TL9 Cells and Drain Power

[frogswallow]

Hello all.

I have read a number of posts where the use of Drain Power is discussed. The physics displayed there is pretty impressive. However, it isn't really friendly to the people who haven't taken high school physics in say 25 years... :) I would like to ask for a little help.

The Power Cells in the Ultra Tech book don't really cover exactly how much power they hold. The description is more of a size measurement, rather than a power measurement.

Cells...
AA Cell....tiny
A Cell...small like a watch battery
B Cell...small tools like portable commpads and computers
C Cell...larger tools. About the size of a pistol magazine. 0.5 lbs.
D Cell...powers military weapons. 5 lbs. About the size of a thick paperback book.
E Cell...power small vehicles and battlesuits. Size of a backpack. 20 lbs.
F Cell...power medium and large weapons. Size of a car engine. 200 lbs.

I have an entry level Technomancer with Drain Power at a 13. How much could he reasonably expect to drain out of one of those batteries? Is it worth the point in the spell?

As a follow up question, is there a good formula for converting power and/or energy to fatigue and back again? I'm sure it's going to come up sooner or later.

Thanks for the assistance, much appreciate you guys.

[weby]

Short answer: No it is not worth it if you use the apparent UT energy values.

Long answer:
It fully depends on the power you say the cells represent. There are no official numbers so it is up to the GM to decide the values.

Apparently David Pulver, the author of Ultratech, used 400kj/kg for the normal power cells. But it is definitely not consistent and using things like the plasma explosive REFs would give much higher value (about 1300kj/kg for rechargeable). Also there is no specification for why the E cell is supposed to have 10 times the energy for use, but only 4 times the explosive force or a D cell at 4 times the mass of the D-cell.

But with both values you would get no FP from anything from the small cells, and low for anything not massive. For my much higher number you would at skill 13 get 1FP from a D cell, 4 FP from a E cell and 42 FP from a F-cell. For the other values you would get 1 FP from a E-cell, 13 FP from a F-cell, with both doubled for non rechargeable.

So not worth it due except perhaps at a vehicle. But as said it is up to the GM to decide how much you get from something like that that is undefined.

As a note: if you use top of the line TL 8 batteries, you can get more FP for the same mass as UT cells, as UT does not have slow discharge batteries and the spell does not seem to care about maximum discharge speed.

[frogswallow]

That's a good answer, thank you. It sounds like the only reason you's ever use this spell would be to kill a car battery or something. No other reason to use it if the fatigue cost doesn't even match the investment.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by frogswallow

That's a good answer, thank you. It sounds like the only reason you's ever use this spell would be to kill a car battery or something. No other reason to use it if the fatigue cost doesn't even match the investment.

As discussed elsewhere Drain Power is the wrong spell for batteries. It's Steal Power for those and even then you want a TL9 D-cell at least.

For Drain Power what you want is basically an operating power plant rated in MW or an induistrial electrical line connected to one. 10 MW would let you tap into 27 energy points per second.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

For Drain Power what you want is basically an operating power plant rated in MW or an induistrial electrical line connected to one. 10 MW would let you tap into 27 energy points per second.

I would stretch a point if the batteries were components within a huge uninterruptible power supply (of a scale designed to even out power loads on a regional network, perhaps), for however long the UPS could sustain a flow of power. But the sort of UPS you use in a house or office isn't likely to give you a meaningful mana flow.

[frogswallow]

Yes, right, I mixed them up in my mind. Steal Power would get you the same amount of fatigue from a D-Cell (for example), correct?

[weby]

Originally Posted by frogswallow

Yes, right, I mixed them up in my mind. Steal Power would get you the same amount of fatigue from a D-Cell (for example), correct?

I was talking about steal power in my reply, did not even notice you asked about the other spell.. :)