Hello James,
On 06/22/2020 3:28 PM James Catchpole - jlcatchpole at googlemail.com <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote:
P.S. I should have mentioned that LBB 2 hints at the above on p.13 when it says that a starship must have a jump drive and a power plant (manouver drive optional), and that the power plant must equal or exceed the manouver or jump drive letter, whichever is higher.
Book 2 1977/1981 does state that on starships a maneuver drive is optional, which in my opinion is a link to CT LBB 5 HG 2e 1980. Unfortunately, the authors/designers did not alter the Drive Potential Table in CT LBB 2 1977/1981 or Technological Levels Table in CT LBB 3 1977/1981. Of course between the jump drive-6, power plant-6, and fuel requirements totaling up to 150 tons by themselves a J6 100 ton hull is not possible.
CT LBB 5 HG 2e 1980 limits J1 to TL 9 and TL 10. CT LBB 2 1977/1981 on a 100-ton per the Drive Potential Table mounting a Type-C Jump drive can make a 6 parsec jump. The CT LBB 3 Technological Levels Table agrees with CT LBB 5 HG 2e 1980 that starships are routine at TL 9 and they can mount Type A-D drives.
A 5,000 ton hull in CT LBB 2 1977/1981 is limited to using Jump Drive Types W-Z. The maximum potential (rating) for Drives W-Y is 1 and a Type-Z is 2. The CT LBB 3 Technological Levels Table indicates that at TL 15 all Jump Drive Types are available. Under CT LBB 3 1977/1981 a 5,000 ton Starship is only available at TL 15 and is limited to a maximum of a 2 parsec jump.
Hi Tom,
CT itself was silent on the matter, I believe, until Marc Miller wrote an article for JTAS #24 in 1985. In that he described a jump drive as having lanthanum coils in the drive, and a wiring grid (nature not specified) in the hull to prevent jump space intruding into the hull. He indicates that the ship's power plant, running at reduced efficiency but high output, powers up capacitors or fast-discharge batteries over a few minutes before the jump drive is engaged. 'Some' of the fuel is used in 'carrying off fusion by-products' and cooling the system during this charging process - presumably by being vented to space. There is no mention here of zuchai crystals, although adventure 4, Leviathan (1980) does mention them as being needed for 'a vital focussing element'. He does say that some jump drives use other power systems including solar collectors (i.e. Annic Nova), or anti-matter power systems.
MT changes that to a lanthanum grid in the hull and a high-yield power plant in the jump drive. Zuchai crystals are specified as usually being used for the jump drive capacitors. This version also makes explicit that fuel is vented as coolant. I went straight to the SOM, but as you said, some of this is included in the core books.
Nuts, I seem to have missed your first post and thank you for more details.
Tom Rux