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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
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    6-2: The Gun-Carrying Machine
  • Threadmarks
    • "I wouldn't oppose a Fairness win, but I've read enough Black Flag to be wary. I think we need a few years under a government that will push for expanding the franchise without the radical elements at the very least." You explained.

    "So, New Independents?" Kibe asked.

    "I suppose. I don't think about politics much." You confessed. "I feel I should probably do more research..?" You'd never involved yourself in the political theories and activities of many college students for lack of time.

    "Of course you do, honey." Sonia chided. "Though I warn you, you can't solve politics with a slide rule."

    "Well, if anyone can, it'll be Matsura." Kibe said, and talk turned to politer things.

    ---

    Ten days later, you arrived at the office to find an arsenal of weapons spread out on the workbenches, a half a dozen gleaming weapons just getting gun oil on your pristine drafting tables. You went to find Mr. Ohara to raise an objection and found him escorting in another older man and a gaggle of Army officers.

    "Oh, Matsura! You're here early." Mr. Ohara said, smiling.

    "Yes sir, sorry. I was hoping to do some studies on the photos of the Cossack..." You started explaining, but Mr. Ohara held up a hand.

    "That can wait, Matsura. This is Wakamatsu Fumiaki of Wakamatsu Arms, Major Asato from the Murata Arsenal, and Captain Koishikawa. They are here to provide direction on a new project." Mr. Ohara explained. You greeted each man in turn, and shuffled back into the office.

    Within a few minutes, the rest of your team arrived and were assembled for a presentation by the men, assisted by several private soldiers, on the operation and use of the four weapons laid before you. They were, in order they were presented, the Type 11 Heavy Machine Gun, a water cooled weapon that was a copy of a copy of an Albian design, the Type 2, an older weapon with multiple barrels fired by a turning crank, the Wakamatsu Mark 2, a weapon like a small cannon which was normally moved on a small wheeled platform, and a Gallian weapon called the Benét, which appeared to be a small air-cooled machine gun which fired long metal strips of bullets. You were also introduced to the two Caspian machine-guns, captured at the front, so you knew what you were up against.

    You personally found the presentation fascinating, though you could tell that not everyone cared or really followed (and Uyeno, who was familiar with all these basic principles, was on the edge of falling asleep). Finally, at the end of the two hour presentation, Kawamura asked the all-important question of why you were being shown these weapons. A question you all knew the answer to.

    "Well, we're hoping you can build a plane which will carry one." Major Asato said.

    ---

    The job was simple. Caspian planes had started carrying machine-guns, in the form of a pan-fed gun in the observer seat pointed backward. This was not possible in the T1M2, whose observers sat up front and under a wing. Their range of fire was limited by the propeller arc, the bracing and support of the wings, and the pilot behind them. The results were telling; four aircraft had already been lost to enemy fire in the last few days. You had just received another letter the other day from Yachi, and you desperately hoped he was safe through all this.

    Gun Carrying Machine
    Budget: 22円 for the prototype.

    Priority: Carry a Machine-Gun
    Requirements: The Army wants an aircraft that can attack Caspian planes with a machine-gun. They want it to be able to do so easily and in a way that is simple and safe for operators.

    The plane must at least match the Cossack-01's 130 kph top speed.
    ​
    Such a project wasn't to be undertaken lightly. Guns and ammunition were heavy. It was going to be a difficult project to fit them on an aircraft and get them to work. The Caspian solution looked as though it was just an infantry mount bolted into a plane, an inefficient solution that had apparently noticeably impact the top speed of the plane. Could you do better?

    Starting Research: Each will cost 1 Stress up front.
    [ ] Research methods of mounting weapons.
    [ ] Research foreign weapons that may be better suited.
    [ ] Research theory on airplane combat & interview pilots
    [ ] Write In​
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Cmd. Frost said:
    :wtf: How is Socialism an appealing option? Also we're working for a capitalist.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    the short answer is: inequality, specifically economic inequality, is fucking stupid under late capitalism, with the rich holding the power and using it to gain even more wealth.
    The long answer would be better looked for in the News & Politics subforum.
     
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    Hm. Not sure whether we can really call these Caspian planes 'fighters', given that they've just got assguns (or rather, not even that...given that they aren't on the ass of the plane, a fact which makes them even less effective than they could be) for deterring pursuit rather than machine guns for assault purposes.
    So we can still have the first true fighter, rather than the first armed observer.
     
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    DocMatoi said:
    the short answer is: inequality, specifically economic inequality, is fucking stupid under late capitalism, with the rich holding the power and using it to gain even more wealth.
    The long answer would be better looked for in the News & Politics subforum.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Because every socialist experiment has turned out so much better :rolleyes:

    The Type 11, Type 2, and Mark 2 can probably be ruled out on the spot for weight problems. The Benet should be satisfactory for putting lead onto RussiansCaspians, meaning it's more important to decide how the weapon should be mounted rather than which shiny we want.
     
    [X] Research methods of mounting weapons.
    [X] Research theory on airplane combat & interview

    I feel like we can make do with the guns we have for now.
     
    Then again, feedstrip might be a touch awkward for reloading in the air, unless we can convert to belt feed.
     
    Rat King said:
    Then again, feedstrip might be a touch awkward for reloading in the air, unless we can convert to belt feed.
    Click to expand...
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    No more awkward than water cooling in the air, crank operation, being a cannon, or having an extra point of stress, I feel.

    [X] Research methods of mounting weapons.
    [X] Research theory on airplane combat & interview pilots

    Edit: woops, wrote the opposite of what I meant.
     
    Rat King said:
    Then again, feedstrip might be a touch awkward for reloading in the air, unless we can convert to belt feed.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Yes, but the marginal return to be gained from converting to belt feed is probably lower than the marginal return we'd get from figuring out how to use a machine gun that's...well, good enough would imply good, so...usable without turning our airplane into a brick.

    How bad's our stress ATM? I didn't see it on the character sheet.
     
    Just realized I wrote the opposite of what I meant to write in that last post.
    firestorm440 said:
    Yes, but the marginal return to be gained from converting to belt feed is probably lower than the marginal return we'd get from figuring out how to use a machine gun that's...well, good enough would imply good, so...usable without turning our airplane into a brick.

    How bad's our stress ATM? I didn't see it on the character sheet.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I think we're at like, 2 stress right now?
    1 leftover from the last project, and 1 from sending scary stories back as Yachi.
     
    [X] Research methods of mounting weapons.
    [X] Research theory on airplane combat & interview
     
    Kolar said:
    How much Stress do we have and how much can we safely get again?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I'm pretty sure we have 2 right now, and we finished our last project with like...five?
    Though in that case we got to dump 2 stress due to our hot date with flyboy, letting us take an action budget that would normally give us 7 stress.
     
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    For armament options I want to immediately shoot down the use of the Wakamatsu, and for that matter any cannons in excess of 20mm, assuming we even have any of those. These weapons are going to be impossible to manhandle onto a plane without significant drag or weight problems, especially as we will be unlikely to throw the cannon barrel into the drive shaft. Going off of the real life SPAD XII, which had a brand spanking new 37mm cannon, we will not be able to fit more than 12 rounds into the aircraft. You are not going to shoot down more than one aircraft with an ammunition load like that, it simply isn't enough, even assuming one shot one kill applies, which it doesn't considering that the shell would need to be properly fused to even detonate against the fabric and canvass of a plane, or supreme amounts of luck in hitting something crucial and structural. Plus, with such an unwieldly weapon and such a low ammo load, the only real approach vector would be from directly behind an aircraft, y'know where the machine gun is, if you want a shot at hitting it. That or flying head on, which is also stupid for a large number of reasons except in specific aircraft.
     
    plotvitalnpc said:
    No more awkward than water cooling in the air, crank operation, being a cannon, or having an extra point of stress, I feel.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Water cooling in the air? If you use water-cooling engine, integrating cooling circuits into one system would probably be useful - better cooling, more coolant in case it's breached, the works.
    Crank-operated? Hook it up to the engine and you're golden. It would be no harder than designing synchronizing gears. Getting belt-feed in would allow to not worry about reloading too.
     
    [X] Research methods of mounting weapons.
    [X] Research theory on airplane combat & interview

    Better foreign weapons are something we can look into for an updated model once the war is over; right now it would be an extra expense in money and cargo space when both are already stretched by current demands.
     
    [X] Research methods of mounting weapons.
    [X] Research theory on airplane combat & interview pilots
     
    Kolar said:
    And we didn't get rid of it all, so we can only get like, 2 more now or risk Stress spiraling.

    Need to get that upgrade that negates first Stress gain per build.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    That seems overly cautious. Bear in mind that we roll 2d10 vs Stress, so for instance if we end the Routine with 5 Stress we still have a 90% chance to be fine, and that's after we get a chance to unwind with Vices (and/or Yachi if we're lucky). Obviously if we end one Routine that high we'll need to be more careful on the next one, but I think "first fighter design ever" is a pretty reasonable occasion to push ourselves beyond what we could consistently sustain Stress-wise.

    [X] Research methods of mounting weapons.
    [X] Research theory on airplane combat & interview
     
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