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Old 01-22-2010, 11:50 AM   #1
Black Rose
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Hong Kong
Default [Magic/Space, and 3rd Ed too!) Space-based Solar Collectors

Working on an idea for a... magic-based Stargate setting, I guess you'd call it. Set "now", but with a lot of funky missing history, including a strong magi-tech element in the Ancient World.

One of the key sub-bits is that, in addition to having empowered soldiers (Jaffa) the "Gods" also had empowered priests (no name as of yet). They are the ones that do a lot of the development of magi-tech. A construct that is not so much common as very well known is the "Disc of Ra" (the other gods would claim credit, but really, he nailed this one hard). Basically a horkin' big solar collector, it converts sunlight into mana.

Now, I could easily hand-wave this. Okay, not really, because I dislike hand-waving anything, but I could. Pulling from an article I found, using the Solar Power spell a space-based solar panel would collect 6 FP per hex per hour, with a power cost of 4 FP per hex-radius per hour. Obviously, after a certain size the power cost is negligible, while the power gain is... quite nice. At just 19m across (9 hex radius) the operation cost would be 36 FP/hr, while the yield is 1,049 FP/hr. That's a lot of juice. If you make them really big, the yield gets simply disgusting. And if anyone complains about the sunlight being gone after the spell uses it, well, the Discs are placed such that they don't affect anyone here on Earth, so nyah.

I had originally planned for a massive Disc network, with Scarab Of Ra automatons flying to the Asteroid Belt, assembling the panels, and placing them in heliocentric positions above the solar plane. They would have been several kilometers in diameter, and a fair percentage of their power would have been beamed back to the Belt to continue the work, but the amount of juice they would be sending to Earth would still be simply grotesque. Better to create an infinite-FP-with-infinite-recharge six-inch cube and call it a Zed-PM.

However, back to my original question. Does a solar panel qualify as an acceptable power source for tapping under the new 4th Edition rules, seeing as you can't simply tap any old energy source anymore (which quite kills the lovely Well of Infinite Mana... such a shame...)? And if it doesn't, why not and what needs to be done to make it acceptable?
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Old 01-22-2010, 12:12 PM   #2
Diomedes
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Dallas, TX
Default Re: [Magic/Space, and 3rd Ed too!) Space-based Solar Collectors

Quote:
Originally Posted by Black Rose View Post
However, back to my original question. Does a solar panel qualify as an acceptable power source for tapping under the new 4th Edition rules, seeing as you can't simply tap any old energy source anymore (which quite kills the lovely Well of Infinite Mana... such a shame...)? And if it doesn't, why not and what needs to be done to make it acceptable?
Based on the examples given under Lend Power and Draw Power in Magic 4e, I'd say it's probably all right. Draw Power seems to require a machine converting power from one form to another, as which a solar cell would qualify.

Moreover, since it's magi-tech, it's designed to be tapped, though that might require a special spell for security reasons as much as anything else.
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