01-23-2014, 02:35 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
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TL3^ to TL4^ misadventures
IMC (broadly late TL3 with modest magic) there's a renaissance brewing! I've got a good idea about things that are invented along these transitions, but what sorts of mistakes were there? What are the dead ends that people pursued in the belief they would lead somewhere? Which ship designs were so much hassle they weren't effective? What sorts of medical and agricultural techniques and beliefs didn't pan out? I'm looking for the "almost but not quites".
A large part of an "age of discovery" is the useless invention, catastrophic detonation, and colossal boondoggle. Inventions that work are easy to see (when your culture's already invented them). The things people tried, learned from, and promptly forgot when they were replaced...those I'm having trouble with. |
01-24-2014, 03:21 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Here .
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Re: TL3^ to TL4^ misadventures
Not every useless failure invention disappears , We still have politicians for example .
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01-24-2014, 09:49 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
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Re: TL3^ to TL4^ misadventures
- Black powder revolving handguns without the percussion cap (see recent thread).
- Black powder revolving longarms without the percussion cap (if there is a chain fire, your off hand is right in front of the spare barrels). - Bombards which crack, explode, or collapse any available bridge when one tries to move them. - Breachloading guns - Plate armour which covers the inside of each joint with metal lames. It was tried again and again from 1400 onwards, but it never became standard on rich armour, so something must have been wrong with it. - Throwing out a thousand years of trial and error (and one's own observations about what does and doesn't work) to do one's best to practice medicine as ancient texts say one should. Not all of the new doctors were like this but many were. - Using poisonous metal compounds in medicine because they are new and exotic and an exciting new theory recommends them. - Leonardo tried some oil paints which had the side effect of never drying. - Parachutes which were too small, too weak, or too heavy. - All kinds of old or foreign nonsense being popularized (mystical alchemy, astrology, “Roman” authoritarianism).
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"It is easier to banish a habit of thought than a piece of knowledge." H. Beam Piper This forum got less aggravating when I started using the ignore feature Last edited by Polydamas; 01-24-2014 at 09:53 AM. |
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