MGT Only: Druid Armed Yacht

[TheDark]

Built with MgT1e Core and High Guard.

The Druid is a 600 dTon, TL12 yacht fitted with a pair of hardpoints in case of a military emergency requiring its use as a patrol vessel. Relatively quick and long-legged for a civilian vessel, it mounts a Jump-3 drive and sufficient fuel for either 2 immediately consecutive jumps, 1 jump and 10 weeks of real-space operation, or 20 weeks of operation before refueling. When not requisitioned for patrol use, it's designed for up to 20 passengers to travel in luxury while a crew of 10 caters to their every whim. Typically it carries far fewer passengers on board.

An unarmed Druid cost Cr. 428,600,000 and has an annual maintenance cost of Cr. 428,300. It does not have the turrets (but still uses 2 dTons for the space allocated to add them), sandcaster barrels, or Fire Control software, and has 6.5 tons of cargo space available.

Some buyers that intend to remain within core systems choose not to have the fuel processors installed in order to have a little more room aboard ship, adding another pair of staterooms and the luxuries to go with them; this version costs Cr. 429,300,000 (unarmed), has an annual maintenance cost of Cr. 429,000, and has its monthly life support cost go up to Cr. 51,000. Adding the turrets, ammunition, and Fire Control software listed below costs Cr. 6,565,000 and adds Cr. 2,500 to the annual maintenance cost.

Druid Armed Yacht​	TL 12​	​	Tons​	Price (Cr.)​	​
Hull​	​	Hull 12​	600​	52,800,000​	​
​	Streamlined​	Structure 12​	​	​	​
Armor​	Crystaliron​	4 Points​	30​	10,560,000​	​
Jump Drive​	J​	Jump 3​	50​	90,000,000​	​
Maneuver Drive​	J​	Maneuver 3​	17​	36,000,000​	​
Power Plant​	J​	​	28​	72,000,000​	​
Bridge​	Compact​	​	15​	3,000,000​	​
Computer​	Model 2bis​	​	​	240,000​	​
Electronics​	Basic Civilian​	​	1​	50,000​	​
​	​	​	​	​	​
Weapons​	Hardpoint #1​	Dual Turret (PL, SC)​	1​	1,250,000​	​
​	Hardpoint #2​	Dual Turret (PL, SC)​	1​	1,250,000​	​
Fuel​	​	1 Jump-3 and 10 weeks operation​	360​	​	​
Cargo​	​	​	0​	​	​
Staterooms​	15​	​	60​	7,500,000​	​
Low Berths​	​	​	​	​	​
​	​	​	​	​	​
Extras​	Luxuries​	​	9​	900,000​	​
​	Escape Pods​	​	7.5​	750,000​	​
​	Radiation Shielding​	​	0​	150,000,000​	​
​	Library​	​	4​	4,000,000​	​
​	130 Sandcaster Barrels​	​	6.5​	65,000​	​
​	Fuel Processors​	200 tons/day​	10​	500,000​	​
Software​	Maneuver/0​	​	​	0​	​
​	Jump Control/3​	​	​	300,000​	​
​	Fire Control/2​	​	​	4,000,000​	​
​	​	​	​	​	​
Maintenance​	​	​	​	430,800​	Annual​
Life Support​	​	​	​	45,000​	Monthly​
Totals​	​	​	600​	435,165,000​	​

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Rad Shielding is a bit pricey at over a third of the total cost. What's the story?

 

[Grav_Moped]

Rad Shielding is a bit pricey at over a third of the total cost. What's the story?

Wants to startle a party of PCs running a Gazelle as a pirate ship?

 

[TheDark]

Rad Shielding is a bit pricey at over a third of the total cost. What's the story?

It makes the ultrawealthy feel more secure knowing stellar outbursts won't leave them with acute radiation poisoning.

(And it's super-profitable for the yards selling yachts to the ultrawealthy, but the customers don't need to know that).

From an out-of-universe perspective, I'd never applied it to a ship before. I was curious to see how much it would drive up the cost without adding anything to the tonnage. I was also going to play with shrinking the drives and/or power plant, but at TL12 only the M-drive could be shrunk, and only by 4.25 tons for Cr. 36,000,000, which was a bit excessive even for this.

The ship is loosely based on the World War I patrol vessel USS Druid, which was originally the yacht Druid (ex-Rheclair, ex-Nirvana).

 

[Condottiere]

There's a suspicion that one overbuilt yacht served as an espionage platform, passing by military installations and sailing on the edge of naval exercises.

Outside the usual technique as being part of a money laundering scheme.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Outside the usual technique as being part of a money laundering scheme.

I thought that was the primary mission code for yachts ...

 

[Condottiere]

You can always line the walls with credit vouchers.

 

[Grav_Moped]

I thought that was the primary mission code for yachts ...

The other is as a last-ditch escape plan, to be executed in the event of regime collapse and the potential actual execution of the owner.

 

[TheDark]

There's a suspicion that one overbuilt yacht served as an espionage platform, passing by military installations and sailing on the edge of naval exercises.

Outside the usual technique as being part of a money laundering scheme.

For an espionage platform yacht, remove:
2 staterooms (8 tons), 1 ton of luxuries, 1 ton of escape pods, the library (4 tons), and 1 ton of sandcaster barrels or cargo space
OR:
9 tons of luxuries, the library, and 2 tons of barrels/cargo space

Then replace the Basic Civilian sensors with Very Advanced sensors with the Extended Arrays and Improved Signal Processing options from page 45 of High Guard.

The former is more popular with the crews that serve on the ships. The latter is more popular with their bosses and the beancounters who have to justify expenditures and hate having luxuries aboard a working ship.

 

[kilemall]

The original yachts were pirate hunters. A certain lyricism going back to roots.