Scott "2G" Kellogg writes:
>MEGATRAVELLER DESIGN CONSTRUCTION REVIEW PART 2
>DESIGN EVALUATION
I'd like to see part 1. I must have missed it when I lost net access.
>(the SR-71's thrust to weight ratio is 0.3824. Max speed is
>unknown but around 3100kph)
Do you mean 0.3824 or 3.824?? The number cited is rather at odds
with the table above it.
>VTOL Aircraft must suffer some thrust penalties due to the nozzles
>necessitated by their VTOL design. As all VTOL aircraft must have
>a thrust to weight ratio greater than one, one would expect from
>the table above that all VTOL aircraft would be extemely fast. As
>this is not the case, forward thrust for the aircraft must be
>divided by 4. Thus, the Harrier with it's Thrust/Wt of 1.227 would
Since the limitations of present-day nozzle design are an engineering
limitation, and not a Law-of-Physics limitation, I would suggest
calibrating the VTOL thrust divisor by tech level. Otherwise, you
are assuming that there will never be improvements in vectored thrust
design that will improve thrust efficiency vis-a-vis non-vectored thrust
engines. You don't want to repeat the story of Traveller computers and
have players looking at your tables 15 years from now and saying "That's
bogus! TL 12 Traveller aircraft are wimpier than the stuff the Navy's
using now!" (Which is what we are all saying about the current COACC
tables.... I'm delighted to see your revised tables.)
--- Cynthia