Page 27 of JTAS #8 shows what looks to be a modular cutter "hovering". Are there rules in Classic Traveller for this type of vehicle motion? I never gave it much thought before. But I'm curious now if it's retro rockets holding it up there, or anti-gravity maybe. So do the decks inside have artificial gravity then? I know, that's another question.
Modular Cutters can float, or no?
- Thread starter Shonner
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I'd say lifters and grav plates are standard...
Depends upon edition you consider your baseline.
In CT: not really defined, but most appear to have some gravitic thrust and some form of reaction drive as a combined unit.
In MT: the standard Maneuver Drives are gravitic; other forms of space propulsion are thrusters of various kinds.
In TNE: the standard drive is HEPlaR, a form of high-volume plasma accelerator. The Contra-Grav gravitics cancel 98% of local gravity effect, but do not provide thrust.
In T4: The standards are HEPlaR and Gravitic Thrusters, plus the Contra-Grav as per TNE.
T20: Standard is gravitic thruster.
MGT: Gravitic thrusters. Reaction drives an option.
In CT: not really defined, but most appear to have some gravitic thrust and some form of reaction drive as a combined unit.
In MT: the standard Maneuver Drives are gravitic; other forms of space propulsion are thrusters of various kinds.
In TNE: the standard drive is HEPlaR, a form of high-volume plasma accelerator. The Contra-Grav gravitics cancel 98% of local gravity effect, but do not provide thrust.
In T4: The standards are HEPlaR and Gravitic Thrusters, plus the Contra-Grav as per TNE.
T20: Standard is gravitic thruster.
MGT: Gravitic thrusters. Reaction drives an option.
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
Well the picture in question lacks a reference of motion, so it could be hovering, or it could be flying low and slow, or fast.
But my take has always been that gravitics allow all ships and small craft to hover with high precision. So much so in fact that landing gear aren't really needed to "land" a ship or small craft but they are included to allow the power plant and gravitics to be shut off for routine maintenance while in port.
Of course I also implement my gravitics (contra grav specificially, CG for short) with a twist. They "footprint" below the vehicle with an impact equal to that of the vehicle spread over the area of the CG field. Close to the ground that can mean a "shadow" about the size of the CG emitters with the weight (local gravity factored) of the vehicle concentrated on the surface...
Air/Rafts may flatten ground cover.
Grav Tanks may crush infantry in an overrun. And of course set off mines.
Small Craft may crush vehicles, cause structural damage to buildings, and depress soft soils.
Ships may crush small craft, buildings, and leave an impression on all but the hardest surfaces.
The force is reduced with the square of the distance though so all one needs to do to avoid damaging what you're flying over is maintain a sufficient altitude. So starports have strict approach and departure vectors. Over water or empty land, or at a high angle, to avoid damage. And starport fields are reinforced to support the weight of either the CG footprint or landing gear (which are about the same for any ship).
As for internals, yes there is artificial gravity (AG). In mtu it is set for orientation and force when the hull is laid down and can only be changed at some expense and difficulty. And it can have only one force and orientation (not counting "off"). No "grav pong" in mtu.
And while it may seem a different question in mtu at least it's all the same system, tied in with Inertial Compensation and the Maneuver Drive. Buying the Maneuver Drive gets you the CG, AG and IC, with the IC working in direct concert* with the Maneuver Drive to exactly* counter all your applied thrust.
* most of the time
poorly maintained systems may have a lag factor and the compensation may be a little high or low, and of course (again in mtu anyway) the IC does not compensate for externally applied forces. So if you are zooming around in a fight, dodging and thrusting, the IC will compensate and you won't feel a thing, until the enemy scores a hit, you'll feel that (just like in Star Trek, but my ships have seatbelts). And when you crash you'll really feel that (unlike Star Trek, but they should still have seatbelts).
Ah, one last note, the retro rockets. There are small independent (from the Maneuver Drive) attitude control thrusters (included in the build, part of the bridge tonnage and price in mtu). But they could never hold the ship up. They're mostly for orbital station keeping or fine docking maneuvers. They could be used in atmo for turning the small craft or ship but the Maneuver Drive would do it quicker. Some higher TL Maneuver Drives use a high speed superdense gyroscope system in place of attitude control thrusters.
...that's my take in a nutshell
But my take has always been that gravitics allow all ships and small craft to hover with high precision. So much so in fact that landing gear aren't really needed to "land" a ship or small craft but they are included to allow the power plant and gravitics to be shut off for routine maintenance while in port.
Of course I also implement my gravitics (contra grav specificially, CG for short) with a twist. They "footprint" below the vehicle with an impact equal to that of the vehicle spread over the area of the CG field. Close to the ground that can mean a "shadow" about the size of the CG emitters with the weight (local gravity factored) of the vehicle concentrated on the surface...
Air/Rafts may flatten ground cover.
Grav Tanks may crush infantry in an overrun. And of course set off mines.
Small Craft may crush vehicles, cause structural damage to buildings, and depress soft soils.
Ships may crush small craft, buildings, and leave an impression on all but the hardest surfaces.
The force is reduced with the square of the distance though so all one needs to do to avoid damaging what you're flying over is maintain a sufficient altitude. So starports have strict approach and departure vectors. Over water or empty land, or at a high angle, to avoid damage. And starport fields are reinforced to support the weight of either the CG footprint or landing gear (which are about the same for any ship).
As for internals, yes there is artificial gravity (AG). In mtu it is set for orientation and force when the hull is laid down and can only be changed at some expense and difficulty. And it can have only one force and orientation (not counting "off"). No "grav pong" in mtu.
And while it may seem a different question in mtu at least it's all the same system, tied in with Inertial Compensation and the Maneuver Drive. Buying the Maneuver Drive gets you the CG, AG and IC, with the IC working in direct concert* with the Maneuver Drive to exactly* counter all your applied thrust.
* most of the time
poorly maintained systems may have a lag factor and the compensation may be a little high or low, and of course (again in mtu anyway) the IC does not compensate for externally applied forces. So if you are zooming around in a fight, dodging and thrusting, the IC will compensate and you won't feel a thing, until the enemy scores a hit, you'll feel that (just like in Star Trek, but my ships have seatbelts). And when you crash you'll really feel that (unlike Star Trek, but they should still have seatbelts).Ah, one last note, the retro rockets. There are small independent (from the Maneuver Drive) attitude control thrusters (included in the build, part of the bridge tonnage and price in mtu). But they could never hold the ship up. They're mostly for orbital station keeping or fine docking maneuvers. They could be used in atmo for turning the small craft or ship but the Maneuver Drive would do it quicker. Some higher TL Maneuver Drives use a high speed superdense gyroscope system in place of attitude control thrusters.
...that's my take in a nutshell
LOL - I have always done the same thing; I figured it wasn't realistic to have this ship the size of a battleship just cruise around all floaty as it settled for a landing. Nope...I limit them to 2000 tons for landing max and pretty much that's only in emergencies otherwise you can do real damage to the area, not to mention the sonic boom if it come in hot (and how often does that happen for players? lemme count the ways!).
But the funniest thing I had was when a player decided to use a magnetic anti-tank mine to take out a grav tank - the NPC merc he ordered to do it refused and tried to say why, and I guess the player was too busy with his master plan to hear my description of the grasses and ground flattening under these behemoths as they advanced to have fair warning.
So he grabbed the mine and dove under the oncoming tank to stick it to the belly. He was only wearing a combat environment suit, too. He couldn't have ended up any flatter if he was just a painting on the ground. But for the Wiley Coyote effect the mine went off right after the tank rolled over him.
