Technical next steps

merlin169 wrote:I am wondering how hard it would be to start welding
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-4/Acetylene.html
Can't do the chemical production because the calcium carbide requires an electric arc furnace but the thermal cracking looks doable although it would take a lot of work

Welding can be done with naturally occurring flammable gasses (like methane, ethane, ethylene, propane & propylene etc)and oxygen too , however water and hydrogen contamination in the welds can be an issue at the slightly lower temperatures.

Sound recording doesn't require electricity.

Imagine devotional pressings from Archbishop Staynair, being played on the Victrolas of the devout. Imagine if both appeared, at surprisingly low prices, in peasant markets in Harchong, thus getting word to the illiterate serfs.

Sound recordings also have an emotional impact that the written word doesn't.

If the first Victrolas are sold abroad with innocuous-looking music and other entertainment, then they are a Trojan Horse that can be used to distribute propaganda once they're in wide use.

I am not sure that the timing is right for the OBS control system to be in the temple. The temple did not exist during the first strike, so likely it was controlled from the ship. The temple came much later, after the war, and largely after all the strikes as I recall.

I suppose the control system could have been moved after the ship was disposed of (if it really was), or it may still be controlled from some other command and control bunker not located at the temple. Perhaps the old church near the temple where the circle met?

Hildum wrote:I am not sure that the timing is right for the OBS control system to be in the temple. The temple did not exist during the first strike, so likely it was controlled from the ship. The temple came much later, after the war, and largely after all the strikes as I recall.

I suppose the control system could have been moved after the ship was disposed of (if it really was), or it may still be controlled from some other command and control bunker not located at the temple. Perhaps the old church near the temple where the circle met?

It's also worth noting that the current OBS array is not the original setup. The current OBS and the Temple would presumably have been built/designed by the survivors of the faction/factions that "won" the War Against the Fallen, so the Temple probably has at least some connection to the current OBS array, and probably a full control interface, even if the original ground/control station was still around.




Potentially Spoilerish for the Aivah-reveal and related Snippets, but mainly b/c it's speculation based on a couple tidbits from them that don't get mentioned below.







It's quite possible that there is some sort of hidden bunker elsewhere that has the original control systems for the OBS in addition to a control interface in/under the Temple. This, however, would assume that Langhorne was not actually behind the original OBS and the Alexandria Strike, and instead someone else (Chihiro?) was.
If Langhorne had directed the installation of a control center, he'd've wanted it somewhere he could safely keep an eye on it, which means it probably would've been lost when the nuke went off.

Why would any greedy - sorry, I mean : patriotic - Charisian put a diesel engine in a tank, when he can put it in a truck and move goods with it ?

niethil wrote:Why would any greedy - sorry, I mean : patriotic - Charisian put a diesel engine in a tank, when he can put it in a truck and move goods with it ?

Or build a steam truck - easier and uses currently approved technology. (Steam trucks are just a steam railway without the rails). Pay off would depend on moving goods significantly faster than horse or dragon pulled wagons. Ditto for steam buses and steam cars. (Steam buses hit the road in the 1830's in England - much to the disgust of the powers that be, who spent much of the next century trying to get them banned, horses apparently were much nicer (if 3 times more expensive to feed - but it keeps the riff raff off the road)).

AirTech wrote:Or build a steam truck - easier and uses currently approved technology. (Steam trucks are just a steam railway without the rails).

Actually, no trucks are NOT just trains "without rails" -- without regard to how the truck is powered.

You are correct that steam trucks are already approved, if not yet invented, but a fully loaded steam truck would still be less weight than just a single "American (4-4-0)" locomotive. If you built a steam truck to directly compete against railroads, it would be too big and heavy for the roads.

Weird Harold wrote:

AirTech wrote:Or build a steam truck - easier and uses currently approved technology. (Steam trucks are just a steam railway without the rails).

Actually, no trucks are NOT just trains "without rails" -- without regard to how the truck is powered.

You are correct that steam trucks are already approved, if not yet invented, but a fully loaded steam truck would still be less weight than just a single "American (4-4-0)" locomotive. If you built a steam truck to directly compete against railroads, it would be too big and heavy for the roads.

I was merely showing the technology was indistinguishable (perhaps smaller, however that is arguable between a steam launch, self propelled rail car or tram and a truck). A diesel engine is a bigger step.

AirTech wrote:

merlin169 wrote:I am wondering how hard it would be to start welding
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-4/Acetylene.html
Can't do the chemical production because the calcium carbide requires an electric arc furnace but the thermal cracking looks doable although it would take a lot of work

Welding can be done with naturally occurring flammable gasses (like methane, ethane, ethylene, propane & propylene etc)and oxygen too , however water and hydrogen contamination in the welds can be an issue at the slightly lower temperatures.

The issue is not the lower temperature, it's the presence of significant quantities of water in the combustion gases. Ethylene is better than Ethane by the same margin Ethyne has over Ethylene. Chemical synthesis is possible.
http://www.ucc.ie/academic/chem/dolchem ... thyne.html
(BTW Ethyne is present in natural gas in low concentrations, and is extracted and burned at LNG plants as it is considered too dangerous to recover in large volumes as it is a high explosive).