Going back in time.

[Ifreann]

"Trust me guys, invest in these microchip thingies".

And bet on this team!

1984 Sports Almanac FTW.

[Tsal-Kar]

I'd bring a shotgun and call it my boom stick.

Also, having taken charge through my intellect - and the shooting of those who tried to burn me for witchcraft (which modern technology would likely be called) - I'd take advantage of the tactics used by medieval armies (stand in long lines and charge - basically a pre-gun version of what conventional armies did in the Revolutionary era), and introduce gunpowder and the super-reliable, easy to mass-produce AK-47 to the formula. By no means accurate, but volley fire and ease of use definitely makes up for that .

[Sibirsky]

And bet on this team!

1984 Sports Almanac FTW.

[Great Nepal]

Reread the underlined part.
I will hope they will manage to do it... if they cant then - ah well. They still have one of largest empires along with Romanian and German.

Yeah, but still the idea of lugging a nuclear submarine up the Himalayas to "give" it to Nepal is rather comical.

True, but there is nothing wrong with trying - provided obviously that they dont blow up the nuclear warhead while trying to reverse it (quite likely).

[Blazedtown]

Save Dimebag and Dio, and send Lady Gaga to a monastery with a vow of silence when she was 8.

[Make up your own mind]

In the future I will go into the past and teach cave people language. I will also invent the earliest language.

[Grave_n_idle]

I'm a chemist... which maybe is kind of cheating. With a little experimentation to get proportions right, I don't doubt I could concoct gunpowder recipes... just based on what I know of history and chemistry.

Sten guns though... simple to mass produce, little complexity in assembly. A little 20th century know-how, and the 9th Legion are carrying submachine guns.

*nods*

But it's not just that they don't have the tools to make sten guns; the Romans don't have the tools to make the tools to make the tools to make the tools that make the sten gun. The advances in metallurgy, machine tools, standardization, and chemistry required even to make a crude bolt action rifle, let-alone a finicky automatic weapon, just aren't there.

Nonsense. I'm not sure where this idea comes from that people who lived a long time ago were stupider than we are.

The technology for making steel predates Rome by a thousand years and more, the chemistry and mettalurgy are more than sufficient - all it needs is a template - and that's the beauty of the Sten, its the pinnacle of template technology. It's NOT finicky - they were often given nicknames like "Plumber's Abortion" because they are so simple, they can be made in a few hours (largely) out of simple parts (like plumbing supplies). The hardest thing to facilitate in ancient Rome would probably be the (few) welds required, but since ancient Egyptians had electric cell technology, I think that would be a small hurdle to cross.

[Genivaria]

But it's not just that they don't have the tools to make sten guns; the Romans don't have the tools to make the tools to make the tools to make the tools that make the sten gun. The advances in metallurgy, machine tools, standardization, and chemistry required even to make a crude bolt action rifle, let-alone a finicky automatic weapon, just aren't there.

Nonsense. I'm not sure where this idea comes from that people who lived a long time ago were stupider than we are.

The technology for making steel predates Rome by a thousand years and more, the chemistry and mettalurgy are more than sufficient - all it needs is a template - and that's the beauty of the Sten, its the pinnacle of template technology. It's NOT finicky - they were often given nicknames like "Plumber's Abortion" because they are so simple, they can be made in a few hours (largely) out of simple parts (like plumbing supplies). The hardest thing to facilitate in ancient Rome would probably be the (few) welds required, but since ancient Egyptians had electric cell technology, I think that would be a small hurdle to cross.

I'd like to add that the Romans are the ones who gave us concrete.

[Grave_n_idle]

I would take a nuclear submarine loaded with a lot of Trident D5 back to late 1800s; sail it to Thames river, destroy London - then demand all of British Empire (except UK, obviously) to be ceded to Nepal...

At which point, the Empire and it's allies raze Nepal to the ground. Very Pyrrhic.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

I just would enjoy the Quattrocento and Cinquecentto in all it's glory. Renaissance in Venice, in Florence, in Rome. I would love to see and live that period.

[Tatec]

Me with a time machine? I'd soon create my NS Nation in RL.

[Genivaria]

I would take a nuclear submarine loaded with a lot of Trident D5 back to late 1800s; sail it to Thames river, destroy London - then demand all of British Empire (except UK, obviously) to be ceded to Nepal...

At which point, the Empire and it's allies raze Nepal to the ground. Very Pyrrhic.

I'd bring a few more progressive and egalitarian books with me, and have them translated into Latin.
Thomas Paine is definitely in that list.

[Farnhamia]

Nonsense. I'm not sure where this idea comes from that people who lived a long time ago were stupider than we are.

The technology for making steel predates Rome by a thousand years and more, the chemistry and mettalurgy are more than sufficient - all it needs is a template - and that's the beauty of the Sten, its the pinnacle of template technology. It's NOT finicky - they were often given nicknames like "Plumber's Abortion" because they are so simple, they can be made in a few hours (largely) out of simple parts (like plumbing supplies). The hardest thing to facilitate in ancient Rome would probably be the (few) welds required, but since ancient Egyptians had electric cell technology, I think that would be a small hurdle to cross.

I'd like to add that the Romans are the ones who gave us concrete.

You can't make automatic weapons out of concrete.

And sorry, but Trotskylvania's right, the guns would break down far faster than the Romans would be able to reverse-engineer them, and all the infrastructure required to manufacture them. Now, a nice arquebus or a muzzle-loader ...

[Grave_n_idle]

I'd like to add that the Romans are the ones who gave us concrete.

You can't make automatic weapons out of concrete.

And sorry, but Trotskylvania's right, the guns would break down far faster than the Romans would be able to reverse-engineer them,

Why?

The only appreciable problem with Sten guns (specifically, the Mark III) relates to the way the magazine feeds (and attendant mishandling impacting the feed). The guns are made from stamped steel, to a basic template. It really is arguably the quintessential 'template technology' weapon.

Sten guns were often made in small operations, in just a couple of man-hours of labour, pretty much from first principles.

I see no reason to believe Romans would be breaking their guns less than 5 hours after they were issued with them.

[Genivaria]

I'd like to add that the Romans are the ones who gave us concrete.

You can't make automatic weapons out of concrete.

And sorry, but Trotskylvania's right, the guns would break down far faster than the Romans would be able to reverse-engineer them, and all the infrastructure required to manufacture them. Now, a nice arquebus or a muzzle-loader ...

I thought it was rather obvious that's what we meant.

[Farnhamia]

You can't make automatic weapons out of concrete.

And sorry, but Trotskylvania's right, the guns would break down far faster than the Romans would be able to reverse-engineer them, and all the infrastructure required to manufacture them. Now, a nice arquebus or a muzzle-loader ...

I thought it was rather obvious that's what we meant.

A STEN gun is not a nice arquebus or muzzle-loader, and that's what GnI was talking about.

[Genivaria]

I thought it was rather obvious that's what we meant.

A STEN gun is not a nice arquebus or muzzle-loader, and that's what GnI was talking about.

Oh sorry, I was the one who brought up bringing back gunpowder.

[Tsal-Kar]

I'd like to add that the Romans are the ones who gave us concrete.

You can't make automatic weapons out of concrete.

And sorry, but Trotskylvania's right, the guns would break down far faster than the Romans would be able to reverse-engineer them, and all the infrastructure required to manufacture them. Now, a nice arquebus or a muzzle-loader ...

No, you can't make them from concrete. Luckily, the Romans made use of iron (which steel is made from), so if you bring the knowledge of how to make steel along with your Sten guns (or, as I suggested, the even more reliable AK's) and gunpowder formulas, you're set. Alternatively, you could go back to a later time in which steel was already used, so you could cut back on how much you had to bring back.

[Grave_n_idle]

You can't make automatic weapons out of concrete.

And sorry, but Trotskylvania's right, the guns would break down far faster than the Romans would be able to reverse-engineer them, and all the infrastructure required to manufacture them. Now, a nice arquebus or a muzzle-loader ...

No, you can't make them from concrete. Luckily, the Romans made use of iron (which steel is made from), so if you bring the knowledge of how to make steel along with your Sten guns (or, as I suggested, the even more reliable AK's) and gunpowder formulas, you're set. Alternatively, you could go back to a later time in which steel was already used, so you could cut back on how much you had to bring back.

I agree AKs are far more reliable. I'm weighing the pro of design simplicity against the con of... well, not being an AK. I think you could stamp and assemble Sten parts in ancient Rome, I'm not so sure about the AK.

[Swedish Vinland]

Give history books translated into Elder Futhark Runes to the Vikings so as to be warned about the scourge of Christianity,

[Farnhamia]

You can't make automatic weapons out of concrete.

And sorry, but Trotskylvania's right, the guns would break down far faster than the Romans would be able to reverse-engineer them, and all the infrastructure required to manufacture them. Now, a nice arquebus or a muzzle-loader ...

No, you can't make them from concrete. Luckily, the Romans made use of iron (which steel is made from), so if you bring the knowledge of how to make steel along with your Sten guns (or, as I suggested, the even more reliable AK's) and gunpowder formulas, you're set. Alternatively, you could go back to a later time in which steel was already used, so you could cut back on how much you had to bring back.

Sure, but they didn't have the machine tools needed to make the parts that go into the automatic weapons. Knowing how to make a steel sword is not the same as knowing how to make the steel parts for a STEN, which need to be made to quite precise specifications. Yeah, you can jury rig parts on a STEN or an AK-47, but think about what you're using to do that.

I'm a firm believer in the intelligence of our ancestors, but you can just go back with some plans and a few demo pieces and say, "Yo, Marcus, come over here, I wanna show you something."

[Grave_n_idle]

Sure, but they didn't have the machine tools needed to make the parts that go into the automatic weapons. Knowing how to make a steel sword is not the same as knowing how to make the steel parts for a STEN, which need to be made to quite precise specifications. Yeah, you can jury rig parts on a STEN or an AK-47, but think about what you're using to do that.

Arguably, most Sten guns were jury-rigged. That's kind of the point. The parts aren't that precise, all you need is sheet steel, and the ability to stamp and assemble the parts - and it doesn't actually require industrialisation to stamp steel (it's just easier) or to make steel (it's just easier).

The technology and technique to make a good steel sword is arguably more intensive than that required to make a Sten.

The ammunition would be more of a problem than the guns. It might be more efficient to make a more primitive black-powder weapon, just because of that... but Romans with submachine guns would look cooler.

*nods*

[Keronians]

If you could take a piece of modern technology with you back in time, what would it be and for what purpose?

I'd take some of Benjamin Franklin's research notes on electricity to some Roman scholars.

I'd take a time machine and show it to Albert Einstein to blow his mind.

[Germanic Templars]

I'd take tools, materials and blueprints to make a time machine to area 51 back in 1995.

[New Emmerian Coalition]

Go to the American revolution with a ton of modern day weapons and tell them to conquer the world! And the blueprints so they can make more! MUWAHAHAHAHA!
That or making my own NS nation IRL, skipping a few hundred years, if I see it fall, than I will go to future, see why, go back, improve it, rinse and repeat.