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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 honestly don't see why we aren't taking a single 25 and being done with it, or even a single 20. Stats rule over narrative at the end of the day with this decision and the 20 is definitely capable enough that we can make a neat little stuka-G without too much trouble.
     
    There's no benefit to the Pegasus even if the Stability effects cancel out versus the Hobgoblin. Assuming we can add a basic cowling to make the reliability on the Hobgoblin non-terrible, at least.

    For people wanting the 20mm over the 25mm, remember we will have to pay extra or research to set that up to be belt fed and not require manual reloading after a clip. The 25mm also won't have any competing supply chains to slow down production.
     
    4WheelSword said:
    I honestly don't see why we aren't taking a single 25 and being done with it, or even a single 20. Stats rule over narrative at the end of the day with this decision and the 20 is definitely capable enough that we can make a neat little stuka-G without too much trouble.
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    Are you proposing 1x20mm and no tailgunner?

    --

    Himmelhand said:
    There's no benefit to the Pegasus even if the Stability effects cancel out versus the Hobgoblin. Assuming we can add a basic cowling to make the reliability on the Hobgoblin non-terrible, at least.

    For people wanting the 20mm over the 25mm, remember we will have to pay extra or research to set that up to be belt fed and not require manual reloading after a clip. The 25mm also won't have any competing supply chains to slow down production.
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    I forgot that note about the 20mm.
     
    For people favoring the 20mm, I'd also like to point out the reliability difference. The 25mm has either 1/2 or 1/3 as many jams, depending on which set of numbers you believe. It also has half as many as the 37mm. I consider this to be a pretty big deal: if the 20mm doesn't kill your target on the first try, getting a second chance is just that much less likely.

    For people favoring the 37mm, I'd like to point out that it is an imported weapon available in limited quantities that is needed both for ships and as an anti-aircraft gun. I really worry that gun availability will be a bottleneck, especially since we'd be competing with the navy for them. That sounds like a really bad plan.
     
    brmj said:
    For people favoring the 37mm, I'd like to point out that it is an imported weapon available in limited quantities that is needed both for ships and as an anti-aircraft gun.
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    It seems like this would drive the military to getting a production line of their own up and running, since there is such broadbased demand for it. Can we build out the plane with the 25mm and capacity to upgrade to 37mm when they become more available? Get something to the front immediately, have some space to upgrade to a ship hunter with minimal changes.
     
    Glau said:
    It seems like this would drive the military to getting a production line of their own up and running, since there is such broadbased demand for it. Can we build out the plane with the 25mm and capacity to upgrade to 37mm when they become more available? Get something to the front immediately, have some space to upgrade to a ship hunter with minimal changes.
    Click to expand...
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    The 37mm isn't quite a drop-in replacement for 2x25mm, but is close enough that it doesn't take much to make it work on paper. In practice, I think it could work if we planned around it from the start. That said, I favor 1x25mm. It seems to do the job well enough and saves us a fair bit of mass and cost.
     
    My arguments for two of the smaller cannons (or 1 37mm) is that we want to avoid needing multiple passes on a target, because the AA becomes much more dangerous if you are forced to do a second pass.

    I think the 6 damage from a single 25mm or 20mm is not going to be enough to destroy the target in one pass, but it looks like the 12 damage from a single 37mm does just fine.

    The 2x20mm is out, because it would cost 10.

    So we'd be looking at 2x25mm or 1 x 37mm

    While the ballistic properties of the 37mm are better, we'd need to add an extra fuselage section (because it's an artillery scale weapon) and then maybe an extra crew member to baby it. This would mean (another) extra fuselage section. Then, if you want to armor the fuselage and the crew members, that's two more (costly) sections of silk composite, and a another (moderately expensive and heavy) section of crew armor.

    The 25mm has the advantage of not needing manual reloading, so we don't need an extra crew member.

    -----------------------------

    As for the number of engines, the main problem with two hobgoblins is it puts lots of pressure on the budget. The main argument for two hobgoblins is the elimination of a radiator. But then we'd trade that out for a pair of -1 reliability (after cowling) engines. And it would be difficult to make a plane that could fly on just one of those engines. In addition, we'd (probably) have to mount those two engines in the wings, which means they couldn't be armored easily.

    With a single engine plane, we can fit the engine into the (hopefully) armored fuselage. Of course, we still have the problem of the radiator then...
     
    The pom pom is bloody heavy, will probably shake a 1910s plane to pieces with recoil and only fires two rounds per second - on a single pass we probably won't hit.
     
    If we don't do the 20mm, my next favored option is a single 25mm. The 37mm is too heavy and too slow to be worth it.

    [x] Plan: Give 'Em an Inch
    -[x] Light cannon in a forward facing fixed nose mount
    --[x] 25mm rotary with electric motor
    -[x] MMG on turret mount for rear and side arcs
     
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    If you want to mount just a single 25mm and want to also mount a MG, it would be better to simply mount the MG forward. A rearward facing MG means that you have to have a second crew member, with another fuselage section and possibly more crew armor.
     
    Crusher Bob said:
    If you want to mount just a single 25mm and want to also mount a MG, it would be better to simply mount the MG forward. A rearward facing MG means that you have to have a second crew member, with another fuselage section and possibly more crew armor.
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    I believe the intent behind the turret for the turret people is that it can deter fighters without having to break off an attack run.
     
    noliar said:
    Also we're talking -5 to -10 handling so it isn't going to be good at shooting fighters with the fixed weapon(s).
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    I'm getting substantially better handling than that, typically -1 or so. It's no dragonfly, but it's not bad at all for something not intended as a fighter.

    Edit: ran some more numbers. A single LMG on a turret doesn't hurt performance all that much, but pushes us farther over budget than I think is really wise. This could be ameliorated by making one or more sections not silk composite.
     
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    It's probably only necessary to make the wings, crew compartments, and landing gear silk composite. Some armor has to be bolted on over he fuel tanks and engines and I'm not sure if Sketch models detonation of onboard stores.
     
    I have a sheet with handling of +4, so maneuverability is doable.

    2 Hobgoblins, 1 25mm, and optional forward MMG, with one crew, is the way to go. As far as I can see it wouldn't even be crippling to add an external bomb mount for it, either.
     
    The 'problem' with the external bomb mount is the wings needed to keep stall speeds under control when carrying ordinance. You pretty much can't have basic fighter wings with that extra 2 MP from external bombs.
     
    Himmelhand said:
    I have a sheet with handling of +4, so maneuverability is doable.

    2 Hobgoblins, 1 25mm, and optional forward MMG, with one crew, is the way to go. As far as I can see it wouldn't even be crippling to add an external bomb mount for it, either.
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    I bet my design is faster than yours, and it probably has a higher DNE. I've been going with closed wing designs for extra toughness and drag reduction at the cost of some handling. Also because they are nifty, and there ought to be at least one strange thing about this plane that we haven't done before if we want to keep the rest of the world guessing.
     
    If people think 1x25mm is enough, I'd advocate for a single engine plane, since we can fit fuselage and crew armor onto that without going over budget.

    The two engine plane tends to have to give up on fuselage and/or crew armor to stay in budget.
     
    Crusher Bob said:
    If people think 1x25mm is enough, I'd advocate for a single engine plane, since we can fit fuselage and crew armor onto that without going over budget.

    The two engine plane tends to have to give up on fuselage and/or crew armor to stay in budget.
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    Adding crew armor puts it over a mass breakpoint for me and bumps the max speed down to like 180. The twin engine version goes over budget with the armor (if I recall what the budget is correctly), but maintains a more satisfactory top speed.
     
    Why are we worrying about crew armor, anyway? We're in the era of canvas planes.

    Two engines, 1 or 2 25mm, rear gunner, some bomb mounts, call it done.
     
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    I think the single engine with a 25 is probably the best option we're going to get, as well as helping to keep the procurement cost down.
    Hopefully these can be produced in enough numbers to stop the advance dead.
     
    Rat King said:
    Why are we worrying about crew armor, anyway? We're in the era of canvas planes.

    Two engines, 1 or 2 25mm, rear gunner, some bomb mounts, call it done.
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    Because this is a dedicated ground-attack aircraft that's going to be shot at a lot. Armor means more of them make it back.

    I don't think we have room for bombs, but I haven't had time to sit down and fiddle with numbers.
     
    [X] Plan @Artificialgirl
    [X] Pry. Ask him what is happening directly. Tell him he had a duty to let you know what was happening. (Social Roll)
    -[x] tell him what just happened. The train test, the cheer, the suicide. Tell him you are worried about the same thing happening to him, and that his letters are making you more worried, not less. Tell him you want him back here, and the war over, but most of all you want him to be able to be honest with you, and to feel safe expressing what he feels.

    This is the high risk high reward option, but it will show Yachi that we care, and might even stave off something worse(I don't think open_sketchbook would kill our love interest on us, but the relationship hitting some seriously rocky ground...)

    As for cannons, don't really care as long as it can reliably murder whatever we can point it at. I'm a poor bloody infantry nerd, not a plane nerd.
     
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