One of my pet peeves for the longest time has been the disjunct between Book 2 ships and Book 5 ships, with the Book 2 ships on the one hand making no sense because of that odd power plant fuel rule and on the other hand being necessary because Book 5 has trouble making a profitable low-tech merchantman.
One convention I adopted was to allow import and export of ship parts, so that the shipyards can construct ships that would ordinarily be beyond their tech level. It means that a TL9 shipyard can built the 90% of the ship that is within its local tech and then import the power plant to finish the job, rather than try to sell something no one wants or lose the whole job to a world with better tech. The power plant tends to set the tech level of unarmored ships, since it varies in cost and size with tech level. Accompanying that, I limited civilian tech to TL13 and limited civilian weapons except sandcasters to TL7 (ostensibly to keep civilian ships from being targeted by privateers for their tech, since the neighboring polities don't have access to TL15 goodies and might be a bit less eager to take a prize if they had to bring it back to retrofit better weapons, and it keeps the civilian ships from having an edge over local governments).
The other involves creating a variant of the two most common Book-2 fusion plants. The only ships I cared to rescue from Book 2 were the Free Trader and the Subsidized Merchant; that simplified things since I didn't have to deal with the disparities found in the larger plants; a few others came along for the ride, but these were the focus. To accomplish my goal I calculated what a power plant would mass and cost if the ship were built using HG-80 maneuver and jump drives but had the same cost, cargo capacity, and so forth as the Book-2 ship, then I created such a plant. The result would be a ship that cost the same as the Book-2 version, with the same performance, but mounting a unique, lower cost but somewhat inferior power plant, the Book-2 plants burning a lot more fuel than their Book 5 counterparts. I took the name from a mention in the deckplan of the Far Trader in Supplement 7. The result is:
The Halonic Prime is a TL8 MCr4 7dT fusion plant common on low-tech worlds as an alternative to conventional fusion technology. The plant generates 500 Mw but consumes fuel at a rate 5 times greater than conventional fusion plants. The Halonic Prime is seen in the Free Trader, Scout/Courier, and Yacht.
The method produces one departure from canon, other than the plant itself: a Halonic Scout/Courier carries 8 weeks of power plant fuel and costs MCr28.53.
The Halonic Duplex is a TL8 MCr8, 9 dT fusion plant, likewise common on low tech worlds, that generates 1000 Mw but likewise consumes fuel at a rate 5 times greater than conventional fusion plants. The Halonic Duplex is found in the Far Trader, Subsidized Merchant, Safari Ship, Vargr Trader, and X-boat.
(This plant produces these departures from canon, other than the plant itself:
I did up a duplex x-boat but, since the Book-5 X-boat comes in at TL13, it wasn't worth it. The HG x-boat had 15 dTons to play with at MCr65.6 with a 28-day supply of power plant fuel, while the variant Duplex had 6 dTons to play with at MCr59.85 with a 10-day supply of power plant fuel.
One convention I adopted was to allow import and export of ship parts, so that the shipyards can construct ships that would ordinarily be beyond their tech level. It means that a TL9 shipyard can built the 90% of the ship that is within its local tech and then import the power plant to finish the job, rather than try to sell something no one wants or lose the whole job to a world with better tech. The power plant tends to set the tech level of unarmored ships, since it varies in cost and size with tech level. Accompanying that, I limited civilian tech to TL13 and limited civilian weapons except sandcasters to TL7 (ostensibly to keep civilian ships from being targeted by privateers for their tech, since the neighboring polities don't have access to TL15 goodies and might be a bit less eager to take a prize if they had to bring it back to retrofit better weapons, and it keeps the civilian ships from having an edge over local governments).
The other involves creating a variant of the two most common Book-2 fusion plants. The only ships I cared to rescue from Book 2 were the Free Trader and the Subsidized Merchant; that simplified things since I didn't have to deal with the disparities found in the larger plants; a few others came along for the ride, but these were the focus. To accomplish my goal I calculated what a power plant would mass and cost if the ship were built using HG-80 maneuver and jump drives but had the same cost, cargo capacity, and so forth as the Book-2 ship, then I created such a plant. The result would be a ship that cost the same as the Book-2 version, with the same performance, but mounting a unique, lower cost but somewhat inferior power plant, the Book-2 plants burning a lot more fuel than their Book 5 counterparts. I took the name from a mention in the deckplan of the Far Trader in Supplement 7. The result is:
The Halonic Prime is a TL8 MCr4 7dT fusion plant common on low-tech worlds as an alternative to conventional fusion technology. The plant generates 500 Mw but consumes fuel at a rate 5 times greater than conventional fusion plants. The Halonic Prime is seen in the Free Trader, Scout/Courier, and Yacht.
The method produces one departure from canon, other than the plant itself: a Halonic Scout/Courier carries 8 weeks of power plant fuel and costs MCr28.53.
The Halonic Duplex is a TL8 MCr8, 9 dT fusion plant, likewise common on low tech worlds, that generates 1000 Mw but likewise consumes fuel at a rate 5 times greater than conventional fusion plants. The Halonic Duplex is found in the Far Trader, Subsidized Merchant, Safari Ship, Vargr Trader, and X-boat.
(This plant produces these departures from canon, other than the plant itself:
- A Duplex Far Trader costs MCr59.4.
- A Duplex Subsidized Merchant carries a 2-week supply of fuel instead of a 4-week supply. Most subsidized merchants take advantage of the extra space in the 50 dT drive compartment, adding a 10 dT auxiliary fuel tank there so the ship has 4 weeks plant fuel available.
- A Duplex Safari Ship has a 10-dT cargo capacity. Cost is MCr72.99.
- A Duplex Vargr Trader costs MCr58.59.
I did up a duplex x-boat but, since the Book-5 X-boat comes in at TL13, it wasn't worth it. The HG x-boat had 15 dTons to play with at MCr65.6 with a 28-day supply of power plant fuel, while the variant Duplex had 6 dTons to play with at MCr59.85 with a 10-day supply of power plant fuel.