GURPS Spaceships Design Spreadsheet

Marasmusine · 04-10-2013, 02:35 PM

Thanks for the quick reply. Yes, I twigged what was happening with delta-v after my first post... 2 engines, 1 fuel tank doesn't mean that each engine gets "half a tank" each, therefore half the dV :) I sat and visualized in my head what was happening, then saw that although the ship accelerates faster and uses up fuel faster, the total change in velocity of course stays the same. My initial confusion came from misreading the rules - the engine entries say "each fuel tank of hydrogen gives a delta-v of X" and I thought that meant "per engine". If I had seen the example under Fuel Tanks first ("a spacecraft that is using any number of TL9 nuclear thermal rocket engines..." that would have helped.

The setting I have will have the possibility of the player having to put together a spacecraft from whatever scrap or second-hand parts are available. They might want a higher G by adding another engine, but are forced to mix different hydrogen-reacting engines together. Why pick another engine over an extra fuel tank? Am I right in saying that this would be better for travelling a shorter distance faster? Sorry if that's a bit off-topic since it's not specifically about the spreadsheet.

04-10-2013, 02:35 PM	#11
Marasmusine Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Doncaster, UK	Re: GURPS Spaceships Design Spreadsheet Thanks for the quick reply. Yes, I twigged what was happening with delta-v after my first post... 2 engines, 1 fuel tank doesn't mean that each engine gets "half a tank" each, therefore half the dV :) I sat and visualized in my head what was happening, then saw that although the ship accelerates faster and uses up fuel faster, the total change in velocity of course stays the same. My initial confusion came from misreading the rules - the engine entries say "each fuel tank of hydrogen gives a delta-v of X" and I thought that meant "per engine". If I had seen the example under Fuel Tanks first ("a spacecraft that is using any number of TL9 nuclear thermal rocket engines..." that would have helped. The setting I have will have the possibility of the player having to put together a spacecraft from whatever scrap or second-hand parts are available. They might want a higher G by adding another engine, but are forced to mix different hydrogen-reacting engines together. Why pick another engine over an extra fuel tank? Am I right in saying that this would be better for travelling a shorter distance faster? Sorry if that's a bit off-topic since it's not specifically about the spreadsheet.