Characteristics of a Space Tug?

[Matt123]

For a commercial design, I'd look at cutting running & maintenance costs to the bone. That means dropping the gunners, the turrets, the ships boat & the ship boats pilot.

I'd go further & subcontract out much of the maintenance work & cut the second engineer. The medic I would also drop, paying another crew member a bonus for cross training. The navigator is also largely redundent without any jump capability.

So I'd cut crew to two (Pilot & Engineer) whom can share a statreroom, perhaps adding a second stateroom for the second shift (12 hour shifts).

The computer I'd drop to a model 1 and I'd shrink the hull size to lose the 187 tons of cargo space, 32 tons saved in staterooms, 1 ton in computer space, 4 tons in hardpoints & 30 tons for the ships boat (total 254 tons shaved off) giving big savings in the hull costs (can't remember if this negatively affect drive outputs in LLB2 tho').

I'd also add a ton factor related to the size of the objects being "tugged", say 20% of the biggest object to be moved. Accounting for hull reinforcing, ruggedising, cables, winches, what-have-you. Cost? dunno, 1MCr/ton?

Not a great PC ship, but she will be pig ugly, sparten & specialised for job at hand. Who knows what a PC might do with one.

 

[Gray Lensman]

For a commercial design, I'd look at cutting running & maintenance costs to the bone. That means dropping the gunners, the turrets, the ships boat & the ship boats pilot.

The point of my design was the tug also being the Customs Patrol. I actually should have used some of the cargo space for more power to raise agility and room for a dedicated boarding party (I was falling asleep as it was).

I'd go further & subcontract out much of the maintenance work & cut the second engineer. The medic I would also drop, paying another crew member a bonus for cross training. The navigator is also largely redundent without any jump capability.

Size of drives ect. determines number of needed engineers. Uncle Sam never sent me into combat without a medic around. Navigator required by LBB2 for vessels over 200 Dtons and probably would have a level of Pilot as well or Communications. The spreadsheet I use throws it in all though it isn't neccessary for non-starships.

(can't remember if this negatively affect drive outputs in LLB2 tho').

In LBB2 some drives will not fit into smaller hulls Drive M will not fit into anything less than 400 Dtons.

I'd also add a ton factor related to the size of the objects being "tugged", say 20% of the biggest object to be moved. Accounting for hull reinforcing, ruggedising, cables, winches, what-have-you. Cost? dunno, 1MCr/ton?

LBB2 does not account for these, I could have pulled the percentages for grapples from TNE but it was late. Since it isn't a cargo vessel these could soak up some of that 189 Cargo Dtons (Along with the aforementioned Agility, Boarding Party Ect,).

Not a great PC ship, but she will be pig ugly, sparten & specialised for job at hand. Who knows what a PC might do with one.

There are some uses: the PCs could be the boarding party and get experience with Traveller's Combat Rules / the PC's could be the ones being boarded, ect. I am sure that other people could find even more uses.

Perhaps Someone (hint, hint) will grace us with an MT design .

 

[Matt123]

The point of my design was the tug also being the Customs Patrol.

Oops, I missed that part. Personally I trend towards specialised vessels in most systems with backwaters making do with whatever is available. IMTU there is little demand for a shiny new tug/patrol vessel.

Size of drives ect. determines number of needed engineers.

LBB2 also assumes most boats over 100tons are jump capable, a full engineering complement is a must when you are operating a week away from help. In system tho' with travel out to the 100D mark & back, its easy to rely on contractors for maintenance or breakdowns. Interplanetary trips tho' you are likely back to needing full engineering complement.

Uncle Sam never sent me into combat without a medic around.

True, but highly trained special forces rely on cross training to get thier medic. The small team size is also a factor. OTOH, when posting I didn't pick up on you intending a combat role for the Tug.

Thinking about it, you aren't really taking about a Tug, its more of an all purpose Search & Rescue, Patrol boat with the capacity (perhaps) to bring crippled ships to port.

Navigator required by LBB2 for vessels over 200 Dtons and probably would have a level of Pilot as well or Communications. The spreadsheet I use throws it in all though it isn't neccessary for non-starships.

Yep, LBB2 does not represent non-starships over 100tn very well & crew allocations need to be sprinkled with a little commercial sense. Its been said before, compare a currant day patrol frigates crew of hundreds (UK Type 23 4,900 tons has 171 crew) with that of a much larger supertanker (Yara Viking, 100 times larger at 500,000 tons has a crew of 40).

In LBB2 some drives will not fit into smaller hulls Drive M will not fit into anything less than 400 Dtons.

Ahh, its been a while, I thought there might have been something like that.

LBB2 does not account for these...

I've always added specialised equipment where I have a specialised vessel. How much I add could often be considered arbitrary, but IMHO you need to add something taking up ton/MCr otherwise why is the vessel needed when any ship could do the job.

In a way your 400tn Patrol vessel runs this risk. It can also be pressed into service as a tug, cargo hauler & with the addition of a few staterooms/Stewards a high end luxury liner as well. A jack of all trades but without the specialized equipment to do any job well.

Patrol Vessel - full crew/armament/high speed
Tug - minimal crew/hull strengthening/graples/ropes/ability to use max thrust when pushing/towing others
Cargo ship - minimal crew/ high cargo capacity/adequate speed
Liner - minimal crew/high service crew/luxury cabins/luxury entertainment areas/very high cleanliness & service standards

Every choice means a trade off. The cost of that trade off in CT is generally up to you.

Hmm, I've probably given a good explanation why IMTU vessels generally specialise as opposed to a convincing arguement why you should do the same. --- lol. Each to thier own.

 

[Gray Lensman]

What if the System Government REQUIRED all ships to use this service?

The above statement is the whole key. The system government requires that ALL vessels use the Tug Service, so why have a separate ship for customs duty?

In fact, I have a world in MTU that could use this, guess I will really have to design one now :nonono:. MTU uses mix of LBB 2, LBB 5, MT and TNE tho.

 

[Matt123]

The above statement is the whole key. The system government requires that ALL vessels use the Tug Service, so why have a separate ship for customs duty?

lol, are you really asking or is that a rhetotical question. If rhetorical, don't read on!

I can start with training requirements for customs/patrol crew being much higher & more expensive than Tug crew.

That customs duties generally take a fraction of the time of Tugging duties. Multiple boats can be inspected by one boat in the time it takes to tug one to port.

The cost to the merchant will be huge, assuming costs are recovered which seems only fair. The merchant with 4-5 staff now has to pay wages for 10+ highly qualified customs agents and the expensive multi-role combat vessel for the day or two it takes for the "Tug" to do the round trip to get back on station.

With every Tug having max armament and 10+ bored highly trained staff, each merchant will likely get strip searched several times on the way to port - just to keep the crew in practise. Merchant trade will head to someplace cheaper to visit, where they do not need to sit under the eyes & guns of prima-donna bored customs agents for a day.

All things are possible in Traveller, somewhere a customs agency will operate in this fashion but it won't be anywhere with a mid to high population given the trade traffic volumes and sheer number of customs Tugs required.

The real killer tho' will be someone launching a fleet of specialised cheap Tug's and with a fraction of the costs, competing against Customs for the Tug job. Customs won't mind, searching/chasing ships is much more fun than towing them.

 

[Gray Lensman]

LBB2 or LBB5 ?

I was thinking of going fully retro and CT Book 2, but might relent and go CT Book 5 if that works better.

I will be completely offline 3 Sep thru 6 Sep Inclusive (something about a boat, a small island, my best friend and two girls, the use of fishing poles and adult intoxicants) but when I come back I really want to get into this one.

I too have done plenty of Specialized Designs in the past, but there are surely times when multi-missions designs are called for.

Since I kinda derailed T-Bolts Thread I will be starting a new one.

Have A Good Labor Day Weekend All,

Dan

 

[Matt123]

I will be completely offline 3 Sep thru 6 Sep Inclusive (something about a boat, a small island, my best friend and two girls, the use of fishing poles and adult intoxicants) but when I come back I really want to get into this one.

I too have done plenty of Specialized Designs in the past, but there are surely times when multi-missions designs are called for.

Since I kinda derailed T-Bolts Thread I will be starting a new one.

Have A Good Labor Day Weekend All,

Dan

Its all good & was fun having the banter. Enjoy the trip.

Cheers!
Matt