I picked TL 3-5 because it covers the 19th and early 20th centuries. I wanted hydroelectric power for some of the more advanced states which is TL 5. Most of the world would be solidly TL 4, while the backward areas are going to be TL 3. Unfortunately, transportation is pretty much at the animal power stage because of the lack of fossil fuels. There will be alcohol-powered vehicles, but the society has to make a trade-off between growing crops for human and animal consumption or growing crops for alcohol distillation.
Using wood leads to extensive deforestation.
Lacking fossil fuels puts a definite stopper on some technologies (color-fast dyes and plastics, for instance). It also leads to a number of political tradeoffs, such as the alcohol problem above.
I'm looking for clever workarounds for these limitations. Animal-drawn railways, for instance, or pedal-powered vehicles (I've included a pedal cart on my website as an example). I'm also looking for limitations that I haven't thought of.
Gerry Harris
http://www.aethertraveller.com
"Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war"
— Antony, "Julius Caesar," Act 3, Scene 1
----- Original Message ----
From: DED <>
To:
Sent: Saturday, May 19, 2007 10:25:08 AM
Subject: Re: [Traveller_TNE] Low Tech Stuff
Wind and water? TL 3-5 covers alot of ground.
On the low end of that range, windmills and waterwheels could provide work on a
local level. Not much on a grand scale, but it would be useful for the milling
of grain and other simple, yet tedious, tasks. Of course, if something like the
Roman aqueduct system could be constructed, then that builds up some potential
for putting water to work.
On the high end, they could provide power through wind farms and hydroelectric
dams.
\_/
DED
----- Original Message -----
From: Gerry Harris
To: Traveller [TNE]; GDW House Rules
Sent: Saturday, May 19, 2007 9:58 AM
Subject: [Traveller_TNE] Low Tech Stuff
Thanks for all y'all's help with the black powder rockets. I'm working on a low
tech (TL 3-5) world with no access to fossil fuels -- think a world terraformed
in the last few tens of thousands of years. I've been trying to work out the
infrastructure for such a world, and power production is a biggie. Wind and
water power are good for the cities, but portable power sources are a problem.
At first, I was stuck with two fuel sources from FF&S: alcohol and wood. I
managed to work out the stats for "wood gas" when I stumbled across doing
research on steel:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas
Mass and price would be the same as for hydrocarbon distillates, but the power
output would be divided by eight. Not a particularly attractive technology, and
it doesn't solve the deforestation problem, which on our world was fixed by the
increasing use of coal. Alcohol, of course, eats into the food supply so it's
not going to be super popular, either, although it would be used to a greater or
lesser extent.
Peat is available, but I cannot find stats on its energy density.
On the plus side, as near as I can tell, steel should be available as it has a
low carbon content, and that could be supplied by charcoal.
If any of y'all have any ideas for fuels, limitations on technology because of
the lack of fossil fuels, or clever workarounds for some of those limitations, I
would appreciate hearing your ideas.
Gerry Harris
http://www.aethertraveller.com
"Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war"
— Antony, "Julius Caesar," Act 3, Scene 1