CT Ship Errata Discussion : Hiver Trader (Type HR)

[Gruffty]

For reference purposes only, here is the descriptive text of the Type HR from CT AM7:

Hiver Trader (type HR): Using a 400-ton hull, the Hiver Trader is a small interstellar merchant vessel designed for routine cargo and passenger transport. It mounts Jump Drive-D, Maneuver Drive-B, and Power Plant-D, giving a performance of Jump-2 and 1G acceleration. Fuel tankage for 100 tons supports the power plant and one jump-2. Adjacent to the bridge is a computer Model/2. There are 15 staterooms and no low berths. The ship has two hardpoints and two tons allocated for fire control. No turrets or weaponry are initially installed. There is one ship's vehicle: a 30-ton ship's boat. Cargo capacity is 145 tons. The ship is streamlined.

The Hiver Trader requires a crew of six: pilot, navigator, two engineers, medic, and steward. The navigator operates the ship's boat. The ship can carry nine High or Middle passengers and no low passengers. The ship is valued at MCr 156.2 and takes 16 months to build.

Here are the 'raw' (i.e. unmodified by any rules from Book 2 or AM7 Hivers) stats for the Type HR. All this document does is present, in starship data form, the information contained in the text description of the ship.

 

[Gray Lensman]

Just off the top of my head, 9 High Passengers would require two Stewards.

 

[Gruffty]

You're right, Gray Lensman - Book 2, p. 16 states one Steward for every 8 High Passage passengers.

 

[Gruffty]

If I increase the number of stewards to 2, that reduces the number of available Hi/Mid passage spaces to 8 - which, in turn, only requires one steward o::rofl:

The other way to do it would be to add an additional steward and an extra passenger. There are 12 tons of hull space unaccounted for in the design, so there is space for two more SRs. That would give:

Pilot (SR #1)
Navigator (SR #2)
Engineer (SR #3)
Engineer (SR #4)
Steward (SR #5)
Steward (SR #6)
Medic (SR #7)
Passengers x 10 (SRs # 8 to 17)

 

[Ishmael]

perhaps book 2 describes human requirements for stewards which may or may not apply to Hivers or other non-human races.

 

[Gray Lensman]

Sat down this morning with HG Shipyard using the Hiver/Single setting ---came up with 88 tons fuel 147 tons cargo, everthing else same except I added fuel purification. Price didn't match but I wasn't looking at it anyway. Will do it by book 2 when I get back home next week (out of town for work).

 

[aramis]

perhaps book 2 describes human requirements for stewards which may or may not apply to Hivers or other non-human races.

And since the rules are human focused, and AM Hiver doesn't change the crew formulae... it's the same for them.

 

[Gray Lensman]

Uh, looking at your Ship PDF again, I know that Bridge tonnage is 2%, but doesn't LBB 2 state that minimum bridge size is 20 Tons. That would mean that your extra 12 tons are already used up.

 

[Whipsnade]

You're right, Gray Lensman - Book 2, p. 16 states one Steward for every 8 High Passage passengers.

Gruffty,

Ahhh... stewards... the bane of my existence as a GM...

I could never get my players to pay any attention to the skill, neither carrots or sticks worked. They'd either deliberately ignore the skill, eschewing the benefits derived from it, or "subcontract" it out to a NPC as quickly as possible.

They were having none of it and nothing I suggested was changing that.

Two suggestions:

• As Ish wisely pointed out, the LBB:2 requirement is for humans. The requirement for Hivers and the various slav.... err.... "members" of their Federation could be different.
• It's not CT, but it does tackle the situation from another angle. MgT allows you to meet all or some of a stewards requirement by purchasing equipment specifically dedicated to keeping the pax happy. With the Hivers acknowledged as the best roboticists in Charted Space, wouldn't a robot steward be the obvious choice aboard a Hive vessel? This also fits in nicely with the "Robots Are Toasters" trope.

Regards,
Bill

P.S. Think stewards are boring? Check out Drake's Starliner for an eye-opener.
P.P.S IIRC, there's a Hiver valet-bot or other personal services type listed in MT somewhere.

 

[mike wightman]

Uh, looking at your Ship PDF again, I know that Bridge tonnage is 2%, but doesn't LBB 2 state that minimum bridge size is 20 Tons. That would mean that your extra 12 tons are already used up.

Yup, you've spotted Gruffty's mistake.

Silly hiver should get back to mopping floors and leave ship design to the AIs

 

[Gray Lensman]

Yup, you've spotted Gruffty's mistake.

Silly hiver should get back to mopping floors and leave ship design to the AIs

:rofl: Hey, someone as to be into the Hivers. Besides, Hivers have robots to mop the floors.

 

[mike wightman]

:rofl: Hey, someone as to be into the Hivers. Besides, Hivers have robots to mop the floors.

Sorry it's something of an old joke - Gruffty used to be a janitor Hiver...

it's a long story

 

[Gruffty]

And since the rules are human focused, and AM Hiver doesn't change the crew formulae... it's the same for them.

This is true, there are no rules modifications for crews in AM7.

Yup, you've spotted Gruffty's mistake.

DUH! How stupid of me to make such a basic mistake....

Silly hiver should get back to mopping floors and leave ship design to the AIs

...mopmopmop....HiverHivermop.....mopHivermop......

I'll fix the bridge thing now....

 

[Gruffty]

'Tis a-fixed.

New file uploaded with the correct (20 tons minimum) bridge included. Now there is no spare tonnage available, as Gray Lensman previously predicted.

I *suppose* the fix in relation to the Steward issue could be that the ship may not always carry 9 High Passage passengers; it could carry 8 High and 1 Mid, or 7 High and 2 Mid, and so on. That would mean only one Steward would be required and we don't have to consider fiddling about with the number of staterooms.

I must admit I am surprised to find the tonnages all add up properly though

 

[Gruffty]

Note that the design (as posted in the first post of this thread) *does not include*:

1. The MCr 0.4 per 100 tons of hull for a "single species use" ship (AM7 p. 38). The bridge cost was calculated at MCr 0.5 per 100 tons of hull, as per Book 2, so the design posted in the first post of this thread is actually the "multi species use" ship variant.
   
2. The 50% reduction in cost for fitting a Hiver built computer (also AM7 p. 38). The computer installed in the design in the first post of this thread is the Model/2 from Book 2.

Methinks I will go back and tweak the design to include those two aspects.