User blog comment:Sir Lazuli/Replacing Redstone/@comment-33763020-20180128143219/@comment-33185350-20180130161840

Technologically there’s a good case to be made that this kind of machinery is achievable in Middle-earth. Here’s the description given of Saruman’s transformation of Ted Sandyman’s mill:

“Then he brought in a lot o’ dirty-looking Men to build a bigger one and fill it full o’ wheels and outlandish contraptions. Only that fool Ted was pleased by that, and he works there cleaning wheels for the Men, where his dad was the Miller and his own master. Pimple’s idea was to grind more and faster, or so he said. He’s got other mills like it. ... They’re always a-hammering and a-letting out a smoke and a stench, and there isn’t no peace even at night in Hobbiton.” - Farmer Cotton, The Scouring of the Shire, The Return of the King.

I know this is portrayed in a very negative manner, but it shows fairly advanced machinery is present in Middle-earth. But even simple hobbit mills would have nearly all the necessary components to create logic systems. The water provides a power supply, and it would be regulated by both gates in the headrace and brakes on wheels and shafts. With simple hanging counterweights and a way for ropes to feed back into the headrace gates everything present would be necessary.

Also keep in mind that even very old windmills are fairly complex. Besides simply transmitting power to a millstone, they need several more systems. There is a fan tail that turns the entire head of the windmill to face into the wind, or basically a secondary input controlling the primary input akin to the waterwheel systems I described. This is a second energy source regulating a primary energy source. People would control the production of energy by brakes on wheels and shafts, or turning the fan blades to stop harvesting wind energy. These are simple inputs.

Looking at the quote, there is evidence of quite a bit of advanced technology. Wheels mean power transmission, which we both agree would be present. “Outlandish contraptions” is fairly open to interpretation and could mean a lot of things. The smoke and fumes mean that combustible fuel is used to augment the water power. The most interesting one, however, is the mention of hammers. Automatic hammers mean there’s a simple timing circuit, even if it’s as basic as a wheel with pegs raising the hammer each time a peg goes by. This is logic. It’s quite likely that there would be gates to control the flow of water to the mill wheel as well. These are nearly all the necessary pieces.

I know this is a description of Saruman’s technology and not common technology in Middle-earth. However even in a hobbit mill most of the necessary components would be present. More industrial technology, like metal shafts and gears instead of wooden ones, could be employed in evil builds.

The main uses for a system like this would be mills as described, gatehouses, mines (for raising and lowering platforms or buckets of supplies, etc) and lore-friendly traps. It would be designed to avoid automatic farming, and again server staff could easily keep players from exploiting unintended uses.

I think you’re right that we agree on most points, but the main disagreement is on what the purpose of a system like this would serve. You seem to think that it would be for automatic farming, while I see it as a way to serve functions fitting to Middle-earth’s technology level. I think it could not only add a fun new dimension to gameplay, but make builds more interactive and add more possibilities.