Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-30638561-20131212005439

I dunno, like a hot air balloon or something. It would be coal- powered, meaning that you can freely adjust the altitude if you craft coal with the balloon. If it is out of fuel in midair, the balloon slowly descends until hitting the ground. Oil could be a more efficient alternative, but it is harder to get. The crafting? Possibly : Small tree stump x2 + Boulder + Iron x2 + Coal + Oil + Fabric x3 + Dye (optional)

The thing itself would appear as a basket with a furnace inside it, roped to a large, well, balloon, either white or the color of the chosen dye. None of the balloon would be flammable to prevent drag burning and destroying it. When somebody touches the furnace, a GUI pops up that allows him to access the directional controls. If the balloon is left by the flyer, the GUI will automatically close.

It is not for use as a siege weapon for the following reasons: - In order to fight, the flier(s) would have to exit the balloon. It is expensive and is not to be wasted. - The balloon can be easily stolen after it floats down to the ground. - If you leave one person to man the balloon, well, the thing only has room for 2. Any tribe that can build a fortification strong enough for you to require the balloon to get in can easily take on one person. - It generally isn't that easy to snipe off the inhabitants with a bow, due to the fact that they will probably shoot you first.

So, why do I want this to exist? For the Lulz. It is quite fun flying around the map, cliff to cliff, and getting a bird's eye view. Imagine all of the dumb inventions that could be made with it! Also, it could be used as a means of escape. If there is a large tribe on a cliff that is being attacked, they could all get into balloons and go off to another cliff, where the attackers would waste time climbing up there. They could also go to a whole new island, and it would take a hell of a lot of time for them to get from a cliff on mainland to plateau, especially considering how that would buy them enough time to prepare defenses.  