John replied to me:
With the 3E GURPS Traveller rules, including the cross-TL exchange rates
from Far Trader, is there any way to make airships economically viable?
I really doubt it. Airships of worthwhile size imply aluminium
production, which requires large amounts of electricity, and thus a
fair amount of industrial infrastructure. They're a lot of vehicle per
ton of carrying capacity, very vulnerable to bad weather, and do need
infrastructure at the far end: less than a big runway, but they need
huge buildings to protect them from weather.
How about blimps? Of course they tend to be smaller. Or imported
aluminium? Less maintenance intensive than imported contragrav. Or
wooden structures?
Wood could be used for airship sheds, too, possibly cheaper than
concrete for runways.
And good weather might be one of the conditions that could be found on
some worlds, if not all.
The period when airships were popular was a time when the wealthy
weren't so concerned about transit time - airships were considerably
faster than sea ships - but did like comfort, and heavier-than-air
aircraft weren't quite developed enough to provide a competitive
comfort:time ratio. Gas turbines solved that problem comprehensively.
During early and mid TL6 airships had a clear range advantage. And gas
turbines are TL7. So I guess TL6 airships can compete with TL6 planes
(on longer trips) and TL7 planes (for price and infrastructure reasons).
TL8 contragrav would probably beat either.
John replied to Roger:
And helium supplies, maybe not at every stop, but at quite a few of
them.
Helium production is something else that needs industry: on Earth, we
get it from natural gas, but you need gas liquefaction facilities to
separate it. On worlds with different geology, it may not be readily
available.
The alternative is to use hydrogen, which doesn't need so much industry.
Hydrogen is not quite as flammable as people think if you're careful.
Leaked hydrogen floats upwards.
Besides, explosion-prone airships make good adventure.
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