energy conversion?

[Sackett]

I looked. I really did. But I couldn't find anything on how a starship's systems convert the energy from the fusion reaction into usable energy. If my ultra-limited physics knowledge serves, the reaction would be mostly heat, light and other assorted radiations.
So, how is that converted into electric to charge the capacitors? Or power maneuver drives, etc. , etc.I'm still trying to figure out how maneuver drives function.
It was soooo much easier in the day when the flame shot out and up from the back of the space ship.

 

[CosmicGamer]

1) Is that level of detail something that will be needed in your game? Is there A)PC's that are engineers and would know this level of detail and B) Players that are engineers and would understand if it was explained?
2) Personally I believe that technology and details of how things work in Traveller should contain a bit of mystery. If we knew exactly how all these things worked we would have it available today.

 

[Sackett]

Actually, it's solo play. I wasn't going to try PbP agaon, but thought I might the next time I catch one starting up.
But until then... It's an intermediate level of play. I have no problem with the assumption that high tech levels will hold all bunches of stuff we can't even imagine, but some detrails come in handy. Just the overall concept. I'm not one of the guys in Imp Research that insists on fully accredited scientific principle, but some details help with the flavor of the game.
Example - GM: "That last hit did severe damage to the primary reactor/power grid interface." as opposed to... "It's broke."
Just kind of a general flowchart of the power being made, to it's uses, is what I'm shooting for

 

[Keklas Rekobah]

A layer of intrinsic handwavium lines the interior of the fusion reactor. The next layer of handwavium is doped to capture charged particles and convert them to direct current. The next layer of doped silicon captures primary and secondary photons and convert them to direct current. The next two layers are a fused bimetallic thermopile to capture 'thermons' (heat) and convert them to direct current. The next layer is hyperdense graphite. The outer layer is unobtainium-reinforced stainless steel.

Don't ask me for the maths, all I know is that it works.

( )

 

[the angle]

I say go with steam, just like we do now in fission reactors. That way, you can have clouds of water vapor spraying inside the ship after a hard landing and use steam hoses to repel boarders.

Steve

 

[FreeTrav]

Actually, nobody knows the math/physics, but everyone knows that it occurs in the Micro-Amalgams of Generalized Input Converters - the MAGIC. :devil:

 

[Gatsby]

Techno-babble: Take one part Real World jargon (conduit, reactor, interface, transmission, adaptor, plug, point, shaft, adaptor, etc), couple it with one wholly near-future-science term (particle, lanthium, neutronic, isolinear, transonic, etc.) and have them do something using a verb dependant upon speaker's attitude and severity of the situation (failed, shorted, cross charged, blew, sh1t the bed, pushing up daisies, are like my old Uncle Jimmy: starting to get too much juice and wavering, de-ionized, flamed out, etc.)

So:

Dammnit! The neutronic points just cross-charged! In several minutes, that'll cause the particle shaft to fail...meaning the whole adaptor rig will be pushing up daisies!


Shouldn't there be a random generator for this type of thing?

-Gatsby (off to de-couple the lanthium grid from the polarizing array before it shorts out completely!)

 

[Gatsby]

...oh, and I have to get R2 to lock down those lateral controls, again!

 

[CosmicGamer]

Techno-babble: Take one part Real World jargon (conduit, reactor, interface, transmission, adaptor, plug, point, shaft, adaptor, etc), couple it with one wholly near-future-science term (particle, lanthium, neutronic, isolinear, transonic, etc.) and have them do something using a verb dependant upon speaker's attitude and severity of the situation (failed, shorted, cross charged, blew, sh1t the bed, pushing up daisies, are like my old Uncle Jimmy: starting to get too much juice and wavering, de-ionized, flamed out, etc.)

So:

Dammnit! The neutronic points just cross-charged! In several minutes, that'll cause the particle shaft to fail...meaning the whole adaptor rig will be pushing up daisies!


Shouldn't there be a random generator for this type of thing?

-Gatsby (off to de-couple the lanthium grid from the polarizing array before it shorts out completely!)

Nice. I like.

 

[Hemdian]

Working from a couple of different sources (that I've since lost ) I came up with a simple handout for the players in my last campaign.

 

[far-trader]

Working from a couple of different sources (that I've since lost ) I came up with a simple handout...

There's a keeper! Nicely done. Snagged, snarfed, saved. Thanks heaps

...got anymore?

 

[far-trader]

Techno-babble...

Shouldn't there be a random generator for this type of thing?

A few I'm sure. I know I had at least two bookmarked or saved ages ago. I'll see if I can dig them up later...

 

[stealth]

I like a future where everything is solid state and has no moving parts. So instead of using an MHD turbine, the reaction chamber is surrounded by a thermoelectric shield (wiki thermoelectrics) - it converts heat straght in electricity, with no moving parts or transfer medium.

Now you can have a compact generator with no need for coolant.

 

[Keklas Rekobah]

I like a future where everything is solid state and has no moving parts. So instead of using an MHD turbine...

From the Wikipedia Article:

"The MHD (magnetohydrodynamic) generator or dynamo transforms thermal energy or kinetic energy directly into electricity. MHD generators are different from traditional electric generators in that they can operate at high temperatures without moving parts."

 

[fiat_knox]

I'd go for thermoelectrics. The charged particles spraying from the fusing plasma will affect the magnetic containment bottle, which in turn induces an electrical current.

Some sources hypothesise that the energy density of the reaction, depending on the reagents in the nuclear fusion reaction, range from 2,000 to 6,800 times the amount of energy released by a combusting hydrogen fuel cell.

We're talking about a scale of a cupful of H-ion plasma lasting ten years between refuels.

 

[Sackett]

Working from a couple of different sources (that I've since lost ) I came up with a simple handout for the players in my last campaign.

Thanks Hemdian. This is the kinda stuff I'm looking for, but not bright enough to come up with on my own.

 

[Sackett]

Thanks guys.

Thanks. I'm so-so at not getting too lost in the technical stuff, but gawd-awful at extraploating from it.

 

[Gatsby]

Well...if you don't go with Handwavium or Techno-babble, then there was an old Traveller supplement called MAegatraveller Starship Operator's Manual (Vol.1) from Digest Group Publications (DGP-872-0895).

It had really proficient stuff - schematics, drawings, wisdom from "the Old Man', flowcharts and all for every major system and a few minor ones. Talk about high-intensity focused energy powered by super batteries bombarding a micrscopic to trigger heat converting fuel into plasma contained by magnetic or gravitic fields...and on and on.

All you nned to know and then some.

 

[Sackett]

ooo. sounds interesting. Now, where's that link to drive-thru? hmmm
Thanks mucho guys.
One more thing... am I putting peanut butter on my crackers, or cracker on my peanut butter? Is that gravitationally directed?

 

[aramis]

Well...if you don't go with Handwavium or Techno-babble, then there was an old Traveller supplement called MAegatraveller Starship Operator's Manual (Vol.1) from Digest Group Publications (DGP-872-0895).

It had really proficient stuff - schematics, drawings, wisdom from "the Old Man', flowcharts and all for every major system and a few minor ones. Talk about high-intensity focused energy powered by super batteries bombarding a micrscopic to trigger heat converting fuel into plasma contained by magnetic or gravitic fields...and on and on.

All you nned to know and then some.

ooo. sounds interesting. Now, where's that link to drive-thru? hmmm
Thanks mucho guys.
One more thing... am I putting peanut butter on my crackers, or cracker on my peanut butter? Is that gravitationally directed?

Drive through, sadly, doesn't have any DGP materials. And until Roger Sanger cures his rather unfortunate cranio-rectal insertion, probably won't.

Which means no Starship Operator's Manual. There are pirate scans on the net, however.


As for the peanut butter: gravity is irrelevant... you're getting the peanut butter to stick to the handlable cracker, therefore it's putting peanut butter on the cracker.