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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.​
     
    Last edited:
  • Informational
    • I can see the mission.

    Navy has thrown around enough weight to get one of their missions greenlit, a lightning fast raid on a vital enemy naval port, and almost all of the squadron has been diverted to pinning down and/or destroying a shipment of coal and ammo that would allow the enemy naval squadron to effectively resist.

    The only reason that the dragonfly and duck don't go is cause they were damaged in a previous raid and are still in the shop.

    Then a priority mission comes in. An elite unit is pinned in a forward position and getting ripped apart by murderously accurate fire from a heavy AA position that decided to try its hand at killing boots.

    The only units that can respond in time are a duck and a dragonfly which haven't gotten the engineer's okay. The commander decides that his okay overrides the engineer's objections. Ace-san's dragonfly is in working order but Observer-chan notes that the controls on the duck are a little sticky but it seems to be working fine otherwise.

    Before they know it, they're up in the sky.

    Now, most of the enemy's elites have been diverted to countering the raid, leaving green pilots or second-line planes to counter the sudden attack, but by the empress's eyes, there are so many.

    Ace-san is good, he's the main character. He's the hero dammit! But he's only one guy, and a few slip past. Bombardier-san is a deadeye shot, and his skills don't fail him. He's in the zone. He avoids getting hit, the plane not so much. Observer-chan is still getting feedback from the controls though. The enemy's morale breaks and they fleet. Our intrepid heroes opt to continue the mission.

    The enemy gun is in sight. They begin their attack run. Ace-san fires his guns. He doesn't think he managed to kill any of the crew but he threw off somebody's aim. The duck comes in for its attack run. The anti-air gun dials in the target. Observer-chan doesn't care. The dive whistle screams like some kind of maddened demon. It drowns out Observer-chan's rage. The duck makes horrible rattling noises. Observer-chan gives no fucks. The AA gun fires, and the shell explodes, too far to do damage, but close enough to shower it with shrapnel.

    The duck pulls out of its dive, the bomb explodes, and our intrepid heroes don't really feel like sticking around for battle damage assessment. The duck trails smoke as it heads for home. Ace-san vigilantly keeps watch over the stricken plane. Smoke trails behind as Observer-chan attempts to apply a tourniquet while also flying the plane. It's too late for bombardier-san has fallen unconscious. Blood soaks the thousand stitch scarf.

    Just as home comes into view, the engine falls silent. The valiant duck has done its duty, but its wounds are too great. This is to be its last mission. Observer-chan now has only one chance to get it right.

    The duck rolls on landing. Ace-san lands just in time to watch the medical staff cart his best friend's shattered body off to the medical tent. The body of the bombardier lies still upon the grass, a white sheet pulled over to preserve his dignity. He later finds out that his best friend is only mostly dead rather than all the way dead, and is heading back to the larger field hospital which will be better equipped to deal with his broken . . . well . . . everything. Unfortunately, an observer plane manages to limp in with bad news.
     
    This is going to affect popular opinion, which means political effects. Do you want greater benefits for veterans? Do you want recrimination against the party which started the war? Do you want to promote general pacifism/isolationism?
     
    [X] Write In : End it in pointlessness: they succeed, but the AA position is up and running again almost as soon as they're back at base.
     
    [X] Write In : End it in pointlessness: they succeed, but the AA position is up and running again almost as soon as they're back at base.
     
    [X] Write In : End it in pointlessness: they succeed, but the AA position is up and running again almost as soon as they're back at base.
     
    [X] Write In : End it in pointlessness: they succeed, but the AA position is up and running again almost as soon as they're back at base.
    @Ramble , I love it. The "Come on lads, let's give those Caspians what-for" sense of adventure in the first half followed by emotional gut-punches and existential despair in the second half will recreate the memory of the war a hell of a lot better than future works whos main selling point is how many dirty unwashed gaijin peasants the noble samurai hero cuts down will
     
    bdun140 said:
    [X] Write In : End it in pointlessness: they succeed, but the AA position is up and running again almost as soon as they're back at base.
    @Ramble , I love it. The "Come on lads, let's give those Caspians what-for" sense of adventure in the first half followed by emotional gut-punches and existential despair in the second half will recreate the memory of the war a hell of a lot better than future works whos main selling point is how many dirty unwashed gaijin peasants the noble samurai hero cuts down will
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I also thought it would be nice to include little hints that the plane itself is fighting just as hard as its pilots. You know how in Girls und Panzer, the 5th main character of anglerfish team is the Panzer 4? Kinda like that.
     
    I'm serious, this isn't a merely literary choice here. Pointless will anger the party in power and inflame resentment about the entire war as a whole. This whole series is aimed at children, i.e. the generation which will be in power when WW2 breaks out.
     
    Lailoken said:
    I'm serious, this isn't a merely literary choice here. Pointless will anger the party in power and inflame resentment about the entire war as a whole. This whole series is aimed at children, i.e. the generation which will be in power when WW2 breaks out.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Wouldn't "war is pointless suffering" be a good message to put in the heads of those in power if WWII breaks out?
     
    Rockeye said:
    Wouldn't "war is pointless suffering" be a good message to put in the heads of those in power if WWII breaks out?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Was the Caspian War pointless though? I mean, yeah, okay, it was, but Akitsukuni didn't start it. Caspia did. Akitsukuni defended itself from being likely plundered and relegated to a colony, and that part at least definitely wasn't pointless.
    Labeling it that would be the wrong lesson to learn from it I think. What we propably should show instead is that war is terrible, and never should be engaged in lightly. The high tragedy ending on the other hand is propably too easy to pervert into a Glorious Sacrifice type thing by some people.
    So yeah, I guess I've just convinced myself towards the Muted Tragedy option. Too bad that apparently the vote might already be closed?
     
    The Caspian War wasn't pointless, from Japan's perspective the First World War wasn't pointless and the Second World War was only pointless because they lost. For the most part wars aren't pointless, you do them to get shit. When we say war is pointless we mean that we don't like the trade between what has been given up and what has been gotten. However, if you claim that war is pointless people become less likely to do war, which is broadly good in my opinion because what you get is almost never worth what you gave up. It's a lie but it's a useful one.

    In the Akitsukuni case it's more useful for people to think war is pointless than to think it's serious because Akitsukuni has a lot of thing that look like good reasons to go to war. We can gobble up Europan colonial possessions while they're busy or grab a chunk of Cathay for desperately needed resources that allow us to industrialise faster and protect ourselves better against encroaching Western powers. This is the historical path, without the benefit of hindsight it sounds sensible to serious men making serious decisions and with the benefit of hindsight it leads to fascism, mass murder, biological warfare and then getting absolutely rogered by the Alleghanians and never getting to design cool jet planes.
     
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    11-6: Rakuyama of Dragonfly Squadron 4
  • Threadmarks
    • ... they were quite unprepared for it, but I'll tell you, you can't fault the Caspians for spirit. I checked the beads on my belts and it looked like I had about a fifty shots left in me, having been perhaps a bit too liberal on the trigger in my earlier excitement. I leaned to my left and saw Takahashi still on the approach, crawling across the sky at an agonizing pace. I could see the ground through a hole in his fuselage, the canvas rippling like streamers in the wind.​
    ​
    "Come on, man, Ivan's coming." I muttered, wishing desperately I had a way to will my dear friend faster through the air, just for this last few kilometers to the drop. Nothing for it, of course, the engines go as fast as they go, and there were already two of the little yellow monoplanes speeding up to catch him. They'd never make it on their own.​
    ​
    I had to turn around, you understand. Didn't matter I didn't have the ammunition, or that my engine was starting to grumble unhappily. He'd do the same for me.​
    ​
    One of the Caspians wised up as I passed overhead and decided to pull back, but his friend apparently really wanted the bonus. He stuck on him and the overhead gun started popping, little yellow tracers streaking toward's Takahashi's plane. I winced as one of them sparked off the engine block: a hit to the radiator would be dangerous, even deadly, given its position behind the pilot.​
    ​
    I couldn't afford to miss, so I left the engine running full throttle and crawled right behind the enemy. Got close enough to count the warping wires on his wings, to discern the colours the patchwork scarf fluttering behind him. Lined the sights up right over him from maybe just thirty meters away, and I pressed the triggers down.​
    ​
    Fifty rounds goes so fast. It's about two seconds. I didn't see the damage, really, but the plane immediately skewed to the side and started falling. Almost at that exact moment, Takahashi's plane rolled into it's dive, and I found myself praying to any spirit that might listen to keep my chum safe.​
    ​
    Far below, I saw the blast, then Takahashi emerged from the smoke and started running for home. I lingered a moment to confirm the gun was down: it was scrap, twisted metal in the middle of a crater. A good day's work done, I headed back, watching over the little Duck on the return trip. Fortunately it looked like the Caspians were spent for the moment, as all we faced was some rifle fire.​
    ​
    When I returned to the base, after I staggered out of the cockpit and my head stopped spinning, I checked up on Takahashi and his observer. The poor kid in the front seat, still didn't know his name, looked utter out of it, bone white and still gripping the handles on his seat for dear life. Took the two of us ten minutes to talk the poor boy out of the chair and back down to earth, and he made it maybe five steps to the barracks before giving up and hugging the ground. It all kind of catches up to you, when you come back down. You'll know when you make it over here.​
    ​
    "Awful business." I said, running a hand along the flank of his machine. There were holes in the canvas, torn by the flak and bullets, so big I could put my whole hand through it.​

    "Any you walk away from." Takahashi repeated. I had to remember that while the man had been by my side near six months now, this was only his third time upstairs behind the controls. I clapped a hand to his shoulder.​
    ​
    "Exactly. Come on, hopefully the boys haven't messed with our pieces."​
    ​
    We got back to our game like nothing had happened, and soon enough Takahashi had my king, as usual. The bombing flight was heading out as we set back up, and we heard the engines coming back almost the moment he had me in checkmate, pinned between a promoted lance and a silver general. The sound was greatly diminished, though, and we came outside to take a look.​
    ​
    The flight was down four of twelve planes. Their flight lead, my old chum Arai Kazuki, came out looking furious. He had a cut on the side of his head and a crack in the glass of his goggles. I tried to get a word in, but he responded with a fist to the side of my head that, regrettably, I didn't see coming.​
    ​
    "Rakuyama! You told me the gun was down! They were waiting for us!" He screamed, fury on his face.​
    ​
    "It was! It was scrap, I'm telling you!" I insisted.​
    ​
    "The bomb landed right on target, we killed it!" Takahashi added.​
    ​
    Arai wasn't having it, though, and he stormed off the brood. Couldn't blame the man, being down four planes, eight good men. Takahashi helped me to my feet, and I realized what was probably going on.​
    ​
    "Must have rolled another gun in there. Of course." I muttered.​
    ​
    "Of course they did. It's the perfect spot." Takahashi said with a shrug. "We'll get it again tomorrow. They'll run out of guns eventually."​
    ​
    Hopefully before we run out of planes, I thought.​

    ---

    "Alright Sakane, what've you got."

    Jun unrolled the rough blueprints with a grin, showing off the basics.

    "So my thoughts is basically, it's an endurance race, so this is closer to the Dolphin or the airliner than our last racer. That said, the profile of the last racer was pretty perfect for this, so we're keeping that idea, just bigger. Twin hulled, but we're gonna use inlines, the new FB-series Akibara engines."

    "Akibara? What's wrong with the Kobayashi engines?" You asked, curious.

    "Reliability in the heat, boss." Sakane said. "The inline is just mechanically simpler, and we need as few things going wrong as possible. The engine's already going to be operating in pretty extreme conditions, what with all the sand and the heat. Besides, it's a narrower front profile."

    You figured, but it was nice hearing them talk about it.

    "What are you going to do about all that?"

    "Well, the Gallians use these baffles over their air intakes on the trucks operating in the desert, so we figured we'd throw something like that together. As for the heat, we're planning on turning the entire underside of the central wing area into a big panel radiator for both engines."

    It looked pretty smart to you. The wings were still totally up in the air, though: while a monowing was perhaps the obvious answer, the lattice of wires and trusses needed to keep it in place on a larger plane like this might actually cause more drag than it prevented. You only got away with it on the first racer because it was so light, but this one was already estimated to be at least twice as heavy, especially because...

    "Two crew?" You asked.

    "Need a navigator over those distances, and the copilot can also keep the pilot on-task for the long flight. It's an endurance race, right?" He explained.

    Fair enough.

    "How are you doing on the sprint racer?" He asked.

    "Still working on figuring out what we need for an engine." You explained. "It'll probably have to wait until after the wedding."

    Sakane glanced back into the office at Koide, who was currently messing around with her slide rule.

    "Fair enough."

    ---

    Okay, so because the pulsejet generator is still being messy and incomplete due to General Incompetence, we're gonna do the Castles of Steel crossover at Koide's wedding.​
    ​
    So... snippets?​
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [ ] Sakane takes a risk and tries to fit the aircraft with enough fuel to skip a refuelling entirely, given that Akitsukuni engines simply can't match the Europans for straight-line speed.
    [ ] Everyone has a different plan for what to do with the horses.
    [ ] Uyeno is simply too tall for Haruna to deal with and she has to escape from the situation.
    [ ] Yoshida Ashitaka turns up again, because I want to see where Nashimoto's little gang of wretches is without his influence. This is as much a snippet for Castles as anything.
    [ ] Asuka gets some stress off so they can wind themselves back up inventing the cantilever wing.
     
    [ ] Yachi's book soon finds a audience all over the place. There's even talk of it being translated and sent out overseas.

    [ ] Somebody gives Yachi shit over that time a princess dragged him out of a whorehouse.
     
    [ ] Somebody gives Yachi shit over that time a princess dragged him out of a whorehouse.
    [ ] Yachi's book soon finds a audience all over the place. There's even talk of it being translated and sent out overseas.
     
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