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How do [FP]gmp's work question...

K

korg

SOC-5
OK, so pgmp's heat H to plasma temps and then spew it out all over the target. Fgmp's heat it to fusion temps and then toss it towards the baddies. Both pretty obvious there, but...

Trouble is that im not finding any detailed info and I havnt done any physics since uni (so maaaaaaaaany years ago).


Now from a google, Im lead to believe that fgmp's would be a blob of about ~1-3 million Kelvin (ouch!) so I can kind of see how that 'melts' through everything that it hits. Unless those spraying neutrons do something too. (Dont fire at a nuke warhead?)

Im assuming that plasma guns are the same kind of idea but cooler, or is the lack of electrons what does the damage here (in that the stuff binds into whatever it hits?).

Anyone got any details/ideas?
 
you've got the basic idea down. an amount of hydrogen is heated to plasma (or fusion) temperatures and then shot at a target. it's a favorite of SF writers. damage is inflicted from the shock of heat and the resulting explosion of plasma (kind of like hitting someone with a blast of napalm)

the problem is they don't work. http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3x.html explains why. scroll down (wayyy down) to the plasma section for a concise reason. i quote: 'they won't work for the same reason that a gun shooting steam won't work.'

when SJ games released their version of traveller, they made it a point to use their existing rules for particle beam guns (balsters) and rename them.
file_21.gif
 
Ah, that would be why all the writeups that i find say... heat hydrogen.. mumble mumble.. boom.


Oh well, maybe Ill just mumble something about prefiring laser/particle channels and wave my hands to make it go away.


Thanks for the reply.
 
One way to make them "work" is if the plasma is contained in a projectile somehow.

Dan wrote a good piece about it a while back, the link will be around here somewhere...
 
Some way to generate a tube of some kind would mitigate the radiation problem. In traveller grav comes to mind (at least for ship based weapons). For people carried... well handwaving may be required.

T20 went in the right direction when it gave p/fgmp extremely short ranges and dissipation. This does make them slightly more beleivable.
 
IIRC, 2300AD and the FF&S book said that the plasma bolts were fired along a laser beam. an errata put out for FF&S upgraded the deadliness of the PGMP as the rules made it less lethal than a grenade but far more expensive. ;)
 
always viewed 'plasma' weapons as a ball of plasma & a small projectile, the plasma is used to power the magnetic filed holding it (once charged by the firing ship) it cools rapidly (hence the short range) and the projectile syphons some of the plasma for a 'jet'

thus is basically a small plamsa powered missle, upon impact the magnetic bottle fails...
 
essentially a magazine 'is' required, though the projectiles are pretty inert until charged in the weapons firing tubes. the other thing is, this is essentially *not* a beam weapon, its a form of missile (though powerful and short ranged) it can be handled as such or just left as a very fast missile and handled as a beam.

fusion weapons are a bit different, they can be thought of simply as more advanced plasma weapons, i.e. more efficient or handled as something else. I've always thought of them as an open fusion reactor sending a beam of high energy particles out, but either model works. its more a matter of what it looks like in action, how big the weapon is, what it needs to work and the effect. the physics isn't important unless you want to bring it into the plot.

as i have done once or twice with plasma projectiles (sabotage at the factory leading to misfires etc)
 
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