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Author Topic: Wands Race - [Arstotzka] {COMPLETED}  (Read 376966 times)

Chiefwaffles

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #3120 on: June 11, 2017, 09:51:00 pm »

I already posted my basic plan. The final writeup will be generally the same, but fancier and with a few tweaks.
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Quote from: RAM
You should really look to the wilderness for your stealth ideas, it has been doing it much longer than you have after all. Take squids for example, that ink trick works pretty well, and in water too! So you just sneak into the dam upsteam, dump several megatons of distressed squid into it, then break the dam. Boom, you suddenly have enough water-proof stealth for a whole city!

RAM

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #3121 on: June 11, 2017, 10:49:40 pm »

It is not about making a good wizard, it is about making a good king. We are looking at personal defence and making an impression. I do like the idea of expending Myark's time on the effort. Crystal magic seems wrong. He can have others summon crystals for himself. Wasps and webs are weak against the enemy, but in friendly lands they are impressive abilities. Fireballs are obviously our best actual 'magic' so those would probably be ideal. I am tempted to give him a broad foundathion in magical theory at the academy, but not bother with too much details. He should know the efforts involved but doesn't need to be capable of them personally. He needs fireball. Blowing up 100 men with a gesture is something that any capable monarch ought to be able to do. I like webbing, it allows him to spontaneously form a barrier, it ought to be a good trick to be able to promptly fortify a space from intrusion. And having a personal stash of magems with which to temporarily bolster his personal reserves beyond mortal ken...

So: With a constant supply of magems to last all day long.
Personal tutelege and sparring with Myark
Mathemagics 101
Thaumonometry 101
Geomagry 101
Streamlined Fireball
Boiler-scale Firewall(for the convenience of a warm hearth or hot stove at will or Kegger-burning at will)
Web
Charging and draining magems.(Do this first so that he always has magic available with which to train)
Training with heavy armour
experience with sensing antimagic from charms and knowing exactly how far a charm needs to be to lose its effectiveness, so that he may use a charm for protection but quickly remove it, recover his magic from gems, and then be a full wizard in moments.
A train tour of the devastated jungles.

What we are up against is probably mind-reading. Hopfully they will hook theirs up to Aye'Muh'Treason who is experienced with being a magical prodigy and the kid will be filled with knowledge that he has no practical experience using and insufficent magical talent to use.
Give him a sack of magams and he can outcast an army while having the skills and spells to refute underhanded stuff. He shouldn't be overloaded, this is far from our complete arsenal. The academic stuff should be possible in half a year, the equoment training should mostly be a matter of using the equipment while doing other things, Two similar fire spells and a well known web spell shouldn't push the time. There should be plenty left over to just familiarise themselves with everything. Flooding them with magic by poiring a significant supply of our magems should not be a problem. The only thing lacking is humility, but Myark should know a thing or two about that...

Although, I suspect that The G.M. is looking for some flowery language and vivid descriptions and a long, tragic tale of glory, honour, and shame... So if we have any prospective authors here, I will probably give them my vote...

Quote from: FallacyofUrist: Vote Buoy of Forever Frost. B-but, only if you w-want to! I-it's not i-important to me or a-anything!
REVISIONS
2 - Crystal Construction: Chiefwaffles, Helmacon
1 - Buoy of Forever Frost: FallacyofUrist
0 - Crystalclad reshaping:
0 - Rotting Escargot ammunition:
0 - Furrybooms:
0 - Exploding falcons:

0 RAM's Plan:
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Andres

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #3122 on: June 12, 2017, 03:53:50 am »

Quote
REVISIONS
3 - Crystal Construction: Chiefwaffles, Helmacon, Andres
1 - Buoy of Forever Frost: FallacyofUrist
0 - Crystalclad reshaping:
0 - Rotting Escargot ammunition:
0 - Furrybooms:
0 - Exploding falcons:

0 RAM's Plan:

Glory to Arstotzka.
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RAM

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #3123 on: June 12, 2017, 04:08:40 am »

Quote
REVISIONS
3 - Crystal Construction: Chiefwaffles, Helmacon, Andres
2 - Buoy of Forever Frost: FallacyofUrist, RAM
0 - Crystalclad reshaping:
0 - Rotting Escargot ammunition:
0 - Furrybooms:
0 - Exploding falcons:

0 RAM's Plan:
Mostly because I don't expect it to freeze a significant area. But the again... Ehh, but it is a large hole in our equipment distribution os fixing it is not terrible.
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Urist has been forced to use a friend as fertilizer lately.
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Chiefwaffles

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #3124 on: June 12, 2017, 04:12:06 am »

@RAM: Personal defense is nothing. We want a competent and worldly wizard, not a king who knows how to defend himself + some party tricks.
Anywhoo.



The Shaping of Something Greater: Bjorn's Journey

A Foreword
Arstotzka prides itself on its knowledge and mastery of the natural world. Thanks to the tireless efforts of our Mathemagicians, we know much about the reality that surrounds us.
A true education isn't achieved through pure study, though that is an important part. A true education is achieved through seeing in person how Arstotzkan knowledge shapes and exploits the world around us. This is why in order to reach his full potential, Bjorn must travel through Forenia. To see what we're fighting for. To see the people that'll be subject to his rule. To see our mastery of magic and reality at action, and to truly know the power of magic.

Bjorn won't just learn spells. He won't just learn some tricks. He will learn of Magic. Its raw power. How it can be used and exploited. He will be taught of the base our Kingdom shall rely on for the rest of its time. He will experience it practically, and won't just study the theoretical fireball at the academy. He won't just cast fireballs, but will know how they work.
By the end of the year, Bjorn will be ready to become something greater than anything Arstotzka has seen.

The Academy
His journey will start at the Academy, just like any other apprentice-in-training. It is here where Myark shall meet with Bjorn. Bjorn will study at the most intensive classes under our best teachers with the best possible resources all dedicated to him. Out of class, he will train and practice one-on-one with Myark.
He will learn the fundamentals behind magic - how it works. He will dive into the guts of the mechanics of Mathemagics. He will earn the process through which Crystal is summoned from the aether, and how we have refined on that process. He will learn how magic is channeled through a wizard. He will learn how circuitry operates, and how magic interacts on tiny scales. It will be through his studying at the Academy that Bjorn will truly learn how magic works. This knowledge shall form the base of the rest of his education. With a comprehensive knowledge of how magic works, Bjorn will know how to exploit it. He will be able to make informed decisions regarding any element of magic. He will be able to make the best use of his spells instead of mindlessly parroting the motions and phrases taught by teachers. If he comes across some magical phenomenon he hasn't seen before, he will be able to learn about it and easily determine what it is using his fundamental knowledge, instead of being stumped at the unknown.
Bjorn shall even visit the labs where our esteemed top Mathemagicians convene every day to come up with new types of cannons amazing and groundbreaking designs; Bjorn shall learn of the process behind our designs and how we use magic to dominate in the battlefield and to innovate everywhere else.
Throughout all this process, Myark will be there for him. He may not enjoy it, but Myark shall guide Bjorn through his time at the academy. He shall ensure that Bjorn fully understands what he learns. He will grant Bjorn supplementary knowledge that is only acquired through decades of combat experience. He will practice and train with Bjorn whenever Bjorn isn't studying under our best teachers.
Eventually, Bjorn's relatively short time at the academy will be over. Thanks to his natural intellect, the dedication of the Academy's resources and Myark to him, he will know far more about how magic works than any other apprentice.

The Falcon
It is at this point that Bjorn, accompanied by Myark, shall make his way to the battlefield. And throughout this entire time, Myark will always be helping and teaching Bjorn as well as protecting him.
But first, Bjorn is given his first Falcon. Over the course of a few days, Bjorn will be introduced and familiarized with the best available Falcon. Myark shall teach him how to command and control it. Over the course of his journey, Bjorn's falcon will always be at his side. The two will grow attuned to one another; familiar to one another.
The Falcon will truly become Bjorn's familiar by the end of the year. Bjorn will continue using this falcon for the rest of its life, and will gain valuable experience with his first familiar.

The Journey
Bjorn and Myark shall board a Crystalclad bound to a port next to the mountains. Over the course of Bjorn's trip on the seas, Myark shall teach him the most important spell known to Arstotzka: The Fireball.

Bjorn will practice with the use of the Fireball and its variants with Myark. He will observe the operations of the steam cannons and steam engines aboard the Crystalclad. He will become familiar with the importance of the Fireball to Arstotzkan society. By the time they arrive at the Mountains, Bjorn will become familiar with the Fireball. His time at the academy taught him how it works, but his practice here will allow him to truly hone his skills.
In addition to studying the Fireball, Bjorn will spend some amounts of time each day studying the crystal structure of the ships. He may have learned of Crystal at the Academy, but here is where he will see it in action. He will watch as the crystalline steam engine bearings repair themselves from the routine damage, and more.

The Mountains
The Mountains is where Bjorn will begin maturing into a fine wizard.

Bjorn and Myark shall accompany the local Mage Hunters as they eliminate the remaining opposition from the mountain. Bjorn will see his first combat use of the Fireball and his Falcon. He will meet with the occupants of the sparse villages located in the Mountains, and he will visit the metal mines. Bjorn shall learn things here which the Academy could never hope to teach him.

Bjorn shall learn of our fierce weaponry here at the mountains. A future king must know what his soldiers fight with. He shall start with the AS-HAC-1, under the guidance of Myark. Bjorn will learn how to operate the already-easy-to-use weapon, but with Myark teaching him and his knowledge from the academy, he will know how it works.
With this knowledge, Bjorn won't just be taught to use the AS-HAC-1. He will be able to exploit it to its fullest potential. He will know of every part in it and how it works to create the bigger picture. A future king doesn't need to know how to use his kingdom's weaponry. He needs to know where to use it; why to use it; how it works. It is with this knowledge that a kingdom can be properly ran.
Bjorn shall also be taught the use of the HA1 and the HC1-E. This teaching should only take a few days at most, as they largely share the same parts and training of the AS-HAC-1; just at a larger scale.

Eventually, Bjorn will be brought to Myark to one of the Mountains' Towers of Frost. Bjorn will be shown circuits at action here, and with his knowledge from the Academy, Bjorn will easily learn the application of circuits and how they interact to shape reality. His time at this tower will be short, but it will teach him much.

Finally, his time at the Mountains will eventually end, and Bjorn will have to leave in order to make it back to Arstotzka by the end of the year.

The Trip Home
Bjorn and Myark shall embark home on a AS-STV-1 Restless. Except Bjorn won't just be a passenger, here. By now, Bjorn will have learned much of the fireball and how to use it and will have had practical experience using it both in practice and combat.

Bjorn will power the train. He will run the steam engine through the trip home. This shall teach him resilience and determination as he builds on his experience with the steam engine from his time on a Crystalclad. He will be pushed to the limit of his abilities as he strains to continue powering it. Myark will push him to keep on going even when he feels he may break.
By the time they arrive at Arstotzka, Bjorn will be experienced with magical endurance, resilience, and most importantly, determination. With his experience both with the steam engine and the cannons back at the Mountains, Bjorn will know truly how magic is used in Arstotzka's machines and technology.

The Crystalworks
Finally, Bjorn and Myark shall make one last stop before arriving at the Palace. They shall meet the Foreman of the Crystalworks. Bjorn will be guided painstakingly through the course of a day into the process in which modern machine crystal is created. He will build on his knowledge of circuits from the Academy and Frost Tower. He will build on his experience with Crystal from the Academy and the Crystalclad.
Bjorn will see how circuits summon in Crystal. He will learn how the Crystal is shaped. He will see the process in which new crystal formats are created. By the end of the day, Bjorn will know how Crystal is created, and how exactly it works. He will have extensive knowledge of a material essential to our kingdom.

A Conclusion
Ultimately, Arstotzkan society is not a society of spells. It is a society of knowledge and machinery. In Bjorn's time as king, he will not need to know a few party tricks. He will need to know of Magic - the one thing his kingdom is built upon.

A future king must know how magic works. He must know how the weapons his soldiers use work. He must be aware, knowledgeable and skilled with the practice integral to all of Arstotzkan society and the continuing war with Moskurg. In the end, it's not memorizing spells that matters, but rather knowledge of how it works. With this knowledge of magic and the technology used in Arstotzka, Bjorn will be able to make informed decisions. He will be able to easily further his knowledge of magic in the future. He will know how magic can be exploited and used to further Arstotzkan dominance.

Bjorn will be something greater.
Bjorn shall become the first Wizard-King of Arstotzka.
« Last Edit: June 12, 2017, 11:32:39 am by Chiefwaffles »
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Quote from: RAM
You should really look to the wilderness for your stealth ideas, it has been doing it much longer than you have after all. Take squids for example, that ink trick works pretty well, and in water too! So you just sneak into the dam upsteam, dump several megatons of distressed squid into it, then break the dam. Boom, you suddenly have enough water-proof stealth for a whole city!

evictedSaint

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #3125 on: June 12, 2017, 11:11:37 am »

Revision: Crystal Construction [2]

We set up production to use crystal rather than steel for all our cannons and steam engines.

The fact that crystal can't flex like steel means the walls must be significantly thicker to prevent cracks from occuring.  Microrepairing should prevent microfractures from propagating, and our cannons can operate without danger of explosion.  Some of the more complex portions of the boilers must still be made out of steel, however - the increased thickness and remaining steel portions results in only minor decrease in weight.  A cannon should be able to survive being struck by lightning at least once, but don't put much stock in them being completely immune to lightning.
« Last Edit: June 12, 2017, 11:24:16 am by evictedSaint »
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evictedSaint

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #3126 on: June 12, 2017, 11:11:59 am »

Please vote on how to train your heir.

Chiefwaffles

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #3127 on: June 12, 2017, 11:20:54 am »

So we're making our steam engines partially out of crystal and our cannons out of crystal? That works. Best part is that they'll benefit from better crystal.

Quote
HEIR TRAINING

1 - Bjorn's Journey (Chief's plan): Chiefwaffles

So for the future, I'm thinking we should use our design and revision to just upgrade existing tech. Rifles, AP rounds, better crystal, better Magegems, etc.
We have a lot of new designs with potential but they need to be upgraded to be really useful.

I know that there was some politics right before the vote for this turn's design, but seriously. We can do better than giant falcons right now. Remember last time we repeatedly introduced new designs instead of working on improving what we already had? That was when we lost the advantage we had at the time. Let's not lose our advantage again.
But I'll save most of this for when it's actually the design phase.
« Last Edit: June 12, 2017, 11:28:49 am by Chiefwaffles »
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Quote from: RAM
You should really look to the wilderness for your stealth ideas, it has been doing it much longer than you have after all. Take squids for example, that ink trick works pretty well, and in water too! So you just sneak into the dam upsteam, dump several megatons of distressed squid into it, then break the dam. Boom, you suddenly have enough water-proof stealth for a whole city!

FallacyofUrist

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #3128 on: June 12, 2017, 11:30:46 am »

If you revise your plan to include a phase where he visits our magical research lab, I'm down for it.


Quote
HEIR TRAINING

1-2 - Bjorn's Journey (Chief's plan): Chiefwaffles, FallacyofUrist(conditional on adding research lab visit)
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Chiefwaffles

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #3129 on: June 12, 2017, 11:33:19 am »

I added in a segment about visiting the lab in the Academy phase. Since I'm pretty sure Arstotzka's research goes on in its own wing of the Academy.


EDIT: I really like this revision idea.
Future Revision: Absorbing Crystal
Our Crystal tends to have a problem where it handles explosive blasts somewhat worse than steel of the same thickness, due to Crystal's brittleness.

This can be easily fixed! We don't need to completely change the structure of Crystal (making it not crystalline) and remove its brittleness; we can add blast-absorbing traits to it. The principle is the same as our anti-magic technology in a way, except for kinetic energy and pressure. When experiencing sudden large amounts of heat, pressure, etc., Crystal will absorb the energy into magical energy. We use our experience from the Equalizer and with Crystal Regeneration to "reroute" the magical energy into self-regeneration or other safe avenues instead of keeping it stored in the crystal where it could become unstable.
The conversion rate is by no means perfect. Theoretically in the future we could maybe use this to generate tangible amounts of crystal energy, but for now the actual magical energy gathered by the crystal is far too small for anything of real use.

The result is obvious: Blast-resistant crystal. Explosions, heat, pressure - everything - will no longer be able to damage our crystal.

The AS-R1 will be smaller and lighter. Every single cannon will be smaller and lighter. The steam engine can be made completely out of crystal and will be smaller and lighter. Crystal will become the go-to material for all machinery, and steel will become a thing of the past! Lightning will become less effective against Crystal as large portions of its energy will become magical energy instead! Everything we make out of crystal will become resistant to explosions, blasts, and other sudden bursts of energy!
« Last Edit: June 12, 2017, 11:41:02 am by Chiefwaffles »
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Quote from: RAM
You should really look to the wilderness for your stealth ideas, it has been doing it much longer than you have after all. Take squids for example, that ink trick works pretty well, and in water too! So you just sneak into the dam upsteam, dump several megatons of distressed squid into it, then break the dam. Boom, you suddenly have enough water-proof stealth for a whole city!

Andres

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #3130 on: June 12, 2017, 01:43:41 pm »

Quote
HEIR TRAINING

3 - Bjorn's Journey (Chief's plan): Chiefwaffles, FallacyofUrist, Andres

MYARK

1 - Help train the heir: Andres

ORDERS

1 - Do not deploy our R1. Let it not appear at all in the next battle report: Andres

Our R1 is useless right now, but if Moskurg knows we're developing handheld firearms, they could find a way to counter it by the time we make it useful once more.

Future Revision: Absorbing Crystal
Perhaps we should instead allow our crystalworks to make crystal out of varying levels of flexibility? The fact that absorbing crystal turns the blast energy into magic energy would mean we'd have to reroute the power to somewhere if we start making things out of it. That's acceptable for some things, but less so for others, such as in firearms. Also in firearms, we don't want the blast energy getting turned into magic energy, we want it being used to propel the bullet outwards. Flexibility is a less powerful upgrade but it can be applied more freely and to more things.

Glory to Arstotzka.
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helmacon

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #3131 on: June 12, 2017, 02:15:09 pm »

You know what we do with absorbing Crystal...

Route lightning rods down into specifically made hyper absorbent Crystals. When they hit us with lightning at all, it just gives more power to our war machines.
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RAM

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #3132 on: June 12, 2017, 03:15:36 pm »

Quote
HEIR TRAINING
0 RAM's Plan:
3 Bjorn's Journey (Chief's plan): Chiefwaffles, FallacyofUrist, Andres

MYARK
2 Help train the heir: Andres, RAM

ORDERS
2 Do not deploy our R1. Let it not appear at all in the next battle report: Andres, RAM
I think that Bjorn's Journey is too ambitious. It is a full course at the academy along with a tour of our entire territory INCLUDING a sea voyage and actual combat. I ought not need to mention that the seas are a bit dangerous right now and the front lines don't really exist right now. I suspect that we would need to work at it to get our heir killed, and that Myark+guards is enough to guarantee that it doesn't happen, but I would prefer to not take that risk. I just don't see all of that happening whitin a year and I could easily see something going wrong. Also I feel that it spends too much time away from the academy, which is where our big advantage lies.
« Last Edit: June 12, 2017, 05:09:45 pm by RAM »
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Vote (1) for the Urist scale!
I shall be eternally happy. I shall be able to construct elf hunting giant mecha. Which can pour magma.
Urist has been forced to use a friend as fertilizer lately.
Read the First Post!

helmacon

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #3133 on: June 12, 2017, 03:21:12 pm »

I have to agree with RAM on this one.
Combat is a no go. Especially on the seas.

We ought to stick to the academy, with lots of field trips to places like the Crystal works, or taking a ride on one of our trains. We could have Myark spar with him if he wants to learn combat magic.
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Andres

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Re: Wands Race - [Arstotzka]
« Reply #3134 on: June 12, 2017, 04:39:07 pm »

Keeping him out of combat is perhaps a good idea. The attrition rate on our apprentices is astonishingly terrible.

Glory to Arstotzka.
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