That plan sounded much better to the Techno Wizards, and within seconds, a half dozen sheets of paper were on the table as they all frantically began drawing magitech circuitry to upgrade the cannons to load themselves in a way that any crewman could manage.
While they worked, Dominic stepped back and listened carefully, committing all the knowledge that he could to his memory as they argued about the functions and features they wanted to add to the Cannons.
"You know that the crew will still struggle to activate that orb, and they’ll be sent up with the airships anyhow, right?" The Royal Guard asked Dominic quietly.
"Yes, but they haven’t realized it yet. When the fighting starts, we will send a few of them up to ensure that everything is working properly, or to keep the ships working. Whatever excuse we need.
For now, we just need a way to maximize firepower without overloading our ships." Dominic agreed.
He could sense the Guard’s amusement by the shift of his position as they watched the experts work. They were doing all this to get out of having to go to battle, but ultimately, they were going to be conscripted to go with the airships anyhow.
The major issue with the project was that they needed to make a magitech orb that not only worked properly while not bonded to anyone, but to ensure that it didn’t attune to the user on use, as that would make it impossible to change crewmen without changing orbs.
The fact that they needed it to also make decent cannonballs without any extra levels put into the orb was a secondary concern. At least for right now.
Even the clay to steel orb needed dozens of levels of upgrades before it was making high-quality steel. But Dominic knew that they didn’t actually need hardened steel or extreme quality for this project. Just enough to punch through wooden planks and an explosive core, as that would make them more effective against airships, which wouldn’t sink with a cannonball sized hole at the waterline like a regular ship.
The solution that they came up with was to make the cannonball of stone, which was apparently easier to create. Then the hollow ball would be filled with explosives, and whoever activated it could set the thickness of the plug, which set the detonation timer.
Dominic copied everything that they were writing on the plans as they argued about exactly what design was going to be best for the cannons.
There was one other design that he wanted to make.
If they were flying overhead with an airship, then firing thousands of small stones at the ground would be excellent at persuading invaders to simply go away.
The damage might be minimal against magically armoured targets, but it would be hell on equipment and vehicles.
"I still don’t think that an eight cannon volley will be sufficient to take out one of the Dagos airships." One of the Techno Wizards insisted.
Dominic tapped the plan on the table.
"If this works as planned, the cannoneers are going to be able to fire a round every ten seconds instead of twice a minute. That is the rate that our soldiers have reported from previous battles with Dagos artillery.
I see that we’ve got a rack and pinion aiming system for the cannons, so we can aim much faster than usual. That will help as well, but not needing the conventional loading process will save most of the time." He insisted.
One of the airship crewmen cleared his throat.
"If you’re going to try to fire that fast, how are we going to have time to swab the barrel and pull the cannon back into position?" He asked.
"Just pull it into position. If the charge cooks off, it cooks off. It’s all created at once, so there is no loader in front of the cannon." Dominic replied with a shrug.
The crewman laughed. "Spoken like a true sorcerer. ’Just let it blow up’. But you’ve got a point. If we’re using three kilo cannons, precision and timing aren’t going to matter nearly as much. They’ll punch through planking easily enough. But do you think that we could get one big one?
You know, something with some range, so that we can terrify those Dagos bastards before they ever get in range for a broadside?"
One of the Keep’s armourers looked up from the Techno Wizards’ notes.
"What did you have in mind? A long barrel cannon like the ones we’ve got on the roof?" He asked, indicating the three-metre barrels of the antique brass cannons.
"I was thinking like a huge rifle. Something that would hit like a cannon, but actually have some accuracy over long distances."
Dominic smiled. That sort of artillery sounded like a lot of fun.
Sniping from a moving airship was highly unlikely, but if they could hit another airship from five or six kilometres away, it might well terrify the Dagos army away.
The Techno Wizards sighed. "We will start on that later. First, we need to get the main armament working. If we don’t have enough weight available for all the cannons, or for all the crew to work the cannons, we need to do what we can to make them more efficient."
Dominic understood the general idea. A four-person team was considered minimal for efficient firing of the cannons. Unfortunately, the airship was already struggling with weight, which slowed them down and made it more difficult to gain altitude.
Two men per cannon for a broadside was bound to be slower than they would like. But the Dagos Airships hadn’t been fully modified for naval combat. They were mostly crew transports.
"We will have to work with what we have. If that means half as many cannons as you would prefer, and the crewmen equipped with rifles to repel boarders, that is what we will have to do.
Just keep it up, and I will make sure that the Princess approves everything." Dominic insisted.
The Royal Guard chuckled. "You’re going to take that fall if this doesn’t work?"
Dominic shrugged. "It’s probably not a capital offence, and I’ve been chewed out before. But I’m trusting them all to pull this off. The first time that we drop a Dagos military transport with a broadside fusillade, there will be plenty of credit to go around for everyone."