Re: Vector Rules -- engines

Ground Zero Games wrote:
Status: RO

>
> Under the current FT3 testing draft, you have ALL your ship's mass to
play
> with (not just 50% as in FT2), but have to pay mass to fit drives.
> Currently we have FTL drives at 10% of total mass, and main drives
> (normal-space) at 5% mass per thrust factor; so, yes, you can have a
> thrust-10 ship by spending 50% of your total mass on the drives (plus
> another 10% if you want FTL, of course). I suppose the ultimate "fast
ship"
> would be (say) a mass-10 non-FTL boat using 90% of its capacity for
drives,
> giving it thrust-18 (!!), but only 1 mass left over for anything else
(1
> C-batt??). One hell of a space hotrod....  :)

This is actually quite similar to the process of naval architecture
since about 1890. It's slightly complicated by the fact that in water,
the power needed is approximately proportional to the cube of the speed.
(Though it's more like the square for very long ships, but that's
another matter).

A 60%-of-mass-for-thrust Battleship is essentially a Battlecruiser. The
reason that Battlecruisers were so big in terms of displacement was
simple. You take a n 18,000 ton battleship design, and give in another
12,000 tonnes of engines (and hull etc, it's gotta float).

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