________________________________________ GURPS Vehicles 2nd Edition Additions MA Lloyd (malloy00@io.com) 9 August 1998 Modifications and Additions to Chapter 6: Crew and Passengers ________________________________________ p73 Computerized Controls. A vehicle that will operate as a robot or under software control must have computerized controls. The vehicle computer must run appropriate software - Vehicle Control, Vehicle Operation, an ROS - for the control system to do anything. p73* Computerized Controls. These are included free in any Battlesuit system, which also serves as the terminal. p73 Duplicate Computerized Controls. These are not required, any terminal can be configured to function as the maneuver controls. p74* Crew Stations. Cut paragraph 8 beginning: 'Normally there is no weight...'. Crew stations have weight. p74* Crew Stations. Insert "Bridge Access Space: Optionally, large craft may group important crew stations together as a 'bridge.' with extra access space, enabling officers to easily move about, supervising subordinates." p74 Harness or Strap-On Crew Station. Like cycle seats this needs a volume limit, use 10 cf. p75* Crew Station Table. add Bridge Access Space, --, ×3, -- p76* Accommodations. Like sailors, lifting gas crew does not require seats or spaces. p77 Limited Life System. Does not provide air or water when turned off, so a separate water source is needed for surface cruising. It also continues to draw power for environmental control. p78* Provisions. Since limited life support provides water, it also lowers provision requirements. p79 Safety Equipment. Add *Safety Belts* (TL0): safety restraints are available at any TL for $10 per seat if anyone thinks of them. They are not limited to free equipment at TL6+ (p27). p79 Safety Equipment. Crew Escape Capsule. Replace this with a modular socket including the crew stations and any necessary structure, parachutes and impact absorbers. p80 Battlesuit Systems. A battlesuit with a body volume greater than pilot weight/10 cf is too large to be form fitting. The control system must be installed in a single location, not divided. ________________________________________ Crew and Passengers p73a Remote Control ________________________________________ To build a remote control vehicle install Electronic or Computerized Controls but don't place the Crew Stations or Computer aboard. Instead install one standard bandwidth communicator per crew station required and place the actual stations and the same number of communicators somewhere else. Normally skills used through a remote control link are at -1, but if the round trip signal lag exceeds 0.1 seconds (9300 miles range for light-speed communications) this penalty may increase substantially. Indeed I use a separate skill - Remote Piloting (IQ/Hard) no default - to control a vehicle with long communications lag. Where possible it's a good idea to install an autopilot or small computer to take control if the communications link goes down, otherwise loss of signal is treated like any other loss of operator (p152). I recommend ignoring the Robots drone rules (pRO63), particularly the unjustified IQ drop and the near requirement of an onboard computer. ________________________________________ Crew and Passengers p76a Alien Accommodations and Stations ________________________________________ Statistics for crew stations, passenger seats, mecha cockpits and so on assume the occupant will be a typical human - 1.5 to 2 meters tall, under a meter broad, around 150 pounds, and of course human shaped. Multiply the volume of seats designed to hold suited humans by suit volume/4 if the suit is larger than 4 cf. Seats designed for another species multiply all statistics by the average species weight/150. Races with similar body plans can use stations designed for each other if their sizes are within a factor of 2, though not comfortably. It is often impossible to design a crew station that will work properly for two species with very different sizes or body plans, there really isn't any way to build mechanical controls that will work for both a human and a cidi for example, but if the GM permits it use the statistics for the larger species and multiply by 1.2. Alien battlesuit systems are more drastically different. Battlesuits often will not fit humans other than those they are tailored to, and rarely will a design be useful to more than one species. If the aliens have densities similar to humans (and they do if they have water/protein based biochemistry) the system statistics remain 1.2 x pilot weight pounds, pilot weight/50 cubic feet, $3000 plus $20 x pilot weight (at base TL8), and negligible power. Master/Slave designs, rather than systems divided among multiple locations, will still usually be required if the suit volume is greater than pilot weight/10, but there may be exceptions for aliens that are less compactly built than humans. For a divided system the fractions in each location will depend on what fraction of the total volume of the alien is occupied by each limb, head, body segment or other division; multiply the total statistics by those fractions to find the statistics of the portion of the system installed in each location of a species compatible suit. ________________________________________ Crew and Passengers p76a Passenger Access Space ________________________________________ Extra space can be added to vehicles with seats or spaces to allow the occupants to move around more easily. 'Improved access' adds 50% to the volume required and allows passengers to move without displacing anyone else, and/or to recline the seats comfortably. 'Superior access' doubles the volume and allows serving carts, wheelchairs or other large objects to move freely among the passengers. ________________________________________ Crew and Passengers p77a Environmental Systems ________________________________________ *Environmental Control* (late TL5): as p77, but temperature range is -40 to 120 F, treat as 40F cooler or 80F warmer. *NBC Kit*: becomes an Air System option. *Limited Life System*: replace with separate air and water systems. *Full Life System*: as p77, includes both air and water closed loops, but not food. *Total Life Support*: replace with Full Life Support plus appropriate food production systems. *Capsule Lifesystems* (TL6): An option for Environmental Controls (p77), Full Lifesystems (p77), Full Water Recycle (p78a) or Air Systems (p77a). If the system supports a single person in a sealed suit - or for that matter a sealed crew station or other sealed container under 100 cf - it can dispense with much of the plumbing and distribution equipment. Install it in the same location and divide the weight and cost by 2, and the volume by 5. *Galley* (TL1): food preparation spaces are included automatically aboard vehicles with Quarters. Install a light workshop (p66a) to add them to short occupancy vehicles. *Waste Relief* (TL5): is included automatically with Quarters. Added to a seat, space, or battlesuit system it allows waste relief without leaving the station, comfort level varies with TL. A vehicle must have some such systems to have Full Water Recycle. To build a portable toilet add the system to a passenger seat or space with Superior access. Environmental Systems Table: 5+ Waste Relief 1 0.02 $50 0 ________________________________________ Crew and Passengers p78a Water Supply ________________________________________ Water consumption has two major components - consumable water (for drinking and food hydration) and what is commonly called greywater (for bathing, laundry, dishwashing and so forth). Consumable water needs are about 1 gallon per person per day, and more than half that ends up as water vapor. Greywater demands are about 5 gallons per person-day for rather minimal hygiene, and 100 gallons per person-day in modern residential use. Greywater is fairly easy to recycle, since it is mostly recovered as slightly dirty liquid and needn't be quite as highly purified since taste is not an issue. *Stored Water* (TL0): Tanks of water use the rules for fuel tanks (p88). Treat storage barrels (used at TL4-) as TL5 Standard Tanks. Stored fresh water is likely to grow unpleasant microbes after a while, for long durations at low TLs drinking water is not carried, instead beverages with enough alcohol content to poison the microbes are used. At TL6 and up the problem can be solved by irradiation; or chlorination or other chemical additives safer than alcohol. *Distillation* (TL3): Distillation systems able to produce drinking water from seawater or other impure water sources are available at TL3, but not common until the introduction of steam engines (which require pure water to prevent scale buildup). *Filtration* (TL5): Removes particulates from the water - dirt and microbes, but not salt, most nasty flavors or dissolved chemicals. This prevents the transmission of most waterborne diseases, but won't do anything for most other types of water impurities. *Greywater Recycle* (TL7): Captures and recycles all but 1 gallon per person-day of the water used aboard the vehicle and recycles it. *Full Water Recycle* (TL7): Captures and recycles all the water used aboard the vehicle. This is requires a sealed vehicles with environmental control, since humidity must be recovered. The same statistics can be used for a multifiltered, reverse osmosis system able to purify the same volume of water from any other source. *Vapor System* (TL8): Condenses water from the air, as long as there is any water vapor at all. Production rate depends on the actual humidity, the standard rate is for about 50% humidity at 70 F. Environmental Systems Table 3 Distillation, per gal/hr 10 1 $2 0.05Wd 5+ Distillation, per gal/hr 5 0.5 $10 0.05 (or 0.02Wd) 5+ Filtration, per gal/hr 0.05 0.001 $5 0.01 7+ Greywater Recycle, per gal/hr 1 0.02 $50 0.025 7+ Full Recycle, per gal/hr 2 0.04 $100 0.05 8+ Vapor System, per gal/hr 100 10 $1000 0.05 ________________________________________ Crew and Passengers p78a Food Supply ________________________________________ *Provisions* (TL0): Stored food. Weight, quality and shelf life vary. Fresh foods are 2 lbs, 0.04 cf and $6 per person-day, and last a week. Dried foods are 1 lb, 0.02 cf and $10 per person-day, and last months, but are not particularly appetizing. At TL5 and up preserved foods are 2 lb, 0.04 and $10, last indefinitely, and are nearly as tasty as fresh food. Canning is very late TL4, artificial refrigeration is TL5, freeze drying is early TL6, vacuum packing is late TL6 and irradiation is TL7. At double cost fresh and preserved foods can be had in better quality luxury versions. *Survival Food Production* (TL7): a minimal closed cycle food production system. It produces a mixture of water plants (not technically algae, but probably called that anyway), supplemented by synthesized proteins and vitamins. The TL8 product is only slightly more appetizing. As long as the system has power and there is no loss to people leaving better fed than they came aboard the system can feed the specified number of people indefinitely. *Ecological Food Production* (TL8): is a completely biological closed cycle food system, depending on fairly traditional crops and perhaps small fast growing livestock. The food quality is equal to fresh food, if a bit monotonous after a while. *Food Processor* (TL10): is able to convert virtually anything organic into edible survival rations. At TL10 the product is usually a grey or brown bland-tasting (but very nutritious) bar or mush or simple organic compounds like alcohol or sugar. Extra flavor packs to improve taste weigh 0.1 lb and cost $2 per day. At TL11 a gourmet version is available at double weight and cost, which can produce quality meals (equivalent to Cooking 12) or raw materials nearly indistinguishable from natural crops. Environmental Systems Table 7 Survival Food, per person 2500 50 $5000 5.0 8 Survival Food, per person 1000 20 $500 5.0 8 Ecological Food, per person 10,000 200 $5000 10.0 10 Food Processor, per person 10 0.2 $2500 0.01 ________________________________________ Crew and Passengers p78a Spin Gravity ________________________________________ Prolonged exposure to zero gravity (over a month) causes significant health damage, so long duration spacecraft need some sort of artificial gravity. Realistic artificial gravity is rotational; objects are held against the deck away from the spin axis by 'centrifugal force'. Probably 0.3G for as little as an hour a day would prevent the worst health effects. If humans are to function in the spin section, it must rotate slowly enough coriolis forces don't make them sick or dizzy. Some people can tolerate 10-15 rpm (a 5 point Spin Tolerance advantage), but most can't adapt to more than 3 rpm, and anyone with Motion Sickness is permanently sick. Spin gravity is highly anisotropic, moving objects or projectiles travel unexpectedly. This imposes a -4 penalty to skills involving rapid motions or missile fire on anyone not familiar with the environment. The apparent gravity generated depends on the distance from the rotation axis and the rate of spin: gravities (g) = [radius(ft) x spin rate (rpm)^2]/2935. The energy of a spinning section is approximately 0.8 kJ x radius(ft) x gravities (g) x mass (tons). To model the machinery needed to spin the section up and down and conserve angular momentum install a flywheel energy bank able to store twice that much energy. Time to spin up or down is the time to charge or discharge that energy bank. Anything docked with the spinning section or brought aboard adds to the weight, and energy must be supplied to make up the spin. Otherwise maintaining spin requires no power. Note you DO pay the energy penalty for things which leave and then return to the spinning section. It is possible to spin up or down using thrusters, the needed delta-v is approximately [radius (ft) x rpm/25], or [125 x g / rpm] mph. There are a number of methods of providing spin gravity: Exercise Centrifuge (TL5): a ring with a bicycle style muscle engine. The bicycle provides the power to rotate the ring, the necessary exercise under gravity, and keeps the operator seated in a fixed facing, minimizing the coriolis and 'tidal' force problems of the smaller ring. Weight is 700 lbs, volume is 1200 cf and cost is $10,000. Spin Cylinder: the ship is a cylinder spinning on its axis. Select a radius and compute the apparent gravity and energy as above. The surface area of the cylinder uses the nonstandard formula 4 pi x r^2 + 2 x volume/r. Minimum habitable volume is 25 x r^2 cf. The inner 25% of the volume is under less than half the computed gravity and may be unsuitable for human occupation. Spin Ring: the ship is a torus spinning on the axis through the central hole. Select a radius and compute the gravity and energy normally. Minimum habitable volume is 500 x r cf, surface area is 6 x volume/r Spin Truss: the ship is divided into two modules connected by a truss or cable. Divide the components between the modules and compute volumes and areas of each separately. Select a truss length, the effective spin radius for each module is the truss length x (other mass/sum of the masses) - yes this does mean the modules are under different apparent gravities if they have different masses. The truss itself is treated as a vehicle structure with an 'area' equal to the sum of [simulated gravity(g) x spin radius (ft) x module mass (tons)] sf. Add a passage tube of the same length if moving between the modules is expected. Spin Decoupler: any of these systems can also be used as a subassembly, attached to a nonspinning part of the ship by a decoupling system. Design the spinning section as above, as if it were a separate vehicle. Treat the decoupler as a surface feature with statistics equal to 10% of the structural weight and cost of the smaller section (25% if it allows easy movement of crew or materials between the sections). Thrust and Spin: a ship under spin cannot maneuver easily. Small thrusts along the spin axis are possible (sAccel less than 0.1 x simulated gees) but thrust in any other direction is complicated by gyroscopic effects. Add twice the spin up delta-v requirement to the delta-v of any maneuver, including ordinarily negligible ones like changing facing.