CT & MT; Relay class Armed Packet

[Redcap]

Relay Class Armed Packet
Type: Merchant, Gunned, Packet
Architect: Roger Stenning
Tech Level: 13

USP
         AG-36233B1-030000-20002-0 MCr 154.130 300 Tons
Bat Bear             3     3   3   Crew: 9
Bat                  3     3   3   TL: 13

Cargo: 83; Passengers: 4; Crew Sections: 1 of 9; Emergency Low: 13; Fuel: 69; EP: 9; Agility: 2; Pulse Lasers
Fuel Treatment: Fuel Scoops and On Board Fuel Purification;

Architects Fee: MCr 1.541; Cost in Quantity: MCr 123.304


Detailed Description
(High Guard Design)

HULL
300.000 tons standard, 4,200.000 cubic meters, Flattened Sphere Configuration

CREW
Pilot, Navigator, 2 Engineers, Steward, Medic, 3 Gunners

ENGINEERING
Jump-2, 3G Manuever, Power plant-3, 9.000 EP, Agility 2

AVIONICS
Bridge, Model/2fib Computer

HARDPOINTS
3 Hardpoints

ARMAMENT
3 Triple Mixed Turrets each with: 1 Pulse Laser (Factor-2), 1 Missile Rack (Factor-2).

DEFENCES
1 Sandcaster in each Mixed Turret, organised into 3 Batteries (Factor-3)

CRAFT
None

FUEL
69 Tons Fuel (2 parsecs jump and 28 days endurance)
On Board Fuel Scoops, On Board Fuel Purification Plant

MISCELLANEOUS
13 Staterooms, 13 Emergency Low Berths, 4 High Passengers, 83 Tons Cargo

USER DEFINED COMPONENTS
None

COST
MCr 155.671 Singly (incl. Architects fees of MCr 1.541), MCr 123.304 in Quantity

CONSTRUCTION TIME
71 Weeks Singly, 57 Weeks in Quantity

COMMENTS

Designed to meet an Imperial Mail requirement for a fast, smaller freighter to transport Imperial electronic communications (Email and similar), physical documents, packages, and occasional personnel transfers between various staging points across the Third Imperium, the type QG Relay class Gunned Auxiliary was designed along the Merchant Packet principle, to be a reasonably swift, lightly armed, mail ship.

Formed as a branch of the IISS Communications Office, the Imperial Packet Service runs in conjunction with the X-Boat service at its route hubs, taking the Imperial Mail and physical packages, to distribute it to destinations that
were off the X-Boat routes.

The Relay class was intended for use purely as a mail freighter, not a merchant. Given the small cargo space percentage compared to its size, this was acceptable to the IISS Communications Office.

Given its purpose, ships of this class were never intended to carry any form of ships craft; newer classes have fixed this omission with ships boats and air/raft, at the cost of a slightly reduced cargo capacity.

Over time, newer and more efficient classes of Packet were built, and the Relay class, designed with a nod to the Solomani Fast packet freighter of a much larger size, was withdrawn and sold off as surplus to the merchant trade, where its 83 tons of non-standard cargo spaces lent it to be used as more of a speculative trading ship than a standard freighter.

The design looks, in part, similar to the Solomani "Sundowner" class of merchant ship, due to its flattened Sphere configuration, but that's where the similarities end; the Relay-class is a 300-ton hull, whereas the Sundowner is 1,000 tons, and it has a reasonably swift 3G manoeuvre drive to aid in the swift delivery of the Imperial Mail.

Given the Commercial Efficiency Ratio (CER) of 4.86, ship of this class, when operated commercially, can only ever realistically turn a profit is run from either purely speculative trading, or a mix of both speculative trading and common carriage, with more emphasis on the speculative side of things.

Relay-class vessels are a fairly common sight in the border sectors of the Third Imperium, where speculative trade is more profitable.



Relay Class Merchant, Gunned, Packet

HULL
Hull: 0.000 Td; MCr 24.000
Armour Factor-0: 0.000 Td; MCr 0.000

ENGINEERING
M-Drive Factor-3: 24.000 Td; MCr 12.000
J-Drive Factor-2: 9.000 Td; MCr 36.000
P-Plant Factor-3: 18.000 Td; MCr 54.000; +9.000 EP

FUEL
P-Fuel: 9.000 Td; MCr 0,000
J-Fuel: 60.000 Td; MCr 0.000
Scoops: 0.000 Td; MCr 0.300
Purification: 5.000 Td; MCr 0.030
L-Hyd Drop Tanks: 0.000 Td; MCr 0.000

AVIONICS
Bridge: 20.000 Td; MCr 1.500
Computer Model/2fib: 4.000 Td; MCr 14.000; -0 EP

WEAPONRY
3 x Mixed Turrets: 3.000 Td; MCr 4.500

SCREENS

CRAFT

ACCOMMODATIONS
13.0 x Staterooms: 52.000 Td; MCr 6.500
13 x Emergency Low Berths: 13.000 Td; MCr 1.300
Cargo: 83.000 Td; MCr 0.000

USER DEFINED

(Designed using High Guard Ships v 1.3.1.4)

Design notes:

Note this is a CT Book 5 design, good for both CT and MT and, with some ignorance of the rules, later rules sets as well

Inspired by the 4th April (Star Wars Day), this is yet another rework of the Millennium Falcon, but, when I get around to it, without the ridiculous starboard offset bridge position, which blocks a mahoosive amount of the ship from the pilots' view, which is hazardous in landing and take off phases of operations, let alone flight through hazardous environments.

Not including any ships craft (including an air/raft) was a deliberate decision, as was limiting the cargo capacity; my previous designs have been far too kind to players, and it's time to a return to the principles of Marc Miller: A Hungry crew is an adventurous crew

A copy of the HGS file is available here: http://www.coldwarprovost.org.uk/downloads/Relay-class Gunned Auxilliary Fast Packet.hgs

Constructive comments and observations welcome

 

[Redcap]

Design principles (designers notes); please read and comment if you think I might have missed anything!

The crew and supernumeraries:

Pilot, Navigator, 2 Engineers, Steward, Medic, 3 Gunners, 4 passengers.

As this design is a quasi-military design (remember the blurb above, where the IISS commissioned the design for the Imperial Packet Service), and the only passengers permitted aboard were in the employ of the IISS/IPS or other Imperial Service/military staff, separation of quarters wasn't an important factor in the design. So, all quarters are together.

I consider that the primary gunnery control positions would not be in the turrets themselves, but on the bridge; turret access would be to permit reloading from within the ship of the missile and sandcaster tubes and magazines.

This means that the Pilot, Navigator, one of the Engineers, and all three Gunners, would be provided positions on the bridge for action stations purposes; the Pilot would likely be the usual commander of the ship. This then makes for a six-seat bridge.

Outside of action stations, the three senior ships officers would be required to run watch keeping (Officer Of The Deck) duties, each running a full eight hour shift on the bridge, primarily to monitor ships systems in J-Space, and keep track of sensors and ships systems while in N-Space.

The gunners, outside of action stations, would fill the role of both ship security (singly in three 8 hour shifts) and cargo handlers for any physical cargo the ship carries.

The action station for the medic and steward would be the medical bay, and the other engineer would man the engineering control station in the engineering section of the ship.

Passengers (supernumeraries), when carried, would be treated according to rank and/or civil status; where required, they would be afforded high passage equivalency (Example: Very senior Imperial military officers, high ranking Imperial diplomats, and high grade Imperial Civil Staff), with the steward catering to their needs. In all other cases, the steward would act as a ships cook for the rest of the crew (it's not all ration packs and disposable tableware!), with additional purser-like tasks on the administrative side of things (similar to a ships clerk in the US Navy, for example).

Given that these ships are primarily intended to pass electronic secure Imperial communications to off-X-Boat worlds, and to carry secure cargo to those places, and the holds are be designed to cater not only for standard 4-ton containers, but also to hold loose cargo as well (packages & crates secured by cargo netting, Imperial Mail sacks in cages, etc). There are two main holds, both served by external hatches. They are not equipped with hatch airlocks. In places where there are notable or hazardous pressure and/or atmospheric differences between the internal areas of the ship and the outside environment, internal airlocks provide crew access from within the ship.

Fuel is stored for the most part around the main body of the ship, in tanks designed into the tapered edges of the disk-like shape of the ship, with void spaces above and below the pressurised areas stuffed with the engineering, sensors, propulsion systems, landing gear, and other working parts of the ship.

Thoughts, comments, observations?

 

[boomslang]

The performance specs jibe with the design context you have set out, but I am not quite clear on the accommodations; it seems to me that you have too many emergency low berths and could get by with fewer staterooms.

It is a government-service design originally and your skeleton crew is 5: pilot, navi, 2 engineers, and the medic. Three gunners as optional additions takes you to 8 crew total. A steward is only necessary if carrying high passengers, but government employees might be expected to travel on middle passage in order to save on (tax-supported) costs. For security reasons, VIPs would be expected travel with their own steward staff if that level of service is required.

I would think you -- functioning as a government-contracted architect -- could cut it down to 12 staterooms and 6 emergency low berths (to cover the maximum complement of 24 aboard), pushing the crew into double occupancy if needed to make extra room for up to 8 government-employee passengers from time to time.

That would free up 11 more tons for cargo -- upping it to 94 dtons total -- and maybe a ship's vehicle should a mission call for one.

Personally, I would be unable to resist putting an air/raft in there by default, simply to round the cargo bay down to 90 dtons even (elegantly, exactly 30% of the ship's overall displacement).

 

[Redcap]

Bear in mind, this is originally a military format ship, not commercial. The vessel is going to these areas on official business to deliver communications and packages that cannot be trusted to commercial concerns due to security issues; it makes sense to give these ships a limited passenger capacity to allow them to save on paying exorbitant commercial fees that would otherwise have to be paid.

Given the crew of the ship would be on the ship for long periods (it being a standard posting for a number of years at a time), an individual s/r each isn't too much to ask for; crewing is as stated, and the rules require that if high pax are carried, there must be at least one steward for them; the medic could be a double hat, but not really in a military format crew; the low berths are emergency berths, one for every crew member and pax, worst case scenario.

Gunners because they'll be travelling in areas off the main shipping routes, and pirates/bad guys might be around.

Harking back to the emergency low berths, I DO note that each unit is equipped with 3 berths, so five units would have to be fitted, not thirteen, in order to provide a berth for every individual on board. I'll rework the figures on this and amend the data above, later today.

Thanks for the reply

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Harking back to the emergency low berths, I DO note that each unit is equipped with 3 berths, so five units would have to be fitted, not thirteen, in order to provide a berth for every individual on board.

Each Emergency Low Berth holds four people, so you only need four of them.


Note that the combat value of the ship is very limited. It might be able to scare off a Scout or Free Trader, but anything remotely combat-oriented, even a lowly LBB2 Patrol Cruiser would defeat it.

With the modest computer and low-factor weapons it can't hit anything with even decent computer or agility, it can barely hit itself.

A single fuel hit would prevent it from jumping, or if it has already jumped, knock it out completely. Fuel hits are quite likely.

Four points of Armour would make the ship much more robust, especially against nuclear missiles, but it is very expensive.

A slightly larger computer would just hurt agility, so not much of a gain.

A single fusion gun has a higher factor than a laser, so better chance to hit and even a chance of size crits against small ships. Unfortunately they consume more energy, so we can't have as many.

If you dump the lasers and replace them with a single fusion gun and a m/3 computer the ships would have slightly higher combat value and still have agility 2.

Something like this:

AG-3623331-030000-04002-0        MCr 158         300 Dton
bearing     3      1  4                            Crew=9
batteries   3      1  4                             TL=13
             Pass=4 Low=4 Cargo=92 Fuel=69 EP=9 Agility=2

Single Occupancy                                   92       158,5
                                     USP    #     Dton       Cost
Hull, Streamlined   Custom             3          300            
Configuration       Flattened Sphe     6                     24  
Scoops              Streamlined                               0,3
                                                                 
Jump Drive                             2    1       9        36  
Manoeuvre D                            3    1      24        12  
Power Plant                            3    1      18        54  
Fuel, #J, #weeks    J-2, 4 weeks            2      69            
Purifier                                    1       5         0,0
                                                                 
Bridge                                      1      20         1,5
Computer            m/3                3    1       3        18  
                                                                 
Staterooms                                 13      52         6,5
Low Berths          Emergency               4       4         0,4
                                                                 
Cargo                                              92            
                                                                 
Mixed Turret        Full                    1       2            
  Weapon            Fusion             4    1                 2  
  Weapon            Sand               3    1                 0,3
Mixed Turret        Full                    2       2            
  Weapon            Missile            2    2                 3  
  Weapon            Sand               3    1                 0,5
                                                                 
Nominal Cost        MCr 158,48           Sum:      92       158,5
Class Cost          MCr  33,28          Valid      ≥0          ≥0
Ship Cost           MCr 126,78

 

[AnotherDilbert]

This would be a bit better, but requires higher TL and is more expensive:
TL-14, Armour 4, higher factor on the Fusion Gun (threatening a size crit on 400 Dt ships such as Patrol Cruiser and Corsair), less cargo:

AG-3623331-430000-05002-0        MCr 169         300 Dton
bearing     3      1  4                            Crew=9
batteries   3      1  4                             TL=14
             Pass=4 Low=4 Cargo=78 Fuel=69 EP=9 Agility=2

Single Occupancy                                   78       169,0
                                     USP    #     Dton       Cost
Hull, Streamlined   Custom             3          300            
Configuration       Flattened Sphe     6                     24  
Scoops              Streamlined                               0,3
Armour              4                  4           15        10,5
                                                                 
                                                                 
Jump Drive                             2    1       9        36  
Manoeuvre D                            3    1      24        12  
Power Plant                            3    1      18        54  
Fuel, #J, #weeks    J-2, 4 weeks            2      69            
Purifier                                    1       4         0,0
                                                                 
Bridge                                      1      20         1,5
Computer            m/3                3    1       3        18  
                                                                 
Staterooms                                 13      52         6,5
Low Berths          Emergency               4       4         0,4
                                                                 
Cargo                                              78            
                                                                 
Mixed Turret        Full                    1       2            
  Weapon            Fusion             5    1                 2  
  Weapon            Sand               3    1                 0,3
Mixed Turret        Full                    2       2            
  Weapon            Missile            2    2                 3  
  Weapon            Sand               3    1                 0,5
                                                                 
Nominal Cost        MCr 168,98           Sum:      78       169,0
Class Cost          MCr  35,49          Valid      ≥0          ≥0
Ship Cost           MCr 135,18

Note that with Armour 4 the ship itself is immune from size crits from Factor 5 Fusion Guns. We could switch a few missile launchers for sandcasters for a more defensive attitude.


I might add a few more staterooms, I suspect priority cargo includes a lot of people. With say 15 staterooms the ships could carry 6 passengers (or up to 17 with double occupancy) and 70 Dtons of cargo. Not very good for speculative trade though.

 

[Redcap]

(snip)

Something like this:

AG-3623331-030000-04002-0        MCr 158         300 Dton
bearing     3      1  4                            Crew=9
batteries   3      1  4                             TL=13
             Pass=4 Low=4 Cargo=92 Fuel=69 EP=9 Agility=2

Single Occupancy                                   92       158,5
                                     USP    #     Dton       Cost
Hull, Streamlined   Custom             3          300            
Configuration       Flattened Sphe     6                     24  
Scoops              Streamlined                               0,3
                                                                 
Jump Drive                             2    1       9        36  
Manoeuvre D                            3    1      24        12  
Power Plant                            3    1      18        54  
Fuel, #J, #weeks    J-2, 4 weeks            2      69            
Purifier                                    1       5         0,0
                                                                 
Bridge                                      1      20         1,5
Computer            m/3                3    1       3        18  
                                                                 
Staterooms                                 13      52         6,5
Low Berths          Emergency               4       4         0,4
                                                                 
Cargo                                              92            
                                                                 
Mixed Turret        Full                    1       2            
  Weapon            Fusion             4    1                 2  
  Weapon            Sand               3    1                 0,3
Mixed Turret        Full                    2       2            
  Weapon            Missile            2    2                 3  
  Weapon            Sand               3    1                 0,5
                                                                 
Nominal Cost        MCr 158,48           Sum:      92       158,5
Class Cost          MCr  33,28          Valid      ≥0          ≥0
Ship Cost           MCr 126,78

I've been using High Guard Shipyard 1.3 for this; what did you use to generate that data?

I could have sworn Emergency Low were in bundles of 3, but can't find the blurb in CT LBB B05 HG ed 1 or 2?

I'd been thinking of the fusion turret as ground protection whilst landed, to be honest, but oho, interesting. Not thought of that (personal tunnel vision on triple turrets, tbh).

Fuel, armour, and Computer; all true, yes, but over budget (limited it to 250MCr); I'll have a play with things and see what I can come up with.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

I've been using High Guard Shipyard 1.3 for this; what did you use to generate that data?

Spreadsheet: http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=37799

I could have sworn Emergency Low were in bundles of 3, but can't find the blurb in CT LBB B05 HG ed 1 or 2?

Emergency low berths weigh one ton and cost Cr100,000; each contains four persons, all of whom share the revival roll.

 

[Redcap]

Aha, thanks on all counts

 

[Redcap]

OK, keeping it at TL 13, but changing the armament loadout to omit the missiles and lasers, replacing them, with Fusion canons, upping the plant output, and changing the computer up one sublevel from 2/fib to a 2/bis, whilst leaving everything else the same, we get:

Ship: Baton
Class: Relay
Type: Merchant, Gunned, Packet
Architect: Roger Stenning
Tech Level: 13

USP
         AG-36234S1-030000-04000-0 MCr 177.480 300 Tons
Bat Bear             3      3      Crew: 9
Bat                  3      3      TL: 13

Cargo: 82 Passengers: 4 Crew Sections: 1 of 9 Emergency Low: 4 Fuel: 72 EP: 12 Agility: 2
Fuel Treatment: Fuel Scoops and On Board Fuel Purification

Architects Fee: MCr 1.775   Cost in Quantity: MCr 141.984


Detailed Description
  (High Guard Design)

HULL
300.000 tons standard, 4,200.000 cubic meters, Flattened Sphere Configuration

CREW
Pilot, Navigator, 2 Engineers, Steward, Medic, 3 Gunners

ENGINEERING
Jump-2, 3G Manuever, Power plant-4, 12.000 EP, Agility 2

AVIONICS
Bridge, Model/2bis Computer

HARDPOINTS
3 Hardpoints

ARMAMENT
3 Triple Mixed Turrets each with: 1 Fusion Gun (Factor-4).

DEFENCES
1 Sandcaster in each Mixed Turret, organised into 3 Batteries (Factor-3)

CRAFT
None

FUEL
72 Tons Fuel (2 parsecs jump and 28 days endurance)
On Board Fuel Scoops, On Board Fuel Purification Plant

MISCELLANEOUS
13 Staterooms, 4 Emergency Low Berths, 4 High Passengers, 82 Tons Cargo

USER DEFINED COMPONENTS
None

COST
MCr 179.255 Singly (incl. Architects fees of MCr 1.775), MCr 141.984 in Quantity

CONSTRUCTION TIME
71 Weeks Singly, 57 Weeks in Quantity

Note: I can't have more than a sandcaster OR a missile, plus a fusion in the same triple turret. This is due to weight; a sandcaster is one ton, missile launcher is one ton, a laser weapon is one ton, and a fusion weapon two tons, where the turret maximum load is three tons. So, I ditched both missiles and lasers in favour of fusion canons.

I got the one point of agility bonus by moving up to a 2/BIS from a 2/FIB computer.

Boosting the plant output a couple of points allowed for the fusion weapons.

I've changes the emergency low berths per the reference you found for me - thanks

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Ship: Baton

ARMAMENT
3 Triple Mixed Turrets each with: 1 Fusion Gun (Factor-4).

DEFENCES
1 Sandcaster in each Mixed Turret, organised into 3 Batteries (Factor-3)

Note: I can't have more than a sandcaster OR a missile, plus a fusion in the same triple turret. This is due to weight; a sandcaster is one ton, missile launcher is one ton, a laser weapon is one ton, and a fusion weapon two tons, where the turret maximum load is three tons. So, I ditched both missiles and lasers in favour of fusion canons.

Certainly more firepower! But Fusion Guns can't fire at Long range, so now you have no ability to attack on Long range. Perhaps two Fusion turrets and a Missile, Missile, Sand turret?

Lasers, sandcasters, and missile racks may be mounted in any turret; energy weapons may be mounted in single or dual turrets; particle accelerators may only be mounted in single turrets.

 

[Redcap]

Certainly more firepower! But Fusion Guns can't fire at Long range, so now you have no ability to attack on Long range. Perhaps two Fusion turrets and a Missile, Missile, Sand turret?

Good idea. I missed the thing about energy weapon occupancy, I just looked at the damage tables (oops!).

 

[Redcap]

Gagh. HGS won't let me mix turret types. Gonna have to do this by hand, dammit

Hello zero, this is papa one one bravo, Wait, out.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Something like this?

AG-36234S1-030000-04002-0        MCr 177         300 Dton
bearing     3      2  2                            Crew=9
batteries   3      2  2                             TL=13
            Pass=4 Low=4 Cargo=83 Fuel=72 EP=12 Agility=2

Single Occupancy                                   83       177,0
                                     USP    #     Dton       Cost
Hull, Streamlined   Custom             3          300            
Configuration       Flattened Sphe     6                     24  
Scoops              Streamlined                               0,3
                                                                 
Jump Drive                             2    1       9        36  
Manoeuvre D                            3    1      24        12  
Power Plant                            4    1      24        72  
Fuel, #J, #weeks    J-2, 4 weeks            2      72            
Purifier                                    1       5         0,0
                                                                 
Bridge                                      1      20         1,5
Computer            m/2bis             S    1       2        18  
                                                                 
Staterooms                                 13      52         6,5
Low Berths          Emergency               4       4         0,4
                                                                 
Cargo                                              83            
                                                                 
Mixed Turret        Full                    2       4            
  Weapon            Fusion             4    1                 4  
  Weapon            Sand               3    1                 0,5
Mixed Turret        Full                    1       1            
  Weapon            Missile            2    2                 1,5
  Weapon            Sand               3    1                 0,3
                                                                 
Nominal Cost        MCr 176,98           Sum:      83       177,0
Class Cost          MCr  37,17          Valid      ≥0          ≥0
Ship Cost           MCr 141,58

Note that with only two Fusion Guns you have power for a better computer, and still have Agility 2.

 

[Redcap]

I think you might have the batteries wrong; shouldn't it be:

AG-36234S1-030000-04002-0        MCr 177         300 Dton
bearing     3      1  2                            Crew=9
batteries   3      1  2                             TL=13
            Pass=4 Low=4 Cargo=83 Fuel=72 EP=12 Agility=2

?

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Two Fusion + Sandcaster turrets and one Missile + Missile + Sandcaster turret gives me two Fusion batteries, two Missile batteries, and three Sandcaster batteries.

 

[Redcap]

Ah, right, I thought you'd been going with two double missile/single sandcaster turrets, and one single fusion/single sandcaster turret. My bad

 

[Redcap]

Spreadsheet: http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=37799

Huh. The last update results in a black screen. Can you upload the spreadsheet on this thread, please?

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Try this?
http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showpost.php?p=612461&postcount=17

 

[AnotherDilbert]

To get several types of mixed turrets, see this:
http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?p=591765#post591765