Material Design Sequence
Introduction

This is an optional expansion for "Fire Fusion and Steal" (TNE rules).


Rules

First choose a basic material:

Basic Materials
TL Description Type Toughness Mass Cost
6 Steel Metallic 2.00 7.8 0.0022
6 Aluminium Alloy Metallic 1.00 2.7 0.0037
6 Titanium Alloy Metallic 2.50 4.9 0.0102
7 Glass Composite (fiberglass) Ceramic 0.75 1.9 0.0099
8 Graphite Composite Ceramic 5.00 2.1 0.0595
9 Boron Composite Ceramic 7.00 2.0 0.0875
9 Early Synthetics Polymer 0.67 1.3 0.0715
10 Synthetics Polymer 3.75 1.4 0.0804
11 Improved Synthetics Polymer 5.63 1.5 0.1125

Optionally modify the basic material with one or more of the following treatments:

Material Treatment
TL Description For Type Toughness Mass Cost
7 Improved Alloy Metallic x1.13 x0.97 x1.40
8 Amorphous Alloy Metallic x3.00 x0.90 x4.00
10 Crystallizing Metallic x4.00 x1.00 x5.00
10 Metal Foaming Metallic x1.00 x0.80 x1.06
11 Calcium-Carbide Fiber Reinforcement Metallic or Ceramic x2.00 x1.00 x3.00
11 Boron-Carbide Fiber Reinforcement Metallic or Ceramic x2.84 x1.00 x4.38
11 Silicon-Carbide Fiber Reinforcement Metallic or Ceramic ? ? ?
11 Sapphicon Fiber Reinforcement Metallic or Ceramic ? ? ?
11 Diamond Fiber Reinforcement Metallic or Ceramic ? ? ?
12 Superdensing Metallic x7.00 x2.00 x7.00
Amorphous, Crystal, and Metal Foam are mutually exclusive.
Superdense and Metal Foam are mutually exclusive.
The different fiber reinforcements are mutually exclusive.


Alternatively a basic material can be used to make one of the following matrix composites:

Metal/Ceramic/Polymer Matrix Composite
TL Description Toughness Mass Cost
9 2D Graphite fiber sheets x1.60 x0.96 x4.16
9 2D Boron fiber sheets x2.27 x0.93 x6.07
9 Silicon-Carbide fibers ? ? ?
10 Sapphicon fibers ? ? ?
10 Diamond fibers ? ? ?

Superdense materials can also have Electro-Covalent Bonding units or Coherant Electro-Covalent ("tuneable") Bonding units installed:

Electro-Covalent Bonding units
TL Toughness Vol Mass Power Cost
12 x1.00 0.20 1.00 0.005 0.026
13 x1.50 0.20 1.00 0.005 0.038
14 x2.00 0.20 1.00 0.005 0.067
15 x3.50 0.20 1.00 0.005 0.136
16 x3.75 0.20 1.00 0.005 0.154
18 x3.75 0.20 1.00 0.005 0.167
20 x3.75 0.20 1.00 0.005 0.296
Vol = hull material volume multiplier for ECB unit volume
Mass in tonnes, Power in Mw, Cost in MCr ... per cubic meter ECB units
Toughness bonus only applies while power available


Coherant Electro-Covalent Bonding units
TL Toughness(1) Toughness(2) Vol Mass Power Cost
18 x5.36 x3.75 0.20 1.00 0.005 0.209
20 x5.36 x3.75 0.20 1.00 0.005 0.370
vol = hull material volume multiplier for CECB unit volume
Mass in tonnes, Power in Mw, Cost in MCr ... per cubic meter CECB units
Toughness bonus: Toughness(1) bonus only applies while power, computer
and sensors are available. Toughness(2) bonus is used instead if there is
power but no computer and/or sensors (in other words CECB units downgrade to be like ECB units).


Finally, there is a production discount: -10% of cost per TL above base for material and treatments (maximum -30%). This discount is not applied to ECB or CEBC units.


Notes

There are still some outstanding issues:

  • Some values still missing.

  • Can Boron-Carbide fibers be used in matrix composite materials?

  • Are fiber reinforcement treatments too high at TL 11?

  • The original materials list (by Edward Fok?) had graphite composite and graphite laminated composite (both TL8). What is graphite laminated composite? Are we missing a category?

(Also, remember that TL represents production. Historically, amorphous alloys appeared in labs at TL7 but are not mass produceable until TL8.)


 

     

Copyright © Peter Trevor 2024
RIPA Notice: No consent is given for interception of page transmission