Vehicles (3e) - Maglev Speeds?

Phil Masters · 02-21-2010, 03:56 PM

I recently started a Transhuman Space campaign set on Mars, and the PCs, having just come down the elevator, were required to pick up a train on the equatorial railway to their next destination. At which point, my train-geek players raised somewhat quizzical eyebrows at the performance quoted for these trains in In the Well - all sub-200 mph, no more than on a par with the best TL8 wheeled trains and much less than the best performance of extant TL8 commercial maglev transport systems (working in much higher gravity, note). In other words, a bit underwhelming and not very skiffy.

I confess that I've not looked at the 3e Vehicles maglev vehicle construction/performance rules properly yet; can anyone say if this apparent feebleness is an artefact of the assumptions of that book, of the assumptions made about Mars in In the Well, or what?

02-21-2010, 03:56 PM	#1
Phil Masters Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: U.K.	Vehicles (3e) - Maglev Speeds? I recently started a Transhuman Space campaign set on Mars, and the PCs, having just come down the elevator, were required to pick up a train on the equatorial railway to their next destination. At which point, my train-geek players raised somewhat quizzical eyebrows at the performance quoted for these trains in In the Well - all sub-200 mph, no more than on a par with the best TL8 wheeled trains and much less than the best performance of extant TL8 commercial maglev transport systems (working in much higher gravity, note). In other words, a bit underwhelming and not very skiffy. I confess that I've not looked at the 3e Vehicles maglev vehicle construction/performance rules properly yet; can anyone say if this apparent feebleness is an artefact of the assumptions of that book, of the assumptions made about Mars in In the Well, or what? __________________ -- Phil Masters My Home Page. My Self-Publications: On Warehouse 23 and On DriveThruRPG.