What areas of lore would you like to see more of?

[Xenohart]

I want to know more about the giant boat. I've got a great feeling about this.

[WhiteArchmage]

Sharlayan, they seem pretty greek-inspired and I'm a sucker for ancient greek themes. Although outside the fact that most (or about half) of the Scions are Sharlayan, I don't think we've seen much in the way of fashion (architecture, on the other hand, is all over the Hinterlands, and beautiful <3 )

[Cilia]

The Alliance won the war for Ala Mhigo because the Empire seems limited to one capital ship (Agrius and Gration), and because Zenos was more interested in getting an enjoyable fight out of it than actually winning. He had the Resistance cornered in Rhalgr's Reach, but let us walk because he was intrigued by our potential (or was simply too bored to care).

Midgardsormr's reason for stopping the Agrius remains unknown. Hraesvelgr only ferried Ysayle to Azys Lla because he acknowledged her desire to atone for her sins; Ysayle (as Shiva) disabled the Gration's engines (and the engines alone), seemingly indefinitely. (And also got herself killed, which to me is not atonement... but I digress.)

[YianKutku]

Ysayle (as Shiva) disabled the Gration's engines (and the engines alone), seemingly indefinitely.

I admit I'm still not sure how much this actually affects the Garlean military's effectiveness. While the Gration is the second ship of the Agrius class, and the only other one we know of apart from the first, the Garlean Empire don't seem too overly concerned with having it stranded in Azys Lla.

In fact, they've been busily ferrying personnel and materiel back and forth via regular airships, and have even started constructing a castrum on Azys Lla, some distance from the Gration's landing point. (Castrum Solus, which looks like the Garleans just set up around existing Azys Lla architecture.)

And yet, building a ship that size cannot be cheap, even for the Empire. So why bother building it in the first place, if they're just going to turn it into a non-mobile outpost? Is the Gration (and the Agrius before it) basically a Death Star situation? IE a bunch of regular airships/Star Destroyers can be built more efficiently and effectively for the same cost, but its value lies in being a singular symbol of might.

[Grayve]

Maybe after the loss of the Agrius they went back to the drawing board to redesign some anti-dragon ships, but the Gration was to far along in construction to be scrapped or converted, so they just finished it? Ship building in real life is a matter of years, after all.

[VargasVermillion]

Ship building in real life is a matter of years, after all.

Especially flying metal ones that hold other ships, lots of people and is equipped with plenty of weaponry.

[YianKutku]

Maybe after the loss of the Agrius they went back to the drawing board to redesign some anti-dragon ships, but the Gration was to far along in construction to be scrapped or converted, so they just finished it? Ship building in real life is a matter of years, after all.

Could be. I was going to say that I didn't think the Empire would be sending another Agrius-class airship into a region famous for belligerent dragons, but then I remembered that Azys Lla is above Abalathia's Spine, rather than Dravania.

[Tanathya]

I want to see the lore of certain equipment. I believe they said, years ago, that they were working on some sort of in-game log to give some of the most special equipment, lore.

[VargasVermillion]

I want to see the lore of certain equipment. I believe they said, years ago, that they were working on some sort of in-game log to give some of the most special equipment, lore.

This is something I'd like more of as well, little descriptions on unique sets would be nice.

[Cilia]

Dragonkillers can fire skyward; the ones you use during the Steps of Faith launch into the sky before coming down on Vishap. Timing is essential in its use, but this is true of any weapon (particularly ranged weapons). Their exact range remains unknown; due to the heavy projectile it is not likely to be particularly great, but it is incredibly destructive. Their use during the Bismarck fight is... suspect at best, given the speed at which we were flying would make aiming a nightmare despite Bismarck's great size (they should be pointed at least a few degrees more towards Bismarck's face so after they launch the wind doesn't make you miss).

Despite Garlean machina's physical sturdiness, it is just as vulnerable to magicks as anything else. The Gilded Magitek Armor explicitly notes that even the thickest magitek armor isn't enough to deal with magicks, leading to the development of the gilded plating which is now standard issue. Even this can only dampen the effects of magicks, not nullify them outright. Thus, the counter to Garlean warmachina is clearly magicks.

The Ironworks' stated goal is "freedom through technology," not "superiority through technology" (or Allagan ingenuity). Cid's main goal with the Ironworks seems to be the production of consumer goods to improve Eorzean quality of life, not developing weapons for them to use; this makes sense, given his involvement with the Meteor Project and subsequent desire to atone for it. The Alliance has yet to use Ironworks-developed machina in combat against the Empire - the only known instance of magitek being used against the Empire was when we used a hijacked magitek armor to tear up the Praetorium near the end of Operation Archon, and that armor was made by the Empire (albeit modified by the Ironworks).

The Empire isn't incompetent; they just had a lot of issues and a bad commander in Stormblood. Despite everything, we were able to liberate Doma; this, combined with shinobi sowing dissent in the Imperial provinces, left the other legions unable to aid Zenos in Gyr Abania for fear of another civil war. Zenos himself is largely to blame for the Empire's loss - he could have won at Rhalgr's Reach but left due to boredom, then kept ordering retreats and surrenders to set up a big battle on the streets of Ala Mhigo that he ultimately lost. Note that despite appearances this still took tremendous effort - it took the combined might of all Othard to liberate Doma, and several battles were fought across Gyr Abania (Rhalgr's Reach, Castellum Velodyna, Specula Imperatoris, Castrum Abania, and finally Ala Mhigo), all of which took a heavy toll on the Alliance and Garlean forces alike. (We aren't shown most of this outside Specula Imperatoris, but it is there.)

... it's not a matter of the Empire being portrayed as incompetent or weak. It's a complex situation that shows the Imperial army has weaknesses like any military, all of which had to be exploited to win.

Side note: the Manacutters are not equipped with any sort of weapons. There is no reason they could not be, though.