Board Thread:Timeline Discussions/@comment-24473740-20140515123108/@comment-24473740-20140515140413

Lordganon,

thank you for your thoughts!

As for medical developments: They were extremely slow until the 16th century - and I would say because there was no civilization that could nourish them, no empirical research, no biochemical knowledge, no wealthy complex society which would run and pay professional hospitals and medical schools on a greater scale. Much of that, I would say, was due to the socio-economic breakdown of the late Roman Empire, the Christian doctrine and general poverty of the Middle Ages. Once modern medicine started, it only needed 3-4 centuries to arrive at antibiotics and vaccines. But I´ll rethink if I have to change the medical and epidemic aspects of the timeline...

As for vaccination etc.: Why would it kill Native Americans? In past decades, infants were vaccinated against pox. If infants survived it (albeit with those ugly marks..), why wouldn`t American Natives?

As for wheeled vehicles and the terrain: Didn`t the Maya have roads? (I believe they were called "Sacbe".) They are a funny thing I´ve always wondered about: a civilization that doesn`t know about the wheel, but paves streets across the jungle. I still wonder about them - but as I see it, they might have made wonderful roads for wheeled vehicles. If wikipedia is right (reliable sources, I know I know...), they even WERE later on by the Spanish colonial administration.