Low Profile 3d Sketch of Wheel Configuration

MAIN POINTS:

1. Many different configurations have trade-offs. 
1. Humans are superstitious when faced with so much uncertainty, many designs will prevail depending on the shipyard and community. 
2. AI and Humans recognizing ship configs like faces, being able to tell so much with such sparse data.  
2. How easy it is to Kitbash makes it easy to also Manufacture these systems. 
1. A ship can Reconfigure easily - allowing Players to reconfigure based on MISSIONS. The is customization will be another FACTOR of FUN! imagine being able go back and reconfigure your ship as PART of the adventure, not a ONE TIME THING. 
3. Crew Sleeping and Conditioning limits their Work Hours. The longer the journey the more conditioning. I wouldn't be surprised how much VR rigs see 4-5 hours of use every day per person. 

The wheel orientation as well as the oscillation that happens makes me realize that - like a tomahawk or a thrown knife their spin and the imperfection of the wheel can either be handwaved as drift compensated by the ship computers. 

Now I'm figuring out Profiles and such signatures. 

So many different configurations to play with and actually, each has a strength. The latest one where the Command module is at the Axle of the wheel allows for easy 

The Carousel Configuration makes it easy to travel to any point in the ship while presenting a Large Profile. From engine to forward section one doesn't have to add the Diameter of the wheel for travel. 

Kitbashing some more ships. I realize the number of Radiators are too much and it doesn't assume more efficient radiators. 

a 38m Rad habitat. Allowing a crew to travel distances of an AU without much deterioration (months)

The advantage of a smaller profile are in detection and getting hit. At a large amount of complexity, humans become superstitious since there is so much uncertainty. 

Directional Maneuver Thrusters. Several Thrusters are redundancy. A large thruster is more efficient for larger burns. Players can choose the trade-offs of the configuration. 

The Near EArth objects is an Inspirational Article for me.

2.3 km diameter asteroid. Even just a mountain-sized asteroid can shield a habitat, provide resources.

• If it has valuable resources it will be mined. 
• IF it doesn't the mass can serve for Inertia Banks
• Its size serves as a shield. 

Habitats to Scale: larges being 225m radius, next is 150m radius, 70m radius, 30m radius, and 15m Radius. The 225m one being the most comfortable and economical size. Unlike most Scifi settings, distributed Habitats instead of Super Massive Habitats are used. The KMs apart can be physically linked with cables and allow these habitats to store enough delta V to avoid hazards. 

Today I learned some Basic Orbital Mechanics

 TIL Hohmann transfers and Oberth Effect.  

1. Why the Navigator is an Important Job (it is not in the Mechanics of Old Traveller and Cepheus) - and Ideas how to make the Navigator important in CE - he helps reduce Delta V and Travel time- 
1. if you brute force something without Orbital Mechanics YOU GET NOWHERE even if you have a lot of unlimited thrust duration (How long the ship can have thrust) and not enough thrust Power (Gs). 
2. The Navigator Tracks Vectors. Vectors are the Imaginary Point in space the Navigator tracks and determine - they can be Moving Points like other Ships, or nearly fixed points like Planets and Notable Objects (see Near earth Objects) being 1 Meter in largest dimension is the smallest to the Minimum automatically detected is something as big as Ganymede  (+30km across). 
3. The Pilot = the Thrust or M-Drive controler determines if the ship Tumbles, Strafes,  "Flips&Burns", wobbles, or creates an area of uncertainty to the exact position on its way to its Vector.  
4. But the navigator determines if they CHANGE Conditions with the Target - that ranges and the orbital mechanics that influence their actions to change. The captain should have strong Navigation because navigation is the most immediate CONDITIONS of the ship. A firm grasp of Navigation means being able to BREAK UP assumptions and audit conditions for details that may be out of place.   

  Easy Orbital Mechanics I - Getting to the Moon  

 Easy Orbital Mechanics II - Hohmann Transfers    

  Easy Orbital Mechanics III - Interplanetary Travel  

   Easy Orbital Mechanics IV - The Oberth Effect 

The most common ship in IMTU Hex Rockets.

 The Advantage of HEX modules. This is a 5m Radius Hex Module with 3m Elevation (Vertical). When the Hex Triangles can be reconfigured to carry Hex Containers.

There is a hex Core that holds the modules. The modules are modular and ships can Fill or leave the slots open.

I'm imagining Space X Starship Rocket profile - 6,000 to 30,000dton Scales of these modules. the 6,000 tons (400dtons) are the most common.

The Hexagon is the bestagon that has influenced my design - it's VERY modular - that means HEX rockets can be "SLOTTED" into HEX Carriers which have Drives that are more efficient at larger scales (like Orions).

Hexes can be Converted to RINGS. Broken up and SPUN for long travel. Then Configured to be "Slotted back" onto a section of the ship has to do atmospheric re-entry and cannot afford to park its habitat in orbit.

The funny thing about doing this in FreeCAD is the FEM workbench that allows me to do stress tests if I can consolidate the shape.

This is a 5m Rad, 3m High/Elevation module
beside a 20m high 2.5m Rad hex container
module

This is a 3,000 dton rocket

Doing studies of how big of a Spin grav,
with just 20m radius. 

Using Space X Starship as a reference,
It would not be too hard to image hex rockets. 

Hard Scifi Setting Notes - Homesteaders and Size References

Skyhooks or Inertia Bank Tethers are interesting to me because its created a paradigm where I'm trying to conserve Inertia. I'm not thinking of reaction mass, I'm thinking of inertia and how as much as possible I can conserve it. 

• Like most Logistics Infrastructure - Entities will be building and maintaining these Inertia Bank Tethers continuously. 
• The more tethers there are, the more frequently people can Schedule transit between two points. 
• Even in Cislunar Space having 10s of tethers in early 2100 can be expected. The way train tracks and roads exploded into the modern age, there will be thousands by 2200. 

Homesteaders

• Homesteaders - would be communities who found a cluster of asteroids or meteorites that can be mine - not just for their valuables but purely for their Mass. Artificial Gravity Calculator Imagining <1g habitats for 
• They would be the Maintainers and Owners of various Tethered Inertia Banks. A spinning tether about a KM more long, made up of several megatons of steel - 
• Buying and Selling inertia
• Intercepting Inertia of Rogue Material if the Cost vs Value is profitable. 
• Accumulating mass, inertia, and  material to make the Cost to Travel to X or the Cost of this 
• They are like Stops prior to the Highway (like in the Plot of Disney Pixar's Car, Radiator Springs). 
• They may be tethered to a habitat that has accumulated material and inertia (I can imagine converting the inertia to Heat or Energy).  
• In the Beginning, Corporations would fund these tethers, overtime after 100+ years and millions of megatons of Inertia Banks and Tethers arise it becomes a Mom and Pop for the Outer regions, and Corporation control the most Popular/Frequented ones. 

It is just as easy to move Material from Psyche 16 to Jupiter as to earth depending on the Orbital Position. From 2200 to 2400 (the time several main Tether stations were created), Mega Corporations and Nations may be rising and falling during the entire duration of mining Psyche 16. 

Inner Ring Concept (shelved)

A habitat ring under 1km or hundreds of meters below the surface of the Moon or Ganymede... it doesn't work. 

• Reason.
• 1G habitat and Work and Live near the Planetoid. 
• Saves Reaction Mass 
• Why it doesn't work.
• Bigger the Ring, the More Angular Momentum - the energy needed is exponential as Mass Increases and Speed requirement Increases. 
• Fragile and Major Catastrophy. Anything hitting it will generate a lot of energy and damage. Its better to have Many Smaller O-niel cylinders and Tori (Torus) than One large Ring that can convert a little matter to a LARGE amount of damage. 
• Workarounds.
• Tethering 1G Cylinder Habitats (60m Diameter or Larger Habitats).  
• Begin with one Habitat tethered to the Moon, and then build it up in Shielding and Protection as it Takes Materials from the moon and moving along the tether. 
• More Tethered Habitats can Sprawl from these the first Tether. 
• More Habitats and Industries Tethered along different points of the Planetoid. 
• various Inertia Bank Tethers and Chains managing the Inertia of the Orbital commutes - Taking inertia from incoming and Transfering the Inertia to outgoing. 
• Various inertia bank and Tethers along with point defense systems capture and redirect material that are big enough to harm the Habitats. A network of Interia Banks with Reaction mass/Delt-V budgets. 

Key Concepts

1. Tethered 1G Spinning Habitats
2. (IBT) Interia Bank Tether Homesteaders (a 10+ mega tons of Inertia)
3. Smaller IBT Clusters near habitats to catch and capture inertia from dangerous material (less than a megaton of Inertia). 

Sizes and Perspective

I'm imagining the Chains and Links of a Tether to be scaled by Container Modules, Trains, 10k ton ships like the Liberty, and Cargo Vesselss (400m). Human reference model is from  CG Trader (can't find the name of the maker, anyway the link shows you where I got it). Here is my blend file if it may help you better visualize. 

the 2 x 2 cube. 

A 58ft Cargo Container 16m

A Train Module 24m

A liberty Ship 135m

and a Modern Cargo Container 400m

Daydreaming of TL9 - a game that Spans 2050 to 2200.

  Traveller Games in TL9

2050-2099 

ike Delta-V where freelance Astronauts of various specializations are getting hired and trained for pioneer missions to catch asteroids, comets, and material to bring some of it or all of it back to CisLunar Space. The race to reduce the cost per kg to Cislunar space is the Race to have as much Sensors and navigation equipment to better find Opportunities and Catch material.

1. Harder Science drawing from Artemis, The Martian, Delta V, Seveneves, and the growing Space Science Literacy like sources from Atomic Rockets. 
2. An understanding of how we transition from our Current Situation to TL9 - development of Space Infra and all the science and economic changes when we don't fight over Earth resources in Climate Change but try to catch Asteroids and Comets. 
3. Ice Ships and Sky hooks. Tons of Delta-V conserved with very clever tricks that have become standard operations. 
4. Your not held hostage by accuracy and precision - get the Science you can handle and run with it. Be kind to GMs and Players who are trying to develop their hard science TRPG legs so that there are MORE of them and they can learn from each other. 

2100-2149 

the Normalization of Material Capture and the Growth of the CisLunar. CisLunar Space and Earths population pushing outward. The Push for Jupiter and Psyche 16. Jupiter with its moons, rings, and low Delta-V cost resources would become its own HUB and development. Experimental Micro Jump Drives discover the Vilani Outposts. Imagine the logistical fleets that were set up to allow megatons of material to Micro Jump all the way to Vilani Outposts

1. The "mining" that is seen as low-brow in Traveller Golden era is now the Pursuits of Nations and megacorporation as it tries to push the boundaries of Human reach. 
   
2. The months-long Travel from Earth to Venus or Earth to the Belt and Jupiter. The jobs are mostly logistics: moving material in these Low-Delta-V places to Processing and Trade. Space is BIG and players soon discover the scale - if they didn't already discover it in CisLunar Space. 

2150-2200 

Commercial Micro Jump Drives. From Jumping from CisLunar Space to Jupiter and then Jupiter to Saturn. Torch Drive Efficiency still has not reached levels dreamed of in the Expanse, but have become much safer. Ion Drive Efficiencies have become very viable to start having hardened Habitat enclosures. 

The later century is marked with the events in Interstellar Wars and the Vilani. Sol micro jump capable fleets against Vilani Jump Fleet with vastly greater Torch and Ion Drive efficiencies. The Crushing Defeat has so many facets and angles.

Demographics have changed drastically as humans live to 200 with major strides in Cybernetics and prosthetics. What makes human survive in space is the same science that makes him live 200 years. The economics of population that can work or a hundred years and the number of families they can sire is quite remarkable.

1. Electronic warfare - with a level of power only needed to harm sensors and comms. 
2. Torpedos with Bomb pumped lasers (nuclear warheads that blow up directionally in very narrow cone to make it devastate a hundred of kilometers before it diffuses. 
3. Repeaters that direct and Obfuscate Drones and weapon Platforms. Diffuse hulled ships carrying megatons of drone weapon platforms carrying torpedos to wage war in ranges of Light mili-seconds. 
4. The Alien worlds they visit after all that work to get Just one System Away. 
5. Using the Nearby Space and rolling Procedurally what the Player Encounter!!! Even the GM is surprised lolz.  

TL9 EMU Suit and its PSD File and Stats

both EMU unit and Crew Suit PSD file. 

TL9 Crew Suit 2200 PSD FILE

1. Changed the Shadows Layer into an OVERLAY layer. I used the Overlay property on the layer to create the shadow effect that applies to both the BASE COLOR and the STRIPES. you can now change the BASE COLOR without having to recolor the shadows. 
2. Changed the Highlights Layer into a SOFT LIGHT. Same as the OVERLAY layer, it allows anyone with the PSD to change the BASE COLOR without having to redo the highlights and shadows. 

TL9 EMU SUIT 2200 PSD FILE

1. This is where I experimented with OVERLAY and SOFTLIGHT and got the workflow you see in the PSD file. 
2. This is where I got the right level of line size.
3. This is where I relearned a lot of coloring and basics. 

• Name: Basic ExtraVehicular Mobility Unit TL9 2200 Model.
• To differentiate it with the Basic EVA Suit TL9 2200 Model. 
• Derived from: Extravehicular Mobility Unit
• Manufacturer: Open Source any Fabrication System TL9 2100 models or older can manufacture the Grade+2 Spare Parts. Spare parts are 60metric tons per 1dton (4metric tons per 1 cubic meter). 
• Assuming Grade+0 Spare parts are 100KCr per 1dTon 20 metric tons of mass (half the density of aluminum).  5Cr per Kg of spare parts for Grade+0. 
• Assuming Grade are x3 more expensive every level in quality and value (x3, x10, x30, x100 etc...). 
• Grade+2 Spare parts for the suit is 50Cr per Kg. or 1MCr per dTon. 
• Grade+3 Spare parts for the Life Support and Tech at 150Cr per Kg. or 3MCr per dTon
• Grade+4 Spare Parts for Life support and Tech at 500Cr per Kg. or 10MCr per dTon. 
• Function: Work in Vaccum for Long Periods, even in extreme periods of work where the worker is in the suit for 40-80 hours. The life support section allows the wearer to curl up in Zero Grav and self-comfort. It's been designed to allow for herculean tasks and these tasks tend to be called for. 
• Life Support:  40 man-hours of heavy exertion 80 man-hours for light. Can be serviced and supplied in a Vacuum. 
• Powered Life is 40 hours with powered movement. Unlimited with a power tether. 
• Work. if a human can produce 300-400wats, the suit can produce around 1000-1200 watts of work for its 40 hours of independent power supply. 
• Pressure Type: Full
• Operating Pressure: 101 kPa (14.69 psi) or 1 Atmosphere of pressure. 
• Work In Zero G. Pressurized Work in this suit is considered light load thanks to the exoskeleton dealing with most of the suits own resistance and mass. 
• Common add ons Thruster and Cabling Attachments.
• As well as special Welding Rigs that deal with the large about of heat the process generates.  
• Work In 1G. considered under a load of 12kg Powered and 90kg Unpowered working in a pressurized suit in 1G. 
• Special Use: Exercise Rig - for long extended periods of time, the suit can be programmed to allow for exercise by giving resistance to various motions. 
• Operating Life: 
• Maintenance: 40 hours of use requires 10 mins of servicing. 
• Work-Life:  10 years or 120 months of use and replacement parts is as though you bought a whole new Suit. 16KCr / 120 months = 135Cr per month of maintenance. Not counting the Life support Consumables at 2Cr per Man Day.
• Suit Weight: 40 kg; 6KCr (150Cr per Kg; Grade+2 Parts)
• Life Support Systems weight: 20kg,  10KCr (Grade+3 Parts; 500Cr per KG)
• Total Weight: 60kg at 16KCr (12KG load when Powered in 1G; in Micro or No gravity the suit is aided by the exoskeleton)
• Typical Weight: Carries 40kg to 60kg of supplies. from rations, wipes, 

What can you do with the PSD file:

1. Change the Color. my son messing around with the colors. Select the base color layer and use HUE, BRIGHTNESS, and SATURATION to manipulate the color. 
   
   
   
   
   
2. Redo. I plan to draw Exo Skeleton Attachment. Thrusters and other Variants. A combat version though will be very far in the horizon. 

Migrating to GURPS Spaceships

There has been no update on GURPS Traveller ship combat rules. Its really time to dump them despite all the effort I've gone through making a spreadsheet, doctrine, and consolidating all the rules from all the various sources in my notes.

Spaceships has support, and plug in rules for GURPS mass combat for fleet action.

I was talking to +James Austin since he has the books and I was able to learn what else it supports. It was a great coincidence that he was also a honorverse fan and we can talked munchkin.

Man they thought of everything, the best edited and proofread system and rules, and it's more science crunchy with game blogs that talk gurps talk science.

If you have beef with the rules, then call on the Men in black or Steve Jackson Games volunteers who will help you out - I'm an MiB too.

Its going to cost me about $90usd to get all of space ships and the pyramid articles but I have to wait till Xmas when forex is in my favor. Wish they had a bundle discount lolz.