CT Ship Builder

[Matt123]

Designs Book 2 ships, Book 5 High Guard ships and small craft. Also enables saving your designs and printing them out as a pdf.

https://tca-2014-12.herokuapp.com/

The design algorithms should be correct. I have had a handful of gamers look at it and anything spotted has been fixed. If you spot a bug, feel free to either post it here or email me. At this early stage avoid big projects coding up every CT ship. The database *should* be stable, but if I break it and lose hours of your work, you won't be happy...

Changing tech level impacts several other options (eg computer, screens, weapons). Submitting the page will re-set those values. Alternatively, selecting a cell and hitting enter is equivalent to hitting submit. Auto responding to tech level changes is the next thing on my todo list, give or take any bugs that might be highlighted here over the next couple of weeks.

I have some ideas on where I want to take this, but I'm interested in your 2Cr as well. For example a better text format than the Book 2 version could be worth discussing - what would it look like?

Given feedback I've seen elsewhere I'm going to mention that I'm here to enjoy myself while dabbling in a great hobby, in good company. If you are of the view feedback is best served harsh and bitter, I will merely place you on my ignore list.

I hope you enjoy this CT Ship Builder and I hope the learning curve isn't too great Feedback on that pain point will be useful too...

Cheers!
Matt

 

[Shonner]

I didn't see a counter that showed the total of d-Tons left unused/unfilled. For when fuel tanks or cargo do not fill up the rest of a ship. Or maybe it is somewhere I just didn't see. Anyway, this is one of the best online ship builders I've run into in years, if not decades.

 

[BillDowns]

This supports LBB2, right? I don't see Drives A or B.

 

[Matt123]

This supports LBB2, right? I don't see Drives A or B.

The algorithm is correct, new ships initially start with a tonnage of 600 ton which in Book 2 has a range of drives from C to V. In addition the starting tech is TL12 which allows a maximum jump drive of N (Book 3). Meaning the Jump Drive options are correctly filtered to be from C to N. If registered you can also see that the Free Trader and Scout have the correct drive options.

But you raise a useability problem. 600 ton and TL12 as default values are just arbitrary numbers that suited during development. Defaults that appear intuitive without having to pull the rulebook out would make more sense. I will change them to 200 ton and TL15 over the weekend.

**edit** change made 14 Mar 2015

 

[Matt123]

I didn't see a counter that showed the total of d-Tons left unused/unfilled. For when fuel tanks or cargo do not fill up the rest of a ship. Or maybe it is somewhere I just didn't see. Anyway, this is one of the best online ship builders I've run into in years, if not decades.

Ta

There is a running total at the top of the Tonnage column that you may have missed. It shows total used, rather than total left so it might not be quite what you are after. Take a look and if you think there is still a need, drop another post here.

 

[Shonner]

I see it now. Just didn't read far enough down.

 

[simonh]

Very nice. Here's my first design. Needs a little bit of tweaking. I also found it awkward that there isn't a display of unused tonnage, and finding the total of used tonnage wasn't obvious. It might be nice to state the amount of excess tonnage in the warning when you configure too much as well. Minor fix-ups though, I'm impressed.

---
UPDATE - I've revised the design since initial post. 3 Workshops aren't showing up in the ship summary. I configured 1 laser and 1 missile battery, leading to an allocation of 2 gunners, but the ship is described as unarmed. A summary of the crew requirement (roles and numbers) is really needed.

As for the design, it has 3 staterooms and 3 workshops at 4dt each as labs for scientific staff. I also doubled the pp fuel to allow for extended duration surveys. Cargo would probably be split with one 4dt special storage facility for samples, possibly capable of supporting some live specimens. I'd allow 6dt for that, leaving 15dt for regular cargo. That would be taken up by mission specific gear such as equipment for setting up a temporary research base, survey satellites, seismic survey gear, probes to be launched from the missile launcher or whatever else might be needed.
---
The Scout-Heavy Long Range Scout is the first unit in its class (0 actually built). It is a civilian design with a construction tech level of 14. Its 300 ton hull is of the Flattened Sphere configuration; it is streamlined and capable of atmospheric work (hull cost, including 20% discount for Flattened Sphere configuration: MCr24.0). The ship carries no armor. Fuel scoops are present (MCr0.3).

A bridge (20.0 tons; MCr1.5) and a computer model 4 (4.0 tons; MCr30.0; 2 energy points).

The ship is jump-4 (15 tons; MCr60), maneuver-2 (15 tons; MCr10.5), and power plant-4 (24 tons; MCr72). The power plant provides 12 energy points.

Fuel tankage provides 144 tons of fuel. 120 tons enables a 4 parsec jump range and a further 24 tons is sufficient for 8 weeks of operations. There is a fuel purification plant (4.0 tons; MCr0.03).

The ship is un-armed.

The ship carries no screens.

Ship's vehicles include; One Air/raft, with 4.0 ton of garage space.

The crew numbers 6. The ship carries 6 staterooms (24.0 tons; MCr3).

A cargo hold of 21.0 tons is provided.

The ship has an agility of 0; it has an emergency agility of 2.

 

[Matt123]

... lots of good stuff...

Awesome, ta. I'll look to tackle these in the next day or so

 

[Matt123]

Hey Simon,

I've recreated the ship to pin down the bugs/improvements.

• warning message, state amount tonnage is exceeded by
• text description, mixed turrets are not being picked up (claiming unarmed).
• text description, mission specialists should get full staterooms on civilian craft
• text description, mission specialists and passengers (probably also troops) are not mentioned in the text description
• text description, workshops not appearing in the text description
• text description, expand the crew description to provide more detail
• text description, total cost doesn't appear in text description (duh...)

Arse... More than I thought, but virtually all in the text description and none relate to the integrity of the calculation. They will be relatively easy to fix and I'll slot them in while I'm sorting out the tech level update mechanism. That means around next weekend for the update.

Regards 'unused tonnage', I'm not sure I see the need yet. Is it because the running total isn't obvious when you first start using the builder or because you find unused tonnage is more intuitive?

 

[simonh]

If you let me know when these are done I'll do a check.

Once you know where to look for the tonnage total it's not an issue, but I think most users will assume there's an unused total somewhere and search all over the UI for it.

I understand why you put the tonnage and cost totals where you did, but I'd intuitively expect them to be at the bottom. Where they are now they look like they are part of the Universal Ship Profile. Maybe put them in a heading section of their own? I'd also consider moving the whole USP section down to the bottom instead of in between the Class and Hull sections. The USP is a summary and not actually part of the design sequence, whereas the Class section is where you specify hull size, TL and configuration which all affect the actual design of the ship just as much as Hull, Bridge, etc and should be contiguous with them.

I'm being very picky, it's a great app and makes putting a ship together extremely simple and a lot of fun. What are you plans regarding saving designs? Something simple like JSON file upload/download would be enough to start with.

Simon Hibbs

 

[Matt123]

Ok, I buy that. I'll move the usp and totals to the bottom.

You won't have noticed yet but you can drag the sections by the header bar and re-order them, plus fold up the sections (double click on the header bar). At the moment its only a gimmick as it doesn't yet remember your settings from session to session, but it means I can set it up for easing new users into it while eventually it will remember an experienced users last set-up.

I'm in two, no three minds on the save feature. I already set one up for the first round of testers (JSON), but it saved the entire database. Not a problem with only a handful of people openly saving to a shared db, but it didn't allow private designs and I wanted to set up a more sophisticated db and interface with security etc.

The second problem is that my api isn't stable yet and won't be until I implement selecting carried craft from your own database. The 'dummy' ones require extra detail to be carried that will eventually be stripped.

The third issue is that the json save file doesn't carry all the information you might want. For example crew for every department apart from marines, is calculated. I don't save it. So while it might be sufficient for uploading to this apps db, it won't have a lot of use elsewhere unless I knock up a custom json file output to suit someone else's app.

An alternative is a better text description. I'm not that fussed with the existing one, but its a cannon format which made it a good place to start. A better layout though could be more easily read in a COTI post, saved as a pdf, viewed online or downloaded as a text file, customized and used in adventure documentation.

FWIW I like picky, it exposes issues faster and helps identify assumptions I've made that no longer stack up. Don't go nuts on looking for stuff, I can't work that fast! But anything you find keep letting me know.

 

[Matt123]

New version posted.

Added auto-updating so that hull armour, computers, jump drives and some other bits all update their options on a tech level change, ship size change or change from civilian design to military. Lots of AJAX stuff... Still need to adjust weapons and screens when toggling civilian design, but have parked it for later.

On the stuff Simon spotted, most have been sorted.

• Moved usp to above the text description.
• Added title bar to Totals and added tons left.
• Warning message, state amount tonnage is exceeded by.
• Mission specialists get full staterooms on civ craft.
• Move Ships complement to above passengers in designer.
• Text description, detail crew and passengers.
• Construction times added to text description.
• Detail payloads carried.
• Add ship cost to text description.

I have add a summary to the totals row that might meet the need Simon and Shonner mentioned and left it in place for the moment.

The weapon text is not fixed yet, an issue when using mixed turrets in that the text incorrectly claims your ship is un-armed. Its more than a 30 minute job, so I'm releasing the rest of the fixes now. Yell if you spot a problem!

 

[simonh]

Nice work. It was perfectly useable already, but I think the improvements are very much worthwhile. The problem for me evaluating it is that I already know how it works, so I can't give you the same feedback I could if I were seeing the new version for the first time. All I can say is that my initial concerns all seem to have been addressed.

I decided my last design was profligate, and tried to slim it down to the minimum necessary. It still has J4 and double normal ppt endurance for long survey missions, carries 4 mission specialists and has 3 labs and an air raft, but all that fits nicely in a 200 dt hull. It still has 15 dt left for survey equipment, probes and such. I think it would make a great ship for a long range scouting team.

---
Edit: I messed up, the version I first posted had J-4 but only J-3 of fuel. I dropped one of the labs and had to up the TL to 15 to fit it nicely into 200DT.
How about a warning for dopes like me that there's not enough fuel for the rated J Drive?

As an aside, it's never made sense to me that lower tech designs are less space efficient (that part is fine) but are also considerably more expensive. Not an issue with he app, this is just how it works in traveller. You'd think that higher tech parts would be more expensive. Just look at the cost of more advanced aircraft, naval vessels, cars, etc.
---


The Scout-Experimental Long Scout is the first unit in its class (0 actually built). It is a 200 ton civilian design with a construction tech level of 15 and a cost of MCr128.62, including design fees. Construction time is 48.0 weeks. Subsequent ships of the class will cost MCr101.88 and take 39 weeks to complete.

The 200 ton hull is of the Flattened Sphere configuration; it is streamlined and capable of atmospheric work (hull cost, including 20% discount for Flattened Sphere configuration: MCr20.0). The ship carries no armor. No fuel scoops are present.

A bridge (20.0 tons; MCr1.0) and a computer model 4 (4.0 tons; MCr30.0; 2 energy points).

The ship is jump-4 (10 tons; MCr40), maneuver-2 (10 tons; MCr7), and power plant-4 (8 tons; MCr24). The power plant provides 8 energy points.

Fuel tankage provides 96 tons of fuel. 80 tons enables a 4 parsec jump range and a further 16 tons is sufficient for 8 weeks of operations. There is no fuel purification plant.

The ship is armed; One missile battery of factor 2 (1 ton; MCr 0.8). No spinal mount and no bay weapons.

The ship carries no screens.

The crew numbers 3 (Command: 1+0, Engineer: 0+1, Medic: 0+1) . Passengers number 3 mission specialists. All sophonts are accomodated in 6 staterooms (24.0 tons; MCr3).

Payloads carried includes; Two Laboratories, (8.0 tons, MCr1.0).

A cargo hold of 15.0 tons is provided.

Ship's vehicles include; One Air/raft, with 4.0 ton of garage space.

The ship has an agility of 0 and an emergency agility of 2.

 

[Matt123]

Nice work. It was perfectly useable already, but I think the improvements are very much worthwhile. The problem for me evaluating it is that I already know how it works, so I can't give you the same feedback I could if I were seeing the new version for the first time. All I can say is that my initial concerns all seem to have been addressed.

Ta, there are definitely more to be spotted, but my initial fears of angry people trying to use my bug ridden app seem to be misplaced. Of course that could be because hardly anyone is looking at it! It is just as well its a vanity hobby project

How about a warning for dopes like me that there's not enough fuel for the rated J Drive?

lol, I will knock something up.

That issue with misstating mixed turret ships as being un-armed has been fixed. I've got a couple more bugs to track down and some maintenance to do, then I intend to create an alternative text output for COTI which might take a week or two. Something a little more concise that allows easy comparison between ships and checking of calculations.

As an aside, it's never made sense to me that lower tech designs are less space efficient (that part is fine) but are also considerably more expensive. Not an issue with he app, this is just how it works in traveller. You'd think that higher tech parts would be more expensive. Just look at the cost of more advanced aircraft, naval vessels, cars, etc.

It works that way in the OTU if you use the exchange rate mechanisms, for example in either TCS or Striker. But most gamers tend to ignore it as adding more complication than its worth.

For example, using TCS, a TL15 air-raft costs 400,000Cr on a TL15, Starport A planet. No doubt it comes equipped with a great sound system, psychedelic grav-lifters and safety features galore. Try to buy it on a standard TL12, Starport B world and you pay; 400Kcr * 1/0.8 = 500KCr locally

The local TL12 version still costs 400KCr. Import it back to the TL15 Starport A planet and it will sell for; 400Kcr * 0.8/1 = 320KCr locally

In both cases you are spending local credits. If you take a different approach, at higher tech 400KCr becomes relatively cheaper because of individuals higher earning power.

 

[simonh]

So the cost you're calculating is the cost in TCS economically adjusted local credits, not Imperial standard credits?

I'd have thought it would make sense to give the cost in standard credits, and let anyone make the adjustments if they need to, depending on what they actually want to do.

I suppos it depends what the design app is intended for. It's it's primarily a TCS app then I suppose that's fine. However if my PCs want to roll up to a TL13 world with a Class A staport and commission a ship, would I need to back-convert the price to standard credits?

Simon Hibbs

 

[Matt123]

So the cost you're calculating is the cost in TCS economically adjusted local credits, not Imperial standard credits?

I was talking more generally. The app uses costs straight out of the rulebooks. In TCS the exchange rate is only really used in the case where you are exporting tithes from a captured system back to your system.

I suppos it depends what the design app is intended for. It's it's primarily a TCS app then I suppose that's fine. However if my PCs want to roll up to a TL13 world with a Class A staport and commission a ship, would I need to back-convert the price to standard credits?

No, the ship prices are standard and in local credits where-ever you are in the OTU (a little un-realistic, but easier to game with). You as a GM may want to examine the credits they are importing to pay for it though. Your PC's could be importing ImpCr, which may have greater purchasing power on many systems than local credits. Or vice versa.

 

[Matt123]

A hand full of maintenance jobs done. Added a warning if you design a ship without sufficient jump fuel and added first cut of a copy and paste design table. A couple of examples attached. The format is heading towards the last example in this thread.

Scout/Courier (type S)
100 ton, TL 9 Civilian Design, 32.60 MCr
1 crew (Command: 1+0)
3 High/Mid passengers, 3 tons cargo
Agility 0, Emergency Agility 2
__Ton.____MCr.____EP.____
| ___.__ | _3.00 | _.__ | Configuration
| _20.00 | _0.50 | _.__ | Bridge
| __1.00 | _4.00 | _.__ | Computer
| _10.00 | 10.00 | _.__ | DriveJump
| __1.00 | _4.00 | _.__ | DriveManeouver
| __4.00 | _8.00 | _.__ | PowerPlant
| ___.__ | __.__ | 1.00 | Agility
| _20.00 | __.__ | _.__ | FuelPower
| _20.00 | __.__ | _.__ | FuelJump
| __1.00 | _0.50 | 1.00 | Laser
| _16.00 | _2.00 | _.__ | Stateroom
| __3.00 | __.__ | _.__ | Cargo
| __4.00 | _0.60 | _.__ | Payload_1
-------------------------
| 100.00 | 32.60 | 2.00 EP used, PP generates 2.0 EPs

Imperial Light Cruiser
30000 ton, TL 15 Military Design, 22,493.92 MCr
283 crew (Command: 2+13, Engineers: 1+86, Service: 1+59, Flight: 1+15, Gunners: 1+52, Marines: 1+, Security: 1+29, Medics: 1+1)
32.45 tons cargo
Agility 5, Emergency Agility 5
_____Ton.________MCr.________EP.____
| ______.__ | _3,300.00 | _____.__ | Configuration
| ___600.00 | ___240.00 | _____.__ | HullArmour
| ______.__ | ____30.00 | _____.__ | FuelScoops
| ____26.55 | _____0.27 | _____.__ | PurificationPlant
| ___600.00 | ___150.00 | _____.__ | Bridge
| ____26.00 | ___200.00 | ___12.00 | Computer
| _1,800.00 | _7,200.00 | _____.__ | DriveJump
| _4,200.00 | _2,100.00 | _____.__ | DriveManeouver
| _2,700.00 | _8,100.00 | _____.__ | PowerPlant
| ______.__ | ______.__ | 1,500.00 | Agility
| _2,700.00 | ______.__ | _____.__ | FuelPower
| 15,000.00 | ______.__ | _____.__ | FuelJump
| ____24.00 | ____16.00 | _____.__ | SandCaster
| ___100.00 | ____10.00 | ___10.00 | Repulsor
| ____50.00 | ___150.00 | __150.00 | Laser
| ___200.00 | ___450.00 | _____.__ | Missile
| ____12.00 | ____24.00 | ___24.00 | Energy
| _1,000.00 | ___400.00 | __900.00 | Meson
| ____20.00 | ____50.00 | ___90.00 | NuclearDamper
| ____36.00 | _____4.50 | _____.__ | Stateroom
| ___548.00 | ____68.50 | _____.__ | Cabin
| ____32.45 | ______.__ | _____.__ | Cargo
| ___325.00 | _____0.65 | _____.__ | Craft_1
------------------------------------
| 30,000.00 | 22,493.92 | 2,686.00 EP used, PP generates 2700.0 EPs

Still got some work to do, like flesh out the component descriptions. But I'm doing house maintenance over the next few days, so it is on the back-burner for the moment.

If you are inclined and spot any calculation or logic errors, the heads-up is appreciated.

To examine the app, go to here. Click on Ship Designs, have a go and you will see this text based design table under the design form. Cheers.

 

[simonh]

The compact design report is brilliant!


Churchill
800 ton, TL 13 Military Design, 427.64 MCr
19 crew (Command: 1+1, Engineers: 1+3, Flight: 1+3, Gunners: 1+7, Medic: 0+1)
8 troops, 3 specialists, 150 tons cargo
Agility 1, Emergency Agility 3
__Ton._____MCr._____EP.____
| ___.__ | _48.00 | __.__ | Configuration
| _48.00 | _24.00 | __.__ | HullArmour
| _20.00 | __4.00 | __.__ | Bridge
| __3.00 | _18.00 | _1.00 | Computer
| _32.00 | 128.00 | __.__ | DriveJump
| _64.00 | _32.00 | __.__ | DriveManeouver
| _48.00 | 144.00 | __.__ | PowerPlant
| _48.00 | ___.__ | __.__ | FuelPower
| 240.00 | ___.__ | __.__ | FuelJump
| __4.00 | _12.00 | 12.00 | Laser
| __4.00 | __9.00 | __.__ | Missile
| _16.00 | __2.00 | __.__ | Stateroom
| _52.00 | __6.50 | __.__ | Cabin
| 150.00 | ___.__ | __.__ | Cargo
| _50.00 | __0.10 | __.__ | Craft_1
| _20.00 | __0.04 | __.__ | Craft_2
---------------------------
| 799.00 | 427.64 | 13.00 EP used, PP generates 24.0 EPs


Simon Hibbs

 

[aramis]

The compact design report is brilliant!

Works even better when you use a monspace font - like courier - around the table.

 

[Matt123]

Thanks Aramis for the heads up on using Courier.

Current release and these printouts are looking pretty. Mind you I am biased Suggestions for improvement or added detail welcome.

Scout/Courier (type S)
100 ton, TL 9 Civilian Design, 32.60 MCr
1 crew (Command: 1+0)
3 High/Mid passengers, 3 tons cargo
Agility 0, Emergency Agility 2
__Ton.____MCr.____EP.____
| ___.__ | _3.00 | _.__ | standard hull, streamlined , fuel scoops
| _20.00 | _0.50 | _.__ | bridge
| __1.00 | _4.00 | _.__ | computer model R-bis
| _10.00 | 10.00 | _.__ | drive jump #2
| __1.00 | _4.00 | _.__ | drive maneouver #2
| __4.00 | _8.00 | _.__ | power plant #2
| ___.__ | __.__ | 1.00 | agility #1
| _20.00 | __.__ | _.__ | fuel, PP endurance 4 weeks (8 weeks powered down)
| _20.00 | __.__ | _.__ | fuel, jump range 2 parsecs
| __1.00 | _0.50 | 1.00 | 1 x laser turret #1
| _16.00 | _2.00 | _.__ | 4 x stateroom
| __3.00 | __.__ | _.__ | cargo
| __4.00 | _0.60 | _.__ | 1 x 4 ton Air/raft
-------------------------
| 100.00 | 32.60 | 2.00 EP used, PP generates 2.0 EPs

32.93 MCr for first ship in class, built in 40 weeks
26.08 MCr when built in volume, built in 32 weeks
CT Ship Designer by Matt. Visit https://tca-2014-12.herokuapp.com


Imperial Light Cruiser
30000 ton, TL 15 Military Design, 22,493.92 MCr
283 crew (Command: 2+13, Engineers: 1+86, Service: 1+59, Flight: 1+15, Gunners: 1+52, Marines: 1+, Security: 1+29, Medics: 1+1)
32.45 tons cargo
Agility 5, Emergency Agility 5
_____Ton.________MCr.________EP.____
| ______.__ | _3,300.00 | _____.__ | Cone, streamlined
| ___600.00 | ___240.00 | _____.__ | hull armour #1
| ______.__ | ____30.00 | _____.__ | fuel scoops
| ____26.55 | _____0.27 | _____.__ | purification plant
| ___600.00 | ___150.00 | _____.__ | bridge
| ____26.00 | ___200.00 | ___12.00 | computer model J-fib
| _1,800.00 | _7,200.00 | _____.__ | drive jump #5
| _4,200.00 | _2,100.00 | _____.__ | drive maneouver #5
| _2,700.00 | _8,100.00 | _____.__ | power plant #9
| ______.__ | ______.__ | 1,500.00 | agility #5
| _2,700.00 | ______.__ | _____.__ | fuel, PP endurance 4 weeks (36 weeks powered down)
| 15,000.00 | ______.__ | _____.__ | fuel, jump range 5 parsecs
| ____24.00 | ____16.00 | _____.__ | 8 x sand caster turret #6
| ___100.00 | ____10.00 | ___10.00 | 1 x repulsor 100-ton bay #9
| ____50.00 | ___150.00 | __150.00 | 5 x laser turret #9
| ___200.00 | ___450.00 | _____.__ | 20 x missile turret #7
| ____12.00 | ____24.00 | ___24.00 | 3 x energy turret #6
| _1,000.00 | ___400.00 | __900.00 | 1 x meson spinal mount #J
| ____20.00 | ____50.00 | ___90.00 | 1 x nuclear damper #9
| ____36.00 | _____4.50 | _____.__ | 9 x stateroom
| ___548.00 | ____68.50 | _____.__ | 274 x cabin
| ____32.45 | ______.__ | _____.__ | cargo
| ___325.00 | _____0.65 | _____.__ | 5 x 50 ton Cutters
------------------------------------
| 30,000.00 | 22,493.92 | 2,686.00 EP used, PP generates 2700.0 EPs

22,718.85 MCr for first ship in class, built in 180 weeks
17,995.13 MCr when built in volume, built in 144 weeks
CT Ship Designer by Matt. Visit https://tca-2014-12.herokuapp.com

Simon, have another go with your 800 ton Churchill