Designing Plausible Spacecraft for Role-Playing Games Part I

[RocketDad]

My blog entry for today. May be helpful for those of us working on SF games. Check it out (http://bluemaxstudios.blogspot.com/2010/10/designing-plausible-spacecraft-for-role.html) :)

[Flagwaver]

I like it. I often refer to Serenity when I have my players design the layouts of the ships they design.

[shadowmane]

Cool. I can't wait for the rest. I got some ideas from this (http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/showthread.php/1523-Fore-and-aft-Spaceship-Design-Considered-Silly) thread on another forum. Space offers a brand new way of designing space craft, because if you want to create artificial gravity, all you have to do is accelerate the ship at 1g, and viola, you've arrived. You just design the ship like a tower in space, with the bottom level being engineering and going up from there. You'd probably want the crew living quarters either at the front, or somewhere in the middle to keep them away from the engines.

I read somewhere (I think here (http://www.gravitycontrol.org/forum/index.php?topic=328.0), and I got the link from here (http://thunderbolts.info/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3585&p=40533&hilit=plasma+propulsion#p40533)) that you can use Bismuth and Magnesium (with some zinc added to the Magnesium) to create a protective layer around the ship. The article goes into more detail.

Anyway, I was thinking about this at work the other day. About the arrangement. If you wanted an arrangement that made sense, you would put the control center somewhere in the center of the ship, and not at the top. You would have all of the navigational array, as well as telescopes and sensors at the front of the ship (and maybe an array at the rear between a set of two or four nacelles with the engines/thrusters on them).

Also, as far as propulsion, I was thinking something along the lines of Mini Magnetospheric Plasma Propulsion (M2P2). I have been thinking of different ways this could be used. For instance, you create a flat magnetic field (don't even know if this is possible) and create a propeller with them, creating a push against the medium of solar wind (or, in the case of an electric universe, which I think is a good setting for an RPG, against the plasma that permeates all of space). You could also create magnetic wings on the side of the ship to create lift, and you would actually be flying in space. All you would need is velocity and altitude to get anywhere in the universe. You start by being inside the Earth's magnetic field, and climb to the top of that. Once you leave, then you are in the sun system. You either increase or decrease your altitude to get to where you are going. Forget about gravity, it will effect your ship, but not as much as the electromagnetic lift created by your "wings".

Anyway, that's some of my ideas. I'm still working on coming up with a halfway believable universe to set my retro science fantasy RPG in. I think the Electric Universe idea is right up my alley on this, though it could be used with the Gravity Universe of mainstream science. I'm looking for something to set my setting apart from everyone else's. I'm even toying with "Altitude" as a name for it.

[RocketDad]

@ Shadowmane:


I got some ideas from this thread on another forum.

Yeah, I've posted to that thread and dropped a cool link to some 3D ships that are "hard"; check it out.


all you have to do is accelerate the ship at 1g, and viola, you've arrived.

Very true, but the traditional problem has been having the fuel to canstant boost @ 1g.

It cannot be done with chemical engines at all and there is probably no way to do it with fission or fusion nukes. Luck for you, you've already found the only plausible propusion source that has a chance in the M2P2. I've done some research on it myself (its used in The Black Desert), so I agree that its the way to go.

A few things to keep in mind about it:

The fields are a sort of oval shape, similar to a prop blade, but there is no need to spin them; its the size of the field that matters. Using ionised gas to inflate the bubble (simple hydrogen is fine) you can make the field as big as you need to get constant boost anywhere in the heliopause of the sun. So, anywhere in the system, basically.
But...

Two ships sailing will repel each other, so they would have to coast to dock.

The earth's magnetic field is notorious for "flipping" a magneticially repelled object to get them to attract. Imagine your bird abruptly doing a 180 and pile driving nose-first into the tarmac. :(
You can fix this by making the ship wider than it is tall (ala flying saucer) or using magnetic tubes as launch systems (like a mass driver, but the ship provides the magnets) Or you can use both and have variety in your ships. Retro-sf favored "flying saucers" and YOU can make them plausible! :)

Constant boost @ 1g will make traveling to Mars take at the most a couple of days. You can get anywhere in the entire solar system in the time it takes a probe to reach Mars now. This means your setting will be huge. You're gonna need to have info for pretty much every major planet and asteroid in the solar system. This is one of the reasons my interplanetary ferries take so long; I only have to detail the inner system.

Once you leave the inner system and start toward Jupiter, the magnetic sail gets tricky. Jupiter's magnetic field is the single largest single thing in the Solar system and will either throw your rocket away like a lawn dart or suck it in...that is, if you aren't careful. I imagine Jovian sailors will be a rare breed that can successfully "tack against the wind" to navigate the trecherous fields. You can make a cool character template with that.

The m2p2 functions like the Earth's magnetic field. This means that your crew is automatically shielded from radiation, cosmic rays and space debris. This is a WIN for you; you can ignore these hazards as easily as the space opera folks. Also, lasers and nuclear weapons will only inflate the magnetic bubble, so any attack against your rocket will simply make the rocket move away at high speed. This is also a win, but a double-edged one. It means YOU can't shoot lasers while under sail either, and if you drop your sails to attack, you're a sitting duck.
Actually...that's kind of cool. You're only vulnerable while attacking...you can make something out of that.

...Anyway, all this discussion essentially boils down to having ships that are plausible (especially in the context of retro-sf) and really cool. I definately think you have a winner here. As far as making your universe halfway belivable, you may need to set it in an alternate history. According to the Atomic Rockets (http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3aw.html), website, the transistor is what killed space travel. if you had the space infrastructure established prior to the transistor's invention, you could make a plausible retro-sf setting that way. Anyway, its just a sugesstion.

Keep on working, Shadowmane, your stuff is worth it. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

[shadowmane]

Okay, here's a quick question. Given the assumption of my electric universe, that plasma makes up 99.8% of the universe, would you even need to take fuel with you? Could you not just use the M2P2 with what is already present? I'm still trying to wrap my brain around it, and will probably have to check out some of the books form the linked site in my post above. But I'm thinking that, if the plasma is already present, wouldn't that solve the problem of the fuel?

Another thing (and I'm really not trying to hijack your thread), what about the fact that the whole universe is charged. You could simply find the current and ride it, couldn't you? For our solar system, I would say a current runs through Jupiter, Earth, Venus, and several other bodies in the system. The trick would be to find where the current is coming in, and where it is exiting, and you have a readily available means of transportation out of the solar system itself. It would be like navigating a river.

[RocketDad]

@Shadowmane:

If the Universe if filled with plasma and elctric currents, then a species of ramscoop should get you the fuel you need. Just using what's out around the ship may not work. For one thing, if your Universe has plasma in space instead of vacuum, then THAT is what the M2P2 will be pushing against. A plausible design will put ramscoops on the "poles" and the magnetic coils around them.
If there are currents of electricity that ships follow between planets, then astrogation is much more like navigation on the ocean. The trick being that planets move around a lot, so the currents and the distance will change constantly. That would make navigation tricky...
Another thing, if there are currents in space, then piracy is a viable practice. So congratulations, you can have SPACE PIRATES!!
You might still need fuel to get into orbit, however. If so, then you may want to keep in mind the fuel cost involved. It takes the same Delta-V to go from Earth's (or Venus') surface into orbit as it takes to go from Earth's orbit to Saturn. Gas giants will need even more, Delta-V but that's okay, because thier atmospheres are hydrogen, helium and other fuel-worthy gasses for an M2P2. Since your magnetic sails will push against the magnetic fields of the planets and not these gasses, you're golden.
Gas giants have the most violent stormes in the entire Solar system. Players will have fun getting fuel from that. :)

[RocketDad]

For all you early birds, here's some sexy space-ly-ness with which to start your day:

http://bluemaxstudios.blogspot.com/2010/10/designing-plusible-spacecraft-for-role.html

Happy Monday!

[RocketDad]

Part IV is up on the sight, now. Check it out for the first look at my latest project!

http://bluemaxstudios.blogspot.com/2010/10/designing-plausible-spacecraft-for-role_27.html