Hmm.
I'm not so certain about explosive shells now. Our artillery is already amazing but it looks like if we don't act soon Moskurg will circumvent it through air or advantage at land. They already have an advantage in skirmishes and even in melee now. Explosive shells would help our artillery but does it really need help in that area?
Our artillery is already damaging enough. We just need to keep our artillery able to continue hitting them hard. If they overwhelm us in any other area like they're threatening to do so right now, we lose our artillery advantage.
We could design a new ship. If we focus our designs on the sea then we can gain serious advantages at land where we control the sea. Housing our engines and weaponry inside the ship like was originally planned for the Crystalclad would be a good start. Our ships are obviously overall strong, but they have obvious weak points that Moskurg can exploit.
Their air game is starting to get dangerously powerful. I'm not sure if just a revised falcon would be enough.
Design: Hunter FalconWe can make our Falcons better. Faster. Stronger. We have the
technology magic.
Through a careful process, we can replace their bones with a comparable crystal structure. The crystal isn't quite the same as regular crystal, as it needs to be light enough to allow the falcons to fly, but it's still exponentially stronger than just regular bone. The Falcons' talons are also replaced with crystal. These crystal talons are again
extremely sharper and more lethal than their old talons.
Finally, we revise the spell used to modify the Falcons' minds to also increase their size by a decent amount - to roughly 150% of their original size. This increase of size keeps them at the same speed but generally makes them stronger and more "durable".
The result is a fiercesome air interceptor that can take much more punishment before and deal out
much more damage than before. This falcon doesn't just harass carpet riders, it eliminates them. Its talons can easily call a man through armor, and if that isn't enough, it can just use its greater weight to simply push them off their ride.
...But I am
very tired of just countering Moskurger things. We need our own gamechanger. We can do it now. If we revise our falcons to be more competent we can likely prevent a total loss at air, and use our design to make something new. Like a vehicle or some other kind of awesome invention.
So.
Future Design: Internal Detonation EngineThe Internal Detonation Engine, or IDE, is an innovative type of engine designed to completely phase out the large, clunky, and inefficient steam engine we've been using.
The IDE takes full advantage of our circuits. Our steam engines had to be large, clunky, and designed specifically for a mage to be able to cast the correct spells in the correct places. They were inefficient machines to convert magical power into mechanical power. But with circuits, we can greatly miniaturize this process.
To sum up the process, we have four small "combustion chambers" wired with our circuits. The circuits in these chambers summon
greatly reduced fireball like explosions. They're nowhere near the caliber of even a Streamlined Fireball, but they're big enough to power the rest of the engine. The explosions summoned by the circuits in the chambers will essentially push out a series of pistons that in turn rotate a crankshaft. The mechanical power from this crankshaft can be used for a number of applications such as moving our boats, creating land vehicles, and more.
The IDE can be connected to an external power source via crystal conduit, or can be powered by an 2x AA-size Magegem battery. The "mini fireball" spell used by the IDE's circuits is designed to be energy efficient and even disregarding increased efficiency, already uses extreme amounts of power less than even a flare due to its greatly reduced size. Therefore, the integrated battery can power the IDE for roughly 12 hours of continued operation before charging. The battery can be recharged via the crystal conduit or by a mage if the engine is disconnected from a power source.
The IDE is
significantly smaller than our steam engines and produces a lot more power for the same magical energy costs.
The engine is also built using mountain-sourced metal, making it cheaper to make. While one may say that metal is heavier than crystal, it isn't heavier by a significant degree and considering the planned size of the IDE, the material weight shouldn't be anywhere near half a problem as the weight of the materials used in a steam engine.
TL;DR: We apply the concepts we've learned so far in magitech to make a mini fireball-powered internal combustion engine. The engine will be much more smaller and efficient than our steam engines and could be used in just about anything in the future as a replacement for the steam engine.
Why? The IDE may be another groundwork tech, but it's one with extreme potential. We can use it to make powerful land vehicles. Tanks. APCs. Trains. Sure, we could use a steam engine, but this would be better. Faster, more versatile, much smaller and lighter, and just better.
(Copy+pasted from an earlier post. Except it's metal again, because crystal just isn't strong enough to withstand being part of this thing. Should still be way lighter and better than our steam engines, though.)
OR
Future Design: AS-STV-1 "Relentless"(Steam Transport Vehicle 1)
REVISED/CURRENT VERSION HEREWe set out to make a land vehicle. Powered by a steam engine.
But this proved to be a difficult design task. So in order to facilitate speed and cargo capacity using our steam engines, we've settled on a kind of compromise - tracks. They're built specifically for the Relentless, but provide guidance for it and allow it to move without difficulty. Our mathemagicians are calling this type of a vehicle a "train".
The tracks required can be built out of cheap crystal or cheap metal - whatever our soldiers/workers have the most of on site at the moment. Though generally we recommend metal, as crystal-built tracks do require maintenance a bit more often than those made of metal. Tracks can be built initially from Arstotzka to the theatres by construction crews, then our combat engineers can build up our rail network as we advance in a theatre, allowing the Relentless to always be available at the front lines.
To facilitate a large cargo capacity on these tracks, we've devised a system of cars. The first car is the engine car and houses the steam engine(s) required to move the whole train. The driver of the train resides here, and powers the engine(s) as well as controls the acceleration, stops, and other aspects. A limited magegem battery is present in the car, but this is merely to allow the train to operate for minutes at a time while the operator's attention is elsewhere.
The other cars are specially made for holding cargo, passengers, weapons, and more. These can be easily hooked on or off the engine car as needed, and can be chained allowing for large numbers of cars all moved by a single engine car.
Additionally, the Relentless shall possess a limited HA1 armament to provide occasional fire support and for self defense. This armament isn't the main focus of the Relentless, but it should provide significant benefits. The vehicle would be capable of protecting itself to a significant degree, and the mobility provided to the onboard HA1s would give them an extreme advantage. The train can easily move from place to place with its HA1s instead of the slow and arduous process to set up just one HA1.
As a significant aspect of the design, our Mathemagicians aim to noticeably decrease the size of the steam engine for best performance. This is a very high priority design goal compared to any other individual element.
The Relentless promises to be a gamechanger. Troops from both Moskurg and Arstotzka are forced to bring their troops and supplies in via long, arduous, and expensive means in limited quantities at a time. But the Relentless completely changes it. It's fast speed allows it to carry massive amounts of cargo and passengers at a time to anywhere in the front lines and back. Our troops can easily move through the battlefield. Retreating becomes easier. Reinforcement comes easier. Supply lines become
extremely easier. The Relentless can bring in massive amounts of shells, water, and other supplies for our artillery to allow them to fire nonstop. Rations and supplies for our troops can be brought with ease, meaning they never run short. The issue of cargo and passenger becomes a nonissue. And as a bonus, the HA1 armament means we have what's essentially a mobile artillery emplacement that can shell the enemy from multiple places and move around far quicker than our HA1s and HC1-Es.
TL;DR: A train. It carries massive amounts of cargo and people, as well a couple HA1s to serve as mobile artillery. This doesn't have any benefit in any direct avenues, but it should be a massive overall buff to our performance in every land theatre. It should also rectify the problems our artillery has with water and whatnot. And more! Also, it's really cool for culture.
Right now I'm voting for the Relentless, but my mind isn't set in stone yet. If someone still really wants explosive shells but doesn't want to write it, feel free to vote for the design I posted just a bit before this combat phase.
DESIGNS
1 - AS-STV-1 "Relentless": Chiefwaffles
0 - Internal Detonation Engine:
0 - Hunter Falcon:
0 - Ritual of Flame:
0 - Institute of Mathemagical Analysis:
@RAM: The Ritual of Flame seems very easily countered by their anti-magic.
Also, I have some questions.
Do our Equalizer shells have any effect on their summoned metal?
How effective are their ballistae against the Crystalclad's hull?
And
the Falcon isn't listed in our designs.
Author
Topic: Wands Race - [Arstotzka] {COMPLETED} (Read 377867 times)