Guild City

[Mouse]

Good question!

The water would be the easiest way to get stuff around, but only if getting stuff on and off it was easy.

The buckets on that waterwheel would have to be really massive. How about a sturdy boat crane powered by waterwheel on a gear system? The water wheel spins a hundred times and the boat is lifted up the fall?

We could have amphibious barges that roll out onto the shore near the base of the waterfall and are hauled up an incline next to it by being balanced by some kind of counterweight.

[Falconius]

Yeah canals have used inclined planes with cradles for the boats either holding water or just holding the boat and been hauled up the plane, but from what I gather on wikipedia locks are pretty much the universal go to method and other things are for special rare cases or temporary. I did discover a super cool, but somewhat frightening (I for one would definitely not stay on the boat)type called the Cassion lock, and the shaft lock which could both be useful for moving boats quickly in to more minor lower traffic canals. But likely the busier ways have paired normal locks the kind we are used to. (There was also an early type of lock that just dumped the boat out down the lock channel with all the water and to go the other direction they had to haul the boat against the current, crazy)

[DarkInfinity]

Since I have one of the waterfalls, I'm ok with whatever we decide to go with here. I can put an inclined plane in (that's a big incline) maybe some cave trolls turning a winch to get it up (like the ones at the Black Gate, LOTR reference) or some mammoths or elephants (already making the people from PETA sweat just suggesting it...)

How about a big bucket that uses the power of the waterfall to pull the boat up? Maybe not actually as practical or effective as it sounds but if we can suspend disbelief for a minute, it could work. or as I am thinking about it a water wheel under the falls, we can just lock the rope in place when we need it to pull and detach it when we don't. hmmm... that might work.

as long as the arm that it is on is detachable so we can spin it around to get the rope going in the other direction to let boats down.

[Mouse]

Hey - just because I thought of it (the incline I mean) doesn't make it the solution! LOL!

Got any ideas of your own?

[DarkInfinity]

Hey - just because I thought of it (the incline I mean) doesn't make it the solution! LOL!

Aside from an actual lock, it's the most practical, I think.

[Meshon]

Indeed, a rather fast fixative resin has been developed that can absorb the sunlight and prevent it from bleaching the pigments. However, as this resin contains a non-insignificant proportion of dried poppy milk, and an extract from grains that may or may not have developed ergot, cartographers are advised not to lick their brushes or eat their words lest they wish to espy elephants of a rather rosey colouration

I predict that fixative will be very popular in the inkwell. For some reason they import more than they could ever use for the production of maps…

[Mouse]

Aside from an actual lock, it's the most practical, I think.

You don't have to have anything more than a mule to drive the thing, if you get the counterweight right - like a chain looped over a large wheel at the top with a barge on one end at the bottom, and a water filled vessel of the same mass on the other end at the top of the slope (to be filled with water once the barge is on the chain at the bottom). Being the same weight the inertia would be the worst bit to overcome, and then there would have to be one heck of a braking system to stop it once the barge reached the top, or the water vessel would shatter and the barge would plummet back down to the bottom again.

EDIT: The principle is a bit like that sick note song I heard once...

[Redrobes]

reposonse to the water transport thing. I seem to be behind the convo here....

I thought we had in mind these land boats which use sails to transport goods about and that the water flowing in these underground channels were not exactly main thoroughfares ? I have a sector where I am putting a bucket convener and maybe a water wheel. I wasn't expecting boats to be on the water below. I live next to a karst region with underground water flows and there is no way you could physically put a boat on them.

[Mouse]

Oh! Yes, that was ages ago. I'd forgotten that

I think they were what I imagined we would use to get between the cities. I'm not so sure they would be all that practical within the city though.

Hmmmn....

EDIT: Think it got forgotten when John first blew us all away with his karst idea

[DarkInfinity]

reposonse to the water transport thing. I seem to be behind the convo here....

I thought we had in mind these land boats which use sails to transport goods about and that the water flowing in these underground channels were not exactly main thoroughfares ? I have a sector where I am putting a bucket convener and maybe a water wheel. I wasn't expecting boats to be on the water below. I live next to a karst region with underground water flows and there is no way you could physically put a boat on them.

That might put a damper on things, Not even a small canoe sized boat, or row boat for small packages?

You don't have to have anything more than a mule to drive the thing, if you get the counterweight right - like a chain looped over a large wheel at the top with a barge on one end at the bottom, and a water filled vessel of the same mass on the other end at the top of the slope (to be filled with water once the barge is on the chain at the bottom). Being the same weight the inertia would be the worst bit to overcome, and then there would have to be one heck of a braking system to stop it once the barge reached the top, or the water vessel would shatter and the barge would plummet back down to the bottom again.

EDIT: The principle is a bit like that sick note song I heard once...

That would work best, actually, I'm kind of mad at myself for not running with that idea from the beginning...
Just make sure the counter balance can hit the floor by the time the boat hits the top of the ramp. The flow of water should be enough to stop it there.

however overcoming the current right at the edge of the waterfall... you may have to have some sort of lock type thing at the top anyway just to give you enough time to unhook and get things moving again.

or instead of completely securing the chain perhaps let it fall off as the boat reaches the top and the momentum from the counter balance could sling shot it into the top river... ok might be a bit bumpy

OR completley alternative idea:

have a system of boats to go between waterfalls and just a pulley system to lift passengers and goods from one ship to the next.