From: Phillip E. Pournelle <pepourne@n...>
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 22:49:46 -0700
Subject: Updated Fuel Thrust
Hello, After having had several people's inputs the following form of Fuel Thrust is retransmitted with changes. There have been discussion regarding how to incorporate logistics issues into Full Thrust and how to do a reasonable simulation of the effect of fuel consumption in Real (Newtonian) Thrust systems. Therefore I now propose the following rules for Fuel Thrust to supplement the FT FB rules. Main Engine: For each 5% of mass devoted to a main engine the vessel may accelerate by two MUs in the direction opposite the engines exhaust direction. That is it may thrust along the engine axis. Again it is 2 thrust points per 5% devoted to engine mass. Maneuvering Engine: For each 5% of mass devoted to a Maneuvering engine the vessel may accelerate in any direction by one MU or change the vessel's facing by one point (30 degrees). This represents the mass devoted to making the engine on a mobile mount or using multiple exhaust points. Thrusters: For each 2% of mass devoted to thrusters, the vessel may change its facing by one point (30 degrees). This represents thruster units used to maintain alignments and get into and out of space dock. Each vessel gets one Thruster point free with construction. Engines do not operate unless there is fuel available... Fuel tanks: For each 5% of mass devoted to fuel a ship has 10 thrust points that may be expended by an engine. A thrust point is expended for each engine thrust used in a round of maneuvering. If a ship has a main engine with a rating of 6 thrust and accelerates at maximum burn, 6 thrust points will be expended. If a ship turns two points (60 degrees), two thrust points are expended. Jump Engines consume 40 Thrust Points for a ship to jump to FTL. Better Gas up on the other end... Fighters: Fighters maneuver like ships with maneuvering thrusters rated at 10 and carrying 60 thrust points. That is they may expend up to 10 thrust points in any direction in a single turn. A fighter squadron of six craft is fully refueled by 2 mass units of fuel. Standard Missiles: Standard Missiles operate just like fighters but then detonate like More Thrust Missiles and cause 2D6 damage when within 6 inches of an enemy contact. Tankers may transfer fuel to replenish supplies aboard ships. The amount of thrust points restored will be proportional to the mass delivered by the Tanker. Thrust points delivered = Mass of Fuel * 200/ receiving ship's mass. Fuel Mass of 1 Thrust point = Ship mass/200. For example a Mass 50 ship 1 Mass unit of Fuel = 4 thrust points, while on a mass 100 ship 1 Fuel mass = 2 Thrust points. Fuel Thrust is meant for folks who have already mastered Real (Newtonian) Thrust and want to introduce the challenges that fleet commanders face in planning a campaign. Fuel is lost as a proportion of Hull lost due to battle. Happy Thrusting.