Aircraft question

Keith_w wrote:And you guys are suggesting blimps for Safehold?

Yes. Because they are the best that they could do on the avaliable tech. And, they are actually safer, as this crash clearly demonstrated. The plane in similar situation would be totally wrecked with no chances for the crew at all.

Keith_w wrote:
And you guys are suggesting blimps for Safehold?

Sure - no problem - they don't have telegraph poles

Randomiser wrote:

Keith_w wrote:
And you guys are suggesting blimps for Safehold?

Sure - no problem - they don't have telegraph poles

right on.

Hmmm... too many Disney mainlines, I think.

Ariel was a Spirit of the Air, and could be quite helpful for land-based reconnaissance. When last seen, however, s/he [Shakespeare was _very_ ambiguous on this one] was still pretty ticked off despite being set free, so I'm not sure I would trust any reports from that source.

Weird Harold wrote:

n7axw wrote:...ariel recon...

Mermaid spies? I don't think they'd be much use to a General. An Admiral, now...

I think you meant aerial.

been thinking...ok I'm often wrong but....

#1 the steel thistle plant is described as being "much like bamboo but even faster growing"
Safehold has it's own biology, so, maybe it has organic materials better than Earth's?

#2 Bamboo can be pretty resistant to rot and water
it's "cells" (anyone know the right term?) add to buoyancy if you ever crash in water
but I wonder about pressure changes at high altitude?
It is used for some surprising engineering in Asia
being non-uniform yeah that would be a problem, but again, hey maybe Safehold has a perfectly parallel version

#3 organics should be less susceptible to the hydrogen than metals?

#4 there WERE bamboo aircraft, see "the Hudson Flyer"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13du2ZcopLg

#5 from what I've read one of the safety problems like the R101 was how gas bags could get torn on metalwork
bamboo can have splits and splinters of course

#6 steel thistle silk sounds like it's actually as strong as nylon
so, less weight/problems with the airship's outer skins?

Silverwall wrote:BTW for those wondering why I am so dismissive of level bombing as a viable tactic against point targets I give you exhibit A:

The Bieldfeld viaducts: "The viaducts connected Berlin to the Ruhr over the river Werre, had a width of 27 feet at track level, each carried two tracks, the viaducts was constructed with 26 arches each with a span of 46 feet and a height of around 73 feet, the overall length of them was around a 1100 feet each."

by 1945 the RAF had expended over 3000 tons of bombs trying to hit this target and had achieved no more than scratch damage easily repaired. At this point they dedicated 617 squadron (the elite dambusters squadron ) using the 22000 lb grand slam bomb to the job. after several attempts called off by bad weather (AKA clouds) they finally killed it using the earthquake bombs.

http://www.dambusters.org.uk/after-the- ... bielefeld/

agreed
UK wasted well over £600 billion in today's money, huge numbers of pilots, effort etc on the huge heavy bomber fleet and it achieved VERY little for it's costs
and, murder huge numbers of German civilians and left Germany in a bad state and that wasn't goof after the war ended
if only they'd spent the money more wisely, escort ships, carriers, dive bombers, ground attack aircraft, decent tanks etc
sigh

several folk in this thread are right I think

in WW2, *only* low level bombing was accurate such as dive bombing or toss bombing, with a few exceptions (guided weapons or very elite groups like 617 squadron)

America wasted almost as much on the damn useless Norden bomb sight as on the Manhattan Project!

Area bombing sucked but yes, strategically it could have a big effect, see Doolittle's Raid on Tokyo for example

Airships are way way better level bombers than aeroplanes
however they are extremely vulnerable to suitable antiaircraft fire and oddly enough, mass rocket fire IS one of the things that'd be vulnerable to
but, it takes time and effort to set such up and are themselves incredibly vulnerable to bombing or artillery (or sabotage)
and God help any poor soul who's underneath a rocket AA barrage!!

however, no one outside Charis has smokeless powder or good optics so most antiaircraft guns will suck
it will take time to develop doctrine for dealing with bombers of any kind so first uses will be hard to stop and so most effective, probably

German leadership/systems absolutely sucked, it was NOT "efficient", yeesh and the Japanese were vastly worse than that!
wasn't really until Speer got involved that things got better but by that point losses and increasingly bad leadership were spiralling problems Germany couldn't overcome

"gardening" (mine laying) and low level bombing by Mosquitoes (which could be accurate) did a lot of havoc to critical factories and their materiel in Germany
quite a few submarine diesels presumably ended up on the bottom of German rivers and canals


as per Germany WW2:
the use of slave labour as in concentration camp or coercion you can imagine happening in Safehold with the way things are going after TFT
I'd bet Zhyou-Zhwo wouldn't think twice about forcing South Harchong folk into production eventually, and Siddimark may do so with Temple Loyalists and Charisians etc as slaves

SilverbladeTE wrote:
as per Germany WW2:
the use of slave labour as in concentration camp or coercion you can imagine happening in Safehold with the way things are going after TFT
I'd bet Zhyou-Zhwo wouldn't think twice about forcing South Harchong folk into production eventually, and Siddimark may do so with Temple Loyalists and Charisians etc as slaves

Serfdom is still the law of the land in South Harchong, despite efforts to get it abolished. Those efforts were blocked by the North Harchong nobles, and the hardcore ones are as of TFT either dead or in South Harchong with Zhyou-Zhwo. The only thing that's going to stop the Emperor from re-instituting Northern style serfdom in South Harchong is his need to rebuild his army. Even Zhyou-Zhwo isn't dumb enough to force the free peasantry (back) into serfdom and then turn around and recruit soldiers from those now-serfs.

I think I mentioned in another thread that Siddarmark already has all the prerequisites for the "company town" and wage slavery. Since Temple Loyalists are having trouble regaining civil rights, it would be easy for a factory owner to get them signed on to a plan like that with the offer of legal protection (from anyone except the factory owner). Trying to enslave any Charisians who haven't managed to escape would be a bad idea ... not that this would slow down some of Hygyns' supporters. Dialydd Mab hasn't had anything to do since Clyntahn's capture, but I'm certain Merlin still has that configuration stored.

Julia Minor wrote:

Serfdom is still the law of the land in South Harchong, despite efforts to get it abolished. Those efforts were blocked by the North Harchong nobles, and the hardcore ones are as of TFT either dead or in South Harchong with Zhyou-Zhwo. The only thing that's going to stop the Emperor from re-instituting Northern style serfdom in South Harchong is his need to rebuild his army. Even Zhyou-Zhwo isn't dumb enough to force the free peasantry (back) into serfdom and then turn around and recruit soldiers from those now-serfs.

I think I mentioned in another thread that Siddarmark already has all the prerequisites for the "company town" and wage slavery. Since Temple Loyalists are having trouble regaining civil rights, it would be easy for a factory owner to get them signed on to a plan like that with the offer of legal protection (from anyone except the factory owner). Trying to enslave any Charisians who haven't managed to escape would be a bad idea ... not that this would slow down some of Hygyns' supporters. Dialydd Mab hasn't had anything to do since Clyntahn's capture, but I'm certain Merlin still has that configuration stored.

iirc in TFT it's said that Mantorath?? has become Siddirmak's hellhole, with folk virtually enslaved by brutal "company town" policies etc

while it would obviously be a bad idea for any sane person to harm or enslave Charisians, there isn't much sanity going around in the three "problem" areas of Siddirmark, South Harchong and Desnair, is there? :/

hey, I don't mind scumbags getting treated to the PICA "Ginsu"

SilverbladeTE wrote: SNIP

iirc in TFT it's said that Mantorath?? has become Siddirmak's hellhole, with folk virtually enslaved by brutal "company town" policies etc

while it would obviously be a bad idea for any sane person to harm or enslave Charisians, there isn't much sanity going around in the three "problem" areas of Siddirmark, South Harchong and Desnair, is there? :/

hey, I don't mind scumbags getting treated to the PICA "Ginsu"

BTW where exactly is Mantorath - I never quite worked that out?

isaac_newton wrote:

SilverbladeTE wrote: SNIP

iirc in TFT it's said that Mantorath?? has become Siddirmak's hellhole, with folk virtually enslaved by brutal "company town" policies etc

while it would obviously be a bad idea for any sane person to harm or enslave Charisians, there isn't much sanity going around in the three "problem" areas of Siddirmark, South Harchong and Desnair, is there? :/

hey, I don't mind scumbags getting treated to the PICA "Ginsu"

BTW where exactly is Mantorath - I never quite worked that out?

Open up your copy of _Like a Mighty Army_; the second map in the book is for the Sidddarmark Republic. Montorah is a port city on Manotarah Bay, which is empties into the Gulf of Tarot. Mantorah itself is either in Markan Province or Transhar Province (it appears to be right on the border).