Cinder Spires Airship Specs So Far

[Second Aristh]

I think it would be a good idea to have a place to list and discus important details of the airships in Cinder Spires, at least the ones we have at this point:

Unusual Ship Components

• Crystals (Lift Crystal and Core Crystal as well as trim crystals and weapon crystals for the cannons)- provides power for the ship and keeps it aloft.  Bigger crystal = More expensive as a general rule.  Some of the older and larger varieties of crystal are priceless.  These are typically all reserved for the Fleet.  The lift crystal is enclosed by the Haslett Cage.  Extreme maneuvers put a large degree of stress on the ship's timbers and may rip the lift crystal from the ship itself.
• Shroud - defensive energy field similar to a magnetic field that can be emitted to protect from energy weapons from other ships.  It is extremely costly for the Core crystal to keep in place for extended periods, and ripple fire (rapid fire shots in the same place) can wear down and penetrate the defense.
• Webbing - etheric analog for sails.  The webbing gets electrically charged by the crystals to help steer the ship.  This charge allows the webbing to interact with etheric currents in the atmosphere (aka aerosphere).  Webbing typically extends too far from the ship to be protected by the Shroud.  The powered webs attract mistmaws.
• Mundane Sails - Uses the wind to sail and has the added benefit of being quieter than steam powered engines.  They are not used by many airships anymore.
• Steam Engines - Steam powered motors commonly used for maneuvering when a ship cannot use its webbing for some reason.  The engines are loud.
• Plate Armor - Plates of brass and copper-shrouded steel used to protect some airships beyond their basic wood structure.
• Lifelines - A lifeline was a six-to-nine-foot length of heavy, braided line or leather with a clip on either end, and every man was required to have three of them on him when general quarters was sounded.  Used to anchor sailors to the ship while doing dramatic maneuvers in the air.
• Cannons - energy weapons similar to the gauntlets but on a larger scale.  Made of steel, brass, and copper and powered by crystals.  Sometimes not accurate at long ranges.

Types of Ships

• Battlecruiser - (e.g. Itasca) Larger vessel designed specifically to run down ships like Predator; uses multiple power cores and armor plating.
• Cortez-class Ship - (e.g. Auroran ship targeted by the Predator) Large merchant cruiser; has heavier guns and shroud than Predator.  Even though they are trading ships, they are usually well armed and have been known to carry an entire company of Marines.
• Destroyer Ship - (e.g. Predator, Captain Grimm's ship) small ship without armor plating and able to perform reliable diving attacks on other ships.  Smaller than a light cruiser.
• Battleship - Little is known; unable to perform an effective diving attack.
• Dreadnought - Little is known; unable to perform an effective diving attack.  The largest ship in the Fleet is named Dreadnought, so there may not be a Dreadnought class of ships.

This is what I have so far, but if you can think of something I missed please feel free to add it.

Edit:  added more information

[dimumurray]

Up to chapter 49 at the moment and the banter between Gwen and Journeyman gives a bit of insight into how the mechanics of airships and crystals work...

Y'know what would be awesome...if we could get an illustrated version of the MARK IV-D crystal manual! I love reading about technical steam-punk based thingamajigs!

[Quantus]

It was stated that the Webbing operation requires it to be charged with electricity (specifically, not just energy) to be able to catch the Ether like a sail, which is why they need to be energized by the core crystal. 

Also, I believe they said the reason some ships couldnt do Dives is that they were too massive and so it would rip the crystals out of their mountings to try to decelerate out of the dive. 

[Serack]

Crap, now I'm going to have to reread the book.  (I finished it in November)

It was stated that the Webbing operation requires it to be charged with electricity (specifically, not just energy) to be able to catch the Ether like a sail, which is why they need to be energized by the core crystal. 

Also, I believe they said the reason some ships couldnt do Dives is that they were too massive and so it would rip the crystals out of their mountings to try to decelerate out of the dive. 

Excellent observations.  From an Electrical Engineering PoV, it implies a voltage gradient in the air that the "webbing" has to be charged to generate force against, however, the force is transferred at the crystals judging by the mount observation. 

I had thought that the webbing gets an induced "current" that then gets channeled to and harnessed by the crystals to drive the ships.

Of course, induced current in a conductor is how AC motors generate torque period, but they don't require the conductor being acted upon to be pre-charged.

bagga now I've gotta review some of my notes from the Gwen/Journeyman scene too.

Edit:  Note to self, read the published version of chapter 28 and 49...

[Quantus]

Excellent observations.  From an Electrical Engineering PoV, it implies a voltage gradient in the air that the "webbing" has to be charged to generate force against, however, the force is transferred at the crystals judging by the mount observation. 

I had thought that the webbing gets an induced "current" that then gets channeled to and harnessed by the crystals to drive the ships.

I havent gotten to the scene with Journeymand and Gwen, but in the early scene where Brigit is musing about the ship's design she says:
"The more webbing one let out of the reel, the more etheric energy it could catch and the faster it would drive the ship forward.of course, the web had to be charged with electricity in order to function, so the airships were limited in teh amount of web they could charge by the strength of their power cores."

I took that to mean that the webbing's acted in all ways like a traditional sail, only that they were pushed on by 'etheric energy' instead of wind, and that all the cores did was provide the charge that allowed the etheric energy to act on the web and 'push' it, as if the etheric energy were essentiall a magnetic wind. However, looking back at the passage it would fit equally well with what you decribe, where the webbing is more of a funnel that gathers the energy and channels it into some other Drive system.  So far Ive only noticed  mention of Trim and Drive crystals in the context how fast they can climb and dive, but I dont recall a mention of a crystal providing the forward force, at least not yet. 

Of course, induced current in a conductor is how AC motors generate torque period, but they don't require the conductor being acted upon to be pre-charged.

Well, AC motors dont need something to start itonly because the current itself is constantly changing, it's one of the particular quirks of AC power.  In DC motors you need some starting torque to get the cycle operating, or it stalls out/locks up.  But that's a matter of starting a cycle.  I think the web function is more that the Etheric force goes right through the physical material, but it can pusha nd pull on the energy field that surrounds a charged web.

[Serack]

Of course, induced current in a conductor is how AC motors generate torque period, but they don't require the conductor being acted upon to be pre-charged.
Well, AC motors dont need something to start itonly because the current itself is constantly changing, it's one of the particular quirks of AC power.  In DC motors you need some starting torque to get the cycle operating, or it stalls out/locks up.  But that's a matter of starting a cycle. 

*blink blink* 

*desperately resists the urge to launch into a long post about motor theory*

OMG this is almost painful.

Blarg.  Here, I believe this website explains what you were trying to say about starting torque for different motor designs.

You may now go to your regularly scheduled fictional technology theorizing.

[Serack]

By the way, battleships and dreadnaughts are to ships like Itasca (I forget what class Itasca is) what Itasca is to Predator. 

[Quantus]

*blink blink* 

*desperately resists the urge to launch into a long post about motor theory*

OMG this is almost painful.

Blarg.  Here, I believe this website explains what you were trying to say about starting torque for different motor designs.

You may now go to your regularly scheduled fictional technology theorizing.

...sort of. That is single phase vs 3-phase power, but both are still AC induction motors.  I was harking back to the differences between Alternating and Direct Current in electric motors, thinking more int eh War of Currents era of things. 

[raidem]

Power cores get more efficient with age.  That was the hidden secret about the predator, her core is thousands of years old. 

Might be off on age, just made statement with recollection.

I think Itasca was a battlecruiser.  A very good battlecruiser.

[Lind]

I think Jim may have lifted the ship class naming conventions off of David Weber's Honor Harrington series (a sci-fi take on Horatio Hornblower as opposed to Jim's steam punk take).

In increasing order in size in that universe with a line break

Destroyer
Light Cruiser
Heavy Cruiser
Battlecruiser
----
Battleship
Dreadnought
Superdreadnought

Each ship class higher on the list is generally bigger, better armored, carries better weaponry, but also is slower than ships lower on the list.  Simply put in a stand up fight usually any 1 ship higher on the list can pound any 1 ship lower on the list (or several of them) into scrap... if they can come close enough to fight.

Ships before the break are often depending on need/availability/callousness, escorts, pickets, transports, or swarm use fodder.  Expect to frequently see these ships operating alone or in small groups and to be the sorts of ships we should see a lot of since those are good settings for adventure. 

Ships after the break are the so called "ships of the line", big mobile gun and armor platforms that will line up and blow the heck out of whatever they are attacking/is attacking them.  Expect to see individual ships in this class by themselves rarely but frequently see them enmasse in settings where the word fleet is used.

[Second Aristh]

Can we square this circle somehow?

(click to show/hide)

Behind the desk, in a case, were minature replicas of each and every airship in the Aetherium Fleet of Albion, from the mighty battleship Dreadnought, the size of Rowl, down to the tiniest destroyer, Energetic, no larger than Gwen's smallest finger.

Compare that to

(click to show/hide)

Grimm had read accounts of battleships and dreadnoughts that had attempted a dive, only to have their lift crystals tear themselves entirely free of the ship when attempting to arrest their descent too rapidly.

[Seidmadr]

Correct me if I'm wrong here...
But wasn't Dreadnaught mentioned as the name of Albion's largest Battleship, rather than as a class of it's own?

Also, Predator is mentioned as being Destroyer-sized, but in the very opening narrations it's described as explicitly not being a military ship. It lacks the armour of a military craft, for one thing.

[Quantus]

Can we square this circle somehow?

(click to show/hide)

Behind the desk, in a case, were minature replicas of each and every airship in the Aetherium Fleet of Albion, from the mighty battleship Dreadnought, the size of Rowl, down to the tiniest destroyer, Energetic, no larger than Gwen's smallest finger.

Compare that to

(click to show/hide)

Grimm had read accounts of battleships and dreadnoughts that had attempted a dive, only to have their lift crystals tear themselves entirely free of the ship when attempting to arrest their descent too rapidly.

My best guess would be that the mighty Battleship named Dreadnought was the original of a new design (and a flagship by the sound of it) and that afterward they started mass producing a new class of battleship based on it's design.

Correct me if I'm wrong here...
But wasn't Dreadnaught mentioned as the name of Albion's largest Battleship, rather than as a class of it's own?

Both, actually

Also, Predator is mentioned as being Destroyer-sized, but in the very opening narrations it's described as explicitly not being a military ship. It lacks the armour of a military craft, for one thing.

To be fair that may partly be an organizational distinction as much as a practical one.  Preddy is heavily armed and certainly a combat vessel, but still a civilian vessel rather than a military one (ie part of Fleet).  And the merchant ships of the pirate days were often at least as well armed as the military ships. 

[Lind]

Can we square this circle somehow?

(click to show/hide)

Behind the desk, in a case, were minature replicas of each and every airship in the Aetherium Fleet of Albion, from the mighty battleship Dreadnought, the size of Rowl, down to the tiniest destroyer, Energetic, no larger than Gwen's smallest finger.

Compare that to

(click to show/hide)

Grimm had read accounts of battleships and dreadnoughts that had attempted a dive, only to have their lift crystals tear themselves entirely free of the ship when attempting to arrest their descent too rapidly.

Another squaring possibility is that Albion has no active dreadnoughts with their fleet capping out at the battleship Dreadnought.  This leaves open several possibilities such as other spires may have active dreadnoughts, Albion's dreadnoughts may be mothballed and only brought out during war time because of maintenance costs, or that the crystal requirements for new dreadnaughts are so steep that they effectively become unreproducible relics (with Albion not having any at the moment).

[Seidmadr]

Also, Predator is mentioned as being Destroyer-sized, but in the very opening narrations it's described as explicitly not being a military ship. It lacks the armour of a military craft, for one thing.
To be fair that may partly be an organizational distinction as much as a practical one.  Preddy is heavily armed and certainly a combat vessel, but still a civilian vessel rather than a military one (ie part of Fleet).  And the merchant ships of the pirate days were often at least as well armed as the military ships.

I agree that merchantmen used to carry heavy armaments back during the golden age of piracy. But my point here is that all military vessels we see in the book are armoured. Predator isn't. The closest classification I can find for her is a Q-ship: A warship disguised as a merchantman, but carrying military-grade weaponry.