SETUP
Year 1899 or 1900 (by Imperial reckoning), Regina/1910 Regina. You have been re-activated into the Scout Service.
[Your patron, Count Adaamu Sirkiin, suspects the Scouts are keeping a secret regarding their Hop drive, and he needs a partisan or two to crew one of the upcoming exploratory missions. It is likely that the crew and specialist staff were selected in this manner from all sorts of interested parties, including megacorporate interests, and perhaps rivals as well. This may not be just about exploration].
The Scouts have successfully flown a Hopship at least once. This time, the goal is to send out several small vessels with a crack crew and mission specialists, out beyond the edges of Charted Space.
The ship's life support is provisioned to last for up to a year. Your goal is modest in comparison, although momentous in purpose: to travel 9 hops -- 90 parsecs -- coreward or spinward, past the edges of Charted Space.
And return safely of course.
You must stay off of the trade routes, and avoid contact and technological systems within Charted Space as much as possible. You are allowed the exception of visiting up to one Class A or B starport per sector (it is approximately 2 sectors to the nearest edges of Charted Space).
Staying out-of-contact handily allows you to work the mission using 1105 data in lieu of 1900 data.
In fact, this means you don't technically even need 1105 data: at each hop along the way you can, if you like, generate up a random UWP. Keep a log of this, if you like, because it might be useful later. And remember, once you're past 90 parsecs, you're out of Charted Space, and those UWPs could be prime fodder for new material.
Consider that the Scouts might not be as unified as one might think: there may be rivalries to the point of sending two ships on the same path, however unlikely that may be.
HOPSHIP SUMMARY
Unclassified (Z-CC11), TL17, MCr 171. 300 tons, Jump 1, 1G, Collector 1, Hop 1. 65 tons fuel (24 tons per parsec Jumped, 30 tons per 10 parsecs Hopped); scoops, intakes, and bins with purifiers. Additional engineering consoles located with drives. Model/3. Eight spacer niches, three gunner/squad barracks, eight mission specialist staterooms, ten tons lab space, ten tons mission space. Five emergency low berths. Three hybrid LMS turrets. 40 tons cargo (10 tons open). One fuel cutter, plus one Pressurized Shelter cutter module in cargo. Comfort -1, Demand -1.
I tossed around the idea of what the first Hopship might look like. I figured it would either be a retrofit, a planetoid, or an agglomeration of parts.
For this version, I went with the "Cluster" hull, and kept it small to minimize whatever the actual cost is, but big enough to carry mission specialists and a lab. It's not as comfortable as a Beowulf, but I figure the crew will be military-trained, and the specialists will be too excited to notice any discomfort.
Two Jumps' worth of fuel AND a Collector is redundant, but I think in this case that's okay. In this case I think of the Collector as a backup. The Jump Drive itself might be superfluous.
Emergency low berths are supplied to handle everyone, and the fuel Cutter has an additional module containing a pressurized shelter in case that's needed or desired.
Customization. Feel free to customize this ship, or design your own -- especially if you have something special cooked up for your mission specialist surveys.
SETTING NOTES
Regina. Nobles in Regina don't have hereditary rulership. They hold family feifdoms, and typically can get appointed to administer worlds, but the noble system is not integral to the government.
HOP DRIVE NOTES
Hop presents interesting task scenarios. I suggest you run the rules as written and note what happens - with the proviso that a good referee doesn't typically screw his players over. Keep notes on how the mechanic plays, and how you and your players act and react.
Year 1899 or 1900 (by Imperial reckoning), Regina/1910 Regina. You have been re-activated into the Scout Service.
[Your patron, Count Adaamu Sirkiin, suspects the Scouts are keeping a secret regarding their Hop drive, and he needs a partisan or two to crew one of the upcoming exploratory missions. It is likely that the crew and specialist staff were selected in this manner from all sorts of interested parties, including megacorporate interests, and perhaps rivals as well. This may not be just about exploration].
The Scouts have successfully flown a Hopship at least once. This time, the goal is to send out several small vessels with a crack crew and mission specialists, out beyond the edges of Charted Space.
The ship's life support is provisioned to last for up to a year. Your goal is modest in comparison, although momentous in purpose: to travel 9 hops -- 90 parsecs -- coreward or spinward, past the edges of Charted Space.
And return safely of course.
You must stay off of the trade routes, and avoid contact and technological systems within Charted Space as much as possible. You are allowed the exception of visiting up to one Class A or B starport per sector (it is approximately 2 sectors to the nearest edges of Charted Space).
Staying out-of-contact handily allows you to work the mission using 1105 data in lieu of 1900 data.
In fact, this means you don't technically even need 1105 data: at each hop along the way you can, if you like, generate up a random UWP. Keep a log of this, if you like, because it might be useful later. And remember, once you're past 90 parsecs, you're out of Charted Space, and those UWPs could be prime fodder for new material.
Consider that the Scouts might not be as unified as one might think: there may be rivalries to the point of sending two ships on the same path, however unlikely that may be.
HOPSHIP SUMMARY
Unclassified (Z-CC11), TL17, MCr 171. 300 tons, Jump 1, 1G, Collector 1, Hop 1. 65 tons fuel (24 tons per parsec Jumped, 30 tons per 10 parsecs Hopped); scoops, intakes, and bins with purifiers. Additional engineering consoles located with drives. Model/3. Eight spacer niches, three gunner/squad barracks, eight mission specialist staterooms, ten tons lab space, ten tons mission space. Five emergency low berths. Three hybrid LMS turrets. 40 tons cargo (10 tons open). One fuel cutter, plus one Pressurized Shelter cutter module in cargo. Comfort -1, Demand -1.
I tossed around the idea of what the first Hopship might look like. I figured it would either be a retrofit, a planetoid, or an agglomeration of parts.
For this version, I went with the "Cluster" hull, and kept it small to minimize whatever the actual cost is, but big enough to carry mission specialists and a lab. It's not as comfortable as a Beowulf, but I figure the crew will be military-trained, and the specialists will be too excited to notice any discomfort.
Two Jumps' worth of fuel AND a Collector is redundant, but I think in this case that's okay. In this case I think of the Collector as a backup. The Jump Drive itself might be superfluous.
Emergency low berths are supplied to handle everyone, and the fuel Cutter has an additional module containing a pressurized shelter in case that's needed or desired.
Customization. Feel free to customize this ship, or design your own -- especially if you have something special cooked up for your mission specialist surveys.
SETTING NOTES
Regina. Nobles in Regina don't have hereditary rulership. They hold family feifdoms, and typically can get appointed to administer worlds, but the noble system is not integral to the government.
HOP DRIVE NOTES
Hop presents interesting task scenarios. I suggest you run the rules as written and note what happens - with the proviso that a good referee doesn't typically screw his players over. Keep notes on how the mechanic plays, and how you and your players act and react.
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