By this, I am assuming that for supply planning purposes you are using a year.
Yes. This is also the longest I expect the ship to be away from "civilized" planets. Not to mention it has to get back to the Confederation to pay their mortgage...
For planning purposes, the Army assumes 6 pounds of food per day per man, however, that is a 3,600 calorie per day diet, which is probably excessive for the crew of a starship with is spending considerable time in jump and normal space. Possibly 5 pounds per man per day would be adequate. Based on that sufficient food for a adequately varied diet for 6 persons for one year, to include frozen items, would take up one Traveller displacement ton of space, so for every 6 persons in your crew, you would need one ton of storage space. I am not sure why you would need the complexity of a food processor that might develop problems. If your crew is a mixed one, with men and women, the food allowance is quite generous. Assuming adequate reprocessing facilities, a
These people need a daily diet of approximately 7,000 calories. While they are human, they have a small symbiont which requires the extra food.
water supply of about 200 gallons per person should be more than adequate, and one Traveller displacement ton of water for every 18 crew should be sufficient.
That I've always worried about, because water is one of the main needs of human beings.
I am assuming that by "air" you actually mean "oxygen", in which case the water supply acts as an immediate back up supply for emergencies.
It can, but then you don't have the water, which is almost as important. It's easier to find a planet or an icy body somewhere unless the need is *extremely* critical.
The ship has the ability to separate out U-235 from natural uranium, or produce Pu-239? Isotope separation is not exactly easy, and the quantity of uranium needed for processing would be quite high. The Plutonium would have to be artificially produced in some form of breeder reactor, and then separated from the associated highly radioactive by-products. I would submit that it would be much easier to carry some additional fuel in specialized containers for avoid inadvertent critical mass issues.
The ship carries an extremely large amount of extra fuel in the proper containers.
I figure that by TL 12 (or even 10), with the control over the strong and perhaps weak forces implied by the various dampers, a small 4 ton device will be able to convert ore to fuel fairly rapidly, assuming that you can get enough ore. I believe the conversion rate is one ton of high-grade ore for one fuel rod.
These people don't want to run out of fuel in the middle of nowhere.
With respect to medical supplies, I can furnish you with some reasonable estimates, as your planning factor is one year. As for acquiring food from other planets, that might be difficult depending on the planet bio-chemistry. Some of Earth's plants, specifically the hydrogen cyanide contained in manioc, have quite effective defense mechanisms. However, by carrying standard type food items, you are guaranteed storage space, cooking facilities, and cooks. Poor food is the fastest way I know to ruin morale.
I'd be interested in the estimates of medical supplies.
As for the plants, most of the planets will have been previously settled by humans before the Shattering and the Long Night. There are also ways to test for known toxins in food and to remove them (or just use different foods or make more goop).
And yes, there is storage of real food, but (IMTU) goop is one of the best ways to store food compactly. The idea was from Freelance Traveller, but I forget what issue. The food processor turns goop into something that looks and tastes like real food. Assuming the quality of the good and processor is an integer between 0.85 and 1.0, the actual quality of the output food is the goop's quality multiplied by the food processor's quality.
At higher TLs there are probably much better ways.
Those are basically sundry supplies, for which planning factors also exist, as long as you are using a year.
Note: I was trained as an Army supply officer, and have retained my interest in supply and logistics. I also have spent some time studying the development of army rations over the years from the Continental Army to the present day.
I'd be curious about the development of food rations, but you might want to take it to another thread where it wasn't "Rules Only".
The only thing I know about food is how to cook it, given that the ingredients come from a store. And if it stays in my fridge too long, it turns interesting colors and should be tossed. I try not to have to toss things too much, though that is mainly Lee's job.
