TL10 is seriously futuristic, but without contragrav and efficient reactionless thrusters. Flying suits and trucks are possible, but they are difficult. So are they worth the effort?
* TL10 super reactionless thrusters with vectored thrust and fusion power are possible for large craft. One ton plus 0.4 tons per ton of thrust. To leave something for maneuvering, perhaps half the Lwt are power and propulsion. For an endurance of less than one hour, rechargeable power cells are a lightweight alternative. * TL8+ ducted fans require a reasonably dense atmosphere, but they are lighter than thrusters. Again with TL10 fusion power, the weight is one ton plus 0.2 tons per ton of thrust. Rechargeable power cells are lighter for one hour or less. GURPS Ogre went that way. * TL10 fusion air-rams are tricky engines. Ordinary ramjets work only over 375 mph, turbo-ramjets also work at low speed. If you assume that fusion air-rams work at low speed, what is their non-ramjet mode? Something like ducted fans? If so, why not take the real thing? Of course fusion air-rams are lighter than ducted fans. Hard to explain. * A hovertruck needs considerably less thrust than a flying truck. One idea is to have sufficient fans but not enough power for flight, with 'booster' power cells to make up the shortfall. Say a hovertruck for ten tons of suits is 20 tons Lwt, while a flying truck is 30 tons Lwt and twice the price. Is true flight worth that much? * Hover-APCs are more useful than hovertrucks, but also heavier and more expensive. * Are folding/transformable wings making sense for battlesuits? I don't think it is possible to run up to stall speed, so the suit must be able to fly in VTOL mode. The benefit would only come at high speed flight. Of course winged battlesuits are cool. How many points do you get for style? * Specialist suits could be built for long-range flight, at the expense of ground combat performance. * If suits can fly, do they need a flying truck for deployment or is that a duplication of effort? * Of course a truck with a power-hungry flight system could be used to charge the power cells of flying or non-flying battlesuits. The question is how much tactical, VTOL flight is worth in a suit? As much as 50% more armor? As much as doubling RoF and ammo? Regards, Onno _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
