[ WP ] In an alternate universe , gunpowder was never invented . What does warfare look like ?

`` Sorry, road's closed,'' the policeman said, `` You'll have to detour down Simone boulevard today.'' 
 
 `` What *again*?'' the elderly lady ahead of me complained. 
 
 The policeman was apologetic, but he shook his head sadly. `` Sorry, m'am. Central and Hannigan both took poundings from the noon wave, and the incendiaries have got the fire watch plenty busy. We really need the public to stay clear this afternoon while they work.'' I just shook my head, but she snorted with disgust and stalked off like it was a personal affront from the Archduke. Who knows? Maybe when I've seen a couple more decades of warfare I'll feel more like she does too. 
 
 So now I was walking home along Ramsgate boulevard ( only a few of the buildings were burned here as yet ), and I looked toward the northern military complex. Surrounded by bulwarks of thick stone, the complex protects the approach to the mountains within which our own magnetic torpedo launchers are stored. 
 
 I could see soldiers in full armor walking the walls, but aside from two who man a pair of spy glasses, searching the sky for incoming, they have little to do. There was a time, my grandfather told me, when we took some comfort at how quickly a barracks full of their brethren in arms could deploy throughout the city if the enemy came, but since the torpedoes were invented, warfare is all conducted from afar now. Never thought we'd see the day. 
 
 Now, there in the mountain complex are the long metal tubes lined with half a mile of carefully woven electromagnetic coils over well oiled tracks. When I and some of my fellow civilians heard the familiar hum of the electric powered magnetic coils charging up, we paused, and looked up at the compound, waiting for the show. 
 
 Moments later a barrage of magnetically accelerated torpedoes emerged from the hillside, their short stubby wings guiding them on carefully chosen paths while keeping them aloft for the twenty six mile trip across the border where they will pound the enemy's nearest cities with our own magnesium ignited oil payloads, hopefully burning down some of *their* buildings to get back for some of our own. 
 
 `` Give'em hell, boys!'' a middle aged man beside me said, and several of us nodded our agreement as we watched the torpedoes shooting away out of sight almost faster than the eye could follow. 
 
 Years ago, when I was back in school yet, I listened while one of my classmates prattled on about how these new terror weapons would soon put an end to war. `` Think about it,'' he had said, `` No more swords, no more crossbows, no more *seeing* your enemy coming across the field of battle. Just BLAMMO, death from above, any time, no warning. Cities burning, and you ca n't stop what you ca n't see coming. Who's gon na want to keep that up? You'll see!'' 
 
 Yeah, sure. Thing is, even though you'd never get me to admit it today, there was a time when I actually thought maybe he was right. But each year just brings more sophisticated torpedoes with bigger payloads that burn hotter, or maybe throw shrapnel when they crash down. And we respond with more tunnels in the mountains, and better torpedoes of our own. If I were talking to my friend today, I'd tell him he was an idiot, and how nothing stops war. Nothing. 
 
 I shook my head. Show was over. It was time to get home before night falls. 

