Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
My thoughts exactly!
Class E Starport
- Thread starter Andrew Boulton
- Start date
At least it's not Class E!
Though, it might be a Class C when it's done. I mean Scaled Composites is already manufacturing smallcraft there, I mean I suppose Space Ship One (which I could almost touch once, love the EAA and good friends), should count.
Glad they are still going through with it. Thanks for the update Andrew.
Though, it might be a Class C when it's done. I mean Scaled Composites is already manufacturing smallcraft there, I mean I suppose Space Ship One (which I could almost touch once, love the EAA and good friends), should count.
Glad they are still going through with it. Thanks for the update Andrew.
Could be a SpacePort there with no facilities for StarShips. Maybe you can only dock to whatever asteroid with a less than 100 ton ship...? Maybe it's an Area 51 type of landing facility - Above Top Secret and all...
:smirk:
The Shionthy System has TWO belts. My take is that the inner belt (which I've dubbed the Armaggedeon Belt) is the one in the life zone with all the antimatter (which, after 300,000 years, isn't very much even there), and the outer belt is the one most of the population live in (with the occasional, rare anti-matter encounter). Those that don't live on the 30 moons of the gas giants, that is.
A belter society, especially an interdicted one, had better have the facilities of a Class B starport (i.e. a boatyard). And you're quite right, the listing is the facilities a visitor can expect to be allowed to make use of.
Hans
Straybow
SOC-14 1K
Take the text as hyperbole. You can't use just plain bedrock without any preparations.
That doesn't mean no facilities at all. It just means no Imperial Extraterritorial facilities. No price-dictated (and taxed) fuel facility, no repair facility that meets Imperial standards, and no official Imperial station for scout or naval vessels. There may well be an Imperial office of some sort, and businesses run by non-locals to serve the people who come and go.
Outside the Extrality line there may be fuel and repairs as local tech allows. Maybe even an indigenous spaceport for the local traffic. Maybe they don't speak Galanglic, and you have to trust your negotiations to a hired translator.
It's any starport that doesn't have the facilities to be rated Class D. So, yes, it could be something a little more elaborate than the description, but not much.
Hans
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
Far-Trader chuckles and in his best Mick Dundee imitation says:
"That's not a Craft." (waves at his Imperial Launch across the way) "THAT'S a Craft!"
"And until the Imperial Starport Authority sanctions it this world of yours hasn't even got a Class E Starport. You just have to get used to being rated Class X for now."
Seriously, Space Ship One is barely qualified as such. But I'll grant you they could have a Class C equivalent* spaceport/yard. That is locals who build something that is almost a small craft. Nasa facilities might qualify as a Class B equivalent* spaceport/yard.
* some edition(s) of the rules has the corresponding ratings for spaceports, I don't recall them offhand though
G. Fieendish
SOC-12
Interesting, though I wonder how Virgin's proposed spaceport located at Kiruna, Sweden is fairing...
lucasdigital
SOC-12
Only just caught this thread - don't come in The Lone Star much..
Fantastic render, and a pretty good representation of a E-class. A good discussion has followed, I'd just add that the reason the starport definitions are not precise or detailed is to give you some flex in your adventure design. You should be able to treat the requirements as guidelines rather than absolutes.
Here's a chunk of notes I wrote about frontier starports while preparing my Traveller Locations guide. It may not fit with everyone's notion of a Class-E, and I never intended it to be a definition, rather than just one example of a starport that might appear on a very low population world, or one that was purposely located in an isolated place.
---
So what distinguishes a Class-E starport from no starport at all? Usually the answer is - not much. The Scout service has three criteria for the "E" classification. A landing area that is able to safely support small to medium starships (up to 1000 tons), a plentiful supply of unrefined fuel, usually in the form of open water. The final requirement is a functional beacon that provides basic navigational information to nearby ships. Many Class-E Starports are actually the remnant of early Scout survey missions. The Imperial Scout service would set up a base camp during the ground exploration phase of a survey. First they'd clear a large flat area of bedrock, then install temporary facilities. At the end of the survey it was customary to strip the facility, but usually the cleared landing zone would be left intact, just in case the analysis of survey data should prompt a follow-up mission. At the time of the Third Imperium many of these frontier starports have been operating for hundreds of years, some for much longer. Over such long periods, even the most out of the way starports have accumulated 'litter' in the form of discarded equipment and material. Occasionally, a starship makes its final landing at a Class-E port, If its too costly to repair it may well be declared as derelict. Scavengers and salvage crews will often strip these vessels down to their shells, although it's just as likely that smaller, well worn vessels will be left to 'rust', mostly intact. There's scope for variety even with Class-E starports.
--
Fantastic render, and a pretty good representation of a E-class. A good discussion has followed, I'd just add that the reason the starport definitions are not precise or detailed is to give you some flex in your adventure design. You should be able to treat the requirements as guidelines rather than absolutes.
Here's a chunk of notes I wrote about frontier starports while preparing my Traveller Locations guide. It may not fit with everyone's notion of a Class-E, and I never intended it to be a definition, rather than just one example of a starport that might appear on a very low population world, or one that was purposely located in an isolated place.
---
So what distinguishes a Class-E starport from no starport at all? Usually the answer is - not much. The Scout service has three criteria for the "E" classification. A landing area that is able to safely support small to medium starships (up to 1000 tons), a plentiful supply of unrefined fuel, usually in the form of open water. The final requirement is a functional beacon that provides basic navigational information to nearby ships. Many Class-E Starports are actually the remnant of early Scout survey missions. The Imperial Scout service would set up a base camp during the ground exploration phase of a survey. First they'd clear a large flat area of bedrock, then install temporary facilities. At the end of the survey it was customary to strip the facility, but usually the cleared landing zone would be left intact, just in case the analysis of survey data should prompt a follow-up mission. At the time of the Third Imperium many of these frontier starports have been operating for hundreds of years, some for much longer. Over such long periods, even the most out of the way starports have accumulated 'litter' in the form of discarded equipment and material. Occasionally, a starship makes its final landing at a Class-E port, If its too costly to repair it may well be declared as derelict. Scavengers and salvage crews will often strip these vessels down to their shells, although it's just as likely that smaller, well worn vessels will be left to 'rust', mostly intact. There's scope for variety even with Class-E starports.
--
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
I like the idea of a Class E starport as a boneyard for old dying starships. I mean I really really like it. Thanks for sharing 
Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
Maybe someone with a lot of time on their hands could swap a few parts between derelicts and rig themselves a fixer-upper?
I like the description and rationale, fits with MTU. Cheers.
Got anything similar for the other classes?
I like the description and rationale, fits with MTU. Cheers.
Got anything similar for the other classes?
Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
And so it takes its first steps toward Class D status...
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
I like the idea of a Class E starport as a boneyard for old dying starships. I mean I really really like it. Thanks for sharing
More likely at D or C, I'd say. If your ship's knackered, you don't want to risk getting stranded.
Sooo... starships up on cinder blocks? 
o:
o:Thunderbolt
SOC-12
The boneyard comments about derelict starships put this Chris Foss picture into my mind:
http://www.intergalaktika.hu/photo/1976138:Photo:64098
http://www.intergalaktika.hu/photo/1976138:Photo:64098
Wasn't that also one of the old T4 covers?
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
Naval Architect's Manual.