Shireroth

I tend to over-think things, obsessing over every detail and possiblity, even in a fictional idea where you don't have to explain every little thing. This is one such example of how I carry out an idea. If this is too long for you, the main idea is that I'm making airships and airhelis, with a unique approach on the method to suspend airships.The technology of Gong Li is nowhere near adequate, and forcing to modernize quickly would hurt the existing populace, possibly damaging the culture with an influx of more competant forgein workers that would pick up the slack. I've decided to use a mild blend of magic and technology to advance. So, I took advantage of an interesting material located in the Devil's teeth, a jagged mountain range in the southwest of the island.This material is a stone. No, a lodestone. And no ordinary lodestone, either. It has properties similar to obsidian, and when mined, breaks off in chips no bigger than a thimble. It functions like a lodestone when carried, weighing far more than it should. However, if left in it's enviroment, it draws regular stone and dirt around it, forming a grey sphere about the sixe of two fists on average. The gravity based magic distributes itself along the stone, destroying the obsidian fleck in the process. It weighs as much as a the material it absorbs, and it as tough as the material it absorbs. The magical properties are probably concentrated on holding the stone together. Interestingly, it doesn't affect the density, which is surprising, given the force it exerts.Thus, breaking it cleanly in half is not too much a problem, since it is made of fine (but hard) particles. Me and my researchers tempted to figure out what would happen if you sanded off the individual particles, but there is a possiblity it might just shoot out at us, ripping apart our flesh. Having said that, I'm tempering with the laws of gravity, and possibly space/time, by doing this. But I digress. Splitting the lodesphere in half causes a perfectly smooth side to develop on both halves, which exert tremendous gravitic force, defying the Earth itself, if need be. Fortunately, I was not there when the first experiment took place. May the gods of whomever they prayed for grant them peace. Anyhow, the next time, we created a special container (needless to say, we had to use powerful runes to seal the stones) for both halves, sealing them. I realized that the stones didn't exert just force, but the actual magic of gravity itself. So, with help, I devised a way to channel the magic. It's fairly simple. With the proper runes in place, you don't need any runes for the conduits, just have them attached to the stones. The strength of the conduits (how much they can take, since the stones can generate massive force if necessary) seems to depend on the electric conductivity of the metal, interestingly. Both stones had to be near each other in order for them to work. The magic is drawn from inbetween the halves. Two different halves don't work.After trial and error, I managed to map the necessary location of lodestones for the shape of nearly any object. Each lodestone is connected to one or more others by the conduits. Since it generates force outside the ship, they must be along the edges of the inside of the hull. You can have a center support for failed lodestones, located in the center of the hull, in case other lodestones fail. The force is a thin field of gravity energy. Thus, it can repel againt gravity, raising or lowering the ship as you adjust the strength. If you have a full hull (ie. a hull that doesn't have a deck like traditional ships), you can even increase the gravity of a ship, to lower it quickly. It doesn't generate much stress on the hull, but regular laws of physics affect it, besides gravity. It isn't capable of steering a ship or propelling it, beyond anchoring it, or anchoring certain points (which works great for quick turns). Even that requires an amount of control over the conduits our technology is currently unable to do. That reminds me, the way we control conduits is a series of tiny magical charges, which work like binary code. These raise, lower, and alter the strength of the field in different areas. As time goes on, more complex commands will develop. Our current idea on how to propel the ship is to create very fine fields of gravity in a tube, pulling in air and pushing it out the other side, like a turbine engine. If I'm lucky, the force of this could create that awesome flaming jet effect as it burns pure oxygen due to friction. For now, we rely on conventional means.My current invention isn't actually an airship. I decided to start of simple, and find a way to build a helicopter of sorts. It was reletively easy, at least after watching the FFXII demo (I am Square Enix's bitch T_T). I realized that, if the downward force was extended, you could tilt it so that the force pusing it up is really pushing it diagonally. So unlike propelling it, it more like slides down a path. Creating a "blade" extending down off the cockpit (again, partially ripped from Square Enix. At least the propellant method is original), it would be a good place to put a ring that floated around the blade. A lodestone in the middle of the ring, along with the primary in the cockpit, and the secondary in the upper part of the blade would transfer the force in the area inbetween the ring and the blade, pushing it away from the ground in a flat direction, rather than relying on the tip of the blade for the field. There, you can alter the strength of the field to tilt the VMA (Vertical Movement Airship, since there are no helipcopters in Gong Li, and it wouldn't technically be correct if I did call it that), so it can move forward and backward. Landing was an interesting problem. The back end of the cockpit is mostly empty, as it houses the attachment to the blade. By pulling the blade back, you can land the VMA on the flat bottom of the cockpit, using the two "kickstands" on the end of the blade that go diagonally to prevent tipping. Since the VMA in only dependant on moving forward and backward with the ring, you can create a field on the bottom of the VMA's cockpit to start the lift off. Currently, I have no armaments for the VMA, but is primarily a military airship, and has no capacity for transport or the like, as it's too small. It could function as a recon unit, but it doesn't move very quickly, not until we find an additional propelling method. It has room comfortably for one pilot, and, if you really need it for some reason, a second set can be placed (the controls and readouts are reletively simple, unlike a real helicopter). Note that any airship can hover, but the VMA has unmatched manuverability.And now, my horrible drawing. I think it's functional, at least. And I make up for it with my writing.Soon, I'll develop actual airship designs, simple propeller driven ones at first. Normally, I would ask someone else to draw these things, but I know it won't come out the same way I'm thinking of it. --- The first step is admitting I have a problem.

Tre Nifty. I don't know if the military could actually use this, but it's very awesome. There are no flowers, no not this time. There will be no angels gracing the lines, just these stark words I find.

Currently, the refining process is very slow. But it will improve with time.Designing something the military can use will be difficult, but I'll get there. I'm going to experiment with prop based ideas and simple transports for now.I've been having a talk on IRC with Fax, and I have many new ideas on control methods, applications, and so on. We also discussed the fundementals of the lodestones themselves. I would love input from anyone, even if it is art criticism. In fact, especially art tips. --- The first step is admitting I have a problem.Edited by: Rarkasha  at: 12/3/05 23:33

Why not attach sensors to the lodestones that detect gravity fields, and if they fail, it deploys a parachute or two as a backup? There are no flowers, no not this time. There will be no angels gracing the lines, just these stark words I find.

That would work for the VMA, but other ships might be too large for that to be feasible. --- The first step is admitting I have a problem.

For the larger ones, why not have multiple parachute deployment systems across it? There are no flowers, no not this time. There will be no angels gracing the lines, just these stark words I find.

For the size I'm thinking of, the amount of material needed would be rediculous. It'd be like attaching parachutes to buildings or even skscrapers.I imagine that something that could cause total systematic failure would either be a)weapons that either shred the entire hull apart, or take it out with precision attacks, or b)use a strong magic altering or negating field. Otherwise, you could probably find some way to lower it. Still parachute systems might come in handy. --- The first step is admitting I have a problem.

Oh, I didn't think you were planning THAT big... There are no flowers, no not this time. There will be no angels gracing the lines, just these stark words I find.

Megalomania usually does that to a person. --- The first step is admitting I have a problem.

Rarkasha, you rock. There are no flowers, no not this time. There will be no angels gracing the lines, just these stark words I find. Edited by: AngelGuardian93  at: 12/5/05 21:30

I've been too busy to draw schematics, and I can't tell you everything just on words alone. However, I thought I'd let you guys know I haven't stoppped in the slightest. So far, I have designs for a tank-like, heavily armed and armoured VMA, a simple 12-18 man armoured transport, two fighters designs, a bomber design, a medium sized civilian luxury liner, a medium sized cargo/passenger ship, a huge (as in, as tall as the Titanic, including the smokestacks, and twice, maybe three times as wide) cargo ship, with the all too necessary lifter ships (because you'd have to build specially designed, large docks for this ship), and I'm thinking up a battleship design as I speak. Of course, like I said earlier, I'm a megalomaniac, so said battleship is a mix between a Star Destroyer an a Hiigaran Battleship from Homeworld 2, so it would have about as much firepower as several thousand men... so I'll stick to cruiser, destroyer, and frigate designs for now, once I can think of few good ones.Also, I've been delving into mixing guns and magic for awhile. Obviously, you can anything rapidfire with magic, it just would be too expensive and time consuming. But magic has many specialized applications, such as immobalizing, tracking, and puncturing entrenched positions. And of course, every sniper's dream: a bullet that generates a field of sound suppressing. Next to an illusion bullet that made it look like than was still alive and doing whatever he had been doing for the next hour until it was too late anyways...anyways...Oh yeah! I also made a modifcation to the VMA that I'm too lazy to draw right now. Instead of a door, it has a hatch on the top of the ship. Not only does this allow for things (weapons) to be placed on both sides of the VMA, it also allows for a simple VMA carrier: one that holds them in place on the bottom of the ship, so that the bottom of the ship is closest to the entry hatch. --- The first step is admitting I have a problem.

Interesting. Maybe I could offer you a position as the head of JASO? You seem to be allright with designs. There are no flowers, no not this time. There will be no angels gracing the lines, just these stark words I find.

I dunno... I'd probably end up taking over the moon, or something.And my designs are strictly functional. No detail or anything... just getting the general shape across. I'll tinker around a little bit, and see if I get any better. --- The first step is admitting I have a problem.

Still, I might make you. :P There are no flowers, no not this time. There will be no angels gracing the lines, just these stark words I find.

Ahem. I'm just a lowly denizen as of yet, but I was thinking about possibly venturing into this line of work. Our similarities in thinking are interesting. Baybe when I am instated as a normal citizen we could bounce design and technology ideas off each other.Oh, and if you wanted to take your design illustrations further than MS Paint but didn't have the time to do it yourself, I might be able to help in that regard as well. "It's easy to forget what a sin is in the middle of a battlefield." opposite over hypotenuse dipshitEdited by: AceKicker at: 12/15/05 8:41

just seen your sig, acelove it! Edited by: david northworthy beckford at: 12/16/05 3:43

Well, it'll be hard for me to describe it and have it come out the way I'm thinking it, but you can certainly help draw a more detailed version. And hey, if you have your own ideas, go ahead.Oh, and reach me on AIM sometime, especially if you have any questions on the tech. --- The first step is admitting I have a problem.

Exccccelent.... everything is proceeding as I have forseen. There are no flowers, no not this time. There will be no angels gracing the lines, just these stark words I find.

Even the part where I-...Oh, wait, you probably wouldn't like it >.> --- The first step is admitting I have a problem.

Don't be afraid... There are no flowers, no not this time. There will be no angels gracing the lines, just these stark words I find.

it isn't "I can't draw for beans", it's "I can't draw for toffee"speak english boy!j/k

That would be the general idea. I would just elaborate on the basic designs you have. "It's easy to forget what a sin is in the middle of a battlefield." opposite over hypotenuse dipshit

Biscuit or cookie? There are no flowers, no not this time. There will be no angels gracing the lines, just these stark words I find.