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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
    • I've only had time to briefly skim the thread outside of the update, so apologies for incomplete notes, but:

    I have a sneaking suspicion that we're going to end up seeing air-to-air combat in the near future. Depends a lot on how the Navy defines "heavy". Do they mean like in the 10,000 pound class, or only up to 5,000 pounds? Does "heavy scout" actually mean "armed scout" as in "we're putting bombs on this and dropping them on the enemy"? It's hard to speculate without more data.

    This all being said, a flying boat definitely seems plausible, as does a smaller, single-engine aircraft. It doesn't seem that outlandish, even, to take the Type 2 Racer and modify it a bit to survive regular water landings and have better handling characteristics so it can avoid going into a spin. It already can go quite a long ways without that much fuel, so some floats and some extra fuel would probably allow it to fly some pretty impressive distances.
     
    Simon_Jester said:
    Not torpedoes. Bombs. The cargo bay is designed to function as a bomb bay.

    The Dyskelandisch airship we're riding in has been designed to be used as long range bombers during war time, without significant retrofitting.
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    I was going to bring this up and had to leave and forgot about it, so well spotted. Strategic bombing from airships was used extensively by Germany in WWI until eh British anti-air/fighter tech caught up, so it's definitely a likelihood. All they need to do is put bomb racks in...
     
    lentil said:
    I was going to bring this up and had to leave and forgot about it, so well spotted. Strategic bombing from airships was used extensively by Germany in WWI until eh British anti-air/fighter tech caught up, so it's definitely a likelihood. All they need to do is put bomb racks in...
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    I totally missed this.

    ......how much does it cost to buy one of these zeppelins?

    EDIT:

    ALSO: DROP A PLANE OUT OF A ZEPPELIN. GUYS. GUYS.

    This is a rule set that's supposed to be inspired by Crimson Skies after all!
     
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    Not sure what the QM's policy on omakes is, but here goes. I'm assuming that Caspian naval forces will be roughly equivalent to those in the Russo-Japanese war, that is to say, shit.

    Meanwhile, In Uyarazi​
    Had he not been a sworn officer of the Caspian Navy, Admiral Fyodor Cherkezeshvili would have greeted General Kutuzova's news with a stream of invective against the Crown Prince, the Czar and royalty in general that would have made the most hard-bitten anarchist blush. As it was, he barely managed to contain a simmering concoction of rage, horror and disbelief.

    "He did what?" He asked, praying fervently that he had misheard and the General was coming with better tidings, like an invitation to another hunting trip. Those hopes were dashed when she sank into the chair across from him with a weary sigh. "Officially, the Akitsukuni officer obstructed the Prince and gravely insulted him, then responded to being chastised by cutting off his hand." She paused for a moment, glancing over her shoulder to make sure there was no one outside the office listening in. "Unofficially, the foreign press are reporting that the Prince saw the Akitsukini pilot dancing with a young Gallian woman, was intercepted by the Major when he tried to intervene, and then publicly attacked him with his sword before the soldier severed his hand in self-defense. Whatever the reason, the capital has decided that we must crush the foreigners and avenge the insult."

    "Crush them. Yes, of course." the Admiral said, looking out the window to the harbor where the battleship Domodevo was busily being pumped out and her bulkhead repaired, a list to starboard evident to even the most casual observer. "God have mercy on me Irena, why could he not just walk away and let the ladies dance? How do I plan to take the Auroric Fleet out to battle when my flagship doesn't even fucking float?!"

    "I know, Fyodor, I know." she said, pain evident in her voice. "I myself have troops to muster. They want me to co-ordinate the defense of our possessions in Nuzhenia. As well as finding a way to scrounge up reinforcements and get them to the battlefield with only one rail line." She gestured towards the pair of tumblers on his desk and he wordlessly poured both of them a drink. "I'll have some salo brought up, or perhaps some caviar..." Kutuzova waved him away. "No time for that, we should both get to work soon." She made a show of some of that good old army bravado. "Perhaps the situation is better than we think. After all, Akitsukini's never had a proper war before."

    "True." he conceded, "But my sailors aren't exactly hardened veterans either. And their ships are far more modern than mine. There must be a way..." He trailed off, only for Irena to pat him on the shoulder and give him her best attempt at a smile. "We must cheer up." she said. "For the sake of the men if nothing else. And if anyone can out-think them, well... You're pretty smart, for a salty old Navy brat."

    "And you're not as dumb as the average pig-headed army general." He responded, the retort almost automatic after a decade of the same old banter. "Yes, maybe we'll both do alright. Caspia is no pushover after all." Even if my fleet is, he wanted to add, but he knew that Irena's situation was almost as bad, and she needed cheering up just as much as he did. Or if not that, at least something to take the edge off.

    Impatiently, she rapped her glass on the table. "Drink up already Fyedyenka! You're always trying to talk the vodka out of the glass!" He grinned and rolled his eyes despite himself, then knocked back his drink. He and Kutuzova both breathed into their shirtsleeves to savor the sting of the liquor a little longer, then she reluctantly scraped back her chair and stood up. "Thank you for the drink, Admiral Cherkezeshvili. I must see to my staff and start preparing the defenses."

    "Of course, General." He responded. "I must do likewise, and make sure we are ready... Or at least, able to sail." He stood and shook her hand. "I will see you soon, I hope, when the war is won. And then we can have a proper chat. Until then..." He fumbled awkwardly with one of the buttons on his jacket cuffs. "Well, don't do anything stupid like stopping a bullet with that thick head of yours."

    "Try not to get lost and turn up in New Alleghany." she retorted, "And then we'll see about a drink or two. Or three. Perhaps even four, if you think you can handle it. God save the Czar." With that, she turned to leave. "God save the Czar." he replied, leaning back in his chair and turning to inspect the ships drawn up in the harbor. He was proud of what he'd managed to achieve, truly, the fleet had been ten times worse before he'd shaken it up a little, but he knew that in spite of his best efforts his ships were too old and unreliable, and his sailors far too green. He watched a group of them distantly performing cutlass drills on the deck of the cruiser Princess Mariya, mere specks against the glass, and wondered how many would live to see port again. He thought of Kutuzova, swearing up a storm as she tried to organize the near impossible, and wondered how many of her troops would survive the war. It would be a rotten waste, he decided, no matter how many died.

    And they would die because the Crown Prince couldn't stand the sight of two young women on a ballroom floor together. For a distinctly un-military moment, Fyodor fervently wished that the man's next ridiculous prototype airplane took him straight over the edge of a cliff. Then he sighed, put on his cap, and set to work.​
    Note: Uyarazi is based on the translation of the Tatar words Sib Ir, "sleeping land", one proposed etymological root of the word Siberia, into Turkish, since there's a countertheory that a Turkish term is actually the origin of Siberia.​
     
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    brmj said:
    Can we not do this? As I just pointed out a page ago:
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    The character is female, ya know? The proper female pronoun in English is "her", although I'm fine with other people (like sketch) using "they" if they want because it technically works, although I think "they" generally is plural...

    Crasian01 said:
    EDIT:

    ALSO: DROP A PLANE OUT OF A ZEPPELIN. GUYS. GUYS.

    This is a rule set that's supposed to be inspired by Crimson Skies after all!
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    Yeah, I think I mentioned that in passing. Not sure how useful a sky carrier would be, but...
     
    DaLintyGuy said:
    The character is female, ya know? The proper female pronoun in English is "her", although I'm fine with other people (like sketch) using "they" if they want because it technically works, although I think "they" generally is plural...
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    No, the protagonist is nonbinary, and "they" as third-person gender-neutral singular is a well-established usage. Also: if the QM is using a certain pronoun to refer to a character then that's probably a pretty good hint that that's the correct pronoun to use, considering who's actually responsible for determining canonical facts about said character.

    For further clarification on the gender point, I direct you to the following explicit textual evidence:
    open_sketchbook said:
    As you went to head down the ramp, Kibe took you by the arm. "... Asuka, um... they won't understand..." She swept her hand over you in a general way. "They don't really get the whole non-binary thing. They don't believe in it."

    You found that... hard to believe. Akitsukuni has had an idea of non-duality in gender and people who blurred the lines for thousands of years. Wasn't the western world supposed to be progressive?

    "If you want to get on their good side, you should probably dress one way or the other and stick to it. They aren't kind to people that don't fit in."
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    Pictured: Major Izuhara cuts the wrist off of Crown Prince Protasov in self defense after an unforgivable show of disrespect for the Akitsukuni delegation

    In all seriousness, I'm in grave doubt of our ability to produce something viable for the Imperial Navy. The Akitsukuni almost certainly lack any sort of specialized Seaplane Carrier at the moment similar to say IRL Chitose or even the Wakamiya. The operations for using such a potentially fragile piece of machinery on the high seas is not something that I feel confident in leaving to hasty conversions and the like.

    On the other hand, naval reconnaissance can easily be a battle winning, potentially a decisive battle winning tip on the scales. Knowing your enemy's approximate composition, speed, and direction is a crucial tactical advantage, and some sort of naval aviation is ideal for that. Considering that we seem to own the equivalent of Jeju island, it looks like it would still be practical to do what the IJN did and operate land based aircraft on the authority of the navy, and use that for reconnaissance.

    I would strongly suggest making use of a land based aircraft for the sake of much greater range and not having to deal with the aerodynamic hell that is putting floats on a plane.
     
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    DaLintyGuy said:
    The character is female, ya know? The proper female pronoun in English is "her", although I'm fine with other people (like sketch) using "they" if they want because it technically works, although I think "they" generally is plural...


    Yeah, I think I mentioned that in passing. Not sure how useful a sky carrier would be, but...
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    At quest start, we voted for a character who identified not as male or female, but as an aircraft designer.
     
    DaLintyGuy said:
    Yeah, I think I mentioned that in passing. Not sure how useful a sky carrier would be, but...
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    I'm gonna be honest, I'm in it 99% for the meme and 1% for the glorious moment where somehow this universe makes it a reasonable play. In almost every scenario I can think of it's a terrible idea. Either your airship is too slow and can't catch the enemy, or the enemy has guns to knock out your airship easily, or (assuming all of that works out somehow) you can't get your aircraft back on the airship after they've done whatever it is they're doing. The only thing I can think of is maybe doing air drop of Marines to capture enemy vessels, but that's a hellaciously bad play for other reasons.

    Sturmi said:
    I would strongly suggest making use of a land based aircraft for the sake of much greater range and not having to deal with the aerodynamic hell that is putting floats on a plane.
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    I mean this would solve so many of the problems it's a little ridiculous. What it really comes down to at that point is what the Navy actually wants. We probably don't have enough pull to get them to change the requirements, and if they say "no it has to be able to keep up with the fleet somehow" then you're basically limited to float planes or flying boats. I'm not even sure how you'd get a flying boat to work in that situation...
     
    Crasian01 said:
    The only thing I can think of is maybe doing air drop of Marines to capture enemy vessels, but that's a hellaciously bad play for other reasons.
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    I mean technically enough waterlogged, parachute-wrapped corpses sucked into the propellers will disable an enemy warship for sure. Kamikaze tactics without losing the plane!
     
    DaLintyGuy said:
    The character is female, ya know? The proper female pronoun in English is "her", although I'm fine with other people (like sketch) using "they" if they want because it technically works, although I think "they" generally is plural...
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    I mean, y'all don't even know for sure what Asuka's assigned gender at birth was, or literally anything about their body other than that they need glasses and they aren't particularly tall. Hell, I don't actually know; I've literally used both male and female pronouns accidentally at different times in this quest (please point them out if you find them so I can fix). Unless you're Asuka, Captain Arita, or the functionary who runs the family registry in their part of Akitsukuni, it doesn't matter to you. Their name is gender-neutral, they dress ambiguously, they are not a man or a woman. They are an aircraft designer. Their gender is *airplane noises*.

    Also the singular "they" has been a part of the English language for hundreds of years and only fell out of favour briefly. And it is used here only as part of the translation convention, because Japanese doesn't really have gendered pronouns.
     
    WorldOfHurt said:
    There is precedent for scouting airships that have parasite scout planes. Here are two:
    23-class airship - Wikipedia
    Akron-class airship - Wikipedia

    It has the benefits of both zeppelins and aircraft. Long range and loiter time, and the speed, agility, and numbers of aircraft.
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    Yeah, there are pecedents for the idea. IIRC, they were nothingburgers that came to about jack all. And while ingame they may be a workable idea, it'll probably have to wait until A)our nation works on zepplins to carry them, and B) we're not in a shooting war.
     
    open_sketchbook said:
    I mean, y'all don't even know for sure what Asuka's assigned gender at birth was, or literally anything about their body other than that they need glasses and they aren't particularly tall. Hell, I don't actually know; I've literally used both male and female pronouns accidentally at different times in this quest (please point them out if you find them so I can fix). Unless you're Asuka, Captain Arita, or the functionary who runs the family registry in their part of Akitsukuni, it doesn't matter to you. Their name is gender-neutral, they dress ambiguously, they are not a man or a woman. They are an aircraft designer. Their gender is *airplane noises*.

    Also the singular "they" has been a part of the English language for hundreds of years and only fell out of favour briefly. And it is used here only as part of the translation convention, because Japanese doesn't really have gendered pronouns.
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    It is whispered by the bold that, in truth, Asuka's birth certificate has 'brrrrrreeooowwwwww' written in as their sex.

    (I'm bad at onomatopoeia, sue me.)
     
    If Shakespeare can use the singular 'they', you (hey look, another pronoun that's both singular and plural, ever since we discarded the singular 'thou' centuries ago to precisely zilch ill effects) can do the same.
     
    open_sketchbook said:
    "Okay, but what's in your pants?"

    "Blueprints."
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    Complete sidenote: now I'm imagining Asuka having a kimono made, and instead of using a traditional-ish Akitsukuni silk pattern...they commission a load of silk made with an 'aircraft blueprint' pattern.
    Then again, if others judged the world by Asukas standards, that'd probably be the equivalent of the modern act of 'walking around in a t-shirt with porn printed on the front'.
     
    Crasian01 said:
    I'm gonna be honest, I'm in it 99% for the meme and 1% for the glorious moment where somehow this universe makes it a reasonable play. In almost every scenario I can think of it's a terrible idea. Either your airship is too slow and can't catch the enemy, or the enemy has guns to knock out your airship easily, or (assuming all of that works out somehow) you can't get your aircraft back on the airship after they've done whatever it is they're doing. The only thing I can think of is maybe doing air drop of Marines to capture enemy vessels, but that's a hellaciously bad play for other reasons.
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    The US experimented with Airborne Aricraft Carriers for a while. Unfortunately most of the tests were made without their planes and the Zeppelins had no guns to defend themselves when they were sent into mock combat. Added to this, frequent accidents from recklessness and inexperience left them needing to be repaired a lot which quickly burned through cash and goodwill. Carrier doctrine was also in it's infancy so even when they were allowed to preform, though they did well, they didn't do a whole lot.

    tryrar said:
    Yeah, there are pecedents for the idea. IIRC, they were nothingburgers that came to about jack all. And while ingame they may be a workable idea, it'll probably have to wait until A)our nation works on zepplins to carry them, and B) we're not in a shooting war.
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    A shooting war's fine for this but we'll need to mount guns on it, a lot of guns.


    Lastly, war is good for the economy, we should go abroad more often.
     
    I'd also like to note that we recently sent in designs for an Army scout. It wouldn't be that crazy to repurpose that for the Navy...
     
    Cmd. Frost said:
    The US experimented with Airborne Aricraft Carriers for a while. Unfortunately most of the tests were made without their planes and the Zeppelins had no guns to defend themselves when they were sent into mock combat. Added to this, frequent accidents from recklessness and inexperience left them needing to be repaired a lot which quickly burned through cash and goodwill. Carrier doctrine was also in it's infancy so even when they were allowed to preform, though they did well, they didn't do a whole lot.



    A shooting war's fine for this but we'll need to mount guns on it, a lot of guns.


    Lastly, war is good for the economy, we should go abroad more often.
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    ............................................no, war ISN'T good for the economy, at least not long term. There have been depressions after every major war IIRC
     
    It is worth noting that the actual meta-goal of this quest is playtesting and the plane design system has been completely overhauled between that design and now.
     
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