Re: [Space/Spaceships] Getting the velocity/Delta V I want with the tech I want
 

I like of like this idea, although I'll note you are going to see some drop-off as you get further from your star, even if the mirrors are able to adjust and insure you're always getting all the light they reflect. You'll also end up moving the mirrors while you're at it, so they'll need some thrusters and burn delta-v to stay in their stable orbit - this works out to your vessel essentially still needing fuel, but not having to carry it itself. 0.01 gees also seems really high for light, so I suspect you'll need to make some extremely resilient solar sails (and some very good cooling systems), as otherwise you're likely to melt them.

I'd imagine you'll be better off using fusion reactors - Spaceships pegs that at the same price as equivalent energy from solar panels (solar panels are half the price of a fusion reactor, but generate only half as much energy), and you also don't have the added expense of building (and maintaining, those micrometeors are going to be hell) a giant space mirror. The closest thing in Spaceships to the drive you're describing is either the ion drive (although that suggests using argon as reaction mass, implying water isn't an option) or VASIMR rocket using water as the reaction mass. In either case, you're looking at somewhere around 3 mps delta-v per tank, which isn't that great.

This may give OP an option for his drives, however - VASIMR, while TL9, is currently in development and there are already prototypes (in fact, their planning on testing one out In Spaaace in 2015, according to Wikipedia. Calling it "early TL9" may not be out of the realm of possibility. Combined with early fusion reactors (or even fission), this could allow the desired paradigm, of lower-tech, older freighters being the bulk of the business. VASIMR is in Spaceships 7 and has an impressive 10 mps delta-v, which may work rather nicely for these purposes. They also avoid the problem of magsails, which lose thrust the further they get from their star*.

*Assuming magsails simply give "free" thrust in any direction and you start at 1 AU, you're looking at an average of around 0.000024G per system for the trip - you'd need over 8 magsails to get the thrust of a single VASIMR rocket, although then you'd be able to accelerate all the way to the midpoint, then decelerate all the way to the next planet, which would shave off some time. Actually, even with the low average thrust, magsails are better than VASIMR for you - those 8 magsails would get you to your destination less than half the time of a single VASIMR rocket and 7 fuel tanks, although they'll cost a lot more (you'd have to make the round trip over a thousand times for the cost of rocket+tanks+fuel to equal the cost of those 8 magsails). The magsails are still dealing with around 6 years to go from one planet to the next, however, which may not work for you.

Re: [Space/Spaceships] Getting the velocity/Delta V I want with the tech I want
 

Sadly, not even close. To actually usefully increase intensity at long distances, you'll need a mirror that's larger than the sun. Basically, the maximum intensity from a mirror array is equal to the visible size of the mirrors times the areal brightness of the sun, so a mirror that appears the same size as the sun has at most the same brightness as the sun.

Re: [Space/Spaceships] Getting the velocity/Delta V I want with the tech I want
 

The mirrors will likely actually experience higher accelerations then the ship due to distance drop offs. Plus I'm moving BETWEEN stars/suns that have differant solar masses, and are close enough to have an effect one each others planets, it's not going to end well when I want to slow down.

I've just generated data for the 4th star (Skipped the 3rd, the 4th is closer to what I've generated so far) And assuming that I've done things properly the outer two most orbits get more heating from the other stars.[/QUOTE]

I think Fusion would be to high tech for the setting as it stands.

Mag sails don't lose thrust as you move further away from the star, the area of the sail increases as the amount of force on it decreases

Re: [Space/Spaceships] Getting the velocity/Delta V I want with the tech I want
 

Yes they do, but they don't fall off on an inverse square ratio.

Re: [Space/Spaceships] Getting the velocity/Delta V I want with the tech I want
 

Seriously? That's extremely low tech for this sort of thing.

Re: [Space/Spaceships] Getting the velocity/Delta V I want with the tech I want
 

OK, I've been playing with the design of spaceships, the distances and other stuff, and as a result I've got some tentitive figures on how much it costs to ship stuff.

Costs for moving stuff between the different stars/suns run from about $5 to something like $15 per POUND for the shipper, price to the customer is likely to be more then that. Of course given that it takes 18+ months to ship something that far and the shipper doesn't pay his expenses until their due (Or possibly in advance for the loans, it's complicated) but he excepts payment upfront and can let it sit in a interest bearing account until he needs to pay out it might not be much more as he can profit on the interest.

Orbit and de-orbit runs to $5 a pound using the Midnight Sun provided in Spaceships. But that's based on fuel.

So, as a result of that it's likely that trans-sun shipping runs to no more then $30 per pound. And for reference I looked up the price of Kobe Beef, domestic production in Australia costs between $100 and $250, these shipping costs are looking decent

Re: [Space/Spaceships] Getting the velocity/Delta V I want with the tech I want
 

Do note that actual costs of just about everything can vary greatly not only with your tech level and the state of your economy but also your industrialization for that specific area of technology. For example, the British prior to WWII could build up their naval forces faster and cheaper than anyone else in the world.

This goes well with the brute-force approach on the interplanetary highway. If you can already mass-produce components for lasers, especially free electron lasers that largely lack the extent of heating problems that real lasers have, you build a big@$$ space laser, turn it in the general direction of the other planet and have your ships coast on solar sails on the beam's path. That's far more efficient - but also more high tech - than plain old solar mirrors.


Of course, if you have an orbital laser the size of a small city you also get other uses out of it. And you better have people you trust running the thing - you don't want someone turning it around and start melting fairly important things (like cities) off the face of the planet.

Re: [Space/Spaceships] Getting the velocity/Delta V I want with the tech I want
 

How are you proposing to accomplish that trip on that budget?
You've got some kind of massive miscalculation going on there. The Midnight Sun launches 10 tons of cargo and a few passengers at the cost of 265 tons of fuel ($212000) and a non-recoverable $2.05M booster. The fuel cost alone is around $10 per pound, and the actual launch price is more like $110. If you swapped out the seating for more cargo you'd halve those numbers, but the booster cost remains.

Re: [Space/Spaceships] Getting the velocity/Delta V I want with the tech I want
 

Um, Belial666, the heat dissipation problems of lasers get WORSE in space

Ulzgoroth, depending upon how many engines I put on it the ship cost between $140M and $200M. The loan is 80% or 90% of that and repayments are between 1% and 2% per month. Highest possible repayment is 3.6M per month. Crew wages are 72K. That for 18 months comes to 66.2M. Ship can carry up to 2,100 tons. Rate per ton is 40.1K, 2240 LB per ton comes to $17.93.

Ug, forgot about the expendable booster, might have to design a jet booster. And I swapped out the passenger space for more cargo room.

Re: [Space/Spaceships] Getting the velocity/Delta V I want with the tech I want
 

At TL9, something like the SSTO Condor Spaceplane (SS2, p. 19) is a better choice for orbital lifts, consuming 45 tons of Hydrogen fuel ($90K) to lift 15 tons of cargo ($3/lb.) plus passengers. If you replace the Passenger Seating system with another Cargo Hold, it's only $2.25/lb.