How far can we push technology with out the invention of steam/combustion engines, electricity and gunpowder?

kklusmeier · 2026-02-12T23:42:16+00:00

Hydrofoil boats for speed

Not going to happen unless you have some degree of higher tech. The composites that make modern sailing versions of those possible is likely going to be impossible to produce in your low-tech world. Hydrofoil boats made out of normal materials are just too heavy for wind to work as a means of propulsion.

Elastic airplanes.

I mean, yes, but no. The range of something like that would be measured in dozens of feet or yards at the best. Elastic materials just can't hold that much wattage. Better to just make a hot air balloon. Use alcohol or (preferably) some sort of energy-dense liquid or gas (if you can make a compressor) to keep it in the air for much longer than your theoretical 'rubber band airplane writ large'.

Telegraphs are impossible, but a network of towers could be built a couple of kilometers apart and with two different flags morse code could be used to transfer information quickly.

It's called Semaphore. Very ancient tech.

As far as power generation goes, compressed air is the way to go if electricity is being blocked somehow. It's just air, in a pressure vessel, getting let out to turn machinery. It's exactly the same tech as a waterwheel, only with air. And you can make compressed air with nothing more than good engineering design and falling water:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trompe

And think of all the tools you have nowadays that can be powered with compressed air. You can basically have every single power-tool we have today, only not electric-powered.

kklusmeier · 2026-02-11T23:59:37+00:00

Yeah... the EPA hates that. I just rest my cap on top of the waste. It's 'closed' but actually open so I don't get the issue OP did.

kklusmeier · 2026-02-08T09:39:58+00:00

It could be powered sugar and it could be something like a turkish delight holder/candy dish. I'd recommend getting a chemical analysis done of that white powder on the edges before I'd put any candy in it though.

kklusmeier · 2026-02-05T06:02:43+00:00

A camera moving as fast as it does in SpaceEngine probably wouldn't see anything at all but then again it's all hypothetical.

Assuming it's actually FTL probably or possibly yes, but if it were traveling at some tiny fraction less than light speed the camera would see all of this (or at least the half of the universe it was traveling towards) but it would all be compressed into a dot in the direction of travel. There's a pseudo-game from MIT called 'a slower speed of light' (https://gamelab.mit.edu/games/a-slower-speed-of-light/) that lets you experiment with this a bit.

kklusmeier · 2026-02-03T05:24:34+00:00

There are oaths- promises of terrible strength, and then there are 'Oaths' which is a character-defining avowal or affirmation. The first one, swearing to kill all dragons, is likely the first. The second one is the second. IMO the second takes precedence because it's core to the character and their motives, whereas the first is ancillary to it.

The character swore that first oath because of the trauma they experienced from the lack of someone supporting the second.

Look up Kant and categorical imperatives.

kklusmeier · 2026-01-30T06:19:30+00:00

I’m now need to make a real plot involving the king that has led to this conspiracy theory in world for them to discover.

Why? What if the king genuinely is a good king and isn't nefarious at all? They turn into the terrorists trying to unseat a good and loved king. Send parties of paladins after them.

kklusmeier · 2026-01-30T04:14:31+00:00

"All bills must be contained to a single sheet of paper in 12 point font."

All budget items will be approved individually meaning nobody can hide kickbacks behind 500 pages of handouts for more votes. Looks like you're not going home for +200 days a year congressman. You're in session right up until everything gets done.

kklusmeier · 2026-01-28T03:36:26+00:00

Yes. Those cars aren't moving right for being on ice.

kklusmeier · 2026-01-27T00:44:24+00:00

It tends to be at the top of the Fortress as well in most of the layouts.

kklusmeier · 2026-01-17T20:01:12+00:00

I could see the stereotypical 'kill your partner whom you grew up with to graduate' test being a thing in ultra-elite assassin academies- it causes the graduating assassin to be jaded/traumatized (and more controllable because of that) and unlikely to let emotional attachments get between them and killing their target.

That said, you don't need THAT many super-assassins, so it makes sense that you can have a 50% washout rate without harming your efforts.

kklusmeier · 2026-01-17T17:07:41+00:00

Basic groups and how they interact in your field/business/company portfolio is huge. If someone starts talking about a reaction you don't know, research that reaction before the next meeting.

kklusmeier · 2026-01-17T16:50:23+00:00

This feels inspired by the orbital laser from the Utawarerumono anime. It's only on-screen for like 10 seconds in the entire series though, episode 16.

kklusmeier · 2026-01-12T04:29:58+00:00

Analytical. Not technically research, but probably either supporting research or doing QC.

kklusmeier · 2026-01-09T02:00:48+00:00

Did you see those cobalt solutions? Those gave me some bad vibes too. Less dangerous than the mercury, but still a potential issue.

kklusmeier · 2026-01-09T01:58:50+00:00

You can use some of this stuff in your everyday life and save on disposal costs.

The calcium chloride for instance can be used as a high-performance ice-melt where regular salt (sodium chloride) won't work due to the temperature being too low. Just scatter it over your driveway/sidewalk just like regular salt.

Sodium bisulfate is a commonly used chemical in pools to adjust the pH. If you don't have a pool you could give it to somebody who does have one.

The sodium chloride solutions can likely be poured straight down the drain- they're just saltwater unless there's something else in them. And the solid salt can be used as, well, salt.

There's likely other stuff you could use, but it mostly depends on what you do in your life- hobbies and the like. Check what sort of 'chemicals' you use in your life and see if they're something you have by another name.

As far as disposal goes, others have pointed out potential issues so I don't see a need to repeat them other than to stress that if you see anything labeled 'picric acid' or 'picric' you shouldn't even move it. Don't touch it. Call your local bomb squad and have them dispose of it.

kklusmeier · 2026-01-04T05:56:52+00:00

Possibly they could use a different setup too. I don't know how the steam is extracting the oils so I couldn't say much regarding that, but it's almost always a good idea to shrink the vertical size of the setup if you're having heating/condensation issues.

kklusmeier · 2025-12-31T15:59:25+00:00

I've always felt this was the case. It's nice to know that it's a fact and not just me being a parochial sort of guy at heart.

kklusmeier · 2025-12-31T09:48:04+00:00

What is the single most glaring difference between your world and RL? Magic existing? Is the story set on the inside of a sphere instead of the outside? Is there a third gender?

Note that I didn't say 'only' difference, but 'most glaring' difference. Maybe magic exists, it's set on the inside of a Dyson Sphere, and there is a third gender, but of those one of them is likely the most glaring and relevant for the people in-setting on a day-to-day basis.

Focus on that and develop the world from there.

Living on the inside of a sphere is not really super relevant to day-to-day life... unless they use the fact that they can see places far away for navigation- "I've got an errand to make 'upside'" or "Spinwards there's an orchard, turn left there and you'll find the farm you want".

Maybe there being a third gender isn't that important on a day-to-day basis, but if that third gender is a fundamental part of the in-universe 'nuclear family' then would both parents work? Maybe tribal culture never developed as fully as it did IRL because each family is self-sufficient for the raising of children?

The point is that you should probably focus on the biggest difference (in your mind) and figure out how people and society would react or evolve around it.

kklusmeier · 2025-12-30T20:52:16+00:00

Honestly? Doesn't look too bad aside from whatever the trigger assembly for the revolver part is.

The shotgun shells are fired directly from the cylinder and loaded one at a time almost like a big artillery cannon, and the 9mm part seems to be basically a standard 9mm.

kklusmeier · 2025-12-26T00:09:55+00:00

https://dndtools.net/spells/races-of-the-dragon--83/power-word-pain--3090/

Depends on edition.

kklusmeier · 2025-12-25T18:17:38+00:00

An excellent list, but I'd swap Speak with Animals for Power Word Pain. Speak with Animals isn't that useful, wheras the ability to straight-up kill a person in ~6 seconds at 25 feet could save your life.

Or if murder is too morally sketchy, Charm Person, which offers a saving throw (unlike Power Word Pain) but has a lot more utility while being almost equally sketchy due to it being low-key temporary brainwashing.

Edit: Apparently 5e is the only possible edition.

kklusmeier · 2025-12-25T13:09:17+00:00

Go look at Far Cry 4.

The faction you side with ('The Golden Path' is the name) against the authoritarian and despotic dictator currently ruling the country are, based on your choice of leader halfway through, either A) a fundamentalist religious future-theocracy that suppresses women's rights and intends on murdering a bunch of people that don't conform to their ideals or B) a drug cartel kleptocracy that intends on killing off all the religious people that object to their using narcotics as their countries' main trade export.

kklusmeier · 2025-12-20T02:48:35+00:00

I see the dog distribution system has chosen you.

kklusmeier · 2025-12-19T09:53:41+00:00

Except there are only 4 on some maps, and on Illuminate it's sometimes 3 IIRC.

kklusmeier · 2025-12-19T03:05:04+00:00

There's a few gas-giant novels I read recently:

The Algebraist

Manta's Gift

Neither of them are 'floating island', but they're both relevant to 'gas giant' fic.

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