Traveller5 all the way
So, if someone really, really enjoyed ship design, almost enough to think of it as a worthwhile hobby unto itself, which rule set would you say has the best starship design rules, and why?
Thanks in advance for your time and advice / opinions
NOTE: you don't need T5 to design ships with T5's rules. You just need a computer. Try before you buy. Send me an email:
robert.eaglestone@gmail.com.
I really, really enjoy ship design as a hobby unto itself.
I use it to showcase Traveller. So I like to tune the design of each ship class based on a niche. I ALSO like to port existing canonical designs into Traveller5. So I like to have options; I
need options that let me tune designs. Why? Because there are so many older systems, and I want to suck as many of them as possible in under T5, because they're all interesting and all have their uses... and there is always room for one more ship design. And T5 has the flexibility to do it.
For its selective attention to detail at the game level, and for its sheer representational strength, I love T5. I can whip up a simple trader in five minutes from the text. Example: a 300 ton almost-no-frills trader:
- 300 ton hull, Unstreamlined. MCr 11. TL 10.
- Default landing gear (skids), no optional fittings or wing configurations. Free, no volume.
- Jump 1, Maneuver 1, Power 1. 25 tons, MCr 28.
- Fuel (one month power + one jump): 33 tons. No refueling tech.
- No frills armor == TL (10). Free, no volume.
- Computer Model/1. 1 ton, MCr 1.5. Don't trust it to jump for you, but you could have it pilot you between the mainworld and the 100D limit, and in a pinch it could operate ship's guns (if you later decide to buy some).
- Default, basic sensors. Free, no volume.
- No weapons or defenses at this time.
- Standard life support. 1 ton, MCr 1.
- Three crew staterooms, commons, fresher. 15 tons, MCr 1.3.
- Spacious bridge, 6 tons. Throw in one control console and two operational consoles. Cr 400,000.
- 20 passenger states, with commons and freshers. 82 tons, MCr 4.
- 20 low berths. 10 tons, MCr 2.
- 80 tons cargo.
- Capture tank, 7 tons, MCr 0.7.
- Vault, 1 ton.
- Fast Boat + hangar overhead. 40 tons, MCr 15.
Or, I can take some time to craft a 2400t SDB with a mini-spine, bristling with weapons and various specialized layers of armor. I can design an Ancients' ship with a stasis globe defense and Skip drives that can move it between galactic arms, powered by Collectors.
No two ships need be alike: even ships from the same class with the same equipment can have quality differences, or can show drive improvements as the TL timeline advances. A lucky ship might have a bump in quality that means it only needs a checkup every other year.
There are rules for aging a ship. The rules explain how landing, launch, and atmospheric operations work. Interested in cutting-edge Darrian technology? Antimatter power plants are explained. Want to explore ships related to the ANNIC NOVA? The elements are there. How about MegaTraveller technology? White globes, disruptors, jump inducers, and more.
I've used T5's ship design system to port 80+ classic ship designs. To help me do this, I wrote ship design software that runs on Adobe Air. It helps me curate designs, and produces text and HTML design sheets of them.
The output of my example 300t ship above in my design program is:
Trader A-CU11 Locust MCr63.4
Crew comfort: +0
Passenger demand: +0
Code:
Tons Component MCr Notes
------- ----------------------------------- ----- --------------------
300 Unstreamlined Hull, lifters, 3 a/l 11 U, lifters, 3 a/l free
30 Jump Fuel (1 parsec) 0 1 parsec jump, at 30t per parsec
3 Plant Fuel (one month) 0 one month
3 Maneuver Drive-1 (B) 6 1 G
15 Jump Drive-1 (B) 15 J 1
7 PowerPlant-1 (B) 7 P 1
1 Life Support Standard 1 10 person-months
6 Spacious Bridge 0.4 1cc 2op 0ws
6 3x Crew Stateroom 0.3 #3 1 crew
8 2x Crew Commons 0 #2
1 Crew Common Fresher 1 10 crew
80 Cargo Hold Basic 0
10 20x Low Berth 2 #20 1 passenger
7 Capture Tank 0.7 atmospheric controlled
1 Mail Vault 0 for express contracts
2 2x Common Fresher 2 #2 10 passengers
40 20x Standard Stateroom 2 #20 1 passenger
40 10x Passenger Commons 0 #10
40 Fast Boat + hangar 15 m1bis 3
One thing to note is that T5 steps back into the Book 2 mold: ship design is primarily for adventures. Ships larger than 2400 tons are only implicitly supported. That said, my program supports ships up to 2.6 million tons.
I like my widgets I do I do.
