Airship Components: R&D Contest (NA) - Entry Thread

[Stormfur]

Character name: Stormfur Greymane
World name: Leviathan
In-game Item: Ahriman Choker

Component name: Zundu Totem Figurehead

Throughout our own history, figureheads have been symbolically used to ward off evil and empower the ship with a blessing of success in its endeavors. Images of horses, dragons and swans were used for centuries to denote speed, power and grace - that they might bring their crew home both safe and victorious.

What better way to bless the inaugural voyage of Eorzean airships than with the traditional Zundu Totem Figurehead

Blessed with the powerful synergies of Neverreap Thunder Eggs



the sacrificial blood of a Sanuwa and a single feather from Nunyenunc, the shadowy bird of paradise...



The Zundu Totem Figurehead has been ornately carved from birch wood...



and then filled with the blessings of the Zundu tribe...



to wish our intrepid explorers a safe journey through the tumultuous winds while warding against the nefarious influences of the Great White one and his captive Vundu henchmen.

[Flairice]

Character name: Flairice Riloa
World name: Excalibur
In-game Item: Scarf of Wondrous Wit

Component name: The Crystal Hull

So I was laying around star gazing in Mor Dhona recently, soaking in the aether and debating the merits of specing VIT instead of STR on dragoon, when an airship flew overhead. It's metal hull glowed blue in the bright light of the crystals, and the idea hit me. Crystals are flowing with magic and stuff right? Imagine the flying power you could get out of a ship made entirely of solid glowing aether! It could also double as a floating disco party if I played my cards right.



So I set out to gather materials to make my own. Lots of crystals. So many crystals. Unaspected ones, deaspected ones, over-aspected ones, plain old elemental ones. I was going to blow my FC away with this beast of a ship.



With the materials all gathered, I swapped to Goldsmith and began to work.... until I realized that I had no idea what I was doing. I'm really just a rookie Goldsmith. Do you melt the crystals and mold them into a hull? Do crystals even melt? Would it be able to float on it's own? What kind of sail would I need to keep this thing in the air? What if it accidentally summons a primal?! Which primal would it even be?

Devastated and too proud to ask for advice, I sold all my gathered crystals at the markets and went back to dreaming on dragoon.



Maybe Eorzea just isn't ready for this kind of technology yet..

[AnemosUX]

Majestic Mog Forecastle

Character Name: Ernest Leuchte
World: Tonberry
Component Name: Majestic Mog Forecastle
In-game item: Mandragora Choker

Mix business with pleasure! Pamper yourselves with the luxurious and stylish Majestic Mog Forecastle fit for royals! This forecastle has a Pom-pom that serves as a weather detector, making it easy for adventurers to navigate through the harshest weather, making exploration an ease!

I first travelled to the deepest parts of the Twelveswood in order to obtain the first components.



After a gruelling battle, I snipped the Pom-pom off of Great King Moggle Mog XII.

And then, together with my bestie adventurer, we sneaked into the Sultana's treasuries to “borrow” an ample supply of Platinum, Gold, Rose Gold Ingots of the highest qualities, along with Garnets to complement the component. I’m sure Nanamo and Raubahn wouldn’t mind….. it is for Eorzea after all!



Finally, after obtaining all the necessary materials, I journeyed far to the Dravanian Hinterlands in order to enlist the help of prominent sage Matoya. With her enchantments, the Majestic Mog Forecastle is finally completed!

[Dreamer_Daze]

Character name: Dreamer Daze
World name: Tonberry
In-game Item: Mandragora Choker

Component name: Magitek Rocket Blaster

With the exploratory voyages being added into the system, airships no longer need to be just fast and good but also furious. As such, I'm proposing to add in a rigging that will both increase the speed for a quick getaway from sticky situations and can also turn into a weapon when combat is necessary.

In order to get my first rigging component, I’ve ventured into The Keeper of the Lake to seek out the 2nd boss - Magitek Gunship. As we all know, this ship has got a strong flying ability due to it being powered by magitek and it is able to deal massive aoe fire damage to the enemy should there be a need for combat. I took the remnants of the destroyed magitek airship and plan to infuse it into my rigging.



Since the science of the magitek airship will be infused to the rigging, we might fire attack at hostile targets when required. The last thing we need is for the rigging to catch fire and fall apart. As such, we will require a material that can withstand high heat. While I was exploring the Churning Mist, I came across this ferocious fire breathing monster call the Blood Dragons and I thought to myself “if its leather can withstand the heat of its breathe, its leather can be a valuable component to my rigging”.



As this rigging is both a weapon and a rigging, I’ve chosen to create it using my blacksmith tool. Since the items required to make this rigging is highly flammable (look at the fire when I’m crafting), I’ve chosen not to do it in our workshop, but to do it in Ul’dah since the floor is concrete and I’ll most probably not start a fire. But still, I think I might be too attention-grabbing. Look, it’s another guy bewildered by my genius creation.

[Azure_dragon-]

Character name: Marceline Wolfkrone
World name: Balmung
In-game Item: Ahriman Choker
Component name: Behemoth Horn forecastle



There has been some talk around Eorzea that uncharted islands in the sky will soon be open for adventurers to explore. But who other than the twelve knows what kind of dangers we will all face in such uncharted territory. What we all need is a behemoth horn forecastle, deadly, sturdy and intimidating for any unforeseen dangers. This will be no easy task of course, but I’d rather insure my free company’s safety above all else for this upcoming endeavor.



As strong behemoths are, there is no better behemoth to gather from then the king behemoth himself. Massive in size and strength, I will surely need a sizeable group to bring him down. Currently the only known location of this beast is inside the labyrinth of the ancients. Gathering no more than twenty four adventures to defeat this mighty beast, it soon fell.



King behemoth horns are no small item. It took many moons to transport them from mor ’dona to my free company home in the lavender beds. But it was well worth the effort. With this new attachment my company and I should have nothing to fear.

[tahlap]

Character name: Tahla Poaali
World name: Excalibur
In-game Item: Mandragora Choker
Component Name: Ice-Aspected Cereuelum Exhaust Condenser/Beverage Cooler
One thing my free company members and I had noticed in the progress of building and testing our various airship prototypes was how fuel-inefficient it can be! I felt like we were constantly buying tank after tank of it, so I set out to think of a sustainable, Eorzean-friendly solution.



Airship cereuleum comes in liquid tanks, which are heated by fire-aspected crystals, steam drives the engines, and exhaust is vented back out. However, what if we could recapture some of that exhaust and re-condense it back to liquid and route it back to a secondary reservoir? My first step was to research the properties of ice-aspected crystals. We were going to need a very strong essence, clearly - the reaction I formulated out would need to be driven by a strong catalyst but fit in a compact space.



Thankfully, I knew just the place to get such an aetheric essence. I headed back to the Akh Afah Ampitheatre, where I had encountered the primal Shiva. By some strange means, Shiva ended up being somewhat of a friend of mine. I didn't want to end up summoning her, so I figured just a little quiet contemplation would lead me to my answers.



It was successful. I had a compact, albeit very powerful ice-aspected aetherial essence - Diamond Dust.



All I had to do was test prototypes and implement it.



It worked splendidly, thankfully! The efficiency of our cereleum engines got a big boost, meaning we can go farther on less fuel, and stay out on longer voyages before refueling! Also, you can set your drinks nearby and the resultant cooling makes them ice-cold in no time. Going to be great on those long trips to the Diadem.



Now to see if I can't get this patented, maybe I'll sell the design to Garlond Ironworks.

[Rowde]

Top Secret
For Your Eyes Only

Character name: Willig Rowde
World name: Coeurl
In-game Item: Scarf of Wondrous Wit

Component name: Smart Bomb Booster Rockets (SBBR) Mk.III

Working together with my Kobold friends of the 789th Order, we have developed these multi-purpose rocket attachments for airships. In a pinch they can be used for an instant burst of speed during evasive maneuvers, or they can be used to quickly propel an airship to maximum acceleration to get somewhere in a hurry.



While creating his magnum opus, my friend Pickman Gi Gu invented a Smart Bomb Detonator Switch. This device allows for the simultaneous detonation of multiple Smart Bombs at a single time. Gi Gu also conducted the initial field test of what we would later call the SBBR Mk.I by strapping a single Smart Bomb to his own back and detonating it to propel himself forward at an incredible speed.



Acolyte Bo Ga supplied us with additional Smart Bombs for further experiments. We manufactured a hollow cone-shaped casing from a titanium alloy to contain the Smart Bombs and focus their blast. The pointed end is solid, and the larger end is open. The Smart Bombs are packed tightly into the casing and a mythrite screen is affixed over them to hold them in place. The assembled unit is then clamped onto a holding plate (which would be affixed to the stern of an airship). We called these units SBBR Mk.IIs.



Next we conducted field tests by attaching a single SBBR Mk.II to Magitek Armor. This allowed us to determine an adequate scale and ratio for the SBBR Mk.IIIs, which are for accelerating airships. I piloted the Magitek Armor for the SBBR Mk.II field tests and can personally attest that it is quite an exhilarating experience.

The SBBR Mk.IIIs are larger than SBBR Mk.IIs, but still small enough to be handled by a small group of individuals. It's recommended that at least four SBBR Mk.III units be fired in unison to provide a stable boost. (Two units attached to the starboard stern and two units attached to port stern) In addition, since the entire casing is held in place by a holding plate, an empty SBBR Mk.III casing can be replaced with a loaded SBBR Mk.III unit while in flight if multiple boosts will be necessary in short intervals.

Empty SBBR Mk.III casings can be reloaded with fresh Smart Bombs and used again. So multiple loaded SBBR Mk.IIIs can be kept in reserve, or a supply of Smart Bombs to reload empty casings with, or both. This allows the crew more flexibility with allowances depending on the size of their airship and intention of their voyage.

End Report

[ElricTyrath]

Character Name: Elric Tyrath
World Name: Midgardsormr
In-game Item: Scarf of Wondrous Wit

Component Name: Gordian Oppressor Jet Thrusters Mk.I

As soon as I started working on Airships with my Free Company my mind immediately went to speed, I wanted us to go fast to beat out anyone else to the island and explore faster (Those exploration times aren't anything to joke about!) And as I looked brainstormed idea after idea my mind went back to the giant metal hulk that was the Oppressor. That machine had a jet engine strong enough to push itself off the ground, and weighed enough that when it came back down the shockwave would destroy even our tankiest tank if he was too close, so in other words, the jet had to be quite powerful!


First things first, I had to gather my party and fell the great machines. The hardest part was making sure our attacks didn't damage the thrusters.


After acquiring the Jet Thrusters from both the Oppressor and Oppressor .5, we had to haul the now significantly lighter (as it has been detached from the rest of the body) machinery back to my Free Company's workshop where our master crafters and I worked on how to get it attached to our airship and get a list of needed materials ready.


60 HQ Mythril Ore, 300 HQ Mythrite Sand, and 60 HQ Mythrite Ore we finally had the 60 HQ Mythrite Ingots we needed to attach these beasts. The first thought was to use Darksteel, but we didn't want to use such a heavy weight metal as it would just slow us down that much more!


A few test runs later and It's safe for me to say we are going faster than anything else I've seen! We've also found that the Oppressor's Self-Destruct feature comes from these thrusters and can be initiated if for some reason you need to destroy your airship, perhaps if some pirates try to steal it! Do be careful around the switch.

[Siren]

Character Name: Reika Nikaidoh
World Name: Excalibur
In-game Item: Scarf of wondrous Wit
Component Name: Airship Emergency Air and Water Devices

As I wandered around Eorzea I noticed there has been a great influx of airships as of late and always being the saviour type, it occurred to me that while they might make getting around easier they are in fact not safe at all. Engines could heat up and start a fire or the canvas balloon could get punctured sending the unlucky occupants crashing to the ground. Something had to be done to make them safer!
After Much thinking it came to me, even if they could get the Balloon patched up, they would still need to refill it and for that you need Air....Wind and if anyone knows anything about wind, it was Garuda. She was going to show me where to get the best wind aspected crystals going.



With the Balloon problems taken care of that left me to deal with possible engine fires which on an airship could get very serious very fast. We needed a way to put out fires fast and there was only one obvious direction to go, good ol' water and I knew the obvious one to see about that...



I thought my emergency plans had been finished but as I was talking to Minfilia 1 day I came to realize even after all my precautions a airship could still come crashing down, I needed Airbags!



So back to the drawing Board I went.

[Jabeo]

Heavensclaw

Character name: Jabeo Plummer
World name: Midgardsormr
In-game Item: Scarf of Wondrous Wit

Component name: Heavensclaw

The wheel has been trued. Once an afflicted magitek menace, this multifunctional work of Garlean technology will make a great addition on any exploratory voyage. Want to gather in peace as a Disciple of the Land? No problem, nuisances can talk to the hand or get shred up. Discovered a powerful monster that is giving you trouble? Deploy with the proper counter set and watch as your enemy destroys itself. Or perhaps you simply want an easy way to load all of your shiny new loot into the cargo hold of your airship. Well, look no further, for Heavensclaw can do all this and more!

Research for this project began through conversation with the local hunter-scholar. Armed with information on a malfunctioning magitek weapon, I set out in search of my mark.


Tracked and in sight, I approached with the stealth for which ninjas are famed. My intent was to disable while causing as little damage as possible. Thus, I closed in on the location of the machina’s servomechanism and in one deft move released the magitek core from the housing chamber.

Success!

Powered down and rendered harmless, I transported my quarry back to my workshop in Mist and prepared for a trip to visit the Goldsmiths’ Guild in Ul’dah.


I shared my plans for repair and solicited Serendipity for advice. It was concluded that I should attempt a method devised by Garlond Ironworks, that being to replace the core with a mammet’s heart, albeit using materials of my own making this time instead of a guild supplied heart.

With plan in hand it was time to return to my workshop and hammer out the details of this development.


Tucked into a cozy corner of the workshop, brow furrowed in concentration, I put all of my focus into shaping a flawless mammet heart made from the finest aurum regis. Recalling how a cylinder made from the same metal had a pronounced effect on the ever onerous automaton Gigi, all that was left was to slot in my substitute for the core and hope for similar results.

I carefully loaded the heart into the housing unit and stepped back a few yalms. At first nothing happened. Then, just as I was beginning to get dismayed that this had all been for naught, I heard the gentle hum of the fans as they whirred to life and power was restored. It worked, it was alive! That moment of joy quickly turned to caution when I remembered what I was dealing with and that I may be assaulted at any moment. However, no attack came. It just sat there, obediently, waiting for orders.