The WrackspireThe pair of skiffs sent to investigate the Burned Mountain and the Wrackspire first end up in contention with an unexpected Wrethan vessel, apparently coming towards the Three Captains. While the Skiffs aren't able to head back and warn their companions of the potential incoming assault, they do, by sheer good luck, catch the Wreth Skiff by surprise, and are able to smother it in a hail of fire before it can exploit its superior mobility.
The skiff captains do feel a bit shamefaced that winning two against one fight is considered lucky.
The Wrackspire itself, now that they the skiffs have time to write a report, is... peculiar. The Shattered spire rises from below in a series of uneven pillars, natural rock and earth clinging to spirestone, with peculiar bridges of stone connecting a few at irregular intervals. Bizarre clouds of irridescent mist coalesce and writhe amidst the massive pillars, bending the light around them into a myriad of peculiar optical phenomenon. Stranger still are the floating stones that slowly drift about the Wrackspire- massive blocks of agglomerated rock, some likely weighing hundreds of tons, yet floating through the air around the spires like dust caught in an eddy.
Both engineer's report unusual power fluctuations occurring in their core crystals whenever the skiffs get too close. Landing here might be tricky.
Three CaptainsThe Scout and the communications officers prove their value here. The day is cloudy, and the Scout, high above, spots the incoming Wrethan fleet long before anyone else, flashing back composition and location to the Three vipers and the other skiffs. Two of the larger Super-Skiff vessels, with armor that appears to have been upgraded since the last encounter, lead a host of seven of their skiffs. One of the Super-Skiffs also has an unusual bow gun, longer and heavier looking than an ordinary LAC, and mounted on a turntable somewhat similar, though on a larger scale, to the mounts used by Kasgyrite ships.
With Forewarning, the Vipers divide into two groups, the group with two vipers taking two skiffs and going low, and the Serpentis taking three skiffs to go high. Ambushes don't work quite as well when the other side is spoiling for a fight, but it certainly beats the hell out getting caught by surprise yourself.
The Kasgyrite vessels are already closing in, diving and climbing respectively, when the Wreth Scout finally manages to signal that something bad is about to happen. Not that the signal prevents the bad thing from happening. The Wreth, expecting to be attacking, already had shrouds up, and the warning does give them enough time to fire upwards, but the initial pass still favors Kasgyre. Two Wreth skiffs evaporate under fire, and the two super-skiffs are pummeled from both above and below. One Kasgyrite skyskiff gets taken down by the powerful broadside guns of the Super-skiffs, and a few others take grazes, but it's still a favorable exchange before the battle begins in earnest.
Inside the Furball, it becomes clear that the Skiffs and the Super-Skiffs operate very differently. All but one of the skiffs attempts to stretch its agility to the limits, focus on dodging the shots rather than making them. The super-skiffs, and one of the skyskiffs that moves unnaturally quickly through climbs, instead focus on boom and zoom tactics- climbing, making raking passes while diving, turning, and then making a pass with the opposite broadside while rising across. It's reliant heavily on speed, particularly when climbing, and it's viciously effective while the enemy skiffs are there as a distraction. The vipers continue trying to shoot down the nearer, and much harder to hit, sky skiffs, and the Super-Skiffs rise and fall and only present a target intermittently.
Volume of fire fully favors Kasgyre, but they still have a devil of a time hitting the more agile skiffs, particularly with the added inertia of the frontal armor. Skiffs die, on both sides, but the three vipers still take a worrying number of impacts- it becomes more worrying when the new cannon fires.
The ship mounted with the new cannon is extremely maneuverable, more maneuverable even than a Viper- though that has to stretch the limits of inertia that the crew is capable of handling and maintaining combat efficacy. She's also been biding her time to fire that cannon of hers- probably because it's conventional. The cannon launches a flaming ball of... something at the Pythonidae, but it splatters off her forward armor with a ringing impact, spraying flaming goo across her webbing. All completely bypassing her shroud.
Minutes pass as the battle continues, skiffs dying one by one, and it becomes readily evident that Wreth really isn't terribly advanced with their new gun. While her rising and falling maneuvers make her difficult to target (particularly when captains focus their efforts on the nearest vessels), it takes her at least five minutes to reload her forward gun.
Good luck finally comes in a bit when the Ophidian, despite its reduced gun battery, succeeds in nailing the absurdly fast skiff, stripping off its web with one salvo, and then turning to annihilate the ship completely with its tail guns. That luck is undercut severely by the Pythonidae's rapidly growing weakness. The fire devoured a significant portion of her interior shroud, dropping her mobility and ability to evade to the point where she's everyone's target. Dozens of shots impact her shroud, and it eventually buckles in a wave of light. Additional shots scar her frontal armor and take a chunk out of her side, but she keeps fighting. Her return barrage, though it goes wide of the slower Superskiff's shroud, takes out a swathe of her web.
The two vessels, the Pythonidae considerably more wounded, exchange fire. The other vipers, finally able to focus on an enemy ship without being distracted, pump multiple salvos into the damaged Wreth ship. The Superskiff's powerful broadside tears the Pythonidae in half, her core crystal detonating and sending splinters of the vessel in all directions. Meanwhile, the armor of the Superskiff continues to endure massive punishment, taking nearly a dozen shots before the Serpintus is able to burn a shot through her keel and knock a hole in her belly. Still, it takes long enough that she's able to get new reams of webbing run out, and immediately puts on emergency speed to get away.
The other Superskiff launches another flaming spitball, and this one hits the lower head armor of the Serpentis, embedding in the copper but inflicting no significant damage. The structural damage inflicted to the other Superskiff, however, is sufficient to slow her down enough to fire into her back, which by happenstance, is where her greatest concentration of webbing is. The Serpentis and the Ophidian devour the wounded Superskiff with repeated barrages from behind. When the Superskiff begins falling towards the surface, trailing thick black smoke, it becomes clear that they were successful disabling something critical.
There's a moments lull in the fight. On the side of Kasgyre only the two vipers remain, both with shrouds weakened to near nothing by repeated impacts from the Superskiff's broadside guns, and the Ophidian sporting a tear in her dorsal shroud. The enemy retains one Superskiff, its own shroud evidencing several slowly flowing holes, and one ridiculously lucky (or good) skyskiff.
The Superkiff reengages, and the Vipers meet it. The enemy vessel leads with a shot from her bow gun, scoring a hit that punches just behind the Viper's armored head, smashing through her top deck, into her crew section, and wedging itself into engineering- trailing fire all the way. There's something peculiar about the flame- it's sticky, ridiculously difficult to put out, smells of rotten eggs, and aeronauts who inhale the smoke begin choking almost immediately.
Despite her damage, the Serpentis gives the Superskiff most of a barrage, buckling its shroud completely. The Ophidian, however, fails to capitalize on this and instead blasts the single remaining enemy skyskiff to pieces. A few seconds later, the enemy ship has another (also incredibly heavily damaged) shroud up, and fires a broadside at the Ophidian. Two shots strike the shroud, tearing a hole for the last to annihilate the Ophidian's tail, destroying her rear cannon and taking out a number of her rear trim crystals.
Considering the damage, and the black smoking billowing out of the hole in the Serpentis, both ships quit the field, retreating into the mist. The Superskiff does not pursue.
Within the mist, the Serpentis is unable to control the fire that was splattered liberally through her interior, and she is consumed from within. The last sign of her existence is a flicker of argent light, barely visible to the Ophidian through the mist, when the heat cracks her lift crystal.
Far from eventual location of the battle's end, two transports dock with the demi-spire.
Inside the SpireThe reinforcements, and their crates of grenades, are greeted warmly when they reach the Spire at long last. They're slightly less happy about handing over their gauntlets to the new team of heavies, but they're fine with letting them take point. A couple of officers grumble about the dispensation of fancy bronze armor to the common marine, but it's a passing thing.
The assault on the entrenched Wreth camp is made suddenly and without mercy. Divided into two groups, the infantry swarms around Wreth's flanks pushing into their barricaded and fortified tunnels. The men know that one of the flanks has a portable cannon, and that it's a suicide mission to charge that flank. Still, as proud sons and daughters of Kasgyre, they charge it anyway. Wreth has reinforced, both with more men and additional building materials. Dozens die on the run towards the enemy. Whether cut down by cannon shot, gauntlet fire, or multiple envenomed bolts, men die just to buy a little ground for the people behind them, just a little more ground, until someone with a good arm can throw a grenade.
It's glorious when the first heavy soldier finally manages it. She's even close enough to see the confused expression on the Wrethan soldier's face as he looks down at the metal sphere she just threw. He doesn't exist for long enough for the expression to turn to fear. Wreth's ranks break soon after the first grenades begin flying. Their barricades shatter, and their men, packed together in their camp, are slaughtered by white hot iron shrapnel and bits of stone. A particularly bold soldier, advancing into the incredible heat, heat that burns the lungs to breathe, got far enough in to pitch an aetheric grenade beneath the portable cannon defending the opposite flank, destroying it utterly and securing the rout of the Wreth infantry.
The major factor that allowed the Wreth to rout, instead of simply being slaughtered was the incredible heat. Enough grenades in a short enough time made the air unbreathable and the stone impossible to move across, slowing the blitz advance considerably. Still, Kasgyre's victory on the ground is unquestionable.
Confirmed Kills: seven Wrethan Skyskiffs, 1 superskiff. Approximately four Wrethan squads, a portable cannon.
Damaged Ships: Ophidian, destroyed tail section. Missing 1 cannon, and six trim crystals.
Losses: RKNV Pythonidae, RKNV Serpentis, five skyskiffs. Squads 1c, 2c, 50% of squad 1, 10 fireteams of grenades.
Kasgyre has gained ground at the Three Captains
The UnfinishedAll is not entirely quiet at the unfinished. The mist roils, as... something stirs beneath. Sailors writing home claim to have seen bits fleshy appendages writhing below, and one man on night watch claimed to see a massive blunt head of utterly alien shape and compositionfeature, and larger than any vessel of Kasgyre or Wreth, briefly rise up from below before sinking back down.
The phenomena quiets after about a week, but it's still profoundly disturbing to the men.
Spire KasgyreAll is well at Spire Kasgyre
With Flying Colors: Event Passed!
The Kasgyrite flag, flying proud from every ship, and hung from hundreds of pennants on and in the Kasgyrite spires, is a treasure to the men and women in service. While aeronauts complain that it looks really funny when the blue part just sort of vanishes into the rest of the sky, which makes the rest of the flag look rather oddly shaped, it's an easily recognizable sight from any distance. Simplified versions of the flag maintain much the same form as standard flag's with the lion's head replaced with something easier to add without a stencil- most commonly a down pointed triangle or even just a simple crown.
While its colors have been criticized by some as a darkly garish nightmare, and the peculiar deepness of many of the colors makes it a bit more difficult to make out in low light conditions, it's mostly well like by the people. Though there is some debate over whether the lion's head should be gold or a sort of warm cream.
The princess is particularly fond of the new flag, and provides additional support for a future design, assuming it's named after her late father.
Royal Funding: For one design, you can force the cost roll to 6, and the resulting prototype will gain a +2 to cost. You do have to name it after some guy. You're free to make that name up.
It is the beginning of the year 363 AR.
Spire Kasgyre's production stands at,
13/y Crystal, 13/65 Banked
17/y Ore, 17/85 banked
19/y Wood, 83/95 banked
10/y Silk, 45/50 banked
It is now the design and project maintenance phase. You have 5 dice to spend.
Viper Production Line: 1/45 | 7C + 5O + 5W + 2S, +15 From any combination of any resource | Rushed 0 Times | Nothing Invested
Vanguard Cannon: 9/18 | 2 Ore, 2 Crystal | Rushed 1 Times | 4 Ore, 4 Crystal Invested
Signal Flashers: 9/10 | 2 from Any combination of COWS | Rushed 0 times | 3w, 3s
Vertical Envelopment 2/13 | 3 from each of COWS + 4 from Any combination of COWS | Rushed 0 times | Nothing Invested
The Calm: The calm is a region of the aerosphere with almost no wind beyond fleeting turbulence, and absolutely no aetheric currents. It's frigidly cold, and filled with fine red 'snow' that barely moves. Traversing it with a conventional vessel is impossible due to the lack of energy to fuel the lift and trim crystals.
The Everstorm: As the name suggests, the everstorm is a region of the aerosphere dominated by an enormous and eternal thunderstorm. It's a chaotic region of raging winds and surging aetheric energy that manifests in terrible bursts of prismatic flame. No conventional vessel could hope to survive the nightmarish storm conditions.
Kasgyre Territory Blackstone Marine Presence: K 1/14 | W 0/14
---> Marine unit 6: Proto. Bronze armour (Squad Officer), Aethersilk vest (Team Leaders), Aether Gauntlet (1 per team), Cutlass (full squad)
Territory: 4/4 | 0/4
Resources: 1C, 5O, 2W, 0S
Conditions: Rocky, large caverns, very dark
The Hive Marine Presence: K 0/10 | W 0/10
Territory: 4/4 | 0/4
Resources: 1C, 2O, 1W, 4S
Conditions: Spider Nursery, narrow and twisting tunnels
Glowcove Marine Presence: K 1/20 | W 0/20
--->Marine unit 3: Proto. Bronze armour (Squad Officer), Aethersilk vest (Team Leaders), Crossbows (1 per team), Cutlass (full squad)
Territory: 4/4 | 0/4
Resources: 1C, 2O, 6W, 1S
Conditions: Verdant galleries, significant bio-luminescence
The BeltThree Captains Marine Presence: K 5/20 | W ?/20
Territory: 2/4 | 2/4
--->Marine unit 1: Bronze armour (Squad Officer), Aethersilk vest (Team Leaders), Crossbows (full squad), [25% Strength]
--->Marine unit 1b: Bronze armour (Squad Officer), Aethersilk vest (Team Leaders), Crossbows (full squad), grenades (1 squad)
--->Marine unit 2b: Aethersilk vest (Squad Officer), Crossbows (full squad)
--->Marine unit Heavies: Bronze armour (every man), Aethersilk vest (Team Leaders), Aether Gauntlet (every man except 2), bronze cutlass (every man), grenades (1 squad )
Resources: 1C, 6O, 2W, 6S
Conditions: Kinetoluminescent Ores, Heavily Infested
Wrackspire Marine Presence: K 0/12 | W ?/12
Territory: 0/4 | ?/4
Resources: 3C, 4O, 4W, 2S
Conditions: Unstable Aetheric Phenomena, Broken Spire
Burned MountainMarine Presence: K 0/24 | W ?/24
Territory: 0/4 | ?/4
Resources: 1C, 10O, 1W, 0S
Conditions: Inexplicably Molten Core, Hundreds of narrow tunnels and small galleries.
The UnfinishedMarine Presence: K 0/45 | W ?/45
Territory: 0/4 | ?/4
Resources: 8C, 0O, 6W, 2S
Conditions: Unfinished infrastructure, Massive open rooms and halls.
Skiffs With No Name - Skyskiff Class (x4)
Loadout
2 Light Aether Cannons+ (Kettlegun).
1 Very Small Basic Core Crystal
1 Very Small Basic Lift Crystal
4 Trim Crystals
2 reams of webbing
Location: The Unfinished
Status: Shipshape
Skiffs With No Name - Skyskiff Class (x1)
Loadout
Comms Officer
2 Light Aether Cannons+ (Kettlegun).
1 Very Small Basic Core Crystal
1 Very Small Basic Lift Crystal
4 Trim Crystals
2 reams of webbing
Location: Three Captains
Status: Shipshape
RKNV Ophidian - Viper Class
Loadout
1 Communications Officer
6 Light Aether Cannons+ (Kettlegun) [2 Front, 2 Rear Missing] [DAMAGED: Rear guns can only be added once tail section is repaired]
2 Sections Light Copper Armor
1 Medium Core Crystal
1 Small Basic Lift Crystal
12 Trim Webs [DAMAGED: Six destroyed, can only be repaired after the tail section is repaired]
6 reams of webbing
Location: Three Captains
Status: DAMAGE | Destroyed tail section, 5 wood, 1 ore to fix |
Mercury - Transport Barge
Loadout
1 Small Basic Core Crystal
1 Small Basic Lift Crystal
2 Trim Crystals
1 reams of webbing
Carrying: 0/6
Location: Three Captains
Status: Shipshape
6 Trim Crystals
Mothballed Anguis Hull [6 Reams of Silk]
Current Technology
Infantry
Flintlock Pistol: Cost: 2 ore to give one of either to every fireteam in a squad, 8 to give to every man. Inaccurate beyond spitting distance, incapable of dealing significant damage against hard armor, and liable to explode when used regularly even when given the most expert maintenance, the primary advantage of these weapons is that they can punch straight through shrouds like they didn't exist, and they're slowed by aethersilk officer's coats as much as by an ordinary silk shirt.
Flintlock Rifle: Cost: 3 ore to give one of either to every fireteam in a squad, 12 to give to every man. Reasonably accurate, but slow to reload and still incapable of dealing significant damage against hard armor or ship hulls. These weapons still require expert maintenance to keep them from being single-use weapons, and sustained use still makes these weapons terrifyingly unreliable as service weapons. Still, an excellent choice for shooting through silk shirts and ignoring shrouds.
Grappling Gear: Cost: 1 ore to give to every member of a squad. Standard issue ropes and hooks for boarding vessels or climbing the outside of spires. Cumbersome if you're not going to use it.
Aetheric Gauntlet: Cost: 1 Ore, 1 crystal to give one to every fireteam in a squad, 4 of each to give one to everyone. A gauntlet (usually left handed to keep the right hand free) of copper and leather with a tiny weapons crystal locked into the palm. Capable of firing dozens of low energy blasts of aetheric energy at the user's discretion, but is difficult to aim and the copper cage used to draw heat from the crystal has the unsettling tendency to leave disfiguring gauntlet burns, melt, or set the user on fire if used too frequently.
Bronze Cutlass: Cost: 2 Ore to give to every member of a squad. A simple, heavy blade of bronze attached to a wooden handle. Simple, and brutally effective in close quarters.
Aethersilk Vest: Cost: 1 Silk to give to a squad's ranking officer, 5 silk to provide to ranking officer and team leads, 16 silk to give to every member of a squad. A double layer vest of dense aethersilk, capable of absorbing a considerable amount of Aetheric energy. Can stop multiple point-blank shots from a gauntlet, but doesn't cover the arms, legs, or head. Does nothing against physical weapons or projectiles.
Witch Hunter Crossbow: Cost: 2 wood 2 ore to give one to every fireteam, 8 wood 8 ore for every man.The cranequin mechanism is much swifter than many similar designs (though that isn't saying much), and is integrated directly into the weapon in order to avoid a cumbersome stage of attaching and reattaching. A trained infantryman operating the weapon can crank back that 175 pound arms and fire in approximately 45 seconds. The bolts themselves are typically made with a bronze broadhead point to better shred infantry, and have passed every performance test asked of them- and engineers are confident that they could go through light infantry armor if modified with a chisel point. Includes an escessive amount of brass ornamentation, as well as an ornate identification plate for Division markings.
Aetheric Grenades: Cost: 1 Crystal, 1 ore to give one to every man in a squad, or four to every member of a fireteam. | Fist sized grenades carrying tiny precharged weapon and core crystals, capable of exploding after a delay of 5-ish seconds. Cheap assembly means that the soldier is never sure where in the realm of 5-ish that delay is. Roughly a quarter as powerful as an LAC blast, and operates primarily on the initial blast of plasma and burning metal. An ordinary marine can currently (safely) carry up to four grenades. Each round, every man in a fireteam has a 75% chance to use a grenade. This is evaluated per fireteam, not per man.
Bronze Breastplate and Helm: Cost: 1 ore for the officer, 3 ore for squad leaders, 10 ore for every man. Whilst a little on the heavy side, all of that weight is put into protection rather than ornamentation. The new design is thick over the vitals, well sculpted around the arms to allow freedom of motion, and flared at the sides to rest on the hips and keep the weight off the soldier's shoulders. Tests against pistols have shown that the armor has an excellent chance of absorbing shots from beyond point-blank range. Witch Hunter Crossbows penetrate much more readily. Comes with a pair of rip-buckles for quick removal, useful when the armour overheats from repeated aetheric blast strikes.
Ship Tech
Signal Flashers: Costs One squad of marines, 1 crystal, 1 ore, per set of 3 communications officers. Each ship needs only a single communications officer | A trained aeronaut with a handheld lightgun, capable of transmitting a considerable amount of information over long distance via military shorthand flashsign signals. Of course, to be understood, the reciever also needs to have a comms officer. All spires, by default, are considered to have comms officers on watch.
Light Aether Cannon+ (Kettle Gun): 1 Crystal, 1 Ore for one. A small cannon, capable of being mounted on deck without reinforcement. Fires powerful blasts of aetheric energy, and uses a removable block of copper as a heat-sink. Relatively inaccurate, short ranged, hot, power hungry, and prone to exploding violently if hit directly by enemy fire. Still, it can blow wood into flaming cinders and will melt through light plating in a few shots.
---> Kasgyrian modifications to use water based heat sinks for the cooling block and additional pipes for the barrel have reduced cannon weight and increased the initial volley the cannon can make before becoming dangerously hot. Causes the cannon to make a distinctive whistle during the first volley, akin to that of a kettle.
---> Further Modifications allow the cannon's water reserve to be refilled during combat. Still, this is a delicate operation that requires a degree of platform stability, provides at best one additional reload in a combat situation, and cannot be done at all on skiffs.
Vanguard Cannon (Medium-Small Cannon) 5 Ore, 3 Crystal, Requires a Medium Mount | A triple barreled, water cooled monster. Her only significant issue is a slight issue with water leakage that impacts overall ROF slightly, but aside from that she can fire a full power LAC shot every two seconds, and can sustain that rate of fire nearly indefinitely.
Basic Core Crystal: [VS 3 Crystal | S 6 Crystal] A massive rough gem, grown in vats and used to transduce aetheric energy into electric current. This particular model is relatively inefficient, both as a transducer and as a storage unit. It can generate a defensive shroud around a vessel, but more than a single shot from a light Aether cannon on the same point will knock a hole in the shroud. Will explode spectacularly if hit directly.
Medium Core Crystal: [18 Crystal] Three small core crystals, fused together in a propietary process. While it shares the inefficiencies of its smaller cousins, she's approximately four times more powerful. Under stress, there is a chance that the core crystal will desynchronize, greatly reducing its power output. A desynchronized core can only be fixed by a refit action at the home spire.
---> Medium core crystals now come with a suite of tools designed to monitor its state and resynchronize it in the event something goes wrong. However, the monitoring tools are so effective that an engineer who is familiar with the 'heartbeat' of the core he or she works with can virtually eliminate any chance of desynchronization.
Basic Lift Crystal: [VS 2 Crystal, 2 ore | S 3 Crystal, 2 ore for one] A chunk of crystal the size of a bathtub, heavily reinforced so that it can be locked into a ship's spine. When fed electricity, it will progressively invert gravity's effect on itself, flying upwards and pulling anything attached up with it. This basic model is incredibly power hungry, produces only enough lift for a small ship and internal flaws mean that extreme maneuvers could easily cause it to crack.
Basic Trim Crystals: 1 Crystal for two. Head sized chunks of crystal, similar to lift crystals, though of greater refinement. These produce directional gravity when powered, allowing a ship to make finer maneuvers. Like the basic lift crystal, these are power hungry and prone to fracture of used for rapid maneuverability.
Trim Web: Cost 1 Crystal, 1 ore, 3 wood to substitute for 2 trim crystals. A trim web essentially spreads out the power of a single trim crystal throughout a dozen or more smaller crystals networked together. While this network is of essentially equal power to a single trim crystal, it's ability to spread force out over a larger area allows for much higher acceleration without cracking the crystal. Sadly, it currently needs extensive and custom refit procedures relative to standard trim crystals.
Basic Webbing: 2 Silk per ream. Aethersilk webbing, designed to catch hold of aetheric currents and shunt them into a ship's core crystal. Particularly susceptible to fire from aetheric weapons, which will rapidly cause overloads that burn out whole sections of webbing.
Light Copper Ship Plating: 3 ore per section. Nearly pure copper plates, heavy, but with good thermal conductivity. Useful for spreading out the heat generated by an aether blast. Low melting point does mean that repeated impacts will melt the armor and set fire to the wood beneath.
Ship Hulls
Viper Corvette:12 wood, 5 ore for one.
A fifty foot long frame of wood and bronze reinforcement, her unusual structure reminiscent of the head of a pit viper. She's designed with forward firepower and incredible speed in mind, featuring eight bow mounts and two aft mounts, all of which integrate the mechanical hand-crank system to aim the cannons. She has a notable ability to keep up a good fight even when all of the webbing outside her shroud has been disabled.
She has no usable cargo capacity.
Armament
10 light cannon mounts | 8 in the bow 2 aft.
Armor
None intrinsic
Can mount two sections of armor on the head.
Requires:
1 Core Crystal (At least small, up to medium)
1 Lift Crystal (At least small, up to medium)
4/8/12 Trim Crystals for poor/avg/good performace
6 reams of webbing
Skyskiff 5 wood, 2 ore for one.
At her heart, the Skyskiff is an 18ft long frame of sleek timber and brass reinforcement, built from the ground up to be light on the air and quick to handle. Her basic design is quite old, dating back before the perfection of trim crystals, and she still sports a rudimentary mast that a sail can be run from in addition to the normal spars to run out web. In service, she's typically run by a crew of four. Two gunners who worked crouched in the middle of the ship, a pilot who spends their time practically laying on top of the core crystal in order to manipulate the power control, and the spotter who usually stands at the rear of the ship and calls out directions and threats. Generally, the captain of the vessel is the spotter, due to their superior vantage point and ability to see the entire local theatre.
A notable problem with the Skyskiff is that despite her speed, her web is cumbersome to replace, and without it she's painfully slow. In addition, both her Core Crystal and Her Lift Crystal slots are only designed to fit small crystals. Her small lift crystal means a lot of the burden for vertical maneuvers is still placed on the power hungry trim crystals, which in turn puts more demand on her small core. As a result, her shroud is weak, and a single light cannon blast will knock a hole in it. It still takes two or three more shots before her shroud will buckle entirely, but if another shot comes in the same spot swiftly enough- that's the end of the skiff. Except in the most fortunate of circumstances, a single cannon blast to an unshrouded skiff will destroy it.
She has no usable cargo capacity.
Armament
2 light cannon mounts. One on each side.
Requires:
1 Core Crystal (Up to Very Small in size)
1 Lift Crystal (Up to Very Small in size)
4 Trim Crystals
2 reams of webbing
Transport barge 7 wood, 2 ore for one.
In times of peace, this was the vessel most frequently seen going to and from Spires. She's little more than a wooden oval with a few metal bands designed to support the lift crystal. She's got capacity for crew and cargo, but she's quite slow when fully loaded, and her lack of significant trim crystals means that she can't maneuver with any speed. Her only real defense against attack is to dive down into the mist layer and hope that the attacking vessel loses her trail before the mistmaw comes lurking.
She can hold six units of cargo.
Armament
None
Requires:
1 Core Crystal (Up to small size)
1 Lift Crystal (Up to small size)
2 Trim Crystals
1 ream of webbing
Basic Dinghy (Special, used automatically by Marines to embark/disembark transports)
A very small boat, technically capable of transporting eight people as long as they aren't too broad, don't have a fear of heights, and their legs aren't too long. Her core crystal is about the size of a housecat, and kept powered by a fixed ventral web. She's solid wood, unarmed, and has the tendency to tip alarmingly as she doesn't actually use a lift crystal, but makes do entirely on a trio of small trim crystals. It's a slow and terrifying way to travel. Though she's the primary lifeboat of transports, your chances of survival are alarmingly small if you find yourself alone in a dingy .
When used by marines, she's typically crewed by five, with the squad leader acting as an extra member in every set of three boats. When going into a hostile spire, one marine steers, the other four act as spotters or (if one or more has a gauntlet or rifle) shooters. She's such a small vessel that it doesn't take more than a dozen gauntlet shots for her to break apart completely, and a single shot to her ventral web will (at best) cripple her.
Her core crystal is, technically, capable of generating a shroud. However, the limited energy the miniscule core crystal can process limits the crew to picking two of three options: Maintain Altitude control, maintain thrust, raise shroud. For obvious reasons, raising the shroud is something of a last resort. Worse, even when powered, the shroud can be penetrated by sustained gauntlet fire. This is to say nothing of a shot from a light cannon. The shroud will buckle completely after a single shot from a light cannon, though to its credit, that's one more cannon shot than the Dinghy would have survived normally.
Marines
Massed Fire and Charge: When engaging, Marines will bunch up to focus fire with their ranged weapons until they run out of ammunition or become too hot to use (depending on weapon type), at which point they will charge in with melee weapons.
Defensive Fire: Instead of firing until charging, Marines will look for defensive positions, take cover, and then fire when able from behind said defensive positions. Includes methods for both staggered retreats and staggered advances.
Ambush+Stealth: Currently an abysmal failure of a strategic plan, as soldiers usually blow the ambush much to early and engage on first contact.
Flanking Tactics: Up to four squads of marines can be selected to work together and perform a flanking maneuver. One to three squads will attempt to engage the enemy, while the remaining squads will attempt to find a different venue of attack. The number of squads involved could be increased at a later date.
Fighting Retreat: Infantry will retreat, prioritizing their own lives, but will also take every opening provided by an advancing enemy to nettle them and inflict casualties. Tactical excellence also allows our captains to extend retreat actions, giving a small but significant chance to not lose ground even when in retreat.
Bait and Strike: Similar to a fighting retreat, except with less retreat and a lot more fight. Extremely good at holding territory against an enemy who has numbers but few other advantages, and is capable of inflicting dire casualties. Still, this is fundamentally based in false-retreats, and is largely ineffective at actually gaining ground.
Ships
Close Aggressively: Ships will attempt to close distance with enemy vessels and engage at close range, firing all cannons until the enemy is destroyed.
Hit and Run: Ships will attempt to ambush enemy vessels from either high above or far below. Instead of remaining in engagement distance after the first volley, the vessel will retain speed and attempt to disengage before turning for another pass.
Airborne Ambush Maneuvers: Similar to hit and run, except with slightly more refined tactics. The fleet using this maneuver will attempt to form a simultaneous two pronged attack from both above and below, and will remain to engage the enemy after the initial onslaught.
Blockade: Orders ships to form up around a spire, out of range of enemy emplaced guns, and attempt to prevent vessels from coming or going. However, a strong kasgyrite sense of honor all put prevents them from firing on unarmed civilian vessels.
Scouting: Orders a ship or ships to find an overwatch position, either to defend a fleet or to scope out a particular location. Currently uses cannon fire signals, but will switch to more efficacious methods when able. Quite effective.
Gun Swivels: Rudimentary swivel mounts operated by hand cranks. These represent a first effort in the field, and are scarcely more effective than manual movement for light guns, except when trying to aim for a very precise point when still, but they can carry a decent amount of weight and serve as a reasonable proof of concept.
Small Vanguard Mount Conversion: 2 'adjacent' small mounts, 3 ore, 3 wood. Converts over a pair of small mounts to be able to mount a Vanguard cannon. However, this mounting is, strictly speaking, too small. It's a bitch of an environment for the gunner, and the gun itself is incapable of moving from its fixed position.
Small Docks: Relatively simple affairs of wood jutting out into the void, capable of servicing a relatively small number of light craft. These docks are best suited to peace time usage, and are ill-equipped to service or build true warships. Light defensive cannons have been mounted in strategic positions, and will be upgraded automatically when needed.
Provides a single production line that can be used for any small or smaller production pattern.
Marine Academy: The basic and unaugmented marine academy, where men and women are transformed from milksop civilians into hardened marines.
Provides a single production line to be used ONLY on Marine production.
Production Patterns
Basic Marine Training: [Max: 25 | Rate: 2]
Generates Marine units at the spire. These marines are capable in hand-to-hand combat, but are not provided any initial weapons. You might want to buy them swords, at the very least.
Skyskiff Pattern A: [Max: 10 | Rate: 2]
Creates two Skyskiff units per turn, up to a max of 10. Each skyskiff is outfitted with
2 Light Aether Cannons.
1 Very Small Basic Core Crystal
1 Very Small Basic Lift Crystal
4 Trim Crystals
2 reams of webbing
Buyback cost: 9 crystal, 6 ore, 5 wood, 4 silk
Skyskiff Pattern B: [Max: 7 | Rate: 1]
Creates one Skyskiff units per turn, up to a max of 7. Each skyskiff is outfitted with
2 Light Aether Cannons.
1 Very Small Basic Core Crystal
1 Very Small Basic Lift Crystal
4 Trim Webs
2 reams of webbing
Buyback cost: 9 crystal, 8 ore, 11 wood, 4 silk
Author
Topic: Arms Race: War of the Cinder Spires | Spire Kasgyr (Read 153604 times)