How does Traveller handle artificial gravity on ships

[Delerium]

A thought occurred to me yesterday about Traveller.

How do they have "artificial gravity" on ships?

Or...maybe they don't.

I never considered it before.

I thought at first, "oh well they got anti-grav" so no problem, except then I was thinking there is no gravity well in space for an anti-gravity device to "repel from"

So...how oO

 

[Shiloh]

A thought occurred to me yesterday about Traveller.

How do they have "artificial gravity" on ships?

Or...maybe they don't.

I never considered it before.

I thought at first, "oh well they got anti-grav" so no problem, except then I was thinking there is no gravity well in space for an anti-gravity device to "repel from"

So...how oO

It's usually explained as "grav plates" in the decking. IIRC, they can be adjusted from "off" to a max of 2G as standard, and anti-hijack protocols make use of this capacity. I think the standard tech base has pretty much complete control of gravity...

 

[Delerium]

So these plates actually generate gravity?

 

[RedBeardSean]

So these plates actually generate gravity?

Yes.

 

[dmccoy1693]

How do they work? Just like the Heisenberg compensators on Star Trek, "They work very well, thank you."

 

[Paladin]

How do they work? Just like the Heisenberg compensators on Star Trek, "They work very well, thank you."

I like that.

 

[Shiloh]

So these plates actually generate gravity?

Yes.

But only on the top... it's directional gravity, see...?

Like many staples of SF, there's probably unobtanium, handwavium and exotic energy involved...

 

[EDG]

So these plates actually generate gravity?

No.

Think about it for a sec - ships can't be going through space radiating a gravity field of 1g, they'd screw up planetary orbits all around them. More to the point, they'd attract other ships toward them too because of their gravitational field.

Whatever artificial gravity is, I think it's got to be pseudo-gravity - similar to what you get in a rotating body. The force generated in a rotating space station isn't really gravity - it's a force directed at right angles to the rotation, that only really exists within the spinning body but that behaves similar way to real gravity. Thus it won't screw up anything around it.

The same must apply to artificial gravity plates in Traveller - whatever force they generate feels like gravity, but must remain within the hull of the ship.

 

[Tathlum]

wizard did it

 

[RedBeardSean]

wizard did it

Wrong genre.

Ancient did it.

:lol:

 

[StephenT]

As I understand it, the grav plates are paired: you need one in the floor and one in the ceiling. The gravitic force is exerted between the two plates and doesn't extend outside them. Depending on tech level, grav plates also act as inertial compensators to damp out the effects of acceleration.

Ships of the Third Imperium had grav plates that could be adjusted quickly to produce a grav field of -2G to 2G (or possibly 6G). When Virus attacked, it discovered that switching the gravity between those two extremes a hundred times a second was a good way to convert human crews into chunky salsa. Ships build in the New Era have safety interlocks to prevent this.

 

[dmccoy1693]

As I understand it, the grav plates are paired: you need one in the floor and one in the ceiling. The gravitic force is exerted between the two plates and doesn't extend outside them.

Great, all humanity needs, another type of artificial field that we're willingly spending time in to make us sterile.

 

[EDG]

As I understand it, the grav plates are paired: you need one in the floor and one in the ceiling. The gravitic force is exerted between the two plates and doesn't extend outside them.

I'm sure I've heard that explanation for Star Trek, but not for Traveller.

 

[Commander Drax]

It was mentioned in MegaTraveller that artificial gravity fields as generated with Imperial technology had a faster 'drop off' rate than natural gravity fields and would decay well within 50,000 km.

 

[RedBeardSean]

Great, all humanity needs, another type of artificial field that we're willingly spending time in to make us sterile.

Flourescent lighting wasn't doing the job quickly enough.

 

[EDG]

It was mentioned in MegaTraveller that artificial gravity fields as generated with Imperial technology had a faster 'drop off' rate than natural gravity fields and would decay well within 50,000 km.

Even if that were the case, that just pushes it further into the realms of magic armwave technology, because now it's not even making a force that's anything like actual gravity at all because gravity should be inversely proportional to the square of the distance. Every other field that's artificially generated behaves the same as a natural one, so why should gravity be any different?

Not to bang my own drum, but I think my explanation is the only one that actually fits the setting or makes any kind of sense because (a) there's a precedent for pseudo-gravity already (in the gravity-like centrifugal force of a rotating station), (b) it's probably more realistic to say that any kind of artificial gravity wouldn't be real gravity in the first place, and (c) it doesn't create any gravity-like effects outside the ship, while allowing gravity-like effects within the hull (which matches what is known about how artificial gravity works). And also, you can change the strength of the field by fiddling with the settings/putting more power into the plates (just like you can change the strength of the pseudo-gravity in a rotating station by rotating it faster).

 

[captainjack23]

It was mentioned in MegaTraveller that artificial gravity fields as generated with Imperial technology had a faster 'drop off' rate than natural gravity fields and would decay well within 50,000 km.

I don't think there's much argument that whatever makes a traveller's feet stick to the floor is real gravity (which is an effect of mass); artificial grav has always been a pretty loose term. call it that or pseudograv as you will.

Sounds like the upper and lower plate model works like a charm -creates a closed environment of pseudo/artificial gravity with little significant interaction outside the intended area. I think that's the description in the DGP starship owners manual.

Ideas about the internal grav field are more reliant on how the M drive works than anything, really. If it (M drive) gives a vector, with inertial effects, then the field has to include a compensation factor and one could overload the grave field by acceleration....and have to worry about all kinds of things.

Simplest answer is to assume that the M drive produces a pseudovelocity with no inertial effects - so all the ships grav needs to do is stick the Travellers feet to the floor.....and compensate for occasional "real" vector changes -ie, say a collision with a inertially moving object. Much easier.

Plus a pseudovelocity thrust is more amenable to arbitrary limits -why a 6G acceleration limit ? That's the max speed that a thruster can simulate.

 

[GypsyComet]

I've always taken the maximum thrust vs tech level (first seen in CT High Guard) to represent not the limits of thrusters, but the limits of the life support gravitics to perform inertial compensation.

That and complex internal grav means more amusing ways to represent damage and old age of a starship when I'm running the game...

 

[Shiloh]

I've always taken the maximum thrust vs tech level (first seen in CT High Guard) to represent not the limits of thrusters, but the limits of the life support gravitics to perform inertial compensation.

Trouble with that approach is that there are non-gravitic ways of mitigating maneuver Gs. Even if the grav-plates can only nullify/create 1G (minimum for "normal" operation) that only leaves 5G to compensate for, and there are rollercoasters that throw that at you (briefly). Fighter jockeys pull 8G turns without blackout, using reclined seats, G-suits and special breathing techniques.

Even if you reckon the maximum G-force that can be sustained for hours is 2 or 3, that means the minimum thrust rating would be 3 or 4, if the internal gravitic compensation was the limiter.

 

[Jame Rowe]

Not to bang my own drum, but I think my explanation is the only one that actually fits the setting or makes any kind of sense because (a) there's a precedent for pseudo-gravity already (in the gravity-like centrifugal force of a rotating station), (b) it's probably more realistic to say that any kind of artificial gravity wouldn't be real gravity in the first place, and (c) it doesn't create any gravity-like effects outside the ship, while allowing gravity-like effects within the hull (which matches what is known about how artificial gravity works). And also, you can change the strength of the field by fiddling with the settings/putting more power into the plates (just like you can change the strength of the pseudo-gravity in a rotating station by rotating it faster).

If I had to explain grav plates, this would be a primary component of it.