Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[andrea]

Ah, saw RAM's but missed your. I will take a look and see if I have any advice.
GM said it doesn't matter if reports are contradictory, so the more the merrier.

[evictedSaint]

Revision: Low Power Steam [4]

The initial design was too large and heavy to be set up inside, let alone mounted to a ship.  The first order of business is getting it down to a more managable size.

There's no reason for the initial boiler to be quite so big, so the first step is to scale it down to something approximating a cauldron in size.  We nearly reduced the steam pipes to the same scale, but after some tests we decided to simply reduce it down to half size to avoid clogged pipes resulting in another explosion.  The secondary container and valves are likewise reduced in size, and as an added bonus we add an emergency steam valve to the top to prevent it from exploding off if the pressure builds up too much.  The engine has to cool down before the release valve can be reset, but at least now it won't launch into nearby villages and start any more cults.

The contraption still weighs a staggering amount, but it could concievably be put aboard a ship without sinking it.
 Unfortinately, the spinning secondary container has very little torque, though it can reach impressive speeds.  We also have no current means of regulating the power once it starts up, and the salt water tends to gum up the internal mechanisms after prolonged use.  Additionally, we don't currently have any means of converting the spinning portion into useful energy - all it does at the moment is spew steam spirals.

On the bright side, the flame spell means we won't have to feed the engine.

[10ebbor10]

Ah bugger.

Let's hope we can make it usefull.

We should be able to solve the salt issue by filling the tanks with perpetual mist.

[andrea]

Mist is a great idea.

The high speed low torque problem is easily solved as well by a system of pulleys and belts. should not require too advanced technology.

as for the mean of converting energy, I suppose paddlewheels? screw propellers seems a fair bit harder to design, while watermills already have wheels with paddles.
It is taking a while to make it, but it will have wide ranging applications. We could also make things like steam cannons.

edit: Azzurro, nice report for the fight. Fits more with the "interview people from the battlefield" part. Maybe I should rewrite my one to match. Just one question, what are those black phantoms? I forgot them.

[Andres]

I propose that we then make the weak fireball stronger, rather than the strong fireball cheaper.

The weak fireball is cheap and has no flaws, unlike the strong fireball which is very expensive and sets the floor on fire.

That is a very good idea.

Anyway, new Order: Rededicate our Anti-Wizard Guards into Wizard-Hunting Squads. Now that we have Anti-Magic Charms, our mages and commanders no longer need to fear enemy mindreading, rendering their anti-wizard guards obsolete. The elite guards, however, are reorganised into small squads and attached to every attack we plan as much as possible, tasked to seek out and kill enemy mages wielding the ivory staves.

+1

Glory to Arstotzka.

[stabbymcstabstab]

Anyway, new Order: Rededicate our Anti-Wizard Guards into Wizard-Hunting Squads. Now that we have Anti-Magic Charms, our mages and commanders no longer need to fear enemy mindreading, rendering their anti-wizard guards obsolete. The elite guards, however, are reorganised into small squads and attached to every attack we plan as much as possible, tasked to seek out and kill enemy mages wielding the ivory staves.

+1

Glory to Arstotzka.

No a bad plan. +1

[Azzuro]

Mist is a great idea.

The high speed low torque problem is easily solved as well by a system of pulleys and belts. should not require too advanced technology.

as for the mean of converting energy, I suppose paddlewheels? screw propellers seems a fair bit harder to design, while watermills already have wheels with paddles.
It is taking a while to make it, but it will have wide ranging applications. We could also make things like steam cannons.

edit: Azzurro, nice report for the fight. Fits more with the "interview people from the battlefield" part. Maybe I should rewrite my one to match. Just one question, what are those black phantoms? I forgot them.

The Black Phantasms were mentioned all the way back in the second update, they're the elite unit of black-robed Moskurger cavalry accompanying al-Mutriqa and presumably getting boosted by the Wand of Heroism.

Also, no need for cumbersome pulleys and belts, RPM-torque can be converted via just two gears with a suitable gear ratio. And paddlewheels sound good, easier to make and retrofit onto our existing ships than screw propellers, which are perhaps better saved for a future revision if needed. It's even period-appropriate, as gears and paddlewheels were known about since antiquity!

I guess we're going to be spending our next design phase on this as well, barring the ever-present threat of Hypothetical Moskurg Magical Superweapons. So a preliminary writeup:

Design: Arstotzkan Steamship
Arstotzkan designers return to their great dream: to propel a ship with nothing more than fire and water! (And some poor apprentice, of course.) This will allow Arstotzkan ships to catch up with those cowardly Moskurgian vessels and fully exploit their superior firepower.

The greatest change is the recycling of steam, rather than being allowed to freely escape and turn the boiler rooms into a steamy mess, the secondary container is enclosed in a cylinder to capture the escaping steam, which is then directed into a series of pipes around the inside hull of the ship, cooling it down and condensing it back into hot water, which is collected and reintroduced into the original boiler at intervals. The steamships are thus designed to be 'fueled' once at port with a load of fresh water to continuously run their engine, although replacement seawater may be used in an emergency in case too much escapes. As a bonus, Arstotzkan steamships are warm-hulled, and any Moskurg boarder may find a cloud of hot steam in his face if he unwisely strikes the hull.

The spinning of the secondary container within its cylinder is used to drive an axle and small gear, which in turn turns two far larger gears and a pair of massive paddlewheels on either side of the ship, made of wood with a thin covering of metal. The enormous paddles displace far more water than oars, allowing our ships to move that much faster. In battle, one of the paddlewheels may be disconnected from the gear to execute a sharp turn.

Finally, the Cardinal Order of Mathemagicians have helpfully transferred the runework for Automagical Control from the Tower of Frost to the boiler, allowing the apprentice on duty to regulate the strength of the fire spell, and thus the heat and pressure generated.

[evictedSaint]

Out of curiosity, is this one single design you're proposing?

[andrea]

seems a bit much for the single design

edit: also, I proposed blts and pulleys because good gears are not simple to manufacture. early design were.... not efficient.

[Azzuro]

It's a design + revision to fix any bugs that pop up. If it's too big, we can always take parts out of the design proposal when next turn comes, although I can't think of a good way to do so. Steam condensation and recycling is to solve the salt buildup issue, although I suppose an evaporator would work. Paddlewheels are necessary to make the engine do something useful. Taking out the Automagical Control is possible, though it seems a shame as that's the easiest part, given we already did it.

Oh, and since we have mills in our villages as mentioned in the short update, we definitely have gears sufficient to turn a paddlewheel, which is basically a watermill in reverse. And even in Ancient Greece nearly a thousand years before our game, gears were sufficiently precise to use in a primitive analogue computer, although that's lost technology.

[andrea]

Precision is not an issue, not a big one at this stage anyway.
I am just worried about the transmission efficiency, which might be poor. I will need some research on the matter. Although we do have fairly advanced metallurgy.

[Tyrant Leviathan]

I was also thinking of using Runes/ glyphs to enchant metals to keep toughness but be lighter. So can have iron clads and more mobile plate troops. Even lead to iron clads if applied to steam ships.



Aside that, I think we need a new gun" aside arrows. Like fireball launchers, cross bows in a form, bolt or pellet launchers/ Greek fire. Just something you know?

[andrea]

steam cannons! use steam to build up pressure, then fire.

regarding fresh water, ebbor has a point in trying to use our fog spell. fog IS water.

edit: I hope we get the revision credit, we will really need it.

[RAM]

I was also thinking of using Runes/ glyphs to enchant metals to keep toughness but be lighter. So can have iron clads and more mobile plate troops. Even lead to iron clads if applied to steam ships.

Our crystals are already most of that...

[FallacyofUrist]

Uh, did we just spend an entire turn making something that won't help us with the war(for now)?

Moskurg is going to hit us hard this turn.