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[Madman198237]

Windrider class Corvette
This simple hull is much larger than the Skyskiff, roughly equal to the Transport Barge in length, though it is substantially thinner and lighter, as it has no need for cargo capacity. The hull is made entirely of wood, with a basic copper "skin" to prevent total failure in the event of a single aetheric cannon hit. The real genius, however, lies in its adaptability. It has 8 mountings for weapons, three per side, one fore and one aft, internal space left open for all the crystals in any configuration that you could ever want, and its armor plates are notched, allowing additional copper or bronze armor plates to be mounted directly to the ship with ease, or for them to be removed or replaced even easier.

Alright, so this is an alternative to the proposal for a repeating crossbow four turns before we MIGHT see infantry combat. Unless you guys want to try a ludicrous rush to cut them off from their demi-spires or some such. Which won't work unless we produce enough transports to avoid overstressing our supply lines.

So, Corvette works for me. Any other adaptations to our design?
As soon as this design is accepted I'm going to propose a full-body suit of the lightest webbing that will keep Aethersickness (I just named it for you, Draignean. You should thank me by faking all our rolls as 6s.) from affecting our crewmen. And we might spend a revision to make a system to protect the below-decks area from the Aether effects, because then we could transport marines straight to their home spire without a fight. And we could do it fast.

EDIT: Sorry, alright? I did my research and got ninja'd about twenty times and it's not my fault.

[NUKE9.13]

SPIRE WRETH- BUREAUCRATIC NIGHTMARE

Alright! That's our first piece of Wrethian flavour. Wreth has a bureaucracy that spends time arguing over minute details.

Windrider class Corvette

I still don't like having armour on there by default. That's what the shroud is for. Yeah, it's only thin armour, but it'll still mean the basic hull has an increased ore cost.

Doing this now vs doing crossbows now: We want the first marines we deploy to have proper weaponry. Remember, we can't just hand out weapons to troops in the field for free, we'd need to dedicate a precious transport for that.

[Madman198237]

I understand that. However, this is the time to do difficult projects. I'm assuming that we're going to establish solid bases first, in our local group of demispires. The alternative is we push out this infantry design ASAP and send transports to ALL the middle spires immediately, in the hopes of gaining an immediate material advantage over the enemy.

[milo christiansen]

We could push crossbows back, but I'm afraid if we do that it won't be done in time...

[Tack]

True on the "boots come first", but we can buy crossbows whenever, whereas if we want to shift a line to Corvettes, sooner is better.
It's got my vote on a couple of addendums:
1. It won't require a revision to use refined crystals
2. Crossbows get researched by Y4, regardless of how many dice need be dumped in later.

[milo christiansen]

If we are going to insist that crossbows be ready in time anyway, why not just do them now?

[Madman198237]

OK.

Hold up.

Hold the vote, hold everything.

(0) Resource Dominance (Take central Spires immediately):
(0) ZERG RUSH! (Take enemy demispire(s) immediately):
(0) Turtle Mode (Hold own demispires and defend while researching long-term techs:
(0) Over The River And Into The Monstrously Deadly Forest Of Stone (Take central spire(s) and develop technology to cross the Everstorm for direct early-game assault on their home spire):

And...vote.

[milo christiansen]

(1) Resource Dominance (Take central Spires immediately): Milo
(0) ZERG RUSH! (Take enemy demispire(s) immediately):
(0) Turtle Mode (Hold own demispires and defend while researching long-term techs:
(0) Over The River And Into The Monstrously Deadly Forest Of Stone (Take central spire(s) and develop technology to cross the Everstorm for direct early-game assault on their home spire):

[NUKE9.13]

...Fine

(2) Resource Dominance (Take central Spires immediately): Milo, NUKE9.13
(0) ZERG RUSH! (Take enemy demispire(s) immediately):
(0) Turtle Mode (Hold own demispires and defend while researching long-term techs:
(0) Over The River And Into The Monstrously Deadly Forest Of Stone (Take central spire(s) and develop technology to cross the Everstorm for direct early-game assault on their home spire):

[Madman198237]

And feel free to propose other strategies, those were just the first few that came to mind.

[Draignean]

Draig, how high into the atmosphere do the Calm and Everstorm stretch?

Best measurements indicate they top ten miles, though not by much.


Suppressor MK1 Repeating Crossbow
[Time: 1+1 Progress: 6 Cost: 5]

One wouldn't think it would be so difficult to settle on a design for a simple repeating crossbow, but the engineers are having a considerable amount of difficulty with the Minutiae of how everything should fit together for the best combination of ease of use, speed of fire, and power.

Suppressor MK1 Repeating Crossbow: 6/12 | 1 Wood | Rushed 0 Times | Nothing Invested

Prototype: [Efficacy:3  Cost:2  Bugs:2]

An initial round of weapon prototypes is met with a resounding 'eh' by individuals testing them. She has a 25 pound lever weight, and fires eight-inch bolts at relatively low velocities. Broadhead tips enable her to do a decent amount of damage to unarmored infantry at close range, but perform poorly beyond that. Accuracy at the substantial range in automatic mode is impossible due the 25 pound trigger draw, and the single shot mode is vastly underpowered even when compared to a flintlock pistol. Infantry testing the prototype reacted negatively to the design's limited range, five round box, and its requirement of both hands.

Unnecessary complexity in the carving of the lever slotting and drilling of the restraining pins make her much more costly when she needs to be.

Projected Cost: 2 wood+ 1 ore per fireteam, 8 wood + 4 ore to give to every man.


Ongoing Projects

Itshana Crystal Refinement
Progress: 3+2+5 = 10

Prototype: [Efficacy:5  Cost:2  Bugs:5]

The first prototype Itshana vat has been produced, and the technology is looking like the edge of a revolution. An expensive one, but a revolution nonetheless. The crystals grown within the Itshana vat are of marvelous purity, and vattery losses due to impure crystals have been reduced dramatically- though not without its own costs. Once fully put into production, the low level aetheric resonance system should be universally applicable to all vats in order to produce higher quality crystals with a lower breakage chance. It's a small boost, but significant.

The highest benefits of the Itshana vatteries is best realized when the crystals are surrounded by a very tightly controlled blend of sensitive chemicals, and subjected to various aetheric pulses- unique to each crystal type. This process is expensive, as the plants ores the chemicals are derived from are rare and difficult to process, but well worth the effort. The resulting crystals are very nearly flawless, and can withstand close to double the stresses of crystal of similar weight without Itshana refinement.

Current Benefit: Can produce Itshana Select crystals. Any design for Crystals (weapon/trim/lift/core/etc) can instead be produced using the Itshana process. This greatly increases the efficacy of the crystal element, but you must pay Ore equaling the entire base cost in addition to the base cost.

Benefit After Completion: Crystal Purity. Slightly improves the efficacy of all crystals.


Itshana Crystal Refinement: 12/15 | 4 Crystal + 2 of Ore OR Crystal | Rushed 0 Times | Nothing Invested

You are entering the Revision Phase. You have 1 die.

[Tack]

(3) Resource Dominance (Take central Spires immediately): Milo, NUKE9.13
(0) ZERG RUSH! (Take enemy demispire(s) immediately):
(0) Turtle Mode (Hold own demispires and defend while researching long-term techs:
(0) Over The River And Into The Monstrously Deadly Forest Of Stone (Take central spire(s) and develop technology to cross the Everstorm for direct early-game assault on their home spire):

I wish I could vote Turtle but kill or be killed.

[Madman198237]

Well crap.

I was hoping Draig would wait until A. we had voted on the strategy and B. we had considered the ship alternative.

So anyway, I'm afraid that that repeating crossbow is about to badly hurt our budget, and we really ought to focus more on anti-airship and emplacement weapons instead, like an infantry-portable repeated Aether cannon like a stormtrooper's E-Web blaster, purpose-built to make messes out of hostiles in confined spaces. Or not so confined spaces.

EDIT: Should have thought of this first...

Assuming no change in voting, Resource Domination is going to win, hence the above suggestions. Make infantry weapons meant to be moved in and used to defend a position. Also, we're going to have to make a *lot* of transports ASAP.

[NUKE9.13]

We should use our revision to improve the crossbow. Something like

Composite Prods: The current range/power of our crossbows is lacking. That's probably because the 'bow' part can't hold enough energy. By using composite woods, and bronze backing, the amount of tension the prods can hold will be increased dramatically, increasing the effective range and damage done.
(Increase effective range/power)

[Madman198237]

Nope, NUKE.

That will increase draw weight and make it even MORE impossible to aim. Basically, if we adapt the design so it's a lever-AIDED reload system that clicks the cable into a locked position (Released by a trigger) while giving our soldiers the advantage of leverage during the loading process, we'll get higher rates of fire at higher draw weights than possible with a direct lever-to-firing mechanism.

Alternatively, we give up and go back to the drawing board next turn with an aether rifle mounted on a wooden stock (Prevents burns and increases accuracy).