Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[10ebbor10]

Eh, we could simply try adding one of our Ishtana Select Crystals to our cannons. Double power = Double Trouble.

In fact, have a few proposals.

Ishtana Overload (Revision)

The Ishtana Overload is a simple revision of our current artillery, replacing all the fragile wiring with more sturdy and better designed equivalents. This allows it to fire a much more powerful blast, at reduced fire rate.

Light Ishtana Carronade(Design)

This cannon uses an Ishtana crystal, and one much larger than one would expect. This gives it a truly terrifying punch, at the cost of decreased accuracy and range even compared to normal crystals.

Dual Ishtana Cannons(Design)

These dual cannons come in two variants, and two firing modes. If wired to a standard crystal, they fire each barrel alternatingly, allowing a much higher fire rate. If wired to an Ishtana Select crystal, they fire both barrels simultanously, resulting in much stronger shots.

[Madman198237]

Windrider class Corvette
This simple hull is much larger than the Skyskiff. The hull is made of wood, with basic copper plating to prevent total destruction in the event of a shroud failure. Covering the internal walls is some webbing to give a failsafe power source in case of shroud failure. Short spars that run out of the bottom of the vessel, contained within the shroud, allow for the rest of the power generation necessary to fly and fight. It has 10 mountings for weapons, four per side, with two guns aiming fore, and internal workings optimized for Itshana Select crystals. The two core crystals have separated web and power-conducting systems entirely. The lift-system core crystal is an Itshana Select Small and runs two regular S lift crystals, using remaining power to run the shroud. The second core crystal is also Itshana Select Small, and runs the Select trim crystals and weapons. Any remaining power can be dedicated to the shroud if the primary shroud fails. Its armor plates are notched, allowing additional armor plates to be mounted directly to the ship with ease, or for them to be removed or replaced even easier. The entire ship is built to outrun and out-turn the Kasgyrite corvette, allowing us to deliver broadsides where it hurts, without getting hit.

Finally, the full power of the bureaucracy is unleashed upon this design, and it shall not succumb to Cloudrunner syndrome. On pain of Lower-Spire Waste Collection and Repositioning Duty!

[Tack]

Spoiler: War is a-changing (click to show/hide)

Why we fight
The good citizens of the Wrethian Republic have been asking questions, and they are good questions. Good, hard questions cut clamour, and demand a good answer, and the Tribunal will not be found wanting. So we have made the necessary inquiries, filed the necessary paperwork. Asked those same hard questions on behalf of the people we serve. Why do we fight? The spires are repaired. The people are once again inhabiting their former homes, and dedicating their efforts to the grand purposes of yesteryear.

Do we fight for pride?
Our illustrious homeland was built by the people's hands, and continues to rise with every stone laid, every plank shaped, and every rock, cut. "Building today for the future tomorrow" is the creed of Wreth, and to expand and improve our illustrious paradise is as deep and unremitting within our blood as great strength is to our Leonines. Every true Wrethian is born to that gem of pure community pride, grown within the vatteries of our souls, and the energy it provides is unceasing, driving us ever onward and upward to make Wreth an even greater Utopia.

But are we building? Do we expand, do we lay new bricks, cut new planks, and help our friends and neighbours advance as we do?
Hard questions demand hard answers, and the answer is We Do Not.
Spire Kasgyr thinks to curb our expansion. Spire Kasgyr might be content rebuilding what was taken, and calling it progress. It Is Not Progress. It is NOT Wreth. It is the healing of an injured leg.
Unless that leg is made stronger, and better than before, it will simply be injured again.
We are not that careless. We are not that weak of will, and we will have the FREEDOM to be born with Wrethian Greatness forged within our souls, even if we must fight for our right to do so.

Do we fight for Peace?
We have always been a peaceful people. Since the time Wreth first arose from the ashes of the tyrants before, we have always sought the best outcome to all situations. Votes, not Violence. Debate, not Despotism. We are an empire forged from the will of its people, with the peace of the people our only goal. Spire Kasgyr could be humans like us, no? Could we not come to peace, and make bonds as a community, just as Wreth has inside itself?

Why then, were our spires set ablaze? Why were houses toppled and families sundered? Why are men being sent to die when we would fight for peace?
Hard questions demand hard answers, and the answer is Wreth Has Tried!
We are not the Kasgyr Savage, who would kill a mother's children for the sheer joy. We entreated, we debated, we negotiated from positions of strength and of weakness. We attempted to show the Kasgyrites of our paradise, and invited them to form a community with is.
All We wanted was peace; and room for our empire to grow. But Spire Kasgyre refused us. Retaliated to an open hand with a closed fist. Retaliated to gifts with fire and sword.
Our ambassadors would not even be seen personally by their despot, so deep is the Kasgyr inclination to war and evil.
We have been fooled once. We have been fooled twice. We Cannot Be Fooled Again.
Kasgyr has nothing in their hearts but malice and hatred. Only by force can they be made to see what we can build. Only by removing their tyrant can we introduce them to free debate and the making of chartered laws.
Our only option for peace is to swiftly bring Spire Kasgyre into the fold.
Our only option for peace is War.

Do we fight for Survival?
The Wrethian Republic is not an old country. Whilst our people toil and our children learn, still our elders remember the Time of Tyrants, and in hushed whispers by glowlight tell stories of injustice and oppression, of an empire made to crush the people beneath. Stories too remorseless, too heartbreaking to be enrolled in the Official Histories.
When the Grand Revolution began, the Elders will tell, there was no room for second thoughts, no room to back out. When the Republic was formed, our fight was not for freedom, or peace, but simply to live.
Our fights saw only victories because losses would have meant our end. We overwhelmed the Elite Guard with the lives of carpenters and stonemasons because failure to fight together would mean persecution and death alone.
Tyrants will never accept the will of the people. They exist solely to feed from the labours of their citizens like parasites atop a throne of coin and bones.

Will Spire Kasgyre allow our Republic to live? Will the Tyrants allow their citizens to be "tainted" with the truth of our paradise?
Hard questions demand hard answers, and the answer is They Cannot!
Our very way of life is anathema to the Tyrant.
Position by Merit instead of Nepotism? Unthinkable.
Appointment by popular vote? Laughable.
A paper-trail covering half a century of governmental accountability? Impossible.
Spire Kasgyr and their Tyrant will be doing their utmost to wipe us from the face of the earth. Not a single Elder can be allowed to live, to whisper to children of the time before, lest their Citizens hear the Truth. Every babe will be butchered. Every soldier slain, every citizen burned in their homes.
This is not a war of Conquest by Kasgyre, this is a war of annihilation. To lose will be to die, to have our histories purged and our arts destroyed. To lose will have our Spire filled with Tyrants and the citizens of Tyrants.
Just like before, failure cannot be an option.
We must band together and overwhelm the Guard, or die by the habble in pogroms and cullings until the last Wrethian is no more.

Why do we fight? Why Do We Fight?
We fight to save the world
Only recently have we discovered the sinister Kasgyrite agenda! Only since this war reignited have we understood the truth of what they are!
Whilst we fight to reclaim our birthright from the Dwellers Below, the Kasgyrites invite them into their Spire!
Truly, entire FLOORS are filled with the evil and poisonous corruption that is the Silkweaver menace.
There has even been reports that their Tyrant is to Silkweavers as Leonines are to Cats, no graceful, powerful warriorborn of noble bearing, but a Matriarch of fanged maw and grotesque body, disjointed bones and clustered eyes.
Yet their despot means to spread that corruption further!
THIS IS THE THREAT KASGYRE REPRESENTS.
Not only to us, our citizens or our way of life, but to ALL OF HUMANITY!
It is impossible to imagine what awful science has yielded such a thing, but know this: for that Matriarch to take a mate; fill with seed as she unhinges her jaw to eat them, and spawn another tainted offspring, it is another Nail in The Coffin of Mankind.

To the Kasgyre who would help the Surface take the Sky, will we bow?
To the Kasgyre who would impose the will of an Arachnine Despot, will we sway?
To the Kasgyre who wishes to wipe Man from the face of the planet, will we tarry?

HARD ANSWERS DEMAND HARD QUESTIONS, WRETHIANS.
AND THE QUESTION IS
WHY DO YOU FIGHT?

(Probably requires editing, pending approval in triplicate)

[milo christiansen]

The FireRunner is a powerful new ship design based upon our earlier work and observation of the enemy corvette.

The FireRunner hull is not conventionally planked, but instead is a heavy wooden frame covered inside with lacquered silk, and outside with fanfold waves of web stiffened with copper wires.

The bow of the ship has mounts for two rows holding up to 4 light cannons (or fewer heavier guns) per row, one set above the other, and all set in a copper covered wooden gunshield.

The frame has mounting slots for a large number of crystals, allowing many possible configurations.

The light build, and and abundant silk, when combined with a proper crystal set, results in a ship with unmatched speed and maneuverability.

[Tack]

Maybe we could start on a MAC for artillery ships and eventual frigates.

[Jilladilla]

Honestly, leaning towards the Windrider here. The redundancy is tempting, and it does leave some room for future heavy weapons. I am thinking of attempting to blitz a prototype though... (To the point where I more or less will vote for spending several dice on initial progress, and of course investing an extra die to roll time at an advantage.)
As for the rest of our dice? A revision into reinforcing the cannons to allow Itshana Selects would likely be a good idea, after all, double damage for only +1 ore is worth a dice I feel, especially with Kasgyr's super-shroud (Better Core Crystal? Or just very well fed?). Remember that the ore from Miner's Folly kicked in immediately, and Haze Maze will also kick in for next turn's ore, so we can actually afford to spare ore now.... (We have 21 right now with a +17 income, which is a little more than double what we were working with.)


Also... Guys, we only met two skiffs at Three Captains... Which means that one Kasgyrite skiff is MIA, either their emergency dive into the mist didn't go well, or we have a skiff on our backline. Also there is also the issue of Kasgyr's two new skiffs being we don't know where. (Transport escort duty maybe? Our marine commander at Three Captains did say they suspected they were outnumbered, so escorting the two transports they used makes sense...)

[NUKE9.13]

Spoiler: War is a-changing (click to show/hide)

Why we fight
The good citizens of the Wrethian Republic have been asking questions, and they are good questions. Good, hard questions cut clamour, and demand a good answer, and the Tribunal will not be found wanting. So we have made the necessary inquiries, filed the necessary paperwork. Asked those same hard questions on behalf of the people we serve. Why do we fight? The spires are repaired. The people are once again inhabiting their former homes, and dedicating their efforts to the grand purposes of yesteryear.

Do we fight for pride?
Our illustrious homeland was built by the people's hands, and continues to rise with every stone laid, every plank shaped, and every rock, cut. "Building today for the future tomorrow" is the creed of Wreth, and to expand and improve our illustrious paradise is as deep and unremitting within our blood as great strength is to our Leonines. Every true Wrethian is born to that gem of pure community pride, grown within the vatteries of our souls, and the energy it provides is unceasing, driving us ever onward and upward to make Wreth an even greater Utopia.

But are we building? Do we expand, do we lay new bricks, cut new planks, and help our friends and neighbours advance as we do?
Hard questions demand hard answers, and the answer is We Do Not.
Spire Kasgyr thinks to curb our expansion. Spire Kasgyr might be content rebuilding what was taken, and calling it progress. It Is Not Progress. It is NOT Wreth. It is the healing of an injured leg.
Unless that leg is made stronger, and better than before, it will simply be injured again.
We are not that careless. We are not that weak of will, and we will have the FREEDOM to be born with Wrethian Greatness forged within our souls, even if we must fight for our right to do so.

Do we fight for Peace?
We have always been a peaceful people. Since the time Wreth first arose from the ashes of the tyrants before, we have always sought the best outcome to all situations. Votes, not Violence. Debate, not Despotism. We are an empire forged from the will of its people, with the peace of the people our only goal. Spire Kasgyr could be humans like us, no? Could we not come to peace, and make bonds as a community, just as Wreth has inside itself?

Why then, were our spires set ablaze? Why were houses toppled and families sundered? Why are men being sent to die when we would fight for peace?
Hard questions demand hard answers, and the answer is Wreth Has Tried!
We are not the Kasgyr Savage, who would kill a mother's children for the sheer joy. We entreated, we debated, we negotiated from positions of strength and of weakness. We attempted to show the Kasgyrites of our paradise, and invited them to form a community with is.
All We wanted was peace; and room for our empire to grow. But Spire Kasgyre refused us. Retaliated to an open hand with a closed fist. Retaliated to gifts with fire and sword.
Our ambassadors would not even be seen personally by their despot, so deep is the Kasgyr inclination to war and evil.
We have been fooled once. We have been fooled twice. We Cannot Be Fooled Again.
Kasgyr has nothing in their hearts but malice and hatred. Only by force can they be made to see what we can build. Only by removing their tyrant can we introduce them to free debate and the making of chartered laws.
Our only option for peace is to swiftly bring Spire Kasgyre into the fold.
Our only option for peace is War.

Do we fight for Survival?
The Wrethian Republic is not an old country. Whilst our people toil and our children learn, still our elders remember the Time of Tyrants, and in hushed whispers by glowlight tell stories of injustice and oppression, of an empire made to crush the people beneath. Stories too remorseless, too heartbreaking to be enrolled in the Official Histories.
When the Grand Revolution began, the Elders will tell, there was no room for second thoughts, no room to back out. When the Republic was formed, our fight was not for freedom, or peace, but simply to live.
Our fights saw only victories because losses would have meant our end. We overwhelmed the Elite Guard with the lives of carpenters and stonemasons because failure to fight together would mean persecution and death alone.
Tyrants will never accept the will of the people. They exist solely to feed from the labours of their people like parasites atop a throne of coin and bones.

Will Spire Kasgyre allow our Republic to live? Will the Tyrants allow their citizens to be "tainted" with the truth of our paradise?
Hard questions demand hard answers, and the answer is They Cannot!
Our very way of life is anathema to the Tyrant.
Position by Merit instead of Nepotism? Unthinkable.
Appointment by popular vote? Laughable.
A paper-trail covering half a century of governmental accountability? Impossible.
Spire Kasgyr and their Tyrant will be doing their utmost to wipe us from the face of the earth. Not a single Elder can be allowed to live, to whisper to children of the time before, lest their Citizens hear the Truth. Every babe will be butchered. Every soldier slain, every citizen burned in their homes. This is not a war of Conquest by Kasgyre, this is a war of annihilation.
To lose will be to die, to have our histories purged and our arts destroyed. To lose will have our Spire filled with Tyrants and the citizens of Tyrants.
Just like before, failure cannot be an option.
We must band together and overwhelm the Guard, or die by the habble in pogroms and cullings until the last Wrethian is no more.

Why do we fight? Why Do We Fight?
We fight to save the world
Only recently have we discovered the Sinister Kasgyrite agenda!
Only since this war reignited have we understood the truth of what they are!
Whilst we fight to reclaim our birthright from the Dwellers Below, the Kasgyrites invite them into their Spire!
Truly, entire FLOORS are filled with the evil and poisonous corruption that is the Silkweaver menace.
There has even been reports that their Tyrant is to Silkweavers as Leonines are to Cats, no graceful, powerful warriorborn of noble bearing, but a Matriarch of fanged maw and grotesque body, disjointed bones and clustered eyes.
Yet their despot means to spread that corruption further!
THIS IS THE THREAT KASGYRE REPRESENTS.
Not only to us, our citizens or our way of life, but to ALL OF HUMANITY!
It is impossible to imagine what awful science has yielded such a thing, but know this: for that Matriarch to take a mate; fill with seed as she unhinges her jaw to eat them, and spawn another tainted offspring, it is another Nail in The Coffin of Mankind.

To the Kasgyre who would help the Surface take the Sky, will we bow?
To the Kasgyre who would impose the will of an Arachnine Despot, will we sway?
To the Kasgyre who wishes to wipe Man from the face of the planet, will we tarry?

HARD ANSWERS DEMAND HARD QUESTIONS, WRETHIANS.
AND THE QUESTION IS
WHY DO YOU FIGHT?

(Probably requires editing, pending approval in triplicate)

Approved once.

Anyway. Aw geez, aw geez. I've said this on the Discord several times, but geez, their ship seems perfect. Manoeuvrable, tough, and well armed. I don't think we can hope to match it by doing the same, unless we win that free 6. Or get lucky un-Wrethian.
The only part of their ship that isn't vastly superior is their cannons. Engaging it from long range seems like its only weakness- though that'll be bloody hard to exploit, given its ability to dodge.

It bothers me to throw away the setting of "Webbing is mostly deployed outside of the shroud", but they started it. The GM can hardly tell us we can't do it. So much for 'sails'. Although, can we have the webbing be actually inside the ship? Theirs is rolled up, yes, but it's still exposed. That may be necessary. We should check with the GM before locking in a design.

Well. We need a ship, anyway. Like I said, I don't think we can beat them at their own game, so I don't like the FireRunner- likely it wouldn't be able to spin quickly enough to bring its guns to bear in every direction in rapid succession. Yes, theirs can. But that's my point. Theirs is a godsdamned masterpiece. If we knew we were going to win the credit, I'd go for it. But we don't, so I won't.
That being said, is a generic-ish design like the Windrider going to be able to beat theirs?
...
No, but that can't be our goal. Our goal is to design something that can survive theirs.

I think our only hope is that they didn't also roll a 6 on cost, and that the Kunaiship costs an arm and a leg, in which case we may eventually be able to outnumber them.

...see, the worst thing is, right, that Draignean said in the Discord that as the GM he is frustrated that he cannot share his solutions to a problem. Since Kasgyr has no problems at the moment, he was obviously talking about us. So according to him, there is a solution to this. Which is easy for him to say, he's the GM and knows about the Kunaiship's secret thermal exhaust port. Cos I really don't see a way of beating this thing.

[/pessimism]

[Tack]

The 'Bullfrog' class vessel is a corvette-style warship designed to operate off Small Itshana Selects, for maximum manouverability despite its heavy payload. It has copper plated armor and a single Medium (or larger if engineering allows) chase gun, recessed so as to prevent a lower profile. Meanwhile on each side, two PLACE cannons operate as swivel guns to help with light fire support and repelling boarders. The space freed up by a lighter crew is filled with extra cooling pipes for the main cannon, so that extra power can be fed from the ship core for more devastating (/possibly risky) attacks at range.

The Medium Aether cannon is a standard upgrade to the light aether cannon, but some ridiculous 'Inverse square law' seems to mean it is a more complicated job than it appears to be, according to the engineers.
Regardless, we have full faith in their abilities. Nothing fancy, just a bigger boom. Possibly able to use Itshana selects, if the budget allows.

Could that give enough punch?

Edit: The other option I can think of to deal with the Kunai would be us doubling down on a skyskiff pattern and developing the taserballista so we can pop its webbed up core.
Taserballista is someone else's baby so I can't write that brief, but I'll put one in for the Skyskiff so we have a bookmark on it.

The 'Hunter pattern of skyskiff is designed to be lighter and faster than the original, ditching the side guns for a single bow gun operating on what can be described as 'The Laziest Susan', able to swivel in order to keep aim on moving targets and during acrobatic manouvers. The gunners, to their part, will be harnessed to the cannon, whilst the rest of the crew is strapped to the deck during combat operations in order to allow previously dangerous or downright suicidal moves to be executed without sending men flying overboard. To further drive it to breakneck speeds and graceful turns, it is designed to operate on Itshana Select crystals.

Draignean

[Jilladilla]

Hmm... The cannon mounts were described as partially exposed no? And cannons are described as 'prone to exploding violently if hit directly by enemy fire'... Maybe try a ballista or other physical weapon? It wasn't described as having armor either, so it could work.

Then again, we have no clue how durable the hull of that thing actually is... But with its shape... I just don't it having much in the way of 'ablative hull' if it's attacked from anywhere other than the front. And actual damage to the front could potentially 'mission kill' it swiftly, due to the simple fact that it relies entirely on it's frontal cannons, and 'partially exposed' doesn't imply that they're well protected.

Oh right, +1 to Tack's 'Why We Fight' speech thingy.

[Tack]

So, votebox.

1. Large amounts of light cannon fire
(Cloudrunner, Firerunner, Volley fire)

2. Small amounts of heavy cannon fire
(MAC, Bullfrog)

3. Conventional Weapons
(Electroballista)

If people can add more feel free to do so, as long as we reach a consensus

[Nirur Torir]

...see, the worst thing is, right, that Draignean said in the Discord that as the GM he is frustrated that he cannot share his solutions to a problem. Since Kasgyr has no problems at the moment, he was obviously talking about us. So according to him, there is a solution to this. Which is easy for him to say, he's the GM and knows about the Kunaiship's secret thermal exhaust port. Cos I really don't see a way of beating this thing.

High maneuver, high shields, high firepower. It's probably pretty weak without shields.

We could try non-aether cannons, flag communications, and a swarming-flanking tactic.

[Madman198237]

So, right now we're facing a ship that appears to have everything going for it.

The Windrider is going to build on our conventional experience (Greater than theirs), which will shorten times regardless of our rolls. It gains the improvement of housing massive amounts of webbing inside the ship itself, just like theirs, and the larger core crystal should also help with shrouding.

Developing a prone-to-failure cannon is not a great idea. Guns are unreliable, and they will always be. Probably. Draignean is trying to stop us from gunning for assault rifles and crap. (I'll let myself out now....)

The taser ballista MIGHT work, but it's not going to be as effective against anything else.

Developing a better aether cannon is as simple as making our LACs capable of firing with an Itshana, which has double the power of a regular crystal (Roughly). This is a revision. This is going to be an expensive killing machine for sure, but it ought to make quite the impression.

[Tack]

If the Taser ballista works, then it's ruined that entire product line for them, and at the price of a Skiff.

[Madman198237]

Possibly. However, it is risky. The only thing you'll do real damage to is the webbing, meaning you got to land QUITE the shot. And you've got to do it while the projectile is trailing a conductive wire. And you've got to stay close while you fry that ship's power systems.

[Tack]

Very Hoth.