Collector 6Boat at TL-15?

[Grav_Moped]

Quick-building this using LBB2 plus T5 components and concepts as a demonstration.

Item         Tons  MCr     Comments
Hull         0    19.9     Unstreamlined
Bridge      20     0.995
Comp/6       7    55       LBB2 does not use EP, but...
Collector/B 30    15
Collector/B 30    15
Collector/B 30    15
Jump/B      15    20
Jump/B      15    20
Jump/B      15    20
Power/A      4    10       (This is the LBB2 version, see below)
Maneuver/A   1     4       Nominally 1G, limited to 0.1G by sails
Fuel        10     0       4 weeks
Stateroom    4     0.5     (Crew=Pilot)
Payload     18     (This can be staterooms, cargo, and/or a small shuttle.)
---------- ---   -------
Totals     199   185.395

The reason this works is that while you can't build a Collector-6 at TL-15, you can build Collector-2s.
Then you do a Nexus Linkage on just the 3 jump drives (a "B3" linked drive) to get a Jump-6 rating from them.
The 3 Collectors B are still each only Collector-2, and not linked. Each Jump Drive sees the Collector-2 it needs to operate at factor 2.
Jump-6 is a standard-level technology at TL-15.

Jump-1 uses one Collector and one Jump Drive.
Jump-2 does likewise.
Jump-3 uses all three Collectors, and all three Jump Drives in a B3 linkage.
Jump-4 uses two Collectors, and two Jump Drives in a B2 linkage.
Jump-5 uses all three Collectors, and all three Jump Drives in a B3 linkage -- but requires forced jump precipitation via an intervening gravity well.
Jump-6 uses all three Collectors, and all three Jump Drives in a B3 linkage.

Computer power supply is a non-issue in LBB2. Pn=1 covers non-Jump-Drive requirements.
Under HG, the Power Plant is TL-15, 5Td, Pn=2, 5EP. Delete 5Td fuel if desired.
Under T5, the Power Plant is an Ultimate Size C unit (or can just be a bigger standard one, depending). Adjust fuel accordingly.

The Maneuver Drive is nominally 1G, but I don't think the canopies can handle anything near that, even retracted. I'd say 0.1G, or use the MgT concept of "Maneuver-0". It's basically for stationkeeping or to bring the ship in (slowly!) for maintenance.

Crew consists of the pilot (no engineer, navigator, or medic is technically required, as the ship is under 200Td).

The 18Td of "payload" can be whatever -- comms relays, cargo, staterooms, weapons (not much point, but hey whatever...), extra fuel, and/or a small shuttlecraft. It's what's left over after the required components are allocated.

I'm visualizing this as a central hull, with each of the three Collector canopies on a retractable arm slightly longer than the canopy radius.
Once the retractable arms position the retracted canopies away from the hull, the canopies deploy canted at 45 degrees to minimize mutual interference. It looks like a 3-bladed pinwheel.

 

[Spinward Flow]

I'd say make it a 200 ton ship and simply add a medic (and I suppose 3 engineers?). You then have 3 tons of payload displacement remaining after adding in the 4 staterooms.

 

[Grav_Moped]

I'd say make it a 200 ton ship and simply add a medic (and I suppose 3 engineers?). You then have 3 tons of payload displacement remaining after adding in the 4 staterooms.

I was thinking more along the lines of a 10Td shuttlecraft and a couple of staterooms, myself.

Since it works at 200Td, it ought to work at any arbitrary tonnage above that.

It's basically a proof-of-concept for this twist on the Nexus drive-linking mechanic from T5.

 

[Grav_Moped]

It's basically a proof-of-concept for this twist on the Nexus drive-linking mechanic from T5.

Which is to say, I'm pretty sure they didn't mean for it to be used this way. . .

It's still pretty slow -- in "gas-and-go" speed-run mode, it's slower than a standard Jump-3 ship due to the 10-day recharge time versus a one day refueling run. But it provides an almost indefinite Jump-2.5 pace without need for support or having to risk contact with anyone.

(Which makes it, like most Collector ships used as intended, useful mostly for locked-room mystery scenarios since you pretty much don't actually have to come in contact with anything that could cause you to Have An Adventure.)

 

[Spinward Flow]

It's still pretty slow -- in "gas-and-go" speed-run mode, it's slower than a standard Jump-3 ship due to the 10-day recharge time versus a one day refueling run. But it provides an almost indefinite Jump-2.5 pace without need for support or having to risk contact with anyone.

As far as an XBoat service is concerned, with enough copies operating in relays, that works just fine.
If you had 10 of them, they could "collect and go" on a rotating schedule along a single relay between two systems without needing to be tethered to a L-Hyd refueling point. You just wind up with multiple ships in system at various stages of collection at any given time.

 

[Grav_Moped]

As far as an XBoat service is concerned, with enough copies operating in relays, that works just fine.
If you had 10 of them, they could "collect and go" on a rotating schedule along a single relay between two systems without needing to be tethered to a L-Hyd refueling point. You just wind up with multiple ships in system at various stages of collection at any given time.

It's a tiny bit cheaper than J6/1G, 199Td under HG '80. The main problem is that the mandatory down-time drastically raises capital investment and operating expenses.

If you're covering a major rift crossing that would otherwise require a mid-rift fuel cache, this might be a good alternative. Needs to be more than 12 parsecs, though, or drop tanks would suffice for a lot less money.

 

[Grav_Moped]

Which is to say, I'm pretty sure they didn't mean for it to be used this way. . .

Some constraints I'd apply to keep it consistent with T5:
-- TL Stage Effects apply only relative to the TL of the rating of the drive combination. In this proof-of-concept, the combined Jump Drives are Jump-6, therefore requiring TL-15. Thus, the Jump Drives comprising it are treated as Jump-6 (which is "Standard" at TL-15) rather than Jump-2 (which could be upgraded to "Ultimate" at TL-15 since J-2 is TL-11). If it had only two Jump Drives B combined for Jump-4, the combination would be "Standard" at TL-13 and thus the constituent Jump Drives could each be upgraded to "Modified" when built at TL-15.
-- As shown in the jump range/configuration paragraph, the drives have to be matched, and their input has to be matched. If the proof-of-concept ship in the original post had only 2 Collector+Jump Drive sets, it could do J-1 (one drive, one collector at half power), J-2 (one drive, one collector at full power OR both drives and both collectors, each at half power), or J-4 (both drives, both collectors, full power) but NOT J-3 without running into a gravity well at the right distance while powered up for a J-4.

Also note that it doesn't matter if a T5 Collector is operating at "half power" or "full power" since any charge left over after Jump initiation will bleed off during the week in Jump Space anyhow. I don't know if the rules allow two half-charged Collectors to be Nexus-linked to provide power equal to a single fully-charged one, or whether a Collector must be fully-charged to function at all. It'd be handy if they could...

 

[Spinward Flow]

If you're actually relying on T5, wouldn't it make sense to use a Jump-1+2+3 system instead of a Jump-2+2+2 system?

 

[Grav_Moped]

If you're actually relying on T5, wouldn't it make sense to use a Jump-1+2+3 system instead of a Jump-2+2+2 system?

The T5 Nexus linkage mechanic only works with identical drives. Basically, it's how they extend the T5 equivalents of the LBB2 drive table to provide drives larger than Size Z (and flatten out the extra peformance of the W-Z sized drives), rather than a way to make modular partial-capability drives (or to put it into LBB5 terms, it's not a way to combine a primary and a backup drive for greater effect).

As I noted, I'm pretty sure they didn't mean for it to be used the way I'm exploiting it here. Nonetheless, under the rules as written, it should work.

Also, one might consider backporting it into LBB2 where TL limits available drive sizes -- which would yield something like the TL Stage Effects in T5, if the underlying formula for maneuver drive tonnage didn't have a negative constant term... (T5 deals with this by making a Size A maneuver drive 2Td rather than the 1Td in LBB2 -- beyond that, the advantage becomes marginal.)

 

[AnotherDilbert]

No, of course not.

Three jump drives nexused into a J-6 drive is a J-6 drive and requires a potential 6 power source.

T5.10, B2, p116:

Potential Requires Equal Potential In Power. A Jump Drive requires a Power Source with equal or greater Potential. A Jump Drive with Potential 4 requires a Power Plant (or Anti-Matter Plant, or Collector) with at least Potential-4.

And, of course:

Potential Is Limited By Tech Level.

Regardless of how the potential is achieved, whether you use 81 small nexused drives or one large drive, the total potential is the relevant design parameter.

 

[Grav_Moped]

No, of course not.

Three jump drives nexused into a J-6 drive is a J-6 drive and requires a potential 6 power source.

T5.10, B2, p116:


And, of course:

Regardless of how the potential is achieved, whether you use 81 small nexused drives or one large drive, the total potential is the relevant design parameter.

I expected that. What took you so long?

 

[AnotherDilbert]

'tis the season to be busy...

 

[Grav_Moped]

'tis the season to be busy...

I hope yours finds you well and in good cheer.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Busy is good!

Merry Yule, or Christmas if you prefer.