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MASSIVE SPOILER about next book hardware

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MASSIVE SPOILER about next book hardware
Post by runsforcelery   » Fri Mar 23, 2012 1:37 am

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Okay, so I just finished the rough draft for Midst Toil and Tribulation (249,300 words) and, in a fit of no doubt misplaced zeal, I am willing to provide you with a certain amount of information you did not previously have. To wit, the design of an ironclad river gunboat, casemate design, constructed by Messer. Ehdwyrd Howsmyn in or around his Delthak Works.

There are only a teeny-tiny handful of these, and there won't be any more for quite some time. I believe, however, that you will discover that some of the conclusions about just how good the steam engines available to Charis may be in 896 YoGA may have been . . . inaccurate. [G]

This is not for discussion on any other thread, since it does constitute pretty massive spoiler fodder on a book which will not be out until September!!!!


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“River-class” Ironclads)

Displacement: 1,200 tons (normal); 1,992 tons (max load)

Dimensions: 140'x40'x6' (normal draft); 140'x40'x10' (draft w/max designed fuel); Freeboard = 11.5 feet at design displacement.

Machinery: twin-screw, double expansion engines; 4 Delthak Works watertube boilers (260 psi).

Max Speed: 18 "knots" (MPH, remember = 15.6 Old Earth knots!)

Bunkerage: 480 tons (design); 1,172 tons (maximum)

Endurance: 904 miles/1,900 miles @ 9.5 knots/mph

Armor: 3” casemate and CT; 1” decks; 1" casemate roof. Casemate sides sloped at 60 degrees.

Armament: designed for 6” BL w/hydro-pneumatic recoil but initially armed w/30-pounders; 10 guns each broadside; 3 guns each fore and aft as chasers. (Total = 26)

Crew: 197

This is a conversion of an all-wooden-hull design protected by face-hardened "Howsmynized" steel armor, not iron! They have something rather more . . . ambitious in mind for follow-on designs.


"Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as Piglet came back from the dead.
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Re: MASSIVE SPOILER about next book hardware
Post by Kytheros   » Fri Mar 23, 2012 2:08 am

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That's a pretty impressive-looking craft, for where they're at; should do well as a proof of concept intermediate stage style design, working towards the good stuff.
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Re: MASSIVE SPOILER about next book hardware
Post by phillies   » Fri Mar 23, 2012 9:16 am

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11 foot freeboard -- moving it places will be entertaining. Perhaps the armour is shipped separately for assembly at the destination continent?

The perhaps most interesting line is that there will not be more of these for quite some time. There are any number of interpretations, including the Houseman works getting turned into lakes by the rakurai projector, the supply of iron ore proving inadequate, the supply of rivers being unsatisfactory, torpedoes, a decision to supply Emerald and Corisande -- Charis and Chisholm from their geography look less satisfactory -- with good rail networks, etc.
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Re: MASSIVE SPOILER about next book hardware
Post by Emo Otaku   » Fri Mar 23, 2012 9:56 am

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Re: MASSIVE SPOILER about next book hardware
Post by PeterZ   » Fri Mar 23, 2012 10:27 am

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One assumes that the gun boat can operate in Howell Bay. May not be fun during lively weather but that sort of closed conditions would limit how rough the seas get. I suspect that these boats would also work well in similar regions in and around the Gulf of Dohlar.

As for moving it into the gulf of Dohlar, it would be easiest of RFC used the cannal he forgot to mention existed between the Gulf of Jahras and Salthar Bay. As for transporting these specialty vehicles, yes very entertaining. Likely the task will be performed by our beloved Flag Lt., the Duke of Dracos.

Because they are specialty vehicles, they will not be in broader production until after their deep sea cousins are deployed. Those more ambitious cousins are the real stuff of speculation. If one were to assume the boiler design will be standard, expanding the number of boilers would scale the power output for larger ships. So, are we looking at a steel framed, wooden hull, armored ship with hydrolic/pnuematic winches about 400 feet long and displacing 6k-7k tons? Powered with 6-8 boilers and 900 tons of bunkerage with similar endurance as the river gun boat, yet still ship or barque rigged with 3 masts? Named Wahrriohr perhaps? No not that, perhaps simply Victory.

I hope so.


phillies wrote:11 foot freeboard -- moving it places will be entertaining. Perhaps the armour is shipped separately for assembly at the destination continent?

The perhaps most interesting line is that there will not be more of these for quite some time. There are any number of interpretations, including the Houseman works getting turned into lakes by the rakurai projector, the supply of iron ore proving inadequate, the supply of rivers being unsatisfactory, torpedoes, a decision to supply Emerald and Corisande -- Charis and Chisholm from their geography look less satisfactory -- with good rail networks, etc.
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Re: MASSIVE SPOILER about next book hardware
Post by kbus888   » Fri Mar 23, 2012 12:02 pm

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Thank you Mr Weber :)

Now that you've teased all us fans with your peek into <MTAT>, I am even MORE anxious to buy you book !!

We all appreciae this newest post of yours !!!

R
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Re: MASSIVE SPOILER about next book hardware
Post by kbus888   » Fri Mar 23, 2012 12:30 pm

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I wonder if the advent of steam powered ships means that Glacierheart coal miners will have yet another very large client for their coal ??

If the Empire sends coal transports to Siddar city, the Glacierheart miners just might see a bit more of the final coal price than they presently do when their product is shipped all the way to the Temple Lands (a much longer trip).

Their ex-archbishop would welcome this increase in living standards for his flock.

?? Comments ??

R
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Re: MASSIVE SPOILER about next book hardware
Post by MarcW   » Fri Mar 23, 2012 12:50 pm

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Hey, are there any artists on this forum who could maybe draw up a scetch that would give us an idea what this armored river boat could look like?
You know what I would like to see sometime in the future, is a digital book that has links in the text that gives a visual representation of what's being described. For example, when Mr. Weber is talking about say a Flintlock or a Matchlock, I know I can google it, but it would be so much nicer to just link it right into the text.
Oh well, as they say, the future is just around the corner.
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Re: MASSIVE SPOILER about next book hardware
Post by Captain Igloo   » Fri Mar 23, 2012 2:31 pm

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Simple production capacity: the endproducts of steel are (without emphasising anything in particular) tools, rails, more tools, steel tyres, axles, complete train wheels, artillery steel, shipbuilding steel, more rails, wire, armoured plates, boiler plates, gun barrels, more rails and propeller axles. Especially the railroads consumed millions of tons anually.

Lets assume, Howsmyn processed iron and steel scrap in open-hearth furnaces capable of 12-tons per charge. By 1884 a 12-ton furnace had to make 140 to 150 tons a week (12 charges) to be considered satisfactory and profitabel. About 5,400 pounds of raw materials are needed to make 2,000 pounds of steel. These include 1,250 pounds of pig iron, which in turn requires 2,163 pounds of iron ore, 1,371 pounds of coke, 397 pounds of limestone and 190 pounds of scrap and miscellaneous materials. The 1,250 pounds of pig iron is combined 30 pounds of alloying materials, 164 pounds of iron ore, 106 pounds of limestones and 938 pounds of scrap metal. To carry out the various chemical processes 4½ tons of air and 150 tons of water are needed. Large amounts of oil, gas or electricity are needed to provide power. It takes additional about one ton to 1.5 tons of coke to make one ton of steel.

BTW, shipyards simply refused to accept Bessemer steel. They were subsequently justified by experiments conducted in Sweden at the end of the 1880s, which showed that the presence of small quantities of nitrogen in both acid and basic Bessemer steel made it brittle. The basis for this was the refining process, during which prodigious quantities of nitrogen were projected through the steel in the converter with the air blast. In the process, a tiny part was released into the steel, rendering it more brittle than the otherwise identical open-hearth steel, which was protected from harmful nitrogen during the refining process by its slag covering.

Edit: typo

phillies wrote:The perhaps most interesting line is that there will not be more of these for quite some time. There are any number of interpretations, including the Houseman works getting turned into lakes by the rakurai projector, the supply of iron ore proving inadequate, the supply of rivers being unsatisfactory, torpedoes, a decision to supply Emerald and Corisande -- Charis and Chisholm from their geography look less satisfactory -- with good rail networks, etc.
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Re: MASSIVE SPOILER about next book hardware
Post by DrakBibliophile   » Fri Mar 23, 2012 5:45 pm

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Let's see, I know the word count & know the release date. Now to figure out when I can start "bugging" the MWW for when to start snippets. [Wink]
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