Disabling the Hahskyn-Varna Canal? (HFQ Spoilers)

Louis R wrote:Draining canals is generally impractical: you can only do at points where the canal bed is higher than the surrounding terrain, and only section by section between locks. Nothing the other side of a lock will be affected, although of course you can't get through them until that side is refilled.

That's not entirely true IMHO. I don't think there's any definitive TextEv for the configuration of the lock gates, so if they're like the lock gates of most English & Welsh canals (i.e. 1 gate each side of the canal forming a wedge against the upstream side) then wouldn't blowing the walls of the upstream canal cause the weight of the water on the other side of lock gates to force them open thus draining more than the current segment. (At least until the water level drops to the level of the cill at a set of locks, at which point the segment beyond there won't drain any further[1].)

[1] Well, excluding segments which have additional water inputs from other rivers and streams in which case draining at roughly the rate of new water input in that segment will continue.

Possibly, in some circumstances, and with some gate mechanisms. In general...

Even in single-flight locks the bottom of the upstream channel can be above downstream water level. In multi-flight locks this is routinely the case. In those cases only the water in the chamber would be lost. In situations where the upstream bed is below downstream water level it will more often than not not be by enough to make navigation impossible, since usually there wouldn't be any point in putting in a lock at that point, with that small a lift.

In many locks, there are mechanical stops of some sort that prevent the gates moving too far, since that would be a major issue when the chamber is emptied - you could easily get a situation where the gates don't meet properly and there's no seal.

PalmerSperry wrote:

Louis R wrote:Draining canals is generally impractical: you can only do at points where the canal bed is higher than the surrounding terrain, and only section by section between locks. Nothing the other side of a lock will be affected, although of course you can't get through them until that side is refilled.

That's not entirely true IMHO. I don't think there's any definitive TextEv for the configuration of the lock gates, so if they're like the lock gates of most English & Welsh canals (i.e. 1 gate each side of the canal forming a wedge against the upstream side) then wouldn't blowing the walls of the upstream canal cause the weight of the water on the other side of lock gates to force them open thus draining more than the current segment. (At least until the water level drops to the level of the cill at a set of locks, at which point the segment beyond there won't drain any further[1].)

[1] Well, excluding segments which have additional water inputs from other rivers and streams in which case draining at roughly the rate of new water input in that segment will continue.

Theemile wrote:

phillies wrote:Merlin has tractor rays. Why bother with a guidance mechanism in the bomb?

Might as well ignore the bomb and grab the side of the lock or raised canal with the tractor and collapse it.

Only if the Tractor beam is powerful enough to pull it off, so to speak. AFAIR the only 'tractor beam' we have seen in operation was a handheld unit that made the former Archbishop of Charis slip on an icy step at some distance. Maybe they don't scale very well, or maybe the skimmer isn't equipped with a big one. The bombs may well be simpler and less resource intensive to make. They also have the advantage that the basic effect is explainable in Safehold terms, 'There was a big explosion. Someone must have planted a bomb.'

Randomiser wrote:
Only if the Tractor beam is powerful enough to pull it off, so to speak. AFAIR the only 'tractor beam' we have seen in operation was a handheld unit that made the former Archbishop of Charis slip on an icy step at some distance. Maybe they don't scale very well, or maybe the skimmer isn't equipped with a big one. The bombs may well be simpler and less resource intensive to make. They also have the advantage that the basic effect is explainable in Safehold terms, 'There was a big explosion. Someone must have planted a bomb.'

Merlin is routinely gathered to the skimmer with a tractor beam, especially when he steps out of upper story windows. A tractor beam lowered that schooner into the water and then pulled it into the rear of that galleon transporting Thirsk's family and then deposited Merlin and Nimue onto the deck. A tractor beam deposited Nimue's fishing boat just over the sight horizon from Thunderer so she could "just happen" to encounter Ahbaht with the info he needed to initiate his fateful mission...

We don't know the limits of their strength, but it is obvious that tractor beams are being used all over the place here...

Don

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