• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

Arsene-Lupin

Sergeant
34 Badges
Aug 31, 2013
53
5
  • Europa Universalis III
  • Tyranny - Tales from the Tiers
  • Magicka 2
  • Sword of the Stars
  • Magicka
  • Heir to the Throne
  • Crusader Kings II
  • Divine Wind
  • Europa Universalis III: Chronicles
  • Age of Wonders: Planetfall
  • BATTLETECH: Flashpoint
  • Shadowrun: Hong Kong
  • Shadowrun: Dragonfall
  • Shadowrun Returns
  • Stellaris: Apocalypse
  • Stellaris: Humanoids Species Pack
  • Age of Wonders
  • Age of Wonders III
  • Tyranny - Bastards Wound
  • Age of Wonders: Planetfall Deluxe edition
  • Surviving Mars
  • BATTLETECH
  • Stellaris - Path to Destruction bundle
  • Stellaris: Leviathans Story Pack
  • Stellaris: Digital Anniversary Edition
  • Tyranny: Archon Edition
  • Stellaris
  • Pillars of Eternity
  • Cities: Skylines
  • Warlock: Master of the Arcane
  • Stellaris: Synthetic Dawn
  • Stellaris: Distant Stars
  • Imperator: Rome
  • Europa Universalis IV
At this point, we don't really know much about Tyranny. We have only the vaguest notions of what the setting is, and even hazier notions of the gameplay, story and characters. But some of the details are tantalizing--what leapt out immediately to me was that the civilization(s) of Tyranny are approaching what in our own history was a monumental, revolutionary epoch.

I am referring, of course, to the dawn of the iron age.

It's not something frequently discussed, but the transition from bronze to iron tools was enormously important in the real world. The advantages of being able to smelt iron absolutely cannot be understated--iron weapons and tools gave the civilization that possessed them an enormous tactical edge. And because of this, the actual know-how, the intelligence on how to actually smelt iron in the first place... was zealously protected and kept secret. It is no exaggeration to say that ironworking was the foundation upon which some of the greatest ancient empires were built.

Which makes that transitional period between everyone-using-bronze and everyone-using-iron... extremely compelling. At least potentially.

But with Tyranny... there's another problem: magic.

From the brief previews we've seen, magical powers are as world-shattering as in any other high fantasy setting. Does this worry anyone else? I see some fantastic potential for the setting in the era Obsidian chose, but I worry an overreliance, or overfocus on magic might render that potential meaningless.

I can't help but think an Iron Revolution setting would benefit much more in a low-fantasy, or no-magic setting.
 
But with Tyranny... there's another problem: magic.

From the brief previews we've seen, magical powers are as world-shattering as in any other high fantasy setting. Does this worry anyone else? I see some fantastic potential for the setting in the era Obsidian chose, but I worry an overreliance, or overfocus on magic might render that potential meaningless.

I can't help but think an Iron Revolution setting would benefit much more in a low-fantasy, or no-magic setting.
I guess you could compare the powers of magic with the destructive powers of real life natural disasters, well of course no one can control them like someone in a fantasy setting can control magic powers.
Only that real life earthquakes, floods, vulcanic eruptions and diseases are substantially more destructive than your average run of the mill fantasy RPG magic spell. No amount of iron workings can prevent these disasters from happening, okay I guess if you suffer from an iron deficit some supplementary iron to your diet would improve your immune system and thus make you more resistant to illnesses.
In real life people living in ancient times almost always accredited natural disasters to magic or divine intervention.
So how is an average illiterate peasent in Tyranny going to distinguish between naturally caused disasters and magically caused ones?
 
I'm hoping that the super, WMD magic is going to be rare, and is maybe the reason the Big Bad was able to win in the first place.

If I were writing it, though, I'd make the Big Bad not have any magic at all--and have him win because of iron. A well trained ained army of normal people with superior mundane weapons defeating the magical elites of the old order, something like that.
 
I wish Tyranny was steampunk :)
I beg to differ. I hate when steampunk elements are cramped into a fantasy setting just because flamethrowers and tanks are cool. Don't get me wrong I like it when it is done properly and it's a central part of the setting. Such as in Thief: the dark project or Arcanum: of steamworks and magic obscura. In fact I can recommend you to play the latter game if you would have liked Tyranny to be in a steampunk setting.
 
I beg to differ. I hate when steampunk elements are cramped into a fantasy setting just because flamethrowers and tanks are cool. Don't get me wrong I like it when it is done properly and it's a central part of the setting. Such as in Thief: the dark project or Arcanum: of steamworks and magic obscura. In fact I can recommend you to play the latter game if you would have liked Tyranny to be in a steampunk setting.
Thanks for recommendation. It was just random wish, I would love to see more modern RPG in steampunk setting with or without magic ;)
 
If I were writing it, though, I'd make the Big Bad not have any magic at all--and have him win because of iron. A well trained ained army of normal people with superior mundane weapons defeating the magical elites of the old order, something like that.

Iron isn't superior to bronze, the transition happened simply because it was far more abundant than copper and especially tin. It was only with the development of good steel that bronze was outclassed.
 
Last edited:
Iron isn't superior to bronze, the transition happened simply because it was far more abundant than copper and especially tin. It was only with the development of good steel that bronze was outclassed.
Pure iron and pure bronze are about equally strong, but you need to remember that back then, metals had a *lot* of impurities. In fact, it's the presence of these impurities that many theorize led to the accidental development of steel--which is just iron with a little bit of extra carbon.

Bronze was made out of tin and copper, and was very easy to produce. Making iron was more complicated. So if iron and bronze are nearly equally strong (though every source I've seen gives iron a slight edge, pun intended) but the former easy to produce and the latter difficult, why was the advent of the iron age so revolutionary?

Because "strength" is only one dimension.

Bronze is brittle. Bronze weapons will chip and shatter easily. Iron is durable. It will bend or dent. There's a reason the Assyrian Empire became the world's first superpower, and that reason is spelled FE.

Yes, the advent of steel was another big revolution in weapons technology... But that happened thousands of years later. And is also a big reason why the Norse spread as far West as Newfoundland and as far East as Constantinople.
 
Pure iron and pure bronze are about equally strong, but you need to remember that back then, metals had a *lot* of impurities. In fact, it's the presence of these impurities that many theorize led to the accidental development of steel--which is just iron with a little bit of extra carbon.

Bronze was made out of tin and copper, and was very easy to produce. Making iron was more complicated. So if iron and bronze are nearly equally strong (though every source I've seen gives iron a slight edge, pun intended) but the former easy to produce and the latter difficult, why was the advent of the iron age so revolutionary?

Because "strength" is only one dimension.

Bronze is brittle. Bronze weapons will chip and shatter easily. Iron is durable. It will bend or dent. There's a reason the Assyrian Empire became the world's first superpower, and that reason is spelled FE.

Yes, the advent of steel was another big revolution in weapons technology... But that happened thousands of years later. And is also a big reason why the Norse spread as far West as Newfoundland and as far East as Constantinople.

Broze is both harder and less brittle than wrought iron. The main reasons for the Neo Assyrians success are the power vacuum left in the wake of the Bronze Age Collapse, which was felt the hardest along the mediterranian cost, and good organization with a series of warlike kings. Also, your comment on the Vikings doesn't make much sense because steel was in use for hundreds of years before their expansion, and theirs was no better then everyone else's.
 
You're talking about pure iron and pure bronze. The technology at the time meant that nothing was EVER pure, so the Iron weapons and bronze weapons were all alloys--including steel.

And look up Ulfbehrt Steel.
 
Barring witty comments that there is no such thing as pure bronze, I wasn't talking about pure iron. Wrought iron, which is the earliest form of iron production, can't absorb much carbon into its structure due to the low temperature in the manufacture process, but it has high amount of other impurities.

On the Ulfberht Swords, which I guess you brought up as a response to my comments on the Vikings, they are Frankish made.