Let's upgrade the Mechane!

[Hardcore]

A Wizard may be powerful but lightning cannons are far more cool. They get my vote.

(should have been a poll really but I couldn't figure out how on the phone)

[Draconi Redfir]

someone justdraw a bad 2d image of the mechane and everyone can download it and draw bad upgrades onto it in mspaint.

[KorvinStarmast]

A Wizard may be powerful but lightning cannons are far more cool. They get my vote.
I'd vote for Cannons, though from the comic they appear to be a crew served weapon that requires an additional power supply (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0977.html). That adds considerable weight per cannon. The aggregate may be heavier than the ballistae. I'd be worried about their being a shorter range than the ballistae. Look at how close they got to shoot at Crystal.
Might be best to re-think Mechane's Armament. (Wizards are high maintenance people, if you're a pirate, I am pretty sure that's a bad idea).

[Hardcore]

Yeah, I expect either option to be very expensive.

[Rogar Demonblud]

If your wizard knows Mending, lots of your simpler maintenance tasks are handled. Divination can provide guidance on many subjects. Sending for communications. Summoning.

Wizards are useful for a lot more than just blasting things. Heck, a Sleep spell on the opposing crew might be more effective than most Evocations.

[KorvinStarmast]

If your wizard knows Mending, lots of your simpler maintenance tasks are handled. Divination can provide guidance on many subjects. Sending for communications. Summoning.

Wizards are useful for a lot more than just blasting things. Heck, a Sleep spell on the opposing crew might be more effective than most Evocations. Not arguing about useful -- no question about that. The point was that as people, wizards are high maintenance. A canon or a ballistae is a piece of equipment. While it takes work to keep running, it can't teleport away when it's upset with you.

[Rogar Demonblud]

You only need to worry about that if the wizard knows teleport. Or if you're a jerk to them.

[Christopher K.]

someone justdraw a bad 2d image of the mechane and everyone can download it and draw bad upgrades onto it in mspaint.

OOTS Coloring Book 2: The Mechane is due for some upgrades! Draw what you imagine Bandana bought!

[KorvinStarmast]

You only need to worry about that if the wizard knows teleport. Or if you're a jerk to them. Yes to the former, no to the latter.

Life and people are not that simple. Rich tries to make things more three dimensional than you are allowing for.

If you get a personality disagreement with the wizard like Andi and Bandana had, the wiz can charm you (or do a variety of other things) and stuff can get out of hand in a hurry.

Unless a wizard has a compelling reason to want to be on a pirate ship (like loving Julio, having a personal friendship/attraction to Bandana, etc) hiring one creates as many problems as it solves. Wizards are high maintenance people. It comes with the profession.

Beyond that, with people, there is no easy button. (See the mini arc vis a vis Andi/Bandana among others). See also Roy's never ending frustrations with Belkar, his early frustrations with Haley (dishonest), and the first few hundred strips worth of frustrations with Elan.

Lacking the charisma of Julio Scoundrel, the captain of a ship is better served with a machine/weapon the Captain has control over.

Regards

[Hackman]

Yes to the former, no to the latter.

Lacking the charisma of Julio Scoundrel, the captain of a ship is better served with a machine/weapon the Captain has control over.

Regards

Time for Bandana to multiclass!

[KorvinStarmast]

Time for Bandana to multiclass! She might also consider that wands are indeed useful.

[DuctTapeKatar]

Wizards are high-maintenance, true. BUT, sorcerers are not, they tend to be a more laid back, if they aren't power-hungry. Their spell sets may be a bit smaller, but their temperament might be a bit easier to deal with. Bards too, especially if the bard specializes into support magic. Heck, a cleric would be useful as well (control weather, anyone?).

The Mechane would probably benefit from being renovated to have a Pegasus or hippogriff stable in the back, or some other form of small air-support. We haven't seen it go against other ships, yet, so we don't really know how well it could stand against another airborne enemy, but having a pair of fighters to harass enemy crews would probably be beneficial.

Weapon-wise, I think that the ballistae it has (or had) were pretty good already. The ammunition is the stuff that needs upgrading. Imagine a special bolt designed to act as an immovable rod upon striking an enemy ship. Suddenly, their ship isn't just shot, but their hull is now grinding against a floating obstacle, if not immobilized completely. Plus, you can retrieve any bolt you fired after the battle.

Also, I think the galley might need a bit of an upgrade. I mean, just look at it. It needs a makeover.
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1043.html

[pendell]

Not arguing about useful -- no question about that. The point was that as people, wizards are high maintenance. A canon or a ballistae is a piece of equipment. While it takes work to keep running, it can't teleport away when it's upset with you.

Can a "wizard" be duplicated with magic items? Do you really need a person on board who is capable of casting all the time, or do you have a limited number of spells that only need to be cast a limited number of times?

I vote cannons. They can be run by trained crew, while wizards are both hard to come by and hard to replace if they are incapacitated. Not to mention the potential to go Mad With Powa and summon a demon in their quarters or similar nonsense.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[KorvinStarmast]

Wizards are high-maintenance, true. BUT, sorcerers are not, they tend to be a more laid back, if they aren't power-hungry. The two sorcerers that come first to mind (Samantha and Xykon) are hardly " laid back" but maybe there are other sorcerers in the OoTS who illustrate that point?

[Quebbster]

The two sorcerers that come first to mind (Samantha and Xykon) are hardly " laid back" but maybe there are other sorcerers in the OoTS who illustrate that point?

Wasn't one of the soul splices a sorcerer ?

[Rogar Demonblud]

Yes, Jephton the Unholy, IMS.

[Kish]

Xykon's pretty laid back, actually, in that "sadistic monster" way. And in general, the most uptight characters in the whole comic have been wizards and Miko.