View Full Version : highway snow ploughs in ancient rome?
ivoignob
12-08-2004, 13:55
ok, it does not have any negative effects on gameplay but how do they manage to keep all those kilometers of paved roads clean of snow? as far as i know they were at least muddy/snowy in mtw. ever noticed that in the battles? some modern goveneaurs must be green of envy ~:snowman: ~:)
The_Emperor
12-08-2004, 14:40
ok, it does not have any negative effects on gameplay but how do they manage to keep all those kilometers of paved roads clean of snow? as far as i know they were at least muddy/snowy in mtw. ever noticed that in the battles? some modern goveneaurs must be green of envy ~:snowman: ~:)
Well they did have a lot of slaves back then...
"Move those shovelss you wretched little men!! Move Move!!" :whip:
the_rydster
12-08-2004, 17:44
They used the local council gritters I think.
Have you guys never heard of Roman engineering? The hypocaust? Underfloor heating, you morons! Apparently all their football pitches could be used all year round as well. And that's the real reason Romans built their roads straight - the hot air underneath had trouble going round corners.
Medieval Assassin
12-08-2004, 21:03
. . .
the_rydster
12-08-2004, 23:35
Roman roads were straight because no one had invented steering wheels to go around bends.
Orvis Tertia
12-09-2004, 01:56
Actually, it was because the ancient Vespas didn't turn well. Ciao!
Absolute and utter poppycock. Don't you people realize the world was flat back then! :book:
Mikeus Caesar
12-09-2004, 18:18
They were straight because they used them for filming people walking off into the sunset at the end of films.
They were straight because the Romans were too ....... now as far as the Greeks ..... those were some twisted roads
Comon guys! They were straight because chickens in ancient times couldn't figure out how to cross curvy ones! Our chickens are much more advanced now!
Red Harvest
12-10-2004, 07:48
Actually, Roman engineering was even more advanced than that. A considerable amount of the aggregate and stones used for paving Roman highways were actually imported from far to the east (modern day Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.) These ores contained considerable quantities of uranium, and as a result the roads stayed several degrees warmer than the ambient temperature when piled to the appropriate depth.
Incidentally, the need for great quantities of this particular ore meant that much of the trade rout was by boat. The consequent association of the delivery of all this rock by cargo boats with rows of oarsmen led to slang reference to the gravel/stone as "oared" which was later corrupted to "ore."
And just in case any of that actually sounds plausible...I am kidding! ~:cheers:
chemchok
12-10-2004, 07:59
Actually, Roman engineering was even more advanced than that. A considerable amount of the aggregate and stones used for paving Roman highways were actually imported from far to the east (modern day Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.) These ores contained considerable quantities of uranium, and as a result the roads stayed several degrees warmer than the ambient temperature when piled to the appropriate depth.
Of course, this also allowed for easy traveling by night because of the faint glow of the superior Roman road.
Somebody Else
12-10-2004, 08:08
And here's me thinking they just ice-skated along in winter...
Mikeus Caesar
12-10-2004, 19:46
These ores contained considerable quantities of uranium
So does that mean the reason the roman empire fell was because they were all suffering from radiation sickness and couldn't fight?
So does that mean the reason the roman empire fell was because they were all suffering from radiation sickness and couldn't fight?
Actually they believed a lot of Romans suffered from lead poisoning. And that's not a joke. They used a lot of leadwork in thier aqueducts. They used so much lead there is an increased amount of lead in the layers of the arctic circle dedicated to the Roman era. And as I said that is all true
Mikeus Caesar
12-11-2004, 13:30
Hmm....i'm sure. If they used that much lead, then that raises another question....wouldn't all life on earth end up dying from lead poisoning? Because personally, i would rather die with a nice healthy green glow.
Simetrical
12-12-2004, 03:10
They didn't use that much lead! They may have suffered from heavy metal poisoning from their water supplies, and any animals that drank from their water may have as well, but the effects would surely have dropped precipitously as you moved away from Roman settlements. They might be detectable up in the Arctic, but the effects the increased lead levels would cause there would have been quite small, if not negligible.
Anyway, I strongly suspect that no amount of lead would poison all life on Earth. Lead poisoning affects nervous systems, doesn't it? And aren't animals the only ones with nervous systems? So plants and single-celled organisms should come out fine.
-Simetrical
Well increased amount of lead in the layers of the arctic and not layers of lead, so it's not misinterpreted. Where lead is the most dangerous is when it's being worked on, especally when heating it into a liquid. So the young workers would be the worst effected by it. Obviously it was'nt too harmful but the lead workers probably suffered. Don't know wich organisms are effected by lead but it is the immune system that does not react well with lead. The worst part it is hard to excrete lead once it is in the body. Now there is in antidote for lead that will get it out of your system within days for lead poisoning. I had an instructor for lead safety and he was sterile from lead poisoning.
Lead poisoning wasn't the only thing they suffered in those days. If I'm not wrong, Romans also had substantial amounts of dissolved metals in their water, from the piping.
makes you wonder if we might be currently killing ourselves with technology with bad side effects that we don't know about. say tv radiation causes low sperm count or something like that.
Mikeus Caesar
12-12-2004, 19:49
So the romans didn't get defeated, they just all made themselves sterile from drinking bad leady water, and eventually all died out?
Simetrical
12-12-2004, 23:57
Um, no. Some speculate that lead poisoning contributed to Rome's downfall. There were certainly other factors involved, doubtless more important ones.
-Simetrical
master of the puppets
12-13-2004, 00:33
uh this was about snowplows right? ~:handball: im confused
I had an instructor for lead safety and he was sterile from lead poisoning.
Way to choose a safety instructor... ~;)
Mikeus Caesar
12-13-2004, 19:36
uh this was about snowplows right? im confused
Read through the entire topic. You'd be surprised how quickly a conversation can go from a small mistake about the game, to the romans killing themselves through lead poisoning.
master of the puppets
12-14-2004, 03:39
well duh i know how it works it was just a sarcastic joke... its true the leasd based water thing though from the highly silty tiber not the pipes
HEY mabey the romans lasted one hundred thousand years longer than we thought and there was uranium rocks which over time tuned into lead (scientific fact; uranium turns into lead thats why it resists radiation so well) leaving only lead traces
Ellesthyan
12-14-2004, 10:48
Hehe :laugh4:
But back to the topic (or whatever it was), not only roads but whole settlements and even huge cities seem uneffected by snow. Did they have uranium tiles after all?
Actually lead is still used in water pipes in some countries and is likely to be found in older building in most industrialized countries.
I know the pipe connecting the mains in the house I'm living in is lead! Luckily we use a filter.
No, no, no... this is all the wrong way to think of the problem. Snow does not slow an army's travel rate.
The soldiery have to slog through mud and drifts, and the baggage train is especially affected by this, leading to a slowdown of about 20% in movement speed.
However, an army on the march in the ancient world would invariably launch raids on neighbouring villages, forcibly requisitioning their hot chocolate. The added energy from the chocolate's phenylethylamines allowed the army to march about 20% farther each day.
All in all, it's a wash.
BTW, this is a very silly thread.
Mikeus Caesar
12-14-2004, 19:31
*puts on barbarian accent* Those crazy romans, killing themselves with uranium roof tiles and lead pipes. We barbarians just drink our water from that muddy people over there, and make our roofs out of straw so that they leak.
master of the puppets
12-14-2004, 21:32
ok this is off topic (again) but how do you mke that little icon thing on the edge something else istead of the british guy same question on the little message at the bottom of the screen the best i can get is...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
please help me A TRUE ROMAN SHOULD NOT BE REDUCED TO THIS :furious3:
Axeknight
12-14-2004, 22:04
They may have suffered from heavy metal poisoning
Ah-hah! So the Roman Empire fell because the barabarians were at the gates with boomboxes and Iron Maiden records...
Red Harvest
12-15-2004, 03:12
Ah-hah! So the Roman Empire fell because the barabarians were at the gates with boomboxes and Iron Maiden records...
Hey, it got Noriega to surrender...
lol RH!! Right, I remember that, how loony.
Mikeus Caesar
12-15-2004, 19:30
Ah-hah! So the Roman Empire fell because the barabarians were at the gates with boomboxes and Iron Maiden records...
Lol, another funny theory....
Well hey since the subject was brought up about music the Parthians would beat the drums before battle.
Bit let me throw some evilness into this subject ................... Hanson HMMMMM BOP.
This thread has been so derailed its so much fun.. lol.
This thread has been so derailed its so much fun.. lol.
Rails. Don't get me started.
Amazing that a Roman civilization which expended so much time and effort on shallow-crust uranium mining, transmuting radioactive ore into lead and exothermic road surfacing never discovered the simple expediency of propelling a cart along two strips of metal.
After all they had carts. And strips of metal.
Mikeus Caesar
12-16-2004, 19:16
After all they had carts. And strips of metal.
Oh well, it's a shame the two didn't go together. They might have utilised their uranium, and used it power their little carts somehow.
Crazed Rabbit
12-16-2004, 19:25
No, no, no... this is all the wrong way to think of the problem. Snow does not slow an army's travel rate.
The soldiery have to slog through mud and drifts, and the baggage train is especially affected by this, leading to a slowdown of about 20% in movement speed.
However, an army on the march in the ancient world would invariably launch raids on neighbouring villages, forcibly requisitioning their hot chocolate. The added energy from the chocolate's phenylethylamines allowed the army to march about 20% farther each day.
All in all, it's a wash.
BTW, this is a very silly thread.
Actually, 20% of 80 is 16, so the army would travel at 96% of normal speed, and if you take into account the time needed to go off track to raid the settlements, heat up the hot chocolate, then let it cool to a drinkable temperature....
Though, if they added caffiene to the hot chocolate, then they could probably go 25% faster, thus negating the effect of the snow.
This leads us to a new strategy: if one army is running from another in winter, and they use up all the hot chocolate reserves for a month when they pass through the villages, then the pursuing army would not be able to keep up, being without hot chocolate.
Unless, of course, the pursuing army sent light cavalry ahead to destroy or capture all the hot chocolate....or perhaps poison it...or something.
I suppose this is all academic, unfortunately. I really wanted some hot chocolate.
Crazed Rabbit
Oh well, it's a shame the two didn't go together. They might have utilised their uranium, and used it power their little carts somehow.
Yes, but then some roman alchemist would have put uranium hexaflouride through gas diffusion and accidentally ended the roman empire in a much bigger bang. (Barbarian: "hey those romans have decided to make their own clouds, its big, mushroom shaped, ... )
mfberg
Mikeus Caesar
12-16-2004, 19:33
That is true. But what if they had utilised nuclear power? They could have started making nuclear powered carts, and got their armies zooming about all over europe. Then they might have stood a chance of the empire standing forever!!! And once they had used up some of the uranium from one of their reactors, they could have put it in an onager and shot depleted uranium at those dastardly barbarians. Or sent in spies to make 'clouds' for the barbarians.
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