[Space] Steampunk Firefly Idea

[scc]

Originally Posted by tshiggins

Mars, of course, would be the source of weird science found in the desiccated ruins of ancient Martian cities, haunted by feral creatures and surrounded by violent, degenerate barbarians who struggle to survive. Dubbed "Reivers" by the British explorers who found them (and who managed to get a message out before they were eaten), the clever barbarians have started to build their own space craft, modeled on the British scout vessel they captured.

Heat Rays pretty much enable Laser Rockets at whatever TL you get them, so if you get Heat Rays at TL (5+1)^ you also get Laser ROckets

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by scc

Heat Rays pretty much enable Laser Rockets at whatever TL you get them, so if you get Heat Rays at TL (5+1)^ you also get Laser ROckets

You've got the laser part but how's your pointing ability? You might manage the gyrostabilization part with enough gleaming brass but you'd need to adjust your focus and aim your beam with more speed and precision than a human operator can probably manage,

[scc]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

You've got the laser part but how's your pointing ability? You might manage the gyrostabilization part with enough gleaming brass but you'd need to adjust your focus and aim your beam with more speed and precision than a human operator can probably manage,

TL(5+1) means you get computers, OK their more Babbage calculating machines, but still.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by scc

TL(5+1) means you get computers, OK their more Babbage calculating machines, but still.

This is rather advanced TL8. You'd need TL5+3 or at least TL 5+1^

[scc]

Um, what? TL(5+1) can have crime solving robots and we're already applying Superscience, why couldn't they keep a gun pointing at a rocket

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by scc

Um, what? TL(5+1) can have crime solving robots and we're already applying Superscience, why couldn't they keep a gun pointing at a rocket

TL5+1^ can have crime solving robots. Without the ^ you're not indicating superscience.

[Daigoro]

At least there's a reasonable justification for all three moons to be habitable and life-bearing if just one is- lithopanspermia. Basically, ejecta from meteor impacts allow biological material to be shared between planets or moons.

You could posit that volcanoes or even violent storms could achieve the same function, and I was thinking about some kind of organism that had adapted to spending a period in space travelling between the moons.