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[BasicT5] ACS Small Craft Design

robject

robject

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This is how I design small craft using ACS.

1. Select Mission Code.

2. Select TL. Note that TL is the primary limit to acceleration, using the chart on p. 338, assuming you use Maneuver Drives (which is what I assume here).

3. Select a Pod Hull from the chart on p. 333 (A1 thru A9, 10 thru 90 ton classes of pod).

4. Install a Maneuver Drive and Power Plant using the formulas from p. 337 (I've put them into a table as well). The first five drive types (A-E) are useful to smallcraft.

Code: 
           - Drive Rating -
Hull Vol   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10-20 t    ------- A -------
30 t       ---- A ---- B B B
40 t       --- A --- B B B B
50 t       A A A A --- B ---
60 t       A A A B B B C C C
70 t       A A B B B C C C D
80 t       A A B B B C C D D
90 t       A A B B C C D D E

5. Determine fuel volume using the fuel formula (hull volume x PP rating / 100), per month of operations.

6. Install sensors, weapons, or defenses on firmpoints per the design rules (pp 316, 341, 342, 343), (or accept the default sensors on p. 383).

7. Determine controls, cockpit volume (if any) and cost (p. 345).

8. Determine life support (and other operations) volume and cost (p. 344). Note that the default life support option (0 tons and no cost) is sufficient for typical surface-to-orbit operations.

9. Add payload, if any (p. 347). Passengers can be added using the "5 passengers per ton" rule on p. 287, or 20 passengers per 3 ton Passenger Module from p. 300.

Code: 
Launch
Volume    Component            MCr    Notes                
(20)    A2 Pod, Streamlined    1.4    
4       Power Plant A          4.0    P2 (TL 9 construction)
0.5     Power Plant Fuel       -    1.25 months
2       Maneuver Drive A       4.0    1G (TL 9 construction)
2       Bridge, Std            0.4    2 Control Consoles
1       Model/1                1.5
0       Short-term LS          -
0.5     Airlock                0.1
10      Free Space             -
        TOTAL COST         MCr 11.4

Ship’s Boat            
Volume    Component            MCr    Notes                
(30)    A3 Pod, Streamlined    2.0    
4       Power Plant A          4.0    P6 (TL 13+ construction)
2       Power Plant Fuel       -    33 days
2       Maneuver Drive A       4.0    6G (TL 13+ construction)
3       Bridge, Std            0.6    3 Control Consoles
1       Model/1 bis            3.0
1       Life Support           1.0
1       Airlocks (2)           0.2
16      Free Space             -
        TOTAL COST         MCr 14.8

Slow Boat            
Volume    Component            MCr    Notes                
(30)    A3 Pod, Streamlined    2.0    
4       Power Plant A          4.0    P3 (TL 10 construction)
1       Power Plant Fuel       -      33 days
2       Maneuver Drive A       4.0    3G (TL 10 construction)
2       Bridge, Std            0.4    2 Control Consoles
1       Model/1                1.5
1       Life Support           1.0
1       Airlocks (2)           0.1
18      Free Space             -
        TOTAL COST         MCr 13

 
Pinnace            
Volume    Component            MCr    Notes                
(40)    A4 Pod, Streamlined    2.6    
4       Power Plant A          4.0    P5 (TL 12+ construction)
2       Power Plant Fuel       -      1 month
2       Maneuver Drive A       4.0    5G (TL 12+ construction)
3       Bridge, Std            0.6    3 Control Consoles
1       Model/1 bis            3.0
1       Life Support           1.0
1       Airlocks (2)           0.2
26      Free Space             -
        TOTAL COST         MCr 15.4

Slow Pinnace            
Volume    Component            MCr    Notes                
(40)    A4 Pod, Streamlined    2.6    
4       Power Plant A          4.0    P2 (TL 9 construction)
1       Power Plant Fuel       -      37 days
2       Maneuver Drive A       4.0    2G (TL 9 construction)
2       Bridge, Std            0.4    2 Control Consoles
1       Model/1                1.5
1       Life Support           1.0
0.5     Airlock                0.1
28.5    Free Space             -
        TOTAL COST         MCr 13.7

Modular Cutter            
Volume    Component            MCr    Notes                
(50)    A5 Pod, Streamlined    3.2
4       Power Plant A          4.0    P4 (TL 11+ construction)
2       Power Plant Fuel       -      1 month
2       Maneuver Drive A       4.0    4G (TL 11+ construction)
3       Bridge, Std            0.6    3 Control Consoles
3       Model/3               10.5
1       Life Support           1.0
1       Airlocks (2)           0.2
34      Free Space             -
        TOTAL COST         MCr 23.5



Shuttle            
Volume    Component            MCr    Notes                
(90)    A9 Pod, Streamlined    5.6    
7       Power Plant B          7.0    P3 (TL 10 construction)
3       Power Plant Fuel       -      33 days
3       Maneuver Drive B       6.0    3G (TL 10 construction)
2       Bridge, Std            0.4    2 Control Consoles
1       Life Support           1.0
1       Airlocks (2)           0.2
2       Cargo Lock             0.4
71      Free Space             -
        TOTAL COST        MCr 20.6
 
Last edited:
robject said:
(I'm campaigning for the "1/2A" Power Plant, but I'm not holding my breath).
Click to expand...

The 1/2 A makes good sense to me, and, reverse engineering Canon smallcraft seems it is in fact the case.

From what you've given as a "sneak preview" I may break down and buy T5 after all.
 
Are you supposed to design small craft using Vehicle maker or something by RAW? Does T5 stipulate what "maker" should be used for fighters, pinnacles and so on?
 
T5's core rules don't explicitly cover building smallcraft; much like Classic Traveller, it lists the standard smallcraft, which can be customized a bit -- they have firmpoints for sensors and/or weapon emplacements and/or ordnance after all.

Using VehicleMaker I am able to build gravitic craft up to 30 tons (4Gs for the one I designed), so it is possible to design small surface-to-orbit smallcraft hulls this way. With a little creative license I could probably affix grapples to two (or more) vehicle hulls (or handwave them into one unit) and fashion a pinnace or cutter or shuttle, etc.

The difference between Vehicles and "true smallcraft" is that the vehicles are only good in orbit as transfer craft; their drives aren't well suited to insystem travel in general. That's not necessarily bad: they're cheap, and traders typically would use them surface-to-orbit.

But if you're stranded 10 AU from the nearest planet you probably want a Maneuver drive. That's why I like taking a Pod hull and sticking an M-drive and Power plant on it.
 
Last edited:
Vladika said:
The 1/2 A makes good sense to me, and, reverse engineering Canon smallcraft seems it is in fact the case.
Click to expand...

Indeed, I like that the results, even as I calculate them, come close enough to Classic Traveller's numbers to be acceptable to me, a grognard. And these designs are more playable, with about the same complexity as Book 2 starship design.
 
Perhaps the OP's hope will come true and errata will cover small craft somehow? :) Like that 1/2A Powerplant rating!
 
Nerhesi said:
Are you supposed to design small craft using Vehicle maker or something by RAW? Does T5 stipulate what "maker" should be used for fighters, pinnacles and so on?
Click to expand...

Nerhesi there was a SmallcraftMaker incorporated with VehicleMaker before Marc realized the book had to come in under 700 pages. But as Robject has shown the rules in the book seem to cover everything we need to make Smallcraft, apart from 1/2A PowerPlants. If you have 2A PP or ZZ Drives I think you should have 1/2 A's.

Thanks Robject for the table and setting out the process
 
Thats great - I wonder if anyone has a draft copy or can maybe Marc at a later time can post his original smallcraft maker. Just as a guideline or clarification :)
 
HG_B said:
T5 has gone backwards from the immediate prior edition? (MGT) 1 ton for a 1 Bis computer??
Click to expand...

Personally, I really wouldn't want to fit a complete Telecomminications room and server in less than 50 square feet (1.5 x 3 meters) of floor area ... all those stupid UPS boxes and power panels and operation manuals and who knows what else for a far future starship computer.

I might try to squeeze it down into 25 square feet (1.5 x 1.5 meters), but not much smaller. I always liked the 1 dTon computer and 0.5 dTon seat 'cockpit' from classic traveller as a simple and elegant solution to gaming a complex reality.

YMMV.
 
Its worth noting explicitly that like other spacecraft Smallcraft have the following:

By default, any ship has automatically installed (at no specific cost):
Comms. One R=7 C Communicator-8.
Radar. One R=7 R Radar-9.
Vision. Several R=6 Portholes.
Click to expand...

That's buried on p383 How sensors work.
 
Just as a basic reference the old VehicleMaker draft with SmallcraftMaker had the following armor values:

Basic hulls/pods had armor in the range 20 to 40

Mission effects modify the above to range from 10 to 90

Bulk effects range from /3 to x3

Other effects modify armor in a range -1 to +5

But note that these AVs are for the ground combat system in accordance with the rest of VehicleMaker. I can't find it in the Core book but is Ship Armor x10 times the AV of Vehicle Armor. There are complicated rules for Anti-Layers that might be confusing me.

Put simply is AV the same all the way through the rules system?

My gut says stick with 4% of hull for armor volume, remembering that the first layer is free. My reasoning is a). Smallcraft like Spacecraft have to undertake prolonged voyages and risk all the hazards of radiation and combat so need comparable armor. b). It serves as a further break from VehicleMaker craft that can reach space. They don't get M drives so they don't get the same hull construction that incorporates armor.

It might also have a further positive effect of discouraging naval architects from designing lumps of armor with drives and a cockpit tagged on.
 
Thanks for posting these rules. I've just been convinced to join anyone campaigning for "1/2 A" systems. That is a very nice way to design custom small craft. For MTU it's the way to go.
 
mirc said:
Thanks for posting these rules. I've just been convinced to join anyone campaigning for "1/2 A" systems. That is a very nice way to design custom small craft. For MTU it's the way to go.
Click to expand...

I believe the SmallcraftMaker rules, which are in the penultimate draft, are better in some ways. A small craft is not as important as a starship; thus, small craft design need not be as detailed -- usually. So using ACS is overkill in most cases.

Therefore, it's nice to have both options available -- as long as the results are similar.

For example, here is a 40t Slow Pinnace built using the SmallcraftMaker page from the old draft VehicleMaker rules:

Code: 
40t Slow Pinnace, using SmallCraftMaker (old draft p.276)

Descriptor    TL   Tons  Accel   Load   AV Ca Fl Ra So Psi In Se   MCr
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pinnace       14    40     4      25    30 10 10 10 10  0  10 10    9
Slow          -1          -2      +5                               -1
M-Drive                           +5                               x2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
           TL 13    40t    2G     35t free                     MCr 16

It's close to the original, which had 31.6t free and cost MCr 18.
I would rationalize that by saying that the original came with a sensor package valued at MCr 2 and displacing 3 tons. However, if possible I might also try to adjust the Pinnace's load to match CT (although I think this is as close as it can get).

Now the version I built using ACS:
Code: 
Tons	Component		MCr		Notes
(40)	A4 Pod Hull SL		2.6
2	M-drive A (2G)		4
2	F+Power (2)		4
-	Firmpoints (2)		-
-	Default sensors		-
1	Std Life Support	1		1 month
2	Cockpit (std)		0.4		2 control consoles
1	Model/1bis		3
0.5	Shared Fresher		0.5
0.5     Airlock                 0.1

31t free, MCr 15.6

It's a bit cheaper, and has a bit less free space. The penalty is that it has to be designed like a starship.
 
Last edited:
The old SmallcraftMaker draft

The old SmallcraftMaker is fast. That's one reason I like it.

Here is the Slow Pinnace compared with the Fast Pinnace, both built using the SmallcraftMaker page from the old draft VehicleMaker rules. The "Fast Pinnace" corresponds to the CT Pinnace.

Changes In the following examples, I have changed the draft Small Craft Maker entry for Pinnace: I've reduced Load from 25 down to 22.

Code: 
40t Slow Pinnace, using SmallCraftMaker (old draft p.276)

Descriptor    TL   Tons  Accel   Load   AV Ca Fl Ra So Psi In Se   MCr
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pinnace       14    40     4      22    30 10 10 10 10  0  10 10    9
Slow          -1          -2      +5                               -1
M-Drive                           +5                               x2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
           TL 13    40t    2G     32t free                     MCr 16


40t Fast Pinnace, using SmallCraftMaker

Descriptor    TL   Tons  Accel   Load   AV Ca Fl Ra So Psi In Se   MCr
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pinnace       14    40     4      22    30 10 10 10 10  0  10 10    9
Fast          +1          +1      -5                               +1
M-Drive                           +5                               x2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
           TL 15    40t    5G     22t free                     MCr 20

The Fast Pinnace is spot on. The Slow Pinnace is close, but MCr 2 cheaper than the original. In order for CT's values to match T5, that needs to be explained. If I dared make changes to "Slow" and "Fast" then I'd face a cascade of changes to other smallcraft as well.

This tells me that there needs to be an additional page of text describing what the defaults are for small craft created this way.
 
Last edited:
robject said:
The Fast Pinnace is spot on. The Slow Pinnace is close, but MCr 2 cheaper than the original. In order for CT's values to match T5, that needs to be explained.
Click to expand...

IMHO a 10% difference like that is really no big deal. Similarly sized car, boats, aircraft, etc in the real world with very similar raw performance characteristics can vary in price from each other by 50% or more.

Simon Hibbs
 
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