Far Trader ideal crew

[stofsk]

Assumptions: a 200 dton Far Trader vessel, 10 staterooms, 6 of which are assigned to high or middle passage berths. Cargo space for approximately 70 dtons. There are two turret hardpoints.

You need a pilot and an engineer. But that's just to start with. What's the ideal? Out of the ten staterooms you can only assign four to crew requirements. That assumes a reasonable limit of 8 crew (a given stateroom can support 4 people through 'hotbunk' configuration which gives a higher upper limit, but that's an excellent recipe for mutiny), 7 really if you assume the Captain will want to sleep in his own cabin rather than share with someone. (of course, maybe he can 'share' it with the hot, sexy young stewardess...)

And four staterooms in crew country means a minimum of four crew, since any less although possible (pilot/astrogator and engineer) is not desireable and you shouldn't allow passengers into the crew country.

So this thread is for ideas. Some deckplans I have looked at of the A2 make the captain's cabin out to be larger than standard staterooms - good for husband/wife teams?

EDIT: Dammit, meant to write more before submitting...

This isn't just a discussion about the crew requirements on a Far Trader. I intend to really analyse the use of an A2.

* Passengers. I assume each of the six passenger staterooms are large enough to support dual occupants comfortably (as opposed to "Yes, you two CAN share the bed but don't expect to like it"). Some Far Trader deckplans show this by making the passenger staterooms a little bit larger than the crew staterooms (the crew'll sleep where I tell 'em to sleep).

* High Passage vs Middle Passage vs Low Passage. Highs get gold class treatment. Laundry is done for them, food is prepared for them, entertainment is provided for them. Implications? Does that means stewards have to do a little bit more than simply smile and fluff your pillow? What is 'entertainment' on a Far Trader spending a week in jump?

While Middle passage means you have to take care of yourself.

Low passage: only four tubes? Seems pretty small.

* Working passage: according to the rules I've read (T20) you can only stay onboard a ship a limited number of times working passage before you're (I presume) legally required to be paid a salary. But the notion of being a passenger and providing specialist services has a different set of implications to being a member of the crew. For example, I can kinda see a working passage staying in a passenger stateroom, if all he's doing is providing specialist services on a needs basis. (The Doctor character in Firefly, although Mal considered him a member of the crew from memory he and River stayed in one of the passenger staterooms for the entire show. The crew had four staterooms, Mal's, Jayne's, Kaylee's, and Zoe and Wash's (husband and wife team).

Anyway, the notion of a working passage evolving into a crew position is interesting, especially if it actually is a legal requirement. You can only work passage a limited number of jumps before Industrial Relations Law says you are obligated to get paid a fixed salary (that is of course taxed), although the beauty of being a Far Trader is you live and work so close to the frontier that enforcement of such laws becomes less of a hassle.

* Does anyone have any good Far Trader deckplans? Does anyone have any tips or pearls of wisdom to share from any perspective relating to such vessels? I'm predominantly concerned with crew requirements, but also interested in things like the turrets. On the border regions having a pair of GOAWAY (tm) brand turrets is a good idea, but what type of systems do you want to put in there? Lasers need a bigger powerplant, missiles need magazines as well as logistics, as do sandcasters, and having guns also says to other ships "Hmm... I wonder what that ship is defending?" Then again, NOT having guns says "Easy kill" to any would-be pirate.

[ November 30, 2006, 01:57 AM: Message edited by: Sigg Oddra ]

 

[graymask1120]

Well, it really depends on the exact config of ship you're running.

Other than Captain, pilot/nav, steward/medic, and an engineer(a requirement at 200dtons+, IIRC) - which would be the absolute minimum I'd be comfy with - you might want a couple of gunners for in-system work; they would double-up as onboard security while in Jump.

After that, depending on the design, it's up to you how many passengers you carry. Honestly, though, unless you have a dedicated liner like a Type M or larger, passengers are pretty much just fluffy adventure-fodder.

If you're on a budget though, can't afford a stellar-class liner, and you have a comparatively-juicy passenger route, you could try refitting a FT-type with very little cargo (c.10dtons, reserved for mail and luxury items only) with extra statrooms/lowberth hangers.

I once run a non-ImpSpace campaign in a self-generated sector that had a 16-world J1 Main; the PCs started a passenger service (Shanghai Clippers, LLC) with two run-down Type-R's bought at a repo auction.

They refitted their cargo space with very nice cabins (16, IIRC - this was almost 15yrs ago) and a nice lounge, took on extra stewards, and bootstrapped themselves into a 19-ship liner fleet inside of 40yrs, game-time - the money was stupendous.

Later, their descendant-PCs converted them into troop transports, carrying 3000 troops each in low berths for a large war on one of the spurs; they swapped the stewards for medics, and converted the upper deck into a low-berth recovery ward.

......This is starting to jog the memory, now.

A generation after the spur war, a virulent plague swept through the sector, and the line rapidly built a Jump-ship carrier (basically, a battlerider-tender) to escape the plague, with the liners reconverted into colony ships: each with c.1000 passengers in low, c.1000 animals in low, and c.100dtons in basic colony supplies.

IIRC, the game broke up at that point, so there's a c.25000 person colony floating in Jump, somewhere.....

 

[Fritz_Brown]

stofsk, I think you've got one snag - depending on your ruleset. LBB5 requires the captain get a stateroom all to himself. Now, that falls in line with a discussion of crews for big ships, but it makes sense. So, you can really only double-bunk 6 folks, giving you a crew of 7. (BTW, a stateroom in a "hot-rack" situation can still only sustain 2 folks - it's a matter of life support, not elbow room.)

Of course, all this is CT and YMMV.

 

[far-trader]

Originally posted by stofsk:
Assumptions...

Insufficient data for accurate answer...

...which won't stop me from offering some opinions

Originally posted by stofsk:
200 dton Far Trader vessel, 10 staterooms, 6 of which are assigned to high or middle passage berths. Cargo space for approximately 70 dtons. There are two turret hardpoints.

The typical version then (disregarding squeezing in an Air/Raft and some old livestock chill berths).

My favorite of this flavour goes all the way back to 1st Ed LBB 2. It comes the closest to breaking even through all editions iirc (excluding GT which I don't have) under the standard trade rules. And by closest I mean it only looses about MCr0.25 annually. Even building at TL15 in HG and T20 lose more money. And the LBB 2 version is TL9.

Yep, that's the first thing you have to work out to use the type A2. How the heck is it gonna pay for itself? No bank will give you the usual loan for one. Well, no fiscally responsible bank, at least not without a reliable guaranty and/or other collateral. Of course if you use a per/parsec then there's no worry. More likely you'll be wondering what to do with all your profits.

So here she is, my take on the Empress class type A2

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">+200t Hull-std MCr8.000
streamlined 2.000

-15t Jumpdrive B2 - naval 20.000
-1t Maneuver A1 - naval 4.000
-4t Powerplant A1 - naval 8.000

-20t Fuel x1 parsec
-10t Fuel x4 weeks

-20t Bridge - mil spec 1.000
-1t Computer m/1bis 4.000
Programs 2.000

-40t Staterooms x10 5.000
Pass x6
Crew x4
-1t Emergency Lowberth 0.100

-2t Hardpoints x2 0.200
Dbl turret - PP 1.500
Dbl turret - PP 1.500

-86t Cargo holds
Baggage x6t
Freight x60t
Fuel tank x20t

Programs: Maneuver/Evade-1, Navigate, Generate, Jump-1, Jump-2, Library, Anti-Hijack, Target.</pre>[/QUOTE]Notes: I bend the rules a little. Caveat emptor.

LBB2 1st edition - meaning the J-drive needs no powerplant input.

It could even get away with a model/1 computer, but I like the bis version since I have a little house rule where the programming credit for bis models is doubled.

Another house rule is that it uses an alternate standard 200ton hull (one of many standard 200ton configs, this one with 20tons for drives).

Note the breakup of the Jump fuel. There is conformal tankage of 20tons and a seperate cargo area of another 20tons for J-2. If the ship is making a J-1 it can carry another 20tons of freight after flushing that area. In fact once you're in Jumpspace you can flush that hold and have a little room for the crew and passengers to exercise (or whatever) in. More importantly it allows access to the drive section without going outside the ship or through the cargo hold.

Note on the drives and bridge. I specified naval rated drives to allow use of unrefined fuel and I specified mil-spec for the extra sensor range. Connections baby

As for crewing it I like double duty assignments on small ships. In this case: Captain/Trader, Pilot/Gunner, Engineer/Gunner, and Steward/Medic. Each gets their own stateroom as required under the rules. Commercial ships aren't allowed to use double occupancy. That leaves room for six passengers. You could get by with just two crew (Pilot/Engineer and Steward/Medic) and carry eight passengers but there are security issues with such a setup.

I had found my old deckplans for this a while back (fading) but haven't redone them yet. They stuck to the spirit of the one in Supp 7 but "corrected" the tonnage shown.

Originally posted by stofsk:
Some deckplans I have looked at of the A2 make the captain's cabin out to be larger than standard staterooms...

The same ones (Supp 7) that show way too much of everything? That ship comes out to about 400tons by the deckplans. Make of it what you will.

Originally posted by stofsk:
This isn't just a discussion about the crew requirements on a Far Trader. I intend to really analyse the use of an A2.

A noble enough endeavor, even if it has been done to death It'll always be new to someone and there's a chance that a truly new idea may come about from it...

Originally posted by stofsk:
* Passengers. I assume each of the six passenger staterooms are large enough to support dual occupants comfortably (as opposed to "Yes, you two CAN share the bed but don't expect to like it"). Some Far Trader deckplans show this by making the passenger staterooms a little bit larger than the crew staterooms (the crew'll sleep where I tell 'em to sleep).

Yet the design step allows only 4tons for them regardless of crew or passenger designation. And you have to pay life support based on not the number of staterooms but the number of people.

That said the rules do allow double occupancy without penalty. I figure each stateroom may be set-up for one or two, in either two single beds (bunks) or one double bed.

Originally posted by stofsk:
* High Passage vs Middle Passage vs Low Passage. Highs get gold class treatment. Laundry is done for them, food is prepared for them, entertainment is provided for them. Implications?

Does that means stewards have to do a little bit more than simply smile and fluff your pillow? What is 'entertainment' on a Far Trader spending a week in jump?

Nothing of the sort

Actually the first part is largely it. Primarily the Steward's duties place them at the beck and call of the High Passengers. The Steward prepares and presents meals of good quality at the common table or in your stateroom, cleans up after, arranges access to the ship's computer for entertainment, cleans your stateroom daily, and fetches items from your excess baggage (remember the 1ton allowance?) when you need them.

Originally posted by stofsk:
While Middle passage means you have to take care of yourself.

Yep. You cook your own meals, typically prepackaged heat and serve, and clean up after, there's no access to the ship's computer for entertainment, your stateroom is as clean as you keep it (and it WILL be clean before you're allowed to leave, one way or another), and the only baggage you have is limited to a (thoroughly searched) carry on limit of 100kg stowed in your stateroom.

Originally posted by stofsk:
Low passage: only four tubes? Seems pretty small.

Pointlessly so imo, hence my change to an emergency lowberth for the crew in my design. Passengers be damned (it's in the fine print on the ticket

)

Originally posted by stofsk:
* Working passage: according to the rules I've read (T20) you can only stay onboard a ship a limited number of times working passage before you're (I presume) legally required to be paid a salary. But the notion of being a passenger and providing specialist services has a different set of implications to being a member of the crew. For example, I can kinda see a working passage staying in a passenger stateroom, if all he's doing is providing specialist services on a needs basis. (The Doctor character in Firefly, although Mal considered him a member of the crew from memory he and River stayed in one of the passenger staterooms for the entire show. The crew had four staterooms, Mal's, Jayne's, Kaylee's, and Zoe and Wash's (husband and wife team).

See! That's what I meant by new ideas. I'd never considered it. I always figured working passage was placed in the crew section so I'd have more paying passengers.

Originally posted by stofsk:
Anyway, the notion of a working passage evolving into a crew position is interesting, especially if it actually is a legal requirement. You can only work passage a limited number of jumps before Industrial Relations Law says you are obligated to get paid a fixed salary (that is of course taxed), although the beauty of being a Far Trader is you live and work so close to the frontier that enforcement of such laws becomes less of a hassle.

I had simple rolls for finding (or being approached by) working passage crew. And then rolls to see if they jumped ship at each port of call. If they hung around long enough then they asked to be hired as payed crew and the Captain had a choice of agreeing or not. If not then they left and the Captain had to look for a replacement. So, not so much a legal requirement as a simple arrangement and choices in MTU.

Originally posted by stofsk:
* Does anyone have any good Far Trader deckplans?

Define good

There are lots of decent ones on the web. My own are not handy.

Originally posted by stofsk:
* Turrets. On the border regions having a pair of ⌧OFF (tm) brand turrets is a good idea, but what type of systems do you want to put in there? Lasers need a bigger powerplant, missiles need magazines as well as logistics, as do sandcasters, and having guns also says to other ships "Hmm... I wonder what that ship is defending?" Then again, NOT having guns says "Easy kill" to any would-be pirate.

Agreed, mount something. Anything. There's enough power for lasers in some of the systems (especially LBB2 where you don't need no stinking power!) The classic treatment is 2 double turrets, and that works not badly for four lasers even in HG which has enough power from the 4EP power plant. I prefer the pulse lasers. They are cheaper and pack a bigger punch. And you only need the Target program which is cheaper than adding the Launch program and takes less space in the small computer. Besides, missiles and sand are expendable that require replacement and space aboard. When you have some extra profits to sink back into the ship you can add the Gunner Interact and/or Predict to help the lasers out.

There ya go, a few pointers and opinions from this old far-trader

 

[stofsk]

Originally posted by Fritz88:
stofsk, I think you've got one snag - depending on your ruleset. LBB5 requires the captain get a stateroom all to himself.

I understand that. I was thinking there might be special circumstances that might incline a Captain to share his room with another member of the crew - say, husband and wife team, or pirate and pirate's wench.

 

[mike wightman]

Takea look here for some good plans for a a Far Trader:

http://www.sff.net/people/kitsune/traveller/peter/starships.html

 

[stofsk]

The Avian Free trader bears a striking resemblance to the Serpent-class Scout. I love that retro 50s sci-fi look. A quick scan of the ship specs reveals it's a 'Close' structure - I would think that it fits a Cone structure instead!

What is close structure supposed to mean then?

 

[stofsk]

Originally posted by far-trader:
The typical version then (disregarding squeezing in an Air/Raft and some old livestock chill berths).

My favorite of this flavour goes all the way back to 1st Ed LBB 2. It comes the closest to breaking even through all editions iirc (excluding GT which I don't have) under the standard trade rules. And by closest I mean it only looses about MCr0.25 annually. Even building at TL15 in HG and T20 lose more money. And the LBB 2 version is TL9.

I'm less concerned with the trading rules and more concerned with the story. As ref I'd handwave things which don't suit me. TL9 starships seems so low though - If I were a captain in this world I would buy a TL13 starship so I can get space-efficient fusion powerplants.

Yep, that's the first thing you have to work out to use the type A2. How the heck is it gonna pay for itself? No bank will give you the usual loan for one. Well, no fiscally responsible bank, at least not without a reliable guaranty and/or other collateral. Of course if you use a per/parsec then there's no worry. More likely you'll be wondering what to do with all your profits.

per/parsec?

Note the breakup of the Jump fuel. There is conformal tankage of 20tons and a seperate cargo area of another 20tons for J-2. If the ship is making a J-1 it can carry another 20tons of freight after flushing that area. In fact once you're in Jumpspace you can flush that hold and have a little room for the crew and passengers to exercise (or whatever) in. More importantly it allows access to the drive section without going outside the ship or through the cargo hold.

Eh... something about flushing the fuel tanks to let people hang around inside strikes me as... reckless.

I'd much rather just use any cargo space that is unused for that kind of thing. True, unused cargo space is costing you money, but there are plenty of ways to make money that don't rely on filling your ship with trade goods that may or may not get you a profit.

Note on the drives and bridge. I specified naval rated drives to allow use of unrefined fuel and I specified mil-spec for the extra sensor range. Connections baby

I'm guessing this is CT rules? I'm used to T20, but that notion of milspec drives having a bit more capability than civvies is a good one.

As for crewing it I like double duty assignments on small ships. In this case: Captain/Trader, Pilot/Gunner, Engineer/Gunner, and Steward/Medic. Each gets their own stateroom as required under the rules. Commercial ships aren't allowed to use double occupancy. That leaves room for six passengers. You could get by with just two crew (Pilot/Engineer and Steward/Medic) and carry eight passengers but there are security issues with such a setup.

I agree. Having generalists is a necessity on a small ship.

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by stofsk:
While Middle passage means you have to take care of yourself.

Yep. You cook your own meals, typically prepackaged heat and serve, and clean up after, there's no access to the ship's computer for entertainment, your stateroom is as clean as you keep it (and it WILL be clean before you're allowed to leave, one way or another), and the only baggage you have is limited to a (thoroughly searched) carry on limit of 100kg stowed in your stateroom.</font>[/QUOTE]No access to the ship's computer is a bit much. Even today with airlines economy seats still have access to the music headsets as well as the inflight movie. You can purchase things from the airline store as well. (I wonder if that could be adapted to Traveller?)

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by stofsk:
Low passage: only four tubes? Seems pretty small.

Pointlessly so imo, hence my change to an emergency lowberth for the crew in my design. Passengers be damned (it's in the fine print on the ticket

) </font>[/QUOTE]I'm thinking of treating things like vehicles and lowberths as modular, and are stowed in the cargo bay anyway. But that strikes me as more appropriate for a Subsidised Merchant and/or Free Trader (which is less concerned with planet hopping and more concerned with straight profit; the Far Trader strikes me as a ship that gives up focus for versatility). If you're going to have a vehicle it's a good idea to also have a garage or hangar.

As far as Lowberths go, I don't see why they can't just be self-contained units that can be bought and sold, off and onloaded every trip. Do they have to be integrated into the ship's life support somehow?

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by stofsk:
* Working passage: according to the rules I've read (T20) you can only stay onboard a ship a limited number of times working passage before you're (I presume) legally required to be paid a salary. But the notion of being a passenger and providing specialist services has a different set of implications to being a member of the crew. For example, I can kinda see a working passage staying in a passenger stateroom, if all he's doing is providing specialist services on a needs basis. (The Doctor character in Firefly, although Mal considered him a member of the crew from memory he and River stayed in one of the passenger staterooms for the entire show. The crew had four staterooms, Mal's, Jayne's, Kaylee's, and Zoe and Wash's (husband and wife team).

See! That's what I meant by new ideas. I'd never considered it. I always figured working passage was placed in the crew section so I'd have more paying passengers.</font>[/QUOTE]Entry into crew country means you have security clearance. Also, crew privileges. I don't know whether both can be justified without being paid a salary and thus appear in the logbook's crew roster.

The question is what position could a working passage have?

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by stofsk:
Anyway, the notion of a working passage evolving into a crew position is interesting, especially if it actually is a legal requirement. You can only work passage a limited number of jumps before Industrial Relations Law says you are obligated to get paid a fixed salary (that is of course taxed), although the beauty of being a Far Trader is you live and work so close to the frontier that enforcement of such laws becomes less of a hassle.

I had simple rolls for finding (or being approached by) working passage crew. And then rolls to see if they jumped ship at each port of call. If they hung around long enough then they asked to be hired as payed crew and the Captain had a choice of agreeing or not. If not then they left and the Captain had to look for a replacement. So, not so much a legal requirement as a simple arrangement and choices in MTU.</font>[/QUOTE]If it's a legal requirement it fits with the whole bureaucratic nightmare the Third Imperium is meant to be.

Although like I said, Far Traders operate in the frontier regions, so rules are less strict the farther from the core you go.

Agreed, mount something. Anything. There's enough power for lasers in some of the systems (especially LBB2 where you don't need no stinking power!) The classic treatment is 2 double turrets, and that works not badly for four lasers even in HG which has enough power from the 4EP power plant. I prefer the pulse lasers. They are cheaper and pack a bigger punch. And you only need the Target program which is cheaper than adding the Launch program and takes less space in the small computer. Besides, missiles and sand are expendable that require replacement and space aboard. When you have some extra profits to sink back into the ship you can add the Gunner Interact and/or Predict to help the lasers out.

If you go by T20 design sequence though, lasers need juice. Realistically I don't have a problem with this. Having a missile rack takes up less space from memory. And you could always... 'acquire' BPL missiles. Best of both worlds. Of course you'll start sweating should you get boarded by a navy patrol ship.

Sandcasters are, frankly, a necessity in my opinion.

A Millenium Falcon type turret arrangement would be fairly sensible. Saucer shaped hull, turrets are arranged dorsal and ventral, in the centre. Few, if any, blindspots. The Empress Marava, in comparison, has a fairly stupid arrangement - both are on the sides which makes the 'wings' get in the way of the rear firing arc, and leaves the bottom and top centre arcs completely open. I think top-bottom turret arrangement is the best.

Turret loadout is something else. I'm thinking one turret ought to be a pure laser double or triple (or go with the Star Wars ripoff, and have a quad laser

), probably pulse so that you have a long range as well as good balance between defence and offence, while the second turret would be a mixed triple with missile racks and sandcasters. (or a mixed quad. I always wonder why Traveller didn't have quad turrets?)

 

[Golan2072]

Originally posted by stofsk:
Some deckplans I have looked at of the A2 make the captain's cabin out to be larger than standard staterooms - good for husband/wife teams?

I usually use equal-sized staterooms, as these are pretty modular components, and, in many cases, crew size will vary over time (especially when gunners are concerned). Also, most mass-produced ships are made as versatile as possible to maximize sales - the same design should be useable for a trader, a small merc outfit or a small-sclae scouting expedition.

* Passengers. I assume each of the six passenger staterooms are large enough to support dual occupants comfortably (as opposed to "Yes, you two CAN share the bed but don't expect to like it"). Some Far Trader deckplans show this by making the passenger staterooms a little bit larger than the crew staterooms (the crew'll sleep where I tell 'em to sleep).

As I've said, staterooms are pretty modular IMTU, though there should be larger multi-stateroom-equivalents (e.g. barracks) which still amintain the double-ocuupancy 2-tons-per-person ratio. Anyhow, I'd say that Imperial regulations (or unofficial but pervailent custom?) preclude the use of double-occupancy for passengers. On the other hand, I could easily see the utilitarian Solomani using a double-occupancy passage (Cr5,000 per jump). Anyhow, most staterooms should IMHO either include provisions for two passengers (a double bunkbed, two lockers, and so on) or the ability to easily add such provisions.

* High Passage vs Middle Passage vs Low Passage. Highs get gold class treatment. Laundry is done for them, food is prepared for them, entertainment is provided for them. Implications? Does that means stewards have to do a little bit more than simply smile and fluff your pillow? What is 'entertainment' on a Far Trader spending a week in jump?

Yes, by all means High Passage means more work for the Steward (and other crewmembers as well during the jump's duration). Excellent food, laundry, cleaning the stateroom every day, and so on. A Steward with Carousing (or Perform if you ahve it in your skill-list) could also entertain the passengers with music and so on. Middle passage means that you eat the same food as the crew, you get your stateroom cleaned before boarding and that's it (or once per jump for longer journeys), and you get no entertainment. Plus High Passage gives you a much larger (by an order of magnitude) stateroom size.

* Working passage: according to the rules I've read (T20) you can only stay onboard a ship a limited number of times working passage before you're (I presume) legally required to be paid a salary. But the notion of being a passenger and providing specialist services has a different set of implications to being a member of the crew. For example, I can kinda see a working passage staying in a passenger stateroom, if all he's doing is providing specialist services on a needs basis. (The Doctor character in Firefly, although Mal considered him a member of the crew from memory he and River stayed in one of the passenger staterooms for the entire show. The crew had four staterooms, Mal's, Jayne's, Kaylee's, and Zoe and Wash's (husband and wife team).

I'd say that a Working Passage gives the passenger the same conditions as a Middle Passage. The passenger would probably give more than specialist services - they'll be filling a full crew position, which is a full-time job.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
Takea look here for some good plans for a a Far Trader:

http://www.sff.net/people/kitsune/traveller/peter/starships.html

That's the one I use (and the one my model is based on).

 

[Plankowner]

Working passage would be prettly limited IMHO.

Steward or medic.

It is possible that a potential crew member would be brought on temporarily on a trial basis. In that case, they might be gunner or Engineer. Personally, I wouldn't allow a working passage access to the bridge (that's the paranoid player in me talking).

If YTU uses ratings and certifications, then it might be a bit more relaxed and more positions would be open to working passage.

 

[far-trader]

Originally posted by stofsk:
I'm less concerned with the trading rules and more concerned with the story. As ref I'd handwave things which don't suit me.

That's a good way to go.

Originally posted by stofsk:
TL9 starships seems so low though - If I were a captain in this world I would buy a TL13 starship so I can get space-efficient fusion powerplants.

That all depends on the design rules. For anything but LBB2 designs I'd agree my preference would be for a higher TL for the same reason.

Originally posted by stofsk:
per/parsec?

Slip of the brain and too little info

It should have read per-parsec and refers to charging the freight and passage rates per-parsec travelled instead of per-jump. So a J-2 ship travelling 2 parsecs can charge double the usual rate and make a good profit.

Originally posted by stofsk:
Eh... something about flushing the fuel tanks to let people hang around inside strikes me as... reckless.

It was an old idea. We figured it was no problem to completely purge the volume and that it'd be just as (un)comfortable and usable as the regular cargo hold space. It'd have limited lighting and comfort but the usual gravity. The deck plates, walls and ceiling would be plain metal. In short, the same as a cargo hold, just one designed to handle fuel (or any liquid/gas) in quantity.

Originally posted by stofsk:
I'm guessing this is CT rules? I'm used to T20, but that notion of milspec drives having a bit more capability than civvies is a good one.

Correct. CT as in LBB1-3. Mil-spec helps offset drive malfunction and misjump. One thing that always bugged me (a little) was that there was no cost difference for military drives and bridge. Hence the game fluff of having "connections" to allow the installation.

Originally posted by stofsk:
I'm thinking of treating things like vehicles and lowberths as modular, and are stowed in the cargo bay anyway.

As far as Lowberths go, I don't see why they can't just be self-contained units that can be bought and sold, off and onloaded every trip. Do they have to be integrated into the ship's life support somehow?

That's exactly what I have toyed with for a time too. Lowberths require a rack installed aboard ship to integrate systems and secure the tube. When you build your ship you choose how many racks to support and install that many lowberths at the usual cost and volume.

In practice what this means is that if you want to you can leave lowberth tubes out and haul cargo in their place at 0.5tons cargo per lowberth tube not carried.

When carrying low passengers you don't have to deal with the thawing or freezing at the better starports, you just offload the tubes that are destined for there or elsewhere and load up the ones going your way. It's only at frontier ports that you have to do the freezing and/or thawing.

Buying lowberths puts you into the exchange/deposit program so the tubes you start with aren't yours exactly and after a few trips they won't even be on your ship anymore. You'll have a mix of tubes from other ships. All inspected and certified every time they go through a better starport with the correct facilities. At annual maintenance at the very least.

If you can't fill your racks with full tubes at one port you can choose to slot empty tubes in a ready to freeze state or run empty for a little more cargo space.

Lowberth passengers who want to travel more than a single parsec or jump can pay to be kept frozen until they arrive at the destination of their choice and avoid unneeded risk with multiple cycles.

If you follow me

 

[Black Globe Generator]

In CT, a crew member can fill two positions, so actually the minimum crew to conn the ship is one person, possessing a minimum of Pilot-2 and Engineering-2 (since each skill is rated at one level less when filling two billets).

If the ship is carrying passengers, then a steward/medic is also required, with a minimum of Medic-2 - the steward's duties can be performed untrained.

 

[far-trader]

Well, the way I read the letter of the LBB2 rules a 200ton ship requires a minimum of Pilot, Engineer, and Medic. Add Steward if there are High Passengers.

Edit - In fact by a strict reading of the rules you'd need to add another Medic if you carried passengers

But we never did that, it isn't supported by the examples.

And the Steward-0 would only apply if it wasn't a double duty assignment. A Medic/Steward would need Medic-2 and Steward-1 to function in the assignment.

Of course later rules (MT? and later) linked the Medic requirement to carrying Low (and other?) Passengers, so I have no real issue with your take BGG.