Did you do these with the acceleration cutting down to 1% efficiency after leaving the 1000D limit?
Interstellar empire with just M-drives
- Thread starter Pyromancer
- Start date
Did you do these with the acceleration cutting down to 1% efficiency after leaving the 1000D limit?
leo knight
SOC-12
A few works of fiction that might give you some ideas:
Time for the Stars, by Robert Heinlein
Revelation Space, et. al. by Alastair Reynolds
Rissa Kergeulen, et. al. by F. M. Busby
The Viagens Interplanetarias stories by L. Sprague deCamp
The Hainish Cycle stories by Ursula Le Guin
All have STL travel, but with variations.
Time for the Stars, by Robert Heinlein
Revelation Space, et. al. by Alastair Reynolds
Rissa Kergeulen, et. al. by F. M. Busby
The Viagens Interplanetarias stories by L. Sprague deCamp
The Hainish Cycle stories by Ursula Le Guin
All have STL travel, but with variations.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
I think Busby's Zelde M'Tana is better; while the twist at the end of the series is ironic, as i recall this one is more action packed.
Rather small ship orientated.
Rather small ship orientated.
Pyromancer
SOC-10
Are there versions of the rules in which the m-drive loses efficiency beyond a 1000D limit?
As stated, I calculated with 4 g of acceleration for 20 weeks. I didn't check it, but that should take a ship way beyond the 1000D radius of most stellar bodies.
T4 and T5 both have this limitation for the grav-based M-Drive. Beyond 1000D, the M-Drive drops off to 0.01 efficiency. And in T5, the grav-based G-Drive drops off to 0.01 at 10D, and Contragrav Lifters do not function beyond 1D.
But T5 also has the highly focused grav-based NAFAL ("Not-As-Fast-As-Light") Drive, which can only propel directly along the drive access away from a gravity well source (i.e no lateral motion), but does not drop off to 0.01 efficiency until 1/8 lightyear distance is reached.
Pyromancer
SOC-10
That explains that, I'm a Classic/Mongoose/Cepheus guy myself.
Just approximating that the m-drive works perfectly fine within the 1000D limit, and not at all beyond it, you could get to around 5% c in our solar system with 4 g of acceleration, if you lunge back and start accelerating towards our sun. This number might be a little bit higher or lower, depending on how close you want to get to the sun and how good you are at using the slingshot effect.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
You can not run the Traveller Adventure Trade War scenario using T4 and T5 m-drive rules.
The scenario involves ship combat in deep space - in an empty hex to be precise.
You would have to have a 'wake up in the shower' moment and find the Tukera calibration point is based around a rogue planet (which oddly isn't mentioned in the Adventure).
Retcons always have unintended consequences...
The scenario involves ship combat in deep space - in an empty hex to be precise.
You would have to have a 'wake up in the shower' moment and find the Tukera calibration point is based around a rogue planet (which oddly isn't mentioned in the Adventure).
Retcons always have unintended consequences...
0.01 efficiency is not the same thing as not working at all, just working at significantly decreased output. A normally 4.0g M-Drive (for example) that is only functioning at .04g past 1000D may seem like a small acceleration, but operating over long periods it can still build up a significant velocity.
At a NAFAL's top thrust of 0.9g and 12.5% of a LY is reached, it wouldn't do the trip as fast as a CT 4g M-drive constantly accelerating to the mid-point between two stars. But was it ever envisaged doing that in CT?
Pyromancer
SOC-10
In My Traveller Universe, you can accelerate as long as you can provide power to the drive. But to do that, you need fuel. That's the reason I calculate with only 20 week long acceleration and deceleration phases and a long coast phase in between, where the drives and the main reactor are shut down.
