Radiator area for 3e Vehicles

[mindbound]

Thank you! I'll try to get my hands on a copy of THS and work from there.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by mindbound

Thank you! I'll try to get my hands on a copy of THS and work from there.

Available at Warehouse 23.

[Varyon]

If you're ok with only a modest level of resolution in this regard, GURPS Spaceships (a 4e product) has rules for main radiators. It's a binary switch if the vessel needs them or not (rather than something like "each SM+10 Fusion Reactor needs n square yards of main radiator, which weighs m tons"), but you get a list of what systems require them (SS1:31), how exposed and resilient they are (SS1:66, under "Targeting Exposed Systems"), and what happens if they are retracted or disabled (SS1:65); there are also options to use coolant to extend the amount of time radiator-dependent systems can function with restracted/disabled main radiators (found initially on SS1:31, and reiterated on SS1:66). SS simplifies the radiator arrays as having no appreciable cost and mass (or, rather, it states the mass of the radiator arrays are part of the cost and mass of the systems that require them).

[Anthony]

The radiators in spaceships don't scale quite right. There might also be rules in the vehicles extensions.

[mindbound]

There are no radiator rules in either of the two extensions. I think I'll try going with the THS radiator rules, they look like a reasonable approximation for game purposes, and I could always correct the values by Boltzmann law if I wanted to go for the extra detail (since this is not something anyone will be calculating at the actual table).

The binary option from 4e is what drove me to write this post. First of all, it's a given (there will almost always be exposed radiators in a non-superscience spacecraft of near to moderately far future). Second, I can't get very much useful information out of it regarding the actual shape and size of the ship, not to mention things like the distance from which it can be spotted even with engines off.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Anthony

The radiators in spaceships don't scale quite right.

I'm guessing the required surface area should scale with weight, while the Spaceships rules functionally have it scale with the vessel's surface area?

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Varyon

I'm guessing the required surface area should scale with weight, while the Spaceships rules functionally have it scale with the vessel's surface area?

Yeah. Solar panels have the same issue.