7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
Well, to be fair, it's a really shitty sword. Remember, the Civil War is still in living memory, and likewise the Indian Wars too- for which there were a shitload of swords made. Your current sword is sixty years old, in pretty good condition, and most importantly is the kind of milsurp people are willing to ditch at the speed of a thrown banknote. A dedicated Airman's Sword would be a significant chunk of profit, but an old clunker like this isn't outside the realm of easy replacement.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
Um... what is a lift cell?
The gas bags holding the airships in the air.Um... what is a lift cell?
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
The individual gasbags inside the outer envelope of an airship that provide lift. A Zeppelin has a rigid internal structure with gasbags throughout, as opposed to a blimp's single large bag that is the envelope.Um... what is a lift cell?
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
Um... what is a lift cell?
I'm glad you asked!
Alright, we have our Zeppelin. It's sweet, it's big, and it looks like this:
(Except everything under the balloon is all wrong but that's not important now)
See, the thing is, that's not all hydrogen/helium/magic lifty shit. That's mostly empty space to make something structurally sound and aerodynamic. The guts look like this:
Those pink things are Lift Cells- in short, big airtight bags filled with our Lift Gas. They hold the ship up. There's more here on the diagram, but that's the bit relevant to your question.
Edit: How dare you steal my Wikipedia Picture, @Strypgia?
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
I'm practicing to be an Airship Ninja.
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
Listen, we're still using the Core Rulebook, and I'm pretty sure I said in the Discord we're not opening up the Eastern Adventures splatbook until I know the players can successfully not ram into Switzerland or handle a trip over Constantinople. Both are going to be Fitting Challenges when they come up.
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
Which reminds me, I need to check our w/l ratio for reasons.
Edit: 7.35 w/l ratio. Nice, slim ship except for ovaloid nature to squeeze in more loot and cargo.
Last edited:
- Location
- USA
There's a discord server!? Any chance I can join?
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
Yes; I'll PM you the invite.
- Location
- Cagayan de Oro City, The Philippines
[X] Take the hatchet, draw our belt knife, get ready for two-weapon magic.
wkz
Probably on the other side of the world from you
... we're RPG-ing off a source book? What rules are we using, or is this a homebrew?
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
No, I'm making a joke based off the fact I design games and tabletop adventures.
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
You shouldn't have told them that. We could have run that joke for weeks!
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
You shouldn't have told them that. We could have run that joke for weeks!
Oh, relax. It'll come back again by page 8; sooner if we get new people involved. Which reminds me, barring some flight or alt!history group of posters finding this thread we've hit enough votes for @theJMPer to write an update with when his reminder that CA sucks runs out.
Toe to Toe
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
Smirking, you nod at Lucia. Her remark about your sword wasn't far from established truth- that old cavalry sabre wasn't cheap by any means, and you'd had enough fun wearing it through your ship today. That didn't change the fact you were fairly familiar with it though, and besides- you knew what a little reach could do in the right hands. Still, it was a bit of a challenge, and you had the feeling Lucia felt this would be a sucker's bet.
"Well then, Miss Lucia." You said, smirking and adopting the traditional swordsman duelist stance, one hand behind the back. "Have at thee."
Your Espatier's eyebrow raised. "Really." She said, flat for a moment. "Really."
"Yes. Dead certain. Take the first swing."
Shaking her head, Lucia sighed, adopted a ready stance, and gave a weapon salute. The next thing you noticed was her axe coming at your head somewhere between the speeds of 'oh crap' and 'murder'.
Of course, just because you weren't an axe-fighter by trade didn't mean you didn't know what you were doing. Moving in fast, your left forearm interposed itself in the path of the incoming swing, and your right hand and the hatchet in it took the classic headsman's horizontal chop. It would have been close enough to end the spar, if it wasn't for the fact Lucia knew how to duck. Rolling back and popping up in recovery, she glared at you darkly.
"That should have sliced your arm up, probably broken it too."
Taking your left hand down, you flicked your left wrist to reveal your belt knife, now with a long streak on it from where the cheap axe ground itself on good steel. "I'm a firm believer in not correcting my opponent's mistakes." You said, chuckling. "It's quite rude."
Now Lucia's eyes tightened. "You're a hell of an actor, then." She said, producing her own knife. "But that doesn't mean you're a good fighter."
You nodded, and the fight renewed. Lucia was a driving fighter, moving in and contesting your space constantly. Knifework almost seemed to render the hatchet useless, until an arcing chop tried to take you out and you had to frantically parry. You got the jump on her once, and if you stood any chance of at least ending this in a tie then you'd need to do it again.
Analyzing Lucia was a futile endeavor. She was good- very good. More importantly, she was better than you by enough you couldn't even get a read on her, which means you were going to have to go way outside the box. Blocking her next thrust with your hatchet, you dropped to the ground- and then you rolled.
The space of the cargo hold you were in was about forty feet wide by sixty long- and you knew where exactly your sabre had landed up when Lucia pitched it. This bottom-most deck was mostly open, with the few interuptions aside from latticework to support the above deck's cargo areas and lateral reinforcement of the partial belt struts. As such, your roll put you next to one of these struts, which you desperately used to pull yourself up and parry the next incoming blow. It was three more steps to get to your sword- but you never made it that far.
You knew, intellectually, that Lucia must have figured out the get-to-the-sword gambit, and her next sidestep attacks proved it. Now the hatchet took the lead, and you found yourself frantically parrying and weaving to avoid her strikes. It was moments later that you found yourself tripping backwards over the same strut you'd braced off of earlier, falling flat back.
"I think I win." Lucia said, chuckling. That black look was gone, now, and you were glad for it- that look reminded you of things best forgotten.
"Yeah." You replied, standing up and shaking out your hands after sheathing your knife and tucking the tomahawk in your belt. "I'd have won with the sword, though."
"Hah!" your Espatier Chief laughed, slugging you in the arm. "We'll see, some other day. Shift change is soon, though, and I'm officer on deck for the aft."
Nodding, you scratched your chin. You didn't have duty anytime soon, so your options on what to do were only limited by what you thought needed doing. Thinking to yourself for a minute, you decided to head aft yourself to check the engineering quarters.
---
Moving carefully through the belly of the ship, you ascended a ladder to the main beltway of the ship. The Caroline Anaheim was nearly eighty feet tall, apex to nadir of the keels, and the beltway was supposedly the highway on which travel was supposed to happen. Just above the second deck fore, it continued all the way to the steering gears aft. Right now, though, you were taking advantage of the fact it was the only continuous path from bow to stern that didn't jig around the lift cells. Passing through, you looked down occasionally at the bustling cargo holds and out at the taunt lift cells. Taking a moment, you listened to the air cautiously. Lift cells were always kept slightly pressurized so any bursts would push the hydrogen out, and not suck air in. The theory was a fire in the hull was easier to contain than a lift cell explosion getting burning material everywhere, but you personally disliked both accident's end results- a mass abandon ship.
Still, even if you couldn't hear the leak of a bad cell, you could hear the pulse of the ship. Things had a sound… and the sound of the ship was unsatisfied. She was unhappy, something about things just not sitting right. As you got ready to proceed on down to the engine rooms, one of the ship's runners slid down from a topset railing.
"Cap'n! Cap'n!" the boy yelled, looking at you avidly. "Th' Navigator says we're approaching the drop point!"
"Noted." You replied, looking at the kid. "Please relay to the engines we'll be entering atmosphere soon, start warming the boilers to half heat."
"Aye, sir!" the runner said, scrambling off down the centerway. Reversing course, you headed back to just over the bridge- a short walk, barely two minutes. Once over the bridge, getting there was simple: just slide down the ladder until you hit the bridge gondola floor with a 'thunk'.
"Captain on deck!" the engine telegrapher called, snapping off a fast salute. Returning it, you moved over to your chair.
"Captain has the con." You told Donald, tapping him on the shoulder. He looked at you languidly, and you mentally sighed. He was born on Terra Firma, and while it didn't often show you knew it affected his tolerance of the Aether.
"Aye-aye, cap'n." Donald replied, far too late. "Cap'n has the con."
"Go to bed, Donald." You said crisply, looking him in the eye. "I forgot about you and Aether."
"I don' mind." He said, stumbling off to the rear of the bridge. "Th' colors, though… you look too long and it start's saying things…"
"Yes, Donald. Go to sleep."
"Aye-aye, Cap'n."
As your first mate started to stumble into a wall, you sighed quietly. "Caller, send to the mess hall for someone to take Mr. Zamwekis to his cabin."
---
It was barely a minute later when Elizabeth came down to the bridge, an astrolabe in one hand and octant in the other. Unlike before, she seemed alive, energized by the gasses and shapes flowing around you. Somehow, you knew your earlier fears about disturbing her in her nest were ill-founded.
"Captain Aleksander! Captain! You see the point, yes?"
Sitting down in your chair carefully, you pulled out a spyglass and scryed the sky carefully. "I'm afraid not."
"Ah… you want to look at the green node, alright?"
Zooming out with a twist, you scanned carefully. "Can I get a heading on this Aetheric point, hmm? Azimuth off bow and elevation, please?"
"Twenty-five degrees, and five degrees, Captain. Right there, see it?"
Looking carefully, you finally spotted the green node, sparking merrily.
"That's not what nodes normally look like…" you muttered, looking at your Navigator.
"Well… it's not the normal node for this route, but there's going to be a lot of congestion up there." Elizabeth said, shy. "That one's a little less stable, so take the sails down first- but it'll put us out only a short jog from where we need to access the next current!"
"Alright." you said, calmly. "Caller, signal for sails and mast lowered, then send for the engines to full power on current steam load."
"Aye, sir."
---
This node felt distinctly electric, and as you saw the ship slide out, your bridge crew breathed a sigh of relief. The exception to the rule was your Navigator, who just sighed and started to shuffle off.
"Alright, all hands, smooth transition." You said, smiling. "Pilot, estimated local time?"
"Looks to be about six o'clock." Jack said, sighing as he set the course. "We'll need relative bearings- I presume we'll be getting them soon?"
"Soon enough." You said, relaxing. "Soon-"
"Captain!" the talker said, panicking. "Spotters have sighted three ships inbound, no sigils flying! They're on intercept in five minutes, and starboard thinks he sees a black flag!"
Grimacing, you struggled to think. Pirates. Pirates. Pirates. It had to be pirates. God damn it all to hell, the last thing you needed was pirates!
"Sir? Sir!"
Looking carefully, you saw them. A pair of skiffs, and a cutter. Fight, or run? Fight, or run? Risk that lean cutter being faster than you, or risk them having guns more advanced than muzzleloading cannon?
Either way, the time to decide was now.
Force Analysis
(A/N: This is just a rough note so you know what, exactly, you're getting into without narrative getting in the way.)
(A/N 2: Ship stats are Name (HP/Max Lift; Weapons Mounts) with unknown HP and Max Lift amounts listed as dice ranges. Think using a Heal check in D&D to get a rough guess of how tough a monster is)
Friendly Force:
Carolina Anaheim: (45/180; 1x Spinal (Fair), 2x Broadside (Fair), 1x Espatiers)
Enemy Force
1x Light Skiff (1d8/3d10; 1x Broadside (Poor), 3x Pirates)
1x Heavy Skiff (2d8/3d10; 1x Broadside (Poor), 4x Pirates)
1x Small Cutter (2d10/4d10; 2x Broadside (Poor), 2x Pirates)
Votes:
[] Run like hell- you're a merchantman, and reasonably fast. Try and disengage and retreat- it might work!
[] Fight it out- You've had a look at these pirates, and they look like they're about to fall out of the sky.
-[] How? (WRITE-IN)
(A/N 3: This isn't a pushover random encounter, but it is fairly easy. You're not fighting serious opposition here, you're fighting things small enough for you to carry as helper boats.)
(A/N 4: To kill a ship, either reduce it's HP to 0 or reduce it's Lift below it's HP long enough to force it to crash)
"Well then, Miss Lucia." You said, smirking and adopting the traditional swordsman duelist stance, one hand behind the back. "Have at thee."
Your Espatier's eyebrow raised. "Really." She said, flat for a moment. "Really."
"Yes. Dead certain. Take the first swing."
Shaking her head, Lucia sighed, adopted a ready stance, and gave a weapon salute. The next thing you noticed was her axe coming at your head somewhere between the speeds of 'oh crap' and 'murder'.
Of course, just because you weren't an axe-fighter by trade didn't mean you didn't know what you were doing. Moving in fast, your left forearm interposed itself in the path of the incoming swing, and your right hand and the hatchet in it took the classic headsman's horizontal chop. It would have been close enough to end the spar, if it wasn't for the fact Lucia knew how to duck. Rolling back and popping up in recovery, she glared at you darkly.
"That should have sliced your arm up, probably broken it too."
Taking your left hand down, you flicked your left wrist to reveal your belt knife, now with a long streak on it from where the cheap axe ground itself on good steel. "I'm a firm believer in not correcting my opponent's mistakes." You said, chuckling. "It's quite rude."
Now Lucia's eyes tightened. "You're a hell of an actor, then." She said, producing her own knife. "But that doesn't mean you're a good fighter."
You nodded, and the fight renewed. Lucia was a driving fighter, moving in and contesting your space constantly. Knifework almost seemed to render the hatchet useless, until an arcing chop tried to take you out and you had to frantically parry. You got the jump on her once, and if you stood any chance of at least ending this in a tie then you'd need to do it again.
Analyzing Lucia was a futile endeavor. She was good- very good. More importantly, she was better than you by enough you couldn't even get a read on her, which means you were going to have to go way outside the box. Blocking her next thrust with your hatchet, you dropped to the ground- and then you rolled.
The space of the cargo hold you were in was about forty feet wide by sixty long- and you knew where exactly your sabre had landed up when Lucia pitched it. This bottom-most deck was mostly open, with the few interuptions aside from latticework to support the above deck's cargo areas and lateral reinforcement of the partial belt struts. As such, your roll put you next to one of these struts, which you desperately used to pull yourself up and parry the next incoming blow. It was three more steps to get to your sword- but you never made it that far.
You knew, intellectually, that Lucia must have figured out the get-to-the-sword gambit, and her next sidestep attacks proved it. Now the hatchet took the lead, and you found yourself frantically parrying and weaving to avoid her strikes. It was moments later that you found yourself tripping backwards over the same strut you'd braced off of earlier, falling flat back.
"I think I win." Lucia said, chuckling. That black look was gone, now, and you were glad for it- that look reminded you of things best forgotten.
"Yeah." You replied, standing up and shaking out your hands after sheathing your knife and tucking the tomahawk in your belt. "I'd have won with the sword, though."
"Hah!" your Espatier Chief laughed, slugging you in the arm. "We'll see, some other day. Shift change is soon, though, and I'm officer on deck for the aft."
Nodding, you scratched your chin. You didn't have duty anytime soon, so your options on what to do were only limited by what you thought needed doing. Thinking to yourself for a minute, you decided to head aft yourself to check the engineering quarters.
---
Moving carefully through the belly of the ship, you ascended a ladder to the main beltway of the ship. The Caroline Anaheim was nearly eighty feet tall, apex to nadir of the keels, and the beltway was supposedly the highway on which travel was supposed to happen. Just above the second deck fore, it continued all the way to the steering gears aft. Right now, though, you were taking advantage of the fact it was the only continuous path from bow to stern that didn't jig around the lift cells. Passing through, you looked down occasionally at the bustling cargo holds and out at the taunt lift cells. Taking a moment, you listened to the air cautiously. Lift cells were always kept slightly pressurized so any bursts would push the hydrogen out, and not suck air in. The theory was a fire in the hull was easier to contain than a lift cell explosion getting burning material everywhere, but you personally disliked both accident's end results- a mass abandon ship.
Still, even if you couldn't hear the leak of a bad cell, you could hear the pulse of the ship. Things had a sound… and the sound of the ship was unsatisfied. She was unhappy, something about things just not sitting right. As you got ready to proceed on down to the engine rooms, one of the ship's runners slid down from a topset railing.
"Cap'n! Cap'n!" the boy yelled, looking at you avidly. "Th' Navigator says we're approaching the drop point!"
"Noted." You replied, looking at the kid. "Please relay to the engines we'll be entering atmosphere soon, start warming the boilers to half heat."
"Aye, sir!" the runner said, scrambling off down the centerway. Reversing course, you headed back to just over the bridge- a short walk, barely two minutes. Once over the bridge, getting there was simple: just slide down the ladder until you hit the bridge gondola floor with a 'thunk'.
"Captain on deck!" the engine telegrapher called, snapping off a fast salute. Returning it, you moved over to your chair.
"Captain has the con." You told Donald, tapping him on the shoulder. He looked at you languidly, and you mentally sighed. He was born on Terra Firma, and while it didn't often show you knew it affected his tolerance of the Aether.
"Aye-aye, cap'n." Donald replied, far too late. "Cap'n has the con."
"Go to bed, Donald." You said crisply, looking him in the eye. "I forgot about you and Aether."
"I don' mind." He said, stumbling off to the rear of the bridge. "Th' colors, though… you look too long and it start's saying things…"
"Yes, Donald. Go to sleep."
"Aye-aye, Cap'n."
As your first mate started to stumble into a wall, you sighed quietly. "Caller, send to the mess hall for someone to take Mr. Zamwekis to his cabin."
---
It was barely a minute later when Elizabeth came down to the bridge, an astrolabe in one hand and octant in the other. Unlike before, she seemed alive, energized by the gasses and shapes flowing around you. Somehow, you knew your earlier fears about disturbing her in her nest were ill-founded.
"Captain Aleksander! Captain! You see the point, yes?"
Sitting down in your chair carefully, you pulled out a spyglass and scryed the sky carefully. "I'm afraid not."
"Ah… you want to look at the green node, alright?"
Zooming out with a twist, you scanned carefully. "Can I get a heading on this Aetheric point, hmm? Azimuth off bow and elevation, please?"
"Twenty-five degrees, and five degrees, Captain. Right there, see it?"
Looking carefully, you finally spotted the green node, sparking merrily.
"That's not what nodes normally look like…" you muttered, looking at your Navigator.
"Well… it's not the normal node for this route, but there's going to be a lot of congestion up there." Elizabeth said, shy. "That one's a little less stable, so take the sails down first- but it'll put us out only a short jog from where we need to access the next current!"
"Alright." you said, calmly. "Caller, signal for sails and mast lowered, then send for the engines to full power on current steam load."
"Aye, sir."
---
This node felt distinctly electric, and as you saw the ship slide out, your bridge crew breathed a sigh of relief. The exception to the rule was your Navigator, who just sighed and started to shuffle off.
"Alright, all hands, smooth transition." You said, smiling. "Pilot, estimated local time?"
"Looks to be about six o'clock." Jack said, sighing as he set the course. "We'll need relative bearings- I presume we'll be getting them soon?"
"Soon enough." You said, relaxing. "Soon-"
"Captain!" the talker said, panicking. "Spotters have sighted three ships inbound, no sigils flying! They're on intercept in five minutes, and starboard thinks he sees a black flag!"
Grimacing, you struggled to think. Pirates. Pirates. Pirates. It had to be pirates. God damn it all to hell, the last thing you needed was pirates!
"Sir? Sir!"
Looking carefully, you saw them. A pair of skiffs, and a cutter. Fight, or run? Fight, or run? Risk that lean cutter being faster than you, or risk them having guns more advanced than muzzleloading cannon?
Either way, the time to decide was now.
Force Analysis
(A/N: This is just a rough note so you know what, exactly, you're getting into without narrative getting in the way.)
(A/N 2: Ship stats are Name (HP/Max Lift; Weapons Mounts) with unknown HP and Max Lift amounts listed as dice ranges. Think using a Heal check in D&D to get a rough guess of how tough a monster is)
Friendly Force:
Carolina Anaheim: (45/180; 1x Spinal (Fair), 2x Broadside (Fair), 1x Espatiers)
Enemy Force
1x Light Skiff (1d8/3d10; 1x Broadside (Poor), 3x Pirates)
1x Heavy Skiff (2d8/3d10; 1x Broadside (Poor), 4x Pirates)
1x Small Cutter (2d10/4d10; 2x Broadside (Poor), 2x Pirates)
Votes:
[] Run like hell- you're a merchantman, and reasonably fast. Try and disengage and retreat- it might work!
[] Fight it out- You've had a look at these pirates, and they look like they're about to fall out of the sky.
-[] How? (WRITE-IN)
(A/N 3: This isn't a pushover random encounter, but it is fairly easy. You're not fighting serious opposition here, you're fighting things small enough for you to carry as helper boats.)
(A/N 4: To kill a ship, either reduce it's HP to 0 or reduce it's Lift below it's HP long enough to force it to crash)
Last edited:
LordVile
There's thinking and thinking with explosives.
- Location
- INDIA
[X] Fight it out- You've had a look at these pirates, and they look like they're about to fall out of the sky.
-[X]Get into a running fight.Take out the fastest ship first to prevent them from boxing you in.
----Then match speed with the second faster ship and bring it down from range.
Pummel the slowest ship to soften it up, then board and loot the ship.
-[X]Get into a running fight.Take out the fastest ship first to prevent them from boxing you in.
----Then match speed with the second faster ship and bring it down from range.
Pummel the slowest ship to soften it up, then board and loot the ship.
Spectral Waltz
Scatterbrained Writer
- Location
- Walking the Endless Corridors
[X] Fight it out- You've had a look at these pirates, and they look like they're about to fall out of the sky.
-[X]Get into a running fight.Take out the fastest ship first to prevent them from boxing you in.
----Then match speed with the second faster ship and bring it down from range. Pummel the slowest ship to soften it up, then board and loot the ship.
Seems solid...
-[X]Get into a running fight.Take out the fastest ship first to prevent them from boxing you in.
----Then match speed with the second faster ship and bring it down from range. Pummel the slowest ship to soften it up, then board and loot the ship.
Seems solid...
menosay
Quietly laughing at nothing in particular.
Well I'm not much of a tactician but given the -20 to boarding actions from the Raw Crew I don't think we can afford ether of the Skiffs boarding us. I kinda want to fight but I'll wait till someone with a better idea of what to do chimes in to vote.
Ninja'd edit: Pretty sure we can't do the running fight thing well with our only effective anti-ship weapon being a forward facing spinal mount, and a Zeppelin's generally slow turning speed.
Even more ninja'd edit: and the GM speaks in support of my concerns.
Ninja'd edit: Pretty sure we can't do the running fight thing well with our only effective anti-ship weapon being a forward facing spinal mount, and a Zeppelin's generally slow turning speed.
Even more ninja'd edit: and the GM speaks in support of my concerns.
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
I mean, a running fight isn't impossible. It's just got some pretty severe disadvantages, starting with the fact you'd only be adding two turns of combat to your engagement window presuming the opposing side wants to go straight for a ram. If you can hit the enemy ships, they're going to take massive damage, though. Every hit does damage to Lift, and Poor grade weapons only have a max elevation of +20°, which in people-speak means a good hit can get the enemy out of the engagement envelope. Also remember the enemy only has broadside weapons, which means they can't sail at you and shoot at you at the same time.
Hell, there's no real bad plan right now except doing nothing.
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
[X] Fight it out- You've had a look at these pirates, and they look like they're about to fall out of the sky.
-[X]Go to minimum steerage, aimed at the Cutter. Take it out first with our Spinal, since it's the toughest, fastest, and most heavily armed. Then turn on the Heavy Skiff (Next most heavily armed, most Pirates aboard.) Then keep the range and beat the rest with broadside and spinal fire.
We slow down to maximize the time we have to do a head-on fight where only our Spinal mount can fire. Hopefully we take out 1-2 of them. Then we do our best to keep this from becoming a boarding fight, and take the rest with our broadsides. If we can drive them off or force a surrender, fine. If not, well, no one's going to shed a tear if we rid the world of a few pirate skiffs.
-[X]Go to minimum steerage, aimed at the Cutter. Take it out first with our Spinal, since it's the toughest, fastest, and most heavily armed. Then turn on the Heavy Skiff (Next most heavily armed, most Pirates aboard.) Then keep the range and beat the rest with broadside and spinal fire.
We slow down to maximize the time we have to do a head-on fight where only our Spinal mount can fire. Hopefully we take out 1-2 of them. Then we do our best to keep this from becoming a boarding fight, and take the rest with our broadsides. If we can drive them off or force a surrender, fine. If not, well, no one's going to shed a tear if we rid the world of a few pirate skiffs.