One thing I do love about GURPS is that it can be used to play nearly any world the players want. I've thought about adapting it for a campaign set in Wen Spencer's A Brother's Price world---where technology is more-or-less "Old West" (no railroads, no telegraphs, but otherwise very similar) and males, being rare (one in twenty-five births or so is a male who'll actually live) are valuable, protected---and very much second-class citizens.
I hate when an author doesn't understand how the machines that made the machines works and how that fundamentally means that you cannot separate some technologies.
To have the industry of the Victorian era you have steam engines. You don't even have to cross the street to make a vehicle from a steam engine once you see one running. Almost literally can't have one without the other.
No, it's a million times better than The Handmaid's Tale. Not that THAT is a high bar to pass! One reason for the lack of railroads could be because iron's in short supply---no iron, no iron rails, which leads to no railroad. Or they just haven't got the idea yet. Steam engines are rather new, although they do apparently have ball-and-cap gunpowder weapons.
No iron, no spare material to experiment with cap and ball revolvers. For iron to be in short supply, the Bessemer process needs to not be invented, and you simply don't get past medieval without it.
Lurn how things wurk!
I stopped reading a lot of fiction for the same reasons that lots of my computer programmer friends did: Authors kept making authoritative declarations about technology that would be flat impossible.
I did a lot of the looking around at this tech because I was building a railroad on a ringworld for FuzzyGeff.
That’s why I have tried to be very careful with the technology in my ‘Republic of Texas Navy’ books. Everything the Texans have that is different from 1940’s tech in OTL is based on things that either already existed or could have existed had somebody thought of it.
I would be harsher about your tech stuff, but I'm having too much fun reading it! If you take the series post WW2, the "wow that worked good!" factor will have to be accounted for.
SM Sterling commented on this blog about me complaining about suspension of disbelief once.
You're doing OK. You haven't pushed past the point where Texas' innovations should have been adopted by everyone else. Stirling was introducing stuff that was in service before the Dracha moved on Europe that should have been replied to. If one side is fielding a 1960's MBT in 1940, everyone else WILL design something that will stand up to it.
There was no excuse for Germany or the USA not to have something that could fight the Dracha MBT.
Thanks, Angus. I’m glad you have been enjoying it so far.
Yeah, other countries reactions to Texas’ new ideas will be a factor in book 4, which I’m working on now. I’m looking at various combinations of ‘Oh, cool!’ and ‘Not Invented Here, therefore obviously inferior’.
After I finish WW2, I plan on jumping ahead about 20ish years, so that will give time for the tech to equalize.
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One thing I do love about GURPS is that it can be used to play nearly any world the players want. I've thought about adapting it for a campaign set in Wen Spencer's A Brother's Price world---where technology is more-or-less "Old West" (no railroads, no telegraphs, but otherwise very similar) and males, being rare (one in twenty-five births or so is a male who'll actually live) are valuable, protected---and very much second-class citizens.
ReplyDeleteI hate when an author doesn't understand how the machines that made the machines works and how that fundamentally means that you cannot separate some technologies.
DeleteTo have the industry of the Victorian era you have steam engines. You don't even have to cross the street to make a vehicle from a steam engine once you see one running. Almost literally can't have one without the other.
The reviews make it sound like "The Handmaid's Tale" for girls.
DeleteNo, it's a million times better than The Handmaid's Tale. Not that THAT is a high bar to pass! One reason for the lack of railroads could be because iron's in short supply---no iron, no iron rails, which leads to no railroad. Or they just haven't got the idea yet. Steam engines are rather new, although they do apparently have ball-and-cap gunpowder weapons.
DeleteNo iron, no spare material to experiment with cap and ball revolvers. For iron to be in short supply, the Bessemer process needs to not be invented, and you simply don't get past medieval without it.
DeleteLurn how things wurk!
I stopped reading a lot of fiction for the same reasons that lots of my computer programmer friends did: Authors kept making authoritative declarations about technology that would be flat impossible.
I did a lot of the looking around at this tech because I was building a railroad on a ringworld for FuzzyGeff.
That’s why I have tried to be very careful with the technology in my ‘Republic of Texas Navy’ books. Everything the Texans have that is different from 1940’s tech in OTL is based on things that either already existed or could have existed had somebody thought of it.
DeleteI would be harsher about your tech stuff, but I'm having too much fun reading it! If you take the series post WW2, the "wow that worked good!" factor will have to be accounted for.
DeleteSM Sterling commented on this blog about me complaining about suspension of disbelief once.
You're doing OK. You haven't pushed past the point where Texas' innovations should have been adopted by everyone else. Stirling was introducing stuff that was in service before the Dracha moved on Europe that should have been replied to. If one side is fielding a 1960's MBT in 1940, everyone else WILL design something that will stand up to it.
There was no excuse for Germany or the USA not to have something that could fight the Dracha MBT.
Thanks, Angus. I’m glad you have been enjoying it so far.
DeleteYeah, other countries reactions to Texas’ new ideas will be a factor in book 4, which I’m working on now. I’m looking at various combinations of ‘Oh, cool!’ and ‘Not Invented Here, therefore obviously inferior’.
After I finish WW2, I plan on jumping ahead about 20ish years, so that will give time for the tech to equalize.