On 27 Aug 2016 at 21:30, Another Carpenter justacarpen wrote:
> It actually makes me wonder at the feasibility of low tech worlds with
> no or very thin atmospheres. what one person could do with a hammer
> and chisel, what could hundreds accomplish with time and
> determination? at what tech level to compression pumps become feasible
> if they are hand cranked?
Otto von Guericke invented the vacuum pump in 1654. His design used a
piston, but once you have the principle, it's not that hard to
modify.
If you can build steam engines you can *definitely* build air pumps.
> what game possibilities are there if the
> handful of low tech worlds with very thin atmospheres? are they
> regressed colonies that are barely hanging on after the money making
> resources ran out? What are the options in TNE when the collapse came
> in many cases overnight? would said low tech habitats simply have been
> ignored?
As I've noted in the past on the TML, a colony on a *vacuum* world
could survie with early 1800s tech.
> How would they have survived such a troglodytic existence?
> specifically engineered mushrooms and live stock that resembles cave
> rats and a superabundance of insects as fodder? Any Low tech habitat
> world needs a very in depth and thought out plan to explain
> survival.
Food isn't as hard as you may think. Especially if you have the tech
to make glass. You'd want to keep greenhouses small in case of
breakage of panes. Though wire reinforced glass will help a lot
there.
Chickens are a possible food animal. so are guinea pigs (that's what
they are *still* used for in Peru) Rabbits are another possibility
for small animals.
Chickens will cheerfully eat insects. Rabbits and guinea pigs will
eat a lot of parts of the plants that humans don't/won39;t.
Composting of various wastes really helps.
If you have artifical lighting you can just light caves (natural or
man-made) underground.
Note that the "artifical wetland" type of sewage treatment may
require a fair bit of space, but is *very* l;ow tech. It also lets
you recover heavy metals. They accumulate in the "grasses" of the
first few stages and can be recovered from the ash if you burn them.
Not a high grade ore, but useful.
You raise fish (such as tilapia) in the ponds of the final stages.
That's another food source. Rice and other "swampy" plants can be
grown there too.
Such a system could have been set up when the place was still high
tech (or set up for them by a higher tech contractor). The lighting
and pumps are pretty much the only thing that the *Romans* couldn't
have done.
--
Leonard Erickson (aka shadow)
shadow at shadowgard dot com
> It actually makes me wonder at the feasibility of low tech worlds with
> no or very thin atmospheres. what one person could do with a hammer
> and chisel, what could hundreds accomplish with time and
> determination? at what tech level to compression pumps become feasible
> if they are hand cranked?
Otto von Guericke invented the vacuum pump in 1654. His design used a
piston, but once you have the principle, it's not that hard to
modify.
If you can build steam engines you can *definitely* build air pumps.
> what game possibilities are there if the
> handful of low tech worlds with very thin atmospheres? are they
> regressed colonies that are barely hanging on after the money making
> resources ran out? What are the options in TNE when the collapse came
> in many cases overnight? would said low tech habitats simply have been
> ignored?
As I've noted in the past on the TML, a colony on a *vacuum* world
could survie with early 1800s tech.
> How would they have survived such a troglodytic existence?
> specifically engineered mushrooms and live stock that resembles cave
> rats and a superabundance of insects as fodder? Any Low tech habitat
> world needs a very in depth and thought out plan to explain
> survival.
Food isn't as hard as you may think. Especially if you have the tech
to make glass. You'd want to keep greenhouses small in case of
breakage of panes. Though wire reinforced glass will help a lot
there.
Chickens are a possible food animal. so are guinea pigs (that's what
they are *still* used for in Peru) Rabbits are another possibility
for small animals.
Chickens will cheerfully eat insects. Rabbits and guinea pigs will
eat a lot of parts of the plants that humans don't/won39;t.
Composting of various wastes really helps.
If you have artifical lighting you can just light caves (natural or
man-made) underground.
Note that the "artifical wetland" type of sewage treatment may
require a fair bit of space, but is *very* l;ow tech. It also lets
you recover heavy metals. They accumulate in the "grasses" of the
first few stages and can be recovered from the ash if you burn them.
Not a high grade ore, but useful.
You raise fish (such as tilapia) in the ponds of the final stages.
That's another food source. Rice and other "swampy" plants can be
grown there too.
Such a system could have been set up when the place was still high
tech (or set up for them by a higher tech contractor). The lighting
and pumps are pretty much the only thing that the *Romans* couldn't
have done.
--
Leonard Erickson (aka shadow)
shadow at shadowgard dot com