Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

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Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

Post by Vagrant Orpheus »

So, I've been working on redeveloping Soldier's article, and it occurs to me that with the loss of OZ we also lost a lot of background information about the state of weapons and technology throught many different eras of conflict. Additionally, what is left is quite dispersed. My intent here is to ask people to help fill in and clarify what sort of technology existed during different eras, since I think it'll make a useful reference thread for the future. Anything you can think of that's been mentioned before, bring it up. Also, if you can recall or elaborate on more details to tech that's already been broadly remembered, I'd like to see that as well.

American Civil War
[*]War Trains: Can't recall a thing about them
[*]Mechanical spiders:Same again really. I'd have to re-watch Wild Wild West.
[*]Personal Flying Apparatus: I believe that one Skyhaven guy came up with a flight harness, but it only worked for exceptionally light people, like him with his hollow bones.
[*]Gun Technology: I can't remember exactly how much more advanced it was, but I'm fairly certain it went beyond the muskets and percussion cap weapons, which I personally think is a shame.

World War I
[*]Heat Rays: Can't recall the scale, presence or reliability that these had. British only, if I recall.
[*]Flying Saucers:Fairly certain the Germans had Flying Saucers, though I might be mixed up with WWII.

World War II
[*]Tesla Tanks: Russian, of course. Can't remember the extent or if Teslatech was used for anything else.

Other than that, I can't recall anything else. It might even be worth constructing an entire Technological Timeline that outlines all the different technologies that come into play throughout COMIX history, or something.
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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

The War Trains are basically battleships on tracks, or tanks on tracks. They might have steampunk legs with claws to allow limited off-track mobility.

The Giant Mechanical Spiders are as seen in the Wild Wild West movie, but maybe not as HUEG.


World War 1 had the Germans get some of the captured Flying Machines in somewhat functioning states.

I think in WW1, the Heat Rays would consist of machines basically ripped out of tripods and put on more mobile housings. If the British tried to reverse-engineer them, then they would end up with hulking monstrosities as big as buildings, with wires and generators and stuff. But damn if those things couldn't vaporize entire hordes of Jerries coming up over the trenches!


The Flying Saucers came in World War 2, and they had capabilities similar to subsonic jets. When going slow, they can hover like helicopters and stuff.

WW2 also saw the entrance of Tesla tech into the arsenals of the Soviet Union and the USA, as their Nikola Teslas got really busy. The weapons themselves were still rather large and bulky contraptions. Well, I'm guessing that the initial lightning weapons were probably invented by Tesla before he became Really Old, so the first weapons could have appeared in the 30s or the 20s at the latest. But miniaturization would be a bitch and Tesla kind of, y'know, died. His successors might have not had his mad genius, and only his notes to go by.

I believe scaling-down Heat Rays and Tesla weapons would've only happened by the 70s.

Except for those WW2 British planes that fought against Nazi Saucers. The British Air Force got some Heat Rays removed from the Martian Tripods, and since these devices were smaller than the British-built weapons, they could fit in flying aircraft and stuff.
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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

Post by Ford Prefect »

Perhaps incidentally, Invictus and I have been speaking with regards to Imperial Japan's technological development and how they managed to stay relevant in World War II. Given they lacked the sort of supergenius/alien tech boons of other countries, we have been discussing what conventional but unused technologies of WWII the eventually ended up getting working. For example, rocket and turbojet aircraft, which they get going with the pure guts and determination of engineers.
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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

Post by Malchus »

Vagrant Orpheus wrote:[*]War Trains: Can't recall a thing about them
Well, I do remember some discussion on 'em but I don't know whether we canonized that or not. I don't even know whether we settled on exactly what its weapons would be. The Gatling carriages do use train parts, but of course aren't trains. I put a pic of said Gatling Carriage in this page of the Mad Ideas thread.
[*]Mechanical spiders:Same again really. I'd have to re-watch Wild Wild West.
Well, pretty much what Shroom said. Like that giant steampunk tarantula in Wild Wild West, only considerably smaller. One of their tactics after all was to move around the streets a town so as to make targeting it with artillery difficult and to force the numerically superior Gatling carriages to fight them in the streets where they couldn't turn as well and where their numbers couldn't be brought to bear as much.
[*]Personal Flying Apparatus: I believe that one Skyhaven guy came up with a flight harness, but it only worked for exceptionally light people, like him with his hollow bones.
The early version of it, yes. He did create an improved version of the Cherub harness and sold them in numbers to the US forces during the Civil War (which is why the US Army Air Corps was founded all the way back then), but I'd imagine only the smaller and lighter guys used those. They'd probably use lever-action weapons, revolvers, and possibly early lit-fuse hand-grenades, and the tactics would probably be something like swoop, shoot, and zip away.

Oh, and Skyhaven was founded after the American Civil War, which means the guy technically wasn't a "Skyhaven guy" back then.
[*]Gun Technology: I can't remember exactly how much more advanced it was, but I'm fairly certain it went beyond the muskets and percussion cap weapons, which I personally think is a shame.
Gun tech is basically about real life 1880s level--breech loading single-shot rifles like the Martini-Henry, lever-action carbines, and manual-cranking Gatling guns.
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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

Post by Mobius 1 »

While I'm generally behind all of these ideas (I really liked Siege and Vic's compromise in the Fahrenheit thread), I take offense to the war trains. They're retarded. Few, if any, battles took place near the raillines, and even moreso commanders would be wise to stay away from the lines, which are probably already in use as one side or another's logistic's lines, and therefore guarded. Even moreso, the range on what heavyass artillery you stick on them will suck. We're not talking WWII train line guns with yard-thick shells (which in and of themselves are ridiculous, useless, and inefficient), we're talking some form of accelerated 1860s timeline, which won't be doing much beyond very largeass cannons.
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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

Considering that a few years after the American Civil War, the French unleashed their robots against the German hordes of undead... I think strangely accurate long-ranged train artillery wouldn't be too out of place.

I have this notion of the Confederates somehow sneaking one of their Shagohod trains behind Union lines, setting it up on some inter-state train track, and then UNLEASHING IT and it goes chugga-chugga straight for WASHINGTON! No one can stop it! Muhahahahaha!

It would have broadside guns, like that of a battle ship!

It's silly, I know!

Ford wrote:Perhaps incidentally, Invictus and I have been speaking with regards to Imperial Japan's technological development and how they managed to stay relevant in World War II. Given they lacked the sort of supergenius/alien tech boons of other countries, we have been discussing what conventional but unused technologies of WWII the eventually ended up getting working. For example, rocket and turbojet aircraft, which they get going with the pure guts and determination of engineers.
Mmm. The Japs weren't that fast in the tech-field of WWII. Well, their Army wasn't. Their Navy could have supertech, though. Super Yamatos!

I was thinking that propeller driven aircraft would end up with turbo-prop engines, to make them somewhat more effective in chasing down Saucers and other unconventional aircraft. But supersonic propeller blades is really just a marginal improvement and its deployment in WWII would just be a few years ahead of real-life (they came in 1948 or something).

Anyway, the island-to-island fighting of the Pacific Front didn't see the same sort of tactics as the European front did in the war. Transporting men and material by ship and through seas would mean that large and clunky Tesla-tech and Heat Rays would be at a disadvantage, and if they get wet they might end up short circuiting. The Japs probably didn't have to worry too much about Teslas and Heat Rays.

Also, using those things on islands and other nasty terrain might tamper their effectiveness somewhat. The Pacific Front's battles were more grueling in a different sort of way, and the Imperial Japanese Army didn't even have decent tanks and they were still able to put up a fight. If they could've made do without decent tanks, then I guess they could've survived not having Heat Rays or Tesla coils or anything super-special. Hell, giving them an ahistorical number of ahistorical tank designs would probably achieve the same results as giving them wunderwaffen.

Besides, while the Brits and the Americans and the Soviets did use Heat Rays and Tesla tech, and the Germans had their Saucers, I think a huge majority of their armaments would still be conventional. Plus the aforementioned logistic difficulties in an island war, the Pacific Front might see less unconventional weaponry than the European Front.

Still, the Germans could've given the Japanese some of their V-3 rocket technology. Then the Japanese could've bolted those V-3 rockets on their fighter planes and ended up with Rocket Kamikazes!

And mecha!

Maybe Japanese submarines could've had drills on them, allowing them to penetrate American warships. Maybe they also had rockets, allowing them to breech the surface!

But still, the Imperial Japanese Army made do with a lot less. They didn't have decent tanks, and their guns were even not as good as the Amerikaners'. But they put up a hell of a fight! Supertech? They don't want no stinkin' supertech! They don't need stinkin' supertech! :lol:


The Japanese did have an inhumane bioweapons research program and special units. The Soviets and Allies would later rummage through their results and decades later, we would still see their legacy in the Vietnam War.

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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

Post by Invictus »

To clarify things a bit, I wasn't entirely serious when I suggested the battle-trains back in the original Order of the South thread. Feel free to ignore that offending article.

As for the technology of WWII Japan, the country could already receive a boost if it did get half its cracky secret projects working. If the States could already build gatling carriages and ornithopter wings in the Civil War, I don't see why Japan couldn't replicate it. Granted there is a lot of more classified/rare technology that Japan wouldn't be able to have (heat rays, French clockwork, Tesla's stuff) even with their fair share of genius scientists, and it is this category of unique, distinctive assets that Ford and I have been thinking about.

Ford seems strangely receptive to the idea of Ninja Kwisatz Haderachs, but that is a topic for another thread.
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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

I think the ornithopter wings would number in the paltry dozen. They'd be reserve for the Freak Mercenaries certain legendary soldiers have to fight on his way to taking down the giant walking tank (or mechanical spider). :D


EDIT:

And a Civil War gatling gun carriage would be about as effective as a WWII Willis Jeep with a .50 cal, maybe even less.

And ornithopters would be shit when compared to aircraft. But the ninjas could use those personal flying apparatuses!
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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

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Shroom wrote:And a Civil War gatling gun carriage would be about as effective as a WWII Willis Jeep with a .50 cal, maybe even less.
I don't see how that follows - in WW2, Jeeps could be confronted with tanks, automatic weapons, anti-tank rifles, etc. In other words, methods had developed to deal with support weapons. In the Civil War however, a machine-gun (even a primitive one like the Gatling Gun) could inflict horrifying numbers of casualties on the typical charge. Properly used those things could mean an early Somme.

As for the subject at hand, all I can think of that warrants mention right now is that during the Clockwork War (1850-1855) between Lovelance & Babbage on one side and Cyran St.Ordine on the other, parts of France and Britain were already tied together in a proto-Internet of telegraph wires hooked into difference engines.
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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

Post by Malchus »

Speaking of World Wars, didn't we also come to the agreement that the Brits used martian black smoke instead of mustard/chlorine gas in WWI? I thought that needed to be said since Orph brought up Martian tech and WWI. We never did discuss to what extent they reverse-engineered Martian tech by that era. I always imagined that most heat rays during that period were about artillery-piece sized, and only during WWII did they become small enough to mount on planes (hence the Heatray Hurricane idea I put forward a while back).

What I really wonder, though, is if they incorporated some relatively crude early human versions of the Martian tripods in WWI. I mean, by that time there's already widespread ornithopter use (the US did send all the Flyers they had to Europe), so it's not like robotics are anything new.
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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

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Shroom Man 777 wrote:Mmm. The Japs weren't that fast in the tech-field of WWII.
And the Nazis didn't actually have flying saucers. It just seems pretty ridiculous that the Japanese had nothing at all to compare against the special technologies of the other nations. They were actually building rocket planes, just like everyone else, in the real WWII. In any case, most of my ideas relate to the actual Japanese people.
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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

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Aficionado of all things Martian as I am, I wholeheartedly support the idea of crude Earth-made tripods under the command of the War Office. They ought to be rather unwieldy though, and highly susceptible to being taken out with artillery. As for Heat Rays: any Earth-built models of WW1 ought to be, like Shroom already said, huge and rather impractical machines, although still usable as front-line guns (power could be distributed to them through thick cables).

By WW1 the Royal Air Force would also be fielding cavorite-powered airships (flying pre-dreadnoughts). These few airships would then be countered with Flying Machines, piloted by the Kaiser's finest. I've been considering the introduction of sonic technology in the German army, if only because I like the term "sonic artillery"- guns that liquefies flesh and bone and earth with resonance. It would also nicely offset the advantage afforded to the Allies by the Heat Rays. Think about it - sonic railway guns!

I don't have much to offer on the Japanese, but Wave Motion Guns are always a good place to start.
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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

Post by Mobius 1 »

Obviously, if the Allies are throwing arounfd Tripods (I know, they're not throwing them around, more just gently testing and using for morale purposes), then it's kinda logical for the Japanese to start testing the first mechs or exoskeletons. :) Moreover, is there anyway for them to field drones, ie, for Kamikaze attacks?

Railway anything is still retarded anyway. :P

However, something that worries me about the accelerated tech timeline: nukes. It's obvious they'll probably end up accelerated as well, but, on the other hand, the dropping of the bombs at the end of the war is indisputably a major turning point in history.
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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

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Orph is planning on setting a pre-WW2 Metal Gear type story with a British-built Tripod armed with various weapons, but it got blown up by a Legendary Soldier and it never saw mass production.

Besides, with the Germans countering Heat Rays and Teslas by designing ahistorical sabot munitions with depleted uranium darts... yeah, the Tripods might not end up being such an effective system (besides, one man with a bazooka was able to take it down in one-on-one mortal combat!).

Incidentally, MOBY, this pseudo-Metal Gear (Vagrant Arm!) was also armed with a proto-nuke in the form of a giant rocket that used German V-3 designs. The proto-nuke had, like, half the yield of the Davey Crockett or something. But after the Tripod gets destroyed, the designs end up in America's hands and they refine the proto-nuke and by 1945, they make Hiroshima and Nagasaki explode.

Then in the Cold War, they start producing Walking Tanks :D

I don't know if Orph mines me divulging this stuff of his.

Ford wrote:And the Nazis didn't actually have flying saucers. It just seems pretty ridiculous that the Japanese had nothing at all to compare against the special technologies of the other nations. They were actually building rocket planes, just like everyone else, in the real WWII. In any case, most of my ideas relate to the actual Japanese people.
Well, the Nazis had a whole slew of weirdo planes.

I talked to Invictus and pointed at that third Yamato ship the Japanese Navy converted into an aircraft carrier.

Then I suggested that it would be turned into a submarine aircraft carrier. A Submersible Yamato, if you will.

Its airplanes could lift off using rocket engines, while landing would have them revert to their ahistorical turbo-prop engines. Then they would be stowed inside the Submersible Yamato as it dived! Haha!


The Japanese could also have had steampunk mecha. The clunkier less-refined version of Jason Goldstein's stuff. Ala those machines from the Sakura Wars animu.


EDIT:


Wait... those Submersible Yamato carriers could've... LAUNCHED AMPHIBIOUS SQUADRONS! FUCK YEAH! :lol:

Yes! Japanese Zeroes that explode out of the water, machinegunning Mustangs and whatnot and engaging in dogfights!
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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

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Shroom Man 777 wrote:Besides, with the Germans countering Heat Rays and Teslas by designing ahistorical sabot munitions with depleted uranium darts... yeah, the Tripods might not end up being such an effective system (besides, one man with a bazooka was able to take it down in one-on-one mortal combat!).
Wait, how the hell do the Germans get their hands on depleted uranium by WW2? DU is a by-product of uranium enrichment, you know. If they have sufficient quantities of DU to use it in tank rounds, they ought to have enough U-235 to build nuclear bombs as well.

Also, am I the only one who would rather see no mecha in Comix? If so, I'm willing to withdraw this point, but I'd really rather avoid the tired, tired old cliché that is "Japs = Mechs".
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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

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Yeah, because it's totally cliche that the culture that helped launch mechs in popular culture would use mechs in a real-life verse. Man, it's a pity the Japanese aren't good at robotics at all. ;)

Shroom and I had a long discussion on nukes, and we think it's pretty much in everyone's interest if nuke development and deployment during WWII stayed about the same. That is, the Americans are the ones who finally develop the bomb (the thought that the British could produce anything other than the groundwork theory and a miniature Davey Crocket is absurd), as they're the only one with the minds and industry to do it. Say, the Brits start the project and a joint venture with the Americans on British soil, the Germans get the whiff of it, and start spying on it. Soldier is forced to blow up the facility once the Nazis make the move towards whatever prototypes the Brits have. Simple logic moves the atomic bomb project to the American mainland, where it is much safer. Britain, in real life, would be far too involved in the frontline war effort to produce a bomb, and history has also showed the Germans weren't even close in their development of the bomb. Perhaps for the sake of tech advancement and drama one could make the race for the bomb between the Axis and Allies a bit closer, but, in the end, it really is the Americans who drop the first bombs on Japan.

However, after the end of the Second World War, perhaps one could revert to the CSW way of thinking of nukes: they're secretly popped off all the time, though not in direct war circumstances. :)
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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

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Mobius 1 wrote:Yeah, because it's totally cliche that the culture that helped launch mechs in popular culture would use mechs in a real-life verse.
In my opinion it is totally cliché, and -but that's an entirely personal note- I personally just plain don't like Mecha. It's not a point I feel like pushing particularly hard but I think that we, being the creative geniuses that we are, could come up with something better than Mecha for the Japanese.

What I'd personally like to see is the Emperor's top generals as men of such indomitable will that they become effectively metahuman nexi of power. I see it as a bit like a hybrid of Jedi battle meditation and your typical ninja elementalist, perhaps akin to those funky generals Ford's nation used to have in the ill-fated OZ-Nations RPG.

Who doesn't like to see admiral Isoroku Yamamoto as a tsunami-spawning force of nature? I mean, that would go a pretty long way to explaining how the Japanese got as far as they did...
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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

Post by Magister Militum »

Mobius 1 wrote:Yeah, because it's totally cliche that the culture that helped launch mechs in popular culture would use mechs in a real-life verse. Man, it's a pity the Japanese aren't good at robotics at all. ;)

Shroom and I had a long discussion on nukes, and we think it's pretty much in everyone's interest if nuke development and deployment during WWII stayed about the same. That is, the Americans are the ones who finally develop the bomb (the thought that the British could produce anything other than the groundwork theory and a miniature Davey Crocket is absurd), as they're the only one with the minds and industry to do it. Say, the Brits start the project and a joint venture with the Americans on British soil, the Germans get the whiff of it, and start spying on it. Soldier is forced to blow up the facility once the Nazis make the move towards whatever prototypes the Brits have. Simple logic moves the atomic bomb project to the American mainland, where it is much safer. Britain, in real life, would be far too involved in the frontline war effort to produce a bomb, and history has also showed the Germans weren't even close in their development of the bomb. Perhaps for the sake of tech advancement and drama one could make the race for the bomb between the Axis and Allies a bit closer, but, in the end, it really is the Americans who drop the first bombs on Japan.

However, after the end of the Second World War, perhaps one could revert to the CSW way of thinking of nukes: they're secretly popped off all the time, though not in direct war circumstances. :)
This sounds pretty good, although I object to having Britain start producing the Bomb on its soil. In real life, the Manhattan Project used up an ungoldy amount of electricty (hence why it was located in a area with acess to plentiful hydroelectric power), and, frankly, with the positon the Britain would be in, I highly doubt that they would have the industry to spare to devote to a full-flegded program. Besides, the British and Americans were orignally very stuborn about sharing information (especially when it became obvious that the US was leaving the UK in the dust) and, in fact work seperately for some time, until the British project, Tube Alloys, was essentially integrated into the Manhattan Project. Of course there is also the issue of why the joint American-British team would even base the experiment anyware near Europe when it can be done on the infinitely more secure continental US.
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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

Post by Mobius 1 »

That was essentially my point- Militum, I totally agree with you man. I'm just seeking a compromise with Orph on his desire to have a British proto-bomb- I did, after all, point out how silly it was to have anyone but the Americans make headway with the bomb.
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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

Post by Vagrant Orpheus »

Well, my story is set pre-WWII. Thusly, pre-Manhattan Project, back when it was just Tube Alloys. And forgive me for thinking that in a world where just about anything is technologically possible the British just might be able to make some headway with nuclear development. :P

With superbrights and the occasional genius, and insight from various esotoric specialists, I figure it shouldn't be too difficult for them to get to the level that I require. And frankly, for you to suggest that something is a technological absurdity in a realm where we have ornithopters and robots and a fully fledged AI by 1900, reverse-engineered alien technology that becomes rather prevalent soon after WWII, power suits, moon cannons and all sorts of other nonsense is an affront.

The bombs will be huge, but have a range of between 0.2 and 1 KT or something. And only because they haven't worked out exactly how it works yet, so the bombs often detonate prematurely or fail to achieve a full chain reaction. They are basic enough that America can still have the glory of being the only people to drop real nuclear bombs in WWII, don't worry about that.

As for any problems you may have, the research facility will be in a hydroelectric power plant, and I figured that Martian Heat Rays must use large amounts of power, so I figured jury-rigging up some Martian power cells to the plant or whatever for the additional power requirements.

The Tripod that these go on was originally intended to be the first completely reverse-engineered entirely human tripod to show any real combat utility, but I have no problem with crude Tripods making the occasional showing in WWI.
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Malchus
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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

Post by Malchus »

SiegeTank wrote:In my opinion it is totally cliché, and -but that's an entirely personal note- I personally just plain don't like Mecha. It's not a point I feel like pushing particularly hard but I think that we, being the creative geniuses that we are, could come up with something better than Mecha for the Japanese.
Well, OZ-Japan having mechas has been established since old OZ. NAKAIDO does essentially have piloted Starscreams in the form of the F-15 Kaiju Hunter. Then again, that's modern day Japan. And, yeah, having something other than mechs for WWII Japan would be cool.

I also remember someone's, perhaps Shroom's, suggestion somehwhere of having the Japanese use much smaller captured and trained Kaiju as war beasts of a sort.
What I'd personally like to see is the Emperor's top generals as men of such indomitable will that they become effectively metahuman nexi of power. I see it as a bit like a hybrid of Jedi battle meditation and your typical ninja elementalist, perhaps akin to those funky generals Ford's nation used to have in the ill-fated OZ-Nations RPG.

Who doesn't like to see admiral Isoroku Yamamoto as a tsunami-spawning force of nature? I mean, that would go a pretty long way to explaining how the Japanese got as far as they did...
Now that'd actually be freaking awesome, and it's not like it's out of bounds for Comix. There have, after all, been elemental ninjas and Nimaru monks. Although, I'd prefer to see Yamamoto as some sort of badass normal genius naval tactician rather than some elemental tsunami-maker. Maybe make one of his aides or something--perhaps Genda--be the elemental Dragon of sorts to Yamamoto.

As for the whole proto-nuke tripod thing, I have no problem with it. It's not like Orph is suggesting relatively huge nukes here. 1 KT or less sounds reasonable enough. The way I understand it, a lot of that gets ruined after Soldier stops the rogue General and his tripod anyway. I can easily see the scientists working on that getting killed and the know-how to build nukes not really getting recovered until much later, with Manhattan project scientists esentially starting from scratch since they don't have any usable info from that fiasco.
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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

Post by Vagrant Orpheus »

Actually, I quite like the idea of tamed kaiju. Seems... almost poetic that the creatures that regularly try to obliterate Tokyo should be used to defend it :P
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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

Post by Siege »

I would note that the British Empire, with its infusion of Heat Rays, Black Smoke, and Airships, is at the dawn of the 20th century far more powerful than it was in OTL. In fact, whereas the Empire was in a pretty steep decline by the time Victoria abdicated in OTL, I'm not altogether sure this was the case in Comix.

Now, mind that I'm not saying that the British should've developed the Bomb in this 'verse- I'm perfectly okay with it being an American invention, but (1) do note that the Empire is quite a bit more powerful that it used to be, (2) so are France and Germany, (3) I'm not altogether sure the atomic bombs made all the difference considering the super-technology already available. Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with the Bombs being the tipping point that forced the Japanese to surrender, but do keep in mind that these are people used to a whole lot more than just super-destruction. The atomic bomb, if anything, should have been more devastating that it was in OTL.

It should've been a mind-shattering blow, something that easily exceeded even Heat Rays and month-long strategic bombing campaigns.So for once, I think you find me arguing for the Bombs having more rather than less effect.
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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

Post by Magister Militum »

Eh, I still see no reason why we should change the backstory to the atomic bomb other than having the British develop a proto-bomb. Frankly, I find it much more interesting if we just leave the development of the atom bomb alone and have the oridinary persons with no superpowers develop the bomb, since, if anything, it shows how ordinary human inginuity and skill can overcome even the most difficult of challenges.

EDIT: I would imagine that the A-Bomb would still be very revelant in forcing Japan to surrender. Regardless of the superscience that existed during the time, having two of your cities be destroyed by two bombs, with the threat of possibly even more coming along later, would by devestating to Japanese morale.
Last edited by Magister Militum on Sun Dec 21, 2008 5:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Regarding technological capabilities of various eras

Post by Vagrant Orpheus »

And I never suggested much more than that. Tube Alloys is implemented, they manage to develop a proto-nuke, but it still has kinks and things that make it less than useful at this point in time. Soldier comes in, ruins the shit, and then Britain has to scrape together the scraps of data he didn't destroy, and contributes it to the Manhattan Project.

I simply think that given how Tube Alloys was the initial nuclear program, and how the British Navy patented the nuclear bomb concept in 1936, that it would be nice for them to get some sort of recognition. And also Soldier is part of the Commonwealth military, and as such has no place infiltrating American research facilities.
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