Computer Power Consumption

Flyndaran · 03-07-2016, 11:38 PM

In 4th edition, authors aren't allowed to be consistent with certain things like power, energy, data, etc. except behind the scenes for their products alone.

panton41 · 03-07-2016, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

In 4th edition, authors aren't allowed to be consistent with certain things like power, energy, data, etc. except behind the scenes for their products alone.

It doesn't help that, for example, from 1980 to the present (TL8) we've seen removable data storage technology go from about 160kb for a 5.25" floppy to 128GB on a fingernail-sized MicroSD card.

Varyon · 03-08-2016, 10:09 AM

I'm aware there's a massive range in computer performance between the start and end of TL 8, I'm just looking to see if the 70 W figure (or, rather, the 15 W/lb value) is in the right ballpark, and if the TL scaling looks about right.

As for my conversion project, my methodology is primarily taking the Vehicles rules and turning them into something that can be used with the Spaceships framework, as I prefer working with the latter but prefer the options (and realism) of the former. Rather than building a Fuel Cell, as in Vehicles (alright, I need n kW, so let me plug that into this equation and adjust for TL and, there, it weighs x lb and takes up y cf...), you just slap on a Fuel Cell system (taking up 1/20th the mass and volume of your ship) and note that it produces 10 kW/ton (assuming TL 8). The kW/ton nomenclature is another part of this - it's functionally equivalent to the old PP system for Spaceships, but using real numbers.

EDIT: I'm also curious as to what sort of power increase would be appropriate for the various +/- Complexity modifiers available. A CF modifier for designs with higher/lower power consumption (but the same stats otherwise) would also be useful.

EDIT2: Also, if anyone's still looking at this thread and is curious, there really isn't any proper conversion between PP and kW/ton. It ranges anywhere from 1:1 for TL 7 Solar Panels to 1:1000 for TL 12^ Total Conversion Reactors. Yeah.

03-07-2016, 11:38 PM	#1
Flyndaran Untagged Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon	Re: Computer Power Consumption In 4th edition, authors aren't allowed to be consistent with certain things like power, energy, data, etc. except behind the scenes for their products alone. __________________ Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check.

03-08-2016, 10:09 AM	#3
Varyon Join Date: Jun 2013	Re: Computer Power Consumption I'm aware there's a massive range in computer performance between the start and end of TL 8, I'm just looking to see if the 70 W figure (or, rather, the 15 W/lb value) is in the right ballpark, and if the TL scaling looks about right. As for my conversion project, my methodology is primarily taking the Vehicles rules and turning them into something that can be used with the Spaceships framework, as I prefer working with the latter but prefer the options (and realism) of the former. Rather than building a Fuel Cell, as in Vehicles (alright, I need n kW, so let me plug that into this equation and adjust for TL and, there, it weighs x lb and takes up y cf...), you just slap on a Fuel Cell system (taking up 1/20th the mass and volume of your ship) and note that it produces 10 kW/ton (assuming TL 8). The kW/ton nomenclature is another part of this - it's functionally equivalent to the old PP system for Spaceships, but using real numbers. EDIT: I'm also curious as to what sort of power increase would be appropriate for the various +/- Complexity modifiers available. A CF modifier for designs with higher/lower power consumption (but the same stats otherwise) would also be useful. EDIT2: Also, if anyone's still looking at this thread and is curious, there really isn't any proper conversion between PP and kW/ton. It ranges anywhere from 1:1 for TL 7 Solar Panels to 1:1000 for TL 12^ Total Conversion Reactors. Yeah. Last edited by Varyon; 03-10-2016 at 12:19 PM.