Megatraveller View

I think with reactionless thrusters that can work without a strong gravity well to push against, and with them able to push or pull, I don't think anyone in a ship will go skittering around. It's not really anti-gravity - more like gravity control.

And tanks can probably get to orbit because they can fly up and the gravity field will still exist. I'm not sure at what degree of gravity drop off the efficiency of grav plates drops to make them unable to progress vertically, but given we know they use grav vehicles to get to orbiting ships and to deploy from them, I guess it's likely enough to get out to orbit where ships will be. They themselves won't orbit though perhaps they could (the speed limits are in atmo, so not sure what the speed limits would be in vacuum or near vacuum in orbital altitudes). But they seem likely to be able to get there to dock or be picked up.

And yes, once planes, boats, cars, and spacecraft merge around TL-11, your fast flying tank is a reality. At higher levels, your grav-belt, battle dress, and fusion gun related marine is a reality in the skies.

They suck at consistency - they say there is no anti-grav (instead artificial grav) but all the references in the tables say 'anti-grav' as does some of the other text... Grrrr.....

Referee's Manual:

"The second major breakthrough is artificial gravity. Created by manipulating subatomic forces, artificial gravity is not anti- gravity but is instead a unique force that acts upon the natural gravity field created by all matter. Artificial gravity can be made to either push or pull. Because of its nature, artificial gravity is not a very efficient means of locomotion in deep space where there are no strong gravity wells to push against"
"The fourth significant development came from the search for a starship maneuver drive that did not lose efficiency when away from a strong gravity well. Artificial gravity and damper technology led to yet another sub-atomic force-based technology. This new, artificially generated force pushes against a vessel’s “thrust plates’’ themselves, which make true reactionless thrusters a reality for starshipsized vessels."
"Antigravity: The craft uses antigravity <<WTH?: They just said it isn't anti-gravity.... consistency!>> modules (or more simply, “grav modules”) to move about. Three types of grav modules are available: Standard (relatively cheap, with adequate power to thrust ratio); Low Power Heavy (moderately priced, with good power to thrust ratio); and Low Power Light (expensive, with excellent power to thrust ratio)."
"Two basic types of space-faring locomotion exist: Maneuver Drive: Space-faring craft use grav modules or thruster technology for locomotion. This mode of locomotion is called a maneuver drive. Thruster drives require massive plates and vast quantities of energy. They cannot be installed in vehicles."
"Grav Plates: Provides internal artificial gravity, such that “down” is always more or less constant no matter what the orientation of the craft. For the optimum in internal gravity con- sistency, also install inertial compensators." (TL-10)
Inertial Compensators: Inertial compensators, when in- stalled, allow high-G maneuvers while interior G-fields remain normal Inertial compensators negate the effects of inertia, so the occupants of a moving craft have no sensation of motion." (TL-10)

TL propulsive unit (ironically, they are calling it 'anti-gravity' here despite saying it was not antigravity above..... not consistent)

7~ 9 One anti-grav unit 65 0 13 5 270 500000

11 One thruster unit 700 135 350 700000

Referee's Companion (Tech chapter):

By TL-10, most tanks are grav vehicles. By TL-11, most grav vehicles have a very pronounced free flight capability and have merged with aircraft. By TL-13, heavy grav vehicles are indistinguishable from orbital craft.
TL-10 'gravity repulsors' are mentioned (I believe reference a weapon/defense system here).
Gravitic structures show up at TL-11. Gravitic Cities at TL-13. Mobile Cities happen at TL-14.
Gravitic Main Drives are TL-10, Thruster technology is TL-11.
Gravitic tech TL10 has troubles operating far from a large mass.TL-11 Thrusters are for the most part reactionless and can operate without a large mass nearby.

On Fri, May 8, 2020 at 4:44 PM Vareck Bostrom <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

Which might have resulted from a misunderstanding of what "orbit" is. The car can lift itself to orbital distance but not attain orbital velocity and just fall back down again.

On Fri, May 8, 2020 at 12:46 PM Phil Pugliese - philpugliese at yahoo.com (via tml list) <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote:

Yeah, that's what it said!

As I recall. it took a number of hours to get into 'space' but the basic idea was that the craft would start rising & just keep going up & up & up.

I remember thinking how weird it would be to see something like that.

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On Friday, May 8, 2020, 11:40:40 AM MST, Ethan McKinney <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

Which is ... insane. You can take your family car to orbit?

I guess the Tesla Roadster SpaceX edition isn't that far off.

On Thu, May 7, 2020 at 3:52 PM Phil Pugliese - philpugliese at yahoo.com (via tml list) <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote:

On Wednesday, May 6, 2020, 05:01:02 PM MST, Rupert Boleyn <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

On 07May2020 1007, Ethan McKinney wrote:
> Without contragravity, you get grav tanks with astounding acceleration ...
It's also been an explicit part of the OTU for a long, long time.
Air/rafts have always used it, and they date from the original LBBs.
Rupert Boleyn <xxxxxx@gmail.com>

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Yep, and there's even an explicit description of how to use an air/raft to get into orbit in one of the early pubs.
All that's needed extra is a vaccsuit!

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