ANNIC NOVA (Z-FC03-16)

[robject]

(Every time I design the ANNIC NOVA, it's different than the previous designs)

Ruleset: Traveller5
Metric: Use the text description
TL: 16


** I see I've forgotten to add the machine shops in the common areas.


Unclassified Z-FC03 ANNIC NOVA MCr243.4

Actual volume: 592 tons
Crew comfort: +1
Passenger demand: -5

   Tons	 Component                          	  MCr	Notes
-------	 -----------------------------------	-----	--------------------
    600	 Cluster Hull, lifters, 6 a/l free  	   12	C, lifters, 6 a/l free
     -3	 No Landers                         	    0	
     35	 Jump Drive-2 (F)                   	   35	J 2
     50	 Jump Drive-3 (J)                   	   50	J 3
     70	 Collector-2 (F)                    	   35	2 C
    100	 Collector-3 (J)                    	   50	3 C
      2	 2x Vd T1 Beam Laser                	  1.4	#2 
      3	 Computer Model/3 std               	 10.5	
      2	 Life Support Long Term             	    2	40 person-months
      2	 Clinic                             	    1	
      1	 Life Support Luxury                	    1	10 high passengers
     14	 Spacious Bridge                    	  0.7	1cc 4op 2ws
      8	 4x Crew Stateroom                  	  0.4	#4 1 crew
      8	 4x Crew Double                     	  0.4	#4 2 crew
      2	 4x Crew Shared Fresher             	    2	#4 4 crew
     64	 16x Crew Commons                   	    0	#16 
    150	 Cargo Hold Basic                   	    0	
      4	 4x Grapple                         	    4	#4 1 pair per 35t
     80	 2x Pinnace                         	   38	#2 m2 3 L2

 

[AnotherDilbert]

No commo or sensors?

What's with the Luxury life support for one person with no luxury stateroom?

Long-term life support for 10, with 12 berths?

Externally carried pinnaces taking space inside the hull?

 

[robject]

My bad on the sensors.

Luxury life support is for 10... well it used to be for 10...

And nope, the Pinnaces don't take up space inside the hull. 2 @ 40t = 80t, plus grappling.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

And nope, the Pinnaces don't take up space inside the hull. 2 @ 40t = 80t, plus grappling.

You deduct the 80 Dt of Pinnaces from the 600 Dt hull. Other than the Pinnaces the ship contains 518 Dt components, i.e. severely undertonnage.

Carried in grapples the Pinnaces are, in essence, Pods. They are outside the hull and makes the total ship larger, and reduces drive performance ("Renormalization", B2 p137). It works the same as the Gazelle (B2 p37), a 400 Dt ship consisting of a 300 Dt hull + 100 Dt drop tanks.

Pod volume should not be deducted from usable space inside the hull.

   Tons	 Component                          	  MCr	Notes
-------	 -----------------------------------	-----	--------------------
    600	 Cluster Hull, lifters, 6 a/l free  	   12	C, lifters, 6 a/l free
     -3	 No Landers                         	    0	
     35	 Jump Drive-2 (F)                   	   35	J 2
...
    150	 Cargo Hold Basic                   	    0	
      4	 4x Grapple                         	    4	#4 1 pair per 35t
     80	 2x Pinnace          <--- This deducts the external Pinnaces tonnage 
       	                          from the usable space inside the hull.

 

[robject]

AH - the result is a design as if a 600 ton hull had internal stowage for the pinnaces. I see.

I could just shove in the drives from the 600 ton hull into a 500 ton hull. But my software is JUST CLEVER ENOUGH to prevent that without cracking open the design file for the ANNIC NOVA and hand-changing it.

I have hamstrung myself. LOL!

* * *

The REAL problem is that "hull" is used by the application as if that equals "total volume", which has problems when we've got things like the ANNIC NOVA.

The result is that the price is higher than it should be, by a little bit.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Unclassified Z-FC03 ANNIC NOVA MCr243.4

With a 500 Dt hull and external Pinnaces, for a total of 580 Dt, I get:


Using a 500 Dton unstreamlined hull, it has a J Drive J, a J Drive F, a C Plant J, and a C Plant F giving performance of jump-3 and 0 g acceleration.
Controls consists of two control consoles, five operating consoles, and a m/3 computer with Ergonomics 1.
There are six sensors: a communicator, an EMS, a visor, a neutrino sensor, a grav sensor, and a stealth mask.
Crew accomodations consists of four staterooms and four double staterooms with a Comfort of 5.
There are two weapons: two single beam laser turrets.
There are two carried craft: two Pinnaces in grapples.
Cargo capacity is 150 Dton. The ship requires a crew of five: a pilot, an astrogator, an engineer, a maintenance, and a flight crew. The ship costs MCr 256,1.

TL-16  Z-EC03                        Ergo 1   Comfort 5    Demand 0        Agility -5
       Unclassified                  Total:         0,5       256,1        Stability -3
SYSTEM                                    #       DTON         COST      
                                                                         
Hull                                              500                    
Config: Cluster                                                 7,5      
Structure: Plate HullMetal     AV=16 ( 160 vs Blast, 1600 vs Heat/Beam, 160 vs Pres, 1600 vs Rad, 0 vs EMP )      
Coating:                       AV= 0 (  )      
Armour Std Anti-Rad                       1                          AV=16 ( 160 vs Blast, 1600 vs H/B, 1600 vs Rad, 0 vs EMP )      
Landing Skids Tarmac                                                     
Lifters Installed                                               2,5      
                                                                         
External Craft                           80                                  0  External Craft 
Drop Tanks (95% fuel)                     0                                  0,5  Hull 
Total Drive Capacity                    580                                  0,5  Over/undertonnage: Agility ±0
                                                                         
Jump Field: Jump Bubble                                                    D=378 m, Flash 7
J Drive J      J-3, 900 EP                1        50          50        
J Drive F      J-2, 600 EP                1        35          35        
C Plant J      C 3, 900 EP                1       100          50        
C Plant F      C 2, 600 EP                1        70          35        
                                                                         
                                                                         
Console, Control C+S=16                   2         4           0,4        
Console, Operati C+S=16                   5        10           0,5        
Computer m/3                              1         3          10,5      
                                                                         
Sensors                                                                  
Mod DS Surf Commu-12 +14A+12 PA           1                     5,5        
Mod AR Surf EMS-16 +18A+12 PA(E           1                     5,5        ACS S=7
Gen LR Surf Visor-16 +16A-- P(P           1                     3,5        ACS S=5
Ult DS Surf Neutr-16 +20A-- P(G           1                     8          ACS S=10
Mod LR Surf Grav -16 +18A-- P(G           1                     3,5        ACS S=7
Mod DS Surf Steal-16 -18A-- P(A           1                     5,5        
                                                                         
Crew:                                     5                              
Stateroom for 1                           4         8           0,4      
Double Stateroom (2) for 2                4         8           0,4      
Freshers Shared                           4         2           2        
Common Areas                             42        42                    
Life Support:                                                            
Med Console                               1         0,5         0,5      
Clinic                                    1         2           1        
Life Support, Long term 120%              2         3           3          1800 person-days
                                                                         
Ship's Locker                                       1                    
Machine Shop                                        5           0,5      
                                                                         
Standard Air Lock                         5                              
                                                                         
Cargo                                             150                    
                                                                         
Weapons                                                                  
Vd T1 Beam-16 +16 H:1 Def+1               2         2           1,4      
                                                                         
Carried Craft                                                            
Grapple Pinnace 40 Dt                     2         4          24

I added good sensors including a stealth mask, and reduced common areas to compensate for the smaller hull.

 

[robject]

The description drives me nuts, in that it claims to be a 600 ton hull, and yet we know it's not really: it's an undertonned 600 ton hull, and undertonned by at least 40 tons.


So there are a few choices:

1. Demote the hull to 500 tons and keep the drive letters.
2. Keep the hull at 600 tons and boost the drives to handle 700 tons of volume.
3. Have the hull an undertonned 600 tonner, so that with the pinnaces the final volume is an overtonned 600 tons.


#3 is in effect what my design gets to, although I think it shorts itself. Or perhaps I was thinking there's room for a (missing) 9G tug that could help push the ANNIC NOVA.



There is, of course, also a separate choice:

1. Use Collectors.
2. Introduce a modifier for Collectors, that constrains use to insystem purposes, in exchange for a smaller volume.

Stellar.   TL-2.    Tons/2.   See user's manual for limitations.

Free Trader (Non Standard Classified Type NS18): Using an unorthodox 600 ton frame and hull, this artifact is allowed in lmperial commerce under the salvage laws provided the ship is registered with lmperial authorities (typical registration fee: Cr100,000). The ship has 8 staterooms (of nonstandard sizes) for the crew (captain/astrogator, chief engineer, two drive techs, and medic), with provision for ordinary members (gunners, plnnace pilots, or parsengers). There are no low berths. The ship has two jump drives (jump drive F, and jump drive J) which operate independently (at J2, and J3, respectively), but may not sum their power. There are no maneuver drives (the pinnaces act as tugs to a minor extent); there is no power plant. A stellar Collector absorbs and collects energy for internal power and jump drives. Two single turrets each mount a single laser cannon. Cargo bays hold up to 150 tons. The computer ia a non-standard model equivalent to a Model/3, but with nearly three timer normal maas. The ship is not streamlined.
Two 40 ton pinnaces travel in trailing positions. Each holds 12 tons of fuel. One is equipped to carry four passengers for relatively long periods of time; the other can shuttle up to 16 passengers or 12 tons of cargo.
Construction cost is impossible to calculate, but current market value can be placed at approximately Cr200,000,000.

 

[Grav_Moped]

The description drives me nuts, in that it claims to be a 600 ton hull, and yet we know it's not really: it's an undertonned 600 ton hull, and undertonned by at least 40 tons.


So there are a few choices:

1. Demote the hull to 500 tons and keep the drive letters.
2. Keep the hull at 600 tons and boost the drives to handle 700 tons of volume.
3. Have the hull an undertonned 600 tonner, so that with the pinnaces the final volume is an overtonned 600 tons.


#3 is in effect what my design gets to, although I think it shorts itself. Or perhaps I was thinking there's room for a (missing) 9G tug that could help push the ANNIC NOVA.



There is, of course, also a separate choice:

1. Use Collectors.
2. Introduce a modifier for Collectors, that constrains use to insystem purposes, in exchange for a smaller volume.

Stellar.   TL-2.    Tons/2.   See user's manual for limitations.

I think I've got you covered at the end of this post (Yacht contest thread):
[Lightly edited, mostly for format.]
"(House Rule) The Collector provides power for basic ship systems while the ship is in jumpspace, though only while it is in jumpspace.

This is because it replaces a power plant that would be producing EP=Jn*Td/100 through the entire Jump, based on the fuel requirement rules.

In normal space, a different power source is necessary. "

That "different power source" is solar cells from MgT. There's a small battery bank (maybe also from MgT) that holds "ammunition" for the laser turrets, charged over the course of the week in Jumpspace. Only the lasers need energy points -- everything else is fractional EPs that the solar cells can cover. 1Td of MgT batteries would support 6 Beam Laser shots when converted from Power Points over a 6-minute turn to Energy Points over a 20 minute turn.

T5 has "ambient cells" but I can't find specs for them, just the description.

If the ship's power supply outside of Jump is just solar cells, it has to be close to a star to operate. The previous owners may not have known that Collectors work in deep space too because they never tried it -- and didn't know they could try!

 

[Grav_Moped]

The culture that's operating this ship (the previous owners' homeworld) has been operating and maintaining it at a "cargo cult" level of comprehension. They know it works as-is, and are afraid to change anything because it might stop working. Because of this, they've only ever operated it with solar cells for generations, and have long since forgotten that Collectors can work in deep space. (Assuming they ever knew that in the first place...)

And then the Imperial authorities inspect it and have a good laugh at the previous owners' ignorance. Then they don't bother to let the player characters that got through Double Adventure 1 know the true capabilities of Collectors -- and have yet another good laugh, this time at the players' expense.

The joke's on them if there's still a Hieronymus Nexus unit on board somewhere...

 

[Grav_Moped]

And the reason it uses solar cells is that something about a standard fusion power plant interferes with the Hieronymus Nexus. Nobody in Charted Space knows this, and won't know until they try -- and inevitably fail, "disproving" the exponentiating drive linkage theory.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Unclassified Z-FC03 ANNIC NOVA MCr243.4

With a 500 Dt hull and external Pinnaces, for a total of 580 Dt, I get:

Spoiler:

Using a 500 Dton unstreamlined hull, it has a J Drive J, a J Drive F, a C Plant J, and a C Plant F giving performance of jump-3 and 0 g acceleration.
Controls consists of two control consoles, five operating consoles, and a m/3 computer with Ergonomics 1.
There are six sensors: a communicator, an EMS, a visor, a neutrino sensor, a grav sensor, and a stealth mask.
Crew accomodations consists of four staterooms and four double staterooms with a Comfort of 5.
There are two weapons: two single beam laser turrets.
There are two carried craft: two Pinnaces in grapples.
Cargo capacity is 150 Dton. The ship requires a crew of five: a pilot, an astrogator, an engineer, a maintenance, and a flight crew. The ship costs MCr 256,1.

Spoiler:

TL-16  Z-EC03                        Ergo 1   Comfort 5    Demand 0        Agility -5
       Unclassified                  Total:         0,5       256,1        Stability -3
SYSTEM                                    #       DTON         COST      
                                                                         
Hull                                              500                    
Config: Cluster                                                 7,5      
Structure: Plate HullMetal     AV=16 ( 160 vs Blast, 1600 vs Heat/Beam, 160 vs Pres, 1600 vs Rad, 0 vs EMP )      
Coating:                       AV= 0 (  )      
Armour Std Anti-Rad                       1                          AV=16 ( 160 vs Blast, 1600 vs H/B, 1600 vs Rad, 0 vs EMP )      
Landing Skids Tarmac                                                     
Lifters Installed                                               2,5      
                                                                         
External Craft                           80                                  0  External Craft 
Drop Tanks (95% fuel)                     0                                  0,5  Hull 
Total Drive Capacity                    580                                  0,5  Over/undertonnage: Agility ±0
                                                                         
Jump Field: Jump Bubble                                                    D=378 m, Flash 7
J Drive J      J-3, 900 EP                1        50          50        
J Drive F      J-2, 600 EP                1        35          35        
C Plant J      C 3, 900 EP                1       100          50        
C Plant F      C 2, 600 EP                1        70          35        
                                                                         
                                                                         
Console, Control C+S=16                   2         4           0,4        
Console, Operati C+S=16                   5        10           0,5        
Computer m/3                              1         3          10,5      
                                                                         
Sensors                                                                  
Mod DS Surf Commu-12 +14A+12 PA           1                     5,5        
Mod AR Surf EMS-16 +18A+12 PA(E           1                     5,5        ACS S=7
Gen LR Surf Visor-16 +16A-- P(P           1                     3,5        ACS S=5
Ult DS Surf Neutr-16 +20A-- P(G           1                     8          ACS S=10
Mod LR Surf Grav -16 +18A-- P(G           1                     3,5        ACS S=7
Mod DS Surf Steal-16 -18A-- P(A           1                     5,5        
                                                                         
Crew:                                     5                              
Stateroom for 1                           4         8           0,4      
Double Stateroom (2) for 2                4         8           0,4      
Freshers Shared                           4         2           2        
Common Areas                             42        42                    
Life Support:                                                            
Med Console                               1         0,5         0,5      
Clinic                                    1         2           1        
Life Support, Long term 120%              2         3           3          1800 person-days
                                                                         
Ship's Locker                                       1                    
Machine Shop                                        5           0,5      
                                                                         
Standard Air Lock                         5                              
                                                                         
Cargo                                             150                    
                                                                         
Weapons                                                                  
Vd T1 Beam-16 +16 H:1 Def+1               2         2           1,4      
                                                                         
Carried Craft                                                            
Grapple Pinnace 40 Dt                     2         4          24

Note that this ship is not a correct T5.10 ship. All ships require a power plant for "Operations" power (general energy requirements for life support and activity[B2 p79]) even if decentralising power, so some systems (sensors, most weapons, control consoles [B2 p55]) are locally powered. Decentralised power only reduces fuel consumption.

A fission plant can cover operations power for years, so the ship does't need to refuel every month. A Mod U Plant-1 would only take 15 Dt.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

So there are a few choices:

1. Demote the hull to 500 tons and keep the drive letters.
2. Keep the hull at 600 tons and boost the drives to handle 700 tons of volume.
3. Have the hull an undertonned 600 tonner, so that with the pinnaces the final volume is an overtonned 600 tons.

LBB2 didn't care where or how small craft were carried, that was a problem for the deck plan designer (cf. Subbie).

In effect the Annic Nova is designed as a 600 Dt total tonnage ship, and the deck plan specified this to be a 520 Dt main hull with two external 40 Dt pinnaces for a total of 600 Dt.


T5 does care about such details at the number crunching stage.

Fortunately that is easy to replicate in T5: a main 500 Dt hull (with 20 Dt overtonnage or a 20 Dt pod), and two 40 Dt pinnaces carried externally in grapples, for a total of 600 Dt.


Note that overtonnage does not affect drive potential, so a 600 Dt hull with a lot of undertonnage and two external pinnaces would require drives enough for a 680 Dt ship, regardless of undertonnage. Over/undertonnage is supposed to be less than 50 Dt.

 

[robject]

In effect the Annic Nova is designed as a 600 Dt total tonnage ship, and the deck plan specified this to be a 520 Dt main hull with two external 40 Dt pinnaces for a total of 600 Dt.

Right. And, I don't know if it's in the CT rules, but that's how we played it. You sort of get ripped off because you're paying the price of a 600t main hull.

When small craft are carried on a ship, it must have sufficient tonnage to hold each small craft allocated as small craft hangars or compartments.

So in Book 2, "hull" implies "main hull plus any other external hulls". However, the example ships suggest that small craft are not really intended to be grappled to the hull...

...and then Marc writes ANNIC NOVA to "stretch" Book 2, right out of the starting gate. He's a troublemaker.

 

[robject]

Note that overtonnage does not affect drive potential, so a 600 Dt hull with a lot of undertonnage and two external pinnaces would require drives enough for a 680 Dt ship, regardless of undertonnage. Over/undertonnage is supposed to be less than 50 Dt.

This matters when dealing with drives.

Consider drives that expect to push a 600t volume.

You then design a 560 ton hull (i.e. an undertonnage 600t hull), and tack on two pinnaces. Total volume is 640 tons. As far as the drives are concerned, this is an overtonnage 600t hull, and thus the drives are still valid.

 

[robject]

GAZELLE-CLASS CLOSE ESCORT:

Yeah, here's the smoking gun, at least in JTAS 4. By Traders & Gunboats it was re-engineered in a High Guard way, but JTAS 4 shows us the seamy underbelly of Book 2 starship design!

Tonnage: 400 (standard), jump-4.

So the drives are designed for jump-4 on a 400t hull, but jump-6 on a "300t" hull (which indeed is nonstandard from a Book 2 perspective, but certainly possible to interpolate). These are drives J (not H).

The two longitudinal fuel tanks of the Gazelle class ship are engineered to be droppable in extreme circumstances. The ship has high capacity accumulators in its jump drive, and can completely burn its fuel prior to jump, storing the energy while the tanks are then jettisoned. The decrease in tonnage for the ship results in greater efficiency, and the ship can jump farther (J-6). Additional fuel tankage within the ship allows maneuver, but the tanks must be replaced before the ship can again jump.

(There we go with accumulators again... scary bit of Book 2 technology...)

So then, in this early version, the price of what are essentially pod hulls is subsumed into the overall volume of 400 tons, which is an elegant way of getting pod hulls without having to do extra calculations.

Traders & Gunboats version

The deckplan here says it's 300 tons (special), whatever that means. In High Guard, 300 tons is not special. So I think my Book 2 suggestion has some merit... the copyright page notes:

The original design of the close escort is by Frank Chadwick. A substantially different version of the close escort originally appeared in the Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society, Issue No. 4.

ANNIC NOVA:
Appears to have 400 tons in the deckplans, but add in the collectors and you're at a 600 ton hull.

The pinnaces are subsumed into that 600 tons...

According to the "Gazelle Method", those pinnace hulls' prices would similarly be subsumed in the price of the 600t hull.

But it's unlikely.



LAB SHIP:
* 410 ton hull + pinnace, or
* 450 ton hull (includes pinnace)?

This one looks like they broke the rules with an overtonned 400t hull. If so, they should have bumped this to 600 tons. Or else my math is bad. Perhaps I over-calculated!



SAFARI SHIP:

No controversy.

* 200 ton hull. Launch sticks out 6 tons, but the main hull is only really 190-ish tons.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

This matters when dealing with drives.

Consider drives that expect to push a 600t volume.

You then design a 560 ton hull (i.e. an undertonnage 600t hull), and tack on two pinnaces. Total volume is 640 tons. As far as the drives are concerned, this is an overtonnage 600t hull, and thus the drives are still valid.

That would seem reasonable, but is not what the rules say...

Over/undertonnage does not affect the drives.

Adding Pods or Riders does affect drive performance (B2 p177).

 

[AnotherDilbert]

You sort of get ripped off because you're paying the price of a 600t main hull.

On the other hand you don't pay anything extra for grapples, access hatches, airlocks, etc. LBB2 is very simplistic.

But, OK, at MCr 8 that are some quite pricey grapples.

...and then Marc writes ANNIC NOVA to "stretch" Book 2, right out of the starting gate. He's a troublemaker.

I don't think the LBB2 system was intended to limit anyone, just serve as a framework. So, Annic Nova is just an illustration how you can use the LBB2 system creatively.

Later systems, even LBB5, were much more formalised.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

GAZELLE-CLASS CLOSE ESCORT:

I guess this isn't the show-stopper I thought it would be. It's a High Guard design.

However, it is Book 2-amenable, IF we rolled the prices of the pod hulls into that of a 400t hull -- which would be an elegant way to handle it.
But I don't think they did it that way.

The original in JTAS is LBB5'79. I haven't seen any detailed design, just a text description, but I believe it's about 240 Dt main hull + 160 Dt drop tank. The description only says "Tonnage: 400 (standard). 5600 cubic meters.", no exact hull size.

Even the armament seems to be correct: a 10 Dt bay (reskinned) and two turrets?

ANNIC NOVA:
Appears to have 400 tons in the deckplans, but add in the collectors and you're at a 600 ton hull.

The size of a displacement ton wasn't defined until LBB5'79. I wouldn't draw too many conclusions from early deck plans, cf Supp7.

LAB SHIP:
* 410 ton hull + pinnace, or
* 450 ton hull (includes pinnace)?

Yes, seems remarkably accurate for a Traveller deck plan.

Finally, a leeway of plus or minus 10% to 20% should be allowed. If the final deck plans come within 20% of the tonnage of the ship specifications, then they should be considered acceptable.

SAFARI SHIP:

* 200 ton hull. Launch sticks out 6 tons, but the main hull is only really 190-ish tons.

Quite, remarkably accurately sized. A later deck plan, when the 14 m³ displacement ton was well known and accepted.

 

[robject]

Something I don't remember reading before - page 16, room 38 "Cabinet" mentions sensor missiles.

 

[whulorigan]

Something I don't remember reading before - page 16, room 38 "Cabinet" mentions sensor missiles.

Yes. Those are the 4 additional hardpoints (above and beyond the two laser cannons) located in the "hub" astern, each mounting a single missile rack to launch its associated drone. Presumably these racks could mount standard missiles if you loaded them with such ordnance. Of course, the referee would have to establish if and where these racks have a fire control station for tactical launching (if any). The drone control presumably is associated with the four small control panels on the cantilever platform.