Wost AH Cliche' Topics before 1900

It is not possible to build a practical steam engine in the Roman era because metalurgy had not progressed to the point that sufficient pressure could be maintained to be useful. Even in our era the early steamships had very limited range and steam was superior to sail only in a dead calm.

You could probably build them for some purposes, but it's unlikely any of them would be economical compared to human or animal power.

Ah, thanks. How much would/could metalurgy have to be pushed forward for earlier steam engines?
 
It is not possible to build a practical steam engine in the Roman era because metalurgy had not progressed to the point that sufficient pressure could be maintained to be useful. Even in our era the early steamships had very limited range and steam was superior to sail only in a dead calm.

You could probably build them for some purposes, but it's unlikely any of them would be economical compared to human or animal power.
If Ancient Rome was too early for steam engines, could Song China or one of the Arab Caliphates have developed them?
 
@Hawaii people - honestly, Hawaii becoming a U.S. state is far less of a *likely* thing to happen than some kind of protectorate/colony status fading into free association or independence in modern times - like much of Polynesia. Many, even most, Oceanian monarchies were not utterly wiped out by imperialism, so I don't think an independent Hawaii is cliche at all - just a highly plausible outcome of many PODs.
 
The Confederates win the American Civil War? Seriously, it has been done to death as far as I can tell, and it is such a god-awfully boring topic too.
 
Ah, thanks. How much would/could metalurgy have to be pushed forward for earlier steam engines?

The best way to have a need for high-strength casting is guns and cannon, really. And of course, Roman cannon are hardly impossible but produce their whole own cloud of divergences.
 
Top