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[Nirur Torir]

And it's ONLY a 5% increase. You should just roll with it instead.

Given that we have a government designed around keeping careful records, while they have a government designed around perfectly obeying one guy, please do not roll with it.

[johiah]

Wow I completely forgot I signed up for this. Reading all of this will take me a while.

Do you want a TLDR of what we have?

I didn't see this until now. 4 hours of reading.

Anyways, I had an long term idea for sentry turrets.

"Sentinel" long range high altitude suppression weapons platform (LRHASWP(or better proposed acronym)
A weapons platform that uses a silk balloon of air heated using wood (as a 1 wood per turn cost or something) or lift crystals to float high above a claimed spire or Demi spire, attached via several long ropes. The aethersuits allow for the men in these weapons platforms to stay in these higher altitudes without going mad, and, using longer ranged slower firing aethercannons, (yet to be developed), allow us to control the air around our spires, as approaching enemies must rise up to the level of the platform before being able to fire back effectively, all the while being belted with high energy shots from above.

The above is a rough concept of something we could use in the future for long ranged support. Feel free to iterate or improve upon it.

In any case, a shorter term goal should be small, faster ships with a single longer ranged, more powerful gun, on each side of the ship. It could run rings around their slower ships, farther out than their ships can fire, and pelt them until they succumb.

[Nirur Torir]

If you want to go that route, deploy them from special cannons mid-battle. We might be able to project a gravity-shroud allowing passengers to live through the extreme pressure. They'd either only be good for a few shots or need webbing, which would probably limit their usefulness.

I want to go for giant battleships.

We should probably get started on expanding that marine academy after our current project. It might take a few turns to produce more troops.

[Tack]

I was thinking of throwing out a design for heavy cannons which can be used as point defense weapons until we get ships capable of mounting them.

With a revision we could probably throw some trim crystals and webbing on them and make them self-lifting.
Only issue though is that whilst they're a tiny target which will be hard to hit, that man on the very expensive piece of equipment probably won't be able to afford a shroud.

[milo christiansen]

How about a x-small trim crystal mounted on a light cannon as an infantry support weapon? The trim crystal would be enough to lift it off the ground for moving and aiming. The cannon frame would carry some small lengths of webbing, just enough to provide the power needed to run the trim crystal.

To power the actual firing we would use webbing on a roll. Unroll it on the ground behind your earthworks or walls and trail a light silk rope as a conductor between the web and the cannon. This would help hold captured spires by giving both a good anti-infantry weapon, but also a way to blow enemy troop landers to little bits. If they can't land, they can't hurt us.

This could be a cheap little side project, since it mostly consists of assembling tech we already have in a novel new way.

[Khan Boyzitbig]

Basically a field gun, sounds good. Especially on the Unfinished with is massive open areas.

[Tack]

Well I just found out that webbing can only be energised by a core crystal and a bigger core can energise more webbing, can generate more power.
Which means unless we want to throw extra crystals into the field gun, we're probably better off making it webless.

The main issue would be a lack of ship-sized heatsinks.

Again this is all up to Draig but that's what I'd be worrying about.

Edit: another thingo, lift crystals have better efficiency at lower altitudes (air density or something?) which means more power to trim and shroud. So highest isn't always best.

[johiah]

If you want to go that route, deploy them from special cannons mid-battle. We might be able to project a gravity-shroud allowing passengers to live through the extreme pressure. They'd either only be good for a few shots or need webbing, which would probably limit their usefulness.

I want to go for giant battleships.

We should probably get started on expanding that marine academy after our current project. It might take a few turns to produce more troops.

The thing about battleships is they are big an expensive. A barebones craft floating at almost maximum altitude has the flight advantage, and since its guns are mounted on the bottom, they can all fire at once. This means that a floating weapons platform will be cheaper as you don't need to mount weapons on both sides, thus making it more effective. I can't think of any easy counter to something way higher than you with six or so more powerful cannons.

But battleships are cool though.

And as far as limited usefulness, the balloon is made of the webbing, with a leather inside or something. The webbing conducts energy to a core crystal that can both operate as energy flotation if the balloon is punctured, as well as powering the more powerful cannons with high altitude aether.

[NUKE9.13]

Well, one problem with a balloon is that it is stationary, whereas ships are fast. A ship is unlikely to miss a shot at a balloon, whereas a balloon might miss a shot at a ship. And it would only take one shot to the balloon part to take down the entire craft, whereas a big ship can survive multiple shots- assuming they can even get through the shroud.
Another problem with a balloon is that it is stationary, whereas ships are mobile. The enemy can just go around a balloon; it can't chase them down. Conversely, in the face of a superior force, a balloon cannot make a tactical retreat.

Nah, if you want a stationary weapons platform, put it on the ground. That way, it can be heavily fortified, such that it can survive many shots from ships, making its lack of dodging ability less relevant.

Or you could just go with ships. As for the guns being mounted on the bottom, there ain't no rule that says you can't mount guns on the bottom of a ship. Or the front, or on top, or wherever the hell you feel like it.

[johiah]

Well, one problem with a balloon is that it is stationary, whereas ships are fast. A ship is unlikely to miss a shot at a balloon, whereas a balloon might miss a shot at a ship. And it would only take one shot to the balloon part to take down the entire craft, whereas a big ship can survive multiple shots- assuming they can even get through the shroud.
Another problem with a balloon is that it is stationary, whereas ships are mobile. The enemy can just go around a balloon; it can't chase them down. Conversely, in the face of a superior force, a balloon cannot make a tactical retreat.

Nah, if you want a stationary weapons platform, put it on the ground. That way, it can be heavily fortified, such that it can survive many shots from ships, making its lack of dodging ability less relevant.

Or you could just go with ships. As for the guns being mounted on the bottom, there ain't no rule that says you can't mount guns on the bottom of a ship. Or the front, or on top, or wherever the hell you feel like it.

The balloon is simply to make more aether available to the cannons. It could also use a lift crystal to float, but then less cannon power. It isn't meant to be a standalone, rather a support device to both protect our spires and distract the enemy in combat. Its effectiveness could even be limited to just being able to stop unprotected transports from landing, and it would have achieved what I'm going for. Basically meant to annoy them if they try to take an unguarded spire, and support our ships if we are engaged in battle. Having more than one would allow us to control how high the enemy goes, giving us advantages that ground turrets simply don't.

[Tack]

All of these decisions can wait until the design phase
For now let's see some Strategies unfold!

[milo christiansen]

So are we waiting for Kasgyre, or the GM?

[Draignean]

So are we waiting for Kasgyre, or the GM?

Me.

I'm... adapting to how the combat updates are structured. No plan survives conduct with the enemy, and in order to not make the writing an absolute chore... Well, I've had to change a few little things.

[Tack]

 Take your time. Better to have a strong system which lets you run it longer than rely on verbosity and burn out

[milo christiansen]

+1 to what Tack said. There are few things more disappointing than a cool game that dies before its time.

Is there anything we can do to reduce your workload? Anything we can do to make it easier on you is a priority.

Edit: I'm reading the book right now, and there airship propulsion is described as steam powered prop, turbine, or sail. Things to consider for later designs...