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Old 11-13-2019, 10:03 AM   #22
Rupert
 
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wellington, NZ
Default Re: FTL 'Fuel' [Space]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Brackin View Post
<shrug> My memory is quite clear but I think it was a very early version. I know thye renamed the game at one point but I only got the one book (alsmot certainly the first one) for it.
Okay, I had to check. In the first version (Traveller: 2300) it is an option - you can, with fuel cells (but not MHD turbines), save the exhaust water and re-crack it using solar power. This is not a fast process, though it is possibly more convenient than finding a chunk of ice and refining it (assuming you have a refinery). It's not presented as standard practice, except in the case of a couple of long-range exploration vessels (which have descriptive text that says they can crack all their fuel in a much shorter time than the rules would allow).

The next edition (2300AD) notes that "Nearly all MHD turbines vent their waste gasses", and that "Many fuel cells recycle their waste gasses", so both can do this if they're set up for it.

In both editions it takes 2MW of power for a week to crack 23 tons of fuel. As a fuel cell consumes 75 tons of fuel per MW per week, you can't run a closed-cycle fuel cell as a perpetual motion engine, using the main rules text. If you use the rates given in the ships' stats, an MHD turbine is 100% efficient and a fuel cell 133% efficient, and that is a problem.

It appears your memory was clearer than mine.
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