I worked on some ideas for lower TL power plants and man. drives for a possible Melieu 0 campaign you might be interested in. These are my notes only, not play-tested, or considered too much yet. I based what I came up with from TNE and T4 information primarily. Some of the numbers were tweaked to make things more playable. It is not scientifically accurate, just based upon TNE/T4.
This is my untested rough draft of notes!:
MD's (make adjustments below based upon the the base MGT MD found in the core book)
TL 9 Early Contra-Grav: Cost 1/4. Only allows craft to reach orbit, not enter space.
TL 12 Advanced Contra-Grav: Cost 1/2. Tonnage 1/2? Only allows craft to reach orbit, not enter space.
TL 10 Fusion: Tonnage x4, Cost x5? Requires Fusion PP. Makes Fusion PP fuel per hour instead of per 2 weeks? Unsafe to enter atmosphere due to radioactivity. Streamlining required, does not include contra-grav.
TL 10 Heplar: Tonnage 1/4. Requires PP of 2 codes higher. Price 1/10.
Requires a Fusion PP. Streamlining required (doesn't include anti-grav).
TL 12 Thruster Plates: This is the base MGT MD in the core book. Allows travel into all environments but deep space. Includes contra-gravity.
PP's (make adjustments below based upon the the base MGT PP found in the core book)
TL 7 Gas Turbine: Tonnage x15, Cost 1/20. Fuel is per 2 hours. Min size?
TL 8 MHD Turbine: Tonnage x10, Cost 1/10. Fuel is per 2 hours. Min size?
TL 6 Early Fission: Tonnage x10?, Cost 1/2. Fuel is per year?? Min. size C.
TL 8 Advanced Fission: Tonange x5?, Cost 1/2. Fuel is per year?? Min size B.
TL 8 Early Fuel Cell: Tonnage x10, Cost 1/10. Fuel is per hour (should be 10x this).
TL 12 Standard Fuel Cell: Tonnage x6, Cost 1/10. Fuel is per hour (should be 10x this).
TL 15 Advanced Fuel Cell: Tonnage x2, Cost 1/10. Fuel is per 2 hours (should be 10x this).
TL 9 Early Fusion: Tonnage x2, Cost same. Fuel same. Min. size L.
TL 11? Fusion+ (cold fusion): Tonnage same, Cost 1/2. Fuel per week (instead of 2 weeks). Capable of very small sizes, but higher fuel requirment, so most often used in vehicles, battle dress, etc.
TL 12 Standard Fusion: The MGT standard PP.
I also had some guesses on some of the MD's and PP's being small enough for small craft, when High Guard comes out. I gave the minimum sizes for small craft / vehicles a small case letter. A.i. a Fusion+ PP had a min. size of d. I liked the idea of MDs and PPs for small craft or vehicles having small cased drive codes (a-z instead of A-Z) to keep the same, simple system. I never developed a table of such though, waiting to see what MGT High Guard does.
But, I would assume they did. Remember that this was being developed as an addon for the SIMPLE system found in MGT core that doesn't even specify what kind of fuel you are using.
