The Airships Fly Again! Maybe....possibly....hopefully.

[Centurion]

There is a crashed airship in scourge.Not sure if thats relevant but Thought i'd say.

WHERE DID IT EVEN COME FROM

 

[Immerael]

Since folks seem to be misinterpreting it quite a bit here is my end vision for Airships if this thing ever gets rolling. After a series of trial of errors with small ships we find a working model that staff can live with and doesn't make Naelwyn AND Cherry want to kill all of us. That model would likely have size limit keeping it from approaching anywhere near the size the Stormbringer due to either lack of resources, lift to weight and strength of things holding everything together sciency stuffs. They as stated even on a good day in the best of circumstances will get one good flight before it sits in port for a long time getting repaired. It is my hoping during these exercises we will train a new airship pilot that will be able to effectively fly one should the circumstances call for it.

I don't even foresee the model I have in my head as even having cannons are earlier stated reasons about them being impractical to shoot in a boat in the middle of hurricane. Also having extra gun powder on a ship being tossed around and likely to crash, especially early on strikes me as stupidly suicidal. This size and weapons restriction would likely stay in place unless we get in a situation where we need it to save the world RP and we can use the very limited resource of plot physics.

To give you an idea of how effective I imagine this being at the very end when all the trial and error are done is something akin to the Virgin Galactic Space Program as it is now. Can it get you to space? Yes. Can it stay there very long? No. Is it practical for a non multimillionaire to afford at present? No.
I mean probably a lot less successful than Virgin Galactic especially at the beginning but you know we all gotta dream and start somewhere.

Also to address the "But I like HW as it is now". I'm glad you do but because you personally enjoy a given situation doesn't mean you have a right to enforce that particular version roleplay fun on others. I don't enjoy combat RP as its a joke of a broken system in my opinion. However, I know folks enjoy it so more power to them have fun guys. I don't think Vermella should be a deity I think her aspects are perfectly represented already in various other deities, however I know one person put a ton of work to make her a thing and other players enjoy it, more power to them keep it up. My roleplay fun is not negatively effected by this, sure I might be bored OOC when they come up IC but I am just a single player in HW and other folks deserve to have their time having fun. Even if I consider what they're doing anything but fun.

 

[Faelin]

After a series of trial of errors with small ships we find a working model that staff can live with and doesn't make Naelwyn want to kill all of us.

And Cherry!

I'm not just the PA, I reserve the right to want to kill you all too. c:

 

[Rygan]

Airships are shit but if things happen within the lore in proper roleplay then all is well in the world and power to you.

I don't know why we're arguing as if they're suddenly going to appear again. Naelwyn's already commented that there's some plan for trying flight again, even if it's a sudden case of death.

 

[Sankera]

Kamikaze much?

 

[Immerael]

And Cherry!

I'm not just the PA, I reserve the right to want to kill you all too. c:

Of course. You can figure out the order of murder amongst yourselves. I'll be here

Kamikaze much?

Shhh its my way of getting Asian Culture in the server. Kamikaze first, Duel Wielding Katanas next.

 

[DraconDarknight]

Noooo. I was glad they were gone .

 

[CyberChaosV2]

It always amuses me when people who are new to any particular community see something old being brought back and think its new. No offence

that was an in character remark... Roy just gets seasick, it's not a very pleasant image for him to be sick above a town full of people meandering about their daily lives. even if the situation is dire (though why Roy would be one of the people needed, and so is put onto the airship, is beyond me)

 

[Uncray]

I miiiiss airships~ BRING BACK THE FLYING MACHINES

 

[Jaypate]

Airships and Air Balloons fall into 2 different catagories in the 4 main types of aircraft.

Hot air ballons rely on the air being heated up. Hot air is lighter than cold air thus it provides lift however it is very much at the mercy of the air currents as there are no ways of controlling its direction. As for HW we would not have the materials we use IRL to make the ballons thus they will be more prone to catching fire and very unpredictable due to altera's weather.

Airships however use light gasses such as Hydrogen or Helium to provide lift. However it could be possible to use the same method as Hot air balloons for lift. With the risk of fire of course. Airships are more controllable in the air through the use of engines that provide forward thrust. Now in altera we do not have this thus we could turn towards using sails to provide the forward thrust instead.

 

[Immerael]

Airships and Air Balloons fall into 2 different catagories in the 4 main types of aircraft.

Hot air ballons rely on the air being heated up. Hot air is lighter than cold air thus it provides lift however it is very much at the mercy of the air currents as there are no ways of controlling its direction. As for HW we would not have the materials we use IRL to make the ballons thus they will be more prone to catching fire and very unpredictable due to altera's weather.

Airships however use light gasses such as Hydrogen or Helium to provide lift. However it could be possible to use the same method as Hot air balloons for lift. With the risk of fire of course. Airships are more controllable in the air through the use of engines that provide forward thrust. Now in altera we do not have this thus we could turn towards using sails to provide the forward thrust instead.

Basically this is a problem we're trying to deal with on the drawing board. The biggest issue I see is actually gathering, storing and using the lighter than air gases in a medieval setting. It has come out that previous airships skirted this issue by not even addressing it but I'd prefer the new one live to higher standard both OOOC and IC.

Now there are airship engines from before and this isn't lore team logic just my personal feelings is those shouldn't be touched. They skirt too close to a steampunk feel and logically a working engine causes too many lore issues I feel with tech lock. The sails are an interesting idea I hadn't given a great deal of thought to. Biggest issue there is feasibly implement them into the design without compromising the air sac full of lighter than air materials. Still that would help a great deal with control and speed I imagine.

Honestly the whole thing is an interesting and fun logic puzzle to try and work out. Because of issues like those above.

 

[Jaypate]

We could always go with the heated gasses option, with the risk of fire of course, and I have a good idea as to how we can add sails safely without effecting the large ballons... But it is still very much at the mercy of the wind

 

[Centurion]

I'd imagine no matter what path you take or precautions in place, nothing less than Thaumaturgy will make an airship capable of sustained, safe flight again.

 

[Azur]

I'd imagine no matter what path you take or precautions in place, nothing less than Thaumaturgy will make an airship capable of sustained, safe flight again.

Fairly certain that was the point of removing them. You can have airships(apparently), but they definitely are not safe; likely they'd always be the kind of one-time flight ships, that have to undergo serious repairs after each flight- which realistically would be horribly expensive I'd imagine-

 

[Immerael]

We could always go with the heated gasses option, with the risk of fire of course, and I have a good idea as to how we can add sails safely without effecting the large ballons... But it is still very much at the mercy of the wind

Any attempt to get off the ground will result in possibly fiery fiery death. Though the balloon option may end up being the only recourse as Angry pointed out gathering gases is ....difficult. Though my biggest concern here is finding fuel that doesn't weigh a ton to lift the balloon. I'm not for sure as I haven't done research but don't modern hot air balloons stay afloat by burning natural gasses? If so our other options are wood, coal and maybe some supersized torch. Still worth checking out.

I'd be up for experimentation here, but there's one thing I think I need to point out with this plan, something you've already pointed out actually...

Gathering, storing, and using these lighter-than-air gases would be... impossible. Medieval folk had little, if any, understanding of things smaller than a grain of rice. I'm not even kidding here; some alchemists believed they could legitimately turn iron into silver, and silver into gold... I mean theoretically it is possible, but it requires fusion and fission technologies, which even modern humans are struggling with...
As for the gases, I found a link that might help you understand why this would not fit with the tech lock. LINK I don't know when the tech lock is actually set exactly, but I highly doubt that discoveries from the post-17th century would be accepted.

The reason that these previous issues have been skirted is because airships powered by anything other than magic or luck simply would not fit with the time lock. Sorry.


Steam Engines were invented in 1698, so you're right to feel they wouldn't fit well with the tech lock... but as I said, neither would anything else that could power an airship. Steam Engines would be less advanced than the technology required for processing out different elements from a gas, I should think.

Sails would be an interesting idea, but we'd still have the issue of buoyancy, that is to say lack-thereof... An airship with sails at this moment will basically just be a renamed ocean-faring vessel, and we've got plenty of them.

If I'm honest here, I think I'm starting to see the reason why they might have been removed in the first place. Just guess work here.

Angry you are a literal ball of sunshine, thank you for your constant optimism and support you have shown in this thread.

That said your points are valid and I have scratched my head several times on trying to make this work. My current idea is methane. Methane is lighter than air and naturally occurring in large enough quantities to be captured by an intrepid individual. If it discovered we can just attach air tight bags to the butts of cows and collect it that way in large quantities. (Not serious btw though they do produce an inordinate amount of methane) Its not ideal for this sort of venture given its not the lightest thing out there but its less of a reach than figuring out how to isolate helium.

Though as @Glados said I am actually inclined to believe that, thatmurgy will be the only recourse at the end of the day. With a piece of chalk and a lot of time to draw the necessary squiggly lines it can accomplish what is otherwise impossible or simply too large of stretch. I suppose an evocation mage might be capable of casting a spell to cause a long burning stationary fire which could make the balloons work but again. Magic.