Five Earths, All in a Row

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by warellis

What Stp-Earth countries have military observers on Dsp-Earth currently?

British, Russains, and Scandinavians, IIRC.

Originally Posted by warellis

And how well practiced are Stp-Earth militaries at space warfare? Like what the Inp-Earth pilots went through I mean.

Not very.

[warellis]

Originally Posted by Marduk, post: 21373908, member: 27610

Yes, it was. In fact it was making Russia look good in comparison. After all, if it was working well it would not have disintegrated like it did. It was getting regular asskickings, even from Russia, since the Battle of Vienna, and that was late 17th century.
Religious fanatics running rampant, corrupt oversized bureaucracy worthy of its Byzantine predecessors, education and technology behind those of European powers, countries kept together by iron fisted ruler using divide and conquer on ethnic, religious group and state institutions that hate each other, sounds like Ottoman Empire, and familiar story for the Middle East in general.

Looking at the Ottoman Empire, at least Stp-Earth's version, I have to wonder if Inp-Earth/Dsp-Earth observers would slowly find a darkly familiar comparison in it to Inp-Earth's Middle East. As in rampant corruption, divide and conquer ethnic tension and violence, a terrible military, and iron-fisted rulers who pretty much find new ways to commit atrocities or brutalities on their citizens?

From what I've heard, the 19th century for the Ottomans was pretty terrible as in it was going down the drain, sort of like the modern Middle East. Only without a Jewish country I guess. And one big country instead of several smaller countries.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by warellis

Looking at the Ottoman Empire, at least Stp-Earth's version, I have to wonder if Inp-Earth/Dsp-Earth observers would slowly find a darkly familiar comparison in it to Inp-Earth's Middle East. As in rampant corruption, divide and conquer ethnic tension and violence, a terrible military, and iron-fisted rulers who pretty much find new ways to commit atrocities or brutalities on their citizens?

From what I've heard, the 19th century for the Ottomans was pretty terrible as in it was going down the drain, sort of like the modern Middle East. Only without a Jewish country I guess. And one big country instead of several smaller countries.

While still the Sick Man of Europe, the Stp-Ottomans are doing better than they did in Earth-1's or Earth-2's histories. If they join Stp-WWI, they'll be a legitimate threat to whichever side they aren't on, unless that side is overwhelmingly large. That's not to say that they're terribly well-united, though.

[Prince Charon]

Atomic Rockets has added a couple of articles that are varying degrees of relevant, here - not perfectly, because this is neither the Traveller setting nor a fully hard science setting, but they're of interest, either way. I'm linking to the source websites below.

Planetary Assault Operations: A White Paper was written for Traveller, and thus uses Tech Levels and assumptions from the Traveller RPG, but it shouldn't be too difficult to adapt (e.g. reading 'Navy' as Rocket Service, Space Force, or whatever).

Affordable, Rapid Bootstrapping of Space Industry and Solar System Civilization is a paper written with the real world in mind, so many challenges are easier to solve, but the challenges themselves remain more-or-less the same.

[Prince Charon]

A few sections of the Stp-Earth/Earth 3 timeline relating to slavery in the US (for clarity, the bits not related to slavery are snipped out):

1835: An anti-slavery novel called 'The Civil War, or, the Slave-Holders' Revolt' is published in the USA. The novel tells of a hypothetical civil war between the Slave States and the Free States, in the 1860s. Prominent characters include President Moses Landon (who is assassinated in a theatre by an actor named Leland Henry Osgood, near the start of his second term in office), and General Upton S. Adams (a relative of recent-at-the-time President John Quincy Adams). The war is quite bloody, but ends in a victory for the Free States. The novel garners some interest among abolitionists and Northern college professors, but makes little impact, otherwise.

1842: Sales of crude Mechanical Farmers begin in the USA.

1862: At Tara Plantation in Clayton County, Georgia, newlyweds Rhett and Scarlett Butler emancipate all their slaves, celebrating by sharing doses of Haversham's with the whole group. Many will remain at Tara as paid employees, but a few take up jobs at a clank factory Scarlett has invested in, in nearby Jonesborough.

1866: The state of Kentucky abolishes slavery within its borders.

1868: 16th Amendment to the US Constitution is passed, requiring gradual emancipation of all slaves in US states, territories, and protectorates, with slavery to become entirely illegal in 1888. Scarlett Butler founds the Ellen O'Hara Negro Womens' College in a mansion purchased from a neighbor who went bust.

1872: Georgia aboloshes slavery within its borders. Some newspapers credit plantation owner and industrialist Scarlett Butler with the rapid pace of this action, but in fact, she is only one of many voices calling for an early end to slavery.

1876: Maryland becomes a Free State.


Note that most of the OTL Slaves States as of 1861 retain slavery on Stp-Earth, and some intended to keep it right up to the bitter end, or have tried to have the 16th Amendment repealed. News of that is likely to galvanise some organizations on Earth 1.

OTOH, some folks have had their opinions changed by news from the other Earths, which may lead to a few states abolishing early - and the possibility to of violence breaking out against it, of course.

[warellis]

My apologies for bumping this thread but I think people here might be interested at seeing the change from TL 6 to TL 8 for fighter jet cockpits:

https://imgur.com/a/MzNYD

It might prove useful for any Dsp/Atp-Earth scenarios since I imagine even in the mature space age for that worldline, Earth's spacecraft will have far more knobs and gauges than multi-function displays. :D

Yup, I suspect glass cockpits might be something that worldline may find interesting.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by warellis

My apologies for bumping this thread but I think people here might be interested at seeing the change from TL 6 to TL 8 for fighter jet cockpits:

(SNIP)

I thought that last one was particularly interesting. No HUD for the first time in decades, because the information display appears on the visor of the pilot's helmet.

[warellis]

Originally Posted by tshiggins

I thought that last one was particularly interesting. No HUD for the first time in decades, because the information display appears on the visor of the pilot's helmet.

It is interesting! It's amazing the amount of change in instrumentation you can see in just 70 or so years.

I kind of wonder if that will replace HUDs like we see in most jet fighters currently? I also found the single wide display to be interesting as well.

As for Atompunk stuff, I imagine it's mostly be steam gauges instead of multi-function displays? Actually would glass cockpits be a thing there thematically with Dsp-Earth aka Atp-Earth/Earth-2's worldline?

I bet some of the alien fighter cockpits in Earth-2's worldline will be bizarre! Or maybe not since many of them are sort of humanoid I believe.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by warellis

It is interesting! It's amazing the amount of change in instrumentation you can see in just 70 or so years.

I kind of wonder if that will replace HUDs like we see in most jet fighters currently? I also found the single wide display to be interesting as well.

As for Atompunk stuff, I imagine it's mostly be steam gauges instead of multi-function displays? Actually would glass cockpits be a thing there thematically with Dsp-Earth aka Atp-Earth/Earth-2's worldline?

I bet some of the alien fighter cockpits in Earth-2's worldline will be bizarre! Or maybe not since many of them are sort of humanoid I believe.

Atompunk has electronics, so it's probably the same sorts of dials and gauges seen in the 1930s-1960s aircraft. The computer screens looks like they started to appear in the 1970s.

In Stp-Earth, I'd imagine that any dials and gauges hook directly to instruments on the other side of a bulkhead, or incorporate Babbage engine technology along the way. So, mechanical stuff, as well as springs and pressure and hydraulics, which may or may not use Babbage engines to make the readouts more intuitive.

[warellis]

Originally Posted by tshiggins

Atompunk has electronics, so it's probably the same sorts of dials and gauges seen in the 1930s-1960s aircraft. The computer screens looks like they started to appear in the 1970s.

In Stp-Earth, I'd imagine that any dials and gauges hook directly to instruments on the other side of a bulkhead, or incorporate Babbage engine technology along the way. So, mechanical stuff, as well as springs and pressure and hydraulics, which may or may not use Babbage engines to make the readouts more intuitive.

So Stp-Earth's cockpit instrumentation would look more like the stuff from the 1940s you'd say?