MgT HG: Spacecraft Options Power Plant requirements

[snrdg121408]

Morning all,

Looking over the HG (pdf) Spacecraft Options p. 42 states the following:

Chemical power plants: A chemical power plant is 40% bigger than
its fusion equivalent, costs MCr 1.25 per ton and requires 20 times
the amount of fuel for the same endurance.

Size equation 1: Fusion size + (Fusion size * 0.4) = Chemical Size
Size equation 2: Fusion size * 1.4 = Chenical Size

Going to the Small Craft Drives Table on p. 58 and the Chemical power plant 2 week fuel requirement on p. 59 there appears to be a divergence from the rule that a chemical plant is 40% larger than a fusion system as cited above.

The sA Fusion power plant has a displacement of 1.2 d-tons and the chemical verion is 2 d-tons. From the optional rule my calculation for a sA Chemical Powr Plant is round(1.2 * 1.4,1) = round(1.68,1) = 1.7 d-tons
Rounding 1.7 d-tons to 2 matches the table.

Applying the chemical power plant size rule to the equivalent sB plant returns 2.1 d-tons not 2.5.

Looking at the fusion power plant fuel requirement on p. 59 and applying the rule stating that a chemical power plant

requires 20 times the amount of fuel for the same endurance.

The sA Chemical power plant should have a 2 week ruel requirement of 20 d-tons not 5 d-tons as listed on the table on p. 59

Did I read the optional rule for the chemical power plant incorrectly?

 

[captainjack23]

Morning all,

Looking over the HG (pdf) Spacecraft Options p. 42 states the following:

Chemical power plants: A chemical power plant is 40% bigger than
its fusion equivalent, costs MCr 1.25 per ton and requires 20 times
the amount of fuel for the same endurance.

Size equation 1: Fusion size + (Fusion size * 0.4) = Chemical Size
Size equation 2: Fusion size * 1.4 = Chenical Size

Going to the Small Craft Drives Table on p. 58 and the Chemical power plant 2 week fuel requirement on p. 59 there appears to be a divergence from the rule that a chemical plant is 40% larger than a fusion system as cited above.

The sA Fusion power plant has a displacement of 1.2 d-tons and the chemical verion is 2 d-tons. From the optional rule my calculation for a sA Chemical Powr Plant is round(1.2 * 1.4,1) = round(1.68,1) = 1.7 d-tons
Rounding 1.7 d-tons to 2 matches the table.

Applying the chemical power plant size rule to the equivalent sB plant returns 2.1 d-tons not 2.5.

Looking at the fusion power plant fuel requirement on p. 59 and applying the rule stating that a chemical power plant

requires 20 times the amount of fuel for the same endurance.

The sA Chemical power plant should have a 2 week ruel requirement of 20 d-tons not 5 d-tons as listed on the table on p. 59

Did I read the optional rule for the chemical power plant incorrectly?

Possibly -I don't have HG handy, but I think that the optional chem rule in the spacecraft section was meant to apply to only non smallcraft -the assumption may be that they scale differently. There is IIRC the statement that all options from spacecraft can be used, just to muddle things, I suppose, but if sm craft have a defined column for chem, that would take precedence IMHO.

 

[snrdg121408]

Hello captainjack23,

Thank you for the reply to my question concerning the small craft chemical power plant option and the 2 week fuel requirement.

Yep, HG p. 57:

Options
Small craft may havve any of the hull options from the list of those allowed to spacecraft.

Power
Like a larger spacecraft, a small craft must have a power source. There are four standard options
* Fusion
* Chemical
* Chemical batteries
* Solar Panels

Only the batteries and solar panel design sequence are specified in the text. Which means to me that the procedure outlined on p. 42 is used to determine size and cost.

Yes, the table on p. 58 provides the Chemical P-Plant tons and cost. The fuel table is on p. 59.

The reason I asked the question is that I extended the small craft tables to reflect the AA to DD codes. Since my initial efforts to resverse engineer the tables wass not working to well I decided to follow the sequence of numbers in the tables. Which means I came to the same conculsion that the table threw the text out the airlock.;-)

Again thank you for your reply.

Possibly -I don't have HG handy, but I think that the optional chem rule in the spacecraft section was meant to apply to only non smallcraft -the assumption may be that they scale differently. There is IIRC the statement that all options from spacecraft can be used, just to muddle things, I suppose, but if sm craft have a defined column for chem, that would take precedence IMHO.