GDW missed something very important with respect to solar power; it produces electricity. An odd statement to be sure, but all the solar arrays in SotFA etc. are stated to be there for fuel cracking. Well, why not use it directly?
Even correcting for GDW being out an order of magnitude for the power gained from an array (100 sq m should produce 0.2 MW in the life zone, not 2 MW) a deployed solar array is an incredible thing. It gives the starship unlimited power (in duration). Thus any non-nuclear starship insystem can turn off the fuel consuming MHD turbine and "sail".
This means starships operating insystem have effectively infinite range. A transport running from 16 Psyche to Earth and back might occasionally run the turbine briefly to keep it working, but it would rarely need it. This also has some military ramifications. Once insystem a warship (be it a fighter, corvette or cruiser) can deploy a solar array and "sail" around the system forever, only pulling in the sails and warming up the turbines when a threat is detected.
On another point, for interstellar crossings there is no need to go full speed. Remembering that doubling speed increases fuel consumption eightfold, if you go half as fast you'll use a quarter of the fuel for the same interstellar journey. A vessel like the Aconit could cruise on 2 MW (i.e. full engines, weapons powered down) for 7 weeks, or at 1 MW for 14 weeks, or even 0.5 MW for 28 weeks. Even at 0.5 MW warp efficiency is still 63% that of 2 MW, and speeds of greater than 1 ly/day are typically if not fully loaded.
Food for thought.
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