Bay 12 Games Forum

Hello.
Can I have a question about Vlanlados? Is it possible to simply drown the mines in concrete and then give it up? Uranium will probably not be usefull for quite some time, and cleaning concrete will take some time.

Unfortunately, the pitchblende formations are widespread and exposed- hence the Vlanladosians having quarried them for rock to build their homes in the first place.

It seems rather quiet here, so I suppose I will propose something: Let's station archers at all towers as scouts, and skew our melee forces towards the north end of the castle. If I read correctly, most of them (besides knights) only fight when the enemy tries to climb the wall, so placing them in the north courtyard should have them capable of moving to any location before the enemy, as long as they don't sneak up on us, and the archers should prevent that as long as daylight lasts.

Troop Movement:
North Tower: 6 Archers, 4 Knights
North Courtyard: 10 Veterans, Hero
East Tower: 6 Archers
West Tower: 6 Archers
South Tower: 2 Archers, 1 Knight

Foundry:
Begin construction of a Ballista on the North Tower

Watchtower:
Don't start laying traps until we see where the enemy is moving.

Barracks:
Begin training two Recruits as Archers.

Decision Points:
Hold position until we get a good idea were enemies are going- so probably wait until we see some of them actually enter ramparts, or make their way to the west/east rampart without stopping. If they go to any of the northern/eastern areas, move an equal distribution of our veterans into position on the walls.

Plan A: (1) Sensei

Bodies
(6) Burial at sea: eS, Cnidaros, TricMagic, Andrea, King Zultan, blueturtle1134
-- (4) But keep track of where we dump them, because that's going to be a rich fishing spot for awhile: Cnidaros, Andrea, King Zultan, blueturtle1134
(0) Burial at land:
(0) Cremate:
(0) Cannibalize:

Expeditions
(2) Send 2nd Hunters after Hunters: eS, TricMagic
(2) Send 2nd Miners after Miners: eS, Tricmagic
(3) Wait until they're due: Cnidaros, King Zultan, blueturtle1134

Boats
(4) Prioritize Salvage: eS, Tricmagic, King Zultan, blueturtle1134
(1) Prioritize Fishing: Cnidaros
(1) Split evenly: Andrea

Construction
(6) Idles Build Igloos: eS, Cnidaros, TricMagic, Andrea, King Zultan, blueturtle1134
-- (3) 24/7 shift-work with people taking turns to sleep in the built ones, until we have space for 553: Cnidaros, Andrea, King Zultan
-- (4) For those unfit for labour, make more warm coats and 6 more tents using leather/feathers: Cnidaros, Andrea, King Zultan, blueturtle1134

Morale
(3) Build a flagpole with rope and a metal/wooden pole, raise the Vlanlados flag: Cnidaros, King Zultan, blueturtle1134
(3) Hold a short memorial ceremony for the dead: Cnidaros, King Zultan, blueturtle1134
(2) Make the Kotzar hold a speech on how losing half the colony vastly increased our chances of survival: King Zultan, Andrea

Recovering

The first day after the disaster is spent, hurriedly, burying the dead, though some spend time searching for their loved ones, finding out who survived among the many missing people. Some of the colonists are found in areas near the camp, having reached the shore after the ship collapsed but frozen to death afterwards, soaking wet and lost in the wind and darkness only a short walk away. The dead are pushed off to sea, sinking in the freezing water- there is no time to dig graves, and though the members of the Kotzar's cabinet are careful not to say this around the common folk, they will attract fish. One colonist announces himself to be a pastor, and holds a short service. A few sections of pipe are scavenged from the steam turbine to rig into a short flagpole, and the flag of Vlanlados is raised at half mast. The colonists who aren't too grief-stricken to work, work themselves breathless to accomplish this all in a matter of hours.

The Industrious Spirit of Vlanlados

There is no more time to grieve. Night will fall soon. Enough, and just barely enough, igloos are constructed before dark to get everyone out of the wind. It's overcrowded, though. There isn't even space for a fire in most igloos, the sick are bundled together but still not completely separated from the healthy- in fact, hygiene procedures are less than ideal in general without the doctor around to be a definitive authority on such matters.

For the rest of the week, three main tasks are carried out. First, warm coats for an expedition are prepared, of the chicken leather and chicken feathers from the supplies (thankfully there were enough spools of thread left to manage). The chicken-leather coats are lumpy and misshapen despite the women doing their best job, it's a lousy material to work with. 20 coats are completed, and still quite warm, after a couple days of work 10 people are sent after the direction of the hunters and 10 after the miners. They haven't got tents, and will need to bury themselves in the snow or dig caves to stay warm- hardly ideal, but most Vlanladosians experienced in traveling in the wilderness have done it at least once before.

The boats are dedicated primarily to bringing in salvage, before the sea carries it away. [1d6:3] Lots of soaked deck planks are recovered- these will be valuable for burning, and maybe for building materials, as long as they're dried in front of a coal fire first. There's some metal things recovered from shore as well- stuff like silverware, or spare screws, which was kept in wooden boxes. [1d6:4] Furthermore, there's some cot mattresses and hammocks recovered as well, they're small but have valuable cotton stuffing and fabric. Everything else seems to be at the bottom of the sea. A solitary boat is dedicated to fishing as well, bringing up 350 rations (700lb) of fish and krill.

Everyone who isn't busy boating, sewing, tending to the sick, or searching for the expeditionary parties gets to work making igloos, led by the architect. That's about 200 people, and by the end of the week they have successfully made enough igloos for everyone. The igloos are still not totally ideal shelters, especially for the recovering sick colonists, but they prevent people from freezing.



It is Day 34

Word comes back from the two expeditions which had gone out earlier. [1d6-1:3] The hunting expedition didn't catch the worst of the storm, they're mostly okay, though they lost a sled (supposedly, they're pretty sure a polar bear dragged it off in the night while it was full of meat, but they didn't feel up to tracking it down). The two sleds plus their backpacks were loaded up, though, with a total of 1000 rations. Luckily they arrive mid-week, because the colony is running out of food. Though they're exhausted with the weight of a ton of food between the 18 people, their coming is celebrated. [1d6-1:0] The other expedition wasn't so lucky. The people sent to find them found the excavator half-buried in a land slide, the tractor protruding from the water on what appears to be a collapsed ice shelf nearby, and one broken tent with a couple of frozen corpses. The rescue team returned empty-handed.

The state at the colony is again such that there are several problems. The frostbitten people have gotten worse, they may die soon without amputation, and a few of the sick people passed away. Moreover, a number of the people stuffed together in the igloos have become ill as well, with a fever, although some of the people who were already sick have recovered as well. Also, thanks to the efforts of the hunters, people have mostly been able to get through the week without resorting to half rations. Unfortunately, someone really should have told them to eat half rations. In the morning when you look in the food-storage igloo, you find only a few scraps left. For a more minor concern, the lantern oil is also going to run out  eventually.

All the colonists have taken to calling the area in which the igloos and supplies are situated "Shipwreck Camp". While this is apt, you may want to think of a less depressing name.

Now that shelter is secured, it would be prudent to dedicate as many people as possible to finding food.

I do love the idea, but realistically I think what we need after the fighter we're already working on is a multiple-engine bomber... and a winged one will probably do better than a lighter-than-air one.

A note on the general rocket propellant revision:

First, I'll probably stick to saying it's some non-specific propellant so I can't provably be wrong about how fast I say some missile of a given weight is. That said, it's not inconceivable that a variety of your existing rockets could be improved by a new propellant.

Second, there's a couple designs in there that might have issues. For instance, the Saltseeker only uses the rockets for its initial launch and turbine engine thereafter, so improving the propellant might have a negligible effect. The Noose uses a two-stage booster, the first solid stage of which is probably pretty close to your current state-of-the-art and the second liquid stage might be more efficient left as it is. Some other ones, like the Sarukh, might suffer in terms of accuracy from just having a more-powerful propellant crammed in.

UFAF-LAB-45 Dustbiter (9) : Andrea, RAM, Madman, McHuman, Wolfhunter, Jilladilla, Kashyyk, Taricus, Conscript Five
UFAF-HAFB-45 "Iceberg" (9): Wizgrot, NAV, helmacon, Kot, Powder Miner, NUKE9.13, Qassius, Happerry, Zanzetkuken

Down to just these two designs! WHO WILL WIN?

Considering how controversial this is, I'll leave it a little longer. But if it doesn't change in a few hours I'll roll for the Dustbiter, which is currently in a narrow lead.

You know you can just say "please don't lock" instead right?

It's okay, the Cannalans have been tied at a 2-2 vote since well before I went to bed last night because nobody looks in their thread anymore.