Re: Tech & SJ

On Aug 26, 2007, at 8:59 PM, Matt Hoffman wrote:

>
> Still, the idea of a practical steamer using SJ mechanics is  
> intriguing. It even has a Twain-esque sentimental appeal to it. I  
> wonder if it were possible to design smokestacks such that they  
> could extend beyond a ship's air envelope? I notice that the masts  
> of most vessels are often included in a ship's air bubble, but is  
> it possible to extend something beyond the bubble? That would, for  
> a steam engine at least, provide some method to power a non-magical  
> local-wildspace civilian mode of transport without fouling the air.  
> But given the costs that are likely involved in developing  
> something like that, it might end up being cheaper to just hire  
> spellcasting pilots  :-p

In the Space:1889 setting, spacecraft are powered by solar boilers.   
As with SJ, a coal-fired steam engine would quickly destroy the  
ship's supply of air.  Solar boilers focus the sun's rays so as to  
boil the water for a steam engine.  (I do not recall if the issue of  
what is done with the steam is dealt with - it is possible that,  
given the setting's cold vacuum of space, the question of what to do  
with excess heat isn't really a problem.)

Solar boilers limit the range of human space exploration in Space: 
1889 to just about the Asteroid Belt, if I recall correctly, because  
beyond that the sun's radiance isn't powerful enough to fire a  
boiler.  A ship can run on batteries for a little while, but in 1889  
large battery arrays were not very advanced.

Incidentally, while conventional cannon would certainly mess up a  
ship's atmosphere, there really isn't anything wrong with guns based  
on compressed air.  A few men at the capstan, and one to actually  
place the ball in the muzzle, would be enough to operate a compressed  
air cannon, given materials and equipment capable of handling gas  
under pressure, etc.