Steve Posted April 12, 2016 Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 I've recently been playing around with numbers to get a concept of variable FTL drive efficiency down on paper. Basically the idea is that the longer you spend in an FTL jump, the faster you'll go on average per day. In my assumptions, for every doubling of travel duration there is a cumulative 50% increase in drive speed efficiency. The numbers have been looking something like this (rounded to the nearest whole number). LY Days Speed 10 1 10/day 30 2 15/day 90 4 23/day 270 8 34/day 810 16 51/day 2430 32 76/day 7290 64 114/day 21870 128 171/day 128 Days is the current limit of FTL drive capacity, with a whopping 1,709% efficiency. Cold sleep is required for jumps, due to the stresses placed on the human mind at FTL speeds (ranging from hallucinations to possibility of psychosis). Since I'm not using a set drive speed, I'm wondering if it is still possible to run these numbers through Hero to get the costs of a drive system for ship building purposes. Perhaps as some kind of multipower structure? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted April 12, 2016 Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 Megascale Teleport, with a relatively small Extra Time Limitation -- say, -1. Let the travel time be a meta rule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
massey Posted April 12, 2016 Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 I've recently been playing around with numbers to get a concept of variable FTL drive efficiency down on paper. Basically the idea is that the longer you spend in an FTL jump, the faster you'll go on average per day. In my assumptions, for every doubling of travel duration there is a cumulative 50% increase in drive speed efficiency. The numbers have been looking something like this (rounded to the nearest whole number). LY Days Speed 10 1 10/day 30 2 15/day 90 4 23/day 270 8 34/day 810 16 51/day 2430 32 76/day 7290 64 114/day 21870 128 171/day 128 Days is the current limit of FTL drive capacity, with a whopping 1,709% efficiency. Cold sleep is required for jumps, due to the stresses placed on the human mind at FTL speeds (ranging from hallucinations to possibility of psychosis). Since I'm not using a set drive speed, I'm wondering if it is still possible to run these numbers through Hero to get the costs of a drive system for ship building purposes. Perhaps as some kind of multipower structure? It really doesn't matter. Put a -1/4 or -1/2 limitation on it if you really want to. "Slow acceleration". But it's not necessary. Cold sleep is mandatory, right? And ships all travel with the same acceleration curve? Then there's no problem. Nobody is going to stop in the middle of their voyage to attack anybody, or do anything else. Basically you just go to sleep, and when you wake up, you're there. Since nothing is happening in between, the actual time spent doesn't matter. The adventures will all take place once you get there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted April 27, 2016 Report Share Posted April 27, 2016 It really doesn't matter. Put a -1/4 or -1/2 limitation on it if you really want to. "Slow acceleration". But it's not necessary. Cold sleep is mandatory, right? And ships all travel with the same acceleration curve? Then there's no problem. Nobody is going to stop in the middle of their voyage to attack anybody, or do anything else. Basically you just go to sleep, and when you wake up, you're there. Since nothing is happening in between, the actual time spent doesn't matter. The adventures will all take place once you get there. My simple rule is always: If it is not happen in combat time and not in advanture time, moddeling it in hero does not mater. You went out of your way to make certain nothing can happen during FTL travel. FTL travel by itself is barely a Hero system power. It is more a rulified plot device then something you put on your sheet that should cost points. If there is a adventure in outer space, there will be some means of going there for the heroes. Otherwise there would be no adventure in outer space. Aside from a costum Limiation "Slow Acceleration", about the only thing I can figure would be indeed a Multipower. I thought something like this through: A spaceship with 3 different drive "modes". One for maximum nimbleness in combat. One for maximum distance covered during travel. One average. Basically the ship has different "gears". And it needs to stay in one gear for some times, before going to the next gear. As higher speed is the advantage of higher gears, lower gears should have some inherent advanage too. Aside from the rules, this is a very intersting variant of FTL travel that I think I have not seen before. Some questions regarding the setting/limitations: What is the minimum viable jump? Could you make a inter system jump? Or jump just all the way to alpha centauri (4 LY from earth)? Is the danger of halucinations proportional to the time spend in FTL? i.e., would a short less then 1 day jump from Earth to Alhpha Centauri be doable without cryosleep? How much time can you spend at start and end of travel outside the Cryopods? Do you need to stay frozen until the vehicle has come to a full stop? How precise is the drive in later phases of the Voyage? At 171 LY/day a tiny misscalculation can get you far away from course. Would it be feasible to just stop short of your target and start a new FTL sequence? That way you could limit the margin of error, while also (potentially) allowing your crew to wake up early. How does warfare work in this setting? Is there are customary Grace Period after "jumping in", as the other side waits for you to get out of your pods? Wich role do AI's play? Presumably they are immune to that hallucination effect, so why are they not running the show in long-distance warfare? Is warfare even possible at all? Would the interstelar political landscape be based mostly on nearby worlds? The idea being that those are the ones most able to send help or attack you in the first place. Can you make a early warning system? How precise can it tell you "where" a attacker is going too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outsider Posted April 27, 2016 Report Share Posted April 27, 2016 Mechanically speaking, I'd say the following would be a way to go: Buy the lowest speed normally. Then buy each step up with "Extra Time to Start" and "Activation Can Only Start When Base Power Is ON" (say -1/4), so that the lowest speed has to be running to start activating the higher speeds. (No having your ship "warm up" without moving for days, then boarding an jumping to high speed immediately) Example : Day 1 : Only the base speed can be used. Once it is on, then the higher speeds can start their activation times. Day 2 : The second speed's activation time (1 extra day) is met and it starts to work. Day 4 : The third speed's activation time (3 extra days) is met, and it start working. Day 8 : The fourth speed's activation time (7 extra days) is met and it starts working. Etc. You might also consider takng "full power only" (-1/4) such that the ship has to travel its maximum speed, or not at all. Navigation becomes a matter of precise timing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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