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Author Topic: Arms Race: War of the Cinder Spires | Spire Wreth  (Read 161566 times)

Jilladilla

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Re: Arms Race: War of the Cinder Spires | Spire Wreth
« Reply #2025 on: October 26, 2017, 02:27:54 am »

Is this really even a question?
Quote from: Votes
Scorched Roads: (3) Milo, Mad, Jilladilla
Windrider Ikusasa Refit: (3) Milo, Mad, Jilladilla
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Draignean

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Re: Arms Race: War of the Cinder Spires | Spire Wreth
« Reply #2026 on: October 26, 2017, 03:15:33 pm »

Scorched Roads
Efficacy: 3
The scorched earth tactic is well received by those who love cannons, which is a lot of people, but it leaves others a bit less enthused. It's proponents claim it makes an attacking force invincible behind a wall of aetheric flames, letting the proud seeds of the Wrethan way sprout up from the fertile ashes left behind.

It's opponents deride it as a method of constantly giving away one's position while simultaneously slowing troop advancement and risking cannon operators on the tip of the spear.

Scorched Roads: A tactic utilizing PLACE fire to clear tunnels ahead of advancing troops, and to fire down side tunnels in an effort to flush ambushers lying in wait. It's the only way to be sure.

Windrider Ikusasa Refit
Efficacy: 4
Despite half the team conspicuously finding other projects to work on the instant the circuitry system of the Windrider is brought up as the topic of discussion, it's found to be possible to get a medium core crystal to physically work.

Note the phrasing 'physically possible' not 'inexpensive', 'simple', or 'painless'.  Space and weight are the concerns, with additional padding and restraint rings needed to secure the large crystal during maneuvers, and engineering is likewise expanded to give crew better access to the core itself. Yet those are secondary concerns that pale before the nightmare of the wiring itself. The two disjoint systems need to be connected as one, and that turns out to be considerably harder than just bridging the two circuits.

It takes skilled labor, time, and a surprising number of replacement parts, but it does work. Interestingly, the modification reduces both the severity and frequency of the power surges to the point where they cause no harm except to the fuses, but it does not eliminate them.

Windrider Corvette, Med Core Modification 11 wood, 7 ore for one. 3 wood, 3 ore to convert from a Windrider Corvette.
A Windrider with its cramped engineering section redone to utilize a medium core crystal. Interestingly, this also removes the power surge issue that plagued the prior design.

She has no usable cargo capacity.
Armor
Light Copper skin (Built-in)
Mounting for 2 Armor Sections
Armament
10 light cannon mounts. four on each broadside and two bow guns.
Requires:
1 Medium Core Crystal
2 Lift Crystals (Must be Small, can fit up to Small)
4-16 Trim Crystals  [4/8/16  Poor/avg/excellent maneuvering]
8 reams of webbing



Spire Wreth's production stands at
13/y Crystal, 24/65 Banked
17/y Ore, 26/85 banked
19/y Wood, 19/95 banked
10/y Silk, 39/50 banked

It is now the production, deployment, and tactics phase.

Spoiler: Projects (click to show/hide)



Spoiler: Map (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Ships (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Infantry (click to show/hide)

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


Current Technology

Spoiler: Tech (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Tactics (click to show/hide)

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milo christiansen

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Re: Arms Race: War of the Cinder Spires | Spire Wreth
« Reply #2027 on: October 26, 2017, 03:22:25 pm »

2 more ore for new built windriders? Not bad.
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10ebbor10

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Re: Arms Race: War of the Cinder Spires | Spire Wreth
« Reply #2028 on: October 26, 2017, 03:23:13 pm »

So there we have it. The Scorched roads tactic, an excellent way to give away your position, slow your advancement, and risk cannon operators.

It's not even particularly usefull, because we can't hide behind a wall of flame. Every cannon has just 2 shots.
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milo christiansen

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Re: Arms Race: War of the Cinder Spires | Spire Wreth
« Reply #2029 on: October 26, 2017, 03:25:34 pm »

Running into traps: an excellent way to give away your position, slow your advancement, and risk point men.
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10ebbor10

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Re: Arms Race: War of the Cinder Spires | Spire Wreth
« Reply #2030 on: October 26, 2017, 03:31:18 pm »

Sure, but you realize that there were smarter ways to avoid traps than depleting our most powerfull assets, right?
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Jilladilla

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Re: Arms Race: War of the Cinder Spires | Spire Wreth
« Reply #2031 on: October 26, 2017, 03:33:27 pm »

So there we have it. The Scorched roads tactic, an excellent way to give away your position, slow your advancement, and risk cannon operators.

It's not even particularly usefull, because we can't hide behind a wall of flame. Every cannon has just 2 shots.

It's true it didn't roll as well as it could. It's still likely to mitigate casualties from the traps more than any other tactic we have other than just massing Anti-Flanking again.

And don't forget, 2 shots before exhausting local aether, we will be moving the cannon up to a new position every shot, where the aether would be 'fresher'. Not to mention the wait for the area ahead to cool, giving things a chance to recharge
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NUKE9.13

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Re: Arms Race: War of the Cinder Spires | Spire Wreth
« Reply #2032 on: October 26, 2017, 03:36:27 pm »

Mad science design. Silly, impractical, and nigh-useless. Exactly the sort of thing mad scientists come up with all the time.
Quote from: Fractal crystal rotary generator
   For too long has intra-spire power generation been dependant on miles of aethersilk cables. Too many ships have been lost when their webbing was damaged. Too many experiments have gone up in flames due to the proximity of aethersilk cables to high-energy events.
   [...]
   I believe that it is possible to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy. By having two core crystals move past each other, almost but not quite touching, a crystaline interference event takes place that generates a small amount of energy. Previously it was believed that this was due to aether in the air being transformed- but performing the experiment in an aetheric vacuum yields the same result! It must be mechanical energy that is being converted!!
   [...]
   Unfortunately, crystaline interference events only generate a very small amount of energy. Using increasingly smaller crystals increases the efficiency, yielding a greater output/weight, but in absolute terms it yields less. I have tested the feasibility of an array of crystals moving past each other- with promising results! After many attempts, I was able to create a visible spark by moving a strip containing very closely placed micro core crystals past another, similar strip, at a high speed. The spark interacted with the micro-cores, resulting in a destabilisation event which, combined with the elevated aether levels in the lab (the result of a previous experiment), caused a sizeable exothermic reaction. However, losing my eyebrows did not cause me to forget about the initial spark, which I definitely saw, proving that the crystaline interference events can be combined to yield larger outputs!
   [...]
   A breakthrough came to me recently, that by creating a wheel of inward facing crystals facing a barrel of outward facing crystals, designed such that the wheel- or barrel- or both- can be rotated. one could sustain for an indefinite period the energy generating excersise. Due to a lack of funds I have not been able to construct such a rotary generator, but I am convinced that it would work! Even so, the predicted output would be insubstantial.
   [...]
   Enter the product of my latest dreamspiration! By forming a complex crystal with many very fine core-type-extrusions surrounded by areas of nonconductive crystal, it would be possible to increase the efficiency of the rotary generator to the point where it would serve as a practical source of energy!! I have been working on the crystal generation formulas that would be needed to grow a crystal of such high complexity, the key to which I believe is recursion of some sort.
   [...]
   If I could get the funding and vat time to build my Compute Crystal, I would have a much easier time with these calculations.
   
   
   
   The Fractal Crystal Rotary Generator:
   Consists of:
   -An outer drum, stationary, lined on the inside with a single crystal, subdivided fractally into many nano-core crystals (each 'core crystal' being ~1mm in diameter).
   -An inner drum, which can rotate freely, lined on the outside with a single crystal, subdivided fractally into many nano-core crystals. The inner drum fits into the outer drum with a clearance of less than 5mm.
   -An axle, connected to the inner drum. The axle can be connected to any sort of power source, be it hand-cranked, driven by wind/water power, or some sort of theoretical 'steam engine'.
   -Metal conductors that collect the electrical charge, inserted through the outer drum. (Or rather, conduct the electrical charge. They are placed in pairs, letting sparks jump from one to the other)
   
   Operating principle:
   Core crystals convert aetheric energy into electrical energy. The FCRG converts mechanical energy into electrical energy. The fact that it is possible to do so without using any crystals whatsoever was not known by our intrepid scientist.
   However core crystals generate energy, the idea is that they do so as well when two core crystals are close to each other (their natural aetheric fields overlapping), and moving at speed (causing the aetheric fields to move also, as they attempt to stick together). The small amount of motion in the fields that this causes is enough to make the crystals perform their energy-generating magic- where normally the motion would be caused by aetheric energy flowing into the crystal (with a considerably higher output).
   To alleiviate the lower output, the FCRG uses many very small core crystals. Rather than having to painstakingly line up hundreds (or thousands) of tiny crystals, they are embedded into a larger crystal, the bits between the cores being made inert, letting all the cores act as independant crystals. These large, complicated crystals are grown using fractal equations, allowing for fine detail on a very small scale.
« Last Edit: October 30, 2017, 12:59:33 pm by NUKE9.13 »
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10ebbor10

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Re: Arms Race: War of the Cinder Spires | Spire Wreth
« Reply #2033 on: October 26, 2017, 03:43:29 pm »

It's true it didn't roll as well as it could. It's still likely to mitigate casualties from the traps more than any other tactic we have other than just massing Anti-Flanking again.

Rolls have little to do with it. If anything, the GM has been nice, as this tactic has gotten no flaws or issues.

The issues mentioned lie solely with the weapon and tactic chosen. A better roll wouldn't have resolved these intrinsic problems.

TBH, with a 3 I expected additional issues on top of these obvious ones.

Quote
And don't forget, 2 shots before exhausting local aether, we will be moving the cannon up to a new position every shot, where the aether would be 'fresher'. Not to mention the wait for the area ahead to cool, giving things a chance to recharge

Only if we're fighting in a straight corridor. If we come near a multi-way split, or an area with many side passages, we're screwed.
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NUKE9.13

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Re: Arms Race: War of the Cinder Spires | Spire Wreth
« Reply #2034 on: October 26, 2017, 04:32:25 pm »

Quote from: Mad Science Votes
FCRG: (1) NUKE9.13
AHAB: (1) NUKE9.13
Aetherdar: (1) NUKE9.13

Per GM request, votes for mad science stuff.

I, uh, haven't been paying enough attention to even begin to make a plan for production and tactics.
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milo christiansen

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Re: Arms Race: War of the Cinder Spires | Spire Wreth
« Reply #2035 on: October 26, 2017, 04:46:59 pm »

Jilladilla's Tesla cannon, refluffed for the event. Tell me what you think.

Quote from: Genius Design: Lightning Cannon
This particular set of notes is particularly fascinating. The basic premise is so simple, but the size and cost of the device is tremendous.

In any case, the basic idea is to build a massive charge in a set of coils, then discharge that directly behind the blast from a aether cannon. Something about the way the aether interacts with the air "drags" the electricity behind it. There are some problems with the idea, particularly the way the charge sometimes "blows back" on the weapon crystal, but we are confident that we can fix this with time.

The thing that makes these "lightning cannons" so useful, is that they have the potential to cause crystals on the enemy ship to overload and explode. This would be amazingly useful.

Even with the chance of blowing the weapon crystal the tiny test model based on a gauntlet that we have built is impressive. Greater funding of this project would be useful.

Quote from: Transcribed Notes
Today one of my colleagues brought an interesting ship log to my attention. It seems one of the scout ships was flying through a storm, and a bolt of lightning happed to strike the cannon. The cannon fired, and the crystal blew when it overloaded. The fascinating part is that the crew reports that a smaller lightning bolt followed the path of the cannon blast. This bears thinking on.

[the following is written with a different pen/ink, same hand writing]

Some tinkering has gotten me to the point where I can fire small bolts of electricity across the lab. The small weapon crystal that I use to lead the bolt is much more damaging, even with using the smallest one I could find, but I think that that it would be possible to use a much larger electric charge.

The test setup uses a large capacitor coil and a spark gap. One the far side of the gap there is a large cable leading to a set of contacts at the end of a short wooden tube attached to the weapons crystal. The weapon crystal is connected to the main cable by a small fuse. To fire, a core is connected to the capacitor where a charge builds until it is powerful enough to arc across the gap. The fuse on the cable running to the weapon crystal blows almost instantly, but enough of a charge "leaks" through to fire the crystal. The remainder of the charge then follows the blast to the target.

The first test version blew itself up most spectacularly when the main charge traveled away from the aether blast. Passing the aether blast through a wooden tube seems to help keep this from happening, but not completely. Clearly this needs much more study.

[second set of notes]

The full size version has been constructed and tested, and its performance is amazing! Huge bolts of electricity fired for hundreds of yards into the aether! Sadly the charge is even more likely to travel back to the weapons crystal with this larger version. I noticed that it is much more reliable if wooden barrel is smaller and longer, but it still travels back to the crystal sometimes anyway, and the smaller barrel often ignites even with the lightest crystal I could find. Speaking of light crystals, testing has show that even the smallest crystal does the job perfectly, the only limit is how much electricity can be used before blowing the crystal every time instead of once and a while. This is very frustrating.

Our glorious leader is not impressed, calling it a "good way to blow our own ships" and "a fire hazard". Imbecile. With a little more work I could solve the problems and make a truly wondrous weapon. I suspect more funding cuts. What does he want anyway? Every design I create has something wrong with it if you ask him, and he always shuts down a project just as it is almost ready. It is as if he doesn't really want any successes. [trails off in a rant]
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milo christiansen

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Re: Arms Race: War of the Cinder Spires | Spire Wreth
« Reply #2036 on: October 26, 2017, 04:51:16 pm »

Quote from: Mad Science Votes
FCRG: (2) NUKE9.13, Milo
AHAB: (1) NUKE9.13
Aetherdar: (2) NUKE9.13, Milo
Lightning Cannon: (1) Milo
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milo christiansen

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Re: Arms Race: War of the Cinder Spires | Spire Wreth
« Reply #2037 on: October 28, 2017, 02:33:48 pm »

Quote from: Infantry Plan A
A, B, C: CCC
D, E: Anti-flanking
F: CCC
G: Scorched Roads

Quote from: Ship Plan A
Mongoose and two Comets: Boom and Zoom
Last Comet: High Vigil
Skiffs and Transports: Move to Wreth, High Vigil

Am I forgetting anything?

Quote from: Votes
Mad Science:
FCRG: (2) NUKE9.13, Milo
AHAB: (1) NUKE9.13
Aetherdar: (2) NUKE9.13, Milo
Lightning Cannon: (1) Milo


Ship Plans:
A: (1) Milo


Infantry Plans:
A: (1) Milo
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10ebbor10

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Re: Arms Race: War of the Cinder Spires | Spire Wreth
« Reply #2038 on: October 28, 2017, 02:58:37 pm »

Quote from: Infantry Load-Out Changes
Exchange Suppressors from Squad A with Pincushions From Squad F,G,D
Move Envenomed bolts from Squad A to Squad D

Quote from: Infantry Plan B
F,G : Scorched Roads
A,D,E : Anti-flanking
B : Pin Down
C : CCC

Basically, the goals of these plans are :

Move Squad A to anti-flanking to keep it from getting annihilated.
Use squads F and G for scorched roads. This ensures they can hand crossroads without running out of power.
Have Squad B do pin down to see practical effects, if any.

Quote from: Ship Plan B
Normal Skiffs :  Move to Kasgyre  - Tactic : 2xDouble Ambush
Mongoose : Boom&Zoom : Return to Spire Wreth
Comet Skiffs : Boom&Zoom : Return to Spire Wreth
Marge, Batholit, Shibboleth : Return to Spire Wreth
« Last Edit: October 30, 2017, 08:30:13 am by 10ebbor10 »
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10ebbor10

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Re: Arms Race: War of the Cinder Spires | Spire Wreth
« Reply #2039 on: October 30, 2017, 04:23:02 am »


Quote from: Votes
Mad Science:
FCRG: (3) NUKE9.13, Milo, 10ebbor10
AHAB: (2) NUKE9.13, 10ebbor10
Aetherdar: (2) NUKE9.13, Milo
Lightning Cannon: (1) Milo


Ship Plans:
A: (1) Milo
B : (1)10ebbor10


Infantry Plans:
A: (1) Milo
B : (1)10ebbor10
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