Snippet #12

Erls wrote:I think it is likely safe to say that Charis knows exactly who is spying for who, who is pretending to spy for who but really spying for them, and everything else. And it is probably also safe to assume that Charis is letting some of these spies periodically discover/find/unearth 'confidential information' - either regarding upcoming military deployments, technological advances (not cutting edge, but beyond that spy's nations ability), and other useful information.

If I were in the inner circle, I'd vote against letting spies "steal" anything with a direct military use. I'm certain Desnair would just love to Pearl Harbor a Charisian port or five, and what's left of the Harchongian nobility probably doesn't like Charis all that much either.

OTOH, a compromised spy network could easily be used to leak technical advances. And if some other country does decide it's payback time, the spies can always be arrested then.

Great new snippet! Thank you, RFC!

P.S. Five-year plan... my Russian soul is warming)

Weird Harold wrote:

evilauthor wrote:... especially if you don't have much in the way of good roads to begin with.

But Safehold DOES have "good roads to begin with." The quality of the high-road system is remarked on several times in textev.

And Desnair has been noted to pay the bare minimum (and sometimes not even that) when it comes to building and maintaining their canals. Why not the same to their High Roads?

For that matter, I recall mention of "miserable excuse for a high road" mentioned in some of the campaigns fought during the war. Which suggests high roads aren't always maintained to the Holy Writ's standards.

Basically, Desnair has been noted in the past to not be very diligent in building and maintaining their internal transport infrastructure. And that's now biting them in the ass when they need to industrialize.

Hi Evil Author,

Steam powered buses or 'steam coaches' were doing very well in Britain beginning in the 1830's until Parliament, because they were lobbied by the RR and horse carriage industry, passed a law restricting to follow a man carrying a warning sign as in the 1830's turnpike acts and confirmed again in the 1865 "Red Flag Act", that delayed steam road transport in Britain the most industrialized country in the world by 30-60 years.

Jerry Pournelle pointed out some of their advantages in A spaceship for the King, ~1971.

Steam started diesel engines are also an eventual possible power source.

Modifying the canals and rivers for faster steam tugs is probably being done in the EoC, because some bulk cargoes have such limited profit margins.

L


[quote="evilauthor"][quote="isaac_newton"]
well - it also answered my question as to what an 'automotive' was. Trains not road vehicles.
[/quote]

This early in Charis' Industrial Revolution, "automotive" would likely refer to BOTH, ie, any self powered land vehicle regardless of whether they moved on rails or not. It's just that trains would be more efficient than road vehicles... especially if you don't have much in the way of good roads to begin with.

In fact, IIRC, trains are STILL more efficient than road vehicles even today. Road vehicles dominate today largely because they're much more flexible when it comes to destinations and paved roads are significantly cheaper to build and maintain than iron/steel railroads. But when it comes to pure hauling capacity (which will be more important in early industrialization), trains are more efficient than an equivalent number of road vehicles.[/quote]

Pardon me,

I was distracted and closed the post above before finishing my comment.

Desnair needs to bring both its canals up to world standards, as well as adopt RR as connectors, where canals aren't possible, not just choosing one over the other.

They appear to be adopting RR as a cheap alternative to improving their canals; another big mistake if this is correct, they need both to truly modernize, but no indication these geniuses realise that, because they don't understand business.

Which will bite them on the butt, if they rely only on RR in their next war, thinking it will solve their supply problems.

Does RFC enjoy setting them up in this way.?

Best to all,

L

lyonheart wrote:Hi Evil Author,

Steam powered buses or 'steam coaches' were doing very well in Britain beginning in the 1830's until Parliament, because they were lobbied by the RR and horse carriage industry, passed a law restricting to follow a man carrying a warning sign as in the 1830's turnpike acts and confirmed again in the 1865 "Red Flag Act", that delayed steam road transport in Britain the most industrialized country in the world by 30-60 years.

Jerry Pournelle pointed out some of their advantages in A spaceship for the King, ~1971.

Steam started diesel engines are also an eventual possible power source.

Modifying the canals and rivers for faster steam tugs is probably being done in the EoC, because some bulk cargoes have such limited profit margins.

L


quote="evilauthor"[quote="isaac_newton"]
well - it also answered my question as to what an 'automotive' was. Trains not road vehicles.
/quote

This early in Charis' Industrial Revolution, "automotive" would likely refer to BOTH, ie, any self powered land vehicle regardless of whether they moved on rails or not. It's just that trains would be more efficient than road vehicles... especially if you don't have much in the way of good roads to begin with.

In fact, IIRC, trains are STILL more efficient than road vehicles even today. Road vehicles dominate today largely because they're much more flexible when it comes to destinations and paved roads are significantly cheaper to build and maintain than iron/steel railroads. But when it comes to pure hauling capacity (which will be more important in early industrialization), trains are more efficient than an equivalent number of road vehicles.

[/quote]

dobriennm wrote:

runsforcelery wrote:I'm off to Atlanta for SphinxCon in about 20 minutes, so here is the next snippet before I go.

This is great!

Too bad it means the next (and possibly last) snippet is 2 weeks away.

Randomiser wrote:Why? Sphinxcon is only a weekend and the book isn't published till 8th January.

dobriennm wrote:1-2 days to recover from the weekend plus re-connect with family (Monday and Tuesday are school holidays), start writing again to reduce the backlog he has, next weekend likely family time to make up for this weekend, more writing following week to keep on schedule (particularly with the upcoming 5 day school holiday for Thanksgiving approaching). Plus probably still recovering from the concussion(?) he suffered on one of his previous trips, and also following doctors orders to slow down.

I mean, the man has a life, too. The snippets don't take a lot of time, but I'm sure it sucks him back into the forum which takes time away from writing. It's important to see how his readers are feeling about what he's writing, but he has to balance it against his planned reduced writing time (per doctors orders).

Could he zip off another snippet next week? Maybe, depends on the above plus unplanned things (kids get sick? recovery from hurricane(s)/flooding?).

Plus, face it, the next snippet is likely the last before the book comes out. He might do a few more since this is a Tor book with no eARC, but we are close to the end of the snippets. We have enough to see the general setup of the problems facing Merlin and company with hints of their initial solutions.

Would I like snippets to continue until the book comes out? Sure, but that's not how the Author usually works (and it wouldn't be fair to the publisher).

And I'll enjoy whatever snippets the Author provides, but I don't expect him to keep to a strict schedule

You forgot to take into account the phases of the moon and the effects of a possible Spetznaz strike on Mueller's office!

You said it yourself, "snippets don't take a lot of time"

Have I just missed it (don't see how), or have we not heard from Rainbow Waters yet so far in the snippets?

I'd think the fall of North Harchong would be an open invitation to RW and the million+ stranded men of the Mighty Host (or at least those who aren't already in NH leading the rebellion) to move in and... 'restore order'.

All hail Rainbow Waters, Emperor of North Harchong! He may not personally want it, but his men will.

Somehow, if Rainbow Waters becomes the ruler in North Harchong, it will be of the Timocratic Republic of Harchong. What sort of measure they will agree upon for Honor and Virtue will be interesting.

Yeah, unlikely, but something that strikes me as interesting given the circumstances up there.

NervousEnergy wrote:Have I just missed it (don't see how), or have we not heard from Rainbow Waters yet so far in the snippets?

I'd think the fall of North Harchong would be an open invitation to RW and the million+ stranded men of the Mighty Host (or at least those who aren't already in NH leading the rebellion) to move in and... 'restore order'.

All hail Rainbow Waters, Emperor of North Harchong! He may not personally want it, but his men will.

I don't think he has the men and resources to pacify all North Harchong; a large part close to the Temple Lands sure (with massive Zion help - the ones in the north and east, Langhorne and nearby ); Star Rising and his government will then probably control another large part (the provinces in the west, Boisseau, Cheshire etc, with massive Charisian help most likely) and then someone will most likely arise in the south of North Harchong (Tiegelkamp etc) to oppose them in the name of the emperor - North Harchong is huge after all