Not how the maneuver drive works

[mike wightman]

Watch one of these.

Any place for this drive system in low tech Traveller?

 

[Andrew Boulton]

Nice, isn't it?

Rules are in FF&S.

 

[aramis]

Yup... in FF&S.

 

[Rossoneill]

Nice Clip

 

[kafka47]

Fortunately, Traveller relies upon reactionless thrusters. Nuclear powered thrust whilst gets you there creates too much pollution in system.

The whole clip reminds me of a bootstrap program run by native aliens who were very surprised to see the Reformation Coalition watching them from a neighbouring world during a TNE campaign that I ran. The natives ran back scared and returned with nuclear weapons to attack the RC base. Those were the moral issues that I launched my TNE campaigns with. Hopefully, 1248 will have lots of moral quandries like that...

 

[daryen]

It's covered in GT:Starships, too.

The biggest problem in the clip is the landing. It goes from blazing through the thin Martian atmosphere to gently touching down. The transition from one to the other was conveniently left out.

 

[Malenfant]

That just looks silly, pogo-sticking through space. Especially with the letting off of nukes in the upper atmosphere.

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

There is an "Orion" model on the Orbital Space Simulator Program that uses this drive... one would certainly need sunglasses! When doing the ship's mission (some sort of colonization thing) I need to set the zoom to the right distance so I dont go blind/crazy from the constant flashing.

I always thought this design would never work, and that the ships themselves would have to be massive...

 

[mike wightman]

Anyone read Footfall...

 

[Chaos]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
Anyone read Footfall...

Here! *raises hand*

That was one cool spaceship... the "Archangel Michael", right?

Well, the aliens deserved what they got - I mean, how could they think they would defeat a species that´s had several millenia´s worth of experience beating each other to pulp?

 

[mike wightman]

 

[parmasson]

Neat idea if you are into the Real World.

Sounds tough to make a quick get away. SDF patrol keeps following those bright puffs.
I like thruster plates!
All the thrust none of the rads.

 

[Chaos]

Originally posted by Parmasson:
Neat idea if you are into the Real World.

Sounds tough to make a quick get away. SDF patrol keeps following those bright puffs.
I like thruster plates!
All the thrust none of the rads.

So what?

"If they get too close, they´re going to sniff our exhaust tubes!"

 

[Uncle Bob]

When originally propsed Orion was going to launch from Earth surface. But that was in a day when we were still doing open-air nuke testing.


For a modern nuclear pulse rocket, look at
anti-matter catalyzed micro fision/fusion

 

[Andrew Boulton]

There's a good TV show about Project Orion ("To Mars By A-Bomb") which pops up over here every so often. It includes footage of the prototype flying (using conventional explosives!)

The real thing would have been enormous. With chemical rockets you need to keep the weight down, but with Orion you can make it as big as you like. Not quite a flying battleship, but not far off.

Arthur C Clarke's opinion is that the idea isn't crazy, but using it is.

 

[JAFARR]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
Anyone read Footfall...

Nivin? about an elephant like alien race invading Earth?

 

[mike wightman]

That's the one.