True, but we're dealing with something more strategic than a nuclear reactor.
Making Ships Available to PCs
- Thread starter SpaceBadger
- Start date
True, but we're dealing with something more strategic than a nuclear reactor.
I had something similar to the different elements = different ranges for my 2300AD games. I just couldn't fathom the space forces using precious tantalum drives in detonation missiles. Sure armed drones were less accurate, but given the relative lack of major wars in space this was not too big of problem.
Over time I have come over to a degree towards BMonnery's view of space fleet sizes. I think he overstates the canonicity of his fleet size calculations. We have no given numbers for ship strengths in the American or Chinese Arms or at the Alpha Centauri system. The other sourcebooks are mere snapshots of the bigger 2300AD Universe and often contradict. On top of that some so called canon sources make little sense. Why are there complex networks of piracy and counter-piracy when there are so few starships flitting about? Who pilots all of these deniable blockade runners that supply the various pro-independence colonial factions?
Even so I do agree that space fleets are small. That portion of the post may have been better placed in a different thread.
To get back on subject I had three different drives. Drone Drive - was a short ranged, less than 1.5 LY, drive that was very inexpensive but was unusable for living creatures due to neurological issues. Mid-Drive - short ranged, up ~4.5 LY, but slow. It was the first drive developed and is now rather inexpensive. And the Standard-Drive which is the canon drive.
I tok inspiration from the RPG Bughunter and an article written by John Zeigler for SJGames JTAS, the Designer Notes for GURPS Traveller: First In.
Benjamin
Over time I have come over to a degree towards BMonnery's view of space fleet sizes. I think he overstates the canonicity of his fleet size calculations. We have no given numbers for ship strengths in the American or Chinese Arms or at the Alpha Centauri system. The other sourcebooks are mere snapshots of the bigger 2300AD Universe and often contradict. On top of that some so called canon sources make little sense. Why are there complex networks of piracy and counter-piracy when there are so few starships flitting about? Who pilots all of these deniable blockade runners that supply the various pro-independence colonial factions?
Even so I do agree that space fleets are small. That portion of the post may have been better placed in a different thread.
To get back on subject I had three different drives. Drone Drive - was a short ranged, less than 1.5 LY, drive that was very inexpensive but was unusable for living creatures due to neurological issues. Mid-Drive - short ranged, up ~4.5 LY, but slow. It was the first drive developed and is now rather inexpensive. And the Standard-Drive which is the canon drive.
I tok inspiration from the RPG Bughunter and an article written by John Zeigler for SJGames JTAS, the Designer Notes for GURPS Traveller: First In.
Benjamin
Peter Schutze
SOC-12
"Looking at the periodic table"
I found looking at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_isomer more inspirational
That gives us 2 angles to work .... their stability and their energy levels
the energy state effect could serve either to partly explain the 7.7 LY limit or things like why engines are cheaper or more expensive relative to their efficiency per ton.
Doping Tantalum with synthetic Holmium 166 could make it more powerful (and its relatively rare and thus expensive) while Thorium 229m could be used to "stretch out" Tantalum in cheap engines for a loss of efficiency (relatively available as a fission by product)
the less stable isomers might justify disposable uses eg missile drives using metastable hafnium but are too dangerous for (non-eber) use because of increased gamma decay
I found looking at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_isomer more inspirational
That gives us 2 angles to work .... their stability and their energy levels
the energy state effect could serve either to partly explain the 7.7 LY limit or things like why engines are cheaper or more expensive relative to their efficiency per ton.
Doping Tantalum with synthetic Holmium 166 could make it more powerful (and its relatively rare and thus expensive) while Thorium 229m could be used to "stretch out" Tantalum in cheap engines for a loss of efficiency (relatively available as a fission by product)
the less stable isomers might justify disposable uses eg missile drives using metastable hafnium but are too dangerous for (non-eber) use because of increased gamma decay
I really like the solutions given by Epicenter and Peter Schulze. The solve a problem that I had with something that seemed probable in the 2320 universe I like to play in: a WWII like proliferation of aircraft. Because of the absurd scarcity of the source material for drives, older ships had their coils removed to transplant them into new ones. The number of ships in 2300 and for that reason in 2320 was a zero sum game.
Using other elements, spiked drives and nuclear isomeres will allow to effectively choose the type of drive that suits your needs and your wallet. It even allows for drive customisation: Buy an oldie and get some for-hire engineer to spike your coil! (And then hope that you'll survive the run to Elysia).
This way starship versions of commercialised DC3 Dakota's and STUFT ships become a viable option in gameplay. A good thing if you ask me.
Using other elements, spiked drives and nuclear isomeres will allow to effectively choose the type of drive that suits your needs and your wallet. It even allows for drive customisation: Buy an oldie and get some for-hire engineer to spike your coil! (And then hope that you'll survive the run to Elysia).
This way starship versions of commercialised DC3 Dakota's and STUFT ships become a viable option in gameplay. A good thing if you ask me.
Peter Schutze
SOC-12
"Buy an oldie and get some for-hire engineer to spike your coil!"
that would probably entail smelting to mix the other elements into the alloy rather than a garage bench job
One thing that struck me reading your post is the opposite .... salvaging modern high efficiency (higher purity of metastable isotopes?) to use on lower quality drives. Perhaps the rise of higher efficiency drives with consequently higher materials explains where a significant portion of the more recently extracted tantalum is going ?
the greatest single problem the nazi jets had was lack of chrome. this meant the jets had useful lives measured in the dozen hour range not hundreds of hours achieved very quickly by the allies.
that would probably entail smelting to mix the other elements into the alloy rather than a garage bench job
One thing that struck me reading your post is the opposite .... salvaging modern high efficiency (higher purity of metastable isotopes?) to use on lower quality drives. Perhaps the rise of higher efficiency drives with consequently higher materials explains where a significant portion of the more recently extracted tantalum is going ?
the greatest single problem the nazi jets had was lack of chrome. this meant the jets had useful lives measured in the dozen hour range not hundreds of hours achieved very quickly by the allies.
Metalurgy comes into play. So does the mixing and matching of old and new equipment.
I have once flown in an old DC-3 Dakota with turboprop engines. This was in the late 1990-ies! I have also jumped from an old Mi-8 (I believe it was, it still had Aeroflot colours in that strange pale blue that screams: 'Eastern Europe'). The parachuting club that hired it and its crew liked it because the low performance old equipment was relatively simple and cheap to maintain with a low logistic footprint.
These real life examples go to the kind of backstory that supports what you and I wrote earlier. What we need is some believable pseudoscience to back the existence of these alternatives. For that we need some more Beta-minded people like Bryn. I'm not a scientist but I am Gamma-minded enough to come up with a good yarn!
Even so in ships of the Fench Arm are some instances when is told about comercial ships beign owned by small companies or independent shippers.
Specifically in the Shenyang freighter, page 48:
and the Mammoth , page 66:
There are several instances of planet X being the granary of the Y arm. The ships in 2300AD are used to carry produce from one planet to the other!
If they are such valuable assets would be used to fly cornflakes around? I think not.
When you consider the uses of the ships and the amount of people that have been moved out to the colonies (and the amount of equipment being flown up the French Arm) you can deduce the sheer tonnage of shipping available in the 2300AD universe. Ships are not rare and shipping is a normal way of transporting goods and people.
Not so normal that you see the Emma Maersk carrying 20.000 containers; but not so rare that only high density capital intensive goods can be carried.
If they are such valuable assets would be used to fly cornflakes around? I think not.
When you consider the uses of the ships and the amount of people that have been moved out to the colonies (and the amount of equipment being flown up the French Arm) you can deduce the sheer tonnage of shipping available in the 2300AD universe. Ships are not rare and shipping is a normal way of transporting goods and people.
Not so normal that you see the Emma Maersk carrying 20.000 containers; but not so rare that only high density capital intensive goods can be carried.
Okay, but what if...
The Stutterwarp design is faulty: Lets assume for a moment that the original Stutterwarp was invented by someone whose remained unknown to the world at large, perhaps killed his/her invention was stolen and claimed by another nation who claimed the credit using some suitable pawns to avoid suspicion.
for what it was intended to do, it does work BUT their attempt to reverse engineer the prototype missed a few key areas and thats why these are so exorbitantly expensive, they simply messed up the design and every since then every attempt to correct the flaw has simply added another mistake to the original design...
The Stutterwarp design is faulty: Lets assume for a moment that the original Stutterwarp was invented by someone whose remained unknown to the world at large, perhaps killed his/her invention was stolen and claimed by another nation who claimed the credit using some suitable pawns to avoid suspicion.
for what it was intended to do, it does work BUT their attempt to reverse engineer the prototype missed a few key areas and thats why these are so exorbitantly expensive, they simply messed up the design and every since then every attempt to correct the flaw has simply added another mistake to the original design...
There is a working replacement but... someone has finally figured out what's wrong but the various nations have scientists all of whom look upon this revelation with suspicion and avarice after all this newcomer is literally unknown to anyone and it leaves a great opportunity to claim the credit IF they can acquire the knowledge and prototype to support their claim...
So we have someone travelling around who knows exactly how to repair these stutterwarp drives so they last a lot longer than normal and poses a threat to whoever is producing the new Stutterwarp drive cores since they're reducing the demand which affects the price... imagine the reaction if someone effectively removed the need for petrol or diesel run vehicles?
Then imagine what those people would do to prevent that from happening...
So we have someone travelling around who knows exactly how to repair these stutterwarp drives so they last a lot longer than normal and poses a threat to whoever is producing the new Stutterwarp drive cores since they're reducing the demand which affects the price... imagine the reaction if someone effectively removed the need for petrol or diesel run vehicles?
Then imagine what those people would do to prevent that from happening...
