100 and 200 dton spherical traders

[tallil2long]

I recall finding designs somewhere for a 100dton spherical trader; I think it was called the Golf Ball class. Also, there was a similar 200dton deckplan. Anyone remember these and know where I might find them?

V/R
James

 

[hdan]

Here you go:

http://juliahwest.com/Traveller/Peter_Vernon/golfballs.html

Love those ships.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Cool. I designed a spherical ship for belters, specifically for "quaddies". I think it was 200dT.

 

[tallil2long]

Thanks, hdan!!!

With your permission, I'd like to use this design in an sf short story I'm writing. It's a... "Travelleresque" story. I'd be happy to credit you.

Do you remember a similar 200dton design? I think it might have been on Brook's Lowport, perhaps.

V/R
James

 

[robject]

I've got a 100t spherical Scout, deck plan only on pencil and graph paper.

 

[tallil2long]

Robject, I've made a few of those too, over the years. They all seem to have gone missing after the divorce and subsequent move. I didn't mind losing the dogs as much as losing my designs!

 

[GRNDL]

Those things look rather cozy! Not to mention seeming to be a challenge to plan out.

It sort of reminds me of the Sarafand ship in Bob Shaw's "Ship of Strangers." Imagine magazine #29 (IIRC) had a pull out plan and adventure for Trav and Star Frontiers of the ship. Maybe I should try to find my copy, see how they did the spherical thing. It was much bigger though, crew of 6-10, I think.

 

[Timerover51]

Looking at spherical ships from the standpoint of loading and unloading, they are somewhat less that ideal. I lean more to something on the order of a C-119, C-130, or C-5 Galaxy for layout, to make it as easy to load and unload as possible, or a flying equivalent of a Landing Craft Utility with ramps at both ends.

 

[Sir Brad]

Type R Subsidized Merchant, lower deck has a "Drive In/Drive Out" arrangement with additional side doors in the forward quarter of the lower deck. Upper Deck contains the Bridge, Engineering, Crew Quarters and Passenger Accommodation.

for a Sphere you could put the Bridge and the rest in the top half, engineering down the Core and put a Cargo Tree off that then drop the cargo doors around the whole lower half arrangement, of cause you'd have to only carry containerized cargo.

 

[Timerover51]

Type R Subsidized Merchant, lower deck has a "Drive In/Drive Out" arrangement with additional side doors in the forward quarter of the lower deck. Upper Deck contains the Bridge, Engineering, Crew Quarters and Passenger Accommodation.

for a Sphere you could put the Bridge and the rest in the top half, engineering down the Core and put a Cargo Tree off that then drop the cargo doors around the whole lower half arrangement, of cause you'd have to only carry containerized cargo.

The Type R merchant has a good layout from the standpoint of cargo carrying and passengers. I was trained as a US Army Quartermaster officer, and I like being able to load and unload easily. I figure that a Free Trader is apt to spend more time at Class C, D, and E, along with some Class X spaceports, than at a Class A or B, where you would have well-organized unloading facilities.

 

[Sir Brad]

A self servicing Cargo Tree would work just as well. Land, throw up the cargo covers, Crane out the containers your dropping button back up and and go.

But it would work better with a non-circular format.

Edit: BTW off and on I've had almost 10 years of experience in Civi Street Logistics, near on 18 months of that in Logistics R&D and over an other 18 months in a Pilot Program Store.

 

[BlackBat242]

Earlier threads on sphere/ball/globe ships:
Golf Ball class Scout April 2008
Spherical Type A Free Trader deckplans Dec. 2004

 

[Timerover51]

A self servicing Cargo Tree would work just as well. Land, throw up the cargo covers, Crane out the containers your dropping button back up and and go.

But it would work better with a non-circular format.

Edit: BTW off and on I've had almost 10 years of experience in Civi Street Logistics, near on 18 months of that in Logistics R&D and over an other 18 months in a Pilot Program Store.

I keep thinking that up to roughly Tech Level 6, an awful lot of the unloading work on ships was done by hand and manpower. Containers are fine if you have some way of moving them, but on a frontier world, or a low Tech world, you may be faced with no way of handling the containers once off-loaded. With a straight-through unloading ship, you can have the cargo either strapped to pallets in 50 pound or so packages, with the heavier items strapped to a sled pallet that the local populace can pull off and the drag to where they want it with their available motive power. Straight through loading also works better for handling the delivery of wheeled vehicles.

One thing I do keep looking at it that your cargo bay should have a higher clearance that about 2.5 meters, as that severely limits the ability to carry vehicles and heavy equipment. I will have to seen what a star-traveling LST would look like, with a bit more luxurious passenger accommodations.

 

[Sir Brad]

one job I was on we where servicing Road Trains (some times up to "K" rating) that where fitted with Cargo Trees on a tort-liner trailer with Pellet Racks so we could double stack pallets that didn't have the integrity to double stack otherwise.

they would just pull up use the on board equipment to lift off the Containers or Pellets (if no freight handling equipment was at the drop-off) then they would drive off and let the reviver deal with it themselves once they got the signature, even if it was just the Blue Dogs.

 

[Vladika]

Looking at spherical ships from the standpoint of loading and unloading, they are somewhat less that ideal.

It would seem the spherical design would only be practical for Tankers or Bulk Cargo.

for a Sphere you could put the Bridge and the rest in the top half, engineering down the Core and put a Cargo Tree off that then drop the cargo doors around the whole lower half arrangement, of cause you'd have to only carry containerized cargo.

I can't think of a uniform shape for any container that would be possible in efficiently loading a sphere.

 

[Sir Brad]

try Trapezoids if your looking for a regular shape.

 

[Carlobrand]

It would be better to arrange the fuel spaces to eliminate those curves in the cargo deck and make that a more conventional square or rectangular shape. Other spaces can be made to fit a sphere, but one does not have much control over the size and shape of cargo that comes aboard, and inefficiencies there mean unused cargo space.

 

[HG_B]

It would be better to arrange the fuel spaces to eliminate those curves in the cargo deck and make that a more conventional square or rectangular shape. Other spaces can be made to fit a sphere, but one does not have much control over the size and shape of cargo that comes aboard, and inefficiencies there mean unused cargo space.

Here's a saucer design that did that:

other parts: http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Gallery/images/11665/1_trav_200t_Saucer_deckA.png
http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Gallery/images/11665/1_trav_200t_saucer.png

 

[GRNDL]

I think that if someone was going to build a spherical ship, with a nod to living in it for a long while (read a week), then having some kind of long, slow spiral ramp might be more useful to connect the decks than a tube shaft. I couldn't see it in a 100-200 dton ship, but perhaps something larger.

Why a spiral ramp? A long continuous tunnel allows for more exercise and more "natural" living space, not to mention that the rooms could be oriented a little differently.

I suppose I'm throwing it out as an experiment or something to muse over, but my first reaction to the Golfball designs is that passage from one deck to another is rather difficult, especially if the crew is incapacitated in some manner, such as a leg injury. It may be easier to walk/limp than to climb a ladder.

 

[HG_B]

I suppose I'm throwing it out as an experiment or something to muse over, but my first reaction to the Golfball designs is that passage from one deck to another is rather difficult, especially if the crew is incapacitated in some manner, such as a leg injury. It may be easier to walk/limp than to climb a ladder.

In that case, just turn down the grav....