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PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 11:42 am 
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Latest version, 0.5. Check notes to see a summary of the latest changes. Comments welcome.


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Sapper v0.50 by Kharille 160909.docx [170.53 KiB]
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 4:02 pm 
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I found the write-up impressive. :)

The amount and breadth of research is impressive. As are the ideas for skills.

One comment I have is the profession as described seems to be a combination of engineer, alchemist, trap expert, siege weapons expert, inventor, and several more. I'm not sure if any medieval age person would be able to acquire so many diverse (though related in some way) skills and knowledge in a lifetime.

In ancient times, a skilled and experienced engineer would already pack long years of experience in warfare under his belt. Just to become an expert in only engineering, structures, ditches...

My humble opinion so far of the Sapper as an adventuring profession, is that siege engineer knowledge, knowledge of structures, alchemy, trap setting, rock formation expertise, etc, would all make very good secondary skills for characters.

I'm reminded of the dwarves in Lord of the Rings, and in Dragonlance. They are warriors, clerics, or even thieves. But their racial knowledge of structures, craftsmanship, etc brings advantage to them in the course of their quests and adventures.


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PostPosted: Mon Mar 06, 2017 2:07 am 
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High level Sappers would be polymaths...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymath

I'm sure Archimedes would've though up a flying device, but he could only focus on only a few lifetime projects, in his lifetime...



Archimedes Death Ray
http://web.mit.edu/2.009/www/experiment ... esult.html

Do we have any real life engineers in this forum?

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PostPosted: Mon Mar 06, 2017 2:29 am 
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Kharille wrote:
High level Sappers would be polymaths...

Which would make them Sages (not Sappers! :D) in the mould of Zhuge Liang and even Archimedes. These men are one of a kind.


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PostPosted: Mon Mar 06, 2017 2:44 am 
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The death ray thingy appears to be possible on paper. However I would say that the myriad practical conditions required for it to work would render this device almost impossible to operate successfully unless under the very rare chance that every required factor is fulfilled.

Some of the general factors include very sunny and hot weather (almost no clouds), low humidity (so that the wood and/or sails wouldn't be quite so damp).

Targeting is extremely difficult as the sunrays are not focused like laser and hence difficult to see where they are falling with the human eye. The requirement for fire to start is for most of the mirrors to focus their rays into one common spot on the ship.

Range is also an issue. Given the limitation on mirror size (small enough for humans to target it), the effective range of the reflected rays cannot reach too far before it becomes too defused.

I'm electrical engineering trained. Been a software engineer for more than a decade. Though this doesn't mean I speak authoritatively on the plausibility of the Death Ray. :D


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PostPosted: Mon Mar 06, 2017 3:25 am 
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Well, high humidity doesn't prevent you from burning things, you just need to focus your death ray on them longer, or build a bigger death ray.

Naturally 12th rank sappers are rare and that’s why they don't appear often. Just as Sa'Aknathur made a name for himself as some kind of high level sorceror….

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PostPosted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 6:20 am 
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Fair enough. :) I am interested to see the progress and outcome from Kyle's Sapper In Action experiment.


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 24, 2018 8:58 am 
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Just thought I'd put some stuff up. Not being an Engineer myself.... Thought I'd put in some examples. Unspecified timelines since I don't know how long it actually takes to flood a marsh with the help of an unspecified number of people in the party with unspecified tools and all...

Still updating. I figure we need to somehow implement terrain effects. Possibilities are endless...


Think I'd be inclined to expand on cavalry rules before I start putting in those anti cavalry stakes like what they had in Agincourt. Think of all the chaubretian knights who got trapped in mud... can't attribute that to sappers....

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PostPosted: Thu Dec 13, 2018 6:07 am 
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Emphidian automatons in this Economist article...

https://www.economist.com/books-and-art ... -find-them


Talos is sometimes depicted as a tragic figure, condemned for blindly following his programming, like hal, the murderous supercomputer in “2001: A Space Odyssey”. His story can also be read as a cautionary tale about the dangers of giving machines the power to kill when they lack the capacity to make moral judgments.

Aristotle pondered the use of machines in place of slaves and the prospect of technological unemployment; Pygmalion built the first sexbot.

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PostPosted: Thu Aug 13, 2020 8:17 am 
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZvUSLa ... ex=44&t=0s

Military Engineering (documentary)

Military engineering is loosely defined as the art and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics behind military tactics. Modern military engineering requires more than civil engineering techniques. In the 21st Century, military engineering also includes other engineering disciplines such as mechanical and electrical engineering techniques.

Military engineering is an important academic subject taught in military academies or schools of military engineering. The construction and demolition tasks related to military engineering are usually performed by military engineers including soldiers trained as sappers or pioneers. In modern armies, soldiers trained to perform such tasks while well forward in battle and under fire are often called combat engineers.

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