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

[open_sketch]

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Stress 0​

Office Stress 0​

XP 5​

Spoiler: Character Sheet

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.

Spoiler: Ohara Airworks

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)

Spoiler: Expanded Cast

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.

Spoiler: Technology

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

Spoiler: Akitsukuni & World

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.

Spoiler: Old Map

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.​

 

[Jeboboid]

I don't think I can emphasise this enough, but I'm pretty sure y'all missed Koide leaving because someone assaulted her (physically or... otherwise) at her previous company. :/

Click to shrink...

I absolutely did not miss that. I am currently wishing painful death on Akibara and the male members of his nasty little crew.

 

[brmj]

I'll let you have that for free and make you pay for it by describing the engineering that makes it work in horrifying detail.

Click to shrink...

Okay, that, we can do.

Is this a crank like a Gardener or Gatling, or a lever like a Nordenfelt? That doesn't change the big picture, but a lever requires just a bit more work to hook it up to the rotational motion coming out of the engine.

The core components will be simple enough: some combination of gearing and perhaps belts to turn the engine's rotation 90 degrees, slow it down and transfer the power where it needs to go, and a clutch to take the power on and off. A few complications arise in practice, though, primarily with handling jams and perhaps with getting more precise control over the gun's firing. There will need to be a mechanism somewhere that breaks or disengages if it is put under too much stress, indicating a gun jam, so that it doesn't damage the gun or engine. Something that fails is simplest, but not being able to reset it in flight is a problem with how often jams will be happening. Putting a slip clutch somewhere in the mechanism should do the trick. For more precise control over the gun's firing, making the main clutch that controls it a spring-loaded double clutch that breaks the motion of the gun as soon as the trigger is released would be an obvious starting point. activating and deactivating the gun takes more force than is reasonable to control with a trigger, I see two main options: either go to a firing scheme with a foot peddle or the like, or have a lever that toggles the motion of the gun's action and control the ammo feed with a trigger. The latter option is probably only viable if the gun is fed with a hopper rather than a belt. If so, it could be as simple as a piece that physically blocks cartridges from entering the gun, attached to a little lever and a connecting rod or wire going to the trigger, with a spring to keep it out by default.

I can go into more detail, but that will depend on the full details of the gun and where the engine is. Other, more mechanically inclined players are also invited to chime in here.

 

[tryrar]

Of course, if we go with 2 engines in pods, things get both simpler and more difficult. Simpler in that we don't have to worry about propeller arcs, more difficult in that we need to power the gun in another way(probably with an electric motor)

 

[TortugaGreen]

One suggestion I would have (assuming an absurdly long drivetrain isn't necessitated by engine-gun distance) is that while a slip clutch would certainly work, I'd worry it wouldn't adequately protect either the gun or the engine from damaging each other, so I might suggest a secondary emergency component designed to break, in case the clutch isn't enough. That said, one of the main issues here is control - gear reduction is easy (especially if you're comfortable with planetary gears), and there are no shortage of reliable and robust designs to move around and reorient rotational power from the designs of early industry. For control though, we need a system that can switch between firing and stalled in the time it takes for the trigger to be toggled, which means we need a way to particularly stop the gun after the trigger is released and it is decoupled from the engine. I would propose a sort of double-sided clutch, with a disc connected to the gun axle sandwiched between two slightly separated plates - one fixed to the plane's frame and the other to the engine. When the trigger is released, the disc would be held against the stationary side until the trigger us pulled, when it would be drawn back against the spinning side instead, rapidly driving it into motion. This design would be inadequate as a synchronization gear, thus necessitating either a pusher propeller or a long drive axle or chain from the engine to the sufficiently offset gun, but in those cases it should be perfectly adequate.

 

[brmj]

One suggestion I would have (assuming an absurdly long drivetrain isn't necessitated by engine-gun distance) is that while a slip clutch would certainly work, I'd worry it wouldn't adequately protect either the gun or the engine from damaging each other, so I might suggest a secondary emergency component designed to break, in case the clutch isn't enough. That said, one of the main issues here is control - gear reduction is easy (especially if you're comfortable with planetary gears), and there are no shortage of reliable and robust designs to move around and reorient rotational power from the designs of early industry. For control though, we need a system that can switch between firing and stalled in the time it takes for the trigger to be toggled, which means we need a way to particularly stop the gun after the trigger is released and it is decoupled from the engine. I would propose a sort of double-sided clutch, with a disc connected to the gun axle sandwiched between two slightly separated plates - one fixed to the plane's frame and the other to the engine. When the trigger is released, the disc would be held against the stationary side until the trigger us pulled, when it would be drawn back against the spinning side instead, rapidly driving it into motion. This design would be inadequate as a synchronization gear, thus necessitating either a pusher propeller or a long drive axle or chain from the engine to the sufficiently offset gun, but in those cases it should be perfectly adequate.

Click to shrink...

Both good suggestions. Including the backup for if the slip clutch isn't good enough seems wise. I could have sworn I'd mentioned something like your double clutch proposal, but if so it was taken from something someone, quite possibly you, came up with while people were discussing ideas for the synchronized version a while back. In any case, your description of it here is clear and easy to follow.

 

[tryrar]

Again, I think simply attaching it to an electric motor and moving the propeller out of the way in some fashion is the better idea.

 

[TortugaGreen]

. I could have sworn I'd mentioned something like your double clutch proposal,

Click to shrink...

You are right in remembering that, but my post may remain as a description of how it would work. I think I posted something like it back when the Dragonfly was being argued over and I wanted the rotary gun then, but the mechanism is just as good now. That said, I see no reason why you would need a foot pedal for control, as while you would absolutely need plenty of force in the clutch to ensure a fast switching, the central disc hardly needs to move very far, with less than a millimeter of maximum translation being absolutely plenty if the design is adequately braced, while even the simplest trigger moving a centimeter or more - a tenfold or greater increase in force is possible, allowing a 50N trigger pull to exert 500N or more on the mechanism, and that is almost certainly the extreme low end of possible loads. Hand actuation is entirely possible for the double-clutch design.

 

[brmj]

Again, I think simply attaching it to an electric motor and moving the propeller out of the way in some fashion is the better idea.

Click to shrink...

The scheme we're discussing here is one that doesn't come with synchronization and thus requires the propeller to be out of the way already. A synchronized version is possible but a bit harder. Motors are clearly an alternative, but @open_sketchbook just established that we can get the unsnychronized version for free if we describe it well enough, while a motor implies a source of electrical power. I'll go with the free one if possible.

That said, I see no reason why you would need a foot pedal for control, as while you would absolutely need plenty of force in the clutch to ensure a fast switching, the central disc hardly needs to move very far, with less than a millimeter of maximum translation being absolutely plenty if the design is adequately braced, while even the simplest trigger moving a centimeter or more - a tenfold or greater increase in force is possible, allowing a 50N trigger pull to exert 500N or more on the mechanism, and that is almost certainly the extreme low end of possible loads. Hand actuation is entirely possible for the double-clutch design.

Click to shrink...

Point. Yeah, I suppose I was sort of unconsciously treating trigger pull distance as short enough to be negligible when it could actually be quite a bit longer than the distance the clutch operates on. This makes sense. I think it should work.

 

[open_sketch]

Huh!
I just noticed the last dream sequence in the quest (Asuka's Warring States era dream) also got written exactly one month ago!

As a person who has very vibrant dreams, it's not a surprise to me that they show up so frequently in my work, but still, that's some timing.

Also, wow, a LOT has happened in a month of writing...

EDIT: And I just realized I've been living at my new place for a full month now. Wow. It... does not feel that long.

 

[Gnarker]

@open_sketchbook, couple questions:
First, if we include both a cannon and a machine gun, in addition to more versatility against both ground and air targets, could a pilot use the MG to walk their fire, increasing the cannon's accuracy?
Second, would ammo that's not incredibly outdated improve the 25mm's damage, AP, and range to bring it more in-line with the other cannons?[1]
Third, where might we get such ammo? Besides inventing it ourselves, either as part of the design process or through our RnD division, would there be another way?
Fourth, someone proposed pneumatic mortars. Viable, or not?

[1] For example:
Damage: 4, Hits: 2 (3), AP: 3
Knife: +1 Hits, Close: -, Long: ?, Extreme: -1 Hits, -1 AP

(Long: ? because the Light and Heavy both have Long: -1 Hits, but the Mechanical has Long: -, and an upgrade making that worse feels weird.)

 

[FlyingScanian]

Spoiler: A Pilot's Poem

Reverie Hills (A Pilot's Poem)
Anonymous

'Mid the human race, there's a special place
For the boldest pilots' souls
When their grand designs run their final test
Or they've flown their last patrol

When those who've never dared to fly
Feel mortality's terrible chill
They are each of them dragged to their place in the sky
By some spirit or deity's will

But to those who have flouted gravity's force
And shun angels for flying machines
Well, they chart for themselves a different course
To a land of Elysian greens

Its hills roll on for uncountable miles
'Neath an endless summer day's light
And the higher one climbs, the more it beguiles,
That distant and comfortable sight

And the air is as clear as the youthful dream
That some distant day you too might fly
And eternal you'll bask in a goal achieved
As you soar through a flawless sky

You'll not lack for company, that much is true
All manner of friends dwelleth there
Whatever their story, their sex. age, or hue,
Of this fabled place, each has their share

Be they pilots cut down on their morning sortie
Or felled when they first took to air
What counts is their courage, their glory, their dream,
These things that have carried them there

And far greater still, on the hills below,
With their shining eyes fixed up above,
Stand fathers and mothers, friends lost long ago,
The tender face of a lost love

And they'll marvel at you as you sail through the skies,
Call your name as you pass overhead,
But they'll fruitlessly yearn to join you and arise,
And you to join them and descend

For in order to soar o'er the mortals below,
A pilot knows weight must be shed,
And their spirit, left floating wherever they go,
Will pass over heavier heads

When they each casted off, they were outward bound,
They will never again make for home,
Their planes brought them up, but could not set them down,
Thus rootless forever, they roam

For the skies may be clear, and the scenery grand,
But two things guide each pilot this way;
The dream that some long-distant day they will land,
And the hopeful voice calling their name.

I really like the idea of Asuka's dream world becoming for pilots what Fiddler's Green is for sailors and horse soldiers; an afterlife for them, set apart from the place most other souls go when they die, and a very bittersweet sort of paradise.​

Click to shrink...

Absolutely wonderful. I can definetely imagine a worse fate... yeah, I'm tearing up a bit here...

Yes, I did. I based the meter mainly on old First World War poetry, though I'm a sucker for poetry in general so honestly who knows where it came from. Good to see that I didn't make a hash of it. To have managed to get an emotional reaction out of people is much more than I could have hoped for.

Click to shrink...

"an emotional reaction"... understating things, are we? I can only agree with our esteemed QM:

It's legit beautiful and...

I was like... I really wanted to do the thing from The Wind Rises and complete the connection to this quest's inspiration, but like... the idea of sacred spaces for people dedicated to things is something I find very comforting, so I gave it to all the pilots and aircraft designers. It's actually the only part of canon Flying Circus' world that has made its way over here.

I was like, yeah, this'll give the readers some feels.

I did not know that it was I, in fact, who would have the feels.

Click to shrink...

Serves you right for almost making me cry

 

[Simon_Jester]

Well, first off the pom-pom is out unless we can convince the big-wigs to buy an actual license for local production. The 20mm seems like a good fit, being light and all but with enough velocity and shell mass to penetrate most plating, but I'm intrigued by the 25mm rotary. Being mechanically externally powered, if we can get a good belt feed for it we might be able to sidestep some common jams and malfunctions on self-powered guns. Only downside is that the gun is old enough that the ammo seems to be actually blackpowder, if the "huge clouds of smoke" are any indication. Wonder if we can fix that?

Click to shrink...

I bet we can get them to start manufacturing modern ammunition for it. On the other hand, it isn't necessarily the end of the world if the ammunition is literally blackpowder as long as it works.

So, like a tractor biplane with the 25mm rotary and trade a second crew member for armor. I like it. If we build it for high turn but weak climb/dive, we can use tactics where our overwatch dragonflies mark targets, while the destroyers come in low and fast to give AA minimal time on them.

Maybe even have the dragonflies drop smoke to mark safe lanes through the AA zones at the front? But mainly keep fighters high and ground attack low.

Click to shrink...

Sounds too complicated for a tank-hunter aircraft that's going to be deployed in response to what the enemy tanks do, without prior planning. Then again, these giant war wheel monstrosities are so big and tall and bulky they're probably very easy to see as they're moved into position for an offensive.

Given we voted for a generally twin engine design, we could probably invent the Vulcan 50 years early by powering that thing with an electric motor instead of a driveshaft(given that power transfer from wing pods is gonna be a bitch otherwise)

Click to shrink...

I... think we're still free to redo the voting now that we know what kinds of guns are available. Also, bear in mind that super-high rates of fire may well result in a gun that expends all its ammunition almost immediately, or which just tears itself straight out the back of the plane.

Looks like we're going to have to get Officer Bae to duel one of Koide's old coworkers.

Click to shrink...

Coralie:

"Did someone say duel?"

 

[10ebbor10]

They don't have a loved one in their machines.

Click to shrink...

Also, this is Matsura's dream. There may be some bias involved.

 

[CthuluWasRight]

Absolutely wonderful. I can definetely imagine a worse fate... yeah, I'm tearing up a bit here...

"an emotional reaction"... understating things, are we? I can only agree with our esteemed QM:

Serves you right for almost making me cry

Click to shrink...

Once again, I'm really glad this has resonated with people. I find writing poetry is very difficult for me, especially since I'm actually following a certain style with rhyme scheme and meter as opposed to a lot of modern poetry which is much more freeform. Getting something worthwhile and human out of such an artificial structure is both an incredible feeling as a writer, and also something I think is particularly beautiful about traditional poetry in general.

Another reason I liked the idea of Reverie Hills is that I think it fits both Gayaverse and Whispers From The Deep: it's founded on the notion that being a pilot, especially one at such a hazardous time in the history of aircraft, makes you fundamentally different from other people, and also entails that you sacrifice your connections on the ground to achieve that goal; being a pilot will be a fundamental part of your life, and significant others, friends and family will always be jockeying for space with it. The Hills are an ironic reflection of that: You are set apart, free, perfectly free to fly however you want, as high as you want and as far as you want. But the cost of that freedom is leaving the things you love behind. Is it the wrong choice or the right choice? In truth it's neither. It's simply one that every pilot, or arguably any free spirit, has to make, and whether an answer is right or wrong is up to the individual.

I find it also fits the general tone of the Quest: War and imperialism are claiming lives all over the world, and the Great War is about to make the skies of Reverie Hill far more crowded than they were before. The idea of pilots as "knights of the air" operating in a more chivalrous and friendly battlefield than those on the ground is already dying, if it is not dead already. And the people the dead long for most can be seen, but not touched or even interacted with; distant, torturous shades of a life they long for but cannot attain, things they wish to set right but are unable to influence in any meaningful way.

Yet Reverie Hills speaks to something beyond that. The skies will grow more crowded, yes, but they have never been exclusive. The common spirit of aviation, boldness and courage and curiosity, has brought together those of all stripes who were once divided by the archaic prejudices of the world they lived in. There are no weapons here, nor any need for them; planes are once more untainted by the presence of machine guns, and pilots who fought under every flag may now once again communicate in flying contests and friendly waves rather than machine-gun fire and ambushes from out of the sun. And most importantly of all, there is an undercurrent of hope; that even though they cannot land now, someday they might. Someday the war will end, someday Joseon will be free, someday women will have a full vote and Asuka will be able to have their wedding without having to ask a Yakuza boss about protecting the ceremony.

There will be new wars, yes. New Joseons. New prejudices. There always are. But Reverie Hills, and Gayaverse as a whole, I'd argue, ultimately says that this too shall pass, that even in a world eternally, bittersweetly divided, there is the possibility that things will change for the better.

I think that's pretty cool.

 

[noliar]

If the 20mm is a Becker clone it's very sensitive to cartrige pressure and time in barrel which means improving the ammunition will be a bitch.

The 25mm rotary with an electric motor and a belt feed would be perfect if we can handle the weight. I think we can with a two engine design. Being motor driven rather than blowback there is scope to imrove the ammo for purpose - a lighter, steel cored round at higher pressure with smokeless powder and an incendiary tracer would be good.

 

[Glau]

Sounds too complicated for a tank-hunter aircraft that's going to be deployed in response to what the enemy tanks do, without prior planning. Then again, these giant war wheel monstrosities are so big and tall and bulky they're probably very easy to see as they're moved into position for an offensive.

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I was thinking for train hunting, to be honest- I figured those would be the things well behind enemy lines and screened by a lot of AA. Agreed that tank hunting doesn't need this sort of effort- but also staying low and fast in that case allows most of the manuevering to happen on our side of the trenches, with less AA risk if they stay low enough.

 

[Crasian01]

@TortugaGreen @brmj

Here are my thoughts from way back on the double-clutch rotary cannon:

Oh, it's a gatling, so it's cranked. You know the gear ratios, so you just mount the prop so that it's horizontal when the firing barrel is activated. As long as you get the gear ratios worked out correctly, the prop clear the barrel that's currently firing every time at a fixed rate. It wouldn't be hard, just require like 30 minutes of arithmetic. We already know how to do this: it's literally a car transmission. The only difference is that instead of a wheel, it's the barrel assembly of a gatling gun, but if you think about it those are just the same thing anyway. After all, gatling gun barrel assembly is really just a big cylinder that's longer than it is wide and a wheel is just a cylinder that's wider than it is long. So in the end, you're literally just putting a single speed gearbox on the engine's driveshaft and calling it a day.

Edit to avoid doublepost:

So the problem is that when you declutch, the gun will continue to freely spin and keep shooting. What you do is have a second clutch on the back and a single common rod that connects everything. Your spring pressure naturally forces the clutch assembly rearward, pressing it against the rear clutch. When the operator depresses the clutch, it moves the rod forward until it engages the forward clutch, which is connected via gearbox to the engine. To prevent the gun windmilling when you're between fore and aft clutches, shroud the barrel assembly so that air can only come in from the front and not the sides. Also the mass of the barrels probably prevents windmilling.

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Oh I definitely agree. Maxim guns have a nontrivial advantage because they're nicely self contained and everything you need to operate the gun is inside the receiver assembly. They're also lighter, obviously.

This being said, the best way to ensure you don't have drift is to come off the clutch pedal smartly. Probably what you do is have it mounted with a bit of room on the side. The operator stomps down to fire, and then move the foot to the side to allow the spring force to engage the stop clutch as fast as possible. The danger is that you ride the clutch and allow the gun to sort of stay suspended between firing and not firing, which might cause it to windmill.

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By having a spring inside the assembly. When the operator stomps down to engage the forward clutch, they're fighting against a spring that tries to force the clutch pads backwards towards the rear clutch. When you're done firing, you slide your foot to the side, and the spring immediately expands again to slam back and engage the rear clutch, stopping the barrels from rotating. This also potentially can slam the clutch pedal into your shins, so, uh, maybe issue some shin guards for the operator.

At least, that's the plan. I'd want to see a full scale prototype with an operator hiding behind some thick battleship plating to test this before I put it on a plane...

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I woke up like 30 seconds ago so I apologize if it's just restating stuff or whatever, but it seems like generally the gist is the same? We should combine any ideas as are compatible and figure out if any sticking points exist.

 

[Pyrelight]

So, there was a comment a bit back about how twin wing-mounted engines could make a driveshaft difficult and need an electric power supply - how's this?



Hanging all that weight off of/between the wings of an early aircraft might be tricky, but probably no trickier than cramming in an electric motor able to rev up two autocannon.

Plus it keeps the pusher aesthetic.


No clue about gearing and clutches and linkages though - had half a mind to put a little cockpit in there for the crank-Gremlin instead.

On the nature of the gun in question - my understanding is that Gatling type firearms don't normally 'jam' as such, barring actual mechanical jams with disintegrated casings gumming up the works or out-of-battery explosions - since any misfired round is just going to cycle and get extracted anyway without a hitch. If you do get one of those mechanical jams, apparently things can get exciting fast. A lack of explosive shells would make those safer to fix than in more modern weapons, at least, since a mechanic wouldn't have to worry about tripping over live shells wedged in the gearing.

 

[Crasian01]

On the nature of the gun in question - my understanding is that Gatling type firearms don't normally 'jam' as such, barring actual mechanical jams with disintegrated casings gumming up the works or out-of-battery explosions - since any misfired round is just going to cycle and get extracted anyway without a hitch. If you do get one of those mechanical jams, apparently things can get exciting fast. A lack of explosive shells would make those safer to fix than in more modern weapons, at least, since a mechanic wouldn't have to worry about tripping over live shells wedged in the gearing.

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My big concern is an out of battery fire. There's some discussion here by C&Rsenal on the stuff you're describing:



Othias talks about out of battery fire specifically here:

 

[noliar]

Pushers give less power, and a dynamo + wires is likely lighter and certainly easier to arrange than gearbox and crankshaft. We'll want the power for an intercom and two way radio anyway.

 

[4WheelSword]

I'm not sure why we're not going with a classic engine-in-wing tractor design like a beaufort or something.

 

[Crasian01]

So I was looking through old posts to see what the geometry of various engines is. Assuming that @open_sketchbook will be accounting for the geometry in her evaluation of our design:

Rotary Engines:



Radial Engines:


Inline engines neglected because I'm reasonably sure most people are familiar with them.

For rotary engines, to do either a dynamo or a direct-to-gun mechanical linkage, you would be forced to attach a gear directly to the crank spinning case that holds all the pistons. The easiest way I can think of to get power to the dynamo/gun is to use some kind of timing chain with a tensioner.

Radial and inline engines are a lot easier, because you can attach any gearing to the crankshaft and have it extend further out the back if totally necessary.

I'm not sure why we're not going with a classic engine-in-wing tractor design like a beaufort or something.

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Or a Mosquito:



I'm down, tbh.

 

[4WheelSword]

I'm down, tbh.

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Truly, it's a classic for a reason and we can do deadly things with that free nose.
I am on team rear-gunner though.

 

[Crasian01]

Truly, it's a classic for a reason and we can do deadly things with that free nose.
I am on team rear-gunner though.

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I guess in the same vein as, like, the Mitsubishi G4M - Wikipedia ?



The Betty's a little larger than we need, in terms of relative scale, but it sounds like you're going for this general direction?

EDIT: Or I'm just an idiot who forgot what the Beaufighter looked like and didn't connect the dots on why you were bringing it up:



Bristol 156 Beaufighter | BAE Systems | International

 

[4WheelSword]

I guess in the same vein as, like, the Mitsubishi G4M - Wikipedia ?

The Betty's a little larger than we need, in terms of relative scale, but it sounds like you're going for this general direction?

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I think more like the A-20, which is 20% smaller. Though obviously we're going to be looking at much earlier tech and cannon's not MG's in the nose.