System Mini-Yacht

[kilemall]

The stateroom discussion got me thinking about how a small craft might be a more desirable, or at least cheaper entree into yacht ownership.

The small craft can be shipped for 40-95,000 Cr per jump/parsec, which can add up if it's done often but may fit someone's budget if it's just done once a year or say 5 jumps every 5 years.

I'm doing the easiest first run at this, assuming a 30-ton module for the CT modular cutter.

Open frame module version, 3 2tons for Small Craft Cabins for crew quarters and stewards/servants, 4 full staterooms with one double stateroom so owner's room plus 2 guests, 2 Emergency Low Berths, 6 tons for any combination of cargo/luggage and/or Air/raft.

1 MCr Open frame
.15 MCr Small Cabins
2 MCr Staterooms
.2 MCr Emergency Low Berth

For 3.35 MCr.

The Cutter goes for 28 MCr, so 31.35 MCr. Hmm, not so great when one could score a Type S or Type A for just a few million more.

The Type A in particular could be good for reconfiguring the cargo bay into tennis or gravball courts, swimming pools, holobays, etc.

However, if one could ship the module alone, rent a local cutter when it is to be in use, and ship for 30,000 Cr, it's just about the cheapest adventurer package possible.

An adventurer module might be 11 small craft cabins and as above.

Or say only one ELB, 1 stateroom that covers a quality galley/medbay, ATV/Gcarrier bay, 6 small craft cabins and 3 tons cargo.

 

[kilemall]

Second pass, a TL12 40-ton small craft, with less speed then the cutter.

CT:HG2, components in MCr

4.8 40-ton streamlined hull
.2 8 ton bridge
1.4 2 ton maneuver drive, 2-G
7.2 2.4 ton power plant, rating 2
-- .8 ton fuel
1 8 ton owner stateroom
1 8 ton 2 guest staterooms
.15 6 ton 3 small craft cabins
-- 4.8 tons cargo/luggage/potential computer space

No computer or hardpoint initially.

14.55 MCr, certainly a cheap entree to space yachting, although one won't be doing a lot of adventuring or holding diplomatic conferences.

40,000 Cr shipping.

60,000 Cr mortgage payments. Not good for regular commerce, but it might work in the small craft charter market (an even cheaper way to yacht- rental).

Spend for a computer, you can save that bridge space, have to have some accelerator couches, but that could be 6 tons to extend capabilities.

If faster ships with similar or more capability are desired, probably best to bump on up to 50-tons. A similar design to the cutter would likely be in the same cost range as the CT version.

Perhaps a computer and 3-G for 40-tons would still get a few more open tons in the 20 MCr range.

 

[flykiller]

rider yachts have been discussed before. seems like a great idea to me, but the response enthusiasm was low.

instead of merchant trade mains, you could have tourist mains ....

 

[kilemall]

rider yachts have been discussed before. seems like a great idea to me, but the response enthusiasm was low.

instead of merchant trade mains, you could have tourist mains ....

The hunting profession alone strongly suggests a market for, er, ecological balancing tours, ya that's it.

Or perhaps a market for the space equivalent of the SS Minnow, three hour tours and the like, in which case the ship would have a lot of accel seats and common areas for viewing and snacking/drinking.

Unique planetary and astronomical tourist sites would drive the visits, something I suspect many refs skip over.

 

[flykiller]

something I suspect many refs skip over.

more like the players skip over it. for a "plays with traveller" referee setting up a game the idea of "see the sights" tourism sounds cool, but the players want action. I was thinking of rider yachts more on the lines of travelling by travellers. as an extension of the discharge benefit "travellers" they could possibly get a rider yacht.

 

[Brandon C]

However, if one could ship the module alone, rent a local cutter when it is to be in use, and ship for 30,000 Cr, it's just about the cheapest adventurer package possible.

My 400 ton modular merchant ouches on this:

http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=35319&highlight=modular+merchant

 

[kilemall]

My 400 ton modular merchant ouches on this:

http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=35319&highlight=modular+merchant

I like the thinking to an extent, definitely what my friend who actually came up with the passenger container idea for the starship contest, but I generally have an issue with the idea that the freighter community of interest would go along with slashing their own throat profit wise re: passages.

Not to mention that if anything goes wrong with the private containers they will end up costing life support at a minimum, so the ship will end up having to bank reserve capacity anyway- without compensation.

 

[kilemall]

more like the players skip over it. for a "plays with traveller" referee setting up a game the idea of "see the sights" tourism sounds cool, but the players want action. I was thinking of rider yachts more on the lines of travelling by travellers. as an extension of the discharge benefit "travellers" they could possibly get a rider yacht.

Hmmm, true enough. Nonetheless I think it's worth working out what tourism industry and equipment looks like and have it onsite, just like many action/intrigue movies have famous backgrounds to the action and mayhem that throws unique environments at the players.

Same reason it's good to have liners around for such shenanigans.

 

[flykiller]

it's worth working out what tourism industry and equipment looks like and have it onsite

yep.

 

[Jame]

In the old Alternity game by TSR, they had this, especially on Fortress Ships. They'd carry smaller ships with shorter-range drives on them.

No reason this couldn't happen in its own way in Traveller.

 

[flykiller]

some terran-norm yacht-rider tour runs:

algebaster-cipango-chwistyoch-emerald-riverland (tour t-shirt: "I left my brain in zho-dane")

knorbes - regina - phlume (bet that one would be popular with all the sector nobility on regina!)

porozlo - kegena - vanejen - powaza (yeah, I can just hear all of you. "who?")

 

[Travellerspud]

no need for a 4-g Cutter to haul a Yacht module....GURPS Modular Cutter had a 45 ton variant "Slow Cutter"...

in CT HG at TL 10 you could get a 1-g 45 ton streamlined version with 1 small craft stateroom and 1 ton of fuel (over 2 months worth), as well as a acceleration couch for the Engineer (in the back) and .25 tons of cargo space (plus any 30 ton module) 9.45 MC

if you can give up the streamlining, this would drop to 8.1 MC

A 100 ton asteroid version with 1-g and 2 regular staterooms and 5 tons of cargo, plus 12 months of fuel for the power plant (plus a 30 ton module). This would also give you hull armor 3, all for 13.59 MC

 

[Brandon C]

I like the thinking to an extent, definitely what my friend who actually came up with the passenger container idea for the starship contest, but I generally have an issue with the idea that the freighter community of interest would go along with slashing their own throat profit wise re: passages.

Let's see, you charge whoever owns the VIP module like it was 30 tons of freight over the same distance. On the upside, the module has it's own life support and the passengers in in provide their own stewards, so that's two expenses you don't have.

Not to mention that if anything goes wrong with the private containers they will end up costing life support at a minimum, so the ship will end up having to bank reserve capacity anyway- without compensation.

The chances that the life support in a passenger carrying module goes out seems about the same as the merchant ship's going out.

 

[Carlobrand]

So, basically the equivalent of a cabin boat, possibly carried between stars on what amounts to a ferry. Sort of a car ferry for RVs that can cross the Pacific while the owners live in their RVs - but with cabin boats.

First, I can see this working well for high pop worlds with a lot of traffic to neighboring high pop worlds - or maybe to a neighboring touristy world. There'd be enough of a niche market from the mid-level wealthy to support production of little cabin boats and ferries to transport them between well-traveled destinations. From there, it's just a question of the rest of the shipping industry getting used to the existence of these folk and deciding whether and where it was worthwhile to do business with them when they, inevitably, try to take their boats off the established ferry routes. So maybe some shippers off the ferry routes build ships that can accommodate the occasional cabin boat or two, and use that bay to carry cargo when there are no cabin boats to carry.

Maybe the idea catches on and some of the lesser worlds out there play with the concept, but it's still going to be mainly confined to worlds with decent levels of interstellar trade. If someone wants to get off the usual routes, it's likely the boat's going to have to be shipped as cargo in an old-fashioned cargo bay, which means the boat needs to be able to fit in a cargo bay, and it's not likely the ship's master is going to be very welcome to the idea of the thing being inhabited and operating while it's in there with his cargo. You might end up having to buy passages anyway - but at least you'd have your cabin boat available once you arrived.

Another thought: small craft cabins are seriously cheap. It's like the difference between a hotel room with nice beds, TV, fridge, microwave, fully equipped bathroom, and access to a laundry and a little restaurant - and, well, an RV or a cabin boat: cots for beds, chemical toilets or the kind that have to be emptied when you get there, that kind of thing. Maybe your Man Friday would accompany you, but there's not really a lot of point in bringing much staff along unless you need them on whatever world you're planning to visit. On the other hand, one mark-up might be to sell them with an option for a single half-stateroom for the master and small-craft cabins for the rest. Rich folks might pay a bit extra to be spoiled.

 

[Condottiere]

Car Ferry (or Smallcraft Ferry)

1. What would differentiate this service from from just labelling your smallcraft as cargo and getting passage from a freighter, is that the smallcraft must have the requisite life support for a hyperspace jump, and the hatch to the ferry won't be opened unless the master of the smallcraft declares an emergency.

2. The smallcraft would be limited to thirty tons maximum to take advantage of the one ton docks.

3. In fact, the Ferry company could sell or rent a range of suitable smallcraft that would fit within their requirements, and to sweeten the deal, provide a discount for their clientele on ticket prices, possibly even allowing access to an onboard lounge and other facilities.

4. You can configure the thirty tons to support a small party and their gear. While the concept has been buzzing around my mind for a while it crystallized when I heard VW was shutting down their Kombi production line in Brazil, though I believe the equivalent would be a twenty ton boat.

5. The thirty ton model seems more like an RV, especially if you cut costs by using the smallest engines, giving retirees, such as seven term veterans, the possibility to explore the galaxy at their own pace and in comfort.

 

[Silverhawk]

Hmmm

I have had a couple of really interesting scenarios come to mind on how to use this.

 

[Carlobrand]

...2. The smallcraft would be limited to thirty tons maximum to take advantage of the one ton docks...

The one ton dock?

 

[Condottiere]

Docking clamps.

 

[coliver988]

The ferry model for vacationing in your own travel pod seems like it could work.

Have a dispersed jump carrier with sufficient clamps for some number of the 30 ton cutter-standard pods, throw in some large common areas for Bingo, and go for a 3 jump cruise about the neighboring systems (just beware of ion storms, even though the skipper and crew will save them on some deserted planet).

It would be more expensive than a high class ticket but you would have a lot more space. Pretty much a life style of the rich but not rich enough to own their own ship sort of thing.

Or pod time shares...

 

[Whipsnade]

What an absolutely fascinating idea. An excellent thread with great posts all around too.

I was immediately reminded of reminded of the auto train concept. Snowbirds - retirees who winter away from the snowbelt - and vacationing families would use the service to take themselves and their cars "down south". Amtrak still provides the service between DC and central Florida although ISTR it being more widespread in my youth back when dinosaurs and Stephenson's Rocket still prowled the Earth.

Like the auto train, these "yacht riders" would be extremely location dependent. No one was taking the auto train between Pawtucket and Pocatello after all.

As others have pointed out, in the OTU you'd need a hi-pop and/or filthy rich system on one hand with a tourist destination which is somehow both desirable to visit and "infrastructure free/lite" on the other. Roping in another current topic, how does Trappist-1 sound as a tourist destination?

The OTU's version of the Trappist system would be almost uninhabited for obvious and yet still part of a well traveled trade route. As a "whistle stop", there would be a far port or fuel depot somewhere in the outer system most likely operated by a shipping line or consortium of the same. While traffic would thus be regularly passing through the system, no one would be sticking around. Any of the extreme sports/wilderness types on nearby Urbis-IX wanting to vacation in Trappist would either own or rent "yacht riders" for the experience.

In a T5 setting, no or low jump "yacht/trader riders" could also be carried by vessels with Hop or Skip drives between very distant clusters.