Realistic Thrusters for CT
- Thread starter jac
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Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
I'd be interested to see how you go. Thrusters seem to be either fusion torch devices that lead to all manner of reaction-mass problems, or reactionless drives that depend on far too much handwavium for my liking. I've been pondering this problem for thirty years, so I'd love someone to find me an answer. 
Once upon a time I seem to recall that Traveller allowed for the ship's M-Drives to be used as close range weapons. I may be wrong - I've played this game for so long that sometimes I get my house rules mixed up with official rules with something I read in Space Gamer.....
Maybe it was in the first edition and vanished, or HG1, or...Mayday?
Maybe it was in the first edition and vanished, or HG1, or...Mayday?
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
That might've been 1st ed.
You could try converting some of the drives from FF&S.
You could try converting some of the drives from FF&S.
Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
It was HG1.
Peter Schutze
SOC-12
>and will have a number of house rules including realistic thrusters
there are options in Fire Fusion & Steel as well as a pretty good article on the whole subject in a Challenge magazine
be careful how realistic you get .... you have heavy maths specific impulse calculations in rocketry etc at one end with E=MC2 issues at the other .... for example the effect of being hit by mass driver "exhaust" travelling at significant fractions of C
there are options in Fire Fusion & Steel as well as a pretty good article on the whole subject in a Challenge magazine
be careful how realistic you get .... you have heavy maths specific impulse calculations in rocketry etc at one end with E=MC2 issues at the other .... for example the effect of being hit by mass driver "exhaust" travelling at significant fractions of C
CosmicGamer
SOC-14 1K
Personally I love hand waving. If you can explain the technology then it is something that is possible today or in the near future. I want a sci-fi game with future tech which requires hand waving. Note that this does not mean breaking basic laws of science - of course these laws were determined by perfect scientists who have never been wrong in the past...
Was environmental systems or gravity on space vessels, including the shuttle, ever described in Star Trek? I like my transporters (via psionics in Traveller), hand held energy weapons, tiny wireless communicators... oh, wait, we have that one already.
Was environmental systems or gravity on space vessels, including the shuttle, ever described in Star Trek? I like my transporters (via psionics in Traveller), hand held energy weapons, tiny wireless communicators... oh, wait, we have that one already.
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Gray Lensman
SOC-13
GDW's Hard Times supplement for the Megatraveller rules system has a section entitled One Small Step that may give you some ideas.
Fusion drives, Thermal Nuclear, Mass Driver, Ion rockets, chemical rockets and more are covered.
Fusion drives, Thermal Nuclear, Mass Driver, Ion rockets, chemical rockets and more are covered.
Thanks for the suggestions. I do love a good handwave from time to time, but I'm looking to do something with a minimum of waving. My FTL drive is similar to a jump drive, except it extracts and inflates virtual wormholes out of the quantum foam underlying the universe. The trip is instantaneous, but are short, generally less than half a parsec, and you have to locate your position precisely before jumping again, thus keeping travel times in weeks between stars. Makes good use of character's navigation skills.
I'm an engineer and a geek, so math doesn't frighten me. I'll have to fight to keep it to a minimum.
...later...
I'm an engineer and a geek, so math doesn't frighten me. I'll have to fight to keep it to a minimum.
...later...
Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
Well, I'd say if you can explain the technology, it's something that's possible today or in the future - I'm not so sure about 'near'.
If you can't even explain the technology, it might not be possible at all. My golden rule with technology is the immortal words from the LBBs (that I can never find when I want to quote them
) about Traveller tech being explainable and excluding mysterious zapotron rays.As I've stated in technology threads before, I need to know what the black box does and how it links to the rest of the universe, without needing to look inside the black box and see how it does what it does.
Of course, I agree we don't know everything, and armchair rule-writers know a lot less than cutting edge scientists, but I feel an attitude of 'bung it in, nobody knows or cares' perhaps short-changes the readers.
YMMV.
EDIT:
My transporters work (will work when they're invented at TL 16/17) thanks to an increased capability with short range Jump travel facilitated by the increased energy available from antimatter. Explainable but not detailed.
My antigrav works by a subtle interplay between the electromagnetic field and the gravitational field, discovered when quantum mechanics and relativity are reconciled. Explainable but not detailed.
My hand held energy weapons are down to greatly enhanced semiconductors and energy storage techniques developed after the discovery of room temperature superconductors. Explainable but not detailed.
My tiny wireless communicators work via subtle manipulations of the electromagnetic field resulting from a fuller understanding of quantum mechanics Explainable but not detailed. Oops, yes you're right, we already have those...
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mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
It was first edition High Guard that stated maneuver drives were fusion torches and could be used as a close range weapon.
On to 'realistic' thrusters.
My solution was to simply swap the CT m-drive table with the j-drive table (this gives big m-drives and small j-drives) and make the jump fuel required reaction mass for the m-drive.
On to 'realistic' thrusters.
My solution was to simply swap the CT m-drive table with the j-drive table (this gives big m-drives and small j-drives) and make the jump fuel required reaction mass for the m-drive.
Pdf file of MTU's most common maneuver drive
http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=22782
Comments please?
http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=22782
Comments please?
If you can't even explain the technology, it might not be possible at all. My golden rule with technology is the immortal words from the LBBs (that I can never find when I want to quote them
Much like a TL 1 person trying to explain from his knowledge of the world, the working of the space shuttle or a cell phone. Similar is a TL 7 person trying to envision & explain basic items from TL 15...
Ya going to need the SOL hotline to help ya.Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
The difference is that a TL1 person has no knowledge of the laws of physics. For him, everything is equally possible or impossible, because it all depends on 'magic'.
Today, we have a much better idea of what might be possible one day, because we have a firmer grasp of the rules that the universe obeys.
Now ok, Clarke had his own take on 'magic', and he may be right, but I still think there are limits.
In any case, if I wanted to game in a universe that depended on magic or technomagic, I'd be playing D&D, or at least Star Wars, not Traveller.
To me, the essence of Traveller is that elusive quote that I have now tracked down to Striker Book 3:
"In Striker, the attempt is made to base technology on principles that are at least logically explainable (even if far beyond present science) avoiding the introduction of mysterious 'zapotron rays'."
Once you get into a Drexlerian world, or the world of '3001', with all the galaxy-spanning, instantaneous travel and form-changing hardware, and the players start wanting bioform weapons that morph out of their own leg and fire miniature black holes...
Well, it's just not the wild frontier, pulp action derring-do game that I've come to love.
YMMV.
Today, we have a much better idea of what might be possible one day, because we have a firmer grasp of the rules that the universe obeys.
Now ok, Clarke had his own take on 'magic', and he may be right, but I still think there are limits.
In any case, if I wanted to game in a universe that depended on magic or technomagic, I'd be playing D&D, or at least Star Wars, not Traveller.
To me, the essence of Traveller is that elusive quote that I have now tracked down to Striker Book 3:
"In Striker, the attempt is made to base technology on principles that are at least logically explainable (even if far beyond present science) avoiding the introduction of mysterious 'zapotron rays'."
Once you get into a Drexlerian world, or the world of '3001', with all the galaxy-spanning, instantaneous travel and form-changing hardware, and the players start wanting bioform weapons that morph out of their own leg and fire miniature black holes...
Well, it's just not the wild frontier, pulp action derring-do game that I've come to love.
YMMV.
Man, in every age thinks he has it "nailed". And, we always find we knew MUCH less than we thought. 2000 years from now people will look back at our time and laugh at how we thought we KNEW what was possible and what was impossible.
Peter Schutze
SOC-12
>The difference is that a TL1 person has no knowledge of the laws of physics. For him, everything is equally possible or impossible, because it all depends on 'magic'.
a TL1 person in a society with no education system or on a world thats always been cut-off from the rest of the known space thus never corrupted by high tech knowledge
a TL1 person in a society with no education system or on a world thats always been cut-off from the rest of the known space thus never corrupted by high tech knowledge
Vile
SOC-12
Elegant solution. After all, the thing we're after is ships with big fuel tanks, right? I'd also ramp down the endurance, though.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
I did - each 10% of hull mass for fuel was good for 1 day of continuous burn. Ships spent a lot of time coasting on interplanetary hops.
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