[Star Wars, 3e] Incom T-16 Skyhopper

[Phaelen Bleux]

Incom T-16 Skyhopper (TL11)
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/T-16_skyhopper
The T-16 seats one passenger and one pilot. Use Piloting (Aerospace) skill. The engines consume 60 gph of water, giving the vehicle a range of 2,250 miles on a single tank of fuel.

Subassemblies: Body with Superior Streamlining +3, 3 High Agility Wings +1 (lower two have Folding option for landing), 3 Retractable Skids -1, full-rotation Open Mount [Body:U] +0.
Power and Propulsion: 3,000-lb. thrust Fusion Rocket Drives with 180 gallons Water in an Ultralight Fuel Tank (Fire 0); 20-kW Nuclear Power Unit (5 year lifespan), 4,500-lb. Contragrav Generator, 1,835,000-kWs Rechargeable Power cell for blaster cannon.
Occupancy: 1 NCS, 1 NPS.
Cargo: 50 kg (5.5 cf.)

Armor
All: 4/50 (Radiation PF 2).

Weaponry:
Light Blaster Cannon [OM] (250 shots).

Equipment:
Body: GPS, inertial navigation system, transponder, small computer with terminal (Complexity 5), RVO (Piloting) program, medium-range communicator (5,000-mile), 20-mile AESA (Scan 20), 20-mile PESA (Scan 20), 1 man-day limited life support, 2 crashwebs. OM: Full Stabilization.

Statistics:
Size: 10.4 m. x?x 12 m. Payload: 1.02 tons Lwt.: 2.17 tons
Volume: 145 cf. Maint.: 24 hours Price: $717,595

HT: 12. HPs: 249 Body, 107 each Wing, 11 each Skid, 16 Open Mount.

aSpeed: 750 aAccel: 14 aDecel: 20 aMR: 5 aSR: 5
Stall Speed: 0.

Design Notes:
Body is 145 cf; Wings are 14.5 cf each; Skids are 7.25 cf. Structure is Medium, Standard with Superior Streamlining. Sealed. Armor is Expensive Metal. Sealed. Computerized controls. Design speed was 760 mph; it was lowered to the “historical” value. The NPU provides an extra 10 kW which can be used to recharge the blaster’s power cell, but not fast enough for combat use.

Ion drives, as described on Wookieepedia, are actually more analogous to GURPS Fusion Rocket drives, and so this was the drive used. Note that these drives produce hot, radioactive exhaust.

[jeff_wilson]

60 gph of water on Tattooine?

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

60 gph of water on Tattooine?

The reaction mass used in Fusion Engines can be a variety of inert liquids or gases, including water, hydrogen, etc. I don't know if Ve2 goes into what the impact of varying the RM composition has on thrust and engine efficiency, but they should be able to find a suitable alternative to water.

Personally, I write up Star Wars ships as using "Hot" Reactionless Thrusters. It's already such loose science anyways that it doesn't seem worth trying to translate the technobabble into its realistic analog.

[Phaelen Bleux]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

60 gph of water on Tattooine?

Well, they have water vaporators. And I don't see any crops :)

Originally Posted by vierasmarius

The reaction mass used in Fusion Engines can be a variety of inert liquids or gases, including water, hydrogen, etc. I don't know if Ve2 goes into what the impact of varying the RM composition has on thrust and engine efficiency, but they should be able to find a suitable alternative to water.

Personally, I write up Star Wars ships as using "Hot" Reactionless Thrusters. It's already such loose science anyways that it doesn't seem worth trying to translate the technobabble into its realistic analog.

I also use reactionless thrusters for the most part. But, the source material specifically states that this vehicle uses an ion drive. If you look up "ion drive" in Wookieepedia, it describes a drive that is most similar to the Fusion Rocket Drive, which uses water. As Vierasmarius mentions, I didn't see an fuel options that were an alternative to water.

Trying to translate the Star Wars universe is problematic at best, since it doesn't always dovetail nicely with GURPS Ultra-Tech options. For example, comlinks are very limited in range compared with VE values. I list the VE ranges; these should probably be divided by 10 to better fit the SW universe. Repulsorlift vehicles are also a problem. Many SW landspeeders have some fairly high ceilings, to the point where replusorlift has to give way to contragrav in terms of weight and power requirements for the vehicle. But then these vehicles should have a much more limited ceiling than true contragrav. My general MO is to get the flavor of the Star Wars universe right while placing validity with GURPS Vehicle design rules as the primary emphasis/goal.

I'm working on the V-wing now; it has a "afterburning scramjet" that I have to jiggle into the VE design system. I'll post it later.

And lastly, the Skyhopper wasn't designed for Tatooine. . .if some lunatic kid wants to import one to a place where fuel is scarce, that's his problem!

[Anaraxes]

Womp rats hold water. Just have to run them through the deathstill. If you're good, you can turn a profit on the fuel you need to bullseye them from your T-16 back home.

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by Phaelen Bleux

Well, they have water vaporators. And I don't see any crops :)
...
And lastly, the Skyhopper wasn't designed for Tatooine. . .if some lunatic kid wants to import one to a place where fuel is scarce, that's his problem!

The water *is* the crop! We don't see any tanker trucks or pipelines either, suggesting the seasonal yield is modest enough to be transported by unspecialized vehicles. Meanwhile, the T-16 uses as much water in an hour as an active person drinks in a month of desert conditions.

[Phaelen Bleux]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

Meanwhile, the T-16 uses as much water in an hour as an active person drinks in a month of desert conditions.

Conspicuous consumption. It's how other people know you're cool.

If you don't like the conditions here, you just take your T-16 and move to Mon Calamari. ;)

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

Meanwhile, the T-16 uses as much water in an hour as an active person drinks in a month of desert conditions.

Never tell me the facts!