Crazy Ideas Part I (APPROVED)

Been having a lot of these lately, so I guess I may as well put them out there and see what you guys think.

This particular one is about taking Wall Maria back, and generally bringing the fight to the titans. In order to do all of that, it's important to transport all sorts of weapons and resources for long distances, and have it be both safe and quick. The quantities are also rather large. Wouldn't it be awesome if something could do all that? Well...


Trains.


I mean it. 100% serious.


Taking the average titan, they're not all that bright. As such, they would not rip out rails from the ground (they wouldn't even know what they are), just like they don't destroy buildings if there aren't humans in them. And if they do accidentally step on them, well, I doubt they weigh as much as a full-sized heavy locomotive. They are after all referred to as being surprisingly light for their size. Thus, if you go and put down rails, those will stay there and titans won't bother them.

That could be quite safely be done during the nighttime, with the titans inactive (as any that do happen to be close enough to wake up should be easy to deal with one-by-one). So I don't think making railroads would be a problem. During the day, a full-speed armoured train should really be more than capable to smash a titan out of the way (just look at historical war trains), as well as be too quick to catch up. It could also have cannons mounted on it, which can further be used to defend it from titans for the duration of the journey.


The problem that remains is the train itself. And that is two problems, both of which resource-dependent:

1. Steel

The question here is if there are enough iron/coal resources (thus, steel ones) to make building such a train affordable. I couldn't find anything on any wiki about how the resources look like for humanity, but it mostly is suggested that they don't lack materials, and that the main problem is food, not iron and the likewise. I think building a one-of-a-kind super-armoured locomotive should be feasible, but I'd like some input from you guys too.

(also, maybe hardened titan skin could be used as a replacement for the armour plates? Assuming a willing titan shifter, of course)

2. Fuel

The main issue here is: does petroleum oil exist in here? If yes, then the fuel problem is immediately solved. If not, the fun starts.

a. Could the gas powering 3DMG be somehow adapted to run a locomotive? Would it get too bulky? Would it simply be too weak period?

b. Could things like Biodiesel be obtained and used? (probably not since food is an issue) What about Syngas into Synthetic Diesel? (since it uses mostly just coal)

c. Would a steam engine manage to suffice to drive it?




Anyway, I will look more into these things the following weeks, and I really want to know the opinion of you guys on this. Do you think it could be done, or is it just plain dumb/impossible?

Well, I can't lie about the fact that we already talked this a bit...but still.

I think the train idea is awesome, it would be a great way for the whole attack on titan universe (Forum universe to be precise).
One problem we might encounter with this is that it might get too different from the actual attack on titan universe. We probably have less of a problem with it, but newbies might just go like: 'Attack on Titan! Great!...but why are there trains?"

So yeah, that might be an issue.

Steel wise, we did talk this as well, given how huge the actual walled area is I doubt it would be too much of a problem, we should still discuss this though.

Fuel:
I personally would go with coal, if you have the steel then you have the coal. Otherwise you just need to plant lots of forests and burn that.


So yes, I think it could be done, but we would really need to think on whether we want to have it in our forum or not. (It might just go a bit too much into the 'Kabaneri of the Iron fortress' corner...so yeah)
On the other hand, who says that we should not be able to evolve?

We might want to make a poll on whether we should implement them or not

Ok, so I wanna say two things here.

First off, I sure hope there is enough metal resources to go around because Mitsuo is meant to be secretly making a metal titan. So if there is enough metal for that, then it there should be enough metal for a train.

Secondly, I think either coal or adapted 3DMG gas should work. I'm saying this because, again, Mitsuo is making a metal titan and would therefor have the same issues.
I was originally planning with an adapted 3DMG gas however I think a coal supply might just work as well.

What a wonderfully crazy idea. Here's what I think-
Trains should absolutely be powered by gas. It makes the most sense, by far. The humans already have natural gas deposits for their 3DMGs,  so using the exact mechanic of compressed gas to get a train running seems like the solution the humans would take.
I am not sure about other forms of material. It seems steel isn't too hard to come by, considering the soldier's blades.
Every soldier carries a lot of blades. They are built less sturdy and are built to be replaced and thrown out. A military with s low supply of steel would instead make the blades stronger, and hope they don't get lodged too deep into the titans. This pretty much confirms that steel resources are available in the AoT universe.
Still, both of these resources come from the ground. It requires miners and lots and lots of hard work. It is fair to assume that after using the same mines for over a hundred years, they would start to run out. Sooner or later, humanity will be forced to send human expeditions out to further, more dangerous places, in order to have mining operations.
Overall, this all allows for the creation of a train network, but will probably require a lot of long, hard work, perhaps some risky missions in titan territory to secure mining sites.

The biggest danger for the train, however, are titan shifters. Humanity is already more or less aware of the fact that there are humans who can transform into titans and don't like humanity very much. This will probably make them skeptical about the whole operation - all it takes is a shifter across the literal hundreds of kilometers of train tracks, and poof goes the train. That's a huge flaw that humanity must find a way to deal with before starting the whole operation.

As for the idea, lore wise, I don't really see why not. We already have shifters about and mercenaries and elite military teams and mechanics and costumed warriors. Are trains really such a farfetched idea?

TL;DR - trains are cool and I want to see trains.

I want to see the pain train become a reality too dude.

So... I see people like the train idea? Good!