GURPS Spaceships Design Spreadsheet

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by ericbsmith

It's been a while since I wrote up the stats for those, but I believe I based costs loosely on Vehicles 2e while I based top speed on real-world vehicles. Hovercraft are not particularly streamlined and suffer greatly from drag from their ground-effect envelope combined with the fact that they operate at ground/sea level instead of being able to gain altitude and operate in thinner air with less drag.

I'm comparing two unstreamlined SM+3½ craft, so it doesn't seem like the bad streamlining is the reason:
Skirt $6k + Ducted Fan $24k + two reactors (minimum for overground hoverflight), giving Move 3/30.
vs.
Helicopter rotor $20k + one reactor, giving Move 5/40.

Doesn't the ground effect increase efficiency of thrust relative to a 'naked' propeller, leaving more power available for horizontal thrust?

Also, ground speed three times higher than water speed, is that right?