Archimedes Lever (CivBE)

Wonders

Archimedes Lever
Wonder in Beyond Earth
Cost	1750
Maintenance	None
Requires	5 Geothermal Seismic Induction
Specialist slots	None
Effect	+5 Diplomatic Capital
Notes	Enemy units within 2 tiles of this City suffer 10 attrition damage each turn.

The Archimedes Lever is a land only wonder. It will permanently tie up 5 Geothermal resources.

Quote

"Do not assume the battleground is impartial or in your favor." - Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, Principles of Modern War

History

When one examines the extensive military history of humanity, one cannot help but be struck that through time, there appears to have been a prohibition on seismic weapons. Although extensively referenced in fiction and their application described in theoretical terms, it appears that no civilization built a working seismic weapon prior to planetfall (leaving aside for a moment the apocrypha of St. Tesla of Serbia).

The relatively young geography of this world proved to be more amenable to seismic experimentation and manipulation. The earliest Colonists remarked on the efficacy of subsurface shock mapping and s-wave radiometry, and in time engineers developed a series of practices which could allow focused geological upheaval to occur through focused magnetogeologic resonators. The smallest of these "tweeters" were used in agriculture and surface mining. Larger, more energetic "woofers" and "thumpers" were used in geoformation and Mohorovicic cracking.

But none of these could compare to the Archimedes Lever. In addition to possessing the most energetic seismic resonator batteries ever developed, its huge size allowed it to focus over much longer distances. It was also fortuitously situated on a region of highly crystalized substrate, which mitigated energy dissipation over range. Coupled with detailed surveys of the terrain within kilometers, the Archimedes Lever could bring energy to bear on the terrain comparable to the effects of fission weapons. Its crew was an elite cadre of scientists and soldiers, officially known as the Special Planetary Research Division. The diamond cluster of their badge is made of stones the Lever dredged up from the deep interior of the planet.

While the military applications of this device are now legendary (the Battle of Slurry Hill is a representative example), little attention is paid to the geoscience discoveries made while the device was being tested and constructed. For example, the Archimedes Lever was the first tool that allowed direct sampling of the outer core.

Images