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Old 02-17-2014, 03:53 PM   #101
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Default Re: Reasonable later inventions at earlier tech levels

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Originally Posted by Ed the Coastie View Post
Railroads. Wagons with flanged wheels for rolling along rails would not have been beyond the engineering capabilities of the Romans or Chinese. Nor would a "locomotive" that was essentially an over-sized hand-pumped railcar (pumped by slaves, probably). Several such locomotives could pull a decent-sized train of wagons...which could be loaded with cargo or troops.

Of course, you would want your railroads to be as level as possible...but that is a civil engineering issue, and not really an overly-daunting one.
In fact, there was something along those lines in ancient Greece. I think we have in it LTC1.

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Old 02-17-2014, 03:56 PM   #102
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Of course, you would want your railroads to be as level as possible...but that is a civil engineering issue, and not really an overly-daunting one.
Given the difficulty with maintaining roads, which have significantly looser tolerances than rails, I think you may underestimate the difficulty. Getting rails flat when you lay them down isn't that bad. Keeping them flat once weather has a chance at them is major.
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Old 02-17-2014, 04:01 PM   #103
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Why not think about what a viable Clockwork Computer might have done.
There's a reason clockwork computers didn't become predominant, and it's not a case of a path not taken -- people actually did develop mechanical computing devices (for example, the Enigma machine). They just have extremely limited potential.
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Old 02-17-2014, 04:02 PM   #104
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This thread seems very focused on pre-industrial changes. Why not think about what a viable Clockwork Computer might have done. With all due respect to The Difference Engine, I think the effects would have come slower but the transformation would still be large.
Do you mean something like a general purpose Antikythera Mechanism? I suppose it might be helpful in concert with improved measurement and/or more uniform manufacture. For instance, it could help optimize vehicle loading, *if* you know how much volume and weight a vehicle will hold as compartmentalized, and can scale that performance boost to multiple similar vehicles rather than what they had lumber and workmen to make that month.
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Old 02-17-2014, 06:14 PM   #105
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In fact, there was something along those lines in ancient Greece. I think we have in it LTC1.
*nodding* I remember reading that. It just occurs to me that it might have worked on a larger scale.
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Old 02-17-2014, 06:15 PM   #106
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Given the difficulty with maintaining roads, which have significantly looser tolerances than rails, I think you may underestimate the difficulty. Getting rails flat when you lay them down isn't that bad. Keeping them flat once weather has a chance at them is major.
True...but I figure that if railroads have been doing it for a couple of hundred years, it has a workable solution.
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Old 02-17-2014, 07:09 PM   #107
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Given the difficulty with maintaining roads, which have significantly looser tolerances than rails, I think you may underestimate the difficulty. Getting rails flat when you lay them down isn't that bad. Keeping them flat once weather has a chance at them is major.
The Romans had experience with both roads and aqueducts. I should have thought that rails would be within their capabilities.


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Old 02-17-2014, 07:34 PM   #108
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The Romans had experience with both roads and aqueducts. I should have thought that rails would be within their capabilities.
Water and feet are much better at adapting to flaws and damage to the underlying surface than rigid wheels.
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Old 02-17-2014, 07:42 PM   #109
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Water and feet are much better at adapting to flaws and damage to the underlying surface than rigid wheels.
No doubt, but are the difficulties involved something the Romans would have been incapable of figuring out?


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Old 02-17-2014, 09:13 PM   #110
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No doubt, but are the difficulties involved something the Romans would have been incapable of figuring out?
Probably not, but the other question is what benefit they'd get. Until you have TL 5+ drivetrains, I'm not sure what you really gain.
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