 ore, per set of 3 communications officers. Each ship needs only a single communications officer | A trained aeronaut with a handheld lightgun, capable of transmitting a considerable amount of information over long distance via military shorthand flashsign signals. Of course, to be understood, the reciever also needs to have a comms officer. All spires, by default, are considered to have comms officers on watch.

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.
--->  Lucky improvements allow higher energy projectiles from topaz weapons crystals to be channeled without loss of operation efficacy.

Vanguard Cannon (Medium-Small  Cannon)  5 Ore, 3 Crystal, Requires a Medium Mount | A triple barreled, water cooled monster. Her only significant issue is a slight issue with water leakage that impacts overall ROF slightly, but aside from that she can fire a full power LAC shot every two seconds, and can sustain that rate of fire nearly indefinitely.

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

Viper Corvette, Vanguard Variant: 13 wood, 7 ore for one. 3 wood, 4 ore to refit from basic Viper class.
A Variant of the Viper designed to handle four Vanguard mounts in the bow section. While specialization inhibits the bow from effectively mounting anything else, she's capable of mounting a Vanguard with relative ease and comfort.

She has no usable cargo capacity.
Armament
4 Specialized Bow Mounts, Vanguard Cannon
2 Aft Light Cannon Mounts
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

Webbed Skyskiff
Skyskiff 9 wood, 2 ore for one.
A heavily over-designed skiff designed to natively mount trim webs. Incurs no wood cost for mounting trim webs instead of trim crystals, bringing the unit web cost down to 1C 1O.

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)
2 Trim Webs
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.

Other Tech
Hanging Crystal Gardens: 2 Crystal, 2 Ore, 2 Wood, 2 Silk for one. Government subsidies and buyback programs for the common populace to launch portable vatteries from spire edge properties, gaining a net increase in crystal revenue. Each vattery increases a Spire's crystal production by one. Each spire can fly 5 of these or up to its normal crystal production limit, whichever is higher.

Spoiler: Tactics (click to show/hide)

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.

Fighting Retreat: Infantry will retreat, prioritizing their own lives, but will also take every opening provided by an advancing enemy to nettle them and inflict casualties. Tactical excellence also allows our captains to extend retreat actions, giving a small but significant chance to not lose ground even when in retreat.

Bait and Strike: Similar to a fighting retreat, except with less retreat and a lot more fight. Extremely good at holding territory against an enemy who has numbers but few other advantages, and is capable of inflicting dire casualties. Still, this is fundamentally based in false-retreats, and is largely ineffective at actually gaining ground.
--> Marines will also do their damnedest too use their spare time (if any) to reinforce and lay traps and slow future enemy advances. They're devilishly clever at it, but do much better when well supplied with materials and options.

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.

Blockade: Orders ships to form up around a spire, out of range of enemy emplaced guns, and attempt to prevent vessels from coming or going. However, a strong kasgyrite sense of honor all put prevents them from firing on unarmed civilian vessels.

Scouting: Orders a ship or ships to find an overwatch position, either to defend a fleet or to scope out a particular location. Currently uses cannon fire signals, but will switch to more efficacious methods when able. Quite effective.

Coordinated Fire: Ships will attempt to remember weak points on enemy ships, focusing fire on weaker sections of larger vessels, and using spread fire to attempt to overcome the evasion of small vessels. When paired with a scouting vessel, fire coordination can be down at a fleet level as long as all vessels also have communications officers. However, lack of fleet command experience and a simplistic chain of command make fleet fire control less effective than it could be.

Ambush+Coordinated Fire: A recopy of the ambush tactic, interlocked with coordinated fire. Ships running ambushes will now be aware of, and attempt to enforce, patterns and weakness called out by watching coordinated fire ships. Loses something in terms of communication efficacy and stealth assault capability, but still effective.

Spoiler: Infrastructure and Production Patterns (click to show/hide)

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 Vanguard Mount Conversion: 2 'adjacent' small mounts, 3 ore, 3 wood.  Converts over a pair of small mounts to be able to mount a Vanguard cannon. However, this mounting is, strictly speaking, too small. It's a bitch of an environment for the gunner, and the gun itself is incapable of moving from its fixed position.

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.

Imperial Topaz: Special Cost | Glorious crystal of deep amber hue, Imperial Topaz is the nickname for crystal grown by the princess herself in the Garden of Glass. Whatever the technique used by the princess, these creations are of peerless quality, effectively twice as good as a standard crystal. The princess, however, is no vatterer, and does not answer directly to... anyone. As such, production is eccentric. Every round, the princess will have 2d6+1 random crystal items that she can make. These items have normal cost, but are only available in the amounts specified.
--> With Imperial Funding, the princess always produces an additional 1d4 items.

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: 8 | 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, 9 wood, 4 silk

Skyskiff Pattern 'Natalie': [Max: 8 | Rate: 1]
Creates one Skyskiff units per turn, up to a max of 8. When this pattern is active, the princess' topaz production is cut to 1d4-2.  Each skyskiff is outfitted with
2 Light Topaz Aether Cannons.
1 Very Small Topaz Core Crystal
1 Very Small Topaz Lift Crystal
4 Topaz Trim Webs
2 reams of webbing
Buyback cost: 9 crystal, 8 ore, 9 wood, 4 silk

[helmacon]

More Revisions!

Studded leather coverings:
Studded leather gloves, shirts, and leggings. They would protect against the glancing hits of enemy crossbows, rendering otherwise crippling poison ineffective. Can be layered with the bronze armor, worn in the same layer that silk shirts would otherwise occupy.  (counter to poison bolts. Light armor.)

I have confirmation from the discord that leather uses the same production facilities as wood. This also gives us an armor alternative that dosent use up our ore.

Leather helms:
Snugly fitting leather caps, complete with chin straps and goggles. They keep the wind out of your gunners eyes, and provide a bit of light armor while doing so. Later on, instead of making a boring telescope, we can make an optic sight that sits right over one of the gunners/spotters eye pieces, and is attached to the helmet.

Wagon Circle:
An aerial tactic revision. All ships using this tactic will stick to the transports. They will attempt to place themselves in between the transports and incoming enemy vessels, coordinating fire at incoming vessels. 

Studded leather coverings:[1]: helmacon
Leather helms:[1]: helmacon
Guide wires:[1]: helmacon
Wagon Circle:[1]: helmacon

gotta go fast with those skiffs, yo.

[Kashyyk]

A quick math update on the Viper Production Line:
It'll take on average 13 dice, 91c, 65o, 65w, 26s and 195 other resources to complete the project.

Assuming this produces one Viper per turn at a value of 24c, 20o, 21w, 12s, we'd have invested ~5.7 Vipers. Comparatively, that's not too terrible a deal.

If we rushed the entire thing, we'd half our resource costs but we effectively be spending the same number of dice except half would be in revisions to fix the rush bugs.

[NAV]

Studded leather coverings:[2]: helmacon, NAV
Leather helms:[1]: helmacon
Guide wires:[1]: helmacon
Wagon Circle:[2]: helmacon, NAV
Grenade Thrower: [1] NAV
Mobile Cover - Light: [1] NAV

By stripping down the excessive beautification features we will be able to field more cover platforms for the same cost. There will be an added benefit of less weight, which translates to less lift crystals required and less energy spent. Also, it'll make it more mobile by being lighter.