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.​

 

[bdun140]

[X] Plan Sesquiplane
-[X] Tractor Sesquiplane, upper deck well forward, mid deck aft of the rear cockpit, rear empennage
-[X] If there's room in the budget, give both cockpits a set of controls so that the Mark 2 can pull double duty as a trainer

[X] I make a serious effort. (1 Stress.)

 

[Michael Lewis]

[X] Plan Sesquiplane
-[X] Tractor Sesquiplane, upper deck well forward, mid deck aft of the rear cockpit, rear empennage
-[X] If there's room in the budget, give both cockpits a set of controls so that the Mark 2 can pull double duty as a trainer

[X] I immerse myself, and try to spend the whole trip practicing. (2 Stress)

 

[Wang and HuHu]

[X] Plan Keep It Simple
-[X] Biplane with positively staggered wings (upper deck forward, lower deck back)
-[X] Tractor engine
-[X] Tail assembly in rear
-[X] observer's seat forward, pilot's eat behind

 

[Mik3k]

[X] Plan Sesquiplane
-[X] Tractor Sesquiplane, upper deck well forward, mid deck aft of the rear cockpit, rear empennage
-[X] If there's room in the budget, give both cockpits a set of controls so that the Mark 2 can pull double duty as a trainer

[X] I immerse myself, and try to spend the whole trip practicing. (2 Stress)

 

[Simon_Jester]

That is true but having it be able to spot troop movements in general and not only for the artillery would also be useful I think.

Click to shrink...

Yeah. There's no clear differentiation between artillery observers and general-purpose scouting in this era.

Without radio, how do our observers get their observations to the men on the ground? Do they land and tell the fellows at the airfield what's going on, or is there some way of getting the info down in flight?

Click to shrink...

As noted, "write the information down on a piece of paper, tie it around a rock, then drop it over the command post" was an option.

It sounds terrible, but it beats, y'know, NOT having eyes in the sky at all, which was the default condition.

---

[X] I immerse myself, and try to spend the whole trip practicing. (2 Stress)

Because learning new languages is useful and obsessive-compulsive study is part of the job. Besides, learning Not!English will be useful not only with Not!Brits, but with Not!Aussies and Not!Yanks.

Can someone explain to me the difference between 'Keep it Simple' and 'Sesquiplane?' They're both tractor planes, they both have a tail assembly in the rear (empennage or not). Aside from the dual controls concept which we could in theory build into any plane we want... They both have positively staggered wings; the only difference is that the sesquiplane has small lower wings. Why would the sesquiplane be significantly harder to build/design?

EDIT:

To clarify, what significant differences are we likely to see?

 

[Artificial Girl]

Yeah. There's no clear differentiation between artillery observers and general-purpose scouting in this era.

As noted, "write the information down on a piece of paper, tie it around a rock, then drop it over the command post" was an option.

It sounds terrible, but it beats, y'know, NOT having eyes in the sky at all, which was the default condition.

---

[X] I immerse myself, and try to spend the whole trip practicing. (2 Stress)

Because learning new languages is useful and obsessive-compulsive study is part of the job. Besides, learning Not!English will be useful not only with Not!Brits, but with Not!Aussies and Not!Yanks.

Can someone explain to me the difference between 'Keep it Simple' and 'Sesquiplane?' They're both tractor planes, they both have a tail assembly in the rear (empennage or not). Aside from the dual controls concept which we could in theory build into any plane we want... They both have positively staggered wings; the only difference is that the sesquiplane has small lower wings. Why would the sesquiplane be significantly harder to build/design?

EDIT:

To clarify, what significant differences are we likely to see?

Click to shrink...

In terms of operation, if I read correctly the sesquiplane is going to be more stable in flight, which is better for our novice pilots, and will also have less drag (I think?) Which means higher top speed.

I can't speak to why it might be more complixated though.

 

[Dessard]

The double controls are the complexity difference

 

[Simon_Jester]

[X] Write In
-[X] Biplane with staggered wings, the lower mounted further back to allow the pilot better viewing of what's beneath them.

[X] I immerse myself, and try to spend the whole trip practicing. (2 Stress)

The double controls are the complexity difference

Click to shrink...

That's fair.

Maybe we can try to design the plane with physical space and spare mass budget for double controls, without actually designing the control hookup, so that we can modify the Mark 2 Scout Aircraft into, like, a Mark 2A Trainer Aircraft without major structural modifications?

I mean, if this is being done like real aircraft design in the era, I'm sure Ohara would come up with a refined version of the Mark 2 once we get back to the factory in any case. A lot of aircraft went through multiple marks and refinements like that.

@open_sketchbook , would that be a reasonable thing to try to include in the design? Like "leave space here for dual controls that we can design when we get back to the factory?"

Also...

[rereads]

One of Hasegawa's contacts in the Kobayashi chemical works turned out a small, curved sheet of a transparent material derived from acrylic acid; it was slightly foggy but very lightweight and served to smooth the cockpit profile...

Click to shrink...

Waitaminute...

Holy shit we just invented Plexiglas. Or Lucite. Or Perspex. Take your pick.

Well, technically Kobayashi just invented it. Still. Whoa.

 

[Jace911]

Planes have penalties to Control according to the Area of their single largest wing. A biplane with total Area 4 arranged 2/2 has a -2 Control penalty, while a Sesquiplane with Area 4 arranged 3/1 has a -3 penalty. This can be offset by adjusting the aspect ratio (Drag/Structure) of the wing but it's still something to account for.

 

[Simon_Jester]

Okay. But then, this isn't a stunt plane or a dogfighter. Mediocre Control isn't such a big deal, as long as the plane flies.

EDIT:

Then again, if we're looking at this plane as a potential trainer aircraft, we want it to be relatively forgiving. I think I'll just stick with the write-in of "biplane with staggered wings." We all agree on that part, so we can hash the details out later.

[X] Write In
-[X] Biplane with staggered wings, the lower mounted further back to allow the pilot better viewing of what's beneath them.

[X] I immerse myself, and try to spend the whole trip practicing. (2 Stress)

 

[samdamandias]

Can someone explain to me the difference between 'Keep it Simple' and 'Sesquiplane?' They're both tractor planes, they both have a tail assembly in the rear (empennage or not). Aside from the dual controls concept which we could in theory build into any plane we want... They both have positively staggered wings; the only difference is that the sesquiplane has small lower wings. Why would the sesquiplane be significantly harder to build/design?

Click to shrink...

Sesquiplane has a higher top speed, and much better lower visibility (which is something the Army really really wants), and is more stable mainly because I'm going for a more extreme stagger which exaggerates the effects of stagger.

"Keep it simple" has slightly better climb and a slightly lower top speed, and the lower visibility is significantly worse.

This is because I have Sesquiplane as 2/1 and the Biplane as 2/2 for how wing area is spread.

 

[Axslashel]

[X] Write In
-[X] Biplane with staggered wings, the lower mounted further back to allow the pilot better viewing of what's beneath them.

 

[kpkdktswnw2015]

Something like Polikarpov Po-2(or even Avro 504 if Po-2 is too complicated for you), only altered to different engine and whatever Army wants?

 

[Crasian01]

"Keep it simple" has slightly better climb and a slightly lower top speed, and the lower visibility is significantly worse.

Click to shrink...

Only directly left/right and down. It should still fine looking forward and down to either the left or the right.

 

[kpkdktswnw2015]

Sesquiplane as 2/1

Click to shrink...

Is it like in Nieuport 10, or rather Pander E ?

 

[samdamandias]

Only directly left/right and down. It should still fine looking forward and down to either the left or the right.

Click to shrink...

Sorry, I didn't phrase that well. I should have said "Visibility below" which is an actual stat in this system. Sesquiplane currently has +2, Keep it Simple has a net of +0. I think the army might be willing to forgive some sluggish climbing in exchange for the observer having a much better field of view.

(And a bit of lightening or streamlining will clear that right up. Lightening might actually be better, because that would let us drop the stall speed down to 20 kph, whereas the streamlining would give us a respectable top speed of 120kph. I don't think we could do both, but it would be amazing if we could)

Is it like in Nieuport 10, or rather Pander E ?

Click to shrink...

More like the Pander E, if you moved the lower wing up and aft

 

[kpkdktswnw2015]

If you do that to Pander E, there will be no space for second guys legs.

 

[Crasian01]

Sorry, I didn't phrase that well. I should have said "Visibility below" which is an actual stat in this system. Sesquiplane currently has +2, Keep it Simple has a net of +0. I think the army might be willing to forgive some sluggish climbing in exchange for the observer having a much better field of view.

Click to shrink...

I feel mild annoyance at the rules if that's the case. You need to be concerned with which direction you're looking, surely? While I obviously agree that the Sesquiplane would give you more literal field of view, it may not actually matter depending on the application. If I recall correctly, the rules were originally set up for fighter aircraft, where every drop of visibility matters, but I can't imagine that for a scouting aircraft that it's super important to have excellent 360-degree visibility. It seems problematic to penalize a scouting aircraft for choosing one configuration over another when the difference between the two assumed an entirely different mission.

 

[kpkdktswnw2015]

So what to you is scout mission?

 

[open_sketch]

Visibility for aircraft is simplified as Visibility Up (for spotting other planes) and Visibility Down (for spotting things on the ground). It's a mechanic that needs some work, as there's a lot of factors in visibility not entirely tracked yet.

 

[Crasian01]

So what to you is scout mission?

Click to shrink...

Typically a mission that you're traveling out and back over a short(ish) distance, typically operating in coordination with existing ground elements, and typically not flying directly over enemy lines. Your observer goes up with maps, binoculars, a compass, and a stopwatch that can also tell the time of day, and then provides intelligence on troop movements and artillery damage from a distance. Eventually, it becomes that the observer will also be responsible for a single, downward pointing camera, but that's not something that the army is currently specifying.

Let's overlay a clock on top of the airplane, so that 12:00 faces in the direction the nose is pointing. An observer will be guaranteed to want good visibility out the front 120 degrees of the airplane, roughly from the 10:00 to the 2:00 positions. By giving positive stagger to the wings, you already have improved visibility for the observer, so that they can see well across the 3:00 and the 9:00 (and indeed slightly beyond), enabling the aircraft to fly parallel to enemy lines and simplify the task of making field observations. Any additional improvements to visibility don't actually help this mission, as the observer has either no way to use those angles without disrupting their ability to write or already has a good view.

Arguably, one should be designing for the future or something and ensuring the pilot has good visibility in case they ever get attacked, but historically we know that aircraft are most vulnerable from the 6:00 position, especially at high elevation angles. Someone diving on you from the rear is in an extremely advantageous position. The positive stagger in both versions has no impact on the ability for a pilot to crane around in his seat and scan his 6:00 - it's always a pain in the ass regardless. Arguably, the biplane is hindered in lines of sight with negative elevation at the 3:00 and 9:00, but I would expect that the observer is also looking outside the airplane and would notice something.

 

[Jace911]

I feel mild annoyance at the rules if that's the case. You need to be concerned with which direction you're looking, surely? While I obviously agree that the Sesquiplane would give you more literal field of view, it may not actually matter depending on the application. If I recall correctly, the rules were originally set up for fighter aircraft, where every drop of visibility matters, but I can't imagine that for a scouting aircraft that it's super important to have excellent 360-degree visibility. It seems problematic to penalize a scouting aircraft for choosing one configuration over another when the difference between the two assumed an entirely different mission.

Click to shrink...

Visibility is abstracted as Visibility+ (Above) and Visibility— (Below). Both are independently affected by wing placement and size.

Flying Circus is intentionally built to track altitude over horizontal positioning in order to simplify combat and remove the need for tracking more than one dimension (and also removes the need for grids and minis). Having visibility function by lateral direction in addition to up and down would necessitate doubling the spatial complication, which I understand is the opposite of what sketch is trying to do.

edit: doh, GM ninja'd

 

[Crasian01]

Visibility for aircraft is simplified as Visibility Up (for spotting other planes) and Visibility Down (for spotting things on the ground). It's a mechanic that needs some work, as there's a lot of factors in visibility not entirely tracked yet.

Click to shrink...

I guess upon reflection it's not super reasonable for me to complain as long as you're tracking the issue. This is a pretty significant problem in real life, after all. I might ask some more questions over PMs later if that's alright?

 

[AlphaDelta]

Looks good.
[X] Write In
-[X] Biplane with staggered wings, the lower mounted further back to allow the pilot better viewing of what's beneath them.
[X] I immerse myself, and try to spend the whole trip practicing. (2 Stress)

 

[open_sketch]

Other than the specifics of wing layout it looks like we have a broadly compatible set of votes here, so I'm going to build the start of your plane (minus those wings) right now. There's a few changes since last go (you can now vary the size of your stabilizer and tailplane) so we'll address those as we get to them.

And you're gonna learn the heck out of Not!English. Well, not!English as Kibe remembers it, among a bunch of young engineering students...