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Sexy Steampunk Babes - Chapter Fifty Seven (Rejected/Non-Canon/Draft)
🕑 Added 2024-12-14 11:22:58 +0000 UTC“They’re moving, ma’am,” the Majesty’s Orb-Officer announced, her voice steady and professional. “The Eyeglass confirms it.”
“Finally,” Tyana exhaled, her relief mingling with anticipation as she straightened in her command chair. “Direction?”
“Straight for us.”
“Of course they are.” The elven woman’s tone held a trace of irritation, but her orders were sharp and precise. “Tell Eyeglass to maintain distance and report any changes in their heading or speed. Then prepare the home fleet for deployment. I want all crew at ready stations immediately.”
She leaned back into her chair, her gaze sweeping across the bustling bridge as it erupted into a hive of activity. Officers called out commands, runners darted between stations, and the rhythmic hum of machinery filled the air as aether shifted in different directions through the pipes – it was a symphony of controlled chaos. More to the point, Tyana knew this scene was playing out across the capital’s fleet, each ship coming alive with purpose as the Orb-Officer transmitted her commands to each ship in turn.
Satisfied for the moment, she turned her attention to the horizon, her eyes narrowing as if trying to pierce through the distant haze to the unseen enemy that lurked beyond.
The past two weeks had been a test of both patience and resolve for all of them. For Tyana, Princess of Lindholm and admiral of its mighty fleet, the wait had been nothing short of excruciating.
Pirate fleets weren’t unusual. Pirate fleets with accompanying airship elements were.
Not least of all because it meant they weren’t pirates. Not with twelve airships. No, this was just another ploy by either the Lunites or Solites.
The only question that came up when they noticed it was who said ploy was aimed at?
Which was why they’d waited, allowing the enemy to gather. Certainly, most of her command staff were of the opinion that the fleet’s eventual destination was Lindholm itself, but neither Tyana or her mother were eager to make that theory a self-fulfilling prophecy by striking first.
There was, after all, every chance that the fleet’s true target was either a Solite or Lunite city – and that it was simply gathering where it was to bypass either side’s usual coastal defenses. As for pretending to be pirates? Well, it would hardly be the first time either side of the old Empire had chosen to cloak their atrocities behind the actions of ‘rogue elements’.
The gassing of Halmeshare leaps to mind, she thought.
An act of horror supposedly performed by a band of outlaws who stumbled across an old imperial weapons lab. Never mind that said massacre neatly paved the way for a Solite advance into Northern Penbelle.
And now it seems it’s our turn to suffer the predations of ‘bandits’, she thought. Either as a prelude to an invasion or some other ploy.
Part of her now lamented not striking first, while the fleet was still gathering its waterborne elements, but it was a passing thing. Her and her mother’s logic was sound. Had the fleet actually been intended for a destination on the old continent, then the threat would be dealt with without having to expend resources they might well need in the future.
After all, isn’t that the peak of strategy? To eliminate the enemy without fighting? She thought.
She didn’t know where she’d heard the phrase before, some half forgotten Imperial text from her mother’s library no doubt - but it seemed fitting in this case.
Now though, Tyana intended to meet them in the open water and crush them before they even glimpsed the capital’s spires.
And yet, that was exactly what troubled her.
Twelve ships, she thought grimly.
It wasn’t a small number - not by any stretch. Yet it was still dwarfed by the number of ships she had on hand. Even with parts of the Royal Fleet engaged in routine patrols, the capital fleet outnumbered the enemy nearly three times. Their superiority in firepower was unquestionable. A decisive victory for Lindholm was all-but assured.
And the enemy had to know that.
Likewise, the water-based fleet accompanying the airships gnawed at her curiosity. Those ships weren’t built for direct combat in the skies. Their only conceivable purpose was as troop transports, though if this was an invasion force, it likewise was too small.
And again, with too small a screen of airships, the capital fleet would have ample time to crush its opposing flight capable vessels before turning around and sinking the water-based ships with impunity. After all, even if her own fleet would intercept the enemy half-way between their current location and here, that was still hours of sailing time.
Her jaw tightened as her thoughts churned. There was too much she didn’t know here.
“Inform the Royal vassals of the ongoing threat,” she ordered, her tone sharp. “Order them to prepare for deployment over the capital. They’ll form the strategic reserve.”
“Ma’am,” an officer asked hesitantly, “do you think we’ll need them?”
“No,” she replied, her voice cool. “Which is why I want them ready. Someone’s playing a game here, and I don’t like it. Should the other shoe drop, I intend to be prepared.”
The officer saluted and hurried off, leaving Tyana to her thoughts. They flitted, briefly, to one particular vassal.
Perhaps it would be worth speaking with him after this battle was won?
If nothing else, she was curious as to what he’d done with the Jellyfish. It would also be interesting to meet the man who once upon a time had been a candidate for her hand in marriage. Her mother had been quite enthusiastic about the topic given his ‘genius’.
Tyana’s own interest had been a great deal cooler. Oh, she’d been fascinated and overjoyed by the man’s innovations. ‘Kraken-Slayer-Powder’ was… otherworldly in its potential applications. Especially when combined with similar principles from the Spell-Bolt he’d created.
As the admiral of the fleet, Tyana was very interested in William Ashfield. Tyana the woman however, was ambivalent. As she always was when it came to the fairer sex. Oh, she liked a saucy lad as much as any naval woman, but her true consort was at the end of the day her career and fleet.
Marriage… just didn’t hold much appeal.
Which was why she’d been more than a little relieved when the topic of her upcoming nuptials suddenly disappeared entirely from conversation but a few months ago. With the same holding true for her sisters.
That, more than anything, had made her curious. Not enough to seek the man out herself, and risk the possibility of the topic of marriage reviving itself, but curious enough that she could… meet him coincidentally.
Under a different guise, that of a woman staking out a possibility asset to the fleet rather than a husband, she could admit to being very interested in meeting William Redwater.
“Radios operational?” she asked softly, though she already knew the answer.
The Radio-Officer stood to her right - a new and temporary role - responded with a crisp salute.
Though it felt stilted.
…Off.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Likely because the woman behind her was no true navy woman. The role of radio-officer, for now, was being filled by vetted palace staff, trained in absolute secrecy.
Eventually, once the system was fully unveiled, their duties would be absorbed into the Orb-Officer’s responsibilities. For now, however, their work remained a closely guarded secret. Looking over at the non-descript woman, Tyana allowed herself a moment of disdain. These women were undoubtedly part of her mother’s extensive intelligence network.
Spies, she thought with distaste. And I invited them onboard.
And it was entirely possible this woman wasn’t even of noble lineage. As effective as the Royal Guard were, their numbers were limited, necessitating her mother’s web of informants be made up of both ‘regular’ mages and even commoners.
“Do you intend to use the radios in the coming fight, ma’am?” the officer asked.
“No,” Tyana replied with perhaps a bit more briskness than was strictly necessary. “I’d prefer to save the unveiling of that capability for a real battle. Still, better to be prepared.”
The officer nodded silently and returned to her post with another salute.
“All stations reporting ready,” the Orb-Officer – an actual officer - called out. “Eyeglass reports enemy fleet maintains its course.”
Tyana nodded firmly. “Set heading for intercept. All fleet elements, full speed ahead.”
As the ship surged forward, and her orders rippled through the fleet like a wave, she tried to ignore the uneasy weight in her stomach. The nagging sense that something wasn’t quite right persisted.
But there was little else she could do now except keep her eyes open and her mind sharp.
It was all anyone could do.
-------------------------
"Don’t like this. Don’t like this one bit," Kanna, pirate queen of the southern shores, muttered miserably from her position on the forecastle, her sharp eyes fixed on the Lindholmian airship that had been trailing them for days now.
…The Lunites had made no attempts to chase it off either. Not that they’d succeed. Even from this distance, she could tell the picket ship wasn’t a scrapper. It was built for speed.
And spying.
Her second-in-command, ever the pragmatist, snorted. "So you keep telling me. And yet you still took the gold."
"Under duress," Kanna grumbled, her grip tightening on the railing.
It wasn’t as if she’d had much choice in the matter. Not after twelve airships dropped out of the clouds, their massive hulls bristling with weaponry and all too ready to sink anyone fool enough to run.
"Relax," the second-in-command scoffed. "Airships’ll focus on other airships. And while they’re busy with each other, we slip through the cracks, hit the capital, stir up as much shit as possible, and we’re gone. With all the loot we can carry and and a bunch of reward money in the hold to boot. Easy."
Kanna rolled her eyes. Easy was not how she’d describe things.
Still, the plan wasn’t bad per se.
In her limited experience, airship combat was an entirely different beast to true-blue naval combat. Mostly because it took place in the sky. Being able to fight in three dimensions changed things considerably. For one thing, formations could now overlap their fields of fire a lot more easily without worrying about another ship getting in the way.
Sure, firing up and down got a little more complicated, what with the need to tilt the ship, but that was what harnesses were for.
To that end, airships didn’t spread out the way sea fleets did. They didn’t form lines. They formed arrows. Giant floating arrows that were designed to punch through the center of the enemy formation before moving on to either side for a defeat in detail.
Or at least, that was the general idea. Kana was sure there were a lot more specifics and variations on the theme than that, but on those occasions in which she’d been speaking to women who happened to crew airships, she’d been less interested in their vocation and more the contents of their undergarments.
Point was, airships were at their most effective when grouped together. Like a clenched fist. Which theoretically meant the enemy admiral wouldn’t be splitting off ships to hunt down dozens of smaller water-based ships until the main threat from the Lunite airship fleet was dealt with.
And even if she did dispatch a few ships, they’d only be able to pick off one group at a time. The majority would be safe.
In theory.
Kanna didn’t much care for theory. She cared even less for the idea of being caught alone by an airship with no support around to hide behind. A few heavy rounds from above, and being the best sailor in the world wouldn’t save you.
She sighed, leaning on the railing.
Fucking airships.
"Got protection, too," her second added, gesturing skyward. "Lunites have us covered."
Kanna grimaced, her eyes narrowing at the low-hovering fleet above. The Lunite airships were maintaining a mere hundred meters of altitude above the water.
Which, again, made no sense.
Sure, outwardly, it looked like they were shielding the pirates’ wooden vessels from the incoming fleet, but that was a stupid move even by her reckoning. Altitude mattered in a fight. Ignoring cannons and shit, it was why a water-based ship was little more than a sitting duck to an airship.
It was easier to drop shit from on high than throw shit upwards. Likewise, it was easier to lob shit further when you were already high up.
In short, an airship wanted to be as high up as its aether chambers allowed for.
Yet that wasn’t what the Lunites were doing.
And they were still doing hours later when the Lindholmian fleet turned from indistinct flecks in the sky into looming behemoths of metal and aether. Shards buzzed around the larger ships like flies on cattle. And unlike the Lunites, they held the high ground - if such a term could be applied to the sky.
It would have actually been a little amusing if her own life wasn’t a stake in the fight to come, how the Lindholmian fleet seemed to hesitate at the sight of the Lunites hovering so low. It was a momentary thing, barely more than the time it took for them to rearrange their formation, but Kanna imagined she saw it all the same.
Then they dove – like a hawk onto a grounded pigeon – the fleet started to descend.
Not descending, they’re just closing the range, Kanna realized.
From this distance, Kanna could already predict where they’d stop - around three hundred meters up. Two hundred meters was the effective range for enchanted cannon fire against steel hulled craft after all.
In other words, the enemy fleet was descending just low enough to rain fire down on their foes with impunity.
Not that that was her main focus. No, that was on the six ships that broke off from the Lindhomian formation, descending faster than the others, they peeled away from the coming airship clash as they headed straight for the pirate fleet.
“Six!? You sent six!?” she cursed at the distant fleet. “Was your brother buggered by a pirate or something!?”
One or two would have been eminently survivable, but six ships would cut through the fifty sea-based vessels with ease. Even if they were spread out. There were hours of sailing ahead after all – and for every moment of it, those six would be picking ships off, one by one.
Cursing herself for a fool for being roped into this, she clenched her fists as the Lunites finally began to make their own move – by accelerating toward the heart of the Lindholmian formation.
Madness.
They’d be climbing from below, taking fire all the while from the bigger fleet, their return fire dulled by the power of gravity. Kanna would eat her hat if more than one or two actually managed to clash with the formation in earnest. More to the point, Kanna could see the enemy repositioning already, adjusting their lines to counter the Lunites’ gambit by moving the heavier ships down.
Shards darted forward to clash between the two fleets, lines of tracers stitching across the skies while metal behemoths from both sides continued to advance on each other.
“What? What do you have planned?” Kanna muttered as she continued to watch, eyes occasionally flitting towards the other six ships.
She scanned the horizon for answers, searching for a sign, a clue as to the Lunites plans. Would it be magic? A weapon from the old empire? Did the Lunite fleet have mithril hulls under that paint? Did they happen to have a few tame dragons hiding in the clouds?
That was when the lookout’s voice cracked the tense silence. "Kraken!"
Of course, Kanna wanted to laugh. As if the situation wasn’t shitty enough already, a Kraken had decided to show up. She’d thought they’d all been scared off by the Lindholmian’s extermination campaign, but apparently they could resist the allure brought on by so many airships flying over water.
Yet, as she looked in the direction the woman in the crow’s nest was pointing, she found it wasn’t a kraken.
Not unless they’ve started developing metal hulls, she thought as she brought her eye-glass up.
It was a ship.
No, an airship, she realized.
It rose from the sea like some kind of angular steel whale, trailing water and seaweed as it did, its hull was encrusted with barnacles and light rust.
It was an absurd sight.
Made all the more so by the fact that it wasn’t alone.
“Two- No, seven. Twelve!” she hissed.
Twelve more airships followed, breaching from the water one by one, their hulking forms shimmering with aetheric light as they ascended into the sky – and Kanna’s breath caught in her throat as she realized their trajectory—straight toward the exposed underbelly of the Lindholmian fleet.
“That was why they were so low,” she mumbled numbly as the ships advanced as fast as their propellers and aether-ballasts could propel them. “To force the enemy to come low enough that they’d be caught off guard by… these things.”
She saw it. The shock on the part of the Lindholmian forces as the enemy force doubled - and they found themselves pincered between them. Already locked on the Lunites fleet that had been advancing towards them, they had no time to react as the second fleet advanced into the underside of their formation. Worse yet, said formation started to break as those captains closest to the newcomers tried to turn to face the new threat, throwing the whole fleet into disorder.
Now, it was the Lindholmians who were trapped – and their superior numbers were now entirely out of position to be used effectively. In fact, they were a detriment as the formation continued to collapse.
That was when the submersibles started launching their own shards.
------------------------------------------
Her tribe hollered as the Blood-Oath surged to the surface, water cascading off his barnacle-encrusted hull. Sunlight pierced through the magically reinforced windows of the bridge, flooding the space with warmth and clarity. The glass, a masterpiece of craftsmanship, was the result of days of work by skilled mages layering enchantments to withstand the crushing weight of the ocean’s depths.
When submerged, these windows were the only means of seeing outside, and even now, above the waves, they remained the sole vantage point. The rest of the ship was sealed tight, every hatch and port closed to keep the elements at bay.
For now.
"Make ready for air combat!" the captain bellowed into the ship’s internal comm system. The command echoed through the corridors, sparking a flurry of activity among the crew.
The ship’s transformation had been an arduous process, months of reinforcement both mundane and magical to make the vessel seaworthy. But while those modifications had allowed it to dive into the depths, they were less than ideal for aerial combat. Every gun port, every gap designed for weapons, had been fused shut, the metal molded seamlessly until no trace of a seam remained.
But what magic could seal, it could also unseal - and quickly.
All it took was a single thought: hole. The same arcane techniques used to shape metal were now used to create holes. Gun-holes. And unlike the precise work required to shape a cannon or blade, this task required no finesse, only raw intention.
Indeed, Saboteurs often used similar techniques to breach walls and bulkheads when boarding ships - though the method had limits. The larger or more complex the hole, the greater the drain on the user’s magical reserves. A breach larger than a few meters in diameter was almost unthinkable without a few minutes of uninterrupted thought.
Not something often found during a boarding action.
And not easily found here either, as their ship continued to climb up towards the hated invaders. Fortunately, a few dozen gunports were quite easy with the entire tribe’s spellcasters at work.
Metal fell away in sheets, revealing the madness of the outside world to those beyond the bridge. The battlefield was chaos. The invader’s fleet, once so disciplined, was now caught in a deadly pincer. As the Blood-Oath and her accompanying elven-crewed submersibles rose like specters behind them, the Lunite main fleet bore down from the front.
Ships peeled out of formation, some pivoting to face the new threat while others stubbornly maintained their original course. To an untrained eye, the scene might have looked sloppy, but that wasn’t strictly fair. Communication between vessels relied on enchanted orbs, which could only connect to one ship at a time. As a result, each captain was being forced to act independently, making judgment calls in the heat of battle, until they received their admiral’s new orders.
And for many, the submersible fleet was now the more immediate threat. Especially as the other vessels launched their shard complements.
The altimeter ticked upward. One hundred meters. Soon.
The captain listened for the confirmation that weapons were now fully ready. She could still hear, the soft tinkle of metal plating falling as the last of the gun ports unsealed themselves, revealing the ship’s hidden arsenal. Likewise, she heard and felt the first clangs of rounds slamming into the armored hull before exploding into fireballs or cascading webs of lightning.
The armor held though. For now.
“Cannons ready,” came the report from her second at last.
The crew moved with precision, their months of training coming to bear as they grew closer and closer to effective range.
Less than a minute now.
“Concentrate fire on the carrack to our left and the frigate to our right,” the captain ordered, her tone icy with resolve as the bridge crew set about relaying her orders. “Fire on my mark.”
For a moment, it seemed the entire world held its breath as they drew abreast of the first Lindholmian ships.
“Fire.”
Comments
Basil Harpham
Where's chapter 56??
MarakEvans
And the refreshing begins
Blue Fishcake
Beta readers have it and it's now twice as long as the original.
Conrad34xdsa
https://youtu.be/DykZEOV5wD4?si=Bh2ZUheiAlRTXEv9
MarakEvans
Synopsis: If Day: Will Chapter: Yes Lol
MarakEvans
Remember the other Non-Cannon Chapter? 19? In another universe, there was a noobtube war. What if it was shotguns instead? BEHOLD, the Alof. https://youtube.com/shorts/ci_9d32cXvM?si=14kzdNuodpapnyt0
Found&Lost
It's also potentially stupid. If the enemy keeps their nerve they invite defeat in detail AND in a tactically disadvantageous position. Flanking the enemy is awesome, but these don't seem to be turreted ships. They can fire out of each broadside and have the height advantage.
Trevayne
Thanks for keeping us informed.
Found&Lost
Damnit
Blue Fishcake
Should be either Saturday or Sunday.
Random Information
No. A plan by Lunites -> A Lunitic plan.
Spintool
Ludacris*
Conrad34xdsa
So Blue just for clarification sake. Will this rewrite Contain a better version of this battle or will it be like chapter 18 where you were fixing a pacing/escalation issue and adding an extra chapter to bridge the gap? Also, Will we get a chapter this Friday or Saturday? A one word synopsis of the plot of the next chapter would be appreciated. Good luck with the rewrite.
Random Information
I can see the problem with the chapter: the enemy plan is Lunitic.
Dancingrage
Hm. I can see how this would pose problems right out the gate. Like we missed a few things between the last chapter and this one, even though there was one, maybe two tiny hints this was coming. The perils of writing to a schedule like you do is occasionally you run into moments where you start an idea and realize halfway in that it's just not gonna work, but the muse has you by the hair and you gotta finish at least to a certain point. That said, it's a good snip, and I think it could, in some form, make a return with better timing and some planning.
Conrad34xdsa
I was thinking the same thing. I was wondering if it was also in reference to the kraken shells that are already in circulation. Either way, it’s good to see the royals aren’t as stagnant as the Blackstones say the elves are. I hope that this Idea is refined and expanded on in the “Cannon” chapter.
Marius Petrauskas
nice
Blue Fishcake
Nope. Gambeson is the armor of choice at this point in time.
Lanze
Hey Blue, any characters this would be a good ref for? https://www.reddit.com/r/ImpracticalArmour/comments/1hf4dt5/what_do_you_think/
Trevayne
I agree they can damage subs if they get close enough. However, they have no means of doing that. Not only do they have no means of detecting submerged subs aside from looking down from an airship or shard at shallow subs in transparent water, they have no hydrostatic fuses to detonate the "depth charge" at the correct depth.
Trevayne
Yes, it is the Solites who were going to wait until the RN and Blackstone forces chewed each other up in the Civil War and then New Haven, with Solite support, was going to backstab Blackstone and then finish off the Royals. The interesting question is whether the Lunites were aware of this and deliberately chose to attack now or if they weren't aware and the gambit pileup is an accident.
Trevayne
Fair enough. My interpretation is torn. Reading the story, I get the impression that the RN is losing because of mentions like indecision and ships breaking formation. At the same time, I see a force of 12 ships that is emerging from the water under a group of six ships that was preparing to wreck a group of surface ships, so all their downward facing weapons and bombs are ready. Given that, it is hard to see how the RN loses this one.
Business Casual
The Krakenslayers are still SEA MINES at the end of the day. They would definitely still work on subs, they just would attract said subs to them.
Moonlightwind
I think the draw back to this plan by the Lunites is that unless they wipe them completely with no survivors. Their technology and strategy is leaked and any lost ships are lost cores. That’s not the case for Lindholm, even using the radio it will be completely unclear how they achieved the superior communication, and the cores they lose they can likely retrieve. Granted airship hulls are not cheap or easy to reproduce, but as has been said many a time, the core is what is irreplaceable. I thought it was an interesting chapter but I can see how it might cause narrative problems one way or another depending on what Blue is planning.
Richard Anderson
What you say is true, but thinking in those terms takes a reader out of the story and into the editing office. But as a would be writer of course my logical brain tries to write the battle to suit my narrative. As an ex-navy submarine crew member fantasizing that the 637 class boat I was on taking wing is funny.
Trevayne
IIRC when Stan Lee was asked who would win in a fight between Superman and Batman, his answer was it was up to how the writer wanted the story to go. I could easily results from the described situation leading to a significant win for either side. If the RN keeps its head, the lower force may get pounded, but they can drop bombs on all the surfacing airships and shoot them up while they are trying to build velocity. The RN still has an edge in that they have more ships and an altitude advantage on both forces. That said, if the author wants the battle to go the other way, they could hesitate and lose ships while deciding on an action. At a guess, that is what this chapter suggests, because some of the RN ships are described as breaking formation.
Richard Anderson
It was not a bad chapter, I am interested in how the battle would go once the princess used the radio to issue orders.
Random Information
I think there are two different foreign countries.
Carlos Torres
Wait I'm confused, the Lunites are going to invade now? Not during the civil war?
Hector Haddow
So good, can't wait to see the actual chapter
Trevayne
This was a good update even if it isn't going to be canon. That said, I strongly suspect something like it will be canon, even if it is in the background. Maybe the next chapter shows the Queen hearing about the battle's results and asking to talk to Blackstone. Eleanore Blackstone is going to have an interesting decision to make. I am pretty sure she does not want the Solites or Lunites to conquer Lindholm. She may dislike the Queen and her policies, but is she willing to face the Solites or Lunites by herself because she let them take out the Royal Navy? The Duchess of New Haven also has an interesting decision to make. Does she support the RN against the Lunites? It would make sense since she is a supporter of the Solite Empress and the Lunites are the Solites hereditary enemies.
Trevayne
I agree it seems a bit rushed, but it was certainly foreshadowed by the end of the last chapter when Kanna's Lunite employers told her that it was now time to act.
Trevayne
She is getting there, or it could be that she is thinking about using an enlarged spell-bolt to project a krakenslayer explosive charge at the target. It is not clear if she has grasped the idea of using the explosive powder as a propellant as well as a warhead.
Trevayne
Probably, especially since it looks like this opening battle was expected to inflict serious losses on the Royal Navy. Although the exact numbers are not given for the Lindholmian Royal Navy, it looks like at least 30+ ships. IIRC they had about 36 and some are on detached missions/patrols. We know the opposing numbers are twelve airships (so if the RN has nearly 3-1, it must have at least 30+ ships present). To this, they add 12-13 sub-airships. The RN still has superior numbers and position, except for their six airship detachment that is about to get pincered. However, if those six airships react fast enough, they could still do a lot of damage to the emerging sub-airships. Those have to be moving slowly because they can't manage airship speeds moving through water because the water is much denser. Their slow speed means they are easy targets for the bombs and downward-firing guns that the six RN airships were going to use on the pirate seagoing ships. Whether they react fast enough is all up to the author.
MarakEvans
No cannon? Did we move it to another gun port? Couldn't we just cut another hole with magic? Lol, it was a fun read. Looking forward to the real thing.
Trevayne
The first issue is that the Lunites can not submerge again. Those hasty gun ports can not be easily sealed. All these airship-subs are now just airships. The original orc version had no functioning gun ports and per its commander, could not have them. Effectively these Lunite flying subs are built for a single underwater voyage and then to operate as airships. They need a refit to submerge again (at least if they have any intention of not just sinking). In addition, the Krakenslayers can't be used as depth charges because there is no way to detect the subs while submerged. They worked against Krakens because the mermaid chum, led the Krakens to try to swallow them. The subs aren't going to do that. The main reason they can't be used against these airship-subs is because they will never submerge again, at least not until after the conquest of Lindholm. If that happens, I could see them getting refitted as sub-airships again for a similar gambit against the Solites.
John
so, even if this is not canon, i am assuming that something will happen to the lindholm loyalist forces. sounds like the civil war will be a close one, even with william's otherwordly help
Trevayne
Very interesting chapter, but I do see some weaknesses. Why would any airship have an undefended belly? Presumably, that is where the guns and bombs intended for use against ground targets go. It is very good to actually see some airship combat, but the description doesn't fit the ships. From the very beginning, they were described as resembling flying versions of US Civil War ironclads. Unless they are monitors and I don't remember any references to turrets, that means the majority of the guns are on the broadside. There is just more room to put them there and limited room at the bow or stern of a basically cylindrical ship. Unless these airships look like Star Destroyers from Star Wars, most of the guns point out the side. That means they should be using line of battle tactics like sailing ships. Granted, unlike sailing ships, they operate in three dimensions, so instead of a line of battle, think of it was a wall of battle. Say three lines of twelve ships each or four of nine making up a 36 ship fleet. The lines are stacked vertically, making up a wall of battle. The problem with wedges is that if the most of the guns are pointing to the side, the wedge reduces the number of guns pointing at the enemy. Lines and walls make more sense for ships that resemble civil war ironclads. Now there can be a time to break the rules. Nelson did it at Trafalgar, when he approached the Franco-Spanish line of battle in two lines charging directly at them. It worked because the opposing fleet was not well trained and their gunners could not disable the leading British ships before they reached the Francop-Spanish line. He would have lost if he had been facing a fleet as well trained as his own.
Admiralthrawnbar
One thing I do find curious, that I kinda assume will remain through the rewrite, is that the princess basically already has the concept of a gun figured out. She's already talking about merging "kraken-slayer-powder" with a spell-bolt
Matt Bradock
I mean, a Kraken Slayer would indeed make hell of a depth charge :D
Baron Von Mott
Oh? Then I look forward to what you've got planned! 😁👍
Blue Fishcake
I've never seen someone be so confident - and still so wrong :D
Conor lennon
Yeah I can kinda see why you may have disliked this chapter. It felt like a rush into a battle and made we wonder if I had missed a chapter. Still alright but yeah I agree some rewriting may be best.
Baron Von Mott
As awesome as it is to finally be getting an airship battle, you'll forgive me if this situation suddenly looks extremely predictable: > Lindholm ships will employ radios to co-ordinate retreat and minimise losses. > Also use radio to call in Home Fleet to reinforce, much faster than usual. > Lunites will submerge again to escape superior numbers. > Deployment of Kraken-Slayers will take them by suprise and tear their new subs apart. > Orc ship will get cornered and surrender intact, ultimately drawing William's attention to the Orc rebels and their ideas. > Lunites left wondering how tf Lindholm already had a counter for a tactic that's only just been invented.
Bas van Lissum
Good chapter, really looking forward to see what you are looking for instead, blue!
Matt Bradock
Now I'm even more curious about the better idea you had.
