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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

From: R Andrew Hayden <rahayden@*****.WEEG.UIOWA.EDU>
Subject: Early AM collaborations
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 93 22:08:01 CET
Greetings Earthlings,

Last night Jason Carter and I spent about 3 hours or so arguing away
via talk and between the two of us came up with some suggestions
and ideas we'd love to pass along. Unfortunately, we discoved
around 3am or so that neither one of us was taking very good notes,
so most of what I am reporting is from memory, and Jason is going to
try to fill in the holes.

-------------------------------------------------

Let's see, where to begin.

Definitions:

BODY was replaced with the word CHASSIS. Our basic chassis
includes many more things than just a frame, so CHASSIS is more
fitting.

Also, we agreed that the generic term SPACE was really lame, but
couldn't come up with something better. So, until we come up with
something better, space is henceforth to be refered to as NERPS :-)
BUT, we do have to come up with a better term. Does anyone have
any ideas?


What is a NERP?
A nerp is a measure of volume. It is an abstract term that has no
real world correlation. But, just as a reference, the average
human is about 100 passenger nerps.

A nerp is a nerp is a nerp. Regardless of the vehicle, all nerps
are the same size. This allows you to directly correlate the size
of all vehicles.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Important steps in building a vehicle:

We also spent some time discussing factors that are important in
builing a vehicle. I'll try to outline how to build a vehicle

I. Choose a chassis
II. Choose an engine
IIa. Add a fuel supply
III. Allocate Nerps
IV. Add accessories
V. Pay up
VI. Drive away


I. Choose a chassis
For each vehicle type, there are five general chassis
available, ranging from 'mini' to 'xtra large'. The chassis
includes the car frame, power train, wheels, suspension,
steering, and brakes. Accessories are available to modify
these parts from the standard.

II. Choose an engine
There are two types of engines, gas and electric. Each has
different characteristics of weight/space vs. power. Every
car must have at least one engine.

Once you have chosen whether your car is gas or electric
power, you then can add accessories such as gridlink.

The question did come up regarding turbine engines. Are
turbine engines simply gas engines with an "accessory" (I
know its more complicated than that, but can we make it that
simple), or are they a third class of engine with unique
enough characteristics that it warrants a seperate class?
That question wasn't able to be answered.

What I am going to do is to upload an extraction from my CD
encyclopedia on turbines and then turn that question over to
the list.

IIa. Choose a fuel source.
Gas engines need fuel tanks. Electric engines need
batteries. You have to put those in.

III. Allocate Nerps
All chassis come with a pool of "unallocated nerps". As
you design the car, all of these unallocated nerps must be
allocated into one of the three types of nerps; passenger,
engine or cargo.

There are different costs for different types:
1 Engine = 2 unallocated
1 Passenger = 2 unallocated
1 Cargo = 1 unallocated.

At the end of the allocation, any unused nerps default to
cargo.

IV. Add accessories
Accessories are what make a vehicle unique. Accessories
are available for almost every aspect of the vehicle. From
high-performance tires to off-road suspension. From
propeller armor to retractable landing gear.

V. Pay up.
Total up the cost of your new vehicle, and cough up the
nuyen.

VI. Drive away
Congrats, you have a new vehicle. No speeding now.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Now, unless anyone has any real arguments about the above system,
we can move along to the next step; Tables of Vehicle Chassis and
Engines.

There are, once again 10 unique types of vehicles we are going to
have to deal with:
Cycles
Cars
Trucks
Trailers
Fix-winged Aircraft
Rotor Aircraft
Hovercraft (Air Cushioned)
Lighter-than-Air (LTA)
Marine (Boats)
Drones

Because cars are the most common type of vehicle, Jason and I
worked up a table of car chassis. It can serve as a template for the
other vehicle types.

Name Weight (in kg) Nerps
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Mini 400 800
Small 700 1400
Medium 1000 2000
Large 1400 2800
X-Large 1900 3800


Weight: Is the total weight of all the parts of the chassis.
Nerps: This is the unallocated pool that you draw from.

NOTE: You will note that there is no maximum weight. After
careful discussion, our thinking was that the chassis of
2064 are suitably strong to carry nearly any rational
weight, and the power of the engine will become a factor in
how much is loaded on a car. This eliminates one of the
major drawbacks with many vehicle design systems, having to
scrimp and scrounge for every last kg.

Now, some vehicle types are going to have to have a maximum
weight. Most notably, all aircraft, boats, LTA and
hovercraft, but I think for our puposes, we can ignore it on
ground vehicles.

We didn't have time to work out a similiar reference table for
engines, so that still has to be done. We also need to develop
some kind of relationship between engine power and acceleration,
speed and maximum load.

-----------------------------

If everyone finds this approach at least tolerable, the next step
is to design the tables for all of the vehicles.

Jason, did I miss anything?

Comments?


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