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Originally Posted by Icelander
Okay, so they'd definitely be for rich farmers who still weren't quite rich enough to afford magical Elemental Furnaces, which start at 0.005 kW/kg, but don't need any fuel.
That being said, how much of the absolutely massive tonnage of these things has to be made from high-quality steel, that requires TL6+ industrial steel infrastructure to make in large quantities and how much of the total weight can you get away with steel that's economical to manufacture at TL4-5 emerging industrial steel infrastructure?
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Only the boiler, cylinder, and the piston absolutely should to be high-grade metal, and even then thicker cheap metal can substitute to a certain degree.
Oh, and these engines could run on wood instead of coal, so if they're in an area that's recently been cleared for farming waste wood can be used. You'd need a set of sprayers to use liquid fuel, but I'm sure the manufacturers could make and provide those as part of a range of optional accessories if there's a demand.