Spaceships: Escape to the asteroids

wellspring · 02-18-2012, 09:37 AM

Your revised ship looks great! Some further thoughts:

I didn't realize you had a narrative description of a ship that you were reproducing... I thought you had a gameworld but were designing the ship from scratch. Obviously, your gameworld's assumptions trump Gurps mechanics, but if you have the choice, consider the plasma sail or fusion rocket. Fusion pulse drives require complex manufacturing and raw materials to make the pellets you're using as propellant. Making your own fuel is therefore very hard.

Plasma sails actually give you the same acceleration as long as you're within the solar system. As the plasma sail moves further out, the solar wind gets thinner, but the sail gets larger. So unlike a light sail, it's useful in the outer system. The upper limit on delta V won't come up in practice, especially for an earth/asteroid run.

Fusion rockets are efficient and run on either water or hydrogen-- both abundant in the outer system. If your gameworld allows a flex-fuel fusion drive (two flavors of Zubrin in one!), then you get a choice of low delta-V/high thrust or high delta-V/low thrust.

Other than being a system that takes up mass and so qualifies for mass shielding, armor has no impact on radiation protection. Some of the above comments seem to imply it does. It's no better than a fuel tank. With that said, armor comes in handy for what it's intended for: impact protection.

Good luck with the game!

02-18-2012, 09:37 AM	#17
wellspring Join Date: Apr 2011	Re: Spaceships: Escape to the asteroids Your revised ship looks great! Some further thoughts: I didn't realize you had a narrative description of a ship that you were reproducing... I thought you had a gameworld but were designing the ship from scratch. Obviously, your gameworld's assumptions trump Gurps mechanics, but if you have the choice, consider the plasma sail or fusion rocket. Fusion pulse drives require complex manufacturing and raw materials to make the pellets you're using as propellant. Making your own fuel is therefore very hard. Plasma sails actually give you the same acceleration as long as you're within the solar system. As the plasma sail moves further out, the solar wind gets thinner, but the sail gets larger. So unlike a light sail, it's useful in the outer system. The upper limit on delta V won't come up in practice, especially for an earth/asteroid run. Fusion rockets are efficient and run on either water or hydrogen-- both abundant in the outer system. If your gameworld allows a flex-fuel fusion drive (two flavors of Zubrin in one!), then you get a choice of low delta-V/high thrust or high delta-V/low thrust. Other than being a system that takes up mass and so qualifies for mass shielding, armor has no impact on radiation protection. Some of the above comments seem to imply it does. It's no better than a fuel tank. With that said, armor comes in handy for what it's intended for: impact protection. Good luck with the game!