Electric plants

swordtart · 09-16-2021, 03:45 PM

I one of my frequent deep dives into neglected parts of the rules, I notice something that hadn't occurred to me before.

On P68 of CWC2.5 we have a statement that electric plants are multiple-fuel-cell. I think I first took notice of this in GURPS Autoduel but the implications never hit me fully before.

The game talks about recharging plants and I managed to forget the fuel cell part and my mind fixed on the electric part. So recharging in my head was battery charging by plugging in an electric cord. Now in this day and age we know that recharging a vehicle so it has 200 miles range isn't going to take the 10 minutes quoted. But of course if the recharging is actually refilling fuel cells with fuel (hydrogen most probably), then 10 minutes is fine.

But I think the game designers also forgot along the way. Hydrogen is far more flammable than gasoline, yet gas engine fires are worse. Solar panels were allowed to recharge power plants, but that would only be any use recharging a battery.

Are solar cells the only victim of this misunderstanding.

09-16-2021, 03:45 PM	#1
swordtart Join Date: Jun 2008	Electric plants I one of my frequent deep dives into neglected parts of the rules, I notice something that hadn't occurred to me before. On P68 of CWC2.5 we have a statement that electric plants are multiple-fuel-cell. I think I first took notice of this in GURPS Autoduel but the implications never hit me fully before. The game talks about recharging plants and I managed to forget the fuel cell part and my mind fixed on the electric part. So recharging in my head was battery charging by plugging in an electric cord. Now in this day and age we know that recharging a vehicle so it has 200 miles range isn't going to take the 10 minutes quoted. But of course if the recharging is actually refilling fuel cells with fuel (hydrogen most probably), then 10 minutes is fine. But I think the game designers also forgot along the way. Hydrogen is far more flammable than gasoline, yet gas engine fires are worse. Solar panels were allowed to recharge power plants, but that would only be any use recharging a battery. Are solar cells the only victim of this misunderstanding.