Fuel Cells

[Bulldogzeta]

[CRMcNeill]

I like this.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Captain Xenon]

i rather like the fuel cells, and those other little details. they add to immersion for the starship and can help to plan actual expenses for the PCs.

really, you could have an entire adventure around the idea that the Rebel alliance needed more spare fuel cells, for faster supply of front-line ships and less down-time in dock.

starship maintenance costs are easy to deal with once you decide how to apply them. its just setting them up for the important ships that takes a little time.

[CRMcNeill]

[Random_Axe]

The thing to remember about the Tramp Freighters Guide is that it was a specific ruleset for a different type of campaign: for smugglers and privateers (as opposed to rebels fighting against the Empire). This is why the book had different rules for upgrading ships and stocking ships and so on, that weren't in the rest of the books. The TFG rules were meant to balance play for its type of campaign, and not necessarily be an integral part of a different kind of campaign style.

Think of the many kinds of Racing Career videogames out there, where most of your rewards come in the form of "ways to make your car run better or faster". Win your race, get money and spend it on better engine parts. This is what the TFG campaign was about. Find a cargo, run the cargo, get paid for your cargo, spend your payment on better ship parts, save a little for emergencies like bribing customs officials.

Great stuff if that was the kind of game your players wanted to be in; but if they are more into the more classic sneak-and-fight-the-Empire kinds of adventures, then the specific crunch of most of the TFG didn't balance well with the standard rules for ships and repairs and fuelling and restocking.

[DougRed4]

That's interesting, Random, as my campaign right now is kind of a cross between the two. We started out with two freighters, and have slowly been transitioning more into a group of Rebels. But as they've adventured they've tried to do the odd freight carrying job here or there.
_________________
Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

[CRMcNeill]

So, this came up as part of a different discussion. I recalled seeing someone do an expansion of the Fuel Cell rules a long time ago, so I decided to do some digging. I ended up finding it in the Resource Pool, a collection of concepts and stats posted in the old AOL SW-RPG group. Here it is, courtesy of Urban "Wing Commander Luna" Lundqvist.

Alright, here is my latest attempt for fuel rules: By using the first edition rules from GG6 and modifying them to suit me, I got this result:

** FUEL CONSUMPTION TABLE **
TASK FUEL CONSUMED
Entering Hyperspace 1 Cell
6 hours in Hyperspace 1 Cell
Day of RealSpace ops. 1 Cell
Ten Minutes of Combat Maneuvers 1 Cell
Hour of Atmospheric Flight 1 Cell
Take-off from planet 1 Cell
Land on Planet 1 Cell


** AVAILABLE FUEL CELL TYPES **
FUEL CELL WEIGHT COST AVAILABILITY TYPE
Mark I 200 Kg 50 Cr 2 Very Old Civilian
Mark II 150 Kg 250 Cr 1 Old Civilian
Mark III 75 Kg 1500 Cr 2, X Old Military
Mark IV 100 Kg 500 Cr 1 Standard Civilian
Mark V 50 Kg 2000 Cr 3, X Standard Military
Mark VI 10 Kg 15000 Cr 4, X Advanced Military

Note: These fuel cells are made for starfighter-scale starships.


** NUMBER OF FUEL CELLS CARRIED **
STARFIGHTERS
Take the consumables rating, convert it into days and divide it by twelve to get the number of fuel cells carried. A starfighter is designed to use only military fuel cells, and it would be difficult to use civilian fuel cells instead of
military.

Example 1; X-Wing: 5 * 24 / 12 = 10 fuel cells
Example 2; Longprobe Y-Wing: 15 * 24 / 12 = 30 fuel cells
Example 3; TIE Interceptor: 2 * 24 / 12 = 4 fuel cells

LIGHT FREIGHTERS
Most stock light freighters have 50 fuel cells, but the actual number depends upon class, so there is no fixed rule. A light freighter is designed to use only civilian fuel cells, but can easily be modified to use military grade fuel cells.

Guideline:
YT1300 50 cells = 300h in hyper. 70 days of consumables
ZH-10 35 cells = 210h in hyper. 70 days of consumables
ZH-25 75 cells = 450h in hyper. 105 days of consumables
Helix 80 cells = 480h in hyper. 20 days of consumables


** RECHARGING FUEL CELLS **
CHARGING RATE, STARPORT COST PER CELL
Trickle (1 cell/day) 5 Cr
Standard (1 cell/hour) 10 Cr
Fast (5 cells/hour) 50 Cr
Emergency (20 cells/hour) Varies*

* They're not actually recharging the cells: they're replacing the depleted cells with previously-charged cells of the same model.

Note: Military starports double all recharging rates, but the cost is tripled.

CHARGING RATE, FUEL SCOOP WEIGHT COST AVAILABILITY
Small Size (1 cell/hour) 10 Ton 10000 Cr 1
Standard Size (5 cells/hour) 15 Ton 15000 Cr 2
Large Size (10 cells/hour) 20 Ton 20000 Cr 2

CHARGING RATE, SOLID FUEL CONVERTERS WEIGHT COST AVAIL
Depends upon energy content of material 5 Ton 8000 Cr 2
Guideline: 1 cell/Kg metal or 0.1 cell/Kg wood

CHARGING RATE, SOLAR CONVERTERS WEIGHT COST AVAILABILITY
Small Sails (30/90 days) 5 Ton 6000 Cr 2
Standard Sails (15/45 days) 10 Ton 12000 Cr 2
Large Sails (5/15 days) 15 Ton 18000 Cr 3
Note: (15/45 days) means it takes 15 days in-system, 30 days out-system, to fully recharge all of the ships fuel cells.

CHARGING RATE, INFLIGHT REFUELING WEIGHT COST AVAILABILITY
Retractable Probe (5 cells/hour) 200 Kg 1500 Cr 2, X
Fixed Probe (5 cells/hour) 150 Kg 1000 Cr 2, X
Fuel Receptacle (10 cells/hour) 100 Kg 3000 Cr 2, X

EDIT: I'm going to clean this up a bit, but I wanted to post Urban's original version for completeness.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Whill]

[CRMcNeill]

[CRMcNeill]

FUEL CONSUMPTION TABLE

One Fuel Cell is Consumed for every:

Jump to Hyperspace
6 hours in Hyperspace
Day of Real-Space Flight
Ten Minutes of Combat Maneuvering
Hour of Atmospheric Flight
Take-off from Planet to Orbit
Descent from Orbit to Land on Planet

FUEL CELL TYPES

Model = Weight (Cost / Availability)
Civilian, Outdated = .2 metric tons (50 Credits each / 2)
Civilian, Older = .15 metric tons (250 Credits each / 1)
Civilian, Standard = .1 metric tons (500 Credits each / 1)
Civilian, Advanced = .075 metric tons (1,500 Credits each / 2, X)
Military, Older = .075 metric tons (1,500 Credits each / 2, X)
Military, Standard = .05 metric tons (2000 Credits each / 3, X)
Military, Advanced = .01 metric tons (15,000 Credits each / 4, X)

Note: These fuel cells are made for starfighter-scale starships.

NUMBER OF FUEL CELLS CARRIED

STARFIGHTERS
Starfighters have 2 Standard Military Fuel Cells for every Day of Consumables.

EXAMPLES:
X-Wing: 1 week of Consumables (5 days) = 120 hours. 120 / 12 = 10 Fuel Cells (.5 metric tons)
Y-Wing Longprobe: 3 weeks of Consumables (15 days) = 360 hours. 360 / 12 = 30 Fuel Cells (1.5 metric tons)
TIE Interceptor: 2 days of Consumables = 48 hours. 48 / 12 = 4 Fuel Cells (.2 metric tons)

A starfighter is designed to use only military fuel cells, and it would be extremely difficult to use civilian fuel cells instead of military.

LIGHT FREIGHTERS

Light Freighters have 1 Standard Civilian Fuel Cell for every Day of Consumables

EXAMPLES:
YT-1300: 2 months of Consumables = 70 days = 70 Fuel Cells (7 metric tons)
ZH-25 Questor: 3 months of Consumables = 105 days = 105 Fuel Cells (10.5 metric tons)
Arakyd Helix: 4 weeks of Consumables = 20 days = 20 Fuel Cells (2 metric tons)

RECHARGING FUEL CELLS

Starport Charging Rate = Cost per Cell
Trickle (1 cell/day) = 5 Credits
Standard (1 cell/hour) = 10 Credits
Fast (5 cells/hour) = 50 Credits
Emergency (20 cells/hour) = 500 Credits*

*At this level, the cells are not being recharged, but are actually being physically removed and replaced with pre-charged cells

Note: Military starports double all recharging rates, but the cost is tripled.

FUEL CONVERTORS

Solid Fuel Convertor

Description: Converts virtually any matter into fuel cell power.

Material Converted = Recharge Rate per Cell
Light Material (Water, Gases, Cellulose, Plastics, etc) = .1 metric ton / cell
Medium Material (Silicon, Iron Ore, etc) = .5 metric tons / cell
Heavy Metals (Uranium, Plutonium, etc) = .01 metric tons.

Size (Capacity) = Weight (Cost / Availability)
Economy (.5 tons/hour) = 5 metric tons (8,000 credits / 1)
Standard (1 ton/hour) = 10 metric tons (12,000 credits / 2)
Industrial (2 tons/hour) = 15 metric tons (20,000 credits / 2)

Note: Ship captains must arrange for the purchase of materials.

Aero-Scoop

Description: Allows the ship to suck in gases during atmospheric flight, which is then fed into a matter convertor to recharge power cells. Recharge rate is dependent on the size of the Aero-Scoop.

Size (Recharge Rate) = Weight (Cost / Availability)
Small (2 cells/hour) = 10 metric tons (10,000 Credits / 1)*
Standard (5 cells/hour) = 15 metric tons (15,000 Credits / 2)
Large (10 cells/hour) = 20 metric tons (20,000 Credits / 2)

*Some starfighters (the X-Wing, B-Wing, ARC-170) are equipped with the equivalent of a Small Scoop due to the design of their engines.

Solar Convertors

Description: Ships may be equipped with solar converters: huge, fragile sails that absorb charged particles from solar wind.

System Position = Recharge Rate
Flare Zone (Mercury & Venus) = 3 cells / day
Life Zone (Earth & Mars) = 1 cell / day
Outer Zone (Jupiter & Saturn) = .2 cells / day
Deep Space (Uranus and beyond) = .1 cell / day

Sail Size (Recharge Rate Modifier) = Weight (Cost / Availability)
Small (x1) = 5 metric tons (6,000 Credits / 2)
Standard (x2) = 10 metric tons (12,000 Credits / 2)
Large (x3) = 15 metric tons (18,000 Credits / 3)

_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[CRMcNeill]

I haven't forgotten about the In-Flight Refueling System, but I haven't quite worked out how I want to work it, and since it wasn't a part of the original 1E Fuel Cell System, I figured I'd leave it out for now. It will show up again at some point.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[CRMcNeill]

The problem with the In-Flight Refueling System is that there isn't really a clear idea of what exactly a fuel cell contains. Is it merely a large battery, or does it contain fuel of some kind? If it carries fuel, then for what type of engine? There are at least three different types of drives / power plants that I'm aware of: solar ionization, fusion and hypermatter. And then what does that power plant do? Is it basically the engine, or does it provide power to fuel the actual drive reaction in the engine? If the latter, then what does the engine use as fuel?

For the purposes of simplifying this system, I'm thinking of three general classifications...

1) Starfighters and Space Transports utilize Fusion Drives, and share common fuel, stored in a fluid state. Fuel cells carry a certain amount of fuel, which is then fed into the drives to create thrust and power.

2). The exception to this is Ion Engines, predominantly found in Sienar Fleet Systems craft, but particularly in TIE Fighters. TIE Fighters burn a different kind of fuel than Fusion drive ships, but their Wing Panels also serve as a space version of the Scoop, drawing in ionized particles for use in the drive.

3). Finally, all the Capital Ships run off Hypermatter Drives, which is effectively a Fusion Drive on steroids.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Whill]

[CRMcNeill]

[garhkal]