[Spaceships] Mass-driver realism

Michael Thayne · 12-05-2017, 09:51 PM

In Spaceships, the dominant selling point of the mass driver engine is that you can use anything as fuel. This is especially attractive for mining craft (as seen in designs in both SS6 and SS8). But I know that when it comes to the mass driver's weapon counterpart, the railgun, a major concern is the rails wear out very fast. This is potentially a bigger issue for the engine than the weapon; "able to use anything for ammo" isn't a selling point of the railgun, so if you need also need replacement parts its tolerable, but if you need to carry lots of replacement parts for your mass driver engine it sort of defeats the purpose.

So: is the promise of fee fuel for the mass driver realistic? Presumably they're not maintenance free, but will realistic mass drivers wear out much faster than other engines?

12-05-2017, 09:51 PM	#1
Michael Thayne Join Date: May 2010	[Spaceships] Mass-driver realism In *Spaceships, the dominant selling point of the mass driver engine is that you can use anything as fuel. This is especially attractive for mining craft (as seen in designs in both SS6 and SS8). But* I know that when it comes to the mass driver's weapon counterpart, the railgun, a major concern is the rails wear out very fast. This is potentially a bigger issue for the engine than the weapon; "able to use anything for ammo" isn't a selling point of the railgun, so if you need also need replacement parts its tolerable, but if you need to carry lots of replacement parts for your mass driver engine it sort of defeats the purpose. So: is the promise of fee fuel for the mass driver realistic? Presumably they're not maintenance free, but will realistic mass drivers wear out much faster than other engines?