Steampunk Alt History Brainstorming Thread

Seeing as how we're trying to stay relatively hard in the science fiction department I'm not allowed to do anything as wacky as Journey To The Center of the Earth am I? *sigh* oh well.

Tech

Subterranean Exploration
Requires:...
Leads to: Modern Seismology
Civics:...
Wonders:...*sigh*
Buildings:...
Units: Boneshaker Drill
Special Effects:...
Civilopedia:...
Notes: derived from some form of mad science, this tech would be one those end of the age techs to bring a steampunk civ back to the modern age. In this case with Modern Seismology

Unit

Boneshaker Drill
Requires:Subterranean Exploration/coal or oil or uranium
Stats: Tracked/ Strength 50, movement 2/.../.../ignores terrain movement costs, ignores city defenses, doesn't receive defensive bonuses/ +3 cost per turn
Civilopedia:
Notes: As the name suggests it's a drill tank. It chugs around underground explaining why it ignores terrain movement costs and ignores city defenses. When it's sitting around above ground refilling the air tanks it's just as vulnerable as any other tank so no defensive bonus for you. I thought about it being invisible but then remembered that sudden increasing tremors and plenty of overturned dirt is a kind of obvious telltale that something's going on.


and if nobody objects by tomorrow I'd like to modify the early steam tank to be a not overwhelming counter to machine guns and cavalry by lowering it's strength to 28 and giving it a 25% bonus against mounted and 50% bonus against machine guns. Also Nautilus--> Nautilus Class Submersible unless someone can think of a name that falls off the tongue better.
 
We already have "Subterranean Exploration" as a Galactic Era tech. It requires Deep Sea Exploration, Advanced Shielding, Nanomining, Astroenviromental Systems and Volcanology. I was already planning on having a wonder/project for exploring the core of the planet. However this is more futuristic than retro. Think more "The Core" than "Journey To The Center of the Earth"

However I don't think steampunk technology could get there, retro-space maybe.
 
Oh I see that now. Can we call that one Deep Mantle Exploration and Subterranean Exploration could speed up research on it? Or maybe it needs a different name. Do you have any ideas?

My Subterranean Exploration should probably only go down at most as far as the Mohorovicic Discontinuity. Umm, both could have wonders representing going a little ways past that and have as their bonus a slew of mineral resources strategically important to that era.
 
It seems to me like the tech still needs some discussion but i think i can move the unit to the list minus the tech requirement. Can I get some feedback on what might be done about the tech?
 
I think there is a good bit of Steampunk literature and video games out there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_steampunk_works.
Maybe this could inspire some discussion? Maybe people could find role playing or video game that have useful steampunk tech trees or units.

I hate saying this but the robotic spider from the Will Smith movie 'Wild Wild West', flinch, but you get the idea.
 
I also would replace the computing engine technology with Difference Engine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_engine

It was a real design created by Charles Babbage which never was built and could have inspired the Steampunk age. The Engine is not a replica (there never was one built during Babbage's lifetime).

It could be a triggering technology from the Steampunk Era.
 
rightfuture said:
at the later part of the age
Steam car could be a convergence technology. Especially if discovered before combustion and developed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_car
Click to expand...

I have seen one of these in action. They work great, however since it is steam power yo have to wait for your car to get get steam. Its literally waiting for water to boil. Also you go through a lot of wood or coal. In short if you had a place to go you better plan a head in advance, because your car is not going to be ready to drive for awhile. And even when it is going they don't go all that fast.
 
Traction Engines = Steam Car. already up there. unless you think it needs further distinction as progression of the technology, traction engines being large tractor things and steam cars being like jalopies. I think what's already up there fits the idea of steam cars fine.

Also steam cars didn't go all that fast because they didn't have very good gearboxes. Even the earliest steam cars had humongous amounts of torque while only going a few hundred rpm. And by the 1920s the Doble steam car could go from stone cold to ready in a maximum 40 seconds.

"The 1924 model Doble Series E steam car could run for 1,500 miles (2,400 km) before its 24-gallon water tank needed to be refilled; even in freezing weather, it could be started from cold and move off within 30 seconds, and once fully warmed could be relied upon to reach speeds in excess of 90 miles per hour (140 km/h). In recent years Doble cars have been run at speeds approaching 120 mph (190 km/h), this without the benefits of streamlining, and a lighter version of the Series E accelerated from 0 - 75 mph (121 km/h) in 10 seconds." - Doble steam car - wikipedia

The difference engine was a calculator, the analytical engine was an incomplete design for a computer. Computing Engines is the tech that you get for building the difference engine wonder, or whatever starts off the steampunk age, symbolizing the widespread adoption of mechanical computers and all the changes to society that stems from that. It's why Civ 4 vanilla doesn't call the computers tech "ENIAC" or "Harvard Mk 1" or Nuclear Power "Calder Hall Nuclear Power Station"

and can i please please get some feedback on what to do with "subterranean exploration". It or something like it, is kind of important if steampunk is to point back to modern seismology at some point.
 
Traction engines are an appropriate idea, I think people would relate more to steam turbines, steam cars, and steam tanks for units.
 
I looked through my copy of GURPS Steampunk and I found something that would be interesting to see:

Ornithopters (Technology)
Requires: Balloon Warfare + Locomotives
Cost: 4200 (approximate)
Leads to: Speeds up Flight
Units: Ornithopter
Notes: Ornithopters are flying machines with flapping wings. As these are steam-powered, they will not match the performance of even an Early Fighter.

Ornithopter (Early Fighter Unit)
Cost 130
Technology: Ornithopters
Resources: Coal, Steel
Strength 15
Range 3
Can bomb tiles and reduce city defenses (2% per turn)
Can intercept aircraft (25% chance)
Notes: This is supposed to be 75% as effective as an Early Fighter. You could scale it down even more if you want.
 
D'oh, beaten to the punch. Listen, I was going to suggest a tech and unit basically identical to yours except it comes branching off of a suite of steampunk airship techs coming off thermodynamics and intermingling with steampunk steam engine developments and mad science but for various reasons I can't do that right now. Assuming no one else has a problem with it, they will go on the burgeoning list but I'd like to talk to you about the layout of the techs and stuff later. When I'm done with this other thing.
 
steampunk1880 said:
D'oh, beaten to the punch. Listen, I was going to suggest a tech and unit basically identical to yours except it comes branching off of a suite of steampunk airship techs coming off thermodynamics and intermingling with steampunk steam engine developments and mad science but for various reasons I can't do that right now. Assuming no one else has a problem with it, they will go on the burgeoning list but I'd like to talk to you about the layout of the techs and stuff later. When I'm done with this other thing.
Click to expand...

If you want to post what you were thinking, go ahead. I have another idea-- I haven't yet worked out all the details, but what about steam-powered automaton soldiers? I think you would need three techs, maybe four:
* Analytical Engines. This is the successor to the Difference Engine.
* Micro-Analytical Engines. Engines small enough to fit in little devices. This could come straight off of Difference Engine.
* Steam Armor. This would give you steam-powered infantry. More mobile and defensive and cheaper than the big tanks, but not as powerful on offense. Basically steam battlesuits.
* Automatons. This would give the steam version of the Automatons unit. Really cheap, but limited in promotions.
 
I was thinking the base infantry of the steampunk era could be mass produced "Patchwork Military Constructs" which are like Frankenstein's Monsters with guns made to be too stupid to do anything but carry out orders. And that would be the steampunk replacement for trench infantry and infantry, straddling both in terms of power and stats. The tech to make constructs would stem from the steampunk equivalent to the electricity tech which in turn would require something like steam turbines and mad science. They'd move back no normal soliders by modern infantry though, again because the things are too stupid to do anything but follow orders like "Charge the enemy trenches, you fodder" and modern infantry needs to be more tactically aware and mentally flexible moving in small semi-independent squads.

Edit:
I'm thinking the reason I would like Frankenstein's Monsters instead of Clanks as basic infantry (though they're both about the same in appropriateness) is to try and touch on as many aspects of steampunk and victoriana as possible. And while we're getting quite a bit of steam powered stuff and impossibly complex mechanical stuff, we're not touching the whole Gothic Horror aspect of the scene and since Count Dracula is right out, as we are keeping fantasy away, that leaves the iffy realm of mad science and I knew Frankenstein's Monsters would have to factor in at some point but the only way I could think of that would be appropriate for a game would be as a unit. Mass produced. Highly disposable. Anyway that's my thought on the matter.
 
Do you want to include concepts that we now KNOW aren't true? I was thinking along the lines of the Elan Vital or the Luminiferous Ether, which were thought of as true in the 1800's, but are proven false.
 
It very much depends on how far other people are willing to let us go. I'd be thrilled if we could go as far as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space:_1889 and use that as a transition to retro-future. I'm not entirely sure how it works. What I am sure though is that I think others working on this mod would prefer it kept to at least 4 on the http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness, and my mad science is pushing it quite a bit into 3 but we can still debate about it. That's why this thread is here.

*sigh* anyone remember playing World of Jules Verne in Civ 2 Fantastic Worlds?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFsP9_w1Qww

Ooh, does anyone think the steampunk age should get it's own soundtrack?
 
Of course steampunk should have it's own soundtrack! Might be a good idea to include some of the industrial era soundtrack, to maintain connection to the main game.

Also, RE: frankensteins: Orbis for ffh have a frankenstein called Boris. He wears a 19th century-style suit and wields a sledghammer. Could be a good source graphic to work from.
 
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