Pathfinder 1E How would you defend an airship?

[Lord Pendragon]

[MENTION=6674868]RUMBLETiGER[/MENTION]

I definitely agree with having a good offense. On top of the lightning cannons, I'm thinking some kind of Disintegrate weapon may be essential. If we can use Wall of Force so can our enemies.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure merely carrying a Big Stick will be enough for us. We've gotten ourselves mixed up in a conflict with both the Silver Flame and one of the Dragonmark Houses, so there's a lot of wealth and power aligned against us. Putting an end to it is likely going to involve removing high-level members of both groups who have it out for us, and surviving their attempts to eliminate us while we find a way to do so.

The one advantage we have is that several of us have contacts in powerful organizations as well, so while we may not have the funds to do some of the things suggested in this thread, we may be able to convince our allies to provide the means for us.

 

[Derren]

I've been told our ship is on the small side, as far as airships in the world go. I'd have to measure it next session for an exact size.

Then you should forget the "offense is the best defense" strategy currently favored here. Without the space to install better weapons there is no use in sacrificing defense for offense as you won't be able to compete with the big guys. Imo the best strategy would be to have enough weapons to defeat other small ships and run from bigger ships.

[MENTION=6674868]RUMBLETiGER[/MENTION]

I definitely agree with having a good offense. On top of the lightning cannons, I'm thinking some kind of Disintegrate weapon may be essential. If we can use Wall of Force so can our enemies.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure merely carrying a Big Stick will be enough for us. We've gotten ourselves mixed up in a conflict with both the Silver Flame and one of the Dragonmark Houses, so there's a lot of wealth and power aligned against us. Putting an end to it is likely going to involve removing high-level members of both groups who have it out for us, and surviving their attempts to eliminate us while we find a way to do so.

The one advantage we have is that several of us have contacts in powerful organizations as well, so while we may not have the funds to do some of the things suggested in this thread, we may be able to convince our allies to provide the means for us.

Another reason not to go full offense. You have no chance to compete with that kind of firepower.

 

[Herobizkit]

Everything in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kJIRl_dsWE

Huh, guess they don't embed anymore... or I did it wrong.

Anyhow, it's to a Canadian/UK cartoon called Storm Hawks, and the whole premise of the world is based on aerial travel and energy crystals.

Plus a nifty way to have manoeuvrable aircraft stowed on a big ship.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Then you should forget the "offense is the best defense" strategy currently favored here. Without the space to install better weapons there is no use in sacrificing defense for offense as you won't be able to compete with the big guys. Imo the best strategy would be to have enough weapons to defeat other small ships and run from bigger ships.

This sounds like a solid strategy to plan around to me. There's an off chance that our ship may wind up more magically/technologically advanced than our enemies', giving us an advantage even against ships somewhat larger than us, but even if that were to become true (and there's no guarantee it will be) that would at best be versus a single larger ship, and our enemies have the resources to send additional force if they feel it necessary. It's smartest to assume that they will always be able to bring the bigger stick in at least some situations and plan accordingly.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Planar Sails. Arms and Equipment Guide, p.50. for 72,000gp you spend 5 minutes doing calculations and disappear off into another Plane.
Nothing says "We Got Away" like a planar jump.
Now, accurately arriving someplace on another plane, or returning... another story.

Also, Pocket Airships. Perhaps look for a cheaper method of bestowing flight.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Nothing says "We Got Away" like a planar jump.
Now, accurately arriving someplace on another plane...

I sort of get the feeling that fleeing airships only to wind up on another plane may be a bit of a frying pan-->fire scenario. ;P

So far, it seems like this is what I'm looking at:

DEFENSE
Our ship is small and, hopefully, can be faster and more maneuverable than most other ships she meets. This will depend largely on the effectiveness of her prototype engine, which I won't know more about until I meet with the engineer in Sharn.

I'm hoping to get Walls of Force set up as sort of a "shields" deal, able to be activated at need. These would have the benefits of not increasing the weight of the ship at all, but providing significant defense against bombardment.

Having a Hallow cast on the ship itself, linked to Protection from Fire should give the ship the fire protection a wooden craft desperately needs. Also, possibly having a wand of summoning water elementals for putting out any conflagrations that do occur in the weapons locker.

Will look into the possibility of alchemically treating our soarwood deck to increase its fire resistance. This may not be necessary if we can get the Hallow in place, but even so, better safe than sorry. Alchemical enhancements in general are something to look into.

Hardening. We don't have a wizard in the party, but we do have access to UMD and may also have access to high level NPC wizardry through organizational contacts. The more Hardening we can manage, the better, though in particular would like to use this to bolster the strength of our propellers, which are as pointed out a weak spot.

An invisibility-based cloaking device would be very beneficial for avoiding fights altogether. Would not need to be improved, though would need to be re-usable or it would probably be cost prohibitive.

OFFENSE

Lightning guns powered by our Stardust-inspired lightning net.

A weapons locker with wands of Damp Powder, elemental summoning, and other useful offensive abilities.

Bombs fashioned by our alchemist. If we manage to make our little airship more maneuverable than the big boys, simply getting higher in the air and dropping explosives on them may be a viable strategy.

Boarding party. At least 2 of us will eventually be able to dimension door, which is a pretty solid boarding method. I'm not sure about the monk's Abundant Step but my magus at least should be able to take passengers once his caster level is high enough. Other than that, it may be useful/viable to stow at least a few short-range gliders to transport others across if the monk and I can't carry everyone we'd like.

A main gun. Call me silly, but I've always loved the idea of an airship having a main gun. Probably watched too much anime, or played too much Skies of Arcadia back on the Dreamcast. Ideally I'd like our main gun to involve the PCs, so I'm thinking not so much a traditional Big Gun, but rather a gun that magnifies a spell attack to capital ship proportions. So one of our clerics could cast Searing Light into it to power a massive laser attack, or later my magus could toss a Disintegrate into it to power a de-atomization beam.

Still looking for additional ideas, comments, thoughts on airship offense, defense, tactics, etc.!

 

[jasper]

Spend at least 5% of your budget on spies, so you know what the other side is doing.

 

[radja]

install endless fuel rocket engines, they only cost 9k gold each. They can also double as fire extinguishers. Where do I find these weird items? well... it's just a decanter of endless water. At geyser setting they provide a decent amount of thrust.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

install endless fuel rocket engines, they only cost 9k gold each. They can also double as fire extinguishers. Where do I find these weird items? well... it's just a decanter of endless water. At geyser setting they provide a decent amount of thrust.

Heh, it's a fun idea, but I'm not sure it goes with the atmosphere I'm shooting for.

Something that was recently brought up was the idea that, in ship-to-ship combat, being able to fire on your enemy first and from range is a big advantage. I'm now considering some kind of wondrous item that would allow us to cast Prying Eyes a few times a day, for scouting purposes. If we know where they are before they know where we are, we could hit them with our big guns before they know we're there.