Heres a starter list of what Ive come up with to some extent, for just my character, but I plan to incorporate it into some of our military units. Maybe special forces for some of it, maybe standard combat gear for grunts in other regards.
I use a combination of alchemy, science that I can understand myself, concepts of science I'm vaguely familiar with, ceramics, glassblowing, herbalism and to a larger extent botany and hybridization of natural ingredients, alloys, gem and mineral magic, clockwork, and traditional steampunk fantasy.
We dont have much of a navy at the moment. Theres no need, since only a tiny spot on the isle is exposed to real ocean. The rest is ringed by shoals. Flat bottom or very shallow drafted ships dare. We DO have an air force though. Its mostly lizard men riding giant wasps. Anything you can think up to come along with that would be great.
If setting helps, its a tropical jungle, with high slopes at times or very flat, jungle swaths. Some savanna and grasslands in the upper climates, like the plateau, which houses a nice redwood forest. We know little about the rest of the isle, but are sending our airborne reconnaissance currently.
IMPORTANT NOTE: I think it goes without saying, but just in case: Anything that my R&Ders come up with could theoretically be in development in other nations, guilds, regions, you name it. By careful selection and choice of scale, we can keep whatever genies we release under the safety of moderation.
IE: Dont tell me how to manufacture a nuclear bomb-like effect with a few ingredients from under the sink, a good electromagnet, and enough magnesium. 'Cause even if it DOES work, it means that it could fall into the hands of our enemies.
Right. Lets begin.
Grenades: A few shapes of clay or heavy glass grenade-like weapons. A hockey puck one, that can be greased to stick, or slide down a hall. One like a German "potato masher" from WWII, only spiky on the outside, to stick into wooden surfaces like doors, shields, or walls. Standard round one fills out the last. They're all ignited with an interior fuse tapped to a tingertwig. Snap the twig, toss.
- These also come in a flash-bang category. Dealing no damage, but stunning/blinding/deafening the opponent.
Infra red sun rod: Why not, I figured. A party with no spell caster has to figure out how to see in the dark and not be seen, eventually. Along with the infra rod, I fashioned goggles that saw in infra red. This allows you to illuminate a battlefield for your troops alone. Obviously something like darkvision works just as well, but we all dont have that.
A kind of repeating Xbow: Belt fed and crank fired, its almost a gattling gun of Xbows. Im sure its been done.
Gas Bombs: A double valve glass bomb. Ammonia and bleach, concentrated. That when combined upon impact, create a gas cloud of chlorine gas. Opponents choke and whatnot, its icky. But it also would lead to the development of the
gas mask, just like WWI.
Cluster Bomb: A method to deliver multiple grenades onto a large spread. Picture a bowling ball, kind of. Thinner. Theres a slight amount of a parachute sticking out from a tube, which is timed by a mechanical clock setter outside of the shell. The timer is set, and the object is launched from a catapult or dropped by an aerial combatant. After the timer is through, the release to the parachute's full length will be released, opening the parachute and stalling the flight of the shell. As the chute opens, another release is triggered, which opens up the larger shell, releasing all the loosely consolidated grenades within.
So, fire away.
