GURPS High Tech and GURPS Ultra Tech both have sections on Power, but they tend to concentrate on portable sources, or at least vehicle portable for the ones that weigh one ton. Since it's all going on a truck to get in I guess these are vehicle portable. High Tech p15 TL8 methanol fuel cells sound handy, but I can't see how to work out the power outputs. Solar Panels, which happen in both Power Array and portable flexible Powered-Battery Recharger versions, are TL7 and TL8 respectively, and seem shiny helpful.
Power Array powers 'a whole household', $25,000 , 1200lbs, LC4. So if each and every container had sufficient solar panels, and 1200lbs is easily in the wiggle room for weight that I left built in to my assumptions so I can ignore it and consider 5*SM+6 the internal limit, then everything that doesn't have a [!] is powered by solar power.
However, in any environment dim enough to give even a -1 Vision penalty, they produce no power. So, either the colony only needs power in the daytime, or it needs something for night and evenings.
GURPS lists a lot of batteries, but it assumes we're interested in carrying them around. But a couple of batteries suitable for powering a golf cart, that is in GURPS terms VL batteries, seem like they could keep a house going overnight. But, rechargeable batteries only have a few hundred recharge cycles, says the same rules. So, you couldn't last a year on them. Which seems odd. How often do modern electric vehicle batteries need replacing?
Modern, though, is bordering on ultra-tech. Some prototypes pretty much are TL9.
Ultra tech assumes fuel cells, not batteries; fuel cells are listed in High Tech too as TL8.
Portable Methanol Fuel Cell (TL8). A suitcase-sized generator. It uses 1 gallon of methanol every 3 days. $5,000, 13 lbs. LC4. Semi-Portable Hydrogen Fuel Cell (TL8). A large cart capable of powering a whole household on a single hydrogen cylinder for 5 hours (extra cylinders are $100, 65 lbs.). $6,000, 100 lbs. LC4.
TL9 fuel cells are just one of the assumptions about power cells: Fuel cells combine hydrogen or methanol with oxygen (often in the form of water, which contains oxygen) in an electrochemical reaction. Fuel cells are more complex than batteries, incorporating a fuel tank and microelectronics to control fuel flow.
F cell: These power medium or large vehicles and cannon-sized beam weapons. They’re about the size of a compact car engine. $20,000, 200 lbs. LC4.
They're assumed to be rechargeable, with no limit on number of cycles.
So if you combine solar panels and fuel cells it looks like you have all day, every day, regular power. But fuel cells are full of methanol or hydrogen, so look a bit kaboom. There's rules for exploding power cells, but they list for TL9. REF is 1/8, for an amount of explosive equal to the weight of the power cell. 200lbs of explosive seems like a lot, but 0.125 REF is much lower than pre-1600 gunpowder.
Explosive damage is 6d * square root of (weight of explosive in lbs. * 4 * REF). 6d * square root of (200*4*0.125) = 6d * square root of 100 = 6d*10
If every living are had one 6d*10 explosive block strapped to it... hmmm. Not popular.
Of course the next level up on power, the generators, starts with fission. To use GURPS rules you can choose between potentially explosive and nuclear. Lovely.
TL9 nuclear generators are $100K per 1000lb (or 0.5 short ton like Spaceships uses). They provide power for 5 years.
Not enough power for a mining machine ala Spaceships, but plenty to drive around the truck they're on, yes?
I'd need GURPS Vehicles 4e rules.
aha, I'd skipped Power Plants: Chemical Energy in GURPS Spaceships, because they'd need refueling a lot. $50K at SM+6 . This power plant is a high-efficiency chemical energy closed-cycle power plant using hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuel (much like a chemical rocket). There are two variations: Fuel Cell (TL7): Each system provides one Power Point. It can operate for three hours (TL7), six hours (TL8), 12 hours (TL9), on internal fuel. Endurance can be extended: each fuel tank of hydrogenoxygen rocket fuel consumed by the power plant operates it for 4* that duration.
So Solar Panel, Power Plant: Chemical Energy Fuel Cell TL8, Fuel Tank, together make up a long lasting and efficient power generation system IF you use the TL9 Power Cell rule that fuel cells are rechargeable. Which feels a bit like cheating, but, stargate, there's no way not to cheat the power requirements (though see Cosmic Power Cells in Ultra tech for possible Naquada rules :eyeroll: ). Power plant would last 6*4=24 hours. Then the solar arrays could recharge it. So you wouldn't have to carry the solar panels around on the trucks, you could power the mining vehicles for 24 hours off internal power cell and fuel, and have them return to base for recharge. ... if the planet has a non-24 rotation, remember that doesn't mean 'all day'.
I can't see where it has rules for how long it takes to recharge a thing. If you could only go out mining on alternate days, that would be annoying. Or if you had to leave it plugged in all night. Or swap out your giant power cells.
What exactly is the 'mining' equipment? ... exactly don't matter, I won't be poking it.
TL9 solar power array covers 400 square feet. If containers are 8 ft wide they'd need to be 50 feet long to have the roof be sufficient space, or maybe have fold out awnings; yeah, I like that idea. $10K , 500lbs. That's a lot lighter than the TL8 array for a household. So would the other array need more area? Because then a container couldn't be long enough to power itself. Or is it just higher TL gets lighter? TL9 arrays deploy in 1 minute. I'm having pretty thoughts of solar power flowering at the first touch of day. Then it would protect itself at night.
Most of the rules assume adventurers happen in vehicles or on foot. They're not really for building and powering a fortress / installation / colony.
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branchandroot
Re: Power!
Date: 2014-02-14 07:34 am (UTC)Power Array powers 'a whole household', $25,000 , 1200lbs, LC4. So if each and every container had sufficient solar panels, and 1200lbs is easily in the wiggle room for weight that I left built in to my assumptions so I can ignore it and consider 5*SM+6 the internal limit, then everything that doesn't have a [!] is powered by solar power.
However, in any environment dim enough to give even a -1 Vision penalty, they produce
no power. So, either the colony only needs power in the daytime, or it needs something for night and evenings.
GURPS lists a lot of batteries, but it assumes we're interested in carrying them around. But a couple of batteries suitable for powering a golf cart, that is in GURPS terms VL batteries, seem like they could keep a house going overnight. But, rechargeable batteries only have a few hundred recharge cycles, says the same rules. So, you couldn't last a year on them. Which seems odd. How often do modern electric vehicle batteries need replacing?
Modern, though, is bordering on ultra-tech. Some prototypes pretty much are TL9.
Ultra tech assumes fuel cells, not batteries; fuel cells are listed in High Tech too as TL8.
Portable Methanol Fuel Cell (TL8). A suitcase-sized generator. It uses 1 gallon of methanol every 3 days.
$5,000, 13 lbs. LC4.
Semi-Portable Hydrogen Fuel Cell (TL8). A large cart capable of powering a whole household on a single hydrogen cylinder for 5 hours (extra cylinders are $100, 65 lbs.).
$6,000, 100 lbs. LC4.
TL9 fuel cells are just one of the assumptions about power cells:
Fuel cells combine hydrogen or methanol with oxygen (often in the form of water, which contains oxygen) in an electrochemical reaction. Fuel cells are more complex than batteries, incorporating a fuel tank and microelectronics to control fuel flow.
F cell: These power medium or large vehicles and cannon-sized beam weapons. They’re about the size of a compact car engine. $20,000, 200 lbs. LC4.
They're assumed to be rechargeable, with no limit on number of cycles.
So if you combine solar panels and fuel cells it looks like you have all day, every day, regular power. But fuel cells are full of methanol or hydrogen, so look a bit kaboom. There's rules for exploding power cells, but they list for TL9. REF is 1/8, for an amount of explosive equal to the weight of the power cell. 200lbs of explosive seems like a lot, but 0.125 REF is much lower than pre-1600 gunpowder.
Explosive damage is 6d * square root of (weight of explosive in lbs. * 4 * REF).
6d * square root of (200*4*0.125) = 6d * square root of 100 = 6d*10
If every living are had one 6d*10 explosive block strapped to it... hmmm. Not popular.
Of course the next level up on power, the generators, starts with fission. To use GURPS rules you can choose between potentially explosive and nuclear. Lovely.
TL9 nuclear generators are $100K per 1000lb (or 0.5 short ton like Spaceships uses). They provide power for 5 years.
Not enough power for a mining machine ala Spaceships, but plenty to drive around the truck they're on, yes?
I'd need GURPS Vehicles 4e rules.
aha, I'd skipped Power Plants: Chemical Energy in GURPS Spaceships, because they'd need refueling a lot. $50K at SM+6 . This power plant is a high-efficiency chemical energy closed-cycle power plant using hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuel (much like a chemical rocket). There are two variations:
Fuel Cell (TL7): Each system provides one Power Point. It can operate for three hours (TL7), six hours (TL8), 12 hours (TL9), on internal fuel. Endurance can be extended: each fuel tank of hydrogenoxygen rocket fuel consumed by the power plant operates it for 4* that duration.
So Solar Panel, Power Plant: Chemical Energy Fuel Cell TL8, Fuel Tank, together make up a long lasting and efficient power generation system IF you use the TL9 Power Cell rule that fuel cells are rechargeable. Which feels a bit like cheating, but, stargate, there's no way not to cheat the power requirements (though see Cosmic Power Cells in Ultra tech for possible Naquada rules :eyeroll: ). Power plant would last 6*4=24 hours. Then the solar arrays could recharge it. So you wouldn't have to carry the solar panels around on the trucks, you could power the mining vehicles for 24 hours off internal power cell and fuel, and have them return to base for recharge. ... if the planet has a non-24 rotation, remember that doesn't mean 'all day'.
I can't see where it has rules for how long it takes to recharge a thing. If you could only go out mining on alternate days, that would be annoying. Or if you had to leave it plugged in all night. Or swap out your giant power cells.
What exactly is the 'mining' equipment? ... exactly don't matter, I won't be poking it.
TL9 solar power array covers 400 square feet. If containers are 8 ft wide they'd need to be 50 feet long to have the roof be sufficient space, or maybe have fold out awnings; yeah, I like that idea. $10K , 500lbs. That's a lot lighter than the TL8 array for a household. So would the other array need more area? Because then a container couldn't be long enough to power itself. Or is it just higher TL gets lighter? TL9 arrays deploy in 1 minute. I'm having pretty thoughts of solar power flowering at the first touch of day. Then it would protect itself at night.
Most of the rules assume adventurers happen in vehicles or on foot. They're not really for building and powering a fortress / installation / colony.