11-29-2010, 01:21 PM | #21 | |||
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Re: [Space/Spaceships] TL9 nomad fleet - playable?
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Such a fleet, if it's capable of reproducing its flagship(s) and/or mobile shipyards, must be able to construct things that don't fit into hangars. When I said shipyard, I envisioned something closer to a wharf that only partially surrounds the ship under construction. |
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11-29-2010, 01:48 PM | #22 | |||
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: [Space/Spaceships] TL9 nomad fleet - playable?
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Also, if you're worried about space, you might ask whether you need a full-size power plant. Very few civilian systems need power. Quote:
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11-29-2010, 01:58 PM | #23 | ||||
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Re: [Space/Spaceships] TL9 nomad fleet - playable?
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11-29-2010, 02:17 PM | #24 |
"Gimme 18 minutes . . ."
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Albuquerque, NM
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Re: [Space/Spaceships] TL9 nomad fleet - playable?
Well, we're assuming FTL. My typical preference is FTL for in between systems, reaction drives for inside systems. But your point only stands if resources are scarce. While this is true in between stars to some extent, most star systems should have fairly copious quantities of volatiles in the form of asteroids and comets. Especially if you've got a mining/refinery ship to turn whatever you find into whatever your engines use, it's not like you usually run into resource scarcities. But if it's dramatically interesting, you CAN find local scarcities. Actually one of the main reasons you want lots of smaller ships instead of a single big ship is when your resources are scattered around in multiple places.
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11-29-2010, 02:58 PM | #25 | |
Join Date: May 2005
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Re: [Space/Spaceships] TL9 nomad fleet - playable?
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1. A solar-powered fleet that spends most of its time huddled close to stars, using solar-powered ion drives or sails for in-system propulsion. 2. A fusion-powered fleet, if you have that technology. Then your fuel supply becomes only a minor concern: any system will have a reservoir of comets or icy moons to supply you with hydrogen. TeV |
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11-29-2010, 03:15 PM | #26 |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: [Space/Spaceships] TL9 nomad fleet - playable?
The amount of time you have to spend on gathering and extracting resources also matters, and the resources you have to expend in gathering more resources as well. Of course what makes sense if the FTL drive requires no reaction mass but STL manuevering does is to simply park the fleet in whatever safe orbit it comes out in and don't move it at all. All interaction with the system is via smaller shuttles while the main habitation and industrial ships drift being too much mass to shift.
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11-29-2010, 03:55 PM | #27 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: [Space/Spaceships] TL9 nomad fleet - playable?
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If you're reactionless, though, you won't need much fuel tankage. So the necessary systems for a universal ship would be: 3x armor (you could do 3/2 or 3/3 armor, but it might be a bad idea.) 1x habitat (More than enough room for the ship's crew) 1x open space 1x factory 1x stardrive 1/2 fusion reactor (or 1 fission) 1/3 control room 1/3 reactionless drive 1/3 hangar 1/3 refinery I've filled at most 9 and a third systems here. More than half the ship is left to be filled with fuel tanks, cargo stores, more of the aforementioned systems, and whatever else you see a need for. Actually, the open space is optional...you could also go Total Life Support on the cabins, and you'd still have more cabins than workspaces.
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I don't know any 3e, so there is no chance that I am talking about 3e rules by accident. |
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11-29-2010, 04:35 PM | #28 |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Florida
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Re: [Space/Spaceships] TL9 nomad fleet - playable?
A couple of things to ponder:
At TL9, without a lot of superscience, nomad fleets traveling between the stars is very difficult unless they are going from point A to point B without stopping or changing course... in which case you really have a colony convoy. However, if you scale back the transit to just the kuiper belt/oort cloud, you can have Nomad fleets without even going superscience. Ships will need to be big (SM 10+) to utalize Fusion Plants, allowing comets and icy bodies to be used as fuel. ------------ Additionally, if the fleet can reach relativistic speeds, then time dialation can become a tool rather than a hindrence. ---------- Another way to do a fleet is to base the fleet on giant "motherships", that are primarily fuel & engine. The other ships are carried/docked with the tanker, they can seperate for missions when needed. --------- But before I can give ideas on PC roles, or more specific ideas on how the fleet works, I need to know Why they are nomadic in the first place. |
11-29-2010, 04:52 PM | #29 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Orange County, VA
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Re: [Space/Spaceships] TL9 nomad fleet - playable?
If using reactionless thrusters, then the possibilities of specialized ships becomes much more likely. Sure, most ships will have some basic level of redundancy (open spaces for food production, fabricators for parts, etc) but with reactionless thrusters the need for a spacecraft being mostly a big fuel tank with some additional attachments is gone.
Other considerations: (remaining in the limited superscience) Gravity is a pain. Per Spaceships, the unstreamlined vessel must be a minimum of SM +14 in order to have a 1G spin gravity. This will significantly restrict the sizes of habitable ships (any ship designed for long term occupancy) if using a species adapted for life in 1G. |
11-29-2010, 05:36 PM | #30 |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: [Space/Spaceships] TL9 nomad fleet - playable?
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nomad fleet, self-sufficiency, space, spaceships |
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