Xerxeskingofking
SOC-13
Many of the minor plantery navies and client states along the imperiums borders lack the industail ability to build thier own starships. However, they do have the ability to extensivly modify existing hulls for new purposes. a classic example of this is the Gatekeeper class Armed trader, built by Sassanid Heavy Industry, mostly form thier secondry shipyards in Deneb and Vland sectors.
Gatekeeper class Armed trader
Sassanid faced a growing demand form planetry navies and indpendant systems outside the imperium for a small, jump capable ship that could be maintained using thier local resources, and for coversions to "aquired" merchant ships. Sassanid designers settled on a series of designs that could be retrofitted to a existing far hulls at any class C rated starport, or built as new contruction at any class B rated or better. Sassanid ship conversion kits, along with a few advisors, to those customers seeking to convert existing ships. the process takes about 16 weeks, though some conversions have been completed in as little as 12 weeks.
details
the Gatekeeper class Armed trader is based on a heavily remodled jump 2 Jayhawk Class Far Trader hull. the "trader" element of its name is a holdover indecating the civillvain orign of the hull, and the ship and only limited cargo room, the rest being repurposed. the ship uses about 60% of the orignal far trader parts, and merchant crewmen with experence with far traders find it easy to adapt to the gatekeeper. The ships armour is doubled, and the ships manuver drives and power plants are expanded, giving the ship a respectable 4 G acceleration. a 15 man barrack block is fitted in front of the old cargo bay, with a breeching tube fitted, for boarding and customs work, something the customer navies find to be very useful. fuel storage is increased slightly, to extend the operational lifetime of the vessel, allowing for a patrol into a neighbouring system without refueling (jump1 in, week in system, jump1 out, back to base with a weeks fuel in the tank).
weaponry
Armements are 4 SHI Bessus mk2 Pluse lasers, a SHI Darius missle launcher and a Agis mk3 sandcaster, mounted in triple turrets. the Bessus mk 2 is a reworking of Sassanid's standard pluse laser, designed to reduce maintiance hours and ease repair by use of modular components, allowing almost 90% of the weapons system to be removed without dismounting the turret. the focusing coils were also rebuilt to increase the accuracy of the lasers.
Noteable variants
the Gatekeeper B is designed to act as a pocket carrier, with the barrack space and boarding tubes removed and the hold space converted to use as a hanger for a three ship flight of 10 ton light fighters. several megacorps have purchased this version, and used it in a Q-ship role, beefing up the escort coverage of their convoys. the living spaces are somewhat cramped, and thier is no room to proform maintainance on the fightiers onboard, meaning fequent lay ups in starports to conduct repairs on the fighters and let the crew strech their legs. however, the operators accept these shortcomings for signidcant boost to firepower, and the ability to enguage two targets at once with some hope of sucess.
Sales and customer feedback
the gatekeeper has proven to be a moderatly popular choice for cash-strapped systems seeking a cheap vessel for customs and anti-piracy work. at less than 100Mcr new, the ship is less half the price of a Gazelle Close Escort, and has proven to be a perfectly capable of policing merchant traders and driving off light pirate vessels. while most early sales were for conversion kits, the last 20 years have seen a rise in customers ordering new construction gatekeepers, seeing it as a cheap way to get new light warships into service, while taking advantage of crew familiarity with far traders.
Stats.
notes
well, this is my frist attempt at designing a ship. its built for Mogoose traveller, with parts form High Guard. comments, critques, etc welcome.
Gatekeeper class Armed trader
Sassanid faced a growing demand form planetry navies and indpendant systems outside the imperium for a small, jump capable ship that could be maintained using thier local resources, and for coversions to "aquired" merchant ships. Sassanid designers settled on a series of designs that could be retrofitted to a existing far hulls at any class C rated starport, or built as new contruction at any class B rated or better. Sassanid ship conversion kits, along with a few advisors, to those customers seeking to convert existing ships. the process takes about 16 weeks, though some conversions have been completed in as little as 12 weeks.
details
the Gatekeeper class Armed trader is based on a heavily remodled jump 2 Jayhawk Class Far Trader hull. the "trader" element of its name is a holdover indecating the civillvain orign of the hull, and the ship and only limited cargo room, the rest being repurposed. the ship uses about 60% of the orignal far trader parts, and merchant crewmen with experence with far traders find it easy to adapt to the gatekeeper. The ships armour is doubled, and the ships manuver drives and power plants are expanded, giving the ship a respectable 4 G acceleration. a 15 man barrack block is fitted in front of the old cargo bay, with a breeching tube fitted, for boarding and customs work, something the customer navies find to be very useful. fuel storage is increased slightly, to extend the operational lifetime of the vessel, allowing for a patrol into a neighbouring system without refueling (jump1 in, week in system, jump1 out, back to base with a weeks fuel in the tank).
weaponry
Armements are 4 SHI Bessus mk2 Pluse lasers, a SHI Darius missle launcher and a Agis mk3 sandcaster, mounted in triple turrets. the Bessus mk 2 is a reworking of Sassanid's standard pluse laser, designed to reduce maintiance hours and ease repair by use of modular components, allowing almost 90% of the weapons system to be removed without dismounting the turret. the focusing coils were also rebuilt to increase the accuracy of the lasers.
Noteable variants
the Gatekeeper B is designed to act as a pocket carrier, with the barrack space and boarding tubes removed and the hold space converted to use as a hanger for a three ship flight of 10 ton light fighters. several megacorps have purchased this version, and used it in a Q-ship role, beefing up the escort coverage of their convoys. the living spaces are somewhat cramped, and thier is no room to proform maintainance on the fightiers onboard, meaning fequent lay ups in starports to conduct repairs on the fighters and let the crew strech their legs. however, the operators accept these shortcomings for signidcant boost to firepower, and the ability to enguage two targets at once with some hope of sucess.
Sales and customer feedback
the gatekeeper has proven to be a moderatly popular choice for cash-strapped systems seeking a cheap vessel for customs and anti-piracy work. at less than 100Mcr new, the ship is less half the price of a Gazelle Close Escort, and has proven to be a perfectly capable of policing merchant traders and driving off light pirate vessels. while most early sales were for conversion kits, the last 20 years have seen a rise in customers ordering new construction gatekeepers, seeing it as a cheap way to get new light warships into service, while taking advantage of crew familiarity with far traders.
Stats.
notes
well, this is my frist attempt at designing a ship. its built for Mogoose traveller, with parts form High Guard. comments, critques, etc welcome.
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