| fozzybear | 02 May 2008 2:56 p.m. PST |
This is mostly in regard to the Martians of Space 1889 and their smooth bore muskets. I was wondering last night if the Martians (Canal Martians mostly or their equal from Paroom Station)would have a flintlock type musket .. maybe a matchlock .. but then I thought .. maybe a highly developed wheellock ( I think I like that one best)?
I know this is kind of esoteric but I can't help thinking of such things .. for me .. it's fun. I was wondering .. did any of you have similar thoughts, or any thoughts on that subject all together? |
| Ivan DBA | 02 May 2008 4:25 p.m. PST |
Is the atmosphere on Mart thin enough to effect combustion? (Obviously, VSF Mars has more of an atmosphere than the Mars of reality…) |
| fozzybear | 02 May 2008 4:32 p.m. PST |
Thats the thig with VSF .. how much do we keep "Real" and how much reality do we ignore? …
I tend to lean toward having things rooted in as much historical reality as possible while still alowing room for fantasy. |
| Dave Crowell | 02 May 2008 4:37 p.m. PST |
i like the well developed wheel lock myself. |
| The Gray Ghost | 02 May 2008 4:46 p.m. PST |
At 28mm I've never really thought about it. I guess I would prefer the wheel lock. |
| Tommy20 | 02 May 2008 5:13 p.m. PST |
I like the wheellock idea as well. With metal being scarce, disposable percussion caps wouldn't seem particularly viable (although I suppose there's no reason they couldn't be made of something besides metal). The weapons on the canon figures appear to be flintlocks. Perhaps they have a longer-lasting, less maintenance-heavy, flint? |
| Mephistopheles | 02 May 2008 6:49 p.m. PST |
I'm in the camp of "why bother to think it through?". To ne, "musket" is fine. |
| terrain sherlock | 03 May 2008 6:46 a.m. PST |
lack of metal might lead to compressed air solutions..
rather than bullets, they shoot sliver/darts.. Maybe something like the WFB skaven jezzail, with bottles
of something or other as propellant..? |
 John the OFM  | 03 May 2008 9:58 a.m. PST |
Is the atmosphere on Mart thin enough to effect combustion? (Obviously, VSF Mars has more of an atmosphere than the Mars of reality…)
Not necesary. Gunpowder contains within it the necessary oxidant, saltpetre. If it depended on the atmosphere to burn/explode, it would just smoulder like paper or wood chips.
That is why gunposder explosions in watertight barrells can occur under water. As for the philosophical underpinnings of VSF, I have always maintained that it should be as scientific as the time it is set in, and not be fantasy. Thus, in 1885, we already know that gunpowder can explode under water (see mines in the ACW!).
However, no one has disproven perpetual motion yet, so it works, or can be used to power vehicles. No one has discovered the limitations on the speed of light, has discovered nothing about relativity or quantum mechanics, the sun is a ball of burning gas, etc. VSF depends on what the citizens of your artificail timeline know to be true, and not what Einstein and Heisenberg discovered 40 years later. |
| RockyRusso | 03 May 2008 10:56 a.m. PST |
Hi Actually, you could use the "Maynard process" to fire the muskets. It was developed in the 1850s and many of you have seen it in action without realizing it. It is that roll of paper caps in the capguns you had as a kid if you weren't told "wartoys" were bad! but several civil war era guns used the maynard cap system which uses no metal. mmmmmmm Paper cartridge Sharps with maynard caps. Good stuff. Rocky |
| fozzybear | 03 May 2008 4:22 p.m. PST |
"why bother to think it through?". SIGH!!! From my original posting …… "I know this is kind of esoteric but I can't help thinking of such things .. for me .. IT'S FUN." Yes … I enjoy thinking of such details, i don't mean to force it on anyone .. I just wanted to here from like minds. |
| fozzybear | 03 May 2008 7:02 p.m. PST |
SORRY .. HEAR .. from like minds |
| fozzybear | 05 May 2008 3:16 p.m. PST |
I was also thinking it might be intersting to have a few units with wheelelock rifles of some kind, early groove rifling maybe? .. Give those units a slighly better range?? |
| Robin Bobcat | 06 May 2008 3:23 a.m. PST |
Hmmm… Myself, I'd go for something exotic, like caseless, liquid-propellant rounds. Sure, they haven't discovered that spinning the shot makes it work better, but mounting a little tank of 'boom juice' on a flintlock-style gun would be easy. Depending on the atmosphere of a VSF Mars, this might work better than gunpowder, or the materials for gunpowder might be more difficult to come by (no 'organic' sources of saltpeter, martian woods don't form charcoal well, sulphur exceedingly rare except in hazardous, or even holy sites?). Perhaps the residue from gunpowder combustion is toxic to martians? Not enough to be useful as a weapon, but they don't like hacking up green crud. |
struggles to complete his SISI truck force.
