Beyond "TL 8 with Starships"

[dragon3r]

Traveller and D&D have Midwest roots, though the former steel belt hadn't been widely seen as in trouble when they were laid down in the 70's.

You're probably on safe ground that the deindustrialisation of the belt, as well as the big stock market crash, influenced the Rebellion and TNE.

Mongoose was founded in Swindon in 2001, so I don't know how much of a Rust Belt aesthetic informs their take on things.

Rust belt is just nice way of saying midwest, a different region say than the west coast or south. Still a lot of industry here, while back a long time ago they made the Wabash Cannonball here, our university team is still the Boilermakers, those factories have gone and been replaced by others: Subaru (Japanese), Rolls Royce (British), Oerlikon (Swiss), Nanshan Aluminum (Chinese), Evonik Pharmaceutical (German) just to name a few of the factories in this area. Indeed, I have no clue about Swindon. Edit: More than just the aesthetic, writng wise, both have the midwestern taciturn, passive aggressive, judgy, and sarcastic tone we are known for.

 

[Condottiere]

Non competitive heavy industries, associated with steel production.

 

[dragon3r]

We still have the biggest steel mill a hour north: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Works The Japanese keep trying to buy it. I was at a tavern here (pub) playing darts with an English guy, works at Tate & Lyle another British factory, we sat down and had another pint, the bartender brought him a grilled cheese and changed the channel to some English Football, he lit a cigarette and said he really didn't miss England too much. I didn't ask him why.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Well for one thing smoking is banned in pubs.

 

[dragon3r]

Banned in restaurants here, bars/pubs/taverns it goes by establishment, others they will have it banned inside, but out back is beer garden where it is not. The guy was driving a pretty nice new BMW, he was probably management.

 

[rinku]

Do gravitics and fusion tech in MGT2 become significantly cheaper as the TL advances? (haven't explored CSC or the vehicle sourcebook yet...). My head canon is that at TL12, grav cars with full flight capabilities, which do not need refueling (Fusion+ cells last for a long time IIRC), are as commonplace as ground cars in TL7, and that by TL15, you will have floating buildings and cities everywhere. But I'm not sure how canonical the cheap gravitics and fusion are. TL8 Air/Rafts are very expensive, after all, too expensive to be ubiquitous among the general civilian population most likely.

In High Guard, aside from some TL thresholds on the component tables, there's a discussion under Customising Ships, where you can apply advantages for components above their base TL and disadvantages for budget or prototype ones. But those are more about paying MORE for better performing components at higher techs. Probably what you're after is that section, with cost loadings for earlier than base TL stuff, which effectively makes the base TL version a cheaper product.

Fusion plants have listings for TL8, TL12 and TL15, with increasing outputs per ton, but are more expensive per power output too. You could design an early prototype of, say the TL12 one at TL11 for 5 times the cost, but you'd need to either make it 25% bigger or produce 25% less power. Either option would work if you were FORCED to use TL11, to get something like 1.25 power points per ton more than the TL8 plant... but at a cost premium.

Alternatively, a TL12 Budget model could be done at -25% cost and -25% output for 11.25 power points per ton output at MCr0.75 per ton.

So... not really worth it.

 

[MasterGwydion]

In High Guard, aside from some TL thresholds on the component tables, there's a discussion under Customising Ships, where you can apply advantages for components above their base TL and disadvantages for budget or prototype ones. But those are more about paying MORE for better performing components at higher techs. Probably what you're after is that section, with cost loadings for earlier than base TL stuff, which effectively makes the base TL version a cheaper product.

Fusion plants have listings for TL8, TL12 and TL15, with increasing outputs per ton, but are more expensive per power output too. You could design an early prototype of, say the TL12 one at TL11 for 5 times the cost, but you'd need to either make it 25% bigger or produce 25% less power. Either option would work if you were FORCED to use TL11, to get something like 1.25 power points per ton more than the TL8 plant... but at a cost premium.

Alternatively, a TL12 Budget model could be done at -25% cost and -25% output for 11.25 power points per ton output at MCr0.75 per ton.

So... not really worth it.

I usually use a house rule for this. I use the rules from the same section of HG and then add an option to build an unmodifed higher-tech version for a reduced cost.

 

[Condottiere]

For power plants, it sort of depends on what result you're trying to achieve.

Mini Mono Power Point Power Plants

PreFusion
. budget
.. colonial cooker
.. technological level six
.. one hundred fifty six and a quarter kilogrammes
.. thirty seven and a half kilostarbux
.. fifteen and five eighth kilogrammes fuel per month
. very advanced
.. technological level eight
.. hundred kilogrammes
.. fifty kilostarbux
.. ten kilogrammes fuel per month
. highly technologized
.. technological level nine
.. eighty seven and a half kilogrammes
.. fifty two and a half kilostarbux
.. eight and three quarter kilogrammes fuel per month

Standard Fusion
. budget
.. standard stove
.. technological level twelve
.. eighty three and one third kilogrammes
.. fifty kilostarbux
.. eight and one third kilogrammes fuel per month
. advanced
.. generator
.. technological level thirteen
.. sixty kilogrammes
.. sixty six kilostarbux
.. six kilogrammes fuel per month
. very advanced
.. technological level fourteen
.. fifty three and one third kilogrammes
.. sixty six and two third kilostarbux
.. five and one third kilogrammes fuel per month
. highly technologized
.. Merlin reactor
.. technological level fifteen
.. forty six and two thirds kilogrammes
.. seventy kilostarbux
.. four and two third kilogrammes fuel per month

Chemical
. budget
.. Bloch
.. technological level seven
.. two hundred fifty kilogrammes
.. thirty seven and a half kilostarbux
.. two and a half tonnes fuel per fortnight
. highly technologized
.. Benz
.. technological level ten
.. one hundred forty kilogrammes
.. fifty two and a half kilostarbux
.. one and two fifth tonnes fuel per fortnight

Batteries
. technological level ten
.. duracells
.. twenty five kilogrammes
.. twenty five hundred starbux
. technological level twelve
.. energizers
.. sixteen and two third kilogrammes
.. thirty three hundred thirty three and one third starbux

Solar Panels
. basic
.. technological level six
.. four tonnes
.. four hundred kilostarbux
. improved
.. technological level eight
.. two tonnes
.. four hundred kilostarbux
. enhanced
.. technological level ten
.. one tonne
.. three hundred kilostarbux
. advanced
.. technological level twelve
.. half tonne
.. two hundred kilostarbux

Solar Coating
. enhanced
.. technological level ten
.. ten allocated standard/sphere configured tonnes
.. three megastarbux
. advanced
.. technological level twelve
.. five allocated standard/sphere configured tonnes
.. two megastarbux


Solar panels technological level twelve is half a tonne for one power point, and costs two hundred kilostarbux.

It would cost two hundred starbux for annual maintenance.

Standard stove is six times smaller, and costs four times less; in theory, hundred kilogrammes of fuel per annum, which even at retail, refined fuel costs fifty starbux.

The colonial cooker would be three and a fifth smaller, and costs five and a third less; fuel consumption one hundred eighty seven and a half kilogrammes per annum, ninety three and a half starbux.