Using uranium to power naval units before fission???

[jkp1187]

In a recent game (using 1.52,) I was sadly deprived of oil until I could get plastics and build an offshore platform. As a result, I had to rely on uranium to power my destroyers, subs, and battleships.

Thing is, I was using uranium for power BEFORE I discovered fission. Can anyone either ret-con justify the use of uranium for power before fission using scientific-sounding words or verify that this is a mistake that should be addressed in the next patch?

Thanks in advance.

 

[MrCynical]

You can also build power plants before you invent electricity, and reach Alpha Centauri without inventing the aeroplane. There are numerous oddities like this due to the flexibility of the tech tree. I can't see many of them being addressed though without massively restricting the tech tree once again.

 

[jkp1187]

Well, conceptually I agree with the possibility of getting rocketry before (or even, instead of,) fixed-wing aircraft. But it doesn't make sense that uranium can be used as a power source before fission, since fission is the way in which its power is unlocked. Ditto the idea of power plants before electricity -- I had NOT noticed that before.

And both of those, I think, could be easily fixed just by changing the availabilty of uranium-powered ships or coal plants. i was just wondering if there was a technical justification for these things, if they were in there for gameplay, or if it was just a minor fact overlooked by the programmers.

 

[Flendon]

Well this is a stretch, but what about RTGs? From Wikipedia

A radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) is a simple electrical generator which obtains its power from radioactive decay. In such a device, the heat released by the decay of a suitable radioactive material is converted into electricity using an array of thermocouples. RTGs can be considered as a type of battery and have been used as power sources in satellites, space probes and unmanned remote facilities. RTG are usually most desirable power source for unmanned/unmaintained situations needing a few hundred watts or less of power for durations too long for fuel cells, batteries and generators to provide economically, and in places where solar cells are not viable.

Now this is a completely seperate process from fission related to radioactive decay. It has some problems that would be a major issue with running a carrier or battleship however.

For starters it does not have nearly as large of a power output as a full reactor and to power a carrier the plant would have to be massive almost on the scale of the carrier itself. Maybe a civ that ignored fission could have focused on miniturization more.

In addition Uranium itself is not a good source for the decay acording to this article. I can see two answers to this possible. First iis that the article focuses on non renewable applications such as a space probe. If you have a renewable supply closer than the distance from earth to mars it may be reasonable, and likely more powerful, to use an isotope with a higher decay rate. Second you can think of Uranium as a catch all for various radioactive isotopes. Also several of the isotopes listed only exist when created from Uranium, but that brings us back to fission.

 

[jkp1187]

Hey, that's good! You get the Jean-Luc Picard award for creative ret-conning! (Although it would seem to imply that if such a power source were available to power battleships, nuclear power plants should also be available around the same time, eh?)

 

[jdurg]

Well this is a stretch, but what about RTGs? From Wikipedia
Now this is a completely seperate process from fission related to radioactive decay. It has some problems that would be a major issue with running a carrier or battleship however.

For starters it does not have nearly as large of a power output as a full reactor and to power a carrier the plant would have to be massive almost on the scale of the carrier itself. Maybe a civ that ignored fission could have focused on miniturization more.

In addition Uranium itself is not a good source for the decay acording to this article. I can see two answers to this possible. First iis that the article focuses on non renewable applications such as a space probe. If you have a renewable supply closer than the distance from earth to mars it may be reasonable, and likely more powerful, to use an isotope with a higher decay rate. Second you can think of Uranium as a catch all for various radioactive isotopes. Also several of the isotopes listed only exist when created from Uranium, but that brings us back to fission.

Yes, that is true. Uranium is actually pretty weak in terms of its natural decay. It has a very long half-life and the energy given off by a single decay is nothing compared to some other elements out there. Plutonium is often used because certain isotopes have a much shorter half-life and the intensity (energy level) of the radiation given off by the plutonium is much higher than that of uranium. In fact, some plutonium isotopes give off radiation of such an intense level that a purified sample of the plutonium will actually be hot enough to boil water!

For the game, you could just say that they are using uranium ore which they have discovered to extract samples of radium metal. Radium metal is incredibly active and if you have a large sample of it the natural decay of it can boil water. Your Civvers are using the uranium ore to extract radium and place a large amount of radium to create a very crude steam generator to power the ships.

 

[jkp1187]

For the game, you could just say that they are using uranium ore which they have discovered to extract samples of radium metal. Radium metal is incredibly active and if you have a large sample of it the natural decay of it can boil water. Your Civvers are using the uranium ore to extract radium and place a large amount of radium to create a very crude steam generator to power the ships.

You get the Picard award with Rick Berman oak leaf cluster.

Now we just need to figure out how/why they're building coal plants before electricity.

 

[jdurg]

You get the Picard award with Rick Berman oak leaf cluster.

Now we just need to figure out how/why they're building coal plants before electricity.

Ummmm............... hmmmm..................... Maybe they were using coal plants to help them refine their metals in a more efficient process? By generating heat they could use steam to power their metal fabrication plants built right next door in order to increase efficiency?

 

[jkp1187]

Ummmm............... hmmmm..................... Maybe they were using coal plants to help them refine their metals in a more efficient process? By generating heat they could use steam to power their metal fabrication plants built right next door in order to increase efficiency?

Hmmm.....I don't know.... Do tachyon particles play into it at all?