Running a capital ship

[Mojomoe]

That.s a good point. In my Old Republic galaxy guide, I solved it by keeping multipliers consistent with the preexisting TOTJ era (x1-x3), but greatly increased the table travel times, owing to poorer maps and less charted obstacles.

[Mojomoe]

Well, in case anyone's interested, I finished my fuel consumption logs based on the Starship Construction System that's been floating around on the web for a while. I know it's not official, but it's the most detailed one I've seen so I'm running with it.

The short version is, it doesn't help me much. Turns out, over 25% of the power usage is going to sublight, with another 30% to hyperdrive and the third most-used system is structural integrity and shields. Firing a weapon, or even an entire bank of weapons, for an extended period of time, uses only a fraction of a percent - we're talking 0.03% fuel reserve usage to fire all 25 turbolaser cannons for an hour. Hrmf. What that means is, I can't conceivable limit their weapon usage based on fuel, becaus r that would mean the life support, Gravity, and structural integrity have been off for HOURS by the time that becomes a reasonable hardship.

Perhaps someone who's had a little more coffee might be able to help me - I've got total power output (in "power units"), as well as total fuel amount (in tons), and fuel usage percentages per-system. I've also got the official fuel cell usage rates from WEG RAW. I feel like there's a way to work out a more official fuel usage per-system using equations and ratios, but my brain's a lil fuzzy. Any takers?

If I know total fuel amount, and I know that 1 fuel cell = 1 hyperspace jump = 1 hour of combat maneuvers = 1 month in orbit, I should be able to work out the per system usage right?

I'm running on no sleep and this feels like it's rodiculously simple and elementary but the math is escaping me.

[Mojomoe]

Just a quick update:

Running the numbers from the official fuel usage rules, and knowing that a capital ship's fuel cells hold 10 tons, I get the following basic system breakdown. Next I'd like to further break it down into per-system usage:

Entering hyperspace: 10 tons
1 hour in hyperspace: 1.6 tons
1 month of space operations: 10 tons
1 day of space operations: 0.28571429 tons/285.7 kg
1 hour of space operations: 0.01190476 tons/ 11.9 kg
1 hour of combat maneuvers: 10 tons
1 hour of atmospheric flight: 10 tons

I suppose now I'd need rough ratios, right? If an hour of space operations uses 11.9 kg of fuel, how does that split into life support, gravity, power, computers/systems, machinery, recycling, sensors, struxtural integirity, and particle shields? It also means that since this is the "bare minimum" of fuel usage for running a starship, I can subtract that 11.9 kg from each other fuel usage (except entering hyperspace) to get the additional systems cost for those actions, yes?

How is atmospheric flight different from space operations, and what can I learn from that? In assuming it's ray shields and thrusters, but what else?

[Pel]

Well, you have to fight drag for one thing, plus crosswinds and stall speed. Unlike in space, if you turn off your engines to coast, your ship will assume a ballistic trajectory and make a nice crater. There are also terrain features to worry about in atmosphere, if you're low enough. Not sure of the rules (if any) but I'd treat atmospheric flight like combat operations for fuel consumption.

Particle shields are assumed to be always on (because the SW Sourcebook says it is so). Ray shields protect against energy damage and "require large amounts of energy to maintain". Since it implies that the energy cost is prohibitive (because ships don't keep their ray shields on in perpetuity), I'd make the fuel cost steep for full shields, say 1 cell per 4 rounds and less if they only want to activate some of the shields (forward or starboard for example).

If this fuel cell chart you mentioned is the one I recall, it was about light freighter power requirements. Smaller engines and systems require less overall power and are usually more efficient. Massive capital scale systems are moving thousands or millions of tons and are probably inefficient compared to their smaller counterparts. I'd multiply power consumption by at least 10 and maybe even 20.

One last thought on those weapon powering woes: in Far Orbit (p. 20) turbolaser gas cylinders are good for 20 capital-scale shots and cost 1k each, so the real cost of shooting all those guns is in the gas. Factor in the 2,X availability and the players will have to turn to crime to support their tubolaser habit.
_________________
Aha!