Science & Technology (Superpowers)

Science and technology in the Superpowers world has, in most parts of the world, advanced far beyond anything in OTL. Every area, biology, physics, chemistry and all of their applied forms are at a level to which our world cannot even be compared. For the most part, these advances come from the Romans, especially when electricity is being considered. Nevertheless, the Inca are masters of biology, having essentially managed to cheat disease, death and disfigurement using their biological technology alone. The Mayans on the other hand are very skilled at the material sciences, and despite not having as advanced computers as the Romans, they have developed unbelievable theoretical models for inventing new substances for a particular purpose.

This article summarizes many of the technologies and scientific theories that exist today, with the addition of brief histories in some of these areas. Details will be added as frequently as possible, though some things might be too complex to even be described in generally understood terms and so unfamiliar language may be used.

Military Technology
From the bow and arrow to laser satellites, military technology has always played the central role in war. Though numbers and resolve are helpful indeed, the side with the best toys usually comes out on top. Such a theory was demonstrated during the First and especially the Second World War, and even to an extent in the Third. Even looking at the expansion phases of the Romans and the Mayans, it was their incredible technology at the time that brought them victory, not just the size of their armies. In military technology more than any other kind, the technological gap is most evident. There are the Romans, whose devices cannot even be conceived by most nations, the Japanese and Mayans who use concepts that most nations consider to be only theoretical to build their machines of war, and then there are the Danes and Mongols, both of whom have access to advanced but unimpressive military hardware, and then the remaining nations are mostly just in the phase of developing jets and armored vehicles.

Military Aircraft
The first fighter plane was the Caelus Tercialae or Triplane that was invented by the Romans in 1820, and turned into a vehicle of war by 1831. Nine years later, the Mayans developed the Caelus Dualae (Biplane) that unlike the electric triplanes, was powered by a powerful internal combustion engine. Though their ranges were limited to a hundred kilometers or more, their use as reconnaissance vehicles was undoubted. In 1842, single-winged Caelus Unicae were developed in Rome, solving the inefficiencies inherent with the extra wings of the other plane designs. It took only an additional 12 years for these planes to be applied to the role of dropping explosive devices over an enemy battle line or fortification. Even better, since nobody outside the three major nations knew about the technology, planes could be used to bomb enemy cities, with no one being the wiser about what was happening.

Coming to the present, aircraft technology has advanced a very long way. The A-138 Hypersonic Jet, an improvement over the unmanned A-126, is currently the most advanced design in the world. Using a nucleonic gamma reactor to power its scramjet engine it can not only achieve thrust at low velocities, through bursts from the reactor, but it can also reach a maximum velocity of around 25,400 km/h. This means that the A-138 can, and has, traveled around the Earth's equator in less than 2 hours time. Thanks to a powerful electromagnet that can exert a controlled force on the pilot, and a pressurized suit, the jet and passenger can safely reach this maximum speed in about 50 seconds. Basically, with exactly 1,200 of these planes, stationed everywhere around the Empire, one can reach an area of problem within two minutes of it being reported, most of that time being needed for the pilot to get from the base to the plane.

Using a design of duel nuclear batteries, the plane is capable of operating at full capacity over a period of about 2.4 days, giving it a maximum operating range of 1,470,000 km (35 times around the equator). Amazingly, it can actually shorten these trips even more by accelerating to full velocity and then "jumping" out of the atmosphere temporarily, negating the effects of drag. As for armament it has 6 thermobaric mini-bunker busters (0.5 Kton yield each), two guns that fire fist-sized explosives that are each capable of taking out a standard tank (of which it has 100). Most importantly, it has ventral laser array that can fire an 800 KW laser beam to destroy vehicles, personnel and aircraft. Even more impressively, it has a radar system that is accurate to detect all but the best attempts at cloaking, or find objects as small as a foot long missile. In the case of anti-aircraft fire or guided missiles, it can either speed away from the threat, or activate a powerful electromagnet to redirect bullets away from it or prematurely detonate missiles. To keep the pilot active for an entire day straight, a drug which the Inca developed is pumped into their blood stream to keep their fully active mentally speaking, whilst small pills provide their dietary needs whenever they get hungry and a limited water supply for thirst.

There are only two disadvantages to the A-138, and its older A-126 and A-100 ancestors. The first is that the enormously powerful nucleonic gamma reactor makes it impossible to cloak them, even using the most advanced technology and material in existence. However, given their unmatchable speed, they can be in and out of an area before their presence can even be noted. The second problem is what happens when they crash. Just such a situation occurred when an A-126 was shot down by flak fire over the Rebel controlled city of Australafrica. It crashed right into the center of the city and the damaged sustained caused an overload of the nuclear battery. The resulting explosion wiped out several city blocks and killed well over 20,000 people. So far, no A-138's, 14 A-126's and 22 A-100's have crashed, about 60% ending in a nuclear level explosion.