< Jump Drive | Piloting | Spaceships >
| Reaction Engines | |||||
| Engine | Acc.(G) | delta-V | Fuel/ton | Notes | Mechanic Specialty[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fusion Pulse | 20G | 350 | $50,000 | 2 | (Nuclear Pulse Engine) |
| Fusion Rocket | 0.005G | 1,350 | $2,000 | 2,3 | (Fusion Engine) |
| Fusion Torch | 0.5G | 450 | $2,000 | 2,3 | (Fusion Engine) |
| Plasma Torch | 1G | 350 | $3.6M | 2,3 | (Antimatter Engine) |
| Antimatter Pion | 0.1G | 3,400 | $3T | 2 | (Antimatter Engine) |
| Total Conversion | 1G | 10,000 | Variable | 2,4 | (Total Conversion Engine) |
[1]: This is the Specialty of Mechanic required to repair the Drive. [2]: The engine can be high thrust (2x acceleration, 1/2x delta-v per tank). [3]: Substitute water for Hydrogen, for its reaction mass. (3x acceleration, 1/3x delta-v per tank). [4]: Lost Technology. Not generally available.
Fusion Pulse Engines are fairly advanced, and often used on military vessels, particularly those that are totally augmented or run by bioroids or cyborgs that are able to handle the extreme accelerations the engines allow. This is the highest thrust engine available in the setting.
Fusion Rocket is a low thrust, high impulse drive favored by many large Merchant Clan vessels, Corporate Liners, and anyone who expects to make long trips through multiple empty systems to reach a far off part the Jump Matrix or out into the Oort Cloud to visit isolated Gypsy Angel Communities or go Comet Herding. They're able to achieve higher velocities than other engines in the same fuel economy, but need time to accelerate up to such impressive speeds. They are, however, often operated on a "slower, but cheaper" business model. One particular niche is held very solidly by by Fusion Rocket "Slowhaulers" which use Water for their Reaction Mass; that of bulk transport of goods that wouldn't be economical to ship any other way.
Fusion Torch is a medium thrust, medium impulse engine, and perhaps the backbone of Interstellar Trade. A properly outfitted Fusion Torch ship can manage a system-to-system route in about three to four months (hopefully trading at various points throughout both solar systems along the way), and enable fast travel throughout the inner solar system ("Earth to Mars in 3 days! No waiting!"), while still keeping fuel prices reasonable, saving about three months off a Fusion Rocket. In addition, most ship's boats designed to interface with large unstreamlined vessels in orbit use water-burning Fusion Torch engines to travel to and from orbit cheaply.
Antimatter Plasma Torches are almost exclusively used for small fighter craft, mostly due to the cost of operation being too high for any larger vessel. While not as fast as a Fusion Pulse Engine, a Water-burning Plasma Torch Space Fighter can achieve Accelerations of up to 18G's (though most people interested in such high accelerations just go ahead and put in a FPE, getting the same speed and power with much less mass).
Antimatter Pion Engines are almost entirely used by the Military, particularly in the construction of large autmated "world-destroying" Kinetic Kill Vessels or for any kind of STL exploration over long distances. A few isolated systems, no longer (or never) a part of the Jump Matrix, make sporadic contact with Interstellar Civilization in this way.
Total Conversion Engines are high thrust, extremely high impulse engines that are exceedingly economical. They were used almost exclusively by the Old Empires, and though the science behind them is still known on some worlds, the infrastructure and knowledge base needed to manufacture them has been lost. Many of those secrets, though, still benefit Instellar Society, though, in particular increasing the efficiency of current Fusion Engines by almost 300%.
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