AER-Kinetic Storage Drive (AER-KSD)
Difficulty: Normal
Roll: 1+2-0 = 3 = Buggy Mess
Well, we made it. To the end of the testing cycle, that is. And boy, has it been so amazingly unfun. Half the interns quit, right after the other half were killed by angry rock induced brain punches. But we have an AER-KSD, and it looks just like you'd expect!
An addon to the AER power system, the KSD is composed, ideally, of a set of plates capable of being "punched" by the ship to propel the ship in any direction, including turning if the reactor providing power is offset from the centerline. However, we've had some...issues.
Turns out, the original batch of interns decided to use some super-stiff springs in their design, and then overcorrected by oversizing the reactor and overcharging the Evrasium. The overcorrections resulted in a loss of control of where the punches were happening, reactors were breached, interns were punched, and we generally do not advise using the AER-KSD at all, though technically it will sometimes do what you want it to.
AER Spiral Drive: Prototype for Large SpacecraftThe AER Kinetic Storage Drive was... It was. Very Dangerous, good at exploding, hard to control. A bunch of things.
The main issue was actually controlling it, and the stiff springs. And the overcharging. And the Evrasium being a bit random. So we've scrapped the straight force of plates for the rotational force. You know, the energy that can replicate gravity.
The Spiral Drive uses Evrasium. Specificly, it uses Evrasium that has been ground to Dust, which is then ejected into a light at speed. This creates a small but powerful force, which rotates the connected gears to start spinning the drive at high speed. This spin creates centrifugal force, which then applies to the entire spacecraft. Through specific gears, this force can then be tuned to apply to a single direction, which accelerates the Spacecraft in that direction.
Due to the system, it can only apply force in a single direction, pushing the spacecraft forward. This can be adjusted to allow for turns in space, allowing for a smooth flight path. It can also make sudden turns.
Though this mostly applies to it's use in smaller fighters.The Prototype can't make such sudden turns, but it's size will be useful in spaceships. Simply inject the Evrasium Dust, and it will create that force. As a bonus, the force created is enough to escape the gravity of a planet, when the Spiral Drive is at full power.
It should be noted that a Spiral Drive acts as both generator and engine for a spacecraft. The excess rotational energy is used to power turbines to generate electricity. As such, this is a Revision of the AER itself, using what we have learned. The Dust should be a far more stable medium, and how much is injected at once will control how much force is created.
Put more simply. The Dust reacts with the light as it goes in, punching the entire assembly. This turns the gears, which turn the turbines. The force goes into that, and becomes negated. Meanwhile, the rest of the force is funneled, moving it(the ship) forward.
Dust goes into > Light Chamber from the back: Dust Reacts to Light, punching in all directions. Gears are turned, and the turbines spin. The rest of the force gets funneled forward, pushing the ship as it hits the back of the chamber.
The nature of funneling the Dust means we can apply continual force, or punches, as it were. Likewise, control in direction can be achieved though remote panels to funnel some of the forward force to push us at an angle.