Ship components size go up with TL?

[Sabo Dragien]

Ok I have a question and it seams like the people are better here than the reddit (I know shocker). To preface this I'm a 40k fan so when Tech levels and what not come into play it gets weird, I get it lol. I'm building my own setting, mostly because the furry races don't do it for me (yet I'm adding elves and orcs, I know, straight to the firing line, also no judgement). Now to the question, why with ship components when it goes up in TL we see the size needed goes up but say in real life we see the opposite or it stays same size just more powerful? looking at engines the R Drive is 2% per Thrust every 3 TL. M Drive is 1% per thrust but at every TL. 2% and 1% per thrust makes sense and would keep but when you hit another TL shouldn't the size go down or even use the Altering tech levels in High Guard make more sense like if you were going form a Chemical R Drive to a Ion or Plasma R Drive? Dropping in fuel use per TL Sounds better than increased size. Can anyone explain their thinking if i missed it? PS. coming from 40k to Traveller, I just wanna say i wish i found this first and thats saying something. so thanks for sharing hobby!

 

[hopsnbaer]

There are advanced TL Options in High Guard that allow bigger or smaller components depending on TL.

 

[Sabo Dragien]

Just saw this so going to give an example using the Power Plant and the rules for Altering Tech Levels.

Fusion (TL8) power per Ton is 10
Fusion (TL12) power per Ton is 15
Fusion (TL 15) power per Ton is 20

Using the Altering Tech Levels Rules every TL adds 10% Power generated all at same size
TL 8 =10
TL 9 =11
TL10 = 12.1
TL 11= 13.31
TL 12= 14.641 (similar to 15 if rounded up)
TL 13= 16.1051
TL 14= 17.71561
TL 15= 19.487171 (similar to 20 if rounded up)

So it looks like they already have it built in into game but why only for some thing?

 

[Sabo Dragien]

There are advanced TL Options in High Guard that allow bigger or smaller components depending on TL.

View attachment 5730

Ya the Altering Tech Levels in High Guard I know but why in base rules do they have it increase in size per TL? M drive ok ya you need better tech to anti grav around faster but R drive doesn't make sense.

 

[Condottiere]

Game mechanics.

I'm guessin', but the original designs likely had some centroid point, from which components were based as medians to cost, size, performance, and availability.

So, the more performance you want, the more it's going to cost you in money and volume.

It's not so much that you're going up technological levels, it's more that you're paying for the cutting edge and prototypes.

Well, forty years on, and you couldn't keep that mechanism with computers, that's probably why they were virtualized.

 

[Sabo Dragien]

Game mechanics.

I'm guessin', but the original designs likely had some centroid point, from which components were based as medians to cost, size, performance, and availability.

So, the more performance you want, the more it's going to cost you in money and volume.

It's not so much that you're going up technological levels, it's more that you're paying for the cutting edge and prototypes.

Well, forty years on, and you couldn't keep that mechanism with computers, that's probably why they were virtualized.

No, ok, that kind of makes sense.

I think I'll just use Altering Tech Levels and make my own system while being mostly faithful to the rules lol.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

M Drive is 1% per thrust but at every TL. 2% and 1% per thrust makes sense and would keep but when you hit another TL shouldn't the size go down or even use the Altering tech levels in High Guard make more sense like if you were going form a Chemical R Drive to a Ion or Plasma R Drive? Dropping in fuel use per TL Sounds better than increased size. Can anyone explain their thinking if i missed it? PS. coming from 40k to Traveller, I just wanna say i wish i found this first and thats saying something. so thanks for sharing hobby!

Welcome!

The answer is simplification... Power plants and armour decrease in tonnage at higher TLs, that makes ships cheaper and more effective at higher TLs without the overhead of adjusting every single component.

If you want to complicate your life you can use the "Altering TLs" system for a more granular effect.

 

[Sigtrygg]

For power plants I came to the conclusion that it is better to take the reduced size option, you end up with the same sized power pant outputting more power than if you use the power increase option. Need to check on that.

 

[Condottiere]

Never quite figured out the point of the other advantages.

On the Plus Size+, the opposite of Weight Watchers does improve power generation/cost.

 

[MasterGwydion]

For power plants I came to the conclusion that it is better to take the reduced size option, you end up with the same sized power pant outputting more power than if you use the power increase option. Need to check on that.

TL-8 10PP and 0.5MCr
TL-8 at TL-12 13PP and 0.75MCr
TL-12 15PP and 1MCr
TL-12 a TL-15 19.5PP and 1.5MCr
TL-15 20PP and 2MCr

TL-8 10PP and 0.5MCr
TL-8 at TL-12 11.4PP and 1MCr
TL-12 15PP and 1MCr
TL-12 at TL-15 18.6PP and 1.4MCr
TL-15 20PP and 2MCr

Did I get all of that correct?

 

[Condottiere]

I've always known that, so I assumed it wasn't exactly secret.