I've spent a little bit of time (ha!) working out the "Book 2 Loophole" ships for Tech Level 13, specifically with respect to Collace/District 268. These are the ships that LBB2 '81 allows that are TL-limited by LBB5. Collace could build them under LBB5's rule allowing indigenous naval procurement despite available starport facilities (LBB5 '81, p. 20 under Technological Level). Under the '77 rules, this wouldn't even be a challenge...
These ships are:
6Boat:
It’s possible at TL 12 to build a 400Td J6 Xboat using the "Xboat fuel loophole" (Jump fuel requirement, plus only 1 week power plant fuel at Pn 6 for the time in Jump). It's pretty darn cozy in there: the 6-man crew is in double-occupancy and there’s only 3Td left over for either cargo, message databanks, or a token maneuver drive (Size A for 0.5G) and 2Td fuel (24 Hrs at Pn 6). The design is entirely LBB2 ‘81 compliant aside from the power plant fuel allocation, but that’s a “cheat” that is more than supported in canon. (Click spoiler for explanation of the XBoat.)
Wait, 0.5G? That's not on the Drive Potential Table on p.22!
Further rules-lawyering and maybe a house-rule or two can make it a lot more interesting, but this is what you get without bringing in LBB 5, TCS, and LBB 8 (Robots).
Jump-5 in a 600Td Hull
Variants:
Basic Box Freighter: J5/Pn5/2G, 56Td cargo, 1 turret MLS. Crew: 8. Streamlined. Passenger quarters (and Steward, if desired) can be carved out of cargo space. Approx MCr 416.
Dropping MD to 1G frees up 6Td and saves 12MCr.
Yacht: As above, but with 3 turrets MLS. Streamlined. Crew: 11 including 3 gunners and a steward. 8 High Passengers. 1 pressurized, armed, and armored limousine (Cost and stats as G-Carrier). No Cargo. Approx: MCr 419.
Escort: As above, but J-5/Pn5/5G, 6 turrets (2 ea. MMM, 2 ea. LLL, 2 ea SSS), no passengers (but doubling up 5 engineers and 5 gunners frees up 5 staterooms if needed). 10Td cargo, no carried craft or vehicles. Streamlined. Approx. MCr456.
Anyhow... I went as far as figuring out procedures for the Yacht and its escorts. The Yacht always runs with 2 escorts. If there's any potential threat, the VIPs from the yacht get split between the Escorts as soon as the flotilla comes out of Jump (gunnery and engineering crews have to double-up to accommodate them). Once either under the destination's planetary defenses or back out at Jump Limit, the VIPs are re-transferred back to the Yacht. Officially the VIPs don't ever leave the Yacht... this secrecy is partly for operational security, and partly because the accommodations are embarrassingly déclassé.
At which point I checked the map of District 268 and Glisten Subsectors, and realized that Collace has no need for either a J-6 XBoat or a J-5 Yacht, let alone escorts for it!
The main destination for a message-boat network from Collace would be Glisten/Glisten -- which is 8 parsecs away. Neither J-6 nor J-5 can cross that faster than a standard XBoat. And there's nothing else in Collace's sphere of control worth a J-6 comms link, and little that would require a VIP delegation to use J-5.
*Sigh* The escorts might be useful for anti-piracy patrols. The 6Boats would be cool technology demonstrators, but mostly a waste of credits. The Yacht's just for "hey, we can build 'big' J-5 ships like we're TL-14!" bragging rights.
The 600Td J-5 freighter might be able to run TL-13 spec cargoes (computers, electronics, etc.) from Collace out to a 5-pc radius to Coreward or into Five Sisters Subsector profitably, though.
These ships are:
6Boat:
It’s possible at TL 12 to build a 400Td J6 Xboat using the "Xboat fuel loophole" (Jump fuel requirement, plus only 1 week power plant fuel at Pn 6 for the time in Jump). It's pretty darn cozy in there: the 6-man crew is in double-occupancy and there’s only 3Td left over for either cargo, message databanks, or a token maneuver drive (Size A for 0.5G) and 2Td fuel (24 Hrs at Pn 6). The design is entirely LBB2 ‘81 compliant aside from the power plant fuel allocation, but that’s a “cheat” that is more than supported in canon. (Click spoiler for explanation of the XBoat.)
The canon XBoat is a straight ’77 rules design and broken by the ‘81 requirement to have a powerplant. Canon (S-9) says it needs no power plant fuel despite the rules change. It does work under the ’81 rules with 10Td (1 week only) of powerplant fuel, but the “extensive message transmission equipment and storage data banks” must be handwaved as being part of the bridge allotment since there’s otherwise no room left. If that’s unsatisfactory, 3Td for that equipment can be gained by reducing the single stateroom to a half-stateroom and the computer to a Mod/3bis (interpolated from the computers table). So, either “doesn’t need fuel” or “only 1 week of powerplant fuel” are valid “cheats” under the ’81 rules, in canon. The latter seems more in keeping with the “powerplant must match Jump drive” rule change.
Annic Nova had 0.1G from a pair of pinnaces acting as tugboats, which means fractional-G acceleration capability is allowed.
Game Effects: No agility in HG, 1/2G vector in LBB2, 1 hex acceleration must be irrevocably declared 1 turn in advance for Mayday.
Basically, it's useless in combat; instead, it's just for repositioning -- and that's on a boost-coast-decel course, given the limited fuel.
Game Effects: No agility in HG, 1/2G vector in LBB2, 1 hex acceleration must be irrevocably declared 1 turn in advance for Mayday.
Basically, it's useless in combat; instead, it's just for repositioning -- and that's on a boost-coast-decel course, given the limited fuel.
Jump-5 in a 600Td Hull
Variants:
Basic Box Freighter: J5/Pn5/2G, 56Td cargo, 1 turret MLS. Crew: 8. Streamlined. Passenger quarters (and Steward, if desired) can be carved out of cargo space. Approx MCr 416.
Dropping MD to 1G frees up 6Td and saves 12MCr.
Yacht: As above, but with 3 turrets MLS. Streamlined. Crew: 11 including 3 gunners and a steward. 8 High Passengers. 1 pressurized, armed, and armored limousine (Cost and stats as G-Carrier). No Cargo. Approx: MCr 419.
Escort: As above, but J-5/Pn5/5G, 6 turrets (2 ea. MMM, 2 ea. LLL, 2 ea SSS), no passengers (but doubling up 5 engineers and 5 gunners frees up 5 staterooms if needed). 10Td cargo, no carried craft or vehicles. Streamlined. Approx. MCr456.
Anyhow... I went as far as figuring out procedures for the Yacht and its escorts. The Yacht always runs with 2 escorts. If there's any potential threat, the VIPs from the yacht get split between the Escorts as soon as the flotilla comes out of Jump (gunnery and engineering crews have to double-up to accommodate them). Once either under the destination's planetary defenses or back out at Jump Limit, the VIPs are re-transferred back to the Yacht. Officially the VIPs don't ever leave the Yacht... this secrecy is partly for operational security, and partly because the accommodations are embarrassingly déclassé.
At which point I checked the map of District 268 and Glisten Subsectors, and realized that Collace has no need for either a J-6 XBoat or a J-5 Yacht, let alone escorts for it!
The main destination for a message-boat network from Collace would be Glisten/Glisten -- which is 8 parsecs away. Neither J-6 nor J-5 can cross that faster than a standard XBoat. And there's nothing else in Collace's sphere of control worth a J-6 comms link, and little that would require a VIP delegation to use J-5.
*Sigh* The escorts might be useful for anti-piracy patrols. The 6Boats would be cool technology demonstrators, but mostly a waste of credits. The Yacht's just for "hey, we can build 'big' J-5 ships like we're TL-14!" bragging rights.
The 600Td J-5 freighter might be able to run TL-13 spec cargoes (computers, electronics, etc.) from Collace out to a 5-pc radius to Coreward or into Five Sisters Subsector profitably, though.
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