The Kafers
24-08-2006, 01:40
I'm getting ready to start a series of threads set in a universe which I may dub “Universe III”. In these stories, players will be required to stick as close to real science as possible. That means that many of the “staples” of FT will be missing: No FTL drives. To make this work, I'd like to take advantage of the “standard” NS time scale of 1 day = 25 years. If we assume acceleration at 1G, here are the expected trip times (in game years and/or NS days):
1 ly = 19.8 yrs (19.8 crew yrs) = 0.8 NS days
2 ly = 27.9 yr (27.8 crew yrs)s = 1.1 NS days
3 ly = 34.2 yrs (34.0 crew yrs) = 1.4 NS days
4 ly = 39.6 yrs (39.3 crew yrs) = 1.6 NS days
5 ly = 44.3 yrs (43.9 crew yrs) = 1.8 NS days
6 ly = 48.6 yrs (48.1 crew yrs) = 1.9 NS days
7 ly = 52.5 yrs (51.9 crew yrs) = 2.1 NS days
8 ly = 56.2 yrs (55.5 crew yrs) = 2.2 NS days
9 ly = 59.7 yrs (58.8 crew yrs) = 2.4 NS days
10 ly = 63.1 yrs (62.0 crew yrs) = 2.5 NS days
11 ly = 66.2 yrs (65.0 crew yrs) = 2.6 NS days
12 ly = 69.2 yrs (67.8 crew yrs) = 2.8 NS days
13ly = 72.1 yrs (70.6 crew yrs) = 2.9 NS days
14ly = 74.9 yrs (73.2 crew yrs) = 3.0 NS days
15ly = 77.7 yrs (75.8 crew yrs) = 3.1 NS days
16ly = 80.3 yrs (78.2 crew yrs) = 3.2 NS days
17ly = 82.9 yrs (80.6 crew yrs) = 3.3 NS days
18ly = 85.4 yrs (82.9 crew yrs) = 3.4 NS days
19 ly = 87.9 yrs (85.1 crew yrs) = 3.5 NS days
20 ly = 90.2 yrs (87.3 crew yrs) = 3.6 NS days
Each additional light year thereafter = ~2.4 yrs (~2.1 crew yrs) = 0.1 days
The effect of this is to allow people to develop their off-world colonies at a reasonable pace, as well as to build new starships, etc.
Trip range will be limited by endurance: how long can a starship last before it's too decrepit to fly? 50 yrs? 75 yrs? 100 yrs? That will have to be decided.
To make fueling/refueling reasonable, I'll assume that everyone is using antimatter-catalyzed RAIR (ram-augmented interstellar rockets), a modification of the Bussard ramjet. This has interesting consequences when (and if) combat occurs (since the exhaust from such an engine can be a powerful weapon).
To save people the need to build generation ships, I would like to allow crew and passengers (colonists) to be held in suspended animation (cryogenic sleep). Again, there would be limits on how long people could be so preserved similar to the limits on starship endurance.
No artificial gravity; you want gravity, you need to build a spin habitat into your ships (and preferably two, rotating in different directions). Speeding up and slowing down the habitat would take time, but much of the required energy could be transferred to flywheel storage devices to reduce the cost of spinning the platform back up to full speed.There would be other, similar changes: essentially, weaponry and technology would have to be marginally justifiable in terms of our current understanding of science.
So my question is this: would people consider this as an interstellar PMT campaign, or would folks classify this as FT?
1 ly = 19.8 yrs (19.8 crew yrs) = 0.8 NS days
2 ly = 27.9 yr (27.8 crew yrs)s = 1.1 NS days
3 ly = 34.2 yrs (34.0 crew yrs) = 1.4 NS days
4 ly = 39.6 yrs (39.3 crew yrs) = 1.6 NS days
5 ly = 44.3 yrs (43.9 crew yrs) = 1.8 NS days
6 ly = 48.6 yrs (48.1 crew yrs) = 1.9 NS days
7 ly = 52.5 yrs (51.9 crew yrs) = 2.1 NS days
8 ly = 56.2 yrs (55.5 crew yrs) = 2.2 NS days
9 ly = 59.7 yrs (58.8 crew yrs) = 2.4 NS days
10 ly = 63.1 yrs (62.0 crew yrs) = 2.5 NS days
11 ly = 66.2 yrs (65.0 crew yrs) = 2.6 NS days
12 ly = 69.2 yrs (67.8 crew yrs) = 2.8 NS days
13ly = 72.1 yrs (70.6 crew yrs) = 2.9 NS days
14ly = 74.9 yrs (73.2 crew yrs) = 3.0 NS days
15ly = 77.7 yrs (75.8 crew yrs) = 3.1 NS days
16ly = 80.3 yrs (78.2 crew yrs) = 3.2 NS days
17ly = 82.9 yrs (80.6 crew yrs) = 3.3 NS days
18ly = 85.4 yrs (82.9 crew yrs) = 3.4 NS days
19 ly = 87.9 yrs (85.1 crew yrs) = 3.5 NS days
20 ly = 90.2 yrs (87.3 crew yrs) = 3.6 NS days
Each additional light year thereafter = ~2.4 yrs (~2.1 crew yrs) = 0.1 days
The effect of this is to allow people to develop their off-world colonies at a reasonable pace, as well as to build new starships, etc.
Trip range will be limited by endurance: how long can a starship last before it's too decrepit to fly? 50 yrs? 75 yrs? 100 yrs? That will have to be decided.
To make fueling/refueling reasonable, I'll assume that everyone is using antimatter-catalyzed RAIR (ram-augmented interstellar rockets), a modification of the Bussard ramjet. This has interesting consequences when (and if) combat occurs (since the exhaust from such an engine can be a powerful weapon).
To save people the need to build generation ships, I would like to allow crew and passengers (colonists) to be held in suspended animation (cryogenic sleep). Again, there would be limits on how long people could be so preserved similar to the limits on starship endurance.
No artificial gravity; you want gravity, you need to build a spin habitat into your ships (and preferably two, rotating in different directions). Speeding up and slowing down the habitat would take time, but much of the required energy could be transferred to flywheel storage devices to reduce the cost of spinning the platform back up to full speed.There would be other, similar changes: essentially, weaponry and technology would have to be marginally justifiable in terms of our current understanding of science.
So my question is this: would people consider this as an interstellar PMT campaign, or would folks classify this as FT?