New VTOL Aviation Propulsion Systems
- Thread starter Spinward Flow
- Start date
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
One issue within Traveller is that helicopters, in general, tend to be rather expensive post gravitational motors introduction.
Helicopters vanish like Keyser Soze once grav vehicles hit. Heck, so does almost everything else.
there are costs though: can't recall but traditionally grav is a lot more expensive. It depends on use cases.
Factoring in TL progression, grav should get cheaper as it becomes more mainstream. There are various rules scattered about to take that into account, though not when you look at the various equipment listings (an air/raft costs this much)
anyway - if you can buy 10 ground vehicles that get the job done vs 1 grav lifter, my guess is the credits will go for the ground vehicles. But in the end, it boils down to use cases. And always follow the credits
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 5K
Grav vehicles may be more expensive, but they also tend to have a lot more use cases.
For starters, grav vehicles tend to not be dependent upon atmospheric composition for their power source (ie. they usually won't rely on combustion for power). Using either a fusion power plant or batteries as a power source means that they can be atmosphere agnostic in terms of power plant. That means you have an interstellar market for grav vehicles, while combustion powered ground vehicles are limited to their "home market" of a single planet in most cases.
That difference in market size (one planet versus subsector or entire sectors) has tremendous impacts on economies of scale, helping to make the price of grav vehicles relatively competitive, even if they are more expensive per unit.
For non-Travellers, ground cars would work just fine ... because they're staying within the confines of a single environment.
For Travellers though, being atmosphere agnostic when traveling to different worlds can be a deal breaker.
Grav vehicles are the cell phones of transportation infrastructure.
You can always tell a post grav world by the utter lack of roads connecting the cities. In fact, I almost think that a grav city would have narrower walking paths, but, perhaps, bigger intersections to facilitate as ad hoc landing areas for grav vehicles.
You can always tell a post grav world by the utter lack of roads connecting the cities. In fact, I almost think that a grav city would have narrower walking paths, but, perhaps, bigger intersections to facilitate as ad hoc landing areas for grav vehicles.
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 5K
Or put another way ...
Flying Cars make a huge difference to traffic patterns.
Why?
Well ...
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
How many nuclear families own their own air/raft?
Percentagewise.
Percentagewise.
The way they are priced in CT, none of them. A working wage seems to be between 5 and 8K per month. You're not buying a 600K Air/raft for that.
In TNE, a ground car is 2,695. An air raft is 118,401.
That doesn't mean that folks don't have access to these, or that folks won't be using public/mass transit to go from city to city or "ride sharing" services in town.
In TNE, a ground car is 2,695. An air raft is 118,401.
That doesn't mean that folks don't have access to these, or that folks won't be using public/mass transit to go from city to city or "ride sharing" services in town.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
They can't afford it, and I think the current formula for annual maintenance of dirtside vehicles is ten percent.
but I do.Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
It's unlikely civilian authorities will let the general population commute with private flying vehicles, without safeguards.
The ones that would get most out of an air/raft, like farmers without transport infrastructure, would be a minority.
The ones that would get most out of an air/raft, like farmers without transport infrastructure, would be a minority.
There's nothing to suggest that the air/rafts are without safeguards. Arguably a value proposition of air/rafts is that they're likely much safer than ground vehicles. This doesn't suggest a free for all of flight above cities, but even today, the singular problem facing computer guided cars is the diversity and complexity of the environment. The vast majority of those problems vanish when you go in to the sky, particularly with vehicles designed to network and be aware of each other. Barring utter catastrophic failure with an air/raft plummeting through the roof of a kindergarten, I bet the safety record of grav vehicles will be quite high.
As you get out in to the uncontrolled zones, you'll gain your freedom of flight back so you can go easily picnic in an alpine meadow.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Complexity does increase in three dimensions..
As does the number of possible directions in which to avoid collisions.
The problem is that air/rafts don't seem to have grav brakes. Evasion downward is at 10m/sec2 by momentarily switching the lifters off, but might only be 1m/sec2 laterally or as braking thrust.
I'd assume the presence of braking rockets just out of common sense, and in atmosphere the vehicle could go nose-up to present its bottom surface as a drag brake.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Like spaceships, I'd have separate modules.
Though I do vaguely recall images of air/raft showing separate gravitational modules.
Though I do vaguely recall images of air/raft showing separate gravitational modules.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Actually, I think the most popular form of transportation are going to be motorized suitcases, which you can ride on.
I think they have to have grav brakes.
Because rockets simply aren't suitable for civilized living.
You can't have folks waiting at the entry of hotel when the limo comes down from above blasting everyone with rocket exhausts to keep from careening into the crowd. It's not the Thunderbirds.
Sure, at one point folks stood on train platforms and got bathed in steam. Well, that was then. They also used to walk in streets littered with horse dung. That was then too.
Incinerating pedestrians, or blasting them with fire extinguishers isn't going to ... well, fly.
So, that problem is solved, somehow, in a nice, pleasant way. At best, there's a noticeable whine during descent.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Having separate modules means that if one fails, the others automatically kick in and do a controlled (crash) landing.
kilemall
SOC-14 5K
I don't know that roads disappear, more like rough track spaces where grav vehicles fly above and can quietly crash whilst avoiding buildings and people, following any utility corridors.
The poor that cannot afford grav would have road vehicles but more ATV then speed demons in keeping with the minimal infrastructure theme.
