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01-19-2014, 02:37 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Thaumaturgic Automata and Draw Power
OK, I was going through Fantasy and came to the Thaumaturgic Automata section (Page 67) and at the end it talks about how a machine trying to cast a spell has a problem in that it doesn't have FP or HP, and coupled with the picture of a laptop above something occurred to me: GURPS has methods for mages to draw FP from electrical sources.
So I opened up both Magic and Spell Charts and found Draw Power (M180), that in turn referred me to pages 178-179, which is where the trouble begins. GURPS for some reason prefers to define it's energy conversation equation in terms of the killowatt hour, which makes some sense in that it's a unit of energy from a physics perspective, but because of it's innate temporal component it's hard to work with (So I need to stand around for an hour to see any benefit?) There's also no guidance on figuring out how much energy you can draw from common sources, in this case RL batteries. For example I dug out an old laptop battery to try and get an idea of how much power a laptop battery might provide, it provides 14V and 4AH, how much is that in GURPS terms? And in per-electrical societies you'll have to deal in units such as horsepower. And while the amount required may make sense from a balance perspective in industrail locations, I doubt that PLAYERS have frequent access to those sorts of power supplies, most countries supply electrical energy at 240 Volts with a cap of 10 Amps, which works out to 2,400 watts |
01-19-2014, 09:01 AM | #2 | |
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Re: Thaumaturgic Automata and Draw Power
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If the same object can provide its full power in 1,000th the time, then it provides one kilowatt-hour in about four seconds. 14V and 4A-hr is 61 Watt-Hours. It might be less if you try to drain it quickly, this depends on the battery. 61 Watt-Hours is 0.061 Kilowatt-Hours.
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A little learning is a dangerous thing. Warning: Invertebrate Punnster - Spinelessly Unable to Resist a Pun Dangerous Thoughts, my blog about GURPS and life. |
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01-19-2014, 09:15 AM | #3 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Thaumaturgic Automata and Draw Power
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If you earn $100 an hour for your work, and you work for an hour, you have earned 100 dollar/hour-hours; but someone who earned $10 an hour could earn the same amount in ten hours, and someone who earned $1000 an hour could earn it in six minutes. Because in the last analysis it's just $100, whether you earn it fast or slow. Bill Stoddard |
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01-19-2014, 09:18 AM | #4 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Thaumaturgic Automata and Draw Power
Fourteen volts and four ampere-hours is (14 V) x (4 A h), which is 56 V A h, which is the same as 56 W h, or 0.056 kWh. Because the watt is simply a volt times an ampere.
Bill Stoddard |
01-19-2014, 03:18 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Re: Thaumaturgic Automata and Draw Power
Sorry, just a math mistake.
__________________
A little learning is a dangerous thing. Warning: Invertebrate Punnster - Spinelessly Unable to Resist a Pun Dangerous Thoughts, my blog about GURPS and life. |
01-19-2014, 09:40 AM | #6 | ||||
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Re: Thaumaturgic Automata and Draw Power
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-- MA Lloyd |
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01-19-2014, 12:56 PM | #7 | |
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Re: Thaumaturgic Automata and Draw Power
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And while you might not need to spend an hour to get a kilowatt hour how many people know that? |
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01-19-2014, 01:21 PM | #8 | ||
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Re: Thaumaturgic Automata and Draw Power
What, Canada and most of Latin America don't count? There are probably close to a dozen somewhat different voltage and frequency standards in use in the world though. Depending on how far along Chinese electrification is, the world's most common standard could be neither of them - it's 220 V there.
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-- MA Lloyd |
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01-19-2014, 01:23 PM | #9 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Thaumaturgic Automata and Draw Power
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In any case, the real question is not if people understand it, but if it's true. Bill Stoddard |
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01-19-2014, 10:37 AM | #10 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Re: Thaumaturgic Automata and Draw Power
They do have HP. It's just up to the GM as to whether or not to allow them to burn it for spells. If you're already conceding machines with Magery, there's no real reason to disallow them that option, although repairs might be a problem. Access to Energy Reserves or mana batteries (Powerstones, for example) are also good alternatives.
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Tags |
fantasy, magic, thaumaturgic automata |
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