200 ton frontier trader

[wbyrd]

I've been fleshing out my catalog of merchant and adventure class vessels. And thought I'd put up a sample. This is a TL-12 vessel designed for operation in some rough neighborhoods.

It is fairly basic, but it does have a few trick up its sleeve.
Click on image for full size view....

200 ton Frontier trader:

A variant of the Far trader the Frontier trader is a rugged well armed and armored merchant vessel intended for use in poorly patrolled, areas. It has slightly less cargo and passenger capacity than a standard Free Trader, or far trader but it's lower costs, heavier armor and more potent weapons load make it well suited for use in areas where the crew may need to repel attacks from criminals and pirates.

The simple spherical hull of the ship is not fitted with internal gravity systems. To compensate the decks are stacked one above the other, and use the natural acceleration forces of the ships drives to simulate gravity during flight. During Jump travel the crew works and lives in Zero Gee, so often the owner will add basic fitness machines to the common area to allow crews to maintain body tone, and avoid the negative effects of prolonged zero gee exposure.

The ship is not luxurious but it is roomy enough for the crew to enjoy leisure activities in the common area. A crew of four can handle the ship leaving four staterooms open for passengers in addition to the ten low berths included in the design. passengers may be inconvenienced by the zero Gee travel but if the ship is the only available transport headed for frontier regions they are willing to "enjoy" the unusual experience of prolonged weightlessness.

The ship is designed with multiple power sources, and battery packs to ensure that it can operate for extended periods, without taxing the small reactor that powers the ship. In emergencies, the ship's forward hull is plated with solar cells that give it indefinite endurance, and can power the low berths for as long as needed for a rescue ship to arrive.

Since the reactor is capable of producing a surplus of energy. It is capable of devoting a significant amount of power to charging the batteries if the ship is not using its main drives. This allows a near constant charge to be maintained in the batteries allowing the ship to make a fast jump out of a system if it has fuel on board.

Even if the batteries are depleted when the ship encounters an attack, a captain of a frontier trader will use the ships reactor to power weapons, sensors, and drives. While the ships solar arrays provide power for basic systems power. while tricky to accomplish this gives the ship the ability to fight maneuver and rapidly charge it's jump batteries when engaged in combat in the inner reaches of a star system.

Hull
Armor 6 Crystal Iron
Performance
Thrust 1
Jump 2
Endurance 4 weeks(***) reactor Fuel,
Power 75
Battery Power 60 Max capacity
Jump Fuel 40
Reaction Drive Fuel N/A
Fuel Scoop/processor 40 tons per day.
Computer bandwidth/5bis
Crew 4
Power requirements
Basic Systems 40
M-drive: N/A
J-drive 40
Weapons: 13
Sensors 2
Low Berth 1
Combat Power load 67
Combat power reserve 8
Battery reserve 60
Combat Jump Power load 107
combat Jump Power reserve 29
Sensors civilian grade Lidar/Radar -2 Dm on related checks
Marines 0
Weapons triple pulse laser
Missile barbette
Accommodations 6 staterooms, 10 low berths, 10Dt common area
Munitions Storage 2 tons
Cargo 61 tons
Additional options
Cargo Crane
Solar cells
HighEfficiency batteries.

Cost Mcr 49.21

 

[Brandon C]

MgT 2e rules?

 

[AnotherDilbert]

I like the hybrid drive system, it saves some money.

The battery only last a round or three, but that is probably enough for a civvie?

 

[AnotherDilbert]

A four-man crew would be tight in combat. Or for keeping regular watches and doing anything else.

Perhaps a slightly bigger computer and some Virtual Crew software is in order? At least the missile barbette would be just as effective automated.

(The computer m/10bis would only be MCr0.2 more and the software MCr1.)

 

[wbyrd]

MgT 2e rules?

Yep, using the last released play test fo High Guard rules.

I like the hybrid drive system, it saves some money.

The battery only last a round or three, but that is probably enough for a civvie?

The batteries hold just enough power to cycle the jump drives without forcing Jump Diming, or requiring the ship to cease firing it's weapons, during Jump prep. And if it lost it's reactor in flight it would have enough reserve power to Use its drives very sparingly, while operating basic systems on solar cells alone.

A four-man crew would be tight in combat. Or for keeping regular watches and doing anything else.

Perhaps a slightly bigger computer and some Virtual Crew software is in order? At least the missile barbette would be just as effective automated.

(The computer m/10bis would only be MCr0.2 more and the software MCr1.)

It has room for more crew if the owner wishes. the four man crew is the bare bones compliment....

I left it slightly less than optimized to allow room for players to tweak. So a larger crew or the upgrades you mentioned would probably be high on the list of priorities for a new owner

 

[Whipsnade]

The simple spherical hull of the ship is not fitted with internal gravity systems.

Love the picture and love the rationale behind the design, but the lack of gravitics gives me pause.

A huge percentage of the ship's voyage in spent in jump space. Roughly a day or so is spent thrusting between the port to jump limit compared to seven days in jump space. Given the classic "One jump every two weeks" assumption, your crews will be spending half their time weightless.

Let me present this link. Peake, a UK astronaut aboard the IISS is due to return to Earth next month. He's been working out two hours per day during his six months in orbit and he's still facing months or longer of rehab.

Most people's muscles adjust within 6 weeks. Some physical effects can take up 3 years to diminish while other effects never go away. There are vision issues, which sometimes are permanent. Something as simple as rain can be painful because of skin loss and softening. There are immunodeficiency issues, trouble with blood vessels, and a whole host of problems associated with prolonged weightlessness.

And your crews are going to be weightless for 50% of their time on the job?

 

[Condottiere]

Spin the hull.

 

[Whipsnade]

Spin the hull.

While that's a good suggestion, it would force a major redesign of the ship as the trader will need to be capable of both spinning and landing.

GDW's 2300AD had nice treatment of spun hulls and hull sections along with rules handling the effects of weightlessness of crew performance. (I don't know how the MgT version handles either, but I have my suspicions.)

Perhaps, Wbyrd could peruse and import some of 2300AD's ideas into his design?

 

[Condottiere]

You don't activate the manoeuvre drives in transition, so you can't cheat that way.

But you you could spin it on entry, and stop the spin on exit.

 

[wbyrd]

Alright, you guys have good points and ideas. I had worked through the problem in my head but Fresh perspectives always help. My first instinct was' Medical treatments could cope with the problem...but that stinks of invoking a McGuffin device...I'll steer clear of that one.


Looking at the spin hull and hamster cage ideas would require some alterations to the ships physical design and extra volume/cost.

going with a gravity hull doubles the cost of the hull and pushes the total cost of the ship up to that of a Far Trader. a far trader with fewer accommodations for paying passengers. Although it still ahs the edge in firepower armor, and redundant power systems.Not to mention it can jump prep maneuver and fire at the same time.

The ideal solution to the issue would be installing partial grav plating in the crew and passenger quarters/common area. There are no actual numbers on How much volume and power the deck plates that generate internal gravity consume.

However, I am leaning toward using a grav hull, and dealing with the price bumps. The added abilities of the design might be enough to counter the drawbacks of price and lower capacity.

 

[Whipsnade]

going with a gravity hull doubles the cost of the hull and pushes the total cost of the ship up to that of a Far Trader.

True, but it's a ship which can service markets Far Traders avoid.

Much like how Traveller's war games gloss over, change, or ignore certain aspects of canon in the name of clarity and ease of play, the trade rules gloss over any economically logical variations in cargo and passenger fees in the name of clarity and ease of play.

Ships working "under serviced" routes should and can charge a premium just as ships working "over serviced' routes will offer discounts in order to fly "full".

One KCr a dTon for freight and 8 KCr per middle passage are simply where the haggling begins. Sometimes we skip the haggling to ease play and sometimes the haggling is the point of that play.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Ships working "under serviced" routes should and can charge a premium just as ships working "over serviced' routes will offer discounts in order to fly "full".

One KCr a dTon for freight and 8 KCr per middle passage are simply where the haggling begins. Sometimes we skip the haggling to ease play and sometimes the haggling is the point of that play.

Completely agree.


You might save some money with budget drives and even a light hull. If you make the budget drives energy inefficient you need a little more power, but the savings are noticeable, especially for the jump drive.

 

[wbyrd]

True, but it's a ship which can service markets Far Traders avoid.

Much like how Traveller's war games gloss over, change, or ignore certain aspects of canon in the name of clarity and ease of play, the trade rules gloss over any economically logical variations in cargo and passenger fees in the name of clarity and ease of play.

Ships working "under serviced" routes should and can charge a premium just as ships working "over serviced' routes will offer discounts in order to fly "full".

One KCr a dTon for freight and 8 KCr per middle passage are simply where the haggling begins. Sometimes we skip the haggling to ease play and sometimes the haggling is the point of that play.

It seemed to me that a "frontier" route would need a totally different mindset and design than the standard traders. going out o the fringes of space or into areas without a lot of support and protection wold need a ship that designers included features that would allow it to survive rough use.

as far as the prices listed It does make sense that different routes would have better or worse rates. depending on the available transports working them, and the number of worlds that need regular shipping to supply their markets.

I have tried to build a few ships that aren't general purpose n size fits all designs. the frontier ships are one example but i have worked up a very stripped down version design for well-patrolled areas. no weapons, no armor, and a lightweight hull. It would be nearly suicidal to operate in areas where there was a lot of crime/raids/hostile forces. But in an interior region with naval bases and strong system squadrons, they would be much more useful.

 

[Whipsnade]

It seemed to me that a "frontier" route would need a totally different mindset and design than the standard traders. going out o the fringes of space or into areas without a lot of support and protection wold need a ship that designers included features that would allow it to survive rough use.

Exactly, and such ships can charge premium rates because they can offer a better degree of certainty in an uncertain region.

as far as the prices listed It does make sense that different routes would have better or worse rates. depending on the available transports working them, and the number of worlds that need regular shipping to supply their markets.

It is both logical and intuitive. We all too often forget that freight/pax rates should vary and instead choose to streamline the process. While streamlining is fine, we shouldn't streamline all of the time.

Case in point is the trip between the jump limit and port. Nearly all the time it's just a sentence or two with a roll on the ship encounter table. While I handled it that way often enough, I also occasionally pulled out the Mayday map and had the players' "fly" their ship to the jump limit. Sometimes I did it for a meta-game reason, sometimes I did it just because it was good to remind the players what was occurring "behind" that boriong sentence and encounter roll.

[quoteI have tried to build a few ships that aren't general purpose n size fits all designs.[/QUOTE]

IIRC, SSOM did something similar. The book presented three Beowulf variants and the rationale behind each.

 

[flykiller]

I like it. I can just see all the natives gathered round trying to sell their hand-made goods to the magic ball from the sky.

a ship that operates in niche markets successfully probably doesn't need to cut costs. jump isn't cheap, and anyone that can afford it probably can afford all the accessories too.

 

[wbyrd]

Exactly, and such ships can charge premium rates because they can offer a better degree of certainty in an uncertain region.



It is both logical and intuitive. We all too often forget that freight/pax rates should vary and instead choose to streamline the process. While streamlining is fine, we shouldn't streamline all of the time.

Case in point is the trip between the jump limit and port. Nearly all the time it's just a sentence or two with a roll on the ship encounter table. While I handled it that way often enough, I also occasionally pulled out the Mayday map and had the players' "fly" their ship to the jump limit. Sometimes I did it for a meta-game reason, sometimes I did it just because it was good to remind the players what was occurring "behind" that boriong sentence and encounter roll.

[quoteI have tried to build a few ships that aren't general purpose n size fits all designs.

IIRC, SSOM did something similar. The book presented three Beowulf variants and the rationale behind each.[/QUOTe]

I think we have a similar approach to how to handle trade and that long drive out to the jump point.

With just a few tweaks tot the design you can actually radically change how each ship fits into the big picture. that adds some variation and favor to the world instead of every captain piloting a similar design no matter what the local situation.

I like it. I can just see all the natives gathered round trying to sell their hand-made goods to the magic ball from the sky.

a ship that operates in niche markets successfully probably doesn't need to cut costs. jump isn't cheap, and anyone that can afford it probably can afford all the accessories too.

Yeah and the Merchant trades local goods for cheap manufactured products, or raw material and takes those primitive goods back to an advanced world and sells them as unique art pieces to collectors and those trendy rich folks who have to have that piece to show off to their friends at the next dinner party.



Just for giggles here are the stats for the gutted "Packet Trader" it not good for much..but it can carry half it's total volume in cargo...just don't get shot at or run into anything ...



Hull 72
Armor 0
performance
Thrust 1
Jump 2
Endurance 4 week
Power 45
Battery Power 60 Max capacity
Jump Fuel 40
Reaction Drive Fuel N/A
Fuel Scoop/processor 20 tons per day.
Computer bandwidth/5bis
Crew 4

Power requirements
Basic Systems 40
M-drive: 20
J-drive 40
Weapons: 0
Sensors 0
Low Berth 1
Combat Power load N/A
Combat power reserve N/a
Battery reserve 60
Combat Jump Power load N/A
combat Jump reserve N/A


Sensors Basic Lidar/Radar -4 Dm on related checks
Marines 0
Weapons None installed
Accommodations 3 staterooms, 10 low berths, 5Dt common area
Munitions Storage :
Cargo 112Dtons
Additional options
Cargo Crane
High Efficiency batteries.
Cost Mcr 37.145

 

[The Oz]

Is there any reason the M-drive of the "zero-gee" version of this design cannot be used to provide 'artificial gravity' while in jump. AFAIK, while it has never been said that M-drives were needed while in jump, it was also never said that M-drives could not be used while in jump.

 

[wbyrd]

I think the jump bubble is fairly self-contained M-drives generate acceleration forces that mimic natural gravity. I don't see much room for accelerating the ship to any appreciable level inside a jump bubble.

 

[esampson]

Love the picture and love the rationale behind the design, but the lack of gravitics gives me pause.

A huge percentage of the ship's voyage in spent in jump space. Roughly a day or so is spent thrusting between the port to jump limit compared to seven days in jump space. Given the classic "One jump every two weeks" assumption, your crews will be spending half their time weightless.

Let me present this link. Peake, a UK astronaut aboard the IISS is due to return to Earth next month. He's been working out two hours per day during his six months in orbit and he's still facing months or longer of rehab.

Most people's muscles adjust within 6 weeks. Some physical effects can take up 3 years to diminish while other effects never go away. There are vision issues, which sometimes are permanent. Something as simple as rain can be painful because of skin loss and softening. There are immunodeficiency issues, trouble with blood vessels, and a whole host of problems associated with prolonged weightlessness.

And your crews are going to be weightless for 50% of their time on the job?

In the case given above the person is in zero-g for six months. They spent less than ten percent of that time exercising, which is not the same thing as being at a full g. Compare that to someone who is spending one week in zero-g, during which they are exercising two hours a day, and then another week under normal gravity.

It should probably be noted that during takeoffs and descents the ship will be experiencing periods of greater than one gravity since you will have the gravity of the planet combined with the thrust of the ship (effect of the gravity well drops off much slower than most people think. Astronauts on the ISS are still under something like 95% of Earth's gravity. It is simply offset by the station's orbital energy which the ship probably won't be experiencing).

That isn't to say that there is no effect on these people but given the technological level and experience with zero g that occurs in the Traveller universe these much more mild effects can probably be mitigated through medical/dietary supplements (calcium pills, increased protein intake, etc.), mechanical assistance (such as suits designed to supply a slight pressure to the upper body to help with fluid redistribution) and exercise machines that have been designed with over a thousand years of practical experience in the combating of zero-g effects.

 

[aramis]

Is there any reason the M-drive of the "zero-gee" version of this design cannot be used to provide 'artificial gravity' while in jump. AFAIK, while it has never been said that M-drives were needed while in jump, it was also never said that M-drives could not be used while in jump.

T5 specifies that gravitic maneuver drives CANNOT be used in jump to alter your vector, but newtonian ones can.