Re: Change (was: (TFT) Jobs table: ...)

[Mark Tapley <mtapley@swri.edu>]

At 14:54 -0400 9/29/11, Neil wrote:
> I think you mistake my point. Gunpowder weapons were around early, and
> so the argument that post-gunpowder = late isn't really true (and
> you're not the one who asserted that).

	I think I was, and you are right to call me on it in its 
oversimplified form.
	But I still think that the ability to use gunpowder 
effectively in warfare is a good diagnostic for a certain level of 
industrial development that is probably beyond the medieval level we 
normally envision for our campaigns. If nothing else, getting ammo 
cast to reliably fit barrels implies measurement standards, 
reproducible mechanical tolerances on things cheap enough to be 
expendable, and similar building blocks of mass-production that are 
not consistent with the single-craftsman model of industry.
	Am I completely off the beam here? My recollection is that 
production-line technology and firearms were in a mutual feedback 
relationship that more or less kicked off the ascent of industrial 
civilization. Not so?

At 14:54 -0400 9/29/11, TFT Digest wrote:
> At this scale of play I finally depart from the Great and Powerful SJ and
> move into the Sid Meier realm.
> I use principals of Civilization games for the "build up" of populations and
> empires over generations (20 years)

	That game is *all about* changes, unlike TFT which more or 
less seems to assume a static Tech level (notwithstanding the 
somewhat prohibitive rules for developing new spells and items). I 
see where the focus on integrating change comes from!
	To the extent that both model the real world (err ... Middle 
Earth?), they should be compatible. But to the extent that each 
extracts or extrapolates from the real world to make an interesting 
challenge for the players, maybe not. But it's interesting and a 
positive indicator that it works for you to amalgamate them.

At 14:54 -0400 9/29/11, Jay wrote:
> What's wrong with a kilo or mega point of ST?

	Power density. I suspect to radiate the heat generated by 
that many muscles over a normal human surface area, that character 
would have to have a black-body radiation spectrum that peaked in the 
visible (at least)...unless his muscles have become essentially 100% 
efficient (no by-product heat loss) as well? Or he's figured out some 
sort of turbo-breathing to convect all that heat away, like a jet 
engine? Great guy to have at a party ... in the wintertime.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_body

At 14:54 -0400 9/29/11, gem6868 wrote:
> Crosstime engineering and New Followers are references I don't know, sorry.

http://www.amazon.com/Cross-Time-Engineer-Adventures-Conrad-Stargard/dp/0345327624

and

"New Followers" talent, ITL pp.13, which has a notoriously 
unbalancing effect if not handled properly by the Referee.

At 14:54 -0400 9/29/11, Jay wrote:
> It's going to take me some time to digest this in detail but my Traveler
> campaign just got a whole lot more interesting...
> Absolutely fantastic stuff Sir!
> THANK YOU!

Not original with me, there was a story in Analog magazine a decade 
or two ago (set on Earth, with a normal air balloon). I have 
forgotten author and name, though, my apologies to him/her and you.

Here's another take on it, much easier to implement:

http://www.universetoday.com/15570/colonizing-venus-with-floating-cities/

Venus, temperature is already right at the 1-atmosphere level, N2 and 
O2 already float in CO2, so no need for dual chambers. Not that far 
from the cloud tops either, so maybe scenic cloudscapes? Probably 
not, lighting is probably completely isotropic by there so it all 
looks dull and uniform. "Days" are 235 days long at the surface (bad) 
*but* the winds aloft (at the 1-atm level) circle the planet every 
4-5 days so the city would get carried in and out of the sun on a 
~5-day cycle (not quite as bad).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Venus

Altitude control may need to be active if you can't control heat 
exchange in/out of the balloon. One way to do that is dangle a 5-km 
tether down to the 100-degree C level, and have a bag of water on the 
end of the tether. Too high, the water cools and condenses, you go 
down. Too low, the water boils and expands and becomes buoyant 
(unloading the tether), and you go back up.

Lando Calrissian would feel right at home.

--------

Y'all can tell I'm on digest mode and don't want to get back to 
writing my proposal, can't you?
--
						- Mark     210-379-4635
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Large Asteroids headed toward planets
inhabited by beings that don't have
technology adequate to stop them:

				Think of it as Evolution in Fast-Forward.
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