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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 Ęther 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 ęther propellers come in three efficiencies: 0.25
(Edison), 0.20 (Armstrong), and 0.15 (Zeppelin).
The speed of a
Space 1889 ęther 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 ęther propellers also allows for advancements in ęther propeller
technology as the campaign's timeline progresses.
Atmospheric
Ęther Propellers
In some campaigns, ęther 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 ęther speed by 100 to determine
the vessel's atmospheric speed. Our hypothetical flyer, above,
could travel at 167 km/hr in an atmosphere.
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