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[UristMcRiley]

That pilots going to have a hell of a time seeing assuming hes the one in the rear with that machine gun facing to the rear, especially since it'll be dumping brass on him while he flies. I reckon if we plan on expanding our air service into the navy we will probably have to design the naval aircraft be it observation balloons or float planes which are  the only real options we have right now, along with recovery systems for them a crane for the float planes and some sort of automatic recovery winch for the balloon so the navy wont have to spare five sailors to reel it in. Though i doubt the navy would like balloons much at all it would make them easier to spot by far compared to planes just to big of a silhouette. If i was to figure next turn we might want to come up with some simple hand dropped bombs before we go for bombers just to see if it might be practical to later convert our current fighting scouts to bombers or if we are just going to need a whole new chassis for it. Also whipping up a more powerful engine  wouldn't be to bad as far as it goes aint nothing wrong with future proofing.

[evictedSaint]

Probably switch to a single-seater at some point.  The Bolter is closed-bolt, so we can do a synch gearing set up for a more powerful tractor-prop design without having to do crazy shit like armoring the props.  We somehow have a four-blade prop to start with, which is excellent.  Maybe we can switch from a straight-eight to a V12 or something.  I dunno too much about ww1 engines, so I'm not sure what a realistic design would be for that.

[piratejoe]

Not a bad picture eS, though I was thinking the second machine gun mount was put a bit higher up so not only could the pilot see better but so it could fire over the wings, also if we go for any kind of new engine, it probably should be a radial one unless its for CAS or a bomber, and radial engines always have an odd number of pistons.

[UristMcRiley]

Yeah i would support a radial engine of some sort that more power just opens up a lot of options for later aircraft. I dont really think just armoring the prop and saying you know who needs a synch gear sure it would work. We would just loose a lot of planes from ricochets nailing the pilot. Honestly i think the synch gear is something we could wait on due to its complexity and just how much it will change the game i think it would be a while till we get a real line model so to speak. We can get around needing it by either mounting the machine-gun above the prop on top of the top wing or mounting it further out on the wings. Of course we would probably need a wooden wing to pull that off well but i think we could do it with cloth wings and aluminum spars. Mind you we would take a hit to the accuracy of our weapons but it will save a lot of hassle in the mean time.

[evictedSaint]

I dunno, I think we could pull off a synch gear in a dedicated design. 

[Sensei]

Synch gear would be nice, we can consider making it part of a plane design or maybe trying to do it as a revision later. However, it's not essential. We can probably do just fine working around a synch gear by putting guns on the wings of single-engine planes or in the middle of two-engine planes. As a consequence I wouldn't make synch gears a high priority.

[evictedSaint]

I wonder how hard it would be to lay a barrel through the headers of a v12 and fire down the shaft, like a yak-7 or a p-39...probably pretty hard, since we might have trouble making a strong enough shaft that can withstand the propeller and MG vibrations while having a hollow center...

[piratejoe]

Since I had access to a computer, I made this.

Spoiler: VRAC A1 Emu (click to show/hide)

[Sensei]

I wonder how hard it would be to lay a barrel through the headers of a v12 and fire down the shaft, like a yak-7 or a p-39...probably pretty hard, since we might have trouble making a strong enough shaft that can withstand the propeller and MG vibrations while having a hollow center...

That's just asking for trouble! We don't need to over-complicate things. We don't even have metal planes yet.

Also keep in mind that at 8 turns per year, it'll probably only be 1918 or so when the game ends. We aren't going to have much of other peoples' technological background to draw on and we're going to be inventing much of the basics ourselves rather than taking them for granted.

[evictedSaint]

I wonder how hard it would be to lay a barrel through the headers of a v12 and fire down the shaft, like a yak-7 or a p-39...probably pretty hard, since we might have trouble making a strong enough shaft that can withstand the propeller and MG vibrations while having a hollow center...

That's just asking for trouble! We don't need to over-complicate things. We don't even have metal planes yet.

Also keep in mind that at 8 turns per year, it'll probably only be 1918 or so when the game ends. We aren't going to have much of other peoples' technological background to draw on and we're going to be inventing much of the basics ourselves rather than taking them for granted.

What if we just build a cold-war heat-seeking missile? That seems easy enough to pull off, apparently >:C

[dgr11897]

I think the GM might speed tech along, or we could just do projects that are ahead of their time.

[UristMcRiley]

I honestly hope the GM doesnt speed tech along, it just kinda ruins the whole thing if we jump from a wood spar and cloth winged push plane too an aluminum winged monoplane straight out of 1935. If we fight this whole war with canvas and wood it would be pretty dang reasonable though i hope we could eventually get to some wooden wings and aluminum frames at least of a monoplane CAS/fighter-bomber vehicle. Also i honestly think we can just avoid the Synch Gear by mounting weapons on the wings if we could get aluminum spars or at least one integrated into our canvas fighting scouts. Though for now i reckon we should focus on simple designs that can be integrated across our whole air fleet like little hand grenade sized bombs that could be tossed out of our fighting scout, maybe some proper flight gear to increase the combat effectiveness of our pilots, or someway to due the spotting job better then having to fly all the way back to the airfield then send the message obviously wireless is out of the question but what about putting cameras in the planes you know if the info is going to be old lets make it damn accurate. If we dont do that lets get some sealed metal tubes with parachutes that the observers can drop over friendly positions with hand drawn maps it wont be fantastic but it will be quicker then them landing and then having someone run the maps up to the artillery's FDC

[Cnidaros]

New Equipment
3-new bolt machine guns (3pp)
4-new Sky eye squadrons (4pp)
Total Equipment cost 7pp

Maintenance 4pp
Total Cost 11pp

Re-equipping and rearming
3 Barnson’s Bird-Watching Essentials moved from squire 1-3 to Rook 2-4
3 Bolt machine guns equipped to squadrons Squire 1-3

Deplotement
Rook 1-2 deployed attached to different artillery units along the northern front
Rook 3-4 deployed attached to different artillery units along the central plains
Rook 5 is offered to be used to assist the Navy
Squire 1 is deployed to the Northern Front to engage any enemy aircraft that wander over the Verusa lines
Squire 2-3 is deployed to the central plains to engage any enemy aircraft that wander over the Verusa lines

Production plans locked in, expect the battle report tomorrow.

You all can make projects ahead, or even way ahead of the times, but expect exorbitant progress time and costs, and lackluster results unless you roll a bunch of sixes.

[Cnidaros]

Design Phase, Early Autumn 1915

Squire 3 of Rhinos at the central plains is now at Rookie experience level.

The general in charge of organising the defence of Derboise urgently requests that you send more planes there, either to shoot down the enemy balloons, planes or both. He is sure that if the Sky Eyes can be protected, the city could be held by Verusan artillery firing from sheltered positions.

Meanwhile, the army generals in the central front are confident that if the situation does not change, they could advance to the outskirts of Dreidansk in the next two months. They do request for aerial photography to speed this advance.

A few contacts have been made among the naval officers, and trials to fly a balloon from ships have been conducted with an older-model destroyer and some converted merchantmen. On the destroyer, there is hardly enough deck space to inflate the large envelope of a Sky Eye. It takes up to half an hour to fully launch the balloon, during which the destroyer is unable to fire. Tests on the merchant ships are marginally more successful with the greater deck area, and the balloon does increase the ship's observational range, but it slows down the ship too much to keep up with a convoy when towed.

Overall, while the naval officers note that it could be useful for stationary picket ships, they conclude that the admirals do not see a need for naval balloons at the moment. Rook 5 has been returned to your use.

High command has increased your budget by 2 PP, as the country devotes more factories to war. Production of children’s toys is discontinued, and children now play with sticks instead.

Spoiler: Projects (click to show/hide)

VRAC A.1 “Emu” | 2/15 progress | 2 PP per die | Rushed 0 times | 2 PP invested

Spoiler: Designs and Technology (click to show/hide)

Planes:
-‘Rhino’ Biplane: A unarmed, single-seater reconnaissance plane. Very misleadingly named, as its fragile wood-and-canvas frame can’t withstand the slightest collision. On the other hand, it’s about as easy to turn as a charging rhino. At least it gets up to a good speed, powered by a five-cylinder rotary engine. Cost: 3/1
-VRAC A.1 “Emu”: A two-seater biplane with a water-cooled engine in the pusher configuration. The Emu mounts two Bolt machineguns, in front and rear-facing swivel mounts, operated by the observer sitting forward of the pilot. Is reasonably fast and maneuverable for its size. Comes with shiny gemstone sheaths for the pilots to store their swords in flight. Cost 6/3. (In Development)
Balloons:
-Sky Eye Observation Balloon: A three-man hot air balloon for aerial observation. Two observers sketch out enemy dispositions, while a phone operator relays information to the ground and controls the balloons’ altitude. Comes with spiffy gold-rimmed monocles to help the observers see ‘further’. Cost 1/1
Equipment:
“Barnson’s Bird-Watching Essentials”: A set of gear for aerial observers. Currently consists of a set of high-quality binoculars, sketchpad and drafting pencils. Cost 1 PP for 2 squadrons.
Bolt Machine Gun: A belt-fed machinegun capable of accurate firing out to 2000m. It is air-cooled and operates on a closed-bolt firing cycle. Cost 1 PP.
Pilots:
-Daring: For King and Country! Verusan pilots are more aggressive and willing to take risks in combat.
-Uniforms: Blue with purple accents. Pilots are commissioned with a ceremonial sabre, which they bring along for every mission, stored in a sheath in the cockpit.
Technology:
-Basic/Intermediate biplane design
-Basic monoplane design
-Basic pusher configuration design
-Basic balloon design
-Wooden frame construction
-Basic control surfaces: ailerons, elevator and rudder
-Rhino Horn mount technology
Resources:
-1 Air Academy: Trains new pilots how to take off. Landing is left as an exercise for the student.
-1 Experimental Aerodrome: Designs new planes and other air-related equipment. Produces five dice worth of progress every turn.
-14 production points base.

Spoiler: Squadrons (click to show/hide)

Squire 1 | Rhino Biplane | Bolt Machine Gun | Aerial Reconnaissance | Neophyte | No Aces | Maintenance Cost 1
Currently assigned to patrol Verusan lines over Derboise

Squire 2 | Rhino Biplane | Bolt Machine Gun | Aerial Reconnaissance | Neophyte | No Aces | Maintenance Cost 1
Currently assigned to patrol Verusan lines over the Demisonne-Dreidansk Road

Squire 3 | Rhino Biplane | Bolt Machine Gun | Aerial Reconnaissance | Rookie | No Aces | Maintenance Cost 1
Currently assigned to patrol Verusan lines over the Demisonne-Dreidansk Road

Rook 1 | Sky Eye Observation Balloon | Barnson’s Bird-Watching Essentials | Artillery Spotting | Neophyte | No Aces | Maintenance Cost 1
Currently assigned to artillery spotting in Derboise

Rook 2 | Sky Eye Observation Balloon | Barnson’s Bird-Watching Essentials | Artillery Spotting | Neophyte | No Aces | Maintenance Cost 1
Currently assigned to artillery spotting in Derboise

Rook 3 | Sky Eye Observation Balloon | Barnson’s Bird-Watching Essentials | Artillery Spotting | Neophyte | No Aces | Maintenance Cost 1
Currently assigned to artillery spotting at the Demisonne-Dreidansk frontline

Rook 4 | Sky Eye Observation Balloon | Barnson’s Bird-Watching Essentials | Artillery Spotting | Neophyte | No Aces | Maintenance Cost 1
Currently assigned to artillery spotting at the Demisonne-Dreidansk frontline

Rook 5 | Sky Eye Observation Balloon | No Equipment | Navy Experimentation | Neophyte | No Aces | Maintenance Cost 1
Currently assigned to naval balloon testing

Spoiler: Statistics (click to show/hide)

Prestige: Extremely Little
Status: Auxiliary Service
Army Relations: Lukewarm
Navy Relations: On Talking Terms

Production Points: 14
Total Maintenance: 8

[Jerick]

Right lesson learned say air superiority in future that way they'll hunt down enemy balloons. But we need to deal with the Derboise situation. Frankly I think we need a fourth Squire squadron and as we might need to consider deploying three Squire squadrons to the north. I'm of the opinion they'll push hard in the north rather than defend the south. They have territory to lose in the south but a city to gain in the north. We'll need to meet them or we risk losing some PP. However a forth squadron of armed Rhinos would cost 4pp and bring our maintenance up to 9pp a turn for next turn. Investing in the Emu fighter can only be done with one dice if we wish to buy this squadron. In terms of requisitioning I think we should get the standard infantry stick grenades the army is using and drop them from our planes onto the enemy. If our pilots can drop one of those into an enemy munitions depots or artillery positions they can do incredible damage. As for this turns revisions I think we should copy them and do ailerons and I think it's about bloody time we got a functioning camera.

1 dice to Emu (1); Jerick

Requistion
Standard Army Stick grenade (1); Jerick