Ship Design Philosophy

[wbnc]

Fision Power plants are fairly safe and have a minimal radiation hazard. With only a few exceptions the US fleet has functioned since the late 50s with an excellent safety record. The shielding is actually the bulk of the systems mass/volume. the actual reactor itself is fairly small for the amount of power it provides. The biggest advantage isn't in output or efficiency.it's how long a reactor can function between refeuling. If you build a fission powered ship, simply designating extra tonnage to fuel would work nicely to determine how long the ship can run without refueling operations..which are damned involved.

of course at higher TL- you could easily justify a containerized fuel system. when it comes time to refuel the container is extracted and dropped into the nearest star or reprocessed in a breeder reactor to create usable fuel/weapons grade material. Of course, local authorities might politely ask that the spent fuel be turned over to the local military, or government for "safe disposal".

NASA has a number of compact Isotope decay power plants that work nicely without any sort of outside action needed for years at a time. the fuel rods simply give off a steady amount of heat which is captured by thermocouples rather than steam turbines. This would make good reliable auxiliary or emergency power plants to keep things like low berths and a distress beacon running for years at a time.

if building a ship based on Fission power putting the reactor on one end of he ship with cargo and such between the reactor and the crew spaces would be ideal. a rigid radiation shield in the shape of a cone would be another good idea to contain the really nasty stuff should a breach of the reactors core occur.If you look at the Discovery From 2001 that is a good mode for a Fission Syle ship...drives way back there...crew way up yonder.

 

[-Daniel-]

And yes, in the context of Traveller, one scott is one power point.

I am just curious, is this something you made up or is it one of those "Traveller Fan Things" that I somehow missed. :?:

 

[Condottiere]

Commercially, they're probably too expensive to operate, but I'll monkey around with the numbers, and see if there's a viable case for them.

The chemical plant perhaps for a point defence fighter with a two - three hour endurance; but even that's a stretch.

As regards to substituting the term scott for power points, i got tired to that repetition real fast, and after reading enough of the new edition, decided it needed another ambiance.

Power production don't really make that much sense, outside as a game convenience, and I don't make money off the franchise.

 

[Condottiere]

Spaceships: Engineering, or Fuel In Love

I estimate three and a quarter kay schmuckers for fuel costs over ten years, per tonne of any default fusion plant.

Which is about the same as the weekly cost of fuel rods for a fission plant.

Only the rich or the military can afford them.

 

[fusor]

I estimate three and a quarter kay schmuckers for fuel costs over ten years, per tonne of any default fusion plant.

Fuel use for fusion plants is completely wrong in Traveller - realistically, a litre of hydrogen could power a fusion plant for years.

 

[Condottiere]

That would be fusion plus, in our case.

Fuel costs would be about ninety centimes per day per tonne of fusion goodness, for seven and half to twenty scotts of power output per six minute turn. Or way less than half a centime per six minutes.

 

[Condottiere]

Spaceships: Engineering and Power Interrupts

. Power plant
.. Fusion reactor
... tech level eight
..... power output per tonne
...... ten scotts
.... advanced
..... one advantage
...... size reduction
....... ten percent
..... cost increase
...... ten percent
..... power output per tonne
...... eleven point one infinitum scotts
.... very advanced
..... two advantages
...... size reduction
....... twenty percent
..... cost increase
...... twenty five percent
..... power output per tonne
...... twelve and a quarter scotts
.... high technology
..... three advantages
...... size reduction
....... thirty percent
..... cost increase
...... fifty percent
..... power output per tonne
...... fourteen point two eight five seven onwards brave scotts

Or, tech level eleven fusion eight power plants output is a tad above fourteen and a quarter scotts at about one point nine scotts per megaschmucker.

 

[fusor]

I think you're losing the plot a bit - scotts, centimes, megaschmuckers? I have no idea what your last post is even saying either.

How do you expect anyone to understand what you're talking about here? Clarity is good, you know?

 

[Jeraa]

I think you're losing the plot a bit - scotts, centimes, megaschmuckers? I have no idea what your last post is even saying either.

How do you expect anyone to understand what you're talking about here? Clarity is good, you know?

It doesn't take a whole lot to figure out what he means from the content. Scotts = power, schmuckers = credits. Centimes presumably being a very small amount of money.

But yes it would help if he used the same language as everyone else, just to make it easier on some people. I'm sure there are some people who translate this page into other languages before reading it.

 

[Nobby-W]

[ . . . ]
Fuel use for fusion plants is completely wrong in Traveller - realistically, a litre of hydrogen could power a fusion plant for years.

In another game I did something called an open-mode reactor, or CHS (Compact Hybrid Stellerator) if you want another name.

This worked by having a fusion core of some description, which would then heat up reaction mass and push it through a MHD generator. This allowed high transient outputs, and dumped heat out with the reaction mass. For powering something that used a lot of energy (e.g. energy weapons, jump drives) this could generate a lot of output at the expense of using large quantities of reaction mass.

Most of the 'fuel' for this reactor is not fuel at all, but rather reaction mass to heat up and push through the MHD generator.

 

[Condottiere]

I vaguely recall fusion plus only requires occasional watering, at the expense of output.

 

[Condottiere]

 

[-Daniel-]

Now that is funny. :lol:

 

[Condottiere]

As a lot of actresses found out in the eighties and nineties, films can now be paused, and their bare assets can be assessed.

 

[Condottiere]

Spaceships: Sensors, Smoke and Mirrors

Before the invention of radar, if the fleet commander believed he was in an untenable position, smoke was produced to obscure the positions of his ships, if not completely black them out, while they moved to a more tactical superior position, also known as run like hell.

The first option is to strew sand around, but how much do you need, and how would you deal with a constantly accelerating ship?

The other possibility is to attach mirrors to the ship, and angle them directly into the sensors of the opposing ships.

 

[-Daniel-]

The first option is to strew sand around, ....

But wouldn't the sand become an issue for the fleet that is scattering it around?

 

[Condottiere]

Probably too scattered for direct damage, and the idea is if you can't see them, they can't see you.

Ostrich gambit.

 

[Condottiere]

Spaceships: Engineering and Outmanoeuvring

I calculated that with three gees per tech level starting off at seven, reaction rockets cap out at twenty seven gee at tech level fifteen.

That would default to fifty four percent of volume, and might close to close range before the other side has a chance to fire on the ship.

 

[Condottiere]

Spaceships: Engineering and High teched Early Prototypes

So basically, you manufacture an early prototype three tech levels above introduction.

You accept that you have two disadvantages, but offset that with three new advantages.

The issue is cost, since at face value you'd have to pay fifteen times above the default price, though in theory, you should getaway with twenty five percent above default.

 

[Condottiere]

Spaceships: Hulls and Breaking Bad