shadowcat1313 Posted January 20, 2004 Report Share Posted January 20, 2004 has anybody tried putting together an Orion driven starship? for Star Hero? Project Orion being the bomb drive that used what amounted to focused nuclear explosions to provide thrust also, has anyone done rules for bombed pumped laser warheads for missiles? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aroooo Posted January 20, 2004 Report Share Posted January 20, 2004 Re: Project Orion and bomb pumped Lasers Originally posted by shadowcat1313 also, has anyone done rules for bombed pumped laser warheads for missiles? I think thats a little too granular for Hero. Just call it a special effect of an AP attack. Aroooo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sociotard Posted January 20, 2004 Report Share Posted January 20, 2004 Yuck. Tailgaters beware! So, are the explosions continuous, making it look like a rocket, or do they have to prepare and position each bomb? If they have to prep it, I would advise you to use the optional unlimited speed rules in star hero (keep on and on accelerating). There should be an extra time limitation to reflect getting the bomb in the magnetic chamber. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aroooo Posted January 20, 2004 Report Share Posted January 20, 2004 Technical If you want to get technical, here's a good overview on the Orion 'drive.' http://www.astronautix.com/lvfam/orion.htm Aroooo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadowcat1313 Posted January 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2004 its a series of continuous pulses the perfect thing for the planets your leaving and dont care about what you leave behind... something to power a marine landing craft or extraction ship.... 101 Starships for GURPS Traveller... actually has the a marine assault lander with an orion drive "The Comrade Hudson Friendship Lander" unfortunately its one of those neat ideas that wont ever work more than probably like the dyson sphere, and the bussard ramscoop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithcurtis Posted January 20, 2004 Report Share Posted January 20, 2004 The simple way would be to buy your ship Flight, and then have buy a Nuke (I know there's a write-up somewhere), but add Personal Immmunity and Continuous. (Mega-points!) The nuts and bolts way would be to buy the nuke as above, but lessen the Personal Immunity so that it doesn't include knockback. Figure the KB resistance from the Size/Mass of your ship and add that many inches of flight per phase/per phase. Remember, in outer space, you don't stop after taking x inches of knockback. Example, ship has Speed 3, KBR of 15. The blast does 40 Body in phase 4. 1d6 dice (3 pips) of resistance, plus the ship's natural 15= 40-18=22" of movement. Assuming the same results next phase, then you have 44" in phase 8 and 66" in one turn. You should reach light speed in about nine hours. This is all game mechanics and nothing approaching real world physics, however. Keith "Takes no responsibility for math errors" Curtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted January 21, 2004 Report Share Posted January 21, 2004 To be _truly_ realistic, don't even buy Personal Immunity... just an obscene amount of resistant defense that faces the bombs. I believe this concept was actually tested successfully on a small scale using high explosive charges and a 'ship' that was derived from a vending machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadowcat1313 Posted January 21, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2004 yes, they did run a test of that nature still probably wouldnt be as volatile as the fuel the germans used for the ME-163 something about Monohydrazine Hydrate, wood alcohol and hydrogen peroxide Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted January 21, 2004 Report Share Posted January 21, 2004 From astronautix.com: Fuel: Hydrazine. Fuel Density: 1.01 g/cc. Fuel Freezing Point: 2.00 deg C. Fuel Boiling Point: 113.00 deg C. Hydrazine (N2H4) found early use as a fuel, but it was quickly replaced by UDMH. It is still used as a monopropellant for satellite station-keeping motors. Hydrazine marketed for rocket propellant contains a minimum of 97 per cent N2H4, the other constituent being primarily water. Hydrazine is a clear, water-white, hygroscopic liquid. The solid is white. Hydrazine a toxic, flammable caustic liquid and a strong reducing agent. Its odour is similar that of ammonia, though less strong. It is slightly soluble in ammonia and methyl-amine. It is soluble in water, methanol, ethanol, UDMH, and ethylenediamine. Hydrazine is manufactured by the Raschig process, which involves the oxidation of ammonia to chloramine, either indirectly with aqueous sodium hypochlorite or directly with chlorine, and subsequent reaction of chloramine with excess ammonia. Raw materials include caustic, ammonia, and chlorine; these are high-tonnage, heavy chemicals. The cost of anhydrous hydrazine in drum quantities in 1959 was $ 7.00 per kg. The projected price, based on large-scale commercial production, was expected to be $ 1.00 per kg. Due to environmental regulations, by 1990 NASA was paying $ 17.00 per kg. For some reason I feel like nuclear weapons are safer than this stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrTemp Posted January 22, 2004 Report Share Posted January 22, 2004 Originally posted by Old Man For some reason I feel like nuclear weapons are safer than this stuff. [/b] Old Man can't be that old if he really feels that. Any future spacedrive viable for a "space opera" or a military SF setting like "Alien Wars" will probably be a fusion rocket- if one manages to do a controlled fusion of two protons, that's the cleanest and safest way for high specific impulse, AFAIK. High thrust might be a problem, but some super-duper-light materials for building the reactor could solve that. Which is, at least, not entirely rubbery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithcurtis Posted January 22, 2004 Report Share Posted January 22, 2004 Originally posted by DrTemp Old Man can't be that old if he really feels that. Any future spacedrive viable for a "space opera" or a military SF setting like "Alien Wars" will probably be a fusion rocket- if one manages to do a controlled fusion of two protons, that's the cleanest and safest way for high specific impulse, AFAIK. High thrust might be a problem, but some super-duper-light materials for building the reactor could solve that. Which is, at least, not entirely rubbery. Keep in mind that any fusion drive that delivers significant thrust becomes a vicious particle beam weapon at non-trivial ranges. I'd outlaw them in my spacelanes. Keith "Kzinti Lesson" Curtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrTemp Posted January 22, 2004 Report Share Posted January 22, 2004 Originally posted by keithcurtis Keep in mind that any fusion drive that delivers significant thrust becomes a vicious particle beam weapon at non-trivial ranges. I'd outlaw them in my spacelanes. Keith "Kzinti Lesson" Curtis1 That depends on the amount of thrust and the range of other weapons available. To produce 1 MN of thrust (roughly acclerating 100 tons at 1 g), one would have to use 1 kg of reaction mass per second- but not as one projectile, but as plasma/dust. Although it moves at about 10 million meters per second, a single particle (or billions of single particles) should not be able to penetrate armor built for stopping micrometeroites or against a heat shield. But there is that other problem: Today's "spaceships" don't have that kind of armor, and not all have a heat shield. Without "reactionless thusters" or similiar "rubber science", there is no other usable way for interplanetary spacecraft. Chemical rockets are not an option- they are too thirsty. Of course, this all comes down to "before we don't know how to manipulate gravity and use this to propel a spaceship, real spacecraft as needed for interplanetary/interstellar societies are not doable". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metaphysician Posted May 16, 2004 Report Share Posted May 16, 2004 Re: Project Orion and bomb pumped Lasers I don't know, I don't think the "tail" for a fusion rocket would be non-trivially long. Rather, the safe distance for a fusion rocket would be the main factor that determines ship spacing distance doctrine. Kind of like how ship spacing in the Weberverse books is taken at base from impeller wedge size. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewing Posted May 16, 2004 Report Share Posted May 16, 2004 Re: Project Orion and bomb pumped Lasers Yeah, if the fuel lines cracked on takeoff or landing (not unknown) iirc the pilot melted. From astronautix.com: For some reason I feel like nuclear weapons are safer than this stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewing Posted May 16, 2004 Report Share Posted May 16, 2004 Re: Project Orion and bomb pumped Lasers Didn't they do something like that in Space 1999 or some such show? They encountered the creator of a drive that killed A LOT of people on liftoff? Keep in mind that any fusion drive that delivers significant thrust becomes a vicious particle beam weapon at non-trivial ranges. I'd outlaw them in my spacelanes. Keith "Kzinti Lesson" Curtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metaphysician Posted May 16, 2004 Report Share Posted May 16, 2004 Re: Project Orion and bomb pumped Lasers Oh, and bomb pumped x-ray lasers should probably be treated as an autofire laser attack of hefty power and megascale range, mounted on a missile body similar to whatever you use for nukes. Probably something alot longer range than the Space Nuke listed in Star Hero, though, in order to make it worthwhile, unless they are of a form with enormous laser range and the "missile" only used to clear the firing ship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCoy Posted May 16, 2004 Report Share Posted May 16, 2004 Re: Project Orion and bomb pumped Lasers unfortunately its one of those neat ideas that wont ever work more than probably like the dyson sphere' date=' and the bussard ramscoop[/quote'] If you looked a Dyson's original work, the Dyson sphere was not a structure, but a large number of orbital habatats, factories, and power stations, each orbiting independently, and capturing virtually all the energy of the star. Lot more workable than what we normally see presented as the concept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LordZarglif Posted May 18, 2004 Report Share Posted May 18, 2004 Re: Project Orion and bomb pumped Lasers If you looked a Dyson's original work, the Dyson sphere was not a structure, but a large number of orbital habatats, factories, and power stations, each orbiting independently, and capturing virtually all the energy of the star. Lot more workable than what we normally see presented as the concept. Another variant is a sphere around a star, but a flimsy one: it's held into a spherical shape by the pressure of sunlight, like a solar sail. You can't walk on its surface, but a lot more doable than a "hard" Dyson Sphere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mentor Posted May 18, 2004 Report Share Posted May 18, 2004 Re: Project Orion and bomb pumped Lasers Keep in mind that any fusion drive that delivers significant thrust becomes a vicious particle beam weapon at non-trivial ranges. I'd outlaw them in my spacelanes. Keith "Kzinti Lesson" Curtis What. These innocent efficient fusion drives and long range commo lasers, weapons? We are peaceful humans. Great point, Keith. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Anomaly Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 Re: Project Orion and bomb pumped Lasers Yeah...it was pure accident that our ship, while trying to flee, cut that needlessly aggressive battlecruiser in half! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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