system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[TheCulture] In use of weapons there's race who Special Circumstances predicted would only just now be using crossbows and steam engines without external help. Is it plausible a society would develop (useful) steam engines before firearms?
gpt
Sure. Completely separate technical advances, physics vs chemistry. Steam happens once you figure hour that heating water and trapping it can produce work. Gunpowder happens when you mix charcoal, sulfur, and saltpeter, grind them and dry them. As a discovery, it's genuinely not easy to come by, and once you do discover it, it's easy to keep the formula secret.