Military aces up sleeves

I think the IC is holding back on gatling/maxim guns
as well as bombers. Just a little edge for insurance.
The aren't holding back on civilian tech.
Anyone have others.

There is a bit of discussion on that topic in TFT that I won't go into to avoid spoilers, but they are explicitly holding back on some things to get a fresh edge when people start catching up.

TangoLima wrote:I think the IC is holding back on gatling/maxim guns
as well as bombers. Just a little edge for insurance.
The aren't holding back on civilian tech.
Anyone have others.

I think a large part of it will also be simply getting the tech and manufacturing base up to support such things
We, today, generally don't realize how damn difficult it actually is, how widespread the skills, machinery, distribution systems etc have to be to make maintain and supply even a 1940s army, or indeed at any tech period!

Working on designs, efficiency, reliability, ease of manufacture NOW in secret would be extremely good idea



I've started thread few days afo on what I'd like to see in military equipment:

Intermediate cartridge

Light heavy and medium machine guns (GPMGs aren't really that necessary actually, better as a vehicle's coaxial or the like, where as water cooled are perfect for defence, heavy for vehicles, light for infantry)

Twin engine light bombers/ground attack aircraft

Combat optics for ordinary rifleman

Submachine gun and semi auto pistols

20 round bolt or semi auto rifle same magazine as light machine gun

Torpedoes

RPG and grenade launchers (M79 and belt fed)

High speed gun and torpedo boats

Submarines (difficult without electricity though)

Paratroopers

Armoured vehicles! Simple armoured car with steel wheels rubber rims, Vickers or .50 cal machine gun would be incredibly effective

The Zeppelins huge cargo can be used for Lazy Dog fletchettes (no risk of catastrophic explosion!)
Or cheap incendiaries....take a length of bamboo, hollow it, put gunpowder charge and detonator, at base with napalm like material on top (naptha, tar etc with some nitre)
Either weapon being small individually cause less stress on a sustained drop of couple of millions/thousands respectively from an airship where as dropping a few very heavy bombs causes severe stress and sudden jerk upwards
Carpet bomb enemy columns, supplies, forests
From more than a thousand feet up it takes a serious log or sandbag bunker to stop fletchettes

Back around book 7, we got textev confirmation that Safehold already has almost everything needed to build early submersibles on the line of the HL Hunley without violating the Proscriptions. The only thing I haven't been able to find is textev for diving bells being used by salvage divers (the one diver who gets page time uses proto-SCUBA instead).

Granted, Hunley's spar torpedo wouldn't do much against a metal-hulled ship. If modern research is correct, the attempt to use a spar torpedo underwater would probably be just as deadly to a hypothetical Safehold submersible's crew as it was to the crew of the Hunley. But a timed explosive device that attaches with a magnet should be workable.

Julia Minor wrote:Back around book 7, we got textev confirmation that Safehold already has almost everything needed to build early submersibles on the line of the HL Hunley without violating the Proscriptions. The only thing I haven't been able to find is textev for diving bells being used by salvage divers (the one diver who gets page time uses proto-SCUBA instead).

Granted, Hunley's spar torpedo wouldn't do much against a metal-hulled ship. If modern research is correct, the attempt to use a spar torpedo underwater would probably be just as deadly to a hypothetical Safehold submersible's crew as it was to the crew of the Hunley. But a timed explosive device that attaches with a magnet should be workable.

Human charioteers on modified torpedo, as the Italians pioneered in WW2 could be extremely effective!
One problem is lack.of powerful magnets used to clamp mines and warheads to ship hulls, kinda hard to make without electricity

Yeah setting off explosives underwater would be suicidal since the blast radius is vastly increased due to liquid medium rather than air

Explosives going off under the hull, preferably with a gap of 10' or so are much more effective, also causes air void so hull loses support often breaking ship's back

Julia Minor wrote:Back around book 7, we got textev confirmation that Safehold already has almost everything needed to build early submersibles on the line of the HL Hunley without violating the Proscriptions. The only thing I haven't been able to find is textev for diving bells being used by salvage divers (the one diver who gets page time uses proto-SCUBA instead).

Granted, Hunley's spar torpedo wouldn't do much against a metal-hulled ship. If modern research is correct, the attempt to use a spar torpedo underwater would probably be just as deadly to a hypothetical Safehold submersible's crew as it was to the crew of the Hunley. But a timed explosive device that attaches with a magnet should be workable.

You could vent much better than just Hunley. There were others pre-electric submarines, with much better capabilities.
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https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... neo_II.jpg
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Ictíneo II (Spain, 1860s) - air independent steam engine (on reaction of zinc, manganese dioxide and potassium chlorate)submerged; coal powered steam engine surfaced.
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https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... ongeur.jpg
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Plongeur (France, 1860-1870s) - compressed air engine.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/Nordenfelt_submarine_Abd%C3%BClhamid.jpg/1280px-Nordenfelt_submarine_Abd%C3%BClhamid.jpg

Nordenfelt-class subs (build in Britain for Ottoman Empire, 1880-1910s) - steam engine with heat-accumulating sodium boiler.