Acceleration couches

[Scarecrow]

Acceleration couches: How do they work?

In fantasy sci-fi like Star Wars and Star Trek, they have magical inertial damper fields that neutralise the crushing effects of acceleration but in more realistic, hard sci-fi such as Traveller I have often come across the concept of the acceleration couch, but I was wondering what was so special about them that you couldn't be crushed like a can at 11Gs when reclining in one of them. I mean, they might be soft but 11Gs is 11Gs.

I noticed at the beginning of Peter Hamilton's Reality Dysfunction the 'Nanonics' in the body temporarily strengthened the body so that it could resist the crushing forces. Has there ever been any thought given to how Acceleration couches work in Traveller? A localised inertial dampening field perhaps? Acceleration at less Gs? I know Trav ships only go up to 6. Is that sustainable for a human if they are layed out on a padded couch?

Intrigued,

Crow

 

[womble]

6 Gs is survivable for a while for an unaugmented human. They'd have to be pretty fit, though. C21st fighter jocks can sustain 8+Gs in jets now with G-suits and semi-reclined seats without blacking out. That's for short duration, though.

Traveller has enough gravitic tech to have dampers included in the standard ship. They might not eliminate a 6G vector thrust (due to the power draw for the internal grav plates - up to the ref, I reckon; it's a handwave so there's at least <i>some</i> sensation of movement), but certainly can deal with 1-2 Gs cos they do that as a matter of course.

 

[mike wightman]

In TNE and T4 the amount of G compensation varies by TL. If your drives are rated over 1G higher than your G compensators then you suffer penalties to ship operation.
Crew seated in acceleration couches can withstand one additional G of acceleration before penalties.

Neither system explains inertial compensation; it remains one of the "magic science" components of Traveller tech, IMHO

 

[Uncle Bob]

The main difference is posture. Reclining with controlsat your fingertipd the body only has to pump blood 100-120 mm above the heart to stay conscious. That means a reclined man with a blood pressure of 120/80 can take a sustained 13.5 gs.

Other adaptions allow the use of fingertip controls without lifting the arms. Also, without careful padding the astronaut can develop bedsores in a matter of hours at high G, in a day or two at 3-4 G. This is why Heinlein used "accelleration tanks", waterbeds with seat belts, in his torch ships.

 

[far-trader]

Given that the price is Cr25,000 (half the cost of a small stateroom) and that each one is 0.5 tons I've always figured there's quite a lot built into them.

</font>

• Fully reclines to allow use for sleeping.</font>
• Converts to two cramped seats.</font>
• Built in gravitic inertial dampers.</font>
• Back-up retracting 5-point harness.</font>
• Independent life support for 24 hours.</font>
• Limited control or entertainment system.</font>

The built in gravitic inertial dampers are not as fast or high powered as the whole ship inertial damper field but will allow pretty normal reactions while seated if the field is lost.

The life support includes temperature control and oxygen. The oxygen can be accessed by either a soft helmet built into the arm or by plugging in a standard Vacc-Suit(tm) connection.

The limited control system (for crew stations) will allow limited ship control (minus on checks) if the ship's inertial field is offline and high gees make accessing the full workstation impossible.

The entertainment system version is for passenger couches to keep them occupied and provides games, movies, and communications.

 

[DaveChase]

I like the list that Far-Trader has. We always assumed some of what he has listed. Did not have a back up life support though or allow for 2 individuals.

Then for an extra Cr 10,000 each couch was it's own life pod for emergency ejection.
This included 48 hours life support (he has 24)
Emergency beacon and short range radio
Radition protection and light armour (stops small arms fire and the debris for any local explosions)
and the necessary changes to the ship to allow for ejection

Dave

 

[Hecateus]

Applied pressure on one side, like pressure suits do,and onthe other ...Suction cups, lots of suction cups. (make use of that vacuum out there! )

 

[fredofmars]

High Guard 2nd ed. p35: Staterooms "Crew and passenger couches allow temporary transporation, up to a maximum of 36 turns in combat (12 hours), and 24 hours for routine operations."

I think the far-trader list above is reasonably assumable from the HG rules.
- Joseph