Just thought I'd put in a quick summary of last night's chat for those who
missed it.
Fuel
We pretty much agreed that purified liquid H2 for a fusion reactor was the
best bet. The there would either be purification stations in the upper reaches
of gas giant atmospheres, or large specialised skimming ships which would then
get the raw material to a processing station in orbit.
Scatterguns
We were mostly in agreement that the basic mechanics of the system was
sound, but there either needed to be an increase in point cost and/or a
decrease in effective range to bring them into balance.
Railguns
We came to several tentative agreements on these - subject to some
playtesting. Keep the P-Torp/RG to hit mechanism as is. Roll a number of
dice equal to the class of the RG, less 1 die per 12" of range (yes that means
that the last 6" is wasted), for each individual RG. The number of dice that
result in "hits" equals the damage multiplier. In other words, a
Class 2 RG at 8" rolls 2 dice, hitting on a 3-6. If both dice "miss"
then it misses; if one die "hits" then that's 2 points of damage; if both dice
"hit" then it's 4 points.
...they may have talked about more stuff, but that's when I had to leave.
Bye all,
> dice equal to the class of the RG, less 1 die per 12" of range
The
> number of
Whats the rationale behind this 1 less per 12MU fiddle factor?
Rest pans out OK.
> We came to several tentative agreements on these - subject to some
Going from the description I extrapolate that a Class 1 at 15MU doesn't roll
any to hit die? Thus a Class 1 has a maximum range of 12MU?
Shouldn't there be an equal chance of hit for all classes.
I assume that in this case you reduce the die per 12MU or range to a minimum
of 1, is that the intent?
This is a monte carlo simulation of the proposed rail gun
system - sample size 100. I assume that per 12MU die modifier
has a minimum of 1 die (i.e. it doesn't apply to class 1) and accounts for the
steps at range 13 and 25 in class 2 & 3.
Class: 1 Range: 1 Average damage: 0.8000 Range: 2 Average damage: 0.8000
Range: 3 Average damage: 0.8300 Range: 4 Average damage: 0.8400 Range: 5
Average damage: 0.8200 Range: 6 Average damage: 0.8400 Range: 7 Average
damage: 0.6400 Range: 8 Average damage: 0.6300 Range: 9 Average damage: 0.7400
Range: 10 Average damage: 0.6000 Range: 11 Average damage: 0.6500 Range: 12
Average damage: 0.6300 Range: 13 Average damage: 0.5400 Range: 14 Average
damage: 0.5000 Range: 15 Average damage: 0.5400 Range: 16 Average damage:
0.5500 Range: 17 Average damage: 0.5300 Range: 18 Average damage: 0.5500
Range: 19 Average damage: 0.3400 Range: 20 Average damage: 0.3300 Range: 21
Average damage: 0.2700 Range: 22 Average damage: 0.3000 Range: 23 Average
damage: 0.3800 Range: 24 Average damage: 0.3200 Range: 25 Average damage:
0.2100 Range: 26 Average damage: 0.1200 Range: 27 Average damage: 0.1600
Range: 28 Average damage: 0.1800 Range: 29 Average damage: 0.2000 Range: 30
Average damage: 0.1600
Class: 2 Range: 1 Average damage: 3.280 Range: 2 Average damage: 3.320 Range:
3 Average damage: 3.400 Range: 4 Average damage: 3.340 Range: 5 Average
damage: 3.260 Range: 6 Average damage: 3.180 Range: 7 Average damage: 2.660
Range: 8 Average damage: 2.660 Range: 9 Average damage: 2.600 Range: 10
Average damage: 2.820 Range: 11 Average damage: 2.640 Range: 12 Average
damage: 1.180 Range: 13 Average damage: 0.8600 Range: 14 Average damage: 1.140
Range: 15 Average damage: 1.080 Range: 16 Average damage: 1.060 Range: 17
Average damage: 0.9800 Range: 18 Average damage: 0.8600 Range: 19 Average
damage: 0.7400 Range: 20 Average damage: 0.6400 Range: 21 Average damage:
0.8000 Range: 22 Average damage: 0.6600 Range: 23 Average damage: 0.8400
Range: 24 Average damage: 0.7200 Range: 25 Average damage: 0.4200 Range: 26
Average damage: 0.3200 Range: 27 Average damage: 0.3400 Range: 28 Average
damage: 0.3200 Range: 29 Average damage: 0.5800 Range: 30 Average damage:
0.2200
Class: 3 Range: 1 Average damage: 7.440 Range: 2 Average damage: 7.440 Range:
3 Average damage: 7.590 Range: 4 Average damage: 7.650 Range: 5 Average
damage: 7.620 Range: 6 Average damage: 7.560 Range: 7 Average damage: 5.820
Range: 8 Average damage: 6.090 Range: 9 Average damage: 5.820 Range: 10
Average damage: 5.610 Range: 11 Average damage: 5.700 Range: 12 Average
damage: 4.080 Range: 13 Average damage: 2.610 Range: 14 Average damage: 2.910
Range: 15 Average damage: 3.510 Range: 16 Average damage: 2.880 Range: 17
Average damage: 2.910 Range: 18 Average damage: 3.030 Range: 19 Average
damage: 2.190 Range: 20 Average damage: 2.040 Range: 21 Average damage: 1.800
Range: 22 Average damage: 1.950 Range: 23 Average damage: 1.710 Range: 24
Average damage: 1.050 Range: 25 Average damage: 0.4800 Range: 26 Average
damage: 0.4800 Range: 27 Average damage: 0.3000 Range: 28 Average damage:
0.5700 Range: 29 Average damage: 0.5700 Range: 30 Average damage: 0.3000
> On Fri, 27 Nov 1998, Sean Bayan Schoonmaker wrote:
hmm - the inner politburo has met and pronounced the Truth (tm) ...
executive summary: fusion fuel is not an issue. reaction mass is probably an
issue.
hydrogen is the best fuel for fusion. it is best stored as lithium hydride
- you can blast it with neutrons from the core to convert the lithium to
fusion fuel.
however, the amount of hydrogen you need to run a fusion reactor is tiny
-
fusion-powered ships would probably never be refuelled over their whole
lifetime. think how infrequently nuclear warships today need to refuel, and
then multiply. hydrogen has a vastly higher energy density.
the question is, how are you going to turn this energy into thrust? if you
have grav drives or photon drives, then it is complicated but just requires
some machinery. if you are going to use a reaction drive (ie a nuclear
rocket), you will need reaction mass. you may well need a lot of reaction
mass, depending on how fast you can accelerate it. if you go for boiling water
with the fusion energy and venting it into space, you will
need an immense amount, and will need to replenish frequently - icy
comets, asteroids, planetary ring bodies, etc, are possible sources. if
you are using a super-high-velocity ion drive, then your reaction mass
needs will be more modest.
Tom
> Sean Bayan Schoonmaker wrote:
XXX...Snip...JTL (and revised order for what follows)
> Railguns
then
> it misses; if one die "hits" then that's 2 points of damage; if both
XXX
Simple and effective, the best answer for all. JTL
XXX
> ...they may have talked about more stuff, but that's when I had to
XXX Since the group wishes to retain (I think) very limited arcs for the RG,
and wishes to increase mass for all RG types, an increase in the scattergun
mass must be carefully weighed prior to
implementation. Reason: two additional arcs to be covered.
Another reason(more personal/background related): I feel that
the design possibilities will be limited to the 'official' ship style. (due to
the adjustments in weapons.)
Bye for now,
> On Fri, 27 Nov 1998, Sean Bayan Schoonmaker wrote:
[snip]
> executive summary: fusion fuel is not an issue. reaction mass is
[snip]
> the question is, how are you going to turn this energy into thrust? if
Probably the easiest way to create reaction "mass" is to use a very powerful
lamp with a parabolic reflector. If you could find a way to get a high
efficiency from fusion reaction to photon production, such a drive could
actually be quite powerful. Of course heat is always a problem, so you would
need both an efficient lamp and an efficient reflector at the frequencies you
would want to deal with. Importantly, with the exception of the fusion part,
this is possible using today's technology.
Photon may not be very "massive", but you get a lot of them for your money,
and they tend to stick together, allowing for a very high density.
Incidentally, the fact that photons are bosons makes them far more suitable
for such applications than most other practical particles such as ionized
atoms and electrons.
> Tom
> On Fri, 27 Nov 1998, Tony Christney wrote:
if
> >you have grav drives or photon drives, then it is complicated but
i believe you - the photon drive is an sf staple. if i have my figuring
right, the force you get is the power output divided by the speed of
light. you know, i never did this much physics at school - perhaps Ft
(and SF) should be be put on the national curriculum?
> Incidentally, the fact that photons are
erm ... i'll have take your word for that :-).
Tom
> dice equal to the class of the RG, less 1 die per 12" of range
The
> number of
It was just an easy way to reduce effectiveness with range; one that followed
a familiar mechanic to keep it simple.
> We came to several tentative agreements on these - subject to some
Yup. Keep in mind, this isn't written in stone, it's just what we
brainstormed.
> Shouldn't there be an equal chance of hit for all classes.
Not necessarily. Say larger RGs hurl their projectiles at higher velocities,
thus making target prediction more easy.
> hmm - the inner politburo has met and pronounced the Truth (tm) ...
Now now, I didn't even present it as such.
> executive summary: fusion fuel is not an issue. reaction mass is
Good point.
[snipped hydrogen stuff]
> the question is, how are you going to turn this energy into thrust? if
I'm afraid that I'm not up on my near future drives. Anyone else want to have
a gander?
> Since the group wishes to retain (I think) very limited arcs
Do we want to increase RG mass? Somewhat - yes, but not excessively. And
actually in our discussion the Scat was kept at mass 1 to allow the K'V
designs to stay at a reasonable size.