My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

[Cancer]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

There should probably be a few lost spacecraft. A couple would have known causes (fuel-tank explosion kills everyone aboard; collision with a 3-meter meteoroid en route; solar storm fried the control computer, which commanded sudden decompression), others would be unknown and the spacecraft as yet unrecovered with no clue what happened.

[Dholcrist]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

There should probably be a few lost spacecraft. A couple would have known causes (fuel-tank explosion kills everyone aboard; collision with a 3-meter meteoroid en route; solar storm fried the control computer' date=' which commanded sudden decompression), others would be unknown and the spacecraft as yet unrecovered with no clue what happened.[/quote']

 

I like the lost spacecraft idea, gives you a ready made backup adventure or plot device. Could be very cool.

[CorPse]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

I think there'd be a few total disasters as well.

 

We're used to living on this planet, and yet we have disasters that kill tens of thousands of people. Anytime you carry your own oxygen and water with you, it's going to magnify your problems a great deal if something goes wrong.

[Spence]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

A major unsolved disappearance can add spice too.

 

Funded by the GalTech Mining Consortium, the remote automated mining station DGF-145 was contracted for Asteroid GZL-3472. On 23 December 2061 the Deep Space Transport Conestoga delivered the 32 member team that would assemble and bring the station online before proceeding on its mission to deliver three more teams to three more locations. The Deep Space Transport Ajax would rendezvous in twelve weeks to pick up the team and their habitats.

 

The team swung into their task with the ease one expects of well trained and veteran professionals. Within the first day they established contact via their primary communications array with the Conestoga. With three days the were reporting the successful completion of the first mooring pad to headquarters on earth. Progress was rapid and DGF-145 went on line two weeks ahead of schedule and the team settled in to monitor the automated system operations. Not for the usual two weeks, but four. Regular communication from the team to earth and Ajax indicated that DGF-145 was smoothly mining the target ores and processing them into the 1000kg square rods of stock standard for automated mining platforms.

 

And then it happened. 14 March 2061 at 21:34 standard time a transmission between Communications Technician Sara Thompson and the Ajax ceased in mid sentence. Repeated attempts to raise them from the Ajax, Earth and several other facilities over the next two week days failed. The Ajax’s limited sensors could detect nothing during the final approach and 13 days, 16 hours and 34 minutes after they had lost communication the Ajax went to emergency stations and began a cautious final approach. Their arrival proved anticlimactic, for they discovered nothing.

 

Of mining station DGF-145, the team and their support equipment nothing could be found. 13 days worth of 1000kg standard transport stock was neatly floating exactly where it should in relation to GZL-3472. Here would be a meticulously smoothed surface with precisely placed rockbolt holes all in readiness to receive a mooring pad. There an anchor point for a bracing wire. The slag from the processed material also was in place. But no station. No equipment. No team members. Not even any garbage.

 

Captain Jason Tremain remained on station for 6 full days past the scheduled window until forced to proceed and recover the other teams.

 

To this day no trace of Automated Mining Facility DGF-145 or explanation for the disappearance has ever been found.

[CorPse]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

To this day no trace of Automated Mining Facility DGF-145 or explanation for the disappearance has ever been found.

 

Only the mysterious word Croatoa was found carved into a rock face...

[Spence]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

Only the mysterious word Croatoa was found carved into a rock face...

 

[Dholcrist]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

 

To this day no trace of Automated Mining Facility DGF-145 or explanation for the disappearance has ever been found.

 

I love it.

[tkdguy]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

Great ideas, guys. Thanks for the help.

[L. Marcus]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

Oooo! o.O *swipes idea*

[Nyrath]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

Does it mention the Kessler Syndrome?!

It probably does not, but it should.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_Syndrome

 

This is used as the basis for a hard-science anime and manga called Planetes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetes#Technical

[Nyrath]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

Is that on their closest orbits to each other? Would the planets need to be all aligned for those times?

Yes.

 

Say you have two planets, for instance Earth and Mars. The one of the pair that is furthest from the Sun is the "superior" planet Ps and the one closest to the sun is the "inferior" planet Pi. The distance between the Sun and Mars is Ds and the distance between the Sun and Earth is Di.

 

If you draw a diagram, you will quickly discover that the planets are farthest apart when they are on opposite sides of the Sun, with the Sun in the middle. The distance between will be Ds + Di.

 

They are closest when they are on the same side of the Sun. The distance will be Ds - Di.

 

As it turns out, the average distance between the planets is Ds (when averaging, the two Di's cancel out).

[Nyrath]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

Okay, I redid the math and found a bunch of inaccuracies in my figures. Looking at the VASIMR article in Wikipedia, it states the engine can give a speed ranging from 10,000 m/s to 300,000 m/s. And if It takes 90 days to gt to Mars, it's the minimum value being used in the calculation.

 

Using the equation time = distance/speed, where

 

distance = difference in the semimajor axes between Earth and the destination

 

and

 

speed = 10,000 m/s = 10 km/s

 

We get the travel times to these planets from Earth:

Ummmm, I'm sorry, but that turns out not to be the case.

However, having said that, your results are probably good enough for use in a campaign.

 

Anybody who is not interested in the convoluted technical details can stop reading at this point.

 

First, the Wikipedia article states that the VASIMR has a jet velocity of 30 to 300 km/s. This is the exhaust velocity of the propulsion system, not the speed the spacecraft travels at.

 

What such ships generally do is accelerate constantly until they reach the halfway point, then decelerate constantly so they arrive stationary at their destination planet (instead of smacking into the planet at hundreds of kilometers per second).

 

The convoluted equations are here on my website:

http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3i.html

And they are convoluted.

 

But you are in luck. Also on that page is my handy-dandy Nomogram. This is a sheet of paper containing scales that you can download and print out. Using a ruler or straightedge, the nomogram will do all the messy math for you. Instructions on how to use it are on the web page.

 

On the "engine type" scale, the markings are for a spacecraft with a single engine of that type. You can have more than one. For instance, the NTR-GAS MAX (nuclear thermal rocket gas core theoretical maximum) is at the 3 MN mark (3 million Newtons of thrust). If your spacecraft had four NTR-GAS MAX engines, you would use the 12 MN mark ( 3 x 4 = 12).

 

For your purposes, the Delta V Required scale shows how much fuel the spacecraft will need to do that particular mission. Naturally the more engines and the farther you go, the more fuel will be required. That scale is in meters per second, but you can just change it into units of fuel.

[Cancer]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

No Star Hero thread has a chance of being complete until Nyrath gives a pointer to something he assembled years ago.

[Nyrath]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

No Star Hero thread has a chance of being complete until Nyrath gives a pointer to something he assembled years ago.

thanks!

 

I assembled the pages to save typing. In the old days I had to type all that information into each and every forum posting. Now I can just give a url link.

[Nyrath]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

Then again' date=' since they're going to have to deal with a lot of G-Forces, perhaps acceleration couches arranged with your backs to the engines would be best. There was a story posted on here a few months ago that had near future starships that were arranged so forward acceleration created enough G force to simulate gravity, so that decks were arranged to take advantage of that. The only real problem with that would be in combat situations, when you might deal with G's far in excess of 1, and having it so you're being pressed down from your head doesn't sound like the best way of doing that.[/quote']

Well, the standard way is to arrange things so that the forward acceleration creates gravity, the decks are arrange to take advantage of that, and the crew chairs can "recline" so that one can lie on their back when high acceleration is required. The controls might be on the chair arms and on a "lap board" that is positioned across one's lap.

 

http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3f.html#blastoff

 

If the acceleration is going to be on for more than a few hours, it might be good to have a "relief tube" (i.e., a rudimentary urinal) built into the chair.

[Nyrath]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

As far as how the spcecraft look' date=' realistically, they'd look something like the ones on this site, but if you're going for the look, I recommend these ships.

Bambam rocks, especially when you find that he is using Bryce to make these excellent ships. That is like trying to paint the Mona Lisa with a rolling brush.

 

I have a few images from similar artists here:

http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3ap.html

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

Bambam rocks, especially when you find that he is using Bryce to make these excellent ships. That is like trying to paint the Mona Lisa with a rolling brush.

 

I have a few images from similar artists here:

http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3ap.html

 

You really deserve a lot more Rep.

[Spence]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

You really deserve a lot more Rep.

 

No understatement there. I browse his site all the time for crunchy tid bits

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

No understatement there. I browse his site all the time for crunchy tid bits

 

I've been Nyrath's fanboy since the early 80's.

I try and rep-smite him on a regular basis.

[Dholcrist]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

Well, the standard way is to arrange things so that the forward acceleration creates gravity, the decks are arrange to take advantage of that, and the crew chairs can "recline" so that one can lie on their back when high acceleration is required. The controls might be on the chair arms and on a "lap board" that is positioned across one's lap.

 

http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3f.html#blastoff

 

If the acceleration is going to be on for more than a few hours, it might be good to have a "relief tube" (i.e., a rudimentary urinal) built into the chair.

 

Of course, I don't know why I didn't think of doing that at all. I actually read that orientation in that story you had posted ("Humanist Inheritence"?), and must have glossed over any kind of reclining portion. *smacks forehead*

 

Once again, rep!

[Spence]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

As far as how the spcecraft look' date=' realistically, they'd look something like the ones on this site, but if you're going for the look, I recommend these ships.

 

BTW, Ravenstar Studios has picked up the Cold Navy line, which means those miniatures will once again be in production, hopefully soon.

 

. . . Oooo!

 

That BamBam's site, what a find! I'm def'nightly stealing those designs . . .

 

And the Cold Navy ships are just the coolest designs for Space Opera out there.

 

I thought Cold Navy was gone! Last I heard they were looking for a buyer for the mini's line and molds.

[Spence]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

 

If the acceleration is going to be on for more than a few hours, it might be good to have a "relief tube" (i.e., a rudimentary urinal) built into the chair.

 

Yep, most modern fighters and other military aircraft have these. The only ones that do not are the ones large enough for the crew to get up and move around.

 

 

An old joke/trick that still gets use (though people are not as gullible anymore, drat that internet and wiki ) is telling the new guy the cockpit end of the relief tube is a "voicetube" or "intercomm" so they can talk to the people on the ground

 

I can't hear you speak louder

[tkdguy]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

Nyrath, thanks for the link to the site. It is pretty useful. I do have one question, though. I'll PM you.

 

BTW, repped.

[tkdguy]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

Did I miss anything? I'll look at my notes again to see if there are more details.

[tkdguy]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

It looks like we've pretty much covered it all, so I'll add a few concluding thoughts.

 

I should at least state my sources:

 

Popular Science: Space 2100. Published in 2003, after the Columbia disaster, but before Burt Rutan won the X Prize (it correctly predicted that Rutan would win it, though).

 

OMNI (July 1991 issue). An old magazine, but still has some interesting ideas.

 

The Guide to Space Travel, by Michael Freeman. Strangely enough, the date of publication doesn't appear (it was written as if it was published in 2061), but it had to be before the Challenger disaster, as there is no mention of it.

 

Philip's Atlas of the Universe, by Patrick Moore. Published in 2000; updated in 2003.

 

Here's a suggestion: If you play in more than one group, have one group roleplay the politics and another play the combat. What happens in one group can influence the situation in the other.

 

And yes, I posted a lot of this discussion in nogadi, since there are members there who don't visit this place anymore.

 

Thanks again for all the help guys. If I ever get to run this thing, I'll give you a rundown on the session. If someone tries it out, please let me know how it went.