Artificial Grav

[BackworldTraveller]

Has anyone developed any good kit that utilises artificial gravity in any way?

I've seen Drives and Inertial Compensators and ship-board G-Fields; There's mention of Grav Focussed Lasers and Grav Fields in Fusion Drives. And some weird explosive:Grav converter that is called TDX.

Anything else?

Can you use Grav to build a land-mine? (Step on it and a 10G/zero G field zaps you) A Battering Ram for a door? A solid-state centrifuge or null-G chemical processor used for who knows what?

Any suggestions?

 

[coliver988]

in a lot of people's play they can quickly reverse grav plates to play ping pong with ship invaders.

my universe the grav works more like Star Trek: lose power and the grav plates slowly lose gravity. no rapid shifting of the field. nothing in the rule says how to run the grav plates from what I can recall, so have it your way

 

[Grav_Moped]

in a lot of people's play they can quickly reverse grav plates to play ping pong with ship invaders.

my universe the grav works more like Star Trek: lose power and the grav plates slowly lose gravity. no rapid shifting of the field. nothing in the rule says how to run the grav plates from what I can recall, so have it your way

The ping pong thing is sort of implied by inertial compensation and the maneuvering capability of Traveller ships. A canonical belly-lander (say, a Free Trader) needs artificial gravity of 1G "down" to keep feet on deckplates, and 1G "forward" to keep everything from sliding to the back when the M-Drive kicks in -- resolving to 1.41G on a diagonal down/forward vector.

It has to be able to adjust this from 0-1G forward as quickly as the M-Drive can go from zero to full thrust. Additionally, it needs to be able to compensate for inertial (lag) forces from hull rotation (roll/pitch/yaw) at the maximum distances from the center of mass (bridge, drive bay). That is, if the ship pitches nose-down, local gravity has to apply additional downward force on the contents of the bridge (and reduce it in the drive bay) to maintain a local 1G field.


So at the very least, the ping-pong could be fore-aft (if the M-Drive is running), with a bit of vertical bouncing for extra entertainment.

With the M-Drive out of play, you can use it to slam your adversaries into the baseboards of the forward bulkheads then make them seasick by tilting the apparent gravity field.
A ship's crew could gain some tactical advantage by having the gravity sway in a known pattern that's hard to predict, but which they've rehearsed working in.

 

[BackworldTraveller]

All good, but these are uses of things already described...what else would grav be used for? Lift shafts? Mining drill-bits? Fancy water circulation systems Escher style?

 

[Grav_Moped]

Canonically?
Darrian Flame Sculpture.

My variant: Darrian Flame Calliope. It's interactive and sequence-able, and you can dance within it in 0-G, accompanied by the animated gravity-guided flames.
Available in "club" (3m cube display/performance area) and "arena" (24m x 18m x 6m) sizes. (The "Arena" version is known as the Darrian Flame Orchestrion".)

"There are only five sophonts in the Spinward Marches who understand how to use its full capabilities. Three of them are on Darrian."

Spoiler

(Adapted from a comment made about Kate Bush and the Fairlight CMI synthesizer.)

Non-canon?
"For tonight's performance, the role of Frank Lloyd Wright will be played by M.C. Escher."

 

[coliver988]

The ping pong thing is sort of implied by inertial compensation and the maneuvering capability of Traveller ships. A canonical belly-lander (say, a Free Trader) needs artificial gravity of 1G "down" to keep feet on deckplates, and 1G "forward" to keep everything from sliding to the back when the M-Drive kicks in -- resolving to 1.41G on a diagonal down/forward vector.

It has to be able to adjust this from 0-1G forward as quickly as the M-Drive can go from zero to full thrust. Additionally, it needs to be able to compensate for inertial (lag) forces from hull rotation (roll/pitch/yaw) at the maximum distances from the center of mass (bridge, drive bay). That is, if the ship pitches nose-down, local gravity has to apply additional downward force on the contents of the bridge (and reduce it in the drive bay) to maintain a local 1G field.


So at the very least, the ping-pong could be fore-aft (if the M-Drive is running), with a bit of vertical bouncing for extra entertainment.

With the M-Drive out of play, you can use it to slam your adversaries into the baseboards of the forward bulkheads then make them seasick by tilting the apparent gravity field.
A ship's crew could gain some tactical advantage by having the gravity sway in a known pattern that's hard to predict, but which they've rehearsed working in.

and *bam* there go my arguments against the ping pong defense. I never really thought things through (same for the fusion plant / heat issue: for some reason the last few days there have been several discussions that opened up my assumptions about Traveller rules). Glad I can still learn new approaches at least. Even if my long-cherished assumptions are getting fresh light and forcing me to rethink things.

 

[Condottiere]

For commercial shipping, ping pong traps would have to specified and paid for separately.

Kinda doubt that they'd take the trouble (and expense) to add extra strength inertial compensators and artificial gravitational plates that they normally wouldn't use.

 

[whartung]

Has anyone developed any good kit that utilises artificial gravity in any way?

There's the grav/inertia compensated cup holders for the bridge I mentioned in the other thread the other day.

Visualize a cup on coffee on Kirks chair when they get hit by something that sends the camera cockeye, and the bridge crew flying over the rails, but the cup stays still and doesn't spill.

 

[coliver988]

There's the grav/inertia compensated cup holders for the bridge I mentioned in the other thread the other day.

Visualize a cup on coffee on Kirks chair when they get hit by something that sends the camera cockeye, and the bridge crew flying over the rails, but the cup stays still and doesn't spill.

:rofl:

 

[Grav_Moped]

and *bam* there go my arguments against the ping pong defense. I never really thought things through (same for the fusion plant / heat issue: for some reason the last few days there have been several discussions that opened up my assumptions about Traveller rules). Glad I can still learn new approaches at least. Even if my long-cherished assumptions are getting fresh light and forcing me to rethink things.

I had to think that through a bit myself.

The "weaponized seasickness" tactic didn't occur to me until I worked out my reply.

 

[BRover]

There's the grav/inertia compensated cup holders for the bridge I mentioned in the other thread the other day.

Visualize a cup on coffee on Kirks chair when they get hit by something that sends the camera cockeye, and the bridge crew flying over the rails, but the cup stays still and doesn't spill.

Sure, I can see all that--but is it the TL 15 version that keeps the drink both hot and cold simultaneously?

 

[Grav_Moped]

For commercial shipping, ping pong traps would have to specified and paid for separately.

Kinda doubt that they'd take the trouble (and expense) to add extra strength inertial compensators and artificial gravitational plates that they normally wouldn't use.

The tricks I mentioned (whack the forward baseboard, weaponized vertigo) require nothing that's not already assumed in a canon belly-lander ship.

You get fore/aft ping-pong just from using the M-Drive without inertial compensation, alternated with inertial compensation without the M-Drive. It's vertical ping-pong if the ship's a tailsitter/skyscraper (Broadsword, classic Azhanti High Lightning).

Vertical ping-pong on the deck perimeters (bridge, outer edges of the cargo hold, engine room) is just what happens when the grav-field compensates for pitch and roll maneuvers that the ship isn't doing. Might not be 1G each way though -- the math for the actual Gs needed requires assumptions about how fast a ship can rotate on its axes.

The hardware capability is already present. The software controls are probably priced into the Anti-Hijack app.

 

[Grav_Moped]

Sure, I can see all that--but is it the TL 15 version that keeps the drink both hot and cold simultaneously?

At TL-16, it keeps both the temperature and the flavor exactly where you want it to be for each individual sip, based on psionic scanning and metabolic analysis. And the cup auto-refills using a nanobot maker device that synthesizes the beverage out of the surrounding air.
The TL-15 version does exactly the same scans, but invariably produces something almost entirely unlike tea.

 

[BRover]

The TL-15 version does exactly the same scans, but invariably produces something almost entirely unlike tea.

Can we get the NASA version--which tastes almost entirely unlike old coffee? :coffeegulp:

 

[Grav_Moped]

Can we get the NASA version--which tastes almost entirely unlike old coffee? :coffeegulp:

It's TL-7.5.

 

[kilemall]

Grav plate defenses are WHY Battle Dress.


Don't board without em.

 

[Grav_Moped]

Grav plate defenses are WHY Battle Dress.


Don't board without em.

... or a Grav Belt with really precise accelerometers.

 

[Proneutron]

... or a Grav Belt with really precise accelerometers.

When "tossed" by a grav plate you experience no acceleration until you hit something as you are free fall. So the accelerometer would work the 1st time you went from 1 G to zero as you are "tossed". But not well after with continual zero G in different directions.

 

[welsh]

Some grav-tech ideas:

Grav-guided missiles which home on the weak gravity wells of grav plates (and gravitic drives if you agree M-drives are gravitic).

Leading to: "Grav cans": devices launched from sandcasters / missile launchers which emit a timed gravitic pulse to fool grav-guided missiles.

But while we're talking weapons and grav tech, what I want to know is ... when I take my ship with 2-G acceleration into low earth orbit and then fire up its grav plates, creating a 2-G gravity well right next door to a planet with, you know, half that gravity ... what happens to that planet? Hmm ... let's not go there....

 

[Grav_Moped]

When "tossed" by a grav plate you experience no acceleration until you hit something as you are free fall. So the accelerometer would work the 1st time you went from 1 G to zero as you are "tossed". But not well after with continual zero G in different directions.

Passive near-visual-spectrum range sensors. (Perhaps active LIDAR or microwave too, but you might not want to light yourself up when being shot at.)

Detect any un-commanded motion and counter it.

Still won't address the weaponized sea-sickness attack (assuming canon grav-belt capabilities) -- but then, neither will battle dress.