[Suicide Junkie]

Lets just pretend that the LCs count as "Small ships" and the cruiser is the first "medium ship"

An LC weighs 400kt, so it would have 40 EPM.
The cruiser weighs 500kt, so it would have 50EPM. Since it is in the Medium ship Category, we divide by 5 and get 10 EPM.

The LC can only use "Small ship engine mounts", so it can only use the 15 thrust point engines.
Eight engines x 15 thrust gives 120 MP, divided by 40EPM gives 3 speed.

The CR can only use "Medium ship engine mounts", so it can only use the 3 thrust point engines.
Ten engines x 3 thrust gives 30MP, divided by 10 EPM gives 3 speed.

Note also that 400/500 =.8 and 8/10 = .8
Neither ship gets an advantage in speed due to the QNP scale step that separates them.

The QNP scale only affects the details of implementation, and has no effect on what the player sees (other than the required mounts)

PS: as for space taken up, both engine types would be the same size. Using 10kt per engine, that would be 80KT and 100KT respectively.

[ September 17, 2002, 18:36: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]