Infinite Sky: Units

Infinite Sky

General Rules

• Everything takes exactly one year to build.
• Everything takes exactly one year to reconstruct.
• Budget, building and unit completion happen at the start of every quarter.
• Newly finished units can be used immediately.
• Any upkeep is paid at the beginning of the quarter, including for units that are newly finished.
• Any unit that isn't given upkeep loses abilities that require them.
• Units that need Luftum that don't get Luftum can only point defend.
• What matters in an enhancement is its effect, not the details or fluff of how it is accomplished.

Variations are major modifications of a unit's basic performance and role. They never cost anything and multiple templates can be applied to a single unit so long as it complies with compatibility rules noted on the variation templates themselves.

Regular Upgrades are built into the unit when it is constructed or reconstructed. They can be enhanced (generally significantly) through the use of an appropriate Strategic Resource.

Alchemical Upgrades are those that require expending Strategic Resources during construction of the unit.

Alchemical Boosts are one-shot upgrades that require the expenditure of Strategic Resources. Alchemical Boosts are usually cheaper than Alchemical Upgrades and can be applied to any existing unit at the start of a quarter, lasting until the start of the next quarter.

Naval Units

Battleship

The battleship is the traditional arm of decision in naval battles – a matter settled by robustness of armour and weight of broadside. They are the most powerful and expensive ships a country can build. Modern dreadnought battleships, owe their existence to the original Dreadnought, a famous warship finished in 11904, just before the start of the Continental War. Although best known for her unified battery of high caliber guns, the dreadnought had numerous other advances such as the "tunnel drive" protecting once exposed propeller assemblies and a since standard system of gyroscopic gimbals that allows its torus assemblies to correct for some degree of listing.

Destroyer

The original Destroyer was secretly built in Sarland, a colony of the Kingdom of Jigash, by rebel forces. She came in the wake of two critical technologies – the Kleinssen Torus design that allowed unprecedented miniaturization of lift units for ships and the gradual development of useful rocket-propelled torpedoes. When completed in 11888, she weighed 2715 tons – almost all of it in its single lift unit and propeller arrays – and sank the battleship Gilgamesh as it held station off the coast. Although it would take many years for torpedoes to become fast and sophisticated enough to strike a moving ship and for torus engineering to be further refined, the sensational sinking of a capital ship to a cobbled-together contraption a fraction her size put every major navy on notice. The Kingdom of Jigash itself became the first to commission a series of its own "destroyers".

Modifications

Variations

Battlecruiser (Battleships only)
A Battlecruiser has greatly reduced armour protection but a speed equal to a Battleship with (+2) Speed. A Battlecruiser with (+2) Armour likewise matches the toughness of a normal Battleship.

Fast Attack (Cruisers and Destroyers)

High Altitude (Battleships, Cruisers and Military Transports)
Increased fuel consumption at normal altitude. Superior upkeep in the Tropics and option to reach the Desert at great cost.

Submarine (any)
Submarine ships trade firepower for the ability to survive the Sea of Storms.

Carrier Conversion (any)
Converts all heavy firepower into carrier aircraft.

Hybrid Conversion (Battleships, Cruisers and Military Transports)
Converts half of heavy firepower into carrier aircraft.

Pre-dreadnought (any)

Regular Upgrades

(+X) Speed
An important upgrade that makes ships move faster. All else being equal, a disparity of more than +1 in Speed almost guarantees that the faster ship can engage and disengage at will (though maintaining a specific range requires maneuverability as well). It helps avoid torpedo or even bomb attacks.

By default, Destroyers have about (+2) Speed over Cruisers who in turn have (+2) Speed over Battleships. Heavy weather, however, affects smaller ships more than large ones.

(+X) Maneuverability
Maneuverability, which is often as much about having quick helm response as big rudders, is helps both to evade bomb and torpedo attacks as well as to conduct them.

(+X) Torus Engineering
This involves having toruses robust enough to rapidly and repeatedly change altitude without bursting or being worn out. It is especially useful for Submarine vessels which can use it to rapidly ascend or crash dive. Ascending is slower, obviously; you can dive as fast as gravity but a ship with more than one level of Torus Engineering is physically capable of severely injuring or killing its own crew.

(+X) Armour
Armour reduces damage sustained from attacks. Increasing armour protection has the greatest effect against ships close to the defender's size.

(+X) Deck Armour
Concentrated armour protection from topside attack. This usually involves bombs or long range plunging artillery fire but sometimes diving torpedo bomber attacks as well.

(+X) All or Nothing Armour
Protects critical systems. Reduces damage from larger ships' artillery and helps overcome Scaling.

(+X) Damage Control
Increases redundancy, internal protection, firefighting, safety and other measures. Reduces the odds of critical hits or disasters.

(+X) Blast Protection
Helps mitigate light attacks that don't penetrate armour as well as bomb and torpedo attacks. Mind you, this is not an invitation to get hit by the latter – they are very big explosions.

(+X) Firepower
A modest, overall, generalized increase in firepower.

(+X) Armour Piercing
Increases the caliber of main battery weapons or, less frequently, their muzzle velocity. This is a more specialized firepower upgrade that enhances ships' ability to punch at or above their own weight and helps overcome Armour and Scaling.

(+X) Secondaries
Increases the performance of secondary batteries. This is a more specialized firepower upgrade that enhances ships' ability to punch below their own weight. Helps to cause losses in torpedo and bomb attacks.

(+X) AA Battery
A specialized upgrade to anti-aircraft weapons and/or optics. This helps cause losses in aircraft attacks.

(+X) Torpedoes

(+X) Bombs
Bombs are dropped from an altitude advantage. It is usually difficult for ships to pull this off even with a massive advantage in maneuverability and speed but it tends to be unexpected for that reason and has better armour piercing than torpedoes. They are also very practical to use against ground targets.

(+X) Mines
Floating mines. Set an equilibrium altitude by adjusting seed content. Mines are easiest to lay (obviously) at lower altitudes.

Alchemical Boosts

(+1) Adamant Munitions
Requires Adamant. Enhances main battery armour piercing for one quarter. Works best on ships with heavy guns.

(+1) Incendiary Munitions
Requires

Air Units

Fighter

Variants

Interceptor

Strike