Steampunk tech help?

[stvncpr236]

Hello my fellow escapee's. I have am issue that I'm hoping you can help me with. I am currently in the process of planning out a Steam-punk story set on a flying island/city. I have written some soldiers wearing a sort of steam powered armour, but have run in to a couple major issues. All the designs I have come up with make it way to bulky so I need a way to make it more manoeuvrable, and how could I explain them not having to "refuel" (fill their boiler tanks with water), would a sort of star wars like moisture-vaporator work. Any advice you can give would be appreciated.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

I have written some soldiers wearing a sort of steam powered armour, but have run in to a couple major issues. All the designs I have come up with make it way to bulky so I need a way to make it more manoeuvrable, and how could I explain them not having to "refuel" (fill their boiler tanks with water)

Could you give some more information?

So these soldiers are wearing armor,
what's special about the armor that it requires fuel, or a need to be powered (by steam)?
Does the armor give them the ability to fly in this floating city?

 

[stvncpr236]

I had the idea that it would work almost like Spartan Armour from Halo, in that it would enhance the movements of the wearer through motorized joints. And as such allow them to move faster and lift heavier weights than normal.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

I had the idea that it would work almost like Spartan Armour from Halo, in that it would enhance the movements of the wearer through motorized joints. And as such allow them to move faster and lift heavier weights than normal.

If all you want is super strength/movement,
you might not need fuel powered mechanical help for that, just leverage.

Think about it this way, if you have a box filled with dictionaries and make the box so heavy that you can't easily lift it on your own,
you can use a dolly and it makes the job much easier.

That's the concept anyway, what you'd probably want is to incorporate smaller, more heavy duty versions of those shock absorbers you find on heavy doors to keep them from slamming (or hold them open). That way the only power source you need to worry about is air. If you want to give the armor even more power, you could attach a compressed air tank to their back, although that may make it too bulky for your liking.

Also just a disclaimer, my science is most likely completely wrong, but since you're writing fiction,
it only needs to sound plausible, in the end, it all boils down to robot magic.
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[Jamash]

Does it really have to be steam powered?

Just because it's set in a Steampunk era, that doesn't necessarily mean that everything has to be powered by steam.

For example, in real life we had electric powered cars during the Victorian era/1800's, so it's not unfeasible that in an alternate reality set during a similar era, power armour would utilise electricity, batteries and large servos instead of steam.

I would have a large battery contained in a back pack, which would power motors and servos/hydraulics/pneumatics that would be connected to the limbs. You could use large cogs and valves to give it more of a Steampunk aesthetic, but you may be surprised at what technology was available in the Victorian era, even if it had only just been invented and not refined or put into mass use.

Perhaps you should look at Warhammer 40K and some of the power armours and Servitors, since a lot of that has a Steampunk vibe and the designs aren't that far removed from what could, hypothetically be made in the 1800's... with the obvious exception of complex efficient power sources, miniaturisation, computers, microchips and the fact that no-one in the Victoria era would have considered making power armour.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

You could also try an exo-skeleton style design,
the armor would work in a similar way to steampunk cybernetic limbs (see Full Metal Alchemist),
except instead of replacing an entire arm with a cybernetic version,
you'd just be encasing the arm.

 

[NightmareWarden]

You could say that X part of the suit is able to suck the moisture out of the air in most locations. A possible twist would be that they have a limited "battery" life when in the sky desert or the floating arctic.

As Eclpse has already said, they don't necessarily need to be powered by steam; just say a new type of energy was discovered and they run on that. Solar power could be a more viable option since they are closer to the sun. If greenhouses exist/are common, they could use a type of biofuel.

When in doubt, magic is the way out.