10 thoughts on “Getting Fired Up is live”

  1. Steve's avatar Steve says:

    WOOOHOO! really enjoyed it, sir!! 🙂

    Minie’ balls, fougasse (early claymore mines), trebuchets flinging big napalm barrels, to come? 😉

    IIRC, in time of Edward the First, silver deposits were discovered in North of England and mined

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    1. I’m pretty sure (not 100%) it was the same silver deposit at the Roman Epiacum or near there
      I didn’t specify minie balls – I was thinking US Civil war musket tech – the field guns are similar to Civil War Napoleons but on Napoleonic period carriages. And anyway, with gun powder you don;t need trebuchets….. it’s not far from bronze smoothbores to iron guns – exploding shells…. I do try to deliberately leave holes in his tech development – either he never read of it, has forgotten it or simply doesn’t know how to make it work – like electricity
      Glad you’re enjoying the story….
      Peter

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      1. Steve's avatar Steve says:

        No worries! 🙂

        yeah I assumed since you hadn’t said anything and the ranges/accuracy, you were talking purely of musket *balls*
        with Minie’ balls the range and practical accuracy goes out to 300 yards, the damage and penetration also goes WAY up
        but…requires stronger barrels and making the moulds isn’t trivial.
        Not a problem once you get the understanding and initial machining but still not as simple

        Again yeah I was assuming Napoleonic tech with the cannons since again, no explosive shot etc, all of which takes iterations and years of advancement.
        “Chain shot” would be a surprise for the naval fleet to use on enemies 😉

        Trebuchets still have uses actually from your story era/tech etc I think:
        ~ they are cheap and easier to build by far than cannons
        ~ most enemies wont’ even have that level of tech, it was a tech of around 200AD roman era, but, later period with loss of tech base, and other opponents won’t have it
        ~ they can throw weights much greater than any cannon your characters could build for a decade at the very least. This becomes important because…a barrel weighing up to 300lb can be hurled by a huge trebuchet, see Warwick one, or a smaller one, say 120 lbs, on ships or fortresses, ones that could be easily moved/re-assembled
        ~mixing naphtha, pine resin or several other substances with saltpetre, gives a pretty good napalm like material, it is easily ignited and burns like crazy due to the nitrate
        ~This makes it excellent for naval engagements (the barrel will burst and throw burning, floating material), or defending choke points etc.
        ~and it can be built in less advanced places. A shower of half bricks will obliterate a group of enemies in a place you may not be able to afford/make a cannon for.
        ~the barrels also can be used as a “fougasse”, lit by tar coated fuse or…electricity one day!

        One issue though is the lake of nitrates in the UK for gunpowder production, there are ways around this, though.
        a “nitrary”, where excrement etc is used to ferment out saltpetre was a disgusting process but it let England, then Britain, compete against European powers who had access to Middle Eastern nitrate deposits.
        Lol, maybe condemn criminals to working that for life, ick! 😛 (wouldn’t want POWs learning that tech)

        and quite understandable he won’t have much knowledge of “ancient tech” details 🙂

        just as an idea, as eventually they will need more resources…maybe his ships scanning system might still be intact, and from it’s records, knowledge of mineral deposits, maybe available to him, as a logical way around this?
        some deposits we don’t know about today thanks to high tech devices.

        Good stuff, so stay well 😉

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  2. Phil McGregor's avatar Phil McGregor says:

    Minie Balls came to dominate the Civil War battlefield, especially for the North.

    The only thing I have to complain about is the speed at which all this happens, which is completely unrealistic for a variety of reasons (which I am sure you probably know). But it’s a good story, so I can forgive it … like John W. Campbell evidently said, ‘Grant the gadget and go!’

    While it covers tech and other related things only from c AD 1000 to AD 1400, you might find the first two books I did for a recent(ish) Kickstarter of some interest … Orbis Mundi 2 and The Marketplace (see https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1009649146/orbis-mundi-2-real-medieval-life?ref=user_menu)

    They deal with social and technological realities, and their interconnections, in that period … but a lot would still have been applicable in the 5th century … if they seem to be of interest, sling me an email and I will comp you copies of them.

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  3. Most interested. With thanks in advance.
    As far as the speed is concerned – from when he lands to the invasion of Germania Inferior is roughly six years or so.
    So I might argue time frames but when being critical please take into account the critical first stages are relatively small scale in Ceri’s iron works – when one knows what the end result is makes things go quicker. Also Ceri’s iron works – even by the invasion of Germania is nothing like even a moderate19th century iron works yet. But it is going in that direction
    When you look at the underlying technology, there was little actual change between 200-300BC and 1200-1300AD. A celtic mail shirt of the Punic war period is not all that different to a Viking mail shirt of 1066 -nor are the techniques for making them,
    I have always thought that gunpowder and casting artillery were the real significant change that started in the 1300’s that drove the technology revolution that continues to this day but I shall look forward to you books with eagerness.
    Let me also add that although I don;t promote myself I do have a BA in classical studied from the University of Queensland where I did a double major in ancient history.
    I do thank you for your comments though – never to late to learn something new – and if you like alternate history you should find one of my other series (1st book is nearly ready to publish) about a young guy who meets a sorcerer from another earth and learns to travel through the multiverse visiting any number of earths where history went different,,.. all circa 2021 …. including an earth where the Roman empire never fell, having revitalized by some chap in the middle twelfth century (since the founding of Rome) which is roughly the early fifth century by our calendar – wait what? 🙂

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  6. Phillip Gordon's avatar Phillip Gordon says:

    Apologize if this has been said before, but would love to see maps, of Brittania and of the area of the Rhine at the end of #3.

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