Emergency Beacon Detection Range

[Condottiere]

Beg to differ. A 1-ton escape pod (that I built) requires a whopping .2 power points (.1 for the pod and .1 for the low berth). I say go as small as needed.

I'd switch to batteries and solar energy.

You probably have to utilize a power plant from another design system.

 

[Arkathan]

Thank you, but we are talking about a different type of generator.

Actually you are talking about a different type of reactor.
We've been talking about things that will power Traveller ships.
The mention of RTG's earlier was to illustrate how far a low power transmission will go.

The real world says different, I have provided the wiki links, would you like the links to the companies developing these things?

No, because we are not talking about a low power, unmanned probe option.

The post you initially quoted of mine was directed at Condottiere, who was commenting about monthly fuel for a fission plant - The uranium is for the life of the reactor while the monthly "fuel" is maintenance on coolant.

 

[Arkathan]

I'd switch to batteries and solar energy.

You probably have to utilize a power plant from another design system.

Both the Stirling and the HG small craft power plants work for the Pod's purpose.
The issue earlier was a spreadsheet rounding error that only cropped up by abusing the system, and has been resolved.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Actually you are talking about a different type of reactor.
We've been talking about things that will power Traveller ships.

The topic was powering an emergency beacon...

The mention of RTG's earlier was to illustrate how far a low power transmission will go.

and as the long term power supply for a beacon that may have to transmit for decades...

No, because we are not talking about a low power, unmanned probe option.

we were talking about an emergency beacon.

But the 10kW KiloPower unit is intended for manned missions and bases.

The post you initially quoted of mine was directed at Condottiere, who was commenting about monthly fuel for a fission plant - The uranium is for the life of the reactor while the monthly "fuel" is maintenance on coolant.

I had not noticed he had changed the topic, ah well. I think I have been talking past you, a fission reactor with all its cooling systems and heat transfer mechanism are a different thing, since they are a complex boiler to generate the steam for the turbine.

I still think the "fuel" use rate for the fission reactor is way too high.

 

[Condottiere]

I haven't seen any mention in this edition/update as to the cost of uranium fuel rods for fission reactors, nor the duration of such.

Let's see if I can track down the particular post on High Guard reactors.

 

[Arkathan]

I still think the "fuel" use rate for the fission reactor is way too high.

Yes.

 

[Condottiere]

Jan 5, 2024
Add bookmark
#4,621
Spaceships: Engineering and Chemical Reactors

1. Now that the fuel issue with prefusion reactors has been clarified, chemical reactors have lost all relevance.

2. Unlike high burn thrusters, you can't even use them to surge energy production, since that's what batteries are for.

3. It does leave one niche case, that I've been cultivating for years.

4. Besides mechanic aspect, and that you might get around with solar panelling, even if that exploit has now been fixed.

5. Loteched short range shuttle.

6. The reactionary rockets will guzzle up the fuel, anyway.

7. So the operational window is going to be rather constrained.

8. Since it's a question of hours, even at two hundred times the consumption level of fusion reactors, it's like sipping coffee.

9. In the long term, fusioned thrusters are cheaper, but chemicalled rockets have less initial capital outlay.


Would appear to be a post from just before this date.

 

[Condottiere]

This was probably triggered off by the publication of Small Craft Catalogue.



CIVILIAN HOPPER

Power Plant
Fission (TL6), Power 4

Fuel Tanks
8 weeks of operation


FREIGHT HANDLER POD

Power Plant
Fission (TL6), Power 4

Fuel Tanks
8 weeks of operation


AUTOMATED LIFEBOAT

Power Plant
Fission (TL6), Power 4

Fuel Tanks
8 weeks of operation

 

[Arkathan]

I haven't seen any mention in this edition/update as to the cost of uranium fuel rods for fission reactors, nor the duration of such.

I have not seen anything currently in print that applies, beyond the refit rules.
So on a ship, it takes 1.5x the cost of a new construction of the plant, and takes 1/4 the time in a shipyard.
The cost replaces the entire plant.
That would be appropriate for disposal of the radioactive waste plus a uranium/thorium refuel as well, even though the availability of a nuclear damper could rapidly render the used waste inert.

 

[Condottiere]

Rockets cost the same percentage to refit, as does all engineering, including chemical power plants.

Outside of some obscure supplement, there doesn't seem to be any mention in the current edition of uranium fuel rods, or whatever fissile material are fed to fission reactors.

And now I have to check to see if I actually have that supplement.

 

[Terry Mixon]

I'd switch to batteries and solar energy.

You probably have to utilize a power plant from another design system.

Solar takes up a good bit of space and is chancy if not near a star. Batteries cannot last years on such a small pod. I stand by my statement that power can be and is needed in sub point increments.

 

[Arkathan]

Solar takes up a good bit of space and is chancy if not near a star. Batteries cannot last years on such a small pod. I stand by my statement that power can be and is needed in sub point increments.

Homeshield Mini-Fighter
Page 46 of the Small Craft Catalogue
2.5 power. Designed for fractions of a power point.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Homeshield Mini-Fighter
Page 46 of the Small Craft Catalogue
2.5 power. Designed for fractions of a power point.

Thanks. Beat me to it. Just went hunting and found it. Also scanned High Guard. No mention of a minimum power plant size, so fractions below 1 power point are legal, too. They are edge cases, agreed, but legal.

 

[Arkathan]

Thanks. Beat me to it. Just went hunting and found it. Also scanned High Guard. No mention of a minimum power plant size, so fractions below 1 are legal, too. They are edge cases, agreed, but legal.

Once you get rid of the minimum 1 ton of fuel, you open a can of very wriggly worms.

 

[Sigtrygg]

I would like an official ruling on that minimum of 1 ton fuel.
If I have a 3t power plant it needs 0.3 tons of fuel for 4 weeks

The minimum amount is 1t.

Is that 1t for 4 weeks or is it a case of 1 ton so 3 x 0.3 so you get 12 weeks operation?

 

[Arkathan]

Page 16, Small Craft Catalogue
Advertising Boat
.1 tons of fuel for 4 weeks.

The Public House module on page 11 uses .5 tons of fuel every 40 weeks.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Once you get rid of the minimum 1 ton of fuel, you open a can of very wriggly worms.

Worms are good for design fishing.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Page 16, Small Craft Catalogue
Advertising Boat
.1 tons of fuel for 4 weeks.

The Public House module on page 11 uses .5 tons of fuel every 40 weeks.

And the small craft rules on fuel removed the 1 ton minimum for craft under 100 tons, so the floor is the limit.

 

[Condottiere]

The design techniques in use in the Far Side of Nowhere permit very small power plants to be produced, to a minimum of 1 Power output. Likewise, fuel tankage does not have to be a neat multiple of four weeks’ endurance. A fuel tank can be any size down to 0.1 tons. For example, if a small craft using a TL12 fusion power plant needs Power 3, a 0.2 ton plant will suffice. This would require 0.02 tons of fuel per four weeks of endurance; a minimal 0.1 ton tank would provide 20 weeks’ endurance. The converse is also true. A five ton fusion power plant needs 0.5 tons of fuel for four weeks’ endurance but this might be more than a craft needs. It would be acceptable to give the craft 0.25 tons of fuel tankage, providing an operational duration of two weeks.

DEEPNIGHT REVELATION FAR SIDE OF NOWHERE page seventy eight

 

[Terry Mixon]

The design techniques in use in the Far Side of Nowhere permit very small power plants to be produced, to a minimum of 1 Power output. Likewise, fuel tankage does not have to be a neat multiple of four weeks’ endurance. A fuel tank can be any size down to 0.1 tons. For example, if a small craft using a TL12 fusion power plant needs Power 3, a 0.2 ton plant will suffice. This would require 0.02 tons of fuel per four weeks of endurance; a minimal 0.1 ton tank would provide 20 weeks’ endurance. The converse is also true. A five ton fusion power plant needs 0.5 tons of fuel for four weeks’ endurance but this might be more than a craft needs. It would be acceptable to give the craft 0.25 tons of fuel tankage, providing an operational duration of two weeks.

DEEPNIGHT REVELATION FAR SIDE OF NOWHERE page seventy eight

As High Guard doesn’t seem to have a minimum power plant size (that I’ve found), I’m inclined to disregard a setting/adventure modification that adds a restriction that isn’t in the main books.

That said, if there is a lower cap on power plant size, I could work with these rules but they all need to be dragged into one document and conflicts resolved. Right now, the conflicts make us guess what is really in the rules and have to make guesses.

At least it means the annoying less than 4 weeks of fuel warning could go away.