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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 have significantly more faith in us doing an air launched torpedo on a 1912-13 tech level, which wasn't far off from when it was first done IRL, than in a landing torpedo bomber having any utility or survivability in a real fight. I'm happy to take the job but they're going to have to give us quite a wide brief to do with what they want rather than what they think they need.
     
    Don't we have passably accurate air to ground rockets?

    Maybe the Navy would consider those (with an incendiary payload?) as an option if we suggested it for a light attack/patrol role. Nothing beats a torpedo for heavies though, with the possible exception of an AP dive bomb.
     
    Himmelhand said:
    Don't we have passably accurate air to ground rockets?

    Maybe the Navy would consider those (with an incendiary payload?) as an option if we suggested it for a light attack/patrol role. Nothing beats a torpedo for heavies though, with the possible exception of an AP dive bomb.
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    You want to put rockets onto a plane made of cloth and paper.

    That's a good way to make a short lived torch.


    And besides, passably accurate rockets in WW1 don't exist. They're more useful as signalling equipment by sending up flares and the like, or as an alternative for very light artillery guns in bad terrain so you have some artillery support instead of none at all.
     
    Figuring out a Torpedo Bomber would technically place us a decade ahead of "schedule." But, uh, that's the name of the game baby.

    We also have an airspeed record of the sort not broken until WWI (well, officially after it, but eh.) And we're trying to break it again.
     
    neutronium95 said:
    I wonder what future aeronautical engineers will think when they try to understand Matsura's thought processes from their designs.
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    "Two things are certain with planes designed by Matsura. The fellow who designed them was without a doubt a genius well ahead of their time and unafraid of pushing the envelope while somehow maintaining an absurdly good safety record. They was also utterly mad and quite a few of their designs should not have worked as well as they did or even been possible with the materials and construction techniques they used, yet somehow they held up."
     
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    Hazard said:
    "Two things are certain with planes designed by Matsura. The man who designed them was without a doubt a genius well ahead of his time and unafraid of pushing the envelope while somehow maintaining an absurdly good safety record. The man was also utterly mad and quite a few of his designs should not have worked as well as they did or even been possible with the materials and construction techniques he used, yet somehow they held up."
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    Matsura Asuka is nonbinary. To quote the character sheet post:
    open_sketch said:
    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
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    FrangibleCover said:
    You're not wrong but I have less faith than you in the likelihood of future aeronautical engineers respecting their identity.
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    This is true. Considering the state of most of the world, misgendering in aeronautics writing is probably common. On the other hand, Sketch uses fancy colors for unusual languages, so having a quote in default color makes me expect it to at least meet Akitsukuni cultural standards.
     
    Hazard said:
    "Two things are certain with planes designed by Matsura. The fellow who designed them was without a doubt a genius well ahead of their time and unafraid of pushing the envelope while somehow maintaining an absurdly good safety record. They was also utterly mad and quite a few of their designs should not have worked as well as they did or even been possible with the materials and construction techniques they used, yet somehow they held up."
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    I'm pretty sure that, even with singular "they", correct form is "they were". Like with "you".
     
    It's kinda crazy to realize that they're actually only twenty-five now. Unless they age like rotten fruit, it's likely that there are still amazing innovations ahead of them.
     
    The Laurent said:
    It's kinda crazy to realize that they're actually only twenty-five now. Unless they age like rotten fruit, it's likely that there are still amazing innovations ahead of them.
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    Yeah, and with the pace of technical progress as it is in this period and the tendency of aircraft designers to work beyond retirement age, Asuka is going to achieve some incredible stuff. Geoffrey de Havilland started his career with a biplane fighter to beat Eindeckers and ended his career with a jet fighter to beat MiG-15s. Roy Fedden's first engine produced 14hp and his last engine produced 2500hp. Slightly later than this time period Barnes Wallis' first aerostructural design was for an airship and his last aerostructural design was the wing mechanism for the Tornado, which is still in service today.

    I've said this before but, barring a tragedy, Asuka is going to be involved with a Mach 2 aircraft.
     
    FrangibleCover said:
    Yeah, and with the pace of technical progress as it is in this period and the tendency of aircraft designers to work beyond retirement age, Asuka is going to achieve some incredible stuff. Geoffrey de Havilland started his career with a biplane fighter to beat Eindeckers and ended his career with a jet fighter to beat MiG-15s. Roy Fedden's first engine produced 14hp and his last engine produced 2500hp. Slightly later than this time period Barnes Wallis' first aerostructural design was for an airship and his last aerostructural design was the wing mechanism for the Tornado, which is still in service today.

    I've said this before but, barring a tragedy, Asuka is going to be involved with a Mach 2 aircraft.
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    Though, considering their country, the tragedy might just be, uh, "Japanese Fascism." Hopefully not, but in OTL that wound up happening.
     
    I had a fine omake idea where Matsura manages to dunk on pretty much everyone in the Space Race by designing and building a Skylon syle SSTO for Ohara Orbitals. After that they retire to finally relax for their laste few years. Six months later someone publishes free plans for a new GA aircraft, which ends up becoming the equivalent of the Cessna 172 and just dominates the market.
     
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    11-13: Creative Choices
  • Threadmarks
    • "What the fuck is that." Sakane asked, shaking his head sadly.

    "What?"

    "Your plane, Matsura!" he said, exasperation in his voice.

    You looked back at your sketch. Looked reasonable to you.



    "I think it's perfectly sensible, though obviously we're still working out some of the details. How's the racer going?"

    "... decently, but don't... Okay, where's the center of gravity on that nose?"

    [ ] "Right here..."​
    [ ] "Well, this is a bit shorter than we're going to do it."​
    [ ] "Yeah, we're going to have to cut about a meter off it. No, it'll work!"​
    ​
    He frowned, pulling other papers towards him and studying them.

    "Alright, what are you making the skin out of?" he asked. "The label is blank on this blueprint."

    [ ] "Just canvas."​
    [ ] "Molded wood, like a dragonfly."​

    "I... I guess. Is this a flying elevator?"

    [ ] "All flying controls, yes." (Lower stability)​
    [ ] "No, we're staying convention. See, there's the hinge."​

    He sat back heavily, clearly overwhelmed.

    "Okay, well, I was really proud of what I came up with for the racer today, but every time you make me feel like an idiot." he said.

    "Nonsense. Your design is great. What's this about the landing gear?"

    ---

    Next vote we'll get the preliminary profile and assign wing sizes.​
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • The Laurent said:
    Okay, who are the sacred keepers of the math?
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    Honestly I was expecting Sketch to say "Go thou plane nerds and make drafts" a couple updates ago.

    If people want me to do things more detailed than napkin math, I can do so, but I also don't want to make Sketch go "NO! No math yet! as has happened a few times in the past."

    My gut is to go with flying elevators because we're going to have big wings, though.

    E: Did we decide on a cockpit yet? Because I think narrow canopy is going to be better than a windscreen.
     
    The Laurent said:
    Okay, who are the sacred keepers of the math?
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    I'm going with standard length tail for mass reasons.
    Molded wood, because that's what we have to use for the fuselage, and might as well stay consistent (No mechanical difference)
    And traditional controls because I'd prefer more stability and we don't need sharp maneuvers.

    [X] "Right here..."
    [X] "Molded wood, like a dragonfly."
    [X] "No, we're staying convention. See, there's the hinge."

    Edit: Narrow Canopy normally would be better, but the increase in mass drives up the stall speed with no top speed boost.

    Also, I'm going to say we can make any combination work here. It won't affect the end of the day top speed, although we might be a bit slow before we burn off some fuel.
     
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