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[NUKE9.13]

Fair enough. Well, who's ready to spend all of our remaining dice fixing the Windrider?

[Madman198237]

Alright, let's do this. Again. Because we haven't done it enough yet.

Itshana Circuitry Experiments
The Windrider faces similar problems to the Cloudrunner, and the Department of Protection, Assault, Infiltration, and Neutralization is not impressed. They have threatened to send the engineers responsible on a black-ops mission to the Unfinished.

It is clear that our circuitry is not up to spec, so the Windrider will be outfitted with a new set of circuitry that prevents catastrophic loss of integrity and provocation of incendiary response (Read: starts fires) under Itshana Select strain, as well as preventing random overloads of the trim and lift crystals.

Overload Prevention
Our engineers need to chase down and kill this bug, whatever caused it, whatever the cost.

Suggestion for Unmaking of Crappy Kasgyrite Engineering by Repeatedly and Powerfully Unleashing of Nasty Carnage and Horrors (SUCKERPUNCH)
By revamping the structure of a Light Aether Cannon to survive, and maintain, the firing of an Itshana Select Weapons Crystal, we can cheaply double the power of our cannons. To that end, this cannon is made of nickel, and quite strange looking at that. Inside the ship, the barrel is much the same, with our heat-reduction system applied as much as possible. Outside the ship, however, the sides of the barrel are cut with long and wide slots to allow extreme amounts of airflow and, thus, cooling, while still providing direction to the shots.

I spent way too much time on that last acronym. Anyway.

[Jilladilla]

We could try for circuit breakers to fix the overload problem. Sure, the breaker would still need to be reset..... But the cannon would be intact and not a pile of superheated shrapnel.

[Madman198237]

Sacrificial Strings
By using lengths of relatively thin copper cable, specifically tested to ensure the strength will tolerate just enough power to let an Itshana Select LAC fire, we can isolate the cannon circuits behind these wires to prevent overloads. One of these is inserted, in a bracket system with a switch, allowing for safe and fast fuse-swapping, between each cannon and the weapons power system, so that the surges can't reach the cannon without burning the wire and cutting off the connection, thus preventing damage to the delicate crystals.

Spare wires will, of course, be readily available, and the wires themselves must be easily replaced in a combat situation.

[milo christiansen]

Revision 1:
Fuses: (1) Milo
Overload Prevention:

Revision 2:
Itshana Circuitry Experiments: (1) Milo

Revision 3:
SUCKERPUNCH: (1) Milo

[Madman198237]

Revision 1:
Fuses: (2) Milo, Madman

Revision 2:
Itshana Circuitry Experiments: (2) Milo

Revision 3:
SUCKERPUNCH: (2) Milo, Madman

[Jilladilla]

Revision 1:
Fuses: (3) Milo, Madman, Jilladilla
Overload Prevention:

Revision 2:
Itshana Circuitry Experiments: (3) Milo, Madman, Jilladilla

Revision 3:
SUCKERPUNCH: (3) Milo, Madman, Jilladilla

[johiah]

Revision 1:
Fuses: (3) Milo, Madman, Jilladilla
Overload Prevention:

Revision 2:
Itshana Circuitry Experiments: (3) Milo, Madman, Jilladilla

Revision 3:
SUCKERPUNCH: (3) Milo, Madman, Jilladilla

+1 to all of these, but I am on my phone.

[Tack]

Same.

[10ebbor10]

Ceramic Barrels

The ceramic barrel has various advantages over it's contenders. It offers longer periods of cold firing (due to it's low thermal conductivity), it offers faster fire rate (higher temperature tolerance means bigger temperature difference => better cooling). Only issues are it's relative fragility and the slow cooling rate which means that the gun needs to cool much longer before it can be maintained.

Btw, the formula for heat transfer is :

Thermal_conductivity*Temperature_Difference*Time.

Since for hot firing, the temperature needs to be in balance, heat in needs to be equal to heat out.

Thermal_conductivity*Temperature_Difference*Time = Thermal_conductivity*Temperature_Difference*Time

Thermal conductivity cancels each other out, resulting in the fact that Thermal conductivity doesn't matter for the length of firing time.

[Jilladilla]

Gonna throw this into the arena for Itshana capable LAC suggestions. (It could use a better name...)

Dual-Halves Barrel

This modification to the LAC is simple: The parts of the barrel that would stick out from the ship is effectively cut in half lengthwise, leaving two halves of a barrel with a gap in between left to contain the necessary equipment to properly direct the aether blast. This exposure to the outside air should immensely aid cooling the interior, as the superheated can escape the interior of the barrel more rapidly, and the cool, exterior air can easily flow through the barrel.
It is hoped that this modified barrel will be able to withstand the firing of an Itshana Select crystal, without sacrificing too much performance.

(Edited for less self inflicted fire)

[NUKE9.13]

Incidentally, outfitting the prototype will cost, at minimum, 36 Crystal, 26 Ore, 16 Silk.
This means that, provided we capture the Haze Maze without issue this turn, we will have 12 Ore left after getting the Windrider combat-ready.
Which would be enough to Selectify all the cannons. Provided that SUCKERPUNCH works, and doesn't increase the Ore cost (I don't know how it would do so, but the world is a strange place).
...I'd really like to roll well on SUCKERPUNCH.

Also, we should include a few extra reams of webbing with the Windrider, so that they can replace damaged/destroyed pieces. We can easily afford such things at the moment.

[Draignean]

Fuses
Efficacy: 1 
The theory behind the fuse design is solid, but the reality is leaving a great deal to be desired. The fuses drafted by engineers are somewhat effective, but current metallurgical techniques mean engineers have a difficult time hitting the 'sweet spot' of fuse speed. The current fuses work, but they have the nasty habit of either being too sensitive and 'fast' to open, which means they periodically blow even under normal operating loads, or being too 'slow' to open- burning out only after they've already conducted a debilitating surge.

Engineers are able to make conservative designs and create fuses that will definitely not be too slow, at the cost of a fair number of the fuses being to sensitive and burning out under normal operating stress. For the purposes of the Windrider, this causes the chance for a cannon bank's circuit to malfunction to jump from 1% to 5%, but it will only ever burn out fuses (which can by replaced in a few seconds by a skilled engineer) instead of blowing up cannons.

Itshana Circuitry Experiments
Efficacy: 4
Upgrading the baseline circuitry on the Windrider is a simple, if labor intensive process. The new circuitry is reasonably robust, and only needs standard maintenance in order to prevent unexpected fires. Unless you start dealing with another major increase in power, these techniques will also inform circuitry layouts and weight in future designs.

S.U.C.K.E.R.P.U.N.C.H
Efficacy: 1  (Deep-fried Jesus on a stick... Which one of y'all shanked an albatross with a shiv made from a broken mirror tied to a black cat with a broken shoelace?)
The entire weapon's division mourns the tragic death of two of its lead engineers, consumed in a tragic aetheric explosion when the initial modified LAC, dubbed the SUCKERPUNCH was tested. There is no engineer who doubts that the SUCKERPUNCH program could be successful but it's readily evident that something has gone terribly, terribly wrong with their understanding of how Weapons crystals, 'hard' aether, and the barrel of the weapon interact. While they can continue to move forward in the dark, there is some movement towards a project to gain a greater understanding of advanced theoretical aethermechanics.


It is the beginning of the Production, deployment, and tactics phase. Remember, you MUST post any and all propaganda in the core thread for it to be counted.

Spire Wreth's production stands at
12/y Crystal, 37/60 Banked
14/y Ore, 21/70 banked
18/y Wood, 59/90 banked
8/y Silk, 35/40 banked

Spoiler: Projects (click to show/hide)

PLACE: 8/15 | 1 Ore, + 2 from Silk OR Ore OR Crystal | Rushed 0 Times | 2 ore, 4 silk invested | Prototype Deployed

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.

Wreth Territory

Haze-Maze
Marine Presence: K 0/8 |  W 1/8
--->Marines
---> Squad G (No Equip)
Territory: 0/4 | 3/4
Resources: 1C, 3O, 1W, 2S
Conditions: Deadly Gas Pockets, significant vertical shafts and steep tunnels.

Miner's Folly
Marine Presence: K 0/18 |  W 1/18
--->Marines
---> Squad G (No Equip)
Territory: 0/4 | 4/4
Resources: 1C, 6O, 0W, 1S
Conditions: Toxic Stone, Massive Caverns, pitch-black

The Verdant Vista
Marine Presence: K 0/18 |  W 0/18
Territory: 0/4 | 4/4
Resources: 1C, 0O, 8W, 2S
Conditions: Mostly earth and soil, Unstable pocket caves


The Belt

Three Captains
Marine Presence: K ?/20 |  W 4/20
--->Marines
---> Squad D (Pincushion, Fireteam | Cutlass, All)
---> Squad 2A (Gauntlets, all | Cutlass, all | Silk Vests,Commander | 1 PLACE
---> Squad 2B (Gauntlets, all | Cutlass, all | Silk Vests,Commander
Territory: 1/4 | 3/4
Resources: 1C, 6O, 2W, 6S
Conditions: Kinetoluminescent Ores, Heavily Infested

Wrackspire
Marine Presence: K ?/12 |  W 0/12
Territory: ?/4 | 0/4
Resources: 3C, 4O, 4W, 2S
Conditions: Unstable Aetheric Phenomena, Broken Spire

Burned Mountain
Marine Presence: K ?/24 |  W 0/24
Territory: ?/4 | 0/4
Resources: 1C, 10O, 1W, 0S
Conditions: Inexplicably Molten Core, Hundreds of narrow tunnels and small galleries.

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

Spoiler: Ships (click to show/hide)

Skiffs With No Name - Skyskiff Class (x3)
Loadout
2 Light Aether Cannons+ (Flanged Heatsinks, Itshana Refinement).
1 Very Small Basic Core Crystal+ (Itshana Refinement)
1 Very Small Basic Lift Crystal+ (Itshana Refinement)
4 Trim Crystals+ (Itshana Refinement)
2 reams of webbing
Location: Three Captains
Status: All papers are in order.

Skiffs With No Name - Skyskiff Class (x2)
Loadout
2 Light Aether Cannons+ (Flanged Heatsinks, Itshana Refinement).
1 Very Small Basic Core Crystal+ (Itshana Refinement)
1 Very Small Basic Lift Crystal+ (Itshana Refinement)
4 Trim Crystals+ (Itshana Refinement)
2 reams of webbing
Location: Center Kasgyre Demi-Spire
Status: All papers are in order.

WOSV Herbie - Transport Barge
Loadout
1 Very Small Itshana Select Core Crystal
1 Small Basic Lift Crystal+ (Itshana Refinement)
2 Trim Crystals+ (Itshana Refinement)
1 reams of webbing
Carrying: 0/6
Location: Spire Wreth
Status:  All papers are in order.

Skiffs With No Name - Skyskiff Class (x2)
Loadout
2 Light Aether Cannons+ (Flanged Heatsinks, Itshana Refinement).
1 Very Small Basic Core Crystal+ (Itshana Refinement)
1 Very Small Basic Lift Crystal+ (Itshana Refinement)
4 Trim Crystals+ (Itshana Refinement)
2 reams of webbing
Location: Spire Wreth
Status: All papers are in order.

Spoiler: Infantry (click to show/hide)

Marines x13

Current Technology

Spoiler: Tech (click to show/hide)

Infantry

Flint-Lock 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.

Flint-Lock 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.

Suppressor Repeating Crossbow: Cost: 2 wood+ 1 ore per fireteam, 8 wood + 4 ore to give to every man. | A repeating crossbow with a forty pound lever weight. Field modification allow it to operate has a standard repeating crossbow, or as a light crossbow using a goat's foot lever. The latter is underpowered, the former is inaccurate.

Pincushion Repeating Crossbow: Cost: 3 wood to give one to every fireteam, 12 wood to give to every man. | A lighter and nearly all wood version of the Suppressor. Limited draw weight and not terribly robust, but cheap.

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.
---> A.G.I: Some small QoL changes have been made to the gauntlet, slightly increasing its sustained rate of fire and giving the user a bit more time before the gauntlet burns their arm.


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.
 

Ship Tech

Light Aether Cannon*: 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.
---> The Itshana Process has improved crystal purity, allowing for a slight increase in power.
---> Can be manufactured using Itshana Select crystals, which gives a 175-200% increase in power, at the cost of increasing the ore cost of the component by an amount equal to the base crystal price. WARNING: Cannons have not been modified to compensate for the increased energy output.
---> Improved Dissipation enable it to be fired 25% faster than normal once hot.

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.
---> The Itshana Process has improved crystal purity, allowing for a slight increase in efficiency.
---> Can be manufactured using Itshana Select crystals, which gives a 175-200% increase in power, at the cost of increasing the ore cost of the component by an amount equal to the base crystal price.

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.
---> The Itshana Process has improved crystal purity, allowing for a slight increase in lift.
---> Can be manufactured using Itshana Select crystals, which gives a 175-200% increase in power, at the cost of increasing the ore cost of the component by an amount equal to the base crystal price.

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.
---> The Itshana Process has improved crystal purity, allowing for a slight increase in maneuverability.
---> Can be manufactured using Itshana Select crystals, which gives a 175-200% increase in power, at the cost of increasing the ore cost of the component by an amount equal to the base crystal price.

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

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.

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.

Crossbow Corridors of Carnage: When engaging, Marines will attempt to find cover, or at least concealment, and fire from behind that. Advancement is a leap-frog between cover, and retreat is a similar series of backward jumps.

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.

High Vigil: Tells a fleet to maintain a vessel as a high-altitude lookout. The lookout will give a warning shot if they spot an enemy vessel. After raising the alarm, the scout rejoins the fleet and follows the same tactic as her fellow ships.

AGILE: Ships using AGILE will attempt to evade and outmaneuver enemy vessels, focusing on evasive action rather than maximizing damage.

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

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.

Crude Fuses: Extremely rudimentary fuses. You can make them fail safe, but they're going to fail often.

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

[10ebbor10]

Waves white flag

[NUKE9.13]

Waves white flag

We're not there just yet. Let's wait to see how badly we get schooled in the battle report. Though, yeah, if we roll this poorly another few times, I'd be ready to throw in the towel.

So, hooray. Not only did we not get the SUCKERPUNCH. But now, thanks to that failure, we have to spend a design on the theoretical basis of more powerful aether cannons before enacting any future designs or revisions. Meanwhile, Kasgyr has probably natural-sixed their way past this issue and is getting ready to deploy MACs even as we speak.

Fuses, well, clearly the GM threw us a bone there, since we had no business getting that level of success on a one.

Tack, you should post your propaganda in the core thread. A guaranteed six... ugh. Wouldn't come close to getting us back on par with Kasgyr. Still, it'd be nice to have.

Strategy: Throw everything we have at TC, not to take down the Kunai, but to prevent them from landing any reinforcements. We'll lose another skiff or three, but that's better than Kasgyr landing another half dozen marines.

Incidentally, I did the maths. If I haven't made a mistake somewhere, we have rolled 60 dice so far, with an average of 3.166. Which isn't even that bad. It's just that if the rolls were weighted for importance, I feel like we'd be closer to 2.5.