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Aircraft Design Company- Matsura's Planes Are Always Fastest!

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Character Sheet
  • Informational


    • ​
    Stress
    0​
    Office Stress
    0​
    XP
    5​

    Matsura Asuka
    Head Designer for Ohara Airworks
    Age 24 (Legally 25)
    Year 12 AF (After Flight)

    Design Stats
    Aerodynamics Engineering - +2
    Structural Engineering - +2
    Chemical Engineering - +1
    Mechanical Engineering - +1
    Ballistics Engineering - +1
    Electrical Engineering - 0

    Personal/Political Stats
    Social Skills - 0
    Politics Skills - 0
    Importance - 2
    Income - 1
    Investments - Ohara

    Resources
    Power - 0
    Wealth - 2

    Designs
    Type 1 Series - Military Variation (Designated T1M1)
    Type 2 Racer (World Speed Record October 1910-April 1911, 180kph)
    Model 2 Scout (Designated T1M2)
    Navy Scout Prototype (Drowned Rat)
    Dive Bomber B1M1 "Duck"
    Machine Gun Carrier R1A "Dragonfly" (World Speed Record May-July 1911, 200kph)
    Naval Rescue Water-Landing Supply Plane NR1M0 "Dolphin" (World speed record 240kph)
    Rhino Demon Train Hunter
    The world's first airliner
    The world's first pulsejet airplane

    Assets
    Slide Rule
    Computator (1 Reroll per Routine)

    Languages
    Albian
    Gallian

    Familiar Vices
    Drinking
    Prostitutes
    Dancing

    Family Life
    - Engaged to Arita Yachi, formerly the leading Ace in the Imperial Army. Designated #1 Cutest Army Boy, he's having some serious problems with PTSD right now.
    - Taking a second try at dating Mikami Kiho, ex-dockerwork from the south.

    Upgrades
    - 3 XP to upgrade a stat.

    Ohara Airworks
    Start Up, Imperial Capital, Akitsukuni

    Owner
    - Mr. Ohara, Rich. Aircraft Enthusiast. Business guy.

    Engineers

    Kibe Koume, 26, Office Manager
    Tiny & angry, Kibe went to school in Albia, picking up the language, the religion, and a fuckload of swear words. Speaks Albian.
    Mechanical +2, Ballistics +1
    Office Manager: If Kibe is not assigned to a team, the Office Stress is reduced by 1.

    Sakane Jun, 26, Second Team Leader
    A soured patriot, Sakane is married and has a young child being raised gender-neutrally. His two brothers who fought in the war.
    Structural +2, Aerodynamics +1
    Team Leader: If there are any additional projects, Sakane will lead them.
    Joinery: Sakane has training in the traditional Akitsukuni carpentry art of joinery, creating complex self-supporting joints with no fasteners or glue. When working with non-monocoque wooden spars or ribs, +1 Structural.

    Tezuka Kenji, ???
    A stoner with occasional flashes of insight. Nobody really knows what he does, but he's probably useful?
    Aerodynamics +2, Chemical +1
    Flashes of Brilliance: Each natural 10 rolled by any team Tezuka is assigned to gives +1 forward to the next research roll.

    Hasegawa Morio, 26
    A hopeless nerd with a photography habit, mostly on account of developing his own film, Hasegawa seems to do nothing but work and stack card houses, but somehow has an incredible attractive boyfriend. Speaks Gallian.
    Chemical +2, Ballistic +1
    Silent Workhorse: Hasegawa can work on two different projects at once for no cost to Office Stress, providing they use different stats.

    Kawamura Yosai, 25.
    Serially successful womanizer and incredibly attractive, Kawamura doesn't seem to have much of a personality outside of seducing women. Well, except for that time he seduced Asuka, which nobody talks about. Speaks Dyske.
    Structural +2, Electrical +1, Social +1
    Easily Distracted: If Kawamura is working on the same team as a female or non-binary employee, the team is at -1d10.

    Koide Hatsu, 24.
    One of the few female graduates of an Akitsukuni engineering school, Koide is brilliant and incredibly driven, but her first job at Akibara was both humiliating and exposed her to an abusive coworker. Her father is a rich businessman with factories in Joseon, and she's engaged to Ken from Castles of Steel. Speaks Joseon.
    Mechanical +2, Structural +1
    No Sleep: If you let her, Koide will work herself to death. She can work a second project for no Office Stress, but all her stats will be reduced to 1 for the routine.

    Kobayashi Ayao, ???
    Disowned heiress of the Kobayashi family, all Kobayashi wanted was a career and to be a modern woman. For her trouble, a cousin threw acid on her, scarring her face, neck, much of her torso, and her left arm. Despite appearing serene and above it all, she's actually an avowed communist activist and baseball player.
    Aerodynamics +2, Social +2

    Adachi Ren, 24
    Adachi learned chemistry from her father, one of the most famous chemical engineers in the country, rather than through formal schooling. She's married, has a kid, and takes spirituality very seriously. Yes, you did the math right, she had Yuki when she was 17. It's 1912, folks.
    Chemical +2, Electrical +1
    Young Mother: Adachi will cause double Office Stress if she has to work multiple tasks.

    Uyeno Sei, Ballistics Engineer, 31.
    The oldest member of the crew, this is Uyeno's second career. Her first was as an officer in the Imperial Navy with specialized technical training: her very promising career was cut short by her transition. Her work in a naval arsenal on machine-guns landed her the job here. Briefly dated Satomi (the age range is a bit creepy but again, 1912), she's missing a piece of her ear and is deaf on that side, from an exploding cannon. Recently returned from Varnmark from experimental surgery, she's known for her skill navigating gendered bureaucracy.
    Ballistic +3

    Mi Kyung-Jae, 23
    A recent graduate of the Imperial College of Heijo, Mi is from the recently annexed territory of Joseon. For those keeping track at home, that means he's a Korean national living in Imperial Japan in 1912. We haven't seen much of his personality because he's rightfully terrified of everything around him. He has a specialty in endurance engine design and modification. Speaks Joseon.
    Mechanical +1, Chemical +1
    Endurance Engines: Mi has an excellent understanding of metallurgy and tolerances. Any engine he works on gains +1 Reliability if a 16+ is rolled.
    Pulsejet Wizard: Mi is now one of the world's leading experts on the pulsejet engine. He can be given his own project to custom-craft pulsejet engines, and he gives +1 to any pulsejet-related project.
    Joseon National: Mi does not have security clearance to work on any top-secret projects.

    Miyoshi Shigeri, 23.
    A non-binary person and admirer of Asuka's work, they were in an support role in the Army before joining the company.
    Structural +1, Mechanical +1, Aerodynamic +1
    Mechanic: Miyoshi has some experience repairing and refurbishing aircraft. They get +1 if assigned on the clean-up phase.


    Other Employees
    - Ohara Satomi, 22, Mr. Ohara's niece and the company test pilot, Ohara is a general lesbian disaster. She's good at flying planes, driving cars, and kissing girls. She's bad at being patient, being respectable, and sticking to literally anyones conceptions of gender roles. Deeply in lesbians with Coralie D'Amboise.
    - Fujkikawa Sotatsu, old, modelmaker. He's an old man and toymaker and we don't see much of him because he locks himself in his workshop a lot. He's friends with Kawamura?

    Assets
    - Engine Test Rig (Allows engine tweaking and optimization.
    - Wind Tunnel (+1 Aerodynamics)
    - Rapid Prototype Lab (+1 Clean Up)
    Expanded Cast

    Akitsukuni Industry
    - Homura Mohoko: Head Engine Designer for Kobayashi. First female engineer in the country. A lot of sex appeal.
    - Okumura: Head of Akibara aircraft design.
    - Yamanaka Hajime: Kobayashi engineer. Young and eager.
    - Igarashi Masazumi: Kobayashi engineer. Reserved and experienced.
    - Admiral Akibara Toru: Imperial Navy Admiral. Maximum nepotism. Maximum douchebag.
    - Lt.Cmnd Akibara Shinzo: The above's son. A hottie but very forward.



    Character Families
    - Matsura(?) Mizuko: Asuka's sister. Was paralyzed in an accident in Asuka's first flight. Lives Elsewhere and is married now. Can't forgive Asuka, even though she's tried.
    - Adachi Motoki: Adachi's husband, an accountant. Legally blind.
    - Adachi Yuki: Adachi's 7 year old daughter and wannabe pilot. Very adorable.
    - Yachi's Brother: Exists.
    - Sakane's Wife: Exists. Drives him a bit crazy, but he loves her.
    - Yachi's Brother's Wife: Exists. Is statistically likely to be pregnant.
    - Lt. Coralie D'Amboise: Gallian pilot in exile. Satomi's girlfriend. 25. Accomplished bisexual duelist. She flew in the war for a single day, and for her troubles got a hole blown in her cheek and had her left arm paralyzed.

    Akisukuni Army & Ex-Army
    - Lt. Torio Tanaka: Yachi's former observer as an enlisted man. Was jumped up to fly Ducks and lost a leg on his first mission. A trained painter, married to Torio Saya.
    - Captain Amari Shiro: A Dragonfly pilot who ended up flying as Yachi's partner. Kind of delightfully twinky. They sorta slept together at one point, which wasn't great. He lost his previous boyfriend in the April Offensive and turned his plane into a shrine. He was shot in the gut and is still recovering.
    - Major Izuhara: Logistics officer, Imperial Army, this bespectled officer stood up to the Caspian Crown Prince and accidentally kicked off the Akitsikuni-Caspian War. The guilt was so much that, after almost a year of running Army procurement, he shot himself in a phone both.
    - Captain Nakai Sekien: Army scout pilot. First person to drop a bomb from an airplane, later head of the Duck Squadrons.
    - Captain Teshima: A Desk pilot that fought with Yachi. Lost an arm in the process, took over for Major Izuhara after his death. Seems cheery despite it all.
    - Captain Nashio: A real piece of shit dude and probably a rapist, he's also a war hero as the second-highest scoring ace on the Akitsukuni side. He was a young shitty kid in way over his head but it's no excuse.
    - Lt. Kinjo: Kind of a dumb lump and Nashio's friend, one of the desk pilots. Dead at 19.
    - Lt. Okazaki: Yachi's friend from before the war and pilot, he died in a spin in his dragonfly. His death probably hit Yachi the hardest.

    Westerners
    - Rose & Antoinette Sears: Pioneers of flight. Sisters. Black in 1910s not!America. Yikes.
    - Timina Guasti: Famous aircraft designer from Otrusia. Likes big planes and green.
    - Prince Protasov Vasilyevich: Crown Prince of Great Caspia. Real dick. You gotta hand it to him though, a decent flier.
    - Count von Zeppelin: Invented rigid airships. Runs a successful airline business. Damned impressive.
    - Bennhold: Aircraft Engineer. Experimenting with metal aircraft.
    - Aileen Middlemiss: Albian reporter for the Artimis Times. Well meaning and oblivious.
    Available Tech
    • Materials: Wood, Duralumin, Molded Wood, Wood & Silk Composite, etc
    • All engine mounts
    • All wing types
    • Basic reinforcement
    • Wing warping and ailerons
    • Basic water radiators
    • Flying Wings
    • Semi-Monocoque design (requires at least half the slots have frame pieces)
    • Valved pulsejets
    • Basic weapon mounts and turrets
    Tech not Yet Developed
    • Custom engines
    • Monocoque construction
    • Cantilever Wings and associated tech
    • V and T tails
    • Tailless designs
    • Aluminum and titanium
    • Cellulose surfacing
    • Any kind of radar
    • Weapon accessability mods
    • Interruptor gear
    • Geared propellers
    • And Maybe Other Stuff
    Akitsukuni
    Island Nation

    Government
    Constitutional Monarchy
    - The democratic portions of the government are dubiously legitimate.
    - The head of state is the Empress of Akitsukuni. She gives her blessing to newly formed governments.
    - The Navy and a small number of families have undue influence on politics.

    Economy
    Developing Mixed Market
    - Most industry is controlled by a small number of wealthy, family-owned companies.
    - The state provides most contracts to industry. Consumer good market is anemic.
    - Exports are few, mostly cultural.
    - Imports are raw minerals, food, oil, and expertise.
    - Currently suffering an economic crash after the last war.

    Politics
    The Diet is currently ruled by a Constitutional Nationalist government. It has a system of nonlocal proportional representation, with representatives appointed by the party in accordance to their share of the vote.
    - Constitutional Nationalists: 50%
    - Purity Club: 9%
    - New Independents: 26%
    - Fairness Association: 11%
    - United Communist League: 2%
    - Monarchists: 1%
    - Assorted Fringe Parties: 5%

    Demographics
    Akitsukuni is mostly very ethnically homogeneous. Around 5% of the population are various minorities, most from nearby countries. Roughly .1% are westerners here for business or in advisory positions.
    - Population: 55 Million
    - Religion: Mostly Kodo. Roughly 2% of the population follows western religions.
    - Wealth: Most wealth is concentrated in the top 5% of the country. Nearly 20% of the population lives in conditions indistinguishable from peasantry.
    - Urbanization: Heavily urbanized for a small economy: 35% and rapidly growing.

    Military
    At Peace
    - Imperial Akitsukuni Navy (IAN): The 6th largest in the world, and the most experienced.
    - Imperial Akitsukuni Army (IAA): 150,000 highly experienced soldiers, and a considerable reserve.

    Aspects
    - Poor Resources: Aluminum costs +1.
    - Damn Akitsukuni Engines!: Engines have -1 Reliability.



    The Main Character Of This Quest Is Nonbinary And Uses They/Them Pronouns.

    I Am Putting This Here Because The Next Person To Misgender Them Is Getting Yeeted Into The Trash

    Also here's the Gayaverse TV Tropes page, because why not.​
     
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  • Informational
    • open_sketchbook said:
    There's no rules for such a composite right now... but I'll let you roll +Materials to make it happen!!!!
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    On the topic of rolling +Material to make things happen, could we potentially do a silk with a shellac finish to serve as a material stiffener? Personal experience tells me we can get fairly good results out of a fine cotton dipped in shellac and then tensioned across a frame. There's a small issue in that the result is mildly brittle, but against wind forces at our speeds it should hold up.
     
    [x] Canvas (+1 Drag, +1 Structure.)
    [x] 3 Frame Slots (3 cost, +3 Mass, +9 Structure)

    Let's go with KISS for this one. There's no reason to create something revolutionary (beyond the already revolutionary nature of the fighter)
     
    [X] Molded Wood (+1 Mass, +5 Structure. Costs 1 per section.)
    [X] 3 Frame Slots (3 cost, +3 Mass, +9 Structure)

    Let's try and keep the drag down, so our fighting plane is actually faster than the spotters and bombers it's supposed to be intercepting.
    Metal is probably overkill, not to mention the extra mass would slow the plane down.
     
    Balaur said:
    Gun carrier? Interesting alternate name for fighters. It could be cool to see if any alternate classification schemes evolve in this world for aircraft.

    [x] Canvas (+1 Drag, +1 Structure.)
    [x] 3 Frame Slots (3 cost, +3 Mass, +9 Structure)
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Most languages call fighters some variation of 'hunters', chasseurs, Jaeger's, etc. So we could end up with something like 'Ryoshi'.
     
    [X] Molded Wood (+1 Mass, +5 Structure. Costs 1 per section.)
    [X] 2 Frame Slots (3 cost, +3 Mass, +9 Structure)
     
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    [X] A Tense Silk and Molded Wood composite (??? Drag, ??? Mass, ??? Structure, Roll +Materials)
    [X] Molded Wood (+1 Mass, +5 Structure. Costs 1 per section.)

    [X] 2 Frame Slots (2 cost, +2 Mass, +6 Structure)
     
    Okay so I haven't run the specific numbers with like a sample build or anything, so I'll probably follow along if someone who has presents an argument based on that, but in the meantime...

    Let's see. Our engine had Cost 6, leaving us with a budget of 16; I don't know how much the rest of the plane will cost exactly but I feel comfortable spending a bit on the fuselage. It also gave us a mere 3 Mass (half that of the Ogre and lighter than a single Goblin) but a whopping 11 Drag (I'm pretty sure that's a lot). So while I know keeping Mass down will be helpful, I do think we can stand to take a little extra to cut down on our Drag here. Plus having a plane that's marginally more resistant to having holes put in it seems likely to be useful in the days ahead.

    [X] Molded Wood (+1 Mass, +5 Structure. Costs 1 per section.)
     
    [x] 3 Frame Slots (3 cost, +3 Mass, +9 Structure)
    [X] Molded Wood (+1 Mass, +5 Structure. Costs 1 per section.)
     
    Last edited:
    [X] 2 Frame Slots (2 cost, +2 Mass, +6 Structure)
    [X] Molded Wood (+1 Mass, +5 Structure. Costs 1 per section.)

    Since @Wiadi has actually done some Cost, Mass and Drag calcs, I think I agree that 3 Frame Slots might be more than the budget and final design can handle. I'd rather see us drop a frame slot than the wood frame.
     
    [X] Molded Wood (+1 Mass, +5 Structure. Costs 1 per section.)
    [X] 4 Frame Slots (4 cost, +4 Mass, +12 Structure)
     
    [X] Molded Wood (+1 Mass, +5 Structure. Costs 1 per section.)
    [X] 3 Frame Slots (3 cost, +3 Mass, +9 Structure)

    I want the low drag from molded wood, but I also want the low cost of fewer frame slots. If @Crasian01 thinks we need three frame slots, then we should go with that, but I'd like an explanation of "so why three and not two?" Is it because we're looking at a tandem wing arrangement?

    Crasian01 said:
    [] Canvas (+1 Drag, +1 Structure.)
    [] 3 Frame Slots (3 cost, +3 Mass, +9 Structure)

    Doesn't seem to be any reason to go crazy here. We can reserve the weirdness for later, probably.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    If we end up with a situation where we're under Mass budget and can afford to add a bit more, we might want to think about dropping a piece of sheet steel (or several layers of protective silk) in front of the cockpit. This plane is going to spend a lot of time attacking enemy aircraft with observer gunners from behind, and there's no engine block in front to absorb bullets that would otherwise hit the pilot. If we CAN put a little bit of armor up front, I think we should.
     
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    We have 16 budget left over. The Molded Wood + Silk would run 5 cost per Section, but it sounds pretty good, and also pretty cool.

    @open_sketchbook Questions:
    1) What else do we need that will add cost to it?
    2) Can we pick Molded Wood, and as a sub vote test on small scale to feasibility of adding silk over it, and then decide if we want to add silk over the wood?
     
    I feel we are under-armoring the plane.

    It's better for each unit to cost slightly more if it means the difference between a dead pilot and a crashed plane and a hurt pilot and a damaged plane, with a dead enemy to boot.
     
    We really need to convince the army that they need a training program rather than a quick briefing and on the job luck-chancing.
     
    Okay look.

    We need to get the plane airborne. We need the Army to be able to afford a lot of them, because we want to drown the front lines in fighters so that the Caspians lose control of the air before they get a competing model into the theater in quantity. Also because realistically, crashes are gonna happen and a cheap plane is easier to replace.

    We DO need to emphasize to the Army that flying these aircraft is a skill that requires practice and classroom instruction AND flying hours. It's like, oh, riding a horse while shooting arrows, to pick an example with associations in Akitsukuni culture. Very much possible to do, but it takes trained combatants to do it competently without falling off the horse or missing with all their arrows.

    While it would be NICE to armor the plane, adding a lot of mass will impair performance and make the planes less effective at killing the enemy or avoiding being killed themselves. This plane isn't meant to dip close to the ground and take lots of rifle caliber ground fire normally, either. Let's not go overboard on armoring the plane and blow all our budget on highly protective fuselages, especially since no steel or composite we put on this plane is going to be really bulletproof.

    TotallyNotEvil said:
    I feel we are under-armoring the plane.

    It's better for each unit to cost slightly more if it means the difference between a dead pilot and a crashed plane and a hurt pilot and a damaged plane, with a dead enemy to boot.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    We need the plane to work more than we need it to be armored. We can always try to release a Mark II version with armor if we can coax out some engine improvements or weight savings.

    And no, no it really is NOT automatically better to use the more expensive option in mass industrial warfare. Having 30 fighters that are unarmored may well prove better than having 25 fighters that are armored, because a lot of the aircraft losses will be due to factors that armor doesn't help with, because we can't armor the whole plane, and because the more fighters we have in the sky, the harder it is for the Caspians to fight back and shoot any of them down.
     
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    Following on from that there are generally 5 places that are 'you're fucked' areas on the plane, the pilot, the crankshaft, the propeller, the tail and depending on the design, the engine(s). In our fighter the engine is next to the propeller so the crankshaft isn't really an issue but everything else still is.
     
    I mean, yes.

    The thing is, we don't have enough margin of engine power or lift that we can just slather the whole aircraft in bulletproof armor. Until we've actually run the numbers on our final design, we won't know what armor we can afford, but if we turn this thing into a big flying tub, it may not be able to perform as a fighter. Ultimately, the point of this design isn't just to keep ITS pilot alive, it's to keep all the OTHER pilots alive, by being able to get up there, outmaneuver the Caspian planes, hit them and shoot them down.

    I strongly recommend that we hold off any discussion of up-armoring the aircraft until we have the design more or less finalized and we can objectively look at it and say "hmm, we can spare 50 kg of weight for armor, but not 150."
     
    [X] A Tense Silk and Molded Wood composite (??? Drag, ??? Mass, ??? Structure, Roll +Materials)
    [X] Molded Wood (+1 Mass, +5 Structure. Costs 1 per section.)

    [X] 2 Frame Slots (2 cost, +2 Mass, +6 Structure)
     
    [X] 2 Frame Slots (2 cost, +2 Mass, +6 Structure)
    [X] Molded Wood (+1 Mass, +5 Structure. Costs 1 per section.)
     
    [X] 3 Frame Slots (3 cost, +3 Mass, +9 Structure)
    [X] Molded Wood (+1 Mass, +5 Structure. Costs 1 per section.)
     
    Last edited:
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