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Old 12-20-2018, 07:17 AM   #11
Astromancer
 
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Default Re: AtE Worldbuilding "The New Old West"

I've read some magazine articles on using carbon polymers in solar cells. These would be less efficient by far but very cheap. Thus fields of black tarry-looking shingles would be a power source.

You couldn't run a train on low efficiency solar cells, but maybe you could run a biofuel farm on them.
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Old 12-20-2018, 05:06 PM   #12
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Default Re: AtE Worldbuilding "The New Old West"

You can use thermal depolymerization to break organics into oil. It costs about twice as much a barrel as it does now but that is still cheap enough for important power systems like trains, military etc. It works best if the feedstock is reasonable uniform, one pilot plant was feathers from a large chicken growing operation.
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Old 12-20-2018, 10:39 PM   #13
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Default Re: AtE Worldbuilding "The New Old West"

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Originally Posted by Astromancer View Post
I've read some magazine articles on using carbon polymers in solar cells. These would be less efficient by far but very cheap. Thus fields of black tarry-looking shingles would be a power source.
<snip>
I could see a solar shingle roof running the amenities of a well to do families' frontier home, possibly with a wind turbine used for direct motive power. Lights, stove, waterpump and meat safe all seem feasible and more or less match the setting.

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You can use thermal depolymerization to break organics into oil. It costs about twice as much a barrel as it does now but that is still cheap enough for important power systems like trains, military etc. It works best if the feedstock is reasonable uniform, one pilot plant was feathers from a large chicken growing operation.
Useful, there would be social and political pressure to be more efficent and waste less throughout the setting so that should fit in somewhere.

While not exactly relevant to the farming side of things I was wondering what people thought would be a good default armour/weapon relationship. The extremes being armour is useless and armour stops everything. A middle ground that comes to mind is kevlar/ceramic type armour is relatively cheap (by setting standards) but is only really effective against TL 8 and lower ballistic attacks.
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Old 12-28-2018, 05:21 PM   #14
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Default Re: AtE Worldbuilding "The New Old West"

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(SNIP)

A middle ground that comes to mind is kevlar/ceramic type armour is relatively cheap (by setting standards) but is only really effective against TL 8 and lower ballistic attacks.
That actually works really well in my Facets campaign, which has had a bit of a "wild west" feel.

Now, in my game, the antagonists frequently know nothing about body armor (and those who do take counter-measures), which means the PCs have an advantage. The bad guys shoot for center-of-mass, and the armor helps.

In a setting where it's more generally known, I'd have the antagonists with weapons affected alter their tactics. Go for the leg shots to immobilize, and then wait for the targets to bleed out.
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