Frozen Watch

[paltrysum1]

If frozen watches are supposed to be important, why do none of the ships in Supplement 9: Fighting Ships, from the Crysanthemum to the Tigress have a single low berth installed? Or, well, the dozens or hundreds that would actually be required? Subsequent rehashes of these ships, such as that published by Mongoose in High Guard, don't have them either. I just want to know... where are the frozen watches?!

Some of the ships in MegaTraveller's Fighting Ships of the Shattered Imperium have them, but the ships contained therein are nondescript with little of the character of ships like the Tigress, Plankwell, or Kinunir.

Just wondering if anyone has any insight about this.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Pointless at TL-14 and TL-15: A single meson penetration will render a ship inoperable (using statistical combat resolution, hence Fuel Tanks Shattered), regardless of how many extra systems or crew the ship has.

It's a completely different game at TL-12...

 

[whartung]

A crew hit is just as much a mission kill as a Fuel Tanks Shattered hit. Nuclear missiles eat crew readily. And the larger ships usually have excess volume that could be committed to a Frozen Watch without taking away from weapons and such. Engineering is the major consumer of crew, and staterooms end up being about 2-3% of hull space, so a Frozen watch is 1/4 of that -- .5-1% of volume.

Mind, talking book 5 combat here.

 

[Condottiere]

Option for the wargaming aspect, and I think in character generation.

In theory, very dependent on actual doctrine practiced; Solomani had them in tenders, and I would guess, used post combat, rather than during.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

A crew hit is just as much a mission kill as a Fuel Tanks Shattered hit.

Agreed.

Nuclear missiles eat crew readily.

No, not even unarmoured ships can take crew hits from nukes, they have a DM +6 for non-spinal, but a DM -6 only on the surface damage table. The largest roll that is a Crew hit is 7, the smallest possible roll with a DM +6 is 8, so not possible...

With an assumed /fib computer the radiation table can only generate a few weapon hits, and only if the ship is lightly armoured. Heavy armour negates all radiation hits.

And the larger ships usually have excess volume that could be committed to a Frozen Watch without taking away from weapons and such.

Bad design if you have space over. The problem is generally the opposite, warships tend to be quite tightly packed.

 

[kilemall]

Don’t know why it wasn’t brought forward into more modern iterations, you would have to ask the content creators.

My view is Frozen Watches really are for quick repair of major systems while the ship is sheltering behind the line. If the ship can’t be brought up to functional, there would be watches brought then the whole crew transfers, scuttling the too damaged ship to fully staff another one.

Crew is the one fleet resource that is readily transferable in battle and can help reconstitute strength in a timely manner.

 

[BackworldTraveller]

Also given the prevalence in various systems it should be a regular assignment in Naval character's assignments or events. Similarly various characters (e.g. Drifters, but possibly others) might also accumulate time in low-passage berths over their careers. Thus temporal and biological age may vary considerably by the time they retire. Similarly, relativistic travel (rare I know) might noticeably vary objective and subjective ages of characters who have done such things in the scouts or navy.

 

[kilemall]

Also given the prevalence in various systems it should be a regular assignment in Naval character's assignments or events. Similarly various characters (e.g. Drifters, but possibly others) might also accumulate time in low-passage berths over their careers. Thus temporal and biological age may vary considerably by the time they retire. Similarly, relativistic travel (rare I know) might noticeably vary objective and subjective ages of characters who have done such things in the scouts or navy.

Good point- you get full benefits for time served and delayed age check, but maybe fewer chances to gain skill or promote.

Or, part of the Frozen Watch deal is you’re guaranteed a skill school and/or assignment choices.

 

[Condottiere]

If it's voluntary.

 

[Spinward Flow]

If it's voluntary.

Express Tenders have a Frozen Watch (of sorts) for replacement XBoat Pilots.

 

[Condottiere]

Unless there's a specific policy, that if nothing happens during that year of deployment, you automatically get depopsicled at the end of that year.

It would seem to me, this is the sort of operation that keeps the crew on ice for years, to minimize effort.

For ecks boat pilots, depends a great deal on what kind of time frame you're looking at.

 

[Spinward Flow]

For ecks boat pilots, depends a great deal on what kind of time frame you're looking at.

So that's why my survival roll wasn't automatic and I didn't learn any new skills that year!

 

[Condottiere]

But you can now buy alcohol a year early.

 

[BackworldTraveller]

Not a great reason to freeze the kids!

"Hey they are 18 so they are adults - Yes, Yes, they spent 17 years in the freezer!"

 

[Condottiere]

We put wine into coolers.

They age well; mostly.

 

[Grav_Moped]

We put wine into coolers.

They age well; mostly.

"...and thank you for your support." -- Bartles and Jaymes (wikipedia)

 

[McPerth]

Hemdian (his user name i nthis boards), in his Traveller based novel The Odissey of t he Bard Refuge, shows his visio n of how people are recruited for the Frozzen Watch...

I won't consider it canon, as it's only his view on a novel, but it's quite interesting (and it's an entertaining novel)....

 

[MThompson016]

It's mentioned as a mishap in Mongoose 1e core book for Navy careers, loose 1 point from Strength, Dexterity, or Endurance after an improper revival. A similar event is in High Guard for Crew careers.

 

[McPerth]

And yet, in MgT1E i didn't find any rules for cold sleep survival or mishaps...

 

[mike wightman]

Do people assume the death rate presented in LBB2 should also apply to reviving members of a frozen watch?

I've always assumed that the tramp trader cold berth are repurposed animal transport methods (as per Dumarest) and that purpose designed human transport cold berths are completely safe.

It is pointless reviving a frozen watch in HG if a portion of them die immediately - that would be an automatic crew hit