fuel usage

[dm_dracos]

ok another from the question junkie....

What is the fuel usage for say TL:15 Fusion Power Plants if it is only being used by life support and computers??

I figured that the computer usage would be regular, but, has an idea for an adventure that needs to have the rough calculations for say an almost shutdown ship.
Thank all..

oh by the way, tonight or tomorrow night should be able to post the stats for not only the scout ship i have talked about before, but thinks i have all the stats for the (reduced capacity) TL:15 Battlestar and ALL things included with it.
have fun..and dont forget to wipe up the drool already starting, lol
Dracos

 

[Andrew Boulton]

We need more info before we can give an accurate answer, but probably a year or more. Far more if there's jump fuel available.

 

[mike wightman]

Life support doesn't even get an EP rating in most versions, so that just leaves however many EPs the computer uses.
In High Guard and T20 anything less than a model 3 doesn't use any.

Power down your computer if necessary and your powerplant fuel could last a very long time...

 

[TheEngineer]

Using MT it takes just 0,004 MW to support 1 m³ with heat, light, atmo, food processing and waste recycling.
Computer power usage is usually below 0,01 MW, but control panels need a considerable power too.

Over the tumb it perhaps takes 2,5 m³ fuel per year to supply 0,05 MW.

But truely with some stats we could say more...

TE

 

[dm_dracos]

ok found the time and the specs. figured out so far.
buffered planetoid
10,000,000 dt.
TL:20
TL:17 anti-matter power plants

only major thing that no one has discovered yet (even with 50 years of study) is the fact that it does actually have a jump-7 jump drive and that (IMTU) it is an almost instant jump (i figure only about 2 mins pass for the jump. it also has/had a protype BGG, that was used in conjuntion with the hull, so that by the building/spacing/location of it, it only effected from about a meter under the surface of the planetoid (basically a scan will show nothing but a lifeless hunk of rock.
Thanks again
Dracos

 

[Hal]

Since you haven't specified which rule set, and I'm presuming that you might mean CT rules (or if T20 rules are like CT rules, both?)...

Per the rules, you can run your power plant as if it were a Power 1 plant. Thus, if your ship normally has a Power 7 plant, and has enough fuel to run at 4 weeks at power level 7, you can extend your operation time by up to 7 times as long by running it as a Power 1 plant.

 

[dm_dracos]

ok and thanks, is using basics of T20, at this point still trying to get my teeth into gurps traveller.
now with that mode, what if all the power sources were turned off, with the exception of a small computer with say a ep need of 1, but the ship has an output of something like 200,000+ ep?

 

[Hal]

In answer to the second question raised...

Part of the problem here is that of regular "magnetic bottle" maintenance along with the bare minimal energy requirments elsewhere. If you use the concept of proportionality, why is it that a powerplant 6 powerplant, can produce energy at 16% max capacity (ie power level 1) yet a powerplant 1 can't produce power at 16% capacity (ie, 1/6th the energy produced for a power plant 1)?

Part of the problem is that Traveller doesn't specify what precisely a powerplant needs energywise to keep its containment bottle operating etc. Come to think of it, CT doesn't really detail much of anything - which has its good points and bad points.

My suggestion is this:
Treat the barest minimal energy production requirement as being equal to 1/6th that of a powerplant 1 production for its hull size. Why? Bigger powerplants likely have bigger "bottles", and thus need more energy directly in proportion to the powerplant's size. If you cut your enegy production down to 16% normal, it should permit you to last 6 times longer give or take. That is the ruling I'd use in my own CT campaign if I were running one

Note however, that my general proclivity as far as rule sets are concerned, is to use that of GURPS TRAVELLER. GURPS TRAVELLER does determine how much energy is required for life support and all that jazz. Problem is? Powerplants last for a lifetime of 200 years for GURPS TRAVELLER. In addition, Fusion powerplants are FAR more efficient than those of CT or MT or what have you.

Frankly? I would just go with the option that Freezer tubes in either of CT or GURPS TRAVELLER use batteries that can last a long long time and ignore the power plant issue entirely if you intend to have your player characters enter a deep sleep and drift through space on a ballistic trajectory (ie, unpowered).

 

[Icosahedron]

I devised a survival rule many years ago for CT. It's old and basic, but it worked pretty well.

Using the info that the max power plant size is 50 and that a plant typically provides thrust for 288 ten minute turns, I devised a formula for fuel duration as:

(50/Pn * Hull dt/accomm dt * 2880) hours.

I decided you could reduce your Pn down to a minimum of 1 by choosing to switch off EP-using equipment, you could reduce your accommodation volume by cramming people together (subject to population density limits) and shutting down certain sections (heating is a major energy user), and you had to reduce the number 2880 if you had used fuel for thrust.

I figured you couldn't alter population density in working crew areas (bridge, engine room, etc) but you could get up to 1 person per dt otherwise.

Any areas shut down need an overhaul before they are brought back on line.

My cold sleep capsules have the same life-support requirements as couches under normal shipboard conditions, but once the ambient temperature drops below 5K, their individual RTGs kick in. Thereafter, they will function normally for a year. After 1 year you need 6+ to survive, 2 years 7+, and add 1 for each doubling of time.

 

[Icosahedron]

The other important factor, of course, is food.

How long before you start drawing lots to appear on the menu?

 

[dm_dracos]

smiles, well its not so much for the players survival, in the adventure im writing up, was trying to decide if maybe "someone" was actually still aboard from the original crew, having planed to sleep away the 4000 years between where the ship ended up and where it started...plus IMTU the imperium is only at TL:15, antimatter is a pain the the rear to get a hold of, and this ship needs a lot to refuel it, which is also part of the problem, cuz if the players could get it powered up fully, they would have averyyy nice ship with even nicer tech, which isnt a problem overall, except the fact none of it works unless you have the right genetics, which of course only maybe 1:1,000,000,000,000,000 have...laugh evilly
well night noight all off to work soon
Dracos

 

[Icosahedron]

Originally posted by DM_Dracos:
was trying to decide if maybe "someone" was actually still aboard from the original crew, having planed to sleep away the 4000 years between where the ship ended up and where it started

I'd say this would only happen if the ship was designed that way. I think you would need to run with long half-life fission RTGs in your cryocapsules rather than AM. AM will get you a lot of power fast, but it's maybe not so good as a long term power supply. Like fusion, there's too much wastage in containment.

IMO (IMTU) cryocapsules would normally be built for short voyages. You would need to install special capsules, specifically built for long voyages. Depending on the technology IYTU, you might need the services of a full hospital with a team of doctors for a successful revival.

But hey, this is alien tech, right? Anything is possible. Do whatever makes for a good game.