On Thu, Sep 8, 2011 at 7:35 PM, Eric Funk wrote: >> by today's intermodal transport system, but with a hexagonal >> cross-section - 2k cf and change of contents. Some modules have cargo >> containers, some cabins, some electronics, some power generation, some >> weapons, and so on. Some have the side-panels removable to allow for >> larger areas. Right now I'm working on a standardish framework in >> which to put these various things. Since there'll be a lot of them, >> they should be fairly cheap; they should have at least a minimal >> ability to move themselves around without external assistance, to >> allow for docking; > > Gurps Vehicles assumes a vehicle has lights and stationkeeping thrusters for > free...
I knew about running lights - I missed stationkeeping thrusters. Do you recall where that's mentioned? >> and for in-setting reasons, each one has a small >> airlock and a minimal amount of air in case of emergencies. The > > a single 1-man airlock? > Perhaps a dozen inflatable emergency vacc suits would be better? Perhaps - but the existence of the airlocks has already been established, and used, in-setting, so I'd probably have to say that the vacc-suit idea was considered during the design phase, but for whatever reason, the standardization committee went with airlocks instead. > how do you get the cargo in and out? the opposite end opens completely? For cargo modules, that's usually how it works, yes. > the human body takes up about 3cf, and your hold is ~2700cf The 2500+cf hold is meant to be replaced by 2500cf of whatever that module is for - so far, that includes weapons (neutral particle beam, UV laser, EM automatic launcher), 454 GJ battery, 16k gal fuel tank, 25MW beamed power receiver, 9 MW fission reactor, 12,500 sf retractable solar panels, 5 cabins, 32 folding bunks, 24-man total life support system, extreme range very sensitive radio, extreme range sensitive lasercomm, LLTV x250,000 (which is probably unrealistic :) ), radar, low-res imaging radar, hi-res imaging radar, ladar, passive radar, thermograph, megaframe, mass storage... and, well, cargo holds. A quick comparison of ranges of 2500 cf gizmos: lasercomm: 200,000 mi radio: 100,000 mi radar: 62,500 mi passive radar: 62,500 mi thermograph: 62,500 mi low-res imaging radar: 31,250 mi ladar: 31,250 mi UV laser: 15,909 mi neutral particle weapon: 8,238 mi hi-res imaging radar: 1,250 mi >> This is what I've got so far; what improvements can you suggest? (I'd >> have already thrown in a cyberswarm hive for passing maintenance >> cyberswarms, but I don't remember how to fiddle with GVB to add it.) > > perhaps tow pins/hardpoints ? > > (for the space tugs mentioned, and other things like extra thrusters as > needed, adding a space arm, or some such) I knew there was something I'd forgotten - some way to have these things grab hold of each other. Let's see... tapped hardpoints look like the best option (which also seems to cover having piping for moving around fuel, air, and the like); with 8 sides, they'd each need 4; with 900 hp, they can have hardpoints totalling 18,000 lbs, or 4500 lbs each. So each of the 4 hardpoints would be 225 lbs and $450, totalling 900 lbs and $1800 - entirely reasonable. With a typical LWt of 57,775, then each hardpoint would be able to function at about 1/12th of a gee - a bit troublesome to try to stack on Luna, but quite doable on smaller bodies. > as mentioned, I suggest dropping the built-in long range rockets... Soon as I find the reference to stationkeeping thrusters being built-in, I'm quite willing. (And the built-in rockets aren't really all that long-range, with low accel and a 13 minute burn time.) > out of curiosity, where is the 1-man airlock? at one end of the long > container? along an axis? At the long end. (And, in the case of cargo holds, the airlock can be swung open along with the main cargo door.) > If these are empty containers, it might be better to have ultralight > structure sleeves, tanks, etc, and a stronger, reusable open-frame delivery > system (like our semitruck platforms)... That /is/ an interesting approach; it's a bit more complicated than what I've been working on, but might have advantages. > I had somehow imagined that each midpoint of the surface had doors, and in a > beehive configuration, all the containers could open single doors together > as rooms (thinking of The Cube here), I haven't quite figured out a way to describe it with G:Vehicles, but I've been assuming that in most cases, all six of the sides are removable, leaving something like an open frame. > but have extra, say, 100cf modules > attached to the outside units to provide larger, 8-man airlocks... I'm assuming there's a whole host of handy little gizmos that can be attached to the basic structure. > Or even have a container dedicated as a "front porch" that could be > compressed or decompressed as an airlock. Note to self - add 'big airlock' to the list of standard modules. :) Thank you for your time, -- DataPacRat lu .iacu'i ma krinu lo du'u .ei mi krici la'e di'u li'u traji lo ka vajni fo lo preti _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
