A Merchant Ship for GT IW

[PFVA63]

Hi,

I recently picked up a copy of GURPS: Traveller Interstellar Wars and have thrown together a spreadsheet for developing up ships, based on the formulas and tables in that book.

Here is a notional 300 dTon Merchant design I modeled up based on those rules, that I thought I'd share. I'm still double checking some of the calcs (especially the crewing numbers) but I hope to next make up some deck plans and maybe even a 3D model (if I get the chance).

Name/ID Merchant Ship 300A1
Vessel Type Merchant
Tech Level 10
Nationality Terran

Disp 300 dTons
Config & Shape Needle/Wedge
Streamlining Airframe
Armor dDR 10
Stealth No

Hull Spaces 300
Empty Mass 235 tons
Installed Thrust 1800 tons
# of Fuel Proc 1
Fuel Proc Rate 3.2 dTons/Hr

Primary Secondary
Bridge Type Standard Bridge None

Primary Secondary
Sensor Package Model-0 None

Max # Allowable Actual # Installed
Hard Points 4 2

Fixed Mounts 0
- Beam Laser / TL 9 0
- Beam Laser / TL 10 0
- Beam Laser / TL 11 0
- Pulse Laser / TL 9 0
- Pulse Laser / TL 10 0
- Pulse Laser / TL 11 0
- Missile Rack 0
- Sandcaster 0

Light Turrets (Up to 3 Weapons Each) 0
- Beam Laser / TL 9 0
- Beam Laser / TL 10 0
- Beam Laser / TL 11 0
- Pulse Laser / TL 9 0
- Pulse Laser / TL 10 0
- Pulse Laser / TL 11 0
- Missile Rack 0
- Sandcaster 0

Heavy Turrets (Up to 2 Weapons Each) 0
- Plasma Gun / TL 10 0
- Plasma Gun / TL 11 0
- Fusion Gun / TL 11 0

50 dTon Bay Weapons 0
- Light Particle Canon / TL 10 0
- Light Particle Canon / TL 11 0
- Bay Plasma Gun / TL 10 0
- Bay Plasma Gun / TL 11 0
- Bay Fusion Gun / TL 11 0
- Light Missile Array 0

TL 100 dTon Bay Weapons 0
- Heavy Particle Canon / 9 0
- Heavy Particle Canon / TL 10 0
- Heavy Particle Canon / TL 11 0
- Repulsor Array / TL 10 0
- Repulsor Array / TL 11 0
- Heavy Missile Array 0

Spinal Mounts (1 Max)
- Light Spinal Particle Canon / TL 10 0
- Light Spinal Particle Canon / TL 11 0
- Heavy Spinal Particle Canon / TL 10 0
- Heavy Spinal Particle Canon / TL 11 0
- Light Spinal Meson Canon / TL 11 0
- Heavy Spinal Meson Canon / TL 11 0

# Size
Vehicle Bays 0 0
Hangar Bays 0 0
Launch Tubes (#/Craft Size) 0 0
- Hangar Bay incorporated into Tube 0 0

Total Power Requirements 380 MW
Jump Drive Requirement 180 MW
Maneuver & Weapon Requirement 180 MW
Adjusted Power Requirements 200 MW
Power Plant Size 200 MW
Power Plant Type Fusion Power/10

No.# of Passenger Accommodations
- Low 10
- Std 4
- 1st Class 2
- Luxury 0

Crew Size
- Command Section 5
- Engineering Section 1
- Gunnery Section 0
- Flight Section 0
- Passenger Service Section 1
- Cargo Service Section 0
- Ship's Troops/Security Section 0
Total Core Crew Size 7
- Specialist Section 0
- Maintenance Section 0
- Life Support Section 1
- Medical Section 1
- General Service Section 2
Total 27

Quarters & Misc Systems
- Bunkrooms (up to 10 Bunks) 0
- Staterooms (up to 2 Berths) 12
- Luxury Staterooms (up to 2 Berths) 0
- Low Berths (up to 2 Personnel) 5
- Emergency Low Berths (up to 4 Personnel) 0
- Small Craft Seating 0

Workshops 0
Labs 0
Survey Modules 0
Sickbays 1
Cargo Space 154 spaces

Total Empty Mass 400 tons
Est Cargo Mass 770 tons
Crew & Passengers 2.7 tons
Fuel 60 tons
Ammunition
- Turret Missile Rack 0 tons
- Turret Sandcaster 0 tons
- Light Missile Array 0 tons
- Heavy Missile Array 0 tons
Small Craft (Empty Wt) 0 tons
Total Loaded Mass 1200 tons

Hit Points 50
Total Costs 120 M$
Size Modifier 9
A Sig 9
Hull dHP 35
Life Support 24 persons
Space Accel 1.5 G's
Jump Performance 2 parsecs
Jump Range 2 parsecs
Top Air Speed 2600 mph

Regards

PF

 

[PFVA63]

Some Additional Stuff

Hi,

Here's some update stuff on what I'm working on. It inlcudes a summary of the design, a summary of the area & volume breakdown, and some preliminary sketches of the 3D hullform. The intent is that its going to be shaped kind of like a lifting body, along the lines of the X-33 , HL-10, M2-F2, M2-F3, or the X-24A/B.

Design Summary 1
Design Summary 2
Area/Volume Summary

Regards

PF

 

[PFVA63]

Design Spreadsheet

Hi,

Here is a design spreadsheet I put together for doing the GT: IW Ship Design calcs.

http://members.cox.net/psjn/GT%20IW%20SD%20Rev%2004.xls

Regards

PF

P.S. I hope its OK to post it here. If not let me know and I'll delete it.

 

[PFVA63]

3D Model

Hi,

Here are some more recent images of 3D model I'm putting together.

The two top ones show the outside of the ship (its still missing its nose and some fins aft), and the other two images show the inner spaces. The light blues stuff is the lower deck, which will be mostly cargo hold and machinery, while the upper deck is shown in light green.

Regards

PF

 

[su_liam]

What modelling app are you using?

 

[PFVA63]

CAD Systems

Hi,

For the most part I've been using something called AccelliCAD to do the drawing. Its an IntelliCAD/AutoCAD clone. Though the images were done with something called Deep Exploration.

Regards

PF

 

[atpollard]

I like the ship's lines. Graceful.

Here are a few ideas.
Free of charge and worth every penny (wink).

What about an interior layout with multilevel crew spaces in front, multilevel engineering at the back and a big open cargo hold in the middle.

The "crew spaces could be "crew" on top and a "passenger" deck below.

The cargo hold could have an upper level catwalk that connected the "bridge" to "engineering" with a stair or ladder down to the cargo floor. This would accommodate larger objects as cargo.

 

[PFVA63]

Layouts

Hi,

Those aren't bad ideas. Below is a couple images of what I had been thinking but I might try something long the lines of what you suggest, if I can make it work.

In my original idea, I was going to put the cockpit forward on the upper deck, with the living spaces immediately aft of it. In the images below the cockpit isn't shown but the living spaces are, in green. Aft of this is the machiney spaces in red (which includes the workshop). The machinery space is kind of horseshoe shaped with the sides extending two decks in height, but the forward section only being on the upper deck.

In between the sides of the machinery space (in dark blue) is a double height section of the cargo bay. I figured it would have a retractable deck in side so that you could either fit cargo on two decks, or if you had something tall you wanted to carry you could retract the deck up so that you would have a double height space.

The space backs up against the stern of the ship, and the back end would be the main cargo door, with a ramp so that you could load and unload the cargo. Since the forward part of the machinery space is only on the upper deck, you would have access to the remainder of the cargo hold (in light blue) through the front of the dark blue bay. Unfortunately though the rest of the cargo bay would only be 1 deck high, and as such, it kind of seems a little awkard. I also hadn't yet located the low passage berths and a couple other spaces, but they might go outboard of the machinery spaces on the lower level.

My thinking was that by putting the accomodations stuff all on the upper deck, maybe with the crew to port, and the passengers to starboard, I could maybe provide crew relatively easy access to the cockpit, engine room, and passenger spaces, while still segregating the passengers off into their own section.

However, this would mean that the majority of the cargo bay would only be 1 deck high, which once you consider structure and the like, would mean you'd probably would only have about 8.5ft of clear space, which might be awkward for such a long and wide space.

As such, I kind of like your idea for a double height space, if I can make it work.

Regards

PF

 

[PFVA63]

Deck Plan

Hi,

Here is a rough deck plan and a revised view of the ship with its nose cone added. In adding up the space I think I'm about 5 dtons short on cargo space, so I was thinking of stretching the ship by 5ft. This will increase the cargo hold by about 5-6 dtons, and on the Upper deck I can use the extra length to increase the galley size and maybe add a room to either side for use as a laundry, etc. It'll be a litle bit of a cheat since right now if you add up all the habitablity spaces I'm currently at about 67 dtons when I should only have about 57 dtons.

The other thought would be to reduce the size of the crew cabins and add a small cargo space on the upper deck for stuff the passengers bring on, and maybe stuff like high value small cargo, etc. I had made the crew cabins bigger than the regular passenger cabins (10'x15' instead of 10'x10') since since I was assuming double occupancy in most of the crew spaces. Lopping off 5' from the aft 4 cabins would allow me to put a 4 dton cargo space up there, and I could probably redraw the forward end of the lower deck cargo space to gain an additional 1 dton, or so (though the deck height in the nose decreases rapidly).

Anyway, just thought I'd share the deck layouts.

Regards

PF

Note: I deleted these images since they are out of date and posted new ones in a post below

 

[PFVA63]

Revised Deck Plan

Hi,

Here is a revised deck plan for the vessel, labeling the spaces. I went ahead and kept the ship length the same, and reworked the crew spaces, adding a small "passenger & high-value cargo space" on the upper deck. I alos moved the bridge/cockpit out into its own group. Overall the deck area numbers appear to match reasonably well with the dton space definition from the design. Hopefully some time this weekend I'll try and clean up the deck layout (looking at the image it appears that some of the lines haven't shown up too well).

Regards

PF

Note: I deleted these images since they are out of date and posted new ones in a post below

 

[PFVA63]

Cleaned Up Deck Plans

Hi,

Here are some cleaned up deck plans, with a key. I moved the Upper Deck layout around a little so that I could keep a path from the bridge/coclpit to the engine room on the crew side, separate from any passenger spaces.

Regards

PF

Note: I deleted these images since they are out of date and posted new ones in a post below

 

[PFVA63]

Deck Plans Pt2

Hi,

I had to move some of the images to here becuase of the 4 images per post limit.

Regards

PF

Note: I deleted these images since they are out of date and posted new ones in a post below

 

[PFVA63]

Layouts of Some of the Spaces

Hi,

Here is an attempt I made to lay out some of the spaces.

Regards

PF

Note: I deleted these images since they are out of date and posted new ones in a post below

 

[PFVA63]

Revised Layouts

Hi,

I made some changes to the arrangements I had previously posted, so I deleted the old stuff and put the new stuff here (and the next two posts, because of the 4 images per post limit).

Mostly I finished making the layouts ofthe furniture and equipment and moved some doors around.

Regards

PF

UPPER DECK STUFF

 

[PFVA63]

Lower Deck Stuff

Hi,

Here is the revised lower deck stuff.

Regards

PF

LOWER DECK STUFF

 

[PFVA63]

Keys

Hi,

Here are the keys for the images in the above posts.

Regards

PF

KEYS

 

[PFVA63]

A Couple Comments

Hi,

I initially started to put this design together in part because I wanted to see how the GURPS Traveller: Interstellar War rules compared to the other rules sets like LBB2 and High Guard. However, I also wanted to try and develop up the deck plans to see if it would really be possible to fit everything the ship is supposed to have into the spaces available, based on the assumed 500 cubic ft (~14 cubuc meters) per dton value listed in the rules.

Since the ship is supposed to be 300dtons, assuming 5ft x 5ft squares and 10ft high decks this suggests that my deck plan would need 600 squares total. Assuming the fuel is stored either under the main deck or outboard the upper deck, this means the rest of the ship would need to be about 480 squares.

Below is a table comparing the estimated number of squares I need for the rest of the spaces versus what I've actually measured off the drawings.

Overall, I think I've managed to come fairly close for most of the spaces, with the accommodations spaces being a little off, but since there is a little bit of a slope in the outer deck heights on the upper deck level, the actual total volume difference may not be all that bad.

Anyway, later I hope to make a better estimate of the actual volumes of those spaces to see how they compare.

Overall though, one thing that strikes me is that although I think I fit most everything in based on the 4 dton/Stateroom definition, the overall layout of the accommodations looks kind of cramped, and there doesn't really seem to much space available for leisure activities for the passengers or crew. As such, I'm not really sure what the passengers or crew would do for the week they are in jump space.

I guess one thought would be to convert the small cargo space on the upper deck into an additional lounge or something, though this would kind of be a cheat in exceeding the the total amount of space that should be available for accommodations based on the rules.

Anyway, maybe later I might look into trying to convert the design over into either LBB2 or High Guard (or even Fire Fusion & Steel if I get the chance) to make the design usuable in other systems.

Regards

PF

 

[PFVA63]

An Alternate Free Trader Deck Plan

Hi,

Although I'm still working on the 3D model of my 300 dton ship I posted about above, I took some time off to mess around with an alternate set of deck plans for the CT version of the Free Trader, based in part on a rough sketch I did years ago, and the suggestions that ATPollard provided in his post above.

I like the ship's lines. Graceful.

Here are a few ideas.
Free of charge and worth every penny (wink).

What about an interior layout with multilevel crew spaces in front, multilevel engineering at the back and a big open cargo hold in the middle.

The "crew spaces could be "crew" on top and a "passenger" deck below.

The cargo hold could have an upper level catwalk that connected the "bridge" to "engineering" with a stair or ladder down to the cargo floor. This would accommodate larger objects as cargo.

In general although its not fully complete and I haven't labled everything up yet, in these deckplans you can see that the ship has two main decks, with the crew spaces above the passenger spaces, and the cargo space forward (instead of in the middle as ATPollard suggested though overall though its somewhat similar to what he suggested).

Anyway, on the Lower Deck you have;

- the lower part of the 2dk high hold forward
- the Low berths and a small (3dton) space for the passengers luggage, etc in the middle
- the rest of the passenger spaces (with a lounge/common area in the middle)
- the lower level of the machinery aft

On the Upper Deck you have;

- the upper part of the 2dk high hold forward
- the crew spaces, with a small galley and laundry and a lounge/common area in the middle
- the upper level of the machinery aft

On the partial deck above this, you have the main bridge

Anyway, just thought I'd share what I have.

Regards

PF

 

[chshrkt]

Those are looking real nice.

I always liked the concept of an Aft oriented flight deck as opposed to the standard "in the nose" design.

 

[PFVA63]

Slowly trying to teach myself Hexagon 2.2

Hi,

I've been slowly converting over what I have into Haxagon 2.2 and trying to teach myself how to use that program. Its been a little bit slow, in part because work keeps getting in the way, and in part because I decided to try and convert what I had in AcceliCAD instead of starting from scratch in Hexagon (since I wanted to try and be sure that the layouts I made would still match the hull), and I'm kind of a slow learner.

Anyway, here are a couple rough images so far.

Reagrds

PF

3/4 View #1

3/4 View #2

Top View