Pangea Ultima 2016-10-05

[timerover51]

This is an interesting option I hadn't really thought of before. It allows me to use a specific plant resource such as corn or soybeans for multiple things (food and oil). That might actually make it in, though I will have to redo my plans for a superweapon (similar to Greek Fire) that mixes black powder and tar... I will think on it, thanks!

I have a couple of different recipes for Greek Fire in my library, along with some speculations by other people, but you would not be using Black Powder in the mix. It clearly was based on a readily flammable oil/petroleum mixture, and I keep thinking that based on its low viscosity, part of the manufacturing process may have been doing some crude distillation of a gasoline-oil mixture, as it was not simply crude oil mixed with other substances. Quicklime was probably the ignition agent as it was mixed with water prior to being used as a naval weapon. I would not be surprised if some eggs were in the mixture as well, as egg whites act as a gelling agent for gasoline.

When you talk about Greek Fire, that is used for a lot of ancient incendiary mixtures. As for Tar, you get the tar used to tar ropes for nautical use from the destructive distillation of pine trees, the US Southern longleaf pine being a very good source. If I remember correctly the yield of tar is about a barrel, say 30 to 40 gallons, per cord of wood processed. You also can make a type of tar from whale or seal oil, but boiling it to get the more volatile fractions evaporated and leaving behind a thicker and stickier oil. For Bio-Diesel or synthetic crude, those processes are readily available online

I was looking at vegetable oils as the base, as I am not sure how many oil deposits would be around in 200 million years or so. Vegetable oils are still going to be around, probably, and so will Peat. One other thing you might want to look at is having Iron available in Marsh, as bog iron was an important iron resource early on.

 

[Gojira54]

Interesting stuff, that. I did some work on resources this weekend, and as it turns out, I will have to sacrifice a Strat resource to fit Petroleum based tar in as a strat. I do have black powder in, and a variety of plant resources that oil can be derived from - coconut palms, nuts, olives, hemp, as well as a generic Vegetables resource - not to mention 6 animal sources that fat can be rendered from (Cow, Pig, Camel, Horse, Sheep, Chicken). Any of these (or abstractly all of these combined) can be used for the boiling oil weapon, since that isn't intended to ignite, but for the flaming catapult, flaming arrows, and later the "Super Weapon", I need something highly flammable.

About a 30-60% of the way through the game, fermentation will be available, and at about 75-90% Alcohol Distillation will be, so it might make since to mix black powder, random distilled alcohol, tree pitch, and any of the random oils available at that time for the Super Weapon, but for Flaming Arrows and Flaming Catapults I would like a much earlier flaming oil available.

When I said Greek Fire, I am not looking for that exactly but something of that general nature - highly destructive and flammable and something that would scare the pants off you if your enemies had it and you did not. Ideally it could be used in Naval warfare, be poured on an army or into a moat and ignited, fill a large barrel and then detonated, with not just fiery but some explosive effect. Something available with the tech at hand that may or may not have actually been discovered during that time...

 

[timerover51]

Interesting stuff, that. I did some work on resources this weekend, and as it turns out, I will have to sacrifice a Strat resource to fit Petroleum based tar in as a strat. I do have black powder in, and a variety of plant resources that oil can be derived from - coconut palms, nuts, olives, hemp, as well as a generic Vegetables resource - not to mention 6 animal sources that fat can be rendered from (Cow, Pig, Camel, Horse, Sheep, Chicken). Any of these (or abstractly all of these combined) can be used for the boiling oil weapon, since that isn't intended to ignite, but for the flaming catapult, flaming arrows, and later the "Super Weapon", I need something highly flammable.

About a 30-60% of the way through the game, fermentation will be available, and at about 75-90% Alcohol Distillation will be, so it might make since to mix black powder, random distilled alcohol, tree pitch, and any of the random oils available at that time for the Super Weapon, but for Flaming Arrows and Flaming Catapults I would like a much earlier flaming oil available.

When I said Greek Fire, I am not looking for that exactly but something of that general nature - highly destructive and flammable and something that would scare the pants off you if your enemies had it and you did not. Ideally it could be used in Naval warfare, be poured on an army or into a moat and ignited, fill a large barrel and then detonated, with not just fiery but some explosive effect. Something available with the tech at hand that may or may not have actually been discovered during that time...

Hmm, I could give you more ideas on this, but I do not want to get into trouble with the BATF. A mix of tar and vegetable oil should give you the necessary flammable material for early use, and if you can get it, you might want to look at Admiral Rodgers' book, Naval Warfare Under Oars for some ideas on Greek Fire.