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[piratejoe]

They Who Dare, The Principality of Pren Gwyn
Looking for the core thread?

Today is the first of the new year of 1915 where war is fought in both Europe, and here on the grand archipelago of Arnot, where the Principality of Pren Gwyn and the Empire of Schwarzes Holz once again continue the war they have been fighting for years now, with war continuing after an assassination attempt on Pren Gwyn's Prince Dywel by a citizen of Schwarzes Holz and the Empire of Schwarzes Holz pushing their claim on the southern part of King Cadigan's land. Now they again fight on the beaches, fields, trenches sea, and now in the air as the information of aircraft's potential use in war spreads from Europe.

However, the new air force of both nations, which has only existed for three months now, has had a change in management for two very different reasons. The noble in charge of our new air force was quite simply begging to be replaced and wanted to manage things as far away from the front lines as possible, or more accurately, he simply wanted to keep his comfortable position and return to his manor on the north eastern part of King Cadigan's land. Regardless, he isn't the air forces problem anymore.

A single truck that had to pass by on its way to the front takes you to the Testing Field, where a airplane can be seen coming in for a landing. The plane comes down hard and bounces a few times before turning to the right a bit to much and the aircraft crushes the lower wing as it comes to a stop, both the Pilot and the ground crew that approaches the aircraft clearly looking annoyed at the extra work they now have to do.

Inside the main office building for designing and working out the new equipment and planes that will be rolled out to the forces, the engineers meet at a large table while bits of furniture and what appears to be belongings are taken by a few bored servants while a guard quietly watches their every move and maybe even your own. Now, what will you propose to your fellow engineers?

Spoiler: Starting Equipment (click to show/hide)

Planes:
-AGC ‘Saeth’ Biplane: A unarmed, single-seater reconnaissance plane made by Awyrennau gwynt cryf, also known as Strong wind aviation. Very accurately named, as its a fairly fast aircraft that is about as easy to turn as a arrow in flight is and not even a strong wind will really push it. The craft is fittingly powered by a five-cylinder rotary engine and made of wood and canvas making it fairly cheap to make. Cost: 3/1
Pilots:
-Vigilant: Information in advance is key to any war! Pren Gwyn pilots are very alert and tend to see things in the distance and make out what they are easier.
-Uniforms: green with white accents. Pilots are granted an arrow made of pure copper as a good luck charm to keep with them on their flights, being granted a iron, steel, bronze, silver and gold one to add to their collection as they gain rank.
Technology:
-Basic biplane design
-Basic monoplane design
-Wooden frame construction
-Basic control surfaces: wing warping, elevator and rudder
Resources:
-1 Air Instructors: Instructors who quickly teach new pilots how to take off. How to actually properly use the rudder peddles and flightstick is left as an exercise for the student.
-1 Experimental Testing Field: The place where new aircraft and other air-related equipment are made and tested. Produces five dice worth of progress every turn.
-10 Production Points

Start of Early Summer 1915
Design Phase of Early Summer
Revision Phase of Early Summer
Start of Late Summer 1915
Design Phase of Late Summer
Revision Phase of Late Summer
Start of Early Autumn 1915
Design Phase of Early Autumn
Revision Phase of Early Autumn
Start of Late Autumn 1915
Design Phase of Late Autumn
Revision Phase of Late Autumn
Start of Early Winter 1915
Design Phase of Early Winter
Revision Phase of Early Winter
Start of Late Winter 1915
Design Phase of Late Winter
Revision Phase of Late Winter
Start of Early Spring 1915
Design Phase of Early Spring 1915
Revision Phase of Early Spring 1915
Start of Late Spring 1915
Design Phase of Late Spring
Revision Phase of Late Spring
Start of Early Summer 1916
Design Phase of Early Summer
Revision Phase of Early Summer

[Rockeater]

PTW

[Doomblade187]

In.

[Shadowclaw777]

Priorities first our two generation of planes should be a dedicated interceptor and than a bomber craft, anyways for the first real project it should either be recon balloons for that early bonus to providing the army aerial reconnaissance for artillery placements and the like, proper synchronization gear to equip our requisitioned full-power round machine guns (revision for foster mounting goes before a dedicated design there), and revisions for Ailerions, Cameras, whatever. There is also confusion if we can increase our Air Instructors and Testing Field, to say simply it would break the game if the sides can increase dice income

[piratejoe]

If those facilities are improved, which they might be later down the line, it will not be done by you, and even then, It's probably going to just be the training facilities.

[Aseaheru]

 Yeah, I think that observation balloons should be top priority, followed by fighters. It should also get us some useful research in for radios and the like.

 Also, at some stage, we are going to get ahold of Gast guns.

Ill go do some research into designs for a tethered balloon.

[Shadowclaw777]

All we need is a hydrogen balloon with a elongated and finned shaped to help be stable under high winds, the biggest priority is a telephone/telegraph to relay messages from the balloon operator to the ground, and the least priority is like a rudimentary parachute but the telephone and being a functional observational platforms are the biggest priorities. Also just make sure it’s painted like sky blue or white so it’s more difficult to see from the ground (flak), since it provides a benefit there unless we really need a green balloon with white accents.

(Invert the colors?, make it all white balloon with green accents

[Doomblade187]

Priorities first our two generation of planes should be a dedicated interceptor and than a bomber craft, anyways for the first real project it should either be recon balloons for that early bonus to providing the army aerial reconnaissance for artillery placements and the like, proper synchronization gear to equip our requisitioned full-power round machine guns (revision for foster mounting goes before a dedicated design there), and revisions for Ailerions, Cameras, whatever. There is also confusion if we can increase our Air Instructors and Testing Field, to say simply it would break the game if the sides can increase dice income

Hmm, I kinda want to start with more dedicated observation planes. I don't want to exactly retread the knights of the skies path, and a small design to get our starter plane up to spec should be just as easy as a balloon.

[Aseaheru]

 C15 Tŵr Awyr
 Based off of the ubiquitous Caquot dirigible, the air tower is a tethered kite balloon with five chambers (consisting of the main hydrogen lift chamber, an internal air balloonette to provide some measure of trim which can be filled from the main chamber, and three air "lobes" designed to be able to catch the wind and thus inflate, stabilizing the craft, at the whim of the pilot) designed for a crew of two(although with capacity for up to five) on land or at sea. These crew are equipped with a number of devices to better observe and report on enemy movements, including mounts for a telescopic camera, a specially modified radio optimized for aerial use, a backup telegraph for when the radio conks out or the use of in inadvisable, and finally a set of small message tubes for emergencies or for sending down drawings.
 The tether itself(attached to the craft via a swinging yoke system) serves five purposes, securing the craft, acting as a stringer line for a telegraph cable, acting as a stringer line for the electrical cable used to power the onboard radio, doing the same for the (third-level backup) message line, and grounding the craft electrically.
 Of course, some effort is also made to procure parachutes for the crews.
 Coloration is less important(mostly due to distance, ineffectual of enemy fire until/unless they design explosive or incendiary rounds they can get on an aircraft), although there are notes for a white underside and a mottled green with white upper as a sort of camouflage.

-edit to respond to Doom-
 Observation balloons are fairly safe, fairly simple techs that have no end of utility,to the point where they are still being used today in Afghanistan. Recon aircraft are great for taking photos behind enemy lines, but are useless for artillery spotting until we can shove light, reliable radios in them(as noted in the main thread by Joe) . Plus they are alot easier to use on naval ships, and I am sure that crew of the "battleship" would love to have their effective range helped out by their own kite.
-edit of muchlater-
For some reason, I thought it was 1914 in game. Fixed that then.

[Jerick]

I think Doomblade is right and we should go a different route than knights of the skies. This is why I think we should go for zeppelins despite their shortcomings in real life. But first things first an observer balloon is an excellent first step regardless what direction we take. The sooner we can start spamming them out the better.

[Doubloon-Seven]

A governable vessel would be both interesting and useful. Maybe something with a small petrol motor and a radio? We could spool down cable along with it, but I'd like the option to check further in.

[Khan Boyzitbig]

I think Doomblade is right and we should go a different route than knights of the skies. This is why I think we should go for zeppelins despite their shortcomings in real life. But first things first an observer balloon is an excellent first step regardless what direction we take. The sooner we can start spamming them out the better.

The two biggest problems Zeppelins had being they are giant easy to hit targets and filed with flammable gas. The latter is counterable though.

A spotter balloon would probably appease the navy and army commanders which is a good start.

[UristMcRiley]

Joining the Principality
Design: (Llosgi Bwriadol)
A purpose built hand held bomb to enable our pilots to offer direct resistance to the enemy rather then simply flying over the battle field. The bomb is a fairly simple design being roughly a foot in length for all intense and purposes simply being a cylinder with some fins on it. The construction is made of copper and detonated on impact by a fuse in the nose. The weapon weighs fifteen pounds with most of the weight focused in the fore of the bomb to hold it steady during flight. 

[Doubloon-Seven]

Here's my idea for a zeppelin observation vessel.

LC PGRAC-DRG-Type/15

An item of great importance to our present artillery companies is the issue of spotting targets. Normally this comes with great difficulty, having to resort to men with binoculars sitting in trees, or troops sending messages via bird of all things. An aerial observation post offers an alternative to this issue, and a steerable one means that it can cover larger areas than a tethered craft.

With the assistance of the Llether Corff (Lionheart Group), a company known for its hot air balloon manufacture, we have planned out a tool that fits such specifications.

The Pren Gwyn Royal Air Corps proposes the Dirigible Type of 1915 as such. The vessel is centered around a hardwood "keel", upon which is placed a gas bag. This gas bag is made from an outer layer of cotton and an inner layer of goldbeater's skin, a sort of leather derived from the intestines of cows. The gas bag is filled with hydrogen, which allows for the craft to float -- along with the wickerwork basket placed beneath, sufficient for two people to rest with their equipment.

This equipment consists of the engine currently used in the Saeth converted to run in a pusher configuration, a commercially available morse radio to communicate wirelessly -- though a spool of tether cable with wire inside allows wired commucations as well -- with those on the ground, and a tank of water as ballast. A pilot may throttle the backwards-facing engine for speed control, drop water from the ballast tank to raise himself, vent hydrogen from a valve in the gas bag, or control two pairs of ailerons that affect vertical and horizonatal movement.

An altogether satisfactory arrangement, would you not say?

[Aseaheru]

 By "governable vessel" I assume something that is self-propelled? We already have one, and it is noted to be of little use for our artillery due to lack of real-time passing of information. And should we design one that can, the largest issue would then be loiter time, which is something baloons(and airships, but well...) are uniquely suited for the job, to the point where sooner or later, we are going to have to come up with a design to do the job, if only to stop their balloons from totally screwing our armies over with their arty. I would rather us do it now and get some tech we can then use on, yes, actual aircraft, than have to do it five or six turns from now.

-doubloon edit-
 I worry that the radio alone wont cut it for communications and that it will lack staying power in high winds, but otherwise, works for me.

-later editing time-

 Since it appears that few know of it, there is indeed a discord channel for the game which might prove useful. Have a linky. Please do use.