Weird Harold wrote:Zakharra wrote: Yeah. They'd be better off using fast steam ships for sea delivery then using railroad/steam barge for physical messages or ones that needed to be kept secret.
So...
Neither of you would even bother developing a method of mail delivery twice or five times as fast as the fastest surface transport?
Not without being absolutely certain that the OBS wasn't going to have a freakout, no.
Right now, the Empire of Charis is just starting industrialization. It's relatively poor compared to its future self and aircraft don't fill any critical need. (Even if they did fill a critical need, I'd be doubtful that they were safe with respect to the OBS, and that's not a reasonable risk because Safehold is humanity's only chance. Easier to find a way to use more SNARC intel.)
Getting the railroads built out and the merchant marine on steam is a twenty year job. It's a hard job, and it's a necessary job. After that's done, there will be much more money and capability to consider the current necessities and anything nice-but-not-necessary.
Speed of communication isn't crucial because the components of the Empire are already well-administered stable societies with strong governments and a reasonable speed of communication on each land mass; communication between the land-masses gets improved immensely by steamships with sufficient range, more than enough to provide substantial commercial benefit.
Weird Harold wrote:As for reconnaissance, WWI commanders had to wait until the photo planes landed for a quick verbal brief and several more hours for the film to be developed; Reconnaissance doesn't have to be 24/7 real-time coverage in order to be useful.
Sure. This is not a present critical need for the Empire of Charis; the war they're fighting reliably locates armies where it's possible for the army to be and have logistic support. The only possible question is "how far along what known route".
Naval scouting -- when you're trying to find the enemy on the trackless ocean -- benefits enormously from radio reports, and being able to find out where your carrier is going if it changes course...