Catalog of the Weird Parallels

[AlexanderHowl]

Earth would not have formed in that case, as you can talking about changes to fundamental physics. Thunder would not exist, volcanic eruptions would not exceed VEI 4, asteroid impacts would not cause any major problems, and the stars themselves would have never went nova or supernova, meaning that there would be no planets.

[PTTG]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Earth would not have formed in that case, as you can talking about changes to fundamental physics. Thunder would not exist, volcanic eruptions would not exceed VEI 4, asteroid impacts would not cause any major problems, and the stars themselves would have never went nova or supernova, meaning that there would be no planets.

It's stock GURPS canon that alternates can make no reasonable sense. See Rustic, the worldline that forbids artificial electrical discharges, and Lizardia, where dinosaurs never died out and now have a society that directly mirrors our own.

[ericthered]

I don't think stars actually suffer that much. The current state of the sun is not one of explosion, merely of steady heat counteracting gravity.

Actually, it seems that trying to set off an explosion of C4 would result in a very hot mass that rapidly evaporates. Which isn't deadly but isn't exactly safe either.

You can get some shooting in this world with springs, and if you can make rail/coil guns work, that will be quite effective.

I think the physical impact of a vehicle might make a great weapon in this setting: without the gun, formation tactics will rule. Until its feasible to drive steam tanks through their centers.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by malloyd

So basically the speed of sound in gases is lower. And there is a maximum temperature it is possible for a gas to reach.
.

No. There's a maximum speed at which gases can expand no matter how hot it gets. There no maximum temperature it is possible for a gas to reach. Which I suppose has interesting implications for steam engines. As for the rest of it, they call them "weird" parallels for a reason.

[PTTG]

Null-Popper (also known as Nostrodamus-0.5) is a worldline where great prophecies aren't any more accurate than they historically have been on homeline, but astrological horoscopes are accurate. To be sure, they aren't iron-clad certainties -- and they can even be misleading -- but double-blind tests show that horoscopes are a reasonably reliable way to forecast the near future.

They cannot, however, depart the field of normal horoscope writing. They're still about meeting a special someone or having a great business opprotunity, or about a day being better spent in bed.

As a side effect, what we consider normal newspaper horoscopes don't exist. They can be made, but they're hopelessly vague, as they describe the upcoming fate of a twelfth of the population. Instead, most newspapers have a Horoscope section that cross-references date and place of birth with the Mother's sign. (For especially detailed horoscopes, the grandmonther's sign is included, but usually not newspaper horoscopes.)

Apparently the forecasts include outtimers' fates as well, and apparently predicted the arrival of a Homeline team. ("You'll meet an out-of-this-world new friend on Tuesday. Bring a pair of pliers.")

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Marvin-1 is a parallel where inexplicably, nothing can explode. There's a set speed to how quickly gases can expand. As a result there are no guns (not even air guns), no bombs, no internal combustion engines. Rockets exist but aren't very efficient due to the ceiling on thrust, so no satellites either. They do however have steam and electric engines. And nerve gas.

What's stopping me from making "guns" that spray hot gas at the enemy?

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by TGLS

What's stopping me from making "guns" that spray hot gas at the enemy?

You mean flamethrowers? Nothing. They exist.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

No. There's a maximum speed at which gases can expand no matter how hot it gets. There no maximum temperature it is possible for a gas to reach. Which I suppose has interesting implications for steam engines. As for the rest of it, they call them "weird" parallels for a reason.

Temperature is a function of the speed of the individual particles in the gas. If the ones at the surface of a gas bubble can't move faster than a fixed speed away from its center, there is a temperature they can't be hotter than either.

Well OK, I guess a violation in invariance of natural law to rotation is another option. Like I said, physics is deeply interconnected.

[TGLS]

I'm thinking more like gunpowder flamethrowers, spraying gunpowder vapour at the enemy.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by TGLS

I'm thinking more like gunpowder flamethrowers, spraying gunpowder vapour at the enemy.

<shrug> I don't think it would work very well. Range would be well below that of crossbows and it wouldn't have any real advantages over flaming liquid.