Waterproof lantern...

[Deadlove]

Playing Penny Dreadful tonight and was experimenting with water. After I saw the chair bobbing around in the water (which was clumsy looking, but the effort is appreciated), I started playing around with some of the metal things that weren't floating; the jar, which I would think would float, did not. The oil canister I didn't think would float, but it dropped through the water to the ground just as quickly as if it was in a room without water (the same with the other objects). I would've left these objects out of the water scheme, or made them immovable because that killed some of the immersion for me. Then I got the idea to turn on my lantern in water and see if it worked. It did.

 

Pretty surprising that the lantern works underwater.

 

I guess the thief has a waterproof lantern, but eh....

 

If it was some other kind of device for illumination, I guess it wouldn't be as hard to believe.

 

The idea of a waterproof lantern just seems to be pushing it.

 

 

If the lantern is enclosed then how does oxygen feed the flame?

 

If it's an enclosed bulb, then it could be sealed tight and work underwater. Given we have powered machinery in TDM, that doesn't seem too far a stretch.

 

 

I guess that the hand light idea is based on the DOOM3 flashlight.

 

Would be easier to alter the light to a bulb to make more believable than to make it so the lantern doesn't work in water?

 

I'm not sure which approach would be less of a challenge.

 

Personally, I'd rather a bulb to make it useful at all times. I also thought that once this lantern gets submerged in water it's curious that it works out of water again since after the initial plunge it's soaking wet.

 

I know, a lantern is far more thiefy than a bulb, but I just am throwing some thoughts out there...

[Springheel]

I guess that the hand light idea is based on the DOOM3 flashlight.

 

No, it's not.

 

 

I also thought that once this lantern gets submerged in water it's curious that it works out of water again since after the initial plunge it's soaking wet.

 

It's also curious the thief can still use his bow after plunging it into soaking wet water, not to mention his fire arrows. Not only that, but he can still sneak around undetected while wearing soaking wet leather clothing. Not to mention carrying the waterlogged sack of clanging gold plates while slipping past guards, leaving a trail of wet footprints behind him.

 

Sometimes gameplay trumps realism.

[Deadlove]

Fire arrows I always imagined were ignited before drawing them, hence they didn't catch the thief on fire while carrying them, that was my realism rationalization.

 

Never payed mind to the other points, thanks for mentioning them.

[grayman]

My take on the fire arrow is that it's a crystal filled with liquid fire that explodes when the arrow slams into something.

 

So it's okay if it gets wet. Liquid fire burns even on water.

 

The lantern is magical.

[RJFerret]

Compressed air slowly leaking out from the chamber in the base of the lantern?

 

Breath potions not useful for human consumption, but adequate for combustion?

 

Magnesium wick unaffected by water? (This last probably most plausible and exists IRL.)

[lowenz]

You miscredent rationalist sciencemonger taffers! The answer for the fire in water is the Builder!!!

 

Edited January 22, 2014 by lowenz

[Sotha]

TDM is based in an alternate universe, which has slightly different laws of physics from our own.

 

(Sort of borked physics, if you ask me. )

 

This [different laws of physics] explains all the phenomena discussed here.

 

Sometimes items will not float in water, sometimes people fall through solid ground and die a horrible death, and sometimes collapsing bodies will be violently shot upwards a few meters, it is just the way how gravity works in TDM universe.

 

No wonder there is so much arcane study there. And steampunk. Imagine harnessing -let alone understanding- those unseen forces. Wow.

[Lux]

If fire arrows glow because of the fire contained within, why not just make a larger crystal with the fire substance within it and have a rope binding handle on it to use as a lantern. Then the lantern works underwater because its sealed and its a thiefy tech. I guess you wouldn't want to drop it though risking breakage and the firey grenade that would insue.

[stumpy]

the lantern contains 'oil of liquid fire' which burns in a vacuum, or in any gas or liquid when ignited.

[AluminumHaste]

That's the answer right there Lux, the lantern is just a fire crystal inside a little box that the player opens and closes. It's water proof and doesn't get hot and doesn't need air to burn because it's magic. Brilliant!

[chakkman]

In a fantasy setting, usually everything inexplicable is because of magic.