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Old 11-12-2018, 12:18 PM   #1
SteveS
 
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Default waste heat

Does GURPS Space offer any solution to the problem of waste heat in space? Giant radiators? Superscience that dumps waste heat through radiators that are too small to be thermodynamically workable, but offer a nod to reality? Hand-wave? Dismissed altogether for the sake of playability?

If there's a rule in GURPS Space, how is it special cased in GURPS Traveller?
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Old 11-12-2018, 06:06 PM   #2
jason taylor
 
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Default Re: waste heat

It was never mentioned and what always happens is people get REALLY, REALLY, angry about the subject because it would render stealth moot and you BETTER know that.

I assume that there are various types of heat sinks including shielding for engines, disposable containers (which makes the timing of when to drop a nice tactical point). I also assume there is an advantage in being up-sun. And that one of the products obtained from Otherside (an unknown civilization that trades from beyond Known Space), is superefficient heat dumps of various kinds.

But basically Canon does not seem to talk much about it.
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Old 11-12-2018, 06:11 PM   #3
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Default Re: waste heat

There's a mention of radiators somewhere (I think in Spaceships), but they sort of amount to 'oh, and you might need radiators'. Realistic size radiators tend to be incompatible with tactically interesting drives, armor, or weapons.
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Old 11-12-2018, 06:38 PM   #4
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Default Re: waste heat

Probably there should be superscience methods of dealing with heat and to heck with it. Otherwise it reduces combat to a slugging match.
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Old 11-13-2018, 01:02 PM   #5
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Default Re: waste heat

Perhaps a reasonable superscience solution would be a device that is specifically designed to dispose of waste heat, and is unnecessary in places where waste heat can be disposed of by other means (oceans, rivers, air, huge fixed space radiators, etc.). Since gravitic propulsion is an existing Traveller superscience, maybe the device could be called the "gravitic radiator", and it's optional on planet-bound power plants.
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Old 11-13-2018, 02:56 PM   #6
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Default Re: waste heat

Also as no one knows much about Jump Space there is no limit besides plot compatibility as to what we say about it. Nor come to think about the properties of Jump Engines.
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Old 11-13-2018, 06:12 PM   #7
Anaraxes
 
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As long as we no longer have to burn tons and tons of LHyd for energy to store in jump capacitors, we can make those heat sinks instead, and retcon the properties of zuchai crystals to be heat sinks that can be induced to dump their store heat into jumpspace.

Of course, if we wave our hands furiously enough near the heat sinks, that alone will cool them off...
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Old 11-13-2018, 06:44 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Anaraxes View Post
As long as we no longer have to burn tons and tons of LHyd for energy to store in jump capacitors, we can make those heat sinks instead
It's been proposed, but has the flaw that liquid hydrogen is a cruddy heat sink.
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Old 11-13-2018, 08:11 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony View Post
It's been proposed, but has the flaw that liquid hydrogen is a cruddy heat sink.
Sorry; I didn't mean to suggest the fuel, but the jump capacitors. (Following along with the other suggestions to connect the magic heatsinks to powerplants or jumpspace, and repurposing the magic jump capacitors into magic heat capacitors.)

Last edited by Anaraxes; 11-13-2018 at 08:30 PM.
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Old 11-14-2018, 11:33 AM   #10
Mike Wightman
 
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Default Re: waste heat

SDBs, riders and monitors don't have jump capacitors.

They do have gravitics - grav plates and acceleration compensation systems.

My solution to waste heat - 'gravitic heat sinks'.
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