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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
    • thepsyborg said:
    Yes, at the cost of weight, mechanical complexity, and either high-pressure steam, compressed air, or gunpowder for the launching charge, if we're firing it out of a tube, or at the cost of seaworthiness from the enormous door in the side of the boat hull if we're carrying it centerline internally and rolling it out the side.
    Click to expand...
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    Also, when you drop a bomb or launch a torp, you lose weight. Putting it on top literally offers no advantages over a bottom.
     
    Vebyast said:
    I don't see how this is cursed? Not having to fly and float directly toward the enemy sounds like a good idea.
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    I think this is referring to a torpedo that gets dropped out the back and moves forward (under the plane) at the enemy. All of the problems of needing to fly/float directly toward the enemy, plus the additional complication of plausibly fragging the plane with its own torpedo if something goes wrong - hence, cursed.
     
    FrangibleCover said:
    Putting aside the interesting but entirely irrelevant question of carrier air group composition thirty years in the future, I believe I have identified an Issue with the torpedo boat requirement. It must be a boat, which means a central boat hull that sits on the water and serves as the fuselage. It must carry a 300kg torpedo. Where? A 300kg off-centre load on an aircraft I doubt will weigh a ton all-up is suicide. A centreline mount means we will never get off the water. The two options I have in mind are carry two torpedoes (difficult) or use a catamaran design (don't think it's ever been done).

    Even if we don't take the job I'm very interested to see what the resulting aircraft is.
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    simple and probably terrible idea: mount the fuel tank opposite the torpedo to act as a counterweight, possibly rigging something up to move the tank towards the centerline once the torp is dropped. More seriously, catamaranning the boat hull or just making a floatplane and brazening it out with the selection committee are probably much better notions. Hrm, and now I have more torpedo bomber ideas...
     
    well by the looks of the design speck the navy wants an extreamly long ranged craft that can simply sit in the water and wait for ships to come by to attack which is easier to do with a flying boat than a float plane.

    edit: honestly the best solution would be to have the plane be able to carry two torpedoes rather than try to figure out how balance with one
     
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    Proposal: Make the flying boat a flying u-boat. It hides beneath the waves before it attacks, preventing the enemy from just shelling it. Once it launches its torp, it swims a few hundred feet to the side so the enemy can't just counter-battery it, surfaces, and takes off so it can GTFO.
     
    Vebyast said:
    ...Can we mount the torpedo cross-ways so the flying boat never has to fly directly in line with the ship it's trying to torpedo?
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    The problem is that this becomes a major issue for aiming. Torpedoes are slow; slow enough that enemy ships can literally just turn away and outrun them until the torpedo runs out of fuel. This is why it's important to attack warships from both sides at once so that it can't turn away from all of the torpedoes. Thus, you need the pilot to be able to aim the torpedo as easily as possible, even when flying as part of a wide formation.

    If you want to make it harder to get hit by AA fire, you could instead fly at the target at a slight angle, then shift into a straight angle shortly before dropping the torpedo.
     
    I am convinced about the hunter-observer. Between the broader design space, the moral considerations, and the general utility it's a good choice.

    [X] Seaplane Hunter-Observer

    Vebyast said:
    Proposal: Make the flying boat a flying u-boat. It hides beneath the waves before it attacks, preventing the enemy from just shelling it. Once it launches its torp, it swims a few hundred feet to the side so the enemy can't just counter-battery it, surfaces, and takes off so it can GTFO.
    Click to expand...
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    What about taking it one step further, and making a flying Surcouf? Trade the torpedo for a big gun. Fly to the engagement area, submerge, pop up and fire the cannon, then fly away.

    I expect the Admiralty's contract on my desk by morning. Additionally, I will not be taking any questions at this time. Thank you.
     
    @open_sketch whatever ends up happening with the racers, can we make sure Aileen Middlemiss, Reportrix is there to reporterize them?

    Edit: To be clear, I realize that she is a terrible person albeit entirely unconsciously so and would love to beat her about the head with the shattered remants of her casually-well-meaning racist expectations.
     
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    I broke the link for my fanart when I deleted my Twitter, so I rehosted the image on the threadmarked post: Aircraft Design Company- Matsura's Planes Are Always Fastest! Original

    I haven't been keeping up with it but I just wanna say again that I love this quest. I thought of it today during a discussion about representation in media because I'm non-binary and this was the first time I ever read something and felt like I existed, and that's why I drew that fanart.
     
    thepsyborg said:
    Edit: To be clear, I realize that she is a terrible person albeit entirely unconsciously so and would love to beat her about the head with the shattered remants of her casually-well-meaning racist expectations.
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    It's 1912, if a character isn't unconsciously shitty about something to modern morals they've got to have a bloody good explanation of why. At the end of the day you've just got to love them and put up with it.

    And Aileen Middlemiss, Intrepid Reportrix is brilliant every time she turns up.
     
    There's also the appalling option of centerline carriage and surface deployment over the side with a crane (bonus, it can be used to load the torpedo on!)

    Oh, while I'm at it with my delightful catamaran flying boat with a crew cargo and engine pod above that most certainly isn't a floatplane, what about a canard dive bomber that is very definitely a canard, stop saying the front is a tandem wing just because it's a major lift generating surface half the size of the rear wing! (Oh this is actually compelling, because if you mount the bomb right, you could theoretically do interesting things to help the pull out.)

    (Incidentally, what is the F-series in plane builder terms?)
     
    xthetenth said:
    very definitely a canard, stop saying the front is a tandem wing just because it's a major lift generating surface half the size of the rear wing!
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    I mean:
    Santos-Dumont 14-bis - Wikipedia


    Certainly what is shown isn't quite the size you describe, but I'm just saying. Canards can be pretty huge.

    More generally, if its a bomber, you probably will be pushed away from short designs that need large (proportionately) tail/canard surfaces. You'll probably end up looking like a normal airplane no matter what.
     
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    12-2: A Long Shot
  • Threadmarks
    • "Good morning, everyone." you said, looking around the crowded office table in the engineering meeting room. Been a while since you had everyone together. "I'm sorry to pull everyone off the project so quickly, but a new contract has come up. We're going to be competing for the new Navy seaplane observer contract."

    You were met with a sea of stony faces.

    "... yeah, I know. Not the most exciting." you said. Nothing compared to desert races and novel propulsion units.

    "Uh, if you'll excuse me saying, Matsura, it's not just that." Koide said from across the table. "It's the Navy. They're going to buy the Akibara project. There's no point in even showing up."

    There was a chorus of agreement around the table. You lifted your glasses and pinched the bridge of your nose. Uurgh.

    "I know. There's been some changing circumstances, but it's still a long shot." you said, "That said, it's not totally pointless even if they don't pick it up. We can shop it around to private buyers or other nations, but patriotism dictates our own military gets first dibs."

    "Maybe after we take the floats off, the Army'll buy it." Kawamura said, which got a chuckle out of everyone.

    "Maybe. Still, we have our job, it can't be helped. So... let's start workshopping some high-level concepts here. We have a surprising amount of wiggle room. What are we thinking?"

    ---

    [ ] A conventional tractor layout: engine, pilot, observer, tail.​
    [ ] A canard configuration: tail, observer, pilot, engine, with the rudders on the wings.​
    [ ] A farman pusher configuration: gunner, pilot, engine, and a tail on a support structure.​
    [ ] The crew and tail in whatever configuration works, with a pod-mounted engine.​
    [ ] Something even more radical. (Write In)​
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] A conventional tractor layout: engine, pilot, observer, tail.

    KISS is the guiding principle for me here. There's really nothing complex that we have to do, in my opinion. Observation Aircraft's biggest concern is range, that tends to be their greatest limiting factor.
     
    Makin' Planes - The NEW ADCQ system!
  • Informational
    • Okay everyone, here's the new rules.

    Aircraft design will now happen in three Phases, which together forms one Routine. They are...

    Phase One: Brainstorming & Research
    This is the simple starting phase. The basic idea for the aircraft is nailed down through a series of votes that lay out what we might want the aircraft to look like. It is also the time for plane wizards among us to throw ideas for what they want the aircraft to look like at the table. Just before the final vote on the subject, a Research phase will allow any unique research ideas that people want to explore to be engaged with. This will work using the worker placement rules below.

    Phase Two: Design
    This is essentially a game of worker management. Each part of the aircraft will have people assigned to it to work with a particular skill. Wings, Fuselage, Engine, each Weapon set, Landing Gear, and Electrical Systems will all need engineers assigned to them. Engineers will provide the dice pool rolled to do stuff.

    Engineers can be assigned to more than one project, but every one they are assigned to past the first (tenative) will give Office Stress.

    Then, once everyone is assigned, their dice will be rolled against a 6+ difficulty. Tentatively...

    An routine job: 1 Success​
    A difficult or more complex job: 2 Successes​
    A first ever new innovation: 3 Successes​

    If you pass, the component is designed with no difficulty. On a failure, you get your component, but now there's a problem. This problem will consist of a flaw from the USED PLANE CHART, assigned randomly or maliciously by your GM.

    Phase Three: Clean Up
    Clean up is where you can assign engineers again to 'clean up' mistakes, or to make changes you thought of afterward. This can get rid of problems on the Used Plane Chart. You can go through several Clean Up sessions to make sure you got it, but you face down the threat of OFFICE STRESS.

    ---

    OFFICE STRESS

    There's a new stat in town and its name is Office Stress. This works just like Matsura's Stress, which, by the way, is going to work differently now.

    When the office is Stressed, all employees lose 1d6. This can make some employees useless at their primary job, or even generally completely useless altogether! Matsura takes the same penalty, but only for their own Personal Stress.

    Stressed occurs at 5+.

    The office suffers Burnout at 10 Stress. Burnout means that everyone completely stops functioning. The plane ships as is and the team deteriorates a little: people quit or gain negative traits.

    At the end of each routine, it'll be time for the team to blow off stress. There may also be chances to reduce stress as you go. Just like with Matsura, Office XP will be earned and can be spent making your workers better. This spending happens at the start of new projects, providing the team isn't Stressed.

    This system is WIP and will need some testing, but hey! Playtesting is what we're here for.
     
    Last edited:
  • Informational
    • open_sketch said:
    It is also the time for plane wizards among us to throw ideas for what they want the aircraft to look like at the table.
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    So what's this about the competition's stuff also getting designed by some of those same plane wizards?

    [X] Something even more radical
    -[X] Gunner in a nacelle on the top wing

    Look, you're giving an excuse to try and use the Howdah from the L.R.T.Tr, which is big Early Aviation Energy
     
    Man I was all set to vote for canard, but then @Rat King had to go and remind me that we need a damn tailgun.

    [X] A conventional tractor layout: engine, pilot, observer, tail.

    Though you know podded engine isn't that crazy, esp. since sea planes.
     
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