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Old 12-12-2006, 04:23 AM   #5
Ieldra
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Default Re: More GVB questions

I never mentioned the term "link" - not in any of my posts. Apart from that, I didn't want to make a quantitative link from the power source to the power-using item.

To make it all very clear: I have a small spaceship with two turrets. I want to add a "TL8 laser" from the beam weapons repository to every turret, and I'd like the lasers to be powered by the ship's main power plant.
The problem: after I add the lasers, "Energy in" shows up in their display, but they don't draw on any power *at all*.

As an example, if my power plant has 10 MW and my lasers have an energy output of 200KJ each and an RoF of 2, making for a total power requirement of 800 KJ/s = 800 KW, the power plant should be able to supply the power for the lasers. But that isn't what happens. Instead, I get a energy need I haven't supplied and a power output I don't need.

Further analyzing this problem, I see that the calculation above makes the assumption that a laser shot from a laser with RoF 2 takes 0.5 seconds, which is, IIRC, the correct interpretation of what I read in GURPS Vehicles, that a laser shot is a continuous beam unless stated otherwise.

To avoid using assumptions like this, for instance, in order to create a pulse laser, I could use energy banks, which I understand is the default way to power lasers in GURPS Vehicles. But apart from the fact that I don't always want to do this, the result is an incorrect power balance, since the energy banks must be recharged, and they don't have a power-in parameter.

All this means that, whatever I do, the power balance is wrong, and maybe the energy balance, too. For this small spaceship, it's not a big problem. I can do the calculations myself and be done with it. But with Star Wars-Type spaceships I'd need an extra spreadsheet for the power and energy calculations, and I always assumed GVB existed to take care of these things for me...

EDIT:
Maybe the best way to handle this is to duplicate the power cell template and edit the new template to be rechargeable in one second (Power In = Energy Out / 1 s). After I have added the power cells to power the lasers, I'll have a meaningful power balance again. This is an around-the-corner simulation of a weapon powered by the power plant, but it does the job, and maybe it's even technically somewhat realistic.

EDIT2:
Ticking the "rechargeable" checkbox should add a power need to power cells and suchlike, as a fraction of the energy output, to show the maximum recharge rate, maybe TL-dependent. This should also be editable up to the energy output.

Last edited by Ieldra; 12-12-2006 at 04:54 AM.
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