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[✗] Invention Lore - Submersible Vessels


Setsuko_
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ORIGIN
Cillian O'Rourke, already a prominent sailor and ship builder, began to toil with an idea shortly after he finished construction of the HIMS Ambition. This idea, a ship that could sail underwater drove him as he sketched night after night. Benny, his living doll made for him as a gift, would bring him blueprint sheet after blueprint sheet as he worked. Each design he made had fatal flaws, each and every time he scrapped the sketch for  a new one. Prototypes he built were either too heavy or had no way of actually sustaining a living crew.

A year and a half is what it took Cillian to finally produce a small prototype that worked. Fearing it's failure, Cillian decided to risk his life in order to pilot the prototype, later named the 'HIMS Prayer'. While still only being an experiment and not designed for prolonged use, it stabilized and it's functions began to reciprocate their design as it fell beneath the waves, only to reappear seven feet south in mere minutes.

Thus, the first submersible vessel was born...

DESCRIPTION
The submersible vessel is, as the name suggests, a seafaring vessel designed to submerge beneath the waters and navigate. Being an intricate machine, various factors attribute to it's function and any of these failing will lead to a cascade of malfunctions. As such, each different mechanism has been cataloged below.

 

Lightweight Body
The body of the submersible must remain relatively light. The ones now in use are metal sheets covering wooden frames, with horse glue and leather strips used to seal the seams. The more the submersible weights, or the more crew on a submersible, the larger both the submersion tank and air tank must be in order to support the vessel's continued operation

Submersion Tank
A tank filled with air is used to control the submersion of the vessel. To submerge, a valve is opened, allowing water to fill the tank. This forces the weight of the vessel to increase, causing it to sink. The depth is controlled by the ratio of water to air. Once the vessel is back above the water, a syringe like plug can be pushed to force the water out of the tank, and another valve opened to allow the tank to be filled with air once again.

 

Air Tank
Another tank, usually found on the top of the vessel, is used to store air for the crew of the vessel. The air in the tank is fed through tubes leading into the vessel. Due to current technology however, this makes the air source very finite. A valve can be opened on the outside to allow the tank to be filled again with air. No matter the size of the tank itself, the submersible must surface to refill before the carbon dioxide breathed by the crew renders the air toxic. 

Propellers
The key propulsion system of a submersible is a propeller mechanism. Pedals operated by a crew member spin a central axel, which in turn causes the outside propellers to spin and force the submersible forward. The propellers are affixed to the outside rear of the submersible, as far below the waterline as possible to allow for movement while surfaced. To raise the sub and surface, pedal operated propellers can also be found on the bottom of the vessel.

Navigation
Due to not being able to actually sea while submerged, the captain or navigator of the vessel must rely on tools such as the compass to navigate effectively. Since this requires a large amount of skill and documentation to actually keep track of where you are and what is near, a skilled navigator is recommended. A localized map of landmasses and other structures is also necessary to both keep track of current positioning and avoid collisions

 

CAPABILITIES
The submersible's main feature is the ability to sink beneath the waves and still move. This can be used to discretely run reconnaissance against or for a target, move a number of persons relevant to the aforementioned capabilities without detection. This trait can also be used to circumvent certain naval defenses or even just as a civilian diving expeditionary tool if a mechanism to allow the release of a passenger is fitted into the machine while also keeping the delicate balance of the vessel's other mechanisms. 

The submersible cannot, however, be fitted with cannonry or like armaments. A mounted piece of archery equipment, such as a miniature ballista or large crossbow may be affixed to the submersible's interior, for use when surfaced. However this cannot reach normal ballista, or even half ballista size as the weight needs to be a as minimal as possible.

 

REDLINES
The submersible technology can only be built by someone who has gained the knowledge in RP from a valid source.
Submersibles cannot be used to get somewhere you cannot reasonably get, i.e. the middle of a lake from the ocean or vice versa.
Submersibles are extremely fragile. One cannonball or ballista bolt will destroy the whole thing. Arrows fired by hand can cause scratching and eventually pierce the hull, causing leaks.

Submersibles cannot remain underwater for extended periods. You cannot make a home under the sea unless there is a pipe going to the surface to resupply oxygen constantly.

Gunpowder or explosion based equipment, such as cannons, are absolutely a no go. Not to mention the fact that air is valuable and firing stuff inside of a closed container is generally regarded as a bad idea, the idea of a cannon popping out of the water to nail someone unaware seems all around unfair.

 

PURPOSE (OOC)
I decided to make this in part for selfish reasons, if I am being honest. I love the idea of early submarine tech reaching the server. True, it won't be uber useful in warclaims or full scale assaults, however I do feel like it offers something unique to LoTC. I am seeing more and more interest in naval RP as it slowly regains a footing in the server, and I have also seen new and interesting tech reach the waves (such as dwarven steamtech). I do believe that adding this to the server will bring excitement to the genre of RP it serves and also serve to boost interest in naval roleplay. Do I intend to make a living on this? Nah, I literally will just sit my happy butt in the seat and teach some people how to make it. 

This does not mean I can't see why some would be hesitant about it. Can it add an aura or perception of modernity to the server that some don't want? Of course it can. So can steamships or even cannons. This doesn't need to be something that everyone embraces, and me personally if someone says they don't want to fight against it or sail with it I have no problem turning the other way and leaving them to the RP they want to have. 

 

All and all, the OOC purpose of this machine/tech is to spice up the game, if only a little. At the end of the day that's all it is, a game. What would be wrong with adding a little excitement now and again! :D

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Set has officially lost his mind, +1

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Personally I don't like the idea of submersibles reaching the server, beyond advanced diving bells or something similar. Even if I were okay with it however, this submission needs a lot more work, before it could feasibly pass I'm afraid.
 

You haven't outlined the materials needed to construct the various components, nor the processes involved in watertight sealing, which are obviously very important for a submersible craft. Additionally there's no specification for size, weight, crew capacity and so on for such a creation, which is also very important when it comes to balancing this kind of technology.

 

Don't give up, give it another shot and develop the idea. Perhaps chat with animati crafters about how it could be achieved.

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I'll give this a nice, solid response

 

The answer is an absolute NO, but here's why Imo:

In general, your understanding of what is needed in order for a submarine to bare minimum function isn't quite there. A submarine needs to be built like a TANK, not a paper mache and aluminum foil kids toy. If an arrow can pierce the body of the submarine, then the pressure of going underwater is going to crush it, and everyone inside of it.

Alongside this, no matter what anyone does the submarine is not going to sink with just the air bladder technique, because the main body of the submarine still has air for the people inside, and you're not able to make oxygenators or oxygen tanks that can feasibly provide breathable air inside that part of the ship for the people within anyways. We don't have air compressors.

 

So, either your ship will fold in on itself like a sad soufflé, everyone inside will suffocate, or all their eardrums will explode from the pressure buildup that can't be combated with modern technology. 

 

Another though, how do you make the ship go?
We have ships with sails, but how does the submarine move. You say it has manual propellers, who tells the ship to dive. Does one really unlucky guy have to sacrifice himself every time by opening the valve and swimming back to shore? Or is it like a steampunk set up where there's pulleys and ropes down the outside so you can yank a lever and open up the valve.
but then who closes it...

 

 

 

The TL;DR is no one will ever let submarines on LOTC I'm sorry, it's just too far beyond the Techlock, even if it's not specifically mentioned, we can't mention everything.

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I mean the idea is fun, execution wil just need a whole bunch of work to ever make it possible

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even if you did get all the missing details ironed out (mostly what luci mentioned above) and somehow past the techlock, i really don't like the idea of it having use in combat/war, the transport of a small crew to somewhere is inevitable, but pls no mounted arms

(not to mention it'd probably need an emote guide and subsequent redlines just for the weaponry)

 

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Ictíneo I - Wikipedia

 

its actually real lol

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7 minutes ago, Hanrahan said:

Ictíneo I - Wikipedia

 

its actually real lol

Just because some playerbases aren't medieval in aesthetic doesn't mean we should get 17th century technology. We don't even have guns, so why would we have submarines?

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+1 cause **** it, if it's bad it'll just get removed

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man tbh theres literally no reason not too its not like you can even use a submarine in a combat way it'd be just for events and like "wow lets look at these cool underwater ruins or dungeons" like yeesh going to pvp on a submarine build i think not

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ICBMs and Tanks coming soon to your medieval docks.

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30 minutes ago, Hanrahan said:

man tbh theres literally no reason not too its not like you can even use a submarine in a combat way it'd be just for events and like "wow lets look at these cool underwater ruins or dungeons" like yeesh going to pvp on a submarine build i think not


yeah at this point let’s just break techlock but it’s ok as long as it’s non combative. 

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QUICK, SOMEONE HIDE THE ORENIAN NUCLEAR ARMS PROGRAM BEFORE MODERATION FINDS OUT 

1 hour ago, __Clocky said:

ICBMs and Tanks coming soon to your medieval docks.

 

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