Energy Alternatives

[welsh]

One of my gripes with the Morrow Project is Fusion Power. It just seems too easy, and worse, the possibility that all our vehicles run on fusion power- which has not become widely used at the time of the apocalypse- makes me feel this is a huge cop out. The costs of energy should be one of the key challenges of this game- how to get it, how to preserve it, how to produce it and protecting it. Those with energy in abundance have a serious competitive advantage against those who don't. The desire to steal that energy will also be huge.

There has got to be a better and more realistic way to do energy. Twilight 2000 used alcohol driven vehicles- which was fine except that you could only move in short bursts followed by a period when you had to stop and create more fuel. As I recall, in the Twilight 2000 game, it is during a refueling period that your NATO unit gets the smackdown from the Warsaw Pact.

These days we have cheaper solar panels and electric/battery cars.

The challenge for the players should include some struggle to create the energy necessary to achieve their goals.

One way of overcoming some of these issues might be to have some sort of power station that generates electricity so as to fuel the batteries that fuel the cars. Fusion powered vehicles seems a big jump, electrical battery vehicles seems more reasonable.

I realize this is messing with a huge part of the canon of the game, but this has always been an aspect of the game which I thought to be problematic.

Your thoughts?

[kato13]

I have the smallest fusion plant be 4 tons.

Vehicles run on multifuel/electric power plants.

Even with no fuel a vehicle can run in batteries charged by transferred electrical power from any source including a Morrow Fusion Plant. There is a plant in the Bolt Hole, in their nesting cache (where it is transportable on a 5 ton truck) and as part of Morrow Logistical teams. Any one of which could be unavailable after 150 years forcing them to use alternate methods (solor, generators, etc).

Fuel can also be brewed ala T2k or made ala biodiesel

I do allow morrow teams to brew ethanol from cellulose via hybrid yeast.

I have some kit information for both modern stills and a biodiesel production if anyone is interested.

[RandyT0001]

Biodiesel
or
Vegetable oil fuels

These two seem to me to be the best alternatives to gasoline. If the MP vehicles have multi-fuel engines installed theses fuels have good energy content per gallon and are relatively easy to make. Many farms in the late 20th century and early 21st century have installed their own biodiesel plants to supplement the diesel they have to buy to run farm equipment.

[nuke11]

The main reason fusion was brought into the game for vehicles was the original designers didn't want the game to turn into a hunt for fuel. Look at the games from that period and the players are hunting for stuff in most cases.

It certainly was an interestingly bad idea, but as a plot device it does help the players become freer to explorer the new wilderness.

If there is some sort of fuel alternative that can stand storage for 150+ years, I would certainly like to know.

[welsh]

Hey Nuke- Can see how that becomes the major problem. But if the story is one of simply searching for fuel- that's a problem. But if it also require the making of fuel- that might make for a different story. Rebuilding an energy grid could be the broader overarching goal of an MP group or a recurring issue in the rebuilding process. New solar, wind or even biodiesel/ vegetable oil mixtures could become key issues as the game progresses, even if you rely on fusion packs early. Refiring a college's nuclear reactor (I think a few still have them) could be a game goal.

Randy- thanks for the thoughts on biodiesel and vegetable fuels.

Kato- I am kind of with you on this and keeping the ease of fusion to a minimum.

[stormlion1]

I think the Fusion Power aspect has been addressed in the 4th edition by going from a twenty year power supply to a 18 month power supply before needing to be refueled. The Project vehicles are only good for a year and a half now and there is little project support around so those vehicles will eventually run out of fuel and the Teams need to search for a new mode of locomotion. The fun part is finding a old Internal Combustion Engine would be a viable alternative but it would count on where they are and the conditions. One wouldn't survive 150 years in a wet climate but there would be ones to find in a cool dry one. That or catch some horses or start riding bikes everywhere or actually go and dig up a regional supply base or possibly a supply cache.

[kato13]

Originally Posted by nuke11

If there is some sort of fuel alternative that can stand storage for 150+ years, I would certainly like to know.

Alcohol, properly stored, would survive. It does not give you the same power per liter as gas, but it would survive storage much better.

T2k puts the energy output at about 33% for ethanol, but with a engine built with multifuel usage in mind it is about twice that. Couple that with effecient batteries, energy return systems and an electric drive system and you can get greater range than current vehicles using the same volume of gas.