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Old 10-12-2020, 04:23 PM   #1
Horatio Hex
 
Join Date: May 2020
Default Steampunk liquified coal

Hi. On a TV Tropes page about steampunk “magical fuels” (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.p...ducedSteampunk), there’s a mention about the existence of a Pyramid article about the use of liquified coal in a realistic steampunk setting. Sadly, there’s no references to said article. Can someone point me to the right issue of Pyramid?

Thanks in advance!
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Old 10-12-2020, 04:58 PM   #2
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Default Re: Steampunk liquified coal

I think that's from the Designer's Notes for GURPS Steampunk, published in the web version of Pyramid. You might ask William Stoddard if he still has a draft somewhere - he posts on the forums as whswhs.
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Old 10-12-2020, 05:03 PM   #3
Anthony
 
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Default Re: Steampunk liquified coal

It's probably http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/sample.html?id=1962

That's from Pyramid Online, which I found helpfully indexed here.
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Old 10-12-2020, 05:03 PM   #4
Turhan's Bey Company
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Default Re: Steampunk liquified coal

That's one of a handful of web-Pyramid articles still available as a sample. You can find it here.
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Old 10-12-2020, 05:09 PM   #5
Anthony
 
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Default Re: Steampunk liquified coal

Quote:
Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company View Post
That's one of a handful of web-Pyramid articles still available as a sample. You can find it here.
There's actually hundreds (link above claims 850, but a bunch are actually from print pyramid as they're publication dates before 1998).
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Old 10-13-2020, 04:03 PM   #6
Horatio Hex
 
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Default Re: Steampunk liquified coal

Thank you for your answers!

While Mr. Stoddard's notes about coal in a Steampunk game are about powdered coal, instead of the liquified coal developed by the German petrochemical industry, it seams that coal-water slurry fuel would be an other solution for all the cool steam-powered gadgets of a TL5+1 steampunk world.

Again, thanks!
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Old 10-15-2020, 02:54 AM   #7
johndallman
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Default Re: Steampunk liquified coal

Quote:
Originally Posted by Horatio Hex View Post
While Mr. Stoddard's notes about coal in a Steampunk game are about powdered coal, instead of the liquified coal developed by the German petrochemical industry, it seems that coal-water slurry fuel would be another solution for all the cool steam-powered gadgets of a TL5+1 steampunk world.
The drawback of coal-water slurry is that you waste a lot of heat boiling that water, and using it for steam is dubious, because you then have to inject the slurry against steam pressure.

Petrochemical liquified coal is simply making hydrocarbon liquid fuels out of carbon from coal, and hydrogen from another source. It needs quite a lot of energy input, usually from burning more coal, and is only worthwhile if you need the convenience of liquid hydrocarbons and don't have another source for them.

Powdered coal can be moved on a stream of air, which is potentially useful for providing air to a boiler.
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Old 10-15-2020, 03:06 AM   #8
Anthony
 
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Default Re: Steampunk liquified coal

Quote:
Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
It needs quite a lot of energy input.
Well, that depends on your hydrogen source. It's a lot if you're getting it from water, much lower if you're getting it from methane, and exothermic if for some reason you have gaseous hydrogen.
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