Re: Walkers

Date: Wed, 26 Jul 95 17:56:56 -0400
From: "Harold D. Hale" <hdhale@tasc.com>
Subject: Re: Walkers

--DRAFT--

(Sky)Walkers: A Walker Design Sequence Supplement

Version 1.0

by Harold D. Hale


Introduction

     The general consensus is that the appearance of 
contragrav at TL 9 and HEPlaR at TL 10 renders most 
forms of ground transportation obsolete--so much so that 
a TL 12 ground car is almost unheard of (unless you're a 
nostalgia buff who wonders what it would be like to cruise 
a highway and have to parallel park).  

     Development of walker type vehicles also comes to a 
grinding halt.  Though there is some development in this 
field after TL 10, the results are specialty vehicles which
operate on worlds where contragrav equipped types have 
difficulty safely maneuvering because of weather patterns 
(high winds would undoubtedly wreak serious havoc on a slow
moving contragrav transport, not to mention what it would 
do to the passengers' stomachs) or other factors.                
                                                               
     But what if contragrav weren't available on a world 
until later on, say TL 14 or 15 (or was never developed)?  
After all, we Terrans aren't even close yet to having the 
"flying cars" pictured in "Back to the Future" and other 
Hollywood flicks dating back to the 50's and we have 
achieved TL 8 in many areas.  Wouldn't there be some worlds 
that chose to develop walker vehicles to their technological 
conclusion (whatever that may be)?  And what about worlds 
where walkers were developed, and later contragrav was
introduced?  Would they abandon their walker vehicles
immediately, or would there be a transitionary period where
walkers were retrofitted with contragrav?

     This supplement attempts to address these issues by
providing the designer with more advanced walker design 
tools. You must own a copy of Fire, Fusion & Steel (FF&S) 
to utilize this design sequence.

Disclaimer: This design sequence supplement incorporates 
material copyrighted by GDW.  It is being posted for the 
sole purpose of testing, evaluation and general feedback.  
Use of this material for other purposes is not a good 
idea. Really.

Walker Vehicle Design

Step 1. Chassis

     As described in the Ground Vehicle Design section. 
Walker chassis are available in the same types and 
materials as other vehicles.

Step 2. Suspension

     Select a suspension type appropriate to the vehicle.
Improved walker suspensions appear at TL 12, and take 
advantage of gravitic (if available), cybernetic, and 
materials technology advances. Advanced walker 
suspensions are similiar, and capitalize on advances in 
those fields made up to TL 16.  Advanced walker and 
Improved walker vehicles require that a contragrav unit 
be installed in the vehicle. Contragrav generators can be 
found on page 24 of the FF&S manual.

WALKER SUSPENSIONS
                     TL     Vol     Mass     SA     MCr
Walker                8     2.8      2.8     80     0.0028
Improved Walker      12     1.4      1.4     80     0.0056
Non-Grav Imp Walker  12     2.1      2.1     80     0.0042
Advanced Walker      16     0.7      0.7     80     0.0112

TL: Tech level available. Vol: Volume in kiloliters 
(cubic meters) per displacement ton (14 kl) of hull. 
Mass: Mass in tonnes per displacement ton of hull. 
SA: Useful surface area in square meters is equal to the 
chassis material volume (from chassis size table) times 
this number. MCr: Price in millions of credits per 
displacement ton of hull.

Step 3. Control Systems

     Improved, Non-Gravitic Improved, and Advanced 
walkers require a computer of a tech level at least equal 
to that of the vehicle. The computer may be of the 
standard variety, or a flight computer type.  Regular 
walkers do not have this requirement.

Step 4. Life Support

     As described in the Ground Vehicle Design section.

Step 5. Electronics

     As described in the Ground Vehicle Design section.

Step 6. Weaponry

     As described in the Ground Vehicle Design section.

Step 7. Power Plant

     As described in the Ground Vehicle Design section.

Step 8. Transmission

   All walkers regardless of type must be equipped with a 
walker transmission. The size of the transmission depends 
on the tech level of the vehicle and the power available 
for the transmission.

WALKER TRANSMISSIONS
          TL      Vol/L      Cr
           8        8        10,000
           9        2         2,500
          10        0.4         625
          12        0.067       156
          14        0.0096       39

TL: Tech level available. Vol/L: Volume (in cubic 
meters) of a legged walker vehicle suspension per 
Mw of power output designated to the transmission. 
Cr: Price in credits per displacement ton of hull.

     Improved and advanced walkers can also have their 
power plants modified to provide thrust by the addition 
of propellers, a combustion chamber, or to power a more 
exotic drive. The variety of thrusters available is 
detailed in the Sublight (Maneuver) Drive Chapter (9) 
which starts on page 69 of FF&S.

Step 9. Crew

     As described in the Ground Vehicle Design section.

Step 10. Cargo

     As described in the Ground Vehicle Design section.


Design Evaluation Modifications

1. Check Step

     As described in the Ground Vehicle Design section.

2. Record Design Features

     As described in the Ground Vehicle Design section.

3. Determine Movement

   a. Ground Movement

      Road Speed (Ground):
          Base road speed in km/hr = 5 + ([MW / LW] x 2500)
          MW: Vehicle motive power in megawatts
      	  LW: Loaded weight of the vehicle in tonnes

          Modifiers
          Each tech level above 5          +1 kph
          If standard walker               x0.25 kph
          If improved/non-grav imp walker  x0.4 kph
          If advanced walker               x0.5 kph

      Off-Road Speed (Ground):
          The Off-Road Speed of all walkers equals their 
          Road Speed.

      Vertical Movement (Leaping):

          ***I have a way to get this, but am looking for*** 
          ***a better one. Two different sets of formulas*** 
          ***need to be used--one for contragrav equipped***
          ***vehicles, which will have their leaps       ***
          ***evaluated based on how high they can jump in***
          ***2.5 seconds (or half a turn--presumably they***
          ***would spend the other 2.5 in descent--if    ***
          ***not,calculating how high they can go in a   ***
          ***combat turn would be a simple matter of     ***
          ***multiplying by two); and one for            ***
          ***non-contragrav vehicles, which should be    ***
          ***pretty straight forward since hangtime, etc.***
          ***is not an issue.                            ***

      Flying:
          If so equipped, determine the walker's G rating 
          and aerial movement capabilities of the vehicle 
          using the Lift Vehicle Design evaluation section 
          on page 26 of FF&S.

          ***It would also be possible under the right   ***
          ***circumstances for a contragrav equipped     ***
          ***walker to be fitted with collapsible        ***
          ***wings which could be extended and allow the ***
          ***walker to become a glider. Anyone want to   ***
          ***take a crack at a formula for calculating   ***
          ***the proper wing surface, etc.?              ***

4. Firing Characteristics

     As described in the Ground Vehicle Design section

5. Determine Maintenance Points

     As described in the Ground Vehicle Design section


     Your comments (good or bad) and constructive 
suggestions on this supplement are welcomed. Please e-mail 
me at hdhale@tasc.com or post something to this mailing list. 
I'll be posting new and improved versions of this supplement
to the mailing list as time permits.

--Harold