1977 LBB Ship Design

[Timerover51]

I have been going back over the 1977 edition of the LBBs, specifically the ship design area. The requirement for the Power Plant is that its letter code matches the letter code of the Maneuver Drive, and it does not have to match the Jump Drive at all. This does lead to some excess space in the Engineering Section.

The standard design Subsidized Merchant-Type M is a 600 dTon ship with 80 dTons of volume set aside for Engineering. The ship is equipped with Jump Drive-J, 50 Ton mass for 90 Million Credits. It also has Power Plant-D and Maneuver Drive-D, massing and costing 13 Tons/32 Million Credits and 7 Tons/16 Million Credits respectively. The total for the drives is 70 tons, leaving 10 ton unused. The cost savings of the smaller Power Plant is 40 Million Credits, not an inconsiderable sum for an approximately 220 Million Credit ship. Note also that if the Power Plant matched the Jump Drive, there would be only 2 tons remaining for a maneuver drive, which would not move the ship. I would say that is why the Engineering Section increased to 85 dTons in the 1981 edition so as to allow for the 7 tons of maneuver drive.

If you go to an 800 dTon Hull, it has 165 dTons set aside for drives. In designing a commercial ship, I put in Jump Drive-M, giving me Jump-3, and Power Plant and Maneuver Drives-F. Tonnage and cost respectively for the drives and power plant are jump drive 65 tons/120 Million Credits, maneuver drive 11 tons/24 Million Credits, and power plant 19 tons/48 Million Credits. Now, I have a ship capable of Jump-3 with 1-G Maneuvering capability. The smaller power plant saved 48 Million Credits. However, the total mass or dTon Volume of my drive plant is only 95 dtons. I have 70 dTons of space left over. If I had gone with an F Jump Drive, I would have 100 dTon of unused space. If I had gone with Type M for everything, I would still have 40 dTons of unused volume left over.

Therefore, my question is, what can I do will all of that unused space?

 

[GypsyComet]

Therefore, my question is, what can I do will all of that unused space?

In straight Book 2 terms? Not a thing except a backup drive.
Import fuel purification from Bk5 and it could go into that space. Maybe. Since it isn't mentioned, that would be a house rule.

The trade off of Standard Hulls is the price. If you don't want wasted space, you buy a custom hull.

 

[Timerover51]

In straight Book 2 terms? Not a thing except a backup drive.
Import fuel purification from Bk5 and it could go into that space. Maybe. Since it isn't mentioned, that would be a house rule.

The trade off of Standard Hulls is the price. If you don't want wasted space, you buy a custom hull.

That is the other weird thing. A standard 800 Ton hull costs 80 Credits, the same as a custom hull would. The only difference in terms of 1977 Book 2 construction is it would take 36 months, instead of 27. I would have to pay the 1% architect fee as well. That probably would run between 2 and 3 Million Credits, depending on how much I put into an 800 Ton Hull. Against that, I save a ton of money on the power plant, and gain a lot of possible revenue-producing space.

 

[aramis]

That is the other weird thing. A standard 800 Ton hull costs 80 Credits, the same as a custom hull would. The only difference in terms of 1977 Book 2 construction is it would take 36 months, instead of 27. I would have to pay the 1% architect fee as well. That probably would run between 2 and 3 Million Credits, depending on how much I put into an 800 Ton Hull. Against that, I save a ton of money on the power plant, and gain a lot of possible revenue-producing space.

Note that a non-standard hull can divvy the engineering versus main hull however you want, but standard hulls have fixed space in the drives bay. So you pay extra in time (but not credits) for that flexibility.

 

[Timerover51]

Note that a non-standard hull can divvy the engineering versus main hull however you want, but standard hulls have fixed space in the drives bay. So you pay extra in time (but not credits) for that flexibility.

The same holds true for the larger standard hulls in the 1981 edition with the 800 dTon and the 1000 dTon hulls. Anything larger than 1000 dTons is all custom-built, unless built in numbers like the Kinunir-class.

Does the 10% reduction in cost for standard hulls only cover the cost of the hull or does reduce the cost of the entire ship by 10%?

 

[aramis]

The same holds true for the larger standard hulls in the 1981 edition with the 800 dTon and the 1000 dTon hulls. Anything larger than 1000 dTons is all custom-built, unless built in numbers like the Kinunir-class.

Does the 10% reduction in cost for standard hulls only cover the cost of the hull or does reduce the cost of the entire ship by 10%?

There are two things you're conflating: standard hull and standard design.

• Standard hulls get the fixed engineering space and only come in limited sizes (tho' for your own campaign, you could design others). They do not affect the final price except by their own costs and limits on drives.
• Standard designs are designs that have "been around a while" - such that most, if not all, yards get the class discount on every one built. This is 10% off the final cost. Standard designs can use non-standard hulls - the Type T does.

Note that Standard Designs are referee defined outside the ones in the books.
A class discount from producing multiples (-10% on the 2nd and later at the same time at the same yard) applies as well.

 

[Timerover51]

There are two things you're conflating: standard hull and standard design.

• Standard hulls get the fixed engineering space and only come in limited sizes (tho' for your own campaign, you could design others). They do not affect the final price except by their own costs and limits on drives.
• Standard designs are designs that have "been around a while" - such that most, if not all, yards get the class discount on every one built. This is 10% off the final cost. Standard designs can use non-standard hulls - the Type T does.

Note that Standard Designs are referee defined outside the ones in the books.
A class discount from producing multiples (-10% on the 2nd and later at the same time at the same yard) applies as well.

Thank you, you are correct, I was mixing the two. So a standard hull with a different configuration from the standard design would not get a discount, but would get the benefit of faster construction.