Batteries and Jump Drive

[PsiTraveller]

AnotherDilbert: I was using the 75 Power type A2 Far Trader on pg 118 of HG. The 90 Power version on pg 116 has an extra ton of fusion plant, but lacks any armour so will really get hammered in combat.
Youa re right though, the extra 41 power would be enough to power the turrets and pulse lasers.

As for the lack of good gunners, I was thinking of a players ship where they probably have a really good gunner to man the turrets, or the owner has to spend some money on Fire Control software. This is a good thing, all the extra options makes for more choices and gets the players more involved in planning for ship use, or attacking other ships. You never know when a ship is going to have a heck of a return punch.

 

[wbnc]

How long does ship combat last anyways? I don't have much experience. I'm thinking that ships should be able to last at least 1 hour minimum.

Much more than a round or two. A couple of Free Traders with laser turrets fighting each other might last 10 rounds. Well protected warships will probably take longer.

in a worst case scenario, a ship that is making a fighting retreat planning to jump ASAP would need up to almost to hours to complete jump preparations. SO a good engineer would be a real boon hee, in addition to a good gunner

An advantage to having batteries in addition to reactors is in the event of damage to the reactor.
A ship can run on reduced systems and might be able to redirect power to the guns, but if the reactor has taken a hit and lost a portion of its generation capacity even running on minimum systems power might not be enough to run fight and jump...having a reserve of power would be a real plus.

and one dirty trick that would be available is Cutting power output, slowing to allow the enemy to overtake and board, then blasting them at point blank range. the reactors power output can be monitor due to heat and other factors. batteries just set there until you tap them...a pirate sliding up next to a powered down trader would feel very confident until the "dead" turrets snap around and unload six pulse laser blasts at point blank range without any warning...or better yet two pop up turrets extend and six pulse lasers rip him a new orifice. Heck, a drunk beaker monkey on meth could hit a starship at that range.

better yet six high yield intense focus pulse lasers If i am gonna go in debt for the next forty years, I am going to go a little further in debt for extra guns, And I am going to buy really nice guns...

 

[Condottiere]

High speed gravitic motors suck too much energy; batteries don't compare to a constant source like a fusion plant.

Super efficient reaction rockets, with kinetic weapon systems, and the battery powering only electronics and life support.

Of course, at this point, you start adding solar panelling.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

As for the lack of good gunners, I was thinking of a players ship where they probably have a really good gunner to man the turrets, or the owner has to spend some money on Fire Control software.

We obviously hang out with different players. I see a lot more hotshot pilots than hotshot gunners...

Maybe that will change with Mongoose char gen, Gunnery seems more easily available.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

in a worst case scenario, a ship that is making a fighting retreat planning to jump ASAP would need up to almost to hours to complete jump preparations. SO a good engineer would be a real boon hee, in addition to a good gunner

With hasty tasks you can do it in 2 rounds?

 

[AnotherDilbert]

High speed gravitic motors suck too much energy; batteries don't compare to a constant source like a fusion plant.

I agree, but batteries are presumably easier to retrofit to an existing vessel. They are also quite cheap. Replacing the power plant is a major operation and cost.

 

[phavoc]

So why don't ships power their jump drive while on the ground, or tap into the starport's power grid to charge it? How long does the charge last once the jump capacitors are charged?

And just how long does it take to use your fuel to generate your jump bubble of exotic particles? It has to be near instantaneous as a ship that has been accelerating at 1G for 2hrs is 35 Km away from it's previous position every second. So either your exotic particles are traveling with you as you generate your cloud, or somehow a field is generated to keep the particles with you as you zip along.

 

[PsiTraveller]

I had players that wanted to be the ones who shot the enemy up, so 3 out of 5 players took at least 1 or 2 ranks in Gunnery.
Several also took piloting and a couple took engineering so they could initiate Jump. Maybe my players were different, they wanted to be the ones shooting.

Phavoc: I think it is another case of a lot of handwaving as to how long or effective the instantaneous jump capacitors are. Batteries are allowed as the express boat shows, but charging up at port and holding the charge is not likely.

I might be tempted to allow for about an hour, the duration of the initiate Jump check. The Jump Drive is charged and able to start a jump field but if you do not finish the calculations and create a field by the end of the hour you will lose the charge and need another 40 points of power from somewhere.

Now could a ship "Jump start" another ships drive? Hook cables across space and provide some power to the drive. That might make for an interesting event in an adventure. A crippled ship excapes by getting a boost from another ship. There is a coolness factor in the image that I like. It may not be in the rules, but makes for a cool story.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

And just how long does it take to use your fuel to generate your jump bubble of exotic particles? It has to be near instantaneous as a ship that has been accelerating at 1G for 2hrs is 35 Km away from it's previous position every second. So either your exotic particles are traveling with you as you generate your cloud, or somehow a field is generated to keep the particles with you as you zip along.

Everything you drop will have the same velocity vector you have. Nothing will drift away unless you accelerate after dropping it.

 

[AndrewW]

Batteries are allowed as the express boat shows, but charging up at port and holding the charge is not likely.

The batteries can hold a charge, this may be used on some ships that charge the battery up over time with excess from the power plant to be used when needed.

 

[PsiTraveller]

Sorry for not being clear AndrewW. I typed my response badly.
Charging a battery at port would hold a charge, or from spare power of operations over a period of time would work as well.

Charging Jump capacitors or a Jump engine at a port would not, in my opinion, be possible. that is just my opinion

 

[Spartan159]

Sorry for not being clear AndrewW. I typed my response badly.
Charging a battery at port would hold a charge, or from spare power of operations over a period of time would work as well.

Charging Jump capacitors or a Jump engine at a port would not, in my opinion, be possible. that is just my opinion

http://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/posting.php?mode=quote&f=89&t=119940&p=914608#

Sure it's possible. If you intend to leave a large smoking crater where you were, and at the very best be mis-jumping somewhere instead of being part of the plasma wafting in the crater that is...

 

[phavoc]

And just how long does it take to use your fuel to generate your jump bubble of exotic particles? It has to be near instantaneous as a ship that has been accelerating at 1G for 2hrs is 35 Km away from it's previous position every second. So either your exotic particles are traveling with you as you generate your cloud, or somehow a field is generated to keep the particles with you as you zip along.

Everything you drop will have the same velocity vector you have. Nothing will drift away unless you accelerate after dropping it.

That's true, but nowhere does it say you have to cut thrust before jumping. Essentially you would have to stop maneuvering and thrusting - in essence a sitting (albeit still moving) target.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

That's true, but nowhere does it say you have to cut thrust before jumping. Essentially you would have to stop maneuvering and thrusting - in essence a sitting (albeit still moving) target.

Agreed, that would be a problem. Most ships would require you to shut down the thrusters to power the jump drive anyway.

 

[phavoc]

That's true, but nowhere does it say you have to cut thrust before jumping. Essentially you would have to stop maneuvering and thrusting - in essence a sitting (albeit still moving) target.

Agreed, that would be a problem. Most ships would require you to shut down the thrusters to power the jump drive anyway.

The reason I had posed the question was because of the discussion related to powering your jump drive with batteries. In previous versions your fusion reactor went into a fast-cycle of power generation and used the LHyd to generate power that was shunted into your jump grid that when activated got you into jump space. MGT changed that to using LHyd to create an artificial universe of exotic particles.

So the question remains, if you can use batteries to power your jump drive, you can start charging your batteries in port and once you hit the 100D limit go into jump space. Or even negating the need for a reactor if you can just use batteries the whole way (or a very teeny reactor for powering your life support and anti-gravity field.

The other question is just how that bubble is created, and how long it takes to do so.

Without knowing one has to assume that it's gotta be instantaneous, because nowhere in the rules (that I'm aware of at least) does it say your ship must cut thrust. And there was a discussion on the board that had, under the current rules, the old concept of ships retaining their entry velocity upon exiting jump space. Which makes sense under the old rules (no bubble), but not so much when a bubble needs to be created while moving.

 

[Condottiere]

You could charge them in port, but since your fusion reactor can be on all the time, that seems the easier and safer way, especially if you misjump.

 

[DivineWrath]

Ships powered by only batteries can't survive going through a jump. I tried. At best, it might survive 16 to 24 hours (depending on battery capacity). This was after using every bit of space possible to fit in more batteries.

This does not factor in attempts to reduce power. If you can cut power consumption to less than 14% to 9% basic systems needs (depending on battery capacity), then maybe you can make it.

 

[Jeraa]

Ships powered by only batteries can't survive going through a jump. I tried. At best, it might survive 16 to 24 hours (depending on battery capacity). This was after using every bit of space possible to fit in more batteries.

This does not factor in attempts to reduce power. If you can cut power consumption to less than 14% to 9% basic systems needs (depending on battery capacity), then maybe you can make it.

I don't think anyone is trying to do that. Just trying to use batteries to use the jump drive, which only needs to be powered when initializing jump. Not for the entire time.

Edit: I was wrong. I see phavoc did mention it.

 

[Condottiere]

You're a week isolated in your ship, isolated in a bubble, isolated in another universe.

Everyone goes into cold storage, and the ship systems go into hibernation.

Except for the deep freeze lockers.

 

[wbnc]

You're a week isolated in your ship, isolated in a bubble, isolated in another universe.

Everyone goes into cold storage, and the ship systems go into hibernation.

Except for the deep freeze lockers.

sounds like ships from the "Aliens" universe. They obviously have FTL and the Sulaco made the trip from earth to Lv-246 in a week or two if I remember right. But they went into cold sleep to cut down on life support requirements.