hotrods, flying ships, and steampunk- vehicle use

[glitterboy2098]

as anyone who has read the ATB supplement books know, vehicles play a large role in regions outside the original east coast area. Road Hogs introduced vehicle rules with its Roadwarrioresque fashion, but as written that work only covered the American southwest. Mutants in Avalon introduces steampunk themes by adding to those rules the ability to build vehicles that use steam power instead of internal combustion, even to the point of somewhat improbable steam powered aircraft.
and Mutants down under introduces lighter than air craft, hydrogen and hot air based balloons that combined steampunkish elements with an almost flintstones like creativity. however none of these address an important question... how do these elements apply to the other settings of the ATB world?

the knowledge to create these things is hardly unique to each region. anyone with access to sufficent mechanical skills out to be able to rebuild an automobile roadhog's style, even on the east coast. the only reason england turned to steam power was a shortage of refined fuel for normal engines, and steam technology would be known and used around the globe for its relative simplicity. surely someone else in the world has built steam powered vehicles.
and while airships require a more specialized knowledge, the concept of slinging a basket beneath a balloon is one of the oldest successful ways to fly, and MDU type airships are only a step above the early forays into ballooning in terms of complexity. building one requires little more than some basic science books and a little trial and error in design.

so how common are these motive technologies in the other regions?
are there cars on the east coast? do airships ply the sky over europe and north america? has steampunky goodness made its way into the arsenal of the world?



personally, i'd use these elements just about anywhere. Mad Max automobiles offer the east coast a way to counter Empire of Humanity vehicles. as always, the technical and guntruck is the simple counter to professional militaries. steam power i would make darn near universal, though not used for vehicles as often outside of europe. likewise mutants in america would tell stories of "mystery airships" that travel from one end of the continent to another, while the intrepid aeronauts themselves would always be paranoid about running into empire of humanity fighters, which could bring down their glorified balloons with little more than a stern gaze..

[glitterboy2098]

no comments?

[glitterboy2098]

since no one seems interested, i'll post a vehicle to serve as a potential plothook or inspiration:

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The Goahead

The Goahead is an example of what Cardanian academic's and engineers can produce if given sufficient resources and left to their own devices. It was created as part of a project by the Cardanian military in hopes it would be useful in battle with the Empire of Humanity. Only a single airship was funded by the Cardanian military academy, and after airships proved too fragile for military use, the project was ended. However the Academy of Science salvaged and rebuilt the prototype to serve as an exploration vessel. At least 3 more airships of the same design have been launched, and larger vessels with more capabilities have been designed, but left unbuilt due to budgetary concerns. However some private firms have expressed interest in airship technology, and are rumored to have their own construction projects underway.
The Goahead is a semi-rigid airship, with a rigid keel attached to the roof of the gondola and a shell of armored cloth and lightweight rods to protect the gas cell. The Lift compartment uses hot air, due to the lack of special materials required to construct such a balloon. The reliance on hot air over helium or hydrogen however limits the effective payload. The airship is equipped with a single engine, salvaged off a pre-crash motorcycle and driving a caged propeller-fan at the rear of the vessel. A 16 gallon armored fuel tank feeds the engine, although it is expected that the airship will spend most of its time drifting with the wind to conserve fuel. Hot air is provided by a pair of quad-burners fueled by a separate 8 gallon fuel tank, sharing the armor and location of the main fuel tank. In normal atmospheric conditions, they provide roughly 5 days of lift time before needing to be refueled. Both engines are designed for use with kerosene, although alcohol based fuels are viable as well. (alcohol fuels reduce range and lift time by half) The gondola of a Goahead class airship is very basic, an enclosed cab with room for roughly seven (size level 11) people mounted ahead of the engine and fuel tanks. The cab has a basic windscreen and windows of automotive glass, but provides little else for comfort than benches on either side. The pilot of the airship has a dedicated seat with steering yoke and instrument panel at the front of the gondola. The original Goahead is unarmed, aside from whatever weapons its crew and passengers bring with them. However it would not take much modification to fit light machine guns in the gondola's doorways or equip it with an external weapons rack for simple bombs or rockets. However these would cut into the payload considerably. A Spotlight with signaling louvers is mounted on the right side of the gondola behind the pilot, powered by a battery and generator attached to the engine. Basic internal lighting also runs off this same source. A CB radio has also been installed for communications. The bottom of the Gondola is equipped with a hatch and a winch, to allow the airship to drop or retrieve cargo without landing. The Gondola has a set of pontoons to allow a water landing if required, but is intended for operation over land.

Class: Goahead Airship
Crew: 1, can carry up to 3,100 lbs (1,406 kg) of payload or passengers.
SDC by Location:
Gas compartment Armor - 120, AR 11
*Gas compartment - 140
Gondola - 250
Fuel tank - 100, AR 10
* depleting half the SDC of the gas compartment will cause the airship to sink to the ground, having lost enough lift gas to render continued flight impossible. depleting the full SDC will destroy the lift gas compartment.

Speed: 30mph max, 20mph cruise.
Range: 480 miles on internal fuel. can drift with the wind to extend range, maximum of 5 days in normal conditions.
Flight Ceiling: up to 7000 feet
Dimensions:
Length - 140 feet
Width - 45 feet (gasbag), 55 feet ( w/fins)
Height - 45 feet (gasbag) 55 feet (w/fins and gondola)
Mass - 3, 514 lbs. (1594 kg)
Weapons: none.



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designers notes:
built using Mutants down under rules, with a few bits of speculation in terms of the description, range, dimensions, and the supply of hot air.

MDU costs: in Tassieland 'bickies'
'Shark" single engine $12,000
Speed class 2 $1,500
Light fuel tank armor $1000
Light Gas compartment armor $2500
Instrument Panel $600
Pontoons $300
Winch and cable $1000
2 way radio $1500
battery $400
generator $3000
spotlight $400
interior lights $500

total: $24,700

[Nightmask]

no comments?

Afraid I haven't really gone around making any custom vehicles to date to contribute.

[glitterboy2098]

no comments?

Afraid I haven't really gone around making any custom vehicles to date to contribute.

you don't have to contribute specific vehicles, thoughts and suggestions on use are fine too. Goahead was just something to try and get some life into the thread..

[glitterboy2098]

I haven't read Mutants in Avalon yet, so maybe it's in there, but a steampunk robot horse seems like a legit idea.

no robot horses. the steampunk is more of a post-apoc style. think madmax, but with coal instead of gasoline. it has some simple rules on how to build steam powered post-apoc automobiles using the roadhogs rules.

i'm not sure you could build a steam powered robot horse, even in ATB. we're having the darnedest time getting robot horses/walkers to work at all in real life with advanced computers and electric motors.

though you could probably take a compact car chassis, swap in a steam engine, and mount a replica horse on the top..


though that does bring me to an interesting bit of "didn't do the research'.. in Mutants in Avalon, motorcycles can't be refit to use steam engines. but steam motorbikes were being built as far back as the 1800's, though the early ones were little more than bicycles with steam engines attached. the later generation ones from the early 20th century looked virtually identical to the internal combustion motorbikes, except they were far quieter and used far less fuel.

so i'd have allowed steambikes, i'd just limit them the same way as the steamcars, and add a cost multiplier to the engine and any engine repairs to reflect the extra work required to make an engine that powerful and that small. they'd also be limited to liquid fuels. (though liquifying coal gas ought to be a major source of fuel anyway. that is well within the reach of any society that can build steam engines, and it is far easier to use than the raw coal)

[G]

I like the steampunk atmosphere as well as the flying ships.

To your list you could add animals that can naturally fly (I had a strong flying pig with a big machine gun) & flying insects.

[Stone Gargoyle]

I have made use of the airship rules for other settings, including PFRPG. I don't think they have them published anywhere else.