Arcana: Advanced Unit Design

Troops

Troops default to companies of 100 soldiers.

Weapons

Swords

Arming Sword

Spears

Spear Pike

Pike

Perhaps the simplest and most effective way to arm an army. Pike formations are equally able to ward off cavalry and opposing infantry with a forest of pikes. Against disciplined enemy infantry armed with pikes, engagements tend to become a contest of endurance in the "push of pike".

Cost: ?

Longbows

Standard longbows made of yew, or more favorable or less favorable but cheaper or more common woods.

Beasts

Weapons

Giant Mauls

Simple clubs, hammers and related bashing weapons, appropriately sized-up for warstriders.

Cost: ?? Gold

Giant Swords

Warstrider-sized swords. Eminently capable of cleaving striders, knights, dragons and houses.

Cost: ?? Gold

Skycraft

Weapons

Firepowder Cannon

Firepowder is an old if not supremely popular option among the siege-minded. While it has the advantage in simplicity, firepowder cannons are not terribly accurate.

Cost: ?? Gold

Upkeep: Firepowder?

Mystic Focus

A mystic focus is a common addition to large structure, allowing a mage to 'power up' their spells by tapping into a substantial source of power.

Cost: ?? Mana

Lightning Launcher

These crystaline contraptions fire bolts of powerful lightning against nearby targets. While it is limited to short ranges, the lightning is almost impossible to avoid.

Cost: ?? Mana

Upkeep: ?? Mana

Mana Cannon

A 'pure' magic weapon, mana cannons fire a fast-moving ball of force across long distances. In appearance, they resemble a large open-ended telescope.

Cost: ?? Mana

Upkeep: ?? Mana

Armor

Wood Cladding

Skycraft are typically constructed out of thin wooden sheeting over a frame, which provides little to no resistance against weapon fire. It is thus common to armor skycraft expected to see fighting with thicker, denser wood, giving them effective immunity to hand-held missile weapons and substantially increased resistance to medium-sized field weapons.

Cost: ?? Gold

Iron Cladding

A few unusual skycraft have been fitted with iron armor; while providing superior protection against weapons it is fairly expensive and very heavy. As a result a skyship so armored tends to be something of a pig in the air, albeit a very difficult one to disable.

Cost: ?? Gold

Upkeep: ?? Mana

Halves all carrying abilities

Adamantium Cladding

The occasional lord with more money than sense will commission a skyship clad in Adamantium armor. While the amount of adamantium required is rather excessive, a ship so armored had none of the performance drawbacks of iron cladding.

Cost: Yes Adamantium

Upkeep: ?? Mana

Barrier Cladding

Some shipbuilders opt to forgo significant physical armor, instead relying on magical defenses to keep the skyship safe. While less effective against things such as cannons, magical protection is significantly better against spells and spell-firing weapons.

Cost: ?? Mana

Upkeep: ?? Mana

Magic & Equipment

Haze Field

More sneaky captains have their ships fitted with haze fields, magical wards that can hide a skyship against empty sky. While hardly perfect, they can help a ship to avoid 'unnecessary entanglements'. Many civilized ports consider any ship with a haze field as an outlaw vessel.

Cost: ?? Mana

Upkeep: ?? Mana

Manajets

Some skyships have especially powerful enchantments, throwing out raw mana as propulsive force, making them faster and more responsive.

Cost: ?? Mana

Upkeep: ? Mana

Troop Barracks

The skycraft was built with particularly large passenger spaces and as a result, increases the amount of Infantry units it can carry by 100% per level.

Cost: ?? Gold

Upkeep: ? Gold

Heavy Lift

The skycraft has especially powerful enchantments, allowing it to carry particularly weighty loads and as a result, increases the amount of Mechanical units it can carry by 100% per level.

Cost: ?? Mana? Levistone?

Upkeep: ? Mana