[WiP] Grikes / Gravcycles

[ChevalierMalFet]

Type: Physical object

Founding/Settlement Date: The first grike was built in 2343.

Region of Space: Almost entirely humanspace, though some have made their way to Unathi and Tajaran territories.

Controlled by (if not a faction): Hephaestus Industries manufactures virtually all grikes.

Other Snapshot information: A grike is an open-seating vehicle that vaguely resembles a 20th-century motorcycle, or perhaps a speeder bike from Star Wars. They operate on the same technology as shuttle cars, but are motorcycle-style.

Long Description:

The fusion-powered shuttle-car was a major innovation - it had a better take-off and landing profile than a helicopter did, could move much faster, was safer, and was easier to operate. As soon as they became cheap enough for middle-class people to buy, a handful of psychopaths started looking at them and wondered - how can we make this more awesome and more dangerous? Thus, the grike was born. The first company to manufacture them was Vikram Motors, in 2343; once they started getting big, they were bought out by Hephaestus, which still owns and operates the Vikram brand. Hephaestus went on to buy out two other grike companies, and while there's the illusion of choice in purchasing, and while the modern grike market has at least a dozen sub-varieties based on size, speed, price, and need, all modern grikes are ultimately made by the same people.

The modern grike is a very sophisticated piece of technology. The essential element of the grike are its two main repulsors, one mounted in the back that controls forward motion and one mounted in the front that controls the elevation of the nose. A third repulsor is mounted on the bottom of the fuselage, and is used for initial elevation (hovering up) and for braking. Since the 2430s, all grikes have featured "z-control" repulsors that control spin, and are often heavily-computerized so they can go on autopilot in cities or stop without killing you. Grikes are longer than modern motorcycles, running about 3.5 meters from tip to tip.

The only real upper limit on a grike's speed is the tolerance of the person riding it; they can accelerate fast enough that g-force becomes a real problem. There's also the possibility of falling off, which is why most riders harness themselves to their rides. Even with these precautions, death is a constant possibility - people on grikes are 44 times more likely to be injured or die on them than people in shuttlecars. All civilized planets require a special license to operate them.

As is the case with their two-wheeled ancestors, grikes are universally recognized for their coolness, sweetness, and awesomeness. The "lone griker" is as much an iconic figure of fiction as the "griker gang," and the grike itself serves as a universal symbol of independence and toughness. Unfortunately, more and more older, conservative people have begun buying grikes in order to capture their faded youth, and Hephaestus has jumped to serve them by offering more expensive grikes with more comfort and features. "Rat-grikes, "cutters," and "pioneers" must now share the air with "flying armchairs" ridden by middle-aged dentists and accountants. Also, even though 95% of all grikes are manufactured by Hephaestus, consumers can choose between five different major brand names, and are generally very loyal to them - often going so far as to start internet flame wars over which grikes are the best.

[Guest]

Hello, this is pretty nice. And possible within lore because we already have artifical gravity. However, I have a few pet peeves. The date of invention really depends on when gravity manipulation technology has been invented and as far as I know, we don't really have any defined date. But considering the fact outer colonies and frontier lag behind in tech a few decades I guess it's been invented in the last 50 years or something. For eariler dates, simple material propulsion would do for low atmospheric environments and propelers for atmospheric.

Also, you didn't say how high these things can hover. Can they achive flight or are they glued to a point above the ground?

[NebulaFlare]

Question: How much would a grike cost?

Because I would totally love to have my character Tavaku own one of these.

[Killerhurtz]

Also, just putting this out there: should the hoverpods come back, this would explain that.

Personally I love the concept. I'll probably push for it to be added/add it myself.

I should totally write in some Redline-like lore...

[ChevalierMalFet]

Hello, this is pretty nice. And possible within lore because we already have artifical gravity. However, I have a few pet peeves. The date of invention really depends on when gravity manipulation technology has been invented and as far as I know, we don't really have any defined date. But considering the fact outer colonies and frontier lag behind in tech a few decades I guess it's been invented in the last 50 years or something. For eariler dates, simple material propulsion would do for low atmospheric environments and propelers for atmospheric.

Also, you didn't say how high these things can hover. Can they achive flight or are they glued to a point above the ground?

 

I'm not really fixed to any particular date; I assume that they would appear shortly after shuttlecars appeared on the market, and just took a WAG as to when that might have been. I know we have the shuttlecars, so having shuttlebikes is an obvious next step.

I'd assume that they can hover the same way as those shuttlecars, meaning probably that they can go all the way into orbit as long as they have some gravity to 'push' against.

 

Question: How much would a grike cost?

Because I would totally love to have my character Tavaku own one of these.

 

If current prices are anything to go by, about a quarter to a half as much as a car, with flying armchairs and some particularly overpriced models *coughcoughHarleyscoughcough* costing more.

[Killerhurtz]

It would actually be a little more expensive because of the Bhowmick-Mukherji Effect, which states that there is a net minimum energy needed for gravity fields - and so, assuming that a grike would be about the same weight ratio to shuttlecars as motorcycles today are to cars (about 15-20%), it would still take about 80% of a car's power production to power a gravity bike (my math gives around 574kW for a shuttlecar of about two tons, same as normal cars, while it gives 511 kW for a grike of 490 pounds - the mass of a normal sports bike - and the difference gets much smaller for touring/cruise bikes, which are a tad heavier) - which is a major contrast to the normal ratio of normal motorcycles. So it would need a similarly-powered power plant/power cell in a form factor that would fit the format of a large motorcycle (which is actually not too difficult - safety is something else though). But there's still the problem of having a car-sized engine sold, which is expensive. (The actual gravity drive is not a problem - a four-inch-thick device running along the length of the vehicle is sufficient for that)

[Guest Complete Garbage]

So a slightly cheaper, but much more dangerous alternative to shuttlecars. I'd like this.

[Guest]

haha killerhurtz has to do more work because im an OCD POS

Marking for WiP. He will be whipped, as well.