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

[open_sketch]

12. Partial success.

---

The first mechanic threw the propeller down while the second pulled her clear of it's arc, and after a second of coughing and sputtering the engine started, a steady pop-pop-pop echoing across the field. As the mechanics scrambled clear, the blocks were pulled, and the plane started taxiing down the field, gaining speed. The tail slowly lifted, and then it was in the air and slowly, steadily, climbing.

The plane made a few broad circles over the assembled observers, then started diving and showing off, at one point buzzing just twenty meters over the party, startling the families and Army representatives. Like clockwork, it went through the paces, and then a half-hour later came back down, landed smoothly, and cut the engine. The second crewmember jumped out, showing off a sketch of the surroundings he made while in the air.

There was a lot of muttered conversation between various parties for a few minutes after that, which the design team was mostly excluded from, but then Mr. Ohara came over with a big grin on his face. "They're going ahead with the order. Well done, team!"

---

There was a further demonstration after this, with a brave volunteer from the Army group climbing into the plane and taking off to get a sense of the perspective an aircraft would offer. He came down beaming, chattering excitedly about the possibilities with his seniors and Mr. Ohara. After a few moments, Mr. Ohara pointed a finger, and the young man came your way, pulling off his oil-soaked goggles and running a hand through his hair.

"I'm told you designed that machine. It's wonderful." He smiled, giving a small bow. "It's going to change this country, you know."

"It's not entirely my design. I just adopted it." You admitted. "And it wasn't just me. The whole team was involved."

"Regardless, it's a work of art. Flight is the future, even if some of the older officers don't understand that yet. Oh, where are my manners. I'm Captain Arita Yachi, 12th Artillery Battalion."

You exchanged pleasantries, and then conversation turned back to aircraft. Yachi didn't know much about aircraft, exactly, but was very enthused by them, and their possibilities. He expressed a desire to learn to fly, and asked endless questions about how the craft worked. He was charming, even as he enthusiastically described his vision for huge military planes carrying artillery pieces and mines. You mostly tried to be polite and modest.

Soon, however, the aircraft was being packed back up, and the Army representatives began making their way back to their horses. Cpt. Arita gave a mock salute and started to pull away. "Say, if you'd like, I'm posted in the city right now, we could get tea together and talk this over further. You can reach me at the 5th Division HQ, just send a wire." He handed you a business card.

[ ] I'd love that.
[ ] If my busy schedule permits.​

You were soon on a trolley back into town, Mr. Ohara discussing all the options the new infusion of money would bring while the team congratulated each other. As you all stepped out in front of the office, Mr. Ohara announced an early close. "Take the rest of the day off, everyone! Tomorrow, we build the Army planes!"

The design team cheered and, as one, started shuffling off. "Come on, Matsura." Tezuka said, pulling absent-mindedly at your jacket sleeve. "We're heading to celebrate!"

Downtime
[ ] Accompany the team on their celebration.
[ ] Go talk with Mr. Ohara.
[ ] Send Cpt. Arita a wire.
[ ] Write In.

During downtime, you burn off Stress by engaging in Vice. Vice is anything which is fun, but not wise. Overindulging the same Vice has bad consequences, so you want to spread it out a bit.

The only Vice you have right now is Drinking. You can be taught vices by other members of your team.

Finding yourself a love interest (a Confidant) is a good idea, because they take 2 Stress off for free just by spending time with them.​

 

[open_sketch]

[X] I'd love that.
[X] Accompany the team on their celebration.

The team soon split up, with two members, Sakane and Adachi, hopping onto a trolley to, presumably, head home. You recall them being the members of your team with families. The rest of the team trod on through the cobbled streets, talking cheerfully. You started to notice a change in the atmosphere of the city around you; the buildings were growing more colourful, and signage more plentiful, and...

Okay, this was definitely the pleasure district.

The team filed into a building whose sign read Miss Yukaku's Fine Dining, which was... actually a restaurant. Of sorts. The waiters and waitresses were all very attractive, and the group was soon sorted off to a private room where there was not only some decent food, but plentiful booze, and the staff lingered quite a while (and pretty close) taking orders. Unsurprisingly, it took about ten seconds for Kawamura to have a pretty girl leaning against his shoulder, her kimino loose. Hasegawa's face was already beat-red as one of the waiters brushed up against him suggestively while laying out whiskey. You suspected the staff were not just servers.

You gripped a glass, a little overwhelmed, when Kibe cried out, throwing her glass in the air.

"Cheers!"

The cry was echoed, and, mechanically, you downed the little cup in one go. It was strong.

1 Mark on the Vice Track. 1 Stress removed. Roll 1d20.​

 

[open_sketch]

Can we get a basic rundown on Akitsukuni's geopolitical situation,and maybe the Russia equivalent if there is one?

Click to shrink...

Cool, sure!

Our little island nation is kinda like what would happen if Japan also controlled the entrance to the Mekong, and the Mekong ran up most of the length of central Asia.

Akitsukuni was an isolated nation until about 70 years ago, when an international committee of Western nations showed up with gunboats with intent of allowing easy access into the continent, as well as economically exploiting the country. After some political turmoil and a brief civil war which resulted in the isolationist faction getting it's ass kicked, the general mood of the country was that the only choice was to modernize before they got colonized. This was done by manipulating various great powers into believing they needed to back Akitsukuni's government, lest we go over to another side. By the time anyone caught on to the ruse, there was an Imperial Navy which was big, modern, and dangerous enough to enforce tariffs on trade out into Lydia, which is what Asia is called in this setting. The country also ended up with a constitution and parliamentary monarchy basically as part of the ruse, which is dubiously legitimate. The royal family hasn't got direct power and knows they are on thin ice, and so their primary function is giving their blessing to whichever party takes power so that the military can't just overthrow the country without defying the will of the Empress.

Akitsukuni's military power has come at the cost of... everything else. Outside of the navy, the country is dirt poor. There's no real resources and the industry is backward and haphazard. The Army are about 30 years behind the times. While peasantry has officially been abolished, in practice it still thrives in some of the poorest areas. Corruption is pretty rampant. It's also considered pretty culturally backward by Europan observers. Women aren't allowed in the military and their votes count for half, and civil rights protections are spotty. Political opposition is tough because whichever party is currently in charge has the blessing of the Imperial Family so everyone tip-toes around them, and nobody wants to defy the navy. There's a feeling that everything's a bit of a powder keg.

The party currently in power in the Diet is the Constitutional Nationalists, who are pretty bog-standard conservatives. The other three major parties, in order of relevance, is the Purity Club, which is a far-right party whose representatives are mostly serving officers in the Navy, the New Independents, who are a liberal party, and the Fairness Association, who are socialists and pacifists.

Akitsukuni has held much of the land around the mouth of that big river delta as colonial holdings for the past 20 years. This includes a series of northern islands which are used to block the northern passage that might be used to smuggle goods through the Akitsukuni Sea. The problem is these islands supposedly belong to Great Caspia, which isn't very happy that there's a bunch of upstart Easterners squatting on their barren rocks. Tensions keep flaring, and the affair has thus far been handled by basically bribing Caspia's Tsar with limited trade rights and tariff exceptions until it quiets down again. It's not known how long this'll keep working, especially as Great Caspia's economic situation continues to worsen.

 

[open_sketch]

[X] Make a romantic or sexual connection.

The next hour passed in a haze of booze, bodies, and cheap food, with conversation growing increasingly circular and nonsensical. A few members of the team disappeared somewhere with members of the staff, though you weren't exactly sure the protocol by which that happened. Kibe and Hasegawa were making out in the corner. You were about to ask one of the servers how to get a little more attention when Uyeno nudged your shoulder.

"Hey, take a look." She said, pulling your arm towards the paper door.

Poking your head out, you witnessed about a dozen men (and they were all men) in black kimono shuffling into the establishment and taking one of the public tables. They all had identical yellow armbands, but you couldn't read the characters on them from here.

"Who are they?" You asked.

"That's Akibara's design team. I think they just got off work."

You looked over their dour faces. "They don't look too pleased."

"Almost like the heard a rival just got a big Army contract, huh. Wanna go rub it in their faces?"

[ ] Actually, I wanna spend time with one of the...​

- [ ] Girls​

- [ ] Guys​

- [ ] I'm not picky.​

[ ] Hell yeah I do.​

 

[open_sketch]

"Actually, Uyeno, I wanted to..." You pointed a thumb vaguely at the attractive servers all over the establishment. She clapped you hard on the back.

"Hell yeah! Get some! We can rub it in Okumura's face some other time. Maybe after we steal one of his Navy contracts..." She cheerfully went back to her booze, swigging rice wing from the bottle.

You wandered over to the first server that caught your eye and didn't look too busy, and tried to remember what the other members of the team said to get their attention. The waiter, a tall and attractive man with long hair, smiled as you awkwardly failed to say words.

"Looking for some companionship?" He asked, his voice like honey.

You nodded vigorously.

---

Spirits, you needed that. Sure, perhaps not in the back room of a weird restaurant/brothel, and maybe not where you could really clearly make out one of your coworkers through the paper walls having unspeakable things done to him, but hey.

You left your companion a sizable tip (phrasing) and staggered back into the room. Uyeno was there, nursing a black eye, Kawamura was leaning against a pillow and smoking with a smirk on his face, and Tezuka was asleep on the floor, a strange-smelling cigarette smoldering in his fingers. Outside, the sky was turning golden orange, filtering through the whole establishment.

"Where's the others?" You asked.

"I threw Kibe and Hasegawa out when they started removing each other's clothes. Kobayashi was chatting up some guy at the bar last time I saw her. Having fun?"

You gave a thumbs up.

"Fuck yeah. Most of Akibara's team is gone." She gestured at the eye. "I made a few mistakes. Wanna take this party elsewhere?"

"Where to?"

"I know a good gambling hall." She said. "Wanna lose that signing bonus?"

"Urgh, not that mahjong hall." Kawamura whined. "Fuck that. Let's just drink. The beds here are comfy."

Tezuka stirred slightly. "Man, whatever. If you're interested, I know where to get some good stuff..."

[ ] Gambling sounds good.
[ ] Let's drink!
[ ] Let's go on Tezaka's Wild Ride.
[ ] Actually, I'm gonna call it a night. (End downtime and roll Stress.)
[ ] Write In​

 

[open_sketch]

When you finally wake up, it's bright blue daylight out again. You're resting on a comfortable little futon in a cozy little room. A paper lantern featuring a very, very lewd illustration swims into your vision.

You cast about for your watch, eventually finding it resting at the foot of your bed, still ticking. They even wound it for you; the service here was incredible.

You were an hour late.

Fuck.

---

ROUTINE ONE COMPLETE

Time for Stress Roll! You have just 1 stress remaining, but left 2 dares undid when you blacked out last night. Meaning you need to roll a 4+ to pass this check without taking a Break.

So roll 2d10!

Then, we'll jump ahead a few weeks to your next job!

 

[open_sketch]

About a Month Later...

You'd settled into the routine of life at the company pretty well. Because new design projects were not exactly coming fast and furious, your time was divided between theoretical design work and assisting in the factory. Once you started demonstrating to the workers there how important it was that they not cut corners, the quality of the aircraft rolling off the line was greatly improving. As you watched out the window, the last of the Type 1Ms was being rolled out into the yard and pushed down to the barge. Now that delievery was complete, you hoped things would pick up in the design office.

You'd toned down the drunken outings, a little, though you were definitely something of a regular at Miss Yukaku's. You'd settled into your new place, and gotten to know the team pretty well. All in all, this was a pretty swell job.

Right now, you were taking a smoke break, feet propped up on your drafting table watching the workers outside. You'd been working on some idle ideas you had for reinforcing future planes more sturdily; nothing concrete yet, but it was good practice while you waited for more work, and maybe you'd hit on something that could be incorporated. The main problem was, unsurprisingly, power; Akitsukuni engines were, at best, underpowered, and at worse bombs waiting to happen.

Just as you were finishing your cigarette, Kibe Koume came storming into the room, slapping a newspaper down in front of you. "Check this out!" She said excitedly.

You glanced over, reading the headline out loud. "Caspian Treachery! Rogue Destroyer Enters Sacred Waters! A Grave Insult to Our Empress!???"

"Not that, dummy! Here!"

She pointed to a smaller article off to the side. ALBIAN CAPITALIST SPONSORS AIR RACE. 350 Kilometer Race To Involve All Nations. Akitsukuni Must Prevail For The Glory Of Our People!

"An air race? And over such a distance too. That's fascinating." You said, finishing the last puff. "Would love to see those machines."

"You just might." You glanced over to see Mr. Ohara in the doorway, smiling. "I just got a telegraph from the Navy's air office. They're putting out a call for a flyer, open evaluations in three weeks. And if we win, the company gets the prize money."

"Prize money?" You glanced the article over quickly. "10,000 Sterling? What's that in yen?"

"720,000-ish." Kobayashi said, without a moment's hesitation.

Fuck that was a lot of money. That was more than the entire Army contract, and it'd be almost pure profit.

You swept your desk clear.

"Well, what are we waiting for?!"

---

Decision 1 - Company Expansion
The company made some money from the last job, enough to pay for an upgrade. What do you get?
[ ] A Wind Tunnel (Gives a bonus to aerodynamics optimization and research.)
[ ] Expanded lumber contracts (Gives bonus to structure optimization and research.)
[ ] A Gun Range (Gives bonus to ballistics optimization and research.)
[ ] A new chemical sciences shed (Gives bonus to chemical research)
[ ] An engine test rig (Allows the tuning and improvement of engines.)
[ ] A new hire.

- [ ] Mechanical Engineer​

- [ ] Aerodynamics Engineer​

- [ ] Ballistics Engineer​

- [ ] Chemical Engineer​

- [ ] Materials Engineer.​

 

[open_sketch]

Alright everyone let's answer some questions.

RE: Worldbulding, Gender & Sexuality
Here's a pretty simple up-front fact: I don't actually want to write a quest in a world where gender relations are the way they were in 1910. It fucking sucked. It's not fun to think about.

But, it's my quest, so I don't. I'm okay writing a setting with some gender imbalance and issues on that front, but I don't actually want to get into how deeply fucked things were at the actual time. In the real world 1910s, Russian clerics were debating quite seriously if women had souls or were just a sort of animal, various Western authorities were beating and imprisoning women trying to get the vote, and one of Japan's actual primary exports were rural women who were being trafficked to surrounding European colonies and forced into sexual slavery. Until just 40 years prior, women in the UK didn't have the right to money, with anything they earned in the jobs they very much did the legal property of their fathers, husbands, or brothers. It would take them another 10 years after that to get the right to own any personal property beyond that. She legally wasn't her own person unless she wasn't married and all her male family members were dead.

There are women who had roles in history, but it required extraordinary circumstances and usually money. We're on the cusp of a lot of that changing thanks to the Great War, but not quite there yet.

And fuck me I don't even want to get started on race.

So, instead, we're just picturing a world a bit more egalitarian than our own. Not completely egalitarian, not a utopia, but the default assumption of the societies in this world is just a bit more egalitarian. You're in a country that's a little backward in this regard, which means that women working is still seen as a little strange and radical and women's vote counts for half that of men, and there are no women in the military yet.

In real life Japan, women didn't get the right to vote at all until 1945, when it was forced upon the country by occupying forces.

Regarding sexuality, yeah, I'm pretty much running with that one as if it's not a big deal. Same with gender expression; your character is nonbinary, after all. Nobody really cares about that. Why? Cuz I'm a big ol' queer myself and I like writing queer stories, and I don't like sad queer stories.

EDIT: DISREGARD ALL THAT I ENDED UP GETTING VERY SERIOUS ABOUT ALL OF THIS SHIT, JUST IN WEIRD WAYS

RE: Plane construction

So, this system, Flying Circus, has a robust plane construction system. I'm not going to link it because part of the plan here is to keep it in as natural language as possible here, I'll build the planes in the background, and anywhere I find expectations not matching up, I have a problem.

But let me do a simplified explanation of the basics.

Like most simplified models of fight, we have Lift and Power vs Drag and Mass. Drag vs Power works by comparing the two on a prewritten chart to get an airspeed output, while Lift vs Mass uses a chart to create an output for different lift values at different speed, from which Mass is directly subtracted.

This means that up front, mass doesn't directly affect speed, except in that greater mass means larger wings to lift it which means more drag. This isn't exactly accurate but it's a useful abstraction. Furthermore, greater mass reduces the plane's Thrust, it's acceleration value. Thrust is created by shaving off some of your top speed, so maintaining a consistent Thrust (and you generally want it to be somewhere between 1/4th and 1/3rd your top speed) means losing top speed as your Mass increases.

One of the key abstractions in the system is that Mass and Drag only increase in increments of 5 for the purposes of mechanics. This is to allow the numbers to work out better as well as to make it easier for players to choose target mass and drag values (9, 14, 19, 24, etc). This wiggle-room mechanic is what I'm referring to when I say stuff about Tolerances.

I'll give a guideline for every plane you build on what you want and don't want statistically for each design.

 

[open_sketch]

[X] An engine test rig (Allows the tuning and improvement of engines.)

Within a few hours, you had the specs laid out for the new aircraft, as well as more details about the race. It was a straight line affair, from Artemis, the capital of the Albian Union, over the Albian Channel, and landing in Gallia's capital of Lutetia. The race would cross over water for about 50 kilometers of the 350 kilometer race. The race would specifically conclude at a field just outside of a train station at the outskirts of the city; this would allow the pilots to use railway signs to navigate. Landings were allowed, but discouraged. Any altitude was acceptable as long as the plane only moved forward while off the ground.

If the plane won the contract, the government would pay a fixed price for the machine, up to 24,000 yen. Mr. Ohara was prepared to match that himself from the company coffers.

In regular Flying Circus, there's a trade coin called a Thaler that's used for pricing. Here, we're instead going to use 円 to represent about a thousand yen. If I say yen or use ¥, I mean one of those. If I use 円, I mean a thousand of them. I'll only use 円 for plane design and other large business things.​

​

Thus, your design spec was...

Albian Endurance Racer​

Budget: 24円​

​

Priority: Top Speed, Endurance, Reliability.​

Requirements: To have a chance, the plane will need to reach 120 kph. Plane will need to carry at least 15 fuel units per engine to make the race. The plane can only be built from materials and products native to the country.​

Restrictions: Limited selection of materials and engine models.​

​

This plane will need to maximize it's Power and minimize it's Drag at all costs. Nothing else matters as long as it can get off the ground and stay in the air. It does not need to turn well, and the race is long enough that strong acceleration makes little difference.​

​

With the design spec laid out, it was time to move onto the second part of the design; choosing engines. Here were the first issues; your country was limited to relatively small and underpowered engines compared to some of the cutting edge models coming out of the West. You'd need to work around that.

Engine power in measured in Flying Circus as arbitrary Power units, which don't really map to anything. We'll just assume in universe this is a standard that is used instead of horsepower, and abbreviate it to hp anyway. I dunno, it spells HUGE POWER or something.​

​

Likewise, we'll use the Mass and Drag values. Mass represents somewhere in the range of 10-50 kg (it's abstract for gameplay reasons) and drag just represents Some Drag. Don't worry about how it maps to real life. Remember, multiples of 5 is what matters for the plane itself.​

There were three engines available. The first was the copy of the Halfling 2 radial engine, the Akibara E-Series. It cost 3円 a unit and produced about 8hp. It was fairly reliable and weighed around 3 mass. On the downside, being an air-cooled engine, it was wide and caused about 3 drag. It would get about 13 fuel uses from a standard tank.

The next engine available was a development of a Gallic half-radial design, the Kobayashi Goblin. It cost 2円 and only weighed 1 mass and caused 1 drag, but produced just 6hp. It was very reliable as Akitsukuni engines went, as well as just as fuel efficient as the E-Series.

Finally, there was the four-cylinder in-line Akibara F-Series. Also avaliable for 3円, it had the most power at 10hp, but it also weighed a steep 6 mass. While it had a narrow profile, it was a liquid-cooled engine that would require a radiator, and it was the least reliable of the bunch. It also guzzed fuel, getting just 10 uses from a standard 5 mass tank.

Before you designed the rest of the plane, you had to make a call. Which engine would you order, and how many? This would be a good time to consult with the team on what you envision the basic shape of the plane being.

Engine​

[ ] E-Series Rotary Engine​

[ ] Goblin Fan Engine​

[ ] F-Series In-Line Engine​

​

Quantity​

[ ] 1​

[ ] 2​

[ ] 3​

[ ] Write in?​

 

[open_sketch]

[X] Goblin Fan Engine
[X] 2

While the team was still debating many of the details, there was general consensus that the Goblin engines were the best basis for the new aircraft. The power output of the F-Series was tempting, but some napkin math was not promising.

The engines were shipped straight from Kobayashi's warehouse just up the street, and were there the next morning. In sequence, they were quickly bolted into the test rig for a trial, and the engines came to life in a thick cloud of oily smoke. Their design prevented oil from settling in the bottom cylinders, a recurring problem with radials. Both engines started and ran for 45 minutes without major issue, though both leaked considerable amounts of oil.

Now that you had engines, you needed at least the basics of a design. This was a one-off, so it didn't have to be elegant; it just had to work. A basic overview of shape would do. All you knew so far was that the plane would need considerable space to store fuel, a spot for the pilot, and both engines. You put out a call for sketches in the design room.

[ ] Basic Airframe Write In.​

​

This is just a high-level direction vote; it'll nail down the basic ideas behind the design, and from there we'll start working on implementing it, bit by bit. Where do the engines go? Where does the pilot sit? Where does all the fuel go? What kind of control surfaces are being used? That kind of thing.​

​

Anything goes here. If the system can't produce what you come up with, I'll make it produce it.​