Big Ships, Small Drives

[Spinward Scout]

Has anyone tried to decrease the size of drives & increase fuel efficiency to give more room in a starship? Any equations for something like this? I want to run a game like this - maybe 500 years after the GURPS: Traveller timeline, but I'm not sure how to go about it without screwing it up & sounding very strange.

Thanks,

Scout

 

[Uncle Bob]

I am going to shoe my ignorance of GURPS here. What TL are you talking about?

On CT and MT drive percentage drops as the TL goes from 10 to 16 (A to F), although it's still 10% fuel per jump. At G or beyond you are on your own.

 

[DaveShayne]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ScoutCadet469:
Has anyone tried to decrease the size of drives & increase fuel efficiency to give more room in a starship? Any equations for something like this? I want to run a game like this - maybe 500 years after the GURPS: Traveller timeline, but I'm not sure how to go about it without screwing it up & sounding very strange.

Thanks,

Scout<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The only really big space hog is the jump fuel. Just choose a smaller figure for fuel required. MT used 5%+5% per parsec for fuel use (not quite halving fuel requirements).

Please note that this will fairly drastically alter the economics behind the game so If your doing a merchant style game you will probably want to increase costs of ships or reduce the price of trade and travel to keep things from getting out of whack.

HTH

David Shayne

 

[DaveShayne]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Uncle Bob:
I am going to shoe my ignorance of GURPS here. What TL are you talking about?

On CT and MT drive percentage drops as the TL goes from 10 to 16 (A to F), although it's still 10% fuel per jump. At G or beyond you are on your own.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

In CT the power plant is the only "drive" that gets smaller with higher tech. The jump and manuever drives are a constant percentage of ship volume. On further inspection the same is true of MT and (except at the lower space faring TLs) TNE and T4 as well.

Is there something I'm missing here?



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I am increasingly of the opinion that RPGs are by the nature of their creation subjective phenomenon. due to the interaction between game designers, game masters, and game players all definitions, rules, settings, and adventures are mutable in acordance with the uncertainty principle as expounded by Heisenburg. This is of course merely my point of view.

David Shayne

 

[Uncle Bob]

True, but the percentages are still small
J2 M2 PP2 at TL 11 is only 14% of the ship, at TL 15 9%

I too have run the 5+5% fuel rules, and it makes a vast difference in vehicle design and economics, but I think that working with the rules as written is challenging.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Did I miss something? I have never seen those rules anywhere... Where would I find them?

Peace,

Scout

 

[DaveShayne]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ScoutCadet469:
Did I miss something? I have never seen those rules anywhere... Where would I find them?

Peace,

Scout<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Starship design is covered in Book 2 Starships and Book 5 High Guard for Classic Traveller. MegaTraveller has the design rules in the referee's manual. TNE's ship design sequences are in the Brilliant Lances board game and Fire, Fusion, and Steel. T4 has design sequences in the main book, Starships, and FFS2. For Gurps Traveller the core rules are in the main book with additional modules scatered throughout various other books.

I personally prefer Classic Traveller for starship design as the sequences and components are all simple enough to tweak as needed to fit alternate game universes.

Changing the GURPS modules might or might not require you to redesign using Gurps Vehicles but reducing jump fuel requirements should be easy to implement; just use fewer fuel modules.

I hope this is answers your question.


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I am increasingly of the opinion that RPGs are by the nature of their creation subjective phenomenon. due to the interaction between game designers, game masters, and game players all definitions, rules, settings, and adventures are mutable in acordance with the uncertainty principle as expounded by Heisenburg. This is of course merely my point of view.

David Shayne

 

[Uncle Bob]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ScoutCadet469:
Did I miss something? I have never seen those rules anywhere... Where would I find them?

Peace,

Scout<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I presume you mean the %5fuel rules. Just like CT, but use 5% everywehere the rules demand 10% of the ship for fuel.

This was never written down and officially recognized, but it was a "house rule" that a number of gaming groups invented independantly.

 

[aramis]

Actually, Jfuel drops at TL 17+ (H+) in MT.
PP Fuel an PP Td drop with TL fairly steadily under MT.
MDrive doesn't, but newtonian thrust systems do (See MT:Hard Times and MT:COACC).

JFuel in MT is a multiplier of Jump drive size. TL 9-16 it is x5; it begins to drop from there.

MT's fuel equations work out to long er legs being far more fuel efficient. THe following is TL 9-16
J1: 2% drive, 10% fuel (Matches CT)
J2: 3% drive, 15% fuel (5% of hull savings)
J3: 4% drive, 20% fuel (10% savings)
J4: 5% drive, 25% fuel (15% savings)
J5: 6% drive, 30% fuel (20% savings)
J6: 7% drive, 35% fuel. (25% savings)
Also, in the MT erratta, A J6 ship doing J3 uses 50% of it's fuel, or 15% of fuel, the same as a J2 ship doing a J2. At J1, it burns 5.8333% of hull in fuel...

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-aramis
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