I was having problems with my ISP's web based email yesterday and lost a number of tml posts. from my inbox. One of the posts was yours that according to the tml archive was from June 20, 2020 at 05:28 UTC.
GDW JTAS 24 1985 pp. 34-38 has the article on Jumpspace by Marc W. Miller. Under the section of Required Items on p. 35 "Energy Storage Nodes: Once power is generated, it must be stored until the instant of jump. Capacitors or fast-discharge batteries fit this requirement...."
My opinion is that the this is "charging the jump capacitors."
Okay, that process is still a magic black box (because it obviously is consumed at a rate that FAR, FAR, FAR exceeds normal power plant consumption rates). That's not 100% satisfactory, but putting some 'handwavium' in here to explain the magic of super fast 'poof' - fuel gone now - is I suppose okay. You'd need more 'handwavium' to explain why this isn't used more generally though.
There is no information provided if the power plant is using a normal power rate or has been modified to provide the higher consumption rate need to charge the jump capacitors.
On Sat. Jun 20, 2020 at 05:28 UTC kaladorn wrote.
That's a very odd requirement.
In CT LBB 2 1977 a 200-ton hull with an acceleration 4-G must mount a Type-D Maneuver Drive and capable of 6 parsecs needs a Type-F Jump Drive. The power plant must be at least a Type-D.
In CT LBB 2 1977/1981 the same hull would have to mount a Type-F power plant.
The requirements are the same, my guess is that the wording made the information odd.
3.
On Sat. Jun 20, 2020 at 05:28 UTC kaladorn wrote.
I
f I WERE FIXING THIS (and not worried about all details of canon, including the somewhat contradictory ones):
1. Jump fuel would be more like the amount needed in MT. That could be split between more living space (so people can survive a lifetime of banging around trade lanes without going crazy) and more cargo capacity (or other interior appointments) which might make smaller ship trade more viable.
The MT as far as I can tell cuts the CT jump fuel requirement in half, but I do agree that the reduction allows more space for other items.
2. Jump modules and their attached fuel tankage would really be one unit, just existing separately just to allow differing fuel loads for any given jump module install. The two would work together and the fuel tankage would not be part of larger non-jump fuel (Plant/M-Drive fuel) although probably some transfer piping would exist for emergency pump-overs.
The instructions/rules indicate that fuel is calculated separately. Unfortunately, the rules do not clearly state that when entering fuel on the ship's data sheet or on desk plans to indicate which fuel belongs to the appropriate system.
2a. When the jump engine was energized, it would create a containment field for the fuel and then trigger a field effect that quickly (as fast as instant or as slow as a few mintues) convert the J-fuel to power stored in the zuchaii crystals. Those are effectively the 'jump capacitors' and the risk of an accidental discharge increases with the length of hold time so generally you go quickly from fuel conversion to jump. (And if I were looking for a place to make small ships more common than big, I'd say the net amount of fuel involved would also increase the odds of an accidental discharge.)
CT LBB 5 HG 2e Black Globe Generators p. 31 "jump capacitors" and MT Referee's Manual "The Black Globe" pp. 95-96 "energy sinks (for the jump)" describe how they store the power, how much power that can be stored, and what happens when they are over charged. Unfortunately, I have not found what the capacitors or energy sinks are made of, but my guess is that they are indeed zuchaii crystals.
3. The Jump drive is not formally a power plant. It is an energy conversion system and a jump interface generator.
Why is the jump drive not formally a power plant?
How does the jump drive convert energy?
What is involved in making the jump drive a jump interface generator?
My basic understanding of the reactors used to power the four boats I served on work is that the reactor fuel rods generated enough heat to convert distilled water to steam that was fed into a turbine generator converted it to electrical energy.
Here are what I have pulled together from CT LBB 5, MT Referee's Manual, and GDW JTAS 24 1985:
A jump drive is made up of a number of components consisting of a computer to control the power requirements for the jump drive, a special high-yield power plant (per MT), energy storage devices, CT LBB 5 Hg 2e jump capacitor or MT energy sink, wiring around around the hull to distribute the jump field, and jump coils. within the drive that channel the energy to the wiring around the hull to create the jump field.
The only bit missing is how the power plant, a fusion reactor, converted the heated L-Hyd to energy that is stored in capacitors/heat sinks, and then distributed to the coils and then out to the wiring grid of the hull.
4. M-Drive and plant fuel would be contained in more mundane storage. There would be no M-drive requirement for J-Drives.
I am confused in CT LBB 5 HG 2e p. 22 Drives: "Three types of drives are required for starships - maneuver drives, power plants,and and jump drives. Non-starships may omit the jump drive. Some ships (such as express boats) omit the maneuver drives. All ships require power plants...."
CT LBB 2 1977/1981 p. 13 Engineering Section: "... A starship must have a jump drive and a power plant; a maneuver drive may also be installed, but is not required...."
Neither book indicates that a J-Drive requires a maneuver drive as I understand the two rules quoted above.
5. The reasons that the high-storage capacitors are not used elsewhere are several-fold: Limited supply of zuchaii crystals, cost of zuchaii crystals and thus of jump drive modules, the instability of zuchaii crystals that are highly charged (time from conversion to use is normally a matter of minutes at most, often seconds) and if you try to hold anything longer, their instability is a big risk which is deemed inadvisable in other ship's system (Jump systems are the only game in town to move strategically at decent speed, so they must be suffered in that role).
I have no clue on how many starships have been built in the TU from the time of Grandfather to T5 but the number probably makes the limited supply unrealistic. Cost may be a factor I can go along with. I can really get behind the concept that the crystals can only be stressed for a certain duration or energy level after which they fail in a catastrophic fashion. I had to replace more than on capacitor that blew up due to a power surge before the fuse that was supposed to protect the circuit went.
6. The Lanthanum grid is part of how ships jump and it forms a field essentially conformal to the ship (as a rule, it can be adjusted in case a space walk is needed in Jump though that's a dangerous operation at best!).
How is the lanthanum grid attached to the ship's hull?
In CT the lanthanum grid is part of the starship's hull and agrees with the stipulation that the field is essentially conformal to the hull. Opening the airlock would break part of the grid breaking the field.
In T5 the option of a jump bubble is available and from the material I read can be adjusted. T5 also has jump plates which requires 1 plate for every 10 tons of hull which restricts the jump field to conform to the hull just like the available jump grid from CT.
7. Drop tanks for regular M-Drives would be just simple outside fuel storage. For Jump Drives, they would be more expensive units because they would substitute for the internal J-fuel tankage and thus have the same field creation bits in their construction (you want to recovery these as they are expensive!).
M-Drives in CT and MT do not require fuel but they do need energy from a power plant so drop tanks are not needed. Now if you are talking about reaction drives drop tanks or even recoverable solid fuel or similar systems would be a good idea.
A 300 ton hull with a J-5 drive need 150 tons of fuel to make one five parsec jump. Adding two tanks on the hull's exterior increases the volume from 300 to 450 tons. To make that five parsec jump the hull needs to be 300 tons which means the exterior tanks must be jettisoned. Upon arriving at the destination 5 parsecs away the starship has to be fitted with new tanks before it can make any sort of jump.
I agree that if drop tanks are going to be retained then they should be constructed with a jump grid making them more expensive and very desirable to be recovered. T5 requires that anything carried on the exterior needs to be fitted with a jump grid.
Now, could you use regular drop tanks for Jump? Yes... but...
Yes you can, but it works best on ships that are using it for limited fuel volumes because a) they would face less risk of holding their capacitors at full charge for a bit longer than a larger ship would and b) you could more feasibly pump fuel rapidly into the main tanks in that extended window. The larger ships would be screwed in two ways: Larger ships have shorter hold times and they need to transition a LOT more fuel for larger hulls and generally longer J-legs. A big battlewagon will thus tend to use the specialized 'Jump Drop Tanks' that are pricey so they can get the full benefits. But smaller ships can use the more mundane tankage and hold their caps at full charge longer and still not blow up.
On the Gazelle what you describe as normal drops are used to supplement the 60 tons of internal jump fuel tankage allowing the installed J-5 drive to make a five parsec jump once the drop tanks have been jettisoned. Keeping the drop tanks turn the Gazelle into a 400 ton hull and with the combined drop tank and internal fuel tankage can make a 4 parsec jump. A Gazelle using just internal fuel tankage can only make a two parsec drive using its J-5 drive.
I do not say an advantage to the described use of drop tanks as described. I'll stick with the original details.