What
follows is the STL/FTL rules I created for my Traveller game in the Terran
Trade Authority setting. Ultimately I designed this stuff to be as easy as
possible to use. Speed abstraction is due to the “I’m not doing that level of
math for a game.” rule.
Maneuver
drives
Maneuver
drives or STL (slower than light) Sub-Light drives are how a ship moves thru
normal space.
The Sub-Light drives operate on fuel. Fuel is
stored in fuel cells. Fuel cells weigh 1 ton each.
Sub-Light
fuel is rated by the hours of flight time 1 ton of fuel will provide at thrust
1. To Calculate how long fuel lasts at speeds greater than thrust 1, take the
total hours of flight time and divide by the thrust rating of the sub-light
drive to get total number of hours of flight time available. i.e. 1 ton of H3 fuel provides 7500 hours of
flight time. At thrust 2 the fuel last 7500 divided by 2 is 3750 hours. Divided
by 24 gives you 156 days of flight time.
Fuel
Types Table 1
Fuel Flight hours Cost per ton
|
H3
Metallic Helium
|
7500
|
200cr
|
|
Cx5
Coaxium
|
15000
|
1000cr
|
|
Ry9
Rydonium
|
45000
|
5000cr
|
H3
Metallic Helium: H3 is a readily available Sub-Light fuel, easily refined and
available is just about any gas giant or Starport/Spaceport.
Cx5
Coaxium: Cx5 is only available planetside as the ore is too unstable to ship
very far. Cx5 is available at most Starports of Class c or better. Average
price is 1000cr per ton.
Ry9
Rydonium: Ry9 is a highly energetic Sub-Light fuel usually only available at
Class A Starports and Military/Scout bases within regularly patrolled space. Average
price is 5000cr per ton.
*Regularly
patrolled space in within a 9 sector radius of Terra.
Fuel
Refining – A ship may scoop Helium from a gas giant and refine it on board. 1 ton
of fuel processing equipment can refine enough to fill a fuel cell in 25 hours.
For every addition ton of processing equipment reduces the refining time by 5
hours. A ship under 5000 tons may not mount more than 5 tones of fuel
processing equipment.
DeVass
Warp Generators
In
1994 Miguel Alcubierre proposed a warp drive, but his idea remained unrealized
until 2023 when Henri DeVass made it a reality. DeVass had discovered a way to
amplify existing energy generation methods in order for the warp generator to
warp space. The DeVass warp generator works by stretching space in a wave, causing the space ahead of the craft to
contract along the axis the craft wishes to travel in and the space behind to
expand. The Spacecraft then essentially rides this wave inside a region, known
as a “warp bubble”, of flat space.
DeVass
Generator Table 1
Rating Tech Level Wt. as % of Hull Speed: 1 parsec per
|
Mark I
|
17
|
15
|
23 hours
|
|
Mark II
|
18
|
16
|
15 hours
|
|
Mark
III
|
19
|
18
|
7 hours
|
|
Mark IV
|
20
|
19
|
3 hours
|
|
Mark V
|
23
|
24
|
57.3
minutes
|
|
Mark VI
|
25
|
26
|
23 minutes
|
|
Mark
VII
|
27
|
28
|
7 minutes
|
|
Mark
VII
|
??
|
??
|
???
|
Tech
Level is the level at which the drive becomes commercially viable.
Determining
Energy Requirements
Multiply
ship’s tonnage by the Generator rating to get total power points need to move 1
parsec.
A ship
must have enough capacitance to supply the total amount of power points needed
to move 1 parsec all at once.
Capacitors
Capacitors
store the massive charge needed to establish and maintain the warp bubble.
Discharging the capacitors to the warp generator is an Easy (4+ Engineer
<Power> check)
Capacitors
Table 1
|
Type
|
Capacitance
per ton
|
|
Standard
(Liquid Mercury( II) Hydride)
|
100
|
|
Liquid
Metallic Hydrogen
|
250
|
|
High
Frequency Tritonium
|
500
|
Power
Plant Table 1
Type Tech Lvl Power per ton
|
Fission
|
6
|
8
|
|
Chemical
|
7
|
5
|
|
Fusion
|
8
|
10
|
|
Fusion
|
12
|
15
|
|
Fusion
|
15
|
20
|
|
Fusion
- 3Aj*
|
16
|
25
|
|
Fusion
– Nx*
|
18
|
30
|
|
Low
Yield Anti-Matter*
MPhAm*
|
24
28
|
500
????
|
*3Aj =
Ajaxium/Nx = Neutronium
*Low
Yield Anti-Matter and MPhAm (Multi Phase Anti-Matter are both theoretical.
