Total War – JC Eberdt

More RFS

A refinement of the ‘Really Big Tank’, though I don’t think I’m finished with it yet. The ammo box on the rear of the turret is too exposes, which is going to need some work. I think I’ve settled on four or five camo styles for now, and the objective is to get them all working on all the vehicles and also to make the vehicles movable in a rudimentary way so I can make screenshots and animations.

The really big tank with the giun stowed. — ‘A Really Big Tank’

Then some shots to show the articulated gun. The idea is that the range of motion for the gun is so large that the vehicle can fullfill AA and Artillery roles to a far greater extent than a more conventional design. Of course, this thing is also 12m long and 5m wide, weights 300 tonnes and can fly (see emdrives SPOILERS).

A Relly Big Tank with elevated gun — Elevation example

A really big tank, gun depressed — Depression example I

A really big tank, depression example II — Depression example II

I think this vehicle only really starts featuring in book III, so I’ll publish the name and specs when that is out. I’m still struggling with the edit of book one, so don’t hold your breath.

For those who missed the last few posts, this is a screenshot taken with the photomode in my Godot tool. The model was drawn in OpenSCAD and then imported into Godot through Blender, using Claude Code for the drudge work.

Richthofen Flight Station (first pass)

I’ve been slowly making some more assets as I envisage them to exist in my science fiction setting, Total War. In that setting there is a dusty hell-hole of planet called Athena, and there is a military town on it called New Shawbury. There, you can find Richthofen Flight Station, a very large training installation. I’ve chosen it to line up all the assets I make. This is the first impression.

The utility vehicle in the foreground is an extremely rudimentary model, I still haven’t decided whether it should have windows (read the book to find out why it doesn’t really need them). The tank actually features in a later book, and we’ll just call it the ‘really big tank’ for now. Behind that is the the Droopy Dropship, which features heavily in the first book and beyond that is a landing barge which may still be too small, and it may still need big fins on the back, making its shape a little more like the experimental NASA lifting bodies.

All these vehicles are drawn in OpenSCAD then imported into Godot 4 through Blender with all of it being sped along by Claude Code. Still have a lot more vehicles to do for some of the scenes I want to make, and also some more props. It’s going to be a while.

Wormhole Layout in Godot 4

Parallelto my project to get Tales of Vatan worldbuilding data into Godot 4, I’ve been doing the same with my Total War setting. Top level here is a map of the wormhole network. Goals are more or less the same as for Vatan, with the addition of Wormholes and a means of working out travel times through wormholes and systems.

Below is the top-level overview, the wormhole network in the Milky Way. Early days, but I’ve wanted this kind of graphical representation for a very long time. I never had the time to teach myself proper Godot, but with Claude Code assistance it’s far less time consuming.

It does not matter…

…how slow you go, as long as you do not stop.

Attributed to Confucius. No idea if he actually said it, but it encapsulates things reasonably well.

I’m busy editing Dropship Down which is taking longer as real life work gets in the way. I’ve also made a little progress expanding the section of The Value of Nobility (Alagariel II) that I wasn’t completely happy with yet. I still have the ambition to get both books out this year and I’ve asked Daria to start thinking about the cover for Alagariel II.

Sales are still slow. There’s the occasional sale around the world, but it’s obviously nothing like what I want to see. I’m discovering that it’s essentially required to have some sort of visual media for a post to catch on and when you’re a writer that’s not something you have a huge supply of. Daria makes me some artwork to use alongside posts, but she deserves to be paid for her work and is doing art school and all, which puts a limit on that. AI is widely reviled, often beyond reason, and it seems many are more than happy to spew hate on any AI use, so I’m a little reticent there, even though it could add some atmosphere in those few cases when what is generated actually aligns with my vision.

What remains is making more of my own artwork, but I’m not much good and things would be more like technical drawings. For the sci-fi setting that’s fine, but it doesn’t work that well for the Tales of Vatan setting.

In any case, I will soft-launch Dropship Down on itch.io very soon now. That release will be updated as I do more editing, but in the unlikely event that there’s someone who can’t wait to get there hands on my first sci-fi book, stay tuned.

The Cover Art for Dropship Down — A Droopy in trouble (Cover Dropship Down)

Dropship Down Cover Art!

I’m happy to reveal the cover of my next book, Dropship Down (Book one of the Total War: Clausewitz series). The artwork is once again by the wonderful Daria and you should definitely stop by her website and take a look. The picture depicts the opening scene of the book.

I’m not completely certain when it’s going to be available, so I’m going to call it Soon ™. I’m still editing the text and fixing things. It’ll be ready when it’s ready, but I’m still not finding anything that I’m unhappy with. Beta readers are happy with it too, so it doesn’t look like there are any huge hurdles ahead.

Release of the book will start off on itch.io. That’s still the cheapest place to get the e-book and there it’ll include a pdf of the as-printed version, a high rez version of this cover art and possibly other goodies like the OpenSCAD file that generates the (rough) Droopy model that was used for composition on the cover.

I’m also hoping to have a model of the Droopy in a game engine soon, which should make it possible to make more scenes easily. Eventually, I’d love to have an asset library for this setting that can be used to make screenshots to illustrate things and perhaps more.

Where are the Pressure Tanks?

As could happen to anyone, I was talking to Daria about the cover art for Dropship Down (which is going to be very cool, should have a WIP soon). Obviously, this all involves a crashing Dropship, which naturally leads to fire and smoke. My mind then gets to wondering where the pressure tanks are in the Dropship, so I sat down and drew them into my OpenSCAD model.

About 7000 litres of LH2 and 2000 litres of O2 would fit. Which isn’t as much energy as you’d think. Luckily, Emdrives don’t actually work in the real world, so it should be plenty.

Progress Dropship Down (Cover soon!)

A view of Earth from 80,000 feet of altitude. — Credit: UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering

Work is progressing on getting Dropship Down (Clausewitz #1) ready for publication. Daria is working on the cover. The attached image is a view of Earth from 80,000 feet captured by the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering in 2014. The opening scene of Dropship Down takes place at roughly the same altitude, but then over a different planet, named Celestia. The cover art will be a view from a similar altitude over that planet.

For the rest, editing is always hell, but slow progress is being made. Hoping to have it all ready soon ™.

After that, work begins on getting The Value of Nobility (Alagariel #2) ready for publishing. There’s going to be a bit more work involved there as I’ve decided to add some stuff in the first half of the book. I felt the characters were rushing through a large portion of Iurrak that really deserved a little more colour and depth, especially since that area will be visited a few more times in book #3 or #4.

Newsletter Changes

I’ve posted the entirety of the draft version of The Half Elven Orphan and sent all the accompanying weekly newsletters. So, I’m changing the frequency of the newsletter. The draft version will remain accessible until the end of the year, but I feel it will only cause confusion if I leave it in place now that the actual book is released.

For the foreseeable future, I will send one newsletter a month (if there’s anything worth mentioning). There will be occasional excerpts, news and of course I’ll continue the world-building posts too. It’s time to get to work on The Value of Nobility, Tales of Vatan, Alagariel Book Two and Dropship Down, Total War, Clausewitz Book One. Dropship Down is rather closer to being done that I thought, so that shouldn’t be long now.

Oh and of course, here’s the Where to Buy page. If you want an ebook, I recommend the itch.io version as it just has more goodies, better updateability and supports authors better.

Ebook Released Today!

The Half Elven Orphan became available today on all the big sites. I’m attempting to list the places where it’s available on the Where to buy page. It’s also on Goodreads now. Obviously, I’m in dire need of reviews, so if you’re a reviewer and would like a review copy, please let me know.

Where to from here?
Next up, I’ll be polishing Dropship Down book one of the Clausewitz Series. I’ve been going through it a bit the last few days and honestly it doesn’t need all that much work. It’s about 160k words and I doubt much will be changed. The time for another long stretch of editing. Never say never, but I might manage to get this out in a few months.

After that, I’ll be focussing on The Value of Nobility, book two of the Alagariel Series. How fast I try to get that out honestly depends a little on whether The Half Elven Orphan generates any interest at all. It is going to have some major work done to it before it’s up to the same standard as Alagariel I.

It’s hard to see the future beyond that, but of the 10-15 books I have in a state that look a little like completeness, I’d like to publish one every six months or so. Time will tell if that can be achieved.

“It has been well said that an author who expects results from a first novel is in a position similar to that of a man who drops a rose petal down the Grand Canyon of Arizona and listens for the echo.”

P.G. Wodehouse, Cocktail Time

Continental HWD System Complete

La Coruna, 2059.181.1700 (Mon 30 Jun) The festival celebrating the completion of the European High Water Defence (HWD) system kicked off today with a full week of revelry in the historic city of La Coruna in the member state Spain.

The festival includes performances by famous artists such as Marrakesh Mike, The Space Donkeys and Yvette. There is also a tall ship race, with the replica of ‘Flying Cloud’ as the top attraction. In addition there will be search and rescue demonstrations, flea markets and a culinary experience. The celebrations mark the completion of the HWD, though it has actually operational since September 2058, when the gap between the new construction and the Gibraltar Dam was closed.

The high water system, essentially a more advanced and larger copy of the Delta Works that protected the coasts of the member state ‘The Netherlands’, is intended to protect the entire European continent from the effects of rising sea levels. Critics have condemned the effort for its alleged effects on wildlife, maritime recreation and the disruption of maritime views at the few points where the system can be seen from shore, like in La Coruna. Visitors to the celebrations in La Coruna are asked for their understanding while authorities make certain any activists are in compliance with the stipulations in their demonstration permits.

The engineering project, easily the largest ever undertaken and estimated at a cost of a hundred trillion Euros is easily visible from Low Earth Orbit (LEO). EU President Catherine Bonino was present in La Coruna and stated “Europeans coastal residents can finally sleep knowing they are safe from the sea,” as part of her opening speech.

This is an in setting press release for Total War. It is not real.