Fuel Economy Military Vs Non Military

[Col Toda]

Am I wrong ? That the all military 1.84 tons per day that military ships use at some point have something like a Rose Drop ship eventually become a better economy to use than something like a Mule ?

[Tai Dai Cultist]

Well if military grade transit drives were procurable by any and everyone, you couldn't keep justifying small military (specifically, naval) forces in the BTU.  Nor would there be the canonical reliance on dragooning civilian transport craft.

[Col Toda]

True but after something like the Jihad just moving to making military grade transit drives as a new industry standard might be attractive . In the push for the Republic Age scale down of militaries I could see a push to install military grade transit drives on everything to maintain and increase the ability to produce them and ramp up to a war footing quicker . All in the name of fuel economy and efficiency .

[Tai Dai Cultist]

Another thing to keep in mind about fuel economy is that fuel is effectively, if not literally, free.  It's about as expensive as "solar energy" fuel... just gather more!

Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe, and the time required to refine it into transit drive-grade fuel is the real "cost" to the fuel. One of the rule books (I believe SO) even has rules for how long it takes for a fusion drive to just crack water down into DropShip fuel (doesn't even have to be potable water, so it's still viable even on "water poor" worlds)

Worrying about military vs civilian drive efficiency is probably going to be akin to worrying about 34 vs 24 MPG when gas costs under a penny per gallon... not a whole lot of money to be saved by spending a lot of money on improved fuel efficiency...

The real advantage in practical terms of a military grade drive is endurance for the same amount of tonnage devoted to fuel.  But civilian DropShips are oozing spare tonnage.. if it's truly necessary they can always pack a couple hundred, or thousand, tons of extra fuel in cargo...

[idea weenie]

In short, you need a reason to use the less efficient civilian drives, and there is currently no reason to use them.  Neither cost, nor mass, nor rules covering repairs/maintenance can explain why someone might want civilian drives vs military.

[Col Toda]

That was my take as well . Though the incentive ti build the infrastructure to do so really did not happen until after the Jihad . If you are rebuilding capacity and capabilities you may as well build better .