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For years, the similarities between 2300AD's stutterwarp and Space 1889's ether propeller have struck me as more than merely coincidental. Indeed, I believe it would be possible to use the Design Sequence for stutterwarp to create useable ether propellers for a House Rules game.

The Space 1889 Æther Propeller

Each Space 1889 power level is equal to 125 horsepower, or about 0.1 MW. Each Space 1889 Hull Size is equal to 100 tons, or about 10 displacement tons. Space 1889 æther propellers come in three efficiencies: 0.25 (Edison), 0.20 (Armstrong), and 0.15 (Zeppelin).

The speed of a Space 1889 æther ship in millions of miles a day is equal to the propeller power level times the efficiency of that type of propeller divided by the hull size of the vessel.

Example: A Hull Size 1 vessel with a 1-Power Level Edison propeller would travel 250,000 miles a day (about 400,000 kilometers).

A Comparable Stutterwarp Vessel

The formula for stutterwarp efficiency is the (cube root of [the power devoted to the stutterwarp divided by 10 times the size rating]) times the tech level efficiency (which is equal to the tech level plus four). The efficiency, times 4, is the number of 30,000 kilometer hexes the ship can travel per minute.

This gives us a vessel that could streak across the Solar System even at very low tech levels. However, if we drop the "efficiency times four" part, and make the travel time, in kilometers per day, equal to the efficiency times 500,000, we come closer to the numbers above.

Example: A TL 4 10-ton vessel with a 0.1 MW stutterwarp will have an efficiency of 0.8. It will move 400,000 kilometers per day. The stutterwarp would have a volume of 3.6 cubic meters, mass 3.6 tonnes and cost §1,074,342.

Using the stutterwarp design sequence for æther propellers also allows for advancements in æther propeller technology as the campaign's timeline progresses.

Atmospheric Æther Propellers

In some campaigns, æther propellers are advanced enough to work within an atmosphere. In such cases, their performance is severely degraded.

In our examples above, a flyer travelling 400,000 kilometers per day is moving about 16,667 kilometers per hour. At that speed it would circumnavigate the globe in about two-and-a-half hours. Divide the æther speed, in kilometers per day, by 2400 to determine the vessel's atmospheric speed, in kilometers per hour. Our hypothetical flyer, above, could travel at 167 km/hr in an atmosphere.