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Questions tagged [engineering]

For questions about the use of engineering to create structures and devices in other worlds, including whether or not a device could be made or what materials would be needed to make a device.

130 votes
14 answers
20k views

How can I ensure my Evil Tower is always stormy?

It's been a good year for me as an Evil Overlord. Lots of princess kidnapping turned into sizable ransoms, several of my Doomsday Devices were sold for high prices at auction, and my Minions have been ...
Dubukay's user avatar
  • 12.2k
85 votes
28 answers
24k views

How can I build a door to repel a horde of zombies?

In The Walking Dead, the survivors have seen plenty a wall. From Woodsbury, to Wellington, to Alexandrea, they are all different and they all have their advantages. One issue that none of them have ...
TrEs-2b's user avatar
  • 56.6k
79 votes
7 answers
12k views

Spiders In Space: How to design a space suit for an arachnid?

In my stellar empire, the sapient life of the home world are arachnids. Due to an oxygen-heavy world with certain evolutionary characteristics, spider-like beings developed intelligence and formed ...
GuidingOlive's user avatar
  • 1,074
70 votes
14 answers
10k views

How can I hide my island?

I'm a supervillain. I have no name, but you can rest assured my intentions are dubious and always result in general harm. My biggest problem these days are these pesky superheroes keep finding my ...
Anoplexian's user avatar
  • 4,581
67 votes
16 answers
13k views

Making a sword in the stone, in a medieval world without magic

This relates to a world in which there is no magic and only medieval technology. The ruling and religious classes want to convince the general populace that magic exists. For example a sword-smith ...
chasly - supports Monica's user avatar
62 votes
13 answers
17k views

An infinite train circling the planet that never stops

As a way to travel fast, my Earth-like planet is going to have a special train, circling it (the axis of the 'tracks' is aligned with the planet's axis of rotation). The thing about this train - it ...
Yuriy S's user avatar
  • 1,417
60 votes
8 answers
7k views

Building a bridge to the stars

Could I, purely in quantity of material only, build a solid bridge to a star? Ignore anything like strength, relative motions of systems, that is all taken care of, using lalalaicanthearyouium - this ...
Whelkaholism's user avatar
  • 2,786
54 votes
18 answers
7k views

Could you design a fighter plane for a centaur?

It's the Great War, and all the nations are having a good time of it, painting their biplanes flashy colours, as they shoot into their own propellers! But over in the corner, lonesome and dejected, ...
Johnny's user avatar
  • 4,208
53 votes
31 answers
14k views

Reason for an exterior control panel on a space ship

In my story, the AI on a space ship has been corrupted, causing it to try to kill all living occupants. The ship is on a collision course with a planet, and the main controls are inoperable due to ...
ScienceKeanu's user avatar
  • 1,213
53 votes
26 answers
23k views

Advantages of "Spider Mechs" over Tanks?

I've seen the discussion on how bipedal mechs are inferior to treaded and wheeled vehicles in almost every way. However, all of these questions appear to be related to bipedal mechs. I'm wondering if ...
Sydney Sleeper's user avatar
46 votes
29 answers
16k views

What distinction could there be between space torpedoes and space missiles?

In the game "Stelaris" torpedoes and missiles are different categories of weapon. Presumably they wanted to include numerous kinds of weapons for the player to chose from. These weapons are all ...
Lorry Laurence mcLarry's user avatar
41 votes
28 answers
10k views

What kind of war would lead to Ultra-Heavy tanks being useful?

Ultra-Heavy tanks are a fun concept. Simply scale up a tank to weigh 1000+ tonnes, add a stupid amount of guns and armour, and you end up with something like the image below. Of course, this monster ...
MadScientist's user avatar
  • 2,618
40 votes
11 answers
11k views

An engineering enigma: the useless "wings" behind giant robots. What is their TRUE purpose?

An engineering enigma: the useless "wings" behind giant robots. "Bold design choice." "What? I like anime." "Worst-case scenario, we'll end up with the world's most ...
LiveInAmbeR's user avatar
  • 10.8k
40 votes
5 answers
5k views

What is the highest level of accuracy in motion control a Victorian society could achieve?

In my late-Victorian world high-precision clockwork is highly available, but I am having trouble finding out exactly how precise their work could be. I have done some research on the subject, but ...
A Lambent Eye's user avatar
39 votes
8 answers
8k views

Cartoon vs Real Life Bores?---(Pointy vs Flat kind)

Yes, I know that this is quite a BORING question (get it ;) ), but I really DIG this kinda stuff (no really). If you have watch an action children's show or a cartoon of some kind, we have all seen ...
John Hon's user avatar
  • 1,502

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